Tag: David Beale

John Gano (1727-1804) was the first full-time pastor of First Baptist in the City of New York (est. 1762). During the War of Independence, Gano served as chaplain to George Washington. In 1891, during the ministry of I.M. Haldeman (1845-1933), the church erected its present building at 265 West 79th Street at Broadway. (See Chapter 16). copyrighted and used by permission Read more...

Hopewell Baptist Church is on West Broad Street (Hopewell, New Jersey). One of its most notable pastors was Oliver Hart (1723-95). Gravestones in the church cemetery include those of Isaac Eaton and John Hart, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Hart was not a member here, but he donated the land on which the building stands. Revolutionary War veterans lie Read more...

Hopewell Academy (est. 1756), a Latin grammar school, founded by Isaac Eaton, pastor at Hopewell Baptist, was the earliest Baptist academy in America. The building is now a private home, but a historical plaque stands near the street. The academy’s alumni included James Manning, founder of Brown University. Other alumni included the “Baptist Whitefield,” Hezekiah Smith, who was a classmate with Read more...

In 1801, the Church of the Pilgrimage broke off from the First Parish Church in Plymouth in the Unitarian Controversy. The Congregationalists formed this church, which later became part of the United Church of Christ. On the front of the church is this plaque:   This tablet is inscribed in grateful memory of the Pilgrims and of their successors who Read more...

At Williams College (Congregational), a twelve-foot-high marble monument, called the Haystack Prayer Meeting Memorial, commemorates “The Birthplace of American Foreign Missions 1806,” out of which came Baptists Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice. See the section, “Haystack Prayer Meeting at Williams College (1806),” in Chapter 17. copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist History in England and America: Personalities, Positions, and Read more...

In the church cemetery at Bethabara Baptist Church, at 635 Bethabara Church Road, there stands a memorial monument, with detailed script honoring its founder, the celebrated church planter and evangelist, John Waller, who suffered persecution for preaching the gospel without state approval. copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist History in England and America: Personalities, Positions, and Practices   Bethabara Read more...

Before you leave Plymouth, head on up to Burial Hill. It’s a steep climb, but there are steps. Inside a white fence is not a grave, but a cenotaph, “a monument to someone buried elsewhere.” Adoniram Judson was the son of a Congregational minister in Plymouth, but he fell in with the wrong friends. While at Brown University, he was Read more...

John Lathrop, the second pastor of London’s J-L-J Church, immigrated to Barnstable, where his house, built in 1644, still stands as part of the Sturgis Library, at 3090 Main Street. Here, one can stand in the room that once served as Lathrop’s meetinghouse. On display is Lathrop’s copy of the Scriptures – a 1605 Bishops’ Bible. See the section, “John Read more...

Organized in London, in 1616, and now situated in a seaside village, in the northwest part of Barnstable, [John] Lathrop’s church is West Barnstable Parish Church, at 2049 Meetinghouse Way. It is the only existing remnant of the J-L-J Church – from whom the earliest Particular Baptists in England departed, during 1633-38, to gather their own churches. Erected in 1717 and Read more...

On the back campus of Phillips Academy, one can walk down “Judson Road” and visit the secluded area by the “Rabbit Pond,” where Adoniram Judson, Luther Rice, and other believers kneeled each morning by a huge boulder, prayer for missions, and dedicated their lives to God. On that boulder (affectionately called “Missionary Rock“), citizens of Andover, in 1910, affixed a memorial Read more...

The grave of Henry Dunster, first president of Harvard College, is in the Old Burying Ground (adjacent to First Church, Unitarian) on Church Street. Harvard forced Dunster out of the presidency for his defense of believer’s baptism by immersion. Harvard never had a greater president. (See Chapter 13.). copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist History in England and America: Read more...

First Baptist Church was founded by Thomas Gould, in 1665. In 1872, Brattle Square Unitarian Church erected a brick building, at 110 Commonwealth Avenue. By 1876, the church was extinct, and First Baptist purchased the building. (See Chapter 13). copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist History in England and America: Personalities, Positions, and Practices   Wikipedia: The First Baptist Read more...

Founded by John Myles from Wales, the First Baptist Church of Swansea, at 21 Baptist Street, was the first Baptist church in Massachusetts. Its present building dates to 1848, and its adjacent cemetery dates to 1731. (See Chapter 13). copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist History in England and America: Personalities, Positions, and Practices   Founded in 1663 Read more...

The Chesterfield County Museum, at 6813 Mimms Loop, is a replica of the 1749 courthouse where magistrates, during 1770-74, sentenced seven Baptist preachers to jail for preaching Christ without state-church approval. Where the jail once stood, there now stands the Religious Freedom Monument, a grantie memorial with a bronze tablet inscribed to the memory of those Baptist preachers. See the section, “Virginia Read more...

The grave of notable Baptist, John Weatherford, lies in a wooded area near Shockoe Baptist Church, at 16 Spring Garden Road. His tomb inscription reads Elder John Weatherford A devoted Baptist Minister Born in 1740, began to preach in 1764. He lay in Chesterfield jail in 1773 5 months for preaching. He moved to Halifax in 1813 and died Jan. 23, Read more...

On the corner of Church and School streets stands a concrete replica of the cider press that produced the gigantic cheese that John Leland gave to President Thomas Jefferson. In Cheshire Cemetery, Leland’s obelisk grave-marker displays a commemorative plaque, See “The Big Cheshire Cheese,” in Chapter 16. copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist History in England and America: Read more...

From Wikipedia: John Leland (May 14, 1754 – January 14, 1841) was an American Baptist minister who preached in Massachusetts and Virginia, as well as an outspoken abolitionist. He was an important figure in the struggle for religious liberty in the United States.[1][2][3] Leland also later opposed the rise of missionary societies among Baptists.[4]   In Cheshire Cemetery, Leland’s obelisk grave-marker displays a commemorative plaque. copyrighted and used by Read more...

  The Leland-Madison Memorial Park, six miles east of Orange, at the intersection of US 20/Constitution Highway and SR 658/Clifton Road, is the place where James Madison met in an oak grove with Baptist-Evangelist John Leland, to discuss the issue of religious freedom of conscience. This meeting led to the Bill of Rights. copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist Read more...

Luther Rice preached his final sermon at Pine Pleasant Baptist Church (est. 1831). His remains were laid to rest here in the churchyard, at 457 Pine Pleasant Road. Under a distinctive canopy, his tomb has a marble slab with a biographical inscription. copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist History in England and America: Personalities, Positions, and Practices   From Wikipedia: Read more...

Once known as “Backus Memorial Baptist Church,” First Baptist Church of North Middleboro, Massachusetts, is now in its third building since Isaac Backus founded it in 1756. It stands at the intersection of Plymouth and Bedford Streets. copyrighted and used by permission from David Beale, Baptist History in England and America: Personalities, Positions, and Practices   Featured Image Credit: KJV Churches. “First Read more...