USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > History of Rehoboth, Massachusetts; its history for 275 years, 1643-1918, in which is incorporated the vital parts of the original history of the town > Part 18
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Ellis, delegate. The Council came unanimously to the following result:
"Considering the almost unexampled state of harmony and cor- diality that has subsisted between Mr. Vernon and his people, and still continues, we recommend to Mr. Vernon to remain with his united Church and Society.
"The Council are aware that the salary paid Mr. Vernon is altogether inadequate to the necessary wants of his family; they therefore recommend to the Church and Society to provide im- mediately a parsonage suitable for the use of their minister, and that Mr. Vernon be granted the use of said parsonage free of ex- pense so long as he shall be their minister."
This wise suggestion of the Council, the people neglected to heed. It is a mistake which churches too often make. They are loth to adequately sustain the preaching of the Gospel. Such a penny-wise and pound-foolish policy which permits the golden opportunity to pass suggests the saying, "The men of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light."
Mr. Vernon, seeing no prospect of improved conditions, again resigned and was dismissed four months later by the same Churches in Council, April 12, 1837. The building of the parsonage was delayed until twelve years later.
As Mr. Vernon had ministered to this people for six months before his ordination, the entire period of his labors among them was eleven years.
In May, 1831, he had married Miss Adelaide A. Winthrop of Bristol, R.I. They had six children, one of whom, John W. Ver- non, was for many years an officer in the Merchants' National Bank, Providence, R.I.
Owing to a severe bronchial affection, Mr. Vernon was com- pelled to give up the ministry, and engaged in the practice of medicine at Perth Amboy, N.J., and other places. He died at Providence, R.I., May 9, 1876, of acute bronchitis, in his seventy- ninth year, and was buried in the old family ground at Newport, R.I.
The successor of Mr. Vernon, and the fifth pastor of this church, was the Rev. John Chester Paine, who was ordained over the church June 6, 1838, by a council representing ten churches. The ordination sermon was preached by his brother, Rev. Wil- liam P. Paine, D.D., of Holden. On the first day of September following, the Society passed a vote to build a new meeting-house.
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A minority, however, were strongly opposed to this movement. The building committee consisted of Abiah Bliss, Jr., William K. Bullock, John R. Rogerson, and Cyrus M. Wheaton. It was decided to locate the new house in the Village on the lot where Jonathan Wheaton's barn stood. Strong objection was made to placing the church in a "barn-yard." Mr. Wheaton gave the small plot which belonged to him, and the Goff brothers, Darius and Nelson, gave the remainder. The church edifice was erected and dedicated the following year, 1839. It is sixty feet long by forty wide, and cost three thousand eight hundred dollars. Its seating capacity is about three hundred and twenty.
After the dedication of the new house, the disaffected members of the Church and the Society joined with other families in town, who were Baptists in belief, in holding a series of religious meet- ings at Lewis's tavern. This resulted in the formation of the Union Baptist Church.
The "old yellow meeting-house," which had stood on the Vil- lage Cemetery lot for sixty-six years, was finally sold to Mr. Otis Goff, who moved the materials home, and reconstructed them into a barn, which is now standing.
Mr. Paine was an excellent preacher, and a very useful man in the community. He was born at Ashfield, Mass., Jan. 28, 1806. He was the seventh generation in direct line from Stephen Paine, one of the early settlers of Rehoboth. He was educated at Am- herst and Princeton Colleges, and received the degree of A.M. from the latter in 1843. He graduated from the theological sem- inary at East Windsor, Conn., in 1836. He was married April, 1839, to Miss Eliza Folger, of Nantucket. He was dismissed from this church March 23, 1847, having served the people faithfully for nine years. After leaving Rehoboth he preached at Gardner, Sandwich, Dracut, and Groveland, Mass. In the places where he was settled he was chairman of the school committee many years. He died at Groveland of typhoid pneumonia, March 10, 1880, in his seventy-fifth year. His son, Charles F. Paine, was a lawyer in Boston, and his daughter, Harriet E. Paine, was pre- ceptress of Oread Female Seminary at Worcester, Mass.
Mr. Paine was succeeded by Rev. Charles P. Grosvenor, who was acting pastor of this church from September, 1847, to Septem- ber, 1856,-just nine years. Mr. Grosvenor was born Aug. 12, 1804, at Pomfret, Conn .; graduated at Yale College in 1827;
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spent one year in the service of the American Sunday-School Union in Illinois and Missouri, and graduated at Yale Theological Seminary in 1831. For two years he was secretary and agent of the Connecticut Sunday-School Union and editor of the Sunday- School Record, published in New Haven. He was ordained at Blackstone, Mass., July 16, 1834. Before coming to Rehoboth he preached at Kingston and North Scituate, R.I. After leaving Rehoboth he preached at Stoneham and East Randolph, Mass., and at Canterbury, East Woodstock, and Ashfield, Conn. His eyesight failing, he closed his ministerial labors March 31, 1881. Mr. Grosvenor's first wife was Cordelia Mathewson of Pomfret, Conn. His second wife was Hannah H. Wells, of Kingston, R.I. His third wife was Elizabeth E. Foster of Brooklyn, N.Y., to whom he was married May 19, 1842. They celebrated the fortieth an- niversary of their marriage at Pomfret, Conn., May 19, 1882, Dea. E. A. Brown being present as the representative from this church. Mr. Grosvenor was a man of sterling sense and piety and was beloved by all the people.
In 1851 the following persons were honored by receiving a diploma signed by Mr. Grosvenor for committing to memory "The Westminster Shorter Catechism": Edward P. Brown, Ar- nold De F. Brown, Amanda M. Brown, Rebecca Bliss, Sarah A. Carpenter, Rachel Carpenter, Hattie A. Carpenter, Lydia J. Peck, Dexter W. Horton, William H. Luther, Nellie M. Marsh and Elizabeth B. Pierce.
There was a revival in the church in the fall of 1855, when Rev. Norris Day, the evangelist, assisted the pastor. On the second day of March, 1856, thirty-one persons united with the church, all but one by profession. In 1849 the present parsonage was built, Mr. Grosvenor furnishing the plan.
A letter from Mr. Grosvenor to the writer in 1883 contains the following reference to his pastorate here:
"I have very many pleasant memories and but few of a dif- ferent character in connection with my fields of labor. Rehoboth stands first on the list in the number and richness of its remi- niscences. I often wonder that I left a people who loved me so well, and to whom I was and am still so strongly attached."
He died at Palmer, Mass., Dec. 23, 1893.
The successor of Mr. Grosvenor was Rev. Walter P. Doe, who supplied the pulpit two years beginning with the spring of 1857.
,
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
He resided in Providence, R.I., but came to Rehoboth on the Sabbath and occasionally on other days and held neighborhood prayer-meetings among the people. In this way the church was kept awake and several persons were hopefully converted. He was born at Wilton, N.Y., March 30, 1813; graduated at Union College in 1844, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1847; was married to Miss Sophia S. Knight of Providence, Aug. 1, 1849; died Dec. 15, 1887.
The next acting pastor was Rev. Alexander C. Childs, from Jan. 1, 1860, to April 1, 1862. He was born at Nantucket, Aug. 31, 1823; graduated at Yale College in 1845, and Union Theo- logical Seminary in 1849; married Miss Eunice H. Barney of Nantucket, Aug. 17, 1857. He supplied churches for brief pe- riods in New Hampshire and Vermont as well as in Massachusetts. He died at Worcester, Mass., April 13, 1896.
After Mr. Childs, Rev. S. Y. Lum was acting pastor for two years, beginning in July, 1862. He was born at New Providence, N.J., May 6, 1821, studied at Oberlin College and graduated at Union Theological Seminary in 1848. He was ordained at Mid- dletown, N.Y., Jan. 13, 1852.
Mr. Lum was Home Missionary in Kansas from 1854 to 1861, during the "border ruffian war." After leaving Rehoboth he was superintendent of the American Bible Society at Lawrence, Kan- sas, and later preached in Connecticut and New York. He died at Rutherford, N.J., Oct. 1, 1895.
Rev. Francis H. Boynton was ordained pastor of this church Oct. 20, 1864, and continued his work here until Aug. 30, 1867. During his pastorate the church was greatly revived and more than fifty persons were added to its membership.
Mr. Boynton was born in Troy, N.Y., March 14, 1839; grad- uated at Amherst College in 1861, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1864; married Miss Emily A. Clark of Amherst, Mass., May 24, 1866. Four children were born to them. He was a man of scholarly habits with a fine spirit touched to fine issues. After leaving Rehoboth he traveled abroad, visiting Palestine, Egypt, and other countries. He preached at Assonet, New Marl- borough, Raynham, and Essex, Mass., and at Rye, N.H., and later at other places in Massachusetts. He died at Florence, Mass., in 1910.
Mr. Boynton was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Henry Johnson,
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH
who was acting pastor from October, 1868, to October, 1869. He was born March 24, 1824, at Portland, Me .; studied and taught at the Mission Institute, Quincy, Ill., under the charge of the Rev. David Nelson; was ordained at La Harpe, Ill., in April, 1853, and was married the following December to Miss Martha A. Brooks of Dalton, N.H. They had two children.
The next acting pastor was Rev. Henry D. Woodworth, from December, 1869, to October, 1872; born in Lebanon, Conn., Feb. 18, 1826; graduated at Amherst College in 1855, and An- dover Theological Seminary in 1860; ordained at East Bridge- water in September of the same year; married Aug. 14, 1855, Miss Sarah E. Carkin of Brookfield, Mass. After leaving Reho- both, was in the jewelry business in Cambridge. Died June 27, 1891.
Rev. Isaac R. Prior succeeded Mr. Woodworth as acting pastor from July 13, 1873, to October, 1877; born in Ohio, July 22, 1840; graduated at Adrian College, Mich., in 1863; at the Uni- versity of Law at Albany, N.Y., in 1865; and at Union Theo- logical Seminary in 1870. He was married Sept. 29, 1874, to Miss Ruth E. Manton of Providence, R.I. They had two children.
He preached for brief periods at numerous places, in Massa- chusetts, Rhode Island, Florida, and South Dakota, where he died at Redfield, March 3, 1899.
Mr. Prior's successor was Rev. George Henry Tilton, who was born in Nashua, N.H., Jan. 31, 1845. He was the son of William Wells and Sarah Ann (Morrill) Tilton, descended through his father from the Tiltons of New Hampshire, for whom the town of Tilton was named; and through his mother from the Morrills and Allens of Amesbury and Salisbury, Mass. His great-great- grandfather was Col. Henry Morrill of Revolutionary fame. Sir Hugh Morrill was presented with the Morrill coat of arms in the fifteenth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. His ancestor Capt. Jacob Allen was killed in the battle of Saratoga, Sept. 19, 1777. The Tilton family traces its ancestry back to Everard (Sir) Lord of Tilton and Drystoke, ancestor of Sir Kenelm Digby, Knight, styled "The ornament of England." The town of Tilton in England was in existence prior to the time of William the Con- queror. The original family was Digby de Tilton, but the "Digby" was dropped, becoming a branch name, but both use the Digby coat of arms. John Tilton came to Lynn in 1642, and a brother
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William in 1645, and are spoken of as "educated." One branch of the family settled in New Hampshire.
Mr. Tilton fitted for college at Williston Seminary, Easthamp- ton, Mass., graduating with the class of 1866, and at Amherst College with the class of 1870 (Phi Beta Kappa), receiving the degree of A.M. in 1873. Also graduated at Andover Theological Seminary, 1873, and was ordained to the Congregational ministry at Hopkinton, N.H., June 4, 1873.
He was married June 6, 1876, to Ella Minerva Mann of Attle- borough Falls, Mass. They have had three children. Mr. Tilton was pastor at Attleborough Falls, 1874-5 (organizing the Central Church and building its meeting-house); at Wolfeborough, N.H., 1876-7; at Rehoboth, Mass., 1877-1891; at Lancaster, N.H., 1891-1896; and at North Woburn, Mass., 1896-1915. (Dis- missed June 22d.)
At Rehoboth he was chairman of the School Committee in 1885-6, and founder of the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society, which was organized March 5, 1884.
In 1883 Mr. Tilton wrote the "History of the Churches of Re- hoboth," published in the "History of Bristol County." In 1900, he furnished for the History of Lancaster, N.H., a sketch of the Congregational Church of that place, and a monograph of the Native Plants and Trees. In 1901 he published a "Memorial of Marshall Henshaw, LL.D."
During Mr. Tilton's pastorate of fourteen years in Rehoboth, the Church enjoyed a large measure of prosperity. For this whole period it paid the largest salary in its history, and gave liberally for benevolent objects. At that time the entire population of the town, with very few exceptions, was of pure New England stock, and most of the people were in the habit of attending church on the Sabbath. The religious life of the church was quickened from time to time by special services. It was the pastor's custom to preach about once a month at the Willis School-house, the Orleans Chapel and the Almshouse, the latter in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Luther.
Mr. Tilton was dismissed from this church Nov. 17, 1891, to accept a call from the Congregational Church in Lancaster, N.H.
In the year 1887, a silver cup which Rev. Otis Thompson had taken away with him in 1840, was restored to the church by Mr.
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M. T. Bennett of Bristol, R.I., a relative of the second Mrs. Thompson. This valuable relic was inscribed thus :-
"The gift of Capt. Sam'l Peck to ye second Church of Christ in Rehoboth, 1736."
Mr. Tilton was succeeded by Rev. Cyrus D. Harp, who began his work here as acting pastor, March 13, 1892, and continued till Aug. 28, 1895. Mr. Harp was born at Benevola, Md., Feb. 8, 1858. He was the son of Rev. Joshua Harp and Magdalene Wolfe. He prepared for college at Lebanon Institute, Lebanon, Pa .; did both undergraduate and graduate work at Harvard, where he re- ceived the degree of A.B. He graduated at Yale Theological Seminary in 1885.
His first regular pastorate was at Columbia, Pa., where he built a church, and left an increased membership of over one hundred and fifty. He preached at Houlton, Me., in 1899, and later at Duxbury, Mass.
His ministry at Rehoboth was signalized by his marriage to Miss Eleanor H. Whiteside of Washington, D.C. Two children were born to them, Katharine, Oct. 5, 1893, and Benjamin H., Nov. 12, 1894.
After resigning his pastorate here, Mr. Harp entered commercial lines. He built himself a house at Cranston, R.I., became pastor of the Hughesdale Congregational Church, while at the same time serving as an agent in the employ of the Travelers' Insurance Company of Hartford, Conn.
Rev. Charles B. Wathen began his labors here June 1, 1896. During his ministry the church was thoroughly renovated and beautified. This was done in 1906, at a cost of more than $2,000, not including the memorial windows. Half of this sum was con- tributed by Leonard C. Bliss of Boston. Hon. Cornelius N. Bliss of New York gave liberally, and Frank N. Bliss of Pawtucket, R.I., made a contribution. The Ladies' Home Missionary Society gave $600, - the proceeds of the Colonial Fair held the winter be- fore. The furnishings were supplied as follows: the carpets for the church were given by Mr. Lyman B. Goff, and the cushions for the seats by Mr. Geo. S. Baker and Miss Emma M. Baker; a donation was also received from Mr. Frederic W. Bliss. Of the beautiful memorial windows, one was given by Cornelius N. Bliss, to perpetuate the memory of his grandfather, Dea. Asahel Bliss,
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who was an officer of the church for more than fifty years; two were given by Mr. L. C. Bliss; one by Darius L. and Lyman B. Goff and their sister, Mrs. Sarah Steele. The children of Reuben Bowen gave one; and the children of Tamerline Horton, one. The church was reopened by appropriate exercises, Dec. 5, 1906. In the record we read: "We reopened this church, free from debt, and as a church and people are profoundly grateful to the friends through whose interest and liberality this work has been accom- plished." It should be mentioned also, that on March 1, 1907, Mrs. Clara I. Hubbard, daughter of the late Henry Reed and De- light Carpenter Reed, of Taunton, gave a solid mahogany table and chairs to furnish the social corner of the church. Also, during Mr. Wathen's pastorate the choir was brought down from the loft in the rear to its present place near the pulpit. In 1900 Paschal Allen left the church a legacy of $1,500.
Mr. Wathen was born in Richibucto, New Brunswick, Jan. 1, 1852. He married Mary P. Kennedy of Keswick, N.B., Sept. 17, 1876. They have one son. Mr. Wathen taught four years in the grammar and high schools at St. Stephen, N.B. Graduated at Bangor Theological Seminary, June, 1883. Preached at Orono, Me., from 1883 to 1888; Chelmsford, Mass., 1888-90; at Man- chester, N.H., 1890-96; Rehoboth, Mass., 1896-1908; Hookset, N.H., 1908-10; since, at South Dartmouth, Mass. He was dis- missed from his charge in Rehoboth, July 12, 1908.
On Jan. 3, 1909, Hon. Edmund E. Peck of New York sent the church a beautifully carved chair designed by himself and given in memory of his ancestors who had resided in Rehoboth. On the back is a plate inscribed as follows :-
"In memory of my ancestors among whom were Joseph Peck, born in England, 1587, settled in Re- hoboth; Ebenezer Peck, who founded the forge priv- ilege near Great Meadow Hill, born 1697; my grand- father, Edmund I. Peck, born on the Forge Privilege, 1798; and my father, Caleb S. Peck, born in Rehoboth, 1825.
"Designed and made by Edmund E. Peck, Donor, 1908."
Mr. Wathen was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Woodbury Strout, who came from Kingston, N.H., and was installed over the church at Rehoboth, June 9, 1909. The following year, through his 13
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH
efforts, a new pipe-organ was purchased for the church, costing $2,000; of this amount about $1,200 was raised in the town.
A new pulpit was presented to the church by Miss Emma M. Baker.
Mr. Strout was born in Milbridge, Me., July 7, 1852; was a teacher in that state for four years; preached two years at East Machias, Me .; graduated from Bangor Seminary in 1885; was ordained June 29, 1886; held pastorates at Thomaston, Me., 1885-1893; at Cummington and West Cummington, Mass., 1894- 1899; at Kingston, N.H., 1899-1908; at Rehoboth, 1909-1915 (Dec. 31); since at Little Compton, R.I.
Mr Strout married Ella E. Sprague of Milbridge, Me., May 1, 1876. They have two children. Mr. Strout's successor was Rev. Henry E. Oxnard, who began his work here Oct. 1, 1916.
DEACONS OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Name
Date Chosen
Elisha May, 1721.
Thomas Ormsbee, 1721.
John Wilmarth, 1731.
Abiah Carpenter, 1738.
Joshua Smith, 1744.
Thomas Carpenter, 1744.
Stephen Moulton, 1750 to 1772.
Ephraim Bliss,
1762 to 1771.
Joshua Smith,
1762.
Daniel Bliss, Between 1762 and 1791.
John Brown,
1791.
Calvin Jacobs,
1801.
Asahel Bliss,
1808. Re-elected in 1827.
Chace Moulton,
1811 to 1813.
Ezra Perry,
1814 to 1850.
Eleazer A. Brown,
1842 to 1889.
1842 to 1848. Moved to Providence.
Josephus B. Smith,
1851 to 1857.
Moved to Illinois.
Asaph Carpenter,
1858 to 1863.
Gustavus A. Reed,
1863 to 1889.
1877. Moved to East Providence.
1877. Moved to Providence.
Francis A. Bliss,
1877 to 1914.
Johnstone Black
1891. Moved to Warren.
Almon A. Reed, 1895.
Enoch A. Carpenter,
1911.
Charles S. Bliss,
1911.
William R. Browning, 1912.
Elijah A. Reed
1832 to 1848.
Elisha A. King,
William H. Luther,
David Taylor,
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
BAPTIST CHURCHES IN REHOBOTH
Benedict, in his history of the Baptists, writes of the Rehoboth churches as follows :-
"There have been Baptists in this town from about 1650, when Obadiah Holmes separated from the parish worship; but no church was gathered in it until 1732, when one arose near its southeast, under the ministry of Mr. John Comer, former pastor of the first Baptist Church in Newport, R.I. By the year 1794, no less than seven Baptist churches had been formed in Rehoboth. Most of them were small and hardly any two of them were united in their views of doctrine and discipline. Elhanan Winchester, who afterward distinguished himself by the propagation of the doctrine of Universal Restoration, was, for a few years, pastor of one of them. The youngest of these is that at the lower end of the great Seekonk Plain, within three miles of Providence, which is sup- plied by Mr. John Pitman of that town" (now the Baptist Church of East Providence).
At first three of these churches were of the "Six Principle" creed: the Oak Swamp, from 1732 to 1773; the Hornbine, from 1753 to 1888; and the Round Church in northeast Rehoboth, organized by Elder Richard Round1 in 1743, and, after lapsing, was reor- ganized by Dea. Aaron Wheeler and Elder Sylvester Round, who were ordained its pastors April 20, 1789. This church was the precursor of the Reformed Methodist Church in the same lo- cality, which was organized in 1827, three years after Elder Round's death.
The Six-Principle Baptists were strictly evangelical, and firm believers in free will and a universal atonement, but their creed, in Heb. 6: 1, 2, required them to emphasize the laying on of hands, which they did in the case of every convert they baptized, and they made this a condition of receiving the Lord's supper; neither would they commune with any one who had not been both under water and under hands. Each elder remained with the church over which he was ordained as long as he lived, and as a rule re- ceived no salary.
THE OAK SWAMP CHURCH
This church at first belonged to the Six-Principle Baptists, and was gathered by Rev. John Comer in 1732. He was installed its pastor July 26th of that year. The installation sermon was
1 Another account gives David Round, who may have been a colleague with Richard.
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH
preached by Rev. Ephraim Wheaton, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Swansea, from I Thess. 5:12, 13. Mr. Comer was an able preacher and gathered many into the church. In the follow- ing November he baptized fifteen persons in one day, and within a year it numbered nearly one hundred members. Mr. Comer was born in Boston, Aug. 1, 1704. From a very early age he de- lighted in books and composed a discourse when only fifteen. He attempted to learn a glover's trade, but his passion for study was so strong that he prevailed on his grandfather to send him to school. In 1723 he was admitted to Yale College, but left and studied with Rev. Mr. Barnard of Andover the following year. After reading "Stennett on Baptism" he became an ardent Bap- tist. In 1725 he went to Swansea to teach school, and while there assisted Rev. Ephraim Wheaton in the Sabbath services. In 1726 he received a call to preach in the First Baptist Church at Newport. After preaching in this church about a year as col- league with Rev. William Peckham, he came out and advocated the Six-Principle theory. This led to his dismissal from the First Church, and he became colleague with Elder Daniel Wightman of the Second Baptist Church of Newport, where he remained two years, preaching with remarkable success. He was married Jan. 20, 1726, to Miss Sarah Rogers of Newport, by whom he had three children.
On coming to Rehoboth he labored with such zeal that he un- dermined his health and died of consumption, May 23, 1734, in his thirtieth year. In the old "Burial Place Hill" yard of South Rehoboth his tombstone of blue slate bears this brief inscription :-
Here lies interred Ye body of ye Revd Mr. John Comer Decd May ye 23d 1734 in ye 30th Year of Age."
Mr. Comer had formed the design of writing the history of the American Baptists and had collected valuable materials which were used subsequently by both Backus and Benedict in their histories.
Mr. Comer's successor was Nathaniel Millard, who was or- dained June 24, 1736; but he proved unworthy of his trust and was dismissed in 1742.
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
Elder Samuel Maxwell was the next pastor and was installed in 1745. After some years he became a Congregationalist and wrote against the Baptists. The church, thus unfortunate in its ministers, became discouraged and scattered, and many of its members eventually joined other churches. Some of them, how- ever, held together and secured the services first of Elder John Paine and afterwards of Elder Richard Round, one of Mr. Comer's converts, who had organized a church in the northeast part of the town. Elder Round preached to this church, later called the Oak Swamp church, until his death, May 18, 1768. His tombstone may be seen near that of John Comer in the old yard about a mile southeast of the Orleans Factory.
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