Canton Historical Society

1400 Washington Street
Canton, Massachusetts USA  02021

usf2.gif (10730 bytes)

This is the text version of
The Canton Bicentennial
History Book.  This is not
the Final Draft, there are
some spelling errors.  Also
there are some punctuation
errors, nothing major.

 

 

Chapter Three

 

Canton’s Houses Of Worship

 

 THE FIRST MINISTERS

AND THE UNITARIAN CHURCH

 

The fortunes of Canton’s first church were inextricably linked with the history of the town itself. Until 1820 Church and State were one in what was indeed a theocracy. The church building was the place where annual and special town meetings were held. The church was supported by public money, and there was a ministerial tax rate similar to the levies for schools and highways. Such a form of government may seem surprising or even repugnant today, but it is more understandable when one realizes that all townspeople were parish members and citizens of both town and church.

The Church was founded by the Pilgrim fathers whose religion was Congregational and Calvinist in its origin and doctrine. The first church building was at the crest of what later was known as the Old English Cemetery, and it was probably gathered and built by the Apostle John Eliot. The location can lead to confusion because the English Cemetery only contains the remains of Anglican Episcopal adherents who were later arrivals in the town.

The first minister of what is now the First Parish was Joseph Morse who graduated Harvard in 1695, and came here in 1707 to preach to a congregation seeking a local church and a resident minister. The church building itself was erected in the same year and was located at the south west corner of the present Canton Corner Cemetery. The church and the minister were closely connected, since it is believed that the land on which the church stood had been previously owned by Reverend Morse. Morse had purchased 134 acres of land from the Ponkapoag Indians on both sides of present-day Washington Street where the Canton and St. Mary’s cemeteries are now situated.

Morse spent his first ten years here as an unordained preacher, for it was not until 1717 that he was officially given his holy orders as a full-fledged minister. Thus the First Parish bases its foundation as 1717 not 1707. Morse was a kind and virtuous man who among other works educated Indian children in his own home. Yet his pastorate lasted only ten years, due to a contentious congregation who in time hounded him out of the parish. He was accused of being too liberal in doctrine, of flat-out lying about parish matters, and of having a drinking problem. There is not a whit of evidence for these charges, and he was welcomed to a parish in Randolph where he remained until he retired and moved back to Canton where he died in 1732. By then he was judged to be somewhat of an eccentric. His house with its magnificent apple orchard was at the south end of the present St. Mary’s Cemetery near the main street. From there he could view his disaffected former parishioners, and he would sit in the orchard all Sunday "to keep the Christians from stealing my apples."

The Second Minister was Parson Samuel Dunbar who was probably the most remarkable and powerful clergyman of any faith who ever toiled in Canton. No one could accuse Dunbar of being too liberal in his religion, for he was an eighteenth century re-incarnation of Jeremiah the Prophet. He was a Calvinist divine for whom hell and damnation were not only real concepts but the likely destination for most of his flock unless they rapidly mended their ways. Dunbar born in 1704 was a graduate of Harvard in 1723, and a fine scholar proficient in Latin, Greek and Hebrew., and a protégé of Cotton Mather.

He came here as a young man of twenty three in 1727 and was to be an active pastor for over 55 years. He would not tolerate dissent or lax moral practices in his parish and would frequently have the congregation excommunicate for a time those he felt had erred. He had a running dispute for years with an Irishman named Lyon. When his foe passed away, Dunbar reluctantly conducted a burial service in which he bluntly stated that " the body lies buried here, but the soul is in hell."

The Parson was a disputatious sort with no tolerance for other faiths. He challenged the veracity of the local Anglican pastor and claimed that the Episcopal membership numbers were inflated lies. Apart from that he was a stirring sermonizer who preached and gave instructions at least three times a week. A number of his manuscripts have survived and his sermons were powerful and persuasive. He numbered all his homilies, and as evidence of his prolific work, number 8059 was written seven years before he died. By 1783 he had written and delivered over 9000 such exhortations.

He had marvelous health and never missed a Sunday service in his fifty-five year pastorate except for the last week of his life. In 1755 at the age of 51 he went as a chaplain with one of His Majesty’s Regiments to Crown Point in the French and Indian War. During the American Revolution, he was an ardent patriot and prayed publicly that the English fleet would be dashed to pieces on the Cohasset rocks.

He and his wife had a large family and many of his descendants were distinguished citizens of this town. He built a home on what is now Chapman Street , and it was described as one of the handsomest houses between Boston and Providence. At the time ministers were not provided parsonages but were given fairly generous salaries through town meeting appropriations that allowed them to live in comfortable surroundings. The Dunbar home known as the "Old Manse" burned down in 1884, but the property remained in the hands of Dunbar descendants until recent times.

One of Dunbar’s successors in 1892 described him as a minister, teacher, mayor, judge and adviser to all his people. During his pastorate, the church building was literally pulled down and replaced between 1745 and 1747. The new building was still within today’s cemetery and was only forty feet from the street, ten feet closer than its predecessor. Dunbar’s last public service was on July 4, 1783 at a ceremony celebrating the victorious end of the Revolutionary War. Within ten days he was dead and had left an immense vacuum in a stunned parish.

It was not easy to replace one who had been so dominating in so many ways. The parishioners, however, were charmed by the preaching of young Aaron Bancroft who spent eight Sabbaths here in the fall of 1784. Bancroft was of a new theological school which was the forerunner of Unitarianism. He believed in a kinder, gentler and more forgiving God than had Dunbar and shuddered at rigid Calvinism. Moreover, he like a growing number of other clergy at the time, did not believe in the Trinity while still upholding the divinity of Christ. Such persons were known as Arminians or Arians but were soon to be called Unitarians. Aaron Bancroft would in time be the first President of the American Unitarian Association.

The people of First Parish liked his message of love and forgiveness and offered him the pastorate, only to be shocked by his refusal of it. Many years later he revealed that he felt that the Calvinistic impact Dunbar had left on the parish could not be overcome by the newer doctrine. Bancroft went on to found a parish in Worcester where his son, George, a great American historian, was born.

Zachariah Howard, a young Revolutionary War veteran who had attended Harvard after the conflict was chosen as pastor at a town meeting in 1786. Howard was more a Congregational minister than an Unitarian one, so much so that he was known as "Priest Howard." He purchased the even then ancient Tilden home on Pleasant Street which is still in use as part of Pequitside, and is referred to as the "Red House." Howard accumulated sixty four acres adjoining the home and proved to be an able farmer as well as a minister. He was a respected pastor for twenty years resigning shortly before his death in 1806. His widow, Patty, who survived him for many years was a lover of animals especially cats. She had constructed in her home a special stair case for her feline friends, and this may still be seen connecting the second floor to the attic in the Red House.

Significant events occurred during the time of the Fourth Minister, William Ritchie, who labored in this corner of the Lord’s Vineyard from 1807 to 1820. Ritchie, a Dartmouth graduate, was, like his predecessors, a man of letters. It was during his tenure that disestablishment of the Church began, and by 1820 the Parish had to rely on support from the congregation and not from town taxes. In his early ministry in New Hampshire he had been a believer in the Trinity, but by the time town meeting invited him to Canton he had abandoned those tenets and was the first essentially Unitarian minister of First Parish. Even within the Church there was some dissent from Ritchie’s preaching by those holding to traditional Congregationalist theology. Enough members ceased to attend services or to support the Church that Ritchie offered to cut his compensation in half to offset the lower revenues. The traditionalists were in the minority but were joined by enough other unhappy members that Ritchie and the parish amicably severed their ties.

Ritchie’s income had been generous for the time and had enabled him in 1809 to build the house at 79 Pleasant Street which was later to be occupied by the Draper family and is today’s Pequitside Farm.

In 1822 Reverend Ritchie, who had left Canton, sold the property to his successor, Benjamin Huntoon. Like Dunbar, Huntoon was to be a lasting influence on the Parish and the town. His brilliance in writing and in speech was awesome to those who encountered him. Another Dartmouth alumnus, he possessed a degree in divinity from Andover Theological School. When he came here at the age of thirty the split between the Congregationalists and the Unitarians was coming to a climax. Huntoon in 1828 was to see the departure of the traditionalists who then formed the Orthodox Congregational Church which over time evolved into today’s United Church of Christ.

Huntoon had two separate periods of service in Canton, one from 1822 to 1829 and the other from 1841 to 1849. It was during his first pastorate that it became clear that the house of worship erected eighty years before had capacity and structural defects. The present church was built in 1824 and dedicated in January 1825, and its Gothic design is the result of Huntoon’s preferences. His son, Daniel, was Canton’s first historian, and the source of almost all published research on the period before the Civil War. Benjamin had a great interest in the early public schools and visited them in a semi-official capacity as a pupil examiner. Invited to give a sermon dedicating a church in Bangor, Maine, he decided to take an offer to be its pastor. Why he departed from Canton is not clear, but after ten years in Maine he and his old Canton congregation were re-united. The Unitarian faith was still evolving, and even though Huntoon was considered a liberal theologian, he still preached that the New Testament was divinely inspired and authored. He spoke out boldly not only on dogmatic questions but also on the political issues of the time, such as the morality of the Mexican War and abolition. His political views led to some disenchantment with him from former supporters, so much so that he again left Canton in 1849 to accept a post in Marblehead. He returned here in 1860 to retire at Pequitside where he died in 1864.

Between Huntoon’s two pastorates there had been two other ministers at First Parish. One was Henry F. Edes who was pastor from 1831 to 1833. We do not know why his time was so brief, but we do know that in 1832 he built the fine home at 54 Pleasant Street now occupied by the Crane family. This house was also to be the home of Ede’s successor, Orestes Augustus Brownson who stayed for only one year from May 1834 to May 1835.

Daniel Huntoon describes Dr. Brownson "as a preacher he was impressive in manner and appearance; his voice, though husky, was well-managed; his utterance forcible; the muscles of his large face worked convulsively as he spoke." In 1836 Brownson established a society for Christian Union and Progress; in 1838 he founded the Boston Quarterly Review which was nationally esteemed. He was a friend of the Alcotts, Hawthorne, Thoreau and Longfellow. The historian, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., did his doctoral thesis on Brownson, which was published in 1939 and became a best seller. In it he shows that after 1844 there was a "conspiracy of silence" by the literary establishment toward Brownson because in that year he embraced Catholicism.

The story of the First Parish in its first 150 years is really the saga of its pastors. It is remarkable that one small church could have had so many distinguished, learned, powerful and even controversial spiritual directors. They made an impact on the lives of their parishioners, whether it was Dunbar’s gloomy acceptance of Predestination, or the more cheerful philosophy of Ritchie and Huntoon. Some of them put down family roots in Canton, and for decades after there were Dunbars and Huntoons active in the church and the town. These ministers were also politically involved and left a legacy stressing the moral obligation to speak out for justice. Some were loved; some not, but they all made a difference in the Parish and in the town.

When Reverend Benjamin Huntoon in 1849 ended his second pastorate of the First Congregational Church, it was a thriving powerful force in the Canton community. Huntoon was a scholar and a worthy successor to the founding ministers. The membership of the congregation encompassed persons of various economic strata but in general were more educated and more affluent than the parishioners of the other churches in town. All of the other Protestant churches were in sound shape, and St. John's had yet to be established.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century the First Church continued to fare well, and it commanded the loyalty of the best people in Canton. There were some changes; among which were frequent pastoral change-overs between 1850 and 1873 when five different ministers occupied the pulpit. Membership, however, was constant and theologically the movement to a more defined Unitarianism continued. Benjamin Huntoon had been instrumental in making it clear that the Church was indeed Unitarian and not simply another aspect of a Christian-centered one.

Each minister of the First Church lived comfortably with his family in the large parsonage at 61 Chapman Street. These men were well-schooled, wrote with feeling as well as with analytical power, and for the time traveled widely. Often in the 1880's and 1890's visiting ministers conducted Sunday services fifteen to eighteen times a year.

One of the pastors who made an impact on the parish and on the town was Henry Fitch Jenks who was minister from 1885 to 1905 and continued as an active Pastor Emeritus until his death in 1920. In years of service to the local Church, he was exceeded only by the legendary Samuel Dunbar who was here from 1727 until 1783. Jenks was forty-three years old when he came and, like his predecessors, had a solid educational background, having graduated from Harvard in 1863 and from the Cambridge Divinity School in 1866. Before arriving in Canton he had been pastor of the Unitarian Church in Lawrence.

In his time he participated in the funeral services of a number of notables such as that in 1885 of Helen Revere of Morristown, New Jersey, great-granddaughter of Paul Revere. The next year he conducted the burial services for the Canton historian, Daniel Thomas Vose Huntoon, the forty-year old son of Benjamin.

In October 1885 Jenks gently nudged the Church back into one Christian custom by persuading the congregation to vote to celebrate the Lord's Supper on the first Sunday of each alternate month.

Parish members were active participants in the life of the Church, and the records show the contributions of families such as Downes, Otis, Draper, Chapman, Williams, Bright, Noyes, Endicott, Reed, Tucker, Fisher, McKendry, Billings, Hewitt, Sumner, Wattles, French, Horton, Capen, Shaw and Dunbar. These were all prominent names in town, yet the minister often presided at funeral services of parishioners who died at the town's Poor Farm, too.

Jenks married Lavina Angier and had the pleasure of christening his own son, Frederick Angier Jenks, in 1887. That same year a Union Thanksgiving service was held at the Church in which all the Protestant denominations in town took part. In that era there was little contact between the Protestant churches and St. John's. And sad to say all concerned preferred to keep it that way for decades to come.

In October 1887 Jenks and the parish commemorated the 170th anniversary of its founding in 1717 by Reverend Joseph Morse. The next year from May to November 1888 the church was closed for major renovation and restoration including new stained glass windows. One was a memorial to the fabled minister, Samuel Dunbar and was presented by Charles F. Dunbar, Esq., of Buffalo, New York. A second was dedicated to Benjamin Huntoon, as he was then considered to be the first completely Unitarian minister of the Church.

Another noteworthy event was a pulpit exchange on December 16, 1888 when Henry Jenks preached at the Evangelical Congregational Church, while Reverend Mark Taylor of that church gave the sermon at the First Parish Church. Jenks noted that this was the first instance of this since the Evangelical Church was founded seventy years before. At that time some members of the First Church who did not agree on the doctrinal movement toward Unitarianism departed to form the Evangelical Congregational Church.. While the pulpit exchange with the Congregationalists remembered the past, another one the same year was a harbinger of the future, as Jenks and Reverend John Vannear of the Universalist Church also traded pulpits one Sunday. The wheel of religion continued to turn in 1889, when one of the visiting preachers was Reverend Nathan Chamberlain, pastor of St. John's Episcopal Church in East Boston, who had been minister of the First Church in Canton from 1857 to 1860.

The Unitarian Church here as elsewhere has had a tradition of liberalism not only in theology but on social issues. An early example of this is seen in the minister's notes for Sunday April 7, 1889 when he notes that "a young colored man, a teacher at Tuskegee, Alabama, gave an account of the School at the regular morning services directly after the sermon, which greatly interested the congregation." As a result of a committee formed to see what action to take on his appeal, it was voted the next Sunday to send clothing, books and a monetary contribution to Tuskegee. Again on July 16, 1893 Booker T. Washington himself came to the Church and in lieu of the Sermon gave an address on his work. Other social action occurred in 1889 when the parish sent a check to the victims of the Johnstown flood, and in 1908 when a check for $100 and twenty large bundles of clothing were sent to refugees of the Chelsea fire.

One hundred years ago geographical proximity to a church influenced where one worshipped. From Ponkapoag to the First Church was a substantial journey for some folks. So for many years the Unitarian pastor conducted monthly services at the Ponkapoag Fire Station and later at the Ponkapoag Chapel with an attendance of thirty to fifty persons.

In 1898 Jenks participated at the funeral services at the Evangelical Congregational Church for Congressman Elijah Morse, and he was also a speaker at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the founding in Canton of the Universalist Church in 1849. Henry Jenks' full-time ministry ended in 1905 when he reached sixty-five. His replacement was the popular forty-year old Bradley Gilman who was to serve till November, 1917. By the time of Gilman's arrival the celebration of the Lord's Supper had been abandoned, but Gilman brought it back in a limited way for the Christmas service of 1905 and the Easter one of 1906. He noted that most, though not all, congregants participated and that there was "no theological test, no fermented wine" and that matters were "less dogmatic" and more sympathetic.

Gilman in 1915 began his third five-year contract which was dissolved by mutual agreement in 1917. On April 6 of 1917 Congress declared war on Germany, and on Sunday evening May 20th a joint patriotic service was held at the Church to which all the ministers and congregations in Canton were invited. Reverend Gilman wryly pointed out that the Roman Catholics were the only ones not to accept. In any event there was a large and enthusiastic group of citizens present. In October 1917, Gilman, then aged sixty, relocated to Palo Alto, California for what he called "a new field of work." Before he left one hundred and seventy-five persons attended a banquet to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Church.

Bradley Gilman, retired to California after leading the parish in the celebration of the Church's Bicentennial. Gilman's successor a year later was twenty-four year old Cloyd Hampton Valentine from Vineland, New Jersey who arrived here right in the middle of the deadly flu epidemic. He was in his second ministerial assignment, and within a week presided at the funeral of Army soldier George Howard Horton, a victim of the flu who died while in service. His family had the first Gold Star in the parish from which twenty-three young men had gone to war.

Valentine was to be minister for over a decade. It was the "Roaring Twenties", America was at peace and the economy was booming. Valentine's time here was a tranquil one, but he noted some concern for the future. On the positive side, he married in August 1919 Miss Minnie Packard of Quincy, and in 1920 the local church became the first one in the United States and Canada to achieve its quota for the United Unitarian Campaign. Canton's goal was $2000 which was a substantial sum for the time, equivalent to about $40000 today.

On January 31, 1920 Pastor-Emeritus Jenks died and Valentine participated in the burial services at Mount Auburn Cemetery. After his first three years here, Valentine observed in the Minister's Notes that in that period he had taken part in fifty-three parish funerals of folks he considered pillars of the church. His hopes for the future lay in the young, yet christenings were not keeping pace with funerals, obviously a disturbing trend. He did, however, have the pleasure of baptizing his own son, Richard in June, 1928.

Valentine left the Parish in September 1928 and was replaced in January 1929 by Charles W. Casson who was here until May, 1933. His term encompassed the most devastating years of the Great Depression, and the hard times were reflected in the pinched operating budgets of those years. The Church was financially secure, but it, too, was not exempt from the cutbacks in programs necessitated by a collapsed economy.

Things were not that much better for the next minister, Elbridge Fernald Stoneham, who was called here in August 1934 from the First Unitarian Church of Winchester to be the joint minister of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Church and the First Universalist Church. This milestone was a precursor of the union of the two churches forty years later and was based on the economic rationale of sharing a minister in those trying days.

At first the two churches tried the experiment of holding joint services every other Sunday in each church, but the matter was eventually put to a vote, and by a margin of only a few votes in each parish, it was decided to have separate services but with one minister.

Stoneham wrote, "I managed to straddle the two horses for a few years until resigning from the Universalist pastorate on August 31, 1938 when it became evident that no progress could be made in uniting the two churches, largely because of geographical reasons, and differences in religious temperament. The Unitarian Church generously made it possible for me to continue serving the one parish."

A few weeks later the September hurricane of 1938 weakened the church steeple so much that it had to be rebuilt the following year. Stoneham's term as pastor ended in October 1941 and some months were spent in securing his replacement.

The new clergyman, Thomas A. Sinclair turned out to be a fine selection who was to be the minister from April 1942 to June 30, 1953. He came with his wife and their three small children from Billerica where he had been pastor of the First Church Unitarian since 1936. The local church led by President Eliot French welcomed the Sinclairs by completely re-decorating the parsonage and installing new plumbing. Reverend Sinclair was awarded a five-year contract at a salary of $2500 per annum plus a one month's paid vacation. With the parsonage it was a comfortable financial arrangement fifty-five years ago.

Minister Sinclair led his congregation during World War Two and into the growth years after the war as suburban towns like Canton burgeoned in population. In April 1943 he started the John Eliot Union, a young peoples group for youngsters twelve to fourteen which met monthly and had socials in the Parish Hall which attracted forty to sixty persons. In 1951 the renowned and successful Unitarian Auction began under the auspices of the Fellowship Group, and over $1200 was raised in the first one.

Capital improvements were evident. First in 1948 a new hot-air circulating heating system was acquired for the Parish Hall at a cost of $2500. Most notable, however, was the installation in 1951 of a new electric pipe organ in memory of John H. Draper by his wife and three brothers. The magnificent new organ cost over $13000 and replaced one dated 1846.

The Sinclair years were happy ones for all concerned, but he resigned in May 1953 to accept a significant advancement as the first Director of the Northern New England Region of the Unitarian Church in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Charles O. Richardson, Jr. became Pastor in October 1953 arriving here with his wife and two children from Stow where he had been Pastor of the first Parish Church. In his three and a half years here he accomplished much. An addition to the church was built which included seven school rooms, a new chapel, and offices. Forty-two new members were enrolled, and the P.M. club, an evening group for young adults, was founded which sponsored a May breakfast and a fashion show. The Auction continued to be successful and the Parish Hall was completely re-decorated.

Richardson resigned in 1958 and was succeeded by a young man, Alfred H. Fowlie, a liberal in both religious and social matters, and one not timid in expressing his opinions. Canton was not only his first pastorate, it was also the site of his ordination to the Unitarian ministry on October 19, 1958. Before his new congregation led by President C. Dana Draper, seven ministers officiated in his installation.

Fowlie interacted well with the youth of the parish. Within a month of his arrival he conducted a Thanksgiving family service and collected food for the Home for Little Wanderers. The P.M. club was again active with a Square Dance and a lively Christmas party. Reverend Fowlie founded and encouraged parish discussion groups and by doing so began a new an long-lasting institution. He felt that such groups particularly if held in parishioners' homes would permit greater latitude of radical opinions to be expressed than if confined to the Church or Parish Hall. Matters discussed need not be solely religious in theme, for example much time was spent on the Town's 1959 Master Plan.

In 1959 the Unitarian Church nationally began discussion of a merger with the Universalist. Such discussions took place here, and in April 1959 the Annual Meeting of the local church approved the merger concept. The consummation of the union locally would take another fifteen years but clearly the momentum had begun.

Minister Fowlie became a factor in an issue that had been smoldering in Canton for a few years. The public schools in the early1950's in co-operation with some of the churches had instituted a Released Time Program through which students on a voluntary basis could be dismissed from class once a week to go to their church for religious education. After the program had been in effect for a few years, it had to be abandoned because the growing school population caused a severe classroom shortage and the establishment of a two-platoon system in certain schools. The numbers and the logistics did not allow a Released Time Program.

By the late 1950's the School Committee felt that the space pressure had abated enough to re-institute the plan. Fowlie was vigorously against the concept and wrote" I was opposed to this on several grounds, and I took my case to the newspaper and to my church. After many meetings of the school board and much discussion among the churches of Canton, it was decided by the majority of churches to continue released time. The Universalist Church and the Unitarian Church stood firm, but alas we did not prevail. I think we lost because we did not push hard enough at the real issue i.e. that released time is detrimental to our Democratic position of complete separation of Church and State. Instead we concentrated on the valuable school time lost by the students. The school board compromised, and we lost the real issue. It was amazing to me how reluctant our liberals are to take a stand that sets them apart from the orthodox churches. This is not so for most of the orthodox."

Alfred Fowlie left here in 1963 and was followed by a number of ministers who were not only fine pastors but were well-known and accorded respect in the whole community. William Jacobsen was here from 1964 to 1968, and was succeeded by John Nichols in the 1969 to 1972 period. Next was Kenneth Phifer who was minister from 1973 to 1980 and who was a key participant in the merger of the local Unitarian and Universalist Churches in1974 and was the first minister of the united congregations.

The next minister, Anita Farber/Robertson, came in 1981 and served for a decade. She was the first female pastor and had a very positive impact on her church and on Canton. She had a sincere and personal interest in her parishioners and was well-liked by all the members of the Canton Clergy Association. She was followed by Brad Cullen in 1993 who recently completed his labors here.

The beautiful old First Church remains in the true center of Canton. It is a colonial beacon and an historical landmark. Its true strength, however, is in the character, quality and integrity of its members. It continues to bear witness to the injustices and wrongs of our society, and two hundred and eighty years after its founding remains a force for good.

 

 

THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

 

The United Church of Christ in Canton traces its roots through three name designations to a beginning in 1828. In another sense, though, the Church in terms of its doctrines and practices goes back to the first settlers and to the First Parish Church. The underpinnings of the United Church of Christ are the Congregational Churches which were the spiritual home of the founders of most of the New England colonies. Congregationalism was the faith of the Pilgrim fathers who had gone from England to the Netherlands and thence to America in a search for religious freedom. It was a Protestant confession of faith that owed much to John Calvin, and it became the predominant religion in the northern American colonies.

The famous apostle to the Indians, John Eliot, was, of course, a Congregationalist, and the first meeting house in what is now Canton was built by him. The first Congregationalist minister in the town was Reverend Joseph Morse.

In the early decades of the nineteenth century many New England Congregationalist churches turned to Unitarianism. Unitarianism at the time was a Christian religion whose central doctrine was the single personality of God the Father in contrast with the conception of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Individual Congregationalist churches had chosen liberal ministers instead of traditional Calvinist ones or had split into two congregations on the question of doctrine. In 1825 congregations adhering to the more liberal forms of Christianity organized into the American Unitarian Association.

These developments had their mirror image in Canton. The First Parish in 1820 by the request of its congregation ended the use of public tax money for its support and adopted the name, First Congregational Parish. By 1828, however, the Church with the support of most of its members became Unitarian.

There were some though who wished to retain and practice the traditional Congregational faith. Accordingly on July 3, 1828 ten townspeople met at the home of Mrs. Catherine Hartwell to form what they termed the Orthodox Congregational Church. The Hartwell home was on what is now Neponset Street near the Stone Factory, which is now part of Emerson and Cummings.

There were ten charter members of the new Church. In addition to Mrs. Hartwell were Deacon Ebenezer Crane, Stephen Thayer, his wife Betsy, Frances Crane, Tilly Flint, Judith Albee, and Abigail, Mary and Jane Kollock. The fascinating aspect of the story of the United Church in Canton is in how these men and women established the Church, kept it alive through times of grave financial peril and saw it finally become a rock of the community. The charter members were not affluent persons; they started without any minister or church building, for these essentials remained with the old Parish.

Financial help came from a regional Congregational Council in the form of pledges totaling more than a thousand dollars. Little time was wasted in acquiring land and erecting a church building in 1830. The site was on the south side of today's Neponset Street where there is now an apartment complex. Surprisingly it was a good-sized structure, wood-framed with a steeple and bell..

Maintaining and supporting a minister was a more difficult hurdle for the early church. The minister's salary was $500 per year with $300 of the support coming from the Massachusetts Home Mission Society. Even so, the parish had a problem financing the balance. As a result ministers came for a year's stay and then left in discouragement. The first one to remain for more than a year was Erastus Dickinson who was here for two years. On his resignation in 1837 he requested the calling of a Council of Churches to advise the people as to the future of the Church. The Council met and warned the parish that the Church could close. There would be no further Mission Society subsidy unless the parish raised additional ministerial support itself. The parishioners were unable to do so, the Council aid ceased and for two years the Church had no service.

The congregation persevered despite bleak times with laymen re-opening the closed building and taking turns conducting Sunday morning and afternoon services for a year. The refusals of the parishioners to quit or to give up their faith was inspiring and growth in numbers occurred. In 1844 the Reverend William Hammond was ordained as pastor and served for seven notable years. The Board of Missions again supported the local Church by paying three-fifths of his salary. In 1848 the name of the Church became "The Evangelical Congregational Church and Society". The name remained until 1940 when the Church and Society merged into "The Evangelical Congregational Church of Canton". Reverend Hammond energized the Church, paid off the debt and improved the appearance of the meeting house. Hammond had to leave as the Mission Society reduced its subsidy and the parish was unable to make up the difference. His $500 salary could not support his growing family.

His successor, Reverend Solomon Clark, also served seven years and continued the progress begun by Hammond. It was during his tenure that it became necessary to plan for a new church. While no pictures exist of the first church, it apparently was not an aesthetic gem. In fact the Council of Churches called it a "depressing influence" and advised that they would not ordain or install another pastor until the parish went ahead with plans for a new building. The Council was deadly serious, and from 1858 to 1860 there was no minister.

On August 16, 1858 the parish meeting voted to raise the funds to build a new church. How this was accomplished in the light of the parlous finances of the Church is almost beyond comprehension. Unquestionably it required great personal sacrifices by the congregation. Substantial support came from the Morse family who were to be generous long-term benefactors of the Church. Other funds were raised by the sale of family pews. Still for a parish that was nearly bankrupt in 1851, the erection of this structure is proof that there was no moral bankruptcy but rather a determination to endure and grow.

The new church was on Neponset Street as well and nearer to Washington on a site purchased for one dollar from Captain Jedediah Morse. The planning and building process took two years. The splendid edifice that was to serve the parish for over the next one hundred years was dedicated on August 22, 1860. It was built with future growth in mind, as it encompassed sixty pews each eight feet long plus a singing galley twelve feet wide. Overall the church was sixty-four feet in length with a forty-four foot width. Cost of construction was $6895, all but $1610 of which had been raised by completion. That a debt of such a small amount resulted is remarkable.

The builder of the church was John Ellis Seavey whose descendants were long active in the parish and the town. The workman who did the interior trim, built the pews and the pulpit, and finished the top of the steeple was Hugh MacPherson. He happened to be visiting Canton "just when the first load of lumber for the church building arrived" and was asked to help build the church. He began work on the church as a devout Baptist and later became a staunch Deacon of the Church he built.

Reverend Ezra Haskell had become ordained as the minister in 1860, saw young men of the parish off to the Civil War, and visited a Union army camp in Virginia to hold services. He resigned in April 1865 and was followed by Reverend Roland H. Allen who served until March 1867. Next in November came Reverend W. E. Dickinson whose term ended in April 1870, and who was replaced by Reverend J. F. Jennison who was here from February 1871 to August 1874.

The next pastor, Reverend John M Savage, had a productive six year ministry from September 1874 to November of 1880. From the time he left until July 1882 the Church was without a designated minister and services were conducted by supply preachers. Reverend Marcus B. Taylor, a Methodist preacher, was given a one year contract as a supply minister from July 1, 1882 to September 1883 after which he was released due to family illness. In 1884, however, he returned and served until November 1885 when he accepted a call elsewhere. There was a two year vacancy in the office which lasted until Taylor was once again engaged and installed by the Council in November 1888 and thereafter severed his membership in the Methodist Church. Taylor was a devoted pastor and one of the outstanding ministers of the Church. Much loved by his flock, he served until April 1897, when he left to be pastor at a large congregation in Brooklyn, N. Y.

Reverend M. Angelo Dougherty came in December 1897 and served one year. In his time the first kitchen was built funded by the Women's Benevolent Society with monies set aside over a twenty-five year period. The next pastor was Reverend Seelye Bryant who ministered from September 1899 until January 1903 when he left for an assignment in the Berkshires.

Reverend Augustine P. Manwell of Northbridge assumed the pastorate in May 1904 and had a fruitful tenure. In the winter of 1904-05 the church building received much needed repairs and improvements, highlighted by the excavation for a cellar under the vestry permitting the installation of a new steam heating plant. The vestry was remodeled and as a surprise to the pastor a room for his use was created as well as rooms for various church organizations.

Reverend Manwell left in October 1909 and was followed by Reverend Wayne L. Waters who was pastor from October 1909 to September 1912. While pastor he was still pursuing studies at Harvard and left the Church in flourishing condition. He was succeeded by Reverend Isaac Fleming who was engaged in October 1913 and gave five years of devoted service to the congregation. The "Confession of Faith" proposed by the National Council was adopted by the parish in 1914, the year in which additional improvements were made to the property. These included a larger kitchen, a story for a primary class, a study, new carpets and windows, painting inside and out, a stronger foundation for the steeple, and an electric blower for the organ. Until 1915 the pews were rented by families, but that year the usage was discontinued.

The next pastor, Samuel Allen Harlow, left a profound impression on his parish. He came here in November 1918 as an interim minister and after three months was engaged as the pastor. At the time he was sixty-one years old, but his love for his parishioners and they for him led him to be here sixteen and a half years until in 1935 when he requested to be retired. A grateful congregation named him Pastor Emeritus, a title he held until his death in March 1941.

Harlow was a man of physical as well as moral stature who had grown up in New York in a Dutch Reformed and Presbyterian tradition. He graduated Princeton in the class of 1879 and the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1882. In college he won oratorical competitions and was active in literary groups. Ordained in 1882 to the Presbyterian ministry, he was to give fifty-three years of devotion to a number of churches. His earlier assignments were with Presbyterian flocks before joining Congregationalism. He had been a Congregational pastor in Newburyport, West Boylston, and at the Congregational Church in Grafton where he remained for seventeen years.

His years in Canton were fruitful as the parish waxed strong. In 1928 he presided over ceremonies marking the centennial of the Church. He saw the prosperous 1920's and participated in the belt-tightening of Church budgets during the Great Depression when his own salary had to be reduced twenty per cent. In March 1932 the First Baptist Church began to meet with the Evangelical Congregational as one Church in an action motivated by doctrinal agreement and economics.

Following Reverend Harlow's farewell sermon in May 1935, there was a short interlude of interim ministers until Reverend John Gilbert Gaskill was hired in January 1936, Only thirty years old, he had been for the prior eight years pastor of the Second Congregational Church in South Peabody. He and his wife related well with the young people and his resignation in 1941 was accepted with regret.

His successor in May 1941 was Reverend Frederick A. Hayes who was the pastor during World War II and left in 1945 to go to the First Federated Church in Hudson, Mass.. The Church was proud of the eighty-nine members who were in the armed forces in those years.

The next minister, Reverend Carl J. Bergman, came in November 1945 after service as an Army Chaplain. He was a man who endeared himself to the Church and to the town. Born in Sweden, he grew up in Cambridge and was well-educated with a Bachelor of Arts from Colby, a Master of Arts from Clark, and a Bachelor of Divinity from Andover-Newton Theological. It was during his time here that the public schools began a released time program to permit local churches to give religious instruction to pupils at the respective houses of worship. Reverend Bergman thought there was a need for such an undertaking, and each Friday from noon until one o'clock he and his wife conducted such classes.

Unfortunately Reverend Bergman's time here was brief, as the fifty-five year old pastor was fatally stricken with a heart attack as he was about to leave a bus in front of his home in January 1947. He left a wife, a daughter, and a grief-stricken congregation.

Reverend Richard H. Warren became pastor in November 1947 and was to minister to the parish until March 1956. Those post-war years were ones which saw explosive growth in the Church and in the town as the migration to suburbia began. In 1947 Abner L. Morse died; he had been holder of many Church offices and a most generous benefactor. The 125th Anniversary of the Church was celebrated in September 1953 with Reverend Warren delivering a memorable sermon on its history.

In September 1956 Dr. Zdenek F. Bednar, a scholar, theologian and linguist became pastor. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1925, the son of a prominent theologian and seminary dean he had had his college education disrupted by the Nazi occupation and was forced into a slave labor camp from which he escaped in February 1945. He studied theology at Charles University concentrating in Biblical languages. He came to America on a scholarship to the Hartford Theological Seminary where he received his Bachelor of Divinity in 1948. He was unable to return to Czechoslovakia because of the Communist coup in February 1948 and was given political asylum in the United States. He continued at Hartford and received a Master of Sacred Theology degree. In the summer of 1949 he acted as pastor of the United Church of Waterville, Vermont, and in 1950 became Youth Minister at the United Church in Walpole. While there he studied at Boston University and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree there in 1954. He had ministerial duties in Bennington County Vermont and was Moderator of the County Association of Congregational Churches.

Much happened during Dr. Bednar's eight year tenure. In 1958 Mildred Morse donated the beautiful pipe organ that is still in use. The 100th anniversary of the Neponset Street Church building was celebrated in 1960, and in 1961 the parish approved the Constitution of the United Church of Christ which became the official name of the congregation.

In the early 1960's it became apparent that there were problems associated with the venerable worship house. Substantial increases in members, particularly from new young families in town, resulted in inadequate space for Sunday School causing children to be crowded into classes held in a house on the property. Parking at the busy intersection was difficult and unsafe, and the steps leading up to the front door were steep and troublesome for the elderly. The church was still imposing but was a potential fire trap.

In 1961 a Planning Committee recommended that on a sequential basis a new site be obtained and a Church School Building, Worship Center and Fellowship Hall be built to be followed later by a new church. The membership approved the plan and soon the eight acre Capen property at 1541 Washington was purchased for $45,000. Ground was broken in November 1962 and the cornerstone was laid on June 23, 1963. The Parish Center was dedicated on Sunday October 6, 1963. While here Reverend Bednar took a great deal of interest in the young people and being of an artistic nature stimulated great interest in the church fairs, in which he contributed his own decorative labors. After being a prime factor in building the new Church School, Dr. Bednar left after years of selfless service.

Reverend Laurence L. Barber, a semi-retired clergyman, came to serve as an interim minister for a year. The next pastor was Reverend Douglas M. MacIntosh who came in March 1965 at the time the congregation had decided to build the new church. In June 1967 a special meeting voted to sell the old church property and go forward with the new structure. The new church was to cost $150,000 and to be made of stone. The cornerstone was a block of granite from the old church, and it was laid on November 5, 1967 with Reverend MacIntosh presiding. He dedicated the church on September 8, 1968 with Reverend Bednar giving the sermon. Reverend MacIntosh accepted a call to the Memorial Congregational Church in North Quincy shortly after. He was a dedicated minister and helped much in the planning of the new church.

Reverend Leonard J. Kovar was the interim minister from the fall of 1968 until the following June when Reverend Edward W. W. Lewis was engaged as minister. He served until his semi-retirement in March 1974 when a supply preacher, Reverend Charles D. Friou, took the position. Reverend Peter Stevens assumed the pastorate in September 1974 and was to remain for nearly nine years of commendable service. Born and educated in England with a Bachelor of Divinity from the University of London, he had served as a Methodist minister and missionary in Central and South America before becoming a minister in New Ipswich, New Hampshire. For three months in 1980 he was on a sabbatical in England and was replaced here by his friend from England, Reverend James Findlay. Reverend Stevens in April 1983 left to assume a post at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. An interim minister, Reverend Kenneth Orth, came here for the next five months.

The next pastor, Reverend James Findlay, was one of the most charismatic and devoted clergyman to ever serve the congregation and indeed the whole community. He was forty-nine years old when he arrived here in September 1983 from Leicester, England where he had been Minister of the Silvergate Baptist Church since 1968 as well as a Probation Officer for the City of Leicester. He was a graduate of Bristol Baptist College and received ordination in 1965. He came here with his wife, Gwen, leaving two adult children in England.

He was a people person who knew his flock well and rejoiced and sorrowed with them. His visits to the sick of all faiths were one of the attributes that made the community love him. He was an inspiring preacher and one who had close friends among the other clergy of the town. Under his leadership and example the Church was a strong influence for good. All in Canton were saddened to see him retire back to England and his children in 1995, The testimonial dinner on the occasion of his departure was one of the most impressive in the town's history.

For several years Reverend Findlay had been ably assisted by Reverend Marlene L. Schmidt who continued to serve for several months after his departure. Reverend Dr. Kathleen Henry was engaged as an Interim Minister and was assisted by Reverend Phyllis Frechette. In the spring of 1997 Reverend Robert MacFarlane accepted the call to be the new minister.

 

THE BAPTISTS OF CANTON

 

The story of the Baptist Church in Canton is one of persecution and triumph, success and failure, expansion and loss and the bed-rock tenacity of its core membership. In early colonial times, Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies had Congregationalism as their religious foundation. The Baptists in New England were principally in Rhode Island which had been founded by Roger Williams, a religious refugee who had been persecuted in Massachusetts for his beliefs.

There were slight traces of Baptists in the Canton area as early as 1783. In fact the great evangelist George Whitefield had asked permission to preach here in 1740 but was denied the pulpit at the First Parish Church. An unfounded tradition had it that he predicted that the holy spirit would never visit the town until the generation that denied him access had passed away. A hundred years later the Baptists in Canton, after suffering many misfortunes, wondered whether or not the alleged Whitefield prophecy might not be fulfilling itself.

There was only one religious body in Canton in the early nineteenth century and that was the tax-supported Congregational Church. That church was in ferment and moving from a Trinity-based Christianity to the tenants of Unitarianism. Not all the parishioners, however, were looking to change their beliefs and were open to the evangelical experience stressed by the Baptists. There was some Baptist preaching here in 1806, but the first attempt at forming a church occurred in the fall of 1811 when Elder Joel Briggs spoke at a meeting held at the York Street School. He elicited an enthusiastic response and plans were made to establish a Baptist church in Canton. There was fierce opposition to the new sect, and the minister of the First Church, Reverend William Ritchie, denounced them as "creatures of the night." This was in reference to the fact that they held evening services in contrast to the daylight ones at the First Church. Ritchie, who built Pequitside Farm, went to the York School himself to denounce the false teachings of his new competition. The Baptist adherents were called "Dippers" and "New Lights." This was because the new converts were dipped in the waters in a Baptism by immersion, and because they had experienced the New Light of Christ.

Complicating matters further for Ritchie was a new town by-law that allowed a citizen to have his church tax forgiven if he was a member of a body other than the First Parish. Ritchie called the Baptist flock "an ungodly community" and petitioned the Canton selectmen "to have the revival meetings abated as a common nuisance."

Despite this hostility, the new community took root and on April 14, 1812 four people were baptized in the Reservoir Pond by Elder Briggs. The actual site was adjacent to the present Wampatuck Country Club. The new converts were Enos Upham, Ezra Tilden, his wife Bethiah, and his brother Abner. On June 22, 1814 the new church was formally organized with thirty- five brethren and sisters. The founding names were ones of long-settled Canton families who came from the First Parish. There were Tildens, Tuckers, Capens, Gills, Cranes, Fullers, Howes, Withingtons, Crouds, Uphams, and McKendrys.

At the same time to their dismay another Baptist church was set up in Canton by folks who wanted to evade the church tax levied for the First Parish Church. This led to confusion and strife among the Baptists and some overlapping family membership until in time the rump church dissolved. For one reason or another so many had left Ritchie’s church that in 1820 he had to enter into a new contract with the parish and accept a substantial salary reduction.

In 1816 the first Baptist revival took place in town with door-to-door exhortations to repent. The leader of the movement was Elder Elisha Scott Williams who baptized nine or ten new believers. Yet this success was quickly followed by a period of adversity. To quote a later pastor, "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 sisters alone." By the fall of 1816 their enemies succeeded in shutting the little band of worshipers out of the North School House, where, up to that time, they had not been molested. This final indignity bore good results, as the members then met in the upper chamber of Friend Crane’s home to rebuild their shattered numbers.

They went through a period of many multiple ministers, but by the end of 1817 membership had climbed back to forty-seven. The need for a church building was clear, and in 1818, land on which to build a church was purchased for $80 from Alexander French. The site is directly across the street from today’s Historical Society, and was later to be the location of Canton’s first town hall and later the Canton Corner Fire Station. The church was built in 1820 and dedicated January 14, 1821 during a day-long driving snow storm. Relations with the Unitarians had improved and the first Parish choir participated in the ceremonies. Elder Elisha Williams presided and along with Joel Briggs is considered to be a founder of the parish. Williams was to become one of the foremost Baptist ministers of New England , and is also remembered as posing as one of the oarsmen in Trumbull’s famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware.

The new church cost $2000 to construct, measured 40X36 feet and was a plain building without steeple or belfry. A new spiritual leader, Elder Thomas Barrett, soon had all debts paid, a choir started and saw membership expand to fifty five members during the dedication year. Barrett was an effective preacher and a devout man but given to looking on the gloomy side of things. His depression led him to suicide in a later pastoral position.

Membership fluctuated throughout the first fifty years of the church. In 1823 the second Canton revival resulted in fourteen new converts but by 1827 membership had receded back to forty-eight. The coming of Brother Moses Curtis as minister resulted in nineteen new adult baptisms in 1828 and 1829. Yet in 1829 membership was to decline substantially because of the shut-down of the Stone Factory also known as the Canton Woolen Mill. This calamity reduced the town’s population by 500 persons. As a result the parish membership was impacted and the minister’s salary cut so drastically it caused him to leave. A multiplicity of short-term ministers followed, many educated at the Baptist College, Brown, and the Baptist Seminary, Newton Theological School.

In 1831 financial considerations led the parish to rent the church to the town as a meeting house. In that same year a church library was founded for among other reasons "to save the youth from the ill effects of reading novels and romances." On April 29, 1831 the Third Revival began and went on for several months with dramatic results, as thirty- two were converted between April and the end of the year. Many preachers took part in the awakening including one wolf in sheep’s clothing, John Cleland. An Elmer Gantry of his time he was exposed as an impostor and a man of immoral character. Yet in later years when the Church was to experience nearly a decade without a baptism and with pastors characterized as "dull" many parishioners pointed out that the scamp, Cleland, had actually baptized six persons in his short stay in Canton.

In April 1832 the Fourth Revival began with ten baptisms, and by early 1834 the Church had one hundred members.

Pastoral turn-over was still an embarrassment, and later observers attributed it to a congregation seeking charismatic revivalists with great preaching gifts that made for instant but not necessarily long-lasting converts. This is a phenomenon not confined to the past, as in many religions in today’s mobile society, worshipers go to a church where the pastor’s appeal is on a par with the doctrine he espouses. For whatever reason the Canton Baptists had extraordinary ministerial changes. In its first fifty years the Church had as many pastors as the First Baptist Church in Boston had in two hundred years. No wonder then that the membership rolls were continually rising and falling. From one hundred souls in 1833, the roster dropped to seventy five in 1835.

Yet in that year of decline the remaining members made the heroic decision to build a newer and larger church to be situated in Canton Village (today’s downtown). A parcel of land opposite Armory Hall on what is now Church Street was purchased for $230. In January 1837 the old building was sold to the town for $650 and served as our Town Hall until 1879 when Memorial Hall was finished. Dedicated on June 13, 1837, the new church cost $3300, and had dimensions of 56’ X 41’ with a large stove midway between the doors. A belfry bell was bought from the Revere Copper Company for $250 and hung in 1839. The old church was razed in 1884 to make way for the Canton Corner Fire Station.

The new Baptist church was the only one in Canton village until 1860 when the Orthodox Congregationalists built theirs on Neponset Street. Between 1837 and 1860 the Congregationalists rented the Baptist church for their worship. The new Baptist church did not, however, stem the loss in membership, and by September 1839 the rolls were down to sixty- two, and the minister was forced to depart. Once again the lack of a minister and the lack of members created a condition that fed on itself. Various preachers came on an irregular schedule, and one of them was later to be the founder of a new American religion. He was Elder William Miller who proclaimed that the Second Coming was near at hand. He was to form a sect called the Millerities who staked their existence on the imminent return of Christ. In the period between 1830 and 1850 America was in religious ferment and many new religions came on the scene. In addition to the Millerities, the Mormons, Disciples of Christ and Seventh Day Adventists were established, and there was much movement of people from one denomination to another.

In 1839 a call was extended to Reverend Henry Clark to be the pastor, and he, too, reinvigorated the church and by his sixty- three conversions brought the membership to a new peak of one hundred and forty- four by June 1842. Yet once more however a lengthy decline set in and membership waned substantially. There were two reasons for the down turn. First a new Baptist church of more liberal leanings was established in opposition, and this split the congregation. Secondly, the burning of the large Bolivar Factory in 1841 threw twenty members out of work who left Canton to seek employment elsewhere. These were indeed bleak times. The parish went three years without a pastor and eight without a baptism.

In April 1851 Brother David Ford was hired as pastor and the Sixth Revival commenced. Like its predecessors it was efficacious in securing converts and increasing membership. By 1854 there were ninety-six congregants, and ten years later the number was nearly the same as stability of membership was finally achieved. By then Reverend Theoron Smith had labored here for seven years and had apparently laid a firm basis for the future of the church. As he noted in a sermon commemorating the golden anniversary of its founding, the pastoral turmoil had been a serious detriment to building the church on a solid foundation. The fact that the Church had endured persecution, hostility, false preachers, no preachers and still had vitality speaks well for the tenacity and tough-mindedness of its members. The later history of the church will be recounted in a subsequent article.

The first section of the story of the Baptist church in Canton ended in 1864 at the time of the celebration of their fiftieth anniversary in town. After a half- century of strife, heavy pastoral turn-over and fluctuating membership, the church appeared to be in a more stable and solvent condition. At the time of the Civil War the national Baptist denomination had split into two divisions, the Southern Baptists and the Northern Baptists. In the years to come, the Southern Baptists were to flourish as a religious body and would also be a potent political force in the South. From them came several Presidents including the present one. The Northern Baptists, however, were less dominant in American society.

In Canton the pastor at the time of the golden anniversary was Reverend Theron Brown who served from 1863 to 1870, the longest term of any minister to that time. The post Civil War years were good ones as the church grew in numbers and in financial health. Members such as George Coombs and William Bense made significant contributions of their funds and their time to the parish. The two most outstanding members of the congregation, however, were Deacons Ezekiel Capen and Hugh McPherson. Both men were respected leaders of both the church and the town. Capen ran a general store at the old Canton centre railroad station, and was a Deacon from 1851to 1873. His home was on Washington Street across from where Dockray-Thomas Funeral Home is now located. Hugh McPherson was the pillar of the church and a legendary figure. He came to Canton in 1860 in time to help build the Congregational church, and he joined the local Baptist church the same year. For thirty-five years he was Sunday School Superintendent and was treasurer of the church for forty years. One of his daughters was to marry Harold Capen, later Town treasurer, uniting two of the prominent Baptist families in Canton.

If one studies the membership rolls of the churches in town in the nineteenth century, you will find some movement of families among the Protestant denominations. This was most evident between the Baptists and the Congregationalists. Families from both religions intermarried, and their tenents were not fundamentally dissimilar, since both churches had a belief in the divinity of Christ. This was not necessarily the case with the Unitarians and ther Universalists. Beginning in 1837 the Congregationalists rented the Baptist church for their worship until their new church on Neponset Street was completed. The compatability of the two religions would be evident after the Civil War and in time would have meaningful consequences.

In the 1860’s and 1870’s the Baptist church here was relatively prosperous and was benevolent in charitable giving. In 1871 during the pastorate of Reverend John Hartman , fifty members were added, and in the next year the building was materially altered, as it was made fifteen feet longer and raised ten feet by putting a vestry under it. All this was done at a cost of $5500 which was a lot of money in 1872. During the alteration the Baptists now had their services in the Congregational church. The rental charge was to pay for the coal burned that winter. By then Baptist membership had climbed to 156.

In the winter of 1873-74 Reverend A. B. Earle, a fiery evangelist, held a joint revival for the Baptists and the Congregationalists at which forty persons came forward to declare for Christ. Those becoming Baptists increased that church’s rolls to 170 members.

In 1876 the Baptists were the town’s unquestioned leaders in the Temperance movement. Those were the days of the Anti-Saloon League, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and of crusaders like Canton’s Elijah Norse who attacked and tried to destroy Demon Rum. Morse, the wealthy manufacturer of the Rising Sun Stove Polish Company, was a Congregationalist but, also, a financial contributor to the local Baptists. The Baptists werre successful in enrolling all the Canton churches in their Temperance mission with the result that over 1200 men, the majority of the male adults in town, signed a no-drinking pledge.

If you were a Baptist you had ample opportunity for worship. Sunday School was in the morning with church services that afternoon and prayer services Sunday and Wednesday nights. Later in 1886 a Friday night sevice was substituted for the Wednesday.

Reverend Hartman’s resignation in 1874 brought in another era of instability and turn over in the ministerial function which was to last sixteen years. Between 1874 and 1879 there was no pastor and per diem supply ministers performed Sunday services. In 1879 Nelson Jones was ordained for the local church, and he remained for two years to be succeeded by Reverend Edward S. Ufford who arrived in 1882 and stayed a year and a half. Ufford is best known as the author of a great foot-stomping hymn, "Throw Out the Life Line." Between 1883 and 1889 there were three other pastors. Their short assignments and constant turn-over began to effect membership and parish annals record it as being "very low."

Despite these unsettling developments the 75th anniversary of the church was celebrated in a festive manner on June 20, 1889. Hugh McPherson presided at the affair, and the dignataries present included Congressman Elijah Morse; Squire Samuel Noyes, the Suprintendent of Schools; Charles Endicott representing the Universalists; Reverend Mark B. Taylor from the Congregationalists, and Reverend Henry Jenks from the Unitarians.

The situation of the church was parlous but became more positive with the coming in 1890 of Reverend T. M. Butler who despite very ill health labored here until his death in 1898. He was a beloved pastor who in 1890 brought electric lights to the church and in 1891 abolished pew rental. In that year he became critically ill and his wife covered for him by arranging for supply ministers as needed and even on one occasion conducting Sunday services herself.

When Butler died the town was in an economic depression and church income had been markedly reduced. Butler had kept the church together and his death was great loss. After him, too, the old pattern emerged of frequent pastoral changes and the use of non-resident preachers. Butler’s successor in 1899,Reverend J. R. Fox, was well-liked , and he began to rebuild membership, He led the parishioners in another Temperance promotion because in 1899 Canton voted to allow the issuance of liquor licenses. The Baptists unsuccessfully petitioned the Selectmen not to grant any. The next year the Selectmen paid the price at the polls as the town voted to go dry. It was to remain so till 1933. In October 1901 Fox resigned and many members left the church with membership again declining.

When Reverend Irad Hardy took over as pastor in 1902, he had only sixty-nine parishioners. Determined to keep the church viable, he instituted an annual roll call with a supper to restore morale. Hardy ministered for four years till 1906, and when he resigned the future outlook was becoming more bleak. Other ministers came and went and by 1911 a student minister was in charge and membership was down to fifty-one, of whom only thirty-nine were Canton residents. So it continued for another twenty or so years till on April 1, 1932 an announcement was made that beginning Sunday April 3, 1932 "the Baptist congregation will meet in worship and work with the Evangelical Congregational Church. This is not a federation, nor an absolute union, but it is deemed best for both congregations that they unite in worship at the Congregational church." The Reverend Frederick R. Cleveland, acting pastor for the past year, preached the last sermon on Sunday March 27, 1932, 118 years after the founding of the little church. Eight years later in 1940 the church building was sold to the Blue Hills Lodge of Masons, and it is still their temple.

 

THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
IN CANTON

 

Universalism is a religion that in its roots holds to a belief that God will save all souls. This thesis has been found from time to time in the history of western Christianity. The doctrine spread in the United States primarily because of the preaching of John Murray (1741-1815) who came from England in 1770. Murray visited Canton on two occasions, once to officiate at the funeral of Mrs. Richard Gridley, and the second time to preside at the funeral of Canton’s most renowned Universalist, General Richard Gridley. In 1776 while Gridley was supervising the fortifications surrounding British held Boston, he first met and heard Murray. He was attracted to Murray’s religious views and became an early convert to Universalism. This was not a popular dogma in Canton and Gridley was ostracized by his fellow citizens here. In fact the Revolutionary War hero was so shunned that in 1783 when peace and American independence were achieved Gridley was not allowed to participate in the parades and celebrations marking the event.

Gridley was hurt and asked why he was not part of the festivities. He was told, "Because, General, you are not considered by those having that manner in charge a Christian." Gridley sadly answered, " I love my country, and my neighbor as myself. If they have any better religion, I should like to know what it is."

How many other adherents of the Universalist doctrine were in the town cannot now be determined. The first significant gathering occurred in January 1819 when the Norfolk Universalist Society was founded at the home of George Downes who lived at Canton Corner. There were 152 members at the beginning, of whom 88 were Canton residents. In the early years worship meetings were held in various locations in addition to the Downes’ home. One site often used was Carroll’s tavern which is now the site of St. Gerard Majella Church. The first minister was Reverend Richard Carrique who resigned in 1821, and it was not till 1849 that there are any official records indicating weekly services. Yet it is certain that there was some form of continuing Universalist worship. By 1840 meetings were held in the South Canton school house, and in 1842 in Union Hall, a building owned by member Winthrop Leonard. Later in 1844 another adherent offered the use of Leavitt’s Hall, the Washington street site for many years of the Canton Journal. In 1845 the town voted to allow the Universalists to use the Town Hall.

In 1847 the church was still loosely organized but had enough believers and finances to build a church at the corner of Washington and Mechanic Streets. The resulting building, dedicated in 1849, was modeled on the Universalist church in Foxboro and was an aesthetic gem. It was remodeled and redecorated in 1891 and rededicated in January 1892. The cornerstone for a Parish Hall was laid on July 29, 1900 and the hall dedicated on December 17th of that year.

The First Universalist Parish of Canton was officially reorganized and incorporated on February 3rd 1849 with thirty-three families. There was an impressive list of incorporators including: Uriah Billings, John Cram, James Shepard, Vernon A. Messinger, Lawton Smith, Charles S. Fowler, Charles Leland, William Mansfield, Samuel Chandler, Charles Mellen, Daniel Tisdale, Lorenzo H. Smith, Johnathon Messinger, Joel Holmes, Francis W. Deane, William Morse, Stephen F. Tilson, C. H. Harlow, and Virgil Messinger. Other families prominent in the parish in the years to come were the Wentworths, Seaveys, Shaws, Endicotts, Munsons, Danas, Winslows, Jennisons, Lincolns, Maxwells, Reeds, Leavitts, Pooles, and Hays.

The church members were well regarded in the community for their honesty, integrity and fair business dealings. It was a small but closely knit congregation, well described by long-time member, Marian Maxim, "There was such a happy neighborly feeling when you went in, a feeling of fellowship. Everyone was involved."

Between 1849 and 1869 membership growth was slow, but beginning with the pastorate of George W. Perry in 1868 there were substantial membership increases. In the next thirty years there were to be two hundred baptisms. In addition to Perry, notable ministers were Edwin Davis who was here from 1870 to 1878 and John Vannevar who was immensely popular in his tenure from 1884 to 1892.

Even in the first years of the church, it was recognized that there were many tenets held in common with the Unitarians. In fact in the 1850’s an attempt was made to unite with the Unitarian Church. The idea was considered inexpedient and abandoned for another one hundred and twenty years. At the banquet in1899 marking the fiftieth anniversary of the 1849 founding of the parish, the chairman, Charles Endicott, gave a tongue-in-cheek definition of the differences between the two religions. He lightly said, "Universalists believe that God was too good to damn them, and the Unitarians believe that they were too good to be damned."

There were two Universalist ministers who had a profound influence on the congregation and on the town. They were Reverend Doctor Charles Conklin and Reverend J. Lonsdale Dowson. Conklin was pastor here from 1923 until his death in 1930. He also had a joint ministry with the Universalist Church in Foxboro and had held that post since 1910. He was a powerful and persuasive preacher and had occupied many vital offices in the larger church. Born in 1855 in Nyack, New York into a Dutch Reformed family, he had trained to be a lawyer. He converted to Universalism and decided on a vocation in the ministry. He studied at St. Lawrence University and was ordained in September 1876 at Mount Vernon New York where he became pastor. He later served in Troy, Chelsea, Chicago, Boston, Springfield and Brookline. He then had the honor being the State Superintendent of the Universalist Church of Massachusetts for twelve years

Conklin received a Doctor of Divinity from St. Lawrence in1904 and a Master of Arts from Lombard College in Galesburgh, Illinois. In 1915 he established the Doolittle Universalist Home for Aged Persons in Foxboro. He was also for many years the Recording Secretary for the Massachusetts Federation of Churches. In October 1926 the Canton and Foxboro churches celebrated his fifty years in the ministry. He was fittingly honored by all the townspeople for his many accomplishments, not the least of which was preaching three times per Sunday for half a century. While he served both the Canton and Foxboro congregations, his heart and home were in Canton, and it was there at 1212 Washington Street that he died of pneumonia on May 27, 1930 at the age of seventy-five.

J. Lonsdale Dowson also had a long ministerial career and spent fifty-three years of service of which the last eight years were at the Canton church. He was a gentle, kind and truly religious person without flamboyancy and dedicated to the good of his parish. He came here from Woodstock Vermont in September 1939 and was honored by being made the first Pastor Emeritus in June 1946. He then lived on Walnut Street with his wife of forty-nine years and his son, Hugh, a popular instructor at Canton High School.

As noted earlier there were many commonly held beliefs between the Unitarians and the Universalists. Attempts at merger reached achievement with the establishment of the Unitarian-Universalist Association in 1960 and a formal merger in 1961. Events in Canton largely followed the same pattern, as the two churches shared the same minister since 1964 beginning with Reverend William Jacobsen and continuing with John Hay Nichols and Kenneth Phiefer. An area Sunday school began in 1968 and there were often joint services as well as socials. In July 1973 the two churches appointed a Consolidation Committee to consider meager possibilities. The co-chairmen were Edmund Colson of the First Parish Unitarian and Donald Cooke of the Universalist. Members from both churches were Fred Clouter, Betty Govatsos, Queenie Holmberg, F. Everett Knowles, Sam Lange, Walter Landon, Eleanor Leathers, Lincoln Munson, Dorothy O’Brien, Reverend Kenneth Phifer, Dr. Julius Rubin, Lillian Staples, Mary Lou and Robert Stocker, Edmund Walker and Mark Whitty.

On March 24, 1974 the Universalist parish voted to approve the merger, and the Unitarians followed the next day. The new church was to be effective July 1, 1974. the officers of the new parish were President H. Lincoln Munson; Vice President, Alan Lowry; Clerk, Charlotte Clouter; and Treasurer, Herbert Boreham. The final services at the Universalist Church were on Sunday June 23, 1974. Shortly thereafter the property was put up for sale, and on the week end of November 19 and 20, 1977 the one hundred and thirty year old church was torn down. The church bell which had last pealed in 1976 in honor of the nation’s Bicentennial and the cornerstone were moved to the grounds of the First Parish Unitarian-Universalist Church at 1508 Washington Street.

 

 ST. JOHN THE
EVANGELIST CHURCH

 

 

It is one of the ironies of history that the establishment of the Catholic Church in Canton owes much to the descendants of French Huguenots. We mean the Reveres and in particular, Joseph Warren Revere, son of the legendary patriot, Paul Revere. The Reveres were from a family that had fled France to escape religious persecution sought refuge on the Island of Guernsey, and later emigrated to America.

Paul Revere established the first copper rolling mill in the United States in Canton in 1801. The Revere Copper Company was incorporated in 1828 with Joseph Warren Revere, Frederic Walker Lincoln, James Davis, and James Davis, Jr. as directors. All these names were to be significant in the history of St. John's Church. Lincoln was a nephew of Paul Revere, and adopted by him. He came to Canton from Boston and was soon active in the town and in the First Parish. He was first president of the Canton Institution for Savings (today's Bank of Canton), the Neponset Bank and the Stoughton Branch Railroad. Most notably however, he managed the Revere Copper Company for forty years.

The Reveres were also initial investors in the Boston and Providence Railroad and influenced its route through Canton. In order for the railroad to bridge the Neponset River required the building of the Viaduct which was a feat of design and engineering that is still a marvel over 150 years later These enterprises (the Copper Mill, the Viaduct and the Railroad) were labor intensive, and one source of employees was the Irish who were then beginning to emigrate to America. The Reveres, through Lincoln, encouraged the hiring of the hard-working immigrants and worked with several Bishops of Boston to provide the new hires with worship services and the consolations of their religion.

The earliest mention of any Catholics in Canton is in Huntoon's history which states; "In 1814 we find the names of Patrick Lambert, Gregory Doyle, James Kavanagh, Peter Ledwith, and Thomas Riley certified to be members of the Roman Catholic Church by John Chevrus, Bishop of Boston." Huntoon thought that these were probably the first Irish in Canton. The next mention of Catholics is in the Revere files and is an undated letter from Bishop Chevrus to Mr. Lincoln recommending a John Murphy as an industrious man needing employment and having paid church dues. Chevrus was a Frenchman who was Bishop of all New England and afterward Cardinal-Archbishop of Bordeaux. Yet he apparently had friendly contacts with the Reveres who were of French Protestant descent.

There is also in the Revere archives an additional letter dated May 13,1819 from Chevrus to Joseph Warren Revere thanking him for his offering of his chaise to transport a priest, Philip Lavisey, to Canton. So even then it seems that it was not unusual for a priest to come here, but whether or not services were held is not known. It is certain, however, that at a later date Catholic services were held in the old Revere house, and it was something long spoken of by Revere descendants. At the time of Chevrus' letter in 1819, the Revere family still occupied the house, situated in the Copper Yard, and probably did so past 1822. Shortly thereafter the house, while still owned by the Reveres, became a boarding house for the workers employed at the Copper Yard. The Irish mill men were tough-fibered and had to be, as they sometimes worked from 4:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. As part of the employment compact, the men at the Revere house were given regular rations of New England rum.

The boarding house was run by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Whitty whose son, Tom, served as an altar boy for the visiting priests who stayed at the house and said mass there. During these times, too, Bishop Chevrus was a frequent visitor to Canton and a house guest of Frederic Lincoln, now known as the "Colonel."

In 1893 Father John Flatley and a native son of Canton, Father Michael J. Doody, researched diocesan records to continue the local Church history from the point the Revere records end. On October 26, 1832 a Father Connolly came here to prepare those who wished to be confirmed in Taunton on October 28th, and twenty six from Canton received the sacrament.

Chevrus was succeeded as Bishop by Benedict J. Fenwick who visited Canton on May 10, 1833 to see if it made sense to build a church here. He could not justify the project at that time, but he also was the guest of Colonel Lincoln. Fenwick was a Jesuit who founded the College of the Holy Cross in 1843.

In 1835 the Viaduct was under construction and the following remarks on Canton appeared in the diocesan newspaper on February 7th: "On Sunday we visited this flourishing town where industry and spirit are working wonders. The new bridge erected here is certainly a work of such majesty and magnitude, as would be distinguished even in the causeways of the Roman Emperor Vespasian. Reverend Lee, the Pastor of Providence, offered mass in Canton. In that town there is a gentleman proverbial for his goodness and kindness to our poor country men. Colonel Lincoln whose praise we heard 9ratefully uttered in the short and simple annals of the poor He is a true friend of the friendless Irish and as such we offer him the homage of sincere gratitude."

Diocesan records reveal that in February 1836 a newly ordained priest, James Smythe, was sent to Canton to celebrate mass one Sunday On his return to Boston he reported that there were 58 Catholic men in the town, 9 of whom had families, and all anxious to have a priest once a month and willing to contribute for that purpose. Soon thereafter and up to 1844 services were held monthly in a building that was used also by an Episcopal congregation. This house of worship must have been the Stone Factory Chapel which stood until recent years at 373 Neponset Street near where the Honey Dew shop is now. The so-called Stone Factory is now part of Emerson & Cuming.

On January 30, 1837, less than a year after his first visit, Father Smythe reported that there were now over 100 Catholics in Canton and that they were anxious for a church and a graveyard. Based on this report, Bishop Fenwick approved buying land for a church. On October 23, 1837 a Father Kiernon was sent to take charge of Catholics in Waltham, Canton and Randolph. He was succeeded in October 1842 by Father James Strain who had the same area responsibilities. On March 18, 1847 Strain purchased a 2-acre lot from Leonard Everett on the southeasterly corner of Randolph and Washington Streets across from the original Eliot School. This land became Canton's first Catholic cemetery.

Father Strain was transferred in October 1847 and for a while Canton was covered from Quincy by two Reverends Caraher who were brothers. This arrangement was short lived and Canton, still not a parish, became a mission of St. Peter and Paul's in South Boston under the pastorate of Father Terrance Fitzsimmons. It was Father Fitzsimmons who first purchased land here for a chapel by obtaining from Lyman Kingsley on June 14, 1850 a lot on the north side of North Street. The street was later re-named Chapel Street and runs westerly off Washington almost opposite the Town Hall. A small chapel was built on the property and it still stands as a small barn at 25 Chapel Street, and is owned by Mrs. Louise Kelleher. The barn/chapel is very tiny and could not have held many worshipers, another indication that the Catholic population, while growing, was still small enough to merit remaining in mission status without a resident priest.

Yet now the tide of immigration was flowing swiftly and Canton had job opportunities for the new arrivals, and the example of religious toleration set by the Reveres was emulated by other native-born citizens. In short Canton was a desirable destination for the Irish immigrant. Soon one of the assistants at Saints Peter & Paul, a Father John Flatley was put in charge of the missions of that church. It was not long before he was coming three times a month to Canton, arriving on a Saturday night to hear confessions and to celebrate mass the next morning.

On June 16, 1861 Flatley became a resident pastor here while still having Stoughton and Sharon as missions. The new parish with now 1300 members was thus formally established and given the name of St. John the Evangelist. The beginnings of the parish coincided with the early days of the Civil War On the first Sunday of the war, Father Flatley preached a sermon exhorting his flock to be true to the Union and to uphold the government. A Revere descendant, Robert Rogers, once wrote, "what the members did may be learned from the tablets bearing the names of the Civil War dead in Memorial Hall."

The parish continued to grow in membership, and the tiny chapel, even with additional masses, was inadequate to handle the congregation. Thus in February 1862 Bishop John B. Fitzpatrick bought the home and land of Uriah Billings at what is today 700 Washington Street to be the site of a new church. In March 1864 the cemetery was enlarged when the Bishop purchased from James T Sumner 21 rods and 16 acres adjoining the first cemetery.

The cellar of the new church was excavated during the war, and the cornerstone laid in May 1866 by Bishop John A. Williams, who also presided at the dedication of the church on Passion Sunday, April 7, 1867. The dedication sermon was preached by Father James A. Healy, a member of the first graduating class at Holy Cross, son of an Irish planter in Georgia and a black mother, and who later became Bishop of Portland. There was enough lumber left over from the church that Father Flatley used it to build a chapel in Sharon which was the basis for the present church there. In an innovation for its time, Flatley had the framing for the chapel cut and pre-formed in Canton and carted to the Sharon site.

In July 1870 the cemetery was again enlarged when 3 acres and 14 rods were purchased from James Sumner. While the property was bought by the diocese, the financial "angel" for the cemetery acquisition was Cornelius Sullivan who was a relative of the present Galvin and Lynch families. The next month the property on Chapel Hill was sold to Francis Rehill and was long occupied by his family His daughter, Mary, was for many years a teacher at the Crane School.

By 1871 the parish was large enough to warrant a curate to assist Father Flatley, The first house -to-house parish census was taken in 1875, and revealed 2001 congregants up from 100 in 1837 and 1300 in 1861. On October 19,1882 the church property was considerably enlarged by the purchase of the estate of Mr. James Davis which lay directly in the rear of the property. This is the same Davis who with his father assisted Colonel Lincoln in running the Revere Copper Company Now the parish had so many school age children that it was decided to establish a parochial school which was erected and opened in September 1883 with about 400 pupils. The school required teachers, and the old Davis mansion was converted into a convent to house the newly arrived School Sisters of Notre Dame.

In August 1888, after 27 years as pastor, Father Flatley was transferred to Cambridge to be succeeded by the then Chancellor of the Diocese, Joshua P Bodfish. Bodfish was a man of renown, but Flatley was the founding father, and as Robert Rogers stated, a man noted for "his kindness in sickness and distress, his courtesy and charity to all." Bodfish was a formidable person and had been a navigator in the U. S. Navy in the Civil War He renovated the church which was rededicated in 1889 and had the present rectory constructed at a cost of $18,000. During his pastorate the School Sisters of Notre Dame were replaced by the Sisters of Saint Joseph who built a convent and established a Novitiate here. In later years the convent became Saint Clement's School for Boys.

Upon Bodfish's retirement, Father John J. Farrell, a former chaplain of the Harvard Catholic Club, became third pastor in 1908. Farrell was a doer and, among other things, established the Canton Catholic Club which was a center of adult education, drama, and sport. It was located in the old Massapoag House until the building was destroyed by fire in 1918. Father Farrell was largely responsible for instituting the parish Holy Name Society and with the aid of his curate, Father Dennis Maguire, formed a championship Fife and Drum Corps.

Reverend Mark E. Madden, the fourth pastor, came in 1918 and was responsible for the construction of the present convent following a plan designed by Canton ecclesiastical architect Matthew Sullivan. Madden helped to found the Father Flatley Council of the Knights of Columbus in 1920 as well as the Saint Mark's Circle of the Daughters of Isabella. He was succeeded in 1934 by Reverend John O'Hearn who died within a year of his appointment.

The sixth pastor, Louis F. Kelleher, was a brilliant scholar and a loving shepherd of his flock. A former seminary professor, he gave educational, learned and inspirational sermons. He served in the Depression years from 1935 to 1940 and accomplished much in his time despite limited finances. He founded a chapter of the charitable Saint Vincent de Paul Society, established a children's mass, a men's A Capella Choir, a debating society called Saint John's Institute, a womens' sodality, and a boys and girls band. He built a parish center, the Angel Guardian Hall, which was dedicated in June 1936. A highlight of his pastorate was the school's golden jubilee in 1938 when more than 600 former pupils attended a reunion banquet in Memorial Hall.

Reverend Ambrose Walker came as seventh pastor in April 1940, took ill two days after his arrival, and was dead within a month.

His successor was Father and later Monsignor Robert E. Lee who was to be pastor for twenty seven years. Lee was a pious but jolly person who became popular in the town with members of all faiths. He served during the war years and the time after when the town and the parish were experiencing burgeoning growth. In June 1950 Reverend William H. Morgan came to St. John's to assist Father Lee, and as the latter's health declined, Morgan in effect became the Administrator of the parish. As such he excelled, for he was an excellent manager who was devoted to the welfare of his congregation. A young priest combined with a newly young population to rebuild the parish plant. In 1956 ground was broken for a new sixteen room elementary school which was double the size of its predecessor 1959 was the year in which a spacious parish center was dedicated by Cardinal Cushing. The convent was renovated and enlarged in 1960, the year that a new parish, St. Gerard's, was formed out of St. John's.

Finally in 1963 the nearly one hundred year old church building was razed to make way for the imposing edifice that is today's St. John's. Father Morgan's years were ones of building and expansion, and with a mature and more stable population in town the events of his administration are not likely to be repeated.

Monsignor Albert Jacobbe became pastor following Monsignor Lee's death. Jacobbe was an inspirational minister to his flock and unfortunately passed away while still serving his congregation. His successors were Father Donald S. Clifford and the eleventh pastor, Father James McCune.

St. John's has over 1400 families as members, and its size places heavy demands on its clergy. The growth in its 135 years has been astonishing and owes much to the immigrants of 1840 to 1870 who firmly established the parish here.

The basis for the years prior to 1888 was research done by Revere descendant, Robert Rogers, and presented in a talk to the Historical Society by him on May 10,1893.

 

 

THE PONKAPOAG CHAPEL

 

The origins of the Ponkapoag Chapel are in 1878 when a group of religiously minded men and women came together to establish a Sunday school and a house of worship in that area of Canton. Over the years the members have been predominately residents of Ponkapoag, although there were also, founders from Hyde Park and Milton. Among the first congregants were Mrs. William Hunt and Mrs. John Davenport of Ponkapoag, John Ellis, Thomas Chamberlain, Frank Kelley, Samuel Somes, Joseph Gilpatrick, Daniel Goss, James Fall, and Frank Caffin. Caffin was to be a sixty year member until his death in July, 1938.

The group's religious base was non-denominational, and their early emphases were on Sunday school teaching and bible lessons for children in the Ponkapoag area. As time went on the worship aspect became of equal importance.

The first meetings were held outdoors in Cabot's Grove. When the weather grew cold Harold and George Davenport obtained permission from the Canton School Committee to use the then Ponkapoag School. Cabot's Grove is now part of the Homan's property. The original Ponkapoag School was replaced by a new one given to the town by Augustus Hemenway and which is now the site of the office of the Old Colony Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The predecessor school was given by the town to the church and moved by them to its present location on Washington Street. The building was once again to have a municipal use when the organizing meetings of the Ponkapoag Civic Association were held there in 1946.

On August 6, 1894, the Ponkapoag Christian Union Society of Canton was formally created and was to be known as the Ponkapoag Chapel. The members declared: "We, the undersigned, a part having united in Sunday School work in the School House at a place known as Ponkapoag for fifteen years ... and believing in the moral benefit to ourselves and the community of the public worship of God and of a familiarity with the teachings of his word, especially that part called the Gospel, do unite ourselves as .... the Ponkapoag Christian Society of Canton."

The stated purpose was for Sunday school and bible study, and so far as may be, for public worship on the Sabbath. The society was to be nondenominational, "but loyal to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ", although membership would be open to all persons of good moral character.

The Chapel was confined in size and could accommodate only a limited number of members, but had appeal to many living in the area In the days before the automobile, its location was strategic, for all other Protestant churches in town were a considerable distance away. This was a particular consideration for youngsters attending Sunday school. Many of the prominent families of Ponkapoag have been identified over the years with the Chapel. Names such as Cameron, Davenport, Gerald, Hunt, Lowry, Horton, Tinkham, Homans, Kendall, McKeen, Stoddard, Sturrock, Rawding and Upham, have all been important in the Chapel and in the community.

From April 1, 1962 to May 31, 1966, the newly formed St. James Lutheran Church leased space from the Chapel to conduct services there, and as part of the lease agreement renovated the interior of the building.

The church has been blessed with ministers who were unselfish and good men. Many were, also, contemporaneously pastors of other and larger congregations, but they gave unstintingly to their Ponkapoag flock. Their ministerial affiliations were various, Congregational, Methodist, Baptist, and Episcopal. The longest leader was Dr. George Owen who was here from 1911 to 1938, and also served as pastor of the Hyde Park Congregational Church. Many were Methodists as the Chapel had an affiliation with the Boston University School of Theology, which was a Methodist seminary, and which supplied temporary ministers to Ponkapoag.

Some of the pastors have been:

Dr. George Owen, 1911-1938

Richard Warren, dates unknown, pastor First Parish Congregational, Brockton

Richard Evans, 1961-1962, assistant at Parkway Methodist, Milton

Robert Smith, 1962-1965, assistant pastor at Parkway Methodist, Milton

Philip Lamar, Methodist, 1965-1966

William Ravenscroft, Methodist, 1966-1969

Thomas Courtney, Methodist, 1968-1969

William Barney, Methodist, 1969-1970

Raymond Tucher, Methodist, 1970-1971

Mickey Drown, Methodist, 1971-1972

Niel Carter, Methodist, 1973-1974

Gary Spraker, 1974-1976

Raymond Crane, Lay Minister, 1976-1977

Everett Sherwood, Baptist, 1977-1990, pastor Mattapan Baptist

Dr. Terry Scherf, Methodist, 1990-1992, Director of Placement, Boston University, School of Theology

Dr. Tovita Poloka, 1992-1993, Methodist, from Tonka in the Polynesian Islands

Dr. Samson Gitau, Episcopalian, 1993-1995 from Kenya.

 

There is a bond among the members of the Ponkapoag Chapel that is almost filial, and the church remains as it was founded, a house of worship for the citizens of Ponkapoag. Daniel Webster said of Dartmouth College, "It is a small college, but there are those who love it." So too is Ponkapoag a small chapel, but there are those who love it.

My thanks to David and Shirley MacKeen, Harriett Stoddard and Barbara Tinkham for their assistance on the Chapel story.

 

 

The Episcopal Church in Canton

 

The history of the Episcopal Church in Canton is a two-fold tale. It involves two separate eras , two distinct congregations and a gap of over a century between them.

In Colonial times Canton, then part of Dorchester and later of Stoughton, was settled largely by Congregationalists , also, known as Dissidents. They were so called in England because they dissented from some of the dogmas, sacraments, rites and episcopacy of the established Church of England. The Churches in the English speaking world were state-supported and thus Established. Not all, however, were Episcopal in nature. The Churches of England and Ireland were indeed Episcopal, whereas the Church (Kirk) of Scotland was Presbyterian. In the Massachusetts colonies the Congregational Church was state-supported and the Church Meeting House was, also, the Town Meeting center.

Accordingly the number of Episcopalians in the area was small. At their peak membership in the decade before the American Revolution there may have been twenty families in Canton. The local church as an entity was begun as a Mission in 1754 and was known as the "English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel". In that year Jonathan Kenney deeded to the Society land for a church. The site was at the front of what is now known as the Old English Burying Ground which is on Washington Street next to the Matthew Sullivan estate. The rear part of the lot had been used as a burial place for almost fifty years before the Church acquired it. As a consequence one finds buried there both Dissidents and Episcopalians sleeping peacefully together oblivious of the mutual antagonisms and hostility engendered in their lifetimes. By 1758 a modest house of worship had been built and services had commenced.

Reverend Timothy Cutler , first rector of Christ’s Church in Boston, was instrumental in authorizing the Mission here. The actual establishment of the Church itself has to be credited to Reverend Ebenezer Miller D. D. of Braintree who was in truth a local Defender of the Faith. Miller was a brilliant and strong-willed person who was born in Milton in 1703, graduated Harvard in 1722, and had a desire for the ministry. At that time one could not be ordained an Episcopal minister in America because there was no bishop here. Miller therefore went to England and was ordained a deacon and priest by Edmund, Lord Bishop of London. He remained in England about twenty-five years. In 1727 he received a Master of Arts and in 1747 a Doctor of Theology from Oxford. Responding to a request from co-religionists in this area, he returned to America and settled in Braintree. From that location he served congregations in Canton and Dedham.

The transition from urbane London to a primitive rural Canton must have been staggering. With his educational attainments, Miller was not timid about defending his church against the polemics of the local Congregationalists. Parson Dunbar of the First Church accused him of being sent by his English superiors "to foment disturbances" and "cause division" among the local churches and "by promoting Episcopacy to increase the political influence of the Crown". There must be a better way of welcoming a new clergyman to Canton. Nevertheless Reverend Miller was able to hold his own in their salty exchanges until his death in 1763 five years after the local church was constructed.

The next minister of note was the unfortunate Reverend William Clark. Clark was a man of high principles who was loyal to his Church and his King and who paid dearly for both fealties. Born in Danvers in 1740, the son of a Congregationalist clergyman, he studied for their ministry. Before finishing his studies, he became an adherent of the Episcopal religion and was a lay reader in Canton and Dedham until 1768 when he went to England to be ordained. He returned in 1770 and took residence in Canton. He entered his priestly ministry with several handicaps: the environment was hostile to the King’s religion; he was only thirty years old, and he was almost impossibly deaf.

Clark was greeted by the implacable animosity of Parson Dunbar who was decidedly not ecumenical in his relations. Clark and his predecessors had attempted to develop a more friendly atmosphere with the dissenting brethren but without success. Dunbar even questioned the numbers belonging to the Episcopal church, and the minister and his wardens had to certify the exact name and numbers of the congregation. Furthermore the small Episcopal parish had to pay taxes to the Congregational as if they were members of it.

On top of all that, the members of the so-called English Church were generally supportive of King George in those pre-Revolutionary years. In substance they were, for the most part, Tories. Their neighbors were not of a mind for either religious or political tolerance. As is the case in so much of history the two elements were intertwined. We may think that what is happening today in Belfast could not happen here. It could and it did.

Under all these circumstances it is not to be wondered that Reverend Clark’s congregation began to melt away. In 1771 he moved to Dedham but continued to preach here off and on to an often cold and nearly empty church till 1775. On June 11, 1776, the feast of St. Barnabas, the local church met for the last time and dissolved. The founding families, notably the Aspinwalls, Kenneys, Kingsburys, Taylors, Spares, Curtises, Liscoms and Crehores practiced their faith in their own private fashion. The last member of the old church was Mrs. Joshua Kingsbury who died in 1848 at the age of ninety and had an Episcopal service read over her coffin. The gravestones of these families may still be seen at the English Burying Ground.

Minister Clark was a victim of the Revolution. He was branded a Tory and when he charitably gave aid to two Loyalist refugees , he was denounced, arrested and tried without counsel before a Revolutionary tribunal in Boston. The kangaroo court was willing to acquit him if he would swear loyalty to the independence of America. This he refused to do saying "it is contrary to my King, my country, and my God". He was sentenced to harsh imprisonment on a guard ship in Boston Harbor. The rigors of his captivity destroyed his health; his vocal chords were injured so that he could hardly speak. He was finally released and banished , a broken, deaf, speechless outcast. He went to Ireland and England seeking a home and was an object of charity. In 1786 he came to Nova Scotia and in 1795 returned to Massachusetts dying in 1815 in Quincy.

What of the old church itself? After the Revolution the building was unused for many years until purchased by Adam Blackman in 1796 and moved across the street to be converted to a house. It was so used until September 13, 1874 when it was destroyed by fire.

Over a century passed before there was a Second Spring of the Episcopal Church in Canton. On August 10. 1884 mission services were conducted in Lower Memorial Hall by Reverend William Cheney. The Town Hall was so used for about fifteen years. The first Bishop’s visit was in March 1885 when he confirmed eleven persons. The mission was incorporated as "The Trinity Episcopal Parish" in 1887. The parish was part of a Mission that encompassed Canton Sharon and Stoughton and received some modest annual financial support from the Archdeaconery of New Bedford.

The officers of the new parish in 1887 were: Rector, Reverend Albert George; Senior Warden, Richmond L. Weston; Junior Warden, Georgett King; Treasurer. William Hatfield; Clerk, Edward King; Vestry, Harlan Curtis, Clinton Curtis, Miss Fannie Allen, Miss Sarah W. Ames, Miss M.P. Reynolds and Edward King. Later the Bolster and Thomas families were to be devoted members of the parish.

The Church began to grow and plans were made to have a place of worship, The first location chosen was on Sherman Street (then known as Depot Street) on a lot purchased by Reverend George from the Oliver Dean estate in 1887 for $500. The land was situated just west of Cross Street. After a few years of inaction it was felt that the site was not suitable and in 1893 the land was sold back to the Dean family. In the spring of 1895 a house and lot at the corner of Washington and Chapel streets were purchased from the Bent estate for $3000 with the aid of a $2000 mortgage from one William Doherty.

The parish decided to build a stone church and construction began in August 1897. The end result was a beautiful church, enhanced with stained glass windows and a feel of ancient English tradition. The first services were conducted on January 2nd 1898. In 1909 the Church came into possession of an unusual bell donated by Edward H.R. Revere. The bell which has a strikingly clear peal was cast in Cincinnati in 1856 and installed in a church in New Orleans. It was confiscated by the soldiers of Union General Benjamin Butler and sent north with similar bells to be melted and cast into cannon by the Revere Copper Company. Its clear tonal quality saved it from a fiery fate, and it hung in the Revere Copper Yard in Canton for over forty years. With the closing of the Canton mill, the ownership of the bell went back to the Revere family who donated it to Trinity.

The new church cost about $5000 to erect and was financed by a $4000 second mortgage from Mr. Doherty. The mortgage was discharged on October 2, 1909 at which time the church was consecrated by Bishop Lawrence. A church cannot be consecrated while a mortgage lien is on the property. After the celebration of the consecration and the mortgage burning, the parishioners enjoyed a collation across the street at the Town Hall.

The church served the parish for over seventy years. In 1964 Mrs. Martha Prowse, a parishioner, donated 5.45 acres of land at the corner of Route 138 and Blue Hill River Road to the Church. A new church was erected at this location and dedicated on Sunday September 28, 1969. Many valuable and meaningful items were transferred from the "Stone Church" to the new edifice. The stained glass memorial windows, many of the original pews and the altar were installed in the new Martha Peabody Prowse Chapel. The organ was rebuilt and placed in the church sanctuary and the bell, which was found in New Orleans by one of the Reveres during the Civil War, was hung in a new free-standing bell tower. The old building was sold to Schlossberg-Solomon as a funeral chapel.

The new church is in a prime regional location, is larger, has accommodations for offices, schools and meeting rooms , all with a very pleasant ambiance. Some of the older parishioners and other townspeople, however, believe the stone church was unmatched in beauty, atmosphere and aesthetics.

During the construction and relocation of the church to the new location, the congregation was led by Rev. James Babcock, a native of Wellesley who attended Bowdoin College prior to his seminary training. He came to Trinity Church in 1966 and left Canton in 1977 to become rector of a church in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The parish then embarked on what was, at the time, a new procedure for selecting a clergyman. Following a lengthy period of self study and evaluation, during which the parish was served by interim clergy, Rev. Thomas E. Leonard was called to become rector from his parish in Tucson, Arizona. Originally from Walla Walla, Washington, with an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona, Rev. Leonard endured New England winters from 1978 until he moved back to the west coast in 1982, leaving the parish to begin, once again, the search procedure which brought Rev. Bruce Bayne to Canton.

Rev. Bayne, the son of an internationally known Episcopal bishop, was educated at Amherst College and led Trinity Church from 1983 to 1989 when he too left, first to become a development officer at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, and later to move, as did his predecessor, to a rector’s position on the west coast.

Trinity’s most recent clergy search brought Rev. Philip Jacobs, III to Canton in 1990. He is a native of Newton who attended the University of Maine prior to his seminary training at the Berkeley Divinity School in New Haven and advanced religious studies at Yale. Before coming to Canton, he served parishes in Buzzards Bay and Fairhaven.

Throughout recent clergy changes, strong and energetic leadership from the congregation has been demonstrated by imaginative and productive committees, and particularly by the effective lay leadership of former Randolph resident and senior warden, Arthur Serverson, and from Canton by senior wardens, Herbert Philpott, Brewster Gifford, George Thomas, and John Perry.

While the congregation continues to be made up predominately of Canton families, the regional location of the church has attracted membership from Milton, Randolph, Stoughton, and other communities.

 

 TEMPLE BETH ABRAHAM

 

The first Jewish families arrived in Canton between 1884 and the beginning of World War I in 1914. They came to an alien culture but in a remarkably short time gained the respect and affection of their townsmen. Religion was the most vital part of the lives of the new inhabitants. They were Orthodox in their beliefs and strictly observed the Sabbath and the High Holy Days. The location of their house of worship ideally had to be within walking distance of their homes.

Canton's new immigrants were in various trades and occupations, and most struggled to earn a modest living. Some, such as the Brightmans and Abraham Sydman, became successful and prosperous. The Brightmans were a major factor in the wool business, and Abraham Sydman was the founder of the Plymouth Rubber Company which became a major employer in the town, Both he and the Brightmans were noted for their generous gift giving.

The first Brightman in Canton and the founder of the business was Abraham. On August 9, 1914 the fifteen Jewish families in town met at the Town Hall to form a Hebrew Association to raise funds for a synagogue and a Hebrew school. Max Brightman, Abraham’s son, was elected President of the group. The other officers were Victor Miller, Treasurer, and Robert Gordon, Secretary. They with Harry Abramowitz, Joseph Berkel and Jacob Goldstein comprised the Board of Directors. On Sunday January 7, 1917, at a meeting at their home, Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Brightman presented to the community the deed for a house and lot at 58 Revere Street to be used as a synagogue.

The worship group was formally organized as the Beth Abraham Congregation. The name Abraham was chosen in recognition of the contributions made by Abraham Brightman. The first officers of the synagogue included two of his sons: John as President and Max as Treasurer. Others were Joseph Berkel as Vice President, Robert Gordon as Recording Secretary and Max Chalfin as Financial Secretary. Within months the house was remodeled and dedicated as a synagogue and so chartered by the state. In June 1917 the first two Bar Mitzvahs were held when Joseph Danovitch and Robert Goldstein were confirmed.

The new building was well utilized, though High Holiday services could not be accommodated in it and Lower Town Hall had to be used in its place. Rapid growth of the Congregation continued and the Revere Street building became inadequate. Once again Abraham Brightman came to the rescue by buying a building at 731 Washington Street and also contributing $5,000 to its renovation, He died in January 1920 about six months before the dedication of the new synagogue on June 20th. This was a solemn and festive occasion attended by over three hundred members of the Congregation and their guests. There were ceremonies closing the Revere Street structure and transferring the Torah to the new building. The scrolls were transported in three cars and respected members of the Congregation had the honor of carrying them to their new home. These were: Max Chalfin escorted by Jacob Danovitch and John Brightman; Joseph Berkal, escorted by Max Brightman and Robert Gordon; Joseph Meyer, escorted by Abram Chesler and Jacob Priluck.

The new synagogue was commodious with an apartment for a Rabbi in the rear. Even with the generous support of the Brightmans and additional contributions from members of $4,500 on dedication day, there had to be a substantial mortgage. For the next twenty-five years only interest payments were made on the mortgage, and it was not paid off until May 29, 1945 when a mortgage burning ceremony was held at the Sunset Lodge in Sharon.

In the early years Hebrew education was provided by a visiting Rabbi or by itinerant Rabbis who visited the Synagogue from time to time. Some stayed as long as two years if accommodations in the back apartment and food were available. The Canton Hebrew Ladies aid was formed in 1910 by Rose Goldstein. Polly Ulman and Jenny Meyers were also active at its start, and Mrs. Meyers served as President for many years.

In the years immediately after World War II Canton's population grew immensely, and this was reflected in the influx of new Jewish families to the town. By the end of 1946 membership had roughly doubled to thirty-five families, by 1950 there were forty families; by 1955 sixty families, by 1960 one hundred and twenty five families, and by 1965 two hundred and sixty five families. These were years of growth which carried with it growing pains. In 1961 the Congregation engaged its first permanent part-time Rabbi, Rabbi Martin Kessler. In 1963 the first full-time Rabbi was hired in the person of Rabbi Howard K. Kummer. Shortly before this time the Congregation's orientation became Conservative rather than Orthodox.

Rabbi Kummer had an impact not only on his Congregation but also on all of Canton.

He was a charismatic, sincere spiritual leader, active in the civil rights movement of the time, and an extraordinary modern-day prophet.

The increasing number of worshippers made the need for a new facility imperative. At a meeting of the Congregation in the auditorium of the Luce School in September 1964, the then President of the Congregation, Clifford Seresky, unveiled plans for a new Temple, and on January 8, 1965 ground was broken for the building. Four acres of land had been acquired at 1301 Washington Street and on it would be built a structure with capacity for four hundred persons. There would be a Sanctuary, four classrooms, adult meeting room, chapel, library, administrative offices, a two hundred and fifty person function room, a bride's room and fine kitchen facilities--all in an 11,000 square foot area. The Contractor was Ambrosio Construction and the architects were Badar and Alpers Associates.

Dedication week for the Temple was from Sunday October 24 through Sunday October 31, 1965, a memorable time for the Congregation and for the town. During the week there were art exhibits and music programs, and the first Sabbath service was on Saturday morning October 30 at 9:30 o'clock. That evening there was a dedication Dinner Dance in the Social Hall. The formal dedication of the Temple occurred on Sunday afternoon in an impressive and solemn service. Congregants marched from the old Temple to the new one. Bearing Torahs to the Temple were: Sherman G. Miller, Joel A. Roffman, George Snyder, Bernard V. Tack, Paul Tattelman, and Abraham Wolff. Torah bearers entering the Temple were: Maurice Burke, Dr. Theodore J. Goodman, Georgre A. Levow, Samuel Swardlick, and Lawrence Yorks. The Mezuzah Service was conducted by Rabbi Kummer and Temple President, Clifford Seresky.

The Invocation was by Rabbi Shamai Kantor of Temple Israel, Sharon. The choir led by Cantor Ben Gailing sang the National Anthem and Hatikvah. Jerome H. Hoffman, chairman of the Dedication Committee, gave the welcoming address, and Jack R. Bryan, Chairman of the Building Committee, presented the keys of the Synagogue to President Seresky. The introduction to the Torah Service was by Maurice Burke, and Jacob Priluck blew the Shofar. Canopy attendants were Past Presidents, Sumner Bauman, Sidney Kriger, and Dr. Haskell I. Rapoport; with Benson Diamond, First Vice President.

Joseph Danovitch represented the Founders of the Temple. Among the guests who extended congratulations were Lieutenant Governor Eliot Richardson, the Canton Board of Selectmen, Representative Maurice E. Ronayne, Jr. Senator John Quinlan, Canton clergy, and Rabbi Jack Shechter, Executive Director, New England Region, United Synagogues of America. The principal dedication address was made by Dr. Simon Greenberg, Vice Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Following Benediction a festive Open House was enjoyed by the Temple members and their guests.

On February 5, 1967 the Social Hall and Auditorium was dedicated as the Ross Auditorium in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Ross by their son Henry. Rabbi Kummer officiated and the memorial was presented to President Benson Diamond.

Rabbi Kummer was succeeded in 1967 by Rabbi Michael Luckens, who was followed in 1973 by Rabbi Murray Gershon. Next in 1978 came Rabbi Joel Chernikoff. His successor in 1982 was Rabbi Aaron Rubinger who presided at the rededication of the Temple in 1989. This was a major project which began in 1984 when the Board of Directors voted $100,000 to initiate the plan. Another $800,000 was needed and it was raised by the Capital Campaign Committee under the direftion of Clifford Seresky. On June 11, 1989 over four hundred persons were at the dedication of the refurbished Temple. They viewed a sanctuary with new permanent seating which was a gift of Phyllis and Clifford Seresky in honor of their parents. The sanctuary was accordingly re-named the Waldman/Seresky Sanctuary The social hall was enlarged, there was a new youth lounge, a refurbished Hebrew School wing, an enriched library, and an expanded kitchen. The President of the rededicated Temple was Joyce Wiseman, Fred Kaplan had chaired the Building Committee, and ninety year old Cantor Ben Gailing led the choir

1989 was to be Rabbi Rubinger's last year. He was followed in by Rabbi William Hamilton and the present Rabbi Eliot Marrus. Cantor Gailing retired and will be ninety nine years old on his next birthday. His successor is Michael D. Friedman. The Temple's membership is strong, supportive and stable.

 

SAINT GERARD’S PARISH
IS FOUNDED

 

Local citizens, particularly the members of St. John’s Church, were surprised to read in their newspapers of February 18, 1960 that Cardinal Cushing had established five new parishes including one in Canton. The new churches brought to 395 the number of parishes in the archdiocese, 70 of which had been founded by the then Cardinal. The new church in Canton was called Saint Gerard Majella in honor of a Redemptorist priest canonized in 1904. St. Gerard is the patron of expectant mothers and an appropriate symbol for those days at the height of the baby boom.

The new parish was to be centered in Ponkapoag and would be carved out of St. John’s which was to celebrate its centennial the next year. St. Gerard’s would start off with 400 families and a fifty-three year old priest, Leo J. McCann, on his first pastoral assignment. It was a time of burgeoning population in the suburbs and additional or enlarged houses of worship were needed to accommodate the growth. In Canton, within a decade, there would be in addition to St. Gerard’s, a new St. James Lutheran , and a new Temple Beth David, while Trinity Episcopal and the United Church of Christ would relocate to new and more ample quarters.

In the case of St. Gerard’s there was in addition to the change in population demographics another specific reason for its establishment. St. John’s was a beautiful church but far too small to meet the needs of a parish that grown 250% since the end of World War II. Also, at that time state public facility inspectors were becoming more sensitive to safety questions in buildings used by the public for any purpose. Locally this concern was first seen when the balcony of the Immaculate Conception Church in Stoughton was condemned for future use. This stricture started a chain reaction that led to the formation of two new parishes in Stoughton and the rebuilding of a new Immaculate Conception.

A similar inspection was made of St. John’s in Canton , and Monsignor Robert E. Lee and his assistant , Reverend William H. Morgan, were informed that there were insufficient exits at the front or altar end of the church. To provide such exits the Church would be aesthetically marred and the striking stained glass windows on each side of the front would have to be removed. Under these circumstances, it made sense to relieve the population pressure by means of a new church in Ponkapoag to be followed by a new edifice for St. John’s itself.

The decision to split the parish was a correct one but one that came at an inopportune time for St. John’s. The decade of the 1950’s had been a fast-paced one for the mother parish. In June 1950 newly ordained Father Morgan was appointed here. Due to the failing health of the pastor, the young curate was soon administering the parish and taking on duties that usually did not come to clergy until they had spent twenty- five years or more as junior and senior curates. Morgan was responsible for building a new sixteen room elementary school which opened in 1957 and which was followed two years later by a parish center. Obviously these buildings had to be paid for at a time when a lot of the parish was being transferred to St. Gerard’s.

This financial consideration had an influence on the new parish boundaries, which were as follows: One line would start at the railroad bridge on Dedham Street follow along the middle of Dedham Street to Washington and continue north on the west side of Washington. The east side of Washington would remain in St. John’s until Randolph Street was reached. Randolph Street to Turnpike Street and easterly to Stoughton would be in the new parish as would most of the York street area. Some persons felt that the line was drawn to favor St. John’s , specifically that the east bound of St. Gerard’s on Washington Street began at Randolph Street rather than at Pleasant Street so as to keep the home of Alec Will, a generous contributor, in the old parish. It was commonly supposed that Father Morgan was acting astutely in setting the parish lines. Father Morgan today says that he is aware that this a common conception but that it is untrue and that he did not lay out the parish limits. This was done by Monsignor Sexton, Chancellor of the Diocese, who was, however, aware of the financial burden placed on St. John’s by the new school which students from St. Gerard’s could then attend without tuition.

The site chosen for the new church was a nine-acre one at 1860 Washington Street occupied by the venerable Carroll Tavern, also known as the Abanaki Tavern. The property was donated to the Cardinal by the Reynolds family with the precise donors being Misses Alice and Mary Reynolds, their brother, William, and the heirs of their brother, Charles, namely, William, Mary, Charles and Margaret. The tavern had to be razed to build the church, as it stood just about where the front door of the church is now. Built in April 1798, it was a commodious structure with a hall for dancing and a second-story verandah. As well as being a tavern, it had had some religious connections, as Baptist, Universalist and Catholic services were held in it in the 19th century. It was also renowned as the site of the first murder trial in Norfolk County--that of Jack Battus.

The new church was fortunate to have a pastor who was both a holy man and one with quiet but effective administrative skills. Father Leo J. McCann was born in South Boston on December 8, 1906, graduated St. John’s Seminary, and was ordained on May 2, 1932. He had been an assistant at five parishes before becoming in 1942 a chaplain in the Army where he served until 1946. From 1948 until 1957 he was an Air Force chaplain, and after his retirement from the service he became a senior curate at St. John the Baptist Church in Quincy. He faced a huge challenge in his St. Gerard’s assignment, but his patient good humor and tenacity of purpose were to serve him well.

Father McCann had a parish but not a church. St. John’s offered to let him say Sunday masses in its newly finished parish center, but Father McCann wanted to establish a Ponkapoag presence right away. Thus it was that starting in February 1960 three masses were said every Sunday for the next two years in the Ponkapoag Civic Center . Father Richard Craig became an assistant at St. Gerard’s in February 1961 . He remembers vividly his first Sunday mass in the Civic with the smell of stale beer and cigarette smoke still in the air from a party the night before. Yet it was the Civic that gave early identification and cohesion to the parish.

Older parishioners fondly recall a welcoming reception given for Father McCann at the Civic on Sunday May 5, 1960. Milly Gillis had decorated the Center and she and her husband, Duncan, had provided the refreshments. The building was crowded with the new parishioners and well-wishers from St. John’s. A highlight of the affair was the presentation to Father McCann of a relic of Saint Gerard Majella by Father Henry Kane, a Redemptorist priest. At this time Father McCann was residing in the rectory at St. John’s, as there was not yet any housing for him in his new parish.

The Archdiocese selected architect Lawrence J. Cuneo to design the new church and rectory. The structural engineering was done by a Canton firm, Steco Engineering, headed by a local resident, Frank Fewore. A recent conversation with Mr. Cuneo revealed some interesting facts about the construction of the buildings. The decision to site the church so close to Washington Street was one made by the archdiocesean Chancery Office, which did not want to see a church with a sea of cars parked in front of it. At that time, too, the Chancery reserved to itself on all church work the right to handle the design and contracting for stained glass windows, pews, and Stations of the Cross. The reason was to save paying a 7% commission to an architect for such plans and work. For many years parishioners wondered why there were no stained glass windows behind the altar. This was not Cuneo’s decision but one made presumably for economy reasons by the Chancery, and it took nearly thirty years for the Plexiglas panels behind the altar to be covered.

The church was designed to have the congregation fairly close to the altar, so that someone in the last pew would not be more than fifty feet away from the priest. This type of design carried with it potential acoustical problems. Foreseeing this, Cuneo employed acoustical consultants from M.I.T. and Bolt Beranek and Newman to overcome this potential problem. The solution recommended and followed was to have the side walls jogged to create several angles off which the sound could bounce. The beautiful stained glass windows in the side walls were furnished by the Alfred D’Aprato Company who, also, had the Stations of the Cross fabricated in Italy. The organ was a reconditioned one purchased for $17,000 from the William Patchell Company.

The construction of the rectory was begun before the church, as ground was broken for the house on March 31, 1960. The church was not begun till September 6, 1960. Bateson Contractors of Brockton built the rectory for $80,208 while the church was built by Mozzicato Construction of Medford at a total equipped cost of $323,000 and was completed on January 24, 1962. The church was consecrated on February 9, 1962, and the first baptism occurred on Sunday, February 11 when Jane Gilday was christened. Between the time the parish was founded in February 1960 and the time of the first baptism in the new church , there had been 139 such rites performed. This was an indication of how rapidly the congregation was growing,

Participating in the consecration rituals were Fathers Edmund Corrigan and William Morgan from St. John’s; Fathers McCann and Craig from St. Gerard’s, and the Chancellor of the Archdiocese, Monsignor Sexton. The first Sunday mass was on February 11, and at the ten o’clock mass on February 18, the Edward J. Beatty Post American Legion honored their fellow Legionnaire, Father McCann by presenting him with an American flag to be displayed in the church. On June 16 Cardinal Cushing made a formal dedication of the church on a day that also celebrated the 30th anniversary of Father McCann’s ordination.

The ensuing years have been good ones for St. Gerard’s. The parish has been blessed with two outstanding pastors in Leo J. McCann and William Coen as well as dedicated, energetic and caring curates. Soon Father McCann is to retire. He will leave a standard of service to the parish and to the town that will be difficult to emulate. The church has grown substantially in the nearly thirty five years since its founding, as that area of Canton has had the greatest residential development. With that growth and with a giving congregation, Father Coen has been able to redesign the church so that it now has the aesthetic qualities originally envisioned for it.

 

SAINT JAMES
LUTHERAN CHURCH

The decade of the 1960's saw no less than six new houses of worship erected in Canton. Unique among them was St. James Lutheran Church, for it was the first establishment of the religion in town and the first regional church here. The Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church were noted for the demographical analyses they pursued before founding a new congregation. Well aware of the movement of population to the suburbs and of the major improvements in highways, church planners often felt that a regional structure was the best way to serve the Lutherans of a wider area on a financially stable basis. So it was that in December, 1959, the Canton-Milton region was looked at as a possible mission congregation.

The survey conclusions were positive, and the decision was made to begin worship services with Canton as the focal point. On May 22, 1960 Pastor William Russell Krogstad conducted the first services of St. James Church in the Blue Hills at 11:00 a.m. in the gymnasium of the Dean S. Luce School with fifty-six persons in attendance. It was a real but modest beginning; there were no hymnals, only mimeographed sheets, and the organ was a portable one played by the Pastor's wife. Pastor Krogstad had an impressive background and was a graduate of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis with a Masters degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He was a World War II veteran and had been Field Director of the American Red Cross in Korea in 1951-52.

Prominent among the early member families were the Allens, Juergens, Grieves, Plummers, Webers, Dennisons, Euerles and Roebers. The first baptism was that of Leslie Goransson, and it was performed at the Luce gymnasium. In October 1961 the services were moved to the then old and somewhat gloomy looking Milton Town Hall. In the spring of 1962 the congregation entered into a four year lease with the Ponkapoag Chapel whereby St. James would renovate the building in exchange for the use of it.. Pastor Krogstad left St. James in October 1962 and was replaced on a temporary basis by Reverend William Jensen. The church had still not yet been officially charted by the Synod, but in November of that year there were provisional officers, namely: Marshall Plummer, President, Al Kohnle, Treasurer; and Roy Pederson, Secretary.

In July 1963 Thomas William Eifert became the second Pastor and is still fondly remembered as a tremendously creative, thorough and direct man of God. He was a whirlwind of energy and activity who served those of every age in the church. Attendance figures and membership steadily increased, and he was loved by all.

The next year, 1964, was to be a significant one marked by the establishment of the Vacation Bible School, the formation of a Real Estate Committee and the reception on December 6, 1964 of the charter from the Missouri synod that formally organized the congregation. To mark the event a Loyalty Dinner for Charter Members was held at Tecla's. Of the forty-six charter recipients, nine are still members of the congregation thirty-one years later. They are: Freida Euerle, Lynn Goransson, John and Muriel Johnson, Doris and Walter Lowry, Dorya and Roy Pedersen and Martha Senkel.

On February 14, 1965 a constitution and by-laws were adopted and the first church council came into being. It consisted of Herbert Grieves, President; Alfred Kohnle, Vice President, William Euerle, Treasurer, Stanley Eddols, Secretary; and members Roy Pedersen, Bryce Floyd, Rolf Gaertig, Victor Rasmussen and Walter Lowry.

St. James continued to hold services in the Ponkapoag Chapel, but by 1966 it was clear that due to growth it could not be accommodated there much longer. In September of that year Tobe Deutschmann allowed a house across from the Chapel to be used for Sunday School classes, and in November the Missouri Synod approved the purchase from A. A. Will of four acres on York street as the site for a new church. The church members were thrilled at the building prospect and lost no time in moving forward. Ake Goransson, a church member and a respected professional, was chosen as architect in February 1967. The property was acquired in June and a Building Committee established consisting of John Johnson, chairman and members Alma Van Buren, Al Stein, Walter Lowry and Roger Schuhmacher. The construction contract with Ambrosia Construction Company of Quincy was signed in November 1967.

The work proceeded so well that on June 9, 1968 the cornerstone donated by Ambrosia was laid following the end of regular services at the Ponkapoag Chapel. On August 28, 1968 the first congregational meeting was held at the new church. The organ was a donation from St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Dedham. The valedictory services at Ponkapoag were held on September 8, 1968. The six and a half years at the Chapel were vital ones in the life of the young mission congregation, and the co-operation and courtesy of the Chapel members has long been remembered and appreciated by St. James.

The dedication of the new church was on a warm sunny autumn Sunday, September 15, 1968. There was an appreciative turn out of members and well wishers from the community. Two services were held. One at 10:00 a.m. featured a key presentation at the main entrance, after which the doors were unlocked and the 119 congregants gathered for worship. The dedication service was held at 4:00 p.m. with 390 persons in attendance. Afterward there were refreshments and an open house at which visitors were impressed by the structure with its provisions for classrooms, office, kitchen, fellowship and worship.

In August 1969 Pastor Eifert accepted a call to Grace Lutheran Church in Malverne, New York. Reverend Richard Manns came to serve as an interim pastor. In September through the efforts of folks like Ralph Blanchard the church established the Yorkbrook Preschool which is still a successful and vital arm of the congregation.

On Sunday June 21, 1970 Reverend Stephen L. Thiel, a recent seminary graduate, was installed as Pastor. He had an interest in the community as well as in the congregation and was a member of the Canton Drug Commission's "Hot Line". He wanted to be remembered as a transition Pastor who helped the congregation assess its goals and values while the church was growing and developing. Pastor Thiel would remain until August 1972 when he left for Christ Lutheran Church in Maplewood, New Jersey.

The Church then as now was a center of many activities, both in worship and in fellowship.. The Christmas and Easter worship services were always uplifting and involved wide membership participation. Perhaps reflecting the Germanic background of some members, the annual Oktoberfest was a fun time for all as well as a source of funds to help pay building costs

Reverend David P. Mahn was called and installed on January 14, 1973 as Pastor of the Church and as Lutheran Institutional Chaplain in Boston. He was to be Pastor for thirteen years and a community leader as Chaplain to the Canton Fire Department, an Officer in the Army Reserve and Publisher and Editor of the Canton Journal.

The still young Church accomplished much despite modest finances. For example, in 1975 the budget was $25,700 with an additional subsidy from the District of $11,000. The parishioners have always been civic minded with many volunteering their services to town government over the years. The Church played a key role in mobilizing the fight against the expansion of the B.F.I. landfill and was host in 1977 to the first of many Candidate's Nights sponsored by the Blue Hill Civic Association A significant land acquisition resulted from the donation of 35.18 acres by their abutter, Campanelli, Inc. Some of the industrially zoned property was later sold and the remainder rezoned to residential. The proceeds from the sale of the land were a welcome addition to Church finances especially after the District subsidy was ended.

As a regional Church in a mobile society the congregation has from time to time seen members leave to reside in other areas of the country, and similarly new members arising from transfers to this area. Because perhaps of its rustic location, the Church has had in the past problems with arson and vandalism. The first incident was in April 1982 when a thief broke in and stole $2000 worth of equipment and set fires in five different areas of the building. Fortunately the damage was slight., and the congregation held a thanksgiving service to God and the Canton Police and Fire Departments.

Pastor Mahn resigned effective Easter Sunday of 1986. Reverend James Keurulainen became the vacancy pastor and provided care and continuity as the congregation looked to its future and determined that it was necessary to have a full-time Pastor and to furnish him with a suitable parsonage.

In July 1987 thirty-one year old John Hohe, Pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran in Terryville, CT accepted the call to be the Pastor at St. James. He was installed in October 1987 by which time there was a parsonage for him and his family at 3 Standish Way. Less than two months later an arsonist struck and on December 9th a fire caused the loss of three Sunday School rooms, part of a new roof, and kindergarten materials and furniture. Again in October 1989 there was an arson incident with fortunately only minor damage. A further arson attempt was made in March 1990 with minimal result.

Despite these setbacks, the well-liked Pastor Hohe has been a cheerful and effective leader of the parish. He takes satisfaction in the growth in membership in his pastorate from thirty-five to over ninety. Now two services are required to accommodate Sunday worshippers and some long range thought is being given to expanding the physical facilities. His primary mission focus is on the unchurched believer who is ready for a new beginning.

 

TEMPLE BETH DAVID

 

The decade of the 1960's was a time of unparalleled change in the religions of Canton. As a result of the post-war migration of population to the suburbs and the advent of the baby boom, religious congregations were in a posture of expansion, and new buildings often in new locations were common. In addition early in the decade Canton was simultaneously the site of three new institutions of worship. St. John's parish was halved in size in order to establish the St. Gerard Majella Church in Ponkapoag; St. James Lutheran Church was begun at the same time, and Congregation Beth David was founded.

Beth David and St. James were similar in that they were to serve a regional membership with Canton well-situated geographically for such a purpose. Later the relocation of Trinity Church to a new edifice near the junction of Routes 128 and 138 would also give it a wider range of parishioners.

There had been a Conservative Jewish Congregation, Temple Beth Abraham, in Canton since 1917. Around 1960 a number of Reform Jewish families met to establish Congregation Beth David to serve the surrounding areas, principally, Canton, Randolph, Milton, Stoughton, and other South Shore towns

Borah Kreimer of Stoughton is the only charter member of the Congregation who is still living nearby, and he vividly recalls the early days of growing the congregation and establishing a place of worship. He stresses the spirit of unity, fellowship and self-giving that made the effort worthwhile and successful and that has been a mark of the group throughout its history.

At first members met in the homes of some of the founders until space was leased for Sabbath services from the Unitarian Church in Canton. Services were first conducted by student rabbis, some of whom journeyed here from New York City, and were held initially every two to three weeks. The rental arrangement at the Unitarian Church went on for several years until the Church needed the facilities for its own use. The hospitality of the Church to the new Congregation is still remembered and was one of the reasons for seeking another location in Canton.

The next site for the Congregation was on Turnpike Street in a store owned by the O'Keefe brothers. At one time the brothers had an ice cream stand there, but by 1963 it was an art gallery. The Congregation rented the second floor which necessitated the building of an outside stair, which was done and donated by member Arthur Fleishman. The space was tight but it fulfilled their needs for another two years. Today D'Angelos occupies the site and incorporates in its structure part of the original building.

In 1967 the Congregation purchased the former home of Arthur "Chuck" Haynes, a ranch house on two and a half acres of land at 256 Randolph Street. The location was superb, as it was on beautiful Ponkapoag Pond and ideally suited for the many members from Randolph and Canton. On August 30. 1967 permits were issued to remodel the house to provide for a rabbi's study, and rooms for meetings and classes.. On November 22, 1967 the foundation was poured for a new 70' by 70' building behind the former Haynes' home. The added space was needed, for the members due to crowded conditions had to stand during the services held in the house. The two buildings--the ranch house and the new structure--served the Congregation for nearly nineteen years.

In 1985 the decision was made that a large addition incorporating a Sanctuary was desirable. A foundation was poured and construction went on for many months. Notably much of the work was done by the members themselves in an outstanding example of volunteerism. In April 1986 the old house was razed as the new Temple went up on its site. The finished building is an attractive one in a sylvan setting. Since its completion there have been further alterations to make it handicapped accessible and to provide a bride's room for weddings and receptions.

In its early years as a young and small congregation it took some time to have a resident rabbi. Yet over the years there have been many distinguished persons in that position.

The first to hold services in Canton was the Chairman of the Region, Alexander Schindler, a World War II ski-patrol veteran who recently retired as President of the American Union of Hebrew Congregations. David Goldstein was a student rabbi here and is now Rabbi of Truro Temple in New Orleans. He was succeeded by Albert Axelrad, now Hillel Director at Brandeis University. Another was Norman Mirsky, today a Professor at Hebrew University Seminary in Cincinnati. Daniel Polish, a stirrer of social consciousness, was Beth David's Rabbi in the early 1970's.

The longest serving Rabbi was Mark Saperstein who was here for twelve years. He started here as a student from Harvard and was much respected by the members of the Temple. He now holds a chair at Washington University in St. Louis. Another popular one in the Congregation and in the community was the first female Rabbi, Elyse Goldstein. She was here for about five years and was an active and respected member of the Canton Clergy Association. She was succeeded by Neal Kominsky who served four years and is now in Lawrence. The present Rabbi is Michal Shekel who began her duties in the autumn of 1995.

Today the Congregation has about 180 members with Randolph having the largest single representation followed closely by Canton and then by several other South Shore towns. It is a Congregation that now has a mix of age groups, a sense of social justice, and a desire to worship God in a meaningful way.

 

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