USA > Maine > Penobscot County > Garland > History of Garland, Maine > Part 23
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At a meeting of the legal voters of the town of Garland, held August 6, 1825, it was voted to give the Rev. Isaac E. Wilkins a call to become its minister upon certain specified conditions having reference to his sup- port. Isaac Wheeler, Esq., Deacon John S. Haskell, Walter Holbrook, Ansel Field and Justus Harriman, were appointed a committee to wait on Mr. Wilkins and acquaint him with the action of the town, and ascertain whether the conditions were satisfactory.
At an adjourned meeting, held August 11, the com- mittee reported that Mr. Wilkins had indicated his acceptance of the necessary conditions, whereupon the town voted to give him a call to become its minister. Isaac Wheeler, Esq., Justus Harriman and Daniel Ladd were appointed to inform Mr. Wilkins of this action of the town. The town also voted to pay Mr. Wilkins one hundred and eighty dollars for one year, one third in money, and the other two thirds in grain, labor, or what should be necessary for his support and comfort as a
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minister of the Gospel. By virtue of this action Mr. Wilkins became Garland's first settled minister.
He had been educated at the Bangor Theological Seminary, and was Congregationalist in creed. £ He, with candidates of other denominations, had occasionally preached in town. Up to this time the Congregational church had been the only organized church in town. It was fitting that the preference of this church should be consulted in the selection of a minister.
Mr. Wilkins was installed on October 12, 1825, under the auspices of the Congregational church. It was an occasion of great interest. A platform had been built where the Congregational meetinghouse now stands and was sheltered by a bower of evergreen boughs. In front of it was a large and interested audience. Rev. Pro- fessor Smith of the Bangor Seminary, the Rev. S. L. Pomroy of Bangor, Rev. Thomas Williams of Foxcroft, and Rev. N. W. Sheldon with numerous lay delegates composed the council. Professor Smith preached the sermon which was afterwards published.
It will be seen by the foregoing statements that Garland's first settled minister was settled by the town. For an explanation of this we must go back to a former century. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts was the owner of the Province of Maine until the Act of Separ- ation in 1820.
The public men of that State took great interest in their Eastern Province and were always ready to aid in measures to promote the welfare of the towns which were springing into existence over its surface. In the year 1796 that State gave the township we now call Garland to Williams College, located in the town of Williamston, Mass. It was then a wilderness without a human habi- tation or even a name. It was designated as township number three, in the fifth range of townships north of
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the Waldo Patent. Among the conditions of this gift to the college was the reservation of three lots of land of three hundred and twenty acres each for certain public purposes. One of these lots was reserved for the benefit of the first settled minister, to which Mr. Wilkins was clearly entitled. In his engagement however he cov- enanted to deed to the town three eighths of this lot. The reason for this is not shown by the records and must therefore be a matter of inference. He would need means for the support of his family before he could realize anything from the sale of his land. The pre- sumption is that he relinquished to the town three eighths of the land that belonged to him as the first settled minister, in consideration of the sum of one hun- dred and eighty dollars promised him by the town for one year's service. It is also probable that this sum was raised by voluntary subscription. There are no records to show that the town, as a municipality, con- tributed to his support after the first year.
Having been installed, Mr. Wilkins entered upon his work with zeal and hope. He resided in the house as it then was, now occupied by the Clark family in the upper part of the village. The place of his regular ministra- tion upon the Sabbath was at the old Center schoolhouse which was located at the geographical center of the town, and which at that time, afforded the largest audi- ence room in town. Mr. Wilkins was a man of pleasing address, dignified bearing, good abilities and a ready off hand speaker. His relations with his people were of a pleasant character.
The expenses of a growing family, transcending the ability of his parishioners to pay, his pastorate termi- nated September 2, 1830. At this time there were three evangelical churches in the town, the Baptist, Free Will Baptist, afterwards known as the Free Baptist, and
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the Congregational church. There was also a Methodist organization in the town. The first three denominations mentioned, united for the purpose of sustaining meet- ings, each in turn supplying someone to preach to the people when practicable, or to conduct religious services when no minister appeared.
The Maine Missionary Society furnished preaching for a few Sabbaths each year. Among those sent by this society were the Reverends Calvin White, Lewis Pennell, John A. Vinton, Aurelius Swift and James Caruthers, a native of Scotland. The aid furnished by the Missionary Society was supplemented by the voluntary subscription of the people. Mr. Caruthers attracted the attention of his hearers by his great size, fervid zeal and Scotch dialect.
While as a general rule the current of brotherly sym- pathy ran smoothly along through this trio of religious societies, there was occasionally a ripple of disturbance. At the close of a preaching service Mr. Caruthers announced that he would preach to this people in one week when a Baptist brother sprang to his feet and gave notice that a minister of HIS denomination was expected to occupy the desk at the same time. Mr. Caruthers then announced that he would preach from this desk in two weeks. A Free Baptist brother arose to say that a minister of HIS denomination had an appointment to preach here in two weeks. Instantaneously the tower- ing form of Mr. Caruthers presented itself to the audi- ence, and in his Scotch dialect, intensified by excitement, he announced that "IN THREE WEEKS FROM THIS DAY, I WILL PREACH TO THIS PEOPLE IF I CAN FIND THE BRANCH OF A TREE TO SHELTER ME 'EAD."
At the termination of the arrangement whereby the three societies had held religious meetings together the Congregational society worshipped by itself for a time.
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At the meetings of the society on the Sabbath Deacon Stephen Smith, a good reader, procured the printed sermons of eminent ministers and read them to the people. Meetings thus conducted were interesting and profitable.
"Protracted meetings," extending through four or five days, were of yearly occurrence, and were partici- pated in by the religious people of the town. One of these meetings was favored by the presence of the Rev. Jotham Sewall. Mr. Sewall was a man of large size and impressive personality and was known throughout the State for his earnest and effective appeals to religious life. The writer, then a boy of sixteen, was a listener to one of his sermons. At the end of one of his most impassioned appeals an incident invested with a dramatic element occurred. He had listened, he said, to a sermon by Whitefield who, after an earnest appeal to the unconverted, suddenly paused and bringing one foot forcibly to the floor, exclaimed, "Stop; Gabriel, stop; do not return to the heavenly portals until you can carry the news that, at least one soul has been converted."
In 1835, inspired by the faith, zeal, and indomitable courage of the veteran missionary of Eastern Maine, the Rev. John Sawyer, the church and society entered upon measures for building a meetinghouse. A company was organized to be known as the Congregational Meeting House Company of Garland. A constitution and by- laws were adopted to go into effect when the company should be legally incorporated. It was provided that the stock should be divided into twenty-four shares of fifty dollars each, and that when eighteen or more shares should have been taken, the location of the building should be fixed, its size and style determined, and a building committee appointed. One of the by-laws forbade the use of ardent spirits in raising the house, or
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in any part of the work connected with its construction. There was considerable preliminary discussion as to the size and style of the building. The members of the church and society were struggling to meet the ordinary demands upon their resources. All felt the necessity of economy of expenditure in its construction. Some favored a very small and plain building, bare of belfry or steeple. Others contended that its size must be determined by prospective as well as present necessities, and that a bell would be among the wants of the future, which would require a belfry.
Louis Goulding, a member of the church, who was always ready with a facetious remark upon subjects com- ical or serious, said that "The purpose was to build a house for God. Without belfry or steeple it would be God's barn and not God's house." The size and style, and all necessary preliminary matters, were at length determined, and plans were prepared. Benjamin H. Oak was appointed treasurer, who with the Rev. John Sawyer and William Godwin were constituted a build- ing committee. The eighteen shares, the condition precedent to building, had been taken and the work was entered upon at once.
Austin Newell of Monson, an experienced builder, was employed to take charge of the construction of the build- ing. The original subscribers to the stock were Deacon Smith, Deacon John S. Haskell, and the Rev. John Sawyer, who subscribed for two shares each, and George Curtis, Josiah Merriam, Joseph True, Jr., James Greeley, Abraham True, Lewis Goulding, Benjamin H. Oak, Isaac Wheeler, William Godwin, Jacob Greeley, Raymond Copeland, J. Holyoke, and H. N. Pake, who subscribed for one share each.
The two last named subscribers were citizens of Brewer. The foundation of the meetinghouse was built
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and the frame raised and covered in 1835. Here the work rested until the following spring. The raising of the building called together a large number of willing helpers as well as spectators. A bountiful dinner and an abundant supply of hot coffee took the place of the stimulants which, in earlier days, were deemed necessary to the successful raising of large buildings.
In the spring of 1836 work was renewed on the church by Mr. Newell, who had entered upon a contract to complete the building. Early in 1837 the new church was finished and dedicated. Occupying a commanding site in the center of the village, its modest belfry has through all the years indicated the high purpose of its construction, and announced to the passing stranger that there are people in this community who know the Christian's Sabbath and worship the Christian's God.
When the church was completed considerable money was realized from the sale of pews to individuals. Still the Meeting House Company found itself in debt and several years passed before the debt was fully paid. Father Sawyer appealed to acquaintances in Bangor and Brewer for aid to pay the debt who responded in five and ten dollar subscriptions.
Edward Hill of New York, a brother of Mrs. Josiah Merriam, contributed liberally to this fund. The late Colonel John S. Kimball of Bangor is authority for the statement that Father Sawyer's zeal in aid of building the church, led him to mortgage his farm to raise money to pay his subscription to the building fund and that a short time previous to his death a pension from the Government for services in the war of the Revolution enabled his friends to pay the balance due on the mort- gage and redeem the farm.
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Pastorate of the Rev. S. S. Drake
In 1837, the Rev. S. S. Drake became the acting pastor of the parish. He had previously labored here under the auspices of the Maine Missionary Society. He was installed as pastor February 24, 1841, and filled the pastorate until March, 1847, when his relations to the parish were severed. Mr. Drake was a pleasing and popular preacher, and his relations to the church had, in the main, been pleasant and satisfactory, but unfor- tunately cases of discipline were followed by dissensions that could not be healed so long as he remained its pastor.
The Congregational meetinghouse was ready for occu- pancy about the time that Mr. Drake commenced his term of service, and he preached from its pulpit for a period of about ten years. Mr. Drake was followed by Mr. P. B. Thayer, then a recent graduate of Bangor Theological Seminary. Before the completion of his course at the seminary he was introduced to members of the Congregational church by a personal friend whom he was visiting, and by invitation, he occasionally preached from the Congregational pulpit. These pulpit efforts were followed by a unanimous call to the pastorate of the church. Accepting the call, his ordination and installation took place on December 21, 1848.
The members of the council on this interesting occa- sion were the Revs. Wooster Parker of the Foxcroft and Dover church, E. G. Carpenter of the Dexter church, W. S. Sewall of the Brownville church and Horatio Illsley of the Monson church. Revs. Henry White and Enselius Hale were present. The pastorate, so auspi- ciously opened in 1848, extended to May, 1896, a period of almost forty-eight years without a break; the longest pastorate then existing in New England in the Congre-
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gational line save one in Massachusetts, and it is not too much to say, a pastorate whose harmony was very seldom disturbed by discordant sounds.
"The persons who have officiated as deacons of this church are John S. Haskell, Joel Pratt, Stephen Smith, George Curtis, Samuel Coan, John Rideout, Luther Rideout, Boardman Wood and Martin Rideout, none of whom are now living. The present deacon is Stephen R. Came. The clerks have been Joel Pratt, Stephen Smith, Rev. P. B. Thayer and Miss Sarah A. Curtis. Miss Curtis served long and efficiently and is still clerk at this time, (1911). The Rev. T. W. Harwood followed Mr. Thayer as pastor.
Mr. Harwood was a graduate of the Bangor Theo- logical Seminary, and his religious views were in harmony with the teachings of that institution. He was a man of fine abilities. His sermons were logical, instructive and uplifting and he never failed to hold the attention of his audience while speaking. From his large fund of information he drew material for frequent interesting and instructive lectures upon moral, religious and secular subjects.
Historical Sketch of the Free Baptist Church
At the opening of the present century the Free Bap- tist denomination was in its infancy. The simplicity of its creed and the earnestness of the appeals of its ministers attracted to its membership many of the earlier inhabitants of Garland. In 1809, the Rev. Asa Burnham from Nottingham, N. H., a minister of the Free Baptist denomination and an excellent man, moved into the township, and commenced making a home for his family upon land formerly owned by Robert Seward.
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Josiah Bartlett, afterwards known as Elder Josiah Bartlett, was the first citizen of the new township to express a preference for the Free Baptist creed in a public manner, and this he did by receiving the ordi- nance of baptism at the home of Elder Burnham on the last day of December, 1809. A little later his wife, Mrs. Sally Bartlett, was baptized by the Rev. Samuel Hutchins of New Portland, Maine.
The Free Baptists of that time had no organized system of missions. This, and other towns, were visited from time to time by ministers drawn thither, in the parlance of the times, by the leadings of Providence. Among them were Elders Joseph Farewell, Samuel Hutchins and Lincoln Lewis. From 1820 to 1825 prayer and conference meetings were held at the Center and other schoolhouses, which were freely participated in by members of other denominations. The spirit of union which prevailed at that early day has happily been perpetuated to the present time.
In 1825, it had become the settled conviction of several persons that a church of the Free Will Bap- tist denomination should become a verity.
Acting upon this conviction a council consisting of Elder John Page and Deacons Ebenezer Towle and Joseph Walker of Exeter assembled on the 9th day of April, 1825, when a church was organized, and given the name of the Free Will Baptist church of Garland. The persons uniting with this church at this time were Josiah Bartlett, Joseph Strout, Joseph Johnson, Sally Bartlett, Grace Ladd, Lucy Silver, Sally Strout and Harriet Chandler. A large and flourishing church has grown from this beginning.
Joseph Strout was its first clerk and to Josiah Bartlett was committed its pastoral care. It promptly sought connection with the Exeter Quarterly meeting, whose
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organization was probably only a year earlier. Such connection was effected in June of the following year. For some years thereafter it enjoyed the ministration of Elder John Page, who became a resident of Garland and a member of the church in 1826. The Rev. Leonard Hathaway made his first visit to Garland and preached one or more Sabbaths to the Free Will Baptist people in the year 1828. His fervid and earnest appeals made an impression upon those who heard him that was never forgotten. In the first five years of this church about forty persons were admitted to membership by baptism and twenty by letter. In the following five years there was a decrease in numbers.
In 1830, Samuel V. Nason a member of the church, was licensed to preach and was ordained to the work of the ministry in the following June. A Sabbath-school was organized in 1830 and John P. Smith was chosen superintendent. In 1834, the church was afflicted by the death of their esteemed minister, Elder John Page.
Elder Page was born in Wentworth, N. H., Febru- ary 11, 1787. He was for a time a resident of Alton, N. H. In 1824 he moved to Corinna. After a year's residence at Corinna he moved to Exeter and thence to Garland in 1826.
From 1830 to 1835 there were no additions to this church. At the end of its first ten years the church numbered thirty-one members. Its record indicates that from the year 1834 it had no regular preaching until the coming of Elder Moses Ames in 1839. In the intervening time there had been occasional preaching by ministers who were laboring in the vicinity. In 1840, ten persons were added to the church. Measures were entered upon for building a meetinghouse in 1840, which materialized in 1841.
It was located about a mile east of the geographical
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center of the town and was dedicated in January, 1842. The dedicatory sermon was preached by the Rev. Abel Turner. The first church conference in the new house, held in February, 1842, was an occasion of great interest. Two persons presented themselves for baptism at this conference and candidates for this ordinance pre- sented themselves at each conference thereafter until July, when Moses Twombly and John Batchelder were chosen deacons.
This period of prosperity so auspiciously begun was followed by a season of severe trial. Many members abandoned the church to enter the ranks of that wild religious craze known as Millerism. Some of the more intelligent of those who had been carried off their feet by this turbid current returned to the church and its ordinances. From the date of the death of Elder John Page the church was destitute of a pastor until the com- ing of Elder Moses Ames in 1839. During this period of destitution the church was favored by occasional preaching by different ministers, among whom was Elder Harvey of Atkinson, who preached in 1836, and bap- tized several persons. The Rev. Mr. Nason and other ministers supplied the pulpit occasionally. In 1842, John I. D. Sanford was elected clerk of the church, a position which he held for many years. Mr. Sanford had previously been officially connected with the Free Will Baptist church in Bangor.
Elder Josiah Bartlett, who had exercised the general pastoral care over the church from the date of its organ- ization, relinquished such care to Elder T. W. Dore in 1842. During the second decade in the history of the church there were fifty-nine additions by baptism and twenty-nine by letter. In 1845, Elder T. W. Dore became pastor of the church. Josiah Bartlett was its
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presiding elder, Moses Twombly and John Batchelder, its deacons, and John I. D. Sanford, its clerk.
The church had hardly recovered from the numerous defections through the influence of Millerism before it was confronted by the deaths of several of its oldest and most esteemed members. On the 25th of August, 1846, Deacon Moses Twombly dropped from the ranks. He had been one of the pillars of the church and his loss was deeply deplored. In less than twenty days thereafter Elder Bartlett, who had been the prime mover in bringing his loved church into existence, closed his eyes upon all earthly affairs. His death occurred September 12, 1846.
Elder Moses Ames was called to the pastorate of the church April 14, 1846. On October 6 of the same year Robert Seward and Zebulon Knight were chosen deacons. In March the church voted to support its minister by the taxation of its members, and that his compensation should be two dollars per Sabbath, which was considered a liberal compensation. A subsequent vote allowed him eighty cents per day for pastoral visits but this vote was afterwards recalled by request of Elder Ames. The ministers of the denomination were expected to provide themselves with farms from which the support of their families was largely derived.
In 1849, twenty-seven persons became members of the church by profession and several others by letter. In June of 1849 the Rev. Joseph Cook became a resident of the town and a member of the Free Will Baptist church. He soon came to be esteemed as a warm- hearted and intelligent member of the Free Baptist church and a well balanced citizen of the town. He was an earnest friend of the slave and of the temperance reform. In August, 1849, eight citizens of Bangor became members of the Garland Free Baptist church
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and a branch thereof. Seven years later they withdrew to unite with the church of their own locality. Elder Moses Ames retired from the pastorate of the church in 1850 and was followed by Elder T. W. Dore.
Elder Ames was a man of sanguine temperament, liberal views, and was tolerant towards other denomi- nations. He was in active and earnest sympathy with the anti-slavery and temperance movements. In 1851, Elder Cook was employed to preach one fourth of the time. In 1852, Elder Leonard Hathaway united with the church and became its pastor. He brought to its service a vigorous constitution and a religious fervor and enthusiasm which insured a large measure of success. There is a tradition that at a meeting held ten months subsequent to the beginning of his pastorate, he vehe- mently exclaimed, "Souls must be born or I cannot live."
Inspired by this feeling he labored with a zeal and earnestness that was followed by a religious awakening that resulted in the addition of twenty-five members to the church by baptism and others were received by letter. In March, 1854, John Batchelder was licensed to preach by the Exeter Quarterly meeting. In 1855, the church voted to employ Elder Hathaway every Sabbath. The membership at the end of the third decade was ninety-seven, a net gain of thirty-one in ten years.
In 1859, Elder Hathaway's salary was raised to three hundred dollars. In March, 1862, he was allowed a vacation of two months on account of impaired health. In 1863, he closed his labors with the church, having had the pastorate care of it for a period of eleven years, a period of religious prosperity during which there had been nearly one hundred accessions. His intimate rela- tions with his people were not easily terminated. They
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were earnestly desirous of retaining him but he believed that duty called him to another field, and where duty called he was accustomed to go, and going he bore with him the warm sympathies and best wishes of his sorrow- ful people.
Elder Hathaway was succeeded by the Rev. Appleton W. Reed, who had been a minister of the Christian denomination. After passing a satisfactory examination he was received into the Free Baptist church of Garland on the 2d of May, 1863, and entered at once upon his pastoral duties. In 1864, his salary was fixed at two hundred and fifty dollars, with the understanding that this sum would be generously supplemented yearly by donations.
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