History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

388 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
was the first pastor of tlie Orthodox Congrega-
tional Church of Christ in Townsend ; Harvard,
1827 ; Andover Theological Seminary, 1830 ; ordained
February 16, 1831 ; dismissed at his own
request, July, 1830.
Rev. Columbus Siiumvvay, the second pastor,
graduated at Union College; received his theo-
logical education at Auburn ; was installed, June,
1836; and dismissed, April, 1837.
Eev. David Stowell, third pastor; Dartmouth,
1829; was installed, June, 1837; dismissed,
August, 1843. Eev. Luther H. Siieldon, fourth
pastor; Middlebury College, 1839 ;
Andover Theo-
logical Seminary, 1842 ; ordahied, 1844 ; dismissed
at liis own request, 1856. Eev. Elias W. Cook,
fifth pastor; Yale, 1837; installed, 1858; dis-
missed, 1859. Eev. Moses Patten, sixth pastor;
Dartmouth, 1850; Andover Tlieological Seminary,
1855 ; ordained, 1860 ; dismissed, 1863. Eev.
John C. Hutcliinson, acting pastor from 1863 to
1866. Eev. George Wdliaras, seventh pnstor; in-
stalled, 1867; dismissed, 1869. Rev. George H.
Morss ; Andover Theological Seminary, 1857 ;
acting pastor from 1869 to 1873. Eev. Henry C.
Fay, Amherst College, 1851; Bangor Theological
Seminary, 1857 ;
acting pastor from 1873 to 1876.
Eev. Albert P. Newton, eighth pastor : Dartmouth,
1874; Andover Theological Seminary, 1877; or-
dained, September 5, 1877 ;
the present incumbent.
There is nothing particularly wortiiy of record
concerning the educational history of tiiis town,
except, perhaps, a notice of the Female Seminary
and Townsend Academy, both of whicli were in
active operation here tliirty years ago. In 1839,
m\ petition of Levi Warren of tliis town, and
certain other gciith'Tncn of Boston and Newton,
of the Baptist faith, a charter of incorporation was
granted by tiie General Court to the Townsend
West Village Female Seminary. The grantees
erected a large and commodious building at
West Townsend, and furnished it with appara-
tus for illustrating the sciences, together with a
library of several hundred volumes. The trustees
were fortunate in their ciioice of a principal at
tiie opening of tlie institution. A competent corps
of assistant teachers was employed, and it became
a first -class seminary, and was extensively |)at-
ninizrd, |)arlicularly by pe(i])lc ol' the i?,i])tist
dcii(.iniii;ition. This large schndl \v;is a great
benclii to West Townsend. It \vm\ uninterrupted
])r()sp(;rity till about IS.'il, whin, from several
causes, but especi;illy from a dillercnce among
the trustees themselves, it lost its popularity and
influence, and was discontinued.
The people at the centre of the town, in 1840,
under the lead of Eev. David Stowell, feeling that
West Townsend was becoming a rival of their
own village, assembled, and agreed to build an
academy by subscription. Tiirough contributions
of lumber, money, and labor, a building of suita-
ble dimensions was erected at the centre of the
town, and opened for academical purposes in
1841. For five or six years afterwards a good
number of scliolars of both sexes were in attend-
ance at this academy. After that time the income
from tuition fees was found to be inadequate to
support a principal, and the doors of the build-
ing were closed. Both of these buildings were
afterwards purchased by the town and used for
school-houses.
Townsend has produced its full share of profes-
sional men who have gone out from its borders
and made themselves homes elsewhere. Seventeen
Townsend men have graduated at New England
colleges. Their names are as follows : John
Hubbard, D. C, 1785 ; Abraham Butterfield,
D. C, 1796; Daniel Adams, D. C, 1797; Jos-
William Farmer, H. U.,
eph Walker, B. C, 1818 ;
1819 ; John Stevens, Middlebury, 1821 ; Joel
Giles, H. U., 1829; John Graham, Amherst,
1829 ; John Giles, H. U., 1831 ; Charles Brooks,
Y. C, 1853; Warren Brooks, H. U., 1855; Mark
Davis, D. C, 1856 ; Charles Thaddeus Haynes,
Amherst, 1862; John Milton Proctor, D. C, 1863 ;
Eandall Spaulding, Y. C, 1870; Eliel Shumway
Ball, D. C, 1874; Wayland Spaulding, Y. C,
1874.
Daniel Adams, the most noted man born in
Townsend, graduated at Dartmouth College in
1797 ; took his medical degree at the same insti-
tution in 1799; was associate editor of a newspaper
at Leominster in 1801; published The
Scholar's Arithmetic in 1808, and The Uiider-
slanding Reader in 1810; was a member of the
New Hampsliire Historical Society in 1822, and
president of the New Hampshire Medical Society
in 1823; published Adams' New Arithmetic in
1828, and The Monitorial Reader in 1841.
He was for some time a jirnetieal jiliysician and
surgeon at Moinil Vern.ui, Xrw Hampshire. He
afterward movrd to Kceiic. wlirrr lie resided
more than half a century, and wliere he publisiied
most of his works. Ilis books had an extensive
circulation through tlie common schools and acad-