USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Lebanon > History of Lebanon, N.H., 1761-1887 > Part 37
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
was installed as pastor and continued in that office till March 12, 1862. On February 3, 1863, Mr. John H. Edwards was ordained and installed pastor. He served the church faithfully for nearly eight years and was dismissed in 1871, January 12. Rev. A. B. Rich, D. D., was installed pastor May 17, 1871, and continued in service till May 18, 1880. Rev. T. C. Pease was called to the pastorate and served the church from September, 1880, to Decem- ber 2, 1884. Rev. C. E. Havens was the next pastor. His term of service was from October 20, 1885, to October 25, 1893. The present pastor, Rev. C. Fremont Roper, was inducted into office April 17, 1894. The deacons who have served the church are Samuel Wood, 2d, chosen December 27, 1849 ; David Richardson, chosen December 27, 1849 ; Nathan B. Stearns, elected December 27, 1849; Charles H. Dana, January 3, 1868; Horace French, July 6, 1878; Leonard A. Estabrook, July 6, 1878. The four last named are now in active service. Since the church's organ- ization 478 have been received to its membership, of whom 170 are now members. During the history of nearly half a century the church has had six pastors, all unanimously called and dis- missed in peace.
Thus the church has had a degree of harmony, peace and fruit- fulness such as is enjoyed by few throughout their history.
(REV.) C. FREMONT ROPER.
West Lebanon, N. H., August 1, 1895.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
Men and women connected with Baptist churches, near and remote, were not wanting in Lebanon during the first half of the 19th century. They appear to have gradually increased in numbers. The nearest Baptist churches were at Hanover Mill Village (now Etna) and at East Plainfield, the latter becoming extinct or merging with the Meriden church near the middle of the century. There was a Free Will Baptist Church on Metho- dist Hill, in Enfield, but near where Enfield, Plainfield and Leb- anon corner, together owning a union meeting-house, with the Methodists. This house, long in disuse, was only removed in 1906. That at East Plainfield disappeared in the 60's. The families which maintained both nearly all moved away, some to
BAPTIST CHURCH.
-
419
CHURCHES OF THE TOWN.
Lebanon. Churches, like schools, drifted to the business centers, and the advent of railroads changed business centers. The sixth decade found Baptists numerous and increasing in the village. Nearly all were men and women of deep and earnest piety. They allied themselves in Christian work and worship with the Con- gregational and Methodist churches, and were helpful in the re- ligious, Sunday school, and social work of those congregations. They greatly endeared themselves by godly lives to the member- ship of those churches and became greatly attached to them in turn. It was natural that the members of those churches were loathe to part with so helpful an element and slow to recognize the necessity for a separate interest. Baptists in those days more than now, by their views as to baptism and the Lord's supper, so called, were self-deprived of privileges which they greatly de- sired. They occasionally absented themselves from their accus- tomed place of worship, and went singly, by twos or threes, and sometimes a two-horse load, to Meriden or Mill Village on Com- munion Day. Naturally their hearts burned within them all the way with a desire for a church to their liking. They believed they could be more useful therewith. They at length began to think that the prospective growth of the center village warranted the establishment of another church. These were conscientious, devout, earnest, practical, large-hearted Christian men and women. Every light that can be turned on their lives attests it. Every trip to a neighboring church intensified the feeling.
Into this circle of believers, in the autumn of 1860, came one who was to prove the magnet to draw them together, the center around which they could rally, a leader who was to impart to them his own abiding, unquestioning faith, his indomitable courage and his exalted ideas of the duty of generous giving for the cause of Christ. That leader and magnet was Rev. Sumner Hale. He had the very best of helpers in his wife, Hannah T. Hale. He was a graduate of Waterville College and of Newton Theological School. A chronic throat trouble hindered his use- fulness as a preacher, and regarding it as providential, he turned to his trade, that of a scythe finisher, at which he was very skill- ful, devoting most of his savings to religious purposes. He was following his trade at Fitchburg, Mass., when the firm of Emer- son and Cummings, scythe-makers, heard of him and sent one of
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
the firm, Mr. Joseph Cummings, a Baptist, to induce him to enter its service. It was not until he had made careful inquiry into the religious conditions in Lebanon, and saw that here was a coveted opportunity, that he was induced to change his resi- dence. In a few weeks he had made the personal acquaintance of every person of known Baptist proclivities in town, and had them assembled for prayer, praise and consultation. The first meeting was held at the house of Joseph Cummings, in Decem- ber, 1860. Present, Rev. Sumner Hale, Mrs. Hannah T. Hale, Joseph Cummings, Mrs. Chloe H. Cummings, Charles V. Cobb, Mrs. Betsey A. Cobb, Asa Chase and Gilman C. Whipple. Meetings were held Tuesday evenings during the winter, with steadily increased interest. The following spring a paper was drawn up binding the signers to certain duties, with reference to a prospective formation of a church. It was signed by 24 per- sons, some of whom left town before the project matured, while others came and signed it. No public meetings were held for want of a suitable place. All continued helpful in the other churches. This broad-minded spirit yielded rich fruit after- ward in the cordial feeling of the other churches. The
civil war hindered for awhile. Early in 1862 it was decided to erect a chapel, and a society was organized under the statutes. A committee was appointed consisting of Thomas E. Hough, Joseph Cummings and Charles V. Cobb, to purchase a lot, raise funds and receive proposals. A lot was purchased on Green Street. It was the lot on one-half of which the house of William B. Cole now stands, the other half still open as a lawn. The house next west (the Foster house) was used as a parsonage till 1874. The first five pastors lived there. The sixth owned a house when called, and the parsonage was disposed of.
It was never owned by the society, but was held by the owner, Mr. J. H. Purmort, at the disposition of the society as long as wanted. Mrs. Purmort was an original member, and he came early into the church, from the Free Will Baptist Church on Methodist Hill. He was the heaviest contributor to the cost of the house of worship, and the largest payer towards ordinary expenses. Quite a proportion of the members had indeed been Free Will Baptists.
The contract was given to Mead, Mason & Co., and by August
ELIAS H. CHENEY.
GILMAN C. WHIPPLE.
421
CHURCHES OF THE TOWN.
the building was completed. A church was organized at the house of C. V. Cobb on the evening of the 27th of August. Charles V. Cobb and Thomas E. Hough were elected deacons and Sumner Hale clerk. "The New Hampshire Articles of Faith" were adopted and the form of covenant was copied from that of the First Baptist Church in Lawrence, Mass., from which some of the members had come. In the forenoon of August 29th the house was dedicated. Rev. Foster Henry of Fitchburg, Mass., from whose church Mr. and Mrs. Hale had come, preached the sermon. Pastors of nearby Baptist churches and of the Congre- gational and Methodist local churches took part in the inter- esting exercises. On the afternoon of the same day the church was duly recognized as a Baptist church by a council called for that purpose. The recognition sermon was by Rev. F. E. Cum- mings, D. D., of Concord.
The persons who entered into this church relation at that time were: Clement Hough and his wife, Theoda Hough, Asa Chase and his wife, Dorothy Currier Chase, Rev. Sumner Hale and his wife, Hannah T. Hale, Charles V. Cobb and his wife, Betsey A. Cobb, Thomas E. Hough and his wife, Ellen Hough, Edwin W. Hough and his wife, Martha D. Hough, John C. Worth and his wife, Mary Worth, Elias H. Cheney and his wife, Susan W. Cheney. These united heads of families, and besides, Cyrus Heath, Gilman C. Whipple, Mrs. Jennie Smith Davis, Mrs. Ara- bella Thompson, William D. Bryant, Mrs. Marcia J. Purmort, Mrs. Hannah Andrews, Mrs. Harriet N. Cushman, Miss Melissa Wright-26 in all.
The following Sunday, August 31, the chapel was opened for public worship, Rev. E. E. Cummings, D. D., occupying the pul- pit. The congregations were large, that of the afternoon over- taxing the chapel. A Sunday school was organized at noon, with Rev. John McKinlay as superintendent. The evening was given to a social, religious, testimony service, in which a large number took part. This was followed by a general hand-shaking and heart-shaking. It was a day of intense interest to the little band.
The pulpit was supplied by neighboring preachers until Octo- ber 12th, when Mr. John McKinlay of Lawrence, Mass., came as a candidate. He preached two Sabbaths, gave perfect satisfac-
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
tion, received a unanimous call, accepted, and immediately en- tered on his duties. On Saturday, November 6, 1862, by a coun- cil duly called for the purpose, Mr. Mckinlay after the usual examination, was publicly set apart to the work of the Christian ministry, and recognized as pastor of the church. The sermon on that occasion was by Rev. H. F. Lane of Boston. Mckinlay was a native of Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, a skillful pattern designer, and came to this country, with his wife, née Miss Jean Russell, in 1854. He immediately found lucrative employment in the Pacific Mills at Lawrence. Soon after he and his wife became interested in personal religion, found con- genial spirits in the First Baptist Church in Lawrence, and united with it. It soon became evident that he was meant for a higher sphere. He was encouraged to abandon his lucrative em- ployment, spend all his accumulations and more in preparation for the pulpit, anl enter the ministry. He gave two years to study at the Baptist Theological School then existing at Fairfax, Vt., and one year at Andover, Mass., and was ready for duty, providentially, as he and those who called him believed, when the church in Lebanon was organized. He was a man of great strength of character, thoroughly consecrated to the work he espoused. He immediately took a high stand among the clergy of the vicinity.
The history of his ministry of six years is one of uninter- rupted church prosperity. The church more than doubled in numbers, 39 members being added. He came at last to feel that perhaps the church and himself would be benefited by a change, and with this in view preached during his vacation one Sabbath at Adams, N. Y. He was simply tired, and unaware that a fatal disease lurked within him. Coming from his room the morning of the second Sabbath at Adams, manuscript in hand and the congregation assembled, his host noticed a deathly paleness on his face and dissuaded him from entering the church. He went to bed instead, lingered, suffering, during the day, and expired without a struggle just at the hour of evening service Septem- ber 20, 1868. The news was a shock to the community, pro- ducing the widest sympathy. His remains tenderly prepared, were brought here in charge of Rev. F. E. Osborne, who preached the funeral sermon in the Congregational Church, courteously
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH AND PARSONAGE.
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CHURCHES OF THE TOWN.
tendered for the purpose, in view of the limited capacity of the chapel. Business was generally suspended and a large congre- gation assembled to do him honor and express sympathy. The . remains were committed to dust in the village cemetery with solemn ceremony, in the presence of many witnesses. Mr. Os- borne remained and occupied the pulpit the following Sabbath. Ministers of several denominations from the surrounding churches, and professors at Dartmouth and New London supplied the pulpit for about three months, the salary being continued to Mrs. McKinlay.
With the beginning of 1869, Rev. C. E. Cummings, D. D., came as acting pastor. Dr. Cummings was a father in the Bap- tist Israel, of long and distinguished service as pastor, his last two charges being in Concord. He was distinctly the founder of the Pleasant Street Church in Concord, as was Mr. Hale of that in Lebanon. From its inception he had been a trusted ad- viser of the latter. He had just resigned as pastor at Concord, on account of age and the severe duties required in a church of that size, but with singular fitness for such an opening. During his short ministry the present church edifice was erected at a cost of about $12,000, of which $7,000 was raised at home, $1,000 contributed abroad, and a debt of nearly $4,000 was left. The project had gone so far before Mr. Mckinlay left as to se- cure a lot, though a change of lot was afterwards made. A building committee consisting of Charles V. Cobb, Asa Chase, Asa W. Richardson, Jasper H. Purmort, and Henry B. Hough was appointed September 15th, only five days before the pas- tor's decease, and in his absence. Work began in the early spring, but the first plan adopted proving unsatisfactory to many, was suspended to examine other plans, and the present house was the result. Mead, Mason & Co. had the job as before. Considerable of the cost went into the trusses which support the roof, made strong enough to admit of taking out the partition which separates the vestry, should it be necessary, without addi- tional support. Hon. A. M. Shaw, the well-known Lebanon railroad man, said he would dare run a railway train over them.
The unexpected cost was in the thoroughness with which the work was done. The end of the year saw the structure com- pleted. It is a singular fact that the man, Nathan F. Tilden,
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
who was destined afterwards to be 25 years pastor of the church, began his work in Lebanon, having just moved here, by digging · the trenches for its foundation, and labored upon it in one ca- pacity or another till it was completed.
The little chapel saw its last congregation assembled for wor- ship on the 19th day of December, 1879, and the new structure was dedicated on the 31st. Dr. Cummings preached the sermon. Appropriate service was also held in the evening, the sermon being by Rev. Foster Henry. The little chapel was sold to the Lebanon High School Association, the precursor of the present high school, and for a year or two was used for school purposes, then sold and moved to Elm Street, where it serves as a tenement house. It was in this building that Commander Harry H. Hos- ley, U. S. Navy, who so successfully towed the great floating dock to Manila, began his academic course.
Dr. Cummings had no sooner seen the new house completed and everything going smoothly in it, than he himself initiated the movement to release him and settle a pastor. With this end in view, in August, 1870, he invited a man to occupy the pulpit whom he thought most suitable and the people likely to appre- ciate, Rev. Jirah Tucker of Randolph, Vt. And they did. When Dr. Cummings resigned, two months later, taking a leave which was most affectionate, mutually, the church knew whom it wanted. The call was unanimous again, was accepted, and the church once more started out with bright hopes, save for the shadow which the debt left. The burden was made heavier for that the State Convention, which had appropriated $100 a year to this interest, withdrew its support, on the plea that a congre- gation which could build such a house ought to take care of it- self. The blow was very severely felt and increased the difficult task of paying the debt. Mr. Tucker was a charming person- ality, a gifted pulpit orator and consecrated to his work. He excelled as a reader of hymns, reading so as to compel the sing- ing, "with the spirit and understanding." But he was in deli- cate health, more than he or anybody dreamed, and after preach- ing ten Sabbaths, with great effort, he was obliged to rest. Re- suming his pulpit the first Sunday in January, 1871, he found himself completely exhausted at the close of the service. He went West, among friends, hoping to regain health, but grew
425
CHURCHES OF THE TOWN.
rapidly worse, and breathed his last at Upper Alton, Ill., April 24, 1871. Again the church was thrown into the deepest grief. But the emergency afforded another opportunity to exemplify the spirit of Christian courtesy which has marked Lebanon churches. The Congregational Church was repairing and alter- ing its house of worship, and the church with the sick pastor invited the Congregational pastor, Rev. C. A. Downs, to occupy its pulpit, and the congregation to worship with itself. It was done, to mutual edification and advantage; and again the salary went to the distressed and bereaved widow.
The fourth pastor was Rev. Horace F. Barnes, a native of Newark, N. J., and a graduate of Amherst and of Newton. He had fulfilled a successful pastorate at Buffalo and might easily have coveted the larger city church and salary. He chose the humbler field because he found a flock which more nearly seemed to meet his ideals. His, too, was a charming personality. He was an excellent pulpit orator. He attacked the debt, put his whole soul into an effort to pay it, and he succeeded. But it was at the cost of so crippling the church's ability to raise money for ordinary expenses, coupled with the death of one liberal giver and the removal of others, with the abandonment of the enter- prise by the State Convention, that it became impossible to raise his salary, and having a flattering call elsewhere, he accepted it. He resigned February 1, 1874. He carried with him ever after the warmest affection of the membership. He had a successful pastorate at Winchester, Mass., and was for a long time in mis- sion work in and near New York. A large part of his useful life was spent as assistant pastor of the Tremont Temple Church in Boston, from which service he was summoned to the church above a few years ago.
The church was paying a debt, it is well to note, incurred when gold was still at a premium of about thirty, and prices propor- tionately high, and the country on the swimming tide of the prosperity which inflation engenders-paying it with gold back nearly though not quite at par and the country almost in a panic, in the effort to resume specie payment. Dollars were harder to get now. Many a church got caught that way.
The debt was paid none too soon. In a few years the church had lost by death two of its heaviest financial supporters, and
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
three more by removal. The five were bearing nearly half the yearly expenses, and they had paid nearly half the debt.
Sunday, September 18, 1872, Rev. Mr. Barnes preached an historical discourse, covering the first ten years of the church history. This has been preserved. Mrs. Barnes has kindly for- warded it as a possible aid in the preparation of this history, and it has been found of great value. It is to be preserved.
Rev. J. H. Gannett was next called, and accepted at the salary which the church thought it could raise. He was an excellent minister, who had done good work elsewhere and who did good work to the end of his life. But conditions had greatly changed in Lebanon and in the church now. It was passing through a period of adversity, which tried its faith to the uttermost. Rev. Sumner Hale left, carrying the unbounded love of those to whom he had been so long as "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." He retired from active labor, ending his ability to give; had given himself poor, and settled in Camden, N. J., where a few years later he died-died poor in worldly goods but rich in faith. Other liberal givers also left. It was the ebb of the tide, even if disaster had not overtaken the town, in the failure of the Sturtevant Manufacturing Co. That crippled all the churches. It seemed as if the little Baptist Church would have to close its doors. Again the pastor had to leave because it became impos- sible to raise the money to pay his salary. And pastors must live. Mr. Gannett read his resignation, December 12, 1875. The church parted with him unwillingly and its love followed him to the end of his life.
It had, however, among its numbers, a preacher, Nathan F. ' Tilden, of no mean ability, whom it had itself licensed to preach, and who had filled its own pulpit and many others in emergen- cies, that at Etna and the Lebanon Congregational Church among others. He was a native of Boston and educated in her schools, but without the advantages of theological training. He was now a measurer of lumber for the company that went into bankruptcy. He was thrown out of work. He owned a house and wanted to stay. He loved to preach and people loved to hear him. The church asked him to supply, and he did, taking what it could pay, and it paid as liberally in proportion to its ability as ever. He gave to Bible study now the hours he had
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CHURCHES OF THE TOWN.
been wont to give to business, and rapidly developed into a man fit to set apart for the ministry. The church finally settled and ordained him. There was not a dissenting voice in the council, though the examination was unusually critical. It grew not of any disposition to be severe, but from the love the pastors had to hear him talk.
He was ordained June 22, 1876, Rev. Dr. Lorimer, the noted Tremont Temple pastor of Boston, preaching the ordaining ser- mon. He continued in the pastorate 25 years, and under his ministry the church gradually recovered somewhat of its stand- ing. At the end of fifteen years he had a unanimous call to the New London church, where he had often preached on exchange. The students especially were glad to hear him. But his church simply would not let him go. He afterwards held pastorates in Warner, N. H., and Fiskdale, Mass. He is now settled at Bald- winsville, Mass.
During his pastorate various church improvements were car- ried out. The church was made glad by the presentation to it of a very excellent pipe organ, by one of its members, Mr. A. W. Shapleigh. The audience room was frescoed and otherwise im- proved, and a new carpet was provided. Previous to his call to preach, Mr. Tilden had won the favor of the whole community by his remarkable efficiency as president of the Y. M. C. A.
Mr. Tilden was followed in 1900 by Rev. W. L. Stone, in a three years' pastorate, during which also the church recovered somewhat of its lost ground-lost almost wholly by the removal of members and most liberal givers. The audience room was renovated again, and a commodious kitchen and parlor were added and furnished, free of debt. He was finally recalled by the church in Sterling, Mass., whose pastorate he resigned to come to Lebanon, and is preaching there at this writing, 1907.
During Mr. Stone's pastorate, September 18, 1900, the morn- ing hour of worship was devoted to an impressive service, com- memorative of the life and work of Mr. Mckinlay, 32 years af- ter his decease. Papers were read by Gilman C. Whipple, E. H. Cheney and Mrs. Mary Emerson Pike. Tender words fell from the lips of Mrs. McKinlay, whose presence in town after long absence suggested the service. During much of the intervening
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HISTORY OF LEBANON.
time she had made herself exceedingly useful as matron of a mis- sionary children's home at Newton Center, Mass.
The present pastor, Rev. Frank L. Knapp, came to the church in 1904, from an eight years' pastorate in Milford. Under his ministry the church pursues the even tenor of its way, meeting its liabilities perhaps more easily than ever. If it is not showing marked growth, it is to be remembered that the principal growth of the village has been Roman Catholic, for a long term of years, by the coming in of large numbers of people of that faith, with whom, since they own the same Master, it has no quarrel, but is rather content to live in peace.
The church has united at various times with other Protestant denominations in union services of various kinds, within doors in winter, and out of doors in summer, the latter in recent years. In some of these services, illustrating the better spirit now pre- vailing than once was wont, the Catholic pastor and congrega- tion have been kindly commended to the common Father's loving care.
The church has had five deacons only, viz. : Charles V. Cobb, Thomas E. Hough, Gilman C. Whipple, Charles B. Ross, and David W. Aldrich. The two original deacons both removed from town, nearly simultaneously in the 70's, and Deacon Cobb died in 1884. His remains were brought here for burial. Dea- con Hough has recently returned to town, but is too feeble for active service. Mr. Whipple was made deacon in 1875, after Asa W. Richardson, who soon after died, had declined an election. Mr. Ross has served since 1895 and Mr. Aldrich since 1900.
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