USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Dover > The first parish in Dover, New Hampshire : two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, October 28, 1883 > Part 9
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At a meeting held 12 November following, the committee reported that the work was done. The cost of the outside repairs was $1,395.60 ($1,430.70 less $45.60 received of town for repair of clock) ; of the interior, including a new partition in the gallery to support the steeple, $851.08. New (coal) furnaces had cost $318.31 ; the altera- tions in the pulpit and galleries, and frescoing the walls, cost $328.26.
Some of us recall the impression made by the changes. Inside, the organ had been brought forward again, and the acoustic properties of the house wonderfully improved. The galleries had lost nine inches from their top. The front and back of pews had been painted. The pulpit had lost its wings on either side, its stairs, its pillars,1 and stood upon a lower and open platform. Frescoed walls had removed the painful white which had dazzled the eyes of worshippers ; and fine carpets, fur- nished by the women of the parish, covered the aisles and pulpit floor.
The first bill for gas, dated 25 June 1859, implies that the first gas- fixtures were introduced in the spring of that year.
So the house continued until the year 1878. Then came great alter- ations. I hardly need recall the changes, but records are safe to keep. Would that we had the description of the little meeting-house of 1633 !
I think that the principal cause of the changes of 1878 was the de- sire to be rid of the incubus of pew ownership. Without touching
1 These pillars, dating back to the year 1758, are still preserved.
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THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER.
now upon the impropriety of marking off a piece of a meeting-house as private property forever, and still calling the building a "house of God," there were other reasons for desiring to break up the system of private ownership. Under that system, it was impossible to fur- nish accommodations for the persons or families who came from with- out the list of owners. The very prosperity of the parish, under its attractive minister, chafed against the system which kept pews in pri- vate hands, and kept them there not subject to any tax or rental what- ever for the support of public worship.
The need of a change had been felt and discussed for some years. The time came for practical results. The remedy, under the law, was to appraise the value of all the pews, utterly and entirely remove them, and build new. This would require the parish to pay to the pew-own- ers, if required, the appraised value of the pews removed.
The proceedings were taken cautiously and carefully, not because of legal difficulties, but from Christian courtesy. Unanimity was, in the moral sense, indispensable. Informal meetings were held in the chapel, and informal methods were first adopted by the people of the parish. Information was obtained of how many owners would favor such a change, and how many surrender their pews.
On the 22d of March 1876, it was-
Resolved, That James H. Wheeler, Charles H. Sawyer, and John Bracewell be a committee to see if the pews in our church can, by lease, gift, or purchase, become the property of the parish, to be let for the purpose of meeting church expenses.
On the 15th of March 1877, the same committee was continued.
An informal meeting of the members of the parish was held 13 March 1878. The committee appointed by the parish reported, setting forth the difficulties in the system of pew ownership by individuals, and approving a change to the system of ownership by the parish. A com- mittee was then appointed - Oliver Wyatt, Samuel C. Fisher, Edmund B. Lane, Benjamin P. Peirce, and Thomas E. Cushing - " to value all the pews in the meeting-house," and to lay such estimate before the parish at its next annual meeting to be held on the 20th instant.
At the regular meeting, held 20 March 1878, the committee ap- pointed by the parish reported that "all pew owners that can be reached have been seen or written to, to see what portion of their pews they would give to the First Parish of Dover," and gave the list of names and proportion of pew in each case.
The result was completely satisfactory, and the parish appointed a committee, - John Bracewell, Charles H. Sawyer, James H. Wheeler, Levi G. Hill, Thomas J. W. Pray, Benjamin P. Peirce, and Joseph A.
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THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
Wiggin, - "to see what sums will be contributed by pew owners or others to defray the expense of purchasing the pews and altering the meeting-house." The committee appointed at the informal meeting of 13 March to value the pews also fulfilled their work and laid the result before the parish.
The list of pew owners at that date, March 1878, was recorded as follows :-
1. John H. Nute.
2. Clarissa W. Cushing, }. Heirs of Jonathan Kimball, }.
3. The parish. "
4.
5. 6. Mrs. Isabel R. Haskell.
7. The parish.
8. Mrs. Appia Clark.
9. Mrs. Charlotte Nesmith.
10. Mrs. Frances A. Freeman.
11. Charles IIayes.
12. William R. Tapley, ¿. John S. Tapley, 1.
13. Henry Dow.
14. Jeremiah York.
15. Dr. Albert G. Fenner.
16. Charles W. Demeritt.
17. 1Ienry Y. Hayes, J. Mary Y. Hayes, 3. Eliza W. Hayes, 3.
18. Clarissa W. Cushing.
19. Clarissa W. Cushing, &. William R. Tapley, 3.
20. Estate of Ephraim Ham, 3. Joshua Ilam, 3. Mrs. Susan Watson, Į. Mrs. Lucy Watson, 3. The parish, 1.
21. Mrs. Isabel R. Haskell.
22. Edmund J. Lane.
23. The parish. 66
2.4. 25. 26. 27. Mrs. Mary Caswell.
28. The parish.
29. Anastatia Hampson.
30. John R. Varney, 3. Mrs. Samuel Hussey, 3.
31. Alfred C. Clark.
32. Mrs. Eliza F. Murphy.
33. Estate of Ebenezer Faxon.
34. Joshua Varney. 35. Mrs Rebecca E. W. White.
36. Andrew Rollins.
37. Mrs. Susan M. Paul. 38. Mary R. Welch.
39. Oliver S. Horne.
40. Heirs of Daniel M. Christie.
41. lda C. Allen, §. Estate of Jonathan Morrill, ¿.
42. Dr. James II. Wheeler.
43. Charles Woodman.
44. Dr. James II. Wheeler.
45. Mrs. Isabel R. Haskell.
46. Heirs of Daniel M. Christie.
47. Dr. Levi G. Ilill.
48. The First Church.
49. Charles H. Sawyer.
50. John Bracewell.
51. Oliver Wyatt.
52. Mrs. Frances A. Freeman.
53. Jacob S. Gear.
54. Horace and Richard Kimball.
55. Isaac B. Williams.
56. Mary II. Thompson.
57. Clarissa W. Cushing.
58. James II. Davis.
59. Heirs of Arlo Flagg.
60. Joseph Winkley, }. John C. Tasker, 2.
61. Augustus Richardson.
62. Nathaniel Twombly.
63. Edmund J. Lane.
64. Mrs. Elizabeth Horne. 65. Mrs. Caroline Estes.
66. Heirs of Thomas Cushing. 67. Dr. Thomas J. W. Pray. 6S. Samuel 11. Pendexter. 69. The parish.
70.
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THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER.
71. Andrew II. Young.
72. James II. Moody.
73. Wells Waldron.
74. Mrs. Frances G. Whidden. 75. Augustus T. Coleman.
76. Thomas Nute.
77. Joseph D. Guppy. 78. Ivory Paul.
79. William L. Chandler.
So. Charles C. Ilardy.
81. Simon J. Torr.
82. Joshua M. Ham.
83. John Herbert Twombly. 84. Mrs. Mary J. Bickford.
85. Mrs. Mary E. Felker.
86. George W. Benn.
87. James II. Davis. 88. Dr. Thomas J. W. Pray. 89. The parish. 66
90. 91. 66 92. Dr. Nathaniel Low.
93. Dr. James 11. Wheeler.
94. Oliver S. Horne, ¿. Ileirs of Daniel M. Christie, 3.
95. Mrs. Emma L. Wendell, 2. Mrs. Rosaline Clark, }.
96. The parish. 97. Joseph Hayes.
98. Daniel Pinkham.
99. John II. Kelley, 3. Mrs. Lydia Ham, 5.
100. Lydia and Horace P. Watson.
101. William S. Stevens.
102. Henry D. Freeman.
103. Mrs. Lydia Davis.
104. Joseph W. Wingate.
105. Estate of Rufus Flagg.
106. The parish.
107. Estate of Andrew Peirce.
108. Mrs. Esther Cook, }. Lucinda A. Cook, }. Mrs. Charles W. Thurston, 4.
109. Charles Ham. ITO. John R. Varney. III. John Trickey. 112. Hannah S. Young. 113. The parish. 114.
In the gallery.
I. The parish. ..
2.
3. Mrs. Isabel R. Haskell.
4. The parish.
5. Mrs. Susan M. Paul.
6. Ileirs of Daniel M. Christie, 3. Charles C. Coleman, 3.
7. John H. White.
S. Daniel Hussey.
9. Gerrish P. Drew, Sarah A. Drew, and Ifarrison Drew.
10. The parish.
II. Charlotte M. Palmer.
12. The parish.
13. Alonzo 11. Quint.
14. Mrs. Lydia Davis.
I 5. The parish.
16. 17. 16
18. 19. 20. Mehitable E. Twombly.
21. Mary E. Wyatt.
22. Charles E. Bacon.
23. Benjamin P. Peirce.
24. Mrs. Elizabeth J. B. Knox.
25. Mrs. Abby A. l'ike.
26, Frank Varney.
27. Mrs. Lydia B. Cate.
28. Eben F. Faxon.
29. Mrs. Elizabeth Ilorne.
30. Clarissa W. Cushing.
The total estimated value of the above was $10,335.00.
At an adjourned meeting held 3 April, the committee appointed to obtain subscriptions for the purchase of pews and refitting the meet- ing-house reported. Pew property to the amount of $5,405.05 (new valuation) would be contributed, and subscriptions for money payments at that date to the additional amount of $2,788.50.
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THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
It was thereupon resolved that John Bracewell, Charles H. Sawyer, James H. Wheeler, Levi G. Hill, Thomas J. W. Pray, Benjamin Parker Peirce, and Joseph Alonzo Wiggin be committee with full powers to purchase the pews not given, "collecting and disbursing the money that is given, disposing of the old pews, and contracting for new pews, and who shall have the entire supervision of the arrangement of pews and alteration's as in their judgment they shall deem best." The war- dens were authorized to hire such sums of money as might be neces- sary to pay for the alterations.
The committee to make the alterations made a careful report, their work being completed 12 March 1879.
The completed work showed expenditures to be : --
Cash paid to owners for pews
$3,765.08 ¥ " for repairs and changes
· 12,611.41
$16,376.49 6,569.16
Add appraised value of pews given
Total
$22,945.65
On the other hand, was the value of pews given, and a cash sub- scription of $3,461.17.
It were needless to specify the changes which transformed our house into the church of beauty which meets your eyes to-day. Were I to indulge myself, it would be rather to suggest the contrast between the rude house of 1633 and this lavish temple of God : their walls of log, and ours adorned with the skill of the artist; their exclusion of sym- bols, and our pictured cross and windows of artistic hues; their music of the voice alone, and our pealing organ ; their hard pine benches, and our cushioned pews of costly woods; their bare, it may have been earth, floor, and our carpeted aisles and pews; and their plain exter- nal, and our stately spire pointing to heaven. Yet the prayer and psalm and word of doctrine, in the plain log-hut of the fathers and the prayer and psalm and word in this more gorgeous house are just the same to God and us.
So many and so great were the changes that this house was re- dedicated Thanksgiving evening, 28 November 1878. I give the order of services : -
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THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER.
ORGAN VOLUNTARY :
BY MRS. T. J. W. PRAY.
ANTHEM :
" Sing Alleluia Forth."
INVOCATION :
BY REV. ISAAC C. WINITE, of Newmarket.
SCRIPTURE READING :
" BY REV. GRANVILLE C. WATERMAN, of Dover.
ANTHEM :
"Oh, be Joyful."
SCRIPTURE RESPONSIVE READING :
LED BY REV. MORRIS W. PRINCE, of Dover. Lesson 39 of the Psalter.
SERMON :
Bv REV. GEORGE B. SPALDING, D. D.
Text : 1 Timothy iii. 15. " The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
PRAYER OF DEDICATION :
BY REV. ALONZO H. QUINT, D. D., of Dover.
DEDICATION HYMN. - Hamburg.
WRITTEN BY CARRIE A. SPALDING.
To Thee, O Father, wise and great, These walls anew we consecrate, With grateful hearts for blessings shed, Upon the winding paths we tread.
Thy guiding hand has led the way, Thy strong support has been our stay; Then let our lips thy mercies tell, And loud the pealing anthem swell.
Here let the voice of prayer ascend, As loving souls in reverence bend ; Let words of truth fall on the ear, Unstained by pride, unmoved by fear !
HIallow each scene within these walls, Where sunlight gleams, or shadow falls, - Baptismal seal, or bridal ring, Or angel with the "dark-plumed wing."
Let consecrating vows of love Like incense rise to Thee above, And lives of holy, active zeal Shew the devotion that we feel.
And when our voices all are still, When other strains these arches fill, May we all reach, united bands, " The house of God, not made with hands."
BENEDICTION :
BY REV. JAMES DEBUCHANANNE, of Dover.
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THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
The choir consisted of :
Mrs. T. J. W. PRAY, Organist. Mrs. HELEN EVERETT VARNEY, Soprano.
Miss HANNAH E. WYATT, Alto. Mr. JOHN B. WHITEHEAD, Tenor. Dr. WILLIAM W. HAYES, Bass and Director.
The improvements were great. But the old pews did not disappear without some wistful regrets. There were some persons left who re- membered the great array in those seats on that winter night when the eloquence of Winslow thrilled their souls and the prayer of dedication had given to God the work of much self-denial. There were many who remembered how they had stood before the old pulpit and made their vows unto the Lord ; there were parents who recalled the bap- tismal scenes when their children had been offered to Him who laid his hands on the children of the East. Not a few had been children, and sat with their honored fathers and mothers where they should never meet again. Recollection could imagine their forms only in their accustomed places. There were widows, too, who had occupied the same pews for all the years with the departed when they had gone together to the house of God. There are sacred places. Where the noble dead have made places sacred by their faith and prayers, the places are sacred forever.
Were I to close my eyes and wait in silence, I should see again, with the inspiration of this evening, the old pews and their old occu- pants, - the deacons, whom I reverenced in my boyhood, and shall never cease to reverence, - Peter Cushing, Andrew Peirce, Edmund J. Lane, and Isaac A. Porter, - all gentle in manner and kindly in heart, and all immovable in faith and resolute in work. I should see the parents who brought my feet to this house back of my memory. Fathers and mothers would, similarly, seem here to you. Up the aisle now closed would come the ministers. Hubbard Winslow some of you would recall, -- the last minister here of the fifteen to wear the robe and bands. David Root I cannot recall, as his sturdy step ad- vances; but Young, Barrows, Parsons, Richardson, Walker, - the living and the dead alike, are in our mind's vision, - and Spalding is alone in this house to-night of all the men of the many years.
In the recent improvements made in this house, a large expense, we have seen, was incurred, most of which was left as a temporary debt. While the parish was abundantly able to bear it, it was felt to be an unpleasant encumbrance. Accordingly, at the annual meeting, held II March 1880, a committee was appointed to take into consideration the payment of the debt incurred by the alterations made in the meet-
7
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THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER.
ing-house, John Bracewell "having offered," says the record, "to pay one tenth." The committee consisted of Charles H. Sawyer, John Bracewell, Levi G. Hill, William S. Stevens, Thomas J. W. Pray, James H. Wheeler, and Elisha R. Brown. At the next annual meeting, 17 March 1881, that committee reported. It stated that the debt of the preceding meeting was $12,100, but had been speedily reduced to $11,500: This debt had been entirely removed.
I can do no better than to quote from the report : -
"Col. John Bracewell, after the services were concluded, Feb. 6, 1881, came for- ward and announced his intention of moving to another and distant part of New Eng- land, where he was to engage in business. In an earnest address he appealed to the society to pay off the debt, and generously renewed his offer to pay one tenth, if the whole amount was raised at once. The time had come and the society was ready. Your committee organized for work, and in four days the whole amount of the debt was subscribed for, and within a week the additional sum of $3,229.50 was raised.
. . Your committee found their task to be an easy and a pleasant one."
In reference to the advantages gained by the release of pews from private ownership, and their annual renting, the committee well added : -
"With a church owned by a comparatively few individuals, whose interest, in many cases, was not identified with' it; a feeling of irresponsibility on the part of many; the revenue falling short of the current expenses, and a consequent annual deficit with difficulty provided for; and a building out of repair, -in the short space of two years you have got possession of and own the church property; you have beautified and adorned the church edifice ; you have by the annual sale of pews raised a revenue of nearly six thousand dollars per annum, every dollar of which has thus far been paid into the treasury; the church is filled, and general satisfaction and harmony prevail ; all of which seem to bespeak the future welfare and prosper- ity of this old parish."
In securing this needed result, it should not be forgotten that the indispensable impulse to a practical effort was made by Rev. Dr. Spalding, the pastor, in a sermon preached 10 March 1878, from 2 Chronicles vi. 10, " For I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel." The subject was: Each generation has its own special burdens and duties, and by so much as it has inherited advantages and blessings from those who have gone before it, so it is bound by every prompting of gratitude, by every feeling of honor, by every impulse of that pro- gressive spirit that has been in the past, to transmit these blessings in even fuller measure to those who came after.
Dr. Spalding preached also upon paying the debt.
-
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THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
The Chapels1 of the Parish. - While there are records of church- meetings, apparently for lectures, in the days of Jeremy Belknap, the probability is that they were held in the meeting-house. Mr. Clary held prayer-meetings as early as the year 1814, in the house 2 of Deacon Benjamin Peirce. The first public place known as being used for such meetings was the school-room over the store of Dr. John Wheeler, still standing,8 Mr. Clary officiating.
But, in March 1825, John Wheeler, agent for No. I school district, advertised that the school-house of that district (which was built in 1790, and which stood where the present brick house stands, at Pine Hill) would be sold at auction on Thursday, 17 March. At the sale it was bought for the use of the First Parish, and was moved, under the oversight of Asa A. Tufts, to a spot on the land of Asa Freeman and Philemon Chandler, in the rear of their buildings on Silver street. Asa Freeman then resided in what is still known as the "Freeman House." The building was speedily fitted up for religious purposes. An advertisement called a meeting of the " subscribers to the consti- intion of the Missionary Society of Dover, auxiliary to the New Hamp- shire Missionary Society," to meet "at the vestry " 16 August 1825. Here the conference meetings were held. The house was so used until the parish, when it built the present meeting-house, made a vestry over its vestibule.
But when the parish, 23 December, 1834, determined to destroy the vestry in the meeting-house by moving the organ backward, it was forced to return to the little old vestry on Silver street. Apparently the people began its use with the new year. There they remained un- til late in the year 1839 or early in 1840. A parish business meeting was held in the old vestry 20 October 1839; the next was held 28 March 1840, in the lower story of the " Belknap school-house," a building which stood upon the south side of Church street, and which now protrudes its hideous pillars into the sidewalk of Third street, to which spot the building was eventually removed.
Meetings were held in that Belknap house + until " Banfield's vestry " came into existence ; possibly a year and three quarters.
1 For many facts in this section, I am indebted to the investigations of Benjamin Titcomb White- house, of Dover.
2 The house is an ancient house on Silver street, now owned and occupied by William B. Nason.
$ The store is now occupied by George E. Varney.
4 The Belknap school-house was private property, and for a private school, in which James F. Curtis, Muses Paul, and others were interested. It wa, erected in 1833 or 1834, being completed in 1834. An advertisement announced that the " first term of the Bell.nap . chool"' would commence 8 May 1834, with " Thomas Lane in the male department and Miss Brockway in the young ladies' depart- ment." The lower story was the one used as " vestry."
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THE FIRST PARISH IN DOVER.
A few reminiscences of that black, weather-beaten building on Sil- ver street, with its hard, unpainted, uncomfortable benches, yet remain. Some maternal meetings were held there, and singing schools; and, not long before its disuse, some Saturday-afternoon meetings for recit- ing the Assembly's Shorter Catechism. The latter was not an attract- ive exercise.
That old Silver street chapel or " vestry " had a peculiar fate. First, it was in the spring of 1840 moved entirely over upon the lot of Asa A. Freeman, because Philemon Chandler was about to enlarge his store and required the land. In the summer of that year it was loaned by Asa A. Freeman to the " Harrison Association " for political campaign pur- poses, and was moved by that association to the Coffin land where now the City Hall stands, it being placed just where the probate office now is. Samuel Drew did the work, and his bill for " moving and fitting up the old vestry," rendered 28 August 1840, was $61.03. The great Tippecanoe campaign ended, and Mr. Freeman sold the building (to be removed) in the spring of 1841 for $60, to David L. Drew. Mr. Drew sold it shortly after for $75, to William Laskey, who moved it to the north side of St. Thomas street, and placed it on a lot exactly oppo- site to the one now occupied by the estate of Horace Littlefield, jr. It stood until the summer of 1860, when it was taken down, a few of its timbers becoming part of a building belonging to Lewis B. Laskey, back of his dwelling-house; and a dwelling-house now occupies its site.
In the year 1840 or 1841, while the Belknap house was in use, meet- ings were also held in a more northerly place ; first, on Central street, in an upper room in the brick block,1 of which the Dover bank section is now a part, and later in the block next north of Waldron street. The first-named place was, I think, over the present bank room. The lat- ter-named place is the room where the veteran soldiers meet, in the Post of the "Grand Army of the Republic." The diary of Joshua Ban- field says, 6 January 1841 : "In the evening attended the prayer- meeting at the lower vestry, in Central street. This meeting has not been started but a short time. It was arranged for the purpose of accommodating those of our parish who live on the north side of the river, who cannot attend our other vestry meetings."
Both meetings, that on Central street and that at the Belknap school- house, became one in Banfield's vestry on its completion.
Then succeeded " Banfield's vestry." It still stands on the east
1 This block, including the five stores from Waldron street, was built in 1826 by James White- house, who owned the store now occupied by Samuel Meserve.
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THE MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
side of Central street, just at the head of Williams street, a tenement house. He built it on the " Hubbard lot." He contracted, 13 May 1841, with Mr. Locke, of Barrington, for a fraine thirty by forty feet. The frame was raised 21 July 1841. It was rented for certain evenings to the First Parish, I October 1841, for $50 per year; and the first meeting was held there on that Friday evening.
"Our 'pastor's discourse on this occasion," writes Mr. Banfield, "was taken from Matthew xviii, 20: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Jere- miah S. Young was then the pastor. A Sunday-evening prayer-meet- ing was held there two days after, with a large attendance.
Nineteen years passed away in that "vestry." The parish had no exclusive rights there, and it was often rented for temperance meetings, for debating societies, for political caucuses. The room was not attractive ; its ceiling was low ; its seats were rude and hard ; its walls grew dingy. But not a few, none the less enjoying the tasteful and commodious chapel of to-day, remember when a beauty from heaven illumined Banfield's vestry.
Still, a new house, and to be owned by the parish, was imperatively needed. And, 24 March 1860, it voted, "That the Parish will purchase a lot of land and build a vestry on the same."
Joseph W. Welch, Joseph Mann, Joshua Banfield, John R. Varney, Silas Moody, Edmund J. Lane, and Richard N. Ross were made a committee to procure plans and estimates.
The following persons had " signed an obligation to aid in building a vestry," viz .: Edmund J. Lane, Richard Kimball, Oliver Wyatt, John H. Wheeler, Joseph W. Welch, William Woodman, Peter Cushing, jr., Robert H. Cushing, Amos D. White, 2d, William Horne, John P. Mellen, Levi G. Hill, Asa Freeman, James M. Horne, John R. Varney, Wells Waldron, George Quint, Charles W. Rollins, John B. Sargent, Silas Moody, James H. Wheeler, Thomas J. W. Pray, William Palmer, Joseph Mann, Alphonso Bickford, Nathaniel Low, Andrew H. Young, W. L. Thompson, Thomas H. Cushing, Nathaniel Twombly, William F. Estes, Thomas Tash, John L. Platts, Moses Paul, Andrew Peirce, and John Mack; and these persons were made a committee to pur- chase land and build a vestry or chapel.
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