USA > New Hampshire > The New Hampshire churches : comprising histories of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in the state, with notices of other denominations: also containing many interesting incidents connected with the first settlement of towns > Part 1
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M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
12
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01092 3271
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/newhampshirechur00lawr_0
S. Schoff.
G. L. Brown.
LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS AT PLIMOUTH 11DEC. 1620.
THE
NEW HAMPSHIRE CHURCHES;
COMPRISING HISTORIES OF THE
Congregational and
Presbyterian
Churches in the State,
WITH NOTICES OF
OTHER DENOMINATIONS :
ALSO
CONTAINING MANY INTERESTING INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF TOWNS.
And the glory of children are their fathers. - Prov. xvii. 6.
. By ROBERT F. LAWRENCE, Pastor of the Congregational Church in Claremont : Author of 'Lectures to Youth.'
1
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR : BY THE CLAREMONT MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
1856.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by ROBERT F. LAWRENCE,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of New Hampshire.
1204352 To the Members of Congregational and Presbyterian Churches in New Hampshire, AND TO The Friends of true Religion everywhere,
This Volume
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
Rs a tribute of Christian love from the numerous minds that have united in the tail and research necessary to its production).
ADDRESS,
EXPLANATORY AND COMPLIMENTARY.
This work is, in some sense, the first of the kind. It attempts to combine matters of interest to the general reader with statistics-the History and the Gazetteer. To my own mind it has often occurred as remarkable that Gazetteers, filled with descriptions of mountains and vales, of animals, of agriculture and manufactures, should be so generally demanded, and that books presenting the purely religious aspects of different towns should not also have been furnished. It is the object of this book to meet this want. And it is believed that the thrilling accounts of revival scenes that will be found here, will give the book a lasting place in every family where it once enters.
On presenting the plan to the General Association at Derry in 1854, they unanimously passed the following reso- lution :-
" Resolved, That this Association approve of the proposi- tion to prepare a Historical Manual of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches of New Hampshire, and that it be recommended to the ministers and churches to second the undertaking so far as practicable."
Although my labor in the preparation of this work has been arduous, I have no wish to withhold due acknowledg- ments of aid from others. A response to the call for coope- ration has been given far beyond my most sanguine expect- ations. And in sending forth and receiving more than eight hundred letters and circulars, it is pleasant to remem- ber that no words but such as love fraternal would dictate, are in the correspondence. For this forbearance and uni- form cordial greeting among my brethren, I now record my deep sense of obligation.
vi
ADDRESS.
It has seemed most fitting, although a deviation from the original plan, to prefix the name of the minister officiating, to each history, and he is to be understood as furnishing the main facts in the sketch, unless notice otherwise is given. But I have abridged, corrected, or enlarged the sketches with all the freedom which was at first proposed. Some of the histories are almost untouched by my hand ; upon some, much labor has been bestowed; some, not otherwise cred- ited, are my own gleanings from the best sources of infor- mation within my reach. Any commendatory words, relat- ing to present incumbents in office, may safely be attributed to me whether the name of the minister stand at the begin- ning or not.
The difficulties attending the preparation of this book can be known only to those who have engaged in similar labors, and from such men the author has no fear that severe blows will be dealt upon his head for the inaccuracies which will doubtless more or less abundantly be found in these pages. Others, if they should be disposed to criticise harsh- ly, are desired to deal awhile in statistics, and they will appreciate the remark of Farmer and Moore in reference to their Gazetteer-"To escape errors is impossible." The writers of the sketches being at a distance and numerous, I have often found myself at a loss in the spelling of a name, the accuracy of a date, or in reference to the suppression of a remark or the change of a term for the sake of euphony or better sense. In some cases, letters have been written to secure accuracy in the smallest matters. Statistical Tables and some essays on particular topics, that were thought of for the book, are crowded out by the fullness of the histories -a very happy change, all will admit.
The chief sources of knowledge which have been referred to by myself and others may as well be indicated here, and thus save the reader the embarrassment of notes as he passes along. These are-" The New Hampshire Repository," published a few years at Gilmanton, in which are Minutes of ministers and churches in several counties ; "Belknap's History ;" "Powers' History of Coos ;" "Farmer and
vii
ADDRESS.
Moore's Gazetteer," and "Historical Collections ;" Histo- ries of particular towns where they exist, and historical discourses ; town and church records, and the memory of aged but sound-minded persons ; the Minutes of General Association, and the Reports of the N. H. Home Missionary Society. The Missionary reports are replete with historical matter for the historian of a later day.
Special acknowledgments are due to Rev. Z. S. Barstow, D.D. of Keene, who sent in sketches of twenty three towns in Cheshire, under his own hand, several of which have been adopted entire, and the rest have aided in perfecting the sketches furnished by others. But he accompanied his manuscript with the generous intimation that, for his labor he asked "neither profit nor credit." To Rev. John M. Whiton, D.D., Rev. N. Bouton, D.D., Rev. J. French, D.D., Rev. H. Moore, D.D., Rev. J. Richards, D.D., Rev. B. P. Stone, D.D., Rev. John Woods, Rev. J. G. Davis, Rev. A. Tobey, Rev. E. H. Greely, Rev. I. Willey, Rev. S. C. Bart- lett, Hon. M. C. McClure, and Mr. Thos. Scott Pearson, are many thanks presented for their cooperation in various ways. Nor is it fit here to forget the liberality of the Claremont Manufacturing Co. in giving me much more favorable terms, in this uncommon, clerical adventure, than could be secured elsewhere, or the kindness of the printer and his excellent lady, in reading and re-reading these pages with all the interest of parties concerned. And an allusion may be pardoned to the faithful cooperation of "the pastor's wife," while he has continued, though, as she thought, at the peril of life, for the last four months to pursue his work, night after night, week in and out, until twelve, two, or three o'clock. But "One there is above all others," to whom acknowledgments are due. The work was greater than could be estimated beforehand ; but the time was limited, and it must be done.
The reader will notice, I think, a happy variety in these histories: Some are full, some are brief. Even the action of towns in procuring the establishment of the gospel is greatly varied. The ways and means are not identical in
viii
ADDRESS.
any two instances. And the very repetition of the general fact, that, in most towns one of the first things done was to secure the teachings of the ministry, impresses the mind, that here is the secret of New England's moral and intellec- tual power. No other nation was ever thus planted, and the example is now so generally followed by the first settlers in our new territories that we forget where the example was set, and that this New England element is as leaven spread- ing everywhere. Two or three, or one true descendant of such sires will move almost any new community to build a house for God.
R. F. LAWRENCE.
Claremont, March 4th, 1856.
ERRATA. - Page 13, for "Wentworth" read Winthrop. Page 222, for " 1718 " read 1720, and for " 1735 " read 1737. Page 471, near the top, for "Smith" read Abraham .- Page 589, for " Eaton B." read Eden B.
THE
NEW HAMPSHIRE CHURCHES.
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE STATE.
In 1623, Edward Hilton and William Hilton, from London, accompanied by David Thompson of Scotland, made the first settlement in New Hampshire. For eighteen years after- wards, during which several Plantations were established, the people were ruled by men appointed by the proprietors or by magistrates of their own appointment. They were united to Massachusetts in 1641, and remained so till they became a Province in 1680. They were again connected with Massachusetts about three years from 1689, and under the jurisdiction of New York for three years from 1699 .- In 1702 Massachusetts and New Hampshire came once more under the same government. This continued until 1741 when they were finally separated. The name, New Hampshire, was given by John Mason, to whom a portion of it was granted in 1622, after Hampshire, in England, the county from which he came. The first house in the State was erected at what was called Little Harbor, very near the mouth and on the west side of the Piscataqua river, although Hilton settled at Dover. The settlements did not progress very rapidly for nearly a century.
THE PURITANS.
There is a marked difference to be observed between the causes which moved the first settlers of New-England, es- pecially the colonists at Plymouth, and those which usually urge men to seek a home in a foreign land. Religious principle, and the enjoyment of free worship and thought, were the objects in view with the Leyden adventurers .. It
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THE PURITANS.
was not to increase their worldly comforts, but to have free communion with God and one another, that they rushed into the savage wilds of the western world. Lord Brougham of England says, "The greater part of them viewed their emi- gration as taking up the cross, and bounded their hopes of wealth by the gifts of the Spirit. A set of men more con- scientious in their doings, or simple in their manners, never founded any commonwealth." They were mainly from the north of England, where they were organized in the reign of Elizabeth, and received their now honored name as a term of reproach. Says Neal in his history, "If a man main- tained his steady adherence to the doctrines of Calvin and the Synod of Dort; if he kept the Sabbath, and frequented sermons ; if he maintained family religion, and would neither swear nor be drunk, nor comply with the fashionable · vices of the times, he was called a PURITAN." No wonder they wished to escape to the wilderness, to "preserve the morals of their youth, to prevent them through want of employment from engaging in business unfriendly to religion," as well as to escape persecution, and to carry the gospel to distant parts.
Few emigrating parties manifest their spirit. As they were about to depart, they kept a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer. Rev. John Robinson had received an educa- tion at one of the universities of England, and was esteemed while residing at Leyden, by the city and university, as "a man of uncommon learning, piety, moderation and excellent accomplishments." He was their pastor. As a part of them only could go at this time, he remained. When they were all on board, "their reverend pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, he, with watery cheeks, com- mended them with most fervent prayers unto the Lord and his blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears, they took leave one of another." Here was religious principle and love of "freedom to worship God.".
Reproach has been cast upon Congregationalism because it has no "orders" in the ministry, and because it makes no attempt to trace "the succession" back in a visible line to the Apostles. But to this it is a sufficient reply to say, that the system of church organization which is most con- formed to the scripture standard is the most desirable, and least deserving, although not least certain, of contumely .- And the opposition which is raised against the notion of the parity of ministers, does not rest, among those who exhibit it, so much upon scripture testimony, as upon the practice of the churches after disorders erept in among them. In
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THE PURITANS.
scripture history, we find no assignment of men to various orders in the ministry, after the days of the Apostles. A variety of gifts there were, but all by "one Spirit," and imparted unto them as brethren, not as superiors one above another. It is not a little remarkable that, after finding the Congregational form of church polity in the scriptures, and adopting it amid all the grades of ecclesiastical power as- sumed in the old world, a polity not fully brought out even by Luther and Calvin themselves, the Pilgrims should also adopt the fundamental principles of this system, I mean the principle that, "the majority should govern," before they left the May-Flower ; and that, introduced into their civil and ecclesiastical governments, it should now be found sway- ing a nation whose territory is "from sea to sca," and whose power in moulding the thoughts of the world, is second to none. It is remarkable, to see all other systems which in form seem to conflict with this, laboring to convince the people, that they approve the spirit of the sentiment uttered by the Lord Jesus, "all ye are brethren." But the simplic- ity of the forms of worship, and of the church polity of the New Testament, cannot but occur to the careful reader .-- The following description of the early churches, is from Bunsen's work on the Primitive Church. He is a Prussian, late ambassador to England, a man of rare attainments and research. He says, "Every town congregation of ancient Christianity, the constitutions of which we have to delineate, was a Church. The Constitution of that Church was a Con- gregational Constitution. In St. Paul's Epistles, in the writings of Clemens Romanus, of Ignatius, and of Polycarp, the congregation is the highest organ of the spirit as well as power of the Church. It is the body of Christ, the em- bodiment of the person of Jesus of Nazareth in the Society which was founded by him, and through faith in him. This congregation was governed and dirceted by a Council of Elders, which Congregational Council at a later period, was presided over in most churches, by a governing Overseer, the Bishop. But the ultimate decision, in important emergencies, rested with the whole congregation. The Bishop and Elders were superintending members,-its guides but not its masters." The people believed Christ was present with them as their King, and with his word in their hands they called no man master. Each private Christian received his spiritual gifts directly from Christ, and the ministry could receive its gifts from no other source ; and so Christ was all and in all, and the body of believers in each community sustained the re- sponsibility of recognizing these gifts by their fellowship in.
--
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ORIGINAL IMMIGRATION.
the functions of the Church-state. The private Christian and the minister alike received his anointing directly from Christ, and not through baptism or ordaining hands,-the baptism recognized faith in the subject or his parent, and ordination recognized openly the call of the Spirit, of which call the presbytery had gained satisfactory proof. And the congre- gation of believers in Christ, conveniently meeting in one place, and taking his word as their guide and their Consti- tution, was the Church in that, locality.
ORIGINAL IMMIGRATION.
A nation or State receives its characteristics from its founders. Of this State it may be proper to say, there was at least three great elements in the original population, coming in at different periods of time. At a very early period came the colony, as we have seen, at the eastern ex- tremity. The colonists were sent out by rich speculators from England. The lawless in the Plymouth Colony also found a home here, because no efficient government existed. Great irregularities prevailed, until the people were compelled to seek the benefits of good government by union with Massachusetts in 1641. It is related that on one occa- sion, while a venerable minister of Boston was addressing the people at Dover, and reproving them for departing from the good habits of the Puritans, an intelligent citizen arose and corrected his mistake, saying, "We are a different race from them, never having had any connection with them .-- Instead of coming here for religious purposes, the object of our ancestors was to lumber and fish and trade. And in- stead of departing from their good examples, we think we have rather improved upon them." Whether this was an actual occurrence or not, it exhibits the ends aimed at by the Piscataqua Colony. The results may be anticipated. In most of the towns in the eastern part of Rockingham and Strafford counties, the institutions of religion failed to be early established, or have been feebly sustained. Out of twenty-seven or twenty-eight towns in this section of the State, there were not found, at the end of two centuries, more than five towns affording an adequate support for the preached gospel. While in the adjoining county of Straf- ford, of the 35 or. 36 towns then included within its limits, but three towns were found in the year 1826, furnishing an adequate support to the christian ministry, independent of missionary aid. Two of these towns were out of the region of the Piscataqua influence. About twelve of the churches
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ORIGINAL IMMIGRATION.
early established in this region have become extinct. The state of things above alluded to, led to the formation of the Piscataqua Missionary Society in the early part of the pres- ent century, an institution which has been of great service to all the interests of religion in that region. It is proper ; to remark, that in this portion of the State, a century later, the influence of Whitefield was great and good, and the efforts of the friends of truth, in sending missionaries, and the blessing of God upon the churches that were planted there, have done much to foster true piety among the people. And as a proof also, of the presence of some good people in the colony of the Piscataqua, a portion of a letter written in 1621 by William Hilton, is here inserted. He came to Plymouth first, and went thence to his brother at Dover .- The letter shows him to have been a "lover of good men," at least : --
" Louing Cousin, at our arriuall at New-Plimoth in New England, we found all our Friends and Planters in good Health, though they were left sicke, and weake, with very small meanes-the Indians round about us peaceable and friendly-the Country very pleasant and temperate, yeelding naturally of itself great store of Fruites ; as Vines of diures sorts in great abundance : there is likewise Walnuts, Ches- nuts, Small Nuts, and plums, with much Variety of Flowers, Rootes, and Herbes, no lesse pleasant than wholesome and profitable. Mines we find to our thinking, but neither the goodness nor Qualitie we know. Better Grain cannot be than the Indian Corne, if we will plant it vpon as good ground as a man need desire .- Wee are all Freeholders : the Rent- Day doth not trouble vs; and all those good Blessings we haue, of which and what we list in their Seasons, for taking. Our Companie are for most Part very religious honest People : The Word of God sincerely taught vs every Sab- bath ; so that I know not any thing a contented mind can here want. I desire your friendly care to send my Wife and Children to me where I wish all the Friends I have in Eng- land, and so I rest, Your loving Kinsman,
WILLIAM HILTON."
Of his brother Edward it may be recorded, that he was a confidential friend of Gov. Wentworth, and this is no small commendation, and he also opposed the immoralities that abounded in the settlements, through the influence of bad men, some of whom even professed to be ministers of Christ.
A second element in our early population came in almost a century later. In 1717 one Robert Temple came with his
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ORIGINAL IMMIGRATION.
family, and the next year several ships, in which he had an interest, arrived with several hundred emigrants from the north of Ireland. These emigrants came into Kennebec and Falmouth,-now Portland. They were firm Presbyte- rians. Many of them were descendants of a colony that came to Ireland from Argyleshire, Scotland, in order to escape the cruelties of Charles I. During their first winter here they were in want. They were furnished one hundred bushels of meal by the General Court at Boston. In 1719 many of them came to Newburyport, some settled in Lon- donderry, and gave it its name, and many went to Pennsyl- vania. Those who remained in Maine were mostly in Lin- coln county, where their influence lives to this day. This county has been one of the two in the State, that pay more into the treasury of the Home Missionary Society, than is expended in the county. The men who settled at London- derry, and who were followed from time to time by others of their own faith and character, have planted and fostered the institutions of true Christianity. And although the Presby- terian church polity, which they established, may have been modified or changed for the Congregational form in many instances, the stable moral principles of the original inhabi- tants will long abide, and good order, peace and the salva- tion of men, will be their fruit.
The third element in the early influences that operated in giving character to our State, is found in the population coming mostly from Massachusetts and Connecticut, during the last half of last century. The population in these earlier settled parts of the country was increasing, and, early in the last century, was inclined to overleap the boundaries of civ- ilized life, and make settlements in the wilderness. But this disposition was for a time checked by the fear of the sav- ages, who at that period were instigated by a foreign influ- ence, to deeds of blood. About this time occurred the " Great Awakening," which pervaded the greater part of New England, and which seems to have been designed, in the providence of God, to prepare the people for the emigration which was soon to take place. From the close of the French war in 1761, when fears from the savages ceased, during a period of about ten years, permanent settlements were com- menced in nearly or quite one-third of the towns in this State. Emigrants from the parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, where the influence of Edwards' Theology, and of Whitefield's preaching was most strongly felt, were united in the settlement of many of our towns in the interior and western parts of the State, and in the formation of
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RISE OF VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
many of the churches. The doctrinal belief, and the spirit of revivals which characterized the older churches at that period, were transplanted into the new towns of this State, and have since been universally adopted by the churches of the Congregational and Presbyterian denominations.
RISE OF VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
The Piscataqua colonists adopted the Congregational form of worship. In 1633 a Meeting-house was erected at Dover. În 1670, forty seven years from the beginning of settlements in the State, Hampton, Exeter, and Dover, were the only towns that enjoyed the benefits of a settled minis- try. In 1700, seventy seven years from the beginning, there were but five Congregational churches, and in 1748 there were thirty. Most of our advancement, therefore, has been seen in the course of a century. An Episcopal Chapel was built at Portsmouth, before 1638, and Rev. Richard Gibson was employed to preach in it. A small society of Quakers was organized in 1701. The first Baptist Church was formed at Newton, in 1755, and Rev. Walter Powers was their minister. At the close of twenty five years they numbered nineteen churches. A recent, solemn convocation there, commemorated the return of the one hundredth anniversary of this event. In 1719 the Presbyterians entered Lon- donderry. The first Freewill Baptist church was planted at New Durham in 1780, gathered by Rev. Benjamin Randall. The first Methodist Society whose numbers were returned to the New England Conference, was in Chesterfield, in 1797. There were ninety two members. In 1800 they had one hundred and seventy one members, and three travelling preachers. The first society of Universalists was formed at Portsmouth in 1781. The Shakers first appeared in 1782, and were gathered into a church-state, in 1792, by Elder Job Bishop.
Rockingham County.
ATKINSON.
Rev. JESSE PAGE.
Atkinson was set off from Plaistow, August 31, 1767, and incorporated by the Legislature as a town, September 3d, of the same year. The reasons assigned by the petitioners for the erection of a new town, were, "that, by reason of the great distance of their dwellings from the Meeting-house, they undergo many and great difficulties in attending the public worship of Almighty God there, and that, the said Meeting-house is not large enough to accommodate more than half of the inhabitants of said town." The new town im- mediately took measures for the maintenance of the gospel and its ordinances. The first Meeting-house was erected in the year 1768 or '69, and was taken down in 1845. There is no account, either written or traditional, that the house was ever formally dedicated. The Pilgrims came to this country in consequence of religious persecution, and their dislike to the Church of England was so great, that they would not practice some of its observances, even though proper and scriptural. They carried their principles of non-con- formity so far, that they did not dedicate, after the custom of the English Church, their houses of worship, which they denominated Meeting-houses and not Churches. Mr. Stephen Peabody, a native of Andover, Mass., was elected to the ministerial office, Feb. 26, 1772. At an adjourned meeting, the following vote was passed, in respect to his salary, viz : " Voted, To give Mr. Stephen Peabody, one hundred and sixty pounds, lawful money, as a settlement, upon conditions that the salary begin at sixty-six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence, lawful money, the first year, and add on forty shillings per year, till it amounts to eighty pounds per year." "Voted, To give Mr. Stephen Peabody ten cords of wood per year, so long as he carries on the work of the min- istry in Atkinson." This invitation to settle in the minis- try Mr. Peabody accepted, and he was ordained as pastor, Nov. 25, 1772, at which time a church was formed, consist-
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