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CHAPTER XXIV

FOUR EMERSONS. -- PATRIOT PREACHERS OF THE REVOLUTION. -- ANCESTRY. -- LETTER FROM REVEREND SAMUEL MOODY. -- REVEREND DANIEL EMERSON IN FRENCH WAR. -- REVEREND JOSEPH EMERSON IN THE ARMY. -- COURTSHIP OF THE MINISTER. -- REVEREND WILLIAM EMERSON OF CONCORD. -- REVEREND JOHN EMERSON AND THE TORIES

'Tis still observed those men most valiant are That are most modest ere they come to war.

HERRICK.

THE act of incorporation by which early settlements in New England were granted the legal authority of towns was conditioned upon the settlement of an orthodox minister of good conversation, and a provision for his support. His was the leading position in the town, and the influence which he exerted was correspondingly great. His judgment was seldom questioned, his authority never doubted.
      When the English and French were contending for possession in North America, the minister went forth, with his soldier parishioners, and

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served as their chaplain. His voice was heard from the pulpit and from house to house in the interest of freedom during the years of the Revolution. In the siege of Boston he divided his time between his parish at home and his parish in camp. When the seat of war was removed from Massachusetts, the faithful minister did not hesitate to take up his cross and appear in the midst of the army, though far from his home. In many instances this gusted friend shouldered a musket and carried his Bible also.
      As types of the patriotic ministers during the early and later wars may be cited the four Emersons. So large was their place in the affections of their people, and so broad was their influence, that they were styled "patriot preachers." They were Reverends Joseph, William, John, and Daniel Emerson, -- settled ministers of the Congregational order in four prominent towns of New England when the Revolution burst upon the Colonies. Their respective parishes were Pepperell, Concord, and Conway in Massachusetts, and Hollis in New Hampshire. They had been laboring for the upbuilding of these towns for some years before the Revolution, and been faithful servants of the Crown. They had often read from their pulpits official proclamations for public fasts and thanksgivings, and sincerely offered up the prayer, "God save the king." But when Britain's sovereign proved unfaithful to his sub-

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jects, these Emersons espoused the cause of the oppressed. The alarm on that April morning, --

"Through every Middlesex village and farm,"

met with a ready response on the part of each of these ministers; and before the evacuation of Boston one of them had passed from earth, and a second joined him before the close of the year 1776.
      These men were not only closely allied in profession, but were united by the endearing fies of kinship. Reverends Joseph, William, and John were brothers, and their sister Hannah was the wife of Rev. Daniel Emerson. Thus four of the children of that noted minister of Malden, Rev. Joseph Emerson, were in full sympathy in their work at this trying period of the history of our country.
      Among the ancestors of the Emersons in this country must be cited Rev. Peter Bulkley, a pio-

[Photo - Copy of various Emerson signatures.]

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neer, and the first minister of Concord; Rev. Joseph Emerson, a pioneer and minister of Mendon, who barely escaped with his life when the village was destroyed by the Indians; Rev. Samuel Moody, a pioneer and minister of York, Maine; and Deacon Cornelius Waldo, one of the Wenham Colony, who emigrated in 1655, and became one of the founders of the town of Chelmsford in the Bay Colony.
      Rev. Peter Bulkley was a man of considerable property in Odell, Bedfordshire, England. He was among those who, being silenced by Archbishop Laud for nonconformity, crossed the Atlantic in 1634 to New England, and became one of the little company who pushed out through the tangled wood, and founded the town of Concord, and there spent most of his fortune as a pioneer of civilization. "He was addressed as father, prophet, and counsellor by his people, and by all the ministers of the country." -- SHATTUCK.
      Rev. Joseph Emerson was settled in Mendon, December, 1669. His salary was forty-five pounds for the first two years, to be paid as follows: --

      "Tenn pounds at Boston yearly at some shope there, or in money at this town. The remayning to be made up, two pounds of butter for every cow, the rest in pork, wheat, barley, and soe to make the year's pay in work, Indian corn, rye, pease, and beef. After the second year he was to be paid fifty-five pounds yearly, and soe on as God shall enable them. All differences between the minister and the town

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were to be referred for adjudication, to the churches of Medfield, Dedham, and Roxbury."

      This ministry was cut short by King Philip's war, in 1675, when Rev. Mr. Emerson fled to the home of his father-in-law, Rev. Edward Bulkley,[l] at Concord, and there died in 1680.
      Rev. Samuel Moody, or Father Moody, of Agamenticus, was the valiant minister of York, Maine. He did not hesitate to exercise his full authority. "When the offended parishioners, wounded by his pointed preaching, would rise to go out of church, he cried out, 'Come back, you graceless sinners, come back!' And when they began to fall into ill customs, and ventured into the alehouses on a Saturday night, he would go in after them, collar the sinners, drag them out with rousing admonition. His charity was without stint. He gave away his wife's only pair of shoes from her bedside to a poor woman who came to the house one frosty morning barefoot. When his wife, trying to restrain his unreasonable generosity, made him a purse that was opened with difficulty, he gave away purse and all."
      Deacon Cornelius Waldo of a family of London merchants was born in 1625. He came early to this country, and settled in Essex County, and later went with Rev. John Fisk and others to the


[1] Edward Bulkley left his parish at Marshfield to succeed his father at Concord, where he labored until his death in 1696.

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town of Chelmsford, where he completed his useful life. A simple stone in the burying-ground tells the following: --

HERE LYES YE BODY OF
DEACON CORNELIUS WALDO,
AGED 75 YEARS. DIED JAN. YE 3, 1700.
"The Memory of the Just is Blessed."

      The line of connection is as follows: --

      Rev. Joseph Emerson of Mendon married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Edward, and granddaughter of Rev. Peter Bulkley of Concord. Edward, son of Rev. Joseph Emerson and Elizabeth Bulkley, married Rebecca, daughter of Cornelius Waldo. Their son, Rev. Joseph Emerson of Malden, married Mary, daughter of Rev. Samuel Moody. Joseph, William, John, and Hannah were the children of Rev. Joseph and Mary Moody Emerson.
      While Edward Emerson of Chelmsford was not a minister, he was early found to be a leader in educational matters. He was the town's schoolmaster in 1698, and in 1793 was a member of a board of school committee. On his grave-stone he is thus recorded, --

MR. EDWARD EMERSON
SOME TIME DEACON OF THE FIRST CHURCH
IN MEDWAY.

      He was noted for the virtue of patience, and it is a family tradition that he never complained but once, when he said mildly to his daughter, that her dumplings were somewhat harder than needful, but not often. -- 0. W. HOLMES.

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      Our four patriot preachers were graduates of Harvard College. They were young and unmarried when they entered their pastoral work. Rev. Daniel Emerson was from Reading. We shall

[Photo - "Joseph Emerson's Chair, Pepperell"]

consider him here for another reason than that of marriage.
      Elizabeth Bulkley, widow of Rev. Joseph Emerson who died at Concord in 1680, married, in 1682, John Brown, Esq., of Reading. This union brought the Emerson and Brown children of

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former marriages together, and resulted in the marriage of Peter Emerson and Anna Brown, who became the parents of Daniel Emerson. He was born in 1716, and graduated at Harvard College in 1739. He was settled as the first minister of Hollis, N.H., in 1743, and in the autumn of the following year brought his bride, Hannah Emerson, from the Malden parsonage to his home in the comparative wilderness.
      The settlement of Rev. Daniel Emerson in a home of his own with a guaranty of support fulfilled the conditions of incorporation, and the town of Hollis began a prosperous record.
      While busy in clearing the land and erecting homes, the settlers were obliged to turn their attention to war. The king's demand for service was at the northward, and was met with a ready response from the men of this new town, the minister among them.
      It was my good fortune to meet in Hollis Mrs. Levi Abbott, at her attractive home, within or near the limits of the original grant to the minister, her great-grandfather. Mrs. Abbott said, --
      "It was about twelve years after my greatgrandfather began his ministry among this people that he felt called upon to go into the army contending against the French and Indians. Consequently he left his parish, his wife, and a half-dozen little children, and went to the northward as chaplain, in a regiment commanded by Colonel

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Joseph Blanchard of Dunstable. He was absent about six months. During his absence he kept a journal, which is now treasured in our family. It is styled by the minister, 'A Journal of My Proceedings with the Army to Crown Point.'"
      From the yellow leaves I have copied the following entries: --

July ye 8, 1755, being Tuesday.

      Sat out from my own House after comtng ourselves t' God by Solemn Pr. in wh. Br. Emerson was greatly inlarged. Went to Lichfield & Preached from ___, in wh. Exercise I enjoyed some inlargement. 0 that I might be used as an Instrument to Glorify God! Went that night to Gen. Starks at Derryfield [Manchester] where I was kindly entertained with Rev. Dr. Cummings.

      He preached on July 9, and then went on to Rumford (Concord, N. H.), where he was entertained by Mrs. Walker, the wife of the minister, and mother of Hon. Thomas Walker, a famous patriot in the Revolution. On Friday of the same week he went under guard to the army at Bakerstown, where he was kindly received "by ye Col's of ye Army," and began his service as chaplain. He records: --

      "I lodged in ye Camp much better than I feared, slept some & rose refreshed early in ye morning."

      On the following day he saw --

      "Need of more wisdom, zeal & courage than in any station, of life I have been placed in."

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      He preached twice on his first Sabbath in camp, but found the soldiers little disposed to attend. He notes that lodging on the ground was more bearable than at first.
      On Monday, July 14, he writes: --

      "I visited some of the inhabitants who came to Stevenstown while ye Regiment could protect them."

      On the following day he was not able to go to prayer with the regiment, but two days later records: --

      "Had a shock of ye fever & ague. Col. Blanchard prayed with ye Regiment; at night was exceedingly kind, urged me to take his couch to lodge in. . . . This day wrote to my dear ch. & people."

      On the 20th he made record of an order for the regiment to go to join the army at Albany, and on the following day, of his having leave to go home.

      "To be with my dear family & people on the Day of Fasting & Prayer."

      He preached at Suncook and Rumford on the way to Hollis, and recorded that it was harder to go from the ground to the bed than from the bed to the ground. He reached his home on the 22d, when his record is: --

      "Almost overcome with the heat, but found my Dear Partner & children well. How pleasant it is & how great a Blessing to have such a wife as God has crowned me with."

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      The following day was observed as a Fast through the Province. The minister's parents came from Malden to visit their son.
      On July 30, the Hollis minister set out for Albany, was joined by Colonel Blanchard, who accompanied him on the way to the Hudson River. They reached Albany on Tuesday, August 12, when Rev. Mr. Emerson made the following entry. --

      "Found it a compact Place, but ye buildings not so gay as in our seaport town, tarried there all night & the next day, but I wanted to get to my Business at ye Flats 6 miles above Albany."

      He speaks of being comfortable on his armful of straw.
      August 24 was Sunday, and this chaplain preached to soldiers on both sides of the river. On the following day he dined with Colonel Schuyler[1]. Illness seems to have followed him, but he prayed four times each day. He divided his service between the troops lodged on either side of the river.
      In the early days of September he records: --

      "I saw some Indians who sang and danced in a very odd manner as did some before. Yy are pitiful looking creatures. I pitied Mr. Braynard and honored his memory more


[1] Colonel Schuyler was made a general by Washington in the Revolution, and in command of Provincial forces in New York for a time.

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yn ever wn I saw ye poor People wm he had spent his life among. Some told me yt some of Mr. Braynard's Indians wr among those I saw."

      His journal continues with details of the journey, a skirmish with the French and Indians, and on September 19 he writes from Lake George to his wife. In this letter he says: --

      "If you could by a window look into my heart I believe you would find that you possessed as much of me as ever woman did of any man's heart on earth."

      This letter, penned one hundred and forty years ago by the patriot preacher of Hollis, is carefully treasured by his great-granddaughter. There is a family tradition that the letter was sent from Lake George to Hollis on the neck of a faithful dog that the minister had taken with him from his home for that purpose.
      It is said that when Rev. Mr. Emerson was at Crown Point, and his regiment was ordered to present arms for inspection, he presented his Bible to the officer as his weapon.
      At the opening of the Revolution the Hollis minister was about sixty years of age, and he did not enter the army; but his patriotic spirit had been duly impressed upon his people and family. His son Daniel was captain of the Hollis company, and went to Ticonderoga in July, 1776, and was also captain of a company enlisted in Hollis in

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June of the following year. In 1778 he was in command of a mounted company which went to Rhode Island, and also of a company in Colonel Mooney's regiment, raised in 1779 for the defence of Rhode Island.
      In the old burying-ground in Hollis may be seen a slab on which is chiselled the following: --

BENEATH THIS MONUMENT LIES THE MORTAL PART OF
REV. DANIEL EMERSON.
He was born at Reading, Mass., May 20, 1716. Grad-
uated at Harvard University 1739, and was ordained April 20,
1743, to the Pastoral care of the church and congregation in
Hollis which then consisted of only 30 Families. He was an honest
man, given to Hospitality. An affectionate Husband, and tender
Parent. A faithful friend and patriotic citizen. An Evangeli-
cal, zealous and unusually successful Preacher of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Highly esteemed by his people,
his praise was in all the churches. A.D. 1793 he
voluntarily relinquished one-half his salary to
promote the settlement of a colleague. From which
time his pious walk and occasional labors evinced an
unabating love for the cause of Christ, until nature failed
and he fell asleep in Jesus
SEPTEMBER 30, 1801, AGED 85 YEARS.

HERE ARE ALSO DEPOSITED THE REMAINS OF
HANNAH EMERSON,
WIFE OF THE ABOVE
AND DAUGHTER OF REV. JOSEPH EMERSON OF MALDEN.
She lived a pattern of filial obedience, respect and
affection, and an example of conjugal love and duty; a
most tender indulgent and faithful Parent. The delight of her Friends
and ornament of the Church. She lived the life of a true Dis-
ciple of Christ. In the constant exercise of active faith in
His promise. And died in triumphant hope of everlasting
life in those Regions where charity never faileth
FEBRUARY 28, 1812, AGED 90.

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      Rev. Joseph Emerson was settled as the first minister of Pepperell, Mass., in 1746. He received, as did the Hollis minister, an allotment of forty acres of land, on which he built a house.
      He was longer in becoming established in a home of his own than was his brother-in-law, Rev. Daniel Emerson. His journal, now in the possession of a descendant, shows the occasion of the delay with many interesting facts.

      Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1748. Set out for Connecticut in company with Peter Powers of Hollis in order to go to New Haven commencement.

      His journey and visits by the way occupied the time until the 14th, when he notes: --

      Commencement, all things were carried on with the utmost decency. "They come very little behind Cambridge itself.
      Thursday, 15th. Breakfast at College & set out for home in company with Mr. Ellis of Middletown & arrived at his house in the evening about 34 miles.

      He remained there and at Weathersfield until the 17th, when he resumed his journey in company with Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton. They halted at Hartford, called at Windsor upon the father of Rev. Mr. Edwards, who was also a minister, and reached Northampton on Tuesday.
      While here, Rev. Mr. Emerson met with Esther, the daughter of Rev. Jonathan Edwards. On the 21st he makes the following entry: --

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      Spent the day very pleasantly, the most agreeable family I was ever acquainted with, much of the presence of God here. We met with Mr. Spencer, a gentleman who was ordained last week at Boston, as a missionary to the Indians of the Six Nations. He purposes to set out to-morrow for Albany. The most wonderful instance of self denial I ever met with.
      After taking leave of the minister who was on the way to Albany as a foreign missionary, the homeward journey was continued.
      When back in his lodgings, the Pepperell minister records: --

      Have not met with any difficulty in travelling about 300 miles. God's name be praised.

      After four busy days in parish work and attention to his mother, who had come to visit her daughter at Hollis and son at Pepperell, he records: --

      Sat., Oct. 1. I wrote two letters in the forenoon, one to Mr. Edwards of Northampton, and the other to his second daughter, a very desirable person to whom I purpose by divine leave to make my addresses. May the Lord direct me in so important affair.
      Monday, 3. Set out with my mother for Malden. Dined at Col. Ting's & got as far as Reading. Lodged at Capt. Eaton's.

      After four weeks spent in "journeyings often," like Saint Paul, and in close application to parochial work, together with some time spent in cutting corn-stalks, the parson records: --

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      Monday, Nov. 7. Set out some time before day on a journey to Northampton to visit Mrs. (Miss) Esther Edwards[1] to treat of marriage.

      A subsequent record shows that the journey was performed in safety, but the hopeful parson adds, --

      I could not obtain from the young lady the least encouragement to come again. The chief objection she makes is her youth, which I hope will be removed in time.

      Months elapsed, and the young minister was compelled to abandon his fondest hope. He passed through the sentimental Gethsemane with true Christian fortitude, yet not without apparent mental and physical suffering, and at length married Abigail Hay of Reading. The minister with his bride opened the doors of their home to the people of his early choice.
      I have shown in Chapter IV. that Rev. Joseph Emerson, the patriot preacher of Pepperell, was chaplain in the expedition to Louisburg, preached plainly of the duty of patriots during the French troubles, took a bold stand at the opening of the Revolution, and died a patriot's death, October 29, 1775, at the age of fifty-one years.
      Rev. William Emerson married Phoebe Bliss, a daughter of his predecessor in the Concord min-


[1] Miss Esther Edwards became the wife of Aaron Burr, the president of Princeton College, and was the mother of Aaron Burr, the third vice-president of the United States,--a man of unpleasant memory.

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istry. They established their home at the Manse, and spent a few years in the enjoyment of the entire confidence of their people, and in devotion to each other and their children.
      This Concord minister was a brave and determined "Son of Liberty." Bancroft has recorded as testimony given him by veterans of that day's experience that at the early morning alarm, rung out by Amos Melvin, the sentinel at the Court House, the minister turned out with the others "his gun in hand:" The school-boy's first lesson in the history of Concord fight has contained the old story that the minister of the town was one of those who rashly advised that the early morning force should stand its ground on the Common and abide the attack, but more experienced military men overruled in the excitement of the hour. Additional testimony has come from a non-resident, who, working in Concord, was enrolled with the minute-men. He said he felt he could not stand when he saw the redcoats come in sight, but was quieted and put in courage by Mr. Emerson's brave words, and hand laid on his shoulder.
      The above should not be construed as conflicting with the words of a famous author, quoted in chapter ix. of "Beneath Old Roof Trees" -- they refer to different hours of the day. From the family narrative we learn that when the Provincials retreated from the village to the opposite side of the river, followed by the British, many

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women and children took refuge in the yard of the Manse; and as the minister's wife and little children were in the house with no protector but an excited black man-servant (former slave), his duty was plain, and he stayed, as a faithful minister would, to protect his family, and comfort the crowd of helpless parishioners.
      May not the expression, "Had not the friends around him prevented his quitting his doorstep," be a poet's account of the demands of a distressed people for the service and protection of their pastor? These duties caused the minister to be late at the river; but an official, who came a few days later to look over the ground, has recorded, "He saw all that went on, and at first was afraid his people would get excited and fire first, and after the British volley he feared they might not return it." After the enemy fell back from the bridge, Mr. Emerson went there, and was shocked at finding the soldier whom an overzealous boy, seeing him striving to rise, had cut in the head with a hatchet.
      We are indebted to the Rev. Mr. Emerson's journal for the account of the proceedings of April 19, 1775, as they impressed him. His record has been the foundation of the most reliable narrative of the battle on Concord soil. The same preacher has given us a vivid description of the camp at Cambridge during the siege. (See "Beneath Old Roof Trees," p. 73.)

Rev. William Emerson was of that class of which Bancroft wrote, "Eloquent and accomplished chaplains kept alive the habit of daily prayer, and preached the wonted sermons on the day of the Lord."
      Writing from the camp to his wife at Concord, Mr. Emerson said, --

      "There are many things amiss in this camp, yet upon the whole, God is in the midst of us."

      On another occasion he wrote:

      "I despair seeing a battle fought this time coming down."

      While in service in the northern campaign in 1776, Rev. Mr. Emerson's health failed, and he addressed the following letter to the commanding officer: --

TICONDEROGA, Sept. 10, 1776.

      Sir, -- My Ill State of Health is such that I am not able to perform the Duty of a Chaplain, and am advised by the Physicians to ask for a dismission from the Army, and shall be glad of your consent and assistance thereto.

WM. EMERSON.

      To LT. COLLO. B. BROWN:

      The Reverend Mr. William Emerson has my Discharge from the Northern Army of the United States of America. TYCONDEROGA, 10th September, 1776.

HORATIO GATES,       Major General.

      The above letters are in the possession of the Emerson family at Concord.

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      Mr. Emerson started for home, reached Rutland, Vermont, and died there on October, 20, 1776. His body was interred with the honors of war by a detachment of Colonel Vandyke's Regiment, commanded by Major Shepard.
      There is a table monument on Burying Ground Hill, Concord, on which the following is read: --

ERECTED BY THIS TOWN IN MEMORY OF THEIR PASTOR,
REV. WILLIAM EMERSON,
WHO DIED AT RUTLAND, VT., 1776, AE. 33, ON HIS RETURN FROM
THE AMERICAN ARMY OF WHICH HE WAS CHAPLAIN.
Enthusiastic, eloquent,
Affectionate and pious.
He loved his family, his people,
His God, and his country, and to this last
He yielded the cheerful sacrifice of his life.

      Rev. John Emerson was two years younger than William, and did not make his advent to the Malden parsonage until Joseph had attained his majority. He was settled as the first minister of Conway, in Franklin County, in 1769. He had formed an attachment for a most estimable young lady in Boston before he had completed his studies; and when called to the new town in the wilderness, the brave Sabra Cobb went with him. The journey was made on horseback. They were married in Boston in 1770. It required moral heroism for a young lady to leave the society of the seaport town, and go to that distant settlement, where the people were doing the work of

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pioneers. Within a week after she reached Conway, she saw a bear looking into her bedroom window. The young preacher, in writing of himself, said it was literally John preaching in the wilderness.
      The rustic people had prejudices to overcome, and it was a trying time for both parties. But the minister's wife soon endeared herself to the people, who admitted that she was a lady "if she came from Boston." One act shows her to have been a judicious, sacrificing woman. She was the possessor of a silk umbrella. Such a thing was not owned by the people of Conway; and rather than give them occasion for jealousy, or have the appearance of being in any way above the women of the town, Mrs. Emerson never carried the umbrella, but long after made the silk into bonnets for her daughters.
      We find that the Conway minister had an experience during the Revolution very different from that of his brothers in their parishes.
      Rev. Daniel Emerson had some noted Loyalists in Hollis, and Rev. William Emerson had one in his own family, Daniel Bliss, Esq.; but Rev. John of Conway had a large number who adhered to the king, and were most reluctant to fall in with the patriots. In dealing with these Loyalists, or Tories, the young minister of Conway was severely tried. The following votes, passed during the Revolutionary times, serve to show the process

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used against those who were not in sympathy with the American cause: --

      At a legal meeting held June 25, 1777, --

      Voted, To try the minds of the town with regard to the enimical persons that the Selectmen have entered in a list and laid before the town as such separately.

      After giving the list of Loyalists, they --

      Voted, That Captain Alexander Oliver be the person to collect the evidence, and lay it before the court against the above enimical persons.

      The meeting-house where Rev. John Emerson preached on the Sabbath was the place where the following peculiar action was taken: --

      At a legal meeting held August 27th, 1777, --
      Voted, That we proceed in some measure to secure the enimical persons called Tories among us. Then the question was put, whether we would draw a line between the Continent and Great Britain.
      Voted in the affirmative.
      Voted, That all those persons that stand on the side of the Continent, take up arms and go hand in hand with us in carrying on the war against our unnatural enemies, such we receive as friends, and all others treat as enemies.
      Voted, That the broad alley be a line, and the south end of the meeting-house be the Continent side, and the north end be the British side; then moved for trial, and found 6 persons to stand on the British side. . . .
      Voted to set a guard over those enimical persons.
      Voted, The town clerk immediately desire judge Mather to issue out his warrants against those enimical persons returned to him in a list heretofore.

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      The Conway minister survived the war, and lived to enjoy the blessings of liberty for many years. He saw the settlement in the wilderness grow from four hundred to two thousand inhabitants.
      Rev. John Emerson kept a journal, as did the other Emerson preachers, and the ministers of the time generally. While these journals treat largely of private matters, they also serve to show that ministerial association was promoted by interchange of visits, and that the parsonages (ministers' homes) of New England were hostleries where entertainment was freely dispensed. The Conway minister's record of a journey to Boston in 1799 is of interest.

      May 23. Set out on a journey to Boston . . . to consult on the present critical and alarming state of our country and to devise means for the suppression of infidelity. Rode this day as far as Greenwich, dined at Mr. Parson's of Amherst, and lodged at Capt. Rich's in Greenwich.
      24th. Proceeded on my journey, dined at Mr. Avery's in Holden (Rev. Joseph Avery the minister), and reached Harvard. Lodged at Dea. Whitney's. 25th. Rose early, breakfasted at my kinsman's, Mr. Emerson's[1] and went on as far as Concord by noon.


[1] Rev. William Emerson, pastor at Harvard from 1792 to 1799, was son of Rev. William of Concord, and a nephew of Rev. John, who made this visit just at the time when the First Church in Boston was offering inducements to the Harvard pastor to exchange his country parish for the more popular one at the seaport. He did this in the autumn of 1799, and a Boston parsonage, instead of that at Harvard, first echoed the voice of the boy Ralph Waldo Emerson.

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Rev. John Emerson continues his record: --

      I was persuaded, contrary to my intention, to stay with Brother Ripley over the Sabbath.
      26th, Lord's Day. Preached for Mr. Ripley. Had some freedom and satisfaction in the public service of the day. Preached to the acceptance of many, and I hope some benefit." [This visit at Concord was at the parsonage, "Old Manse," and upon his brother's widow Phoebe (Bliss) Emerson, who had become the wife of Rev. Ezra Ripley, the successor of his brother, the patriot preacher of Concord.]
      27th. Set out early from Concord, and took breakfast at Dr. Osgood's in Medford (the minister's), and arrived at Malden in safety, after a pleasant and prosperous journey. Found my sisters well, and living together in harmony, which afforded me much satisfaction.

      On June 13 he set out for home. Dined at Concord, drank coffee at Harvard, and proceeded to Boylston. Lodged with Mr. Nash, the minister, and so on until he reached Conway.
      In the old burying-ground of Conway may be seen a gravestone erected by loving hands, on which may be read: --

IN MEMORY OF
REV. JOHN EMERSON,
WHO WAS BORN AT MALDEN, NOV. 20. 1745,
WAS SETTLED TO THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY IN CONWAY
JULY 20, 1769.
& having preached the Gospel fifty-seven years,
He died June 26, 1826,
In the 81st year of his age.
"Perfiidem et Laborem ad Coelum ascendit."
"He ascends to heaven through faithfulness and labor."

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