The Colonial Church Records of the First Church of Reading (Wakefield) and the First Church of Rumney Marsh (Revere) (Hardcover)

Hardcover. Long dismissed as conventional and antiquarian, church records are actually unparalleled sources for historians offering information on a wide range of topics, such as the founding and evolution of churches, popular involvement in religious institutions and practices, modes of church governance, deviance, and resistance, and the interactions of churches - not to mention revealing information on significant moments in the lives of laity and ministers alike. This volume includes two of the finest sets of church records from the colonial era of Massachusetts history thus far unpublished. The Reading church records, in particular, are unique because they cover the entire period prior to the American Revolution, while the Rumney Marsh records cast light on the often-neglected period of 1715 through 1757. In addition, these records illuminate the otherwise unknown lives and activities of common folk, white and black, men and women, who debate, bicker, admonish, exhort, and uplift each other. Long dismissed as conventional and antiquarian, church records are actually unparalleled sources for historians offering information on a range of topics. This volume includes two of the finest sets of church records from the colonial era of Massachusetts history - the Reading church records, and the Rumney Marsh records. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…