BR 
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 C56 
 
 Historic Sketch of 
 
 Churches in DuNsrABLE-NASHiL\,N.Il| 
 
 —IromADMStomS— 
 
 By Proe John Wesley Churchill 
 
 WitiiNotesetc. 
 
 4x Charles C.Morgan 
 
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 N'Xo 
 
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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BR560.N25 C56 
 
 History of the first church In Dunstable 
 
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 3 1924 029 255 242 
 
HISTORY OF 
 ®l|f Jtrat (Eliurrij in ittnatabb- 
 
 AND OF 
 
 LATER CHURCHES THERE 
 
 AS SKETCHED BY 
 
 PROF. JOHN WESLEY CHURCHILL 
 
 IN AN ADDEESS TO 
 
 THE NASHUA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 DECEMBER 16, 1885 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND EDITORIAL NOTES 
 
 AND A BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF 
 
 PROF. CHURCHILL 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES CARROLL MORGAN 
 
 dlje Sott fill freBB 
 
 Samuel Usher 
 
 IT0 HIOH 9TRFET, BOaTON. MAB0r 
 
Copyright, 1918 
 By Charles Caeroll Morgan 
 
 /y S 
 
 Pz- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The following address by Prof. John Wesley Churchill 
 is now printed, for the first time, in enduring form. It 
 was published originally in the columns of the Nashua 
 Daily Telegraph and of the Nashua Daily Gazette im- 
 mediately after its delivery. Copies of these newspapers 
 containing the address can be found at present only in 
 private hands, are very few, and have been kept with ex- 
 treme care lest they become lost or destroyed. Unfor- 
 tunately they are disfigured with many typographical 
 errors and other mistakes such as are hardly avoidable in 
 hasty journalistic work. 
 
 In the hope to correct such faults, the editor of this 
 book wrote to the widow of Prof. Churchill, asking if his 
 manuscript of the address could be had, to aid in the work. 
 The following gracious letter came in reply. 
 
 Andover, Mass., April i6, 1917. 
 Mr. Charles C. Morgan: — 
 
 My dear Sir, — Circumstances have delayed an answer 
 to your kind and courteous letter of March 19. 
 
 I regret to tell you that the manuscript you desire is 
 not to be found among my files of papers. I have a dis- 
 tinct remembrance that the address was written under 
 adverse circumstances as to time and place, on account of 
 Mr. Churchill's seminary duties in Andover and the re- 
 search work in Nashua. Almost all of the writing was 
 accomplished while journeying between the two places, 
 and the manuscript was necessarily marred by erasures 
 and interlining. I recall too that the press reports were 
 not satisfactory, and that Mr. Churchill intended to re- 
 
iv Introduction. 
 
 duce and condense very much the printed matter, as well as 
 to correct errors. 
 
 As I had not seen a printed copy of the address, I 
 turned over your letter, with stamps you enclosed, to my 
 brother-in-law, Mr. Elbert L. Churchill, Arlington, Mass., 
 Cooperative Bank. He thought we might possibly have 
 a condensed printed copy. He will communicate with 
 you in regard to the matter. 
 
 But I wish to thank you personally for your kind and 
 appreciative memorial words. I am grateful that my 
 husband's friends in his old home hold his memory in 
 honored remembrance. 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 Mary Donald Churchill. 
 
 (Mrs. John Wesley Churchill.) 
 
 After the lapse of time enough for careful search, the 
 following agreeable letter came from Prof. Churchill's 
 brother. 
 
 ArHngton, Mass., May 14, 1917. 
 Mr. Charles C. Morgan, 
 Nashua, N. H. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Your letter dated March 19, 1917, ad- 
 dressed to Mrs. J. Wesley Churchill, Andover, Mass., was 
 duly received and has been handed to me for reply. 
 
 I regret to say that the documents referred to are not 
 in my possession, and Mrs. Churchill informs me that 
 they are probably destroyed. 
 
 I remember very distinctly and pleasantly the occa- 
 sion referred to, and that I was very proud of my brother 
 for the part taken by him. 
 
 The newspaper reports of his address doubtless will 
 be the only record obtainable, and I am sorry that they 
 
Introduction. v 
 
 are found to be inaccurate. If at some future time these 
 papers should be found and I have knowledge of the same, 
 I shall be pleased to forward them to the church authori- 
 ties, to be disposed of as they shall see fit. 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 Elbert L. Churchill. 
 
 In Mrs. Churchill's letter, she speaks of her husband's 
 research work in Nashua. Undoubtedly representatives 
 of the various churches, mentioned, were glad to supply 
 him with copies from their church records and with other 
 useful information. Yet it is plain he was unsparing in 
 his personal efforts; since a unity of purpose and conscien- 
 tiousness of endeavor is manifest throughout. 
 
 As the greater part of his address was written in the 
 cars, while he was journeying to and fro many times be- 
 tween Andover and Nashua, he was forced to such hasty 
 composition as made later revision and improvement de- 
 sirable. The need of revision probably was more apparent 
 to him than to others. Undoubtedly his quick eye noticed 
 that a few of the words he had used were not such as 
 he preferred; that sentences he meant to divide were left 
 unbroken; that transpositions he had intended were over- 
 looked; and that the newspaper punctuation frequently 
 failed to bring out his meaning as he desired. But his 
 admirable elocution probably did much to hide these im- 
 perfections, and it is quite likely his listeners scarcely 
 noticed them. 
 
 At this late day, an attempt at a thorough revision, 
 when so little can be found to aid in the work, would be 
 presumptuous. Yet, on re-reading the address, it is 
 thought well to make such amendments in form as there is 
 good reason to believe he desired, but without any material 
 changes in substance. 
 
vi Introduction. 
 
 Although Mrs. Churchill says he " intended to reduce 
 and condense very much the printed matter," no altera- 
 tions of this nature have been attempted. 
 
 The most striking characteristics of Prof. Churchill's 
 address are the broad tolerance and loving spirit that per- 
 vade it from beginning to end. His keenly sympathetic 
 nature, always alive to the feelings of others, is everywhere 
 apparent. 
 
 It is believed that the brief biographical sketch at 
 the end of the book will be welcome to many readers. 
 
 It may be well to supplement what is said by Prof. 
 Churchill, on page 27 of his address, with the following 
 statement: — 
 
 The first armed resistance by any of the American 
 colonists to the tyranny of Great Britain was in disap- 
 proval of a royal decree forbidding their importation of 
 arms or military stores. During the progress of former 
 events leading up to the Revolutionary War, the Colonial 
 Assembly of New Hampshire, early in 1774, appointed a 
 committee of correspondence for promoting concert of 
 action with the other colonies in protective measures. 
 Soon afterwards the Assembly brought about the election 
 of two delegates to the First Continental Congress, which 
 met in Philadelphia on September 5th of that year. One 
 of these delegates was John Sullivan, a capable lawyer 
 whose office was in Durham, N. H., and who was a major 
 in the N. H. militia. Sullivan acquitted himself satisfac- 
 torily, as a member of this congress, in companionship 
 with such famous provincials as George Washington, 
 John Adams, Edward Rutledge and others. In Decem- 
 ber of the same year, tidings were received of the royal 
 decree just mentioned and of the expected arrival of ves- 
 
Introduction. vii 
 
 sels bringing troops to secure the retention in British 
 possession of Fort William and Mary commanding the 
 entrance to Portsmouth harbor. Immediately a small 
 militia force was rallied, under the lead of Maj. Sullivan 
 
 — with John Langdon, second in command, — and, on 
 the night of December 14th, they surprised and captured 
 the fort. Its little garrison of six was made prisoners, 
 in spite of a determined resistance. 
 
 The next day, fifteen of the lighter cannon of the fort 
 and all its small arms were removed, and were soon dis- 
 tributed privately in the neighboring towns. Nearly 200 
 kegs of powder that fell into the hands of the captors were 
 secretly carried to Durham, where they were hidden for 
 a time beneath the pulpit of its meeting-house. After- 
 wards they were stealthily conveyed to Charlestown, Mass., 
 
 — reaching there just in time to replenish the scanty 
 powder-supply of the American troops engaged in the 
 Battle of Bunker Hill, and thus enabling them to more 
 effectually check their British assailants.* 
 
 It will be noticed that the capture of Fort William 
 and Mary occurred more than four months before the 
 Battle of Lexington and Concord. This early event did 
 much to fire the hearts of the New Hampshire colonists, 
 and to prepare their hardy frontiersmen (trained as minute- 
 men in Indian warfare) to snatch their arms when tidings 
 of the struggle at Lexington reached them and to speed as 
 fast as their horses could carry them to the neighborhood 
 of Boston. It should be remembered that among these 
 volunteers was Col. (afterwards Gen.) John Stark, the 
 
 * For an entertaining sketch of Sullivan — who, in June, 1775, 
 was appointed by Congress a brigadier general, and commanded at 
 Winter Hill during the siege of Boston — see " Colonial Life in New 
 Hampshire," by James H. Fassett. 
 
viii Introduction. 
 
 famous leader of New Hampshire rangers during the seven 
 years of previous hostilities against the French and Indians. 
 With him were many who shared in his experiences. To- 
 gether they formed the left wing of the colonial troops at 
 the Battle of Bunker Hill, and were the last to retire before 
 the enemy. Indeed it is said that the New Hampshire 
 frontiersmen, under the command of Col. Stark, Col. Reed 
 and Col. Poor, made up a majority of the American sol- 
 diers in this first pitched battle of the Revolution. 
 
 Besides what is said hereafter of Mr. Kidder on page 
 26, it may be well to note the legal aspect of his case. As 
 his " settlement " was of the kind explained in the para- 
 graph beginning at the foot of page 11 (namely, a settle- 
 ment for life — taking him "for better or worse," and 
 being akin to a marriage dowry) it could be modified there- 
 after only by a new agreement between the parties. This 
 fact was recognized by both; and a committee, mutually 
 chosen, was authorized to make new terms. The committee 
 — as it appears — arranged to have Mr. Kidder remain 
 with the church, at least as its nominal pastor, so long as 
 he was able in some measure to satisfactorily perform his 
 ministerial duties. Probably the committee continued to 
 serve as a permanent arbiter in the case. Just how early 
 Rev. Mr. Sperry began to act as assistant pastor, we are not 
 informed. But, on the 3d of November, 18 13, — as shown 
 on page 8 of the old Record Book of the Church, — Mr. 
 Sperry was settled as the regular pastor, and so continued 
 until his dismission in 1819, about a year after Mr. Kidder's 
 death. 
 
 Charles Carroll Morgan. 
 November, 1917. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Indebtedness to our pious ancesters, i; Prof. C. distrusts his 
 ability to prepare a suitable tribute, l ; Significance and instructive- 
 ness of commemoration days, 2; Wisdom for the Unexplored before 
 us, 2; Penetrating the deep shadows of the past, 2; Our gathering, 
 for praises and thanksgiving, 2; Era of the Puritans, ended on the 
 grant of our charter, 3; Old Dunstable, founded on the eternal prin- 
 ciples of the Bible, 3; Freedom of Church and State, its basis of civil 
 society, 3; No attempt at disseverance of Church and State, 4; Oppo- 
 sition to rubric of the Established Church, 4; Congregational princi- 
 ples, adopted, 4; A Theocratic System, substituted for a Spiritual 
 Democracy, 5; Only church members, to be included in the body 
 politic, 5; Union of Church and State, our ancestor's fundamental 
 error, 6; Resulting bigotry in State and hypocrisy in Church, 6; 
 Law provided for an " able and orthodox minister," 6; Settlers, re- 
 quired to provide meeting-house and support minister, 7; Location 
 for meeting-house, 7; King Philip's War, 7; John Eliot, the Apostle 
 to the Indians, 7; Jonathan Tyng's heroic defense against King Philip, 
 7; Vote in 1677 for early settlement and pay of minister, 8; Rude 
 meeting-house completed in 1678, 8; Contrast with elegance and ac- 
 cessories of present First Church, 8; Old Dunstable's primitive ap- 
 pearance and dangers, 8; Character and arrangements of its first 
 meeting-house, 9; Rev. Thomas Weld, the first minister, 10; Pecu- 
 liarities of the church services, 10; Watch against danger from Indians, 
 10; Conversation and attainments of our progenitors, 10; New meet- 
 ing-house in 1684, II; Church organized and Mr. Weld ordained, Dec. 
 16, 1685, II; Pastorate for life, — the " settlement " gift of land, 11; 
 Character of new meeting-house, — cost, provided for by taxation, 12; 
 Marriage of pastor, calling for extra pay in country produce, 12; Per- 
 secution of Congregational clergy by Royal Governor, 12; Frequent 
 desertion of residents for fear of Indians, 13; Moneyed help from State, 
 13; Pastor's pay, partly in wood, 13; Honorary titles, forbidden, — 
 austerities in minor matters, 13; Reverence for public worship, — 
 Sabbath breaking, punished, 14; Meeting-house windows, long with- 
 out glass, 14; Order and discipline in and around the sanctuary, 14; 
 Puritan idea of " an able and Orthodox minister," 15; Death of Rev. 
 
X Contents. 
 
 Mr. Weld, and personal notes respecting him, 15; Pastorate, long 
 vacant, — State help for worship, 16; Ministerial supply by Rev. 
 Samuel Hunt and Rev. Samuel Parris, 16; Final State aid to public 
 worship, in 1713, 16; Ineffectual attempts to settle a minister, 17; 
 Rev. Nathaniel Prentice, the second regular pastor of Dunstable, 17; 
 Church contract with Prentice; his pay, marriage, etc., 17; Money 
 scarce, — bills of credit issued, — vote for new meeting-house, 17; 
 Financial relief, followed by growing luxury and freedom, 18; Charac- 
 teristics of Rev. Mr. Prentice and his wife, 18; His death, and inter- 
 ment in the Old South burying ground, 19; Growing spirit of disunion 
 in religious affairs, 19; Rev. Josiah Swan, third regular pastor of the 
 First Church, 19; His ministry, begun in new meeting-house, 19; Dis- 
 memberment of old Dunstable, and creation of new townships, 19; 
 Nashua, set off to the New Hampshire Province in 174 1, 20; A new 
 meeting-house, farther North, in 1747, 20; Whitefield's preaching in 
 New Hampshire, and its influence, 20; Increase of sectarianism, 21; 
 Dissensions in Rev. Mr. Swan's society, causing his resignation, 22; 
 Legal recognition of Dunstable, N. H., as an incorporated town, 23; 
 Reunion of opposing wings of the First Church, 24; Vote to build a 
 new meeting-house, 2 miles below present City Hall, 24; Twenty 
 pastorless years follow, 24; Five able ministers, called, but decline 
 because of dissensions, 25; Ecclesiastical Council settles disagreements, 
 26; Town-meeting adopts " New England Confession of Faith," 26; 
 Rev. Joseph Kidder, fourth regular pastor, — in service over 50 years, 
 26; Dunstable Theocracy ends with Mr. Kidder, the last minister 
 paid by the town, 26; Outbreak of the Revolutionary War, — Mr. 
 Kidder declares counsels of God, 27; Dunstable soldiers hear patriotic 
 farewell sermon, 27; Inspiration from ministers and orators of the 
 Revolution, 28; Records of HoUis Association by Mr. Kidder show 
 his ministerial influence, 29; Mr. Kidder's delightful personality, 30; 
 His modesty, as scribe of the HoUis Association, 30; His lasting memory 
 of the Bible, 30; His scrupulous regard for the " little things " of life, 
 31; Rev. Ebenezer P. Sperry, his excellent historic records, 31; The 
 meeting-house, at that period, 31; Its similarity to the Old South 
 Church in Boston, 32; Description of its interior, 33; How the occu- 
 pants were accommodated, 33; Sources of warmth, 33; Horse-sheds, 
 33; Committee to " dignify the meeting-house," 33; Ty thing-man's 
 duty to keep order, 34; Enjoyment of going to meeting, 34; Sacred 
 music in Nashua, 34; Controversy about Psalm-singing in Boston, 35; 
 Instrumental music in the churches, 35; Noted Nashua singers, 36; 
 Former respect for clergyman by young persons, 36; Decorum a hun- 
 
Contents. xi 
 
 dred years ago, 36; Puritan reverence for holy places, 37; What con- 
 cerned the public weal, viewed in a religious spirit, 37; Prayer or 
 preaching on all important public occasions, 37; John Trumbull's 
 poetic description of a town meeting, 37; Destruction of the old meet- 
 ing-house in 1812, 38; New meeting-house, its location, and how built 
 and dedicated, 38; Pleasant memory of coming of Union in the midst 
 0} variety, 38; Different religious societies branching from our eccle- 
 siastical tree, 38; Ministers of diverse faiths, privileged in Old South 
 pulpit, Nashua, 39; Unitarian and Universalist worship in a room of 
 Nashua Mfg. Co.'s first mill, 39; Olive St. church, built by that Co., 
 and first occupied by the liberal Christians, 39; Purchase of the Olive 
 St. house by the Congregationalists, 39; The old First Church, till 
 1820, without a regular pastor more than a third of its life, 40; Pas- 
 torate of Rev. Handel G. Nott, beginning in 1826, 40; Its great pros- 
 perity till renunciation of his faith in infant baptism, 40; His resigna- 
 tion tendered after an ecclesiastical council advised his dismissal, 40; 
 A great share of the society wishing him to stay, a majority of the 
 church withdraw, 41; Rev. Jonathan McGee, pastor of First Church; 
 its sanctuary being called the " Old Chocolate," 41; Excellent success 
 of pastor McGee in seven years' service, 41 ; Rev. Matthew Hale 
 Smith, ninth regular pastor of First Church, 41; His ministry of rare 
 efficiency, ended by ill health in about three years, 42; Rev. Samuel 
 Lamson's pastorate of two years, ended by ill health, 42; Rev. Daniel 
 March, and his eminence as a preacher and writer, 42; Rev. George 
 B. Jewett, his bright prospect and distressing accident, 42 ; Rev. Charles 
 J. Hill, and his successful pastorate, 43; Rev. Elias C. Hooker and his 
 excellent work, ended by ill health, 43; Rev. Frederick Alvord, — the 
 "Old Chocolate" burned and a better sanctuary provided, 43; No 
 list of First Church members up to 1790; number of later members, 43; 
 Members, in the ministry or preparing for it, 44; Inherent vitality of 
 the Mother Church, 44; Its late fraternal relations with the Olive St. 
 Church, 44; Further explanation of its former severance from the 
 Olive St., 44; Col. Thomas G. Banks, chief marshal of Bi-Centennial 
 Celebration, 45; Rev. Austin Richards' noble pastorate at the Olive 
 St. Church, 45; His retirement and the appreciation of his worth, 46; 
 Rev. Gustavus D. Pike's service as colleague, and his later advance- 
 ment, 46; Rev. Hiram Mead's work for Olive St. Church, and his 
 later honors, 46; Rev. James S. Black, and his success, 46; Worthy 
 sons of Olive St. Church in the ministry, 46; Division of First Church 
 and the Olive St., not caused by its members, 47; The Pearl St. 
 Church, a worthy outgrowth from the Olive St., 47; Its prayer meet- 
 
xii Contents. 
 
 ings in the Olive St. vestry, 47; Rev. Leonard Swain, its first pa^or, 
 47 ; His early manhood and rare personal qualities, 48 ; His wonderful 
 emotional power, shown at graduation from Andover Seminary, 49; 
 General character of Dr. Swain's preaching, 50; His social characteris- 
 tics, 50 ; His modesty respecting his sermons, 51; His great sermon 00 
 "God's Ownership of the Sea," 51; His acquaintance with modem 
 languages, 51 ; His poetic genius, 51 ; Excellence of Dr. Swain's prayers, 
 52; Rev. Ezra E. Adams, D.D., his estimable character and brief pas- 
 torate, 52; Rev. E. W. Greeley's short pastorate, terminated at his 
 request, 52; Rev. B. F. Parsons' pastorate and retirement, 52; Rev. 
 Wm. L. Gaylord's long pastorate of Pearl St. Church, and later career, 
 52; Rev. Charles Wetherby's long pastorate — continuing in 1885, 
 53; Membership list of Pearl St. Church in twenty-seven years, 53; 
 Its worthy sons, residing elsewhere, 53; Its existing membership and 
 large Sabbath-school in 1885, 53; God's providence in the three Con- 
 gregational churches, 53; Rise of new sects. Congregational in church 
 government, 54; Introduction of Universalism in New Hampshire, 
 54; First Universalist society in Nashua, 55; Leading Universalist 
 divines who preached there, 55; Organization of the First Universalist 
 society in Dunstable, 55; Reorganization of this society; its places 
 of worship, 56; Its early pastors — Rev.'s Wm. M. Fernald, A. P. 
 Cleverly, L. C. Browne, Wm. H. Ryder, 56; Rev. Charles H. Fay, and 
 his marked success, 56; Brief pastorates of Rev.'s O. D. Miller, J. O. 
 Skinner, T. L. Gorman, and G. T. Flanders, 56; Rev. S. H. McCol- 
 lister — afterwards President of Buchtel College, 56; Rev. H. A. Phil- 
 brook, pastor in 1885, 56; Flourishing Universalist Sunday-school, 
 established by C. P. Danforth, Esq., 56; This school, the originator of 
 Sunday-school "concerts" in Nashua, 57; Ministers who were once 
 members of this school, 57; Origin of the First Baptist Society of 
 Dunstable, 57; Punishment, under the old Theocracy, of opponents 
 of pedo-baptist principles, 57; Spread of Baptist principles in New 
 Hampshire, 58; Baptist preachers, — A strange incident, emblematic 
 of descent of the Holy Spirit, 58; Organization of the First Baptist 
 Church, — its early place of worship, 58; Its next place of worship, 
 the Old South Meeting-house, 59; Rev. Bartlett Pease, early minister; 
 Rev. Caleb Shute, first pastor, 59; Rev. Dura M. Pratt, next pastor 
 — remaining many years, until his death, 59; Rev. W. H. Eaton, his 
 successor, — afterwards, head of institution at New London, 59; Rev. 
 H. H. Rhees' brief pastorate; Rev. G. W. Nicholson, pastor in 1885, 
 — -large Protestant parish, 59; A second Baptist church, outgrowth 
 of the former, 60; Free- Will Baptist church, early established, 60; 
 
Contents. xiii 
 
 Its short life, its four successive pastors, and its house of worship, 6i; 
 The denomination, called " Christians," — its short life in Nashua, 6l; 
 Origin of First Unitarian Congregational Society in Dunstable, 6i; 
 Olive St. church-building, erected by Nashua Mfg. Co.; first occu- 
 pied by Unitarians, 6i; Rev. Nathaniel Gage, its first pastor, 62; 
 Rev. Mr. Emmons, its second pastor — early resigning, 62; Rev. 
 Samuel Osgood, his broad views and later eminence, 62 ; His published 
 writings and translations, 63; Vacancy in Unitarian pastorate, briefly 
 filled by Rev. A. C. L. Arnold, 63; Rev. Samuel G. Bulfinch's pastorate; 
 his high character and literary ability, 63; Rev. Martin W. Willis' 
 seven years' pastorate, 63; Rev. Minot G. Gage's five years' pastorate, 
 63; Rev. Clarence Fowler's brief pastorate, 63; Rev. Thomas L. 
 Gorman, acting pastor eleven years, 64; Thriving Unitarian Sabbath- 
 school, Dea. John A. Baldwin, many years Supt., 64; James L. Pierce, 
 long time Sabbath-school Superintendent, 64; Methodism, its rise 
 and wonderful growth, 64; Its late coming to Dunstable, 65; Early 
 opposition to it in Nashua, 65; Prejudice overcome, and a Methodist 
 church built, 65; Temporary discouragement, relieved by Rev. Wm. 
 D. Cass, 66; Series of efficient pastors, 66; House of worship enlarged, 
 and parsonage built, 66; 111 results following separation of Nashville 
 from Nashua, 66; A short-lived Wesleyan Methodist Society, 67; Its 
 promotion of temperance reform, 67; Chestnut St. Methodist Society, 
 67; Its worthy pastors and their success, 68; Two of them, honored 
 in the political world, and one in military life, 68; Episcopacy, its 
 origin in Nashua, 68; Unfortunate location of church, leading to its 
 abandonment, 69; Services resumed in a hall, four years afterwards, 
 69; Residents of Nashua becoming Episcopal clergymen, 69; First 
 Catholic Irish family settling in Nashua, 69; Other Irish drawn here 
 to build the Wilton Railroad, 70; Father O'Donnell's coming, and the 
 Catholic church built on Temple St., 70; Other foreignprs attracted 
 here by the increasing industries, 70; French Catholic population ex- 
 ceeding the Irish, 71; Father O'Donnell gains respect of his Protestant 
 neighbors; indulges his humor, 71; His valuable service as a member 
 of the school board, 72 ; Father Millette, founder of the French Catho- 
 lic Church, highly esteemed by the English stock, 72 ; Catholic priest- 
 hood welcomed in proclaiming the saving power of Christ, 72; Prof. 
 Churchill's apology for deficiencies of his Address, 73; Wishes he could 
 have shown more of the men he mentions, by their words and work, 
 73; Gracious admonitions, in view of the past, 74; Warnings, suggested 
 by career of our forefathers, 74; Their spirits may yet be with us, 75; 
 Fidelity to our trust calls for a renewal of our pledge to Christ, 76. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Young John the Baptist, Pointing the Way of Salvation .... i 
 
 John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians* 7 
 
 Sketch of First Meeting-House in Dunstable-Nashua 9 
 
 Rev. Habijah Weld, Son of Rev. Thomas Weld 13 
 
 Old Burying Ground in Dunstable-Nashua 15 
 
 Old Olive Street Church 39 
 
 " Old Chocolate " Church 43 
 
 Old South Burying Ground 55 
 
 Old First Baptist Church 60 
 
 Old Wesleyan Methodist Church 66 
 
 Old Episcopal Church 69 
 
 Prof. John Wesley Churchill 79 
 
 Present First Congregational Church 88 
 
 Bronze Tablet Inscription to Prof. Churchill 91 
 
 * See Appendix, page 93. 
 
 XV 
 
Kaphae; — A.D. iif -, to i 
 
 zzi ij^Uery, Fiorerice 
 
 Young John the Baptist, Pointing the Way of Salvation, 
 
ADDRESS TO THE 
 NASHUA HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Note. For a needful understanding of the difficulties expe- 
 rienced in the preparation of this address and of the reason why 
 its publication in book form has been so long delayed, it is desirable 
 to Tt&d first the foregoing Introduction. 
 
 Old Mortality, the wandering religious enthusiast so 
 vividly described by Sir Walter Scott, induced by motives 
 of the most sincere but fanciful devotion, dedicated thirty 
 years of his existence to clearing the moss from the gray 
 tomb-stones, and renewing with his chisel the half-defaced 
 inscriptions on the simple monuments of the deceased 
 warriors of his church, who had fought, fallen and suffered 
 for their religion in their struggles against the cruel tyranny 
 of the Stuarts. On anniversary days like these, we con- 
 sider, with Old Mortality, that we are " fulfilling a sacred 
 duty while renewing to the eyes of posterity the decaying 
 emblems of the zeal and sufferings of our ancestors." We 
 brush the ancient dust from their names, we tear away the 
 moss from the record of their deeds, and retrace the fading 
 lines. In imagination we roll away the stone from their 
 sepulchres and bid their revered forms to pass before us. 
 
 In paying this tribute to their memory, I am deeply 
 sensible that grayer heads than mine should bend over the 
 work; hands more skillful than mine should chisel deeper 
 the inscriptions that shall render their memory fresher and 
 more abiding. Sincere as is my self-distrust, there is en- 
 couragement in the thought that the occasion itself carries 
 its own enjoyment in the quickening thoughts of kindred 
 and ancestry, and in the realization of our connection with 
 the achievements of the past. 
 
2 Puritan Ancestry. 
 
 Commemoration days like these, my fellow-citizens, 
 are not only full of interest, they are exceedingly significant 
 and instructive ; we cherish them as we would the blossoms 
 of Century Plants. We stand to-day on the verge of 
 one of those great periods by which the age of states and 
 nations is counted. We take a look backward that we 
 may gather wisdom for the Unexplored that lies before us. 
 Time, in his advance of two centuries, has thrown behind 
 him a deep shadow, covering many a name, many a scene, 
 and many an event inseparably intermingled with the for- 
 tunes of the present and the hopes of the future. You bid 
 me take the antiquarian's torch and penetrate the dark 
 corners, and seek for the hidden things of our history that 
 you may have a distincter knowledge and a closer appre- 
 ciation of the beginnings of our goodly heritage. We but 
 discharge a debt of common gratitude in calling up to 
 grateful recollection the men by whom our precious joint- 
 inheritance was acquired, preserved and bequeathed. 
 They ought not to be forgotten. We should be recreant 
 sons of worthy sires if we displayed such an insensibility 
 to our lineage from a brave and godly ancestry as to suffer 
 this centennial season to pass unnoticed and unhonored. 
 
 The pious office to the Past, assigned me by the com- 
 mittee at whose invitation I occupy this place, has been 
 limited to a distinct province in the history of our muni- 
 cipality. In discharging the honorable trust, I am anxious 
 that this holy day should be occupied with thoughts and 
 memories belonging to us, not merely as fellow-citizens and 
 friends, as a band of brothers and sisters, but as members 
 of a Christian community, as a Christian brotherhood, 
 gathered around the ancestral hearthstone for praises and 
 thanksgiving at Family Worship. 
 
 We are not without justification in our meeting to-day. 
 True, our ancestors were not the Pilgrims themselves. The 
 
First Dunstable Families. 3 
 
 era of the Puritans had just terminated when our own 
 charter was granted. Half a century and more had passed 
 since Carver and Bradford landed on Plymouth Rock. 
 Old Simon Bradstreet, the " last of the Puritans," and the 
 last Puritan Governor of Massachusetts, entered upon his 
 office only four years after our First church was organized. 
 Puritan severity was gradually softening. English habits, 
 tastes and prejudices were modified in the Anglo-American 
 society of the second generation in Massachusetts. 
 
 To the early settlers of Dunstable, portrayals of 
 the deeds and sufferings of the Puritans in England and 
 America were like tales of other times. No: we have no 
 forefathers' rock to boast of; no charter oak; no cellar 
 that concealed royal judges. Nevertheless, Puritan blood 
 flows in our veins. Our ancestors helped to plant inesti- 
 mable civil and religious institutions. The character of 
 Old Dunstable as a town was sustained in early days upon 
 the solid basis on which the Fathers of Massachusetts con- 
 structed their commonwealth — - the eternal principles of 
 the Bible. We may affirm of our ancestors, as we speak 
 of the Pilgrims, that they were pre-eminently religious men. 
 
 Many of the first families of Dunstable came from 
 Boston and the Old Massachusetts Bay Colony. We are 
 within 40 years of being as old as the venerable city of 
 Boston. With confidence and pride, then, may we claim 
 our direct descent in character and in principles from the 
 Pilgrim settlers of New England. Like the men of Plym- 
 outh, our fathers found the elements out of which they 
 built their political system in God's written Revelation. 
 The Bible furnished them with the forms and institutions 
 of the State as well as of the Church. The Biblical prin- 
 ciples for the formation of civil society, they organized and 
 transmitted to us. "Freedom in the Church, and Freedom 
 in the State, " a " Free Church in a Free State " were still 
 
4 Spiritual Democracy. 
 
 the rallying points of the fathers of Dunstable, as in the 
 days when the domination of the English hierarchy was 
 so galling, and hereditary ecclesiastical privileges were so 
 oppressive and hateful to Robinson, Carver, and Bradford. 
 It was not the purely political part of the English 
 Government that the Puritans objected to. They did not 
 seek to dissever the Church from the State. They were 
 " reformers imthin the Establishment." But when Queen 
 Elizabeth demanded in her arbitrary way that absolute 
 uniformity of worship must be observed according to the 
 rubric of the Established Church the Non-conformists re- 
 fused compliance in respect to certain portions, considering 
 them to be relics of Popery. They waited patiently for 
 the coming of better days. Waiting in vain, they finally 
 withdrew from the Mother Church. They went to the 
 Bible for counsel, and discovered the two fundamental 
 principles of their Congregationalism, viz. : 
 
 1. The several churches are altogether independent 
 of one another. 
 
 2. Evidence of the requisite qualifications of church- 
 membership is required by the church before admission to 
 the Lord's Supper. 
 
 These Christians asked the State-Church of England 
 the privilege of worshipping on these two principles; and 
 it being denied them, they took refuge from their persecu- 
 tions in Holland and in America. I need not repeat the 
 oft-told tale of the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. 
 The Plymouth Colonists then endeavored to realize the 
 old dream of Plato — to create a government of ideal per- 
 fection, which, he said, " could not come into being until 
 kings are philosophers, or philosophers are kings." They 
 founded their Spiritual Democracy. The Church was to 
 be entirely independent of the dictation of the civil power; 
 and the purity of the Church itself must be maintained 
 
Church Government. 5 
 
 as a spiritual body. Upon both these points the " Pilgrim 
 Fathers " were beyond the Massachusetts Bay Colony 
 (chartered a few years after the settlement of Plymouth) from 
 which Colony the settlers of Old Dunstable sprung. They 
 were mostly Puritans; but in their organization of church 
 and state, they departed somewhat from the Spiritual 
 Democracy of Plymouth, and fell into the Theocratic 
 system. Realizing that good government depended pri- 
 marily on good and able men, and wishing also to preserve 
 the Church order in which they so devoutly believed, 
 they decreed by a vote of the First General Court " that, 
 for the time to come, no persons shall be admitted to the 
 Freedom of this body politic, but such as are members of 
 some of the churches within the same." It was also made 
 the duty of each town in the Province to " take due care 
 from time to time to be constantly provided of an able and 
 learned orthodox minister who should be suitably main- 
 tained by the inhabitants of the town." 
 
 Afterwards, when mere commercial adventurers joined 
 the Colonies, laws were passed compelling attendance upon 
 public worship, forbidding the formation of churches of 
 diverse doctrine and government, punishing blasphemy, 
 profaneness. Sabbath-breaking, and heresy, as crimes, — 
 requiring that a " free-man," or voter in the town meeting, 
 should be "of good personal character " and " Orthodox 
 in the fundamentals of religion," and thereby restricting 
 civil offices and privileges to members of the church. Any 
 person to whom " Religion was as twelve and the world 
 as thirteen " was reckoned as unworthy of citizenship in 
 the Christian Commonwealth. Such a Church-State was 
 in reality an Established Church. It was the principle of 
 the English Establishment adapted to their new circum- 
 stances. The Congregational Church was the Established 
 Church of New England. There was to be no Episcopal 
 
6 Public Support of Churches. 
 
 hierarchy. They wanted a Church without a Bishop, a 
 State without a King; but the State was to unfold within 
 the Church. This union of Church and State was the 
 fundamental error of the Colonists. While their deep 
 religious spirit was the source of their virtues, their appli- 
 cation of it to the civil government was the source of their 
 errors and their faults. The theocratic system produced 
 bigotry in the State and hypocrisy in the Church. But 
 as time went on, this theory of Government was happily 
 exploded. The church in convention declared that " it is 
 not in the power of magistrates to compel their subjects to 
 become church members, and, as it is unlawful for church 
 officers to meddle with the sword of the magistrate, so it 
 is unlawful for the magistrate to meddle with the work 
 proper to church officers." The fires of the Revolution 
 " which welded the Colonies together, consumed the dross 
 of establishment, of patronage, and of theocracy, and left 
 the pure gold of Religious liberty to be wrought into the 
 National Constitution." 
 
 I have digressed into antecedent history in order 
 that we may get out of our own age into the times in which 
 our early church was organized, so that we may better 
 comprehend their existing beliefs and their existing re- 
 ligious and political condition. In this way we can see 
 that many outward things which were right and wrong to 
 our fathers are not our right and wrong in similar matters; 
 and that many of their laws and measures were not the 
 outgrowth of their spirit or their faith, but sprung from 
 the spirit of their age and the political necessities of the 
 hour. 
 
 In accordance with the laws of the General Court 
 concerning the providing of an " able and orthodox min- 
 ister," Edward Tyng, Peter Bulkley, Elisha Hutchinson, 
 and the other proprietors of the Township of Dunstable, 
 
John Ei.iot 
 
Dealings with Indians. 7 
 
 stipulated with the settlers of the town for the erection of a 
 " meeting-house " and the support of a minister. At the 
 very beginning of the settlement they erected the new 
 social fabric on the two pillars of Religion and Liberty. 
 A few months after the charter was granted, the proprietors 
 met the settlers at Lieut. Joseph Wheeler's and drew up a 
 written agreement. Among other conditions readily sub- 
 scribed to, it was provided that " the meeting-house which 
 is to be erected shall stand between Salmon Brook and the 
 house of Lieut. Wheeler, as convenient as may be for the 
 accommodation of both." During the next summer, in 
 1675, before the meeting-house was completed, occurred 
 the outbreak of the dreadful conflict so well known in New 
 England history by the name of King Philip's War. Dun- 
 stable had been one of the " six places " where the " praying 
 Indians " held their religious meetings. Hither came 
 Eliot, the noble and self-sacrificing Apostle of the Indians, 
 who had vainly endeavored to convert the fierce, proud 
 Philip to the Christian faith. The settlers of Dunstable 
 were placed in such peril, from the active enmity of the 
 hostile Indians and the suspected treachery of the Christian 
 Indians, that by mid-winter not a family remained in the 
 settlement, with one conspicuous and praiseworthy ex- 
 ception. The resolute Jonathan Tyng determined to 
 fortify his house and defend it to the last extremity. On 
 this account he may rightfully be considered as the earliest 
 permanent settler of the old township. In August, 1676, 
 the war was terminated by the death of King Philip. One 
 by one the scattered families returned to their homes from 
 their temporary residences in the larger towns whence they 
 had fled as to cities of refuge. They found their cabins 
 comparatively unmolested. A town meeting of the pro- 
 prietors and settlers was held as soon as possible, in Woburn, 
 in 1677: and it was agreed upon and voted " that, as soon 
 
8 First Church of Christ in Dunstable. 
 
 as may be, a minister be settled in the town of Dunstable, 
 — his pay to be in money or, if in other pay, the rate being 
 to be made as money to add a third part more." 
 
 "It was also voted that the minister the first year shall 
 have fifty pounds [equal to about $300 now], and the over- 
 plus of the farmes, are never to be abated." The Meeting- 
 house, so hastily left unfinished, was completed in 1678. 
 Are we to think, as we sit beneath this ample pavilion, 
 adorned by the hand of taste, that, merely because 'tis 
 spread on the soil of old Dunstable, we see the place as 
 Jonathan Tyng and his fellow-settlers saw it? Do we 
 suppose that the comfort and elegance of the churches in 
 which we worshipped, this morning, suggest to us the first 
 church ever erected in Nashua? Instead of " going to 
 church " to-day at the First Church, and enjoying the 
 cushioned seats, the carpeted aisles, the delicately fres- 
 coed walls, the softened light streaming through stained- 
 glass windows, the brief discourse of half an hour, and the 
 inspiring anthem from cultivated voices, or joining in the 
 hymn to a tune adapted from some operatic air, though 
 possibly all the better for that, — instead of going to church, 
 I say, under these delightful circumstances, let us " go 
 to meeting " this afternoon at the First Church, with Jona- 
 than Tyng and his friends and neighbors. Do not forget 
 your trusty fowling-piece; for you may hear the click of 
 a gun-lock, from some thicket, that shall make your flesh 
 creep with terror. These paved and well-trodden streets 
 are obliterated. The elms and maples that adorn them in 
 orderly regularity are straggling forest trees of oak and pine. 
 These fair marks of trade are annihilated. Not a building 
 interrupts the desolation of the broad, unfenced, white- 
 pine forest of " Dunstable Plains " from the Nashua to 
 Salmon Brook, nor will it for a hundred years to come. If 
 you pick your way along the narrow path that we can 
 
The Old First Church. 9 
 
 barely call a road, you will do well to watch narrowly the 
 falling leaves in the shadows of the wood ; for what appears 
 to be a leaf, which October has touched with her autumnal 
 tints, may be the red feather of a stealthy savage lurking 
 behind that rugged oak. A walk of an hour or less through 
 the forest, with minds solemnized by the mournful sighing 
 of the " melancholy pines," will bring us to Salmon Brook. 
 We cross no iron rails; we see no warning flag of red, and 
 hear no whistle's piercing scream; nor shall we for a cen- 
 tury and a half to come; they are yet undreamed of. As 
 you cross the rude bridge of logs, fail not to carefully notice 
 that gleam of sunlight, which seems to be the reflection 
 from the rippling water; for it may be the flash of a scalping- 
 knife. The rapid current of the brook is unchecked by a 
 mill-wheel, and ripples on against the rocks and amongst 
 the hazel thickets that overhang its banks, till it gleefully 
 leaps into the bosom of the Merrimack. 
 
 A few low cabins are ranged along the north and south 
 sides of the brook. On the southerly side, half way be- 
 tween the brook and Lieut. Wheeler's, we come upon a 
 log-house, about twenty feet square, with a low, thatched 
 roof about ten feet from the ground, without a pane of 
 glass, or a foot of lath and plaster to adorn the edifice, — 
 and we find ourselves at the First Church, in the first village 
 of Dunstable. We who go in families must not sit together 
 on those backless seats of rough-hewn logs, placed on either 
 side of the broad aisle. The grave wives and mothers 
 and the grown-up daughters, in their sober attire, go to the 
 left; while the fathers, not less grave, and the grown-up 
 boys, file away to the right. Lovers and sweethearts find 
 it hard to be separated for four mortal hours; and the 
 small boys and girls, seated either in the aisle or on the 
 " hind seats," so that they can be easily watched and repri- 
 manded, find it harder yet to pass the dreary time, as they 
 
10 The First Settled Minister. 
 
 vainly strive to bring their elastic faces into the proper 
 stiffness suited to the solemnity of the place and the day. 
 In the primitive pulpit stands a young man of twenty-six 
 — Thomas Weld, the first minister of Dunstable. He is 
 only seven years out of Harvard College, and not yet or- 
 dained; but he is already the leading man of the settle- 
 ment, and one of the original proprietors. He was a 
 classmate of Samuel Sewall, Chief Justice of the Colony. 
 The Psalms that he " lines off " for our singing are from 
 the " Translation of the Psalms into metre for the use of 
 the Churches of New England," made by his grandfather, 
 the Rev. Thos. Weld of Roxbury, one of the most eminent 
 men of his day. He and his fellow translator were selected, 
 not because they possessed any poetic genius, but because 
 they were " most pious and godly men." On pain of ex- 
 communication let us not suffer a smile to wreath our 
 faces as we sing the ludicrous lines. Like Gov. John 
 Winthrop, young Thomas Weld " hath a gift at exhorta- 
 tion," and he easily holds his delighted hearers — the 
 children excepted — through a four hours' service. 
 
 After sharpening their intellectual appetites, our 
 worthy progenitors slowly make their way home, still with 
 rifle in hand and a sharp lookout for an Indian, but ab- 
 sorbed in discussing, not stocks, nor railroad speculations, 
 nor political operations, but the exciting and dividing 
 questions of the day: " Whether a believer is more than 
 a creature? " " Whether a man may be justified before 
 he believes? " " Whether a man might not attain to 
 any sanctification in gifts and graces, and have spiritual 
 and continual communion with Jesus Christ, and yet be 
 damned? " Scripture is at their tongues' end. Every 
 thought and circumstance is pointed with an appropriate 
 text. The conversation doubtless had, as Thomas Hutch- 
 inson said of an old Puritan's correspondence with his wife, 
 
Priority of Churches in N. H. il 
 
 " too much religion in it for the taste of the present day." 
 Not because there is less piety in our day, but because the 
 methods of reasoning and mental habits have undergone 
 a change, as well as the nature of the topics of discussion 
 and the customs of society. 
 
 For six years this rude building was used for religious 
 purposes, but as yet no church organization was formed. 
 In 1684 a new meeting-house was built, and the next year 
 a church was legally organized, consisting of seven male 
 members, viz. : Jonathan Tyng, John Cummings senior, 
 John Blanchard, Cornelius Waldo, Samuel Warner, Samuel 
 French, and Obadiah Perry who was killed by the Indi- 
 ans six years afterwards. John Blanchard and Corne- 
 lius Waldo were chosen deacons. On the same day that 
 the church was organized Mr. Weld was ordained; and the 
 1 6th of December, 1685, marks the real birth-day of the 
 church of Old Dunstable. 
 
 The church was the fifth in order of church organiza- 
 tions in New Hampshire — those at Portsmouth, Dover, 
 Exeter, and Hampton having been formed nearly fifty 
 years before, in 1638. 
 
 For twelve years after the charter of Dunstable was 
 granted there had been preaching, but no church or or- 
 ganization. Mr. Weld had supplied the pulpit with con- 
 siderable constancy, but without a legal settlement — 
 war and poverty having prevented the organization up 
 to 1685. 
 
 The salaries in the early times may seem to us to have 
 been very small ; but relatively to the times they afforded 
 a very fair support. Mr. Weld was " passing rich with 
 fifty pounds a year." In addition to his salary, he had 
 the customary "settlement " which the town voted their 
 ministers for nearly a hundred and fifty years. In these 
 early times a town settled a minister for life, taking him 
 
12 The Second Meeting-House. 
 
 "for better, for worse;" and the "settlement" was the 
 marriage dowry. The settlement varied as the circum- 
 stances of the town changed. Mr. Weld's " encourage- 
 ment" to settle was six hundred acres of land, called " the 
 ministerial lot." It was about five miles below the present 
 City Hall, and the principal part of it was the farm known 
 to us as John Little's. 
 
 To accommodate the growing wants of the inhabitants, 
 a second meeting-house was built in 1683 " according to 
 the dimensions of the meeting-house at Groton." It 
 corresponded in size and convenience to the increased 
 wealth and population of the place, and cost about four 
 hundred dollars. To defray the expense, a tax was im- 
 posed of twenty shillings, or about $3.00, upon every 
 " thirty-acre right." It was in this house, and not in the 
 original one, that Mr. Weld held services during his settled 
 ministry. About four years previous to his ordination, 
 he married a daughter of John Wilson, of Medfield, a son 
 of the eminent first minister of Boston. After marriage 
 his expenses naturally increased. Money was difficult 
 to be obtained, and much of his salary came in the shape 
 of " country pay " or produce. Mr. Weld appreciated the 
 financial aspects of the times; for he was not willing to 
 " accept of one-third advance from those that pay him in 
 money as proposed, but accepts to have double the sum of 
 such as pay not in money." His residence in Dunstable, 
 Mass., protected him from the pecuniary embarassmenta 
 of his four ministerial brethren in New Hampshire. Gov. 
 Cranfield, the Royal Governor of the State, issued his 
 decree against the Congregational clergy, ordering their 
 " dues to be withheld," and threatening them with six 
 months' imprisonment for not administering the sacra- 
 ments according to the Church of England. 
 
 But hard times were coming to the faithful minister 
 
KEV. HAHHATI WELC 
 
 OF 
 
Simplicity of Life. 15 
 
 of Dunstable as well as to the settlers. The town was so 
 frequently deserted, through fear of the Indians, that the 
 support of the minister became very burdensome to the 
 twenty-five families who remained. The General Court, 
 however, came to their assistance for four successive years, 
 granting them sums ranging from twelve to thirty pounds 
 per annum. Various sums were granted during the history 
 of the church succeeding Mr. Weld's ministry. To help 
 their pastor bear his burdens during this trying period, 
 every inhabitant was ordered to bring half a cord of wood 
 to Mr. Weld by the first of November, 1697, or forfeit 
 five shillings [50 cts.] for each neglect. This supply was in 
 addition to his salary. Wood at this time was about a 
 dollar a cord. The wood-rate was afterwards increased 
 and assessed according to the ability of the inhabitants. 
 By the depreciation of money, Mr. Weld's salary in 1699 
 was reduced to about fifty dollars. The wood-rate was 
 consequently increased, and nineteen cords of wood were 
 ordered for the minister. It is worthy of notice that Mr. 
 Weld had to help pay his own salary; for he was assessed 
 like any inhabitant both for the wood-rate and the minister- 
 tax. 
 
 The fundamental principle of the equality of all men 
 before God was rigorously observed. All titles were for- 
 bidden Mr. Weld. Even plain " Mr. " was not allowed, 
 either to clergyman or layman. The simple prefix of 
 " Rev." was considered " an innovation of vanity." The 
 austerity of our fathers was carried into minor matters. 
 Dancing at weddings was forbidden. William Walker, 
 one of the colonists, was imprisoned a month for courting 
 a maid without the consent of her parents. Long hair 
 or periwigs, and " superstitious ribands," to tie up and 
 decorate the hair, were strongly prohibited. All ornament 
 was " a vain show, and beauty a Delilah." Christmas 
 
14 Rigorous Laws and Customs. 
 
 was a Popish day and not to be observed. To turn the 
 back upon the public worship before it was finished and 
 the blessing pronounced was " profaneness," and was 
 prohibited by law. A " cage " was erected near the 
 meeting-house for the confinement of all offenders against 
 the Sabbath. One Sunday, John Atherton, a soldier in 
 Col. Tyng's company, most scandalously profaned the day 
 by wetting a piece of an old hat to put into his shoes, which 
 chafed his feet on the march. He was fined forty shillings 
 for his flagrant wickedness. Three months' intentional 
 absence from the church brought the offender to the public 
 whipping post. Even in Harvard College, students were 
 whipped in the presence of Professors and fellow-students 
 for grave offences committed in the chapel. The order 
 of exercises for infliction of the penalty was first, prayer; 
 second, the whipping; third, a closing prayer. 
 
 No Sabbath bell " knolled them to church." The 
 plain, unsteepled, barn-like meeting-house never resounded 
 to an organ or to a profane instrument of any kind. The 
 windows of the humble edifice, neither large nor numerous, 
 were guiltless of a pane of glass for fifteen years. Neatness 
 and propriety reigned without and within. A widow lady 
 kept the meeting-house clean and took care that no damage 
 came to the glass. The tything-man kept his eye on the 
 boys in the broad aisle and the " hind seats " that they 
 might be " watched over according to law." Loose stones 
 were cleared away outside the house. A new horse block 
 was set up. All persons were forbidden to tie their horses 
 to the meeting-house ladder. No " faithful dog could bear 
 his master company " within the sacred precincts, and every 
 dog was sore afraid of Samuel Goold, who was " chosen 
 dog-whipper for the meetin'g-house." Amongst this " pecu- 
 liar people," rigidly conforming to laws and customs like 
 these, Thomas Weld spent the greater part of his life. 
 

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 Old Burying Ground ]\ Dunstable-Nashua. 
 
 Monument at the Right (distant from Gate) Alarking Graves of 
 Pastors \\'e\(l and Prentice. 
 
Noble Character of Rev. Mr. Weld. 15 
 
 ministering faithfully to them in their homes and from the 
 pulpit according to the Puritan idea of an able and Ortho- 
 dox minister. He was in very truth as the " voice of one 
 crying in the wilderness." On the 9th day of June, 1702, 
 at the age of fifty years, the beloved pastor of Dunstable 
 closed his ministry with his life. Accurate history dis- 
 credits the tradition that he was killed by the Indians in an 
 attack on his garrison. The record of his life is meagre and 
 obscure. He was a native of Roxbury, Mass., and was 
 born of a distinguished ancestry. He studied divinity 
 with his uncle. Rev. Samuel Danforth, a celebrated minister; 
 and came to Dunstable in 1678. Some years after the 
 death of his first wife he married Hannah, the daughter 
 of Hon. Edward Tyng, one of his fellow-citizens. Mrs. 
 Weld survived her husband many years. The historian 
 of the times says that he was a distinguished man, and 
 esteemed for his fervent piety and exemplary life. 
 
 As we think of this first minister of ours, whose godly 
 life and character was so interwoven with our history, and 
 whose cultivated Christian intelligence did so much toward 
 shaping the progress and securing the prosperity of the 
 town, but whose name has been remanded to obscurity, 
 with not even an inscription upon his gravestone, we 
 associate his fate with that of the apostolic Robinson, the 
 first minister of the exiled Puritans, to whose far-seeing 
 wisdom we owe the inheritance of New England, but for 
 whose mortal remains " the old world could not afford the 
 allotment of a permanent grave." 
 
 A successor to Mr. Weld was not provided until 1720 
 — a period of eighteen years after the death of the first 
 pastor, — but religious services were not suspended in the 
 meantime, and several honest attempts were made to settle 
 a minister. The vacancies occurred in distressful times, 
 and the General Court granted generous sums for the sup- 
 
1 6 Unsettled Ministers and Their Support. 
 
 port of preaching. The Rev. Samuel Hunt, a graduate of 
 Harvard College, was the minister for about five years until 
 he was ordered to a Chaplaincy in the expedition to Port 
 Royal. 
 
 New Hampshire had been comparatively free from 
 the wretched witchcraft delusion. Portsmouth had a few 
 cases, but the panic was confined to that town. Had there 
 been a witch in Dunstable, it would have been discovered; 
 for the minister who succeeded Mr. Hunt was the Rev. 
 Samuel Parris, who was previously settled at Salem, and 
 in whose family the scenes of the tragedy commenced, 
 and whose children originated the wicked acts which led 
 to the death of so many innocent persons. Mr. Parris re- 
 mained here four years. Public worship still continued 
 through the aid given by the General Court. The last 
 assistance was given in 1713. Peace was now restored, 
 population increased, farms were extended, and the people 
 were able to pay for their Sabbath service. 
 
 During the next seven years the town made three 
 ineffectual attempts to settle a minister. Liberal offers 
 were made to three graduates of Harvard, Rev. Messrs. 
 Amos Cheever, John Pierpont, and Enoch Coffin. Mr. 
 Cheever and Mr. Pierpont declined their calls. Mr. Coffin 
 accepted the offer of a " settlement " of eighty pounds and 
 ten acres of meadow land and two hundred acres of com- 
 mon land, with an annual salary of eighty pounds; but he 
 was never ordained. 
 
 With so much uncertainty and indecision in ecclesias- 
 tical affairs during this long period, we do not wonder at 
 the facetious remark of Col. Taylor to Gov. Burnet — 
 who was a staunch Churchman and unaccustomed to the 
 long graces at the tables of the Colonists, — and who, 
 on his first journey from New York, to assume his Gover- 
 norship of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, inquired of 
 
Money Stress, — Second Regular Minister. 17 
 
 Col. Taylor when the graces would shorten. The Colonel 
 replied, " The graces will increase in length until you come 
 to Boston; after that they will shorten until you come to 
 your government in New Hampshire, when your Excellency 
 will find no grace at all." 
 
 But the grace of preaching was restored to the town 
 in 1720, when the Rev. Nathaniel Prentice was ordained 
 as the second regular pastor of Dunstable. He, too, was 
 a son of Harvard, of the class of 1714. The fathers learned 
 wisdom from their experience with Mr. Coffin, and stipu- 
 lated that Mr. Prentice should not " enter upon his salary " 
 until after his ordination. Soon after, it was voted " that 
 when Mr. Prentice comes to keep house and have a family 
 and stands in need of a larger supply, then to add Reasonable 
 Additions to his salary, if our abilities will afford it." Mr. 
 Prentice soon after was married to Mary Tyng, a daughter 
 of Judge William Tyng; and according to promise he was 
 allowed " a large supply of wood," or ten pounds of passable 
 money " in lew thereof yearly." 
 
 About this time (1721) there was a universal scarcity of 
 money ; and the General Assembly of Massachusetts issued 
 bills of credit to the amount of £50,000, " to be distributed 
 among the several towns in proportion to the public taxes." 
 This popular mode of making money induced the Assembly 
 over six years afterward to issue £60,000 more. The 
 share that fell to Dunstable was loaned to Rev. Mr. Prentice 
 " to be applied in payment of his future salary as it shall 
 become due." Money was plenty; and, as the old meeting- 
 house had grown so old and out of repair as not to be 
 " decent," it was voted that it would be unwise to " rectify " 
 the old one, but that a new one should be built about four 
 rods westward of where the meeting-house then stood. 
 The house was not built, however, until 1738, after the 
 death of Mr. Prentice. 
 
1 8 Growing Luxury and Freedom. 
 
 The financial prosperity of the town brought a 
 spirit of worldiness into the settlement. The families of 
 the royal officers in the colony introduced extravagant 
 fashions and st^'les of living from England. Religion began 
 to be as twelve, and the world as thirteen. Puritan sim- 
 plicity gradually assumed the airs of luxury and ambition. 
 The little society in Dunstable was afflicted by it. It was 
 voted that Lieut. Henry Farwell and Joseph Blanchard 
 should have the liberty to erect for themselves two pews 
 on their own charge at the west end of the meeting-house. 
 It proved to be a dangerous precedent. The example was 
 contagious, and within two months it was voted that " there 
 be four pews erected in the meeting-house; " and Sergeant 
 Colburn, Sergeant Perham, Nathaniel Cummings and 
 Oliver Farwell each took up a pew and could now worship 
 God and claim the favor of Heaven on an equality with 
 Henry Farwell and John Blanchard. 
 
 Mr. Prentice was a very popular minister and remained 
 with his people until his death. He was possessed of fine 
 social qualities and excellent talent. An early historian 
 says that he was " a man of wit and a good sermonizer." 
 Not a little of his popularity was due to his wife. In that 
 forest life she was the Diana of the region. Her engaging 
 manners, activity, and courage were much admired by 
 her parishioners; and their pride in their " minister's wife " 
 was increased by the reputation she had made for herself 
 beyond their own limited social circle. In what small 
 esteem she held the conventionalities of life may be in- 
 ferred from her fondness for gunning. Mary Prentice 
 was a good shot. She was always present at a shooting- 
 match. A fowling piece is still in possession of the Prentice 
 family which she won at a target-shooting, where the gun 
 was set up for a prize. The parson was present at the time 
 and participated in the sport. We have no record that he 
 ever wrote a work on " The Perfect Gun." 
 
Third Regular Minister. 19 
 
 Mr. Prentice's life was not a long one. He died in 
 1737 at the early age of forty. In his will he bequeathed 
 nearly all his property to Mary, his wife;" as I had of her 
 six or seven hundred pounds which she let go to pay my 
 debts, and the rest she spent in the family to keep us alive, 
 I think I am in conscience bound to give her an equivalent." 
 A worthy successor of Mr. Weld, he rests near his predeces- 
 sor in the Old South burying ground, with no stone or in- 
 scription to mark his resting-place. 
 
 We now enter upon the second phase of the ecclesias- 
 tical history of Dunstable. The leading peculiarity of this 
 period is the spirit of disunion which appeared to disturb 
 the harmony and peace that had prevailed amidst all the 
 vicissitudes of half a century. 
 
 The church had been without a pastor only two years 
 after the death of Mr. Prentice when it welcomed to its 
 pulpit with pardonable pride a baptized son of the church — 
 Josiah Swan. He had grown up among them, and had been 
 educated for the ministry at Cambridge. By his ordina- 
 tion in 1738, he became the third pastor of the church. 
 Like both of his predecessors, he found his wife among the 
 daughters of the church; yet unlike them, he did not find 
 her among the Tyngs, but sought her among the Blanch- 
 ards, — and Jane Blanchard became his wife the following 
 year. The new minister began his ministry in the new 
 meeting-house — which had been voted for, six years before, 
 but had not been built until his agreement to settle. It 
 stood near the old burying-ground not far from the State 
 line, having been built for the accommodation of the origi- 
 nal township. During the six years previous to Mr. Swan's 
 ordination great municipal changes had been at work. 
 The township was dismembered. One after another, new 
 townships were set off from the original grant, and Hudson, 
 Litchfield, Merrimack, Hollis, and Brooldine, sprang into 
 
20 Disintegration oj Old Dunstable. 
 
 existence as separate incorporations; until, by 1740, old 
 Dunstable was reduced to the limits of what is now known 
 as Nashua, Tyngsborough, and Dunstable, Mass. After 
 violent struggles, which generally attend the separation of 
 common interests, old Dunstable was severed nearly in 
 the middle; and in 1741, Nashua of the present, with a 
 large majority of the inhabitants, was set off to the upper 
 Province, and was called Dunstable, New Hampshire. 
 
 The church was naturally affected by the animosities 
 and controversies. A single church could no longer stretch 
 its wings over so many districts, and the loss of many 
 former members rendered it difficult to support a minister. 
 
 Another consequence of the division of the town was 
 the necessity for a new meeting-house. The population 
 was widely scattered. A diversity of interests prevented 
 the selection of a location satisfactory to all parties; and 
 the town finally voted, in June, 1746, to have the preaching 
 in Ephraim Lund's barn. Jonathan Lovewell, a brother 
 of the famous Capt. John Lovewell, of " Lovewell's Fight," 
 proposed, in company with others, to build the meeting- 
 house at their own expense, provided they could sell all 
 the wall pews for their own benefit. After much warm 
 discussion, the town accepted the proposal, and the church 
 was built in 1747, a few rods north of the Old South Church. 
 
 Other causes of dissension had arisen within the 
 church, which the present difficulties only helped to aggra- 
 vate. Not long after Mr. Swan's settlement the quiet 
 enjoyment of uniformity in faith, method, and practice, 
 was invaded by an unusual religious excitement. The 
 eloquence of Whitefield, who came into New Hampshire 
 in 1744, alTected the entire population of the State. So 
 fascinated were the people that they forsook their ordinary 
 occupations, laid aside their worldly schemes, and fol- 
 lowed the wonderful preacher from place to place. The 
 
Growth of Sectarianism. 21 
 
 professors at Cambridge, and many of the clergy, opposed 
 and vilified him; but he bound the hearts of the people to 
 himself with the most enthusiastic devotion. 
 
 Religion and theology, which for years had lost some- 
 thing of the old Puritan vividness in the minds of the 
 colonists, now burned with increased ardor. They be- 
 came the absorbing subjects of discussion. The churches 
 were " infected with lay exhorters, who had undertaken 
 to play the bishop in another man's diocese," as the regular 
 clergy complained. New revelations and interpretations of 
 Scripture were promulgated. The disputed points were 
 discussed and decided in town-meetings. 
 
 One of the ablest advocates of the " New-Light " 
 doctrines was Daniel Emerson, a famous skater and wres- 
 tler, who had recently become the first pastor in the new 
 town of Holiis. Under the powerful preaching of White- 
 field he forsook a wild life at Cambridge College and fol- 
 lowed the great preacher from place to place. He received 
 into his own strong, ardent and impulsive nature the in- 
 fluence of the mighty man of God. The disciple, in his 
 turn, became a flaming New Light. He was a kind of 
 Congregational Bishop in his region. No man in southern 
 New Hampshire was so extensively known, and his in- 
 fluence was powerful on the surrounding ministers and 
 churches. Mr. Swan's society did not escape the contagion, 
 and a division followed. The pastor himself was a very 
 prudent, thrifty man, but could not be called eminent for 
 spirituality. His lack of sympathy with the zealous min- 
 ister at Holiis, and with the New-Light doctrines in general, 
 estranged from him many of his pious hearers who had em- 
 braced the new faith. The differences in the church, the 
 township controversies, and the religious excitement of 
 the times, all combined to render Mr. Swan's position a 
 difficult one. With his temperament and training, he was 
 
22 Church Dissensions. 
 
 hardly equal to the exigencies of the hour; and failing to 
 unite the opposing parties, he was dismissed. 
 
 Soon after his dismission he returned to Lancaster, 
 Mass., where he had taught school previous to his settle- 
 ment in the ministry. He resumed his former occupation, 
 and became an eminent teacher. Here he remained until 
 1760; and then removed to Walpole, N. H., where he 
 died. 
 
 The dismission of Mr. Swan did not allay the troubles, 
 nor did the settlement of Mr. Bird (1747), who was an 
 openly pronounced New Light. The choice was far from 
 being satisfactory, and the division of sentiment was nearly 
 equal. The New-Light party, headed by Jonathan Love- 
 well, built the new meeting-house according to the plan 
 before described, and the church government was that of a 
 one-man power. 
 
 Col. Blanchard, who led the opposition, refused to 
 pay a minister whose doctrines openly subverted the faith 
 of the Pilgrims. All who were dissatisfied with Mr. Bird 
 were excused from the " minister-tax." The history of 
 church dissensions now repeated itself and found a new 
 illustration. Col. Blanchard and other orthodox members 
 claimed to be the original church; and, separating them- 
 selves from the New Lights, resumed worship in the old 
 meeting-house near the State line, — where they were 
 joined by their former friends in Tyngsborough and Dun- 
 stable, Mass. 
 
 This new " Lovewell's Fight " was not confined to 
 the battle-ground in the church. Here again history re- 
 peats itself. The contest concentrated itself into an in- 
 tensely bitter party spirit, and pervaded the whole body 
 politic. For a century after, the Blanchard party and the 
 Lovewell party were pitted against each other in all matters 
 of church and state. The petition of the Pine Hill resi- 
 
Dunstable, under a N. H. Charter. 23 
 
 dents to be set off to Hollis clearly reveals one phase of the 
 hostility. " Each party," says the petition, " courted 
 Pine Hill's assistance, promising to vote them off to Hollis 
 as soon as the matter was settled. And so Pine Hill was 
 fed with sugar plums for a number of years, till at length 
 Dunstable cast off the mask and now appears in true colors. 
 She wishes to keep us as a whip for one party to drive out 
 every minister that comes there." 
 
 Soon after the secession it occurred to Blanchard that 
 the town-meeting which called Mr. Bird was an illegal 
 one; for, as yet, the Legislature of New Hampshire had 
 not recognized Dunstable, N. H., as an incorporated town. 
 Massachusetts had no jurisdiction over a town in New 
 Hampshire ; therefore the proceedings of the town-meeting 
 held under a Massachusetts charter were null and void. 
 The Legislature of New Hampshire sustained Blanchard; 
 the transactions of that town-meeting were declared con- 
 trary to law. This decision led to the legal organization 
 of the township under its New Hampshire charter, and a 
 new town-meeting was called. The Blanchard star was 
 now in the ascendancy. Mr. Bird did not enjoy his new 
 religion in Dunstable, and migrated to a more congenial 
 clime in New Haven, Conn. 
 
 When we look on these estranged party leaders, once 
 such strong friends, and united by the common bond of 
 perils past and jointly encountered and overcome, we sym-^ 
 pathize with Coleridge's lines: 
 
 " Alas! they had been friends in youth; 
 But whispering tongues can poison truth; 
 Each spake words of high disdain 
 
 And insult to his heart's best brother; 
 They parted — ■ ne'er to meet again! 
 
 But never either found another 
 To free the hollow heart from paining; 
 
24 A New Meeting-House. 
 
 They stood aloof, the scars remaining, 
 
 Like cliflfs which had been rent asunder; 
 A dreary sea now flows between; 
 
 But neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder, 
 Shall wholly do away, I ween. 
 The marks of that which once hath been." 
 
 At this distance from the strife, it would relieve us 
 to know if Joseph Blanchard and Jonathan Lovewell ever 
 shook hands and mutually bade by-gones be by-gones, and 
 agreed to " let the dead past bury its dead." We may at 
 least hope that long ago they saw eye to eye on the peace- 
 ful plains of Heaven. That there was a little softening 
 of the bitter feeling appears in the fact that the New-Light 
 leader was appointed by the town to hire preaching. The 
 new meeting-house formerly occupied by Mr. Bird, and 
 then the only one in New Hampshire Dunstable, again 
 sheltered both parties. 
 
 Six years afterwards, in 1753, the town voted to build 
 a new meeting-house at the crotch of the roads near Jona- 
 than Lovewell's. Lovewell's house was two miles below 
 the present City Hall, and was known to many of us as 
 Gibson's tavern. It is now owned by Alfred Godfrey, E^q. 
 
 The new meeting-house was partly composed of the 
 materials of the old meeting-house near the state line, built 
 during Mr. Swan's pastorate. The " Bird " meeting- 
 house was bought by Jonathan Lovewell and converted 
 into a dwelling house, whose ancient associations of Chris- 
 tian warfare are fitly perpetuated by its being the residence 
 of our gallant Col. Bowers. 
 
 A second long period of twenty pastorless years now 
 succeed the building of the new church. Preaching was not 
 suspended; but the spirit of contention prevailed through- 
 out, and there was only the form of godliness without its 
 power. Earnest efforts were made to settle a minister. 
 
Prolonged Dissensions. 25 
 
 Calls were made and accepted, but a nettling persistent 
 minority would enter a protest and annul the entire pro- 
 ceedings. Benjamin Adams, Elias Smith, Josiah Cotton, 
 Jonathan Livermore, Thomas Fessenden — all, sons of 
 Harvard, and able ministers of the gospel — were succes- 
 sively called, and either declined settling in such a turbu- 
 lent place, or were prevented from settlement by some 
 member of the minority who had lived in Londonderry. 
 The form of a protest entered at the call of Elias Smith has 
 been preserved : — 
 
 " We the subscribers * * * protest against the choice 
 of Mr. Elias Smith for our minister * * * and for these 
 reasons: first, because we are not of the persuasion he 
 preaches and endeavors to maintain; we are Presbyterians 
 and do adhere to the Westminster Confession of Faith; 
 * * * we are members of the Presbyterian church in 
 Londonderry — some, eighteen years — some, fifteen years, 
 — and have partaken of Baptism and of the Lord's Supper 
 as frequently as we could * * * and we cannot in con- 
 science join in calling or paying Mr. Smith. Therefore 
 we plead the liberty of conscience that we may hear and 
 pay where we can have the benefit." 
 
 John Alld. 
 Jeremiah Colburn. 
 
 Another party was more pointed in its dissent. " Mr. 
 Smith's preaching favors the Arminian scheme, which 
 tends to pervert the truths of the gospel and darken the 
 counsels of God." In Mr. Cotton's case the call was 
 accepted, the day of ordination appointed, the churches 
 invited to assist in the services, — when another Presby- 
 terian protest was entered, and the church again learned 
 that there was " many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." 
 
26 End of Dunstable Theocracy. 
 
 Party feeling ran so high on this occasion that an Ecclesias- 
 tical Council was called to settle the difficulty. Mutual 
 explanations followed, and a compromise was effected. 
 
 It would have given joy to us to-day if we could have 
 known that the two party leaders had then buried the 
 hatchet; but Joseph Blanchard died in 1758, before the 
 reconciliation was effected. 
 
 To prevent theological differences in the future, a 
 town meeting was called in 1761, to see what doctrines 
 the town would support; and the " New England Confession 
 of Faith " was adopted. 
 
 A brighter day was soon to dawn upon the church, 
 although the cloud rolled but slowly and heavily away. 
 The silver lining appeared in Mr. Joseph Kidder, a late 
 graduate of Yale College. He was offered a settlement of 
 $450 and an annual salar%' of $180. This excellent minister 
 was ordained March 18, 1767. His long pastorate of over 
 fifty-one years was not without trials. Party spirit, al- 
 though slumbering, was occasionally roused into energetic 
 life, both on old points of dispute, and on new ones oc- 
 casioned by the exigencies of the times. The difficulties 
 culminated in 1796. The case was referred to a committee 
 mutually chosen by the parties, which decided to end 
 the civil connection between Mr. Kidder and the town. 
 He was consequently the last minister paid and settled by 
 the town ; and here ended the Dunstable theocracy. — 
 (See explanation on p. viii of Introduction.) 
 
 Scarcely had the internal dissensions settled down to 
 comparative quiet under the wise counsels of Mr. Kidder, 
 when the town was excited by premonitions of trouble 
 with the Mother-Country. The spirit of opposition, 
 aroused by the Stamp Act and the tea-tax, together with 
 the evident purpose of the British government to place 
 the churches of America under the control of the Church 
 
Outbreak of Revolutionary War. 27 
 
 of England, culminated at last at Lexington and Bunker 
 Hill. Town meetings were held in the church. The green 
 in front of the meeting-house near Gibson's tavern was 
 covered with excited Federalists discussing the events of 
 the day and preparing for the contest. The people called 
 upon the minister to search the Scriptures and declare to 
 them the counsels of God ; and we may be sure that Joseph 
 Kidder responded with alacrity. Dr. Bouton of Concord 
 relates an incident illustrating the patriotic spirit of the 
 New Hampshire clergy during the Revolution. " One 
 Sunday Col. Gordon Hutchins rode into Concord from 
 Exeter, and, dismounting at the door of the church, entered 
 in the midst of the service. The quick eye of Timothy 
 Walker, the venerable pastor, caught sight of him; and, 
 suddenly pausing, he called out, " Col. Hutchins, are you 
 the bearer of any message? " " Yes! Gen. Burgoyne is on 
 his march to Albany: Gen. Stark has offered to take 
 command of New Hampshire men; and if all turn out, we 
 can cut off his march." The old pastor instantly rejoined: 
 " Those of you who are willing to go had better go at once." 
 All the men in the meeting-house rose and went out. 
 Many enlisted. The whole night was spent in preparation, 
 and a company was ready to march the next day. 
 
 Beyond doubt, Capt. William Walker and the Dun- 
 stable company — which comprised one-half the able- 
 bodied men of the town — accoutred for battle, marched to 
 church before going to Charlestown, and listened to a 
 patriotic farewell sermon from Joseph Kidder, and were 
 fortified in spirit by his strong and fervent prayers for the 
 success and prosperity of the American armies. The psalm 
 would be one of David's war songs: the text, brave Joab's 
 words, " Be of good courage, play the men for our people, 
 and for the cities of our God ; and the Lord do that which 
 seemeth him good ": the sermon, adapted to the occasion 
 
28 Religion and Patriotism. 
 
 and full of the spirit of the day. The pastor's stammering 
 tongue would be loosened in the freedom and energy of 
 his utterance as he touched their finer feelings or roused 
 them to the dreadful onset. Men, women and children 
 would be melted at his pathos, and animated by his martial 
 spirit as 
 
 " He spoke of wrongs too long endured, 
 Of sacred rights to be secured; 
 Then from his patriot tongue of flame 
 The startling words for Freedom came; 
 The stirring sentences he spake, 
 Compelled the heart to glow or quake; 
 And, rising on his theme's broad wing. 
 
 And grasping in his nervous hand 
 
 The imaginary battle brand. 
 In face of death he dared to fling 
 Defiance to a tyrant king." 
 
 Fired with the spirit of their patriot parson, Capt. 
 William Walker and the Dunstable company could go to 
 battle like Cromwell and his Round-heads, " trusting in 
 God and keeping their powder dry." No! it is not in the 
 statistics of the armies nor to the thrilling narratives of 
 sieges and battles that we are to look for the true history 
 of the Revolution. It is rather in the inspiration breathed 
 into the souls of the people by the patriot ministers and 
 the patriot orators of the Revolution. Ministers not only 
 dared to preach politics in those troublous times; they 
 were officially asked to do it. The church was the most 
 appropriate place for the exposition of the religious prin- 
 ciples involved in the struggle. If any timid loyalist ob- 
 jected that " God's house was the house of peace," the 
 patriot parson would reply: 
 
The Hollis Association. 29^ 
 
 " Nay, not so! 
 When God is with our righteous cause, 
 His holiest places then are ours; 
 His temples are our forts and towers 
 
 That frown upon the tyrant foe. 
 In this, the dawn of freedom's day, 
 There is a time to fight and pray." 
 
 The universal testimony of the students of the Revo- 
 lutionary history, the general voice of the Fathers of the 
 Republic and the spirit of our history unite in declaring 
 that the superior numbers and skill of the British troops 
 were compelled to yield to the material weakness of the 
 American forces, through the moral and religious energy 
 that inspired our Fathers. They were armed in the holy 
 cause of Civil and Religious Liberty; and " to the pulpit, 
 the Puritan pulpit, we owe the moral force which won our 
 Independence." 
 
 It fills us with patriotic pride to know that our minister 
 was one of the sources of moral inspiration at that day. 
 
 The records of the Hollis Association, traced by Mr. 
 Kidder's own hand, show how vital was the interest among 
 the associated clergymen in this region. The war was the 
 all-absorbing topic. Ordinary discussions on disputed 
 points were laid aside for graver matters of immediate 
 public duty and interest. One of their number, Samuel 
 Webster of Temple, was already in the army as Chaplain; 
 and afterwards laid his life down in the service. It re- 
 quires no stirring of the imagination to see these patriotic 
 and godly ministers engaged in earnest counsel, and unit- 
 ing in fervent prayer on bended knees, supplicating the 
 Divine blessing and guidance. 
 
 After the church became an independent organization 
 it still continued the services of the faithful pastor for 
 tnore than thirty years longer, until his death in 1818. 
 
30 A Genial Country-Parson. 
 
 Mr. Kidder was a fine representative of a gentleman 
 of the old school. Many of our citizens remember the 
 slight figure of the aged minister, always clothed in taste, 
 and scrupulously neat and clean. His dress and manners 
 were the visible expression of his mental habits. Precise, 
 orderly, and punctilious, his generous nature expressed 
 itself in manners courteously polite. His pre-eminently 
 scriptural sermons were prepared with great care, but 
 suffered in their delivery by an impediment in his speech. 
 His house was half way between Amherst and Chelmsford, 
 and was ever open with free-hearted hospitality to his 
 friends in those places as they journeyed to and fro. It 
 is not difficult to imagine this genial country-parson of the 
 olden time, seated with his friends before the large open 
 fireplace — filled with a sparkle-shooting hemlock fire roar- 
 ing up the deep-throated chimney, — and detailing from 
 his retentive memory interesting anecdotes, both grave and 
 gay, lively and severe, in utterance which receives its 
 choicest flavor from its hesitating accents. The picture 
 instinctively recalls the genial gentleness of Charles Lamb 
 in the midst of his chosen companions. 
 
 For many years he was the exact and punctual scribe 
 of the HoUis Association of ministers. Whenever he was 
 called upon for a sermon, the stuttering secretary recorded 
 the fact in this modest way, " The scribe attempted to 
 preach." Throughout his long life he was a constant 
 and most intelligent student of the Bible. His marvelous 
 memory was an encyclopedia of scriptural facts, genealo- 
 gies, and anecdote. In his last days — when his memory 
 was failing — though forgetting everything else, he could 
 quote the Scriptures with all the appropriateness and ac- 
 curacy of his early manhood. He was keenly alive to the 
 importance of the routine of religious observances as an aid 
 to the growth and vigor of spiritual life. He deeply realized 
 
Rev. Mr. Sperry, the Church Historian. 31 
 
 the importance of what are called the " little things " of 
 life. A few small defects of character, sufifered to go un- 
 corrected, he expected to see developed, in time, into down- 
 right sins of omission. So careful was he to observe the 
 golden rule and the rights of property, that he would not 
 allow himself to take a berry from a field or an apple 
 from the wayside, without obtaining permission from the 
 proprietor. The strength of his religious habits appeared 
 in bold relief during the closing days of life. His memory 
 failed to retain the names and faces of his children and 
 neighbors; but his Bible, his prayers, and his Saviour were 
 never forgotten. Prayer was his last audible utterance. 
 He was asking Heaven's blessing on his family, his col- 
 league and his church, when the fatal stroke of palsy stilled 
 his feeble stammering tongue forever to mortal ears. 
 
 The lessons of his declining years are full of meaning. 
 He, being dead, yet speaketh to the generations that follow 
 him of the importance of the early and habitual study of 
 God's word, of the value of the habits of religion to the 
 culture of the inner life, and of the perennial blessedness of 
 the memory of the just. 
 
 Mr. Kidder's infirmities were such as necessitated 
 his dismissal from the pastorate in 1796, and Mr. Ebenezer 
 Sperry was ordained assistant pastor, Nov. 3, 1813. After 
 a ministry of between five and six years Mr. Sperry was 
 dismissed to assume the chaplaincy of the South Boston 
 House of Correction. No record of his character or of 
 his ministry is left to us. But his memory is to be held 
 in grateful remembrance for the faithful care with which 
 he collected and preserved the church records and for 
 the interesting reminiscences of his senior pastor, Joseph 
 Kidder. 
 
 The meeting-house, in which Mr. Kidder preached, 
 is a good specimen of a house of worship in New England 
 
32 A Typical House of Worship. 
 
 a hundred years ago. Like many other churches it was a 
 modified form of construction of the Old South Church in 
 Boston, which has stood for the model of so many meeting- 
 houses in New England. 
 
 " The house was very plain, about eighty by sixty 
 feet in size, with a steep roof, without bell, belfry or cupola, 
 and resembled in size and shape, except for the doors and 
 windows, a fine large barn." It had large galleries. The 
 two high pews (one at each extreme corner, to the right 
 £md left of the pulpit, in the galleries) were so much raised 
 as to require stairs, to ascend and descend, and so high 
 that a tall man could scarcely stand in the pew erect with- 
 out touching his head to the wall above him. 
 
 The pulpit was built on the west side of the house 
 and facing the large double front door, and had a huge 
 sounding board hanging over it. Along the front of the 
 pulpit, and between it and the communion table, was the 
 deacons' seat, on which sat two worthies whose saintly 
 dignity shone with added lustre and solemnity on the days 
 of holy communion. The seat was a plain board hung 
 with hinges on the railing of the seat, and when raised 
 was supported by two curiously twisted iron braces. 
 
 A large, but single, door opened at each end of the 
 house; and stairs led to the male side of the gallery at the 
 extreme right corner of the minister, and corresponding 
 stairs to the female side on the left. The broad uncarpeted 
 aisle leading from the broad front door to the pulpit, in 
 which stood our grandfathers and grandmothers when 
 they entered into covenant with God and the church, was 
 a solemn place. It received many tears of penitence — 
 both from those joining the Church, and from those who 
 had fallen into gross sins, and that stood there — while 
 their public confessions were being read. 
 
 There was a narrow aisle leading quite round the 
 
Dignifying the Meeting-House. 33 
 
 house, leaving one tier of pews joining the wall, and having 
 inside two squares containing so-called " square pews." 
 The latter had straight backs, with tops of open work and 
 banisters — the latter, inserted some eight inches apart. 
 The pew seats extended around on every side; except 
 where there was a door, which was narrow and fastened 
 with a wooden button. The occupants faced inwards; 
 and some, therefore, would sit with their backs to the 
 speaker. Hence the habit prevailed of standing a part of 
 the time during the sermon, which at this primitive period 
 was from one to two hours long. 
 
 The hour glass which stood on the pulpit was turned 
 at the reading of the text; and the audience felt slighted, 
 if the sermon ended before the sands were all dropped. 
 How opposite this from the latter-day saints who complain 
 of a sermon three-quarters of an hour long, and recommend 
 to their pastor's consideration Whitefield's saying, " No 
 souls saved after the first thirty minutes! " 
 
 The meeting-house was warmed chiefly by the sun; 
 for a chimney, stove, or furnace was unknown in those 
 days. A poor substitute was the foot-stove, which the 
 matron of each family was careful in the coldest weather 
 to have well filled with live coals from the home hearth- 
 stone. The supply of coals was replenished, when needful, 
 from the hospitable homes in the vicinity of the meeting- 
 house. The long horse-sheds stood near by, — and also 
 a horse-block, beside which many a two-horse wagon 
 was driven, and hastily received its living freight of sturdy 
 sons and laughing daughters while the horses were rear- 
 ing and plunging till they were off in wind and in dust 
 or sleet. 
 
 A committee was appointed to dignify the meeting- 
 house — that is, to designate and arrange the seats according 
 to their relation of dignity. The men and women were 
 
34 Sacred Music in Nashua. 
 
 seated separately on opposite sides of the house, and every 
 one according to his office or his age or his rank in society. 
 The children and young people, at the first seating, were 
 left to find their own places, away from their parents, in 
 that part of the house which was not occupied with seats 
 prepared at the town's expense. The tything-man was 
 appointed to watch them, and many an urchin was sud- 
 denly called to order by the tything-man's rap on the top 
 of the seat. 
 
 The meeting-house and its surroundings was the 
 " Holy Hill of Zion " to the Parish. " Hither the tribes 
 went up " by different roads or lanes which centered there. 
 
 The parish was large, and every Sabbath day the 
 people flocked in from the adjacent country and filled the 
 house almost to overflowing. Going to meeting was looked 
 forward to with great delight. The services of the day 
 were not only enjoyed, but the social life of the town 
 was concentrated at the meeting-house at intermission. 
 " Every pleasant Sunday morning, hundreds came flocking 
 into town — the elders on horseback with their wives on 
 pillions behind, the hardy sons on half-broken colts, the 
 daughters on fillies, now and then a household in a heavy 
 farm wagon loaded with half a score — till the numerous 
 families filled up the pews below and crowded the galleries 
 above." 
 
 The history of sacred music in Nashua would afford 
 an interesting field of inquiry. For many years one man 
 had been employed to " set the Psalms," as the phrase 
 went, for pitching the tune: sometimes two would be em- 
 ployed. The task of " lining off " the Psalm by the 
 clergyman soon fell to the duty of some brother competent 
 to give the office a becoming dignity. In the course of 
 time, when the singing school was established, and learning 
 to sing was like learning the Rule of Three, all those who 
 
Instrumental Music. 35 
 
 had " learned the rule of singing " were allowed- to sit 
 near together and had liberty to conduct that part of 
 worship. The old inhabitants remember the long line of 
 singers ranged around the front gallery who were led by 
 the chorister opposite the pulpit. The sensitive temper 
 which is thought to be the necessary state of feeling in a 
 good singer has often produced unhappy results among 
 choirs, and has frequently led to temporary troubles. The 
 new way of singing Psalms, advocated by the ministers in 
 the vicinity of Boston as early as 1726, was the occasion 
 for no little controversy. Churches were divided for a 
 time by the vexed question of the adoption of the new way 
 of singing. 
 
 Occasionally a leader would be found who could play 
 the violin, and he was appointed to stand where he could 
 best guide the singers. The violin, at first a wicked inno- 
 vation, was followed by the violoncello and the double bass 
 viol. Gradually a flute was added, then a clarionet, and 
 even a French horn when any one was found skillful enough 
 to play one; and the old Jewish band of cornet and flute, 
 sackbut and psalter, dulcimer and harp, was reinstated in 
 modern church choirs. Although they have been super- 
 seded by an instrument more appropriate to the solemnity 
 of worship, the brass band revival in very recent days, in 
 at least one of our churches, shows that the spirit of the 
 former music is still abroad. The instrumental music gave 
 a new impulse to choir singing and singing schools; and 
 the choir was eventually composed of all the singers that 
 could be found in the congregation. With this union of 
 social and instrumental music, the singing of the former 
 days was fully as hearty and enjoyable as the trained 
 quartettes of the present day. In due time the organ, 
 once considered an attachment to Popery, " a chest full of 
 whistles " or the Beast of the Apocalypse, began to breathe 
 
36 Noted Singers, — Respect for the Minister. 
 
 out its churchly tones; musical taste was cultivated, ears 
 became more sensitive, and one by one large choirs were 
 dismembered and dispersed until the present mode through- 
 out our churches is either the quartette and double quar- 
 tette choirs, or else the more democratic mode of Congre- 
 gational singing. 
 
 I would not willingly wound the feelings of any of our 
 excellent singers by instituting comparisons; but, as citizens 
 and lovers of the divine art of song, they will cheerfully 
 allow me to speak of the days gone by when the celebrated 
 musical artists whose voices have entranced thousands, 
 whose fame is not limited to any region of the country, and 
 whose gifts and graces will give the final charm to this 
 festival season — they will permit me, I say — to recall 
 the time when Hattie Bond, Ursula Greenwood, and Maria 
 Eayrs, known to the public as Mrs. Long, Mrs. H. M. Smith, 
 and Mrs. Kimball, were sweet singers in the Sabbath choirs 
 of our Israel. Their fame is our pride and our boast. With 
 the church choirs of other days we associate the names of 
 Lyman Heath, Robert Moore, Abner Dodge, Edward 
 Hosmer, Albin Beard, and others who have helped to give 
 local renown at least to Nashua as the home of good singing. 
 
 The clergyman was treated with universal respect, 
 particularly by the young. It was a wonderful sight to the 
 rising generation in those days to see parson Kidder on 
 his daily horseback ride. As he passed the schoolhouse 
 the children ranged themselves in line, with uncovered 
 heads, and made their manners to the good man, who, in 
 turn, lifted his cocked hat and, with a pleasant smile, bade 
 them a " cheerful good morning." When minister or 
 stranger entered the schoolroom or the family apartment, 
 the children arose at once to their feet. It has been re- 
 marked that " the family, the school, the church, society 
 itself, were nurseries of decorum a hundred years ago." We 
 
A True Union of Church and State. 37 
 
 cannot revive these decorous customs if we would. We 
 would not if we could, but we cannot but greet them as they 
 pass in review before our memory. 
 
 " Hail ancient manners! sure defence, 
 When they survive, of wholesome laws." 
 
 The meeting-house was not limited to religious services 
 exclusively. The Puritan's idea of the State, unfolding 
 within the church, so modified his reverence for " holy 
 places " that he had no superstitious regard for the church 
 structure itself. On a Sabbath day or Fast-day, his head 
 was uncovered within the Temple; but he was careful also 
 not to keep his hat on at any time in the sanctuary. Our 
 fathers held that religion should be applied to all depart- 
 ments of life, and therefore the meeting-house was used 
 for public assemblies of importance to the town. Town 
 meetings were held in both the old churches for many 
 years. The right of suffrage was regarded as a solemn 
 thing, and whatever concerned the public weal was to be 
 considered in a religious spirit. AH town meetings were 
 accordingly opened by prayer, and on very important 
 occasions the minister preached an appropriate sermon. 
 
 A town meeting at the time of the Revolution is thus 
 described by John Trumbull: 
 
 " High o'er the front on pulpit stairs. 
 Mid den of thieves in house of prayers, 
 Stood forth the constable; and bore 
 His staff like Mercury's wand of yore. 
 Above and near the hermetic staff. 
 The moderator's upper half. 
 In grandeur o'er the cushion bowed, 
 Like Sol half seen behind a cloud. 
 Beneath stood voters, of all colors — 
 Whigs, Tories, Orators and brawlers." 
 
38 The Old South Meeting-House. 
 
 The old house stood for about sixty years; and one 
 morning in 1812 the people found it in the condition of the 
 " One-hoss shay," " all in a heap " by the wayside. It 
 had been pulled down in the night by a party who took 
 this way to precipitate the construction of a new one. 
 
 The Old South Meeting-House, with its bell and 
 tower and fresh white paint, was a great improvement on the 
 one we have been describing. It was located about a half 
 mile north of the former one; and was built by Willard 
 Marshall and Joseph Lund on the same principle that 
 Jonathan Lovewell built the meeting-house of 1749 — by 
 hiring out the " pew-ground " to the people. The dedi- 
 cation sermon was preached, Nov. 4, 1812, by the Rev. 
 Humphrey Moore of Milford; and is in possession of the 
 Nashua Historical Society. 
 
 We have now arrived in the course of our history at 
 the generation of the living. Memory takes the place of 
 record and tradition. The third and last stage of our 
 progress is reached, at which the broader signification of 
 the Church appears in different church organizations with 
 diverse and opposite faith and forms from the original 
 ecclesiastical system we have been considering. It is 
 with unmixed pleasure that we pass from the long and 
 dreary period of Disunion to the period of Union in the 
 midst of variety. 
 
 With the growth of the town, events multiply and 
 incidents crowd upon us too fast to be adequately noticed 
 on an occasion like this, which is more appropriately given 
 to the chronicles of remoter times. There are later events, 
 equally, if not more, worthy of commemoration. But of 
 historic writing and the limits of human endurance on 
 these uncomfortable seats, we may say that " Art is long, 
 and time is fleeting " ; and I will only crave your patience 
 while 1 briefly sketch the different religious societies that 
 
Old Olive Street Church 
 
Olive Street Church. 39 
 
 have branched out from the trunk of our ecclesiastical 
 tree. We are warranted in doing this; for the history 
 of Dunstable does not really close until 1837, when the 
 name of the town was changed to the more romantic one 
 of Nashua. 
 
 In the interim between the dismission of Mr. Sperry 
 and the occupancy of the Olive St. Church, the religious 
 condition of the town was gradually changed. People 
 of all shades of belief worshipped together at the Old 
 South. But many, who were influenced by the new re- 
 ligious opinions of the times, separated from the old church 
 in a peaceful and noiseless manner and formed other 
 societies. The Old South pulpit was occupied by ^a^ious 
 ministers. 
 
 Warren Burton, a well-known minister in his day, 
 preached often on the precepts of the Unitarian faith. 
 Rev. Andrew E. Thayer, a resident of Nashua, and from 
 whom " Thayer's Court " took its name, is remembered 
 with gratitude by many who listened to his spiritual teach- 
 ings. The Nashua Manufacturing Company built the 
 Olive Street Church for the accommodation of the opera- 
 tives connected with the Corporation; and during its erec- 
 tion, many, who afterward formed the Unitarian and 
 Universalist societies, worshipped in a room in No. i 
 of the Nashua Company's Mills. When the Church was 
 completed in 1825, it was first occupied by the liberal 
 Christian society. Population was moving northward, 
 and the majority lived north of the harbor between Salmon 
 Brook and the Nashua River. The Old South became in- 
 convenient for a greater part of the inhabitants; and in 
 1826 the old church of Dunstable bought the Olive St. 
 house, which has, from that day to this, been the regular 
 house of worship for one of the Congregational Societies. 
 
 To resume the story of the original stock. — After the 
 
40 Division of Olive St. Congregation. 
 
 death of Mr. Kidder, and following the dismissal of Mr. 
 Sperry in 1818, another period of destitution succeeded, 
 that continued seven years. The church had been in ex- 
 istence up to the date 1820 — one hundred and forty years, 
 — and during this time it had been without a regular pastor 
 fifty-eight years, more than one-third of its life. The Rev. 
 Handel G. Nott assumed the pastoral charge, Nov. 9, 
 1826. He commenced his ministry with the addition of 
 fifty new members by letter and on profession of faith. 
 
 The year 1830 was a memorable one of growth to 
 the church. Seventy-two persons united with it who had 
 never before declared their personal allegiance to Christ. 
 Mr. Nott's ministry was comparatively a brief one. Eight 
 years covers the period; but up to this time it was the 
 richest season of spiritual prosperity during the entire 
 history of the church. Mr. Nott was a most indefatigable 
 fisher of the souls of men out of the deep, and three hundred 
 and fifty-five were added to the church in those few years. 
 During the latter part of his ministry here Mr. Nott gave 
 to the doctrine of infant baptism renewed and thoughtful 
 attention; and in 1834 he announced to his people that he 
 no longer regarded infant baptism as a divinely appointed 
 ordinance; and, although he considered sprinkling as a 
 valid mode of baptism and still adhered to open com- 
 munion, he could not conscientiously administer the ordi- 
 nance of baptism to the infant children of the church. 
 Great surprise was expressed at this announcement; for 
 he had publicly baptized his own child the previous Sabbath. 
 So much dissatisfaction was expressed that an ecclesiastical 
 council was called for advice. The unanimity of the 
 council in recommending Mr. Nott's dismission led to his 
 formal resignation in October of the same year. 
 
 After his dismission the society, as distinct from the 
 church, invited Mr. Nott to supply the pulpit. The 
 
" Old Chocolate," Built by First Church. 41 
 
 church, by a majority of one or two, decided to withdraw 
 and worship in Greeley's Hall. The church officers were 
 included among them, and a second ecclesiastical council 
 declared that they constituted the original Congregational 
 church of old Dunstable. 
 
 On New Year's day, 1835, the Rev. Jonathan McGee 
 was installed as pastor of the First Church. During the 
 year, the church edifice familiarly known as the " Old 
 Chocolate," was erected at an expense of $10,000. For 
 seven years and a half, Mr. McGee ministered successfully 
 to this people. He was dismissed at his own request June 8, 
 1842. 
 
 Eighty-five persons began the Christian life under Mr. 
 McGee's preaching, and one hundred and eighty-six were 
 added to the church by letter, making in all two hundred 
 and seventy-one. The last year of his ministry was signally 
 blessed by a revival which originated in the faithful efforts 
 of a Sabbath-school teacher with his own class. The work 
 of grace spread from class to class until the whole school 
 was baptized by the Holy Spirit. The interest extended 
 to members of the society not connected with the school, 
 and many of them united with the church. 
 
 We may ask in the tender language of Scripture, 
 " and the old man of whom we speak, is he yet alive? " 
 Your own hearts answer; and we count it among the pleas- 
 ures of this day that he is yet among us, the delight of his 
 friends and an honor to his profession. We venture to 
 say that among the memories of his long and useful life 
 none stand out before him with a brighter radiance than 
 those associated with that blessed season of 1842. 
 
 The ninth pastor of the church was the Rev. Matthew 
 Hale Smith, who was ordained Oct. 17, 1842. By his 
 energy and financial skill, a church debt of $2,000 was 
 liquidated; and, as if Providence designed to show the 
 
42 A Series of Pastors. 
 
 intimate relation between sacrifices made for the material 
 welfare of the church and its spiritual prosperity, another 
 work of the Spirit began, which resulted in the addition of 
 upwards of eighty to the church. On account of ill-health, 
 Mr. Smith asked for a dismission; which was granted 
 Aug. 20, 1845, after a ministry of nearly three years. For 
 many years Mr. Smith's residence has been in the City of 
 New York, where he is engaged in earnest, Christian labor; 
 but he comes to Nashua almost daily in the character of 
 " Burleigh," the entertaining New York correspondent of 
 the Boston Journal. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel Lamson succeeded him in April, 
 1846. A dismission was most reluctantly voted Mr. 
 Lamson at the close of his second year — he having resigned 
 on account of feeble health, April 7, 1848. 
 
 He was followed in 1849 by the Rev. Daniel March, 
 one of the ablest clergymen in the United States, not 
 only a brilliant writer and effective speaker, but a most 
 indefatigable and successful Christian worker. An im- 
 portant church in Brooklyn, N. Y., called him from Nashua 
 in 1855. He has since been settled in Woburn, Mass., and 
 in Philadelphia, where he now resides as the honored pastor 
 of a Presbyterian church. The influence of his accomplished 
 mind is still felt in Nashua and throughout the country, in 
 his widely read works, " Night Scenes in the Bible," " Our 
 Father's House," and " Home Life in the Bible." 
 
 The society then called a professor from Amherst 
 College, the Rev. Geo. B. Jewett, who was both ordained 
 and installed May 24, 1855. His pastorate commenced 
 with every appearance of a bright and happy future for 
 the church and for himself, but was terminated in less than 
 a year by a most distressing accident at the railroad cross- 
 ing near the Concord depot, by which his son, an only 
 child, was instantly killed. In consequence of injuries 
 
Old Chocolate Church 
 
Growing Membership of First Church. 43 
 
 sustained on that fatal 15th of April, Mrs. Jewett lost a 
 hand and Mr. Jewett was crippled for life. With great 
 sorrow the church dismissed the pastor to whom they had 
 become most tenderly attached, on the 4th of August, 
 1856. Although the state of his health has not allowed 
 him to take another pastoral charge, he still preaches 
 occasionally; and from his home in Salem, Mass., he si- 
 lently influences the literature of the country and of the 
 churches, through his accurate and thorough scholarship. 
 
 The Rev. Chas. J. Hill, now of Ansonia, Conn., suc- 
 ceeded Mr. Jewett. His ministry commenced in 1857 and 
 terminated in 1864. Another revival blessed the church 
 at the commencement of his labors, and large accessions 
 were made to its membership. Many young people were 
 attracted to Mr. Hill's services, through his sympathy 
 with the youthful. 
 
 Ill health compelled Mr. Hill to resign, and he was 
 succeeded by Rev. Elias C. Hooker. His installation took 
 place in September, 1865. He was a most zealous worker 
 and an excellent preacher; but his feeble constitution would 
 not admit of a long pastorate, and he was reluctantly dis- 
 missed in August, 1868. 
 
 The present incumbent of the pulpit. Rev. Frederick 
 Alvord, was settled July 6, 1869. On the 15th of April, 
 1870, the " Old Chocolate " church was destroyed by fire. 
 With praiseworthy energy the society erected on the same 
 site their present elegant brick church, with its beautiful, 
 convenient and unique interior arrangements, — and dedi- 
 cated it, about thirteen months afterward, on the i8th 
 of May, 1871. 
 
 The records of church membership up to 1790 are not 
 to be found. Since that date 784 names appear on the 
 church books; and the present membership is between 
 450 and 500. Among the names are found several who 
 
44 Fraternal Pastoral Relations. 
 
 are in the ministry, or in preparation for it. Rev. Mr. Dolt 
 and Rev. Milton Bailey are from this church. Rev. John 
 Abbott French is settled over the Presbyterian church in 
 Morristown, N. J. Another is a professor in Andover 
 Theological Seminary.* 
 
 Here ends the long and eventful history of the First 
 Church of Dunstable and of Nashua. It is entwined with 
 much that is noblest and best in the feehngs of Christian 
 citizens, and also with much that springs from the weakness 
 of imperfect human nature. In spite of its lamentable 
 short-comings and the undermining influences from within 
 and without that have been brought to bear upon it, its 
 inherent vitality has enabled it to endure the shock of 
 disruption ; and the Mother Church — to-day the largest 
 society but one in the city, and among the foremost in the 
 state — stands as the principal object in the background 
 of our historical picture. 
 
 In recurring to the division of the old church of Dun- 
 stable, which took place during Mr. Nott's ministry, it is 
 most gratifying to be assured by Dr. Austin Richards, the 
 first pastor of the Olive St. Church, that both pastors of 
 the two Congregational churches labored side by side in 
 perfect harmony, and that the partial alienation and dis- 
 cord that had so unhappily rent the body of the church 
 gradually gave place to a spirit of mutual forbearance and 
 fraternal affection. 
 
 The change in Mr. Nott's doctrinal views was not the 
 only reason that constrained many of the original church 
 to remain where they were. A large number, though by 
 no means all, of the friends of Mr. Nott sympathized with 
 his views. All were strongly attached to their pastor; and 
 none, without reluctance, could forsake the house of wor- 
 
 * This statement refers to Professor Churchill, who was received 
 into the First Congregational Church by letter in i860. 
 
Rev. Dr. Richards of Olive St. Church. 45 
 
 ship, with its added conveniences and improvements which 
 they had helped to acquire by their earnest efforts and 
 pecuniary sacrifices. So about half the members of the 
 church and a large majority of the society decided to stay. 
 Accordingly they formed a new organization, of which 41 — 
 who were members of the old church — were legally dis- 
 missed to constitute the new. It is worthy of notice that 
 Col. Thomas G. Banks, the efficient chief marshal of this 
 Bi-Centennial celebration, is the only man living whose 
 name is on the first records and membership of the society, 
 forty-seven years ago. Mr. Nott preached for them a 
 year, when he was dismissed in order that he might join 
 the Baptist communion. 
 
 The church installed the Rev. Austin Richards, of 
 Francestown, as their pastor, April 6, 1836, who continued 
 his exceedingly useful ministry through a period of thirty 
 years. At the close of the first year of his pastorate the 
 church was blessed with a revival which resulted in 65 more 
 members. In 1842 another great work of the Spirit was 
 witnessed, and 115 new Christian hearts swelled the num- 
 bers of the church. Many of our most influential citizens 
 date their spiritual life from that revival season. Ten 
 years afterward there was another extensive and remark- 
 able effusion of the Holy Spirit, and loi united with the 
 church — 80 at one communion. Many were from the 
 Sabbath-school, and one of the devoted teachers who had 
 been engaged in the Sunday-school work for thirty-five 
 years declared it was during that winter that a great dis- 
 covery was made. He had just found out that the true 
 object of Sunday-school teaching was not simply Bib- 
 lical instruction but the Salvation of the Soul. When this 
 was realized whole classes gave their hearts' allegiance to 
 the Redeemer. The history of Mr. Richards' ministry, 
 with its three extensive revivals and constancy of religious 
 
46 NoUe Line of Olive St. Pastors. 
 
 life in the church, closed Nov. 16, 1866, when he was dis- 
 missed at his own request. He was soon recalled to his 
 former pastorate at Francestown. Failing health com- 
 pelled him to relinquish all pastoral care; and he now 
 resides in quiet retirement in Boston, surrounded with 
 
 " That which should accompany old age, 
 As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends." 
 
 The Rev. Gustavus D. Pike was settled in 1862 as 
 Dr. Richards' colleague. Resigning his position in 1865 
 he soon after accepted a secretaryship of the American 
 Missionary Society. It is largely owing to his judicious 
 management that Fiske University is so successfully 
 accomplishing its objects. 
 
 The third pastor in the church was Rev. Hiram Mead, 
 who was called from one in South Hadley, Mass., and in- 
 stalled Dec. 17, 1867. The church building was remodelled, 
 and the parsonage and vestry built during his charge. 
 His rare abilities were sought for by the Oberlin Theological 
 Seminary; and in September, 1869, he resigned his pastorate 
 to assume the Professorship of Sacred Rhetoric in that 
 institution. 
 
 Dr. Mead's successor, the Rev. James S. Black — still 
 holding the pastorate — was ordained and installed March 
 31, 1870, and is the bishop of 300 souls. 
 
 Olive St. Church takes a pardonable pride in the sons 
 she has placed in the ministry, all of whom are honoring 
 their mother church and the church of Christ in their 
 respective fields of Christian effort. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Spalding of Newburyport, Mass., the Rev. 
 Edward Clark — pastor of an up-town church in New York 
 City, — and Rev. James Powell, late of Newburyport, 
 Mass., are enrolled among the members of the Olive St. 
 Church. 
 
Pearl St. Congregational Church. 47 
 
 One fact full of meaning manifests itself in the history 
 of the division of the First Church and Olive St. Church — 
 a fact that stands out in bold contrast to the earlier dis- 
 ruptions of the old church of Dunstable. The causes of 
 division originated in the pulpit and not in the pews. There 
 was no taint of the selfishness of party spirit leading to 
 the separation. An honest change in the opinions of a 
 beloved pastor, involving great self-sacrifice on his part, 
 resulted in an expression of loyalty to a good man on the 
 one hand, and in an adherence to the great principle of lib- 
 erty of conscience on the other. That such liberty is not in- 
 compatible with the work of the Holy Spirit is shown in the 
 blessed seasons during the days of McGee and Richards 
 immediately following the division; while spiritual torpor, 
 almost amounting to deadness, marked the history of the 
 dissensions of earlier days. 
 
 The Pearl St. Church was a child of Olive St. Church. 
 The faithful preaching of Dr. Richards had so filled the 
 Olive St. house that it became expedient to set off a colony 
 of fifty-five members, to form another society. 
 
 The sympathy and co-operation of both the Congre- 
 gational churches was cordially promised the new enter- 
 prise; and, on the 3d of September, 1846, the Pearl St. 
 church was organized. 
 
 Until their new house of worship was completed, the 
 society worshipped in the Town Hall and held their prayer 
 meetings in the Olive St. vestry. 
 
 The Rev. Leonard Swain was their first pastor. He 
 was ordained and installed June 24, 1847; and after a most 
 pleasant and faithful term of service, he was dismissed 
 in 1852 to take the pastorate of a new society in Providence, 
 R. I. Here he remained until his death, which occurred, 
 July 14, 1869. 
 
 In relating the history of the Pearl St. Church, I ven- 
 
48 Rev. Leonard Swain, D.D. 
 
 ture to advert to the name of its first pastor with more 
 than a single word ; for he is pre-eminently the ablest man 
 who has yet appeared among the ministers of Nashua. 
 For a period of eight years, from 1847 to 1855, and more 
 particularly from 1849 to 1852, the Congregational pulpit 
 of Nashua was honored and adorned by two of the foremost 
 ministers in New England, Daniel March and Leonard 
 Swain. Of the one, I have already spoken. 
 
 There are many of us to whom Dr. Swain, with his 
 tall, spare, erect form, high, serene forehead, clear marble- 
 like complexion, thin sensitive lips, deep sincere blue eyes, 
 and solemn, impressive manners, seemed more like a being 
 from another sphere — a direct link with the unseen world 
 — than did any other man we ever beheld. 
 
 He seemed to be breathing the refined atmosphere 
 
 " Where the immortal shapes 
 Of bright aerial spirits live inspher'd 
 In regions mild, of calm and serene air. 
 Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot 
 Which men call earth." 
 
 No other preacher within our memory succeeded as 
 he did in uttering the soundest evangelical thought with 
 the stately manner of ancient orators. The leading quali- 
 ties of his interior nature were his emotional and imagi- 
 native powers. To a stranger, simply looking upon his 
 thin white face, and lips hard as marble in their repose, it 
 seemed as if the fires of a passional nature could never 
 dwell within so much ice. But those who were acquainted 
 with his inner life as well as any one could know a man of 
 so much natural reserve testify to his deep and tender 
 feeling. It was his rich emotional nature, in combination 
 with his sincere moral earnestness and brilliant imagina- 
 tion, that controlled, infused, and informed his powerful 
 
Genhis of Leonard Swain. 49 
 
 speech. His deep-toned, silvery, resonant, majestic voice 
 gave most solemnly penetrating emphasis, to his elaborate, 
 though simple, language; and thrilled the soul with its 
 physical properties merely. As it became the facile in- 
 strument of his strong feeling when profoundly stirred, 
 it seemed like a Hebrew prophet's, echoing the voice of 
 God. But when he took the hand of suffering, or spoke 
 of the loving compassion of the Saviour, or responded to 
 the changing moods of devotion, its trembling accents 
 seemed to be full of tears. 
 
 Perhaps his emotional power, enhanced by a vivid 
 imagination, was never more strikingly displayed than on 
 the day of his graduation from the Theological Seminary 
 at Andover in 1846. So diffident was he of his ability to 
 do justice to himself and credit to the seminary that, up 
 to the Saturday evening previous to the anniversary day, 
 he had not written a word, and had pleaded urgently to be 
 excused. His professor of rhetoric, unwilling that the 
 day should be robbed of its brightest luminary, advised 
 him to deliver the last half of a sermon that he had just 
 criticised for him. The self-distrustful student reluctantly 
 acted upon the suggestion; and one of the most eminent 
 men of the day, himself a pulpit orator of foremost rank 
 and a highly competent critic, affirms that the effect 
 produced was simply wonderful. The audience was 
 bathed in tears. Dr. Woods* was so agitated that he 
 visibly trembled from uncontrollable feeling. Scholarly, 
 unemotional men, who sat on the platform from which he 
 spoke, sobbed aloud; the very stage shook beneath them 
 from the force of their emotion. That anniversary address 
 stands out from among all others of its class during the 
 
 * Dr. Leonard Woods — formerly professor of Christian Theology, 
 and then professor emeritus at Andover Seminary — undoubtedly is 
 the person here meant. 
 
50 Spirituality of Dr. Swain. 
 
 history of that venerable seminary as a conspicuously 
 solitary exception. 
 
 The character of his preaching was direct, simple, 
 and thoroughly evangelical. It seemed to his people at 
 times that he dwelt too long in the bracing atmosphere 
 of Sinai, and not long enough in the milder air of Calvary. 
 The two master ideas which possessed his mind were God's 
 glory and man's salvation. One of his parishioners in 
 Providence who knew him intimately says " that he was 
 not so anxious about the spiritual condition of individual 
 Christians as about the state of the impenitent as indi- 
 viduals. For his people he was apparently less solicitous 
 about growth in grace than about conversion. Sanctifica- 
 tion was important but justification was vital." He loved 
 souls too well, it would seem, to speak words of a false 
 peace; he waited until they had declared a complete 
 allegiance to the Saviour. 
 
 He had a clear vision of unseen things. Spiritual 
 verities were to him realities. He had the spiritual mind 
 that discerned spiritual things. With pertinent emphasis 
 a friend says that, in his long life of suffering, he " endured 
 as seeing Him who is invisible." Spirituality was the pre- 
 dominant feature of his Christian character. 
 
 Nature had not formed Dr. Swain for many friend- 
 ships; but those who were admitted to the sanctuary of 
 his affections never knew a friend more tender, true, and 
 steadfast. Another friend speaks of " his genial sayings, 
 tinted with the delicate hues of fancy, edged with the keen- 
 est wit, or bubbling over with genuine humor." Dr. 
 Swain had in him the original stuff for a martyr. He 
 never hesitated an instant between policy and principle. 
 He gravitated towards principle as surely and as naturally 
 as the needle to the pole. And yet he was always cour- 
 teous, candid, and just to an opponent. He took positive 
 
Dr. Swain's Literary Attainments. 51 
 
 ground on all important social and political matters; and 
 the poor and the outcast found in him a friend and a 
 defender. He pleaded for the rights of black children in 
 the common schools, and declared that until they enjoyed 
 their rights he would take his own children away from the 
 schools and place them under private tuition. His voice 
 rang like a trumpet during the Great Rebellion, and he 
 called upon men to " fight as Christians and because they 
 were Christians." 
 
 He frequently disappointed those who went to hear 
 a " great sermon " from him; and he always appeared to 
 better advantage in the conference room and the familiar 
 lecture. His literary standard was so high, his critical 
 sense so keen, his culture so varied, and his nature so modest, 
 that he undervalued his sermons, and never allowed but 
 one or two to be printed, and solemnly enjoined that none 
 should be published after his death. This morbid sensi- 
 tiveness was his weakness and our calamity. The printed 
 sermon of striking eloquence and beauty on " God's owner- 
 ship of the sea " suggests to the world what it has lost; 
 but this masterpiece will take its place among American 
 classics. He read Dante in the original Italian, and knew 
 French and German. Two rich specimens of German 
 hymnology were translated by him for the Sabbath Hymn 
 and Tune Book. He had the mental constitution of a 
 poet, and had written a manuscript volume of poems which 
 was committed to the flames. I have read a poetical 
 letter, written when he was in his twenty-third year, to 
 his brother George, that, notwithstanding its haste and 
 familiarity, is full of airy fancies, exquisite feeling and 
 delicate turns of thought and expression. No one but a 
 " born poet " could have written it. He is also the author 
 of one of the choicest hymns in the Sabbath Hymn and 
 Tune Book. 
 
52 Swain's Successors and Their Good Work. 
 
 Let his friends speak for him a^ain : — Many of his 
 former people who hear this brief memoir to-day will appre- 
 ciate what is said of the " regal mastery of his speech as 
 associated with his prayers, so unlike the prayers of other 
 men. The heart that could hear his prayers, unmoved, 
 must be as the nether millstone. He had a remarkable 
 faculty of summing up the items of thought and petition, 
 presenting them in prayer clearly, pertinently, fervently 
 and devoutly. In this particular, he far excelled any other 
 man I ever knew. The thought, the tone, the expression, 
 the whole outgoing of the man was prayerful. He was 
 emphatically a leader in prayer. You could follow him 
 so easily in his spiritual thought and gracious speech 
 that it seemed to be as much your prayer as his." But 
 though we have no sermons to perpetuate his memory, 
 his work and his life shall be his best memorials. This 
 church, of which he was the first pastor, and which he built 
 up and made strong with five years of his noble life, is here 
 his fitting and enduring monument. 
 
 The second pastor was Rev. Dr. Ezra E. Adams, of 
 Philadelphia. This genial man, able preacher, and faith- 
 ful pastor, began his work here Aug. 31, 1853, and ended 
 it July 13, 1857. 
 
 His four years' ministry was succeeded by the still 
 briefer pastorate of two years of the Rev. E. W. Greeley, 
 at present settled over the church in Haverhill, N. H. He 
 was installed over this church Feb. 24, 1858, and was 
 dismissed, at his own request, May 17, i860. 
 
 Rev. B. F. Parsons was with the Pearl St. Church 
 nearly six years, from Nov. 7, 1861, to June 18, 1867. His 
 residence is now in Derry, N. H. 
 
 The fifth pastor. Rev. Wm. L. Gaylord, was called 
 from the church in Fitzwilliam, and was installed Dec. 31, 
 1867. He closed his ministry three years later, — Oct. 27, 
 
A Wonder-Working Providence. 53 
 
 1870, — and went to Meriden, Conn, (where he now re- 
 sides), to become the successor of Rev. W. H. H. Murray, 
 who had gone to the Park St. Church in Boston. 
 
 The Rev. Charles Wetherby, the present pastor, was 
 settled, Dec. 7, 1871. 
 
 Five hundred and forty-three names have been placed 
 upon the membership records of the Pearl St. Church since 
 its organization twenty-seven years ago. Among them are 
 the names of six men who have become able ministers of 
 the gospel. The Rev. S. M. Freeland, at one time a popu- 
 lar principal of the Nashua High School, is in Detroit, 
 Mich. Rev. Richard C. Stanley, a principal of our High 
 School, is professor of natural science in Bates College, 
 Lewiston, Me. Rev. C. A. Leach is pastor of the Congre- 
 gational church in Keene, N. H. Rev. E. L. Whitcomb is 
 an Episcopal clergyman in North Haven, Conn. Rev. 
 Henry M. Tenney is settled in Winona, Minn. Rev. 
 Josiah E. Kittredge is the pastor of the Congregational 
 church, Glastonbury, Conn. 
 
 The present membership of this church is 203, and 
 the Sabbath-school of 250 members is in a very flourishing 
 condition. 
 
 The history of the Olive Street and Pearl Street 
 Societies affords another illustration of the unfolding of 
 God's wonder-working Providence. Who amongst us 
 to-day, of those living at the time of the division in the 
 church forty-seven years ago, could have predicted that 
 he would see what he now sees? Out of a division so 
 full of regretful causes, have sprung two large and influen- 
 tial societies which are among the leading moral and 
 spiritual forces in the city. And the old First Church 
 itself from which they derived their original life is stronger 
 to-day than either. 
 
 This was not designed nor anticipated at the time of 
 
54 Rise of Various Sects. 
 
 the disruption; but there was an Eye that did see it, and 
 the Mighty Head of the church so directed the dissension 
 that He finally made the wrath of man to praise him. 
 
 Passing now from the natural branches in their or- 
 ganic development, we come to the branches that have 
 been grafted into our ecclesiastical tree. We return to 
 the time of Kidder and Sperry in 1818. For nearly a 
 century and a half the old ideas and institutions of the 
 primitive faith of New England had prevailed in Dun- 
 stable. As I have before remarked, the Congregational 
 church, in a certain sense, was the established church of 
 New England; indeed it may rightly be called so to-day. 
 For a hundred and fifty years no one in Dunstable ever 
 thought of being anything else than a Congregationalist. 
 He might be Orthodox or New Light, but he was a Congre- 
 gationalist still. Whitefield was a Methodist, it is true; 
 but he was a Calvinistic Methodist, and did not concern 
 himself with the forms of church government. He simply 
 sought to infuse the spirit of the living Christ into the 
 existing forms. There had been petty dissensions in the 
 church itself, but no schismatics had gone out from the 
 old church to form other churches maintaining peculiar 
 and contrary views. 
 
 As time passed on, and the population increased, and 
 new attractions drew strangers into town, it was to be 
 expected that adherents to other forms of faith and prac- 
 tice would be found scattered here and there in the grow- 
 ing village. 
 
 The doctrine of universal salvation, so radically 
 opposed to one of the leading doctrines of the Evangelical 
 faith, was introduced into the country during the eighteenth 
 century by the famous John Murray. His liberal teach- 
 ings had been promulgated in New Hampshire in a few 
 localities as early as 1781. In that year a Universalist 
 
The Universalists. 55 
 
 church was formed in Portsmouth. The bold and able 
 advocacy of the fascinating doctrine resulted in the or- 
 ganization of the first Universalist society in Nashua, 
 Jan. 27, 1818, which became the first to encroach upon the 
 domain of the original ecclesiastics of the village. Twenty- 
 eight members constituted the society. Only two of them 
 are now living, Gen. Israel Hunt and Hon. John M. Hunt. 
 Their father was the leading mover in the new enterprise. 
 The Universalists in both the Dunstables united in the 
 services which were held in either place as convenience 
 dictated. The leading Universalist divines — Hosea Bal- 
 lon, Thomas Whittemore, Paul Dean, and Otis Skinner — 
 preached for them in schoolhouses and barns. Gen. 
 Hunt more than once spent some of his youthful strength 
 in tearing off the boards from some schoolhouse which 
 had been nailed up against the " heretics." The following 
 year it seemed best to concentrate the society in Dunstable, 
 N. H., and a new constitution was adopted Feb. 20, 1819, 
 Israel Hunt, Jr., being chosen clerk. The new society 
 started with forty members, and with the Rev. Charles 
 Hudson as pastor. Mr. Hudson afterwards became a 
 member of Congress, and is now living in Lexington, Mass. 
 The society was merged in course of time into the congre- 
 gation worshipping in the Olive St. Church prior to its 
 occupancy by the orthodox. 
 
 It was not until 1833 that the society, as a distinct 
 body, was reorganized. The Old South Church, whose 
 walls had echoed to the warning notes of Calvinism, then 
 became the shelter of the Universalists. The first pastor, 
 Rev. William M. Fernald, proclaimed from the pulpit of 
 Kidder and Sperry the liberal doctrines of John Murray 
 and Hosea Ballou. For two years the society worshipped 
 in the Old South, under the pastoral care of Rev. A. P. 
 Cleverly, until the new church was dedicated in October 
 
56 Universalist Pastors and Their Work. 
 
 of 1839, when Rev. L. C. Browne became pastor. Mr. 
 Browne had been settled six years, when his health failed 
 him, and he was dismissed. Rev. Dr. Wm. H. Ryder, 
 now of Chicago, was his successor. In two years, Mr. 
 Browne was re-installed; remained until 1853. It was 
 in this year that he published his reply to Matthew Hale 
 Smith, a former pastor of the First Congregational Church, 
 who had written a book assailing the doctrines of the 
 Universalists. 
 
 Mr. Browne's successor was Rev. Dr. Charles H. Fay, 
 now of Washington, D. C. For two years Mr. Fay guided 
 his people with great wisdom and ability. His public 
 spirit won for him the esteem of his fellow citizens, and both 
 church and community parted with Mr. Fay with genuine 
 regret. 
 
 Rev. O. D. Miller, the next pastor, remained four years 
 as minister, but continued to reside in the city after his 
 resignation. 
 
 In i860, the eighth pastor, Rev. J. O. Skinner, began 
 his ministry of two years' continuance. 
 
 Thomas L. Gorman, the present acting pastor of the 
 Unitarian society, succeeded Mr. Skinner, and preached 
 here two years. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. G. T. Flanders, late of Chicago, now of 
 Lowell, was pastor for four years, and was followed by 
 the highly esteemed Rev. S. H. McCoUister. The church 
 and the community lost a most excellent man and Buchtel 
 College gained an efficient President, when Mr. McCollister 
 left the church in 1872. The present pastor. Rev. H. A. 
 Fhilbrook, has been with the society since the beginning of 
 the year 1885. 
 
 The pride and glory of the church is its flourishing 
 Sunday-school, established in 1836 by C. P. Danforth, Esq., 
 who continued to act as superintendent some ten or twelve 
 
First Baptist Society of Dunstable. 57 
 
 years. His successors were Geo. E. Burke, E. P. Hill and 
 Hon. Wm. T. Parker — who served in that rapacity some 
 eight or ten years— Hon. F. S. Rogers, J. M. Fletcher, 
 C. W. Murch, Jonathan Parkhurst, Francis Hill, W. H. 
 Chase, Edward Parker, and C. M. Langley. This Sunday- 
 school claims the honor of inaugurating the Sunday-school 
 " concert " in Nashua. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Whitney, of the Universalist church 
 of Beverly, a Nashua boy, was once a member of this 
 school. Another member of the school is preparing for 
 the ministry of the Universalist church, at Buchtel Col- 
 lege, under the guidance of his former pastor. Rev. S. H. 
 McCollister. 
 
 In 1818 the Baptists formed a society. They had 
 heretofore worshipped with the Old South Society; but 
 they sought for the maintenance of a work more strictly 
 calvinistic in doctrine than they found amongst so much 
 New-Light leaven. They felt the need of a more rigorous 
 discipline and a greater purity in the internal relations of 
 the church. 
 
 The method adopted to carry out their convictions 
 was the formation of a church which should pay conscien- 
 tious attention to the ritual suggested by the literal lan- 
 guage of scripture, especially in the rite of baptism. A 
 separate religious community was accordingly formed, 
 known as the First Baptist Society of Dunstable. 
 
 In early colonial days corporal punishment was in- 
 flicted on any person who should hold religious meetings 
 otherwise than as the laws allowed, or who should speak 
 against pedo-baptist principles. These laws were prose- 
 cuted with no little severity; in a word, the public senti- 
 ment of the ruling Theocracy was opposed to all intruding 
 sects. 
 
 In spite of opposition and prosecution, Baptist prin- 
 
58 First Baptist Society in Nashua. 
 
 ciples gradually spread over the province of New Hamp- 
 shire. The town of Newton was the first to foster a Baptist 
 church; this was in 1755. From 1770 Baptist church ex- 
 tension rapidly gained ground, and it is somewhat sur- 
 prising that no church of that denomination was formed 
 in Dunstable at an earlier date. 
 
 Itinerant Baptist preachers occasionally spoke in the 
 old church in the south part of the town. One day, while 
 a travelling minister was holding service in the church, 
 a white dove entered a window and alighting upon his 
 shoulder, turned around, and faced the audience. In a 
 few moments the bird flew away. The preacher and his 
 hearers were greatly impressed by the beautiful emblem 
 of the descent of the Holy Spirit; and the preacher, moved 
 by the suggestiveness of the scene, exclaimed with prophetic 
 utterance, " The Lord hath this day kindled a fire in this 
 place that will never be extinguished." 
 
 Although the society was formed in 1818, the church 
 was not organized until 1822. Of the original twenty- 
 three who signed the constitution of the society in 1818 
 but one is now living. John Butterfield yet lives to rejoice 
 in the rich prosperity of the church of his early love and 
 prayers, and in his connection with a denomination that 
 is second to but one in point of numbers in the United 
 States. 
 
 The beginnings of the church were feeble. For some 
 time, it included but six men and nine women. The 
 old school-house which stood between Concord and Man- 
 chester streets, on the south side of Rural Street,* was the 
 
 * Rural Street was afterwards named Mt. Pleasant Street — it 
 being in a line running eastward from that part of Mt. Pleasant Street 
 which extends from Abbott Street to Manchester Street. The old 
 school-house lot was sold to Gen. George Stark; and the school-house 
 was moved to a lot directly opposite on the north side of Rural (now 
 Mt. Pleasant) Street, where it serves as a double dwelling-house. 
 
First Meeting-House Built by the Baptists. 59 
 
 cradle of the infant church. Mr. Butterfield was one of 
 the six men who worshipped there; but he has now the 
 honor of being one of 1,671 members of this church who 
 have sat with him at communion since 1822. 
 
 The Old South Meeting-House soon became their 
 house of worship, the Congregationalist Society having 
 removed to the Olive St. Church. Rev. Bartlett Pease 
 occupied the pulpit from May, 1828, until July, 1829. 
 On the 25th of February, 1830, their first pastor. Rev. 
 Caleb Shute, was ordained, but was dismissed Dec. 18 
 of the same year. For three years they were without a 
 settled pastor, but were supplied by nine different preach- 
 ers, holding their meetings, now in the school-house, and 
 now in the Old South, as convenience dictated. A success- 
 ful call to Rev. Dura D. Pratt secured to them the services 
 of a minister who devoted himself to their interests with 
 unsparing fidelity and eminent ability until his death. He 
 was ordained Jan. 23, 1833, and the new meeting-house 
 was dedicated the same day. His greatly lamented decease 
 occurred Nov. 13, 1855, after a pastorate of twenty- two 
 years. This was Mr. Pratt's only pastoral charge. His 
 friends sententiously say, "We ordained him; we buried 
 him." 
 
 The first meeting-house built by the Baptist society 
 was on the site of the one they now occupy. It was de- 
 stroyed by fire in 1848. The present commodious brick 
 edifice was dedicated as a New Year's gift to the head of 
 the church, Jan. i, 1850. 
 
 Mr. Pratt left to his successor. Rev. W. H. Eaton, a 
 vigorous and active church of over 500 members, and a 
 Sabbath-school of 350 pupils. Mr. Eaton was installed 
 Jan. 26, 1856, and for fourteen years he performed his 
 duties with marked ability; nor was his interest confined 
 to his own church. Firm and unyielding in his personal 
 
6o A Free-Will Baptist Society. 
 
 convictions, he never withheld sympathy or co-operation 
 from any plan for the public good which seemed to him 
 to be for the general welfare. Mr. Eaton's executive 
 ability and financial wisdom was sought for by the Baptist 
 Educational Institution at New London; and he resigned 
 his charge to assist the struggling academy. Only six 
 months elapsed before the society was again under his 
 pastoral care.* His present residence is in Keene. 
 
 Rev. H. H. Rhees was installed July 15, 1870; and 
 was dismissed to the Baptist Church at Southbridge, Mass., 
 Dec. 31, 1872. 
 
 On the first of May of the present year (1885) Rev. 
 G. W. Nicholson, was installed. He has the care of 517 
 souls, the largest Protestant parish in the city. 
 
 A second Baptist church was formed in 1836 by the 
 Rev. N. W. Smith. A meeting-house was erected for it on 
 Chestnut Street, which is now occupied by the Chestnut 
 Street Methodist Society. The new church consisted of 
 20 or 30 members who peaceably separated from the old, 
 for more convenient worship. Rev. Mr. Pratt preached 
 the dedicatory sermon from the very appropriate words, 
 " I am not worthy of the host of all the mercies and of all 
 the truth which thou hast showed thy servant, for with 
 my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I become two 
 bands." The financial embarrassments of 1837 to 1838 
 so affected the new enterprise, that the society returned to 
 the old church, and abandoned their late organization. 
 
 The year 1830 brought with it some irritation to these 
 staunch defenders of John Calvin's theology and high 
 Baptist principles. Free salvation and open communion 
 were proclaimed by Elder Silas Curtis. This earnest 
 Free-Will Baptist preacher remained until 1839. The 
 " Free-Willers " had brief pastorates. Four pastors — 
 * In 1867 he received the degree of D.D. from Brown University. 
 
First Unitarian Society in Dunstable. 6i 
 
 Curtis, Preble, Phelon, and Stearns — were distributed 
 over a space of five years. The little society of 40 
 worshipped in the building at the west corner of Orange 
 and Canal streets, now (1885) occupied by Spalding & 
 Stearns, as a storehouse for grain. 
 
 Another form of Baptist heresy appeared in 1840. 
 The Christians — Unitarian in doctrine, but Baptists in 
 ritual — formed a society under the charge of Rev. Mr. 
 Robinson. There was never life enough to secure an or- 
 ganization, and the enterprise died a natural death. 
 
 In the early part of this century, one of the most im- 
 portant controversies that ever engaged the interest of 
 thinking men shook the religious world in New England 
 from centre to circumference. It was a contest for the 
 intellectual freedom of the church. The successive modi- 
 fications of opinion, which had been going on during the 
 latter part of the last century, finally developed into Uni- 
 tarianism, or Liberal Christianity. The abolition of all 
 engagements which may fetter the free teaching of the 
 clergy was the leading idea of the movement. 
 
 So close was the proximity of Dunstable to Massa- 
 chusetts — and especially to Boston, the principal field of 
 combat — that it would have been strange if the religious 
 atmosphere of Dunstable were not affected by the smoke 
 of the battle. A small number of the most intelligent and 
 thoughtful citizens deeply sympathized with the new doc- 
 trines. On the nth of September, 1826, a church was 
 duly formed under the name of the First Unitarian Con- 
 gregational Society in Dunstable. 
 
 The Nashua Manufacturing Company had built a 
 church on Olive Street, and the first services of the new 
 society were held in this building. They occupied the 
 Olive St. Church until their new church was finished, 
 Jan. 27, 1827. Suggestive of the brighter day dawning on 
 
62 Able Unitarian Ministers in Nashua. 
 
 the religious world, the corner stone of " Greenwood 
 Church " was laid, " upon a pleasant spring morning," 
 at sunrise. The dedication of the church was on the day 
 of the ordination of its first pastor, Rev. Nathaniel Gage. 
 Mr. Gage was an earnest preacher, and his old friends affirm 
 that the vigorous and healthy tone of his sermons was the 
 natural expression of a healthy nature that could do valiant 
 ser\dce with the scythe and plow. He remained with the 
 society' seven years, and was dismissed, at his own request, 
 in 1834. 
 
 Mr. Emmons, whose name indicated anything but a 
 liberal theology, was ordained and installed the following 
 year. Delicate health compelled him to resign in 1837. 
 He was followed by the most eminent of the clergymen 
 who have been connected with this society, the Rev. Dr. 
 Samuel Osgood, then a young man just out of his divinity 
 studies. The youthful pastor was ordained and installed 
 May 16, 1839. He made the pulpit a living force in the 
 community. He was a " broad churchman " from the 
 outset. Holding to no exclusive service, he worked for 
 society at large. His ideas and methods of church life 
 were heartily entered into by his people, and his pastorate 
 was rich in fruitful results. The beautiful custom of 
 recognizing Christmas, as a Christian festival, in the 
 decoration of the church with evergreens, originated in 
 Nashua with Mr. Osgood. He was sought by the Uni- 
 tarian Society in Providence, R. I., which received him 
 from this church in 1841. The church of the Messiah in 
 New York called him from Providence in 1849. After a 
 ministry of about twenty years in New York his theological 
 opinions, which had gradually been changing, led him to 
 embrace the faith and practice of the Episcopal Church; 
 and for nearly three years he has been an Episcopal rector 
 in Brooklyn, N. Y. Dr. Osgood has always been active 
 
Able Unitarian Ministers in Nashua. 63 
 
 in literary and educational interests, and he has published 
 works of considerable excellence. " Studies in Christian 
 Biography," " The Hearth-Stone," " God with Men," 
 " Student Life," and " Milestones on Our Life's Journey " 
 are among the books he has written. He has also made 
 admirable translations from the German. The pages of 
 the North American Review, the Christian Examiner, and 
 Bibliotheca Sacra have often been enriched and adorned 
 by his fertile and elegant pen. 
 
 For two years the church was without a pastor. Then 
 the Rev. A. C. L. Arnold was settled about ten months. 
 Next, the church welcomed the Rev. Samuel G. Bulfinch 
 — an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile, — who 
 ministered to it most acceptably for seven years, beginning 
 Sept. 17, 1845. The memory of his gentle ways and spir- 
 itual teachings is still precious to many whose eyes he opened 
 to discern things unseen and eternal. 
 
 As an author he took no mean rank. His " Evidences 
 of Christianity " is one of the most satisfactory books of 
 its class; and the novel entitled " Honor," although not 
 widely read, is a beautiful setting of many choice gems of 
 sentiment and expression. He was always a welcome con- 
 tributor to religious periodicals. Mr. Bulfinch died in 1872. 
 
 Rev. Martin W. Willis was settled here in January, 
 1854, after an interval of two years. His useful pastorate 
 of seven years closed in the autumn of 1861. 
 
 The next pastor was Rev. Samuel B. Stewart. He 
 remained for nearly two years, and resigned his ministry 
 on the first of January, 1865. 
 
 A year from the next March, Minot G. Gage, a son 
 of the first pastor of the church, was ordained and settled 
 over the society. He was dismissed on Dec. 18, 1869, to 
 take charge of the Unitarian church in Gloucester. 
 
 The Rev. Clarence Fowler succeeded him in December, 
 
64 Early Unitarian Sabbath-School. 
 
 1870. A brief ministry of a year and a half completed his 
 work in Nashua. 
 
 The Rev. Thomas L. Gorman, formerly pastor of the 
 Universalist Church in Nashua, has been the acting pastor 
 since Jan. i, 1873. 
 
 The Sabbath-school has been one of the leading and 
 most pleasant features of this society from its formation. 
 Its library contains over 800 volumes. The late lamented 
 Dea. John A. Baldwin was its superintendent for thirty- 
 seven years. He was succeeded by Mr. James L. Pierce, 
 who was superintendent for twelve years. On the first 
 of June, last, he resigned the office to the present super- 
 intendent. Dr. E. F. McQuesten. 
 
 There are scores of men and women, scattered over 
 the Union, who will ever recall with tender and grateful 
 memories the hours spent in this Sabbath-school, receiving 
 religious instruction and hallowing impressions from self- 
 sacrificing teachers, many of whom have passed the solemn 
 veil and penetrated the Great Secret. 
 
 Following the history of our churches in chronological 
 order, we come next to that thriving branch which is a 
 part of the largest denomination in the country. The rise 
 and progress of Methodism in America has been nothing less 
 than marvelous. Previous to the visit of John Wesley to 
 America in 1735, there was not a Methodist on the American 
 continent. By this time the other leading evangelical 
 denominations had established a firm footing in the New 
 World. But notwithstanding their advantage of a cen- 
 tury's start and a century's growth Methodism has out- 
 stripped them all, and multiplied its numbers so rapidly 
 that they are like the sands on the seashore. To-day they 
 are not only the leading denomination, but they compose 
 nearly one-half the entire number of the Protestant com- 
 municants in the United States. 
 
Rise of Methodism in Dunstable- Nashua. 65 
 
 Methodism did not strike its roots in Dunstable 
 until thirty-five years after the first Methodist society was 
 formed in New Hampshire at Chesterfield. A handful 
 of Methodists had come into Dunstable about 1831, and 
 were employed in a woolen mill at Indian Head. The 
 faithful few determined to found a Methodist society, and 
 began to hold weekly meetings. The other denominations 
 looked a little askance on, the ardent religionists, whom 
 they were inclined to regard as crazy fanatics, if we may 
 credit a chronicler of the times. The Old South Church 
 again threw open its doors to " heresy," and Rev. Samuel 
 Norris of New Salem preached the first Methodist sermon 
 from its pulpit. In evening of that day, a preaching serv- 
 ice was appointed in the school-house on the Nashua 
 corporation. A certain person whom they were not look- 
 ing for soon made his appearance; for Satan came also. 
 One of the eyewitnesses of the scene says that two beings 
 in human form crawled through a window, blew out the 
 lights, and in derision cried out " Glory to God." But 
 the brethren meekly re-lighted the lamps, and Brother 
 Norris proceeded with his discourse to the end. The 
 brethren classed themselves together that night and pledged 
 each other " to fight for Immanuel." 
 
 The following year they applied for admission to the 
 New Hampshire Conference and were included in what 
 was called the Amoskeag Circuit, and from 1832 Dunstable 
 became a " Station." The Rev's James G. Smith and Wm. 
 G. Lock were appointed to the new station. The little 
 church of forty members held its meetings in the Indian 
 Head schoolhouse. Through the liberality of one of the 
 brethren, B. L. Jones, who gave them a lot of land on Lowell 
 Street, they were enabled to build a church. The preju- 
 dice which was first excited against the Methodists must 
 have disappeared; for they gratefully recognized the 
 
66 Wesleyan Methodists. 
 
 generosity of friends in the other societies who aided their 
 enterprise. The church was dedicated Nov. 12, 1833, 
 Rev. J. G. Dow preaching the sermon. The church mem- 
 bers numbered at that time over a hundred. 
 
 The next year, 1834, was one of trial. Four different 
 preachers were sent them during the year, and each 
 left because of ill health. About thirty members with- 
 drew, and the rest grew disheartened. But on the ap- 
 pointment of Rev. Wm. D. Cass, in 1835, new life was 
 infused into them. The membership was raised from 70 
 to 123. Liberality and punctuality characterized the 
 financial affairs of the society. Peace and prosperity 
 marked the history of the next ten years under the spiritual 
 guidance of Rev's Messrs. Hatch, Jared Perkins, Kelley, 
 Mowry and L. D. Barrows. During Mr. Hatch's charge 
 of affairs the house was enlarged and the parsonage 
 built. 
 
 After the separation of Nashville from Nashua, in 
 1844, a new church was organized out of the Lowell Street 
 society under the name of the First Methodist Episcopal 
 Church of Nashua. The original society was thereby 
 greatly depleted. Their troubles came not singly. A 
 division of opinion as to slavery led a part of the church 
 to declare themselves Wesleyans, and to secede under 
 the leadership of B. L. Jones.'' A Wesleyan Methodist 
 Society was formed, and worshipped in the house opposite 
 the freight depot, formerly occupied by the Free- Will Bap- 
 tists, and aggravatingly near the Lowell St. Church. 
 Another ill result was the loss of the Lowell St. meeting- 
 house through the legal complications of the secession. 
 The wisdom and patience of Rev. James Pike, their pastor, 
 and of the leading brethren of the church, brought the 
 society into clear waters, and the house was regained. 
 
 * Prof. Churchill's father was conspicuous in this movement. 
 
Old Wesleyan Methodist Church. 
 
Methodist Episcopal Societies. 67 
 
 The Wesleyan enterprise was not a prosperous under- 
 taking, and two years of independency proved the folly 
 of its continuing longer. The seceders returned to their 
 first allegiance and were welcomed back to their old Episco- 
 pal home. 
 
 In 1847, while Henry Drew was pastor, the Temperance 
 Reformation was the great social agitation of the day. Mr. 
 Drew and his society, with characteristic fervor, threw 
 themselves into the new movement, and pastor and people 
 were foremost in their zeal and efficiency among the friends 
 of the Reform. 
 
 With varying fortunes the church went on under the 
 pastoral leadership of the Rev. Messrs. Rogers, Mason, 
 Furber, Scott, Leavitt, Hill, Harding, Howard, and Clark; 
 until 1867, during the ministry of Rev. E. A. Smith, a 
 new enterprise was established by due form of law known 
 as the Trustees of the Lowell Street Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. A public notice was printed, producing not a 
 little astonishment among the citizens, and causing many 
 significant shakes of wise financial heads. A stock com- 
 pany was formed, and in good time the beautiful and costly 
 edifice of the Methodist Society on Main Street was finished 
 and dedicated. 
 
 The first pastor of the society in the new church was 
 the Rev. Geo. Bowler. He was untiring and energetic 
 in his zeal for the welfare of the church ; and his death on 
 March 25, 1869, was a calamity to the society and to the 
 city. His successors have been the Rev. Angelo Canol 
 and the present pastor, the Rev. V. A. Cooper, who is in 
 the third year of his ministry. H. A. Matteson, A. C. 
 Manson, S. P. Heath (deceased), and Geo. F. Eaton, have 
 been residents of Nashua who have entered the Methodist 
 ministry while connected with this church. 
 
 The Chestnut St. Methodist Society, peacefully sepa- 
 
68 Episcopal Churches in Nashua. 
 
 rating itself from the Lowell St. Church in 1844, purchased 
 the building formerly occupied by the Second Baptist 
 Church. Rev. Dr. Dempster was its stated supply for some 
 months after the formation of the church. Many of the 
 ablest men in the Xew Hampshire Conference have occu- 
 pied the pulpit according to the ^Methodist polit>- of settling 
 preachers. The names of McLaughlin, Lewis Howard, 
 Jared Perkins (who died during his pastorate in this church), 
 C. S. Dearborn, Henrv- Harrwell, Sullivan Holman, L. J. 
 Hall. W. H. Jones, R. S. Stubbs, E. R. Wilkins. D. C. 
 Babcock, T. Carter, are all held in affectionate remembrance 
 by this societ\-. L'nder their faithful ministrations Chest- 
 nut St. Church has done a noble work for the Dixdne Master 
 in this cit%-, and its prosperity- is continuing under the 
 present pastor, Rev. H. L. Kelsey. Henn,- B. Clapp has 
 entered the Methodist ministrj- from this church. Two of 
 the Methodist clergy- of Nashua, Jared Perkins and James 
 Pike, have been honored in the political world by their 
 election to the national councils in Washington; and have 
 rendered conscientious and faithful sen.-ice. In the Great 
 Rebelhon, the militar},- spirit and skill of a fighting Metho- 
 dist parson, Rev. Col. James Pike, placed the eagle straps 
 on his shoulders. 
 
 It was not until 1845 that a sufficient number of ad- 
 herents to Episcopacy were found in Nashua to warrant 
 a request to the bishop of New Hampshire for permission 
 to hold sen,-ice here. As a result, the Rev. Milton Ward 
 was sent to them, and di\ine ser^-ices were held in the court 
 room under the Town Hall. After a few months, regular 
 ministrations were suspended, but occasional services were 
 conducted by diflerent clerg\-men from out of town. Regu- 
 lar sen.-ices afterwards were resumed in 1857, under the 
 rectorship of Rev. E. P. Wright, from the diocese of New 
 Jersey. Mr. Wright remained hardly a year. 
 
Old Episcopal Church. 
 
Episcopal Rectors in Nashua. 69 
 
 Rev. N. W. Munroe next officiated until Rev. Wm. 
 Stevens Perry took the regular charge of the parish. Much 
 to the regret of the church and of a large circle of citizens 
 whom Mr. Perry had attached to himself by his liberal 
 culture and social activity, he resigned his charge in 1861, 
 after a ministry of about two years. 
 
 The Rev. D. F. Banks became his successor. At the 
 end of two years he resigned. During his rectorship a 
 pleasant and commodious church was erected at the 
 junction of Temple and Pearl streets. It was consecrated 
 July 15, 1862, by Rt. Rev. Bishop Chase, of the diocese 
 of New Hampshire. The rectors who have officiated in 
 this church since Mr. Banks' resignation are Leonidas B. 
 Baldwin (one year), Geo. Denham (six months), Charles 
 L. Balch (eleven months), and C. I. Chapin (one year and 
 five months). The unfortunate location of the church 
 and a want of entire harmony among its members were 
 deemed sufficient grounds for suspending church services 
 after Mr. Chapin's resignation, which occurred in October, 
 1868. 
 
 The Rev. J. B. Goodrich, from the diocese of Connec- 
 ticut, took charge of the parish in 1872; and services were 
 resumed in Beasom's Hall, which had been tastefully fitted 
 up for purposes of worship. After two years' ministration, 
 he withdrew. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Whitcomb, of North Haven, Conn., 
 and Rev. James D. Hughes, late of Woodstock, Vt., — 
 former residents of Nashua — are clergymen of the Episco- 
 pal church. 
 
 About twenty years ago a poor Irishman, John Dona- 
 hoe, from Montreal, arrived in Nashua with his family, 
 to make his home in the thriving village he had heard 
 spoken of as far north as the Queen's dominions. So 
 deep-rooted was the prejudice against Papists that he was 
 
70 "Church of the Immaculate Conception" — Catholic. 
 
 refused a lodging for the night. Col. Mark Gillis, more 
 humane than his neighbors and indignant at their want of 
 feeling, gave the down-hearted foreigners a resting-place 
 in the basement of one of his buildings, and told them to 
 occupy it until they could procure a more comfortable 
 home. This was the first foreign family settled in Nashua.* 
 
 The construction of the Wilton Railroad attracted 
 many other Irish families to the place, and by 1855 the 
 Roman Catholic population was about 400. In November, 
 1855, the Rev. John O'Donnell took the pastoral charge 
 of his fellow-countrymen, and commenced worship in 
 Franklin Hall. They occupied this place for two years. 
 A piece of land was bought for a church building lot at 
 the harbor; but the obvious inconvenience of the location 
 led Father O'Donnell to change the site to one much nearer 
 the homes of his people, — and the beautiful church of the 
 Immaculate Conception on Temple Street was consecrated 
 in the year 1857, with unusually interesting and imposing 
 ceremonies. The confirmation of 2,000 communicants by 
 Bishop Bacon added to the impressiveness of the solemn 
 scene. A poor woman kneeling in the vestibule, with 
 clasped hands and streaming eyes, exclaiming, " Praise 
 be to his Holy Name; He is smiling upon us at last," 
 seemed to express the feeling of every devout Catholic on 
 that joyful and eventful day. 
 
 The increasing industrial operations in the city have 
 attracted thousands of foreign-born citizens to the place; 
 and the little settlement of 400 in 1855 has grown to the 
 size of a town within a town, and comprises more than one 
 third of the entire population of the city. A significant 
 
 *This event probably occurred about thirty years ago — instead of 
 about twenty years ago as above printed perhaps by mistake, — since 
 quite a number of Irish are known to have been employed in the 
 Nashua cotton mills as early as, or earlier than, the year 1848. 
 
Father O'Donnell and His Popularity. 71 
 
 fact here reveals itself. In 1855 there was a population 
 of 11,000 in the city, of these 400 were Catholics. In 1873 
 the city numbers 12,000 and 5,000 are Catholics — 2,000 
 Irish and 3,000 French citizens. The general population 
 has been increased by only i ,000 during the eighteen years, 
 while the Catholic has increased to nearly 5,000 in the 
 same time. Where are the 4,000 Protestants? 
 
 With his 2,000 parishioners and 900 communicants. 
 Father O'Donnell has the largest congregation in the city, 
 except that of the French Catholic Church. As an evi- 
 dence of the respect and affection entertained for the 
 worthy father by his own flock, I mention the presentation 
 of splendid vestments to their pastor some time ago, 
 valued at $600, which his people cheerfully contributed 
 from their daily earnings. 
 
 Notwithstanding the strong prejudice against the 
 Romanists twenty years ago. Father O'Donnell has never 
 received anything but respect and courtesy from his 
 Protestant neighbors, with one trifling exception on the 
 part of three rude young fellows, whose thoughtless in- 
 civihty was nipped in the bud by the ready wit and good 
 humor of the priest. 
 
 There was a time when it was thought by some credu- 
 lous people that a part of the apparatus belonging to the 
 Spanish Inquisition had actually come to Nashua and was 
 in good working order at the priest's house. The worthy 
 father brought with him his iron bedstead, which was a 
 very peculiar piece of furniture in those days. Two gray- 
 headed Protestants employed in carting the furniture in- 
 quired what that iron frame was? The priest gravely 
 replied that it was a rack on which he stretched Protestants 
 until they would consent to become good Catholics. The 
 old men left in terror, and proclaimed that Father O'Donnell 
 had an instrument of torture in his house, and warned all 
 
']2 Father Millette and His Noble Work. 
 
 Protestants as they valued their lives to avoid the priest's 
 house. One of our well-known lawyers, now dead, unin- 
 tentionally scandalized his friends by walking on the street 
 with the priest, and was severely rebuked for his loose 
 example. To see this same Rev. Father sitting in friendly 
 council on the school board and listened to with respectful 
 deference by his Protestant companions in office, presents 
 a strong contrast to the popular prejudice against the 
 Spanish Inquisitor and disreputable Papist of 1855. 
 
 The organic unity of the church, so strongly insisted 
 upon as the dominant idea of the Romish church, finds 
 here a fitting expression in the concentration of the church 
 polity in the personal government of a single individual, 
 the venerable Pope of Nashua, John O'Donnell. This 
 church, too, has its coming clergy among its own members. 
 Four of its boys are at St. Hyacinthe in Canada, and one 
 is at Rome preparing for the Catholic priesthood. 
 
 The last ecclesiastical organization found here is the 
 French Catholic church, outnumbering their Irish co- 
 religionists by 1000 in the marvellously short space of 
 five years. The French Catholic population have won 
 for themselves a good name for industry, economy, and 
 a regard for public order. Their new church, erected at an 
 expense of $40,000, is one of the finest specimens of church 
 architecture in the state. Father Millette is already held 
 in high esteem by his English-speaking fellow-citizens, 
 and all Christian hearts rejoice that every citizen of Nashua 
 can hear in his own tongue of the wonderful works of God. 
 
 Though Protestants and Catholics are widely separated 
 in doctrine and polity from each other in many important 
 particulars, we welcome Father O'Donnell and Father 
 Millette into our clerical circle, not because St. Peter's 
 benediction rests upon their heads in apostolic succession, 
 but because they proclaim the religion of Christ as the 
 
The Speaker's Apology. 73 
 
 regenerating power to save and purify the soul, and to 
 renovate and preserve civil society. 
 
 Fellow-citizens and friends, such are some of the cir- 
 cumstances of the origin and progress of our local religious 
 institutions. Gladly would I have prepared myself to 
 make the record of the deeds and sacrifices of our church 
 fathers more worthy of this festival hour. Most gladly 
 would I have expended double the time and labor, had it 
 been possible, to deliver something proportionate to the 
 great theme, and deserving of the great audience assembled 
 to do honor to Nashua's forgotten worthies. Your patience 
 would not have been so severely tested if I had had time 
 to make the story shorter. The materials necessary for a 
 complete and lively picture have been so imperfect, and 
 so scattered, and the leisure demanded for the skillful 
 treatment of the theme has been so sternly denied me that 
 I have fallen far below my conception of what is due to 
 the occasion. 
 
 Most gladly would I have spoken less about the men 
 and their deeds, and have let you hear the men themselves 
 speak and reveal their characters in their own language, 
 and have let you see the passions at work in their hearts 
 that shaped their action. But it was impossible to do so 
 and be truthful ; for no word of theirs, no letters, pamphlets, 
 books, sermons, or speeches have been left to their posterity 
 beyond the plain, concise record of the parish clerk; and 
 I feel that imagination has a nobler office in writing history 
 than that of supplying motives, words and deeds where 
 they do not exist in fact. But if I have succeeded in en- 
 lightening you, as I have sincerely tried to do by first 
 enlightening myself, with an accurate and authentic nar- 
 rative of what our fathers have done for us in the past — 
 if we have had our sympathies awakened for what was 
 noble in their lives, their sacrifices, and their toils, and 
 
74 Gracious Admonitions. 
 
 have learned to deplore and avoid what was mistaken in 
 method and but little in character, — I shall find some con- 
 solation in the regret that I feel for the incompetent per- 
 formance of the duty assigned me. 
 
 But while the past is reviewed and contemporary 
 history is glanced at, the duties of the day would be in- 
 complete if we paused here. As we enter upon the third 
 centurA' of our ecclesiastical life, shall we give no heed to 
 the voice of experience? Should we not dwell with earnest 
 solicitude upon the future? We possess not the gift of 
 prophecy. That is the privilege of the highest order of 
 genius only. We would draw no horoscopes. What we 
 predict would not come to pass. The greatest of the world's 
 heroes would not have risked so much or believed so pro- 
 foundly if thej- could have foreseen some of the fruits 
 of their labor. Washington would hardly have braved 
 Valley Forge if he could have foreseen Libby Prison and 
 the martyrdom of Lincoln. WTaile we may not anticipate 
 the outcome of our fathers' achievements, we yet may 
 learn a lesson for our own dut\-. The outv\'ard conditions 
 of our fathers' problems can never be ours. Their work has 
 altered everything for us; but the Moral Law, written in 
 eternal tablets, which they endeavored to obey and some- 
 times violated, will forever sound down the ages as the 
 voice of God. The one great lesson that our history 
 teaches with distinctness to the church of the future is 
 that the church, as well as nations and individuals, must 
 be founded on justice, truth, and love, or it wdll crumble 
 to pieces. Unloving words, unrighteous deeds, falsehoods 
 of lip or life will have their price at last. The church whose 
 individual members love righteousness, do mercy and walk 
 hiunbly with God, will find assurance that within her walls 
 shall be peace and prosperity. 
 
 While we have many reasons to celebrate this anni- 
 
Instructive Lessons from Our Forefathers. 75 
 
 versary with joy, we have seen, in the unhappy conten- 
 tions of three quarters of a century in the life of the church, 
 that our forefathers were men and had their faults and 
 passions as well as their virtues, — and that they stand fully 
 as much beacons of solemn warning, as examples for 
 our imitiation, in the church of the past. Her days of 
 union were her days of strength; her days of disruption 
 were her days of weakness. Their dispersions in the 
 wilderness, before the savage foe, was as nothing to the 
 estranged hearts of a once united Christian brotherhood 
 bound together by their participation in common dangers 
 and achievements. 
 
 We have moved to-day among the graves of our church 
 fathers. In scattered churchyards 
 
 " Where heaves the turf in many a mold'ring heap, 
 Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 
 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 
 
 If we could open the graves of two hundred years and 
 interrogate the sleepers therein, what voices of encourage- 
 ment, what notes of expostulation should we all hear! 
 It is believed by many 
 
 " That millions of spiritual beings walk the earth, 
 Both when we wake and when we sleep." 
 
 Who shall say that this visible assembly is the only 
 assembly present in this tabernacle? Who knows but that 
 Weld and Prentice and Lovewell and Blanchard and Tyng 
 and all the sainted company who have preceded us to the 
 Still Country have been with us in more intimate presence 
 than our blinding veil of sense permits us to see? If the 
 veil which hides the invisible world were withdrawn, 
 would they not speak to us in tones such as only they can 
 use? What looks of love do they cast upon us! What 
 
76 Renewal of Our Pledge to Christ. 
 
 unseen glances of unspeakable tenderness and sympathy! 
 How they plead with us to love one another, to make the 
 best of one another, to understand and appreciate one 
 another, — to love, in spite of our faults and in spite of our 
 differences! There is no other way, my friends, to be 
 true to the solemn trust our fathers have so reverently 
 and tenderly committed to us. Only in proportion as we 
 really love the Lord Jesus, and endeavor to gain a better 
 mutual appreciation of the peculiar spirit of every church, 
 and gladly recognize the inward semblance which exists 
 in outer diversities — only in this mighty, unifying spirit 
 of brotherly love — can we be faithful to the solemn trust 
 our fathers have bequeathed to us. As we leave their 
 graves, let us turn them into altars, and pledge ourselves 
 to one another to honor their memories and their works by 
 heeding their heavenly counsels. Let us pledge ourselves 
 to Christ our Head that we will endeavor to keep the unity 
 of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let us pledge ourselves 
 to one another to forever put to sleep the ghosts of ancient 
 disputes, and to keep forever before our eyes the golden 
 words of old prophetic inspiration, " Behold how good and 
 pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in 
 unity." 
 
 So shall the church of the future, on coming anni- 
 versaries like this, look back to us with tearful gratitude 
 and remembrances of devout affection. So shall they 
 gather round our dust, and bless God that they were 
 descended from men who were not degenerate, but who 
 lived for their children and their children's children. 
 
BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF PROF. CHURCHILL. 
 
 John Wesley Churchill : — a significant name — in 
 itself, suggestive of christian nurture and its need! Thus 
 outwardly consecrated by pious parents, we may well 
 believe he was brought up in the nurture and admonition 
 of the Lord. 
 
 He was born in Fairlee, Vt., a son of Capt. John Emery 
 Churchill and Eliza Ann (Coburn) Churchill. His parents 
 moved, with their family, to Nashua, N. H., when he was 
 but seven years old. There he spent most of his boyhood, 
 and received elementary instruction in the public schools. 
 At first sadly diffident, he fled from nearly all older persons 
 who showed a disposition to talk with him. But later, 
 growing in confidence and manifesting more than common 
 ability and excellence of character, he drew to himself 
 many friends, young and old, some of whom generously 
 encouraged him to seek a higher education. 
 
 For a while he was a student at Appleton Academy, 
 New Ipswich, N. H., where he made commendable prog- 
 ress in his studies, especially in mathematics. 
 
 At the age of seventeen, he went to Iowa, and was 
 engaged for two years in civil engineering in connection 
 with the building of the bridge over the Mississippi River 
 at Davenport. 
 
 Returning East, he began his preparation for college 
 at Ballston Spa (N. Y.) Academy for Boys, — at the same 
 time teaching elocution and mathematics. Going thence 
 to Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., in 1859, he com- 
 pleted his preparatory course there, and entered Harvard 
 College, — whence he graduated in 1865. Soon after- 
 wards he took the full course of study in Andover Theo- 
 
 77 
 
78 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 
 
 logical Seminary; and, on the day of his graduation in 1868, 
 was appointed Jones professor of Elocution in the Semi- 
 nary. But he did not engage in the work of his professor- 
 ship until after a year of special study in Europe. 
 
 On his return from Europe, he was united in marriage, 
 July 27, 1869, to Mary Donald, daughter of Dea. William 
 Cooper Donald and Agnes Bain (Smart) Donald of 
 Andover. 
 
 To his duties as professor of Elocution, which were 
 always discharged with the utmost satisfaction to the 
 Seminary, were added — after long service — those of 
 lecturer on Sacred Literature in the years 1894 to 1896. 
 During the latter year, he was made Bartlet professor of 
 Sacred Rhetoric. Both of these professorships were 
 admirably filled by him to the end of his distinguished 
 career. 
 
 During his first year at the Seminary, he taught elo- 
 cution in Abbot and Phillips academies at Andover. His 
 services to both, in this capacity, lasted as long as those 
 to the Seminary. 
 
 As a lecturer on, or teacher of, elocution, he was con- 
 nected with the School of Oratory in Boston University, 
 from 1873 to 1879, — with Mt. Holyoke Seminary (now 
 a college) from 1875 to 1882, — -with Smith College,- from 
 1876 to 1880, —with Wellesley College, from 1877 to 
 1878, — with Johns Hopkins University, in 1880, — ^ and 
 with Harvard Divinity School, from 1890 to 1896. 
 
 For longer or shorter periods, he gave instruction in 
 public speaking at Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth and other 
 colleges. The number of students whom he trained in- 
 dividually, in connection with public debates, prize speak- 
 ing and Commencement parts, was surprisingly large. 
 
 Until the latter part of his life, he met numberless 
 appointments as a public reader — not only in prominent 
 
Prof, Johx Wesley Churchill. 
 
Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 79 
 
 courses of literary entertainments, but often in small towns 
 and for the aid of feeble churches. 
 
 Although he was never the regular pastor of any church, 
 serving from sabbath to sabbath, he preached in turn, 
 as one of the pastors of the Seminary Church at An- 
 dover, and officiated frequently in the pulpits of Amherst 
 and Harvard colleges and elsewhere in New England. 
 
 The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on 
 him by Dartmouth College in 1896. 
 
 He was a trustee of Abbot Academy from 1870 to the 
 end of his life ; and was a member of the Corporation of the 
 School of Expression (in Boston) from its foundation about 
 the year 1870, — and president of its Board of Trustees 
 several years. By vote of the Corporation, the School 
 conferred on him a purple and gold Star of Honor, as the 
 foremost reader in this country, in 1896. 
 
 A few years later, he became ill with grippe, which 
 resulted in heart-failure, April 13, 1900. Thus his earthly 
 toils were ended and his spirit passed to its heavenly reward. 
 
 For a just appreciation of his manhood, it seems best 
 to set forth what was said of him by some of his most inti- 
 mate associates, in their personal tributes published — with 
 many others — soon after his decease. 
 
 Rev. DeWitt S. Clark, D.D., of Salem, a Seminary 
 classmate and familiar friend, said: — " How can we think 
 of the world without our dear Churchill?" . . . His 
 " life was so full, so radiant, so blessed, . . . that we never 
 imagined that he would ever pass out of our earthly com- 
 panionship till its full limit had been reached. But it 
 was complete, if we regard God's measure, though to us 
 it seems sadly interrupted in its useful mission. 
 
8o Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 
 
 " He was ' every inch ' a man — in body, mind, and 
 soul. He was the real Christian gentleman. Classmates 
 and fellow-students, somehow, each thought they knew 
 him a little better than others, so patent and genuine was 
 his friendliness to all. An abounding geniality drew to 
 him even comparative strangers. Virtue went out of him 
 to not a few whom he never knew. 
 
 " He first came into prominence as a pubhc reader. 
 With a voice of wide range and exceptional quality, with 
 a sense of humor which every feature expressed, with the 
 tenderness of a child and a spirit easily sharing the most 
 tragic or pathetic experiences, he readily passed from the 
 entertainer of an hour to the teacher, helper and comforter 
 of the ignorant, the perplexed, and the sorrowing. The 
 many who only casually saw or heard him gave him first 
 rank as a professionalist. He made them laugh, and they 
 went on their way the cheerier for it. He brought tears 
 to their eyes, and they felt the better for it. But merely 
 to play on the heart strings, for a little while, grew irksome 
 to him. He was not content to be an elocutionist, worthy 
 as such a calling is. He would be something more than 
 a caterer to the ever-pressing demand for amusement. If 
 he could lift the art of public speaking out of the common- 
 place and make it the medium of effective appeal and per- 
 suasion — the interpreter of eternal truths — that was 
 his holier ambition. 
 
 " His appointment, after years of distinguished service 
 in voice culture and oratorical methods, to the professor- 
 ship [of Homiletics] in the Theological Seminary, he counted 
 his greatest honor. It gave him what he was specially 
 fitted for, the chance to direct the preachers of the fu- 
 ture in the science of public address. His love of propor- 
 tion and harmony in homiletic composition, his keen sense 
 of propriety, his instant recognition of pertinent or alien 
 
Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 8i 
 
 thought, his choice of the happiest word or phrase made 
 him invaluable as a critic. Scripture, prayer, hymn, were, 
 in his view, quite as important as the sermon; and he made 
 them quite as much a study. With him the wedding of 
 perfect intonation with the fit word — which seemed so 
 simple — was the result of patient and careful discipline. 
 It was his joy to preach, not by way of example to learners, 
 but because he had something to say. How acceptably 
 and grandly, yet without display, he did it! Then you 
 saw the man behind the message ; though he never preached 
 himself, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and himself a servant 
 for Jesus' sake. 
 
 " Congregational worship, he thought, should be made 
 as stately and inspiring as that which depends on ritual 
 or outward symbol for effect. Reverence was a controlling 
 passion with him. His voice and bearing in the pulpit 
 always made the impression that the preacher had solemn 
 business in hand. In the few years of his service in his 
 conspicuous position, he showed increasing ability and 
 fitness for the trust committed to him, and worthily main- 
 tained its high traditions. His intellectual mintage was 
 from choice materials; his Hterary touch was delicate; 
 his analysis of the elements of strength in popular writers 
 and speakers was suggestive and true. 
 
 " Above and beyond all these characteristics of his 
 professional life, was his eminent helpfulness. To whom 
 was he not a friend? I do not recall a single sentiment or 
 word I could wish he had not uttered. Of pure imagina- 
 tion and pure speech, it was always healthful to be in his 
 company. His correspondence was simply boundless; 
 since he not only ' cared for all the churches,' but for mul- 
 titudes out of their pale as well. With a memory which 
 never failed to retain both name and circumstance of the 
 humblest, no less than the famous, — with a manner which 
 
82 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 
 
 said to one and all, ' command me,' — he kept widening 
 and strengthening the bonds which attached multitudes to 
 him, till he staggered under the load of their expectations. 
 A vacation was an almost unknown experience, while the 
 calls for all service kept ever coming to him. The rest 
 which his active spirit could not find here, the all-wise 
 Father has given to him above — the rest of the people 
 of God. And so we are glad, though lonely without sight 
 of him whose ' leaf ' seems to have ' perished in the green.' " 
 
 Principal C. P. Bancroft, of Phillips (Andover) 
 Academy, said: — "Any record of Prof. Churchill's 
 service in the ' trinity of Andover schools,' as he liked to 
 phrase it, must make large mention of his loyalty to the 
 religious, educational and literary traditions of the place. 
 His residence, except for his four years at Harvard, was 
 here for over forty years — practically for all his profes- 
 sional life. The large amount of work he did elsewhere 
 was incidental. Here were his interests and his affections. 
 The whole community claimed him. He made it a chief 
 end to be a good citizen. ... In his special position as 
 an instructor, he was always a considerate, generous, and 
 cooperative colleague. . . . Nature seemed to have pre- 
 scribed to him his departments; but he would have done 
 excellent work in many others. 
 
 " In personal instruction and criticism he was supreme. 
 He was an inspiring and creative force in the lives of thou- 
 sands of pupils ; and gave them such a pattern of adherence 
 to the highest standards of excellence and of unfailing 
 charity that they became his hfe-long personal friends. His 
 work was more than elocution; it was the interpretation 
 of literature. To teach homiletics and the pastoral care 
 was the natural outcome of his taste, temperament, and 
 training. All his studies led up to this, the crowning work 
 of his life. 
 
Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 83 
 
 " Only those who lived side by side with Prof. Churchill 
 could have knowledge of his marvelous industry. He was 
 always at work, and a hard worker. Fragments of time, 
 the early morning, the late night, hours of travel and seem- 
 ing recreation, were all put to use. . . . ' Trifles make up 
 perfection, and perfection is no trifle ' was a motto often 
 on his lips. 
 
 " The thoroughness and severity of his work was 
 always dignified by an exceptional magnanimity. In his 
 teaching he was never cynical, sarcastic, or petulant. 
 When he rebuked and criticised, it was always with appre- 
 ciation and sympathy. He could correct a fault or an 
 offender without causing humiliation or irritation. — 
 ' Still pleased to praise, but not afraid to blame.' " 
 
 The General Conference of the Congregational 
 Churches of Michigan issued a sterling tribute to the 
 memory of Prof. Churchill — prepared by an Advisory 
 Editorial Committee consisting of Rev. James McAllister 
 of Detroit, Rev.'s John P. Sanderson and E. B. Allen of 
 Lansing, Rev. R. M. Higgins of Constantine, and Rev. J. A. 
 Blaisdell of Olivet, all or nearly all of whom, it may safely 
 be presumed, were former pupils of Prof. Churchill. This 
 tribute speaks of him as one of the best and most deservedly 
 popular professors that ever adorned the halls of Andover. 
 It mentions many of his noble qualities in terms similar 
 to those in the tributes already quoted. In addition to 
 these encomiums, it says : — 
 
 " Although he had achieved honors early in life, the 
 highest came late; and the chair of Homiletics had still 
 the charm of newness to him when he died. This chair 
 afforded him the opportunity for closer, more protracted, 
 work in the study than was possible during his earlier and 
 more public career, when frequent appearances on the 
 
84 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 
 
 platform and giving instruction in several New England 
 colleges made great demands on his time and strength and 
 kept him much from home and the study. 
 
 " Andover is distinguished for the scholars, the theo- 
 logians, the exegetes that she has trained, and who in turn 
 have served her; but with none of these is the late Prof. 
 Churchill to be compared. Some men are profound schol- 
 ars', and that is all we can say of them. Others fill a chair 
 with merit or even with distinction, but outside of it have 
 little or no influence. They do not leave their mark upon 
 the students; but nature had so mixed the elements in 
 Prof. Churchill that above all he was a man, — generous, 
 sympathetic, unselfish and magnanimous. Bunyan might 
 have taken him for the type of his Greatheart. . . . 
 
 " Not the least valuable of his work was that done in 
 Phillips Academy in turning awkward boys into graceful 
 speakers, sometimes to the amazement, always to the 
 delight, of their friends. Those who have received such 
 instruction will never forget it, nor ever cease to be grate- 
 ful for it. . . . 
 
 " For years he delighted New England audiences 
 with readings culled from the best English literature. 
 Others were his rivals in the same field, but none of them 
 gave such genuine satisfaction to an audience of highly 
 intelligent people. As an interpreter of Dickens he was 
 without a peer. In the same lecture course with such 
 princes of the platform as Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward 
 Beecher and John B. Gough, not the least enjoyable even- 
 ing of the course was the night of the Churchill readings, — 
 as a crowded house and enthusiastic audience testified. 
 It was such power and such popularity that induced certain 
 Lecture Bureaus to attempt to capture him; but he stead- 
 fastly resisted all their blandishments. The offer of four 
 times the salary that Andover could afford failed to draw 
 
Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 85 
 
 him from his chosen work of instructing lads fitting for 
 college and young men fitting for the ministry. 
 
 " Not once nor twice was he approached by church 
 committees looking for a strong man to fill an important 
 pastorate; but to such calls he turned a deaf ear. 
 
 " His fine Hterary taste was evident in pulpit, on the 
 platform and in the class-room; and yet somehow his full 
 intellectual force was overlooked, — it may have been that 
 it was overshadowed by other qualities that made him 
 popular, but by a false psychology were not thought of as 
 intellectual. . . . 
 
 " His wide knowledge of men and his great human 
 sympathy enabled him to see and feel the needs of men — • 
 their spiritual needs — and prompted him to study how he 
 could meet them and help others to do likewise. . . . 
 
 " His ideal pastor was not a pale theological student 
 in a white necktie, but a man among men, a man with 
 iron in his blood, living a wholesome, happy life, enjoying 
 all the good things that God has given him — a gentleman, 
 seeking to win men to Christ by the open heart and open 
 hand." 
 
 Rev. Harry P. Dewey, D.D., at an Alumni Dinner 
 in Andover, June 13, 1901, said: — "Two friends talked 
 with one another, as they returned from the cemetery 
 yonder, whither his body had just been borne; and one 
 told of a kindness which Prof. Churchill had shown him. 
 'Yes!' replied the other friend, 'that is what every one 
 is saying to-day, — What he did for me.' — This man of 
 consolation and cheer, who felt in his sensitive heart the 
 pain of others as his own, once wrote a letter to a friend 
 who had suffered grief, saying that he thought the best 
 word descriptive of the other life was Reunion; and surely, 
 in the sense of bereavement which is upon us at this hour, 
 
86 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 
 
 we all feel that Heaven will grant us a happier entrance, 
 if the dear, beloved Churchill is to be at the open gate, — 
 to bid us welcome." 
 
 Dr. S. S. Curry, President of the Boston School of 
 Expression, said of him — in a publication issued soon 
 after Prof. Churchill's decease: — 
 
 " We have lost not only the best known but the most 
 artistic of our public readers. He believed in reading 
 rather than impersonating. He always had his text before 
 him. 
 
 " Among the characteristics of his art were his subtile 
 power and delicate truthfulness in transitions, a fine in- 
 stinct of unity and harmony, a marvelously sympathetic 
 genuineness and naturalness, and the breadth and depth of 
 his humor, which — as Thackeray says - — sheds tears. 
 His magnetism was most inspiring. 
 
 " His annual visits to the School of Expression were 
 always occasions of great joy to all the teachers as well as 
 students. He brought always a restful repose, and a 
 genial sympathy with his audience that put everyone at 
 his ease and soothed into calmness the perturbed agitations 
 and weariness of his most nervous hearer. 
 
 " His interpretations of Dickens' characters were 
 very unique — wholly different from those of Prof. Eastey, 
 who made a life-long study of the representations of this 
 author. His reading of the Charity Dinner was totally 
 different from that of Ballou, for whom the selection was 
 originally written. Indeed, all his work was original, and 
 bore the mark of a dramatic, creative genius. His famous 
 reading from Hamlet was thoroughly unconventional, and 
 showed a finely conceived harmony between the grotesque 
 elements in the grave-digger, the passion of Laertes, and 
 the subdued intensity of Hamlet. His rendering of Ros- 
 
Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 87 
 
 setti's great lyric, Sister Helen, was poetic and intense; 
 and embodied, in his rendering of the refrain, his idea of 
 the Greek chorus. 
 
 " The most difificult of dialects, the Lancashire, was 
 so suggested by him that every word could be distinctly 
 understood. The same is true of his Irish, his French, and his 
 Scotch dialects. All were given, not as an artificial imita- 
 tion, but as a representation of dramatic insight; they were 
 always expressive of types of character. 
 
 " Prof. Churchill . . . was one of the editors of the 
 Andover Review, and contributed many articles of great 
 interest upon noted speakers.* . . . 
 
 " He was every inch an artist. Associated as he was, 
 all his life, with professors and scholars ; yet — by his 
 imaginative and sympathetic instinct, by his intuitive 
 power to ' do the thing that breeds the thought,' by his 
 noble suggestion and intimation of his seeing things from 
 different points of view, [and] by his power of assimilation 
 and [his] understanding of human nature — he was one 
 who could mould his fellowmen by direct portrayal, better 
 than by reflective and persuasive teaching. . . . 
 
 " Can I dare to speak in cold print of that beautiful 
 personality, that marvelous friend, that sympathetic ad- 
 viser, that loyal heart? 
 
 " ' His life was gentle; and the elements 
 
 So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up 
 And say to all the world, " This was a man." ' 
 
 "What a crowd gathered at his funeral! There 
 ... I saw painters, musicians and literary men, lawyers 
 
 * An eminent scholar and critic, known throughout the country 
 and long acquainted with Prof. Churchill, is reported to have said of 
 him that, in his best judgment, he was one of the five ablest reviewers 
 in the United States. 
 
88 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 
 
 and judges, who had come long distances to pay him their 
 last tribute. 
 
 " His body sleeps on that famous hill, by the side of 
 the distinguished men who had for long years filled the 
 chairs at Andover, — not far from the grave of Harriet 
 Beecher Stowe, of whom he was a personal friend and of 
 whose works he was the greatest interpreter. ... As I 
 came down to take the train, I could not endure the thought 
 that I could no more come to him for counsel and inspira- 
 tion, for strength and patience, in carrying out the great 
 work to which I have given my life." 
 
 It may be well to ask: How was Prof. Churchill 
 regarded during the latter part of his life by his old friends 
 and acquaintances in Nashua, — did they continue to 
 like him as well as in his earlier years? Let us see! 
 
 The Nashua Daily Press, in its issue of April 14, 
 1900, said: — "Prof. John Wesley Churchill, D.D., died 
 at his home in Andover, Mass., on Good Friday, at the 
 age of 61 years. He was a son of the late Capt. John E. 
 Churchill of blessed memory in the Main street Method- 
 ist Church and in the hearts of all Nashuans who knew 
 him. . . . Brought up in this city, he came here frequently 
 in the lifetime of his parents, kept in touch with the people, 
 and delivered the address at the bi-centennial of old Dun- 
 stable and the dedicatory sermon of the present First 
 Congregational Church. . . . He had often preached in 
 the church mentioned, of which he was ... a member. 
 ... Of his memory, no words are too eulogistic to be 
 spoken. He was a sincere man, faithful in all things, a 
 scholarly gentleman, a reader without a peer, a minister 
 of the gospel of eloquence and power. He rests from his 
 labors, and his name is blessed." 
 
#Jf«?«gpJ 
 
 Present First Congregational Church. 
 
Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 89 
 
 The Nashua Daily Telegraph, in its issue of April 
 14, 19QO, said of Prof. Churchill: — "Although not a 
 resident of this city for many years, John Wesley Churchill 
 has always been looked upon as a ' Nashua boy.' . . . 
 Nashua was always loyal to him, and the boys and girls 
 who were in school with him never wearied in speaking 
 their praise of him to the younger generation." 
 
 The Manchester Mirror of like date, after speaking 
 of his scholarly attainments and ability as a preacher and 
 elocutionist, said: — "He was the embodiment of unself- 
 ishness and a husband and father of unusual tenderness and 
 devotion." 
 
 A little more than a year after Prof. Churchill's de- 
 cease, a life-like portrait of him, of rare artistic merit, was 
 presented to Phillips Academy. The gift was fittingly 
 announced, in an admirable letter from Prof. John Phelps 
 Taylor, as follows : — 
 
 Andover, Mass., 
 
 May 18, 1901. 
 Principal Bancroft, D.D., LL.D., 
 Dear Dr. Bancroft: — 
 
 The pupils and friends of the late Professor John 
 Wesley Churchill herewith present to Phillips Academy 
 the portrait of one of her most honored and beloved sons 
 and instructors. 
 
 They lay this treasure fitly at the feet of the Mother 
 of the Seminary, from whose chair of sacred rhetoric he 
 went so early to his crown. 
 
 They recall, with admiring pride, the judgment, the 
 conscience, the manliness, the culture, the geniality, the dis- 
 interestedness, the humor, the pathos, the charm, the fin- 
 
90 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 
 
 ish, the devotion to duty, the kindUness toward man, the 
 reverence for God, which were his in rare degree. 
 
 They desire that his ardor for perfection may live in 
 the school he loved and in the community he adorned. 
 Thanks to your sympathetic cooperation and to the genius 
 and generosity of the artist — Mr. Paul Selinger, — the 
 Academy becomes the owner of a speaking likeness of a 
 noble spirit. 
 
 The many donors rejoice to believe that Phillips 
 today receives, in this glowing canvas, an inspiration to 
 the highest, not unworthy of the lamented dead. 
 
 With high respect and esteem, I am 
 
 Yours cordially and sympathetically, 
 
 John Phelps Taylor. 
 
Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 91 
 
 Not long after the presentation of the portrait, there 
 was contributed to the Memorial Room in which it had 
 been placed a massive bronze tablet bearing the inscrip- 
 tion shown below : — 
 
 TO THE BELOVED MEMORY OF 
 JOHN WESLEY CHURCHILL 
 
 DOCTOR IN DIVINITY PROFESSOR IN THIS SEAT OF 
 
 RELIGION AND LEARNING 
 
 FOR THE SPACE OF TWO AND THIRTY YEARS 
 
 A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS 
 
 MAGNANIMITY SERVICEABLENESS AND GRACE 
 
 MADE A NATURE GIFTED AND TENDER 
 
 A POWER FOR PEACE A FOUNTAIN OF GOOD 
 
 HE TAUGHT MEN HOW TO MAKE TRUTH WiNSOME 
 
 1839—1900 
 
 Since the removal of Andover Theological Seminary 
 to Cambridge, Mass., this tablet has been transferred to 
 the Phillips Academy Chapel on Andover Hill. 
 
92 Biographic Sketch of Prof. Churchill. 
 
 In conclusion, the writer of this biographic sketch is 
 constrained to say that, from first to last, he has felt that 
 he was treating of one whose character was altogether unique, 
 and that no words of his could do justice to the rare per- 
 sonal worth of his subject. It is therefore his earnest 
 prayer that the friends of Prof. Churchill, and especially 
 the Church of which he was so long a member, will con- 
 tinue to cherish his memory with ardent affection, and will 
 be ennobled and sanctified through his personal influence. 
 And may God richly reward his Christ-like efiforts and 
 self-denials ! 
 
 The End. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 John Eliot, familiarly known in history as the Apostle 
 to the Indians, was born in Nazing, Essex County, Eng- 
 land, in the year 1604. Having decided in his early youth 
 to become a minister of the gospel, he pursued a course of 
 study at Jesus College, Cambridge University, and took 
 orders in the Church of England. 
 
 Soon afterwards he became a non-conformist, and 
 went to America. Having preached a year at a church in 
 Boston, he was called in 1632 to a pastorate in Roxbury; 
 where he fixed his permanent abode and did the chief work 
 of his subsequent life. Fortunately his cares were les- 
 sened by the companionship of an estimable wife, who 
 came from England to accept his hand in marriage, and 
 who survived until near the period of his death. 
 
 From about the time of his settlement in America, 
 Eliot was carefully considerate of the welfare of its Indian 
 tribes. Although he received at first but little encourage- 
 ment in this benevolent disposition, from his familiar 
 associates, he soon won the favor of Winslow, the agent in 
 England of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, — and thus 
 brought about the incorporation in 1640 of a British So- 
 ciety to furnish funds for christianizing the Indians. To 
 this society. Harvard College, in its early days, was largely 
 indebted for the help which made it an important liberal- 
 izing force in America. In 1647 the General Court of 
 Massachusetts voted a gratuity to Eliot of ten pounds 
 sterling for his missionary work. 
 
 Former efforts for christianizing the Indians seldom 
 went far enough to relieve them from the most degrading 
 
 93 
 
94 Appendix. 
 
 associations ; and therefore resulted in but little more than 
 a suspension of their hostilities against the whites. Eliot 
 planned to segregate them in praying hands, the members 
 of which should be taught to read and write, should be 
 supplied with the Holy Scriptures in a language they could 
 understand, and should be favored with frequent mis- 
 sionary visits for the explanation of religious truths. 
 
 An Indian, taken in one of the Pequot wars and who 
 became a resident of Dorchester, was the first native to 
 teach him words in the Indian language known as the 
 Wampanoag, which was spoken throughout the Province 
 of Rhode Island and to a considerable extent beyond. 
 This language, Eliot saw fit to adopt as the most service- 
 able for his translation of the Bible. Eventually he gained 
 a knowledge of it which, for sacred purposes, probably 
 was unsurpassed by that of any other person whose mother- 
 tongue was English. 
 
 To the Indians, he first preached, without an inter- 
 preter, at Nonantum — now Brighton, Mass. This was 
 the beginning of his systematic missionary labors which 
 resulted in the establishment of an Indian settlement at 
 Natick in 1651-52, and afterwards of about a dozen other 
 settlements. His journeyings early took him into south- 
 eastern Massachusetts and afterwards up the valley of 
 the Merrimac to the falls where Lowell now stands and 
 thence to Nashua, — at both of which places he was cor- 
 dially received alike by red men and whites. He was par- 
 ticularly successful in favorably impressing the two chief 
 sachems in southern New Hampshire — Passaconaway 
 and Wannalancet — both of whom remained to the end 
 of their days his steadfast friends. 
 
 In one of his visits to Nashua, he engaged a competent 
 man to look out a route for a bridle-path thence, up the 
 Merrimac valley, to Amoskeag Falls, and to attend to its 
 
Appendix. 95 
 
 construction. The bridle-path was provided — much to 
 the satisfaction of the Indians in the neighborhood — some 
 of whom were employed in the work. It was paid for by 
 Eliot. Many years later the city of Manchester, noted 
 for its manufactures — especially of cotton goods — sprang 
 up along the lower course of Amoskeag Falls. 
 
 The translation of the Bible by John Eliot, into the 
 Wampanoag language, was completed in 1658. His New 
 Testament was published at Cambridge, Mass., in 1661, 
 and his Old Testament in 1663. But, although he lived 
 until 1690 — blessed till near his end with rare bodily and 
 mental vigor, and remarkable for his sweetness of temper 
 and winning persuasiveness — his hopes of bringing mul- 
 titudes of the red men to Christ were never realized. 
 
 Many reasons may be assigned for his failure. The 
 great majority of the whites were unwilling to cooperate 
 with him. They believed that the Indians would hold 
 fast to their usual modes of support chiefly by hunting and 
 fishing. Rangers of the forests liked these pursuits better 
 than cultivating the soil. Besides, the white population 
 — which was growing numerous — steadily encroached 
 upon the red men's hunting grounds and fishing resorts; 
 and so compelled their retirement. In most instances, 
 however, their lands were bought for a satisfactory con- 
 sideration. One of the chief factors in causing trouble 
 between the two races undoubtedly was the almost uni- 
 versal indulgence in alcoholic drinks. The Indians soon 
 shared in this indulgence; and often were led thereby into 
 the wildest excesses. Thus wars were generated, which 
 begot a lasting hatred, and resulted in great destruction 
 of lives and property. What is known as King Philip's 
 War, which began in 1675 — was largely of this class. 
 King Philip (so called by the whites) was the chief sachem 
 of the Wampanoags, his Indian name being Metacomet. 
 
96 Appendix. 
 
 The story of the war as briefly told in the New Inter- 
 national Encyclopaedia (ed. 1907), vol. xv, p. 707 — is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " About 1670 Philip's friendly intentions began to be 
 suspected on account of frequent meetings of the tribes 
 and many murders of white settlers. In view of these 
 suspicions, Philip, and the principal tribesmen were sum- 
 moned to meet the whites and explain their movements. 
 This they did, and also agreed to surrender their arms; 
 but it was only a truce, and preparations for war were 
 still secretly carried on by the Indians. An Indian con- 
 vert named Sausamon revealed to the colonists the prepa- 
 rations made by Philip, and was murdered by the Indians. 
 In revenge for the execution of his murderers by the whites, 
 the Indians killed eight or nine colonists, and open hos- 
 tilities were begun in June, 1675. The Indians did not 
 venture to meet the colonists in battle, but burned or 
 attacked a number of their settlements, including Swansea, 
 Brookfield, Deerfield, and Hadley, and laid ambuscades 
 for the settlers. 
 
 " In December, 1675, Governor Josiah Winslow led a 
 force of 1000 men against the Narragansets, with whom 
 Philip had formed an alliance, took by storm a fort said 
 to have contained 4000 Indians, near the present location 
 of Kingston, R. I., destroyed their village of 500 wigwams, 
 and put to death 500 of their warriors and twice as many 
 Indian women and children. The war went on for the 
 first six months of 1676, and was marked by burnings and 
 massacres at Weymouth, Groton, Medfield, and Lancaster, 
 Mass., and at Warwick and Providence, R. I. But the 
 increased efforts of the colonists soon struck demoraliza- 
 tion into the ranks of the Indians. A substantial reward 
 was offered by the Government for every Indian killed in 
 
Appendix. 97 
 
 battle, and many Indian women and children were cap- 
 tured and sold into slavery. 
 
 " Among the latter were Philip's wife and son, who 
 were sold, not to a buyer living near — from whom Philip 
 could have redeemed them on condition of his abandoning 
 the war — but to a purchaser in the Bermudas, who, it 
 is presumed, disposed of them afterwards (not unlikely 
 in the Spanish West Indies) without regard to their ulti- 
 mate fate. 
 
 " A force under the command of the great Indian 
 fighter, Capt. Benjamin Church, hunted Philip from place 
 to place, at last locating him through the aid of a friendly 
 Indian in a swamp near Mount Hope, where he was killed 
 by another Indian while trying to escape. His body was 
 quartered on a Thanksgiving Day especially appointed, 
 and his head was sent to Plymouth, where it was long kept 
 on a gibbet. 
 
 " During this war some 600 colonists were killed, 600 
 buildings burned, and 13 towns destroyed, but of the two 
 once powerful Indian tribes it is said that less than 200 
 individuals were left. The cost of the war was estimated 
 at $1,000,000." 
 
 But the war did not end with the death of PhiHp; 
 it continued some time thereafter with growing embit- 
 terment. 
 
 Eliot did what he could, during the progress of the 
 war, to lessen its horrors and to protect persons who were 
 unjustly accused of wrongful conduct relating to its prose- 
 cution. 
 
 From that time on, for more than a century, the feel- 
 ing of discouragement respecting the Indians was so strong 
 that but little was done for their betterment. In 1824, 
 William Cullen Bryant wrote a poem, called " An Indian 
 at the Burial Place of His Fathers", which contained the 
 
98 Appendix. 
 
 following pathetic lines as to their ill treatment by the 
 whites : — 
 
 " They waste us — ay — like April snow 
 
 In the warm noon, we shrink away; 
 And fast they follow, as we go. 
 
 Toward the setting day — 
 Till they shall fill the land, and we 
 Are driven into the Western sea. " 
 
 Nine years later, Samuel G. Drake, a member of the 
 New Hampshire Historical Society^, who was the author of 
 a highly instructive work called " Drake's Book of the 
 Indians", put the foregoing lines on its title page, as show- 
 ing his frank recognition of the truth they express. His 
 Book contains an excellent sketch of the life of King Philip. 
 
 It must be admitted that Philip was vindictive, treach- 
 erous and cruel — very unlike his father Massasoit who was 
 exceptionally honest and almost always friendly to the 
 whites. 
 
 Regarding King Philip's war, the editor of the present 
 book is constrained to say, after examining many works on 
 the subject: — including especially those of the eminent, 
 fair minded scholar, Jared Sparks — that a good number 
 of the authors who have written about it seem to be much 
 influenced by personal bias, — others, by reluctance to 
 tell the whole truth, lest they be drawn into a vexatious 
 controversy. The theme is of unusual interest — far 
 beyond that of the later French and Indian War, which 
 has received more generous attention. Probably two or 
 three generations hence it may be treated more satisfac- 
 torily than at present. 
 
 For many years during the latter half of the nine- 
 teenth century, James Hammond Trumbull of Hartford, 
 Conn., was the only person living who could read Eliot's 
 Indian Bible. One of the foremost of American philolo- 
 
Appendix. 99 
 
 gists, he was conversant not merely with numerous lan- 
 guages of the Old World, but had mastered the speech of 
 a great number of Indian tribes in widely separated dis- 
 tricts of the New World. 
 
 The picture of John Eliot, shown on page 7 of the pres- 
 ent book, was taken from a portrait discovered in London 
 in 1 85 1 by Hon. William Whiting, a distinguished lawyer 
 long resident in Roxbury, who was familiar with the per- 
 sonal history of Eliot. It was bought by him, and brought 
 home. 
 
 Mr. Ira F. Harris, of Nashua, is entitled to our thanks 
 for supplying us with the photographs of localities and 
 buildings in Dunstable-Nashua from which many pictures 
 in this book were taken. A descendant of one of the first 
 settlers here, he has contributed much to a knowledge of 
 its early history. Besides, he has aided not a little in 
 rendering attractive the city of Nashua as it now stands. 
 
 Mr. Federico Glenton, a skillful Nashua photog- 
 rapher of many years' experience, also has done much for us. 
 
 Of our indebtedness to the Daughters of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution, it is hardly necessary to speak. The 
 historic tokens and monuments provided by their gen- 
 erosity are numerous.