[p. 107] and ninety pounds afterward. He was ordained Sept. 14, 1774, making a statement of his belief before the ecclesiastical council called from neighboring churches to ordain him. Three of the six opponents called upon him the morning after his ordination and said to him: ‘We opposed the giving you a call, and we opposed your ordination; we did this from our deepest convictions of duty to Christ and his church; but as we have failed in all our efforts, and you are now to begin your ministry among us, we have come to tell you that our opposition ceases, and that you will find us constant attendants on your ministrations, and ready to aid you in your holy work.’ Fortunately it is possible to describe Dr. Osgood by means of his contemporaries and friends. Miss Lucy Osgood wrote of her father, May 6, 1848:
My father was born in Andover, October, 1747. I do not remember the day of the month, as he was never in the habit of observing anniversaries. His father, Mr. Isaac Osgood, a sensible, pious farmer, lived in the southwestern part of the town near the borders of Tewksbury, upon a farm originally purchased, I believe, by his grandfather. The picture of the ancient house is contained in the memoir of the patriot James Otis, who was boarding in my grandfather's family when a flash of lightning killed him in the doorway, partial insanity having caused his friends to seek the retirement of a country residence for him. My father was the eldest of four sons. After laboring on the farm until his nineteenth year he begged that he might receive his portion in a liberal education, the work of the ministry being the object of his highest ambition. Upon a Saturday evening, as he has often told us, he at length won his father's reluctant consent to his proposal, and at break of day on the following Monday morning he walked three or four miles in pursuit of a young schoolmaster with whom he was slightly acquainted, that he might consult him in regard to the books which it would be
