USA > Maine > History of Methodism in Maine, 1793-1886 > Part 62
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Brother Fleteher was one of the most uuselfish of men. He was never eager to acquire, or anxious to retain mouey ; neither did he carelessly spend it. He was a rigid economist. Probably no time during the last thirty years, eould his entire wardrobe and traveling outfit have been sold for one hundred and fifty dollars ; yet, though long entitled to draw upon Conference funds, he declined to receive oue dollar till six years before his death, wheu an appropriation was made without his knowledge. Much of his seant means was spent in publishing his books. Of these he had given away three hundred dollars worth.
Brother Fleteher never married. Whether from inelination or from convietion, he lived a eelibate, may never be known. He wrote : "For fifty-eight years I have beeu a Gospel minister, aud a mau of oue work."
Brother Fleteher left the seat of the Confereuee Monday, May 8, 1882. He was to have preached at Georgetowu the following Sabbath, but was taken ill with pueumonia, May twelfth aud died the twenty-second. The retiring preaeher had left, and his successor had pot arrived. Rev. A. H. Hauseom, pastor of the Freewill Baptist church in Georgetown, was mueh with him during his siekness. It should be further noted that Mr. Ebenezer Nutter of Cape Elizabeth,
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Rev: Geo: Pratt.
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GEORGE PRATT. CHARLES L. BROWNING.
had generously offered Brother Fletcher a home in his family during life.
(2.) REV. GEORGE PRATT was born in New Vineyard, Maine, July 16, 1812 ; converted in Farmington about 1830, and died in Winter- port, June 28, 1882. In 1836, he supplied Corinna ; in 1837, Corinth. He joined the Maine Conference in 1838, and at its division, in 1848, was included in the East, Maine, where his appointments were Exeter, Dexter, Orono, Rockland, Thomaston, Searsport, Belfast, Morrill, Winterport, and a full term upon each of the three districts.
The early educational advantages of Brother Pratt were limited ; but he made good use of later opportunities. He was a power in the pulpit. There was in his preaching a ruggedness and a heartiness that were natural to the man. As a pastor and as Presiding Elder he was devoted and successful.
Brother Pratt presided at a meeting of the Trustees of the Confer- ence Seminary, held Junc 21 ; at which he said he wished to die a Trustee, but did not want to die yet.
He closed what had been a very pleasant session of the board, in an unusual and very tender manner, with remarks, prayer, singing, and benediction. It was his last meeting with the Trustees. The following Sabbath he preached twice, and died one week from the date of adjournment of meeting of Trustees.
(3.) REV. CHARLES L. BROWNING passed to his reward September 22, 1882. He was born in the parish of Bickington, Devonshire, England, December 15, 1797.
Father Browning was converted in England, and joined the Wesleyan Methodists, to which his father made great objections ; so in 1830 he came to the United States, and in the same year joined the Maine Conference.
In 1847, he located.
In 1854, he joined the East Maine Conference.
In 1864, on account of advancing years and failing strength, he was returned superannuate, which relation he sustained till death.
He was a faithful preacher, presenting all gospel truths with clearness and force. On most of his charges he had the satisfaction of witnessing the conversion of souls, who came into the church. His love for the people of God, together with the daily sacrifice made
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BENJAMIN JONES.
by him, and his faithful wife, that the small property he inherited might be preserved for the church, tell of more than common depth of piety. In his last hours his frequent utterance was : " All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come."
(4.) REV. BENJAMIN JONES was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, July 28, 1786, and died in Lincolnville, Maine, July 18, 1850, aged 64 years. At the age of eleven years, he listened to the preaching of Jesse Lee. A few years afterward he was awakened and converted under the labors of Rev. Joshua Hall.
He was licensed to preach in 1808 ; admitted to the New England Conference in 1809, and appointed to Union Circuit in the (then) Distriet of Maine.
In 1846, he was returned superannuated. But for his intense love for his Master's work he would have received this relation long before. He continued to preach, however, till within a few months of his death. The weary wheels of life stood still, and Father Jones, having preached the glorious gospel of the blessed God with remarkable suecess for forty-two years, died in peace, and was gathered to his fathers.
As a preacher he was decidedly of the Puritan stamp. Few men have been less warped by popular opinion or practice. His profession of religion was a declaration of independence from every unhallowed bias ; of every moral question he was always found on the right side. It was while tenderness beamed in his eye, and the big tear-drops rolled over his cheek, that Father Jones became a champion of cloquence, and whole congregations were subdued before him.
In short, he was a "man of God,"-a good minister of Jesus Christ. His feet did not slide in the day of his prosperity. He was "faithful unto death." He gave the trumpet a certain sound. His warnings fell upon the ear of thousands like a solemn cry at midnight, and aroused them from their slumbers to seek a refuge in Christ. His labors, always useful, were almost invariably attended with revival. It is believed that no preacher who survives him in New England ever witnessed a greater number of conversions as the result of his labors.
Such was Father Jones. A man who wore the crown of wisdom at thirty, was a father in Israel at forty, and a venerated patriarch at fifty. A man whose wisdom and usefulness were always in advance of his years,-one of the chief captains of the Lord's host, who fell at his post upon the walls of Zion, with the shout of vietory upon his lips, and covered with laurels of unfading glory. He has no abbeyed
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DANIEL H. MANSFIELD.
burial, but he sleeps in Jesus ! His sculptured representative may have no niche in the temple of fame, but he will stand in a more glorious lot " at the end of the days !" Thousands welcomed him to the immortal shores, and thousands who lingered still on earth cried, as they beheld his upward flight, " My father ! my father ! the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof !"
At the Conference of 1851, Rev. Joshua Hall delivered a sermon on the death of his son in the gospel, Rev. Benjamin Jones, " which. (as reported) for sublimity of thought, aptness of reference, and. elegance of diction, was not surpassed by any effort at the Conference. It seemed as if all the gems in his mind were uncovered at once. The: whole sermon was a series of brilliant and sparkling corruscations,. exceeding anything we ever heard upon a similar occasion."
The style of the obituary marks it distinctively as the composition of Rev. Daniel H. Mansfield, than whom, few men could better know Father Jones.
(5.) BROTHER MANSFIELD partook of the properties of both the preacher and the subject of the sermon. He was a man of most forcible diction, clear and incisive, absorbed entire, sonl, spirit and body, in whatever work he undertook, taking hold, holding on, and never letting go, till his work was done.
Sometimes, when his eloquent oratory failed to carry he would' resort to still more eloquent song, where he was entirely at home, and with which he seldom failed. And here incidentally, he- compiled a choir book, which went through many editions, and was universally popular.
Few knew him better than this writer, who, after Quarterly meeting exercises, at Belfast, on the Sabbath, rode to Angusta, to see him die, before midnight of the same day,-a victim of his zeal for the. Seminary.
Here we have an interesting trio, a memorial sermon, on occasion. of the death of Rev. B. Jones by Rev. J. Hall, his spiritual father, and an obituary by his spiritual son, Rev. D. H. Mansfield.
(6.) REV. JOSHUA HALL was born in Lewiston, Delaware, October 22, 1768, and was converted in February, 1787. In November, 1791, he was sent to Elizabethtown Circuit.
In 1792, he was admitted on probation by the Conference at New York, and appointed to Croton Circuit. The next year he was sent to Hartford Circuit, Connecticut, as colleague of George Pickering.
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JOSHUA HALL.
In 1791 he was appointed to Vermont, but supplied a long series of appointments to which JJesse Lee had promised a preacher.
In 1795, he was sent to Penobscot Circuit, Maine. He was the third Methodist preacher sent to Maine, and the first after Lee, who labored on the Penobseot. Though he met with much opposition, he was cheered by a gracious revival, and formed the first societies organized on the Penocscot river. Before the next Conference he labored in Readfield and Portland, (with Stephen Hull) and thenee passed on to Thompson, Connecticut.
By request of Asbury, he was next appointed, with his former colleague, to Boston and Needham, and thence to Sandwich, where an extensive revival took place, and seventy persons were gathered into the society.
In 1797, he was appointed to Martha's Vinyard, and was instru- mental in planting Methodism on the Island.
In 1798, he was appointed to Providenee, with no provision for his support, where he opened a school, preached, and formed a elass, which was the beginning of Methodism there.
In 1799, he, with two others, was appointed to Warren and · Greenwich Cireuit.
In 1800, his appointment was Rhode Island. He formed the first society in Newport, and introduced Methodism in New Bedford.
In 1801, he loeated, visited Maine, and labored with Joseph Baker, · one year at Camden ; preaching also at Thomaston, Union, Lineoln- ville, Hope and Northport. There was a good work throughout the eireuit.
In 1802, he returned to Penobscot river, and settled at Frankfort Mills.
In 1830, he was supernumerary ; but he continued to travel as long as his health would allow.
In 1835, he was superannuated. After walking with God seventy- seven years, and preaching the gospel seventy-five years, he died in Frankfort, December 25, 1862. His last message to his Conferenee was : " Tell the brethren I go in holy triumph. There is no darkness in my path." And one of his last sayings was: " If I never feel better than now, I have abundant reason to give glory to God."
February 28, 1799, he married Miss Clarissa H. Bourne, of Sandwich, Massachusetts, who died May 9, 1829, aged fifty-three years, one month, twenty-eight days. He was again married, October 24, 1830, to Naney Snow. When he came to Frankfort there were
21
WILLIAM MARSH.
but two board houses in Bangor, and he found his way by marked trees.
He had mueh native shrewdness, ready pereeption, and a remarka- ble command of language ; ever a genial, cheerful christian gentleman, whom everybody loved. He shared in an eminent degree the respect and confidenee of his fellow citizens. He was fourteen years a member of the Legislature, and in 1830, having been elected President of the Senate, after many ballotings, he was, for a very brief period, while the ballots for Governor were being enumerated, aeting Governor.
(7.) REV. WILLIAM MARSH, was born in Orono, May 4, 1789, and died August 26, 1865. His parents were pioneers on the Penobscot. His father was a Captain in the Revolutionary war and aeted as interpreter with our Indian allies in Arnold's expedition to Quebec. At the elose of the war he returned to his home on Marsh Island, now forming the principal part of Oldtown, and part of Orono. A few years after, a stranger, in the person of Rev. Joshua Hall, appeared in the country, and preached with, what seemed to the people, astonishing power.
Mrs. Marsh soon after experienced religion, and a elass was formed. She died June 26, 1841.
Brother Marsh was converted, when about fifteen years of age, and for a time enjoyed great peace, but afterwards lost the evidence of his acceptance. A year or two later he was again awakened under the exhortations of Fanny Butterfield, afterward Mrs. Newell. This covenant was for all time; he had given himself to God.
Brother Marsh began to preach before he was twenty-one years of age, and soon after was called to assist Father D. Wentworth.
Those were days of large circuits, hard work, poor fare and little money ; yet God was present, and souls were converted, this result being the motive and the leading object.
In 1811 he joined the New England Conference ; was ordained Deacon in 1813, and Elder in 1815. From 1821 to 1828 he was loeal,, his residence being in Orrington, and he labored as he was able ; but was accustomed to speak of this part of his life as nearly a blank. His soul was not at rest, and as soon as he was able, in 1829, he again entered the itinerancy, and was appointed to Hampden, and it proved to be a year of power. The first protracted meeting in the State was. held in Hampden in the fall of this year. Ever after 1857, he did not sustain an effective relation, his residence being with his son, Rev. Ja
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JOHN ATWELL.
N. Marsh. The loss of his inestimable companion, seriously affected his health ; but aided by grace, he was enabled quietly to submit to so great bereavement.
In the spring of 1864, he was smitten with paralysis, and was, for months, almost helpless. In July he was again smitten ; and so violent was the attack, that he fell, and fractured his hip. IIe continued in almost unconsciousness till August twenty-six, when God took him.
Father Marsh had great natural ability. His early educational opportunities were limited, yet in the best sense, he was learned. Though he had not mastered languages enough to have several words for his ideas, he had the ideas, and could express them in good English. As a preacher, in his prime, he had few equals, and under his ministry many were converted. He understood Wesleyan theology and could defend it against all attacks, which were not few, nor wanting in violence.
Possessed of a logical mind, error appeared to him a logical deformity. Hence through a period of fifty-six years, he never failed to see where the error was in its real character. Nor was he less true to the institutes than to the theology of the church. Secessions carried thousands out of the church ; but never, for a moment, did he falter. At seventy-five, though bowed with grief and broken by suffering, he was cheeful as a child. In soul he never grew old. His sickness and death were in keeping with his life and character. His reason reeled ; but, in lucid moments, he bore triumphant testimony to the sustaining and saving power of the gospel in humanity's last and greatest extremity.
(8.) REV. JOHN ATWELL was born in Grafton, New Hampshire. March 26, 1788, and died in Orono, Maine, May 30, 1868. He was converted in early youth ; entered the itinerant ministry in 1810, and was appointed to Tuftonboro, New Hampshire, and in 1811 to Boothbay, and continued to receive appointments, without exception, till 1862 ; his appointments after 1858 being supernumerary. In 1862 he was superannuated.
Father Atwell being a man of good common sense, took a practical view of all matters coming under his observation. He was not educated in the schools, but upon the circuit he acquired knowledge of value to himself, and in his work. ITis christian experience was deep and thorough. His motto was : "Holiness to the Lord." He was prudent in the management of all matters pertaining to his work.
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GEORGE D. STROUT. JEREMIAH MARSH.
Societies were often relieved of embarrassment by his timely and wise counsel. He believed evil of no one without good evidence, and put the best construction upon everything.
As a preacher he was of ready speech, and easy manner, earnest and habitually devotional. He not only taught publicly, but " from house to house." He witnessed gracious revivals upon nearly all his charges. In a letter to a friend in 1842, he said : "I reflect with pleasure upon the hundreds I have seen converted, a large number of whom have died in peace, while many more are on the way. My heavenly Father has given me an unusual degree of health for a long term of years. To God be all the glory."
The night before his death he rested as well as usual, and was comfortable in the morning, but at six o'clock his spirit took its flight. Thus suddenly, but peacefully did the spirit of this venerable father in Israel go to the home prepared.
(9.) REV. GEORGE D. STROUT was born in Cape Elizabeth, January 24, 1802, and died in Pittston, October 22, 1868, in the forty-second year of his ministry. Sometime after his conversion he became acquainted with the doctrines and discipline of the Methodist Episcopal church, and became a member.
In 1825, he removed to Thompson Pond Plantation, where he was a torch amid fuel ; a class was formed, and he was appointed leader.
In September, 1827, he was made a local preacher, and in 1828, (probably 1829, Ed.) he traveled Durham Circuit, assisting Rev. R. J. Ayer. In 1830 he was admitted to the Maine Conference on Probation, and in 1832, to membership, when he was ordained Deacon. He was made an Elder in 1834.
October 17, 1826, he was married to Miss Annic Ayer, of Danville.
As a man, he was of good common sense, and courteous manners, which gave him access to all classes, and influence over those with whom he associated. For many years he exemplified the blessing of perfect love. As a pastor, he was diligent and faithful, never forgetting his high calling. As a minister, he was firm in his convictions, industrious, instructive, and often eloquent. He was a delegate to the General Conference in 1864. His death was a fitting close of such a life.
(10.) REV. JEREMIAH MARSH, was born in Orono, Maine, March 15, 1791, and converted in 1812.
He joined the Maine Conference in 1816. He was ordained Deacon June 7, 1818, and Elder July 10, 1826.
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JEREMIAH MARSH. SULLIVAN BRAY.
Ile was married to Miss Nancy D. Doyle, at Northport, January 7, 1820. Hle died in Exeter, Maine, JJune 12, 1874.
From 1851 to 1857, he was superannuated, when he was made effective ; but in 1858, he was obliged to resume a superannuated relation, which was sustained till the Master said : "Come up higher." His ministry reaches back fifty-eight years,-four years before Maine took her place among the States.
Father Marshi was of the noble band of itinerants who endured hardships cheerfully, and faced dangers bravely, that Methodism might be established. The prosperity of to-day is the witness of their success. In these days of steamboats and railroad cars, of clegant churches and furnished parsonages, of large salaries, and little work, to remember at how great cost those noble men of sixty years ago provided for us this goodly heritage, cannot fail to profit. With his faithful horse as his lone companion, he often found it necessary to travel for weeks, fording swamps and rivers, to reach the place of the bishop's appointment. To one of the fathers an cight week's circuit was no uncommon occurrence ; and to preach several times a day, was scarcely regarded a hardship. All this was performed and endured for a compensation so meager that they never forgot to pray for " daily bread." These dear fathers have nearly all passed to their reward on high.
(11.) SULLIVAN BRAY was born in Minot, Maine, September 15, 1795, and after a long and successful life of christian and ministerial labor, passed to his reward, March 15, 1876.
Brother Bray was not favored with many religious or literary advantages in early life; yet was blessed with a devoted christian mother, who carefully trained and watched over him. While engaged in the giddy dance, the anxious mother being in earnest prayer, the Holy Spirit arrested him, and he fled to a place of meditation and prayer, and soon found pardon through Christ, while alone in the forest.
Having grace, gifts and zeal in the cause of his new Master, he was urged to take a license to preach when about twenty years of age. After traveling a six weeks' circuit, under direction of the eccentric Rev. John Adams for awhile, he joined the Conference at Nantucket, in 1818, and was appointed to Orrington, Maine, where he preached a short time, and then went to Skowhegan, where he witnessed a glorious revival, resulting in the conversion of two hundred souls.
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SULLIVAN BRAY. BISHOP CLARK.
In 1836-37 he was appointed to Bucksport (north,) preaching one- fourth of the latter year at the village, where he gathered a class, and helped to lay the foundation of a prosperous church. In 1864 he was superannuated, having labored effectively forty-five years ; enjoying good health most of the time, and witnessing many precious revivals, and the conversion of a multitude of souls.
Though out of the effective ranks, like an old war-horse, smelling the battle from afar, he went into action again, performing regular service, three years, at Damariscotta Mills. He also greatly aided his sons William and Charles at Skowhegan, Round Pond, and Clinton, four or five years, until 1873, when, after giving a semi-centennial address at the Conference in Damariscotta, he went to Massachusetts, where the residue of life was spent with his son, Rev. William Mc. K. Bray. During the last months of life his faith was active, his hopes sanguine, his mind calm and serene.
Brother Bray was greatly aided in his life-work by his worthy companion, Mary Mitchell of Union, to whom he was married in 1819 ; who fully sympathized with him in all his experiences, and encouraged him by her superior faith and cheerfulness in all his trials. She passed to her reward some twelve years before him.
Three sons entered the ministry, and a daughter married a Baptist clergyman.
He was emphatically a Bible student, reading it through consecu- tively once or twice a year. He was also an earnest student of nature ; and, by study, on horseback, and constant reading, as he had opportunity, he kept up with the times.
He was a Delegate to the General Conference in 1832.
As a preacher, Brother Bray was plain and practical, and often soul- stirring ; but on all common, as well as special occasions, he greatly excelled in prayer.
These, all of whom died in faith, were ever ready to maintain, defend, and preach gospel truth ; which they did in its fulness, with earnestness and effect ; though all might not have been qualified or careful to select polished weapons, caring not so much but that they should be heavy, sharp and mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. Thus living and working, all died as they lived, having never halted, sought compromises, or gone astray.
BISHOP DAVIS WASGATT CLARK.
Though the subject of the following sketch was not of us and with us, in the manner of the worthies whose religious history is briefly
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BISHOP CLARK.
sketched in this chapter, it is appropriate that he should here appear, as he was born of the flesh and of the spirit within the territory of East Maine.
The Bishop and the Editor, while fellow students at Kent's IIill, were specially drawn toward each other, and not alone because natives of the same county.
A sketch of the life of Bishop Davis Wasgatt Clark, D. D., written from material furnished by a kinsman.
(12.) Bishop DAVIS WASGATT CLARK, was a son of John and Sarah, nee Wasgatt, Clark, who represented the sterling piety, energy and perseverance of the earlier inhabitants of the sea girt isle of Mount Desert, on the coast of Maine.
He was born February 25, 1812, and died at his residence in Cincinnati, Ohio, of heart disease, May 23, 1871.
He bears the name and many of the traits of his maternal grand- father, Davis Wasgatt, one of the first settlers of the island, and the first to represent its people in the General Court of Massachusetts.
His father was a carpenter, who first visited Maine to work at his trade, but eventually married the mother of the Bishop, and settled down on a farm, near his father-in-law, which became the home of the boy who was afterward an author and elergyman. Situated in a vale at the foot of a beetling cliff, which was only one of a series of mountain peaks, the subject of our sketch first saw the light. Surely " Genius hath nourished her children in homely places."
To these parents we traee the indomitable will, untiring persever- anee and sincere piety of the boy, the man, the author and the divine.
Very early in life he evineed remarkable intellectual power, and applied himself with energy and perseverance to the acquirement of knowledge. The schools of his youth averaged searcely six weeks a year.
While yet a boy, attending to the duties of home, and the labors incident to a farmer's life, he was aeeustomed, every evening, to read for hours by a tallow dip, or the less expensive luxury of a pine knot ; and here he acquired that habit of application which became a feature in all his subsequent life.
Books were scarce ; but when favored with the loan of a volume, he immediately read, re-read, and returned it to the owner with comments, which indicated a maturity of mind beyond his years. In this manner he perfeeted the rudiments of an education, continued at
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