Church: History of Hephzibah Baptist Church from The History of Chester County by Futhey and Cope (1881); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Sandra Ferguson . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file 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. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** From Futhey and Cope's THE HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA (1881) Hephzibah Baptist church About 1720, Rev. Owen Thomas, who had come from Wales and settled in Vincent in 1707, was the first Baptist minister who worked regularly in Newlin Twp. He preached at John Bentley's house. Richard Buffington, in his will of 1747-8 gave 5 lb to Owen Thomas, minister of the "Annabaptist Society", and 20 lb to the society. After the death of John Bentley, The meetings were held at the house of his son Jeffrey Bentley, who in 1752 Gave a lot of ground and built a meeting-house, at which Rev. Owen Thomas first preached in Oct. 1752. His ministry ceased in 1759, due to "bodily infirmities", and he was replaced by Rev. Abel Griffith, who ministered until 1767, when he went on a missionary tour to New England. Jeffrey Bentley, on the death of his father, was made a deacon. In 1775, Rev. Griffith returned and resumed his pastorship, but resigned in 1791 and moved to KY. (at this time, there were 49 members of the congregation, a bit growth from the original # of 15)! Next came Rev. Joshua Vaughan, till 1808, and the membership doubled. So the old meeting house became too small, and a new one was built, where it stands today (1889)... The first burial in the Hephzibah burial-ground was Rachel Thomas, April 16, 1793.