USA > Maine > York County > Saco > History of Saco and Biddeford, with notices of other early settlements, and of proprietary governments, in Maine, including the provinces of New Somersetshire and Lygonia > Part 20
USA > Maine > York County > Biddeford > History of Saco and Biddeford, with notices of other early settlements, and of proprietary governments, in Maine, including the provinces of New Somersetshire and Lygonia > Part 20
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you, and condemn you ; for they believed and were careful to prac. tise, that their Sacrifices might not be offered up by any who were not prepared for that Work. Thus Virgil brings in his Aneas fea- ring to meddle with the Household gods and sacrifices ; till he should purify himself for that Service ; and in the mean time putting it up- on his Father.
Tu, Genitor, cape sacra Manu, Patriosque Penates; &c. says ho. And that formal and very solemn Prohibition related by the Poet, in- structs us here,
Procul hinc, procul este Profani ;
Conclamat Vates, totoque absistite Luco.
which though it be designed to warn all profane Persons from atten- ding, in common, on the Sacrifices ; yet it argues most strongly when considered with Relation to such as minister." p. 45. Mr. Paine married a cousin of our minister, a daughter of Rev. S Treat of Conn., whose lady was a daughter of Vice-president Willard. The late Hon. Robert Treat Paine, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a judge of the Supreme Court of Mass., was their son.
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building was not completed till a few years after, but was probably used during the ministry of Mr. Eveleth, as in 1723 it was voted to place a pound near the meeting house. The burying ground was adjacent to it, on the upper side, where the old graves are now seen unenclosed and otherwise neglected. The interior of the meeting house was mostly distributed into allotments for pews, which were sold to the highest bidder, and the proceeds appropriated towards the expense of the pulpit, the pub- lic seats in the body of the floor, and the stairs. The price of the allotments was voted, June, 1727, to be £10 each, but they were sold as follows : 1. The allot- ment from the men's door to the women's stairs, to H. Scamman for £18. 2. From the men's door to the men's stairs, to S. Jordan for £16. 3. The next to E. Hill, for £9. 4. The next to Justice Gray, for £7. The re- mainder for £7 each, to Capt. J. Sharpe, R. Edgecomb, Samuel Cole, P. Fletcher, and Lieut. J. Stackpole. A similar arrangement was made in the galleries ; Sept. 1729, it was voted, "that if H. Pendexter pay to the town treasurer £6 down, he is granted to build a pew over the women's stairs, not to hinder any passing or conven- iences otherwise of seats in the galleries." A. Gordon, J. Stackpole jr. J. Brooks, and J. Smith (young men) were "granted the privilege of building a seat in the front gallery, leaving sufficient room for passing into the other seats." The master builder was Benj. Haley, afterwards deacon, a grandson of Thomas Haley, the old inhabi- tant, who was a son in law of John West. Deacon Haley lived at Marblehead during the Indian troubles ; he died of fever at Cape Breton, 1745. His descendants are numerous.
During the ministry of Mr. Willard, a period of eleven years, the population of the town continued to receive accessions from abroad, and great tranquility prevailed. There was some alarm on account of the Indians 1736, but it passed away without serious consequences. The town suffered in common with the rest of the country from the ravages of an epidemic disease, a malignant throat distemper, not before known, which began at Kings- ton, N. H. in May, 1735, and extended from Pemaquid 20*
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to Carolina, causing great mortality, especially among chil- dren. Mr. Smith, in his journal, under date 31 Octo. 1735, says : "We had a fast on account of the sickness, which broke out at Kingston, and which is got as far as Cape Porpoise, and carries off a great many children and young persone, and alarms the whole country." The next year it prevailed at Scarboro', and proved almost universally fatal. Nov. 4, 1738, Mr. Smith writes : The throat distemper is still exceeding bad at Saco. We have no means of learning what number of persons died here, the records of Mr. Willard, if any were kept by him, having perished, and tradition being likewise silent on the subject.
Complaints were made against the officers and soldiers of the Truckhouse for injuring the fisheries on the river. In 1732, the town "voted that Mr. John Gordon lay a memorial before his Excellency the Governor, and the Hon. Council, of the difficulties that the inhabitants and residents on Saco river sustain by those in the public pay of this Province by setting of nets and drifting with nets to the disturbing of the common course of the fish, and any other difficulties that are not for the honor of this Province."
The law of the Province at that period, required every · town containing "fifty householders or upwards, to be ¿ constantly provided with a school master to teach chil- "dren and youth to read and write." .The law was en- forced by a penalty of £20 for its neglect. In 1730, we find Mr. Stackpole appointed "a messenger to hire a schoolmaster, not exceeding £60. per annum." Mr. John Frost was then engaged. In 1735, the town voted to continue Mr. Isaac Townsend schoolmaster. The - names of the instructers do not previously or afterwards occur in the records.
As various minor offences were punished by putting - the criminal in the stocks, every town was required · to be furnished with them, under a penalty of £5. In + 1737, it was voted by the town to pay Capt. Jordan 40s. "for making the town stocks."
A number of emigrants from the north of Ireland set- tled in town at this period. They were descendants of
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a Scotch colony that, about one century before, removed to Ireland, and displaced the native inhabitants in particu- lar districts. In 1718, one hundred families of them landed at Boston, and twenty more at Falmouth ; the former chiefly settled the town of Londonderry, N. H., the latter were dispersed into various parts of the coun- try. Others arrived from time to time in this quarter. They were accompanied by ministers of the Presbyteri- an church in several instances, to which religious sect they all belonged. In 1739, there was recorded in our townbook "the request of John Treworgy, Thomas Kill- patrick, Mathew Patten, Thomas Thompson, William Killpatrick, to set off those who call themselves Presby- terians from any further support to Rev. Mr. Willard ;" which the town refused to grant. The following persons, who dissented from the vote to increase Mr. Willard's salary, were probably of the same order ; Hector Patten, Robert Patterson, James McLellan, William Darling, Joseph Killpatrick, John Davis, Martin Jameson, Edward Rumery, Henry Pendexter, Jacob Davis, James Pratt, Abraham Townsend, R. Patterson jr.
. Thomas Gillpatrick, (as the name is now written,) emi- grated from the city of Colrain, a sea-port, and first set- tled in Wells, with a family of five sons and one daugh- ter. He shortly after removed to this town, where he died 1762, aged eighty eight years. He had in all nine sous, some of whom settled in Wells, and all lived to have families.
Robert Patterson first came over alone, and remained a short time ; in 1729, he removed his family, and set- tled on Rendezvous point, where he purchased a farm out of the Gibbins estate. He had two sons and two daugh- ters. Mr. Patterson was a prominent and worthy towns- man ; he died 1769, at the great age of ninety seven years. His oldest son, John, died 1779, aged seventy ; Robert 1797, aged eighty four. One of the daughters was un- fortunately drowned while young ; the other was married to James Mc Lellan, and died 1802, aged ninety two. Mr. M.Lellan accompanied the Patterson family to this town. He owned the place now occupied . by Capt. Marshall, and died 1785, aged seventy three. Robert Patter-
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son jr. purchased five shares, each consisting of 375 acres, in the town of Belfast, Me., four of which he gave to his sons Robert, William, Nathaniel, and James, who as- sisted in the first settlement of that town about 1770. They all lived to an advanced age, and have numerous descendants in Belfast.
The ministry of Mr. Willard was terminated by his death, which occurred very suddenly at Eliot, then a parish of Kittery, Octo. 1741. While engaged in delivering a dis- course at that place, he was attacked with a disorder in his throat, and having succeeded with some difficulty in concluding the exercises of the meeting, he returned to the house of Rev. Mr. Rogers, the minister of that pa- rish, where he died two days after. The following no- tice of this afflictive event was published in the Boston Gazette of Nov. 3, 1741 :
"KITTERY, Octo. 26, 1741.
On the last Lord's Day, about two of the clock in the afternoon, died the Rev Mr. Samuel Willard, Pastor of the Church in Bidde- ford, and on this day was decently interred at Kittery ; to which Place he came on Friday last, to preach an Evening Lecture for the Rev. Mr. Rogers He was a Grandson of the Reverend and Lear- ned Mr. Samuel Willard, some time Pastor of the Old South Church in Boston, and Vice President of Harvard College. He was a Gen- tleman of a graceful Aspect, a sweet natural Temper, of good natu- ral Powers and Measure of acquired Learning, in all, sanctify'd by the blessed Spirit ; which abundantly qualified and prepared him for the Service of the Sanctuary. The glorious Head of the Church who so richly furnished him and employed him in this Service, has greatly improved and remarkably honoured him, as an Instrument of the late surprising Work of convincing and converting a great num- ' ber of Souls in York and the adjacent Towns. And having finished this his glorious Work which his Master gave him to do, he died with an holy Sedateness and Composedness of Soul, and is gone to receive the Blessedness of a faithful and wise Steward to his Household here, in his immediate Presence, where there is Fulness of joy for- ever. The Day of his Interment the Rev. Mr. Rogers entertained a vast Auditory, in which were many of the People of Biddeford, who greatly lamented him; and did him Honour at his Death; with a very acceptable Discourse on Luke, xii. 43, 44."
Mr. Willard was a great-grandson of Maj. Simon Willard who was one of the earliest settlers of Concord, Mass. 1635, and for the succeeding forty years is well known in the annals of the Colony. Samuel, a son of Maj. Willard, born at Concord 1740, was among the most eminent divines in New England ; the minister of
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Groton, afterwards of the Old South church in Boston, and acting president of Harvard Coll. for several years. His son John, father of our minister, took a collegiate degree 1690, and settled as a merchant at Kingston, Jamaica, W. I., where Samuel was born 1705. The lat- ter was early sent to Boston to be educated under the care of his uncle, Josiah Willard, secretary of the Colo- ny, and graduated at Har. Coll. 1723; when he retur- ned to Kingston with the intention of fixing his residence on the island. But he was so much shocked by the licentiousness and irreligion which prevailed there, that he came back to New England, and soon after commen- ced the study of divinity. Directly on his settlement at this place he married Abigail, daughter of Mr. Samuel Wright, of Rutland, Mass., previously of Sudbury. Their children were the following : Samuel, who died in child- hood ; John, b. 28 Jan. 1733; William, b. Dec. 1734; Abigail, died in infancy ; Joseph, b. 29 Dec. 1738; and Eunice, b. 1741. On the death of Mr. Willard, the town . yoted £20 to his widow, to purchase a mourning dress, and £15 for a further donation. She was again married, Nov. 13, 1744, to Rev. Richard Elvins, minister of the second parish in Scarboro', who proved an excellent fa- ther to her promising children, yet of a tender age.
John, the oldest son, was placed under the care of Sec- retary Willard of Boston, who sent him to College ; he graduated 1751, and became the minister of Stafford, Conn., where he died 1807. He received the degree of D. D. William learned a trade at Lancaster, and settled in Petersham, where he was a deacon of the church, and lived to a good old age. Joseph, who was not three years old when his father died, continued in his mother's family at Scarboro' for several years. While young, he inten-" ded to follow the sea, and even went one or two short voyages ; but the last, a trip to Halifax, was attended with so much fatigue and danger, that he relinquished the design. The master of the vessel was pleased with his" activity, and. remarked to his mother, that it was owing to the exertions of Joseph, and his great firinness of mind, that the vessel was saved. After this he turned his at- - tention to study under the direction of Mr. Elvins, who
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took great pleasure in instructing him. So well convin- ced was the latter that Joseph possessed talents of a high order, that he applied to the celebrated Mr. Moody, of Dummer Academy, to take him under his care ; by whom he was prepared for college within the short time of eleven months. He graduated at Harvard 1765. Of his future eminence, as a divine, and as the President of the Uni- versity, it is unnecessary for us to speak. He died Sept. 25, 1804. Eunice, the youngest child of our minister, married Rev. Benjamin Chadwick, the successor of Mr. Elvins in the second parish of Scarboro'. This excel- lent lady has recently died at Scarboro', Feb. 11, 1830.
Two years after the death of Mr. Willard a small vol- ume was published at Boston, containing a sermon preach- ed by him only a few weeks before his decease, at the ordination of Rev. John Hovey in Arundel ; and a funeral discourse, "occasioned by the much lamented death of Rev. Mr. Willard," delivered at Biddeford by Rev. Wm. Thompson of Scarboro'; to which is prefixed a sketch of his character by Rev. Thomas Prentice, of Charles- town. The latter says : "Mr. Willard and I went to the eastward, and were settled in the ministry there about the same time, and in next neighbour towns [the writer at Arundel] : soon after which we contracted a most inti- mate friendship, which continued without interruption to his death ; and a most agreeable and most faithful friend I ever found him. He was a man of good natural pow- ers, and for his years and advantages, had made very con- siderable improvement in useful knowledge, especially in · divinity, which, as it was his profession, so was it his favorite study, and which he himself frequently declared, was of all others the most delightful to him. *** He was a man of eminent piety, and a close walk with God, in his more retired life ; as I had opportunity to observe by being much with him and often at his house. In his family he was very exemplary, not only for his kind and compassionate behaviour (which was extraordinary,) but also for the great fervor of devotion with which he was wont there to perform the exercises of piety and religion. * * In his ministry he was diligent and faithful. He took much pains in his pastoral visits, in praying with, and
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instructing his people, in a private way. And in his pub- lic performances he was very serious and solemn, very earnest and importunate, both with God and men. But this excellent servant of Christ lived for several years much unobserved. His excessive modesty, with some difficulty in his worldly circumstances, concealed him much from public view. * And as his life was very useful, so 'tis thought his death was the means of much good to many souls : For not only were many in other towns much affected with it, but also the people of his own charge were wonderfully moved with the tidings of it ; and from that time, as I am informed, there began a reformation among them, which hath since been as re- markable perhaps, as in any other town in the Province, of the bigness of it : So that a gentleman in that part of the country observed to me, that Mr. Willard, like Sam- son, slew more, meaning as to their carnal confidences, at his death than in his life."*
During the short ministry of Mr. Willard, the Church was in a flourishing condition. Beside those whose names have been mentioned as the original members, sixty three persons were admitted to full communion, viz. 24 males, and 39 females. The names of the former are the following : Samuel Scamman, Nathan Whitney, Rob- ert Edgecomb. Rishworth Jordan, Benjamin Hill, John Smith, John Smith, Andrew Stackpole, Abiel Hill, Dan- iel Smith, Benj. Nichols, John Treworgy, James Clarke, Samuel Scamman jr. Wyat Moore, Moses Wadlin, Thos. Einery, Nathaniel Whitney, jr., John Stackpole jr., John Murch, Joseph Gordon, Edward Chapman, Magnus Rid- lon, Ephraim Stimpson.
*The grave of Mr. Willard is in a field near the meetinghouse in Eliot, as tradition reports, but without the simplest monument to tell the precise spot where 'the good man' lies.
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CHAPTER IV.
. The pulpit was supplied, after the death of Mr. Wil- Jard, by Rev. Woodbridge Odlin of Exeter, and Nicholas Hodge of Newbury, until April 1742. A committee, (composed of Capt. J. Gray, Capt. S. Jordan, and Dea- con Hill,) being then appointed to obtain a minister, en- gaged Mr. MOSES MORRILL, a candidate for settlement. This gentleman was a native of Salisbury, Mass. and graduated at Harvard College 1737, at the early age of fifteen years. Notwithstanding his extreme youth, the town in June, gave him an invitation "to settle amongst them in the work of the gospel ministry," offering a sal- ary of £200, old tenor,* the avails of the contribution, and a parsonage. The committee to communicate these terms were, B. Haley, P. Fletcher, J. Davis, A. Townsend, Jas. Clarke, Thos. Emery, and R. Brooks. Some modi- fication of them was afterwards made, when, August 9, Mr. Morrill signified his acceptance of the invitation. On the same day, the Church voted to receive him as their pastor. The ordination took place Sept. 29, 1742; there is no record of the churches that assisted on the occasion. Capt. Gray was subsequently allowed £6 13s. old tenor, "for entertaining the messengers and scholars at the ordination of Rev. Mr. Morrill." The town pur- chased the house and land of Mr. Henry Pendexter for a parsonage ; the land extended back a mile and a half from the river. The house stood about one mile above the present lower meetinghouse, and nearly the same dis- tance below the Falls.
Dr. Watts's Hymns were introduced into town at this time, to be used on particular occasions ; the church vo- ted, a few years after the ordination, that they "should be sung at the sacrament, in conjunction with the Psalms of David, at the discretion of the Pastor." Simon Wingate was chosen deacon 1745, in place of Deac. Haley, de- ceased. In 1749, Samuel Scamman jr. was chosen in
*45s. or £2 5s. old tenor, were equivalent to one dollar. A cop- per was worth 5d.
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place of Deac. Hill, but declined the office, when Moses Wadlin was chosen and accepted. In 1754, John Stack- pole jr. was chosen in place of Deac. Wadlin. The same year, the church appointed a committee "to take care of Mr. Baxter's Practical Works, given to the church by the Hon. Samuel Holden, Esq. of London." This gentleman was a wealthy English dissenter, well known for his charities in New England. He sent over to Dr. Colman of Boston, thirty nine sets of Baxter's Works, each set consisting of four massive folio volumes, to be distributed among the churches. It was his direction that one volume be kept in or near the house of worship, for the use of the people on the sabbath ; and that the others be lent to the inhabitants of the town, and to neighbor- ing ministers .* A further innovation was made in regard to the singing on religious occasions, March 23, 1765, when the following vote was passed : "The Church met after Lecture, and voted that Dr. Watts's Sacramental Hymns should be sung for the future at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and that his version of the Psalms be sung at Lecture."
About the time of Mr. Morrill's settlement, there was a great religious excitement throughout New England, occasioned by the preaching of the celebrated White- field, many clergymen favoring, and others opposing, the somewhat irregular effects produced by it. Mr. Morrill was of the former class. Whitefield came into this quarter towards the close of 1744; we hear of him in Biddeford early the following year. In March, he preached several times for Mr. Morrill, and in the neigh- boring towns. It appears from the Journal of Mr. Smith, that there was much opposition to him by a considerable portion of the people.
The winter succeeding the settlement of Mr. Morrill, Dec. 20, 1742, died Capt. Samuel Jordan, aged fifty eight years. No other individual, probably, had done more to promote the growth and prosperity of the town, than Capt. Jordan. He appears to have been a man of great enterprise, and was extensively engaged in business
*Allen. Biog. Dict. Art. Holden. Allen. Hist. Chelmsford. 45.
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for many years. He had a store near his house at the Pool, to which the inhabitants far and wide were in the habit of resorting for their supplies. His house was more strongly fortified and secured against the Indians than any other in town, being encompassed by a stone wall of great solidity, the remains of which are still seen. In time of peace, the Indians were often there, and on one occasion they silently crept into the house in the night with hostile intentions, but the Captain coolly giving no- tice of their presence to a person in a remote part of the house, directing him where to find a gun, was soon rid of the troublesome, but cowardly visiters. While a young man he had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and was detained in captivity several years. At the conference of Gov. Shute with the tribes on Arrowsick, 1717, Captain Jordan was employed as interpreter. The Indians reques- ted "that in future Interpreter Jordan might be near them to represent to the Governor any thing that might bap- pen," to which the governor replied, that he desired no better man .*
Capt. Jordan married Olive Plaisted of Berwick ; their children, born 1719-33, were, Rishworth, Olive, Sarah, Hannah, Samuel, Tristram, and Mary. Olive married Rev. Ivory Hovey, 1739, who was ordained at Roches- ter, Mass. the following year. He obtained a dismission from that place 1765, and was soon after installed over a parish in Plymouth, where he continued to preach until a few days before his death, 4 Nov. 1803. His wife sur- vived him a few months. Mr. Hovey preached sixty five years, and during that time kept a religious journal, which, at the time of his death, contained about seren thousand octavo pages in short hand.+ Sarah, second daughter of Capt. Jordan, married Rev. Samuel Hill, 1739, a classmate of Mr. Hovey, and settled at Marsh- field, near Plymouth. In 1752, Mr. Hill's connexion with the church at that place was dissolved, and he, with
*The official account of this Conference is reprinted, N. H. Hist. Coll. ii. 254 The circumstances related by Sullivan, p. 227. occurred at Cape Elizabeth, where Dominicus resided.
tSee an interesting memoir of Mr. Hovey, Alden. Coll. Epitaphs. i. 239. Mass. Missionary Magazine iii. 20. He graduated at Har- vard College 1735.
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his wife, was received into the church in this town. He resided sometime in the house of his late father in law, and was chosen representative of the town 1754. His wife died 1756, and, two years after, he married Eliza- beth Shapleigh of Kittery. Hannah, third daughter of Capt. Jordan, was married to Rev. Moses Morrill, 1 Dec. 1743. Mary, the youngest daughter, was married to Capt. Philip Goldthwait of Boston, about 1758. Capt. G. removed to Winter Harbor, where he resided until the Revolutionary war, when he left the country. His wife lived but a short time after their marriage. Mrs. Olive, the widow of Capt. Jordan, was married to Rev. Thomas Smith of Falmouth, 1744 ; she died 3 Jan. 1763.
Deacon Ebenezer Hill died 1748, aged 69 years. His children were, Ebenezer, Dorothy, Susanna, Benjamin, Lydia, Joshua, and Jeremiah. Susanna was married to Thomas Emery, 1731 ; Lydia to deacon Simon Wingate, 1736. Jeremiah married Mary, daughter of Capt. Dan . iel Smith, 1746 ; the late Jeremiah Hill, Esq. was their oldest son. Jere. Hill, sen. held a commission of justice of the peace, and was several years representative of the town in the Gen. Court ; he died Aug. 12, 1779, aged fifty six.
- John Gray, Esq. the commander of Fort Mary 1720, married soon after he came to Winter Harbor, Mrs. Eliza- beth Tarbox ; their children were three daughters, Eliza- beth, Mary, and Olive. Elizabeth was married to Eze- kiel Cushing, Esq. of Falmouth, 1745 ; Olive to Nathan Woodman, Esq. of Newbury, afterwards of Buxton, 1749; Mary to James Staples of Biddeford, 1755. The late Abner Sawyer, sen. married Mary, a daughter of James and Mary Staples, 1779. Capt. Gray was "a son of Joseph Gray, citizen and salter of London, by occupa- tion a linen draper in that city," according to a memo- randum recorded in the town book ; he died 1755.
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