USA > Maine > History of Methodism in Maine, 1793-1886 > Part 41
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He was sixty-three years a member of Conference, thirty years effective, five years supernumerary and twenty-four years super- annuated. He died in Groton, Vermont, October 25, 1875, aged eighty-three. being the oldest member of the Maine Conference.
Father Burnham was a devoted christian, faithful in his pastoral work, scriptural and instructive in preaching, and highly esteemed for his fidelity to the church, and for his useful labors. Many years of his superannuation were spent at his home in North Yarmouth.
His companion, a worthy christian woman, with whom he lived more than half a century, died in 1867.
REV. DAVID HUTCHINSON.
Father Hutchinson, as he was called, was, for many years, a prominent figure in the annual gatherings of the Maine Conference. his stalwart physical proportions, his grave demeanor, and long, faithful service in the ministry, always secured for him the respect of his brethren.
He was born in Sedgwick, Maine, August 14, 1781. In early manhood he chose the calling of a sailor for his life-work, and was soon advanced to be captain of a ship.
In the fall of 1811, he attended a camp-meeting in Hampden, and through the kind persuasion of Rev. Oliver Beale, the Presiding Elder, he was induced to go forward with other seekers and kneel at the altar.
He soon obtained a sense of pardon, and soon after, gave his name as a member of a Methodist class. On his return from his next voyage, he determined to yield to his convictions of duty, and enter upon the work of the ministry. He was received on trial in the New England Conference at its session at New London, Connecticut, June 20, 1813, and received his first appointment to Readfield Circuit, with Rev. Cyrus Cummings. From that time till 1848, with the exception of one year of location, he continued in the itinerant service, receiving in regular course, deacon's and elder's orders ; serving as Presiding Elder, fourteen years, on the Kennebec, Penobscot and Readfield Districts.
At his superannuation in 1848, he retired to his home in Winslow, upon a small farm, preaching as opportunity offered, till near the time of his death, June 23, 1859, aged nearly seventy-eight years.
424
J. NYE.
In 1814, he was married to Miss Lydia Clark, a worthy woman, who was a faithful companion in his itincrant trials, thirty years, and who, with three children, passed on to the better land before him. One son, Rev. E. W. Hutchinson, entered the ministry and rendered excellent service in the East Maine and Maine Conferences and fell suddenly at his post July 20th, 1885. .
Father Hutchinson was a man of stern integrity, great firmness, sound judgment and consistent picty, a good counseller, an able preacher. Hc had a strong voice, a ready utterance. In his sermons, he often employed sea phrases, with good effect.
He was a venerated father in Israel and came to the close of his ministerial life with no stain upon his record. A grand example of "faithfulness, until death."
JOSHUA NYE.
Rev. Joshua Nye was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, Oct. 14, 1792. When he was quite young, his father, Bartlett Nyc, and two brothers moved to Maine. Bartlett and Elisha Nye settled in Fairfield. They were among the first settlers, and their numerous descendants have been among the most prominent people of that town.
His opportunities for education were only such as the district school afforded. In early life he learned the trade of blacksmith, and he followed this employment at times, during most of his life. He also owned a farm, which he carried on many years.
At about the age of eightecn, he was converted and received into the Methodist Episcopal church. Before he was twenty-one, he began his public ministry, as an itinerant preacher.
His first appointment was in 1813, to Pittston, Maine, as colleague with Rev. Samuel Hillman. He continued in the itinerant work except- ing several periods of location, in consequence of failing health, till 1827, when he finally located.
In 1816, Mr. Nye was married to Miss Mary Hinks of Orrington, an estimable woman. They had three sons, Joshua, Joseph and Jesse, the first of whom only survives, an earnest worker in the temperance cause, and a member of the Congregationalist church.
Soon after his final location in 1827, he removed to Fairfield, where he supported his family by working at his trade and upon his farm, continuing, till near the close of his life, to render active service as a local preacher, preaching almost every Sabbath in his own and surrounding towns, visiting the sick and attending funerals.
425
J. PRATT.
He was an earnest preacher and uncommonly fervent in prayer, tender and sympathetic in his intercourse with others, and was highly esteemed by the people among whom he lived, and well deserved the common appellation of "Father." Those who did not accept his doctrinal ideas, entertained profound respect for him as a godly man.
He was sought for to conduct funeral services for many years, more than any other minister in the surrounding region. For a long time, he took a fatherly oversight of the society at Kendall's Mills, rendering valuable service for very small compensation.
Father Nye, from the first, was an ardent friend of the temperance cause. On one occasion, taking his eldest son, then a lad of about four years. to a temperance meeting in a school-house, he guided his hand while the child signed his name to the temperance pledge.
He was no less interested in the cause of human freedom, and early identified himself with the anti-slavery cause.
He was a consistent advocate of total abstinence and was the first in town to discard the use of intoxicating liquors at "raisings." The custom of treating with rum, on such occasions was then universal, and so imperative, that it was very difficult to secure the assistance of neighbors, on such occasions, without furnishing intoxicating drams.
Father Nye was a good man and a faithful minister of Christ. His memory is gratefully cherished by those who knew him, especially in the village where he spent so many years of his life.
He patiently endured the sufferings of his last sickness, and passed, with a smile upon his countenance, to his heavenly rest .- (Memoirs in Minutes. 1856, and letter of J. Nye, Esq.
JOB PRATT.
Rev. Job Pratt was received, on trial, in New England Conference in 1814, and appointed to Tolland Circuit, Connecticut. From that time his appointments were in Connecticut and New Hampshire till 1819, when he was appointed to Durham Circuit, Maine.
His labors thenceforward, were in Maine. In 1832, he was appointed to Rumford and closed his labors in death, in the parsonage at that place December twenty-seventh, the same year.
He was a man of great equanimity of temper, and endured the labors and privations incident to itinerant life, with great patience and perseverance. His talents were useful rather than brilliant, but he was a faithful and successful preacher.
426
J. LORD.
He dicd of consumption, after a painful illness, but his mind was peaceful, and he passed through the valley of death, without a cloud. -(From the Minutes, 1833.)
REV. JOHN LORD.
Rev. John Lord was born in Fryeburg, Maine, June 18, 1791. His father was a Baptist Minister. From boyhood the son repudiated the Calvinistic doctrines, preached by the father. Many anecdotes are related of the boy's practical, but keen refutation of Calvinistic election and reprobation.
He attended the Fryeburg Academy, under the late Preceptor Cooke, a short time. At the age of twenty-two, he was converted. He joined the Methodist church at once, and soon commenced preaching.
In 1815, he was appointed as colleague of Rev. Jacob Sanborn to Landaff Circuit, New Hampshire. The next year, he was appointed to Norway Plains, New Hampshire.
There is no record of his admission to the Conference on trial, but his admission to full membership was in 1817, in New England Conference. He continued as a traveling preacher in that Conference, till 1829.
In 1819, he was married to Miss Mary Rowell of Hooksett, New Hampshire, a woman of superior excellence, highly esteemed by all who knew her.
In 1826, '27, '28, he was Presiding Elder of Danville District, Vermont.
In 1829, he was transferred to Maine Conference and appointed Presiding Elder of Portland District, and continned in that office four years.
In 1833, he was transferred to the New England Conference.
In 1835, in consequence of some difficulty, he located, and united with the Baptists. But, subsequently, finding himself not in full sympathy with that denomination, he returned to the Methodist church and labored several years as a local preacher. In the meanwhile, having had a cancer removed by a new surgical method, he acquired the art of cancer surgery, and removed to Portland, Maine, where he remained till the close of life in the practice of this profession in which he was quite succussful. He died in Portland, August 2d, 1858.
Mr. Lord was a man of extraordinary qualities. He had a stalwart
427
J. BRIGGS.
physical frame and great muscular power. He was energetic, fearless and thoroughly in earnest in his work. He had a ready command of language, and was an able preacher, sometimes tremendously forcible. He was excitable, not always discreet, yet he had great executive power, and did grand service for the church.
He was the originator of what was called "Four Days Meetings." These meetings were remarkably successful. They were conducted by a few ministers, with the concurrence of the christian people. The methods were bold and decisive, and seldom failed of good results. The first of these meetings were held by Mr. Lord while he was Presiding Elder at Lyndon, Vermont. The second was held at Lisbon, New Hampshire ; at this meeting, within a week, one hundred persons were converted.
Mr. Lord carried these meetings over his district with great success and this kind of meetings prevailed extensively, for some years, not only with Methodists but with other denominations.
During the four years of his Presiding Eldership on the Portland District, he aided the preachers powerfully and effectually in their revival work.
This sketch of John Lord is prepared from letters of Dr. J. R. Lord, his son, a communication of Rev. D. B. Randall, and from the minutes of the Conference.
JOHN BRIGGS.
Rev. John Briggs was a native of England. When about twenty-three years of age, he was converted through the instrumentality of the Wesleyan ministry, and for some time was an official member of the Wesleyan Society.
He joined the New England Conference in 1817 and in 1819, he was received in full connection, and ordained deacon and elder in regular course.
His appointments were in Maine, and when Maine Conference was organized, he became a member of that body, and continued in effective service till 1826, when he retired to the ranks of superan- nuates. He died in peace at the house of Brother Moody at Kent's Hill, August 4th, 1840, aged seventy.
Mr. Briggs possessed a sound, discriminating mind. He was a man of strict integrity, and of deep and uniform piety. He was an able preacher, and excelled in prayer.
428
P. CRANDALL. C. BAKER.
PHINEAS CRANDALL.
Rev. Phineas Crandall was born at Montville, Connecticut, September 13, 1793. He was converted at Hopkinton, Rhode Island, when about twenty years of age and soon united with the Methodist Episco- pal church in Waterford, Connecticut. He was licensed as a local preacher in 1818.
In 1820, he was admitted to the New England Conference and appointed to Stanstead and St. Frances, Canada.
In 1824, he was appointed to Portland, Maine, and continued in the itinerant service in Maine, till 1829, when he located. After two years of location, he re-entered the New England Conference, and continued in effective itinerant work, serving eleven years as a Presiding Elder, till 1854, when he received a supernumerary relation, and, in 1856, he became superannuated, but continued his labors as he was able.
For fifty-eight years in the ministry, he was greatly esteemed and beloved. He was a diligent student, an able preacher and a devoted minister, of great strength and firmness of character, charitable, kind and benevolent.
He continued a devoted man of God till his death, which occurred suddenly, at Moosap, Connecticut, November 5th, 1878, in the eighty- sixth year of his life .- (From Memoirs, Minutes of New England Conference, 1879.)
CHARLES BAKER.
Rev. Charles Baker was born in Scituate, Rhode Island, August, 1797. He was converted at the age of eighteen under the labors of Joel Stecle, in 1820, and for several years received appointments in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
In 1827, he was transferred to Maine Conference and appointed to Eliot. The next two years, he was Presiding Elder of Penobscot District.
In 1830, Presiding Elder of Readfield District.
In 1831 and 1832, agent of Maine Wesleyan Seminary. He continued to render effective service in Maine Conference, most of the time as Presiding Elder for which position he was well adapted, till 1847, when he was transferred to New England Conference, and was stationed successively at Northampton, Wilbraham, Westfield and Springfield, and two years tract agent. His last appointment
429
T. PAGE. H. NICKERSON.
was Somerville, where he organized the Union Square Methodist Episcopal church. Here he died August 16, 1867.
Mr. Baker had ten children, of whom eight are still living, to honor the memory of their excellent parents. Three of the sons are in the ministry.
Henry and Greenleaf are both in the Baltimore Conference, and Melville, an Evangelist in Nevada. Mr Baker, was a devoted christian and a good minister. His long service as Presiding Elder, and his election twice as delegate to the General Conference, indicates the estimate of his qualities, held by his brethren.
He was sound in doctrine, conservative in his views, affectionate and kind in disposition, and thoroughly loyal to the church. He was never so happy as when he could relieve the needy and suffering .- (Mrs. C. A. Treadwell.)
TRUE PAGE.
Rev. True Page was born at Gilmanton, New Hampshire, in 1799, and removed. in early life, with his parents, to Montville, Maine. He was converted at the age of twelve years and licensed as a local preacher at the age of twenty.
In 1820, he was admitted, on trial, in New England Conference, and appointed to Exeter, New Hampshire ; subsequently, his appoint- ments were in Maine.
While traveling on Durham Circuit in 1825 and 1826, his health failed, and for twelve years, he patiently endured the feebleness and suffering of a lingering consumption.
He died in peace and christian triumph, September, 4th, 1838. He was an earnest and devoted christian, and an acceptable and successful minister .- (From the Minntes.)
HEMAN NICKERSON.
Rev. Heman Nickerson was born in Orrington, September 3, 1797, and spent his early youth and childhood in that place, enjoying the privileges of the common school and the training of pious parents.
He was converted at the age of twenty-one under the labors of Rev. Enoch Mudge, and united with the Methodist church. Soon after his conversion, he felt himself called to the work of the ministry and received license as a local preacher.
In 1821, he was received into the New England Conference, and commenced his itinerant life. At the organization of the Mainc
430
E. STREETER.
Conference, he was one of the original members, and soon took a prominent position among his brethren. He served as Presiding Elder tweuty-one years, and was four times a delegate to the General Conference. With the exeeption of three years, from 1828 to 1831, his life was spent in the itinerant work, till 1866, when failing health compelled him to take a superannnated relation.
Mr. Niekerson was well proportioned and stalwart in body, and was distinguished for solid and enduring qualities of mind and heart. He had a sound judgment, and clear perception of the truth of the gospel, a firm adherenee to the doctrines and polity of the church.
He was highly esteemed by his brethren as a safe connsellor and a judieious friend. In difficult questions, his opinion was songht, and his advice usually proved to be wise.
Upon retiring from active service, he returned to the home of his childhood. Under the pressure of the disease which elouded his mind, he still held fast his habits of devotion, being often found upon his knees in prayer.
He had lueid intervals, and there were frequent gleams of intelli- gence and interesting manifestations of unshaken confidence in Christ. At length the elouds all disappeared in the sunlight of heaven .- (Memoirs in Minntes of 1870.)
ELISHA STREETER.
Rev. Elisha Streeter was born in Gilford, Vt., August 21, 1784. He was eouverted at the age of eighteen, and joined the Methodist church. Believing himself called to the work of the ministry, lie immediately commenced to labor as an exhorter.
Iu 1805, he was admitted to the New England Conference on trial, and reeeived appointments in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Islaud, till 1821, when he was appointed Presiding Elder of Portland District, Maine, in which office he eoutinued four years. His subse- quent labors were in Maine, and he continued in the itinerant service till 1845, serving seventeen years as Presiding Elder.
In 1845, he was entered upon the list of superannuates, and retired to his home in Mereer.
In 1847, under great mental depression, he withdrew from the church, and passed the remaining years of his life at his home. He subsequently rallied from his depression aud returned to the church, which he had so long faithfully served. His health eoutinued to deeliue, and on the eighth of November, 1861, he died in peace, aged seventy-seven years, highly esteemed by his neighbors and friends.
431
GORHAM GREELY. J. SHAW.
Father Streeter was stern in manner, with a strong voice and commanding appearance. He was regarded as an able preacher and was especially thorongh in enforcing the rules of Discipline. He had great power of endurance, seldom failing to meet his appointments, however distant, in spite of cold and stormy weather. He was twice a delegate to the General Conference, and for many years was one of the prominent ministers of Maine Conference. He was married to Miss Tacy Allen, July 30, 1806. They had eight children, several of whom are living and settled in life.5
GORHAM GREELY.
Gorham Greely was born in Readfield, Maine, December 16, 1801. He was converted at the age of fifteen ; commenced preaching at the age of eighteen, and was admitted on trial in New England Conference in 1821, and appointed to Georgetown, Maine. He continned in the itinerant work twenty-one years, when he was obliged, in consequence of failing health, to retire to the ranks of the superannnates.
He married Miss Drury, of Temple. His wife, after her husband's superannuation, being an active and energetic woman, in order to provide for themselves and their daughters, opened a boarding house in Boston, and afterwards in New York, her husband, in the mean time, engaging in such light employment as his feeble health would allow.
In January, 1863, he was employed by the American Missionary Association to labor among the Freedmen. In this cause he was enabled to perform a considerable amount of service, which was attended with good snccess. While engaged in this work, he was prostrated with malarial fever, and by the advice of his physician, he returned to his native state, hoping to recover his health. He was disappointed in this, but was sustained in his sickness by a conscions- ness of the divine presence.
He died in Belgrade, Maine, December 17, 1867, in the triumph of christian faith.
Brother Greely was a good man and a faithful minister of the gospel ; he was sedate and modest in deportment, gentlemanly in manners, and an acceptable preacher.
JOHN SHAW.
John Shaw was born in Waterford, Maine, February 12, 1800.
5 Letter from Mrs. Sophia Kimball.
432
E. ROBINSON.
His father was a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was converted iu his nineteenth year. From the day of his con- version to the day of his death, he gave cvidence that he was a child of God. Anxious that others should partake with him the enjoyment of christian life, he soou commenced exhorting his fellow youth to flec the wrath to come.
In the winter of 1821, he commenced traveling on Livermore Circuit, during which he received license as a local preacher. At the New England Conference held in Bath, June, 1822, he was admitted on trial as a traveling preacher and appointed to St. Croix Circuit ; in 1823, to Bethel ; in 1824, to Buxton, where he ended his days, August 20, 1825.
Brother Shaw was a man of uniform piety, spirited in all his religious exercises, strong in his attachment to his friends and to the cause of God. His praise, as a preacher, was in all the circuits where hc labored. During his sickness, which was that of consumption, he often spoke of the things of God. To a visiting brother he said, " Heaven has come to me ; it is in me aud all around me ; I am filled with God and glory." Thus lived and died this man of God .- Minutes, 1827.
EZEKIEL ROBINSON.
Ezekiel Robinson, son of Ezekiel and Eunice Robinson, was born in Norway, Maine, May 28, 1799. Hc was the third of twelve children, all of whom lived to be heads of families aud members of the christian church, most of them following their parents into the Baptist church. One of his brothers, Rev. T. B. Robinson, was a Baptist minister.
They were the sixth generation in descent from Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrim church in Holland, whose widow and sou were among the carly emigrants to New England.
Mr. Robinson's early advantages were such only as were within the reach of farmers' boys in the country. His early religious life, as described in his journal, commenced when about seventeen years of age. " A sense of his lost condition" led him to seek earnestly to God for the pardon of his sins. After struggling in darkness about three weeks, while kneeling iu prayer, his soul was sct at liberty. He uuited immediately with the Baptist church. In about five years, he became acquainted with the Methodists, and was convinced of the truth of the doctrines they prcached. He accordingly left the
Diev. ElRobinson
433
E. ROBINSON.
Baptists and united with the Methodists. Soon after his conversion, he felt his mind drawn to the work of the ministry, and after much reluctance, about the year 1823, he yielded to his convictions, and received license to preach under the Presiding Eldership of Rev. Philip Munger, and was received on trial in the New England Conference, in 1823, and appointed to Georgetown, Maine. From that time onward, he continued in the itinerant service in Maine Conference, without interruption, till 1874, when his name was placed upon the list of superannuates.
He was one of the forty-two, constituting the Maine Conference, at its organization in 1825. He soon became one of the foremost members of the Conference, sharing the labors, as well as the posts of honorable service. He answered to every roll-call of the Maine Conference, except one, (when prevented from attending by sickness) from its organization, till his death.
For nearly fifty years, he performed the work of an itinerant minister, without interruption, serving fifteen years as Presiding Elder, and four times as delegate to the General Conference. He was prominently identified with all the interests of the church. For more than thirty years he was a trustee of Maine Wesleyan Seminary, often contributing to its funds, and rendering valuable service in its times of need.
He was married May 21, 1823, to Miss Sarah McCausland. Two sons and four daughters lived to maturity, all of whom became members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The two sons entered the ministry, one of whom was, for many years, a professor in Maine Wesleyan Seminary ; one daughter, the wife of Rev. Dr. Torsey. was several years Preceptress, and two other daughters were teachers in the same institution.
Mrs. Robinson died September 26, 1849. Mr. Robinson, mar- ried, for his second wife, Miss Ellen Hall of Portland, April 22d, 1854.
Mr. Robinson was a fearless advocate of temperance, as well as other reforms. He early espoused the anti-slavery cause, and dared to disregard the Episcopal advice, "to wholly refrain from this exciting subject," though at some cost to himself.
He was a man of noble physique, tall and well proportioned, dignified in bearing, affable in manners, and quiet in disposition. As a preacher, he was sound and instructive ; in prayer, appropriate and fervent.
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434
D. COPELAND.
His religious life ripened delightfully, in his declining years. After his retirement from active service, while in his pleasant home on Kent's Hill, his presence among his friends was always a bene- dietion. He was a diligent reader of the Bible. In the old Bible in which he daily read, the record was entered, a short time before his death, by his own hand, "Finished reading the 166tlı time, August 18."
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