North Montville Meeting House

Church Home for Generations

By Isabel Morse Maresh

Eunice busied herself preparing for church this Sabbath morning, the thirteenth of April 1873. She thought to herself, “It's odd that mother is not up getting ready for church.”

Mother was Elizabeth Hannah (Raynes) Morse, born in New Gloucester, Maine in 1783. She was called both Betsey and Hannah. Betsey had married John Lane Morse of Chester, N. H. in 1804. After their marriage John and Betsey had removed to the fledgling town of Montville, then in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where they built a log home. It was where their daughter, Eunice had been born and where the remainder of their large family been born and raised.

Mother was ninety-one years of age. She had not missed a Sabbath day’s meeting in all of the sixty plus years of Eunice’s life. Eunice stepped into her mother’s room and realized that Mother would be in the Presence of the Lord this morning, singing with the angels.

Eunice recalled the many tales Mother had told her from her youth. Her youngest brother, Moses, who had settled in Belmont, tended out on Mother, preparing her a garden, keeping the old home in some sort of repair, preparing it for winter, harvesting the garden, getting in and splitting firewood, and the many chores to keep a home warm and secure during the long Maine winters. Her sister, Betsey had married Hiram Weymouth, and resided in China, Maine. Her older brothers, Ezekiel and Kendrick had removed to Detroit, Maine.

When Mother became aged, and unable to stay in her home, Eunice, who had married John Cochran, took Mother to live with them in Belfast. Mother would not be in the family pew in the First Baptist Church in Belfast this morning, with Eunice, John, their daughters, Mary Ann and Lucy.

Father, John L. Morse, had been active in Montville as a “surveyor of lumber” in 1822 and 1823, a “Fence viewer” in 1829. Father had tragically died of a fever in February 1830 in Montville. He was only forty-six years of age.

Mother would be buried beside her beloved husband, John, who had been buried with other members of the family in the little Halldale Cemetery, in Montville, the gravesite marked by a row of white gravestones. Mother’s death was duly recorded in the Belfast Baptist Church, a fitting tribute to the life of faith that she had lived in her lifetime.

Mother had told Eunice of their church life in Montville. The first church in Montville was organized 17 July 1807 in an old schoolhouse in the Frye district. In Aug. of 1807, Elder Job Cushman was installed as the Pastor. A great reformation followed. Elder Cushman was promised $1 a week, but times were hard. Often the pay didn’t come. To raise money for the Church, the men paid a poll tax of twenty-five cents. The women were to pay twelve and a half cents. Other money received was from a tax of the men, according to their property tax, assessed according to their tax paid to the Town. If a man refused to pay the tax, his family could not participate in Church fellowship. Being deeply religious, it would be a disgrace not to be able to meet with other believers. If a family was too poor to pay, his tax was abated and taken from the pastor’s pay.

A two-story brick edifice was built in 1829. The membership of the church rose and waned. At times there was much dissent among the membership. Mother did not seem to recall what had happened to the brick building.

When Mother and Father first came to Montville, Elder John Colby, a traveling minister, unknown to the local people, came to town preaching the Gospel. Wherever he preached, people were converted to Christ. Elder Colby preached in the Schoolhouses, in private homes, in barns, as well as on the highways, days and evenings, not just on Sundays. In about ten weeks eighty people were converted to a belief in Christ, in the Kingdom, in South Montville, North Montville, as well as in neighboring towns. People were being baptized several times a week. Elder Colby cut the ice on pleasant days, to baptize the eager converts. Elder Moses McFarland and Elder Ebenezer Knowlton were also baptizing converts. One hundred and twelve converts were added to the Church with well over one hundred twenty baptized. Among the converts who were baptized were Father and Mother, John L. & Betsey Morse, and their children.

In the early days, traveling ministers arrived on horseback, from the Quarter Meetings of the Freewill Baptist Churches. Among those preachers was Rev. Jason Mariner of Lincolnville, often bringing his brother, William. William courted and married Sarah Maria Jackson, daughter of William and Sarah Jackson, all active members of the North Montville Meeting house.

The members of the new congregation were required to join the Temperance movement, promising to abstain from drinking alcohol of any form. Also, they were to pray for the abolition of Slavery, a topic which often caused dissent in the congregation, causing one church to disband.

Mother recalled that the North Montville church recorded that they were united with the Quarter Meetings in Aug. 1818. The North Ridge Church went through another reformation in the year before Father died, in 1829, adding many more members to the Church, which had a small, drafty log meetinghouse. At that time there was such a large crowd attending meetings, that they were divided, Elder Pratt preaching at the meetinghouse, Elder Thorn of Lewiston preaching at the Schoolhouse, while Elder Knowlton preached at Father and Mother’s home.

About 1855, Asa Hall deeded a parcel of land in North Montville to the members of the North Montville Meetinghouse Corporation, their heirs and assigns forever, for the purpose of building a meetinghouse for its members. Eunice and John came out from Belfast to attend the dedication. Even her brother, Moses and his wife, Susan of Belmont, attended the dedication of the Church in Jan. 1856. The Church was faithfully attended every Sunday by Mother and her children who lived locally, owning a pew in the Church. The church later became known as the North Montville Baptist Church.

John and Betsey Morse long ago went to Heaven to sing with the angels, but the Meetinghouse that the family had loved so dearly, is still in existence in the Halldale section of North Montville. It has gone through its ups and downs. During World War II, attendance waned to the point of being closed for some time. The last recorded meeting was in January 1971.
 

In early 2005, it was noticed that the Church had been closed for years. The Maine Historic Preservation Commission in Augusta, Maine, issued a judgment that the old meeting house was eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places. Only a handful of the members of the old church survive.

The future of the old meetinghouse and its five old records books, back to the beginning of the religious movements in Montville, is in question. As of 2006, the church is not on the records of the Baptist Churches in Maine, nor on record as a Non-Profit entity with the I.R.S. The meetinghouse has been in good condition for its age.

The purpose of the National Register of Historic Places is to ensure that the building will be preserved for folks such as the descendants of John and Betsey Morse, Asa Hall, the Gowins, Vose, Thomas, Bryant, Whitten, Plummer, Thompson and Rollins families, as well as Sarah (Jackson) Mariner, and so many others, would be proud to know that the building where they worshipped their God in, witnessed marriages, funerals, and the dedication of their children in, would be preserved for yet other generations. By not having the building put on the National Register, it can become a hen house, cow barn, an automotive garage, residence, or something else, as has happened to so many other old churches.