Deacon Dr. John Willard

Mr. Willard was a great-grandson of Maj. Simon Willard who was one of the earliest settlers of Concord, Mass. 1635 , and for the succeeding forty years is well known in the annals of the Colony. Samuel , a son of Maj. Willard , born at Concord 1740 , was among the most eminent divines in New England ; the minister of Groton , afterwards of the Old South church in Boston , and acting president of Harvard Coll. for several years. His son John , father of our minister, took a collegiate degree 1690 , and settled as a merchant at Kingston , Jamaica, W. I. , where Samuel was born 1705 . The latter was early sent to Boston to be educated under the care of his uncle, Josiah Willard , secretary of the Colony, and graduated at Har. Coll. 1723 ; when he returned to Kingston with the intention of fixing his residence on the island. But he was so much shocked by the licentiousness and irreligion which prevailed there, that he came back to New England , and soon after commenced the study of divinity. Directly on his settlement at this place he married Abigail , daughter of Mr. Samuel Wright , of Rutland, Mass. , previously of Sudbury . Their children were the following: Samuel , who died in childhood; John , b. 28 Jan. 1733 ; William , b. Dec. 1734 ; Abigail , died in infancy; Joseph , b. 29 Dec. 1738 ; and Eunice , b. 1741 . On the death of Mr. Willard , the town voted £20 to his widow, to purchase a mourning dress, and £15 for a further donation. She was again married, Nov. 13, 1744 , to Rev. Richard Elvins , minister of the second parish in Scarboro ', who proved an excellent father to her promising children, yet of a tender age.

John , the oldest son, was placed under the care of Secretary Willard of Boston , who sent him to College; he graduated 1751 , and became the minister of Stafford , Conn. , where he died 1807 . He received the degree of D. D. William learned a trade at Lancaster , and settled in Petersham , where he was a deacon of the church, and lived to a good old age. Joseph , who was not three years old when his father died, continued in his mother's family at Scarboro ' for several years. While young, he intended to follow the sea, and even went one or two short voyages; but the last, a trip to Halifax , was attended with so much fatigue and danger, that he relinquished the design. The master of the vessel was pleased with his activity, and remarked to his mother, that it was owing to the exertions of Joseph , and his great firmness of mind, that the vessel was saved. After this he turned his attention to study under the direction of Mr. Elvins , who took great pleasure in instructing him. So well convinced was the latter that Joseph possessed talents of a high order, that he applied to the celebrated Mr. Moody , of Dummer Academy, to take him under his care; by whom he was prepared for college within the short time of eleven months. He graduated at Harvard 1765 . Of his future eminence, as a divine, and as the President of the University, it is unnecessary for us to speak. He died Sept. 25, 1804 . Eunice , the youngest child of our minister, married Rev. Benjamin Chadwick , the successor of Mr. Elvins in the second parish of Searboro '. This excellent lady has recently died at Searboro ', Feb. 11, 1830 .

Two years after the death of Mr. Willard a small volume was published at Boston , containing a sermon preached by him only a few weeks before his decease, at the ordination of Rev. John Hovey in Arundel ; and a funeral discourse, "occasioned by the much lamented death of Rev. Mr. Willard ," delivered at Biddeford by Rev. Wm. Thompson of Scarboro '; to which is prefixed a sketch of his character by Rev. Thomas Prentice , of Charlestown . The latter says: "Mr. Willard and I went to the eastward, and were settled in the ministry there about the same time, and in next neighbour towns [the writer at Arundel ]: soon after which we contracted a most intimate friendship, which continued without interruption to his death; and a most agreeable and most faithful friend I ever found him. He was a man of good natural powers, and for his years and advantages, had made very considerable improvement in useful knowledge, especially in divinity, which, as it was his profession, so was it his favorite study, and which he himself frequently declared, was of all others the most delightful to him. * * * He was a man of eminent piety, and a close walk with God, in his more retired life; as I had opportunity to observe by being much with him and often at his house. In his family he was very exemplary, not only for his kind and compassionate behaviour (which was extraordinary,) but also for the great fervor of devotion with which he was wont there to perform the exercises of piety and religion. * * * In his ministry he was diligent and faithful. He took much pains in his pastoral visits, in praying with, and instructing his people, in a private way. And in his public performances he was very serious and solemn, very earnest and importunate, both with God and men. But this excellent servant of Christ lived for several years much unobserved. His excessive modesty, with some difficulty in his worldly circumstances, concealed him much from public view. * * * And as his life was very useful, so 'tis thought his death was the means of much good to many souls: For not only were many in other towns much affected with it, but also the people of his own charge were wonderfully moved with the tidings of it; and from that time, as I am informed, there began a reformation among them, which hath since been as remarkable perhaps, as in any other town in the Province, of the bigness of it: So that a gentleman in that part of the country observed to me, that Mr. Willard , like Samson , slew more, meaning as to their carnal confidences, at his death than in his life."*

During the short ministry of Mr. Willard , the Church was in a flourishing condition. Beside those whose names have been mentioned as the original members, sixty three persons were admitted to full communion, viz. 24 males, and 39 females. The names of the former are the following: Samuel Scamman , Nathan Whitney , Robert Edgecomb , Rishworth Jordan , Benjamin Hill , John Smith , John Smith , Andrew Stackpole , Abiel Hill , Daniel Smith , Benj. Nichols , John Treworgy , James Clarke , Samuel Scamman, Jr. Wyat Moore , Moses Wadlin , Thos. Emery , Nathaniel Whitney, Jr. , John Stackpole, Jr. , John Murch , Joseph Gordon , Edward Chapman , Magnus Ridlon , Ephraim Stimpson .

The pulpit was supplied, after the death of Mr. Willard , by Rev. Woodbridge Odlin of Exeter , and Nicholas Hodge of Newbury , until April 1742 . A committee, (composed of Capt. J. Gray , Capt. S. Jordan , and Deacon Hill ,) being then appointed to obtain a minister, engaged Mr. Moses Morrill , a candidate for settlement. This gentleman was a native of Salisbury, Mass. and graduated at Harvard College 1737 , at the early age of fifteen years. Notwithstanding his extreme youth, the town in June , gave him an invitation "to settle amongst them in the work of the gospel ministry," offering a salary of £200, old tenor,* B. Haley , P. Fletcher , J. Davis , A. Townsend , Jas. Clarke , Thos. Emery , and R. Brooks . Some modification of them was afterwards made, when, August 9 , Mr. Morrill signified his acceptance of the invitation. On the same day, the Church voted to receive him as their pastor. The ordination took place Sept. 29, 1742 ; there is no record of the churches that assisted on the occasion. Capt. Gray was subsequently allowed £6 13s. old tenor, "for entertaining the messengers and scholars at the ordination of Rev. Mr. Morrill ." The town purchased the house and land of Mr. Henry Pendexter for a parsonage; the land extended back a mile and a half from the river. The house stood about one mile above the present lower meetinghouse, and nearly the same distance below the Falls.

Dr. Watts 's Hymns were introduced into town at this time, to be used on particular occasions; the church voted, a few years after the ordination, that they "should be sung at the sacrament, in conjunction with the Psalms of David , at the discretion of the Pastor." Simon Wingate was chosen deacon 1745 , in place of Deac. Haley , deceased. In 1749 , Samuel Scamman, Jr. was chosen in place of Deac. Hill , but declined the office, when Moses Wadlin was chosen and accepted. In 1754 , John Stackpole, Jr. was chosen in place of Deac. Wadlin . The same year, the church appointed a committee "to take care of Mr. Baxter 's Practical Works, given to the church by the Hon. Samuel Holden, Esq. of London ." This gentleman was a wealthy English dissenter, well known for his charities in New England . He sent over to Dr. Colman of Boston , thirty nine sets of Baxter 's Works, each set consisting of four massive folio volumes, to be distributed among the churches. It was his direction that one volume be kept in or near the house of worship, for the use of the people on the sabbath; and that the others be lent to the inhabitants of the town, and to neighboring ministers.* March 23, 1765 , when the following vote was passed: "The Church met after Lecture, and voted that Dr. Watts 's Sacramental Hymns should be sung for the future at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and that his version of the Psalms be sung at Lecture."

About the time of Mr. Morrill 's settlement, there was a great religious excitement throughout New England , occasioned by the preaching of the celebrated Whitefield , many clergymen favoring, and others opposing, the somewhat irregular effects produced by it. Mr. Morrill was of the former class. Whitefield came into this quarter towards the close of 1744 ; we hear of him in Biddeford early the following year. In March , he preached several times for Mr. Morrill , and in the neighboring towns. It appears from the Journal of Mr. Smith , that there was much opposition to him by a considerable portion of the people.

The winter succeeding the settlement of Mr. Morrill , Dec. 20, 1742 , died Capt. Samuel Jordan , aged fifty eight years. No other individual, probably, had done more to promote the growth and prosperity of the town, than Capt. Jordan . He appears to have been a man of great enterprise, and was extensively engaged in business for many years. He had a store near his house at the Pool, to which the inhabitants far and wide were in the habit of resorting for their supplies. His house was more strongly fortified and secured against the Indians than any other in town, being encompassed by a stone wall of great solidity, the remains of which are still seen. In time of peace, the Indians were often there, and on one occasion they silently crept into the house in the night with hostile intentions, but the Captain coolly giving notice of their presence to a person in a remote part of the house, directing him where to find a gun, was soon rid of the troublesome, but cowardly visiters. While a young man he had fallen into the hands of the enemy, and was detained in captivity several years. At the conference of Gov. Shute with the tribes on Arrowsick , 1717 , Captain Jordan was employed as interpreter. The Indians requested "that in future Interpreter Jordan might be near them to represent to the Governor any thing that might happen," to which the governor replied, that he desired no better man.*