| HOYE_FAMILY |
| Joseph Dorr |
Spouses & Children á Mary Rawsoná(Wife) Marriage: 9 APR 1724 in Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Children: á 1. Mary Dorr 2. Joseph Dorr 3. Elizabeth Dorr 4. Katherine Dorr 5. Susannah Dorr á - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Notes á Individual: Copy of old Letter, Mary Rawson second daughter of Rev. Grindall Rawson born June 22, 1699, married April 9, 1724, to Rev. Joseph Dorr her father's successor in the ministry at Mendon. He graduated at Harvard College 1711. Settled in Mendon 1716, died March 9, 1768 in 79th year of his age. His epitaph informs us that he was endued with good sense, his temper was mild and placid, he excelled in the virtues if meekness, patience, temperance, sobriety, gravity, benevolence, and charity- was a good scholar advances Divine and exemplary Christian. JOSEPH DORR Joseph Dorr, second minister of Mendon, MA., was one of the younger children of Edward and Elizabeth (Hawley) Dorr of Roxbury. The father has been called "the Reverend" but there is no evidence that he was anything more than a respected citizen and a member of the church of Roxbury. Joseph did not take up residence at the College until the beginning of the sophomore year of his Class. He achieved neither honors nor notable censures although he was fined in every quarter of his junior year. Perhaps this fairly good record can be laid to Joseph Sewall (A.D. 1707), an older student, who recorded in his diary: "God helped me to perform what (If I Mistake not I have attempted once & Again, i.e..,) To Speak to Dorr of his Soul's concern to exhort him earnestly to give himself to Christ." Dorr took his first degree in due course, but got into difficulties when he came up for the M.A. three years later. He submitted an affirmative answer to the Question, " An Essential Rerun sint aeternae?" the religious implications of which do not seem to have troubled the college authorities. But over in Boston Judge Sewall was distressed, and took the matter in his parson, Ebenezer Pemberton (A. B. 1691). Mr. Pemberton seemed to approve of it. When he did not explain it to my satisfaction; He said, I have for got my Philosophy. Upon my mentioning Divinity, He said, There was nothing of Divinity in it. This he spoke with an air of displeasure. I came away, Meeting Mr. Remington (Jonathan, A. B. 1696) in the street I told him of it, and desired him to speak to the president; and by Mr. Higginson next day I received a kind letter from the President with a Master's Thesis in it corrected as it now stands. And the Question stands on the printed sheet as the affirmative of, " An Novitas essendi sit de ratione Creations?" As there is no evidence that Dorr tool part in the exercises, he probably not asked to write a new essay. That same year, 1714 found Mr. Dorr keeping the school at Andover. Despite his Question he aimed to enter the ministry, and accepted an invitation to preach at Mendon. There were troublesome Quakers in Mendon, but they were at least not addicted to scalping as were the Indians who terrified Andover schoolmasters. The young preacher satisfied the church members, and at the town meeting of February 9, 1715/16, it was " proposed to the Town to Bring in their votes for Their Concurrence in the Church's choice of Rev. Joseph Dorr to Be Their Pastor, which was accordingly Don and voted to be the Town's Minister." Two weeks later he and the town fathers came to an agreement on the terms. Imprimis. That they will give him for a yearly salary The Sum of seventy-five pounds per annum, after the first year & the first year seventy pounds To be paid in money... 2nd. That they will give for Settlement or Encouragement the sum of One hundred and sixty pounds, One hundred pounds in money... and Sixty pounds to be paid in Labor & materials for and towards the building of him an house amongst us... The ordination took place on February 25, 1716. It was not until April 9, 1724, that Mr. Dorr obtained a mistress for his new house in the person of Mary, a daughter of his predecessor, the Reverend Grindall Rawson, A. B. 1678. She was a happy choice, for " She filled up the measure of her days with religion and devotion... was a tender, courteous, affable and obliging disposition; confined not to her offices of kindness and respect to her family ... was such a friend as loveth at all times, expressed by a constant series of doing good to all in their varying circumstances." The Dorr's had four or five children, depending on whether Katherine and Elizabeth were twins or a mistake in the record. The only son, Joseph, was graduated in 1752. Mary became his wife of the Reverend Moses Taft (A. B. 1751), and Susannah, the second wife of Reverend Amariah Frost (A. B. 1740). While an increasing family and inflation were burdening the parson's purse, the freeing of the Quakers and the Baptists from the necessity of contributing to his salary and the separation from the church of Mendon of what are now the First Churches of Bellingham, Uxbridge, Upton, Milford, and Blackstone were making it difficult for the church to meets his needs. they did, however, from time to time take special contributions and voter him supplementary sums sometimes as large as the salary itself. In general, he kept the affections of his parishioners by such acts of kindness as petitioning to the court for leniency for a lady of the congregation who had violated the seventh commandment. It may Justly be Supposed that as the End of the law which is reformation is fully answered with respect to her with out the Execution of it. These are therefore to Desire that She may with her Judges find as much Clemency and favour as can Consist with the Law. Mr. Dorr has been called a New-Light because he signed the Testimony and Advice of July 7, 1743, but his experiences during the Great Awakening suggest that he was not New-Light enough for a large minority of his congregation. Although his " temper was mild and placid," and " He excelled in the virtues of meekness, patience, temperance, sobriety, gravity, benevolence, and charity," he was in some sort of ecclesiastical difficulty and appealing for advice to the Worcester association of ministers in October, 1740. That the dissatisfied members of his congregation took a like step is shown by a resolution which he offered in the town meeting of March 2, 1741. Gentleman, In as much as an opposing party in this Town have Obtained a judgement of a Council Against the Minister of the Town, without a Trial, Relating to his administration viz: - of a Council Chosen by them Selves in so private a manner that the pastor of the Church had No Copy of the Letters Missive until after the Letters were Sent out to the Churches - If you judge that the Minister of this Town Ought to be defended against Such Proceedings and you will defend him Signify it by Lifting up your hands. Gentlemen, if you will choose three persons as a Committee chosen by the Church, or by that part of it that adheres to the Pastor to advise and concur with them in the choice of a Council, if they shall think fit, to judge of the Result of the late Council Chosen by the opposite party here by lifting up your hands. The Parson retained the support of a majority, but " a great number " of the dissatisfied appealed to the General Court on the grounds that Mr. Dorr would not abide by the results of their council and would do nothing " to give the Petitioners reasonable satisfaction." As a consequence the parish of mill River, later the town of Milford, was set up. the strict theology of the new covenant suggests that the division was not simply geographical. There was , however, no doubt cast upon Mr. Dorr. He was a man... of singular virtue, sobriety and temperance, a Man of good learning, polemical, political and divine, a father to his family, flock, and ministers, in the Vicinity: a faithful Minister ... a strict adherent to the doctrines of grace ... (He) highly recommended the examination of candidates, for the work of he ministry; preventive (if possible) of the introduction of men unsound in the faith into the ministry, a great friend to our English Liberties, was much concerned for the peace and good order of the Churches. ... It was in an effort to further these ends that he joined in the gathering of the Mendon association of ministers, of which he was the first moderator. Through all these years Mr. Dorr carried on the entire work of the ministry of Mendon without assistance than a few sermons from schoolmaster Samuel Terry (A. b. 1710) at a time when the parson was sick. Finally, in April, 1767, the parish sent a committee to ask the old minister on what terms he would retire. He replied: I have Duly Considered the Same and accordingly Propose as follows, viz. Considering the difficulty you Labor under and to preserve peace a among your and to enable and encourage your to proceed with Unanimity and Cheerfulness to the Settlement of another Gospel minister, I find in myself a freedom to accept of the Sum of Thirteen Pounds, Six Shillings and Eight pence, Lawful Money, Annually, During my Natural Life, tho at the same time, as my Worldly Estate is small, Labor dear and I am unable by reason of my great age and Infirmities to manage my affairs to advantage, I am apprehensive that said sum will fall short of a Necessary Support, yet Considering the Long Term of years I have Labored among you in the Gospel of Christ, I am Persuaded, my Brethren, you will not See me suffer Extreme want. On March 9, 1768, before the parish had called another minister under this agreement, Mr. Dorr died, then being in the fifty-second year of his service and the seventy-ninth of his age. His widow followed him on April 9, 1776. Class of 1711 The first column is the order in which the class was placed at entrance; the second is the order determined upon by the immediate government; and the third is the order in the catalogue of graduates. Williams entered late, and Borland failed to take a degree. Jonathan Remmington was the tutor of his Class Wainwright Sanford William Sanford Borland Rogers John Rogers Sanford Walter Increase Walter Walter Wainwright John Wainwright Rogers Borland Thomas Cushing Russell Cushing Joseph Russell Cushen Russell John Chip man Fales Chipman Elisha Williams Blake Williams Samuel Blake Chipman Blake Joseph Dorr Dor Dorr Thomas Cheney Cheny Cheny Timothy Fales Fales He graduated from Harvard College, Cambridge, and Middlesex County, MA. Joseph Dorr, of Mendon, County of Worcester, Clerk. deed of several to him 1719. Joseph Dorr, of Mendon, County of Worcester, Clerk. his own deed, Power of Attorney, 1734. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sources á 1. Title: Abstract from Dorr family records Now in possession of Mrs. Edward C. Spring, 526 South 42nd Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Author: Mrs. Frederick E. Stow, Chairman, Genealogical Records Publication: Member of William Penn Chapter, Daughters of the American Colonists Page: Page 25, Last paragraph, copy of an old letter. 2. Title: Hyde Genealogy Descendents, in the female as well as in the Male Lines, from William Hyde of Norwich, with their places of residence, and dates of births, marriages, &C., and other particulars of them and their families and ancestry. Author: Reuben H. Walworth, LL.D. Publication: in two Volumes. Vol. I Page: This Edward Dorr is supposed to be the progenitor of all Dorrs of New England. He came to this country from West England. He was born in 1648, and came here about 1670 and settled in Boston. He m. his first wife, Elizabeth Hawley, daughter of Thomas Hawley, previous to 1680. They removed to Roxbury, where she died. He was a selectman of Roxbury. His second wife was the widow Elizabeth (Dickerman) Clapp, who died in 1733. He died at Roxbury in 1734. His children, in addition to six who died young and unm., were: 1. Ebenezer, b. 25 Jan., 1688, who married twice, settled at Roxbury, and had seven sons and three daughters. 2. Rev. Joseph, b. in 1690, graduated at Harvard in 1711, was settled a minister at Meridan, Mass., in 1716, and d. 9 March, 1768, m. Mary Rawson, second daughter of Rev. Grindal Rawson and Susannah Wilson of Meridan, and had one son and three daughters. 3. Edmund, who m. Mary Griswold. 4. Harbottle, b. 11 May, 1696, m. Dorothy Weld and settled in Boston. 3. Title: Boston Newspaper Index of Obituaries Page: Page 316, Dorr, Joseph, Rev., pastor of the first church in Mendon, left a wid., d. of Rev. Grindall Rawson, and 4 chn. Mar. 9, 1768, a. 78y. Gaz. 4. Title: Harvard College Biographical Sketches of those who attended Harvard College in the classes of 1701 - 1712 Author: Clifford K. Shipton Publication: Massachusetts Historical Society Boston MA. 1937 Page: Page 573 Class of 1711 |
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