The Congregational Churches of Vermon and their Ministry 1762-1914

JOHN M. COMSTOCK 1877. Caledonian Company. St. Johnsbury, Vt.

This volume of 199 pages gives a too brief historical account of Congregationalism in Vermont. As the author states in his preface the volume is largely statistical. This book, as all who are familiar with Mr. Comstock's work in other lines well know, shows a great deal of time expended and extremely careful work in the preparation and verification of the statistics.

We learn that the first Protestant church established in Vermont was a Congregational church organized at Bennington in 1762. Before 1780 there were twenty-one Congregational churches in Vermont, only two of which were west of the Green Mountains. Of these the Dothan church, known to many as "The Church of Christ of Dartmouth College in its North Hartford Branch" was organized in 1771. After the brief historical sketch of Congregationalism and its societies follow statistical tables valuable to the historian and genealogist. The first is a table of the towns of the state arranged alphabetically with a list of the Congregational ministers who have served these towns. Then follows a table giving an alphabetical list of Congregational ministers who have served the state. The data in this table include place and date of birth, collegiate and theological training, date of ordination, pastorates served, and place and date of death if not living. From this table it is interesting to note the part Dartmouth. College has played in serving Vermont. Of the 1721 Congregational ministers who have labored or are now laboring in Vermont 259 are graduates of Dartmouth College. Middlebury comes second with 171, then Yale and. Amherst with 127 each, University of Vermont with 84 and Harvard with 41 graduates. Following this table is a table giving a list of natives of Vermont who have gone into the Congregational or Presbyterian ministry.

Vermonters and all interested in Congregationalism should be indebted to Mr. Comstock for this very valuable piece of work. R.