USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Waterville > The centennial history of Waterville, Kennebec County, Maine, including the oration, the historical address and the poem presented at the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the incorporation of the town, June 23d, 1902 > Part 21
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worship of Almighty God by appropriate services consisting of singing, prayer, and a sermon by Dr. Chapin." Stoves for heat- ing the house were voted in 1832. It had the old-time lofty pulpit and high backed pews and a gallery on three sides which with some modifications still remains. As to location, size, plan, adaptation to serve for public worship and for school and college anniversaries, it has proved to be permanently admirable and bears emphatic witness to the sagacity of the leaders in the Bap- tist society of that day. Prior to 1875 it had been more than once somewhat modified within, but it then underwent more radi- cal changes. The small chapel on its north side built in 1836 by Mr. Samuel Redington at his own expense for social worship was removed and the present vestry connecting with the west end of the meeting-house and forming with it one structure was erected. Until near the present time this addition has furnished, with the main building, sufficient space, but so great has been the enlargement of the Sunday school, that it has been decided to make a still further enlargement and the matter has been placed in the hands of a competent committee to form and report for action a suitable plan.
Until 1829, that is, for twenty-one years the church was with- out a pastor and was served by officers of the Literary and Theo- logical Institute and College, for the most part gratuitously. The ministerial services of Dr. Chaplin and after him of Dr. Chapin were, however, as faithful and unremitting as though they had had each no other office than that of pastor. On the 7th of October, 1829, the church called and ordained as their first pastor Mr. Hervey Fittz, a young man just graduated from Newton Theological Institute. He had moral and spiritual earnestness, good sense, tireless industry and an impressive utterance. His salary was $500, of which $400 was paid by the society and the remainder by the Massachusetts Baptist Convention, the first and last aid ever received by the church from such a source. . He remained only one year but during that time there was a precious revival at the Ten Lots. From that neighborhood ten were bap- tized of whom seven were of the Bates families which have since added so largely to religious work and worship at home and abroad, especially to the service of song. Rev. H. Fittz after several brief pastorates elsewhere served the Massachusetts
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Baptist Convention as its general agent or secretary for thirty- five years, until his death in 1878. In his care and labor for the weak churches of Massachusetts, by visitation, counsel, and preaching, he did very important service.
Rev. Henry H. Greene, salary $600, served two years, during which time over forty were received by baptism. We are thus brought to the close of 1833 and of the first fifteen years of the church. The record shows that the total of known living mem- bers of the church at that time was one hundred and twenty- seven. The clerk for the year 1834 states that "owing to defi- ciencies in the former clerks, the records do not contain the names of all the members but this is the most accurate that could be obtained."
January I, 1834, was an eventful day for the Baptist church and society and indeed for the town of Waterville, the beginning of a new era, for on that day began the ministry of the young, boyish looking student, fresh from his studies in Andover Theo- logical Seminary, Samuel Francis Smith. He was ordained the month following, February 12, 1834, Dr. Babcock preaching the sermon. His name, history and writings are known in many lands. At the seventy-fifth anniversary of the church he fur- nished a paper of "personal recollections" of his pastorate from which the following extracts are made.
"I found the congregation peculiar, being made up of three elements, the college, the village people, and the families from the farms in different directions for a distance of five miles. * My first sermon after my ordination was from the text Jer. I : 6, 'Then said I, Ah Lord, God, behold I cannot speak for I am a child.' * Those were the days of 'protracted
meetings,' so-called, continuing usually four days, hence called 'four-days meetings.' They began on Tuesday; for four days there was preaching forenoon, afternoon and evening, prayer meetings and inquiry meetings intervened. Saturday brought a single service for prayer and the following Sabbath was the great day of the feast. Evangelists and hired helpers were unknown. The neighboring pastors offered their services without pay in aid of brother ministers. The first meeting of this kind was held by this church in April, 1834. Rev. Dr. Tappan of Augusta preached several times most acceptably. Father Sewall,
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home missionary in Maine, gave useful help (both Congrega- tionalists.) * I remember one season of about sixteen weeks during which it did not occur to us that we were living in the midst of a revival, but souls, averaging one every week, entered into the kingdom of God." He proceeds to speak of a revival in 1838 which had its origin in the families at the Ten Lots and thence extended to other parts of the town. Personal religion was the general and absorbing topic of thought and con- versation and protracted meetings were held in different parts of the town. The college shared fully in the work and its results. The singing of familiar hymns had a large place in the social services especially at the Ten Lots. Dr. Smith says "There was no visible excitement, there were no sensational discourses. The spirit spoke with his still small voice and human hearts were tender to hear and obey. Attempts were made only to enlist conscience on the side of God and the truth." He speaks of a Sabbath in the early summer when thirty-five received the hand of fellowship. His ministry continued eight years, 1833-1841, during which 170 were received into the church, sixty men and II0 women, nearly all by baptism. Among them were men and women of highi standing and large influence, names still familiar. In 1838, sixty-four joined the church, twenty-nine men and thirty-five women. No wonder that the people of Waterville and especially the Baptist church were exceedingly precious in Dr. Smith's memory until the day of his death and no wonder that the church and community have ever given him a large place in their affections. In his "Personal Recollections" he names and felicitously characterizes one by one over fifty of his former Waterville members and friends, although more than a half cen- tury had passed since his removal from Waterville. Rev. David N. Sheldon at once succeeded to the pastorate but after a year and a half resigned (September, 1843) to become president of the college. In this brief pastorate sixty-four persons became members mostly by baptism and mostly in the last six months of the pastorate during which there was a powerful revival. In this the families of the Ten Lots shared largely as did the College. Professors Martin B. Anderson and Justin R. Loomis were very active and efficient aids to the pas- tor. After a year, in September, 1844, Mr. John C. Stock-
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bridge, just graduated from the Newton Theological Sem- inary came to supply the pulpit and on the IIth of Novem- ber, 1844, was ordained as pastor ; Professor Loomis being at the same time ordained as Evangelist. On the 13th of August, pre- ceding, forty-four members had been dismissed to organize a church in the west part of the town, now Oakland. Mr. Stock- bridge was a man of fine presence, scholarly, genial, courteous, and after leaving Waterville held important pastorates and other positions of influence and from Harvard University received in 1859 the degree of Doctor of Divinity. His pastorate closed August 15, 1847. His successor, William Crowell, (made D. D. 1857 by Rochester University ) began his ministry in November, 1848, was ordained January 31, 1849, and terminated his pasto- rate November 30, 1850. He was earnest, scholarly and able, , but less fitted to be a pastor than an editor which he had been before coming to Waterville and again became after leaving. During his pastorate only eight were added to the church, but of discipline and dissatisfaction there was an excess.
Rev. N. Milton Wood was pastor during the eight years 1852- 1859. In these years there were two powerful revivals, the first in 1852, the second in 1858, each resulting in large accessions to the church. The whole number received during Mr. Wood's pastorate was 135, seventy-four of them by baptism. Mr. Wood's preaching was clear, strong, direct, scriptural. Pro- foundly in earnest he urged with tremendous emphasis at once, the terrors and the mercies of the Lord, while his known down- right integrity mightily re-enforced his words. Around him as leader, the strong forces of the church rallied and wrought with a will. His unique personality and his remarkable sermons are still remembered clearly by citizens of Waterville. Mr. Geo. D. B. Pepper, a student just graduated from Newton Theological Institute was ordained as pastor of the church, September 6, 1860, and remained five years. The Nation's tremendous strug- gle for life, engrossed much of the thought of both people and pastor, as it did the thought of the whole community and nation. It was felt to be the will of the Master that the great principles of righteousness involved in the Civil War and the immeasurable interests pending, should be emphasized by the pulpit, while the fearful sacrifices made by members of the church and society
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demanded continual words of encouragement, cheer and consola- tion. Perhaps this, in part, is the reason why there was no larger increase in the membership of the church in those years. The total additions were fifty-three. The pastor has never ceased to think with grateful wonder of the kindly forbearance and sympathetic helpfulness of his people, both men and women, to Deacon W. A. F. Stevens, superintendent of the Sunday school, and President Champlin, his debt was beyond measure.
In February, 1867, after about a year and a half of pulpit sup- ply by Dr. Adam Wilson and others, Rev. B. F. Shaw, D. D., became pastor, continuing his pastorate two and a half years. He is said, and probably truly, to have been the most popular pastor the church has ever had. Excelling as a strong and winning preacher, he still more excelled in the social meetings, by his direct address to the conscience and his sweetly persua- sive appeal to the heart. Truly so large was the attendance at these meetings that it became necessary to enlarge the vestry, and in his short pastorate, sixty-three members were added to the church, forty-three of them by baptism. The salary also, which until 1852 had been $600 and from that time to Dr. Shaw's, about $800, was now raised to $1,200, and the old time cry of deficit was no longer heard. Four months after Dr. Shaw's withdrawal, Mr. Henry S. Burrage was ordained as pastor, December 30, 1869, and remained until October 1, 1873. His preaching was thoughful and instructive; his interest in all that pertained to the life, at once of the church and the community, intelligent and active; and his influence wholesome and per- manent. At Dea. Stevens' suggestion he prepared and preached, July 9, 1871, a sermon on the history of the church's Sunday- school from its organization in 1827. President Henry E. Robins' was received into the church just before Pastor Burrage left, and through Dr. Robins' influence Rev. Samuel P. Merrill became the next pastor in November, 1873. The church then numbered 207 members. At the close of Mr. Merrill's pastorate, January 15, 1879, the membership was about 360, of whom 144 had been received by baptism. These five and a half years were years of intense activity and great achievement. The pastor was a man of boundless enterprise, energy, power of work, and prac- tical wisdom. President Robins, Dr. Hanson, and others were
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at the front with him and their contagious enthusiasm took pos- session of the whole body. He, with the co-operation of these workers, at once held a series of special meetings; set a going a flourishing young people's meeting ; brought in, at one time in his pastorate, Evangelist Earle, and at another joined his Methodist brethren in revival meetings under lead of the Lynn Praying Band; got the students at work in five of the adjacent school districts, holding services in the school-houses; moved in the formation of a Baptist church in Fairfield ; saw accomplished the transformation of the old meeting-house, and the erection of the present large and commodious connected vestry; and effected the full inauguration of that mission work among the French people of the place, which has since been successfully prosecuted and now flourishes under the wise and able ministry of Rev. P. N. Cayer.
On the 17th of April, 1879, Rev. Wm. H. Spencer (see biog. ch.) began his happy and successful pastorate of twenty years. He brought to the duties of his office and to his life as a citizen such qualities of mind and heart, such integrity, fidelity, industry, nobility, as to command universal respect and to achieve con- tinuous success. He sought and gained for every department of Christian work a constant symmetrical, wholesome develop- ment. To this, his able pulpit ministrations, his watchful pas- toral care, and his practical business sagacity alike contributed. The church was made to see and feel its obligations, not to the people of Waterville only, but to the whole world, and by all possible means to meet those obligations. Special prominence was given to foreign missions, though not to the neglect of any other department of Christian work. His appreciation of the best music secured an enrichment of the service of song, notably in the purchase by the church of a new organ at a cost of $2,200. This ideal pastorate closed February 12, 1899. The number of additions during it was 590, of which 376 were by baptism. The number of members at its close was 457. There were several seasons of unusual revival interest, but for the most part the growth in number was continuous in connection with the regular services of the church. A considerable fraction of the increase was from the French population. The French mission on the plains, under the immediate pastoral care of its successive min-
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isters, has been from the beginning a source of gain to the church and indeed is itself a branch of the church.
On the 6th of October, 1899, Rev. E. C. Whittemore was called to the pastorate and has since discharged its duties with signal ability and success and with rich promise for the future. The purchase of the Gallert property on Pleasant street for a parson- age, was largely through his influence. A Sunday-school which in all its departments, not including the French or any other mis- sion school, numbers about six hundred, and is under the efficient leadership of Superintendents Dea. Horace Purinton and Mrs. A. T. Dunn, powerfully re-enforces the pastor's efficiency. The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor is largeand vigor- ous, especially when the college and institute students are in town.
The woman's mission societies, both home and foreign, are aggressive and helpful to every interest of the church. The organization of women for the care of the church building and other material interests of the church, raises much money for its purposes and promotes its social and spiritual welfare. The church, not including the French mission, raises annually, for home expenses, about $3,500, and for outside causes, nearly $1,000. These figures do not include the money that is given in other than the regular process of collection. Of the large representation which the church, by virtue of its connection with the college, has in various departments of Christian work at home and abroad and of the members, men and women, who for like reason have attained to great distinction, it has not seemed best to speak. A grand roll-call it would be if their names should all be spoken. Yet the church has not attained. The word of both pastor and people is "Forward."
THE UNIVERSALISTS.
It is noteworthy that the first Universalist minister of Water- ville, Thomas Barnes, was also the first Universalist minister ordained in the State, and has been called "the father of the faith in the State of Maine." He visited Belgrade, Water- ville and Farmington in 1802. He had been a Baptist but became a Universalist in Jaffrey, N. H., in 1783. In 1798 he visited Maine and the next year organized the Eastern
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Association of Universalists in Gray, where the next two annual meetings were held, where he was ordained, January 6, 1802. The 12th annual meeting of the association was held in West Waterville, called in a report of the meeting "back Waterville," September 5, 1810, and with Father Barnes was another minister, Rev. Isaac Root. Mr. Barnes wrote that "the services were performed before a respectable and crowded assem- bly, with vocal and instrumental music truly animating to every soul." The 15th annual meeting of the association was also held in "back Waterville" and the circular letter written by "Thomas Barnes, clerk" and the minutes of the proceedings signed by "Isaac Root, moderator and "'Thomas Barnes, clerk" are still extant. At a meeting of the association held in Winthrop in I821, there were present eight Universalist ministers. Three "came into the work of the ministry" at that time, "Br. Frost, recently converted from the Baptist order," Sylvanus Cobb, and Wm. A. Drew. It is thus evident that in West Waterville there was more of Universalism than in the east part of the town, and that in this vicinity there had been made a considerable progress by that faith. It is, therefore, not surprising that in this part of the town there should have been so much of welcome to the cause that it was decided to hold here the annual meeting in 1823.
At that meeting a sermon preached by the eminent Rev. Hosea Ballou, won over to the Universalist faith, Mr. Jediah Morrill. From that day until his death he devoted himself whole-heartedly and effectively to the Universalist cause, and as a crowning testi- monial of his love for the society, made to it in his extreme old age, a gift of $3,000, to be a perpetual fund whose income should go for the maintenance of preaching. In 1826, May 28, Rev. Sylvanus Cobb organized a Universalist church in Waterville, consisting of the following persons: Sylvanus Cobb, pastor ; Eunice H. Cobb, Nathan Sawtelle, Sarah J. Sawtelle, Elizabeth Blackwell, Hampden Keith, Levi Barrett, Rebecca Barrett, Abel Wheeler, Erastus O. Wheeler, Susanna A. Wheeler, Cyrenus Wheeler, May M. Wheeler, May Eaton, Elizabeth McFarland, Benjamin Carson. Of these, eleven belonged in Waterville, the other six in the neighboring towns of Fairfield, Winslow and Sidney.
1x كسـ
REV. S. F. SMITH, D. D.
REV. D. N. SHELDON, D. D. REV. CALVIN GARDNER.
REV. GEORGE D. LINDSAY.
REV. THOMAS ADAMS, D. D.
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After seven years' service, the last two as pastor of the new church, Mr. Cobb removed to Malden, Mass., to prosecute that work which gave him so great distinction as a writer and leader. On his removal Rev. W. A. Drew of Augusta preached here occasionally. It was apparently not accidental, that as the Bap- tists began their work in the town under the leadership of men who were in ability and standing among the foremost of their denomination, so also the Universalists had for their first leaders, men of like eminence. The character of the people and the cir- cumstances combined to make this a requisite to immediate suc- cess.
Until 1831 the preaching services had been held, by consent of the town, in the town meeting-houses, under an arrangement equitable to other denominations. The disadvantage of this arrangement and the importance of having a church home of their own had become so obvious and urgent to the Universalists in this part of the town, that they now decided to build for them- selves, a house of worship. To this end the First Universalist Society was organized "at a local meeting of the Members of the First Universalist Society in Waterville holden at the East meeting-house in Waterville, pursuant to notice given on a war- rant granted by Tim. Boutelle Esquire, on the 17th day of Nov- ember, A. D. 1831, at 4 o'clock P. M." Col. Chas. Hayden was chosen moderator ; Alpheus Lyon, clerk; Jediah Morrill, treas- urer; Wm. Dorr, collector. A committee of six, of which Jediah Morrill was chairman, was "raised" with full power in the name of the society to form plans for a meeting-house, secure a suitable lot, contract for the erection of the house, and sell pews to pay expenses, "the house to be completed one year from date." That they acted with commendable efficiency is apparent, for the next record, bearing date "1832, November Sth," shows votes passed "that the meeting-house be dedicated on the Ist day of January, next"; that a committee of which Jediah Morrill was chairman "purchase a stove, carpets, etc.," and that "Brother George Bates be invited to preach the sermon at the dedication." A glad day for the society was that first day of January, for now they had their own "house and home." It is an interesting fact that there still remains with us in a vigorous, cheerful old age, one of the forty men who signed the request to Timothy Boutelle
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to issue a warrant to call the meeting for the first organization of the society,-his name, the last on the list, as he is himself the last in the land of the living, -- our venerable friend Walter Getchell, whose zeal for his church, to this day, has not failed or even flagged.
The cost of the house was $4,200. The clock, costing $300, was given by Jediah Morrill and a part of the lot (valued at $100), on which the house was built and still stands, by Simeon Mathews. An interesting letter of the building committee, being dated, "Waterville, Ist July, 1832," written to Mr. Samuel Appleton is still in existence in the possession of Mr. A. A. Plais- ted, the committee consisting of Jediah Morrill, Simeon Mathews, Elah Esty, Alpheus Lyon and Chas. Hayden, say: "Dear Sir : We have raised by subscription, a sum to purchase a bell for our new meeting-house. We wish you to purchase one and have the same shipped immediately. As this is pro bono publico we hope you will not think us trespassing on your goodness too far. We want to purchase a bell from ten to twelve hundred weight. Consult your own judgment in regard to tone and size within these limits : not to exceed in price, $360, should like it on six months; we should like one not too sharp or flat, but about on letter F for tone. You will, of course, buy on best possible terms." In a postscript Mr. Appleton is asked to inquire for the cost of a clock "suitable for the place, in position," and adds that "we understand that it is the practice to warrant bells ." On the eleventh of the following March the town voted to authorize the selectmen to hire a suitable person to ring the bell on the Universalist meeting-house, three times a day for one year, at an expense not above $30. The building committee had shown excellent judgment in the choice of location and lot, and in the plan for the house and its equipment, and much business energy and ability in the executing of their plan. The goodly house continued to render satisfactorily the designed service until the beginning of 1894, when it was greatly damaged by fire. The society at once set to work to repair it, meeting, meanwhile, in the Unitarian house on invitation of that society. It was voted by the pewholders to expend $1,500 to repair and remodel the house, and the proposition of Mr. Geo. H. Ware to move the house back near to the north line of the lot midway between Elm
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street and Silver street, and to turn it so that it should front to the south, and to make under it a suitable celler, all at his own expense, was thankfully accepted. The first bell, which for some time had been speaking with a cracked voice, was now given in exchange as part payment for a new bell costing $300. Mr. Charles Barney of St. Louis, Mo., gave $150 toward this, and the old bell, estimated at the same amount, paid the remainder. The organ had been sold and a new one bought in 1852, and thorough repairs, at an expense of $600, made in 1854. Mrs. Susan Hoag gave $500 for further repairs in 1879. The house has three memorial windows, one behind the pulpit, given by the late Mrs. F. Smith in honor of her parents, Rev. and Mrs. Gardner ; one by Mr. W. B. Arnold and sisters in honor of their parents ; a third by Miss Hannah Powell's Sunday-school class of young men. From the beginning the society has been vigilant, prompt, and efficient in its business, and has, at the present time, free of debt, a commodious church home admirably fitted to its pur- pose. It is as good as new and in some respects better than when new-better certainly in cherished and sacred memories.
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