Browse the First Congregational Church records in Canterbury, Connecticut

The First Congregational Church of Canterbury, Connecticut was organized in 1711. The first settled minister was Rev. Samuel Estabrook, who was ordained in 1711 and served until his death in 1727. Rev. John Wadsworth was ordained in 1729 and dismissed in 1741. Wadsworth asked to be dismissed after Hannah Reed accused him of being the father of her child, a charge he did not deny. The church was without a minister for a few years during the Great Awakening and had lay preachers, until Rev. James Cogswell was called in 1744. A portion of the congregation did not approve of Cogswell and separated in 1744 to form the North Congregational Church in Canterbury. Another congregation was formed in 1770 in Canterbury as the Westminster Congregational Church. Cogswell was dismissed in 1771 to become the minister in Scotland, Connecticut, and a new minister, Rev. Soloman Morgan, was ordained in Canterbury in 1783. Later ministers in the nineteenth century included Revs. George Leonard, Asa Meech, James Wheelock, Dennis Platt, and Otis Whiton.

The first meetinghouse was built around the time the church was organized in 1711. A new meetinghouse was constructed in 1736, and another in 1805. That building was destroyed by fire in 1963 and rebuilt. The First Congregational Church of Canterbury is active today and is a member of the United Church of Christ (UCC).

This collection contains one volume of church records and one volume of society records, which include membership, baptisms, marriages, deaths, disciplinary records, financial records, and meeting notes.

Materials in this collection have been digitized in partnership with the Connecticut State Library and have been made available through our New England's Hidden Histories project.