Some reflections of the past were included in the June 16th morning worship. I will start with a man who in three short years left a lasting

impression.

He was Rev. A. JUDSON RICH who became our Pastor in 1867 and was our 8th settled Pastor. He was only with us for a short time and his leaving in 1870 was partially influenced by his “change of views in the direction of greater liberality”.  In other words, he became a Unitarian minister to several churches.

While here in Westminster, he preached a sermon at the 125th anniversary celebration of our church. It was later published as an “Historical Discourse Delivered on Occasion of The One Hundred and Twenty Fifth Anniversary of the Congregational Church and the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Sunday School in Westminster, Mass September 9, 1868, by A. Judson Rich the Pastor”.

The sermon itself is 70 pages long. Granted they are small pages, but they are single spaced. In our 8.5 x11 world it is about 35 pages! I wonder how long it took to preach that day!

Seriously, he was loved by the congregation. His discourse is a goldmine of information about our earlier church (the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries) and about the theological changes of the times in which he was living. 

We have two copies of his discourse in the History Room if you are interested. Please let me know if you are also interested in hearing more about some of our beloved Pastors of the Past.

The History Room has been recently gifted with a good-as-new Epson printer and scanner by a church member and a dear friend. This will enable the History Staff to put selected files online for easy access, while still protecting the original materials A "Thank You" to our friend.

Rev. John Lees was called to be our Pastor in 1895 at age fifty-nine and resigned in 1906 at age seventy to retirement. His longevity (11 years) Rev. Lees spoke to his acceptance in the church and the church’s high regard for both him and his wife, Hannah. Hannah was known to share the ministerial tasks equally with her husband.  

One of Rev. Lee's talents was woodcarving, and our church cherishes two pieces that he carved during his tenure with us. The first is the children’s altar which we have been using during this summer in the Sanctuary. What a joy to see it there on the altar on Sunday morning! The second is a shelf which is in the hall between the Church Parlor and the Sanctuary. A third carving is in the old parsonage on Leominster which I have yet to see, but I understand it is an amazing piece of art.

A map of Westminster in 1995/96 shows the Congregational parsonage on Main Street two houses up the street from the Dunkin Donuts driveway. I do not know if we owned that building or were renting it. In 1904 a new parsonage was built on Leominster St. and Rev Lees lived in it for the next two years.

About 1990 we acquired the Lees signature quilt which had been made by church members about 1900. Signature quilts were a popular way of raising money for a cause in that era. Susan Noble, the grand-niece of the owner of the quilt, donated it to us. Rev. and Mrs. Lees were friendly with the    Harrington family who lived in the Noble house on Pleasant St. and they visited them in Westminster during their retirement from the ministry.

When our present church was dedicated in 1942 there was reportedly a pew that had been carved by Rev. Lees which was installed in the Sanctuary. I have no further information on where it might be and welcome any input you might have on it.

For a while I have been curious about where the parsonage of Rev, Elisha Marsh, our first Pastor, had been located. Common sense told me it was probably somewhere in the Meetinghouse Hill (now Academy Hill) area. Our second Pastor, Asaph Rice’s parsonage, was located on the site of the home of Clifton Maggs at 3 Foster Street. Parishioners would gather there to warm themselves up before the fire on cold days (remember there was no heat in the Meetinghouse) and to have meetings as it was only a few steps from the Meetinghouse. Cyrus Mann, our third Pastor’s home was located to the left of the Town Pound and just across the Common from the Second Meetinghouse at what is now 6 Dawley Road. Sabbath School was held in that parsonage.

The answer came to me (I think) when I consulted my very worn Heywood History of Westminster. Rev. Marsh was given Lot 8 by the town fathers on which to build his parsonage. In looking at the map of Westminster in Heywood’s History, Lot 8 appears to be the location of what is now 43 Academy Hill Road and owned by the Zephir family. The house was built by Marshall French in the 1950s and overlooks Meetinghouse Pond and Mt. Wachusett. I spoke with Marianne Zephir and she was unaware of the possibility of it being the site but now we are both interested in solving the question. Betsey Hannula and I have discussed it and are reasonably sure we are on the right track. Will keep you posted!

P.S. On a personal note, as a child during WWII, I lived with my parents in a duplex on the corner of Elliott and Bacon Streets. Sadie French, Marshall’s mother, lived in the other side of the duplex. She became a second grandmother, and I loved her dearly. In my late teen years, I babysat for Marshall and Joyce’s daughter in the home at 43 Academy Hill Rd.

Next month, an update on 87 Main Street, the Congregational Parsonage in the 1890s.

Historian, Deenie Burgess