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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 [...]
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 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 [...]
Article by Kate Salandrea
Beverly’s Rantoul Street cuts a wide swath through the heart of downtown, a fitting tribute to its namesake, whose life and works have influenced the life of the city for over 200 years. Robert Rantoul Sr., businessman, social reformer, city leader and lifelong member of FirstParishChurch in Beverly, was a dynamic force for social change and community service, as well as a keen observer and chronicler of his ideas, beliefs, accomplishments, and the times he lived in.
During his lifetimeRantoultook on many roles in both his church and the city. For nearly 50 years he served First Parish Church as a deacon and as a member of the church’s Prudential Committee, which managed the finances and business of the church. He was Parish Clerk for 41 years, and served for a time as Sunday School superintendent. Within the larger community he servedBeverlyas a 35-year member of [...]
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