|
|
by Charles E Wainwright
If you have driven or walked down Cabot Street in downtown Beverly recently you have undoubtedly noticed the newly painted yellow church building at the corner of Essex Street. You may not be aware of the long and fascinating story of this beautiful structure, or its intimate role in the history of the city of Beverly.
First Meeting House, 1656
Although the Church was gathered in 1667, the first meeting house was built for the Parish in 1656, with the permission of the Salem Church. It was located near the old cemetery, at the current location of the “White Whale” on Hale Street. It was a primitive structure of undetermined size, with a dirt floor, and no paint or windows. Upon its belfry, a bell given by Capt. Thomas Lathrop was rung to call members to service. Lathrop obtained the bell as a war prize from [...]
Rev. Sylvia Howe and Charles E Wainwright A Sermon Delivered at First Parish Church in Beverly on September 16, 2001
As many of you know, each week Charlie Wainwright leaves his family in Topsfield and travels to Washington, DC where he works. His spouse, Candy tells me he is doing his part to make the Internal Revenue Service a kinder, more compassionate institution. Charlie was at work when the plane hit the Pentagon. I have asked him to be a part of this service. The words he speaks are ones he wrote while in his apartment in Washington.
I begin with the words of Loren Eiseley. They are from “Singers of Life”:
“…on the edge of a little glade with one long, crooked branch extending across it, I had sat down to rest with my back against a stump. Through accident I was concealed from the [...]
From a Sermon delivered at Dane Street Beach in Beverly Massachusetts July 3, 2011 by Kathryn Lordan, First Parish Church in Beverly, UU
Tomorrow we celebrate the birthday of our country. We also honor the men who, during a hot summer with powdered wigs, waistcoats, and itchy woolen pants, closed the shutters on the windows to keep all conversation confidential allowing all in attendance to be able to speak freely. Despite all the disagreements amongst them, these men kept this pledge of silence.
Today let’s briefly visit the roll religion played in these discussions. The First Amendment of our Constitution states:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Was our country established as [...]
Three Hundredth Anniversary Service, First Parish Church in Beverly Massachusetts, September 1967.
As a genealogist, I have often suffered the frustration of being unable to locate a record of an ancestor’s birth, marriage or death in the notoriously inconsistent records of early New England. So it was with some sympathy that I read recently of a request from a genealogical researcher from Maine to find a record of the death of Robert Morgan, one of the founders of First Parish. I spent several hours scrutinizing the first volume of our Parish Records for references to Robert Morgan and his family, and found some fascinating information that I thought I would share with other Parishioners.
The original record book, kept by Rev. John Hale, is under lock and key, but we have both a Xerox copy of it made in the 1970s and a printed transcription made by William B. Upham for the Essex Institute (now the Philips Library) in 1905. Robert’s name [...]
(From a sermon Delivered by Charles E Wainwright 28 November, 2010)
For years, the children of First Parish Church have engaged in a weekend ritual that represents the very essence of a childhood family rite: They attend our Sunday school. Our Religious Education Director, Deb Sweet is the latest in a long line of education leaders engaged in a pioneering America institution. Our children perpetuate, through their participation, a tradition that is 200 years old this year and that began within this Church. The bronze plaque on my left testifies that our Sunday school, established in 1810 is the oldest continuously operating Sunday school in New England. At the back of the sanctuary is a banner that attests ours to be the oldest Sunday school in America. To honor its 200th birthday, I would like to take a few minutes to tell you the story of the First Parish Church Sunday [...]
From a sermon delivered 28 September, 2008 by Charles E Wainwright
Saturday, September 20, 2008 marked the three-hundred-forty-first anniversary of the day that Rev. John Hale and fifty members of the Salem Church owned their covenant and thereby established our beloved Church as “The Church of Christ at Bass River Side”. Did you attend the party? Maybe you sent a birthday card? No matter, no one else did either.
Maya Angelou wrote “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you”. I stand here before you this morning because I have an untold story to share.
I am a genealogist and historian by avocation. Each Sunday morning, I drive to the center of this City. I climb the stairs at the front of our Church’s elegant, weathered edifice. I walk through those the front doors into our old Sanctuary, past those curious ancient articles arrayed in the [...]
(From a Lay Service delivered by Charles E Wainwright on 19 May, 2002)
Look around you today. Chances are, if you attend services at this Church regularly, that you know or are at least acquainted with the persons sitting around you. You are the Congregation of today’s First Parish. But, there are additional members of this Congregation. I refer to those who lived in Beverlyand worshipped in this Church over the past 335 years. This is the Timeless Congregation of the First Parish. It includes worshipers of Puritan, Anglican, Congregationalist, Unitarian, and Unitarian Universalist faiths. In total, its membership far outnumbers that of our present congregation, It comprises parishioners from the founding of the Church in 1667 to the present day. You may know some of its parishioners- or, rather, remember them because their names adorn our streets, schools and history books. Most, however, are forever forgotten. It is for these [...]
Receipt for Paul Revere Bell, 1803
Ever since it’s founding in 1667 the First Parish has been continuously operated as a legal entity, and has generated records that document the actions of its committees and bodies. The archival collection we have today is all that remains of those early records. Their relevance reaches across all the major social, legal and administrative aspects of the Church and, in many cases, comprise the only proof we have of its history.
View the Archives Catalogue by Clicking Here
Brief History of the Archives
Originally, the Church’s records were kept in the hands of the Minister. John Hale kept his own journal of Church meetings as well as births and deaths amongst parishioners. As time went on, and records became more numerous, they were maintained and kept by a Clerk, who was appointed for the task. One of our more [...]
As if to secure final closure between Bowdoin College in Maine and the City of Beverly, Robert Gregory, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship Advisor to the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship, delivered a sermon on 22 May, 2011 at First Parish church, Unitarian-Universalist that was first given 1 May, 1796 by the Rev. Joseph McKeen, 5th minister of the Church and, later, the first President of Bowdoin College.
Reverend Joseph McKeen stands apart in the annals of Beverly history for his raw intellect and life’s mission of service to others. He was born in Londonderry New Hampshire on 15 October, 1757, the third generation of one of its founding families. In 1770, at the incredible age of thirteen he entered Dartmouth College as a Seminarian and graduated four years later, one of only eight in its first graduating class. He taught school in Londonderry for several years before entering military service as a Sergeant in [...]
|
|
