REVEREND JOSEPH MORS AND REVEREND WILLIAM WILLIAMS

BY REVEREND CHARLES FRANK RUSSell

THE

HE Reverend Joseph Mors, first minister of this precinct or parish (though never the settled minister of this church) was born at Medfield, Massachusetts, May 25, 1671, the son of Joseph and of Priscilla (Colburn) Mors. His ancestors were of that excellent company that came from England about 1630, when nearly fifteen hundred souls were added to the inhabitants of Massachusetts Colony. He was probably fitted for college by the schools and the minister of Medfield, and he then entered Harvard, graduating in 1695, twenty-first in a class of twenty-two. The records of the University for that period are most scanty, and a search of its books only reveals that he spent very little money, that he was sometimes fined as a punishment, and that he broke more window glass than his income justified. It would appear that he was poor in purse and in scholarship, with inclination toward mischief, but in none of these matters was extraordinary.

After graduating he taught school as have so many of his fellow graduates. At Dedham, while teaching, it is said he studied theology with the Reverend Joseph Belcher. Mr. Belcher gave him the right hand of fellowship when he was or

dained at Dorchester Village about twenty years after, and there were probably intimate relations between the school-master and the minister of every town. Mr. Mors afterward taught in Providence, Rhode Island, where he met Miss Amity Harris, also a teacher, whom he married. Some of his relatives were living at Watertown, and through information given by them, or that he might settle near his friends, it is probable that he came to this precinct about 1701, and taught a school here. He was not without means, for he purchased from the landholders close about this church various parcels of land, upon one of which was a house in which he lived. This house was near the one now occu- ' pied by Deacon Henry White and the farm included the meadow land on the south side of Four Mile Brook, now partly owned by Mr. Horace Sears. It is probable that the street now called School Street was afterward laid out through what had been Mr. Mors's land.

The farmers of Watertown, living in what is now known as Weston, met as early as 1695, says Doctor Kendal in his centennial sermon, and agreed to build a meeting house thirty feet square. The building of this house progressed slowly and on June 14, 1698, old style, which equals June 24, new style, the General Court "upon reading the report of a Committee of the Court upon the Petition of the Inhabitants of the West End of the Town of Watertown praying to be a distinct precinct for the setting up of the public worship of God among themselves: Resolved and ordered that the Petitioners be and hereby are permitted and allowed to invite, procure and settle a learned

and Orthodox Minister to dispense the word of God to them and have liberty for the building and the furnishing of a meeting house according as shall be determined by a Major vote, and also to nominate and appoint a Committee of three or more persons to transact and manage that affair." Doctor Kendal tells us further that meetings of the precinct thus created, and as should be observed created for strictly religious purposes (this portion of the town being in civil matters still a part of Watertown) were held November 8, and 15, 1698, at which officers were chosen. These were the officers of the precinct or what we should now call the parish, that is of a body of men and women united and active for the establishing and maintaining of the public worship of God, and these proceedings show that the precinct created by order of the General Court was at once alive and moving. In these meetings further provision was made to complete the meeting house, but it was not till March, 1700, that the building was occupied. In October, of that year, the Reverend Mr. Symmes was chosen minister by the precinct but he declined. It was into this precinct thus created, with its meeting house at length fit for use, that Mr. Mors moved with his wife in 1701.

He soon must have been invited to preach, for in December, of that year, the precinct "voted that Mr. Mors should continue in order for a settlement,” and his preaching must have been satisfactory to the majority for in July, 1702, he was called to settle with the precinct in the ministry, though out of forty-two votes twelve were against him. That forty-two legal voters could be found to attend a parish meeting shows a state of wholesome interest which is not