USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Bristol > History of the town of Bristol, Grafton County, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 31
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The new chapel was erected on Spring street at an esti- mated cost of $1,600. There were forty-nine pews besides seats for the singers and the front seats; and the price of the pews
279
ECCLESIASTICAL -METHODIST CHURCH
was, therefore, fixed at $33. A paper drawn up Jan. 4, 1839, shows that forty-seven of these pews were taken before a blow was struck towards the erection of the church. The following is a list of the subscribers :
Name
No. of pews
Name
No. of pews
N. S. Berry
3
Warren White
I
S. S. Worthing
2
J. C. Downing
I
O. F. Fowler
2
S. S. Sleeper
I
R. C. Bean
2
H. S. Woolson
I
Alonzo Cheney
I
Dan'1 Sanborn
I
Alonzo Hale I
B. Batchelder
I
S. B. Tilton
I
Jeremiah Johnson
I
J. H. Sanborn
I
J. L. Wier
Solomon Cavis
₮
John Ladd 2nd I-2 )
I
Nathan Sleeper, Jr
2
Jonth Emmons I-3
Holman Drew
I
D. C. Willey I-3
I
Daniel Sanborn
I
Stephen Nelson I-3
Jacob Heath
I
Samuel Gale
I
Louge Pitman
I
O. S. & Lyman Hall I-2 (
I
J. H. Prescott
I
D. H. Sleeper I-2
Clark Merrill
I
Benjamin Kidder Jr I
John Kidder
I
Huldah Atwood
I-2
J. S. Bryant
I
Sally Tyrrill
David Fowler
T
Benjamin Kidder
I-3
M. H. Page
I
Walter Hayward 2
S. T. W. Sleeper
I
J. R. Hayward
I
Eliza Ann Harriman
I
John Hastings
I
D. Kennedy I-2
Jos'h Ladd
I
One-third of the price of the pews was to be paid when the frame of the building was raised; one-third when the building was boarded and shingled, and the other third when completed, which was expected to be about the first of October. The choice of pews was set up at auction, and the avails of the sale were used for furnishing the church. The deed for the land was given Feb. 11, 1839; ground was broken in the early spring, and the church was dedicated in September following, Rev. John G. Dow preaching the dedicatory sermon. N. S. Berry and Sherburn Sanborn were the building committee. The chapel was 40 X 52 feet, with posts seventeen feet high. As in the old chapel, there was but one room, the doors opening directly into it. There were three large windows on each side, and one in front between the two doors, where the pulpit was located. In each corner, at the right and left of the pulpit, was a small box stove which was connected with a chimney on the north end by a line of funnel extending the entire length of the church. The seats were on the amphitheater style, those in the rear being well up toward the ceiling. The "singing seats" consisted of three slips, at the highest point opposite the pulpit, extending from aisle to aisle, elevated still higher than those on
Joshua Kidder
Moses Sleeper
280
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
the right and left. For nine years previous to the dedication of this church, Mr. Berry's kitchen had been used for all social ineetings, but thereafter sabbath evening meetings were held in the new chapel.
The year 1839 marked not only the erection of the chapel on Spring street, but also the establishment of camp-meetings on Alexandria hill, west of this village, which was con- tinued nearly every year till 1856. The site was near the
CHAPEL BUILT IN 1839.
Bristol road on the summit of the hill. Mr. Marshall said, in regard to this meeting : "It was a season of great power and manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The last night was wholly spent in earnest prayer, and, when the last seeker yielded, there followed such a season of shouting as I never heard before nor since. A young man, living a quarter of a mile away, while in
281
ECCLESIASTICAL - METHODIST CHURCH
bed listening to it, was convicted and converted." In 1841, during the labors of Rev. Reuben Dearborn and Rev. Henry H. Hartwell, the location was changed to one farther west in the same grove. This was, like all others, largely attended and was a season of great interest. It is claimed that this year three hun- dred and fifty from Bristol and adjoining towns were converted. Millerism was at this time at its height. All good people were going to glory in 1843 without the trouble of dying, and a part of one song sung more than any other at this meeting was,
In eighteen hundred forty-three My blessed Jesus I shall see.
But 1843 came and went, and nearly all the singers of that day have passed over the river, but by the ordinary way, a few only being left to tell of the peculiar craze that swept over the coun- try at that time.
The camp-meetings of those days were rude affairs, with none of the comforts of the modern camp-ground. The usual custom was for each family interested to furnish a portion of the cotton cloth of which the tent was made, and at a meeting held by the ladies for that purpose the cloth was sewed together and the covering was completed. In due time, this tent was "pitched" by the men on a frame of rough poles cut in the woods for the purpose. Of course this covering leaked badly during a rain storm or hard shower, but this was one of the in- conveniences to be expected, and was borne with composure. A long table of rough boards extended through the center of the tent on which were served the meals, consisting largely of cooked food brought from home, while tea and coffee were made on a fire outside. The earth in the tents was covered deep with straw. Beds, at night, were made on this or on bedticks, filled with straw, laid on the ground. The tent at night was divided by curtains into two apartments, one for the men and one for the women. During the day the bedticks were piled in one cor- ner. At the close of the meeting, the tent was taken down, the cloth ripped into strips and taken home by the several owners.
These camp-meetings were great events among the Metho- dists. God was worshipped with greater fervor and intensity, if with no more sincerity, than now. The sermons and exhorta- tions were earnest and vivid, and appealed to one's danger rather than to his duty. The social meetings were marked with great fervor of feeling, and the "loss of strength" was a frequent manifestation, especially during the last night of the meeting, which was largely spent in prayer by the worshippers. One of the peculiar rules of this meeting was that the men and women must be seated separately in the public congregations, and so strict were the authorities in enforcing the rule that on one oc- casion when a man and his wife with an infant in arms ventured
.
282
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
to take seats together, the presiding elder arose in the desk and stated that such a thing could not be tolerated. During the fifties, the Alexandria camp-meeting was one of the largest in the state, and was attended by people and societies from a great distance. There were usually tents from Manchester, Nashua, Lowell, and Boston. When Rev. H. H. Hartwell was pastor of the Elm Street church in Manchester, he came with a party of one hundred. Nearly half this number were non-professors when they came, but all were professed Christians when they returned. Many hundreds here commenced the Christian life, among them Rev. E. R. Wilkins of the New Hampshire con- ference. The leading spirits in the maintenance of this meeting were the presiding elders and circuit-riders of the district, and members of the local church, among them Col. O. F. Fowler, Abram Dolloff, Aaron Kidder, Jonathan Emmons, Jacob N. Darling who usually kept the boarding tent, Rev. Caleb S. Beede, and Rev. Walter Sleeper.
The prosperity of 1838 and 1839 was continued under the labors of Rev. Reuben Dearborn 1 and Rev. John Evelith in in 1840, and of Mr. Dearborn and Rev. Henry H. Hartwell in 1841, and thirty-six additions were made to the church during these two years. In 1842, there was another season of depression under Rev. J. C. Cromack. He was carried away with the Millerite doctrine of the day, and carried most of the church with him. The burden of thought, of conversation, and of the themes of the pulpit was the immediate coming of Christ. Crops were left ungathered, business was neglected, and strong minds lost their balance. The excitement of the public was in- tense. Fortunately for the church and the community, in the spring of 1843, Rev. Nathaniel W. Aspenwall was sent here. Under his prudent and wise guidance public excitement was allayed, and gradually the church cast off the false teachings and theories of the hour. At the commencement of his pas- torate, the Bristol church became a station. Mr. Aspenwall 2 was succeeded by Rev. Lewis Howard, 2 Rev. C. L. McCurdy, 2 Rev. A. C. Manson, 2 Rev. Calvin Holman, 2 and, in 1853, Rev. Samuel Kelley. All were good men, capable and discreet, and under their leadership the church had nine years of prosperity. In 1850, the society purchased a dwelling for a parsonage, on Spring street, and, in 1851, the New Hampshire annual con- ference was held with this church with much profit to the people.
Rev. Newell Culver2 commenced, in 1859, a pastorate of two years, and the second year the chapel on Spring street was
I Rev. Reuben Dearborn was born in Loudon, Feb. 14, 1809, and died at Salem, Nov. 3, 1890. He became a member of the New Hampshire conference in 1835, and was in the effective ranks for forty years, includ- ing six years as presiding elder. He was one of the strong men of his day and left his impress on his native state.
2 See Genealogies.
283
ECCLESIASTICAL - METHODIST CHURCH
enlarged and remodeled. An addition was made on the front, affording room for a pipe organ. The floor was relaid on a level, the pulpit located in the north end, and the seats were turned around. This change added ten pews and cost $900. About 1865, the first pipe organ was placed in the church.
In 1866, the conference sent Rev. James Thurston to be pastor of this church. His pastorate covered three years of per- fect harmony between pastor and people, and these relations were severed only because of the expiration of the time limit. Mr. Thurston was born in Buxton, Me., Mar. 12, 1816, and died in Dover, Sept. 15, 1899, after sixty-one years in the Christian ministry. He was a member of the house of representatives in 1885, was twice chaplain of the house, and was a member and chaplain of the state constitutional convention of 1889. At the time of his death, he had been a Mason for fifty-four years. He was a man of rare gifts, symmetrical character, genial, of deep piety and interest in his fellowmen, and was greatly be- loved by all.
In April, 1869, Rev. A. E. Drew was stationed in Bristol. In August, following, the society bought the present parsonage at a cost of about $3,000, or $1,500 above the value of the old. In the fall of this year, occurred a great revival of religion under his labors. More than one hundred and fifty professed religion, thirty-five of whom were heads of families. In four- teen instances husband and wife came together to the altar, and ninety-six were received on probation as the fruit of this work.
On the first of January, 1870, Henry F. Durant came to Bristol as an evangelist and commenced union meetings. Most of the services were held in the Methodist church, and at every service, afternoon and evening, the church was filled with an earnest audience. Over four hundred presented themselves at the altar for prayers. The fruit of this revival was about equally divided among the three churches.
Prosperity attended the society during all the time it occu- pied this chapel, and additions were made from year to year. When it finally bade adieu to this edifice for a still more modern one, its membership numbered three hundred and forty-two- the second in numbers in the conference. Following this re- vival, Mr. Drew agitated the subject of building a new church. He was young and ambitious and infused into the people much of his own zeal. His plan was to build a church costing about $12,000 and take subscriptions to cover the amount payable in five annual instalments. The subscriptions were to be on in- terest till paid, thus providing, it was thought, for the accumula- tion of interest on the debt. The church voted to build at a cost not exceeding $12,000, provided this amount in pledges could be obtained. The pastor went through the charge and gathered in the fruit of his year's agitation of the subject and
284
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
soon reported that the stipulated subscription had been obtained. June 18, 1870, the quarterly conference voted to build a modern Gothic church, provided the whole cost at dedication should not exceed by more than $1,500 the amount then pledged. William A. Berry, Esq., P. G. Carleton, and Hon. L. W. Fling were elected a building committee. This committee purchased the land and buildings then owned by George W. Dow, on North Main street for $2, 125, and later the old chapel was sold to T. T. Drake for $1,300, and by him transformed into a dwell- ing-house. Plans and specifications were furnished by Thomas Silloway, architect, of Boston, Mass., and the contract to do the wood work was let to Messrs. Mead & Mason, of Lebanon. Work was commenced in the spring of 1871, the corner stone being laid May 9. Rev. G. W. Norris, the pastor, conducted the services and Rev. Elisha Adams made an address. The new church was dedicated Feb. 1, 1872, the dedicatory sermon being preached by Rev. Ira G. Bidwell, of the New England conference. This church was 86 x 51 feet, the audience room being 74 x 50 feet. The entrance on the front was by three doors opening into the vestibule. Three or four steps from the vestibule on the right and left led down to the main vestry ; and a flight of eight or ten steps on the right and left led to a hall above, from which a door at each of the four aisles afforded en- trance to the auditorium. Stairs in the tower led from the hall to the gallery above. There were one hundred and two pews on the main floor and sixteen in the gallery, affording about six hundred and seventy-five sittings. Its broad aisles and ample space in and about the altar when utilized afforded two hundred or more additional sittings. The pulpit was in the east end, the orchestra in the rear of the pulpit, both connected by stairs with the floor below. The vestries occupied the entire first floor and consisted of main vestry, 52 x 48 feet, small vestry for week- day evening meetings, kitchen, pastor's room, library room, and bell room.
In April, following the dedication of this church, the New Hampshire conference held its annual session here, Bishop Janes presiding. The church was a beautiful structure, an ornament to the place and the pride of the society ; but its cost had largely exceeded the original intentions and reached with lot and furnishings, $19,520, not including the bell which cost $800 - a present from Hon. S. S. Sleeper, S. S. Merrill, and W. H. Abel. The Ladies' society assumed the cost of furnish- ing the church, amounting to $2,327 ; but deducting this amount the society found itself with a debt on its hands of over $5,000 above original subscriptions. To make matters worse, as time passed, many of the subscriptions became worthless by reason of deaths, removals, and financial embarrassments, interest accumulated, and in January, 1876, this oppressive debt had
METHODIST CHURCH, DEDICATED 1872
285
ECCLESIASTICAL - METHODIST CHURCH
reached $12,000, while the unpaid pledges considered good amounted to less than $3,000, thus leaving over $9,000 to be pro- vided for. At this time, Rev. J. M. Durrell was pastor of this church, and he bent his energies to raise by subscription the amount needed to remove this heavy load. One member made his subscription $3,000, and many others made heroic sacri- fices to pay off the debt; and so successful was Mr. Durrell in his efforts that in April, following, the last dollar for which the trustees were responsible was paid and the church debt was declared to be wiped out. But this really was not the last of this church debt. . Though the ladies still owed $100 of the large amount they had assumed on the completion of the building, they stepped forward and paid the last $1,597 of the debt, borrowing the money for this purpose, that the trustees might be released from further liability. The trustees turned over to the ladies unpaid subscriptions amounting to $841. The Ladies' society thus had a new debt of large proportions on its hands, and it went to work with renewed energy; and by sociables, dinners and suppers, concerts and other entertain- ments, ere long had the satisfaction of paying the last dollar of its burden. The debt was paid at last, but no one would dare say that the society has even yet fully recovered from its de- pressing influence.
James Pike, D. D., assumed the pastoral charge of this church in 1882. Though in poor health, he at once entered upon his work with characteristic thoroughness. In locating the members of his church; he found twenty-two resident in Hill; fifty-four, in Alexandria; twenty-two, in Bridgewater, and thirty-four in Hebron. His two years' labor with this peo- ple resulted in adding fifty-four to the membership, and leaving the church stronger than it had been for some years. Dr. Pike was one of God's noblemen. He was a great man in breadth of mind. The purity of his life both public and private was be- yond suspicion. He accepted office both civil and military from the same high sense of duty with which he entered the pulpit. Dr. Pike was born in Salisbury, Mass., Nov. 10, 1818. He joined the New Hampshire conference in 1841. He represented his state in the national house of representatives for four years, from 1855, and served nine months in the Union army as colonel of the Sixteenth Regiment N. H. Volunteers. Of his minis- terial career, eighteen years were passed as presiding elder. He was a delegate to the General Conference four times. He repre- sented his conference in the Ecumenical Council of Methodist bodies at Cincinnati in 1876, and at the centennial celebration of Methodism in America at Baltimore in 1884. In 1871, he was the Republican nominee for governor of New Hampshire. He died at Newfields, July 27, 1895.
Sunday morning, Feb. 3, 1889, the church was destroyed
286
HISTORY OF BRISTOL
by fire. The congregation had assembled for worship as usual ; the opening exercises were concluded, and the pastor, Rev. Otis Cole, had announced his text and spoken a sentence or two when fire was discovered under the floor of the orchestra. How the fire originated will never be known, though, when dis- covered, its proximity to the stove in the vestry under the orchestra fixed the responsibility. All efforts to save the struc- ture were futile. By a singular coincidence the water was shut off from the aqueduct but an hour or so before the fire occurred, to allow repairs to be made on the pipe, and no water was at hand. In a brief space of time all that remained of this beauti- ful structure was a smoking mass of ruins. The four stately . maples in front of the church were also destroyed - an irrepara- ble loss. The piano, settees from the vestry, and other movable furniture were saved. There was an insurance of $6,000 on the church, which was promptly paid by the insurance companies carrying the risk. The Congregational and Free Baptist churches were promptly and generously placed at the disposal of the Methodists, who, the following Sunday worshipped with the Con- gregationalists and the next Sunday with the Free Baptists. From this time on, till another church was erected and dedi- cated, they worshipped in the town hall.
The prospect of rebuilding was discouraging in the ex- treme, but the subject was agitated at once. The first formal action was taken at a meeting of the society held at the vestry of the Free Baptist church March 13, 1889, when, after a general discussion of the subject, it was voted to build a church with audi- torium and vestries on one floor, at a cost of about $8,000 above the foundation, and that subscriptions be solicited to the amount of $2,000 to supplement the $6,000 received from insurance.
At a meeting of the quarterly conference held at the resi- dence of David Mason May 20, following, Rev. Otis Cole, W. A. Berry, and Albro Wells were elected a building committee. This committee was unable to contract the work at satisfactory rates and proceeded to build by day labor, placing the work under the charge of Daniel M. Page, of Tilton, as master work- man. The present structure has an extreme measurement of ninety-four feet six inches by fifty-one feet two inches. The audience room, not including orchestra, is fifty-four feet two inches by fifty feet. The pulpit is located in the east end, and for economy of space, is just inside the orchestra line, the orchestra in the rear. The space occupied by the pulpit and orchestra is 12 x 26 feet. In the corner to the right of the orchestra is the organ loft, 12 x 12 feet. The opposite corner is occupied by stairway to basement and passageways to orchestra and platform. Connected with the audience room on the front with folding doors, is a vestry 32 x 26 feet ; over the vestry, a parlor of the same size which may be used as a gallery by
METHODIST CHURCH DEDICATED 1890
287
ECCLESIASTICAL - METHODIST CHURCH
throwing open a folding partition. There are four entrances. At the northwest corner is a porch nine by five feet eight inches, which opens into a vestibule nineteen feet long and from six to eight feet ten inches in width. This opens in front to the audience room and on the right to the vestry. In the south- west corner is the tower which has an entrance in front and one in the rear from the porte-cochere into a vestibule 22 x 1 3 feet. From this vestibule is the main entrance to the auditorium and to the vestry on the left. From this also a stairway four feet wide extends to the landing above, five feet four inches by eleven feet, connecting with the parlor. In the northeast corner is an entrance for the pastor and singers.
The tower is fourteen feet square. It is forty-four feet from sill to bell-deck on which is a fine bell weighing 1, 720 pounds, recast from the old one. It is eighty feet to top of tower. The height of the audience room is thirty-six feet at the apex. It is finished in cypress and sheathed overhead and also on the sides to the height of about four feet from the floor. The trusses are exposed to view, encased in cypress. The floor and stair-treads are of birch, and all wood-work is finished in its natural color, and a very pleasing effect is thus secured. No carpets are laid except in the walks and on the platform, and the pews, of red oak, are without upholstery. The pews are of varying lengths and placed in a semi-circle, affording three hundred and seventy- five sittings. The vestry will seat one hundred and fifty or more, and the parlor a like number; and when vestry and parlor are opened into the auditorium the capacity of the house is easily carried above seven hundred. The whole building, except the parlor, is heated by a combination steam and hot air furnace, and is lighted with electricity. The entire cost of re-building, including necessary changes in foundation and grading and $200 for furnishings paid by the ladies, was $11,000. Hon. S. S. Sleeper, of Boston, contributed $300; and Hon. L. D. Brown of Philadelphia, $100. Moses W. Merrill, of Boston, gave $100 for a pew for the exclusive use of aged persons or strangers.
This church was dedicated June 12, 1890, at 2 o'clock p. m. Bishop R. S. Foster preached ; text, Rom. 1 : 20, and John I : I0; topic, "The Eternity and Omnipotence of God." The dedicatory prayer was offered by Rev. G. W. Norris, presiding elder. Rev. J. E. Robins, Rev. D. J. Smith, and the pastor, Rev. Otis Cole, also assisted in the service. In the evening, at 7: 30 o'clock, Rev. W. N. Brodbeck, D.D., preached a sermon from Acts 13; topic, "The Needs of the Church." Rev. G. W. Norris, Rev. Otis Cole, Rev. D. J. Smith, and Bishop Foster * assisted in this service.
The fine pipe organ, that now does service in this church, was purchased in the spring of 1892, through the efforts of Rev.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL
R. T. Wolcott, who was pastor here in 1891 and 1892. It has two manuals, six hundred and thirteen pipes, and cost $1,750.
Under the conditions that existed seventy-five years and more ago, the local preacher filled an important place in the economy of Methodism. He was always ready to supply the pulpit when the circuit-rider could not be present. He did much of the pastoral work of the day, visiting the sick, offi- ciating at funerals, and holding neighborhood meetings. Bristol was greatly blessed for half a century with the presence and services of Rev. Walter Sleeper.1 His field of work was where- ever duty called. He alternated with the circuit-rider in hold- ing meetings in the Locke neighborhood ; he was a supply for the church in the Borough, and at South Alexandria. He held services at the foot of the lake, at Alexandria, Bridgewater, and elsewhere. His christian life and disinterested labors made him revered and loved by all. There were many others who labored here for a longer or shorter time.
Rev. James Huckins was a local preacher here in 1829, and was recommended for admission to the annual conference. This same year, the license of Rev. Samuel O. Fletcher was renewed. Rev. Philo Bronson, who was junior preacher on this charge in 1835, was a local preacher here. Rev. Caleb S. Beede, a circuit-rider here in 1829, married Mary Worthen, a grand- daughter of Hannah Worthen, of the first class, and later located here, and was for ten years an active local preacher. There were also Rev. Philip C. Bean, Rev. David Powell, Rev. Eben- ezer Blodgett, and others. The exhorter was also a valuable assistant of the preacher in charge. In the early years of this church John Clough filled this office with great efficiency and held meetings in the various neighborhoods of the town. Lewis S. Skinner was licensed as an exhorter in 1829, and John Page in 1833. This office has not been filled for many years in this church.
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