First Congregational Church of Pittsfield

REVEREND WILLIAM ISAAC SWEET
1863-1933

Reverend William I. Sweet was born in Port Byron or Throop, New York, June 6, 1863, the son of Robert Vaughn and Judith (Ferris) Sweet. He had two brothers, Robert V. who became a doctor and Joseph E. who taught high school in Chicago, Illinois. Both lived in Rochester at the time of his passing.

Reverend Sweet attended public schools, Cazenovia Seminary, Union College and Auburn Theological Seminary. On May 7, 1887 he was ordained and began his highly successful career as a minister. His first pastorate was the Presbyterian Church in Fair Haven, New York. In 1888 he moved to Farmington, New Hampshire where he served in the Congregational Church until 1892. There he became one of the most popular  individuals to ever occupy the pulpit.

He then moved to a large church in Passaic, New Jersey where he remained until moving to Everett, Massachusetts in 1897. During his 14 years in Everett he increased church membership from 250 to 700 and developed one of the largest Sunday Schools in Massachusetts. During the summer of 1911 he resigned this position because he "did not feel strong enough to continue the work for so large a congregation." Despite the fact that his health was failing church members attempted to persuade him to remain but to no avail.

Rev. William I. Sweet

Reverend Sweet then accepted a call from the Pittsfield Congregational Church and commenced his pastorate on October 1, 1911. As in Everett, he began adding new members to the local congregation. Indeed, within three years 27 new members were admitted to the Church.
 
Several important events took place while he served as Pastor. In 1913 extensive repairs were made to the tower, steeple and weather vane. During 1919 the first electric lights were placed in the church. Also that year the Congregational Society of Pittsfield was merged into the incorporated First Congregational Church. For most, if not all, of the church's history the two had been separate entities. New bylaws and confessions of faith were also developed.

During 1920 memorial windows donated by Mrs. Electa Goss, Mrs. Marianna Hudson and Mrs. Adelaide C. Kent were put in place and dedicated. In 1924 Reverend Sweet recommended the use of ushers "to greet and seat any strangers or occasional worshipers among us." Also during that year Laura Mitchell was elected clerk, likely the first woman to hold that post in the church's history.

During his years as Pastor, Reverend Sweet kept a rigorous schedule. In 1920, for example, he officiated at 23 funerals, six weddings, and made 720 calls to church members and the old and ill. He also gave 130 sermons and other religious addresses.

In November of 1927 Reverend Sweet had a stroke and was partially paralyzed. The church paid his salary for the next several months but after a while it apparently became clear that he would not fully recover. He tendered his resignation in February 1928. At that time he was so beloved that he was given the title Pastor Emeritus.

When Reverend Sweet came to Pittsfield he was accompanied by his wife, Jennie E. Johnson, whom he had married August 6, 1884, and his three daughters. They took up residence in the parsonage behind the church that was razed in 1985.

Daughter Harriet May married Pittsfield notable Victor E. Trace and mothered two daughters, the younger being Joan Riel, who began playing the church organ March 1958 and continues to this day, a period of 45 years.

Their second daughter, Elizabeth Judith, married George E. Freese, Sr. and had four sons and a daughter. Three of the sons became stalwarts of the Pittsfield community: George E. Freese, Jr., William S. Freese and Courtland F. H. Freese.

Reverend Sweet's daughter Emma Louise married Harry Cook, a Dartmouth College graduate who taught at Pittsfield Academy where his future bride was a student. At the time he was living in Boston. Years later, in 1939 after the Reverend's passing, these daughters gave the oak doors for the three main entrances to the church in his memory.  In 1978, Louise, as she was called, donated two stained glass windows to the church in memory of her parents.

Almost immediately after coming to the community Reverend Sweet became an important part of the fabric of the Town. He was head of the Boy Scout Movement, and instrumental in organizing the Public Health Nursing Association and the local Chapter Red Cross of which he served as chairperson. He was a life member of Corinthian Lodge, A. F. & A. M., a member of International Order of Odd Fellows, Pleiades Chapter, O. E. S. and the Chamber of Commerce. He was extremely interested in Floral Park Cemetery and served on its Board of Trustees for many years. In 1921, he served as Chairperson of the Sunday Committee for Pittsfield's 150^th Anniversary Celebration.

Reverend Sweet was a member of the West New Hampshire Congregational Club, and served with distinction as moderator of the New Hampshire Congregational Conference.

The Reverend's wife, Jennie, passed away at the early age of 55, on March 8, 1920. Two years later on September 21, 1922 he married Mrs. Carrie Reid of Larchmont, New York, daughter of James L. Prouty and Susan L. Bourche. He lived in Larchmont for a short while and then returned to Pittsfield where he passed away on February 17, 1933 at the age of 69. He is buried in Floral Park Cemetery next to his first wife and daughter Harriet and her husband Victor Trace.

"Farewell Reception," Valley Times, October 6, 1911.

Floral Park Cemetery Records, in the possession of Larry Berkson.

"Has Accepted the Call," Valley Times, June 30, 1911.

Interview with Joan (Trace) Riel, July 26, 2003 and supplementary conversations and letters.

Metcalf, Henry Harrison. One Thousand New Hampshire Notables (Concord: The Rumford Printing Co., 1919), p. 525.

"One Hundred Fifty-Years in the Lord's Service," Valley Times, November 24, 1939.

"One Hundred Twenty-five Years in the Lord's Service," Valley Times, November 20, 1914.

Pittsfield, New Hampshire 150^th Year Celebration Old Home Week 1921  (Penacook: W. B. Raney Co., 1921), p. 5.

Pittsfield Pastor Dies," unnamed, undated obituary in the possession of Joan (Trace) Riel.

Pittsfield Town Report, 1921, p. 86. Pittsfield Town Report, 1923, p. 84. Pittsfield Town Report, 1925, p. 97. Pittsfield Town Report, 1934, p. 78.

Records of the First Congregational Church of Pittsfield, New Hampshire. Book beginning December 13, 1900 and Book beginning October 14, 1919, in the possession of the Congregational Church.

Records of the Congregational Society of Pittsfield, New Hampshire. Book beginning May 6, 1878, in the possession of the Congregational Church.

"Rev. William I. Sweet," Valley Times, February 24, 1933.

"Rev. W. I. Sweet Dies at Home in Pittsfield," unnamed, undated Rochester newspaper obituary in the possession of Joan (Trace) Riel.

Stavros, Arthur G. and Sally G. Pope. The Globe Odyssey: The Story of An American Enterprise (Concord: Orr Pope and Moulton, Inc., 1996), p. 18.

Valley Times, August 15, 1919.

Last revised 02 Apr 2011