Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-01-08

care and responsibility for the spirit
ual interest of the Maine colonists.
In 1886 the Rev. Richard Gibson
came to the settlement at Saco, then
owned by an English merchant,
Robert Trelawney. This clergyman
lived on Richmond Island, which lies
on the southerly side of Cape Eliza
beth, near Portland, and he exercised
pastoral care over the large NUMBER
of men engaged in the profitable
fisheries in that vicinity. He was
bold in his expression of loyalty TO
the English church and as the re-
suit of an open controversy with
Puritan minister in Dover, N. H.,
was brought before the Court Oh
Massachusetts and tried for being
| wholly addicted to the hierarchy
, and discipline Of England" After
several DAYS of confinement he was
allowed to go on condition that ne
leave the country. The Rev. Robert
Jordan who succeeded Mr.. Gibson in
1910, was the first clergyman to
settle permanently in the district.
His Jealous adherence to the Ep1s-
copal church brought him into con-
slant disfavor with the Massachu-
! setts government and he was fire.
nuently censured. His house was
burned in the Indian war melted by
King Philip and he narrowly escaped
with his family to New Hampshire,
where he died in 1879.
The regular ministrations Of the
Church of Maine were then suspend
| ed for so years. In 1875. at the re-
| quest of the settlers of Frankfort
! (now Dresden) and Georgetown, the
Society for the Propagation OF the
Gospel in Foreign Parts sent out to
them the Rev. William McClenachan.
He departed after four years and
was succeeded by the Rev. jacob
Bailey, known as the Frontier Mis-
sionary." He came to Pownal-
borough. which included the planta-
ton of Frankfort. in 176O.
The most lasting evidence OF Mr..
! Bailey's work in this region Is the
i church in Gardiner, which has Tor
| over 100 years played such a con.
spicuous part in the church life or
Maine, St. Anne's church in Gardi-
ner was dedicated in 1872 and was
| erected largely through the gener-
osity of the Gardiner family, from
whom the town is named. This
building was burned in 1893 by q
! mailman who thought he was COM
| missioned from on high to burn the
church and murder the minister. A
| new st. Anne's church was built the
next year. II. 1850 but two Episco-
pal churches existed In Maine.
Puritan Massachusetts, sought 10
! extend her spiritual dominion over
| Maine. Thomas Jenner, the nrst
| Puritan minister in Maine, preached
: in Saco in 1641 and 1912. Probably
7 the first Puritan church was founded
| in York in 1873 or earlier. In the
year, Rev. Shubael Drummer, was
| ordained to a passionate of l9 years.
He was shot by Indians Just as ne
was mounting his horse to help re-
pei an Indian attack in 1867.
! Religious controversy had already
entered Maine. The quiet people
who called themselves Children OF
the Light" and who, not wishing to
usurp the name Church" which they
believed belonged to Universal
Christendom, called themselves the
Society Of Friends" In 1862, Anne
Coleman, Alice Ambrose and Mary
Tompkins, of the Quaker Faith. were
imprisoned at Salisbury and whipped
through three towns. They then
came to Berwick and held a meet
ing. No other meeting TN Maine
were recorded for more than 6O
years.
william screven and Humphrey
Churchwood, in 1851, were baptized
into the fellowship Of the First Bap-
fist church in Boston. The follow
ing year Screven was ordained on
petition of the Baptists in Kittery for
the purpose of establishing church
there. He was soon hailed into court
for not attending the Established
Church on Sundays. Later he was
fined and Imprisoned and on release
forbidden to preach or to keep priv
ate exercises at his house. Screven
paid little attention to this order
and when again arrested and per-
secuted he and q band Of exiles of
their faith left Kittery and estab-
lished' near Charleston. 8. c., the
first Baptist church OF the South IN
1854. Chaplain Hezekiah Smith of
Haverhill, Mass, who nearly CEN
fury later founded the first perma-
nent Baptist church in Maine, was
licensed as an evangelist by this
same church in Charleston which
William Screven founded.
At the close of the 18th century
the only churches left in Maine were
18th century In accord with the
Puritan system, the churches ad-
vanced exactly as fast as did the
population. For the first half Of the
18th century the Congregational
churches had full possession Of the
Maine field. Men went to church
and paid their taxes. Many of the
early town ministers were not Con-
gregationalist, but Presbyterians
from the north of Ireland or Scot
land. In 1920 Robert Rutherford
came from Ireland with a colony
and settled in Maine. He preached
at Bristol, Pemaquid and Brunswick
from 1875 to 1912. Though the
| Presbyterian ministry were exceed
ingly able and churches were found
ed in Georgetown, New Castle,
| Brunswick, Boothbay, Bristol, Tops
| ham, Warren, Gray, Canaan, and
Turner, largely through lack of the
| Offices of the Presbytery and Synod
their churches became Congregation
al or dwindled away, and in 1920 not
| one was left.
The Baptists were back in Maine
in 1867. In 1868, Hezekiah Smith
founded a church in North Berwick
which Is the Oldest existing Baptist
| church in the State. Baptist
churches multiplied and were soon
gathered into Associations" On
/ May "a, 1857. delegates from
| churches in Thomaston, Bowdoin-
ham and Harpswell met and formed
the Bowdoinham Association, and
by the close of the 18th century there
were AZ Baptist churches in the Dis
| trict Of Maine with membership
of 2,1S6.
| The last decade of the 18th CEN
fury saw the coming to Maine of the
| Methodist church, destined to be an
| important factor in it's religious life.
The apostle or missionary was Jesse