Browse the First Congregational Church records in Guilford, Connecticut

The First Congregational Church in Guilford, Connecticut was organized in 1643 with Rev. Henry Whitfield as its minister. In 1650, Whitfield was dismissed to return to England. The second settled minister was Whitfield’s son-in-law, Rev. John Higginson. Higginson served as minister from 1650 until 1659, when he left and became minister at the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts where his father, Francis Higginson, had been minister. Rev. Joseph Eliot, son of the missionary John Eliot, was ordained as minister in 1664 and continued until his death in 1694. In 1695, Rev. Thomas Ruggles was ordained and served as minister in Guilford until his death in 1728. He was followed by his son, Rev. Thomas Ruggles, Jr., who was ordained in 1729 and served until his death in 1770. Rev. Ruggles’ assistant minister, Rev. Amos Fowler, was ordained in 1757 and took over after Ruggles’ death, serving as minister until  his own death in 1800. Later ministers in the nineteenth century included Revs. Israel Brainerd, Aaron Dutton, and Edwin Hall.

The first meetinghouse was built around the time of the town’s founding in 1643. A new, larger meetinghouse was constructed in 1713, and the present church building was constructed in 1830. The First Church is still active today and is a member of the United Church of Christ (UCC). 

This collection contains three volumes of church records which include admissions, baptisms, marriages, deaths, disciplinary records, meeting notes, financial records, and ecclesiastical society records.  

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.