2 
occupied by Mr. N. P. Meldram. 
During Mr. Thurston’s and Mr. 
Emerson’s stay only the south side 
of the house was used as a parson- 
age; but the Rev. Oliver Taylor oc- 
cupied the whole house. 
In 1810 a Sunday-school was or- 
ganized. The origin of the school 
was due to two ladies who after- 
wards went as missionaries to the 
east—Harriet Newell and Ann H. 
Judson. The school was one of the 
earliest formed in New England. 
Mr. Thurston’s pastorate began 
very auspiciously, but unfortunate- 
ly difficulties and dissensions arose 
and-he was dismissed by the coun- 
cil in 1819. If he was guilty of all 
the charges brought against him he 
certainly was not a suitable man to 
remain pastor of the church. Eight 
charges were preferred against him, 
only a few of which I will mention: 
“It was charged that his conduct 
in Manchester was such as to de- 
stroy his usefulness as a teacher of 
piety, morality and virtue.” In re- 
spect to this charge, Mr. Tyler Par- 
sons in writing about it said, “There 
was a lamentable division and un- 
happiness in the church from time 
to time, from and after a few years 
of Thurston’s settling in Manches- 
ter. It grew in the first place from 
‘Thurston interfering with Dr. 
‘Grosvenor’s medicine and practice, 
-as | was informed. They had been 
frequently at a great distance in 
respect to good feelings; it was 
soon discovered that Thurston’s dis- 
position was peculiarly ungrateful— 
disposed to exhibit a disposition of 
revenge, unyielding to truth in 
many respects. At length he took 
up the low and degraded part of 
speaking in a sarcastic manner from 
the desk. This was a dangerous 
mode of warfare; he begun by com- 
paring some of his hearers of either 
church-or parish to the dog in the 
manger; to rickety children whose 
heads grew faster than their bodies, 
indicating a disorder. These un- 
christian and  ungentleman-like 
speeches soon alienated the affec- 
tions of many; they did destroy all 
fellowship and brotherly love and 
create ill blood.” They also claimed 
“That he took a bundle of shingles 
from the school house in an ungen- 
tlemanlike and unchristianlike man- 
ner and did prevaricate and make 
false statements in relation to ob- 
taining these shingles to Mr. Burn- 
ham and Capt. Burgess.” The evi- 
dence on this charge was somewhat 
contradictory, while it went to 
prove that he made false statements 
in regard to his obtaining the 
shingles, it did not prove that he 
actually stole them. Another ac- 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
cusation was “That he had an 
agency in getting Dr. Dewey to 
come to town, promising him that 
he would have a fine opportunity 
for private dissection.” In refuta- 
tion of this charge, Mr. Thurston 
produced a letter which he said he 
had received from Dr. Dewey. This 
letter stated that Mr. Thurston had 
never tried to get Dr. Dewey to 
come to town or held out any in- 
ducements for his doing so. Unfor- 
tunately, Dr. Dewey under oath 
stated positively that he had never 
written Mr. Thurston any letter. 
Still another charge against him was 
“That he slandered the peopie of 
the town, calling them ‘a covetous, 
malicious and Indian set of peo- 
ple.” In support of this charge 
Major Burley Smith on oath stated 
that when he advised him to settle 
with Dr. Grosvenor “He then re- 
plied and said, “Before I will muckle 
to Dr. Grosvenor or any of this peo- 
ple, I will lose the last drop of my 
heart’s blood, for you are a covet- 
ous, malicious and Indian set of 
people.” Some 46 of the church 
left and joined a Baptist society in 
Beverly in the early part of 1810. 
The council finding that those who 
had joined the Baptist society would 
return if. Mr. Thurston left, dis- 
missed him, thinking it was best for 
the church. Mr. Tyler Parsons was 
his strongest opponent, and Mr. 
Thurston, after being dismissed by 
the council, brought a civil case 
against Mr. Parsons for slander and 
recovered $1500 damages. Hard 
feelings lasted for a long time after 
Thurston’s departure, but the 
church united and called Rev. Sam- 
uel Emerson in 1821. 
In the same year a stove for the 
first time was used in the church. 
Mr. Tappan, in the History of Essex 
County, relates the following story 
in connection with the event :—“The 
first cold Sunday after. it had been 
placed in position, the people all 
went to meeting fully prepared to 
watch the result of the experiment. 
Many felt it uncomfortably warm; 
and two young women were so 
overcome by the ‘baked air’ 
fainted, and were taken to the vesti- 
bule where the atmosphere was of a 
better quality. But the next day it 
was learned, the wood for the stove 
had not been received, and no fire 
had been made; this proved a fatal 
blow to the opposition, and but little 
was said upon the subject after- 
wards.” The articles of faith and 
covenant of the church were printed 
for the first time in 1825. 
In 1833 the church, under Mr. 
Emerson, took a very strong stand 
for that time on the temperance 
they - 
question, as the following will 
show :—“Whereas, the use of ardent 
spirits has been the fruitful cause 
of numerous evils, which admit of 
no remedy but that of total absti- 
nence, and as it is the incumbent 
duty of the churches to maintain a 
high standard of christian morality, 
it will, from this time be required 
of all persons presenting themselves” 
as candidates for admission to this 
church to abstain from the use of 
ardent spirits in all its forms, except 
as a medicine.” 
The Rev. Oliver Taylor was Mr. 
Emerson’s successor, being installed 
Sept., 1839. He was their pastor 
till his death in December, 1851. Mr. 
Taylor had quite a reputation as a 
scholar and writer, but, in the words 
of Mr. Lamson, “He was ill-fitted 
for the stormy era of anti-slavery 
discussion, and sometimes seemed 
to his friends over-cautions and 
timid. But none ever doubted his 
sincerity and true goodness of 
heart. When he finished his course, 
the town lost a faithful minister and 
a ‘true* man’ 
[The information contained in 
the above article was gleaned from 
the following sources:—History of 
the Town of Manchester by Rev. D. 
F. Lamson, Mr. W. H. Tappan’s 
article on Manchester in the His- 
tory of Essex County, Volumes 1 
& 2 of Town Records of Manches- 
ter, and a pamphlet by Tyler Par- 
sons entitled, “Truth Espoused.”— 
Rae 
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