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HECKMAN BINDERY, INC 036554 2 2 00
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01811 4865
GENEALOGY 974.302 N988J
The CONGREGATIONAL
HERITAGE 1770-1961 in NORWICH, VERMONT
U
CHRONOLOGY OF SIGNIFICANT DATES
June, 1770-First congregation gathered by the Reverend Peter Powers
August 31, 1775-Ordination of first min- ister, Lyman Potter
1778-1785-Building of first Meeting House
September 15, 1804-"Settlement" of the Reverend James W. Woodward
1817-Building of second Meeting House at the Center
1817-Building of present Meeting House at the Plain
1817-Paul Revere Bell purchased by Thomas Emerson
January 16, 1818-South Religious Society formed
June 15, 1819-Organization of the "South Church in Norwich"
November, 1819-The Reverend Rufus W. Bailey first minister of South Church (at the Plain)
January 23, 1822-The Reverend Samuel Goddard installed as minister of North Church (at the Center)
1833-1840-Building of parsonage on Elm Street
1835-"Communion furniture" given by Thomas Emerson to South Church
1837-Stoves and stove pipe installed in South Church
1839-Building of vestry
1852-Church building at Plain moved to present location
1854-First, or North Church (at the Center) dissolved
April, 1854-Contract to enlarge church building at the Plain sold to Harvey Burton
1855-1856-Horse sheds built
1856-Church organ bought and placed in balcony
1887-First furnace installed
1908-Repairs, organ moved downstairs
November, 1917-One hundredth anni- versary of church building celebrated
1921-Elm Street parsonage sold
1930-New parsonage built
1939 -- Last horse sheds taken down
1942-One hundred twenty-fifth annivers- ary celebration
1949-First Norwich Fair
1950-Parish House built
1957-Annual Meeting of the Vermont Congregational Conference
1959-Organ rebuilt
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REVERE & SON BOSTON I
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Vt. Dev. Comm .- Geoffrey Orton
The Paul Revere bell, presented to the church in 1817 by Thomas Emer- son, is one of six Revere bells remaining in Vermont. This bell has called people to worship and has struck the hours for nearly 150 years.
THE CONGREGATIONAL HERITAGE in NORWICH, VERMONT
The Congregational Church of Norwich, Vermont, as it looked at its bi-centennial anniversary in 1961
The CONGREGATIONAL HERITAGE . 1770-1961 in NORWICH, VERMONT by LOUISE COLEMAN JOHNSON Pastors, Music & Musicians by FRED E. METCALF, Organist
A Catalogue of Members STATEMENT OF FAITH . COVENANT BYLAWS FORM OF ADMISSION
FOREWORD
THE BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION in July, 1961-the 200th birthday of Norwich, Vermont-is an appropriate time for the Congregational Church to publish a me- morial booklet.
The last catalog of members was printed in 1891. For several years the clerk, now historian, has been preparing a new list
from the original records. The encourage- ment and assistance of the Reverend Loren G. House, Jr., the Misses Marion and Mar- garet Lewis, Miss Mary Olds, Miss Clara Loring, Miss Abbie H. Metcalf, Miss Jean Louise Smith and all others who have helped in the undertaking are gratefully acknowledged.
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A PERSONAL WORD
IT HAS BEEN most interesting to gather the material in this booklet because for sixty years I have been associated with the Church on the Plain. With my election in 1944 to the office of Clerk, there came a special interest in church records. I turned pages to find the date of my baptism. It was not there. The date of the baptism of my sister was recorded and I remembered that my mother told me she wore the dress that I had worn on the similar occasion, so I knew that I had been baptized. I asked sev- eral older members-no one remembered. This goes to show that records are not in- fallible; but I believe they do portray the progress in our heritage. My father served the church as Deacon for 35 years, being
elected successively after every four-year term. His father had served as Deacon until his death in 1880. My mother baked the bread for communion: two especially large loaves which were cut into squares after the crusts had been removed, excepting for the bottom crust, so that the pieces stood up- right.
All my life has been associated with this church, for during the sixteen years of study and teaching in Massachusetts I re- turned home for school vacations. And so, as I read the old record books, the names and events became alive and real, for much of what I read I remembered or recalled my parents and older church members tell- ing about. LOUISE C. JOHNSON
EARLY HISTORY
ORGANIZATION (1770)
THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST in Nor- wich, Vermont, was "gathered and or- ganized by the Reverend Peter Powers of Newbury, Vermont, in the month of June, 1770." Among those from other churches, mostly Connecticut, were "Deacon Joseph Smalley & wife, Hez'k Johnson & wife, Thos. Murdock & wife, Joseph Ball & wife, James Brown & wife, Mrs. Thatcher, Mrs. Fenton, Mr. Sam'l Hutchinson" ... "and as new members John Slafter & wife, Elisha Partridge & wife, Sam'l Brown, Jr. & wife." Mr. Powers also baptised a number of children.1
Before the "settlement" of the first min- ister in 1775, people in Norwich attended public worship "generally at Hanover East or the College, ... walking from three to six miles morning and evening to enjoy this blessing."2
THE FIRST MINISTER (1775-1801)
THE REVEREND LYMAN POTTER Was or- dained and settled as pastor on August 31, 1775. "His ordination took place in a wood, on an eminence, since occupied as a burying ground, near where the first Meet- ing House was afterward built."2 At this time the church was said to consist of 36 members. "In the fall of 1775 there was a great revival of Religion among the young People especially in the North part of the town called Pompanoosuck Neighborhood attended with pungent conviction Deep Humiliation & earnest inquiry & more than 20 persons appeared to be greatly engaged of which 12 or 16 united with Mr. Potter's Church."1
BUILDING THE FIRST MEETING HOUSE (1778-1785)
THERE WAS so much "disagreement among the citizens as to the place for a meeting
house that an out-of-town committee was chosen to determine its location."3 There was no "village"-no place where there were more than a few houses near together. Peter Olcott gave the "land for a meeting house lot and for the public ground ad- joining." Even then there was consider- able dissatisfaction with the site chosen by the committee, which came to be known as the "Center," although it was not the true geographical center of town. It is identified for us today by the old cemetery on the hill north of the village, or the "Plain," and by the marker erected by the Norwich Historical Society.
The foundations for the meeting house were laid July 9, 1778, with appropriate exercises, and its erection continued over a period of seven years, as "the people were poor and their burdens and sacrifices many and severe." Within a year "the frame was up, covered with rough boards and the roof put on." The building was used for a Town Meeting July 15, 1779; and there- after for divine worship, as well as for town meetings, except in the coldest weather when any meeting would be held in some nearby dwelling.
Work was continued in 1780 and in 1781 it was voted to sell pews to secure funds. Three families were to occupy each pew; later, it was found necessary to in- crease the number of families to five for each pew. In 1784 the seating capacity was increased by finishing the gallery with four- teen pews therein. The meeting house was plastered, the side walls and ceiling white- washed. The committee to see that the work was done was composed of Major Burton, Mr. Nathaniel Brown, and Lieutenant John Hopson. The finishing touches were put on in the spring of 1785. "The whole cost of the house was computed to be 694 pounds, or about $2300."4 "Very little money, however, was used in its construc- tion, which was carried on almost entirely
5
by means of direct contributions of labor and materials furnished by the towns- people."4
THE VERMONT LEGISLATURE MEETS IN NORWICH (1785)4
AND so the building, "clapboarded without and plainly finished within, having no steeple nor bell," was ready to accommodate an adjourned session of the Vermont Legis- lature in June, 1785. The representatives, among them Elisha Burton and Elijah Gates of Norwich, assembled in the meet- ing house, while the Council, including Peter Olcott and Thomas Murdock of Nor- wich, met at the house of Daniel Buck, nearby. This young lawyer, recently settled here, was chosen Secretary pro tem.
THE MEETING HOUSE BECOMES TOWN PROPERTY (1785)4
IN ACCORDANCE with a "Ministerial Act" passed by the Vermont Legislature at West- minster in 1783, the cost of the meeting house was assumed by the town at a special meeting in October, 1785. This distributed the cost among all the inhabitants, unless they could prove support of some other re- ligious society. (This act was in full force until 1801, when it was modified, and in 1807 it was repealed). For about twenty years, Mr. Potter's salary (75 pounds) was voted in town meeting.
At the time the Reverend Mr. Potter's ministry ended, in 1801, there were about 100 members. "From Mr. Potter's dismis- sion to Mr. Woodward's installation in 1804, the people were supplied with preaching by Reverend Mr. Waters, Rev- erend Prof. Roswell Shurtleff of Dart- mouth College"5 and others.
SECOND MINISTER (1804-1821)
In the first volume of church records, begun by the Reverend James W. Wood- ward, is a "copy of the minutes of an ec- clesiastical council convened on September 5, 1804, for the purpose of consecrating a pastor over the church of Christ and first religious Society of Norwich." The Rever- end Isaiah Potter, from the church in
Lebanon, New Hampshire, brother of the former pastor, Lyman Potter, was chosen Moderator. "After this examination, the council voted unanimously to set apart the Reverend James W. Woodward to the pas- toral care of the said church and society."
The Articles of Faith and Covenant, as copied into the first record book (pages 125, 126) as well as a few of the "cases of discipline" from the book, are to be found in a later chapter of this booklet.
In July, 1812, two deacons were ap- pointed to "purchase utensils for the table," each member of the church being taxed twenty-five cents for this purpose.
SALE OF FIRST MEETING HOUSE "IT IS NOT STRANGE that having served its purpose for nearly forty years, the meeting house should come to be considered a little antiquated. . .. The desire for improve- ment took shape in the summer of 1817, in the erection of a new and more com- modious meeting house, near the site of the old one. On the twenty-fourth of De- cember that historic old building wherein the pious aspirations of two generations of worshippers had found a voice, and where the fathers of the town had so often formu- lated their ideas of civil policy in town and state-a building that to Norwich stood for all that Faneuil Hall and the Old South Church together stood to Boston- was sold to Constant Murdock, the highest bidder, for $100. The Sunday following (December 28, 1817) services were held in it for the last time.6
Pastor Woodward preached the sermon: "Towards this house, which for the space of nearly forty years has been devoted to religious uses, with those who have here united in divine worship, peculiar emotions must be excited whilst we are met for the last time within its sacred walls. Who, that ever received pleasure in a visit to this sanctuary, in reflecting upon the times in which he has ascended this hill of the Lord, must not be ready to acknowledge his at- tachment to its homely walls?
"This house is endeared to me by a thousand recollections of which I have been
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the unworthy partaker. Has any benefit ac- crued from my labors, this you should refer to the giver of every good and perfect gift. For I consider it among the choicest mer- cies of my life, if I have been used as an instrument in any degree of promoting your spiritual welfare. . . . Let us never for-
get, my hearers, the goodness of the Lord. If we are ever permitted to tread the ground upon which this house now stands, let us revere this spot of earth from the remem- brance of the merciful kindness of God to us and to our fathers who have frequented this holy tabernacle.""7
1 Told to the Rev. Samuel Goddard by Mr. Hezekiah Goodrich.
2 A History of Norwich, Vermont by M. E. Goddard and Henry V. Partridge. 1905. pages 76-77.
Ibid, pages 63-66. 4 Ibid, pages 65-71.
5 "Notes on Norwich" collected by the Rev.
Samuel Goddard and contributed by the Rev. James W. Woodward and others, 1838.
6 A History of Norwich, Vermont, by M. E. Goddard and Henry V. Partridge. 1905. page 72.
7 Ibid, pages 72 and 73, from Mr. Wood- ward's booklet containing four of his ser- mons.
THE SECOND MEETING HOUSE AT THE CENTER (known as the North Church)
Two CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES were built in Norwich in 1817, one at the Cen- ter and one at the Plain, where the present village was becoming the business center of the town.
When the people at the Plain began to agitate for a church building there, the pastor, Reverend James Woodward, remon- strated that Norwich could not support two churches. Many of the members of the first church wished to continue at the Center, and a committee was appointed "who were endeavoring to contract with some one for an amount of brick sufficient to build with."1
Martha (Olcott) Porter and her husband Ben Porter gave land for the second meet- ing house (at the Center), which was built about ten rods northwest of the first one. The deed states "In consideration of the good will we have to the First Religious So- ciety in Norwich in the State of Vermont and because of our wish for their prosperity and for $1. to us in hand paid before the ensealing thereof we grant all our right to a tract of land"2 described with reference
to stake and stones-which is now the exact site of Pennington Haile's residence.
Meantime, Joseph Emerson and others at the Plain were actively at work securing subscriptions for a new meeting house there and getting out timber. After the frame was constructed, ready to raise, a commit- tee at the Plain sold it in Thomas Emerson's absence, for $1000.00, to the Center build- ing committee and made a verbal agreement to buy pews at the Center and not to build at the Plain.3 In spite of this agreement, a church building was constructed on the Plain somewhat smaller than the new one at the Center. Thomas Emerson was active in pushing its erection to completion, and bought the Paul Revere Bell which still hangs in the steeple.4
All we know of the meeting house at the Center is its size, "40 by 60 feet on the ground," and its general aspect, as described by Pastor Woodward in his dedicatory ser- mon: "The style of its execution is not unbecoming the noble use to which it is appropriated. It is sufficiently large for the accommodation of all, who, it may be ex-
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pected, will be disposed to frequent it. And it is not disagreeable, at least to those, by whose choice it has been located, that it is associated with the same objects by which a former house was encircled."
THE CHURCH DIVIDED
THE DIVISION OF THE CHURCH caused ill feeling, especially against Elisha Burton, Esq., who had agreed to buy a "good pew" in the meeting house at the Center. When he failed to do so, Israel Newton was "sin- cerely grieved," and when he could not persuade Mr. Burton to reconsider, he called the matter to the attention of the church. For some months, meetings were held, and finally a council was called to reconcile the grievance. With some diffi- culty, Mr. Burton was restored to member- ship at the Center, or North Church.
Several times the people of the church at the Plain requested the First Religious Society, at the Center, to allow them to organize. The request was granted in the summer of 1819; but strained relations continued, apparently until 1831.
One rather complicated series of events contributed to the dismission of Pastor Woodward. A member of North Church (the church at the Center), Miss Clarissa Stimson, was accused of spreading false stories about a member of South Church (at the Plain). In due course, she presented a satisfactory confession of sin and was restored to membership. Some of the church members charged that the Reverend Rufus Bailey had handled this case wrongly, in publishing such "a scandalous letter to the world." He was called to council, which declared the charges not proved; but judged that he had departed from his covenant duty.
Soon after this, Pastor Woodward in- vited Pastor Bailey to preach in the North Church one Sunday, which action was ob- jectionable to members of North Church. A complaint was brought against the pastor, November third, 1820: "The undersigned have it to lament . . . that our beloved pastor, the Rev. James W. Woodward, a brother in covenant, has in the hour of
temptation strayed from the path of duty by introducing a man to preach in the centre meeting house in Norwich on the Sabbath, who was ordained into the min- istry contrary to the institutions of Christ, when he knew that said conduct would be highly offensive to members of his society and a grief to many of his church."5
A council was called and it was voted that the dismission of Pastor Woodward was not necessary if he wished to remain. Pastor Woodward contended, and was sup- ported by the council, that he should make exchanges with any regular minister of the Gospel.
However, the church would not accept the conditions as he requested, particularly as to fellowship with the Reverend Rufus Bailey, because they believed "the witness of religion will not be advanced" and "the inadequacy of the pastor's pecuniary sup- port would still darken the prospect of his usefulness here."
A council meeting on June 8, 1821 dis- missed the Reverend James Wheelock Woodward "in regular standing and cor- dially recommended him as a humble, pious and able minister of the Gospel to the Church of Christ wherever Divine provi- dence shall call him."
THIRD MINISTER AT THE CENTER (1822-1844)
THE REVEREND SAMUEL GODDARD Was in- vited to preach as a candidate for minister of the North Church (at the Center) in the autumn of 1821.6 On October 17, 1821, the church voted to request him to settle with them. At a church meeting on November 30, he presented a list of "ar- ticles":
"It is understood that this church is established upon the Doctrine of Grace commonly denominated Calvinistic-these doctrines I feel it my duty from time to time to preach, illustrate and enforce as clearly and distinguishly as I am able (without regarding the feelings or senti- ments of any man any further than may ap- pear for the general good.
"I shall feel it my duty to bear testi-
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mony against every kind of Sin either in the Church or the world whoever it may offend.
"I shall retain my wright to appoint Church Meetings and to regulate my ex- changes and parochal duties .
"I shall expect and insist that the Church will maintain a strict course of discipline according to Christ's established order
He concluded with the stipulation that the members of the church must feel it their indispensible duty to attend all prep- paratory lectures, all church meetings-and that all unhappy difficulties between the Church and the Reverend Mr. Bailey be laid aside.
On January 22, 1822, the council con- vened at the house of Mr. J. Emerson. It was composed of pastors and delegates as follows: Church in Thetford: Rev. Asa Burton and J. P. Buckingham; Church at Dartmouth College: Prof. Shurtleff and Brother Mills Olcott; Church in Lime (sic) : Rev. Nathaniel Lambert and Deac. Wm. Porter; Church in Sharon: Rev. Samuel Bascom and Br. David Morehouse ; Church in Bradford: Rev. Silas N. Kean and Rev. Naphtali Shaw; Church in New- bury: Rev. Luther Jewett and Br. Moses Clark; Church in Hanover: Rev. Josiah Towne and Deac. Joseph Curtis; Church in Hartford: Rev. Austin Hazen and Deac. Judah Bailey; also Rev. Reuben Mason of Waterford and Rev. Joel Davis of Barnard.
Receiving satisfactory evidence of his fitness for the ministry, the council voted that the Reverend Samuel Goddard be in- stalled over the "First Church and congre- gation in Norwich" the next morning.7
The North Church prospered under Mr. Goddard's leadership. During his ministry there were "five revivals of greater or less extent" adding about two hundred to the church "as the fruit."8 In 1838, he gave the total number on the church list as 247 (some of whom were non-resident). His statement that "the usual number at public worship is considerable less than the num- ber of members in the church"8 still holds true.
At preparatory lectures held the Friday afternoon preceding communion, those who were to unite with the church came to be examined concerning their beliefs and re- ligious experiences.
The church voted, on August 31, 1827, to "form a Sabbath School Union to be auxiliary to the Vermont Sabbath School Union," and provided for the choosing of officers, as well as the raising of money for a Sabbath School library by subscription. In August, 1829, "voted that Deacon Lord and Brother Eben B. Brown be delegates to the Sabbath School Union."9
In 1829 and 1830, various "memorials" called "the attention of the church to the subject of speculative free masonry, .. . that it is a dishonor to religion for anyone professing godliness to unite with and ad- here to the institution of masonry."10 Many of the church members refused to go to communion with those members who were Masons. The Masons claimed that the attacks were unjustified. "A settlement was finally effected by mutual concessions, the Anti-Masonic party agreeing to cease their attacks upon the institution before the church, and the Masons agreeing to absent themselves from the meetings of the lodge, at least for a time."10
TEMPERANCE
MANY OF THE DISCIPLINE CASES involved intemperate members. Mr. Goddard and others were concerned, and on the fourth of May, 1827, a committee was appointed "to devise means for the promotion of temperance."11 In August, 1829, a com- mittee was chosen and asked to serve as delegates to the county conference, held in Windsor to form a county temperance so- ciety.11
The cause must have progressed, for the first entry in the second book of church records under date May 3, 1833 states: "At a preparatory lecture, which is considered a regular meeting of the church, the follow- ing resolutions were passed:
"1. Resolved that in the judgment of this church the traffic and use of ardent spirits as a drink is an immorality and ought
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to be viewed as such throughout the world. "2. Resolved that this immorality is utterly inconsistent with a profession of the Christian religion and that those who have the means of understanding its nature and effects and yet continue its use and to be ingaged in its traffic ought not to be admitted as members of Christian churches.
"3. Resolved that in our view those members of Christian churches, who will not desist from the above practise, are vio- lating the principals and requirements of the Gospel.
"The above resolutions passed allmost unanimously-Twenty brethren voted in the affirmative, one in the negative and one voted not.
Attest: Samuel Goddard, Pastor"12 This must have been helpful, for in 1854 when North Church was given up, many of the members joining the South Church, a resolution was voted there "That hereafter no person shall be admitted as a member of this Church who shall not en- gage to abstain from making, selling or us- ing ardent spirits as a drink or beverage."13 This remained in force until 1909.
Toward the close of Mr. Goddard's ministry, it became increasingly difficult to raise his salary. Families and individuals were moving West; indeed, members of his own family did. Business meetings from 1838 on were concerned with raising the pastor's salary and assessing the members to meet expenses. On the first of January, 1844, at a meeting of the church and So- ciety for the purpose, "A Prudential Com- mittee of the Church and Society was chosen to assess the Pastors Sallery uppon the members of the Church according to the standing rule of the church." Brother John Dutton (Fred Metcalf's grandfather), then twenty-six years old, was named as the Collector.14
"Outside of the special duties of his calling, Mr. Goddard proved himself valuable citizen in the promotion of the best interests of the town and community. In 1825 he assisted in organizing a town committee for the supervision of the com- mon schools of the town, of which com-
mittee he was a member and chairman for several years. This was before there was any state legislation requiring town super- vision of common schools in Vermont."15
Mr. Goddard's last entry in the church book is dated January 7, 1844.14
THE NORTH CHURCH IS DISSOLVED
ON MAY 4, 1846, the Reverend Edward B. Emerson was unanimously called to settle as pastor of the North Church. His yearly salary was stated to be $325, "and as much more as we can raise, together with his wood and hay." A council met on May 27, 1846, "at the house of Brother M. D. Bax- ter at 9:00 A.M. composed of Rev. Mr. Cooke of Lebanon and Br. Durkee; Rev. Mr. Richards of Hanover and Prof. San- born, Rev. Dr. Haddock, Prof. in Dart. Coll .; and Rev. L. Delano of Haverhill; Dea. Morris from the Plain; Br. Hazen of White River and Br. Child of Lyme. . . . Rev. Mr. Emerson was examined and ap- proved and at 11 (A.M.) the services of In- stallation were performed. . .. After the services, the Council and others dined at Mrs. Goddard's house."16
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