USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Waldoboro > History of old Broad Bay and Waldoboro, Volume 2 > Part 22
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The Report of the Committee for the year 1850 is touched only briefly here for certain interesting statistical data. The num- ber of scholars in the town between the ages of four and twenty- one was 1733. There were twenty-three districts and two parts of districts, which shows that despite the increase in the number of pupils some consolidation had been effected. The amount of money raised for school purposes plus the bank tax was $1833.93. There were twenty-one male teachers with average salaries of $18.31 per month and thirty-five female teachers with an average salary of $1.68 per week. Such females as essayed winter schools received an average of $2.06 per week. Beginning this year the committee Was elected for three, two, and one-year terms.
This half century in the history of Waldoboro schools may be termed the period of stagnation, although that term could be appropriately applied to any and all periods prior to the 1930's of the present century. By 1850, however, there were unmistakable signs of progress. It is a matter of interest that during this mid- century there were more college graduates living in the town than at any other period in its history, with the exception of the pres- ent, and it was at this time that the town was sending more of its young men to college than ever before or since. For this the town schools can claim no credit, for the required preparation was com- pleted in out-of-town schools or with local tutors.
XXXVI THE RISE OF THE SECTS
Religions commit suicide when they find their in- spirations in their dogmas.
ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD
D URING THE COLONIAL AND FEDERAL periods the Lutheran and Congregational churches held an unchallenged sway at Broad Bay and Waldoboro. While the established church was rising to its dominance the Lutheran was already in decline and was allowed by the reigning theocracy to exist by sufferance, and to depart slowly in peace. The ministers of "the standing order" were re- ligious descendants of the Puritans, inheriting their stern virtues as well as their stern theology. Intolerance against other sects was in the air throughout this period as well as in the fatalistic creed of the dominant faith. This church up to 1820 was de facto the state church, supported in the law by a tax on all polls from which no taxpayer could be exempt except by formally filing with the town clerk a certificate of withdrawal from the parish and by giv- ing financial support to a parish elsewhere. In Waldoboro the Lutheran and the Congregational churches were supported by a general ministerial tax down to the year 1823, and for the ten years preceding this date $1000.00 had been raised annually and divided equally between the two parishes.
The established church did not yield ground graciously. Occupying the privileged position of drawing its support from the public till and embracing in its membership the rich and exclusive families of the town, it fought to maintain a single religious suprem- acy in the village not only by opposing the invading forces openly but by using the more subtle and powerful influences which it controlled to prevent them from securing a foothold in the center of the town. In consequence the local Baptists worshipped for years in Warren, Nobleboro, and Jefferson. In fact, this sect closed in on Waldoboro from all the neighboring towns and through these members eventually supplied a nucleus for the establishment of a Baptist parish in the village.
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Methodism entered the town in a similar manner. For decades the established church kept it out of the village while its roving circuit riders kept gradually closing in, first establishing "classes," then churches, in the Genthner Neighborhood, at West Waldo- boro, Winslow's Mills, Orff's Corner, North, East and South Waldoboro. Not until the middle of the nineteenth century did the Methodists eventually break into the village proper. When the Baptist Society organized in the village it had an advantage in having at least two members, Cyrus Newcomb and Thomas Wil- lett, whose social standing and prestige were strong enough to carry both respectability and appeal to village folk, but the Metho- dists, to establish a toe hold at all, were obliged to appeal to the humble and the lowly. Thus it was that their first converts came from the poorer back-district folk.
The Baptists historically had sought admission to Maine as early as 1681. This year the Reverend William Screven, seeking to preach the gospel in Kittery, was arrested and haled into court for not attending the established church on Sundays. After repeated efforts at preaching and consistent persecution he finally "did in the presence of said Court and President promise to engage to deport out of the Province within a very short time."1 Leaving Kittery with a small band of the faithful, he went south and near Charleston, South Carolina, established the first Baptist church be- low the Mason and Dixon Line. Throughout the eighteenth cen- tury the Baptists had kept inching into Maine and were well estab- lished for decades before they broke into Waldoboro, which at the time was perhaps the most conservative town in the state, thor- oughly dominated by that indissoluble axis, the Established Church and the Federalist Party, which everywhere else had already been dead for some time, even though this fact was not acknowledged in the town. In the face of anti-influences the Baptists in Waldo- boro engaged for many years in "voluntary association" before proceeding to a "formal organization." This meant meeting from house to house for prayer and "experience" meetings. In this way they gradually added to their numbers and prepared for the day of public organization as a church.
The records of this Society exist in unbroken continuity in the form of clerk's records, from its organization down to the present day. They offer a most revealing story of small-town life for well over a century, as well as of the slow evolution of religious experience in this community. They are couched in a language which for simpleness and candor defies imitation. For the modern reader they furnish an incomparable index to the moral, social, and religious life of an older day, and reek with the savor of the
1Henry S. Burrage, History of the Baptists of Maine, p. 19.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
decades, conveying more of local history than can any narrative of the historians; nor are they lacking in an unintentional humor and pathos. If the reader is to experience the birth, the struggle, and the growth of this society in all its realism and verve, he need not go beyond the records.
They open at the first meeting of "the Baptist Brethren," June 19, 1824.
Thomas Willett, Cyrus Newcomb, Jacob Shuman, Charles Keen, Jacob Kaler, 3rd, John Shuman, and John Welt being of one mind agreed to seek their dismissions from the church in Warren, Jefferson, and the first and second [Damariscotta] in Nobleboro requesting them to send their elders with one or more delegates to set in council at Jacob Kaler's house,2 July 6, 1824, for the purpose of organizing a Baptist Church in Waldoboro.
By request the council met at Brother Keen's house. Present were Elder T. Wakefield and Brother George Kelloch of Warren, Elder W. Allen and Brother Samuel Chisim of Jefferson, Elder P. Pillsbury of the first church in Nobleboro and Elder D. Dunbar and Deacon Day of the second church of Nobleboro. "The coun- cil sat, examined the candidates, thought a church was expedient," and "thereupon Elder Pillsbury gave the right hand of fellowship to the brethren and to Sisters Mary Keen, Charlotte Shuman, Mary Shuman and Catherine Welt." An organization was effected then and there in which Brother Jacob Shuman and John Welt were chosen deacons, and Cyrus Newcomb, clerk. "Imidiately after, an appropriate discourse (Text, Acts 2, verses 41-42) was delivered by Elder Dunbar and another appropriate one by Elder Wakefield of Warren," and the clerk adds: "The day was wet but the season solum and interesting."
In its earliest days this small congregation held its meetings in private houses. On August 14, 1824, the church met at Brother Jacob Kaler's "to relate the merciful dealings of God towards us and to transact church business." Jacob Kaler was the moderator at these early meetings. Mrs. Sedone Winslow related her "expe- rience" and requested membership through baptism. The clerk was instructed to "write to Elder Jole Washburn requesting him to preach with us and administer the ordinances once in three months for 6 or 12 months to come."
August 21. Ezekiel Winslow requested membership. . . . "At the close of the meeting we went out by the river side because there was much water there and Elder Dunbar baptized Mr. Ezekiel Winslow and his wife by Immertion." Elder Dunbar they acknowl- edged "was the instrument in God's hand of awakening their minds in May last at the first meeting Elder Dunbar held in the town."
2Now the residence of William Kirkpatrick.
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September 18. Cyrus Newcomb was elected treasurer, and as a means of raising money for the support of the church, agreed to take any salable produce from the members and sell the same in his store "to the best advantage, without profit to him and the income when sold to be paid to the church." The first sacrament was administered on September 19th by Elder Washburn "to the little church in Waldoboro consisting of 13 members, 8 males and 5 females."
March 23, 1825. Since September 1824 Elder Washburn and Brother Chisim had been leading the services at Waldoboro, and the church had agreed to pay the sum of $77.00. The money was raised in part at this meeting, Deacon Jacob Shuman leading off with a subscription of $14.00.
"May 25, 1825, at Brother Winslow's house. Voted to or- dain Mr. Samuel Chisim of Jefferson at or near the house of Deacon Jacob Shuman3 on June 29 if agreeable to his wish." On this date the elders, deacons, and brothers assembled at Deacon Shuman's from Nobleboro, Jefferson, Appleton, Warren, and Thomaston. It had been intended to hold the services in the house, but people came in such great numbers that the ordination was held outside, and a large flat rock in Deacon Shuman's yard, still there today, was used as the speaker's platform. Elder Dunbar of Nobleboro preached the sermon, and the Reverend Mr. Starman offered the opening prayer, but the resident Congregational pastor did not participate. Brother Chisim began his ministry in September "for so many Sabbaths as he may feel his duty" for the year. At the meeting of August 20, 1825, the members subscribed $37.00 in produce and $31.00 in cash to support the preaching of the gospel for the year. On November 19th, Elder Chisim was received in membership in the church.
Mr. Chisim served the church for ten years during which he continued to reside on his farm in Jefferson. He received no stated salary and derived his major income from his farm. There were no revivals during his pastorate and few members were added. Strong prejudice and opposition was met by holding the services in the outlying districts, never in the village. Many of Elder Chisim's meetings were held in an unfinished building roughly fit- ted up for worship. It stood on the left of the road on the east side of the river between the present Railroad Station and Winslow's Mills, and between the houses of Solomon Welt and Randall Creamer. But use of this building aroused opposition, and finally the place of meeting was shifted to a schoolhouse. Meetings were also held at Feyler's Corner where a strong nucleus of members resided and public opinion could be controlled. No services were
$On the east side of the river above Winslow's Mills. In recent years the residence of Mrs. Edith Cuthbertson.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
held in the village until the pastorate of the Reverend Joseph Wilson, when he was called there to conduct the funeral service for Thomas Willett, a respected villager and a charter member of the church. The funeral sermon must have been a moving and an amazing piece of religious oratory, for it led many people to urge Reverend Wilson to hold services in the village schoolhouse, swept Augustus Welt and General Henry Kennedy into membership in the Baptist Church, and moved the Reverend D. M. Mitchell to invite the Reverend Wilson to occupy his pulpit. From this time on there was regular preaching in the schoolhouse in the village.
This brief summary covering a period of ten years has taken us somewhat ahead of our story, and we turn back to 1826 for the beginning of dissension. Conflict seems an entirely normal order of things within Protestant churches. Their theology is so explicit that trivial differences become matters of major import in the life of the faithful and they are ever ready to halt at Armageddon and battle for the Lord. Looking backward for more than a century now, we can be grateful for these bickerings of so long ago, for there is little in our history that is more basically or humanly re- vealing. Trouble began in 1826. On March 16, the church "met at Brother Winslow's to try to settle a difficulty between Brother Kaler and Brother Avery, also between Brother Kaler and Brother Winslow. Brother Willett, Elder Chisim, and Jacob Shuman were appointed a committee to meet at Brother Shuman's house on April 15." Brother Kaler was not present at either meeting. May 20th, "The difficulty between Bros. Kaler and Avery not settled." May 27th, "Difficulty not settled." July 15th, "Two Brethren from the church in Hope present, sent to make inquiry why we could not receive Sister Wilson upon her dismission from their church. The reason why we could not receive Sister Wilson was on account of Bro. Kaler." ... In these days and for forty years following, the discipline of the church was strict and rigorously enforced. No discord was tolerated among members, attendance at religious serv- ices was exacted, and any departure from the moral standards set by the church called for public explanation from the offending member. In this case since Brother Kaler did not appear at the meetings called for an explanation of his conduct, it was voted on July 22, "to exclude him for immoral conduct and absenting him- self from meetings."
Even as the little congregation increased death, too, kept thin- ning its ranks. The departures of the first faithful were quaintly and reverently recorded as the following excerpts indicate:
Sept. 11, 1827, Sister Catherine Welt died in a very comfortable state of mind. Sept. 16, Sister Margaret Wilson from Hope received in
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membership. Sept. 21, Bro. Cyrus Newcomb died in a comfortable state of mind. May 19, 1827, Voted to comply with the request of the first church in Whitefield in sending our Elder and Deacon Shuman to meet them in council the 23 inst., to set apart Bro. Enos Trask to the all im- portant work of the ministry by the laying on of the hands.
October 15, 1828, "Voted to forgive Bro. Winslow, he hav- ing made an acknowledgment to the church only, and leaving to Bro. Winslow to make a public acknowledgment as he can answer before God." March 20, 1830, "Voted to set aside Brother and Sister Winslow two months and then if repentance is manifested restore them to the Communion of the Church." Aug. 12, "Voted to set aside Brother and Sister Winslow for immoral conduct." On December 15, 1832, it was voted "that any member who shall ab- sent himself six months from conference without giving a reason- able excuse shall be excluded from the church." May 30, 1833, "Bro. Nathaniel Vickery died in a happy frame of mind."
In 1837 began one of the most memorable pastorates in the history of the church, that of the Reverend Joseph Wilson from Damariscotta. He was young, earnest and "a powerful speaker." The church enjoyed a continuous revival for three years. New members were added every month. For the purpose of receiving them meetings were held in all parts of the town. In fact, a con- siderable portion of the membership was from the more remote areas. Among those receiving baptism in this decade were Susan Levansaler, Rebecca Kaler, Margaret Stahl, Mary A. Pollard, David Rice, Frederic Benner, Thomas Stahl, John Feyler, Paul Kuhn, Peggy Kuhn, Sally Boggs, Isaac Cushman, Oliver and William Sweetland, John and Lucinda Pitcher, Susan Burkett, Reuben and Isaac Wyman, William Burkett, Eliza Haupt, and Margaret Comery.
Sixty-five members were baptized and received in 1837 alone, among them the Waldoboro Number One Baptist, General Henry Kennedy, who was baptized August 27, 1837. The Dutch Neck went Baptist on a large scale the same year. Baptisms from this section of the town in this period included Elmira Havener, Mrs. Aaron Stahl, Catherine Creamer, Mrs. John Stahl, Silas Stahl, and Elizabeth Havener. The inclusion in membership of Mrs. Sarah Weaver and Henry Kennedy from the village district gave to the church a certain helpful social prestige, and the interest and sup- port of Augustus Welt, a top businessman of the area, served to cast an added aura of respectability around the growing church. These were indeed fruitful years in the life of this parish which numbered about thirty-five members at the time of the accession of the Reverend Wilson. Under his vigorous pastorate two hun- dred and twenty-nine new members were added.
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HISTORY OF OLD BROAD BAY AND WALDOBORO
Encouraged by this phenomenal growth and to meet its new needs, the Society decided in 1837 to erect a church. Frederic Benner secured the lot on which the church now stands from the Sproul estate, and under date of December 9th of this year it was voted "to accept the proposal of John Willett to build the Meeting House for the sum of $2950.00." A building committee was named, and consisted of Henry Kennedy, Charles P. Willett, Augustus Welt, Jacob Shuman, William Matthews, Frederic Benner, and John Shuman. Most of the lumber was hauled into the village that winter on ox-sled by Frederic Benner, from the forests of North Waldoboro. General Henry Kennedy acted as agent to sell pews. On September 12, 1838, the record states: "We opened our Meeting House for the worship of God." The service was conducted by the ministry of the Lincoln Association. The order of the dedi- catory exercises was the following:
Anthem by the Choir Prayer by Brother Curtis Hymn by Brother Starman Scripture Reading by Brother Pillsbury Prayer by Brother Chisim
Hymn by Brother Curtis Sermon by Brother Curtis Address to the Church and Society by Brother Bond Dedicatory Prayer by Brother Kellock Doxology by the Choir
The rapid rise of this parish was a disconcerting experience for "the Established Church," and the Reverend David Mitchell did not participate in the dedication as did his colleague, the Rev- erend Starman. The bell was not added to the church until 1844. It was bought by the pastor, Reverend Wilson, who gave his note in payment, and the Society later assumed the debt.
The pastorate of the Reverend Wilson was a strenuous pe- riod in church life. He seems to have been something of a protes- tant Jesuit. Absence from meetings, intemperance, gossip, in short, any departure from morality as defined by the church, became a matter of immediate and vigorous discipline. Such matters, how- ever, are seen best in concrete form such as the following:
April 30, 1840, "Voted to exclude Charles Studley for drink- ing spirituous liquors and for neglect of meetings."
Aug. 26, 1841:
Voted that David Rice be requested to appear at Feyler's in the School House in publick Prayer Meeting on the Second or some other Sab- bath in September and confess that he did drink too much intoxicating liquor and that he has said and done things that are wrong for which he is sorry and ask the People to forgive him. If this is done and if he comes to the church and makes the same confession we will forgive him, if not will exclude him.
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VILLAGE BAPTIST CHURCH (Prior to the 1880's)
September 30, "Voted to exclude David Rice for drinking spirituous liquor and saying and doing things wrong." March 30, 1843, "Voted to exclude John Miller from this church for Drink- ing intoxicating liquors and for railing against the church both in and out of meeting for its temperance principles." December 2, 1843, "Voted to have a committee of seven to visit any members of the church that may be found who have not lived agreeable to their profession and report the same to the church at their next
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business meeting." This was heresy hunting and it was inevitable that sooner or later, pursuing such policies, the Reverend Wilson would strike snags.
Sex indiscretions and an excess of firewater seem to have been frequent sins plaguing the church, as may be inferred from the following:
March 29, 1844, "Voted to forgive after they have con- fessed and acknowledged to the church, Sisters Martha S -- , Mary S -- , and Mary Jane G -- for the sin of being in a situa- tion to become Mothers before Marriage." This apparently was a sin so common that the church felt the need of some blanket leg- islation against it, and at this same meeting it was "Resolved that if any member shall hereafter be liable, or in a situation to become Parents before marriage, they do by this sin exclude themselves from being members of this church and it shall be the duty of the clerk so to record the same." The church likewise took a strict stand on the liquor issue in the following resolution:
Resolved that if any member of this church shall make free use of ardent spirits as a Beverage, or shall sell it to others, or shall in anyway use their influence to favor or promote Intemperance. They shall be subject to the discipline of the church and after being suitably admon- ished by the Church, if they shall persist in the above described sins, they shall be excluded from the church.
The zeal of the Reverend Joseph Wilson in combating the sins of the frail produced the inevitable reaction and caused so much hard feeling in the church that on April 13, 1844, it was voted that "there be a committee of eleven chosen to settle any and all difficulties that exist between members of the church, and that this committee have power to summon before them any mem- bers that may be at variance with one another, that they may be before the committee face to face." Ebenezer Bradford was chair- man, and one of the problems he essayed was the differences be- tween the pastor and old Deacon Shuman. This was no simple chore, for the Deacon was tight-lipped and obdurate. He said, "whatever in the future he gave he would hand to Deacon Harlow Morse and he might do as he saw fit with it. Mr. Wilson made his statement of regret and sorrow for any injury he may have done but Deacon Shuman made no such confession." A few weeks later the Deacon did make an equivocal statement to the effect that "so far as he had done wrong or injured Mr. Wilson he was sorry for it and asked his forgiveness." This confession, however, led to a mere truce and in February 1846 there was another examina- tion of the state of fellowship between church members. On Feb- ruary 7th they "met in church meeting at 9 o'clock A.M., and spent the day in laboring, expostulating, and entreating Deacon Shuman to have him reconciled and brought into fellowship and union
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with Brother Joseph Wilson, but could not, and was at last brought to the painful duty of excluding him." Deacon Shuman, it will be recalled, was a charter member and the first deacon of the church.
In Sister Overlock the committee likewise found the going hard. The sister was "found in a bad state of mind towards Mr. Wilson, said she would not hear him preach, still said she had nothing against him; could not reconcile her feelings against him, nor persuade her to come to meeting on the Sabbath." Fellowship was accordingly "withdrawn from Sister Elizabeth Overlock un- til the next conference when she was to come before the Church and give her reasons for leaving the meetings and communion, and also why she sent word to the church by one of the brethren that the church might turn her out if they wanted to." The choice was given the Sister to comply or be excluded. On April 27th Sister Overlock appeared and asked the church to forgive her, "but said she wanted them to understand that she made no acknowledge- ment nor asked forgiveness of any individual."4 Mr. Wilson pro- tested against the vote at the close of the meeting and stated as the reason that "only a part of the conditions required of her by the Church had been complied with." This was clearly a situation in which Sister Overlock did not come off second best.
Despite the Reverend Wilson's apostolic zeal his pastorate was the great period in the history of the church. Two hundred and twenty-nine members were added; a church was built; influ- ential villagers were enrolled in membership, including General Henry Kennedy and Augustus Welt, who was baptized March 31, 1839. Death too made its inroads on membership, and the re- cording of these departures was continued in the quaint, serious church vernacular of the period, to wit, "July 15, 1841. This day Sister Catherine Shuman passed through the dark vail in the full assurance of faith. June 1, 1844. Sister Elizabeth Morse left the Church of Christ on earth, only to be reunited again (we trust) in that better world."
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