Browse the Congregational Church records in Epping, New Hampshire

The Epping, New Hampshire Congregational Church was founded in the early 1740s. Until 1741, Epping was part of Exeter, settled by puritans who left Massachusetts Bay in 1638 under the leadership of Rev. John Wheelwright. The first minister called to the Epping church was Rev. Robert Cutler, ordained in 1747. He was dismissed in 1755. The first meetinghouse was constructed in the 1750s, and was replaced with a new structure in 1803. 

Rev. Josiah Stearns was called to serve as the second minister of Epping  in 1758, and continued as minister until his death in 1788. He was a Harvard graduate from Billerica, Massachusetts. Stearns enslaved a Black man called Peter who served in the War of Independence with one of Stearns’ sons and won his freedom. During the war, Rev. Stearns preached a fast day sermon which was published in 1777 in defense of colonial liberties. 

After the death of Stearns, Rev. Peter Holt was ordained as the minister in Epping in 1790. Holt served as minister until 1821. Other nineteenth-century ministers in Epping included Revs. Forest Jefferds, Calvin Chapman, and Lyman White. Today, the church is the Epping Community Church, a nondenominational Protestant church. 

This collection contains one volume of church records which includes baptisms, marriages, admissions, dismissions, deaths, meeting notes, and short biographies of Revs. Josiah Stearns and Peter Holt.

Materials in this collection have been digitized in partnership with the New Hampshire Historical Society and have been made available through our New England's Hidden Histories project.