Do you know what was going on 100 years ago?  You may remember that women received the right to vote when the 19th Amendment was approved in 1920.  The following year, President Harding signed a Congressional resolution declaring peace with Germany, Austria and Hungary following World War I. In July 1924, John Scopes was convicted of teaching Darwin’s evolution theory at a high school in Tennessee and fined $100. And here in Brunswick, Maine, in 1925, Rev. Thompson Eldridge Ashby, was beginning his 8th year of 35 as pastor at First Parish Church.  Our archive articles and display in the sanctuary for January and February provide information about Rev. Ashby’s significant contributions to our church.  As usual, church bulletins from 50 and 100 years ago are also included.

Rev. Ashby was born in Franklin, Nebraska on March 12, 1883.  In 1901, at age 17, he left home to begin preaching for a group of churches in Southwest Nebraska. In a newspaper article, Ashby stated, “he established headquarters at Stratton, Nebraska, in the southwestern part of the state and assumed responsibility for eight churches or as he expressed it “to try to hold them together.”  

The total distance between the churches was 65 miles and his travelling was done by horse and buggy. At the time, he admitted that he had not planned to become a preacher, but simply needed to earn money to attend college. But, God had other plans for this caring and capable young man. A 1908 graduate from the University of Denver where he was a football star, he continued his preaching during his college years and upon graduating, he became pastor of the First Methodist Church of Johnstown, Colorado.  Next, he served in a chapel in East Melrose, MA, and later was ordained in the Linden Congregational Church of Malden, MA, in 1912.  He graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor in Sacred Theology in 1914 and the following year received the Master of Arts degree from the University of Denver. In 1915,  he became pastor of the Central Congregational Church of Chelsea, MA, before coming to Brunswick in 1917.

In November 1908, Ashby married Harriet Worley, born in Kiukiang, China, to American Methodist missionaries who returned to Nebraska when Harriet was three years old. Rev. Ashby and Harriet had a daughter, Judy, years later when they were living in Brunswick.  While pastor of our church, Rev. Ashby was also active in civic affairs as a member of the Brunswick Rotary Club, the Town and College Club, and the United Lodge F. & A.M.  He served a term as president of the Congregational State Conference and was president of the Pejepscot Historical Society for several years.  

According to the January 11th annual meeting in 1925, a leave of absence was granted to Rev. Ashby during February and March and the first Sunday in April to “enable him to take a trip to Mediterranean countries, principally Palestine and Egypt.”  His personal hobbies were history and stamp collecting.  He specialized in stamps from the countries where he had visited: England, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Algeria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.  His interests were often directed toward outdoor sports.  In 1930, Bowdoin College conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity: “Liberal in spirit, scholarly in habit, kindly and human pastor, excellent preacher, fittingly honored today by the College which for more than a century and a quarter has had the closest and friendliest relations with his Church.”

“A minister who was a member of his ordaining council said of him: “If he can preach as well as he can meet a council, he is destined to become one of our more prominent men.”  Another member of the council wrote of his “views in theology (as) modern but his spirit and outlook evangelical.” His years at Brunswick have borne eloquent witness to this discerning comment.”

As an involved community member, there is evidence of his significant contributions to our greater community as someone who cared much about people and the kind of welcoming and supportive community in which people lived.  

With a love for history and a devotion to our church, Ashby created index cards filled with pertinent information on each member of the church.  Cards were numbered according to their church membership and contained biographical information about each individual along with family information.  This is the type of information that is shared when an individual contacts the church inquiring about some genealogical information on a family member from this time period.  Below is an example of one of the cards:

Remembered for writing our first church history,  Rev. Ashby spent months researching and writing this significant record about our church and Brunswick.  This information was first shared with our congregation in short installments by topic in our weekly church newsletters from 1935 – 1945. The history covers 200 years from 1717 until 1917.  Louise R. Helmreich, a dedicated church member and an editor, re-created these installments and made it into a narrative that became a historical volume of over 400 pages. In 1969, Rev. Ashby’s daughter, Judy,  and husband approved the publication of Ashby’s history as a book, History of The First Parish Church in Brunswick, Maine, that sold for $5.50 with all funds going to the Renovation Fund.

So, what was First Parish Church like in 2025?  Here is a snapshot from the Church Council Report shared at the Annual Meeting on January 7, 2025:

(Click the arrows to scroll. You can also click on the images to see an enlarged version)

Below is a letter to church members in 1925 that includes a summary of work completed, the upcoming budget and information on benevolences.

(Click the arrows to scroll. You can also click on the images to see an enlarged version)

CHURCH BULLETINS:

After reading each church bulletin for the month, I select one that might be of most interest to our readers.  Below are the church bulletins from January, 1925 and from January, 1975.

100-year-old Church Bulletin from January 18, 1925:

(Click the arrows to scroll. You can also click on the images to see an enlarged version)

50-year-old Church Bulletin from January 12, 1975:

(Click the arrows to scroll. You can also click on the images to see an enlarged version)

May 2025 bless you and your family in special ways.