Browse the First Congregational Church records in Hanover, Massachusetts

First settled in 1649, the westernmost portion of Scituate was incorporated as the town of Hanover, Massachusetts, in 1727. By the end of the year a location for the first meeting house was chosen. Construction began in late 1727 and ended the following year. Benjamin Bass, a 1715 graduate of Harvard, was called to become the first minister of the First Congregational Church in Hanover. The church was formally gathered on December 5, 1728, with ten members subscribed to the covenant, and Bass was ordained a few days later on December 11.

During Rev. Bass’s pastorate, he oversaw the transition to a "new way" of singing in 1742 and opened the first lending library in Hanover, though it was limited to members of the church. Rev. Bass served as the minister until his death in 1756. He was followed by Rev. Samuel Baldwin. By 1764, it was decided that the first meeting house could no longer comfortably accommodate the growing parish; construction on the second meeting house was completed in 1765. In 1784, the church spire was replaced with a belfry to accommodate a gift of a bell from Thomas Josselyn, an original member and deacon of the church.

In 1824, Rev. Seth Chapin resigned, and was subsequently dismissed by an ecclesiastical council, over the church’s inability to meet his salary requirements. Shortly after his resignation, the Female Helping Society was formed with the purpose of raising funds to support the minister’s salary. In 1826 construction on the third meeting house was begun and the building’s dedication service was the following year. On March 10, 1854, 32 members were dismissed to organize a Trinitarian Church; this became the Second Congregational Church and was also known as the Four Corners Church. On January 18, 1863, the third meeting house, and also the Hanover town hall, was destroyed by a fire. The fourth, and final, meeting house was dedicated on April 27, 1864. In 1868, the church voted to allow women to attend parish meetings.

In 1920, the church and society were incorporated under a single legal entity, The First Congregational Church of Hanover, Massachusetts. During the twentieth-century, the church greatly expanded its Christian Education program. In 1961 the church joined the United Church of Christ. The First Congregational Church of Hanover continues to serve the local community today.

In 1895, L. Vernon Briggs, a local historian and psychiatrist, published his "History and records of the First Congregational church, Hanover, Mass., 1727-1865, and inscriptions from the headstones and tombs in the cemetery at Centre Hanover, Mass., 1727-1894. Being volume I of the church and cemetery records of Hanover, Mass." This book, which has been digitized by the Internet Archive, includes transcriptions of records found within this collection.