USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Fitzwilliam > The history of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, from 1752-1887 > Part 7
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To resume the record of the meeting, September 26th, 1770 :
Voted that one dollar be raised on each lot of the Grantees in order to be laid out in boarding and shingling the meeting house, and one dollar more to be worked out on the roads, at three shillings per day for each man after the first day of October next.
On the 4th article that the Proprietors defer (prefer) to hear Mr. Ben- jamin Brigham four Sabbaths more on probation, past in the affirmative.
At the next meeting of the proprietors, which was held at the house of James Reed, Esq., on Wednesday, November 7th, 1770, it was
Voted to give Mr. Benjamin Brigham a call to settle in the work of the Ministry in said Monadnock No 4.
Voted to give the said Brigham, for a settlement, in case he accept of
81
MR. BRIGHAM'S CALL.
our Invitation and is actually settled in the work of the Ministry and ordained a Pastor of a church and people in said Monadnock No 4, be- sides the two lots of land granted for the first settled minister, Eighty pounds Lawful Money, to be raised by a tax on each lot of land liable to Taxis in said Monadnock No. 4, the one half of the said Eighty pounds to be paid in one year from this day and the other half in two years from this day.
Voted to pay to said Brigham in case he settle as aforesaid, a yearly Salary by a Tax on each lot as is above mentioned, as follows, viz. from the time he shall give his answer of acceptance, after the rate of fifty- three pounds six shillings and eight pence per annum, to be paid in one year from the time of the said answer of acceptance and so on yearly for three years, then to ad forty shillings per year untill it comes to sixty six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence, to be paid yearly so long as Mr. Brigham shall continue [to fulfill the work of] a Gospel Minister and in relation of a Pastor to a church and people in said No. 4.
The words in brackets, " to fulfill the work of," it was voted to erase at a subsequent meeting, and this the clerk did as he was directed to do.
Voted that the sum of eight shillings and six pence Lawful Money, on each lot be assessed and collected to pay for one half of the settlement and first year's salary in case the said Mr. Brigham shall accept as above- said.
Voted that the sum of two shillings and six pence on each lot be as- sessed and collected to pay for preaching for the time past and for what time Mr. Brigham hath already ingaged.
Voted and chose Mr. Daniel Mellen, Joseph Hemingway, James Reed, Jonathan Lock and Edward Kendall a Committee to Wate upon Mr. Benjamin Brigham with the votes of the Propriety in regard of the unameous (unanimous) vote in giving him a call to settle in the work of the ministry in said Monadnock No. 4.
The next meeting was held January 29th, 1771, and Mr. Brigham's letter of acceptance having been read, the propri- etors voted
their universal acceptance of the answer and their thanks to Mr. Brig- ham and likewise voted fifteen rods of the south end of the common land by the meeting house for Mr. Brigham's use.
Mr. Brigham's letter of acceptance, the confession of faith adopted at the organization of the church, and the account of the ordination are all found in the proprietors' records ; but in 6
82
HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
this work they will more properly be inserted in the chapter on early ecclesiastical history.
On Wednesday, February 20th, 1771, the proprietors com- pleted their arrangements for the ordination of Mr. Brigham by voting that " the day for the ordination shall be Wednes- day, the 27th day of March next."
Also they " agreed with Mr. Brigham and Voted that the Proprietors and Mr. Brigham send to the following churches to assist in the Council at the ordination, viz., Marlborough, Westborough, Shrewsbury, Lancaster, Southborough, New Ipswich, Swanzey, Royalston, Keene, and Winchendon."
Jonathan Lock, Benjamin Bigelow, and James Reed were chosen as a committee to assist in sending out the letters mis- sive, while Mr. John Mellen agreed to "provide for the Council and other Gentlemen that shall attend the Ordination, for twenty-five dollars." A committee was raised, composed of Benjamin Bigelow, Joseph Hemingway, Jonathan Lock, Edward Kendall, and James Reed, " to attend the Ordination in behalf of the Proprietors."
It is to be remembered that up to this time no church or religions society had been organized in Monadnock No. 4.
Monadnock No 4 March 27. 1771.
This day Mr. Benjamin Brigham was ordained to the work of the min- istry in this place, at the request of the Church and Proprietors, by the assistance of the churches in Marlborough, Westborough, Royalston, Winchendon, Keene and Swanzey.
The proprietors held what seems to have been their annual meeting, June 19th, 1771, and in addition to appointing the usual officers, accepting roads, etc.,
Voted that one dollar on each lot liable to Taxes in Monadnock No. 4 be assessed and collected immediately to help pay outstanding debts and towards getting stuf and working on the Meeting house.
March 4th, 1772, the Proprietors
Voted the sum of one pound four shillings and tenpence to be assessed on each lot in said Monadnock No. 4 to be collected immediately, €0. 9. 10. to pay Mr. Brigham the 2ª half of his settlement and two years' salary, and one dollar to be worked out on the Roads and one
83
SALE OF PEWS IN THE MEETING-HOUSE.
Dollar be paid towards finishing the Meeting house and three shillings to pay outstanding debts.
Also
Voted to not Except (accept) of the Grist Mill built by Doctor Gideon Tiffany in Monadnock No. 4.
Also
" to put in execution a Bond given by Gideon Tiffany, to Build and Keep in good Repair a water Grist Mill in Monadnock No. 4," on one of certain lots named, " or come to some proper settlement with the said Tiffany in regard of said mill, as it is not Excepted (accepted) by the Proprietors."
October 7th, 1772, the Proprietors
Voted and chose Mr. Joseph Hemingway, Edward Kendall and Samuel Kendall a Committee to lay out the Pew ground in the meeting house in Monadnock No 4.
Voted to sell the Pew ground in the meeting house at public vendue amongst the Proprietors of Monadnock No 4, and likewise put it to vote to see if those that bought the Pews should take it for their seats, and Past in the Negative. Likewise Voted that the two hind seats in the Body of seats should be made into pews.
Voted to paint the meeting house in Monadnock No. 4.
Voted that the Pulpit and Body of seats and Ministers Pue and Dea - cons' seat be built as quick as may be,
and raised a committee " to see the work done," consisting of Joseph Hemingway, Samuel Kendall, and Elijah Clays. " Voted that the money raised by the sale of the Pews be laid out towards finishing the meeting house," the committee on the sale to " collect the money that the same shall fetch" and apply it accordingly.
At an adjourned meeting thirteen days later-viz., October 20th, 1772, the committee to sell the pew ground was directed to " give a list of the Pews sold by them, the number of the Pew, to whom sold, the price given for each pew, to the Clerk," and his entry of the same in the proprietors' book " shall be a sufficient title to the purchasers and their heirs."
The pew on the east side of the pulpit marked No. 2 was set apart for the use of the minister.
Voted that the sides and ends of the Meeting House on the inside shall be sealed up to the bottom of the windows and the windows cased at the Proprietors' cost.
84
HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
The committee to see this work of sealing and casing done consisted of Joseph Hemingway, Samuel Kendall, and Elijah Clays. They were to attend also to the painting of the meet- ing-house.
The committee appointed to sell the pews made their report to the clerk as directed. The result of the sale was as follows :
No.
1 James Reed and his heirs at. 10. 6.
Dolls.
10 James Reed
18 James Reed
4.75
15 Henry Willard יו
6.
5 Edward Kendall
10.25
13 John Mayhew
6.25
4 Elijah Clays
7.
6 Samuel Kendall
8.
14 Nathan Platts
6.50
16 Nathan Mixer 66
6.
11 Thomas Wetherby "
5.25
12 John Mellen
4.50
8 Levi Brigham
6.
1- Joseph Hemingway "
5.50
17 John Lock
4.00
9 James Reed Jun
5.
3 Daniel Mellen
6.75
The number of pews was eighteen, and they brought at the auction sale one hundred and seven dollars and seventy-five cents. This list furnishes, without doubt, the names of the most active business men in the township at the close of the year 1772. Of the meeting-house itself some account will be given hereafter. That it was far from being completed at the date just given is plain, for at the meeting of the proprietors, March 31st, 1773, a tax was laid " to finish the Meeting House."
At this meeting also the first legal action was taken regard- ing the incorporation of Monadnock No. 4 as a town of New Hampshire, for James Reed, John Mellen, and Joseph Hem- ingway were appointed a committee
to Repair to the Govner and Council of this Province to have this Town- ship incorporated into a Town and to have Town privledgs, as soon as may be.
85
DELAY IN COMPLETING THE MEETING-HOUSE.
The circumstances attending the incorporation of the town will be considered in the chapter on carly town history. It is not easy now to define in exact terms the relations existing between the proprietors and the town after the incorporation. Both organizations had rights and privileges which it is easy to see might sometimes have seemed to clash, but as the parties interested were so nearly identical, the general action of each appears to have been in harmony with that of the other. The proprietors continued to lay taxes to " finish the meeting- house" and pay the salary of the minister, but about all the other business appears to have been done by the town organi- zation.
In February, 1776, the proprietors appointed a committee consisting of Major Brigham, Deacon Lock, and Major Farrar
to enquire of the undertakers that was to finish the meeting house, and why it is not done, and cause them to do it forthwith.
Again May 11th, 1777, a new committee consisting of Major Asa Brigham, Stephen Harris, and Samuel Patrick was raised
to see that the work on the meeting house was finished, and to commence an action against the undertakers in case the work is neglected.
And in June 28th, 1780,
Voted and Chose Mr. Nathaniel Muzzy, Abner Stone, and John Whit- ney a Committee to see that the undertakers finish the meeting house or to sue them for the fullfillment of the same.
As this is the last vote that is passed of this character, it is evident that the " undertakers" proceeded to complete the job in a satisfactory manner. A year earlier the " undertakers" considered that they had fulfilled their contract. In the war- rant for a meeting to be held June 9th, 1779, the following article appears :
8ly. To see if the Proprietors will except (accept) of the Meeting House and Discharge the undertakers and act thereon as they shall think proper.
As the article was passed over, it is plain that the propri- etors did not consider that the job was properly completed,
86
HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
but it required the action of a year later to bring the " under- takers" or contractors to do their duty. It does not state who the contractors were anywhere in the records, but as the meeting-house had been ten years in process of erection, it is plain that they belonged to the town.
This meeting, June 9th, 1779, was the first proprietors' meeting that was held in the meeting-house.
At the proprietors' meeting, December 8th, 1779, the arti- cles of charter respecting their obligation to maintain constant preaching, and also their original contract with Rev. Mr. Brigham, were considered, and a vote was taken to fulfil the latter. No definite action concerning the matter first men- tioned appears to have been taken, as they probably thought it wise to await the developments of time ; but the following votes were passed :
Voted Mr. Anger and others to the number of fifteen, the vacant room inside galleries of the meeting house Back of the hind seats, to Build pews they building them upon their own cost and taking them for their seats and maintaining the windows.
Voted that Mr. Samuel Osborn and others to the No. of five (have) the vacant Room over the stairs in the meeting house, to build pews, they building them upon their own cost and taking them for their seats.
All this shows a curious contrast with the methods prevail- ing a century later. The action just given respecting the grant of pew ground to Mr. Anger and others to the number of fifteen was in consequence of a petition for the same signed by John Whitney, Matthew Osborn, Joseph Stone, Benjamin Byam, Joseph Foristall, Samuel Stone, Daniel Gould, Solo- mon Badcock, David Emery Boynton, Ebenezer Boutwell, Ebenezer Potter, Benjamin Harris, Asa Brigham, Joseph Scott, and Benjamin Anger. Most of these were representa- tives of families intimately associated with the history of Fitz- william.
June 29th, 1780, Rev. Mr. Brigham proposed to the pro- prietors " to sink one fifth part of his salary for the present year" if they would pay all arrears, a proposition which was at once accepted.
S7
REV. MR. BRIGHAM'S SALARY.
At the same meeting the proprietors
Voted and chose Deacon John Lock, Samuel Patrick and Ensing Samuel Kendall a Committee to state the Revd Mr. Brighams Sallery by the articles of Life
Voted the Above Committee have full power to state the articles of Life above mentioned.
And this committee reported as follows :
To Lieut Ephraim Boyington (Boynton) Cleark & Treasurer for the proprietors of Fitzwilliam We the subscribers a committee appointed by the proprietors to state the Rev'd Mr. Brighams Salary for the preas- ant year have stated it at one hundred and thirty double and have di- rected ye assessors to make their assessment accordingly You are de- sired to make a record of this
Samuel Patrick ) John Locke Committee. Samuel Kendalı j
Fitzwilliam 5th of December 1780.
A few words are omitted by mistake. Mr. Brigham's salary at this time was about sixty-five pounds, and the com- mittee doubled it. This was on account of the depreciation of the currency ; the next year the proprietors to " pay him only the nominal sum of his stated salary, and pay it in hard money."
September 5th, 1781, the proprietors heard the report of a committee previously appointed to confer with Rev. Mr. Brigham respecting the depreciation in the value of his salary, as it had been collected and paid in continental bills, and it was voted to pay him only the nominal salary, but to pay it in hard money.
April 2d, 1782, the proprietors considered a difficulty with Mr. Jonas Knight relative to his not serving as collector, as he had engaged to do ; but the whole matter was settled by his promise to pay Rev. Mr. Brigham " twelve bushels of Rie in six weeks." *
* Doubtless there were office-seekers in those days, but Jonas Knight did not relish the collectorship ; and it bordered on the ludicrous to compel such a modest man to pay for his temerity in declining office by measuring out six bushels of his rye as a gift to his minister.
88
HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
August 23d, 1786, the proprietors ordered some changes to be made "in the two hind seats in the side galleries" of the meeting-house for the convenience of those occupying the adjacent seats and pews, but that it should be done "at the cost of the owners of said pews, and that fifteen persons to each pew be added to sit in said pews and to take them for their seats so long as they hold the right in them."
In September, 1791, the proprietors " Voted to put in the two upper end windowes and the glass over the Pulpit in the meeting house and to paint and putty them in well," and to give the work to the lowest bidder.
So far as the proprietors' records show, the care of the roads and bridges in the township passed from the proprietors to the town itself soon after the act of incorporation ; but the support of the minister, repairs and changes in the meeting-house, and the care of the ministerial and school lands belonged to the proprietors up to 1798.
During the year before-viz., November 17th, 1797, the proprietors appointed "Deac. John Fassitt, Deac. John Locke and Capt. John Bowker a Committee to propose to Rev. Benjamin Brigham to dissolve the contract with regard to paying him his salary in case the Town will contract with him for that purpose."
After an hour's adjournment (evidently for consultation) they
Voted that the Proprietors will relinquish all their right to the Meet- ing House in said Town, if the Town will pay what salary is now due to Rev. Benjamin Brigham from the Proprietors and contract to pay him in future,
and then appointed a committee to present this offer to the town. Also
Voted to discharge the Rev. Benjamin Brigham from the contract he made with the Proprietors on his discharging said Proprietors from the contract they made with him to pay him his salary and the Town will contract with him to pay his salary in future.
The committee to present this matter to the town accom-
89
LAST ACTS OF PROPRIETORS.
plished the object for which it was raised ; and January 29th, 1798, the proprietors
Voted to accept the release from Mr Benjamin Brigham as reported by the Committee.
LATER AND LAST ACTS OF THE PROPRIETORS.
October 17th, 1792, the proprietors chose as their clerk and treasurer Mr. Nahum Parker, who a few years before had removed from Shrewsbury, Mass., to Fitzwilliam.
Being a man of good business education and habits, all the records and accounts of the proprietors from this date are very full and easy of comprehension. Mr. Parker served the proprietors as their clerk and treasurer for twenty three years, or until the winding up of the affairs of the proprietorship, which took place in 1815. From 1798 the town had paid the salary of the pastor and attended to all the repairs made upon the meeting-house ; but the care of the ministerial and school lots and the collection of the interest upon the leases of the same still devolved upon the proprietors through their treasurer.
These rents were duly collected by Mr. Parker, and after being serupulously accounted for upon his records, were paid over to the selectmen of the town, to be applied to the pay- ment of the salary of the minister and the support of the schools respectively.
Before the closing up of the business of the proprietors they directed that the rents above mentioned should be paid di- rectly to the seleetmen of the town rather than to a treasurer of their appointment.
December 1Sth, 1815, Joseph Brigham and Charles Bowker, being a committee of the proprietors appointed for that pur- pose, examined the accounts and vouchers of the treasurer, and finding all correct, made a full and final settlement with him. At that time the sum of four dollars and sixty-eight cents remained in the hands of Mr. Parker, which was doubt- less disposed of in accordance with some unrecorded provision of the proprietors.
In 1797 federal money was first used, in keeping his ac- counts, by Treasurer Parker.
CHAPTER VI.
EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 1768-1800 .*
Religious Privileges-Meeting-House-Its Appearance and Arrangement- Mr. Nehemiah Parker's Ministry-Mr. Benjamin Brigham's Candidacy and Settlement-Council-Church Organized-Its Members-Half-Way Covenant-Habits of Congregation-Parsonage-Mr. Brigham's Sick- ness and Death.
THE records of the past are very instructive ; and this is as trne of the history of our churches as it possibly can be of the history of our towns, State and nation.
In tracing the events that led to the settlement of this town, we have seen that the proprietors of it, whether they were willing or unwilling, were under the necessity of furnishing religious privileges as one of the conditions under which they received their grant. It was not a matter discretionary with the individual owners of this territory whether or not they should have a house for public worship and a gospel minister, as one after another they contracted for their lots, cleared their land, built their log-houses, and established their homes in this wilderness, for the men of whom they purchased were obliged, by the fundamental conditions of their charter, to make pro- vision for all this from the beginning. Two of the two hun- dred and fifty-eight lots, or one share of the one hundred and twenty-nine shares, must be reserved, as we have seen, for a gift to the first settled minister, and of another share he was to have the use, while within five years they must erect a house for public worship and, after one year more, maintain con- stant preaching.
The proprietors upon whom were imposed these conditions, we are to remember, never became settlers on this territory
* In the preparation of this chapter it has been necessary to allude to a few of the facts already set forth in bringing together the most interesting and important of the acts of the proprietors.
91
MEETING-HOUSE RAISED.
with one exception, but resided in various towns in Eastern Massachusetts and South-eastern New Hampshire ; and when we reflect upon all the eireumstanees of the case, upon the fact that their interests were mainly elsewhere, and the almost in- surmountable difficulties encountered here by the actual set- tlers, we are surprised that they ever erceted a meeting-house at all, rather than that, so many years elapsed before it was finished. This house, as already noticed, stood upon the hill near the school-house in Distriet No. S, the north-east corner of the building being very near or upon the spot where " the old hearse-house" stood.
November 14th, 1769, the proprietors chose
James Reed, John Mellen and Edward Kendall a Committee to pro- vide stuf and build a meeting house in said township so far as to inclose the outside and Lay the Lour floor.
This was before the site for the house was fixed upon through the recommendation of another committee, which was done April 18th, 1770. At this last-mentioned meeting the same men were appointed "a committee to provide for the raising of the meeting-house."
It appears that the house was raised in the month of May, 1770. The tradition is that every man in town was present and aided in the work. The timbers were of oak just taken from the forest, and very heavy ; and when the men had raised the first tier of the frame breast high, they found them- selves unable to raise it any higher. At the same time they dared not let it down, for some of them would doubtless have been erushed by it, and either killed or maimed for life. In this emergency two men arrived from Rindge, by whose timely aid the danger was averted, and the frame went up. Dr. Cummings has preserved the following, though he by no means would have vouched for its truth-viz., that Rev. Mr. Brig- ham afterward said that he never knew swearing do any good but once, and that was while raising this first part of the meet- ing-house. This reported saying of Mr. Brigham is of very doubtful authenticity, for
1. It was not like him to say anything of the kind ; and
92
HISTORY OF FITZWILLIAM.
2. He does not appear to have come to Monadnock No. 4 till after the meeting-house was raised, since more than four months after the raising the proprietors voted that they would prefer to hear him four Sabbaths more as a candidate for set- tlement. There may have been profanity at the raising, for it was a common vice in that day, and probably strong drink was indulged in, according to the universal custom of the times.
The meeting-house, though a number of years passed by be- fore it was completed, was a substantial though plain building, and for that day and region somewhat spacious and con- venient. It fronted the south, though it had doors upon the east and west sides also. The pulpit was upon the north end or side toward the cemetery opposite the south door, and over it was the sounding-board, a huge structure then universal in all meeting-houses of any pretension, and ignorantly supposed to aid the acoustic properties of the house. Just below the pulpit, in front of it, was the deacons' scat, a place of honor, where the two godly " fathers of the church" sat on ordinary as well as extraordinary occasions.
The house was furnished in the central or what we should call the body part with long slips or seats, which seem to have been free, while square pews were arranged next to the walls both below and in the galleries. These pews were private property, and some of them appear to have been built at different times by their respective owners, and, for anything we know to the contrary, according to their individual tastes and with various kinds of lumber. It does not appear that the house was ever painted within except about the pulpit and the window-casings, and some time elapsed before a coat of paint was put upon the outside. The luxury of window-blinds upon a church or the best private houses was then unknown in this region. For a number of years the interior of the edi- fice must have presented a singular appearance, with its vacant places for pews, long seats, and various styles of workmanship.
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