USA > Vermont > Washington County > Waitsfield > History of the town of Waitsfield, Vermont, 1782-1908, with family genealogies > Part 11
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I14
HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
The minister's small salary compelled him to eke out a living by the cultivation of a farm, a practice that he followed until he was more than eighty years of age, and during a portion of the time he taught school in the Northeast District, to which section he removed after the sale of his river farm in 1821. His habit of going barefooted clung to him through life, and gave rise to many amusing incidents far more embarrassing to others than to himself.
It is said that it was his custom to walk barefooted to church with his boots under his arm, until he came to a moun- tain stream near the meeting-house, where feet were washed and boots pulled on. In 1824 he preached the election sermon before the General Assembly of Vermont, and went to Montpelier on foot. Tradition has it that he presented himself at his hotel barefooted, and was made the butt of many jokes by men who were next day confounded by his able discourse.
On June 25, 1829, Mr. Chandler signified his desire to dis- solve his connection with the Church, and gave the six months' notice required by the terms of his settlement, this action being dictated by the belief, which in later years he knew to be un- founded, that a change was advisable for both parties. On July 9, 1829, the Society "reluctantly" accepted his notice, and on February 3, 1830, he was dismissed.
After his removal from Waitsfield he supplied at Hardwick, Vt., for about two years, and on October 25, 1832, was settled as pastor of the First Church in Greenfield, Mass. Here he remained until his death, October 20, 1864, although after reaching the age of eighty he had an assistant. In 1846 his Alma Mater gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and in 1854 he was the chaplain of her semi-centennial. In 1853 he was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention.
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CHAPTER X.
ECCLESIASTICAL -- CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY, 1830-1908.
For several years after the departure of Mr. Chandler the pastorate of this church fell to men whose stay was short, and who made no lasting impression either upon church or com- munity. The growth of other denominations and the dissent, during the last years of Mr. Chandler's service, of nearly eighty members of the Society, due to hostility to taxation as a means of raising funds and to a growing interest in the liberal doctrines of Universalism, left the organization in a condition ill fitted to bear the loss of his guiding and strengthening hand.
These trials and added burdens served but to bring out the latent force and strength of character that had been de- veloping for twenty years. There was a girding up of loins among the strong men and women left within the fold, and from this time we see a church turning, with increasing con- fidence, to the guidance of its lay members and relying in ever greater measure upon their strength. No pastor since .Mr. Chandler has enjoyed the supreme headship that he enjoyed, not because of lack of ability, and not wholly because of the tendency of the modern church to place the pastor in the position of co-worker rather than dictator, but in large measure because of this necessary taking up of the burden during those earlier years of trial.
In the summer of 1830 the meeting-house was repaired and occasional preaching had during the remainder of the year. Among the supplies were Rev. John A. Hempstead and Rev. Mr. Howe, the latter from Unity, N. H.
In May, 1831, Rev. Guy C. Sampson was employed for one year as acting pastor, after a short term of preaching as a candidate. His stay was not prolonged, and in 1832-3 and part of 1834, Rev. Joseph Marsh was acting pastor. He was a native of Sharon, Vt., a graduate of Dartmouth College, 1824, and Andover, 1827.
I16
HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
During this period an unfortunate controversy arose with the newly organized Universalist Society relative to the right of the latter to make use of the meeting-house, the deciding of which in favor of the old society led to the erection of the Union Meeting-house in 1836.
In the winter of 1834-5, Rev. Frye B. Reed, a native of Brookfield, Vt., and a graduate of Middlebury College, 1824, preached for a few months; but in March, 1835, the Rev. Samuel G. Tenney of Rowley, Mass., Dartmouth College, 1823, was invited to settle as pastor of the church, and he was installed on July 8 following. He was the first pastor to find a parsonage waiting for his family. Mr. Salisbury and Mr. Chandler had owned farms, and their successors found rented quarters.
As early as September, 1831, a committee of the Society had been chosen to consider the purchase of land and the erection of a parsonage, and the matter continued to be a subject of frequent discussion until March, 1835, when a committee was chosen to "purchase or build" provided funds should be sub- scribed. A movement was thus set on foot that resulted in the purchase of the residence of Julian Dumas, which stood on the same side of the Common and a little northerly of the meet- ing-house. The price paid was four hundred and fifty dollars, and the funds were in part derived from the sale of a portion of the "Minister" land lying in Northfield, but acquired by the Society under deed from Mr. Salisbury, he having been allowed to keep only one of the lots assigned under the charter to the first settled minister. -.
Mr. Tenney stayed but two years. His resignation is dated June 16, 1837, and he was dismissed July 5, 1837. His suc- cessor was Rev. Archibald Flemming, who came as acting pastor. He was born in Paisley, Scotland, and was a graduate of the University of Vermont, 1828, a man of deep and rich Christian character, with all the energy and seriousness of his own Scotch race. In 1838 the Church invited him to become its pastor, but it was his decision not to remain, and on November 5 of the same year the Rev. Preston Taylor, a native of Ashfield, Mass., who had previously been engaged in the practice of law, was invited to settle. He was installed in January, 1839, but the attractions of the law outweighed those of the gospel. He resigned July 16, 1842, and was dismissed in September following.
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ECCLESIASTICAL.
During Mr. Taylor's pastorate a revival started as the result of a protracted meeting held under the leadership of Rev. Joel Fisk, a son of Dea. Moses Fisk, and many substantial men and women were gathered into the church.
This pastorate also was the last in which funds were raised by taxation, and with the employment of Rev. Calvin Selden in April, 1843, a subscription paper replaced the involuntary contribution. Mr. Selden was born in Springfield, Vt., and was a graduate of Middlebury College, 1836.
From this date until 1866 the records of the Society were never entered in its books by the clerk, and are now wholly lost. The comparatively brief records of the Church are intact, but it is impossible to speak of many events of this period with the exactness that is desirable.
Mr. Selden's labors extended until into the year 1845, and he was followed by the Rev. James Hobart, of Plymouth, N. H., Dartmouth College, 1794, then a man of nearly eighty, whose name is connected with the councils of the Church during the troubled years of Mr. Salisbury's ministry. Under the leader- ship of this godly man a renewed religious interest manifested itself, and an evangelist, Rev. Daniel Parker, was called to work with him for a brief time.
By 1844 the Church and Society had a very pressing material question to deal with. The old meeting-house was becoming dilapidated, and, as the centre of business had entirely moved away from the Common, its location was inconvenient to a large portion of the town. There was, of course, great pressure on the part of many to build a new edifice in or near the present village, and equally ardent resolve on the part of others that the old building should be repaired. In the end a committee from other churches was chosen to determine the matter, and their decision, as is usually the case, was a compromise, the site chosen being at the top of "Mill Hill" south of the village, in front of the present cemetery. This matter determined, a building committee consisting of Orson Skinner, Samuel Chip- man, Artemas Brown, Hiram Joslin, and Elijah Wyatt Bisbee took title to a parcel of six acres in January, 1845, a part of the land being later used as a cemetery. The work went forward without delay, although there was still great oppo- sition, and not until January 2, 1846, did the Church by a vote of 19 to 12 accept the invitation of the Society to occupy
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HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
the new meeting-house when ready. Indeed, the title to the whole property remained vested in the members of the building committee for many years, and not until September, 1877, some years after this meeting-house had been demolished, was the land on which it stood conveyed to the Society.
January 9, 1846, a committee was chosen by the Church to act in conjunction with one from the Society in dedicating the building, at which service the Rev. J. Gridley, of Montpelier, preached.
A considerable minority of the Church remained obdurate, and conducted services on the Common until June 22, 1846, when a general meeting to discuss the situation was held at the old meeting-house. These members, after setting out the reasons for their action, expressed a willingness to yield to the majority.
The old house was, after a few years, remodeled by residents of the East neighborhood and used for local gatherings. About 1852 the Wesleyan Methodist Society occupied it, but it soon fell into decay and was finally torn down.
The new meeting-house was an unpretentious structure, although it boasted a steeple and bell which the old house lacked. There was a portico in front with two large pillars. At either end of this portico were receptacles for fuel, and the door in front opened into a vestibule from which stairs went up at right and left into the singers' gallery across the front end. The pews were arranged in a manner almost identical with those in the old meeting-house, and the pulpit stood at the rear, raised three steps above a wide platform, which was itself two steps above the floor. The interior was finished in butternut, and each pew had a door fastened with a brass button.
Within a few weeks after the dedication of the new building, Rev. Charles Duren, of Boston, Mass., Bowdoin, 1833, was engaged as acting pastor. He remained three years in this capacity. On June 27, 1849, he was installed as pastor, and so continued until May 25, 1854. An earnest, faithful Christian worker, his pastorate was quiet and uneventful, although an increased interest in church affairs was manifested among many of the younger people, and the Sunday School was greatly in- creased in efficiency.
The first Sunday School in town was established soon after 1820 through the efforts of Mr. Chandler, assisted in its later
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ECCLESIASTICAL.
organization by Rev. Harvey Fisk, a son of Dea. Moses Fisk, who was then secretary of a Sunday School Society in New Jersey, and the author and publisher of the first series of Union Question Books for Sunday Schools, in America. At first there were several schools held in different parts of the town during the summer only, but these were soon consolidated. The early lessons consisted wholly of memorized verses of scripture, and this practice continued until a comparatively late date, especially in the younger classes. For a long time the superintendent was the only officer, but in May, 1848, the Church took its first formal recorded action on the Sunday School, and elected Rev. Mr. Duren, Dea. Jedediah Bushnell, Lyman Fisk, Orange Smith, James T. Phelps, Hiram Joslin and Calvin Jewett Joslin, as a board of managers. From that time, apparently, the Sunday School took, and has since maintained, a high degree of efficiency in the work of this church.
The names of superintendents are as follows, so far as they can now be learned:
Dea. Jedediah Bushnell.
Dea. Lyman Fisk, for many years prior to 1860.
Dea. David Martin Phelps 1860 to June 10, 1866.
Rev. Alfred B. Dascomb, June 10, 1866 to April 28, 1867. Hiram Carleton, April 28, 1867, to April 25, 1869.
Cornelius Emerson Joslin, April 25, 1869 to April 24, 1870.
Dea. Henry Newton Bushnell, April 24, 1870 to April 25, 1875.
Hiram Carleton, April 25, 1875 to December 19, 1875.
Walter Alonzo Jones, December 19, 1875, to December 29, 1889.
George W. Wallis, December 29, 1889, to January 1, 1894. Dea. Henry Newton Bushnell, January 28, 1894, to January 2, 1897.
John B. Thompson, May 16, 1897, to January 1, 1898. Ervin Stephen Joslin, January 1 1898 -.
From the close of Mr. Duren's pastorate until Mr. Dascomb took up the work late in 1860, six men served this church, and it was in truth a dark period.
Rev. Levi H. Stone of Cabot, Vt., was acting pastor from May 1, 1855, to May 1, 1856, and he was followed in turn by Rev. Andrew Royce, of Marlowe, N. H., 1856-7; Rev. Caleb W. Piper, of Weston, Vt., Dartmouth, 1838, 1857; Rev. Charles S. Smith, of Hardwick, Vt., University of Vermont, 1848, 1858; Rev. Robert Stuart, of Lowell, Mass., Dartmouth College, 1843.
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HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
1858-9, and Rev. George Pierson, of Orange, N. J., Princeton University, 1853, 1859-60.
In December, 1860, began the work of Rev. Alfred B. Dascomb in this field, and, as in an earlier instance already commented on, a season of depression was at once followed by a great uplift in church life. He was a native of Hillsboro, N. H., and a graduate of Dartmouth College, 1858. He came as a young and inexperienced man to serve as supply for a single Sunday, but under pressure remained for one week more, and, being importuned for a longer stay, reluctantly consented to "try himself for a month." Thus he was led along until he had acquired a modicum of the confidence in himself that the Church had felt in him from the beginning. Not until January 19, 1862, would he consent to be ordained, and even then, although the Church persistently sought the relation, he declined to be installed as pastor until after a great religious awakening in the town, he yielded to a still more imperative call and became the pastor on November 15, 1866. Less than a year later, while still enjoying a hold upon his people that was probably second only to that of Mr. Chandler, he resigned, and on October 31, 1867, he was dismissed by a council that recorded its reluctance.
Upon Mr. Dascomb's removal the Society acquired its present parsonage. The old one on the Common had been for a long time uninhabitable, and fifteen hundred dollars was raised by subscription to purchase the comfortable home that had once been the little red school-house of District No. 7 until removed to the village in the early "sixties."
In May, 1868, a call was extended to Rev. James H. Babbitt, a native of Taunton, Mass., fresh from Amherst College, 1865, and Andover, 1868, and on September 10, 1868, he was ordained and installed. To him and his girl wife much is due in the upbuilding of the church, both spiritually and materially.
The location of the second meeting-house had never proved convenient or satisfying, and this was emphasized by the con- struction of other church edifices in the heart of the village. There was increasing pressure to make a change, and on December II, 1873, a committee was chosen to consider the question of moving or rebuilding. Numerous meetings were held, and on April 21, 1874, the Society accepted from Hon. Jonathan H. Hastings a deed of the site of the present building, and chose
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SECOND CONGREGATIONAL MEETING- HOUSE, IS46. THIRD CONGREGATIONAL MEETING-HOUSE, 1875.
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ECCLESIASTICAL.
him together with Richardson J. Gleason and Walter A. Jones, who had been the efficient clerk of the Society since 1870, and was to continue in that capacity until ill health compelled his resignation June 3, 1890, as a building committee to carry on the work.
The old meeting-house was demolished, and the material used, so far as possible, in the construction of the new, the Methodist Church offering the privileges of its new building meanwhile.
Mr. Babbitt was the architect, and all gave enthusiastic support to the work, so that at the dedication services on July 7, 1875, the committee was able to report the work completed at a cost of over eighty-six hundred dollars and all bills paid.
In 1876 Mr. Babbitt resigned, and was dismissed on De- cember 12 of that year, greatly to the regret of all his people. He was followed by Rev. Stephen H. Robinson, a quiet, scholarly man, who was ordained and installed on September 7, 1877, and remained in the work until October 20, 1884.
On June 1, 1885, Rev. Lycurgus E. Pangburn, from Gales- burg, Ill., Tabor College, 1876, became acting pastor, and so continued for two years. During his term of service (February 5, 1887) the Society was regularly incorporated, and the constitution which had been revised in 1866 and 1874 was again remodeled.
With the going of Mr. Pangburn, Rev. Elisha S. Fisk, a graduate of Williams College, and a native of Shelburne, Mass., was employed to supply the pulpit, and in November, 1887, he was called as pastor, the installation services taking place February 28, 1888. During his pastorate the Church celebrated its centennial with services that filled the week of June 21 to June 28, 1896, the observance being in charge of Rev. Elisha S. Fisk, Dea. Edward Anson Fisk, Dea. Henry Newton Bush- nell and George W. Olmstead as committee. The program was as follows:
Sunday-June 21. Opening Sermon-Pastor Elisha S. Fisk-The Mission of the Church.
Thursday Evening, June 25-Services preparatory to Sacrament of Lord's Supper. Sermon by Rev. Pliny Fisk Barnard. The Sacrifice of Christ for Our Sins. Sermon by Rev. Perrin Batchelor Fisk-The Preparation of the Heart For The Sacrament. Sermon by Rev. Orlo Linfield Barnard- Appropriating Christ in the Sacraments.
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HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
Friday Evening-June 26. Meeting of Fellowship. Ad- dress by Rev. William S. Hazen of Northfield,-The Ground of Christian Fellowship. Address by Rev. A. J. Covell .of Water- bury-The Expression of Christian Fellowship. Address by Rev. Azro A. Smith of East Barre-The Field of the New England Country Church in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.
Saturday June 27 A. M. Address of Welcome-Dea. Edward Anson Fisk; Historical Discourse, Rev. Perrin Batch- elor Fisk; Centennial Hymn-Rev. Perrin Batchelor Fisk.
P. M .- Address by Rev. Samuel N. Jackson of Barre-A Century of Congregationalism. Reminiscences by Rev. Pliny Fisk Barnard and others.
Sunday, June 28, A. M. Sermon Rev. James H. Babbitt. Communion Hymn, Rev. Perrin Batchelor Fisk.
Evening. Sermon by Rev. Stephen H. Robinson-The Forward Look.
Mr. Fisk was dismissed December 1, 1897, and in the following spring Rev. Samuel Noon, a graduate of Wesleyan University and Hartford Theological Seminary, became acting pastor. His service continued from May 1, 1898, to April 1, 1899, and he was succeeded on June 1, 1899, by Rev. William Ganley, a graduate of Bangor Theological Seminary, who remained until November 16, 1902. From January 1, 1903, to June 19, 1904, Rev. John R. Henderson, a graduate of Dart- mouth College, 1897, preached to this people, and since November 1, 1904, the present incumbent, Rev. William A. Remele, Middlebury College, 1876, and Yale Theological Seminary, has been acting pastor.
In 1886, a Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor was organized as a union society of the Congregational and Methodist churches, but in 1890, the latter withdrew to form an Epworth League. In 1890 a Junior Christian Endeavor society was organized.
From the late "fifties" a ladies' society existed in the church, and during the Civil War this organization, uniting with other women of the town, became a branch of the U. S. Christian Commission. In 1867 the old society was formally organized under the name of the "Home Circle," and it has indeed been most helpful in the work of the church. It has had charge of repairs upon the property, has supplied deficiencies in funds, has planned the social activities, and is auxiliary to the Home and Foreign Boards of Missions.
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ECCLESIASTICAL.
A list of the Deacons of the Congregational Church:
John Barnard-Dec. 28, 1801-Apr. 30, 1813. Moses Fisk-Dec. 28, 1801 -- Feb. 5, 1847. David Phelps-Dec. 4, 1813-1823. Jedediah Bushnell, July 31, 1825-Feb. 22, 1866. Ithamar Smith-Jan. 15, 1830-June 9, 1848. Isaac Hawley-Nov. 25, 1836-Dec. 22, 1848. Lyman Fisk-June 22, 1844-Dec. 14, 1884. David Martin Phelps-June 29, 1866-1869. .
Henry Newton Bushnell-June 29, 1866-
Edward Anson Fisk -- June 29, 1866-
George Myron Jones-Jan. 30, 1889-
John B. Thompson-Dec. 29, 1907-
124
CHAPTER XI.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY-METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY.
In 1793 John Langdon, of Vershire, Vt., becoming dis- satisfied with Calvinistic doctrine, was converted to Methodism, and through his influence the conference held at Thompson, Conn., in September, 1796, appointed a preacher for the Vershire Circuit, a somewhat indefinite area that included about twenty- five towns extending from the Connecticut River easterly to Montpelier. Preaching in this territory was for many years afforded only by itinerant preachers who covered widely scattered settlements and held their meetings in school-houses, dwellings or barns.
In 1804 the Barre Circuit was formed from a portion of the Vershire Circuit, and a class was organized in Waitsfield with preaching once in four or six weeks. Not for eighteen years was a Methodist Episcopal Society organized, and it requires no stretch of the imagination to picture the struggles of the faithful few to keep the lamp alight. Religious intolerance was still abroad in the land, and the new sect was viewed with strong disfavor by the orthodox church. There seems to be little evidence that this hostility was here carried to the extent that obtained in some towns, and it is clear that Methodism was not singled out from other irregular denominations of that day, but we have record of at least one instance where persistent "attendance at Methodist preaching" was held to be sufficient cause for excommunication.
The ice thawed gradually, however, so that in the early "twenties" we find the Congregational Society tendering to the new church occasional use of its own meeting-house, and in 1833 the Congregational Church voting to recommend its members to "the Church of Christ of the Methodist connection." One example of the gradual breaking down of prejudice may be of interest. Dr. Simeon Stoddard and his good wife, who lived in the Southwest District, several miles from the Common, were
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ECCLESIASTICAL.
unable to attend the services one Sunday. Their children went, however, and learning before their return that Elder. Wilder Mack was to preach that evening in their district, roguishly reported that there was to be a lecture at the school-house. Mrs. Stoddard, who, had she known the truth, would have shunned the heresy, attended with the children. Supposing that the preacher was of her own persuasion, she became in- tensely interested in the discourse, and when, upon their return, her eldest son asked, "Mother, what 'ism' do you call that, Congregationalism or Methodism, or what?" she replied: "I call it gospelism"-only to be told that she had been listening to the Methodist elder.
Until 1822 Waitsfield remained in the Barre Circuit, and its people were ministered to by the itinerant preachers on that ride. The names of these laborers in the field, so far as they can be gathered at this time, were:
1809-Warren Banister and George Gary. 1810-Eleazer Wells and Squire Streeter.
1811-Nathaniel W. Stearns and Joseph Jewett.
1812-Ebenezer F. Newell and Joseph Dennett.
1813-1814-David Kilbourn.
1815-1816-Joel Steele.
1817-18-Leonard Frost.
1819-Thomas C. Pierce.
1820-Squire B. Hascall and E. Dunham.
1821-Abraham Holloway.
During a portion of the time it would appear that Deacon Amasa Cowles worked in the town, as we find the following spread upon the town records under date of November 1, 1814:
Deacon Amasa Cowles' Credential:
"Know all men by these Presents, that I, William McKendree - Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, under the protection of Almighty God, and with a single eye to his glory, by the imposition of my hands and prayer, have this day set apart Amasa Cowles for the office of a Deacon in the said Methodist Episcopal Church; a man whom I judge to be well qualified for that work; and do hereby recommend him to all whom it may concern, as a proper person to administer the ordinance of Baptism, Marriage and the Burial of the Dead, in the absence of an Elder; and to feed the flock of Christ, so long as his spirit and practice are such as become the Gospel.
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HISTORY OF WAITSFIELD.
In Testimony Whereof I have hereunder set my hand and seal this fourth day of June, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fourteen.
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