USA > Vermont > History of the Baptists in Vermont > Part 49
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Miss Clara A. Convers was born in Grafton, in 1857, where also she was baptized in 1876; educated at Vermont Academy and Smith College; taught at Vermont Academy five years; appointed a missionary to Japan, in 1889, and is in charge of the Mary L. Colby Home, Yokohama. She is supported by the churches of the Shaftsbury Association, who voluntarily assumed her support in 1889; yearly she sends them a letter, which is read at the annual session of the Association.
There are others in whom Vermonters claim an interest, but their direct connection with Vermont Baptist interest came after their return from mission fields.
Rev. and Mrs. Charles Hibbard, for many years prominent in our work; he was pastor at Chester, Vergennes and Middlebury; born at St. Armand, P. Q., in 1823, educated at Brown University and Rochester Seminary; ordained at Providence, R. I., in 1852, where he was also married, sailing the same year for the foreign shore, and returning in 1866. He visited, in the interest of foreign missions, many of our Vermont churches, and performed valuable service in so doing. He died at Providence in 1887. Mrs. Hib- bard is still living (1912).
Rev. S. M. Whiting was born in Sutton, Mass., in 1825, con- verted in 1841; sailed in July, 1850, for Assam, where he did faith- ful work for ten years; returning, by reason of his wife's health, they settled at Colchester for seven years, at Windsor for four years, and at Fair Haven, Conn., where he died in 1878.
Rev. and Mrs. H. M. Hopkinson. He was born in Maine, in 1840; converted in 1856; ordained at Bangor, Maine, 1871; and missionary at Bassein, Burma, 1871-1876. On his return he
587
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
served the churches as pastor at West Wardsboro, Perkinsville, West Halifax and Westford.
John Goadby, D. D., born in England, in 1808, ordained in 1833; four years a missionary in India; returning by reason of ill health, and was pastor twice at Poultney, and also at Vergennes.
R. M. Luther, D. D., and his wife, were for several years mis- sionaries in India, and, upon returning to this country, he became pastor at Bennington, where he remained nearly nine years. More than ten years, he was district secretary for the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society; pastor in New Jersey, and in- structor in a missionary training school connected with Amity Church, New York. Dr. Luther died September 28, 1903.
Miss Julia C. Bromley, born in Michigan, but resided for a time in Vermont, and was baptized at East Bethel.
Miss Emma J. Cummings, M. D., was born in Fairfax, Ver- mont, afterwards resided in Massachusetts and Connecticut. She was appointed a missionary of the Woman's Baptist Foreign Mis- sionary Society in 1886, and sailed the same year for South India. She returned to the United States in 1892, and afterwards was married to William P. Park. For several years after her return, Mrs. Park was a field worker in connection with the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Societies (East and West).
Rev. A. H. Danforth was born in Massachusetts, but re- sided in Vermont, and was baptized in Halifax, in February, 1835. He sailed for Gauhati, Assam, with his wife, in 1847. He died in 1865, in this country.
Miss Linnie M. Holbrook was born in Wolcott, Vermont, in 1876; attended People's Academy, in Morrisville. She went to Tura, Assam, in 1906, under the auspices of the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. At the present time she is in Assam.
Miss Charlotte M. Huntoon was born in Castleton, Vt., in 1877; went to Shaohsing, China, in 1903, under the auspices of the Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. She re- turned to the United States in 1907.
Mr. J. M. Lewis, of Vermont, went as a lay evangelist, in 1887, to the Congo Mission in Africa. He returned to this country in 1892, and did not return to the field.
588
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
Rev. A. F. Ufford, born in Fairfax, Vt., in 1887; united with the church there in 1895, and was pastor of the church at the time; he went to East China, in 1908. He is still on the field.
HOME MISSIONS
It is to be regretted that no satisfying statement can be made in reference to what Vermont Baptists may have done for the American Baptist Publication Society. This is due, in part, to the destructive fire that consumed records.
When steps were taken looking to the formation of an organiza- tion, whose special field should be America, our fathers were not backward in supporting and forwarding the same. The American Baptist Home Mission Society was organized in New York, April 27, 1832, and at the session of the Vermont Baptist State Conven- tion, held in Barnet the following October, the Convention voted to become an auxiliary to The American Baptist Home Mission Society, and organized a board of managers to serve as an execu- tive committee for home missions. From year to year, interest has been shown and attention given to this important branch of the common work.
On the money side of our gifts, it is easy to state, with meas- urable accuracy, what has been contributed by our State. The first year, ending March, 1833, there was contributed from Ver- mont, $82.25, coming from the eight churches of Windsor, Caven- dish, Ludlow, Mount Holly, Middletown, Poultney, North Spring- field and Chester. The total amount contributed to the Home Mission Society and the Woman's Home Mission Society, in- cluding 1912, is $166,597. A remark, which will apply equally to the contributions for foreign missions, should be made, viz .: that a great many collections and contributions have been taken and sent directly to the several fields and workers, and no account can now be made of such gifts, which, in the aggregate, must a ount to a considerable sum.
Concerning the workers who have been related to Vermont Baptists and have gone to the West and South-the two special fields of our Home Mission Society's work- prominent among the
589
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
movers, and the first secretary of that society, organized in New York, April, 1832, was Jonathan Going, a Vermonter, born in Read- ing, March 7, 1786. He fitted for college in Massachusetts, en- tered Brown University, and graduated in 1809. During his freshman year, he was converted and baptized into the old First Baptist church in Providence; studied theology for a time with the President of Brown University, and returning to Vermont, he was ordained pastor of the church in Cavendish, the next town to his birthplace, May, 1811, where he remained pastor for four and a half years, when he removed to Worcester, Mass. He was greatly interested in home missions and, in1831, was given leave of absence by his church to visit the churches in the western states, during which tour, he assisted in founding Granville College, and the next year entered into the service of the new society, in which work he continued five years, when he accepted the presidency of Granville, and there continued till his death. His death was regarded as the greatest loss that had befallen Ohio Baptists, and his name and work are held in grateful remembrance.
No records have been kept of the states from which the workers or missionaries of home missions have been appointed, hence any gleaner may regretfully omit mention of names that are equally worthy as those that are known to have been from this State. But if the records had been kept by states, first from the Green Mountain State to receive appointment would be found the name of Rer. Ezra Fisher, chairman of the first committee ap- pointed by the State Convention on home missions. That meeting was held October 24 and 25, 1832, and the next November, Ezra Fisher requested dismission from the pastorate of the North Spring- field church, that he might devote his life to the spread of the Gos- pel in the western states. To this laborious and sometime perilous work, he did devote himself. He was born in Wendell, Mass., January 6, 1800; converted in 1818; graduated at Amherst, 1829, and spent a year at Newton; pastor at Cambridge, Vt., one year, where he was, probably, ordained January, 1830; married Lucy Taft, February 7, the same year; then, November, 1830, became pastor at North Springfield, closing as above stated; but in that two years he baptized seventy. He preached for thirteen years as the missionary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society in
590
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
Indianapolis, Ind., Quincy, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa. In 1845, he crossed the plains, traveling two thousand, five hundred miles with an ox team, being seven and one-half months going to the Tulatin Plains, Oregon, where he at once commenced to preach. In 1846, he organized the first Baptist church west of the Rocky Mountains, in Washington County, Oregon. He taught in what became McMinnville College, Oregon. But after 1849, he gave his entire attention to pastoral and missionary work. His last sermon was preached at the Dallas church, October 18, 1874, when he was taken suddenly ill, carried to his home and died, No- vember 1, 1874. Says one, "In company with Hezekiah Johnson, he laid the foundations of the Baptist cause in Oregon, and they underwent privations and endured hardships such as men will not be called to experience again in the history of this country." (T. H. Archibald).
Another missionary was M. D. Miller, born in Elizabethtown, N. Y., 1811; ordained at Monkton, in 1835, and successively pastor there and at Charlotte, North Springfield, Danville, Windham, Wilmington and Addison, from which last place he went to Madi- son, Wis., where he laid Baptist foundations well and securely; and spent the remainder of his days doing much in the general educational and missionary work of the state.
Nathaniel Culver, born in Orwell, Vt., where his father was then pastor, May 10, 1794, was the third successive generation of his family to enter the ministry. He was converted in Massa- chusetts, ordained, and his first pastorate was at West Clarendon, Vt., in 1820. Passing over his work in Massachusetts and else- where, we are specially interested in him as a pastor in Michigan and Ohio in the fifties, as a leader in the work in the South, after the Civil war, at Richmond, and again, in his work in the Divinity School, in Chicago, where he died.
Robert E. Patterson, D. D., born in Benson, Vt., in 1800, the son of a Baptist minister, pastor and teacher in Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, was for three years secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and then teacher in Kentucky, Waterville and Shurtliff College, Ill., and, finally, in 1870, at Chicago, and died at St. Louis. "Few men have im- pressed their views more deeply upon others."
591
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
Worthy of mention in this connection are Brothers J. R. Graves and Z. C. Grares, both born in Chester, both uniting with the North Springfield church, and later giving their lives to preach- ing and teaching in Ohio and Tennessee.
H. I. Parker, D. D., was born at Cavendish, Vt .; ordained at Manchester Center; pastor for a time at Burlington, from whence he was called by the Wisconsin Baptist Educational Society, to assist in laying the foundations of Beaver Dam School. Entering the pastorate soon after, he removed to Austin, Minn., where he preached at six stations, at all of which, churches were subse- quently organized; thence to California, where he was pastor of three or more churches, and occupied a high place in the councils and affection of his brethren. He died, January 30, 1885.
J. W. Parker, D. D., an older brother of the last named, also born in Chester, did valuable work as pastor in Massachusetts, but gave several years of service to work for and among the Freed- men. He died in California, in 1871, at an age of eighty-two.
Rer. A. B. Green was born in Warren, Vt .; died at White- water, Wis., 1878, aged fifty-two. He toiled and wrought as few have done in pioneer mission work.
Rev. Benjamin Brierly was one of the most distinguished, elo- quent and influential preachers in California. Born in England, in 1811, he early came to this country; was converted as a child, and baptized in Massachusetts; studied and gained honors as a student; pastor in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and thence came to the North Springfield church, Vermont, and also served the Middlebury church. From there he went, in 1849, around Cape Horn, arriving in August, of that year, in California, where he was first chaplain of the legislature. He wrought nobly and left a good witness, dying, in 1863, at Nevada City.
George C. Chandler was born in Chester, Vt., 1807; baptized at North Springfield, 1825; graduated at Hamilton, 1835, and at Newton, 1838; ordained the latter year, and alnost immediately went West; became pastor and president of a college in Indiana, whence he was called to the presidency of a college in Oregon; be- came pastor at Dallas, in 1874, and the same year was stricken with paralysis, from which he never recovered.
592
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
It was in 1880, that one of the most successful pastors in Ver- mont was summoned by the Home Mission Society for service in the far West-Dwight Spencer, D. D., who wrought effectively in the far West for several years.
Rev. Frank Barnett, ordained at Poultney, was, in 1885, called to a similar service in Utah.
M. L. Rugg, D. D., born in Chester; converted and baptized in Grafton.
Elbridge W. White, D. D., also from the Grafton church; J. A. Leavitt, ordained at Grafton; Arthur White, and Miss Nellie Greene, both of this same Grafton church, have all been in the ser- vice of the Home Mission Society, laboring in the West and in the South.
This is but a partial list of the gifts of Vermont in men of ability and piety to the work of home missions.
CHAPTER XXIX WOMEN'S MISSIONARY SOCIETIES
HOME MISSION
In 1879, the women of Vermont, already organized for the foreign mission, began to realize the importance of organization and effort for home missions. Mrs. S. B. Packard addressed the women present at the State Convention in Poultney, and organized effort was begun, with the approval and commendation of the State Convention. Mrs. Guy C. Noble, of St. Albans, was appointed State vice-president, and began the work of arousing the attention of the women of the State to this important branch of missions. By 1884, a director for each Association had been secured, and upward of twenty eireles formed. Mrs. Noble was compelled by ill health, to resign in 1885, and Mrs. George E. Foss, of St. Albans, served one year, when Mrs. C. C. Post, of Burlington, was ap- pointed and superintended the work till 1890. Sixty-eight churches were then contributing, and the annual offerings had in- creased from $205 to upward of $1,000. Miss Carrie Kingsland, of Burlington, served as vice-president two years, 1891-1892. Mrs. Julia B. Safford, of Fairfax, was appointed in 1894, and with great zeal and fidelity continued in the work till 1907, and was then succeeded by Miss Bertha I. Field, of North Springfield, and she in turn by Mrs. J. A. Greenwood, in 1908.
The churches very generally entered into the work, holding basket meetings and associational gatherings, besides their in- dividual cirele appointments. Publications of the society have been taken, and interest, based upon information, stimulated.
The associational directors have borne their share of the work. Worthy of special mention among these, for their long terms of service and interest taken, are the names of Mrs. J. C. Hinds, of Vergennes, who has served as director in the Addison Associa-
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
tion since 1889; Miss Mary Miles, of Hinesburg, Lamoille Associa- tion director, 1894-1908; Mrs. H. Rust, Rutland, Shaftsbury As- sociation, 1886-1893; Mrs. Laura T. Hawley, Brattleboro, Wind- ham Association, twenty-five years, 1887-1912; Mrs. L. A. Ballou, Chester, Windsor Association, ten years, 1899-1909.
Other directors have been: Addison-, Mrs. A. A. Arthur, Mrs. N. J. Nason; Danville,-Mrs. S. B. Wheeler, Mrs. F. A. Shepard- son, Mrs. Foster Stevens, Mrs. J. M. Mitchell, Mrs. A. P. Hawley, Miss Mary L. Williams, Mrs. A. L. Wadsworth, Mrs. Emily K. Weed, Mrs. G. C. Meyers, Mrs. J. L. Manuel; Lamoille,-Mrs. C. C. Post, Mrs. C. M. Galusha, Miss Carrie Kingsland, Mrs. Julia B. Safford, Mrs. C. Aiken; Shaftsbury,-Mrs. A. W. Cady, Mrs. C. A. Reese, Mrs. J. O. Bangs, Miss Ella E. Mills, Miss Marion M. Forbes, Mrs. William Adams, Miss Minnie A. Brush, Miss Helen Douglas; Vermont Central,-Mrs. S. R. G. Clark, Mrs. Jerome Leland, Mrs. I. G. Ford, Mrs. E. E. Towner, Mrs. Eugene L. Hol- man, Mrs. Ella F. Leland, Mrs. Mary L. Rising, Mrs. E. M. Fuller, Mrs. Ella F. Clough, Mrs. F. A. Cragg; Windham,-Mrs. Horace Burchard; Woodstock,-Miss Lilly A. E. Robbins, Mrs. E. C. Pinney, Mrs. C. B. Wheeler, Miss Ellen Harlow, Mrs. S. S. Clark, Mrs. O. P. Fuller, Miss Alice S. Chipman, Mrs. P. D. Root.
595
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE WOMAN'S HOME MISSION CIRCLES IN VERMONT
1882
$ 206.86
1897
$ 977.81
1883
234.75
1898
911.67
1884
563.24
1899
1,042.39
1885
459.59
1900
1,087.99
1886
706.90
1901
864.66
1887
603.06
1902
896.21
1888
1,091.19
1903
1,165.00
1889
1,142.35
1904
1,320.94
1890
1,028.54
1905
971.01
1891
1,037.54
1906
1,072.11
1892
891.66
1907
1,178.80
1893
1,070.05
1908
1,655.76
1894
1,162.05
1909
1,351.90
1895
939.27
1910
1,146.00
1896
1,058.21
1911
1,316.00
1912
1,483.00
Total in the thirty-one years, $30,636.41.
FOREIGN MISSION
In 1872, the Baptist women of Vermont began to organize cireles auxiliary to the Women's Baptist Missionary Society. The State Convention endorsed the movement, and cordially recommended the formation of cireles in every church. Mrs. Mial Davis, of Burlington, was appointed State secretary, and be- gan at once to study the problem of bringing the subject before the women of all the churches. She sent out to every church in the State, that year, circulars, with a copy of "The Helping Hand" and a magazine. Six circles were organized the first year. Mrs. Davis' sudden death brought sadness and grief to many.
Mrs. L. K. Fuller of Brattleboro, was appointed State seere- tary in February, 1874, and held the office till 1877, during which time the number of circles increased from six to seventy; associa- tional secretaries were appointed, and the work was well organ- ized. Mrs. R. M. Luther, of Bennington, became State secretary
596
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
in 1877, continuing in office till 1881. Mrs. J. J. Townshend, of Chester, served in 1881 and 1882; Mrs. G. B. Gow, of Brattle- boro, in 1883; Mrs. E. D. Mason, of Montpelier, 1884 to 1889; Miss Zenobia Brigham, of Bennington, 1889 to 1892; Mrs. D. D. Owen, of Ludlow, 1892 to 1901; Miss Ada Brigham, of Benning- ton, has been State secretary since 1901.
Miss Mary Brown, of Ludlow, has been State Junior secre- tary since 1893.
The difficulty of obtaining complete reports from the churches makes statistical accuracy next to impossible. The largest number of circles reporting in one year is seventy; the average number re- porting annually is not far from sixty.
In 1888, the young ladies of Bennington, who had for four years been supporting a girl in Mrs. Mushell's school, undertook the support of a boy. The young ladies of the Burlington church adopted as their missionary, Dr. Huntley, in 1904, and sent their money for his support.
The appointment of Miss Clara A. Convers, of Grafton, to mission work in Japan, in 1889, more than any other one event, brought the women of Vermont into sympathetic relation to the work of the parent society, and deepened interest in missions gen- erally. Miss Convers had endeared herself to many in the State before she entered upon mission work. As a teacher in Vermont Academy, she had proven her ability and revealed the quiet depths of her christian character. It was fitting that she should take up the work that the widow of our own Dr. Nathan Brown was compelled, by failing health, to give up, thus continuing Ver -- mont's work among the Japanese, into whose language Dr. Brown had translated the New Testament. Miss Convers' interesting work in the Mary E. Colby Home, in Yokohama, has kept alive for her the interest and affection of her sisters in her native State.
The Shaftsbury Association promptly adopted Miss Convers as their missionary, and, in 1807, the circles of that Association assumed her support in place of the churches.
In 1911, Vermont reported fifty-nine cireles, eight young ladies' circles and fourteen mission bands.
The following table exhibits the annual contributions for forty years :
597
HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE WOMEN'S BAPTIST FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETIES DURING FORTY YEARS
TOTAL AMOUNT, $58,569.66
ANNUAL AMOUNTS
1st year
$ 95.75
21
$1,404.20
2
365.37
22
2,490.07
3
802.62
23
1,528.87
4
1,022.56
24
1,329.45
5
1,362.28
25
1,516.99
6
1,210.65
26
1,250.95
7
1,490.11
27
1,355.93
8
1,124.48
29
1,288.59
9
1,423.01
30
1,269.02
10
1,408.50
31
1,321.39
11
1,355.79
32
1,424.77
12
1,453.23
33
1,691.85
13
1,067.94
34
1,520.07
14
1,213.83
35
1,379.74
15
1,252.71
36
1,579.61
16
1,540.82
37
2,068.08
17
1,732.18
38
2,071.85
18
3,640.14
39
1,998.96
19
1,247.31
40
2,451.83
20
1,583.48
CHAPTER XXX
PROMINENT LAYMEN
Gen. Abner Forbes was born in Sutton, Mass., February 29, 1772. He came to Windsor in 1788, and engaged in mercantile business there, first as a clerk, but at the age of twenty-one engaged in trade on his own account. In a few years he accumulated a handsome estate. He was converted some time before 1800, and joined the Congregational church in Windsor in that year. He became a Baptist in 1813. Zealously engaged in christian service, he furnished a large part of the means for building a brick meeting- house for the Baptist church in Windsor. Some years after, he conveyed to the church a briek dwelling-house for a parsonage, and established a permanent income of $200 annually to be applied to the salary of the pastor. He was a man of ardent piety; long a deacon of the church. When the church was without a pastor, he performed all the duties which it was proper for a layman to discharge. He held various civil offices. He was a trustee of Middlebury College and of Columbian College. He died about the year 1828.
Jonathan Merriam. He was born in Concord, Mass., July 6, 1764. He was converted in 1782. In 1795, he moved to Brandon and united with the Baptist church there, and was soon after chosen deacon and ordained to that office in 1806. He devoted himself to the duties of his office, discharging them with fidelity and success. His piety was carnest, his death triumphant. He died March 26, 1826.
Hon. John D. Farnsworth was born in 1772, and united with the church in Pownal, in 1794. He settled in Fairfax, in 1795, and remained there till 1824, when he removed to Charlotte, and afterward to Fairfax. He died in 1857. Mr. Farnsworth was widely known both in the civil and in the religious affairs of the State. For about twenty years he was a member of the legis-
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HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN VERMONT
lature of this State, and almost the same length of time Chief Jus- tice in Franklin County and for more than half a century an ac- tive physician. In connection with Governor Butler and others he drafted the Constitution of the Vermont Baptist State Con- vention and was among its firmest friends and most liberal sup- porters. He presided as moderator of the Lamoille Association seven years, and five years as moderator of the State Convention.
Hon. W. M. Pingry was born in Salisbury, N. H., May 28, 1806; lived with his father on a farm until 1828; studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1832; was baptized in 1831; in May, 1835, he became a constituent member of the Baptist church in Waitsfield, and, in 1838, was elected deacon and organized and superintended a Sunday school at that place. He moved to Per- kinsville in 1841, and was elected deacon there in 1842, and was for more than thirty years a teacher or superintendent of the Sunday school there. He was the first president of the Wood- stock Baptist Sunday School Convention, and also of the Vermont Baptist Sunday School Convention, and of the Vermont Baptist Anti-Slavery Society. He was president of the board of trustees of the Vermont Academy from its organization till his death. He was judge of the Washington County Court 1838-1840; member of the Vermont Constitutional Convention in 1850; State auditor from 1853-1860; a member of the House of Representatives 1860, and of the State Senate, 1869-1870. He died May, 1885.
Hon. Truman Galusha. A member of the Baptist church in Jericho, and a deacon there; was a trustee of the New Hampton Institution, from the time of its removal to Fairfax, in 1852, until his death, and the most liberal subscriber to its endowment. He died suddenly in 1859. He was a member of the Board of the Con- vention nine years, and also sustained various positions in civil life.
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