Rev. John Chamberlain- By Rev. Frederick L. Wiley
“To be well born is better than to be born rich.” Then, in the town of Loudon, state of New Hampshire, on the 27th of November, in the year of our Lord 1821, John Chamberlain entered into a goodly heritage. His ancestry on both sides reach back through clearly marked lines to the colonial settlers of Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. They bore an honorable record in the affairs of both church and state.
They were mostly sturdy farmers, but among them were representatives of all useful industries and professions. There were college men, doctors, clergymen, lawyers and statesmen. They were very patriotic and were active, both as soldiers and officers in all the historic wars for the establishment and defense of the American nation.
John was the second of seven children born to Dea. John Abbott and Polly Clough Chamberlain. Judge Sylvester Dana, law partner of former president Franklin Pierce, in his memorial of Deacon Chamberlain, spoke of him as: “An honest man in whom there was no guile; an intelligent man of sound judgment, who readily perceived both truth and error; a fearless man who dared sustain the right, however unpopular.” These, with other sterling characteristics, were transmitted to the subject of this sketch and to his children. .
The education which John was able to glean from the district school was supplemented by courses at Pembroke Academy and New Hampton Institution. He was an omnivorous reader, had a tenacious memory and was a close observer of current events. The Free Baptist Church, the church of his parents, the church of his early religious associations, was the church of which he became a member at conversion. A long and severe struggle respecting his duty to preach the Lord’s gospel eventuated in his ordination on July 4, 1858. The services were held in a beautiful grove near the Oak Hill schoolhouse in Northfield (NH) and were witnessed by more than 1,500 people.
The year following his ordination, Mr. Chamberlain traveled, as an evangelist, about 5,000 miles and preached on an average one sermon for each day. Near the close of 1859 he organized a church in Penacook, over which he settled; but when the national war broke out nearly all the male members followed him to the front and the church became extinct. His war record was unique and brilliant. He acted under a special commission from Governor Berry to care for the sick and wounded soldiers of New Hampshire. In this capacity he was not only a great help to disabled soldiers, but saved the state much treasure.
Among the pastorates held by Mr. Chamberlain were those at Penacook, Canterbury, Meredith Center, Meredith Oak Hill, Lisbon, Stark, Lower Gilmanton, West Salisbury, Canterbury Center and Northfield. From 1881 to 1890 he was chaplain of Merrimack County Almshouse where, in addition to general good work, he organized a Sunday School and established a library.
Mr. Chamberlain had, to some extent, a poetic gift and composed several hymns which were copied into popular collections. These he sang with marked effect, notably “The Gospel Train.” He was also gifted in prayer and used these, with other endowments, to profit in his evangelistic work. His sermons were well arranged, copiously illustrated and were generally delivered with much pathos.
His strong individuality made him seem to some a bit eccentric in methods and manners. But he was abundant in good works along all ordinary lines of ministerial effort and he did a work for humanity that but few of his brethren were furnished by nature and grace to accomplish. Exact statistics could not be found among his papers, but it is known that he officiated at a large number of weddings and funerals; that he baptized hundreds of converts and that scores of souls, converted under his evangelistic efforts, were gathered to church membership by other pastors.
With the dawn of January 1, 1893, the liberated soul of John Chamberlain went out from its Northfield home and up to that city “whose builder and maker is God.” After an impressive funeral service at the Northfield church, sustained by the Revs. J. Erskine, Lewis Malvern, Irving W. Coombs and Frederick L. Wiley, and the Masonic fraternity, the remains were borne to Bedford, N. H., for interment.
On the 9th of May, 1848, Mr. Chamberlain was married to Amanda M. Johnson, who bequeathed him three children. Charles Judson is a prosperous citizen of Ponkapog, Mass; Mary C., now Mrs. Henry A. Aldrich, lives at Cambridge, Mass.; and Nellie B., now Mrs. –William W. Darrah, resides at Dedham, Mass. These are all surrounded by happy families of their own. This wife and mother was called to her celestial reward July 22, 1867. Her successor, Irena Bachelder, was inducted into the family by marriage September 29, 1868, and presided over the household till its disruption by death. By a recent marriage she is now Mrs. Charles C. Noyes of Concord.
Editor’s Notes:
John Chamberlain was a 5x great-grandson of John I.