Source: Using the text of ebook Manual of the First Church of Christ and names of all the members : from the year 1735 to Nov. 1, 1885 by Theo W Ellis
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MANUAL 'Ml OF THE First Church of Christ AND NAMES OF ALL THE MEMBERS From the Year 1735 to Nov. 1, 1885.
COMPILED BY THEO. ^/V. ELLIS.
I asked its people to declare The name their glorious City bore ; And on the opened gates I saw - Illustrious shield! "The Lord is there."
1885.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
9; '32t A6T0R, I PNOX AT TlLUt'N ItUf.DATIONS.
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SPRINGF!ELD, MASS i9, BINDING} JOrjQ, NUMBERS 40<<5y, OF 1899.)
Dr. Pease is a native of Granby, Mass., a graduate of Amherst College, a tutor in the same institution, a medical student, a soldier in the army, a practicing physician. These items give but a glimpse of the personal history of Dr. Pease before he came to Springfield in 1870, and united with this church.
Miss H. A. Sturtevant came to Springfield from Bordentown, N. J., uniting with the church in 1874. Dr. Pease was married to Miss Sturtevant at Bor-
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170 FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
dentown, N. J., in April, 1877, and in May they were on the way to San Francisco and Honolulu, whence by the "Morning Star," they sailed for the Micronesian Islands. Mrs. Pease was not only a member of the First Church, but the Springfield Branch of the Woman's Board was pledged for her sup- port, so that in a special sense she was considered "our missionary."
At first stationed at Ebon, the mission school was afterwards transferred to Kusaie. The friendly king of the island gave Dr. Pease a lease of a tract of land, large enough for all the purposes of the mission. Should the station ever be abandoned by the missionaries, the property is to revert to the king.
After constructing a convenient house for his family, Dr. Pease gave him- self to the work of translating, preparing a dictionary of 3000 words from books already in use, besides continuing to work on the New Testament till in May, 1882, the last verse in Revelation was translated.
Mrs. Pease writes: We have the work in and out of school, both for our- selves and all about us, systematically arranged as far as it is possible. We grow more and more interested in the work every year.
They had their holidays, too, Christmas, Thanksgiving-day, and the Fourth of July, the celebration of which their pupils enjoy with as much zest as if they were native-born Americans. But no holiday was quite equal to that in which the Morning Star arrived. Mrs. Pease writes: " I don't sup- pose you can possibly imagine how our thoughts center around the 'Star' and what she brings to us. The letters contain love and cheer which are in- dependent of dates. One Christmas card has these lines :
While you for Christ are working far away, Most tenderly at home for you we pray.
I wish I could tell the one who sent it how much we prize this precious help " At the request of her friends in Springfield, Mrs. Pease has sent, year by year, a detailed account of her daily life and of matters interesting to her- self which would not ordinarily be reported to the Board in Boston.
In these graphic descriptions, Mrs. Pease has shown us her home on the beautiful island of Kusaie. Now we are admiring the roses from the home- land, and the shade trees which have been planted; now, we are listening to the prattle of her two little boys, who have been sent to brighten their island- home; and, again we are watching the regularity of her household arrange- ments, every hour having its appropriate work; but no scene excites more pleasurable emotions than that which presents the native children and youth, gathered around Mrs. Pease while she plays the organ, and singing in sweet, plaintive tones, "Saviour, more than life to me," "Whiter than snow," and other gospel hymns. But a brighter, a more joyous day is in store for the natives of Kusaie, when Dr. and Mrs. Pease who are now in this country, shall return to them bringing the New Testament, which Dr. Pease has just completed. Of all these whose names have been mentioned in this brief sketch, only three, now members of the First Church, remain in the service of the American Board - Dr. and Mrs, Pease of Micronesia, and Rev. Edwin E. Bliss of Constantinople.