Agreement to remove burials to Mount Moriah Cemetery, 1860
First Baptist Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Church records and registers
Baptists
Burial records
Cemeteries
Mount Moriah Cemetery was established in 1855, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. As the population grew and land in Philadelphia became scarcer and more valuable, many churches had their burials removed to more rural locations. After moving to a new building to accommodate their growing congregation, First Baptist Church made the decision to remove their burials from the cemetery on Arch Street to Mount Moriah in 1860. This manuscript documents the agreement between the Trustees of First Baptist and a Mr. William Brown that Mr. Brown would "in a good workmanlike manner and according to the best of his art and skill" remove all remains to Mount Moriah. In 2016, human remains were uncovered at the Arch Street site by a construction crew. The effort to identify and re-inter those remains are documented at archstbones.org.
Baptism certificate of Sarah Sallows, 1762
Baptismal records
Baptism and church membership
Baptism certificate listing a series of questions about the baptismal candidate's beliefs and commitments, to which she has answered yes. On this profession, Sarah Sallows was baptized by Morgan Edwards in the Schuylkill River on June 22, 1762. Sarah's last name is difficult to discern in this document; she is listed as added to the membership in 1762, with much clearer handwriting, in the Register, 1746-1824.
Church finance
One page, front and back, documenting "an account of work and materials" done at First Baptist Church in 1768. Expenses include, for example, supplies such as stone, brick, sand, wood, and nails, and services such as relocating corpses from a bank into the vaults, and building gutters for those vaults. Note: A piece of the page is missing, due to deterioration.
Corporate minutes
Church management
Church committees
On August 11, 1760 the First Baptist Church appointed a committee to "to Settle the Church Affairs, and Examine the State of the Church Purchases, Gifts and Donations, Given to the Said Church, and get them well Secured where they are not, and to settle other Affairs that shall Come before them." The minutes of this committee, recorded on both sides of four loose sheets, include the dates of meetings, members present, and committee work discussed, including registering deeds, paying leases, collecting interest on accounts, and consolidating records.
Church buildings
Church discipline
Church membership
Poor
Charity
Church fund raising
Pews and pew rights
Congregational minute book begun in 1760, which begins with notes about meetings that occurred during the previous three years, before organized record-keeping was established, and runs to 1769. Entries include dates of meetings, members present, and business conducted. Topics include but are not limited to: disputes between church members, appointments to positions such as deacon and sexton, invitations to visiting preachers, financial gifts to the church and gifts from the church to the poor, which included firewood, coffins, and the forgiveness of burial fees in addition to financial donations, letters of dismission, applications for baptism, excommunications and restorations to membership, construction and maintenance of buildings and grounds, church purchases such as a new chalice, and the settlement of accounts with both debtors and creditors. There is an alphabetical index of church members' names at the back of the book.
Congregational minute book includes dates of meetings from 1771 to 1775, members present, and business conducted. Topics include but are not limited to: property bequeathed to the church; the filling of positions such as moderator, clerk, treasurer, deacon and minister; maintenance of burial grounds; the church's position on the impropriety of the slave trade; collections for the poor; payment of pew rents; nominations for representatives to the annual association meeting; and admission of new members.
Congregational minute book includes dates of meetings from 1779 to 1786, members present, and business conducted. In addition to commonplace business such as repairs to the buildings and grounds, admission and dismission of members, appointment of trustees and directions for better record-keeping, this bound manuscript also documents reinvigorated collection of pew rents for the purpose of securing a new minister, and conflict in the congregation over the Doctrine of Universal Restoration. A listing of members is included in the first few pages of the book, and financial records, including recordings of pew rent, can be found in the last quarter of the book.
Congregational minutes include dates of meetings, members present, and business conducted from 1786 to 1791. Topics include but are not limited to: baptism, admission, exclusion, readmission, and transfer of members; discipline for drinking, fraud, or holding to the doctrine of universal salvation; building construction and repairs; management of the burial ground; election of deacons; income from legacies, donations, pew money and burial money; and relief for the poor, including widows and orphans.
Congregational minutes include dates of meetings, members present, and business conducted from 1795 to 1806. Topics include the baptism, dismission, transfer, exclusion and readmission of members, church finance, charity for the poor, and repairs and improvements to building and grounds.
Congregational minutes include dates of meetings, members present, and business conducted from 1795 to 1806. Topics include but are not limited to: collection of pew rent and management of donations and legacies; payments to church employees such as the minister and sexton; payments for goods such as candles and firewood and services such as the printing of minutes and pamphlets; repairs and improvements to church buildings and burial grounds; baptism and transfer of members, as well as exclusions for poor conduct; charitable gifts to other churches and to the poor; and resolutions for improved record-keeping.
Congregational minutes include dates of meetings, members present, and business conducted from 1806 to 1813. Topics include but are not limited to: income from pew rents, house rents, legacies, and donations; baptism, dismission, and transfer of members; exclusion of members for bad behavior and readmission upon repentance; repairs and improvements to buildings and grounds, including fundraising for enlargement of the meeting house; payments to the minister and the appointment of a librarian; purchases of firewood, candles, and curtains; and charity for the poor, including funeral expenses for orphans and the loan of stoves to recent widows.
Inscriptions copied from tombstones and monuments, 1859
"Inscriptions copied from Tomb Stones and Monuments in the Grave Yard of the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia - (Lagrange Place - above Second St.) Dec. 3 1859 By Horatio Gates Jones." An alphabetical index starts on image 24, although most of the entries are struck through, likely as remains were moved to Mount Moriah Cemetery in 1860. Three additional pages of names are entered upside down from the back of the notebook; these appear to be decedents from different congregations.
Letter providing proof of good standing for Elisabeth Davis at the Church of Christ meeting in Welshtract, for transfer to the Church of Christ meeting of Philadelphia. Some of the text is illegible.
Four letters, both to and from First Baptist Church, confirming individuals' good standing for transfer to new church membership in 1783.
Six letters, both to and from First Baptist Church, confirming individuals' good standing for transfer to new church membership in 1785.
Lists of burials for removal to Mount Moriah Cemetery, 1860
Mount Moriah Cemetery was established in 1855, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. As the population grew and land in Philadelphia became scarcer and more valuable, many churches had their burials removed to more rural locations. In 1860, after moving to a new building to accommodate their growing congregation, First Baptist Church made the decision to remove their burials from the cemetery on Arch Street to Mount Moriah. These pages contain a list of graves, by range, including the stone number, name of the interred, date buried and age at time of burial. Entries are marked with an "X," presumably meaning those remains were successfully identified and removed. Note: The final page is an invitation to a mock trial hosted by the Young People's Working Association of First Baptist Church in 1890, which includes handwritten notes about unmarked graves on the back.
Marriage register, 1761-1894 [partial scan through 1870]
Marriage records
Register of marriages occurring at First Baptist Church between 1761 and 1894. Because of the limitation of the funding source for digitization, this volume was scanned only through the page for marriages occurring in 1870. It appears the manuscript was used as a financial journal prior to use as a marriage register; financial entries date from 1744 to 1760, but are crossed out, and pages are reused to record marriages. There is an alphabetical index of names at the beginning of the book. The date ranges are out of order, marriages from 1761 beginning on p. 15, continuing to p. 270, whereupon the reader is directed back to p. 2 for the continuation of marriage records from Rev. William Rogers. Meanwhile, records of Rev. Henry Holcombe from 1813 start on p. 270 and continue through 1824 on p. 313. Records from succeeding pastors continue to the end of the book, with some gaps in years.
This register begins with a corrected list of the members of the church at its founding, and those added in the initial years. It then lists each member's admission to the church by baptism or letter of transfer. It also includes dates and causes for termination of membership, whether by church discipline, transfer to another church, or death.
For members of First Baptist Church from 1772 to 1844, this bound manuscript lists their date and manner of admission to the church (whether by baptism or transfer,) date of marriage, and notes on date and manner of removal from membership, including dates of death.
Miscellaneous burial ground records, 1799-1901
Miscellaneous records of the First Baptist Church burial grounds, dating from 1799 to 1901, first at the La Grange/Arch Street site and then at Mount Moriah Cemetery. Items include: a resolution by the trustees in 1799 to raise the cost of interment in order to keep the burial ground in good repair; reports by the superintendent of the burial ground on interments performed; receipts for payments to the sexton and to Mount Moriah Cemetery Association for cutting the grass in section 112; the "Proposition for the Removal of the Dead" in 1860, and permission from the Health Office to move the burials from La Grange to Mount Moriah; and letters documenting the return of some remains to family members.
Mount Moriah Cemetery burial ground book, 1860-1928
Book containing records of sales for the Mount Moriah Cemetery, dating from 1860 to 1928. Each entry contains the date, name of purchaser, lot or grave number purchased, and cost. The first two flyleaves contain notes on the "Section of Church Plot for poor members and single graves."
Mount Moriah Cemetery committee minutes, 1859-1860
Mount Moriah Cemetery was established in 1855, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. As the population grew and land in Philadelphia became scarcer and more valuable, many churches had their burials removed to more rural locations. After moving to a new building to accommodate their growing congregation, First Baptist Church made the decision to remove their burials from the cemetery on Arch Street to Mount Moriah in 1860. This notebook contains the "Minutes of the Committee on the New Burial Ground of First Bapt. Church of Phil. appointed by the Trustees." The committee was charged with "presenting a suitable plan for the arrangement of the ground into burial lots, and of presenting to the Church such suggestions and recommendations as may be found necessary in preparing the way for the removal of the dead from our old ground." The first meeting was recorded on October 31, 1859. The November 11, 1859 entry spans five pages and documents a detailed plan proposed to the church. The Church moved quickly in resolving various concerns, and the minutes conclude in March of 1860.
Mount Moriah Cemetery deed transcript, 1859
Deeds
Mount Moriah Cemetery was established in 1855, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. As the population grew and land in Philadelphia became scarcer and more valuable, many churches had their burials removed to more rural locations. After moving to a new building to accommodate their growing congregation, First Baptist Church made the decision to remove their burials from the cemetery on Arch Street to Mount Moriah in 1860. Deed from the Mount Moriah Cemetery Association of Philadelphia to the First Baptist Church of the City of Philadelphia, for lot 112, containing approximately 25,600 square feet, at the cost of $5,760, dated September 26, 1859.
Poverty
Orphans
Registers of births, etc.
On February 16, 1795, the members of First Baptist Church established "a fund for the relief of Orphans and other indigent Persons." This bound manuscript contains details of how the fund was established and administered, and a list of members who paid an annual contribution to the fund in order to insure those in their charge would receive aid upon their death. Identifying information includes subscriber names, parents' names, birthdates, birthplaces, contributions paid and dates of death.
Book containing permits for interment in the "Ground of the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia," dating from 1811 to 1825. Each permit or stub contains the name of the person buried (or the name of a father or husband,) the date of burial, and the amount paid.
Book containing permits for interment in the "Ground of the First Baptist Church, Philadelphia," dating from 1825 to 1860, and later at Mount Moriah Cemetery, from 1860 to 1928. Notes on the prices for interment established in 1828 and 1846 are included in the front of the book. Each permit or stub contains the name of the person buried (or the name of a father or husband,) the date of burial, and the amount paid.
This book records the amounts donated by members to First Baptist Church to help the poor, and the amounts given to the poor from First Baptist Church, from 1767 to 1769. Each entry includes the date, donor or donee's name, and amount donated.
This book records the amounts donated by members to First Baptist Church to help the poor, and the amounts given to the poor from First Baptist Church, from 1774 to 1775. Each entry includes the date, donor or donee's name, and amount donated.
Resolutions in regard to interment, 1846
One printed page, addressed "To the Members of the First Baptist Church and Congregation," dated May 11, 1846 and outlining policies and prices for interment in the First Baptist burial ground, including a pew rent requirement.
The meeting minutes of the Trustees of First Baptist Church from 1794 to 1836 contain the date of each meeting, the trustees present, the topics they discussed, and the resolutions they passed. Trustee business included appointments to positions such as treasurer and clerk; the management of donations and investments; oversight of record-keeping; payment to workers such as the minister and carpenter; and maintenance of buildings and burial grounds. There is an index on the inside back cover of the bound manuscript. Note: The meeting minutes between March 1796 and February 1798 are missing from the original manuscript, which is why they do not appear in the digital version, and why the page numbering skips from page 8 to page 11. Also, page numbering on the original manuscript starts over at a new page 1 following page 89. To identify page numbers in citations, researchers can use the image number in combination with the page number.