USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Westerly > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 14
USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Charlestown > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 14
USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Hopkinton > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 14
USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Richmond > Westerly (Rhode Island) and its witnesses : for two hundred and fifty years, 1626-1876 : including Charlestown, Hopkinton, and Richmond until their separate organization, with the principal points of their subsequent history > Part 14
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"Both practices he believed to be gross errors. He proceeded to state the character of a church of Christ:
"'1st. They must feel the absolute need of one to go in and out before them, and be over them in the Lord;
"'2d. They must dedicate and improve their spiritual gifts in Sabbath and Church labors: he (the minister) in the front of the battle; they (the
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members) like Aaron and Hur staying up the arms of Moses, to the honor of Christ, the mutual strengthening of the church, and to the conviction of a world lying in wickedness;
"'3d. They must, according to what every one hath, contribute to the necessities of saints, and defray every necessary expense arising in the church, according to their several ability, and to know them that labor among them and are over them in the Lord.'
"The whole burden of expenses ought to be borne by the property in the church, whoever may possess it. The minister's estate ought to bear as much as another brother's estate out of the same work and no more, by equality.
"Brother Asa also endeavored to state the character of the man called of God to watch for souls as they that must give account; he must not be a lord in God's heritage, but an ensample to the believers, in word, in spirit, in charity, in faith and purity, and must give attendance to read- ing and exhortation and doctrine, made neither rich nor poor by his minis- try ; but as he freely receives from God must freely give to them; and they freely receiving from him ought freely to impart to him of their carnal things; and that it is absolutely necessary that there should be an under- standing between churches and watchmen in all these particulars at laying the foundation for travel.
" He conceived that a church covenant, understandingly made, requires the dedication of soul, body, abilities, and interests, to support the cause of religion, and under the government of the church."
This was more than four years prior to Asa's ordination ; and the church indorsed the views presented.
Much might be said in honor of Mr. Wilcox. Besides minister- ing to this, he often preached to the "Hill Church," and in the regions round about, for his ability was in much demand. He was a man of ordinary stature, handsome presence, excellent voice, pleas- ing address, and readiness of powers. In his day, he held an envi- able rank as a preacher, hence his good name and influence still freshly survive in all the churches to which he ministered. He finally removed, and labored in Connecticut. He died in Colchester, Conn., in 1832. His remains, about twenty years afterwards, were removed to Essex, Conn., a field of his labors, and laid by the side of the Baptist Church, and honored by a chaste monument.
Jesse Babcock and Wells Kenyon were ordained as evangelists June 23, 1802. As the records express it, Asa Wilcox was the " par- ticular watchman," and Jesse Babcock and Wells Kenyon were "helps in the church"; they were helps in other churches as well. Formerly it was not unusual to have two ministers in the same .. church, especially where the body was large. Rev. Jesse Babcock often spoke to the "Hill Church " and the churches in the country around. He was a man of medium height, good proportions, and acceptable gifts. In his last days he inclined to Universalism. He died May 26, 1844, aged seventy-six. IIe was the last pastor of the church ; indeed, the body fell into virtual dissolution before his death. During the latter part of his ministry, a person asked a
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member of the church, " Who leads your meetings now ?" and was answered, "Nobody leads; but Elder Jesse drives."
One of the worthy witnesses of this church was Dea. Oliver Dodge, born April 20, 1726; received into the body in February, 1772; ordained April 21, 1774; a clerk also till 1787 ; and served the church faithfully in the deacon's office for above forty years. He died March 11, 1815.
Jude Taylor diligently served the church as clerk from 1787 to 1810, when the regular records close. An ineffectual attempt was made to resuscitate the body in a time of revival in the town in 1832. At the meeting, Oliver Wilcox presided, and Job W. Rath- bun acted as clerk. Four persons were added by experience and baptism. But no further records of proceedings has been found. The history of the organization, therefore, runs through a period of about seventy years. On the rolls of the church we have found about four hundred different names. Some of these were eminent for rank and influence. Among them was Lieut .- Gov. Edward Wil- Cox.
The church thus reported its membership to the Groton Confer- ence : in 1791, 242 ; in 1800, 288; in 1805, 264; in 1809, 257. In 1810 the roll contained 262 names. In its day, therefore, this was a large church, embracing about one seventh of the population of the town.
Jude Taylor, who faithfully served the church for at least twenty- three years, and in the days of decline and darkness stood firmly at his post, died Dec. 10, 1847, aged ninety-four years.
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CHAPTER XVII.
THE QUAKER MEETINGS.
PREVIOUS allusions have been made to the principles and prac- tices of the Quakers, a people who have exerted no small influence upon the life of Rhode Island. Discussions and earnest debates occurred between Roger Williams and George Fox, but they were not the oppositions of malice or of persecution; and at least the two great reformers agreed in their devotion to religions liberty. The Quakers have been the stanch champions of the inalienable rights of men.
Westerly has had her witnesses of this peculiar, conscientious school. Three meetings have existed within the original limits of the township : one in the present limits of the town; one in Hop- · kinton ; one in Richmond. These were branches of the South Kingstown Monthly Meeting, and appear to have been established almost simultaneously in 1743. Two of the meeting-houses were proposed and one was built in 1744. Evidently these meetings had their birth from the Great Revival. The New Light of the Spirit was joyfully welcomed by the open-hearted disciples of George Fox. They gloried in the new life that threw off the shackles of formal- ism and ceremonies, and broke the iron bands of church and state.
THE WESTERLY MEETING.
The house of worship for this meeting was built in 1744, at a cost of about three hundred pounds, near the present residence of John K. Dunn, Esq., on the north side of the post-road. A small cemetery, called the " Quaker Burial-place," is all that now remains to mark the spot. Prior to the building of the meeting-house, meetings were held at the residence of Stephen Richmond. After " the house was completed," " the South Kingstown monthly meet- ing " was held "alternately at Westerly and South Kingstown." "The ministers residing within the limits of this meeting, were James Scrivens (or Scribbens), Peter Davis, John Collins. Among the "active and efficient members of this meeting" were "John Collins, Jr., Peter Davis, Jr., Stephen Richmond, Solomon Hoxie, John Robinson, Cyrus Richmond, John Hoxie, Lot Trip, John Park,
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Zebulon Hoxie, Thomas Wilbur (father of John Wilbur), Stephen Hoxie," the latter for years serving as clerk.
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The first notable speaker in the Westerly meeting was Peter Davis, born in England in 1680, educated a Presbyterian, and a member of that denomination till his thirty-sixth year, when he accepted the faith of the Friends. At what time he came to reside · in Westerly is not known, but here he became a religious leader. His ministerial services were not confined to this region ; he traveled and addressed the meetings of Friends throughout New England, and was everywhere well received. In 1747 he passed through Connecticut, visited Albany, went to the Jerseys, to Pennsylvania, to Maryland, and then took ship from Philadelphia for England. France and England being then at war, he was taken prisoner on his passage by the French, but was shortly released. As shown by certificates, he did good service and was highly esteemed in the western and northern parts of England. After his return he labored much at home and in other parts of the country. His trade was that of a tailor. The maxim, " Honesty is the best policy," was ascribed to him in England and in this country. It was said of him, " Like the beloved, ancient disciple (John) of our Lord, to whom he had many times been likened, he frequently exhorted his brethren to love one another and to be faithful. When far advanced in old age, he continued in the exercise of his gift with that warmth and brightness which are reflected by a near approach to the Sun of Righteousness." Before his death, as he was unable to go out, meetings were sometimes held at his house, when he would be moved to speak with all his wonted tenderness and fervor. He died Feb. 29, 1776, " an elder worthy of double honor."
This first Peter Davis was succeeded in the ministerial office by his son, Peter Davis, 2d, a man of true piety and peculiar gifts. Himself always kind and happy, he had the power to make all cheerful and hopeful around him. In his addresses he was remark- ably laconic and forcible, often throwing the substance of a discourse into a single sentence. For his sermon on one occasion, he simply repeated the colonial motto, "Let every man mind his own busi- ness "; on another, the homely proverb, "Let every tub stand on its own bottom "; on still another, " If you want good neighbors, keep up the line fence." His aim was honest, pure, and practical ; and he was as good as he was quaint. He lived "to the great age of one hundred and one years and seven months," and even ventured to wield his scythe after his hundredth year. He died Jan. 22, 1812.
Another singular preacher among the Friends was "James Scrib- bens, belonging to South Kingstown Monthly Meeting, and living in different parts of the Narragansett country," sometimes making his stay and preaching in Westerly. He was constitutionally simple, and quite unlearned, but he often produced happy results by his
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preaching. In the use of his gifts he surpassed himself. The say- ing, " As weak as Scribbens," refers to him, but not a few were foiled by his power. At one time, "being engaged in repairing a breach in a stone-wall by the roadside, Dr. McSparran, who enter- tained a most contemptible opinion of the Quakers in general, and of James Scribbens in particular, in passing by on horseback, reined up his horse, and thus addressed him, ' Well, James, how many tons of pudding and milk will it take to make forty rods of stone-wall ?' Whereupon, James dropped the stone he held in his hand, and, look- ing at the self-sufficient doctor, said, 'Just as many as it will take of hireling priests to make a gospel minister.'"
Here, as elsewhere, the Quakers were upright, conscientious, self- denying, and active in every good work. Their protest against the fashions and forms was not wholly unnecessary. But the Westerly meeting finally expired.
THE HOPKINTON MEETING.
In the summer of 1743, " a committee was appointed by South Kingstown Monthly Meeting to make arrangements for the building of a meeting-house in the northwest part of Westerly " (now Hop- kinton) ; and in March, 1744, " a committee was appointed to super- intend the building," which, however, " was not completed until sev- eral years after." "Meetings for worship had been held in that vicinity at private dwellings many years."
One of the first distinguished speakers in the Hopkinton meeting was John Collins. Concerning him a testimony was issued by the Monthly Meeting in 1780, from which we present an extract : "He was born in the town then called Westerly (now Charlestown), Dec. 12, 1716, of believing parents, and, when almost twenty-four years of age, was convinced of the blessed truth, and became zealous and cir- cumspect in his life and conversation, and, for truth's sake, took up the cross and denied himself of his former pleasures and delights. It was not long after his convincement, before his mouth was opened in a public testimony, wherein, although for some years he had but few words in meeting, yet his appearance was both acceptable and edifying to Friends, and as he proved himself faithful and diligent in the gift bestowed upon him, the Lord was pleased to enlarge it so that he became an able minister of the gospel." He was an eminent minister, and for many years sat at the head of New England Yearly Meeting. "He was much engaged, and took much pains in en- deavoring to have the Africans or negroes freed from slavery, and often testified against that wicked practice." He died in Stonington, Conn., Oct. 1, 1778. His name is a precious legacy to Friends.
. Among the worthy Friends belonging to the original township of Westerly, mention should be made of Christopher Healy, a native of what is now Richmond. Born in the latter half of the last cen-
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tury, he was an associate of John Wilbur. Besides being often heard with profit in the Hopkinton meeting, he traveled widely and ministered acceptably. Portions of his Journal, an interesting and valuable manuscript, have lately been published in The Friend, a religious and literary journal issued by the Quakers from Philadel- phia. He journeyed far to the south, and preached both to slave- holders and slaves. In his mission he passed over to England, passed into Ireland, and everywhere bore his good testimony with happy results. A man of such fervent piety and sweet spirit may well have a cherished record in the history of the Friends.
Among the last honored ministers of this meeting was the univer- sally beloved John Wilbur. From the volume entitled Journal and Correspondence of John Wilbur, published by his friends, we condense a few facts. He was born in Hopkinton July 7, 1774. While a young man he was often engaged successfully in teaching school. "He was a youth of exemplary deportment, and religiously inclined from early life." In 1793 he was married to Lydia Collins. " He first appeared in the ministry in the thirty-sixth year of his age," though he was appointed an elder in 1798. In 1812 he was officially acknowledged by monthly and quarterly meetings. In 1824-5 he traveled through various parts of New England, and in 1827 visited the State of New York. From 1831 to 1833 he visited and spoke in England. From 1840 to 1844, and indeed ever after, he bore testimony against the so-called Gurney schism. In 1852-3 he traveled in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. A second tour to England was made in 1853-4. " Ardently attached to the principles " of the Society of Friends, his life was one of in- cessant labor, and his ministry was of much power, though insuffi- cient to stay the tide of innovation upon the faith of Fox and Bar- clay. He had power also with the pen, and his correspondence was extensive. So faithful was he in opposing the heresies of Elias Hicks on the one hand, and the views of J. J. Gurney on the other, that many of the Hopkinton meeting adhered to him in the day of division that finally came, and hence are commonly termed Wilbur- ites, in distinction from the majority who are designated as Gur- neyites.
The Gurneyites, being in the majority, have claimed and obtained the meeting-house and property, with the records of the old meet- ing. This meeting-house was built in 1832. As the Wilburites were thus dispossessed, they built them a new meeting-house in 1848.
The good and faithful John Wilbur, honored by all who knew him, as mature in virtues as in years, died May 1, 1856, and was buried in the Friends' grave-yard in Hopkinton.
. The speakers in the Wilbur meeting at present are Phebe Foster, daughter of John Wilbur, and her son, John W. Foster. The Wil- burites residing in the village of Westerly and its vicinity for some
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years past, have sustained a meeting in the village at the residence of Charles Perry.
Since the separation, no regular speaker has risen among the Gurney party. It might here be added that the Gurneyites are the major party of Quakers throughout New England. And the rise and progress of this party marks a period of transition in the history of the denomination both in this country and in England. Of course, both parties claim legitimacy from George Fox.
THE RICHMOND MEETING.
Though meetings had been held for several years in private dwell- ings in Richmond, it was not till 1753 that a proposition was made to build a meeting-house. A subscription realized £488 15s. The land was deeded to the society (South Kingstown Monthly Meet- ing) by John Knowles, a leading member of the meeting. The house was 32 feet long and 24 feet wide, "and of sufficient height for a convenient gallery." In the summer of 1754, another subscription was raised of £51 5s. The house was finished in the latter part of this year, " and a Monthly Meeting was held therein in the first month of 1755." " The accounts were audited by a committee, and , the cost of the house (in depreciated currency) found to be £824. 5s. 5d." Here for many years Peter Hoxie was an acceptable and efficient minister.
This meeting in Richmond, like the one in Westerly, gradually declined near the period of the Revolution, and, after lingering for many years, finally expired.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
THE GARDNER CHURCH.
THE invisible influences of the Great Revival will never cease in our land. The visible influences continued throughout the last cen- tury. Men cannot live without religious hopes ; nor can they rest without giving expression to the weighty convictions they entertain relative to sacred and eternal things. Man is conscious of an infinite worth in himself, and of a solemn trusteeship towards his fellows. These convictions were mightily energized by the Great Awakening.
As a late but legitimate offspring of the Great Revival, near the southeastern border of the town, was gathered another church of Separatists and Baptists, constituted and administered much like the Indian Church and " Hill Church " and " Wilcox Church." It arose in the latter part of the last century, and maintained its existence as late as 1810. It was usually termed the " Gardner Church," from the name of its two pastors. The first of these was Rev. John Gardner; he was succeeded by his relative, Rev. William Gardner, a pleasant and effective speaker, whose last days were clouded by domestic affliction.
Never possessing a house of worship, this body held its meetings at private residences, particularly at the dwellings of Joseph Gavitt, Stephen Stanton, and Peleg Ross. It appears from the letter of the church to the Groton Union Conference in 1802, that John Gardner was pastor, William York, clerk, and the body numbered ninety-two members. Ninety-six members were reported to the Conference in 1810. The excellent deacons were Joseph Gavitt and Daniel Stanton.
But the organization, and the records also, have passed away. The ecclesiastical frame was too slender and open to endure the shocks of time. Emigration, to be noticed hereafter, and changes in the social life of the town, scattered the congregation and dis- solved the body.
Progress is the watchword in the world, and in America in par- ticular. No State has more grandly illustrated this than Rhode Island. Discarding ritualism and hierarchy in all their varied forms, it has led the van in the progress of free principles on our continent,
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and has lived to see the old assumption of prescriptive right, both in church and state, bow and wither before the higher light divine, revealing and establishing the inalienable rights of all men. The progress has been slow, but constant, for the leaven of truth works patiently but irresistibly.
In studying the history of the past, great care is requisite lest we do persons and parties some injustice. The past must not be weighed in the scales of the present. Every generation must be judged by the light it possesses. Before leaving the record of the early churches of this region, it is important to remember that, both in respect to education and pecuniary ability, their times were widely different from our own. Plain, hard-toiling men were the first generations of planters. Not adventure, but the love of liberty, had moved them to build their cabins in the wilderness. It was enough for them to provide for their families, and bear testi- mony against kingcraft, priestcraft, and superstition. They pre- ferred the society of savages and wild beasts to the contact and fel- lowship of oppressors.
With our fathers, facilities for travel, and means of communica- tion with the other colonies, were limited and very imperfect. The ministers were seldom favored with the generous opportunities of mental culture or the helps of extensive libraries ; often they came, like the prophets of old, from the fields to their pulpits; always, however, they did what they could. The forms of worship were few, simple, unstudied, earnest. The singing was after the strict Puritanic type ; the lengthy psalm was lined by an elder or deacon, and sung in solid, long-drawn notes by the whole assembly. Both prayers and sermons were very lengthy and encyclopedical, in the devout intention of embracing the whole circle of human needs and revealed truth. Patience and endurance were then prominent vir- tues. The meeting-houses, partly by purpose and partly by neces- sity, were innocent of steeples, stoves, plaster, or paint.
No massy pillars, reared by pride; No lofty front; no blazoned side; No marble steps; no porches wide; No high and gorgeous tower; - To tempt the critic to deride A creed of worldly power.
The worshipers, male and female, often claimed the right of ex- hortation after the preacher had closed ; they were witnesses for the truth. Note-books, and instrumental aids to praise, were suspected of a Romish or Babylonish tendency. Plainness, sincerity, and zeal were the characteristics, as they were the virtues of the times. Indeed, all the religious practices of the people were as homespun and firm as their wardrobes. But to their perpetual praise be it said, they held their principles far above the considerations of personal
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ease; they nobly contended for experimental religion and church independency in an age when bare church rites, formalism, and half- way covenants, and the passionate alliance of hereditary powers, civil and religious, ruled with a bigoted sway throughout the Old World and in the adjoining colonies. They were consistent Prot- estant dissenters, holding to the Bible alone ; and were Indepen- dents, ever distrustful of priestly and ecclesiastical assumptions. They labored not in vain. They have passed away, but their works remain ; their principles have spread over the land, and under the hand of prosperity and abundance, are putting on all the varied forms of beauty and of power. In our worship and our abundant privileges, as in our private dwellings, we are permitted to do what our fathers could not. Illy then does it become any, who dwell at ease in the ceiled houses of this free and affluent age, to deride the rigid simplicity and rude ceremony of those who manfully hewed and laid the foundations of American liberties.
Upon our fathers and mothers was laid quite another destiny than -
"To eat the lotus of the Nile, And drink the poppies of Cathay."
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CHAPTER XIX.
NOTES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
OF Westerly's honest and ardent loyalty to the crown of Great Britain, we find a distinct indication in the following extract from the town records : -
"On A training day Jun. ye 25th, 1702, held In Westerle att a Publick place, att the house of John Davis, the Proclamation of her Royall Maj'tye Ann Queen of England, &c., Was Read according to the Gov'r warrant, With the Greatest Decency and Demonstrations of Joye, as the afore s'd Towne was Capable, In Obeyinge ye above s'd Warrant.
"JOSEPH PENDLETON, Towne Clerk."
"April the 5th day, 1703. - Due to James York for one woulf's head 0- · 10-0."
" Mar. 9, 1708. - Voted, That every householder shall kill, or cause to be killed, twelve black birds, or pay twelve pence in stead thereof: viz: old black birds that can fly, &c.," "to begin ye first of April and to continue till the last of May, &c."
March, 1718. - "We doe hereby Inact, &c., that any person or persons that will or shall kill any wild cat or fox or wild catts or foxis shall be payed for thare Killing of them three shillings pr head, out of the town's treasury," etc.
In 1722, by an Act of the General Assembly, the bounty on wild cats was made "six shillings pr. head."
Again, in 1728, the town changed the scale of bounties, giving a "five pound bill " for killing a wolf, and " ten shillings " for killing a wild cat. We copy a few extracts from the diary of Benjamin Miner, of Stonington.
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