Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1878-12-26
New England meetIng-Ezouses ana
WOrshiPPers in OOlonial EImes.

time to assign seat in the meeting-house
to each inhabitant of the town. This
work was called 'sdignifying the meeting /
house" There was a head and foot to I
the classes engaged in public worship; |
for the New England Puritans were great |
respecters Of persons, and they had |
q 'Worshipfull' regard for men of wealth |
or titles, which was ludicrously incon-
sistent with their principles. A man was
moved up toward the head-that is the
front seats-when he acquired wealth,
Office or military titles. He was moved
down toward the foot-that is the back
seats-when he lost property, office, or
honors.
The rules for seating varied In differ
ent towns. In some, as in Bedford, 1870,
the rule was ''to have respect to them
that are fifty years old and upwards" !" In
others, as at Rehoboth, IT'S, it was First
ly to have regard to dignity of person,
and secondly to age, and thirdly what
charge they have been at in building the
Westinghouse" or, "to have respect to
age, Office and estate, negroes excepted. .
The "negroes excepted were seated in
the furthermost corners of the galleries,
and sometimes in pen on the wall above
the gallery. Most of them were slaves,
Grated with horses and cattle'' (Judge
Sewall's diary, June p, 1716). They
were Indian eaptives sold into slavery
and Africans bought or exchange for In
dians. 'sA vote was called to see what
should be done with the money that was
made of the Indians that were sold last,
and it was voted that the soldiers that
took them should have it, (Bridgewater
records, 1870. There were also white
slaves. The Connecticut Gazette of jan
uary 3, 1854, advertised: ''Just imported
from Dublin, in the brig Darby, parcel
of Irish servants, both women and men,
to be sold cheap by Israel Boardman at
Stamford
Military dignity claimed front seat in
the Westinghouse. There was a good
deal of it belonging to officers of the mil
itia, and to men who had been in the In
dian wars, in the expeditions to Louis
berg, Quebec and Cuba, and who had re-
turned with large stories and small titles.
The majority of these were sergeants
and ensigns. Even drummer was some
body in the social SCALE sDrummer
Stetson" is mentioned in the Scituate re-
cords of 1925 as an important man. The
people of Newbury voted, in 100, that
'sthe worshipfull Colonel Daniel Pierce
should have the first choice for pew.
and Major Thomas Noyes shall have the
second ehoice.'' Sergeant Jacques had
the honor of hanging the new bell
Gloucester voted in 1742 s'that Captain
William Haskell should sit in the fore.
seat"; and in 1857, probably to make
room for another Captain, ''that Mister
Joseph Hibbard's wife move out of the
long fore-seat into short fore-seat." A
Wallingford, in 1716, one Captain wal
designated Ffto set in the deacon's seat,
another Captain ''to set in the first pue,
and another ''to set in the second pue.'
The people made very low bows to al
officer of the King and gave him seat o
extra dignity. At Norwalk, Conn.,, il
1886, it was voted: ''Thomas Fitch for t,
be seated in the Westinghouse in the up
per great round seat, as he is the King
commissioner" In 1928 his son was as
signed to a seat ''in the pew with the Jus
tices,'' and the selectmen desired that h
would be so gracious as to ''read tn
psalm and set the tune in the time of pub
lie Worship
People 'shard o. hearin''' were desti
.tute of dignity: but they were permitte,
to sit on the pulpit stairs, or near by.
there was vacant place, ''for the ad
yya,+o c,o ovo5 ba1o6t 30 tooriro tI,o v,,or.
preached" (Norwalk records, 1902, o
rather trying to hear it.
Men who were honored with seat a
table enjoyed ease as well as dignity
The birmingham records of 17O1 stat
that a pew was built 'sfor those men,
: wives that sit at the table in the nortl
corner of the meeting. house." In III
this town declared ''that, as for the dig
nifty of the seats, the table and the fore
seat are accounted to be the two highest
the front gallery is equal in dignity to tn
second and third seats irl the body of tn
meeting house, and the wide gallery
equal to the fourth and fifth seats.''
The following rule for seating, observe,
in many towns, was characteristic of tn
Puritan's regard for rank, placing peopl
, who had pedigree and an office at tn
head, and useful people at the foot of tn
, line: ''1st, dignity of decent: I'd, plac
, of public trust; Sd, pious disposition an,
behaviour; 4th, estate; 9TH, peculiar ser
viceableness of any kind"
Where age was ranked first, wealtl
was made an equivalent to it, An estat
, taxed at fifteen pounds, for example
, would be declared equal to one additiona
+ year in the owners age. Thus, perso
thirty years old, and taxed for three hun
, dred pounds, could add twenty years t
! his age, in his rank, and claim seat i
the Westinghouse with those who ar
fifty years old. But wealth frequently
took the precedence of age. At Water
bury, Conn, in 1919, it was voted sFto sea
by list of estate and by age" At We
, burn, Mass, in 17I9, the front seats wer
given to the wealthy and liberal,'7 an
the rear seats to the Gagged and poor.''-
The latter complained to the selectme
that they were ''much aggrieved at tn
O disorderly seating of many persons i
the house of God, the ancient behind th
backs of the youth" But the complain
received no attention.
= People were required to occupy tn
seats assigned to them in the meeting
house, were forbidden to "press into tn
seats of others;'' and it was declared ths
TO sit in the wrong seat ais an act where
by the Sabbath is profaned'! When dig
', mites increased so fast that there were NJ
, seats enough for those who had equs
rank, additional seats were consecrate
by vote of the town, and, on the ne1
; Sunday, these new seats were solemnl
announced from the pulpit.