History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 99

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

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cept the ladies' foot-stoves. In the very coldest weather worship was conducted in the pastor's kitchen. Before the settlement of Mr. Barnes as pastor, religious services were conducted by the min- isters of other parishes, particularly by Rev. William Houston, of Bedford, and Rev. Samuel Cotton, of Litchfield. They assisted in the organization of the first church, which was gathered October 12, 1769, said to be the tenth church formed within the present limits of Hillsborough County prior to 1841, the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement of the town. At the ordination of Mr. Barnes, Rev. Josiah Bridge preached the sermon.

Rev. Stephen Chapin followed Mr. Barnes, and as one extreme follows another quite frequently, it is so with heat and cold as regards the weather. He proved to be very unlike his predecessor. He was ordained June 18, 1805, with a stipulated yearly salary of four hundred dollars. You note the change. English money, in which Mr. Barnes' salary was stipulated, is followed by federal money in the case of Chapin. The sermon was preached by the distinguished divine, Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, D.D., of Franklin, Mas -. The selection of a minister to preach the sermon was an indication of the course Mr. Chapin would take. He was the orthodox of the orthodox. He was re- garded as very rigid in his belief, and sometimes preached so as to offend. It was, however, only what he regarded as vital truth. As he regarded Mr. Barnes as leaning too far towards the liberal side. he felt called upon to lean pretty strongly in the other direc-

I find the following town record of its vote in re- gard to the minister's support in Mr. Smith's annals. " Voted unanimously to fix the Rev. Mr. Barnes' salary That we will give him thirty pounds"-equivalent to one hundred and forty-five dollars and a few cents- "by way of settlement, thirty-five pounds a year for the | tion. His fidelity to what he regarded as the truth first four years,"-equivalent to-$169.40, -- " then forty of the Bible was the cause of his dismission in a little more than a year. He was young and inexperienced, full of zeal and a real desire to do good. The zeal of pounds a year, until there shall be seventy families in town ; and when there shall be seventy families, he is

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

the Lord's house ate him up. IIis farewell sermon, which was printed for distribution, was preached July 30, 1809. The reason for asking to have Mr. Chapin dismissed, as given by the committee of the church before the council, was, "Incapacity from want of health." He and his people had not become acquainted with each other, and great difficulties lay in the way of obtaining an intimate acquaintance. The people could not, or thought they could not, change from the genial ways of Mr. Barnes to the seeming severity of Mr. Chapin. There is not a doubt that Mr. Chapin was a thoroughly good man, and a better acquaint- ance between him and his people might have endeared him to them and secured his stay. The third pastor was another Chapin. If they could not keep the man, they would try the name again. Mr. Seth Chapin was called and ordained January 1, 1812, an unlucky year, the beginning of a war between the United States of America and Great Britain. The ordaining sermon was preached by Rev. Ephraim P. Bradford, of New Boston, the pastor of a Presbyterian Church. Rev. John M. Whiton, another Presbyterian, gave the right hand of fellowship.

Of this second Chapin little has come down to us. The people were too busy in attending to the state of the war to do much in the gospel line; so, after the war between the two belligerent powers was settled, they found time, on the 26th of June, 1816, to unsettle Mr. Chapin. He had become embarrassed with debt. While during war-time, usually, the people grow rich, the laborer gets higher wages, the producer higher prices, the man who depends upon a stated salary often gets less in amount paid than was promised, and the currency is inflated, while the price of every- thing he buys is doubled or nearly so. The writer knows whereof he affirms. Mr. Chapin's ministry, so far as appears on the record, was destitute of much fruit. He was a native of Mendon, Mass., an Andover graduate, and his wife a most estimable lady. The fourth pastor was not called until there had been an interregnum of pastors of three or four years, during which time the church "lived from hand to mouth." Licentiates from the seminaries came and went, among these Mr. Jonathan Magee. He was afterwards settled pastor, successively, in Brattleborough, Vt., Nashua and Francestown, and at the close acting pastor in Greenfield, over the Evan- gelical Church in that town. Mr. Magee supplied the church on the hill several months in 1818. The writer sat under his preaching seven years in Francestown, from 1844 to 1851. During a few months in 1851 he was supplying the Greenfield Church. He was by no means a brilliant preacher, but very gentlemanly and courteous in his manners. On the dismission of Rev. Seth Chapin, the town voted to discontinue the practice of hiring the min- ister and paying his salary. The salary after that | succeeded Mr. Lawton as the fifth pastor of the First time, 1816, was raised by voluntary contribution.

Next-to stay permanently-Rev. John Lawton

came with his family in January, 1820, moved there- to by his own will and judgment. He was in the full strength of ministerial life, just turned forty, was a graduate of Middlebury College, and had studied theology with settled clergymen of repute, as at that time was frequently the case, and had been ordained in Windham, Vt., in October, 1809. He was twice married, the last time to Miss Abigail, only daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Barnes, of Hillsborough. Mr. Lawton commenced preaching immediately on coming to town with his family,-he had supplied a few Sab- baths previously to their coming .-- and the next year he had gained such a hold of the hearts of the people that the church and society gave him a call to settle with them as their pastor. He accepted the call, and was installed the fourth pastor November 9, 1821. Rev. Joel Davis preached the sermon. Rev. J. M. Whiton, of Antrim, aided in the services; the rest of the names of helpers would be the names of strangers to Hillsborough people. Rev. Mr. Lawton, stayed until April 22, 1832, thirteen years, and at the end of that time asked for a dismission. He was at Hillsborough during the precious season of wide- spread revivals of religion, extending over New Hampshire and Vermont and elsewhere, which brought many thousands into the churches in comparatively a short time. At the time he asked a dismission the period of great revivals was past for that time, and a period of comparative coldness and indifference was taking the place of it in many churches once exceed- ingly active; the reaction told upon the ministry, and was the occasion of many vacant pulpits about that time, and changing of ministers. At one time Mr. Lawton admitted about seventy members into the church as the fruits of the revival of that one year, 1827. In these extensive revivals he had the help of Rev. Ira M. Mead, who acted as an evangelist, and proved to be very serviceable in assisting the pastor. After his dismission Mr. Lawton acted as home mis- sionary, and as he was only fifty-four, or nearly that, he was vigorous, after resting, in prosecuting new work. It is said that while out West-resting from his long-continued and hard labors during those years of revivals-he built a wind-mill for grinding pur- poses. The work was admirably done. Everything seemed to betoken success; all was completed, except that the brakes had not been put on. There coming up suddenly a good wind, desirous of ascertaining whether it would run all right, he let on the wind. It was a perfect success; it went and went, round and round, and as there were no brakes on to retard its motion or regulate it, its velocity constantly increased, and as the wind kept on blowing without any let up for hours, the friction was so great that it wore the mill out. In his next mill he would be likely to put on the brakes before starting it. Rev. Milton Ward Congregational Church in Hillsborough ; commenced preaching in April, 1834, and was ordained July 23d

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of the same year; sermon by Rev. Calvin Cutler, of Windham. Other familiar names are seen on the programme of exercises, such as Rev. Joseph Merrill, of Aeworth, a most eloquent man in the pulpit. The writer sat under his preaching while teaching during a college vacation in Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Mass. Mr. Merrill made the consecrating prayer. Rev. John M. Whiton, of Antrim, a regular helper on such occa- sions in Hillsborough, gave the charge to the pastor. Rev. Austin Richards-who began his ministerial life in Francestown in the freshness of youth, not without his trials, some of them life-long, and who closed his ministerial life there in the feebleness of age after a long absence, supplying the church a year while they were destitute of a pastor-gave the right hand of fellowship. Rev. Daniel Stowell, then of Goffs- town, a man of ability, over whom a cloud gathered in after-life, made the concluding prayer. Mr. Ward was dismissed by mutual council on account of a change of his belief respecting "the nature and con- stitution of the Christian Church." He became after his dismission an Episcopalian clergyman. Before he preached at all he was a physician, a graduate of the medical college at Hanover in 1829.

Rev. Seth Farnsworth next appears on the list as the sixth pastor at the Centre. He came in 1835, and supplied the pulpit one year, when he received and accepted a call to settle over the church and society. He was installed over the Hillsborough Congrega- tional Church November 23, 1836. It was an occasion of great rejoicing at Hillsborough Bridge, inasmuch as a church building had just been completed in that village, and was to be dedicated the day of the in- stallation. A large council and concourse of people came together to attend the double ceremony,-an in- stallation and a dedication. There were to be two sermons,-the installation sermon, by Rev. J. M. Whiton; the dedicatory sermon, by the new pastor, Rev. Seth Farnsworth, the silver-tongued pulpit ora- tor, in the estimation of his new charge. Rev. Archi- bald Burgess, of Hancock,-a giant in those days, physically and mentally, among his brother ministers, -had an important part, the charge to the pastor. " It was a day of triumph " at Hillsborough Bridge, never to be forgotten, to be told to children's children. The council informally advised that Mr. Farnsworth should make his home at the Bridge village, though there was no parsonage and it was difficult to rent a suitable house. He secured the house now owned and occupied by Ammi Smith, and I have been told often of the delightful prayer-meetings held in his cham- ber-study by him and a few praying men, one of whom would, of course, be Deacon Samuel Morrison. His labors during the winter following his installa- tion were abundant "in season and out of season." He supplied the two pulpits, on the hill and at the Bridge, on alternate Sabbaths. He had inspired the people with great love and confidence in himself, when, mysteriously to all, in four months from the

time of his becoming pastor by the laying on of hands, he was removed by death, March 26, 1837, and was buried with great lamentations in the old bury- ing-ground just back of Dr. Burnham's. He died in the freshness of his ministerial life, and almost before the holy oil of consecration at the Bridge was dry upon his brow. The memory of the good shall live. The name of Rev. Seth Farnsworth still lingers with affection in the hearts and memories of those who knew him, especially at Hillsborough Bridge. He was the first to occupy the new church. He was in- stalled in it over the Hillsborough Congregational Church. He preached the dedication sermon at the consecration of the new building. He was the first minister who made his home at the Bridge village. When he was installed he was in full health and strength, and in the freshness of early manhood. He was born in Charlestown (No. 4), in New Hampshire, June 14, 1795, so that when he came to Hillsborough he was but forty years of age, and only forty-one when he was installed. He died before his forty- seventh birth-day. He was brought up to believe that all, irrespectively, would be saved. After a long struggle he gave up those doctrines as erroneous, and became, it was believed, a truly converted man. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1822, and ranked fair as a scholar. He studied theology under the direction of President Tyler, of Dartmouth College, was licensed, and preached at first for the Vermont Missionary Society. He preached in various places be- fore coming to Hillsborough. He was an earnest and efficient worker, a zealous and faithful preacher of the gospel and a successful winner of souls. The dis- ease of which he died was called "a lung fever." According to the account given concerning him, both as placed on record in "Smith's Annals " and in the reports of his associates in the church,-elderly peo- ple who were visitors at the sick-bed, -he died in the full triumphs of the gospel faith. To his wife he said just before his death, "I have been swimming, swim- ming, yea, I have been swimming in an ocean of bliss." For his people he sent a message by the min- ister who was to preach, to " receive with meekness the ingrafted Word, which is able to save their souls, and that they be doers of the Word and not hearers only."

Mr. Farnsworth was followed by Rev. Samuel G. Ten- ney as the seventh pastor of the Hillsborough Church. The installation sermon was preached by Rev. Na- thaniel Bouton, of Concord, July 4, 1838. The next spring a new Congregational Church was formed, an offshoot from the First Church by letter, at Hillsbor- ough Bridge, and was called the Hillsborough Bridge Congregational Church. Mr. Tenney was retained at the Bridge. No mention is made in the records of an installation. The deacons were Davison Russell, who lived at the Upper village ; Samuel Morrison, who lived just over the line in Henniker; Tristram Sawyer, who lived one mile west of the

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Bridge; and Frederick W. Symonds, who lived on Bible Hill. Mr. Tenney was a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1823, and studied theology with Rev. Wal- ter Chapin, of Woodstock, Vt. He remained at the Bridge about four years. He was succeeded by Rev. Jacob Cummings, who was installed pastor at the Bridge November 15, 1843. He remained pastor in charge until May, 1857, when he withdrew without formal dismission from the church as pastor. He re- moved and died in 1866, aged seventy-three.

Mr. Cummings was followed in 1857 by Mr. Harry Brickett, a licentiate of the Manchester Association of Congregational Ministers in July, 1854. He was born in Newbury, Vt., February 1, 1818, and gradu- ated at Dartmouth College in 1840. After graduating he taught two years in the academy in Jaffrey, at the same time studying medicine with Dr. Luke Howe, of Jaffrey, and afterwards with the medical faculty at Hanover,-Drs. Peaslee and Crosby. He was ap- pointed assistant demonstrator of anatomy and was also in charge of the class in dissection. He attended two full courses of lectures at Dartmouth Medical Col- lege. He went to Francestown into the academy for one term, to finish the year for a friend, and after that term stayed seven years longer as principal, and mar- ried, August 18, 1846, Miss Eliza C., a daughter of Captain Joseph Cutter, of Jaffrey. He was principal of the Brown (Latin) High School, in Newburyport, from 1851 to 1853, and of the Merrimack Normal Institute, founded by Professor William Russell, at Reed's Ferry, Merrimack. He was invited to come to Hillsborough in the winter of 1857, preached a few Sabbaths, and came to stay permanently in May, 1857. He received ordination, declining installation, in the First Congregational Church in Manchester, Rev. Cyrus W. Walton then pastor, as an evangelist without charge, Jannary 28, 1858. He remained in Hillsborough as acting pastor-made so by vote of the church in 1858-until April, 1865, a period of eight years. The church prospered under his minis- try,-nearly as many as were in the church as mem- bers in January, 1858, at the time of his ordination, were added to it while he was their minister, from 1857 to 1865.

Rev. Stephen Morrill followed, coming in May, 1865. Mr. Brickett preached his farewell sermon in the forenoon from the text " Let brotherly love con- tinue ; " and Mr. Morrill his first sermon in the P. M. of the same day. Mr. Morrill stayed as acting pastor. During his ministry the meeting-house was moved from its location in the field to the Main Street, in the village. The people took sides, some for and some against the project, in regard to moving it, and some were offended, and Mr. Morrill did not escape censure. After resting on their oars after the dismission of Mr. Morrill at his request, the church called Rev. Henry B. Underwood, January 24, 1871; he accepted the call February 2d, and was duly installed March 7, 1871. July 7, 1872, he resigned, "for want, as he assigned,

of unanimity in the church," and was dismissed by advice of council July 16th of the same year. Dur- ing the time he remained at the Bridge there was quite a religions interest and a few conversions. Among these conversions was Ammi Smith, an aged resident at the Bridge. Mr. Underwood was suc- ceeded by Rev. John Bragdon, who came in the spring of 1873, and continued till near the close of 1875. Mr. Bragdon was an earnest worker in the Young Men's Christian Association, and he was skill- ful in managing young boys and gaining their affec- tion. The desk being again vacant, Rev. Harry Brickett was recalled, after an absence of almost eleven years, at the commencement of 1876, which call he accepted. He preached his first sermon the second Sabbath in January, 1876. He remained about six years, until August, 1881, when he resigned the desk to take effect the 1st of September. Mr. Brickett officiated in all fourteen years. Rev. Abram J. Quick succeeded Mr. Brickett as acting pastor of the church, commencing November 6, 1881. He closed his labors July 29, 1883.

The present minister is Roderick J. Mooney, born in Dublin, Ireland, February 17, 1853, where he re- ceived a liberal education at the Dublin University. He received an invitation to preach at the Bridge, and came in the autumn of 1884. He is the only Congregational minister in town supplying at the Centre as well as at the Bridge. He has received a call to settle as pastor over the Hillsborough Bridge Congregational Church. The ontlook for success is good ; we wish him great success.

We will now go back to the original church at Hillsborough Centre, which we left destitute of a pastor in 1839. On the assignment of Rev. Samuel Gihan Tenney to the service of the church at the Bridge, Rev. George W. Adams was called to be pastor of the Centre Congregational Church March 26, 1840. He was installed October 21st of the same year, and dismissed January 17, 1844. Rev. S. Tol- man supplied the pulpit during the summer of 1844. Rev. Elihu Thayer Rowe was called February 10, 1845, ordained May 28th of the same year, and dis- missed, on account of ill health, November 30, 1847. Mr. Rowe was a man of great excellence of char- acter and strength of mind. He was a classmate of the writer in college, and from a long and intimate acquaintance he knows whereof he affirms. His memory among the people on the hill will long be cherished.

Rev. Robert Page was acting pastor on the hill from 1847 to 1851. He was an experienced and judi- cions man. Rev. Mr. Durgin, familiarly called, from the color of his face, caused by iodine pills, the "blue man," supplied from 1851 to 1853. Rev. Samuel H. Partridge was called May 1, 1853, ordained May 10th in the same year and dismissed April 16, 1857. Mr. Partridge was a man with the fewest possible faults.

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Rev. R. S. Dennis was acting pastor over Hills- borough Centre Church, which name it assumed on the formation of the new church at Hillsborough Bridge, from May, 1857, to May, 1859. He was a man sound in the faith, from Connecticut, and about sixty years of age. After his ministry there was a disagreement among the people forming the society, and some were anxious to secure a Methodist preacher. The result was that students from the Me- thodist Biblical Institute, then located in Concord, were employed during the succeeding two years. Promi- nent among these was Mr. Hatfield, a student of great strength and presence of mind, a good scholar and a pleasing and eloquent preacher. There was quite an interest excited on the hill on the subject of religion and several hopeful conversions, the interest reaching out into the regions beyond the hill. It was learned by the Congregational Church that its hold upon the people was losing ground. The new converts were formed by Mr. Hatfield into classes for instruction and preparation, to be received into the Methodist Society, at least, it was so understood. An effort was made to transfer the control of the church and society to a body of independent men, having no relation to the Congregationalists or responsibility to them, by vote of the pew-holders. This failed to be carried out, and a new church building was built in the interest of the Methodist Society. Much bitter- ness of feeling for the time was excited by this sepa- ration. The breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, in 1861, tended to widen the separation and deepen for the time the feeling. At this juncture of affairs Rev. John Adams, a wise and judicious man, of deep piety and great prudence, was called to take the helm. He was just the man for the place. In- telligent, wise, brave-hearted, true to the Union, he came and brought, by his wise counsel and action, peace to the troubled waters. The church prospered under his ministry, which continued from January 1, 1861, till his death, May 18, 1879. He was assisted during his sickness by Hervey Chapman, a licentiate, a young man of great zeal in the Lord's house.

After the death of Mr. Adams, licentiates from the Theological Seminaries and others served for short periods of time each, as Robert True, licentiate, through the summer of 1879.

Rev. Samuel W. Barnum, licentiate, supplied four weeks in the fall of 1879.

David Judson Ogden, licentiate, supplied five months euding April, 1880.

Rev. Augustus Alvord was acting pastor one year from May 1, 1880.

Rev. Harry Brickett, acting-pastor at Hillsborough Bridge, supplied three months in the spring and sum- mer of 1881.

Rev. Aaron B. Piffers was acting pastor from Au- gust, 1881, to June 1884.

Rodney Cochrane supplied several weeks in the summer of 1884.

Rev. Roderick J. Mooney became acting pastor September 19, 1884.

Methodist Episcopal Church .- This branch of the Lord's sacramental host has had a home in Hillsborough County for about half a century, and has done good work in saving souls. There are two societies and two church buildings, - one at Hills- borough Bridge and one at the Centre, with a good parsonage at the latter place. Owing to the itiner- ancy system, of course a large number of men have occupied the desks of the two parishes. The writer of this article had the personal acquaintance and bro- therly intercourse with the men who filled the office of minister during fourteen years, from 1857 to 1865 and from 1876 to 1882, and he gladly bears testimony to the personal piety and excellence of the incum- bents. They were, as a rule, men who were earnest in their labors for the good of the people.

The place of meeting at the Bridge formerly was at the extreme edge of the same large field that con- tained the Congregational Church, out of the village, on the road leading from the Bridge to the Centre ; but about a quarter of a century ago it was brought down and located in the heart of the village, followed, a few years later, by the Congregational Church to the same street. The church at the Centre was built near the beginning of the War of the Rebellion, and it is possible that disatlection with the Congregational Church among its own supporters may have had something to do with its erection. It seemed a pity that there should be a division at the Centre, as really the people are burdened to support two ministers.

As a rule, the two churches on the hill have wor- shiped side by side in peace, if not always with bro- therly love. It is sometimes difficult to forget the causes of the separation, or of the attempt to secure, by a majority of votes, the church building of the old church for the occupancy of the new. The genera- tion that were the actors in the matter are most of them with the departed, and the newer generation are coming up with the most kindly feelings, forgetting the old feud that sometimes embittered the feelings of the former. About a quarter of a century ago the Methodist Biblical Institute, at Concord, was in full operation, and the students ably supplied the desks. Among these Mr. Hatfield, at the Centre, was the most noted there, and William Van Benschoten at the Bridge. Others ranked high as men of talent. At the Bridge the name of Rev. Mr. Prescott is frequently mentioned as an able minister. Later, Rev. John A. Bowler, who remained three years at the Centre and at the Bridge, proved himself to be a man adapted to the place. The town showed their appreciation of his abilities and worth by giving him the superin- tendency of the schools-a work for which he was prepared and adapted, as he stood himself at the head of the profession as a teacher before he began to preach. The Methodist Church at the Bridge is in a prosperous condition, and is increasing in numbers

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 99

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