Excerpt from Early Church Records of Groton, Massachusetts, 1761-1830: Containing a List of Admissions to the Church, With Lists of Marriages and Baptisms; And Various Other Memoranda An unsuccessful search was begun at once for the books, but was gradually abandoned, and the loss soon forgotten in the main. Another record-book, earlier than either of these volumes, disappeared at the same time, but that one was recovered by me many years ago, and has since been printed in this Historical Series, comprising Number X.of the first volume. It is now known that these three record-books were carried off from the meeting by an officer of the church, who concealed them at the time under his cloak. The act was done with the approval and connivance of those who sympathized with him in his ecclesiastical relations. This officer kept them in his possession as long as he lived, and after his death, which occurred nearly fifty years ago, they passed into the hands of other persons living in widely separated places, from whom I have since obtained them. The earlier volume was found in the possession of a family of Groton origin, then living in Plymouth County, and the two later volumes had passed beyond the limits of the Commonwealth. It may be proper to add that this church officer was a man of the strictest integrity in all respects, who undoubtedly thought that he was acting for the best under the existing circumstances. So high was his reputation among the neighbors for honor and honesty, I am sure that he never questioned his own course in the matter. It is now supposed that these three volumes were the only books taken away when the parish meeting broke up. The earliest one, already mentioned as having been printed in the first volume of the Historical Series, begins with the pastorate of the Reverend Dudley Bradstreet, who was ordained on November 27, 1706, and ends with June 22, 1760, though the records are very incomplete during the last thirty years of this period. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.