History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 41

Author: Hazlett, Charles A
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 1390

USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and representative citizens > Part 41

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

At a town-meeting on the 26th of June, 1650, it was voted to pay Francis Swaine twenty shillings "for his pains and time in going into the bay to col- lect Mr. Dudley his pay." This refers, no doubt, to the "English commo- dities" which the town were to furnish Mr. Dudley in part payment of his salary. There was little money in the frontier settlement, and some merchant in the bay ( Massachusetts ) was contracted with to supply the imported goods for Mr. Dudley, and to receive in exchange from his Exeter parishioners lumber and such other articles as they could furnish. At the same town- meeting it was resolved "that a meeting-house shall be built, of twenty foot square, as soon as workmen can conveniently be procured to do it, and the place appointed for it is at the corner of William Taylor's lot next the street,

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and William Taylor is to have of the town twenty shillings for five rods square of his land in that place."

The people of Exeter having engaged the services of Mr. Dudley, took prompt and efficient measures to procure the payment of his stipulated salary. The town records inform us that at a meeting on the 5th of December, 1650, it was "agreed upon that the townsmen ( who performed substantially the duties of selectmen ) shall have power to make a rate upon all such of the inhabitants of the town as do not voluntarily bring in according to their abilities, for the satisfying of the town's engagement unto Mr. Dudley for his maintenance." It had previously been determined that every inhabitant of the town should pay, "for every thousand of pipe-staves they made, two shillings, which should be for the maintenance of the ministry; and for every thousand of hogshead-staves, one and sixpence; and for every thousand of bolts that is sold before they be made into staves, four shillings; and also what is due from the saw-mills shall be for the maintenance of the ministry." And in order to establish the priority of this claim above all others, it was provided that "any inan that shall deliver any staves or bolts before they have satisfied the town order shall pay ten shillings for every thousand staves and twenty shil- lings for every thousand bolts." It was also voted at said meeting on the 5th of December, 1650, that if Francis Swaine and Henry Roby, or either of them, shall make a bargain with any able merchant of the bay to pay or cause to be paid unto Mr. Dudley the sum of forty pounds in good English commodities in May next, for his whole year's maintenance, and to accept of hogshead- staves or pipe-staves for the said forty pounds worth of goods, then the town do agree to stand to their bargain which they shall make, and to bring in their proportional parts of hogshead-staves or pipe-staves unto the said Henry Roby or Francis Swaine to satisfy their agreement."

While the inhabitants were thus solicitous to secure their minister from want, they were no less ready to protect him from defamation. They author- ized the three townsmen-Henry Roby, Thomas King, and John Legat- "to vindicate the credit and reputation of Mr. Dudley gainst the reproachful speeches and calumniations of John Garland, by proceeding against him in law, according to the demerits of his offence." It is not known that any suit was ever brought against the slanderer; he probably found means by apology, or otherwise, to avoid such a result.

Apparently nothing was done under the vote to build a meeting-house, passed June 26, 1650, for a couple of years after. At a subsequent meeting, July 8, 1652, "it was ordered that a meeting-house shall forthwith be built, and that every man, both servants as well as others, shall come forth to work upon it as they are called out by the surveyor of the work, upon the penalty of five shillings for every day's neglect ; and teams are to be brought forth to the work by the owners as they are called for by the said surveyors upon the penalty of ten shillings a day for their neglect, and the surveyors or overseers appointed for the said work are Mr. Edward Gilman, Thomas King, and Edward Hilton, Jr., and they are to see the work finished and not to have it neglected." Undoubtedly the people were moved to commence and carry through the enterprise soon after; for a vote of the town in November, 1652, alludes to the "finishing" of the building, and the return of a board

THE COMMON, RAYMOND, N. II.

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OLD BRIDGE AT BROWN'S MILL, RAYMOND, N. H.

MAIN STREET, RAYMOND, N. H.

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of commissioners to lay out the west part of Hampton, in August, 1653, mentions the "Exeter meeting-house," which would imply that it was then completed.

Where Mr. Dudley's congregation worshiped in the mean time, whether in the primitive structure that is understood to have been erected in Mr. Wheel- wright's ministry or elsewhere, we have no means of knowledge, nor is it certainly known where this church was located; but there is reason to believe that it was not far from the site which tradition assigns to the earlier build- ing. It continued to be used as the place for public worship for more than forty years. In 1664 a lean-to with a chimney was added to the meeting- house, to serve as a watch-house. Some time after this, probably, Edward Smith, Biley Dudley, Edward Gilman, and perhaps others built a gallery in the house, which was confirmed to them by a vote of the town in 1678; and at the same time said Smith, Gilman, Jonathan Thing, Peter Folsom, Nathaniel Lad, and Moses Levit were allowed to build a gallery for their wives at the end of the men's gallery, leaving room for still another, if desired, which Mrs. Sarah Wadley, Sarah Young, Alice Gilman, Abigail Wadley, Ephraim Marden's wife, Grace Gilman, and Mary Lawrence had leave to erect and set up at the north end of the house.

It would appear that within a few years after Mr. Dudley's settlement the town had lost some inhabitants, perhaps persons of means, so that they were unable to continue his salary; and as he "was not willing to urge that from them which they could not comfortably discharge," it was agreed between them, on the 13th of June, 1655, that "the contract made at the time of his settlement should be annulled, that he should lay down his minister- character, and that his future exercises on the Sabbath-day should be done as a private person, he intending and promising to be helpful, what so may with convenience, either in his own house or some other which shall be appointed for the Sabbath exercises."

The next year the Town of Portsmouth, understanding, probably, that Mr. Dudley was relieved of his Exeter charge, passed a vote to invite him to remove thither and become their minister, and the selectmen of that town were authorized to communicate the vote and make a contract with him. He received the proposition favorably, and agreed to visit Portsmouth the next spring.

The danger of losing their minister seems to have aroused the inhabitants of Exeter to new efforts, for at "a full town-meeting" on the 8th of June, 1657, "it was ordained and agreed that so long as Mr. Samuel Dudley shall continue to be a minister in the town of Exeter, which shall be till there be some just cause for him to remove, whereof he is not to be judge himself, but other indifferent, understanding men,-the fewness of the people, or greater maintenance to be a cause are expected .- the town of Exeter is to pay the said Samuel the sum of fifty pounds yearly in merchantable pine boards and merchantable pipe staves, both to be delivered at the water-side, at the Town of Exeter, at the current price as they shall go at when they are delivered." The residue, in case full compensation was not thus made, was to be taken in corn, and the payments were to be in equal installments on the 29th of September and the 24th of June in each year. The Wheelwright

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property was also fully confirmed to Mr. Dudley, and it was provided that the selectmen of the town should yearly "gather up" the said sum of fifty pounds, and in case they should fail to do so, they should be answerable to the town for their default, and make up out of their own pockets whatever they failed to collect ! It is somewhat doubtful if the selectmen of our day would be willing to accept such a liability ; and perhaps it was only the fear of being deprived of their minister which reconciled them to the condition two centuries ago. This action on the part of the town had the desired effect of inducing Mr. Dudley to abandon all thoughts of removing to Portsmouth, and to retain him to pursue his useful labors in Exeter.

Mr. Dudley being an excellent man of business, and holding the pen of a ready writer, was frequently employed by his parishioners in secular affairs. At a meeting of the town on the 4th of March, 1658, a grant of certain land was made to him in consideration of his drawing off from the town book all the former grants and necessary orders in relation thereto, which it was stipulated were to be "fairly written." It was also provided, singularly enough, that if he should find recorded any grant or order to hinder this grant of land to himself, the latter should be void, which is evidence of the entire confidence reposed by the people in his integrity.

In 1660 something was needed to be done to the house of worship, either by way of addition or repairs, as the selectmen were authorized, in case they should be "forced to lay out of their own estates towards the fitting up of the meeting-house," to make a rate to reimburse themselves. This was a great advance on the earlier rule, which apparently required the selectmen to make good any deficiency in the minister's salary ; and subsequent votes of the town, as will be seen, still further relieved them from responsibility in parochial affairs.

At a town-meeting on the 15th of March, 1668, it was ordered that Lieutenant Hall be empowered to "arrest and sue any that belong to the town that refuse to pay to the rate of the ministry." And in 1671 it was agreed that the selectmen should be exonerated from the duty of collecting the minister-rate, and that thenceforth Mr. Dudley was to "gather up his rate himself," in consideration whereof he was to receive sixty pounds, instead of fifty pounds, yearly. The selectmen were to assess the tax, and in case any inhabitant should refuse to pay, they were to empower Mr. Dudley to "get it by the constable."

Either this method of obtaining his salary was impracticable or unsatis- factory to Mr. Dudley, or the infirmities of age soon compelled him to with- draw from his charge; for it was but five years later that the place of worship in Exeter appears to have been strangely neglected, if we may give full credit to the allegations of the record of a court held at Hampton in May, 1676, which was as follows: "The town of Exeter being presented for letting their meeting-house lie open and common for cattle to go into, this Court doth order that the selectmen of Exeter do take effectual care that the said house be cleaned, and be made clean enough for christians to meet in, and the doors hung and kept shut; and this to be done and signified to Mr. Dalton, under the hand of the constable, by the next Sabbath day, come se'ennight, or else

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to forfeit five pounds; that for the time to come they should keep the said house commodiously tight and suitable for such a place, upon the like penalty."

Mr. Dudley died in 1683, at the age of seventy-seven years, the last thirty- five of which he passed in Exeter; and was buried, it is believed, in the old graveyard near the present gas-works. He was connected by blood and mar- riage with some of the principal men of Massachusetts, and the people of Exeter were fortunate, in every respect, in having him to settle among them. He was able to allay all jealous feelings on the part of Massachusetts towards Exeter by his acquaintance with the dignitaries of that colony, and he was unquestionably a diligent and faithful spiritual teacher and guide.

For some years after Mr. Dudley's decease there was no settled or regular minister in Exeter, but it is probable that religious worship was con- ducted by such clergymen as might be temporarily engaged. In 1683, Rev. John Cotton, before and afterwards of Hampton, is mentioned in a con- temporary account as of Exeter, so it is probable that he ministered here for a time. Elder William Wentworth certainly officiated here before October, 1690, as the town then voted to treat with him "for his continuance with them in the ministry." Mr. Wentworth remained in the office of minister in Exeter until some time in 1693, when the growing infirmities of years must have disqualified him for the work.

The course adopted by the town in selecting his successor strikingly illus- trates the simple fashions of the time, and the general concern felt throughout the community in relation to the spiritual concerns of even a remote and feeble settlement. On the 23d of June, 1693, Capt. John Gilman and Biley Dudley were chosen "in behalf of the town to go to the neighboring minister's and take their advice for a meet person to supply the office of the ministry in the Town of Exeter." The search seems to have been successful, for only three months afterward a committee was raised to treat with Rev. John Clark, and on the 10th of October, in the same year, Capt. John Gilman, Capt. Peter Coffin, and Capt. Robert Wadleigh were empowered to agree with Mr. Clark to become the minister of Exeter, and to fix his salary for the first half-year, the town engaging to pay the same.

But Mr. Clark was not to be secured at once. It is not known why he did not remove sooner to Exeter, but it may be conjectured that he required, not unreasonably, that the inhabitants should first prove their disposition and ability to sustain a religious society by erecting a suitable house of worship. However that might have been, in January, 1695, at two meetings of the town, the subject of building a new meeting-house was discussed, and at length determined; and "the major part of the town saw cause to erect and set the house on the hill between the great fort and Nat Folsom's barn." But the location of a public building is never an easy matter for a town to agree upon, and a controversy afterwards arose in regard to it, which was only settled at last by a committee chosen for the purpose. Captain Coffin was employed to keep the account of the work done by the inhabitants upon the house, and the rate allowed was three shillings a day for men, and for lads what the committee should order.

The location decided upon was just in front of the site of the present lower (First Congregational) church, and there the meeting-house, evidently

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of no mean proportions, was placed, being completed about the beginning of the year 1697. It had doors at the east and west ends, the pulpit on the north side, and stairs leading to a women's gallery on the south side. Pews were built round the sides, and the middle space was probably occupied with benches.

At a town-meeting on the 3d of February, 1697, it was voted "that the new meeting-house should be seated by the committee now chosen, viz., Captain Moore, Mr. Smart, Biley Dudley, Captain Hall, Lieutenant Leavitt, and Mr. Moses Leavitt; and the committee have full power to seat the people in their places and power to grant places for pews to whom they see meet; and those men that have places for pews shall sit in them with their families, and not be seated nowhere else."

It is probable that Mr. Clark preached for a time in Exeter before his ordination, which was fixed to be on the 21st of September, 1698. The 7th of September was ordered to be observed as a day of humiliation. On the Sunday preceding the ordination a confession of faith and covenant, which had been previously agreed upon, were signed by the following-named persons, who were the first members of the first church in Exeter, the organization of which has ever since been maintained: John Clark (pastor), John Gilman, Peter Coffin, William Moore, Thomas Wiggin, Kinsley Hall, Theophilus Dudley, Samuel Leavitt, Biley Dudley, Moses Leavitt, John Folsom, Henry Wadleigh, Jonathan Robinson, Thomas Dudley, John Schrivener, Nicholas Gilman, Richard Glidden, Elizabeth Gilman, Elizabeth Clark, Judith Wilson, Margaret Beal, Sarah Dudley, Deborah Sinkler, Deborah Coffin, Sarah Lowell, Mehitabel Smith.

The church having been organized on the day appointed, the ordination exercises were performed by Rev. Mr. Hale, who preached the sermon, Rev. Mr. Pike, who made the prayer before imposition of hands, Rev. Mr. Wood- bridge, who gave the charge, and Rev. Mr. Cotton, who gave the right hand of fellowship. Mr. Clark received at first sixty pounds a year for his salary, with the use of the parsonage lot and a certain meadow, to which ten pounds more were afterwards added to cover the expense of firewood and fencing of the lands. It was also agreed that the town should furnish him a parsonage house, but he subsequently consented to dispense with that stipulation on con- dition that the town should pay him one hundred pounds instead thereof.

Mr. Clark remained in charge of the church in Exeter until his death in 1705, at the age of thirty-five years. He was highly esteemed by his people; they paid to his widow the full amount of his salary, and erected a tomb over his remains at the expense of the town, and twenty years later made repairs upon the same. The grave of Mr. Clark is in the yard of the lower church, and upon his tombstone were inscribed these lines :

"A prophet lies under the stone, His words shall live tho' he be gone. When preachers die, what rules the pulpit gave Of living are still preached from their grave. The faith and life which your dead pastor taught Now in one grave with him, sirs, bury not."

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In the April following ( 1706) the town voted to give Rev. John Odlin a call to carry on the work of the ministry, and appointed a committee of ten persons, a major part of whom were empowered to make a full agreement in behalf of the town with him "for his salary and other things needful." Under this authority they contracted to pay him seventy pounds a year, together with the strangers' contribution money, and allow him the use of the parsonage and 200 acres of land, and to give him an outfit of 100 pounds in money towards his settlement. Mr. Odlin was ordained on the 12th of November, 1706. He was a young man, having graduated at Harvard College only four years before. He married Mrs. Clark, the widow of his predecessor, and his pastorate only ended with his life.

Ere many years had passed the want of a new place of worship began to be felt. The town had increased in population, and the Indian wars had for the time ceased to alarm and keep down the frontier settlements. When men ventured to go to church without arms in their hands, the tide of immi- gration began to assume its natural flow. On the 16th of December, 1728, it was determined that a new meeting-house should be built, and placed on some part of the land purchased of Capt. Peter Coffin, on which the meeting- house then stood.

But so important an undertaking required time, and it was not until the spring of 1731 that the new building was finished. It was placed close by the old meeting-house, which was not removed until after its completion.

This, which was the fourth house of worship erected in Exeter, was a large structure, with two galleries, and a broad aisle running up to the pulpit, on each side of which were benches for those who did not own pews, and who, agree- ably to the fashion of the time, had seats assigned them according to age. A high steeple was added to the edifice soon afterwards, at the charge of some public-spirited citizens, who presented it to the town, and a bell was purchased and hung to make all complete. The steeple stood till 1775, when it was blown down in a heavy gale, and rebuilt at the expense of the town; the building lasted till 1798, when it was replaced by the present edifice, which is still standing on the same spot.

On November, 1731, the town voted to take down the old meeting-house at once, and with the materials to build a court-house, which was located on the opposite side of the street, just below where the Squamscott House now is.

Mr. Odlin ministered to the people of his charge to their acceptance for more than thirty years, and until the time of the "great awakening" under the influence of Whitefield. Mr. Odlin set his face conscientiously against the "new lights," and though a majority of his parishioners agreed with him, a considerable minority were of a different opinion and zealously supported the views of Whitefield. In 1743 the major part of the people joined in a request to Rev. Woodbridge Odlin, son of Rev. John Odlin, to settle over them as the colleague of his father. As it was known that the sentiments of both were in harmony, the partisans of the Whitefield doctrine voted against the younger Mr. Odlin, and being outnumbered, withdrew to the number of forty-one persons, and on the 7th of June, 1744, were organized into the Second Church.

Mr. W. Odlin was ordained on the 28th of September, 1743, his father

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preaching the sermon on the occasion. He is represented as having been a man of genuine piety, and of modest and unaffectedly simple manners. He succeeded in keeping his church and people well united, though in time of the troubles between the colonies and Great Britain he took an early and decided stand in favor of the former. He died in 1776, and his parish voted a gift of twenty-five pounds to his widow.

In July, 1776, a call was given to Rev. Isaac Mansfield, who was then serving as a chaplain in the Continental army, to settle over the first church and society. The reply was favorable, and Mr. Mansfield was ordained October 9, 1776, Rev. Mr. Thayer, of Kingston, preaching the sermon on the occasion, Rev. Mr. Fogg, of Kingston, delivering the charge, and Rev. Mr. Webster, of Salisbury, giving the right hand of fellowship. Mr. Mansfield was a native of Marblehead, Mass., a graduate of Harvard College, and a man of good capacity, and we have his own authority for saying that during the greater part of his pastorate here of nearly eleven years his situation was pleasant and his people well united. But some unprudences on his part at last weakened the ties between them, and he was dismissed at his own request, made according to an agreement with the parish, September 18, 1787.

In January, 1790, an invitation was given to Rev. William F. Rowland to become the pastor, and an annual salary of "400 Spanish milled dollars" was voted him. Mr. Rowland acepted the call, and was ordained June 2, 1790. He ministered to this congregation for thirty-eight years, and was dismissed at his own request, December 5, 1828. He was a worthy man, of good abilities and fervent piety. The remainder of his life he passed in Exeter, and died in 1843 at the age of eighty-two years.

The successors of Mr. Rowland have been: Rev. John Smith, 1829-1838; Rev. Wm. Williams, 1838-1842; Rev. J. H. Fairchild, 1843-1844; Rev. R. D. Hitchcock, 1845-1852; Rev. Wm. D. Hitchcock, 1853-1854; Rev. Nathaniel Lasell, 1856-1859; Rev. Elias Nason, 1860-1865; Rev. J. O. Barrows, 1866- 1869; Rev. Swift Byington, 1871-1892; Rev. W. L. Anderson, 1894-1907; Rev. George H. Driver, 1907.

The Second Congregational Church .- The members of the original parish who seceded from it in 1743 and united to form a new society proceeded in the same or the following year to build a house of worship. It was situated on the lot where Mrs. W. N. Dow's house now stands, and was a building of two stories and respectable capacity. It stood parallel with the street, and on the western end was a goodly steeple, surmounted with a vane. The pulpit was on the side opposite the front door, and a gallery ran round the other three sides. It was this meeting-house in which Whitefield essayed to preach on the day before his death, when it was found all too small to contain his thronging auditors, and he was compelled to address them in the open air, on the opposite side of the way.

The seceders naturally wished to be exonerated from paying taxes for the support of the old parish when they ceased to worship there, but the law of that day was against them, and though the town was repeatedly urged to relieve them from the burden the majority would never consent to do so. A petition to the General Assembly of the province for setting off a new parish was opposed by the town and failed. But the society struggled on, and in

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1746 made an unsuccessful attempt to procure Rev. Samuel Buel to become their minister, and in 1747 invited Mr. John Phillips, one of their own number, and afterwards the founder of the Phillips Academy, to act as their pastor, but he declined on the ground of his inability to perform all the duties of the clerical office. Thereupon they extended a call to Rev. Daniel Rogers, who accepted it, and was settled over them August 31, 1747. The same year a mutual council was agreed upon by both churches for the purpose of attempting a reconciliation of the differences which existed between them, but without avail.

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History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 41

Author: Hazlett, Charles A Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Number of Pages: 1390

Author: Hazlett, Charles A
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 1390