USA > Vermont > Chittenden County > Jericho > The history of Jericho, Vermont > Part 16
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The record further says it was "Voted that the Rev. Eben- "ezer Kingsbury have liberty to choose a pew for his family. "He came forward and chose the pew by the pulpit stairs and "proposed to give toward the building of the meeting house £45 "to be paid out of his salary."
I have not been able to find a record of the exact time when this first meeting house was built and completed, but suppose it must have been done in the years 1796 and 1797, as this sale of the pews from a plan of the house and before it was built, was made December 9, 1795, and it is recorded that the annual town meeting held March 8, 1798, was adjourned to the 20th of the same March to meet at 2 o'clock P. M. at the meeting house. Still it may not have been completed until a year or so later, as a town record made October 30, 1800, reads
"Opened a meeting of the proprietors of the meeting house. "Voted to sell the gallery pews. Voted to adjourn to the 25th "of Dec. next"-closing with an entry made by the then Town Clerk, Thos. D. Rood, as follows: "the remainder of the pro- "ceedings of the proprietors of the meeting house will be found "recorded in their clerk's office."
This book of proprietors' records I have not been able to find and never saw. Neither have I been able to learn that this meet- ing house was ever formally dedicated, as is the modern practice, and presume it never was, as it was always used both for church and town house, as long as it stood.
This first meeting house was built, both frame and finish, of the choicest pine. The frame timbers were very large and nu- merous, and the raising of it was a great event. Most of the people of the town were there, and many from adjoining towns ; three days were spent in the raising. There was an additional interest and curiosity, aside from that in the building. There were many who did not believe that a building, framed, much of it, in the woods where it grew, the parts of which had never been tried together, could ever be raised, as this was the first or among the first frames, laid out and framed by the square or mathemat- ical rules now in use-the framing and building up to about that time having been done by the old "cut and try," or scribe rule, as it was called. But it was successfully raised, only one small mistake being made.
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The framing was laid out by John Messenger, a son of Rod- erick Messenger,-the work of the building being under the direction of Capt. Abram Stevens of Essex. .
This meeting house was built with a square or four-sided roof, coming to a point in the center, without steeple or spire of any kind. There were two rows of windows, one above the other. The pews were square, with seats on the four sides except the pew door, or entrance, so that the occupants sat facing each other, forming a hollow square. The sides of the pews were high, but below the top moulding and rail was a row of turned spindles about 6 to 8 inches long; except for the open work framed by these spindles the children, unless pretty well grown, were out of sight when seated in them.
There was a row of these pews around the entire house next the wall, except the space for a wide door in the middle and for the gallery stairs in each corner of the south end, and a space for the pulpit opposite the door, in the north end. The door opened directly into the audience room, there being no vestibule or porch. There was a wide center aisle running from the door to the pul- pit, and two side aisles turning to the right and left from the front entrance, running around inside and next to the wall pews and meeting at the center aisle in front of the pulpit, and a double row of pews between the center aisle and the side aisles.
There was a wide gallery on three sides with a seat in front on the two sides, and two seats across the south end opposite the pulpit ; and between the aisle, back of these seats, and the wall on the three sides, was a row of pews like those below.
The pulpit was in the shape of a mortar, round, or nearly so in front, set up on a post, the bottom as high or higher than the tops of the pews, with not much spare room except for the min- ister. Suspended directly over the pulpit, by a small iron rod, was a sounding board, as it was called, made of thin boards, hol- low, like a huge bass viol, but round or nearly so, some four or five feet in diameter, the thickness in the center being about one- half the diameter, the top and bottom being oval: this was sup- posed by some principle or law of acoustics to aid in making the voice of the speaker audible at a greater distance.
This meeting house was never painted outside or inside; had no chimney, or any provisions for warming. Almost every fam-
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ily carried one or more small foot-stoves, which I presume all present have seen, getting the coals for warming them from the surrounding houses. I fancy in these modern times it would tax a Talmage to draw a congregation, and hold them through two services, to a church without furnace or fire-especially on some of our coldest winter days.
After stoves came into use one was put into the center aisle, the pipe going out through the roof. The difference in the tem- perature which this stove made was largely one of imagination.
An important personage in those days was the tithingman. A tithingman, as Webster defines it, is "A parish officer annually elected to preserve good order in the church during divine ser- vice, and to make complaint of any disorderly conduct, and en- force the observance of the Sabbath." They were elected by the town at their annual meeting, and in these early days discharged their duties most faithfully. The principal field of their labors during divine service was in those high backed pews in the gal- lery, where the youngsters, who were allowed to sit there, could hide out of sight. This officer, varying in number from one to four, continued to be elected until 1840, when the office was abolished.
The last public action of the town that had any reference to this first church building was at a town meeting held Jan. 27, 1836, from the records of which I copy as follows :
"Whereas the proprietors of the building heretofore denomin- "ated the old meeting house in Jericho have sold or transferred "their interest in the same and the said house is about being "taken down whereby the said town will be deprived of the usual "place of holding town and freemen's meetings, Therefore Re- "solved, &c." The old meeting house was taken down the May following-May, 1836.
The result of this town meeting was that at a meeting held September 5, 1837, the town completed arrangements with the proprietors of the new meeting house, whereby they secured the .right to occupy the basement room of the same for all political meetings by the payment of two hundred dollars, and which they have occupied ever since.
After the Academy was built, about 1825, the lower floor of which was finished for meetings and public worship, the Baptists
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having the first right to the use and occupancy of it, this Society having the second right, so that, from that time until a very re- cent period, this Society used it, more or less, as a vestry room for weekly and evening meetings, and also for services on the Sabbath for the few months between the taking down of the old meeting house, and the completion of the new one. This was always known and designated as the Conference room.
The first action towards providing for the building of the new or second meeting house was at a meeting of citizens called and held at the Conference room November 7, 1833, at which meeting preliminary steps were taken to form an association for that purpose, appoint a committee to draft a constitution, draw a plan, estimate the expense, &c. The committee appointed were David T. Stone, Nathaniel Blackman, Hosea Spaulding, Anson Field, Lemuel Blackman and Thomas D. Rood. This meeting was adjourned to November 28, 1833, at which time the following plan, substantially, was adopted, viz .: that shares of $25 each be subscribed for ; that said house shall be built of brick, and shall be for the use of the First Congregational Society of Jericho, and shall not be applied to any other purpose or use ex- cept by the votes of two-thirds of all the proprietors, each share of $25 having one vote, which mode of voting shall obtain in all transactions relating to said house. Also, that, when the house was finished, the whole cost should be apportioned upon the sev- eral slips or pews by a disinterested committee, and sold at public auction ; no bid on any slip or pew to be received under the ap- praisal of the same; each subscriber being obliged to take the amount of his stock in slips or pews.
The whole business of erecting and finishing said house to be managed by a Superintending Committee of three persons ap- pointed by the subscribers to the stock. Said committee not to proceed to act until $2,500 stock shall have been sold. Dr. Jamin Hamilton, Nathaniel Blackman and Hosea Spaulding were elected building committee.
The year 1834 was spent in procuring subscriptions for stock, deciding upon a location, making the brick, and generally getting ready. The building was erected in 1835, and finished in 1836. The whole cost of the house was $4,017.75, which was appor- tioned upon the slips by Wm. Rhodes of Richmond and Horace
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L. Nichols of Burlington, and they were sold October 6, 1836.
The house was finished at that time except painting inside. I copy the following from the church records, viz .: "January "25, 1837, at 10 o'clock A. M. the brick meeting house was ded- "icated to Almighty God for his worship. Sermon by Rev. Pres. "Wheeler of Vt. University." Signed E. W. Kellogg, Pastor.
The mason work on this church building was done by Reuben Rockwood, he making the brick for the same in the old brick yard below the now residence of George C. Bicknell.
The wood work, both framing and finish, was done by Jona- than Goodhue. The whole of the inside wood work was finished in panel and moulding, and all, as well as the sash and doors, were made by hand out of seasoned boards in the rough,-the planing, even, being done by hand. In these days, when almost everything is done by machinery, this would seem a formidable undertaking.
The change of this second meeting house to the present one is of so recent date that I presume the construction is generally remembered; but for preservation, a brief description, on this Centennial occasion, may not be amiss, especially of that part which has been removed or changed. It was built of brick, 44x64 feet outside, with solid walls 18 inches thick to the gal- leries and 12 inches above, thus forming a shoulder on which one end of the gallery timbers was laid. There was no inside frame or lath, the side walls being plastered on the brick. The chim- ney was built inside the rear wall. There were two rows of square windows, and a modest steeple for a bell; the bell was purchased with funds raised by subscription about the time of the completion of the church, the cost of it not being included in the sum apportioned on the slips, and was, I think, the first church bell in town. There were two front doors opening into a lobby ; at the corners of this lobby, to the right and left of the doors, were the stairs leading to the gallery. From the lobby were two doors nearly opposite the front ones, opening into the audience room; between these was the pulpit. From each of ' the doors an aisle ran straight to the rear wall. The seats were slips or long seats, such as are now in general use, of which there were sixty-two-three in each corner at the right and left of the pulpit set parallel with the aisles; a row of fourteen each set
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between the aisles and the side walls, running back to the rear wall, and facing the pulpit, and a double row of fourteen each between the aisles. There was a gallery on the two sides and the end opposite the pulpit, with a double row of seats around it.
The provision for warming was, at first, two large stoves set in the front end of the basement, enclosed in brick-a sort of hot air furnace-the best known in those days, but which proved a failure. Afterwards two stoves were placed above in the aisles near the entrance doors, but they never proved a suc- cess in warming the house.
In the month of April, 1877, the pew owners and members of this church and Society held a meeting at which it was de- cided to repair the brick meeting house, and the result was the appointing of Edgar H. Lane, Edwin W. Humphrey, and Martin V. Willard a committee to superintend and direct such repairs. A subscription was circulated to raise funds. By a provision of the Statute the slips of all non-resident owners, and of resident owners who did not favor or consent to the re- pairs, were appraised May 29, 1877, by Andrew Warner, Stephen Dow and Gordon Smith, a committee selected for that pur- pose, and the very few who did not relinquish their claim to or pay for the repairs on their seats were paid the appraisal.
The repairing was done between June, 1877, and February 20, 1878, at a cost of $4,900. The rededication of it was Feb- ruary 20, 1878; sermon by Rev. George B. Safford, then pastor of the College Street Church in Burlington, from Psalm 73, v. 25.
In making the repairs the entire wood work, including the doors, windows and window frames, between the timbers overhead and the timbers under the floor, was taken out, and the belfry, as it was called, and shingles from the roof. Noth- ing of the old church remained but the lower floor timbers, the overhead timbers and roof and the side walls, which were con- siderably torn out and filled in, in changing the style of the windows.
After the discussions and differences of opinions as to how and what should be built within the old walls left standing, usual in such cases, a condition of things, as we find in pur- suing this history that cannot be claimed as a modern discovery,
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the result of the repairs, or rather rebuilding, is before you. The further description of it I leave for the person who shall write upon Church Edifices here in 1991.
And now as we bring before us the beautiful, convenient and comfortable church edifices of today all over the land, and in imagination place them beside those of a century ago, I fancy the thought and feeling first and uppermost in the minds of all present is the same-not one of pride or boasting or superiority, but of deep, devout and sincere gratitude and thank- fulness to and veneration for those early pioneers, our ancestors, who, among their first acts, amid all their privations established the public worship of God, which made possible the churches of today.
As we look around and see on every hand, not alone that refined taste that leads us to make beautiful the places of our worship, but the numerous Christian Associations that throw around the young, wherever they are, the restraint and protec- tion of the Christian home,-the Sabbath School, a branch of worship training and fitting the young for more intelligent Chris- tian manhood and womanhood-the many and various organized charitable efforts to reach, help, lift up and save all of every grade and condition who need help, inspired by that unselfish love taught by Him who gave Himself for us-all these, and more, the growth and fruit of that early planting of the pub- lic worship-(and, for want of a better place, in some convenient house or barn)-of Him who was born in a manger, our emo- tions find fitting utterance in that doxology, more than two centuries old-
"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him, all creatures here below,
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."
HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
BY REV. AUSTIN HAZEN, OF RICHMOND.
DEUT. 32:7. Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
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We have come from our widely scattered homes today to obey this passage of Holy Scripture. As when the weary traveler gains the height of some o'erlooking hill, he turns back and sees all the way he has trod in climbing, so we stand today on an eminence, and look over the way this church has traveled for one hundred years. We remember the days of old, when it began its struggles in the wilderness. We consider the years of many generations, and mark its labors, its trials, its growth, its revivals. We ask the fathers, and they will shew us by what steps it advanced. We ask our elders, and they shall tell us how the vine of God's planting has been blessed with His care; what laborers the church has had, what sons and daughters she has trained for service here, or elsewhere-the records of the fathers, the teaching of the elders, will be found both in- teresting and instructive. Such a history is full of valuable lessons.
The Town of Jericho was chartered in 1763; in 1774 three families settled within its limits-two on Winooski river, and one on Brown's river. The early settlements were broken up by the Indians, and the Revolutionary war. In 1783 they began again, and increased rapidly. The first Christian man to settle in town was Dea. Azariah Rood. He bought a large tract of land on the western line of the town, and moved his family here from Lanesboro, Mass. With others, he had great trials during the war; was driven off by Indians, and lost his property. He was at the battle of Bennington as a helper, not a soldier, and was taken captive. After the war, in 1783, he came back to Jericho, and began life again on the frontier.
He was chosen first selectman at the first town meeting in 1786. In November of the same year he and Esq. Farns- worth were chosen a committee for the purpose of providing preaching for the ensuing season. March 20th, 1788, the town chose Dea. A. Rood and Esq. James Farnsworth a committee to hire a candidate, and voted to raise money to pay a candidate for preaching two months.
We are not told whether they succeeded, but September 28th, 1789, "a town tax was granted to pay Rev. Mr. Parmelee for preaching the past season, £6 5s. 10 pence." This was Rev- erend Reuben Parmelee, a graduate of Yale, afterward first
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pastor of the Congregational church in Hinesburgh; probably he would have settled here if the people had been ready. The first religious service I find record of was at the house of Mr. Lewis Chapin, 25th of May, 1789, a log house near the corner of the cemetery. "At a lecture preached by Rev. Nathan Per- kins of Hartford, Conn., were baptized by him Delana and Christiana, daughters of Capt. Benjamin Bartlett, and Hitty, daughter of Lewis Chapin." Mr. Perkins labored in many places in the State as a missionary from the Connecticut Mis- sionary Society, and five days before this had assisted in form- ing the church in Hinesburgh. It may be he hoped to form one here also, but did not find the people prepared.
March 15th, 1790, the town chose Dea. Rood, Noah Chit- tenden and Lewis Chapin a committee to hire a candidate to preach on probation, for settlement. They procured in a short time Ebenezer Kingsbury, who preached most of the season.
September 7th, 1790, the inhabitants of the town voted to give him a call to settle in the work of the ministry, and voted two hundred pounds lawful money settlement, including the first minister's right of land, and thirty-five pounds lawful money salary for the first year, and to rise with the list until it amounted to eighty pounds, which was to be the stated salary. March 31st, 1791, the church was formed by Rev. Reuben Parmelee, of Hinesburgh ; the members were Azariah Rood, Lewis Chapin, Dudley Stone, Reuben Lee, Lydia Rood, Lucy Lee, Esther Chapin, Rachel Stone, Phebe Lee. Where it was formed is not now known. Vermont was on the 4th of that very month admitted to the Union. Thomas Chittenden was Governor, George Washington was President.
The church in Hinesburgh, formed nearly two years be- fore, was the only one in all northern Vermont, of any kind. There were then over forty Congregational churches in the State, and about thirty-five Baptist churches, mostly confined to the southern counties. There was no Methodist church or class in the Vermont Conference until five years later, at Vershire, one was organized. In what is now comprised in the eight northern counties there was then no church of any denomination except the solitary one in Hinesburgh, and that had no meeting house till many years after this.
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June 22d, 1791, the church voted to give Mr. Ebenezer Kingsbury a call to settle with us in the gospel ministry. The Council met and ordained him the same day. It was composed of Rev. David Collins of Lanesboro, Mass., whence Dea. Rood and others had come, Rev. John Barnet of Middlebury, Rev. Reuben Parmelee of Hinesburgh, Rev. Chauncey Lee of Sunder- land, and lay delegates. Mr. Lee preached the sermon, Mr. Collins made the consecrating prayer and gave the charge. No record shows where this ordination took place, but I have been told it was in Mr. Messenger's barn, on Winooski river, near where Hosea Wright now lives. November 14th, 1791, the town "Voted that Mr. Messenger be allowed three pounds lawful money for providing for the Ordaining Council last June."
There were at this time 381 people in town ; other towns had none. Two years later Congress established nine post offices in Vermont, one of which was at Burlington. It was no small ef- fort for a new town, thus isolated and thinly settled, to settle and support a pastor. April 16th, 1792, the town voted to meet in Lewis Chapin's barn for worship. March 4th, 1793, voted to meet for public worship at Elon Lee's in cold weather, and in William Smith's barn in warm weather, for one year from this date. Elon Lee's was where Oliver Brown now lives, and William Smith's barn was one now owned by Gordon Smith, and not long ago repaired by him. October 2d, 1794, in town meeting voted to build a meeting house. They could not agree where to set it until they chose a committee, who were to be legalized by the County Court, who set the stake, and it was agreed to ; got a plan of the house, and sold the pews at vendue 9th December, 1795. It was a large, square structure, of choice pine lumber, placed in the center of a common of four acres. It was one of the first public buildings in all the region; in it large congregations worshipped for forty years. It was cold; for a long time it had no fires in it; when it was proposed to put in stoves one woman opposing said, "If their hearts were only right their bodies would be warm enough." Dea. Rood was the first deacon.
September 11th, 1801, Thomas Rood, son of Azariah, and Reuben Lee were chosen deacons. May 17th, 1808, Mr. Kings- bury was dismissed for want of proper support. He was born in
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North Coventry, Conn .; graduated at Yale in 1783. He was a man of influence among the ministers of the State in those early days. He was chosen by the General Convention in 1805 to preach the annual sermon at the Commencement of Middlebury College. He built the house where G. C. Bicknell now lives, on land given by Mr. Chapin; his lot from the town was on the opposite side of the road, extending to the road east.
The church grew to over fifty members during his ministry- the longest, with one exception, it has ever had. His wife Mary, died in 1792, and was buried here. His second wife, Hannah, . was very useful in the parish. August 4th, 1810, he was installed over a Congregational Church in Harford, Penn., and dismissed September 19th, 1827. He died there March 22d, 1842, at a good old age.
The first Society for the support of preaching was formed in October, 1808. December 20th they met at Moses Billings' Inn, and "Voted to give Mr. Denison a call, and for his encourage- ment to give him annually $400, to be annually paid by January 1st in good merchantable grain, pork, or beef cattle, to be fully paid on or before the first of March, or delinquents to be holden to pay money without further delay."
February 9th, 1809, the church voted to give Mr. John Denison a call to settle with us and take the pastoral charge of the church; he was ordained March 1st; the Council met at the house of Lewis Chapin; Rev. Lemuel Haynes, the colored pastor of West Rutland, was Moderator, and offered the consecrating prayer ; Rev. Holland Weeks preached; Rev. Simeon Parmelee, ordained at Westford the year before, gave the right hand of fellowship. It being not always easy to raise the full salary they voted at one time "to accept Mr. Denison's proposal to mission- ate thirteen weeks and deduct fifty dollars from his salary."
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