History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts - citizen hylbom blog

50; HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
for several years. He was ordained pastor of a
church at Jackson, Waldo Co., Maine, September
1(5, 1812, but owing to dissatisfaction witli liis views
on tiie part of a portion of his people, he being a
liberal of the old school, his pastoral relation con-
tinued only about ten years. He continued to re-
side in tiie town teaching and fanning, while a strong
constitution prolonged his days and a cheerful tem-
perament " sustained him under the privations of
straitened circumstances." He died Jaimary 7,
1856, aged eighty-eight.
Isaac Allen, born October 31, 1771, was the
youngest of liis father's family. Two of his broth-
ers served during the Revolutionary War, and one
of them was engaged in the battle of Bunker Hill.
At the age of thirteen he received an injury from a
fall on the ice whicii crippled him for life. He in-
tended to learn the trade of a carpenter, but finding
himself unable to endure bodily fatigue and labor,
he turned his attention to study. He entered Har-
vard College after coming of age, and graduated
in the class of 1798, having as classmates Judge
Story, Rev. Dr. Channing, and Rev. Dr. Tuckerman.
He studied theology witli Rev. Samuel
Kendal. In 1803 he received a unanimous call
from the cimrcli in Bolton, indorsed by an almost
unanimous vote of tlie town, to become minister of
tli;it town. He accepted, and was ordained March 11,
1801., Mr. Kendal preaching his ordination sermon.
He remained in tiiis charge forty years, being the
sole pastor for tiiirty-nine years ; and during this
period he was prevented from preaching, on account
of indisposition, but one Sunday.
During the last year of his life he had as col-
league Rev. Richard S. Edcs. He died March 18,
iSM., four days after the fortieth anniversary of
his settlement, in liis seventy-third year. He never
)narried. Tlirougliout liis ministry he was chairman
of the scliool committee of the town. He was
one of the most honest and conscientious of men,
naturally a humorist, and " would iiave been a
favorite of the Spedalar."'' Being present on one
occasion when a number of clcrgynicn were dis-
cussing the (piestion how sin eami' into the world,
lie tersely remarked, " When T lind ;i licnl of cattle
in my corn, I nr\cr stop Id lind (uil \w\\ tlic\ y-ol
in, I go to work and drive Ihcin onl." liis earlier
])reaching was in East Sudbury, and he enjuved
telling his cx[)erience there as a candidale. " I
came very near being settled there," \w said, "and
ther,' was only one thing (hat prevenled." " Well,
ihat was thai Ml \V1
did n't want me." He left his property, amounting
to over twenty thousand dollars, to the cliurch he
had served so long and loved so well.
Isaac Fiske, born December 4, 1778, was the
youngest brother of Rev. Thaddeus Fiske, by whom
he was fitted for Harvard College, where he gradu-
ated in 1798, in the same class with Judge "Fay,
who was his chum and intimate friend, Joseph
Story, William EUery Channing, and Sidney Wil-
lard. He studied law in the office of Hon. Arteinas
Ward, then a prominent lawyer of Weston,
and was admitted to the bar in 1801. Upon the
removal of Mr. Ward to Cliarlestown he succeeded
to his large and lucrative business. In 1817 he
was appointed by Governor Brooks register of pro-
bate for Middlesex County, whicli office he success-
fully filled for thirty-four years, transacting all its
varied business with great accuracy and desjiatch.
He was removed from his position in iS.jl, in con-
sequence of a political change in the admiuistratiou
of the government of the state. He represented
the town in the state legislature in 1808, 1812,
1813, and 1814, and in 1820 was a member of the
State Constitutional Convention. He was a justice
of the Court of Sessions until that court was super-
seded by the ap])ointmeiit of county cinnniissioners.
He died in Cambridge, March 11,1861, at the age
of eighty-two. His ancestors and brothers were
remarkable for their longevity.
Charles Train, born January 7, 1783, was
graduated at Harvard College in 1805. He was
the preceptor of Framingham Academy in 1808,
and afterwards a trustee. January 30, 1811, he
was ordained pastor of the Baptist Church in Wes-
ton and Framingham, which office he held until the
cliuvelies separated in 1820, after which he re-
mained in Framingham till 1839. He was a rcji-
resentative to the state legislature in 1822, and the
seven following years, except 1827, " when by way
of rebuke, as he understood it, he was allowed (o
stay at home, for having preached two sermons on
the subject of Temperance of a more stringent
character than at that time suited the taste of the
people." He was afterward a state senator. He
was the first to move in the ])lan of forming a legis-
lative library, as well as in the more important
matter of a revision of the laws relating to common
schools. He was active in procuring the charier
for ,\inherst College. In 1S:',3 he was injured by
a fall, and for sixteen years following, till his de-
cease, was never for a inonieiil without pain, lie
dud Seplendier .17, I M9, aged sixty-six years.