stebbins heman (2 resultados)

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts: Regarding the Sacramental Furniture of a Church in Brookfield Hoar, Samuel, [1778-1856], For the Plaintiff. Strong, Lewis, [1785-1863], For the Defendant. Stebbins, Heman, [1791-1838, Plaintiff. Jennings, Calvin, [1793-?], Defendant. Decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, in a Case Relating to the Sacramental Furniture of a Church in Brookfield: With the Entire Arguments of Hon. Samuel Hoar, Jun. for the Plaintiff, and of Hon. Lewis Strong for the Defendant. Boston: Peirce and Parker, 1832. Octavo (9-3/4" x 6"). 48 pp. Original printed stabbed wraps, untrimmed edges. Worn with light foxing and toning to leaves. Internally clean. A good copy in original state. $125. * An historic property dispute in the schism between the Trinitarian and Unitarian factions of the First Church of Brookfield, Massachusetts, over who owned the church's sacramental communion silver. The majority of parish voters chose a Unitarian minister, while the majority of active church communicants held orthodox Trinitarian views and seceded. The seceding Trinitarians took the church's sacramental furniture (silver vessels used for communion) with them, claiming ownership as the true spiritual church. The plaintiff, Deacon Heman Stebbins (1791-1838), represented the remaining Unitarian parish majority. He was represented by Hon. Samuel Hoar, Jr. (1778-1856), who argued that a church cannot legally exist or hold property independent of its officially recognized parish. The defendant, Deacon Calvin Jennings (1793-1873), represented the withdrawing Trinitarians and was defended by Hon. Lewis Strong (1785-1863), who argued that the spiritual body of communicants held property rights independent of secular town voters. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled for the plaintiff. Writing for the court, Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw firmly solidified the landmark "Dedham Rule" precedent (originally established in Baker v. Fales). Shaw's decision decreed that if a church separates from its parish, those who remain with the parish retain all legal rights to the church property and furniture. This decision effectively dispossessed Orthodox majorities across Massachusetts, accelerating the formal separation of church and state via the 1833 amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution.

Lithographed folding map, printed on two sheets joined, period hand-colouring in outline. Inset map of the "Village of Worcester." Ten vignette views of buildings, including churches, schools, the "Antiquarian Hall" (i.e. American Antiquarian Society), town hall, the "Lunatic Hospital" and "House of Corrections." The scarcest and most decorative map of Worcester published in the 19th century. "This 1833 map of the town of Worcester, Massachusetts, was printed by Pendleton's lithography. It is distinctive for its depiction of generalized relief and vegetation on the map and of churches and public buildings in the margins" (Ristow). The detail on the map is quite impressive, with hundreds of individual residences named and the locations of businesses identified. The hand coloured boundaries divide the county into twelve school districts. The printing of the map is exceptional, with the hachuring and views exquisitely rendered on stone by Pendleton's Lithography. Stebbins worked as a lawyer in South Brookfield, Massachusetts but was also a trained surveyor. Following work on this map, he was employed as a Civil Engineer by the Massachusetts Western Railroad. The map is rare, with no copies listed in the auction records. We can locate only the Harvard and University of Massachusetts copies. Ristow, American Maps and Mapmakers, p. 289. Not in Rumsey or Phillips, A List of Maps of America.