No. 7379 Scan of photo of Rev. James H. Means in Puritan Heritage: A Brief History of Second Church in Dorchester. (1955)
The works of James Howard Means include:
Life and Death in Christ. (1857)
An Historical Discourse on Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Gathering of the Second Church, Dorchester, Delivered January 3, 1858. By Rev. James Howard Means, Pastor of the Second Church. (1858)
Sermon Preached in the Second Church, Dorchester, after the Death of Lieutenant William R. Porter. (1862)
Sermons Preached in the Second Church, Dorchester. (1865)
Dorchester, Past and Present : a sermon preached in the Second Church, Dorchester, December 26, 1869. (1870)
Sermon and addresses commemorative of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ordination of Rev. James H. Means as pastor of the Second Church, Dorchester, July 13th and 14th, 1873. (1873)
An Historical discourse on occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the gathering of the Second Church, Dorchester. Delivered January 6, 1878. (1878)
Rev. James H. Means, D.D., became the second minister of Second Church, a wish of Dr. Codman’s that his student assistant take his place when he died. Dr. Means had a 30 year ministry during which time the Civil War in this country took place.
The following is from The New England Historical and Genealogical register, volume 48
James Howard Means, A.M., D.D., of Dorchester, was born in Boston, December 13, 1823, and died in Dorchester, Massachusetts, April 13, 1894. He was elected a resident member of this Society March 5, 1856, and became a life member in 1867. Only twenty-four of the present members of the Society have been connected with it as long as Dr. Means.
His father James Means was a well known Boston merchant of the last generation. His mother was Joanna Howard. He was prepared for college at the Boston Latin School, entered Harvard College at the age of sixteen, and was graduated in 1843. He pursued his professional studies at Andover Theological Seminary, and was graduated in 1847. One who knew him well in early life has written: “His early education afforded everything that could be desired in the way of home influence and culture. His training at school, collage and seminary gave him a thorough equipment for his work.” The seminary at Andover was at that time at the zenith of its fame as a school of divinity. Professors Stuart, Woods, Park, Phelps and Edwards were its teachers, and the students prosecuted their studies with enthusiasm under their direction.
Mr. Means was licensed to preach by the Suffolk North Association in April, 1847. He began his ministry as an assistant of Rev. Dr. Codman, in the Second Church of Dorchester. Dr. Codman had been at that time the pastor of that church thirty-nine years. He died the next year, and Mr. Means was at once chosen as his successor; and was ordained July 13, 1848. He continued the pastor of that church for thirty years, retiring from active service in 187, at the age of fifty-five, on account of impaired health. He continued to reside in Dorchester, with his people, to the time of his death, suffering much of the tie from general debility, which finally assumed the form of gradual paralysis.
It is not easy for those who have known Dr. Means only since his retirement from public life as a clergyman, to realize how large a place he filled in this community a quarter of a century ago. He was the pastor of a large and prominent church for the period of a generation; an eloquent and attractive preacher; a man of literary tastes and accomplishments; a gentleman of elegant manners, and a happy adaptation to every call of social or public life. He was put forward as a representative man, by his denomination,, on great public occasions. He was connected with most of the benevolent and religious societies in which they were intrusted. He was wise in counsel, as he was eloquent in speech. He had decided opinions, and was strong in his advocacy of important truths and doctrines. He was one of the best representatives of a New England minister of the Puritan faith and polity, with the best culture of the middle period of this century.
Dr. Means was contributor to the best literary and theological journals. Some of his articles have had a permanent influence upon the men of his time. He was also a careful student of New England history. One of the historical articles from is pen was delivered at the Seventieth Anniversary of his Church in 1878, and was published with the proceedings of that anniversary. A volume of Sermons, which he published in 1865, gives a good illustration “of the substance and method of his preaching.”
Dr. Means was for many years a trustee of the Perkins Institution for the Blind; secretary of the Boston City Missionary Society; president of the trustees of Armenia College in Turkey, and of the trustees of Bradford Academy, Mass; and a corporate of the American Board. Williams College conferred o him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1874.
He married, June 6, 1849, Charlotte Abigail Johnson of Boston , who died October 28, 1893. Four children survive them, two of whom, J. Means and C. J. Means, are in Boston; a third, F.H. Means, is pastor of a church in Windham, Connecticut; and a daughter, Miss Marion B. Means.
The home of Dr. Means has been for many years “in the spacious elm-shadowed mansion, built in the old Colonial style, which stands back fro the street, only two doors from his church.” A memorial volume is expected from the press, which will contain, with other matter, a number of memorial addresses which were read at a commemorative service held in the Second Church in Dorchester, a few weeks after his death.