USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > A history of the town of New London, Merrimack county, New Hampshire, 1779-1899 > Part 62
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688
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
" Praise Him all creatures here below ;
" Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,
" Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."
I have thus sketched the life and progress of the church along the lines of its pastoral succession. All these pastors, except the first, it has been my privilege and pleasure to know personally ; not all equally well, and the earlier, of course, only as a young man knows one venerable with years. But I distinctly remember the look and mien, the presence of them all, and it is a personal tribute of respect and high esteem and love unfeigned, that I wish to lay alike on the graves of the dead, and at the feet of the living. It remains only to note a few other items of special interest, and to draw a lesson or two from the past, for the benefit of the future.
Deacons.
The church has been equally favored of God in the charac- ter and service of the diaconate as of the pastorate. As already seen, there have been nine pastors, or if Mr. Davis be included, ten. There have been also, nine protracted diaco- nates, and including that of Matthew Harvey, Esq., of about four years, ten. These diaconates stand as follows :
Ebenezer Hunting, chosen January 8th, 1798, served till death, February 8th, 1821, thirty-three years ; Matthew Har- vey, chosen July 5th, 1793, resigned April 5th, 1797, three years, nine months ; Zebedee Hayes, chosen July 5th, 1793, eighteen years, reappointed February 19th, 1819, served till death, November 10th, 1832, thirty-one years in all; Jonas Shepard, chosen April 3d, 1812, served thirteen years ; Peter Sargent, chosen April 3d, 1812, served thirteen years ; David Everett, chosen June 16th, 1825, served twenty-four years ; Dexter Everett, chosen June 16th, 1825, served twenty-four years ; Joseph C. Herrick, Micajah Morgan, chosen April 21st, 1849, still serving in their fortieth year ; Edwin Messer, chosen December 3d, 1882 .*
* Since the centennial celebration, the church has relieved the two senior deacons, at their own request, of their active duties of their office, but retaining them as honorary officers, also making choice of Charles W. Gay as deacon.
DEA. JOSEPH C. HERRICK.
FIRST BAPTIST UNDAY SCHOOL LHAMBRA
LLY DAY EPT. 18 1910
DEACON MICAJAH MORGAN.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
It is a remarkable coincidence worthy of special note, that the two present senior deacons of the church, Joseph C. Her- rick and Micajah Morgan, were both converted to Christ in the same great revival in 1842 ; both baptized at the same time by Mr. Sawyer, both chosen to the office at the same time, and both still in active service in the fortieth year of their diaconate.
Ministers not Pastors.
The following ministers of the gospel, not pastors of the church, have received ordination from the church, or gone out to other churches from this :
Enoch Hunting, ordained March 15, 1814.
Theophilus B. Adams, ordained May 29, 1821.
Joshua Clement, ordained elsewhere about 1834.
Francis A. Gates, licensed April 8, 1836.
George W. Gardner, ordained August, 1858.
Dura P. Morgan, ordained at Jamaica Plain, Mass., 1872.
Missionary and Benevolent Work.
Before there was any general Foreign Mission or Home Mission society in the country, as early as 1804 I find a printed document in the archives of the church containing the consti- tution of a Missionary society in connection with the Wood- stock association, of which several members of this church had become members, including the pastor, Elder Seamans, by the payment of one dollar a year. In 1814, the Woman's Foreign Missionary society was formed, a special sketch of which has been prepared, and will be read by another .* In 1825, this church was represented with others in the formation of the New Hampshire Baptist State convention, and in 1826, I find the following record of missionary interest :
" Jan. 1826 .- Voted, To have a collection for domestic and " foreign missionary purposes. Amount of collection, $9.25- " as follows :
" From a friend, $3 for the mission at Burma ; from Joseph " Messer, .95 for the mission at the Carey station -. 50 to be " appropriated for education : $4.80 for domestic missionary " purposes as the Convention shall think proper"
* [See "The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society," by Mrs. N. T. Greenwood, printed immediately after this address.]
44
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
This is the first registered springhead of the stream of organized church missionary beneficence, which has since flowed without interruption into the various channels of our denominational missionary work. The contributions of the Woman's Missionary society, however, antedate this action by at least twelve years, and the contributions of private members through the Associational society, for domestic purposes, by more than twenty years.
As a church we have always been interested in the general and organized work of the denomination for the spread of the gospel and the salvation of souls "in the regions beyond." While we have not been represented on the foreign field by any ordained minister from our own number, we remember with gratitude the work of the now sainted Rev. C. H. Car- penter, son of one of the pastors of this church, in Burma, and later in Japan, and of his wife, Mrs. Harriet Rice Carpenter, one of the able lady principals of the institution, who is now holding up the banner of the cross as it fell from the hand of her dying husband. Also the names of the devoted women who have gone out from the institution, some of whom had held membership with us. Miss Maria C. Manning, and Miss Clara Bromley, whose early deaths we were called to deplore, and Miss Melissa Aldrich, who is now on her way to her chosen work among the hills of Arakan.
Education.
It need hardly be said that this church has been deeply interested from the first in the work of higher literary and theo- logical education. It was among the earliest friends and sup- porters of the old New Hampton Literary and Theological institution, and it has become what might be called the resid- uary legatee of its patronage and goodwill, in the shape of the Colby academy whose stately and castle-like edifice now crowns this hill. This church gave not only money to that older institution at New Hampton, but one of her own mem- bers, Miss Susan F. Colby, now Mrs. James B. Colgate of New York, to be one of the ablest and most popular lady prin- cipals of the celebrated New Hampton Ladies' seminary.
What and how much have been done by members of this church for the school now located here is already a matter of
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
history. It is doubtful if the school in the days of its infancy would have survived, had it not found a foster mother in this church. The relations between the school and the church have always been close, cordial, and co-operative. So may they always be; the closer, the more cordial, the more fully co-operative, the better, the more successful, the more pleasing to God .*
Then and Now.
I may be allowed in closing this address to hold up before you the THEN and the NOW-October 23d, 1788, and October 23d, 1888. Then, the nation was in its infancy, born of the throes of the protracted and exhausting war of the Revolution. Then the state was a little community of farmers and mechan- ics, with a few professional men. Then the town was a mere settlement, with its few families scattered among the clearings in the primeval forest. A few log cabins, with fewer small frame houses, formed the homes of those sturdy early settlers with their frugal and industrious wives, and their healthy and robust children. A store, a mill, a blacksmith's shop, a school- house or two, these completed the architectural equipments of the settlement. The town was then called "Heidelberg." Then there was not a railroad for the land, nor a steamboat for the ocean the world over. Not a newspaper in the country, not a telegraph line, and mails by postman, few and far be- tween. Not a cotton mill, not a power loom, not a steam printing press, not a sewing machine, not a mowing machine, -very little machinery of any kind-hard-handed work, and a good deal of it, this was the portion of the fathers. But there was manhood and womanhood ; there was virtue, integrity, honesty, moral purpose, piety,-in a word there was character. That is the crown of human life-high, honorable, Christly, God-like character-that was fostered, nurtured, developed, by
* In this connection it would not be just not to mention one name-nomen clarissi- mum-that which the institution on this Hill now bears-Colby! To the large and generous contributions of the late ex-Gov. Anthony Colby in its earlier days, supple- mented by the munificent gifts of members of his family in later years, it is not too much to say that COLBY ACADEMY owes the continuance of its life till the present, and the prospect of its work and usefulness in the years to come.
Among the larger benefactors of the school, as connected with the church, should be recorded also the names of the late George W. Herrick, Dea. Joseph C. Herrick, and Nahum T. Greenwood.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
the stern severities of the environment of these our fathers in the state and in the church.
One hundred years ago to-day ! A century of the most mar- vellous discoveries and inventions and progresses in the world's history !
Now a great and powerful nation ;- a strong and enterpris- ing and prosperous state ; a town-not grown to be a city, to be sure,-but thrifty, industrious, intelligent, in many respects cult- ured, with its happy and beautiful homes, its still-fertile farms, its celebrated institution of learning, and its one venerable and prosperous church celebrating now its hundredth birthday. And it is matter of profound thanksgiving to God, and of con- gratulation on the part of all the friends of Christ and of man, that to-day, when so many of the old churches in the hill towns and rural districts of our state are pining and sickening and dying from the malaria of skepticism in the community, and the lack of new and young blood, or are rent with religious feuds, and made weak and ineffective by the zeal of hot secta- rians in the establishment of rival churches,-an unholy and withering rivalry,-that this church; through the blessing of its Great Head, the wise and cautious judgment of its early founders and pastors, as well as the enterprise and devotion of a long line of earnest and conservative men and women-the Sargents, the Everetts, the Colbys, the Herricks, the Burpees, the Mor- gans, the Greeleys, the Shepards, the Greenwoods, the Messers, the Phillipses, the Todds, and many other honored names among the dead and living,-this " Christian Church in New London-holding to believers' baptism "-occupies a place in numbers and every element of material and spiritual prosperity never surpassed relatively in the community and the town. Of the 50 families, or thereabouts, living on the main road from the Sutton line to the Springfield line, running over this hill and including this street, about four fifths, or 40 out of the 50, are represented in this church, with a few in churches elsewhere, by husband or wife, or in a majority of cases by both. In the village of Scytheville, by careful estimate, it is found that, of the 48 families which go to make up the village, there are 45 husbands and wives, counted together, who are professing Christians, and 32 of them members of this church,-with a membership in the village of 46 in all. A like estimate would
REV. WILLIAM A. FARREN.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
make a still more remarkable showing, of the grace of God in the Pleasant street district, where nearly every house is represented in the church by father and mother, and sons and daughters ! About the same could be said of the Low Plain district,-to the glory of God and His abounding grace. The westerly part of the town is not so largely represented, though many families are families of prayer, and many of the people are devout and earnest Christians and supporters of the church. Taken for all in all, notwithstanding a very large non- resident membership, on account of the removal of students and others, it may be questioned if ever, since the remarkable showing of 1809-when 37 out of the whole 50 families in town were represented in the church by both husband and wife,-has there been a time when the Christian families numbered relatively more, and the percentage of professed Christians in the whole population was relatively higher. This is not a cause of boast- ing but of grateful acknowledgment and of thanksgiving to God !
But the whole community is not saved. There are still lost ones in New London ;- blind eyes, in the blazing light,-deaf ears, under the music of the gospel ! This old church has but just begun its work ;- its harvest-field is but half reaped. Who shall reap the rest?
" If you cannot in the harvest " Gather up the richest sheaf,
" Many a grain both ripe and golden " Will the careless reapers leave.
" Go and glean among the briers, " Growing rank against the wall,
" For it may be that the shadow " Hides the heaviest wheat of all."
[On November I following the centennial celebration, Rev. Dr. Gardner closed his acting pastorate of six months, and accepted the call of the new Beth Eden Baptist church in the city of Waltham, Mass. Soon after the church here gave a call to Rev. W. A. Farren of North Billerica, Mass., to serve as its tenth pastor. Mr. Farren accepted the call, and in the ten years that he has labored with this people has been privi- leged to gather rich harvests of souls. He is an earnest, faithful
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
pastor, and a scholarly man, whose sermons bear the stamp of the profound student and thinker, with a keen intellectual grasp of the vital questions of the day, and a tender, sympathetic grace that is like balm to sorrowing hearts. Favored, indeed, from first to last, has this church been in the brave and true men who have ministered to her children .- AUTHOR. ]
THE WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
BY MRS. N. T. GREENWOOD .*
The mission interest is so closely interwoven with the history of this church, that in giving an account of one we must neces- sarily draw many conclusions in regard to the other ; and when we consider the amount of work done for missions we may con- clude that our present prosperity is largely owing to our benevolence in former years, proving the wisdom of Solomon when he said, " There is that scattereth and yet increaseth."
In the effort some years since to ascertain the earliest date of our woman's work in New London, it was found that the oldest records were lost or destroyed ; but a book of later date was found, with the constitution and a long list of the names of members, bearing the date of September 7, 1831. The names of Everett, Colby, Seamans, Greeley, Messer, Greenwood, Nichols, Burpee, Clement, Woodward, Gates, Putney, Pills- bury, Gay, Herrick, Sargent, Whittier, Vinton, Fales, Bunker, Brown, and many others, were written therein.
In the course of the investigation it was ascertained that Miss Betsey Perley, returning here from Massachusetts, brought the account of the formation of women's foreign missionary socie- ties, called " cent societies." Any woman, by the payment of one cent per week or fifty cents per year, could become a mem- ber. A society was formed in 1814. The president, with other officers, was chosen annually, with the addition of four collec- tors. The first president whose name is given in the later book was Mrs. Abigail Nichols, of Sutton, but a member of this church,-a woman remarkable for her piety and sweet Christian character, who served faithfully for the term of twenty years, from 1831 to 1851. Mrs. Martha Greenwood was appointed
*Read at the Church Centennial, p. 556.
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
secretary, serving three years, when Miss Susan Greeley was chosen, who served five years, during which time she became Mrs. Walter P. Flanders. Her record is a wonder of neatness and elegant penmanship. In September, 1833, she writes of the visit of Rev. Mr. Sutton and wife, returned missionaries. We well remember the exhibition of idols given by them in the old schoolhouse.
In August, 1838, Mrs. John Bunker was chosen secretary, and we quote from her report as follows :
"In reviewing the former records of this society, it is found "to have been in operation nearly twenty-four years, and " within that time has paid into the treasury of the Lord between " four and five hundred dollars. However feeble and inefficient " we may feel our labors and contributions to have been, still " we may cherish the hope that from this society some messen- "ger of mercy has visited the abodes of the destitute, bearing " the glad news of 'Peace on earth, good will to men,' and "proclaiming a Saviour for ruined souls."
At this time it would seem that the meetings did not occur regularly, but the annual meeting was fully attended, and was quite frequently opened with prayer by the pastor.
In 1844 it was voted in the society to subscribe for The Macedonian, a paper devoted to missionary intelligence. The same year Mrs. Eliza A. Colby was made secretary, who care- fully performed her duties until the new society was formed,- a period of twelve years,-when Mrs. Mary Morgan succeeded. In May, 1846, the society united with the brethren of the church in raising $100 to make the Rev. Mark Carpenter a life mem- ber of the new organization called the American Baptist Mis- sionary Union. In 1851 a Young Ladies' Literary and Missionary Society was formed, and united with this society in sending a box of clothing to the "Grande Ligne Mission School" in Canada.
Mrs. Dodge, whose husband succeeded Mr. Carpenter, was made president in place of Mrs. Nichols, deceased, serving one year, when on account of illness she was obliged to resign the position. Mrs. Addison succeeded, serving one year. From 1853 till 1859, Mrs. Stephen Sargent occupied the position. Mrs. Hayden was then elected, serving as faithfully until 1869. Mrs. Perley Burpee followed, serving one year.
696
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
In 1870 came a new order of things, and the Female Mission- ary Society was declared ended, a collection being taken quarterly by the male and female members of the church, the sisters still sending their boxes of clothing annually to different objects. In 1874, three years after the Woman's Foreign Mis- sionary Society was established in Boston, an auxiliary was formed here on the new plan of two cents a week or one dollar a year, which has continued until the present date. Mrs. Augusta B. Knight was chosen president, continuing in very acceptable service until her resignation in 1883, when Mrs. Fletcher was appointed, who served only one year, resigning then on account of her health in favor of Mrs. Micajah Morgan, who has served with fidelity until the past summer. In Sep- tember last Mrs. Sarah Henry was elected, with Mrs. Martha E. Colby, treasurer, and Mrs. Susan C. Lovering, secretary,- the last of a long line of faithful Christian workers.
During this time the home mission work has not been neglected. Nearly every year, for many years, boxes of cloth- ing have been sent in different directions. The first box of which we have any record was sent to Mrs. Jones, missionary to Siam, who was formerly a teacher at New Hampton. In 1847 a box was sent to Oregon, which was not heard from until 1852, when grateful thanks were received from the recipients. During the war boxes were sent to the Soldiers' Aid Society, to Beaufort, also to the freedmen; eight boxes to the Grande Ligne Mission in Canada, and thirty boxes in all to the Publi- cation Society in Philadelphia for the colporteurs in the West. In return, from each have been sent letters full of expressions of gratitude for the timely gifts, some telling of such privations and self-denial as should make us earnest in our efforts to assist and encourage such faithful laborers for Christ.
In 1877, our sister, Clara Bromley, a member of the school and of our church, went from us as missionary to Prome, Burma, to teach in the school conducted by the Rev. E. O. Stevens. In June, 1880, an attack of pneumonia weakened her, and in September she was obliged to return to this country. The following summer she visited us, and our hearts were saddened by her changed appearance. Her own disappoint- ment was great that she must leave the work she loved so well to others. Her death occurred in August, 1881. In 1883, the
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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
young ladies of the town formed a missionary society, taking the name, in her memory, of " The Clara Bromley Mission Band"; and we trust that her mantle has indeed fallen upon the members of this society, and that their faithful, earnest efforts may be blest in the years to come as in the years that are past.
This year we can record the fact that another one from our church and school has sailed for the foreign field -Miss Aldrich -to whom we trust the Lord will give a long life of service in His cause. This society, in the five years since its formation, has paid into the treasury of the Lord, for home and foreign missions, the sum of $421.68. The amount paid by the Woman's Society for home and foreign missions since 1814 is $5,599.30, and the Scytheville Mission Circle, formed five years ago, has raised $95. Among the conscientious workers in this society we cannot refrain from expressing our tribute of appreciation and gratitude towards Mrs. Eliza A. Colby, who so long and faithfully gave freely of her time and money to this work, feeling that both were the Lord's and that she must give an account of her stewardship. May her memory in this church and society long be a blessing and may our members emulate her example !
We cannot close this sketch of woman's mission work in New London, without grateful mention of our sisters of other denominations who have cast in their lot with us, and who have so kindly helped and encouraged us, in the past years, not only by their presence at our meetings, but who have aided us by their counsels and generous contributions of money as well as by the work of their hands. We trust that future years will see no abatement of interest in this branch of Christian work, and that we may be willing to do our duty towards the unsaved in every land as were our sisters who have gone on before us. Let it not be a disagreeable duty, but may we realize more fully, as the years go on, the beauty of lending to the Lord, the privilege it is to share with others what the Lord has given to us :
" For we must share, if we would keep " A blessing from above ;
" Ceasing to give, we cease to have,
" Such is the law of love."
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
REMINISCENCES OF THE CHOIR.
PREPARED BY SEVERAL HANDS .*
It was only quite lately that it was decided to present such a paper as this, and no one was ready to attempt its prepara- tion alone ; but rather than that so important an item should be entirely left out of the programme, an effort was made by several persons, members of the choir and others, to collect what facts could, at this late date, be obtained ; and we ask you kindly to excuse the crude manner in which these recollections are presented for your consideration.
There is no year since 1832 that we do not remember the New London choir. The sound even now is fresh in our mem- ories, as we children sat in the old meeting-house of a Sunday noon, listening to the droning of a few bass voices, accompanied by the bass-viol, in the gallery out of our sight, and the words of the old anthem, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come," sung as a preparation for some possible public performance-this seeming to be the time for weekly practice. We also remember the old square pews, and the slamming of seats all over the house, when they were let down after being raised during the prayer; and we chil- dren sometimes thought the minister said " Slam-bang " instead of " Amen."
But these recollections are of comparatively recent date. Tradition tells of the time when the deacons led the singing, one reading two lines of the hymn and the other singing the same, with those of the congregation who knew the music. The first leader of the singers, when they were seated apart in the gallery, is supposed to have been Nathan Herrick, and later Nathaniel Fales, of whom it is said by his relations that his love for the divine art was so great that he sung a good farm away. Later, his son, known by the name of " Uncle Sam," was distinguished for his love of music. Owing to a scarcity of printed singing books, nearly all the music was learned by rote, and curious sense was sometimes made of the words. "Full royally He rode " was sung by one of the best singers in this way : "Full royal He ah-rode." The metre
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