1. The Two Churches of Salem, New York.
- Author
-
Codington, Dorothy
- Subjects
SCOTS-Irish ,PRESBYTERIANS ,RELIGIOUS disputations ,CHURCH polity ,PRESBYTERIANISM ,AMERICANIZATION ,HISTORY - Abstract
Having two churches of the same denomination in one small town in 1770 was unusual. This paper explores the migration and settlement of two very different groups of settlers, both of which originated as Ulster Scots. It explores the changes that occurred in religious practice with exposure and intermarriage. The Scots Irish who lived in New England remained a community, but practiced Congregational Presbyterianism, a form of Presbyterianism with Congregational church governance. The Scots Irish who had just arrived in America adhered to the traditional government of the Scottish Kirk. This led to disagreements between the two groups, and the eventual founding of the second church. Salem, New York, was founded by two groups of Ulster Scots. The first arrived in America in 1718, among the earliest Scots-Irish Protestants to arrive in Boston. They moved to central Massachusetts, where they assimilated with the English Congregationalist settlers who were moving into the district. The sons of these settlers fought battles for the Massachusetts militia in the border lands on the New York-Vermont line. Hoping to protect this area from French invasions via Lakes Champlain and George, as well as incursions from Vermont, the Crown Government of New York granted this area to the first group of Ulster Scots in the 1750s. The second group of Ulster Scots moved directly to northern New York from Ballibay, Ireland, in 1765. They purchased land from speculators and moved as a group with their religious leader, Dr. Thomas Clark. Although both groups were Scots Presbyterian, the New Englanders had adopted Congregational ideas about church government. Differences in opinion as to how a church should be governed led to Clark's unchurching the New Englanders. Famously stubborn and proud of their hard work, they built a second Presbyterian church in 1770, only two blocks from the first. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010