In Church Attics, Clues to the Private Life of Early America

NY Times ^ | July 30, 2014 | MICHAEL PAULSON

[Pharmboy]

STURBRIDGE, Mass. — Sarah Blanchard was sorry she skipped a worship service. Sarah Wood apologized for denouncing infant baptisms. And as for the Cheneys, Joseph and Abigail? Well, “with shame, humiliation and sorrow,” they acknowledged having had sex before marriage.

More than 250 years ago, their confessions of sin were dutifully logged by the minister of the church here, alongside records of baptisms, marriages and deaths, notes about meetings heated and routine, accounts of finances, texts of sermons, and, in some cases, personal accounts of conversion experiences from young adults.

Now, in a regionwide scavenger hunt, a pair of historians is rummaging through New England church basements and attics, file cabinets, safes and even coat closets, searching for these records of early American life. The historians are racing against inexorable church closings, occasional fires, and a more mundane but not uncommon peril: the actual loss of documents, which most often occurs when a church elder dies and no one can remember the whereabouts of historical papers.

“I have seen them be destroyed, lost, covered with mold or just forgotten,” said the Rev. Janet Leighninger, the pastor of the Federated Church of Sturbridge and Fiskdale here. “And as finances get tighter, as they are everywhere, and as congregations shrink, and they are doing that in many places, it becomes a matter of, ‘Do we do the ministry we are called to do, or do we preserve the past?’ ”

[Pharmboy]

When there's no politics involved, the Times is able to do a good job. This is a great piece, and please check out the pics at the link.

[Pharmboy]

Southwick, MA, Congregational Church

The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list

[Farmer Dean]

Why would the Pastor write down all the sins of the congregation?Did the folks know he was recording all this?

[exit82]

SC—ping for the GGG fans.

Pharmboy—nice article.

Wouldn’t it be grand if these records sparked a new revival, and New England would not only find God again, but also the fire of liberty was re-kindled?

[Pharmboy]

Good question. I guess things were different then...would be interested to know if this was the general rule in these churches at the time. Perhaps a Freeper who is familiar with New England church history can tell us.

[afraidfortherepublic]

My goodness! I think of all of the invective Protestants turn against Catholics for the practice of Confession. At least Catholics don’t write the sins down to be read by nosy parishioners and researchers 100’s of years later!

[Flick Lives]

Great. We’ve got the private confessions of church goers from 250 years ago. We can’t get emails from the IRS from 2 years ago.

[GeronL]

I don’t think we are supposed to be dragging fights from other threads around

[afraidfortherepublic]

I am speaking in general, not about any other thread. As a Catholic convert I’ve heard it all from my mostly Protestant family. Before I converted to the Catholic faith, I was a member of a Congregationalist Church, and I heard it there too.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I am speaking in general, not about any other thread. As a Catholic convert I’ve heard it all from my mostly Protestant family. Before I converted to the Catholic faith, I was a member of a Congregationalist Church, and I heard it there too.

[Theoria]

Ugh. Last year, nyt, ran a article about collecting relics of the Churches[Staten Island] being sold off for development. kinda depressing.

For Artifacts From Closed Churches, an Afterlife on Staten Island

[Pharmboy]

Fantastic comment! Post o’ the day! You REALLY made me LOL!!

[Tennessee Nana]

Huh they are pikers...

In 1630 my ancestor was member #21 of the Boston church and in 1632 there “happened in this town (Charlestown) the first known thief that was notoriously observed in the country”...

Since he had everything taken from him that first time to make restitution, the 2nd time his 7 yo daughter was put into slavery until she was 21..

While I have at least ONE slave ancestor in the US, Obama had NONE...

[Alex Murphy]

....in a regionwide scavenger hunt, a pair of historians is rummaging through New England church basements and attics, file cabinets, safes and even coat closets, searching for these records of early American life. The historians are racing against inexorable church closings, occasional fires, and a more mundane but not uncommon peril: the actual loss of documents, which most often occurs when a church elder dies and no one can remember the whereabouts of historical papers.

“I have seen them be destroyed, lost, covered with mold or just forgotten,” said the Rev. Janet Leighninger, the pastor of the Federated Church of Sturbridge and Fiskdale here. “And as finances get tighter, as they are everywhere, and as congregations shrink, and they are doing that in many places, it becomes a matter of, ‘Do we do the ministry we are called to do, or do we preserve the past?’ ”

PFL

[Pharmboy]

But, what happened to him the second time? His daughter paid his debt? Incredible story, BTW...do you have written records or was this oral history passed down through the family?

[HiTech RedNeck]

“And as finances get tighter, as they are everywhere, and as congregations shrink, and they are doing that in many places, it becomes a matter of, ‘Do we do the ministry we are called to do, or do we preserve the past?’ ”

Well, I'm not sure how godly a thing it is to record confessions for posterity, unless the people doing the confessing absolutely insist upon it in which case it should be up to them to go to the trouble.

[HiTech RedNeck]

This wouldn’t have been possible (in principle) after the Constitution. But those were some wild, wooly days.

[njslim]

Peyton Place.....??????

[Tennessee Nana]

From records held by the New England Historical Genealogical Society etc..

[Foundahardheadedwoman]

Great story, it did surprise me that it was the NY Times that published it. Thanks.