EARLY HISTORY (1776 to 1806)
(From the manual of the Congregational Church of Winthrop as revised April 18, 1949) (This account is taken from the History of the Congregational Churches in Maine, Vol. II, (1935) by Prof. Calvin M. Clark used by permission of the Congregational Christian Conference of Maine, Publishers.) OF THE 264 Maine Congregational Churches listed in the 1947 Year Book, the Winthrop Church is the 23rd oldest, having been organized on September 4, 1776, with 27 Covenant members. It was the first Congregational Church to be organized within the present limits of Kennebec County
The settlement of Winthrop was first known as Pond Town, and had been begun in 1765 or 1766 about a decade before the organization of the Church. The plantation included the territory of what became the town of Readfield in 1791, and a part of Wayne. Pond Town became incorporated as the town of Winthrop in 1771. At a town meeting held in May of that year a committee of three was appointed to obtain and pay a preacher. Thurston Whiting preached considerably prior to 1776, and was invited to settle but declined. Jeremiah Shaw preached in 1776, and was preaching in town at the time the Church was organized. He, too, was called as Pastor and declined the call, as did Zaccheus Colby who followed Mr. Shaw as preacher Later there was only casual preaching by Mr. Whiting, Rev. Ezekiel Emerson of Georgetown, by a Mr. Sweat, and possibly others, till 1782. On January 2, 1782, the Rev. David Jewett became the first settled Pastor, his service of Installation being held in the barn of Squire Bishop. The Pastor died fourteen months later, and for seventeen years the Church was without a resident minister.
In 1779 the town voted to divide the territory into two parishes by an east and west line, this being the beginning of the division of the town into the two towns of Winthrop and Readfield. A meeting-house had been begun by the town in 1774, but was never finished, so that services were largely held in private homes. This unfinished house was sold in 1774, and the town voted to build a meeting house for both parts of the town. That in the south part of the town, Winthrop, was not finished even as late as 1800. In this year, the town having refused to act any longer in ecclesiastical affairs, a poll parish, known as the First Congregational Society of Winthrop, was incorporated by the legislature with the consent of the town To this society the town turned over the meeting house on certain conditions, one of which was that it should still be used as a Townhouse. In 1806 the Society was dissolved, the house reverted to the town, which continued to use it as a Townhouse until 1854. In 1800, an orderly succession of Pastors was begun by the ordination of Mr. Jonathan Belden on August 27.
(From the manual of the Congregational Church of Winthrop as revised April 18, 1949) (This account is taken from the History of the Congregational Churches in Maine, Vol. II, (1935) by Prof. Calvin M. Clark used by permission of the Congregational Christian Conference of Maine, Publishers.) OF THE 264 Maine Congregational Churches listed in the 1947 Year Book, the Winthrop Church is the 23rd oldest, having been organized on September 4, 1776, with 27 Covenant members. It was the first Congregational Church to be organized within the present limits of Kennebec County
The settlement of Winthrop was first known as Pond Town, and had been begun in 1765 or 1766 about a decade before the organization of the Church. The plantation included the territory of what became the town of Readfield in 1791, and a part of Wayne. Pond Town became incorporated as the town of Winthrop in 1771. At a town meeting held in May of that year a committee of three was appointed to obtain and pay a preacher. Thurston Whiting preached considerably prior to 1776, and was invited to settle but declined. Jeremiah Shaw preached in 1776, and was preaching in town at the time the Church was organized. He, too, was called as Pastor and declined the call, as did Zaccheus Colby who followed Mr. Shaw as preacher Later there was only casual preaching by Mr. Whiting, Rev. Ezekiel Emerson of Georgetown, by a Mr. Sweat, and possibly others, till 1782. On January 2, 1782, the Rev. David Jewett became the first settled Pastor, his service of Installation being held in the barn of Squire Bishop. The Pastor died fourteen months later, and for seventeen years the Church was without a resident minister.
In 1779 the town voted to divide the territory into two parishes by an east and west line, this being the beginning of the division of the town into the two towns of Winthrop and Readfield. A meeting-house had been begun by the town in 1774, but was never finished, so that services were largely held in private homes. This unfinished house was sold in 1774, and the town voted to build a meeting house for both parts of the town. That in the south part of the town, Winthrop, was not finished even as late as 1800. In this year, the town having refused to act any longer in ecclesiastical affairs, a poll parish, known as the First Congregational Society of Winthrop, was incorporated by the legislature with the consent of the town To this society the town turned over the meeting house on certain conditions, one of which was that it should still be used as a Townhouse. In 1806 the Society was dissolved, the house reverted to the town, which continued to use it as a Townhouse until 1854. In 1800, an orderly succession of Pastors was begun by the ordination of Mr. Jonathan Belden on August 27.
