The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-06-28
HISTORY or THE
First Congregational Church
IN SCiTUATE RHODE ISLAND.

! up and a church of five members Wal
organized January /, 1884. Three o.
! the members were the pastor and wife
and Mrs. Sally Hughes, who died il
Scituate, June Is, 1916, at the age o.
% years. These united by letters
| from the Warwick Church. Two unit
cd on cOnfession-George Davis, aged
l3 years, and John ii. Willard, aged
%, whose accommodation for mis-
conduct in 1887 was the occasion oi
delegates from Killingly, CT, Provi
dence, Pawtucket and Fall River. The
text OF the pastors sermon at the or.
ganization OF the Church was / Timo
thy 3:15, concerning how thou ought
est to behave thyself in the house OF
Cod, which is the church of the living
God, the pillar and ground OF the
truth"
The second pastor OF the Church,
Rev. G. r. GrOsyenOr, wrote a letter
for the celebration OF the 50th ann
yersary Of the organization OF the
Church full Of valuable "reminiscences.
In the letter he supplied interesting
facts in regard TO the first pastorate.
Each pew was entitled to a vote.
and the majority OF votes determined
who should occupy the pulpit As
another man came into Mr.. Hughes
place in the manufacturing company,
Mr.. Russell Allen, fearing that he
might be voted out OF the pulpit, him.
self bought the cOmpany's pews. Thus,
with the help Of the members of the
Church, he made his position secure
lie then started "A subscription to pay
for what he had bought and succeeded
iu raising more than half OF the
amount needed, when his efforts were
suspended by the general financial
crisis.
Durin" the discussion that attended
the organization OF the Church, Mr..
Aliens views underwent a change, and
the result was that instead of Cal.
whistle Baptist Church, it was or.
ganized a (Calvinistic) Congregational
Church. Consequently, June 10, 1884
the Congregational Church of Scituata
applied for membership to the Evan
gelical Consolation of Congregational
Churches convened at the Richmond
Street Meeting House, Providence
Thirteen churches were in session,
and the Newport, Coventry and Scitu-
ate Churches were recognized as in
connection with us"
juno 10, 1886, Mr.. Allen preached
the annual sermon before the ConsO-
citation, with its 16 churches and
, 100 members. For many years he
was its accredited missionary, while
Scituate became one of its mission
fields.
by the end Of the first year the
FIRST Congregational Church of Scitu
ate numbered % members, and IS
months later 81, During the first year
there were over so scholars in the
Sunday School, with IA branch Of 80
members The libraries of the two
schools contained 500 volumes. The
temperance society formed by Mr.. Al
len i'm 1892. with If members, had 467
members, with one in the south OF the
town OF 300 members. The pastor had
had regular appointments in several
stations.
At the close of 1887 Mr.. Allen was
called by the Executive Committee of
the Consolation to establish the
Gospel i'm Phoenix, town of Warwick
The following May the Church made
an attempt to secure Mr.. Aliens re-
turn but without avail. The vote
read: I'm order to enable him to de
vote himself fully to his work among
us, freed from all care and anxiety
respecting his temporal support, we
give him the sum of $500 annually, to
be paid in quarterly payments" Mr.
Alien afterwards preached at Barring
ton. II. l., South Berwick, Maine. In
1881 he became pastor of the First
tional Church at Marblehead,
Mass. where he died June 2, 1872, at
the age of 67.
The close of the pastorate seemed
to have been caused by the exceed
ingly stringent financial times, as we
Gnd Rev. G. II. Grosvenor. in his 50th
letter, writing: More
than a year after my installation |
was surprised to find that Mr. Allen
did not complete the payment for
pcws he had bought and that there
was debt on the Church Of more
than a thousand dollars. | saw no
way OF relief from the trouble but by
personal solicitation. | therefore de
voted most of my time in the summer
of 1871 to that work. BY the good
hand of God upon me, | succeeded in
I NiNlA@ hNtll ~ PAs-NNs sNih INV ANb'
was paid. In making the collections,
after visiting Providence, | went to
New Haven, Middletown,
Norwich. Pomfret and Thompson, i'm
Connecticut; UXbridge, Grafton, and
in Massachusetts"
From May, 1888, for nine years, Rev.
Charles Payson Grosvenor had very
fruitful ministry. Under his ministry
the Church made very substantial ac-
quirement OF its pews, process that
nearly reached completion in 1870,
when the Church owned. of the 80
original pews. all except II. Mr.. Gros-
yonor had been in the employment OF
the Cunyocation as missionary. He
had been ordained July 16. 1884. He
devoted the strength OF his earnest
young ministry to the betterment of
the people. In 1910 six were added
by letter and five by profession; 100
were in the Sunday School and 120
members adopted a restricted pledge
in the Temperance Society. April 5.
1871 now Articles of Faith were