History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

240 HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTON. [1753.
onisms engendered by the controversy that ejected the
former minister were more pronounced than aver, and the
ministers shrank from undertaking the task of reconciling
them. Entire unanimity had not prevailed at either call,
and no one knew how soon the scenes of previous years
might be repeated.
Tiie First Precinct The meeting at wliicli Mr. Champion was
Merged ioto the invited to preacli on probation was the last
precinct meeting. In 176Z, Northampton
declared its willingness that the second precinct should
be erected into a separate district, and the next year the
legislature passed the requisite enactment. The name of
Southampton first appears on the town records in that year,
and the first precinct was merged into the township. For
twelve years two precincts had been in existence, and
while all general town business had been transacted in one
town-meeting, everything pertaining to church affairs had
been managed separately by the separate precincts. With
the incorporation of the new district the old system was
revived, and all town business, ecclesiastical as well as sec-
ular, was hereafter transacted at the same meeting.
Mr, Hooker Invited On tlic 17"' of September, 1753, the town
to settle. voted "in concurrence with the church"
to extend a call to Rev. John Hooker. The
vote was unanimous. Mr. Hooker probably preached here
about four months previous to the iuAatation to settle,
though there is no vote to be found requesting him to
]n-each as a candidate. On the 10"' of September he was
paid £19.4, which, according to the sums paid other ministers,
indicates a candidacy of about sixteen Sabbaths. In
all probability he came here in May, a few weeks after the
departure of Mr. Champion. It may well be believed that
it was largely through Mr. Hooker's ministrations that the
long existing disagreements in the community were recon-
ciled, and he had the good fortune to find among the first
fruits of his labors a people cordially united in seeking his
services. The town offered him
••the sxiin of £266.18.4 in tbe present lawful money of the Province
of Massachusetts Bay in New England, to t-nable him to procure a set-
£2U0 whereof to be paid him in the spring of the
tlement in this town ;