USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Mont Vernon > History of the town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire > Part 7
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Mr. Kingsbury removed West and died some years since in Wis- consin. He was not a man of marked ability, but his ministry here was prosperous, and during it one hundred and fifty-four were received into the church. Two periods of peculiar interest occurred, the former in 1828, when thirty-four were added, the latter in 1831, when nearly sixty united by profession.
These were revival days when the ministers aided each other in what were called "protracted meetings," which were often seasons of thrilling interest and great power. Never before nor since, has this church been the scene of such religious activity, seenes still living vividly in the remembrance of some among us.
It was in 1830, during Mr. Kingsbury's pastorate, that the tem- perance reform began in the church, and was vigorously and steadily prosecuted outside until it expelled liquors from the town. The youth of the present day can hardly imagine the condition of this small community, with eight tavern licenses signed in a single year. In some places they sold a hogshead of liquor a month ; and though but a small portion of this quantity was dispensed to residents, it was enough to alarm the thoughtful and virtuous. At that period two public roads led northward. through different sections of the town. They were thoroughfares thronged with light and heavy travel. At all hours of the day lines of canvas-covered six-horse merchandise wagons might be seen bearing their heavy freight from and to the seaboard. To modify and control public opinion was no easy matter, work which required strong heads and true hands. Dr. Daniel Adams may be named as one early prominent in this movement of philan- thropy. He delivered convincing and effective addresses on this subject in this and other towns.
THE FIFTH PASTOR. Rev. Edwin Jennison, was born in Wal- pole, N. H., August 26, 1805, being the son of Maj. William and Phebe (Field) Jennison. He fitted for college at Alstead, N. H., and Windsor, Vt., and gradnated at Dartmouth College in 1827 ; and at Andover, (Mass.), Theological Seminary in 1830. August 16, 1831, he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in his native town, and was dismissed therefrom March 18, 1835. IIe was
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called to the church at Mont Vernon to succeed the Rev. Nathaniel Kingsbury, and was installed April 6, 1836. The installing prayer was by the Rev. A. Burgess, Hancock ; the sermon by Rev. Nathan- iel Kingsbury, the retiring pastor, who also delivered the address to the church and society. The charge and concluding prayer were by the Rev. E. P. Bradford of New Boston ; and the fellowship of the churches, by the Rev. William Richardson of Lyndeboro. He was dismissed on account of ill health, August 19, 1841. After recruit- ing his health, and visiting England and Scotland, he was called to the church in Ashburnham, Mass., where he was installed May 12, 1842, from which pastorate he was dismissed in 1846. He then ac- cepted a call to Hopkinton, N. H., where he was installed June 6, 1847, and dismissed June 6, 1849. He preached in Alstead in 1850- 2, and in Langdon, 1852-4. His health became so much impaired that he was compelled to abandon the active ministry, and in 1860 retired to a small farm in Winchester, N. H., whence, in 1880, he removed to Conway, Mass., to be, with his wife, under the more immediate care of their children.
Mr. Jennison was married in Ipswich, Mass., January 25, 1832, to Miss Mary Barker Shannon, daughter of Dr. Richard Cutts and Mary (Tebbetts) Shannon, of Saco, Me. They had four children- Edwin Shannon, born at Walpole, December 13. 1832; William Cutts, born at Mont Vernon, May 29, 1837 ; Mary Theresa, born at Mont Vernon, April 4, 1840 : and Helen Maria, born at Ashburnham, November 23, 1844. The second and third of these children died and were buried while Mr. Jennison was in England. Mrs. Jennison died November 22, 1885 ; and Mr. Jennison, December 25, 1887, at the ripe old age of 82 years and 4 months.
It was during his pastorate that the following Church Covenant was adopted, at a church meeting held September 21, 1837 :
CONFESSION OF FAITH.
You believe, 1st, That there is one God and but one, who is the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the Universe, and who possesses every natural and moral perfection.
2nd, That the Bible was written by holy inen, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, and is a perfect rule of faith and practice.
3d, That God exists in three persons-the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in essence and equal in every divine perfection.
4th, That God has made all things for himself, and that known unto him are all his works from the beginning: that he governs and controls all things, creatures and events, according to the council of his
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own will; and that the administration of his government is perfectly holy, just and good.
5th, That God created Adam perfectly holy, and constituted him the representative of all his posterity, suspending their moral character upon his probationary conduct.
6th, That in consequence of the fall of Adam all mankind are by nature entirely sinful and deserve to be punished with eternal death.
7th, That the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God and man, has by His death on the cross, made an atonement for the sins of the whole world.
8th, That through the atonement, salvation is freely offered to sin- ners, in the Gospel: Yet they all naturally reject this gracious offer, and refuse to come to Christ that they may have eternal life.
9th, That God in the covenant of redemption chose all who ever obtain salvation by Christ in him from before the foundation of the world, and from eternity predestined them to be holy heirs of eternal glory.
10th, That the Holy Spirit. by an act of special grace, renews the heart of all the elect, and causes them in the present life to accept the salvation of the Gospel.
11th, That the foundation of the forgiveness of believers is the atone- ment of Christ; in this atonement they become interested by true faith alone. Yet God will reward them for all their holy services.
12th, That God promises to preserve all who have been renewed in the spirit and temper of their minds from final apostacy, and conduct them through the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth into the Kingdom of Glory.
13th, That none but those who really and truly love the Lord Jesus Christ ought to partake of the Lord's Supper; every church ought to re- quire a profession of love to the Redeemer, of all whom they admit to their communion.
14th, That adult believers who have not been baptized are subjects of baptism, and the children of professing believers.
15th, That God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, who will then receive the right- eous to endless happiness, and the wicked to everlasting punishment.
A true record :
J. BRUCE, Secretary.
It was also during Mr. Jennison's pastorate in 1837, that the meeting-house was removed from the easterly to the westerly side of the street, and remodeled and furnished with a belfry, bell and organ, an account of which is given elsewhere. Mr. Jennison occu- pied, during his residence in Mont Vernon, the house opposite the entrance to the cemetery, now known as " Elm Cottage." His salary was $500. Dr. Daniel Adams led the choir in those days. The deacons were John Bruce, William Conant and Joseph A. Starrett. During his pastorate twenty-three persons were admitted to the church. It is said of him that as a sermonizer he excelled, but as pastor he did very little visiting. During his pastorate the slavery question somewhat agitated the church and disturbed its peace. A
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very good portrait appears of him elsewhere, made from a daguerreo- type, furnished by a daughter, Mrs. Chelsea Cook of Conway, Mass.
THE SIXTII PASTOR was the Rev. Bezaleel Smith, a native of Randolph, Vt., a farmer's boy, whose parents were John and Sarah (Lawrence) Smith, who were married in Lexington, Mass., Nov. 15, 1781, and removed to Randolph, Vt., about 1790. They had nine children-four sons and five daughters. The father was in the bat- tle of Lexington. Bezaleel was born April 2, 1797, and was named for his maternal grand-father, Bezaleel Lawrence.
He was born and grew up as most New England farmers' boys do, fitting for college at Randolph, and graduating at Dartmouth with the class of 1823.
He became a Christian when nineteen years of age. His con- version was of the rugged sort of those days, and the struggle through which he passed stamped his character with earnestness and fervor, that permeated his subsequent religious life. Writing of this in later years, he says, " Returning from a meeting on a certain Sabbath. I took up my Bible to read, when I felt a rising opposition in my mind to what I read. My heart was fille l with hate and blasphemy. It went out in opposition to Christ, and to whatever was in His praise." This hostility continued for several weeks, but terminated by the complete surrender of himself to Christ, whom he ever after delighted to love and honor, as his rightful Master.
Mr. Smith soon decided to prepare for the ministry, anticipating with great delight, that his business would be to meditate upon the truths of the Bible and lead others to this enjoyment. His college life was marked by a high standard of religious thought and life. On graduating, he taught in the Academy at Hampton, N. H. One of his pupils was Eliza Esther Morrison, daughter of John B. Morri- son, a merchant of that place. Shortly after Mr. Smith's first settlement in the ministry, that pupil became his wife. She died at Mont Vernon, where she was laid to rest in the village cemetery, mourned by a large circle of devoted friends. Eight children were born to them. He married for a second wife Mrs. Laura S. Brown, daughter of Belcher Salisbury of Randolph, who died in 1896.
After teaching for a time at Hampton, Mr. Smith returned to Hanover to study theology under President Tyler. A written sermon, forenoon and afternoon was then required. The writer of this sketch remembers his father telling him, that when he handed President
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Tyler his second sermon, after it had been duly criticised, the presi- dent said, " Now you can preach all day."
Mr. Smith received his license from the Harmony Association at Plymouth, N. H .. November 14, 1827. IIe preached at different places, until the spring of 1829, when he was ordained and installed over the church at Rye, N. H., as associate pastor, with Rev. Hunt- ington Porter. From Rye he went to Mount Vernon in 1841, where he was installed August 19 of that year.
The exercises were as follows : - Invocation and Reading, Rev. John Haven, Stoneham, Mass. ; Introductory Prayer and Right Hand of Fellowship, Rev. Austin Richards, Nashua ; Sermon and Installing Prayer, Rev. Jonathan French, North Hampton, N. H. ; Charge to the Pastor, Rev. E. P. Bradford, New Boston; Addresses to the People and Concluding Prayer, Rev. H. Moore, Milford.
He remained in this pastorate nine years, being dismissed April 30, 1850.
He was a sound but not brilliant preacher ; cautions and discreet, a pastor who made no enemies Slaveholders were by vote excluded from church fellowship and from the Lord's table, and thirty-two persons were added to the church during his pastorate. He removed from here to Roxbury, N. H., and laboring there two years was called to the pastorate of the church in New Alstead, N. H., and thence to the church in Hanover Centre, N. H., in 1861, where he remained for ten years. His final ministry was at West Hartford, Vt., from which church he retired as an active minister, December, 1877.
The last days were passed in his native town. During his half- century in the ministry, there were only five Sundays when he did not preach ; twice only, when he was detained from the pulpit by illness. A brother minister said, at the time of his death, "The elements of character which combined to make him a success in the ministry were, energy of purpose, a ready acquiescence in the call of duty, self-devotion to all the interests of the church, generosity in his religious sympathies, and the retention of a youthful spirit." He died in Randolph, Vt., May 15, 1894.
The following interesting paragraph concerning Mr. Smith is from the Congregationalist in December, 1877, from the pen of the late Rev. Lewis Grout, of Brattleboro, Vt. :
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A LIVE MAN.
" Here is a young man for you ; not that he is wanting a call or waiting for a parish. He could not be spared from the parish he now ocenpies and serves-West Hartford, Vt. He has been here a a little more than five years, and in that time has seen the resident membership of his church more than doubled by the addition of more than forty to their number. He will be only eighty years old next April, and has been in the ministry as yet only fifty years. Yester- day (Dee. 10) was one of the coldest of wintry days. On the day previous a foot of snow fell, and the wind blew furiously all day Saturday and all night, putting the snow in piles, putting the railroad trains from three to six hours behind time even with engines doubled. And yet, with the mercury below zero, our octogenarian, the Rev. Bezaleel Smith, for such is his name, started out Sabbath morning with his own team, to drive to a neighboring parish, six miles away, to honor an appointment for an exchange of pulpits, and reached there just in time to astonish his stalwart brother of thirty-five and inspire him with courage to start out and meet his part of the engage- ment. Let the men of years take heart and work on, and let the young men see to it that they are not outdone by the fathers."
THE SEVENTHI PASTOR, the Rev. Charles D. Herbert, youngest son of Hon. George Herbert, of Ellsworth, Me., was born at that place, September 18, 1818; graduated at Bowdoin College in 1841; and three years later at Bangor Theological Seminary. He was immediately ordained, and went as a home missionary to the West. After several years on the frontier in this service, he returned to New England. He commenced preaching in Mont Vernon, July 5, 1850, and was installed pastor, November 6, 1850, the exercises being as follows : Invocation and Reading of Scriptures, Rev. W. G. Tuttle, Littleton, Mass, ; Reading First Hymn, Rev. D. Goodwin, Brookline; First Prayer, Rev. L. Swain, Nashua; Second Hymn and Sermon, Rev. J. Maltby, Bangor; Installing Prayer, Rev. J. Willey, Goffstown: Charge to Pastor, Rev. J. G. Davis, Amherst; Fellowship, Rev. E. B. Claggett. Lyndeborough; Address to the People, Rev. E. N. Hidden, Milford ; Concluding Prayer, Rev. Mr. Kellogg. New Boston.
Coming here young and enthusiastic Mr. Herbert devoted him- self with singleness of aim and Christian zeal to his work. His labors here exhibited him as a kind, sympathetic and sincere friend. and an earnest and consecrated man. Under his ministry in 1851 and 1852, quite a number of young people in the academy and 'out- side attained the Christian hope. The whole number added to the
5
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church during his ministry was fifty-five. He closed his labors here early in 1856, and was soon after settled over a church in West Newbury, Mass. After a ministry there of many years, he qualified himself for the practice of medicine, and labored in Rutland, Mass., some years, both preaching and practising Some years since he was recalled to his former parish at West Newbury, both preaching and practising medicine there. In 1887 he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Hebron, N. Y., which he resigned on account of ill health. He was then much prostrated by an attack of la grippe, and continued to decline slowly but steadily, to a peaceful and pain- less end. October 13, 1893. The burial was at Mt. Auburn, Mass., October 17, 1893.
THE EIGHTH PASTOR was the Rev. Charles E. Lord, who having commenced preaching October 1, 1856, was installed February 4, 1857, the exercises being as follows: Scribe, Rev. J. G. Davis, Amherst; Reading Seripture and Opening Prayer, Rev. Lothrop Taylor, Francestown; Sermon, Rev. Dr. J. P. Cleveland. Appleton Street Church, Lowell, Mass. ; Ins'a ling Prayer. Rev. E. B. Clag- gett, Lyndeborough; Fellowship, Rev. E. N. Ililden, Milford ; Address to the People, Rev. E. C. Cogswell, New Boston.
Mr. Lord was dismissed April 2, 1861. He was born in Ports- month, N. H., February 11, 1817, the son of John Perkins Lord, a brother of the famous historical writer, Rev. John Lord, and a nephew of the still more famous educator and theologian, Rev. Nathan Lord, D. D., for thirty years President of Dartmouth College. The subject of this sketch fitted for college in South Berwick. Me., to which town his parents removed in his early child- hood. He also studied at Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., and graduated at Dartmouth College with the class of 1×38. IIe taught in the South Berwick, Me , Academy for a year, and for two years had charge of an academy at Kingston, N. C. He studied theology at Union Theological Seminary, New York, and was at the Theologi- cal school at New Haven for two years, and studied one year at Auburn, N. H. He was ordained to the ministry at Jonesville, Ind., May 8, 1844. In 1845 he preached at Marshall, Mich. November 17, 1846, he was installed as pastor of a Presbyterian church at Niles, Mich., being dismissed therefrom in 1849. He was one year with the Presbyterian church at Evansville, Ind., and subsequently preached at Mont Vernon, Chester, Vt., 1865-1869, Beverly, New
.
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Jersey, 1869, 1870, North Easton Mass., Pelham, N. Y., and from 1888 till his death conducted a mission under the name of Hope Chapel at Salisbury Beach, near Newburyport, where he resided. He received his degree of D. D., from East Tennessee Wesleyan University in 1873.
Dr. Lord was a voluminous writer on theological and ethical topics. He was an ardent abolitionist and a warm patriot. At the breaking out of the Civil War he preached two war sermons at Mont Vernon (April 28, 1861) which were published. The text of his morning sermon was " Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." Exodus, XIV : 12. The afternoon text was, "And he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." Luke XXII : 36. The two discourses well fitted the strenuous texts.
The Congregational Year-Book for 1903, in a sketch of his career makes the following mention of his teaching and other service, and published works :
"Made a member of the Society of Science, Letters, and Art, Lon- don, 1888; professor of Christianity and Church History in Talmage's Lay College, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1873; professor in Lay College, Revere, Mass .; secretary of Peace Society, New York, 1874. Publications: Natural and Revealed Theology, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1870, pp. 550. Possibilities of the African Race, a lecture before the National House of Representatives, Washington, D. C., 1869. Pamph- let on Slavery, Secession, and the Constitution, and Our Country's Crisis, 1861. An Appeal to Our Country's Loyalty, 1864. History of Congregational Church, Chester, Vt., 1868."
Dr. Lord was married, January 15, 1857, soon after he came to Mont Vernon, to Miss Eunice Elizabeth Smith Pike, daughter of Joseph Smith and Sarah (Pettengill) Pike, of Newburyport, who still (May, 1905,) survives him, having reached the age of ninety in August, 1903.
Hope Chapel was burned in the autumn of 1902, and Dr. Lord was actively engaged in securing its rebuilding at the time of his death, which occurred very suddenly, February 19, 1901, from heart failure.
THIE NINTH PASTOR, the Rev. George E. Sanborne, was the son of Rev. Peter and Martha ( Wakefield) Sanborne, and was born at Reading, Mass., April 16, 1827. He fitted for college at Williston Seminary and Monson Academy, and graduated at Amherst College
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in 1853. He took the full course at Andover Theological Seminary. 1853 to 1856, and February 12, 1856, was licensed to preach by the Andover Association in Lowell. January 1, 1857, he was ordained pastor of the church in Georgia, Vi., and served that church until 1861, and having served as acting pastor of a church in Portsmouth, N. H. for a year, he was installed over the church at Mont Vernon, April 2, 1862.
The exercises were as follows, Rev. William Clark, of Amherst, being moderator, and Rev. Charles Cutter, of Francestown, scribe :- Reading Scriptures, Rev. Darwin E. Adams, Wilton ; Prayer, Rev. E. B. Claggett. Lyndeborough ; Sermon. Rev. C. W. Wallace, D.D., Manchester ; Charge, Rev. C. E. Lord, retiring pastor; Fellowship, Rev. J. T. Hill, Nashua ; Charge to the People, Rev. Augustus Berry, Pelham ; Concluding Prayer, Rev. C. Cutter, Rochester, N. H.
He was dismissed May 29, 1865, and went to a church in North- boro, Mass., where he remained until 1870. From 1870 to 1875 he was Superintendent of the Hartford, (Conn.,) Orphan Asylum, also preaching in 1870-1872 at Tolland, Conn., at Wethersfield Avenue church in Hartford ( which he organized), and in 1875 at Enfield, Conn. He then became steward of the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford, in which capacity he served till 1895, when owing to feeble health he was obliged to retire, although he continued to live in Hartford until he died of sclerosis of the spinal cord, Jannary 7, 1900.
Mr. Sanborne was married June 10, 1858, to Annie E. Knowlton, daughter of Dea. John Knowlton of Portsmouth, and she survived him. He was much beloved by his parishoners of Mont Vernon for his genial manners and kindly courtesy, and he was a preacher of many rare qualities.
The ministry of both Messrs. Lord and Sanborne was barren of noteworthy incidents and the numerical increase to the church slight. The Civil War was waging, and public attention was concentrated upon it, to the exclusion of other interests. The clergymen of Mont Vernon, like most of their brethren, during that eventful period, omitted no effort to set and keep the public opinion around them in what they deemed the right channel-the prosecution of the war for the destruction of slavery, and the conquest of rebellion as the only basis for a re-united country. They sought in and out of the pulpit to stimulate the zeal and sustain the courage of the people. And
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the event has justified their patriotism as of the true quality. A peace based on righteousness conquered.
THE TENTH PASTOR was the Rev. Benson M. Frink, who in re- sponse to a request for the salient points in his life sent the following personal sketch :-
I was born in Bartlett, Carroll County, N. H., June 20th, 1838; the youngest of four sons of the Rev. Silas and Sarah P. Frink. When I was two years of age, my family moved to Conway Center in the same County, where my father died when I was fifteen years old. I received my early educational training in my native town, and in the Academy in Fryeburg, Maine, and in Beloit, Wisconsin.
In October, 1859, I entered Bangor Theological Seminary with my brother, from which we were graduated in a class of 23 in 1862.
After engaging in missionary work in Quebec and the Townships, for one year, I was called to the pastorate of the Congregational Church in Derby, Vermont. Here I was pastor for two years, during which time, I opened the long closed Academy, serving as principal for one term; but the added responsibility of sixty-six pupils and three assist- ants was more than my strength would permit, with my other work, and I declined to continue my connection with the school.
During the month of August, 1865, I supplied the church in Mont Vernon. While there, I received a very urgent call to the pastorate, which I accepted, beginning my work September 24th, and was installed November 1st. In October, 1867, I received a unanimous call from the Central Congregational Church, Portland, Maine, and November 1st, I was dismissed from the Mont Vernon Church, that I might accept the call extended me from Maine. Since then I have been pastor in Saco, Maine; Beverly, Hamilton, Whitman, Shelburne and West Brookfield, all in Massachusetts, and in this last place I now (May, 1905) reside without a permanent pastoratc.
August 28th, 1859, I was married to Miss Mary E. Webb, in Bridg- ton, Maine, to whom I am largely indebted for any success which I may have had in the Christian ministry.
Of the two years service in Mont Vernon, much was accom- plished by our united effort. During the first winter, every activity was turned toward the special work of the church. Mr. Charles A. Towle was then the principal of the Academy, (succeeding Rev. C. F. P. Bancroft,) who gave to us his earnest and faithful service, and for five evenings each week for seventeen weeks, meetings were held in the various school districts of the town, and in the spring 57 persons united with the church.
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