USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from 1632 to 1864: with a notice of previous settlements, colonial grants, and changes of government in Maine > Part 33
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Richmond. In 1758 he moved to Pennsylvania, was settled over a society in Philadelphia, and we hear no more of him in Maine.
On the death of Mr. Allen in 1754, new troubles occurred in that society in supplying his place. Elizur Holyoke, who graduated at Harvard College in 1750, preached there on pro- bation ; the church by a majority of one, and the society by a majority of two votes, invited him to be their pastor. But he not being militant enough to accept the call, William Went- worth and a number of others petitioned the General Court for a division of the parish, which was unsuccessful, and "the parish was in a sad situation, dismally divided and quarrel- ing.""' In the midst of this confusion the Rev. Ephraim Clark came among them to preach and so great was the interest taken in the neighboring parish, that several people went from this side to hear him.2 Notwithstanding a very powerful oppo- sition, he was invited to settle there and accepted the call, but the objections to him were urged so strongly that the council first called did not think proper to recommend him for instal- lation. A new and grand council consisting of fifteen churches was then summoned, which met in July, and which after three days of "close hot work" as Mr. Smith says, arrived at the same conclusion by a vote of twenty-three to eighteen "and two neuters." This result was not submitted to by Mr. Clark's friends and he continued to preach. The opposition now pro- ceeded to most unwarrantable lengths to prevent Mr. Clark's settlement and attempted to ruin his reputation ; they entered a complaint against him for lying, which was submitted to a jury who acquitted him.3 The trial was one of deep interest
1 Smith's Journal, December 15, 1754. Mr. Holyoke was subsequently settled in Boxford, Massachusetts, married a Peabody of that place. He was librarian of Harvard College, 1757-58, and died in 1806.
? He had lately been dismissed from the pastoral care of a church in Boston.
3 "Our justices are at work, contriving to take Mr. Clark in hand." "Things are in a sad toss about Mr. Clark." --- Smith's Journal, August 14 and 18, 1755.
387
PURPOODUCK PARISH-REV. EPHRAIM CLARK.
and "thousands of people were present." His friends in this emergency did not abandon him and after repeated disappoint- ments in procuring persons to install him, and the practice of unusual intolerance, they finally succeeded, and the ceremony was performed in Mr. Simonton's orchard at Purpooduck, May 21, 1756.1 Colonel Ezekiel Cushing, who was one of the leaders of the opposition, and several others were set off to the first parish where they afterward attended. The difficulty did not cease here, so deep rooted was resentment on the oc- casion, that it was even supposed an attempt had been made to poison Mr. Clark, which very much increased the excitement already sufficiently high.2 Twenty-four members of the parish refusing to pay their rates were committed to jail, and the ministers in the neighborhood kept a private fast on occasion of these contentions.
It was a long time before quiet in that parish was restored, but it at length subsided and Col. Cushing just previous to his death in 1765, petitioned the General Court and was restored to that precinct. No greater practical illustration can be given of the folly of this intense agitation than this fact, that the very leader of the disaffected, should in so short a time, sit quietly down under the preaching of the man whom he had persecuted almost unto death. It is more easy to trace the effect of this quarrel than to discover at this late day its cause. The little objects which arouse the passions in the excitements of party are often lost sight of in, the whirlwind they produce. That they could not be of magnitude, is evident from the fact
1 "1756, January 20. Clark's messengers returned, not being able to get in- stallers." May 3. "Mr. Clark set out once more to get installers." May 20. "There is a great bustle again at Purpooduck; Jonathan Rogers and the Cleave- lands are come there to install Mr. Clark, who spent to-day in mock council. Many of our people went over, and (21) this afternoon installed him in Simon- ton's orchard."-Smith's Journal.
2 "1756, June 17. A terrible uproar about Mr. Clark's being poisoned by Mr. Lovit."
388
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
that Mr. Clark continued to officiate to the people there for forty years without any impeachment of his character. We have been able to find no other cause for this mighty stir than that it was objected to Mr. Clark that he was a man of small talents and those not cultivated by a liberal education. The opinion of the council which was given by a majority of only three, may have turned on the expediency of a settlement against so strong an opposition. Mr. Clark died December 11, 1797, without issue, leaving behind him the reputation of piety and sincerity.
Notwithstanding the separation of the Purpooduck people, the first parish had increased so rapidly, that an inconvenience soon began to be felt from the narrow dimensions of the meet- ing-house.1 As early as February, 1737, a few members of the society met together to concert measures for a new house, and the prayers of their respected pastor were invoked on the occasion. The parish as a body would not engage in the un- dertaking, but so determined were some public spirited indi- viduals to accomplish the work, that they advanced their own funds and erected a large and convenient house on the lot where the stone meeting-house now stands. They had to encounter a severe opposition, arising partly from the local situation they had chosen for the house and partly from an ap- prehension of the expense .? It was indeed remote, and con- tinued for many years beyond the center of population on the
June 20, 1736. Mr. Smith says, "Our meeting-house is not large enough when there are strangers."
2 There were but few houses above the meeting-house when it was built; on Main street there were but two, viz., Knapp's, where Casco street is, and Joshua Brackett's, opposite the head of High street; Capt. B. Larrabee's stood at the junction of Federal with Middle street; three or four on Fore strect, and Anthony Brackett's in the field, where Brackett street now enters Danforth street; these were all that were above it, and the houses below were few and scattered, except on India street,
1
389
FIRST PARISH-NEW MEETING-HOUSE.
Neck, and during the winter seasons, which were vastly more severe than any we now have, the roads leading to it were often so blocked up with snow even so late as 1765, that the people were unable to get to meeting.1
Beside the inhabitants on India street and in that neigh- borhood were attached to the old house, and the spot on which it stood, by usage and association, and were unwilling that any change should be made. The subscribers to the new house, however, pursued a steady course against all opposition and had the building ready for use in July, 1740. It was then offered to the society, and a parish meeting was held July 17, to take the subject into consideration : they adjourned one hour to view the house, and on re-assembling, after "a sad opposition," a small majority adopted the following vote : "Voted, that the new meeting-house on the Neck in the first parish in Falmouth, be a parish-house forever, reserving to the proprietors that built said house the pews on the lower floor, and privilege of building one tier of pews round the back side of the galleries ; said pews to be six feet wide; the remainder of said parish to have the privilege of the seats below and the seats in the galleries, provided that the (proprietors that built said house build the seats in the galleries at their own cost and charge, so that the parish be at no cost and charge, for the same or any part of said house as it now stands, excepting any person or persons that have not paid any thing towards' said house, see cause to subscribe and take a privilege in said house." It was also voted that Mr. Smith be notified that the parish had accepted said house and to "desire him to preach in it next
1 1757, February 6. "The snow was so deep in drifts that there was no pos- sibility of getting to the meeting-house ; we met and had one meeting at the court-house." 1762, February 11. "There is no passing from the wind-mill to the meeting-house."-Smith's Journal. In 1747 the church voted "to suspend the celebration of the Lord's Supper during the three winter months, because of the cold weather and inconveniences."-Church Records.
390
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Lord's Day." This was accordingly done, and public worship was celebrated in it for the first time July 20, 1740.1
We confess that we do not understand the terms on which the parish obtained the meeting-house contained in the preceding vote ; the probability is that the floor of the house was not wholly occupied by pews and that the proprietors had reserved to themselves those which had been built, the sales of which were to defray their expenses. The house was small and by no means of an expensive kind ; it had no porches, and the interior as well as part of the exterior remained unfinished ; the western end was not clapboarded until 1756, and it was not painted until after the revolution. Those who remember the appearance of the building removed in 1825, to make way for the stone house, may form some idea of its size and appearance, if they strip it of its steeple and porches and reduce its length twenty-four feet.2 The engraving contained in this volume is a very accurate view of the building just previous to its being removed.
Notwithstanding the humble pretensions of the new building, the transition from the old house was one of comfort and con-
1 The following protest against the acceptance of the meeting-house was signed and entered upon the record : "Falmouth, July 17, 1740. To the moderator of a meeting in the first precinct or parish in Falmouth, now met; we, the subscri- bers whose names are underwritten enter our dissent and declaration against the warning of this meeting, or any action or vote proceeding from it. 1st. Be- cause the parish hath never empowered any person to build a meeting-house for them, therefore could have no vote in the business, manner of finishing nor price of the same. 2d. Because the warning of this meeting is not legal : We there- fore demand that this our dissent be forthwith entered on the above said parish's book of record"-signed Nathan'l Jones and twenty-one others, most of whom lived at New Casco.
2 The lot on which the meeting-house was built was one hundred and twenty- two feet on "Back street" and one hundred and forty feet deep, and was part of the three acre lot granted, in 1721, to Major Samuel Moody. June 22, 1738, his three children, Joshua, Samuel, and Mary Mountfort, conveyed it "to the society for building a meeting-house in the first parish in Falmouth, * * to each of them in proportion according to the respective sums they pay toward build- ing said meeting-house."
391
FIRST PARISH-MEETING-HOUSE.
venience, and the parish went on gradually for nearly eighty years improving its character in these particulars, and making it comport with the advancement of society. In 1758 a bell was procured from England, which weighed eight hundred pounds, and cost one hundred and twenty-three pounds four- teen shillings and two pence, lawful money, and was put up on a frame separate from the meeting-house in July.1 In 1759 the parish voted to enlarge the house and build a steeple. In that year the house was altered in pursuance of a plan submitted by Simon Gookin and others in 1753, by sawing it through on both sides of the pulpit, and removing each end twelve feet ; this improvement gave an addition of twenty-eight pews on the lower floor, and was done at the expense of subscribers to the new pews. In 1760 the tower was raised and finished ; and the next year it was crowned by the tall spire, which survived the rude shocks of time and war, until it was made to bow to the progress of modern improvement in 1825. In 1762 the frame on which the bell had been suspended was moved to the eastern end of the house and formed the porchi, and thus was the fabric at last put into the condition, with the exception of paint, in which it remained to our day.
The old meeting-house, after the acceptance of the new one, was used for town and parish meetings, occasionally occupied a few times for preaching, and after the courts were established here, for a court house ; in a few years it exchanged its name from the "old meeting-house" to the town house. It was moved in the spring of 1774 to Hampshire street, near the entrance into Congress street where it perished in the conflagration of the next year.
While these improvements were making in the accommoda- tions for public worship, the parish was making progress in its
1 There was great opposition to the bell, particularly by persons who lived off the Neck beyond its sound ; they threatened never to come to meeting, and talked of being set off as a separate parish .- Smith's Journal.
392
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
moral power. Mr. Smith was a popular and an effectual preacher ; and although his mind was occasionally depressed by hypochondria, he was generally cheerful, entering zealously into the work in which his heart was ardently engaged.
In 1740 a great excitement in favor of religion took place throughout the country, producing a revival. Mr. Smith was deeply interested in it; in December, 1741, he went to Ports- mouth "to observe and affect himself" as he says, "with the great work of God's grace." On his return he probably com- municated to his people some of the ardor which he acquired amidst the scenes he had witnessed. On the 29th of January, 1742, he "preached a lecture at Mr. Frost's where the work broke out,"! and the next Sunday he exclaimed in the fulness of his feelings, "the blessedest Sabbath Falmouth ever saw." In the May following he says, "he rode to Black Point, and with Mr. Allen carried on a fast which was to pray for the revi- val of the great work."2 A great difference of opinion existed at that day on the expediency of these revivals, both among min- isters and the people; the opposition thought they were the mere results of enthusiasm, and productive of more evil than good. In the annual convention of ministers which assembled in Boston, in May, 1743, a majority was found to be opposed to them ; they were styled disorders, and a vote was obtained against them. This caused a great ferment on the other side and party spirit was in a high degree virulent and bitter. Those who were favorable to revivals called a convention of their friends in Boston in July, 1743, at which ninety minis- ters were present, and they brought the attestations of thirty more, who gave their unanimous testimony to their belief in the heavenly origin and salutary influence of the excitement
1 Mr. Frost lived on the bank this side of Stroudwater bridge.
2 In order to show the great fluctuation of the good man's feelings, I quote from his diary in January following. "I have been in a poor distracted frame this and the three preceding Sabbaths ; lost all courage and ready to give up."
393
FIRST PARISH-REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD.
which was then prevailing over the land. Mr. Smith was pres- ent at this convention and took with him the concurring testi- mony of the pastors of the churches at Purpooduck, Scarbor- ough, Wells, Arundel, North Yarmouth, and Biddeford.
The impulse to this excited state of the public mind, was first given in this country by Mr. Whitefield, who came to Boston in 1740, and who by his impassioned eloquence and enthusias- tic manner, drew larger audiences than have ever been collected by any other preacher. On his first visit to New England he did not come into Maine, but in 1744 he arrived at York, and his coming was the signal of uneasiness in the principal parishes of our State.2 It became a matter of serious consid- eration among the ministers, whether it was prudent to invite him to their pulpits, so great was the opposition to him in the different congregations.3 In the course of the spring however, of 1745, this distinguished preacher went as far east as North Yarmouth and preached in every pulpit on the way in this State ; and notwithstanding great opposition, the crowds which flocked to hear him were as large in proportion to the popula- tion as in other parts of the country. He first preached for Mr. Smith on Saturday, March 23, "multitudes flocking from Purpooduck and elsewhere," and again the following Monday afternoon, when, Mr. Smith says "all the opposers were at meeting but the two Noices." He does not appear to have preached for Mr. Smith on Sunday ; he spent a week in the neighborhood preaching every day, and left this part of the country in the latter part of March. The most influential men
1 Smith's Journal. Dr. Colman of Boston presided in the convention assisted' by Dr. Sewall of Boston. 1
2 October 31. 1744. "Mr. Pearson came to see me, to oppose Mr. Whitefield's coming here. The parish are like to be in a flame on account of Mr. Whitefild's coming, the leading men violently opposing."-Smith's Journal.
3 "Ministers' meeting relating to Mr. Whitefield ; present, Messrs Thompson, (Scarborough,) Jefferds, (Wells,) Hovey, (Arundell,) Morrill, (Biddeford,) and myself; had much of uneasiness."-Smith's Journal, February 13, 1745.
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394
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
in town opposed his coming here, as Moses Pearson, Capt. Waite, Henry Wheeler, Joshua Moody, Enoch Freeman, and others, all of whom happened to be absent at the time of Mr. Whitefield's arrival, so that the harmony of the society was not essentially disturbed.1
It is evident from Mr. Smith's Journal that he caught some new fire from Mr. Whitefield's enthusiasm, which he exhibited in his performances: he notices it himself soon after Mr. Whitefield went away, in the following manner : " For several Sabbaths and the lecture I have been all in a blaze, never in such a flame; and what I would attend to is, that it was not only involuntary but actually determined against-I went to meeting determined to be calm and moderate lest people should think it was wildness and affectation to ape Mr. Whitefield.2
1 Mr. Smith says, "the opposition to him among our leading men except Mr. Frost was violent," and "unwearied pains taken to prejudice the people against him," "but "they were all out of town, so that there was no uneasiness, but all well and a general reception, thanks to God." A few days after he observes, "Mr. Waite returned, so that the parish is in a buzz about Mr. Whitefield."
2 From this excited state of feeling Mr. Smith passed soon into the opposite extreme ; in November following, he spoke of himself and his congregation in his despondency, as a dead minister and a dead people, and prayed that God would set a man over them that would do them service.
Rev. George Whitefield was born in Gloucester, England, December, 1714, and educated at Oxford University. He first came to this country in 1738, as minis- ter of Frederica in Georgia. He went back the same year for priest's orders, and returning arrived at Philadelphia, November 2, 1739, where he preached every day in the week to crowded audiences, until November 12, when he went to New York, to which place his fame had preceded him. There, also, vast multitudes attended upon his preaching, which on account of the crowd, was often in the open fields. Wherever he went, the whole people followed him, and the country was in the highest degree excited. In 1740 he came to Boston, and was favorably received by the ministers there. Dr. Prince and Dr. Sewall of the South Church, and Dr. Colman and Mr. Cooper of Brattle Street, with other min- isters and gentleman immediately called upon him, and the next day he preach- ed, by invitation, in Brattle Street Church to more than two thousand persons. The impression he made in Boston, was not inferior to that in other places, and a universal sensation was produced not only there, but throughout the land in favor' of religion and piety. In 1744 he visited this country again, having ar-
395
FIRST PARISH-REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD.
The preaching of this distinguished minister did not produce such striking results here as it did in many other places. In 1745 there were but two admissions to the first church, which then, it will be recollected, embraced the whole town except the Purpooduck district. The excitement which had been ex- ceedingly high in 1742, here, as well as all over the country, had utterly gone down, whether from the natural consequence of overwrought action or that the flame was not sufficiently
rived at York in this State in October. On this occasion, his popularity was not diminished, but he preached with the same power and effect which had attended his former career, both ministers and their people flocking to hear him. At this time, Mr. Whitefield was not thirty-one years old, and yet he had acquired a reputation and influence surpassing that of any man in his profession, who has ever appeared in this country; and it would seem from cotemporary evidence that this was not undeserved or of a mere temporary nature. He received the favorable testimony of the most able ministers in the country ; Dr. Colman and Mr. Cooper of Boston, men of sound and discriminatimg judgment, thus speak of him in 1740: "He is the wonder of the age; and no man more employs the . pens and fills up the conversation of people than he does at this day ; none more admired and applauded by some, contemned and reproached by others; the common lot of the most excellent men the world has had to show !"-(Christ. Hist. 1744, 366.) Another writer in the New England Journal of 1740, who went to hear him in New York, and who believed that some enthusiasm might have mixed itself with his piety, and that his zeal might have exceeded his knowl- edge, thus describes him : "He is a man of a middle stature, of a slender body, of a fair complexion, and of a comely appearance. He is of sprightly, cheer- ful temper, acts and moves with great agility and life. The endowments of his mind are very uncommon : his wit is quick and piercing, his imagination lively and florid, and as far as I can discern, both are under the direction of an exact and solid judgment. He has a most ready memory, and I think speaks entirely without notes. He has a clear and musical voice and a wonderful command of it. He uses much gesture, but with great propriety; every accent of his voice, every motion of his body, are both natural and unaffected. If his delivery is the product of art, 'tis certainly the perfection of it."
Mr. Whitefield's labors were chiefly confined to the province of Georgia, to whose religious and benevolent institutions he was a distinguished support. He died on a tour of the eastern provinces, at Newburyport, September 30, 1770, aged fifty-six.
For further particulars relating to Mr. Whitefield-his religious doctrine-the effect of his preaching with the opposition to him, see notes to Smith's Journal, 2d edition, page 104.
396
HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
fanned, we are not able to determine. In 1742 there were forty-eight admissions to the church, being more than ever took place before or since in any one year, of which sixteen were on one day in May, and thirteen on one day in August. In 1743 there were but five admissions; in 1744, fourteen ; in 1747 there was no admission except of two persons received from another church. During the twelve years from 1737 to 1748 inclusive, with the exception of 1742, the average number of members admitted to the church was but five a year, which shows the extraordinary excitement of that peculiar year.1
The inhabitants on the eastern side of the Presumpscot river had always found a great inconvenience, as may well be con- ceived, in attending meeting on the Neck, especially in winter. As early as 1740, an article was inserted in a warrant for call- ing a parish meeting on the subject of a separation ;2 but the people were not ready then for a change, and the article, as was another on the same subject the next year dismissed. The year following they made an ineffectual attempt to be released from paying rates to Mr. Smith. The subject was repeatedly brought before the parish in some shape or other without effect until 1752, when a vigorous effort was made, and a special meeting called, to accomplish the purpose. The first article in the warrant was as follows: "To see whether or no they will set them, the inhabitants of New Casco, off to be a parish agreeable to the frame which is set up for a meeting- house near James Wyman's dwelling house, or so many as see cause to join in settling a minister to preach the gospel, near or at said place."3 This article was not adopted, but in pur-
1 In 1742 the number of inhabitants in the parish was about fifteen hundred. In 1745 the polls were three hundred and five.
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