| The
Congregational Church built a new meetinghouse in 1856 just below
the brick store. Isaac Adams and Joseph Wentworth donated money and
land for the parsonage. But there was alot of difficulty getting a
minister who pleased the congregation. With the proximity of other
churches in the area it drained the congregation, and the last
regular service was held in 1880.
The
White Church
had been built in 1825. Its congregation had always had a high level
of religious acitivity. In 1880, the Sabbath School had a membership
of 150 and the North Sandwich Ladies Benevolent Association
formed as early as 1853. In July 1887, the Reverend David Calley
baptized fourteen new converts in the Swift River at Weeds Mills.
All seemed to be going so well, and then disaster struck.
In June of 1897, the
pastor of the First
Freewell Baptist Church,
the Rev. H. B. Huntoon, was tried by a "council of ministers
on charges of immorality and indecency. He had previously abruptly
left town. On June 24, he was found guilty. According to the
Sandwich Reporter, this episode angered many bitter feelings
against the church.
This dissension was
just the beginning. In Jan. 1898, Rev. E.L. Krumreig was
invited to the White Church to hold evangelical services. At the end
of his month's trial, it seems that many parishioners disliked the
man and by a vote of twelve to six church leaders voted not to hire
him. They accused the Reverend Krumreig of not bringing
truthful recommendations to the church.
The rift within the
church was such that in March 1898 steps were taken by the Krumreig
supporters, among whom were Daniel S. Watson, Walter S. Tappan,
Frank Tilton, Charles Ames, and John Atwood, to start a
new church. This church, to be called the
Messiah Church,
was built
on land donated by Daniel Tappan and R.S. Batchelder
in Whiteface village. The building was finished in Nov. 1899. Then
to what must have been the congregation's astonishment, the
Reverend Krumreig abruptly resigned, to take effect in March
1900, saying it was "within the Divine Plan."
His replacement was
Edwin Bundy, some of whose paintings hang in the Sandwich
Historical Society. The Rev. Bundy remained with the
Messiah Church for years, and the church served the neighborhood
even after regular services ceased.
The most enduring
congregation in North Sandwich was that of the Quakers.
To be a Friend, or Quaker, in Sandwich or anywhere else always meant
belonging to a wider community than a single congregation or indeed
a town. Quarterly meetings in Sandwich were attended by Friends from
towns as distant as Berwick, Maine or Rochester or Dover, New
Hampshire.
In a short history
that John Hoag wrote, "Friends in Sandwich," he stated
that by 1833 there were 700 members of the Society, more than a
quarter of the population of the town. However, by 1884, only 67
Friends were left in town. In one year, 60 Hoags went west from
Sandwich.
|
