Fifty Notable Years

Rev. Lafayette Barstow died in Orono, Me., Nov. 10, 1865, aged forty-three years. In his youth he was connected with the Universalist Church in Chicopee, Mass., where he won the confidence and respect of his brethren. In 1850 he went to Oregon, where he remained several years. Returning to the East, he entered Tufts College, and was afterwards called to the pastorship of the Universalist Society in Orono, Me., where he labored with diligence and success for eight years, closing his only pastorate with his earthly life. Ex-Governor Washburn, for several years one of his parishioners, wrote in regard to his death and the loss to the Orono Society and to the denomination: —

"In the community where he lived his place will not be easily supplied. He had become, as it were, an integral part of the life of Orono. His well-known form will be missed upon the street, the light of his genial face, radiant with spiritual beauty, will be a joy in its homes no more, but his memory will be sweet and precious to all, of whatever religious name or party, who have known him intimately."

Rev. Stillman Barden was a fervent and devout man. Born in Stoddard, N. H., he commenced his ministry in 1839, and labored with but little cessation for twenty-six years. Most of his ministry was in Massachusetts. He was settled as pastor in South Reading, Orleans, Beverly, Marblehead, and Rockport. His whole ministerial, domestic and social life, was one of Christian fidelity. Not preaching to large congregations of people, never receiving a large salary, he was, nevertheless, truly successful in securing the best results of the ministry. His religion was intensely practical. He was active in the cause of Temperance, and the Anti-slavery cause had not a well-wisher more ardent or conscientious. He loved the prayer and conference meeting, and was always ready with a warm and suggestive word to give it effect. He was much interested in the science of mineralogy, and had gathered quite a large and valuable cabinet of choice specimens. He died in Rockport, Mass., Aug. 7, 1865, aged fifty-three years.

Rev. Timothy J. Tenney was a native of Weare, N. H., and came into the ministry from the instruction of Rev. T. F. King, of Portsmouth, N. H., in 1834. In 1836 he moved to Maine, where in Fryeburg and neighboring towns he labored successfully for nearly four years. He was afterwards minister in Norway and Denmark, and then in St. Johnsbury and in Glover, Vt., where he closed his earthly career. So good was his health generally that he failed in no one instance to meet his appointments on account of illness, until at the very last of his days. He died in Glover, Vt., Oct. 8, 1854. He was an able and devoted minister of the New Testament, a conscientious and faithful man, true to his own convictions. He was a Christian reformer, always the active friend of Temperance, Freedom, and Peace. His son, Rev. C. R. Tenney, is at present pastor of the Universalist Church in Stoughton, Mass.

Rev. Orren Perkins, born at Savoy, Mass., Aug. 11, 1823, preached his first sermon at South Adams, and was ordained at Bernardston, by the Winchester Association, in June, 1847. He was settled at Bernardston four years; afterwards had a short pastorate at Wilmington, Vt., and then moved to Winchester, N. H., where he remained twelve years. For five of those years he was a member of the State Legislature, being three years in the House and two in the Senate. He was also for ten years State superintendent of schools. Later, he took charge of the Academy at Cooperstown, N. Y., with which he was connected some years. He was settled at West Concord, Vt., the last two years of his life, and left there for Chicago, where he was to be employed in editorial work on the "Star and Covenant." He had a peculiarly sensitive and nervous temperament; and during the last few years was subject to great depression of spirits, caused by the loss of his property and the almost total failure of his voice. A gloomy cloud hung over him: he felt that his usefulness was at an end, and his mental anguish became insupportable. In a moment of frenzied despair his mind, affected by hereditary insanity, gave way, and he freed himself from the earthly life. He was much beloved, and his life was blameless. He was an accurate scholar, a very successful teacher, and an able and interesting writer. He died at Chicago, Ill., Oct. 30, 1880. He leaves a widow, Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins (one of our woman preachers), and three daughters.

Rev. Charles Heman Dutton was born in Ogden, Genesee County, N. Y., Oct. 5, 1823, and died in Hamilton, Ohio, July 17, 1877, in his fifty-fourth year. His family removed to Rochester, N. Y., when he was seventeen years old; and he was a student in the Rochester Collegiate Institute. His thoughts at an early age had been turned to the ministry through the preaching of Rev. J. M. Cook. His studies preparatory to the ministry were very meagre; a few months were spent with Rev. Mr. Hammond of Rochester, and a few more with Rev. S. R. Smith, then of Buffalo. He was licensed as a preacher in 1843, when he was scarcely twenty years old. He was pastor in Essex, Canton, Marblehead, and Lowell, Mass. Afterwards he resided in Rochester and Leroy, N. Y., in Springfield, Marietta, and Hamilton, Ohio, in which last-named place he died. He was credited, in the various places of his residence, with a vigorous intellect, superior pulpit talents, gentlemanly manners, and the conscientious and faithful performance of his duties as a minister of the Gospel. His Christian faith grew stronger and stronger as the outward man failed.

Thirty years since, there was a minister of the Universalist faith in New Hampshire and Vermont, "a plain, blunt man," with no pretensions to a classical education, but speaking in words of most expressive English, with "the Bible at his tongue's end," – Rev. Robert Bartlett. He was one of the pioneers, who preached the Gospel as opportunity occurred, in any place – school-house, barn, parlor, kitchen, church, or in the open field. He was always astir, and always full of his theme, "the Gospel of Universal Grace and Salvation." In the country places, rather than in cities, he seemed most at home. Once, it is said, when appointed to preach an occasional Convention sermon, at the yearly assembling, in a large and beautiful church, he seemed in his simplicity and modesty so overpowered by the thought of the occasion as to be able to make only a faint demonstration of his speaking powers. But in his usual Sunday services in the rural places and with plainest surroundings, he would preach the word of the primitive Gospel "in demonstration of the spirit and with power." He is remembered, by not a few who have heard him, as such a preacher.

In recent time Mr. Bartlett disappeared from public notice; his work being done, and the infirmity of years resting upon him. He recently departed this life in Boston, January, 1882, aged nearly ninety. The funeral was attended by Dr. Miner, who in his youth had often listened to his preaching. The remains were taken for burial to Laconia, N. H.

CHAPTER XIX.

SKETCHES OF MINISTERS. —continued

"Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ." – 2 Cor. v. 20.

REV. RUFUS SPUR POPE, pastor of the First Universalist Society in Hyannis, Mass., died in that place June 5, 1882. He was born in Stoughton, Mass., April 2, 1809. His father removed from Stoughton to Dorchester, and thence to Marlboro, where the son spent his youthful days in agricultural pursuits. He received his education in the common schools and in the Marlboro Academy. While young he was drawn toward the ministry, and his love for it continued to the end. He spent some time in theological studies with the late Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, D. D., in Malden; and in 1833 preached his first sermon, in South Dedham. Besides his settlement in this place, he had pastorates in Milford, Sterling, and Hardwick, covering a period of ten years. In 1843 the society in Hyannis invited him to be their pastor. Accepting the call, he labored in this place faithfully thirty years. After closing his work here, he ministered to the church in Orleans three years, and briefly supplied some other parishes. His health has been gradually failing for some years.

Mr. Pope was a public man in more than one sense. He served Barnstable for years very faithfully and acceptably as one of its school committee, and was for two years representative from the town in the State Legislature. He filled for some time the office of Register of Probate for Barnstable County, and was for several years postmaster of Hyannis. He was an active and much respected member of the Masonic fraternity.

Rev. William M. De Long was born in Pittsfield, Otsego County, N. Y., Sept. 2, 1815, and died in Binghampton, N. Y., Oct. 30, 1877, aged sixty-two years. He was the youngest of a family of five brothers and nine sisters. When he was nine years old the family moved to Hastings, Oswego County. His mother became entirely blind by an inflammation in her eyes, and by reason of afflictions, of hard times and many children to provide for, the family was reduced to abject poverty. The father died soon after removing to Hastings, and the family was broken and scattered. The mother moved to Clark's Mills, near Utica, where she died in 1830, when William was fifteen years old. He lived a year in Sanquoit, with a friend of the family, and while there heard Rev. W. Bullard and Rev. Dolphus Skinner preach a few Universalist sermons, in which young De Long became deeply interested, as well as in reading the "Magazine and Advocate," and for this reason was dismissed from the machine-shop at Unadilla Forks by its proprietor, a Mr. Abel Stillman, who, however, reconsidered his unreasonable conduct, and reinstated Mr. De Long, who worked there long enough to acquire the money to pay for a year's tuition at Hartwick Seminary. He afterwards attended the New Berlin Academy. His faith in Universalism grew with his increased facilities for study, and in August, 1835, he preached his first sermon. He was ordained July 20, 1837, and preached under different engagements at Lebanon, Oran, and Binghampton, in New York. In 1841 he joined Rev. George Rogers in a missionary tour through Ohio and Indiana. For many years he itinerated over a large circuit in New York and Pennsylvania. He was twice married, first to Miss Mary Ann Ashcroft, who died in 1870, and in 1871 to Miss Mary Jane Swart, an acceptable preacher of the Universalist faith, who survives him. There is a good account of her in "Our Woman Workers," by Mrs. Hanson.

In 1873 Mr. De Long began to suffer from a paralytic affection, from which he could get no relief. These sentences, written and signed by him a short time before he had lost the power of guiding his pen, show the strength of his faith: "I know that God is, that my Redeemer liveth, and that we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This is the source of my consolation."

Rev. W. B. Linnell was born in Birmingham, England, in 1804, and died in Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 6, 1868. His first settlement in the ministry was in Springboro, Ohio, in 1844, where he continued for seven years. He afterwards had a settlement in Fairfield, Ind.; Mt. Pleasant, Ia.; and Oquawka, in which last place he remained until the breaking out of the war. He then enlisted in the service of his adopted country as chaplain of the 10th Illinois regiment. Health failed him, and he returned to his home, after enduring the hardships of camp life for nearly a year. After recovering his health, he took charge of the church in Vevay, Ind. He was one of the pioneers of Universalism in the West, and did good service as a Christian minister. Having much of the missionary spirit, his appointments were always numerous, and they were made many weeks ahead. As a preacher, though not particularly brilliant, he was always efficient. He inherited the traditional shrewdness and humor of the Yorkshire people, who were his ancestors, in such a degree as to make him a marked character among his brother ministers. He was kind and tender-hearted to a fault, yet his will was unbending, and when his mind was once made up it was difficult to change him.

Rev. Joshua Britton came from Westmoreland, N. H., where he was born Aug. 14, 1803. His early life was spent upon a farm, where he had but limited opportunities for attending school. But he diligently improved those that offered, and at the age of eighteen began a successful career as a teacher, which extended over ten years, pursuing his studies at the same time, and still adding to his stores of knowledge. He had from youth a serious and devout mind, and was always a regular attendant on public worship. He was inclined to the faith of the Presbyterian Church until about the age of twenty-three, when he had opportunities for hearing the doctrines of Universalism advocated and defended by the late Rev. Dolphus Skinner, and others. He became deeply interested, and his intelligent mind eagerly drank in the new views presented. His faith grew stronger with the lapse of time, and he finally resolved to enter the ministry. He preached his first sermon in 1831, and was ordained at Burlington Flats, N. Y., June 6, 1832. He was settled over parishes in the State of New York till 1839, when he was in Chesterfield, N. H., for a year. He spent the next ten years in Dudley and North Chatham, Mass.; then three years in Stoddard and Richmond, N. H. He removed to Vermont in 1853, and preached in Brattleboro, West Concord, Lyndon, and Bradford for the next fifteen years, when he went to Fort Atkinson, Wis., which was his home for the remainder of his life. He was a faithful and excellent pastor; he had a mild and loving heart, and won many friends. If not one of the greatest ministers intellectually, he was one of the best spiritually, and his life was a pure and useful one. He died at Fort Atkinson, Wis., Oct. 30, 1878.

An instance illustrative of the orderly habits of the man was, years ago, related to the writer. The books in his library were always exactly in their places, and the backs of them in a straight line. At one time an exchange minister, who had the free use of the library during a Sunday's tarrying, had failed to replace the volumes he had taken down according to the rules of the proprietor. When Mr. Britton entered the study on his return home, while his brother was yet there, the first kindly salutations were scarcely over when the projecting volumes were all noted and quickly adjusted by their owner. A singular and timely suggestion.

Rev. George Messenger was originally from Berkshire, Mass., removing from thence to the State of New York, and afterwards, in 1838, to Springfield, Ohio, where he ever after lived, a widely known and highly respected citizen. He was licensed as a preacher at Madison, N. Y., in 1824, and ordained, at Eatonsbush, N. Y., Oct. 12, 1826. He was an itinerant preacher, and much interested in the prosperity of the church where he resided. As one of the trustees of Buchtel College, he gave much of his time and attention to the supervision of the erection of the college building. For the last few months of his life he was very hard at work at Akron, and while thus engaged contracted a sickness which terminated in death. "It may be said of him," wrote the editor of "The Star in the West," "that he died a martyr to the work which had enlisted his sympathies, namely, establishing Buchtel College on a permanent basis. He subscribed largely and liberally to the fund for its erection, and was an unceasing worker in its behalf. His widow, since his death, has been a substantial helper to the institution. She endowed the chair of Mental and Moral Philosophy, in memory of her husband, to the amount of $25,000; and has also contributed largely to the expenses of the institution, and given again and again for various special purposes."48

Rev. John Temple Goodrich, of Middlefield, Otsego County, N. Y., born in 1815, studied theology with Rev. Stephen R. Smith. In 1836, when less than twenty-one years of age, he was settled as a preacher in Oxford, Chenango County, N. Y., where he remained about twelve years. In 1850 he was called to the pastorate of the Universalist Church at Canton, N. Y., where he remained for five years, doing good work there and in neighboring places. An affection of his throat induced him to accept a call to Reading, Pa., where he labored two years, and where his influence was strong and extended as it had been elsewhere. After this he was persuaded to return to Canton, and take the agency of the new Theological School and College projected at that place, and served in that capacity for five years, successfully, preaching in the mean time in Canton and elsewhere. It was largely through his efforts that the New York Legislature appropriated $25,000 to the Canton schools. Released from this work, he became pastor of the Eighth Street Church, Philadelphia, where he remained four years, when he left them out of debt and himself out of health. After an interval spent in travelling, he went to Wilmington, Del., and supplied that missionary station for about two years.

While he lived in Canton, he held an oral discussion with Rev. Mr. Wheeler, Baptist, which continued several evenings, and was a marked success on the part of Mr. Goodrich. In Wilmington he held a written controversy with Rev. Mr. Hoffman, a Presbyterian minister, a success also. Years before this, he had held a written and oral discussion with Rev. Mr. Dyer, a Presbyterian, of Preston, N. Y., which gave the cause of Universalism an impetus in that place. Mr. Goodrich was not combative, and would not seek a controversy, nor would he shrink from one if duty called him to engage in it. He was devotedly attached to his family, and was anxious to close up his secular concerns, and settle down over some parish where the labor required was such as his health would enable him to perform. With this intent he left home on the 25th of September, 1871; went to Fulton, then to Watertown, to Rochester, and to Chicago, where he was seen by acquaintances, and where his name was entered on the register of the Metropolitan Hotel, for room No. 36, on the 5th of October, and where it afterwards remained, with bill unsettled. He, with many others, perished in the dreadful conflagration at that time.

Rev. Franklin Charles Flint was born in Nelson, N. H., June 16, 1836, and died in Shrewsbury, Mass., March 23, 1876. In 1840 his family moved to Hancock, N. H., and in 1842 to Shrewsbury, Mass., where he worked on his father's farm and attended a district school. At an early age he was quite studious, and desired a classical education. He went through his preparatory course at Thetford (Vt.) Academy, and in 1857 entered Amherst College. But, after spending two years there, he left, entered at Tufts, and graduated in 1861, the third in a class of twelve, with a philosophical oration. He was enabled to work his way through college by gaining, in a competitive examination, one of the scholarships granted by the State of Massachusetts to Tufts College, and by what he could earn in teaching school during his vacations. Upon graduating, he took charge of the high school in Westboro, Mass., and in the mean time turned his attention to theology. He preached his first sermon at Groton (now Ayer Junction). In 1863 he preached in Dana and vicinity, teaching meanwhile a select school. In 1864-5 he taught a select school at Hyannis, Mass., and afterwards was assistant in the academy at Dudley. In 1865 he removed to Chatham, on Cape Cod, where he was ordained, July 31, 1866. In 1867 he became pastor of the Universalist Society in Southbridge, Mass., where he proved himself a faithful minister, a useful member of the school committee, an efficient worker in the temperance cause, and by his active interest and co-operation in every good work, and by his frank and genial manners, won the respect and good will of the people in and out of his parish. In 1874 he took charge of the Willow Park Seminary, at Westboro, Mass., but resigned after one year. He preached for short periods at Oxford and Rockport. In 1874 he prepared for the press a memoir of the late Rev. W. W. Wilson, one of his predecessors in the pastorate at Southbridge. In 1875 he took charge of the Universalist Society in Attleboro, Mass., but failing health compelled him to resign the position in March, 1876. His people voted him leave of absence, hoping he might recover, and he went to his father's in Shrewsbury, but he rapidly grew worse, until death came to his relief. His record is with that of "the faithful in Christ Jesus."

Rev. Hope Bain was a Scotchman by birth, from Aberdeen. His father, once an officer in the British navy, removed with his family to Maryland, and died in Baltimore in 1812. The son served during the war of 1812, young as he was (fifteen), as a member of a Baltimore company of volunteers attached to the 5th regiment, and was in the battles of Bladensburg and West Point. He was at first a Presbyterian, and member of that church for many years. In 1830 he was appointed an agent to labor in West Tennessee, and in the valley of the Mississippi, for the American Sunday-School Union. He became a Universalist in 1847, and was ordained a preacher at Norfolk, Va., in 1848. He was for fifteen years a teacher in Virginia. He moved to North Carolina, in December, 1851, and preached, before the war of the Rebellion, in twenty-six counties, and, after the war, in six other counties. His last sermon was in Goldsboro, in 1875. Anticipating his approaching departure, he said that at the age of eighty-one he could not expect to remain here much longer, nor did he desire to. He was nearing a home where he should be united to loved ones gone before. He was widely known in North Carolina. He was a Union man in the strictest sense, thoroughly loyal to the government during the late war, which alienated from him many of his former associates and hearers, but he never wavered in devotion to his country, and to the cause of the Christian Gospel. Although without pecuniary resources, he continued to preach wherever there was an opening, and with little or no remuneration labored faithfully and steadfastly in the ministry as long as health and strength lasted. His faith uplifted and sustained him as he passed from these earthly scenes.

Rev. Woodbury M. Fernald was for several years a prominent preacher with the Universalists. He was born in Portsmouth, N. H., March 21, 1813, and died in Boston, Mass., Dec. 10, 1873. He was ordained at Portsmouth, N. H., in 1836. In 1838 he was pastor at Cabotville (now Chicopee), Mass. In 1840 and 1841 he was located at Newburyport, and while there published a volume entitled "Universalism against Partialism," an able statement of the contrast set forth. He was next in Stoneham as pastor for three years. In 1854 he removed to Boston, and becoming interested in the works of Swedenborg and the writings of Andrew Jackson Davis, he was after a while ordained as a Swedenborgian minister. He was so fascinated by the New Church doctrines as to become alienated from his former associates and lost to their ministry. He published, in 1854, a "Compendium of the Theological and Spiritual Writings of Swedenborg," and in 1859, "God in His Providence," in which he implicitly renounced the notion of "the eternity of Hell," and put forth a Universalist view of human destiny, turning Swedenborg's principles against the Seer's own conclusions, and making those principles the ground of an assurance of Universal Restoration. He published afterwards other works, evincing much ability. His sincerity was never doubted.

Rev. Caleb Perin Mallory was a minister of the Universalist faith in Canada during most of his life. He died at Huntingville, P. Q., July 13, 1882, aged seventy-one.

He was born in Eaton, C. E. His early training was under the influence of the theology after the kind taught by Calvin and Arminius. Being of a thoughtful and studious disposition, however, he came to see in the teachings of the New Testament strong and unmistakable evidences of the Gospel of Universalism. When about thirty years old he appeared before the public as an advocate of it. Rev. L. H. Tabor, who officiated at the funeral, gave the following account: —

"As nearly as I can learn, he preached some three years in various places to good acceptance, and was ordained at Glover, Vt., Sept. 19, 1843, and in just one year from the time of ordination (Sept. 19, 1844), was installed at the request of several brethren residing in as many of the eastern townships over which he was installed. For several years he preached regularly at Huntingville and other places in the vicinity, and for over forty years had attended funerals and weddings, baptizing children and adults as the disciples of Jesus, the Saviour of the world. He was a Christian reformer, ready for every good word and work. No one man could have been taken from that community whose departure will be felt more. And when we saw the multitude that gathered at his burial, with weeping eyes, we were led to say,'Behold, how they loved him.' It was said, by good judges, that there were a thousand people at his funeral, some coming the distance of fifty miles.