The First Baptist Church in Maine Sprague's Journal of Maine History. Vol. VIII Special Number, June 1920 No. 1 page 34-35 34 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY. The First Baptist Church in Maine (Lewiston Journal Magazine) -During the Revolutionary War, in the same year that Rev. Ben- jamin Randall, the founder of the Free Will Baptist denomination, organized the first church in New Durham, N. H., -- 1780 -- he made his first tour into Maine, visiting several towns on the Saco river. At Little Falls Plantation, afterwards Phillipsburg and now Hollis, many believers were baptized and a church was organized. Three years later Randall and other ministers, who preached a free and full salvation, felt the need of regular associations of some kind, They found, too, that the churches needed some organized bond of union, some authorized body to look after their interests, and some appropriate tribunal for counsel and appeal. And it was believed, also, that some combined effort for the worship of God and the salvation of souls would be blessed by the "Great Head of the Church." Arrangements were therefore made for a convention to be held in Hollis, in October, 1783. The result of that meeting was an agreement to hold a " general meeting" at different places four times a year to be composed of ministers and delegates from the churches. The Convention again met at Hollis on Saturday, Dec. 6, 1783, when the meeting was permanently organized with Mr. Randall moderator and Mr. Tingley as clerk. Sunday was a day of rest and worship. On Monday is was voted to meet quarterly for the advancement of " Christ's glorious Cause " and from this circumstance the meeting was called the " Quarterly Meeting." The times and places of its future sessions were fixed as follows: New Gloucester, first Saturday in March; New Durham, N. H., first Saturday in June; Woolwich, first Saturday in September; Hollis, first Saturday in December. The first yearly meeting was instituted in 1792; general Con- ference in 1827; Maine Free Baptist Association in 1889. The General Conference changed its name from Free Will Baptist to Free Baptist in T889. The Free Baptist Association is merged with the Maine Baptist Missionary Convention to help form he United Baptist Convention of Maine in Oct. 7, 1915. Baptist and Free Baptist churches in the northern part of York county formed the North York Association, Sept. 27. 1916. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN MAINE. 35 THF LiST OF MINISTERS. 1838, Rev. Oliver McKenney; 1839, Lewis Witham; 1841, Franklin Morrill; 1841, Lewis Witham; 1841, Noyum Foss; 1844, William Y. Smith; 1845, Samuel Fabyan ("Father Fabyan"); 1845, John and James Buzell; 1847, Thomas Kenes- ton; 185o, Jacob McDaniel; 1851, Stephen Coffin; 1852, Frank- lin Morrell; 1854, Theodore Stevens; 1856, Lewis h. Witham; 1858, Daniel A. Maddox; 1858, E. Stockman; 1861, James Hodg- don; 1861, Moulton Hodgdon; 1866, Ira C. Guptill; 1869, Per- kins Srnith; 1871, Andrew Hobson; 1872, Perkins Smith; 1879, Ed. C. Brown; 1880, Seth W. Perkins; 1883, Uriah Chase; 1884, Abram H. Milliken; 1887, L. G. Clark; 1889, John Pettingill; 1893, John D. Waldron; 1896, Burton Minardetal; 1896, George A. Downey; 1898, Frank Willcock; 1900, Friend D. Taster; 1904, James W. Williams; 1907, Samuel W. Brown; 1909, Guy Benner, Prof. Hodgdon, etc.; 1910, V. E. Bragdon; 1910, Frank Long; 1910, W. R. Calder; 1913, C. W. Ash; 1916, A. R. Turn- bull. The church has no settled pastor at present but hopes to be fortunate enough to secure one soon. The present church was built in 1840; the parsonage was bought in 1866. This historic church is situated amid some of the most delightful scenery of Kate Douglas Wiggin's country. A profusion of wild flowers in their season and bountiful orchard crops displaying their brilliant colors against the background of gray granite stone walls. The distant White Mountains and the sea 17 miles away v be seen from the church. LUCINA H. LOMBARD. (c) 1998 Courtesy of Tina Vickery and Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.