USA > Vermont > Orange County > Bradford > A history of Bradford, Vermont : containing some account of the place of its first settlement in 1765, and the principal improvements made, and events which have occurred down to 1874--a period of one hundred and nine years. With various genealogical records, and biographical sketches of families and individuals, some deceased, and others still living > Part 30
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James McKeen, Esq., commonly called, in his latter days, and by his posterity, Old Justice McKeen, a leading man in the little colony from Ireland which settled in the Spring of 1719 at Nutpelee, subsequently Londonderry, N. H., was my great grandfather. His second wife, the one who came with him to this country, was Annas Car- gill, a sister of Mary, wife of Rev. James McGregor, their minister.
Their son, James McKeen, born within a year after their arrival in this country, was my grandfather. He married Elizabeth Dinsmoor, who died young, leaving one son, David McKeen, who was my father. He married Margar- et McPherson, and continued a few years with his father on the old home place, where their first four children were born, and then removed to Corinth, Vt., about the year 1781, where they had eight children more. In the whole, six sons and six daughters, happily interspersed. Elizabeth married Nathaniel Ingalls; Mary married Wil- liam Johnson, and after his decease, James Richardson ; Daniel McKeen married Sarah Libbey; John married Sally Collins ; Jenney married Henry Doe; Sally married
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James Annis; and Robert, Almira Paine; all of whom had children, now, with their posterity, widely scattered over the country. My brothers James and David, and sisters Margaret and Annis, died in their youth, unmarried. My truly good mother died of fever at Corinth, in the fifty- fifth year of her age. My father subsequently married Lydia Ingalls, of Methuen, Mass., by whom he had a son, David, and a daughter, Lydia, who died in early life. Their mother died of small pox at Corinth, in the Autumn of 1810, at the age of forty-three years. My father, David McKeen, Esq., died suddenly of heart disease, De- cember 2, 1824, on a Thanksgiving Day morning, at the age of seventy-five years.
I am at this writing, and for years have been, the only surviving member of this once large and flourishing fam- ily. Having long been an inhabitant of Bradford, and my children all natives of the place, some more particular account of myself and family will naturally be expected.
I was born in Corinth, Vt., March 16, 1791; my place in the order of my mother's children being the tenth. One does not love to say much about himself, though he of course knows more about himself than any one else does or can. And I am the more inclined to give a sketch of my early history, hoping it may encourage some other poor boy, anxious to acquire useful knowledge, to perse- vere, amid whatever difficulties, in doing the best he can.
The fear of the Lord, we are divinely assured, is the beginning of wisdom; and I can truly say that from my childhood I was habitually impressed with such reverence for Him that I was accustomed in my humble way to im- plore His guidance, forgiveness, and blessing. This early habit I am satisfied, was of inestimable benefit to me. I also felt a profound respect for the Holy Scriptures, and for the Lord's Day, though I had become a lad of perhaps a dozen years of age before we had any regular public
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worship that I could attend. At home we had family prayers, and were taught the Westminister Catechism.
I do not remember any of my youthful associates who habitually manifested any special interest in religious concerns. They were generally full of fun and frolic, and were by their parents suffered to run merrily on, in their chosen ways, with but little restraint. Some of the boys and young men of my acquaintance were profane, and otherwise immoral; but as for profanity, it was no temp- tation to me, for I always abhorred it ; and for card-play- ing, or any other sort of gambling, I had no inclination. Of social gatherings, and exhilerating plays, I was suffi- ciently fond, but all along felt that these were not the things of chief importance. Boys in those days were re- quired to work more than they do now, and then I had ·such a desire for reading and mental improvement that time seemed too precious to be wasted.
The first school I ever attended was in my father's barn, then new, but now old. There I began Webster's spelling book, under the tuition of Miss Betsey Morrison, for whom I ever after entertained a very cordial respect. After that I used to go, summer and winter, to a school house away over the hills, about a mile distant. Such was my desire to attend, I think it must have been the first winter of my going, that I could not quietly wait for shoes, which at the time could not easily be obtained, and so my mother furnished me with cloth moccasins, greatly
to my gratification. Some of the schoolboys, looking down on my feet, laughed at me; but I was not to be thus disheartened, conscious that I could make those of my age feel that in the main thing I was not their inferior. I believe I made very good progress in learning, and it was not long before I was as well furnished witli shoes as my associates. I remember that my progress in arithme- tic, when I came to it, at the age of fifteen or sixteen, was quite unusual, it seemed to me so easy. Instead of
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spending winter after winter upon it, as in our school was customary, in one and the same winter I went pretty thoroughly through the system then in use.
About this time it became necessary that, except in the time of winter, I should stay at home and work, both on the farm and in my father's mills. He had both a grist- mill and a saw-mill, in the same large building. My main employment for one or two summer seasons was tending the grist-mill, and, as that business among a sparse popu- lation was not regularly urgent, I found some opportuni- ty in the course of almost every day for a little reading and mental improvement. It was in that old mill that I commenced the study of Latin, and became interested in it. By some good fortune I also obtained an old, tattered book of navigation, which, among other things, contained a diagram of a quadrant, with rules for its use in finding the latitude of places, by the aid of which I made one of wood, which enabled me to determine pretty accurately the latitude of my old grist-mill, at forty-four degrees and ten minutes North. Another different kind of a quadrant I also made, by the aid of which, and some knowledge of trigonometry, I could ascertain the height of the tallest trees standing around me.
Finding me so much inclined to study, my father con- cluded to let me go, and do for myself the best I could. Situated as he was, he could help me but little. He, how- ever, made arrangements for me to study Surveying with John McDuffee, Esq., of Bradford; who was justly es- teemed a distinguished master of the art. This was to me an unexpected gratification. In the Winter of 1807-8, in the 17th year of my age, I commenced school teaching in Topsham, with satisfactory success. This business I fol- lowed during six succeeding Winters ; two in Corinth, three in Piermont, N. H., and one in Bradford village. By so doing I obtained some means for the purchase of books, chiefly old ones, and for prosecuting my studies
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during the rest of the time ; with the exception of some weeks at home each Summer, occupied on the farm at hay. ing.
At the age of 17, I went to study Latin, and subse- quently Greek, under the instruction of our minister, the Rev. William Pickles, originally from England, but then preaching at Corinth. He was a remarkably large man, of venerable appearance, but very social, and, in my estima- tion, very learned. I am sure his teaching was very ben- eficial to me. My cousin, Joseph McKeen, afterwards L L. D., and Superintendent of Schools in the City of New York, and Aaron Smith, subsequently a distinguished phy- sician in Hardwick, Vt., were for a part of my term with Rev. Mr. Pickles my fellow students. Under his tuition I read Virgil straight through, without the help of any translation ; and it became quite familiar to me. In the same way I read Cicero, and Gratius on the truth of Chris- tianity, and some other Latin authors. He also drilled me pretty thoroughly in the making of Latin. The intro- duction which he gave me to Greek was in the use of a Grammar the text of which was in Latin; I never saw another like it; and my Lexicon was of the same sort. With him I became able to read the Greek Testament with tolerable ease ; and was much interested and profited by the study of Logic, for which he had a special liking.
Mr. Pickles was not only an able teacher, but an elo- quent preacher of the Gospel, though often in feeble health. He in the Summer seasons preached in the new, unfinish- ed meeting house, in the central part of Corinth; still standing, but new modeled, and in good condition. On one occasion, when the house was well filled, and I was sitting away in the back part of the assembly, I was startled to hear him call out, "Silas, I must ask you to come up here, and read my hymns for me !" I dreaded to do it, but dared not refuse; and that was my first introduction to a pulpit ; which was in fact but a joiner's bench, with
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some necessary fixings attached to it. While I was away teaching, at Piermont, the subsequent Winter, my good friend died, January 1, 1811, at the age of 56; and his re- mains were laid in the cemetery at Corinth, near the meet- ing house in which he used to minister. His widow, an exceedingly amiable and intelligent Christian lady, also from England, removed to Montville, Maine, where he had left some real estate ; and where, in thirty-two years after the decease of her husband, she died at the age of 82, in the family of a Mr. Spring, a farmer, who had for the property undertaken her support. They had never had any children.
After the death of Mr. Pickles I pursued my studies preparatory to college at Haverhill, N. H., academy, until my preceptor told me I was prepared to enter two years advanced, but about that time I was taken sick, and all my prospects became dark and discouraging. I went to the house of my sister, Mrs. Doe, and her kind husband, at South Newbury, where I was kindly received, and lay through the course of a long fever, which brought me very near indeed to death. This was in the Summer of 1812. I had previously been very thoughtful on the sub- ject of religion, but was in doubt whether I had really passed from death to life, and found acceptance with God or not. During that sickness the way of salvation re- vealed in the gospel appeared beautifully plain to me, ex- actly adapted to my wants ; and the blessed Saviour so in- expressibly precious that I could not but most heartily devote myself to him, whether for life or death, and felt that he had received me into an everlasting covenant with himself. Nor have I from that day to this ever had the least disposition to build my hope of heaven on any other foundation.
From that severe sickness I was through divine good- ness raised up, as my life work was still before me. My relatives who had taken such tender and faithful care of
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me neither asked or would receive any pecuniary recom- pense, but the bill of my physician, Dr. Stebbins, of Bradford, though not at all exorbitant, was so considera- ble as to require not only what little money I then had, but most of my next Winter's wages, for its payment, and of course to discourage me from further efforts to make my way through college. I went home to recruit, and in the meanwhile to study by myself as I might be able.
After teaching in Piermont the subsequent Winter, I concluded to go and study Theology with Rev. Stephen Fuller, of Vershire, who, after years of successful prac- tice, had acquired a good reputation as a theological in- structor, and educator of pious young men preparing for the gospel ministry. I went to him early in the Spring of 1813, and closed my studies under his care in July of ths next year, having in the meanwhile taught school during a Winter term at Bradford village. Soon after going to study with Mr. Fuller, I united, by profession, with the Congregational church under his pastoral care, as there was at that time no such church in Corinth. Henry Fuller, the minister's eldest son, and a graduate of Middlebury college, subsequently an able minister on Long Island and in Connecticut, was my fellow student. With the instructions of my teacher I was well satisfied, and will here give some idea of his method.
Mr. Fuller, after graduation at Dartmouth, had studied for the ministry under the instruction of the famous the- ologian, Rev. Dr. Burton, of Thetford, and in his teaching pursued essentially the same course. I remember that Judge Buckingham, of Thetford, who was well acquainted with them both, once said to me that he thought Mr. Ful- ler understood Dr. Burton's system rather better than the doctor himself did. His method was to have a series of questions on topics embracing a complete system of doc- trinal theology, including also the organization of the vis- ible church, with its ordinances, officers, and discipline,
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investigated by the student in their consecutive order, in the light of all available information, especially that of the divine oracles, when the result in each case was re- quired to be reduced to writing, and read to the instruc- tor, who, after attentive hearing, would give, with as much clearness as possible, his own views, with three reasons approving of what he considered well done, help- ing out what was essentially correct but imperfectly ex- pressed, and correcting anything he might judge erroneous. Toward the close of his course some practice in prepar- ing sermons was also required. Students were also ex- pected to attend and assist in conducting devotional meet- ings in the parish.
Having in this way gone through the prescribed course of my teacher, I was by him recommended to the favora- ble consideration of Orange Association, and, after due examination, I was by them, at Windsor, July 14, 1814, licensed to preach the Gospel. Of all present on that, to me, trying occasion, I have for years past been the only survivor. My first attempt at preaching was on the next Sabbath, at Vershire, on the subject of evangelical re- pentance, its nature, reasonableness, and absolute neces- sity in order to the divine forgiveness, and then I came directly to Bradford; my services having been for months pre-engaged, or at least spoken for. I had but slender preparation, and did not expect to continue long; but God gave me favor among the people, and united my heart with theirs in lasting love. I was then but a little over twenty-three years of age. I will here say that the great amount of writing requiring close consideration, which in my preparatory course I had been obliged to perform, I subsequently found to be of great benefit to me; not so much indeed in its outward results as in the mental discipline and habit thus established.
The Congregational church 'in Bradford at the time of my coming consisted of but eleven resident members, of
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whom only three were men. But as there was no other regular gathering for religious worship in the village, our congregation on the Sabbaths was, I think, nearly or quite as large then as now. It seems wonderful that people should have attended as they did in the Winter seasons, when, for some year or two, we had no means of warming our meeting house. It was mainly through my influence that such a questionable improvement as that of making a church, even in Winter, as comfortable as one's friends at home was here first introduced.
After preaching here somewhat over a year as a candi- date, I accepted of a call to become the settled pastor of the church and congregation, and was so constituted Octo- ber 28, 1815, by an ecclesiastical Council convened for that purpose. My salary was to be four hundred dollars a year, with firewood in addition. There was no provision by the society for a dwelling house, but Capt. Trotter, of his own accord, freely gave me the use of the homestead which I now occupy, from June, 1816, till he died in 1822, a period of a little over six years. Thus settled, with the exception of a release of two or three months in the Au- tumn of 1827 and beginning of the next year, as related in my account of this church, I remained its pastor till December 31, 1832, a period of eighteen years and near- ly six months from my commencement here in 1814.
This second dismission I had asked for on account of a very unexpected call which I had received from the First Congregational church in Belfast, Maine, to become their pastor, a call at first declined, but which had been repeated and rendered stronger by the influence of dis- tinguished ministers in that neighborhood in favor of its acceptance.
During this first portion of my ministry in Bradford our little church of eleven members when I came had been increased by the addition of one hundred and seven- ty four others.
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After about nine years of pastoral labor in Belfast, during which we were blessed with repeated seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and one hun- dred and forty-one members were added to that church, I accepted of an urgent and unanimous call to return to my then destitute people in Bradford, and on the 25th of May, 1842, was by an act of Council constituted for the third time their settled pastor, and so continued for a lit- tle over twenty-four years longer, when, having attained to the age of seventy-five years, I finally resigned, and by the same council which ordained my worthy and be- loved successor, in perfect harmony still with my people, I was again dismissed, November 22, 1866. I had indeed closed my regular services among them on the last Sab- bath of the preceding July, after a ministry here of about forty-three years.
After my return from Maine, our God had repeatedly manifested His gracious presence and power among us, and the church had been increased by the further addi- tion of one hundred and sixty-eight members, making in the whole during my ministry here three hundred and forty-two by profession and letters received, some five or six of whom were received for the second time.
And here I will say, with gratitude to the God of my life, that before closing my labors at Bradford I was in- vited by the church in the neighboring town of Fairlee to supply their pulpit on the alternate Sabbaths for the following year, and in perfect harmony with our Metho- dist friends there so continued for about six years, during which we were signally blessed at one time with a glori- ous revival of religion, and both the churches were in- creased and strengthened by the addition of living mem- bers. Both churches worshipped harmoniously together, and their Sabbath school was one and the same.
During that period, to the Congregational Church about 30 members were added.
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During my long pastorate in Bradford I was in the con- stant practice of preaching twice on each Sabbath, and conducting a social meeting each Sabbath evening, beside one or two others in the course of each week. In the early years of my ministry here, several of the neighbor- ing towns were destitute of stated preaching, and I had many requests to preach, especially at funerals, away from home, which I was ever ready to do, to the extent of my ability, though for these services I seldom received any pecuniary compensation. People have since become more considerate. Thus situated, I was under the absolute ne- cessity to be a diligent student of the holy Scriptures, and to work hard, both early and late, as I could find op- portunity, in preparing my sermons; which, for several years, I was in the habit of writing in full; afterwards, generally, but in part ; though not without studious pains- taking.
When I commenced preaching, I was entirely unac- quainted with the original of the Scriptures of the Old Testament ; but felt so much dissatisfied with myself to remain so that, after a few years, I obtained an elementa- ry set of Hebrew books, and without a teacher commenc- ed, with determination, the study of them; and persever- ed with gratifying success. I have ever since been glad that I did so. No one knows what he can do in the way of study till he faithfully tries. After a while several, then young, ministers in this vicinity united with me in what we called a Biblical Association, for the express pur- pose of aiding each other in the diligent study of the original scriptures ; and for years we regularly met, at set times, with our lessons prepared, both in the way of trans- lation and exegesis. This was of great advantage, not only to me, but to us all. These exercises in no way interfered with our duties or privileges as members of the larger circle of ministers, styled the Orange Asso- ciation, whose meetings we also, with no little inter-
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est, constantly attended. My Biblical Associates were Rev. Baxter Perry, of Lyme, and J. D. Farnsworth, of Or- ford, N. H., Clark Perry, of Newbury, Charles White, of Thetford, afterwards D. D., and President of Wabash Col- lege, and Joseph Tracy, then of Post Mills and West Fair- lee, afterwards editor of the Vermont Chronicle, and as Rev. Dr. Tracy, of Beverly, Mass., well-known for his History of the American Board of Commissioners for For- eign Missions, History of the Great Awakening, and oth- er valuable literary productions, all now, with the excep- tion of myself, gone to their final rest. Indeed I do not know or suppose that, one of all the ministers who were laboring in the Connecticut Valley, between the Green and White Mountains, on my first coming to Bradford, can now be found on earth ; all have passed away, and others have entered the fields they once cultivated; many of whom have been succeded by still others. Ministers, as well as their people, are continually passing away; but none of the truly faithful ever have labored, or ever will labor for the cause of Christ in vain. Their good influence will in its consequences be as enduring as immortality.
In the course of my ministry I have repeatedly rejoiced with trembling amid seasons of refreshing from the pres- ence of the Lord among my own people, and not unfre- quently been called to assist away from home in "Pro- tracted Meetings," held for the express purpose of awak- ening the minds of the people more thoroughly to the great concerns of religion, and to win souls to Christ, and have generally seen the power and glory of God mani- fested on those occasions, sometimes in a way and measure truly marvellous.
I early espoused the cause of Temperance and of Anti- Slavery, and through evil and good report held on with the many others like minded, and am thankful that I was ever inclined to do so. Behold what God hath wrought!
I have united three hundred and thirty couples in
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marriage, and ministered at funerals very many, but of which for more than fifty years past I have kept no ac- count. I have attended numerous Ecclesiastical Coun- cils, especially in Vermont and Maine, and been called to preach on about twenty ordination and installation oc- casions, and to perform other important parts on probably still more.
Hoping to do some good in yet another way, I have written in the course of my ministerial life articles, I will not say innumerable, on religious and other topics of in- terest, which, generally without full signature, if any, have appeared in newspapers, and other publications, in various parts of the country. And here it seems in my way to mention that, while resident in Maine, the duty on a certain occasion was devolved on me to prepare a reply, in behalf of the General Conference of that State, to a Southern Presbytery which had addressed an earnest remonstrance to that Conference, on account of our in- terference with what said Presbytery claimed to be the divine institution of slavery. My article, which cost me a good deal of labor, was so well appreciated at the North as to be published, long as it was, in several newspapers, and also in pamphlet form, for better preservation ; but, through some mistake, its authorship, after the decease of Rev. Dr. Cummings, of Portland, was by his biographer ascribed to him, though he never wrote a word of it. He was on the same committee with myself and others, and with approbation published the reply in the Christian Mirror, of which he was then the editor.
A considerable number of sermons which I have preached on various occasions have, by request of the hearers, been published, of which I will here give a brief memorandum.
1. A Thanksgiving sermon : Watchman, what of the night ?
2. The friends of good order called to combined ex-
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ertion : Who will stand up for me against the evil doers ?
3. A farewell sermon.
4. A sermon before the Vermont Colonization Society, at Montpelier.
5. A sermon before the Orange County Conference, on the duty and proper management of family worship.
6. A sermon before the Legislature of Vermont: Civil government a divine institution.
7. A sermon before the General Convention, at Ben- nington : The claims of Vermont.
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