History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

families in this town. In 1827 the number of I
persons of that faith had increased so much under
the labors of Eev. Benjamin Dean, that a church
consisting of twelve members was organized at
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West Townsend. In 1834 a tasteful and commodious
meeting-house was built at that village,
From this commencement to the present time the
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denomination has received aid from the Domestic I
Baptist Missionary Society. The names of the
ministers who followed Mr. Dean in succession are
Eev. Caleb Brown, Rev. .James Barnaby, Eev. Oren
Tracy, Rev. Charles W. Reding, Rev. W. C. Rich-
ards, Rev. Caleb Blood, Rev. F. G. Brown, Rev.
Lester Williams, Rev. E. A. Battell, R«v. George W.
Ryan, Rev. Willard P.Upham, Rev. Oren K. Hunt,
and Rfiv. William R. Thompson, who is the present
pastor. The church has never been large, but there
has been much unanimity among its members.
The Unitarians, holding possession of the meet-
ing-house in 1830, had considerable numerical
strength, but none of them made profession of
religion or belonged to any church. The desideratum
with them was "liberal preaching." In 1831
they took the name of the First Parish in Towns-
end, and employed Rev. Warren Burton for their
preacher, who remained about a year. He was an
eloquent speaker, and a man of good ability. Mr.
Burton was followed by Rev. Jesse C^liickering till
about 1836, w-hen Rev. Ezekiel L. Bascom commenced
preaching, and during that year he gathered
a church consisting of rather more than twenty members.
He was a plausible writer and speaker. He
graduated at Dartmouth in 1798, and died in 1841.
In the autumn of 1836 Linus H. Shaw (Har-
vard Divinity School, 1833) received a call for a
settlement with the First Parish, which he ac-
cepted, and he was installed on the 21st of De-
cember following. The mantle of the founder of
this church did not fall on this young pastor ; for
although he was a gentleman of unsullied moral
character, a good thinker, and a writer of respect-
able talents, he was never popular either with his
church or congregation. Unless making thorough
preparation and committing his thoughts to writ-
ing, his efforts in public were always failures.
After a pastorate of about two years his connection
with this parish was dissolved. From that time
until 1852 the Unitarians had no settled minister,
and but httle preaching. In 1769, by the legacy
of Amos Whitney, a valuable farm, located near
the meeting-house, was given to the town for a
parsonage. .
This farm legally came into the pos-
TOWNSEND. 3S7
session of the Unitarians, and was sold by them.
They also sold the old meeting-house, except the
bell] to the Methodists in 1852. In 1854 they
built a meeting-house at the Harbor, and employed
Rev. Stillman Barber for their minister. Tliis
gentleman remained with them about two years, at
the end of which time no funds were raised for his
support. From 1856 to the present time "the
First Parish in Townsend" has existed only in
name.
In 1850, and for about two years after, the
Methodists were listening to the stirring appeals
of two earnest clergymen, — Rev. Horace Moultou
and Eev. Samuel Tupper, who laid the foundation
for a Methodist church in this town. As before
mentioned, the Methodists bought the old meeting-
house of the Unitarians in 1852. Tiiis denomina-
tion has supported preaching and weekly religious
meetings since its inauguration. Much interest
from time to time has been manifested by the ])eo-
ple of this sect. In 1876 the church received
sixty-eight new members, — the result of a revival
conducted by I. T. Johnson, the evangelist. The
names and order of succession of the pastors of
this church are as follows : Rev. Horace Moulton,
Eev. Samuel Tupper, Eev. Pliny Wood, Eev.
Windsor Ward, Eev. J. A. Ames, Eev. T. B.
Tread well, Eev. A. F. Bailev, Eev. W. P. Webster,
Eev. C. H. Hanaford, Eev. S. K. Bailey, Eev.
Burtis Judd, Eev. E. A. Howard, Eev. A. K.
Howard, Eev. T. E. Tisdale, Rev. Erastus Bur-
lingham, Rev. A. W. Baird, Rev. W. E. Dwight,
and Rev. Daniel Atkins, the present pastor.
The Universalist Eestorationists formed a Soci-
ety in 1839, at West Townsend, and Eev. Joiin
Pierce, a young man of good abilities, was em-
ployed as their minister. In 1848 the society
built the brick meeting-house at West Townsend,
which was dedicated January 25, 1849. The
Eestorationists never formed a church in Townsend,
nor have they sustained preaching here more
than one third of the time since their church edifice
was built. The names of the ministers of this
society are John Pierce, Stillman Clark, Varnum
Lincoln, E. J. Chapman, and C. C. Clark.
For the last fifty years the Congregationalists
have been the most numerous, wealthy, and influ-
ential religious sect in town. In 1830 they built
the brick church edifice at the east of the Park, in
the centre of the town, and selected a young man of
first-class education and talents for their pastor.
Eev. William M. Eogers, a native of England,