MEMORIES OF THE 



BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSE 



Having corrected the historian Hough's errors as to the 

 church organization, I will now give the facts as to the building, 

 its use and final disposition. The records never confound the 

 "church " with the "meeting-house." 



About 1830, the church people began to agitate the question 

 of building for themselves a meeting-house, and a subscription 

 was started, which still exists, dated December 4, 1829, in which 

 nine members agreed to contribute certain amounts in material 

 and work. For instance, Deacon Allen Pitkin, a carpenter, made 

 his subscription payable in work; Elijah R. Fox, in team work; 

 Silas Lyman, who had a sawmill, in lumber and hardware. No 

 one agreed to pay a dollar in money, and but two hundred and 

 thirty dollars were pledged in all. 



The builders were Deacons Allen Pitkin and Silas Lyman, 

 and their subscriptions were one-half of the whole. They ex- 

 pected that the trustees would collect funds and reimburse them. 

 With more zeal than discretion, they went on with the building, 

 not waiting to secure subscriptions, or even to obtain title to the 

 site. When they were about completing it, unfortunate dissen- 

 sions arose over differences on the temperance question, and, in 

 addition thereto, a very rabid anti-slavery agitation soon followed, 

 which divided the members of the church on sharper lines than 

 anything that preceded, most of the members being opposed to 

 the preaching of temperance or anti-slavery from the pulpit. 

 These jangles divided the church and so demoralized it that when 

 father and Deacon Pitkin had the meeting-house completed and 

 ready to turn over, there was nobody to take it — at least nobody 

 to pay a dollar for it. The pro-slavery element was strongest, 

 and they punished Deacons Pitkin and Lyman by letting them 



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