Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-07-26
DUMMERSTON HISTORY.
When and How the First Meet
ing House Was Built.

The work of Construction Covered II
Years--- Discomfort of Church Going
In the Old Times---Early Ministers of
the Church---the First SchOOlhOuse---
the Quarreling and Tribulations which
Marked the Change from the COmpuI-
sorry TO the Voluntary System of Sup
porting Public worship.
The history of the Congregational church
in Dummerston began when the town was
organized. At the first town meeting held
March 4, III, a committee of five persons,
of whom Capt. Isaac Miller was chairman,
was chosen ''to view the public Lots and
chuse a spot to set the Westinghouse"
The first settlers had no difficulty in the
selection of a centre at which the munich
pal and religious life was to gather When
the township was surveyed in 1867 four
lots of 100 acres each in the central part
of the town, and numbered 50, G6, SO, 81,
were marked Common" on the original
plan of survey. Three rights were includ-
ed in the reservation-one right, or share,
for the first settled minister in town, one
for glebe for the minister of the Church
the gospel in foreign parts. Number GO was
selected for the minister's lot, and on it
the Westinghouse was located at the up
per end of what is now called the common
at Dummerston Centre. 1t is a small
highland plain, containing about three
acres, and atfording fine view eastward
of the Connecticut valley and the pictur-
esque New Hampshire hills. Wantasti-
quet, or West River mountain east of Brat
tleboro vllat i.sX miles distant, limits the
view southwAd
The other tNeir shares, including lots IS,
SO, 81, were np preserved for school lands
as in some othefVitowns, but were sold for
farm lands. Tire common in 1771 was
covered with large hemock trees. The
site chosen for the meeting house was ac-
cepted by the town, Nov, %, 1772 Charles
Davenport and Leonard Spaulding, car
penters drew 4 plan of the house, in size
40 by 80 feet. The day set for raising the
building was Nov. 10, 1918. At the rails
ing the carpenters were obliged to suspend
operations a few hours until men could be
obtained from Putney to help lift the
heavy frame. How much New England
rum was drank on the occasion is not re-
corded. A New Hampshire town in 1888
provided three barrels of New England
rum against raising the meeting house,
Probably with the help of the men from
PutBey the company disposed of about two
barrels. The frame was covered during
4774 and the town held a meeting in the
house, May IL, 1775 and voted to hire
preaching that year. As no minister
could be secured for that season, John
Hooker, Dummerston hero, fresh from
the court house fight at Westminster,
March ID, ITO, was employed 'to carry
on public worship on the Lords day.
April %, 1776, the town voted to hire
preaching and chose Lieut.. Leonard
Spaulding one of a committee to hire a
preacher that year. The following entry
appears in his old account book: "Dum-
merston, June u, 1776. For my time and
Expenses goin to old hadle Hadleyl for
minister, time expenses and boss Is
shillings." Mr.. Dudley was hired to
preach that season, and on Nov 10, 1915,
the committee were instructed ''to treat
with him about the tax due him and how
much he must have before he goes away"
Nothing further recorded of him appears
on the town books. His christian name
is not mentioned. The church had no
record book until 1908, when Rev. Hosea
Beckley became pastor of the society. He
makes the following entry on the 4th page
of the book:"The church records having (as
itappears) been kept on loose pieces of pa
per and some of them being lost, there
will be Interruptions to a regular account
of the church." The longest interruption,
however, occurred during his ministry
Although he wrote a history of Vermont
he made no record of the proceedings of
the church during his pastorate of %
years. From 1908 to 1887 the church rec
ord is an entire blank. We learn from To-
Y cal history that "Mr. Dudley" of Dunn
mcrston was Rev. Nicholas Dudley, who
became the first settled minister of Towns
bend in l777 and remained there about
three years. He was born in Eppinp.
N. H., and was graduate of Harvard in
1861
Returning to the history of building the
Westinghouse, we find from the town rec
ords that the pews were built in 1898. the
plan of arrangement being the same as in
the church at West Brattleboro built in
1875. The number of pews built was 81
and the names of all the first pew owners
have been put on record. Windows haV-
ing glass were not furnished until 1900
window shutters were used previous
to that date. In 1904 the meeting house
was plastered, and the enterprise, which
began in 1913, was completed in 1904 a
period of p years.
meeting-houses were, compared to the |
costly cathedrals of other lands!
ION other shores, above their Wondering towns.
IL sullen pomp the tall cathedral frowns;
Pride in its aisle, and paupers at the door
Which feeds the beggar whom il heeced before |
SimplAand frail, our lowly temples throw
Their slender shadows on the paths below;
scarce steal the winds that sweep his woodland |
The larch'sRerfume from the settlers axe,
Ere, like vision of the morning air,
HIS slight framed steeple marks the house of
prayer"
The first New England meeting houses
were rude structures with matched roofs
and beaten floors. Some were built only
20 feet square without tower or belfry.
They were little more than log cabins.
The second type of church buildings was
more pretentious, high, roomy, rectangular
structures, with pyramidal roof and cap
ped with a small tower or belfry. The
third type was steeple-crowned like those
built by the early settlers in Vermont, the
steeple being expressive as a symbol of as
piration. The present Congregational
church in Dummerston, built in 1912, is a
modification of the third type of ecclesas-
tical architecture and has a truncated tow
er or belfry rising from successive bases,
the bell being hung in the lower deck. The
simple and unadorned church buildings.