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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 https://archive.org/details/worcesterchurcheOOstev 
 
New Old South C'liurch 
 
Worcester Churches 
 
 1719 
 
 1889 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES EMERY STEVENS 
 
 -TruAo? xdi kdpai(i)[jLa rrjg aXi^Osta^ 
 
 WiovttnUv 
 
 Lucius Paulinus Goddard 
 
 M DCCC XC 
 
t 5 tWS 
 
 O’NBIl LIBRARY 
 BOSTON college 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The substance of this volume was first printed as a chapter in the History of 
 Worcester County recently issued ; and this will sufficiently account for the cast of 
 the opening paragraph. When that voluminous work came out, it was found to 
 contain some annoying errors, and this portion did not escape. Partly to correct 
 those errors, partly to embrace new churches, partly to record changes in the 
 old, but chiefly to preserve the results of much labor in a more satisfactory form, 
 this volume is now issued. 
 
 The long note touching the date of the First Church is new, and was framed 
 after much correspondence and exhaustive research thereto relating. Without 
 predilection, but compelled by the evidence, I came to the conclusion which it 
 enforces ; and I have confidence that it will conduct my reader also to the same 
 conclusion. 
 
 The broad margin of the page invites annotations. Some possessor of the 
 book by filling such handy spaces with contemporary records of pertinent events 
 would do a service to posterity at little cost. The historian of the future would 
 greatly prize such authentic work. 
 
 The pictures illustrate some of the earlier, but chiefly the more recent church 
 architecture of the city. They are sun-portraits absolutely faithful to every stone 
 and cranny and ornament of the originals. Some of them exhibit the costliest, 
 and some the least costly edifices ; taken together they fairly represent what Ls 
 visible of Worcester Churches. 
 
 The Appendix contains the two Ancient Covenants which the First and Second 
 Churches respectively set up in the last century as the monuments of their Faith. 
 I had no doubt that they ought to have a conspicuous place in the book. 
 
 A partial list of my authorities will be found at the end of the history. 
 
 C. E. S. 
 
 Worcb:ster, Massachusetts : 
 January, 1890. 
 
100 copies only of which this is 
 
 No. y/ 
 
 Clfi 
 
Worcester Churches. 
 
 HISTORY of any New England town without an 
 
 ecclesiastical chapter would surely be like the 
 play of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet left out. For 
 a city of eighty thousand inhabitants, with nearly sixty 
 churches and seventeen denominations and a history 
 ; covering two centuries, such a chapter ought of right 
 ! to occupy a large space. But this the plan of the 
 present work altogether forbids. Only a very con- 
 I densed outline of what might well fill a volume can 
 here be given. It must needs be a somewhat bald 
 narration. Outline sketches admit of neither shading 
 nor color. Under such limitations this writing must 
 proceed. 
 
 At the outset two methods of treatment presented 
 themselves. One was the chronological method ; the 
 other was the topical. By the latter method all that is 
 to be said of one denomination would be presented by 
 itself ; the topic would be exhausted before another 
 was touched. Beginning with the Trinitarian Congre- 
 gationalists, for example, we should treat of all the 
 churches of that order before proceeding with the 
 next. And although the other method may have its 
 
6 
 
 WOJ^CESTER 
 
 advantages, and indeed, has been adopted by some 
 writers, this, on the v/hole, seemed to be the preferable 
 method. It has this important advantage, that the 
 origin and growth of each denomination can be viewed 
 consecutively and apart from others. Accordingly, 
 this method will be pursued in the present history. 
 Without further preface, I begin with the 
 
 Trinitarian Congregationalists. 
 
 First or Old South Church. — The first perma- 
 I nent settlement in Worcester began on the 21st of 
 October, 1713. Nearly fifty years before, steps had 
 I been taken towards this end and temporary settlements 
 had been begun ; but before foot was set upon the soil 
 a provision was made “ that a good minister of God’s 
 word be placed there.” This provision was first 
 realized in the }^ear 1719, when the Rev. Andrew 
 j Gardner was ordained as the first minister of the 
 gospel settled in Worcester. Before this, however, the 
 people had been wont to assemble regularly for public 
 worship in their dwelling-houses, and notably in that 
 
 I 
 
 of Gershom Rice, who was the first to open his house 
 I for the purpose. Soon the dwelling-house became too 
 strait, and in 1717 a small' meeting-house of logs was 
 built. It stood at the corner of Franklin and Green 
 streets, just southeast of the Common. This served 
 its purpose until 1719, when a more spacious edifice 
 was erected on the site thenceforward occupied by the 
 Old South for one hundred and sixty-eight years. 
 A church was now constituted, with Daniel Haywood 
 and Nathaniel Moore for its first deacons. The pre- 
 cise date of this important beginning is not known, but 
 all probabilities point to the year 1719. This, then. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 7 
 
 seems to have been the year when the meeting-house 
 was built, the church organized, and the first minister 
 settled. ^ 
 
 The ministry of Mr. Gardner was not a happy one. 
 He v/as addicted to deer-hunting and practical jokes, 
 and, naturally, was accused of remissness in the dis- 
 charge of his duties. His people on their part neglected 
 to pay his small stipend of perhaps ^40, and also the 
 “ gratuity ” of ;^6o, which they had voted to give him. 
 Dissatisfaction increased ; some left his preaching. 
 
 1 In the year 1889 a stone tablet was erected in the porch of the 
 new Old South bearing an inscription to the effect that the First 
 Church was organized in “1716.” The printed manual of the 
 church for the year 1886 sets forth that the organization was in 
 “1715.” A venerable deacon of the church who had long been 
 its clerk expressed to me his conviction that it was in 1717. So 
 marked a discrepancy within the church itself justifies an attempt 
 to clear up the uncertainty. 
 
 The church itself has no official contemporaneous or other 
 record of its organization. There is no evidence that there ever 
 was any. If there ever was, it was probably made by the first 
 minister, according to usage, and carried away by him when he 
 was shortly dismissed after a bitter controversy. Nor have such 
 churches older than itself, as those of Lancaster, Marlborough, 
 Framingham and the Old South at Boston any record — churches 
 which might have been called in council to assist and so have 
 record of their “messengers” to the Worcester church. Evidence 
 of another sort and from other sources must be relied on. Of 
 this secondary kind much that is not only weighty but satisfactory 
 is accessible. None of it, however, favors the above three dates. 
 Careful research fails to disclose the least evidence for either. 
 On the other hand, all the evidence points to the year 1719. 
 
 I. In the year 1793 known History of the County of 
 
 Worcester, by the Rev. Peter Whitney of Northborough, was 
 published by Isaiah Thomas. Writing of Worcester this author 
 says (p. 30) : “In 1719 the first meeting-house was erected and 
 here [in this meeting-house] a church was gathered and the Rev. 
 Andrew Gardner, the first minister, was ordained in the autumn 
 of the same year 1719, but the montja and day cannot be ascer- 
 tained.” To assist in weighing the value of this testimony these 
 things are to be noted: (i) The author was a clergyman having 
 
8 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 The General Court having been appealed to in vain, an 
 ecclesiastical council was at length convened, in Sep- 
 tember, 1721, to take the matter in hand. After long 
 delay by the council, on the 31st of October, 1722, Mr. 
 Gardner was dismissed from his charge. It is said his 
 errors were more of the head than of the heart. He 
 was generous, sometimes without regard to consequen- 
 ces. This instance has been preserved : “ A poor 
 parishioner having solicited aid in circumstances of 
 distress, Mr. Gardner gave away his only pair of shoes 
 for his relief ; and, as this was done on Saturday, 
 
 a character to maintain. (2) He was writing about a church but 
 a few miles away. (3) He claimed to have used the greatest 
 care, especially about dates. In his preface he says : “ The great- 
 est care and pains have been taken to ascertain exact dates when 
 it was possible. Plence towns and churches [and so the Worcester 
 church] may know their respective ages if at any time their 
 record should be unhappily destroyed. The dates are all inserted 
 according to their originals.” (4) In conformity with this claim 
 he is scrupulously careful about the date of the Worcester 
 church. He gives the year and season of the year, but “ the 
 month and day,” he says, “cannot be ascertained.” The unavoid- 
 able inference is, that as he does not give the month and day 
 because he could not ascertain them, so he does give the year and 
 season because he had ascertained them. (5) As the manuscript 
 of the History was sold to Thomas and by him printed, this 
 statement must needs have passed under his eye ; and thus it 
 must be taken as having the sanction also of that expert antiqua- 
 rian and adept in Worcester history. (6) A copy of the History 
 with numerous additions and corrections in the handwriting of 
 Whitney is preserved in the Library of the Antiquarian Society 
 at Worcester. But this statement about the Worcester church 
 is left unchanged, and so must now be taken as having had the 
 author’s careful and final revision. (7) Whitney was for many 
 years a contemporary of Nathaniel Moore, son of one of the first 
 two deacons who helped to organize the church. This son came 
 to Worcester with his father in 1715, was his contemporary for 
 j forty-six years, was living in 1793 when the History was published, 
 
 I and did not die till eighteen years after. Here was a most com- 
 I petent witness whose life covered the whole period from the 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 9 
 
 appeared the next day in his stockings at the desk to 
 perform the morning service, and in the evening officia- 
 ted in borrowed slippers a world too wide for his 
 slender members.” Mr. Gardner was a native of 
 Brookline and a graduate of Harvard in the class of 
 1712. It was thought worthy of mention that, in con- 
 formity with the custom of the time, his name was 
 placed last in the roll of his class, as indicating the 
 relative social position of his parents. For the same 
 reason Abraham Lincoln’s name would have stood at 
 
 Ma7'ginalia 
 
 organization of the church to the publication of the History. 
 From him Whitney could have known the certainty of the things 
 whereof he wrote, and if he had written what needed correction, 
 Moore was alive to correct him. 
 
 Leaving Whitney we turn to the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D. D. 
 In January 1811, Dr. Bancroft preached a sermon which he after- 
 wards printed with an appendix entitled, “ Facts relating to the 
 town of Worcester.” One of the “facts” is set forth in these 
 words: “The first meeting-house was erected in 1719; and in the 
 autumn of this year a Church was formed and the Rev. Andrew 
 Gardner was ordained the first Minister of the town.” Dr. Ban- 
 croft had been a citizen of Worcester for more than a quarter of 
 a century when he wrote this. For the same length of time he 
 had also been a contemporary of the venerable Mr. Moore, whose 
 death indeed occurred in the same year 1811, but not until some 
 six months after the preaching of the sermon. It was the proper 
 business of Dr. Bancroft as an ecclesiastic to know the truth 
 about the ecclesiastical history of his own town, and here was a 
 living witness from whom he might certainly have learned the 
 truth. And, indeed, there is the best reason for believing that the 
 patriarch was consulted by him and gave him the “facts,” for he 
 says, “ N. Moore is yet living, aged 95.” 
 
 II. The “ Proprietors’ Records ” corroborate the position that 
 1719 is the true date. One of the first two deacons of the church 
 was Daniel Haywood. His name appears in the Records six times 
 prior to 1720 — once in 1714, twice in 1716, once in 1718 and twice 
 in 1719: the last time in 1719 was under date of May 18. In no 
 one of these six instances is the title “ Deacon ” prefixed to his 
 name. In February 1720 his name appears for the first time as 
 “ Deacon Daniel Haywood ; ” and twice afterwards in that year 
 he is styled “ Deacon.” Now, bearing in mind the statements of 
 
10 
 
 WOI^CESTEI^ 
 
 the foot of his class had he been college bred. The 
 subsequent history of Mr. Gardner did not improve his 
 reputation. Installed as the first minister of Lunen- 
 burg in 1728, and dismissed in 1731 “because he was 
 unworthy,” he retired to a town in the Connecticut 
 Valley and there died at an advanced age. After a 
 period of preaching without settlement by the Rev. 
 Shear] ashub Bourne, the Rev. .Thomas White and 
 others, on the tenth of February 1725 a call was given 
 to the Rev. Isaac Burr, and on the 13th of October 
 following he was ordained as the second minister. A 
 long and quiet ministry followed. His relations with 
 the people were cordial, and the latter were forward 
 and generous in his support. When the paper money 
 of the period became depreciated they took care that 
 his salary should not suffer. During his ministry a 
 memorable event was the arrival in Worcester, October 
 14, 1740, of George Whiteheld accompanied by Gov. 
 Belcher. On the next day the famous evangelist 
 
 Whitney and Bancroft that the church was formed in the autumn 
 of 1719, we see the corroborative force of these Records. In May 
 1719, he was not styled “Deacon” because, the church not having 
 then been organized, he had not then been made its deacon. In 
 February 1720, he was styled “ Deacon ” because by the organi- 
 zation of the church in the previous autumn he had been made 
 such. In those days the usage of giving a person his title in 
 formal records, whether civil, military or ecclesiastical, was scru- 
 pulously observed. If Haywood had been entitled to be styled 
 Deacon prior to the autumn of 1719, there is every reason to 
 believe that he would have been. The case is strengthened by 
 the fact that the Records treat the other deacon, Nathaniel Moore, 
 in the same way. He is never styled deacon before 1719; after 
 that year he is so styled. 
 
 III. The old time custom of organizing the church and ordain- 
 ing its first minister at the same time points to 1719 as the true 
 date. Says the Rev. Joseph G. Clark, D. D., in his Historical 
 Sketch of Congregational Churches in Massachusetts : “ Thirty- 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 1 1 
 
 “ preached on the Common to some thousands,” as 
 he wrote in his diary. Nothing appears to show that 
 this visit was otherwise than welcome to Mr. Burr. 
 And yet, the forces then set in motion had their 
 ultimate issue in his dismission. It seems the R,ev. 
 David Hall, of Sutton, “ a follower of Whitefield,” 
 found Mr. Burr too backward in the new Whitefield 
 movement. Though he preached repeatedly “ in 
 private houses ” in Worcester with Mr. Burr’s consent, 
 yet he was moved to write down in his diary that the 
 latter “ seemed not well pleased.” At length Mr. Burr 
 refused his consent to further preaching by his Sutton 
 brother, vdiereupon the latter was led to record his 
 fear that the Worcester minister was “ too much a 
 stranger to the power of godliness.” In truth, a 
 Whitefield party had been formed in Worcester, and 
 Mr. Burr was found not to be of the number. 
 Alienation naturally arose, and the growing trouble 
 impaired his health. So, in about four years after 
 
 eight churches were gathered in Massachusetts from 1710 to 1720, 
 and so common had the custom grown of blending into one 
 transaction the organization of a church and the settlement of a 
 pastor over it, that when we have no record of the former we 
 may safely assume for its date the authentic record of the latter.” 
 This was true of the churches in Lancaster, Marlborough and 
 Framingham, for example. In each the minister was employed 
 for a length of time before settlement ; then the settlement took 
 place and at the same time the church was “ gathered.” And 
 such was the case with the Worcester church says Dr. Clark ; and 
 he too fixes the year as 1719. On all hands it is agreed that the 
 first minister, Andrew Gardner, was settled in that year. This 
 ascertained date of the settlement, coupled with the custom set 
 forth by Dr. Clark, ascertains the date for the church also. 
 
 In view of the foregoing evidence, it is safe to rest in the con- 
 clusion, as one never likely to be disturbed, that the organization 
 of the First Church of Worcester was effected in the autumn of 
 the year 1719. 
 
12 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Whitefield’s advent, a mutual council was convened, 
 and under its advice Mr. Burr was dismissed in March 
 
 1745. Lincoln (“ History of Worcester,” p. 146) says 
 that he was the son of the Hon. Peter Burr, the father 
 of President Burr, of Princeton College, and conse- 
 quently grandfather of Aaron Burr, Vice-President of 
 the United States. But this is an error. It appears 
 from evidence in the probate office at Hartford, Conn., 
 that he was the son of Thomas Burr, of that city, and 
 therefore not of the Aaron Burr lineage. He was born 
 in 1698, and graduated at Yale in 1717. His death 
 occurred at Windsor, about 1751. No portraiture of 
 his person or mind survives ; no characteristic anec- 
 dote is of record, and nothing testifies of his ministry 
 save its continuance for a fifth of a century in a 
 generally peaceful way. The town next made choice 
 of Nathaniel Gardner, a graduate of Harvard in 1739 ; 
 he, however, declined the call. Nearly two years 
 elapsed before the settlement of the next minister. In 
 this interval a covenant^ was adopted September 22, 
 
 1746, and subscribed by fifty members of the church. 
 Doubtless there was a covenant of some sort when the 
 church was first organized, but what it was, and how 
 it compared with this new one, we have no means of 
 knowing. If it was a “ half-way covenant ” after the 
 fashion of that day, it must have differed materially 
 from this one of 1746. 
 
 After Mr. Gardner many candidates were heard ; 
 but at last the choice lay between the Rev. Thaddeus 
 Maccarty of Boston, and the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew 
 of Martha’s Vineyard. Each was to preach four 
 
 1 See Appendix A. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 Sabbaths in succession, and on the Sabbath before the 
 day of election both were to preach. After this 
 competitive trial the choice by a very large majority 
 fell on Mr. Maccarty, and Worcester missed the 
 chance of having the famous divine of the Revolution 
 among the number of its ministers. Mr. Maccarty 
 was installed on the loth of June 1747. The sermon 
 on the occasion was preached by himself, for which 
 unusual step he offered ingenious reasons in the 
 introduction. Besides the pecuniary provision for his 
 support, a house with about two acres of land on the 
 Common southeast from the meeting-house was pur- 
 chased for a parsonage. In 1765 this property was 
 conveyed in fee to Mr. Maccarty by the town. Nearly 
 fifty years after, in a suit by the Rev. Samuel Austin, 
 D. D., in behalf of the parish, the property was 
 recovered back from the tenant claiming under a 
 conveyance by the executors of the deceased minister. 
 The estate, however, was afterwards relinquished by 
 the parish. The ministry of Mr. Maccarty continued 
 for thirty-seven years. In the course of it occurred 
 the Revolutionary War, bringing severe trials ; and 
 at the close protracted sickness kept him out of 
 the pulpit. He lived greatly respected and died 
 deeply lamented on the 20th of July 1784, at the age 
 of sixty-three years. His ministry was the longest of 
 all which the First Church enjoyed during the first one 
 hundred and seventy years. Mr. Maccarty was tall, 
 slender and thin, with a black, penetrating eye, which 
 added to his effectiveness in speaking.^ “ As a 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 1 A faint likeness of him survives on a poorly-painted canvas in 
 the possession of Mrs. Mary P. Dunn, one of his lineal descend- 
 ents. His remains were buried in the cemetery then on the I 
 
 3 
 
14 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 preacher he was solemn, loud, searching and rousing,” 
 said a contemporary clerical brother. President John 
 Adams, in his early years a resident of Worcester, 
 wrote to Dr. Bancroft that “ Mr. Maccarty, though a 
 Calvinist, was no bigot.” In the course of his minis- 
 try, Mr. Maccarty published eight occasional sermons ; 
 several others may be found in Doctor Smalley’s 
 “ Worcester Pulpit.” From these posterity may judge 
 something of his doctrine, which was sound, and 
 something of his style, which was not classical. Dur- 
 ing his sickness and after his decease a young man 
 appeared in his pulpit whose preaching was destined 
 to be the occasion, if not the cause, of a lasting 
 division in the First Parish. Of this an account will 
 be given under another head. During the controversy 
 which arose, no minister was called; then, in 1786, 
 the Rev. Daniel Story was called, accepted the call and 
 went on preaching, without being ordained, for about 
 two years, when the call was re-called. It had been 
 discovered, that he, too, entertained Arminian senti- 
 ments. Having thus received his conge in Worcester, 
 Mr. Story went into Ohio as chaplain of the company 
 which founded Marietta, the centennial of which was 
 celebrated in 1888, a distinguished citizen of Worcester 
 (Senator Hoar) having a leading part therein. Mr. 
 
 Common, at a spot just south of and very near the Soldiers’ 
 Monument. In 1848 all the gravestones in the cemetery were 
 laid flat, each over its respective grave, and buried beneath the 
 turf, and Mr. Maccarty’s among the rest. A description of the 
 emblems on his headstone, together with its inscriptions, is given 
 in Barton’s “Epitaphs.” The inscriptions were copied upon a 
 mural tablet erected in the Old South by Dwight Foster (brother 
 of Mrs. Dunn), late a justice of the Supreme Court of Massachu- 
 setts. The tablet now has an appropriate place upon the wall of 
 the New Old South. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 15 
 
 Story was an uncle of Joseph Story, the eminent 
 justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 He was born in Boston on the 29th of July 1756, was a 
 graduate of Dartmouth in the class of 1780 and died 
 at Marietta in 1804. 
 
 The settlement of the next minister, Dr. Austin, in 
 the last decade of the century, wa - the beginning of a 
 new order of things. Before proceeding with its 
 history let us look at the way of public worship in the 
 First Church during the period then closing. As 
 elsewhere, the principal parts of the service were 
 praying and preaching ; singing and reading the 
 Scripture lesson were subordinate ; and, indeed, this 
 last did not become a part of the service until near the 
 middle of the century. Under date of September 3, 
 1749, the church record recites that the “laudable 
 custom was very unanimously come into by the church 
 at one of their meetings sometime before.” In this 
 matter the Worcester church was not behind others, 
 since the custom “ was not introduced into New 
 England ” until that period. Singing had been a part 
 of the service from the beginning. At first it was 
 congregational, primitive and rude. The minister read 
 the first line of a psalm and the congregation sang it. 
 Then the eldest deacon “ lined ” the rest, and “ singing 
 and reading went on alternately.” There was neither 
 chorister nor choir nor set tune, but each one sang to 
 please himself. This was the “usual way,” so called. 
 In 1726 an attempt was made to substitute the “ruleable 
 way.” A vote of the town was passed to that effect, 
 but the deacons resisted, and the “ usual way ” still 
 prevailed. The un melodious custom was too strongly 
 entrenched. Forty-three years went by and a genera- 
 
i6 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 tion had died off before another attempt to change it 
 was made. Then, in May 1769, came a modest propo- 
 sition to invite “ a qualified individual ” to lead. A 
 bolder stroke followed in March 1770, when three men 
 were designated by name “ to sit in the elders’ seat 
 and lead,” and by a unaminous vote a fourth was 
 chosen to “ assist.” Here was our modern quartette, 
 so far as the old-time sense of propriety would allow. 
 The next step was taken in 1773 by providing seats 
 exclusively for the singers. Six years after, on the 5th 
 of August 1779, the town struck the final blow by 
 adopting these votes : That the singers sit in the front 
 seats of the front gallery ; that they be requested to 
 take said seats and carry on the singing ; and that the 
 psalm be not “lined.” Nevertheless, on the next 
 Sabbath the venerable eldest deacon rose and be°:an to 
 “line” the psalm. The singers, from their new 
 “coign of vantage,” began to sing; the deacon raised 
 his voice, the singers raised theirs ; it was an unequal 
 strife, and the deacon “ retired from the meeting-house 
 in tears.” This was the end of the “ usual way ” of 
 singing in Worcester. From that time onward the 
 ruleable way prevailed without opposition. 
 
 The first book in use was the “ Bay Psalm Book,” ^ 
 as improved by President Dunster, of Harvard College. 
 
 1 This most famous and rarest of books was the first one ever 
 printed in America. Its true, whole and only title was, “ The 
 whole booke of psalmes faithfully translated into English Metre, 
 Whereunto is prefixed a discourse declaring not only the lawful- 
 nes, but also the necessity of the heavenly Ordinances of singing 
 Scripture Psalms in the Churches of God. Imprinted 1640.” In 
 1636 there were, says Dr. Thomas Prince, “ near thirty ministers ” 
 in New England who had been educated in the English universi- 
 ties. These divines selected out of their number “ the Rev. Mr. 
 Richard Mather, the Rev. Mr. Thomas Weld and the Rev. Mr. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 17 
 
 This held the ground until 1761, and was then dis- 
 placed by the version of Tate and Brady, “ with an 
 Appendix of Scriptural Plymns by Dr. Watts.” The 
 exact date when this book came into use was on the 
 29th of November in that year. It continued in use 
 until the settlement of Dr. Austin, and then, on the 
 20th of January 1790, gave way to “Watts’ Psalms 
 and Hymns and Spiritual Songs.” The version of 
 Sternhold and Hopkins was never used in the church 
 in this town,” says Lincoln.’ This version was the one 
 in use under royal authority by the Church of England, 
 and was bound up with its “ Book of Common Prayer.” 
 Perhaps it was because of this that the New England 
 churches chose to have a “ Psalm Book” of their own — 
 a book free from all complicity with an established 
 church. 
 
 To illustrate the several versions and furnish a means 
 of comparison the first verse of the first psalm from 
 each is subjoined. 
 
 From the Bay Psalm-Book of 1640. 
 
 O Blessed man that in th’ advice 
 of wicked doth not walk : 
 nor stand in sinners way, nor sit 
 in chayre of scornfull folk. 
 
 John Eliot,” to prepare a new version of the Psalms for the use 
 of the New England churches. The printing of the work was 
 begun in 1639 and completed in 1640. This was the “ Bay Psalm 
 Book.” A single copy, bearing the imprint of the last-named 
 year, is treasured in the iron safe of the American Antiquarian 
 Society, in Worcester. It is sometimes said of a very rare book 
 that it is worth its weight in gold. In 1876 a copy of this book 
 belonging to the estate of the late Dr. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, was 
 sold by auction in Boston for about one thousand and fifty 
 dollars. The Worcester copy weighs nine ounces. The price 
 paid for the Boston copy, therefore, was more than six times its 
 weight in gold. 
 
 1 MS. Notes in Lib. of Antiq. Soc. 
 
i8 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 From Dunster’s Improved Bay Psalm-Book of 1650. 
 
 O Blessed man that walks not in 
 th’ advice of wicked men, 
 
 Nor standeth in the sinners way 
 nor scorners seat sits in. 
 
 , From Tate and Brady, Original Edition, Anno 1700. 
 
 Happy the Man whom ill Advice 
 From Virtue ne’er withdrew. 
 
 Who ne’er with Sinners stood nor sat 
 Amongst the scoffing Crew. 
 
 From Tate and Brady, "with Appendix by Watts, Anno 1754. 
 
 How blest is he who ne’er consents 
 by ill Advice to walk 
 Nor stands in Sinners Ways ; nor sits 
 where Men profanely talk ! 
 
 • From Sternhold and Hopkins, London, 1648. 
 
 The man is blest that hath not bent 
 to wicked read his eare : 
 
 Nor led his life as sinners do, 
 nor sate in scorners chaire. 
 
 After six years of waiting the First Parish at length 
 secured the most distinguished among all its ministers. 
 On the 29th of September 1790, the Rev. Samuel 
 Austin, D. D., of New Haven, was duly installed in 
 the vacant pulpit. His first considerable step was to 
 clear up and reinvigorate the doctrinal basis of the 
 church. A new creed and covenant were adopted, 
 whereby its orthodoxy was conformed to the strictest 
 type. All the subsequent activities of Dr. Austin had 
 this type for their basis. He devoted himself to the 
 investigation of theological questions. He prepared 
 and published the first complete edition of the works 
 of the elder Jonathan Edwards. He was one of the 
 founders of the General Association of Massachusetts 
 and also of the Massachusetts Home Missionary 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 ^9 
 
 Society. He was often called to sit in councils on 
 difficult cases. He was a man of strong convictions 
 and plain speech. On public affairs he preached with 
 great freedom. His fast-day sermons were notable. 
 Several were published. The one preached on the 23d 
 of July 1812, during the war, caused much agitation. 
 He therefore published it, with this upon its title-page ; 
 “ Published from the press by the desire of some who 
 heard it and liked it ; by the desire of some who 
 heard it and did not like it ; and by the desire of 
 others who did not hear it, but imagine they should 
 not have liked it if they had.” 
 
 At the end of twenty-five years he became president 
 of the University of Vermont, but, because of the suit 
 already mentioned, remained nominal minister of the 
 First Parish till 1818. Resigning the college presi- 
 dency in 1821, he became pastor of a small church in 
 Newport, R. I., once the charge of the famous divine, 
 Dr. Samuel Hopkins. This, too, he resigned in 1825 
 and then returned to Worcester, preaching occasionally 
 in Millbury. By and by, the death of an adopted son, 
 physical disease and pecuniary losses brought on mental 
 disturbance. Like the poet Cowper, he became a 
 religious monomaniac. The darkness of despair settled 
 down upon him. For some four years he remained in 
 this state of gloom. Near the end, light at intervals 
 broke through the cloud. He died on the 4th of 
 December 1830, in the seventy-first year of his age. 
 He was a man of commanding stature, of dignified 
 carriage, austere yet affable on near approach, and 
 “ with a smile like a sunbeam breaking through the 
 clouds.” As a preacher he was remarkable for power 
 and pathos, and of eminent gifts in devotional 
 
20 
 
 WOJ^CESTEJ^ 
 
 I exercises. The impress of his character was deep and 
 abiding. Of his publications, Lincoln (“ History ”) 
 gives a list of thirty-three, with their titles. 
 
 The successor of Dr. Austin was the Rev. Charles 
 A. Goodrich. He was ordained as colleague pastor on 
 the 9th of October 1816, and became sole pastor by 
 the formal dismission of Dr. Austin in i8i8. His 
 ministry was short but fruitful of a spiritual harvest, 
 about eighty new confessors being added to the church 
 in one year. But it was a ministry full of trouble also. 
 Beginning as a young man of twenty-six years, he 
 found himself confronted at the outset with the 
 opposition of a leading person both in the parish and 
 in the town. Though this person was not himself of 
 the church, yet some of his family were ; and the com- 
 bined influence of all caused the disaffection to spread. 
 Attempts at reconciliation were made and failed. It 
 became evident that either the minister or the dis- 
 affected must leave. The former was too strongly 
 intrenched to be ousted, and the latter perforce accepted 
 the alternative. For a time they resorted to other 
 communions while retaining connection with their own 
 church. Presently, they sought release from this bond. 
 Some asked for dismission and recommendation. 
 Several were dismissed but not recommended. Councils 
 were resorted to and counter councils were held, with 
 the usual results of ex parte proceedings. Each party 
 in turn was sustained. At last a council constituted 
 the disaffected, with others, into a new church, the 
 history of which, under the name of the Calvinist or 
 Central Church, will be given in its proper place. A 
 war of pamphlets followed, able and exhaustive on 
 both sides ; and to them the reader must be remitted 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 21 
 
 for further and fuller details of the unhappy contro- 
 versy. This church quarrel was the most serious that 
 ever afflicted any church of any communion in the 
 town. Ill health compelled Mr. Goodrich to lay down 
 his charge on the 14th of November 1820, and the 
 same cause prevented him from resuming the pastoral 
 office. For the rest of his life he devoted himself to 
 literary pursuits. He became a maker of books ; his 
 school histories were in their day greatly in vogue, and 
 of one more than one hundred thousand copies were 
 printed. A list of his principal works is to be found 
 in the “ Worcester Pulpit.” 
 
 The sixth pastor of the Old South and the next after 
 Mr. Goodrich was the Rev. Araetius Bevil Hull. Born 
 at Woodbridge, Conn., in 1788, graduated in 1807 at 
 Yale, where he was a tutor for six years, he was 
 ordained and settled at Worcester on the 2 2d of May 
 1821. He came to his new calling with a high reputa- 
 tion both as a scholar and as a teacher. Ill health, 
 however, kept him down, and after a protracted sick- 
 ness he died in office on the 17th of May 1826. His 
 virtues as a man and a minister were celebrated by his 
 contemporary neighbor. Dr. Nelson, in a funeral ser- 
 mon. He was eminently social, simple, refined, 
 charming in conversation and “ a welcome friend to 
 the poor.” A quarter of a century after his death men 
 often spoke of him “ with kindling emotion.” His 
 church attested their affection by erecting to his 
 memory a monument inscribed all over with elaborate 
 encomium. In 1827 the church and parish united in 
 a call to the Rev. Rodney A. Miller. The call was 
 accepted and he was ordained on the 7th of June in 
 
 that year. For nearly seventeen years he remained 
 
 4 
 
 Marginalia 
 
22 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 pastor of the church. During this period more than 
 four hundred were added to its communion. At length 
 differences arose between Mr. Miller and members of 
 the church and parish ; in consequence, a mutual 
 council was called and the result of its advice was the 
 dismission of Mr. Miller. For many years after, he 
 continued to reside in Worcester, but in the end he 
 returned to Troy, N. Y., his native place, where he 
 died at an advanced age. Mr. Miller was the first 
 president of the first Temperance Association ever 
 formed in Worcester. For some years he was one of 
 the overseers of Harvard University and had a zeal for 
 the rectification of its theological standards. 
 
 A series of seven pastorates followed that of Mr. 
 Miller. The first was that of the Rev. George Phillips 
 Smith, a graduate of Amherst in 1835. 
 installed on the 19th of March 1845, and died at 
 Salem, while in office, on the 3d of September 1852. 
 His ministry was a happy and successful one. Follow- 
 ing him came the Rev. Horace James, a graduate of 
 Yale in 1840, who was installed on the 3d of February 
 1853. Mr. James was full of devotion to his charge, 
 but when the Civil War broke out, devotion to his 
 country overbore the former and issued in his appoint- 
 ment as chaplain of the Twenty-fifth Regiment of 
 Massachusetts Volunteers and his consequent dismis- 
 sion from his pastoral charge. This event occurred 
 on the 8th of January 1863, and his death on the 9th 
 of June 1875. Rev. Edward Ashley Walker, who had 
 been ordained chaplain of the First Connecticut Fleavy 
 Artillery in June 1861, was installed as Mr. James’ 
 successor on the 2d of July 1863. Like some of his 
 predecessors, he was compelled by ill health to retire 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 23 
 
 altogether from the ministry. His death occurred on 
 the loth of April 1866. During his ministry, September 
 ‘22, 1863, the one hundreth anniversary of the building 
 of the Old South meeting-house was elaborately com- 
 memorated. At the meeting-house the Hon. Ira M. 
 Barton made an introductory address, and Leonard 
 Bacon, D. D., of New Haven, gave a historical dis- 
 course ; while at Mechanics Hall, in the after part of 
 the day, much reminiscent discoursing was had. The 
 old meeting-house, a typical specimen of New England 
 church architecture of the last century, with its grace- 
 ful slender spire and faithful weathercock, was suffered 
 to remain for nearly a quarter of a century longer 
 before its demolition in August 1887, under a municipal 
 decree. 
 
 After Mr. Walker’s dismission the Rev. Royal B. 
 Stratton was installed on the 2d of January 1867. 
 Serious disability, more or less impairing his usefulness, 
 led to his dismission on the 25th of April 1872. His 
 death occurred in this city on the 24th of January 
 1875. On the 2ist of May following Rev. William M. 
 Parry, of Nottingham, England, received a unanimous 
 call to the pastorate. He practically accepted the call 
 and performed his duties as acting pastor but was 
 never installed. On November 3, 1873, he “ resigned ; ” 
 but the resignation, taking the church by “ surprise,” 
 was not accepted. On the nth of December it was 
 withdrawn, but on the 4th of January following he 
 preached his farewell sermon. His preaching had 
 been both dramatic and eccentric and consequently 
 had drawn crowded houses. Leaving the Old South, 
 he drew after him nearly one hundred and fifty of its 
 communicants, and together they at once proceeded to 
 
 Marginalia 
 
24 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 organize a new church in Mechanics Hall by the name 
 of the Tabernacle Church. Without loss of time a 
 congregational council was convened for the purpose 
 of recognizing the church and installing Mr. Parry as 
 its pastor. The council received the church into 
 fellowship but refused to install Mr. Parry. The 
 church then proceeded to violate the principle of the 
 fellowship, to which it had just been admitted, by an 
 autocratic installation. The services on the occasion 
 were performed by lay members of the church ; and in 
 that fashion Mr. Parry became the first, and as it 
 proved, the only pastor of the Tabernacle Church in 
 Worcester. Church and pastor both came to a speedy 
 end. Mr. Parry suddenly died in his chair while mak- 
 ing a call upon two of his female parishioners, and the 
 church, already grown disgusted and disintegrated by 
 his gross and increasing eccentricities, vanished into 
 the inane. 
 
 To return to the Old South: The Rev. Nathaniel 
 Mighill, a graduate of Amherst in i860, was installed 
 as Mr. Stratton’s successor, September 25, 1875. The 
 fate of so many of his predecessors overtook him also, 
 and because of ill health he was dismissed on the 15th 
 of June 1877. Then followed the Rev. Louis Bevier 
 Voorhees a graduate of Princeton in 1867. After 
 occupying the pulpit for six months, a nearly unanimous 
 call led to his installation on the same day on which 
 his predecessor was dismissed. But neither in this 
 instance did a change of ministers secure the church 
 against the fate which so inveterately pursued its 
 chosen pastors. After preaching for a time Mr. Voor- 
 hees was compelled to relinquish his charge, but his 
 formal dismission did not take place till the 5th of May 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 25 
 
 1880, when his successor, the Rev. Joseph F. Lovering, 
 was installed as the fourteenth pastor of the church 
 and so remained. 
 
 A question had long been in issue between the city 
 and the First Parish touching their respective estates 
 in the land occupied by the Old South. The city 
 claimed the land and wished to remove the building, 
 and the parish resisted the claim and wished to pre- 
 serve the building. Things remained in this condition 
 until 1885, when the city obtained from the legislature 
 authority to take all the title and interest of the parish. 
 In May 1886, the city council voted to take under the 
 act. Thereupon the parish made an overture to the 
 city towards an agreement upon the amount of 
 damages. The city having declined to entertain the 
 overture, the parish then proceeded, under the provis- 
 ions of the act, to ask the Superior Court for the 
 appointment of commissioners to award damages ; and 
 this was done. The case came on to be heard in July 
 1887, when the city solicitor, Frank P. Goulding, 
 appeared for the city, and Senator George F. Hoar for 
 the parish. An exhaustive preparation and all the 
 legal learning and skill of the respective advocates 
 went into the case. After weeks of deliberation the 
 commissioners brought in an award of $148,400. The 
 city refused to pay the award, and under the act 
 claimed a trial by jury. A compromise followed 
 resulting in the payment of $115,395.25. With this 
 money the parish purchased a lot on the corner of 
 Main and Wellington Streets, and proceeded to erect 
 thereon a church worthy of its history and rank as the 
 First Parish in the city of Worcester. The corner- 
 stone was laid on the 4th of July 1888, and the exterior 
 
 Marginalia 
 
26 
 
 WOjRCESTEJ^ 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 walls, of red sandstone throughout, were substantially 
 completed by the end of the year. It is, without 
 doubt, the most imposing church edifice in the city. A 
 massive central tower, forty feet square and rising on 
 four square marble pillars to the height of one hundred 
 and thirty-six feet above the pavement, is the dominat- 
 ing feature. Another feature, appealing to a different 
 sentiment, is the low belfry at the northeast corner, of 
 architecture curious and fine, in which is suspended, 
 as the sole relic connecting new and old, the bell (cast 
 in 1802) that swung for eighty-five years in the ok' 
 belfry on the Common. A parish house at the res 
 adding to the mass and architectural completeness 
 the whole structure, contains a variety and abund 
 of spacious apartments suited to all the multiplied 
 multiplying requirements of modern church life, 
 cost of this New Old South was one hundred 
 sixty thousand dollars. 
 
 Its formal dedication, with the presence of an u* 
 sual array of pastors of other churches, took pla 
 on the evening of September 17, 1889. The member 
 ship of the church at this date was 407. 
 
 The Calvinist or Central Church. — The secon. 
 church of this order was first named the Calvinist 
 Church. It was an outcome, but not an outgrowth, 
 of the First Church. As we have already seen, the 
 settlement of Mr. Goodrich resulted in a serious dis- 
 affection towards his ministry. Among the disaffected 
 and aggrieved were Deacon David Richards, his wife. 
 and eight others. In their extremity these persons 
 summoned a council (the third) to advise them in the 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 27 
 
 premises. This council was convened on the i6th of 
 August 1820, and having heard the case and approved 
 a Confession of Faith and a Covenant which had been 
 presented, it proceeded on the 17th to constitute the 
 applicants into a separate church under the name of 
 the Calvinist Church in Worcester. It is worthy of 
 note that the moderator of this council was the Rev. 
 Nathaniel Emmons, D. D. For a certain length of 
 time the new church maintained public worship in 
 private places. The house of its first deacon, David 
 Richards, seems to have been the first and principal 
 place of worship. This house stood near the site 
 recently purchased by the United States for the new 
 post-office building. In this private way, without any 
 pastor or parish, the church held itself together until 
 1822. In that year “articles of association” looking 
 towards a parish organization were drawn up and 
 signed. The first signature was that of Daniel Waldo, 
 under date of April third ; others of the same date 
 followed, and within the next nine years more than two 
 hundred and sixty others were added. On the first 
 Sunday following, April 3, 1822, regular public worship 
 was commenced in the court-house. This continued 
 until October 13, 1823, when the society took possession 
 of its meeting-house which had been erected by Mr. 
 Waldo at a cost of fourteen thousand dollars. The 
 sermon at the dedication of this house was preached by 
 Dr. Austin who was in sympathy with the new church. 
 In the next year the property was conveyed to trustees 
 for the use of the church and society. Early in 1825 
 the organization was perfected by the incorporation of 
 the Calvinist Society. Meanwhile, on the 15th of 
 April 1823, the Rev. Loammi Ives Hoadly, who had 
 
 Marginalia 
 
28 
 
 WOJ^CESTEJ^ 
 
 supplied preaching for the previous year, was ordained 
 as the first pastor. His ministry was embarrassed by 
 the unhappy relations which continued between this 
 church and the Old South, but still went on with 
 increasing success until a severe sickness brought it to 
 a close. His dismission, by a vote of the church, took 
 place on the 19th of May 1829. Recovering in a 
 measure, he engaged in various activities — as pastor 
 again for a brief period, editor of The Spirit of the 
 Pilgrims^ assistant editor of the Comprehensive Com- 
 mentary^ teacher and farmer. His last residence was in 
 Northfield, Conn., his native place, and there he died 
 quite recently at the great age of ninety-one, having 
 outlived all his successors in the pulpit of the Calvinist 
 Church but the last two. 
 
 During Mr. Hoadly’s ministry Mr. Waldo made a 
 further addition of five thousand dollars to the 
 resources of the society. Its growth continued 
 unchecked, and in 1830, and again in 1832, the church 
 edifice was variously enlarged and improved. This 
 prosperity was due, in no small degree, to the popular 
 ministry of the Rev. John S. C. Abbott, who became 
 the successor of Mr. Hoadly on the 28th of January 
 1830. During five years Mr. Abbott continued to go 
 in, and out among his people with great acceptance. 
 While discharging his pastoral duties, he found time to 
 write and publish two books which made his name 
 known in both hemispheres. These were “ The Mother 
 at Home ” and “ The Child at Home,” the former of 
 which has been translated and published in nearly all 
 the languages of modern Europe. In 1835 Abbott 
 asked and obtained a dismission on account of ill 
 health. After recuperation by a year of travel in 
 
FimST BAPTIST CHURCH 
 
 FIRST BAPTIST 
 
 To James Wilson, postmaster of Wor- 
 :ester from 1801 to 1833, must be given 
 he credit of having founded the First 
 Baptist Church. After meetings had 
 >een begun in his home in 1795, the hall 
 n the school house of the district was 
 lired and services first held there July 
 0, 1812. Elder William Bentley was 
 ;alled as pastor at a salary of $300 a 
 ^ear. 
 
 The erection of a meeting house was 
 )egun May 29, 1813. It was located on 
 Salem square,was completed December 
 .3 and dedicated December 23 the same 
 /ear. In 1815 Elder Bentley ceased to 
 )e pastor and -was succeeded by Rev. 
 Jonathan Going, who in 1815 organ- 
 zed the first Sunday school in Worces- 
 ;er. He was pastor 16 years, the church 
 jrowdng greatly in that time. 
 
 In 1832 Mr. Going left Worcester and 
 Rev. Frederick A. Willard was called, 
 serving until 1835, when Rev. Jonathan 
 /Aldrich became the pastor. During his 
 pastorate, on May 21, 1836, the meeting 
 house was burned. A new one was 
 built on Salem street in 1836. Rev. 
 Samuel B. Swaim followed Mr. Aldrich 
 in 1839, serving until 1854. 
 
 In 1841 the Pleasant street church 
 sprang from the first church and in 
 1853 the Main street churcJh was organ- 
 ized as the Third Baptist Church. Fol- 
 lowing Mr. Swaim in 1855 came Rev. 
 
 J. D. E. Jones, who stayed until 1859, 
 and Rev. Lemuel Moss was then pas- 
 tor from 1860 to 1864. 
 
 Following pastors were Rev. H. K. 
 Pervear, 1866 to 1872; Rev. B. D. Mar- 
 shall, D. D.. 1873 to 1887, during whose 
 pastorate the Quinsigamond and Lin- 
 coln square missions were begun, af- 
 terwards becoming churches: Rev. Geo. 
 G. Craft, 1888 to 1894; and Rev. Spencer 
 B. Meeser, D. D., 1896 to 1902, during 
 w'hose service in 1897 the church reach- 
 ed its largest membership — 525. 
 
 Meanwhile the Main street church 
 had had eight pastors from 1854 to 
 1902. They were: Rev. H. L. Way- 
 
 land, 1854 to 1861; Rev. Joseph Banvard, 
 D. D., 1862 to 1866; Rev. George B. Gow, 
 1867 to 1872; Rev. F. W. Bakeman, 1873 
 to 1876; Rev. George E. Horr, 1877 to 
 1881; Rev. Henry A. Rogers, 1883 to 
 1886; Rev. Charles H. Pendleton, 1887 
 to 1894, and Rev. Leo B. Thomas, 1896 
 to 1901. 
 
 In 1902 the Salem square continuation 
 of the First Baptist church and the 
 Main street section were consolidated 
 as the new First Baptist church and 
 the 'first pastor of the united churcli 
 was Rev. Lemuel Call Barnes, D. D., 
 who served until 1907. During his pas- 
 torate the present m.^gnificent struc- 
 ture was e^'ccted at the corner of Main 
 street and Mower avenue, and the old 
 church at the corner of Hermon street, 
 now’ the First Presbyterian church, 
 was given up. From 1907 to 1909 the 
 pulpit was vacant, but in the latter 
 year the present pastor. Rev. Dr. Allyn 
 King Foster, w’as called. 
 
jai, abfeibLtRi Dy Misses Jilgiantme 
 and Alexandrina Provencal. Those 
 present were Florence and Mabel Roch- 
 eleau, Anna and Mary Louis Larose, 
 Sylvia and Antoinette A. Cartier, Mar- 
 tha Sanders, Sylvia P. Gagnon. Evelina 
 Gagnon, James Larose, Mrs Josephine 
 Labonte, Anna Ward, Ida Bouthilette, 
 Belle Cartier, Mrs Denise Larose, Miss 
 Roberge, .Joseph Germaine and Mrs 
 Edward Predette. 
 
 ILHIU UUilHULL 
 
 Ji ji 
 
 Miss Delia Rochford and George I. 
 Rochford of 8 Ingleside avenue will 
 entertain in their hometonight in honor 
 of their cousin, Louis R. Delinas of 
 Marlboro, who is to leave soon for 
 Philadelphia to resume his medical 
 studies. Mrs. Onesime Rochford will 
 assist in entertaining. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Members of the Worcester Evening 
 High School Alumni Association will 
 have a chestnutting party tomorrow at 
 Leicester. The party will leave City 
 Hall at 1 o'clock. Robert J. Cairns is 
 chairman of the arrangements com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Jl JC 
 
 TO BE IISTE 
 
 A miscellaneous shower was given for 
 Miss Helen G. McCarrick last night 
 in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank A. 
 Carey at 49 Vernon street. Miss Mc- 
 Carrick is to^ marry George E. Carey 
 October 24. In the party were Miss 
 May Dolan, Miss May Hickey, Miss 
 Helen Gallagher, Miss May Carey, Miss 
 May Turley, Miss Sadie Turley, Miss 
 May McCarthy, Miss Elizabeth Mc- 
 Nulty, Mrs. George McGlynn, Miss Ag- 
 nes Luby, Miss May Condon, Mr. and 
 Mrs. James Gallagher, Miss Bertha 
 Scully, Miss Minnie Reilly, Miss Flor- 
 ence Rourke, Mr. and Mrs. J^ank Mc- 
 Glynn, Miss Katherine Heald, Miss 
 Annie Quinn, John Carey, Frank Cham- 
 I pagne, Walter Buck, John Vail, John 
 Geary and Thomas A. Carey. 
 
 To the Editor of The Gazette: 
 Sir,-— The Secretary of the Pub 
 Education Association in reporting t 
 meeting of the executive board Thui 
 day said: "The members of the the 
 tro committee will examine a lar 
 number of plays, and make a list 
 those suitable for use, by children a) 
 young people, such list to be ke 
 on file for those desiring them." T1 
 statement in your paper that "tl 
 committee would make a list of the 
 tres suitable for children to go to" 
 too serious a mistake to go uncorrec 
 ed. That some committees are mai 
 to report, in same article,, which d 
 not report, is of slight consequen 
 compared with the above false repo: 
 Kindy insert the above correctl( 
 where it can easily be seen, and oblin 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 ELIZA D. ROBINSON, 
 Secretary 
 
 Among The 
 
 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Miss Helen L. Savory, daughter of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Henry P. Savory, of 30 
 Bowdoin street, whose marriage is to 
 take place Oct. 11, was given a fare- 
 well party last night in the home of 
 Miss Alice Eleanor Hart at 688 Main 
 street. Fifteen young woman friends 
 of Miss Savory were present and she 
 was presented a chafing dish. A buf- 
 fet luncheon was served, the decora- 
 tions being autumn leaves and greenry. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. William Harris gave 
 their first at home last evening at 1 
 Shawmut street. A musical program 
 was given by Joheps Paul, Miss Mamie 
 Leahy, Miss Anna Werme and Miss 
 May Fitzgerald. The decorations were 
 of autumn leaves and potted palms and 
 refreshments were served by Mrs. Har- 
 ris, assisted by Miss Mamie Leahy, 
 Mrs. James O’Brien, Mrs. John Hud- 
 son and Mrs. T. J. Harris. The guests 
 were: Misses Katherine Ryan, Alice 
 
 Amidon, Fannie Shinner, Abbie Skin- 
 ner, Lillian Darling, Sadie Matthews, 
 Edith Daniels, Addle Allen, Annie Mc- 
 Taggert, Nellie Blackbury, Eva Kid- 
 der, Bertha Kidder, Eva ^ Duhamel, 
 Mamie Ryan, Eva Largesse, Violet 
 Largesse, May Fitzgerald, Marion Ed- 
 dy,, Ruth Eddy, Emily Connelly, Mary 
 Keily, Florence Pierce, Margaret Far- 
 rell, Hattie Heaton, Sadie Maher, 
 Anna Bilsky, Nellie Brown, Mabel Ma- 
 her, Nellie McHugh, Helen Breen, Ger- 
 trude Cavanaugh, Nora Fogerty, 
 Mamie Leahy, May Harris, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Frank Farrell, Edmund Finni- 
 come, Mrs. James O’Brien, Mr. Louis 
 Smith, Mrs. Calvin Brackett, Joseph 
 Paul, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Harris, 
 Mrs. John Hudson, Mr. Charles Hel- 
 ler and Mrs. Mary Heller. 
 
 u Church Women 
 
 The Junior Y. P. S. C. E. of O 
 South church had an advertisement s< 
 cial in the church last night. Tl 
 young people were dressed to represei 
 the leading articles advertised in maj 
 azines and newspapers. Superintend 
 ent Katheryn G. Cooley was in charg 
 
 ^ 
 
 Mrs F. E. Atwood, Mrs E. F. Fletcl 
 er, Mrs Hattie Bicknell, Mrs Nell 
 Kibby, Mrs A. S. Knapp and Mrs E. j: 
 Richards compose the committee i 
 charge of ihe supper and entertain 
 ment to be given tonight in the vestr 
 of All Souls’ church, under the direcii 
 tion of the Ladies’ Social Aid Sociei 
 of the church. Following the suppe 
 there will be phonographic selection! 
 by Dr Henry Watkins, readings b: 
 Miss Bernice Hunt, and an address b: 
 Hon A. S; Roe on "Evening Schools, 
 
 ^ JZ 
 
 The McAll Auxiliary met in the paiij 
 lor of Union church yesterday after: 
 noon. There was a good attendant ^ 
 Mrs S* A. Harlow, the president, wa 
 in charge of the meeting. Rev S. J 
 Harlow led a short devotional servic 
 It was reported that $379.73 had bee 
 received towai;;d the $1000 pledged f 
 help the building of a new hall in Pari 
 where three halls are now building. 
 
 Rev George P. Berry, American flel 
 secretary, gave an interesting addres 
 on "Present Conditions In Prance, 
 and he made an appeal for funds 1 
 help the work. Cards were distribute 
 to receive pledges to try to raise $i 
 before the next meeting, the first Mon 
 day in December. The presld<»r 
 pledged herself to try to raise $10. Af 
 ter the offering, the meeting adjourne 
 and a- social half-hour followed, te 
 being served by Mrs Lamson Allen an' 
 Mrs Henry Brannon, with their assist! 
 ants, of Union church. 
 

 f- 
 
 < ./■.>•»•' >> <■ 
 
 
 
 ■V 
 
 
 
 
 Few churches of equal history have 
 ad so many noted clergymen conneet- 
 d with them as has All Saints’, the 
 lother church of the Episcopal church- 
 s of 'Worcester. In addition to the 
 lev Wiiliam Reed Huntington, rector 
 f Grace church, New York, the late 
 lishop Alexander Hamilton 'V^inton, 
 nd Bishop Thomas Frederick Davies, 
 11 successive rectors of the parish, the 
 ^vo clergymen who first labored to es- 
 iblish an Episcopal church in V/or- 
 ester also became bishops later in 
 aeir lives. 
 
 The rirst of these was Rev Thomas H. 
 'ail, who began to conduct services in 
 le Town Rail in ISSh. He \vas later 
 , ishop of Kansas. In 18S7 Rev Thomas 
 [. Clark, later bishop of Rhode Island, 
 ontinued the work which was, how- 
 ver, suspended until 18-13 when the 
 arish wa.s actually established by Rev 
 Tenry Blackaller. 
 
 A suiall v/ooden church was built on 
 'earl street in 1846 and consecrated by 
 bishop Eastburn in 1847. Rev George 
 |. Chapman was then rector and v/as 
 Bllqwcd by Rev George H. Clark, Rev 
 ■ athaniel T. Bent, Rev Archibald M. 
 
 Morrison, Rev William N. Brooks, Rev 
 
 A. C. Putnam and Rev E. W. Hager. 
 
 In 1862 Rev William Reed Huntington 
 
 one of the most noted clergymen of the 
 American church, began a rectorship 
 Qf 21 years at All Saints. In 1874 the 
 church was burnecl. and a new building 
 the present edifice at Pleasant amd Irv- 
 ing street-s, was begun.. R w-as de- 
 signed by Earle & Fuller. The coner- 
 stone was i.aid Jup/ 25, 1875, and the 
 church w’as consecrated by Bishop 
 Paddock. Jan 24, 1377. 
 
 In 1884 Rev Alexander II. Vinton be- 
 came rector, serving for 18 years or 
 until he became first bishop of western 
 Massa.chusetts, to which office ho was 
 consecrated April 22, 1902. Rev T'nomas 
 P. Davies was called in 1903, serving 
 until his consecration as second bish- 
 op of western Massachusetts, succeed- 
 ing Bishop Vinton, on October IS last. 
 
 Built into the south wail of the tower 
 porch of the church are twm scones 
 from Worcester c-athecrah England, 
 pre.sented by the dean tend cliemter of 
 the cathedral, and marked by a phite 
 bearing an inscription written by the 
 dea.li. 
 
 The parish is at present without a 
 rector and is in ch.ai gc of Rev Charles 
 
 B. Short, assisted by Rev Charles P. 
 Oii.s, ivho were curates under Rev Dr 
 Davies. 
 
<WELL YOO 3TICK 
 HEjee /^NO l^UL. 
 RUN UP TO that 
 
 Farm house 
 
 AND ask FOR- 
 SOMG THING- 
 Sc To EAT* V 
 
 damon: 
 Tfi SO 
 HUNGRY 
 
 WAR TIME 
 
 n,i, EVENT S" ^ 
 
 50 YEARS 
 
 AGO TODAY= 
 
 DECEMBER 30, ’61. 
 
 The 21st Massachusetts Regiment, one of] 
 those from Worcester county, has long been 
 afflicted with the rumor that it is to be left 
 out of the Burnside Expedition for which such 
 extensive preparations are making In Annap- 
 olis. Colonel Morse of the 21st has conceived 
 the idea that a prolonged stay in the capital 
 of Maryland may be pleasant and easy, but 
 his men feel quite the reverse and after sev- 
 eral parades, inspections and extended drills, 
 they are found to be quite as good as any, they^ 
 are delighted to learn that they are not to bei 
 left but will go, and their pride is still further! 
 exalted at the thought that General Jesse I- 
 Rono selects the 21st, at the very offgo, as 
 the first member of his brigade. Having re- 
 ceived an outfit of Enfield rifles from Massa- 
 chusetts, the men now feel in better condition 
 to face the enemy. 
 
 The State of Tennessee is finding the Con- 
 federate Government a vain thing for safety 
 in that, when application is made for reim- 
 bursement for funds expended in behalf of the 
 war, the said Government responds that it is I 
 unable to settle such liabilities. Poverty at this] 
 early day of the struggle seems very strange, 
 considering the loud protestations earlier made] 
 by the secessionists. 
 
 A cutter and gig, commanded respectively by Acting Masters Alick Allen] 
 and Heni-y L. Sturges were sent from the U. S. steamer Mount Vernon to- 
 night to destroy a lightship used by the rebels off Wilmington, N. C. The 
 craft was found deserted, though pierced with guns and almost ready for 
 harbor defense. She is burned to the water’s edge by the Union force, though] 
 exposed to the fire opened upon them from a rebel fort. 
 
 The Richmond Examiner is taking on terribly over the civilities offered! 
 certain northern people, at present in Richmond. “We are surprised to learni 
 that a certain Yankee, Dr. King from Newport, R. I., has been permitted toj 
 come here to see his sick son, a prisoner. We are surprised to learn thatl 
 the doctor, his wife and son, are occupying very select rooms at the Arllng-| 
 ton House. We are surprised to learn that these persons are called upon by] 
 the would-be elite of Richmond, and that women of Virginia, making such! 
 social pretence, have been flocking to see the Yankee family circle and toj 
 perform daily the debasing work of paying the greatest civilities to the en-I 
 emles of our country and State. If Mrs. Lincoln was only holding court at] 
 the Spotswood, in her celebrated green silk and Illinois witchery, we have] 
 
 no! iVl QiVB You\ 
 nothing to eat? \ 
 
 WE DON'T FEEO J 
 tramps in this / 
 Bor Hood! y 
 
 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 29 
 
 Europe, he spent the remainder of his very active life 
 in various pursuits, but became known to the wide 
 world chiefly as the author of many popular books. 
 Mr. Abbott was born in Brunswick, Me., and graduated 
 at Bowdoin in 1825. He died at Fair Haven, Conn., 
 on the 17th of June 1877. 
 
 His successor was the Rev. David Peabody, a 
 
 native of Topsfield, who was installed in 1835 within 
 
 six months after the pulpit had become vacant. His 
 
 ministry was short and much interrupted by ill health. 
 
 In the year following his settlement, under the advice 
 
 of his physicians, he sailed for the South where he 
 
 spent the winter. A temporary improvement enabled 
 
 him to resume his pastoral duties in Worcester. But 
 
 the attack on his lungs — for that was his malady — 
 
 again enforced cessation from pulpit labor. He 
 
 improved the time in travel. Arriving in Hanover, 
 
 N. H., the day after commencement, he learned to his 
 
 surprise that he had been appointed Professor of 
 
 Rhetoric in Dartmouth College, his alma mater. This, 
 
 taken with the state of his health, determined his 
 
 course. He obtained a dismission from his pastoral 
 
 charge, and in October 1838 entered upon the duties 
 
 of his new office. His tenure of this, however, was 
 
 brief. His death occurred on the 17th of October 
 
 1839, after one year of college service greatly impeded 
 
 by illness. The career of Professor Peabody was as 
 
 brilliant as it was brief. His intellectual powers were 
 
 of a high order. His mental discipline was thorough, 
 
 his scholarship fine. His character was “ a rare 
 
 combination of strength and loveliness.” With a 
 
 figure and face of manly beauty and a rich and mellow 
 
 voice, he stood before his people in the pulpit a 
 
 5 
 
 Marginalia 
 
30 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 preacher of singular attractions. His memory long 
 continued to be fragrant in Worcester. 
 
 The next pastor of the Central Church was the Rev. 
 Seth Sweetser. His pastorate covered a period of 
 forty years. It began on the 19th of December 1838, 
 and ended with his decease, in 1878. During this 
 period, in 1845, occurred the death of Daniel Waldo, 
 in a large sense the founder of the society. In his will 
 he continued to remember it for good by devising to 
 it, in connection with the church, a valuable real estate 
 upon which stood the chapel of the society and a 
 dwelling-house. In 1858 occurred the first interruption 
 to the prevailing harmony. Until then the expenses 
 had been defrayed by a tax on the polls and estates of 
 the members. Under a new statute the expenses were 
 raised by an assessment on the pews. This change 
 caused the withdrawal of a considerable number of 
 rich and influential members. But the vital forces of 
 the body soon healed the breach and supplied new 
 strength. Forty additional pews w'ere provided to help 
 bear the burden of the new tax. 
 
 Dr. Sweetser was not a magnetic preacher ; he had 
 not the gift oratorical, but his compositions for the 
 pulpit were of rare finish. He published occasional 
 sermons which amply repaid perusal. On the death of 
 President Lincoln he gave a discourse which had no 
 superior, whether of pulpit or platform, in the whole 
 range of productions called forth by that event. It 
 was sought for from distant cities and the edition was 
 exhausted before the demand was supplied. In his 
 last years Dr. Sweetser’s health declined until he was 
 at length compelled to surrender the pulpit. But 
 church and parish were unwilling to sunder the tie 
 
CHURCHES 31 
 
 which had bound them so long together, and though 
 his service ceased, his support (not his salary) was 
 measurably continued until his death. Dr. Sweetser 
 was born at Newburyport in 1807 and graduated at 
 Harvard in 1827. For a time he was a tutor in the 
 university, and in after years a member of the board 
 of overseers. He sustained the same relation to 
 Andover Seminary. Of the Polytechnic Institute in 
 Worcester he was an original corporator and trustee, 
 and to it he gave his best thought and work. Of the 
 city he was an unobtrusive leading citizen, and among 
 the clergy of the State he was a power. The basis of 
 his influence was wisdom coupled with reserve. 
 
 On the 19th of November 1874, the Rev. Henry E. 
 Barnes, a graduate of Yale in i860, was installed as 
 junior pastor. On the third of May 1876, after a year 
 and a half of service, he was dismissed ; and soon was 
 settled in Haverhill, Mass., where a large measure of 
 success rewarded his labors. For nearly two years 
 the pulpit was supplied by candidates and quasi-candi- 
 dates. Many were called, but few chosen. Then the 
 Rev. Daniel Merriman (D. D. 1881), a graduate of 
 Williams College, united all voices in calling him to 
 the vacant place. The call was accepted, and in 
 February 1878 he w^as installed, the Rev. Dr. Richard 
 S. Storrs, of Brooklyn, N. Y., preaching the sermon. 
 Within a month came the death of Dr. Sweetser. In 
 no long time after, the subject of building a new church 
 began to be agitated, and foremost in the agitation was 
 the new pastor. A conditional subscription was set on 
 foot and the required amount was provided for ; but 
 the enterprise developed antagonisms, which, in the 
 interest of peace, made it necessary and certain that 
 
 Margmalia 
 
32 
 
 IVORCESTEJ^ 
 
 one party or the other should and would withdraw. 
 Accordingly, four-fifths of the trustees, all but one of 
 the deacons, the men whose money had been chiefly 
 relied on, and a large body of others, old and young 
 quietly left their church home of a generation, volv 
 tarily surrendered all the property and dispersed th 
 selves among other churches. But Providence, “ 
 seeming evil still educing good,” inspired the crip 
 church with courage to arise and build, and the r 
 was one of the most beautiful churches in the city . 
 elsewhere. It stands as a conspicuous monumen 
 the recuperative power of a Christian democracy ur 
 adverse conditions. At its completion no root 
 bitterness remained to bear evil fruit, and those wi 
 withdrew and those who remained sat amicably side b}, 
 side at the dedication of the new house. Its beautie 
 were afterwards celebrated by the graceful pen c. 
 Prof. Churchill in the Andover Review. The cost of 
 the church and land was about $105,000. 
 
 On the 30th of October in the year 1889, Mr. Leon 
 D. Bliss was ordained as assistant pastor. For more 
 than a year before he had been rendering acceptable 
 service in the church as the pastor’s assistant, and 
 church and parish now united in making him one 
 their ordained ministers. Mr. Bliss had his theologies- 
 education at Andover. In October 1889, the membe 
 ship of this church was 398. 
 
 The Union Church. — In the autumn of 1834 a 
 few young men, chiefly from the Old South Church, 
 conspicuous among whom was Ichabod Washburn, la: 
 their plans for a new church. The need of it hr 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 33 
 
 been felt for several years, and it seemed to them that 
 the time to act had fully come. Accordingly, the 
 preliminary steps were taken, and on the nth of 
 March 1835, were duly incorporated under the 
 
 name and style of the “ Proprietors of the Union 
 Meeting-house.” At a meeting held in December of 
 the same year it was voted that the name of the new 
 church should be “The Union Church.” In January 
 1836, Articles of Faith and a Covenant were unani- 
 mously adopted, and on the third of February follow- 
 ing a council constituted the new church with the 
 customary formalities. On the fifth of March the 
 society held its first meeting, and on the 6th of July 
 its new house of worship was dedicated. It was a 
 plain brick structure of 90 feet by 54, situated on 
 Front Street, opposite the historic Common. Made 
 more commodious in 1845-46, it was superseded in 
 1880 by a more beautiful but not more spacious edifice 
 erected on the same site. 
 
 The first pastor of the Union' Church was the Rev. 
 Jonathan E. Woodbridge, of the church in Ware Village. 
 His installation took place on the 24th of November 
 1836. His ministry began when the anti-slavery 
 movement was burning its way through the churches. 
 Union Church did not escape. Mr. Woodbridge took 
 one side and the society took the other on the question 
 of opening the church for anti-slavery lectures. On the 
 19th of January 1838, the society, by a vote of forty-five 
 to twelve, decided to open the house to the famous 
 anti-slavery agitators, James G. Birney and Henry B. 
 Stanton. Mr. Woodbridge thereupon promptly tend- 
 ered his resignation, and on the second of February 
 the society as promptly accepted it and called a 
 
34 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 council to dissolve the relation between them. The 
 first call to this pastorate, though unanimous on the 
 part of church and parish, had been declined by Mr. 
 Woodbridge. Upon a second and more urgent call he 
 had consented to come, only to discover in one short 
 year that he and his people could never agree on the 
 great divisive question of the day. His dismission 
 took place on the 14th of February. After leaving 
 Worcester he became more widely known to the 
 churches as editor of the New England Puritan^ after- 
 wards made one with the Boston Recorder under the 
 name of the Puritan Recorder. 
 
 The second pastor of the Union Church was the 
 Rev. Elam Smalley, who was installed on the 19th of 
 September, 1838. For nine years previous he had 
 been associate pastor with the Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, 
 D. D., of Franklin. Doubtless he had profited by such 
 a long association with that remarkable divine, but no 
 two persons could be more unlike in their mental 
 characteristics. Reasoning, which so eminently distin- 
 guished the Franklin doctor, was not Dr. Smalley’s 
 forte or aspiration. He sought rather to edify by 
 pleasing. If he did not prophesy smooth things, he 
 yet prophesied in a smooth way. What he aimed at he 
 accomplished. The church was built up, and his 
 ministry of fifteen years was a success. The society 
 testified its appreciation by repeated additions to his 
 salary. In due time he was decorated with the doctor- 
 ate of divinity. After seven years the meeting-house 
 was altered so as to secure one hundred additional 
 sittings, while Deacon Ichabod Washburn at his own 
 cost provided a vestry and Sunday-school room in the 
 basement. In 1844 the society accepted from the 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 35 
 
 “ Proprietors of the Union Meeting-house ” a deed of 
 all their corporate property and assumed all their 
 corporate liabilities. On the eighth of May 1854, Dr. 
 Smalley asked a dismission, in order “ to enter another 
 field of labor.” The request was granted, and he 
 shortly after became the pastor of the Third Street 
 Presbyterian Church in Troy, N. Y., and there, on the 
 30th of July 1858, he died. In 1851 he published 
 “ The Worcester Pulpit, with Notices Biographical and 
 Plistorical.” The plan of the work included a sketch 
 of each church and pastor in each denomination, with 
 specimen sermons. It is a valuable source of informa- 
 ation touching the churches of Worcester. 
 
 The Rev, J. W. Wellman, a graduate and afterwards 
 a trustee of Dartmouth, was the next choice of Union 
 Church. He justified their choice by declining the call 
 from a sense of duty to the obscurer church of which 
 he was then the pastor. Dr. Wellman at a later day 
 became conspicuous as the only trustee of Andover 
 Theological Seminary who resisted the “ new depart- 
 ure.” Failing to secure him, the church next extended 
 a call to the Rev. Ebenezer Cutler, of St. Albans, Vt. 
 The call was accepted and the pastor-elect was installed 
 on the sixth of September 1855. At the same time a 
 subscription for a pastor’s library was set on foot which 
 resulted in a substantial sum for that essential but 
 much neglected furnishing of a church. In 1859 began 
 a series of efforts, continuing through several years, for 
 either the enlargement of the old or the building of a 
 new house of worship. Votes were passed to mortgage, 
 to sell the old house, to examine sites, to build a new 
 house, to raise money by subscription. An abiding 
 feeling that the church was not well housed for doing 
 
 Marginalia 
 
36 
 
 WOJ^CESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 its most effective work lay at the bottom of these 
 spasmodic efforts. But out of it all the chief thing 
 realized at the time was only a small addition to the 
 rear for the organ and choir. The new church was 
 still in the future. 
 
 Dr. Cutler continued his ministry with growing 
 reputation until 1865, when he was elected president 
 of Vermont University. This called forth an urgent 
 appeal from his people not to leave them, and he con- 
 sequently declined the flattering offer. Shortly after, 
 he received a tender of the Professorship of Ecclesias- 
 tical History in Hartford Theological Seminary, but 
 this also he promptly put aside without waiting for it 
 to take formal shape. In the autumn of 1874 he 
 initiated the proceedings which resulted in the organi- 
 zation of the Worcester Congregational Club, of which 
 he became the first president. The subsequent history 
 of the club amply vindicated itself and him. In the 
 winter of 1877 a bronchial malady compelled him to 
 seek relief in other climates. First going to Florida, 
 and in the summer to Europe, he was absent from his 
 pulpit until the following October, when he resumed 
 preaching, though not fully recovered. Early in 1878, 
 under stress of circumstances, he finally resigned his 
 pulpit, retaining, however, his office. The pastoral 
 relation was not dissolved until the nth of October 
 1880, just before the installation of his successor. The 
 council, in dismissing him, made mention of his “ wide 
 usefulness ” and “ profound scholarship,” and gave him 
 the name of “ a Christian man without fear and without 
 reproach.” He continued to worship with the Union 
 Church which subsequently testified its affection and 
 esteem by honoring him with the title of pastor emeritus . 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 37 
 
 For nearly two years the Rev. George H. Gould, 
 D. D., supplied the pulpit in connection with the testing 
 of candidates by preaching. During this period the 
 new church, so long desired and so long delayed, was 
 erected on the old site. As already remarked, it was a 
 more beautiful though less capacious edifice than the 
 old one. The cost was thirty-seven thousand five 
 hundred dollars. A new organ of fine quality and 
 appearance added to the attractions. The dedication 
 of the house took place on Sunday the loth day of 
 October 1880, on which occasion the sermon was 
 preached by the Rev. Henry A. Stimson, the pastor 
 elect. On the 14th, Mr. Stimson was duly installed. 
 He was a graduate of Yale and came to his new charge 
 from a highly successful ministry in Minneapolis. His 
 ministry in Worcester was distinguished by remarkably 
 energetic parochial work. The young were especially 
 soon made to feel of how much church work they, too, 
 were capable. The printing-press was brought into 
 play and a Sunday bulletin was issued every week. 
 The service of song was extended and enriched. And 
 by the plan of free seats on Sunday evenings the poor 
 had the gospel preached to them. Large congregations 
 rewarded these efforts, large additions to the church 
 followed. In the midst of, perhaps because of, this 
 marked success. Dr. Stimson received a call from the 
 church in St. Louis of which the lamented Dr. 
 Constans L. Goodell had been pastor, and he decided 
 it to be his duty to accept the call. His dismission, 
 much to the sorrow of his people, took place in June 
 
 1886. The present pastor. Rev. William V. W. Davis, 
 was installed as his successor on the 15th of April 
 
 1887. He was a graduate of Amherst in the class of 
 
 6 
 
 Marginalia 
 
38 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 1873, had his first settlement in Manchester, N. H., ] 
 
 and was called to Worcester from Euclid Avenue •' 
 Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, Ohio. Within the ■* 
 
 first year of his ministry one hundred members were \ 
 added to the church. ,| 
 
 On the 3d of July 1889, the church took action in >> 
 
 favor of employing a pastor’s assistant and of inviting ^ 
 
 the Rev. W. S. Kelsey to accept that position. The ’■< 
 
 invitation was accepted and on the ist of September ^ 
 
 he began his work. To look after strangers, assist the ^ 
 
 young people in their work and superintend the Sunday- 
 school were among the duties assigned to him. He was 
 also put in charge of the mission church at Lake | 
 View. This experiment was made possible by the fi 
 
 offer of certain brethren to guaranty his salary for | 
 
 one year. Mr. Kelsey came to the Union Church ^ 
 
 from the Congregational Church in Windham, Conn., 
 over which he had been ordained in 1885. 
 
 The membership of Union Church in October 1889 
 was 548. j 
 
 J 
 
 Salem Street Church. — This church was the | 
 
 result of a joint contribution of men and means from | 
 
 the Old South, the Calvinist and the Union Churches. 
 
 The rapid growth of the city from 1840 to 1848 had 
 impressed the pastors and brethren of those churches | 
 with a conviction that the time had come for the 
 organization of a fourth church of their way. Meas- ; 
 
 ures were accordingly taken in 1847 for the erection of < 
 
 a church edifice. Meanwhile the persons enlisted in j 
 
 the new enterprise held preliminary meetings, adopted 
 a creed and covenant, and on the 14th of June 1848 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 39 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 if 
 
 I 
 
 were recognized as a church in a formal manner. Of 
 the one hundred and thirty-three who constituted the 
 membership, eighty went out from the Union Church, 
 thirty from the Calvinist Church and the rest mostly 
 from the Old South. The new church had its place of 
 worship in the city hall until the 12th of December 
 1848, when the new house, which had been erected on 
 Salem Street, was dedicated. The cost was somewhat 
 less than twenty-eight thousand dollars ; the money 
 was collected out of the three sponsorial churches. On 
 the day following the dedication occurred the ordina- 
 tion of the Rev. George Bushnell and his installation 
 as the first pastor of the church. The sermon on this 
 occasion was preached by his brother, the Rev. 
 Horace Bushnell, D. D. Mr. Bushnell was a graduate 
 of Yale in 1842, and had his theological education at 
 Auburn and New Haven. He prosecuted his ministry 
 with great satisfaction to his parishioners for nine 
 years, and then found it prudent, because of impaired 
 health, to withdraw from pastoral labor. By accepting 
 the position of superintendent of public schools in 
 Worcester he hoped to regain his health. However, 
 after nearly a year of this labor it seemed expedient to 
 lay down his pastoral charge, and he was accordingly 
 dismissed on the 27th of January 1858. Prior to this 
 date the church had taken action at sundry times to 
 provide a new pastor. On the 23d of June 1857, a 
 vote was passed by a small majority to call the Rev. 
 Merrill Richardson, of Terryville, Ct. ; then at the 
 same meeting the matter was indefinitely postponed. 
 On the 9th of November, by a nearly unanimous vote, 
 a call was extended to the Rev. Eli Thurston, of Fall 
 River, which, however, was declined by him. On the 
 
 Marginalia 
 
40 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 2ist of December the church again voted to call Mr. 
 Richardson, and the society concurred in the call. To 
 this action, however, there was serious opposition, 
 which found expression before the council convened to 
 install him. The council, nevertheless, while giving 
 respectful heed to the remonstrants, of whom there 
 were forty-eight, proceeded with the business before 
 them, and on the 27th of January 1858, Mr. Rich- 
 ardson was installed as pastor of the Salem Street 
 Church. 
 
 After this untoward beginning he went forward with 
 his ministry for twelve years. Then, on the 27th of 
 September 1870, he was dismissed at his own request 
 because his eyes had failed him for purposes of study. 
 “ When he came there was a storm, but when he went 
 away there was a clear sky.” In two months after, 
 he was settled over the New England Congregational 
 Church in the city of New York; and in two years 
 after that he became pastor of the church in Milford, 
 Mass. His death occurred in December 1876. It 
 was said : “ He gave the church uniting power, and 
 a certain healthiness of spiritual life.” It was said 
 again : “ He was a warrior and a child ; he was rough 
 and gentle.” And again it was said : “ He sought to 
 produce everywhere the peace of God in Jesus Christ.” 
 But it was also said by the late Judge Chapin, a leader 
 of the Unitarians and at one time president of the 
 American Unitarian Convention : “ Mr. Richardson 
 is a good enough Unitarian for me.” These testi- 
 monies are all to be considered in forming an estimate 
 of the minister who won the Salem Street pulpit with 
 so much difficulty, but who, having won it, kept it 
 undisturbed till he chose to give it up. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 41 
 
 On the 8th of March 1881, the Rev, Charles M. 
 Lamson, of North Bridgewater, received a unanimous 
 call from both church and parish. In his letter of 
 acceptance he said that he viewed it as “ a call to a 
 work rather than to a place,” and in this spirit he 
 prosecuted his ministry. His installation took place 
 on the 3d of May. In June he was appointed chair- 
 man of a committee to revise the church standards 
 and to prepare a new manual. On May i, 1872, the 
 creed as re-written by the committee was reported and 
 unanimously adopted. It would be a just description 
 to say that it was the old creed liberated from the old 
 straitness, and some might think from the old straight- 
 ness, even. Entire harmony and deepening affection 
 between Mr. Lamson and his people, increasing influ- 
 ence within the city and widening reputation without, 
 marked his ministry from the beginning to the end. 
 After more than fourteen years of service he felt admon- 
 ished by the state of his health to ask a dismission. 
 Very sorrowfully his people yielded to his wish, and on 
 the 28th of September, 1885, his dismission was declared 
 in a result of council, which expressed in terms of rare 
 encomium the appreciation of his clerical brethren. 
 
 After a year and more of waiting and seeking, the 
 Rev. Isaac J. Lansing, of Brooklyn, N. Y., was called 
 to the vacant pulpit. The call was unanimous save 
 for a single vote. Mr. Lansing was a minister of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. He was content with 
 its doctrines but dissatisfied with its polity. He dis- 
 liked its three years’ limitation of ministerial labor. 
 He preferred the Congregational permanency. The 
 call to Salem Street was opportune and he at once 
 signified his acceptance. The installation took place 
 
42 
 
 WOjRCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 on the nth of November, 1886. The loss of Mr. 
 Lamson, and the loss of members because of that 
 loss and also because of their nearness to other 
 churches had greatly reduced the prosperity of the 
 Salem Street Church. To the work of its recovery 
 and enlargement Mr. Lansing brought all his Methodist 
 energy and forth-putting. He devised liberal things, 
 all of which, however, he could not at once bring to 
 pass. But a debt of five thousand dollars was paid 
 off, and the meeting-house was renovated and reseated 
 at an expense of about eight thousand dollars more. 
 Once more it was filled with an old-time congregation. 
 
 In August 1888 a unique departure was initiated. At 
 its own motion and its own cost, without aid from the 
 parish treasury, the church determined to provide an 
 assistant minister for service over and above and out- 
 side of the pastor’s proper work. This plan was 
 carried into effect on the i8th of October, by the 
 engagement of the Rev. William W. Sleeper. Several 
 definite lines of activity were contemplated. The new 
 minister, a thoroughly educated musician, was to take 
 in hand the musical training of the congregation. He 
 was to have a large Bible-class of the young men. He 
 was to act as a missionary in the highways and hedges. 
 And he' was to do service at funerals and minister 
 consolation to such as had no pastor to call upon. At 
 the opening of the year 1889 this new and varied work 
 was in successful progress ; while, as an important 
 reinforcement for its more pronounced success, the 
 church had in that year secured the services of Prof. 
 Benjamin D. Allen, who for thirty-four years had been 
 the organist of Union Church. The membership of 
 the church in October 1889 was 570. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 43 
 
 Summer Street Mission Chapel. — This church I 
 had its origin in the benevolent heart of Ichabod 
 Washburn. To provide “ the benefits of moral and 
 religious instruction and restraint for a pretty numer- 
 ous class of persons, living in Worcester,” was his aim. 
 Accordingly he had erected, at his own expense, and 
 caused to be dedicated in the spring of 1855, a Mission 
 Chapel on Summer Street in that city. At the same 
 time he made provision for the free ministry of the 
 gospel to all who should resort to the Chapel for such 
 a privilege. The first minister employed in this 
 service was the Rev. William T. Sleeper, then the 
 city missionary. His term of service closed with the 
 close of the year 1856. Rev. Samuel Souther, a 
 graduate of Dartmouth in 1842, followed him and 
 remained until 1863, when he enlisted as a private in 
 the army of the Union and gave up his life on the 
 battle-field. Under his ministry an Industrial School 
 w^as organized in December 1857. 
 
 In 1864 the Rev. Henry T. Cheever, a graduate of 
 Bowdoin in 1834, succeeded to the ministry of the 
 Mission Chapel. Through his inspiration a movement 
 was begun for the formation of a church, and on 
 December 23, 1864, eighteen persons constituted them- 
 selves the “ Church of the Summer Street Mission 
 Chapel,” by the adoption of a Confession of Faith and j 
 a Covenant and the election of deacons and a clerk. 
 On the 2 2d of January 1865, the church was received 
 into the fellowship of the churches by public “ services 
 of recognition held by a council in Union Church.” On 
 the third of April the church “ constituted itself a 
 religious society ” or parish, “ according to the statutes 
 of the Commonwealth,” under the name of “ The 
 
 Marginalia 
 
44 
 
 WOI^CESTEJ^ 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Society of the Summer Street Mission Chapel.” In 
 March 1866, Deacon Washburn executed his will and 
 made ample provision therein for the perpetual main- 
 tenance of this charitable foundation. The Mission 
 Chapel estate was devised to the Union Society, in 
 trust, “ for the purposes and trusts declared in the will, 
 and no other.” In addition, the sum of twenty thou- 
 sand dollars was given for defraying the expenses of 
 maintaining a minister and public worship, and a 
 further sum of five thousand dollars to maintain the 
 Industrial School connected therewith. By the decease 
 of Deacon Washburn on the 30th of December 1868, 
 these gifts became operative. 
 
 Mr. Cheever continued to be the minister of the 
 Mission Chapel until the ist of April 1873, when Mr. 
 Sleeper was appointed to his place by the joint action 
 of two deacons of the Union Church and two of the 
 Mission Chapel Church, in accordance with the provi- 
 sions of the will. On the 26th of January 1886, the 
 trustees voted that it was expedient to sell the Summer 
 Street property and locate the church elsewhere. This 
 action was in harmony with the views and wishes of 
 the Mission Church and its minister. But it was 
 strenuously resisted by the former minister, Mr. 
 Cheever, and by the widow of Deacon Washburn, on 
 the ground that it was in violation of the letter and 
 intent of his will and in defeasance of the object which 
 he had at heart. The question went up to the Supreme 
 Court by petition of the trustees for leave to sell and 
 was decided in their favor. But because of the oppo- 
 sition thus manifested, or for some other reason, no 
 sale was effected and the purpose seemed to be aban- 
 doned. 
 
Plymouth Church - 
 
 1S75 
 
 j 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 45 
 
 The founder of this important charity began his life 
 in Worcester as a workman for daily wages. At the 
 close of his life he left an estate of more than half a 
 million of dollars accumulated by his own industry 
 and rare sagacity. The bulk of this great wealth he 
 > devoted to the good of his fellow-men. All along the 
 j pathway of his life he was setting up monuments of his 
 : munificence, while his testamentary gifts for school and 
 
 .j church and hospital far exceeded those of his life-time 
 ij or those of any previous benefactor of the city. 
 
 ! On the first Sunday in November 1889, the member- 
 i| ship of this church was 185. 
 
 j Plymouth Church. — The beginning of this church 
 was in 1869. More than twenty years had passed 
 since the last church of this faith and order had been 
 organized. In that time the city had grown from six- 
 teen thousand to forty thousand inhabitants. The 
 churches were crowded ; it had become difiicult to 
 obtain seats ; some even, through failure to do so, had 
 gone into the Methodist fold. Under these circum- 
 stances, fifteen young men met together in a private 
 room to confer respecting a new church. They had 
 acted together in the Young Men’s Christian Associa- 
 tion, had thus become acquainted with each other, and 
 said it would be a good thing if they could have a 
 Young Men’s Christian Association church. They 
 formed a nucleus around which other young men 
 gathered. Soon the circle of interested persons 
 widened and came to include older men and men of 
 substance. Then the enterprise rapidly gathered 
 headway. 
 
 Margmalia 
 
 7 
 
46 
 
 IVOI^CESTEI^ 
 
 The first meeting was held on the 15th of April 
 1869. On the 29th it was announced that Mechanics 
 Hall had been secured for public worship during one 
 year. Forthwith a subscription of three thousand 
 three hundred and forty dollars was made by sixty- 
 three persons to defray the current expenses ; and 
 within a week or two the sum was raised to about three 
 thousand eight hundred dollars. A Sunday-school 
 embracing more than three hundred was at once 
 begun, and on the second Sunday in May public 
 worship was held in Mechanics Hall with preaching by 
 Rev. Dr. E. B. Webb of Boston. On the same evening 
 a meeting was held to take measures for organizing a 
 church. A committee was charged with the duty of 
 preparing and presenting a creed and covenant. When 
 the time came for action thereon difficulties were 
 encountered. Among others, the Rev. George Allen, 
 who had proposed to become a member of the church, 
 rose and gave his voice against the adoption of any 
 creed whatever. Failing to convince the meeting he 
 recalled his letter of recommendation and withdrew 
 from any further connection with the enterprise. At a 
 subsequent meeting the articles of the creed as reported 
 were largely changed and then adopted. The question 
 of a name came up. Edward A. Goodnow, the largest 
 giver, and many others were in favor of making it a 
 free church. Mr. Goodnow, therefore, moved that the 
 name be the “ Free Congregational Church,” and to 
 make it free he subsequently subscribed one thousand 
 five hundred dollars a year to pay for the hall. His 
 associates, however, were not yet prepared for the 
 measure, and instead of that name voted that the name 
 be “ Sixth Congregational Church.” Meanwhile, a 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 47 
 
 society had been organized by the name of Plymouth 
 Society, and the church afterwards made its own name 
 conform to that. 
 
 On the 7th of July a council assembled in the Old 
 South meeting-house to assist in organizing and 
 recognizing the new church. With a recommendation 
 to amend the fourth article of the creed they preceded 
 to the performance of their functions. Of the one 
 hundred and ninety-four persons proposing to be of 
 the church, one hundred and twenty-seven were then 
 present and were duly constituted the Sixth Congrega- 
 tional Church. A week later fifty-one of the remainder 
 were received into the membership. Four deacons 
 having been elected and a communion and baptismal 
 service having been presented by Mr. Goodnow and 
 his wife, Catherine B. Goodnow, on the 5th of Septem- 
 ber the church celebrated its first communion. From 
 that time onward a great variety of preachers occupied 
 the pulpit until April 1870, when the Rev. Nelson 
 Millard of Brooklyn, N. Y., received a call to become 
 the pastor. The call was declined on the ground that 
 continuous preaching in so large a hall would cause too 
 serious a strain on the physical powers of the preacher. 
 On the 26th of October a unanimous call was declined 
 by the Rev. William J. Tucker, now the distinguished 
 professor at Andover, perhaps for the same reason. A 
 practically unanimous call of the Rev. B. F. Hamilton 
 met with the same fate. Meanwhile the future pastor 
 of Plymouth Church, the Rev. George W. Phillips, of 
 Columbus, Ohio, had been heard in its pulpit for the 
 first time at Christmas in 1870. After this experience 
 had been repeated at intervals through the following 
 year, he accepted a call and was installed on the 28th 
 
 Marginalia 
 
48 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 of December 1871. A condition of his acceptance was 
 that the society should build a church edifice. Accord- 
 ingly funds and a site were the next things in order. 
 
 In April 1872, the site was fixed by a vote to build 
 on the ground where the church now stands. This 
 action split church and parish in two. The soreness 
 of the wound, however, was soon assuaged, and both 
 halves continued to live as two wholes with a two-fold 
 prosperity and usefulness. Fifty-six members received 
 a peaceable dismission and straightway with others 
 proceeded to organize a church in the more southern 
 part of the city. The load became heavier on Plymouth 
 Church, but the sturdy shoulders under it did not 
 succumb. On the 26th of April 1873, the corner-stone 
 was laid; on the 19th of April 1874, the chapel was 
 dedicated for use; and on the 29th of April 1875, l^^e 
 entire edifice was done and dedicated. It is a struct- 
 ure of granite, with perhaps a larger seating capacity 
 than that of any other church in the city, having seats 
 for the comfortable accommodation of fourteen hun- 
 dred persons. Its cost, including recent decorative 
 improvements, has somewhat exceeded one hundred 
 and fifty thousand dollars. In 1881 sixty-six thousand 
 dollars of this cost still rested as a debt upon the 
 Plymouth property and people. It was determined to 
 obtain relief from the incubus by effecting, if possible, 
 a large reduction of this debt. Suddenly, in the month 
 of April, Edward Kimball of Chicago, the good genius 
 of debt-burdened churches, appeared before the con- 
 gregation to assist. While the matter was thus in 
 hand, Edward A. Goodnow sent in a written proposi- 
 tion that if the debt were not merely reduced but 
 extinguished he would make a gift to Plymouth of an 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 49 
 
 organ and a chime, each to cost five thousand dollars. 
 Under this incentive, coupled with Mr. Kimball’s 
 inspiration, the effort was redoubled, the debt was 
 extinguished, and chime and organ were put in place, 
 at a cost to the giver of nearly eleven thousand dollars. 
 The chime was made a memorial of his deceased wife, 
 for whom the church had before held a special com- 
 memorative service, by the inscription on the principal 
 bell — In Memoria 7 n Catherine B. Good?iow. 
 
 After a successful pastorate of more than fourteen 
 years Dr. Phillips, at his own request, was dismissed 
 on the loth day of May 1886, and immediately settled 
 as pastor of the important church in Rutland, Vt. On 
 the 30th of June, in the same year, Plymouth Church 
 and Society extended a unanimous call to the Rev. 
 Arthur Little, D. D., of Chicago. The call was 
 declined, and the church remained without a pastor 
 until April 7, 1887, when the Rev. Charles Wadsworth, 
 Jr., of Philadelphia, was installed. In May of the 
 next year he resigned his office on the ground that he 
 had accepted a call to a Presbyterian Church in San 
 Francisco. The church was quite unreconciled to this 
 sudden bereavement, but yielded to it under protest. 
 However, the council called to dissolve the tie advised 
 against it. This led to a reconsideration which resulted 
 in a cordial re-establishment of the old relation. As 
 the year 1888 wore on, however, the church was 
 admonished by the failing health of its reinstated 
 pastor that if it would keep him something must be 
 done for his relief. Accordingly, in January 1889, 
 the parish voted to have, and provide for, a pastor’s 
 assistant. In this matter the Ladies’ Benevolent 
 Society had taken the initiative by assuming an 
 
50 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 obligation to pay one-half of whatever salary the 
 parish should fix upon. Of the new office thus created, 
 the Rev. Edward G. Fullerton of Philadelphia, became 
 the incumbent by ordination as an evangelist on the 
 13th of June 1889. Mr. Fullerton was a graduate of 
 the University of Pennsylvania in the the class of 1883 
 and of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1889. By j 
 way of further relief, the pastor’s annual vacation was 
 doubled and a large addition made to his salary. In 
 making these anxious and liberal provisions Plymouth 
 Church felt justified by the magnitude of the work 
 upon its hands. With the costliest church edifice of 
 its order in the city, save the Old South, and th'' I 
 largest church membership and no church debt, and 
 constituency “ rich and increased in goods,” it was in 
 a position both to devise and to execute liberal thing 
 After less than a year of service under these allevi 
 ticns, Mr. Wadsworth found the burden on I 
 shoulders still too heavy for his strength, and accord- ■ 
 ingly on the 27th of October he again tendered his ^ 
 resignation. An offer of still further relief proved of \ 
 no avail to change his purpose. On the first Sunday 
 in November he preached his last sermon, and withir 
 a few days after a council declared his connection with 
 Plymouth Church dissolved. At that date the mem- 
 bership of this church was just 700. 
 
 Piedmont Congregational Church. — In th» 
 sketch of Plymouth Church it was stated that fifty-si: 
 members of that body were dismissed for the purpose 
 of forming a church in the southern part of the city. 
 This was the origin of Piedmont Church. The first 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 51 
 
 steps were taken at an informal meeting held on the 
 3d of May 1872. On the loth of the same month it 
 was resolved to organize a parish and purchase a lot on 
 the corner of Main and Piedmont Streets. On the 
 1 6th the lot had been purchased and fifty-nine persons 
 had signed an agreement to become a religious society. 
 On the 23d the associates assembled under a warrant 
 and organized the society according to law. On the 
 30th the name of “ Piedmont Congregational Church ” 
 was adopted. The corporate name, however, continued 
 to be the “ Seventh Congregational Church in Worces- 
 ter.” On the 6th of June by-laws were adopted whereby 
 “ any person ” proposed and elected by the major vote 
 might become a member of the society. On the 14th 
 the first subscription was made among those present 
 at the meeting, and a sum of fifteen thousand dollars 
 was pledged. Plans were adopted August 23d, and 
 by September 20th the subscription had increased to 
 twenty-four thousand dollars. Meantime, on the 2d of 
 June, the first public religious service had been held in 
 the Main Street Baptist Church. In the same place a 
 council was organized, on the i8th of September 
 following, for the purpose of constituting the church. 
 The confession of faith, the covenant and all prelimin- 
 aries being found satisfactory, the church was duly 
 constituted by the council. The sermon was preached 
 by the Rev. George H. Gould, D. D., who remained as 
 acting pastor from that date until 1877. 
 
 In October ground was broken for the church 
 foundation, which, by contract, was to be finished by 
 the ist of June 1873. In due time the basement was 
 completed and occupied for public worship during the 
 period in which the superstructure was being finished. 
 
52 
 
 WORCESTEI^ 
 
 On the ist of February 1877, the auditorium was ready 
 for occupation. It has a seating capacity of one 
 thousand one hundred and twenty. The building is 
 one of the largest church edifices in the city, and 
 through improvements, chiefly of a decorative character 
 made in 1888 at a cost of ten thousand dollars, is one 
 of the most attractive. The original cost of land and 
 construction has been set at one hundred and thirty 
 thousand dollars. A fine organ, the gift of Clinton M. 
 Dyer and wife, was placed in the organ-loft in 1884, at 
 a cost, including a complete apparatus for blowing it 
 by water-power, of about six thousand five hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 With the completion of the building came the first 
 and only pastor. Rev. David O. Hears, D. D., who 
 was installed on the 3d of July 1877. Under his 
 ministry church and parish kept pace with the most 
 progressive. His reputation went abroad beyond 
 Worcester, so that several doors were opened to him 
 elsewhere. In 1885 he was invited to take the presi- 
 dency of Iowa College. This, after careful considera- 
 tion, he declined, as he did also the pastorates of 
 several important churches to which he had been 
 invited. The membership of this church in October 
 1889 was 656. 
 
 Pilgrim Congregational Church. — The origin 
 of this church was in marked contrast with that of the 
 Plymouth and Piedmont Churches. While they sprang 
 into existence as it were full-grown and displayed 
 masculine vigor from the first. Pilgrim Church had a 
 childhood. It was, in a sense, the child of the City 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 53 
 
 Missionary Society. That society explored the ground 
 and prepared the way and supplied the first preaching. 
 Because of that society it came to exist when and 
 where it did. It first became visible in the form of a 
 diminutive Sunday-school, at No. 6 Hancock Street, 
 on the 13th of May 1883. Mrs. Fannie M. Bond, a 
 visitor of the Society, had gathered a little flock, and 
 Mrs. Fannie H. Mighill, whose warm co-operation had 
 been secured, opened her doors for its reception. At 
 this first meeting exactly ten scholars were present, of 
 whom five had never before been in a Sunday-school. 
 By the 8th of July the ten had become a crowd and 
 Woodland street school-house was secured for its 
 accommodation. In five years it had grown to nearly 
 six hundred members. The first sermon in behalf of 
 the new enterprise was preached by Rev. Albert Bryant 
 as the organ of the Missionary Society, on the loth of 
 February 1884. By him and others, pastors and lay- 
 men, preaching was continued until the following 
 autumn. On the ist of July 1884, land for the site of 
 a church was given by Mr. Frank B. Knowles of 
 Piedmont Church and Mrs. Helen C. Knowles of 
 Union Church. The same persons, with others, con- 
 tributed money for the building of a chapel which was 
 finished and occupied on the 25th of January 1885. 
 When completed it was the first of six houses of 
 worship now (1888) standing between Piedmont Street 
 and New Worcester. 
 
 On the i6th of November 1884, the Rev. Charles M. 
 
 Southgate began pastoral work. He was a graduate 
 
 of Yale in the class of 1866, and came to Worcester 
 
 from a pastorate of nine years with the Congregational 
 
 Church in Dedham. Under the fresh impulse imparted 
 
 8 
 
 Marginalia 
 
54 
 
 WORCESTEJ^ 
 
 by him the enterprise went rapidly forward in the way 
 of its enlargement and consummation. On the 19th of 
 March 1885, the church, embracing eighty-eight mem- 
 bers, was organized, and at the same time the pastor 
 was installed. On the 19th of August 1887, ground 
 was broken for the new church edifice, and on the ist 
 of July 1888, it was dedicated. It stands on the corner 
 of Main and Gardner streets, is one of the most 
 attractive churches in the city, and, with the other 
 property, is valued at one hundred and ten thousand 
 dollars. The auditorium has more than one thousand 
 and fifty sittings, while the rooms devoted to the 
 Sunday-school accommodate more than six hundred 
 persons. The society connected with this church was 
 incorporated on the 13th of April 1885. The by-laws 
 provide that all male adult members of the church 
 shall, and “ any ” adult members may, become members 
 of the society. 
 
 Three things distinguish this from other congrega- 
 tional churches, and probably from all other churches 
 in the city. The first is, the church and parish status. 
 By requiring adult male members of the church to 
 become members of the parish and members of the 
 parish to be members of the church, it was designed, 
 among other things, to make antagonism between the 
 two bodies impossible. One further thing seems essen- 
 tial to the complete success of this plan, and that is, to 
 require all female, as well as male, adult members of 
 the church to become members also of the parish. 
 Without this, antagonism, however improbable, is 
 nevertheless possible. The second distinguishing 
 thing is the unique and admirable provision for the 
 accommodation of the Sunday-school. A spacious 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 55 
 
 primary room, parlor and ten separate class-rooms have 
 been so arranged that each can be shut off from the 
 rest during the study of the lesson and then all thrown 
 into one again for the general exercises. The third 
 thing is the provision for the secular side of this church 
 organization. The first chapel was moved to one side, 
 named Pilgrim Hall, and fitted up with rooms for a 
 gymnasium, carpenters’ shop, boys’ reading room, 
 printing office, hall for social purposes and a kitchen. 
 In this Hall the healthful secular life of Pilgrim 
 Church goes on through all the secular days of the 
 week. The membership of this church in October 
 1889 was 275. 
 
 Church of the Covenant. — This church is an 
 anomaly of Congregationalism. At present it is 
 tripartite, but it may become quadrupartite and indefin- 
 itely more. Under one church organization there are 
 thus far three “ sections,” each in a different part of 
 the city. The names of these are, the Houghton Street 
 Section, South Worcester Section and Lake View 
 Section. Each section is an inchoate church, having 
 some, but not all the powers of a Congregational 
 church. The peculiar organization grew out of the 
 needs of the chapel congregations in charge of the City 
 Missionary Society. Upon the incorporation of this 
 Society in 1883, the congregations at South Worcester 
 and Lake View came under its care. On the 19th of 
 October 1884, it organized a Sunday-school in the 
 neighborhood of Houghton Street, and on the 15th of 
 October 1885, dedicated the Houghton Street Chapel. 
 In the chapel a council assembled on the loth of 
 
56 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 December following to organize the church. At an 
 adjourned meeting of the council held in the vestry of 
 Plymouth Church, on the 2 2d of December, the busi- 
 ness in hand was completed by the public recognition 
 of the Church of the Covenant. In January 1886, 
 there were forty communicants in all the sections, of 
 whom more than one half were in the Houghton Street 
 Section. 
 
 Due provision was made for the practical working 
 of this anomalous church. It was placed under the 
 “ pastoral care ” of the City Missionary Society, with 
 the city missionary. Rev. Albert Bryant, for its pastor. 
 Each section was to manage its own sectional affairs. 
 The pastor of the church was to be the pastor of the 
 section and preside at all its meetings. He was to 
 perform all pastoral, pulpit and sacramental duties for 
 each separately. There was to be a secretary of the 
 section and a clerk of the church, the former of whom 
 was to transmit his record of sectional doings to the 
 latter for permanent record. Each section was to elect 
 one deacon or more, and the sectional deacons were 
 collectively to be the deacons of the church. Any 
 section might admit and dismiss members of its own 
 body, but the duty of issuing letters of dismission and 
 recommendation was laid upon the clerk. The disci- 
 pline of its own members was placed exclusively in the 
 hands of the section, as though it were an independent 
 church. Matters of interest common to all the sections 
 were referred to a general advisory board. This was 
 to consist of the pastor, standing committees of the 
 sections and two representatives of the City Missionary 
 Society chosen annually. By this board the clerk of 
 the church was to be annually elected. If the church 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 57 
 
 was to be represented in any ecclesiastical body, each 
 section was to take its turn in appointing the repre- 
 sentative. Finally, the whole church and each section 
 were to hold separate annual meetings. The title to 
 all the property was vested in the City Missionary 
 Society. After a trial of several years the working of 
 the plan fully met the expectation of its authors. In 
 November 1889 the membership had increased to no, 
 nearly half of which still belonged to the Houghton 
 Street Section. 
 
 As the spring of 1889 wore on, however, the fair 
 prospects of this Church of the Covenant and of its 
 foster-parent, the City Missionary Society, began to 
 cloud over. A serious disagreement among the 
 responsible parties touching methods resulted in paral- 
 ysis. Contributions received a check, the treasury 
 became empty, a debt accumulated. Because of this 
 state of things, on the 6th of May Mr. Bryant tendered 
 his resignation as superintendent and ex-officio pastor ; 
 and on the 23d it was accepted by the Society, which 
 at the same time set the stamp of its approval upon his 
 work. The Church of the Covenant being thus left 
 without a pastor, its three sections severally voted to 
 ask for a separation with a view to independent church 
 organizations. On the 26th of October the Society 
 voted to accede to their request for separation. Early 
 in November a council was called to dispose of the 
 matter according to usage, and as the result of its 
 doings the Church of the Covenant as first organized 
 came to an end. Of what became of its several 
 sections some account will be given further on. 
 
S8 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 The beginning of the Houghton Street Section of 
 the Church of the Covenant was in October 19, 1883, 
 when a Sunday-school was gathered in the house of 
 J. P. Streeter on Grafton street. This was done 
 through the agency of Miss Fanny C. Mason and 
 under the auspices of the City Missionary Society. In 
 1884-5 ^ commodious chapel was built on Houghton 
 Street near the corner of Grafton at a cost of about 
 $1500, including the furniture, organ and other 
 appliances. The land, costing $900, was an additional 
 expense. Here a congregation averaging 100 was 
 served in the gospel by the Rev. Albert Bryant until 
 the formation of the Church of the Covenant, December 
 22, 1885, when twenty-three members of this mission 
 became the Houghton Street Section of that church. 
 Under this new relation it continued to have the pastoral 
 care of Mr. Bryant until June 1889, when his connec- 
 tion terminated. In view of the dissolution of the 
 Church of the Covenant, this Section took the necess- 
 ary steps towards becoming a complete congregational 
 church ; and at this writing (November 1889) there 
 was every prospect of a speedy consummation of that 
 result and of a continuance of the old name. Church 
 OF THE Covenant, for this new organization. At this 
 date the membership was 53. 
 
 Park Congregational Church. — This church was 
 the offspring of the Worcester City Missionary Society. 
 After careful consultation it was held to be desirable 
 to plant another church far over on the “ west side.” 
 To this end and as a first step, a Sunday-school was 
 opened in Agricultural Hall with Mr. Lucius P. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 59 
 
 Goddard as its first superintendent. Before that, a 
 small school, chiefly of colored children, had been 
 gathered on Abbott Street in the winter of 1884, by 
 Laura A. Giddings, a visitor of the Society; and of 
 this a part was subsequently merged in the Park 
 Sunday-school. In the autumn of the same year, a 
 careful exploration of the ground was made by Rev. 
 Albert Bryant, the superintendent of the Society. On 
 the 3d of May 1885, the first sermon was preached in 
 Agricultural Hall by the Rev. Joseph F. Lovering, 
 pastor of the Old South. On the 12th of the following 
 October, the Congregational pastors of the city united 
 with a General Committee in advising the establish- 
 ment of a church. To this end the work was placed in 
 the hands of a committee consisting of the Rev. A. E. 
 P. Perkins, D. D., and Deacons Henry Chase and D. B. 
 Goddard. Through their efficient labors such progress 
 was made that in the summer of 1886 a commodious 
 chapel had been erected and on the 26th of September 
 following it was dedicated. The land for the site, on 
 the corner of Elm and Russell streets, was the gift 
 of David Whitcomb. Including this, the whole cost was 
 about nine thousand dollars. The title of the property 
 is in the City Missionary Society. On the 24th of 
 February 1887, the church was constituted with seventy 
 members and at the same time the Rev. George S. 
 Pelton, formerly of Omaha, was installed as its first 
 pastor. 
 
 At first a society was organized on the Pilgrim 
 Church plan ; but after nearly one year of church life 
 passed in this way Park Church took advantage of the 
 general law for the incorporation of churches enacted 
 in 1887, and on the 17th of January 1888, took on 
 
6o 
 
 WORCESTEJ^ 
 
 corporate powers and became itself a parish. Both 
 men and women were named among the corporators, 
 and both were made responsible for the “ government 
 of the body ” so far as they were “ legal voters.” The 
 aim was to make impossible the old-time antagonism of 
 church and parish. This the schem’e assured. But 
 just as under the old Congregational way, so now, 
 there still remained two bodies in Park Church — a 
 spiritual body independent of law and an artificial 
 body subject to law. 
 
 On the ist of April 1889 the pastoral relation of Mr. 
 Pelton to Park Church was dissolved. Thenceforward 
 the pulpit was supplied by different preachers until the 
 2 2d of October, when a unanimous and hearty call was 
 given to the Rev. Edward G. Fullerton, the assistant 
 pastor of Plymouth Church. The issue of this call 
 had not been determined when this was written. The 
 membership of the church in October was about 97. 
 
 South Worcester Union Church. — In June 1856, 
 Anson Bangs began a Sunday-school in the old school 
 house on Cambridge Street with seventeen members. 
 He remained its superintendent for eighteen years, 
 during which period the average attendance was about 
 one hundred. Mr. Bangs gave to this enterprise not 
 only time and service, but money from his own 
 resources to the amount of nearly $1000. Besides this 
 school he was also a pioneer in several other schools 
 which ultimately became the germs of organized 
 churches. After him, Samuel A. Pratt, Henry Brannon 
 and Dr. Charles W. Harwood became successively 
 superintendents until 1881, when the City Missionary 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 6i 
 
 Society sent Miss Fanny C. Mason to assist. Occa- 
 sional preaching followed, and by and by regular 
 preaching became the rule. In 1882, a chapel was 
 built on land purchased for the purpose at the corner 
 of Southbridge and Princeton streets ; in December it 
 was dedicated free from debt. The subscriptions for 
 this purpose, 128 in number and $2,153.65 in amount, 
 were all obtained by Mr. Brannon, who was himself 
 much the largest subscriber, Samuel E. Hildreth and 
 F. B. Knowles only excepted. The deed of this 
 property was made to Union, Piedmont, Salem and 
 Plymouth churches jointly, in trust “ to hold until such 
 time as a church should be formed strong enough to 
 hold and manage its own property.” 
 
 In this new building the work of the Union Sunday- 
 school went forward with Francis Heywood for its 
 superintendent, and with preaching first by Rev. E. 
 D. Bailey and then by Rev. Albert Bryant until Decem- 
 ber 1885, when the mission became a section of the 
 Church of the Covenant with eleven members. This 
 connection was continued until the dissolution of the 
 Church of the Covenant in November 1889, when it 
 had voted to become a separate congregational church 
 under the name at the head of this article. Mr. 
 Walther, a student from Brown University, had been 
 employed to preach and labor among them during, the 
 season preceding; and so efficient had been his 
 leadership that upon the organization of the church its 
 membership had increased to 39, while the congrega- 
 tion had altogether outgrown the narrow bounds of its 
 chapel. At the close of 1889 the prospect was that 
 this vigorous young church would speedily become 
 
 “ strong enough to hold and manage its own property.” 
 
 9 
 
 Marginalia 
 
62 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Lake View. — This was one of the three “ Sections ” 
 composing the Church of the Covenant. In April 
 1879, ^ Sunday-school was opened in the school-house 
 at the Lake by the Rev. W. T. Sleeper. Of this school 
 Henry Page was the first superintendent. Soon a 
 religious society of thirty members, including ten legal 
 voters, was organized under the statute, with a board of 
 seven trustees. To this board Mr. J. J. Coburn con- 
 veyed a lot of land containing about 15000 feet for the 
 site of a chapel. Funds for the building of this chapel 
 were collected by Mr. Sleeper; in the course of 1880 
 it was erected, and on the 30th of January 1881, was 
 dedicated with a sermon on the occasion by Rev. 
 George H. Gould, D. D. From a statement by Mr. 
 Sleeper it appeared that it had cost about $2500 
 exclusive of the land. 
 
 Upon the organization of the Church of the Cove- 
 nant with forty members, the number from the Lake 
 View Section was only six. This number slowly 
 increased until in October 1889 it amounted to eighteen, 
 including, however, only two male members. On the 
 first of September in that year, it was placed under the 
 pastoral care of Rev. W. S. Kelsey the pastor’s assist- 
 ant in the Union Church. 
 
 Like the other Sections, Lake View voted unani- 
 mously for a separation ; but whether it should remain a 
 mission church because of its limited membership, and 
 especially male membership, or be organized into a 
 congregational church in full fellowship with the other 
 churches, was left to be determined by the council 
 called to act in the matter. At the date of this writing 
 the council had not been convened. 
 
I 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 63 
 
 Belmont Church. — In April 1889 some brethren 
 residing in the neighborhood east of Lincoln Square 
 began to work in earnest for the establishment of a 
 new church in that quarter. On the 14th of the same 
 month the first session of Belmont Sunday-school was 
 held in a room at No. 3 Summer Street, under the 
 superintendence of Mr. John A. Sherman. At this 
 meeting twenty-eight persons were present. On the 
 evening of June 2d, the first preaching service was 
 .eld at the same place by the Rev. Albert Bryant, who 
 d resigned his office as superintendent of the City 
 Missionary Society and was now in charge of this new 
 mterprise. On the 15th of July a lot on the corner of 
 Belmont and Hanover Streets was purchased for $6000 
 ?.nd work was at once begun for the construction, of a 
 ffiurch thereon. It was planned for the seating of five 
 lundred persons. Two towers in front, one of which 
 3 seventy feet high, mark the character of the build- 
 ag. A vestry, kitchen and other rooms were provided 
 .‘or in the basement. At the date of this writing it was 
 expected that the building would be completed and the 
 church organized before the close of the year.^ 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Presbyterians. 
 
 In the year 1718 about one hundred families of 
 Scotch descent and Presbyterian principles emigrated 
 to this country from the north of Ireland. Landing at 
 Boston, they dispersed to various points in Massachu- 
 
 ’ The picture of Belmont Church is that of the 14th and latest 
 ■ngregational church edifice erected and now standing in the 
 . It is noteworthy that the buildings of the oldest and young- 
 congregational churches were completed in the same year, 
 
 9 * 
 
64 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 setts and New Hampshire. A part came to Worcester 
 and in the next year gathered a church after the Pres- 
 byterian way. A minister, Rev. Edward Fitzgerald, 
 accompanied them and preached to them for some 
 months. Their place of worship was at first in the 
 garrison-house, then recently built, near the junction 
 of the Boston and Lancaster roads. Very soon they 
 began to build a house of worship for themselves ; but 
 while it was in the process of erection “ a body of the 
 inhabitants assembled by night and demolished the 
 structure.” Discouraged by this unwarrantable opposi- 
 tion, they made no further attempt to build a sanctuary. 
 But the church continued to hold on its way for some 
 years. For awhile they worshipped with the Congre- 
 gational church, nearly equalling that body in numbers ; 
 but, failing in this way to secure any preaching of their 
 own kind, they withdrew and again became separate 
 with the Rev. William Johnson as their minister. 
 While supporting him, however, they were also compelled 
 by law to contribute their share to the support of the 
 church of the “standing order.” From this burden 
 they, in 1736, asked but failed to be relieved. In the 
 end, by successive removals and otherwise, this first 
 Presbyterian Church in Worcester gradually vanished 
 out of existence, and for nearly one hundred and fifty 
 years no further attempt was made in that direction. 
 Conspicuous among this early company of Scotch 
 Presbyterians was William Caldwell, who very soon 
 went from Worcester with his family and became the 
 founder of the town of Barre. He lived to be one 
 hundred years old, lacking one year. His grandson, 
 William Caldwell, became the sheriff of Worcester 
 County — “the model sheriff,” as Governor Lincoln 
 
First Unitarian Church 
 
 »l 
 
 \ 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 65 
 
 Lyled him. An ancestor of General George B. 
 McClellan was also among these early Presbyterians of 
 Vorcester. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 After the long interval already mentioned a second 
 hesbyterian church was constituted. The first meet- 
 .ig for this purpose was held on the 21st of February 
 886, and on the first Sunday in April following public 
 /orship was inaugurated. The church was formally 
 •rganized by the Presbytery of Boston on the first 
 iunday in September 1886, with forty-eight members 
 ind the Rev. J. H. Ralston as acting pastor. In April 
 887 he was regularly installed as pastor of the church, 
 dr. Ralston was a graduate of Alleghany Seminary, 
 fterwards was in Kansas for seven years as a home 
 issionary, and was called to Worcester from that 
 tant field of labor. The place of worship for this 
 rch is a hall in the building of the Young Men’s 
 ristian Association. In October 1889 the member- 
 p was about 135. 
 
 Unitarian Congregationalists. 
 
 First Unitarian Church. — For about three- 
 uarters of a century one church and one parish 
 ifficed for the inhabitants of Worcester. Then the 
 ^ oacond Parish in the town of Worcester” was organ- 
 ed. That was and still remains its corporate name, 
 though the organization is commonly knotvn as the 
 irst Unitarian Church. The genesis of the new body 
 rme about on this wise : The Rev. Mr. Maccarty, after 
 long and peaceful ministry with the First Church, 
 
66 
 
 WOI^CESTER 
 
 had grown old, fallen sick and become unable to 
 preach. A young man about thirty years old, Mr. Aaron 
 Bancroft, was found to take his place in the pulpit. 
 After he had preached for eight Sundays, Mr. Maccarty 
 had so far recovered as to be able to resume his pulpit, 
 and Mr. Bancroft went away. In the next year the 
 aged minister died and Mr. Bancroft was again called 
 in. This time his preaching caused commotion. 
 Differences of opinion sprang up ; the parish became 
 divided, the peace of the town was disturbed and social 
 intercourse interrupted. A second time Mr. Bancroft 
 went away. Then the town — not the church — 
 improved the opportunity to vote in town-meeting 
 “ that there be a day set apart for fasting and prayer 
 in this town for calling on the Divine assistance for 
 the re-establishment of the gospel ministry in this 
 place.” 
 
 The town adjourned its meeting for one week, and 
 then, four days before the one appointed for the fast, 
 voted to have “ Mr. Haven ” preach four Sundays and 
 after him Mr. Bancroft four. This arrangement 
 brought Mr. Bancroft’s first Sunday on the loth of 
 January 1785. The date is significant. Three days 
 later, without waiting to hear him on the remaining 
 three Sundays, his admirers to the number of fifty-four 
 signed and presented a petition for the town — not the 
 church — to take action looking towards his settlement 
 as Mr. Maccarty’s successor. In the town-meeting 
 held in response to this petition on the ist of March, 
 they moved this remarkable proposition : “ That the 
 town agree to settle Mr. Bancroft in the work of the 
 gospel ministry, and such other person as may be 
 agreeable to and chosen solely by those who are 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 67 
 
 i 
 
 desirous of hearing further, and the settlement and 
 salaries of both to be at the expense of the Town at 
 large.” The record says that “ there was some 
 debate,” after which “ it passed in the negative.” 
 Defeated on this point, the petitioners then moved for 
 leave to form a religious society over which Mr. Ban- 
 croft might be settled. This, too, passed in the 
 negative. They then proceeded to take what the town 
 had refused, with all its financial consequences. A 
 voluntary association was formed, a covenant adopted 
 and a church organized. Of the sixty-seven associates, 
 only two men and four women had been communicants. 
 But these, even, not having been dismissed from any 
 other church for the purpose, were not competent, 
 according to usage, to form the new one. A novel 
 expedient was devised to meet this novel situation. A 
 public “ lecture ” was appointed, at which the covenant 
 was read and explained and then signed by all who 
 chose to.^ In this way the church connected with the 
 Second Parish was constituted. 
 
 Public worship began on the third Sunday of March 
 in the court-house, with preaching by Mr. Bancroft. 
 On the 7th of June he consented to become the minis- 
 ter of the new society, and on the ist day of February 
 1786, he was ordained. Only two ministers of the 
 vicinage could be found to assist, the rest coming from 
 Boston, Salem and Cambridge. After much difficulty 
 
 1 Although this original covenant has never been changed nor 
 abrogated, yet, writes the present minister, “ it has dropped out 
 of use entirely. I cannot learn that it has ever been used in the 
 memory of those now living. There are no conditions to 
 membership in the church, except sympathy with our aims, and 
 we have no regular form of admission.” See Appendix B. 
 
68 
 
 WORCESTE.R 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 and delay, the new parish was duly incorporated on 
 the 13th of November 1787. It was a poll and not a 
 territorial parish, and was the first of the kind in 
 Massachusetts outside of Boston. 
 
 Here some notice may fitly be taken of what seems 
 not to have arrested the attention of any previous 
 writer. By the ancient law of Massachusetts the 
 method of choosing and settling a minister was after 
 this manner : the church first made choice ; then the 
 parish {i. e. town) concurred or non-concurred. Unless 
 there had been church action there was no place for 
 parish action. This law, originating in 1692, continued 
 down through the last century and was in force when 
 the Constitution of the Commonwealth was adopted. 
 That instrument contained two provisions bearing on 
 the matter in hand : first, parishes were given the 
 exclusive right of electing their public teachers ; and 
 second, all the laws theretofore in force were declared 
 to “ remain and be in full force until altered or repealed 
 by the legislature ; such parts only excepted as are 
 repugnant to the rights and liberties contained in this 
 Constitution.” Now, on the one hand, the law of 1692 
 giving to the church first and the parish afterwards the 
 right of election never was repealed ; but, on the other 
 hand, that law was repugnant to the “ exclusive right ” of 
 election given to parishes. And this appears to have 
 been the legal status at the date of Mr. Bancroft’s 
 candidacy in 1785. The right of the church to any 
 voice in the election of its minister had been simply 
 annihilated. Whether this was known and fully 
 understood at that time may well be doubted. Never- 
 theless, the business about Mr. Bancroft went forward 
 precisely as though it was understood. The first and 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 69 
 
 only resort was to the parish. The parish alone took 
 action ; the church took none. So far as its records 
 show, Mr. Bancroft was not a candidate before that 
 body. His name, even, does not appear on its records. 
 The scheme to make him the minister of the First 
 Parish manifestly originated outside the church and 
 was carried on outside. And however much it tur- 
 moiled the town, it neither rent nor hardly ruffled the 
 church. This view is supported by the fact, already 
 stated, that only six communicants were found in the 
 new movement. After the Bancroft party had with- 
 drawn the First Church and Parish resumed their 
 ancient relations and proceeded to elect Mr. Story as 
 their minister by the rule of 1692 ; the church choosing 
 and the parish concurring. The same course was 
 pursued in the subsequent election of Dr. Austin. And 
 this would seem to show that the procedure in Mr. 
 Bancroft’s case was accidental and exceptional, and 
 not in the way of using the new power conferred on 
 parishes by the new Constitution. 
 
 A house of worship for the Second Parish was the 
 
 next essential thing. With much self-denial on the 
 
 part of both parish and pastor — the latter relinquishing 
 
 one-third of his salary — a building was erected, and on 
 
 the ist day of January 1792, was dedicated. The 
 
 modest edifice, shorn of its bell-tower and converted 
 
 into a school-house, still stands on the spot where it 
 
 was first placed, at the north end of Summer Street. 
 
 Once installed in its pulpit, Dr. Bancroft for many 
 
 years pursued the even tenor of his way, making many 
 
 friends and no enemies, and by his virtues and writings 
 
 building up a great and solid reputation. After forty- 
 
 one years a colleague was provided, and on the 28th 
 
 10 
 
 Marginalia 
 
70 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 of March 1827, the Rev. Alonzo Hill was ordained to 
 that office. In 1829 the old meeting-house was deserted 
 for a new and more spacious one built of brick on the 
 site occupied by the present edifice. 
 
 On the 19th of August 1839, Dr. Bancroft departed 
 this life at the age of nearly eighty-four. He began 
 his preaching in Worcester as an avowed Arminian. 
 He was also from the first, as he said, an Arian, but 
 not an avowed one. At first he forebore to preach the 
 Arian or Unitarian doctrine “because,” in his own 
 words, “the people were not able to bear it.” When, 
 thirty-six years after, he preached a course of contro- 
 versial sermons in advocacy of that doctrine, he found 
 they were able to bear it, as they evinced by asking for 
 their publication. Curiously enough, one of these old 
 sermons, on the “ Annihilation of the Incorrigibly 
 Wicked,” places the Unitarian divine squarely by the 
 side of the late rector of orthodox “All Saints.” ^ The 
 volume called forth a high encomium from President 
 John Adams. “ Your twenty-nine sermons,” he wrote, 
 “ have expressed the result of all my reading, experi- 
 ence and reflections in a manner more satisfactory to 
 me than I could have done in the best days of my 
 strength.” Besides this volume and the best “ Life of 
 Washington ” in the day of it. Dr. Bancroft was the 
 author of thirty-four other publications, chiefly sermons. 
 In the “ Worcester Pulpit ” his character was drawn by 
 the author of that work, with fit expansions and illustra- 
 tions, as that of a benevolent, candid, brave, discreet, 
 much-enduring and conscientious minister and man. 
 
 1 Compare Dr. Bancroft’s twenty-seventh sermon with Dr. 
 Huntington’s “ Conditional Immortality,” published more than 
 half a century after. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 71 
 
 His face, which art has made familiar in many places, 
 has all the attractions of the ideal saintly pastor. 
 
 On the death of Dr. Bancroft, his colleague. Dr. 
 Hill, became sole pastor, and so remained for more 
 ' than thirty-one years. On the 29th of August 1849, 
 the church was destroyed by fire. Three days after 
 the society began to build anew, and on the 26th of 
 March 1851, dedicated the present church edifice. 
 While the body of the building is in the plain rectangu- 
 lar style of that day, the spire is a model of architectural 
 beauty. In the pulpit of this church Dr. Hill com- 
 pleted his ministry of more than forty-three years. At 
 the end of forty years from his ordination he preached 
 a historical discourse, wherein may be found much 
 interesting information touching the Second Parish 
 and his own ministry. His death occurred February 
 I, 1871. Dr. Hill was a man of rare benignity; his 
 face was a benediction. As a colleague he lived in 
 entire harmony with his senior, and as sole pastor he 
 perpetuated all amiable traditions. For nearly a | 
 century the Second Parish flourished under the two ! 
 pastorates in an atmosphere of peace diffused by the ^ 
 personal influence of the two pastors. ! 
 
 The third minister of the parish was the Rev. Edward ' 
 Henry Hall. He had been installed as the colleague ^ 
 of Dr. Hill on the loth of February 1869, succeeded ! 
 as sole pastor at the decease of the latter in 1871. Mr. 
 Hall closed his ministry of thirteen years to accept the 
 charge of the Unitarian Church in Cambridge. He ■ 
 had so endeared himself to his parishioners that with | 
 unfeigned regret they yielded to the separation. He 
 had continued and re-enforced the traditional amenities | 
 of the Second Parish ministry. He had approved I 
 
 Marginalia 
 
72 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 himself “ a scholar, and a ripe and good one.” As a 
 thinker he had pushed his way among the deep prob- 
 lems of thought beyond what was commonly known 
 of him. In the literature of art he was so much at 
 home that many outside, as well as within his own 
 parish, gladly came for instruction to the art lectures 
 which he gave on several occasions. A broad and fine 
 culture, coupled with a liberal faith, appeared to 
 express the ideal towards which he continually aspired. 
 And so his transfer to the university town was a fit 
 recognition of his aspirations and growth in that 
 direction. 
 
 A vacancy of about three years was terminated by 
 the installation of the Rev. Austin Samuel Garver, 
 on the nth of March in the year 1885. He was a 
 native of Scotland, Pennsylvania, and was educated at 
 Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, and at Andover 
 Theological Seminary. His first settlement was at 
 Hingham in 1872, and his next at Hopedale ; at the 
 same time he supplied preaching at Greenwood. From 
 this ministry he was called to the pulpit of the Second 
 Parish in Worcester. 
 
 Church of the Unity. — Sixty years after the 
 formation of the First Unitarian Church proceedings 
 for a second were initiated. At the close of service in 
 the afternoon of June 23, 1844, some persons, at the 
 request of eleven members of the Second Parish, 
 tarried to hold a conference on the subject. In 
 August a committee reported in favor of a new Unita- 
 rian society. On the 25th of that month a meeting 
 was held at which it was voted “ to procure funds to 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 73 
 
 pay for preaching, to hire a preacher, and to procure a 
 place in which to hold religious worship, also to procure 
 subscriptions of funds to build a church.” Forthwith 
 subscriptions were opened, a building fund inaugurated, 
 the present lot on Elm Street purchased, and early in 
 the spring of 1845 erection of a church edifice 
 begun. On the 26th of January in the same year the 
 first religious service was conducted by the Rev. Dr. 
 James Thompson, of Barre, in a hall over the Claren- 
 don Harris book-store. On the 27th of November, 
 after the necessary preliminaries, the “ Second Unita- 
 rian Society in Worcester ” became a body corporate 
 under that name and style. The number of corporators 
 was forty-one, among whom were Pliny Merrick and 
 Benjamin F. Thomas, afterwards justices of the 
 Supreme Court of Massachusetts. On the 7th of 
 February 1846, the parish adopted the following, which 
 is its only by-law : “Any person signing his name to 
 a certificate in a book kept by the clerk for that pur- 
 pose, signifying his intention to do so, shall thereby 
 become a member of this parish.” At the same 
 meeting, by regular action on an article which had 
 been put into the warrant, the parish voted that its 
 name should be the “ Church of the Unity.” But it 
 does not appear that anything was ever done to legalize 
 this change of name. 
 
 On the loth of February 1846, the Rev. Edward 
 Everett Hale was unanimously invited to become the 
 minister of the parish. On the 25th of April occurred 
 the dedication of the church, and on the 26th the 
 installation of the minister. The dedicatory sermon — 
 a remarkable one — was preached by the Rev. Orville 
 Dewey, D. D., and that of the installation by the Rev. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
74 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Samuel Lothrop, D. D. No church was ever formed 
 in connection with this parish, no creed or covenant 
 ever adopted, no deacons elected. But, in semblance 
 of church order, on the 25th of May 1846, the parish, 
 at a meeting duly warned, adopted these resolutions : 
 “ That a committee be directed to make the necessary 
 arrangements for the administration of the ordinances 
 of religion : That this church has united for all means 
 and purposes of Christian fellowship : Therefore, that 
 an invitation be given to all persons present to partake 
 with us of the Lord’s Supper.” This action marked 
 the striking departure from the First Unitarian Church 
 which from the beginning had a church organization 
 with a covenant, diaconate and solemn admission to 
 membership. The ministry of Dr. Hale continued for 
 ten years. He then, June 30, 1856, resigned his office, 
 not because of any dissatisfaction, but because he had 
 received a call to Boston where he would have leisure 
 for study which the constant draft for sermon-writing 
 in Worcester would not allow. His parishioners were 
 dismayed at this threatened calamity and earnestly 
 sought, but were unable to avert it. The brillliant 
 career of Dr. Hale since he sundered this tie is known 
 to all the world. 
 
 Nine months went by before action was taken to 
 provide his successor. On the 19th of April 1857, from 
 among several who had been nominated in the parish 
 meeting, the parish by a major vote invited the Rev. 
 George M. Bartol of Lancaster to accept the vacant 
 place. Mr. Bartol declined the call and the parish 
 went on without a minister for a year and eight months 
 longer, when, December 22, 1858, the Rev. Rush R. 
 Shippen was installed. In July 1871, Mr. Shippen 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 75 
 
 resigned to take office as secretary of the American 
 Unitarian Association. In a printed discourse Mr. 
 Shippen said : “ We observe the Communion as a 
 
 Memorial Service only.” Under his ministry, in 1865, 
 the church edifice was enlarged by the addition of 
 forty-six pews at a cost of five thousand dollars. 
 
 After nearly two years Rev. Henry Blanchard was 
 installed on the 4th of May 1873. Mr. Blanchard 
 came into the parish from among the Universalists, 
 and when he left returned into that fold. But while 
 with the Church of the Unity, he sought, in a printed 
 letter addressed to his parishioners, to define more 
 exactly their dogmatic position by this utterance : 
 “ We stand for liberty of thought and Christianity. 
 We define this latter, in the words of Noah Webster, 
 to be ‘ the system of precepts and doctrines taught by 
 Jesus Christ.’ We learn these from the words of the 
 teacher as they are taught in the New Testament.” 
 Mr. Blanchard’s resignation was dated March 4, 1880, 
 and was accepted to take effect on the ist of April 
 following. The Rev. Roland A. Wood, by birth an 
 Englishman, was installed as his successor on the ist 
 of June, 1881. On the 14th of September 1884, he 
 resigned his office, and on the ist of January 1885, 
 the resignation took effect. A year elapsed before 
 another minister was settled, and during this inter- 
 val extensive improvements were made upon the 
 church edifice by the construction of parish rooms 
 and a general application of decorative art. The cost 
 of this outlay was fifteen thousand dollars. In this 
 renovated and attractive edifice the Rev. Calvin Steb- 
 bins was installed as the fifth minister of the Church 
 of the Unity in January 1886. Mr. Stebbins was 
 
 Marginalia 
 
76 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 born at South Wilbraham (now Hampden) in 1837 ; 
 graduated at Amherst in 1862 and at the Divinity 
 School in Cambridge in 1863, his first settle- 
 
 ment in Lebanon, N. H. 
 
 South Unitarian Society. — In the winter of 1888, 
 Arthur J. Marble, seeing that the city had greatly 
 increased in population while the Unitarians had 
 remained stationary, made the first move for a third 
 society of that order. He laid his views before the 
 two Unitarian ministers of the city, both of whom 
 approved and offered their services in preaching for a 
 year without compensation. Presently, Mrs. Theodore 
 Brown became interested in the scheme and rendered 
 very efficient service. The first religious service was. 
 held in Freeland street school-house on the 28th of 
 October 1888. A congregation of about one hundred 
 was made up equally of persons from the old societies 
 and residents in the neighbourhood. From that time 
 a preaching service was continued every Sunday except 
 during the summer vacation. Early in the summer of 
 1889 the place of worship was transferred to Pilgrim 
 Hall, which was rented for the purpose by the Pilgrim 
 Church. This change was followed by a very manifest 
 growth. In the spring of 1889, a temporary society 
 was organized by the election of a parish committee of 
 five, a clerk and a treasurer. At the outset, the sum 
 of $13. was paid in to meet expenses. The same sum 
 remains in the treasury today, as the society has been 
 by other ways self-supporting. As the proceeds of a 
 fair inaugurated by the Unitarian societies, the sum of 
 $2000 was deposited in bank to be held against the 
 
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CHURCHES 
 
 79 
 
 time when the purchase of a lot for the building of a 
 church should be deemed expedient. Committees 
 were also appointed to solicit further aid. The 27th 
 of October 1889 was observed as the anniversary of 
 the enterprise, when the pastors and singers of the old 
 societies were present assisting, and great hopefulness 
 touching the future prevailed. Eventually, it is expected 
 that the society will become incorporate under the law. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Baptists. 
 
 First Baptist Church. — James Wilson was the 
 founder of the Baptist denomination in Worcester. 
 He was a layman who came here from England bringing 
 his Baptist principles with him. On his arrival he 
 found no one in Worcester like minded with himself, 
 save two old persons and Dr. John Green, who soon 
 disappeared, leaving him alone. Trinitarian Congre- 
 gationalism and Unitarian Congregationalism were in 
 complete possession of the ground, with two doughty 
 doctors of divinity to maintain it against all comers. 
 But Mr. Wilson was neither dismayed, nor converted, 
 nor driven away. He had a great staying quality, and 
 because of it the Baptist idea at last took root and 
 flourished. From 1795, the year of his coming, until 
 the constitution of the First Baptist Church, in 1812, 
 he kept the faith, occasionally had meetings for 
 religious worship in his dwelling-house, and did what 
 he could to nourish the seed he had planted. In time 
 an association was formed, occasional preaching was 
 had and the Centre school-house was rented for 
 
 Sunday service. “ Opposition applied the spice.” On 
 
 11 
 
8o 
 
 JVOI^CESTER 
 
 the 28th of September 1812, the Rev. William Bentley 
 was employed on a salary ; on the 9th of December 
 “ the Baptist Church in Worcester ” was constituted. 
 It was composed of twenty-eight members equally 
 divided between the sexes. The first pastor was 
 installed on the same day. Mr. Wilson became one of 
 the deacons, and probably the first. He had long 
 before won the respect and confidence of his fellow- 
 townsmen, so that in 1801 he had been made the 
 postmaster of Worcester ; and he so continued until 
 his removal to Ohio, in 1833. creed of the church 
 
 is given at length in Lincoln’s “ History.” 
 
 In the year 1813 the first meeting-house was begun 
 and on the 23d of December was dedicated. It stood 
 on the site of the present building. Mr. Bentley 
 remained in charge until the 31st of June 1813, wLen 
 he asked and obtained a dismission. On the 3d of 
 November, in the same year, the Rev. Jonathan Going 
 accepted a call to the vacant pulpit. He remained till 
 January 1832, when, at his own request, he too was 
 dismissed. The reason which he assigned for this 
 step was, “ that he might devote himself to the interests 
 of home missions, especially in the valley of the 
 Mississippi.” He had visited the West the year before, 
 and had come back greatly pressed in spirit to go to 
 its help. Dr. Going was a remarkable man. He had 
 been educated beyond many of his Baptist brethren, 
 while his natural powers were of a superior order. In 
 advance of his contemporaries he had a vision of the 
 wonderful future of the great Western valley, and 
 determined to do his part in giving it a set towards the 
 right. Without loss of time the Rev. Frederic A. 
 ^^fillard stepped into the pulpit left vacant by Dr. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 8i 
 
 Going. He was a graduate of Amherst in the class of 
 1826. The year before coming to Worcester he had 
 received and declined an appointment to the professor- 
 ship of chemistry in Waterville College. Having 
 remained with the Worcester church till July 30, 1835, 
 he then resigned, to become at a later day the pastor 
 of the First Baptist Church in Newton. He was 
 succeeded, on the 27th of October, by the Rev. 
 Jonathan Aldrich, who, after seeing the church enlarged 
 by the addition of two hundred and eighteen members, 
 took his dismission in May 1838. 
 
 In April of the following year the Rev. Samuel B. 
 Swaim became the pastor, and so remained for more 
 than fifteen years. He was a graduate of Brown 
 University in the class of 1830 ; in 1835 
 accepted a professorship of theology in Granville 
 College which the poverty of the college did not 
 allow him to retain. His ministry was one of great 
 power. Under it the church “ attained its highest 
 numerical, social and financial condition.” His death, 
 at the age of fifty-five years, was felt to be nothing less 
 than a calamity. In 1855 the Rev. J. D. E. Jones 
 became the next pastor. After holding his office 
 during four years he resigned it in 1859 to become 
 superintendent of public schools. He was succeeded 
 by the Rev. Lemuel Moss on the 14th of August i860. 
 Remaining until the 25th of July 1864, he then resigned 
 his pulpit. Dr. Moss subsequently became president 
 of Indiana State University. On the first Sabbath in 
 April 1865, the Rev. H. K. Pervear entered upon his 
 duties as the next pastor of this church. On the last 
 day of the year 1872 his pastorate came to an end, and 
 on the ist day of April 1873 the Rev. B. D. Marshall 
 
82 
 
 WOJ^CESTEJ^ 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 began his labors as the ninth pastor of the First Baptist 
 Church. After a service of fourteen years, Dr. Mar- 
 shall resigned his office on the last Sunday in March 
 
 1887. His successor, the Rev. George G. Craft, was 
 inducted into office in January 1888. 
 
 The present church was erected in the time of Mr. 
 Aldrich on the site of the original building which had 
 been destroyed by fire. It was a larger and finer 
 building than the first, and from time to time under- 
 went important improvements, the last of which, in 
 
 1888, involved an expenditure of nine thousand dollars. 
 In October 1889 the membership of the church was 499. 
 
 Second Baptist Church. — This was a colony from 
 the First Church. It was constituted on the 28th day 
 of December 1841 with ninety-eight members, of whom 
 eighty-nine were from the parent church. In one year 
 one hundred more were added. The first preacher 
 was the Rev. John Jennings, and the first place of 
 worship was the Town Hall, where religious services 
 continued to be held till the close of 1843. On the 
 4th of January 1844 the new house of worship on 
 Pleasant Street was dedicated. No society was organ- 
 ized ; the business of the body was transacted by the 
 church which was the owner of the property. The 
 Rev. Mr. Jennings had become the pastor early in 
 1842, and he resigned his charge on the 27th of 
 November 1849, nearly eight years of successful 
 
 service. His successor was the Rev. Charles K. 
 Colver, who accepted a call to the pastorate on the 
 14th of April 1850. After four years of service failure 
 of health obliged him to resign his place. The next 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 83 
 
 I 
 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
 s\ 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 pastor was the Rev. Daniel W. Faunce, who entered 
 upon his duties on the ist of September 1854. He 
 retained his office until i860, when he tendered his 
 resignation, to take effect on the 30th of April. 
 
 Meanwhile, in the year 1856, the house of worship 
 had been repaired and remodeled “ at a large expense.” 
 The front was rebuilt because of the change in the 
 street grade ; the style of architecture was altered and 
 a tower added. 
 
 On the nth of June i860 the Rev. J. J. Tucker 
 accepted a call to the pastorate, but after a service of 
 fifteen months felt compelled, by the force of circum- 
 stances, to resign his place on the 30th of September 
 1861. For nearly a year the church was without a 
 pastor; then it was fortunate in securing the services 
 of the Rev. David Weston. Having accepted a call 
 some weeks before, he was duly ordained in August 
 1862 as the fifth pastor of the Pleasant Street Church. 
 Dr. Weston fulfilled his office with great satisfaction to 
 the people of his charge for more than eight years, 
 and then, on the 25th of November 1870, laid it down 
 “to engage in another sphere of labor.” The church, 
 in a series of tender resolutions, bore its testimony to 
 him as “ a ripe scholar, skillful sermonizer and sound 
 theologian.” 
 
 Two ministers in succession were now called, but 
 both declined the call. On the 7th of June 1872, the 
 Rev. I. R. Wheelock received a call, accepted it on the 
 loth of July, and was ordained on the ist of August. 
 After nearly three years his resignation was accepted 
 on the 28th of March 1875. He was followed by the 
 Rev. Sullivan S. Holman, who was installed on the 
 loth of June in the same year. Having accepted a 
 
 I 
 
 Marginalia 
 
84 
 
 WORCESTEJ^ 
 
 call to another field of labor, Mr. Holman offered hi:, 
 resignation, which was accepted on the loth of Marcl 
 1882 “with feelings of sorrow.” Six months after, 
 the Rev. J. S. James of Allentown, Pa., received anc 
 declined a call. On the 7th of December following 
 Rev. Henry F. Lane accepted a unanimous call, anc 
 on the first Sunday in January 1883 entered upon hi: 
 new ministry. On the ist day of March 1888 hi: 
 term of service was terminated by the joint action o 
 pastor and people, after five years of uninterruptec 
 harmony. On the 27th of June the Rev. H. J. Whit( 
 accepted a call which had been given on the 6th o 
 that month. Mr. White was educated at Bates College 
 in Lewiston, Me., where he was graduated in 1877 1 
 Previous to coming to Worcester he had settlements ii I 
 Biddeford, Bath and Augusta in that state. , 
 
 A thorough revision of the roll left 264 as the 
 membership of this church in October 1889. 
 
 Main Street Baptist Church. — This was : 
 second colony from the First Baptist Church. In Jund 
 1852 a petition by Eli Thayer and fifteen others wa; 
 presented to that church, expressing a desire to forn: 
 a third Baptist Church. They declared their readinesi! 
 to begin at once, and dutifully asked for the suppori| 
 and approval of the mother church. The materna 
 sanction was promptly and cordially granted; the Cit J', 
 Hall was at once engaged, and there, in July, the Re\ 
 Dr. Sharp of Boston preached the first sermon for th- 
 new colony. Public worship was maintained in th 
 same place until November, when the place of meetin,. 
 was transferred to Brinley Hall. There a Sunda} 
 
\ 
 
 r 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 8S 
 
 school was organized, and there preaching by the Rev. 
 
 I 
 
 l| 
 
 S. S. Cutting was continued through the winter. In 
 the evening of February 26, 1853, a parish organization 
 was duly perfected under the name of the “ Third 
 Baptist Society in Worcester.” The business was done 
 in the law-office of Francis Wayland, Jr., under a war- 
 rant issued by Isaac Davis. On Sunday, the next day, 
 a committee was appointed to prepare Articles of Faith 
 and a Covenant with a view to a church organization. 
 On the 6th of March what were known as the “ New 
 Hampshire Articles of Faith” and “ Covenant ” were 
 adopted, a clerk was chosen, and the church constituted 
 with thirty-three members. At the same time the Rev. 
 William H. F. Hansel was chosen to be the pastor ; 
 but the call he declined. 
 
 On the 1 8th of May 1853 the society voted to build 
 a chapel at the corner of Leicester (now Hermon) and 
 Main streets. On the 23d of June the recognition of 
 the new church took place with a sermon by the Rev. 
 Dr. Ide of Springfield. In the course of the year the 
 chapel was completed at a cost, including that of land 
 and furnishing, of $6461.17. On the first Sunday in 
 January 1854 it was occupied for the first time for 
 public worship. On the i8th of September following 
 Mr. H. L. Wayland was unanimously called to the 
 pastorate. In accepting the call he relinqished two 
 hundred dollars of the moderate salary which had 
 been voted to him, as a contribution to the expenses of 
 the society. On the ist of November occurred his 
 ordination, President Wayland preaching the sermon. 
 On the 1 2th of February 1855 plans for a church 
 edifice were adopted and a building committee was 
 chosen. Early in May ground was broken ; in the 
 
86 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 course of the year the house was finished, and on the 
 second Sunday in January 1856 was occupied for 
 public worship. The whole property, including church, 
 chapel, land and furnishing, had cost $25,174.01. 
 
 After a highly successful ministry of seven years the 
 resignation of Mr. Wayland was accepted, with much 
 regret, on the 4th of October 1861. A week before he 
 had left his home to enter the service of the Republic 
 as chaplain of the Seventh Connecticut Volunteers. 
 For twenty-eight months he continued in that service ; 
 then became successively a home missionary in Ten- 
 nessee, a teacher in two Western colleges, an editor in 
 Philadelphia. On the first Sunday in May 1862 his 
 successor. Rev. Joseph Banvard, entered upon the 
 duties of his office. On the 15th of February 1864 
 the parish voted to change its name, and take the 
 name of the “ Main Street Baptist Society,” and at the 
 same time took means to obtain the legislative sanction 
 thereto. Dr. Banvard having resigned after a ministry 
 of nearly four years, adhered to his purpose against 
 the earnest wishes of the church expressed in its vote 
 of March 9, 1866. The church then elected as his 
 successor the Rev. George B. Gow, in recognition of 
 whom public services were held on the i8th of April 
 1867. 
 
 In the next year an attempt was made to introduce 
 the system of free seats; but though the church 
 adopted a vote affirming it to be “ unscriptural and 
 unchristian to rent seats ” and offering to sustain the 
 society in abolishing rentals, the latter body was found 
 to be not then prepared for the innovation. In 1872 
 Mr. Gow’s resignation was accepted, to take effect on 
 the last Sunday in October. His successor was the 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 87 
 
 Rev. F. W. Bakeman, who, after a pastorate of about 
 three years and three months, terminated the same on 
 the ist of July 1876. After an interval of sixteen 
 months the Rev. George E. Horr became the fifth 
 pastor of the church. He entered upon the duties of 
 his office on the 4th of November 1877, with services 
 of recognition on the 20th. Before the close of this 
 year the chapel was enlarged and improved at a cost of 
 $4829.40. 
 
 On the 2d of November 1879 the twenty-fifth anni- 
 versary of the ordination of the first pastor. Rev. Dr. 
 H. L. Wayland, was appropriately observed. A dis- 
 course full of interesting reminiscences was delivered 
 by Dr. Wayland and afterwards printed by request. 
 In honor of him it was voted, about this time, “ that 
 the bell to be placed on the tower bear the inscription? 
 Wayland Memorials By a change in the by-laws on 
 the loth of February 1881, no person was thereafter 
 to be admitted to membership in the parish who was 
 not already a member of the church. On the 24th of 
 October in the same year the resignation of Mr. Horr 
 was accepted ; and on the 3d of October in the next 
 year, by a vote of thirty-nine to three, the Rev. Henry 
 A. Rogers of Montpelier, Vt., was called to the 
 pastorate. 
 
 In 1883 an act was consummated by the parish that 
 
 was, perhaps, without precedent. Acting upon the 
 
 written opinion of the Hon. Peter C. Bacon, L L. D., 
 
 the Nestor of the Worcester bar, the parish, at a 
 
 meeting held on the 24th of April and 8th of May, 
 
 under a warrant drawn by Mr. Bacon, transferred, in 
 
 the way of gift, its meeting-house and all its other 
 
 property, real and personal, to the deacons, “for the 
 
 12 
 
 Alarginalia 
 
88 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 use of the church.” In the warrant was an article “ to 
 see if the society would take any action in regard to ^ 
 dissolving the society.” No formal action was taken 
 under this article. After provision had been made for 
 transferring the property it was “ voted to adjourn 
 without day.” No meeting of the parish was ever 
 held after that, and evidently it was assumed that the J 
 parish was “ dissolved.” But to all appearance the Jj' 
 “ Main Street Baptist Society ” still lives and has a ' 
 name to live. ] 
 
 Mr. Rogers continued his ministry with the Main 
 Street Church until 1886, when a growing disagree- 
 ment between him and certain of the membership, 
 and also within the membership itself, culminated 
 in the summary dismission of himself and fifty-six 
 others on the 27th of October, “for the purpose 
 of forming a Baptist church in the south part of 
 the city.” At the same time the pastor gave in his 
 resignation to take effect on the 31st. On the next 
 day it was unanimously accepted. On the 19th of 
 December the Main Street Church proposed a mutual 
 council to the “ South Baptist Church,” but the overture 
 was declined. On the 31st of January 1887, Professor 
 C. R. Newton was employed to supply the pulpit as 
 acting pastor. This continued until the 23d of Sep- 
 tember, when the Rev. Charles H. Pendleton was duly 
 installed. 
 
 In October 1889 the membership was 259. 
 
 Dewey Street Baptist Church. — As in many 
 other cases, a Sunday-school was the beginning of this 
 church. It was organized in the Mason Street school- 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 89 
 
 house on the first Sunday in August 1867. Mr. L. M. 
 Sargent and other laymen from the First Baptist Church 
 were the original movers in the enterprise. For several 
 years Joseph H. Walker, now member of Congress, 
 was its superintendent. Under his efficient administra- 
 tion the school prospered so greatly that more ample 
 accommodations were speedily called for. This led to 
 the building of the chapel on Dewey Street. The lot 
 on which it was erected was the joint gift of the late 
 Judge Francis H. Dewey and Joseph Mason, Esq. 
 Including this land, valued at $750, the cost of the 
 property was $4570. Of this sum, $1000 was the gift 
 of Mr. Walker. The dedication of the chapel took 
 place on the 8th of February 1872, and from that date 
 it was occupied for the Sunday-school and religious 
 services. The church was organized on the 8th of 
 July in the same year with a membership of twenty- 
 eight. Its first pastor was Mr. Sargent, the layman to 
 whose zeal and efficiency the church had owed its origin. 
 During five years of devoted service he had approved 
 himself in that and other ways worthy of recognition 
 as one among the clerical brethren. Accordingly, on 
 the 2d of May 1872, he was called to the ministry of 
 the Dewey Street congregation. This was two months 
 before the church had been formed. On the 5th of 
 September it was recognized by a council convened 
 in the chapel, and at the same time Mr. Sargent was 
 ordained to the work of the ministry and installed as 
 pastor of the church. His ministry was brief. On 
 account of ill health he resigned on the 2d of May 
 1873. At the close of his term of service the mem- 
 bership of the church had increased to forty-four 
 persons. The next pastor was the Rev. D. F. Lamson. 
 
90 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Coming on the ist of July 1873 and remaining nine 
 and a half years, he left, on the ist of January 1882, a 
 church embracing ninety-five members. His successor. 
 Rev. B. H. Lane, entered on his office on the ist of 
 June 1882, and vacated it on the 15th of October 1884. 
 On the 19th of the same month the Rev. D. H. 
 Stoddard assumed the office. He was graduated from 
 Brown University in 1864 and from Rochester Theo- 
 logical Seminary in 1867 ; and was first settled in Athol 
 and afterwards in Great Falls, N. H., leaving that 
 church about August i, 1869. 
 
 Growing congregations and consequent prosperity 
 soon made apparent the inadequacy of the chapel accom- 
 modations. Mr. Stoddard therefore took in hand the 
 business of building a church edifice ; and the Baptist 
 City Mission Board, seeing the importance of the field 
 and its manifest needs, cordially co-operated with Mr. 
 Stoddard in his scheme of church-building. With the 
 aid of $7000 from this source more land was bought 
 and a commodious edifice, with “perfect ventilation,” 
 was erected at a cost of $14,844. The value of the 
 enlarged lot was reckoned at $2000 additional. On 
 Thanksgiving Day in 1886 the vestry was first occupied, 
 and on the 13th of January 1887 the completed build- 
 ing was dedicated. The property is held by trustees, 
 there being no parish organization. The seats are free 
 and the current expenses are paid by weekly contribu- 
 tions. In October 1889 the membership of the church 
 was 160. 
 
 Lincoln Square Baptist Church. — This church 
 grew from very feeble beginnings. Sunday schools 
 I had been begun and discontinued ; only occasional 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 91 
 
 preaching had been had. Material resources were 
 limited and lack of courage prevailed. Many years 
 elapsed before the decisive step of forming a church 
 was taken. There came a time, at last, when some of 
 the waiting ones “ heajd a call from God to go forward,” 
 and on the 4th of April 1881 the church was organized. 
 The original membership consisted of thirty -one 
 persons, largely from the Pleasant Street Church. 
 Public services of recognition were held on the next 
 day in accordance with the vote of council. Through 
 the summer following, preaching was supplied by the 
 Rev. D. F. Lamson, of the Dewey Street Church. In 
 October the Rev. J. J. Miller entered upon his work 
 as the first pastor. Till then public worship had been 
 conducted in a hall ; but the new pastor made it his 
 first business to provide a church edifice. To his 
 unwearied endeavors and personal influence it was 
 owing that the enterprise was successful. In May 
 1882 a building-lot on Highland Street near Lincoln 
 Square was purchased, and a substantial edifice of 
 brick and stone of excellent architectural design was 
 erected. The lower part of the house was occupied 
 for religious services on the 8th of July 1883. On the 
 loth of June 1884 the dedication of the complete 
 building took place. The cost of land, building and 
 furniture was about thirty thousand dollars. Of this 
 amount Joseph H. Walker, of the Main Street Baptist 
 Church, was the largest contributor. Gifts also were 
 made by friends outside the Baptist fold. “ The 
 property is held and controlled by the church through 
 its appointed officers.” The seats are free and current 
 expenses are met by weekly offerings. In October 
 1889 the membership was 366. 
 
92 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 South Baptist Church. — The inception of this 
 church was as early as 1883, and was due to the Rev. 
 Henry A. Rogers, then recently installed as pastor of 
 the Main Street Baptist Church. Mr. Rogers believed 
 in “missions,” and had passed much of his life in 
 setting them on foot. Immediately on beginning work 
 in Worcester he took note of the fact that the whole 
 section lying south of the Main Street Church was 
 without any kind of Baptist organization. He there- 
 fore proposed to his own church the establishment of a 
 mission in that quarter. The proposal met with little 
 encouragement. Then he began a mission at his own 
 charge. One day in June 1883 he was casually intro- 
 duced to a young Frenchman named Isaac B. Le 
 Claire. This man had led an abandoned life, had 
 been a Roman Catholic, and not very long before had 
 been converted to the Baptist faith and was now living 
 a sober life. A brief interview ended in his being 
 employed by Mr. Rogers as a colporteur. He at once 
 went to work holding meetings in school-houses and 
 private houses. The results of his work proved him 
 to be the right man in the right place ; and, indeed, his 
 subsequent career in a far wider field showed that he 
 had a remarkable fitness for his work. His immediate 
 success in South Worcester was such that by August 
 the Main Street Church felt constrained to assume the 
 charge of the mission. By the winter of 1884 every 
 available place of meeting had become so crowded that 
 Le Claire was moved to ask for the building of a 
 chapel ; his request was promptly heeded, and the 
 chapel at Jamesville was the result. All this was 
 preparatory for the South Church scheme. The first 
 suggestion for a chapel on the site which it afterwards 
 
CirURC/fES 
 
 93 
 
 occupied was made in January 1884 at a prayer-meeting 
 in the house of William A. Norton. In Kel)ruary Mr. 
 Rogers urged the new chapel upon his people, express- 
 ing with much detail the reasons for the enterprise. 
 After a time the Raptist City Mission Hoard became 
 possessed, as not before, with the mission idea and 
 adopted a comprehensive plan for the city, including 
 the South Worcester Mission. On the i4th of September 
 
 1886, the lioard took measures to secure the lot already 
 mentioned, on the corner of Main and Gates streets. 
 On the ist of (.Ictober the Main Street Church, at a 
 very large meeting of eighty-one members, unanimously 
 voted in favor of the South Church enterprise. In 
 view of this action, the Hoard on the 19th made over all 
 claim to the lot in favor of the South Church. On the 
 2ist, a large number of the Main Street Church agreed 
 together to ask letters of dismission for the purpose of 
 organizing the South Church. On the 27th, at a 
 covenant and business meeting of the Main Street 
 Church where one hundred and thirty persons were 
 present, of whom not less than one hundred and 
 twenty were, by estimation, of the membership, fifty- 
 seven were dismissed by a large majority vote, iiut 
 of the fifty-seven only forty were present at the meet- 
 ing. On the next day, October 28th, the fifty-seven 
 members, including Mr. Rogers, assembled in the 
 chapel on Canterbury Street and were constituted a 
 church by the adoption of Articles of Faith and the 
 election of deacons and clerk. At the same meeting 
 was consummated the settlement of Mr. Rogers as 
 pastor of the new church. On the 27th of February 
 
 1887, the church was publicly recognized by a council 
 duly convened. 'I'he baptist Mission Jioard, having 
 
 Marginalia 
 
94 
 
 WOIk^CESTEJ^ 
 
 acquired possession of the old Dewey Street Chapel, 
 conveyed the same to the new organization and it 
 was removed to the lot already described ; and there, 
 fronting Clark University, on the 30th of December 
 1887 became the church home of the South baptist 
 Church. No parish was organized, but the deacons 
 were made trustees to hold the property for the use of 
 the church, after the method advised by Mr. bacon in 
 the case of the Main Street Church. Land, chapel 
 and other property cost the South Church $5000. The 
 membership was 179 in October 1889. 
 
 Adams Square Church. — For some three years 
 the baptist City Mission board maintained a mission 
 at Adams Square. A chapel had been erected by the 
 board at a cost, including land, of $3500, and there 
 religious services were conducted under its auspices. 
 This continued until October 3, 1889, when the 
 “ Adams Square Church ” was duly recognized by a 
 council of pastors and delegates from the churches of 
 the city and vicinity. At the same time the Rev. 
 1 ). W. Hoyt assumed office as pastor of the church, 
 ddie title to the property was retained by the board, 
 but its free use for public worship was granted to the 
 new body. At the date of organization the number of 
 members was fifty, the larger part of whom were from 
 the Lincoln Square Church. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 95 
 
 Mctliodiste. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Methodism made its first approaches for the capture 
 of Worcester after a somewhat straggling fashion. In 
 1790 the Rev. Freeborn Garrettson, “that princely 
 class-leader,” as Dr. Dorchester styles him, came to 
 Worcester, looked about town, fell in with Dr. Ban- 
 croft, by him w^as invited to tea, “ drew back ” because 
 the Unitarian doctor did not think it worth while to 
 say grace over the evening cup, and went on his way 
 Mr. Garrettson tells the story in his private diary. 
 The urbane Unitarian doctor was, perhaps, no less 
 devout than his demonstrative Methodist brother, but 
 in the seclusion of his own home he chose to order 
 his devotions in his own way. Next after Mr. Garrett- 
 son came Bishop Asbury, in 1798, in 1805, 1807, 
 1812 and 1815. But neither he nor any other itinerant 
 found any foothold in Worcester until 1823. Then 
 the Rev. John E. Risley came and preached the first 
 Methodist sermon heard in the town. Mr. Risley was 
 travelling the Milford Circuit embracing eighteen 
 towns. In these he preached two hundre'd and thirty- 
 five times in one year, but only five of them were in 
 Worcester. These preachings were in a school-house 
 at New Worcester, where were the only Methodists in 
 town, and of these only a family or two. Other 
 preachers came in subsequent years, but not until 
 1831 was any permanent society organized, forty-one 
 years after Garrettson’s advent. 
 
 In June 1830 the Rev. Dexter S. King had been 
 appointed to this vacant field “to break up new 
 ground.” He began at New Worcester where he 
 organized a class. This class was “ kept alive ” with 
 
 13 
 
96 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 preaching in the school-house once in two weeks. In 
 1833 Solomon Parsons joined the class and then 
 began a movement for a society in the centre of the 
 town. The way had been prepared by a young lad 
 named Jonathan L. Estey, who came to town early in 
 1832 full of 2eal to hunt up and consort with Meth- 
 odists. He at last found and became a member of 
 the class at New Worcester, and by his zeal so infected 
 his associates that in the end Methodist preaching was 
 established in the centre. Early in 1833 a room was 
 hiied at the corner of Mechanic and Pinion streets for 
 the use of a Class. There the Rev. William Rout- 
 ledge preached at times ; at other times he preached 
 in the Central Church vestry and in the Baptist 
 Church. In the autumn what was considered a bold 
 step was taken. Eighteen persons, at the head of 
 whom was Solomon Parsons, presented to the town 
 authorities a petition for leave to use the Town Hall 
 for Methodist meetings. Leave was formally granted 
 at $2 a Sunday, and the first Methodist sermon was 
 preached there by the Rev. Ira M. Bidwell on the 
 Sunday after Christmas in 1833. Then the work went 
 on “in the old Methodist style.” “The hall was 
 crowded, and,” says Bidwell, “we had a time of 
 power. After this we did not want for a congregation 
 in Worcester.” Early in 1834, the Rev. Joseph A. 
 Merrill was appointed by the bishop to this, the 
 Worcester Mission. On the 8th of February thirteen 
 persons were duly organized as the “ Methodist 
 Episcopal Religious Society in the town of Worcester.” 
 This was a parish organization, and Dr. Dorchester 
 says the step was taken to obtain relief from taxa- 
 tion in other parishes. But this is a mistake. Prior 
 
f 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 97 
 
 to 1834 the law which would have made this step 
 necessary had been changed. The further history of 
 this organization is now to be pursued as that of the 
 
 First Methodist or Trinity Church. — In June 
 1834 the Rev. George Pickering was appointed 
 preacher to this church, but was also charged with 
 duties that carried him into the surrounding towns. 
 Meantime, a board of trustees was appointed and a 
 lot of land purchased for a church site. In the first 
 year the membership had grown to one hundred and 
 nine. In 1835 Rev. John T. Burrill was sent to 
 this charge. At this time the anti-slavery fever was 
 at its height, and an incident occurred which imper- 
 illed the infant church. On the loth of August, Rev. 
 Orange Scott, then the presiding elder of the Provi- 
 dence District, undertook to deliver an anti-slavery 
 lecture in the Methodist place of worship at the Town 
 Hall. In the midst of his discourse Levi Lincoln, Jr., 
 eldest son of the Governor, entered the hall with an 
 Irish accomplice named Patrick Doyle, advanced to 
 the desk, seized the speaker’s manuscript and tore it 
 in pieces. At the same time the Irishman laid violent 
 hands on the speaker himself. This was done in the 
 presence of an audience “ embracing many persons 
 who held the highest offices in the county and the 
 state. The contemporary account of the affair in the 
 Massachusetts Spy (August 12, 1835) styled it a 
 “ Breach of the Peace,” and the editor strongly con- 
 demned the outrage. But the notice taken of it by 
 the authorities seemed to indicate that the assailed 
 and not the assailants were regarded as the peace- 
 breakers ; for directly after, the selectmen, at the head 
 
98 
 
 IV0J^C£ST£J^ 
 
 of whom was the late Judge Merrick, notified the 
 Methodist Society that if the Town Hall were ever 
 opened again for an anti-slavery meeting their use of 
 it for preaching would be forfeited. The society, in 
 its weakness, was intimidated and did not again 
 offend. But it marks the temper of the time that, 
 later on, the courageous Scott was by his own brethren 
 deposed from, or not re-appointed to, the presiding 
 eldership because he would not promise to refrain 
 from anti-slavery lecturing. 
 
 In the autumn of 1836 the erection of a church 
 was begun on the southeast corner of Exchange and 
 Union streets, completed in March 1837, 
 
 8th of that month was dedicated with a sermon by 
 Professor Holdich of Wesleyan University. This was 
 the first Methodist meeting-house in Worcester. The 
 building was in the centre of population, but also in 
 the centre of a mudhole. It stood on piles, and was 
 approached by stepping from tuft to tuft of grass 
 across puddles and ooze. The Sj>y of that day took 
 pay for advertising the dedication of this lowly 
 church, but took no notice whatever of the dedication 
 itself. The church survived all neglect, and, waxing 
 stronger and stronger, in the end erected one of the 
 finest church edifices in the city, compelling the 
 homage of the public and the press. 
 
 In 1837 the Rev. James Porter came and remained 
 one year. Although a year of general bankruptcy, it 
 was one of great enlargement for the church. About 
 one hundred and seventy-five probationers were added 
 to the membership during his year. Mr. Porter was 
 succeeded by the Rev. Jotham Horton, whose term 
 of service was equally brief. In May 1839 church 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 99 
 
 property was legally transferred to a board of trustees, 
 in accordance with the Discipline of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. The Rev. Moses L. Scudder 
 succeeded to the pastorate in this year, to be followed 
 by the Rev. Miner Raymond in 1841. Mr. Raymond 
 remained two years, showed himself eminent as a 
 preacher, and “ made many friends beyond the limits 
 of his own society.” This year was made memorable 
 for Worcester Methodism by the meeting of the New 
 England Annual Conference in the town for the first 
 time. 
 
 In 1843 Rev. Charles K. True, D. D., was 
 assigned to the charge of this church. He was a 
 graduate of Harvard and a Methodist minister of 
 mark. Under him the project for removing the church 
 to a site near the Common was “renewed.” But 
 while they still delayed, it was burned to the ground. 
 Then a site was speedily purchased and the Park 
 Street Church erected. The Rev. Amos Binney had 
 become the pastor in 1844, under him the new 
 church was dedicated on the i6th of August 1845. 
 was noted that Mr. Binney’s term of service was very 
 “ profitable ” financially, since he had carried his 
 people through many embarrassments growing out 
 of the church-building. After him came in succession 
 the Rev. Jonathan D. Bridge, Rev. Loranus Crowell, 
 Rev. Nelson E. Cobleigh, Rev. Z. A. Mudge, Rev. 
 Daniel E. Chapin (a favorite, sent a second time). 
 Rev. Fales H. Newhall, Rev. Chester Field, Rev. John 
 H. Twombly, Rev. John W. Dadmun, Rev. John H. 
 Mansfield (whose ministry of three years was very 
 prosperous), and Rev. Charles N. Smith in 1868. 
 
 By this time the Park Street Church had become 
 
lOO 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 too strait for the congregation. The society, there- 
 fore, now grown strong in numbers, in courage and in 
 resources, determined upon building a new church 
 adequate to its new demands. Accordingly, a site 
 was procured on the corner of Main and Chandler 
 streets, and there they erected Trinity Church at a 
 cost, including the land, of one hundred thousand 
 dollars. This crowning church of Methodism in 
 Worcester was dedicated on the 25th cf April 1871. 
 The Rev. F. W. Mallalieu, D. D. (afterwards bishop), 
 was the first preacher appointed for Trinity after the 
 occupation of the new house. He came in April 1871 
 and remained one year. The Rev. Ira G. Bidwell, 
 appointed in 1872, remained three years. He was 
 followed by Rev. V. A. Cooper, who was appointed to 
 help the church financially as well as spiritually. In 
 that respect there was no disappointment, as through 
 his agency the debt was reduced by thirty-five thousand 
 dollars in one year. The Rev. A. P. Kendig followed 
 him in 1877, after whom came in succession Rev. J. A. 
 Cass, in 1879 ; Rev. C. S. Rogers, D. D., in 1882 ; 
 Rev. W. T. Perrin, in 1885, and Rev. Wm. H. Thomas, 
 D. D., in 1888. 
 
 On the 7th of February 1884, the Semi-centennial 
 of Methodism in Worcester was commemorated with 
 appropriate services at Trinity Church. A noteworthy 
 feature of the occasion v/as the reading of an address 
 in English by a converted Chinaman belonging to the 
 Grace Church membership. 1 
 
 1 In 1889 the number of Chinamen in Worcester was about 40. 
 The first Chinaman in the city came in 1872 and established a 
 laundry on Church street in a building belonging to the Bigelow 
 estate. He remained about one year, and was led by Mr. C. H. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 lOI 
 
 In October 1889 the number of rnembers in full was 
 741, and, including probationers, was 863. 
 
 Laurel Street Church. — The selection of Park 
 street for the new site of the First Church had not 
 been satisfactory to all the members. Some thought 
 it carried the church too far from the centre of popula- 
 tion ; it was too far south. Out of this dissatisfaction 
 grew the Laurel Street Church. This was as far to 
 the north. For a time, however, the new colony had 
 its place of worship on Thomas Street, which was 
 more central. The church was duly organized on the 
 20th of July 1845 5 ^^1^ until the 27th of 
 
 February 1849 that the new house on Laurel Street 
 was dedicated. The first pastor was the Rev. Richard 
 S. Rust. He was soon elected principal of the New 
 Flampshire Conference Seminary, and after a pastorate 
 of seven months was released from his engagement. 
 The Rev. J. W. Mowry followed, after whom came the 
 Rev. George Dunbar. This pastor was indefatigable 
 in his elforts to secure the erection of the new house 
 of worship. In April 1849 succeeded by the 
 
 Rev. Francis A. Griswold, after whom came in succes- 
 sion the Rev. Cyrus S. Eastman, Rev. William M. 
 
 Carpenter to attend Christian worship at Grace Church. In 
 1873 came Moy Han Lee and opened a laundry on Pleasant street 
 where the ( 3 dd Fellows’ Building now stands. As Chinamen 
 continued to increase they were gathered into the Sunday-school 
 of Grace Church by Mr. Carpenter and there were instructed at 
 noon and in the evening of every Sunday, each Chinaman having 
 his exclusive teacher. This appears to have been the only move- 
 ment of note in Worcester in behalf of these Asiatics. 
 
102 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Mann in 1850, Rev. David H. Higgins, Rev. Joseph 
 W. Lewis in 1853, Mr. Mowry again in 1854, Rev. 
 Henry W. Warren in 1855 (afterwards bishop), Rev. 
 Ichabod Marcy in 1857, Rev. Samuel Kelly in 1858, 
 and Rev. Jefferson Hascall, who had long been favor- 
 ably known as a presiding elder and was with the 
 Laurel Street Church in the latter part of 1861 to fill 
 out the term of Rev. Joseph C. Cromack. The latter 
 had been appointed in i860, but had left in August 
 1861 to become chaplain of the Nineteenth Regiment 
 of Massachusetts Volunteeers. 
 
 In 1862 Rev. T. W. Lewis was appointed to the 
 charge but left in 1863 become Superintendent of 
 Methodist Missions in South Carolina, Rev. James 
 Dean completing his term. After him came Rev. 
 M. M. Parkhurst in 1864, Rev. Samuel Kelly again in 
 1865, under whom the church reached its highest 
 prosperity ; Rev. Angelo Carroll in 1867, under whom 
 the sum of two thousand dollars was expended in 
 church improvements ; Rev. William Pentecost in 
 1869, Rev. H. D. Weston in 1872, Rev. William 
 Pentecost again in 1875, Rev. Fayette Nichols in 1878, 
 Rev. Garrett Beekman in 1880, under whose ministry 
 “ the congregation doubled ; ” Rev. G. M. Smiley in 
 1883, continuing three years, in the last of which the 
 fortieth anniversary of the church was celebrated ; 
 Rev. Ira G. Ross in 1886, and the Rev. Alonzo 
 Sanderson in 1887. Besides his spiritual work, Mr. 
 Sanderson devoted himself energetically to the im- 
 provement of the financial condition of the society, 
 and among other measures established a monthly 
 paper called the Worcester Methodist^ from which about 
 fifty dollars a month came into the parish treasury. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 103 
 
 As the result of his efficient labors a debt of more 
 than $6100 had been extinguished by the close of the 
 year 1889, and the society placed upon a sound finan- 
 cial basis. The value of the church property, aside 
 from the parsonage, is set at $12000. In October 1889, 
 the membership, including probationers, was 144. 
 
 Third M. E. (Webster Square) Church. — This 
 church was organized in i860. Two thirds of its first 
 members came from Park Street Church. Its first 
 **^3astor was the Rev. Daniel Dorchester who had also 
 been the chief agent in its organization. In 1855 
 he had become a member of the Connecticut Senate 
 where he acted a prominent part in various directions. 
 But in later years Dr. Dorchester became greatly more 
 distinguished as the learned historian and statistician 
 of the Methodist Connection.^ The first religious ser- 
 vices of this church were held in Union Hall. The 
 membership, at first small, increased more than ten- 
 fold during the first year. Members of other denom- 
 inations in the vicinity took a lively interest in the 
 enterprise and contributed to its maintenance. In 
 1863 the Rev. William Gordon became the pastor. 
 To him succeeded, in due order. Rev. William A. 
 Braman in 1864, Rev. William Pentecost in 1866, Rev. 
 Edward W. Virgin in 1867, Rev. Benjamin F. 
 Chase in 1869. This last pastor was in the midst of 
 a work of great spiritual power, when he was suddenly 
 prostrated by a hemorrhage which, after prolonged 
 illness, terminated his life. His memory long remained 
 
 1 In 1889 Dr. Dorchester was appointed by President Harrison 
 Commissioner of Indian Schools in the United States. 
 
 14 
 
 Marginalia 
 
104 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 fragrant in the church. After him came the Rev. 
 Charles H. Hanaford, in 1870. Under him the long- 
 agitated subject of church-building assumed definite 
 shape ; contributions came in from members and from 
 others outside, notably from Albert Curtis and the 
 Messrs. Coes ; and the house was erected on a fine 
 site purchased long before, and on the 27th of April 
 was duly dedicated. The cost was about $20,000. In 
 1872 the Rev. Pliny Wood was appointed to the 
 charge. After him came the Rev. xMr. Parsons in 
 1873, Rev. E. A. Titus in 1875, V. M. Simmons 
 in 1878, Rev. Daniel Richardson in 1879, J. W. 
 Finn in 1880, Rev. N. Fellows in 1882, Rev. J. O. 
 Knowles in 1883, and Rev. L. W. Staples in 1886, 
 completing his term of two years in 1888. In the 
 same year Rev. Henry Dorr came to the charge of this 
 church and so remained. 
 
 In October, 1889 the membership in full was 210, 
 and the number of probationers 24. 
 
 Grace Church. The growth of the city and the 
 influx of Methodist families led up to this enterprise. 
 To save these families from wandering into other folds, 
 as well as to help on the religious life of the city, was 
 the burden laid on pious and sagacious Methodists. 
 The decisive push, however, was given by the presid- 
 ing elder. Dr. Dorchester, in a sermon on the moral 
 condition of our cities preached in February 1867. 
 This was reinforced by the approval of the Annual 
 Conference in April following. By this body the Rev. 
 J. Oramel Peck, a graduate of Amherst in 1862, was 
 appointed to the pastoral charge of the society, which 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 105 
 
 had already been organized under the name of the 
 “Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church.” Wash- 
 burn Hall was secured for Sunday services and 
 Lincoln House Hall for other meetings. Pluck and 
 push ruled from the first. Said Dr. Dorchester: “A 
 more spirited and liberal company of Christians have 
 seldom been united in church fellowship.” The hall 
 was filled to overflowing; the Sunday school quickly 
 became one of the largest in the city; the first two 
 years the society raised about twenty thousand dollars. 
 Dr. Peck, afterward distinguished in a wider sphere, 
 was a man of great power, physical endurance, untiring 
 activity and worthy ambition. To him was ascribed in 
 a large degree the instant success of this church enter- 
 prise. The edifice was not completed till 1872, under 
 the ministry of his successor, the Rev. Andrew 
 McKeown. The site finally chosen was on Walnut 
 street instead of Main street, and the name of Grace 
 Church was substituted for the one first adopted. The | 
 cost of the land was ten thousand dollars. In July 
 
 1871, the vestry was completed and occupied for relig- 
 ious services. The church was dedicated in January 
 
 1872, with a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Eddy of Balti- 
 more. The cost, including furnishings, was $70,000. 
 
 The successor of Mr. McKeown was the Rev. J. O. 
 Knowles. He came in 1872 and remained one year, 
 and was then succeeded by the Rev. C. D. Hills, who 
 remained three years. In 1876 the Rev. George S. 
 Chadbourne, afterward presiding elder of the Boston 
 District, was appointed to Grace Church. He occu- 
 pied his term of three years largely in pushing the 
 church through a period of financial embarrassment. 
 That serious business, however, was relieved by the 
 
 Marginalia 
 
Marginalia 
 
 io6 WORCESTER 
 
 observance, in May 1877, of the tenth anniversary of 
 the church, when an eloquent sermon was preached by 
 Bishop Foster. In 1880 the Rev. J. W. Johnson, an 
 Englishman, was appointed to the charge. His pas- 
 torate of two years resulted in securing the warm 
 attachment of his people. The Rev. D. H. Ela, D. D., 
 followed him, and continued in charge till 1885. He 
 was eminent alike in preaching and in providing for 
 the payment of the church debt. His successor, the 
 Rev. George Whittaker, will long be remembered with 
 gratitude for his powerful and successful advocacy of 
 the no-license cause in the city. In September 1887, 
 he was called to the presidency of Wiley University, a 
 Southern college, and the church was left to the 
 strange experience of hearing till the next Conference 
 a succession of preachers not appointed by that author- 
 ity. But in April 1888, Grace Church resumed its 
 normal condition under the Rev. John Galbraith, who 
 was then appointed the minister in charge. 
 
 In October 1889, the membership was 528 and 
 including probationers was 560. 
 
 Coral Street Church. — In olden time a gentle 
 eminence to the southeast of the “little village of 
 Worcester ” bore the Indian name of Sagatabscot. 
 There, in 1679, the first white man, Digory Serjent, 
 built his house, and there, in spite of warnings against 
 the red savages, he persisted in living until 1702, 
 when a rescuing party arrived only to find him lying 
 slain in his dwelling and his family carried into 
 captivity. Sagatabscot remained bare and open till 
 1869, when the city began to creep over its slopes and 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 107 
 
 it was christened Union Hill. The houses soon mul- 
 tiplied to such an extent as to attract the attention of 
 the Methodists to the locality. The Rev. Mr. Mc- 
 Keown, of Grace Church, was the first one to move, 
 and by him well-known laymen of that and other 
 Methodist churches were enlisted for work there. On 
 the 15th of September 1871, a church lot was pur- 
 chased on the corner of Coral and Waverly streets for 
 the sum of seventy-two hundred dollars. In the same 
 month open-air Sunday services were held on the lot 
 at five o’clock in the afternoon by the Methodist minis- 
 ters of the city. Subscriptions toward the enterprise 
 of about nine hundred dollars were there obtained ; 
 through the personal solicitations of Mr. McKeown the 
 amount was increased to about eighteen hundred 
 dollars. In January 1872, a Sunday school with one 
 hundred and fifty members was organized in Scofield’s 
 block at the foot of Coral street. Teachers from other 
 denominations were enlisted, and among the scholars 
 were twenty boys of Roman Catholic parentage. On 
 the 8th of May in the same year, the church was duly 
 organized. Presently, the presiding elder appeared on 
 the field, conferred with the committee in charge and 
 decided that the mission should be erected into a 
 regular appointment at the next meeting of the Con- 
 ference. This body assembled in Worcester on the 
 27th of March, when the Rev. S. E. Chase was 
 appointed the first pastor in charge. From that time a 
 regular preaching service was held in the third story of 
 Scofield’s block. The first congregation consisted of 
 twenty persons. On the 23d of April various plans 
 and estimates for a church edifice were presented to 
 the committee, and the result was that a contract 
 
io8 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 was closed for a partial completion of the building at a 
 cost of eighty-eight hundred dollars. 
 
 On the 8th of May in the same year, 1872, the 
 church was organized with eighteen members by Rev. 
 I.. Crowell, the presiding elder. Hard work and dark 
 hours because of limited means followed this begin- 
 ning. But through the zeal and labors notably of 
 Alpheus Walker and N. H. Clark, the building was 
 completed at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars, and 
 on the sixteenth of April 1873, was dedicated. In 
 March 1872, the mission had been named Christ 
 Chapel, but in January 1873, it received the name of 
 Union Hill M. E. Church. Still another change was 
 made on the 24th of April 1876, when it assumed the 
 name of Coral Street M. E. Church. Mr. Chase 
 remained in charge for three years and was then suc- 
 ceeded by the Rev. H. D. Weston. In 1875 a vestry 
 was built at a cost of three thousand dollars and dedi- 
 cated in December of the same year. In the spring of 
 1878 the Rev. Jesse Wagner was appointed to the 
 charge. His term of sevice closed in April 1881, 
 when he was succeeded by the Rev. Austin F. Herrick. 
 About this time serious financial complications threat- 
 ened the existence of the society. A compromise was 
 at last happily effected, whereby claims to the amount 
 of fifteen thousand dollars were cancelled and a solid 
 financial basis secured. In April 1883, the Rev. 
 Charles Young came in charge and remained till April 
 1886, when the Rev. William P. Ray became his suc- 
 cessor. He was followed in April 1889 by Rev. J. O. 
 Knowles, D. D. 
 
 In October 1889, the membership in full was 160 
 and the number of probationers 10. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 109 
 
 Roman Catholics, 
 
 The canal and the railroad were the means of 
 bringing Roman Catholicism into Worcester. First 
 came the digging of the Blackstone Canal from Worces- 
 ter to Providence; this brought many Irish laborers 
 to Worcester and vicinity. The construction of the 
 Boston and Worcester Railroad followed, bringing 
 many more. These people and their families naturally 
 desired the kind of spiritual guidance to which they 
 had been accustomed. As they found nothing of the 
 kind then in Worcester, they asked Bishop Fenwick, 
 of Boston, to send them a priest. In answer to this 
 application, the bishop sent them the Rev. James 
 Fitton, a recent student of his, then just settled in 
 Hartford, Connecticut. This led to the inclusion of 
 Worcester in the “ missionary circuit ” to which Mr. 
 Fitton had also been appointed. He came to Worces- 
 ter in 1834, and in the spring of that year held the first 
 religious service of the Roman Catholic Church. It 
 was held in the old stone building, still standing, on 
 Front Street near the line of the old Blackstone 
 Canal, the front wall, however, being now of brick.' 
 
 ^In the library of the American Antiquarian Society is preserved 
 a manuscript diary of Christopher C. Baldwin, a former librarian, 
 from which I am permitted to make the following extracts touch- 
 ing the beginnings of Roman Catholicism in Worcester : 
 
 “April 4, 1834. I had a visit to-day from the Rev. James 
 Fitton, a Catholic priest from Hartford, Conn. He told me he was 
 the first native of Boston who had ever preached the Catholic 
 faith in New England. He was born in Boston April 10, 1805, 
 and is going to spend his birthday with his mother at Boston on 
 Thursday next, when, he says, he shall be 29 years old. 
 
 “ 7. Mr. Fitton yesterday assembled the Catholics in this town, 
 and, with those who came from the factories at Clappville and 
 Millbury, he had about sixty, besides women and children. He 
 
I lO 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 At that time only six or seven families, embracing about 
 twenty-five persons, were enlisted. In the next year 
 the first Roman Catholic Church in Worcester was 
 erected on the site now occupied by St. John’s Church. 
 It was named Christ Church, and was a wooden 
 structure thirty-two by sixty-two feet. “ The first 
 year,” wrote Mr. Fitton, “ saw the foundation laid, the 
 following saw the building up and roofed, and within 
 two years completed and paid for. In 1841, Aug. 22, 
 it was dedicated as Christ Church.” This sufficed 
 until 1845, when it was removed to make way for St. 
 John’s. After its removal it received additions and 
 became the “ Catholic Institute.” 
 
 St. John’s Church. — The corner-stone of St. John’s 
 Church was laid on the 27th of May, 1845, with impos- 
 ing ceremonies, under the episcopal supervision of 
 Bishop Fitzpatrick; and on the 24th of June 1846, 
 the church was dedicated by him, with still more 
 imposing ceremonies. The dimensions of the building 
 wQre sixty-five by one hundred and thirty-six feet, and 
 
 was subjected to some difficulty in finding a convenient place to 
 hold a meeting, but at length obtained consent to hold it in the 
 new store erected by Mr. Bailey, which is constructed of stone 
 and stands on the north side of Front street on the west bank of ' 
 the Blackstone Canal. I believe this to be the first Catholic 
 sermon ever preached in this town. After service was over a 
 subscription was taken with the view of raising money to erect a 
 chapel or church, and, what is very surprising, five hundred 
 dollars were soon subscribed. And in addition to this, another 
 hundred dollars was procured to defray Mr. Fitton’s expenses 
 from Hartford here and to enable him to visit the Catholics in 
 different places in Massachusetts and Connecticut.” 
 
 “The first mass offered at Worcester was in the room of a 
 private house occupied by a worthy mechanic byname of McKillup 
 on Front street.” Fitton’s '‘''Sketches^' etc., p. 287. 
 
•> '*•0 
 
 
 •:• v.'W^W*rWT'r»ywWv"W555xSS'P^^wwsSS5 
 
 i-' "] 
 
EVEN! 
 
 AGO TOD/ 
 
 , JANUARY G, ’62. • 
 
 This being the first Monday in Janua 
 the new City Government of Worcester is 
 augurlTed. P. Emory Aldrich, Bsi-. 
 ing Isaac Davis as Mayor, and new heads . 
 pear in several departments, perhaps the m 
 notable of the appointments being that 
 William Starr as Chief of Police, he hav^ 
 made his bow to a Worcester public aim 
 twenty years earlier as a teacher in the xH 
 School, 'and proofing himself one of the m 
 
 the firing of seven 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 III 
 
 for a long time it was the largest church in the region. 
 The cost was about forty thousand dollars. Its seating 
 capacity was 1450, and it was ample for the whole 
 Roman Catholic population, which at that time 
 embraced only about thirteen hundred souls. Father 
 Fitton, who may well be styled the father of Romanism 
 in Worcester, left the town in 1843, and returned to 
 Boston, where he was born, and where he afterward 
 died. He was a man of some literary parts and the 
 author of several volumes. 
 
 The Rev. A. Williamson succeeded Mr. Fitton in 
 
 I 
 
 October 1843, remained till April 1845, when he 
 resigned because of ill health. Flis successor was the 
 Rev. Mathew W. Gibson, who was characterized as “ a 
 man of great energy and power.” He was appointed 
 to the charge on the 2d of April 1845, and remained 
 till April 1856; and was largely instrumental in build- 
 ing not only St. John’s, but also St. Anne’s, spoken of 
 further on. After Father Gibson came the Rev. John 
 Boyce, who had been his predecessor’s assistant. He 
 died in 1864, while in charge, greatly regretted. He, 
 too, was a writer of merit, “an able writer of fiction,” 
 and the author, among other things, of “ Paul Pepper- 
 grass.” His birthplace was Donegal, Ireland, and 
 Maynooth was his alma 7 nater. The Rev. Patrick T. 
 O’Reilly, D.D., afterward bishop of the diocese, was 
 the successor of Father Boyce as pastor of St. John’s. 
 From 1857 to 1862 he had been the assistant pastor. 
 In the latter year he removed to Boston, whence he 
 returned to become the pastor of the Worcester church. 
 Upon his elevation to the bishopric, in 1879, his assist- 
 ant, the Rev. Thomas Griffin, was appointed to the 
 
 pastoral charge of St. John’s. In 1889 Father Griffin 
 
 15 
 
 Marginalia 
 
II2 
 
 WORCESTEI^ 
 
 Ma?‘ginalia 
 
 was made a Doctor of Divinity by St. Mary’s Semin- 
 ary, Baltimore, and in the same year he received from 
 Rome the titular dignity of Monsignore} The investi- 
 ture took place in Worcester with imposing ceremonies 
 on the 2d of October. Dr. Griffin is the only permanent 
 Roman Catholic rector in the city ; all the others are 
 “ movable,” that is, liable to be sent elsewhere at the 
 bidding of the bishop. The principal assistant at St. 
 John’s is the Rev. William H. Finneran ; besides him 
 are the Rev. C. W. Foley, Rev. W. C. McCaughan and 
 Rev. M. O’Brien. 
 
 In October, 1889, this parish, according to the state- 
 ment of Mgr. Griffin, consisted of about 10,000 souls. 
 
 St. Anne’s Church. — This church was an offshoot 
 of St. John’s. Commenced in 1855, it was completed 
 in 1856, under the direction of the Rev. John J. Power, 
 who became its first pastor. He remained such until 
 1872, when the Rev. Dennis Scannell was appointed 
 to the place, which he still held in 1889. In 1884-85 
 came a great enlargement and aggrandizement by the 
 erection of “ new St. Anne’s.” The old church was 
 of wood, and the new one of brick and stone. The 
 old one stood on the low level of the unsightly 
 “ meadow,” hard by ; the new one, placed on a sharp 
 elevation, was made a conspicuous object of admiration 
 for all beholders. The dimensions of the edifice are 
 seventy by one hundred and fifty-seven feet. The 
 auditorium has a capacity for seating one thousand 
 
 1 “ Monsignore. A title given to persons allowed the social rank 
 and precedence of bishops at the Court of Rome.” 
 
 Shipley: Glossary of Eccles. Terms. London, 1872. 
 
CHURCHES 1 13 
 
 one hundred persons. Twin towers, rising to a lofty 
 height, form a distinguishing feature of this imposing 
 edifice; the spire rises 135 feet above the foundation 
 and perhaps 200 feet above the level of Main street. 
 The cost of the church is set at about $70,000. 
 
 In October 1889 the parish was said to consist of 
 not less than 3800 souls. 
 
 St. Paul’s Church. — The corner-stone of this 
 church was laid on the 4th day of July 1869. The 
 basement had been completed and had served as a 
 place for public worship until July 4, 1874, when the 
 church itself (save the tower) was finished and dedi- 
 cated. It is a gothic structure of cathedral proportions, 
 with a facade of ninety feet in width and with a length 
 of one hundred and eighty-five feet, standing upon 
 elevated ground in the heart of the city. It is 
 constructed of granite throughout, and cost two 
 hundred thousand dollars. The tower was completed 
 in 1889, but not according to the original design which 
 included a lofty spire. A distinguishing feature of St. 
 Paul’s is a statue of marble exhibiting the traditional 
 figure, features and insignia of the Apostle. It was 
 executed in Italy under the order of the American 
 sculptor, Rogers, and was the gift of Mrs. George 
 Crompton. It is placed upon a pedestal and beneath 
 a canopy, both of which are efigaged in the exterior 
 wall at an elevation above the porch and are of the 
 same material as that of the building itself. This 
 noble edifice owes its origin and completion to the 
 Rev. John J. Power, D.D., Vicar-general of the diocese 
 and the first and only pastor of St. Paul’s. Rev. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
WORCESTER 
 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 114 
 
 Maurice A. O’Sullivan and Rev. Thomas Hanrahan 
 are his assistants. In October 1889, the parish con- 
 sisted of 3,600 souls. 
 
 Church of Notre Dame. — This is the only French 
 Catholic Church in Worcester. The first movement 
 toward its establishment was in 1869. Its name in 
 full is “Church of Notre Dame des Canadiens.” The 
 first pastor was the Rev. J. J. Primeau. In 1870 the 
 Methodist Church on Park Street was bought for its 
 use at a cost of thirty-two thousand seven hundred 
 dollars. Here the first Mass was celebrated in June 
 1870. At the beginning the parish embraced seven- 
 teen hundred and forty-three souls, of whom eleven 
 hundred and fifty-nine were communicants. In eleven 
 years the first number had grown to be forty-threr 
 hundred, and the number of communicants to b 
 twenty-five hundred. In 1880-81 the increase of the 
 congregation required an enlargement of the edifice, 
 and the result was, in effect, a new structure. The 
 plain old building was transformed, by fine architect 
 ural touches, into a handsome and spacious edifice 
 adding much to the surrounding attractions of the 
 historic Common upon which it fronts. The dimer 
 sions are fifty-four by one hundred and twenty-eig’ 
 feet. A life size figure in bronze of the Virgin ? 
 mounts the front pediment. The cost of the imprc 
 ments was thirty-five thousand dollars. The pealing 
 the angehis from the massive bell in its tower d 
 reminds the city of the church’s existence and the f 
 ful of their duty. After Mr. Primeau’s retireme 
 Rev. Isadore Beaudry became in 1882 the * 
 
 

CHURCHES 
 
 115 
 
 and in the following year he was succeeded by the 
 Rev. Joseph Brouillet, who was in charge in 1889. 
 The assistants of the pastor are Rev. William Alexan- 
 dre, Rev. Joseph Genest and Rev. D. Durocher. 
 Besides the church of Notre Dame, Father Brouillet 
 has charge of several French missions, which he 
 established after coming to Worcester. The first of 
 these was 
 
 St. Anne’s . — This mission was established on the 
 corner of Grant and Southgate streets at South 
 Worcester on the 9th of January 1886. A house was 
 purchased by Father Brouillet at a cost of five thou- 
 sand dollars, and was converted into a temporary 
 home for the mission. In 1889 an addition was made 
 to the structure at a cost of seven thousand dollars. 
 
 St. Joseph’s ^2iS> established on the 9th of January, 
 1887, at the corner of Wall and Norfolk streets,, on 
 Oak Hill, where a chapel was built in that year at a 
 cost of sixty-five hundred dollars. In 1889 additions 
 were made costing forty-six hundred dollars. Incipient 
 measures have been taken to add to the number of 
 these missions. 
 
 When Father Brouillet came in 1883 he at once 
 proceeded to take a census of the French Catholic 
 population of Worcester and found it to be eight 
 thousand. According to his careful estimate, this had 
 increased to nearly ten thousand in 1889. Of that 
 number four thousand and over were communicants. 
 
 Church of the Immaculate Conception. — This 
 enterprise was inaugurated in February 1872 under 
 Bishop O’Reilly and Rev. Thomas Griffin, chancellor 
 
WORCESTER 
 
 1 16 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 of the diocese. At that time there stood on the site of 
 the church a cottage which was removed to make way 
 for the new edifice. While it was in the process of 
 removal and still upon the street, Father Walsh admin- 
 istered baptism to three children, joined in wedlock 
 two couples, held a Sunday-school and celebrated two 
 masses on Sunday within its peregrinating walls. So 
 urgent were the demands of Roman Catholicism in 
 that quarter. The church was organized in November 
 1873 ; the erection of the church edifice was begun in 
 the same year. In the next year the basement was 
 completed and then used for worship until December 
 1878, when the whole superstructure was finished. It 
 was dedicated by the Rev. John J. Power, D. D., Vicar- 
 general, with a large body of the priesthood assisting. 
 The building is seventy feet wide by one hundred and 
 twenty-four feet long, and has eleven hundred and fifty 
 sittings. The cost has been forty thousand dollars. 
 Rev. Robert Walsh became the pastor in 1874 and so 
 continued. Mr. Walsh was born in Ireland and had 
 his education at Waterford in that country. In Octo- 
 ber 1889, the parish of the Immaculate Conception con- 
 sisted of sixteen hundred souls. 
 
 Church of the Sacred Heart. — This, the sixth 
 Roman Catholic church in chronological order, is 
 located on Cambridge street at South Worcester. The 
 architecture is full gothic, the form rectangular, the 
 material brick with a foundation of granite, the dimen- 
 sions 1 12 feet by 64 and the interior height of the main 
 auditorium 64 feet. On the 2nd of July 1879, the first 
 excavations for the building were made, and on the 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 117 
 
 2ist of September following the corner-stone was laid 
 by Bishop O’Reilly. On the 24th of January i88o the 
 parish was organized, and at the same time the Rev. 
 Thomas J. Conaty, D. D.,^ then assistant at St. John’s 
 church, was appointed its first pastor. The super- 
 structure was finished and the basement furnished for 
 use on Easter Sunday of the same year. On the 21st 
 of September 1884, the auditorium was opened for 
 public worship and the church was then dedicated. 
 There are eight hundred sittings in the basement and 
 eight hundred and forty in the auditorium. The Sun- 
 day-school has a membership of six hundred. The 
 organization of total abstinence societies in this parish 
 has been made a conspicuous feature by the pastor ; 
 the several societies for young men, young women and 
 boys include four hundred members. Connected with 
 this church is Church Hall within the same enclosure 
 but fronting on Sheridan street. This hall, which is 
 devoted to society purposes, is 84 feet by 50, contains 
 six hundred sittings, and also has a gymnasium 50 feet 
 square. The cost of the parish property was about 
 eighty thousand dollars. The pastor’s assistant is the 
 Rev. M. W. Mulhane. The parish consists of thirty- 
 two hundred souls. 
 
 St. Peter’s Church. — This church stands on the 
 corner of Main and Grand streets. The corner stone 
 was laid on Sunday the 7th of September 1884, by 
 Bishop O’Reilly under the supervision of the pastor. 
 Rev. Daniel H. O’Neill. The event was marked by a 
 
 1 The degree was conferred by Georgetown University in 1S89. 
 
ii8 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 great military display, with a procession of various 
 orders through Main street. The Vicar-general and 
 the chancellor of the diocese were also present assist- 
 ing. The building is of brick, with granite trimmings, 
 seventy feet by one hundred and thirty, with a massive 
 square tower ninety-eight feet high. It has a seating 
 capacity for ong thousand, but for the present public 
 worship is held in the basement. The cost of the 
 church when completed is put at sixty thousand 
 dollars, and the value of the land at twelve to fifteen 
 thousand more. Father O’Neill was born in 1834 at 
 St. Albans, Vt., where he received his primary training 
 in the common schools. Coming to this city he 
 engaged in business for a while and then entered Holy 
 Cross College where he received his classical educa- 
 tion. His course in divinity was taken at St. Joseph’s 
 Theological Seminary in Albany, N. Y. In October 
 1889, the number of families in St. Peter’s parish was 
 put by the pastor at about 250 and the number of 
 souls at 1400. 
 
 St. Stephen’s Church. — This church is on Grafton 
 street at the corner of Caroline street and is the most 
 recently organized one of this order. The parish was 
 established in February 1887. At first, religious ser- 
 vices were held in the school-house on Grafton street. 
 But early in the spring of 1887, ground was broken for 
 a church edifice; this was completed during the sum- 
 mer and dedicated on the first Sunday in September of 
 the same year. It is a wooden structure with a base- 
 ment of brick, and is of attractive appearance. The 
 cost of the land was $16,500 and that of the building 
 
( i^• 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 119 
 
 and furnishing $10,000. The auditorium will seat 704 
 persons and the room in the basement about as many. 
 The Rev. Richard S. J. Burke is the first and only 
 pastor which the church has had. He was born in 
 Worcester and was graduated from the High School in 
 1870 and from Holy Cross College in 1873. 
 
 In October 1889, the number of souls in the parish 
 was said by the pastor to be 1400. 
 
 In 1889 the number of Roman Catholics in Worces- 
 ter was said by the bishop of the diocese to be fully 
 forty thousand. But the aggregate of the number 
 of souls in the several parishes as given by their 
 respective pastors (in one case by the assistant) did 
 not then exceed thirty-five thousand. In this number 
 were included the French Catholics, whose number, 
 put by their pastor at nine thousand in 1888, is now 
 put at somewhat less than ten thousand. The ter- 
 ritorial division of the parishes was first made by the 
 bishop of the diocese in 1874, although parishes had 
 existed before. At that date there were but four terri- 
 torial parishes, Notre Dame being ‘national’ only. 
 Since then, the addition of three more parishes has 
 required a modification of the original boundaries.^ 
 
 1 The following description of the Parish Boundaries is 
 printed from the manuscript of the chancellor of the diocese by 
 whom it was furnished at the suggestion of the bishop : 
 
 “St.John’s. — Mechanic from Church to Union Depot; east 
 side of Church to Salem, east to city barn and on in a line to Gas 
 works, runs thence toward Millbury by Seymour to Ward, thence by 
 Suffield to Vernon; east side of Vernon to Hayward, thence north- 
 erly on a line to Chapin, thence by Coral, east side, to Union 
 Depot. 
 
 “St. Paul’s. — West side of Salem to Church through Union, 
 west side to Lincoln square; from that point along Highland, 
 
 16 
 
 Marginalia 
 
120 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Episcopalians. 
 
 The parishes of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
 Massachusetts are organized under a special statute. 
 This provides that the rector or one of the wardens, 
 unless other provision is made in the by-laws, may 
 preside at meetings with all the powers of a moder- 
 ator ; and the wardens, or wardens and vestry may 
 exercise all the powers of a standing committee. To 
 secure as much uniformity as possible, the “ Conven- 
 tion ” of this church prints with its annual journals, 
 and recommends for adoption, a standing form of by- 
 laws for the government of the parishes. Among 
 other things this Form provides that the wardens shall 
 be communicants and that all officers shall be baptized 
 men ; that the rector, wardens, treasurer, clerk and 
 
 southeily side, as far as city limits, thence westerly to Hammond, 
 thence on northerly side of Hammond to Southbridge. 
 
 “St. Anne’s. — Mechanic from Union street to depot, along 
 northerly side of B. & A. R. R. to Shrewsbury ; from the Lake 
 Quinsigamond southwesterly to Belmont and taking southerly 
 side of Belmont to Lincoln square ; thence southerly by east side 
 of Union street to Mechanic to point of beginning. 
 
 “ Immaculate Conception. — All the territory north of High- 
 land, Lincoln square and Belmont street. 
 
 “Sacred Heart. — From Millbury through Seymour south to 
 Ward, thence to Vernon, thence westerly to Quinsigamond to 
 line of Millbury town, cross in a line westerly to Southbridge 
 bounding Auburn, thence to Camp street east side, running thence 
 to Southgate to line of Norwich R. R. to Hammond street, thence 
 by Gas Works to Millbury to Seymour street. 
 
 “St. Peter’s. — From junction of Southbridge and Hammond 
 running along westerly side of Hammond to city limits, thence 
 southerly to Leicester, thence easterly to west side of Camp street, 
 thence northerly by line of Norwich R. R. to Hammond. 
 
 “ St. Stephen’s. — All the territory east of centre of Coral 
 street, Chapin street, and from the line of Coral to Union depot. 
 
 “Notre Dame. — The French population wherever located in 
 the city.” 
 
All Saints’ Church 
 
 1876 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 I2I 
 
 vestrymen shall constitute “ the vestry ; ” and that the 
 rector shall be chosen by the parish, or by the vestry, 
 when so authorized by the parish. A noticeable 
 feature of this Form, in its latest expression, is, that 
 “any person,” subject to the other conditions, may 
 become a member of the parish. In earlier editions of 
 the Form the words used are “ any male person.” 
 Provision is thus made for the admission of women to 
 a partnership in the management of Protestant Episco- 
 pal parishes. This change in the direction of progress 
 conforms also to the statutes of the Commonwealth. 
 In general but not altogether exact accordance with 
 these provisions, the Protestant Episcopal parishes in 
 Worcester have been organized. The oldest, and the 
 mother of the rest, is the parish of 
 
 All Saints. — The beginnings of the Episcopal 
 Church in Worcester are reported by the late Judge 
 Ira M. Barton in two letters written in the year 1835, 
 but first printed in the year 1888. From this contem- 
 porary and authentic source of information it appears 
 that in the former year Dr. Wainwright visited Worces- 
 ter “ to see as to the practicability of establishing a 
 church here.” An arrangement was then made for 
 services in the Central Church, but through a mis- 
 understanding it fell through. This failure was less 
 discouraging than the difficulty in finding persons “ to 
 sustain the burden.” “ No such persons have yet 
 offered themselves,” wrote Judge Barton under date of 
 October 2d. A little later the prospect had bright- 
 ened. Under date of December 13th he wrote : “Reg- 
 ular church services were, for the first time, held 
 in Worcester to-day.” At that first meeting there were 
 
122 
 
 IV0J?C£ST£J? 
 
 present “ some sixty people.” The preacher on the 
 occasion was the Rev. Thomas H. Vaill, then in 
 deacon’s orders only. And now the time had arrived 
 when this enterprise took to itself a body and a name 
 by an act of incorporation under the style of the 
 “ Proprietors of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 
 Worcester.” The act bears date of April 8, 1836, and 
 the incorporators named in the act are Thomas H. 
 Vaill, Ira Barton and Edmund F. Dixie. The experi- 
 ment was fairly begun. For six months Mr. Vaill con- 
 tinued his ministrations and then left “ thoroughly 
 discouraged.” As the present bishop of Kansas he 
 still lives to look back upon this day of small things.^ 
 Seven years of silence followed his departure, when, in 
 1842, services were again begun, never afterward to be 
 intermitted. On Christmas day of that year the Rev. 
 Fernando C. Putnam held a service in the chapel on 
 Thomas street belonging to the Central Church. Mr. 
 Putnam was succeeded by the Rev. Henry Blackaller. 
 
 Thus far there seems to have been no parish organ- 
 ization. But on the 21st of July 1843, “the members 
 of the Episcopal Society in Worcester ” met at the 
 house of Dr. S. P. Miller, pursuant to a warrant, and 
 organized under the 20th chapter of the Revised 
 Statutes of that day by the election of a clerk, wardens, 
 vestrymen and treasurer. At the same meeting a vote 
 was passed that the name of the society should be 
 “ All Saints’ Church ; ” but an article of the constitu- 
 tion adopted a year or two afterward provided that 
 “ the name of the Parish shall be All Saints.” At this 
 
 1 The decease of Bishop Vaill occurred in 1889, after the text was 
 in print. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 123 
 
 first meeting nine persons were present and acting, 
 among whom was the late Samuel F. Haven, LL.D. 
 
 With Mr. Blackaller as minister in charge, Thomas 
 Bottomly and Charles S. Ellis as wardens and Edwin 
 Eaton as clerk, the first church of this order was well 
 on its foundations. It continued, however, in a low 
 condition until 1844, when the Rev. George T. 
 Chapman, D. D., came and applied his sturdy should- 
 ers to the work of upbuilding. Dr. Chapman had a 
 zeal for his church. Organizing and assisting churches 
 in various parts had been his self-appointed mission, 
 and now the feeble church in Worcester v/.as to feel 
 the good effects of his help. Coming at Easter, April 
 10, 1844, he remained in charge of the parish for two 
 full years. At the end of that time he gave place 
 to the Rev. George H. Clark, who became the first 
 regularly chosen and settled rector of All Saints. In 
 January 1849, Clark resigned because of ill health, 
 and the Rev. Nathaniel Tucker Bent succeeded to 
 the office. Mr. Bent remained till the spring of 1852, 
 when the Rev. Archibald M. Morrison became the 
 rector. At the end of four years, illness in his family 
 compelled him to lay down his charge. A period of 
 three years now elapsed in which All Saints was with- 
 out a rector. In this time the Rev. William H. Brooks 
 and the Rev. Albert Clark Patterson were the ministers 
 in charge. But in December 1859, the Rev. E. W. 
 Hager became the rector, and so remained till August 
 1862, when he resigned his place. 
 
 At the close of the year 1862 began the ministry, of 
 the Rev. William Reed Huntington, which was des- 
 tined to change the whole face of things for Episco- 
 pacy in Worcester. His ministry of twenty-one years 
 
 Marginalia 
 
124 
 
 WOJ^CESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 was a period of constant and rapid growth. Dr. 
 Huntington found his Church of All Saints feeble and 
 left it strong. He found it poorly housed and left it 
 rejoicing in one of the most beautiful and costly of 
 our churches. He found it solitary and left it the 
 mother of children, born and to be born. And yet, at 
 the close of his ministry, he was moved to say that, 
 “ in the whole English-speaking world there is probably 
 not a city of the size of ours in which the Episcopal 
 Church is numerically so weak as ours.” That this 
 reproach is now measurably taken away is owing more 
 to his agency and influence than to any other. It was 
 on the 3d of December 1862, that Dr. Huntington was 
 both ordained and inducted into the rectorship of All 
 Saints. His ministry began in the church on Pearl 
 street which had been erected in 1846 after plans 
 drawn by Upjohn of New York. Dr. Huntington des- 
 cribed it as “ a beautiful specimen of rural architec- 
 ture.” It remained as originally built until i860, 
 when it was altered to gain additional sittings. In the 
 course of twenty-eight years it was four times recon- 
 structed ; then on Easter night, April 7, 1874, it was 
 destroyed by fire. This was the signal for removal 
 and enlargement. 
 
 On the 15th of May a committee was empowered to 
 build a church and chapel ; on the 29th of December 
 ground was broken at the corner of Irving and Pleas- 
 ant streets ; on the 13th of May following the first 
 stone was put in place ; on the 21st of July the corner- 
 stone was laid ; and on the 4th of January, 1877, the 
 finished building was consecrated by Bishop Paddock. 
 Church, chapel and parish building are grouped in one 
 capacious structure. All the walls, including bell- 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 125 
 
 tower and spire to the. finial, are of red sandstone. 
 The pulpit of the Pearl street church, a gift from 
 Emanuel Church in Boston, rescued from the flames 
 and erected for use in the new church, is a memorial 
 of continuity; while encrusted in the interior wall of 
 the tower-porch are stone relics of mediaeval architec- 
 tural ornament, given by the dean and chapter of 
 Worcester (England) Cathedral, as a token of “ broth- 
 erly regard and church unity.” 
 
 Having declined various calls from different bodies 
 to important ecclesiastical offices — one, in 1874, to 
 the office of bishop — Dr. Huntington at length 
 accepted a call to the rectorship of Grace Church in 
 New York, and in 1883 severed his long connection 
 with All Saints. By his published writings, by his 
 unwearied fidelity to his parochial charge and by his 
 wise activity in the Church Conventions, he had come 
 to be a power in his own communion. 
 
 Shortly after the termination of Dr. Huntington’s 
 service, the Rev. Lawrence H. Schwab became the 
 minister in charge. He was succeeded by the Rev. 
 Alexander Hamilton Vinton, who was chosen to be 
 the rector on the 28th of April 1884, and who assumed 
 the office in September following. Under his ministry 
 the prosperity of the parish was continued. In 1889, 
 the Rev. E. S. Middleton succeeded the Rev. Arthur 
 W. Hess as the rector’s assistant ; and in October of 
 the same year the number of communicants was 
 reported to be 405. 
 
126 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Parish of St. Matthew. — In the winter of 1869 a 
 mission chapel fund of ^721.21 was raised from a 
 Christmas sale by the women of All Saints. This 
 was the germ of the parish of St. Matthew. Additions 
 were made to the fund from time to time, and in 1871 
 a mission was established at South Worcester. An 
 association of communicants in All Saints was formed, 
 with the rector of that parish as trustee, and by them 
 an estate was bought at the corner of Southbridge and 
 Washburn streets. On this site a chapel was com- 
 pleted in September of the same year, and on St. 
 Matthew’s day, February 24, 1875, it was opened for 
 public worship. The Rev. John Gregson, assistant 
 minister at All Saints, was made the minister in 
 charge, and he so remained for nearly a year. After 
 him Mr. Thomas Mackay acted as lay reader until the 
 following October, when the Rev. Thomas A. Robert- 
 son assumed the charge and continued in it for a period 
 of nine months. Mr. Mackay then resumed his post, 
 and with other lay readers held services until January 
 I, 1874, when the Rev. Henry Mackay became the 
 minister in charge. This continued until the spring 
 of that year ; then the mission was organized into a 
 parish with Henry L. Parker and Matthew J. Whittall 
 as wardens. The Rev. Mr. Mackay remained the 
 minister in charge until July 1875. In April 1876, the 
 Rev. Amos Skeele was called to the rectorship, which 
 he retained for several months; but in April 1877, the 
 church was again without a rector and Sunday services 
 were cared for by the Rev. George Sturgis Paine, of 
 Worcester. 
 
 To him succeeded the Rev. Alexander Mackay 
 Smith, the assistant at All Saints, by whom it was 
 
Worcester Churches 
 And Their History 
 
 j erect an edifice. This was agreed to 
 I and the present building at the cor- 
 ner of Laurel and Carroll streets was 
 put up and dedicated February 27, 
 1849, under Rev. Francis A. Gris- 
 wold. 
 
 The church has had a consistently 
 prosperous life and in 1890 under 
 Rev. Alonzo Sanderson, the church 
 debt of $6,648.87 was entirely paid off. 
 The present pastor. Rev. Herbert 
 Buckingham, wfill have been with the 
 church for four years next April. 
 
 During that time the utmost har- 
 mony has existed and the church 
 has shown a steady loyalty to the 
 pastor. Three organizations have 
 come into existence under Rev. Mr. 
 Buckinigham, the Tri-Mu Club for 
 older boys, the Alpha Kappa Phi for 
 the young w'omen and the Brother- 
 hood Bible class. Upwards of 40 per- 
 sons have joined the church during 
 the present pastorate, either on con- 
 fession or by letter but deaths and 
 removals have nearly counterbalanced 
 the number so that the actual strength 
 of the church has not erreatly chang- 
 
 LAUREL ST 
 
 Organization of the Laurel Street 
 M. E. church was effected July 20, 
 1845, when some of those then attend- 
 ing the Park street, now Trinity, M. 
 
 ! E. church, branched off and formed 
 the Laurel street church, with 60 
 members. Most of them were resi- 
 dents of a section of the city some 
 distance removed from the Park street 
 church. 
 
 For a time they worshipped in a 
 place on Thomas street, and then 
 moved to Waldo hall. From there 
 they returned to the Thomas street 
 chapel until the church building was 
 completed. During the year follow- 
 ing that of organization the attend- 
 ance ran from 45 to 131, and averaged 
 97. 
 
 Rev. Richard S. Rust was the first 
 pastor. Alpheus M. Merrifield, who 
 had just purchased Laurel Hill, then 
 a farm, offered the new church a lot 
 
 1 b lo'T’elitv if the 
 
“The Velie exhibit at the Grand 
 Central Palace show is a splendid suc- 
 cess and every one is enthusiastic,” 
 wires Ernest O. Wheeler, manager of 
 the local branch. “Six of the new 1912 
 Velie pleasure cars and four of the 
 Velie commercial cars are being shown. 
 Velie agents and prospective agents 
 from all parts of the country have been 
 at the Velie booth since the show open- 
 ed. Many sales have been closed and 
 contracts have been made with agents 
 throughout the United States.” 
 
 PROVIDENCE SHOW TO 
 BE THE FINEST EVER 
 
 When the doors of the State Armory 
 in Providence are thrown open on 
 January 22, one of the most complete 
 exhibitions of automobiles and acces- 
 sories ever held in New England will 
 have commenced. Not only has all of 
 the 59,000 square feet of exhibition 
 space been taken but other applica- 
 tions for about 5,000 additional feet 
 have been filed with Arthur L. Lee, 
 general manager of the show, in behalf 
 of the Rhode Island Automobile Licens- 
 ed Dealers’ Association. 
 
 To Cet 
 Its Beneficial Effects 
 Always Buy the Genuine 
 
 Siwfies 
 
 an 
 
 
 EmiR<^NNA 
 
 (pOfiNM fl 6 
 
 >Sold by ail leading 
 Drtigqists 
 
 One>SizeOnIy,50^ a Boide 
 
 Hale's ■l|| 
 
 Honey of J 
 
 Horehound and Tar 
 
 for 
 
 i Coughs and 
 
 ^IdS 
 
 Pilce’s Toofltache Drojp'' 
 Cure iu One Minute 
 
 Finest C 
 
 Tourir. 
 
 Phaetc 
 
 ( 
 
 OVERLAIIp 
 
 PRICi 
 
 Don’t take our word for jig 
 sition over. 
 
 MACKER-TYLEll 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 127 
 
 said, “wonderful work was done.”' January i, 1878, 
 the Rev. George Endicott Osgood became the rector, 
 and in September the church was renovated and again 
 opened for public worship. All incumbrances having 
 been at length removed and a deed of the land given 
 by Sumner Pratt, St. Matthew’s Church was consecra- 
 ted on Quinquagesima Sunday in 1880. Mr. Osgood 
 having resigned the rectorship January 16, 1881, on 
 the 8th of April following the Rev. Julius PI. Water- 
 bury became the rector, but resigned in November of 
 the same year. He, however, remained in charge until 
 his death, which occurred in the next spring. In the 
 summer of 1882, land for a parish building was secured 
 on the corner of Southbridge and Cambridge streets, 
 and in the course of the season St. Matthew’s Hall 
 was erected upon it. In August the Rev. Henry 
 Hague became rector of St. Matthew and also minister 
 in charge of St. Thomas at Cherry Valley. In May 
 1889, Rev. Geo. E. Allen became rector’s assistant. 
 In October 1889, the number of communicants was 
 one hundred and twenty-seven, and the value of the 
 parish property $7,500, with $1000 additional in bank 
 for future building purposes. Thus, from a small 
 beginning, with a frequently changing ministry, this 
 parish had slowly grown through a period of nineteen 
 years, until it appears to have come to rest on a per- 
 manent foundation. For its success much was due to 
 the fostering care of Dr. Huntington. 
 
 iNow the Ven. Alex. Mackay-Smith, D. D., Archdeacon of the 
 Diocese of New York, in New York city. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 f 
 
 17 
 
128 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Parish of St, John. — This parish was organized as 
 part of a broad and long-cherished plan of Dr. Hunt- 
 ington. A scheme of four missions, embryons of four 
 churches in different sections of the city, named after 
 the four Evangelists, was what he had conceived and 
 steadily aimed to realize. St. John’s was the second 
 in the order of the plan. It was begun by the forma- 
 tion of a Sunday-school, March ii, 1883, in an upper 
 room on the corner of Lincoln Square and Main 
 street; and the first church service was held by the 
 Rev. Henry Hague of St. Matthew’s, on the 30th of 
 the same month. On the 6th of January 1884, the 
 first regular Sunday service was held by the Rev. John 
 S. Beers, general missionary of the diocese. On the 
 9th of March the Rev. Edward S. Cross began work 
 with the mission, and on the 13th of April took formal 
 charge. On the 21st of the same month land for a 
 church was bought on Lincoln street ; on the 13th of 
 May ground was broken ; and July 5th the corner- 
 stone was laid. On the i8th of September 1884, the 
 parish was organized under the laws of the state. Mr. 
 Cross, the minister in charge, preached his farewell 
 sermon on the 19th of October, and on the 30th of 
 November, in the same year, the Rev. Francis Guild 
 Burgess entered upon his duties as the first rector of 
 the new parish. Public worship in the church was held 
 for the first time on Christmas Day. For a time the 
 free church system was tried, but was soon abandoned. 
 In the first four months of parish life the average con- 
 gregation and the number of communicants increased 
 two-fold. This growth continued until, in 1887, it was 
 found desirable to enlarge the church in order to gain 
 more sittings. This was accordingly done at a cost 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 129 
 
 somewhat exceeding $2600. In 1888 the money to 
 defray this cost had all been subscribed and paid. By 
 this enlargement the whole number of sittings was 
 increased to 308. At the last-named date the church 
 and land were valued at $17,000, upon which rested a 
 debt of $9300. “ St. John’s parishioners,” said the S^. 
 
 JohEs Echo^ December 1888, “hope to be able at no 
 extremely distant day to erect upon the site a hand- 
 some and capacious stone church.” 
 
 This year witnessed a new departure for Episcopacy 
 in Worcester by the union of St. John’s with the 
 Central (Congregational) Church in the observance of 
 Lent. Services were held alternately in the two 
 churches, conducted alternately by the two ministers. 
 Clergymen from abroad were also brought in to assist 
 in this fraternal recognition, of whom chiefly to be 
 mentioned are the Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks and the 
 Rev. Dr. Samuel E. Herrick, both of Boston. If any 
 ill came out of this unwonted fraternization, it was 
 never publicly reported. On the contrary, the con- 
 tinued prosperity of St. John’s seemed to bear witness 
 that this new departure was a safe step in the line of 
 progress. 
 
 In April 1889, the number of communicants was 210. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Parish of St. Mark’s Church. — In the order of 
 time this was the third in the scheme of four churches 
 which Dr. Huntington set on foot. But not till some 
 years after he had gone from Worcester did a good 
 opportunity for inaugurating the enterprise present 
 itself. At length the founding of Clark University, in 
 
130 
 
 JVORCESTEI^ 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 the spring of 1887, became the signal for moving. 
 That great educational project, causing a marked 
 advance in the price of real estate in the quarter 
 selected for St. Mark’s Mission, spurred on its friends 
 to make haste and secure a suitable lot for church pur- 
 poses. The purchase of a lot was the only object of 
 the first meeting, which was in September 1887 ; but 
 this very speedily led to the formation of a mission by 
 the name of St. Mark’s Mission. A place for meeting 
 was secured, and about October ist a Sunday-school 
 was opened. Public worship was held for the first 
 time on the 23d of October, by the Rev. Alexander H. 
 Vinton, rector of All Saints, other clergymen in and 
 out of the city assisting. After this date the services 
 of the Rev. Thomas W. Nickerson of Rochdale were 
 secured. He continued to officiate until the Easter 
 following, when the Rev. Langdon C. Stewardson took 
 charge of the mission. He came fresh from a three 
 years’ course of theological study in the universities of 
 Germany, prior to which he had been for five years 
 rector of a church in Webster. “ Under his leader- 
 ship,” said a competent authority, “the mission has 
 made a progress which is believed to be unprecedented 
 in the history of this diocese.” The number of com- 
 municants, about forty at Easter, had nearly doubled 
 within the next five months. From the beginning the 
 mission was independent and self-reliant. No aid 
 from any outside source was accepted. On the other 
 hand, the mission, in that brief period, had raised out 
 of its own resources the sum of twelve thousand two 
 hundred dollars ; the amount contributed for all pur- 
 poses up to Easter 1889, was $14,409.45. With part of 
 this the lot for church and chapel, already spoken of. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 131 
 
 was purchased on the corner of Main and Freeland 
 streets. On the 6th of September 1888, the corner- 
 stone of the chapel to be erected on this lot was laid, 
 a solid silver trowel, given by Mrs. Ellen Lawson Card, 
 wife of its maker, being used in the ceremony. An 
 imposing aspect was given to the occasion. At five 
 o’clock in the afternoon nine clergymen from the city 
 and other parts, with Dr. Huntington of New York, 
 the originator of the enterprise, at their head, marched 
 down the street in surplices and took their places by 
 the corner-stone. When the ceremonial act was com- 
 pleted, Dr. Huntington made a brief address, admir- 
 able alike for its substance, expression and tone. 
 “ Rarely,” said he, “ is the building of a church under 
 such assured circumstances. You have a marvelously 
 chosen building site, you are in perfect harmony 
 among yourselves, and your leader you love and trust. 
 What more do you want? Is it the money to com- 
 plete the building ? That is a very doubtful advan- 
 tage. The very fact that it is lacking is a spur to 
 never-failing effort.” Again he said : “ We lay this 
 stone in charity. If there are any within the hearing 
 of my voice not of this household of faith ” (and there 
 were many) “let them not feel disquieted. We come 
 not as destroyers, but maintainers of peace ; not to 
 divide, but to unite. The Episcopal Church sees in 
 itself a great reconstructing influence. . . . There 
 
 is one object, one purpose, and that the purpose of 
 building up the kingdom of God.” The plan contem- 
 plates in its ultimate realization a chapel and church 
 of red sandstone throughout. 
 
 The parish of St. Mark was organized in October 
 1888. The value of the property in 1889 was placed 
 
132 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 at $27,000. In October of the same year the number 
 of communicants was 100. 
 
 St. Luke’s Church, the fourth and only one re- 
 maining to complete Dr. Huntington's quadrilateral of 
 churches, in his own words uttered at the laying of St. 
 Mark’s corner-stone, “ bides its time.” 
 
 Uniyersalists. 
 
 First L^niversalist Church. — The first Universal- 
 ist Society was formed on the third day of June 1841, 
 in accordance ^Hth the laws of Massachusetts. So 
 said the Rev. Stephen Presson Landers in his his- 
 torical address a quarter of a centur}" afterwards. Mr. 
 Landers was the first pastor and had preached his first 
 sermon in Brinlev Hall on the 2d of Mav. In the 
 summer and autumn of 1841, ten thousand dollars were 
 ' subscribed for building a church. The pastor himself 
 subscribed “ more than he was worth.” A ver}* choice 
 and central site on the comer of Main and Foster 
 streets was bought for a little more than $1.25 a square 
 foot. But “stagnant water” caused delay. In 1842 a 
 I further subscription of more than five thousand dollars 
 j was added to the former. Then, early in 1843, ground 
 I was broken, and on the 2 2d of November in the same 
 
 I vear the house was dedicated, with a sermon bv the 
 1 ' 
 
 i Rev. Dr. Miner of Boston. On the evening of the 
 I same day “was the recognition of our small church,” 
 I VTOte the historian, and also its first communion with 
 ! thirty-one participants. The pastorate of Mr. Landers 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 133 
 
 terminated on the i6th of June 1844, when he preached 
 his farewell sermon. His death occurred at Clinton, 
 N. Y., on the 15th of April 1876, in the sixty-fourth year 
 of his age. On the 12th of March 1845, Albert 
 Case was installed as his successor. After somewhat 
 more than four years he left his Worcester charge and 
 engaged in secular business of various sorts. He was 
 also settled again for a time as pastor at Hingham, 
 Mass. He died at the age of about seventy on the 
 29th of December 1877. It was noted of him, as a 
 mark of great distinction, that he had, before coming to 
 Worcester “attained to the thirty-third degree, the 
 highest of the Masonic grades in the world.” His 
 successor, the Rev. Obadiah Horsford Tillotson, was 
 installed on the 27th of June 1849. During his pastor- 
 ate the increase of the congregation was such as to 
 require more sittings in the church. To secure that 
 end, galleries were constructed in 1851. Mr. Tillotson 
 preached his farewell sermon on the 31st of October 
 1852. Meantime he had become a student-at-law and 
 practitioner in the office of Judge Chapin, of Worcester ; 
 but finding the pursuit uncongenial, he resumed his 
 former profession, to which he devoted himself for the 
 remainder of his life. On the 19th of June 1863, he 
 fell a victim to consumption in the forty-eighth year of 
 his age. 
 
 His successor, coming in April 1853, was the 
 Rev. John Greenleaf Adams. After a highly successful 
 pastorate of seven years he gave place to the Rev. 
 Lindley Murray Burrington, who, after a year and four 
 months, was compelled to resign because of long-contin- 
 ued illness. His term of service closed on the ist of 
 January 1862. 
 
134 
 
 WOJ^CESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 To him succeeded the Rev. Thomas Elliot St. John, 
 who was inducted into office on the ist of April in that 
 year. With him began a new departure. The church 
 was reorganized by the adoption of a new Declaration 
 of Faith and a Constitution. This had seemed to be 
 necessary because of changes growing out of “ removals, 
 withdrawals and forfeitures.” Having put the church 
 on this new footing, Mr. St. John closed his first 
 pastorate in June of 1866 to become the pastor of a 
 church in Chicago. After the intervening pastorate of 
 Rev. Benjamin Franklin Bowles, who came on the ist 
 of October 1866, and left December i, 1868, Mr. St. 
 John resumed his old Worcester pulpit on the ist of 
 February 1869, and continued to occupy it till April i, 
 1879. Within this period the fine new church edifice 
 on Pleasant street was erected and occupied in 1871. 
 The cost including everything was $69,560. After 
 leaving Worcester, Mr. St. John pursued his ministry 
 in various places until the autumn of 1881, when he 
 accepted a call to the Unitarian Church in Haverhill, 
 Mass. His successor, the Rev. Moses Henry Harris, 
 entered upon his ministry with this church on the 5th 
 of October 1879. Mr. Harris was a native of Greene, 
 in the state of Maine. He was graduated from the 
 Canton Theological School in 1867, and had his first 
 settlement in the ministry at Brattleborough, Vt, in 
 1870. From that pastorate of nine years and three 
 months he came to Worcester. In 1885 the “Win- 
 chester Confession ” was adopted by this church as a 
 Declaration of Faith in place of the Declaration which 
 had been adopted in 1862 ; the Constitution was also 
 amended and the list of membership revised. In 
 October 1889, the church embraced 235 members. 
 
CHURCHES 135 
 
 All Souls Church. — “In the spring of 1883 a 
 committee was appointed at a meeting of the First 
 Universalist Church to see if a room could be hired at 
 the south part of the city in which to open a Mission 
 Sunday-school for the extension of our church work 
 in Worcester.” This was the beginning of the Second 
 Universalist Church. No suitable room could be 
 hired ; then two friends of the cause, who “ could not 
 let the movement die for want of a place, offered the 
 free use of their rooms.” Accordingly, at these rooms, 
 in the house of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Russell, No. 10 
 May street, the new school was organized on the 
 afternoon of January 27, 1884. On the Wednesday 
 following, a prayer-meeting was inaugurated ; this and 
 preaching by Mr. Harris, of the First Church, were 
 maintained alternately throughout the winter. The 
 natural result of this devotion to the work was growth ; 
 by spring “ more room ” was found necessary, and this 
 led up to the thought of building. Money was not 
 abundant, and Mrs. Lucy A. Stone, seeing the need, 
 gave the land on which to build a chapel. Another 
 act of encouragement was the gift of one hundred 
 dollars by the sister of a former pastor of the First 
 Church. As the women had been thus active in 
 beginning the enterprise, so they were relied upon to 
 carry it forward. Accordingly, “ at a meeting to form 
 a parish held on the 31st of July 1884,” Mrs. Stone 
 and Mrs. Russell were appointed to obtain subscrip- 
 tions for the purpose of building a chapel. The result 
 of their efforts was a subscription of one thousand 
 three hundred and two dollars. By the last of 
 October the building was begun and before the cold 
 
 weather could interrupt was completed. In just one 
 
 18 
 
 Marginalia 
 
136 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 year from the time the Sunday-school had been 
 organized the chapel was dedicated. This was on the 
 27th of January 1885. On the 21st of June following 
 the church was duly instituted. During the summer 
 the pulpit was supplied by Rev. Lee H. Fisher, a 
 student at Tufts College. His services proved so 
 acceptable that he was engaged to continue them till 
 the next annual meeting. 
 
 On the I St of April 1886, the Rev. Frederic W. 
 Bailey entered upon his duties as first pastor of All 
 Souls. Mr. Bailey immediately set about providing for 
 a church edifice. Through his efforts the sum of three 
 thousand four hundred dollars was pledged for the pur- 
 chase of a lot on the corner of Woodland and Norwood 
 streets. How to raise the money for the building of 
 the church was the next and more pressing question. 
 This was happily solved by Mr. James A. Norcross, of 
 the famous firm of Norcross Brothers, builders, by a 
 gift equivalent to fifteen thousand dollars in the 
 name of himself and his wife, Mary E., upon three 
 conditions: ist. That the parish should raise seven 
 thousand otherwise than by incumbrance on the prop- 
 erty; 2d, That a certain room in the proposed edifice 
 should be reserved to Mr. and Mrs. Norcross; and 3d, 
 that the following inscriptions should be placed on the 
 front of the edifice : “In memory of our Fathers and 
 Mothers who are in Heaven. Our hope is to meet 
 them in that heavenly home ; ” and “All Souls Univer- 
 salist Church.” The exact form of the gift was, “ all 
 the brownstone required for the exterior of All Souls 
 Universalist Church cut and set in place.” It was 
 assumed that fifteen thousand dollars would cover this 
 expense. Mr. Norcross’ proposition was presented on 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 137 
 
 the 9th of November 1888, in a long letter full of 
 details. On the 20th All Souls Parish had a meeting, 
 accepted the proposal, unanimously voted thanks to 
 the donors, and took measures to comply with the first 
 condition. At the close of 1889, a large part of the 
 required amount had been pledged. The proposed 
 building is of unique design, of bold architecture and 
 studied simplicity. The main structure is to be seventy 
 feet square with a round tower one hundred and fifty 
 feet high on the corner of the streets. The principal 
 audience-room is designed to seat about six hundred 
 persons ; other rooms adapted for all modern church 
 requirements are embraced within the plan. It will be 
 a central attraction for the important neighborhood in 
 that quarter of the city. 
 
 Mr. Bailey’s pastoral relation terminated January 
 ist, 1889. His successor was the Rev. Francis A. 
 Gray, who entered upon his official duties on the 19th 
 of May following. Mr. Gray was born in Danvers on 
 the 9th of August 1857, and was graduated at St. 
 Lawrence University, Canton, N. Y., in 1883, receiving 
 there his theological education. His previous pastor- 
 ates were at Lockport, N. Y., and Arlington, Mass. 
 
 In December 1889, the membership of the church 
 was 38 and of the Sunday-school 200. The prospect 
 for a strong church and parish was then held to be 
 very encouraging. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Friends. 
 
 “ Meeting ” and “ meeting-house ” are characteristic 
 terms among the Friends. The Preparative, or, as 
 it is called in England, Particular Meeting, is the 
 
138 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 % 
 
 unit. Several of these constitute a Monthly Meeting ; 
 these in turn constitute a Quarterly Meeting, and 
 several Quarterly Meetings constitute the Yearly Meet- 
 ing. The Monthly Meeting, which is the lowest 
 corporate body, takes and holds property through 
 trustees of its own appointing, for the benefit of its 
 Preparative constituencies. All meeting-houses are so 
 held. The Preparative Meeting exercises no disci- 
 pline over its members. Discipline is administered by 
 the Monthly Meeting upon an overture or complaint 
 from the Preparative Meeting. Any party not satis- 
 fied with the discipline dealt out by this body may 
 appeal to the Quarterly Meeting, and to the Yearly 
 Meeting in the last resort. There is no salaried 
 minister, no sacrament, no set singing, no voting, no 
 business official except a clerk. The clerk is the one 
 important and sufficient official. He records no votes, 
 since there are none to record ; but he “ takes the 
 sense ” or consensus of the meeting, and makes a 
 minute of that. This sense he gathers from what any 
 Friend may choose to say at the meeting. Having 
 made his minute, he reads it, and if it is approved 
 it stands as the sense of the meeting; and so standing, 
 it is as binding and absolute as a vote elsewhere. In 
 this way the clerk himself is made such. In this 
 way one Friend may become an “ approved minister ” 
 and another, because of bad behavior, may become 
 “ disowned.” 
 
 From i8i6 to 1837 families of Friends residing in 
 Worcester went up to worship at Mulberry Grove, in 
 Leicester. At a later period they obtained leave to 
 hold a Particular Meeting in Worcester. The place of 
 meeting at first was in a room over Boyden & Fenno’s 
 
 .i'll 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 139 
 
 jewelry store, in Paine’s Block. But in 1846 they 
 built their present meeting-house on land given by 
 Anthony Chase and Samuel H. Colton, two leading 
 members of the Society. After this the Mulberry 
 Grove Meeting gradually diminished and finally died 
 out. The Worcester Meeting became a part of 
 Uxbridge Monthly Meeting of which the Uxbridge and 
 Northbndge Preparative Meeting were the remaining 
 constituent parts. The Uxbridge Monthly Meeting is 
 held in the three places just named twelve times a 
 year, five of which are in Worcester. In due grada- 
 tion, Uxbridge Monthly Meeting belongs to Smithfield 
 ( R. I.) Quarterly Meeting, and this to the New Eng- 
 land Yearly Meeting, which is now held alternately at 
 Newport, R. I., and Portland, Maine. 
 
 The Worcester Meeting, though small in numbers, 
 has included some of the best known, most worthy and 
 most prosperous of her citizens. The names of 
 Chase, Colton, Earle, Hadwen, Arnold and others 
 have figured prominently in the past history of the 
 city. Anthony Chase was for a generation the treas- 
 urer of Worcester County; John Milton Earle was 
 known far and wide as the proprietor and editor 
 of that child and champion of the Revolution, The 
 Massachusetts Spy; Edward Earle became mayor of 
 the city. But the Friends of Worcester have special 
 reasons to remember the name of Timothy K. Earle 
 as one of the three principal benefactors of the 
 Society. Choosing to be his own executor, Mr. Earle, 
 shortly before his death, which occurred on the ist of 
 October 1881, made a gift of $5000 to Uxbridge 
 Monthly Meeting, to be held in trust for the benefit of 
 Worcester Preparative Meeting. The fund was to 
 
140 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 accumulate for ten years ; then the income was to be 
 used for repairs and improvements of the meeting- 
 house. The surplus above what might be used for 
 this purpose, when it should reach the sum of $2000, 
 was to be set aside as a fund for rebuilding in case of 
 fire. On the other hand, if the meeting should ever 
 come to an end, the deed of gift provided that the 
 fund should be made over to the Friends’ New Eng- 
 land Boarding School at Providence. Other gifts 
 from other sources and for other purposes, but of less 
 amounts, are also held in trust for this meeting. 
 
 The clerk for a quarter of a century, first of the 
 Worcester Meeting, and then of the Uxbridge Monthly 
 Meeting, is James G. Arnold, a lineal descendant, 
 through intermediate and unbroken generations of 
 Friends, of Thomas Arnold, the earliest emigrant of 
 the name and faith into the Providence and Rhode 
 Island Plantations. But it must be said that the 
 present prospects of the body do not justify the 
 expectation that the future will be as the past. The 
 number of members reported is about eighty, and 
 this is less than it has been. 
 
 Second Adventists. 
 
 The Second Advent movement in Worcester was 
 made in anticipation of the fateful 15th of February 
 1843. Thanksgiving Day in 1842, a meeting 
 
 was held in East City Hall, at which a committee 
 was appointed to secure a hall and hire preachers. 
 Thenceforward, for a period of time, meetings were 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 141 
 
 held almost every evening. For a part of the time the 
 “ Upper City Hall ” was occupied as the place of 
 meeting. When the 15th of February came and went 
 and the sun continued to rise and set as usual, the 
 time for the world’s crisis was adjourned to a day 
 in April. Disappointment then led to further adjourn- 
 ments, but as time wore on and showed no sign of 
 coming to an end, the Adventists, who had been 
 gathered out of almost every denomination, gradually 
 consolidated into a regular church organization. For 
 the first seven or eight years no records were kept, 
 because it was held to be inconsistent with the funda- 
 mental idea of Adventism. The first record appears 
 under the date of April 14, 1850, and the first important 
 thing recorded was the one Article of Association, 
 which served as the basis of organization. This was 
 in the nature of both creed and covenant. “The 
 personal advent and reign of Christ on the earth 
 renewed,” was the distinguishing belief ; and the 
 solemn agreement to be governed by the Bible as the 
 rule of faith and practice was the only covenant. 
 Religious services were held in various halls until the 
 year 1866, when a chapel was built and dedicated. The 
 building was erected on leased land on Central street, 
 at a cost of $3,113.28. The dedication took place on 
 the 14th of June. A succession of elders ministered 
 to the church until the 15th of December 1870, when 
 Elder S. G. Mathewson was called to serve “ one half 
 the time.” He remained in charge till October 17, 
 1875, when he preached his farewell sermon. Of late 
 years preachers have been supplied by a committee 
 chosen for that purpose. In 1883 the chapel was sold, 
 and a hall for religious services secured in Clark’s 
 
142 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Block, on Main street. In 1877 the membership was 
 one hundred and forty-five, and one hundred and 
 eighty-five in 1888. The amount of money annually 
 raised for current expenses and care of the poor of the 
 church exceeds $2000, while contributions are made 
 for missions abroad, and particularly for those in 
 India. 
 
 Disciples of Christ. 
 
 The church of which the lamented Garfield was a 
 minister is an exotic in New England. It had its 
 origin in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio in 
 the early part of the nineteenth century. Thence it 
 spread through the Southwest and West until, in 1888, 
 the number of communicants in the United States was 
 reported to be about seven hundred thousand. Six 
 universities, thirty-one colleges and six collegiate insti- 
 tutes provide the denomination with the higher educa- 
 tional facilities; while fifty-nine missions in Japan, 
 China, India, Turkey, Africa and Australia, as well as 
 other missions in various European countries, attest 
 their zeal in the propagation of their faith. The 
 central principle of the denomination is the union of 
 all Christians on the basis of the Apostolic Church 
 with the person of Jesus Christ as the only object of 
 faith. Hence, discarding all sectarian names, they 
 choose to denominate themselves simply “ Disciples of 
 Christ.” They hold’ the cardinal doctrines of the 
 gospel but not in the terminology of the schools. They 
 abjure speculative tenets touching Trinity and Unity 
 but adhere to the “ form of sound words ” given in the 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 143 
 
 Scriptures concerning the Father, the Son and the 
 Holy Spirit. Their polity is congregational, but they 
 are not Congregationalists. Their distinguishing tenet 
 is of baptism, but they are not altogether Baptists. 
 They agree with the Baptists as to the mode and sub- 
 jects of baptism, but differ as to its design. While the 
 Baptists baptize believers because they are forgiven, 
 the Disciples baptize them in order to secure the 
 promised forgiveness. “ He that believeth and is 
 baptized shall be saved.” The state of salvation 
 follows, not precedes, the baptizing as well as the 
 believing. Baptism will not save if repentance and 
 faith are wanting. Baptismal regeneration they deny. 
 Baptism is the only form necessary for admission into 
 the church ; there is no creed nor covenant. No one 
 is excluded from the Lord’s Supper, and this is observed 
 every Lord’s Day. The New Testament is held to be 
 the sole book of authority ; the Old Testament is 
 helpful, but not now authoritative. 
 
 Only one church of this order exists in Worcester. 
 It was organized on the 5th of August i860, with two 
 elders in charge of its spiritual interests, and two dea- 
 cons in charge of its temporal interests. There was 
 no parish organization, but the church itself was incor- 
 porated with trustees annually chosen to hold the 
 property. Their first house of worship was the old 
 Central Chapel on Thomas street. But the surround- 
 ings were unfavorable and they felt hampered in their 
 work. They therefore, in September 1885, sold that 
 property, and while making ready to build occupied 
 the old Central Church on Main street as a place of 
 worship. In the next month they purchased a lot on 
 Main street opposite King, and there proceeded to 
 
 19 
 
 Marginalia 
 
144 
 
 WOI^CESTEI^ 
 
 erect an attractive church edifice at a cost in all of 
 twenty-three thousand dollars. Its dedication took 
 place on the 13th of September 1886. In the twenty- 
 eight years of its existence, the church had had for its 
 ministers, William H. Hughes, William Rowzee, Alan- 
 son Wilcox, J. M. Atwater, T. W. Cottingham, Frank 
 N. Calvin, and I. A. Thayer, who came from New 
 Castle, Pennsylvania, began his work in Worcester in 
 October 1887, and gave it up in 1889. To none of 
 these do they apply the epithet Reverend, as the 
 distinction of clergy and laity is not recognized. In 
 1888 the membership of the church was three hundred 
 and seventy-three and that of the Sunday-school two 
 hundred and fifty. In the beginning of the 1890 Mr. 
 Chamberlin succeeded Mr. Thayer in the work of this 
 ministry. 
 
 Free Baptists. 
 
 Two tenets — free will and free communion — dis- 
 tinguish the Free Baptists from other Baptists. They 
 might perhaps be named the Arminian Baptists and 
 the others the Calvinistic Baptists ; but those names 
 would not mark the radical distinction growing out of 
 the terms of communion. Enough that each has 
 chosen its own name ; “ Baptists,” pure and simple, 
 and “ Free Baptists.” This denomination had its 
 origin in New Hampshire somewhat more than a 
 century ago. Benjamin Randall had been a Congre- 
 gationalism afterwards became a Baptist, and then, by 
 adopting and preaching the doctrines of the freedom 
 of the will and free communion, became the founder of 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 145 
 
 the Free Baptist denomination. This was in 1780. 
 Within the century following, churches of this faith 
 multiplied and spread east and west, until now the 
 membership throughout the country is reported to 
 exceed eighty thousand. In the county of Worcester 
 there are three churches, one of which is in the city. 
 The first preliminary meeting here was held at the 
 house of Newell Tyler, on the 14th of September 1880. 
 Meetings continued to be held at intervals until the 
 7th of April 1881, when the church was duly organized 
 with thirty members. It continued to live without 
 parish powers until the 3d of August 1887, when 
 by-laws were adopted preparatory to incorporation 
 under Chapter 404 of the Acts of that year. On the 
 I St day of September following the church became a 
 corporation by the name of the “ First Free Baptist 
 Church of Worcester.” The Rev. A. J. Eastman, who 
 had been the originator of the movement, was installed 
 on the 7th of April 1887, as the first pastor, and so 
 continued for one year. The second pastor was the 
 Rev. H. Lockhart. His term began on the ist of May 
 1883, and terminated on the ist of March 1887. On 
 the 1 8th of May following the Rev. D. D. Mitchell 
 became the pastor and remained until the spring of 
 1889 when he resigned. The place of worship is “ Free 
 Baptist Hall,” in Clark’s Building, 492 Main street. 
 
 African Churches, 
 
 African Methodist Zion’s Church. — This church 
 was organized in 1846. Its first place of worship was 
 the “ Centenary Chapel,” which had been erected on 
 
146 
 
 WORCESTEJ^ 
 
 Exchange street in 1840, and which, at a later day, 
 came into the hands of Zion’s Church. The house was 
 dedicated for this church in the year of its organiza- , 
 tion. Rev. Alexander Posey was the first pastor. To 
 him succeeded the Rev. Levin Smith, in 1849. 
 third and most noteworthy pastor was the Rev. J. A. 
 Mars. In 1854 the house was burned in the great fire ' 
 of that year. In July 1855, another house was begun, 
 and by the 25th of September was completed and 
 dedicated. A large part of the money for this expense 
 was collected by Mr. Mars outside the society. After 
 him came a succession of pastors whose names have 
 not been obtained. 
 
 African Methodist Episcopal Bethel Church.^ 
 This church was organized in the summer of 1867 in j 
 Lincoln House Hall. Dr. Brown was a leading spirit | 
 in the enterprise and continued to manage until a ^ 
 pastor was assigned. The original membership of the ] 
 church was fourteen. The first pastor assigned by the 
 Conference was Rev. Joshua Hale, whose term of 0 
 service was two years. After him came in succession „ 
 twelve pastors, whose names were Mr. Johnson, James | 
 Madison, Perry Stanford, Ebenezer Williams, Jeremiah 
 B. Hill, Joseph Taylor, Elijah P. Grinage, D. A. Porter, I 
 Charles Ackworth, Mr. Grandy, A. W. Whaley, Mr. '\ 
 Thomas and G. B. Lynch. Then in 1887, Rev. J. B. i 
 Stephens was appointed to the charge, which he wasi 
 keeping at the close of 1888. For a number of years ” 
 their place of worship was at the corner of Hanover I 
 and Laurel streets. But in 1887 that property was J 
 lost to the society and since then their place of worship i 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 147 
 
 has been at 302 Main street. The number of com- 
 municants in 1888 was twenty-five and the number of 
 families eight. 
 
 Mount Olive Baptist Church was a child of the 
 Worcester Baptist City Mission Board. At first and 
 for some years it was maintained as a mission. But 
 the brethren of the mission having repeatedly asked 
 for organization and recognition as an independent 
 church, the Board at length yielded to their wishes. 
 Accordingly, on the 24th of February 1885, a council 
 of the city Baptist Churches convened in the Pleasant 
 Street Church and after due examination of twenty-two 
 persons constituted them a church with the above 
 name. For a long time the Rev. Charles E. Simmons 
 served them in the gospel without compensation. 
 Then they set about procuring a pastor. On the 24th 
 of March 1887, at their request, a council convened 
 for the purpose of ordaining Hiram Conway, a student 
 in Newton Theological Seminary, to the Mount Olive 
 ministry. His examination having proved satisfactory, 
 his ordination and recognition as pastor took place on 
 the 29th in the Pleasant Street Church. In the 
 summer of the same year house No. 43 John street, 
 with the connected lot, was purchased and fitted for 
 public worship at a cost of about one thousand dollars. 
 On the loth of October 1889, a membership of forty- 
 four persons was reported. 
 
 The number of persons of African blood in Worces- 
 ter by the census of 1885 was eight hundred and 
 eighty-three; in 1889 the number was thought to be 
 not less than one thousand. 
 
148 
 
 WOjRCESTEjR 
 
 Christadelphians. 
 
 The Christadelphians, or “ Brethren of Christ,” con- 
 stitute a small body in Worcester. The order had its 
 origin in the year 1832. Its founder was John Thomas, 
 M. D., of New York, who believed and proclaimed that 
 the teaching of Christ was for the first time discovered 
 in this nineteenth century by himself. Dr. Thomas 
 became an itinerant, and went through the United 
 States and the British Empire publishing his new-found 
 gospel. Disciples were made and are to be found 
 scattered through this country. Great Britain, Australia 
 and India. Their belief will, perhaps, best be seen by 
 what they do not believe. In their own printed words, 
 then, “ Christadelphians do not believe in the Trinity, 
 in the co-equality and co-eternity of Jesus with the 
 Deity, in the existence of Jesus before his conception 
 at Nazareth, in the personality of the Holy Spirit, in 
 the personality of the devil, in the immortality of the 
 soul, in the transportation of saints to heaven and 
 sinners to hell after death, in eternal torments, in baby 
 sprinkling and pouring, in infant and idiot salvation, 
 in Sabbatarianism, in salvation by good works apart 
 from the gospel, in salvation without baptism, in the 
 validity of baptism where the gospel was not under- 
 stood and believed at the time of its administration, in 
 conversion apart from the intelligent apprehension of 
 the Word, in the conversion of the world by the 
 preaching of the gospel. They do not believe that the 
 Old Testament has been set aside by the New, but, on 
 the contrary, they base their faith on the writings of 
 Moses, the Prophets and the Apostles comprehensively 
 viewed, and reject everything contrary to their teaching.” 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 149 
 
 To this non-belief they add the belief that “ the I 
 faith of Christendom is made up of the fables predicted 
 by Paul in 2 Timothy 4 : 4, and is entirely subversive 
 of the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” They 
 have no pastors, deacons or paid officers, but in the 
 place of them have “ serving brethren, presiding breth- 
 ren and speaking brethren.” 
 
 The first meeting of the “ ecclesia ” in Worcester was 
 held in Temperance Hall, on Foster street, in 1867. 
 In the beginning there were only twelve members. 
 This number increased in a few years to about sixty, 
 then in twelve years fell back to twenty-two. The 
 place of meeting in 1889 was Reform Club Hall, 460 
 Main street. The sum of one hundred and fifty 
 dollars covers the current yearly expenses. 
 
 Swedish Churches, 
 
 By the census of 1875 there were then one hundred 
 and sixty-six Swedes and Norwegians in the city of 
 Worcester. In 1889 the number was estimated to be 
 not less than seven thousand. For this rapidly-growing 
 part of the population five churches have already been 
 provided. Two of these are Methodist churches, one 
 is Baptist, one Congregational and one Lutheran. 
 The oldest is the 
 
 First Swedish M. E. Church. — Work was begun 
 among the Swedes in Worcester as early as 1876 by 
 the Rev. Albert Ericson of the M. E. Church. By him 
 a church was organized, to which the Rev. Otto 
 
WORCESTER 
 
 150 
 
 Anderson afterwards preached. In the fall of 1879 
 Mr. Ericson removed to Worcester, resumed his work f 
 and remained in charge till 1882, when he was suc- 
 ceeded by the Rev. D. S. Sorlin. In 1883 a church 
 was erected at Quinsigamond at a cost, including the : 
 lot, of six thousand seven hundred dollars, and was ^ 
 dedicated on the 31st of March 1884. In the same 
 year the Rev. C. A. Cederberg was appointed assistant ' 
 preacher and in the year following the pastor in charge. 
 
 In 1887 the Rev. Albert Haller was appointed to ' 
 
 • * t 
 
 succeed him, and in 1888 Rev. Victor Witting was put 4 
 in charge. 
 
 The Second Swedish M. E. Church was organized ' 
 on the 9th of April 1885. This church, a colony from 
 the First, embraced ninety-four members, including 
 twenty-nine on probation. With these came the Rev. 
 Mr. Sorlin, pastor of the First Church, under appoint- J 
 ment as pastor of the new organization. On the ist of 
 September 1885, the church took possession of the 
 chapel on Thomas street, which had been purchased 
 from the Christ Church Society for eight thousand 
 
 i 
 
 dollars. By two successive additions at a cost of three j 
 thousand four hundred dollars, a seating capacity for ; 
 more than five hundred was obtained; nor was this '.b 
 found to be sufficient. The growth of the society had >' 
 
 been so rapid that in November 1888, there was a f 
 
 ■ 
 
 membership of two hundred and thirty-five. On the 
 29th of May 1887, the Rev. H. W. Eklund of Stock- 
 holm, Sweden, became the pastor in charge. His 
 ministry resulted in great spiritual and material en- jb 
 largement. -J* 
 
Swedish Cong’l Church 
 
 1884 
 
Worcester Daily Telegram Sat., Nov. 23, 1968 
 
 
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 %#«i*ce^ler ll^aily 'telegram Sat., Nov. 23 , 1968 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 The Swedish Evangelical Congregational 
 Church in Worcester had its root in the Free Church 
 movement in Sweden. This movement began about 
 1869 under Rev. P. Waldenstrom, D.D., who had been 
 a minister of the Lutheran or State Church. Under 
 his vigorous lead the membership of this Free Church 
 had grown in the course of sixteen years to be one 
 hundred thousand. Some of this communion having 
 emigrated to this country had found a home in Worces- 
 ter. In May 1880, a few of these people began to 
 meet for prayer and conference on Messenger Hill, 
 while others met at Quinsigamond and elsewhere. In 
 June, Rev. A. G. Nelson, pastor of a Swedish Free 
 Church in Campello, Mass., came by invitation and 
 held several meetings. On the 15th of August the hall 
 at 386 Main street, over the Gazette office, was hired 
 for religious services. Some old settees were borrowed 
 from the Y. M. C. A., while a small yellow table, still 
 preserved as a memorial of that day of small things, 
 was bought and used for a “ pulpit.” In this place, on 
 the 6th of September 1880, the Swedish Free Church 
 was organized, and here, on the 26th, Mr. Nelson 
 held the first Sunday service. In October the Rev. 
 George Wiberg was called from Iowa to become the 
 first pastor. In May 1881, the church, finding the hall 
 on Main street too narrow, removed its place of wor- 
 ship to a hall in Warren’s Block, near Washington 
 Square. On the 19th of August in the same year a 
 council, finding this Free Church in substantial accord 
 with its own, gave it a cordial welcome to the fellow- 
 ship of the Congregational Churches. Only one other 
 Swedish Congregational Church then existed in the 
 
 country, that one being in Iowa. On the 14th of 
 
 20 
 
 ATarginalia 
 
152 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 January 1882, a parish was duly organized in the 
 office of Hon. Henry L. Parker, in Flagg’s building, 
 under a warrant issued by him. Membership in the 
 church was made a condition of membership in the 
 parish. In November 1883, Mr. Wiberg resigned his 
 charge, and on the ist of December following, Mr. 
 Nelson, the first preacher to the church, became its 
 second pastor. Leaving in July 1885, he was suc- 
 ceeded by the Rev. Eric Nillson, who began his work 
 on the first Sunday in August of that year and was 
 dismissed on the 6th of December 1888. At the 
 same time occurred the installation of the Rev. Karl 
 F. Ohlsson, who had been called from Hedemora, 
 Sweden, to the Worcester church. Its membership 
 was then two hundred and fifty. 
 
 As early as 1882 this Swedish church enterprise had 
 enlisted the lively sympathies of the Congregational 
 body of the city, and a movement was then initiated to 
 erect a church edifice. Through a building committee, 
 of which S. R. Heywood was chairman and G. Henry 
 Whitcomb treasurer, the money was raised, a commo- 
 dious edifice erected on Providence street, near Union 
 R. R. Station, and on the 25th of January 1885, was 
 dedicated with services by nearly all the Congregational 
 pastors of the city. The cost, including land and 
 furnishing, was nine thousand three hundred and 
 ninety-five dollars, of which the Swedes contributed 
 one thousand five hundred and ninety-five. As they 
 gain financial strength the whole cost will probably be 
 assumed by the parish. 
 
 A most active, efficient and leading person in all 
 this enterprise was Dea. John A. Corneli. He had 
 been a Lutheran and been urged by his Lutheran 
 
 
 j 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 153 
 
 pastor in Boston to forward that interest on coming 
 to Worcester. Being, however, converted at one of 
 Major Whittle’s meetings, he had left the Lutherans 
 and united with the Summer Street Church. After- 
 wards he took a dismission from that church to assist 
 in building up the church of his Swedish brethren. To 
 him both its spiritual and temporal prosperity was 
 largely due. 
 
 On the 23d of June 1889, the great Swedish leader 
 Rev. Dr. Waldenstrom appeared in Worcester to the 
 great delight of his countrymen. Three times during 
 the day he preached to them in Swedish, Mechanics 
 Hall being densely crowded each time. His affiliation 
 being with the Congregationalists, he was brought into 
 special relation, while here, with the city pastors of that 
 body. On the following day he took his departure for 
 the west. In October 1889 the membership of this 
 church was 265. 
 
 The Swedish Baptist Church grew out of a 
 movement begun in 1879. that year Mr. Anderson, 
 a Swede, came from the Union Temple Church in 
 Boston and united with the First Baptist Church in 
 Worcester. Soon he had a Sunday-school class of six 
 or eight Swedes. Then he and his countrymen began 
 to hold meetings in the vestry of the First Baptist 
 Church. In 1881, the Swedish Baptist Church was 
 constituted with a body of nine members. The Baptist 
 City Mission Board now came to their help, and board 
 and church co-operated in hiring a hall for religious 
 services in Clark’s Block, now Walker Building. In 
 
154 
 
 W0RCESTE2^ 
 
 1882, Rev. Peter A. Hjelm was called from Sweden to 
 the pastorate. He remained till near the close of the 
 year 1888, and was then succeeded by the Rev. L. 
 Kalberg, who in turn was succeeded by Rev. A. P. 
 Sward in 1889. The Mission Board had built, in 1885, 
 a chapel on Mulberry street at a cost, including land, 
 of $9500. Of this amount the church from the first 
 assumed $3000; in the end of 1888 that body had 
 become so prosperous that it resolved to relieve the 
 board entirely. In October 1889 the membership had 
 increased to about two hundred and forty-seven. 
 
 The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Gethsem- 
 ANE Church was organized in 1881. In 1882 the 
 Rev. Charles E. Cesander became the pastor. He was 
 succeeded in 1883 by the Rev. Martin J. Englund, who 
 was ordained on the 17th of June. In the same year 
 the church was erected on Mulberry street at a cost of 
 about $15,000. The Rev. Oscar M. Holmgrain was 
 Mr. Englund’s successor, being installed in October or 
 November 1885. The installation of his successor. 
 Rev. S. G. Larson, took place in April 1888. The 
 Augsburg Confession is the basis of the church organi- 
 zation. The membership in 1888 was about one 
 hundred and seventy. 
 
 Swedish Unitarians. — Twenty-five years ago, the 
 writings of Dr. Channing were translated into Swedish 
 and circulated in Sweden. They found sympathetic 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 155 
 
 readers ; and at Gothenburg, perhaps elsewhere, an 
 association was formed by those who accepted the 
 Channing doctrine. At a later period application was 
 made for ecclesiastical recognition by the state; but 
 this was not granted. One or two of these disciples 
 who had become resident in Worcester, notably Gideon 
 Carlstrom, with others, began in the summer of 1889 to 
 agitate the matter of an organization here. The result 
 was, the formation in October of an association for 
 religious, moral and social purposes, under the name 
 of De Fornuftstroe 7 ides Sa 7 nfund, which being translated 
 literally, is “ The Reason-believers’ Society.” A good 
 moral character and the payment of a stipulated 
 monthly sum were the only conditions of membership. 
 In October, the number of members was about forty. 
 The officers were H. Orup, president ; Gideon Carl- 
 strom, vice president ; N. Dahlguist, secretary, and 
 Gustav Lof, treasurer. Services were held every Sun- 
 day evening with occasional preaching by clergymen. 
 Among these have been the Rev. Calvin Stebbins of 
 the Church of the Unity and the Rev. Samuel A. 
 Dyberg, the Swedish pastor of the Fourth Unitarian 
 Church in Providence, R. I. The latter was engaged 
 to supply preaching regularly through the month of 
 January 1890. 
 
 Jews, 
 
 Polish Jews began to multiply in Worcester about 
 the year 1874. In 1888 the number of souls was 
 thought to be not less than five hundred. There are 
 
156 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 among them two incorporated religious societies. The 
 oldest of these made an attempt to become incorpora- 
 ted in 1880, which, through no fault of the society, 
 resulted in failure to obtain what they sought. But in 
 1888 the society became a corporate body by the 
 name which it had borne from the first, viz : 
 
 Sons of Israel. — The method of admission to the 
 synagogue, or church, is by ballot after the candidate 
 has been proposed and personally examined as to his 
 fitness. Five black balls defeat an election. Member- 
 ship involves an obligation to make certain annual 
 payments, and secures certain pecuniary advantages 
 touching sickness and burial. A prime requisite for 
 membership, whether in the outset or in continuance, 
 is financial integrity. This society has had five minis- 
 ters. The first was M. Metzer who came in 1880. 
 After him came M. Touvim in 1882 ; M. Binkovich in 
 1884; M. Newman in 1885, and M. Axel S. Jacobson 
 in 1887. In 1888 a synagogue was built on Green 
 street at a cost of $11,000, including land, and was 
 occupied for religious services in August of that year. 
 About fifty persons are members of the synagogue and 
 two hundred belong to the congregation. The syna- 
 gogue possesses three rolls of the five books of Moses 
 written on parchment, the finest of which cost $150. 
 The second society is named 
 
 Sons of Abraham. — It became incorporated in 
 1886. Besides Polish Jews it embraced some of 
 Swedish nationality. Those constituting the society 
 went out from the older body because of lack of agree- 
 ment on certain matters. But their organization and 
 
, CHURCHES 
 
 157 
 
 doctrine and way of the synagogue are the same. In 
 1888 a synagogue of brick was erected by this society 
 on Plymouth street, and was ready for occupation by 
 the end of that year. The cost of this, with the land, 
 was also about $11,000. In that year the membership 
 was said to be forty. This synagogue, like the other, 
 is the possessor of several copies of the Torah^ or Law 
 of Moses, executed in the same costly style, and kept 
 in an ark or chest for use in the synagogue service. 
 
 Some half a dozen families of German Jews belong 
 to Worcester, but have their religious affiliations with 
 Boston. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Armenians. 
 
 The Armenian nation was great and historical cen- 
 turies before the Christian era. As early, perhaps, as 
 any Gentile nation, they received the Christian religion ; 
 but not till the opening of the fourth century, and in 
 the year 302, did the Armenian Church begin to be 
 established. To St. Gregory, the Illuminator, belongs 
 the honor of being its founder, and hence it is distinct- 
 ively styled the Gregorian Church. Independent alike 
 of the Greek and the Romish Churches, it resembled 
 them in holding a hierarchy and the seven sacraments. 
 This ancient church, through varying fortunes, has 
 come down to our day and still exists in its native 
 seat. An important city of that country is Harpoot in 
 the great loop made by the river Euphrates ; and there, 
 early in the century, the American Board of Com- 
 missioners established one of their missions. In this 
 
WORCESTER 
 
 158 
 
 way the Armenians came to have relations with Ameri- 
 cans and to have knowledge of the United States. 
 From Harpoot and vicinity many of them found their 
 way to Worcester. The special attraction for them in 
 this city was the great Washburn & Moen wire estab- 
 lishment. They began to be employed in that establish- 
 ment in the year 1882, and in 1888 there were about 
 two hundred and thirty-six on its pay-roll. This 
 particular set towards Worcester was the means of 
 drawing others who came and engaged in other employ- 
 ments. The whole number in the city was last reported 
 at about five hundred. This is said to be a larger 
 number of Armenians than what is to be found in any 
 other place in the United States. 
 
 It was an obvious duty to provide for these Asiatic 
 strangers edifying religious instruction. Accordingly, 
 about the beginning of the year 1888, the Rev. H. A. 
 Andreasian was invited to come from Harpoot and 
 minister to them in their own tongue. Mr. Andreasian 
 was a disciple of the American missionaries, and had 
 become an evangelical Protestant as towards the 
 Gregorian Church. He had been an ordained minister 
 and preacher at Harpoot for twenty-one years. On 
 receiving the call from Worcester he was given leave 
 of absence from his charge in Harpoot for from one 
 to three years. A place for worship was secured in 
 Summer Street Chapel, and there every Sabbath a 
 large portion of the Armenians resident in Worcester 
 diligently attended upon his ministry. There is yet 
 no organized church, and the congregation embraces 
 Greerorian as well as Protestant Armenians. The 
 
 o 
 
 communion of the Lord’s Supper is observed four 
 times a year, and to it are invited “ all who love the 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 159 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ.” The version of the Bible in use 
 is that published by the American Bible Society in the 
 Armenian language. The singing is congregational, 
 conducted by Mr. M. S. T. Nahigian, who came to 
 Worcester almost before any other Armenian. A 
 serious drawback upon the future of the Armenians in 
 Worcester is the almost entire absence of Armenian 
 women, caused by the refusal of the Turkish Govern- 
 ment to allow them to emigrate. The entire congrega- 
 tion on the last Sabbath of the year 1888 consisted of 
 men, and mostly of young men. Mr. Andreasian 
 regarded this as such a serious matter that he was 
 determined to discourage the Armenian immigration 
 unless the women came also. About fifteen hundred 
 dollars a year have been raised among themselves for 
 church and burial purposes here and contributions to 
 their poor at home. They have manifested their grati- 
 tude and a fine sense of the fitness of things by also 
 making a voluntary contribution of two hundred dollars 
 to the funds of the City Hospital. 
 
 Thus matters stood until early in 1889, when a 
 movement was begun which resulted in important 
 changes. This movement originated with Michael H. 
 Topanelian a naturalized Armenian citizen of Worces- 
 ter. Himself an uncompromising son of the “ Catholic 
 and Apostolic Church of Armenia ” (otherwise called 
 the Gregorian), he viewed with hostility the efforts 
 that were made to convert his countrymen to the evan- 
 gelical protestant faith. From his point of view they 
 were as sheep without a shepherd and he aimed to 
 provide them one. Accordingly, in the spring of 1889 
 he wrote to the Armenian Patriarch in Constantinople 
 
 to send over a priest. In response to this request, the 
 
 21 
 
 Marginalia 
 
i6o 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 Rev. H. V. Sarajian made his appearance in Worcester 
 on the 24th of July next following, charged with the 
 care, not only of his countrymen in Worcester, but also 
 of all in the United States. Mr. Sarajian was a native 
 of Constantinople, had his education preparatory for 
 the priesthood in the Armenian Seminary at Jerusalem, 
 and was ordained as a celibate priest in a monastery 
 near Moosh in Armenia. His coming to Worcester 
 was the signal for a separation of the true Gregorians 
 from those otherwise minded. On the first Sunday in 
 August they assembled in Grand Army Hall and there 
 Mr. Sarajian began for them his ministry. 
 
 Meantime, Mr. Andreasian had taken a step which 
 had already divided the original congregation. He 
 had become convinced that he could carry on his work 
 more effectively under the forms of the Episcopal 
 Church. Accordingly, in the early summer of 1888, 
 he had retired from the Summer Street Chapel and 
 opened an Episcopal service in a hall of the Young 
 Men’s Christian Association Building. At the same 
 time he began a course of study at the Theological 
 School in Cambridge as a preparation for taking orders 
 in the Episcopal Church. A very considerable number 
 of his countrymen followed him in this new movement. 
 The secession of those and of the Gregorian followers 
 of Mr. Sarajian reduced the Summer street body to 
 fifty or sixty. This remnant was cared for by the City 
 Missionary Society which employed the Rev. Milan H. 
 Hitchcock to preach to them every Sunday. Mr. 
 Hitchcock, who was acting pastor of the Church of 
 the Covenant, had been a missionary among the 
 Armenians in Asia, and consequently was able to 
 preach to them in their own tongue. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 i6i 
 
 Thus the close of the year 1889 found the small 
 body of Armenians in Worcester separated into three 
 distinct religious societies each having its own pastor. 
 
 Germans. 
 
 In 1875 number of persons in Worcester born in 
 Germany was four hundred and three. Thirteen years 
 later the number of this nationality was estimated at 
 somewhat more than one thousand. Of these a small 
 portion are of the Roman Catholic faith, but without 
 any separate church organization. The greater part 
 are free from all ecclesiastical connection, except — as 
 a leader of this sort put the case — “ each is a little 
 church by himself.” Formerly, and from time to time, 
 the Protestant Germans essayed to establish a German 
 church, but with more of failure than of success. In 
 1886 Charles H. Stephan, a layman of German birth, 
 came to the city and was much dissatisfied at finding 
 such religious desolation among his countrymen. He 
 at once bestirred himself to do what he might to 
 remedy the evil. The result of his efforts was that, on 
 the 30th of November 1886, a company of Protestant 
 Germans was brought together for religious service and 
 worship. This first meeting was held in the Swedish 
 Lutheran Church on Mulberry street. A mission ser- 
 vice continued to be held from that time until April 10, 
 1888, when a church was organized under the name 
 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Ten persons 
 became members by signing the “ constitution,” and 
 Charles H. Stephan and Walter Lester were elected 
 
i 62 
 
 WORCESTEI^ 
 
 deacons. The “ unchanged ” (invariatd) Augsburg 
 Confession was made the basis of the organization. 
 The two sacraments are Baptism and the Lord’s 
 Supper. Baptism is uniformly administered to infants 
 a few days after birth by a ternary pouring of water 
 from the hand upon the infant’s brow. The Lord’s 
 Supper is administered four times a year, under the 
 imperative rule of the Lutheran Church. In regard to 
 this sacrament, Luther’s doctrine of consubstantiation 
 is strictly held by this Worcester church ; the body 
 and blood of Christ are received under and with the 
 bread and wine, but not in the bread and wine tran- 
 substantiated, as the Romish Church teaches. The 
 first minister of the church was the Rev. F. C. Wurl 
 of Boston, who served as a missionary under appoint- 
 ment by the German Home Mission, at Brooklyn, 
 N. Y. On the 4th of August 1889, Rev. F. C. G. 
 Schumm was ordained and installed as pastor. Preach- 
 ing is held in the hospitable and catholic Summer 
 Street Chapel every Sunday, where also a Sunday- 
 school is as constantly maintained. The average 
 attendance upon the preaching is forty-five and thirty 
 at the Sunday-school. 
 
 City Missions. 
 
 The Trinitarian Congregationalists had for 
 many years maintained an unincorporated City Mis- 
 sionary Society. But under the efficient and stimulat- 
 ing lead of the Rev. Henry A. Stimson, D.D., with the 
 hearty co-operation of others, both clergy and laity, a 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 163 
 
 corporation was legally organized and established, 
 December 10, 1883, under the name of the Worcester 
 City Missionary Society. The object of the society 
 was “to promote religion and morality in the city of 
 Worcester aud vicinity by the employment of mission- 
 aries ; the establishment and support of churches, 
 Sunday-schools, mission stations and chapels for the 
 preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; for the diffu- 
 sion of Evangelical knowledge and for the fostering of 
 such works of benevolence as are especially adapted to 
 commend religion to those who undervalue or are 
 ignorant of it.” This step rapidly led to a great 
 enlargement of Christian activity and giving in the 
 direction of city missions. Before the incorporation, 
 the sum of $500 was about the limit of the fund annu- 
 ally raised for the uses of the society. After the 
 incorporation, as the several annual reports show, the 
 amount raised was, in the first year, $2778.23 ; in the 
 second year, $3670.69 ; in the third year, $3764.81 ; in 
 the fourth year, $3886.53 ; and in the fifth year, 
 $4006.71. With these means in hand a superintendent 
 and assistants were employed, the city was canvassed, 
 missions were established and preaching in them was 
 maintained. Out of all this three organized churches 
 have grown up, one of which speedily took matters 
 into its own hands, became strong and erected one of 
 the finest churches in the city. Another, the tripartite 
 Church of the Covenant was, in 1889, resolved into 
 three separate ecclesiastical organizations, an account 
 of which has already been given. The one at South 
 Worcester ultimately adopted the name of Hope Con- 
 gregational Church. 
 
 The Rev. Albert Bryant had been the efficient 
 
 Marginalia- 
 
164 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 superintendent from the beginning ; but on the 6th of 
 May 1889, he tendered his resignation to take effect on 
 the ist of June following. Then Rev. William T. Sleeper 
 became superintendent, at the same time retaining his 
 pastoral relation to the Summer Street Church. At 
 the close of the year 1889 the society owned three 
 Chapels valued at $15,000. 
 
 In 1881 the pastors and some members of five of 
 the Congregational Churches united in an effort to 
 establish a church home of that way for the French 
 population. Money was subscribed, a place of worship 
 was provided, a minister. Rev. Mr. Syvret, employed 
 and a church organized. Things went on in this way 
 till the summer of 1883, when, because of Mr. Syvret’s 
 defection from the faith and the adherence of his 
 congregation to him notwithstanding his defection, the 
 enterprise came to an untimely end. In 1889, ^ 
 movement, independent of the first, was begun. In 
 August of that year Rev. Napoleon Gregoire came 
 and began work. He was a French Canadian by 
 birth, at first a Roman Catholic priest, afterwards for 
 some years pastor of a Baptist Church in Canada, and 
 now preferred to affiliate himself with the Congrega- 
 tionalists. He came as a missionary of the Massachu- 
 setts Home Missionary Society upon the recommenda- 
 tion of Rev. Mr. Cote, missionary-general among the 
 French. In September the “ inauguration of the 
 French Congregational work in Worcester ” went on 
 through four days continuously, assisted by nine French 
 ministers, each of whom made an address upon a topic 
 duly announced. For awhile meetings were held in 
 the building of the Christian Association ; but at the 
 close of the year it was expected that the chapel of the 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 165 
 
 Union Church would be placed at their service. By 
 this time Mr. Gregoire had found some fifteen families 
 embracing forty-five or fifty souls that might be 
 considered French Congregationalists. 
 
 Baptist Missions. — In the autumn of 1881, the 
 Baptist Churches took measures for the united prose- 
 cution of city mission work. On the 25th of March 
 1885, this enterprise took body and form by becoming 
 incorporated under the name of the Worcester Baptist 
 City Mission Board. The object of the association, as 
 declared in the Articles of agreement, was “ to promote 
 religion and morality in the city of Worcester and 
 vicinity, the establishment and support of churches, 
 Sunday-schools, mission stations and chapels under the 
 general management of Baptists, the employment of 
 missionaries to labor in said city and vicinity for the 
 furtherance of the above-named objects and the 
 advancement of the cause of evangelical religion.” 
 The policy adopted was to have all the Baptist 
 Churches represented in the Board and all contribute 
 according to ability. Moreover, it was held to be good 
 policy for each church to have special charge of some 
 one mission, and, if able, to bear all its expenses. The 
 French Mission was reserved from this arrangement 
 and kept under the control of the Board. This mission 
 was organized in 1881, and was placed under the 
 charge of Rev. Gideon Aubin in 1886. Its support, in 
 part, is furnished by the Home Baptist Mission of New 
 York City. Other missions under the charge of this 
 Board are, one at Quinsigamond and one on Canter- 
 bury street, both of which were organized in 1885. ^ 
 
 mission at Adams Square, which was begun in 1886, 
 
i66 
 
 WORCESTER 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 was organized as the Adams Square Baptist Church 
 in 1889. The amount of property held by the Board 
 and invested principally in three chapels is somewhat' 
 less than $10,000. 
 
 In the spring of 1888, a mission of the JVew Jerusa- 
 lem Church, or Swedenborgians, was begun in Worces- 
 ter. Such a mission had been established in 1874, had 
 been continued for nearly four years and had then 
 come to an end. The numbers embraced in the new 
 mission did not exceed a score at the close of the year 
 1888, and were all women. These provided a place of 
 assembly, which was in Walker Building, and there on 
 stated Sundays the Rev. Willard H. Hinkley, of Brook- 
 line, Mass., a secretary of the General Convention, 
 ministered to them as a missionary of the New Church. 
 There was no church organization, the members belong- 
 ing to different churches in Boston and elsewhere. It 
 appears from the New Church “Almanac” for 1889 
 that the number of societies in America then in 
 “ organized existence ” was 141 ; the estimated num- 
 ber of “New Churchmen,” 10,178; the number of 
 churches and chapels, 82 ; and the total number of 
 clergy in active service and otherwise, 113. Sweden- 
 borg died in 1772. His doctrines were first introduced 
 into America in 1784; and the first New Jerusalem 
 Church in the United States was organized in 1792, in 
 Baltimore. The first society in Massachusetts was 
 instituted in Boston on the 15th of August 1818 ; the 
 whole number in the State in 1888 was nineteen. 
 
 Besides the foregoing, there are various other mis- 
 sions, denominational and undenominational, that are 
 independent and self-supporting. 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 167 
 
 In 1889, the total valuation, by the city assessors, of 
 exempted church property was $2,069,900. This 
 amount was distributed among the several denom- 
 inations as follows: Trinitarian Congregationalists, 
 $722,800; Roman Catholics, $452.100 ; Baptists, $209,- 
 000; Episcopalians, $188,800; Methodists, $174,900 ; 
 Unitarian Congregationalists, $98,400 ; Universalists, 
 $68,600; Swedish Churches, $38,100; Disciples of 
 Christ, $27,600 ; and the balance among the smaller 
 organizations. 
 
 Our historical review shows that while the largest 
 growth has been in the line of the oldest church, the 
 city has also been greatly hospitable towards other 
 creeds of later advent within its bounds. 
 
 Marginalia 
 
 In the preparation of this sketch-history of the 
 Worcester Churches, the following is a partial list of 
 the authorities and sources of information which have 
 been consulted : 
 
 Lincoln’s “ History of Worcester ; ” Lincoln’s “ His- 
 torical Notes ” (in manuscript) ; Smalley’s “ Worcester 
 Pulpit ; ” Bancroft’s “ Sermons ; ” Austin’s “ Sermon 
 on the War of 1812;” Pamphlets on the Good- 
 rich and Waldo Controversy, 1820, et seq.; Fitton’s 
 “ Sketches of the Established Church in New Eng- 
 land ; ” Hoffman’s “ Catholic Directory ; ” Hill’s 
 “ Historical Discourse ; ” “ Journal of Convention of 
 Protestant Episcopal Church ; ” Dorchester’s “ Early 
 Methodism in Worcester ” (in manuscript) ; Roe’s 
 “ Beginnings of Methodism in Worcester ” (in manu- 
 script) ; Green’s “ Gleanings from the History of the 
 
 22 
 
ATarginalia 
 
 i68 WORCESTER CHURCHES 
 
 Second Parish in Worcester ; ” Davis’ “ Historical 
 Discourse on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the First 
 Baptist Church ; ” Wayland’s “ Sermon on the Twenty- 
 fifth Anniversary of his Ordination as Pastor of Main 
 Street Baptist Church ; ” Barton’s “ Epitaphs ; ” Drake’s 
 “American Biography;” “Liturgy of New Jerusalem 
 Church ; ” “ New Church Almanac ; ” printed manuals 
 of the various churches and societies ; manuscript 
 records of the same, including records of First Parish 
 at City Hall, and of the church therewith connected 
 (Old South) in the last century, in the handwriting of 
 Rev. Mr. Maccarty; Massachusetts Spy newspaper; 
 ancient copies of Psalm-books ; “ Twenty-fifth Anni- 
 versary Exercises of First Universalist Society;” “Our 
 Position ” of Disciples of Christ ; Thayer’s “ Christian 
 Union.” Much information has also been obtained 
 from pastors and other living persons, actors in and 
 having knowledge of what took place. In this way 
 knowledge of what is written about the Swedish, 
 Armenian, German and Jewish ecclesiastical matters 
 was chiefly obtained. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 171 
 
 The oldest extant^ Covenant of the First Church in Worcester is 
 printed on the next page. It was adopted on Monday the 2 2d of 
 September 1746, and afterwards subscribed by fifty male members. At 
 the time of its adoption the church had no minister and no Covenant, 
 and at their request the one here given was “ draughted by the Rev. Mr. 
 [John] Campbell of Oxford and the Rev. Mr. Stone of Southborough ; ” 
 so it stands on the record in the hand-writing of Mr. Maccarty. Mr. 
 Stone had been invited to assist, but the certificate of record touching 
 the adoption of the Covenant is signed by Rev. John Prentice of Lan- 
 caster and Rev. John Campbell, Mr. Stone’s name not appearing. 
 
 The Covenant of the Second Church in Worcester, otherwise the 
 First Unitarian Church, is here printed as it came from the hand of Dr. 
 Bancroft and as it stands today on the ancient records of the church. 
 It was adopted at a Lecture held in the Court House on the ist day of 
 December 1785, and was then “publicly subscribed” by eight men and 
 eleven women. It has never been changed nor superseded nor abro- 
 gated ; but now is monumental only. 
 
 The text of these ancient Symbols as here printed has been diligently 
 compared with the text written in the church records by contemporary 
 hands. 
 
 1 There was an older Covenant, but it had been carried away, together with the 
 church records, by Mr. Burr after his dismission. On the 5th of April 1745, the 
 church sent a committee to reclaim both from their “ late pastor,” but neither was 
 returned. In the margin of the old record-book opposite the vote for reclamation is 
 written, “The Church Records Refused;” while under date of August 23, 1746, a 
 year and four months later, it is recorded that the church was then “ destitute of a 
 Covenant.” These facts were not discovered by me until after the text on page 12 was 
 in print. The discovery has two important bearings : First, it furnishes record 
 evidence of an earlier Covenant ; and Second, it raises a strong presumption that the 
 records which Mr. Burr kept and which have ever since been missing, were those 
 covering the first twenty-five years of the church’s existence. 
 
172 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 A 
 
 ®l)e ^.ncicnt tioocnant 
 
 Of the First Church in Worcester. 
 
 1746. 
 
 We, whofe Names are hereunto fubfcribed, being Inhabi- 
 tants of the Town of Worcester, in New England, knowing 
 that we are very prone to offend & provoke God, most high, 
 both in Heart and Life, thro’ the prevalency of Sin that 
 dwelleth in Us, and the manifold Temptations from without 
 us ; for which we have great reafon to be unfeignedly 
 humble before Him, from day to day, do, in the Name of 
 our Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ, with Dependence upon 
 the gracious Affistance of his holy Spirit, folemnly enter into 
 a Covenant with God, & with one another, according to his 
 holy Direction, as follows : 
 
 First, — That having chofen & taken the Lord Jehovah, 
 Father, Son, 8c holy Spirit, to be Our God, we will fear 
 Him, cleave to Him in Love, & ferve Him in Truth, w^^ 
 all o^ Hearts, giving up OTelves to Him to be his people, 
 in all Things to be at his Direction & Sovereign Disposal, 
 that we may have & hold Communion with Him, as Mem- 
 bers of Chrift’s myftical Body, according to his revealed 
 Will, to Our Lives’ End. 
 
 Secondly, — We bind Our Selves to bring up Our Child- 
 ren & Servants in the knowledge and fear of God, by his 
 Inftrudtions, according to our best abilities ; and, in special, 
 by Orthodox Catechifms, vizb : the Affembly at Westmin- 
 ster’s larger and fhorter Catechisms, that the true religion 
 may be maintained in Our Families while we live ; yea, & 
 among such as fhall furvive us, when we are dead & gone. 
 
 Thirdly, — We furthermore promife to keep close to the 
 Truth of Christ, endeavoring with lively affedlions of it in 
 
AFFENDIX 
 
 173 
 
 Our Hearts, to defend it against all Opposers thereof, as 
 God fhall call us at any time thereunto ; which, that we 
 may do, we resolve to use the holy Scriptures as Our Direc- 
 tory, whereby we may difcern the mind & will of Chrift, 
 and not the new-found Inventions of Men. 
 
 Fourthly. — We also engage Ou^’felves, to have a careful 
 Inspection over Our own Hearts, fo as to endeavor, by Virtue 
 of the Death of Christ, the Mortification of our finful 
 passions, worldly Frames, diforderly afifedlions, whereby we 
 may be withdrawn from the living God. 
 
 Fifthly. — We furthermore oblige Oifi Selves in the faith- 
 ful Improvement of all Our Abilities & Opportunities, to 
 worfiiip God, according to the particular Inftitutions of 
 Chrift for his Church, under Gospel Administrations ; as to 
 give reverend attention to the Word of God ; to pray unto 
 Him; to fing his Praise ; & to hold Communion one with 
 another, in the ufe of both the Sacraments of the new 
 Testament, vizh : Baptism 8 i the Lord's Supper. 
 
 Sixthly. — We likewife promife, that we will peaceably 
 fubmit Ou^ Selves unto the holy Discipline appointed by 
 Chrift in his Church, for Offenders, obeying, according to 
 the Will of God, Them that rule over us in the Lord. 
 
 Seventhly. — We alfo bind Ou’' Selves to walk in Love One 
 towards Another, endeavoring our mutual Edification, vifit- 
 ing, exhorting, comforting as Occafion ferveth, any Brother 
 or Sister which offends ; not divulging private Offences 
 irregularly, but heedfully following the leveral Precepts 
 laid down by Christ for Church Discipline, in the xviii of 
 Matthew, 15: 16: 17: willingly forgiving all that manifeft 
 unto y® judgment of Charity, that Ihey truly repent of all 
 their Mifcarriages. 
 
 Now, the God of Peace, which bro’t again from the Dead 
 O^’ Lord & Sav^ Jefus Chrift, the great Shepherd of the 
 Sheep, thro’ the Blood of the everlasting Covenant, make 
 us all perfect in every good Word and Work, to do his 
 Will, w’orking in us that which is well pleafing in his Sight, 
 thro’ Jefus Chrift, to whom be Glory forever and ever. 
 
 Amen. 
 
174 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 B 
 
 ®l)c indent Coucnant 
 
 Of the Second (First Unitarian) Church in Worcester. 
 
 1785- 
 
 In the first place, we humbly renew the dedication of 
 ourselves and offspring to the great God, who is over all, 
 blessed forevermore. 
 
 And we do hereby profess our firm belief of the Holy 
 Scriptures contained in the Old and New Testaments. And 
 taking them as our sole and sufficient rule of faith and 
 practice, we do covenant to and with each other, that we 
 will walk together as a Christian Society, in the faith and | 
 order of the Gospel. And we do hereby engage, as far as 
 in our power, for all under our care, that we will live as 
 true disciples of Jesus Christ, in all good carriage and 
 behavior both towards God and towards man. Professing 
 ourselves to be in charity with all men who love the Lord 
 Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth. All this we engage 
 faithfully to perform, by divine assistance, for which we are 
 encouraged to hope, relying on the mediation of Jesus 
 Christ for the pardon of our manifold sins, and praying the 
 God of all grace, through him, to strengthen and enable us 
 to keep this, our Covenant, inviolate, and to establish and: 
 settle us, that at the second coming of Jesus, we may appear 
 before his presence with exceeding joy. 
 
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