It is interesting to give the statistics of the denomination in the period under consideration. The following is a list of the first fifty-eight Baptist churches in this country, together with the dates of their organization according to Benedict:
Providence, R. I. 1639 Middletown, N. J. 1688 1st Newport, R. I. 1644 Lower Dublin, Pa . 1689 2nd Newport, R. I. 1656 Piscataway, N. J. 1689 1st Swansea, Mass. 1663 Charleston, S. C. 1690 1st Boston, Mass. 1665 Cohansey, N. J. 1691 North Kingston, R. I. 1665 2nd Swansea, Mass. 1693 7th Day Newport, R. I. 1671 1st Phila., Pa. 1698 South Kingston, R. I. 1680 Welsh Tract, Del. 1701 Tiverton, R. I. 1685 Groton, Conn. 1705 Smithfield, R. I. 1706 7th Day, Piscataway, NJ.1707 Hopkinton, R. I. 1708 Southinton, Conn. 1738 Great Valley, Pa. 1711 West Springfield, Conn. 1740 Cape May, N. J. 1712 King Wood, N. J. 1742 Hopewell, N. J. 1715 2nd Boston, Mass. 1743 Brandywine, Pa. 1715 North Stonington, Conn. 1743 Montgomery, Pa. 1719 Colchester, Conn. 1743 New York City, N. Y. 1724 East Greenwich, R. I. 1743 Scituate, R. I. 1725 Euhaw, S. C. 1745 Warwick, R. I. 1725 Heights Town, N. J. 1745 Richmond, R. I. 1725 South Hampton, Pa. 1746 French Creek, Pa. 1726 Scotch Plains, N. J. 1747 New London, Conn. 1726 King Street, Conn. 1747 Indian Town, Mass. 1730 Oyster Bay, N. Y. 1748 Cumberland, R. I. 1732 Sturbridge, Mass. 1749 Rehoboth, Mass. 1732 Bellingham, Mass. 1750 Shiloh, N. J. 1734 Killingby, Conn. 1750 South Brimfield, Mass. 1736 Westerly, R. I. 1750 Welsh Neck, S. C. 1738 Exeter, R. I. 1750 Leicester, Mass. 1738 Thompson, Conn. 1750(Benedict, A General History o/ the Baptist Denomination in America, pp. 364, 365. New York, 1848.) " These are all the churches," continues Benedict, "which acquired any durability that arose in these United States in a little more than a century after the Baptists began their operations."
According to Morgan Edwards, in 1786, there were in the United States and Nova Scotia 137 churches. These were distributed throughout the country as follows:
Nova Scotia 2 New Jersey 15 New Hampshire 1 Pennsylvania 10 Massachusetts 30 Maryland 1 Connecticut 12 Virginia 10 Rhode Island 36 North Carolina 8 New York 4 South Carolina 8 Total 137John Asplund, in his first Register, in 1790, makes the following exhibit:
NUMBER OF MINISTERS
States Churches Ord. Lic. Members 1 New Hampshire 32 23 17 1,732 2 Massachusetts 107 95 31 7,116 3 Rhode Island 38 37 36 3,502 4 Connecticut 55 44 21 3,214 5 Vermont 34 28 15 1,610 6 New York 57 53 30 3,987 7 New Jersey 26 20 9 2,279 8 Pennsylvania 28 26 26 1,231 9 Delaware 7 9 1 409 10 Maryland 12 8 3 776 11 Virginia 207 157 109 20,157 12 Kentucky 42 40 21 3,105 13 Western Territory 1 - - 30 14 North Carolina 94 86 76 7,742 15 Deceded Territory 18 15 6 889 16 South Carolina 68 48 28 4,012 17 Georgia 42 33 39 3,184 18 Nova Scotia 4 - - - Total 872 722 449 64,975Benedict in 1812 reckoned the following statistics: Churches, 2,633; ordained ministers, 2,142; members, 204,185; and 111 associations.
Allen, in his Triennial Register for 1836, makes for the United States and the British possessions in America the following statistics: associations, 372; churches, 7,299; ministers ordained, 4,075; licensed, 966; and membership, 517,524.
===================== [From John T. Christian, A History of the Baptists, Volume 2, 1926; reprint, pp. 25-27. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.
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