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New England's Hidden Histories.

 Subject
Subject Source: Local sources

Found in 71 Collections and/or Records:

Haverhill, Mass. First Congregational Church records, 1719-2011.

 Collection
Identifier: RG5027
Abstract Haverhill was first settled by Puritans in 1640. Rev. John Ward was officially installed as the pastor of the First Parish in 1645 and the first meeting house was constructed in 1648. The second meeting house was completed in 1699 and the third was completed in 1766. In 1833 the First Parish became Unitarian and the Congregationalist dissenters formed the Independent Congregational Church and Society which was later renamed to the Centre Congregational Church and Society. In 1859 a large...
Dates: 1719-2011

Haverhill, Mass. West Congregational Church records, 1734-1900.

 Collection
Identifier: RG5067
Abstract When the western part of Haverhill became too populous for one church in 1734, the West Parish of Haverhill was established by a petition to the General Court of Massachusetts, and the church, initially known as the Third Church, was itself established in 1735. In the first half of the 19th century, the governance of the parish was controversially distributed between multiple denominations, but in 1852 it was relinquished again to the Congregationalists. This collection contains the earliest...
Dates: 1734-1900

Hopkinton, Mass. First Congregational Church records, 1722-1911.

 Collection
Identifier: RG5193
Abstract The First Congregational Church in Hopkinton was organized in 1724, shortly after the establishment of the town of Hopkinton by Harvard College, who had purchased the land from a local community of "praying Indians". Five versions of the meeting house have existed, two of which were destroyed, first by fire in 1882 and then by a hurricane in 1939. In September 2011 the name of the church was officially changed to Faith Community Church. This collection includes the earliest records of the...
Dates: 1722-1911

Ipswich, Mass. First Church records, 1724-1898.

 Collection
Identifier: RG5288
Abstract Ipswich, Massachusetts, first known as Agawam, was settled by John Winthrop in 1633 and was incorporated the following year. The First Church in Ipswich was gathered on August 5, 1634, and the first meeting house was constructed the same year. Construction on the second meeting house was completed in 1647. In 1699 the third meeting house of the First Church was built on the north green. Members left to form new churches in 1681, 1714, 1747, and 1749. In 1749...
Dates: 1724-1898

Ipswich, Mass. South Church records, 1747-1868.

 Collection
Identifier: RG5298
Abstract The South Church in Ipswich, Massachusetts, was formally gathered in 1747 following ministerial angst between Ipswich's two ministers and a petition by parishioners in southern Ipswich who felt traveling to the First Church was too difficult. The first meeting house was completed in 1748 and construction on the second meeting house was completed in 1838. In 1922 the South Church rejoined the First Church to become the First and South Congregational Church. The South Church records document...
Dates: Majority of material found within 1747-1868

John Davenport sermon book, 1649-1652.

 Collection
Identifier: MS5374
Abstract

John Davenport was born on April 9, 1597 to a wealthy family in England. After becoming an associate of John Preston, Davenport joined the Puritan movement. In 1637 he acquired a patent for a colony in Massachusetts and in 1638 he co-founded the colony of New Haven. In 1668 Davenport became the minister at the First Church in Boston. He died on March 15, 1670. This collection contains a single bound volume of manuscript sermons.

Dates: 1649-1652

John Marsh sermons, 1774-1776.

 Collection
Identifier: MS5370
Abstract

John Marsh was born on November 2, 1742 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard in 1761. On January 12, 1774 John Marsh was ordained as the minister of the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield, Connecticut, a position he kept until his death on September 13, 1821. This collection includes two manuscript sermons.

Dates: 1774-1776

John Rogers papers, 1689-1714, undated.

 Collection
Identifier: MS0153
Abstract

John Rogers was born on July 7, 1666. He graduated from Harvard College in 1684. In October of 1692, he was ordained as the junior minister of the First Church in Ipswich; he officially became minister of the church in 1704. He served as minister until his death in 1745. This collection includes manuscript sermons written by John Rogers, a courtship proposal written by John Wise, and John Rogers' final Will and Testament.

Dates: 1693-1714, undated

Jonathan Edwards correspondence to Esther Burr, 1757.

 Collection
Identifier: MS4863
Abstract Rev. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) was born in East Windsor, Connecticut on October 5, 1703 to Rev. Timothy and Esther Edwards. In 1727 he married Sarah Pierpont and together the couple raised 10 children. Their daughter Esther was born February 13, 1732. Esther married Rev. Aaron Burr Sr. (1715/6-1757), a Presbyterian pastor in Newark, New Jersey in June of 1752. This collection contains a single letter written by Rev. Jonathan Edwards that was sent from Stockbridge, Massachusetts on...
Dates: 1757

Lancaster, Mass. First Congregational Church records, 1708-1846.

 Collection
Identifier: RG5329
Abstract The town of Lancaster and the First Congregational Church in Lancaster were established on November 28, 1653. The first and second meeting houses both were destroyed during Native American raids as part of larger geopolitical movements. The third meeting house was constructed in 1706 and the fourth in 1743. During Rev. Timothy Thayer time as minister, the church adopted Unitarian tenants and the fifth meeting house, designed by Charles Bulfinch, was constructed. In 1970 the church joined the...
Dates: 1708-1846