Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/266

 210 THE HISTOEY OF BARELNGTON. congregation. Each particular member singly declaring his mind, it then being put to vote and voted in the affirm- ative by every member." On the following day the offend- ing member appeared before the church, made confession, and was by unanimous vote " declared to be a restored per- son." The greatest disturbance that took place during Mr. Heath's ministry, which resulted in dividing the Church and the town into opposing parties, the effects of which are manifest even in our own times, came out of the re- moval of the meeting-house from its location in the south- east part of the town to its present beautiful site on Bar- rington River. Mr. Heath lived in the north part of the town, in the house now occupied by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. William Carter. Since the building of the first meeting- house, a large number of families had settled north of Princes Hill, and when the matter of building a new house of worship was discussed, the people in the north part of the town urged its removal to that section in order to accommodate a majority of the people. The Bosworths, Adams's, Wat- sons, Smiths, Lows, Martins, Tiffanys, and Reads struggled to keep the house in the old locality, while the Humphreys, the Aliens, the Browns, the Chaffees, the Bicknells, the Richmonds, the Pecks, and the Vialls favored the present site. Mr. Heath's sympathies, and, so far as was politic, his influence favored the new site, but at the outset, he did not take an active part in the discussion. Strong feeling was aroused on both sides of the question and the town was divided into two hostile camps, up-neck and down-neck, with New Meadow Neck divided in the warm debate. Joshua Bicknell offered to the town the lot of land on which the meeting-house stands. This gift helped to decide the matter and in 1737, the meeting-house was pulled down and removed to the new location. Mr. Heath was attending Court at Bristol while the house was being removed, and on his return to Barrington, was taunted by his opponents for allowing the house to be taken down and set up in his ab-