USA > Maine > Oxford County > Norway > Centennial history of Norway, Oxford County, Maine, 1786-1886, including an account of the early grants and purchases, sketches of the grantees, early settlers, and prominent residents, etc., with genealogical registers, and an appendix > Part 18
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I. Eliza Ann, b. November 9, 1825; m. George F. Cooper ; she resides in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
II. Benjamin Bixby, b. June 19, 1828 (See personal notice).
III. Mandana, b. March 11, 1830; d. March 31. 1831.
IV. John Byron, b. September 12, 1832; m. Minerva G., daughter of Henry Durgin, of Woodstock, and has Dana C., born March 11, 1868. He is a farmer, and resides in Greene.
V. Child born in Rockport, Massachusetts, in 1834, and died at the age of two weeks, unnamed.
Mrs. Murray died of consumption at Rockport, Massachusetts, in 1834, and for second wife, Mr. Murray married Miss Lucy Cobb of Turner. For third wife, he married widow Hannah Mclaughlin, whose maiden name was Smith.
EDWIN F. QUINBY.
Rev. Edwin F. Quinby, son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Jones ) Quinby, of Westbrook, and brother of the late Rev. George W. Quinby D.D., of Augusta, was born in Saccarappa Village, Westbrook, attended school at Westbrook, Fryeburg, and Bridgton, studied for the ministry, and had his first settlement over the Universalist Society in Fryeburg. About the year 1847, he came to Norway, and preached for the Univer- salist Society here, more or less, for two years. Leaving his family in Norway, he went to California in 1849, when the gold excitement on the Pacific coast had just begun. He was absent about three years and died, August 26th, 1852, within a week after he reached home. He married, November 17th, 1842, Nancy Foster, of Yarmouth, who was born July 16th, 1819. Children : -
I. Edwin Thompson, b. in Fryeburg, October 23, 1843. He was a member of the Eighth Maine Regiment, and died at Port Royal in May, 1862.
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
II. Julia Scott, b. in Fryeburg, December 28, 1844; m. Dr. John F. Boothby; resides at Newton Center, Massachusetts.
III. Mary Ella, b. June 12, 1846; m. Rev. Sanford P. Smith; resides at East" Boston. IV. Hermon Clifford, b. 1848; died, 1851.
V. Myra Jane, b. July 21, 1849; m. Henry R. Millett, of Norway.
TIMOTHY J. TENNEY.
Rev. Timothy J. Tenney was the son of William and Susan (Bailey) Tenney, and was born in Weare, New Hampshire, January 22d, 1807. He attended the common schools and the Pembroke, New Hampshire, Academy. He studied theology with Rev. Thomas King, the father of Rev. Thomas Starr King. His first settlement was at Fryeburg in 1836. He labored there and in the adjoining towns of Hiram, Lovell, and Denmark, about four years. In 1840, he came to Norway, where he remained six years as the pastor of the Universalist Church. He was settled at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, during 1848, and in 1849, at Glover, Vermont, where he died, Octobor 8th, 1854. He was active in founding the school at Glover, known as the Orleans Liberal Institute, and labored faithfully in its interests as long as he lived. He was for some time associated with the Religious Instructor, a Universalist peri- odical of which he was the editor. He was kind and sympathetic by nature, and ever the true friend of the down-trodden and oppressed. He was an ardent and able worker in every movement having for its object the amelioration of mankind. He was an able preacher, a ready writer, and a useful member of society. He married, April 9th, 1840, Izah B. P., daughter of Hon. Samuel Gibson of Denmark, afterward of Norway. She survives, and resides with her son, Rev. Charles R. Tenney, at Stoughton, Massachusetts. Children : -
I. Samuel A., b. in Norway, February 23, 1841 ; d. April 29, 1842.
II. Susan Adnah, b. in Denmark, June 19, 1842 ; m. Frank A. Danforth.
III. Samuel A., b. in Norway, February 26, 1844; d. September 2, 1846.
IV. Rebecca Howe, b. in Denmark, June 29, 1847. She was drowned at Bartlett, New Hampshire, May 7, 1850.
V. Izah W., b. in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, July 5. 1849; m. January 23, 1872, Pliny A. Allen, of Charlestown, Massachusetts; resides in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts.
VI. Charles R., b. in Glover, Vermont, February 23, 1854. He is a Universalist minis- ter, married Lizzie G. Brooks, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, December 31, 1878, and. is settled at Stoughton, Massachusetts.
1
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
LEMUEL H. TABOR.
Rev. Lemuel Hutchins Tabor, son of Dr. Lemuel and Nancy (Hutchins) Tabor, was born in Groton, Vermont, December 3d, 1809. His only school education was obtained in the primary schools of Vermont, but he also had private instructors. He studied theology with Rev. Kit- tridge Haven, of Shoreham, Vermont, commenced preaching in July, 1837, and was ordained in 1838. His first settlement was at Calais, Vermont, to preach there one fourth of the time, and the remainder in other places in Washington County. In 1840, he was at Plainfield, and in 1844 at St. Johnsbury. In 1847, he was at Lyndon and Burke, and at West Charleston in 1858, preaching there half the time, and the other half in Derby Line, and Stanstead, Province of Quebec. He remained here until 1869, when he accepted a call to the pastorate of the church in Norway. He remained here until 1877, when he returned to Vermont, was at West Burke three years, and at Island Pond one year. He then purchased a homestead and moved to Bryant's Pond, where he still resides. While here, he was not only an able preacher and pastor but a valuable member of society, being deeply interested in and engaging actively in every good work. He was called upon to do much labor outside the limits of the Parish, and during the last year of his pastorate here, he attended no less than seventy-four funerals. He was married, November 27th, 1837, to Deborah Daphne, daughter of Colonel Caleb Curtiss, of Calais, Vermont, and had five children : -
I. Ellen M., b. October 15, 1840.
II. Florence M., b. August 3, 1843 ..
III. Lelia E., b. May 11, 1848.
IV. Edna y., b. August 31, 1853.
V. John Murray, b. April 30, 1858.
JOSEPH C. SNOW.
Rev. Joseph C. Snow was born in Whitewater Township, Franklin County, Indiana, September 12th, 1833. His father, Crocker Snow, was of Pilgrim stock, and his mother was Narcissa Marvin. Mr. Snow graduated from Tuft's college in 1858. He had preached more or less during the last year of his college course, and had his first settlement n Norway and Paris, commencing September Ist, 1858. He remained
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
in Norway to July, 1863, except that he was chaplain of the Twenty- third Maine Regiment from September, 1862, to July. 1863. He was settled over the church at Auburn, Maine, from July, 1863, to October, 1869, when he moved to Deering and had charge of Westbrook Seminary to 1872, three school years. He then returned to Auburn and remained until December, 1879. He then went to Newark, New Jersey, and was pastor of the church there, from January, 1880, to February, 1883; then was settled at Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he now resides. Mr. Snow is a man of scholarly attainments, an able writer, a pleasing speaker, and a most excellent pastor. Few ministers, if any, in Norway were ever more popular. He was married in Boston, by Rev. Dr. Miner, August IIth, 1863, to Sarah J., daughter of Jeremiah Howe, then of Norway, now of Portland. Children : -
I. Frederick Elmer, b. September 12, 1864; graduated at Tuft's College, and is a law student in Boston.
II. Charles Joseph, b. April 21, 1871.
JOHN L. STEVENS.
Rev. John Leavitt Stevens was born in Mount Vernon, Maine, August Ist, 1820. He remained on his father's farm until eighteen years of age, and after leaving the common schools, was, for several terms, a student at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill and the Waterville institute, where he acquired a good academical education. He commenced a course of theological studies in 1841 and was ordained to the work of the Christian ministry in 1844, when twenty-four years of age. He had one or two settlements before he came to Norway in 1850. He was here about three years, and while here, preached occasionally in Woodstock and in other neighboring towns. He was an able preacher and an earnest worker in the cause of temperance. On account of a severe catarrhal affection which assumed a chronic form and began to interfere with public speaking, he decided to abandon preaching and go into journalism. In connection with Hon. James G. Blaine, in 1855, he purchased the Kennebec Fournal and moved to Augusta. He continued on the Fournal until 1869. During these years, he served two terms in the Maine Legislature, and also served in the Senate. His paper was a leading political organ, and ably con -
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ducted. In 1870, he was appointed minister resident to the Republics of Uraguay and Paraguay, where he remained three years. In 1877, he was appointed minister to Sweden and Norway, where he remained six years and resigned. Since his return, he has resided in Augusta, engaged in literary pursuits. While in Stockholm, he gathered materi- als for a life of Gustavus Adolphus which has, since his return, been published by Putnam's Sons of New York. It is a valuable contribution to the literature of Northern Europe, and is highly commended by the Swedish press. He was married, May 8th, 1845, to Mary L. Smith of Hallowell. They have had four children, two of whom died in early childhood. Miss Grace L. and Miss Nellie M. Stevens, both accom- plished young ladies, reside with their parents in Augusta.
CAROLINE E. ANGELL.
Rev. Miss Caroline E. Angell, the present pastor of the Universalist Church in Norway and Paris Hill, was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, June 28th, 1842. She received a first class academical education, and entered the St. Lawrence University at Canton, New York, from which she graduated with high honors in 1876. She was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry at Kittery, Maine, soon after her gradu- ation, and had her next settlement in Pittsfield, where she remained seven years. In 1884, she succeeded Rev. Mr. Hooper in the pastorate of the churches in Norway and Paris. She is a gifted pulpit orator, and has ever been popular where she has had settlements, and ranks among the ablest of the ministers of her denomination in the State.
CONGREGATIONALISTS.
There were several families among the early settlers of Norway, which had been communicants of the Congregational Church before coming here, and as soon as they were fairly settled in their new home, they began to make efforts to have religious meetings with the view of organizing a church. They began in a small way, and the early meetings were held in the log houses of the settlers and, in summer time, in barns. Rev. Daniel Gould,* who was afterward settled in
. Daniel Gould, son of Daniel and Lydia ( Averill) Gould, was born in Topsfield, Massachusetts, Decem- ber ath, 1758. He lived in Wolfborough, New Hampshire. He was a scholarly man and had many pri- vate pupils. He married Mary Booth, who died in 1785, and he then married Widow Eunice Perley. He had only one child, a daughter, who died in infancy. He died in 1842.
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
Rumford and Bethel, is said to have been the first Orthodox minister who preached here. He was the founder of the academy in Bethel, which perpetuates his name. Rev. Eliphaz Chapman,* who was among the early settlers of Bethel, occasionally passed through on his way to and from his former home in Methuen, Massachusetts, and preached to the people in this town. A minister named Stoddard preached in town a year or two, beginning about the first of the present century, and was so popular for a time that the people thought of settling him perma- nently, but opposition from some of the leading contributors, among whom was Jonathan Cummings, prevented it.
The Congregational church was organized in due form on the 6th day of October, 1804. The missionaries and pastors of churches present and giving their approbation were Rev. Enoch Hale of West Hampton, Rev. Seth Payson of Rindge, and Rev. Jonathan Grant of Hawley. Timothy Stone was chosen the first deacon. The following persons signed the confession of faith and church covenant, and were the original members of the church: Joanna Upton, Lydia Frost, Rachel Stone, Miriam Foster, Lydia Stone, Joanna Jones, Mary Ban- croft, Huldah Case, Amos Upton, Jacob Frost, Joseph Stone, Nathan Foster, Cadwallader F. Jones, John Horr, Enoch Merrill, Benjamin Flint, and Jonathan Gurney. The meetings were now held at the residence of Amos Upton who was a prominent and zealous member of the church, and had recently built him a large house and provided temporary and movable seats which were always put in place on Satur- day ready for the Sunday meeting. Mr. Joseph Martin led off in the singing. They had no settled pastor for some years, but were supplied occasionally by itinerants or missionaries. Among the number were Rev. Enoch Whipple, Rev. Mr. Smith, and Rev. Mr. Spaulding. The price paid was from five dollars to five dollars and fifty cents a Sabbath, two sermons being required. When there was no minister, deacon's meetings were held at the house of Mr. Upton, where devotional exercises were had, including the reading of a sermon. In summer time, the meetings were still held in a barn, sometimes in Job East-
* Eliphaz Chapman was the son of Samuel Chapman and was born in Newmarket, New Hampshire, March 7th, 175). He married Hannah Jackman, of Newbury. He preached in Madbury, New Hampshire, and in Methuen, Massachusetts. He came to Bethel in 1791, and became a farmer, selecting an interval lot on the north side of the Androscoggin River, which remains in the family. He was a civil magistrate, solemnized marriages, settled disputes among neighbors, and was a useful man. He died, January 20th, 1814.
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
man's, and sometimes in that belonging to Jeremiah Hobbs. . The elderly people usually occupied seats on the barn floor, while the young people had seats upon the scaffold.
The year 1807 marks a new era in the history of this church. In the spring of that year, Rev. Noah Cressey came to town and remained here as preacher and pastor for twelve years. A brief biographical sketch of this man is given in another place. The following year, Major Jonathan Cummings, who favored the orthodox forms of worship, though not a member of this or any other church, undertook to build a meeting-house for the use of the denomination on his own responsibility. The frame was raised in June of 1808, and it was nearly finished during this, and the following year. The building was forty-eight by sixty feet in size and thirty feet high in the walls. It was built on the same site still occupied for a similar purpose near the center of the town. When
the meeting-house was approaching completion, Mr. Cressey having been here about two years, and the members of the church desiring to settle him permanently and have him duly installed as pastor, they petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for an act of incorporation, which was granted and approved by the governor, March Ist, 1809. The following persons were incorporators : Joseph Bradbury, Job East- man, Joel Stevens, Cad W.F. Jones, John Hor, Benjamin Fuller, James Flint, Joshua Crockett, Jonathan Pottle, Darius Wilkins, Eliphalet Wat- son, Silas Meriam, John Pike, Aaron Wilkins, Amos Hobbs, Amos Town, Increase Robinson, Asa Noyes, Enoch Holt, William Lessley, Ward Noyes, John Needham, Stephen Pingree Jr., Micah Upton, Jon- athan Gurney, Joseph Martin, Benjamin Flint, Robinson Hobbs, Enoch Merrill, Joel Frost, Thomas Wood, Jeremiah Hobbs, Jeremiah Hobbs Jr., Daniel Hobbs, Jeremiah Hobbs 3d, Jonas Stevens Jr., John Case, Daniel Holt, Jacob Russell, Frye Lovejoy, Ephraim Twombly, Francis Butcher, Dustin Patch, Zephaniah Frost, Philip Abbott, John Ordway, Jacob Frost, Daniel Town, Amos Upton, Amos Upton Jr., Jonathan Shed, Jonathan Cummings, Luther Farrar, William Hobbs, Benjamin Peabody, Amasa Lessley, Joseph Stevens Jr., Moses Ayer, Elijah Flint, Amos Cummings, Jonas Stevens, Nathan Noble, Ebenezer Watson, Stephen Bartlett, Timothy Stone, Nathan Foster, Isaac Lovejoy, Eben- ezer Bancroft, together with their families and estates with them. A
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call was then extended to Mr. Cressey, of which the following is a сору : -
TO THE REV. NOAH CRESSEY :
DEAR SIR :- The church and people of the Congregational Society in the town of Nor- way, being united in their desires, to have you continue with them to preach and administer to them the ordinances of the Gospel, and as a manifestation of their attachment to you as their teacher and instructor in divine truth, their approbation of your walk and conversation, their thanks for your love and labour with them in the Gospel hitherto - Have at a legal meeting held on the tenth day of April Inst. by said society, unanimously voted to renew their invitation for you to settle, and be ordained as Pastor and Minister over said church and society. And for your encouragement to settle and labour with them in the Gospel, do agree and engage to pay you two hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents as your salary for the first year, and add sixteen dollars and sixty-seven cents yearly, until the sum amounts to three hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-four cents which is to be your stated salary, so long as you shall labor with the church and society in preaching the Gospel and administering the ordinances thereof to their satisfaction as a teacher, and you be satisfied in them as a people under your charge. And for your further encouragement, do agree to pay you three hundred dollars as a settlement to be paid in labor and materials for erecting buildings in said town of Norway, as you may want. And may God direct you in the path of duty, and grant you all needed aid and assistance whereby you may be enabled to come unto the church under your care and charge from time to time in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of peace.
Signed, JOB EASTMAN NATHAN NOBLE JOSEPH STEVENS JOHN HORR -
1 · Committee.
Norway, April 13- 1809.
In due time Mr. Cressey returned the following reply : -
TO THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF NORWAY :
BRETHREN AND FRIENDS : As you have renewed your invitation, expressing as you have formerly done, a desire to have me become your pastor and teacher, I now proceed to com- municate my answer to the same.
The Gospel is at once the most glorious and important object which ever engaged the attention of man. It originated in the love and compassion of God : and is now in operation in the world for the merciful purpose of destroying sin, of reclaiming fallen men, and guiding them to Heaven and eternal happiness. From the instruction of the Gospel which has been ordered to be preached in the world, results that important relation, which subsists between a minister and people. In forming a connexion of this nature, serious, great and interesting consequences approach in view. Though this connexion may dissolve, yet the consequences resulting from it remain eternal. A Minister should not choose to take the charge, and moral instruction of a people for any other purpose than to advance the Glory of God, and to seek the salvation and happiness of immortal souls. And a people in settling a Gospel minister should be actuated by the sincere and laudable motives of gaining spiritual knowledge, and promoting their future peace and welfare.
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You have invited me to an important situation, to take upon me a solemn charge, to engage in a work, in which the Glory of God, the prosperity of Zion, and your own salvation are deeply concerned. Here my thoughts extend beyond the grave and bring into view the inter- esting realities of eternity. I shrink from the sacred and solemn task. This is a great resolution to form, it is a weighty trust to devolve on a mortal. After much serious consider- ation upon your situation, and the sincere attachment, which you have manifested to me, in answer to your invitation as an incorporated society I cordially consent to become your Pastor and teacher; praying that the Lord would make me a faithful embassadour of Jesus Christ ; that he would grant his blessing to our expected union, and make it a means of promoting his glory and our eternal salvation.
NOAH CRESEY.
The time for ordination was fixed for September 20th, 1809, when the meeting-house would be ready for occupancy, and during the summer the society, according to contract, built a house for the minister, situated on the hill above the meeting-house. August 30th, a committee was chosen to look after the entertainment of the council appointed to ordain Mr. Cressey, consisting of Joseph Stevens, Nathan Noble, and Amos Hobbs. At the same meeting, Benjamin Eastman was appointed chorister for the occasion, and Joseph Martin, Amos Cummings, and William Hobbs were designated as his assistants. Ephraim Twombley was chosen marshal, and Jeremiah Hobbs 3d and Ebenezer Watson, assistants. The exercises came off to the satisfaction of every one, and the church for the first time had a settled pastor.
Affairs ran smoothly after this for the space of ten years. John Horr became the second deacon, soon after the ordination of Mr. Cressey, and several additions were made. Among others, were Daniel Watson and wife, Ebenezer Watson,Sophia Cressey, wife of the pastor, Luther Farrar and wife, and Joel Frost. May 24th, 1816, twenty-one members had been added since the ordination of Mr. Cressey, and at this time Jonathan Gurney and Benjamin Herring Jr. were chosen deacons. The additions from this time up to 1819 were sixteen. On the 7th day of December, 1819, an ecclesiastical council was held, in accordance with an arrangement made between church and pastor, at the house of Mr. Cressey, to consider the question of severing the relations between them. The church had voted not to pay Mr. Cressey his salary for the ensuing year, and had proposed to him to preach a part of the time in Paris, to which he had made no response. The ecclesiastical council was made up of the following persons : from
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
Bridgton, Rev. Nathaniel Church, Brother Ezra Gould, delegate ; Waterford, Rev. Lincoln Ripley, Deacon Ephraim Chamberlain, dele- gate ; Bethel, Rev. Henry Sewall, Deacon Samuel Barker, delegate ; Otisfield, Rev. I. G. Merrill, Deacon Elias Hancock, delegate. Their report was as follows :
Happy in finding nothing alleged against the character of the Rev. Noah Cresey, as a reason for his dismission, and as we know nothing of the kind ourselves, We cordially recom- mend him to the Christian charity and fellowship of God's people wherever in Divine Providence he may be called. We now humbly, and with fervency commend our Rev. Brother, and this church and society to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.
It appears that no fault was found with Mr. Cressey, only the society found it difficult to raise the necessary funds.
Rev. Robert Page Jr. was a candidate for settlement here and preached a few months, but was not settled. Rev. Joseph Walker commenced preaching here in the fall of 1821. He received a formal call on the 12th of November of that year. He was to preach half of the time in Norway and the other half at South Paris, this being the arrangement they proposed to make with Rev. Mr. Cressey. A sketch of Mr. Walker may be found in another place. He continued to preach here until the summer of 1826. In September of this year, the 19th day, the society voted to extend an invitation to Rev. Henry A. Merrill, to become their pastor for five years. He accepted and was duly installed November Ist, 1826. Soon after he commenced his ministry, there was an important revival and nineteen persons joined the church. Mr. Merrill remained until the latter part of 1834. Rev. Charles Soule came here in 1836 and remained nine years. He was installed, June 7th, 1837. During his ministry, the old meeting-house, built by Jonathan Cummings, was taken down and a new one built upon the same spot. At a meeting holden July 2d, 1845, it was " voted that the arrears of interest on the ministerial fund up to May or June last, be paid to Rev. Charles Soule." "Voted that the assessors get up a subscription list to hire the Rev. Charles Packard to preach six weeks, alternately, at the Congregational meeting-house, at the center of the town, and at the village." Twenty members were added at this meeting. At a meeting of the society on the 17th of February, 1846, a call was extended to Mr. Packard to become the pastor of the church
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HISTORY OF NORWAY.
for five years. He remained until the spring of 1850. He was subse- quently settled at Waldoboro and at Woolwich, and in 1873, was at Windham, New Hampshire. Mr. Packard was succeeded by Rev. Harrison W. Strong, who died here, July 13th, 1855. The following table shows the ministers of the first Norway church, with date of installation and dismissal : -
Rev. Noah Cressey
came September 20, 1809, left
December 7, 1819.
Rev. Joseph Walker
..
February, 1822, 66
1826.
Rev. Henry A. Merrill
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