USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Fitzwilliam > The history of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, from 1752-1887 > Part 17
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Hon. Nahum Parker presided at the meeting, and measures were taken to obtain the use of the meeting-house a propor- tion of the time, if the pastor would not exchange with Uni- tarian ministers. A committee, consisting of Phineas Reed, Hon. Nahum Parker, and Robinson Perkins, was raised to wait upon Rev. Mr. Sabin and learn his decision, but he was unwilling to give the pledge that was asked.
At the annual town meeting in March, 1831, the question, By whom shall the meeting-house be occupied ? was discussed, and decided in favor of those who sustained the course of the pastor, but this vote was set aside at another meeting a few days later, and the following was adopted :
That the Selectmen of this town, for the present year, be requested to assign to the Liberal party (so-called) the use of the Meeting House eight Sundays and the Baptists two Sundays, at such times as the Select- men shall judge proper.
Accordingly they appointed the last Sabbaths in April, May, July, August, October, November, December, and January
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL (UNITARIAN) SOCIETY. 199
for the liberal party, and the last Sabbath in September and the first Sabbath in January for the Baptists.
Soon after this, at an adjourned meeting of those who felt aggrieved at the course of Mr. Sabin and his friends, a paper drawn up by Phineas Reed, Johu J. Allen, Josiah Carter, and Josiah Ingalls, committee, appears to have been adopted, in which the pastor's amiable qualities, kind offices, and sympa- thies with the people are set forth, as well as the hold he had gained upon the affections of the congregation in general, while at the same time those who constituted the majority of the church were censured for the course they had pursued in withdrawing fellowship* from their former associates in the church.
In such an excitement many things are often said and done, even by the wisest, that leave room for regret, and nearly sixty years ago this may have been the case with some of the good people of Fitzwilliam.
First Congregational (Unitarian) Society.
Of the events affecting this since the division, the following summary may be given :
Rev. Seth Winslow occupied the pulpit during a large part of the year 1833, and Rev. J. K. Waite during 1834 and 1835, except nine Sabbaths, when it was occupied by Mr. Robert F. Walleut, to whom the people gave a call to become their pas- tor. Mr. Walleut was installed in December, 1835.
In 1834 it was deemed " necessary for the comfort of the inhabitants of Fitzwilliam, who usually assemble in their town meeting-house for publie worship, that there should be a stove in said house to warm it in cold weather." Accordingly a stove was procured and placed in the house, it being under- stood that the ownership thereof should remain with the per- sons who paid for it.
At a meeting of the members of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Society in Fitzwilliam, March 17th, 1837, for a more complete organization, it was voted to choose a commit- tee of three to prepare a constitution and by-laws for said soci-
* From the Church Records it appears that the first vote of the church withdrawing fellowship from certain of its disaffected members, was passed in July, 1832.
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
ety, and Amos A. Parker, Esq., John J. Allen, Esq., and Josiah Ingalls, Esq., were chosen.
Rev. Mr. Farmer preached eight months in 1837, and Rev. Ezekiel L. Bascom from July, 1838, till October, 1839, when he was obliged to go South for his health. He returned in the spring of 1840, and eontinned his ministry till a short time before his death, which occurred April 2d, 1841. In 1841 Mr. Bridge preached nine Sabbaths, and Mr. John K. Wright two. A call to the pastorate was given to Rev. Mr. Shaw in 1842, which was declined, and the pulpit was occupied by Rev. C. Wellington and Rev. James H. Sayward. The ministry of the latter was during the great Millerite excitement (so- ealled), and, on one occasion, after preaching with much zeal and earnestness in opposition to what he believed to be erro- neous doctrines, he remained through some other exercises in the unwarmed house and took a severe cold, from which he never recovered, but died January 13th, 1844. In the same year a call was given to Mr. John S. Brown to become pastor, and he was ordained and remained with the people about ten years, a useful minister among his own people and an excel- lent eitizen. Mr. Brown was earnest and successful in main- taining the interests of the common schools, in establishing the library, and promoting temperance and morality among the people of Fitzwilliam. At a meeting to consider his resigna- tion October 16th, 1854, it was voted
that we accede to his desire for the dissolving a union which has har- moniously and satisfactorily existed for more than ten years, and which on our part we could have wished to still continue.
Soon after leaving Fitzwilliam, Rev. Mr. Brown settled in Lawrence, Kan., and in 1884, at the age of seventy-eight, he visited his many friends in this place, apparently as intellect- ually vigorons and as much interested in the welfare of the town as he was thirty years before.
After the Baptist Society had erected a house of worship, the question of changing the church edifice, built in 1817, into a town hall, and other rooms for town purposes was agitated ; and sinee these changes were made, the First Congregational Society has hired the Town Hall for its religious services.
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UNITARIAN MINISTERS.
During the ten years sneceeding 1854, the pulpit was sup- plied by Rev. Messrs. W. M. Fernald, S. Lincoln, W. B. Thayer, George L. Piper, W. O. Willard, E. W. Cottin, J. II. Wiggan, Addison Brown, J. Orrell, J. E. Berry, and D. A. Russell, the latter serving a large part of the time, from 1861 to 1863 inclusive.
October 5th, 1863, Rev. B. S. Fanton became pastor, and under his ministry several united with the church, but his health failing, he closed his labors here March 6th, 1864.
After the pulpit had been supplied by a number of candi- dates, Rev. Engene De Normandie was called to the pastorate November 8th, 1864. A little before this event a union was formed between the church in Fitzwilliam and the liberal Christians in Troy which was continued a year or more, during Mr. De Normandie's ministry, and was acceptable to both parties. This pastor removed to Marlborough, Mass., in 1865, and was sneceeded in 1866 by Rev. Ira Bailey, formerly of Athol, Mass., who was installed in 1866, and remained pastor till September, 1868.
From that time till the present (1886), this society has had no settled minister, as many of the most prominent members have died, and others have removed from town in considerable numbers. Among the latter was Asa S. Kendall, Esq., who was one of the most active workers in the denomination. At different times, and for different periods, during these years, the pulpit has been supplied by Rev. Messrs. John II. Hey- wood, Grindall Reynolds, George C. Wright, James K. Ap- plebee, and W. K. Brown, and at sneh seasons of the year as the people have thought most conducive to the interests of re- ligion and the cause of liberal Christianity, holding their ser- vices during three or four months or more annually.
It may here be stated that, for many years, a very efficient ladies' organization has existed in connection with the First Congregational or Unitarian Society, which, by the industry and self-denial of its members, has furnished, from time to time, a considerable part of the funds used for the support of preaching in that denomination.
Mrs. Abba Batcheller, the secretary, has kindly furnished
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
the substance of what follows concerning it. The Unitarian Ladies' Society was organized June 29th, 1833. The consti- tution was prepared by Rev. J. K. Waite, and the name given to the organization was " The Fitzwilliam Mutual Improve- ment and Charitable Society," the object of which was de- clared to be "to improve its members and benefit others." None under twelve years of age could become members. The first board of officers chosen was as follows : Mrs. J. K. Waite, President ; Miss Selina Parker, Vice-President ; Miss M. E. Felton, Secretary and Treasurer ; Directors, Mrs. Felton, Miss Cooledge, Mrs. Cooledge, Mrs. Perkins, and Mrs. Fair- banks.
The meetings have been holden on the first Thursday after- noon and evening of each month. The funds raised have been used for denominational purposes, and for charitable objects, as needed. The fund at the present time amounts to three hundred dollars.
Mrs. Selina Parker Damon, the first vice-president, was chosen president in 1855, and resigned this office in 1884. Mrs. Caroline Chaplin served as vice-president from 1860 to 1884. Mrs. Isabinda Carter was secretary and treasurer from 1848 to the time of her death in 1863, when Mrs. Abba Batcheller took her place. Nearly two hundred names have been affixed to the constitution. Officers 1884 : Mrs. S. A. Carter, President ; Mrs. Maria Perry, Vice-President ; Mrs. Abba Batcheller, Secretary and Treasurer ; Directors, Mrs. Elizabeth Gage, Mrs. Julia Perry, Mrs. Amanda Haskell, Mrs. Alicia Newton, and Mrs. Susa Platts.
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND ORTHODOX SOCIETY.
On March 12th, 1833, the town
voted that the contract between the town and the Rev. John Sabin ceased on the 5th of March, 1832, and that he is no longer the Minister of the church and congregation of this town ; and that the Selectmen notify him accordingly.
In 1832 a meeting-house was erected upon the spot where the church of the Orthodox Society now stands, Rev. Mr. Sabin giving the land used for this purpose. This was dedi-
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REV. MR. SABIN'S DEATH.
cated October 31st, 1832. For a year or more Mr. Sabin's congregation worshipped in various places while the work of building was in progress. That house took fire, and was con- sumed on Thursday, January 15th, 1857. The next season the present church was erected, and was dedicated December 31st, 1857 : Rev. A. P. Marvin, of Winchendon, Mass., preaching the sermon. Rev. Mr. Sabin was sole pastor from March 6th, 1805, till September 4th, 1844, when Mr. Horace Herrick, of Peacham, Vt., was ordained and installed as his colleague. About one year later, viz., October 14th, 1845, Mr. Sabin died. Rev. E. Rockwood, of Swanzey, preached the funeral sermon, which was printed, and from which the fol- lowing extraet is made :
He was uncommonly mild and even in his temper, social in his feel- ings, sincere in his friendships, hospitable to strangers, and courteous to all. He was interesting as a preacher. His sermons were generally well digested, discovering a good knowledge of the Scriptures and of human nature, with no small share of originality ; evangelical in doc- trine and highly practical. As a pastor in whom his people might repose full confidence, who was alive to all their spiritual wants, ready to sympathize with them in all their sorrows, consoling them under their varied trials, guiding their serious inquiries, and teaching them how to conflict with the king of terrors, his own people best knew his worth.
Probably no resident of this town, with the possible excep- tion of the first pastor, Rev. Mr. Brigham, ever was able to do as much as Mr. Sabin in shaping the intellectual and moral character of the people of Fitzwilliam. During a considerable part of his long ministry, he was the trusted pastor of almost every family in town, and the young and the old looked up to him as a father. Five hundred of them he appears to have baptized, and seven hundred he had joined in marriage.
Mr. Horace Herrick was ordained and installed as colleague pastor with Mr. Sabin, a little more than one year before the death of the latter. After a pastorate of about three years he was dismissed at his own request.
Mr. Abraham Jenkins, Jr., a native of Barre, Mass., and a graduate of Amherst College, after supplying the pulpit for the space of four months, was called by the church and society to the pastorate, and ordained and installed as the fifth pastor,
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
February 16th, 1848, Rev. Edward Hitcheock, D. D., Presi- dent of Amherst College, preaching the sermon. Mr. Jen- kins's ministry continued about six years, when, with failing health, he asked and obtained his dismission.
Rev. John Woods, a native of this town, then became aet- ing pastor, and served the church and congregation faithfully for about six years, when Mr. William L. Gaylord was called and ordained pastor, which event took place September 14th, 1860, Rev. Edward N. Kirk, D.D., of Boston, preaching the sermon. Mr. Gaylord's ministry here covered a period of about seven years, when he was dismissed at his own request by a council, December 26th, 1867. He was afterward pastor in Nashua, N. H., Meriden, Conn., and Chicopee, Mass., where he died.
Rev. John F. Norton, a native of Goshen, Conn., who had been a pastor in Athol, Mass., between fifteen and sixteen years, was installed as pastor here, September 23d, 1868, after he had supplied the pulpit for six months. Rev. Dr. A. C. Thompson, of Roxbury, Mass., preached the sermon on that occasion. After a ministry of five years, Mr. Norton was dis- missed at his own request, March 31st, 1873, and removed to Natiek, Mass., where he now resides.
Rev. John Colby, of Southborough, Mass., was at onee in- vited to supply the pulpit and was acting pastor for about thirteen years, when he removed to Sonth Natiek, Mass.
In the genealogical reeord which fills the latter part of this volume, the families of Rev. Benjamin Brigham, Rev. Abra- ham Jenkins, Jr., and Rev. John Woods will be found in their proper place.
Rev. John Sabin had no children. His wife was Mary Damon, of Woodstock, Vt., and to her reference will be made in the account of the Sabin parsonage.
The wife of Rev. Horace Herrick was Miss Aurelia Town- send, and they had no children.
Rev. William L. Gaylord was born at Woodstock, Conn., October 14th, 1831. His parents were Horace and Mary A. Gaylord. He graduated at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, in 1861. His wife was Miss Juliette Foster Hyde.
MOTACE HERATEK
LET HIM JEILUNS JR
THILO TO LUTHER OM LORO
JOHN FOOTE HORTON
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MINISTERS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH.
of Norwich, Conn., who died March 17th, 1875. Mr. Gay- lord was pastor at Fitzwilliam about six years, at Nashua, N. H., three years, at Meriden, Conn., six years, and while pastor at Chicopee, Mass., died, March 26th, 1882, leaving three children, viz., Mary Foster, Josephine and William.
Rev. John F. Norton, of Natiek, Mass., has a wife, Ann Maria Mann, daughter of Rev. Cyrus Mann, for many years pastor in Westminster, Mass. Lewis M. Norton, their only child, is Professor of Organic and Industrial Chemistry in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. Mr. Norton is a native of Goshen, Conn., and the son of Lewis M. and Laura (Foote) Norton. He was educated at Yale College, and in the Theological Institute of Connecticut, now Hartford Theological Seminary.
Rev. John Colby has a wife and two daughters, viz., Annie Lavinia, a graduate of Wellesley College, 1880, and Helen King. Mr. Colby is a native of York, Me. He fitted for college at Gilmanton Academy, New Hampshire, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1852, and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1855. Before his removal to this town he had been pastor at Hampton, N. H., and Southborough, Mass. In 1884 he was elected a member of the New Hampshire Legisla- ture and served in it in 1885.
The several pastors were the clerks of this church for about one hundred years. Deacon Timothy Blodgett is the clerk at the present time.
DEACONS.
There is no record of the choice of Benjamin Bigelow as the first deacon in 1771, and the tradition that he was chosen to fill this office at the organization of the church may be in fault.
John Fassett was elected April 18, 1771. John Locke 66 July $, 1773.
Samuel Griffin 66 April 25, 1798.
Oliver Damon 66 April 25, 1798.
Calvin Coolidge 66 May 10, 1827.
Rufus B. Phillips
May 10, 1827.
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
Deacon Fassett died January 12th, 1834. Deacon Loeke removed to Sullivan, N. H., and died February 16th, 1823, at the age of ninety. Deacons Griffin and Damon resigned May 10th, 1827, when their successors, Deacons Coolidge and Phillips, were elected. Deacon Coolidge served as Deacon thirty-two years, and died April 6th, 1859. Deacon Joseph Harris, who had held this office in Sangus, Mass., was chosen to succeed Deacon Coolidge, but did not formally accept the office, though for a considerable time he discharged its duties ; and both Deacons Phillips and Harris received the thanks of the church for their faithful service, November 1st, 1859. Messrs. Horace Coolidge and Joel Whittemore were then chosen deacons, and after having served abont nine years, both resigned in 1868, when Timothy Blodgett and Dexter Collins were chosen to succeed them. Deacon Collins having removed to Winchendon, Mr. Leonard Byam was chosen in his place, May 4th, 1882.
Counting Deacon Harris, this church has therefore had the services of twelve deacons since 1771, and all have been men highly respected and beloved. The first six served eighty- eight years.
Of the membership of this church the following statements may be made. Before the settlement of the fourth pastor, Rev. Mr. Herriek, in 1844, there had been received six hundred and thirty-seven members, two hundred and forty-two males, and three hundred and ninety-five females. In 1871 the number received had reached eight hundred and four, of whom two hundred and ninety-four were males, and five hundred and ten females. During the last thirteen years fifty-two have been received, viz., fourteen males and thirty-eight females, making the whole number eight hundred and fifty-six, of whom three hundred and eight have been males and five hundred and forty-eight females. Of course a large part of this num- ber have died or gone elsewhere, and for the last twenty years the actual membership has varied between one hundred and twenty-five and one hundred and fifty.
Nearly seventy years ago, the first Sabbath-school in Fitz- william was opened in the study of the pastor, Rev. Mr.
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PARSONAGES OF ORTHODOX SOCIETY.
Sabin, with abont twenty pupils. It was taught by Miss Sarah Knight and Miss Loisa Dutton. This was in 1817, and the next season more teachers were employed, and the sessions of the school were held in the village school-house. In 1819 the school was inneh larger and removed to the meeting-house, where it was regularly established as one of the important re- ligions institutions of the place. As the other religious soci- eties were formed and went into operation the Sabbath-school was adopted by them also, and thus has become general.
PARSONAGES.
The first pastor, Rev. Mr. Brigham, built for himself, owned, and occupied till his death, the house, recently re- moved, that stood under the shadow of the great elm-tree, a little east of the cemetery.
Rev. Mr. Williams boarded at the house of Mr. Matthias Felton, and had no family.
Rev. Mr. Sabin owned the house which he occupied, a little south of the Orthodox church, which is now the summer resi- dence of Mrs. Laura Simonds Estabrook, of Boston. The pastors that followed found homes in different parts of the village till, during the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Gaylord, the Orthodox Society purchased for a parsonage the house after- ward owned and occupied by the late Mr. John Forristall, and in which his widow now resides. In the year 1873 the society, having sold their parsonage to Mr. Forristall, erected a new one, at an expense of about four thousand dollars, a little south of the home of Captain J. S. Adams.
As everything connected with the pastorate and home of Rev. John Sabin has an abiding interest with the people of this place, Mrs. Laura Simonds Estabrook, of Boston, who now owns the Sabin parsonage, has kindly furnished, by request, most of the facts that follow.
Before he received a call to settle as pastor in this place, Mr. Sabin (then a licentiate) had passed through it, on horse- back, on his way from Connecticut to Woodstock, Vt. About a year after his ordination, in 1806, he brought his bride to this place. They came on horseback from Vermont to Keene,
208
HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
where they were met by a delegation of twenty of their par- ishioners, also on horseback, who escorted their pastor and his bride to their home in Fitzwilliam. For six weeks they boarded with Matthias Felton, and then purchased and re- moved to the Sabin house. The purchase was made of Mr. Samuel Kilburn, who, it would seem, had agreed to go on with the work upon the house, which at the time of the pur- chase and occupancy by Mr. and Mrs. Sabin was in an un- finished state.
The house then was only one story and a half high, and the clapboards had not been laid.
The sitting-room and bedroom had been nearly finished, but Mrs. Kilburn had slept in that bedroom an entire summer with nothing but a blanket to protect the outer door. As he was able Mr. Sabin added the second story, the kitchen, and other convenient and comfortable rooms. His study was a room leading off from the kitchen, and it was in this that the first Sabbath-sehool was organized by Misses Loisa Dutton and Sarah Knight.
At different times Mr. Sabin had with him young men who were fitting for college, and among the many names of those who are remembered ocenr those of Samuel Dinsmore, George Dunbar, and Thomas M. Edwards, of Keene. About 1839 or 1840 Roswell D. Hitchcock, D.D., LL. D., was in Fitz- william as a teacher, and after the close of his school he re- mained some time to study with Mr. Sabin. Rev. Cyrus Stone also was often at the parsonage. Miss Dorothy Dix was among the many visitors that were entertained under that roof, and it may interest some to know that the Hon. George P. Marsh, who did so much by his learning and noble character to honor his country among the erowned heads of Southern Europe as the Minister of the United States, was tanght his letters by Mrs. Sabin while a teacher in Vermont.
This lady, both as the wife of the pastor during his long and eventful ministry and as his widow in their old home for twenty years, was noted for her unvarying sweetness of dispo- sition, her wit, her bright fancies, her culture and charity, so far as her limited means would allow.
John Saken, Blevicus .
MRS. MARY ( DAMON ) SABIN.
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CHURCH CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY.
Mrs. Mary Sabin died March 29th, 1865, aged eighty-six years.
The portrait of Rev. Mr. Sabin here given is from an un- finished picture painted under very peculiar circumstances. It was the last work of the artist, Ezra Woolson, a young man of much promise in his profession. There was to be (January 1st, 1845) a social gathering at the parsonage of more than usual interest. It was not professedly a "donation party," but some of Mr. Sabin's friends quietly planned to give it that character, and Mr. Woolson proposed to paint a portrait of Mr. Sabin as his donation. The picture was drawn and hastily painted the same day the party was to take place, so that it might be shown at the assemblage in the evening, and was afterward to be finished and completed in a proper manner. But the artist was taken sick the next day and died within two weeks, aged twenty-one years. Mr. Sabin died the succeeding autumn.
The centennial anniversary of the organization of the church in Fitzwilliam was observed with appropriate services March 26th and 27th, 1871. Rev. John F. Norton, at that time pastor of the church, prepared and preached on the Sabbath, March 26th, two historical and commemorative discourses, which were deposited (in manuscript) with the records of the church. It was proposed at that time to print these discourses, but this project was not favored by the author, because of his conviction that the facts contained and arranged in them would soon be needed in the preparation of a town history. On the Sabbath when they were delivered very large audi- ences assembled, the other religions congregations in the town dispensing with their services and uniting in the commemora- tion.
During the evening of the following day, March 27th, just one hundred years from the organization of the church and the ordination of the first pastor, a large company assembled in the Town Hall for a social meeting, and listened to a recital of a multitude of interesting facts concerning the early settlers of the town and the progress of events during the century then closing.
14
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HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
Among the speakers, Dr. Silas Cummings, Mr. Charles Bigelow, and John Whittemore, Esq., all of whom have since died, and Captain Jonathan S. Adams, among those now living, were listened to by a deeply-interested audience.
The Fitzwilliam Female Benevolent Society is connected with this church, and has been in operation since the year 1845, holding meetings monthly, or more frequently, accord- ing to circumstances.
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