USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Peterborough > History of the town of Peterborough, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire > Part 7
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WE have no means of telling when the Presbyterian Church was formed in town. The records of the church were destroyed in the conflagration of Dea. Robert Morison's house, in 1791, and so through the ministry of Rev. John Morrison, and that of Rev. David Annan, we have no account of deaths or marriages. And then the affairs of the church were exceedingly complicated, being interwoven with the history of the town. The town managed all its financial matters, and all matters relating to the meeting-house. The ministerial support was levied by a public tax, and the pro- curing of preaching devolved on a special committee chosen for this purpose, or on the selectmen. A Presbyterian minis- ter, by the name of Johnston, came early with the settlers, and remained about a year, after which they were subject to frequent changes, procuring supplies as they could. Rev. Mr. Harvey preached for a time, and in 1764 the Rev. Mr. Powers.
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
The first house for public worship was erected in the year 1752, under the proprietary management. It is first men- tioned after incorporation, in 1761, when sixty-eight pounds were voted to repair the meeting-house, and purchase the land on which it stood. "To protect meeting-house from falling trees and fire, each surveyor, with all his gang, should work one day to clear about the meeting-house, and clear the grave- yard and fence it." "Voted, To enlarge old meeting-house by an addition eighteen feet long on south side, and as wide as the old house is long, and join roof of addition to that of old house." In 1763, "voted to lay a floor and build plank seats, and glaze windows in meeting-house." "Voted, To demand of Alexander Scott the 'neals' given by the proprie- tors." The old house is not again mentioned except in the following vote of 1774; viz. :-
" Voted, To build a new meeting-house upon the ten acres of common land, where the old one stands and some distance west from said house." Chose William Smith, William Robbe, and Henry Ferguson a committee to carry the same into effect. "Voted also one hundred pounds toward the same, and that it should be framed, boarded, clapboarded, shingled, and glazed by the committee one year from the date, which will be in 1776." We know not the cause of the delay, but the house was not raised till 1777, and remained in an unfinished state a number of years.
In 1779 we learn that the town released Mr. Comings with regard to the obligation to build the meeting-house, and allowed him certain sums for his labor, and at the same time voted to finish the new meeting-house, and lay the under floor, and have windows for the lower story. The house remained unfinished till 1784, when a committee was chosen to let out the building of the pews and the finishing of the meeting-house, and in 1785 there was action of the town in relation to the galleries, and after this there was no more legislation, only votes to move the meeting-house to a more convenient place, in 1795 ; and if the town cannot agree, the subject to be submitted to a committee from out of town; in 1797, also to move meeting-house, if they can agree upon a
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place to set it; in 1798 it was "voted to set the meeting- house a little to the east of the house that Thomas H. Blood (Dr. Blood) now lives in (Carter's Corner) when built or moved." I find no other action in regard to the house, only that in 1812 it was voted to make a thorough repair of the meeting-house, and one hundred dollars voted for the same in 1813. In same year, April 6, "Voted that the town be at one-half of the expense of purchasing a stove, on condition that the other half of expense is done by subscription, said stove to be the property of the town, and to be kept in the meeting-house." In 1816 it was voted not to repair meeting- house, so no repairs were made on the house, nor, indeed, did a stove ever get within its walls.
An effort was made to fix upon a location for a new meet- ing-house in 1816, and a committee from out of town was selected ; viz., Nahum Parker, of Fitzwilliam, Samuel Bachel- der, of New Ipswich, and Benjamin Pierce, of Hillsboro. It was not till 1819 that this committee was called on to act. The town chose David Steele, Jonathan Faxon, Thomas Steele, Nathaniel Holmes, Jonathan Smith, James Cuning- ham, Robert Swan, Hugh Miller, David Carter, Adam Penni- man to wait on committee of location and see that all neces- sary admeasurements be made, and all necessary information be furnished, and notify them to come as soon as con- venient.
This committee was assembled in June. ' As preparatory to their decision, the distances were accurately measured from every dwelling in town to a central point, with the number of each household : those in the south-east to Hunt's Corner ; those in the south-west to Carter's Corner ; those in the west and north-west to Smith's Bridge; those in the north-east to John Little's Corner ; the same being laid down on a plan, now in good preservation, by Caleb Searle, June 19, 1819.
This committee, after a careful examination, fixed the place of location for the new meeting-house, north of the house of James Wilson, on the west side of the street road, about mid- way between the house aforesaid and the old cemetery. The decision did not prove satisfactory to any body. At a town
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
meeting, Sept. 13, 1819, Samuel Smith, moderator, "Voted not to accept the report of the locating committee." "Voted not to repair the meeting-house." The old house continued to be used for some years only during the summer season, the meetings being held in school-houses in the winter, till 1825, when it was finally abandoned. In 1829 we find the following vote, "Voted to sell the old meeting-house forthwith." Sold to William Scott for $75.25.
Rev. John Morrison, of a race entirely distinct from the Morisons of the town, was the first settled minister (see Genealogical Record for his history). Mr. Morrison was offered sixty pounds, sterling and one hundred acres of land, or one hundred dollars in money, if he accepted the call. The land was given by the proprietors. His yearly salary was forty- five pounds in our currency, and an increase when the num- ber shall increase to one hundred families. Then to be fifty pounds a year. It was voted that his settlement be assessed forthwith. Mr. Morrison complied with the offer, and was ordained Nov. 26, 1766, no account of the ordination having come down to us. It was an unfortunate ministry for the town, and great uneasiness and dissatisfaction were soon manifested by some of the best men of the church. It appears that a petition was made to the Provincial Legisla- ture, dated Nov. 27, 1771, praying to be released from the support of Mr. Morrison, and was signed by the following persons; viż. : -
William McNee,
Hugh Wilson, Samuel Mitchell,
Samuel Miller,
James Cuningham,
James Taggart,
William McNee, Jr.,
William Cochran, John Wiley, Matthew Miller,
Alexander Robbe,
James McKean, William Miller, James Miller,
Joseph Hammil, Samuel Cuningham,
Samuel Wilson,
David Steele, John Smith, Robert Morison,
Neal Hammil,
Thomas Little,
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ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.
James Wilson,
John Mitchell,
John Gregg, Jr.,
Elijah Puffer,
John Wilson,
John Puffer,
Daniel Mack,
Hugh Gregg,
Jasaniah Crosby,
Abraham Holmes.
William Moore,
Journal C. & Assm., from May 22 to Dec. 31, 1771. The petition of Sundry of the Inhabitants of the town of Peter- borough setting forth, that about 5 years ago the Rev'd John Morrison was ordained to the work of the Ministry there, since which, he has been repeatedly guilty of ye gravest im- moralities, such as Profane Swearing, Drunkenness, Lewdness, &c., and therefore Praying the Interposition of the Legisla- ture to release them from their obligation to support him, &c. Read and sent down to the assembly. Hearing ordered by the house. Provincial Papers, Vol. 7, pp. 291, 292.
The vote for a hearing in the Council was reconsidered, and Dec. 18, 1771, it was ordered that the petition be dismissed. And in the house of Representatives, Dec. 20, 1771, the above vote in the Council being considered, it was proposed that the petition should be dismissed ; accordingly, the question being put, it passed in the affirmative. Provincial Records.
Mr. Morrison relinquished his connection with the society in March, 1772. During his ministry his conduct became so scandalous that at a Presbyterial meeting held at this time, he was for a time suspended from his office. He is represented as possessing more than ordinary talent. He was but twenty- three years of age when he commenced his ministry.
The town was without a minister till 1778, the pulpit being supplied by the town authorities with such men as could then be procured, preaching, nevertheless, being pretty constantly maintained. The early settlers had great faith in a regular maintenance of the preached gospel.
Rev. David Annan was called in. 1778, having been ordained at Walkill, N. J., October, 1778, with Peterborough for his destination. He was brother of Rev. Robert Annan, a man of superior talents, who was for some time a pastor of the
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
Federal Street Church, in Boston. Mr. Annan came to America when young. He received his education at Rutgers College, New Brunswick, N. J., where the degree of A.M. was conferred on him in 1782. The pastoral connection of Mr. Annan with the society in Peterborough continued fourteen years, until it was dissolved at his request, in 1792, by the Pres- bytery of Londonderry. In a complaint against Mr. Annan by Elder Samuel Moore to the Presbytery of Londonderry, to be holden at Peterborough, Aug. 30, 1788, drawn up in the handwriting of Judge Jeremiah Smith, whether ever acted on we have no means of knowing, it charges, Ist, That the Rev. Mr. Annan, as appears from his private conversation, as well as his public performances, has neglected the study of useful knowledge, the reading of good books, and especially of the holy scriptures, - and hath not given himself to study, but has frequently, as he himself confesses, gone into the pulpit without any preparation, and thus hath served the Lord with that which cost him nothing, and hath not by his discourses edified or improved the flock committed to his care. That Mr. Annan's " conversation and behavior and manners have been of a kind different from those recommended by the apostle and essential to the character of a gospel minister, who is an example to the flock, -his conversation not sea- soned with salt, but generally upon trifling subjects ; his be- havior not being sober, but light and vain; and his conduct and manner's irreverent, sometimes indecent, and unbecoming the character of a gospel minister." "That he has attempted to extort from the town two fifty-acre lots of land which he knew were never designed for him, and were no part of the contract the town made with him; and to accomplish his pur- poses respecting this land, he has not scrupled, in several instances, to deviate from the truth." The complaint then charges him with being intoxicated on several specified occa- sions ; viz., at an entertainment at the house of William Smith, Esq., about the Ist day of September, 1784, he became intoxicated with spirituous liquors ; also the Ist day of February, 1785, at the marriage of Elizabeth Smith, he was intoxicated with liquor, and behaved very unbecomingly.
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ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.
Several other instances are mentioned of his being intoxi- cated, and reference is made to the names of the witnesses to substantiate the charges. The complaint ends thus : -
Your complainant might have swelled the catalogue with Mr. Annan's faults as a minister, as a man, and a Christian to a greater bulk ; but if he should be able to justify the Presbytery that those which have been enumerated are true, he is persuaded that they will think it needless to adduce any more proofs to show that this . people, as well as your complainant, have just cause to complain ; and that Mr. Annan's labors in Peterborough are without profit to the people, and that his conduct has been irregular, and unbecom- ing his station as a minister of the gospel and a member of your reverend Presbytery, and that you will proceed to inflict such cen- sure on him as the nature of the offences merit, and as your wisdom shall direct.
We know nothing of the action of the Presbytery on this complaint. It is quoted here because it clearly expresses the grounds of dissatisfaction with Mr. Annan. It did not imme- diately prevail. It was not an easy thing to dispossess a min- ister in these early times; and the people bore with all these flagrant vices for four years longer, when he voluntarily with- drew. No manuscript sermons of Mr. Annan's are within our knowledge, so that we have no means of knowing the precise character of his preaching. We suppose that he generally preached extempore, especially as the complaint says that "he went into the pulpit often without any prepara- tion, and thus served the Lord with what cost him nothing." There was a prejudice against written sermons in the early settlement, as indicated by a vote in town-meeting, April 3, 1764: "Voted, That the Rev. Mr. Morrow, lately come from Ireland, and is shortly to return, should be our commissioner, and be invested with full power and authority to send us a faithful minister of the gospel, a Calvinist of the Presbyterian constitution, a preacher of the word, and not a reader." ! !
Mr. Annan was a man of good attainments and of very respectable talents. Vide Gen., under Annan.
. It appears that Watts' Hymns were introduced by a vote 12
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
of the town at a meeting, April 10, 1792. The following vote was passed : "Voted, That Dr. Watts' version of Psalms be used in the congregation of Peterborough for the future"; also, "Voted, To choose a committee to procure seats in the breast and front of the gallery, decent and comfortable, to accommodate a sufficient number of singers to carry on the singing in as good order as the circumstances of the congre- gation will admit of"; also, "Voted, That Robert Smith, John Moore, and Thomas Steele be said committee to buy or hire said seats or pews as they shall think best"; also, " Voted, That Jonathan Smith, John Gray, Oliver Felt, and Samuel Smith are to set the tune, and to invite such persons to assist them as they think proper."
The town continued without a pastorate until 1799, obtain- ing such supplies of preaching as offered, and giving a regu- lar call to two different individuals. The first was to Rev. Abram Moore, a graduate of Dartmouth College, 1789. Sept. 25, 1795, a call was extended to him, and was signed by fifty-eight of the leading men in town, his salary voted, and Samuel Smith authorized to prepare a call, and present it to him or to the Presbytery to which he properly belongs. Nothing more is heard of this matter, whether he accepted or declined, or what broke off the expected engagement; and, with the exception of Mr. Elihu Thayer, no one in town ever heard that such a man existed. The following are the names of those who signed the call to Rev. Abram Moore, Sept. 21, 1795; viz., Moses Cuningham, Samuel Mitchell, David Steele, Samuel Gregg, John Morison, Joseph Hammil, Will- iam Alld, William Mulliken, Benjamin Mitchell, John Todd, Peter Thayer, John Gray, Robert Smith, James Miller, Na- thaniel Holmes, Robert Swan, Jonathan Smith, Samuel Alld, Samuel Moore, James Richey, Abner Haggett, John White, Richard Finch, John Waugh, Samuel McNay, David Hovey, David Steele, Jr., Samuel Wiley, Samuel Miller, David White, Robert Morison, Ezekiel Morison, William Howden, John Gregg, Randall McAlister, Christopher Thayer, William Moore, Matthew Templeton, Henry Crane, Robert Richey, Samuel Gordon, John Barry, William Nay, Abraham Holmes,.
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ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.
Henry Ferguson, Heman Evans, Samuel Smith, Nathaniel Moore, William Smith, John Steele, Bartholomew Thayer, Hugh Miller, Samuel Miller, Jr., William White, Richard Hovey, Elihu Penniman, Kelso Gray, Thomas Steele.
In 1797 Mr. Zephaniah Swift Moore appeared as a candi- date, and it was voted at a meeting, June 27, 1797, that the town join the church in giving Mr. Zephaniah Swift Moore a call in the Congregational way. The call was postponed at this meeting; but at a later meeting, Oct. 30, 1797, it was voted to give Mr. Zephaniah Swift Moore a call, -eighty votes were given for the call and three against. Mr. Moore having declined to settle under the Presbyterian form, it was proposed to him to adopt the Congregational form, in a paper with the autograph signatures of some fifty or sixty members of the church and inhabitants of the town. This paper I have in my possession. We do not know just what the rea- sons were which induced Mr. Moore to decline the call unless he feared the discords which he may have found here, and that he would fail to harmonize the Congregational and Presbyterian forms to the acceptance of the people. He declines in a very fine letter, in which he expresses his high appreciation of the people, and the manner in which he had been treated, with his thanks and well wishes for their welfare. He was settled soon after at Leicester, Mass., and became an eminent man ; he was the founder and the first president of Amherst College.
The next call was made to the Rev. Elijah Dunbar, Jr., June 5, 1799, to settle as a Congregationalist, when in a town meeting of the same date, sixty-one voted in favor of a call and twelve against it. His salary was fixed at four hundred dollars a year.
All the preliminaries to this event having been satisfac- torily adjusted ; viz., the invitation of a large council, from no less than seventeen churches, ten of them in Massachusetts, and a special invitation to Rev. Joseph Willard, D. D., LL. D., President of Harvard College, who being unable to attend, his place was supplied by Prof. Webber, afterwards also Presi -. dent of the university ; the making all necessary preparations
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
for the entertaining the multitude who might attend, for in those days, at the ordination of a pastor, all houses were open to the free and hearty entertainment of all who would come ; also the propping up of the galleries of the meeting-house in expectation of a crowd, - the ordination took place Oct. 23, 1799.
The church in town had been Presbyterian probably from its organization (the records having been destroyed by fire), and had been early connected with the Londonderry Presby- tery, until Mr. Annan's ordination, when, at his request, it was dismissed from the Londonderry and united with the New York Presbytery, which body becoming extinct, it again came under the jurisdiction of the Londonderry Presbytery. There being many in the congregation who were attached to the Presbyterian mode of worship, certain individuals petitioned the town to have services one day in the year in the Presby- terian form, when the following vote was passed by the town in 1804; viz., "Voted, That the Petitioners have the privilege of the meeting-house one Lord's day in the year for the purpose of the administration of the Lord's Supper agreeable to the Presbyterian form of worship, which day the Petitioners may appoint, provided they notify Mr. Dunbar thereof one month previous to said day, and the members of Mr. Dunbar's church, in regular standing, may communicate with said Petitioners agreeable to the Presbyterian mode; and the expenses attending said performances to be defrayed by the town of Peterborough, provided the minister attending upon said ordinances lives within sixty miles of this place."
This arrangement, thus constituted, was continued until 1822, or until the separation of the Presbyterian from the old society and their formation into a new one. The Rev. Will- iam Morison, D. D., of Londonderry, was selected as the first preacher, and continued to officiate every year that the ser- vice was held, from 1805 to 1818, except the year 1817, when he was prevented from ill health. He died March 9, 1818, aged seventy. He was an excellent man, and his services here were always highly appreciated and fully attended.
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The annual administration of the sacrament of the Supper in the Presbyterian form after 1804 to 1822 :-
Oct. 20, 1805, Rev. William Morison, D. D., Londonderry.
Aug. 30, 1806, Rev. William Morison, D. D.
1807, no record of any meeting this year.
Sept. 25, 1808, Rev. William Morison, D. D.
Sept. 4, 1809, Rev. William Morison, D. D. Sept. 16, 1810, Rev. William Morison, D. D.
Sept. 22, 1811, Rev. William Morison, D. D.
Sept. 20, 1812, Rev. William Morison, D. D.
Sept. 12, 1813, Rev. William Morison, D. D.
Sept. 11, 1814, Rev. William Morison, D. D. 1815, no record this year.
Sept. 22, 1816, Rev. William Morison, D. D.
Nov. 2, 1817, Rev. Mr. Taggart, of Colerain, Mass.
Sept. 6, 1818, Rev. Mr. Taggart.
Sept. 12, 1819, Rev. Mr. Taggart.
Sept. 10, 1820, Rev. E. P. Bradford, of New Boston.
Sept. 16, 1821, Rev. E. P. Bradford.
At a meeting of the church in Peterborough, Nov. 28, 1799, the following persons were chosen rulling elders; viz., William Smith, William McNay, Robert Morison, Jonathan Smith, Nathaniel Holmes; and it was voted that the Lord's Supper be administered on the first Sabbath in the months of May, July, September, and November.
Mr. Dunbar's ministry continued twenty-seven years, until he was dismissed June 27, 1827. He kept a most accurate church record during his ministry, which in all cases has been found to be authority in all it contains. All the funer- als he attended, with the names and ages of the individuals, were strictly recorded, as also all the marriages he solem- nized, three hundred and seventy-three of which are recorded upon the town books. This record has been of great aid in determining many dates not otherwise attainable.
Mr. Dunbar's ministry was attended with many difficulties, but was no doubt as successful as most of those in the vicin- ity. He had a large family, and his domestic cares became so great that he was obliged to forego all improvement, and
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HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
merely meet his daily duties as he could. He did not keep up his theological studies, during a period of intense theologi- cal excitement in New England, neither possessing nor reading the new books or publications of his times. His preaching, though always above mediocrity, and always in pure Saxon English, was not so interesting as more culture would have infused into it. He was an excellent scholar to start with, and had great facility in composing, and also great powers of concentration, so that he wrote most of his discourses with all his family around him. It was not strange that in his sermons, and in his manner of delivery, he should fall behind the times, and that the people should desire a different kind of preaching, even before he had passed the maturity of his age.
So dangerous is it for a professional man, with any aspira- tions of true success in life, to intermit self-improvement and constant culture; he is surely sometime to feel the error of his course, and suffer in consequence. Mr. Dunbar's preach- ing, so fresh and new in the first part of his ministry, being so little enlivened by new recruits and aids in his reading, soon grew to be dull and monotonous.
The society, finding it impracticable to worship in the old meeting-house any longer on account of its uncomfortable location and dilapidated condition, determined to erect a new house, which was located in the village, and built during the year 1825, the same the society now occupies.
The church was dedicated Feb. 22, 1826. Rev. James Walker, D. D., preached the dedication sermon.
Mr. Dunbar preached in the new house till Feb. 25, 1827, when he preached from the Sixth and Tenth Commandments, to a very crowded audience, his last sermon as minister of Peterborough.
July 4, 1826, James Walker, John H. Steele, Timothy K. Ames, and others formed themselves into a society for the support of public worship, under the name of the "Congre- gational Society in Peterborough." The first meeting was called Jan. 27, 1827, at Samuel Smith's store, Gen. John Steele chosen moderator, James Walker clerk. May 19, 1827, letters of invitation were sent to Rev. Abiel Abbot,
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ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.
D. D., to become their pastor. Mr. Abbot was installed June 27, 1827. He continued to supply the pulpit until 1839, when his health failed, and the Rev. Curtis Cutler was settled as a colleague, Jan. 29, 1840. He resigned April 30, 1848, and closed his ministry the last Sunday in May, in conse- quence of a bronchial affection, and soon after left the minis- try for commercial pursuits. He died at Cambridge, Oct. 13, 1874, aged sixty-eight. Rev. Abiel Abbot resigned his pasto- ral relations with the society Sept. 9, 1848. He died at West Cambridge, Jan. 31, 1859, aged ninety-three. A call was extended to Liberty Billings, Sept. 10, 1848, and he, accept- ing the same, was ordained on the 27th of October, 1848. He resigned after a ministry of two years.
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