Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1885 — OLD-TIME MINISTERS’ SALARIES. [ARTICLE]

OLD-TIME MINISTERS’ SALARIES.

Tobacco, Grain, and Flour in Place of Money. In early times the minister received his salary in tobacco, grain, and flour. In Maryland a box of forty pounds of tobacco was levied upon every taxable inhabitant for this purpose. This tax was collected by the sheriff, and 4 per cent, was paid to him for his services. This amount was still further reduced by the payment to the parish clerk of 1,000 pounds of .tobacco per annum. By the laws of Virginia, every clergyman received annually 1,500 pounds of tobacco and sixteen barrels of flour. The Justice of the Peace in Vermont ordered the collector of taxes to. take wheat at 5 shillings, rye at 4 and Indian corn at 3 shillings per bushel, and to pay into the treasury for the Rev. Dr. Brainard’s salary, and if any refuse to pay, their goods were to be taken, and if the goods cotild hot be taken the person was to be imprisoned until the debt and the collector’s fees were paid. When the Rev. James Martin went to Piney Creek Church, Pennsylvania, the support promised was 400 bushels of wheat per year, or the current price thereof in money, and as much more as the circumstances of the congregation would admit. When the will of W illiam Marshall was openedit was found that hahad left three heifers to the parish, “that the milk and their increa-e should be the maintenance of the minister.” At one time the teacher and the rul- ■ ing elder divided the income of the congregation with the minister. The minutes of a congregation of the olden time read as follows: “And of the contributions Mr. Mayo (pastor), 20 shillings, and Mr. Powell {elder), 15 shillings, provided the contributions hold out,, and if they abate, each one of the above' said to abate according to proportion; and if the contribution super abound, the overplus to be kept till occasion call for it, and then to be disposed of by the church’s order.” The size of the minister’s family was regarded in other days, for we find that the Rev. Mr. Higginson was to have £lO more than the other ministers because he had eight children. ” The salary of Carey was £l6. Even after he resorted to shoemaking and teaching to supplement it, his family were in great want. The people had also a high regard for the promises They made to their minister. Here is yrhat was said by a congregation in reference to their aged pastor: “Although ,he may fail, and in a few i years be unfit to undergo all. the fatigues of his ministerial labors, yet, notwithstanding, we are willing to adhere to and abide by him as our pastor, without diminishing aught of his ordinary provision, judging it right to par-, ticipate and bear with his age and infirmities, seeing we have enjoyed his youth and vigor.” Forty years after a minister had ceased to serve a congregation, it was found by the records that they had not paid him in full when he retired from his work. Although that church had greatly changed by deaths and removals for forty years, yet the people felt their obligation to pay this debt, and did so, with the interest, which amounted to very much more than the original sum.— Rev. Robert H. Williams, in New York Observer.