Dear Church,

I returned from sabbatical after last month’s Church Matters deadline, so I would like to take this opportunity to share some chronological highlights from my time away and to express my heartfelt thanks.

Lacrosse

From April to June, I had the pleasure of being the Assistant Coach of the girls’ lacrosse team at MUMS. Having led this team for several years, it was lovely (and lighter) to serve in a supporting role. It was a joy to coach Rachael and her teammates, six of whom are now in our Senior High Youth Group! Over the years, coaching has allowed me to get to know many youth and families from the wider community. I value these connections.

8-day Silent Retreat

At the end of May, I made an 8-day silent retreat at Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, MA. While the prospect of me being quiet for a week straight would not have been something my mother could have imagined when I was young, I have been—and was again—profoundly nourished by my experience at Eastern Point. I plan to return there for another sip of silent prayer at the end of this month. Here’s a link to EPRH, if you’re interested in learning more: https://www.easternpoint.org

Book Project

From July 2020 to June 2021, Andi Lloyd and I exchanged letters that brought ecology and theology into conversation around climate change. The spaciousness of “sabbatical time” allowed me to do my part in completing the manuscript. Andi and I are currently searching for a publisher for 24 Letters: A Pastor, An Ecologist, and a Year.

Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) 

In June, I began my studies at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. The school’s Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program is comprised of several cohorts; I’m enrolled in one called Creative Writing and Public Theology. The three-year program started with a week-long intensive course, Faith and Place in Public Theology. My second course, a two-month exploration of the craft of memoir, will end in early October. I am reading and writing a lot—and loving it. The quality of my classmates’ work continues to inspire me.

Family Time

While this was a “working sabbatical,” I enjoyed the gift of time with family throughout these four months. Our family spent time on the Outer Banks in North Carolina, including a week with my parents, siblings, and their families. And my younger brother, Tim, and I had a blast hiking in the White Mountains. After so many COVID-related deferments, it was a special kind of blessing to spend time with the ones I love most.

I am deeply grateful for this time away, and I want to express heartfelt thanks to Pastor Elizabeth for her excellent leadership, and to James Calvin Davis, Steve Jewett, Larry Jones, and Mark Orten for their invaluable contributions during that time. I want to thank you, church, for your financial and prayerful support of my sabbatical.

For the gift of this time apart, and for the delight of being back among you, I thank God.

Grace and Peace,

Andy

Rev. Adelbert Franklin Keith served the Congregational Church of Middlebury during the time period 1888 to 1890. He came to Middlebury in June 1888 from a pastorate in Providence, RI. Rev. Keith was signed to a two-year contract in hopes that he would become the settled pastor afterward. This did not work out, and in November 1890 he resigned due to poor health and returned to the business world.

The biography Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts by J.H. Beers & Co. gave an excellent summary of the life of Rev. Keith:

… eldest son of the late Franklin and Betsey (Bailey) Keith, was born Aug. 2, 1841, in North Bridgewater (now Brockton), Mass., under his grandfather Keith's roof, at the corner of Main and Plain streets. His early educational training was acquired in attendance at the common schools of his neighborhood, and by diligence in his studies he became a good scholar. At an early age he was strongly inclined to prepare himself for the ministry, but deciding otherwise for the time, he became bookkeeper for Martin L. Keith & Co., then one of the leading shoe manufacturing concerns of the community, and he continued in that capacity until 1862, when he procured a clerkship in the war department at Washington, D. C., which position he held until 1864. He then returned to Campello [village within Brockton] and commenced the manufacture of shoes in partnership with his father, this partnership continuing for about three years, until 1867. Strong convictions of duty still following him, he entered the Theological Seminary at Hartford, Conn., where he prepared himself for the ministry, and from which he was graduated in 1870. He then married, and accepting a call from the Congregational Church at Windham, Conn., he was ordained Oct. 26, 1870. Here he continued to preach with great acceptance to his people until 1874, when he requested and was granted dismission. He was then invited to become pastor of the Congregational Church at Danielsonnville, Conn., accepted and preached to this people for a period of three years. He then accepted the call extended to him by the North Congregational Church at Providence, R. I., in 1877; this society at that time being a feeble one, the outgrowth of a mission, it afforded its pastor a welcome field for the work which he loved and for which he was so well fitted. How faithful these labors were is witnessed by the growth from feeble beginnings to its present sturdy proportions, and by the erection of a beautiful and commodious church. Owing to impaired health, and with a feeling that "the world was the true field," Rev. Mr. Keith asked for his release from this pastorate in 1884, which was granted, and he then accepted an invitation to preach at Middlebury, Vt., remaining there for a period of about three years. On account of continued ill health and throat trouble, he then retired from the ministry, and returning to Campello accepted a clerical position with the George E. Keith Company, in which capacity he remained for about four and a half years, when he went to California in hopes of regaining his broken health, and there he resided for about two years, until his death, which occurred Nov. 29, 1897, at Corona, California.

Rev. Adelbert Franklin Keith is the eighth generation of the Rev. James

Keith family to settle in North Bridgewater (now Brockton), Plymouth MA: Adelbert Franklin⁸ (Franklin⁷, Cpt. Ziba⁶, Benjamin⁵, Levi⁴, Timothy³, Timothy², Rev. James¹)

• Rev. James¹ Keith was born in 1644 and educated at Aberdeen, Scotland, where he was graduated, likely from Marischal College, his name appearing on the roll in 1657, said college having been founded by George, the fifth Earl of Keith Marischal, in 1593. At age 18, he emigrated to the Colonies, arriving in Boston in 1662. He was introduced to the church at Bridgewater by Dr. Increase Mather, whom he always esteemed as his patron and best friend.

• Adelbert Franklin⁸ Keith married Eliza Gillette Baker on 22 Jun 1870 in CT. The parents of Adelbert were Franklin⁷ Keith (born Brockton, MA) and Betsey Bailey (born Sidney, ME); the parents of Eliza were William M. Baker (born Windsor, CT) and Frances B.  Gillett (born Torringford, CT). Eliza’s father was for many years a general ticket agent of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company. Adelbert and Eliza most likely lived their Middlebury years in the church parsonage. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Keith made her home in Campello (small village within Brockton, MA). Both Adelbert and Eliza were buried in Union Cemetery in Brockton, MA.

• Adelbert Franklin Keith   born 2 Aug 1841 Brockton, MA   died 29 Nov 1897 Corona, CA

• Eliza Gillette Baker      born Nov 1842 CT         died 1 Jan 1931 Brockton, MA

Adelbert and Eliza had three children:

1. Fannie Baker Keith was born 4 Nov 1873 in CT and died 14 Nov 1877 in RI
2. Edward Adelbert Keith was born 1 Sept 1876 in Danielson CT and died 26 Dec 1950 in New England Baptist Hospital in  Boston. He married on 5 Oct 1904 Grace Eudora Coggins {born 28 Jan 1877 and died 24 Sept 1967). Edward’s occupation was tied into the shoe business of George T. Keith in Brockton. 
3.  Esther Frances Keith was born 11 Jun 1881 in Providence RI and died 7 Dec 1971 in Brockton MA. She completed four years of schooling and never married. There is no occupation given for Esther in any of the decennial census records.

Next month we will present the biography of Rev. George Nelson Webber, Acting Pastor, who decided to move on in less than two years, for health reasons.

Mal Chase, Historian