REV. ASA RAND OF PETERBOROUGH, N. Y.
Asa Rand was born at Rindge, N. H., August 6, 1783, being the youngest son and ninth child of Col. Daniel and Mrs. Susanna Rand. Daniel Rand was the eldest son of Solomon Rand, of Shrewsbury, Ms., who married a daughter of the Rev. Mr. Dodge of Abington, Ms. Solomon's father also resided in Shrewsbury, and married a daughter of Capt. Keyes of that place; who, in the early settlement of the town, lost his unfinished house by fire, when his two sons, a hired man, and a journeyman joiner perished in the flames. Mrs. Susanna Rand was the only daughter of Daniel Hemmenway, also of Shrewsbury. Col. Rand was one of the early settlers of the town of Rindge, where he ever resided after his marriage, in 1767. He died in 1811, aged 69. The ancestors of both the parents of the subject of this Sketch, it is believed, were emigrants from England; but their genealogy we can trace no farther back with certainty.
After enjoying the usual advantages of a common school, Mr. Rand prepared for college principally at Chesterfield Academy, New Hampshire, under the instruction of Hon. Levi Jackson. He entered the Sophomore Class in September, 1803, and was graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1806. After leaving college, he taught the children of the Hon. Elijah Paine and a few others, at Williamstown, Vt., about nine months; studied theology with Rev. Dr. Burton of Thetford, seven months; and in January, 1808, received the approbation of an association as a preacher of the gospel.
He preached several months in 1808 to the Congregational church and society in Gorham, Me., which were in a state of serious and alarming division. Having received a unanimous invitation from both, he was ordained their minister Jan. 18, 1809; where he was favored with a prosperous and happy ministry during thirteen years. His health, however, was precarious for the greater part of that time, and in June, 1822, he resigned the charge of an affectionate and united people to a successor, believing that his work as a public speaker was done.
In August, 1822, he took the editorial charge of the Christian Mirror, on its first establishment at Portland, Me., Mr. Arthur Shirley being proprietor and publisher. In July, 1825, finding his health still suffering on the sea-coast, he removed to the interior of Massachusetts, and took charge of the new Female Seminary at Brookfield.
In July, 1826, he succeeded Gerard Hallock, as co-editor and co-proprietor with Nathaniel Willis, of the Boston Recorder; Dea. Willis having the charge of the printing and publishing, and Mr. Rand of the editorial department. He was also acting-editor of the Youth's Companion and Education Reporter, published by the same company; each being the earliest paper of its kind established in the country. On leaving the Recorder, in 1831, Mr. Rand continued the Reporter till it was transferred to William C. Woodbridge and united with the Annals of Education. He was also publisher and principal conductor of the Volunteer, a monthly religious magazine; which, at the end of two years, was united with the Evangelical Magazine, at Hartford, Ct.
In April, 1833, Mr. Rand removed to Lowell; where he had a connection with a bookstore and printing office, and the publication of the Lowell Observer, a weekly religious paper, which was subsequently transferred to Mr. Porter, publisher of the N. E. Spectator at Boston.
On the restoration of his health, he returned in 1835 to his chosen employment of public preaching. He lectured in the employment of anti-slavery societies in Cumberland county, Maine, and the counties of Hampshire and Hampden, Massachusetts. From September, 1837, he ministered to the Congregational church in Pompey, N. Y., five years; and is now preaching to the Presbyterian church in Peterboro, Madison Co., N. Y.
Mr. Rand was married in November, 1812, to Grata Payson, eldest daughter of Rev. Seth Payson, D. D., of Rindge; who died suddenly at Gorham, April 29, 1818. Feb. 8, 1820, he was married to Clarissa Thorndike, daughter of Nicholas Thorndike, Esq., of Beverly, Ms.; who died at Portland, July 7, 1825. July 6, 1826, he married Mary Coolidge, widow of Elisha Coolidge, merchant, of Boston, and daughter of Rev. John Cushing, D. D., of Ashburnham, Ms. His third wife is still living; also her only son by her first husband, Elisha T. Coolidge, of Cincinnati, O.
The children of Mr. Rand's first wife were three; namely, a son, who died on the day of his birth; Harriet Newell, who united with the church in Lowell, was principal of the female department in Pompey Academy several years, became, in January, 1841, the second wife of Rev. Russell S. Cook, one of the Secretaries of the Am. Tract Society at New York, and died suddenly in February, 1843; William Wilberforce, who was educated at the Public Latin School in Boston, Bowdoin College, and Bangor Theological Seminary. He was four years pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church at Canastota, Madison Co., N. Y., and is now preaching in Maine. He married Marcia S. Dunning, of Brunswick, Me.; of whom, with her two children, it has pleased God to bereave him.
By his second wife Mr. Rand had also three children, who are all living. Thorndike is a clerk in the Suffolk bank, Boston, and married Hannah P. Nourse of Beverly. Charles Asa is clerk in a bookstore at St. Louis, Mo. Anna Thorndike is the wife of John F. Nourse, Principal of Beverly Academy.
While Mr. Rand resided at Gorham, a quarterly religious Magazine was published at Portland, of which David Thurston, Edward Payson, Asa Rand, and Francis Brown were joint conductors. In the "day of small things" among the churches of Maine, it did good. It was published five years, from 1814 to 1818, inclusive.
The publications of Mr. Rand are, a Sermon to Children; a Sermon at the Ordination of Rev. Francis Brown at North Yarmouth, Jan. 11, 1810; a Sermon before the Maine Missionary Society, 1815; two Sermons on Christian Fellowship; "A Word in Season in behalf of the Holy Scriptures," (reviewing Quaker principles;) a pamphlet on the Controversies in the First Church of North Yarmouth; a volume entitled "Familiar Sermons"; a review of Finney's Sermon on making a New Heart, entitled "New Divinity tried"; a "Vindication of the same, in reply to Rev. Dr. Wisner"; and a "Letter to Rev. Dr. Beecher, in relation to his ministerial course in Boston."