Beneficent
Congregational
Church
Located in
Voices from the Archives
by Harl Ryder
WOMEN AT BENEFICENT
In the early period, Beneficent inherited a long standing practice of keeping two lists of members - Men and Women. There was a page for men, and then a page or two for women, then another page for men and another two or three pages for women. Even though there were more female members than male members, it was understood that serious decisions were made by a majority of male members. Women had no voice in such matters.
It was by forming groups sharing a common charitable interest that women began to exercise leadership. The earliest such group was the Beneficent Library, established in 1807. The next decade saw two more groups being formed - The Beneficent Female Association in 1816 for the mothers, and The Juvenile Female Association in 1819 for their daughters. In 1820 two more groups formed - The Female Prayer Society and The Brothers Charitable Society (finally something to engage the males!). The next year saw the birth of the Sabbath School Society, providing four R's (reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion) for children who worked six days in the expanding mills.
The next two decades brought missionary work into prominence, with groups specializing in foreign missions, home missions, seamen's missions, temperance societies, and quiet anti-slavery efforts. All this positive activity seems to have encouraged a new attitude with less emphasis on the bad things we may have done and more emphasis on the good things that we might do. "Beneficent" was beginning to live up to its name!
In the process, the men of the church could not fail to notice how their wives and daughters were very competently running so many of the societies that provided so many ways to do good deeds. At a Quarterly Meeting of the Church on February 8, 1883, "Deacon Gallup presented a petition signed by forty six (46) female and thirteen (13) male members of the church, praying that the Constitution be so amended that all members be accorded the right to vote on matters of business without distinction of sex. "That set off a lively discussion. The Constitution had not been touched since it was written in 1793. To some it seemed to be as unchangeable as the Bible itself, to others it seemed as easy as a simple majority vote. Deacon Gallup formulated his amendment, and all agreed to think it through and vote on it at the next Quarterly Meeting.
At the Quarterly Meeting on May 10, 1883, "Brother Davis moved that a three fourth vote of the male members present carry the amendment", which was agreed to. But of the 45 members present the vote was 28 in favor, 17 opposed. That was almost two thirds, but well short of the three fourths needed. The motion was tabled indefinitely, and the Clerk was asked to take a survey of the individual preferences of the women members. The Clerk reported at the Annual Meeting of November 13, 1883 that out of 390 circulars mailed, 151 returned affirmative, 100 returned negative, and 139 gave no answer whatever. Surprisingly, the women's vote was in favor, but only by three fifths.
Nothing more was done on this issue for 13 years. On October 22, 1896, Brother Jonathan G Parkhurst introduced the amendment again. It was set to be voted on again at the next Quarterly Meeting, but Brother Parkhurst was absent on February 11, 1897 and again on May 13, 1897, so the issue was again indefinitely postponed.
Significant changes began in the final year of the nineteenth century, when Pastor James G Vose announced his coming retirement on April 22, 1900. In the first year of the twentieth century, the Church offered the position to Rev Asbury E Krom of Bayonne, New Jersey. He accepted the appointment and was installed as Pastor on June 12, 1901. A new pastor with new ideas for a new century!
At the Annual Meeting on November 14, 1901, it was "Resolved that a Committee of three be now appointed to consider and report to the next Quarterly Meeting what, if any, changes, alterations or amendments are desirable in the Creed, Covenent, Constitution and By-Laws of this Church, and to advise as to the proper method of procedure in order that the Church may take action in such cases." The resolution was adopted, and the Committee selected was Brothers Warren R Perce, Nathaniel F Davis, and Royal H Gladding. That is two lawyers and a mathematics professor.
The Committee reported on February 13, 1902 with a six-page analysis, concluding that it is possible to amend, and that the terms need to be clarified. They presented an amendment adding a new Article 7 that "This Constitution, the Articles of Faith, and the Church Covenant . . may be altered or amended by a ballot vote of 2/3 of the male members" with appropriate advance provisions. The amendment passed, and the way was now open to the consideration of further amendments.
Big changes began on March 20, 1902. The first proposal was dramatic but not controversial. It was the adoption of Individual Communion Cups. Before the official vote by male members, Deacon Warren R Perce moved that there be an informal vote by the whole congregation, men and women alike. This proposal passed and the informal vote on communion cups was taken. The official vote on communion cups that followed was 359 yeas and 3 nays. That's ninety nine one hundredths!
Two months later, more amendments were considered on May 8, 1902. First in line was that the procedure for becoming a member be simplified. Candidates for membership would not be required to give details on their spiritual journey, but only to accept the Church's Confession of Faith. Second was an amendment to delete the word "male" from Articles 4 and 7. Both amendments passed easily.
From this time onward, we have had one list of members: males and females sharing the same page.
Voices from the Archives:
»Why the Back Wall of our Meeting House is Shaped Like a Prow
Beneficent's Story:
A Place for Firsts
