History of Newbury, Vermont, from the discovery of the Coos country to present time, Part 22

Author: Wells, Frederic Palmer, 1850- ed
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: St. Johnsbury, Vt., The Caledonian company
Number of Pages: 935

USA > Vermont > Orange County > Newbury > History of Newbury, Vermont, from the discovery of the Coos country to present time > Part 22

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The house was rededicated September 11, 1873, by special services, at which sermons were preached by Rev. Isaac McAnn, the presiding elder, and by Rev. William S. Palmer, of Wells River. At this meeting a subscription for a cabinet organ was started, which was purchased and used for the first time on Thanksgiving day.

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HISTORY OF NEWBURY, VERMONT.

The entire expense of the repairs was about $2,000. In 1891, the building was repaired and repainted. In the spring of 1892, a bell weighing one thousand pounds was presented to the society upon certain conditions, by Bradley D. Rogers of Buffalo, and Mrs. Angelina P. Webster of Plymouth, N. H., son and daughter of Levi and Betsey Rogers, and in their memory. Repairs and alterations were made upon the belfry, and on July 4th of that year the new bell was hung and dedicated with appropriate services. The bell was presented by Mr. Rogers, and accepted by Rev. C. H. Coolidge ; a dedicatory prayer was offered by Rev. J. L. Merrill, and a sermon was preached by Rev. A. G. Austin. Brief addresses were delivered by others.

The present committee of the society are John Smith, Dudley Carleton, and Joseph Sawyer, and in its existence of nearly seventy years it has had but three clerks, Daniel Putnam, 1832-'59; Thomas L. Tucker, 1859-'87; Byron O. Rogers, 1887.

It is creditable to the people of West Newbury that two religious societies have occupied the same building for such a long period in harmony, and it is also creditable to the successive committees of repairs that they have preserved intact, the belfry and tower, which are so well adapted to the building, and harmonize with the landscape in which the church has stood so long. Services were held with considerable regularity for over thirty years by the pastors of both churches at the village, and by others. Since 1865, regular alternate services have been held by the pastors of the Congregational church, organized in 1867, and the pastor of the Methodist church whose field includes nearly all of the town. In the earlier years, Moses Brock, Sr., led the singing, and Thomas L. Tucker played the organ. Later, Mr. Tucker became chorister and under his leadership of about thirty years, the choir was considered the best in town. His son, S. S. Tucker has long been the chorister, and Mrs. Joseph Sawyer the organist most of the time since the instrument was purchased.

In 1839, the town house was built as near the geographical centre of Newbury as possible, the location being selected as about equally inconvenient to all sections of the town. It has been used as a substitute for a church building in that locality since its erection, and, since 1866, services by ministers who alternate there and at West Newbury have been regularly held. It accommodates a part of the town which is several miles from any church, and a congregation of fair size gathers there. Dea. A. McAllister was superintendent of its Sunday-school for nearly twenty-four years. About fifty families are nearer the town house than to any church edifice.

For many years the pastor of the Congregational church at the village, held one service in the month at West Newbury, and many members of the church lived in that part of the town. Somewhere about 1860, this practice was discontinued, and the

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RELIGIOUS HISTORY-CONTINUED.

Congregationalists at West Newbury were left without preaching. During several years the people engaged preaching for a few months at a time, but no minister remained there long enough to make much impression. In the summer of 1865, Rev. David Connell came to the place and began services, and under his preaching a Congregational church of twenty-one members was formed, on February 13, 1867. All of these were from the Newbury church. The church was organized by a council held in the Union Meeting-house, of which Rev. Silas McKeen, D. D., was moderator, and Rev. John K. Williams was scribe. Dr. McKeen preached the sermon, and other parts were taken by Revs. H. N. Burton, J. K. Williams, William S. Palmer and J. D. Emerson. Mr. Connell lived for one year in the house which E. Minard now owns and occupies. In 1866, he moved into the present parsonage, then owned by H. K. Wilson, which was, in 1868, purchased by Freeman Keyes, James Abbott and O. C. Barnett, and by them conveyed to the church under conditions which provide for its becoming the property of the Vermont Domestic Missionary Society, should the church become extinct.

Mr. Connell resigned his charge in 1869, and removed to the north part of the state. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, February 15, 1815, and was graduated at Glasgow University, and at the Theological Seminary connected with it. He was an able man, of large information and wide acquaintance, and well equipped for the ministry, but was not able to avoid trouble in the parish. His ministry was unfortunate, and he left the community in a divided condition. Mr. Connell died at Portsmouth, N. H., November 11, 1895. Mrs. Connell was also from Scotland, and in many respects a remarkable woman. They had a large, and somewhat unusual family. Their oldest son, William, is a lawyer in Omaha, Neb., and was a member of Congress for one term; another son is a physician there; James is a jeweler in Portsmouth, N. H., another also lives in Omaha, and of the daughters, Lillian married Rev. H. M. Tenney, D. D., another is a widow, and a third is a teacher.

A very different man from Mr. Connell, was Rev. Robert D. Miller, who in January 1870, came to West Newbury, and entered upon his labors with the church. Few men coming into a place so torn with dissension could have managed such a work of reconciliation as Mr. Miller, and that, not by argument, but by the force of his own exemplary life, and winsome personality. Mr. Miller was born in Dummerston, Vt., September 23, 1824, was graduated at Amherst College in 1848, and at Hartford Theological Seminary in 1853. Under his ministry the church prospered, and it was largely through his influence that the Union Meeting-house was repaired in 1873. In March 1875, he resigned his charge, to the great regret. of the whole community, and, it is believed afterward of his own. He is still living at Malden, Mass. During

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his ministry, his son, Charles, a fine young man, met his death by drowning, at Gill, Mass. His only surviving son, John C., a graduate of Middlebury College, is in business in Boston.

In June, 1875, Rev. Amzi B. Lyon took charge of the church, and remained here thirteen years. He was born of a long line of clerical ancestry, at Brownhelm, O., March 22, 1831, was graduated at Oberlin College, 1854, and Andover Theological Seminary in 1857. He was a man of quiet, studious habits, and a good citizen, faithful in his calling. Mr. Lyon was married, for the third time, while at West Newbury, to Miss Clara E. Palmer of Concord, N. H., long a teacher at Abbott Academy at Andover, Mass. She was the daughter of Hon. Dudley S. Palmer, a prominent citizen of Concord, who spent his last years at the parson- age, dying there May 1886. Mr. Lyon went into missionary work in Spearfish, S. D., and he died, at Chadron, Neb., March 3, 1890. He left a daughter, Emma, who was graduated at Abbott academy, and married Rev. Charles E. Rice, and a son, now in Colorado.

In the fall of 1888, Mr. Edward W. Smith came here from Brooklyn, N. Y., and was acting pastor two years, and was ordained an evangelist in the Union Meeting-house, November 13, 1889. Mr. Smith was sincere, but ill-equipped for the ministry, and his brief pastorate was not a success.

Rev. Chalmer H. Coolidge, a native of Peru in this state, who had taken a partial course at Oberlin College, was acting pastor from May, 1892, to May 1896. Mr. Coolidge represented this town in the legislature of 1894. He was a man of ability, extensive information, and great industry. He resigned to become pastor of the church in Piermont. In June following Mr. Coolidge's departure, Mr. Ralph H. Abercrombie, from Lawrence, Mass., a graduate of Bangor Theological Seminary came, and was ordained and installed pastor of the church, November 6, 1896, the only settled minister the church has ever had. He was dismissed by council August 23, 1898, and became pastor of the Brookfield church. Mr. Abercrombie was a fine musician, a man of genial nature, who did much good and made many friends.

The church was without a minister till October, 1899, when Rev. George A. Furness came here from Wardsboro, and still remains. The minister preaches at the church at West Newbury, and at the town house. The members are widely scattered; those who live in this town receive their mail at six different post-offices. It has always been small in numbers and weak financially, and has been sustained only by much self-denial on the part of a few, and by aid from the missionary society. But it has been a means of good, and may yet see great prosperity. Connected with this small church are a Ladies' Missionary Society, and a Ladies' Aid Society, and a flourishing society of Christian Endeavor.

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RELIGIOUS HISTORY-CONTINUED.

The deacons have been :

*James Abbott, 1867-1870 *Moses Brock, 1867-1874

*David T. Wells, 1868-1899 *Archibald McAllister, 1868-1899

Maurice H. Randall, 1896

Jonas Tucker, 1896-1900

Albert N. Kendrick, 1900

¡The Free Christian church, the youngest religious society in Newbury, had its origin in a tent meeting held near Newbury village in September, 1888, by Rev. H. C. Holt, and a society was formed of individuals who held similar views with his, most of whom had previously been connected with the Methodist church. They at once set about building a meeting-house of their own at Newbury village, which was begun December 6, 1888, and completed February 6, 1889. This building, usually spoken of as the Adventist church, cost about $700 not counting the value of much labor which was freely given. The cost of the land was $175. This building was dedicated February 6,1889. This society was not formally organized into a church till March 22, 1892, but sustained regular preaching, both in the church building, and in other parts of the town. In the fall of 1890, Mr. Holt held a series of tent meetings in John Buchanan's sugar orchard, near the Centre, which were attended by great numbers of people.

The Free Christian church was organized March 22, 1892. The number of original members was thirty, and fourteen have since been added. The articles of belief held by the church include repentance and faith; baptism by immersion; personal holiness ; the near approach of the advent of Christ; the literal resurrection of the dead; the destruction of the ungodly ; the renewed earth, the home of the saints; and that death ends the opportunity for conversion. Rev. H. C. Holt was chosen pastor April 6, 1892, and held the office till his death, August 27, 1896. He was born in Hartland, Vt., October 16, 1844, began preaching 1879. He was pastor of the Advent church at Bridgewater, Vt., several years, then engaged in evangelistic work until he came to Newbury.

Rev. George H. Temple was chosen pastor of the church, December 25, 1897. He was born in Warren, Vt., March 17, 1847, began preaching in 1886; pastor one year of the Advent church in Warren, then engaged in evangelistic work until he came here.

The present officers are: John B. Brock and W. E. Marston, deacons; W. E. Marston and O. W. Brock, elders; O. W. Brock, clerk and treasurer; O. W. Brock, superintendent of Sunday school. The members of this church are scattered over town, and some of the most regular attendants live seven miles and more from the place of worship.

*Died in service.

*Prepared by Mr. J. B. Brock.

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HISTORY OF NEWBURY, VERMONT.

In the second chapter of this volume we have mentioned the probability that the first white men who visited the Coos country were Catholic missionaries from Canada. But so far as is now known, there were no families here of the ancient faith till the building of the railroad in 1847, when a multitude of Irishmen and their families came here, and received the occasional ministrations of a priest. After the railroads were completed a few Catholic families remained, and were visited from time to time by a clergyman of their order. It was not for many years that a church was gathered.

St. Ignatius's Catholic church was organized and built in 1874 by Rev. J. S. Michaud of Newport, Vt., the first pastor and who continued as paster until about 1880. Since that date the church has been supplied with pastors as follows: Rev. D. J. O'Sullivan ; Rev. R. F. Higgins, Rev. J. Whitaker, White River Junction, Vt., Rev. J. A. Boissonnault of St. Johnsbury, Vt .; Rev. J. Paquet, and Rev. J. Pontbriand, Lyndonville, Vt., the present pastor. The church has about eighty communicants. Residents of Newbury, Groton and South Ryegate also attend this church, which is at Wells River.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.

REFLECTIONS .- EXEMPTIONS FROM MINISTER TAX .- PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES OF RYEGATE .- MR. LIVERMORE'S REMINISCENCES .- THE GOSHEN MEETING-HOUSE. -FIRST SCHOOLS .- OLD SCHOOL .- AGREEMENTS .- A TOWN RESOLUTION .- THE SCHOOL DISTRICT SYSTEM .- OLD SCHOOLHOUSES .- A CAUSTIC DESCRIPTION .- WAGES .- YOUNG LADY'S SCHOOL .- NEWBURY HIGH SCHOOL.

TN an early chapter of this volume it was pointed out that the town owed much of its early prosperity to the fact that so many of its grantees became actual settlers, and their previous acquaintance and concerted action placed the new settlement in a very strong position. This was no less true of the church. The grantees who became settlers, were, almost without exception, favorable to the system of church government established here, and before a single framed house had been built in town, "The Church of Christ at Newbury and Haverhill, in Coös," as the old records run, had been placed on a firm footing. In towns where all the settlers were persons who had bought out the original proprietors, and were in general, strangers to each other, it was many years, usually, before a church was formed, as there was apt to be such a diversity of opinion that no one society became strong enough to support a minister, until the early years had passed away.

By the old colonial law the majority of voters decided the form of worship, and there was no exemption from tax, of those who differed from it. But in 1780, an act of the legislature enabled any person who differed from the established order, to escape being taxed to support it, on presentation of a certificate, duly attested, that such person belonged to some other church, and contributed to its support. In 1801, a further act enabled any person who presented to the town clerk a declaration in writing, that he did not agree in religious opinion with a majority of the inhabitants of the town, was released from taxation for the support of the church. It is significant that while in Bradford the number of certificates

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HISTORY OF NEWBURY, VERMONT.

presented under these acts was about 150, here in Newbury there were but eighteen, thirteen of which related to members of the Baptist church at that town.

The foregoing account of the churches of this town gives but a meagre idea of the religious history of Newbury. To narrate the small beginnings of each society; to give the names and succession of their pastors; to describe the various edifices which have been consecrated to religious worship; to merely mention the channels through which the benevolence of the churches has reached its sharers, is about all that we can do.

But when we have said all this, and even more, we have not begun to tell what its churches have been to the town. There have been many men and women here in Newbury, to whom the church of their choice, which, in their view, realized most nearly the divine ideal, was the dearest thing on earth. The churches of Newbury have been built up and fostered by the self-denial and loving care of several generations of devout men and women. It is to these, the business men of our villages, the farmers of our hills and meadows, rather than to the ministers of the gospel who have labored here, devout men as they have been, to whom belongs the honor of maintaining the Christian religion in this town. Making all possible allowance for the mixture of human frailty with the worthiest aspirations, the fact still remains that the Christian religion, has been, during all these years, the strongest power here in Newbury. It is easy to deny this, and to point out that a spirit of wordliness has entered the churches and weakened their influence; that faith is not as of yore upon the earth. Yet it may well be asked, whether, had Newbury been settled by men who cared nothing for these things, if no church spire had ever pointed toward Heaven; if the sound of the church-going bell had never floated over these hills; if there had been no godly ministry here; if, had there been none in Newbury who loved the house of God, would there have been anything in the history of the town worthy of remembrance ?

The religious history of Newbury would not be complete if we failed to note that a large number of its families, during more than 127 years, have been connected with the Presbyterian churches in Ryegate. By request, the following brief account of these, prepared by the late Edward Miller, Esq., is inserted here :

The first settlers of Ryegate attended church at Newbury, and occasionally received the ministrations of its minister, Rev. Peter Powers. Not far from 1779, the first church in that town, the Associate Presbyterian, was formed. This is often called the "Seceder" church, and was an offshoot from the General Associate church. In 1858, the seccders united with two other bodies and formed the United Presbyterian church. This church was joined with onc at Barnet Centre, till 1823. Rev. David Goodwillic, and

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his son, Rev. Thomas Goodwillie, D. D., occupied the pulpit of the church at Barnet Centre for a period of eighty years. They were among the most prominent ministers of the state. The Ryegate church erected one of the finest church buildings in this vicinity, at the Corner, a few years ago.

The Reformed Presbyterian church at Ryegate Corner, generally called the Covenanter church, was organized in 1799. Rev. James Milligan was its pastor from 1817 to 1840; Rev. James M. Beattie from 1844, till his death in 1882. Their house of worship at the Corner, was burned August 16, 1899. This church has always had a considerable representation in Newbury. The members consider the taking of oaths to support a temporal power as unscriptural, and do not vote or hold office.

The Reformed Presbyterian church at South Ryegate was formed in 1843, and the present church edifice built in 1849. This church differs from the Covenanters in that its members use the elective franchise. Many of this congregation live in Newbury.

These three churches use a version of the Psalms in meter, at their Sabbath service.

The youngest Presbyterian church in Ryegate is called the "First Presbyterian church," and was organized, says Mr. Samuel Mills, by a commission from Boston Presbytery, November 12, 1875, with fifty-three members. Its membership on January 1, 1900, was 160. Many of this number live in Newbury. Since its organization this society has built a church, vestry and parsonage, costing about $7,000 at South Ryegate. Rev. William Wallace is its fifth and present pastor, installed January 1, 1900. "The Presbyterian form of religious worship is founded on the word of God as expressed in the confession of faith, catechisms, larger and shorter, with the form of church government agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, and practiced by the church of Scotland." These four churches have had several hundred members in this town.

We conclude the religious history of Newbury, by presenting a picture of a Sunday in Haverhill Corner, eighty years ago. It was written by Hon. Arthur Livermore, now past ninety years of age, residing in England. Those who remember the times say that with a few changes of names, it would describe a Newbury Sabbath in those days, and have asked for its insertion here.

On Sunday mornings in summer, we were sent to our chambers, each with a tract, to await the hour of preparation for the more serious business of the day, and the familiar hail at the foot of the stairs: "Now boys, you may lay aside your tracts and go into the garden and gather your carraway, and then it will be time to set out for meeting." That sort of nosegay was deemed to be the thing for the holy hour, and to say the truth, it has to this day, the odor of sanctity to my nostrils. We were called to meeting by the sweetest bell ever heard, which old Mr. Cross made to swing in the steeple of the meeting-house on Ladd street, with a strongly religious air, which no other bell ever had, nor could any but the same old man draw forth from that one.

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HISTORY OF NEWBURY, VERMONT.

presented under these acts was about 150, here in Newbury there were but eighteen, thirteen of which related to members of the Baptist church at that town.

But when we have said all this, and even more, we have not begun to tell what its churches have been to the town. There have been many men and women here in Newbury, to whom the church of their choice, which, in their view, realized most nearly the divine ideal, was the dearest thing on earth. The churches of Newbury have been built up and fostered by the self-denial and loving care of several generations of devout men and women. It is to these, the business men of our villages, the farmers of our hills and meadows, rather than to the ministers of the gospel who have labored here, devout men as they have been, to whom belongs the honor of maintaining the Christian religion in this town. Making all possible allowance for the mixture of human frailty with the worthiest aspirations, the fact still remains that the Christian religion, has been, during all these years, the strongest power here in Newbury. It is easy to deny this, and to point out that a spirit of wordliness has entered the churches and weakened their influence ; that faith is not as of yore upon the earth. Yet it may well be asked, whether, had Newbury been settled by men who cared nothing for these things, if no church spire had ever pointed toward Heaven; if the sound of the church-going bell had never floated over these hills; if there had been no godly ministry here; if, had there been none in Newbury who loved the house of God, would there have been anything in the history of the town worthy of remembrance ?

The first settlers of Ryegate attended church at Newbury, and occasionally received the ministrations of its minister, Rev. Peter Powers. Not far from 1779, the first church in that town, the Associate Presbyterian, was formed. This is often called the "Seceder" church, and was an offshoot from the General Associate church. In 1858, the seccders united with two other bodies and formed the United Presbyterian church. This church was joincd with one at Barnet Centre, till 1823. Rev. David Goodwillic, and

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History of Newbury, Vermont, from the discovery of the Coos country to present time, Part 22

Author: Wells, Frederic Palmer, 1850- ed Publication date: 1902 Publisher: St. Johnsbury, Vt., The Caledonian company Number of Pages: 935

Author: Wells, Frederic Palmer, 1850- ed
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: St. Johnsbury, Vt., The Caledonian company
Number of Pages: 935