USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Norwich > The Congregational heritage : 1770-1961 in Norwich, Vermont > Part 2
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Preparatory lectures were held regularly; members were received and transferred. Money was contributed to the Tract So- ciety; to the sailors; to foreign missions and home missions; and to the Bible Society to constitute the pastor as a life member.16
In 1851, a set of rules as to membership call for a standing committee of five mem- bers to act with the pastor in examining candidates for admission to the church. Names of the candidates were to be pro- pounded at least two weeks before admis- sion at the next communion service. Per- sons could be admitted by bringing letters from other churches and were given letters transferring to other evangelical churches. Such transfer should take place within a year of leaving Norwich.16
"On Tues. March 8th, (1853) the day of Town Meeting, pursuant to a notice to meet to see about repairing the meeting house and raising the minister's salary for. the next year, the Society met at 4 P.M.
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and voted that they could not raise the salary and it was necessary to have the pas- toral relation dissolved." Plans were made for calling an ecclesiastical council to dis- miss him.
The council convened at the Congrega- tional Meeting House, North parish, on March 23, 1853. Churches in Thetford, Hanover, Norwich Plain, West Hartford, White River Junction and Lyme were rep- resented. It was voted unanimously that the pastoral relation between Reverend Ed- ward B. Emerson and the church should be dissolved, that the church pay immediately the amount owed the pastor. The council regretted the circumstances that made this necessary; but hoped the members would "be united in efforts to build up the king- dom of Christ in this place." The council expressed confidence in the Reverend E. B. Emerson and recommended him to the church, "wherever the providence of God may lead him as a good minister of Jesus Christ."17
Letters of dismission were given to the members, most of them to the church at the Plain. The North Church Meeting House was sold to Messrs. Charles and Granville Slack, who took it down. Parts of it are in various places in town: a window in Sargent's barn at Lewiston, another in the barn on the farm formerly owned by
Helen and Scott Thomas, now owned by Charles Ladd. James Huntley (Charles Slack's grandson) has several pews and the weathervane in his barn.
There were precious associations at the North Church that made the change diffi- cult, as expressed in this excerpt from a letter written August sixth, 1854:18
"Dear Frank, It is the Sabbath day and I don't know but it is wrong for me to write today-but I fear that I shall not find a moment to sit down to write this week, as I did not last week.
"Eliza, Helen and I have been to meet- ing to the Plain. Oh, it seems so strange to go there, I am afraid I never shall be reconciled to it in this world. We shall feel more at home when we get seats of our own and not be dependent on other people for a seat. They will have it done in a few weeks more. Frank, you will never feel at home to go to meeting on the Plain, never in the world and you will mourn as we do that the Old House is left deserted and desolate-the place where we have always been accustomed to worship from childhood, and that burying ground where so many dear ones lie, will never be visited now except by the passing traveler; or by those who go to carry to their long last sleep -some dear one to lie beside the sleepers there."
1 A History of Norwich, Vermont by M. E. Goddard and Henry V. Partridge. 1905. pages 72, 76.
2 Land Records, Book 4, page 324.
3 Church Records, book 2. page 130.
4 South Religious Society Records, Book I, page 1.
5 Church Records, Book I, page 58.
6 A History of Norwich, Vermont by M. E. Goddard and H. V. Partridge. page 206.
7 Church Records, Book I, page 75.
8 Notes on Norwich, compiled by Samuel Goddard, 1838.
9 Church Records, book I, pages 98, 116.
10 A History of Norwich, Vermont, by Goddard & Partridge. 1950. page 157.
11 Church Records, Book I, page 116.
12 Ibid, Book II, page 1.
13 South Church Records, Dec. 1, 1854- printed in the Church Manual, 1875, page 10.
14 Church Records, Book II, page 12.
15 A History of Norwich, Vermont by God- dard & Partridge. 1905. page 207.
16 Church Records, Book II. pages 16-18.
17 Ibid, Book II, pages 24-26.
18 Charles Ladd's great aunt, Ellen Hutch- inson, to her sister Frances.
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THE CHURCH AT THE PLAIN and South Religious Society
BUILDING A MEETING HOUSE
WE, THE SUBSCRIBERS, being desirous to build a Meeting House on Norwich Plain, at or near the School House, do hereby agree to pay the several sums annexed to our names, into the hands of Pierce Burton and Jacob Burton, as a Committee appointed for the purpose of receiving all subscrip- tions for the Meeting House and the two above named Committee are hereby em- powered as soon as fifteen hundred dollars shall be subscribed to . . . erect, finish and complete said Meeting House in a hand- some Stile, according to the rules of good workmanship and their discretion. They are authorized to build said meeting house on a smaller scale than the one that was framed on Norwich Plain last season and to use their discretion as to the size pro- vided it is smaller than the one above al- luded to-the Meeting House to be built of wood and to be painted. It is understood that each subscriber shall own in the Meet- ing House the amount of his or her sub- scription.
Thomas Emerson (includ- $ 600.00
ing a Revere bell to be
delivered in Boston worth
three hundred Dollars
provided said Meeting House
is finished and completed in the year 1817.)
Joseph Emerson 300.00
Elihu Emerson
150.00
Elisha & J. B. C. Burton
200.00
Jacob Burton & J. Safford 200.00
George Riley 100.00
David Silver
75.00
Isaiah Silver
75.00
Pierce Burton & Son 200.00
John Emerson 150.00
Aaron Loveland
75.00
2125.001
DEDICATING THE MEETING HOUSE AT THE PLAIN NOVEMBER 20, 1817
THE MEETING HOUSE was begun about the fifth of May, 1817, and finished about the tenth of November, 1817. It stood on the Common, facing west, across Main Street from the house on the northwest corner of the intersection of Main and Elm Streets.
The Reverend James W. Woodward, pastor of the First Church at the Center, preached the dedicatory sermon, to the text I Kings 8:27: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth! behold, the heaven, the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house, that I have builded."
He said, in part:
"We are, for the first time, assembled in a house designed for the worship of God.
"The wood which was lately growing in the forest has yielded to human strength and has changed the verdure of nature for the embellishments of art, and the proportions, which it received immediately from God, for those devised by the in- genuity of man. How noble the design! How sublime the use of the materials, which are wrought into a place for the service of the most High!
". . . contemplate the immensity of the presence of God. The divine essence fills every place. God knows all things and the power of God is every where operative. .. .
"Consider the insufficiency of a house built on earth for the worship of God to contain Him."
Mr. Woodward regretted that two build- ings had been erected and he called upon his hearers to surrender their affections to God; to attend this nearby house of wor- ship; to let it be used in the interests of true religion and morality.
"A heart warmed with love to God, and
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man, is the only source from which a serv- ice can proceed acceptable to Him in whose presence we shall stand in the day of final judgment.
"You will be unspeakably blessed if after vour sins are cleansed in the Redeemer's blood, you are fitted to dwell in a house not made by hands, eternal in the heav- ens."1
ORGANIZING CHURCH AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETY
A MEETING of the proprietors was called for the sixteenth day of January, 1818, at one o'clock in the afternoon to act on the following:
1st. To choose a Moderator to govern said meeting;
2nd. To choose a clerk;
3rd. To hear the report of the Committee; 4th. To choose a committee to audit all ac- counts ;
5th. To give direction to the Committee to sell pews and give certificates to purchasers ; 6th. To give directions what shall be done with the pews that remain unsold ;
7th. To see if the Proprietors will make proposals to the First Religious Society in Norwich to have the Reverend James W. Woodward, present minister, to preach al- ternately at this and the other Meeting House, we paying our proportion of his salary;
8th. To give direction what way future meetings shall be warned, and to do any other business proper to be done when met. dated this 13th day of January, 1818.
Elisha Burton Elihu Emerson Thomas Emerson
Proprietors
also signed by Pierce Burton and Jacob Burton2
At the meeting held in response to the above call, Elisha Burton was chosen Mod- erator and Jacob Burton, Clerk. John Em- erson, Norman Cloud and Thomas Emer- son were chosen to audit accounts. It was voted that the committee have power to
sell pews and give certificates and they were directed to rent pews that remain unsold.
The Proprietors formed the South Re- ligious Society (January 16, 1818). Elisha Burton, Pierce Burton, Aaron Loveland, George West and Horace Hatch were chosen to draft a constitution. The by-laws and regulations were accepted, and are con- tained in the records, as are the officers and their duties.
Two record books were used, that of the South Religious Society containing records of business meetings, and the other the church activities, such as admission of mem- bers, and council meetings.
On the third Tuesday in June, 1819, the Orange Association met for the purpose of organizing "The South Church in Nor- wich."
Eleven persons presented themselves for examination:
Johnson Safford Eunice Hatch
Peter Pennock Sally Hatch
Phoebe Pennock Delight Hatch
Ruby Cloud Erepta Ensworth
Cynthia Emerson Eunice Temple
Clarissa Safford
"The above named persons having given in examination good evidence of experimental religion, were by us accordingly organized into a regular Church of Christ."3 By 1823, there were 47 members of South Church.
RUFUS W. BAILEY'S PASTORATE (1819-1823)
ON OCTOBER 19, 1819, it was voted "unanimously to apply to Rufus W. Bailey to supply the pulpit by settlement4 and on November 23, 1819 an Ecclesiastical Coun- cil met for his ordination examination. In spite of a letter from Israel Newton ob- jecting to his moral character, he was or- dained and duly consecrated to the work of the ministry in this place.3
Mr. Bailey had been a tutor at Dart- mouth College,5 and from the fall of 1820 to the spring of 1824, he was Chaplain and Professor of Ethics and Belles Lettres at Captain Alden Partridge's American Liter- ary, Scientific and Military Academy (later
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Norwich University),6 that had been built to the east of the church in 1819. The church asked him not to spend more than two hours a day in "classical instruction," and reduced his salary of five hundred dol- lars by one hundred dollars.4
In November, 1822, a committee con- sisting of Pierce Burton, George C. West, Alba Stimson, Thomas Emerson, and Dea- con Cyrus Partridge was appointed to find a way to settle the difficulties with the North Church. Their report suggested that those who had gone to the North Church should pay the tax for Mr. Woodward's salary until the date that Mr. Bailey was installed at the South Church. They also proposed an offer to pay the First Religious Society not less than $250.00 for the privi- lege of occupying the North Meeting House on public occasions and for free- men's meetings. The proposal for peace was rejected by the members at the North Church.
Mr. Bailey was dismissed at a council meeting on November 12, 1823. On April fourth, 1824 Deacon Hezekiah Goodrich was chosen a delegate to his installation as pastor of a church in Pittsfield, Massachu- setts,7 on April 15, 1824.
From November, 1823, to December, 1831, the pulpit was supplied by the Rev- erend James W. Woodward, the Reverend James Wheelock and the Reverend Doc- tor Roswell Shurtleff. In March, 1824, Mr. Woodward was engaged for one year, at $4.00 each Sabbath. Mr. Wheelock received a call, in December, 1825, to settle as min- ister to the South Congregational Church for one year,-to be paid $400.00 with the use of a house and wood for his fam- ily.8 He continued as minister during an- other year.
In 1826, the tension between members of the North and South Churches found expression in many communications and complaints. For example, Deacon Cyrus Partridge complained that Hezekiah Good- rich cheated Samuel Johnson out of part of the value of his farm; but this griev- ance was not supported by a majority of the church members. Deacon Partridge
wrote the church members that he felt his usefulness was at an end, because they con- tinued to admit Hezekiah Goodrich to communion, "and approved dancing schools." He "renounced" South Church and was admitted as a member at the North Church. The South Church voted to ex- communicate him; but begged him to re- consider and be restored to his duty.
On September 15th, 1826 the South Church voted that the North Church had been disorderly and in violation of Gospel rules in the following respects: 1. For re- ceiving Cyrus Partridge as member; 2. For withdrawing fellowship from South Church; 3. For manifesting a censorious and unchristian spirit in their communica- tions and for condemning a sister church for their proceedings in cases of discipline of their own members; Voted that a com- mittee meet with a committee of the North Church to set time and place and send out letters missive to call a mutual council to consider matters of grievance on both sides.9
The council met on October 31st, 1826, at the home of J. B. C. Burton, pastors and delegates coming from Berlin, Bradford and Windsor, Vermont; and Cornish, Hanover, Lebanon, Lyme, Orford and Dunbarton, New Hampshire. Some of their "specific recommendations" were as fol- lows: A church has a right to require its members to make confession of public of- fenses before the congregation; but ought not to make conflict between two churches. The member (of South Church) visiting dancing school and sending his children there merited reproof. Dancing, reveling parties and dancing schools are inconsistent with a Christian profession and injurious to the interest of religion. Deacon Part- ridge should not have been put out of office when nothing had been taken up with him; but, on the other hand, he was not compelled to partake of others sins and ought not to have renounced his covenant obligations. He should confess his fault be- fore the South Church so that he might be restored to good standing. The North Church had mistaken the path of duty in
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receiving Deacon Partridge, and had de- parted from the common usage of Congre- gational Churches in withdrawing fellow- ship from the South Church, without gain- ing advice from neighboring churches. "If other churches did as the North Church has done, it would be ruinous to the peace of Zion." Both churches have reason to be humbled before God and to make confes- sion to Him and to one another. "Now we beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."10
FELLOWSHIP RESTORED
THE SOUTH CHURCH unanimously ac- cepted the report of the council on No- vember fifth, 1826.11 Deacon Hezekiah Goodrich requested to be relieved of his duties because of the infirmities of his age and distance from church. He asked for- giveness for his misjudgment. On April 22nd, 1831, the North Church voted to accept the result of the council and to re- store South Church to fellowship. In May, 1831, Deacon Cyrus Partridge made a suitable confession and was restored to membership in good standing, in South Church.
The Reverend Thomas Hall was called to be pastor, and installed in December, 1831. His salary was to be $350.00 a year and the use of a house and outbuildings. He remained until November, 1834.
Again the Reverend Doctor Roswell Shurtleff of Dartmouth supplied the pulpit, for about six years.
GIFT OF COMMUNION SERVICE
THOSE WHO HAVE ATTENDED communion since 1948 are familiar with the silver cup that is placed on the table. It is part of the "communion furniture" given by Thomas Emerson on January 30th, 1835. "This may certify that I, Thomas Emer- son of Windsor, Vermont do present to the South Congregational Calvinistic Orth-
odox Church in Norwich, Vermont so long as that Church or a majority of said church remains strictly orthodox, two platters, six cups and one Berson (pitcher) all plated ware with silver." If members in South Church did not remain strictly orthodox, the "furniture" could be loaned to a "strictly orthodox" church until South Church became again orthodox and Calvin- istic. At a meeting on the twenty-ninth of September, 1854, it was voted to procure two plates and two cups to add to the communion furniture, which "shall com- pare as near as can be with those we have."
From 1840 to 1853 several other Dart- mouth professors supplied the pulpit: Charles B. Haddock, James D. Butler, Sher- man Kellogg, David Kimball, Noyes and Brown.
"In July 1853, the Reverend A. G. Pease was engaged to supply the pulpit, and was duly installed Pastor of the Church" on the second of January, 1855. In 1854, Mr. Pease, Deacon Morris, and Mr. Hazen were appointed to prepare articles of faith and covenant and such by-laws as they con- sidered proper for publication in pamphlet form. Four hundred copies of this pam- phlet were printed by the Dartmouth Press in January, 1855.
At the same church meeting, September 29, 1854, N. Boardman, H. Burton, H. Hutchinson and Mr. Pease were appointed "to recommend the posture most proper to exercise in prayer in the church." The congregation was told to rise during the singing of the hymns and sit during the prayers.
For health reasons, Mr. Pease was dis- missed April fifteenth, 1857, by the same council that examined and ordained his successor.12
Samuel W. Boardman Was unanimously called to be pastor January second, 1857 at $750.00 per year. At his ordination, April sixteenth, 1857, his brother, the Reverend George N. Boardman of Middlebury Col- lege preached the sermon. The first Young Men's Christian Association was formed under his leadership, in 1858. At the pre- paratory lecture held July first, 1859, the
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Vestry was full and on the following Sun- day thirty three persons were received as members. On July 24, 1859, he asked the congregation to remain after the church service, when he told them of his appoint- ment as a professor at Middlebury College, and requested a Council for dismission.13 He kept up his contacts with Norwich, and was remembered through the years for his earnest dedication to serve the church and its people.
The Reverend Austin Hazen was in- stalled March 28th, 1860. In accepting the call, he mentioned his inexperience and asked the people to pray for him and help him. Feeling unsuccessful, he asked for his dismission in a "blistering letter" and was dismissed on March 24, 1864.
The pulpit was supplied by "the Presi- dent and Professors of Dartmouth College" until June, 1865, when the Reverend Wil- liam Sewall was invited to supply the pul- pit. He was to receive a salary of $850.00 and twelve cords of wood. He was installed as pastor on September 27th, 1866. He tendered his resignation in February of 1873; but at a council meeting held to resolve the difficulties, he was persuaded to withdraw it, since "the causes of the diffi- culty were trivial and had been removed." The church members were exhorted to be "of a single mind." In 1875, the Manual that Mr. Sewall and Mr. J. G. Stimson had been drawing up was published. It con- tained, in addition to the Articles of Faith and Covenant as published in 1855 the "Standing Rules," an "Ecclesiastical Rec- ord" of the South Church and a catalogue of its members. Mr. Sewall left October 18, 1876.
The church was supplied from July, 1876 to January, 1880 by the Reverends G. F. Humphrey, Allen Hazen and others.
The Reverend Nathan R. Nichols was called to be pastor in February, 1880. He was a friend of all the people as he drove up and down the roads doing pastoral call- ing and cheering many with his friendly letters sent out for a special reason, such as the birth of a child or the loss of a mem- ber by death.
The first of two ordinations at the church during his ministry was held on September sixth, 1883. The Ecclesiastical Council or- dained George A. Dutton (son of Deacon John Dutton) to foreign missionary work in northern Mexico, where he died of small pox June sixth, 1885, having arrived there April eleventh, 1884. The second one, on June third, 1887, ordained Fred- eric L. Kingsbury, who had joined the church with his parents in 1869 (from Underhill, Vermont), as an evangelist. He served with his wife, (Luella Olds) as a missionary physician of the American Board in Bulgaria.
An indication of the extent of organized activities is found in the list of those re- porting at the annual meeting in 1888: Sunday School, Home Department, Ladies' Charitable Society, Auxiliary of Woman's Board of Missions and the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor.
On May 27, 1891, a meeting of the members of the South Religious Society was called to see if they would vote to transfer real and personal property to the Congre- gational Church in Norwich and to ap- point some person to act as agent. Every member present voted so to do, Mr. George Messenger being chosen to make the legal transfer.
A church meeting was called, April third, 1891, to vote by ballot for the incorpora- tion of the Congregational Church of Nor- wich, Vermont, under law 127 of the 1888 Acts of the legislature.
After a long and useful ministry, the Reverend and Mrs. Nathan R. Nichols were given letters to Sudbury, Vermont, in Au- gust, 1904.
The Reverend John P. Marvin was pas- tor from April, 1905, to September, 1906. His salary was $700.00 a year, to be paid each month, and the use of the parsonage.
The first of four Dartmouth College students, the Reverend Albert Gordon Heyhoe, was the minister during much of the planning for and remodeling of the church in 1907 and 1908. The students were graduates of Bangor Theological Seminary, spending two years at Dartmouth
16
for their college degree, and preaching at Norwich to support themselves and their families.
The second student, the Reverend Wil- liam C. H. Moe, preached his first sermon as pastor on the twenty-seventh of Sep- tember, 1908. The creed and covenant were revised with his help. At the annual meeting of the church on June fourth, 1909, the Committee on Trust Funds, and
the Music Committee were added to the church organization. The two resolutions
that had been adopted in 1854, concerning letters for transfer of membership, and temperance, were rescinded. Mr. Moe preached his farwell sermon as pastor on June 19th, 1910. We have had the privi- lege of hearing him several times since then.
The Reverend Newell Carroll Maynard preached for a few months in the fall of 1910.
The Reverend Frederick G. Chutter was the pastor from 1911 to June, 1914.
During the winter of 1914-1915, the pulpit was supplied by Professor Benjamin Marshall of Dartmouth College.
Another Dartmouth student, Herbert L. Searles, was the pastor from June, 1915, to March, 1917. He was ordained in Nor- wich by an Ecclesiastical Council called for that purpose on August 27th, 1915.
The Reverend Herbert Dixon was pas- tor from the second of September, 1917 to the twenty-eighth of August, 1921. He helped to plan for the one hundredth an- niversary of the building of the church, November twentieth, 1917.
During the winter of 1921-1922, Mr. E. Leslie Shaw, the fourth Dartmouth stu- dent who had attended Bangor Theologi- cal Seminary, preached. He was ordained at the church by an Ecclesiastical Council called for that purpose on the sixteenth of June, 1922.
The Reverend Everett S. Lyon was pas- tor from the third of September, 1922 to the thirteenth of July, 1924.
The Reverend Francis H. Phillipson, a former "itinerator" in Newfoundland, came here from Highgate Center, Vermont,
on November twenty-sixth, 1924. He re- signed to go to Newfane, Vermont, on the nineteenth of September, 1926.
The Reverend John O Paisley preached for the first time on the twenty-eighth of November, 1926, moved here from Mel- rose Highlands, Massachusetts, and served the parish from March, 1927 until Octo- ber, 1935. The present parsonage was built in 1930-1931.
The Reverend C. Arthur Hazen was our pastor from the fifteenth of December, 1935, until May first, 1940, when he re- signed to go to Swanton, Vermont.
The Reverend Harold K. Messner came from Fair Haven, Vermont, in September, 1940, and remained until April, 1948. In 1942, during his pastorate, the 125th an- niversary of the church was celebrated, with our former pastor, the Reverend William C. H. Moe the speaker for the occasion.
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