THE FIRST CHURCH IN JAFFREY, NH
an example of evolutions in New England congregational church life

When the middle Monadnock area was opened for settlement (c. 1750), it was specified that there must be built “a Good Convenient Meeting House near the Town Center” and that one share of land “be for the Settled Minister,” whose salary, by tradition, would be paid from taxes levied on all citizens.

By 1773 there were enough settlers in the district to qualify for a Town charter.  The name “Jaffrey” was bestowed on it, and at the second Town Meeting funds were voted “for the support of the Gospel” and a committee appointed “to provide ‘Supplies for preaching’.”  The following year plans were made for building a Meeting House.  By June 1775 the wall frames had been constructed and these were raised into place while the cannon roared at the distant Battle of Bunker Hill.  That building [the white Meeting House at the foot of the Green] became not only the civic center of town life but also the center of worship.

Supply ministers continued to preach even through 1780 when the First Congregational Church was formally organized under the leadership of the town’s physician.  The first “settled” minister arrived in 1782 – and remained for the rest of his long life, being the active pastor for over 50 years.

After the NH Act of Toleration was passed in 1819, the Meeting House had to be shared for worship by several denominations, but, in time, the Congregationalists decided they wanted their own house of worship and this “Brick Meeting House” was finished in 1832.  By then, the first minister was well advanced in years and pastoral help was needed; the first “Colleague Minister” was installed at the same service when the Brick Church was dedicated.  This colleague minister was followed by two others who served as the main pastors until 1858 when the first minister died at age 101.  His passing marks the end of a whole era.

New needs arose in Jaffrey with the coming of the railroad in the 1860s and the growth of mills, factories and businesses near it.  To meet these needs, a leading member of the Church and community became one of the founders of a second Congregational Church (now the United Church of Christ UCC on Main Street).

The Old Meeting House remained as the gathering place for all – enlarged and with Tower and Clock added in late 19th Century and in time no longer used for regular religious services by any denomination.  The Brick Meeting House continued its role as home of the First Church.  Here worship services have continued through all the years…in good times and bad.

[Twenty-seven] ministers have served here as pastors, plus many, many guest preachers.  No church building could receive more loving care.  It has been enlarged, repainted, re-roofed, repaired, modernized and enlarged again (by turning the pastor’s barn/garage into a Parish House), decorated and redecorated times without number – as it has been adapted to changing needs.

Emily DeNyse Wright, First Church Historian emeritus, prepared 1994

OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE SANCTUARY

The Bible: There is only one object currently in the sanctuary that was present at the time this building was dedicated, a Bible provided by Mrs. William Baldwin (Charlotte) as the Congregationalists moved into our sanctuary in 1832.  This large Bible rests on the communion table in front of the organ console. 

The Pulpit: This was donated in 1978 to honor the Rev. Dr. John Leamon, who served the First Church for the decade just prior.

The Altar: Eleanor Lane provided funds for construction of the altar during a major renovation of the sanctuary in 1951.

The Cross: This was installed during the sanctuary renovations of 1951 as a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Bowman Cann.  Panels with selected Bible verses  previously used as ornaments on the walls of the chancel may be seen upstairs in the choir room.

The Brass Altar Furnishings: Like the altar on which they rest, the furnishings are a result of the 1951 sanctuary renovations and were given by Arthur Bourne.

The Ministers’ Chairs:  Bradford De Wolfe, a noted architect and associate member of this congregation designed, crafted and donated a pair of chairs for the chancel area in 1980.  Two Victorian chairs, which these have replaced, are still in possession of the church and rest in the choir room above the narthex.

The Baptismal Font: The Greene family, whose lineage goes back to our first pastor Laban Ainsworth, donated our baptismal font in 1926 in honor of
Dr. F. W. Greene.

The Communion Table:  Wesley Mallery served the First Church as settled minister between 1976 and 1983.   To honor him and to provide a communion table that could be moved about the chancel area with ease, his wife Helen commissioned a Walpole artisan named John Clewes to create our current communion table and the lectern.  Previously there had not been a lectern and all readings were done from the pulpit.

Instruments: in 1919 Mary and Kate Fox contributed the piano to the life of this church. The organ was built by John Wessel of Vermont and dedicated in 1975.  It has been restored and retuned and the electrical couplings refurbished several times since. 

Architecture:  If you look attentively at the wall on either side of the Cross, you can see faint round marks that were holes for the pipes which ran the length of the sanctuary and radiated heat during the period when the church was warmed by a woodstove.  A window on that wall was early enclosed so that morning sun didn’t shine directly into worshipers eyes.  Records note “the first electric light fixtures” were installed in 1921, a gift of “friends.” The current chandeliers date from the 1970s. This stamped metal ceiling was a common treatment in the late 1880s.  It was cleaned and more than fourteen layers of paint were removed during the sanctuary renovation of 2000.