USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > Mirror to America : a history of New London, New Hampshire, 1900-1950 > Part 15
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In the fifty years after 1900 the New London Baptist Church had seven pastors: the Rev. George Bullen, 1900-1906; the Rev. Charles H. Wheeler, 1906-1908; the Rev. Horace B. Sloat, 1909-1912; the Rev. Ira M. Baird, 1912-1921; the Rev. James K. Romeyn, 1921-1928; the Rev. Harold W. Buker, 1929-1947; the Rev. Arlington E. Wry, 1947 -. 1 Dr. Bullen had been a chaplain in the Northern armies during the Civil
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War, and was a man of commanding dignity and scholarship. His successors sought to maintain his high standards of pro- gressive thinking in religious matters.2 Mr. Wheeler intro- duced visual aids in the Church school, and had the baptistry built under the pulpit. Mr. Sloat led the local Church into active affiliation with the Northern Baptist Convention (re- named the American Baptist Convention in 1950). Mr. Baird caused the Church to sponsor the original Boy Scout and Campfire Girls organizations in New London, and was the first to hold a "Mother's Day" service.3 Mr. Romeyn stimulated many physical improvements in the Church, including the beautiful Burpee Memorial Arch behind the pulpit. Dr. Buker was a tireless worker in church and civic enterprise, and carried throughout the State the name of New London and of its Baptist Church. Mr. Wry and an able Executive Com- mittee led by Mrs. Carl E. Duffett improved and redecorated the interior of the auditorium and the Parish House.
The New London Baptist Church has always played an active part in the larger relationship of the denomination. It has been a faithful member of the Newport Baptist Associa- tion since the latter was established. It was host to the meeting in 1826 at which the present-day United Baptist Convention of New Hampshire was organized, and has from that time to the present been a loyal member. On three occasions since 1900 - in 1901, 1926, and 1948 - the annual meeting of the United Baptist Convention of New Hampshire was held in New London. The local Church has been represented at many national and international religious gatherings. In- creasingly casting aside narrowness in theology, the New London Baptist Church has been a friend to ecumenical cooperation, including support for the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America as established in 1908, the New Hampshire Council of Churches and Religious Education as founded in 1946, and Christian Work Inc., at the University of New Hampshire since 1949.5
In 1938 an elaborate observance was held in connection with the 150th anniversary of the founding of the local Baptist
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Church on October 23, 1788. The committee in charge was composed of Mrs. Carl E. Duffett, Mrs. Mary B. Macomber, Mrs. Elmer Messer, Mrs. Kenneth M. Rich, Miss Julia Todd, Oren D. Crockett, Robert M. Knight, Charles E. Shepard, Horace C. Stanley, and J. Duane Squires, chairman.6 The next year another committee, directed by Horace C. Stanley, carried out extensive renovations of the Vestry, which was rededicated on November 26, 1939 as the Parish House. On August 31, 1941, thanks to the efforts of a Music Committee, headed by Mrs. H. Leslie Sawyer, the new church organ was in- stalled.7 In 1944 a special committee under the direction of Fred A. Todd, built the fire escapes and the Shepard Memorial Door at the rear of the auditorium. In 1950 the steeple was reinforced and the old Paul Revere bell of 1826 made more secure.
In matters pertaining to the spirit, especially during the long pastorate of Dr. Harold W. Buker, the local Church accomplished much. In August, 1932, the new pastor instituted an annual Mt. Kearsarge Vesper Service. Two years later, he began his series of annual "Camp Sunday" services. During the 1930's the adult classes of the Church Sunday school flourished.8 In 1939 the first Daily Vacation Bible School was held in late June.ยบ The next year saw the appointment of Mrs. Della C. Spiller as the first Director of Family Welfare for the Church, and witnessed the first regular use of the auditorium for the chapel services of Colby Junior College. In February, 1942, the Church participated in the impressive ordination to the ministry of George Douglas Straton, and in the fall of 1943 authorized the appointment of Mrs. Carolyn Countaway to her gracious work as deaconess. For many years after 1936 the local Church was host to the annual Ministers' Retreat and Women's Houseparty, held each September on the Colby campus. Church young people worked with the Achievement Plan for Sunday schools, and attended the con- ferences at Ocean Park in the summer. The Church over- subscribed its quota in all World Emergency Fund campaigns beginning in November 1941; and in the great World Mission
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Crusade of 1946-1947 raised over $6,600 on its assigned quota of $5,500.
In connection with the significant events attendant upon World War II, the New London Baptist Church instituted the custom of observing "I Am An American Day" in May, 1940. Beginning in 1943 an efficient and enterprising Church com- mittee headed by Mrs. Carl E. Duffett published and dis- tributed monthly the Service Men's News-Letter. This message from the home Town went to every man and woman from New London - more than a hundred of them -who were in the uniform of their country, and to every corner of the world. On June 6, 1944, impressive D-day ceremonies were held in the church; prayers of thanksgiving for victory were offered on May 8, 1945 and on August 14 of the same year. Annually, as heretofore mentioned, the Church has always observed in a fitting manner such patriotic occasions as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving.
The New London Baptist Church has been fortunate in the talents and devotion of its members since 1900. It has had fine musicians who have graced its choir loft, - Mrs. Florence Griffin, Mrs. Helen R. Colburn, Mrs. Alberta Fisher, Mrs. Mildred C. Sears, Mrs. Marie Ray, and others. For many years it had the services of a quartet including William A. Colburn, Dura P. Crockett, Herbert Farnum, and William M. Kidder. Its flower director for more than a quarter of a century was Miss Hattie Burpee, whose deftness and skill made the chancel a place of beauty on Sunday. Church school leaders like Mrs. Eliza Robbins, Miss Eleanor Parker, and others have kept the youth program of the Church alive and vigorous. Will Ray, sexton since 1941, has maintained the Church at a high peak of physical attractiveness. Ira S. Littlefield faithfully served as Church statistician for a score of years. Throughout two decades after 1917 Charles E. Shepard, Fred A. Pressey, Sidney M. Pedrick, and Melville E. Robbins served as Church ushers. The pastors' wives and the women's organization - the Aid and the Mission Society - performed notable feats in the areas of money-raising and of "white cross" work.10 Church
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members served loyally as officers and deacons, as teachers, or on standing and special committees. The total number of new admissions to the New London Baptist Church since 1900 has been about seven hundred and fifty.
In the retrospect of fifty years the New London Baptist Church seems for the most of the period to have been truly a community Church in which all might worship in fellowship with other Christians of many creeds. No one has summed up its aspirations better than Pastor Harold W. Buker in his beautiful poem written for the sesquicentennial celebration of the Church in 1938:11
"Thy truth, O God, is standing; It lives in hearts made strong By Thine own Spirit's stirrings Though centuries roll along. Today with prayer and praises We turn anew to Thee, And seek Thy holy blessings This Anniversary.
"Thy love, O God, abiding, Doth ever round us flow, And on Thy strength depending Triumphant we may go. In Jesus Christ, our Saviour, We see that love revealed; 'Tis still through grace and mercy, Our broken lives are healed.
"Thy power, O God, is moving Upon our troublous age; False gods arise around us, And war the nations wage. To Thee we cling, our Father, Thou art our strength and stay In life, in death, forever, To the Eternal Day."
2. Other Religious Groups with Houses of Worship in New London
As indicated in Chapter One of this history, the First Union Religious Society of Otterville was incorporated on December 18, 1900.12 A building committee was appointed at that time, and plans made to erect a suitable church edifice. These plans were carried out, and on August 17, 1902 the
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attractive Wayside Chapel at Otterville was dedicated.13 Planned as a memorial to George Payn Quackenbos, the new chapel was intended to house worship services throughout the year, such services ". . . not to be of any denominational character."14 This ideal of a spiritual fellowship transcending denominational affiliations was a concept in line with the best thinking of modern America. The pulpit in the new chapel had been given by the Star Circle of the King's Daughters, while the Bible was presented by Miss Marian Case of Brookline, Massachusetts. The memorial window in the chapel was installed in memory of Mrs. Nettie Davis Holmes by Mrs. Theodore R. Shear and dedicated in August, 1914. Services in the building were held more or less regularly until 1926, in which year the last recorded meeting of the corpora- tion took place. Improvements in highways and the coming of automobiles, together with a declining population in the Otterville area, rendered a separate place of worship un- necessary. For two decades before 1950 the Wayside Chapel stood unused. In the late 1940's some of its furniture was sent to the Baptist Church in Whitefield, whose building had been destroyed by fire.
The second of the new churches built in New London since 1900 was St. Andrew's Chapel in the West Part of the Town. Before discussing its erection, a few words as to the background may be said. In 1884 the Rev. Thomas Henry Sill of New York, Vicar of St. Chrysostom's Chapel in that city, began coming with his family to New London for the summer. Observing the West Part district schoolhouse, - unused, of course, in the summer months, - "Father Sill" secured per- mission to conduct Episcopal Church services therein. Annual- ly until 1906 the practice continued, with this able and devoted clergyman the leader and inspirer of the worship. The hope of possessing a chapel of their own was constantly held before the people, and a building fund steadily accumulated.
On August 30, 1905, ground was broken for St. Andrew's Chapel on land given for the purpose by Mrs. Eliza F. Knowl- ton. Dr. Bullen, pastor of the New London Baptist Church,
HOUSES OF WORSHIP IN NEW LONDON
Saint Andrews' Chapel The Otterville Chapel The Church of our Lady of Fatima
The Elkins Chapel The First Baptist Church
SPITAL DAY LONDON, AUGUST 9.
SOME TOWN GROUPS AND ACTIVITIES
Firing Squad on Memorial Day "The Man Who Came to Dinner," 1950 Annual Meeting, New London Service Organization, Inc., 1950
Market Basket Fire, 1948 Governor and Mrs. Sherman Adams, Judge Ann Pardy, and N. W. Wel- don at Barn Playhouse, 1950 Poppy Festival, 1950
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was present, and wished the new venture Godspeed and all success.15 The cornerstone of the church was laid on Septem- ber 14, and the building erected that fall and the next spring by Robert Davis. On July 26, 1906, the first service was held in the new chapel and the name St. Andrew's given to it. By the spring of 1909 the debt incurred in the building program was completely retired, and on August 6 that summer the Rev. Edward M. Parker, Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, consecrated the beautiful little chapel.16 Over the years since, St. Andrew's Chapel has served the summer people along the east shore of Lake Sunapee, and has likewise been a place of worship for many of the New London residents in the West Part of the Town. More than thirty clergymen have ministered in the Chapel, some for a Sunday or two only, others for several seasons. Among the best-loved of these was the Very Rev. John M. McGann, who served the parish for thirty-seven years. Numerous gifts to the Chapel have been made since 1906, the most recent being an organ presented in 1949 by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Best of New London and Winchester, Massachusetts, in memory of their son, Louis Robert Best.17
The third chapel to be erected in New London in this century was that in Elkins. Here also, as in the case of St. Andrew's, worship services for many years had been held in divers places, including the schoolhouse, the building now used by the Masons, and homes in the village. In 1915 the Elkins Church Society and the widow of Dr. John P. Elkins provided funds to construct a church of their own.18 Two contracts were signed with George W. Philbrick, who became the general contractor for the new church building.19 Of his work on the Elkins Chapel Contractor Philbrick later wrote.20
"The stones for the building were selected from the walls on the Emery Burpee Place, so-called, where Leon Bickford now lives. A white rock was contributed by Roger Williams, father of Clifton Williams, and it will be found in the gable end, facing the road, the largest piece being directly over the keystone of the front window.
"At the time the building was built, a stone mason received
1
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four dollars ($4.00) for a nine-hour day, and carpenters were be- ing paid two-fifty to three dollars ($2.50 to $3.00) a day.
"Mr. Austin Morgan, who then lived where his son, Charles now lives, was hauling logs with two yoke of oxen past the church during its construction. One day he stopped to observe the work, and on leaving made the following remark as he looked out over the lake across the way: 'That building will stand as long as there's any water in that lake.' "
The Elkins Chapel was ready for worship services in the summer of 1916, and has been in continuous use since that time. Its stained glass windows are memorials to residents of the community. Its minister has usually been the pastor of the New London Baptist Church, and there has been a friendly relationship between the two organizations. The governance of the chapel, however, has always been in the hands of the Elkins Church Society. The latter has its own officers, membership, and financial accounting. In the years after World War II, the Elkins Society carried out extensive improvements in the basement of the chapel, installing a modern heating plant and a dining room. Their efforts have been facilitated by the work of the Ladies Benevolent Society of Elkins, which has assisted in raising money and in other related endeavors.21
The fourth of the new houses of worship established in New London since 1900 was the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Fatima. In the summer of 1936, "Green Maples," formerly a restaurant on New London's Main Street was sold to the Catholic authorities of the Enfield parish.22 After fitting renovations, it was consecrated in the autumn of 1936. It supplied a real need for the Roman Catholic people of the Town, who formerly had to go either to Newport or to Potter Place for their worship. While there was no resident pastor, the Enfield priest came to New London for the six Holy Days of each ecclesiastical year, for Lenten observances, for mass on Sunday, and for other sacramental services of the Church.23 The stained glass windows at the rear of the church were given in 1947 by Mrs. Melanie Martha Woodman, long-time head of the Art Department of Colby Junior College. On a summer Sunday there were two or even three masses held,
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with from six to eight hundred people in attendance. In 1950 a Catholic Ladies Guild was formed, numbering twenty-two charter members, one of whose objectives was to make physical changes and improvements in the chapel building.24
Most recent of the new church groups in New London is that of the Christian Scientists. Local leadership in this organization was taken by Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Cordtmeyer in the early part of 1945. Because of gasoline rationing, it was difficult for the Christian Scientists in New London to drive to the nearest church at Concord. Sensing the situation, the pastor and deacons of the New London Baptist Church invited the local Christian Science group to use the Parish House for their services. This offer was gratefully accepted. Once begun, the Christian Science fellowship had a steady growth.25
"The first service was held on Sunday, March 18, 1945. To make possible a Sunday school, arrangements were made with the New London Grange for the use of part of the lower floor of that building for Church services, Sunday school, and Reading room. After renovations were completed, the first service in the new quarters was held on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 25,1948.
"Attendance at both services and Sunday school continued to increase so that a meeting of the regular attendants was called on April 11, 1949, when it was voted to organize as a Society and to make application to The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, for recognition as a Branch of The Mother Church.
"Christian Science Society, New London, New Hampshire, was accepted as a Branch of The Mother Church on July 1, 1949, and the letter from the Board of Directors of The Mother Church read at the Sunday service, July 3, 1949."
3. Further Aspects of New London's Religious Life
It would be erroneous to assume that all religious interest and activity in New London since 1900 was channelled through the organized church groups thus far summarized. As would be expected in a Town so many-sided in its thinking, other religious appeals found a local response. For example, the King's Daughters, following their establishment in 1893,
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had an active membership.26 In the person of Miss Emma I. Stanley, for over half a century Star Circle of King's Daughters possessed one of the State leaders of this group of women. Likewise, the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A., and the Salvation Army in many roll calls found a generous support from New Lon- don people. In the early years of the century the State Y.M.C.A. had an active group at Colby Academy, while in the 1940's the Sullivan County Y.M.C.A., with which New London was affiliated, did effective work with boys in the local school.
The small sects in the United States which have flourished in the twentieth century have recently been interestingly described.27 These, too, had an appeal to some New Lon- doners. The Spiritualists, for example, for a time had a fol- lowing in Town.28 Mormon missionaries occasionally visited the community, with what results are not recorded.29 Frank Buchman's thinking appealed to a few, and the second annual meeting of the so-called "Oxford Group" in New Hampshire was held in New London.30 The Unity School of Christianity had certain local followers, while the message of Judge Rutherford and the Jehovah Witnesses was heeded by others in the Town.31 The spurious religious appeal of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's subverted some local minds.32 A decade later a similar impact was temporarily made on certain townsmen by the radio priest, Father Coughlin; while in 1950 the funda- mentalist homiletics of the Rev. "Billy" Graham were ap- proved by some New Londoners.
In all these aspects of religious thinking and practice New London revealed again its relations with the main streams of American life, and proved once more that it was cognizant of what was happening in the great world outside its ring of circling hills.38
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NOTES FOR CHAPTER NINE
The quotation at the head of this chapter is from "Locksley Hall," by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
1There is a more detailed survey of the chief events in the pastorates of the first six of the above clergymen in The Sesquicentennial of the New London Baptist Church, Concord, N. H., 1939, pp. 18-20; 65-69.
2In 1901 Dr. Bullen supervised a legal reorganization of the New London Baptist Church. The original First Baptist Society, as organized in 1801, was dissolved, and the official name became the First Baptist Church of New London; letter from the Deputy Secretary of State of New Hamp- shire to the writer, October 23, 1942.
Commemorating the first pastor of the Church, the Rev. Job Seamans, in 1907 the Town voted to change the name of the "Back Road" to Potter Place to "Seamans Road,"" .... thus giving a name to an important highway and honoring the memory of the first minister of the church in our Town." T. C. Records, Vol. 7, p. 102.
3The Northern Baptist Convention was formed in 1907; the Boy Scouts of America were organized in 1910; the Campfire Girls were established in the U. S. in 1912; and the first Mother's Day was proclaimed by President Wilson for Sunday, May 9, 1914.
4C. Raymond Chappell, Baptists in New Hampshire, Manchester, N. H., 1950, p. 5. Five members of the New London Baptist Church have headed the State Convention: Joseph Colby, 1827-1830; Oren Tracy, 1836; Anthony Colby, 1848-1849; Lucien Hayden, 1868; and J. Duane Squires, 1946-1949.
5 An interesting innovation in ecumenical thinking came in 1944 when the New London Baptist Church introduced "affiliated member- ship" to serve the students at Colby. On Sunday, November 5, 1944, Pastor Buker received into this type of membership thirty-five students from ten different denominations; an equally impressive record was established on October 28, 1945.
6The Sesquicentennial of the New London Baptist Church, pp. 1-7, summarizes the effort of this committee; see also The Speaker, October, 1938.
7The new organ retained many of the pipes from the old instrument presented to the Church in 1865 by Richard Messer and James B. Colgate. In 1949 it was still further improved by additional organ stops given by Frederick Plummer and others.
8The Speaker, February, 1939, noted that Sunday attendance at the men's class - the so-called Baird Class - that winter was averaging thirty- five persons.
9Each summer when the pastor was on vacation, the New London Baptist Church invited visiting clergymen to serve as guest preachers. The guest list for 1950 included the Rev. Howard T. Joslyn, Director of Evangelism in New Hampshire for the American Baptist Convention; the Rev. Howard K. Morton, pastor of the First Congregational Church in Pawtucket, R. I .; the Rev. Fred Fox, Superintendent of the Northern
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District of the Methodist Church of N. H .; and the Rev. Dr. Harry Ulrich, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of White Plains, N. Y.
10The Mission Circle had been organized in 1814; Lord, History, pp. 694-697. The Woman's Aid had been organized by Mrs. Bullen during the years of her husband's pastorate in Town; Sesquicentennial of the New London Baptist Church, p. 18.
11Ibid., p. 25.
12The background of this religious society is sketched in Lord, History, p. 705.
13F. J-T., August 22 1902.
14The Sesquicentennial of the New London Baptist Church, p. 35.
15F. J-T., September 7, 1905.
16A memorial tablet in memory of Father Sill (1838-1910) was dedi- cated in 1911; in 1925 a similar tablet in memory of Mrs. Knowlton (1837-1908) was likewise placed in St. Andrew's.
17The Manchester Morning Union, August 16, 1949. Miss Florence M. Sill, daughter of Father Sill, kindly made available to the writer her life-long knowledge of St. Andrew's Chapel, and furnished him with many of the data herein summarized.
18Dr. Elkins had practiced medicine in Elkins, or Scytheville as it was then called, from 1875-1888. He died in 1895, and the next year the village legally named itself in his honor; Lord, History, pp. 586-588.
19The contract for the foundations and basement was signed by Charles W. Gay, the Rev. Ira M. Baird, and Clifton L. Williams for the Elkins Church Society; the amount involved was $500. The contract for the building proper was signed by Sarah J. Elkins to the amount of $2,500. Both were dated October 7, 1915. The two original contracts were loaned to the writer by George W. Philbrick.
20George W. Philbrick to the writer, May 20, 1950. Mr. James Eli Shepard gave the bell for the Elkins Chapel; Mrs. Arthur Gould to the writer, June 6, 1950.
21This society was founded in 1876; Lord, History, p. 728. in 1926 it was officially recorded on the books of the Town Clerk; T. C. Records, Vol 7, p. 682. Mrs. Florence Prescott was president of the Society in 1950.
22F. J-T., July 2, 1936.
23Statement of Mrs. Wendell N. Hobbs to the writer, May 16, 1950.
24 Manchester Morning Union, February 6, 1950; May 9, 1950. 25Frank H. Cordtmeyer to the writer, June 1, 1950.
26The Star Circle of King's Daughters had been organized in April, 1893, from a Sunday School Class of four teen-age girls and their teacher. During its years of activity in New London, it has sought to carry out charitable and benevolent projects for the good of the community, the Church and missions. Its most notable work has been to aid the New London Hospital over the period since the latter's establishment to the amount of $1,500. Letter from Miss Emma I. Stanley to the writer, May 13, 1950.
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