USA > Maine > Waldo County > Belfast > History of the city of Belfast in the state of Maine v.I, 1770-1875 > Part 24
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2. That in consequence of the difficulties arising from this opposition, and of a request on the part of the people, Mr. Price has been induced to offer proposals which have been acceded to, in which the Civil Contract between him and them is already dissolved. .
1 Proprietors' records.
1
252
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
3. That since the dissolution of the Civil Contract, Mr. Price has already continued his connexion for a considerable time with the Church, which have in vain been seeking for an opening for his future usefulness with them in connexion with others, who together might constitute a religious Society, separate from the Town at large; and that a longer continuance, with this in view, appears not likely to be attended with beneficial consequences.
While we mention these as reasons influencing our present determination, we do cheerfully unite in expressing our approba- tion of the moral character, general prudence, religious sentiments, and Christian experience of the Rev. Mr. Price, so far as these have yet come to view ; and we can recommend him as generally qualified in other respects, also, for the work of an Evangelist; and thus we do recommend him to the Churches of Christ, where his lot, in the wise dispensation of Providence, may be cast.
As confirming this declaration, we declare it with pleasure, as respects Mr. Price, that in the course of the opposition we have discovered nothing to have been produced with any foundation against him, which tends to impeach his civil or religious character.
But tho' with regret and reluctancy, and with feelings of sympathy with the Church and of compassion for the people, yet we feel ourselves bound to declare that such a removal of Gospel privileges from a place as the present cannot take place without great blame somewhere.
With plainness, and yet with grief and all proper tenderness, we would avow our conviction that the evil may be traced to those selfish passions which incline fallen man to seek to retain that for himself which has become another's righteous due. These passions we believe have had an undue influence over the conduct of some in this place, and have led them, we fear, to endeavor to produce certain things as a show of objection, while the real ground of opposition has not been openly avowed. Others, we believe, thro' misrepresentation or misapprehension respecting the main ground of opposition, have incautiously imbibed preju- dices, which, suffered to rest, have raised the difficulties in this place to their present magnitude.1
For nearly three years after the dismissal of Mr. Price, no regular preaching was maintained, although an annual appropria- tion for the purpose continued to be made. Rev. Mighill Blood,
1 Church records.
253
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
afterwards the Congregational minister at Bucksport, occupied the pulpit of the west meeting-house for a short time during the fall of 1802.1 Several ministers from time to time conducted religious services, as stated supplies, as missionaries from the Massachusetts Society, and as candidates for settlement. Among the latter was Rev. Henry True,2 who remained during the summer of 1803. In 1805, the Rev. Alfred Johnson passed a season here, with so much satisfaction to the people that, in August of that year, the town, by a vote of fifty to five, concurred with the church in giving him a call. It was voted " to give him a salary of $700 per annum, so long as he shall remain their Gospel Minister." William Crosby, William Moody, and Jonathan Wilson were appointed to communicate the wish of the town to Mr. Johnson, who accepted the invitation, and was duly installed, Sept. 25, 1805.8 John Huse, Samuel Brown, Asa Edmunds, James Miller, and James Badger were chosen by the town to act as marshals on the occasion. The services took place in the west meeting-house. No record of them or of the proceedings of the installing council are to be found.
REV. ALFRED JOHNSON
was descended in the fifth generation from Captain Edward Johnson, who arrived at Salem, June 12, 1630, in company with Governor Winthrop, Deputy Governor Dudley, Sir R. Saltonstall, and Sir Isaac Johnson, the latter supposed to have been a relative of his, in the ship "Lady Arbella," named after the wife of Sir Isaac. Edward Johnson came from Herne Hill in Kent, and settled in that part of Charlestown now called Woburn. He was Speaker of the House in 1655, and was the author of the "History of the Wonderworking Providence of Zion's Savior," which, although printed in London, is said to have been the first book composed in this country. It has been reproduced by the Massa- chusetts Historical Society. He died in 1672, leaving five sons. His great-grandson, Obadiah, settled in Canterbury, Conn., and was one of the leading men in his part of that colony. Jacob, the fourth son of Obadiah, and the father of the subject of this notice, removed to Plainfield, where the latter was born, July 25, 1766. After graduating with the highest honors at Dartmouth
1 Locke's Sketches. Mr. Blood was the minister at Bucksport, from 1803 to 1840.
2 He afterwards settled at Union. He died in 1857, aged eighty-six.
8 "Oct. 13, 1805, first day Mr. Johnson preached after he was installed." Mem. in an almanac of that year.
-
254
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
College in 1785, he studied divinity with Rev. John Murray, of Newburyport, the former Presbyterian minister at Boothbay, who, in the summer of 1770, preached the first sermon ever heard here, and with Rev. Dr. Levi Hart, of Preston, Conn. He was ordained to the ministry in Freeport, Me., Dec. 29, 1789, and remained there until he came to reside in this place. In 1791, he represented Freeport in the General Court of Massachusetts. He was one of the founders of Bowdoin College, and for seventeen years a member of its board of government ; a position which has since been filled by his son and grandson, bearing the same name. After resigning his ministry here in 1813, he remained without pastoral charge, although occasionally preaching, until his death, which occurred Jan. 12, 1837, at the age of seventy. He married Sarah, daughter of General Ralph Cross, of Newburyport, May 22, 1788. Judge Alfred Johnson and Ralph C. Johnson were his sons, and only children. Mr. Johnson, remarks Governor Crosby, in his Annals, " was no ordinary man. Under other circumstances, in some broader field he would have been recognized as a power. Had he been born in a country where Roman Catholicism was the prevailing religious creed, and educated to the priesthood, a mitre would not have been beyond his grasp. Had he been born in Scotland, and in the days of the Cameronians, he would not have been a whit behind the noblest and most fearless of their devoted leaders ; no voice would have rung from hill-top and valley louder and clearer than his; there would have been no land readier than his, if need called, to wield ' the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.' He was a bold, strong thinker, a thoroughly fearless and independent man. He was a man of commanding presence, of great physical power, and endowed with a voice that, when occasion called, rang like a trumpet. For many years he was called to exercise the office of Chaplain at our military musters. No one who ever saw him on those occasions can forget him as he stood there, the central point of the hollow square, his broad massive brow uncovered, his herculean form looming up above all around him, his voice ringing out far above and beyond the crowd, awed to silence, as he poured forth his prayer for the soldiers; that they might put on the whole armor of God; that they might stand having their loins girt about with truth; having on the breast-plate of righteousness; taking the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit; and, having done all, to stand ! It was a scene worthy the pencil of the artist.
255
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
" Mr. Johnson was a learned man in his profession ; too learned, probably, for the congregation to which he ministered. He could not have been, could he have made the effort, a sensational preacher ; he could not have toyed with tropes and figures. He was a man of stubborn facts, and in his dealings with them he was a Boanerges. He had not the art to make his hearers weep, but he had the power to make them tremble."
During the first years of the settlement of Mr. Johnson, large acquisitions to the church took place ; and the religious difficulties, occasioned by the dismissal of his predecessor, were temporarily allayed. In 1807, when the population had increased to nearly twelve hundred, a more convenient place for holding public worship than the meeting-houses on the academy afforded seemed necessary. John Durham, an extensive land-owner, proposed to give the town a lot containing a quarter of an acre, for a new church, provided one was erected within three years. This offer was accepted; and John Wilson, Asa Edmunds, and Benjamin Poor were chosen a committee to take the matter in charge, but the next month the vote was reconsidered, as, for some reason unknown, the town refused to accept less than a whole acre.1
The ministry of Mr. Johnson was not satisfactory to the entire community, and his salary fell into arrears. In 1808, our com- mercial prosperity sustained serious injury from the effects of the embargo; and his offer to relinquish a portion of his annual com- pensation was accepted as follows : -
" Voted, unanimously, that the thanks of the people of this town be presented the Rev. Alfred Johnson for his very generous offer to abate $200 in his salary the present year, that the town will accept his proposition, and that the clerk present him with a copy of this vote." The following year, a Methodist Society was formed,1 " and so numerous had the Baptists beconie," says Mr. White, "that it was deemed by them expedient to be made a corporate body. This stirred the embers of the fire that had been covered since Mr. Price was dismissed. Some professed to believe that religious instruction could not be good, if bought with money ; and the town was now much indebted to Mr. Johnson. Those who should become Baptists expected probably to free themselves from this inconvenience; and, when interest and religions im- pression coincide, there is not much doubt of perseverance." 8 The schism induced another communication from Mr. Johnson.
1 Town records. 2 ]bid. 8 White's History, 70.
256
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
TO THE ASSESSORS OF THE TOWN OF BELFAST: --
It having been represented to me that several persons liable to ministerial taxes in this Town have joined with some Anabaptists in a petition for an incorporation for the purpose of supporting a minis- ter of that denomination, whereby the burthen of mny maintenance may be increased on those who still continue members of the pres- ent Society, and refuse to abandon the God of their fathers and the guide of their youth, I therefore hereby declare through you to all such as remain faithful to the covenants of the town with me as their minister, that the taxes for my support shall not be increased by the apostasy of others; and the assessors of the town for the time being are hereby authorized to deduct each year from my salary the amount of the taxes levied in the last assessment of it on all those who may be incorporated with said Anabaptists, and who are not members of their churches, nor churches of some other denomination (their taxes being of course already abatable), provided that any sums levied on such persons as may from time to time be added to the assessment for my support shall be applied towards making up the deficiency occasioned by this release.
BELFAST, Jan. 5, 1809.
ALFRED JOHNSON.1
In November, 1810, the town unwisely refused to raise the sum due for interest on the arrearages of Mr. Johnson's salary. A suit at law ensued, and resulted in the recovery of a large judg- ment against the inhabitants. The next year, the Baptist Society was incorporated, and the Congregational Society reorganized. From this time, all connection between the town, in its corporate capacity, with parochial affairs ceased. Mr. Johnson formally resigned in 1813.
1 Town records.
257
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
. .
CHAPTER XVII.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY CONTINUED : FIRST PARISH.
Changes relative to Religious Freedom. - First Parish organized. - Release of the Salary of Mr. Johnson. - Rev. Asa Piper. - Erection of the First Parish (Unitarian) Meeting-house. - Description. - Engraving. - Contract with the Town. - Sale of Pews. - Ground Plan. - Dedication. - Bell. - Installation of Rev. William Froth- ingham. - Sketch of his Life and Character. - Portrait. - Secession of the First Church. - New Church formed. - Thursday Lecture. - Organ. - Music. - Presen- tation to Colonel James W. Webster. - Vestry. - Resignation of Mr. Frothingham. - Resolves of Parish. - Installation of Rev. Marcus A. H. Niles. - His Death. - Biographical Sketch. - Installation of Rev. Cazneau Palfrey. - Portrait. - Renova- tion of the Meeting-house. - Resignation of Dr. Palfrey. - Ordination of Rev. David N. Utter. - Rev. James T. Bixby settled as Pastor.
B Y the statute of 1811, great and important changes in relation to religious freedom, and the liability of individuals for the maintenance of public worship, were made. Voluntary associations for religious purposes were thereby for the first time invested with many of the rights, powers, and privileges of corporations. They were authorized to choose necessary officers, and under cer- tain restrictions to control their own affairs. This statute also enabled any number of individuals to procure an exemption from taxation for ministerial affairs, by forming themselves into a relig- ious society ; and that, too, whether they were of a different or of the same denomination with the parish in which they resided. When towns became sufficiently populous, they were divided into two or more parishes by territorial limits. Under the new law, the members of the voluntary societies had the same right to have their taxes paid over to their own minister, as if such societies were incorporated ; and the members were exempted from taxa- tion in any parish or other religious society. But this exemption continued only so long as their membership continued. When that ceased, they again became liable to taxation in the parish of their residence.1
.
Under the above-mentioned statute, a parish was organized, which by law and ipso facto became the First Parish, a name
1 Statutes of Mass. 1811, chap. vi .; 1 Pick. 248.
17
258
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
which is retained to the present day. Its records commence with a meeting held in the west meeting-house, April 22, 181.1, " at the request of William Crosby, Thomas Cunningham, Benja- min Poor, Thomas Cunningham, Jr., Samuel Houston, Jr., George Watson, William West, Bohan P. Field, John Haraden, and Samuel Jackson, ten persons belonging to the First Congrega- tional Society."1 William Moody was chosen the First Parish clerk. Mr. Johnson continued as minister, but proposed " to re- lease so much of his salary of seven hundred dollars as the prop- erty of the congregation was in proportion to the valuation of the town," which offer was accepted. The next year, after the war with England commenced, he relinquished it entirely, as appears by the following letter addressed to the parish : -
BELFAST, Oct. 19, 1812.
TO THE CONGREGATIONAL PARISH IN BELFAST :
Your embarrassments, occasioned by the absconding of a col- lector " for the first half part of my time with you, having been increasing ever since by the pressure of public and private calami- ties, which have of late fallen upon this place in a greater measure, perhaps, than upon any other of equal ability to bear them ; and my salary, too generous, perhaps, at first, and a source of disaffec- tion to many in the most prosperous times, remaining unpaid in a great part, I have from time to time reduced it, and since the com- mencement of the war relinquished the whole during the continu- ance of hostilities, and am now willing to dissolve a contract for the future, which prejudices a service for which I early forsook all other prospects.
With such impressions, I release to the Parish all claim for salary for services to be done as their minister, from and after the date of the acceptance of this instrument.
ALFRED JOHNSON.8
This offer was also accepted ; and on the 2d of October, 1813, Mr. Johnson received a dismissal.
From the time of Mr. Johnson's resignation to the year 1818, there was no regular preaching maintained by the Congrega- tionalists ; 4 and no money seems to have been raised for the pur-
1 Parish records.
2 Abel Baker, who was tax-collector for the town, and absconded with the public money.
8 Parish records. 4 Locke's Sketches.
259
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
pose, except in 1815, after the declaration of peace, when the parish voted "to hire the Rev. Asa Piper 1 to preach two months, and that they return their most respectful acknowledgments to Mr. Piper for his very acceptable labors of love with them in virtue of his engagement with the Missionary Society for Propa- gating the Gospel." 2 In 1816, the Rev. William Frothingham preached on one Sabbath in the Academy, to the great satisfac- tion of the people. During the following year, he became pre- ceptor of the Academy, and in November was employed to preach for a term of six months, "at the rate of $300 per year till the end of his first quarter's school-keeping, and at the rate of $600 for six months afterwards."
Under the good influence of Mr. Frothingham, " the attendance of the people at religious exercises had become an agreeable per- formance of duty. All were desirous to become interested in the erection of a building that should afford them a suitable accommo- dation." 8 Accordingly, on the second day of February, 1818, the parish voted to build a meeting-house, "provided the sale of pews on paper shall amount to a sufficient sum." John Angier, William Crosby, Reuben Kimball, William White, George Wat- son, Ralph C. Johnson, John T. Poor, John Haraden, William Moody, Thomas Bartlett, Thomas Cunningham, Jr., John S. Kim- ball, Benjamin Whittier, Samuel French, James Poor, Robert Patterson, 2d, Andrew Derby, Robert Miller, and Salathiel Nicker- son were chosen a committee to determine upon a plan and loca- tion. They subsequently submitted a plan for a church, sixty- seven feet long by fifty in width, containing sixty-four pews. The estimated cost of the edifice was $6,000, of which $5,490 had been provided for by an obligatory subscription for sixty-one of said pews, at ninety dollars each, subject to a parish auction for the choice of them. The land owned by Robert Miller was recom- mended as the most eligible location.4 In the chapter upon Muni- cipal History, the action of the town in exchanging the land where the custom-house stands, which had been obtained by a levy against Miller for his other lot, under certain obligations to be assumed by the parish, has been fully set forth. The parish voted, Feb. 16, 1818, to accept the Miller lot upon the terms stipulated
1 Of Lynn, Mass. He graduated at Harvard College in 1778, and was minister of Wakefield, N. H., for many years prior to his death in 1835. Allen's Biog. Dict.
2 Parish records.
8 White's History, 71. 4 Parish records.
260
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
by the town ; to erect the meeting-house at once, and to appro- priate one fourth part of the galleries for the use of the town on the Sabbath ; to permit the erection of a town-house and other public buildings on said lot ; and to lay open the residue of said lot for a town common for ever. A deed was then given by Miller, without any reservation or restriction, of one hundred and twenty- six rods of land, having a frontage of nine rods on Church Street and a side length of fourteen rods. The pews were sold at auction prior to commencing the proposed edifice, for the prices and to the persons named in the following plan. Thomas Cunningham, Jr., acted as auctioneer. Pew numbered sixty-two brought the highest price, being purchased by Charles K. Tilden, for $201. None of the original proprietors are now living. The last sur- vivor was Hon. Ralph C. Johnson.
Thus originated " the new meeting-house," or, as it is now called, the Unitarian Church. The frame of the edifice was raised June 13, 1818. Men from the neigh- boring towns, accustomed to handle heavy timber, came to assist. A barrel of punch was provided by the parish committee, and Judge Cros- by made a brief address on the occasion. Samuel French was the master-builder, and William Frederick was a workman. The plan, some- UNITARIAN CHURCH. ERECTED 1818. what modified, was taken from that of the church of Rev. Dr. Tappan, in Augusta. On the 15th of November the house was dedicated. No account of the exercises has been preserved. The bell, which for nearly sixty years has resounded from the belfry, was hung in the latter part of April, or early in May, 1819. It was the first bell here. The contract stipulated that its weight should be at least twelve hundred pounds. Although a little lighter, the parish voted its acceptance.
Mr. Frothingham received a formal call from both church and parish, in the spring of 1818. Owing to his absence and the ill-
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
261
William White.
$101.
60
William Moody.
Charles K. Tilden.
R. Kimball.
$136.
$01.
Minister.
PULPIT.
J. Durham.
S. Upton.
Jos, L.r.
$136.
$ 163.
$1.40.
50
$152.
61
62
63
61
65
66
1
53
: 51
Willlam Crosby.
Thomas Bartlett.
$137.
59
19
Alfred Johnson, Jr.
4R
$135.
41
Nathan Read. $120.
B. P. Field. $161.
19
8
E. McFarland. 8170.
J. White. $112.
30
40
S. Jackson. $103.
W. Crosby. $150.
18
J. P. Ladd. 8146.
S. Nickerson. $102.
20
J. McKinley. $135.
Nathan Swan. $101.
28
98
Robert Brier. £101.
J. Williamson. 8139.
N. Miller. $141.
A. Sawyer. $101.
27
37
Eben Poor. $101.
B. Hazeltine. $120.
15
S. Brown. $139.
C. K. Tilden $101
26
35
Let to W. Hatch.
E. McKeen. 13
C. Smith. $95.
William and .Daniel Quimby."
William Salmond. $100.
3
Let to A. Edmunds.
W. West and B. Hartshorn.
23
55
.15
SIOL.
11
George Watson. $135.
Thos. Pickard .. $120.
33
43
Robert Miller. R. Patterson, 4th $122. $176.
21
B. Whittier. $171.
N. Phillips. ៛121.
32
42
Paul Giles. $122.
John Angier. $190.
20
9
R. B. Allyu. 8181.
Robert White. $113.
31
Ralph C. Johnson.
Hutson Bishop.
$ 130.
37
17
John 'T Poor.
#136.
Phineas Kellam. $134.
8
Otho Abbot.
T. Cunningham. $101.
14
Zacchens Porter. Andrew Derby $101.
16
John Harad
$101.
--
R. Pafferro, 21.
GROUND PLAN OF THE CHURCH, WITH THE NAMES OF ORIGINAL PEW-HOLDERS, AND THE PRICE PAID FOR EACH PEW.
$ 136.
I'hilip Morrill.
$137.
58
T. Bartlett. £132.
John Wilson. $136.
22
10
Let to
$$$128.
&T. Cunningham, Jr.
M. Sleeper.
$136.
$201.
Goo. Watson.
S. Spring. $101.
. J. S. Kimball. 8135.
17
11.
262
HISTORY OF BELFAST.
health of his wife, the invitation was not definitely accepted until the following December. The following is a copy of his letter of acceptance : -
CONCORD, 14th Dec., 1818.
TO THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN BELFAST:
MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS, -It is now several months since you gave me a formal invitation to settle among yon as your gos- pel minister. The ardor and unanimity with which you then acted reflected honor upon yourselves, and strongly inclined me to believe that it was a call from God as well as from man. It com- manded my most solemn attention. With earnestness and impor- tunity, I sought the divine direction.
It is difficult perhaps, in all cases, to determine what is the will of Heaven. Though when I left you the last spring I was fully persuaded that Providence had destined me to Belfast, yet when I reached home the case seemed to me to be far less clear. I found my wife in a miserable state of health, and it was soon evident that her disorder was consumption. I was certain that, even if it were practicable, it was by no means duty to think of removing her in her then situation to any distant place. Con- ceiving, therefore, that I had misconstrued the aspects of Provi- dence in regard to my destination to Belfast, I communicated to you what might have been considered as a full negative to your call, stating very particularly my reasons for so doing. But you seemed to be unwilling wholly to relinquish the idea of my return- ing to you, and wished that my decision might be for the present suspended. To this I assented, and the matter has rested in sus- pense ever since.
It is now, however, absolutely necessary that I come to a deci- sion ; because, if I continue my labors any longer in the place where I have for months past been preaching, it must be with a view to immediate settlement.
If I know my own heart, I have no wish but to go where duty leads, and to submit events to Heaven. That duty points me to you seems to be indicated by the general desire for my return, which prevails among you. I am sensible that much depends on the decision which I am now to make, much as it respects myself, and much as it respects you. But when I contrast the broken and deplorable state with regard to religious society in which you had for a long time been, with the firmness and zeal for the house and
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