Browse the Congregational Church records in Gosport, New Hampshire

Congregational ministers began preaching at the Isles of Shoals in the 1650s. Star Island had long been a fishing outpost and was mostly populated by workers in the fishing industry. Early ministers on the island included Rev. Samuel Belcher and Rev. Joshua Moody. The town of Gosport was established on the island in 1715. The Congregational Church of Gosport, New Hampshire was formed on Star Island in 1729, and the first and only settled minister on the island was Rev. John Tucke, who was ordained in 1732. Tucke was born in Hampton, NH, graduated Harvard in 1723, and married Mary Dole the following year. Tucke also acted as a physician on the island during his forty years there. A portion of his salary was paid in fish, and his congregation built a parsonage for him and his family. He remained the minister until his death in 1773. The War of Independence caused most of the residents to leave the island. 

In the late nineteenth century, Star Island became the site of summer meetings for Congregationalists and Unitarians. The island was purchased in the early twentieth century by the United Church of Christ (UCC). In 1914, an obelisk monument was created at the grave of  Rev. Tucke on the island. 

This collection contains records of the church kept by Rev. John Tucke, and include baptisms, admissions, dismissions, marriages, meeting notes, and disciplinary records. 

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.