|
Church History and Archives
Our History
Gathered by the English Puritan settlers of Massachusetts Bay Colony
in August of 1629, The First Church in Salem is one of the oldest
churches organized in North America and the first to be governed
by congregational polity.* During its
long history the theological position of the Church has changed,
most significantly in the early 1800's when Unitarianism was embraced.
Starting in 1718, the Church itself broke into five different churches,
with all but one rejoining the original First Church in later years.
Today, the congregation worships at the meetinghouse of the North
Church, built in 1836. The one congregation that remains independent
is the Tabernacle Church in Salem, which separated from the First
Church in 1734 over a row about a minister at the time.
The present church edifice (dedicated in 1836) is the second Meeting
House of the North Church which separated from the First Church
in 1772 and reunited with it in 1923. It is early English Gothic
style in design and is constructed of Quincy granite. The First
Church in Salem has been responsible for several of the well known
landmarks within the town of Salem including the Daniel Lowe Building
on Washington Street (the meetinghouse for the First Church up until
1923 when they merged with the North Church) and the Witch Museum
on Salem Common (the meetinghouse for the Second Church in Salem
which split from the First Church in 1719 and reunited with it in
1956).
For a longer version of our history, click
here.
(* Note: The other two churches
that date back to this period or before are the Marble Collegiate
Church in New York City and the First Church in Plymouth, Massachusetts).
First Church History Page Highlights
Our Meetinghouse
The present church edifice (dedicated in 1836) is the second Meeting
House of the North Church which separated from the First Church
in 1772 and reunited with it in 1923. It is early English Gothic
style in design and is constructed of Quincy granite. The First
Church in Salem has been responsible for several of the well known
landmarks within the town of Salem including the Daniel Lowe Building
on Washington Street (the meetinghouse for the First Church up until
1923 when they merged with the North Church) and the Witch Museum
on Salem Common (the meetinghouse for the Second Church in Salem
which split from the First Church in 1719 and reunited with it in
1956).
Separations and Mergers
| The First Church |
1629-Present |
| The North Church |
1772-1923 |
| The East Church |
1719-1899 |
| The Barton Square Church |
1824-1899 |
| The Second Church |
1899-1956 |
| |
|
| In 1772, the North Church separated
from the First Church. |
| In 1719, the East Church separated
from the First Church. |
| In 1824, the Barton Square Church
separated from the First Church. |
| In 1899, the East Church and the
Barton Square Church merged to form the Second Church. |
| In 1923, the North Church and
Second Church reunited with the First Church. |
First Church
Succession of Ministers
| 1629 |
Francis Higginson |
1630 |
| 1629 |
Samuel Skelton |
1634 |
| 1635 |
Roger Williams |
1635 |
| 1636 |
Hugh Peter |
1641 |
| 1640 |
Edward Norris |
1658 |
| 1660 |
John Higginson |
1708 |
| 1660 |
Nicholas Noyes |
1717 |
| 1714 |
George Curwen |
1717 |
| 1718 |
Samuel Fiske |
1735 |
| 1736 |
John Sparhawk |
1755 |
| 1755 |
Thomas Barnard |
1776 |
| 1772 |
Asa Dunbar |
1779 |
| 1779 |
John Prince |
1836 |
| 1824 |
Charles Wentworth Upham |
1844 |
| 1846 |
Thomas Treadwell Stone |
1852 |
| 1853 |
George Ware Briggs |
1867 |
| 1868 |
James Tracy Hewes |
1875 |
| 1877 |
Fielder Israel |
1889 |
| 1890 |
George Croswell Cressey |
1896 |
| 1897 |
Elvin James Prescott |
1902 |
| 1903 |
Peter Hair Goldsmith |
1910 |
| 1911 |
Edward Dunbar Johnson |
1921 |
| 1923 |
Theodore Davenport Bacon |
1924 |
| 1925 |
Thomas Henry Billings |
1934 |
| 1935 |
Bradford Eugene Gale |
1958 |
| 1959 |
John Kohlsaat Hammon |
1964 |
| 1965 |
Ronald Michael Mazur |
1970 |
| 1970 |
Robert William Cummings |
1977 |
| 1978 |
John Richard Bernard Szala |
1991 |
| 1994 |
Kenneth A. Clarke |
1997 |
| 1997 |
Jeffrey Philip Snell |
|
| |
|
|
North Church Succession of Ministers
| 1772 |
Thomas Barnard, Jr. |
1814 |
| 1815 |
John Emery Abbott |
1819 |
| 1820 |
John Brazer |
1846 |
| 1847 |
Octavius Brooks Frothingham |
1855 |
| 1855 |
Charles Lowe |
1857 |
| 1859 |
Edmund Burke Willson |
1895 |
| 1893 |
George Dimmick Latimer |
1907 |
| 1907 |
Theodore Davenport Bacon |
1923 |
| |
|
|
East Church Succession of Ministers
| 1719 |
Robert Stanton |
1727 |
| 1728 |
William Jennison |
1737 |
| 1737 |
James Diman |
1788 |
| 1783 |
William Bentley |
1819 |
| 1821 |
James Flint |
1855 |
| 1851 |
Dexter Clapp |
1864 |
| 1865 |
Samuel C. Beane |
1878 |
| 1879 |
George Herbert Hosmer |
1886 |
| 1886 |
William Henry Ramsay |
1888 |
| 1892 |
Edward D. Towle |
1897 |
| |
|
|
Barton Square Church Succession of Ministers
| 1824 |
Henry Colman |
1831 |
| 1831 |
James W. Thompson |
1859 |
| 1862 |
A. M. Haskell |
1866 |
| 1866 |
George Batchelor |
1882 |
| 1883 |
Benjamin F. McDaniel |
1886 |
| 1887 |
F. B. Mott |
1891 |
| 1893 |
Alfred Manchester |
1899 |
| |
|
|
The Second Church Succession of Ministers
| 1899 |
Alfred Manchester |
1926 |
| 1927 |
James Luther Adams |
1934 |
| 1934 |
Duncan Howlett |
1938 |
| 1938 |
Frank B. Crandall |
1953 |
| 1953 |
Edmond Ayers |
1955 |
| |
|
|
Prominent Parishioners
|
|
| Samuel Skelton |
The Church's first pastor (1629-1634). |
| Francis Higginson |
The author of the Church's Covenant and its
first teacher (1629-1630) |
| Roger Williams |
Founder of the First Baptist Church in America;
third minister of this church in 1635. |
| Hugh Peter |
The Church's fourth minister (1636-1641) return
to England and became chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and was
hanged, drawn and quartered for complicity in the death of
King Charles I. |
| Rebecca Nurse and Giles Cory |
Two of the victims of the witchcraft hysteria
of 1692, were members of this Church. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Other notables include:
|
|
|
|
| Nathaniel Hawthorne |
And the Hawthorne family |
| Jones Very |
Transcendentalist |
| Lincoln F. Bingham |
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts |
| Arthur Foote |
Composer |
| Edward Sylvester Morse |
Biologist and authority on Japanese culture |
| Nathaniel Peabody |
Father of the Peabody sisters: Sophia Peabody
Hawthorne, Mary Peabody Mann, and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody.
|
| Leverett Saltonstall |
First mayor of Salem |
| Charles Dexter Cleveland |
American Consul at Cardiff |
| Henry K. Oliver |
Organist and composer |
| |
|
|
