History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

uot desirable ueiglibor, also complained of them
" for acts of Witchcraft by them Committed on iiis
negro Woman." Captain John Floyd was also
arrested and committed to prison. Fortunately
the delusion spread no farther here, and the accused
were set at liberty in the general jail-delivery which
followed.
In 1695 a division of the town commons, con-
sisting of about twenty-three hundred acres, was
made among seventy-four freeholders. In this
division a large part of the present town of Melrose
became proprietary land, and many lines then laid
down may still be recognized.
On Sunday morning, June 10, 1705, Rev.
Michael Wigglesworth " Finnished His Work and
Entre"* Apon an Eternal Sabbatli of Eest." Of his
characteristics as a poet I have before spoken.
That he was offered the presidency of Harvard Col-
lege evinces the esteem in which he was held by
his contemporaries. His sermons were marked by
a modest, though energetic, clearness of thought,
which, joined to the natural polish of his manners,
made him to be respected and beloved by his peo-
ple; and his memory long remained fragrant in
the town and church, and outlived the generation
of those who had known him. Within tlie memory
of the living his name has been a sacred one in
many families. As a physician lie is mentioned as
" attending the Sick, not only in his own Town,
but also in all those of the Vicinity " ; and, on his
gravestone, he is styled " Mauldens Physician For
Soul And Body Two."
After the death of Mr. Wigglesworth the spirit
of strife again revived. At times the town refused
to raise money for the ministry, and at others failed
to concur with the church in the choice of a pastor.
The civil power again interfered in the ecclesiastical
affairs of the towTi ; and it was not until the fall of
1708, after nine ministers had been considered as
candidates for the pulpit of Wigglesworth, that the
town and church were able to come to a " loving
Agreem'" in the choice of Mr. David Parsons.
Even this was not a unanimous act ; for twelve freemen
entered their dissent to the " procedens," for
the reason that, by order of the court, negotiations
had been entered upon with Mr. Thomas Tufts, and
the town M'as not " abl to mantain two ministers
at once." Mr. Parsons, however, was settled, and
remained here nearly twelve years. He was an ec-
centric man, of strong passions and a quarrelsome
temper; and his labors in Maiden do not appear
to have been altogether peaceful. His departure.
MALDEN. 121
in 1721, was preceded by a dismissal. He became
the first minister of Leicester, whose people expressed
their utter unworthiness of " so great a Blessing ";
but the fourteen years of his settlement with them
was a period of bitter strife. He died in Leicester
in 1743. The curse which went with liim through
life might almost seem to have followed him to a
not honored grave. The mound beneath which
he was laid to rest was long since broken by the
plough ; and the stone which alone remains as his
memorial is utihzed as the cover of a chimney ash-
hole. The removal of Mr. Parsons was attended
by that of many of his younger parishioners ;
and
the names of Green, Lyiide, Waite, Newhall, Sar-
geant, Whittemore, and others of Maiden origin
still remain in Leicester.
The church and town were not long in filling the
place left vacant by Mr. Parsons. Tliey very soon
concurred, on the same day, in the choice of one
who, like Mr. Wigglesworth, was to pass with tliem
a long and useful life. Joseph Emerson was born
at Chelmsford, April 20, 1700, and entered Harvard
College at the early age of thirteen years. He
was graduated in 1717, and at that time "began to
preach to general acceptance." Having spent four
years in teaching and preaching at various places,
he was ordained at Maiden, October 31, 1721.
Here he labored nearly forty-six years; and such
was his rare good health and strength tiiat, during
this long period, he was absent from his pulpit but
two Sabbaths. During his pastorate a long and
bitter dissension, resulting in a division, occurred
in his parisli ; but he so lived that " he was not
reproached by any as being the cause." He died
suddenly in 1767. The town record thus quauitly
pays a tribute to his memory : " The Eev. Joseph
Emerson consort to Mrs. Mary Emerson who had
been in the judgment of charity a faithful minister
here, and that for the space of forty and five years
Deceased in the evening of tlie \'i day of July
1767, very soon after lying down to sleep who was
cheirly and in health before." On his gravestone
he is called " learned, pious, and faithful " ; and
one who writes of him says, " He was just, amiable,
kind, and benevolent." The record of his life pre-
sents, no points of interest to the careless observer;
but those wiio love the simple, earnest, and faithful
lives of the clergy of the colonial period will find
mucii that will refresh them therein. Like the most
of his contemporaries, he was strongly attached to
the doctrines of Calvin, winch he made to hold no
secondary place in liis sermons. He looked upon