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 WAKEF1ELD : 
 PRINTED FOR THE PARISH. 
 
 1886.
 
 
 mhe mi Settled Aawn 
 
 WAKEFIELD: 
 PRINTED FOR THE PARISH. 
 
 1886.
 
 Printed by GEO. S. DORR at the PIONEER Office, 
 
 6) 
 
 WOLFBORO 1 JUNCTION, (WAKEFIELDl N. u -
 
 THE MEMORIAL OCCASION. 
 
 At a parish meeting held in June, some three months be- 
 fore the event, it was voted to celebrate on Tuesday the 
 twenty-second day of September next, the One Hundredth 
 Anniversary of the Organization of the First Church and of 
 the Ordination of the First Settled Town Minister, and a 
 committee was appointed from the church and congregation 
 to make arrangements. 
 
 Dea. Satchell Weeks, Dea. George H. Gage, George F. 
 Piper, grandson of the first minister, secretary, Rev. Albert 
 II. Thompson, corresponding secretary; also Mrs. Mary A. 
 Yeaton, Mrs. Mary P. Paul, Mrs. Olive E. Brown. Later, 
 it being also a town matter, the committee was enlarged to 
 embrace many others belonging to the early families of 
 Waketield, including the grand-daughter of the first deacon, 
 Miss Lucy M. Sawyer, and Miss Harriette Dow, the grand- 
 daughter of the third deacon, Richard Dow. The commit- 
 tee made necessary arrangements, inviting former pastors 
 living, who reported in person or by letter, all living minis- 
 ters who have gone out of this church, ministers of the sev- 
 eral denominations in town with other friends of Wakefield 
 stock. 
 
 The day was a day of beauty, and five hundred gathered 
 to pay tribute to the character of their ancestors and to praise 
 the God of their fathers. The service at the Meeting-house, 
 and at the Town House, where a bountiful repast was served, 
 was evidently satisfactory to all. The house of worship was 
 plain, with but little decoration, and the spirit of the fathers 
 
 1066741
 
 was prevalent. The Service of Song was participated in by 
 the Congregational and Episcopal choirs and other singers. 
 The program, as printed on following pages, was essentially 
 carried out, Hon. John W. Sanborn presiding. Rev. 
 George O. Jenness, not being able to be present, the Invoca- 
 tion was given by Rev. Gardner S. Butler, pastor of the 
 Congregational church at Union Village, in Wakefield, for- 
 merly a part of this parish. Rev. William Lloyd Himes, 
 the Rector of the Church of St. .John the Baptist, also in 
 Wakefield, led the Responsive Reading of the Psalms 122 
 and 148 : 1-16, the people giving the responses heartily. 
 After the hymn following the Historical Address, Hon. Seth 
 Low, the Mayor of Brooklyn, the great grandson of Richard 
 Dow, one of the pioneers of the church, gave a cordial and 
 capable address. 
 
 In the afternoon the services were in charge of Pastor 
 Thompson, who led in the Responsive Reading of 23d Psalm 
 and in prayer. The addresses were informal and not pre- 
 served for publication, but their equivalents are placed upon 
 the following pages for our satisfaction and for their's who 
 shall come after us. A. H. T. 
 
 Wakefield, Dec. 1, 1885.
 
 l[tt#t 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 linaiian 0J 
 
 BY A COUNCIL CALLED BY THE TOWN. 
 
 SEFTIEIMIBIEIR SS, 1785. 
 
 Minister was 
 
 PIPER. 
 
 The Members of the Church were 
 
 SAMUEL HAINBS, SIMEON DEAKBORN. AVERT HALL, MAYHEW CLARK, RICHARD Dow. 
 with the wives of the last lour. 
 
 The Moderator of the Town Meeting 1785 SIMEON DEARBORN. 
 The President of the Day 1885 JOHN W. SANBORN. 
 
 Corresponding Secretary, ..... ALBERT H. THOMPSON. 
 VVaketleld. September 22, 1886.
 
 -,-,< 
 
 9.30 A. M. 
 A Service of Songs of Olden Time, Freeman D. Pike, Precentor. 
 
 10.00 A. M 
 
 Address of Welcome by Hon. John W. Sant>orn. 
 
 Response by Hon. Joshua G. Hall, of Dover. 
 
 Invocation, Rev. G. O. Jenness, Pastor, 1875-80. 
 
 Responsive Psalm Reading 122. 
 Hymn, "Coronation" 
 
 Prayer, Rev. Snmner Clark, Pastor. 1872-75. 
 
 Original Hymn, Rev. D. D. Tappan, Pastor, 1865-70. 
 
 Tuno. Missionary Chant. 
 
 God of the Centuries ! Thy truth 
 
 Has thro' the nges kept its way, 
 And still maintains a vigorous youth, 
 
 With over widening, lustrous sway. 
 So, too, thy church, her Guide in view, 
 
 From times remote has kept her course. 
 Dispensing good like early dew, 
 
 Of human weal a failless source. 
 Thanks be to him Whose precious blood 
 
 Redeemed the church from sin and woe ; 
 Who will present all pure to God, 
 Those that confess him here below. 
 
 This hundredth year of her feirthday, 
 
 This little flock thy care would own, 
 And grateful homage here would pay, 
 
 As thus we bow before the throne. 
 Though, one by one. our numbers cease 
 
 For higher ministries above. 
 The Savior ne'er withdraws his peace, 
 
 His gracious guardianship and love. 
 Whate'er mutations time may bring, 
 
 What foes, what perils we may meet, 
 The joy remains that Christ, our King, 
 Will be our friend in every state. 
 
 10.45 A. M. 
 
 Historical Address, Rev. A. II. Thompson, Pastor. 1880- 
 
 Ilyini', "1 love thy Church, O God." 
 
 Poem, Miss Harriet N. Hohbs. 
 
 Uoxology, "Prai a e God from whom all blessings flow."' 
 
 12.30 P. M. 
 Dinner at the Town Hall. 
 
 2.00 P. N. 
 
 Informal addresses from past Pastors. Ministers of the town, and Letters, with 
 Addresses from Hon. .1. G. Hall, Hon. Seth Low, Hon. J. W. Sauborn, and ol.hor 
 friends. 
 
 "Auld Luiijf Syne" will be suu_f at the close.
 
 ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 
 
 BY HON. JOHN W. SAXHORN. 
 
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : 
 
 We have met here to-day on a very interesting occa- 
 sion, to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the or- 
 ganization of the first Congregational Church in Wakefield ; 
 and to me has been assigned the pleasant duty of presiding 
 at this meeting. I take it for granted that whatever our in- 
 dividual opinions upon religious questions, or religious sub- 
 jects, may be, we are all agreed on one point, and that is, 
 religious organizations are necessary for the good order and 
 well-being of society in every community ; and that we all 
 feel interested in the success of every properly organized 
 and well conducted religious society, and therefore feel in- 
 terested in the success of this society. One hundred years 
 ago to-day this Church was organized. It was not the 
 Church alone, that was interested on that occasion, but the 
 whole people of the town were also interested; they had, 
 in their corporate capacity, held meetings and elect- 
 ed committees at various times, to employ a Minister of 
 the Gospel, and after corresponding with several candi- 
 dates, they made arrangements with Eev. Asa Piper to 
 come here and settle. Accordingly, on the 22d day of Sep- 
 tember, 17iS ">, he was ordained by a Council called by the 
 town, for that purpose, as the town's Minister; they having 
 agreed to pay him a fixed salary ; on the same day this 
 Church was organized, and he installed as its pastor. He 
 was thus called upon to perform the duties of a dual office
 
 8 
 
 minister of the town, and pastor of the church ; these duties 
 he ably and faithfully performed for twenty-five long years, 
 when, for certain considerations, he "absolved" the town 
 from all liability on the original contract, but remained pas- 
 tor of the church until the infirmities of age compelled him 
 to resign. He was a learned man, a wise counsellor, and 
 an able teacher ; his impress was firmly fixed upon our peo- 
 ple, and to him we are, in a great degree, indebted for our 
 prosperity. The church organization has been kept intact 
 to the present time, and under its influences, and other good 
 influences, the town has raised a people that for ability and 
 integrity has compared favorably with any town in the 
 State. Many of the sons and daughters of Waketield have 
 left their birthplace to become citizens of other towns and 
 other states, have won almost enviable reputations there, 
 have held important positions with honor to themselves and 
 credit to their native town, and while those of us who have 
 remained here have endeavored to keep up the standard long 
 ago established, so far as we have been able, we have also 
 watched them with a parent's care, and rejoiced in their suc- 
 cess, and are always ready to bid them welcome to our home. 
 Some of them are here to-day, and to them let me say, I bid 
 you welcome, yea, a thrice hearty welcome. And now, in 
 behalf of the committee of arrangements, and in behalf of 
 this church and society, I bid all present, whether residents 
 or non-residents, native or foreign born, a hearty welcome, 
 and most cordially invite you to join in commemorating the 
 event we have met to celebrate, and I trust, for the purposes 
 of this celebration, we shall all feel we are members of one 
 society and one people. 
 
 The President then introduced Hon. Joshua G. Hall, as 
 one of Waketield's honored sons, who spoke as follows : 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT : 
 
 I am asked on behalf of the returning Sons and 
 Daughters of this now ancient Parish and Town to express 
 their appreciation of your kindly welcome to the old home. 
 We are met at the century mile stone of this church. Those
 
 of us who from time to time have gone out from the Town 
 and made homes elsewhere and those who have steadfastly 
 adhered to the paternal acres and maintained the civiliza- 
 tion and religion planted here by our Fathers meet together 
 to show our respect and veneration for the first settlers of 
 this hamlet and testify our deep appreciation of their life 
 work here in the cause of civil order and Christianity, and 
 I assure you that those of us who return here from abroad 
 to take part in this joyous occasion reverence the Fathers 
 as deeply and appreciate as fully the grand work of the 
 first generations as do you who have always made your 
 home within the limits of Wakefield. You could not have 
 done less if you would be dutiful and reverent children than 
 call us wanderers in to this feast of commemoration that 
 we may together recount the sayings and doings of a rever- 
 ed ancestry and rehabilitate so far as we may by tradition 
 and reminiscence the vanished forms of the Pastor and peo- 
 ple of a hundred years ago. 
 
 It is said that comparisons are odious, and we must ad- 
 mit that the American mind is given to boasting, but I 
 think we have a right to say, and that no one will take of- 
 fence at the saying, that this church and town at their start 
 were made up of more than common good stock. I think 
 if we were to take a list of the early settlers of this town 
 both men and women and recount the life of each so far as 
 it has come down to us, pretty full and quite complete "in 
 many cases, though scanty in others, it would appear that 
 the older settlements in the lower part of the state for our 
 Fathers came generally from Rockingham County and the 
 southerly part ot Stratford furnished for the emigration 
 hither of the Hower of their youth and of the strongest and 
 best of their men and women of middle life. Of the set- 
 tlers who came here early a very large proportion came from 
 families of prominence and high standing in the older towns of 
 the province. Generally they were well abreast of the times 
 in matters of education and no Town in this vicinity could 
 boast among its citizens so many men of liberal culture as
 
 10 
 
 Wakefield in its early days. The men of a century ago 
 who founded this Town and this church, who welcomed the 
 h'rst Pastor and here listened to his ministrations were men 
 of force and strong power of brain. They wrought well for 
 the church and the state and the impression made by their 
 earnest lives is I fancy still a power for good to us. And 
 while the home hive has well maintained its place in the 
 state considering the changes in the currents of business 
 and the shifting of popular centres, the swarms that have 
 gone out from time to time have done their part in shaping 
 and moulding public sentiment about them. But it is not 
 my province on this occasion to recount the history of the 
 hundred years past. That is to be treated of in formal dis- 
 course by another. The occasion is a notable one. We 
 meet where the centuries divide. We come to gather 
 glimpses of the past and recount the virtues of the Fathers 
 and Mothers who struggled and wrought as best they might 
 for their posterity and have passed from sight. We come 
 to take counsel of their shining example and express our 
 devotion -to the perpetuity of the three institutions that 
 were uppermost in their minds The Church, The School, 
 The Town. The same bending Heavens are above us and 
 the same green earth is at our feet that Minister and Peo- 
 ple looked out on a hundred years ago, but changed, chang- 
 ed as the skill, endurance, persistence and Christian faith of 
 a hundred years of New England life only, can change the 
 face of the earth. May the memories that come to us be 
 pleasant and may we rejoice that we see this day of com- 
 memoration . 
 
 Following the remarks of Mr. Hall came Devotional Ex- 
 ercises as indicated by the program, with slight variations 
 as to those taking part, mentioned elsewhere, after which 
 the President introduced the Rev. A. H. Thompson as the 
 Historian of the day, who gave the following :
 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS. 
 
 REV. ALBERT H. THOMPSON. 
 
 OLD FRIENDS AND NEW FRIENDS OF ANCIENT WAKEFIELD 
 AND MODERN WAKEFIELD : 
 
 The mantle of your historian for this day might have 
 fallen on more worthy shoulders on some son of Wakefield, 
 though he might blush to praise his ancestors yet I cheer- 
 fully submit, as one proud to speak as an adopted son of 
 these adopted ancestors. I would weave, if I could, a ro- 
 mance of beauty to charm you, or better, I would thrill you, 
 not with dry and dull statistics, but with the story of their 
 virtues and valiant deeds. But history is scant and I must 
 give you the prose of the records. 
 
 There is an old adage, "Great oaks from little acorns 
 grow." But our song to-day is not of the giant oak, but of 
 the tiny acorn, planted in the soil of good old Wakefield one 
 hundred years ago. And, because the church has reached 
 that age, we revere the memory of the Infant church brought 
 into being September the twenty-second, 1785. Five were 
 the men and, four the women wives, too, of the four men, 
 and the fifth wife came in the next year. Beautiful is this 
 picture of these Homes consecrated to (rod by the united 
 love to God of both the partners. 
 
 Could any church have a better start? Could a commu- 
 nity be blessed more richly than in a church made up of 
 consecrated homes? Not merely a body, as usual, of indi- 
 vidual believers, this was stronger a union of Christian 
 homes, a combination of families for the worship and ser- 
 vice of God. The patriarch Abram with his family may 
 have been at one time the church of God on earth. If on- 
 ly one godly family was in a community, that would be the 
 church. These husbands and wives may not have been the 
 only Christians in Wakefield on that clear September morn, 
 1785, but they are the heroes of our song : Samuel Haines,
 
 Avery Hall, Abigail Hall, Richard Dow, Mary Dow, Sim- 
 eon Dearborn, Martha Dearborn, May hew Clark, Mary 
 Clark. Descendants they have, who may well praise the 
 God of their fathers who gave them such an ancestry, not 
 descended from royal blood, but princes and princesses in 
 in the everlasting Kingdom. 
 
 What led to the organization of this church at this time ? 
 We answer, they tell us in part, and we know two facts 
 that would be likely to affect their action. The war of the 
 Revolution had ended four years before, its thunders had 
 died away, and the people w T eve settling down to the labors 
 and arts of peace, to build up the young nation whose liber- 
 ty they had purchased on the bloody battle field. And to 
 this end the Christian church would add its great influence. 
 Again, the town for several years had cared for its own re- 
 ligious w r elfare instead of allowing private individuals so to 
 do, as now, and voted each year to have preaching four, 
 six or eight weeks by some minister designated by the town, 
 with attempts at permanent settlement in 1779-80-82. Now, 
 increased in population and resources, and possibly, more 
 awake to the religious need, the people, in town meeting as- 
 sembled, proposed to have a minister the year round, just 
 as much as a selectman or pound keeper, and to keep alive 
 and awake the religious spirit, as w r ell as to keep the roads 
 and bridges in good condition that society may have a safe 
 journey. 
 
 It is this determined effort to keep alive the worship and 
 service of God that we seek to commemorate. Not the es- 
 tablishing and success of a particular rival branch of God's 
 church, outstripping all other branches in its growth, though 
 we rejoice that God has set the seal of his approval thereon 
 by making that infant of hours the Centenirian of to-day. 
 It was not the effort of a few sectarians to establish their 
 sect, nor really of Christians to establish Christianity. It 
 was the town, made up, as now, of saints and sinners, aim- 
 ing to care for its spiritual as well as material welfare ; and 
 very likely they were shrewd enough to see that the mate-
 
 13 
 
 rial prosperity would be enhanced by the spiritual. 
 
 Eighteen years before, the winter of 1767, the first fami- 
 ly wintered in town, or two families by the name of Gil- 
 man, father and son. In 1769 the number had increased 
 to eleven. The next year nineteen more made thirty. In 
 1784, our date, three times thirty. In 1800, five times 
 thirty. The first death, that of an infant child. So reads 
 the diary of the first minister. The first child who lived, 
 probably, Dorothy Quimby, born June 30, 1768, who 
 married Nathaniel Willey of Brookfield. Also, "1771, 
 a meeting house was raised, and the outside nearly 
 finished when the commencement of the Revolution in 1775 
 interupted it." This was the first and only town meeting 
 house, erected when the number of inhabitants was not 
 large, who yet wanted a place in which to meet for political 
 and religious purposes, and was finished years afterward. 
 In 1820 succeeded by the new meeting house, so called, at 
 Wakefield Corner, which latter was used for religious pur- 
 poses below and educational above, while the Town House 
 for perhaps fifty years has been used for strictly secular 
 town business. 
 
 But going back to 1774. In that year the town ceased 
 to be called East-town and was incorporated as Wakefield, 
 in honor of whom I cannot say, but in the reign of "George 
 the Third, by the grace of God of Great Britain, France 
 and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith", etc., John Went- 
 worth, Esq., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of our 
 Province, and of our Council "all white pine trees reserved 
 forever for the use of our royal navy" and Capt. David 
 Copp authorized to call the first town meeting within seven- 
 ty days from date, August 30, 1774. Of that meeting we 
 have no record at hand. The earliest accessible record is 
 in that eventful year of Concord and Lexington, when the 
 colonies began the struggle to free themselves from the yoke 
 of the "tyrant". Yet our early settlers did not forget to pray 
 and to worship. For in May, 1775, the town met (1) "To 
 see if the town will vote to have any preaching this summer,
 
 14 
 
 and if any, what method they will take to hire it. (2)To see 
 what method the town will take with those men that inlisted 
 as minit-men. (3) To hear the request of William Blais- 
 dell relative to exchanging more or all of the school lot with 
 said Blaisdell. Signed, Simeon Dearborn, Noah Kimball, 
 Joseph Maleham, selectmen." So they were probably cho- 
 sen at the first meeting. At the second town meeting, Ju- 
 ly 1 7 , it was voted "that there be preaching;" "that there 
 be eight Sabbaths preaching here at the expense of the town 
 unless the proprietors are bound by charter to supply this. 
 Voted that Mr. Henshaw be the man. Voted that Mr. Jon- 
 athan Gilman, Simeon Dearborn, Esq., and Mr. John Horn 
 ba a committee to apply to Mr. Henshaw, or some other 
 suitable person, if he cannot be had." The names of the 
 proprietors are unknown but by few. Each year the mili- 
 tary and religious concerns occupied the mind of the citi- 
 zens of Wakefield as the chief concerns to supply the army 
 with soldiers and the town with preaching. These are the 
 names of preachers mentioned: 1775, flenshaw ; 1776, 
 Cbickering or Henshaw and Hall, perhaps Avery Hall 
 who had moved in from Rochester where he was pastor for 
 nine years up to 1775 ; 1777, Mr. Porter, very likely later" 
 the distinguished Dr. Nathaniel Porter, born in Topstield, 
 Mass., in 1745, graduate of Harvard college in 1768, ordain- 
 ed at New Durham to the Christian ministry, and after serv- 
 ing the church at Conway, of which he was ordained pastor 
 some ten weeks after its organization in 1778, Aug. 18, for 
 fifty years, he died in 1836, at the great age of 91 ; of whom 
 it is said, "He endured great privations here ; he worked 
 by day and wrote his sermons by the light of pitch-wood at 
 night." 1778, Rev. Mr. Dutch and Cummings ; 1779, Mr. 
 Hc-iibbaw again, and Mr. Dutch was called to settle; 1780, 
 Rev. Josiah Badcock, 60 voted for his settlement, 15 against; 
 1781, Rev. Mr. Kendall ; 1782-83, Rev. Moses Sweat, who 
 seems to have got a hold of the affections of many, and a 
 mild contest took place, according to the record, whether 
 or not he should be the permanent supply. Once the town
 
 15 
 
 voted to have no Sweat that year. The next they voted 
 yes, but he declined. The reason given by tradition is not 
 given by the uninspired Town Clerk, and I will not give it, 
 only advise all ministers to be careful in their horse trades. 
 He seems to have had a reputation more as a great Greek 
 and Hebrew scholar to whom great scholars looked as an 
 authority. His home, as pastor for many years, was in San- 
 ford, Me., where he died in 1824 at the age of three score 
 and ten. In the year 1782 the earnest desire for constant 
 religious worship showed itself in the call for all the legal 
 voters to meet at the Meeting House "for the purpose of 
 consulting upon our religious affairs, and to come into and 
 prosecute such measures as the Town shall think fit when 
 met, in order to have the Gospel preached among us. The 
 matter of Religion, with the means appointed for the pro- 
 moting of it, are so important that we shall be acquitted of 
 Blame, yea, commended for calling the Town together at 
 this busy time, and desiring all concerned to attend as 
 above mentioned. Avery Hall, John Wingate, Mayhew 
 Clark." At the notified meeting Aug. 26, Capt. David 
 Copp, moderator, it was voted to adjourn one week. Then 
 it was voted "to keep Thursday, 12th day of instant Sep- 
 tember, as a Day of Fasting and Prayer for Direction in the 
 culling and settling of a minister." "Voted also to invite the 
 Rev. Messrs. James Pike, Jeremy Belknap, Joseph Haven, 
 Isaac Hasey, Nehemiah Ordway, to assist and advise on that 
 occasion." This was a council called not by a church but 
 by the town, Esq. Dearborn, Capt. D. Copp and Avery 
 Hall to be a committee to write to these ministers. No per- 
 manent minister was advised, but Esq. Dearborn, Capt. 
 Copp, Mr. Nathaniel Balch, Mr. Richard Dow and Mr. 
 Avery Hall were chosen to hire for a term not exceeding 
 two months. Though they did not get what they proposed, 
 this record shows the spirit of our ancestors anxious for a 
 "meeting". In 1782 so earnest were they to secure perma- 
 nent public worship that a Town meeting was called and a 
 Fast Day appointed, as we have seen. This shows the spir-
 
 16 
 
 it of our ancestors. 
 
 Their desires were at last gratified in 1784. In the spring 
 of that year it was voted to have eight Sabbaths preaching, 
 Capt. Copp, Ensign Clark and Major Palmer, a committee 
 "to apply to some suitable person to preach with us on pro- 
 bation 4 Sabbaths at first." In the August meeting, Lieut. 
 Jonathan Gilnian, moderator, "voted to hire eight Sabbaths 
 preaching in Addition to what was voted last spring. Sim- 
 eon Dearborn, Esq., Avery Hall and Mr. Richard Dow to 
 be a new committee to hire a candidate on Probation at Dis- 
 cretion, and meeting dissolved." November, the town met 
 and voted to give a call to the man selected by this commit- 
 tee [at Cambridge], and he accepted. This ended the 
 yearly supply. I have given the names of the successive 
 ministers who served the town only a few weeks, but long 
 enough to show their excellence and the taste of the people. 
 And judging by the later renown of Sweat and Porter, that, 
 even in their younger days at Wakefield they must have 
 shown some of that power of mind, we may judge that all 
 these early town ministers of Wakefield were fully up to 
 the average of those days. Their service was limited, and 
 we pass them by with a brief notice, which they surely de- 
 serve. They we re the Forerunners of the Settled Minister. 
 
 A new era dawns upon the town, when, in 1784, there ap- 
 pears in Wakefield a young minister, twenty -seven years 
 old, of staunch English stock, whose great grandfather came 
 from Dartmouth, in England, in the time of the Revolution 
 which resulted in the dethronement of the King Charles I, 
 who, with the ruling passion strong in death, declaring that 
 the people had no right to any part in the government, calm- 
 ly placed his head upon the block, was beheaded, and Eng- 
 land was without a King, and parliament governed England 
 and established a republic under the title of the common- 
 wealth, which lasted eleven years. During this period, the 
 ancestor came to America and settled in Ipswich, Mass. 
 The struggle in the land of his birth, without doubt, had its 
 impress on his character, and that of his descendants. The
 
 17 
 
 great grandfather witnessed the revolution in England ; the 
 great grandson was a young man of eighteen, when the guns 
 of Lexington and Concord, within a few miles of his home 
 at Acton, sounded the beginning of the Revolution, which 
 should result in the independence of the colonies. Those 
 were stirring times, as 125 years before in the mother coun- 
 try. So, I say of this young minister who appeared in 
 Wakefieldin 1784, of staunch English stock, not a soldier 
 of the Revolution, but a thorough patriot, as shown by his 
 eloquent address on the death of Washington, and his early 
 home would make him so ; a good scholar and priest of the 
 Most High God. Nine and forty years he lived not far from 
 the beautiful lake, until on the 17th day of May, 1835, he 
 died very suddenly, much lamented by the church and the 
 citizens of the town generally, Rev. Asa Piper, the first 
 pastor of this church, the first and only settled Town minis- 
 ter. He stands at the head of the line in time and talent. 
 His successors must have mention, though it be brief. In 
 1828, Rev. Samuel Nichols was ordained as colleague pas- 
 tor, serving as such until 1833, when he was dismissed by 
 council. He was a graduate of Bangor Theological Semina- 
 ry, 182(>, a native of South Reading, Mass., where he died 
 in 1844, in the forty-sixth year of his age. As a preacher, he 
 may not have ranked high for brilliancy, but the compara- 
 tively large number of additions in his short ministry, of 
 over forty to the membership of nine at his arrival, speaks 
 well of the spiritual condition of the society. Six weeks af- 
 ter our first minister was laid away in his peaceful grave, 
 but a few steps from the sacred house where was his throne, 
 there came another minister, not quite forty years of age, 
 Nathaniel Barker, and he lived among you, lo, these many 
 years, that life of a holy man, until, scarce two years since, 
 he was called away, at four score and seven, to the Reward 
 of the Faithful. He also was a college graduate, sharing 
 with Dartmouth the honor of one of her sons in 1822. Rev- 
 olutionary blood and the martyr spirit was in his veins. 
 His father, Samuel Barker, a soldier of the Revolution, of
 
 18 
 
 heroic mould. His mother, Betsy Rogers, the daughter of 
 Major Rogers of royal descent, tracing back his ancestry to 
 the fires of Smithfield and to John Rogers the martyr. Born 
 and bred in a Christian household, educated for the gospel 
 ministry, a graduate of Andover, 1825, ordained at Mendon, 
 Mass, soon after, where he served a few years, with a heart 
 bound up in the cause of the Redeemer, he was led by Provi- 
 dence to Wakefield, in New Hampshire, just after the de- 
 parture to the better land of the aged first pastor, who, like 
 himself, had come to this same Wakefield half a century 
 before. He once told me, speaking of the liquor traffic, 
 then quite brisk, "I thought, if I did my duty, I shouldn't 
 stay long." But the Lord gave him nearly fifty years long- 
 er, as the village pastor and upright citizen, and never did 
 his voice or heart shut up to the blight of that curse, or any 
 other which sin has brought into the world. He now sleeps 
 in the burial place on the brow of the hill, revered in the 
 memory of all. 
 
 His successors were, Marvin Leffingwell, of Methodist 
 training, who did a faithful work, of four years, before 1860. 
 Joseph B. Tufts, from 1861 to 1864, during which period 
 several were added to the church. These are all dead. 
 From November 19, 1865, to April 1, 1871, the now vener- 
 able, still vivacious and exact, Daniel Dana Tappan, labor- 
 ed in season and out of season, for the upbuilding of Zion, 
 and the full harvest is not yet. From his pen, gifted even 
 down to four score and seven years of age, is the grand 
 hymn we have just sung, which lacks only his presence and 
 voice, 
 
 "God of the Centuries! thy truth 
 Has through the ages held its way." 
 
 During his time of service, five days before Christmas, in 
 the year 1867, the bell, weighing 819 pounds, and costing 
 $388.73, of which $100 was contributed by friends away, 
 was joined to the church, the first church bell in town, to 
 call with its silver tones the people to the house of God ; 
 and I am glad that so many have heard and answered, and
 
 19 
 
 also sorry that so many have not heard nor answered. Rev. 
 Alvan Tobey served the church for a short time, in 1871, I 
 think. Rev. Sumner Clark, our near neighbor and firm 
 friend, present with us to-day, with agreeable memories of 
 the three years, from May, 1872, that he spent with his 
 Wakefield parish, since which time he has passed the years 
 of his retirement, but not of slothfulness, in our sister town 
 of Wolfeboro', still holding in your hearts a large place. 
 The five years before 1880, were marked by a signal dis- 
 play of the grace of God, especially among the young, in 
 the ministry of Rev. Geo. O. Jenness, who, only two or 
 three Sabbaths since, gave from this desk the message to 
 his old congregation, as in days gone by, and to-day, re- 
 gretting his inability to be present, as do we, he sends greet- 
 ing and his heartiest well wishes. During the eighties, the 
 feeble light of your historian has been shed, and it is to him 
 a pleasure and a pride to be serving in this Centennial year, 
 this ancient church, and to recount with you the deeds of 
 your pious ancestors. Leaving the latter fifty or seventy- 
 five years, with very limited notices of the ministers, we 
 shall find abundant food for reflection in the first quarter of 
 a century, the time when Asa Piper was the Town's minis- 
 ter. 
 
 You have already noticed that the earlier preachers were 
 educated men, who believed in studying the Bible in the 
 languages in which it was written, the Hebrew and Greek. 
 Without sacrificing the religious nature, they aimed to de- 
 velop the mind. They were the patrons of learning, and, 
 without doubt, had something to do in forming that literary 
 taste which has prevailed in Wakefield, and sent many a 
 young man to college, to hold in everlasting remembrance 
 the names of Dartmouth, of Harvard, of Yale and Bowdoin. 
 These preachers were loyal citizens, not monks seeking re- 
 tirement from the world in cloisters and caves. They were 
 ever fearless in the discharge of what conscience told them 
 was duty. But I would not exalt the clergy at the expense 
 of other citizens, and we may pay to them the well deserved
 
 20 
 
 tribute of praise, that they considered the sanctuary a bless- 
 ing to the community, and sought to support its services 
 with their purse and presence. I should like now to see 
 them gathered on the Lord's day in the old meeting house, 
 with its square, high-backed pews or pens, its three galler- 
 ies, its huge sounding board, oveV the stalwart form of the 
 minister dressed in knee breeches, ancient coat, powdered 
 hair, preaching to our ancestors that good old sermon nine- 
 ty-nine years ago, which I gave last Sabbath, on the rever- 
 ence due to the house of God. And they came from near 
 and from far, on horse-back and on ox sleds, and barefoot- 
 ed to save their shoes when they should enter the sacred 
 place. Those were the days when sacrifices were known. 
 
 Eight weeks of preaching seems to us small, but it clear- 
 ed the law, and eight weeks preaching then might be as 
 good as three times that now. But that didn't satisfy them. 
 After they got the Revolution oif their hands, and even be- 
 fore that time attempting it, we find them engaging a min- 
 ister by the year, and each man, by vote of the town, was 
 taxed for that object ; and I am not going to say, even at 
 this enlightened day, that it was unjust taxation. The pre- 
 vailing sentiment was that Public Religious Worship was 
 needed for the welfare of the town, as much as schools and 
 bridges, and the town should furnish one as well as the oth- 
 er. So public worship would be maintained, as it ought to 
 be, even if the town take it in hand, whereas, if left to a 
 few, it would sink, and the town suffer. Then, it could be 
 safely left only with the town. Now, we think it safe to 
 leave it -with anybody but the town. The church and state 
 are separated. Possibly the separation of education from 
 the state might give more of that boasted liberty to the in- 
 dividual. We need not argue for or against the old method. 
 Perhaps we have outgrown it. We know that, according 
 to custom, the town of Wakefield did, for the first ten years, 
 support preaching, and then called to a permanent settle- 
 ment, a minister who accepted, the Rev. Asa Piper, who 
 had already preached nineteen Sabbaths. This call was
 
 21 
 
 given in November, 1784, through a committee of seven, 
 S. Dearborn, N. Balch, A. Hall, Lt. Jona. Oilman, Capt. 
 J. Oilman, Maj. Jona. Palmer and Ensign Mayhew Clark. 
 The terms of settlement, or the Proposals, were : Mr. Pi- 
 per was to receive, 
 
 "In addition to the rights sequestered to the use of the Ministry 
 in the Town, one Hundred Pounds lawful money towards building 
 him a house, to be paid in Labor and Materials for building, com- 
 mon labor at 3s per day, the man finding himself; Pine Boards at 
 4 Dols. per 1000 ft.; Shingle at 9s per 1000. Clapboards, rough, at 
 4 dollars per 1000, each of said articles to be delivered on the spot, 
 and in any other articles that may be wanted at cash price, and also 
 lav out one hundred Days' work in Fencing and clearing the Minis- 
 ter's Lot. That the town will give said Mr. Piper as an annual 
 salary, heventv -five pounds, lawful Money, forty pounds of said 
 sum to be paid in Money, the other thirty-five in produce of the 
 country, twelve pounds in Indian corn at 3s per bushel, six pounds 
 in Rie at 4s per bushel, five pounds in Beef at 2 l-2d per lb., twelve 
 pounds in pork at o pence per lb It is to be understood, that for 
 the two first years, they will give only sixty pounds annually as 
 salary, and after that adding to the sixty pounds yearly five pounds, 
 until it amount to seventy-five pounds, hi* stated annual sahry." 
 
 Also voted to give the upper part of the town, above En- 
 sign Mayhew Clark's, a proportional part of the preaching. 
 The proposals were moditied in June, so that one-half of 
 the 100 settlement shall be paid the first year, the other 
 half the next. "The work shall be done the coming fall. 
 The Rie shall be at 3s 9d per bushel ; Money part to be paid 
 quarterly." The minister wanted less pork and more corn, 
 so the twelve pounds in pork was changed to the same val- 
 ue in Indian corn. To this call, borne by S. Dearborn, 
 Esq., Capt. David Copp and Avery Hall, Mr. Piper made 
 the following answer in the affirmative : 
 
 WAKEFIELD, June 20. 1785. 
 
 FRIENDS AND BRETHREN : It is sometime since I received an in- 
 vitation to settle with you in the gospel ministry a work that is 
 not to be undertaken without a solemn pause and mature delibera- 
 tion upon the reasons operating for or against compliance. Notwith- 
 standing the great distance from my particular friends, which is a 
 circumstance disagreeable both to them and to me, and other ob- 
 jections, so remote from my brethren in the ministry, whose society
 
 22 
 
 and kind offices would be a source of satisfaction and edification, 
 and likewise the difficult and laborious duty of the ministerial office 
 to which I feel myself so unequal and unworthy of. Yet. as there 
 appears so great a degree of unanimity (as far as I have obtained 
 information) among the people, and as you have so far complied 
 with what was proposed as an amendment to the former conditions; 
 after consulting with those whose advice L esteemed; and seeking 
 direction from the great Head of the church, with whom is the res- 
 idue of the spirit, who is able to supply every weakness and de- 
 ficiency, and qualify the most unworthy for his service, and on 
 whose blessing success depends, I have finally thought it my duty 
 not to refuse your request, and do accordingly accept your invita- 
 tion. Relying, however, if a union should take place, on your 
 Christianity and benevolence that, should the future prosperity of 
 the Town admit of it, you will make me such further allowance as 
 shall be necessary. And I shall expect, likewise, the privilege of 
 absence a number of Sabbaths yearly in order to visit my friends 
 and acquaintances to the westward. ASA PIPER. 
 
 "Friends and brethren" he calls the citizens of the town. 
 But the friends thought another step needed to secure a per- 
 manent minister, and we have what now would be a strange 
 sight, a council called by the town for the ordination of a 
 religious teacher, and at the same time, the "brethren" and 
 their wives were embodied into a church by the Town's 
 council. The town leads ; the church follows. Now, in 
 calling a minister, the church leads. 
 
 So our centennial is of the church, and of the ordination 
 of the Town Minister, and we are to acknowledge, both as 
 a town and as a church, as friends and as brethren, what our 
 ancestors did tor the religious help of the town. 
 
 The church was broad in its foundation, with a very lim- 
 ited creed, and a generous covenant : "We profess a seri- 
 ous and full belief that the Scriptures of the Old and New 
 Testaments are given by inspiration ; that they teach us the 
 the doctrine of man's apostacy from God, and the only 
 means of recovery is by faith in Jesus Christ, as the only 
 Savior of lost sinners." A little later, in some towns, the 
 tirst church organized had no creed simply a covenant to 
 join together Christians of different names. This short con- 
 fession of Faith was later, and in 1828, at the time of set-
 
 23 
 
 tling the colleague, enlarged and arranged in eight articles. 
 The covenant seemed to be the main thing on whicn they 
 depended for mutual help, though, of course, the covenant 
 was based on the kinship of belief and practice, and the ob- 
 ject of upbuilding the kingdom of grace. It had an "ex- 
 ception" as a relic of the "half-way covenant," which allowed 
 people to be church members and yet not partake^ of the 
 Lord's supper. In the very early days of the Massachu- 
 setts colony, only church members could hold office in a 
 town ; arid as men in those days were willing to hold office 
 if thrust upon them, they were willing to be church mem- 
 bers. That rule now might increase the number of men in 
 our churches. One excellent woman, without doubt, was 
 taken into the church on "exception" in 1787, her conscience 
 forbidding her to partake of the Lord's Supper, and for 
 over forty years she was deprived of that privilege. The 
 Articles of Faith have been amended, in 1828, and again in 
 1867. This church now is supposed to be in general accord 
 with other churches of the Congregational name, but at the 
 outset that name is not used. Neither is it called the first 
 church of Christ, though they make a solemn surrender of 
 themselves to the Deity in Trinity, and "regard it our in- 
 cumbent duty in our present situation to form ourselves in- 
 to a church for fellowship and communion." But it was the 
 First church of Waketield, and I am glad that it was not 
 the last one, but other Christian bands, bearing different 
 names, have had the name of Christ written on their hearts, 
 and have done a good work, and their representatives are 
 with us. Thus embodied, they are a simple band of hum- 
 ble believers, with the added beauty and power of a union 
 of families, who might have left their religion in their old 
 homes, and used the spare time in building up solely the ma- 
 terial interests of the town. But they were either addicted 
 to religious habits, or were wise enough to foresee that this 
 action of theirs to maintain religious worship might secure 
 a blessing that would enrich the town for generations to 
 come. So they became a band of Christians, organized
 
 24 
 
 and seconding the praiseworthy effort of the town to secure 
 public worship and a stated ministry, that should be at 
 once sound in the faith and learned. This was found, both 
 by the town and church, in Asa Piper as religious Teacher 
 and their Pastor. The moderator of the special town meet- 
 ing which called him was Simeon Dearborn. The modera- 
 tor of the new church meeting was A very Hall, and the 
 voted call was unanimous, and this was the answer given 
 that very day, before his ordination, Wakefield, Sept. 22, 
 1785: 
 
 "I now declare my acceptance of the call given me this day by 
 the church of Christ in this place to be their pastor. ASA PIPER. 
 
 The town had already called him to be their minister, and 
 he had accepted three months before. The town led. The 
 church followed. And when the town totally ceased, as it 
 had been gradually yielding its right, to lead, at the pass- 
 age of the Toleration Act about 18 19, and virtually before, 
 as we shall see, the church remained as the organized spir- 
 itual body, competent to call and settle a minister, and the 
 First Congregational SOCIETY was chartered by the Legis- 
 lature in 1815, which embraced Joseph Wiggin, Richard 
 Dow, Luther Dearborn, William Sawyer, Joshua G. Hall, 
 John Kimball, Elisha Sanborn. 
 
 The organizing of the church that day tempers for us the 
 secular appearance of the meeting. The state was not the 
 church, but it protected it, and regarded itself bound to fur- 
 nish and sustain, as well as to protect, public worship. 
 But I dwell too long. This justifies us in regarding this as 
 something more than a church celebration, and in honoring 
 the action of those in town who believed that a town without 
 religion is worse than a church and state working together 
 or the state as the church for the welfare of the commu- 
 nity . 
 
 The members of the ordaining council were ministers Ha- 
 sey of Lebanon, Me., Haven of Rochester, Adams of Acton, 
 Mass., the early home of the young minister, Xewhall of 
 Stowe, Mass., Ripley of Concord, Mass., the last three
 
 25 
 
 from good old Revolutionary ground. The diary of Parson 
 Hasey gives this condensed report : "September 22, 1785. 
 Chiefly clear ; rode to ordination at Wakefield. Newhall 
 prayed ; Adams preached ; Hasey prayed and charge ; Ha- 
 ven right hand ; Ripley last prayer. Sept. 23, rode home 
 A. M., Mr. Spring with me." Thus, on the 22d day of Sep- 
 tember, Asa Piper saw this church organized, received its 
 call and accepted it, was ordained, and married his first 
 couple in Wakefield Joseph Maleham and Frederica Lang. 
 Enough glory for one day for one man ! That last event 
 may have quickened his own purposes, tor the next year 
 or so, it may be, I judge, he brought to his home at Simeon 
 Dearborn's his young wife her that was Mary Cutts of 
 Portsmouth and not long after moved a few steps to the 
 new mansion which still stands on that site of remarkable 
 beauty, which from that day to this has been the happy 
 home of his descendants. Esquire Dearborn's house was 
 near the road over Copp's hill. There was the "prophet's 
 chamber" in the early day. And there they met and chose 
 the first two deacons, Oct. 26, Simeon Dearborn, Esq., who 
 had been deacon of the church in Greenland, and Avery 
 Hall, formerly pastor at Rochester, from 1766 to 1775. 
 
 The church thus organized received additions from time 
 to time, but the number was small, only two hundred for 
 the century. The history of the church for the first quar- 
 tor of a century is not very marked. No mighty revivals 
 convulsing society when men quaked before the majesty 
 and purity of God, but we may believe a steady stream of 
 good influence was flowing on, blessing society. Later we 
 find revivals, 1828, 1887, 1840, 1875, 1881. Then infant 
 baptism was regarded important, and a few families conse- 
 crated their children, whose children's children are rejoicing 
 in the God of their fathers. The first child baptized was 
 William Maleham, whose parents, Joseph and Frederica, 
 now took upon themselves vows to love the Lord, as they 
 had vowed one year ago to love each other. Great grand- 
 children of Joseph Maleham are of this church, and in the
 
 Sunday school the third and fourth generations, unto whom 
 the Lord is showing mercy. 
 
 Richard Dow, one of the original members, became dea- 
 con, and in 1826 was, at his own request, relieved because 
 of age and infirmity, and died in 1835, the same year as 
 his pastor, full of years. His son, Asa, was one of the 
 first to receive baptism. Several of his grand-children at 
 this font were baptized, and to the memory of one of these, 
 who, sixty and four years ago, a babe in the arms of the 
 aged minister, had placed upon her brow the sacred water 
 to her, as wife and mother, we owe the memorial of our 
 Town Library and High School Ellen Almira Dow, the 
 mother of our honored friend the daughter of Josiah, the 
 grand-daughter of Richard Dow. Other descendants have 
 been loyal to the church of God, with whom we share in 
 regard for the Christians of that early day. Our commun- 
 ion set, also, is the gift of one who was here consecrated in 
 infancy, and of her husband so recently called away. The 
 grand-daughters of the first deacon are with us in a hale old 
 age, still interested, as always, with other grand-children, 
 in the service of the sanctuary. Descendants of the second 
 deacon are not in town. But the early records show him 
 holding the office of Town Clerk and first selectman for sev- 
 eral years, and prominent in civil as in religious affairs 
 Avery Hall. He died in 1820, at the advanced age of 
 eighty-two. The son of the first minister, Edward Cutts 
 Piper, as deacon for nearly half a century, and the father 
 as minister up to that time, cover nearly the whole hundred 
 years of the church as office bearers. He quietly passed 
 away in the month of February, 1881, just ninety years 
 from that winter month when he was consecrated to God. 
 Of him it is written: "He was the good old deacon, per- 
 mitted for more than half a century to embellish in his an- 
 cestral home, a hard working farmer's life with the culture 
 of a Christian gentleman. He had an apostolic beauty of 
 character, and led a blameless life." Other deacons, Lu- 
 ther Dearborn, 1820 ; Asa Piper Wiggin, and since 1879,
 
 27 
 
 Satchel Weeks. 
 
 In several who became members of the little band, the 
 promise was fulfilled, "With long life will I satisfy him." 
 Thus, Dea. Dow covered fifty years of church life, as did 
 the late Dea. Piper, who joined in 1831. At the same 
 time joined Belinda Evans, now living in Ossipee as Mrs. 
 Isaac Thurston, and Emily Peare, later, Rollins. The same 
 year Mrs. Lucy Bradbury Chesley entered upon those 52 
 years of living in Wakefield as a member of this church, 
 which ended only last year, when she sank to sleep on Eas- 
 ter day, at the age of ninety. Mrs. Rhoda Hobbs com- 
 pletes her half century in January. Yet, of the five origi- 
 nal male members, two, and perhaps three, died within 
 eighteen months after they joined the little band, Deacons 
 Hall and Dow surviving Simeon Dearborn, Mayhew Clark 
 and Samuel Haines. 
 
 Two of the members have become ministers, John H. 
 Mordough ('31) ord. Evang. '36, and serving the revived 
 and reorganized church at Effingham for some three years 
 prior to 1839. He died in 1869. Jonathan Byron Cook, 
 son of Benjamin, as a lad of eleven, by the side of the vil- 
 lage lawyer, joined the church in 1839, Sept. 8 ; settled as 
 colleague pastor with Rev. Joshua Dodge, at Moultonboro', 
 1850-54; for several years, until very recently, at Hebron, 
 >. : . H. Dr. Charles Coffin Barker, son of the revered min- 
 ister, though never a member of this church, for some years 
 has labored for his Master as a preacher of the Adventist 
 faith. 
 
 Few have gone forth to win renown, whose names are on 
 the church book. We cannot measure either the direct or 
 indirect influence of the church upon this community m up- 
 building morality and education, as well as spirituality. But 
 the record is on high. The presence of the church, even 
 with a small nominal membership, has acted as a restrain- 
 ing influence to keep back from impiety and wickedness. 
 Like a tower of granite it has stood as a protest against sin ; 
 and as a beacon tower to guide to a better and happier life.
 
 28 
 
 It has not only introduced into the kingdom of heaven, but 
 has introduced into or encouraged people to enter the king- 
 dom of wisdom. Its early preachers were men of sound 
 learning, educated in brain and heart, and, without doubt, 
 roused by their scholarly productions in the pulpit, and out 
 of it by their interest in education, an ambition among the 
 lads of Waken" eld, to secure that of more value than gold. 
 The ministers supplemented the work of the near relatives, 
 who were themselves college learned. With an illiterate 
 minister, the boys, very likely, would have gone to school. 
 But the early settlers in this vicinity did not want that kind. 
 In some towns the parish minister w T as the only educated 
 man. Not so in Waketield. College graduates Waken' eld 
 had right along, even if the soil was rugged. From a list 
 prepared, I find that some thirty have been at Exeter Acad- 
 emy, and most went to college, and I am sure that at Dart- 
 mouth, Harvard, Bowdoin and Yale not a few graduates 
 hailed from Waketield, not to speak of those other gradu- 
 ates, sons of other towns, who have entered the bowers of 
 our Edens, and have carried off the fair daughters of Wake- 
 field. 
 
 The physicians and lawyers of Wakefield have been edu- 
 cated men those legal lights in the old days, Sawyer and 
 Copp and Hobbs, and the son, not less talented, the later 
 Sawyer, and Charles Chesley. The doctors, Thomas 
 Lindsey, who, before this century begun, wasn't always so 
 successful with his minister's tax-list as in his practice, and 
 his son, Thomas, Jr., Russell and Grant, Gilman and Swa- 
 sey, McCrillis, Twitchell and Roberts ; these men have 
 been influential in the town and in the state. And they 
 thought it no detriment to their minds to sit under the 
 preaching of Parsons Piper and Barker, and receive in- 
 struction in divine things. The founders wanted a learned, 
 orthodox ministry. Their descendants may have thought 
 more of the "learned" than the "orthodox" part. But in 
 getting the one they got the other. That by the by. Still 
 we can claim as a church and congregation, some credit for
 
 the superior educational influences of this village in the past, 
 through the pulpit and the pews. For years, in the vicin- 
 ity of 1810. Parson Piper was President of the Trustees of 
 Wolfeboro' Academy, and some of our boys wended their 
 way thither, and some to Dow Academy about 1815. He 
 was also of our Town committee, and may have fitted some 
 for college. Parson Barker, in the first years of his Wake- 
 field life, was principal of the Wakefield Academy in its 
 palmiest days, with his gifted wife, once Katharine Knight, 
 of Boscawen, as assistant, and for many years within your 
 memory, supervisor of schools, giving each year reports 
 prepared with great pains, serving his town even up to four 
 score and three. 
 
 Wakefield Academy, since 1832, has had two or three 
 lives, with temporary deaths intervening. Its room has 
 been over the church room, to fulfil the conditions of a gift. 
 But we would not put, in our lives, education in a room 
 above religion. Either, alone, loses part of its power. 
 Religion, all theory and no practice, or all emotion and no 
 intelligence, is very hard and brittle, or very soft and tran- 
 sitory. If our church fathers erred, it was not in the latter. 
 If they emphasized the intellect in the pulpit, it was because 
 they feared a religion of pulp. If we are wiser than they, 
 experience has been our schoolmaster. Perhaps if they had 
 been milder, and put more of emotion into their scholarly 
 sermons, and their views of life, they might have gained- a 
 larger number of additions, and reached more hearts. They 
 were inflexible, that is, "set", sometimes a virtue, some- 
 times a hindrance. This may account for small member- 
 ship. Again, the church was virtually the state in a relig- 
 ious capacit} r , providing, as its duty, preaching at the cen- 
 tral place, at the expense of the town, and each man on the 
 grand list taxed. To this the majority assented. A few 
 protested, but perhaps not more than would oppose other 
 acts of the majority, such as a new road. Their protest 
 was noticed. The sentiment grew quite strong against 
 "taxation without representation", in this sense, that the
 
 30 
 
 preaching didn't express their views, from some near the 
 church as well as more remote. Some preferred preaching 
 of a different sort, and some, then as now, probably prefer- 
 red no preaching, and didn't wish to pay for the support of 
 any highway they didn't travel on. There was also an 
 idea that the minister should not be a "hireling." Still, if 
 anything was to be given, let it be voluntary, not by taxing. 
 As early as 1788, within three years from the settling of the 
 first minister, several "who called themselves a Baptist So- 
 ciety" the town voted "to exempt from paying a tax to the 
 town minister, and shall hold them excused so long as they 
 support preaching among themselves according to their per- 
 suasion, or attend upon the ministry in their way ; and at 
 the same time, we wish their attendance with us, and leave 
 it to their generosity to contribute what they please for the 
 support of Mr. Piper." Their names will interest you : 
 Samuel Allen, Samuel Allen, Jr., Ebenezer Cook, John 
 Horn, the first town clerk, John Hill, Jacob Wiggin, Sim- 
 eon Wiggin, Isaiah Wiggin, and Tobias Hanson. This was, 
 I judge, the society later worshiping at the Spinney meet- 
 ing house. In this neighborhood was the early home of 
 that venerable minister, w T ho, for full fifty years, has been 
 almost our Town Minister, so wide has been his circuit and 
 influence, and I regret to-day that he is not present, as I 
 hoped he would be, to speak of olden days. I refer to El- 
 der .Joseph Spinney, of winning ways, and the appearance 
 of a patriarch. Each year, nearly, some were excused. 
 But the town only could excuse. It held that right, as well 
 as to tax. It may not be proper for us, at this time, to 
 criticise too sharply this right. We do not meet to-day to 
 say that the First church should have remained the only 
 one. B^ut to rejoice that the good Lord permitted a FIRST 
 church to exist in Wakefield. A variety in religious, as in 
 political views, may be expected, even among a small pop- 
 ulation. Each view may be of hearts loyal to God or to 
 the nation. And this variety is shown in the history of our 
 town, as the number excused grew larger. In 1788, these
 
 31 
 
 ten I have mentioned ; in 1794, fifteen ; 1798, 37 out of 162 
 voters ; 1804, 44 ; 1807, 98 out of 192, over one-half ; 1810, 
 the "contract" was "dissolved", and, practically, from that 
 time on, support was voluntary, Asa Piper not being the 
 paid minister of the town, but pastor of the church for an- 
 other quarter of a century, until, in 1819, Taxation for 
 preaching was abolished by the "Act of Toleration". Dr. 
 Lyman Beecher, one of the most eminent Orthodox divines 
 then living, in his own state of Connecticut, earnestly and 
 bitterly opposed that Act. He thought that the Restraint 
 or Constraint ot the Law taken away, the flood-gates would 
 l>e opened, and a great tide of ungodliness sweep the vil- 
 lages. But the Lord lived. And Lyman Beecher lived to 
 become an equally earnest advocate of Voluntary Support. 
 Let us give our fathers credit for sincerity, whether they 
 advocated the one or the other, and unite with such of them 
 as believed that the Religious and Moral welfare of a Town 
 is of the first importance. To them be honor given by us, 
 their descendants, to those "who came into the wild-erness 
 and left it a fruitful field" ; who made homes for themselves 
 and for us. The town improved in the quarter century 
 when they had their First and only Town Minister. This 
 is shown in the eloquent and pathetic document when Par- 
 son Piper on his part dissolved the contract, January 1st, 
 1810. 
 
 "The five and twentieth vear is now in part elapsed since my in- 
 duction into the important and sacred office of a religious Teacher 
 in this place. At that time the people were few in number, and had 
 but imperfectly subdued a, wilderness, and prepared the soil to 
 yield support to the inhabitants, who, being collected together 
 from various places, were, many of them, far frDm abounding with 
 the conveniences mid delicacies of life. ****** Fears 
 were entertained by some at that time that the people would not be 
 able to fulfil their engagements without bringing poverty and dis- 
 tress upon themselves. But a present view of the case will show 
 how groundless were those fears. Instead of those temporary, 
 humble cottages first erected, and which they would now think 
 could scarce give shelter to their herds, we now behold comforta- 
 b'e and even eleganf habitations. Thus hath a kind providence
 
 32 
 
 blessed us; and thus is there exhibited unto my eyes irresistible 
 proof that what I have received from the town hath not impover- 
 ished them. Injustice to myself, I must sav, that 1 have ever cher- 
 ished a lively sympathy with the people, and made it my constant 
 endeavor to lighten lne burdens, and not forget the poor. In all 
 their afflictions I wa- afflicted; and an omnipresent Deity can wit- 
 ness my secret intercessions for unity, happiness and spiritual wel- 
 fare of all. ******* Desirous as I am of meeting the 
 wishes of the people, I have uniformly declared my readiness to 
 absolve them from every obligation to contribute to my support, 
 whenever they should express such a desire; and had such an event 
 taken place several years ago rather than at this time, the probabil- 
 ity is that it would have been more for my temporal happiness. 
 Because, having expended a considerable sum in fencing and sub- 
 duing my farm, and the like, I shall probably not find any one dis- 
 posed to compensate me, should it become expedient to dispose of 
 my property. Besides, the season of gray hairs admonishes me of 
 approaching infirmities, and davkens the prospect before me. Nev- 
 ertheless, I should prefer a "dinner of herbs where love is, unto a 
 stalled ox and hatred therewith." It has lately been signified to me 
 that a dissolution of the contract is wished for by some, and thought 
 expedient by many. I do not feel disposed to throw obstacles in 
 the wav ; and therefore declare my readiness to dissolve the civil 
 contract. I would, therefore, say that I will agree unto i's dissolu- 
 tion on the following conditions: 1st. That all sums now assess- 
 ed by virtue of the contract be paid in conformity to its provisions. 
 M. That I enjoy all immunities, as heretofore, while my relation 
 to the church shall continue. 3d. That I receive, as an Jndemnifi- 
 cation in part, for this concession, four hundred dollars. 
 
 To the inhabitants of the Town of Wakefield, this day in Town 
 meeting assembled. 
 
 January 1st, 1810. ASA PIPER. 
 
 At that town meeting, Maj. Joshua G. Hall moderator, 
 it was voted to dissolve the contract according to Mr. Pi- 
 per's proposals, Joseph Wiggin, Town Clerk. 
 
 Thus, in 1810, the town ceased to support preaching, 
 but the Town Minister continued as pastor for twenty-live 
 years more, with a colleague from 1828 to 1833, until his 
 death in 1835, much lamented. Old people now living, re- 
 member "the old priest", as he was called, and delight to 
 tell of him, a man of massive frame, great dignity and up- 
 right character, who did much to up-build society in this
 
 33 
 
 town. To Parson Piper, the best citizen regarded not only 
 the material, but the moral and spiritual interests of society. 
 The best citizen wants the best roads and bridges, the best 
 schools and churches. He himself was not purely a preach- 
 er on the Sabbath and secluded from society the rest of the 
 week. He was a citizen, and one of the best. He was al- 
 ways at the polls, and his fellow citizens parted as he march- 
 ed up through with stately step to deposit his ballot. He 
 admired Washington. He was a leader in making improve- 
 ments in husbandry. He beautified his own premises, lift- 
 ing agriculture out of the rudimental condition, and sought 
 to combine the beautiful with the useful. He believed in 
 the elevating influence of nature, yet he wanted to transform 
 the places "where every prospect pleases, and only man is 
 vile". He cultivated the rugged soil, and aimed to please 
 the eye as well as the appetite. We are not to get enjoy- 
 ment by feeding upon fish and fowl alone, but feast the eye 
 upon the rich foliage, and listen to the songs of the birds, 
 and admire the heavens of beauty. 
 
 "Forever singing as they shine, 
 The hand that made us was divine." 
 
 Mr Piper made the address at the first agricultural Fair 
 in this region, at Rochester, and the splendid shade trees 
 planted by his hand, are a monument to his foresight, as 
 they adorn the avenue in front of the ancestral grounds. 
 He was a graduate of Harvard college, and his influence up- 
 on the town in those early days we may not fully know. 
 The Circulating Library he was foremost in starting in 1797, 
 which existed 60 years and then went out, only one share- 
 holder now surviving in town Hubartis Neal. 
 
 The record of our first minister, Asa Piper, the angels of 
 Him who knows have kept. So our record is being written 
 by unseen hands ; and a hundred years from today, those 
 now unborn may be recounting our deeds to our children's 
 children. Let us keep the lights burning in the watch tow- 
 er of Zion ; and may the Sanctuary ever be the center of 
 our life and prosperity in the home and in the town. To-
 
 34 
 
 day we are looking back over the generations of the past. 
 It is valuable to do this ; to keep in memory the deeds of 
 those who toiled to subdue the forest, and cause the soil to 
 bear fruit for man. The pioneers of our country did a great 
 work, and deserve to be remembered, and remembered with 
 gratitude . And they did that work because they had great 
 souls, that were not daunted by any obstacles, who feared 
 not the lions in the way, because they were stout hearted. 
 And they left the impress upon their descendants. The 
 nearer we get to them the more of this spirit do we have. 
 Contact with rugged soil, and other things rugged, does not, 
 of necessity, make the rugged, vigorous character. But 
 the rugged character finds its congenial work in battling 
 with the obstacles in nature and in man. Whoever can trace 
 his ancestry back to one of those great-hearted families has 
 an inheritance worth more than great riches. It might be 
 well if circumstances now demanded that we should have to 
 battle as did our fathers, and use our energies, not in de- 
 veloping shrewdness of character, but solidity. 
 
 So, to-day, let us seek, not merely for information about 
 our fathers, but also inspiration from what they did, the 
 the better ourselves to do the duty God lays upon us ; so 
 that we may leave not footprints on the sands of time, 
 which may be washed away, but carve our names high up 
 among the benefactors of humanity. The heroic spirit of 
 our ancestors should be to each for an inspiration and a 
 strength. But we cannot live simply on the heritage of the 
 past. It is not good for a young man to live only on what 
 his father leaves him. Each age toils and suffers for the 
 next. The Pilgrim Fathers fled for "liberty" to a new land, 
 and suffered. Then the Revolutionary Fathers fought and 
 bled for "liberty". Our Farmer Fathers toiled to preserve 
 that "liberty". And what shall we do ? We must toil for 
 the next century, and so each one shall have a heritage to 
 which he can add by his toil. We have a free country, a 
 Christian land. The Bible is not sealed. The school 
 hout-es are not burned down. Our houses of worship are
 
 35 
 
 abundant, and the gospel is helping us on to a better and 
 happier life. The Lord be thanked that that seed was plant- 
 ed in 1785. We have a right to sing the song of the tiny 
 acorn, and then go forth to help to make the new century, 
 more than any other since the world began, God's century, 
 and years of the right hand of the Most High. 
 
 Hon. Seth Low was next introduced by the President, 
 and spoke as follows : 
 
 MR. CHAIRMAN AND CITIZENS or WAKEFIELD : 
 
 "As shadows chased by cloud arid sun 
 
 Fly fitful o'er the grass, 
 So in thy sight, Almighty One. 
 
 The generations pass. 
 
 Standing here to-day as the son of Ellen Almira Dow, 
 whose father was Josiah Dow, and whose grandfather was 
 Richard Dow, all of whom were identified with this place, 
 and all of whom long since have been gathered to their fa- 
 thers, I am reminded with peculiar solemnity of these lines 
 of the New England poet. This Richard Dow was one of 
 the original members of the first church of Waken" eld, whose 
 Centennial we celebrate to-day ; therefore I have a right to 
 be with you at this time, a right which also I value as a 
 privilege. Whether it is due or not to the stream of New 
 Hampshire blood that runs in my veins I cannot tell, but 
 certain it is that though a dweller in the city, I never read 
 without a responsive tingle which I can feel, that old psalm 
 of Israel's poet King, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills 
 from whence cometh my help." The up-lift of the moun- 
 tains upon the soul of man, as they point him sky-ward, 
 seems to me a very real thing. I often wonder whether 
 you who dwell beneath the calm, far gaze of the mountains 
 themselves, feel this as the children of New Hampshire feel 
 it when they see the mountains only now and then. In any 
 case, I am glad to be with you to-day, to join you in bless- 
 ing God that He put it into the hearts of your fathers and 
 mine one hundred years ago, to found this first church of
 
 36 
 
 Wakefield. Those of us who live in cities learn that all 
 men do not see things in the same way. Neighbors differ 
 on every question that comes up. They differ in taste and 
 in general make-up, no less than in ideas. We see about 
 us there, men of other birth trained under different customs ; 
 and we learn, or ought to learn, that no one man and no 
 one nation posesses all that is good, or all that is true.' So 
 in our churches, we ought to learn, I conceive, that no one 
 church and no one kind of a church contains the whole 
 truth and the power to commend it to all men. I am not 
 indifferent to the evils that come from the divisions among 
 Christians, but I plead for recognition of the unity that 
 lies back of the divisions. Men tell us, you know, that all 
 the colors of the rainbow are contained within a ray of 
 white light, but the world is lit, not by the rays divided 
 into colors, nor yet by light devoid of separate colors ; but 
 the "light which lighteth every man which cometh into the 
 world," is a light in which all partial lights are so blended 
 as to make the perfect ray of universal brightness. So it 
 is that some of us, born of this old New Hampshire strain, 
 worship the God of our fathers in a fashion different from 
 that which was dear to them. But we, no less than you, 
 worship the same God, and we try, as you do, to worship 
 him in spirit and in truth. So I ask you to believe of the lit- 
 tle church at the Junction, which is very dear to me and to 
 others who hold precious the names of many who have wor- 
 shiped in your midst in this old Corner Church, I ask you 
 to believe of that little church at the Junction that we wor- 
 ship there the same God as our fathers did, and that we de- 
 sire to do it in the fullest fellowship with you of devotion 
 to a common Lord. I am glad with all my heart to see 
 present to-day, and taking part in these services, the Rec- 
 tor of that church, for well I know that if God had not giv- 
 en to Richard Dow one hundred years ago a heart which 
 led him to join in the establishment of this First church of 
 Wakefield, there is little chance that his descendants would 
 have cared to help to establish any church in this or in any
 
 37 
 
 place. I hail you, therefore, gladly, as is your due, as the 
 Mother Church of Wakefield ; and as one of those who feel 
 this obligation to you for your past, I bid you God-speed 
 for a fortunate and useful future, and I bespeak, as between 
 you and your daughter church at the Junction, that unity 
 and fellowship of feeling which is born of consecration to 
 the service of one God and one Lord. 
 
 The President next introduced Miss Harriet N. Hobbs 
 who read the following poem written by her for the occasion : 
 
 HIS MESSAGE. 
 
 As in the silence of an unused room 
 
 We idly stay our weary feet, 
 Watching where in the stillness and the gloom 
 
 The shadows and the sunshine meet, 
 Through ways of mystery we come to know 
 
 Our dead are waiting with us there, 
 Moving with noiseless footsteps to and fro 
 
 An unseen presence in the air. 
 "We hold the secret of eternal years" 
 
 They softly whisper and pass by. 
 "Lo to the happy dead can come no tears, 
 
 The best of life is, we may die." 
 Oh church of God with century blossom crowned 
 
 To day doth lead us into space 
 By grim shadows peopled, who by no sound 
 
 Do break the silence of their place. 
 Through the vibrant air the soul hears the call 
 
 In Eden, and the answered shame 
 Burdened with weight of life and death to all, 
 
 As there the shadowed promise came. 
 Under the noontide heat on Mamre's plain 
 
 In his tent door watching his flocks, 
 Mourning the years he has waited in vain 
 
 For Shiloh, "while doubting Sarah mocks,
 
 38 
 
 As through the mists of early morning light 
 
 We see climbing with faith sublime 
 Up the rough steeps of Moriah's height 
 
 The patriarch of olden time. 
 From far off Nebo gazing down, his face 
 
 Radiant with the dawning light 
 Of heaven, Moses sees God's chosen race 
 
 Waiting to take their promised right. 
 For them grapes of Eschol who know no taste 
 
 Of earthly food. For them a land, 
 Erewhile they wandered over desert waste, 
 
 A murmuring rebellious band. 
 Wearing her heaped mantle with stately pride 
 
 Softly the heathen gleaner sings 
 Through the Judean fields at eventide 
 
 The mother of Israel's kings. 
 As the swift after ages move along 
 
 With full cycles, in sure accord 
 Out of the hill country comes Mary's song 
 
 "My soul doth magnify the Lord". 
 But as a wayward child afar off' flings 
 
 As he stands with averted face 
 The better gift a loving father brings 
 
 To take some childish vision's place, 
 Amid the nations doth Israel stand 
 
 As one seeing, yet will not see 
 The daystar bringing to a waiting land 
 
 The coming day of prophecy. 
 Their ears are heavy when the bitter cry 
 
 From Him grief stricken and thorn crowned 
 Sweeps through the world, "It is finished, I die 
 
 Smitten and pierced by many a wound. 
 Behold me I came to my own in vain. 
 
 For all the love I gave to them, 
 They gave me scorn and stripes and bitter pain . 
 
 And yet of old in Bethlehem
 
 39 
 
 Prophets found for me a habitation, 
 
 And there arose that wondrous star 
 The hope of ancient Israel's nation 
 
 Which wise men worshipped from afar. 
 I had reigned for aye when the world was young 
 
 A king upon my Father's throne, 
 Or ere the morning stars together sung 
 
 I claimed this people for my own. 
 Oppressed I stood before my slayers dumb. 
 
 To you of Gentile race my word 
 I give, to speak through ages yet to come 
 
 The message of thy risen Lord. 
 Fear not the task, I am with you alway. 
 
 As of old I am shield and light. 
 A brooding and shadowy cloud by day, 
 
 A bright and guiding flame by night. 
 I will lead thee in paths thou hast not known, 
 
 Oh my beloved follow me. 
 I know thee and I shall not lose my own, 
 
 However rough the way may be. 
 Thou must struggle to many a Calvary 
 
 Bearing the cross over the way, 
 But remember that I went before thee 
 
 In anguish, on that awful day. 
 When even my Father had hid His face 
 
 From me, and through the darkened land 
 All the righteous dead from their resting place 
 
 Arose, and walked, a ghastly band. 
 Go forth and work until that day of rest 
 
 When an exultant throng shall sing 
 "Their works do follow them, and they are blest. 
 
 Lo the Lamb who was slain is King." 
 To the harvest for the eternal years 
 
 Some that day will bear ripened sheaves, 
 And others trembling and with bitter tears 
 
 Can bring me only withered leaves.
 
 40 
 
 Throughout the livelong day all bravely toil. 
 
 But when at last the night is conic, 
 Some joyful bring the victor's spoil 
 
 And some with folded hands are dumb. 
 But she who touched my garment's hem 
 
 Was healed. So mourning hearts, be still 
 For God His grace divine will give to them 
 
 Simply content to do His will. 
 Arid in His city that glorious day 
 
 Lo all my ransomed church shall meet 
 Before my Father's throne to dwell alway 
 
 And there to worship at His feet. 
 
 At the after dinner informal service at the meeting house 
 Hon. J. G. Hall was called upon to give, in regard to the 
 early settlers, some 
 
 "REMINISCENCES." 
 
 MY FRIENDS, this Centennial observance ot the embodi- 
 ment of the Congregational Church in Wakefield and the 
 ordination of its first Pastor is to us all a day of stirring 
 memories. In years to come we shall ever recur to it as a 
 memorable day and its recollections will be a delight to us 
 to the close of life. In my own case the occasion reminds 
 me that my ancestors, both paternal and maternal, have, 
 from the earliest settlements at Dover and Newbury with- 
 out exception or break in the descending lines to this day 
 adhered to the old Congregational views, and I take satis- 
 faction in being a member of the old Parish where the h'rst 
 ancestor this side the sea of my Friend the President of the
 
 41 
 
 day and myself, officiated as the first deacon of the church 
 and where in the words of the old Dover records of the 
 year 1671 he "agried with the Selectmen to sweep the 
 Meetinghouse and ring the bell for one holl yeir & to have 
 for thatsarves the some of three pounds." 
 
 But this ancient church true to the tolerant spirit that its 
 first Pastor and his flock manifested for those whose relig- 
 ious opinions differed from theirs, walking in the ways of 
 Christian fellowship with those of other faiths, enlarge their 
 borders to-day and ask all the Town to come in and with 
 them once again as of old for one day at least be one fold ; 
 so that this is the Centennial of the Town as well as of the 
 Church and this is as it should be, for though one hundred 
 years ago this Town and this Church were by no means co- 
 incident as they were at an earlier period in Massachusetts 
 still the church here bore to the Town very much the rela- 
 tion that the soul does to the body. It was indeed the.light 
 set on the hill. Had the early settlers been told that they 
 must maintain the Town without the church they would 
 have abandoned their homes here and gone elsewhere where 
 they could have had the gospel preached. In brief, the 
 church our Fathers planted here and those that have grown 
 up in its shadow have mide the Town and it is fitting that 
 we should all come in and celebrate with this Mother church 
 her centennial day. The occasion is fruitful in suggestion to 
 us all and it specially reminds me that we have been remiss 
 in our duty to our ancestors, to ourselves and to posterity 
 alike in not causing a history of the town to be written and 
 published. The history of Wakefield ought to have been 
 written years ago. Had some one of our citizens of fifty or 
 even forty years ago undertaken the work we might to-day 
 possess a volume at once instructive and grateful to the mind 
 of this generation and of those who may succeed us. Among 
 the first settlers and the generations following there was an 
 exceptionally large proportion of strong minded and intel- 
 ligent men and women. Superior as they were in mental 
 grip and acquired knowledge they exercised a controlling
 
 42 
 
 force and impressed themselves on the people of the sur- 
 rounding country. Their lives were abundant in stirring 
 incidents that would have greatly enriched the pages of a 
 Town history. But busy as the men of three score years 
 ago were in the struggle for bread and a little learning for 
 their children no time was found nor thought given to gar- 
 nering the deeds of our early days for the delight and proh't 
 of their descendants, and so I fear much of the most valua- 
 ble material for a history of the Town is lost irrevocably. 
 Still, that time and labor will give us a history of great in- 
 terest and value even at this late day, the able and discrim- 
 inating historical discourse of your Pastor this morning is 
 gratifying evidence. If this occasion is of no other service 
 than to excite such an interest in our ancestors as will lead 
 speedily to the writing of the story of their lives posterity 
 I am sure will refer to it as a red letter day in the Town's 
 life. The limits of Wakefield remain the same as when the 
 town was incorporated excepting that the small portion 
 above Province Pond was in 1820 annexed to Effingham, 
 but I tind that in 1820 an effort was made by the people 
 living in this town below LovelFs pond with others living 
 in the Northerly part of Milton, to have that part of Wake- 
 tield south of Lovell's pond and the northerly portion of 
 Milton incorporated into a new town. Luther Dearborn of 
 this town and John Remick Jr. of Milton headed petitions 
 to the legislature for the new town which w r as to be called 
 Lisbon. The Rev. Mr. Piper favored the project and sug- 
 gested the name Milh'eld for the new town. This town fell 
 within the limits of the Masonian patent and as appears by the 
 records of the Masonian Proprietors, a company of wealthy 
 Portsmouth gentlemen who had some time before bought 
 of Mason's heirs their interest in the land covered by the Ma- 
 sonian patent, at a meeting holden in Portsmouth April 27th 
 1749 the Township now called AYaketield, but then known 
 as East Town was granted by vote to John Ham , Gershom 
 Downs, John Horn and seventy-six others all described as 
 being residents of Dover and Somersworth with the one ex-
 
 43 
 
 ception of Noah Emery of Kittery Maine. By the terms 
 of this grant the land was divided into one hundred shares 
 and each lot of land was to contain when surveyed one 
 hundred acres. Further provisions and conditions on which 
 the grant was made were that one of the shares should be 
 
 C? 
 
 for the first minister of the Gospel who might be settled in 
 in the town and continue here during his life or until regular- 
 ly dismissed. That another of said shares should be for the 
 support of the Gospel Ministry , that the one hundred acre 
 lots belonging to these shares should be laid out as near the 
 place where the meeting-house might be built as may be 
 conveniently done. That there be six acres of land left in 
 some convenient place for building a meeting-house and 
 school-house upon, and to be used as a training field, a 
 burying place or other public uses as the inhabitants may 
 have occasion to improve it tor. That one other of said 
 shares shall be for the use and maintainance of a school for- 
 ever. It was farther provided that the grantees should set- 
 tle thirty families in town within four years after the close 
 of the war then raging between the English, and the French 
 and Indians, each family to have a house at least sixteen 
 feet square and three acres of land cleared and fitted for 
 mowing and tillage, and that ten more families should be 
 settled by the end of five years from the close of the war 
 and that within six years from the declaration of Peace a 
 meeting-house should be built .and that the preaching of the 
 Gospel should be maintained from the end of seven years. 
 It appears further from the Masonian records which are in 
 the custody of the descendants of the last proprietor's Clerk 
 .at Portsmouth, that the lots were drawn in Portsmouth at 
 Ann Slayton's Inn, April 11, 1750. Out of the seventy- 
 nine who received the grant of the town I find less than a 
 dozen whose family name is the same with that of any of 
 the old settlers here. I doubt if half a dozen ever settled 
 here. I recognize in the list many who were a hundred 
 and fifty years ago prominent in Dover and Somers worth. 
 Among them was Col. Paul Gerrish who was in his time
 
 44 
 
 a foremost man in Dover, one so much revered and honored 
 that when he died, his Pastor the Rev. Jonathan Gushing 
 says that near one thousand persons attended his funeral. 
 These men purchased the town not for settlement them- 
 selves but for speculation, and this leads me to say that the 
 makeup of this town was essentially different from that of 
 the Massachusetts towns and even the older towns of south- 
 ern New Hampshire. This difference was partly the result 
 of the more recent time when the first settlement was made 
 here and partly of the different causes which brought our 
 Fathers here. In Massachusetts, in Hampton, Dover, Exe- 
 ter and Derry the town and church were coincident. Ports- 
 mouth was an exception because the headquarters of the 
 Provincial government was there and of course the English 
 Church thus early had a foothold and somewhat disputed 
 the ground with the Puritans. Neither in this nor any oth- 
 er town in New Hampshire settled in the last half of the last 
 century were church and town coincident, and church mem- 
 bership was never here made a prerequisite for holding civ- 
 il office as was the case at one time in Massachusetts. The 
 first settlers did not come here for greater freedom of wor- 
 ship. They were not English emigrants fleeing from the 
 persecution of a State church, but they were the hardy, ad- 
 venturous young and middle aged men from the older towns 
 of the Province where they and their Fathers for more than 
 a hundred years had enjoyed all the religious freedom that 
 Brewster and the Plymouth colony or Winthrop and his 
 followers hoped for or desired when they first set foot on 
 New England soil ; and while the acts of the first settlers 
 here in setting up public worship and maintaining the or- 
 dinances of the church attest their loyalty to the Christian 
 faith as held by the early settlers of New England, their 
 primary object in coming here I imagine, was to better 
 their worldly condition. Dover, Exeter, Hampton, Ports- 
 mouth, and Newbury after they had been settled one hun- 
 dred years seemed to the active young men of 1760 to be 
 getting thickly peopled. The best of the pine and the oak
 
 45 
 
 had been cut down. With succeeding generations and in- 
 creasing numbers the farms had been divided and subdivid- 
 ed until the young and enterprising turned their thoughts 
 to newer lands and to what seemed broader and easier ave- 
 nues to wealth. The Masonian proprietors were surveying 
 their lands in this region and offering them for sale. Vis- 
 ions of wealth loomed up to some from the pine forests of 
 the Salmon Falls and Saco valleys, to others the thought 
 of possessing broad acres and founding a new estate was a 
 fascination, and so the young and stalwart from the older 
 settlements below us came and settled this town and found- 
 ed this church. Now while all the early settlers here were 
 not sample Pilgrims like Brewster and Bradford at Plymouth 
 nor Puritans like Winthrop and Endicott of Massachusetts 
 Bay they had all been trained more or less in Puritan ways 
 and were so far as we can tell by the church records in the 
 towns whence they came hither the baptized children of the 
 church. Not a man of them but reverenced the ways of re- 
 ligion as it had been taught to them. They reverenced the 
 Sanctuary and were in their place there on the Sabbath. 
 They were generally deeply religious men and women, and 
 so at an early day, as soon as they were strong enough in 
 numbers, a minister was settled and a church formed. Our 
 Fathers were fortunate in the selection of their first relig- 
 ious teacher. At the time of Mr. Piper's settlement here 
 you are aware that the minister was the most important 
 person in the town. No one else approached him in digni- 
 ty or influence. He always had the opportunity, if he pos- 
 sessed the requisite character and force of intellect, to mould 
 the sentiment of his parish greatly to his liking. I think 
 from all I can learn from those now living who remember 
 him well that Mr. Piper was never an aggressive man and 
 he was the farthest remove from a domineering parson, but 
 he came here well fitted by nature and .education to exer- 
 cise a lasting and most happy influence upon the town and 
 he did it in a gentle and effective way. He was large of 
 stature, of a good presence, dignified in his bearing always,
 
 46 
 
 a model of propriety on all occasions. So far as I can learn, 
 no one ever charged him with indiscretion of word or mien. 
 He was fortunate in his lineage, for, as you have been told 
 to-day, he came of sound English stock. He was equally 
 fortunate in the place of his birth and in the time and events 
 amid which his childhood was passed. It is good fortune 
 to any one to have been born in old Middlesex, in the 
 shadow of Bunker Hill in sight of the fields of Concord or 
 the Lexington meadows ; anywhere in the fields and man- 
 sions of old Middlesex. Nowhere in the old thirteen colo- 
 nies was there more intelligent love and daring for indepen- 
 dence than in Middlesex county and nowhere was the pat- 
 riotic feeling more intense than in the quiet town of Acton 
 where Mr. Piper was born and reared. It was the Acton 
 minute men who at daybreak on the 19th day of April 
 1775 "crowded at the drum beat to the house of Isaac Da- 
 vis their captain who made haste to be ready." Later in 
 the day this Acton company formed on the right of the line 
 at the old north bridge at Concord and it was this company 
 that received the first volley from the British regulars in 
 the battle of that day by which their captain and Abner 
 Hosmer a son of one of the deacons in the church in Acton 
 fell dead, and before night the son of another deacon, James 
 Hayward, had fallen while pursuing the British army in 
 their retreat to Boston. Mr. Piper was not in this service 
 and he may have been at the University at Cambridge 
 where he was then a student. But doubtless he directly 
 after passed up the high road to Concord, the route taken 
 by the British army on the 19th of April, on the way to 
 the funeral of his father's neighbors who had fallen at Con- 
 cord. On the road he might have seen the spot where 
 Haynes, a deacon of the church in Sudbury, fell at the age 
 of eighty years while fighting the British in their retreat 
 through Lexington, and the thickets and stone walls at the 
 high land in Lincoln where the Americans made such havoc 
 in the ranks of the retreating English, and captured their 
 leader, Major Pitcairn, he must have observed, and doubt-
 
 47 
 
 less he was one of that concourse of neighbors from miles 
 around who followed to the village graveyard in Acton the 
 remains of Davis and Hosmer . and others of his father's 
 neighbors and some of them perhaps his kinsmen who had 
 fallen in that first day's fight for civil liberty to the colonies. 
 While a student at Cambridge he must have heard the im- 
 passioned appeals of Samuel Adams and Warren in the old 
 South Meeting House in Boston. Hancock must have been 
 a familiar figure to him for he was much in Cambridge in 
 those days and perhaps he saw Washington draw his sword 
 under the ancient elm in Cambridge and very likely he 
 heard Jeremy Belknap, then the minister at Dover, as he 
 preached to the army in the streets of Cambridge. These 
 scenes and the high companionship of patriots and martyrs 
 for the cause of civil liberty moulded our first pastor greatly 
 for his whole future life ; and you do not wonder when I 
 tell you that those who knew him best here recall that he 
 always took a lively interest in public affairs, that he always 
 had strong political feeling, that he loved the discussion of 
 public measures before the country for the time being. 
 He was never a politician. His clerical office and his ele- 
 vated views saved him from that fate. -Like most of the 
 Congregational clergy of his time he was a Federalist hold- 
 ing Washington in the highest veneration, a firm believer 
 in the policy of Hamilton and Adams, and dsiliking the no- 
 tion of Jefferson and dreading the influence of his views on 
 questions of public policy because in connection with his as- 
 sociates in the ministry he thought him a deist and perhaps 
 an atheist and that the success of his party foreboded a rep- 
 etition to some extent at least of the scenes of the then re- 
 cent French revolution. Through all his active life I judge 
 Mr. Piper was not averse, to say the least, to political dis- 
 cussion in a quiet way when a proper occasion offered it- 
 self. Sometime while the late Hon. Nathaniel Upham of 
 Rochester, himself the son of the minister of Deerfield, was 
 a member of Congress and perhaps about 1820, Mr. Upham 
 called early in the day at the store then standing opposite
 
 48 
 
 the "Old Maid's Tavern" where he found his friend parson 
 Piper. Mr. Upham was fresh from a session of Congress 
 and very soon he and the minister were in earnest political 
 discussion which was kept up till near night when Mr. Up- 
 ham remarked that he must be on his way to a store he then 
 owned, either on Copp's hill or at Wakefield corner I am 
 not sure which, but that if Mr. Piper desired he would re- 
 new the discussion the next day at his store. The sugges- 
 tion was promptly accepted and the discussion went on at 
 Mr. Upham's store for two days more in the presence of 
 several of Mr. Piper's neighbors. Perhaps no one is now 
 living who listened to this three days of political talk, but 
 I years ago had a full account of it from one who listened 
 from beginning to end of it, and more recently upon enqui- 
 ry of my lamented and venerable friend Luther Dearborn 
 Sawyer who died last year at the age of eighty, he told me 
 that he remembered perfectly well listening the last two 
 days ot the discussion. 
 
 Of the committee of seven who signed the call to Mr. 
 Piper to settle in the ministry, one was Capt. Jeremiah 
 Gilman w r ho came with his family to Wakefield perhaps as 
 early as 1767 and built his house just opposite the "Old 
 Maid's Tavern" where he lived up to the time of his death 
 in 1791, his farm extending from the highway westerly to 
 the river. This man was born at Exeter June 3rd 1719 
 whence he removed to this town. His father Andrew Gil- 
 man and an uncle Jeremy Gilman were taken prisoners by 
 the Indians while at work in a saw-mill at "Pickpocket" in 
 Exeter in the spring of 1709. Andrew eventually escaped 
 from his captors and returned home. Naturally the son 
 imbibed some dislike to the Indians and doubtless the only 
 good Indian to him was a dead Indian. At any rate he was 
 an Indian fighter and a captain in the old French and Indian 
 war. He marched armed with gun and sword, adopting 
 largely the Indian methods of fighting. Among the inci- 
 dents of his soldier life he used to relate that at one time, 
 exhausted by the heat, and protracted fighting he quenched
 
 49 
 
 his thirst by drinking from a pool ol water reddened by the 
 blood of the combatants. In 1777, when the descent of 
 Burgoyne's army upon New York was imminent, he raised 
 a company here, joined Stark's forces and took part in the 
 battle of Bennington. At this time he was fifty-eight years 
 of age, and his wife claiming that he had done his part as a 
 soldier endeavored to persuade him not to again enter the 
 service, but on a July afternoon the little company was 
 formed in front of the captain's house, the captain stepping 
 ii front said "Come on boys" and all hands started down 
 the road on the double quick, bivouacked that night in a 
 barn in Rochester and marched thence to Exeter where 
 they joined Gen. Stark's forces. After a desperate fight of 
 two hours at Bennington the British intrenchments were 
 carried, Gilman being as his soldiers said the second man 
 to follow Stark over the breastworks of the enemy where a 
 hand to hand conflict was terminated by the utter rout of 
 the enemy. This Capt. Gilman with his cousin Lieut. Jon- 
 athan Gilman are I suppose the two Gilmans who are. men- 
 tioned in a memorandum found among Mr. Piper's papers 
 as the first families that wintered in town. Jonathan set- 
 tled on the old main road from Wakefield to Milton nearly 
 opposite the house of the late John Kimball. His descend- 
 ants for three generations have owned and occupied the 
 farm where his great-grandson Jonathan R. Gilman now 
 resides on the road from Union Village to Brookfield. 
 These men reckoned their descent from three of our Colo- 
 nial governors Gov. Andrew Wiggin, Gov. Simon Brad- 
 street, and Gov. Thomas Dudley. The man of the most 
 prominence in civil affairs in the early days of the town was 
 Capt. David Copp who lived where Hon. John W. Sanborn 
 now resides. Coming here early from Rochester he seems 
 for many years to have been the central figure in the man- 
 agement of public affairs. In wealth, social standing, and 
 in influence he was the first man in the town. There was 
 no office in the gift of the people he did not enjoy, and 
 there was no call of his country that he was not among the
 
 50 
 
 foremost to obey. He was in command of a company at 
 the Battle of Bunker Hill. Andrew Oilman was his first 
 lieutenant. He was perhaps continuously in service to the 
 close of the Revolution. Avery Hall one of the first dea- 
 cons of this church was a native of Wallingford, Connecti- 
 cut, a graduate of Yale college in 1759 and pastor of the 
 church in Rochester from 1766 to 1775. Shortly after his 
 dismission from the Rochester church he removed to this 
 town and lived on the farm now owned by John Kimball 
 where he died at the age of 82 in 1820. At Rochester, as 
 the church records show, there was anything but harmony 
 between him and some of his church. For years the rec- 
 ords allude to the pending strife and at last a large council 
 of the neighboring churches very reluctantly, apparently, 
 recommended a dissolution of the pastoral relation in a very 
 lengthy and elaborate report, but so adroitly drawn as 
 most effectually to conceal the reasons of the council, if 
 they had any, for the conclusion reached. The truth was 
 as I know from a most trustworthy source that Mr. Hall 
 was in no fault at all, but a female member of his church 
 who was a Scotch Presbyterian had conceived the notion 
 that Mr. Hall was not as thoroughly Calvinistic as he ought 
 to be, and being joined by a few others persisted in her op- 
 position to him until the neighboring churches were induced 
 for the sake of peace to recommend his dismission. After 
 coming to this town Mr. Hall was much employed as a 
 magistrate and was in his latter years known as Esquire 
 Hall. He saw much trouble here, his faithful daughter 
 Sally, always the light of the home and the aged father's 
 main dependence after the mother's death, sickened and 
 died, his house was burned, and in his last years his means 
 were quite limited, but he died as he had lived a good man 
 held in high esteem by all who knew him. 
 
 Perhaps no family is oftener spoken of or held in higher 
 esteem by us than the Dow family, and I am quite sure none 
 have done more for the religious and educational welfare of 
 the town than Deacon Richard Dow one of the original
 
 51 
 
 members of this church, to whom fitting reference has been 
 made to-day, and his descendants. Of the recent benefac- 
 tions made here by his grand-children I may not speak in 
 this presence, but I may properly remind you that his son 
 Josiah Dow then a leading merchant of Boston in 1815 at 
 his own expense built upon his father's farm a building, 
 and established the Dow Academy which continued in op- 
 eration till about 1820. Josiah Dow was a man in high bus- 
 iness and social position. He took an active interest in the 
 success of the school, and youth of both sexes from the sur- 
 rounding country as well as from Boston, Salem, and the 
 large towns of southern New Hampshire filled the school- 
 rooms. An ample teaching force of the best grade was pro- 
 vided by Mr. Dow and the Academy while it continued en- 
 joyed a reputation hardly second to any in the state. It 
 has been my good fortune to know several venerable men 
 now dead, who were once students at Dow Academy. 
 They were already advanced in years when I first talked 
 with them, men learned in their professions, examples of 
 good breeding and of high character. These men never 
 tired of talking of their days spent at Dow Academy and 
 there was no praise too high for them to bestow on its teach- 
 ers and founder. They not only remembered the excel- 
 lence of the work done daily in the large class-room but they 
 delighted to dwell on the pomp and circumstance of exhibi- 
 tion days, which the Founder always attended and when 
 they had martial music and a procession. The Academy 
 was dedicated Nov. 6, 1815 when Mr. Dow delivered the 
 address. Rev. Andrew Thayer was the first preceptor. 
 In 1819 Mr. Adam Gordon, Miss Rebecca Phippen and 
 Miss Eliza Bailey were the teachers, and at one time the 
 late Hon. John Aiken of Andover, Mass., was a preceptor. 
 
 And so we recount the work of a few of that company 
 who a hundred years ago to-day witnessed the settlement of 
 the town's first religious teacher near the spot where many of 
 them with that pastor lie buried. They meant to build 
 well their little commonwealth. It was the town they
 
 52 
 
 founded just a little more than a century ago but it was 
 not complete nor did it in any way satisfy them till just a 
 hundred years ago this beautiful day they had founded a 
 church and settled a minister of the Gospel. I trust that 
 ere long the story of their lives may take shape in a town 
 history, and that proper memorial stones may mark the 
 place of the old meeting-house and the grave of their pas- 
 tor. 
 
 The following Notes will guide some in our picturing of the early 
 settlers already mentioned. A. H. T. 
 
 1. Lt. Jona. Oilman of Exeter the first settler in 1767 at the age of 47; in 1774, 
 53; in 1785, (X served as Moderator and second Selectman in 1777. 
 
 2. Cap't. Jere, Oilman, his cousin, at about the same date and age, was a war- 
 rior. Andrew, Ca+)t. Copp's Lt., was his son. 
 
 3. John Horn, third settler, perhaps in 1768, in age not far from 30, one of the 
 lew original proprietors who settled in the township. Born in Dover and died in 
 1830 at 91, the oldest person in town. He lived on Witch-trot road in "Goudy field." 
 
 4. Benj. Perkins, from Dover Point, settled early on what is now the home place 
 of Noah Kimball Nutter. Much interested in the improving of the burying-ground. 
 
 5 John Kimball, of Exeter, younger brother of Jona. Oilman's wife, when 27 
 bought in 1768 Lot 40, since owned by a son, Ward W. Third Selectman in 1776. 
 He died about 1806. His brother (younger) 
 
 6. Noah Kimball, son-in-law of Jere. Oilman, living in East Town, bought the 
 next lot 38 in 1770 when 26; first of 2d Selectmen, 1774; father of "Master John". 
 Died in 1810 at 6(i. 
 
 7. Capt. David Copp (1738 1817) came from Rochester before 1770 when perhaps 
 30 years old; 46 when Mr. Piper came; first Moderator at 35, and for most of the 
 next 15 yeais divided that honor with 
 
 8. Simeon Dearborn (1727 1787) who came from Greenland before 1770. He was 
 also Justice of the Peace. His wife's brother, John Haven, came later and was an 
 extensive land owner. Josiah Page bought of Simeon Dearborn in Sept. 1773, and 
 lived near him. David Copp, William Moore, first constable, Daniel Hall and 
 John Kimball, first school committee. '79 Jos. Leavitt bought Haven's house (op- 
 posite Dearborn's) for a tavern. 
 
 9. Joseph Maleham (17431816) first 3d Selectman at 31 in 1774. 
 
 10. John Wingate 3d and 2d Selectman six or seven years after 1780. 
 
 11. Lt. after Col. Jona. Palmer was younger than these but became later quite a 
 prominent Federalist in the town and state. (17511843) 
 
 12. Nath'l Balch, first Deputy in Prov. Cong, at Exeter from Wakefield in 1775. 
 He seems to have lived between John Horn on the west and on the east on Witch- 
 trot road EliphaletQuimby, the lather of [13.] Dorothy first child. From Exeter 
 1767. 
 
 14. Jacob Wiggin and [15.] Nathan Mordougb, from Greenland, served on the 
 board of Selectmen in early years. Also 
 
 16. Sam'l Hall who with his brother Dan'l Hall came early and was a land own- 
 er living near now A. S. Weeks'. Dan'l lived about opposite N Batch's 
 
 17. A very Hall (1737 1820) came near 1776. Town clerk for ten years after John 
 Horn. Also first Selectman '79 to '87, and a leader in the organizing of the church. 
 Lived on site of Kimball Hotel. 
 
 18. Mayhew Clark of North Hampton bought of Oapt. Copp in Lot 15 con Tut- 
 tle's Hill) in May 1772. 3<1 Selectman 1781 to '84; 2d in 1780 and '85, and probably 
 died in office, February 1786. 
 
 The male church members in order of age wero 
 
 19. Samuel Haines, 69, the oldest, (1716) fourth by descent from Dea. Samuel 
 Hsiines (England 1611) of the First Church in Portsmouth and one of its nine origi-
 
 inal members, like his great grandson here in 1785. Not his but his son's wife 
 joined the next year. 
 Simeon Dearborn, 57; Avery Hall, 47; Mayhew Clark, perhaps S8. 
 
 20. Richard Dow il~53 1835) 32. the youngest, came about 1780 from Kensington ; 
 later Deacon and the last survivor of the little band of 1785 fifty years after, when 
 he died some three months before the minister 
 
 21. Rev. ASA PIPER, only 27, 
 
 born in Acton, Muss., Mar. 7, 1757, and died at Wakefleld, May 19, 1885, at 78. 
 
 Mr. George S. Dorr, editor of the Carroll County Pio- 
 neer, at Wolfeboro' Junction, the latest addition to the vil- 
 lages of Waketield, was asked to furnish a poem for the 
 occasion, but owing to press of other business at the time, 
 was unable to do so. The following lines, however, which 
 appeared in the Pioneer as a part of Mr. Dorr's report of 
 the proceedings of the day, the compiler deems fitting and 
 proper to give a place in this work, and therefore, with per- 
 mission, here inserts them : 
 
 Behind the dusty bars of time 
 
 Is rung to-day a century's chime; 
 
 A century dim, with all it holds, 
 
 To-day the grasping- past enfolds. 
 
 We bid you all remember well 
 
 The struggles none may fully tell, 
 
 Of Parson Piper and the few, 
 
 Who "builded better than they knew". 
 
 O'er these hills their feet have trod, 
 
 Their ancient plows upturned this sod; 
 
 They builded homes, they churches raised, 
 
 vVithiu whose walls their God they praised. 
 
 A century old this church and town 
 
 Outlasts many a gilded crown; 
 
 To-day we place a golden star 
 
 Within Time's swift revolving car. 
 
 A golden clasp this bright To-day 
 
 Binds two centuries on our way ; 
 
 Behind we hear a last faint chime 
 
 Mingle with that of coming time. 
 
 And may we, who stand to-day, 
 
 Where stood those long passed away, 
 
 Leave a record bright and pure, 
 
 Which, like theirs, shall long endure.
 
 54 
 
 The compiler regrets his inability to present the pleasing 
 address of fellowship of the next speaker, Rev. Wm. Lloyd 
 Himes, of the Episcopal Church at Wolfeboro' Junction, 
 but as he has received none of it for publication, the omis- 
 sion is unavoidable, and he passes on to the address of Rev. 
 Gardner S. Butler of Union Village. Mr. Butler said : 
 
 I have reason to hold this church in grateful esteem since it 
 is my privilege to care for her youngest daughter. Though small, 
 she is a precious child, destined, I trust, to prove a blessing to the 
 world, and an honor to her from whom she sprang. I also count 
 it a favor to be here that I may receive an inspiration from the 
 past. As we have heard recounted the noble work, wrought un- 
 der difficulties by those who have preceded us, who has not received 
 a fresh impulse to high endeavor? It was not in other lands, but 
 here; not amid extraordinary scenes, but in the comiron walks of 
 life, that our fathers lived and labored. Therefore, the history of 
 their lives is more useful to us. The inspiring power of this day 
 upon us is a reminder that we, too, may yet be an inspiration to 
 those who shall take the places we now fill. A review of the past 
 ought to arouse within us the spirit of gratitude. By hard labor 
 did our fathers fell the forest and plant in its place the trees whose 
 fruit we now enjoy. Our most essential blessings were left us by 
 those who have gone before. We may select from what has been 
 given us, and improve what we select; but we do not originate that 
 which is most useful to us. It will take another general ion to make 
 useful what we create. The food we gather, unaided bx those who 
 precede us, is but manna. It is only when death has driven out 
 the inhabitants whose place we take, that we eat the "Old corn of 
 tli3 land." If disposed to boast of the high position we now occu- 
 py, a glance downward over the past will reveal the fact that ouv 
 ascent has been reached by steps our fathers laid. As well might 
 the top stone of a pyramid boast over the stones that support it. 
 They build unwisely who cast aside certain great foundation stones 
 which have proved so secure in the past, or who undertake to trim 
 the corners of those stones and thus make them insecure to build 
 upon. There is apparent in the attitude of some among us a pur- 
 pose to cast away, or so change as to render useless, some 01 the 
 essential principles which our fathers taught. If unchecked, the 
 sad results of such teaching must in time appear, The rough stones 
 of Orthodoxy used by our fathers may need to be srnoot hed ; but 
 to round and polish them until they bear the name "Progressive 
 Orthodoxy" will only serve to make them unfit for use. It is only 
 a question of time when it shall be said of a church built on such a
 
 55 
 
 foundation, "Great was the fall of it." Hard as it might be for 
 some of us to accept every doctrinal statement of the "Westmin- 
 ster Catechism", it is far better than a creed tinctured with the 
 teaching of the "New Departure." The character formed by the 
 teaching of this and other old New England churches must secure 
 the respect of all who love right principles. Fill the leading pul- 
 pits and chief political positions of our country with men of the 
 Puritanic stamp of character and our nation would have a great 
 moral and general uplift. 
 
 Then was sung the anthem "Jerusalem my happy home", after 
 which Rev. Sumner Clark was called upon. His address was main- 
 ly in the line of reminiscences. He alluded to the fact that his 
 first visit to Wakefield was during the pastorate of Mr. Leffingwell. 
 At that time he attended the meeting of the old Harmony Asso- 
 ciation, and preached in this house in the evening. His connection 
 with former ministers had been somewhat peculiar. To borrow 
 the language of Mr. Tappan, sustaining to him, at Marshfield and 
 Wakefield, the relation of "successor, predecessor and successor." 
 Rev. Mr. Barker was referred to as affording valuable aid in social 
 services, particularly the Missionary Concert. At the close of his 
 remarks Mr. Clark read the following, suggesting that "perhaps 
 it might turn out a song, perhaps turn out a sermon". 
 
 Ecc. 7 - 10 Say notthou, what is the cause that the former days were better than 
 these? forthou dost not inquire wisely concerning this, 
 
 " 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view." 
 
 Thus wrote the Poet, and how clearly true. 
 
 The far remote in space is deemed most fair, 
 
 The far remote in time exceeding rare. 
 
 One only Paradise on earth we trace 
 
 At the commencement of the human race. 
 
 So in the pristine eras there were found 
 
 Both giant men, and mammoth beast, renowned. 
 
 Then, too, bv ancient records it appears, 
 
 Some stretched their lives almost a thousand years. 
 
 Still, when we further read of murd'rpus Cain, 
 
 And ruin dire on cities of the plain, 
 
 Of piagues inflicted by a righteous God, 
 
 Of tongues confounded, and o'erwhelming flood, 
 
 Of wars and exiles, and the many ills 
 
 With which all history its dark pages tills, 
 
 Strange would it be if any should deplore 
 
 They did not live in those same days of yore. 
 
 But coming nearer to the present time, 
 
 And leaving distant lands for our own clime, 
 
 'Tis no hard task to show that by-gone days 
 
 Were not entitled to superior praise.
 
 Among the forests dense, all rough and wild, 
 Here careless lived free Nature's rougher child ; 
 Of savage habits, and of hideous mien, 
 And mind more dark, the Indian might be seen. 
 True worship they had none, Dut, as they saw 
 In elements around some "higher law", 
 Ascribed the rule of all beneath the skies, 
 To a celestial Spirit great and wise, 
 Whose angry frown in s'.orms and winds appear, 
 His smiling face in waters bright and clear. 
 At length by force of jealousy and war, 
 The different tribes were scattered wide and far. 
 Yet not henceforth to desolation drear 
 Was left this spot so fraught with beauty's cheer. 
 Another race, with resolution strong 
 To guard the right, and overthrow the wrong, 
 Here built their dwellings, and with patient toil, 
 The forests cleared, and subdued the soil. 
 Foundations laid with energy and zeal, 
 Both for their civil and religious weal. 
 But, turning now to this our goodly town, 
 And noting well the objects of renown, 
 But few of all the varied things now seen 
 Remind of former days and ways I w'en. 
 True, the same hills stand on their lasting base, 
 And like silvery waters flow apace. 
 All else how changed, with little to denote 
 How looked this region in the days remote. 
 .Where once the tangled wood extensive spread 
 We find the fruitful orchard in its stead. 
 The hunting ground long since was made to yield 
 To flowery yard and cultivated fieid. 
 The cosilv mansion and the cottage neat, 
 Which in due order line each pleasant street, 
 The stores and shops around the busy mart, 
 Churches and schools adorned by works of art, 
 Succeed the smnky wigwam frail and low, 
 A simple shelter from the rain and snow. 
 By spotted trees o'er tedious trail and drear, 
 The natives moved, of lurking foes in fear. 
 In open space, and safely on we press 
 By rapid cars or the more staid express. 
 They posted news by the swift runner's speed, 
 We chain our message to a lightning steed, 
 And might a confab hold with king or queen 
 While surging ocean rolls between. 
 Thus great the outward contrast brought to view 
 As we impressions of the past renew. 
 In short, they plodded on as in a dream, 
 We, wide awake, rush through the world by stearr . 
 Nor are the vast improvement-* of our day, 
 Attracting notice by their wide display, 
 Confined to things alone of earthly kind, 
 But have to do with training of the mind, 
 With plans for doing good, and scattering light 
 Through all the different realms of moral night,
 
 57 
 
 Gathering recruits for Zion's holy war, 
 Sending the gospel to the nations far. 
 Truly we live in an eventful age, 
 Calling aloud that each with zeal engage 
 In leading men in paths of peace and love, 
 And make this world resemble that above, 
 While to invite to labor, faith and prayer, 
 'Signs of l he times" in cheering forms declare 
 The downing of the morn o'er all the land, 
 The promise sure, the victory near at hand. 
 So marvel not that no regret we show, 
 We did not live a hundred years ago. 
 
 Rev. Daniel Dana Tappan of Topstield, Mass., could not 
 come, so he sent for his part the following, which was read : 
 
 GREETINGS TO THIS INTERESTED ASSEMBLAGE OF OLD-TIME 
 FRIENDS AND STRANGERS: 
 
 J had no special knowledge of the history of this church prev- 
 iously to my brief residence here; although years before I think I 
 saw the venerable pastor, Rev. Mr. Piper; and later had some ac- 
 quaintance with Rev. Mr. Barker, having visited at his house, and 
 also officiated at the funeral of his excellent wife. This little 
 speech will refer to matters during my sojourn from Nov. 1865, to 
 June 1871; my ministry closing somewhat earlier. We boarded, 
 the whole time, at Capt. Yeaton's, and had neither cause, nor wish, 
 for a change; not needing, then, and there, the charge given to 
 some early disciples: "6rO not thoufrom house to house. 1 " Except 
 at one early period of that ministry, tlure was no very marked re- 
 ligious interest; nor, at that time, or after, were there known ex- 
 tensive happy results of the brief interest. The Sabbath congrega- 
 tions had a fair representation of intelligence, and love of the truth. 
 For a portion of the time, failing to stand, or sit, in their lot, it fell 
 to the preacher, unversed in scientific music, to lead in the service 
 of song, and I fear occasionally missing the right pitch. But the 
 people seemed to take it comfortably, as was but just; as always, 
 when one does as well as he can. It was curious (excuse the re- 
 mark) that the preacher, who was expected to impart light, was 
 posted aloft, in about the darkest place in the house. And, then, 
 the pulpit wa* unphilosophically and unsympathisingly hisfh. The 
 minister was thus set over the people with a witness: albeit, some 
 of the brotherhood may be set under now. A lawyer would have 
 but a poor prospect of winning a case, himself perched so high, and 
 the jury scattered here and there; not excepting a Choate, or a 
 Webster. Happily, there was no huge sounding-board, threatening 
 the preacher's head, shoukMt become dislodged. But this is past; 
 and \ on have wisely, and compassionately, brought the minister
 
 58 
 
 nearer to the people, to their eyes, and ears, and hearts; for which, 
 on behalf of his successors, and in cos-dial good will to the congre- 
 gation, this preacher gives you his felicitations. It was * rather 
 delicate thing to have directly under the eye of the speaker, a cul- 
 tured, somewhat critical, and very godly, ex-pastor. The relation 
 is a delicate one, usually. But the worthy Mr. Barker decorously 
 listened to his somewhat younger brother; and it is due to say, that 
 once, when the sermon adversely referred to a rather popular usage, 
 on descending from the pulpit he gave the preacher a kind word of 
 approval. Ministers, when called upon to say unpalatable things, 
 need, and may well be grateful for, words of cheer from intelligent, 
 appreciating hearers. I give you this gentle hint gratis. Mr. Bar- 
 ker was ready to assist on Sacramental occasions, and at the Mis- 
 sionary Monthly Concert; and he was almost always present at our 
 social meetings, and ready to help. WH had but few, indeed, to 
 take an active part in those meetings, although some true hearted 
 silent ones were, no doubt, in cordial fellowship. The Sabbath 
 evening meetings, usually, at dwelling houses, were cheering and 
 helpful, as some now present may remember; and we used to sing 
 the good old hymns, to the good old tunes, to our hearts' cojitent, 
 as well as we knew how. And, we hope, the Blessed Lord was 
 sometimes with us, in these peaceful gatherings. Our church 
 meetings were almost uniformly desirable. The number admitted 
 to church-membership was very small. Not more than five are now 
 called to mind. But three occasions of baptism are remembered, 
 of adults or infants. One of the infants was a child of Mr. Charles 
 and Mrs. Abby Smith; the other was my grandson, George Fran- 
 cis Dow. On tin's occasion the baptismal bowl could no) seasonably 
 be found. there not having been an infant baptism for many years. 
 It is hoped that things are better now, if there are any infants to 
 be baptized. \Ve had a happy little ireeting, for a while, of young 
 Misse>. at Capt. Yeaton's house, spending the time in singing, with 
 perhaps a brief exhortation, and a prayer. The young friends 
 seemed to enjoy it, and it was probably a bond of union between 
 the pastor and those lambs of the flock. Some of those fine girls 
 may be he-e present to-day, in their maturity, who will recall their 
 kind feeling* toward the pastor, and his affectionate wife, now pass- 
 ed to the skies. The church, though few in numbers, had its share 
 of ('bristly and, of course, lovable members, some of whom hava 
 fallen asleep in Jesus, and others have taken, or will take, their 
 places. May the> equal, and if they can, through grace, excel those 
 who are now before the throne. In these brief notices, personal 
 references could not. well be altogether avoided. But 1 have tried 
 to escape bemg overmuch egotistical. An exhortation may not be 
 expected, or fitting, in connection with these reminiscences; but
 
 my best wishes may be acceptable, for your highest prosperity and 
 usefulness here, and immortal glory hereafter. With respect aud 
 best wishes, your friend, DANIEL D. TAPPAN. 
 
 Then was sung , the hymn ''Jesus lover of my soul", af- 
 ter which was read the following letter from Rev. George O. 
 Jenness : 
 
 CENTRAL CHURCH, ATTLEBORO' FALLS, 
 
 MASS., September 17, 1885. 
 Rev. A. H. Thompson, and the Congregational Church at Wake- 
 field, N, H.: 
 
 DEAR BRETHREN: I hoped to be present at your Centennial not- 
 Avithstanding my recent visit among you. But I find it impossible 
 to arrange my affairs here so as to avail myself of the unusual in- 
 terest aud pleasure connected with so important an occasion. Aly 
 thoughts and good wishes, however, will centre there during the 
 day while you are recounting the many reminiscences connected 
 with the past of the dear old church aud parish. While acting pas- 
 tor there I remember preaching a sort of historical discourse at the 
 time of our country's centennial, taking this text: " Behold, I have 
 graven thee on the pairns of my hands, thy walls are continually 
 before me." (Isaiah 49:16.) This promise still remains addressed 
 t<> all of God's little church households, and while I recall it now 
 and think of your ranks being decimated Dy death and removals 
 from year to year, I still am filled with irany encouraging antici- 
 pations for your future. Naturally enough, at this time, my 
 thoughts also revert to the many interesting and profitable seasons 
 1 sjient in company of some of those associated with me in my work 
 (here. I have vividly before my mind Good Father Barker, and 
 our beloved brother Deacon Piper. Since they have both gyne 
 home t<> thrir glorious reward I frequently recall the sweetness of 
 the fellowship we "once enjoyed". The former was pleased to take 
 a very fatherly interest in me and mine, and many a word of en- 
 couragement received I from his kind lips. He was always at our 
 devotional meetings. At the parsonage, 1 see him now in the arm 
 chair we never forgot to provide him; near the stove in winter, and 
 always just at the left of the door of entrance into the sitting-room. 
 His words were ever edifying and deeply spiritual, and I always 
 felt, if sickness prevented his presence, as if half my support was 
 gone. Nor was he less helpful in the Sanctuary. No minister ev- 
 er had a more attentive listener than was lie. Notwithstanding his 
 age and infirmities I never discovered the least indication of drow- 
 siness during the sermon. In some churches men sleep in sermon 
 time under the plea of hard work all the week, bat Father Barker,
 
 66 
 
 whose exploits in manual labor were prodigious for a man of more 
 than fourscore, never once fell asleep under my preaching. Of 
 course I ought to say in this connection that this was all the more 
 remarkable since I know that a great deal of my preaching was cal- 
 culated to make one drowsy. But, if I were to fill a book I should 
 not exhaust the good things I have it in my heart to say of that dear 
 good Father who was such a help and support to me during all my 
 ministry in Waketield. Neither have I room enough in this to tell 
 how much I loved and honored that venerated saint, Deacon Piper. 
 Fast declined his strength and gradually ebbed away the vigor of 
 his mental powers during the last of mv stay in W. But the beau- 
 ty and fragrance of his Christian faith and love grew brighter and 
 sweeter unto the end. He used frequently to visit me in the par- 
 bonage. Always when he came to town meeting would he call. 
 Much delight have I had in recalling those golden hours. Inspir- 
 ing were his visions of truth, and the undaunted trust in God dis- 
 played under the contemplation of the approaching shadows of his 
 earthly life, put to shame many of my weaknesses and fears. After 
 interviews with him my heart invariably sighed, "let my departing 
 be like his". Bat I have not time and space to tell of all the bless- 
 edness I was permitted to experience from my good fortune in 
 having the firm friendship and support of Dea. Piper. Of other 
 dear ones, I would fain speak did time allow. Of Aunt Lucia 
 Dow, of the two Aunt Wiggins, of Aunt Lucy Chesley, and otheis 
 who wen- a blessing and help to me and my work, but now have 
 entered into the blessed "rest which remaineth". And it I should 
 attempt to speak of the dear ones living whose friendship I was 
 fortunate enough to secure, time and space would also fail me. 
 No p.ju-.e on this earth will ever be dearer to me than Wakefield, 
 and in all my wanderings, the truth compels me to say, I have nev- 
 er found a spot where, if a minister is what, he should be, he is 
 more likely to beloved, appreciated and supported. And now as I 
 close, having in my mind still this glowing promise of Isaiah as yet 
 applicable to you, let me urge you to ever keep the "lights" anl 
 "fires" on the hill shining and burning as of yore. Do your part 
 well and God will take care that this promi se shall be for you, your 
 children and children's children. 
 
 "All is of God ! If He but wave His hand 
 The mists collect, the rainfalls thick and loud, 
 
 Till with a smile of light on sea and land 
 Lo! He looks back from the departing cloud." 
 
 Very truly and affectionately yours in Christ, 
 
 GEO. O. JKNNESS.
 
 61 
 
 Capt. Nathaniel Meserve, an old and respected citizen, 
 and for these many years prominent among the Free Will 
 Baptists of Wakefield, being called upon came forward say- 
 ing he was born in Ossipee, and in a few but telling words 
 cordially eulogized the native town of his wife and the 
 church of her parents, in which she received infant baptism. 
 He paid a warm tribute to a Christian wife and a Christian 
 home. Rev. Charles Dame of Acton, Me., was next called 
 upon and gave the following : 
 
 M.R. PRESIDENT: It gives me pleasure to be present on this occa- 
 sion. It is true I am not a native of Wakefield, but the days of my 
 childhood were passed in sight of some portions of your goodly 
 town. In those days Waketield was regarded as a vastly important 
 place by the inhabitants of Acton where I then lived. The merits 
 of your physicians were not infrequently discussed, the talents of 
 your lawyers were looked upon with wonder, your merchants were 
 noted for their qualities as men of business. But the man held in 
 the highest esteem, who was the most venerated, whose name was 
 never mentioned but with reverence, was Parson Piper. Compara- 
 tively few knew him personally and yet his name is still reverently 
 held by the descendants of that few and many others. But that 
 which more than all things else drew my attention and excited my 
 interest in ray youthful days was Dow's Academy, in sight of which 
 many a day was passed. As from the field of labor I looked across 
 the "great East Pond" I gazed upon the academy building and did 
 it with longing eyes that I might enjoy the privileges afforded by 
 this Academy. The sight of this building's tin covered belfry ex- 
 cited desires which nought but a lack of means could suppress. 
 Lous' will the memory of Dow's famed Academy be cherished by 
 me, permitted as I was to gaze upon it but denied its privileges. It 
 was an honor to \Vaketield, an honor to its founder and a blessing 
 to many. Another event which has been a blessing to the town of 
 Wakefield is the long continued residence, the example and influ- 
 ence of Parson Barker. I became acquainted with this godly man 
 about the time of my leaving college. A year or two after gradua- 
 ting and while a member of the Andover Theological Seminary I 
 was spending one of the Seminary's vacations iu teaching at Milton 
 Mijls and at the same time conducting the Sabbath service for the 
 church at Acton. Not having been ordained to the work of the 
 ministry, or even licensed to preach, I could not administer the or- 
 dinances of the church, and as the church at Acton wished to have 
 the sacraments of the Lord's Supper administered to them, I ven-
 
 62 
 
 tured to come to Wakefield and ask the good man if he would go 
 over to Acton and administer the sacrament. Awe struck in his 
 presence and with his tall and venerable form towering above me, 
 I waited for his reply. The reply came from the exact and consci- 
 entious man in the form of an objection to my proposal. "You 
 know", he said, "it is ugainst the rules of the Seminary for a stu- 
 dent to preach without a license, and I would not wish to do any- 
 thing that would cast disrespect upon that institution or to encour- 
 age any irregularity." The goed man after a few explanations and 
 with some hesitation consented to waive his objections and admit 
 the young man into his pulpit. I came with much (ear and trepida- 
 tion to preach in the pulpit of such an one so strong in tiie faith and 
 so able a man. But a* the day pr<ved to be a very rainy one and 
 consequently the audienc'- very small, 1 saw there was but little 
 chanc.e for the prenc-hing or exhortation of an unlicensed student to 
 do great harm, and probably the Wakefield church passed the day 
 uninjured. But the conscientious scruples of the good man showed 
 his firm regard for law and true and right principles. 
 
 Then came the following letter of "Regrets" from one of 
 the former lawyers of Waketield, Charles Chesley, Esq., 
 wliich struck a vein of musing that fitted well into the occa- 
 sion and the closing hour : 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. / 
 September 12, 1885. $ 
 
 Rev. A. H. THOMPSON. 
 
 DEAR SIR: 1 have received your letter of the 9th 
 instant, by which I am informed that, on the 22nd instant, the peo- 
 ple propose to observe the one hundredth anniversary of the Or- 
 ganization of the First Church in Wakefield by a Council called 
 by the Town. You express a wish to see me and my family there 
 at that time, and inquire if it would not be agreeable to me to fur- 
 nish something in writing for the occasion, if I cannot be present; 
 something, for instance, concerning the schools or the lawyers of 
 Wakefield. It would afford rne and my family unbounded pleas- 
 ure to be present on the occasion named. Wakefield is the "Sweet 
 Auburn" to which "my heart, untravelled, fondly turns." It was 
 there I spent my earliest and happiest days, and there I pxpect to 
 sleep at last. Memories of a careless boyhood and of early man- 
 hood; memories of the old academy-room, with the mellow autumn 
 sunlight streaming through its broad southern windows upou busy 
 Miipils. all happy and free from care like myself; memories of the 
 church, wherein I listened, not too attentively, to words of instruc- 
 tion and advice, both sincere and sound; memories of the choir,
 
 63 
 
 of which I myself was an inglorious member, and of its weekly 
 meetings, with the sweet harmony of simple music and the sweeter 
 harmony of social intercourse; memories of the rugged hills, the 
 fertile valleys, the noisy brooks, the crystal ponds and the low rus- 
 tle of waving corn heavy with dew; memories of the sacred grounds 
 where lie so many of those dearest; these, and a thousand other ten- 
 der memories arise, even now as I write, and the scenes and asso- 
 ciations of my young days come back to me, like the sweet strains 
 of smne half-forgotten melody. 
 
 But duties, official and unofficial, require my presence here; and 
 their pressure upon me will prevent my writing anything you 
 would wish to read or that I should be willing to have read; for, 
 on such an occasion, one should, ordinarily, give his best or noth- 
 ing. I thank you for thinking of me and mine in this connection ; 
 but, for the reason already assigned, 1 can send nothing to your 
 centennial meeting but our kind remembrances and best wishes. 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 CHARLES CHESLEY. 
 
 In a like vein Rev. A. H. Thompson continued and also 
 gave the farewell words: 
 
 Thus, as we sit at this twilight hour in the dimly lighted 
 sanctuary with the memories of those olden days crowding 
 in upon us, we are living in the past. Soon we shall be call- 
 ed back to the present ; and in its duties find our chief de- 
 light with joyous hope of the future because of the guid- 
 ing hand of Him who has guided this church this hundred 
 years. We shall not sit long by the ashes of the gone out 
 fire. The light of this day is waning. The twilight deep- 
 ens. May the day of our life be full of light ; and when its 
 eventide shall come and the night of death, may it be fol- 
 lowed by that day without end, of brightness and of joy 
 in the Church of the redeemed in Heaven. 
 
 The people arose and joined their voices in the song of 
 "Auld Lang Syne" ; then received the benediction from the 
 lips of the Pastor, and the SECOND Century was begun.
 
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