(According to
articles in the St. Johnsbury Caledonian
newspaper)
By Ken B.
© 2015 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
Part One
The February 12,
1875, Issue of the St. Johnsbury
Caledonian
The St. Johnsbury of Dr. Bob’s youth was an amazing place—largely
because of what was called by a number of sources “the Great Awakening” of 1875
in St. Johnsbury. My dad and I wrote our title Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His
Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont after
our initial research trip to St. Johnsbury in October 2007. We based the book
on our early historical discoveries there, combined with follow-on research
done in books and Internet sources. In our book, we provided the testimony of a
number of sources as to the nature and magnitude of the impact of “the Great
Awakening” on St. Johnsbury. Those sources included:
1. Minutes of the Eighty-First Annual Meeting
of the General Convention of Congregational Ministers and Churches of Vermont,
Held at Barton, June, 1876.
2. John
E. Nutting, Becoming the United Church of
Christ 1795-1995. [North Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury—in which Dr.
Bob’s entire family was actively involved—eventually became, and still is today,
a member of the United Church of Christ.]
3. Arthur
Fairbanks Stone, The History of the North
Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
4. Claire
Dunne Johnson, “I See by the Paper . . .”:
An Informal History of St. Johnsbury.
5. “History
of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Saint Johnsbury.”
6. Edward
T. Fairbanks, The Town of St. Johnsbury,
VT: A Review of One Hundred Twenty-five Years to the Anniversary Pageant 1912.
7. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual
Convention of the Young Men’s Christian Associations of the United States and
British Provinces, Held at Richmond, VA., May 26-30, 1875.[1]
Now on to the Friday, February 12, 1875, issue of the St. Johnsbury Caledonian and its reports
concerning the first events of “the Great Awakening” of 1875 in St. Johnsbury.
Here is the first quote:
“Religious Meetings”:
“Free Baptist Church.—Meetings in
hall of Caledonian Block—(Rev. O. Roys, pastor.)
Methodist Church.—(Rev. D. E.
Miller, Pastor.)
North Cong’l Church.—(Rev. Chas. M.
Southgate, Pastor.)
South Cong’l Church.—(Rev. E. T.
Fairbanks, Pastor.)
Church of the Messiah,
Universalist.—(Rev. B. M. Tillotson, Pastor.)
Baptist Church.—(Rev. J. H. Marsh,
Pastor.)”
. . .
The next union religious meeting
will be held at the North Church this (Thursday) evening, at half-past seven.
It is not expected there will be another mass meeting until next Tuesday
evening, although there will be meetings for the young people, and enquirers
after …… both Friday and Saturday evenings.”[2]
1. North
Congregational Church, St. Johnsbury;
2. South
Congregational Church;
3. The
Methodist Church;
4. The
Baptist Church; and
5. The
Free Baptist Church.
All five of those Protestant churches had been holding “union
meetings” for about six months prior to “the Great Awakening” of 1875 in St.
Johnsbury. The purpose of the “union meetings” was to bring about a revival in
St. Johnsbury.
And here is the second quote:
“The Gospel Meetings.
The religious meetings held in this
place the past week by the committee of young men, were very largely attended,
and pervaded by a deep religious feeling. The leaders were Geo. Davis of
Burlington, Mr. Cook of Ludlow, Messrs. Remington of Fall River and Moore of
Boston. These men were ably seconded by Mr. John Sewell of Norwich, and local
workers, both clergy and laymen. The plain, simple and attractive way these men
had of presenting the Gospel, won the attention and respect of all, and the
hearts of many. The town hall was packed with earnest listeners on Sunday
afternoon; over eight hundred crowded the South Church in the evening, and
nearly as many met at the North [Congregational] Church on Monday evening.
Probably as many as seventy arose for prayers, and a goodly number of these
declared that they had already given themselves to the Lord. This included
heads of families, young men and women, boys and girls.
A most touching incident occurred
in the meeting at the North Church Monday afternoon. William Robinson, a man
who, as he expressed it, had ‘walked in sinful channels all his life,’ arose,
and in the most penitent and broken manner, told his experience, his hope and
his joy. The case of this man is most remarkable. A drinker and fighter, those
who know him best have considered him a dangerous character. Since the Avenue
House riot last fall, in which he was prominent, he has been in jail. The
Spirit of God seems to have visited him in prison, and he is now a new
creature. Although under the condemnation of the law, he is free in the liberty
whereby Christ makes all free who come unto him. He is the happiest man in
town. His prayers and praises have opened the prison doors to him as they did
to Paul and Silas at Philippi. Sheriff Preston allows him to attend these
meetings, fully believing in his sincerity. It is apparently one of those
wonderful exhibitions of the power of the Holy Spirit of which we read
sometimes, but which few are permitted to witness.[3]
The meetings which comprised “the Great Awakening” of 1875
in St. Johnsbury continued over many months following the initial meetings
February 6-8, 1875. These meetings were referred to by various sources as the “Gospel
meetings.” The leaders/presenters of these meetings fell into four groups:
1. Members
of the State of Vermont Committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association;
2. Christian
laymen from Massachusetts—known as “the Massachusetts brethren”—which was where
the statewide “canvasses” had begun several years earlier;
3. Another
visiting helper; and
4. Local
workers helping with the “Gospel meetings.”
1. Geo.
Davis [= George Evans Davis; Capt. George E. (Geo. E.) Davis] of Burlington,
Vermont;[4]
and
The Christian laymen from Massachusetts—known as “the
Massachusetts brethren”—were:
2. H.
M. Moore (= Henry Martyn Moore) of Boston, Massachusetts. [H. M. Moore (a member
of the State of Massachusetts committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association
beginning in 1871) and lay preacher K. A. Burnell of Illinois launched the
Gospel canvasses of the New England states beginning in 1871 in Massachusetts.]
The other visiting helper was Mr. John Sewell of Norwich,
Vermont.
And the local workers who helped with the “Gospel Meetings”
included both clergy and laymen. (As I mentioned above, the five Protestant
churches of St. Johnsbury had been meeting in “union meetings,” and the clergy
had been meeting to plan for a revival in St. Johnsbury, for about six months
prior to the initial “Gospel Meetings” of “the Great Awakening” of 1875 in St.
Johnsbury. At the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum in June 2008, I was able to read the
handwritten “Minutes” of the Caledonia County Ministerial Association beginning
at least six months before February 6, 1875, and continuing until some time
after “the Great Awakening.” Although the notes were fairly clearly written,
they were somewhat hard to read in that they were in pencil and more than 125
years old. The “Minutes” spoke about planning for a revival around the
beginning of 1875.)
A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob stated in his last major talk: “I had
refreshed my memory of the Good Book, and I had had excellent training in that
as a youngster.”[8]
Dr. Bob spoke about some of that “excellent training” in his personal story in Alcoholics Anonymous, but he put a
somewhat negative “spin” on it. He wrote: “From childhood through high school I
was more or less forced to go to church, Sunday School and evening service,
Monday night Christian Endeavor and sometimes to Wednesday evening prayer
meeting.”[9]
Our book, Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His
Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont
helps to balance what Dr. Bob called, on the one hand, his “excellent training
in” the Bible “as a youngster”; and called, on the other hand, having been “more
or less forced to go to church, . . .”
[1] Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous: His
Excellent Training in the Good Book as a Youngster in Vermont
(Kihei, HI: Paradise Research Publications, Inc., 2008), xvi-xvii, 1-7: http://www.dickb.com/drbobofaa.shtml;
accessed 8/31/2015.
[2] St. Johnsbury Caledonian (St. Johnsbury,
Vt.), Friday, Feb. 12, 1875, page 3; left hand/first column: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84023253/1875-02-12/ed-1/seq-3/;
accessed 8/28/2015.
[3] St. Johnsbury Caledonian (St. Johnsbury,
Vt.), Friday, Feb. 12, 1875, page 3; left hand/first column: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84023253/1875-02-12/ed-1/seq-3/;
accessed 8/28/2015.
[4]
Capt. Geo. E. Davis was a Medal of Honor winner during the Civil War. [See: “George E. Davis (Medal of Honor)” in
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_E._Davis_(Medal_of_Honor);
accessed 8/31/2015]. See also this short biography, which mentions some of his
work on the State Committee of the Young Men’s Christian Association of Vermont:
“Davis, George Evans”: http://vermontcivilwar.org/get.php?input=1653;
accessed 8/31/2015.
[5] On
Rev. Silas Parsons (“S. P.”) Cook, see, for example: (1) “Silas Parsons Cook”
in N. F. Carter, The Native Ministry of New Hampshire (Concord, N.H.:
Rumford Printing Co., 1906), 659-60: http://mcaf.ee/193n4i;
accessed 8/31/2015; and (2) Minutes of the Eighty-Second Annual Meeting of
the General Convention of Congregational Ministers and Churches of Vermont,
Held at Bradford, June, 1877. Fifty-Ninth Annual Report of the Vermont Domestic
Missionary Society, and Fifty-Seventh Annual Report of the Vermont Education
Society. (Montpelier: J. & J. M. Poland, Steam Book and Job Printers,
1877), 88-89: http://mcaf.ee/1ujeta;
accessed 8/31/2015.
[6]
Franklin Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury was also a member of the State Committee of
the Y. M. C. A. at this time. He was elected to the committee at the state convention
of the Young Men's Christian Associations of Vermont held at Norwich, Vermont, November
19-20, 1874. See: The Rutland
Daily Globe (Rutland, Vermont),
Saturday, November 28, 1874, page 2: http://mcaf.ee/0z7ek6; accessed 8/31/2015.
[7] “Robert
Knight Remington” in Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern
Massachusetts, Volume 1 (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1912), 173-75: http://mcaf.ee/kvt8cp; accessed 8/31/2015.
[8] The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous:
Biographical Sketches: Their Last Major Talks (New York, NY: Alcoholics
Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975), 11-12.
[9] Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th ed.
(New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2001), 172.
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