ern and attractive books than the old one. This lib-
rary lived several years.
Evidently, there was a strong movement in the
minils of some West Newbury boys towards a better
education than they could obtain at home, between
the years 1823 and 1834, with this result: Cornelius
<:. Felton graduated at Harvard in the class of 1827,
Samuel M. Emery in that of 1830, Robert A. Coker
in 1831 and Samuel M. Felton in 1834.
Mr. Emery was prepared for college at Phillips
Exeter Academy, and always retained a love for that
institution. He entered college in 1826. While there
he studied as one in earnest.
One of his class-mates wrote of him after his de-
cease: "So early as college life he developed his
high-toned character and stainless reputation." He
must have stood well as a scholar, to have a " part "
at commencement, in a class like that of 1830.
For several years succeeding his graduation Mr.
Emery was employed, the greater part of the time,
in teaching. On March 8, 1831, he engaged as mas-
ter of the classical department of the academy at
Northlield, Mass., where he remained for two terms.
Prom Northfield, accompanied by a cousin, one of the
pupils of the academy, he walked nearly to Boston,
finishing the journey to Newburyport by water.
From October, 1831, to August, 1833, he was
instructor of the " High School for Young Ladies"
at Portsmouth, N. H.
He was baptized in St. John's Church by Dr. Bur-
roughs, September 2, 1832, and confirmed the next
Sunday, in the same place, by the Rt. Rev. A. V.
Oriswold, bishop of the Eastern Diocese.
Mr. Emery was brought up as a Congregationalist,
but was, for some time previous to his baptism, dis-
satisfied with the religious system to which he had
been accustomed.
After leaving Portsmouth he took a room at Cam-
bridge, and studied theology under the direction of
the Rev. Dr. Coit, then rector of Christ Churchi
Cambridge, and subsequently under that of Rev. Dr.
Wainwright, rector of Trinity Church, Boston, after-
wards provisional bishop of New York.
While preparing for holy orders Mr. Emery con-
tinued to instruct pupils.
In the winter of 1835 he was employed by a gentle-
man in Lancaster, who was obliged by his duties in
the Legislature of the State to leave some students
from Harvard, who had been placed uuder his care.
President Quincy engaged Mr. Emery to take charge
of them during this gentleman's absence. He be-
came much attached to these young men, and one of
them became his intimate friend.
He returned to Cambridge, and on July 28, 1835,
was admitted to the holy order of deacons, with two
other candidates, in (old) Trinity Church, Boston, by
the Right Rev. Bishop Griswold. He was presented
by the Rev. William Croswell, then rector of Christ
Church, Boston, in which church the newly-ordained
deacon preached his first sermon.
After officiating occasionally in Boston and neigh-
boring towns, he was engaged, in December, to assist
the rector of Trinity Church, Chatham (uow Port-
land), Conn., a beautiful town on the Connecticut
River, opposite the city of Middletown.
From Mr. Emery's private journal I extract the
following entry, dated Dec. 12th :
" Reached Chatham, after a journey of about three
days, and entered upon the duties of 'journeyman,'
:issistant minister to Rev. William Jarvis, disabled by
laryngitis."
Mr. Emery was elected to the rectorship of Trinity
Church, Chatham, in April, 1837, and was advanced
to the Holy Order of Priests in the same church, on
Whitsunday, May 14th, by the Right Rev. T. C.
Brownell, bishop of Connecticut.
There was in 1837 but one church (Episcopal) in
Middletown, and one in Hartford. The nearest
churches were at Middle Haddam and Glastonbury.
Meriden was near enough to admit of exchanges
between the rector there and the one in Chatham. I
notice in Dr. Emery's journal two instances in which
he walked home from Meriden, a distance of some
ten miles.
There was no livery stable in Chatham at that
time, but Mr. Jarvis and other parishioners were very
willing to lend horses and vehicles to the rector, and
he sometimes rode or drove to distant parts of the
parish or to other towns. An old gentleman, a
parishioner, favored him so often with his horse, that
Mr. Emery was taxed for the animal, of which he was
supposed to be the owner. Mr. Emery would tell this
story with great amusement.
He was very fond of children and young people,
and attracted them by his cheerfulness and good
humor. But he believed in discipline.
He gave the Sunday-school a large share of his at-
tention. He was usually present at its sessions.
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUiNTY, lAIASSACHUSETTS.
Mr. Emery otten preached three times on a Sunday,
and occasionally on week-days. He frequently, in
the early part of his work, held evening services in
private houses, where he had aged or infirm parish-
ioners, or where families resided at a considerable
distance from church.
On the 17th of November, 1841, Rev. S. M. Emery
was married by the Rev. Dr. Morss, rector of St.
Paul's Church, Ncwburyport, to Mary Hale, only
surviving child of Eliphalet and Sarah (Hale) Emery,
of West Newbury, Mass.
Eliphalet Emery, Esq., resides on the old farm
given to John Emery, Jr., in 1644. He was a promi-
nent citizen of West Newbury, son of Nathaniel and
Sarah (t^hort) Emery, and grandson of Stephen and
Hannah (Rolfe) Emery, mentioned above, as grand-
parents of Moody Emery, the father of Rev. Samuel
M. Emery. Consequently Mr. and Mrs. Emery's
fathers were own cousins.
On June 2d of this year the name of a part of the
town of Chatham was changed to Portland.
Rev. S. M. Emery and his wife were blessed with
seven children, six of whom survive their honored
and lamented father. Abbie Prescott died in child-
hood.
He was a " lover of hospitality " in the simple way
in which a country clergyman forty years since could
show it, and never ceased in after-years to practice it
as he had ability. His house was open to his parish-
ioners, his brethren of the clergy, and strangers and
friends from out of town.
During the last twenty years of Jlr. Emery's resi-
dence in Portland the number of the clergy in the
vicinity was greatly increased. The Berkeley Divin-
ity School, in Middletown, incorporated in 1854, and
the removal of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Williams to the
house formerly occupied by the Rev. S. M. Jarvis,
D.D., produced great changes.
The chapel of " St. Luke the Beloved Physician,"
erected by a lady in memory of her husband, for the
use of the Berkeley .School, was opened to the public.
Christ Church, Middletown, assumed the name of
"Holy Trinity," and a church in the southern part of
the town was built which bears the name of " Christ
Church," South Farms ; and chapels followed in
various distant parts of the town or neighboring
villages, served by professors or students of the Berke-
ley School.
The Rev. Dr. Goodwin, of Holy Trinity, was an
intimate friend of the Portland rector, and they often
exchanged pulpits. Dr. Emery was on very pleasant
terms with the Middletown clergy and often received a
" labor of love " to assist him in his services. He
had many warm friends among them — some of them
much younger than himself.
He was for some time a trustee of the Berkeley
Divinity School, and held the office until he left the
State.
DurinK most of his residence in Portland he was
one of the Board of School Visitors for the public
schools of the town.
He was very much interested in the education of
the young, from children in the primary school to
students in college, or divinity school. He prepared
a number of young men for college, and instructed
j one, through the freshman year.
He received the degree, " ad eundein," of M.A.
from Trinity College in 1838, and of S.T.D. from
the same institution in 1864.
Dr. Emery prepared most of his sermons with
care. He had not acquired the habit of extempo-
raneous speaking, and never willingly trusted to his
memory, without notes. He was an earnest preach-
er, and usually commanded the attention of a con-
gregation, sometimes, when roused and excited by his
subject, rising to eloquence.
His advice was asked often in regard to secular as
well as spiritual matters, and all sorts and conditions of
men were represented from time to time in his
study.
He had been in the habit of officiating occa-
sionally in the eastern part of the town. He inau-
gurated a mission there, with the approval of the
bishop, and the help of a Berkeley student, son of
the late bishop of Mississippi, now the Rev. Stephen
H. Greene, of St. Louis.
Before Dr. Emery left Portland he had the satis-
faction of seeing the corner-stone of the " Chapel of
St. John Baptist " laid by Bishop Williams, and of
returning next year to be present at its consecration.
This chapel is connected with Trinity Parish, and
the rector is expected to celebrate the Holy Com-
munion once a month within its walls. One of the
Berkeley students reads service every Sunday when
no clergyman is present.
He resigned the rectorship of Trinity Church on
Easter Monday, 1870, and preached his "farewell
sermon " the first Sunday after Trinity, June 19th.
In the course of the summer the whole family were
settled on old John Emery's farm, situated on the
Merrimac and Artichoke Rivers, in West Amesbury.
Dr. Emery did not wish to be rector of another
parish, but desired to be engaged in the work of the
ministry. He assisted other clergymen, and filled
vacancies in parishes.
Near the close of this year the Rev. George D.
Johnson was elected rector of St. Paul's Church,
Newburyport. Dr. Emery, who remembered him as
a student in Middletown, enjoyed his society keenly,
and was occasionally able to assist him in the parish.
While residing in West Newbury, four miles from
St. Paul's Church, Newburyport, when not engaged
elsewhere. Dr. Emery usually held a service in the
evening, on Sundays, at his house, and often a little
congregation of neighbors attended. The rector of
St. Paul's approved of this service, and once came
out and preached. Occasionally, other clergymen,
visiting at the house, would sissist by preaching.
WEST NEWBUUY.
1879
Dr. Emery superintended the public scliools in
West Newbury from 1871 to February, 1874.
Early in November, 1873, the whole family re-
moved to Newburyport.
He had the pastoral care of St. Paul's Church,
Newburyport, at one time, while the rector was
absent in Europe.
In June, 1880, Dr. Emery was present at the fiftieth
anniversary of his class, the survivors of which.
were invited to a dinner at Judge Warren's in Bos-
ton, one of their number. He also attended com-
inenconient and the commencement dinner at Cam-
bridge, and seemed to renew his youth amid old
scenes.
He was minister in charge at St. James' Church,
Amesbury, for about two years, while residing in
Newburyport.
In the spring of 1882, Dr. Emery and family re-
turned to their West Newbury home.
He was now hardly strong enough to officiate in
public, but usually held divine service in his house,
for the benefit of those necessarily detained from
church.
He became interested in his farm, and was very
thoughtful of the comfort of tho.se employed by
him.
He officiated twice at funerals during this last
year of his life.
On Sunday, August 12, 1883, he read the services
with much energy, and on the 13th and 14th appear-
ed cheerful and active.
He conversed pleasantly with visitors who came
to see him, and spoke of improvements he hoped to
make on the farm. On the 15th he was not well,
but walked about a quarter of a mile, and dined with
the family.
In the afternoon he became very ill, but towards
eveningseemed jiartially relieved. His physician, who
was sent for, left him late at night, as he seemed quiet.
In the morning he was alarmingly worse, and no
eflbrts to help him were availing, until at about ten
o'clock he quietly entered into rest.
During his short illness he recognized his family
and the rector of St. Paul's, who was sent for to attend
him by his bedside. He repeated the Lord's Prayer
audibly with the others, and responded "Amen" to
the prayers offered.
His death called forth many tributes of love and
esteem from friends in different parts of the country,
and sympathy with the bereaved family.
The funeral was attended on the following Monday
at St. Paul'.s Church, Newburyport, by seven clergy-
men besides the rector. Rev. E. L. Drown. A large
congregation of sorrowful friends were present.
His body was laid to rest in the Belleville Cemetery,
with the holy service of the church. On one part of
this cemetery is the site of Queen Anne's Chapel,
the first Episcopal Church in Newbury, near which
may still be seen the head-stone, at the grave of the
Rev. Matthias Plant, the minister of Queen Anne's
Chapel, and the first rector of St. Paul's.
The bishop of the diocese, prevented from being
present at the funeral, wrote a letter of condolence to
the family, in which he espres.sed great esteem for
Dr. Emery and sorrow for his loss.
At the next convention of the diocese, in June,
1884, the bishop, after mentioning Dr. Emery's long
service in Connecticut, said. " In times of necessity
he has rendered good service since, notably in his
long term of care of St. James', Amesbury, at a time
of complete business prostration in that village. De-
vout, wise, humble, charitable, strong in the faith,
Dr. Emery was a man to make friends with all who
knew him."
The Rev. Mr. Harriman, rector of Trinity Church,
Portland, wrote soon after Dr. Emery's death : " As I
enjoy the prosperity of this old and firmly-planted
parish, I often acknowledge my indebtedness to the
wise master-builders who preceded me, and I ieel
that others have labored and I have entered into their
labors. In these days of change and short rector-
ship we need to learn the secret of succe^!s which en-
abled Dr. Emery to labor thirty-five years in one
place.''
From a minute adopted by the vestry of Trinity
Church I extract the following :
" From 1835 to 1870 he broke the bread of life to
feed the flock of God committed to his care ; he went
in and out among us, as a faithful imitator of the
Good Shepherd, and an example of the believers in
word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in purity.
" Two generations of parishioners remember with
gratitude his gentle, kindly ministrations, and look to
see him receive the crown of life when the Chief
Shepherd shall appear."
An elegant and massive stone church occupies the
ground on which the old one built in 1830 stood. A
fine organ, the gift of parishioners and many other
friends, some from out of town, in memory of Dr.
Emery, with a brass tablet set in the wall near it,
stands on one side of the chancel.
It was used for the first time publicly at a mem-
orial service nearly a year after Dr. Emery's death,
when the rector then in office — the Rev. Mr. Harri-
man — preached a commemorative sermon from Neh.
iv. 6.
The Holy Communion was celebrated, and a very
large congregation, not only of parishioners, but also
others from different places, participated in the
solemn service, and all seemed anxious to show their
loving appreciation of their deceased pastor. A mem-
orial window is soon to be placed in the Chapel of
St. John Baptist.
"The iiiemoryot the juat is blessed."
1880
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
COKXEI.IU.S COKWAY FELTOX.'
Cornelius Conway Felton, the eldest son of Corne-
lius Conway and Anna (Morse) Felton, was born in
Newbury, Massachusetts, November (>, 1807. His
parents gave their children the heritage of their own
superior intelligence and moral worth; but were able
to bestow on their higher education little beyond
their hearty sympathy and encouragement. While
Cornelius was still a child they removed to Saugus,
and lived in the near neighborhood of Dr. Cheever,
grandfather of the present Professor of Anatomy in
Harvard University. The doctor, finding young
Felton a boy of excellent promise, gave him his fir^l
lessons in Latin, and furthered his advancement by
every means within his power. Felton was fitted for
college under the tuition of Simeon Putnam, of North
Andover, who had high and well-merited reputation
as a classical teacher.
He entered Harvard College as a freshman in 182:i.
He took at once and maintained through his college
course a foremost place in his class ; was second to
none in the department of ancient languages, and
manifested the power of rapid acquisition and the
scholarly tastes that distinguished him through life.
At the same time he won the cordial friendship of all
who were brought into intimate relations with him ;
and they were such friends as he was glad to hold
ever afterward in the dearest regard. No one can
have ever passed through the ordeal of student-life
with a character more transparently pure. Tempta-
tion, indeed, had for him no meaning. He loved
society, but only the best; and his own influence was
from the first refining and elevating. He had an
elastic spirit, and bore the burdens of his early life
easily and cheerily ; yet they must have been heavy.
He was dependent mainly on his own industry, with
the very slender aid then given by the college to
meritorious students ; and he worked in the library
in vacations, taught school, and resorted to every
honorable means for replenishing his scanty resources,
all the while practising a more rigid economy than
would seem credible to a student of the present day.
Immediately on graduating he went to Geneseo,
New York, with two of his classmates, to take charge
of an academy founded by Mr. James Wadswortli,
well-known as a munificent patron of learning. He
remained there two years, and then returned to Cam-
bridge as a tutor in Latin. In 1830 he was appointed
tutor in Greek ; in 1832, College Professor of Greek ;
and in 1834, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature. He
had in these successive ofiices the occupation most
congenial with his taste, and one for which no man
could have been more eminently fitted by the cast of
his mind, the direction of his studies, and his enthu-
siastic love of the literature of which he was the
teacher and expositor. He was by no means rigid or
exacting in the class-room, and an indifferent scholar
1 By Kev. A. P. Peabody,
was put by him under no compulsory pressure ; but
those who were ready to learn received from him the
most ample aid, and derived from their intercourse-
with him the strongest stimulus to persevering indus-
try. At the same time his genial disposition and his-
fellow-feeling with young life, which never waned,
made him a favorite teacher with all who came under
his charge.
The only important episodes in this period of his life
were European tours and sojourns, in 1853 and 185tL
On both these occasions he not only visited Greece,,
but traveled in the country extensively and with
close observation ; made himself acquainted with the
leading men, especially with those concerned in the
revival of letters and the diff'usion of knowledge; and
became conversant with the institutions and the pub-^
lie life of the kingdom. What a man gains by travel
depends mainly on what he carries with him, — on his
knowledge of the fit topics for research and inquiry ;
and probably no American has ever been in Greece
who was more thoroughly versed than he in all that
could be known of the past, or better qualified to
form an accurate judgment and estimate of the
present and the future, of a people so long depressed
and down-trodden, yet with so rich a heritage of an-
cestral fame.
In 1855 Mr. Agassiz established in Cambridge a
school for young ladies; and Mr. Felton, though with
his full tale of college duties, became a teacher and
lecturer in that institution, and contributed very
largely to its success and prosperity.
When, on the resignation of Dr. Walker in I860,,
the presidency of Harvard University became vacant,
Mr. Felton was elected as his successor ; and in their
votes the governing boards simply ratified the unani-
mous choice of the whole community. In this office
it can hardly be said that he met the expectations of
his friends ; but their disappointment was one of sur-
prise and admiration. He had previously led the
quiet life of a scholar, absorbed in books and literary
labor, with few relations of business with the outside
world, and with no opportunities for testing his
executive ability; and it was anticipated that he
would adorn the headship of the college by the rare
grace and beauty of his spirit, character and culture,
rather than that he would take upon himself the un-
numbered prosaic details of duty and service which
then made the presidency of Harvard College as
arduous and as multifarious a charge as could well
be devised or imagined. But witli an intense feeling
of responsibility, as for a most sacred trust, he entered
upon a thoroughly energetic administration, giving
his personal attention to all concerns that could
rightfully come under his cognizance, seeking lull
knowledge of the work of the teachers, exercising a
watchful vigilance over the students, and making
himself felt, not merely as a gracious and kindly
presence, but as an active and action-compelling force
in every department of the university. He even be-
i! i. JJt
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC iyPUARY
WEST NEWBURY.
1881
came a strict disciplinarian when it was his duty to
be so, though it was manifest that in the infliction of
penalty he suffered more than those who deserved and
needed it. His labors were rendered more severe and
exhausting by the growing discontent with the stereo-
typed and obsolescent methods of our New England
colleges, and the movements toward a broader cul-
ture and a higher intellectual life, in which he was
ill the front rank of the leading minds. With his
unresting assiduity, he was oppressed by a painful
sense of the vast interests devolved upon his discre-
tion and ability, and by the constant accumulation of
demands upon his time and strength, which grew
more and more numerous and urgent from his habit
of giving heed to every claim, and of assuming every
burden that he was asked to bear.
But his overtasked vigor of body yielded under
the incessant strain and tension. Symptoms of heart-
disease, which had already given his friends some
uneasiness, became more decided and alarming from
the time that he exchanged his sedentary habits for a
more active life. Early in 1862, during the winter
vacation, he was induced to seek relief and recreation
by a change of scene and surroundings, and he visited
his brother at Thurlow, Pennsylvania. Here his
disease advanced rapidly to a fatal issue. After an
attack in which his death was expected from
moment to moment, he seemed for a little while con-
valescent. On the 26th of February, the first day of
the new term, I received a letter from him, dictated
when respiration and utterance were intermittent and
laborious, telling me that he had been at the point of
death, but now began to hope for prolonged life ; ex-
pressing fervent gratitude to the Divine Providence;
and asking me to beg the college Faculty, in the name
of the Infinite Love, to be lenient and merciful in
certain cases of discipline that had been laid over
from the preceding term. That same evening I read
the letter to the Faculty, obtained the desired vote,
and had hardly reached my home when I received a
telegram announcing his death.
Mr. Felton filled a very large and, in some respects,
a unique place in our world of letters. It is seldom
that an adept in one department is a proficient in all
the essential branches of liberal culture. This, how-
ever, was true of him. While as a classical scholar
he had no superior, he was versed in the languages
and familar with the best literature of modern
Europe, was largely conversant with natural science,
and. had a highly educated and nicely critical
taste in the entire realm of art. The ability that
he showed in many and diverse directions, had its
scope been narrower, would have been accounted as
genius of a very high order; but in its breadth and
versatility it was more than genius. Within the
largest bounds of a liberal education no demand was
made upon him that found him incapable or unpre-
pared'; and whatever he did he did so well that he
seemed to have a special adaptation for it.
119
As a writer he was easy and graceful, brilliant in
metaphor, rich and apt in illustration, and, whenever
his subject permitted, affluent in wit and humor. He