Leicester Town (part 2 of 6)

But Mr. Nichols staid away to no purpose. Mr. Converse's star was more than ever in the ascendant, and his popularity was well-nigh unbounded ; for at the March meeting, in 1733, be was chosen moderator, first selectman, town-clerk (thereby superseding Mr. Nichols), town-treasurer, first assessor, and a hog-reeve.

In April, they " voted not to allow any part of the money assessed upon the land for the five years past to be disposed of to any other use than to pny Mr. Parsons, until all his arrears are paid."

In May, Mr. Converse's cup of honor was made full hy his election to the General Court. But though there was an armistice, so far as Mr. Parsons was concerned, there seemed to have grown up a bad state of feeling in the town, which showed itself by the multiplied lawsuits which were commenced about this time (1733). Thomas Newhall had one suit against the town, Thomas Richardson and Steward Southgate had three ; and the town was indicted again for the want of a schoolmaster.

The quarrel between Mr. Parsons and the town had been so long continued, and had become so scandalous in the public mind, that the people of the neighboring towns were inclined to interpose to put a stop to them ; and " six Worcester gentlemen, appointed to come int-o Leicester to see if they can reconcile the differences between Mr. Parsons and the town," paid a visit to the town for that purpose. This led to the appointment of a Committee on the part of Leicester, who waited upon Mr. Parsons, " and had discourse with him concerning his laying down the gospel ministry amongst us."

The proposition was favorably received, and mutual proposals for a settlement were adopted, which were ratified on the part of the town, and resulted in calling a mutual council to dissolve the connection between Mr. Parsons and his people. This action took place in January, 1735; and in March the council met, and came to a result which was accepted on the part of the town ; and Mr. Parsons thereupon ceased to be their pastor. But he did not cease to make his presence known and felt in that community.

In May following, the town were called together "to see if they would come into some effectual measures to prevent Mr. Parsons encroaching upon the ministry lot or town land, or making strip or waste on the timber that groweth thereon." The next year, the town raised thirty pounils to "pay Mr. Lynde the court- charges which he had been put to by Mr. Parsons, about the way that went over Gary's Hill ; " though what Mr. Lynde had done which had aggrieved Mr. Parsons does not appear.

Though we shall have occasion to rccm- to Mr. Parsons again, it is a relief to bring to an end the narrative of these protracted details of strife and bitterness.* The contrast which will appear in their personal and official characteristics, between him and his successor, might serve as an interesting study in the science of human nature.

Where the blame lay, in the origin of the feelings of alienation which gave rise to such disreputable transactions, it is unnecessary now to attempt to settle ; nor is there any occasion to impute bad motives or dishonest intentions to either party. It is but an instance and an illustration of what is witnessed every day, in every age, of passion and will unconsciously putting on the guise of conscience and duty; and the man, be he minister or be he layman, really thinking he is battling for truth and right, when, in fact, intent only upon a party success, or a personal triumph over an enemy.

The whole history of Mr. Parsons's connection with this people, up to his death in 1743, is a sad one. He carried to the grave the feelings of bitterness which had been engen-

* By i-ecords discovered Bince the above wns written, It wouid nppeftr, that, soon anep Ills dismissal, Mr. Parsons removed to Belohertown, then callsd Cold Spriiif;, mid resided there a few yeara, and where a son of his settlad permnnentiy. While there, in 1T8T, he commenced two actions against the town ; 1 suppose, for arrears of salary. What tlie resalt of these was does not appear. The town made a defence, and, as appears by their records, paid their agents t«n shillings per day for their time and expenses In attending court, and "forty shillings which they paid the attorneys."

I find a deed from " David Parsons, formerly of Leicester, now of Gold Spring, clerit," to James Lawton, jun., of Leicester, saddler, dated November, 17S9, of " forty acies of land, lying on both sides of (he brook where the said David Parsons built a mill, with the said mill (being a gristmill) and the appurtenances," This mill stood at the outlet of the Town Meadow. Mr. Parsons, however, soon chose to return to the battleground he had so long occupied, where he continued to reside till his death.

dered in his controversy witli the town; and was buried, by his special direction, on his own land, apart from the graves of his people. He was unwilling that his ashes should repose by the side of those with whom he had worshipped in the sanctuary, and to whom he had broken the consecrated bread. His grave, once visible in a mowing-field, about thirty rods north of the present Meeting-house, has been levelled by the ploughshare ; and the headstone, with his name inscribed upon it, no longer serves, as it did for more than a century, as a monument of human frailty.*

There was, however, an interval of more than a year between the dismission of Mr. Parsons and the settlement of Mr. Goddard. It required some time, in tact, to overcome the state of things, in respect to the religious interest of the town, which had been produced by these protracted difficulties and disputes with Mr. Parsons. The Meeting-house, never in complete order, had been suffered to fall into such general dilapidaton thit it lequi ed an expenliture of ten pounds merely to repiii the ^la s m it wmdows before it could be consider d fit t i the ube cf a new mmister.

on the Bnbject. " I sent a man's head into the aali-hole of tlie hoase, &c., the other dsy, for his slioulders could not ba admitted; and, aa good luck would have it, the Key. Mr. Fareons's gmvestone happened to be right-sida doicmcard, and the following inscriptuin could be i-ead: ' In memory of Rev. Mr. David PursonB, who, after many years of hard labor and suffering, was laid here, Oel- 13, 1T18, aged Bixty-three.' '" Sai'ah Pursons died June y* 17, 1759, aged seventy-throe.'"

It may be no plaee to mooiiize on a subjeot like thisj bnt it is certainly anongii to cause one to pause and ask, " What is fame?" when the only rooord of the decease of a man who filled so important a sphere, and wsfl the founder of so widely spread and honorably diatingnished a ihmily, is found iu such a place, and devoted to such a

In tliis interval, preaching waa supported by contributions taken up from sabbath to sabbath ; and the pulpit was supplied a part of the time by a Mr. Ejce. The church and society, during that time, set apart a day of fasting and prayer for direction from on high, in regard to a successor to Mr. Parsons ; and on the 30th January, 1736, they gave Mr. Goddard a call to settle. They oiiei-ed him three hundred pounds as a settlement, and a hundred pounds per year as a salary so long as he should remain fhdr minister. The form of the vote indicated an intention to avoid the life obligation, which they would have been understood b» assuming towards him if the offer had been unlimited or unqualified in its terms. They had learned from their recent experience to be chary in forming life alliances even in so sacred a relation.

He accepted the invitation in a brief and pertinent answer, wherein, among other things, he expressed a wish that the church might be governed by the rules adopted by the New- England churches in the Cambridge Platform of 1648. He was ordained June 30, 1736; and remained their pastor until his death, Jan. 19, 1754 He lived in a house belonging to him, upon the east side of the Charlton Road, near, and as is supposed in front of, the house where Mrs, Hobart lives, but which disappeared before the memory of any one now alive.* His salary was often in arrear; but a spirit of Christian forbearance on his part led to a corresponding concession upon the part of the town, who repeatedly added fifty pounds to his salary, in the way of an appreciation of his claims upon their consideration, for these delays and the great depreciation of the currency. His connection with his people was uniformly kindly and happy on both sides ; and his sudden and early death, at the age of forty-seven, was deeply lamented as the loss of a faithful minister and good man,

Mr. Goddard was born in Framingliam, Sept. 26, 170C. He was the son of Hon. Edward Goddard, who, at one time, was a member of the Council. He was graduated at Harvard in 1731, and married Mrs. Mary Stone of Watertown for bis first wife, in 1736 ; and, for his second, Mrs. Martha Nichols of Pramingbam, in 1753, less than one month before his death. His death occurred while he was upon a visit at I'ramingham, during what was known there as the " great sicljness." It prevailed with great mortality in that and the neighboring towns of HolHston and Sherborn, and carried off the father r.nd mother of Mr. Goddard within a month after his death. His widow married again, and removed to Pramingham; and I am not aware that he left any family in Leicester.

After the death of Mr. Goddard, the pulpit was supplied by occasional preachers, who seem to have visited the town on horseback. I find £11. 10s. appropriated to pay for the entertainment of these ministers, and X18 for that of their horses.

The Rev. Joseph Roberts was invited in July, after Mr. Goddard's death, to settle over the church and society ; and in his answer accepting the call, which is too long to copy here, that sordid love of money, which became his ruling passion, is strangely mixed up with professions of a devotedness to God and his service.

The town voted him a settlement of ^133. 6s. 3d. silver money, and £QQ. 13s. 8d. per annum salary, in silver money at 6s. 8d. per ounce. Though nominally a less sum than that paid to his predecessor, it must have been considerably more in value, by reason of the diiference between silver and Province bills, which constituted almost the entire currency of the Province at the time of Mr. Goddard's settlement. At that time, silver was worth 27s. 6d. per ounce ; though it rose at one time before his death to 60s. per ounce.

Ordinations were made, in fact, at that time and for more than half a century afterwards, occasions for a general festivity and unbounded hospitality on the part of the people of the town where it was to occur. Ministers were settled for life ; and it was a great marriage-feast, to which every . door, however humhie, was opened. It became a holiday for all the surrounding country; and no man, though he were a stranger, was suffered to depart from the town, without having shared at the hospitable board of some of its people.

Though a bachelor, he purchased, and at first lived upon, a large tract of land in the westerly part of the town, where Mr. Robert Watson resided : but, in 1760, he purchased the estate where Eev. Mr. May lives ; which was afterwards owned and occupied by Rev. Mr. Conklin, his successor.

He was settled under favorable auspices ; was a mau of good natural powers of mind, and of respectable attainments in scholarship. But there were inlierent defects in his moral and mental organization, which soon brought him into differences with his people. He was grasping and avaricious, and manifested far more eagerness to gain and save money than to win the favor of those over whom he was settled. The consequence was, that, as early as 1762, a council was called to settle the difficulties which had grown up in the society. The only part taken in the measure, by the town, was to make provision for the entertainment of the council ; while the church prepared, and laid before the council, a statement of their grievances. In view of these, a dissolution of the connection between them and their pastor was recommended ; and he was accordingly dismissed Dec. 14, 1762, though very much against his will. He very soon after sold his estate in Leicester, and removed to Weston ; where he lived to the age of ninety-one, and died April 30, 1811.

Mr. Roberts was born in very humble life, in Boston, in 1720. He was graduated at Cambridge in 1741, In a claes of twenty -five, be ranked, in dignity of family, the twenty-aecond of the number. The struggles to which he was probably subjected while obtaining his education might perhaps have developed that sordid love of hoarding which characterized him in the latter part of his life.

After his removal to Weaton, he preached oeoasionally, but was never settled. The diffieidties with the mother-country coming on, he took an active part in the political agitations of the day ; and was, at one time, a member of the Committee of the town for the purpose of enlisting and providing soldiers for the army. He was a member, and took an active part in the deliberations, of the convention which framed our State Constitution in 1779. He was frequently, afterwards, a representative from Weston in the G-eneral Court.

He engaged in business with a cunning and unscrupulous speculator; whereby he became involved in several expensive and harassing lawsuits, and lost a considerable part of his estate. This soured his temper and imbittered his life : he became a miser and a misanthrope. He suffered himself to be imprisoned for a debt growing out of his connection with the speculator above mentioned, and remained in prison two or three yearsj until his creditor was glad to compromise the debt. He had, at the same time, bags of money lying in his house ; which were found after his death, and had been so long hoarded there, that they were too much decayed to hold their contents upon being raised from the place of their deposit. He died, as he had lived, like a beggar. He had for years denied himself the necessaries of life, and not an article of his wardrobe was fit for the tenant of an alms-house. Such was the sequel of the life of a man who was possessed of more than ordinary natural powers, educated to a liberal profession, once the pastor of a respectable religious society, and who, with nobody but himself to care for, sacrificed his

The successor of Mr. Roberts was the Rev. Benjamin Conklin. He was invited to become the pastor of the church and society, in Axigust, 1763; and was ordained Nov. 23 of that year. At his ordination, the Rev. Mr. Forbes of Brookfield made the introductory prayer, Rev. Mr. Maccarty of Worcester preached the sermon. Rev. Mr. Buckminster of Rutland gave the charge, and the Rev. Mr. Davis of Holden gave the right hand of fellowship. His salary was fixed at the same sum as Mr. Roberts's had been ; and provision was made for the entertainment of " ministers, scholars, and genile- Tiien," at the ordination.

A connection thus formed continued with mutual satisfection for thirty years ; and was another illustration of a familiar observation, that a man may he useful and influential without being great. He was never distinguished for brilliancy or originality as a preacher, but always maintained a respectable rank in his profession, and exercised a marked and salutary influence among his people.

Mr. Conklin was a native of Southhold, L.I. ; and was born in 1732. He was graduated at Princeton, N.J., in 1755. His manners were easy and famOiar, and his conversation was enlivened with humor and pleasant anecdote. In one respect, he was fortunate : his sympathies were all in favor of the movements which resulted in the Revolution, and the ardor of his temperament harmonized with the popular enthusiasm that prevailed in the community in which he moved. A dissatisfaction had grown up in one of the neighboring towns, with their minister, on account of his want of fervor and animation ; and some ono gravely advised that he should exchange with Mr. Conklin, that the people might be supplied with all they wanted of either.*

It waa a time when all ranks and professions were engrossed by the calls of patriotism ; and none lent a more willing ear to these than Mr, Conklin. At one time, he was a member of a patriotic convention ; at another, one of the Committee of Correspondence of the town ; and, at all times, he waa an active and zealous advocate of the popular cause. This might have arisen partly from the character of the parishioners by whom he was surrounded. Among them was an unusually large number of prominent and leading men upon the same side in politics. The names of Henshaw, Denny, Allen, Washburn, Brown, and Newhall, will at once occur to any one at all familiar with the history of the town. On the other hand, with the exception of Judge Steel, I doubt if there was a loyalist to be found in the town.

When the State Government had been established, Mr. Conklin was found an equally decided advocate for its support. This rendered him so much an object of jealousy and disfavor on the part of the insurgents, at the time of " Shay's Rebellion," that he was repeatedly obliged to fly from his own house, and conceal himself, in order to escape the violence with which he was threatened.

He married Mrs. Lucretia Lawton, the widow of Dr. Pliny Lawtoa of Leicester, in 1769 ; by whom he had three children, - two sons and one daughter.

In his person he was large, and rather inclined to corpulency. For many years before his death, he was afflicted with a painful and incurable disease ; which induced him to accept a proposition from hia people to pay him a gratuity of a hundred and seventy pounda, exempt his property from taxation, and have his connection as their pastor dissolved.

Bra willing to tliinTt they should not liarm the people of another society by prenehing in tlieir pulpit. Ona who differed from him in this sentiment remonstrated Willi him

The arrangement was carried out by a council, consisting of Lrs. Sumner of Shrewsbury, and Austin and Bancroft of Worcester; who bore testimony to his high character aa a clergyman and a citizen. This took place in June, 1794. The separation was with kindly feelings on both sides ; and the town, in a vote expressive of their sentiments towards him, tendered him their thanks for his useful and arduous services, and their sympathies for his declining health and increasing infirmities.

He lost his wife, who died of dropsy, in March, 1793; and his own death took piace Jan. 30, 1798, in the sixtyseventh year of his age. A part of the epitaph inscribed upon his headstone had been selected by himself, and is as follows : -

Mr. Conkiin lived in a house which stood where the Rev. Mr. May now lives. His land extended westward as far aa the Common, and the lane leading to the house formerly occupied by Mr. Parsons. The house was, I presume, as old as any in town, if not the oldest ; and was probably erected by Mr. Samuel Stebbings, to whom lot No. 1 - on which it stood - was allotted in the first division of the town. It was afterwards owned by Mr. Larkin, from whom it passed to Mr. Roberts, and from him to Mr. Conldin. Ebenezer Adams, Esq., next owned the house : he moved into it in 1800, and thoroughly repaired it, Mr. Luther Wilson purchased the place of Mr. Adams. Mr. Alpheus Smith owned it, and lived there many years after Mr. Wilson's removal, and enlarged and repaired it ; and, at last, the house was removed by the Rev. Mr. May to make room ibr his present much more elegant mansion.

as their rainietsv. But, there being some opposed to liis settlement, he dechned tlie call, and was afterwards, in 1795, settled over a society in WardBborough, Vt. ; where he long sustained the character of a useful and faithful minister, until his death a few years since.

After this, the Eev. Dr. Appleton, afterwards President of Bowdoin College, preached here, and received a unanimous invitation to become the pastor of the society ; and it was a matter of great regret on the part of the people that ho declined their invitation.

After Dr. Appleton, the Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore was employed to supply the pulpit ; and, by a unanimous vote of the society, was invited to settle as their minister, in October, 1797, upon a salary of four hundred dollars a year. He accepted the call, and was ordained Jan. 10, 1798. The Rev. Mr. Pope of Spencer made the introductory prayer ; Rev. Dr. Baclcus of Somers, with whom he had studied divinity, preached the sei-mon ; Rev. Dr. Sumner of Shrewsbury made the consecrating prayer ; Rev. Dr. Piske of Brookfield gave the charge ; Dr. Austin of Worcester, the right hand of fellowship; and the Rev. Mr. Mills of Sutton, the concluding prayer.

He married Miss Phebe Drury,^ daughter of Thomas Drury, Esq., of Ward, now Auburn, - Feb. 27, 1790 ; and lived in the house, now of Mr. Edward Knowles, at the corner of Charlton and Great Post Road, which had been erected a few years before by Joseph Washburn.

He remained the minister of the town until Oct. 28, 1811 ; when, having been appointed Professor of Languages in , Dartmouth College, he asked and obtained a dismission from his people, to their universal regret. In his position as minister of this people, he exerted an influence and commanded a respect, which every one was ready to acknowledge, and which has rarely been surpassed. He left town on the 1st November, 1811, attended by a large number of

Ilia parishioners and frieuds in carriages, wbo escorted Iiim several miles from the town; while the children of the schools, ranged by the side of the road along which he M'as to pass, paid their simple testimony of respect, and of sorrow at his departure, by standing with saddened countenances and uncovered heads as the procession passed slowly by them.

Dr. Moore filled too many important stations, besides that of pastor of this church, to be passed over with a mere mention of his connection with the town.

He was born in Palmer, Nov. 20, 1770. His mother was a Swift, from Sandwich, from whom he. took his name ; she having been the daughter of Zephaniah Swift. His father was a farmer ; and, being in somewhat straitened circumstances, removed to Wilmington, Vt., then a new settlement, when this son was about seven or eight years old. Here the son was employed upon the farm untd he was about eighteen years of age, with only limited means of cultivating his mind. At that time, he began to attend the Academy at Bennington ; and, the next year, offered himself for admission to Dartmouth College. He took at once a prominent rank in his class, and maintained it by strong natural powers of mind, improved by close and constant devotion to study. He was graduated in 1793, with a high reputation for sound learning and scholarship.

After leaving college, he taught an academy in Londonderry, N.H., for one year. He then commenced the study of theology with the Rev. Dr. Backus of Somerg, Conn. ; for, it will be recollected, tin's was before the days of theological seminaries in our country. He was licensed to preach, Feb. 3, 1796.

Passing over his connection with the people of Leicester, - except to say, that one year, while minister there, he filled the place of Preceptor of the Academy with great acceptance, - he remained connected with Dartmouth College until the autumn of 1815 ; when he was elected to the presidency of WiSliama College, made vacant by the resignation of Dr. Fitch. He remained at the head of that college until 1821 ; when he accepted the place of President of Amherst Collegiate Institution, which, after his death, was inco]-porated as a college. In 1816, he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma Mater. In 1818, he preached the Election Sermon hefore the government of the State ; and was, for several yeara before his death, a member of the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Dr. Moore left but few publications, and these were principally occasional sermons. Like most of the public men in New England, he built up his success by his own exertions. He sometimes amused his friends by tracing what he plear aantly called the causes of his success.

His sister had married the Eev. Mr. Mills of Sutton. Soon after being licensed, he made a journey to Sutton to visit her. This was extended several days beyond its intended limit, by reason of his horse becoming lame and unable to travel. It was during this delay that Miss Drury, who was a friend of the family of Mrs. Mills, came there upon a visit. This accidental interview led to a visit on his part to the young lady, at her father's : and, while there, the people of Leicester invited him to preach for them; and, being pleased with, settled him. Here he formed an intimate acquaintance with Mr. (afterwards Professor) Adams, which grew into a strong and ardent friendship. Mr. Adams, after residing a while at Exeter and Portland, became a professor in Dartmouth College in 1809 ; and when, by the death of Professor Hubbard, and Mr. Adams's appointment to succeed him, there was a vacancy in the office which he had been filling for the year then past, he recommended and induced the trustees to elect Mr. Moore to the professorship. And thus, in the order of sequences as traced by himself, he owed his election to the presidency of a college to the opportune sickness of the animal he rode.

In whatever situation Dr. Moore was placed, he showed that he had a fitness and capacity for filling it with honor and usefulness. Though he was a profound thinker, and his turn of raind was decidedly metaphysical, his style was remarkably simple and clear, and his sermons were adapted to the taste and comprehension of his hearers. His manner was dignified, calm, and self-possessed. The tones of his voice were clear and pleasant, but not loud ; nor did he in the pulpit ever attempt to play the orator, although he invariably commanded the attention of his hearers. There was a great sweetness of manner in hia intercourse with others, especially towards the young; but underlying this was a finnness of purpose, an indomitable resolution of spirit, which no discoui-agement could daunt or defeat. He was eminently fitted for the office of a teacher and manager of a literary institution : the accuracy of his knowledge, the clearness of his apprehension, the plain and simple manner of communicating his ideas to others, his great tact in understanding chai-acter, with his uniform urbanity of manner, were qualities which he possessed, as a college-officer, to a degree rarely excelled. However others might have differed from him in respect to measures, no man could deny his eminent claims for consistent piety, great executive talent, and profound sagacity; nor hesitate to accord to him the qualities of a gentleman, a companion, and a friend, as well as a faithful servant of the Master he professed to serve. He left no children ; and the results of a life of prudence and industry were devoted to the college to whose early success he gave the best energies of his life.

It is now near half a century since Dr. Moore's connection with Leicester ceased ; but the silent, indirect influence of such a man's teachings and example might have been traced, in the moral and intellectual tone of that community, for many years after his voice had ceased to be heard in their pulpit, their schools, and tlieir social circles. His memory is still one of the historical treasures of which the town has so goodly a stove in the recollections of the past.

The 'Rev. John Nelson was invited to preach as a candidate, by the society, the week following Dr. Moore's departure from town. An invitation to settle there was soon tendered to him; and on the 4th March, 1812, he was ordained, upon a salary of four hundred and fifty dollai^ per annum. The ordinationservices were performed by the Rev, Dr. Bancroft ; Dr. Austin, who preached the sermon; Mr. Avery of Holden; Mr. Pope of Spencer; Mr. Whipple of Charlton; and Mr. Mills of Sutton, who, it will be recollected, had taken part with Dr. Austin and Mr. Pope in the ordination of his pi-ode-

Happily, the time has not yet come, - and long may it be delayed ! - when it is proper to speak of Mr. Nelson with the fulness of detail in which the living may indulge when recalling the virtues and excellences of one upon whose character Death has set his seal.

He was born in Hopkinton. lie removed at an early age, with his father, to Worcester. He was graduated at Williams College in 1807, and was afterwards a tutor in that college for the year 1809-10. He studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Austin of Worcester, He married Zebiah, daughter of Abijah Bigelow, Esq., of Barre, May 4, 1812. From 1826 to 1833, he was a trustee of Williams College; and, in 1843, received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from that college.

The amount of salary paid to Dr. Nelson was increased from time to time, in order to meet in some measure the rapidly increasing expenses of living ; which, within the period since he was settled, have more than doubled, by a comparison of prices paid, and the style demanded by the customs of social life.

thought proper to call, aa a colleague to his aid, the Eev. Andrew Clark Denison, who accepted the invitation ; and on the 4th March, 1851, - on the thirty-ninth anniversary of Dr. Nelson's ordination, - he was ordained as such. He was to receive six hundred dollara ae salary, while Dr. Nelson was to he paid the sum of four hundred dollars ; each of which was afterwards increased hy an additional hundred dollars a year.

Though the vigor of his early manhood and middle life had been spent, and enfeebled health had diminished his capacity for labor, the society would have done great injustice to themselves, as well as to him, if they could have suffered him to be left unprovided for in hia age. The instances, however, are not rare, where the claims of an old and faithful servant have been forgotten by the generation that have taken the place of those upon whose invitation he united his fortunes with a parish whose interests he had labored to advance. The harmony that has prevailed, hitherto, in the society, is the best guaranty that a life of nsefulness and devotion to the cause of his Master will be cheered to its close by the reciprocal regard of an appreciative people. Whoever shall complete this work will speak of one, who, for almost fifty years, has ministered to this people as the faithful pastor, the useful citizen, and the Christian gentleman.

Mr. Denison was born in Hampton, Conn.; was graduated at Yale College in 1847 ; and studied theology at the seminaries in East Winsor, Conn., and New York. He remained the colleague -pastor with Dr. Nelson until March, 1856 ; when, at his own request, he was dismissed. His connection with the society was mutually pleasant and a.greeable ; and the dissolution of their connection was upon satisfactory terms, and with harmonious feelings.

Mr. Denison was succeeded by the Rev. Amos H. Cooledge, who was ordained as colleague with Dr. Nelson, April 21, 1857. He WM bom in Sherburn, Mass., Aug. 17, 1827;

As the law stood for a hundred years or more after the incorporation of the town, its parochial affairs were managed by the town, under its municipal organization, although there was a society of Friends, and also of Baptists, which had early withdrawn from the original religious society of the town. The town held its meetings in the Meeting-house. The society's meetings were called by officers of the town, and the record of its proceedings was preserved as part of those of the town,

In 1826, however, the town took measures to provide themselves with a public hall. It was dedicated on the 1st January, 1827; on which occasion a public address was delivered by Emory Washburn. It was built in connection with the Leicester Bank ; occupying the upper story of a building which stood, substantially, where the present Town Hal! stands.

This, having become inadequate for the accommodation of the town, was removed to its present position, a little south of the public-house; and, in 1854, the present commodious and expensive structure was erected in its place.

In the mean time, the members of Dr. Nelson's society, as the First Parish, applied to Emory Washburn, Esq., as a justice of the peace, to call a meeting of the same, for the purpose of organizing them as a parish ; and upon the 9th of February, 1833, a meeting was held, by virtue of a warrant issued upon this application, and a body corporate was, accordingly, organized as the First Parish in Leicester, who have since had their own records and managed their own affairs.

A history of the first meeting-honse in town was attempted in the first part of the present chapter ; and it seems proper, in this connection, to give some account of the edifice that succeeded it.

It is hardly necessary to repeat to what extent tbe first house had become unsnited to the convenience, comfort, and taste of the people. The burdens assumed by and imposed upon the town during the war precluded the idea of voluntarily incurring that of erecting a new meeting-house ; but, immediately on the return of peace, the attention of tlie inhabitants was turned to supplying so urgent a want.

The building was raised in the first week of July, 1784; and was placed a little in the rear of the former one. In size it was substantially the same as it now is, except that it had no belfry or steepie. These were added four or five years afterwards. The main entrance was upon the south ; the doors opening directly into the body of the church. There were also doors at the east and west end of the building. A broad aisle ran from the front-door to the pulpit; and a narrow one diverged from this to the right and left, and, running around the interior of the house, came into the broad aisle again in front of the pulpit; leaving a row of square pews next to the wall, extending from the front-door around to the pulpit on each side, with a space between them for the opening of the east and west doors.

There were fifty square pews, in all, upon the lower floor, and twenty-three in the gallery; those in the gallery being constructed along and adjoining to the east, south, and west sides of the house. To reach these fifty pews from the principal doors and avenues, sundry narrow passage-ways were necessary ; and the movements of the people, in order to reach their several localities in the house, seemed to a looker-on very like the moves of the pieces upon a chessboard.

Upon each side of the broad aisle, in front of the pulpit, were sundry long seats, or benches, with upright backs, called " body-seats ; " which were free to all, though generally occupied only by the aged and the poor, - the women sitting upon one side of the aisle, and the men upon the other.

This avrangement of " body-seata " continued np to 1807; when "they were all removed but one upon each side, and their places supplied by four new pews.

The pulpit was of rather a unique order, though not uncommon at the time it ^yaa built. Its front was a section of an octagon, projecting from the general panelled front of the structure, terminated below by the sides being curved and brought to a point. Below this was an oblong box, called the " deacon's seat." The access to the pulpit was by a single flight of stairs turning at right angles about half the distance from the floor to the pulpit-door; forming a "broad stair," which it was very common for some large dog, that had accompanied his master to church, to select for a place of repose while the services were going on. Over the pulpit hung a formidable sounding-board, which corresponded in shape somewhat with the projecting front of the pulpit ; its upper surface converging to a point at the top, and looking as if fitted to serve for an extinguisher for the pulpit.

The galleries were square, extending upon three sides of the house. The square pillars that supported these, the base and cornice of the fronts of the galleries, of the deacon's seat and pulpit, and the cornice running around the soundingboard, were painted in a feind of pointed block-work of shaded marble, unlike any thing ever seen in nature, and rarely if ever in art anywhere else.

The pews, as has been stated, were square, and were furnished with narrow seats all around, except at the entrance by the door, and the side next the pulpit ; and, consequently, a considerable proportion of the audience presented only a profile-view to the preacher while addressing them. The pews were finished with panelled sides; above which was a wide rail, supported by little turned balusters, some six or eight inches long, the chief use of which, next to their beauty, was to give employment to the ever-busy hands of the little children who attended church, in finding out which of them could bo turned around, and occasionally disturbing their more sedate mammas by the unmistakable creak which some of these balusters would give if forced to move. Scarce a single seat in the church was furnished with any thing like a cushion.

But the most remarkable arrangement in respect to these pews -- though it is believed tfl have been universal in meeting-houses of that date - was that all these seats were hung upon hinges, and were so divided as to be easily raised when the worshippers stood up, as was always done, during prayertime. Each pew, therefore, had about five or six separate seats to be raised or let fall ; and as it was the universal custom to raise these whenever the congregation stood in service, and as universal to let them fall without regard to the noise thereby made, and as this was always done pretty nearly in unison, the elTect can be imagined upon one unused to such a singular fusilade, - as this process seemed to be, to an unaccustomed ear. Some may remember the alarm mainfested, on one occasion, by a gentleman from Philadelphia, who attended church here with a friend whom he was visiting, whose pew was upon the western side of the meetinghouse, under the gallery. At so sudden and unlooked-for a termination of a solemn devotional exercise, he was persuaded, for a moment, that the gallery was cracking, and comirg down around his ears ; and, seizing his hat, he was about to rush for the door, when the undisturbed aspect of his neighbors dispelled his apprehension.

No material change in the condition of the house, beyond the erection of a belfry and steeple, took place until 1826 ; when it was removed back to its present position, - thereby occupying a portion of the original burying-ground of the town, and covering the graves of several persons who had been early laid there. In 1829, there was a complete change and renovation of the iiterior of the church. Its old pulpit, with its sounding-board and its deacon's seat, and the old square pews and the galleries, disappeared ; and it assumed its present form. It was dedicated anew on the 13th December of that year. It may boaet a better observance of the laws of symmetry, and a greater convenience of aiTangement; but it has lost, for the few remaining representatives of a former generation, the associations which hallowed even its ugliness in architectural proportions, and its violations of good taste.

The first bell and cloclc which had ever belonged to the town were manufactured by Mr. George Holbrook of Brookfield, and placed upon this meeting-house, Jan. 13, 1803. There had previously been placed on the Academy a small bell, which is said to have been a gift to that institution ; but, with this exception, there seems to have been no means of calling the people together by any thing like a bell, till the year 1803. The first bell was recast in 1810, and again in 1834. About the same time, a valuable clock was presented to the town by Joshua Clapp, Esq., and became a substitute for the original one, which had become somewhat irregular in its movements by thirty years' use.

No history of the society that has worshipped in these houses can be deemed complete, without some allusion to the changes through which its sacred music has passed. Although the practice of psalmody, in some form, has been adopted by the New-England churches from the earliest planting of the Colonies, few are entirely familiar with the history of the ciianges through which it has passed. Two or three works, professing to give these changes, have been published within a few years ;* to which I shall take the liberty to refer, as expJaining some of the proceedings of the town which appear in its records, and some which have come down to us from authentic sources in the form of anecdote and personal incident.

According to the universal custom of these churches, the singing, such as it was, was strictly congi-egational. The tunes were exceedingly few: some of them, by omitting or inserting a syllable in certain lines, were made to serve the double purpose of long or common metre. Tlie consequence was, that not only were the whole congregation at liberty to unite in the exercise, but they did so, often to the sacrifice of accent and time, and not unfrequently of tune also. From the want of books, it was customary to sing from dictation; the deacon reading one, and after a few years two lines, which were sung ; and then followed a suspense, until another line or two was "deaconed out" and the tune resimied.

The Pilgrims brought with them Ainsworth's version of the Psalms. This gave place to the "Bay Psalm-book," which was the first book printed in America. It Went through many editions in this country and England, - more than seventy in all; and, in 1758, it was revised and published by Rev. Thomas Prince of Boston, who had married a sister of Daniel Denny, the first of the name in Leicester.

If space permitted, it might be amusing to refer to some of the matters upon which the public mind was agitated at different times in the Colony and Province : such as, whether one person alone should sing, - the congregation joining in spirit, as in prayer; whether women should be allowed to sing in public ; whether " carnal men" and pagans, or only Christians, should be allowed to sing; and whether singing should be practised " in tunes invented ; " and whether it might bo done by reading from a book, and the like.

An edition of Tate and Brady's version of the Psalms was published in 1741 ; and, from the recollection of an informant, it was used in this society some time before and after 1765; though from the greater popularity, in its day, of Dr. Prince's edition of the " Bay Psalm-book," and his connection with some of the principal faonilies in town, I should have supposed it more probable that the latter was the one then in use here. However that may be, the condition of the singing, as above described, is by no means exaggerated.

Before 1720, a singing-school was an unknown thing in the Province. In 1690, there were only five or six tunes known here.* In 1714 was issued an edition of the "Bay Psalmbook," in which were printed thirty-seven tunes, all of whick hut one were common metre. The first book of music, ever printed by itself in the country, was by the Eev. Mr. Walter in 1721 ; and this was the first music with bars ever printed in America. This, it will be recollected, was a few years after the settlement of this town. The singing of paalma was regarded, like prai^erj as a sacred exercise, in the performance of which people uncovered their heads. An edition of Watts was pubhshed in Philadelphia in 1741, but when it was adopted here I have do means of ascertaining; though it was not till after the war of the Revolution that it was generally adopted, and then only after a long and violent struggle.

Before 1764, music had been printed with three parts ; but a work published in that year was printed with four parts, giving the principal melody to the tenor.

Before, - from 1765 to 1770, - there were few or no choirs in the churches in the country. As these were formed, the custom of " lining," or " deaconing," the psalm, grew into disuse ; but, like every other change in the fashion of church music, it was only after a most violent and determined struggle that it was given up. It had been recommended by the Westminster Assembly of Divines, " as many could not read ;" and, having come down to them from thoir ancestors, the custom had become sanctified in their minds, and was not to be surrendered.

The first singing-school ever tanght in the town was about 1767 or '8. In the latter year, they were called together " to see if the town will grant a number of young men, who have attained the rules of singing, the hindermost seat in the front gallery." Upon grave deliberation, that seat toeis appropriated to " those who have learnt the rules of singing, until the further pleasure of the town."

This was not aecomphshed, however, without serious opposition, as has already been observed ; but a far more violent and determined resistance was offered to the more serious innovation of singing without " lining."

This took place in 1780. The singers had appHed for permission to occupy the front seat in the gallery ; with a view, doubtless, of performing the service of singing as a choir, as a substitute for the general and promiscuous singing by the congregation. The permission was granted : and the choir, not stopping for the deacon to read the line, drowned his voice when he attempted it; greatly scandalizing him in his sacred office, and giving mortal offence to many by such an unholy usurpation. Many persons left the meeting-house in disgust : good Mr. K. and his wife were among the number ; and they consoled themselves in the assurance, which they pretty audibly expressed in the hearing of the congregation, that, " when Col. W. got home from the General Court, he would put a stop to such scandalous doings." Unfortunately for them, the gentleman referred to had become familiar with the change in Boston, and approved it ; and it was found that revolutions in psalm-singing, any more than in more worldly affairs, never go backwai-ds.

Since that time, nothing of an historic interest has occurred in this department of public worship here, beyond the occasional outcropping of that sensitiveness and those petty jealousies which form an essential clement in every singing ciioir.

About 1827, a few members of the society purchased by contribution, and placed in the meeting-house, a cheap church organ ; which, in a few years, gave place to the one now in the church. This was the first church organ ever owned in town; and it may be stated in this connection, that the first piano-forte, ever in town, was purchased by the late Col. Thomas Denny, for his danghter, about 1809. It was several years before there waa a second one ; and this was owned by Miss Southgate, daughter of the late John Southgate.

In concluding what I propose to say of the First Congregational Society, I may add, that the idea of warming the meeting-house by artificial heat seems never to have occurred as a practicable thing until about 1812.

The good lady of the femily was supplied with a tin footstove, upon which the children were occasionally permitted to warm their aching fingers. At the interval between the forenoon and afternoon services, the houses of those living near the meeting-house were warmed and opened, and generally crowded by those who lived more remote from the meeting-house. Especially was this the case with the two public-houses, in the bar-rooms of which the affairs and topics and news of the week sometimes intruded upon holy time. At last, it having been ascertained by the public that the same means by which a shop or factory could be warmed of a week-day might be applied to render a meeting-house comfortable of a Sunday, a few individuals - though not without opposition on the part of others - contributed the necessary means; and, about 1812, stoves were placed in the meetinghouse. The physical comfort of the congregation has since been cared for, without, as it is hoped, detracting from the spiritual well-being of those who worship there.

A society of Anabaptists were worshipping here as early as 1736. It had been gathered by Dr. Thomas Green ; and their place of worship was in the soiith part of the town, in what is now Greenville, in tlie vicinity of Dr. Green's residence. He was the first minister of the society ; and, through his instrumentality, a meeting-house was early erected, which remained without any considerable change until 1825; when it was enlarged and repaired, and rendered a comfortable and convenient house of worship.

I am unable to give the names of those who constituted the society at its commencement; but I find among its members, in 1744, "William Wicker, Benjamin Pudney, Thomas Jones, Joseph Trumbull, Nathaniel Jones, Josiah Powers, Jonathan Pudney, and Ebenezer Tohnan.

Dr. Green, the first minister of this society, was the son of Capt. Samuel Green, and was born in Maiden in 1699. His father came to Leicester as early as 1717, and was one of its earliest settlers. While he was preparing to remove his family, he visited the town, bringing his son with him ; and left him there to look after some cattle, which he had driven irom Maiden, and turned out upon his lands in Leicester. It was summer ; and, as he expected to return in a short time, no danger was apprehended in leaving the young man - then seventeen or eighteen years old - thus alone in the wilderness. He, however, was soon attacked with a fever ; and his father was unexpectedly prevented from returning as he had intended, and he was left to battle with the disease as he best could. His only shelter was a kind of cave under a rock, near the stream on which his father afterwards erected his mills. His only sustenance consisted of the milk of one of the cows, which he contrived to obtain by tying her calf to a tree near his cave ; which led her to visit the spot several times a day, and brought her within his reach. The water he used, he obtained by creeping npon the ground to the atream. In this deplorable condition, some of his former neighbors who were landholders, and abont to remove to Leicester, and had come there to look after their cattle, found him. He appealed to them for aid to return home ; but they were unable to afford it, and left him. On their return to Maiden, they informed his father of his condition ; and he immediately came to his relief. But he had no other means of removing his sick son through the new and (a considerable part of the way) wilderness country between Leicester and Maiden, except on horseback ; and, after four days' travelling, he accomplished the journey.

He removed to Leicester with his fether, and continued to reside in the same immediate vicinity as long as he lived. He became an eminent and successful physician ; having, by somewhat peculiar circumstances, been enabled to acquire a medical education much superior to that of neighboring physicians. It is said that two English surgeons, who had been engaged in the half-piratical character of buccaneers, and had surrendered themselves to the government under a promise of pardon, became the inmates of Capt. Green's house, and boarded in his family for several years. Finding the son tractable, and inclined to cultivate a natural taste for medical science, they readily undertook his instruction ; and supplied him, moreover, with such few books as they could commLind. With an education thus begun, and a vigorous and discriminating mind, - by which he wrought the facts that fell under his observation into the materials of science, - he soon attained eminence in his profession ; and was called into all the region around, and often into Rhode Island and Connecticut, in the course of his wide and successful practice. A notice of his death, in the " Boston Evening Post," speaks of him as " a very noted physician," fession alone that he tooli an active and prominent place. He became a distinguished divine as well as doctor. The church and society which he helped to organize and build up, was, at first, composed of persons in Sutton and Leicester. He was ordained its pastor, in Leicester, in 1736; the society having erected a meeting-house near his father's, where the Baptist Meeting-house now stands. This lot of land he gave to the society, together with a farm and house for a parsonage which lie a little west of the Charlton Road, upon the road leading by the house now of Charles Barton. The house in which he himself hved was next beyond the river, on the Charlton Road ; in which his grandson Samuel afterwards kept a tavern. He was a faithful, zealous, and devoted pastor, and a popular preacher. It is hardly necessary to add, that his life was one of great activity and usefulness.

He married Martha, daughter of Capt. John Lynde of Maiden, the father of one of the settlers of Leicester, who was hers as early as 172L His wife died June 20, 1780. The doctor died Aug. 19, 1773, at the age of seventy-four. They were buried in the cemetery around the church in which he ministered, where their remains reposed until the consecration of the Rural Cemetery in Worcester ; when a distinguished descendant, who has sustained the reputation of the ancestor as a physician, removed them to that beautiful repository of the dead. Dr. Green had seven children : Samuel ; Martha, who married Dr. Robert Craige ; Isaac ; Thomas ; John, who removed to Worcester ; Solomon; and Elizabeth, who married her father's successor, the Rev. Dr. Foster.

Rev. Eenjamm Foster, D.D., was settled over this society in 1772. He was born in Danvers in 1750, and was graduated at Tale College in 1771. He studied theology with the distinguished Dr. Stillman of Boston ; having become a convert, it is said, to the opinions which he afterwards maintained, by having, while in college, been appointed to defend infantbaptism by sprinkh'ng.

After remaining at Leicester about eight yeara, the society being unable to provide him a suitable maintenance, he was dismisaed, and preached about two years in Danvera. Prom thence he removed to Newport, where he was settled over a society, and remained until 1788 ; when he removed to New York, where he became the minister of the First Baptist Society in that city. Here he remained till his death, in 1798, in the forty-ninth year of his age. His death was as heroic as his life had been eminent for piety and usefulness. He was residing in the city when the yellow-fever broke out in 1798. While others fled in consternation from the power of the destroyer, he stood at his post undismayed : he shrunk from no call of duty; and fell a martyr to a devotion, in his ministrations, to the dying and the dead. He died Aug. 26, 1798.

He was a learned scholar and an eminent divine. He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity, from Brown University, in 1792. While in Leicester, he published a work on polemical divinity, and eubeqiiently a dissertation upon the seventy weeka of Daniel. He waa well acquainted with the Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldaic languages ; and had achieved a high reputation for learning and ability, when cut down in the midst of his usefulness and growing reputation.

Dr. Foster was succeeded by the Rev. Isaac Seals ; and the Rev, Nathan Dana became bis successor. The Rev, Peter Rogers succeeded Mr. Dana : he lived where Mr, Charles Whittemore lately lived ; and, after a few years, removed, and was settled over a society in Leyden.

I regret my inability to speak more fully of these gentleman. The society, never numerous or rich, has been at times embarrassed and feeble ; and, consequently, unable to retain settled pastors for any considerable length of time. Their supply has, therefore, often been temporary.

Rev. Nathaniel Green. He was the sou of Capt. Nathaniel Green, who is elsewhere mentioned in this work ; and was bom in Stoneham in 1721. He removed to Leicester, and resided there more than twenty years ; after which he removed to Charlton, where he continued till his death, in 1791, at the age of seventy. He was ordained as a Baptist minister at the mature age of forty-three ; and preached at various times in Leicester, Spencer, and Chariton. He had ten children, - all born in Leicester between the years 1749 and 1770.

In 1818, the society was divided in consequence of the remoteness of several of its members from their place of worship ; and a new society was formed in the north-east part of Spencer. Since that time, the Rev. Mr, Hill, Rev. Benjamin N. Harris, Rev. John Green (a descendant from the primitive stock of the name), and Rev. Moses Harrington, have preached at different periods to this people. It is pleasant to know that the society are about to erect a better house of worship, upon the site of the ono hitherto occupied by them.

Besides the Baptist society above mentioned, there was, for many years, a society of that denomination in town, to which Elder Richard Southgat« was preacher. They met in the schoolhouse which stood opposite the honse then of Judge Steele. It was never organized as a corpoi-ate religious society ; and, after the death of Elder Southgate, seems to have been merged in other societies.

Elder Southgate was a son of Richard Southgate, who came here from England at the first settlement of the town. He was born in England, July 13, 1714. He married Eunice Brown of Leicester ; and lived in a house (where there is now a cellar) near the west line of the town, upon the north side of the road leading by the house of the late Thomas Sprague. He died in 1798, at the age of eighty-five. Among his descendants is a well-known gentleman, who is elsewhere

There was an association or society of Friends, in Leicester, from a period as early as 1732 till recently ; when, in consequence of the removal of so large a proportion of its members, its place of meeting was transferred to Worcester.

One of the earliest of these was Ralph Earle, - the ancestor of the once numerons, and always respectable, families of that name in town. He became an owner of lands in the town, and removed there from Tiverton, R.I., in 1718. At what time he associated himself with the Friends, I am unable to determine ; though, from the active part which he took in the settlement of Mr. Parsons, I infer that at that time, and for some time after, he was a member of his society and church. In 1732, however, he, with seven others, certified to the clerk of the town, that they belonged to what the clerk, with evidently little regard to the spelling of the king's English, calls "those people called Quackers." The names of his associates were William Earle, Thomas Smith, Robert Earle, Daniel Hill, Nathaniel Potter, Joseph Potter, and Benjamin Earle.*

I have not been able to trace more fully the origin of the society which, soon afterwards, was in possession of a house of worship that stood where their present meeting-house stands.t The present house was erected in 1791. As most

" steward Southgnta, who had been a meinber of the oliuroh of the First Sooiety, joined the Qnakers nbont 1T46. I find a oopy of the following TOte of the Gharish : ~

"At a meeting of the First Chnrch of Christ in Leicester, May 28, 1745, the following waa pnt to the brethren: ' Verily, brethren, if it be your minds to choose a Commlttae to denl with Brother Steward Southgata, and inqnire into the reiisons of hia withdrawing himself from oommunion with ue, both in word and ordinances, you are desired tomuuifest.' It passed in ye afiirmative ; and Deacon Sonthgnte and Brother John Brown were oliosen to be a Committee foi' the HboTe-mentioned end, and to make return at onr next meeting. D. Goedabd, Pfiior."

f I find it mentioned aa standing in 1743. A friend describes it aa a low, one-stoiy boilding, twenty by twentyJ^wo feet. It was sold, in 1791, to Luther Word; who of the society resided in the northerly part of the town, their house was naturally located in that neighborhood. The spcit is one of much beauty; and if, as Whitney (in his History of the county) says, the house " is a very good one for their way of worship," - taken with its surroundings, it is singularly attractive to persons of a contemplative turn of mind. J'ew things in nature could be better fitted to soothe and harmonize the tired spirits of a busy week than the solemn stillness that reigns there of a calm sabbath morning in early summer, when nothing is heard but the rustling leaves of the foresttrees by which it is surrounded, and the pleasant notes of the birds that nestle in their branches.

The society was never numerous, but always embraced a large proportion of thriving, intelligent, order-loving members. In 1826, their number was about a hundred and thirty ; but, as already stated, so many have since that time removed from the town, especially to Worcester, that meetings are no longer held in their meeting-house. It stands as an historical monument ; and the ashes of some of the best citizens of the town, in their day, repose within the enclosure which surrounds it.

Episcopal Society

In 1823, a Protestant-Episcopal church and society were formed, in that part of the town now called Clappville, of families belonging to Leicester and Oxford (then called Oxford North Gore). Among these, Samuel Hartwell, Esq., James Anderton, Francis Wilby, and Hezekiah Stone, were the most active. A church was erected upon land given by the lastmentioned gentleman ; which was consecrated by Bishop Griswold on the last Wednesday of May, 1824.

remOTad it to the pines where it now atnnds, upon the Rutland Road, sonth of whera Barattrd Upliara formerly lived, at the intersection of whst was once called Tea Lane with ttiat road. It was fitted and oooapied as a dwelling-house by Mr. Ward.

BrownUniversity in 1821 ; studied theology at Andover ; and was admitted to orders by EisKop Griswold, in March, 1824. He married Ruth, a daughter of Joseph Washburn, Nov. 21, 1825; and their marriage was the first ever solemnized in a clmrch, in the county, according to the forms of Episcopal sei-vice. He left Leicester in 1827; and was subsequently rector of a church at Northampton, and in Saco, Me. ; afterwards a professor in Kenyon College, 0. ; and, for many years, rector of a church in Mount Vernon, 0. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Kenyon College.

Upon his removal from Leicester, the Rev. William Horton succeeded him in the ministry for two years. The Rev. Lot Jonea was then rector for four years ; Rev. Stephen Millet, one year; and Rev. Mr. Blacfcaller, foiir years. In 1838, Rev. Eleazer Greenleaf became rector for one year; when Rev. John T. Sabine succeeded him. After six months, Rev. William Withington became the rector, and remained nearly two years. In 1841, Rev. P. G. Putnam was rector for one year. In 1843, the Rev. Orange Clark, D.D., was rector for one year. The next five years, the Rev. James L. Scott filled the office ; and, since that time, the present incumbent, the Rev. J. Hill Rouse, has been the rector.

Unitaeian Society

In the autumn and winter of 1832-3, several famiUes in the town formed a Unitarian religious society, which was organized on the 13th April, 1833. The following year, they erected a neat and convenient house of worship. Aug. 13, 1834, the Rev. Samuel May was ordained over the church and society, and remained their pastor until July 12, 1846. Mr. May was a native of Boston ; was graduated at Harvard in 1829. He married a daughter of the Hon. Nathaniel P. Russell of Boston.

Ihstory Of Leicester

The society has at no time been numerous, and has been for a considerable part of the time, since the dismission of Mr. May, without any permanent preacher. Among those who have supplied its pulpit has been tlie Kev. Dr. Thompson, formerly settled hi Barre.

Previous to 1828, there were very few, if any, Methodists in the town. "With a pretty general acquaintance with the people, I am now unable to recall a single one. About 1841 and 2, an interest was awakened in the minds of many in favor of the views entertained by tliat denomination of Christians ; and, in October of the latter year, they began to hold meetings in the Town Hall. After this they continued to increase till they were able to erect (in 1846) two meetinghouses, - one in Cherry Valley, the other in the village of Leicester : the first being a Methodist Episcopal society ; the other, a Wesleyan-Methodist society. That in Cherry Valley was burned down in February, 1856; but soon after rebuilt. The ministers of the MethodistEpiscopal society have been - George Dunbar, J. T. Pettee, G. P. Pool, T. W. Lewis, D. Z. Kilgore, "W. B. Olds, Daniel Atkins, G. E. Chapman, J. W. P. Jordan, Albert Gould. Those of the Wesleyan- Methodist society: William C. Clark, Christopher C. Mason, David Mason, Simon E. Pike, J. A. Gibson, Thomas Williams, and Benjamin R. Bullock.

A still more remarlcable innovation upon the early religious notions and habits of the people was made by the erection of a Roman -Catholic church on the Great Post Eoad, about half a mile east of the village, in 1855.

My own memory goes back to a time, when, with the exception of an amusing and ingenious Scotch tailor, there was scarcely a single person of foreign birth in town. It is believed there was not one. The establishment of manufactories in town led to the introduction of a few (chiefly Englisli ) families, between 1815 and 1821 ; but I cannot recall a single Catholic resident of the town tiU many years after the period last mentioned.

The influx of a Catholic population of foreign birth within a few years past, many of whom are now freeholdera in the town, led to the erection of the church above mentioned for their accommodation.*

If we could imagine some of the early inhabitants of tlio town returning to their former homesteads, we could easily conjecture their surprise at hearing the shibboleth of a strange tongue around the very hearthstones where they once gathered their now scattered and almost forgotten households.

Happily, there seems to have been a disposition to yield without complaint to what, in our country, is regarded by many as the law of progress ; while the chief evil of these multiplied sects consists in weakening the disposition and ability to sustain either, in a manner suitable to the dignity and importance of the religious institutions of a people,

Perhaps no more proper connection than the present will present itself in which to introduce an interesting episode in the history of the town, - the residence here, for some years, of several families of Jews. It has not, however, any thing properly to do with the ecclesiastical affairs of the town; though these families brought with them, and scrupulously maintained while here, their peculiar forms of faith and worship.

several other families from the same neighborhood ; this being regarded a retired and healthy locality, where they might find a safe and hospitable retreat. I have heard the late venerable Thomas Roteh, jun., of New Bedford, - whose wife, then a yonng woman, had removed with her family from Newport to Leicester, - speafe with an interest, which nearly seventy years had not subdued, of the character of the town for hospitality and public spirit during the period of which I am speaking, and during which he more than once visited it. He spoke in terms of affectionate recollection of families with whom he then became acquainted, whose names, even, have now become matters of history only ; but to some of whom I shall have occasion to allude again, when I come to speak of the genera! history of the town.

Including their servants and slaves, of whom I have spoken in another place, the number of persons embraced in these families of Jews was about seventy. They were of Portuguese descent, as might be inferred from their names, - Lopez, Rivera, and Mendez.

Abraham Mendez lived, a part of the time, in the house opposite to where Mrs. Samuel Newhall now lives ; and a part of the time in the old house which stood at the foot of the Meeting-house Hill, where the house of the late Capt. Joshua Sprague now stands.

Jacob Rod Rivera lived in the house, which forms a part of the Hotel, opposite the Meeting-house. He purchased this estate, consisting of thirty-one acres of land, of Nathan Waite, in September, 1777 ; and, in his deed, is described as a merchant.

Five of the number bore the name of Lopez. The principal and head of the families of this name was Aaron Lopez, a man universally esteemed and respected by a wide circle of personal and business friends. He was a merchant of great wealth, and engaged extensively in trade while he resided in Leicester. He purchased the estate, afterwards occupied by the Academy, of Henry Bass of Boston, and Joseph Allen, Esq., of Leicester, Feb. 1, 1777 ; and erected thereon what called in that day "a large and elegant mansion," designed for a store as well as a dwelling-house. His stock of goods on hand, at the time of his death, exceeded twelve thousand dollars ; while his entire estate was valued at more than a hundred thousand dollars.

I give the boundaries of hia estate, which are described in his deed, as partly depicting the condition then of that portion of the village. It is said to be " on the north side of the Country Hoad, eastward of and neai- to the Meetinghouse : bounded southerly by the Country Road, six rods ; eastwardly, to a heap of stones ; then by the land of the Rev. Benjamin Conklin, &o., to a heap of stones on a rock ; then turning, &c., to a stake, and heap of stones, by the lane leading from the Meeting-house to the renmins of a house foi-merly possessed by Israel Parsons, deceased ; from thence bounded westerly by said iane in part, and partly by the iraining-Jield, to the south-east comer of the place whereon the old schoolhouse stood, - and containeth half an acre by measure, together with a dweUing-houae and shop situate thereon." He afterwards added a half-acre adjoining it, upon the east ; and these two constituted the estate which Col. Crafts and Col. Jacob Davis afterwards purchased, and gave to the Academy.

Mr. Lopez also owned other lands in Leicester; but none of these families engaged in agricultiire as a business. Mendez and Rivera, as well as Aaron Lopez, were traders, though to a much smaller extent. Moses Lopez and Jacob Lopez were clerks of Aaron ; as well as Joseph, his son, who was also a member of his family.

Though without a place of assembling for worship here, they rigidly observed the rites and requirements of their own laws, keeping Saturday as holy time ; but, out of regard to the sentiments of the people among whom they were

Though differing from their neighbors in matters of religious faith, they won the confidence and esteem of all by their upright and honorable dealing, the kindliness and courtesy of their intercourse, and the liberality and public spirit which they evinced as citizens.

They remained here until the ratification of peace in 1783 ; when, with the exception of Mr. Lopez, they returned to Newport, carrying with them the respect and kind regard of a community with which they had been intimately associated for six years.

No one of their contemporaries hero survives; but their residence was always spoken of, by such as had personally known them, as a matter of pleasant memory, which it is believed was reciprocated by those who had found here a pleasant home.f

The fate of Mr. Aaron Lopez was a melancholy one. I have spoken of him as a man of wealth and liberal views. He had been one of the merchant-princes of Newport, when that city commanded the foreign commerce of the country. After his removal to Leicester, his style of living was generous and hospitable ; and the furniture of his house, the plate upon his table, and the retinue of his servants, wore an air of magnificence among his less-endowed neighbors : but the cordiality of his manners and his liberal hospitality disarmed all cavil and envy on their part.

- I cannot forbear notioitig a very emnll, tiongh iHther important, typogi-aphical mlstoke of Uie printer, in pnbllBhirfi a brief history of tlie town in 1826. Tlia writer Imd spolten of the return of these families of Jens to Newport, and of their Bynngogue Ihere beinj: nnooonpiad, &o. By some accident, tlia "i" was dropped from tbe word fflws, BOBS to fix the locality of the synagogue "/lei'ef'-iuidinqnlrieslmve often been made by the cnrloas to aacevloin in what part of Leicester it was to ba found, t Mr. Rivera died at Newport in Februiiry, 1789.

carriage ; he in a " sulky," driven, of course, by himself. In Smithfield, the road passed close by the edge of Scott's Pond, so called, the shore of which is very abrupt, and the water, at a short distance, deep, Mr. Lopez, probably being unaware of the fact, allowed his horse to enter the water in order to drink; but, perceiving he was getting beyond his depth, sprung from the sulky into the water, and, being unable to swim, sank and perished, in view of his agonized and affrighted wife and children.

The following just tribute I copy from a paper of the day ; which, after noticing the circumstances of his death, adds, " Ho was a merchant of eminence, of polite and amiable manners. Hospitality and benevolence were his true characteristics. An ornament and a valuable pillar in the Jewish society of which he was a member. His knowledge in commerce was unboimded ; and his integrity, irreproachable. Thus he lived, and thus he died ; mach regi-otted, osteomed, and loved by all."

Source changes here: from A Brief History of Leicester, Massachusetts, by Coolidge, A. H. (Amos Hill), published 1890; 56,396 words in this source stream.

Massachusetts Preface

The brief history of Leicei<ter, contained in this volume, originally appeared in the " History of Worcester County," pul)lished in the spring of 1889, by J. W. Lewis & Co., of Philadeljihia. It was written under the disadvantage of such stringent limitations of space and time as were prescribed by the publishers of that work. In consequence of urgent haste in issuing the volumes, the time given for correction of proofs was altogether inadequate; and consequently some errors and misprints remained in the text, which would otherwise have been corrected. The whole sketch has now been carefully reviewed, some parts have been revised, and reprinted, and considerable additions have been made in an appendix.

In preparing the earlier history of the town, free use has been made of the "Historical Sketches of the Town of Leicester," and of the other historical researches of Governor Emory Washburn, as well as of Joseph A. Denny, Esq. To both of these gentlemen the town owes a debt of lasting gratitude for the preservation of facts, incidents, i-eminiscenccs and traditions, in which the town is peculiarly rich.

The writer has had access to the valuable revolutionary and other manuscripts in the possession of Miss Harriet E. Ilenshaw, to other documents and periodicals of the last century, and to historical volumes and pamphlets published since the issue of Washburn's History ; and has thus been .able to add something of interest even to the early history of the town. The later facts of our local history have been gathered from many individuals and sources.

The ecclesiastical history, though condensed, will be found, it is V)elieved, more complete and accurate than any hitherto published. In this part of the work the writer has had the generous and scholarly aid of the several clergymen and others, to whom credit is elsewhere given.

In that part of the work which relates to the Academy, and the public schools, free use has been made of the productions of Governor Washburn, Joseph A. Denny, Hon. W. W. Rice, Luther Wright and others, whose printed sketches are noticed in the body of the work. To this has been added a continuation of the history of the Academy, the schools, and the Public Library, to the present time.

The history of card manufacture and the town of Leicester are to a large extent identical, and no apology is necessary for the prominence given to an industry which has contributed so largely to the welfare of the place. The periods of grcatet^t prosperity in this business, were those of and following the wars of 1812 and 1861. By the aid of gentlemen in the business, or familiar with the story of its development, some valuable items have been added to the history of this interesting branch of manufacture.

The history of our woolen manufacture, now much the largest business in town, has never before been written. Through the active interest and co-operation of gentlemen now, or formerly, connected with the several firms, detailed statements have been secured in relation to the ten woolen mills in town, the annual products of which as shown from figures furnished by the different companies, amount to not far from 11,286,000.

No chapter of this history has been prepared with deeper interest, or more careful search and comparison of authorities, than that which relates to the part which Leicester and Leicester men bore in the Civil War. The aim has been to gather, before it should be too late, whatever facts relating to this subject could be gleaned from various sources ; and, as far as could be aSicertained, to place on record, and preserve for posterity, the name of every man who enlisted from, or for Leicester. After the lapse of a quarter of a century, it is probably impossible to make such a list complete. In the earlier years of the war, the assignment of enlisted men was confused ; and the lists and records both of the state Jind the town are incomplete. The results as secured in this history, have been attained only by careful and laborious examination, and comparison of town reports, the record of soldiers and officers in the military and naval service, lists of soldiers and families receiving state aid, enlistment papers, regimental and other histories, papers of the time, stateu.ents of soldiers and personal recollections. The private journal of Joseph A. Denny, Esq., kindly loaned by the family, has been especially serviceable. Not only the writer, but the public, are indebted to Capt. J. D. Cogswell and H. A. White, Esq., whose labors in rectifying the lists and records of soldiers, and obtaining facts, have been unremitting and who have rendered important aid in the preparation of tliis part of the history. It is hoped that its publication will, by calling attention to the subject, lead to still further verification and amplification.

The work of gathering these materials, and setting them in order, for this history, has been a labor of love, only feebly expressive of appreciative gratitude to those whose patriotic devotion, sacrifices, lieroism and sufferings contributed to the preservation of our union and our liberties.

The character and limits of the original sketch did not admit any endeavor to trace the geneologies of the several families in town, nor to dwell much upon the lives of individuals, except as they came in contact with affairs of public interest.

It should be understood that the writer is not in any way responsible for the selection of those whose portraits and sketches are found in the closing pages of the history. These were introduced by special arrangement of the publishers with the individuals themselves, or with their friends. They add to the value of the volume, but there have l^een, and are other citizens of the town who are worthy of similar notice.

In collecting the materials for this history, the writer has been dependent upon the generous aid of many individuals. He is especially indebted to Dr. Pliny Earle whose friendly assistance from the first, has been of invaluable service ; and whose direct communications add much to the interest of the record.

The work is now presented to the people of Leicester, as a small contribution to the history of a community which has, from the first, held an honorable position among the New England towns.

tors was increased to twenty-two. They were men of wealth and influence, and some of them were owners of large tracts of land in other towns of Central Massachusetts. None of them ever settled in Leicester. The purchase was a pecuniary investment, but was also designed to encourage the speedy settlement of the province.

The speculative venture was, however, for a long time unremunerative, and Towtaid remained for almost twenty-seven years an unbroken wilderness. The period was unpropitious for interior settlement, and it was well that none was undertaken. Leicester was thus saved from perils and horrors to which other towns were subjected, while her primeval forests waited in silence for more peaceful occupation. Under the influence of the Christian religion, the Nipmuck Indians had become a peaceable and friendly people ; but upon the outbreak of King Phillip's War, they became divided and broken. That wily and powerful chief came among them, and by persuasions and threats, and by the torce of his fiery eloquence, won a portion of them to his cause. Many of them remained true to their English neighbors ; but others followed their great leader. Their savage instincts were reawakened, they took the warpath, and brought disaster and ruin to the scattered settlements. In this, and the successive French and Indian Wars, all the earlier settlements of Central Massachusetts were broken up. Worcester was twice attacked, and the colonists killed or driven out. Lancaster was burned, and its people massacred. Brookfield suftered the same fate ; and the interesting colony of Huguenots in Oxford, were attacked, and forced to abandon their homes, their vineyards, their church and the burial-place of their dead.

There was little encouragement in circumstances so adverse to seek homes on the bleak hills of Leicester, in the heart of the Indian territory.

After the close of the French war in 1713, measures were taken to make the grant available. The original deed was recorded March 8th, 1713-14. The title had been confirmed by the General Court, February 15th, with the usual conditions, that portions of the land should be reserved for the Gospel ministry, and for a school, and that within seven years fifty families should settle themselves, with reasonable provision for self-defence, on a part of the land. This was a virtual, and indeed is the only, act of incorporation of the town of Leicester.

The early English explorers found on Leicester hill a luxuriant growth of strawberries, and therefore gave the place the name of Strawberry Hill, which it had hitherto retained. It now received the name of Leicester, and was assigned to Middlesex County. It was on the 23d day of the same month that the number of proprietors was increased from nine to twenty-two. At this meeting the proprietors voted to offer one-half of the town to settlers, and chose a committee, consisting of Colonel William

Dudley, Captain Joshua Lamb, Captain Thomas Howe and Captain Samuel Ruggles, to determine which half should be opened for settlement, and which should be reserved for later and more advantageous sale. They decided to offer for occupation the eastern half. On the 14th day of May the allotment was made ; and the next day the committee came to Leicester to locate the lots. In June the township was, by order of the General Court, surveyed by John Chandler, "to fix the bounds."

Fifty "house-lots," of from thirty to fifty acres each, were laid out, and sold for one shilling an acre, with " after rights " of one hundred acres for each ten acres of " house-lot/' Thus the purchaser secured a farm of five hundred and fifty acres for fifty shillings. The lots were to be settled in three years or forfeited for the benefit of the public. One lot of forty acres wa.^ to be reserved for the ministry, one of one hundred acres for schools, and three lots of thirty acres each for mills.

Special grants were also made of seven and a half acres of "meadow,'' to each lot, for "feed." These meadows were evidently regarded as of special value ; but the event has proved that the hilly ridges and slopes are more productive. The cedar swamps were left undivided.

The lots were numbered, and the purchasers drew for choice. The first choice was drawn by John Stebbins. He chose the lot on Strawberry Hill, on which the house of Rev. Samuel May now stands. Here the first house in town was probably built.

At a meeting of the proprietors, held July 23, 1722 a committee of the proprietors was appointed to convey deeds to those who had complied with the terms of purchase. The deed itself was not, however, executed till January 11, 1724, (0. S.), more than fortyseven years after the purchase of the town. It was recorded November 29, 1729.

These men and their families, and those who had already joined them, together with those who soon afterward united their fortunes with the infant colony, were the founders of Leicester. Some of them were men of superior quality. To the hardships and toils of these pioneer families, to their intellectual and moral character and their Christian fortitude, the town is largely indebted for its prosperity and its worthy standing and honorable history.

The settlement of the place began soon after the allotment was made. In a few instances the purchasers engaged families to hold the lots for them, but others took direct possession.

According to early traditions, the first inhabitants found upon their arrival a solitary hermit, named Arthur Carey, living on the hill which from him was named Carey's Hill. Whitney, in his County History, states that he " went thither and digged a cave in the side of this hill, and lived there as a hermit many years, while that part of the country was in its wilderness state." What were his feelings wlien his solitude was disturbed* by the approach of civilization no one now can tell, nor what had been the romance or the tragedy of his life, nor why he had retired from the world and buried himself in the lonely forest.

Leicester was then an unbroken wilderness. Worcester was just beginning, for the third time, to be resettled. There was no settlement of whites, except Brookfield, between Leicester and the Connecticut Kiver. Bears and wolves and wild-cats and moose and other wild beasts roamed undisturbed in the forests, and ihe place was infested with serpents. The dams and curious homes of the beaver were long afterward visible in the meadows. There were, as late as 1740, pits for the capture of wolves; and the names "Moose Hill," "Raccoon Hill" and "Rattlesnake Hill" are suggestive of realities familiar to the early inhabitants, while " Bald Hill " stood peculiar as a tract of land which had been already cleared.

The first town-meeting of which there is any record was on March 6, 1721-22, although meetings had evidently been held for two or three years previously. A meeting-house had already been built. Judge John Menzes.had served the town in the General Court the year before, and was re-elected the two succeeding years. He declined any remuneration for his services, "being fully satisfied and paid." The precedent thus established was so popular that when, in 1724, a successor was to be elected, it was voted that whoever should be chosen "should be paid the same as Judge Menzes and no other." Lieutenant Thomas Newhall was then elected "to serve on the above conditions."

At the first recorded town-meeting Samuel Green was chosen moderator, first selectman, first assessor and grand juror. The town offices then were the same as those now filled at town-meeting. Two tithingmen were also elected to keep order in the meetinghouse.

At first the families were sheltered in rude loghouses. The first impression which one of these houses made upon the mind of a little child is indicative of their outward aspect. Daniel Henshaw came to Leicester about thirty-four years after its first settlement to take possession of a house already built for the family. The household goods had been moved from Boston on an ox-cart. As the family approached the house, by the narrow cart-path, the little daughter exclaimed "Oh, father, this is Leicester jail, isn't it?" In this household was a dog, named Hero, which came with the family from Boston. There was then no regular means of communication with the outside world, and Hero was for several years the mail-carrier of the family. Receiving verbal instructions as to his destination, he hastened at a rapid pace to Boston, with letters fastened to his neck, delivered them as directed, and after rest and refreshment returned with letters to the home friends.

In February and March of 1717, when there were only a few families here, and these were provided with hardly more than temporary shelters, the whole of New England was visited with a series of snow storms of almost unparalleled severity. For several weeks no mails could reach Boston, and when they came they were brought by men on snow-shoes. The low houses were covered so that in some cases the chimneys could not be seen. Families for days were prisoners in their own houses, and first made their exit from the attic windows. Many domestic animals perished, and some were said to have been rescued alive weeks afterward. After the storm ceased, cattle could be seen walking over drifts twelve feet deep, and feeding upon twigs on the tops of trees. Such was the welcome of these hills to the men and women who settled Leicester.

It was not far from this time that Dr. Thomas Green, then a boy of eighteen years, was left alone, in the summer, in charge of his father's cattle. Attacked with a fever, he sheltered himself under a shelving rock, by the stream on which his father's mill afterward stood. Here, alone in the wilderness, his shrewdness saved him. He tied one of the calves within reach, and as the cow came to it, nourished himself with her milk. In this distressing condition he remained till found by passing laud-owners, in the vicinity. They hastened on to inform his friends. His father at once came and removed him back to Maiden, on horseback - a four days' journey.

The progress of the settlement for many years was slow. Its location was isolated, and the people, on their scattered farms, must have been lonely in the extreme. Expected and unexpected difficulties opposed their prosperity. The soil was hard and cold, although in many parts rich and strong. They cut down the forests and cleared the fields, they were busy "breaking stubble," "ditching meddows," "splitting ye hills," and making roads. They struggled with rocks, and winds, and snow, and sufiercd from cold, the degrees of which there were no thermometers to mark. Portions of the town were infested with rattlesnakes, and as now there were various enemies to vegetation. A bounty of " Six Pence pr. lied " was voted by the town " for killing Battel Snakes." In one year, nearly a quarter of a century after the incor- poration of the town, Benjamin Richardson received eleven shillings as a bounty for killing twenty-eight rattlesnakes; and in 1740 the town paid in bounties forty-one pounds and three pence "for killing rattlesnakes, jays, red and gray squirrels, red-headed woodpeckers, and black birds," and even then there were " pits '' for the capture of wolves.