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April 10, 1840, twelve people met at the Sherwood home and organized
the Baptist Church in Mansfield, an offshoot of the East Sullivan
Church. Rev. Abijah Sherwood, with his wife Maria, came from
the Delmar Church to help his father and brother with the founding.
Also present at the founding meeting were: Daniel and Anna Sherwood;
their son Daniel and his wife Caroline; E.P. and Fanny Clark;
Oliver Elliot; Thomas Jerald; Martha Utter; and Lorena Ripley.
Consummation
services were conducted in 1843 by nearby pastors with Rev.
T.S. Sheardown preaching the sermon and Rev. Samuel Grenell
offering charge to the church.
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The first
church building was erected at the cost of $1,112 and paid
for in 1848-1849. Repaired and improved several times before
the current building was built, the first church had brass
chandeliers, and later a balcony and steeple.
When the present church building was built
in 1889, an article in the Mansfield Advertiser described
the elaborate stained glass windows placed in memory of charter
members, oak pews trimmed in black walnut, hemlock ceiling
and woodwork of Georgia pine. Rev. Frank Cooper was pastor
at the time the new building was erected at a cost of about
$8,000.
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