Nov 21, 2024 - Sale 2687

Sale 2687 - Lot 110

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Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
(CONNECTICUT.) Nathaniel Chauncey. Register of baptisms performed in Durham in the early 18th century. [98] manuscript pages. 12mo, 5¾ x 3¼ inches, disbound; some leaves loose, moderate dampstaining and wear. Durham, CT, 1711-1756
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Nathaniel Chauncey (1681-1756) is most often remembered as the first graduate of what became Yale University in 1702. From 1706 until his death, he was the minister of the Congregationalist First Church of Christ in Durham, CT. He used this notebook to record births, marriages, and deaths among his congregation from 1711 until his death, with a page of entries after his death at the end.

Perhaps the most notable townsman recorded in this volume was James Wadsworth, whose baptism is recorded on 12 July 1730. He became a major general in the state militia during the Revolution, and then served in the Continental Congress.

A few of the entries have additional comments. In 1723 Chauncey wrote "October 25th, Aaron Parmely, the son of Joel & Abig'l Parmely, whom I baptized in Joel Parmely house, the child being in hazard of dying." Most of the baptisms were apparently of infants, but on 20 September 1730 he baptized "Jenny, Negro, my own serv't girl"; several other African-American servants are baptized elsewhere in the volume. On 22 January 1731 he wrote "Phebe Baker, the wife of Sam'l Baker, whom I baptized in their dwelling house, she being in great danger of death, who rec'd much comfort that evening & dyed in two days."

At least a few entries do not record a baptism at all. On 2 August 1747: "Tho. Fairchild made confession of the sin of drunkeness and had remission." On 28 January 1747/1748, "Israel Goddard & his wife made confession of ye sin of fornication & rec'd remission."

The baptisms are counted at the bottom of each page, averaging more than ten per page for a total in excess of a thousand. This register was transcribed and published in full in William Chauncey Fowler's 1866 "History of Durham, Connecticut," pages 252 to 298. The volume is possibly lacking leaves at the beginning from the earliest period of Chauncey's ministry, but if so, those leaves were already missing by 1866.