WHAT CHURCH RECORDS THAT ARE IN THE HISTORICAL ROOM? This is a copy of a letter that details the contents, and their condition. The records are from the First CC of Granville. This is the church founded by Moses Tuttle. None of the records date to his pastorate. They start with Jedidiah Smith and continue through the years of Timothy Mather Cooleys ministry. So, thats roughly 1750s through 1850. All of the records are loose--and theyre in tatters. But theyre organized in a filing cabinet. The cabinet is in the local history room, right (I think) below a stately portrait of Timothy Mather Cooley. The files have labels on them as follows (or, at least, they used to): Experiences Leading to Joining the Church, 1768-1790 Experiences Relating to Joining the Church, 1800-1824 Experiences Leading to Joining the Church, 1800-1824 Confessions of Sin and Complaints, 1800 through 1856 Experiences Leading to Joining the Church, 1825-1850 Experiences Relating to Joining the Church, Undated Church Covenants, Reports, Constitutions, Reports of Councils 1755-1885 Confessions of Sin and Complaints, Undated through 1765 Confessions and Complaints Confession of Sin and Complaints 1766-1819 Lemuel Haynes Letters The John Burt Affair Phineas Pratt, 1765 The Church and the Separatists 1765-1769 Undated Confessions Sermons They also own a large group of letters by Timothy Mather Cooley. These are equally important, but I didnt have time to photograph them. Cooley strikes me as a very crucial figure (given what is preserved from his ministry), but hes virtually unknown. They have Timothy Mather Cooleys church records books: Worthley CR I, CR II, etc. And I believe that they have a typescript of these records--or at least some of them. Finally, when I visited back in the 2000s, they were thrilled to have just gotten one of their church record booksback. This appears to be the volume that Worthley called CR I, II, III COPY, which had previously been in the Pittsfield Athenaeum. This one is extremely important, because it contains the fragments of vital statistics from Jedidiah Smiths records (1750s-1770s). So, as you can see, this is a huge hoard. Its a little late by NEHH standards, but I remain convinced that it is the single most at risk collection in Massachusetts I, (Patrick) am impressed that we as a town have these. I am more impressed that they can be saved and shared. These are truly important records for church historians. I hope that we can soon have them stored safely in an archival place. The story has caught on in the news, and CBS MAY be in town to produce a story on these wonderful records in early September.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 20:19:08 +0000
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