adopted and regular officers chosen. Stephen Sargent was the first superintendent under the new regulation.
In 1757, there were but ten members of the church. Now the church, society, and Sunday School are large and flourishing. The list of pastors ministering to this church since its organization is as follows:—James Scales, ordained November 23, 1757; dismissed July 4, 1770. Elijah Fletcher, Westford, Mass., ordained January 27, 1773; died April 8. 1786. Jacob Cram, Hampton Falls, ordained February 25, 1789; dismissed January 6, 1792. Eathan Smith, South Hadley, Mass., installed March 11, 1800; dismissed December 16, 1814. Roger C. Hatch, Middletown, Conn., ordained October 21, 1818; dismissed June 26, 1832. Moses Kimball, a native of this town, installed May 7, 1834; dismissed July 15,1846. Edwin Jennison, Walpole, installed June 6, 1847; dismissed September 5, 1849. Christopher M. Cordly, Oxford, Eng., ordained September 5, 1849; dismissed February 4, 1852. Marshall B. Angier, Southborough, Mass., ordained June 8, 1853; dismissed March 22. 1860. Edwin W. Cook, Townsend, Mass., installed March 6, 1861; dismissed December 13, 1864. William H. Cutler, Lowell. Mass., ordained December 20, 1865; dismissed May 8, 1867. J. K. Young, D.D., of Laconia, supplied from June, 1867, till October, 1874. Clarendon A. Stone. Southborough, Mass., installed December 29, 1874.
The west part of the town was the location of a Congregational meetinghouse as early as 1803. This house was of the usual spacious, uncouth style of architecture prevailing at the time, and stood at Campbell's Corner. There does not appear to have been any separate organization of the church connected with it. It was taken down to be rebuilt into the present Calvinist Baptist church.
In 1834, Dea. Amos Bailey, of West Hopkinton, died, willing a large portion of his property to the Congregational church. One-half of this bequest was to be paid to any society maintaining preaching in the west part of the town. In the hope of securing the aid, a society was organized with its head-quarters at Contoocook. The Union meeting-house was used, and Rev. David Kimball, of Concord, employed to preach. However, it could not be made to appear upon trial that Contoocook was in that part of the town implied in the will of Deacon Bailey, and the bequest was lost. The Second Congregational Society, as it was called, kept up a nominal existence till the year 1851.
The old-fashioned, two-storied farmhouse standing near the old grave-yard on Putney's Hill, and occupied by the descendants of Moses Rowell, is said to have been the first parsonage in the town, the residence of the Rev. James Scales, the first minister. The land publicly held for the benefit of religion was at length disposed of by lease. On March 8, 1796, the town voted to lease it "as long as wood shall grow and water run." The income was divided among the different churches.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
Diversity of religious belief is natural among men. Although Hopkinton was settled by people nominally orthodox in faith, actual dissenters from the popular belief soon began to assert themselves. The first gathering of an organized Baptist church was effected through the missionary labors of Dr. Hezekiah Smith. At first this was a branch of the Baptist church in Haverhill, Mass., the subordinate organization occurring in 1769. On May 8, 1771, the church at Hopkinton became independent. In its earlier days, the influence of this church was widely extended. Branch churches were organized in Bow, Goffstown. and Londonderry. The organization included people of Bedford, Merrimack, Derryfield (now Manchester), and Nottingham West (now Hudson). Among the early laborers in the local Baptist field were Elders John Peake, Job Seamans, Thomas Paul, and John Hazen. Dr. Shepherd was also an advocate of Baptist doctrines.
The first years of this church were attended with trials. The war of the Revolution depressed it, but it rallied again in 1789. It received a new impulse from
