History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

" 1861. Tlie first legal town-meeting to act
upon matters relating to the war was held on the
29th of April, and it being expected that the Wadsworth
Rifle Guards, — the same being Company B
of the Second Battalion Massachusetts Volunteer
Militia, — belonging to Sudbury, would be called
into active service, it was voted to furnish a new
uniform and a revolver to each private and non-
commissioned officer, and a sword to each of the
commissioned officers ; also to pay each member
while in active service an amount which, added to
government pay, would make twenty dollars a
month ; also ' that the families of those who may
leave shall be furnished with all necessary assist-
ance at the expense of the town, and their business
shall be cared for by the town, and not allowed to
sutler by their absence.'
" 18G:2. July 38, VoIpJ to ])ay each volunteer
who shall enlist in the military service for three
years, and be credited to the quota of the town, a
bounty of $125." The number required was four-
teen, iind tlie selectmen were instructed to eidist
the men, and to provide, at the ex])ense of the
town, for any sick or wounded volunteer belonging
to Sudbury. August 19, the bounty to volun-
teers for nine months' service was fixed at §100.
1863, December 7, tlie selectmen were authorized
"to use all legal and proper means to fill the
town's quota, in compliance with tlie call of the
President, dated Oct. 17, 186:}, for three hundred
thousand men." 1861, June 4, it was voted to raise
a sufficient amount of money to pay a bounty of
§125 to each volunteer who shall enlist and be
credited to the quota of Sudbury, in anticipation
of any subsequent call of the President for more
men. This amount of bounty was continued to be
paid until the close of the war.
" Sudbury furnished one Iiundred and sixty-eight
men for tlie war, which was a surplus of eleven
over and above all demands. Four were commis-
sioned officers. Tiie whole amount of money aj)-
propriated and expended by the town on account of
tlie war, exclusive of state aid, was seventeen thousand
five hundred and seventy-five dollars. The
amount of money raised and expended by the town
during tlie war for state aid to soldiers' families
and repaid by the commonwealth, was §6,199.18."
Ecclesiastical Wsiori/. — The First Church was
organized in 1640, but four years after the plant-
ing of the First Church in Cambridge, which is
tlie oldest Congregational Church in Middlesex
SUDBUEY. 371
next. Eev. Edmund Brown was the first pastor, being
inducted into office at the time the church was or-
ganized. Mr. Brown was a man of rare excellence,
able, discreet, and a sound preacher. The first meet-
ing-house was erected in 1642, and was located on
the east side of the river, in tlie old burying-ground.
It was a rude structure, and was built by Sergeant
John Rutter for the sum of £6, to be paid in
articles of produce. It was 30 X 20 feet, and 6
feet high, having four windows with three lights
apiece, and two windows with four lights each.
It was without floor or seats for two or three years.
The second meeting-house was built on the site of
the first, was 40 X 25 feet, and 12 feet high, —a
framed house designed for galleries. This meeting-
house served not only as the place of public worship,
but as a town-house and arsenal. In front of it was
an arrangement for punishing criminals, and in the
time of King Philip's War it was surmounted with
a stockade, and so answered the purpose of a forti-
fication. This building remained thirty-four years,
when it was sold, except the seats, for £6.
Mr. Brown died January 22, 1678, and was
succeeded by Mr. James Sherman. The third
pastor was Rev. Israel Loring, a man eminent in
all the region as a powerful preacher. Mr. Loring
died in the ninetieth year of his age, and the sixty-
sixth of his ministry. lie died on Tuesday, and
would have preached on the Sabbath immediately
preceding, but for the ])rovidential arrival on Satur-
day of a brother. On Monday, the day before his
death, he opened town-meeting with prayer.
This story of him is well authenticated : He had
refused to baptize children born on Sunday. At
length Mrs. Loring gave birth to twins on the
Lord's Day, when Mr. Loring publicly confessed his
error, and in due time administered the ordinance
to his own Sabbath-born children.
In 1722, eighty-two years after its organization,
the church was divided, when Mr. Loring took
charge of the new church on the west side of the
river, which, with the consent of those who remained
on the east side, was designated the First Church,
and the parish, the First Parish in Sudbury.
There are now three places of public worship in
Sudbury, located in the centre of the town, belong-
ing, in order, to the old First Society, which is Uni-
tarian, to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and to
the Orthodox, designated as the Union Evangelical
Church.
The Goodiimv Li.hran/ is a great centre of in-
County, the First Church in Sudburv being the terest and profit in Sudbury. It now has on its