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RAPTIST CHURCH, CHAPEL, AND PARSONAGE, CANTON.




THE
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL,
BEING A HISTORICAL DISCOURSE
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
BAPTIST CHURCH IN CANTON, MASS.,
AT THE CELEBRATION OF THEIR
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY,
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, I864,
BY THE PASTOR, REV. THERON BROWN.
GATHER UP THE FRAGMENTS THAT REMAIN, THAT NOTHING BE LOST.-John Vi. 12.
BOSTO N:
PRESS OF GEO. C. RAND & AVERY, No. 3, CORNHILL.
I 8 6 5.








INTRODUCTION.
THE year 1864 was pre-eminently a year of jubilees. The
American Tract Society, the Northern Baptist Education Society, and the American Baptist Missionary Union, completed
their half-century then, and honored their birthdays with fit
and imposing ceremonies; while Brown University among
the colleges, and Fitchburg among the cities, called home
glad assemblies of friends to the festivities of their first centennial. Of humbler corporations', remarkable for completing
that year the magic fifty, besides our own, were the Baptist
churches in Sharon, Westboro', and Webster. The Baptist
Church in Warren, R.I., reached the end of its hundredth
year on the 15th of November, 1864, and observed the day by
a re-union and religious services.
It is perhaps unprecedented in the records of church
anniversary solemnities that the occasion transpired without
the attendance of a single former pastor.  In the case
of this church, which could count between twenty and
thirty living ministers who had at some time, for a longer
or shorter term, cast in their lot with her, and retained
yet a tender interest in her life and welfare, to find not
one old pastor, and but two of'her former preachers,
among her guests on the morning of her semi-centennial
jubilee, was a grievous and seemingly needless disappointment. Even the first, or as good as the first, of the ministers
of the church, the venerable patriarch of ninety, was alive
that day in a distant State.




IV
There was, however, but little room for blame in any quarter. The haste of the preparations and the imperfect acquaintance with post-office addresses rendered the disappointment in question almost if not quite unavoidable, and
it must be written among the lost opportunities with as much
content as may be.
The fiftieth anniversary of the Canton Baptist Church fell
on Wednesday, the very week-day on which it was constituted. The weather was warm and bright; and the church,
with many visiting friendsi assembled in the Baptist meetinghouse at ten o'clock, A.M., for religious services.  The
anthem, " Wake the Song of Jubilee," was sung by the choir,
after which the sixth chapter of Ezra was read by the pastor,
and prayer was offered by Father David Curtis of East
Stoughton. The hymn, "I love thy kingdom, Lord," was
then sung, and immediately followed by the Memorial Sermon.
After the sermon, the anthem, " Daughter of Zion, awake from
thy sadness," was sung; Rev. A. F. Mason of Meriden, Conn.,
offered prayer; and, after the singing of another anthem, the
congregation was dismissed, to meet again in the afternoon.
At half-past one, P.M., the church and visitors re-assembled
around a bountiful feast in the dining-hall of the Massapoag
House. A blessing was invoked by Father Curtis; and, after
a hearty discussion of the viands upon the table, letters were
read from former pastors Moses Curtis, Henry Clark, T. C.
Tingley, David B. Ford, and George W. HIervey, expressing
their regrets that they were unable to be present. Short addresses were then made by Father Curtis, Rev. Joseph W.




v
Eaton, Rev. A. F. Mason, and Deacon Luther Hewins, containing interesting allusions to " the former days;" and Messrs.
Addison Boyden and Roland F. Alger, of South Dedham, did
ample justice, in stirring and pithy speeches, to the progress
and claims of the Baptist cause in New England. Remarks
were made'also by the pastor; and, after singing " Coronation " together, the jubilee assembly broke up. Rev. J. W.
Olmsted, D.D., of the " Watchman and Reflector," arrived too
late for the festivities, but made one of a party in an excursion
to the old Blackman House to see the room where, fifty years
before, the thirty-five constituent members of the church
signed their names to the Covenant and Articles of Faith. In
the evening, an interesting meeting was held in the chapel;
where former preachers took part in the services, and closed
with worship a happy and memorable day.
In the following history, wherever I have occasion to refer
the reader to the church-records, I have inserted in the text
parentheses ( ) containing the figures of the page.
Proper names introduced in capitals are those of pastors or
evangelists of the church.
Tables of statistics and other important particulars respecting the church, which would have embarrassed the pages of
the Memorial, I have placed in the Appendix.
I have to express my obligations to members of the church,
past and present, resident and non-resident; to the former pastors and ministers; to many intelligent friends in the town,
not connected with us; and to the Editors of the " Watchman
and Reflector," and the " Christian Secretary," for their valuable aid in furthering my inquiries and collecting desired information. Special acknowledgments are due to Rev. Kendall
Brooks, Rev. J. Ricker, Rev. William Hurlin, Rev. David




VI
Benedict, D.D.; Rev. Baron Stow, D.D.; Rev. Cornelius A.
Thomas, D.D.; Professors Ripley, Hovey, and Train, of Newton; Mr. James M. Whitehead, Assistant Treas. Bap. Home
Miss. Soc.; Mr. Albert Mason, Mr. Jonas Evans, Ellis Ames,
Esq., Alfred E. Giles, Esq., Mrs. Hannah W. Ober, Mrs. Martha
H. Moore, Mrs. Abigail Maynard, Mrs. Nabby Capen, Miss
S. L. Kimball, and Bro. Alonzo Bunker, Assistant Librarian in Newton Theological Seminary, for their kind assistance in searching for and communicating facts, and for papers
lent to me by them, which have enabled me to certify many
doubtful points in the history.
I should say here, that, though the body of this history is
styled a "Memorial Sermon," the sermon, as originally delivered, forms but the nucleus of the book. Facts and corrections accumulated; and, as what was worth doing at all was
worth doing well, the sermon grew into a volume.
THERON BROWN.
Canton, June, 1865.




THE CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
A Visfortral ~iaore.








MEMORIAL SERMON.
"Then Darius the king made a decree, and. search was made in the house of the
rolls where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at
Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll; and therein
was a record thus written: In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the
king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be
builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be
strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits, with three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber; and let the
expenses be given out of the king's house."-EzRA vi. 1-4.
ON many accounts it is an excellent thing to look over the
records of former years. Exhortations and precepts become
forceless after a while if they are not alternated with examples. Simon Peter knew this; and his sermon in the second
chapter of Acts would have shown, if he had never said it in
so many words elsewhere, that he calculated on the best effects when he stirred up the minds of his hearers " by way of
remembrance."  After setting a good example himself in many
things, and pointing out the good examples of the prophets,
and the perfect example of Jesus to his followers, it was right
and thoughtful in him to put down some of that same kind of
admonition on parchment, saying, as he did so, "I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things
always in remembrance."  So did Paul know it; and he never
said a thing more certain to stimulate the drooping courage
of his Hebrew  brethren than when he bade them  " call to
remembrance the former days."
If it had not been for the example of Cyrus, recorded in
that old roll, Darius would never have stirred himself to help
the Jews, and they never would have built their temple, and
the church would still have sat by the rivers of Babylon.
But the old records were found, and carefillly looked over;
and there God's people read what made their hearts gladder
than they had been for years, - a standing order for re-organizing their ancient worship, with particulars of the work, and a
statement of all the facilities; and the effect was, that they
2




2                   CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                [1811-14.
Benefits of Historic Review.                 The Country.
said one to another, immediately, " Come, let us go up!  Here
is the royal sanction given to our fathers, and it is just as good
for us.  Let us stir ourselves and build and prosper! "  Then
down fell the timber in the king's forest, and forth rolled the
great blocks and slabs out of the king's quarries, and up
went the walls.  Woe to the man that should hinder them!
We have thought it good, dear brethren, to look over the
records of our past to-day, to find where our fathers started
with the royal sanction; what trials they suffered, and how
well they bore them; how jealously they watched God's heritage; how well they wrought, and how warmly they prayed;
what enemies they had, and what sins; their worship, their
discipline, their charity, their hopes, and their fears.  May the
review  stimulate us to new hope and heartiness in  building
up Zion!  May it exercise  our sympathies healthfully, and
divert us from our own little ills and discouragements by reviving in us the sense of fellowship in nobler struggles, and
the love of a common cause!
Fifty years ago, the red scourge of war which we feel today afflicted the fathers who cultivated the fields around us.
Then, as now, the sweat of the face, by which man eats his
bread, was wrung out by burdensome taxes, which fastened
upon his estate as well as upon the comforts and luxuries that
stocked it; and the families of our ancestors were as familiar
as we with the weekly news of desolation and blood. Then,
as now, the whole face of society wore the frown of " hard
times; " and " the cry of the poverty that distressed alike the
people and the priest resounded from every hill and every
valley."  Both England and Algiers had drawn the sword
against this country; and during the year in which this
* Fast Day Sermon of Rev. William Ritchie.
In this place, it is interesting to note the curious proof of national progress during
the last fifty years, furnished in the contrast of the old and new military equipments,
quotas, and bounties. In April 4, 1812, the ammunition stock of the towit was looked
to by a special committee, which reported " six quarter-casks of powder (one hundred and fifty pounds), one hundred and twelve and one-half pounds of balls, four
hundred flints, and six camp kettles," all carefully held in charge by Elijah Dunbar,
Esq. The quota of Massachusetts (then including the District of Maine) was a hundred thousand men; and Canton volunteers were offered fourteen dollars a month, and
two dollars bounty. - Town Records, vol. i, pp. 245, 253.




1811-14.]      CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                  3
The Country.                State of Religious Feeling.
church commenced its existence, no immediate prospect appeared that the strife would cease. The people of that day
were not a whit behind us in fellowship with toil and trouble.
Neither in their civil nor religious privileges were they a whit
better off than we. The hardship of war was aggravated to
the New-England fathers of that generation by their honest
belief that it was unnecessary and unwise. Nor was their
President, in any quality that makes the honest, fearless
statesman, at all to be compared to ours; while, ecclesiastically,
their good consciences suffered under the tyranny of the
"half-way covenant," and the new theology which was its
offspring, and which had gradually made its way, in spite of
" the ponderous logic of Jonathan Edwards, the burning rhetoric of Edward Griffin, and the withering sarcasm of Lyman
Beecher," to a power and influence that well-nigh swallowed
up Harvard College, and palsied half the heart of Calvinistic
New England before it was aware.
In a struggle where all evangelical faith was interested for
life or death, it was no time for the Baptists to be at ease in
Zion. The voice of Stillman* had hardly ceased to echo from
the old meeting-house by the " Mill-pond;" and the trumpet
tones of Baldwin were heard with no uncertain sound, rallying the followers of Jesus round the prayer-meeting and the
baptismal covenant; and, nearer home, the humbler but no
less faithful witness of Elder Joel Briggs,t of Randolph, admonished the ungodly of " righteousness, temperance, and a
judgment to come." For more than sixty years, this neighborhood had known no revival of religion. The half-way covenant, in force since 1657, with its consequent curse of an unconverted church membership, and the long habit of depending on compulsory taxation for the support of the ordinances
of the gospel, contributed largely to produce a spiritual coldness that rendered the case of professed Christians apparently
as desperate as that of the most notorious unbelievers.
The only church in Canton was the church of' the standing
order, now Unitarian, at the Corner, then under the pastoral
* Died March, 1807.
t A grand-daughter of this old-time preacher (Mrs. J. Wiswall) is now a member of
this church.




4                 CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.          [1811-13.
State of Religion in Canton.   Early Baptist Movement.
care of Rev. William Ritchie. Founded in 1717, this church
had learned to regard itself indisputably entitled to the ecclesiastical control of the whole " North Precinct; "' and as
early as the days when Whitefield, in his first itinerations
through New England, electrified the people of Dorchester,
it had set itself, pastor and people, resolutely against him, and
closed the pulpit in " South Village " t so effectually to his,
offered entrance, that it is said he foretold in prophetic
indignation the spiritual barrenness of their future years.
Be that as it may, an influence more potent than any words
of Whitefield, whether to curse or bless, now began to stir in
the community, and awaken signs of religious life.
In the fall of 1811, Elder Briggs held by request a meeting in a school-house, about five miles from this spot, in
the east part of the town, now known as York Street.
The Spirit of God had prepared the way; and one, already
in the joy of a good hope through grace, was able at
that meeting to testify for Christ. I Others, who had been
secretly serious, went away deeply affected by the sermon;
and the impressions of the evening were such, that the good
Elder felt justified in making another appointment.  He continued the meetings here with most cheering results. His
preaching began to be thronged by curious and then by willing listeners. It was the voice of Ezekiel prophesying to
the dry bones. Opposition awoke with the revival of religious feeling, and kept pace with the success of gospel truth.
Part of it came from that denominational prejudice, which,
from the beginning of a divided Christianity, has never been
able to look comfortably on the severe simplicity of New Testament Protestantism; and part of it came from the natural
malice of wickedness, which habitually sets itself against pure
religion. Mr. Ritchie saw no good in the new movement that
was making such inroads on his parish. He commenced a
series of afternoon ~ lectures, in private dwellings, among his
* Embracing Canton, Stoughton, and Sharon.
t Canton was Dorchester South Village, prior to 1726; afterwards, Stoughton, North
Precinct.
I Supposed to be Sister Caty Tucker.
~ The fact that the Baptists held their meetings in the evening was used against




1811-13.1          CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                     5
Opposition to the Baptists.                  Ridicule.
people, to  counteract it.  He sent for Mr. Whittaker of
Sharon * to denounce it; and some of the invectives of that
preacher against the Baptists are remembered to this day as
specimens of that bitterness which was then everywhere felt
towards the despised sect. The good Canton parson even
made appointments himself at the York school-house, and
strove, by partially modelling his own meetings after those of
Elder Briggs, to satisfy, while he rebuked the spiritual agitation which was bearing so many away to' the "fanaticism " of
the Baptists.  " They went out from us," he quoted in one of
his sermons, " because they were not of us;" and he spoke
the truth.
Boys and girls caught the tone of popular raillery, and repeated at school, to the children of their newly awakened
neighbors, the sarcasms of their parents on the " Dippers"
and "New  Lights."  The ridiculed sect accepted the nicknames, and gloried in them. A quaint old hymn, much sung
by them in their meetings during those unpopular days,
shows in what estimation they held their opprobrious titles.
" Come, all who are new lights indeed,
Who are from sin and bondage freed:
From Egypt's land we took our flight;
For God has given us a new light.
Long time we with the wicked trod,
And madly ran the sinful road;
Against the gospel we did fight,
Scared at the name of a New light.
At length the Lord in mercy called,
And gave us strength to give up all:
He gave us strength to choose aright
A portion with despised New lights.
Despised by man, upheld by God,
We're marching on the heavenly road:
Loud hallelujahs we will sing
To Jesus Christ, the New lights' King," &c.
This hymn the little company of Baptist worshippers had
them; Mr. Ritchie choosing for his text, on one occasion, " They love darkness rather
than light, because their deeds are evil."
* Minister of Sharon from 1799 to 1816. - Hist. Coll. Mass.




6              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.       [1811-13.
A Prominent Convert.             Early Pre'achers.
all by heart; and the low, sweet minor tune to which they sung
it was well adapted to content the believers, and even impress
and win opposers.
Meanwhile the ungodly community looked on and sneered,
until, perchance, the secret influence would reach their own
circle, and call one of their number away, when they would
cling to him with the grasp of desperation, and exhaust all the
resources of menace and ridicule to retain him in the service
of Satan.
One man, who afterwards became a chief supporter in the
despised denomination, and left his praise in the church and
among his fellow-townsmen, was then a centre of attraction in
this thoughtless company, and with his stories and his violin
often gave life to the convivial group that gathered at his
store. A lady about his own age, Mrs. Caty Tucker, who also
became subsequently a member of this church, was instrumental in turning his attention first to the things of religion.'He attended the York School-house Meetings, secretly at
first; but soon, constrained by the narrow watchfulness of his
wild comrades, who missed him from his store, he put on more
boldness; and God gave him grace to withstand their artillery
of scorn. To show the estimate which the men of the world
put upon the religious movement of that day, he himself
stated with tears, when he related his religious experience,
that before his conversion he verily thought he should be doing God service, and conveying a public benefit, to complainto the selectmen of the town, and have these revival-meetings
abated as a common nuisance.
The work still went on. After Elder Briggs came other
good ministers to the neighborhood, and preached through the
ensuing spring. Week after week, in the school-houses and
in the homes of the people, Allen of Mansfield, Nelson of
Middleboro', Grafton of Newton, Gammell of Medfield, and
Williams and Paul of Boston, and others besides them, less
well remembered, stood up and proclaimed to the ungodly
the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Elder Thomas Paul was a son of thunder. He was a colored
man, pastor of' the African Baptist (now Joy Street) Church,




1811-12.]       CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.               7
Elders Paul and Williams.           First Baptism.
Boston, and went by the name of" Black Paul." Wherever he
preached, the place was too strait to hold the hearers; and his
power over the feelings, solemnizing the most careless, and
thrilling the most cold, is remembered by the few who live to
regret that he could not have visited the place oftener than he
did. " His understanding was vigorous, his imagination was
vivid, his personal appearance was interesting, and his elocution
was graceful." * The key and intonations of his voice in prayer
are said to have strikingly resembled Dr. Baldwin's. He died
April 14, 1831, with the very words of his great namesake upon
his lips, " I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith: henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."
Elder Paul had a son who graduated with honors at Dartmouth College, a young man of fine talents, and much respected.
Williams was Elder ELISHA SCOTT WILLIAMS, formerly of
Beverly. He belonged to the Baldwin-place Church, Boston,
and intinerated among the feeble churches in surrounding
towns. To him belongs the credit (as far as to any one man)
of organizing this church.
On the 14th of April, 1812, occurred the first baptism in the
town. It was Monday, and the four candidates, with their
friends, stood by the Reservoir Pond in front of Mr. Ezra Tilden's, where the novelty of the occasion had drawn together
a numerous throng, and one by one received immersion at the
hands of Elder Joel Briggs. These four pioneers were Ezra
Tilden, his wife Bethiah, his brother Abner Tilden, and Enos
LUpham. The impression produced by this baptismal scene,
the first of its kind which most of the spectators had ever
witnessed, was conciliatory and wholesome. The ancient record of the transaction quotes, in closing, the familiar line of
Goldsmith, -
" Fools who came to scoff remained to pray."
Another transaction of a very different sort took place
* Baptist Magazine, vol. xv. p. 221.




8                 CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                [1812.
Ministerial Tax.                  Old " Baptist Society."
shortly after, a record of which in this place will be essential
to the completeness of the history. One or two parishioners
of Mr. Ritchie had taken offence at some remarks of his in
the pulpit on Good Friday, concerning the state of the country,
and induced others to join them in a compact to evade the
ministerial tax.  It was understood then, that, if any citizen
should regularly join a religious society differing from the
standing order, he should be exempted from contributing to
the support of the town minister; and these disaffected individuals, taking advantage of the late movement of the Baptists, determined to secure their co-operation, and form themselves into a new organization under the name of the " Baptist
Society." The matter passed under consultation a few weeks;
and at length, on the 27th of April, the following individuals
subscribed their names, and reported themselves to the town
as a separate society: -
SAMUEL BLACKMAN,     ABNER TILDEN,        NATHANIEL BILLINGS, Jr.,
NATHAN TUCKER,       BENJAMIN LEWIS,      JESSE WENTWORTH,
SAMUEL TUCKER, Jr.,   JABEZ COBB,         JABiEZ BILLINGS,
EZRA TILDEN,         SAMUEL CANTERBURY,   THADDEUS CHURCHILL,
NATHAN KINNEY,       ELIJAH. JORI)AN,     SETH WENTWORTH,
BENJAMIN GILL, Jr.,    ELIJAH HAWES,      OLIVER WENTWORTH,
ENOS UPHAM,          SPENCER WENTWORTH,'ISAAC MANN.
The last was a member of the First Baptist Church in Randolph (now East Stoughton).*
It will be observed that seven of the twenty-one were persons who afterwards entered the communion of this church
by baptism or experience. The society, however, never
had anything to do with the measures and work of the church.
Indeed the two had no vital connection; and the formation of
the " Baptist Society " claims a mention here only as an interesting antecedent event to the proper history of the Church.
Thus two influences, distant both in cause and design, - the
Spirit of God and the spirit of democratic independency, -
were simultaneously working to one good result.
Through the summer and fall, the small but growing company
* Canton Town Records, vol. i. pp. 229, 248-9. Tax-payers, joining the Baptist and
other churches differing from the standing order, were obliged, until 1833, to give a certificate of their membership to the town-clerk, or they were still held liable to the
ministerial tax.








So




1813.]         CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.               9
Old North School-House.           Ensign Lincoln.
of " New-Light " believers enjoyed a frequent repetition of
baptismal seasons, the ordinance being administered sometimes
by one and sometimes by another of the neighboring ministers,
at the Ponkapog and Reservoir Ponds, and at Houghlton's Pond
in Milton, until a goodly number had united with the church in
Randolph, and others stood in readiness to erect the standard
of the cause upon the soil of Canton. During the year 1813,
Mr. Ensign Lincoln of Boston, father of Mr. Joshua Lincoln,
of the present firm of Gould & Lincoln, preached once a
month in the old north school-house, now the little brown
_u /                    1 —
dwelling-house that stands beside the new school-house at
Ponkapog.
ENSIGN LINCOLN was born in Hingham, Mass., Jan. 8, 1779,
and bred to the trade of a printer.  At the age of nineteen, he was converted under the preaching of Dr. Baldwin,
and baptized by that good man into the fellowship of his
church. He commenced business in Boston as a publisher
in 1800, and was licensed to preach in 1811, but followed
his secular calling till his death, Dec. 2, 1832. He was successful in business, an able and faithful evangelist, and a
zealous Christian. For many years both before and after the
building of the first meeting-house, he came frequently to
Canton to preach on the Sabbath. His son Joshua relates that
he used sometimes to drive the horse on those itinerations,
while his father studied his sermons by the way. Mr. Lin3




10               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.            [1814.
Preliminaries of the Formation of the Church.
coln's first issue as a publisher was an edition of Cowper's
works, the first in this country.?
Before the close of this year, the little assembly of believers
in Canton was re-enforced by several conversions in the south
of Milton, where the work of the Holy Spirit had been felt; and,
during the spring of 1814, the desire to form a Baptist Church
eventuated in a resolution to call a council for this purpose.
In the house of Brother Ezra Tilden (the old one), then
standing near the north-east shore of Reservoir Pond, was
planted the germ of the Canton Baptist Church. Through
various fortunes, God, we believe, has since owned it as an
offshoot of the True Vine. There in the square front room,
on the afternoon of the 29th of May, 1814, a goodly number
of brethren and sisters of the same mind met to ask counsel
of God, and advise with one another for their immediate embodiment into a church.  Elder Elisha Williams of Boston
was present, and acted as moderator and general adviser. It
was voted to call a council on the 22d of the following month;
and brethren Nathan Tucker, Ezra Tilden, and Friend Crane,
were chosen a committee to invite the churches.
On Wednesday, the 22d of June, at eleven o'clock, A.M., precisely fifty years ago this hour, the pastors and delegates, or
elders and messengers as' they were then called, assembled,
pursuant to invitation, in the east room of the house of Mr.
Qa~ff? —                  s -  e —_
Samuel Blackman (still standing, and inhabited by his son
CGvclopoedia of Religious Knowledge, art. " E. Lincoln."




1814.]           C ANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                11
The Constituting Council.               The Dinner.
Winthrop) to assist in organizing the new church and to extend to it the right hand of ecclesiastical and Christian fellowship.
The following composed the council —
Elder Elisha Williams, who was chosen Moderator; Elder
Thomas Baldwin, of the Second Baptist (now Baldwin Place)
Church in Boston, with delegates J. C. Ransford, Jacob Hilar,
and Thomas Badger; Elder Joel Briggs, from the First Randolph (now East Stoughton) Baptist Church, with delegates
Benjamin Mann and Jonathan Wales; Elder Daniel Sharp,
from the Third Baptist (now Charles St.) Church, Boston, with
delegates Thomas Kendall and Ensign Lincoln, who was chosen
clerk; Elder William  Gammell, from  the Medfield Baptist
Church, with delegates Benjamin Colburn and Abijah Fisher;
and from the Baptist Church in Newton, Elder Joseph Grafton, with brethren Noah King, Elijah Corey, and Caleb Hobart.
Elder Henry Kendall, of Maine, was also present. After the
letters of the candidates who had previously been in churchfellowship - had been read, and the experiences of all had
been related, the council heard and approved the Articles of
Faith, and voted to adopt the thirty-five brethren and sisters,
whose names were appended to it, into the fraternity of Baptist
churches; whereupon a programme of exercises for the afternoon was immediately agreed upon, and the meeting adjourned.
After dinner, - and at that dinner the "fatted calf" was
served:  that first entertainment of the Canton  Baptist
Church at the house of Mr. Blackman, for many years well
known as a Baptist tavern, has been surpassed in generous
good cheer by few if any of its later commemorative ban-,quets, or feasts of tabernacles, during the last fifty years,t —
after dinner, the Church and Council removed to a pine.grove
on the east side of the present Boston Road, a furlong or more
south of Mr. Blackman's house, and about a hundred and
* At Randolph.
t Survivors of that day who assisted in serving the tables on that occasion agree in
testifying that the guests (about three hundred in number) had before them, in course,
two calves, the hams of two hogs, a bushel of shelled green peas, and between thirty
and forty mince and custard pies, with the (then no less essential) accompaniment of a
barrel of " old October."




12                   CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                       [1814.
Dr. Baldwin: His Sermon.                   Hand of Fellowship.
twenty rods north-east from the Unitarian meeting-house. A
large auditory had already assembled, and at about two
o'clock the religious services were opened with prayer by Elder Joseph Grafton. After singing, Elder Thomas Baldwin
preached the sermon from the First Epistle of John,
fourth chapter, and seventh verse.  "Beloved, let us love one
another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God."   The theme could not have been
more happily chosen, nor could any have treated it with greater ability and effect than the preacher.
Those who knew Dr. Baldwin, and loved him for his genial
ways in  social intercourse,* speak  no  less of his subduing
power in the pulpit.  On the rude platform  in Spurr's Grove,
those who remember tell us how his earnestness and pathos
that day, as le urged upon his hearers the example and precept of the beloved disciple, moved their hearts, and impressed
them into silent attention. After the sermon, Dr. Sharp presented the fellowship of the churches, Brother Oliver
Houghton, the oldest member in the newly adopted flock,
standing up  to receive  the right hand;  and  Elder William
Gammell closed the services with prayer. A note of the occasion made soon after by the church-clerk says, "The assembly
was large, the day pleasant, and the season joyfull"
The fine trees of the old grove have been cut down for timber; and the spot where those holy men stood and spoke their
hearty God-speed to our infant church is grown up to shruboaks and brambles: but they, the sturdy fathers whose delight
* In private, Dr. Baldwin was not wanting in pleasant tales and sprightly sallies. On
his arrival at the grove, while he was seeking for a good place to deposit his hat, he
looked overhead, into the trees, and remarked to Elder Gammell, "I hope there are no
monkeys up there," alluding to the then familiar school-book story of the traveller with
the twelve red caps, eleven of which were stolen by monkeys while he was asleep in a forest. The good man's sociability did not waste itself, however, in mere pleasantries.
He was full of anecdotes that had a moral to them. One aged lady, whose recollections
of that day are quite vivid, tells us that he related the following incident at the house:
It was in February (he said), 1805, at Sedgewick Me., when Elder Daniel Merrill with his
wife and sixty-five members of his church, turned Baptists; and he was baptizing the
candidates, assisted by Elder Elisha Williams. As one of the candidates was going
down into the water, his faithful dog waded in behind him. " You may think the movement would provoke a laugh," said Elder Baldwin; " but it made an impression on
me of a very different sort. I wished" - and his voice faltered with emotion-" that I
could be as ready to follow my Master always as that dog was to follow his."




1814.]              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                        13
Evening Service.                          Articles of Faith.
was in the law of the Lord, now sit under the shadow of the
Tree of Life, that shall never be hewn down.
In the evening, an interesting service was held at the house
of Mr. Blackman,* when Elder Gammell preached to the newly constituted church with old-fashioned aptness from Canticles
iv. 16: "Awake, 0 north wind, and come, thou south; blow
upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.  Let
my Beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits."
In the years that followed, that summons did not wholly lack
its answer.
The Articles of Faith and Order subscribed to in the morning of that day by fourteen brethren and twenty-one sisters
are as follows, with preamble and covenant: -
AS we have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost, upon a profession of our faith, and are desirous of being embodied into a church of our Lord Jesus Christ; so we do now
make a declaration of the doctrines and practice which we believe, and promise to maintain.
FIRST.
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the
word of God and the only rule of faith and practice.
SECOND.
That they contain and reveal the doctrine of the adorable Trinity in one
God.
THIRD.
That they reveal the doctrine of particular election and redemption.
FOURTH.
That Adam was created in the image of God, holy, innocent, and happy.
FIFTH.
That all mankind are affected by his apostasy; are depraved, and in a
ruined condition, from which there is no deliverance but by Jesus Christ.
*Mr. Blackman made himself memorable in the early history of the Baptists in Canton, not only by his unvarying hospitality to all who were identified with the cause, but
by his habit of serving Baptist ministers gratis in the line of his trade.  He was a
blacksmith, and for many years shod the horses of all the Baptist preachers who came
into the town, without charge. He was even known to sharpen the plouglghshares of Baptist clerical farmers from neighboring towns, and bid them welcome to the work.




14                 CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                  [1814.
Church Creed and Covenant.
SIXTH.
That Jesus Christ was constituted from everlasting as the Covenant Head
and Surety of his people.
SEVENTH.
That regeneration and sanctification are wrought in the soul by divine
and efficacious grace.
EIGHTH.
That our justification in the sight of God is, by the imputed righteousness
of Jesus Christ, received by faith alone.
NINTH.
That all who have been born again, and are real saints, will persevere in
grace to glory.
TENTH.
That there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the righteous and
the wicked, who shall be rewarded according to their works; and the sentence
then passed will be eternal.
ELEVENTH.
That Baptism and the Lord's Supper are standing ordinances of the gospel; and that none have a right to the Lord's table but professing and baptized believers.
Besides the belief of these doctrines, we likewise promise, as God shall enable us, to walk in the duties of this Covenant by which as a church we
unite: that is to say, we will endeavor to order our conversation in the
church and in the world as becometh the gospel of Christ; that we esteem
it our duty to walk together in Christian affection with humility and watchfulness; that we will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together; we
will watch over and admonish our brethren in love as the case and duty
may require; we will not neglect the duty of prayer for ourselves and for all
Christians, and for all mankind; we will sympathize with our brethren in their
affliction and distress.
In the presence of God, angels, and this assembly, we do now assent to
these doctrines and to this Covenant.
In witness whereof, we hereunto set our hands this twenty-second day of
June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen.*
NATHAN TUCKER.                 EZRA TILDEN, Jr.
FRIEND CRANE.                  OLIVER HOUGHTON.
JASON HOUGITON.                BENJAMIN GILL, 2d.
LEMUEL FULLER, Jr.             ELIJAH HAWES.
AND.REW FADDEN.                WALES WITHINGTON.
ABNER TILDEN.                  ENOS UPHAM.
NATHANIEL TUCKER DAVIS.   SAMUEL TUCKER, Jr.
" See Appendix, p. 1.




1814.]         CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.             15
Names of Members: their Family Connection.
JANE WENTWORTH.          ABIGAIL GILL.
HANNAH TUCKER.          BATHSHEBA FULLER.
CATY TUCKER.            BETHIAH TILDEN.
ABIGAIL HILL.           MARY MORSE.
ABIGAIL BIRD.           REBECCA CRANE.
RUTH M'KENDRY.           CATY HOUGHTON.
RUTH HOUGHTON.          LUCINDA GILL.
LUCY ALLEN.             MARY HOUGHTON.
MILLA TUCKER.           OLIVE TUCKER.
ELIPHAL WHEELER.        ELIZA TUCKER.
RUTH BUSS.
To sketch the individual history of these first members of
the Canton Baptist Church would take us beyond the limits
of our present design. But it will not be out of place to
identify the families to which they belonged. NATHAN TUCKER
was the father of Brethren Nathan and Isaac Tucker, now
members of the Harvard-street Church, Boston, and Rev.
George Tucker of Maine. His only surviving daughter, the
widow of the late Rev. Bradley Miner of Providence, now
resides here, a member of this church.  HANNAH TUCKER
was the wife of Nathan Tucker. She still survives, and is
here to-day,in her eighty-sixth year, to commemorate the fiftieth
anniversary of the church which she aided in establishing.
EzRA TILDEN was the father of Mrs. Andrew Lopez and Mrs.
John Fisher, both now sisters in the Church. BETHIAH TILDEN
was the wife of Ezra Tilden. FRIEND CRANE was the father
of Mrs. Jephthah Crane, and the grandfather of Mrs. George
Ames, both members of the church. His great grandson is
here to-day, six years old, a son of Mrs. Ames.
REBECCA CRANE was the wife of Friend Crane.
OLIVER HOUGHTON had no children. MARY HOUGHTON was
lis wife; and JASON HOUGHTON was his cousin, and the father of
Messrs. George and Charles Houghton, formerly members with
us, but now resident in the State of New York. Another son
was Mr. Ralph Houghton, who died long since, and whose
daughter, Mrs. Elias Tucker, resides here, and is a member of
the church. CATY HOUGHTON was the wife of Jason. The
Houghtons all lived in Milton.
BENJAMIN GILL still survives, at the age of seventy-five,




16              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.              [1814.
Constituent Members: their Family Connection.
and is here to-day in comnfrtable health, though unable to
hear much that I say.
LEMUEL FULLER was the. father of Mr. Daniel Fuller of
this town, and grandfather of Rev. Oliver S. Fuller of Centreville, R.I., once a member of this church. BATHSHEBA FULLER was the wife of Lemuel. ELIJAH HEAWES has connections
residing at Tucker Hill. One of them, Alpheus Hawes, is his
nephew.  Bro. Hawes removed to Ohio, where it is supposed he still survives, as he was living at last accounts, and
in good health.  ANDREW FADDEN was a cousin of Mr. Nathaniel Wentworth of this town, a son of his father's sister.
WALES WITHINGTON was a cousin of Brother Enos Withing.
ton of this church. He removed to Maine. His daughter,
Mrs. Edmund Low, lives in town; he has also a son in
Stoughton. ABNER TILDEN resided in South Street, or the old
" Indian Lane." * He was the father of Sisters Julia and Mary
Tilden,t and Sister Hiram Johnson, all members of this church.
His widow, Mrs. Catharine Tilden, is also a member of the
church: she is now residing on his homestead. ENOS UPHAM,
brother to Mrs. Friend Crane, was the father of Mr. Abner
Upham of this town. His five daughters, Rebecca, Sarah,
Mary, Lorra Ann, and Clara, were all members of this church
till death or removal fiom the village severed the fellowship
of all but the last. NATHANIEL TUCKER DAVIS belonged in
Milton. He removed to Hingham in 1827, and none of his
relatives are found in this vicinity.  SAMUEL TUCKER was the
father of Messrs. Elias, Gerry, and Aaron Tucker of this
town, the last a member of the church,  Mrs. Ellis Ames and
Sister Eunice Tucker are his daughters. CATY TUCKER was
the wife of Samuel Tucker, and survived him until the 29th
of April, 1863.  JANE WENTWORTH was the mother of Mr.
Seth Wentworth at " the Farms."  ABIGAIL GILL was the
mother of Bethiah Tilden, Ezra Tilden's wife. ABIGAIL HILL
was a servant-girl. Her connections belonged elsewhere, and
none of them are found in this vicinity. MARY MORSE has no
* So called from the Ponkapog Indians. In that street still lives Daniel Croud, a
member of this church, and still a stalwart man at seventy-three, who carries in his
veins the last blood of that ancient tribe.
t Now Mary Kimball.




1814.]           CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 1 7
Constituent Members.          Their Family Connection.
relatives here: she married a Pike, and removed to Athol in
1831. ABIGAIL BIRD belonged in Stoughton, where her surviving relatives still reside. RUTH M'KENDRY was sister to
Mrs. Caty Tucker, and also to Messrs. William and John
M'Kendry, and Mrs. Clifford Belcher, sen., all now living in
Canton; the last a member of the church.  RUTH HOUGHTON*
was the daughter of Jason Houghton. LUCINDA GILL was a
sister of Benjamin Gill, and subsequently became the wife of
Francis Mason, now Dr. Mason, of Toungoo, Burmah. Lucy
ALLEN was an old lady at the time of the constitution of the
church, and died May 12, 1816, being the first of the constituent members who departed this life in the communion, as
Sister Caty Tucker, it is believed, was the latest. The relatives
of Lucy Allen are found in the Tucker families who live at
" the Farms." MILLA TUCKER lived in York Street. She
went by the name of "' Aunt Milly," and was ever a true friend
to the cause to which she here subscribed, though obliged for
certain reasons to serve the church by stealth. Contributions
from Canton to Baptist Missions, and other interests connected with the denomination, appear on record from the very
birth of the church, credited to " A Friend; " and it is said by
those acquainted with the facts, that these anonymous charities were hers.  Isaac Fenno, and Mrs. Vernon Messenger, of
Boston; and Miss Ellen French, of the Dudley-street Baptist
Church, Roxbury, - are grandchildren of "Aunt Milly."
OLIVE TUCKER was a sister of Samuel Tucker.
ELIPHAL WHEELER was the daughter-in-law of Mr. Samuel
Wheeler who many years ago made a liberal donation to the
church (Unitarian) at Canton Corner. The Tuckers at"the
Farms " are her connections.  ELIZA TUCKER was Mrs. Wheeler's sister. She died single, July 29, 1834, leaving her property to the Baptist cause.t RUTH Buss, written afterwards
in the records as Sally Buss, was sister to Mr. Peter Crane,
* Since Mrs. Ruth Clapp. She is still living with her husband in Franklindale,
N.Y., aged about 75, and this summer (1865), made a visit with him to her friends in
this neighborhood.
t " Like a good steward, what the Lord gave her she left in the bosom of the Church,
$1,200." - Epitaph on her Tombstone.
4




18                  CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                      [1814.
First Regular Meetings.                        Elder Kendall.
the maternal grandfather of the celebrated  Margaret Fuller,
and of Chaplain Fuller,* of Waltham, who fell oil the Rapidan.
This  little  company, now   united  under one  covenant,t
began more or less regularly to observe the Christian ordinances, holding their meetings mostly in the school-house at
Blue  Hill.(8)   Their  Sabbath  supplies  were  various, the
settlement of a pastor being, of course, out of the question at that early day, when the church, like its Master, had
not where to lay its head; but Elder HENRY KENDALL was of
all the preachers the best beloved, and to this day is of all the
most vividly remembered by the few surviving members who
were then in active service.  He came to  Canton a stranger
at the time of the constitution of the church, having first been
providentially led to this part of the country through his
appointment as a member of the General Court from the District of Maine; but he soon made the acquaintance of the
brethren here: and, though at first engaged for the greater
part of the time in a neighboring field, he nevertheless so
completely won their hearts by his gifts and his Christian
simplicity, that, for years after he went back to his native
State, they could not wean themselves from him.
On the first of July, 1814, he presided at the first business meeting of the church, where a vote was passed to raise
five  dollars "to  purchase the  elements for the  use  of the
church for the ensuing  year;"  and Brother Jason Houghton
was chosen Senior Deacon; Brother Ezra Tilden, Junior Deacon and Treasurer; and Brother Friend Crane, Clerk.'5)
* Life of Chaplain Fuller, p. 12 ( Walker and Wise).
t Although the " Baptist Society " still existed, and continued in town affairs, and
doubtless in the common talk of the towns-people, to be confounded with this church,
yet the members of that organization, as such, never had any voice in the meetings of
the Baptists after the formation of the church, or kept any records, or had any thing
to do with the progress of the Baptist cause in Canton. The members of that body
combined together simply for purposes of expediency, and continued to receive accessions for many years, of persons who wished to be exempted from paying the ministerial tax, but of whose names the records of this church are entirely ignorant. They
are found upon the records of the town. The withdrawals from the old order became
so numerous as to embarrass the parish in the maintenance of their minister. In 1820,
Mr. Ritchie was, on this account, constrained to accept a considerable reduction of his
salary. - Old Parish Records, vol. ii. p. 6.








i/
I I //,~   l,,, 1M




1814.]          CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                   19
Elder Kendall.                        More Baptisms.
In December (the 18th) also of the same year, he is mentioned in the records as moderator of a church-meeting;(6)
and he was evidently here at different times during 1815
and 1816, perhaps 1817. His last visit to Canton was made
in October, 1836, when the people heard once more his apostolic voice, and received his final benediction.
Henry Kendall was born in Sanford, Me., July 3, 1774. His
public studies were limited to three weeks' schooling, while
apprenticed to the tanner's trade. He was converted in
1798, and, after working at his trade nearly three years, was
licensed by the Baptist Church in Meredith, N.H., in the
month of April, 1802. He received ordination at Mt. Vernon, Me., on the 5th of June, 1805, and labored as an itinerant preacher in his native State until 1812, when he was
elected representative from Litchfield to the General Court
at Boston.  From  an acquaintance formed with him  then in
that city, a liberal-minded Christian sister was induced to send
for him two years afterwards, to labor at her expense in
Sharon, where there had never been a revival of religion, and
few or none were found to hold up the standard of evangelical
Christianity.' He complied with her request, and became,
under God's blessing, the founder of the Baptist Church
there. It was during his labors in Sharon, and a short time
after, that he preached here: since then he has employed
himself as an evangelist in different parishes of Maine, until,
about ten years ago, an affection of the head unfitted him for
labor. He still survives in China, of his native State, having
extended his life into the last decade of' a century.t
In September, 1814, the church received two by baptism,
and adopted the following Constitution as a guide in the
future transaction of business, and as a basis of discipline: —
W E, having found it to be our duty to give ourselves to one another in
church fellowship, esteem it further to be our duty to govern ourselves
by the rules given by the great Head of the Church; and that good order,
* Records Ladies' Benevolent Society, vol. i. p. 6.
t Life of Elder Henry Kendall, by himself (Brown f Thurston, Portland, 1853).
He died in China, Me., Aug. 15, 1864.




20                   CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                    [1814.
Church Constitution, or Rules of Order.
peace and harmony may be maintained among us, we agree to the following
articles; viz. -
I. In all meetings of the church, the highest officer present shall preside;
and if none be present, then one shall be chosen for the time being.
II.  All church meetings shall be notified by the Moderator, with the advice of his brethren.
III. No complaint shall be brought into the church against any member,
without the lower steps of labor first being taken, as described by our Saviour
in Matthew, 18th chapter, 15th, 16th, and 17th verses; except the crime be
of such a heinous nature as to demand the immediate exclusion of the member.
IV. No member shall be allowed to speak to any question before the
church more than twice, without liberty of the church.
V. No member, when speaking, shall be interrupted by another, except it
be to correct a mistake.
VI. Every vote passed by the church shall be accurately recorded by the
Clerk.
VII. No candidate shall be admitted into the church to the destruction of
the fellowship of one of its members; and all persons wishing for membership
shall come before the church, and relate theirA experience; and, if any objection shall arise, the candidate shall be put by until the church shall examine
into the nature of the objection. If the church shall judge the objection to
be groundless, the objector shall submit it peaceably to the church, or suffer
exclusion; then the candidate may be received, and good order will be maintained in the Church of Christ.
VIII. In any meeting of the church, any one of its members shall have a
right to inquire after the spiritual health of any of its absent members, not intimating any thing like a complaint; and the church shall have a right to appoint a committee of inquiry to inquire after any of its absent members; and
said committee shall report to the church, per order.
IX. No member, in presence of the church, shall implicate any one of its
members; but, in case any matter in question shall be a burden to any member, it shall be his duty to inquire of the Moderator into its propriety; whose
duty it shall be to call the attention of the church immediately to the subject.
X. In all questions before the church, a majority shall govern, except in
the reception of members; but in all questions that have a tendency to divide
the church, it must be governed by the discretion of the body.
XI. It shall be the established order of this church to hold a church conference on the Friday preceding the full of the moon, at 6 o'clock, P.M., except when the moon fulls on Friday. In such case, the meeting will be held
on Friday, at the usual hour.*
XII. In the reception or dismissing of members, the sisters are to act; but
in all matters of labor, they are not to act.
A code of Prudential Regulations was adopted in May,
* This rule of a monthly evening church-meeting, prior to communion, has been adhered to in the main particulars. In 1843, the attempt was made to fix the covenantmneetihg in the afternoon (two o'clock); but the change did not operate well, and the
old evening meeting was re-established. - Church Records, pp. 138, 150, 159.




1814.]            CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                   21
First Associational Letter.     Church Fast for the Country.
1854, different from this in many essential particulars, having
reference chiefly to officers and their duties.(195)
In 1814, the Warren Baptist Association included all the
churches of tle denomination in south-eastern Massachusetts
aind Rhode Island; and, as Canton fell within the limits, it
was necessary for the new church to seek a formal union with
that body. Accordingly, Elder Elisha Williams prepared a
letter, which was copied, and sent by Brother Oliver Houghton to the meeting of the Association, in Providence.
In the mean time, the prospects of the country grew dark.
In Canada, the American general, Wilkinson, had been defeated; Baltimore had been attacked, and many of her best
citizens slain. The bloody battle of Niagara had been fought
with but doubtful advantage to the American cause; and,
worst of all, the capital of the nation was in the hands of a
foreign enemy. Added to this, the victorious army that had
fought in Europe under Wellington, and conquered Napoleon
at Waterloo, had now quartered its thousands upon our frontier; and thus far the want of competent generals, and the
partisan character of our measures of war, had tended rather
to cripple our power of defence, until the country lay almost
at the mercy of its invaders.  It was "in view  of these
troubles now rolled upon the land " that the Association at its
meeting, solemnly recommended to the churches to observe
" Thursday, the 29th of September," as a day of fasting and
prayer. It is the impression of the surviving original members, that that fast was observed by this church.
Forty names stood on the church-roll at the close of the
year 1814. During the next year, the question of building a
meeting-house began to be agitated.(6"   The news of the
Return of peace * encouraged the little band of Christians to
* An ingenious old minor melody entitled " Retrospect, an Anthem from Sundry
Scriptures," and written in this neighborhood just after the Revolution, now became
popular again in singing-societies and family-gatherings. The following are its
words: -
" Was not the day dark and gloomy?  But, praised be the Lord, the snare is
The enemy said,' Let us draw a line  broken and we are escaped.
even from York to Canada;'   Hark I hear the adjuration:




22                    CANTON  BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                  [1814-15.
Building talked of.                      Early Spirit of Giving.
venture more in their church expenditures, and some of their
first essays in raising money are both entertaining and instructive. The following is a verbatim copy of a church vote
recorded under date of Sept. 1, 1815:"Voted or appointed Br. F. Crane to get printed the church Articles
of faith and Articles of regulation. Bro. Nathan Tucker subscribed to pay
part the expense for printing,
Br. Deae Houghton,        4
Bro. Oliver Houghton,   8
Br. Friend Crane,
Br. Dean Tilden,
Br. Samuel Tucker,        1
Br. Lemuel Fuller,        AY
We united in prayer with Dean Tilden.  Our hearts were made glad and
the meeting was closed. Expense of printing the above-named articles is
$7.50.
Attest:                               F. CRANE, Clerk." ()
We hear it said sometimes, that it is sacrilegious to mix
religion with money; but those good brethren, now dead and
gone, evidently exercised the spirit of prayer while they
" subscribed to pay," and their " hearts were made glad."
No definite action in reference to building a meeting-house
was taken at this early period, further than  to  "confer with
Cursed be the man that keepeth back    How long will it be ere that thou be quiet?
his sword!                      Put thyself into thy scabbard;
O dismal I O horrible I                Rest, rest, and be still!
My bowels, my bowels I                  Cause us to hear with joy
I am pained at my very heart;             Thy kind, inviting voice;
My heart maketh a noise within me;      That so the bones which thou hast broke
For thou hast heard, O my soul, the       May with fresh strength rejoice.
sound of the trumpet             Hark! my soul, catch the sound!
And the alarm of war I                 Hear and rejoice I
Behold my father! See my brother!     Beat your swords into ploughshares,
Hear him groan! See them die I       And your spears into pruning-hooks,
O thou sword of the Lord!             And learn war no more.
How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the fae of him that bringeth good tidings;
That publisheth peace, -
Peace o4n earth, good-will towards men I
Hallelujah; for tile Lord God omnipotent reigneth I
Hallelujah - Amen."




1815-16.]       CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                23
Movement for a Meeting-house.    Supplies.    First Revival.
Mrs. Sherman," * through a committee, with a view to securing a piece of land. It was the plan then to unite with the
Randolph Church in building the house; and this accounts for
the contemplated choice of a spot on "Mrs. Sherman's " land,
in Ponkapog, close to where the fire-engine house now
stands.
For preaching, the church at first depended mainly upon
Elder Kendall, Elder Williams, and Bro. Ensign Lincoln, who
too'.k turns in the supply, with occasional assistance from others, until the spring of 1816.
About this time, the Lord was pleased to pour out his Spirit
upon the church.t  A great awakening came upon the whole
region in March; and in the towns of Sharon, Easton, Foxboro', Mansfield, Attleboro', Bridgewater, Pawtucket, and Providence, believers were strengthened, and sinners flocked
to Christ. In Canton, the people of God were greatly encouraged by the revival of their own graces and the conversion
of souls. Apparently uncaused by the efforts of any preacher,
a strong spiritual interest pervaded the community, and proved
its divine origin, as a few years before, both by its hatefulness to the ungodly, and its fruits in the life of the church.
Many went from house to house exhorting their neighbors to
repent, and nothing seemed to be wanting but the labors of a
judicious pastor to enable them to gather in a permanent and
valuable harvest. Elder Kendall left about the first of March;
and Bro. Lincoln, in consequence of his business, could
spend little or no time here outside of the Sabbath. In their
lack of a regular ministry, the church leaned much upon
Elder Williams; and the nine or ten who joined the communion as the fruits of this first revival were baptized by his
hibnds.
Of all the ministers who watched around the cradle of this
church, none had so much to do with its early nurture and
discipline as Elder Williams. At its very entrance into life,
* A family connection of Roger Sherman, of Revolutionary memory, who originally
owned large real estate in this neighborhood. His father lies in the Canton Cemetery,
t Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 94.




24               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.               [1816.
Elder Williams.   First Pastoral Call.   Howard, Gibson, Evans.
he stood its god-father; and his interest in its measures and
movements, for seven or eight years, was like that of Paul for
his Macedonian converts. He presided at the constituting
council; it was his wisdom, chiefly, that drafted the " Rules
of Order " for the church; his pen wrote the first Associational Letter; and his lips pronounced the sermon and the
prayer at the dedication of the first meeting-house. As his
name transpires again in connection with this last service, a
brief sketch of him will be given at that point in the history.
On the 26th of May, 1816, "Brother Leland Howard, of
Vermont,"  was unanimously invited to come here, and tarry
"six  months or a year, as would, in his opinion, be most
usefull." (1)  Bro. Howard  had  preached  somewhat here?
during the time of his study with Rev. James M. Winchell, of
Boston (successor of Stillman, and compiler of the well-known
"Winchell's Watts"); and the people being pleased with his
spirit and gifts wished to hear him longer. He, however,
declined the invitation; and, about a fortnight after, application was made to the Sharon Church to share with them alternately the ministrations of Elder John B. Gibson, of Newport,
who was at that time supplying there. Bro. Gibson preached
here three Sabbaths; but the church could not agree to any
permanent arrangement with  him,t and  in August, Bro.
GEORGE EVANS, of South Reading, was sent for.
The church now entered upon an experience of adversity,
that, following so close upon the promise of the previous
spring, was disheartening indeed. Overcome by the persecuting hostility of men of influence in the town, who carried
the vulgar hatred of the Baptists to the extent of persecution,
nearly every male member deserted his post, and left the
deacons and the sisters alone.
* Still minister of the gospel in Rutland, in that State.
t Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 175. Elder John B. Gibson was an. Ar/ninian
Methodist preacher, until the summer of 1802, when he was persuaded to Baptist views
by a sermon of Elder John Peak. He died early in the year 1831..- Memoir of Elder J.
Peak, by himself. Boston: 1832; pp. 135, 6, 7, 8.








~'~ —'~'~
t'l~...




1816-17.]        CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                    25
Persecution.         George Evans.           Kendall.
At last, about the middle of the fall, the enemies of the
truth succeeded in shutting the little band of worshippers out
of the North school-house where, up to that time, they had
met unmolested as often as they chose.*  This insult, however, was productive of more good than harm to the church.
Bro. Friend Crane opened the large upper chamber of his
dwelling-house t for religious meetings; and, so far from being
silenced, the harassed believers prayed and praised with new
inspiration, and cleaved more closely together.
Bro. Evans accepted, after a time, the invitation extended him by the church, and was here, probably in the
winter, and certainly in the spring, of 1817, attaching himself very strongly to the church. George Evans was a
good man; as a minister of Christ singularly faithful, devoted, and self-sacrificing.  He was born in South Reading,
Mass., Sept. 26, 1784; was licensed in'the spring of 1.809, and
preached first in North Reading. After his brief term of labor
in Canton, he removed West; but it is evident that the people
here regarded him as their minister; and, while he was in the
valley of the Mississippi, they sent him an urgent request to
return and labor with them again. After an absence of several years, in the spring of 1823 he once more came to Canton, but made only a brief visit. In the summer of 1825, he
made his home here, and preached alternately to this and
Sharon church, until some time in the following spring.  During this period, he became instrumental to the conversion of
Francis Mason. He died in Manchester, N.H., Jan. 18,
1848.t
After Bro. Evans's departure, there is some evidence that
Elder Kendall visited this place again, and preached here
and in the vicinity during the fore-part of the summer.~
* Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 175.
t The house opposite where the old meeting-house (town-house) stands, now enlarged, and used by Mr. James Draper in his manufacture of worsteds. Friend Crane's
store was in the lower part of this house.
f Memoir of Elder George Evans, by his brother.
~ See a letter of Deacon Ezra Tilden (July 1, 1817), in Life of Elder Kendall
p. 181.
5




26               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.             [1817.
Warren Bird.    Supplies.    Coleman, Wheelock, Judson, &c.
After this the church had no regular ministerial supply until
September, when Warren Bird,* a faithful young brother
from Foxboro', came and preached three months.t
Probably but a small proportion of all the ministers who
preached here prior to the erection of the meeting-house are
mentioned in the Records, and doubtless some of them have
passed entirely from tile memory of the church. The aged
members recollect the names of Coleman and Wheelock and
Benson and Conant and Sawyer and N. W. Williams and Palmer and Judson and Chessman and Lovell and Waitt and
Farley and Smith and Joy Handy, and Putnam the younger,
and Otis Briggs, son of Elder Joel.  Coleman was Rev.
James, of the Eastern Missions, and, at the time of his
preaching here, a member of Dr. Sharp's church. He sailed
on Sunday, Nov. 16, 1817, for Burmah, and settled at Rangoon, where he died in 1822. Wheelock was Rev. Edward,
the missionary, and the friend and associate of Coleman; when
he preached here, he was a licentiate of Dr. Baldwin's church.
He accompanied Coleman in 1817, but soon lost his health,
and while en route for Bengal, intending to return home, he
was drowned, Aug. 20, 1819.: Benson (Elder Caleb), of Middleboro', was known as "Blind Benson." He was an humble but gifted minister, and left grateful remembrances in
Canton of his piety and faithfulness. Conant was Elder
Thomas, well remembered as " Father Conant, of Abington."
N. W. Williams, like Elder Elisha, was for a time pastor of
the church of Beverly: B. W. Williams, of Boston, and Rev.
N. M. Williams, of South Danvers, are his sons. Palmer was
Elder William Palmer, of Connecticut: the church addressed
him an invitation to come to Canton with a view to settlement; but his stay was short. ~ Judson was Rev. Adoniram,
father of Dr. Judson, the celebrated missionary. He was
* Rev. Warren Bird became a Swedenborgian in 1829, and died in Foxboro', Oct.
17, 1863. - New Jerusalem M[a.gazine, xxxv. 362.
t Life of Elder Henry Kendall, pp. 98, 99.
I Knowles' Life of Ann H. Judson, pp. 135, 154; Baptist Magazine, vol. ii. pp.
263, 306; Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 99.
~ Life of Elder Kendall, p. 93.




1817-18.]        CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                27
A. Judson, Sen. Elder Waitt: first exclusions.  Commencement of Meeting-house.
pastor of a Congregational church in Plymouth, but became
a Baptist after his son's arrival in Burmah. He related while
in Canton, that, on hearing the news of Adoniram's conversion to Baptist views, he walked his chamber twelve days and
nights, finding no rest. He was a stern old man, and little
accustomed to allow his belief to be questioned; and when
we consider the denominational hostility prevalent in 1811
and thereabouts, between Congregationalists and Baptists, his
agitation is not wonderful.  He, however, searched the Scriptures, and, having satisfied himself in the very views which
his son had embraced, was baptized, with his wife and daughter, by Dr. Baldwin. He died in Scituate, Nov. 25, 1826,
aged 76.* Rev. Daniel Chessman was a worthy Boston minister of the old school, a friend of Dr. Baldwin, and subsequently author of a memoir of him. Rev. Samuel Waitt was
the pastor of the Sharon church,  ordained there June 3,
1818;(21) but he occasionally filled the Canton pulpit as well
as his own. The two churches drew kindly together, being of
the same age, and neighbors; and it was much the custom in
their early days to accommodate each other in their pastoral
supplies.
In the year 1817 occurred the first case of extreme discipline. Between January and October, three were excluded
from fellowship; all of them being constituent members. The
church, however, received some additions by baptism, and at
the close of the year numbered forty-eight. The demand for
a permanent place of worship had by this time become imperative. Four years of rotary life had proved the patience,
as well as the cohesiveness, of the church; and now, the sparrow must have a house, the swallow a nest for herself, where
4he might lay her young. After much prayer and careful
thought, and many close counsels, at length, in the early part
of September, 1818, the gathering of contributions commenced;
(22) and, before the end of the following month, the plan of
* Wayland's Life of Judson, vol. i. p. 13.
t Min. Bost. So. Assoc. 1853. Mr. Waitt removed South, and became president of
a female college in South Carolina. At last accounts of him, he was still resident there.




28               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.         [1818-21.
Meeting-house built.   Observance of the Lord's Supper.  Dedication.
the meeting-house was drawn, and all the necessary committees appointed, not forgetting the one to keep the subscription-paper in circulation. The Ponkapog lot had been abandoned, and a site had been fixed upon in Otis Billings' land,
that " corners on the Taunton and Dedham Roads," opposite
to where Mr. James Sumner now lives; but, failing to procure
this, the church had purchased of Alexander French, for
eighty dollars, a building spot on the opposite side of the
"Taunton (Boston) Road," about eighty rods south-east of the
old grave-yard, in the centre of the town. The foundation of
the house was laid in 1819; but the work did not reach completion until the latter part of the next year.
Meantime, the church, though suffering many inconveniences, continued to meet and observe the ordinances. Up to
Aug. 30, 1820, it would seem that they had been somewhat
irregular in the observance of the Lord's Supper; though by
the 11th article of their constitution (p. 20) it was evidently
their intention to hold that sacrament monthly; but, on the
day above named, it was voted (25) to celebrate it " on the last
Lord's Day in every other month: " subsequently the time
was changed to the first Sabbath in every month, as it still
continues to be.
By a strange neglect, no record of the dedication of the meeting-house is made upon the church book. Aged people remember only that Elder Elisha Williams preached the sermon. and
made the dedicatory prayer; that the Unitarian choir assisted
at the services; and that a snow-storm raged the whole day.
The following notice, however, of the dedication, communicated very likely by Elder Williams himself, appears in the
old Baptist Magazine: *" The new meeting-house in Canton, erected the past season by the Baptist church and society in that place, was opened on Lord's Day, Jan. 14
(1821), by the solemn and delightful worship of God. The sermon was
preached by Rev. Elisha Williams, founded on 2 Chron. 7th chapter and 1st
verse:' Now, when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down
from heaven, and consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices; and the
* Vol. vii. p. t0.








i;   V/
N ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~::.;
C)                                  - ~~~-~~~ I ":,
I i~l




1821.]            CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                     29
Dedication.                         Elder E. S. Williams.
glory of the Lord filled the house.' The pleasing circumstances under which
this house was opened inspire the hope that it will continue to be a sanctuary
in which the pure principles of the gospel will be vindicated, and their holy
tendency enforced on those who, in the present and future generations, may
meet there for social worship; that the glory of the Lord, in the power of the
gospel on the hearts of sinners, and in the enjoyment of his presence, may
encourage the exertions of the church in the cause for which their Redeemer
bled. And thus may it be apparent that their labor was not in vain in the
Lord!"
The prayer of Elder Williams on this occasion is remembered from an exclamation of one of the auditory at the time,
" He prayed like an angel! " This good man appears here for
the last time (but one*) in connection with the history of this
church. Many fields of New England's Zion besides our own
preserve grateful remembrances of his useful life.
ELISHA SCOTT WILLIAMS was born in East Hartford, Ct.,
Oct. 7, 1757, of Congregational stock. He graduated at Yale
College, in 1775, when only eighteen years old, and served in
the Revolution as adjutant in a Connecticut regimente tand
on board the privateer "Hancock."  After the war, he lived
in Stockbridge, Mass., about ten years, and removed to Maine,
where he taught school, and was elected a justice of the
peace.'About 1798, while residing at Livermore, Me., he
was converted to God, and soon after licensed there to preach
the gospel. He was ordained in August, 1799, by the Bowdoinham Association, and soon became pastor of the Baptist
Church in-Brunswick, where he labored till 1803, when he
was settled over the First Baptist Church in Beverly, Mass.
He remained there till 1812, and then removed to Boston.
After a residence of twenty-five years in that city, he returned
to Beverly, and died there Feb. 3, 1845. In his person, Elder
Williams was tall and stately; in manners, grave; vehement
on occasion; a gentleman of the old school. In the pulpit, he
was solemn and impressive, but oftener didactic than glowing.
* See page 40.
t While serving in the army, he crossed the Delaware with Washington as one of the
general's aids. In John Trumbull's well-known' picture of that eventful stratagem, the
portrait of Williams, introduced from life by the artist, is plainly discernible.




30                 CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                [1821.
Elder Williams.                           First Sexton.
Elder Williams published during his life a Dialogue on Baptism,
and a sermon in the " Baptist Preacher." *  Fragments remembered here at this day, and recited with veneration when his life
and services are talked of, show that he was wont to drop
philosophical sayings, and sometimes indulged in verse.
Among other things, he used to say, " There is nothing that we
can want but what God has promised, and there is nothing
that he has promised which we do not want;" and, in reference to allowing impertinent thoughts to disturb worship, he
used quaintly to remark, "Although we cannot hinder the
birds from flying over our heads, we may prevent their
roosting in our hair." The following lines are part of a poem
written by him on his seventy-second birthday:"Hail once again, auspicious morn
On which poor helpless I was born
To pleasure and to pain!
Of both, forsooth, I've had my share,
For, duly mixed, they cure despair,
And vain desires restrain.
Threescore and twelve revolving years,
With all their joys and griefs and fears,
I speedily have passed, &c."
Our first church edifice, consecrated by the prayers of Elder
Williams, stands now where it was originally built, and with
scarcely an alteration from its original fashion,- a plain structure, without steeple or porch, forty feet long by thirty-six
wide, fronting the south. Its cost was about two thousand
dollars.
Mr. Leonard Everett appears to have been the first sexton
(so far as there was any). t (t4) Probably at first the doors were
not so thronged as to render his duties very burdensome.$ Afterwards, as the congregation increased, we find " Brother
* Christian Watchman, Feb. 14, 1845; Sprague's Annals Am. (Bap.) Pulpit, pp.
392-94.
t Mr. Everett was a member of the Unitarian Society.
I Although many had withdrawn from the standing order, these seceders were not
all meeting-goers. The population of the town, too, always subject to fluctuations, was




1821.]            CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                   31
The Sextonship.     Choir.        Elder Thomas Barrett.
Enos Upham appointed to wait upon strangers who may attend our meeting from time to time, and furnish them with
seats," - an excellent and most politic provision always, to say
nothing of the Christianity of it. Often the size of a Sabbath
congregation depends less upon the preacher than upon the
manner in which the ushers magnify their office.
While the house was building, the people listened for a time
to the preaching of Rev. Edmund Billson, an Englishman. He
was an able speaker; but some rash expressions uttered by
him in his discourses made them so out of conceit with him,
that they refused to allow him to minister in their new  sanctuary, and he left them to return no more.
All debts and demands against the church, on account of
their building, were promptly paid or compounded.  A choir
was organized; and Elder THOMAS BARRETT, who had occasionally officiated before in the parisih,~26 was invited(27  to
divide his ministerial labors between Canton and Sharon, receiving as his portion from this half of his " diocese" one hundred and fifty dollars for one year. He continued to reside
in Sharon, where he had been laboring for some time already;
not such as to warrant a great Sunday congregation. Indeed, the census of the previous year showed that the number of inhabitants in Canton had decreased nearly a
hundred since 1810.




32              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.          [1821-2.
Sunday School.   Dismission to a Methodist Church.    Elder Barrett.
but, during the year 1821, this church counted him  her
pastor.
In June of the same year, a Sunday school was added to the
other means of grace; (28) Deacon Ezra Tilden being appointed
the first superintendent. The Baptist Sunday school in Canton
really began eight or ten years before, in the Old North Schoolhouse, at which place a few faithful men and women were
wont to gather with their children on Sabbath days to study
the Bible and Catechism; but there seems to have been little
or no organization to their efforts until the above date.
The church numbered but forty-five at the time they
entered their new house of worship. In the spring of 1819,
they had numbered fifty; but, during that year and the next,
three were dismissed to Randolph, and two died. During Elder Barrett's ministry, some were added, both by baptism and
by letter; but, several cases of severe discipline occurring, the
membership of the church was reduced in a year and a half to
forty-three. The fathers meant to guard well the heritage of
God, and were not often chargeable with slighting their work;
yet those who criticise the strictness of the older Baptists, and
complain (no doubt in some cases justly) of the harshness of
the early discipline of the church, will be surprised at a letter
of dismission, bearing date June 3, 1822, which certifies "that
our beloved sister Mary Hunt is a member in good standing
in the Baptist Church in Canton; and, upon her request, we
dismiss her, to unite with the Methodist Church in Boston,
hoping that she will continue to honor the cause of the dear
Redeemer." (34)
Elder Barrett left his charge here in the spring of 1822.
He was a preacher of much power, generally choosing short,
pithy texts, and using with great effect those passages of
Scripture which are best adapted to awaken the conscience.
His prevailing temper of piety, however, was gloomy; and, being very self-depreciative and distrustful, he failed to derive
the proper vigor and hopefilness from the love of Jesus. This
disposition produced deep religious melancholy, and finally
insanity, which terminated in suicide. He ended his days in




1821-2.]            CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                       33
Elder Barrett.       First Salary Offered.      Thomas Ford.
Webster, Aug. 7, 1832, aged only forty years, having been
born in Woodstock, Ct., Aug. 27, 1792. He studied for the
ministry with the Rev. Antipas Steward, Rev. David Pease,
and Rev. Thomas Rand, and was ordained in Grafton, June 12,
1816, making his term of pastoral labor sixteen years. There
remains no portrait of him. He is described as tall and portly,
with an impressive personal presence, and a complexion inclining to sandy.
The Baptists were now once more destitute of a stated
ministry.  Sensible of their need of the labors of a settled
pastor, they made an effort to raise a sufficient sum of money
to support one, and, by the first of June, they were able to
offer three hundred dollars.  " Elder Houghton, of Winthrop,"
was first invited to " preach on trial;" but no engagement was
effected with him, and the people contented themselves with
chance supplies and alternate supplies till the following spring.
Among the various preachers who dispensed the word here
during the year 1822, the one who made his mark most decidedly of all was Bro. Thomas Ford, of Boston, the father
of Daniel S. Ford, Esq., Editor of the "' Christian Watchman
and Reflector." He was a native Englishman, a prominent
member of Dr. Sharp's church, and, like Ensign Lincoln, a
licensed layman. Dr. Wayland, who was ever known to be a
champion of lay-preaching, often referred to Bro. Ford,
whom he heard in his younger days, as a noble instance of
the efficiency of unordained talent in the pulpit.* In the
* A testimony equally significant and valuable to the power and unction of Brother
Thomas Ford, as a preacher, came from a colored barber, who told how often he used
to walk through the spring slush, to Charles Street,from the extreme North End, to
hear him talk in evening meetings.
As a sample of the quaint way in which he was wont to fortify his utterances with
texts of Scripture, it is related, that on one occasion, when a young, and not very
promising candidate preached before Dr. Sharp's church for a license, he was called
upon, after an embarrassing silence at the close of the sermon, to give his opinion in
6




34                CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.               [1823.
Second Revival.    Elder Eliot: Elder Moore.    Church Joins Boston Ass'n.
spring of 1823, Elder George Evans, their beloved evangelist,
made the people a visit, (35) on his return from the West, and
preached among them, much to the joy and reviving of their
hearts.
Bro. Henry Stanwood, a young licentiate, next supplied
the pulpit for some time, and his labors proved very acceptable and useful. During his stay, the church was blessed, souls
were converted, and, in the summer and fall of 1823, fourteen
were received into the communion; Elders Benjamin Putnam,
of Randolph, and Joseph Eliot, of Roxbury, administering the
ordinance of baptism. This was the second revival in the
church.
Elder Eliot was a preacher of considerable note at that day,
possessed of a good person, engaging manners, and excellent
oratorical powers.   Being  unhappy in his settlement, he
frankly told the church in Canton that he would be glad to
become their pastor.  Many felt an inclination to settle him
here; but that was finally overruled, partly by special reasons existing in the minds of the people, and partly by his
own subsequently changed views of the matter. Observing
to them that an extended field would better suit him than this
"small garden," he turned their attention to Rev. FORRIS
MOORE, a young "up-country " clergyman, whom he had baptized, as being a fit person to serve them in the ministry, he
having a much smaller family, and health sufficient only for
limited labors. The result was, that Elder Moore came to
Canton, and Elder Eliot moved into his place, at New Ipswich, N.H.*
This year the church, upon request, was dismissed from the
old Warren Association, and joined the Boston Association.
Aid had been received from abroad at different times, in support of the Baptist cause in the place; and record is made this
the case, and expressed himself as follows: " I believe the young brother to be a very
good man; but, if I were to advise him as to his entering the ministry, I should say to
him much as Eli said to Samuel,' Go and lie down, my son, till the Lord calleth thee.' "
* The same conveyance that brought the goods of one carried away the goods of the
other. It was remarked in a pleasant way by one of the sisters here that " Mr. Eliot
unseated Mr. Moore, and sat down in his chair."








-                          I:




1824-6.]        CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                  35
Elder Forris Moore.                 O. Tracy supply.
summer of a vote of thanks to the Norfolk Domestic and Foreign Mission Society, and also to certain liberal brethren in
the town of Randolph, for sums of money forwarded in the interest of this church. (37, 38)
Elder Moore commenced his labors here on the 19th of July,
1824.* When he came to the church, there were fifty-five
communicants in it, and four were added by baptism during
his stay of about a year. He was compelled by feeble health
to resign his charge, and left Canton in June, 1825. This
faithful and suffering minister was born in Putney, Vt., Dec.
31, 1796. He indulged a hope in Christ when thirteen years
of age, but did not profess religion till the summer of 1816,
when he was baptized in Rockingham, of his native State, by
Elder Eliot, who was then pastor of the Baptist Church there.
After this he studied at Phillips' Academy, Andover, Mass.,
and while there his system was prostrated by two severe attacks of illness, which left him an invalid for life. He was
ordained at Keene, N.H.. Dec. 30, 1819, at which place, and
at New Ipswich, of the same State, he performed the duties of
a pastor until his settlement over this church. He died in
South Lee, April 7, 1858. He ardently loved the work of the
ministry, and honored the calling by his devout and godly life.
His mind was clear and well balanced, and his heart, whether
interested as a minister, a husband and father, or as a citizen
and a Christian, was always warm and true. He labored in
pain; but his almost forty years of tearful seed-sowing yielded
him many sheaves. He is said to have been the first Baptist
preacher in Canton who used notes.
Rev. Oren Tracy, of Randolph, was next called to the pastorate here, but never came otherwise than as an occasional
supply; and the return of Elder George Evans occurring in
the following August, the people enjoyed the welcome ministrations of a beloved former evangelist until spring.
The records of the year 1826 are a mournful memorial of
* He lived in the large old yellow house behind the two great willow-trees, at Canton
Corner, still known as " the old Haynes House," and which continued to be a sort of
parsonage for several years.




36              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.          [1826.
Elder Adlam called.               Francis Mason.
suspensions, expulsions, and death.  The church enjoyed
preaching only on alternate Sundays until fall, when, on the
15th of September, Elder SAMUEL ADLAM, an Englishman, was
"unanimously and affectionately" called from Dedham. He
remained here through the fall and winter; and it was at his
hands that Francis Mason, now Dr. Mason, the distinguished
Karen Missionary, received baptism.
The subsequent career of Mason, and his prominence in the
Christian world, render it proper that he should receive a
special notice in this history, even aside from the fact of his
connection with this church. Francis Mason was born in
York, England, April 2, 1799. At the age of nineteen, he
availed himself of the offer of an uncle in America to pay his
passage hither, and landed in Philadelphia in May, 1818. His
uncle took him to Cincinnati, but died there soon after, leaving him a stranger and alone. He became a wanderer, and
for nearly six years roamed up and down in Ohio, Kentucky,
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi, "living without an
object." While staying at Natchez, he rejected a good opportunity to acquire a medical education, believing it better, he
said, " to be a good shoemaker " (which he already was) " than
to be a bad doctor." At length, while on a visit to New Orleans, he saw a ship bound to Boston, and immediately engaged a passage in her. He arrived in Boston in the summer
of 1824, and remained in that city about a year; but his life
there, according to his own testimony, was wretched, aimless,
and unhappy. Like Judson, he became a frequenter of playhouses, and having tried these, with nearly every other variety
of diversion, without any satisfaction to himself, he came to
feel that his very existence was a gift not worth the having.
One day, while in this state of mind, he said laughingly to
some of his associates, "I will go into the country, become
religious, and settle down for life in the Bay State." The
careless remark proved partly prophetic; and the year 1825
found him in Randolph, surrounded by the very influences
which were to make him a faithful and efficient servant of
God. He boarded in the family of Elder Benjamin Putnam,




1826.]          CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.              37
Francis Mason.            His Conversion and Baptism.
and followed his trade of boot-making. Elder Putnam  was
faithful to set before him the importance of religion, and urge
upon him the necessity of a change of heart. He was sceptical, but took instruction kindly, and through the influence of
Miss Lucinda Gill, a young woman of earnest piety, and a
member of this church,* who resided in Elder Putnam's
family, and to whom he became devotedly attached, he began
to read and study the Bible. Subsequently (in December,
1825) he married Miss Gill, and removed to Canton, where he
boarded in the family of Deacon Tilden. His study of the
Bible was faithfully continued. At his hours of work, he
would place the holy book in the open drawer of his workbench, where his eye could catch the words; and, when a visitor
entered the shop, he would push the drawer in.
This honest perusal of the Scriptures, with the immediate
effect of the kind exhortations of Rev. George Evans,t
brought him at last, in the early part of the year 1826, to the
light of a joyful hope in Christ. Spots in the woods, neighboring to the old Tilden homestead, bear witness, this day, to
the fervor of Mason's first prayers. Thoroughly interested
now in the matter of the gospel, he spared no pains to put
himself in the way of listening to its teachings; and on Sabbath days, when there was no preaching in Canton, he often
walked with Deacon Tilden to Dedham.T There he became acquainted with Bro. Adlam, and his preaching, his
nearness of age, and the strong attraction of a common nationality, drew Mason towards him in deep and lasting friendship. There is little doubt but it was Mason who procured
his call to Canton.. The future missionary was baptized in
Reservoir Pond, a little above Pleasant Street, in the month
Qf October, 1826; being the first candidate to whom young
Adlam ever administered this Christian rite. At the same
time, he received the hand of fellowship to this church, in
whose communion he still remains. Surprising as it may
* See page 21.
t Memoir of Elder George Evans, p. 52; Mason's Autograph Reminiscences.
I West Dedham.




38                CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.               [1827.
Studies for the Ministry.    Ordination and Departure.    His Wife and Child.
seem, no record of this transaction was made on the churchbook; neither was Mason's name ever entered on the churchroll.  Were it not that the parties are still living, the facts
and dates would probably never have been verified.
Immediately after his conversion, Mason's soul was fired
with the zeal of an evangelist. He would go to India, and he
set himself at once to study for a preparation. Elder Adlam
taught him the Greek and Hebrew alphabet, sitting beside
him on the shoe-bench; and he afterwards took lessons in the
Greek classics, two or three times a week, of Mr. Huntoon,
the pastor of the Unitarian Church. He was licensed here
on the 1st of October, 1827, and, after two years of theological study at Newton,* was ordained by the Baldwin-place
Church, Boston, May 23, 1830. The next day he set sail,
with Kincaid, for Calcutta.t
Mrs. Mason died here, soon after her husband's graduation
at Newton.t She was an excellent woman, and her husband
trusted in her. He testifies, " She had much to do, in God's
providence, with my conversion. Blessings on her memory!"
She left a little son, a fine, promising boy, to the care of her
sister Abigail (now Mrs. Capen, of West Bridgewater). With
her faithful attentions the child thrived, and bade fair to grow
up an honor and a joy to his devoted father, and to the cause
whose sacrifices had been his first inheritance. As appears
* His graduating essay (1829) was entitled " The Man of Sin."
t Baptist Magazine, vol. xiv. pp. 409-10.
$ She died Nov. 18, 1829, aged thirty-three. Her first infant, Wayland Putnam,
died two years before in Milton, aged one year and eleven months.








I       Il




1827.]           CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 39
Removal of Adlam.                    Moses Curtis settled.
from letters written at that date, * Mr. Mason had set his
heart on his being a missionary, and succeeding him in Burmah; but God willed it otherwise. Disease set in at the
time he was vaccinated; and he sank under it, in spite of all
the love and vigilance of his nurse, being only two years old
when he died.  Rev. Lucius Bolles, D.D., then Secretary of
the American Baptist Missionary Union, came from Boston,
and officiated at his funeral, Jan. 12, 1831, at the residence of
his aunt, the house now owned by the Blake heirs, and standing on the north side of Pleasant Street, about a quarter of a
mile east of Reservoir Pond. A little mound close to the
grave of his mother, in the cemetery in Canton, now covers
the child of promise, - the dust of Francis Wayland Mason.
Elder Adlam left this people early in 1827. He was born
in Bristol, Eng., Feb. 4, 1798; and was well acquainted
with Dr. Ryland, and knew Foster, Jay, and Robert Hall. He
studied with Dr. Wayland, then pastor of the First Baptist
Church, Boston, and, some years after his pastorate in Canton, completed a theological education at Newton. He still
lives, and preaches in Newport, R.I.
After his departure, dismissions, deaths, and discipline
again reduced the members of the church; and, by August
of this year, there were but forty-eight upon the roll. Previous to this date, however, they had secured a pulpit supply
in the person of Brother MOSES CURTIS,- a young man from
Providence, of modest manners and evident piety. As early
as April, a letter was sent to Elder Stephen Gano to inquire
"respecting his moral and religious character; " and the strong
recommendation of this good man, seconded by their own
knowledge of his worth,t determined the church! to ordain
Wim. They made arrangements to do so on the 29th of August.
Meantime they fixed the salary of Brother Curtis at three
hundred and fifty dollars, moved his furniture to Canton, and
* Letters from F. Mason to Miss Nabby Gill, Oct. 22, 1830; Nov. 3, 1830; Nov. 2,
1831.
t Being a native of East Stoughton, and acquainted with all the Baptists of Canton from his boyhood, Mr. Curtis had given the church ample opportunity to know
him, and form a correct estimate of his character.




40             CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.        [1827-8.
Church Fund.                          Third Revival.
received him and his wife into church-fellowship. At the
time of his ordination, he had supplied the church nearly four
months. At the ordaining-services, on the 29th of August,
Rev. James D. Knowles preached the sermon, and Elder
Elisha Williams offered the ordaining prayer; the charge to
the candidate was given by Elder Gano, his former pastor;
Rev. Oren Tracy proffered the hand of fellowship; and Elder
Benjamin Putnam, of North Randolph, gave the charge to the.
people.(51) No more interesting services had been witnessed
in the new meeting-house since it was opened for worship.
Brother Curtis commenced his pastorate, with a flock few in
number, and feeble in means; but they were united in him,
and the faith of both minister and people made them strong
together.
A project, which had for a good while occupied the minds
of the church, for raising a permanent fund of two thousand
dollars to aid in the support of preaching among them, assumed this year the form of a church-vote. Assurances of
help had been received by the members from friends abroad,
which justified them in believing that they could now raise
this sum if they chose to make the effort; and accordingly,
on the 14th of September, 1827, Jason Houghton, Ezra Tilden, Friend Crane, Nathan Tucker, Samuel Tucker, Francis
Mason, and Clifford Belcher, were chosen a committee to solicit subscriptions. By July of the next year, the two thousand dollars was raised; and the church loaned it to the
Second Baptist (or Baldwin Place) Church, Boston, then
under the pastoral charge of Dr. Knowles. Their yearly
interest from this loan, added to their other income for the
support of the ministry, made out the voted salary of three
hundred and fifty dollars. In the burning of Deacon Tilden's
house some time afterwards, the note for this deposit was
destroyed; but the church procured its renewal.(6)
The labors of Brother Curtis were soon blessed; and, during the year 1828, he had the happiness of baptizing six converts. In the following year, thirteen received the sacred seal
at his hands; and in every thing the Lord seemed to bear wit







'',j".i "'/ "  
I                          I    il.''
Alii'
-:v.
I   ~~s




1814.]           CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 41
Inadequate Salary.            Close of Mr. Curtis's Pastorate.
ness to the fidelity of his ministry. A very interesting Bibleclass of thirty members, besides forty younger learners of
the word of God, assembled every Sunday in the Sabbath
school; and the letter to the Association, for 1829, reported
the church "awaking under the influences of the Holy
Spirit." The church is also credited seventy-seven dollars
this year for benevolent objects.*
But, with all this, Brother Curtis did not receive sufficient
salary to support him. There was no wealth in the church;
and, with all their willingness, the people probably went to the
extent of their ability when they raised two hundred dollars
outside of their fund. Besides, in the latter part of his ministry, the stoppage of the Stone Factory, taking away, as it did,
nearly five hundred from the population of the town,t diminished Brother Curtis's congregation, and rendered the burden
heavier upon those who remained to maintain him. Under
date of April 27, 1829, there is this vote: "That the salary
of Brother Curtis be three hundred and fifty dollars; and
that he have the liberty of being absent a sufficient length of
time to obtain fifty dollars, in addition to the above salary, by
laboring elsewhere. (58):
But the spring of 1830 opened, and the days of his pastorate in Canton drew to a close. His last handwriting in the
book of records is dated April; and in June he and his wife
are written as members of the church in Medfield.  MOSES
CURTIS was born in East Stoughton, Mass., July 2, 1795, and
converted to Christ at the age of seventeen. He studied
Latin and Greek in a grammar-school, in Providence, and
afterwards with Rev. Charles Train, of Framingham; and was
licensed to preach by the First Baptist Church in Providence.
He now resides in Belchertown.~
The membership of the Canton Church was now sixty-four.
* Baptist Magazine, xiii. 216, 392.
t In 1837, there were two hundred and fifty operatives, half male and half female,
in Canton Woollen Mills.- Hist. Coll. Mass.
t He preached in Sharon, and got the fifty dollars.
~ He visited this place, and preached, Oct. 16, 1864.
7




42              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.            [1830.
Br'n Johnson and Hodges.  State of the Church.  Supplies.
Of this number, two young men, Charles Johnson, and Joseph
Hodges, jun., were looking forward to the ministry; and, in
December of this year, the church licensed the former to
preach the gospel. (70) Brother Johnson was a son of Mr.
Lewis Johnson, of Stoughton, who lately died at the advanced
age of ninety-six. He received a theological education at
Newton, and settled about the year 1835 in Maine, where he
died. Brother Hodges, now also deceased, was licensed by
this church in April, 1831. (73) He was also educated at Newton. He resided with his father at the Stone Factory, in this
village, until 1835, when he removed to Roxbury. As pastor
at Newton Upper Falls, at East Brookfield, and Three Rivers,
and, later, as Agent of the American and Foreign Bible Society,
he was long familiar by name to the Christian public, and useful in the vineyard of the Lord.
After the dismissal of Pastor Curtis, the reader of the
church-records enters upon another unsettled period, abounding in reports of special discipline, and confused with a multiplicity of clerical names; showing that the church, whatever may be said of the wisdom of its course, was at least
not inactive, and that the means of grace were not neglected.
The movement of the church at this time (68) to unite with
Sharon in procuring a half-way ministry, after the old plan,
does not give satisfactory evidence of progress; and indeed
the church-letter for the year 1830 reports the state of religion "low." It appears certain, nevertheless, that the missionary spirit of the people, and their disposition td give to
benevolent objects, was this year, and for a considerable time
before and after, in advance of any thing exhibited here during all the earlier or later history of the church. There were
then special reasons for this which cannot always exist; but
it is due that the fact should be recorded.
Shortly after the embarkation of Mason, in May, Dr. Bolles,
Secretary of the Missionary Union, came and preached here
once or twice; and Elder Seth Ewer, now of Norton, supplied
the pulpit a while in the summer of this year. It was at about
this period, too, that young William Hague, now Dr. Hague,




1830.]           CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                  43
Contributions to Newton, &c.            Records Revised.
of Boston, visited the place as a student minister from Newton, and preached among the people with a power that gave
promise of his future fame. Occasionally, also, the voices of
the young brethren, Johnson and Hodges, prophets not without honor even in their own country, were heard in exhortation both in pulpit and in private house.
Newton Theological Institution was at that time regarded
with much interest and affection by the church, as was natural
to them, having two licentiates studying there. There is an
acknowledgment for Nov. 23, 1831, of " seven bed-quilts and
comforters, two pairs of sheets, and one pair of pillow-cases,"
from Canton.* The institution was then in its infancy,t and
supported to a large extent in this manner by the contributions of the churches. Mention has already been made of the
charities of this church in 1829. Of these, twenty-four dollars
were given to the Baptist Education Society to prepare young
men for the ministry. It was a time of general solicitude on
this subject;: and it should be a cause of gratitude to us that
our predecessors here were participants, to some extent, in
the pious movement that has wrought so much good. The
old Education Society, co-eval with our church, was the mother
of the Baptist institutions of learning in Waterville, Hamilton,
Newton, and Rochester. ~
In December, 1830, one formerly excluded member was restored; and, in the spring of 1831, the church began to receive
additions by baptism. The records had now become so deranged through the successive changes of years, that it was
found necessary to revise them. According to their showing,
the number of members was sixty; whereas the minutes of
the Association gave seventy, very naturally provoking the
wonder where they got their annual returns. 11 At a meeting
* Baptist Magazine, vol. xvi. 223.
t Incorporated February, 1826.
t Baptist Magazine, xv. 46.
~ Watchman and Reflector, Nov. 10, 1864.
11 Probably the habit of taking the minutes of the preceding year as a basis, and
reckoning the desired additions or subtractions upon these, served to increase the error
as it ran on through successive seasons.




44             CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.         [1831.
Meeting-house rented to the Town.  Church Library.
in March of this year, held at Bro. Clifford Belcher's, a
committee appointed to correct the list reported that the actual number then in the communion was but fifty-nine; and the
roll was amended accordingly. At the same time, we find
Bro. Nathan Tucker authorized to let the meeting-house
to the town, to hold town-meetings in.('")
A church-library had been formed some time previous to
this; and, at about this date, we find Bro. Lemuel Tilden
chosen librarian. Libraries in all the churches, " for the use of
the minister and members," had been strongly recommended
by the Association as early as 1823, and the recommendation
was printed in the minutes for this and the three following
years. It was urged in their favor, that they might prevent
many a penniless pastor from falling into contempt for lack of
general knowledge, and save the youth " from the ill effects
of reading novels and romances." The books of the Canton
Church-library were kept at the meeting-house in a bookcase, and members of the church and congregation who
wished to read them applied on Sunday for such as they liked.
Bro. Henry Fisher was the next librarian, and held the office six years; after which, Sister Louisa Tucker had charge
of the books for a short time.  The library continued to
receive additions until about 1840, when it became the prop.
erty of the Sunday School.  The following volumes, still
preserved, are specimens of the old collection,Robinson's History of Baptism; 8vo.
Josephus's Works; 8vo.
Hist. of the Danish Mission to Coromandel, by Baron
Stow; 12mo.
Means of a Revival, by J. Howard Hinton; 12mo.
The Telescope, by Samuel C. Nott; 12mo.
Life of John Newton, by W. B. Tappan; 12mo.
Life of Isabella Graham, by Divie Bethune; 12mo.
Memoir of Levi Parsons, by Chauncy Goodrich; 12mo.
Scougal's Works, published by Thurston, Boston; 12mo.
Davies's Sermons, published by Lincoln and Edmonds; 12mo.




1831.]           CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 45
Fourth Revival.     John Clealand.      Elder Peak.
On Friday, the 29th of April, 1831, a series of religious
meetings was commenced in the meeting-house, first daily,
then tri-weekly and semi-weekly; and an interest was awakened
in the community, which continued for several months, and
was productive of lasting good. Thirty-two were welcomed
to the fellowship of the church, by baptism, between March
and December. The preachers were many and various during
that revival.  We hear of Elders Peak and Clealand and
Chase,* and Daniel Merrill and Caleb Green,t and Thomas
and Joseph Driver,S and James Coley and Hiram Gear. Of
these, as among the apostles of Jesus, one proved a wolf in
sheep's clothing. John Clealand was a man of remarkable
gifts. His commanding presence and popular address. and his
rare talent in revival-singing, drew multitudes to the meetings
when he preached, and captivated not a few into his confidence. Friends of the church from abroad, who knew his
corrupt character, exposed him as soon as they learned of his
stay here; and he was ignominiously sent away, after having
deceived the people for nearly five months. He baptized
six converts. On the very day of his apprehension for immorality and false pretences, he preached from Luke v. 26,
"We have seen strange things to-day," — a text considered
quite significant by both the friends and the enemies of
religion.
Elder John Peak was a member of Baldwin-place Church,
Boston, and often served as a home missionary.~ He was
born in Walpole, N.H., II Sept. 26, 1761, and learned the tailor's
trade. On the 18th of June, 1788, he was ordained at Windsor, Vt.; and subsequently preached much in Eastern New
Hampshire and Massachusetts. He was best known as pastor
of the church in Newburyport, where he labored from 1805 to
* Rev. Johnson Chase, of Boston.
t Rev. Caleb Green was minister at Sharon at that time.
j Of these two preachers, Elder Thomas Driver was oftenest and longest here, though
the name of Elder Joseph only appears in the records.
~ Baptist Magazine, vols. xii.-xix.
II His parents were Congregationalists, and came from Woodstock and Ashford, Conn.




46                 CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.              [1831-2.
Elder Merrill.    Change of Deacons.    J. M. Coley.    Hiram Gear.
1818.*  He lived to be an old man, and very lame, and was
long known as " Father Peak."
Elder Daniel Merrill was settled as a Congregational minister in Sedgwick, Me., towards the close of the last century.
He became a Baptist in 1804, and was baptized in the following year by Dr. Baldwin; a majority of his church at the same
time following his example.t
The office of junior deacon having been vacant for more
than a year by the resignation of Bro. Ezra Tilden, a church
fast was  appointed  for  the  third  Thursday  in  May, in
view of the necessity of a new election. The meeting was
held, and the lot fell upon Friend Crane.
For some time after the departure of Elder Clealand (in
June), the Baptists realized little but sorrow and discouragement. The scandal caused by his treachery to truth and duty
was deeply felt by them; but they soon rallied, and the work
of the Lord, under the conduct of faithful helpers, went
prosperously  on.   The  associational  letter  for the  year
reports the  church  "in  a  peaceful and  pleasant state."
From  July to  September, Rev. James Madison Coley supplied the pulpit and administered the ordinances.  Some of
those who then received baptism at his hands, are this day
among the most reliable members of the church.
In October, Brother HIRAM GEAR, who had already labored
here for more than a month, was invited to preach for the
church " so long as they could be useful to each other." His
remuneration was to be "five dollars for each Lord's Day, and
board," - terms, considering the last article particularly,
which many a poor pastor would now be only too glad to
comply with. It was during his stay here that a box of considerable size and value was sent, filled with comforts, to Dr.
* Memoir of Elder J. Peak, by himself. (Boston, 1832.)
t Sixty-six candidates, in all, were baptized then, including Mr. Merrill, who was
baptized by Elder Baldwin, and Mrs. Merrill, who was baptized by Elder Williams.
The whole ceremony occupied but forty-two minutes. —Christian Watchman, Feb. 14,
1845. At this rate (allowing each administrator three minutes to a candidate), the
twelve apostles and the " other seventy" would have been about an hour and threequarters baptizing the " three thousand." —Maine Baptists, pp. 263-6.




1832.]           CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                47
Box to Mason.    H. Gear.      Continuation of Revival.
Mason, the missionary. It was made up mostly by the ladies
of the church and society, and contained,- besides valuable
clothing for himself, his wife and children, - books, dried
apples, arrowroot, soap, and useful medicines, amounting, in
all, to over thirty dollars. The box was sent early in the
spring of 1832.*
Brother Gear remained with the church a little more than
a year; at the close of which time, though earnestly requested
to remain, he went elsewhere, to enter upon the work of an
evangelist. To this service he was ordained here, at his desire,
on the 11th of April, 1832; a council of ministers and delegates from Boston, Newton, Abington, Randolph, Sharon, Medfield, and Stoughton, having examined and approved him.
HIRAM GEAR was born in Middletown, Conn., May 6, 1804.
Converted in 1825, he joined the Baptist church in his native
place, and soon after received a license there, and pursued a
course of preparatory study. He entered the Theological
School at Newton in the fall of 1828, where he continued till
his call to Canton. His labors, after leaving this place, were
in Ohio, in the service of the Baptist Home Missionary Society; and he continued to be thus employed till his death, in
the prime of his days, at Marietta, Feb. 20, 1843. He was an
indefatigable worker, and a preacher of considerable power.
In person he was tall and slender, his complexion dark, with
eyes remarkably full and expressive, and an energetic manner that won attention, and carried conviction to the heart.
No portrait of him is preserved.
The occasion of Brother Gear's ordination was made the
beginning of another protracted meeting, which was attended,
like the last, with a visitation of the Spirit of grace. Ten
* Baptist Magazine, vol. xvi. p. 96. In the same place, record is made also of a
female donation from Canton, of " old gold," - a sort of contribution then much in
fashion.




48               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.            [1833.
New Meeting-house Talked of.  Female Contribution to Burmah.
were baptized by the pastor; and when he left the place, in
December, the church numbered ninety-five. In the same
month, a committee was authorized to request the Rev. James
M. Coley to preach here for " the ensuing winter." Brother
Coley remained with the church till March, and devoted himself faithfully to its interests.
By this time the meeting-house had become too strait to hold
the congregation; and, during his stay, Brother Coley, with two
others, was charged with the circulation of the first subscription-paper, the object being "to. enlarge the old meeting-house,
or build a new one." (56) But little was accomplished, however,
in raising money, at this early day; and no alterations were
attempted in the old meeting-house, the church being generally dissatisfied with the location, and deeming it better to
build anew so soon as the'proper time for it should come. A
beginning only was made; and they who labored at that time
for the present house contented themselves to wait, or, like
David to Solomon, transmitted their gatherings to their successors.  This winter, Brother Coley baptized five.  The
church-letter testifies that more additions were received in
1832 than in any previous year, but at the same time states
that the church was " not so lively as was desirable."  A disposition to do something for the cause of Christ abroad was
apparent, however, chiefly among the sisters. It was probably
during this winter or the following spring that a few of them
pledged themselves to make up the sum of twenty-five dollars
a year to pay for educating a Burman girl under the name
of Lucinda Gill. This contribution was continued several
years.*  It appears that at the time the first remittance arrived in Burmah (July, 1834) no Burman girl could be obtained
to stay at the mission longer than six months.  The first
comer, after the arrival of the first instalment of the money,
was named Lucinda Gill, and taught to read; and the remainder of the money probably went to the teaching of others to
read.t
* Baptist Magazine, vol. xvii. 168.
t Letter of Mrs. H. M. Mason'to Nabby Gill, July 14, 1834.




1833.]           CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 49
D. Pease.   M. Carpenter.   H. Marchant.   Shortness of Pastorates.
In 1833, Rev. David Pease*  preached here during the
months of February and March (perhaps longer,(86"88)); and
measures were taken to secure his services as pastor. He
declined a settlement, however; and in July the church had
their attention called to a young brother named Carpenter,t
who was studying  for the  ministry, at Newton.  Brn.
Charles Johnson and Joseph Hodges, jun., then also students
at the same seminary, were appointed a committee to request
Bro. Carpenter to  visit Canton  (by leave of Professor
Knowles), and supply the pulpit. Bro. Carpenter preached
here two Sabbaths; but nothing permanent resulted in the
way of a settlement, the young licentiate being distrustful of
his own abilities: and, in the following month, Bro. Henry
Marchant was sent for, to preach, " with the idea of becoming
our pastor." Bro. Marchant's ministrations were generally
acceptable; but, for some reason, he was not retained.
The church reported itself to the Association of 1833, " at
peace, and, on the whole, prosperous;" but there does not
seem to have been a condition of things favorable to a stated
ministry. Tradition reports, and the historian's judgment can
infer, some of the secrets of that chronic misfortune of this
church, its transitory pastorates. A too great partiality for
special measures seems to have characterized it from the first.
This feeling, fostered long, and encouraged by gratification
from time to time, created, of course, an undue esteem for
preachers whose gifts could produce an immediate revival; and
the constant demand for and the transient and varying labors
of such men unfitted the people to appreciate any other.
Habituated to frequent changes,'they saw little calamity in a
pastoral separation, and took little care to prevent it. The
hastily expressed opinion of a single member has repeatedly
been sufficient to send a good man away: and, in consequence,
the fleeting and rapidly successive pastorates which this
church has witnessed since its record began appear like little
* Since of Sunderland.
t Since Rev. Mark Carpenter, of Brattleboro,' Vt., and father of the missionary,
Rev. C. H. Carpenter, Professor in the Seminary at Rangoon.
7




50               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.            [1833-4.
Shortness of Pastorates.  C. A. Thomas.      Marchant.
" clouds without water," that chase one another year after
year over the field, until the aggregated number of all the
preachers who have brought the word of life to this people
would surpass some of their own Sunday congregations *
Surely no ecclesiastical body could expect to reap the full
benefit or realize the objects of its incorporation, or gain
proper depth of root as a growth of influential good in the
community, so long as it would content itself with such a locomotive ministry. It is to be hoped that the sad lessons of
later years have taught this church a more steady reliance
upon the stated means of grace, and to regard a relationship
of pastor and people that shall be permanent, when once divinely sanctioned, as one surety of a solid prosperity. May
we continue to learn!  May we learn well, and build together,
long and strong and deep, like the architects of old Jerusalem, "with three rows of great stones and a row of new timber "!
Failing to secure an ordained minister, the church again
resorted to the seminary for a supply; and, in August or
September, Bro. Cornelius A. Thomas t was sent. (9) He
pleased the people well. Part of his autumn vacation was
spent here; and, in company with his friend Hodges, he represented the church at the Association; but he was unable to
supply it while pursuing his studies, and Elder Marchant was
again invited to tarry a while here. He staid until the 1st of
April, 1834, receiving seven dollars a week for his labors;
and after him came again the young student Thomas, who
staid over one or two Sabbaths, making up in both visits a
stay of six weeks with the church.
An interval of a year or more followed, during which little or
no effort seems to have been made to obtain a pastor; and the
church was supplied with preaching from Newton and elsewhere. As if in anticipation of this, they had voted that "in future " the remuneration for pulpit-services should be five dollars
* It is remarkable that this church has had, during its fifty years, the same number of pastors as the First Baptist Church in Boston, now two hundred years old.
t Now Dr. Thomas, of Brandon, Vt.,-" A very able, substantial, and revered minister of the gospel." - Dr. Ripley.




1834-5.]       CANTON BAPTIST MEMORTIAL.                61
J. B. Hague.    Diminution.    New Meeting-house Begun.
a Sabbath. In this interval, a younger brother of Dr. Hague,
John B. Hague, a name not unfamiliar among the devotional
poets of the Psalmist Hymn-book,* spent some time here
during the long vacation at the Newton seminary, and prepared the letter and represented the church as delegate to
the Association, in September, 1834. The people liked his
preaching; and many to this day mention with pleasure his
stay here, and tell of his social, musical, and pulpit gifts.
After him, in the folloxwing spring, Bro. Darius Dunbar,t
also a student at Newton, supplied here for a time, and was a
member of the church until the 29th of April. (93)
Meanwhile the church-roll kept steadily diminishing, chiefly,
however, by dismissions; until from ninety.eight (or, according to the Minutes, one hundred and three), in 1833, the list
fell, by September, 1835, to seventy-five. During this year,
two died, and four were excluded; and the church-letter re-'ported " some trials and discouragements."
On the 28th of September, the subject of a new meetinghouse was again brought before the church, and this time with
a full purpose to build immediately. A committee was appointed to buy ground " at the village in the south-west part
of the town;" and a vote was passed to sell the old meetinghouse to the best advantage, and appropriate the proceeds to
the new building.:  The re-action of "trials and discouragements " is oftentimes the activity that saves a church. Here
a step so important as the erection of a new house of worship was ventured upon in a time of weakness; but God
helped the people.
A piece of land was bought of Mr. Gerry Tucker, in the
south village, opposite the Armory Hall, at a cost of two hundred and thirty dollars; and there, in due time, the cornerstone of the present meeting-house was laid. Bro. James
F. Wilcox, then a recent graduate of Newton Theological
* See Hymn 454, " Hark, sinner, while God from on high," &c.
i Now of Titicut.
j The meeting at which this action was taken was opened with prayer by Father
William Bentley, of Hartford, Conn.




52               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.          [1835-6.
Ladies' Benev. Soc.    A. Merriam Settled.  New Meeting-house.
Seminary,* was spending the autumn here, (7) and entered
into the enterprise with his whole soul. Besides supplying
the pulpit, he aided the church by advising with them and
raising money for them. They called him to the pastorate;(9
and, though he ultimately declined settling here, he remained
with the people long enough to forward their new work
through a good beginning, and to see it prospering in their
hands.
During the same season (Nov. 21, 1835), the Ladies'
Benevolent Society connected with this church was organized, and began to render systematic aid in the charities of
the church, and in the general support of the means of grace.
Like the church itself, it has had a varying history; but, as an
auxiliary society, it has been an undoubted blessing to the
cause. Only two of its first officers are still with us.
Rev. ASAPH MERRIAM was settled here in the ministry in
September of the year 1836, when the new meeting-house was
still in progress. The old house ceased to be the property of
the parish in the following January, being deeded to the town
at about that date for six hundred and fifty dollars; t but he
officiated there until the completion of the present house in
June.
The church now rejoiced in a more commodious place of
worship. The building stood as it now stands, (see frontispiece) fifty-six feet long by forty-one feet wide (exclusive of
the present pulpit projection); being made, by the advice of
Bro. Wilcox, a foot longer and a foot narrower than the original
plan. The external appearance has not changed, with the exception of an enlargement at the north end to make the recess
for the present pulpit; but the internal arrangements, as they
were left by the finishers twenty-seven years ago, have entirely
disappeared. Then the pews were high, upright enclosures,
with a raised floor, considerably above the level of the aisles;
the gallery, then two feet higher than now, had a straight front
* Laboring since 1861, for the Home-Mission Society, at Northfield, Minn.
t See Town Records, 1836-7; Church Records, p. 101.




1837.]           CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 53
Meeting-house.    Dedication.    Bell.   State of the Congregation.
from wall to wall; a large stove stood midway between the
doors; and directly opposite, at the other end, just over the
spot where /the communion-table now stands, the pulpit, with
its two swing-doors and winding staircases with banisters,
rose against the north wall, then flush from east to west, and
reached, with its top wood-work, nearly as high as the present side-lights. The cost of the building was about three
thousand three hundred dollars.
The services of the dedication took place on the 13th of
June, 1837; a crowded congregation being in attendance.
Rev. Baron Stow, now Dr. Stow, of Chauncey-street Church,
Boston, preached the sermon, from Heb. xi. 16: "But now
they desire a better country; that is, a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he.hath
prepared for them a city." Pastor Merriam offered the dedicatory prayer; the choir furnished appropriate music; and the
concluding prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Sawyer, of Randolph. (104)
Shortly after, a courteous application was made to Mr. Benjamin Bussey, of Roxbury, for a bell.  He had been formerly
a resident of Canton, and, being wealthy, was in the habit of
presenting church-bells to religious societies of his acquaintance that had just completed houses of worship. On this
occasion, however, the committee which waited on him did
not find him sufficiently indifferent to denominational distinctions to make his customary donation. Baptists did not come
under the conditions of his generosity. The bell, therefore,
was purchased of the Revere Copper Company, at a cost of a
little more. than-ltwo hundred and fifty dollars, and hung in
1839. Harrison Carroll was the first sexton.
The prospects of the church, at this time, were outwardly
encouraging. Mr. Merriam's preaching was thronged from
Sabbath to Sabbath; and the pews sold for nearly if not quite
a sufficient sum to support him comfortably, and defray the
current expenses of the year: * but the internal life of the
- It should be mentioned that the Congregationalist society was accustomed to
worship with this church after the building of the present meeting-house, they having




54               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.            [1838-9.
State of the Church.   Resignation of Mr. Merriam: His Birth, Education, &c.
church was far from what could have been wished. This fact
was felt and acknowledged, and the yearly letter for 1838
makes regretful mention of spiritual apathy and coldness. A
committee had been chosen in May, previous to the dedication of the meeting-house, "to visit every member of the
church,"1103) and hold personal conversation with all concerning
their spiritual state, entreating the delinquent and warning the
refractory. Many sad cases of discipline were forced upon
Bro. Merriam, and several were excluded during his stay.
It sorely pained him, one of the most tender-hearted of men,
to exclude a member from the church; and it is common to
find at the close of the notices of such action in the records
(which were then kept by himself) an observation like this:
"The health and even life of the body sometimes requires
the cutting off of a diseased limb.... May God convince
the delinquents of their error, and bring them back to the
fold of the Saviour! "
At the close of the associational year, September, 1839,
the church numbered but sixty-two. Mr. Merriam resigned
its charge, and removed to Athol. In the language of one
who has gone over this record of years before me, " In our
new house, we were not satisfied with our old minister." X I
am not to decide here whether that dissatisfaction was fortunate. Events that followed were, and will continue to be, differently accounted for; and even the wise would differ as to
what they proved.
Asaph Merriam was born in Gardner, Mass., March 20, 1792.
He made a profession of religion in 1817, and was licensed to
preach in 1824. His education for the ministry was chiefly
acquired at the academy in New Ipswich, N.H., and under
private instructors. He received ordination in the fall of
1825, at the meeting of the Wendell (now Miller's River)
Association, in Royalston, Mass., as pastor jointly of the Bapat that day no stated services in their own house; also that there was then no Universalist society: so that the Baptist meeting was substantially the only one in the
village.
* Hist. Canton Bap. Church, published in Min. Boston So. Assoc. 1850.




r   -!;-ii7~rIv               ~
11~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I
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1839.]           CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 55
Elder Miller invited to lecture on Second Advent.  Chas. O. Kimball.
tist churches of Royalston and Warwick.  He has since spent
forty years in ministerial labor, and now resides in South
Lyndeboro', N.H., an old man waiting for the summons of his
Master.*
In May, previous to the resignation of Bro. Merriam, the
church had invited Elder William  Miller, the afterwards renowned herald of the Second Advent, then a humble Baptist
preacher, to lecture in this place on the prophecies. The
people seemed to crave some stimulating doctrine; and, hearing of his meetings in Randolph and Stoughton, they requested
the pastor to invite him by letter to preach in this meetinghouse. He consented; but it was not till several months afterwards that he came.
The same meeting that voted to dismiss Brother Merriam
voted also to extend a call to the Rev. CHARLES 0. KIMBALL, of
Methuen, to come and settle in his room. He accepted the
call, and shortly after moved here, and began to preach. The
people soon became attached to him; for he was energetic,
gifted, and pleasing, and his prospects of usefulness in this
field were fair. But alas for the frailty of all human confidences! After preaching a little more than six weeks, the
new pastor was, to the great surprise and grief of the church,
convicted of conduct unworthy of his office, and deposed by
council.(l03)t
Charles Otis Kimball was twenty-three years in the ministry.  He was born in Bradford, Mass., Sept. 25, 1791,
and baptized in Haverhill, of this State, by Rev. William
Batchelder, April 4, 1813, with whom, after an academical
course in his native town, he studied for the ministry.  He
received his license of the First Baptist Church, in Haverhill,
Aug. 19, 1814.t Two years afterwards (May 8, 1816), he was
ordained in Methuen, where he labored long with great favor
and usefulness. After the misfortune which cut him off from
the ministry, he made his home in Canton, with his family,
* Preached in Canton, Oct. 30, 1864, and spent five days.
t Held in Boston, Nov. 20, 1839.
t Two months after the constitution of this church, the last one he ever served.




56              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.        [1839-40.
C. O. Kimball.    Elder Miller's Visit.  Henry Clark Called.
until the spring of 1843; enjoying for the latter portion of
that time, by recommendation from Charlestown, the fellowship
of this church. The Canton Sabbath-school Teachers' Association, formed here April 8, 1841, owed its organization to
his zeal and Christian enterprise. He died in hope, July 24,
1854, at West Charleston, Vt. No picture of him remains.
He was a man of medium stature, strongly built, with a countenance made prepossessing by sparkling dark eyes and great
vivacity of expression. In the pulpit his utterance was rapid,
and his manner there and elsewhere interesting and earnest.
While the people were chafing under the frustration of their
hopes in their late pastor, the contemplated visit of Elder
Miller was made; and indeed it seemed to be providentially
ordered, on purpose to divert their minds from their sudden
affliction.  Coming thus fortunately, his discourses, so far
from producing here the mischiefs attendant on the preaching
elsewhere of the doctrine contained in them, seem to have
left, on the whole, a salutary impression; and there are Christian hearts now with us that date one great awakening of
their spiritual life to the time when Elder Miller preached in
this house the second coming of the Saviour.
Recovering from the shock of their disappointment in the
case of Mr. Kimball, the people, in January of the following
year, gave an invitation to Rev. HENRY CLARK, of Taunton,
to assume the pastorate. He had already supplied the pulpit
some time; and, finding the minds of the congregation serious from the recent addresses of Mr. Miller, he had the more
easily affected their hearts by his presentation of truth. A
deep religious interest had been awakened; and in the spring
he removed to Canton in response to the call, the church
agreeing to pay him the (for them unusual) salary of seven
hundred dollars a year.
Pastor and people now labored together with wonderful suc



1840-1]         CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.              57
Fifth Revival.    Church Fund Invested.    Parsonage Built.
cess. Converts multiplied, both men and women, and of all
ages, from the stripling to the man of gray hairs. Every month,
from December, 1839, to August, 1840, inclusive, new accessions by baptism swelled the ranks of the church. Despondent
ones gathered hope as they looked on; and veteran Christians, who had waited by the ark of God through evil days,
thanked him that their prayers were answered.
In the language of the letter to the Association, "The work,
for stillness and order and power, was peculiarly interesting;.. in all respects, a greater work than was ever before
known in our town.' (119) The number of church-members reported for that year was one hundred and twenty-three; the
Minutes giving an addition of fifty-one.
On the 10th of November, 1840, the church voted to invest
their ministerial fund in real estate. The immediate cause of
this action was their desire to build a parsonage. For a long
time it had been difficult to find a dwelling-place for the minister; and, as the difficulty was growing greater, the demand
for a house of their own forced itself upon the church more
and more strongly. Money was necessary for this object; and
at last it was resolved to make use of the twosthousand-dollar
fund.
A spot of land was selected in the parish yard, on the west
side of the meeting-house, and proposals were made to purchase of Thomas Tolman, Esq., an additional quarter of an
acre on which to build a barn. On consideration, however, it
was thought best to abandon that location; and the ground for
the parsonage was staked out on the east side of the meetinghouse, where it now stands, twenty-five feet more being purchased off Ezra Tilden's land to complete the requisite dimensioris. The building-committee were instructed to proceed
with the house at once, and the parsonage was completed be.
fore the winter of 1841, at a cost of one thousand six hundred
and twenty-five dollars.(1s8990)  The remainder of the fund
(three hundred and seventy-five dollars) was loaned to the
treasurer of the church, and, along with money raised by
special subscription, was applied to paying off a mortgage of
8




58             CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.       [1841-42.
Buildings.    New Deacons Chosen.    Maximum of Membership.
eight hundred dollars, which remained on the meeting-house.
The barn, or " stable," stood in the yard a little north of the
dwelling-house, until 1848, when it was removed to make
room for the chapel.
This year also (1841), the sheds (all or some of them) were
put up at the back of the meeting-house by private individuals
under permission from the church.
Deacon Jason Houghton, after serving as first deacon of the
church for almost a quarter of a century, had resigned his
office on the 7th of April, 1839, and removed from the place.
Deacon Crane had never consented to the appointment given
him eight years befbre (p. 46) and never wrote himself deacon,
nor is he ever so called by Mr. Merriam in the records. Being
obliged to officiate much, however, as deacon, the younger
portion of the church became accustomed to address him
as "Deacon Crane;" and both Clerks Tucker and Capen
write him as such. Whether nominal or real, he had been
the only deacon for nearly two years; and the church were
called upon now to supply two officers to that station by
regular election. They met on the 9th of December, 1840,
and, after prayer and due deliberation, made choice of Ezekiel
Capen and George Lothrop.
The 22d of August, 1841, was set apart by the church as a
special fast. After this, frequent meetings were held, additions were received from time to time up to the forepart of
the following summer, until, at the closing-up of Bro. Clark's
ministry here, the number of members in this fellowship
had reached its maximum, - one hundred and forty-four.
During his pastorate, Brother Clark baptized sixty-two. His
resignation was accepted by the church on the 19th of June,
1842; a strong effort having been previously made to retain
him.
Henry Clark was born in Canterbury, Conn., Nov. 12, 1810.
He was converted to God in the autumn of 1829, licensed to
preach in 1832, and pursued his preparatory studies in Madison University. In June, 1834, he was ordained over the
Baptist Church in Seekonk, where he continued to labor, with




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1842.]             CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                       59
Church's Decline.                      How accounted for.
the exception of a little more than two years, in Taunton,
until his settlement with this church.  He resides at present
in Pittsfield, having been unable to preach for several years
in consequence of a loss of voice.*
It now  becomes the sad duty of the faithful historian  to
record a long decline. It may be said, and doubtless with
truth, that this was partly owing to re-action, and partly to
removals; but though these may account for the numerical
depletion, and some falling off of zeal, a deeper reason must
be sought for the spiritual relapse from which it took more
than eight years to recover. That the elements of decline
existed under the very prosperity of the foregoing years is
no unexampled fact. Unsafe and insufficient sources of joy
generally escape exposure till the rapture and the glow are
gone. The timie for careful discrimination was before the revival begun, when the church was being disciplined by misfortune and disappointment. Afterwards, when the warnings
and exhortations of Christians were heard in the excitement
of success, they often seemed harsh, and were too likely to be
so. The experience of centuries shows that periods of religious
power and conquest are almost always attended by excesses
in religious people; and the revival now in question was no
exception to the rule.t The consequences of these were
doubtless experienced in the season of desolation which followed.
By every law of Providence and of grace, a blessing should
have followed the system (or a similar one) of parish-visiting
begun in the pastorate of Elder Merriam, had it been patiently
pursued. A work of reformation springing up quietly in the
* Visited Canton and preached, Sept. 3, 1865.
t It is remarkable that Whitefield's preaching, and the religious movement attending it, were followed, more or less, by the sad fruits of imprudent zeal in dealing with
the ungodly. Dr. Baron Stow, speaking of the spirit of bitterness which was roused
in many quarters against that remarkable man, says, " Much of the hostility was
provoked by improprieties of both speech and action, that would at any time be offensive to those who love good order and Christian decorum." Certainly we are not to
blame the ungOdly less for rejecting the truth; but we should charge ourselves the more
to avoid needlessly exasperating them when we present it to them." - Belcher's Whitefield, p. 92.




60              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.          [1842.
History of Decline.         Opposition and Apostasy.
bosom of the church must ever be the fruit of seed sown in
prayer and preaching and social faithfulness;. and such a reformation could never have left the church dependent for its
future prosperity on mere numbers or on particular men.
There were many things to be thankful for in the great revival of 1840, and its results; and, though not seen to be such
at the time, the " dark age " that followed it was one of them.
A sounder and safer piety came out of that long trial. God
always turns to the best good of his people the misfortunes
which, but for their want of wisdom, would more seldom be.
September, 1842, came, and the Canton Church reported itself to the Association, one hundred and forty-three members,
and a Sunday school of one hundred pupils in fourteen classes,
and a large Bible class; but it was pastorless, and there is a
touch of sadness in the letter, where it says, "Last spring
we anticipated a glorious revival, but were doomed to be disappointed." Many of those who then looked for a descent
of the Holy Spirit were far away - some asleep in the churchyard-before that blessing came again to Canton.
Meanwhile, the " contradiction of sinners " exhibited itself
in the usual ways. From the beginning of the year 1840, or
near the very commencement of the revival in the Baptist
meetings, the enemies of evangelical religion wrought with
unwonted diligence against the cause. Many, offended at the
pungent preaching of Mr. Clark, left the congregation entirely.
The elements of opposition soon became organized, and assumed a sectarian character; and a new church, with a fieer
latitude of faith, was the result. The novelty of their enterprise, and the congeniality of their creed, drew many to the
meetings of these people; and it began to be evident that the
Baptists must divide their ancient congregation with others.
It soon became no less evident, that the apostasy had entered
the pale of the communion.' A few back-slidden and discontented ones, who had long shrunk from facing the humbling
truths and fearful rebukes of the New Testament, were willing to abandon a church which enforced them, and embrace




1841-45.]       CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.              61
Discipline, &c.  L. Holmes settled.  Continued Decline.
the accommodating doctrines of liberal religion.(')0 Expulsions began early in 1841; (124) and, from that time, cases of discipline multiplied. The severity shown and felt to be necessary in some of these imbittered the incipient prejudices of
many, and alienated the already wavering attachment of individuals, and even families. At the same time, removals weakened the numerical strength of the church. The burning of
the large Bolivar Factory, in 1841, threw nearly twenty of
the members out of employment, and obliged them, soon after,
to seek other homes. The remainder became disheartened.
They found their resources diminishing, and their burdens increasing; and leaning, as they had unconsciously learned to do,
upon the arm of flesh, it was with a faint and feeble animation that they continued to support the stated means of grace.
For a part of the time they were supplied with preaching
from Newton; and Rev. Joseph W. Eaton* performed the
duties of a pastor here a while in 1842 and 1843.
In June, 1843, Rev. LEWIS HOLMES accepted a call, and
labored here about two years; but neither the church funds
nor the church spirit were up to the standard of a stated ministry. The roll of membership also was lessening by dismissions at the rate of two per month; and Bro. Holmes was
obliged to remove in the spring of 1845, fobr lack of support.('42
We must suppose, that, under these circumstances of the
church, the contributions for benevolent purposes could not
be large. In fact, they fell off entirely at last, with the exception of an occasional remittance by individuals, and an annuity
from the Female Mite Society, organized in November, 1843,
which educated a Burman girl under the name of Abby Crane,
and continued till 1851 to remit seventeen dollars a year.t
Among the many who removed from the town during this
season of discouragement was Dea. George Lothrop, who
was dismissed to Newark, N.J., on the 24th of September, 1843, while Bro. Holmes was pastor. The church was
thus left again with a single deacon.  For three years,
* Now of Cambridgeport.
t Rec. Ladies' Benev. Soc., vol. i. p. 29.; Bap. Mag. 1842.




62                CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.            [1845-47.
Change of Deacons.    Tingley called.    New Chapel.
Dea. Capen served the church unassisted; * till on the 2d
of October, 1846, Bro. Willard Shepard was chosen junior
deacon, and still retains the office.
Lewis Holmes was born in Plymouth, Mass., April 12, 1813;
baptized by Rev. Thomas Conant in June, 1831; and graduated from Waterville College in 1840. He was ordained at
Edgartown, Marth. Vin., June 10, 1841. His present place
of labor is North Scituate.
In May, 1845, Rev. TIMOTHY C. TINGLEY was invited to the
pastorate here; and in the following month, with his wife and
sister, joined the church. During the period of' his ministry,
the movement to build a new chapel was agitating the minds
of the church.  Deacon Crane died March 27, 1847, and left,
among other bequests, the sum of seven hundred dollars to
build a chapel in the parish grounds " on the east side of the
meeting-house, near the north line." Difficulties arose unforeseen by the lamented donor, which complicated the matter,
and delayed the benefits of the bequest a long time; but at
length, during the year 1850, the present neat and convenient
building was erected, and has ever since been the place of
meeting for weekly lectures, and conferences of the church.
The vestry underneath the meeting-house was damp and
unwholesome; and Deacon Crane himself had, with others, experienced the ill effects of long sittings there. Besides, a
school had been kept in it for a while(1a7, 143 169) and the children had disfigured the room; and the practice of renting it
to occasional lecturers had somewhat impaired the sacredness
of the place, and left it the worse for wear and tear. The new
chapel was needed, and proved (as may it long prove!) a most
welcome gift.
It was during this period, also, that the connection of this
church with the Boston Association was dissolved. In September, 1847, it petitioned to be set off, to help form a new
* This faithful officer, like Deacon Crane and his early co-laborers, eminently
deserves the title of Friend of the Church. Since his connection here in 1839, his
person and his purse have ever been at its service. In some of its feeblest days, lihe
has supported almost alone its pulpit supplies and stated contributions, and been its
deacon, sexton, Sabbath-school superintendent, treasurer, and clerk.




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1847-48.]         CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                   63
Boston So. Assoc.   Debt Paid.   Olmsted Supply.   Crisis of Decline.
body under the name of the "' Norfolk Baptist Association;"
but, in February of the following year, the old Boston Association was divided, and Canton was embraced in the Boston
South, where it still remains.
A note of a little more than two hundred and fifty dollars
held at the bank here, and another of two hundred and thirteen dollars held by a private individual against the church,
were paid during Bro. Tingley's ministry, and the parsonage was repaired: but the pastor's salary, instead of being
increased, was diminished; * and, after a term of three years
and a half, he resigned his place. He removed from Canton
in November, 1848.(17)
Timothy Cheever Tingley was born in Cumberland, R.I.,
July 4, 1804, and studied at Brown University.  He was
licensed in North Attleboro', October, 1828; graduated from
Newton Theological Seminaryt  in 1831; and ordained at
Foxboro' on the  14th of July of the same year.  He is
now preaching at Somerset. During his pastorate here, according to the records, nineteen were dismissed, ten were
expelled, three were dropped, one died, and nine were added
by letter.
In the fall of 1848, 1 Rev. John W. Olmsted, now Dr.
Olmsted of the "' Watchman and Reflector," was secured as
a stated supply, and continued to preach here with much acceptance for more than two years (to April, 1851).
Matters had now apparently come to a crisis in the history
of the church's decline.  The church list was reduced to
seventy. With eight years of famine in the past, uncheered
by one baptismal season or one conversion, the church now
waited and prayed. For a time the importunate calls of discipline subsided, and brethren and sisters had time to wonder
and search their own hearts.
* Treasurer's Book, pp. 57, 58 (1847), with pp. 60, 61 (1848).
t He was class-mate and room-mate in the Seminary with Hiram Gear, the fifth
pastor.
I It was towards the close of the year 1848 that the addition of eleven feet was
built on to the rear of the parsonage, rendering the house much more comfortable and
convenient; and in the following spring the parsonage was newly painted.




64                   CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                       [1848.
Apparent Failure of the Means of Grace.    Trial of Faith and Patience.
What could it mean?  For twice four years, faithful preachers of Christ, men of blameless lives and pure zeal, had proclaimed the truth among them, and not the first sheaf of a
spiritual harvest had been gathered! An impostor, an alien
in the fold of God, had, nineteen years before, preached in the
same community, and stirred the people, and reaped wonderful
results in single evenings!  But, as for these good men, they
met with no response. Season after season, the ambassadors
of Christ in this pulpit had been like children sitting in the
market-place, and calling unto their fellows, " We have piped
unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you,
and ye have not lamented." Why were they not permitted to
build  up the  church??    The materials lay all around  them.
Oh for the power of the fabled magician, whose voice and
harp could charm the scattered stones into a stately tower!
But no: they must wait till God had perfected the patience
of his saints, and then his breath would wake the sleeping and
revive the slain. Never had this people been so thoroughly
convinced of the total inefficiency of human power; never
had seen so clearly the utter foolishness of preaching, and
the sovereignty of Him who can let his enemies prosper,
and the suffering cause of his own chosen pass over unheard
till the great day.
They were humbled, and the way was prepared for the
coming of the Comforter.
Before Bro. Olmnsted closed his labors here, the condition of the church was, upon the whole, improving. More in* A tradition prevailed among the older members of the church (p. 4), that, when
Whitefield was refused the liberty of preaching here in 1740, he prophesied that there
would be no visitation of the Holy Ghost to the place till that generation passed away.
This saying has been echoed by recent ministers, as if it purported aperpetual curse of
spiritual barrenness; an error which is soon corrected by reflection, and contradicted by
subsequent facts. If Whitefield ever uttered such a prediction of the town (and in the
only account which bears any resemblance to the tradition, see Belcher's Whitefield, p.
195, a village is specified which is " now a city," and could not, therefore, be Canton),
the generation which passed away in the last century fulfilled it in the church which
denied him a hearing. The Baptists certainly deserve no share in the curses of Whitefield, since, so far from rejecting his ministrations, they everywhere grew and multiplied under them, and rejoiced to rank themselves with the great body of proscribed
New Lights whom his preaching drew away from the standing order.




1851.]          CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.              65
Ford Called.    Church Slowly Recovering.  The Year of Peace..
terest in religion was manifested; and there seemed to be a
general readiness to welcome a settled pastor, and co-operate
with him in labors to advance the interests of the kingdom of
Christ.
In April, 1851, Bro. DAVID B. FORD, of Scituate, an
alumnus of the Newton Seminary, who had preached several
times in Canton, was invited to spend a week among the people.
The visit was made, and to so much mutual satisfaction, that
he staid until July, when he received and accepted a unanimous call to settle here as pastor.
Meanwhile, the church, having had the subject under consideration since early in 1849, in hope of aid and benefit from
the union, joined with itself a society. The organization took
place on the 8th of June, 1851.*
The cause of religion now began slowly to revive. One
prominent member, who had previously fallen into sceptical
views and been excluded, was, upon confession, in the same
meeting which called Bro. Ford, restored to the communion. Another excluded member was restored the following
April.('82)
Eighteen hundred and fifty-one was the world's year of
peace. The nations had forgotten for a while their feuds, and
employed the universal respite from bloodshed in assembling
industrial congresses, and forwarding the healthful enterprises
of science and religion. Many a faltering good cause found
its opportunity in that silent jubilee, when the dial-hands of
the nineteenth century, still pointing to noon, seemed to wait
for God's people to invoke a future of better things; and peradventure this little church partook the general benediction
of the year, and began from thence the ascending way to a
surer prosperity. Such a hope now dwelt, though feebly, in
the bosoms of the members; and an outline of the church's
history, published in the Minutes for 1850, closes with some
words of encouragement.  The church and pastor labored
* After this date, many matters of interest, formerly recorded in the church-book,
will be found in the society-records.
9




66                CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.            [1851-3.
Sixth Revival.  Ordination of Mr. Ford.  Open Communion.
together harmoniously, and ere long their hearts were cheered
by the conversion of souls.
Bro. Ford was ordained here on the 25th of September,
1851; Rev. Isaac Smith, now of Foxboro', preaching the
sermon; and Rev. George W. Sampson, now  Dr. Sampson, of
Washington, presenting the right hand of fellowship. Rev.
Jeremiah Chaplin, since of Newton, gave the charge to the candidate; and Rev. Silas Ripley offered the ordaining prayer.
Other parts in the service were borne by Revs. Thomas Driver,
J. W. Olmsted, Alfred Colburn, and George Tucker.  Sharon,
Foxboro', West and East Dedham, Jamaica Plain, Randolph,
and East Stoughton, supplied the ordaining council.
In March, 1852, the minds of so large a number in the
church became exercised in favor of open communion, that
the following resolution was drafted and presented: —
" Regarding a compliance of our Saviour's command, to' believe and be
baptized,' requisite for admission to his table, we see no just reason why all
such persons as have a good standing in any evangelical church, in obedience to such requisition of our Lord, should not be admitted to his table, to
celebrate with us the gospel ordinance of the Lord's Supper. Therefore
Resolved, That this church, hereafter, give the following invitation at
their communion service:'All baptized believers in good standing in any evangelical church are invited to a seat with us at the Lord's table."' (81)
This resolution was adopted "unanimously;" 7(1s) but the
majority, finding afterwards that a minority (probably not
present at its adoption) were dissatisfied with this change,
after a kind and temperate discussion at the next monthly
meeting, consented to a reconsideration, and the matter was
left where it had been before the vote.ls3) Any future member, curious to know how well this church deserves a "liberal"
reputation, can have to think that it was avowedly an opencommunion church just twenty-eight days and twenty-eight
nights.
In the months of March and April, twelve were baptized;
and before May, 1853, eight more. Bro. Ford's pastorate
was in the main a pleasant one. though, like that of all his
predecessors, brief. His name will ever.be connected in the




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1853-5.]        CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                67
Repairs, &c.   Ford Resigned.   Russell twelfth Pastor.   Organ.
memory of the church with her sixth revival. A few cases of
discipline became necessary during his stay here, and one was
excluded as unworthy; but the church had received strength
again, and was able to hold her own. The ladies of the society
enlisted with special energy, replenished the baptismal wardrobe, and improved the interior of the meeting-house at an
expense of nearly seventy dollars.*
Failing health obliged Bro. Ford to resign towards the
close of his third year; and in November, 1853, he was dismissed from his charge.
David Barnes Ford was born in South Scituate, Nov. 10,
1820; fitted for college in Hanover Academy, in that plagce;
and graduated at Brown University in 1845. He studied
theology at Newton, and was Hebrew tutor there after his
graduation in 1848. He now resides in South Scituate, and
supplies the pulpit of the First Baptist Church in Marshfield.
Since leaving this place, he has published several articles in
the "Biblotheca Sacra," "Christian Review," and "Boston
Review,"  and translated, jointly  with  Professor Hovey,
Perthe's "Life and Times of John Chrysostom."
Rev. PHILEMON R. RUSSELL was the next pastor. He was
settled here in April, 1854; having previpusly supplied the
pulpit for several weeks. He found the church numbering
ninety-six members, and labored among them three years,
going much from house to house, and exhorting them to fidelity
and good works.
It was during his pastorate that the society procured the
organ which now stands in the choir.t This was purchased
in the spring of 1855, chiefly through the enterprise of the
ladies, who persuaded the society to obtain it, and raised the
necessary funds by subscription. Mr. E. L. Holbrook, of East
Medway, was the builder.
Philemon Robbins Russell was born in Bath, Me., March
10, 1807; waslhopefully converted in 1826, and, after prepar* Rec. Ladies' Benevolent Soc., vol. ii. pp. 7, 10.
t In that time, also, the fence was built in front of the meeting-house (1855).




68              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.        [1858-61.
G. W. Hervey settled.       His Birth, Education, &c.
ing for the ministry under private tuition in his native town,
he was ordained in Winchester, N.H., in 1831. According to
the records, he received five into the church by baptism during his ministry in Canton. He now resides in Lynn.*
After remaining destitute of a pastor about six months, during which time Bro. George Howell t preached here several times as a candidate, the church called and settled Rev.
GEORGE W. HERVEY. He supplied them ably with the ministry of the word, from early in January, 1858, to the 1st of
July, 1861, baptizing in that time sixteen. While he preached
here, the church sent out one young minister, Rev. Oliver P.
Fuller, now of Centreville, R.I. He was not licensed here,
having been connected with another church during his studies
in Middleboro' and Providence; but his home was here,
and the brethren and sisters here from time to time gave him
aid and encouragement. The 11th of February, 1859, was
made the pleasant occasion of a presentation to this young
brother of a purse of sixty dollars by Mr. Hervey, on behalf
of the church and society, and of a handsome watch by the
ladies.:  It was also during Bro. Hervey's pastorate that
the church purchased its new communion-service.
George Winifred Hervey was born in South Durham,
N.Y., Nov. 28, 1821. Converted while studying law, he
turned his attention to the ministry, and was licensed to
preach in 1842. He began his collegiate studies at Madison
University, and was graduated from Columbia College, Washington, in 1847, subsequently receiving the master's degree
from the University of Rochester. He was ordained in April,
1850, by the Amity-street Baptist Church, in New York City,
and settled successively at Upper Middletown, Conn., and
Hudson, N.Y., prior to his pastorate in Canton. He spent the
year 1856 in European study and travel. He is the author
of two works on practical ethics, the one entitled "The Principles of Courtesy," and the other, " The Rhetoric of Conversation," published by Messrs. Harper & Bros.  The latter
* Visited Canton and preached, March 26, 1865.
t Since become an Episcbpalian, and now preaching in Waltham.
t Rec. Ladies' Benevolent Soc., vol. ii. p. 43.




76_. 












d




1861-2.]        CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.              69
A. F. Mason supply.    Church Remodelled.    Dexter supply.
work has been republished in London. He has also published
a sermon preached by him in this place, Jan. 4, 1861, entitled
"Liberty a Cloak of Maliciousness," and several articles in the
"Christian Review;" one on "Congregational Singing," another on "Hereditary Depravity," translated from the German, and another entitled "Spurgeon as a Preacher." Bro.
Hervey is at present doing the work of an evangelist in and
near New-York City.
After an interval of three months, during which time different preachers occupied the pulpit, -Rev. W. H. Watson, of
Natick, coming once to administer the ordinance of baptism,
and Bro. Chapin H. Carpenter,* the missionary, supplying
here once or twice from the seminary at Newton, - Bro.
A. F. Mason t began to labor here in the ministry, and continued with the church until July, 1862, preaching and baptizing. The church signified their desire that he should remain with them a year from that date; but he declined,
believing that the providence of God called him to another
field. During his stay here, the church received an accession
of six to its membership.
The question of altering and repairing the meeting-house
was voted upon this year; and, after considerable discussion in
church and society, it was determined to begin at once, and
carry through the contemplated work before the times grew
harder. Accordingly, in the spring of 1862, the repairs were
commenced, and carried vigorously forward through the summer. until, on the first Sabbath in October, Bro. Samuel K.
Dexter, a young student at Hamilton, who had preached to
the people in the chapel during his vacation, held the first
service in the remodelled church.
It proved fortunate that this work was accomplished so
soon, as, otherwise, it might have been delayed till the house
was too old to be repaired. The distress felt from the war
to-day precludes the possibility of any extraordinary outlay
for years to come.
* Son of Rev. Mark Carpenter (p. 49), and now in Rangoon.
t Since of New-York City.




70             CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.       [1863-4.
Carr supply.   T. Brown settled.   Sacred Music of the Church.
Among other alterations, the old bell hung in 1839 was exchanged at this time for the cast-steel one which now hangs in
the belfry.
In November of this year, Rev. A. W. Carr began to supply
the pulpit; and, on the 9th of December, the church extended
him a call. This call he ultimately declined, although at first
he gave the people some encouragement to expect him; and
in March, 1863, Rev. THERON BROWN, the present pastor, came
here by unanimous invitation, having supplied the church
most of the time since the middle of January.
Theron Brown was born in Willimantic, Conn., April 29,
1832. He indulged a hope in Christ in the winter of 1850-51,
and turned his attention to the ministry. His preparatory
studies were pursued at the Connecticut Literary Institution
in Suffield; at Yale College, where he took his degree in 1856;
at the Theological School on East Windsor Hill; and at Newton Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in
June, 1859. On the 15th of December in the same year, he
was ordained over the Baptist Church in South Framingham,
having preached more or less as a licentiate of the First Baptist
Church in New Haven, Conn., since the fall of 1856. During
the winter and spring of 1861-62, he spent another term of
study at Newton, and subsequently, up to the commencement
of his pastorate in Canton, was engaged chiefly in writing for
religious journals.
I have purposely omitted to make any particular mention
of the sacred music of the church, reserving what facts I
found respecting that interesting department of its worship
for a special notice at the end.
The ancient town of Stoughton, which included the present
Canton, was the cradle of the New-England middle-age psalmody,- that strange, quaint, minor mode, with its " down-up "
time and its complicated " fugues," whose most characteristic
specimens are now preserved, and performed only as musical
curiosities.




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1774-1814.]          CANTON  BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                           71
Early Canton Psalmody.              First Singers in the Church.
"Portland,"  and  "Sherburne,"  and  "Bridgewater"  and
"Lenox," and " Windhanm  " and "Lebanon," and " China " and
"Majesty," and "New  Jerusalem" and the " Easter Anthem,"
were all born upon this soil; and the familiar Canton names of
Capen and Tilden and Tolman and French and Dickerman and
Belcher appeared ninety years ago on the list of the  singingclass of William Billings the composer, and were famous more
or less in the old time, in the Stoughton Musical Society or
Old Club.
The members of both the Canton choirs belonged, most of
them, to the Old Club. It was an age of musical enthusiasm,
when this church was young; and there were few in the town
who could sing, that were not, or had not been, connected with
the popular singing-school of Squire  Dunbar, the  "king  of
singers." * So familiar were the early members of this church
with the old-fashioned music,t that no note-books were used in
their meetings for seven years. Among them were several
brethren and sisters, whom God had gifted in no mean degree
with the talent of song. They loved the ancient, plaintive
lays of Billings and Swan, and Holden and Reed, and Maxim
and Edson and Belcher; and few ever sung them better than
Friend Crane and Deacon Tilden. Upon them devolved the
# The old singers' list, to which reference has been made, bears date 1774, the year
before the battle of Lexington. The Stoughton Musical Society was formed on the
7th of November, 1786. Samuel Tolman was the first leader. —Histor. and Genealog. Reg., vol. xiv. pp. 252, 53.
t The followirl verses of Rev. Mather Byles (exactly rendered into the mhsic of
"Consonance, an Anthem") describe very well, even without the notes, the style
of psalm-singing which prevailed largely in New-England church worship from the
Revolution through the first quarter of the present century: -
"Down steers the BASS with grave majestic air,
And up the TREBLE mounts with shrill career:
With softer sounds, in mild, melodious maze,
Warbling between, the TENOR gently plays;
But if the inspiring ALTUS joins its force
See, like the lark, it wings its towering course.
From the bold height, it hails the echoing bass,
Which swells to meet and mix in close embrace.
Through different systems all the parts divide:
By music's chords, the distant notes are tied;
And sympathetic strains enchanting wind
Their restless race till all the parts are joined:
Then rolls the rapture through the air around
In the full, magic melody of sound."'




72               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.         [1814-21.
Early Singers.               First Choir and Chorister.
duty of "starting the tune " in the days of the school-house
meetings; and though the assembly was never so small, and
even if no minister was present, there was sure to be no lack
of song-worship provided they were there. Their children inherited much of their tunefulness, and many of the voices
were youthful that sung when the gallery of the old meetinghouse was first opened for divine praise.
The first notice of a choir appears immediately after the
dedication of that meeting-house, when Oliver Hayden, a
singing-master of Stoughton, receives an invitation to lead
the singing.(27) Saving a tuning-fork and pitch-pipe, no instruments were used in that old-fashioned orchestra. The feelings
of many of the congregation were against such artificial aids
to worship; and indeed, when the whole force was mustered
together, and the spirit of praise was fully on, there was little
need of them. Wonders of melody were achieved when the
four families of Belcher, Tucker, Tilden, and Crane, each a
choir in itself, met, with all their combined strength and diversity of musical gifts, to sustain their several parts in one
grand tune. Clifford Belcherx was the first chorister. He
took the place at an early day (Hayden being only an occasional leader, and never residing in the place), and continued in
it nearly twenty years.  There was no disputing his claim to
be leader.  The splendid tenor of his voice rang above the
rest like a trumpet. Clara Crane and her sisters Sarah and
Julia, Caroline and Roxy Blackman, Ruth Houghton, Abigail
Tilden, Ruth McKendry, and Caty Tucker, carried along the
treble and counter-tenor like a chime; and the clear notes of
Elisha Crane, and the leader's two sons Daniel and Clifford
Belcher, most musically bore their part in the harmony. There
too, Abner Tilden, and Samuel Tucker with his son Elias, and
Ezra Tilden with his son Lemuel, came in in excellent time
and tune; and. the deep, rolling bass of Friend Crane, poured
along underneath, and through and through the song, mixing
itself' with the melody, and still sounding as distinct as the
* Clifford Belcher was a nephew of Supply Belcher, author of one of the old musicbooks, and also of several pieces in the Stoughton Collection.




1821-37.]       CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.               73
Friend Crane's voice.    First Hymn-book.    First Note-books.
cornet stop of an organ.  They who heard his wonderful
voice will never forget it in life, and his surviving fellowsingers are never weary of talking about it. It is even said
that his widow, by virtue of a sense peculiar to her own
faith, hears at this day the grand tones of that now silent
voice singing from beyond the grave the ancient anthems and
psalms.
The first hymn-book of the Baptist choir was the original,
unexpaurgated edition of the " Psalms and Hymns " of Watts.
Prior to this, an old collection, entitled " Hymns for the Use of
Christians," had been in use in the meetings of the Baptists.
This book has already been referred to (p. 5) as containing the
hymns which expressed so appropriately the early situation
and circumstances of the church. It was a queer miscellany,
comprising some of the proudest and some of the poorest
efforts of devotional rhyme.  " My Soul's full of Glory,"
" Oh, when shall I see Jesus?" "Let Thy Kingdom, Blessed
Saviour," " How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours! " " Come,
all ye Christian Pilgrims," and the ancient favorite from the
pen of Dr. Baldwin, "From whence doth this union arise? "
are specimen hymns of this collection, familiar once to the
proscribed Baptist worshippers as household words.
No note-books were in use before the meeting-house was
built, such old tunes only being sung as dwelt in the people's
memories: afterwards, for ten or twelve. years, the choir sung
out of the " Bridgewater Collection" and the "Village Choir."
A vote of the church in July, 1832, authorizing the purchase
of " six hymn-books and six singing-books for the use of the
singing," refers probably to the latter book. At the time the
old meeting-house was abandoned, they were singing from
the " Washington Harmony."  In May, 1837, it was voted to
" purchase one dozen hymn-books and one dozen singing-books
for the use of the choir."  By this time, the singers had commenced the use of "Winchell's Watts;" and this is most likely
the hymn-book referred to in the purchase.
As the younger generation came on, there began to be a
demand for instrumental music. The movement to procure
10




74               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.         [1836-41.
Bass-viol and violin.  Elias Tucker chorister.  H. Bird's singing-school.
this was, at first, stoutly withstood by a few; but the many
prevailed, and, before the church left the original house, a
violincello was procured, and committed to the skilful hands
of Capt. Elisha Crane, the son of Friend.*
Not long after the commencement of worship in the new
house, a double-bass-viol was purchased; and, in the spring of
1841, the ladies presented the choir with a violin.t  Elias
Tucker played upon the first, and the smaller instrument was
perfbori ed by Clifford Belcher, jun.  By this time, the most
strenuous opposers of instrumental music were dead; but
there remained a few who felt their old repugnance revive at
this reinforcement of stringed melody, and bestowed upon
the new instruments the undignified designation of " fiddles."
Elias Tucker succeeded chorister Belcher in the duties and
honors of the leadership. He came in at about the time of the
great musical revival in the town. For a series of years, the
singing had greatly deteriorated in the churches, till there
seemed likely to be none, after the old natural voices were
gone, to maintain the excellence of the ancient choirs.
Feeling deeply the desirableness of restoring an interest
in sacred music, committees from all the religious societies
met in 1840, and voted to request Mr. Lowell Mason to recommend to them a suitable teacher.
Mr. Mason recommended Horace Bird, who was at once engaged to come to this place and establish a singing-school.
The effect was soon apparent in the improved quality of the
singing in the Baptist and other churches. Mr. Bird's school
was thronged. He labored here nearly two years, and completely revived the musical enthusiasm of the old time; and,
at this day, he has the credit of making nearly all the old
singers who are at present in the town. It is at least true,
that he made a good part of the singers in the present Baptist
choir. $ Elias Tucker was one of his pupils. He was made
leader in 1840, and has continued until now, through sunshine
* At first, this bass-viol was owned by Friend Crane; but in September, 1841, he
presented it to the church. - Ch. Rec. p. 125.
t Rec. Ladies' Benevolent Soc., vol. i. p. 14.
t June, 1864. For the changes since then, see p. 76, note.




1841-51.]       CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 75
Instruments dispensed with.  New Tune-books.  Dea. Crane.
and through storm, faithful to the interests of the choir, until
he has grown a veteran in the service. Andrew Lopez, the
assistant chorister, also a pupil of Mr. Bird, has held his office
fobr an equal term, and assisted the singing with distinguished
ability.
After a time the double-bass-viol and violin grew tiresome,
and were pronounced out of date. The violin was carried
away, and its huge, three-stringed companion was condemned
to stand silent in the corner of the gallery until the summer
of 1849, when it was sold for the trifle of eighteen dollars and
a half.
For five or. six years prior to 1850 or thereabouts, the choir
sung after the old fashion, having no instrumental music.
Then the small seraphine,* now standing in the chapel, was
carried in, and used more or less till the organ was set up.
Meanwhile, the tune-books had several times been changed.
The "Boston Academy" succeeded the "Washington Harmony," and was in turn succeeded by the " Modern Psalmist."
Then came the " Carmina Sacra," which holds its place yet as
a sort of standard, always supplying a good tune when the
lighter collections that lie on the gallery railing fail to furnish
the leader with the proper music for the minister's hymn.
The interest felt by Deacon Crane in the choir continued
unabated till his death, nor did his voice ever fail. Even during his last sickness, when he invited, as he loved to do, his
fellow-singers into his room to sing him over the good old
tunes, his round, rich bass would involuntarily break in, and
continue, unshaken by his threescore years and ten, in perfect
harmony to the close. One chief object in his provision for
building a chapel was, as he told them when they stood around
hi's bed, to secure to the choir a better place to meet and practice in.t
In the summer of 1851, the "Psalmist," our present church
hymn-book, was procured, nor has the time quite come to
supersede it. About the same time, Mr. E. W. Bray, a mem* Purchased by Deacon Capen.
t Deacon Crane died March 27, 1847, aged seventy. His last words were, "I want
rest."




76                 CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.              [1855-64.
Organ and organists.   New Tune-books.   Descendants of the old choir.
ber of the society, presented  the church with a set of the
"Cantica Laudis."
The twelve-stop organ now  in the loft was built in 1855,
by subscription, at a cost of about five hundred and fifty
dollars. Miss Julia Crane, since Mrs. George Ames, a granddaughter of Friend Crane, who had played some time in the
choir upon the old instrument, was the first organist. After
her marriage, in 1856, the organ was played by Miss Eveline
Knaggs, now Mrs. A. F. Mason. She continued until the end
of the year 1862, when, on her removal from Canton, Miss
Clara Lopez, daughter of the assistant chorister, took the
organist's place, and still retains it.*
Besides the"' Cantica Laudis," since the introduction of the
"Carmina Sacra," the choir have used more or less the " Modern Harp," the " Bay-State Collection," the " Psaltery," and
the "Harp of Judah."
For a chapel hymn-book, the "Christian Harp" was procured in 1856, and succeeded in 1861 by the " Sacred Lyre,"
which is still in use.
It is interesting to find two members of the choir of fifty
years ago still represented in the singers' seats. Five of our
present choir are descendants of Ezra Tilden and Samuel
Tucker. May the new be in more respects than one the children of the old; and, when the time shall come for this choir
and congregation to stand before the great white throne,
may the voices of the first and last that sung or shall have
sung the praises of God here, be lifted in eternal jubilee,
where fifty years are but the twinkling of an eye, and a thousand years are as one day! t
It is a source of regret that I am not able to present any
* Until March, 1865.
t Since this history was written, the last descendant of the Tilden Family has left the
choir, the two families of Mr. Lopez and Mr. J. Fisher having removed to Lawrence,
Kan., on the 10th of March, 1865. The popular singing-school of Prof. H. L. Whitney,
organized the same year in this village, has awakened an interest in sacred music fully
equal to that in the days of Mr. Bird; and. under the new impulse, the choirs of the
town are gradually re-organizing and improving.




1814-21.]       CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 77
Benevolence of the Church.  Unsatisfactory sources of information.
accurate report of the church's benevolence during the period
of its existence. Such a report could not fail to interest us;
and had the successive clerks of this church realized how
much the simple annual record of the church treasurer's reports, and statistics of occasional charities would have been
worth to us now, they would in no case have omitted to make
them.
As it is, these reports, with one or two unsatisfactory exceptions, were never engrossed on the church records until 1855;
and so little pains has been taken to preserve the files, that
only fragmentary copies of the originals can be found - none
of these reaching farther back than 1833. Many papers that
would have thrown light upon this interesting article in our
history have been carelessly or wilfully destroyed. In consequence of these combined fatalities, the memorial of the
alms and home-charities of the church through forty years, to
say nothing of the spontaneous contributions collected on the
Sabbath now and then for a special cause or an occasional
agent, has passed forever beyond recall. Perhaps it matters
not if all that is given in faith have record in heaven; but
we cannot help wishing that the good which our fathers did
might be fairly told us while we are alive. Driven to gather
what I could firom the printed receipts of the Home and
Foreign Missionary Magazines, I looked through twenty volumes of the former, and forty volumes of the latter, and
wrote out the results of my search; but I cannot satisfy
myself of their accuracy.
Much uncertainty, too, involves the stipendiary and business expenditures of the church, though less than in the
other case. The first record of expenditure is five dollars
for the sacramental elements in 1814. after which no financial
data appear, from which a definite report can be made, until
1821. Deacon Tilden was appointed treasurer in 1818.(21) He
had been appointed before in 1814, as related in the history
of that year (p. 18); but there seems to have been little for a
treasurer to do in the first three or four years, and his office
became a sinecure. Indeed, for the whole time prior to 1821,
the incidental expenses of the church must have been next to




78               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.           [1814-64.
Early Expenses.       Sum total.         The Ladies.
nothing, since they always held their meetings in private
houses or at the North School-house, and could not have been
at charges for a sexton, and very little, if any, for rent, lights,
and fuel. As for preaching, the good brethren who supplied
them  at that early day generally expected nothing besides
their expenses, which consisted chiefly in board and horsekeeping. Probably a hundred dollars a year would amply
represent the current expenses of the church for the first five
or six years, counting in every thing.
In 1818, moneys for the building of the meeting-house began
to come in; and Deacon Tilden, being already Towvn treasurer,
and a man of experience in such matters, was chosen to take
the charge of them.*  Through the two years that this house
was in progress, the records are meagre; and nothing is
known of its cost except by tradition.
The first definite notice of a vote to raise money for
the support of preaching appears under date of January,
1821; (27) and from that date the yearly expenditures in
this particular can be made out with tolerable certainty.
In the Appendix will be given an estimate (as near as can be
made) of the annual outlay of the church, based mainly on
the records of the church and society, and on printed reports.
The summing-up is as follows:Paid for preaching during the fifty years.  $18,591 00
Paid for building, repairing, and current expenses.  16,890 15
Paid for benevolent objects..3,528 04
Total.                               $39,009 19
Much praise is due to the ladies for the part they have
borne in the charities of the church, and in the risks and
burdens of the Baptist cause here.  Repeatedly, in times of
great perplexity, have the brethren solicited their aid,(144, 152)
and found them ready with a hearty and effectual response.
Never in a case of common or private need, through the
* He was treasurer of the church and purser for the subscribers. Nathan Tucker
was collector or receiver (Ch. Rec. p. 22) until March, 1821, when Deacon Tilden took
the collectorship, and Friend Crane was appointed treasurer. - (Id. p. 27.)




1814-64.]        CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                  79
Services of the Sisters.         Pastors enumerated.
whole history of the church, have they failed to honor the
reputation of woman for kindness of heart and cheerful helpfulness. It was they who, by their patience and faith, held the
church together during those early feeble days, when its peaceable worship, and almost its very life, were at the mercy of an
ungodly district committee.* It was they who met to pray
for our Karen missionary when he was yet but a young unbeliever, and who, when he sailed for the Indies, gave material
aid to his outfit. It was they who supported for years a Burman female pupil, under the name of his deceased wife.t  It
was they who sent substantial offerings to the young sons of
the church, who had addicted themselves to the ministry, to
lighten the anxieties and cheer the days of their term of
study.4 It was they who contributed largely for more than
forty years, by their personal influence and combined charities, to fill up the Sunday school.~ It was they who five times
generously assisted to free the church from debt. It was they
who furnished and refurnished our meeting-places with the
suitable appointments and conveniences of worship; and it is
they, who, from the first, have scattered the thousand nameless
donations that have comforted our parish poor, and lightened
the heart of many a pastor. May the church never see the
day that it shall set lightly by the modest but effectual labors
of its self-denying sisters!
With a short recapitulation we close the history. No claim
is made to perfect accuracy; but the following results are the
best that could be made out from the existing sources of information. The church has had fourteen pastors (see p. 50,
note), - BARRETT, MOORE, ADLAM, CURTIS, GEAR, MERRIAM,
KIMBALL, CLARK, HOLMES, TINGLEY, FORD, RUSSELL, HERVEY,
and BROWN.
The fact that Pastor Curtis was ordained here, and was the
*, "Were it not for the faith, the confidence, and the prayers of the sisters, our
church would lose its name in this world." —(Letter of Friend Crane, November, 1816,
in Life of Elder Henry Kendall, p. 176.)
t Bap. Mag., vol. xvii. p. 168.: See page 43; also Records Ladies' Benevolent Soc., vol. ii. p. 43.
~ Rec. Ladies' Benev. Soc., vol. i. p. 8.




80              CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.        [1821-64.
What constitutes a " settled" pastor. The Four Apostles. Supplies enumerated.
first who staid for a term of years, has induced the common
notion that he was the first settled pastor of the church. Perhaps Brn. Barrett, Moore, and Adlam ought only to be
called itinerant pastors, as none of them served the church
more than a year. It is difficult, however, to insist upon such
a distinction merely on the ground of time, where none of the
pastorates have been quite four years in duration. The character of the relation which each of these ministers here sustained to tile church should be determined by the design arid
understanding with which he undertook it, and not by the
time he staid. The taking of a residence in response to a call
is sufficient to constitute a minister a "settled" pastor, and
by this rule it is evident that the predecessors of Bro.
Curtis, as also Brn. Gear and Kimball (both of whose
terms were very brief), were as truly pastors as any of the
rest.
The intimate connection of Brn. WILLIAMS, LINCOLN, KENDALL, and EVANS with the early history of this church, and
the nature of their work here prior to the pastorate of Elder
Barrett, entitles them to be called the four apostles.
As special supplies, meaning those who either received a
call to the ministry here, or came statedly to preach for a
longer or shorter time, thirty-one at least may be named,GIBSON, BIRD, HOWARD, BENSON, JUDSON, BILLSON, THOMAS
FORD, STANWOOD, ELIOT, TRACY, EWER, the HAGUES, CLEALAND, PEAK, MERRILL, DRIVER, COLEY, PEASE, CARPENTER,
THOMAS, MARCHANT, DUNBAR, WILCOX, MILLER, EATON, OLMSTED, HOWELL, MASON, DEXTER, and CARR.
The occasional supplies I cannot undertake to enumerate.
They have been a large proportion of the whole. Counting
together all the preachers of every description who have
addressed this people within the last half-century, we should
make up a troop indeed. It is the testimony of Mr. Samuel
Blackman's children, that more than a hundred different ones
enjoyed the hospitalities of the "old Baptist tavern " during
the first eight or ten years of the church's history. Let us
hope to harvest some of the seed which these many servants
of God scattered here!




1861.]            CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                  81
List of Deacons.    List of Clerks.  Ministers licensed and ordained.
There have been six deacons, — Jason Houghton, Ezra Tilden, Friend Crane, Ezekiel Capen, George Lothrop, and Willard Shepard. Their terms of office, expressed in round numbers, have been as follows, - the first, twenty-five years; the
second, sixteen years; the third, nine years; the fourth,
twenty-four years; the fifth, three years; and the sixth,
eighteen years. The dates of their elections and resignations
are given on pages 18, 46, 58, 61, 62.
There have been seven clerks, —  Friend Crane, the first,
who served from July 1, 1814, to April, 1827,(4 49) and again
from May, 1830, till March, 1837,(1~0) and still again from September, 1839, to June, 1840,(116) in all about twenty-one years;
Moses Curtis, the fourth pastor, second, who served from
April, 1827, to May, 1830,'67) three years; Asapoh Merriam,
the sixth pastor, third, who served from March, 1837, to September, 1839,(112) nearly three years; Aaron Tucker, fourth,
who served a year and three months, from June, 1840, to September, 1841; (125) Ezekiel Capen, fifth, who served  from
September, 1841, to April, 1847,(15o) and again from November, 1848, to April, 1864,(232) in all about twenty-one years;
T. C. Tingley, the tenth pastor, sixth, who served through the
interval of Deacon Capen's retirement from the office, about
two years; (167) and  Theron Brown, the fourteenth pastor,
seventh, who took charge of the records on the second
resignation of Deacon Capen, in April, 1864.
The church has licensed three ministers, - FRANCIS MASON,
CHARLES JOHNSON, and JOSEPH HODGES; and ordained three, -
MOSES CURTIS, HIRAM GEAR, and DAVID B. FORD.
The whole number baptized into the fellowship of the
church, during the fifty years of its life, seems to have been
two hundred and twenty-four; t received by letter, seventynine; making, with seven restored and five re-received after
* After the resignation of Dea. Capen, April 7, 1864 (unaccepted by the church),
Bro. George Coombs was elected a third deacon, but finally declined to serve. Dea.
Capen still holds his office by request, and properly there has been no seventh deacon.
t See Appendix, p. 11.
11




82               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.           [1835-6.
Statistics of Loss and Gain.             Dismissions.
dismission, the total of additions three hundred and ffteen.
Forty-one have been expelled,* considerably less than one a
year. Only five of these exclusions were for immorality, and,
allowing the seven restorations, the number is reduced to
thirty-four. Ten have been dropped, fifty-three have died in
the communion, and one hundred and forty-seven have been
dismissed; making, with two crossed out in the roll, unaccounted for, the total of subtractions two hundred and fiftythree.
Of the dismissionst from this church, 12 were to Boston:
1 to the Union Baptist Church in that city; 3 to the Harvardstreet Church; 2 to the Third Baptist, or Charles-street
Church; I to a Methodist Church; 3 to South Boston; and 2
to other parts of the city not specified. To New-York City, 5:
2 to the Tabernacle Baptist Church; 1 to Amity-street
Church; 1 to the Oliver-street Church; and 1 to the new
church at Williams's Bridge. To Rhode Island only 3; and to
the State of Maine, 8. To New Hampshire, 2 have been dismissed; 4 to New Jersey; 3 to Pennsylvania; 2 to Connecticut; 1 to Iowa; and 2 to New Brunswick. To churches
in Massachusetts, exclusive of Boston, there have been dismissed 101: 2 to the Unitarian Church at Canton Corner; 2
to Stoughton; 5 to East Dedham; 2 to South Dedham; 5 to
Sharon; 4 to Foxboro'; 7 to Dorchester; 3 to Sheldonville
(Wrentham); 6 to Wrentham town; 8 to Randolph; 4 to Middleboro'; 1 to Taunton; 1 to Neponset; 7 to Roxbury; 1 to
Hingham; 1 to Hanover; 1 to Marshfield; 2 to Medfield; 2 to
East Cambridge; 2 to Mansfield; 1 to Attleboro'; 1 to Sturbridge; 1 to Ware; 1 to Medford; 1 to Brewster; 2 to
Becket; 6 to Lowell; 1 to Salisbury and Amesbury; 1 to
East Medway; 4 to Athol; 1 to Braintree; 1 to Winthrop;
2 to Warren;:  1 to Holden; 1 to Winchester; 1 to Pittsfield;
1 to Woburn; 2 to Fall River; 2 to Worcester; 2 to South
* Under expulsions, I include all names recorded as " erased."
t I include under dismissions, certiftcates of character and standing. I believe there
are but five or six cases of that description.
t Worcester County.




1834-5.]       CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                 83
Dismissions.        Present number.         Councils.
Hanson; and 2 to Charlestown. Four of the dismissions are
without designation.  The number at present in the communion is ninety-seven.*
It may be added that the church has participated in eighteen
councils: in Canton, on the 22d of' June, 1814, at its own constitution; in Sharon, June, 1818, to ordain Samuel Waitt, by
delegates Jason Houghton, Ezra Tilden, and Friend Crane(21)';
in North Randolph, October, 1819, to constitute the Baptist
Church there, by delegate Jason Houghton(25); in Canton,
Aug. 29, 1827, to ordain Moses Curtis(51); in Canton, April 11,
1832, to ordain Hiram  Gear(82); in East Randolph, May 10,
1836, to constitute a church there, by delegates Rev.
Burlingame, Friend Crane, and Ralph H. Crane(1'00; in Sharon,
May, 1837, to ordain George N. Waitt, by delegates Benjamin
Gill and Pastor Merriam (l03); in Needham, September, 1837,
to constitute the Baptist Church there, by delegates Jason
Houghton and Pastor Merriam (106): in Boston, Sept. 20, 1839,
to depose Charles O. Kimball, by delegates E. Capen and (?)
Friend Crane(113); in Roxbury, Feb. 23, 1848, to divide the
Boston Association, by delegates Willard Shepard, William
Pettengill, E. Capen, and Pastor Tingley(158); in North Randollph,
June 8, 1848, to ordain R. W. E. Brown, by delegates Benjamin Gill, James White, and Pastor Tingley(l65); in Canton,
Sept. 25, 1851, to ordain David B. Ford, by delegates E.
Capen, W. Shepard, and A. E. Tucker (178); in Mansfield,
Sept. 29, 1852,t to ordain Welcome Lewis, by delegates
W. Shepard, George Wiswall, and Pastor Ford ("'186); in Boston,
May 24, 1854, to advise on the erection of a Seaman's Chapel,
by delegates W. Shepard and E. Capen (193); in East Dedham,
April 20, 1857, to advise for an aggrieved member, by.delegates A. E. Tucker and Pastor Russell(2'4); in South Braintree, July, 1858, to advise on dividing the Baptist Church
there, by delegates A. E. Tucker and Pastor Hervey (212); in
* Dec. 31, 1864.
t Records have "North Bridgewaterr" erased, and "Mansfield" written over onl
page 185, and onl page 186 " Mansfield " erased, and " North Bridgewater" written over.
Report of Bap. Mass. Convention, 1852, has " Mansfield, September 30."




84             CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
Councils.          The End.             Reflections.
South Dedham, Nov. 3, 1858, to constitute the Baptist Church
there, by delegates A. E. Tucker and William Cobbet (214); and
in East Stoughton, Jan. 8, 1861, to examine charges against a
member, by delegates E. Capen and Pastor Hervey.
Thus we come to the eid - and yet not the end; for, with
immortal beings like ourselves, there is always something after
the end.
Throughout this recital, we have been in communication
with the spirits of the fathers, and they have told us how they
built, and how we must build,-how patiently as well as how
speedily, how cautiously as well as how much.
We are to take up the history of this church where they
left it, and add our chapter to the half century that has already
been lived and written. Their example can teach us much
that we shall then have no need to learn by bitter experience;
and if we take care not to undermine the foundation they laid
here, or undo a single advantage that they gained in the long
term of their toil, the chances are that fifty years from now,
this church will stand like Lebanon, waving fresh and broad
and high with the fruits of the first "handful of corn."
If this brief study of our past history here, to-day, shall
serve to spur us every one to add something noble ourselves
to those early efforts which the Lord blessed, and each contribute some new joy to the happiness of that centennial
jubilee, this Memorial Sermon will not have been written
in vain. By it, the faithful appeals of every pastor who has
honored the ministry among you are called to remembrance,
and listened to once more. Let them not be soon forgotten.
And here we should kindly remember that the labors of these
good men are not to be judged solely by the marked revivals
which attended them. In the history of a church, revivals
are, to be sure, prima facie evidence of the divine blessing;
but they are not, as we have seen, necessarily proof of the




CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.              85
Concluding Reflections.
highest spiritual health and strength. Estimated by these,
our own church, which has enjoyed, on an average, but about
one in every ten years of her existence, could be said to have
been but five or six times in a condition of prosperity during
her fifty years, which is short of the truth. Excepting the
mournful relapse between 1842 and 1851, conversions and
additions by baptism have continued at intervals of rarely
more than a year, and never more than two years. A steady
glow of life and love is better than periodical fervor and
power. The latter is the strength of Samson; the former is
the strength of Christ. For His strength let us pray; to attain that, let us gather wisdom from the counsels and toils of
our departed saints.
So it may happen to us as it did to the church in Babylon,
when the old records of the kingdom were reviewed, and they
set about building the Holy City; for it is written that they
"builded and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the
prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo; and they builded and
finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel."
Our church has had its Haggais and Zechariahs, and prospered through their prophesying. May it build and prosperi
through the prophesying of its present pastor! "Let the
foundations be strongly laid... with three rows of great
stones and a row of new timber; and let the expenses be
given out of the King's house."




86               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
If Ef OBIAL  FR  SES.
THE VALLEY CHURCH.
By the green feet of bold Blue Hill,
Neponset's vagrant river flows;.
And on his meadowy margin still
The ancient blossoms ope and close.
The lakelets whence his waters rose
Dimple the distant landscape yet,
And, leaping as of old, to fill
His billowy bosoni where they met.
Down from the Sharon uplands sweet,
And east through Ponkapog ravine,
O'er the same beds of mossy green,
And sparkling with their wonted gleams,
Fall Massapoag and Pekameet,
His children with their tribute-streams.
Unchanged for picturesque repose
(By eye of bird remotely scanned),
The winding of the waters shows,
And likeness of the swelling land.
Unchanged as these in faith and will,
A Christian tribe that vale have trod,
Through fifty years of good and ill,
A humble, hated church of God.
Still clear in ancient breadth and length,
Their healthful doctrines flow and run;
And round, like living hills of strength,
Stand the old truths whose war they won:
While as each season comes and goes,
And months of cheer succeed to chill,




CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.                    87
Memorial Verses.
Blooms haply now the gospel rose,
And lilies fleck the fields they till.
Unchanged. The stealthy wand of time
Hath spared the salient shapes of prime;
But finer tokens under those
To closer gaze proclaim the new,
That'scapes the stranger's hasty view.
O'er lake-fed river, brook, and rill,
By rocks the Indian fisher chose,
The bridge its useful level throws,
And busy hums the laboring mill.
The forest, cleft with axe and bill,
Lets through apace the screaming car
By olden farm and domicil,
And hamlet up the valley far,
Where later work of wealth and skill
Hath stocked the fathers' rude domain
With marts of trade and shrines of gain.
So, borne by viewless social force,
The holders of a changeless creed,
Through fifty summers' gliding course,
Have tracked the changing ways of need.
So, in the turns of death and life
That shift the generations, they
Have changed the leaders of their strife,
And laid the heroic sires away.
The moss-grown dome, where first they met
By the old road, is standing yet;
And near the landmark-mountain high,
The small brown schoolhouse, where in days
Of struggling hope they sung God's praise,
Waits while the years of time go by;
And southward, on the central grounds,
Their first plain temple's modest walls
Record the holy sights and sounds
Of Zion's early festivals.




88               CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
Memorial Verses.
But in yon graveyard's grassy breast,
The balsam and the tufted larch
Sigh o'er the saints who paused to rest
Beneath them in their earthly march;
And farther south, where field and stream
Show thick with forge and village.home,
The white church, manse, and chapel gleam,
And there to-day their children come.
Farewell, good pilgrims! Though the sneer
Of pride condemned your doctrines here,
In proofs your foes survive to give,
Your labors and your witness live.
Ye had your trials and complaints,
Your fight with olden errors taught,
When scoffers, with the name of saints,
Would frown you from the rights ye bought:
Ye had your sad Egyptian days,
Your midnight sea, your desert maze,
Till He whose grace our patience fills
Conveyed you to his heavenly hills.
We look for triumph through your pain
And ours, who yet the fight maintain,
Where Midian with his guileful band
Detains us from the promised land.
Church of the valley! ne'er forget
Thy first espousals! Lo!'the seal
Thy Saviour on thy forehead set,
That bridal morning - sacred yetAssures thy heart with mute appeal
The utmost love a God can feel.
That pledge remember, and the hour
Of happy faith and holy pride,
When thou in weakness, He in power,
Walked first this garden side by side.




CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
Memorial Verses.
What matter though thy story fail
Of large event and action rare?
The limits of a village tale
Are large enough with JESUS there.
And somewhat thou hast known of Him,
Through all thy weak and erring years,
To stay thee yet when love is dim,
To light thy way when lost in tears.
Grow wise by thought of follies past;
Grow strong by hope of better things;
But make thy Lord thy first and last,
And seek the shadow of his wings.
0, long as glide those wand'ring waves
By bold Blue Mountain's verdant feet,
And oft as smiling spring-time paves
Those mossy meads with blossoms sweet,
So long, O child of fifty springs,
Thy life, though devious, fruitful flow;
So oft thy garden and thy king's,
Church of the valley, bud and blow!
12








APPENDIX.








CREED AND COVENANT.
THE Canton Church cannot be said to have changed her creed, but
she has altered her expression of it twice. The original Declaration
of Faith appears to have been used until 1843, when, on the 5th of
March, another, slightly differing in phraseology, but the same in
sentiment and doctrine, was adopted from the Sharon Church (Ch.
Rec. p. 138). This creed was retained a little more than ten years,
after which the following more perfect form, with the accompanying
covenant from the "Hand-Book" of Rev. Dr. Crowell, was adopted,
and is now the accepted Declaration of Faith, of this, as of ipany
other Baptist Churches in New England.
ARTICLES OF CHRISTIAN BELIEF.
I. OF THE SCRIPTURES.
We believe the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired,
and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for
its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of
error, for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will
judge us; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world,
the true centre of Christian union, and the supreme standard by
which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried.
II; OF THE TRUE GOD.
That there is one, and only one, true and living God, whose name
is JEHOVAH, the Maker and Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth;
inexpressibly glorious in holiness; worthy of all possible honor, confidence, and love; revealed under the personal and relative distinc1




2
tions of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; equal in every
divine perfection, and executing distinct but harmonious offices in the
great work of redemption.
III. OF THE FALL OF MAN.
That man was created in a state of holiness under the law of his
Maker, but by voluntary transgression fell from that holy and happy
state; in consequence of which all mankind are now sinners, not by
constraint, but choice, being by nature utterly void of that holiness
required by the law of God, wholly given to the gratification of the
world, of Satan, and of their own sinful passions, and therefore under
just condemnation to eternal ruin, without defence or excuse.
IV. THE WAY OF SALVATION.
That the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace; through the
mediatorial offices of the Son of God, who took upon him our nature,
yet without sin; honored the law by his personal obedience, and
made atonement for our sins by his death; being risen from the dead,
he is now enthroned in heaven; and, uniting in his wonderful person
the tenderest sympathies with divivine perfections, is every way qualified to be a suitable, a compassionate, and an all-sufficient Saviour.
V. OF JUSTIFICATION.
That the great Gospel blessing which Christ of his fulness bestows
on such as believe in Him is Justification; that Justification consists
in the pardon of sin and the promise of eternal life, on principles of
righteousness; that it is bestowed, not in consideration of any works
of righteousness which we have done, but solely through His own
redemption and righteousness; that it brings us into a state of most
blessed peace and favor with God, and secures every other blessing
needful for time and eternity.
VI. OF THE FREENESS OF SALVATION.
That the blessings of salvation are made free to all by the Gospel;
that it is the immediate duty of all to accept them by a cordial and




3
obedient faith; and that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest
sinner on earth, except his own voluntary refusal to submit to the
Lord Jesus Christ, which refusal will subject him to an aggravated
condemnation.
VII. OF GRIACE IN REGENERATION.
That in order to be saved; we must be regenerated, or born again;
that Regeneration consists in giving a holy disposition to the mind,
and is effected in a manner above our comprehension or calculation,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the Gospel; and that its proper evidence is found in the holy
fruit which we bring forth to the glory of God.
VIII. OF GOD'S PURPOSE OF GRACE.
That Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which
he regenerates, sanctifies, and saves sinners; that being perfectly consistent with the free agency of man, it comprehends all the means in
connection with the end; that it is a most glorious display -of God's
sovereign goodness, being infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable;
that it utterly excludes boasting, and promotes humility, prayer,
praise, trust in God, and active imitation of his free mercy; that it
encourages the use of means in the highest degree; that it is ascertained by its effects in all who believe the gospel; is the foundation
of Christian assurance; and that to ascertain it with regard to ourselves, demands and deserves our utmost diligence.
IX. OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS.
That such only are real believers as endure unto the end; that their
persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark which distinguishes them from mere professors; that a special Providence watches
over their welfare; and they are kept by the power of God, through
faith unto salvation.




4
X. HARMONY OF THE LAW AND GOSPEL.
That the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of his
moral government; that it is holy, just, and good; and that the inability which the Scriptures ascribe to fallen men to fulfil its precepts,
arises entirely from their love of sin; to deliver them from which,
and to restore them through a Mediator to unfeigned obedience
to the holy law, is one great end of the Gospel, and of the means of
grace connected with the establishment of the visible church.
XI. OF A GOSPEL CHURCH.
That a visible church of Christ is a congregation of baptized
believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the
Gospel, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by his laws,
and exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by his
word; that its only proper officers are Bishops or Pastors, and
Deacons, whose qualifications, claims, and duties are defined in the
Epistles to Timothy and Titus.
XII. OF BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER.
That Christian Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water, in
the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, to show forth in a solemn
and beautiful emblem our faith in a crucified, buried, and risen
Saviour, with its purifying power; that it is pre-requisite to the privileges of a church relation, and to the Lord's Supper, in which the
members of the church, by the use of bread and wine, are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ; preceded always by a
solemn self-examination.
XIII. OF THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH.
That the first day of the week is the Lord's Day, or Christian Sabbath, and is to be kept sacred to religious purposes, by abstaining
from all secular labor and recreations; by the devout observance of
all the means of grace, both private and public; and by preparation
for that rest which remaineth for the people of God.




5
XIV. OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
That civil government is of divine appointment, for the interests
and good order of human society; and that magistrates are to be
prayed for, conscientiously honored, and obeyed, except in things
opposed to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only Lord of
the conscience, and the Prince of the kings of earth.
XV. OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED-.
That there is a radical and essential difference between the righteous
and the wicked; that such only as through faith are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus, and sanctified by the Spirit of our God, are
truly righteous in his esteem; while all such as continue in impenitence and unbelief are in his sight wicked, and under the curse; and
this distinction holds among men both in and after death.
XVI. OF THE WORLD TO COME.
That the end of this world is approaching; that at the last day,
Christ will descend from heaven, and raise the dead from the grave to
final retribution; that a solemn separation will then take place; that
the wicked will be adjudged to endless punishment, and the righteous
to endless joy; and that this judgment will fix forever the final state
of men in heaven or hell, on principles of righteousness.
13




CHURCH COVENANT.
As we trust we have been brought by divine grace to
embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the influence of his
Spirit to give ourselves up to him, so we do now solemnly
covenant with each other, that, God enabling us, we will
walk together in brotherly love.
That we will exercise a Christian care and watchfulness
over each other, and faithfully warn, rebuke, and admonish
one another, as the case shall require.
That we will not forsake the assembling of ourselves
together, nor omit the great duty of prayer, both for ourselves and for others.
That we will participate in each other's joys, and endeavor
with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other's burdens
and sorrows.
That we will earnestly endeavor to bring up such as may
be under our care in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord.
That we will seek divine aid to enable us to walk circumspectly and watchfully in the world, denying ungodliness
and every worldly lust.
That we will strive together for the support of a faithful
evangelical ministry among us.
That we will endeavor, by example and effort, to win souls
to Christ.
And through life, amidst evil report and good report, seek
to live to the glory of Him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.




Table of Pastorates, Ages, etc.
The following are the names of the apostles and pastors of Canton
Baptist Church, with time- of visit, or term of service, and time of
death and age attached to each.*
NAME.                            Was here statedly, or    Died.    Age.
occasionally.
1. WILLIA31S.......................1812-27  Feb. 1845  77
2. LINCOLN.....................                   1813-21  Dec. 1832  53
3. KENDALL....................              1814-17  Aug. 1864  90
4. EVANS......................  1817, 1823, 1825-26  Jan. 1848  53
NAM E.                   Came.         Went.    Length of Pastor-    Died.   Age.
ate.
1. BARRETT...........    Jan.? 1821  Mar.' 1822       1 yr. 2 mos.  Aug. 1832  40
2. MOORE...........     July, 1824  June, 1825            11 mos.  Apr. 1858  61
3. ADLAM.......    Sept. 1826  Mar.? 1827             5 mos...      68
4. CURTIS...........   Aug. 1827   May, 1830  2 yrs. 10 mos..         71
5. GEAR......                        Oct. 1831    Dec. 1832        1 yr. 1 mo.  Feb. 1843  38
6. MERRIAM..........   Sept.1836   Sept. 1839.3 yrs...      74
7. KIMBALL......   Sept.1839   Nov. 1839         6 weeks   July, 1854  62
8. CLARK...........   Apr. 1840   June, 1842   2 yrs. 2 mos...      55
9. HOL3MES..........  June, 1843   Nov. 1844    1 yr. 5 mos...      53
10. TINGLEY..........        May, 1845   Nov. 1848  3 yrs. 6 mos.t..       62
11. FORD............         May, 1851   Nov. 1853   2 yrs. 6 mos..       46
12. RUSSELL...........  Apr. 1854   July, 1857   3 yrs. 3 mos..       59
13. HERVEY.........   Feb. 1858   July, 1861   3 yrs. 5 mos..       44
14. BROWN.........      Mar. 1863..3 yrs. 4 mos.t..       341
* The pastoral terms in this Table are not intended to include supplies before settlement.
Mr. Tingley's pastorate was the longest of any, exceeding Mr. Hervey's by a little over a month.  Mr.
Kimball's was the shortest.
I To June, 1866. The ages are all reckoned down to June, 1866.




8
Table of the Names and Dates of Special Pulpit Supplies of
the Canton Baptist Church during the last half century,
Howard..             1816
Gibson......    1816
Bird...                                  1817
Judson (about).....    1818
Billson (about)......    1820
Benson (about).....    1822
Ford.                         1822
Stanwood.......    1823
Eliot...... 1823-24
Tracy.......    1825
Ewer........    1830
Hague, Wm. (about)...              1830
Clealand.                            1831
Peak..1831
M errill.......    1831
Driver, Thos. (about).                            1831
Coley..... 1831-33
Pease....                1833
Carpenter.                                        1833
Marchant...... 1833-34
Thomas.......    1833
Hague, John B.....    1834
Dunbar.......    1835
Wilcox.                                      1835
Miller......    1839
Eaton.. 1842-43
Olmsted...... 1848-51
Howell.......    1857
Mason....... 1861-62
Dexter...                             1862
Carr....... 1862-63




Table of Expenditures of the Baptist Church in Canton
during its first Fifty Years,
*** An unusually large sum falling to any year, in the business list,
generally indicates that at that date a building was erected or repaired,
or a considerable debt paid.
*** The list of charities comprises donations to Home and Foreign
Missions, Educational Societies and Institutions, pastors and needy
church-members, and all contributions (in aid of the church as well
as of general religious interests) made by the Sunday School and the
Ladies' Benevolent Society.
Current ExYEAR.                 Preaching.  Curenses, &c.   Charities.    Total.
1814.................. $50 00?    $500..   $5500
1815..................         75 00?        750..         8250
1816..................         75 00?       2500?..       10000
1817....70..0...........   75 00    2500?    1..          0000
1818........................  75 00?       25 00?..         10000
1819................                 75 00?       2500?..        100o00
1820..........           150 00       105 00      $5 00     260 00
1821.........            200 00      2,025 00     10 00   2,235 00
1822..................    300 00       3000?..        33000
1823..................    300 00                    3000?..         33000
1824..................   300 00        3000?..         33000
1825.......................          300 00         30? 00.        33000
1826................                  300 00        68 00      10 00     378 00
1827.................. 350 00    5000..    40000
1;28..................               350 00        30?..       38000
1829.................. 350 00               40 00?     77 00     467 00
1830..................            30000         40O00?     1100      36100
1831..................               27000         4000?      5200      36200
1832................... 24500                     4000?     5437       33937
Amounts carried forward....  $4,140 00    $2,670 50    $219 37  $7,039 87




10
Table of Expenditures. - Continued.
YEAR.                   Preaching.  Current Ex-   Charities.    Total.
penses, &c.
Amounts brought forward.... $4,140 00           $2,670 50     $219 37   $7,039 87
1833...................    350 00                      44 39       36 00       430 39
1834..................                    260 00         40 00       36 00       336 00
1835..................                    260 00        270 00        36 00      566 00
1836....................    260 00.                    3,340 00       16 00    3,616 00
1837...................    500 00                      432 00       33 00       965 00
1838..................                    500 00        333 95        16 00      849 95
1839...................                  560 00         77 00        11 00      648 00
1840..................                    700 00        100 00       173 00      973 00
1841..............:.    700 00        1,665.79      25 45    2,391 24
1842..................       395 00        467 05       60 89       922 94
1843..................                    500 00        273 83       61 58       834 58
1844..................                    450 00         60 00       48 00       558 00
1845..................                   448 00        267 50       26 00       741 50
1846...................    500 00                        80 00       29 00       609 00
1847..............  ~ ~     475 00        270 76        54 00      799 76
1848.................    405 00                     248 35       157 38      810 73
1849..................                    250 00        133 94        32 00      415 94
1850..................    255 00        801 97        12 00    1,068 97
1851...................     302 00        185 28       29 16       516 44
1852..................                    439 00        153 62        18 15      610 77
1853...................    600 00                       115 37      221 14       936 51
1854..................                    341 00        124 39       151 47      616 86
1855..................                    450 00       1,130 88      150 37    1,731 25
1856..................                    462 00        138 18       150 88      751 06
1857..................                    408 00        142 84       177 26      728 10
1858..................                    550 00        191 82       93 33       835 15
1859................                 400 00        144 45       185 20      729 65
1860..................                   444 00        118 44       127 94      690 38
1861..................              755 00        180 64       114 27    1,049 91
1862.................                    450 00       2,013 54      68 62    2,532 16
1863......                             482 00         91 67       90 52       664 19
1864....................                  600 00*       492 00       267 06    1,359 06
Besides the recorded charities, donations (unrecorded) have been made for ministerial
education, for feeble churches, and other benevolent objects at different times, amounting
to no less than six hundred dollars, by a member of the church, whose Christian liberality
has made him known far beyond the limits of his own town. Counting this with others,
the sum of the church charities is $3,528 04; and with this in its column, the result from
the whole table appears as follows:Expenses for the fifty years; several
and grand totals to Dec. 31, 1864..  $18,591 00   $16,890 15   $3,528 04   $39,009 19
* The rent of the parsonage, reckoned into the salary since 1841, does not appear in the table.




11
Table of Statistics of Membership, Loss, Gain, etc.
The number of baptisms cannot be absolutely certified.
The total of additions is easily ascertained by deducting the
original number, 35, from 350, the whole number of members
in the church, between June 22, 1814, and Dec. 31, 1864.
But the roll on which we depend for these general data
makes no intelligible distinction of' the admissions by baptism
from those by letter; and the account of these in the records
is shown to be defective: for, adding together the 222 baptisms and 76 admissions by letter, recorded there, we obtain
for the whole number of additions, even with the 7 restored
and the 5 re-received after dismission, only 310; less by 5
than the true total of additions, which is 315. Distributing
the 5 to the two uncertain numbers, we make out, by the
fairest method that seems to be left us, 224 admissions by
baptism and 79 by letter. The following is a synopsis of the
statistics of the loss and gain of the church during the fifty
years.
LOSS.
Dismissed...... 147
Died..  53
Excluded....  41
Dropped.                               10
Crossed out on roll, not accounted for.   2
253
GAIN.
Baptized.                              224
Received by letter.                     79
Restored......   7
Re-admitted after dismission...   5
315
VERIFICATIONS.
35 Original number of members, )
97 Present number of members,   Known terms.
350 Grand total of membership,
350 -35 =- 315: total of additions.
350 - 97 = 253: total of subtractions.
315 - 253 + 35 = 97: present number.




12
List of Names of all. the Persons who have belonged to the
Canton Baptist Church between June 22, 1814, and July
24, 1865.
A.                Bright, Alvirah.
Adams, Nancy.                   Brooks, Jane.
Allen, Lucy.                    Brown, Emeline.
Ames, Julia R. (Crane).*        Brown, Helen M.
Brown, Theron.
B.                Bryant, Charles.
Bartlett, Julia.                Bullard, Maria B.
Beals, Amasa.                   Bullard, Mary E.
Beals, Mary.                    Bullard, William.
Beals, William.                 Burnham, Julia M. (Shepard.)
Beaumont, Irene.                Buss, Sally (or Ruth).
Belcher, Clifford.
Belcher, Elizabeth.                            C.
Belcher, Mary.                  Capen, Emma P. (Knaggs.)
Belcher, Rebecca.               Capen, Ezekiel.
Belcher, Sardy.                 Capen, Mary (Brett).
Bense, Charlotte E.             Carpenter, Hannah.
Bense, Elizabeth P.             Carr, Hiram.
Bense, William.                 Carroll, Emily C.
Bent, Joseph.                   Ceiley, Catharine L.
Billings, Eliza.                Ceiley, Mary.
Blackman, Abigail.              Chamberlain, George E.
Blackman, Samuel.               Chandler, Ann Jane (Withington).
Blaisdell, Orrison.             Clark, Henry.
Blake, Clara.                   Clark, John.
Blake, Clara, 2d.               Clark, (Mrs.)
Bliss, Mary.                    Cobb, Adeline.
Boswell, Thomas.                Cobb, Rachel (Ward).
Boswell, Anna.                  Cobbet, Joanna.
Bourne, David.                  Cobbet, Rachel F.
Bourne, Sarah Ann.              Cobbet, Susan (Smith).
Bray, Isabella J.               Cobbet, William.
Bray, Sarah (Crane).            Cook, Orinda.
* The parentheses enclose maiden names.




13
Coombs, Catharine E.            Endicott, Elijah.
Coombs, George.                 Esty, Clinton.
Coombs, John.                                  F
Crane, Abby.
C:rane, Clara.                  Fadden, Andrew.
Crane, Elizabeth.               Fadden, (Mrs.)
Crane, Esther.                  Fales, Nancy.
Crane, Friend.                 BFarrington, Charles.
Crane, riucyn.                  Farrington, David.
Crane, RaLphuH.          Farrington, (Mrs.)
Crane, Ralph H.                 Fisher, Bethiah (Tilden).
Crane, Rebecca.
Fisher, Clarissa (Cobb).
Crane, Richard Stoddard.
Fisher, Henry.
Crane, Susethan.                Fisher, Mary (Upham).
Crane, Susani.                  Ford, David B.
Croud, ]Daniel.                Foster, Sarah (Crane).
Croud, Daniel W.                French, Joanna.
Croud, Betsy S.                 Fuller, Bathsheba.
Croud, Mary E.                  Fuller, Emily C.
Culver, David.                  Fuller, Lemuel.
Currier, Samuel.                Fuller, Oliver P.
Curtis, Mary Arnold.            Fuller, Rebecca.
Curtis, Moses.
Cutler, Henrietta (Tucker).                    G.
Gage, Eveline (Belcher).
D.                Gay, Elizabeth.
Damon, Mary.                    George, Amos D.
Davenport, Hannah (Tucker).     Gerald, Ruth (McKendry).
Davis, Nathaniel Tucker.        Gill, Abigail.
Dean, Mary.                     Gill, Abigail (Bird).
Dickerman, Mary A. (Hunt.)      Gill, Benjamin.
Drake, Alice B.                 Gill, Rebekah.
Drake, Charles.                 Gould, Catharine.
Drake, Susan (Holmes).          Gould, Charlotte.
Dumphy, Ellen M. (Withington.)  Graves, Mary E. (Davis.)
Dunbar, Darius.                 Gray, Sarah Ann.
Gurney, Ellen.
E.
Emmerton, Elizabeth.                           H.
Emmerton, Cath. (Chamberlain.)  Hardman, Ann.
Endicott, Cynthia.               Hardman, Charles F.
14




14
Hawes, Elijah.                Kelso, Jonathan G.
Heald, Sarah (Pettengill).    Kelso, Sarah.
Hersey, Lorra A. (Upham).     Kenrick, Elizabeth.
Heustis, Elizabeth (Brooks).  Kenrick, Julia A.
Hill, Abigail.                Kenrick, Susannah C.
Hill, Eleanor (Crane).        Kent, Mary C.
Hixon, Hannah.                Kent, Sarah.
Hodges, Joseph.               Kimball, Charles 0.
Hodges, Joseph, 2d.           Kimball, Elizabeth.
Hodges, Sally.                Kimball, Mary (Tilden).
Hodges, Sarah.                Kinsley, Sarah (Belcher).
Holmes, Mary E. (Carpenter.)  Knaggs, Elizabeth.
Houghton, Caty.               Knight, Sarah (Palmer).
Houghton, Charles W.
Houghton, Jason.                            L.
Houghton, Mary.               Lacy, David.
Houghton, Oliver.             Lathrop, Abigail (Tilden).
Houghton, Ruth.               Leach, Clementina D.
Hunt, I. Newton.              Leach, Elbridge G.
Hunt, Jerusha N.              Leonard, Ruth.
Hunt, Mary.                   Lessure, Hannah.
Hunt, Polly (Bryant).         Littlefield, Betsey.
Hunt, Ruth.                   Littlefield, Julia (Tucker).
Hunt, Sophia S.               Locke, Nancy (Spare).
Hunt, Warren.                 Lopez, Mary (Tilden).
Lord, Elizabeth (Brett).
Lothrop, George H.
Ingraham, Caroline.           Lothrop, William.
J.               Loud, Lydia.
Low, Edmund.
Jackman, Lucy Jane.           Low, Edmund.
Low, Fally Jane.
Jewell, Elizabeth.
Johnson, Charles.                           M.
Johnson, Elizabeth.'Johnson, Elizabeth, 2d.       McPherson, Hugh.
JhsnEe    Makepeace, Harriet (White).
Johnson, Ellen (Tilden).       Ma   H     bh
Johnson, Hannah (Wood).
Mann, Isaac.
Johnson, Mary.
Marden, Charles W.
K.               Marden, Eliza.
Kaley, Sarah (Upham).         Mason, Eveline (Knaggs).
Keith, Mary E.                Mason, Francis.




15
Mason, Lucinda (Gill).          Searfoss, Margaret.
May, Clarissa (Wentworth).      Seaward, Alfred.
Merriam, Asaph.                 Seckel, Elmira (Snow).
Merriam, Lorana.                Shaw, Elmira.
Messenger, Howard C.            Shaw, Vesta.
Messenger, Sarah.               Shepard, Frances.
Miner, Louisa (Tucker).         Shepard, Harriet.
Morse, Nancy.                   Shepard, Harriet B.
Morse, Ruth.                    Shepard, Julia Ann.
Munro, Ruth.                    Shepard, Sarah.
Shepard, Willard.
Shepardson, Nancy.
Nelson, Amariah C.              Shorey, Catharine.
Nickerson, Eunice.              Simmons, Benjamin.
Nutting, Sarah.                 Sinclair, Joanna (Taunt).
Smith, Caroline.
P.                Smith, Caroline E.
Petit, Elizabeth (Bailey).      Smith, Emila (Hamilton).
Pettengill, Sally.              Smith, Howard.
Pettengill, William.            Smith, Jane.
Pickernell, Lucy.               Smith, Sarah.
Pierce, Roby.                   Smith, Timothy.
Pike, Mary (Morse).             Smith, Zeba.
Pitcher, Joanna (French).       Snow, Abigail.
Pope, Ann.                      Snow, Abigail, 2d.
Pope, William.                  Snow, Ebenezer.
Snow, Jane.
R.                Snow, Naomi.
Randall, Clara (Upham).         Spare, Elijah.
Randall, Mary.                  Spare, Sally.
Richardson, Lucy (Johnson).     Spare, Sarah Ann.
Richardson, Mary A.             Sprague, Ellen.
Roberts, Ann E.                 Standish, Harriet (Loud).
Russell, Catharine (Brailey).   Stimpson, Mary.
Ruisell, Elizabeth.             Stoddard, Betsy (Tucker).
Russell, Philemon R.
Russell,                                      T.
Talbot, Lucinda T.
S.                Taylor, Elizabeth.
Sanborn, Caroline.              Thompson, Harriet (Drake).
Savels, Abigail.                Tilden, Abner.




16
Tilden Bethiah.               Upham, Rebecca.
Tilden, Catharine.            Upham, Sarah.
Tilden, Ezra.
Tilden, Hannah (Gill).                      W
Tilden, Julia.
Tilden, Lemuel.               Weed, George A.
Tilden, Mary.                 Wentworth, Jane.
Tingley, Nancy B.             Wentworth, Jane, 2d.
Tingley, Timothy C.           Wentworth, Sarah (Bright).
Tisdale, Alice.               Wheeler, Eliphal.
Tobey, Nancy (White).         White, Aurelia.
Tucker, Aaron E.              White, James.
Tucker, Annie.                 White, Sally.
Tucker, Caty.                 Whitehouse, Mar. C. (Withington).
Tucker, Eliza.                Wild, Jonathan.
Tucker, Eliza Ann.             Wild, Relief.
Tucker, Elizabeth.            Williams, Eliza Jane (Hunt).
Tucker, Elizabeth, 2d.        Wiswall, Elizabeth (Briggs).
Tucker, Elizabeth, 3d.        Wiswall, Emily.
Tucker, Ellen (Kenrick).      Wiswall, George M.
Tucker, Eunice.                Wiswall, John.
Tucker, George.               Wiswall, Joseph.
Tucker, Hannah.               Wiswall, Lewis.
Tucker, Isaac.                Wiswall, Lois.
Tucker, Mary G.               Wiswall, Mehitabel.
Tucker, Mary (Houghton).      Wiswall, Pamelia.
Tucker, Milla.                Withington, Enos.
Tucker, Nathhan.              Withington, Lucinda.
Tucker, Nathan, 2d.           Withington, Mary.
Tucker, Olive.                Withington, Sarah.
Tucker, Olive H.              Withington, Susan.
Tucker, Samuel.               Withington, Wales.
Wood, James M.
U.               Wood, Sarah Ann.
Worthington, Albert.
Upham, Charles.               Worthington, Caroline.
Upham, Enos.                  Wright, Desire.
Upham, Enos, 2d.              Wright, George C.
Uphani, Eveline (Endicott).   Wright, Olive B.
Total, 350.




17
Alphabetical List of the Present Members of the
Canton Baptist Church, July 24, 1865.
Ames, Julia R. (Crane).     Dunbar, Frances (Shepard).
Beals, Amasa.               Emmerton, Cath.(Chamberl'n).
Beals, Mary.                Emmerton, Elizabeth.
Belcher, Elizabeth.         Endicott, Cynthia.
Belcher, Mary.              Estv, Clinton.
Bense, Elizabeth P.
Bense, Charlotte E.         Fisher, Clarissa Cobb.
Bense, William.
Billings, Eliza.            Gill, Benjamin.
Blake, Clara.               Gill, Rebekah.
Bray, Sarah (Crane).*
Brown, Helen M.             Hardman, Charles F.t
Brown, Theron.              Holmes, Mary E. (Carpenter).
Bullard, Maria B.           Hunt, Polly (Bryant).
Bullard, Mary E.            Hunt, Sophia S.
Bullard, William.
Burnham, Julia M. (Shepard). Johnson, Ellen (Tilden).
Capen, Emma P.              Kenrick, Elizabeth.
Capen, Ezekiel.             Kenrick, Julia A.
Carroll, Emily C.           Kenrick, Susannah C.
Carpenter, Hannah.          Keith, Mary E.
Chandler, AnnJ.(Withington). Knaggs, Elizabeth.
Cobbet, Joanna.
Cobbet, Rachel F.           Leach, Clementina D.
Cobbet, William.            Leach, Elbridge G.
Coombs, Catharine E.
Coombs, George.             McPherson, Hugh.
Coombs, John.               Mason, Francis.
Crane, Clara.               Miner, Louisa (Tucker).
Croud, Daniel.
Croud, Mary E.              Nutting, Sarah.
Dismissed, Jan. 7, 1E66.  i Dismissed, Nov. 6, 1k65.




18
Pettengill, William.            Tucker, Aaron E.
Pitcher, Joanna (French).       Tucker, Annie.
Tucker, Ellen (Kenrick).
Randall, Clara (Upham).         Tucker, Eunice.
Richardson Lucy (Johnson).   Tucker, Hannah.
Russell, Catharine (Brailey).   Tucker, Mary (Houghton).
Shaw, Elmira C.                 Upham, Eveline (Endicott).
Shaw, Vesta.
Shepard, Harriet B.             White, Aurelia.
Shepard, Julia Ann.             White, James.*
Shepard, Willard.               Whitehouse, Marg't C. (WithSinclair, Joanna (Taunt).         ington).
Smith, Sarah.                   Williams, Eliza Jane (Hunt).
Snow, Naomi.                    Withington, Enos.
Sprague, Ellen.                 Wiswall, Elizabeth (Briggs).
Stimpson, Mary.                 Wiswall, Joseph.
Wright, George C.
Taylor, Elizabeth.              Wright, Desire.
Tilden, Catharine.              Wright, Olive B.
N. B. Maiden names of female members are given in parentheses in the
above table, in cases where they were not changed till after connection with
the church.
* Deceased, August 10, 1865.




INDEX OF NAMES.
Page                                  Page
Abington,...26, 47 Bethune, D.,..        44
Adlam, S.,.                36-39, 79 Beverly,...  7, 26, 29
Alger, R. F.,....    v  Bibliotheca Sacra,...   67
Algiers,.....    2Billings, J.....             8
Allen,-.. 6 Billings, N.,....    8
Allen, Lucy,....15, 17 Billings, O.,                           28
Amer. Baptist Missionary Union, III, 39 Billings, Wm.,                   71
American and Foreign Bible So-        Billson, E.,. 31, 80
ciety,..               42 Bird, A.,.15, 17
American Tract Society,.        i  Bird, H.,                        74-76
Ames, E.,..., 16 Bird, W.,                       26, 80
Ames, George (Mrs.),.      15, 76 Blackman, C.,....   72
Amesbury,..          82 Blackman, R.,                       72
Amity Street Church,.            82 Blackman, S.,. 8, 10, 11, 13, 80
Andover,..                   35 Blackman, W.,.           11
Armory Hall,.... 51 Blake,.39
Ashford,....   45 Blue Hill,.                                  86, 89
Athol,..       17, 54, 82 Blue Hill Schoolhouse,.  9, 18, 88
Attleboro'....     23, 82 Bolivar (Factory),...   61
Attleboro' (North),.          63 Bolles, L.,..        39, 42
Boston,       6, 7, 9, 11, 15, 17, 19, 24,
27-29, 32, 33, 36, 38,
Badger, Thomas,                   11                  40, 43, 45, 46, 53, 82,
Baldwin, Thomas,  3, 7, 11, 12, 26, 27,                83
46, 73                            Boston Academy (Tune Book),        75
Baldwin Place Church, 7, 11, 38, 40, 45 Boston Association,... 62, 83
Baltimore,..                  21  Boston Review,.                   67
Baptist Magazine, 7, 26, 28, 38, 41, 43, Boston, South, Associationi,  27, 51, 63
45, 47, 48                        Bowdoinham Association,..   29
Barrett, Thomas,            31-33, 79  Boyden, A.,.    I
autograph,.             33 Bradford,.55
Batchelder, William,.          55 Braintree,.82
B ath,...67 Braintree (South),...   83
Bay State,                        36 Brandon,                            50
Bay State Collection (Tune Book),  76 Brattleboro',.49
Becket,....   82 Bray, E. W.,                          75
Beecher, L.,..         3 Brewster,. 82
Belcher,...                  71, 72 Bridgewater,.23
Belcher, C. (Sen.),      17, 40, 44, 71 Bridgewater (North),..       83
Belcher, C. (Jun.),.       72, 74 Bridgewater (West),.              38
Belcher, D.,..        74 Bridgewater  Collection  (Tune
Belcher, J.,...         59, 64     Book),.                       73
Belcher, S.,..               72 Briggs, J.,.. 3-7, 11, 26
Belchertown,....   41  Briggs, O.,.                       26
Benedict, D.,...    26 Bristol (England),...   39
Bengal,....          Brooks, K.,....    v
Benson, C.,...       26, 80 Brown, R. W. E.,..           83
Bently, Wm.,....   51 Brown, T.,.        70, 79, 81




22
Page                                    Page
Brown (and Thurston),.   19  Crane,.             71, 72
Brown Ulfiversity,.    III, 67  Crane, A.,..   61
Brunswick,....    29  Crane, C. (Mrs. Jephthah),. 15, 72
Bunker, A.,                        VI Crane, E.,.                      72, 74
Burlingame,,.                83  Crane, F., 10, 14, 15, 18,22,25, 40, 46,
Burmah,...   17, 26, 27, 48                 58, 62, 71, 72, 74-76, 78,
Buss, R. (S.).          15, 17               79, 81, 83
Bussey, B.,. ~       53  Crane, Julia (Wentworth),..   72
Byles, M.,                          71  Crane, Julia (Ames),...   76
Crane, P.,.17
Crane, R.,.                        15
Calcutta,....38 Crane, R..,                                              83
Cambridgeport,...              61  Crane, S.,..                       72
Canada,....21 Croud,.,.                                                  16
Canterbury,                         58  Cumberland,                         63
Canterbury, S.,.8Curtis, D.,.                                        Iv
Cantica Landis (Tune Book),         76  Curtis, M.,. Iv, 39-41, 79-81, 83
Canton, Iv, vI, 2-5, 8-11, 13, 15, 17-19, Cyclopadia of Religious Knowl21, 23, 25, 26-28, 31, 32, 34,    edge,                           10
35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 44, 47, 49,
53-56, 59, 60, 63-65, 68, 70,
71, 82, 83                   Dartmouth College,...    7
Capen,                              71 Davies, S. (Sermons),.         44
Capen, E.,.. 58, 62, 75, 81, 83, 84 Davis, N. T.,.14, 16
Capen, N... vi, 38  Dedham,. 36, 37
Carmina Sacra (Tune Book),. 75, 76 Dedham (East),.. 66, 82, 83
Carpenter, C. H.,... 49, 69 Dedham (South),... v, 84
Carpenter, M.,. 49, 69, 80  Dedham (West),.. 37,66
Carr, A. W.,..70, 80 Delaware (River),...  29
Carroll, H.,....    53 Dexter, S. K.,..69, 80
Centreville,..16, 68 Dickerman,.71
Chaplin, J. D.,....66 Dippers,                                              5
Charles Street Church,. 11,82  Dorchester,.4, 82
Charleston (West),.   56 Draper, J.,.                         25
Charlestown,. 56, 83 Driver, Joseph,.45
Chase, J.,                          45  Driver, Thomas,. 45, 66, 80
Chessman, D.,. 26, 27  Dunbar, D.,.. 51, 80
China,.19, 71  Dunbar, E.,...         2, 71
Christian Harp (Hymn Book),.   76
Christian Review,... 67, 69
Christian Secretary,.              v  East Brookfield,.42
Christian Watchman and Reflect-         East Cambridge,                     82
or,. v, 30, 33, 46, 63 East Dedham,..  66, 82, 83
Chrysostom, J.,..         67 East Hartford,                       29
Churchill, T.,....   East Medway,..67, 82
Cincinnati,.36 East Randolph,.                                            83
Clapp, R.,...               17 East Stoughton,.. 8, 11, 39, 41, 84
Clark, H.,           Iv, 56, 58, 60, 79 Easton,...      23
Clealand, J.,                45, 46, 80 East Windsor Hill,.    70
Cobb, J.,                            8 Eaton, J. W.,. Iv, 61, 80
Cobbett, W.,                        84 Edgartown,.                   62
Colburn, A.,                       66  Edmands (& Lincoln),.   44
Colburn, B.,...                      11 Edson,,                         71
Coleman, J.,..   26 Edwards, J.,                            3
Coley, J. M.,            45, 46, 48, 80 Eliot, J.,. 34, 35, 80
Columbia College,..   68 England,                         2, 36, 39
Conant, T.,. 26, 62  Evans, G.,.  24, 25, 34, 37, 80
Connecticut Literary Institution,   70       life of,. 25,37
Coombes, G.,                        81 Evans, J.,.vI
Corey, E.,...        11 Everett, L.,..              30
Cowper, W. (Works),.                10 Ewer, S.,..42, 80




23
Page                                   Page
Fadden, A.,...14, 16 Hawes, A.,                            16
Fall River,                        82 HawesE.,.8, 14,16
Farley,.26 Hayden,O.,... 72
Farms,.16, 17 Haynes (house),                                  35
Female Mite Society,..   61  Hervey,'G. W.,         Iv, 68, 79, 83, 84
Fenno, I.,                         17 Hewins, L.,.                         v
Fisher, A.,11Hiler, J.                                                   11
Fisher, H.,....   44 Hill, A.                            15, 16
Fisher, J.,                     15, 76 Hingham,                      9, 16, 82
Fitchburg,...        ii  Hinton, J. H.,                      44
Ford, D. B.,  Iv, 65, 66, 67, 79, 81, 83 Histor. and Genealog. Register,   71
Ford, D. S.,...   33 Hobart, C.,11
Ford, Thomas,..33, 80  Hodges, J.,             42, 43, 49, 81
Foster, J.,                        39 Holbrook, E. L.,..   67
Foxboro',..    23, 26, 63, 66, 82 Holden,... 71, 82
Framingham,...   41 Holmes, L.,. 61, 62, 79
Framingham (South),..   70 Houghton (Elder),..   33
Franklindale,                      17 Houghton, Caty,                      15
French,                            71 Houghton, Charles,..   15
French, A.,                        28 Houghton, G.,                        15
French, E.,                        17 Houghton, J., 14, 15, 17, 18, 22, 40, 58,
Fuller, A.,                        18      81, 83
Fuller, B.,.15, 16 Houghton, M.,                       15
Fuller, D.,.....   16 Houghton, O.,.    12, 14, 15, 21, 22
Fuller, L.,                     14, 16 Houghton, Ralph,..   15
Fuller, M.,                        18 Houghton, Ruth,. 15, 17, 72
Fuller, O. P.,                  16, 68 Houghton's Pond,..    9
Hovey, A.,.V.vI, 67
Howard, L.,. 24, 80
Gammell, W.,                 6, 11, 13 Howell, G.,.68, 80
Gano, S.,.39, 40 Hudson,                             68
Gardner,                           54 Hunt, M., 32
Gear, H.,. 45, 47, 63, 79, 80, 81 Huntoon, B.,                      38
autograph,.                   47 Hurlin, W.,                          v
Gibson, J. B.,...24, 80
Giles, A. E.,                      VI...vi
Gill, A...15, 16 Indian Lane,.16
Gill, Benj.,.         8, 14, 15, 83
Gill, L.,.15, 17, 37, 48 Jamaica Plain,.66
Gill, N....  48 Jay, W.,.39
Goldsmith, 0.,...     7 Johnson, C.,              42, 43, 49, 81
Goodrich, C.,.   44 Johnson, H.,..       16
Grafton,..                       33 Johnson, L...42
Grafton, J..                 6, 11, 12 Jordan, E.,'..         8
Graham, I.,                        44 Josephus (Works),.        44
Green, C.,.                      45 Joy Street Church,.          6
Griffin, E.,.                    3 Judson, A. (Sen.),. 26, 27, 80
Judson, A. (Jun.),. 26, 27
Judson, A. H.,                     26
Hague, J. B.,.51, 80
hiague, W.,...42, 51, 80
Hall, R.,....     39 Kendall, H.,        11, 18,.19, 23-26, 80
Hamilton,..43, 69        life of,.       19, 23-26, 79
Hancock (privateer),.             29 Kendall, T.,..        11
Handy, J.,....26 Keene,.                                                 35
Hanover,. 67, 82 Kimball, C. 0.,       55, 56, 79, 80, 83
Harper (Brothers),                 68        autograph,.  56
Hartford,.....    51 Kimball, M.,..        16
Harvard College,                    3 Kimball, S.L.,.              vI
Harvard Street Church,             82 Kincaid, E.,                        38
Haverhill,.....55 King, N.,..      11




24
Page                                   Page
Kinney, N.,.             8 Medway,.67
Knaggs, E.,.           76 Memorial, Canton Baptist,. 12, 84
Knowles, J. D.,.           26, 40, 49 Meredith,                           19
Merriam, A.,  52-55, 58, 59, 79, 81, 83
Meriden,                           IV
Merrill, D..,..12, 45) 46, 80
Ladies' Benevolent Society, 19, 52, 61, Messenger V, V.,.          7
67, 68, 74, 79                     Methuen,                            55
Lawrence (Kansas),... 76 Middeboro',
Lee (South),  35 Middleboro',  61 26, 82
Lee (South),.... 3Middletown,...                47
Lewis, B.,.....                8 Middletown (Upper),                  68
Lewis, Welcome,...   83 Miller, W.,. 55, 56, 80
Lexington,... I       71 Miller's River Association,.        54
Lincoln, E.,.  9, 11, 23, 33, 44, 80 Milton,... 9, 10, 15, 16, 38
Lincoln, J.,.....9Miner B
Litchfield,.19 Miner, B.,                                                 15
Litchfielrmore,.                  29 Mississippi Valley,.   25
Livror (en.)             69Modern Harp (Tune Book),.   76
London (Eng.).                     69 Modern Psalmist (Tune Book),.   75
Lopez, A.,                   15, 75,6 Moore, F.,..       34, 35, 79
Lopez, C.,                             Moore, M                            VI
Lothrop, G,                     58,61  MorseM.,                        15 1
Lovell, E.(Mrs),                   26 Mount Vernon (Me.),                  19
Low, E. (Mrs.),...                16
Lowell,.... 82
Lynn,.                            68
Napoleon,.               21
Natchez,.                         36
McKendry, J.,                      17 Natick,.69
McKendry, R.,.15, 17, 72 Needham,.83
McKendry, W.,                      17 Nelson,,....    6
Madison University,.          58, 68 Neponset,.                         82
Magazine, Baptist,   26, 28, 38, 41, 43, Neponset Bank,.63
45, 47, 48                         Neponset River,.86
Magazine, New Jerusalem,..   26 Newark,.61
Magazine, Missionary (Home and         Newburyport,                        45
Foreign),.77 New Haven,....   70
Manchester,                        26 New Ipswich,... 35, 36, 54
Mann, B.,.                        11 New Lights,...   5, 9, 64
Mann, I.,                           8 New Orleans,.36
Mansfield,...    6, 23, 82, 83 Newport,.39
Marchant, H.,... 49, 50, 80 Newton, vI, 6, 11, 38, 39, 43, 47, 49, 51,
Marietta,.47  61, 66
Marshfield,.67, 82 Newton Upper Falls,.                                  42
Martha's Vineyard,...   62 Newton Theolog. Inst., VI, 43, 47, 49, 50,
Mason, A.,.                       vi      50, 63, 65, 67, 69, 70
Mason, A. F.,            Iv, v, 69, 80 Newton, J.,.                       44
Mason, F.,.   17, 25, 36-40, 42, 47, 81 New York,..       21, 69, 82
autograph,...   38 Niagara,.21
Mason, Mrs. H. M.,                 48 Norfolk Baptist Association,.   63
Mason, Mrs. L.,.                   38 Norfolk Domestic and Foreign
Mason, F. W.,.   39       Missionary Society,.        35
Mason, L.,....   74 Northern Baptist Education SoMason, W. P.,..     38      ciety,.                   III, 43
Massachusetts Baptist Conven-          North Attleboro',...   63
tion (Report),...   83 North Bridgewater,...   83
Massapoag,.86 Northfield (Minn.),...   52
Massapoag House,...   iv  North Precinct,....    4
Maxim, -,....   71 North Randolph,..      36, 40
Maynard, A.,..               VI North Schoolhouse,. 9, 18, 25, 78, 87
Medfield,... 6, 11, 41, 47, 82 Norton,                            42
Medford,.82 Notd, S.,                                                     44




25
Page                                  Page
Ober, H. W.,....   vI Sabbath School Teacher's AssociOld Club,....            71     ation,...               56
Oliver Street Church,.           82 Sacred Lyre (Hymn and Tune
Olmsted, J. W.,          v, 63, 64, 80    Book),...               76
Salisbury and Amesbury,           82
Sampson, G. W.,                   66
Sanford,..                       19
Palmer, W.,                        26 Sawyer, -,..26, 53
Parsons, L.,                       44 Scituate,.27, 65
Paul, T.,                        6, 7 Scituate (North),.   62
Pawtucket,.             23 Scituate (South),.        67
Peak, J.,                   45, 46, 80 Scougal, H.,.          44
life of,                 24, 46 Secretary, Christian,.    v
Pease, D.,                  33, 49, 80 Sedgewick,. 12, 46
Pekameet (Ponkapog Brook),         86 Seekonk,.                      58
Perthes, J. (Life of Chrysostom),   67 Sharon, III, 5, 19, 23, 24, 27, 31, 41, 42,
Pettengill, W.,.83                        45, 47, 66, 82; 83, 86
Philadelphia,.36 Sharp, D.,...   11, 12, 26, 33
Phillips Academy,                  35 Sheldonville,.82
Pike,.                            17 Shepard, W.,                 62, 81, 83
Pittsfield,.59, 82 Sherman, Roger,...                            23
Pleasant Street,.37, 39 Sherman (Mrs.),                                 23
Plymouth,.27, 62 Smith I.,                                               66
Ponkapog,.               9, 23, 28, 86 Smith, -,..                    26
Ponkapog (Indians),.              16 Somerset,.63
Portland,.                    19, 71 South Braintree,.                 83
Providence,...   21, 23, 39, 68 South Dedham,...  v, 82, 84
Psalmist (Hymn Book),. 51, 75 South Durham,.                    68
Psalmist, Modern (Tune Book),    75  South Framingham,                    70
Psaltery (Tune Book),              76 South Hanson,.83
Putnam, B.,..   34, 36, 37, 40 South Lee,.             3
Putnam,,..   26  South Lyndeboro',...   55
Putney,..   35 South Reading,..     24, 25
South Street,.                    16
South Village,                  4,.51
Sprague's American Pulpit,         30
Rand, T.,                         33  Spurgeon, C.,                      69
Randolph, 3, 8, 9, 11, 23, 34, 35, 47, 53, Spurr's Grove,.12
55, 66, 82                        Stanwood, H.,.        34, 80
Randolph (East),.         83 Steward, A.,                       33
Randolph (North),. 40, 83 Stillman, S.,                      3
Rangoon,.26, 49, 69 Stockbridge,.                                   29
Ransford, J. C.,                   11 Stoughton,  4, 16, 17, 47, 55 70, 72, 82
Rapidan,..18 Stoughton Collection (Tune Book), 72
Reed, - -.                         71  Stoughton (East), Iv, 8, 11, 39, 41, 66,
Reflector, Watchman and, v, VI, 33, 43,    84
63                                Stoughton Musical Society,.        71
Reservoir Pond,..      7, 9, 37, 39  Stow,.B.,...  vI, 44, 53, 59
Reviere Copper Company,            53 Sturbridge,.82
Ricker, J.,                        v Suffield,.70
Ripley, H. R.,.vI, 50 Sumner J.,.                       28
Ripley, S...   66 Sunderland,...   49
Ritchie, W.,..     4, 5, 8 Swan,,...   71
Robinson's Hist. Bap.,..   44
Rochester, University,..43, 68
Rockingham,.35 Tabernacle (N. Y.) Baptist Church, 82
Roxbury,.   17, 34, 42, 53, 82, 83 Tappan, Wm. B.,.         44
Royalston,..             55 Taunton,                 28, 56, 59, 82
Russell, P. R.,... 67, 79, 83 Three Rivers,.42
Rutland,.24 Thomas, C. A.,...  I,50, 80
Ryland, Dr. J.,.           39 Thurston,,..   44




26
Page                                 Page
Thurston (and Brown),.          19 Ware,.82
Tilden,..       71, 72, 76 Warren (R. I.),III
Tilden, Abigail,..        72 Warren (Mass.),...      82
Tilden, Abner,.. 7, 8, 14, 16, 72 Warren Baptist Association,   21, 34
Tilden, B.,.          7, 15, 16 Warwick,.55
Tilden, C.,.16 Washington,.66, 68
Tilden, E.,  7, 8, 10, 14-16, 18, 22, 25, Washington, George,.         29
32, 37, 40, 46, 57, 71, 72, 76-78, 81, 83 Washington  Harmony  (Tune
Tilden, J.,.16   Book),73, 75
Tilden, L.,.44, 72 Watchman and Reflector (ChrisTilden, M.,....         16      tian ),.. v, 30, 33, 46, 63
Tingley, T. C.,. Iv, 66, 67, 79, 81, 83 Waterloo,                      21
Titicut,.51 Waterville College,. 43, 62
Tolman,...        71 Watson, W. H.,.                   69
Tolman, S.,.                      71 Watts, I.,                         73
Tolman, T.,...   57 Wayland F.,..          27, 33, 39
Toungoo,.17 Webster,..       III, 33.
Town Records,..2, 8, 18, 52 Wellington (Duke of),.   2i
Tract Society, American,..   II Wendell Association,..   54
Tracey, O.,.        35, 40, 80 Wentworth, Jane,.15, 16
Train, Charles,                   41 Wentworth, Jesse,..    8
Train, A. S.,.I Wentworth, N.,                                       16
Trumbull, John,.                 29 Wentworth, O.,.                   8
Tucker,.72 Wentworth, Seth,.. 8, 16
Tucker, A. E.,.    16, 58, 81, 83, 84 Wentworth, Spencer,..    8
Tucker, C.,.          4, 6, 15-17, 72 Westboro',..   III
Tucker, Elias,..     15, 16, 72, 74 West Bridgewater,..      38
Tucker, Eliza,.. 15, 17 West Charleston (Vt.),.        56
Tucker, Eunice,....   16 Wheeler, E.,.1.5, 17
Tucker, George,..     15, 66 Wheeler, S.,.           17
Tucker, Gerry,.16, 51 Wheelock, E.,.          26
Tucker, H.,.                     15 Whitaker,,.                       5
Tucker, I.,.                     15 White, J.,                         83
Tucker L.,.   441 Whitefield, G.,..        4, 59, 64
Tucker, M.,...     15, 17  Whitehead, J. M.,                VI.. 
Tucker, N., 8, 10, 14, 15, 22, 40, 44, 78 Whitney, H. L.,.76
Tucker, N. (Jr.),.               15 Wilcox, J. F.,.           51, 52, 80
Tucker, O.,....      15, 17 Wilkinson (Gen.),                 21
Tucker, S.,.   8, 14, 16, 22, 40, 72, 76 Williams, E.,   6, 7, 10-12, 21, 23, 26,
Tucker Hill,....   16        28-30, 40, 46, 80
Williams, B. W.,.        26
Union American Baptist Mission'y,  III Williams, N. M.,.        26
Union Baptist Church,.        82 Williams, N. W.,.        26
University, Brown,. III, 63,.67 Williams' Bridge Church,.     82
University, Madison,..  58, 68 Willimantic,                       70
University of Rochester,..   68 Winchell, J.,.                     24
Upham, A.,..          16 Winchell's Watts,.        24
Upham, C.,..        16 Winchester (Vt.),                  68
Upham, E.,.           7, 8, 14, 16, 31 Windsor,..45
Upham, L.,.16 Winthrop,.....33, 82
Upham, M.,                        16 Wiswall, G.,                       83
Upham, R.,.                      16 Withington, E.,.                  16
Upham, S.,...                    16 Withington, W.,...14, 16
Woburn,.82
Valley Church,.86-89 Woodstock,...                              33, 45
Village Choir (Tune Book),        73 Worcester,..        82
Wrentham,.                       82
Waitt, George N.,..  83
Waitt, S.,.26, 27, 83
Wales, J.,                        11 Yale College,. 29, 70
Walker (and Wise),                18 York (Rng.),                       36
Walpole (N. H.),.      45 York Schoolhouse,...  4-6
Waltham,..18, 68 York Street,.... 4, 17




INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Page                                    Page
Additions, total of,.         82  Choir,...   28, 31, 72-76
Ammunition,..       2  Choristers,.72, 74
Anniversaries,...    III             germ of,                  10
Anthems,...   Iv, 21, 71, 73              history of,  v, vI, 54, 59, 65
Apostasy,.       i..    24, 59-61            organization of,.. 10-13
{ Wvilliains,    7, 23, 29, 80           articles of faith and
Apostles, Lincoln,..         9, 80                covenant,.. 13, 14
Kendall,. 18, 19, 80             sketch of original memEvans,.       25, 34, 80                bers,..      15-18
Articles of faith,...    13, 14            rules, &c., of,. 19, 20
Warren Baptist,  21, 34            discipline of,  27, 32, 36, 39,
Boston Baptist, 34, 63,                 42, 54, 61, 63, 67
Associations  83                              membership of,  14, 15, 21,
Canton  Sabbath          Church,       27, 32, 35, 39, 41, 43, 44,
ISchool Teachers', 56    ]r            48, 51, 54, 57, 58, 60, 61,
Boston South, 27, 54, 63                63, 67, 69, 83
Barrett,..   33               spiritual state of, 23, 24, 34,
Autographs   Mason,..   38                      36, 40-42, 45, 46, 54, 56,
uga,. Gear,.        47                 59-61, 63-67
Kimball,..   56               revivals in, 23, 34, 40, 45, 57,
66
fund of,...40, 59
first in Canton,        7             records of, imperfect, 28, 43,
| early,      9, 23, 34, 35               77, 78
Baptisms,   Mason's,                37  Church, old standing order, 3, 4, 8, 18, 64
later, 40, 45, 48, 57, 66, 68 Clerks,...   18, 58, 77, 81
total of,.81                           time of celebrathated, 4-6, 24, 25, 27, 46, 60, Communion,      ing,          20, 28
61, 86, 88               Communion,  6pen,.                 66
persecuted,   5, 6, 24, 25, 88              furniture,..   68
Baptists, early meetings,.   4-13, 18 Congregationalists,.   27, 45, 46, 53
Old Society,.. 8, 18 Congregationalists become BapNew Society,.  65             tists,.          27, 46
music,    5, 6, 21, 31, 73-76  Contributions, 22, 27, 33, 40, 41, 47, 48,
not hostile to Whitefield, 64     52, 57, 67, 77-79
Barn,..                            58 Councils,. 11, 47, 55, 66, 83, 84
Bass viol,..74, 75
Bequests.. 17, 62
Bell,.                         53, 70 Deacons,.   18, 46, 58, 61, 62, 81
Blackman House,  v, 10, 11, 13, 80, 87 Debts,.. 31, 57, 63
Bounty of Canton Soldiers,.    2 Decline,....            59-64
Box to Mason,. 46, 47     -, causes of,..       59, 60
Dedications,... 28, 29, 53
Dinner,....         v, 11
Cemetery,.28, 39, 88 Discipline, 19, 27, 32, 36, 39, 42, 54, 61,
Centennial,.                   III, 84   63, 67
Chapel,.          62, 88 Discouragements, 24, 46, 51, 55, 59, 61,64
Charities,  17, 43, 46, 48, 52, 61, 77-79  Dismissions,..  32, 42, 51, 61, 82
Charities, total of,...     78     - to what ch.,..     82, 83




28
Page                                     Page
Dismissions to Methodist ch.,    32, 82              of Baldwin,             27
Donations'(to the church),.     35, 40              of Kendall, 19, 23-26, 79
Expenditures, total of,..    78              of Evans,.      25, 37
Expulsions,.. 27, 36, 54, 61, 67, 82 Memoirs,    of Fuller,              18
of Judson, A.,.   27
Factory, Stone,                  41, 42              of Judson, A. H.,.   26
__        Bolivar,                61                of Peak,..24, 46
Families of original members,. 15-18                of Whitefield,. 59, 64
of singers,              71, 72  Minister's tax,                 3, 8, 18
Fast days,...   21, 45, 46, 58  Minutes of associations,  43, 51, 54, 65
sermons,...  2, 8 Missionary spirit in church,        42, 48
Fence,.....   67  Missionaries, preached in Canton, 26, 38,
Files of church papers,.        77       47, 52, 69
Fund for preaching,.           40, 57  Music of the church,. 31, 70-76
Funeral of Mason'schld,              39
Funeral of Mason's child,           39..   3 North Schoolhouse,    9, 18, 25, 78, 87
picture of,...    9
Grove (Spurr's)... 11,12  Notes, preachers' (first used in Canton
Baptist Church),...   35
sources of,.. 77, 78
History  lessons of, 49, 50, 59, 60, 64, Old Society (Baptist, so called),. 8, 18
Canton     84, 85, 88, 8i            Open Communion,                      66
Canton h.    published in minutes, 54, 65  Ordinations,         40, 47, 66, 81
of decline,.. 59-65  Organ,....         67, 76
History of Ladies' Benevolent So-        Organists,.                        76
ciety,.           52
-       of Mason's Life,.  36, 38  Parish visiting,...    54, 59
Hymn Book,..   51, 73, 75, 76  Parish Records,....            18
Parsonage,...        35, 57, 63
Incidents,.  12, 27, 33, 34, 36, 45, 46  Pastorates, transient,.  49, 50, 66, 80,former, none present at jubiPastors,       lee,..         II
Jubilee Exercises,. IV,              list and number of,        79
Peace,.....    21, 65
Ladies,    24, 47, 48, 52, 61, 67, 78, 79 Persecution,. 5, 6, 24, 25, 88
-Benevolent Society, 19, 52, 61, Pitchpipe,                              72
67, 68, 79                                     ['Baptist, first in Canton, 3,
Library,.44                                              4, 6, 7, 9
Licensures,.... 38, 42, 81                in early days of Church,
List of members (Old Society),.    8                     12, 13, 18, 23-27
of the Church,           14, 15 P             alternate, 23, 24, 27, 31,
Lord's Supper,... 20, 28, 66 Preaching,          33, 36, 42
fruitless,.         64
(early,..  4-13, 18                 offensive,. 31, 59, 60
Meetings,  protracted,. 45, 47, 58               hostile,...    5
(singing in,. 5, 6, 70-76              Whitefield's,.  4, 59, 64
Meeting-house (old), 22, 27, 28, 30, 31,              [ E. Lincoln's,.   10
picture of,                  31                 D. S. Ford's,         67
rented to town,..   44                  ( G. W. Hervey's, 68, 69
sold to town,..          51
Meeting-house (new),..  48, 51-53  Quota, of Canton, 1812, &c.,.    2
repaired,.               67, 69
Membership, 14, 15, 21, 27, 32, 35, 39, Records,.. v, 28, 43, 77, 78
41, 43, 44, 48, 51, 54, 57, 58, 60, 61, Reference, mode of,.            v
63, 67, 69                          Religion, struggles in cause of,  3, 5, 6,
total additions to,..   82      24, 25
total subtractions from,.   82 Repairs,.          63, 67, 69
text of,..    1 Reports,..    43, 44, 77, 78, 83
CantMemorial,    objects and value of, Restorations,.  43, 65, 81
1, 2, 50, 84, 85 Revivals,. 4-9, 23, 34, 40, 45, 57, 66




29
Page                                    Page
Revivals, first in church,..   23 Statistics,....  v, 78-84
---- of music,. 74, 76 Subtractions, total of,...   82
Ridicule of Baptists,.        6, 7, 88 Supplies, pulpit,  18, 23-27, 31, 33, 34,
Rules of order,. 19, 20   39, 42, 45, 46, 48, 49-52, 56, 61, 63,
69, 70, 80
Sabbath School,.    32, 41, 44, 60, 79
Sacrament,. 20, 28, 66
Salaries,  31, 33, 39, 41, 46, 56, 61, 63, Tavern, the Old Baptist,. 10, 11, 80
78                                 Tax, ministerial,.         3, 8, 18
Second Advent preached here,   55, 56 Treasurers,...   18, 62, 77, 78
Semi-centennials,        I..   II  Tune Books,...         73, 75, 76
Seraphine,.                        75 Tuning-fork,...             72
Sermons, special, 2, 5, 8, 12, 13, 28, 40,
45, 53, 66, 69
Sextons,.             30, 31, 53, 62 Unitarians,.. 3, 12, 17, 28, 82
Sheds,...               58 Universalists,                   54, 60
Singing,             5, 6, 21, 28, 70-76
- schools,..    71, 74, 76
-- books,... 73, 75, 76 Violin,.                                  74, 75
[Old Baptist,.. 8, 18 Violoncello,.           74
present Baptist,.   65
Ladies' Benevolent, 19, 52,
61, 67, 68, 79        War fifty years ago,.. 2, 3, 21, 22
Societies,  Female Mite,.         61           [E. S. Williams,           30
North Baptist Education,            | D. B. Ford,.         67
III, 43  Works, I G. W. Hervey,. 68, 69
Home Mission, vI, 47, 52,! Cowper's (published by E.
77                              I   incoln),.              10