The Association is one of the regional associations in the western part of the state that make up the Massachusetts Conference. Prior to the existence of Franklin County, the Orthodox Congregational Ministers in the several towns that now constitute Franklin County belonged to the Hampshire Ministerial Association. In 1813, after the county of Franklin was organized and incorporated, the group changed its title to the Franklin Association. Before county incorporation, individual groups included the Northern Association of Hampshire County and the North Western Association of Hampshire County. As of 1999, there were twenty-one incorporated towns represented by the Franklin Association (of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ). They are as follows: Ashfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Conway, Deerfield, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Hawley, Leverett, Montague, New Salem, Northfield, Orange, Shelburne, Shelburne Falls, Sunderland, Warwick, Wendell, and Whately. Source: Rev. Theophilus Packard, Jr. A History of the Churches and Ministers, and of Franklin Association, in Franklin County, Mass. and an Appendix Respecting the County. Boston: S.K. Whipple and Company, 1854.