XXI.
The Ministers' Pay.
The salaries of New England clergymen were not large in early days, but the
L60 or L70 which they each were yearly voted was quite enough to suitably
support them in that new country of plain ways and plain living, if they
only received it, which was, alas! not always the case. The First Court of
Massachusetts, in 1630, set the amount of the minister's annual stipend
to be L20 or L30 according to the wealth of the community, and made it a
public charge. In 1659 the highest salary paid in Suffolk County was L100
to Mr. Thatcher, and the lowest was L40 to the clergyman at Hull. The
minister of the Andover church was voted a salary of L60, and "when he
shall have occacion to marry, L10 more." He was very glad, however, to take
L42 in hard cash instead of L60 in corn and labor, which were at that time
the most popular forms of ministerial remuneration; even though the "hard
cash" were in the form of wampum, beaver-skins, or leaden bullets.
Many congregations, though the members were so pious and godly, were pretty
sharp in bargaining with their preachers; for instance, the church in New
London made its new parson sign a contract that "in case he remove before
the year is out, he returneth the L80 paid him." Often clergymen would
"supply" (or "Sipploye," or "syploy" or "sipply," or "sciploy," as various
records have it) from month to mouth without "settling.
Pages:
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290