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Gc 974.302 B28bu 1986725
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01096 2550
CENTENNIAL BOOK bk.
of the
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Barton, Vermont Vt.
K. B. Burgess
Written and published by the pastor on the occasion of THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION September 30 to October 7, 1928
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication
Acknowledgment
Prosent Church Officiary
The History of Our Church
A group of pictures A List of All Pastors of Our Church
Stories of Our Pastors The Saints of the Church
$4,00 Tuttle Feb 9-197880 8656
1986725
DEDICATED to the memory of
PRESIDING ELDER JOHN LORD
and the Rev. Messrs.
HEZEKIAH S. RAMSDELL and WILLIAM PECK
pastors of Irasburgh Circuit, who in
SEPTEMBER, 1928
organized the present Methodist Episcopal Church of Barton, Vermont
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
From many sources the material for this book has been gathered. Among them, the more important are the following:
Vermont Historical Gazetteer, by Abbie Maria Hemenway, published 1877
The Orleans County Monitor and its pre- decessor, the Independent-Standard
The Annual Minutes of the Vermont Confer- ence
The General Minutes of the M. E. Church
& Brief History of Our Church written by Rev. A. B. Blake, and published in the Monitor in 1915.
Various Records of Our Church which are still in existence
Too many individuals have contributed personal knowledge to make separate mention possible. Ne wish, however, to express our especial apprecia- tion to Mr. Wallace Gilpin for the generous per- mission to use filed copies of the Monitor, and to Mrs. M. H. Brunning, who carefully scanned the Mon- itor through many years of publication in order to find notes of interest for this history.
It may well be that some who read this book will find errors that should be corrected or interesting items that should have been added. If so, the writer will be happy to receive such notes and re- cord them for the benefit of any future historian of our church.
PRESENT CHURCH OFFICIARY
TRUSTEES
O. A. White
L. R. Lewis
A. G. Owen J. G. Martin C. L. Hutchins
C. S. Webster F. W. Cutting
STEWARDS
C. F. Webster
A. G. Owen
B. J. Jenness
L. M. Kinsley
M. D. Smith
A. M. Annis
Mrs. Martha Page
F. R. Adams Fred Allen
Recording Steward
Communion Steward
District Steward
F. R. Adams
Reserve District Steward Local Church Treasurer
W. R. Moulton A. G. Owon
Treasurer of Benevolences
M. D. Smith
Local Preachers
A. G. Owen, Mary A. Burgess
Trier of Appeals
B. J. Jenness
Custodian of Deeds and
Legal Papers
Auditor
F. W. Cutting C. S. Webster
ORGANIZATION HEADS
Sunday School Superintendent A. G. Owen Epworth League President Marcella Burdette Junior League Superintendent Carrie Smith Woman's Alliance President Mrs. F. R. Adams
W. F. M. S. President Leona Comstock
Vermont Miss'y Society Pres.
Mrs.B.J.Jenness
COMMITTEES
Finance
F. R. Adams L. M. Kinsley
M. H. Brunning B. J. Jenness
M. E. Willis
M. D. Smith W. W. Hartwell L. R. Lewis
F. W. Cutting
J. G. Martin
W. R. Moulton
C. R. Prescott
A. R. Wakeman
M. H. Brunning
Mrs. B. J. Jenness
L. M. Kinsley Mrs. W. W. Hartwell
Benevolencos
Mrs. F. R. Adams Mrs. Inez Dunn Mrs. P. L. Webster A. M. Annis Mrs. Lucretia Alexander M. D. Smith
Estimating
o. A. White &. G- Owen F. W. Cutting
Church Records
J. G. Martin Education
G. A. Burnham Mrs. Hazel Owen Mrs. G. E. Jomings
Hospitals
F. W. Cutting Mrs. J. M. Blake Mrs. G. A. Burnham
Parsonage and Furniture
Mrs. O. A. White Mrs. M. H. Brunning C. H. Prescott
Church Music
F. R. Adams Mrs. M. H. Brunning Mrs. Leona Comstock
Pulpit Supply
A. G. Owen
F. R. Adams
Cooperation
A. G. Owen
F. R. Adams G. A. Burnham
Incidentals B. J. Jeness
S
HISTORY
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MILESTONES
FIRST RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN BARTON 1803
FIRST M. E. CHURCH ORGANIZED 1807
PRESENT M. E. CHURCH, ORGANIZED 1828
FIRST CHURCH EDIFICE DEDICATED 1833
FIRST PARSONAGE BUILT 1839
SECOND PARSONAGE PURCHASED 1855
ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN BARTON 1859
PRESENT PARSONAGE BUILT 1874
PRESENT CHURCH EDIFICE DEDICATED 1887
ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN BARTON 1893
ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN BARTON 1923
I
RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS IN BARTON
The first religious meeting in Barton was held in 1803 or 1804, appointed by Phineas Peck, a Meth- odist preacher, and held at the house FIRST of Asa Kimball. For several years af- MEETING ter that, the Rev. Messrs. Peck and Rutter "labored in the ministry in this town, and a small class or church was formed." The organization of this early Methodist Episcopal Church was probably in 1806 or 1807, in ORGANIZED the western part of the town, and in- cluded a number of members from Glover. Among the first members were William Gould, John Gould, Nathan Gould, William Gould, Jr., Abraham Whitaker, Ebenezer Cross, Royal Cross, David Hamm- let, David Abbott, Alice Wadham, James Gould and Caroline Chapman. John Gould was the first class leader, later superseded by Abraham Whitaker, a captain of the Revolutionary war. There were no meeting houses in the county at that time, and the gatherings were held in dwelling houses, barns, and different log school houses. Some authorities men- tion meetings at a little log school house on the road west of our present Fair Grounds, in the barn of William Gould, and in the barn of Joseph Gould. Among the ministers of this early church, in addi- tion to Peck and Rutter named above, were Wells, Sampson and some others. It is supposed that the war of 1812 must have unsettled DISCONTINUED matters enough to cause the sus- pension of religious services, for after the first few years there is neither record nor tradition of meetings being held.
The Congregationalists were not far behind the
Methodists in their pioneer werk, for on August 27, 1807, the first Congregational
FIRST Church was organized by the Rev.
CONGREGATIONAL Elijah Lyman of Brookfield and the CHURCH Rev. Walter Chanin of Woodstock. There were about a dozen members at this time, and since "no attempt to sustain religi- ous institutions was made," this church became ex- tinct soon afterward.
The next step in the religious history of Barton was the organization of the present Congregational Church on Sept. 24, 1817, by the
PRESENT Rev. Samuel Goddard of Concord and Congregational CHURCH the Rev. Luther Leland of Derby, the latter continuing as minister and carrying on very successful work. "Through the agency, and mainly by the liberality of Ellis Cobb, a house of worship was dedicated Sep- tomber 6, 1820." This first house of worship in the vicinity of Barton village was built a mile north of the village, at the cross roads near which Will White now lives. An interesting note, reflecting perhaps the early attitude of the denominations to- ward one another is the following item; "The Rev. Otis F. Curtis supplied the pulpit half the time for a few months in 1831, and a powerful revival took place; but, before the close of his engagement, he became a Methodist, which had a disastrous ef- fect upon the church. Some fell into despondency, some into indifference, and some into open sin." Apparently the church soon recovered from this de- spondency, indifference and open sin; for in 1842, they built a new meeting house, this time in the village.
Perhaps it was at the dedication of this church that, according to a story handed down, a man from the hills entered, thinking a dedication to be in honor of some dead person, asked the man sitting next to him, "Where is the corpse?"
II
CIRCUIT DAYS 1828 -- 1838
Following the suspension of services after the war of 1812, our next record of Methodist activity bears the date of 1828. In that year
METHO DIST
PRESENT "the Methodists appear to have been flourishing and it would appear that CHURCH for years services of some religious
FORMED character had been in progress" At any rate, in September about forty Method-
ists gathered under the leadership of Presiding El- der John Lord and the Rev. Messrs. Hezekiah S.
Ramsdell and William Peck of the Irasburgh Circuit and organized the present Methodist Episcopal Soci- ety of Barton. Of these forty charter members, we are certain of only four names: Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Chamberlin and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Ellis. Mrs. Chamberlin died in 1835, with Moses Cass preaching her funeral sermon; the other three remained to be "pillars" of the church for a half century. Rebec- ca Ellis passed to her eternal reward in 1872, while Samuel Chamberlin and Gilbert Ellis continued to inspire the church until the year 1878. However, eight other names were given by Joseph Owen, Jr., as having been prominont mombers when the first brick church was built in 1834; and it scoms reason- ablo to believe that most of them were also charter members. They were Nathan Gould, Royal Benton, Richard M. Haynes, Asa Kimball, A. Hustis, Fred Mi. Kimball, Willard Minot, and Joseph Owen, Sr. You will note among these the names of Asa Kimball and Nathan Gould, both associated with the early church.
Samuel Chamberlin was appointed the first class leader, a position which he retained most of his
long life, as well as holding other prominent posi- tions in the church officiary. Royal Gago is ro- ported as the first minister, serving until the meeting of the Annual Conference in the Spring, when the Rev. Messrs. Stephen H. Cutler and James Camp- bell wore appointed.
The same session which made these appointments also substituted Barton for Irasburgh as the head of the Circuit, which then included THE CIRCUIT also the villages of Barton Landing, Brownington, Glover and West Glover.
EXPANSION
The early preachers of this Circuit evidently be- lioved in cultivating their field extensively as well as intensively. The progress of Methodism in this section indi- cates that they must have preached aggressively in other communities, travelling as far north as Derby, at least. We find the member- ship of the Circuit increasing very rapidly from the 320 reported in 1830 to 396, 527 and 550 in the three succeeding years. This territorial and numer-
ical expansion was accompanied by a
O TIER breaking up of the Circuit. Derby Cir- CIRCUITS cuit was formed in 1833, Irasburgh Cir- FORMED cuit in 1838. In this year, Barton be- came a "station, " with a settled pastor of its own, though for many years the Barton pastor continued to be responsible for at least one other village.
The Methodists were the first to erect a house of worship in Barton village. Soon after organiz- ation, they began to think of a sanctu-
FIRST ary. Asa Kimball, George Kimball and
EDIFICE Joseph Owen, Sr., were appointed as the building committee. Cyrus Eaton framed the church, while Pierce Tabor and Willard Minot finished it by job. The brick were made by Philan- der Owen and James Leavitt, the kiln being located where B. H. Fairbanks now lives. The lot was given
by Joseph Owen. This new brick edifice, on the same site as the present building, was dedicated in December, 1833, probably froe from debt.
No little interest attaches itself to the first bell, "the first ever rung in this town," which was given to the church by Mrs. Harry Baxter, having been purchased at the "Revere" works in Boston (founded by Paul Revere), and THE BELL
freighted from there by David S. Abbott, the first male child born in Barton. The bell bore on its surface the name, "Revere." For forty-two of its forty-eight years of service, it was rung by John L. Woodman at noon and at nine o'clock in the evening. It is said of Woodman that he "rarely missed a single ringing, and nover choatod five minutos on his time. " In October, 1882, the boll was sent back to Boston to be recast with more met- al added; and in this new form, the first bell ever rung in Barton continues to herald the glad tidings of the Gospel.
III THE TWO-POINT STATION PERIOD 1838 -- 1863
With Barton the head of a two-point station, dur- ing the following quarter-century the church seems to have kept about the same in membership, although its financial ability steadily increased. The first pastor of this period, Israel D. Rust, immediately set about the very necessary task of FIRST PARSONAGE building a parsonage, the house in which John Urie now lives, "he overseeing the work and aiding with his own hands." In 1842, "there was a good deal of trouble - jealousy being the cause;" but in time the church recovered from this condition; and during the pastorate of J. S. Spinnoy (1851-1853) there was a SPINNEY'S REVIVAL great revival, at which Presiding Elder Currier and the Rev. A. S. Cooper of Barton Landing assisted. This revival is especially remembered as the time when Mr. and Mrs. Isaac K. Drew joined the church, to become prominent and active members until their removal to Maine in 1878. With the coming of the next pastor, Isaac McAnn, in 1854, the first parsonage SECOND PARSONAGE was sold, and the house on Water Street now occupied by Wesley Chappell was pur- chased. During the ministry of Enos D. Hopkins, 1856-1858, the church building was thor- oughly renovated, the pulpit being RENOVATION changed to the other end of the church, the seats re-arranged, and the choir seats changed from the back to the front.
The Vermont Annual Conference first honored Bar- ton by its presence while Deming S. Dexter was en-
joying his second pastorate, meeting on the 4th day of May, 1859. The outstanding impres- FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE sion upon the Barton people was the re- membrance of the great sermon by Bishop Matthew S. Simpson. That all might hear, extra seats were provided and the windows removed from the church. The next issue of the Independent-Standard reported: "For nearly two hours he discoursed, 'bringing forth things now and old, and giving to every one a portion;' and wo venture the assertion that there was not one in the large audience but would have cheerfully remained longer." Long afterward, A. B. Blake wrote, "for years that sermon was referred to as a masterly ef- fort, the opportunity of a lifetime." Bishop Simp- son, it is interesting to recall, was a very close friend of President Lincoln in the Civil War days soon to follow, and "when the bullet of a Wilkes Booth laid low that stalwart frame, " Bishop Simp- son was selected to deliver the chief burial ora- tion.
An insight into religious interests of seventy years ago is given in an account of a meeting of the Danville District preachers at Bar-
A TYPICAL ton on Tuesday, June 19, 1859. Essays
PREACHERS' were presented on the following themes: MEET ING "The Intermediate State of the Dead, " J. Gill; "The Certainty of the time, nature, and duration of the punishment of the wick- ed," H. Wor then ( later at Barton) ; "The best mode of preparing for the pulpit, " H. T. Jones; "The na- ture and extent of the future destruction of the heavens and earth," I. LeBaron; "Did Christ suffer the penalty of the law?" E. Jordan; "The regenera- tion of infants," M. Bullard; "Are we authorised to expect a direct answer to our prayers?", A. McMul- len; "The origin of evil," P. Morrill; "Exegesis on Rom. 8:28-30," E. D. Hopkins (formerly pastor at Barton).
Among the frequent occurrences of former days were the donations, and the public announcement was made in 1860 that "the friends of Rev. D.
DONAT IONS S. Dexter of Barton are to assemble at his house in the afternoon, and at the Town Hall in the evening, Feb. 10th, for the pur- pose of giving him the wherewith to cheer him on his future labors with them. In other words they are to give him à rousing donation." We presume the finance committee came around shortly afterward to appraise the value of the contributions and apply the amount on the salary, as was the custom. The old donation was a time of very friendly manifesta- tions toward the pastor, even though it had its drawbacks when perhaps twenty packages of soda (the cheapest package obtainable) might be found in the lot.
During this twenty-five yoar period, Barton was combined with various other communities. Possibly in 1839, Ismael D. Rust served Barton alone; but the next year, with one assistant, he
"HOOK-UPS" cared for Brownington in addition. During the succeeding pastorate, in 1841, Glover was added to the responsibility of the Barton pastors. When the Vermont Conference was separated from the Now Hampshire Conference in 1844, Barton and Glover wore put together and continued so until 1855. Then for two years Hopkins preached at Barton and Barton Landing. For five years thore- after, Barton and Glover are again together, this bringing the date to 1863, whon under Haynos P. Cushing Barton first became a ono-point station.
IV
A ONE-POINT STATION THE PERIOD OF SHORT PASTORATES 1863 -- 1890
With a sharp cleavage, the history of Barton Methodism since the Civil War divides into two per- iods. In the first period no pastorate exceeds three years and there are several one-year terms. During the second period, except for the break caused by the death of the Rev. W. E. Allen in 1912, only one pastorate has been as short as four years, while the longest continued for eight years.
This first period begins in the midst of Civil War days with the coming of Haynes P. Cushing as pastor. Cushing was a patriotic
CIVIL WAR DAYS man and likewise a popular lectur- er. His mummerous war activities, together with the pressure of the times, probably accounts for the decrease of our church membership to forty-five, the lowest it had been for many years, and lower than it has ever been since.
Compensating in a measure for this loss, we find (as in the days during and immediately after the World War) a very large increase in benevolent giv- ing. Many of our gifts at that time were for pur- poses growing distinctly out of the war; but the missionary enthusiasm of the pastor and a favorable attitude by the people caused the regular missionary gifts to increase from less than $20 per year to $70 per year. It is sad to confess that within a few years there was a slump to as low as $11.
Tho next pastorate was that of Church Tabor,
during which there was a "large revival on the moun- tain, the fruit of which was most help-
POST-WAR ful to the church, " the membership in-
REVIVAL creasing to 85 in two years; and though many seem to have "backslid, " a number of influential members were added to the church. June, 1867, the parsonage was remodeled and the grounds improved at an expenditure
In
IMPROVEMENTS of several hundred dollars. A year later, the church was thoroughly renovated, so that the Presiding Elder reported the next Spring, "It is now a beautiful church. "
The first of Barton's pastors to die "in the har- ness" was George H. Bickford, who came here in 1868. Before completing his first year of work, BICKFORD he was taken ill, lingered for a time, and then passed away on July 10, 1869. His triumphant facing of death during theso last few months must have been most inspiring memory for many years.
Frequently during these early days, we find the Methodists and the Congregationalists uniting for prayer meetings, special evangelis-
UNION SERVICES tic services, and occasionally for short periods in their Sabbath de- votions. Even earlier than Civil War days we find such cooperation, and through the decades that have followed there have been many indications that the present "ora of good feeling" between the two chur- ches has had many predecessors.
We are fortunato in being able to receive the personal testimony of Alfred H. Webb, who was pas- tor from 1873 to 1876. Ko found the church some- what depressed spiritually, though still loyal to the old tradition which called for a preaching ser- vice followed by Sunday School and that in turn followed by an ther preaching service, the series finally concluding about two o'clock. After serv-
ing faithfully for two years, the revival spirit a- gain descended and many were received into member- shin. "I remember," he tells us, "one GEBB'S Sunday taking into the church as prom- REVIVAL ising a class of prominent men and wom- en as I have ever seen taken into the church at one time . . . From that time on Method- ism began to grow in Barton. " Among these new mem- bers were Mr. and Mrs. Albert Blake, Kr. and Mrs. George Blake, John Twombly, Mrs. Andrew Twombly, Mrs. Erastus Colliston, Arthur Burgwell, Charles Matthewson, Ella Trip, Ida Twombly, Laura Kony and Clara Drew. During this pastorate, forty-three were received on probation and twenty-nine into full membership, the membership increasing from something over fifty to seventy-nine. In its after effect upon the church, this is probably entitled to be called our greatest revival.
For a short time after coming to Barton, Webb and his bride lived in a hired house, the parsonage having been sold. George Blake donated
PARSO NA GE
PRESENT the present parsonage lot on the corner Of Park and Elm Streets; and he and BUILT Isaac Drow superintended' the erection of the house in which the pastors have lived since that time, the year 1875, at a total cost of $3300.
In January of the same year, "the ladies inter- estod in the benevolent enterprises of the Method- ist Episcopal Church formed a LADIES' BENEVOLENT SOCIETY Benevolent Society", which continued active for a good many years, but seems to have become inactive before 1884, when the Barton Auxil- iary of the Woman's Foreign Mis- W. F. M. S. sionary Society was organized in the month of June. The first of- ficers wore: President, Mrs. J. H. Wallace; Vice- president, Mrs. S. S. Brigham; Recording Secretary,
Miss Sophia Drew; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. F. L. Webster; Treasurer Mrs. William Colliston; Man- agers, Mrs. George H. Blake, Mrs. J. C. Gray. From that time until the present, meetings have been held nearly every month, and contributions to the world-wide work of the church have aggregated no small sum, while the value of the society in keep- ing alive an interest in the missionary cause can- not be estimated.
For a short time, at least during the year. 1877. the Reform Club is mentioned. This,
REFORM CLUB as the name implies, was a group which mot to study the political
situation and problems from the standpoint of Chris- tian citizenship.
A society with an uniquo name, the "Odd Girls, " was born in December, 1883, and held its first "soc- iable" at Robinson's Hall on January 2,
ODD GIRLS 1884. This group came into existence to fill two distinct needs: first, the need to raise some extra money to pay off a small church debt; and second, the need for an organization in which the younger ladios could feel their responsi- bility. The Ladies' Aid Society had for many years been active, but was maintained and controlled by the older ladies of the church. In the course of time, however, the young ladies grew up without graduating and the two societies became rivals and some jealousies developed. To relieve this situa- tion, pastor Dukeshire sugges- WOMEN'S ALLIANCE ted in 1912 that both organiza- tions be dropped and that a new society, the "Women's Alliance" be substituted. This was done on January 5, 1912. The officers at first consisted of four directoresses, a secretary and a treasurer; but in 1915 the constitution was changed to the present form in which there are the usual officers: president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. .
It was in the year 1882 that there was installed in the month of October the new bell, to which ref- erence has already been made, at a cost
NEW BELL of $175 in addition to the old bell. However, when Selden B. Currier came to be pastor in 1885, he saw need not only for a new bell but for a new church. Due largely to his agi- tation, the project was got under way. He himself tells the whole story in a nutshell:
PRESENT "December 26, A. D., 1885, a subscrip-
CHURCH tion was started for the purpose of
EDIFICE building a new Methodist Episcopal Church edifice, the old building having been adjudged by a committee unsuitable for the needs of the society. . . The building committee consisted of the following, namely: Joseph Owon, Chairman; George H. Blake, Secretary; S. B. Currier, Solicitor and Collector; Joseph N. Webster, Treas- urer; Alexander Tripp, J. P. Baldwin, J. W. Howard. George H. Guernsey of Montpelier, Architect, sub- mitted a plan and details, which was adopted and the contract was made with Mr. Guernsey to build the same complete above grade line for the sum of six thousand dollars. The cost of removing the old edifico, excavating and laying foundation, with the furnishings, was in round numbers two thousand dol- lars, making a sum total of eight thousand dollars. The whole building is beautiful in architecture, brick and slated, thoroughly and tastily finished inside, and was completed and dedicated free of debt March 10th, A. D., 1887." The cut stone came from Barre and Canada, both lime and granite being used. Among the contributors, Joseph Owen gave a thousand dollars. Erastus Colliston tells us that when the project was started, nobody dreamed that Currier could raise so much money, that being a large sum for those days; but he did it with com- parative ease. Colliston, by the way, was one of the first Barton men hired to help build the church. At the 1887 session of the Annual Conference, the Prosiding Elder reported, "Our society at Barton is
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