Chapter 6 - First Baptist Church of Bellingham

The Town of Bellingham was founded by settlers attempting to gain freedom to practice their beliefs without interference or persecution. Although the colony of Massachusetts Bay was established because of religious intolerance in its mother country, it did not easily allow dissent from its own state religion.
 

The land area of Bellingham was not attractive to many settlers. The ground was rocky or swampy, seldom good for crops or animals. The area was heavily forested but probably not of high quality due to the soils. The settlers who came here came to get away, whether through a desire for freedom to practice religion or simply to get away from the fast growing towns to the east. Of the thirty two original petitioners for a charter for the Town, at least nine were practicing Baptists at the time or during the next twenty years and another five to ten may have been, since others in their family were.
 

It was not easy to be different even in the wilds that then existed. The Governor for whom the Town was named by the General Court in 1719 had imprisoned the Baptists of Boston in the 1660's and kept them there until he died. There were few towns that would allow them to practice their religion even into the 1800's. The Puritan Protestant church, more familiarly called Congregational, was the state church. The Bellinghams, the Winthrops, the Bradfords and the Standishes and the rest of the early settlers wanted freedom only for their religion. They established a near theocracy in Massachusetts Bay. Each Town was required to have a Congregational parish, often referred to as simply The Parish in the town.
 

The petition to incorporate Bellingham was met with one condition, within three years the Town must hire a minister. It need not be said that the minister had to be Congregational.
 

The citizens of Bellingham, like those of every other town were to be taxed to support this minister. It did not matter their own beliefs. All must pay. Because Bellingham was so divided, collecting taxes to support the church was not easily done. Of the 48 men on the 1726 tax list, at least 17 were Baptists or Quakers. In 1734, 12 out of 29 on the ministerial tax list were Baptists or Quakers.
 

The Constables were responsible for collecting the ministerial money, as a result Baptists refused this position, an act that could lead to fines or jail under the ecclesiastical laws then being enforced. Joseph Scott of Bellingham was called before the Suffolk County Court in May 1727 for refusing to serve as constable though he had been elected. Scott "for excuse said that Great number of the Inhabitants [in Bellingham] are Quakers & Baptists, who have not nor will pay their respective Rates to the Minister of sd Town unless distrained upon, which their numbers being so many may be attended with great inconveniencyes, And secondly that the sd Scott being himself a Baptist pays to a Minister of his own perswasion & therefore thinks it a hardship (as well as the rest of his Brethren) to pay towards the Maintenance of another." The Court "being of Opinion that he had not shewn sufficient cause for his excuse ordered Scott, who refused to pay his fine for not serving, to be distrained to that amount by the sheriff of Suffolk County. " This was not an isolated incident, except in Bellingham.
 

Despite the Scott incident, the citizenry of Bellingham did not reflect a public concern about their religious differences, except in their inability to support a minister. The Town's elected offices were divided between Congregational and Baptist without any appearance of religious division. Religion appeared to be a non factor in the political life of the Town.On June 20, 1728 a law was passed that Baptists and Quakers should not be taxed to support the town churches, provided they attend their own church and live within five miles of it. According to the preamble of this law, the act was passed because many persons:
 

"Called Anabaptists and others called Quakers, refuse to pay any part or proportion of such taxes as are from time to time assessed for the support of the ministry in the several towns whereto they belong, alledging a scruple of conscience for such their refusal; and thereupon frequent application has bin made to this court for their relief......Therefore
 

from and after the publication of this act none of the persons commonly called Anabaptists, nor any of those commonly called Quakers, that are or shall be enrolled or entred in their respective societys as members thereof, and who alledge a scruple of conscience as the reason of their refusal to pay any part or proportion of such taxes as are from time to time assessed for the support of the minister or ministers of the churches established by the laws of this province in the town or place where they dwell, shall have their polls taxed towards the support of such minister or ministers; nor shall their bodys be at any time taken in execution to satisfy any such ministerial rate or tax assess'd upon their estates or faculty: provided that such persons do usuall attend the meetings of their respective societys assembling upon the Lord's day for the worship of God, and that they live within five miles of the place of such meeting."
 

The act further exempted and prohibited Quakers and Baptists and others exempted under this act from participating in meetings, etc. that had to do with ministerial affairs. Other town affairs were not affected.
 

In December 1729, the Exemption was extended to real & personal estates:
 

"from and after the publication of this act, the proper estates, real and personal of the aforemention'd Anabaptists and Quakers, being in their own hands and under their actual management and improvement, shall be exempted in the same manner and under the same conditions and limitations that their polls are or were in and by."
 

For Bellingham, the freedom to refuse to pay religious taxes, meant the eventual death of the first Parish. With fewer families from whom to collect, the payments to the minister became less frequent and soon he was gone. (Although this was not the only reason, it was clearly a large factor for his leaving.) Forty eight persons were on the tax list in 1726 before the Exemption law was passed. By 1734 the ministerial tax list was reduced to 29 in Bellingham.
 

The Exemption law was renewed in 1734, dropping the five mile limit and allowing each denomination to file lists. It was further renewed in 1739 for seven years.
 

Many availed themselves of the Law in Bellingham. The Town records list the names of the earliest Baptists, even before a church was established in the Town. After 1728, the Town, when it wished to discuss religious affairs, called "Ministerial town meetings". Those on the exempt lists could not attend. The Baptist Church, once formed, appointed a person yearly to file its exempt list.