Congregationalism

New England Puritans

Historic Congregationalism

HERITAGE--The basic Reformed Protestant heritage of the Congregational Church was brought to Cape Cod from England in the early 1600's by the "Mayflower" Pilgrims and the Puritans of old Massachusetts Bay Colony. Both were seeking freedom in this new world to practice their faith as they felt God called them to practice it. Both were strongly influenced by the earlier work of Protestant Reformers Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich and John Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland. Both were passionately committed to the Bible and to the concept of free churches, which are not subject to any ecclesiastical authority beyond themselves. Believing that the risen Christ is at the head of each local congregation, and present to each congregation when it meets to vote on its own affairs, they saw no need for any external ecclesiastical authority. In time, the Pilgrims and their colony were absorbed by the Puritans. The Puritans believed that they had a special covenant with God to settle New England as "a city upon a hill"--as Jesus mentioned in his Sermon on the Mount--whose light would shine before the world. The Puritans' New England colonies were virtually church states for about two hundred years. In 1833, Massachusetts was the last of the New England states [and last of the original thirteen colonies] to separate its established church [Congregationalism] from the power of the state. (Quoted from the Barnstable UCC website at "http://www.vsi.cape.com/~barnucc/index.html")

Robert Parker and his family left England for Cape Cod in about 1635, during the "Great Puritan Emigration". He belonged to the Congregational Church of Barnstable (see West Parish Church records); his son Benjamin moved to Yarmouth and was a member of the Congregational Church there. In 1776, Benjamin's grandson Elisha Parker transferred his membership from the Yarmouth Church to the Ashfield Congregational Church, where his wife Thankful (Marchant) Parker donated a silver Communion Set in 1787. His son Sylvanus was a member there as well. See the following links for a short history of these respective churches at:

History of the West Parish Congregational Church, Barnstable, MA
History of the Yarmouth and Ashfield Congregational Churches

New England Migrations

WHO WERE THESE MIGRATING YANKEES?

"Yankee pioneers were mainly yeoman farmers of the "middling sort" - the sixth and seventh generation descended from Puritan dissenters, who had come in family groups from all parts of England, though predominantly from East Anglia. They were diligent, orderly, literate, with a talent for working wood, and putting things together out of almost nothing. Mostly pious Congregationalists, they "raised up their children in the way they should go." Like the Indians they soon displaced, they were practical, frugal - and tough negotiators. Unlike the Indians, they had a strong desire to possess the land, clear it and make it yield." Quoted from "Roots and Routes", a website devoted to the New England migrations. It can be accessed at "www.rootsandroutes.net/roots.htm"