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| First Church, Salem, Massachusetts |
On 6 August 1629 the following thirty men in Salem,
Massachusetts signed the covenant to establish the First Church. The Records of the First Church in Salem
states “A Catalogue of the names of those person that are joined in full
Comunyon.” At the bottom of this post I’ve transcribed the spellings
exactly as spelled in the book.
According to the website for the First Church in Salem (now a Unitarian Universalist Congregation) "thirty of the newly arrived Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony gathered together to form a church on August 6, 1629. Among the members present were Roger Conant, the founder of Salem, and John Endicott, the first Governor of the Colony. On that day, the church called two Puritan ministers who had made the voyage from England with the other colonists. The Rev. Samuel Skelton became the church's first Pastor and the Rev. Francis Higginson was called as the church's first Teacher. it was Rev. Higginson who composed the now famous Salem Covenant at its founding, the very same covenant that has been used by each generation of church members down through the centuries and is recited even today during the weekly Sunday services:
According to the website for the First Church in Salem (now a Unitarian Universalist Congregation) "thirty of the newly arrived Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony gathered together to form a church on August 6, 1629. Among the members present were Roger Conant, the founder of Salem, and John Endicott, the first Governor of the Colony. On that day, the church called two Puritan ministers who had made the voyage from England with the other colonists. The Rev. Samuel Skelton became the church's first Pastor and the Rev. Francis Higginson was called as the church's first Teacher. it was Rev. Higginson who composed the now famous Salem Covenant at its founding, the very same covenant that has been used by each generation of church members down through the centuries and is recited even today during the weekly Sunday services:
We Covenat with the Lord and one with another,
And doe bynd our selves together in the presence of God,
To walke to gether in all His waies,
According as he is pleased to reveale him self unto us,
In his Blessed worth of truth."
I was surprised to see how many ancestors I had in
this list, as well as Rev. Samuel Skelton (1593 - 1634), who is my 10th great
grandfather. I’ve highlighted the names that are my
ancestors. You might want to see how many you have on this list, too!
1.
Samuell
Sharp
2. John
Endecott
3. Phillip
Veren
4. Hugh
Laskin
5. Roger
Connant
6.
Laurance
Leach
7. William
Auger
8. Francis
Johnson
9. Thomas
Eborne
10. George
Williams
11. George
Norton
12. Henry Herricke
13. Peeter
Palfye
14. Roger
Maurye
15. Thomas Gardner
16. John
Sibly
17. John Baulch
18. Samuell
Moore
19. John
Holgrove
20. Ralph
Fogge
21. John
Horne
22. John Woodberye
23. William Traske
24. Townsend
Bishop
25. Thomas
Read
26. Richard
Rayment
27. Jeffry
Massy
28. Edmond
Batter
29. Elias
Sileman
30. Edmond
Giles
The book The Records of the First Church in Salem also
lists the names of the men and women who signed the covenant up until
1659. I found many, many ancestors and relatives
on these lists. You might want to check
these lists, too.
Click here to see the book The Records of the First
Church in Salem, pages 1 – 41 (including baptisms up to 1692):
The Records of the First Church in Salem Massachusetts 1629 - 1736, edited by Richard D. Pierce, 1974
The First Church, Salem, Massachusetts website: http://www.firstchurchinsalem.org/
---------------------------
To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Were Your Ancestors Founding Members of the First Church of Salem?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 18, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/01/were-your-ancestors-founding-members-of.html: accessed [access date]).
Heather, I wanted to thank you for all that you've done so far. You deserve a break, for sure. Also, how in the world did you highlight those names?? I've been trying to do that forever.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Dan
Hi Dan! I use blogger, and in the editor the highlighter is between the text color and the "link" button. I wouldn't know how it is done in other blog formats because I've only used blogger (by Google) for ten years!
DeleteAncestors on that list:Endecott, Laskin, Conant, Leach, Herrick, Woodbury.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cousin Bill!
DeleteThank you for posting. Very interesting, but what I find most interesting is the names that are not on the list above. My family came there with Endicott, and were active in the church at one point, but pulled away to move to Gloucester. They were the Gotts. They are listed in the baptism, but the information that I read said that they had pulled away because they did not agree with Endicott and his ways. Eventually, they were granted land of what is now Mt. Desert Island in Maine as a way to secure the land against the French settlements. They were mostly businessmen and readily agreed. Thank you again for posting.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like only Leach and Woodbury for me.
ReplyDeleteI am also a descendant of the Rev. Samuel Skelton through his daughter Mary Skelton who married Nathaniel Felton, Sr. I attended the 375 anniversary of the founding of the church a few years ago.
ReplyDelete