History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 175

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168

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So urgent was the demand for the house that, as soon as the frame was covered, and before the floor timbers were laid, it was occupied without any formal dedication. They finished the house gradually, as they were able. The first worshipers here sat upon rough benches with a single open floor, with nothing to warm them but the glad tidings of salvation. The old-fashioned, square pews were constructed as the families felt able, the "pew-ground " merely being deeded by the parish.

The organization of a church and providing a place of worship were but preliminary to the renewal of their effort to be legally set off into a second parish. They, in March, 1781, presented to the General Court, convened at Exeter, an extensive petition, setting forth their reasons in asking for a separation, in which they did not forget to say "that your humble petitioners, in expectation of being set off as a separate parish, did, some time ago, at their own proper charge, build a commodious meeting- house at said northwest part of Amherst, and have, for some time past, hired preaching, hoping, at the same time, to have enjoyed the privilege of a minis- ter of their own choosing, our local situation requir- ing the same." The prayer of this petition was granted, and, June 30, 1781, fifty-two voters and heads of families were set off' and constituted the Second, or Northwest, Parish of Amherst. Of the names found in the act of incorporation, some are interesting as being the progenitors of present active residents of at least the fourth generation. In the same month the first parish meeting was held and parish officers chosen. In March, 1782, a committee

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MONT VERNON.

was chosen to lay the lower floor, sell the pew-ground in the meeting-house and use the money received therefor in finishing the house; also to hire preach- ing upon probation. In 1782 a Mr. Powers, and in 1783 a Mr. Allen were employed as preacher. In 1783, it was voted to raise fifty pounds to defray parish charges. In December, 1783, it was voted to con- cur with the church in calling Mr. Samuel Sar- gent to the gospel ministry in said parish. The effort to settle Mr. Sargent failed, for, in the summer of 1784, Mr. John Bruce commenced preaching, and, December 29, 1784, they voted to concur with the church in giving him a call to settle in the gospel ministry in this parish. Also voted to offer Mr. Bruce one hundred and twenty pounds as a settle- ment, and sixty pounds and twenty cords of wood yearly, so long as he carries on the work of the gospel ministry here, and thirty pounds and twenty cords of wood annually, if he should become dis- abled from carrying on the work of the ministry, for so long a time as he remains the minister of the place.

Nathaniel Haywood, Oliver Carlton and Lieuten- ant William Bradford were appointed a committee to communicate the votes of the parish to Mr. Bruce and receive his answer.

Mr. Bruce accepted the call, and, after some delay, was ordained November 3, 1785.

In 1791 the finishing of the meeting-house was completed by a committee consisting of Moses Kim- ball, Lieutenant Joseph Farnum and Deacon Oliver Carlton.

March 24, 1792, Mr. Jonathan Conant, formerly of Beverly, was designated, by a vote of the parish, as the most suitable man to serve as a justice of the peace in said parish.

May 25, 1792, " Voted to build a wall by the high- way against the burying-ground."

" Voted, that the bass viol be not carried into the meeting-house to be used in time of exercise."

October 25, 1792, it was voted to allow the bill of the committee for building the gate in front of the burying-ground, amounting to £4 198. 5d.

" Voted to build another piece of wall by the side of the burying-ground."

March 18, 1793, voted the pew in the gallery of the meeting-house to the use of the singers.

March 21, 1796, an article having been inserted in the warrant calling the meeting holden this day, asking the consent of the parish that the bass viol be used in the meeting-house on Sundays to assist the singers in time of public worship, failed of approval.

May 3, 1802, it was voted to take measures to effect a separation from the town of Amherst, and a com- mittee, consisting of Major William Bradford, John Carlton, Captain John Batchelder, Captain Joseph Perkins, Captain Thomas Cloutman, Deacon Jacob Kendall, Lieutenant Benjamin Parker, Lieutenant Joseph Farnum, Eli Wilkins, Parker Richardson,

Nathan Jones and Lieutenant Timothy Hill, was appointed to petition the town relative thereto.

On the last Thursday of May, 1802, the parish voted to petition the General Court to incorporate them into a town. with the same boundaries as those first established between the First and Second Par- ishes ; also, that a strip of land half a mile wide, lying in the easterly part of Lyndeborough, extend- ing the entire length of this parish, and adjoining it, be asked for as a part of the new town.

Nathan Jones, Eli Wilkins, James Joseph Smith, Langdell and Captain Joseph Perkins were appointed a committee to prepare a petition for that purpose.

On the first Monday of June, 1802, chose Nathan Jones, Captain Joseph Perkins and Captain Benja- min Parker to present the petition to the General Court.

November 21, 1803, it was voted to accept the report of the committee of the General Court in re- gard to the incorporation of the new town.

" Voted, that the name of the contemplated town be Mont Vernon."

An act incorporating the town of Mont Vernon was consummated by the signature of Governor John Taylor Gilman, December 15, 1803.

The verdure of the farms which cluster about the eminence upon which the village is located sug- gested the name of the town.

The number of tax-payers in the town thus in- corporated was one hundred and thirty-five, April 1, 1804.

Thus was completed an entire separation from the parent town. Twenty-three years before, this had been partially effected by the formation of the Second Parish, as religiously independent of the First, and this had not tended to unity of feeling or action. Political differences had succeeded the religions diversities which induced the former action. In 1783, two years only from the organization of the Northwest Parish, one hundred and twenty-one residents of the First Parish addressed to the Legislature a petition ask- ing that, as they had in part disunited the town, and the result was variance, discord, contention, that "separate interests established by law had made their town-meetings scenes of confusion, irregularity and vexation, therefore they asked that the division of the body corporate be com- pleted and those polls and estates set off in ministerial matters be wholly separated from us in all matters whatsoever." The Legislature took no action on this doleful petition, but twenty years later the desired relief came, to the satisfaction of both communities. In the party divisions which distinguished the close of the last century and the beginning of the present, the ruling influences in the Second Parish were as intensely Republican or Jeffersonian as were those of the First in an opposite direction. For three years, 1800-02, Major William Bradford. classed as an "offensive Jacobin," represented the town at the

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

General Court by aid of the Second Parish vote, and the Federal elements rejoiced to be free from the connection.

The first town-meeting was held January 23, 1804, at the Centre School-house. Joseph Langdell was chosen moderator, John Carlton town clerk, and John Carlton, Jos. Langdell and Jacob Kendall selectmen.

At the first annual town-meeting March 13, 1804, the same town officers were re-elected, and Major William Bradford chosen as representative.

Later Ecclesiastical History .- Rev. John Bruce, the first pastor, ministered to Mont Vernon Church from 1784 to his sudden death of apoplexy, March 12, 1809. He was born in Marlborough, Mass., August 31, 1757; graduated at Dartmouth in 1781. Of the first ten and last eight years of his pastorate there are no church records. A list of the members of the church, in Mr. Bruce's handwriting, . about 1798, makes its membership one hundred and ten. The next year fifty were added by profession. This revival was the first known in this section, and it awakened much interest far and wide. Mr. Bruce was a successful minister. "He was meek, pions, humble, kind and gentle. Among his distinguishing traits, aside from these, were his solid sense, prudence and discretion. All who knew him loved and revered him." Mr. Bruce married, in 1785, Lois Wilkins, of Marlborough, who survived him with four sons and two daughters. The sons were heads of families, all worthy citizens and life-long residents of Mont Vernon. Their united ages at their decease were three hundred and twenty-two years.

On the decease of Mr. Bruce, Rev. Stephen Chapin immediately received a call from this church, but was not installed until November 15, 1809. Born at Mil- ford, Mass., in 1778, a graduate of Harvard in 1804, a pupil in divinity with the famous Dr. Emmons, of Franklin, Mass., his first settlement was in the neigh- boring town of Hillsborough, four years, from 1805 to 1809. Mr. Chapin was a man of positive convictions and bold, unadorned and uncompromising in his style of preaching. His earnest, able preaching and string- ent discipline made a deep impression upon his people. During a pastorate of nine years, one hundred and fifteen were added to the church. On one Sab- bath in 1817 fifty-one converts were received into fellowship.

While all hearts were completely united in him, the day of separation came from a quarter least sus- pected. In October, 1818, the pastor suddenly an- nounced a change in his views respecting the mode and subjects of baptism. He renounced infant bap- tismı. He was a man sincere and true, and consci- entiously embraced Calvinistic Baptist views. He at once resigned his pastorate and was dismissed in No- vember, 1818. After a three years' pastorate as a Baptist clergyman at North Yarmouth, he was, in 1822, called to a professorship in Waterville College, Maine, and thence to the presidency of Columbia

College, at Washington, D. C., which he occupied for many years. The salary of Mr. Chapin was stipu- lated at four hundred dollars per annum, and if, from any cause, he was unable to preach, no abatement, un- less such absence exceeded six weeks.

After an interval of a little more than a year from Mr. Chapin's dismission, Rev. Ebenezer Cheever, a native of Reading, Vt., a graduate of Bowdoin College, was ordained December 8, 1819. He con- tinued pastor until April 8, 1823, with an addition to the church, in the mean time, of twenty-two mem- bers. He baptized thirty-nine children in less than three years. In the spring of 1820 the first Sabbath- school was organized here, being held in the school- house and composed exclusively of children. After leaving here, Mr. Cheever was pastor of a church in Waterford, N. Y., and at other places, and died in New Jersey. Two weeks after Mr. Cheever's dismis- sion, Rev. Nathaniel Kingsbury, from Connecticut, and a graduate of Amherst College, commenced his labors. He was ordained November 8, 1823, and dismissed April 6, 1836. He removed West and died some years since in Wisconsin. Mr. Kingsbury was not a man of marked ability, but his ministry here was prosperous, and during it one hundred and fifty-four were received into the church. Two periods of pe- culiar interest occurred, the former in 1828, when thirty-four were added, the latter in 1831, when nearly sixty united by profession. Those were re- vival days, when the ministers aided each other in what were called "protracted meetings," which were often seasons of thrilling interest and great power. Many of the converts of 1831 were persons in mature life. It included the lawyer and the two physicians then in practice here. Never, before or since, has this church been the scene of such religious activity, --- scenes still living vividly in the remembrance of many among us.

It was in 1830, during Mr. Kingsbury's pastorate, that the temperance reform began in the church, and was vigorously and steadily prosecuted outside until it expelled liquors from the town. The youth of the present day can hardly imagine the condition of this small community, with eight tavern licenses signed in a single year. In some places they sold a hogshead a week ; but a small portion of this quantity was dis- pensed to residents, but enough to alarm the thoughtful and virtuous. At that period two public roads led northward, through different sections of the town. These were thoroughfares, thronged with light and heavy travel. At all hours of the day lines of canvas-covered merchandise teams might be seen bearing their heavy freight from and to the seaboard. To modify and control public opinion was no easy mat- ter,-work which required strong heads and true hearts. Dr. Daniel Adams may be named as one early prominent in this movement of philanthropy. He delivered convincing and effective addresses on this subject in this and other towns.

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MONT VERNON.

Rev. Edwin Jennison, a graduate of Dartmouth in 1827, succeeded Mr. Kingsbury, being installed April 6, 1836. He was a native of Walpole, N. H., and had been settled in the ministry in that place from 1831 to 1835. His pastorate in Mont Vernon con- tinued until August 19, 1841, during which time twenty-three were added to the church. As a ser- monizer he excelled, but visited little. During his ministry the discussion of the slavery question agi- tated the church and somewhat disturbed its peace.

In 1837 the church was removed westerly to the opposite and more sheltered side of the street, en- tirely remodeled, being finished in two stories and furnished with a bell and organ. The town conveyed to the Congregational Society all its right to this meeting-house, reserving for a town hall one-half the ground-floor. Also the town stipulated to finish the town-hall appropriated for their use, and to sustain the roof of the house, making all repairs which might be required from time to time, and that the Congre- gational Society have sole control of the house, they sustaining and making all needed repairs on the body of the building exeepting the town hall. This con- tract has been serupulously adhered to these forty. eight years, and the church and town occupy the edifice harmoniously within clearly-defined limits. The failing health of Mr. Jennison compelled his dis- mission, and after a voyage to Europe he settled in Ashburnham, Mass., and subsequently, from 1847 to 1849, at Hopkinton, N. H. His frequent ill-health at length compelled his retirement from pastoral ser- viee. He located as a farmer in Alstead, N. H., supplying for a time one of the churches in that town, and from 1852 to 1854 the church in the adjoining town of Langdon, N. H. He deceased several years since.

Mr. Jennison's successor at Mont Vernon, Rev. Bezaleel Smith, was installed here August 19, 1841. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1825, and had been previously settled at New Hampton, N. H., and at Rye, N. H. He labored in Mont Vernon nine years, closing his ministry here in 1850. He was a sound, but not brilliant preacher, cautious and discreet, a pastor who made no enemies. Slave-holders were by vote excluded from the pulpit and from the Lord's table, and thirty-two persons added to the church during his pastorate. He removed from here to Rox- bury, N. II., and after laboring there two years was called to the pastorate of the church in New Alstead, N. H., from thenee to the church at Hanover Centre, N. H. Some ten years since, the infirmity of old age compelled his retirement. He died some years since at Rutland, Vt.

Rev. Charles D. Herbert commenced preaching here July 5, 1850, and was installed November 6th. He is a native of Ellsworth, Me., and a graduate of Bowdoin. Coming here young and enthusiastic, he devoted himself with singleness of aim and Christian zeal to his work. His labors here exhibited him as a

kind, sympathetic and sincere friend, and earnest, consecrated man. Under his ministry, in 1851 and 1852, quite a number of young people in the Academy and outside attained the Christian's hope. The whole number added to the church during his ministry was fifty-five. He closed his labors here early in 1856, and was soon after settled over a church in West Newbury, Mass. After a ministry there of many years he qualified himself for the practice of medicine and labored in Rut- land, Mass., some years, both preaching and prac- ticing. Some years since, he was recalled to his former parish at West Newbury, and now is in the ministry there.

In the fall of 1856 the church extended a call to Rev. Charles E. Lord to its vacant pastorate, and his installation occurred late in that year. His people regarded his sermons as very well written. IIe quietly pursued the even tenor of his way until the summer of 1861, when he requested and received a dismission. He has since been in the ministry at Chester, Vt., and some years sinee was a professor in training-schools for clergymen in New York. He is a native of South Berwick, Me., and a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Early in 1862 the church invited Rev. George E. Sanborne to succeed Mr. Lord. He ministered to them about three and a half years, until the summer of 1865, when .he resigned to aeeept a call to North- borough, Mass. Mr. Lord is a native of Reading, Mass., and a graduate of Amherst College. He is now a resident of Hartford, Conn. The ministry of both Messrs. Lord and Sanborne was barren of noteworthy incident, and the numerical increase to the church slight. The Civil War was raging and publie atten- tion was concentrated upon it, to the exclusion of other interests. The clergymen of Mont Vernon, like most of their brethren during that eventful period, omitted no effort to set and keep the public opinion around them in what they deemed the right channel,-the prosecution of the war for the destruc- tion of slavery and the conquest of rebellion as the only basis for a reunited country. They sought, in and out of the pulpit, to stimulate the zeal and sustain the courage of their people. And the event has justified their patriotism as of the true quality. A peace, based on righteousness, was conquered.

In the summer of 1865, Rev. B. M. Frink, a native of Jackson, N. H., and a graduate of Bangor Semi- nary, began his ministry of two and one fourth years with this church, sundering the connection in 1867 to accept a call to Portland, Me. He is now set- tled at Shelburne Falls, Mass. Mr. Frink is a man of great vital force and activity and an engaging speaker.

Though his stay in Mont Vernon was brief, the fine, commodious parsonage is a memorial of his enterprise and energy. Early in 1866, appreciating the need of a parsonage and having faith in his

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

ability to secure the necessary means, he set on foot a subscription, and, with others inspired by his ener- getic spirit, collected, in a brief space, the requisite construction fund to erect the elegant structure which stands opposite the church and very near the site formerly occupied by it, from 1780 to 1837. These buildings, with the stable since added, cost nearly two thousand dollars.

Late in the winter of 1867-68, Rev. Seth H. Keeler, D.D., became the minister of the parish without pastoral charge. He continued preaching in Mont Vernon nearly eight years, closing his ministry late in September, 1875, when he removed to Somerville, Mass., where he has since resided. Though advanced in years when his service to this people commenced, he approved himself as an able, scholarly and faith- ful religious teacher. In 1873 and 1874 some forty persons united with the church as the result of special religious interest in the community. Dr. Keeler is a graduate of Middlebury College, and had previously been a pastor at Windsor, Vt., South Berwick, Me., and for many years at Calais, Me.

September 5, 1880, Dr. Keeler preached a cen- tennial sermon, the church having been organized in September, 1780.

In November, 1875, Rev. Wm. H. Woodwell was engaged to supply the pulpit for one year, with reference to permanent settlement, and his labors continued nearly four and one-half years, he deliver- ing his farewell discourse March 28, 1880. He is a native of Newburyport, Mass., and graduated at Bow- doin College. He is now in the ministry at Orient, Long Island, N. Y.

The church employed various candidates during the summer of 1880, and in October, Rev. Charles C. Car- penter accepted their invitation to settle with them, and began pastoral service November 1st, though his installation was deferred until July 1, 1881.

In the summer of 1883 he was attacked by an affec- tion of the throat, which threatened thesuspension of his ministerial work. By medical advice he sailed for Europe in September, in pursuit of relief. His ab- seuce covered a period of less than three months, and was passed wholly in Great Britain, of which he made a rapid but extensive tour. Returning much improved, he resumed his labors and continued them until the summer of 1885, when the condition of his health compelled a resignation of his pastorate, which was dissolved by a council July 28th, having had a dura- tion of four years and nine months.

He has removed his residence to Andover, Mass. Mr. Carpenter performed his work here with energy and fidelity, so diligently and thoroughly that the im- press will long abide. That one with such varied capacities for usefulness as a pastor and citizen, and who had so readily identified himself with the com- munity, should be abruptly withdrawn from it is an event that causes profound and universal regret.

Mr. Carpenter is an able preacher ; his sermons are

always original and Scriptural, and interest and edify. They are never encumbered with superfluous verbiage, but are simple and clear, concise and direct, with no lack of fit illustration. Rev. Charles C. Carpenter was born at Bernardston, Mass., July 9, 1836. His father was Dr. Elijah W. Carpenter, a physician of that town. Mr. Carpenter fitted for college at Willis- ton Seminary, Massachusetts, and at Kimball Union Academy, New Hampshire. Failure of health obliged him to forego a collegiate course. He studied the- ology at Andover, and was ordained to the ministry at Montreal in 1860.

He was in the service of the Canada Foreign Miss- ionary Society, principally at Caribou Island, Labrador, from 1858 to 1867. In 1866 he was appointed financial superintendent of Robert College, at Lookout Moun- tain, Tenn., where he remained until 1872. In 1875 he became pastor of a church at South Peabody, Mass., resigning, in 1880, to accept a call to a less arduous charge at Mont Vernon.

The honorary degree of A.M. was conferred on Mr. Carpenter by Hamilton College, New York.

The membership of the church is about one hun- dred and sixty-five. More than one-third of these are non-residents. The average attendance at Sabbath- services through the year 1884 was one hundred and fifty-one, and the average attendance at Sabbath school was ninety. The entire average amount raised and expended for support of church and purposes of Christian benevolence for the last five years has ex- ceeded one thousand dollars annually.

July 3, 1884, the new creed recommended by the National Council of Congregational Churches was adopted by this church.

From the formation of this church up to the min- istry of Dr. Keeler the uniform practice was to have two sermons at the church on the Sabbath. About 1870 the new usage was introduced, of only one preaching service, and that at half-past ten A.M., thus very materially lessening the labor of the clergyman.

The salary of the minister at the settlement of Mr. Jennison, in 1836, was fixed at five hundred dollars per annum. In 1850 it was advanced to six hun- dred dollars, and in 1856 to seven hundred dollars, which is the amount now paid, with free use of par- sonage.

VESTRY .- At the remodeling of the church, in 1837, a room was finished on the lower or ground- floor of the meeting-house for use as a vestry. In 1855, when furnaces were introduced to the church, this room was needed, and the second story of the school building, a few rods north of the church, which was used as an academy from 1850 to 1853, was ac- quired by the society, and appropriated as a vestry.

DEACONS .- Appended are the names of those who have served in the office of deacon from the forma- tion of the church, in the order of their appoint- ment,-Oliver Carlton, Nathaniel Heywood, Richard Ward, Daniel Smith, Jacob Kendall, John Carlton,

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MONT VERNON.

John Bruce, Josiah Kittredge, William Conant, Joseph A. Starrett, George E. Dean, William H. Conant.

There have gone out from this church ten preachers of the gospel, not all natives of the town, but mem- bers of this church, and entering the ministry from it. They are as follows :-

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 175

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168