USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Durham > History of the town of Durham, New Hampshire (Oyster River Plantation) with genealogical notes, Volume 1 > Part 17
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They do it out of a good design, he says, and that there is no sanctity in tunes, and that the reason we cannot approve of it is because there is no light in us &c. &c. . A little after dark all left the house & went out into the streets when they held it till near ten o'clock. These are but some general hints. O awful melancholy scene, O tempora, O mores.
Aug. 21. I preached from Gal. 2. 20. The people appeared very devout, excepting those that were of Mr. Gilman's party. They as yesterday made wry mouths & extraordinary gestures of body, often crying out aloud, but generally approving. I desired & entreated, if they loved the souls of sin- ners, that they would suffer them to hear what I had to offer to them, but all to no purpose. At length the authority took hold of one & the rest all jumpt up & out they went, crying out & railing & made a hideous noise abroad, but we finished & went into the house.
Mr. Gilman says he has a witness within him that I neither preached nor prayed with the Spirit. I told him I had a witness within myself that I did both. He said how can that be when you have your thumb papers, & you could hardly read them? He seemed to speak by way of reflection & an air of disdain. Mr. Gilman says he can't receive those that don't receive Wood- bury & all those persons in all their extravagancies. He allows that a regen- crate man may have a strong persuasion & confidence in lesser & yet be deceived. Mr. Gilman tarried but a little while & went away & soon after him all the rest. One Mr. Woodman told me that two of these people got together by the ears last night. They struck one another with their fists, saying you are a devil & you are a devil. The persons afflicted are John & James Huckins & their wives, Ralph Hall & wife, Capt. Hardy, Scales, &c.
Such abnormal manifestations of religious enthusiasm were once very common and still are known among uneducated pop- ulations. They are best explained by erroneous teaching ac- companied by hypnotic suggestion. Most people, whether awake or asleep, do and say as they are taught by a few leaders, wise or otherwise.
The Convocation of Ministers of New Hampshire, in 1747, appointed a committee to look into the troubles of the church at Durham, who reported that they found the affairs of the church in a very unhappy situation :
That their Revd Pastor Mr. Gilman had for a considerable time desisted from the work of the Ministry among them, & by all their Endeavours they could not prevail with him to reingage in sd Work; but that they had had for the most part preaching on Lord's Days, & that Mr. Wooster still continued to preach to them. They also informed us that a considerable Number of their Communicants & others of their Congregation had separated from them & held a separate meeting in a private House in the Town on the Lords Days & at other Times. And the sª Committee was further informed by divers of sd
13
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Church that at sd separate Meeting there were very disorderly vile & absurd things practiced (such as profane singing and dancing, damning the Devil spitting in Persons Faces whom they apprehended not to be of their Society &c) greatly to the Dishonor of God & Scandal of Religion. (Signed)
JON & CUSHING JOHN MOODY.
It may be that the spitting in the faces of some persons was not intended as an insult, but to drive out evil spirits, since the same thing is now practised in some countries at the baptism of infants. I have often seen it in the Baptistery at Florence, Italy. The "profane singing and dancing" might have been nothing more than has been practised by Shakers, like the old Israelites praising the Lord with the tabret and with the dance. Many forms of worship seem absurd and vulgar till we get used to them, and then they are too good and sacred to be disturbed.
The Rev. Joseph Roberts preached for a short time after Mr. Gilman ceased to officiate. The latter died of consumption, 13 April 1748. Sickness probably had much to do with his mental disorders. "He was buried at Exeter, whither he was carried in procession by the young men of the town. He was greatly beloved for the excellencies of his character and disposition." His seems to have been a case of religious hallucination, caused by feeble health, overstrain of nerves, and the friendly influence of an unwise adviser. No records have been preserved of the results of his ministry, and we know nothing about baptisms, marriages and deaths during his term of office. In those days such records were the minister's private property, which usually he took away with him.
Mr. Gilman married, 22 October 1730, Mary, daughter of Bartholomew Thing of Exeter, who died 22 February, 1789. They had children : Bartholomew, born 26 August 1731 ; Nicholas, born 13 June 1733; Tristram, born 24 November 1735, who was graduated at Harvard and became minister of the church at North Yarmouth, Me .; Joseph, born 5 May 1738, who became a judge in Ohio and died 14 May 1806, and Josiah, born 2 Septem- ber 1740, who died 8 February 1801. The inventory of Mr. Gilman's estate shows that he had a good library, considerable
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real estate in Exeter, valuable furniture and one Negro slave, besides three gold rings and a pair of gold buttons, etc.
It was during the pastorate of Mr. Gilman that the parish of Madbury was formed of people living in Dover and Durham. The petition for the same was addressed to the Governor, Coun- cil and House of Representatives, convened the 10th day of May 1743, and was as follows:
The Petition of Sundry Persons Inhabitants of the Westerly part of the Town of Dover & the Northerly part of Durham in said Province Humbly Shews That your Petitioners live at such a distance from the meeting houses in their Respective Towns as makes it difficult for them & their Families to attend the Public Worship there especially in the Winter & spring seasons of the year which induc'd a number of your Petitioners some years since at their own cost to Build a meeting house situated more conveniently for them where they have some times had preaching in those seasons of the year at their own expense, tho they were not Exempted from paying their Proportion at the same time to the standing Minister of the Town.
That the Towns aforesaid are well able as your Petitioners apprehend to bear their annual charges without the assistance of ye Petitioners and that they might be Incorporated into a new Parish whereby they might be accommodated their children & servants (as well as themselves) have more Frequent oppor- tunity of attending Publick Worship and all of them Reep the advantages of such an Incorporation which considering their present circumstances they think would not be a few, and the Towns not Injured.
That your Petitioners conceive a parish might be erected with out prejudice to the other parts of the Town of Dover by the Following Boundaries viz., Beginning at the Bridge over Johnsons Creek so called, where the dividing Line between Dover and Durham Cross the Country Road & from thence running as the said Road runs until it comes even with Joseph Jenkins his house & from thence to run on a North West & by North course until it comes to the head of said Township which boundaries would comprehend the estates and habitations of, ye Petitioncrs living in Dover & the making of a parish there will greatly contribute to the settling the lands within said Boundaries & those that Lay contiguous as well as be very convenient for y. Petitioners. Wherefore they most humbly pray that a parish may be erected & Incorporated by the Boundaries aforesaid with the usual powers & Priviledges & that such of y. Petitioners as live within the Town of Durham may have liberty to Poll off into the same, or that such a part of the said Township may be annexed thereunto which would be the better way as will accommodate the Remote settlers in said Township near the said Boundaries as well as your petitioners
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or that they may be Relieved in such other way & method as this Honble Court shall see fit, & yor petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray &c.
Thomas Wille
John Huckins
John Roberts
James Jackson
Samuel Davis
Zachariah Pitman
Samuel Chesley
Ely Demerit
Thomas Bickford
John Foay Jr.
Daniel McHame
Solomon Emerson
James Huckins
Jacob Daniel
Ralph Hall
Joseph Rines
William Bussell
Benjamin Hall
Azariah Boody
William Demeret
Timothy Moses
William Allen
his
John Demeret
Nathiel O Davis
Zachariah Edgerly
Joseph Daniel
Francis Drew
Samuel Davis Jr.
Daniel Young
Jonathan Hanson
William Twombly
Robert Evens
Isaac Twombly
Jonathan Daniel
Joseph Evans Jr.
William Hill
John Evens
Stephen Pinkham
Henary Bussell
John Rowe
Joseph Hicks
Hercules Mooney
John Tasker
Joseph Twombly
Derry Pitman
Abraham Clark
Paul Gerrish Jr.
Joseph Jackson
John Bussell
James Clemens
Job Demeret
William Dam Jr.
David Daniel
Morres Fowler
James Chesle
Robert Wille
Reuben Chesle
Abel Leathers
Henery Tibbetes
[N. H. Province Papers, Vol. V.]
Nothing resulted from this petition and another petition was presented 17 January 1754, and Madbury was incorporated as a parish 31 May 1755, and impowered to raise money for the separate support of preaching, schools and paupers, but remained as before with respect to province taxes, highways, etc. This parish was vested with full town privileges 20 May 1768. The
mark
Henry Bickford
Benjamin Wille
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second petition was signed by the following, here arranged alpha- betically :
Azariah Boodey, Charles Bickford,
Reuben Gray, Capt. Hicks, James Huckins, John Huckins,
Henry Bickford, Thomas Bickford, Ebenezer Buzzell,
Robert Huckins,
Jacob Buzzell,
William Huckins,
John Buzzell,
James Jackson,
John Buzzell Jr., Joseph Buzzell,
Joseph Jackson,
Henry Buzzell,
Antony Jones,
William Buzzell,
Benjamin Leathers,
William Brown,
Joseph Libbey,
Samuel Chesley,
Timothy Moses,
James Clemons Jr.,
Timothy Perkins,
James Crown,
Zachariah Pitman,
James Davis,
Samuel Davis,
John Roberts, Joseph Ryans, John Smith, Ebenezer Tasker,
Ebenezer Demeret,
John Tasker Jr.
John Demeret,
Ens. John Tasker,
John Demret Jr., Job Demeret,
Nathaniel Tibbetts,
William Demeret,
Isaac Twombly,
Zachariah Edgerley, Lieut, Emerson,
Joseph Twombly,
John Evens,
Benjamin Willey,
William Fowler, Paul Gerrish, William Gliden,
John Winget, Jr.,
Daniel Young,
Thomas Glovier,
Noah Young.
Joseph Daniels,
Eli Demeret,
William Tasker,
William Twombly Jr.,
The next settled minister was the Rev. John Adams, son of Matthew Adams of Boston and nephew of the Rev. Hugh Adams. He was born 19 June 1725 and was graduated at Harvard College in 1745. The two factions in the church that existed in the time of his uncle's pastorate were still quarreling, and old Mr. Adams' party, "who had for a long time been separated and were a distinct body by themselves," were thought by the other party to have been too influential in the choice of the new minister. Gradually the opposition subsided with the lapse of time and the departure of some from the church militant. The articles of agreement with the Rev. John Adams contain some interesting touches of history:
James Jackson Jr.,
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HISTORY OF DURHAM
Articles of Agreement made and Concluded upon the third day of October ano que Domeney 1748 and in the twenty Second year of his maiesties Reign Between John Adams now Residing in Durham in the provence of newhamp- shire Clerk of the one Part & Philip Chesle David Davis Stephen Jones Jun Benj. Smith Job Runals Nath Rendal Joseph Wheler Jos Glidden Sam1 Wille Daniel Rogers Benj. Mathes & Joseph Sias all of Durham afore said as a Com- mittee of the said town lawfully chosen & appointed to contract & agree with the said John Adams for his sallerey as the Gospel minister of the sd town of the other part as follows that is to say where as the said town have lately invited & caled the said John Adams to settel among them the inhabitants of sd town in the office & capasaty of a Gospel minister to them which call the said John Adams has been Pleased to accept & we being chosen for ye purpose afore said Have bargained & agreed and by the Presents Do Covenant Bargain & agree to & with the said John Adams to pay him and the sd town shall hereby be obliged to pay the sd John Adams the yearly salary of five hundred pounds old tenor bills of Public Credit during the time that he shall continue in the gospel ministry in the sd town the sd yearly salary to commence the twenty fifth day of March next and for the Preventing of iniustice & dispute between the sd town & the said John Adams by the alteration & change of the Value of the said bills it is further agreed by the sd parties to these Presents that the sd bills shall be fixed according to the following Rules of Computation with Respect to the said sum that is to say comparing the same with Indian Corn at thirty shillings old tennor a bushel Pork at three shillings old tenor a pound & beaf at one shilling and six pence old tennor a pound and in case the sd specis of Provision shall be dearer & the Price thereof Rise then the said yearly salary shall be increased & such a farther sum added thereunto as shall be equil- ent & Proportionable to the Rising & Increas of the Price of such Provision above the Respective Prices herein before mentioned and in case the prices of the said Kinds of Provision shall fall & be lower than the Respective sums aforesd than the sd yearly sallery shall be abated & such a sum deducted from the same as shall be Equelant & Proportionable to such fall & lowering of the sd Prices and in case one of said Kinds of Provision only shall alter in the price either derer of cheper then one third of the sd sum of five hundred pounds shall folow the sd price or the Rule of that Kind of Provision & be either in- creased or deminished in Proportion as aforesaid & the other Remaining the same then two thirds of the sd five hundred Pounds shall folow the said altera- tion in manner aforesaid-
AND it is hereby farther covenanted & agreed between the sd Parties to these Presents that ye said John Adams shall have hold & enioy the Parson- age house which the late Reverant Nicolas Gilman occupied & improved in said Durham and the ten acres of Parsonage land lying near to sd house which he improved also being part of the Parsonage lands belonging to sd town dur- ing the time of his ministry as afore said & the said John Adams doth hereby covenant and agree to and with the sd Commite that he will accept the afore said sum of five hundred Pounds to be paid in manner afore said with the mprovement of the said house and land as afore said in full of all demands and claims for salary from the said town for his service in the capasaty afore sd and that he will Keep the sd house in good tenentable Repair at his own
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own proper cost & charge. In testemoney whereof the said Parties to these Presents have hereunto interchangably set their hands and seals the day and year first above written.
Then follow the signatures of the persons above named. The acceptance of his call is also spread upon the town records as follows:
DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE, October third 1748.
WHEREAS it has pleased the Soverign Ruler & Dysposer of all things to incline and dispose the generalaty of the People of this place to attend to my Preaching amongst them with such satisfaction & approbation as that the freeholders of said town at there meeting held here on the day last Past were very unanemus in giving me an invitation & call to settel among them in the work of the ministry & to undertake & ingage in the office & duty of the Gospell ministry of the said town and after due Deliberation upon this weighty affair & considering the great unaninity of the people in this case which is the more Remarkable because of former Divisions among them I esteem the voice of the people in this case to be the voice of God and ading to this some par- ticuler call from God & secret intimation to my own Breast inclining me there- to l accept of the said invitation & call Promising as the Lord shall anable me faithfulley to the utmost of my ability to Discharge the Duties of that defficult and Important affair and in all things according to my Power to behave my self as becoms a minister of the Gospele of Jesus Christ & to be contented with such Satiesfaction Salery and Reward as shall be agreed between the Com- tee of ye town and my self. In testemony where of I hereunto subscribe my name as in the Presents & in the favor of the Lord the day and year above writen-
JOHN ADAMS.
On account of fluctuating prices the salary of Mr. Adams was changed, in 1774, to seventy-two pounds ten shillings of lawful money, half to be paid semiannually. New difficulties arose and he was dismissed 16 January 1778, after thirty years of serv- ice. He removed to Newfield, Me., in 1781, where he preached and practised medicine till his death, 9 June 1792. He mar- ried (1) 13 October 1752, Sarah Wheeler of Durham, (2) Hannah Chesley of Durham, and had fourteen children. About a cen- tury after his departure from Durham a copy of his manuscript records of marriages and baptisms during the years 1749-63 was obtained by Miss Mary P. Thompson from one of his descend- ants. There are one hundred and twenty marriages and three hundred and thirty-three baptisms. The Rev. John Adams was a man of ability in mechanics and music as well as in the work of the ministry. He took an active part in the events that led to the Revolution and was chairman of the first committee in Dur-
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HISTORY OF DURHAM
ham of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety. It is said of him that at times he was greatly depressed and at other times his genius flashed out in bursts of eloquence. Toward the close of his pastorate in Durham prejudices were excited against him "by a false and slanderous attack on his character by a worth- less woman." Thus the lie of a disreputable person sometimes outweighs the truth as proclaimed and lived throughout thirty years, and those who believe such a lie are about as guilty as the liar. When he preached his farewell sermon in Durham, he requested his audience to sing, after his reading, a metrical ver- sion of the 120th Psalm, which certainly ministered to mortifi- cation, if not to edification.
It was during the pastorate of the Rev. John Adams that the parish of Lee was formed. A house of worship must have been built in Lee quite early, for 28 October 1765, the town of Dur- ham voted thirty pounds lawful money to "repair the meeting house near Little River." The first meeting house stood in the burial ground at Paul Giles' corner. The Rev. Samuel Hutchins was the first minister. The Rev. John Osborne preached there many years, though the Congregational Church in Lee was not organized till 3 December 1867.
After the dismission of Mr. Adams the church was in a weak condition. The members were few and scattered. A confes- sion of faith was for the first time adopted and nine males and ten females subscribed to it, after the installation of his succes- sor. They were Curtis Coe, Abednego Lethers, John Edgerly, Thomas Bickford, Benja Smith, Walter Bryent, Valentine Mathes, Jeremiah Burnham, Joseph Stevens, Phebe Mathes, Bethiah Bickford, Hannah Mathes, Margaret Frost, Sarah Edgerly, Mary Chesle, Abigail Burnham, Hannah Small, Eliza- beth Bryent, and Abigail Thomas. There may have been a few more church members at that time, but, if so, they did not sign the new covenant and creed.
The Rev. Curtis Coe was born in Middleton, Conn., 21 July 1750. He was graduated at Brown University in 1776. He began preaching at Durham as early as 18 August 1779 and was ordained and installed there I November 1780. It was agreed that he have the use of the parsonage house, to be repaired, and £75 in money annually, to be computed according to the price of certain articles. Mr. Coe resigned his pastorate I May 1806
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HISTORY OF DURHAM
and became a home missionary in Milton, N. H., and in other towns. He married, 22 February 1781, Ann, daughter of Judge Ebenezer Thompson. The dismissing council declared that "Mr. Coe's character is unspotted" and that they esteemed him "a man eminent for piety and a faithful minister of the New Testament." He died in South Newmarket 7 June 1829. Descendants of his are now living in Durham.
It was during the pastorate of Mr. Coc, in 1792, that a new meeting house was erected on the site of the former one, where now is the Sullivan monument. The plans for this meeting house were drawn by Judge Ebenezer Thompson, perhaps acting as agent for Noah Jewett, to whom the town records ascribe the plan. The meeting house was sixty feet in length, fifty feet in width, and the posts were twenty-nine feet high. It had a portico at the front door and another at the back door, with "good handsome hewn stones at the doors." The house had broad galleries around three sides and a lofty pulpit at the east end, with a sounding board over it and deacons' pew in front of it. At the west end was "a steeple with a spire and a weathercock or vane thereon." In this steeple hung a bell, which could be heard at the mouth of Oyster River. "The plastered arch overhead" was "painted a sky color interspersed with scattered clouds." The contract specified that the meet- ing house should be like that at Amherst, N. H., built also by Edmund Thompson. The old meeting house was sold at auc- tion to Capt. Joseph Richardson for £40. It proved to be rotten and so the town released him from paying £20.
At vendue at the house of Joseph Richardson the building of the new meeting house was struck off to William Smith, at £760. April 13, 1792, the committee, which consisted of Valen- tine Mathes, Ebenezer Thompson, Ebenezer Smith, Joseph Young, Bradbury Jewell, Edmund Pendergast, Zebulon Durgin, Jonathan Woodman, Jr., Noah Jewett, Edmund Thompson and John Blydenburgh, located the house as follows: "The sill on the fore side or southern side shall be placed and leveled as follows, viz., the west end to be placed exactly where the north- west corner of the old meeting house stood, and to be ex- tended easterly exactly over the same ground where the back side of the old meeting house was placed, and to be carried on the same line until the sixty feet is completed, and the other sills
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REV. CURTIS COE
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HISTORY OF DURHAM
to be squared accordingly." The house had an "electric wire," or lightning-rod, at a cost of £5, 18s.
Pews were sold at prices ranging from £19 to £34. The fol- lowing persons were purchasers: John Blydenburgh, Noah Jewett, Ebenezer Thompson, Joseph Chesley, Samuel Edgerly, Stephen Cogan, Ebenezer Thompson, Jr., Jeremiah Mooney, George Frost, Jr., Zebulon Durgin, Joseph Richardson, James Leighton, William Ballard, Eliphalet Daniel, Edmund Thomp- son, Benjamin Thompson, George Dame, Samuel Edgerly, Jr., Jacob Crommett, Capt. Jonathan Woodman, Samuel Joy, Joseph Wormwood, Col. Samuel Adams, Stephen Evans, Samuel Edgerly, Thomas Pinkham, Lieut. Benjamin Chesley, John Stevens, Capt. Joseph Young, William Smith, Ebenezer Doe, Valentine Mathes, Esq., Valentine Wormwood, Benjamin Smith, Reuben Bickford, Jonathan Chesley, Edward Pender- gast, Timothy Meserve, Bradbury Jewell, Curtis Coe, Joshua Davis, John Bennett, Stephen Durgin, John Smith, 3d, and Robert Lapish. The thirty-one remaining pews were struck off to William Smith at £4 each.
While the new church was in process of erection, meetings were held in Jonathan Edgerly's Bark House, so called, which stood near his tannery, near the Falls. Mr. Edgerly lived where Mr. David H. Fogg now lives, on the north side of the road to the Point, in the vicinity of the Pound. Town meetings were held in this Bark House in 1796, after the new meeting house was completed. Some town meetings were held in Joseph Richard- son's tavern. In March 1798, the town meeting was held in the school house, erected the year before, near Widow Griffin's.
About this time towns were ceasing to pay taxes for the sup- port of ministers and poll parishes were formed. New denomi- nations were coming in, and the Baptist Church at Madbury, of which the Rev. William Hooper was minister, attracted some of the Rev. Curtis Coe's parishioners, who for some reason did not take kindly to his preaching. The dissenters seem to have been led by Col. Timothy Emerson, who sued the town for taxing him for ministerial support. A letter from the Rev. Wil- liam Hooper is recorded in the town records, dated 31 December 1802. He stated that the following persons from Durham were regular members of his church and society and had contributed that year to his support, viz., Jonathan Steele, Andrew Simpson,
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James Durgin, Jeremiah Emerson, John Ffrost, Jonathan Ches- ley, Jonathan Chesley, Jr., John Angiers, Robert Bickford, Samuel Langley, Samuel C. Drew, John Bickford, Nathaniel Demeritt, Andrew Stevens, Benjamin Smith, Israel Demeritt, Robert Burn- ham, Philip Chesley, Edward Wells, Joseph Daniels, Elijah Gove, John Winkley, Robert Leathers, Jr., Thomas Jones, Andrew Emerson, George Grover, John Stevens, John Emerson, Joshua Ballard, William Emerson, Ephraim Hanson, Samuel Stevens, Andrew Bickford, William Bickford, Anne Stevens, Elizabeth Stevens, and Love Davis-thirty-six in all, while the total men- bership of the church at Durham Falls was not more than half that number. This indicated either decided opposition to the Rev. Curtis Coe or to the system by which they were taxed to pay him. There was a wide call for a complete separation of church and state. Methodists, Baptists, Quakers and others were building denominational churches. The above persons were temporary Baptists for financial as well as ecclesiastical reasons. March 28, 1805, Jonathan Steele and fifty others petitioned for a poll parish in Durham. In 1807 and 1808 nothing was voted by the town for the support of the ministry.
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