History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog

Churches 107
October 1867; Rev. J. A. Baskwell, settled May, 1868;
closed his pastorate September 1870; January, 1871, called
Rev. C. Bray to the pastorate, he closed his labors May, 1874;
the church was supplied by R. E. Barrows and others until
April 1876 when Rev. J. W. Horton was settled for the
second time; he closed his labors about the 1st of January,
1882.
The present pastor, Rev. G. W. Bixby, commenced his
labors in February, 1882.
Up to 1846 this church occupied, probably, the oldest
church building in this county, and the oldest Baptist house
in America. Tradition says it was built the year after Elder
Luther's death,—that is, in 1717, and in 1723 an order was
passed by the church for raising money to complete the payment
for building the meeting-house. It was forty-one and a
half feet long and thirty-three feet wide, about twenty-two
feet between joints, unplastered, and open to the roof till
1802. It will thus be seen that this church, the first Baptist
Church in Massachusetts and the fourth in America, has
maintained its visibihty over two hundred and fifty years.
Four churches have been formed from this.
The church is now (1883) in a low state, having been
reduced by deaths, removals, and exclusions, numbering now
about fifty. Most of these are elderly persons, invalids, or on
the retired list, unable to do much for the church or cause of
Christ. The senior deacon, who for many years had been the
leading spirit in the church, died Nov. 29, 1882, at the age of
ninety-two.
The Rev. George W. Bixby ended his pastorate in 1891;
and the Rev. Fred E. Bixby became the pastor in 1892 ; and
was in charge until 1898, when the Rev. Lucian Drury took
up the work and continued until 1904. From that date to
1907, there was no settled minister. The Rev. Reuben J.
Davis began his pastorate in 1907 and remained but one year.
From 1908 to 1913 there was another vacancy. In 1913 the
Rev. Frederick J. Dark, the present pastor, began his labors;
and in October of that year, the Two Hundred Fiftieth
Anniversary of the Founding of the Church, the First Baptist
Church in Massachusetts, was commemorated, in Swansea;
at Warren, R. I., in the Town Hall, Swansea; and in Tremont
Temple, Boston.
The programmes, addresses, with much valuable historical
matter was pubHshed in book form by the Backus Histor-
ical Society of Boston, 1913, under the title of Elements in
Baptist Development,