USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume II > Part 4
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
struction that after twenty-four years of constant usage eight hun- dred dollars were allowed for it by the builders of the second organ. The introduction of the organ in church aroused opposition, but it soon spent its force.
The choir of this church, not unlike others, was ambitious, and the improvements in organ making in this country led to a demand for a new and larger instrument. In December, 1866, a successful fair was held by the society, from which nearly one thousand dol- lars was realized for an organ fund, and in the spring of 1869 this amount was taken as a nucleus, and a subscription paper circulated to increase the amount. The subscriptions and the proceeds of another festival held in December, 1869, secured the required amount. A contract was then made for an organ to cost three thou- sand six hundred and fifty dollars. It was completed in January, 1870, and proved to be a superior instrument of great power and brilliancy. On the morning of Sunday, June 29, 1873, it was con- sumed in the fire which destroyed the church.
From June 29, 1873, until March 1, 1876, the society occupied the city hall as a place of worship, and the singing was wholly congre- gational, accompanied by a reed organ. The society had an insurance policy of three thousand dollars on its organ, which with its avails and subsequent subscriptions was increased to five thousand dollars. With this amount the present organ of the church was purchased. This was the seventeenth pipe organ which had been set up in Con- cord at that time, this society having had three, the South church three, the Episcopal, Unitarian, and First Baptist two each, the Pleas- ant Street Baptist, Methodist, Universalist, Catholic, and Baptist church of Penacook one each.
Dr. Ayer's pastorate at the North church lasted thirty years, when failing health compelled him to resign. Only one pastor who was here at the time of his settlement remained,-Father Barry, of St. John's Catholic church. With all denominations Dr. Ayer main- tained most cordial relations, and by the entire community he was held in high esteem. Few men of his quiet disposition have made a deeper impression upon the city for sterling worth and exalted religious principles. Although of a conservative temperament, he was ever ready in all good work of a public nature. He was first of all a pastor of his people. Of the work of his pastorate there is gleaned the following from his sermon at the close of thirty years' service:
The church and society had expended for support of worship about seventy thousand dollars, and for church building and repairs as much more. The benevolent contributions had increased three-
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THE NORTH CHURCH.
fold and amounted to nearly forty thousand dollars. The church had been called to one hundred and thirty-three ecclesiastical coun- cils. There had been added to the church by confession of faith two hundred and thirteen, by letter, one hundred and sixty-eight; total, three hundred and eighty-one. There had been taken from the church by death one hundred and fifty-two, by dismission, one hun- dred and six ; total, two hundred and fifty-eight. The pastor had baptized one hundred and thirty-three adults and sixty-six infants. He had attended five hundred and thirty-two funerals and officiated at three hundred and eighteen marriages. He had preached three thousand sermons and attended three thousand five hundred other services. Of those who were members of the church at the date of his settlement only thirty were residents at the conclusion of his pas- torate. Of the congregation of which he took leave there were only eighteen heads of families and only fifteen husbands and wives who had journeyed with him through his ministry at Concord.
Dr. Ayer was dismissed by a council convened September 9, 1897, and made pastor emeritus. The church and society united in a call to Reverend George H. Reed, of Haverhill, Mass., to be Dr. Ayer's successor. Mr. Reed was a graduate of the Boston university, and had been eleven years in the ministry before his call to Concord. Four years he spent at Taunton and seven years at Haverhill. His installation occurred at the North church, June 11, 1898.
In memory of the first, third, and fourth pastors marble tablets have been placed in appropriate places on the walls of the church. These are the gifts of the family descendants of the Reverend Timo- thy Walker, the Reverend Asa McFarland, and the Reverend Na- thaniel Bouton. Efforts are now being made to secure a like tablet in memory of the Reverend Israel Evans.
During Mr. Reed's pastorate the North church has built a chapel on the Plains for the use of the residents of that locality. Previous to 1900 a Sunday-school had been maintained there through the in- strumentality of Thomas B. Hall. The success of the Sunday-school led the people to consider the question of having a place of worship. Accordingly they petitioned the North church, whose members had helped in the Sunday-school work, to assist in building a chapel. This appeal met with a favorable response. Money was subscribed by the residents of the Plains toward a lot of land one hundred and thirty-three by one hundred and sixty-seven feet, which was bought on Grover street, midway between the London and Pembroke roads. The people of the North church then guaranteed the building of a chapel. Starting out with the intention of completing this building for about six hundred dollars, they eventually put into it fifteen hun-
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
dred dollars. This chapel, by a coincidence, is the same size as the first meeting-house of the Old North society, erected one hundred and seventy-five years before. It is surmounted by a tower with a bell, the latter being the gift of the Boston & Maine Railroad. The auditorium is twenty-five by forty feet and comfortably seats two hundred people. The floor is of birch, the wainscoting of Carolina pine, and the walls are whitened. The win- dows are of cathedral glass. The seats are opera chairs, and on the platform is a mahog- any pulpit made and presented to the chapel by Daniel Cross. The pulpit Bible is the gift of Mrs. Abner Blodgett, in memory of her father, the late Elder John Hook. The fur- nishing of the chapel was the contribution of the people of the Plains. The chapel is called Immanuel chapel, and is undenominational. It was dedicated Sunday, December 9, 1900. The building committee were John C. Thorne, Will- iam P. Fiske, and Herbert W. Denio. Preach- ing has been maintained with some regularity, and the Sunday-school has been successfully carried on under the superintendence of Oliver W. Crowell of the North church.
Immanuel Chapel.
NOTES.
Reverend Enoch Coffin was the first preacher of Concord, but not its first minister. Ile preached more or less to the people for two years, as the records show that "at a meeting of the proprietors held at Bradford, Mass., March 12, 1729, it was voted: That the sum of four pounds be allowed and paid unto the heirs of Reverend Enoch Coffin, deceased, for his preaching and performing divine service at Penny Cook, in full discharge."
Mr. Coffin was born in the old Coffin house which still stands in Newbury, Mass., crected upwards of two hundred and fifty years ago. He evidently was not of robust health, for, receiving a call to Dun- stable, N. H., he was obliged to decline in consequence of ill health. He perhaps felt that an expedition into the forest would be invigo- rating, and he applied for admission as one of the proposed settlers of Penny Cook and was accepted. He died at the early age of thirty- two years.,
The Reverend Timothy Walker's Pastorate, though continuing for fifty-two years, was not of unusual length for the times, as those of his contemporaries will show. The Reverend Ebenezer Flagg of Ches- ter and the Reverend James Pike of Somersworth had pastorates of
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THE QUAKERS.
60 years each ; the Reverend John Wilson of Chester, 45; the Rev- erend John Odlin of Exeter, 48; the Reverend William Allen of Greenland, 53; the Reverend Samuel MeClintock of Greenland, 48; the Reverend John Tucke of Gosport, 41; the Reverend Jeremy Fogg of Kensington, 52; the Reverend William Davidson of Lon- donderry, 51; the Reverend John Adams of Newington, 68; the Reverend John Moody of Newmarket, 48; the Reverend Samuel Parsons of Rye, 48; and the Reverend Jonathan Cushing of Dover, 52. Only one of this number had a pastorate as short as 41 years, while seven had pastorates exceeding 50 years, and averaging 56 4-7 years.
There were thirty-three members of this church who entered or were in the ministry, as follows: Reverends Ephraim Abbot, Josiah Abbot, Ezra E. Adams, Franklin D. Ayer, Nathaniel Bouton, Will- iam Clark, Sylvester Dana, Ezekiel Dow, George H. Dunlap, Israel Evans, Luther Farnum, Henry S. G. French, Moses Gerould, Jere- miah Glines, Jacob Goss, Horace Herrick, George W. Hough, David Kimball, Moses Kimball, John LeBosquet, Daniel McClenning, Asa McFarland, Arthur S. Orne, William A. Patten, George H. Reed, Joshua T. Russell, James Scales, T. D. P. Stone, Charles L. Tappan, Samuel G. Tenney, Samuel Utley, Timothy Walker, and Henry Wood.
1136125
THE FRIENDS, OR QUAKERS.
The first open dissenters from the town church were the Friends, or Quakers. Dr. Bouton mentions their being in Concord as early as 1803, but it was not until October 24, 1805, that a meeting was set up for public worship. This was done by the Weare Monthly meeting, which made the Concord society subordinate to itself. The exact number of persons composing that meeting is not known, but it was doubtless small, as there was a record of only sixty odd names of men, women, and children for the whole life of the society, and two thirds of these were children. The principal members were Ruth Turner, Sarah Sweatt, Lydia Dunlap, Sarah Arlin, Levi and Phebe Hutchins, Abel and Sarah Houghton, Bethiah Ladd, Daniel and Ruth Cooledge, James and Mary Sanborn, Josiah and Sarah Rogers, Israel and Abigail Hoag, Ruth Hazeltine, and Thomas and Ruth Thorndike.
Meetings were held for some time at the dwelling-house of Ruth Turner and Sarah Sweatt at the North end. In 1814 a lot of land was purchased, where the state house now stands, and in 1815 a meeting-house was erected there by the Friends of Concord, assisted financially by the Weare Monthly meeting and by a donation from
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
William Rotch of New Bedford, Mass. In 1816 the lot was sold to the state, and the meeting-house removed to a lot at the North end given by Benjamin Hannaford, who was not a member of the meeting but a public-spirited citizen. The lot is on State street, near the old cemetery, just south of the residence of the late Isaac W. Hammond. The house was on the front of the lot, and remained there until sold to School District No. 11 for a schoolhouse in 1845, when it was removed to the rear of the old brick schoolhouse, which stood where is now the home of ex-Governor Frank W. Rollins, and used several years as a primary school. About 1859 the building was sold by the school district to Samuel M. Griffin, who removed it to Franklin street, where it was used as a storehouse. Subsequently it was con- verted into a two-tenement house and now stands on the south side of that street and is numbered 19 and 21.
The Friends meeting in Concord became so reduced in numbers that in 1840 it was discontinued. "Aunt" Ruth Turner and "Aunt" Sarah Ar- lin were perhaps the leading spirits, for tradition says that they were fre- quently moved to declare their tes- Friends' Meeting-house. timony. It is probable that the scat- tered residences of the members had something to do with lessening the interest in the meeting, for they resided as far apart as are Bow line and West Concord.
According to the custom of the Friends there is a burial-place in the rear of where the meeting-house stood on State street. There are several graves, but only part are marked with headstones. A plain marble stone gives the name of Phebe Hutchins, wife of Levi Hutchins, who " fell asleep April 22, 1829." Levi Hutchins, who is buried beside her in an unmarked grave, was one of the famous clock makers, Abel and Levi Hutchins, who did business here from 1785 to 1819. Only two other graves are marked,-that of John Hutchins of New York, who died June 5, 1843, and that of Joseph S. Noyes, who died November 7, 1855.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
This society had its beginning early in the century, and the first meeting of individuals friendly to such an organization was held at the house of Albe Cady, then standing on the site of the present Phenix hotel, January 5, 1817. At this meeting the basis of an
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THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
organization was presented by a committee appointed for the pur- pose, which was subscribed by the following persons: Samuel Green, Albe Cady, Arthur Rogers, Isaac Eastman, Isaac Hill, John D. Bailey, Arveen Blanchard, Walter R. Hill, Augustus H. Odlin, John West, Jr., Daniel Greenleaf, Jeremiah Blanchard, and Artemas Blanchard. Four years later five other names were added: Samp- son Bullard, Thomas Waterman, Eben LeBosquet, Hosea Fessen- den, and William Kent, making eighteen in all, eleven of whom were heads of families. They gave the organization the name of St. Thomas chapel. March 24, 1818, Reverend Charles Burroughs was chosen rector. Mr. Burroughs was rector of St. John's church at Portsmouth, and while it does not appear that he ever formally accepted the rectorship of St. Thomas chapel, he frequently officiated here, and by his advice and influence encouraged and sustained the infant parish at Concord. For the first four years the services were conducted a greater part of the time by lay readers, though there were occasional visitations by the Revs. Messrs. Andrews, Searle, Herbert, and Marshall. The first annual meeting of the society was held March 24, 1818, in the schoolhouse which stood on the present high-school lot. Samuel Green and John West, Jr., were chosen war- dens, and Isaac Hill, Eastman, Bailey, and Greenleaf vestrymen. In 1820 Christmas was observed for the first time in Concord, at the town hall, Mr. Searle preaching a sermon. In April, 1821, Reverend John L. Blake was chosen rector, and for more than two years offici- ated here, at the same time serving St. Andrew's church in Hopkin- ton. Mr. Blake was teaching a female academy in Concord at the time of his appointment. In the spring of 1823 he resigned the rec- torship and removed from town. Then occurred a hiatus of twelve years, when only occasional services were held in Concord, Reverend Moses B. Chase of Hopkinton now and then supplying a single ser- vice.
In 1819 a committee on the state of the church in the diocese of New Hampshire appointed by the diocesan convention reported thir- teen families and ten communicants in this parish. During its con- tinuance as St. Thomas chapel, the rite of confirmation was admin- istered to seven persons, and there were about twenty baptisms.
For a part of the year 1817 the services of the society were held in the Masonic hall over the old Concord bank, and subsequently in the town hall, until January, 1821, when a commodious hall was fitted up by Isaac Hill in the upper part of a store occupying what is now the site of White's Opera House. This hall was used during the week by Reverend Mr. Blake as a school-room. When the old American House was built in 1834, and Park street opencd, this
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
building was moved to the west of its original location and finally fitted np for a double tenement dwelling house, a use it still serves. It is remarkable that the three successive buildings used by this society as houses of worship stand intact, and are ranged side by side on Park street. West of the original chapel is the first church, now a dwelling-house,1 and beyond that is the present church.
The records of St. Thomas chapel cease with the meeting of August 15, 1822, but the organization continued its work until the following spring. During the next twelve years the disintegration was so com- plete that when the attempt was made to re-establish the services of the Episcopal church in Concord no recognition was made of St. Thomas chapel.
July 13, 1835, Albe Cady, Leavitt C. Virgin, John West, Isaac Hill, John Whipple, and Ralph Metcalf met and organized St. Paul's parish. With these were subsequently associated Aaron Morse, Jacob Rogers, John W. Moore, John Miller, Abraham Duncklee, Joseph I. Wallace, and Jacob Carter. Reverend Moses B. Chase was chosen rector. Mr. Chase held services once each month from May, 1835, to March, 1836, and Sunday evenings during July and August of the latter year. He resided in Hopkinton, and was also the rector of St. Andrew's church in that town.
In October, 1836, Concord was made a missionary station by the domestic committee of the Board of Missions of the Protestant Epis- copal church, and the promise made that assistance would be given in support of a mission church. At a meeting of the parish, November 1, 1836, it was voted to raise one hundred and fifty dollars by vol- untary subscription, and the wardens were authorized to express to Reverend Petrus Stuyvesant Ten Broeck the hope that he would accept the appointment as rector which was understood to have been tendered him by the Committee on Domestic Missions. December 3 he signified his acceptance. The wardens, in notifying the Commit- tec on Domestic Missions of Mr. Ten Broeck's call and acceptance, gave out the following hint to the committee to make a liberal dona- tion, as the parish could raise only one hundred and fifty dollars. The wardens said : "Boarding in this place for a clergyman, inclnd- ing room rent and fuel, would not be less than three dollars a week. Rent for a suitable house for a small family from eighty to one hun- dred and fifty dollars. Annual salary requisite for the support of a clergyman's family from five hundred to eight hundred dollars, including rent."
The Board of Missions appropriated only two hundred and fifty
1 In this house was born Charles H. Hoyt, the playwright, whose home was later at Charlestown, N. H.
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THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
dollars, which, added to the one hundred and fifty dollars pledged by the society, made the minister's salary only four hundred dollars. In the spring following the board of trustees of the Eastern diocese was appealed to, and they responded with an additional one hundred dollars, making a salary of five hundred dollars for Mr. Ten Broeck, which was considered liberal for those days. A clergyman having been secured, the next thought of the parish was a church. In the summer of 1836 John West took it upon himself to obtain funds to build a church, but he had hardly more than made a beginning when death brought his labors to a close. Two years later, at a meeting of the wardens and vestry, held October 13th, the subject of erect- ing a church was again considered, and a committee, consisting of Albe Cady, Leavitt C, Virgin, and Isaac Hill, was appointed to draft a plan for a suitable building, estimate the expense, ascertain the cost of a lot, and, dividing the whole amount into one hundred shares, report at a future meeting. On December 17th the commit- tee reported that more than half the shares had been taken, and that donations had been received to assist in erecting the church. Thus encouraged, the society proceeded at once to purchase a lot of Nathaniel G. Upham for one thousand dollars. The lot and the building erected thereon were situated immediately east of and adjoin- ing the lot now occupied by St. Paul's parish. A plan of a church drawn by John Miller was accepted, and a contract made with Virgin & Miller to erect a building in accordance therewith. The work was completed near the close of 1839, and January 1, 1840, the church was consecrated to worship by the venerable Bishop Griswold of the Eastern diocese, of which New Hamp- shire was then a part. The bishop, on the following day, instituted Rev. Mr. Ten Broeck rector of the parish. For a little more than nineteen years this building continued to be the place of worship of the society, with no changes in the original structure. The house was fifty-four feet long by forty wide, with fifty-two pews, and the land and church were appraised at four thou- sand one hundred and twenty dollars. Nearly a year and a half later a committee reported the expense of building the church to be two thousand nine hundred and seventy-six dollars and fifty-eight cents, exclusive of the lot, and that eighty-one shares were subscribed for, which amounted to three thousand two hundred and forty dol- lars, with sundry donations amounting in all to four thousand and forty-five dollars and fifteen cents, of which there was seven hundred and seventy-five dollars and ninety-four cents unpaid at that date by
First Episcopal Church.
4
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
twenty delinquents. The society started in debt, and this debt hung over it for many years. It occasioned some very earnest letters from Bishop Chase upon what he regarded as the wickedness of conse- crating to the service of God a house of worship which was not paid for. The mortgage debt was finally discharged in 1852. Dur- ing the year 1843 the society received a donation of five hundred dollars from Edward B. Little, of New York city, for the purchase of an organ.
In October, 1844, Mr. Ten Broeck resigned his charge of the par- ish on account of failing health, and removed to Danvers, Mass., where he resided until his decease, January 21, 1849. The number of communicants at the close of his labors was about forty, as against ten when he took charge. He was a gentleman of refinement and culture, and strongly devoted to the interests of the church. The parish was not large during his ministrations, nor did it increase for years afterwards. The parish expenses at this time, aside from the rector's salary, were small ; those for 1841, 1842, and 1843 footing up only to forty-one dollars and sixty cents, the main items being for wood at two dollars and fifty cents a cord. Yet the collections were still smaller by ten dollars.
The death of Bishop Griswold in the early part of 1843, and the selection of Reverend Carlton Chase as bishop of the diocese of New Hampshire late in the fall of that year, led to active efforts on the part of the Concord parish to induce the bishop to make this city his residence. In order to bring this about Mr. Ten Broeck offered to resign the rectorship of St. Paul's church in behalf of the bishop- elect, so that he might serve as rector and bishop. The standing committee of the diocese, at a meeting held December 28, 1843, strongly favored the bishop's locating in Concord on condition that the parish pay him a salary of five hundred dollars a year. This sum was subsequently reduced to four hundred dollars. The parish secured pledges amounting to three hundred and fifty-two dollars, and were hopeful of increasing this to the sum required, and so informed the standing committee of the diocese, but before this information was communicated to the committee, the bishop had already selected Claremont for his home.
Reverend Darius R. Brewer succeeded Mr. Ten Broeck. November 25, 1844, a committee was authorized to confer with him and engage him for one year at a salary of five hundred dollars. He accepted, and entered upon his duties at once, and continued with the parish until November, 1846. At the end of his first year the parish raised six hundred dollars for salaries, which included the contribution of thirty dollars for the salary of the bishop. In June, 1845, Mr.
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THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Brewer was able to report to the diocesan convention that there were forty-five communicants, thirty families, and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty persons attending worship at his church. After two years of devoted service, Mr. Brewer resigned to take charge of Trinity parish, Newport, R. I., a charge he subsequently resigned to take a free church without any promised salary.
December 20, 1846, only a few weeks after the resignation of Mr. Brewer, the parish invited Reverend Thomas Leaver of Newport, R. I., to become its rector, with a salary of five hundred and seventy dollars. Mr. Leaver's ministry was only of a year's duration. He began his services the first Sunday in December, 1846, and finished them the first Sunday in December, 1847. After an illness of only a few days he died December 23, 1847. Mr. Leaver was an Englishman by birth, and his parents were members of the Church of England. In early youth he became connected with the Baptist denomination, and at the age of twenty entered Stepney college to prepare for the missionary field. In 1837, at the age of twenty-two, he went to the Bahamas to join the Baptist Mission in those islands. After labor- ing there about two years he came to this country and was settled over a Baptist church in Newport, R. I. Here he remained until 1846, when he entered the ministry of the Episcopal church. He came to Concord almost immediately to take charge of St. Paul's parish. He is buried in the Old cemetery, and a suitable monument was erected at his grave by the Baptist church at Newport, of which he had been pastor; that church claiming the privilege as an oppor- tunity of testifying their appreciation of his services.
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