USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Newfields > History of Newfields, New Hampshire, 1638-1911 > Part 21
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On June 26, 30, and December 13, 1772, Mr. Moody bought of the heirs of Edward Hall the real estate of said Edward Hall, and sold Moses Burley, July 21, 1778, for 30 dollars, one acre of marsh. The deed was witnessed by his second wife, Elizabeth Moody.
By the year 1777 Rev. John Moody had become an enfeebled old man. Difficulties in raising his salary had existed for a score of years. Most of his church and congregation of a former generation had died, and many of those who remained had with- drawn from communion, and for the last five years sought a Presbyterian connection under Rev. Nathaniel Ewer at the Plains. Partial attempts on the part of Mr. Moody and of the parish to call a council for advice had failed. A committee of 18 persons were appointed April 28, 1777, to represent to Mr. Moody the disaffection of the people and to request his resignation of the pastoral relation. This committee organized by choosing Col. Thomas Tash, chairman, and Wentworth Ches- well, clerk. They also appointed a sub-committee to wait upon Mr. Moody "and represent unto him the universal Dissatis- faction and great uneasiness of the People of the Town under his Ministry ; and in behalf of the Town to desire him to desist from pretending to officiate in said Office here any longer."
In case of his refusal they were "authorized & directed to apply to M' Moody or any Members that may remain of his Church and with him or them join in Calling a Council to
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advise whether the usefulness of his Ministry in this Town is not apparently over." And in case of the refusal of either or both "to proceed to call a Council ex parte and take their Advice." And if any new matter should arise "to report from time to time as they may think expedient for further Instructions."
They were also authorized "to call another Meeting of the Inhabitants of this Town to report their Proceedings when they were ready."
At a meeting of this committee it was decided to ask Mr. Moody "for a List of Male Members remaining in his Church that the Committee may Know who to apply to."
Accordingly, Mr. Moody declining to join in calling a mutual council, the committee in connection with the "Christian congre- gation of Newmarket" proceeded to call an ex parte council, May 5, 1777, to hear the grievances of the people and advise thereon. The churches invited were the following: South of Portsmouth, Greenland, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Exeter and Epping. The council convened May 29, and held sessions May 30 and June 11-13, 1777. On May 30 Mr. Moody decided to refer all matters in dispute to this council, making it mutual. On June 11 a mutual agreement of articles of refer- ence was signed by the two parties, as follows :
The Rev. John Moody on the one Part, and the Committee of the Town of Newmarket on his affair of the Other Part, Hereby agree that Whereas Mr. Moody does now consent and agree to relinquish his ministry here,
The Parties in Consequence of such resignation, do hereby agree to Submit to the Present Council now setting Here vizt. the Pastors & Delegates from the South Church in Portsmo & the Churches in Green- land, North Hampton & Epping, to determine the Sum due either Party to discharge all Contracts,- both Parties to acquiess in their Judg- ment, & his Ministry & all Disputes of an Ecclesiastical kind to cease, be the Sum they judge due what it will
By order of the Committee
THOS: TASH, Chairman JOHN MOODY.
The letter of the committee to the council was as follows :
To the Revd. and venerable Council of Pastors and Delegates from the south Church of Christ in Portsmo. and the Churches in Greenland, Northampton, and Epping, convened at the call of the Town and
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MINISTRY OF REV. JOHN MOODY.
Christian Congregation in Newmarket, to hear the Grievances of the People of Newmarket aforesaid, who earnestly complain and say, That
Whereas a former Generation, Inhabitants of this Town, did on or about A. D. 1729, make Choice of the Revd. John Moody to be their min- ister, and in Consideration of their own Edification and Comfort, and we hope with a good view of the rising Generation, and for the Ad- vancement of the Redeemer's Kingdom, did by their Committe call and invite him to the work of the Ministry among them; and so they the Inhabitants aforesd: voluntarily became the People of his Charge, and he was ordained to the Pastoral Office over the same Inhabitants as comprehending all Visible Professors of the Christian Faith here, as well as over a Certain Number of the same Inhabitants as a Particular Corporation of Covenanting Believers entrusted by our Lord with the Keys of the Kingdom according to the Discapline of the Congregational Sect of the Protestant reformed Churches,- In which Sosiety we Chari- tably suppose he and they continued in such Profession of Faith & Holiness so long as such their Connection was consonant to good Con- science and Profitable, agreable & convenient to them .-
But in the Course of more than forty years, Providence having re- moved the greatest Part of the said Church and Congregation by Death, and now almost if not all the Survivers, conceiving themselves to be no ways profited by his Ministry and being Disaffected to the same, have withdrawn from Communion with him in Word and Ordinances, and many of them have joined themselves to other Sosieties of Covenant- ing Believers who also profess Submission to the same Laws of Christs Kingdom, tho. practicing the Dissapline of his faithful Household ac- cording to their Different views of the System of Church Government:
By Reason of all which, We find great Difficulties attends any steps we can take to settle ourselves in such Gospel State & under such other Gospel Minister as we think would be for our own Edification, Mutual Comfort, Peace & Prosperity.
Yet Mr. Moody wholly disregards the aforesaid Circumstances, as well as all mild & Peaceable Measures heretofore taken to remove such abuse of Christian Liberty.
Wherefore the present agrieved Complainants, Inhabitants of New- market aforesaid, now Pray the Advice of this reverend and Venerable Council, whether the Continuance of Mr. Moody's ministry here is in any Degree likely to promote the Interest of Christs Kingdom, or the Good of the Town.
Newmarket, 29th May 1777.
By order of the Town's Committee,
THO. TASH, Chairman.
After the council was made mutual, the committee wanted further instructions, and asked the council to adjourn, pending their reception, and their request was granted.
At a legal meeting held June 9, 1777, it was
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HISTORY OF NEWFIELDS.
Voted that the Committee may Proceed before the Council on Sal- lary or any other Affairs as they think best, only takeing Care to use their utmost Endeavour, either to have Judgment on the Present Com- plaint before the Council before any further Submission, or at least to have it therein Speceally provided, that there be from this time a final Period to Mr. Moody's Ministry here, That being the Principal Object that the Town now Invariably has in view; inasmuch as the Whole Tenor of his Life and Conversation has now become disagreable to the Town, and they Consider him as having totally divested himself of every becoming Quality proper to his Order and altogether alienated the Af- fections of the People from him, so that any further Concern Spiritual or Temporal between him as a Minister & the Town will only tend to irritate that Spirit of Resentment Which we think is but too justly raised by his Treatment of the People in this Case, and thereby promote the unhappy Divisions & Retard any future Settlement in Church & Congregation here.
Receiving these fresh instructions, when the council reassem- bled June 11, the committee were ready to proceed. Mr. Moody tendered his resignation, and the parish referred all matters in dispute to the council. After spending three days in considera- tion of the matters presented a result was reached June 13, 1777, which was accepted by both parties as mutually satis- factory. The final result of the council was as follows:
We, ye Elders & Delegates of ye following Chhs .- the South Chh in Portsmouth, the Church in Greenland, the Church in Epping & the Church in North Hampton, met at Newmarket, May 29, 1777, at ye Desire of sd Town by their Letters missive to consider whether ye Revd. Mr. Moody's usefulness as a minister is not at an end &c. After a proposal made by him to ye Town's Comttee to Concur in mutual Council & submit all ye matters in Dispute to us, & yr. Compliance so far as they suppos'd yr power extended & Desire to have an opportunity to consult ye Town in order to a full Compliance, adjourn'd Wednesy, June 11th.
When, being met accordingly & formed into a mutual Council, after solemn prayer for Divine Direction, ye. Parties concerned, upon Confer- ring together, agreed to Certain preliminary articles which were to be ye rule of our proceeding viz,
That Mr. Moody will voluntarily relinquish his ministry; in Consid- eration of which ye Parties mutually agree to refer it to us to Judge & Determine what is Due from either Party to Discharge all Contracts between ym, which agreement we understand to include ye matter of compensation for resigning up his Civil Contract,- all ecclesiastical dis- putes to be excluded, and the judgment of this Council to be final & decisive, which is as followeth viz.
It is found that Mr. Moody's Salary at a medium from the original
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MINISTRY OF REV. JOHN MOODY.
Contract, striking the medium from the prices of the necessaries of Life at the time of his settlement & in the year 1775, is £58" 9" 3 L. My.1 Pr. anm.
From March 25th. 1762, at which time Mr. Moody gave a rect. in full for Salary, to March 25. 1777, is 15 Years @ £58 .. 9 .. 3 pr. anm. Allowance of £5. L. My pr. an. be made Mr Moody from March 1762 to March 1777, in considera- tion of the followg. article in the Contract, vizt. "And still to make further additions as his family shall stand in need," is 75 .. 0 .. 0
876 .. 18 .. 9
Deduct £8 .. 9 .. 3 pr. year for three years, (he be- ing paid by the people £55 pr. an.) vizt. the years from March 1770 to March 1776, in which years Mr. Moody gave receipts in full for said years,
25 .. 7 .. 9
is 49 .. 12 .. 3
Mr. Moody's Salary from March 25th. to June 13th 1777 is two months 19 Days, say 12 .. 18 .. 0 Allow'd Mr Moody 20 Cords wood from Octbr. 22. 1776 to June 13, 1777, @ 9s pr. Cord. 9 .. 0 .. 0 Allow'd Mr. Moody in consideration of the high prices of the necessaries of life the last year, & his resignation of his civil Contract, 50 .. 0 .. 0
71 .. 18 .. 0
Deduct a surplusage of wood computing it at 9 cords pr. anm. from 1762 to 1777, except one year in which Mr. Moody supplied himself is 14 years, @ 8s. 6d. pr. Cord. 53 .. 11. 0
18 .. 7 .. 0
£944 .. 18 .. 0
pr. Contra .- By amount of Receipts & orders pr. List ex- hibited 770 .. 0 .. 3
Balance due Mr Moody, £174 .. 17 .. 9
Upon compliance of the Town with this our judgment, either by im- mediate payment or giving Mr. Moody such security as will be satis- factory to him, his civil contract with them is to be considered as an- nulled & his ministerial relation to them dissolved, agreeable to the preliminary articles in which Mr. Moody has agreed voluntarily to re- sign his ministry in consideration of his advanced age & often Infirm- ities which render him in a great measure unable to perform the public duties of his office, and the local circumstances of the Town which, in
1 Lawful money.
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HISTORY OF NEWFIELDS.
their present state require them to be divided into Two Societies, and from a regard to the general advancement of religion in it.
It would afford us singular pleasure to find that our result & judg- ment is fully satisfactory to the parties concerned, yet we can hardly expect this considering the wide difference of their sentiments about the nature & meaning of the Contract. However we have this for our rejoicing, the testimony of our Consces that we have, upon the evidence offered us, endeavored to give such a judgment in the case as appears to us, all things considered, agreeable to truth & righteousness; and we must presume that both parties will do us the justice to believe that we have not acted from prejudice or partiality.
We heartily lament the unhappy occasion of this Council, the great misunderstanding that has so long subsisted between Pastor & People, which seems to have taken its rise principally from their different ap- prehensions of the spirit and meaning of the Contract, and to have been the main cause of the alienation of their affections from him which is become so general & fixed that the breach appears irreparable.
Notwithstanding which, as they have mutually agreed to have the relation that has so long subsisted between them as minister & people dissolved, we hope they will lay aside all animosities & evil speaking & for the future walk together in love & friendship as becometh men & Christians, & carefully study the things that make for peace & things wherewith one may edify another.
We heartily sympathize with the Revd. Mr. Moody under his bodily infirmities & all his trials. We rejoice to find that even by ye. pre- liminary articles nothing was to be alleged in charge against his Doc- trine, or moral Character. We recommend him to the grace of God & to the cordial affections of fellow Christians.
At the same time that we desire to bear a solemn sense of it on our minds, we would take liberty to remind the parties that both ministers & pple must e'er long appear at the judgment seat of Christ to give an acct. to him how they stand in to one another, & may the consideration of this awakening truth excite in you proper reflections on their past Conduct towards each other.
We would intreat the beloved people of this Congregation who are now as sheep without a Shepherd that they will guard against a careless indifference to the things of religion & will take all seasonable care & prudent measures to have the ministry of the gospel resettled among them, from a regard to their own spiritual edification & the advancement of the Redeemer's Kingdom, of which we can entertain no reasonable doubt as this was the grand argument urged by them for having the relation of their late minister dissolved.
And now, Brethren, we commend you to God & to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. We heartily wish all the blessings of the upper & the nether springs to flow upon you from the eternal fountain of all felicity. Amen.
SAMI. HAVEN, Moderator.
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MINISTRY OF REV. JOHN MOODY.
Voted that the Moderator sign the foregoing result in the name & behalf of the Council.
After the Result of Council was read to the Comtee. & Mr. Moody, the Comtee withdrew & after a short conference return'd & expressed their hearty thanks to us for our Care & friendship, & acquiesed in the determination of the Council.
Mr. Moody then declared his acquiesence in the result of the Council. The Council concluded with prayer & then dissolved.
DAVID MACCLURE, Scribe.
Newmarket, June 13th. 1777.
Rev. John Moody was born in Byfield parish, Newbury, Mass., January 10, 1705, and died October 15, 1778; graduated at Har- vard College, 1726, and afterwards studied theology. His only settlement in the ministry covered a period within two years of half a century. To his integrity, intelligence and piety Newmar- ket owes much of her social, civil, educational and religious character. Rev. John Moody, decked in his canonicals, his robe and bands, his tri-cornered hat in hand, was an object of venera- tion for man and boy, maid and matron. None looked upon him lightly, but all felt some personal relation to him. Scarcely an inhabitant in the parish but had been baptized or married by him. During his pastorate of three decades, 1731-60, records show that there were 754 baptisms and 416 deaths. His will, date April 16, 1774, and probated October 28, 1778, names his wife, Elizabeth, daughter, Mary Smith, and other relatives. His inventory was appraised at £7015, 11s., 11 1-2d.
Rev. John Moody was so prominent in the early history of the town it is eminently fitting that something should be said of his ancestry. The family originally lived in Wales, whence Wil- liam, his great, great grandfather, emigrated to America in the ship Mary and John of London, having taken the oath of alle- giance so to do March 24, 1634. He settled first in Ipswich, Mass., receiving four acres of meadow and marsh land, January 5, 1635. He was made freeman May 6, 1635, and removed to Newbury, Mass., with the first settlers. Here on the river Parker he became the settlers' blacksmith, and was the first person in New England who shod oxen to enable them to walk on ice. His wife's name was Sarah, by whom he had three children : Samuel, Joshua and Caleb. He probably was a proprietor of Salisbury in 1650, and died October 25, 1673.
William and his sons were of considerable note in civil and
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HISTORY OF NEWFIELDS.
ecclesiastical affairs. Their names often occur on various com- mittees of town and church. That they were generous patrons of letters appears from the fact that so large a number of their descendants entered the learned professions, including a long line of distinguished ministers.
Dea. Samuel Moody was probably born previous to his parents' emigration. He married, November 9, 1657, Mary, daughter of Capt. John Cutting; was made freeman in 1666, and died April 4, 1675. Their children were: Mary, born November 16, 1658; William, born July 22, 1661; Dea. William, born June 20, 1663, who married Mehitable, daughter of Henry and Jane (Dummer) Sewall, and died about 1730; Mary, born February 18, 1665, who married June 26, 1683, Henry Somerby, born November 13, 1662, son of Abiel and Rebecca (Knight), and grandson of Anthony Somerby of Newbury, 1639; Lydia, born August 5, 1667; Hannah, born January 4, 1670; Samuel, born December, 1671; Cutting, born April 9, 1674; John, who was among 249 persons to whom Exeter assigned common lands in 1625, and received 40 acres, Exeter also assigning to his heirs, August 9, 1738, ten acres of common land, married Hannah, mother of Rev. John Moody; Sarah.
Rev. Joshua Moody, another son of William, was born in Wales in 1632; graduated at Harvard College, 1653; commenced preaching at Portsmouth, 1658; was elected to the pastorate, 1660, but not ordained till July 21, 1671; was pastor of the First Church, Boston, May 23, 1683-92; elected president of Har- vard College, July 2, 1684, but declined; joined an association of ministers in Boston and vicinity, October 13, 1690; opposed the witchcraft delusion in 1692; at Portsmouth condemned and imprisoned for non-conformity, 1693; and died on a visit to Boston, July 4, 1697. Some of his children were: Martha, who married about 1680, Jonathan Russell; Sarah, who married May 5, 1681, Rev. John Pike of Dover, 1681-1710, and died March 2, 1686; Samuel, born about 1669, who graduated at Harvard College, 1689, preached at Gosport, and died April 5, 1729.
Caleb Moody, youngest son of William, was born in 1637; married (1), August 25, 1659, Sarah Pierce, who died August 25, 1665, and (2), November 9, 1665, Judith, daughter of Capt.
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MINISTRY OF REV. JOHN MOODY.
Thomas Bradbury, and had a large family; was representative to the General Court from Newbury, 1677-78; imprisoned five weeks under the administration of Andros, 1688. He was the father of Rev. Samuel Moody, who was born January 4, 1675; graduated at Harvard, 1697; commenced preaching at York, Me., May 16, 1698, and was ordained December 20, 1700, and died November 13, 1747. "Faithful Moody" as he was called, of Agamenticus, was an able, eccentric man, the open friend of Rev. George Whitefield, chaplain in the expedition against Louisburg in 1745, and wielding his axe, saying the sword of the Lord and Gideon, he hewed down the images in the church and preached the first Protestant sermon on the island. He married Hannah, daughter of John Sewall, by whom he had three children : Rev. Joseph, born in 1700; graduate, Harvard, 1718; called "Handkerchief Moody." of Scotland parish, York; and father of Samuel Moody, the celebrated preceptor of Dum- mer Academy, who died at Exeter, December 14, 1795, aged 70; Mary, who married Rev. Joseph Emerson of Malden, Mass .; and Lucy, who died in infancy.
15
Chapter XV.
CIVIL, LEGISLATIVE AND MILITARY, 1727-1787.
The original territorial grant of Exeter of nearly or quite 81 square miles remained intact till 1727. As the population in- creased and the different parts of the town became more thickly settled, the consequent greater ability to sustain religious priv- ileges, which were deemed so essential by the early settlers, "it being as unnatural for a right New England man to live without an able ministry as for a smith to work his iron without a fire," it is not to be thought strange that for their greater convenience they should desire to break up into a sufficient number of par- ishes. The parish just north of Exeter was Oyster River, now Durham, where Rev. Hugh Adams became pastor March 26, 1718. His spiritual oversight extended to the outlying district between the two parishes and he was often called upon by the people of the north part of Exeter to solemnize marriages, bap- tize children and officiate at funerals. The area of the town was too great for the regular minister of the town to cover it to meet all calls. So the time came for the separate parish ac- tion of Newmarket. After the death of Col. Winthrop Hilton in 1710, Capt. Edward Hall, grandson of Ralph Hall of the Exeter Combination in 1639, became the principal man of affairs in this part of Exeter. He headed a petition signed by more than thirty persons of the town, "for the Setting the North part of The Town of Exeter to be a parish by the Name of New Mar- ket."1 The petition was granted by the Legislature, and the parish was incorporated December 15, 1727, and the town Au- gust 20, 1737. The territory thus set off included what is now Newmarket and Newfields. The latter was not incorporated as a separate town till June 27, 1849. It should be remembered that the formation of a new parish did not originate in any dis- affection, but grew out of the remoteness from the place of pub- lic worship.
1 A. L. Mellows, Esq., has suggested that the name Newmarket may have been derived from the fact that a new market was opened for the sale of fish.
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CIVIL, LEGISLATIVE AND MILITARY, 1727-1787.
Though the new parish was at liberty to choose its own of- ficers to manage its affairs, it was not fully released from paying taxes for municipal purposes to Exeter till more than five years later. The reason for this is not apparent. In August, 1737, the Legislature on petition granted to the parish enlarged pow- ers. Their nature was not specified.
The disorderly character of "the majority of the inhabitants," vexing doubtless his righteous soul, led Rev. Hugh Adams, pastor of Oyster River, to send the following petition to Gov. Jonathan Belcher and the lieutenant governor, asking for the appoint- ment of Commissioners of the Peace:
Mat. 2:7, Luke 10: 16.
Durham May 3, 1738.
Honorable Sir
This is to request the favour of his Excellency and your Honour That my nomination of two persons for commissioners of the peace may be granted, Namely, for Mr. Joseph Drew in the town of Durham and for Captain Edward Hall in the parish of New Market of Exeter, Each of which persons, in many years observation I judge in my conscience, for said office of each people, is the best qualified accord- ing to those sacred characters in Exod XVIII: 21 Acts VI:3, Being each of them able in estate and understanding in the law, in writing a good hand, Fearing God above the most of his neighbors, A man of truth, hating covetousness, of an honest report, competently full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom; having the best rule of government over his own spirit, appetites and passions, humble, meek, modest, cour- teous, and resolute in his duty, and willing therein to be admonished; And likewise exemplary in Church communion and attendance in the other ordinances of the Gospel of Christ, the Prince of the Kings of the earth as in Rev. 1:5-The said town and parish being (too long time) the majority of the inhabitants of each, sadly grown exceedingly vicious, disorderly and unruly, especially on each publick day and night following-For want of such an overseer in said authority, to see the good laws of this Province for regulation of disorders duly prosecuted: Which might be (with a Divine Blessing on the consciencious endeavors of such a ruler among them) much for the reformation of each (otherwise lawless) people. Col. D- in our Town being now doting, superannuated, selfish, covetous and partial, utterly unqualified for such an office any longer; being grown so old and foolish that he will be no more admonished, As contemptibly characterized in Eccle. IV:13. Which (that Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in them, as in II Thess. 1: 12, And the peoples welfare may be promoted) is the earnest petition of a sincere minister of Christ.
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