USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > Jericho > Centennial anniversary of the First Congregational Church of Jericho, Vermont, at Jericho Centre, June 17, 1891 > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01770 2413
GENEALOGY 974.302 J57FI
First Congregational Church
Jericho, Dermont.
1791 - - 1891.
1791.
1891.
CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
First Congregational Church OF
JERICHO, VERMONT,
AT JERICHO CENTRE,
JUNE 17th, 1891.
R. S. STYLES, PRINTER. BURLINGTON, VT. 1891.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF JERICHO CENTENNIAL.
T HE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY of the First Congregational Church of Jericho was celebrated at the "Centre" with appropriate services, Wednesday, June 17th, 1891. The event had been long anticipated, as one of rare interest. As early as November, 1890, a Centennial Committee had been appointed, to whom was given the general direction of preparations. This committee consisted of Dea. Isaac C. Stone, chairman ; the Pastor, Rev. Leonard B. Tenney ; Dea. M. Hoyt Chapin, Mr. and Mrs. George M. Stiles, Mrs. Frank H. Cilley and Mrs. Eugene B. Jordan.
It is due this committee to say that no pains were spared by them in their efforts-by arranging an interesting program, by widely extending invitations to former members and church at- tendants, and by seeing that ample preparations were made for their reception and entertainment-to make the occasion memo- rable for its interest and enjoyment., But as a rule, perfection is not attained in this world, and the Committee do not claim that their work forms an exception to the rule. Doubtless some were omitted in the invitations who should have been invited, and whose presence would have been warmly welcomed. If the com- mittee.could have a second trial, they might modify somewhat the order of things on the program, as the day proved all too short for the good things which had been provided, so that some were necessarily crowded out of their proper place. But they trust it will be graciously borne in mind that they had never had, even as they expect never to have again, experience in conduct- ing the celebration of a Church Centennial, and they rejoice that notwithstanding imperfections of plan, so much of joy and grati- tude and spiritual uplift, came out of this Centennial gathering.
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The exercises opened with a devotional meeting. Rev. L. Tenney, of Waterbury, was expected to lead this service, but owing to his unavoidable absence, Rev. H. T. Barnard, of West Rutland, acted as his substitute.
The Pastor, Rev. L. B. Tenney, then spoke the following
Words of Welcome.
It gives me great pleasure to take this privilege to-day of extending to you the right hand of welcome,-to you who are assembled to assist us in the celebration of the anniversary of this church.
I am especially thankful because I know how hearty is the welcome on the part of our people. And if anything shall have failed in our arrangements for this occasion, it will not be because we do not give you the welcome of the heart as well as of the hand.
I welcome you in the name of this community who are to receive benefit from this day, and who have been deriving benefit from the life of this church and from the labors of its founders, and of all others who have been active in its work. I do this the more readily because of the fact that this church has been receiving the cordial support of the community among whom it has lived. From the very beginning, the community centering here has loved the church whose anniversary we celebrate. And they have come from Richmond, from Bolton, from Underhill, and from Essex in the earlier days, with their children, often fording the streams swollen by the melting snows npon the moun- tains, and have taken a part, both by gifts and otherwise, in the worship and work of the church.
I not only welcome you in the name of this community. but, in the name of the church itself, and it gives me great pleasure to say that this is a loyal church, loyal to the truth, loyal to the Master, and loyal to the man who at this time holds the relation of pastor to them.
I welcome you in the name of all the church, for they are all among the living. Some of them have gone forward and entered npon the state beyond. They are, however, a part of this church to-day, being in the church triumphant : and of the other portion I can truly say that it is a church militant, fighting genuine
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battles for righteousness, and as a church militant, as a church enlisted to war for Christ and righteousness, we welcome you.
We welcome you in the name of others yet to come,-in the name of coming generations who shall look back to this day with satisfaction and with gladness as a day from whence shall spring, as we hope, a new life in this church community.
We welcome you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose we are and whom we serve. When we have come together and enjoyed your carefully prepared papers and addresses, it will be a total failure in the eyes of the friends in whose name I speak and in your eyes also who are guests among us to-day if it shall not be the means of deepening and strengthening the current of religious life among us. This is our hope to-day, that this occa- sion will not only be an occasion for the interchange of greetings and for the review of a century of blessings, but also an occasion which shall be the spring of new influences with every one who shall worship with us to-day.
An address on The Academy, full of old-time reminiscenses, was given by Prof. Joseph S. Cilley, of Jericho.
After singing by the congregation, of a Centennial Hymn, written by Mrs. Mary Lyman Bingham, of Chicago, and an anthem by the choir, the exercises of the forenoon closed with the celebration of the Lord's Supper, which was participated in by a large number. The service was conducted by Dr. Wilson B. Parmalee, of Oswego, N. Y., and by Rev. Lester H. Elliot. of Waterbury.
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Abstract of Address by Prof. Cilley.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :
There are in the lives of us all occasions of special interest- events of great importance, the remembrance of which may give return of joy or renewal of sorrow. A careful and earnest review of past life can hardly fail to benefit the individual or the com- munity interested in that life. This is a day that calls upon us as individuals and as a community for such review.
One hundred years of the life of the First Congregational Church in Jericho are now numbered and ended. Most of those here assembled will find their review of life limited by much less than half that century, but others there are whose early recollec- tions extend to time much farther gone than that. Of this number I am one, and I am glad to live over again in memory my early life in Jericho, my union with this church in those boyhood days, and the pleasant hours spent as a student in your Academy, concerning which Institution I was invited to speak briefly to-day.
So to live again in my early home here, with early friends and amidst the sports and delights of boyhood is indeed pleasant, though the pleasure be lessened much by the thought that most of those that then were, now are not.
It was my good fortune to be a member of Jericho Academy much of the time for about three years, and as I think of those bright days I sympathize most fully with Holmes as he exclaims
"O for one hour of youthful joy ! Give back my twentieth spring, I'd rather laugh a bright haired boy Than reign a gray beard king."
But my recollections of the Academy go back of my connec- tion with it. I well remember its first permanent Principal, Simeon Bicknell, who had charge of the school about five years. He was a noble man, a fine scholar, an excellent teacher, a chris- tian gentleman. So said the people, so said his pupils, and his praise was upon their tongues no less in after years than then. Under his administration Jericho Academy stood the first, or among the first schools of the State of its kind. Scholars came
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from far and near, many of whom stood high as students, and afterwards attained eminence as men in the different pursuits of life, or as women in the work of teaching, or in other noble work to which woman is called.
Those were days of glory for the Academy and for the town of Jericho. Nor did that glory, though dimmed, fade entirely on the departure of Mr. Bicknell. For several years the school flourished and prospered greatly in the hands of others. I do not know positively, but think that Mr. E. J. Marsh was the immediate successor of Mr. Bicknell, and that he remained about two years. Mr. Marsh was my first teacher in the Academy, and to him I owe much of the delight I have since found in study, and whatever success, little though it be, I have had in my life work. Under his instruction I learned to read most of all, and I have since acted in accordance with my faith, that when one has learned to read, he may further educate himself, if he will.
Mr. John Boynton, my second teacher, was the successor of Mr. Marsh, and was fully his equal in all respects. During his stay the school flourished greatly. His pupils loved him and rejoiced much in his instruction and his counsel. He was a brilliant scholar, a fine teacher, a genial, kind hearted, manly man. HIe despised empty show and vain pretense, but honored solid worth whether found in rich or humble garb. Dear good man, long since he passed from earth away to rest, I trust, in the presence of Him to whom in the presence of his school he daily offered his morning prayer.
My third and last teacher at the Academy was Mr. James T. Foster, a kind, pleasant man, and a good teacher. Under his management the school prospered, though there seemed to be less interest and enthusiasm in the school than before. After his retirement there was but little permanence in instruction at the Academy, and the interest of former days began to decline. Fre- quent change of teachers, and want of vim in some of them, made the decline so positive that even the return of Mr. Bicknell, the first able Principal, failed to restore the ancient fame of the Academy. Though he was the same able and efficient teacher, and in a measure successful, the decline continued after his short stay, and continuing still through years of struggle for life, death followed.
The building still remains, but its halls echo not the steps of the student as once they did. Humble in its origin, never pre- tentions, and now plain in its appearance as at first, for those taught therein it stands a reminder of joyous days, months and years of student life.
My school life here is very pleasant to remember, though my entrance upon it was made in a struggle with poverty. How I was to succeed I did not know, but I had faith and hope. I had learned that this Jericho was not the place for one to fall among thieves, but I knew that I must fail in my attempt for an educa- tion or find a good Samaritan to take me in. and I found him in the person of Mr. Nathaniel Blackman, who very kindly and generously said he would board me for one dollar per week, and I might pay him when I could. And I found another in the Preceptor of the Academy, who also took me in on trust. Thus aided, I engaged in my work with a good degree of courage, and, meeting with fair success in study and in teaching, I was able to pursue my course of study to the end.
Nor was I alone in the struggle. Others were mainly reliant upon themselves for victory, and they nobly gained it. Among these were Paraclete Sheldon, who became a very successful teacher ; Charles C. Parker, afterwards an able and faithful minister of the gospel, now in Heaven ; Lester Warren, who also became an able and respected clergyman ; Burr Maynard, now an able lawyer in Detroit.
There were scholars in those prosperous days of the Academy, made so by hard study. How their names stand out in memory, names that many of you remember-Geo. Lee Lyman, George and James Blackman, Lucius and Edgar H. Lane, Emerson Chapin, Whipple Earl, Torrey E. Wales, Albert Spaulding : and at an earlier day, John A. Kasson, Luke P. Poland and George Bliss, men of national reputation, were students here.
Nor are the names of ladies that graced the school-room for- gotten : Lucinda Bartlett, Irene Blackman, Hannah Richardson, Marcia and Eliza Howe, Esther G. Smilie, Emma Chapin, Valen- cia, Minerva and Melissa Lane, and many more whom we can not mention live in memory still.
There was not a dishonored name among all that I have mentioned, or with whom I was associated in school, either then
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or since, so far as I know. But, ah me! where are the glad, joyous, eager and hopeful ones who thronged the Academy in those well remembered days ? Silence would respond to the roll call of most of their names. But very few live in this vicinity. Some are far away, yet happy and useful, I trust, but most of them live only in the memory of the few who survive.
And the noble men and women who lived in these homes forty, fifty, sixty years ago, now sleep yonder in their silent, windowless places of rest. The support of schools and the church, nobly borne by them, now rests very largely upon their children, who are themselves fast becoming old men and women. May this support, so essential to the prosperity and happiness of the people, never fail the good old town of Jericho.
The public school-the life and glory of the nation-still remains to the town and the State. That may still have your support. But the Vermont Academy, as it used to be in honor and usefulness, is fast becoming one of the things that were. Jericho Academy, like many others of its class, stands to-day silent and alone. But those therein prepared for college, for business, for teaching, or for the study of the professions, can never look upon it but with reverence and with gratitude for the good therein received, and will never think of it but with pride in its ancient fame, and with sorrow for its present desolation.
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entennial
ymn .
-
BY Mrs. M. L. BINGHAM.
TUNE -DUNDEE.
Eternal God of boundless might, Whom heavenly hosts obey ; To whom a Century in its flight Is but a passing day ;
Yet who dost hear the feeblest cry Thine earthly children raise, And from Thy lofty throne on high Dost still accept their praise ;
Unto this temple built for Thee We come to praise and pray ; Recount Thy love, and reverently Our grateful homage pay.
Thy covenant mercies here we sing, And children's children tell The faithfulness of Zien's King, While joyful anthems swell.
And when Thy church shall gathered be Within that City fair, We'll join the unending Jubilee, And give Thee glory there.
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The Address on Church Edifices, by Hon. Edgar H. Lane, of Burlington, came next in order on the program, and in this work we retain the original design, although, for lack of time in the forenoon, it was read in the afternoon, on Centennial day.
Church Edifices.
In discharging the duty assigned me by your committee in this Centennial Anniversary, of giving a description of the church edifices or places of worship here for the past century, I have thought it might be of interest to go back to the organization of the town and give a brief account of the places where public wor- ship was held before the building of the first meeting house, as it was always called.
The providing of places for holding public worship until about 1800 and the building of the first meeting house was done by the town, in town meeting. I cannot better give you an account of the actions and doings upon the subject, or bring before you those sturdy, resolute pioneers of a century or more ago, in their efforts to establish public worship and to build a temple for the worship of God in their new wilderness home, than by copying, verbatim, the language of the records made at the time.
At a town meeting held April 14, 1789, it was " voted to hold meetings of public worship at the usual places viz : at Dea. Roods and Capt. Bartletts". This is the first public action of the town, recorded, of voting a place where meetings should be held, although at a town meeting held November 29, 1786, the year of the organization of the town, it was "Voted to appoint a committee for the purpose of providing preaching the ensuing year."
At a legal town meeting held July 10, 1790, it was " Voted that two thirds of the time we meet at William Smith's and one third of the time at Capt. J. Russell's."
" April 4, 1791, Voted to meet for public worship on the Sabbath at Wm. Smith's barn for the future."
" Nov. 14, 1791, Voted to meet for public worship at Elon Lee's the ensuing winter."
April 16, 1792, " Voted that we meet for public worship at Lewis Chapin's barn the ensuing summer."
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At the annual town meeting held March 4, 1793, “ Voted to meet for public worship at Elon Lee's in cold weather, and Wm. Smith's barn in warm weather for one year from this date."
October 2, 1794, "Voted to meet for public worship at the school house at the river one half of the time, the other half at the school house by Wm. Bartlett's the winter coming."
Nov. 18, 1795, " Voted to meet for public worship at the dwelling house "-(here the record omits the name.)
Oct. 2, 1794, a town meeting was called for the purpose of providing for the building of a meeting house, at which it was
1st. "Voted to build a meeting house."
2nd. Voted that every man write his place for a meeting house and put it into a hat-Tryed-counted-twenty, by the burying place, eighteen, the flat between Lewis Chapin's and Wm. Rood's, one, between Azariah Lee's and Wm. Rood's.
" Chose a committee of five to set a stake for a meeting house viz : Noah Chittenden, John Lyman, Dudley Stone, Jede- diah Lane, Thos. Bentley."
This meeting was then adjourned to Dec. 10, 1794, at which time " the town's committee reported that they had agreed on a place on Capt. Bartlett's lot to build a meeting house, Tryed, no vote, then the flat proposed, Tryed, no vote-the burying place proposed, Tryed, no vote, place by Azariah Lee's Tryed, no vote."
It was then "Voted to choose a committee and they to be appointed by the County Court to set a meeting house stake. Amos Brownson of Williston, Samuel Bradley of Essex, Phineas Loomis of Burlington said committee."
At an adjourned meeting held Jan. 27, 1795, it was
" Voted to choose three men as heads of classes to provide materials for building. Benj. Bartlett, Roderick Messenger and Jedediah Lane were chosen."
These classes, as they were termed, was a division of the men of the town into three companies or bodies, each to be directed in their labors by their respective heads.
In providing the materials for this first meeting house, to which this refers, the men of the town went into the forest which was all around them and cut the trees, hewing such as were suit- able for the frame and getting to the saw-mill such as were to be
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used for finishing ; and this division into classes, as they were called, was for more efficient and organized work.
It is commonly understood that the place selected by the committee appointed by the County Court for the location of the meeting house was the centre of the common or green, and so it proved to be ; but the meeting house stake set by that committee located the common, around which this little village is built, for in town meeting June 3, 1795, it was "Voted that the town " procure four acres of land for a green around the meeting house "stake. Chose Noah Chittenden, Benj. Bartlett and Thos. D. " Rood a committee to lay out the land for a meeting house green.
"Voted that the three heads of classes see to chopping and "clearing off the land for the public green the present summer, " equally one third each."
The fact that there was no common or green until after the setting of that stake explains the difference of opinion as to the location of the meeting house, as shown by the records which I have read. In town meeting November 18, 1795-
" Voted to build a meeting house by selling the pews at "public vendue at the next adjourned town meeting.
" Voted to build 50×54 feet.
" Voted to choose a committee to number the pews and to sell the same at public vendue."
This meeting adjourned to December 9, 1795, when it was, in the language of the records,
"Voted to sell the pews, first bid, to be first pick, and so "on and to pick every one his bid on the plan now on the spot.
" Chose Noah Chittenden, Esq., Superintendent to take care "of and oversee the building of the meeting house."
Forty three pews were then bid off, the first and highest bid being by Noah Chittenden, Esq., for £61, the last and lowest bid being for £5, amounting in all to £941, or (I suppose) about $4,000-a large sum at that early day ; nor was this the whole cost of the house.
The record further says it was "Voted that the Rev. Eben- "ezer Kingsbury have liberty to choose a pew for his family.
" He came forward and chose the pew by the pulpit stairs and " proposed to give toward the building of the meeting house £45 " to be paid out of his salary."
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I have not been able to find a record of the exact time when this first meeting house was built and completed, but suppose it must have been done in the years 1796 and 1797, as this sale of the pews from a plan of the house and before it was built, was made December 9, 1795, and it is recorded that the annual town meeting held March 8, 1798, was adjourned to the 20th of the same March to meet at 2 o'clock P. M. at the meeting house. Still it may not have been completed until a year or so later, as a town record made October 30, 1800, reads
" Opened a meeting of the proprietors of the meeting house. " Voted to sell the gallery pews. Voted to adjourn to the 25th. " of Dec. next "-closing with an entry made by the then Town Clerk, Thos. D. Rood, as follows : "the remainder of the pro- "ceedings of the proprietors of the meeting house will be found " recorded in their clerk's office."
This book of proprietors' records I have not been able to find and never saw. Neither have I been able to learn that this meet- ing house was ever formally dedicated, as is the modern practice, and presume it never was, as it was always used both for church and town house, as long as it stood.
This first meeting house was built, both frame and finish, of the choicest pine. The frame timbers were very large and nu- merous, and the raising of it was a great event. Most of the people of the town were there, and many from adjoining towns ; three days were spent in the raising. There was an additional interest and curiosity, aside from that in the building. There were many who did not believe that a building, framed, much of it, in the woods where it grew, the parts of which had never been tried together, could ever be raised, as this was the first or among the first frames, laid out and framed by the square or mathema- tical rules now in use-the framing and building up to about that time having been done by the old " cut and try," or scribe rule, as it was called. But it was successfully raised, only one small mistake being made.
The framing was laid out by John Messenger, a son of Rod- erick Messenger,-the work of the building being under the direction of Capt. Abram Stevens of Essex.
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This meeting house was built with a square or four-sided roof, coming to a point in the centre, without steeple or spire of any kind. There were two rows of windows, one above the other. The pews were square, with seats on the four sides except the pew door, or entrance, so that the occupants sat facing each other, forming a hollow square. The sides of the pews were high, but below the top moulding and rail was a row of turned spindles about 6 to 8 inches long ; except for the open work formed by these spindles the children, unless pretty well grown, were out of sight when seated in them.
There was a row of these pews around the entire house next the wall, except the space for a wide door in the middle and for the gallery stairs in each corner of the south end, and a space for the pulpit opposite the door, in the north end. The door opened directly into the audience room, there being no vestibule or porch. There was a wide centre aisle running from the door to the pul- pit, and two side aisles turning to the right and left from the front entrance, running around inside and next to the wall pews and meeting at the centre aisle in front of the pulpit, and a double row of pews between the centre aisle and the side aisles.
There was a wide gallery on three sides with a seat in front , on the two sides, and two seats across the south end opposite the pulpit ; and between the aisle, back of these seats, and the wall on the three sides, was a row of pews like those below.
The pulpit was in the shape of a mortar, round, or nearly so in front, set up on a post, the bottom as high or higher than the tops of the pews, with not much spare room except for the min- ister. Suspended directly over the pulpit, by a small iron rod, was a sounding board, as it was called, made of thin boards, hol- low, like a huge bass viol, but round or nearly so, some four or five feet in diameter, the thickness in the center being about one half the diameter, the top and bottom being oval : this was sup- posed by some principle or law of acoustics to aid in making the voice of the speaker audible at a greater distance.
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