Historically Speaking: Dover's First Parish Church offers treasure of stories

Tony McManus
First Parish Church of Dover is seen this archival image.

While trying to find information about Plato Waldron, the African-American who served as sexton at the First Parish Church, I discovered an online record of membership activity at the church from 1718 to 1850. Although a simple listing of names and dates, it leads us to consider some interesting events during that timeframe.

The congregation had been in existence since shortly after the Hiltons landed at Dover Point, with a meeting house constructed in 1634.  A second structure was built in 1654 a bit further north, close to the location of the still existing cemetery on the Westerly side of Dover Point Road.  As the population moved up-river to take advantage of the falls for the creation of grist mills and sawmills so did the church. A third meeting house was constructed at Pine Hill in 1710, and then a wooden building in 1758 at the location of the present church on Tuttle Square.

Membership grew, but fluctuated as people died, moved, or joined similar congregations being established in Somersworth, Rochester, and Berwick.  Those who left were often noted as "dismissed" from the Dover church, most likely not the same as being "cast out," but simply an acknowledgement that the person was moving on. In 1742, for example, several people named Hayes were moving to Barrington. In the same year there is a notation: "Mary Wentworth, turned Quaker." In 1753, there is a record of six new members being added "from the church in Durham."

The name Ezra Green is very prominent in Dover history.  He was a physician and came to Dover in 1768. During the Revolutionary War he served as surgeon under John Paul Jones on the Ranger. After the war, he was named postmaster and his home at 37-39 Silver St. was the town's first post office. But relevant to our story he became a member of First Parish in 1777 and served for many years as a deacon. His wife, Susanna, became a member in 1787, and their daughter, Sarah, appears on the list as of 1811.

In February 1829, both Ezra and Susanna were "dismissed to the Unitarian Society in Dover" which was a split from the First Parish, this new congregation described as "more liberal." The Society had been formed in 1827 by a combination of local residents and several newcomers, administrators in the recently established mills who were from Massachusetts, where Unitarianism was more popular and was the foundation of the Divinity School at Harvard. (Ezra Green was a Harvard grad, and was the college's oldest living alumni at the time of his death at age 101 in 1847.) It is an interesting sidelight that the County Court House, across the street from First Parish, which provided space for the first Catholic Mass in 1826, was also the location of the first Unitarian worship service in 1828, then … as noted previously, provided space for First Parish services while the new church building was under construction in 1829.  (As part of that project one end of the then existing wooden church building was detached and moved across Tuttle Square to become a residence at 32-34 Court St.)

In 1879, First Parish decided to provide a permanent parsonage and purchased a large Victorian at the southeasterly corner of Silver and Belknap streets, which was the actual home of its then minister.  In doing so, the church relied on money left by Sarah Green, who apparently had not joined her parents in the move to Unitarianism, but had remained a member of the congregation. (That house was torn down in 1965 and a new parsonage constructed, this time using money from a bequest from attorney Dwight Hall, who for many years had lived just up the street at 117 Silver.)

The Unitarians located in a new brick church building on Locust Street.  This was sold to the Greek Orthodox community in 1939, and the building itself was destroyed by fire in 1956.

Another split took place in 1856 with the creation of the Belknap Church, in this instance described as "more conservative." A public statement was issued that "the religious wants of their city and the interests of our Common Puritan Faith demand the organization of a Second Congregational Church … all unpleasant feelings, if any there be, will be put away." The new church was located in the space now occupied by a parking lot, just south of Sonny's Tavern on Central Avenue. The building was unique because the lower street level was designed to accommodate commercial/retail space, the sanctuary and church spaces being on the upper floor.  There were at least 14 First Parish members noted over several months that year as leaving in favor of the new Belknap Congregation.

Tony McManus

The new church was relatively short-lived, however. Regular services were ended in 1881. The building was badly damaged by the next-door city hall fire in 1889. Repairs were made and some religious activity resumed; more damage from another fire in the building next door (this time it was the Masonic Temple) in 1906 and more repairs, but the upper story was closed for good in 1911, and the church portion remained unused until the city bought and demolished the building in 1965.

The First Parish membership list provides the dates of joining, often identifies the date of a marriage, and occasionally a date of death. In this regard, the following caught my eye:  Leonard Horne, who would have been 16 at the time, became a member of the church in 1841, followed by: "Capt. Leonard Horne, son of Samuel, murdered in the street, Leavenworth, KA, 11/9/61."  And here's the story:  Samuel Horne owned a brickyard in Dover.  There were a number of children. In the mid-1850s Leonard and two of his brothers moved to Kansas, and Leonard opened a brickyard there that supplied building materials for the growing city of Topeka.  He was also named a captain in the Guard Volunteers and played violin in a military band which was "a force in Free-State meetings." He opened a music school in 1860, and was noted as "a good singer and likewise a good teacher of music."

His military unit was mustered to the Union cause on June 6, 1861 and was involved in a battle at Wilson's Creek on Aug. 10 (which was considered at the time to be a Confederate victory). Three months later, it was reported that Horne had been "knocked down and robbed some time since, died at the Tremont House (a hotel in Leavenworth) and escorted out of the city by members of King Solomon and Leavenworth Lodges and Masons."  He would have been 36 years of age.

Tony McManus is a Dover native. He is a former trustee of the Woodman Institute and an amateur student of Dover’s past. He can be reached at mcaidan73@gmail.com.