Nathan Webb

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Nathan Webb, an early American Congregational Church minister, was born on April 9, 1705, at Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. He died on March 17, 1772 at Uxbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Nathan Webb was born to Benjamin Webb (1667-1739) and Susanna Ballentine. He married Ruth Adams in Braintree on November 23, 1731. The Reverend Nathan Webb was the first called minister of the new Congregational Church in the newly incorporated (1727) Town of Uxbridge. The Uxbridge Congregational Church was officially split from the church at Mendon. Reverend Webb was called on January 6, 1731.[2] This church was the first church to be built in the new town of Uxbridge.

[edit] Ordination and career

He was ordained at the Uxbridge First Congregational Church on February 3, 1731. The Uxbridge Church is the first to be mentioned in a list of 45 new Congregational churches in New England which were started in the decade beginning in 1731.[2] The churches of this period were attributed by the text cited below to the Great Awakening, an early American historical religious movement that sprang up in the Connecticut River Valley, led by ministers such as Jonathan Edwards, another Congregational minister.[2]. Reverend Webb spent his entire career in the ministry at Uxbridge, spanning over 40 years of service. It appears that his ministry is among the longest to ever serve this parish. Some early histories of the town record the prominence of this church and the role that he and the church played in this new pioneer community. His ministry spanned the pre-Revolutionary War period of Uxbridge, at the Massachusetts Colony.

[edit] Death and afterwards

Rev. Webb served in Uxbridge until his death at the age of 66 in 1772.[1] The Worcester County history text reports that he "continued in the faithful service of the Master" until his death.[1] "He bequeathed 16 British Sterling Pounds to the church for the purposes of purchasing 3 silver cups to be engraved with the names of Nathan Webb, Ruth Webb, and Elizabeth Webb. He then bequeathed 26 Pounds, 13 Shillings, and 4 cents to be invested and improved forever toward the work of the learned, pious and orthodox Congregational ministry of said church forever".[1] The present location of the Congregational Church, in the Uxbridge Common District, changed from the 1830's due to a split with the more liberal Unitarian Church tradition.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Perkins, Abijah Marvin (1879). " History of Worcester County; Embracing a Comprehensive History of the County from it s Earliest Beginnings;. CF Jewitt and Company, p.429. 
  2. ^ a b c "Historical Sketch of Congregational Churches of Massachusetts from 1731-1740" by Joseph Sylvester Clark page 148. Congregational Church Board. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.