USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Hanover > A history of the town of Hanover, N.H. > Part 10
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The connection of the church with the town had long since ceased, and Mr. Towne's salary of $480 was wholly derived from voluntary subscription. The congregation was at that time large and the church flourishing. Revivals occurred in 1815, 1821 and 1826, the number of communicants for 1821 being given as 156, the College Church then having 101 and the Baptists having 49.3 In the later years of Mr. Towne's ministry there was a serious decline, owing in part to "an unhappy method of opposing errorists in the pulpit." 4 He was dismissed in 1833.5
From October, 1834, the pulpit was supplied by the Rev. John Birkby. For the better conduct of the business of the church a religious society was organized under the general laws of the State, February 6, 1835, by voluntary association, having as executive officers three trustees. In the same year a parsonage was erected and in October of that year the society voted to invite Mr. Birkby "to be our pastor and minister hereafter without further formality," at a salary of $400 a year. He was regularly installed, June 22, 1836, and dismissed three years later, April 24, 1839.6
The next incumbent was the Rev. John M. Ellis, who was installed as pastor, May, 1840. His compensation was $400 a year, besides the use of the parsonage, with firewood, and hay for a
1 New Hampshire Churches, by R. F. Lawrence, p. 50.
2 The churches represented were those of Thetford, Vershire, Pittsford, Norwich and Hartford, Vt., and Lyme, Orford and Lebanon, N. H., together with the College Church, and the Rev. Chester Wright of Montpelier, Vt. Dr. Burton was moderator and the Rev. Nathaniel Lambert, scribe.
3 New Hampshire Register for 1822.
4 New Hampshire Churches, p. 541.
" Mr. Towne was born in Belchertown, Mass., December 13, 1787; was graduated from Middlebury College in 1812, and studied divinity with the Rev. John Griswold of Pawlet, Vt. After leaving Hanover he removed to Illinois. He died at Geneva, Ill., May 5, 1855, aet. 67. He married while in Hanover, Charlotte Penfield of Pittsford, Vt., September 8, 1814.
6 Dr. Birkby was born in Yorkshire, England, May 15, 1793, was educated at Rotterdam College and ordained in 1817. He died April 26, 1861, aet. 67. He was a man of good abilities and attainments, but labored under disadvan- tages from his foreign birth .- New Hampshire Churches, p. 541.
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The Center Church
horse and a cow. His wife was also permitted to open a school in the parsonage. It was during his active ministry that the existing meeting house at the Center was built. Mr. Ellis, unable to con- tinue his labors on account of a bronchial affection, was dismissed in October, 1842, and took up his residence near the College, where Mrs. Ellis was able to continue her school to better advan- tage. Mr. Ellis was employed by the College as its agent in the effort then making to raise a new endowment, and was very successful. He afterward acted in the same capacity for western colleges with which he had formerly been connected. During his ministry the Hanover church enjoyed an interesting revival.1
Following Mr. Ellis, the Rev. Roswell Tenney was invited to take charge of the church in September, 1842, and preached under a temporary arrangement until May, 1844. He was a native of Hanover, the son of John Tenney, born November 6, 1796, and a classmate in college of the Rev. Mr. Ellis. Following him the Rev. Jonathan Clement preached from May, 1844, a year or more. He was invited to settle in November, 1844, and again in January, 1845, but did not accept. The Rev. David Kimball next occupied the parsonage and the pulpit from November, 1845, for about two years and a half, at a salary of $300. He came from Concord, N. H., and removed to the College district, where he engaged for many years in the printing business. The church next enjoyed the ministrations of the Rev. W. C. Foster, who, in October, 1848, was urged to remain on probation a little longer, but declined because of ill health. The Rev. Royal N. Wright, then pastor in Belvidere, Illinois, preached for the church for a time, and in August, 1849, he received an invitation to settle here, but he died two months later, deeply lamented. Both these gentlemen were natives of Hanover and were held in high esteem; both were graduates of Dartmouth, Mr. Wright in 1837, and Mr. Foster in 1841.
In 1850 a regular pastor was once more installed in the person of the Rev. Adonijah Howe Cutler. Mr. Cutler was born in Jaffrey, N. H., August 29, 1806, was educated at Bangor Theo- logical Seminary, graduating in 1839, was ordained at Strafford, Vt., June 2, 1841, and came hither from Jaffrey upon a call voted
1 John M. Ellis was born at Keene, N. H., July 14, 1793; he was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1822 and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1825, and served some fifteen years as a home missionary and pastor at several places in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, and was active in founding two colleges in the first two mentioned states. His health failing, he came to Hanover and took charge of the church at the Center in 1839 or 1840. He died at Nashua, August 6, 1855, aet. 62.
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History of Hanover
June 27, 1850. He was dismissed, July 8, 1856, by a council drawn from the College Church and from Lebanon and Lyme, in consequence of some unhappy family troubles, which, as Mr. Cutler continued for a time to reside in the immediate neighbor- hood, led to a second council in September, 1858, that dissolved without coming to any result. Mr. Cutler died at Nelson, N. H., aet. 52.
For forty-five years after Mr. Cutler's dismissal the church was without a settled pastor, the long interval being filled with temporary or stated supplies. Among the latter was the Rev. John Adams 1 who came to Hanover Center in May of 1857. He did not accept the pastorate, and after four years went to Hillsboro Center, New Hampshire, being followed by the Rev. Bezaleel Smith, who ministered to the church for ten years, until April 2, 1871. Under both of these ministers the church prospered.
From the departure of Mr. Smith to 1873 the church was dependent for a time on temporary supplies, but on May 11, 1873 the Rev. Daniel McClenning began work as a stated supply and preached several years, until his health failed about 1876. From June, 1876, to March, 1877 the Rev. Charles A. Downs of Leba- tion supplied the pulpit continuously, and from the following April until October, 1880, the Rev. George Smith of Danbury, N. H., performed the same service. In November the church again was fortunate in being able to secure for its Sunday services the assistance of Mr. Downs, who ministered to it for twenty-four years. In the winter of 1904 he was obliged by the infirmities of age to discontinue his work, and consequently for a time the services on Sunday were interrupted, but in March, 1905, they were resumed with the help of students from the College.
In March of the next year an attempt was made to unite with the Congregational Church at Enfield in the call to a joint pas- torate of the Rev. W. C. H. Moe, but without success, and the church continued until October of 1911 to depend upon students from the College and such other supplies as it could find. It then united with the Baptist Church at Etna, under conditions which are related in the account of that church, in calling the Rev. Edward C. Sargent to be their joint pastor. As there stated, the relation was a happy one, both churches profited by the arrange-
1 John Adams was born at Salem, Mass., November 30, 1813. He was a graduate of Middlebury College in 1837, and studied for a time in Andover Theological Seminary. He was first settled at Sharon, Vt., from which he came to Hanover. He married Mary S. Sargent, May 29, 1839, and died at Hillsboro Center, N. H., May 19, 1879.
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The Center Church
ment and the life of both was stimulated, thirty-six being added to this church during his ministry.
The succession of ministers during the life of the federation and the occasion of its being broken are given in the account of the Baptist Church. On the termination of the federation in 1924 the church was unable independently to support a pastor, and as Mr. Gifford, who for a year and a half had been the acceptable pastor of the united churches, could not, being a Congregationalist, remain as pastor of the Baptist Church according to its strict definition of Baptist preaching, he was obliged to seek another place of service and the Center Church was forced to find some other means of continuing its worship. Mr. Gifford went to Chichester, N. H., and the Center Church made an arrangement with the Rev. Frank H. Perkins, pastor of the Baptist Church at Lyme, by which he conducted a service on Sunday afternoon at the Center meeting house, except as the severity of the weather in winter should prevent his coming.
At about the same time the church suffered a severe loss in the resignation through the infirmity of age of Deacon Asa W. Fellows, who had served as its efficient clerk from September, 1881 to the end of December, 1924, and whose records are a model of fullness and exactness. Deacon Fellows died in Hanover, February 7, 1926, at the ripe age of eighty-nine.
Up to 1842 the church was connected with those of the College community, Canaan, Lyme, Orford, Piermont, Haverhill and Dorchester in the East Branch of the Orange Association. In that year both the Hanover churches transferred their connection to the Sullivan Association, but in 1885 the Center Church again returned to the Orange Association.
CHAPTER VII
THE CHURCH AT THE COLLEGE
"T THE Church of Christ at Dartmouth College" was the name given by Eleazar Wheelock to the church which he gathered on January 23, 1771. It has been so closely connected with the College that the story of one in the earlier years could not be told without that of the other. It has already been told by the writer in his History of Dartmouth College and one who wishes to know of it is referred to that account.
It is enough here to say that for many years it was wholly under College influence until in the first two decades of the last century a bitter quarrel divided the church and was the immediate cause of the celebrated "Dartmouth College Controversy," and, since the church already had two branches, one at the College and one at Dothan, Vermont, the quarrel was also the cause of the separa- tion of the two branches and of the establishment of the Hanover branch as an independent church with a change from the Presby- terian to the Congregational polity. As the Dothan branch retained the old name of "The Church at Dartmouth College," the new church took that of "The Church in the Vicinity of Dartmouth College," for which it later substituted that of "The Congrega- tional Church at Dartmouth College," and it was only after the lapse of a century that, as the Dothan church had become extinct, it resumed in 1906 the original name of "The Church of Christ at Dartmouth College."
Down to 1830 the church continued under the direction of the College, as the professor of theology in the College was also the pastor of the church, and when there was no such professor, as was often the case, the President or some officer of the College supplied the pulpit. In that year, under the influence of President Lord, the Dartmouth Religious Society was formed, to which was given the duty of calling and supporting the minister of the church, which no longer relied directly upon the College for its minister, though the College recognized its relation to the church and its obligation to it by a stated contribution to its support. The interest of the College was assured by the enroll- ment of the faculty in the membership of the church, but the control of the pulpit through its occupancy by the professor of
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The Church at the College
theology came to an end. It was the "College Church" which the students were required to attend, but its financial support, apart from the stated contribution of the College, came through the Religious Society, in which the village had an important part, for though a large part of the support of the society was contributed by those connected with the College, they made their contributions not as members of the faculty but as residents of the village inter- ested in the church.
There was never any conflict between the church as a religious organization and the society as a business organization, since most of the members of the society were also members of the church ; but it was inevitable that in process of time, though the church had undisputed control of all matters relating to belief or forms of service and in the choice of a minister, in whose call the society necessarily joined, the society should assume a leading part, especially as the expenses of the service increased and as in the abandonment of required attendance by the students the College had a less direct relation to the church.
From the beginning of the church students had been required to attend two preaching services on Sunday, but in 1872, in connection with an absence of the pastor for several months, required attendance at a second service was given up. It was never resumed and thirty years later, in 1903, the College gave up the requirement of attendance by the students at the morning service. By that time, too, there had come into the employment of the College many who were not members of the church and who had no interest in its support through the Religious Society, which found increasing difficulty in raising sufficient funds for that purpose. After years of difficult struggle it was at last decided, in 1919, to abandon the organization of the society and to incor- porate the church under the general laws of the State relating to religious organizations, with the transfer of the conduct of its affairs to a board of five trustees. The date of the incorporation was June 5, 1919, and the first trustees were Charles F. Emerson, Eugene F. Clark, Carl C. Ward, Robert Fletcher and Percy Bartlett, of whom Mr. Emerson was chairman.
The first independent pastor of the church, that is, the first one who came to that position by the choice of the church and not through an election by the Trustees of the College, was the Rev. Robert Page of Durham, New Hampshire. Before his acceptance several other ministers had been called, but the experience of those who as professors of theology had also been pastors of the
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History of Hanover
church, had spread the impression that the position was a difficult one, as indeed it was, and one after another had declined the call. Mr. Page, however, established very happy relations with the church, but, unfortunately, his health soon gave way and after a year and a half he resigned the pastorate. The same difficulty in securing a successor occurred as had appeared in his case, and it was not until 1835, after more than a year and a half had been vainly spent in trying to find a minister, during which time the pulpit was supplied by members of the faculty, that the Rev. Henry Wood of Haverhill, New Hampshire, accepted the call and was installed in April.
The ministry of Mr. Wood, which covered a little more than five years, to December 21, 1840, was in many things very success- ful, although it was attended by disturbing circumstances. Mr. Wood was a man of ability but also of eccentricity. Under him the church prospered. At the time of his coming a revival was in progress conducted by a prominent evangelist of the time, the Rev. Jedediah Burchard of New York. The results of his work were not as permanent as was hoped, yet, as the church hesitated to receive hastily to membership many who responded temporarily to Mr. Burchard's preaching, those who did enter its membership contributed much to its permanent strength.
During this period the meeting house was repaired and improved. In 1827 the original tall and well-proportioned steeple, having become unsafe, had been cut in two and its upper fifty feet pulled bodily to the ground, but in 1838 the activity of the church under the influence of Mr. Wood and Professor Adams expressed itself in a thorough remodeling of the building. The present steeple was erected on the old square base, or "belcony" as it was called, the original square pews were divided into slips of half their size, half of the windows were boarded up and all were provided with blinds, the entire floor was raised by the height of two steps to the level of the wall pews, the pulpit platform was rearranged and the sounding board removed. Chimneys were built at the north end, connected with stoves at the south end by pipes suspended under the galleries and over the side aisle, whose pervasive creosote, the literal droppings of the sanctuary, filled the air of the house and stained the chimney walls. A movement begun under Mr. Wood but not completed until the next year, 1841, led to the erection, at a cost of $1,000 raised by subscription, of a vestry on a lot immediately adjoining the meeting house. given by Mills Olcott.
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The Church at the College
Mr. Wood's pastorate came at a time when the temperance and the anti-slavery movements were disturbing both church and society. The church had already taken action discountenancing the sale of ardent spirits and had actually undertaken, or prepared the way for; discipline of those who engaged in such traffic. The anti-slavery movement became prominent in Hanover about the time of Mr. Wood's coming, largely through the activities of a group of young men who entered College from Phillips Andover Academy, where they had imbibed anti-slavery views which led them to form an anti-slavery society in the College. One of the leaders of the society was Stephen S. Foster, a young man of firm convictions and violent activity, who as a member of the church attempted to draw it to the support of his beliefs. Mr. Wood, who was forced to take some stand in the matter, at first supported the movement, though somewhat guardedly, in a sermon that was printed and was approved by Garrison in his paper, The Liberator; but afterward, by withdrawing his support, he aroused the opposi- tion of the more ardent members, especially of the students, who presented to the faculty a formal expression of their opposition to Mr. Wood. There was a division of opinion among the members of the church and some of the more violent students, under the leadership of Foster, became antagonistic to most of the institu- tions of society and strongly opposed to Mr. Wood. Some views of Mr. Wood on social relations were not generally acceptable, and these, combined with some personal eccentricities, resulted in an estrangement that was brought to a head by the failure of the faculty to rebuke the expression of the students' theological society adverse to Mr. Wood. He resigned his position and on December 21, 1840, he was dismissed by a council, which rather strongly animadverted upon the attitude of the church and its failure to support its pastor. But the separation was mutually pleasing, as was expressed by a member of the church: "He has got tired of us and we of him, and both are very willing to separate."
But whatever friction may have risen, due to Mr. Wood's eccentricity of manner or way of thinking, or to the character of the parish, his ministry was a strong one, as shown by the improvement during it in the church building, and especially by the additions to the membership of the church, 168 in all, which were made at every communion service but one.
Though Mr. Wood's pastorate lasted but a little less than six years it was a great gain on the broken succession of the preceding
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History of Hanover
decade and it was the forerunner of two pastorates that, except for a short space, covered the next sixty years. Fortunately there was no long interval between his going and the coming of his successor. The Rev. John Richards 1 of Woodstock, Vt., was at once secured as a stated supply and he proved so satis- factory that he was called to the pastorate and was installed April 20, 1842.
Mr. Richards' pastorate, though not notable, was eminently respectable. The confusions of the years before still appeared, manifest in discipline for intemperance, but the church was held well together. Mr. Richards was not an inspiring preacher. His sermons were devoid of warmth, yet with frequent strange turns of thought and unconventional expressions that brought out a feeling of expectancy. Once in reading a list of persons who had been propounded for admission to the church, he paused over a name, as if searching for a memory, and said, "Kate Smith- comes from up the river, I suppose." He was brusque in speech and unconventional in manner and the children of the time remember seeing him in his pastoral visits sitting astride a chair with his arms folded over its back and his legs twisted around those of the chair. With all his informality he had a strong sense of humor and a rich vein of sentiment. Once on being rebuked by his wife for going to sleep during the reading of a paper by a member of the faculty at a meeting of a village club, he pertinently exclaimed : "Humph! He sleeps when I preach." Several inscriptions in the village cemetery show his delicate feeling, and none more fully than that on the stone that marks the grave of Sally Duguet, an unfortunate woman whose mind had given way under misfortune and who perished in the storm of a winter's night.
He had a scholar's tastes and did much to make clear matters of local and church history and was especially interested in trying to recover the fading memorials of the tombstones in the cemetery. The work of his ministry was aided by the construction of the vestry, already mentioned, which provided a permanent place for the gatherings of the church for other than Sunday services, and by the purchase in 1852 of an organ by a subscription led by Professor S. G. Brown. Before that time the singing in the church was accompanied by an orchestra of the Handel Society which played such instruments as the skill of students or members
1 Rev. John Richards was born in Farmington, Conn., May 14, 1797 ; he was graduated at Yale in 1821 ; he married Emily Cowles in June, 1828. In 1845 he received the degree of D. D. from Dartmouth.
PLATE VI
REV. S. P. LEEDS, D. D.
REV. JOHN RICHARDS, D. D.
WILLIAM H. DUNCAN, ESQre
JUDGE FREDERICK CHASE
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The Church at the College
of the congregation could use, a varying and uncertain supply. Dr. Mussey for many years played a double bass viol and we read in the records of the society of many different instruments being in use. The organ was placed in the south gallery, where it remained until transferred to the floor in the reconstruction of 1877. The ordinary progress of the church was quickened by two revivals, in 1843 and 1858, in each of which thirty were added to the church, and in the second all in one Sunday, the Fourth of July.
Dr. Richards died after a short illness March 29, 1859, and it was not until after a search of nearly two years that the church found a successor in the Rev. Samuel Penniman Leeds 1 of New York City, who came in December, 1860, and was installed in the following July. His pastorate of nearly forty years, the longest in the history of the church, was a period of transition, marked by many movements in the religious thought of the times and by changes in the relation of the College to the services of the church. As already said, the required attendance by the students at two church services on Sunday was given up in 1872, and in the shift of emphasis from obligation to freedom the requirement of even one service was abandoned in 1903, after the resignation of Dr. Leeds, but as the result of influences long at work.
Dr. Leeds resigned as pastor in 1893 under the stress of advancing age, but the church was loath to accept his resignation and he was persuaded to continue his pastoral relation with some occupancy of the pulpit under a plan prepared by President Tucker for a board of eight preachers, of which Dr. Leeds and the President were two. The preachers were prominent ministers who occupied the pulpit from two to four times each during term time of the College, the service of vacation being in charge of Dr. Leeds or the officers of the church. Beginning in 1893 the board of preachers was continued until 1904, when, on the abandonment of required attendance by the students at any church service, it was given up. Dr. Leeds had retired from active service in 1900 and for four years the church was without a pastor except for such pastoral labors as Dr. Leeds voluntarily rendered. He
1 Dr. Leeds was born in New York City, Nov. 15, 1824; he was graduated from New York University in 1843, and from Union Theological Seminary in 1846. He served as acting pastor of the church at Cayahoga Falls, Ohio, 1849-1855, and as assistant to Dr. Albert Barnes of Philadelphia 1855-57. After three years as temporary "evangelist" in different places during a period of ill health, he came to Hanover in 1860. In 1870 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dartmouth.
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