Baptists in Early North America, Volume III

The Baptists in Early North America Series provides a unique contribution to religious and Baptist scholarship, recovering never-before-published original records and manuscripts for students, scholars, and genealogists. Baptists in Early North AmericaNewport, Rhode Island, Seventh Day Baptists , Volume III covers the period 1664 to 1808, from the date some members of Newports first Baptist church began meeting for worship on the seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday) through the first 137 years of their life as the Newport Seventh Day Baptist Church. Transcriptions of the churchs first three record books (16921808) are preceded by extensive excerpts from the manuscripts and letters of Samuel Hubbard, one of the founding members; these document the origins in John Clarkes Newport Baptist church and the influences from Sabbathkeeping Baptists in mid-seventeenth century England. The record follows the covenant community, nurtured in colonial Rhode Islands unique religious freedom, from Newports pioneer period through its Golden Age as a major colonial seaport and its devastation during the Revolutionary War. Scattered membership could be found east and south into Plymouth Colony and Marthas Vineyard and west to Westerly and Hopkinton, Rhode Island, and New London, Connecticut. Members from Native Americans and African servants to Rhode Island Governors and wealthy merchants are also documented. This congregation had involvement with other Baptists in founding Rhode Island College (Brown University) and through the Second Great Awakening, then joined with daughter congregations and others to form the Seventh Day Baptist General Conference in 1802.