USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > The history of Portland, from its first settlement: with notices of the neighbouring towns, and of the changes of government in Maine, Part II 1700-1833 > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
1 There were but few houses above the meeting-house when it was built ; on Maine-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- street, 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 in King-street.
--
.
BGRAVED BY-
D.G. JOHN
SOUTH WEST VIEW OF THE
ST PARISH MERITYO HOUSE
61
First Parish.
C. 4.]
population on the 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 King-street and in that neighbourhood 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 .pro- prietors that built said house the pews on the lower floor, and the privilege of building one tier of pews round the back side of the gal- leries, said pews to be 6 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 Lord's day." This was accordingl ' done, and public worship was celebrated in it for the first time July 20, 1740.3
1 1757, Feb. 6. " The snow was so deep in drifts that there was no possibil- ity of getting to the meeting-house ; we met and had one meeting at the court-house." 1762, Feb. 11. " There is no passing from the wind-mill to the meeting-house."-Sm. Jour. In 1747, the church voted " to suspend the cel- ebration of the Lord's supper during the three winter months, because of the cold weather and inconveniences." Ch. Rec.
2 The following protest against the acceptance of the meeting-house was signed and entered upon the record, "Falmouth, July 17, 1740. To the mode- rator of a meeting in the first precinct or parish in Falmouth, now met ; we, the subscribers, whose names are underwritten enter our dissent and declara- tion against the warning of this meeting, or any action or vote proceeding from it. 1st. Because the parish hath never empowered any person to build a meeting-house for them, therefore could have no vote in the business, man- ner of finishing nor price of the same. 2d. Because the warning of this meet-
8
62
First Parish. [P. II.
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 expen- ses. 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 re- mained unfinished ; the western end was not clapboarded until 1756, and it was not painted until after the revolution. Those who remem- ber 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 24 feet.
Notwithstanding the humble pretensions of the new building, the transition from the old house was one of comfort and convenience, and the parish went on gradually for nearly 80 years improving its character in these particulars, and making it comport with the ad- vancement of society. In 1758, a bell was procured from England, which weighed 800 lbs. and cost £123. 14. 2. 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 12 feet ; this improve- ment gave an addition of 28 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 mov- ed to the eastern end of the house and formed the porch, and thus was the fabric at last put into the condition, with the exception of paint, in which it remained to our day.
ing is not legal : We therefore demand that this our dissent be forthwith en- tered on the abovesaid parish's book of record"-signed Nath'l Jones and 21 others, most of whom lived at New-Casco.
' 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-Sm. Jour.
63
Revival.
C. 4.]
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 accomodations for public worship, the parish was making progress in its moral pow- er. Mr. Smith was a popular and an effectual preacher ; and al- though 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 through- out the country, producing what is called a revival. Mr. Smith was deeply interested in it; in Dec. 1741, he went to Portsmouth "to observe and affect himself" as he says, " with the great work of God's grace." On his return he probably communicated to his people some of the ardour which he acquired amidst the scenes he had witnessed. On the 29th of January '42, he " preached a lecture at Mr. Frost's where the work broke out,""" and the next Sunday he exclaims 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 revival of the great work."" A great difference of opinion existed at that day on the expediency of these revivals both among ministers 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 favourable to revivals called a convention of their friends in Boston in July '43, at which ninety ministers were present, and they brought the attes-
'Mr. Frost lived on the bank this side of Stroudwater bridge.
-
"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."
..
64
Revival. [P. II.
tations of thirty more, who gave their unanimous testimony to their belief in the heavenly origin and salutary influence of the excite- ment which was then prevailing over the land. Mr. Smith was present at this convention and took with him the concurring testi- mony of the Pastors of the churches at Purpooduck, Scarborough, Wells, Arundel, North-Yarmouth, and Biddeford.1
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 enthusiastic 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 .? It became a matter of serious consideration 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 popu- lation as in other parts of the country. He first preached for Mr. Smith on Saturday March 23, " multitudes flocking from Purpoo- duck and elsewhere," and again the following Monday afternoon, when, Mr. Smith says " all the opposers were at meeting but the two Noiceg." He does not appear to have preached for Mr. Smith on Sunday; he spent a week in the neighbourhood preaching every day, and left this part of the country in the latter part of March. The most influential men 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
1Smith's Journal. Dr. Colman of Boston presided in the convention assisted by Dr. Sewall of Boston.
. 2Oct. 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. White- field's coming, the leading men violently opposing." Smith's Jour.
3 " Ministers meeting relating to Mr. Whitefield ; Present Messrs. Thomp- son, (Scarborough) Jefferds, (Wells) Hovey, (Arundel) Morrill, (Biddeford) and myself; had much of uneasiness." Smith's Jour. Feb. 13, 1745.
-
65
George Whitefield.
C. 4.]
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."" The preaching of this distinguished minister
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."
2From this excited state of feeling Mr. Smith passed soon into the opposite extreme ; in Nov. 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, Eng. Dec. 1714, and edu- cated 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 Nov. 2, 1739, where he preached every day in the week to crowded audiences until Nov. 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 ministers and gentlemen immediately called upon him, and the next day he preached by invitation in Brattle-street church to more than 2000 persons. The impression he made in Boston, was not inferior t. that in other places, and a universal sensation was produced not only there, but. throughout the land in favour of religion and picty. In 1744, he visited this country again, having arrived 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 31 years old, and yet he had ac- quired a reputation and influence surpassing that of any man in his profession who has ever appeared in this country ; and it would seem from contempora- ry 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 discriminating judg- ment, 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 re- proached 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-Eng. Jour. of 1740, who went to hear him in New-York, and who believed " that
-
66
New-Casco Parish. [P. II.
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 exceed- ingly 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 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.'
The inhabitants on the eastern side of the Presumpscot river had always found a great inconvenience, as may well be conceived, in attending meeting on the Neck, especially in winter. As early as 1740, an article was inserted in a warrant for calling a parish meet- ing on the subject of a separation;2 but the people there were not yet ready for a change, and the article, as was also 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.
some enthusiasm might have mixed itself with his piety, and that his zeal might have exceeded his knowledge, thus describes him : "He is a man of a middle stature, of a slender body, of a fair complexion, and of a comely ap- pearance. He is of a sprightly, cheerful 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 ges- ture, 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 labours 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, Sept. 30, 1770, aged 56.
1 In 1742, the number of inhabitants in the Parish was about 1500. In 1745, the polls were 305.
2 This was probably produced by the acceptance of the new house, and was the result of their threat.
1
.
67
Stroudwater Parish.
C. 4.]
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."" This article was not adopted, but in pursuance of the 2d article it was voted "that the inhabitants on the eastward of Pre- sumpscot river have their parish rates for this present year remitted to them so long as they have a minister to preach the gospel among them." The next year a similar vote was passed, but this did not meet the wishes of the people in that part of the town, who had increased to a number sufficiently large to support a separate minis- ter. In Sept. 1753, Nathaniel Noyes, Ichabod Clark, and fifty others, petitioned the General Court " to be set off as a distinct parish." The first parish assented to the prayer of the petitioners, and having amicably agreed upon the division line, an act of separa- tion passed Dec. 18, 1753.2 David Mitchell, who graduated at Harvard College in 1751, and Isaac Noles, preached to the people of the new parish on probation, but attempts to settle them were unsuccessful. In 1756, John Wiswall, who had kept school in the first parish, and who had occasionally preached among them was invited to become their pastor, and was ordained November 3d of that year.
In 1759, a movement was made for another dismemberment of the old stock in favour of a 4th or the Stroudwater parish. It was occasioned probably partly by an opposition which arose in the parish against the expensive projects then in agitation of procuring a bell, enlarging the meeting-house and erecting the steeple; and
" The place where this "frame was set up," was near where the road which passes from the present meeting-house down to the bay, crosses Squittery- gusset creek : the first meeting-house at New-Casco was erected there, and continued to be the place of worship until the present house was built.
2 The division line was as follows : "Beginning at the North-Yarmouth line near the sea, and from thence running by the bay to Presumpscot river, and thence up said river as far as the westerly side of Mr. James Winslow's 60 acre lot of land on which his dwelling-house stands, and from thence to run a N. W. line to the head of the township, including Macworth's Island, Clapboard Island and Little Chebeag." The number of families within these lines at the time of the separation of the parish was 62.
68
Episcopalian Society.
[P. II .
partly by a spirit of hostility to the " old parish" which began now to manifest itself and which was afterwards more fully developed in the establishment of a new society in the midst of the old one. That some persons had lost their interest in Mr. Smith cannot be doubted, and many new settlers had come into town who were not attached to the good old pastor by the associations of the past: the effect of these circumstances was apparent in an opposition to an increase of his salary, and in some attempts to procure another preacher. The separation of the Stroudwater parish which was urged by Samuel Waldo, although freely acceded to and the dividing lines established, did not take place at this time. And the opposi- tion being unsuccessful in keeping down Mir. Smith's salary with a view probably to cause him to relinquish preaching, set on foot subscriptions in 1763 for a new meeting-house.1 In February 1764 the subscribers met to arrange their future proceedings : great ex- citement existed throughout the parish: there was also a difference of opinion among the opposition itself, which was carried to so great an extreme that two of the most respectable of the members quarrelled and fought in the street. Mr. Smith significantly ob- serves on this occasion, "a foundation for a church was thus laid- the pillars tremble!"? It resulted however not only in a dismember- ment of the parish, but in a separation of part of the people from the congregational order and their formation into an Episcopalian Society, the first which was ever organized upon the Neck.3 This was not effected in perfect harmony and apparently not in a pure zeal.
The firm friends and supporters of the old parish, who were the elderly people, most of the old standards and a majority of all who lived upon the Neck, in the hope of counteracting the spirit of dis- union which was prevailing and of strengthening the society in whose welfare they felt deeply interested, conceived the idea of
1 ' The good old man thus expressed the sadness of his feelings on this oc- casion-"1763, Sept. 11. I have been discouraged about my enemies, they talk of a new meeting-house." Again, " Nov. 24, * * and * * are sending about a subscription for a new meeting-house in favor of Mr. Wiswall."
2 Smith's Jour. These were one of the Waite's and Brig. Preble. The number of persons who subscribed for the new house in November 1763, was 41, among whom James Hope, the Waite family and Brig. Preble, were the principal members ; James Hope died in 1765.
3 The vote for adopting the forms of the Church of England, was passed July 23, 1764.
C. 4.]
Episcopal Church. 69
associating with their aged and respected pastor an able colleague, whose vigour and talents should sustain the drooping fortunes of their parish. Not having been successful at first on the abstract question of settling a colleague, some of Mr. Smith's friends procured Mr. Samuel Deane, then a tutor at Cambridge, a young man of high reputation as a scholar and preacher, to come here. He preached several Sabbaths in May and June 1764, and so well satisfied were the people with him, that in July the church invited him by an unan- imous vote to settle among them as colleague with Mr. Smith, in which the parish concurred by a large majority.1
This measure however, so far from uniting the disjointed mem- bers of the society, produced a wider breach. The subscribers to the new meeting-house and the Stroudwater people made common cause in resisting the invitation to Mr. Deane, and when they found they could not succeed, their opposition took a more definite char- acter and within a week after the vote was adopted to call Mr. Deane, the one branch declared for the Church of England, and the other resolved to procure a separate minister for the 4th parish.2 They each carried their resolutions into effect, and although the determination of the church people was sudden and somewhat unexpected, they executed their plans with great rapidity : as early as September following the corner stone of their house was laid and the building was completed the next season.3 In 1764 Mr.
1 The parish voted him £133. 6. 8. lawful money, for a settlement, and £100 salary. 2 Sm. Jour.
3 The church was erected 50 feet long and 29 high, on the corner of Church and Middle-streets, where a brick block of two houses now stands ; it was fin- ished with a tower, in which a bell was placed. The following is a list of persons who attended the church in 1765, and were taxed there :
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.