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After graduation, he received the promise of an appointment in the U. S. Army
Engineer Corps, and waited for it with commendable patience until March, 1865, when,
failing to receive it, he accepted a position as bookkeeper for the American Steam
Gauge Company, of Boston, Massachusetts, where he remained until September, 1869.
During this time, he had given up the intention of studying law, or any other profession;
but he gradually came to a resolution to study for the ministry, and accordingly entered
the Andover Theological Seminary in the Fall of 1869, and graduated from that
Seminary in June, 1872. In November, 1872, he accepted an invitation to preach for one
year in the Congregational Church at Blackstone, Massachusetts. He was ordained
January 22, 1873, and made a more permanent arrangement with the same church. He
remained there until July, 1874, when he resigned, and took up his residence at Malden,
Massachusetts, only preaching occasionally until July, 1875, when he accepted the
pastorate of the Congregational Church at Bristol, New Hampshire, where he remained
until May, 1877. For the next two years he had no permanent charge, but resided at
Malden, Massachusetts, and supplied pulpits as the opportunity offered.
In April, 1879, he was called to the Congregational Church at Farmington, Maine,
over which he was installed as pastor February 2, 1881. He resigned his pastorate there
in order to accept a unanimous call to the Central Congregational Church at Lynn,
Massachusetts, where he was installed November 8, 1882. He has continued his labors
there with much success up to the present date.
On October 1, 1883, he read before the Boston Ministers' Meeting an elaborate
and exhaustive paper on "The true Sources of Religious Confidence,'' which was
published entire in the Congregationalist of the following week. That paper says
editorially, "that no paper before the Ministers' Meeting for a long time has awakened so
large interest, and given such deep gratification by its boldness, firmness, and strong
grasp of its subject. In many respects, it is a model of research, discrimination and
force."
He received the degree of Master of Arts in course.
In politics, he is an Independent Republican.
He was married July 20, 1869, to Miss S. Fanny Norton, of Malden,
Massachusetts. They have had seven children: Walter Goodenow, born November 29,
1870; Hugh Kelsea, born January 3, 1872; Alice Wood, born November 7, 1873; Mary
Wilson Lane, born January 21, 1875; Horace Dwight, born August 14, 1877; Clara
Abbott, born January 30, 1879; and Mabel Cutler, born December 6, 1880.
Alice Wood died October 2, 1874; Clara Abbott died September 30, 1879; Mary
Wilson Lane died May 13, 1880.
Source: "Memorialia
of the Class of '64 in Dartmouth College" complied by
John C. Webster, Shepard & Johnston, Printers, 1884,
Chicago
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