CHAP. I.]

CHURCHES ORGANIZED.

27

of the undefined boundary line of Western New York, but west of the Catskill mountains. In 1793 another Congregational church, of fortytwo members, was formed at Walton, in the same county of Delaware, by Rev. David Huntington; and still another, at Bainbridge, in the southeastern corner of the adjoining county of Chenango. This last-named church, if still in existence, has dropped from our denominational list, not having been reported since 1874. Franklin and Walton still, however, hold on their way, growing and prospering under their ancient organization. Franklin reported four hundred and thirteen communicants in 1879; and Walton, three hundred and thirty-three.

Another Congregational church, with twentyeight members, was organized this same year (1793) by the Rev. David Huntington, at Hamden, Delaware county; and still another, at Whitestown, Oneida county, by the Rev. Samuel Eells.* Both of these gentlemen were missionaries of the Connecticut General Association. It was also during this year that the Rev. Ira Condict, a missionary of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, organized a Congregational church at Palmyra, in Wayne county, on the borders of Lake Ontario.

About 1798 the Rev. Joel Chapin was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Jericho,

* Narrative, etc., 1794, p. 9.

now North Bainbridge, in the southeastern corner of Chenango county. The church was organized in 1793, but had been destitute of a pastor until that time. This was, probably, the first ordination in all that country west of Utica. Mr. Chapin proved a faithful, useful and successful minister. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College, in the class of 1791. He died in 1845, aged eighty-four years.*

The town of Pompey, in the southeastern part of Onondaga county, was settled on or before 1793; and a Congregational church was organized there at an early date. It was a prosperous church and increased in numbers until it had three hundred and more communicants. It was connected with the Middle Congregational Association; and when that body united with the Presbytery of Onondaga it carried this church with it, and it has not yet returned to its first love.t

In July, 1794, a Congregational church of seventeen members was organized at Sherburne, in the northeastern corner of Chenango county, not far from the centre of the State, by the Rev. Mr. Campbell, said to have been a Connecticut missionary. This church has continued faithful to its foundation principles, and reported in 1878 a

* Hotchkin, 67; Allen's Dict.; Cong. Quar., statistics New York, 1874.

↑ Hotchkin, 315-16.

CHAP. I.]

CHURCH AT NELSON.

29

membership of two hundred and thirty-one. This town was originally settled by a colony from Kent, Conn. They first went to Duanesburgh, near Albany, and thence removed in a body to Sherburne in the spring of 1793.*

In the summer of 1794 the Rev. Aaron Kinne, a Congregational missionary from Connecticut, visited Geneva, at the head of Lake Geneva, Ontario county, and drew up the articles for a Congregational church. Whether or not a church was actually formed at that time does not appear.†

The town of Nelson was first settled in 1794, by a company from Vermont, and most of the early inhabitants were from that State and from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. A Congregational church was organized there at an early period. Nelson is situate in Madison county, near the geographical centre of the State. The church was connected with the Union Association, and remained faithful to its original order until after that ministerial association went into the Presbytery. It has never since-whatever it may have been before been a prosperous church.‡

In 1795 the Rev. Zadoc Hunn, an educated and

* Hotchkin, 29, 58. Mr. Campbell is not reported among the Connecticut missionaries who visited Western New York in 1794.

↑ Narrative of Conn. Missions, 1795, p. 12; Hotchkin, 385–86. + Hotchkin, 307.

devoted Congregationalist from Berkshire county, Mass., moved with his family to the neighborhood of Canandaigua, near what is now Bristol. He is believed to have been the first evangelical minister who settled permanently in that section of New York. He devoted himself to the work of the ministry in the destitute settlements around him, and continued his useful work to the time of his death, May 12, 1801.

In the autumn of 1796 the Rev. Ammi R. Robbins, a missionary of the Connecticut General Association, organized a Congregational church of about twenty members, at the "Royal Grant," a flourishing settlement about ten miles from the Mohawk river. And at Pompey, in the southeastern part of Onondaga county, he organized another Congregational church at about the same time. This neighborhood began to be settled as early as 1793, chiefly by New England people, and this church of twenty-five members was formed mostly of members of Congregational churches who had immigrated from Connecticut. The church at Pompey was a prosperous organization, and increased from year to year until it contained three hundred and more communicants. When the "Middle Association" was formed in 1804, this church united with it and was carried over to Presbyterianism, by the action of that body in uniting with the Synod

*Narrative, etc., 1797, p. 7.

CHAP. I.] CHURCH AT EAST BLOOMFIELD.

31

of Albany, in 1807-08. This disposition of the local Congregational Associations in New York, to unite with Presbyteries for the sake of good fellowship, proved more injurious to Congregationalism than the Plan of Union, or any other measure which contributed to supplant the polity of the early churches in the State of New York; and, perhaps it may be said, in the entire Western country.*

The Congregational church of Madison, in the southeasterly part of Madison county, also dates from 1796. It still holds its place among the churches of the Puritans, and reported a hundred and nine members in 1879.

In 1796 a church of sixteen members was formed at East Bloomfield, in the northwestern part of Ontario county. The Rev. Zadoc Hunn assisted in this organization and became a member of this church. "Nearly all the first settlers [in East Bloomfield] were from Connecticut; many from Bethlehem. . . . They were intelligent, strong-minded farmers, most of them Christians. Mr. Williston and Mr. Bushnell had been there, and God had displayed the glory of his grace in those ends of the earth." This is the record of a Connecticut gentleman, who visited the place in the winter of 1801, with the Rev. David Bacon, who preached to this church five

Hotchkin, 315–16; Minutes N. Y. Gen. Asso., 1848, Appendix, pp. 39-41.