The Andover Ministerial Association had no early written records, according to C.C. Carpenter’s historical sketch written in 1913. The books referenced by Carpenter in the sketch are not part of this collection, so this cannot be verified. He noted, though, that the first meetings were hosted by Wilmington minister Isaac Morrill in 1763. Members came from Woburn, Middleton, North Reading, Billerica, Andover, Chelmsford, and Bedford. By 1797 the group had evolved enough to establish its name as Andover, the group’s then-geographical center. The Andover Conference was founded in 1859 by the ministers of Lowell, Lawrence, and Andover. It was one of the last conferences established in Massachusetts. The Civil War monopolized the Conference’s early work. Once the war was over, they took up new causes including temperance, Sunday observance, the labor movement and foreign missions.