USA > Vermont > Windham County > Rockingham > History of the town of Rockingham, Vermont, including the villages of Bellows Falls, Saxtons River, Rockingham, Cambridgeport and Bartonsville, 1753-1907, with family genealogies > Part 14
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Your committee have communicated with the church committee, and with Mr. Whiting. In seeking the dissolution, he does not ask any compensation by which his estate shall be increased, but desires that a certain portion of his property should be exempt from taxation during the remainder of his natural life ; he has been in the ministerial service thirty-six years, and, in the infant state of society in the town has passed through the struggles of revolutionary war, and shared many hardships in common with his fellow citizens ; and in late times has suffered by religious dissentions. For many years his salary has been reduced one-half, while he has been compelled to pay taxes, a thing he says no other clergyman in Vermont has done; and if the town should exempt him from two hundred dollars on the grand list during his life, it would place him in no better condition than are placed his brethren of the clergy."
The town voted to pay Mr. Whiting all arrearages due him and he was allowed to take his own time to retire from his pulpit. He continued to preach as the town minister until the following May.
A council of delegates from neighboring churches was convened May 18, 1809, which dismissed him with expres- sions of high regard and esteem, thus closing a remarkable pastorate covering a period of thirty-six years. Mr. Whiting continued to reside upon the old farm, which had come to
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History of Rockingham
him as "the first settled minister of the town," until his death, May 16, 1819.
Rev. Elijah Wollage was the second pastor, he being set- tled over the church November 6, 1818, and remaining its head somewhat over three years.
Rev. Samuel Mason came to the church as a supply Aug- ust 1, 1836, was ordained as pastor January 3, 1837, and was dismissed by a council which convened August 22, 1838.
These are the only pastors whom the church had that were settled here, although in the long intervals between the pastorates as shown above the church and town were served by supplies.
The records show that an aged man named Rev. Brough- ton White served as minister for a short time in 1839, but he was never settled over the church, and upon his death which occurred the same year all semblance of regular meetings by this old, first, church in Rockingham was discontinued, and the old town church building occupied so many years ceased to be regularly used for the worship of God.
CHAPTER XII.
FIRST TOWN MEETING-HOUSES-FIRST MINISTER'S DWELLING
The history of Rockingham dates from a time when "church and state were one," to a certain extent, inasmuch as the first meeting-houses in the village of Rockingham were erected by direct taxation of the inhabitants, and church expenses were paid by money from the same source.
In addition to those in the village of Rockingham, those early "meeting-houses" of the villages of Saxtons River and Cambridgeport can be so termed, as they were not built by any denomination, but as union meeting-houses by the people at large. Each of these villages still treasure structures which come under the old term of "meeting-houses."
The first proprietor's meeting, March 28, 1753, chose a committee to "Lay out Six acres of Land for a Meeting-house place," and a lot, containing twenty acres, was "Laid out For the use of the First Settled Minister."
June 20, 1771, the town took its first action toward build- ing a house of worship by voting "To build a Meeting House fifty-five feet Long and forty-five feet Wide." They chose three men, John Hastings and Simeon Olcott of Charlestown, and Thomas Sparhawk of Walpole, as a committee to locate the building, but the house was not erected and years later it was voted to erect a smaller one.
April 23, 1772, the town rejected the committee's choice of a location and voted that "the Meeting-house be Set on the hill West of David Pulsiphers house about thirty or forty Rods." This was the site upon which the first meeting-house, as well as the present one, was located.
August 25, 1773, it was voted to "Build a small house thirty-five feet Long and twenty-five feet Wide, for a meet- ing-house till the town be able to Build a Larger ;" and that "Peter Evans Jun' Samuell Taylor John Lovell be a Commit- tee to Build said house."
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History of Rockingham
November 24, 1773, it was voted "to Raise forty pounds York money to Defray the Charges of building a meeting- house."
October 19, 1774, it was voted to add five feet to the width and one foot and ten inches to the height, and that " the trus- tees find four Gallonds of Rum to Raise and frame said house."
December 12, 1774, town meeting was held for the first time in the meeting-house, and it was voted "that the Meeting- house be excepted and the Committees accompts be aLoud ;" also, "that there be a Roe of Wall Pews Round the meeting- house and eight pews in the middle and three seats each side the Alley next the pulpit ;" also, "chose Oliver Lovell Esq' and Ensign Peter Evans and Sert Jonathan burtt Trustees to expend the money which is voted to be Raised In and about the meeting-house."
August 26, 1782, it was voted that "Majr Oliver Lovell Get the Deed acknowledged that David pulsipher Deseast Gave the Town to Set the meeting-house on." The location and erection of this building were evidently matters upon which there were differences of opinion, as immediately fol- lowing the record of this meeting, and in the bold hand of William Simonds who was then town clerk, is written, "Also I have with three more bought the Ground where the meet- ing-house Stands with the Burying Yeard the Same was made a present to the Town by us namely William Simonds David pulsipher Charles Richards Nath" Davis all to settle peace and Good harmony."
It is tradition that this first small meeting-house was located five or six rods east of where the present meeting- house stands. This building served the town only until January, 1793, when a committee was chosen to sell the old building, the town having found itself "able to Build a larger," and the first action having been taken in 1787 for the erection of the present structure. The quotations from the town records given above are the only description which we have to-day of this first house of worship occupied by our fore-fathers.
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OLD TOWN MEETING-HOUSE. Built 1787.
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Town Votes to Ercct a Meeting-house
April 10, 1787, the first vote in relation to the erection of a larger meeting house, was as follows, "Voted that the Committee appointed by the Legis- lature of the state of Vermont to build a town house in Rockingham are Directed to sell pews in said house to the highest bidder for to raise money to be Laid out for the purpose of finishing sd House.
3 ly Voted that the Committee Build the town House Just as Large as Charlestown Meeting House as to the square of it.
4 ly Voted to Build two porches one at each end.
5 ly Voted to have the plan of the inside of sd House agreable to the inside of the Meeting House in Charlestown.
S ly Voted to have the pews finished which are sold with the money which is given for sd pews."
At an adjourned town meeting, held April 24, 1787, it was " Voted to reconsider the 3d vote (relating to the 'Bigness' of the town house). Voted to Build the town house forty-four feet wide and fifty-six feet long," which are the dimensions of the present structure.
The master builder under whose direction the meeting- house was built was a prominent resident of the town, General Fuller. He lived on a farm about a mile north of Rocking- ham village, on the top of the hill a short distance south of the Proctor and Wiley farms.
An aged man living in Greenfield, Mass., in 1887, in a communication to the Bellows Falls Times about the old church building says :
"It was my fortune to have met General Fuller several times during the summer of 1816, who was the master builder of this old house. I was told at that time that when all was ready Mr. Fuller quietly took his place on the beam and went up with the front broad side, as was customary in those days. At the time I saw him he lived in the Dr. Campbell house ( so called ) now owned and occupied by Rodney Wiley. I think it must have required three or four extra men to have carried Mr. Fuller up, for at the time I saw him he was good for at least 250 pounds."
March 5, 1792, on the article in the warrant "to see what use the Town will agree to Put the Town house to in sd town Voted that it shall be appro- priated to the use of publiek worship & Town meetings." At the same meeting it was voted "that the Congregational society have their proportion of Time in sd house ; also the Baptist, also the Episcopalian's Church though not forined into a Society." The use of the house was denied to the society of Universalists, but at a meeting held May 2, 1796, it was voted " that the Uni- versalists, shall have their proportionable Share of time in the meeting house according to what they have paid and bring in their Teacher on the First Day of the Week."
Although this meeting-house was used for both town meetings and church purposes, the structure was not entirely
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History of Rockingham
finished until about 1800. In 1796 efforts were made to raise money by subscription for its completion, and the committee then stated they had already expended about eighty-eight pounds, lawful money, upon the building. September 24, 1799, a committee of five was chosen to procure subscriptions "for finishing the meeting-house." The painting and glazing had been put up at auction March 19, 1798.
MAIN ENTRANCE OF ROCKINGHAM MEETING HOUSE. (Sketched from Photograph.)
The old meeting-house is near the geographical centre of the town, where it was the early custom to build houses of wor- ship, and is the only church building in Vermont dating back
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The Meeting-house Completed
to colonial days that retains the original characteristics in its interior as well as its exterior appearance.
It was a quaint and beautiful custom of those days which set the Lord's house always upon a hill, in the centre of the town, a silent and lofty guardian watching over the affairs of men in the valley below. The meeting-house of the first church organized in Rockingham, a type in itself of the stern, unyielding dignity of those rugged characters, stands close by the graves of those who once made the life of the com- munity, overlooking the Williams river valley, and the peace- ful farms below. It is a landmark for many miles and at- tracts every year many visitors from a distance.
The interior is of severest Puritan outline, the only devia- tion from the rectangle being an inclosed two-story "porch" at each end, from which stairs ascend to the gallery. The win- dows are many, and contain each forty panes. The pulpit, which was originally reached by a winding stairway, has been lowered a few feet, but otherwise the interior is unchanged since the days when the good people from the farms in the neighborhood laboriously climbed the hill to sit without fires, with chilling feet and benumbed hands through sermons two hours long, or convened on week days to transact the weighty business of the town.
The pews are of the old square, high-backed style, the outer, or wall row, being raised slightly above those in the center of the room. The spindles which once ornamented the backs of these seats have been ruthlessly removed as curiosi- ties, as have been the hinges which once creaked on Sabbath afternoons as the door of the pew swung back to admit the goodman and his family,-the children in sombre anticipation of long hours of imprisonment on good behavior, to be alle- viated only by rare and meagre dolings of fennel and cara- way seeds from the depths of capacious maternal pockets.
This building, so interesting and quaint, is an object les- son of the architecture and methods of building in old Colo- nial days, dating back, as it does, to the years when Vermont was a sovereign republic without ties to other states or nations ;
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History of Rockingham
when all citizens, irrespective of creed, or without creed, were taxed by the government for the support of the gospel, as well as for other purposes for which taxes were imposed by the laws of the commonwealth.
It was the only public building owned by the town until 1887, when the present handsome opera house building was erected in Bellows Falls, just one hundred years after this town church was built. From time to time the building has been used by various religious denominations, but since 1839 it has not been regularly occupied by any. The town very appropriately authorizes the selectmen to keep the building in good condition, the outside being neatly painted, and the roof well shingled, but the inside has had little expended in repairs and curiosity seekers have somewhat marred its beauty. Substantially, it remains in the primitive condition of the 17th century, a silent, and yet eloquent, reminder of the days when there was a more universal interest throughout the community in spiritual things.
The care of the old town meeting-house used to cause much discussion in town meetings of early days.
March 1, 1803, the key of the meeting-house was put up at auction and struck off to the lowest bidder. James Marsh bid it off for the sum of two dollars and fifty cents for the year ; and he gave bonds to unlock and lock the house every Sunday morning and evening, and at all other public meet- ings, at all times, on a penalty of four cents for each neglect of duty : he also agreed to sweep the house four times in the year, that is during the first week in every three months, and for every failure in sweeping he was to forfeit the sum of fifty cents. It is not to be supposed that $2.50 was considered as sufficient pay for the services rendered by Mr. Marsh ; but the honor of the office was a consideration then as now to the office holder. It was no small trust to have charge of the key of both the Town House and the House of God ; and if the people had not at that day considered the office of sweeper of some importance, it would not have been necessary to require bonds for the faithful performance of the duty.
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The Contract of the Janitor
In the record of the annual town meeting March II, ISII, the following appears, and similar records occur frequently :
" 24th Voted that the key of the Meeting House be kept by Abner Whee- lock (he being the lowest bidder for the same which was three dollars & fifty cents) on the following conditions viz : Said Wheelock shall lock and unlock said house every Sunday morning & evening if needed, and at all times when thereto requested by the authority of the Town, and in the case of refusal or neglect to lock and unlock as aforesaid, he shall forfeit & pay the sum of 50 cents for every such neglect, to be deducted out of the sum allowed for such services. Also to sweep said house four times in the present year, that is to say for the first time in the month of April next and so on quarterly to the end of the year, and for every failure of not sweeping as aforesaid to pay 50 cents aforesaid. Also to wash said house in the month of April next."
During the first years of the history of the old town church at Rockingham, its front door was used to post notices of all important meetings, and for the general dissemination of knowledge among citizens of the town. One of its more important uses was the posting and publishing of all matri- monial banns or intentions of marriage such as were required in those years to be proclaimed in church, or other place pre- scribed by law, that any person might object to its taking place.
March 15, 1804, Rev. Samuel Whiting posted the follow- ing unique, but expressive, notice upon the door of the meet- ing house :
" NOTICE,-John Parks Finney and Lydia Archer, of Rockingham, came to my house, and having been published agreeably to law,-but he being a minor and not having his father's consent, I refused to marry them. They, however, declared that they took and considered each other as husband and wife, meaning to live and do for each other accordingly.
Samuel Whiting, minister.
This may, perhaps, be considered the first free love mar- riage that ever took place in Windham county. The number of inhabitants at this time in Rockingham was not very large, for the whole number of votes cast for governor the next year was only one hundred and fifty, although the number of children in school in the sixteen school districts was seven hundred and thirty-six.
For some years succeeding the building of the first meet- ing-house in Saxtons River in 1807, the Rockingham build-
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History of Rockingham
ing was known as the " Old North Meeting-house," while that at Saxtons River was distinguished by the appellation of "Old South Meeting-house," they being the only church buildings in the limits of the township, until the first church building was erected in Bellows Falls in 1817.
Occasional meetings are held in the old church by neigh- boring pastors, principally in the summer. Although two box stoves were placed in the church some years since, small chimneys having been built at each end, it is almost impossi- ble to warm the building in the winter. Hundreds of sight- seers visit the building each year because of its historical interest, its age and the picturesqueness of its location. May it long remain as a memento of the past and as an object les- son to the present and future generations, showing the strug- gles and trials of the rugged inhabitants who first settled this town, and their endeavors to serve in a faithful way the true God, as they understood Him.
Upon another page is a diagram showing the plan of the meeting-house as it is at the present time. The arrangement of pews as shown is the same as they were constructed previ- ous to 1800, except that there were three rows of straight pews immediately front of the two sections of body pews. These were removed about 1860, at the time the pulpit was lowered. These pews were the "official" pews occupied by the tything-men and deacons in the early years of the exist- ence of the church.
May 15, 1906, the town voted to appropriate the sum of $500 to restore the interior to its original condition, including high pulpit, sounding-board, seats, etc., with the promise that at least an equal amount be raised by subscription, which is being done at this time.
About a mile northwest from the old church building, on an eminence a few rods above the main road between the villages of Rockingham and Chester, stands the well pre- served dwelling-house of the first minister in Rockingham, Rev. Samuel Whiting, now owned by M. C. Burnett and known as the Stowell place.
ILIL
PLAN OF ROCKINGHAM MEETING HOUSE. (Scale 3-32 in. to I ft.)
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History of Rockingham
The Whiting place, although of much interest historically, has not been as well identified in the later years, or as gen- erally known to be of historical interest, as the old church and burying-ground, and yet the dwelling dates back to prac- tically the same years. The land of the farm on which these buildings stand was at the first proprietors' meeting, held March 28, 1753, "Laid out For the Use of the First Settled Minister," and was "House Lott No. 3 in the North Range." The location was a beautiful one commanding a broad sweep of valley and mountain and was chosen as being the geo- graphical center of the township. In the ell of the dwelling house is still to be seen the old minister's "office" in which in early days occurred many marriages of early settlers, as well as many other incidents which would be of historical interest at the present day if they had been recorded.
The first General Convention of Congregational Churches of the State of Vermont was organized and held in this dwell- ing on the third Tuesday of June, 1796. Mr. Whiting also took an active part in the formation of the Vermont Mission- ary society. While New York was exercising jurisdiction over the south part of Vermont, a ministerial association was formed, in October, 1775, comprising what is now called Windham county. Tradition locates this organization as hav- ing been effected in Mr. Whiting's dwelling-house. The name of the organization was the "Ministerial Association of the County of Cumberland, state of New York." The ministers composing this organization were "Rev. Messrs. Abner Reeve of Brattleborough, Hezekiah Taylor of Newfane, Joseph Bullen of Westminster, and Samuel Whiting of Rockingham." They retained the name of Cumberland until June 2d, 1785. No other similiar association was formed in the state for thirteen years.
In Mr. Whiting's office were probably written the very full records of the old church organization which have recently come to light in their original manuscript forni.
The year 1807 marked the first effort for the erection of any other meeting-house in the town than that described as
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THE OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE AT SAXTONS RIVER, ERECTED ISIO.
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Old South Meeting-house
the "Old North Meeting-house" at Rockingham village. The village of Saxtons River, in which a settlement was first made in 1783, had become so populous that for the use of its residents as well as for the farmers of the vicinity a house of worship was desirable.'
November 26, 1807, a number of citizens met by verbal notice at Isaac Willard's tavern in Saxtons River to consider the subject of building a non-sectarian union meeting-house. A committee was appointed to find a suitable place upon which to set the house and to draft a plan and report at a subsequent meeting. James McAfee was moderator of the meeting, Jos. Weed the clerk, and the committee named were Roswell Bellows, Daniel Mason, James McAfee, Amos Goodell and Jos. Weed.
The following persons were present at this meeting and agreed to puchase a pew each in the proposed building :
Simeon Aldrich Jonas Clark
Amos Goodell
Samuel Mason
Ebenz Lovell Samuel Tuthill
Daniel Mason
Roswell Bellows
John Bennett Hesh Rice Silas Dickinson Joel Barry
Daniel Mason Jona Barry
Henry Lake Amos Guernsey
Benj. Davis Isaac Willard
Caleb Washburn
Sarah House
James McAfee
Daniel Bixby
Joel Barrett
Roswell Burt
Amos Chaffee Jos. Weed
At an adjourned meeting the next month it was voted to "Set the meeting-house on the Ground offered by Mr. (Simeon) Aldrich." A building committee was chosen con- sisting of Roswell Bellows, Daniel Mason, Eben. Lovell, Henry Lake and Isaac Willard. The contract for the erection of the house was let to Roswell Bellows, a prominent citizen of the village.
The contract called for its completion Jan. 1, 1810. The work was done as agreed and the house was dedicated Aug. 23 of that year. This is the same building now occupied by the public schools of the village, it having passed into the ownership of the town some years since. It was occupied for church purposes by the Baptist and Universalist churches of the village until 1842. At that time the Baptist church had erected its own house of worship, and the Universalist church
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History of Rockingham
had discontinued its services. In 1842 it was adapted to educational uses and occupied until 1866 by the Saxtons River Seminary. a popular educational institution of those days, having been fitted to both dormitory and recitation pur- poses. The general outlines of the building are the same as when it was first erected nearly one hundred years ago.
The history of the Union Meeting-house of Cambridge- port village, erected seventy years ago, demonstrates the pos- sibility of one church supplying the spiritual needs of a small village without over-burdening the community with a multi- plicity of denominational structures and organizations.
A call for a meeting of the inhabitants of the village of Cambridgeport and vicinity to be held January 4. 1836, for the purpose of making arrangements for the erection of a meeting-house. was signed by Benjamin Smith, Jr., Isaiah Stodder, Lemuel Bolles, Bailey & Aiken, Samuel Ober, 3d, Henry Harris, James Weaver, Hiram Wooley and G. S. Wil- lard. This meeting resulted in the erection of a meeting- house during the same year.
One of the articles in the constitution of the society which was formed, was as follows :
"The subscribers owning slips in said house shall occupy the same for public worship agreeable to their choice, in proportion to the shares which they respectively own in said house, and if any one denomination does not choose to occupy the time belonging to it for public worship others may occupy the same for such purposes during the time which by it shall be unoc- cupied."
In 1837, a vote was recorded that the Baptists, Congre- gationalists, Universalists and Methodists should have the use of the meeting-house. The church building has remained a union house of worship ever since.
Among the names which appear upon the early records of the society, in addition to those above, are Ralph Brintnall, William Thompson, Horace Eastman, John Weaver, Thomas Wyman, Ithimar Bolles, Hubbard Eastman, Isaac B. Wilson, Benjamin Clark, Royal Earle, Jonathan Colton, Alexander Atcherson, Z. Chapin, D. F. Cushing, Isaac Glynn, Charles
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