History of the Town of Easton
By William F. Chaffin
CAMBRIDGE
JOHN WILSON AND SON.
University Press
1886.
pg 94 HISTORY OF EASTON. CHAPTER V11.
THE MINISTRY OF THE REV. JOSEPH BELCHER.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN CHURCH AND PARISH.-CALL AND SETTLEMENT
OF MR. BELCHER. - His ANTECEDENTS. - THE ORDINATION. - Dis-
SATISFIED WITH HIS SALARY. - PARTIAL INSANITY. - INVOLVED IN
LAWSUITS. - DISAPPEARANCE.
VERY soon after the death of the first minister of Easton,
the religious society became much interested in Mr. Joseph
Belcher, who preached here as a candidate for settlement. The
church voted to give him a call, and on July 28, 173 1, the town,
in town-meeting assembled, voted to concur with the church in
this invitation. It may not be amiss at this point to remind the
reader that in those early days the parish included -the whole
town. By the " church " was meant the church-members, one
of whose special prerogatives was that of choosing the minister.
But their choice must be ratified by a vote of the parish, or town,
-all the legal voters in town taking part in this as in any of the
business matters that came before them. The town also fixed
the amount of the minister's salary, terms of settlement, and
attended to all the business details involved in the management
of parish affairs. There was one custom of the time that was
very interesting, at least from the standpoint of the minister. In
addition to a salary, the town always voted him what was called
an " encouragement," or " settlement." This was sometimes a
generous gift, and was intended to cover the expense of his
getting settled in a new place,-an expense that was often a
considerable burden in days when goods had to be removed
upon ox-carts through the wilderness.
Mr. Belcher evidently was considered a prize, and had also a
due sense of his own value; for in the vote giving him a call
there is this clause : " If we can come up to his terms." What
are his terms ? Mr. Short had been receiving fifty-six pounds
for his salary. Mr. Belcher asks for eighty pounds yearly for
pg 95
the first five years, ninety pounds for the sixth, and ever after-
ward one hundred pounds a year. He is also to have "for his
incoridgment " two hundred pounds. Besides this, he is to be
given the " improvement " - that is, the use- of the ministerial
land. They vote " for his further incoridgment that he shall im-
prove the Land in this town laid out for the use of the ministry,
as he shall have occasion for planting, sowing, mowing, pastur-
ing, timber for his own building, and firewood for his family,
fencing stuf for his own fences," etc. In his letter of acceptance,
quoted below, he has an eye to his worldly good, for he expresses
the hope that his people will not be wanting in kindness "with
respect to my comfortable subsistence among you." We shall
see that this shrewd regard for his financial condition is a
marked peculiarity of the new minister, and gets him at last
into serious trouble.
The town having now" come up to his terms," Mr. Belcher, in
a rather wordy and pretentious epistle, signifies his acceptance
of their call. The following is the document:
To the Church and Congregation in Easton :
BELOVED IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, - Where as I have received
a call from you to settle in the work of the ministry among you, I de-
sire to observe the signal conduct of the Providence of Almighty God
in bringing me among you, I being in a manner a stranger to you, and
in disposing and inclining your hearts to this uncommon unanimity
that attended your call of me to the Pastoral office among you, which
I look upon as a very happy circumstance of my settlement, and as
one peculiar encouragement to me which very much moves upon my
inclinations in this weighty affair.
I am sensible that the work and service unto which you have so
kindly invited me among you is of great importance and concern,
which requireth great deliberation and serious thought. And who is
sufficient for these things ? I hope I have taken the call which I re-
ceived from you to settle in the work of the ministry among you into
serious consideration, and I hope I have endeavored to deliberate
thereupon with solemnity and becoming affection ; and I hope I have
reason to trust that I have had the Divine direction in the methods of
Piety, together with the advice of judicious and wise counsellors with
respect to my proceedings in the weighty affair before me. And taking
notice of the direction of Divine Providence in the several steps of
96
your proceedings in your call of me to the Pastoral office among you,
I am persuaded that the Providence of God calleth me to an acceptance
Wherefore, thanking you for your kind regards expressed to
me, I accept of the call received from you to settle in the work of the
ministry among you ; and my answer thereunto is in the affirmative,
in which I do willingly and sincerely give up myself to the service
of Christ in the Gospel Ministry among you, hoping that as in your
ability you may be increased, you will not be wanting hereafter in your
kindness and encouragement towards me with respect to my comfort-
able subsistence among you as my circumstances among you may
require. Thus, bespeaking you to join with me in most hearty and
earnest prayers to the God of all strength and grace for his gracious
assistance, direction, and blessing in the important affair before us,
and wishing that grace, mercy, and peace may be multiplied unto you,
subscribe myself your true friend and servant in office of love and
duty.
JOSEPH BELCHER.
EASTON, August 2oth, Annoq Doinni, 1731.
The materials for a biography of the Rev. Joseph Belcher are unfortunately
very meagre. He came of what is called " good stock." He was born at Braintree, August 19, 1704,
and was son of Gregory and Elizabeth (Ruggles) Belcher. Gregory was a deacon of the church,
and was associated in that office with Deacon John Adams, father of President Adams.
The Ruggles family, to which his mother belonged, was wealthy and influential. Joseph was sent
early to Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1723, just before he was nineteen years
old. He is not to be confounded with the Rev. Joseph Belcher, the well-known minister of Dedham,
who was his uncle.
Where our young graduate spent his days, or what he did, from the time of
his graduation until his settlement at Easton, cannot now be told. For a part of this time
he was studying divinity, and he may have taught school, this being a common thing for graduates
of the time to do. He was not settled as minister previous to coming to Easton, as his ordination
occurred here. He married a wife whose given name was Deborah, but whose family name is unknown.
She was known in Easton as " Madam Deborah Belcher, this term seldom being applied then.
1 Town Records, VOL i. P. 2 5.
97
By her he had nine children. The family record will be given in the Genealogical History
of Easton.
Mr. Belcher was ordained minister of the Easton church on Wednesday, October 6, 1731.
The sum of fourteen pounds was voted to defray the expenses of the ordination. Ordination ser-
vices were important affairs in those days. Not only were the most impressive religious services
held, but there was also a great deal of hearty feasting, and not infrequently considerable money
was spent for good liquors as well as for food. In some places, though perhaps never in Easton,
an ordination was a two days' affair, and was ended with a ball, at which were music and dancing. It is well to think of
these things when we are tempted to fall into the too common cant of condemning our early fathers
as so rigidly austere and gloomy. Their creed may have been so. But while a gloomy creed may
oppress a few sensitive souls with sorrow or despair, most believers wear it easily. Human
nature asserts itself. The dark shadows are in the distant background ; hope, love, common-sense
are at the front, and rule our common life. Our early fathers loved a good time.
If the Sabbath strictness was rather hard on them, they knew how to unbend on other occasions;
and at military trainings even the minister sometimes became more lively than could be accounted
for except by reference to the stimulants that were in almost universal use.
We may therefore be sure that if the ordination of Mr. Belcher was a solemn occasion,
the feasting which followed was all the more joyous. The people were very happy in the belief
that they had secured an exceptionally gifted and promising minister, - an expectation that was
to meet with sore disappointment.
In March,1732, Mr. Belcher bought of Deacon Joseph Snow
the land and buildings that became his homestead property.
It was 33 acres of land just east of the Green, part of it be-
ing between the road and the brook, and not far from the mill.
His dwelling-house was on the north side of Depot Street, just
cast of the Green. On the opposite side of the road, cast of
J. 0. Dean's house, he had an orchard, of which some persons
now living remember to have seen the vestiges.
There is very little that is noteworthy during the early years
of Mr. Belcher's ministry. His salary, according to the original
98
agreement, somewhat increased as the years went on ; but this
does not satisfy him, and in 1739 he asks for a special gift of
fifty-six pounds. This may have been because of a depreciation
of the currency, for the older issues of paper money called "old
tenor" were steadily depreciating in value. But however this
may be, the parish regarded his request as unreasonable, and
at a meeting on February 5, 1740, "Mr. Moderator put it to
vote to see if the town would choose a committy of three men
to treet with Mr. Belcher, to see if that he would not take up
with Know Lees sume then he Requested for; and they votted
in ye affermitifc. 3dly, we made choice of Joseph Crossman,
George Keyzer, and Nathl. Perry for a committy, for to see if
that no Less some than fifty and six pounds would satisfie ye
Revd. Mr. Joseph Belcher." Evidently Mr. Belcher would not
be thus satisfied, and at a town-meeting a month later the
town refused to vote to him the money he requested. He was
then receiving a salary of one hundred pounds. But the town
was two years in arrears in the payment-. due him ; and this
tedious delay, which was a chronic characteristic of the town
in its dealings with its ministers in olden times, must have
been very embarrassing to Mr. Belcher. In 1742, the town so
far complies with his request for additional pay as to vote him
"11 fourty pounds in mony old tener, or other spesee, att markit
.e Betwixt man and man the present year." Apparently
disturbed at this increase of its expenses, the town immedi-
ately voted "not to Raise any mony for to support a scholl."
lt votes the same additional amount, however, the next year to
Mr. Belcher, which proves to be his last in the ministry. He
was dismissed from his pastorate by a vote of the town passed
April 16, 1744, twenty-eight voting for dismissal to twelve
against it. No cause for this action is assigned. A common
tradition reports that Mr. Belcher became partially insane. Jason
Reed heard from his father, the Rev. William Reed, that Mr.
Belcher became so much deranged that he used often to pray
in the pulpit for "little Gregory," one of his children. He
would sometimes go to meeting with his pockets full of ser-
Mons, and would read one after another without regard to the
departure of his audience, ceasing only with the going down
of the sun. Emery's "History of the Ministry of Taunton" re-
pg 99
ports this tradition ; and it is made probable by the subsequent
conduct of Mr. Belcher, by his giving up the ministry at the age
of forty, and by the fact that insanity appeared in the family
afterward. His grandson Gregory was known as 11 Crazy Greg,"
and used to roam about the woods.
Rev. Mr. Belcher continued to make Easton his home until
1754~ ten years after his dismissal. That his insanity was
only partial, or was intermittent, appears from the fact that
he was a part of this time teaching school. He taught school
in Stoughton a portion of each year from 1747 to 1752 inclu-
sive, five different years ; but old account books show that his
home remained in Easton all this time. In 1748, for example,
he buys here a bushel of corn and a barrel of cider. His
children are born here, and here his wife dies, March 21, 1753,
-three days after the birth of his youngest son, Jonathan.
Evidently his wife's death quite unsettled Mr. Belcher, for he
begins about this time to do business in a reckless manner,
and sometimes in such a way that only the plea of insanity
can save him from the charge of dishonesty;, for he sells land
upon which an attachment had already with his knowledge
been made. Apparently advantage is taken of his condition,
for a prominent but not always upright townsman brings suit
for one hundred pounds against him, having induced him to
sign a note for that amount on some pretext. But Mr. Belcher
has wit enough to defend himself, and not only wins the case
but recovers the cost from the plaintiff. He borrows money
right and left, however, mortgaging one piece of land after
another. In March, 1753, Edward Hayward, Esq., brings suit
against Joseph Belcher, who had, as the writ alleges, bound
himself to Mr. Hayward as clerk. Mr. Belcher's defence is
that he "was not a clerk at the purchase and service of the
plaintiff, but a gentleman," etc. This defence was overruled,
and the case went against the ex-minister, who appealed to the
Superior Court. In June, 1754, Mr. Hayward brought another
suit against Mr. Belcher, and won the case. The amount in-
volved, including costs, was less than ten pounds. In the
Court's decision was this order: "We command you to take
ye body of ye said Joseph Belcher and commit him to our
goal in Taunton, and detain him in your custody in our goal
pg 100
until" all claims against him are settled. What a change is
this from the day when, having "come up to his terms," the
parish joyfully ordained him and were so proud of him! Mr.
Belcher himself feels the change, and determines to escape
from it, and when the sheriff goes for him is nowhere to be
found. Then a committee is appointed to " apprise and set off
so much of the estate" as will satisfy these claims. They find
one lot of six acres and twenty rods southeast of the meeting-
house, which they value at nine pounds and for satisfaction
of ye remaining part of ye execution and charges, was shown
to us a black cow of about seventeen years of age, and both
of her horns cutt of at ye top, which we apprised at twenty-
six shillings." The lot designated was all the real estate of
Mr. Belcher that could be found, and this was made over to
Mr. Hayward. Let us trust that the poor old black cow, " with
both of her horns cutt ' of at ye top," which had furnished
the little Belchers with milk for so many years, was merci-
fully spared to the now motherless and (practically) fnfhPrlPqq
family of children. Seven of these children were placed under
the guardianship of Ephraim Hunt, of Greenwich, Hampshire
County. Samuel and Jonathan were supported by the town.
Samuel died in 1755, but Jonathan, and his children after him,
were supported as paupers for many years. It is a matter of
sad interest to think that children of the first two ministers
of Easton should need to rely upon public charity for sub-
sistence! The oldest daughter, Hannah, married Deacon Ste-
phen Badlam, of Stoughton, and was the mother of two sons,
Ezra and Stephen, who became distinguished officers in the
Revolutionary War. Joseph was a soldier in the French and
Indian War, as well as in the Revolutionary War, and finally
settled in Stoughton. William was killed or taken prisoner
while in his country's service at New York, in September 4, 1776. Gregory married in town and resided here.
What became of the Rev. Joseph Belcher? Many days of
careful search on the writer's part have failed to find an answer
to this question. He flies from his creditors before April, 1754,
for at that time the town is considering what to do about "the
circumstances of Mr. Belcher's children and estate." Three
years afterward, having waited in vain for his reappearance, it
pg 101
is voted to sell his books and spend the money as far as it will
go for the maihtenance of his pauper children. Mr. Belcher
thus vanishes into thickest darkness. The only glimmer of
light after this is the record in the Harvard Triennial Cata-
logue, that he died in 1773. Though unable to verify this
statement, we may accept it as probably correct. And so
the second minister of Easton, beginning his ministry with
brilliant auspices, ends it in misfortune, and dies in deep
obscurity.
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Rev. Joseph Belcher
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