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Archiver > SDB > 1999-04 > 0923837440


From: "Bruce/Terry Durst" <>
Subject: Correction
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 09:30:40 -0400


Hi, all-

When I said there wasn't an SDB church in Stonington, CT, I was
slightly off the mark. There isn't a current SDB church there, nor will you
find much info on it in the local libraries. However, there WAS an SDB
church in Greenmanville, CT, many, many years ago. Greenmanville no longer
exists as a community, but where it was is now part of the Stonington/Mystic
area. I own 2 SDB history books, "A Choosing People: The History of Seventh
Day Baptists", written by SDB Historian, Don A. Sanford; and "The First
Hundred Years, Pawcatuck Seventh Day Baptist Church, Westerly, RI,
1840-1940", published by The Utter Company, Westerly, RI. Don Sanford's
book doesn't mention the Greenmanville SDB Church at all, and there are only
2 references to it in the Westerly Church book. One of them mentions it
being organized prior to 1851, when one of the Deacons of the Westerly
church removed his membership to it, and the other reference mentions that
the meetings of the Eastern Association of SDB Churches were held at
Greenmanville in May of 1854.
What this means is, 1) the records of the Greenmanville SDB Church are
probably in the Archives at the SDB Center in Janesville, WI, and access
would be through Don Sanford, and 2) since the current Westerly church was
organized as an offshoot of the current Ashaway church, the records of
members living in the Stonington/ Mystic/ Westerly area prior to 1840 may be
part of the Ashaway church's history. I will have to do some research on
that and get back to you.
BTW, someone mentioned there is an SDB church in Mystic Seaport. That
is the Greenmanville SDB Church meeting house. It was moved to the seaport
because the Greenman Family, as I understand it, were not only staunch SDBs,
they were major players in the early shipbuilding days of the Mystic area.
I'm not certain of the history - it's been quite some time since I was
exposed to any info regarding the Greenmans and the Greenmanville church.
If and when I get more information on them, I'll be sure to pass it along.

Terry L. (Crane) Durst
Groton, CT

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