Historical Wyoming County April 1959 - Old Fulton History

April 1959 Page 71
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(Courtesy
Mrs. Willard)
Former Bennington Center
Baptist Church
(1887 - c1925)
Society Organized in 1812;
First Church Erected 1832;
Second Church in 1857, Which
Burned in 1886.
(The following historical account has been abstracted from a history
of the Bennington Center Baptist organization which appeared in the
Western New-Yorker (Warsaw), on Janc 30, 1896. It was written by
Nellie E« Puller„ Additional data has been added from contemporary
accounts, all of which is supplementary to Mrs. Grace Willard's fine
study of the Bennington churches.)
About I80I4., three families settled in the wilderness near Bennington
Center and they were soon joined by eight other families,
among whom was one "eminently a man of God," Pelatiah Case. He became
the first deacon. In 1805, the Rev. Peter B. Porter came to
them as a missionary, and iPr over el^ht years the occasional preaching
was predominently of the Baptist element. Accordingly, November
17* 1812, a Baptist society, called the "Lo.omis Settlement Baptist
Society" was organized with five trustees, namely, Solmon King,
Justin Loom:! a9 Pelatiah C^se, Daritis Cross and William P. Parsons.
Near this t iwe, Mrs. Apphi a Loomls bequeathed
support of the gospel? The goodly matron had come
Conn, in her own chaise, :, distaining any proffered
(continued on page 72)
$1,000 for the
from Windsor,,
assistance in