USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Dunstable > History of the first church in Dunstable-Nashua, N.H. : and of later churches there > Part 7
USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the first church in Dunstable-Nashua, N.H. : and of later churches there > Part 7
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The Rev. J. B. Goodrich, from the diocese of Connec- ticut, took charge of the parish in 1872; and services were resumed in Beasom's Hall, which had been tastefully fitted up for purposes of worship. After two years' ministration, he withdrew.
The Rev. Mr. Whitcomb, of North Haven, Conn., and Rev. James D. Hughes, late of Woodstock, Vt.,- former residents of Nashua - are clergymen of the Episco- pal church.
About twenty years ago a poor Irishman, John Dona- hoe, from Montreal, arrived in Nashua with his family, to make his home in the thriving village he had heard spoken of as far north as the Queen's dominions. So deep-rooted was the prejudice against Papists that he was
70 "Church of the Immaculate Conception"-Catholic.
refused a lodging for the night. Col. Mark Gillis, more humane than his neighbors and indignant at their want of feeling, gave the down-hearted foreigners a resting-place in the basement of one of his buildings, and told them to occupy it until they could procure a more comfortable home. This was the first foreign family settled in Nashua .*
The construction of the Wilton Railroad attracted many other Irish families to the place, and by 1855 the Roman Catholic population was about 400. In November, 1855, the Rev. John O'Donnell took the pastoral charge of his fellow-countrymen, and commenced worship in Franklin Hall. They occupied this place for two years. A piece of land was bought for a church building lot at the harbor; but the obvious inconvenience of the location led Father O'Donnell to change the site to one much nearer the homes of his people, - and the beautiful church of the Immaculate Conception on Temple Street was consecrated in the year 1857, with unusually interesting and imposing ceremonies. The confirmation of 2,000 communicants by Bishop Bacon added to the impressiveness of the solemn scene. A poor woman kneeling in the vestibule, with clasped hands and streaming eyes, exclaiming, " Praise be to his Holy Name; He is smiling upon us at last," seemed to express the feeling of every devout Catholic on that joyful and eventful day.
The increasing industrial operations in the city have attracted thousands of foreign-born citizens to the place; and the little settlement of 400 in 1855 has grown to the size of a town within a town, and comprises more than one third of the entire population of the city. A significant
*This event probably occurred about thirty years ago-instead of about twenty years ago as above printed perhaps by mistake, - since quite a number of Irish are known to have been employed in the Nashua cotton mills as early as, or earlier than, the year 1848.
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Father O'Donnell and His Popularity.
fact here reveals itself. In 1855 there was a population of 11,000 in the city, of these 400 were Catholics. In 1873 the city numbers 12,000 and 5,000 are Catholics - 2,000 Irish and 3,000 French citizens. The general population has been increased by only 1,000 during the eighteen years, while the Catholic has increased to nearly 5,000 in the same time. Where are the 4,000 Protestants?
With his 2,000 parishioners and 900 communicants, Father O'Donnell has the largest congregation in the city, except that of the French Catholic Church. As an evi- dence of the respect and affection entertained for the worthy father by his own flock, I mention the presentation of splendid vestments to their pastor some time ago, valued at $600, which his people cheerfully contributed from their daily earnings.
Notwithstanding the strong prejudice against the Romanists twenty years ago, Father O'Donnell has never received anything but respect and courtesy from his Protestant neighbors, with one trifling exception on the part of three rude young fellows, whose thoughtless in- civility was nipped in the bud by the ready wit and good humor of the priest.
There was a time when it was thought by some credu- lous people that a part of the apparatus belonging to the Spanish Inquisition had actually come to Nashua and was in good working order at the priest's house. The worthy father brought with him his iron bedstead, which was a very peculiar piece of furniture in those days. Two gray- headed Protestants employed in carting the furniture in- quired what that iron frame was? The priest gravely replied that it was a rack on which he stretched Protestants until they would consent to become good Catholics. The old men left in terror, and proclaimed that Father O'Donnell had an instrument of torture in his house, and warned all
1
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Father Millette and His Noble Work.
Protestants as they valued their lives to avoid the priest's house. One of our well-known lawyers, now dead, unin- tentionally scandalized his friends by walking on the street with the priest, and was severely rebuked for his loose example. To see this same Rev. Father sitting in friendly council on the school board and listened to with respectful deference by his Protestant companions in office, presents a strong contrast to the popular prejudice against the Spanish Inquisitor and disreputable Papist of 1855.
The organic unity of the church, so strongly insisted upon as the dominant idea of the Romish church, finds here a fitting expression in the concentration of the church polity in the personal government of a single individual, the venerable Pope of Nashua, John O'Donnell. This church, too, has its coming clergy among its own members. Four of its boys are at St. Hyacinthe in Canada, and one is at Rome preparing for the Catholic priesthood.
The last ecclesiastical organization found here is the French Catholic church, outnumbering their Irish co- religionists by 1000 in the marvellously short space of five years. The French Catholic population have won for themselves a good name for industry, economy, and a regard for public order. Their new church, erected at an expense of $40,000, is one of the finest specimens of church architecture in the state. Father Millette is already held in high esteem by his English-speaking fellow-citizens, and all Christian hearts rejoice that every citizen of Nashua can hear in his own tongue of the wonderful works of God.
Though Protestants and Catholics are widely separated in doctrine and polity from each other in many important particulars, we welcome Father O'Donnell and Father Millette into our clerical circle, not because St. Peter's benediction rests upon their heads in apostolic succession, but because they proclaim the religion of Christ as the
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The Speaker's Apology.
regenerating power to save and purify the soul, and to renovate and preserve civil society.
Fellow-citizens and friends, such are some of the cir- cumstances of the origin and progress of our local religious institutions. Gladly would I have prepared myself to make the record of the deeds and sacrifices of our church fathers more worthy of this festival hour. Most gladly would I have expended double the time and labor, had it been possible, to deliver something proportionate to the great theme, and deserving of the great audience assembled to do honor to Nashua's forgotten worthies. Your patience would not have been so severely tested if I had had time to make the story shorter. The materials necessary for a complete and lively picture have been so imperfect, and so scattered, and the leisure demanded for the skillful treatment of the theme has been so sternly denied me that I have fallen far below my conception of what is due to the occasion.
Most gladly would I have spoken less about the men and their deeds, and have let you hear the men themselves speak and reveal their characters in their own language, and have let you see the passions at work in their hearts that shaped their action. But it was impossible to do so and be truthful; for no word of theirs, no letters, pamphlets, books, sermons, or speeches have been left to their posterity beyond the plain, concise record of the parish clerk; and I feel that imagination has a nobler office in writing history than that of supplying motives, words and deeds where they do not exist in fact. But if I have succeeded in en- lightening you, as I have sincerely tried to do by first enlightening myself, with an accurate and authentic nar- rative of what our fathers have done for us in the past - if we have had our sympathies awakened for what was noble in their lives, their sacrifices, and their toils, and
74
Gracious Admonitions.
have learned to deplore and avoid what was mistaken in method and but little in character,- I shall find some con- solation in the regret that I feel for the incompetent per- formance of the duty assigned me.
But while the past is reviewed and contemporary history is glanced at, the duties of the day would be in- complete if we paused here. As we enter upon the third century of our ecclesiastical life, shall we give no heed to the voice of experience? Should we not dwell with earnest solicitude upon the future? We possess not the gift of prophecy. That is the privilege of the highest order of genius only. We would draw no horoscopes. What we predict would not come to pass. The greatest of the world's heroes would not have risked so much or believed so pro- foundly if they could have foreseen some of the fruits of their labor. Washington would hardly have braved Valley Forge if he could have foreseen Libby Prison and the martyrdom of Lincoln. While we may not anticipate the outcome of our fathers' achievements, we yet may learn a lesson for our own duty. The outward conditions of our fathers' problems can never be ours. Their work has altered everything for us; but the Moral Law, written in eternal tablets, which they endeavored to obey and some- times violated, will forever sound down the ages as the voice of God. The one great lesson that our history teaches with distinctness to the church of the future is that the church, as well as nations and individuals, must be founded on justice, truth, and love, or it will crumble to pieces. Unloving words, unrighteous deeds, falsehoods of lip or life will have their price at last. The church whose individual members love righteousness, do mercy and walk humbly with God, will find assurance that within her walls shall be peace and prosperity.
While we have many reasons to celebrate this anni-
75
Instructive Lessons from Our Forefathers.
versary with joy, we have seen, in the unhappy conten- tions of three quarters of a century in the life of the church, that our forefathers were men and had their faults and passions as well as their virtues,- and that they stand fully as much beacons of solemn warning, as examples for our imitiation, in the church of the past. Her days of union were her days of strength; her days of disruption were her days of weakness. Their dispersions in the wilderness, before the savage foe, was as nothing to the estranged hearts of a once united Christian brotherhood bound together by their participation in common dangers and achievements.
We have moved to-day among the graves of our church fathers. In scattered churchyards
" Where heaves the turf in many a mold'ring heap, Each in his narrow cell forever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep."
If we could open the graves of two hundred years and interrogate the sleepers therein, what voices of encourage- ment, what notes of expostulation should we all hear! It is believed by many
" That millions of spiritual beings walk the earth, Both when we wake and when we sleep."
Who shall say that this visible assembly is the only assembly present in this tabernacle? Who knows but that Weld and Prentice and Lovewell and Blanchard and Tyng and all the sainted company who have preceded us to the Still Country have been with us in more intimate presence than our blinding veil of sense permits us to see? If the veil which hides the invisible world were withdrawn, would they not speak to us in tones such as only they can use? What looks of love do they cast upon us! What
76
Renewal of Our Pledge to Christ.
unseen glances of unspeakable tenderness and sympathy! How they plead with us to love one another, to make the best of one another, to understand and appreciate one another,- to love, in spite of our faults and in spite of our differences! There is no other way, my friends, to be true to the solemn trust our fathers have so reverently and tenderly committed to us. Only in proportion as we really love the Lord Jesus, and endeavor to gain a better mutual appreciation of the peculiar spirit of every church, and gladly recognize the inward semblance which exists in outer diversities - only in this mighty, unifying spirit of brotherly love - can we be faithful to the solemn trust our fathers have bequeathed to us. As we leave their graves, let us turn them into altars, and pledge ourselves to one another to honor their memories and their works by heeding their heavenly counsels. Let us pledge ourselves to Christ our Head that we will endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let us pledge ourselves to one another to forever put to sleep the ghosts of ancient disputes, and to keep forever before our eyes the golden words of old prophetic inspiration, " Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity."
So shall the church of the future, on coming anni- versaries like this, look back to us with tearful gratitude and remembrances of devout affection. So shall they gather round our dust, and bless God that they were descended from men who were not degenerate, but who lived for their children and their children's children.
BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF PROF. CHURCHILL.
John Wesley Churchill: - a significant name - in itself, suggestive of christian nurture and its need! Thus outwardly consecrated by pious parents, we may well believe he was brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
He was born in Fairlee, Vt., a son of Capt. John Emery Churchill and Eliza Ann (Coburn) Churchill. His parents moved, with their family, to Nashua, N. H., when he was but seven years old. There he spent most of his boyhood, and received elementary instruction in the public schools. At first sadly diffident, he fled from nearly all older persons who showed a disposition to talk with him. But later, growing in confidence and manifesting more than common ability and excellence of character, he drew to himself many friends, young and old, some of whom generously encouraged him to seek a higher education.
For a while he was a student at Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H., where he made commendable prog- ress in his studies, especially in mathematics.
At the age of seventeen, he went to Iowa, and was engaged for two years in civil engineering in connection with the building of the bridge over the Mississippi River at Davenport.
Returning East, he began his preparation for college at Ballston Spa (N. Y.) Academy for Boys, - at the same time teaching elocution and mathematics. Going thence to Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., in 1859, he com- pleted his preparatory course there, and entered Harvard College, - whence he graduated in 1865. Soon after- wards he took the full course of study in Andover Theo-
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Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill.
logical Seminary; and, on the day of his graduation in 1868, was appointed Jones professor of Elocution in the Semi- nary. But he did not engage in the work of his professor- ship until after a year of special study in Europe.
On his return from Europe, he was united in marriage, July 27, 1869, to Mary Donald, daughter of Dea. William Cooper Donald and Agnes Bain (Smart) Donald of Andover.
To his duties as professor of Elocution, which were always discharged with the utmost satisfaction to the Seminary, were added - after long service - those of lecturer on Sacred Literature in the years 1894 to 1896. During the latter year, he was made Bartlet professor of Sacred Rhetoric. Both of these professorships were admirably filled by him to the end of his distinguished career.
During his first year at the Seminary, he taught elo- cution in Abbot and Phillips academies at Andover. His services to both, in this capacity, lasted as long as those to the Seminary.
As a lecturer on, or teacher of, elocution, he was con- nected with the School of Oratory in Boston University, from 1873 to 1879, - with Mt. Holyoke Seminary (now a college) from 1875 to 1882, - with Smith College, from 1876 to 1880, - with Wellesley College, from 1877 to 1878, - with Johns Hopkins University, in 1880, - and with Harvard Divinity School, from 1890 to 1896.
For longer or shorter periods, he gave instruction in public speaking at Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth and other colleges. The number of students whom he trained in- dividually, in connection with public debates, prize speak- ing and Commencement parts, was surprisingly large.
Until the latter part of his life, he met numberless appointments as a public reader - not only in prominent
PROF. JOHN WESLEY CHURCHILL.
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Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill.
courses of literary entertainments, but often in small towns and for the aid of feeble churches.
Although he was never the regular pastor of any church, serving from sabbath to sabbath, he preached in turn, as one of the pastors of the Seminary Church at An- dover, and officiated frequently in the pulpits of Amherst and Harvard colleges and elsewhere in New England.
The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Dartmouth College in 1896.
He was a trustee of Abbot Academy from 1870 to the end of his life; and was a member of the Corporation of the School of Expression (in Boston) from its foundation about the year 1870, - and president of its Board of Trustees several years. By vote of the Corporation, the School conferred on him a purple and gold Star of Honor, as the foremost reader in this country, in 1896.
A few years later, he became ill with grippe, which resulted in heart-failure, April 13, 1900. Thus his earthly toils were ended and his spirit passed to its heavenly reward.
For a just appreciation of his manhood, it seems best to set forth what was said of him by some of his most inti- mate associates, in their personal tributes published-with many others - soon after his decease.
REV. DEWITT S. CLARK, D.D., of Salem, a Seminary classmate and familiar friend, said: - " How can we think of the world without our dear Churchill?" ... His " life was so full, so radiant, so blessed, . .. that we never imagined that he would ever pass out of our earthly com- panionship till its full limit had been reached. But it was complete, if we regard God's measure, though to us it seems sadly interrupted in its useful mission.
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Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill.
" He was 'every inch ' a man - in body, mind, and soul. He was the real Christian gentleman. Classmates and fellow-students, somehow, each thought they knew him a little better than others, so patent and genuine was his friendliness to all. An abounding geniality drew to him even comparative strangers. Virtue went out of him to not a few whom he never knew.
" He first came into prominence as a public reader. With a voice of wide range and exceptional quality, with a sense of humor which every feature expressed, with the tenderness of a child and a spirit easily sharing the most tragic or pathetic experiences, he readily passed from the entertainer of an hour to the teacher, helper and comforter of the ignorant, the perplexed, and the sorrowing. The many who only casually saw or heard him gave him first rank as a professionalist. He made them laugh, and they went on their way the cheerier for it. He brought tears to their eyes, and they felt the better for it. But merely to play on the heart strings, for a little while, grew irksome to him. He was not content to be an elocutionist, worthy as such a calling is. He would be something more than a caterer to the ever-pressing demand for amusement. If he could lift the art of public speaking out of the common- place and make it the medium of effective appeal and per- suasion - the interpreter of eternal truths - that was his holier ambition.
" His appointment, after years of distinguished service in voice culture and oratorical methods, to the professor- ship [of Homiletics] in the Theological Seminary, he counted his greatest honor. It gave him what he was specially fitted for, the chance to direct the preachers of the fu- ture in the science of public address. His love of propor- tion and harmony in homiletic composition, his keen sense of propriety, his instant recognition of pertinent or alien
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Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill.
thought, his choice of the happiest word or phrase made him invaluable as a critic. Scripture, prayer, hymn, were, in his view, quite as important as the sermon; and he made them quite as much a study. With him the wedding of perfect intonation with the fit word - which seemed so simple - was the result of patient and careful discipline. It was his joy to preach, not by way of example to learners, but because he had something to say. How acceptably and grandly, yet without display, he did it! Then you saw the man behind the message; though he never preached himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and himself a servant for Jesus' sake.
" Congregational worship, he thought, should be made as stately and inspiring as that which depends on ritual or outward symbol for effect. Reverence was a controlling passion with him. His voice and bearing in the pulpit always made the impression that the preacher had solemn business in hand. In the few years of his service in his conspicuous position, he showed increasing ability and fitness for the trust committed to him, and worthily main- tained its high traditions. His intellectual mintage was from choice materials; his literary touch was delicate; his analysis of the elements of strength in popular writers and speakers was suggestive and true.
" Above and beyond all these characteristics of his professional life, was his eminent helpfulness. To whom was he not a friend? I do not recall a single sentiment or word I could wish he had not uttered. Of pure imagina- tion and pure speech, it was always healthful to be in his company. His correspondence was simply boundless; since he not only "cared for all the churches,' but for mul- titudes out of their pale as well. With a memory which never failed to retain both name and circumstance of the humblest, no less than the famous, - with a manner which
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Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill.
said to one and all, 'command me,' - he kept widening and strengthening the bonds which attached multitudes to him, till he staggered under the load of their expectations. A vacation was an almost unknown experience, while the calls for all service kept ever coming to him. The rest which his active spirit could not find here, the all-wise Father has given to him above - the rest of the people of God. And so we are glad, though lonely without sight of him whose ' leaf ' seems to have ' perished in the green.' "
PRINCIPAL C. P. BANCROFT, of Phillips (Andover) Academy, said :- " Any record of Prof. Churchill's service in the 'trinity of Andover schools,' as he liked to phrase it, must make large mention of his loyalty to the religious, educational and literary traditions of the place. . His residence, except for his four years at Harvard, was here for over forty years - practically for all his profes- sional life. The large amount of work he did elsewhere was incidental. Here were his interests and his affections. The whole community claimed him. He made it a chief end to be a good citizen. ... In his special position as an instructor, he was always a considerate, generous, and cooperative colleague. ... Nature seemed to have pre- scribed to him his departments; but he would have done excellent work in many others.
" In personal instruction and criticism he was supreme. He was an inspiring and creative force in the lives of thou- sands of pupils; and gave them such a pattern of adherence to the highest standards of excellence and of unfailing charity that they became his life-long personal friends. His work was more than elocution; it was the interpretation of literature. To teach homiletics and the pastoral care was the natural outcome of his taste, temperament, and training. All his studies led up to this, the crowning work of his life.
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Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill.
" Only those who lived side by side with Prof. Churchill could have knowledge of his marvelous industry. He was always at work, and a hard worker. Fragments of time, the early morning, the late night, hours of travel and seem- ing recreation, were all put to use. . . . 'Trifles make up perfection, and perfection is no trifle ' was a motto often on his lips.
" The thoroughness and severity of his work was always dignified by an exceptional magnanimity. In his teaching he was never cynical, sarcastic, or petulant. When he rebuked and criticised, it was always with appre- ciation and sympathy. He could correct a fault or an offender without causing humiliation or irritation. - 'Still pleased to praise, but not afraid to blame.'"
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