History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

408 HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
February 4, 1C96, was accepted by tlie town.
Eev. Henry Gibbs, who . had been employed as
pastor for the town prior to the building of the
new house, declined to accept the new order of
things, and continued to preach in the old build-
ing. All attempts at compromise proving not
only abortive, but apparently more embittering,
the new society called the Eev. Samuel Angier to
officiate for them, and being by recognition of the
local and colonial authorities Ifie church, they en-
deavored to secure the records which properly
became theirs. In the first measure they were
successful, and Mr. Angier was duly ordained; in
the second they were not, and the records were still
retained by the seceding organization. Mr. Angier
was fully settled May 25, l"697.
On the 4th of November, 1713, the General
Court passed an order that " whereas ministers of
the Middle Precinct had been supported by volun-
tary subscription," it was directed that the charges
of supporting the ministers and repairing the meet-
ing-houses be borne by each congregation sepa-
rately. Furthermore, that both precincts should
bear the expense of removing the Middle meeting-
house to such a site as that precinct should deter-
mine. This order was treated contemptuously by
the majority of the town, and the General Court,
in a burst of indignation at this act of rebellion,
passed a supplementary resolve that the town
should forfeit £50 for non-fulfilment of the order
of November 4. This resolve the council nonconcurred
in, and a committee consisting of Sam-
uel Sewall, Benjamin Lynde, and John Clark, Esq.,
was appointed to consider the subject. What conclusion
they came to we do not know.
On the ]-"5th of May, 1715, the town passed a
vote " to build a meeting-house for the accommo-
dation of tlir inhabitants of the most westerly part
of the town." The former West or Farmers'
Precinct having been incor])oratcd as Weston, that
part of the town now called Waltham had become
the most western division. The vote was not,
however, carried into effect, and in Si|)l( inbrr of
the same year the Eastern Precind priiiioiiiii the
(ienernl Court for separation.
Ill 1719 Mr. Angier died, ;ind \v;is burud in
Ihe iiiirial-ground set olV lo Wahliam, and now
called (irove Hill Cemeterv.
In November, 1730, Joshua Katcn ami forty-
eight others of the West i'recinct prcsciilrd a peti-
tion lo the (inii'i-al Cdiii-t, slating that l.v iva,M,n of
doubt aboiil the disisn.n line assoMiiciits e(iuld
not be legally made in accordance with the court's
order of the 4th of November, 1712, and they prayed
that the line might be located. A similar petition
was sent by Nathaniel Priest and others of the
East Precinct. A committee was appointed, consisting
of Isaac Winslow, John Cushing, and Sam-
uel Thaxter, of the council; and John Clark,
William Dudley, John Chandler, and William
Throop, of the house ; and the line, which was
surveyed by Thaxter, is described as starting from
the Charles River, running "on a north course
forty-nine degrees east," and ending at the south-
western bounds of wliat is now Arlington (see
Francis' Jl/sfun/). The report, dated December
17, 1720, further recommends " that the West
Meeting-house be removed within two years to a
spot about twenty rods west of Nathaniel Liver-
more's house, and that the old, or East Meetinghouse
be moved or a new one built on School-House
Hill," the West Precinct to pay its proportion for
removing or rebuilding the eastern house. Tliis
report was concurred in by botli branches of tlie
General Court. On the 24th of April, 1721, the
town voted to comply with the recommendation of
the committee.
The ecclesiastical divisions between the two pre-
cincts were now practically settled. After the
death of Mr. Angier the western meeting-house
had quite a succession of ministers before any per-
son became ])ermanently settled. Of these were
Rev. Hezekiah Gold, Rev. Timothy Miiuiet, and,
according to Mr. Francis, Rev. ^Ir. Gibson and
Rev. Robert Sturgeon. It would seem, however,
that Mr. Francis must be in error in regard to
Mr. Sturgeon, for the General Court, in November,
17:2:2, ac.usrs l;,,l,rrl .Siurg.on of Hoston of behig
privately (Uilaiued to a " pretended middle church,''
and the court appointed a committee which recommended
that when the new West meeting-house
was erected, the middle one be demolished or re-
moved, and that the eastern one be moved or a
new one built. In case the town did not remove
or demolish the Middle meeting-house, it was .
recommended that the sherilf be directed to do so.
The report further says that Sturgeon had been
rebuked by t « o eoiiiicils, and advises, that in case
he persists iu his course, the attorney-general be
ordered to proseeute him. This report was con-
sented to.
Leaving now the (piarivl of the eliurehes, we
eoiiie to the third, the final, and on that aeeonnt
perhaps the principal, cause of the complete with-