Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

I ties
I passed
I Granted
1 Brewer,
I deced,
I in
, ten
SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1S86. 215
man, who, it may be inferred, was loved more for his parish work
than his sermonizing. The congregation was bound to him by strong
of personal regard. In December, 1733, these two votes were
: —
a hundred and forty pounds for the sallary of Revn'i M'' Daneill
deced this year, to be paid to tlie administrators of his estate.
Voted and granted to the ifamily of the Late Kevn*! M"" Daneill Brewer,
the sum of sixty pounds in consideration of the Late extraordinary charg
their sickness, and that the same be paid to the widow, Katharine Brewer, for
that end.
Mrs. Brewer's name is mentioned in a curious order made nearl}^
years before : —
Voted y^ precincts committee take care that M'"* Brewers pew be brought
out even with M''. Pynchou's pew.
Nine new men were selected to seat the meeting-house in 1726,
headed by Deacon Munn ;
but " three or four of the men saying they
would not medle with it, it was voted that five or six of the s'' com-
mittee may seat the meeting house."
"We have said that to all appearances the " elder parish" was in
a prosperous condition at the death of Rev. Daniel Brewer. There
were deep elements of discord, however, which needed but little prov-
ocation to rise to the surface. This remark refers to the whole com-
monwealth. The first half of the eighteenth century is often looked
upoit as uneventful in comparison with the fiery days of the Revolu-
tionary period. But it was an age of transitions that is of intense
interest to the student. Whether for good or evil, there was in prog-
ress a tremendous revolution, — political, social, and religious.
" New England has been at the best always too faulty in that very
character, — a province very talkative and ingenious for the vilifying
of its publick servants," complained Cotton Mather, whose quick eye