USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Wiscasset > Wiscasset in Pownalborough; a history of the shire town and the salient historical features of the territory between the Sheepscot and Kennebec rivers > Part 24
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Mr. Abiel Wood, Jr. to Miss Sarah Turner, Dec. 13, 1829. Both of Wiscasset. Rev. Elisha G. Babcock, Pastor of Second Congregational Church in Wiscasset, to Miss Eliza Hibberd of Londonderry, N. H. May 31, 1830.
Col. John Erskine to Miss Rebecca D. Parker, May 25, 1830. Both of Wiscasset. Mr. Oliver Barrett, Jr., of Augusta, to Miss Martha W. Foster of Wiscasset. Jan. 4th, 1831.
The Second Congregational Church held prayer-meetings in Washington Hall and later in the building which is now the Wiscasset Public Library, the same house which was built for the Lincoln & Kennebec Bank.
The different religious societies in the town of Wiscasset united in form- ing a Sabbath School society June 1, 1825.
Mr. Joseph Moulton, November 7, 1874, made a canvass of Wiscasset and Edgecomb. The Church census showed that out of three hundred and twenty-six families visited there were:
Methodist
159 families.
Congregational
56
Episcopal 46
Free Baptists
2I
"
Baptist 4
Universalist
2
Advent I
27 families did not attend church. 9 families had no Bible. 247 attend Sunday School. 6 1 children do not attend Sunday School.
23. Taken from the records of the Second Congregational Church, p. 67. 24. Rev. Elisha G. Babcock.
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The census for March, 1900, shows:
Sunday School children
Methodist families 202
107
Congregational families
93
100
Episcopal families 49
20
Free Will Baptist families 6
Unitarian families 2
Universalist families
I
Demolition
It is difficult now for us to comprehend the motive which actuated the majority of the parish in 1840, when they committed what must ever seem an act of vandalism in taking down the old meeting-house, which they de- cided was "so worn out and unsuitable as to be unfit for a house of public worship."
There was a row of ten Lombardy poplars in front of the old church, which was destroyed by the same ruthless spirit which razed the church, changing the sky-line of the village from an old New England primitive style to a stereotyped architecture quite common at that time.
The heating problem seems to have been their sole excuse for its destruc- tion. In the diary of Alexander Johnston, Jr., we find:
This old relic of 1746 should not have been taken down. It was sound in every tim- ber and stood on a flat ledge. . . . It should have had an arched ceiling inserted below the very high, square ceiling to facilitate its warming up.
One more excerpt from the same diary gives a description of a celebration held in the first meeting-house:
The pure white rosebuds which grace our table this morning with their charming fragrance, remind us of the glories of the Fourth of July of our earliest days; the boom of cannon; the waving of flags; the martial music and the long procession of our fathers to the grand old church; the festoons of oak and the white and red roses in countless profusion-the balsamic firs and cedars, the medallion of red with the golden "76" suspended from the sounding board, directly over the orator's head around which "LIBERTY" worked on its panels in fine evergreens and immortelles-the white haired minister and his earnest prayer-the reading of the immortal Declaration-the gold bowed spectacles of the orator (John Hannibal Sheppard ) the red-sashed marshal with his cockade and sword-the drum major with wand and the clarionet band-the dinner with the long tables in the Town Hall. . .
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
The illustration will show the type of church, modelled after the Old South Church in Boston, which replaced the old meeting-house. This second church was in constant use until the night of December 21, 1907, when it burned to the ground. The fire melted the bell, and consumed the organ, a fine old instrument built by Stevens of Cambridgeport which had been in- stalled in the church in 1849.
Rev. Uriah Balkam
Rev. Uriah Balkam was born in Robbinston, near Calais, in Washington County, Maine, March 27, 1812. He graduated from Amherst College in 1837, and pursued a course of theological study at the Bangor Theological Seminary which he completed in 1840. Soon after his graduation he was settled in his first pastorate in Union, Maine.
In 1844 he succeeded Rev. William L. Mather as pastor of the First Parish Church of Wiscasset. He remained here for ten years during which period he gave much time to educational matters when they were passing through the interval of sectarian jealousies which preceded their transition to graded schools.
Subsequently he accepted a call to the pastorate of the Pine Street Con- gregational Church in Lewiston, which he filled with signal ability until October, 1870.
In 1867, Mr. Balkam received the honorary degree of D. D. from Bates College; and at the Commencement session of the Trustees of Bates Col- lege in 1873, Dr. Balkam was elected "Cobb Professor of Logic and Chris- tian Evidences."
On Wednesday morning, March 4, 1874, Rev. Dr. Balkam started from his residence at Bates Street, Lewiston, on horseback to ride to Bates College to attend a recitation, he being a professor in that institution. The horse reared and the Doctor was thrown to the ground, striking on the right side of his face, causing concussion of the brain, and killing him instantly.
Martha, wife of Uriah Balkam, died June 17, 1849.
Rev. Josiah Merrill
Josiah Merrill, the son of Rev. Josiah G. and Harriet (Jones) Merrill, was born at Otisfield, Maine, January 31, 1819. He was the eighth in
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descent from Nathaniel Merrill, who came from England and was one of the original settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1635.
His father, the Rev. Josiah G. Merrill, was, for over half a century, a minister of the Congregational Church, having pastorates at Harpswell, Cape Elizabeth, Otisfield, and other towns in Maine. He passed many years in the home missionary service, involving a life spent for the most part on horseback in the more remote parts of Maine, especially in Aroostook County.
Josiah Merrill entered Dartmouth college at the age of eighteen, grad- uating therefrom in 1841, after which time he pursued his studies at both the Andover and Bangor Theological Seminaries, with intervals spent in teaching school. After his graduation from Bangor he preached for a time at Eastport, Maine, but in 1848, he settled in his first regular pastorate at Hartford, White River Village, Vermont.
In August of that year he married Philomedia Henrietta Converse, who became in its full sense the partner of his life, sharing his work as helper, comforter, and counsellor, in an ideal union.
After a pastorate of eight years at Hartford, Mr. Merrill accepted a call to the First Parish Church of Wiscasset, where he arrived late in the year 1856, entering at once on his pastoral duties. Mrs. Merrill with their three children joined him a few weeks later and they were the first to occupy the newly bought Congregational parsonage.
Mr. Merrill's pastorate in Wiscasset lasted about seven years, during which time both he and Mrs. Merrill won the love and esteem of his parish- ioners and made many warm friendships which lasted through all of their remaining years.
The financial troubles incident to the Civil War, with the increased cost of living towards its close, were the causes chiefly responsible for the ter- mination of his pastorate at Wiscasset early in 1864. At this time he made his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for many subsequent years. There he engaged in secular work in order to obtain the means of educating his children, at the same time supplying regularly the Congregational Church at South Franklin, in the same state.
Five years afterward, in November, 1869, he experienced an overwhelm- ing sorrow in the death of his wife. When his children had finished school and college, his heart turned again to the full service of the church, and he
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resumed regular pastoral work, first at Dummerston, Vermont, and later at Troy, New Hampshire, which was his last charge.
Josiah Merrill died in March, 1894, at the home of his daughter Ida, leaving a sweet memory of a gentle unselfish nature, and a life devoted to good works.25
Rev. George E. Street
George Edward Street, the son of Col. Thaddeus Street, a descendant of Rev. Nicholas Street, and Martha Davenport Reynolds, was born at Chesh- ire, Connecticut, June 18, 1835. He received his early education at the schools and academy of Cheshire, preparing there for Yale College, from which he graduated in 1858. The next two years were passed in teaching in Stonington, Connecticut, after which he entered the Andover Theological Seminary.
Dr. Street came to Wiscasset, where he was ordained as pastor of the First Parish Congregational Church, April 6, 1864. Doubtless his interest in the history of the Maine coast dates from his life in this little seaport. For seven years he rendered devout service in this town, where his exem- plary character, his integrity and culture won for him many friends whose devotion the intervening years have not caused to wane. His fine presence and courtly manner gave him distinction in any society, and his natural sympathy together with a broad horizon, the result of extensive travels, developed in him an unusual range of fellowship with all classes.
From Wiscasset Dr. Street was called to Exeter, New Hampshire, where he was installed, March 30, 1871, at the Second Congregational Church. After a pastorate there of twenty-eight years, failing health forced him to retire. He was an ardent advocate of missions both at home and abroad, and served as a corporate member of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions. Dr. Street was also indefatigable in his work for temperance, and from him came the impetus which finally drove the saloons from Exeter. Many of his memorial and historical addresses have been published. He compiled Mount Desert, A History, intending to publish it in 1904 in time for the three hundredth anniversary of Cham- plain's discovery of the island in 1604, but illness prevented, and the book was published posthumously.
25. The above biography was written by his son, Henry Merrill, Esq.
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Dr. Street married Mary Evarts Anderson, the daughter of Rev. Ru- fus Anderson, who was for more than a century the corresponding secretary of the American Board of Foreign Missions. Of the four children born to them, two daughters died in childhood; a son, George, was later in business in Boston, and the surviving daughter, Helen, married Rev. William W. Ranney, of Hartford, Connecticut.
Rev. George Edward Street died at that city December 26, 1903, and was buried at Exeter, where he had so long tarried.26
The Vestry and the Parsonage
The Congregational vestry was built in 1856. It is still standing on its original site on the eastern side of Court (now Summer) Street, and is used for parish gatherings and parish fairs.
On April 24, 1857, Dr. Kennedy from the committee appointed to pro- cure a house for a parsonage reported "That the sum of eighteen hundred dollars has been raised by voluntary subscription from Gentlemen and La- dies in the Church and Parish-and the whole amount paid to the commit- tee-and that they have purchased of Henry Clark, Esq., the house form- erly owned by John Brooks-for the sum of $1800 and taken his deed of warranty of the same in the name of the First Parish of Wiscasset.
Voted-that the report be accepted and that the Clerk (S. P. Baker) cause the deed to be recorded and also procure insurance on the house in the name of the Parish."> 27
This house, which stands on the western side of Summer Street, was built by Hon. Silas Lee about 1806. It was, at one time, the home of Franklin Tinkham. The house has a well-finished basement with dining room and kitchen; there was a brick oven and fire-place. The secret stairway leading from the basement to the second story between the chimney and the outer wall has been removed. With minor exceptions this house still used as the Congregational parsonage has remained unchanged.
The Congregational Centennial
The centennial celebration of the Congregational Church, which had be- gun as the east precinct of Pownalborough, took place on Wednesday, Au-
26. Biographical sketch taken from Wilbert L. Anderson, Mount Desert, A History.
27. Taken from the parish book.
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gust 6, 1873, on the identical spot where a hundred years before its founders had met and perfected its organization.
Dr. Sidney Beaman Cushman presided over the reunion. The invocation was delivered by Rev. Jotham Sewall. The address which followed by the Rev. Alpheus Spring Packard of Bowdoin College, son of the second pastor, and himself over threescore years and ten, was replete with reminiscences of the old meeting-house that rose like a great barn, at the head of the village green, until it was crowned with a steeple in 1792. His brother, Dr. George Packard, then rector of an Episcopal Church in Massachusetts, gave his reminiscences of the early social and religious organizations here and men- tioned many of the families who were then represented among the parish- ioners, some of whom were the Woods, the Boyds, the Youngs, the Stacys, the Boyntons, the Cushmans, the Footes, and others.
The Rev. Uriah Balkam and Rev. George E. Street, both former pastors of the church, spoke eloquently of their sojourn here, as did Mr. C. J. Spenceley of Boston, a former attendant of the church and a member of its Sabbath School, who recalled incidents connected with the church and the faithful service of its supporters, Deacon Foote, Deacon Baker and Deacon Averill. Capt. Richard H. Tucker made a brief but appropriate address.
Mr. Thomas P. Ryder, the accomplished organist of Tremont Temple, presided at the organ. A noticeable feature of this service was the closing hymn written for the occasion by Annette Hubbard Hobson, a daughter of the church.
O Thou! before whose endless days All time and seasons are the same, Help us aright to sound Thy praise, And give fit glory to Thy name.
A hundred years of grace and love! How great the sum, how small our worth! Thy church in grateful wonder bow'd Recounts Thy mercies since its birth.
May this Thy plant a cent'ry old, Blossom to-day in praises sweet; Our hearts uplifted to Thy throne, Lay the rich garland at Thy feet.
The church was tastefully decorated with evergreens and oak leaves, and, more appropriate than any other adornment, was a century plant loaned by
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Mrs. Alexander Johnston. Within a green arch at the back of the pulpit were the names of the several pastors of the church arranged as follows:
MOORE
BRADFORD
PACKARD
HOOKER
WHITE
1773
MATHER
BALKAM
MERRILL
STREET
1873
BOLSTER
More than three hundred persons were present at the celebration. The flag of the nation floated from flag-staff and mast-head on shore and at the wharves. It floated from the peak of the U. S. steamer Tallapoosa, at her moorings in the bay, and bearing also the pennant of Commodore Rogers, who with the Secretary of the Navy, Surgeon-General Palmer, and other dignitaries of the government were on board. All of the ship's company were invited to the festivities of the occasion-for a dinner supplemented the religious exercises and Commodore Rogers, Professor Nash and Cap- tain Brown attended.
Restoration
During the present century many changes have occurred, the most de- plorable of which was the complete destruction of the church by fire on the night of December 21, 1907, and the irreparable loss of the Paul Revere bell.
Soon after this disaster a committee was appointed to collect funds for the rebuilding of the church on the same site as the former churches, and that committee consisted of Frederick Wood Sewall, Richard H. T. Taylor, and Charles E. Knight.
So successful were their efforts that the new church, the third to occupy that site on the crest of Meeting-house Hill, was dedicated July 27, 1909, with fitting ceremony and free from debt.
The style of the last church resembled that of its immediate predecessor, save that its architects,28 John Howard Stevens and John Calvin Stevens of Portland, modified the pointed windows, which leaned towards Gothic ar- chitecture, to round head windows in order to keep the design more purely Colonial.
28. This church was designed in 1908 and its contractor was Mr. A. F. Warren.
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A manual of the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset was arranged by Rev. Albert K. Baldwin, October 1, 1909. Each Congregational Church being free to choose its own creed, and each member being allowed the lib- erty of interpreting that creed according to the dictates of his own con- science, this revision was undertaken with a view to giving greater uniform- ity to its meaning. The Confession of Faith, the Covenant and the By-Laws, all at this time underwent revision, and had been adopted by the church, September 13, 1909. Until that date the original covenant had been con- tinually in use.
The sesquicentennial of the founding of the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset was celebrated August 23, 1923.
This society which originally was the east precinct of Pownalborough, then the east parish of Pownalborough; later the first parish of Wiscasset was incorporated August 20, 1931, as the First Congregational Church of Wiscasset, by which official title it is now known.
The following interesting document was found by workmen in the cor- ner-stone of the First Parish Church (August 24, 1908) after that church had been destroyed by fire nine months previously. While repairing the foundation before erecting on that site a new church, they discovered a sealed bottle containing a copy of the New York Daily Express, June 7, 1839, published by Townsend and Brooks; a copy of the Independent Chronicle and Boston Patriot, June 26, 1839, edited by Nathan Hale; a written list of thirty-six "young men in Wiscasset, 1839, unmarried between the ages of 18 and thirty," a letter of which the following is a copy and the pen with which it was written.
TOWN OF WISCASSET.
July 2d A D 1939.
GREETING:
This bottle with its contents was deposited this day, in the North East corner of the foundation of the new church, belonging to the first Parish & contains two newspapers, this note and the pen with which it was written. In a southwest direction, 5 (five) feet distant from this bottle is another, containing fruit which was gathered yesterday (July Ist) by me.
The foundation was laid between the 25th of June and the 4th of July by Messrs. David & George Dodge assisted by their Father Thomas Dodge. The building will be completed next November, by a Mr. Melcher of Brunswick who contracts to build the same for $5,500 or thereabouts.
Our village contains at present about 3,000 Inhabitants. There are three Meeting
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Houses, I Court House, Town House, I Bank, Poor House and Jail. Five ships, I Barque & about 15 Brigs and Schooners are owned here. There are two Steam Saw Mills in active operation & I Foundry. We are I day in getting news from Boston 3 from New York & 12 from Savannah (Geo.)
The Atlantic steamers have been in operation about 16 months running from Liverpool & Bristol (Eng.) to N. York. Average passage out of N. York 161/2 days home 13 days. The cultivation of silk begins to attract attention. Thousands have al- ready embarked in it but many doubt. Things look squally beyond the sea; in Europe, Asia & India. Spain is torn with civil dissensions as also the South American Republics.
The astonishing changes that have taken place within a century, yea, within even my own recollection, have induced me to make these few remarks, to call your atten- tion to the difference between your time and the present.
It is a solemn thought that I write to a generation yet unborn: that when your eyes see this, mine eyes will be closed forever: the heart that now beats will then be still: the hand that now writes will be turned to dust, & the mind that now animates this perish- able frame will have gone to God who gave it, & naught will remain, save this scroll perchance, to tell that I have lived and died. There is truly much food for reflection here.
God bless you, all. Farewell.
ALEXANDER JOHNSTON JR. Born Dec. 20th, 1815. Aet. 23 yrs. 6 months.
Following the direction contained in the letter further excavations were made and a bottle containing fruit was found.
TO THE NINE O'CLOCK BELL OF WISCASSET by AUGUSTA MOORE.
Ring on, O Bell! Ring out thy music from thy slender tower,
Nor cease till fair Wiscasset's homes lie low. The tide of time rolls on with waves of years
And thou amid that sea hast bravely rung
One century in and out.
Bell-Bird, ring on, Over life's tossing, changeful, treacherous sea.
I never heard another voice so sweet From any brazen throat-It charms the air. Sweet! sweet! O sweet as blessed Memory; Dear Evening Voice, with power to call again The vanished past, and bid our dead return.
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In thee we hear again our fathers speak, "The bell is ringing; children run to bed." We see the mother's smile; the children turn Reluctant from the blazing fire, and file Slowly away to downy bed and sleep.
In the calm moonlight youths and maidens walk -- And can it be that they are now but dust? That those bright faces and quick, graceful forms, All unforgotten, so alive to thought, Are covered deep away from mortal sight? I speak their names, once more-but none replies, Dull is the ear of death; its heart is cold.
In the calm moonlight they but seem to walk, Talking sweet nonsense as they talked of yore, Till rings the bell; whereat their rapid feet, Taught to obey that call set out for home.
Thou singer of the Past! thou storied Bell! Saluting graciously the ear and heart; Dear Link of Memory, connecting close
The days long vanished with the days that are, Ring to us rightly, till we seek our bed.
Wiscasset's minstrel, spirit, Evening Bell.
Revered admonisher, and life-long love, The curfew of our fathers; (They perchance Love thee and hear thee still-Heaven is not far) Should'st thou be silent? No! perish the thought! Take not away the melody of night. Ring on, ring on, O Bell!
In 1815, there is a friendly testimony of five Malays by Rev. Hezekiah Packard, regarding a family "providentially cast among us."
Foreign Missionaries
Among the women who have gone to the foreign field are Sarah Spring Cushman who married Sendol B. Munger and went to the Marathi Mission in India in 1862; Isabella Coffin Baker who went to Oroomiah, Persia;
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Martha Grover who went to Bombay, India, with her husband, Jewell B. Knight; Lena Mae Dickinson, daughter of John Dickinson, who went to Constantinople; Edith Boynton, the daughter of John Henry Boynton, who went to China; and Ruth Bailey Skofield, who went to Palawan Island in the Philippines; and Annie Woodman Stocking, who went to Persia.
Sarah Spring Cushman, the daughter of Kenelm and Hannah (Boynton) Cushman, was born in Wiscasset, June 8, 1813. She professed religion in 1835. She married first John Paul of Bath, Maine, and after his death she married, in 1862, Sendol Barnes Munger,29 who was a missionary to India. They were sent by the American Board of Foreign Missions to the Marathi Mission at Bombay, India, and they embarked at Boston, October 29, 1862. They returned to the United States September 24, 1868. She died at Dor- chester, Massachusetts, February 23, 1892, where she had been for some time interested in City Missionary work. She was buried in Wakefield.
Isabella Coffin Baker, the daughter of Samuel Peters Baker and a de- scendant of the Sewalls, Greenleafs, and Parsons, was born July 1, 1848. She was converted by Rev. George Street and went as a missionary to Oroo- miah, Persia, in 1872 and the following year she married Rev. William Redfield Stocking at Casa Guidi, the home of the Brownings in Florence. Together they continued their missionary work until 1879 when they re- turned to America.
Her pastor said that "The symmetry of her character came not by acci- dent." Piety was the watchword of the Baker family and in her parents she had notable examples of religious spirit and the highest standard.
She died August 17, 1890, at Williamstown, Massachusetts.
29. Sendol Barnes Munger was born in Fairhaven, Vermont, October 5, 1802. He professed reli- gion at Shoreham, 1821; graduated from Middlebury College, 1828; Andover Seminary, 1833; ordained Bristol, Vermont, February 12, 1834. Married (1) Maria S. Andrews, 1834; together they embarked at Boston, May 21, 1834. Arrived at Bombay, September tenth, of that year. Sta- tioned at Jalna, 1837. Visited United States and arrived at Salem, June, 1842, re-embarked at Bos- ton January 3, 1846, when he was stationed at Ahmednagar. Mrs. Munger died on the passage out, March 12, 1846. Stationed at Bhingar October, 1848, and visited the United States in 1853. He married (2) Mary E. Ely of Chicago, Illinois. They embarked at New York September 6, 1854; arrived at Ahmednagar with the deputation, Dr. Anderson and Mr. Thompson, November 17, 1854. Stationed at Satara, 1855; his second wife died June 3, 1856; he revisited the United States August 28, 1860 at which time he married his third wife, Sarah Spring Cushman, the widow of john Paul, who embarked with him at Boston, October 29, 1862; arrived at Bombay March 3, 1863. At Satara again until 1866; then at Bombay; he died at Bombay, July 23, 1868. His third wife survived him.
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