USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Chester > History of old Chester [N. H.] from 1719 to 1869 > Part 27
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Dec. 31, 1822, the Session voted, " That the members of the church all partake at one time, the elderly members at the table as usual, and the remainder in the front body pews, or the adjoining pews."
It may be proper here to say that there are no Session records extant previous to 1804, those kept previous to that time supposed to have been carried to Henniker by Dea. 22
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Wilson when he moved there about 1809, which is greatly to be regretted, as they would have been at least quite a curiosity. The records which we have contain very little of general interest, being merely a routine of business, ad- missions of members, and a few cases of discipline.
Mr. Colby was reïnstalled Oct. 13, 1803. Some time in the summer of 1808, while reading the hymn after sermon, he had a paralytic shock, so that he could not finish, and which disabled him. In January, 1809, he made a com- munication to the parish, saying that if he did not recover before March meeting he should resign, and that he would preach one sermon a day, if able, at his own house, which I think he did sometimes, although unable to stand.
They had only temporary supplies, partly from the sem- inary at Andover, until Nov., 1812, when the Rev. WILLIAM HARLOW was hired, who supplied until 1815. Where he came from is unknown. He was apparently a sincere man, but of moderate abilities. He went to Plymouth county, Mass. They then employed a Mr. Wheeler, Philip Colby, and a Mr. White, as candidates, but neither of them suffi- ciently united the people to justify his settlement. In the fall of 1816, the Rev. CLEMENT PARKER, then of Cabot, Vt., or vicinity, was procured, and was ordained Feb. 19, 1817.
The first Sunday schools at the Long Meadows were in 1819. They were held at the several school-houses after the meeting. The exercises were reading and recitation of passages of scripture and hymns. Earlier than this, perhaps as early as 1810, the children were required to commit to memory and meet statedly on a week day and recite passages to support points of theology. Emerson's Evangelical Primer, and a question book by Rev. Harvey Wilbur, afterwards famous as a lecturer on astronomy, were used as text-books.
Rev. Mr. Parker was dismissed Oct., 1825, and Rev. ABEL MANNING supplied until 1831, when the Rev. BENJAMIN SARGENT was hired, and installed April 19, 1833.
The subject of abolition on Mr. Garrison's principle was first introduced at the monthly concert Jan., 1834, as one
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of the proper objects of prayer, which caused a great deal of excitement, as being very improper for the occasion. Mr. Sargent, however, expressed his gratification that it was introduced, said that he had some time felt an interest in the subject, but had not deemed it prudent to introduce it. Mr. Sargent was a man of very sensitive feelings, and he entered very warmly into the abolition movement, which was as warmly opposed in the parish, and in the Confer- ence and Presbytery with which he was connected. It was supposed that upon that subject he was a monomaniac, and that he embraced some very erroneous ideas, but whether any more erroneous than that slavery is a divine institution may be a question.
The Temperance and Abolition movements excited a good deal of interest. The documents are very lengthy, and I will give sufficient abstracts to give a clear idea of their purport. In April, 1835, a preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted by the Session, and the following pledge : " We hereby promise totally to abstain from the use of ardent spirits as a drink."
" Voted unanimously that all the present members of the church be respectfully invited to sign the foregoing pledge ; and all new members be required to sign it before admission."
There are seventy-six names appended to the pledge. Jan. 25, 1840, a vote was passed unanimously to strike out the word "required," and insert the words " respectfully invited." The Session at the same time passed a vote re- iterating their former convictions on the subject, and dis- claiming any power to exonerate any one, but yielded to what appeared to be the honest convictions of some people.
In order for the general reader to understand what is to follow, it seems necessary to explain some points about the Presbyterian church.
In 1794 the General Assembly gave their views of slave- holders as being " sinners of the first rank, and guilty of the highest kind of theft." In 1818, the Assembly gave their views of slaveholding, " that it was a violation of the most
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sacred and precious rights of human nature ; utterly incon- sistent with the law of God, and irreconcilable with the gospel of Christ."
Although all avowedly took the Bible for their guide and the Westminster Confession of Faith as an exposition of it, there was nothing like uniformity of belief in matters of speculative theology. Perhaps the most important point of difference, and the source of the others, was, the Old School held that Adam's sin was imputed to all his pos- terity, and therefore infants were actual sinners ; the New School held something different. It so happened that those portions of the church most tinctured with New School theory were somewhat tinctured with anti-slavery, and other reforms. The Old School element had the ascendency in 1837. The Assembly, in organizing, excluded the com- missioners from three synods in the Western Reserve, who were most contaminated by New School theory and anti- slavery, with the pretext that they came in under an un- constitutional plan of union, passed in 1801.
In their circular letter they say: "One of the most formidable evils of the present crisis is the wide-spread and ever restless spirit of radicalism, manifest in both church and state. . . . It has in succession driven to extreme fanaticism the great cause of revivals of religion, temper- ance, and the rights of man." There does not appear to have been any action this year on the subject of slavery.
In 1838, I think, though I have not the minutes at hand, the New School had the ascendency, and the Old School portion seceded, sued for their portion of the funds, and finally recovered. During all these contentions about spec- ulative theology, slavery and slaveholders went entirely unrebuked, but the " Princetown Review," as well as the religious press, were publishing long and labored articles, proving from the Bible that slavery was right.
The Londonderry Presbytery were in much the same condition as the Assembly. Part were Old School, and part were New ; part were anti-slavery, and part pro-slavery.
The first decision of the lawsuit was in favor of the New
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School, and their delegate, the Rev. E. L. Parker, was on his own motion instructed to go into the Assembly which had the decision of the civil court, but before he arrived there, a full bench had reversed the former decision, and he was forced to go into the Old School Assembly, and the connection has remained.
At a meeting of the Session, held January 25, 1840, the following resolution was brought forward and adopted
Resolved, that the following petition be presented by the Session to the Presbytery, at its next meeting, to be holden at Londonderry on the last Wednesday of April next.
The Session of the Presbyterian Church in Chester to the Lon- donderry Presbytery :
Dear Brethren,-We would affectionately and respectfully re- quest you to pass a resolution withdrawing all ecclesiastical con- neetion with both bodies claiming to be the General Assembly ot the Presbyterian Church in the United States, and to send copies of said resolution to both bodies claiming to be the General Assembly.
The Session would assign the following reasons for passing such resolution and seceding from the bodies.
1st. The Session can see no possible good resulting from said connection.
2d. The sending up Commissioners involves an expense in time and money, which might be otherwise appropriated in the benev- olent operations of the day to produce great good, while it now produces very little, if any.
3d. We cannot conscientiously be associated with the Old School Assembly, because it nourishes the awful sin of slavery in its bosom, enslaving their own brethren, reducing them to chattels, buying and selling them, and depriving them of the word of God ; and also because said Assembly has exercised the most arbitrary and unchristian authority, endeavoring to lord it over God's heri- tage in cutting off three Synods, and passing such resolutions, if carried into operation, would eut off many of our ministers and some of our churches.
We cannot conscientiously be associated with the New School Assembly, because they also tolerate slavery, and also because if said Assembly does tolerate such heresies as is said by some that they do, we cannot give them countenance.
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We cannot fellowship either Assembly, because they indulge in unwarrantable, unchristian and disgraceful strife, - brother going to law with brother,-and that before unbelievers.
4th. Because secession would tend to restore and keep peace in your own body. Difference of opinion existing among the mem- bers of the Presbytery, which Assembly the Presbytery should be connected with, occasions discussions and perplexities which wastes the time of your Sessions, which would all be removed by such a secession as we ask.
This could not be granted, if not for any other reason, be- cause if Londonderry did not belong to the legal Presby- terian church, Major Pinkerton's heirs would reclaim their fund.
At a meeting of the Session, February 14th, 1840, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That for a man to claim property in man, upon which is founded the system of American slavery, is at all times and under all circumstances a gross usurpation of power, a heinous sin against God, and should be imme- diately repented of and forsaken.
Resolved, That we will not invite any professed min- ister of the gospel to officiate as such in God's house, nor any professed Christian to commune with us at the Lord's table, whom we know to be guilty of this sin, but will rather admonish all such of their sin and exhort them to repent- ance.
Resolved, That we consider all who apologize for slave- holding, or in any way palliate its sinfulness, and thereby soothe the conscience of the slaveholder, and do not as far as in them lies warn the oppressor of his guilt and danger, to be guilty in the sight of God.
Resolved, That we believe it to be agreeable to the spirit of the gospel voluntarily to associate so as unitedly to act against any moral evil, and we believe that the American Anti-Slavery Society is an association whose ob- ject is the entire abolition of slavery, and that we cordially approve of its measures.
Resolved, That the clerk be directed to cause these resolutions to be published in the Herald of Freedom, and Christian Panoply, and transmit a copy to the Presbytery at its next meeting.
A very long document dated June 9th, 1841, was pre- sented to the Session, of which on account of its length an
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abstract only is inserted. Christian kindness and fraternal affection are expressed. The former expressions of the General Assembly and their present position and practice are recited ; and that the church in Chester, being an in- tegral part, was implicated, and that a further connection would be to " consent with thieves, and to be partakers with adulterers." They say that church organizations and ereeds are of mere human origin, and tend to divide the world into parties to war with each other; and they pro- fess to fall back on Christ as their ruler and the gospel as their guide, and profess a willingness to suffer any obloquy or other result that might follow. They conelude by ask- ing to be dismissed from the church but not recommended to any other.
The paper contained the following names : Amos Chase, Nathan Plummer, Mehitabel Plummer, Mary C. Plummer, Judith C. Plummer, Alonzo R. Dinsmoor, Louisa R. Dins- moor, Ruth Chase, Mary Gilbert, William Coult, Laura Coult, Catharine M. Porter, Grace Mckinley, Ezekiel Fox, Sarah Fox, James Ray, Lucy Ray, Ann C. Ray, Lucy S. Sargent. (Laura Coult afterwards erased her name.)
The subject was taken up in Session, Aug. 12, 1841, and answered in a kind and fraternal manner. That the Ses- sion considered it altogether inconsistent with the princi- ples of the gospel and the rules of other churches to com- ply, unless it be with a view of joining some other church or forming a new one. Subsequently Benjamin Chase made a communication, which is not on the record, much the same, with the addition of his expressing his conviction that the New Testament taught the doctrine of non-resistance to the extent of not going to law, and instead of asking a dismission dismissed himself.
At a meeting of the Session, December 17, 1842,
" Voted unanimously, That all such members of this Church as are desirous of uniting to form a new Church in this place, under the name of ' The Second Congregational Church in Chester' have liberty to do so ; and when they
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have so united in forming such a new church, or shall have united with such church, then their connection with this church shall cease."
October 10, 1840, the parish voted to dissolve the con- nection between them and the Rev. Benjamin Sargent.
In April, 1841, the Presbytery dissolved the pastoral re- lation, and at Mr. Sargent's request dissolved his connec- tion with that body. They express great concern for the future happiness of Mr. Sargent and in the welfare of the parish and church.
In September, 1841, Rev. SAMUEL ORDWAY was hired as stated supply and continued until Jan., 1843, when he or_ ganized the Second Congregational church in Chester, and the Presbyterian church ceased to have an active existence.
STATISTICS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN PARISH AND CHURCH.
The tax-lists and accounts commence at the same time of the Session records in 1804. At that time nearly or quite everybody paid a tax to one of the parishes. A few of the Long Meadows paid to the Congregational parish.
In 1804 there were one hundred and thirty-four persons taxed, of whom William Bell, George Bell, Lt. Jacob El- liott, Lt. Robert Forsaith, Andrew Jack, Wid. Mary Jack, William Mills, Heirs of David Mills, estate of Henry Moore, Robert Mills, Mary Moor, Capt. Simon Merril, William Shirley, Peter Shirley, Hugh Tolford, James Wason, James Wason 3d, Col. William White, Lt. William Wilson, Samuel Wilson, Edward Wilson, Mer- ibah and Susannah Wadwell and Robert Jack belonged to the lower part of the town. The highest tax was of Dea. E. H. Kelley, 88.71, the next of Lt. Elliott, $7.76. A single poll paid 73 cents.
In 1820 one hundred and seventeen were taxed, of whom nine belonged at the lower part of the town. A poll tax was $1.09.
In 1830 sixty-one were taxed, and a poll tax was $1.30.
The last tax made was in 1841 when thirty-one were taxed and paid $160.22, and the residue, about one hundred dollars, raised by subscription.
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There is a list of church members in 1802 containing ninety-five names. Hugh Tolford and wife, William Bell and wife, William White and wife, William Mills and wife, Hugh Shirley, Benjamin Melvin, Margaret Moore, and Jean MeClellan, belonged to the lower part of the town, and Thomas Anderson, Sen., William Anderson and wife, the wife of Thomas Patten, and Jean, the wife of Joshua Moore of Candia.
There is another list made October 27, 1827, containing the names of seventy residents and five who liad removed from town.
Col. William White and wife were all who remained of the old Presbyterians at the lower end of the town.
The only means which we have of knowing who the Rul- ing Elders were, is the titles prefixed to their names when they were elected to some office, which does not date their office. William White, Sen., is styled Deacon in 1732 ; Matthew Forsaith in 1749; William Leatch in 1752; Matthew Forsaith in 1766 ; Adam Wilson in 1777 ; William Tolford in 1780; John Graham, William Wilson and Jo- seph Blanchard were chosen in 1794 and ordained by Mr. Annan ; David Currier and Ezekiel H. Kelley were chosen in 1800 ; B. Pike Chase and James Wason, Jr., were chosen in 1819; Dr. Nathan Plummer, Jr., and Samuel Dinsmoor were chosen in 1824, and John Folsom, Benjamin Chase and Amos Chase were chosen in 1833.
I had prepared a complete list of the officers of the Pres- byterian parish, but my work is so voluminous that I omit it.
THE SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN CHESTER.
For some reason it was deemed expedient to dissolve the Presbyterian parish and church, and organize a Congrega- tional one. Accordingly, agrceably to an act passed July 3, 1827, " The Second Congregational Society in Chester " was organized June 11, 1842, and a code of by-laws adopted,
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one article of which was that all moneys should be raised by voluntary subscription. The condition of membership was signing the by-laws and paying one dollar annually. On the first day of January, 1843, sixteen members of the Presbyterian church adopted articles of faith and a cove- nant, and were organized into a church by the Rev. SAMUEL ORDWAY, and assumed the name of The Second Congrega- tional Church in Chester. After the town of Auburn was incorporated, in 1845, the name of the society and church was altered to the First in Auburn. There is a list of mem- bers of the church up to May 3, 1857, containing eighty-
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN AUBURN.
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six names. Rev. Samuel Ordway, who had been stated supply to the Presbyterian parish, continued to labor till the summer of 1846, when the Rev. JAMES HOLMES, a na- tive of Londonderry, a graduate of Dartmouth in 1838, commenced his labors and was installed pastor Dec. 5, 1849, and yet sustains that relation, but has asked a dis- mission.
The Presbyterian parish deeded the society their prop- erty, consisting of the meeting-house and lot, and the parsonage. The parsonage was sold for six hundred dol- lars, and widow Elizabeth Bebee made the society residuary legatee, from which they received five hundred and forty- five dollars and twenty-nine cents.
A new house of worship, with a vestry in the basement, was erected in 1847, and dedicated in Feb., 1848, costing about twenty-six hundred dollars. Miles Burnham gave the land, and David Hall, of Roxbury, Mass., gare a bell. The old Presbyterian house was sold and taken down.
HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
Although there were individuals who were Baptists in Chester, and might have been occasional preaching, there was no organized church until 1819, when a churchi was organized by the Rev. WILLIAM TAYLOR, of Concord, consist- ing of sixteen members, of whom Capt. Pearson Richard- son, Walter Morse, Jacob Green, and Timothy Smith of Sandown, were prominent. Col. Stephen Clay and Josialı Chase united afterwards, and were active members. Walter Morse and Josiah Chase were the deacons. They wor- shiped in Capt. Richardson's hall until 1823, when a meet- ing-house was built on the west side of the Haverhill road, on home lot No. 13, which cost about two thousand two hun- dred dollars.
They had for preachers, besides Mr. Taylor, Rev. Josiah Davis of Methuen, and the Rev. Duncan Dunbar, a Scotch- man, afterwards of New York city. Gibbon Williams was installed ; Geo. Kallock and John Upton were ordained
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pastors. A difficulty arose about a preacher, a part of the society believing him to be corrupt and a part adhering to him, which for a time disorganized the church and society, and they had no preaching, and their early records were lost, and the meeting-house went to decay.
At a meeting of the Portsmouth Association, held at Newton, 1845, a committee, consisting of brethren Ayers of Dover, Gilbert of Northwood, Wheeler of Plaistow, and Swain of Brentwood, were appointed to visit the church in Chester and attempt to settle their difficulties. The committee met the church Jan. 13, 1846, and recom- mended to disband the existing church and organize a new one, which was accordingly done, and a church of fifteen members was formed, and William Bell chosen deacon and elerk. There are the names of sixty-three members on the records, and James D. Bell and Silas F. Leonard are the present deacons. The society had failed to hold their annual meeting, and April 9, 1859, a meeting of the cor- poration was held by a warrant of a justice of the peace. At subsequent meetings in 1860, a constitution and by- laws were adopted, to which twenty-two names are ap- pended. It was also voted to sell the old house and land, which was done; the house for one hundred and ninety- seven dollars, and the land for twenty-six dollars. A small piece of land was purchased of Alfred S. Dearborn, near the town-house, and where Wilkes West's shop stood, for one hundred and seventy-five dollars, and a contract was made with Hiram S. Pollard to build a house for twelve hundred dollars, which was dedicated August 29, 1861. Preaching has since been had by various individuals, as stated supplies most of the time, paid for by voluntary subscription.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Methodism did not probably make much progress in Chester before 1800.
In 1802 the Congregational parish voted to give in Levi Hoit's tax, and not tax him in future, provided he should pay for the support of the ministry in Poplin.
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In March, 1805, William Wilson, 4th, John Locke, and Widow Mary Moore, presented certificates that they belonged to the Methodist society in Poplin, signed by David Batch- elder, deacon.
About 1807, John Clark came to Chester from Sandown. He purchased the farm of Deacon Adam and William Wil- son. He was a Methodist, and he procured the Rev. GEORGE PICKERING, a gentleman of Southern birth,-a man of education, tall, and of gentlemanly appearance,- who preached in Mr. Clark's house the first Methodist sermon preached at Long Meadows, probably about 1809. Mr. Pickering afterwards preached in the Long Meadow meet- ing-house. Mr. Clark named his oldest son for him.
Mr. Clark being a man of energy and means, occasion- ally procured other preachers, among whom were Rev. JOHN BROADHEAD (who was once a member of Congress), CASS, NEWHALL, and others, who preached in Mr. Clark's house, the Kent house and barn, the Herrick house, and school-house, which then stood near the pond shore.
When a new school-house was built, in 1827, at the site of the present one, near the bridge across the Blanchard mill-pond, the question arose whether that should be used by the Methodists. The Rev. Mr. Manning was then preaching to the Presbyterians, and had a strong antipathy to the Methodists, and said that if they were permitted to preach in it, he never would. The district, however, voted that it should be open for religious and moral meetings, and Mr. Manning was as good as his word, and refused to preach in it.
There was a class formed early, and quarterly meetings held. In September, 1826, there is an entry in a diary, " Quarterly meeting at the Kent place." The old school- house would not be sufficiently capacious for such anFocca- sion, as people came from Hooksett, Candia and Chester to those meetings.
In 1836 a meeting-house was built. A subscription was started, and fifteen hundred and seventy-five dollars sub- scribed, including four hundred by Mr. Clark. Mr. Clark
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN AUBURN.
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took a contract to furnish a site and build a house for two thousand dollars, and whatever it cost more than others paid, he gave.
December 4th, 1836, B. B. Hall was clapboarding the. extreme top of the eastern gable, standing on a saw-horse which tipped over and precipitated him to the ground, by which he was badly injured, but survived.
The house was dedicated July 20, 1827.
Rev. Mr. FALES was stationed here in 1838, and after- . wards Messrs. QUIMBY, STEARNS and SMITH, and protracted meetings mere held, and accessions made. But a difficulty arose between some of the members, and they became dis- organized, and for a season meetings were not held, and the old records are lost.
Since 1843 the desk has been mostly supplied by stu- dents from the Biblical Institute at Concord. In 1858 and 1859 the Rev. JOSEPH SCOTT, who had completed his studies, supplied, and was a man of talent, radical in his ideas, inflexible and persevering in his purpose, taking a high stand on the temperance and anti-slavery movements, and was active in getting up and sustaining the Band of Hope. He joined the New England Conference.
There were twenty-seven church-members in 1859. In 1861 there were eighty-four scholars in the Sabbath school. In 1865 there were forty-one names on the list of members.
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