Radio Script #1238

Little Talks on Common Things
April 13, 1980

Last week we spoke about the First Baptist Society of Berwick, Maine from its origin in 1799 to the close of the first decade of the 19th century, these carefully preserved records show how church people conducted their affairs 180 years ago. Today I shall continue that story, not so much for its ecclesiastical content as for what it tells us about conditions in what folks in Boston still regarded in the early 19th century as the backwoods o.f their one-horse eastern district, the wilderness of Maine.

In 1808 the membership of that Berwick church had so increased that they decided the meetinghouse must be enlarged. Like Maine people in every age, they wanted the job done as cheaply as possible, so they put it out to bid. Their vote read: “To give the work to any person who will come forward within six weeks and obligate himself to enlarge our meetinghouse twenty feet in front or back without any expense to the Society, his compensation to be ownership of the pews he shall install in the addition, provided he shall complete the work before the last day of November, 1808, and that he shall leave the pews already in the meetinghouse in as good condition as they now are. He shall also repair any plaster he damages and shall underpin the foundation of the new section.”

In those long-ago days, church organizations as well as individuals were subject to law suits. Such a case that filled several pages of the records covered a dispute between the church and Thomas Tate. He was a prominent citizen for whom the town’s Tate Academy was named.

Unfortunately the cause of Tate’s action against the church is not clearly stated, but in April 1810, the Society: voted to appoint a committee to settle with Thomas Tate respecting his suit to settle it out of court by paying to Tate such recompense as the Committee should deem proper. A month later the committee reported that they had paid Tate $10 for some expenses he had incurred, but they had refused his full claim and that the case was not yet settled and might still come to court.

Six years went by until the Society finally got a decree in the York County Court in their favor and against Tate, but they still did not collect what was due them. So in April 1816, they voted: “The execution of the court in favor of the Society against Thomas Tate shall be put to the proper officers for collection.”

During all those years, Elder Chase had continued to preach to them with no cash salary, but only what he could get from excess produce of the parsonage farm beyond what he used in his own family. Now he demanded that they allowed him to devote half of his time to the church at Doughty’s Falls so that he could pick up a little cash. Wanting to keep Chase in their pulpit, and grabbing at the chance to avoid paying him any cash, naturally they welcomed the new agreement. In-fact all of the financial arrangements from paying the minister to building the addition to which we have already referred, reveal the scarcity of money in Maine towns 175 years ago. Nearly all business was by barter. Paper money was sorely lacking, and the more reliable silver was very scarce. In fact the people of Central Maine may well be reminded that the so-called Canada Road from Skowhegan thru Jackman to the Canadian line, and there connecting with the Canadian highway to Quebec was built “to let the silver through,” meaning British silver money that was paid for cattle and other products sent from Maine to the market in Quebec.

It seems that the Society’s defense against the Tate lawsuit had been handled by a committee who had been obliged to pay expenses out of their own personal scarce funds. Finally, late in 1817, the Society voted to compensate them for their legitimate expenses. “Voted to appoint a committee of three to settle with Deacons Knight and Thurmond for money paid by them in our successful action against Thomas Tate.”

By 1834 the whole idea of church taxation had become so unpopular that the Society voted: “To secure by subscription such sum as can be obtained, together with the income from the parsonage farm (Elder Chase had by this time died, and the farm proceeds reverted to the Society), the whole to be used for support of the ministry during the ensuing year.”

Four years later they did have a resident minister and they voted: “the use of the parsonage farm for the ensuing year to Rev. John Cubbard, together with such sum of money or other property as can be obtained, for him to preach to us.” Note that phrase “or other property.” For many years, a part of every Maine clergyman’s pay usually came to him in produce, and that was not always either convenient or satisfactory to the minister.

In 1819 the Baptist minister complained that, as part of his pay, he had received so many turnips he could not possibly use them before they spoiled even if his family ate only turnips every day for a year. Whether the Berwick Society or its minister had legal claim to proceeds of the parsonage farm was not always clear. Witness this vote in 1838: “Deacon Rufus Thurmond is appointed to reach agreement with Elder Cubbard for the Society’s possession of the remainder of manure on the farm beyond the amount Elder Cubbard shall use on the farm itself.”

Just as the Civil War began, the Society decided the meetinghouse again needed major repairs and alterations. They decided they must have some new pews. That made it necessary to evaluate the new pews, and decide whether the new ones were to be privately owned. If they were freed, any owners of old pews who refused to give them back to the Society would have to be paid. Originally pew owners had paid varying amounts from $10 to $100 for a pew. The new evaluation placed the- pews in four categories, and the prices were certainly dropped far below the original prices. The highest rating was now $6, the lowest $0.50. So, when the new pews were declared free, the old owners did not realize very much money. In fact, only a few refused to donate their pews to the Society.

As late as 1860, the Berwick meetinghouse was like the Quaker meetinghouse – a simple building with no spire, and thus no belfry. In 1860 they voted again to lengthen the building to a full 60 feet and add a belfry and tower. That vote did not come to fruition and after much backing and filling for seven years, they decided in 1867, two years after the war was over, not to remodel the old meetinghouse at all, but build a new one on a different site. They voted to sell the old building at Great Hill and use the proceeds for a new structure. To accomplish that burdensome task, the Society reverted to the old plan of taxation on its members, voting to raise $5,000 by a Society tax.

They had not correctly understood how strongly public sentiment had turned against church taxation in favor of voluntary subscription. So what they actually did was to rescind their former vote for free pews and raised the needed money for a new building by selling pews again, this time new ones in a new meetinghouse. They got the money, and on October 1, 1868, the church for the first time held a service in the new meetinghouse, and heard a sermon by their new minister, Rev. William Barnes who came to them from Freeport. Inserted in the record is a diagram of the sanctuary of their new building, locating the pews by number. This time the pews went up, the most desired pews bringing as much as $200, and the cheapest $50.

In 1797, when the Society was formed, insurance was unheard of, a fire could wipe out a church as well as a family. By 1870, property insurance had become quite common, though its details were much different from today. It was usually handled by a small local company, a kind of cooperative. Members paid no premiums, but agreed to share equally in recompensing any member who suffered loss by fire.

The first insurance of the Berwick church was of this kind. Members of the Society agreed to become responsible for fire loss in proportion to the value of their pew. Not until twenty years later was insurance placed, at regular premium rates, with a commercial company. Last week we pointed out that the Society had, in addition to built-in pews, a number of moveable seats in the form of settees. It seems that other groups had been borrowing those settees to such an extent that it had become a nuisance. In 1884 the Society voted “The Parish Committee shall not let out the settees except on their own personal responsibility for any loss or damage.”

There were through the years numerous votes about the parsonage farm. In 1888 it was recorded: “The committee reported that the sale of hay on the parsonage farm had brought proceeds to be used in plowing, fertilizing, and seeding the land.” It seems that that the Society never did dispose of the old meetinghouse on Great Hill but moved it and actually made it into a new building. In 1894 they voted: “Our house of worship on Great Hill having been destroyed by fire, its successor was built and dedicated in 1843. In 1867 it was removed to the village, where it was enlarged and remodeled. After standing for 25 years, it began to show decay. The foundation was badly out of shape and one corner had dropped down so that the wall was partly under the building. We made repairs, built 16 feet on to the building, installed parlors and a pipe organ, but we owned no land to the rear and could purchase none, though we offered to pay liberally.

“It was apparent that, to make necessary changes, we must move the building forward nearer the road, and raise it 12 feet in order to build a good vestry in the basement. To do this, we hired a builder on June 30, 1892, and repairs began. As we progressed, we found more and more that needed to be done. But we finally finished the job: Moved the house forward 60 feet, raised it 12 feet, added 16 feet to the rear, built a basement vestry, put in all new pews, and installed a $1,200 pipe organ, all at a total expense of $6,000.

“When we began the work we understood that the Baptist State Board would help us. But after we had begun the work we learned that the funds of the State Board had been so reduced that we could get no help from them. We did manage to fund the work with a debt of $2,000, which we pray the good Lord will somehow enable us to pay.”

That debt hung over the Society until 1906, when they passed the following resolution: “The Society expresses its profound gratitude to the Maine Baptist Convention for paying the greater part of our building debt of $2,000 which has hounded us since 1892. We also extend thanks to many friends outside the pale of our Society, who generously helped us.”

After 1906 no one owned a pew in that Baptist meetinghouse. On June 7 in that year they voted to abolish pew ownership and make all seating free. By this time, of course, they were paying a regular salary to their minister, no longer making him eke out a meagre living on what he could get from the parsonage farm. But as late as 1908 their vote was: “to pay the minister $650 for the year if possible. but to guarantee him only $600.”

In 1918, three years after the Maine Baptists and the Free Baptists had organized into the United Baptist Convention of Maine, the Berwick church was still receiving aid from the state Convention. The Society then voted to express their appreciation for financial aid received during the past three years from the United Baptist Convention of Maine. The next year the Society was more fortunate. Its record said: “As all expenses have been paid by money received by direct subscription without any taxing or holding suppers or entertainments of any sort, great satisfaction was expressed with out present budget system.”

And that completes our story that covers 120 years of a religious group that carried on the work of the first Baptist church that operated in Maine.

Year: 1980