Browse the First Church records in Boston, Massachusetts

The First Church of Boston was gathered in July 1630, and the church covenant was drawn up by John Winthrop and the passengers on the Arbella upon their arrival in Boston. It was the first Congregational church formed by English settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Rev. John Wilson (1588-1667) was the first minister. Wilson was born in Suffolk, England and came to Massachusetts in 1630 with John Winthrop. Wilson shared ministerial duties in the church with John Cotton (1585-1652), and both participated in the proceedings during the Antinomian Controversy when Anne Hutchinson and John Wheelwright were banished from the colony over theological differences. 

Several congregations have merged with First Church over the course of its history, including the Fourth (1876), Fifth (1884), and Eighth (1925) Churches of Boston.  In 1970, the First and Second Churches of Boston merged. Today, First Church is a Unitarian Universalist church. 

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