Allin Congregational Church

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Allin Congregational Church
Historic American Buildings Survey Frank O. Branzetti, Photographer April 16, 1941 (a) EXT.-FRONT and SIDE, LOOKING NORTHEAST - Allin Congregational Church, High Street, Dedham, HABS MASS,11-DED,6-1.tif
Allin Congregational Church in 1941
LocationDedham, Massachusetts
CountryUnited States
DenominationUnited Church of Christ (1963–present)
Previous denominationCongregational Christian Churches (1931–1950s)
National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (c. 1950s–1963)[1]
Websitewww.allinchurch.org
History
Former namesThe Orthodox Church (c. 19th century)
Founded1818
Architecture
StyleGreek Revival
Years built1819
Administration
DistrictMassachusetts Conference of the UCC
Clergy
Minister(s)Rev. Cheryl Kerr
Laity
Organist(s)C. Martin Steinmetz
Religious education coordinatorLindsay Popper
Parish administratorJane Hayes
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Allin Congregational Church is a historic United Church of Christ church in Dedham, Massachusetts. Built in 1818 by conservative breakaway members of Dedham's First Church and Parish, the current building was constructed in 1819 in the Greek Revival style.

History[]

See also: First Church and Parish in Dedham § History

The preaching of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield helped to revive the churches of Dedham during the Great Awakening.[2] The theological debates that arose as a result, however, helped bring about a split in the churches into different denominations.[2] Allin Congregational Church was founded in 1818 when more conservative members of the First Church and Parish broke off from the increasingly liberal First Church.[3][4][5]

In the early 19th century, all Massachusetts towns were Constitutionally required to tax their citizens "for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety."[6] All residents of a town were assessed, as members of the parish, whether or not they were also members of the church. The "previous and long standing practice [was to have] the church vote for the minister and the parish sanction this vote."[7]

Split with First Church[]

Main article: Baker v. Fales

In 1818 "Dedham [claimed] rights distinct from the church and against the vote of the church."[7] The town, as the parish, selected a liberal Unitarian minister, Rev. Alvan Lamson, to serve the First Church in Dedham.[8] The members of the church were more traditional and rejected Lamson by a vote of 18–14.[8][9] When the parish installed and ordained Lamson, the more conservative or orthodox members left in 1818 decided to form a new church nearby.[8]

During the split, the departing members included Deacon Samuel Fales, who took parish records, funds, and the valuable silver used for communion with him.[10][11][8] Members of the First Church sued and the case, Baker v. Fales, reached the Supreme Judicial Court. The court ruled that "[w]hatever the usage in settling ministers, the Bill of Rights of 1780 secures to towns, not to churches, the right to elect the minister, in the last resort."[12]

The court held that the property had to be returned to First Church, setting a precedent for future congregational splits that would arise as Unitarianism grew.[10] The case was a major milestone in the road towards the separation of church and state and led to the Commonwealth formally disestablishing the Congregational Church in 1833.[13] The orthodox faction supposedly responded to the decision with the saying, "They kept the furniture, but we kept the faith."[10]

Despite the court ruling, the silver was not returned to First Church.[14] It remained hidden away until 1969 when it was donated to the Dedham Historical Society as a neutral third party.[14] Today it is on permanent loan to the Museum of Fine Arts, and replicas have been made for both churches.[15]

The new congregation was initially called the Orthodox Church,[16][17] but was later renamed Allin Congregational Church after John Allin, the founder and first pastor of First Church.[3] Shortly after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Baker v. Fales that the rival faction was, in fact, the First Church, the Orthodox Church ordained their first minister, .[18] The letters calling for a council, however, went out in the name of "the First Church."[19][a]

20th century[]

The church was officially incorporated in 1929.[21] Allin Church joined the Congregational Christian Churches when the denomination was created in 1931. In the 1950s, the church became part of the conservative denomination the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, before leaving in 1963,[22] when it became part of the United Church of Christ.[3]

Church[]

As the more liberal members had possession of the meetinghouse immediately after the split, the conservative members began meeting in the home of the deceased former minister, Jason Haven.[23][3] On January 29, 1819, they began advertising for contractors to build them a new meetinghouse.[23] By August, they had raised enough money to begin construction.[24] It was a simple structure, consisting of little more than four walls, a roof, and a few windows.[24] On August 2, as the lot was being prepared for construction, a terrible thunderstorm blew through the town.[24] It was thought that lightening struck at least 40 times within a mile of the church.[24] The following week, as the frame was going up, work was stopped due to a cloudburst.[24] Its dedication on December 30 was conducted in the midst of a blizzard.[24][3]

Organ[]

The organ at Allin Church is over 100 years old and contains 3,500 air-blown pipes.[25] Originally built in 1912 by Ernest M. Skinner for Appleton Chapel at Harvard University,[26] and some of the pipework was altered by Skinner in 1931.[25] The next year, Appleton Chapel was demolished and replaced by the current Memorial Church. The organ was put into storage, and in 1938 was installed at Allin Church by the Frazee Organ Co.[25] In 1958 R. Kershaw changed nine ranks of pipes and added a new coupler.[25] Today, the organ has 55 ranks of pipes and a repaired console which was added in 1999.[25] The current organist and Minister of Music at Allin Church, C. Martin Steinmetz, has been organist for over 50 years.[26]

List of ministers[]

Notable members[]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ was not pleased, writing "...notwithstanding names are so cheap that they may be had for nothing, they chose to steal their neighbors', and in utter contempt of all law, justice, and even common decency."[20]
  2. ^ In 1869, Edwards offered the dedicatory prayer at the dedication of Memorial Hall.[28]
  3. ^ Kerr, a native of New Jersey, was the 23rd pastor of the church. She earned a Master of Divinity degree from . With her husband, Itamar Santos, she had three children, Grace, Ethan, and Gabriel. Kerr left the Allin Congregational Church to become senior pastor at a UCC church in Newton, Massachusetts.[33]

References[]

  1. ^ National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, 1963 handbook
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Lockridge 1985, p. 162.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Allin Church History (In Brief)". Allin Congregational Church. Archived from the original on 2016-09-26. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  4. ^ Rose, Harold Wickliffe (1964-01-01). The Colonial Houses of Worship in America: Built in the English Colonies Before the Republic, 1607–1789, and Still Standing. Hastings House.
  5. ^ Robinson, David (1985). The Unitarians & the Universalists. Westport, CT: Greenwood Heinemann. p. 37. ISBN 0313248931. OCLC 233269204.
  6. ^ "Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts". Wikisource.com. 1780. Retrieved 2006-11-28. See Part the First, Article III.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Ronald Golini. "Taxation for Religion in Early Massachusetts". www.rongolini.com. Archived from the original on 2007-01-08. Retrieved 2006-11-28.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Sally Burt (2006). "First Church Papers Inventoried". Dedham Historical Society Newsletter (January). Archived from the original on December 31, 2006.
  9. ^ Worthley, Harold Field (1970-01-01). An Inventory of the Records of the Particular (Congregational) Churches of Massachusetts Gathered 1620–1805. Harvard University Press.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c Robinson 1985, p. 37.
  11. ^ "UUA, United Church of Christ 'just friends,' say leaders". UU World Magazine. 2006-11-03. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  12. ^ Eliphalet Baker and Another v. Samuel Fales, 16 Mass. 403
  13. ^ Johann N. Neem (2003). "Politics and the Origins of the Nonprofit Corporation in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 1780–1820". Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly. 32 (3): 363. doi:10.1177/0899764003254593.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b "375 Years of History in Short". First Church and Parish in Dedham. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  15. ^ Dedham Historical Society 2001, p. 28.
  16. ^ Mayflower families through five generations: descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620. family of Henry Samson. General Society of Mayflower Descendants. 2006-01-01. p. 203. ISBN 9780930270308.
  17. ^ The Genealogical Helper. Everton Publishers. 1991-01-01.
  18. ^ Hanson 1976, p. 213-214.
  19. ^ Hanson 1976, p. 213.
  20. ^ Hanson 1976, p. 214.
  21. ^ Smith 1936.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b "National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, 1963 handbook". archive.org. Commission on Publications. 1963. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b Hanson 1976, p. 206.
  24. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Hanson 1976, p. 208.
  25. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Appendix 7: Offsite Visits" (PDF). First Parish in Concord. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2003-12-15.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b sfeijo@wickedlocal.com, Sara Feijo. "Allin Congregational Church organist celebrates 50 years at the keys". Retrieved 2016-09-24.
  27. ^ New England Historic Genealogical Society (1905-01-01). Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The Society. p. 409. rev%20ebenezer%20burgess.
  28. ^ Worthington, Erastus (1869). Dedication of the Memorial Hall, in Dedham, September 29, 1868: With an Appendix. John Cox, Jr. p. 18. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
  29. ^ "Dedham Schools". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. 4 September 1895. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ Princeton University. Class of 1883 (1904). Twenty Years After: Record and Directory of the Class of 1883, Princeton University. The Committee. pp. 16–.
  31. ^ "Faith, Peace Outlined for Kiwanians". The Deseret News. 21 December 1950. Retrieved 21 September 2016 – via Google Newspapers.
  32. ^ Bendroth, Margaret (2015-08-12). The Last Puritans: Mainline Protestants and the Power of the Past. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469624013.
  33. ^ Jump up to: a b Writer, Christina (June 4, 2021). "Rev. Cheryl Kerr to leave Allin Congregational Church". The Dedham Times. 29 (22). p. 2.
  34. ^ "Cheryl Kerr Installation". Eventful. Retrieved 2016-09-22.

Works cited[]

  • Dedham Historical Society (2001). Images of America:Dedham. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-0944-0. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  • Lockridge, Kenneth (1985). A New England Town. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-95459-3.

External links[]

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