We don't know when our Christian roots were first planted. There is evidence in our history to support the idea that the DeGrasse ancestors in the Nason line were French Hugenots -- saints of the Lord Jesus Christ. True or not, we are sure of one thing: those of us who have been adopted into the family of God were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. He knew us before the world began. Our roots grow deep -- from before the beginning of time. What can we say about such grace, such love! We are inadequate to understand our Christian roots, and we are unable to thank Him enough for we are "unworthy of the LEAST of His favor".
My mother's grandfather George Wilmot (Bill) Nason and my grandfather Clifford Burpee Cain were best of friends. Both lived in Monticello, Maine in the early years of the 20th Century. Bill was a farmer and woodsman. Cliff was a minister of the Gospel. Both were Christians.
Mom said that Grammie Muriel told of her father (Bill) that when he became a Christian he immediately began to have family devotions in the home. He gathered his wife Jessie (Murphy) and his ten children in a circle and began to read to them, starting in the Book of Revelation. Grammie Muriel said her little siblings were frightened at some of the things being read to them. We wonder why -- instead of starting with creation or the life of Christ -- he began his family readings in what may be the most difficult book in the Bible to understand. But we appreciate so very much his resolve to share the Word with his family. What an example to emulate!
Cliff Cain studied at Providence Bible Institute in Rhode Island. This school was later known as Providence Barrington Bible College and finally as Barrington College. When the college closed its doors in the 1980s, its extensive collection of Bibles was donated to the library at Pensacola Christian College, where Valerie and Kevin earned their degrees. Grampie Clifford was ordained to the ministry in 1917 at the West Road Primitive Baptist Church (interior is pictured above) and in 1918 when my father was only 2 years old, he died of tuberculosis of the spine.
Much of the friendship between Bill and Cliff centered around fellowship and ministry at the Lake Road Church, a sister Church to the West Road. West Road was the home Church of Clifford and Catherine (Grammie Kitt Miller) Cain. Lake Road was the home Church of the Nason clan: Bill's family and his father David's family. It was also the home Church of the Andrew Murphy family -- Grammie Jessie's family. The congregations met together for quarterly meetings with other Primitive Baptist Churches in New Brunswick. Those were great times of fellowship.
The Nason family, the Murphy family, and other neighbors on and near the Lake Road met in the school house for several years. But it was a mission in the hearts of our forebears to have a Church meeting house of their own. Bill and David cut wood and Bill milled it for constructing the building, which was completed around the year 1916. My mother's great grandfather David purchased the steeple bell (which Grampie Wayne and I rang at our wedding). Mom believes that her great grandfather lived to be 90 years old and after his funeral the bell was tolled once for every year of his life. She said people in Monticello village, a few miles away claimed that they could hear the bell. Grammie Jessie (Murphy) Nason's dad purchased the beautiful pulpit, which is still in use today. Jessie sewed the first pulpit curtains that hung between the pulpit and posts on either side of it. Grammie Muriel, just a teenage, walked all over Monticello soliciting gifts to pay for the reed organ. I remember my mother playing that organ when I was young. Brother Clifford would sit on her lap with is little hands on the backs of her hands and "help" her play for the services. This is the organ that I started playing for Church services when I was only ten. A child had to work very hard to pump the old organ in order to get a smooth flow of music from it. It was hard work, but the music was beautiful.
It must have been a time of great rejoicing when the Church was opened for Sunday School and worship. Circuit riding ministers from New Brunswick traveled to Lake Road to preach, as did Clifford Cain and another preacher Hartt from Monticello. When there was no guest minister, Bill Nason would take his Bible and mount the steps to the pulpit. There he would read to the people. He was poorly educated and unable to read very well. Whenever he stumbled over a word someone in the congregation would prompt him. As he read the Word and taught the people, Bill Nason became a proficient reader.
Mom wishes she knew more about our Grandfather Clifford -- my Dad's father. The most precious treasure we have from him is the fact that he set aside one night of every week to pray for the generations that would follow him. We believe that we see answers to his prayers in our own lives and in the lives of all his descendents who have trusted in Christ as Savior over the years.
As I said before, God called him home at the age of 42. Known as a man of prayer even by people I met during my teen years, he left us an example for us to follow. We also must be people of prayer! Grammie Kitt was with him when he died. She said that as he lay dying, she heard a voice, "Clifford, are you coming?" He raised his hand, answered in the affirmative and passed into the presence of Jesus, which is "far better".
I knew Grampie Bill. We had his kitchen table in our kitchen when I was growing up. I liked him a lot. He died of cancer when I was a child and I remember when the call came from Bangor telling my grandmother of his passing. Of course, I never knew Grampie Cliff. I look forward to meeting him. I look forward to thanking him for praying for ME, for my husband, for my children, and for so many others.
As I said, we are very wealthy people!
Note: pictured in the pews nearest are Bethany and Christopher Sykes with Kyle and Timothy Harmon. Behind them you can see me (Brenda) and Wayne Buza. In the next row is Zachary Cain (the second Clifford's son).
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