the year and departed this life 24 July 1777 A. D. 1655.

W. W.

here lies the body of Thomas Woolsey also Jacob Briam son of Thomas born Sept. 1733 ob. 1760.-

Sacred

to the memory of the

Rev'd Ebenezer Grant

17 years minister of the

Presbyterian Church in Bedford

who departed this life Sept. 6. 1821.

aged 48 years _ ,

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, yea, saith the spirit, that •■

they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them. Rev. 14: 13. The Methodist Episcopal Church was erected in 1837, and incorporated on the ISth of January, ISSS.^i A prior incorporation of this society, appears to have taken place 24th July, 1825. John Fountain, Robert Knowlton, Joseph Clark, James Fountain, Gabriel Smith, trustees.^ A third occurs 9 April, 1844.^ Upon a commanding eminence which rises north of the village stands the Presbyterian Church, a modern structure of wood, surmounted with a small cupola and spire. The old church which was burnt during the revolutionary war, stood south east of the present edifice, near the foot of the hill. The first religious society organized at Bedford in 1680, was Congregational, at that time the established religion of the colony of Connecticut.

a Religious Sec. Co. Rec. Lib A. bib. Lib. B.p. 53. c lb. Lib. B. 88.

20 HISTORY OF THE

The proprietors of the Hop ground appear to have made early provision for the erection and support of a church, for, in 1680j " it was agreed that a meeting house should be erected on the com^ mens." In 1681, the general court instructed the committee who were to la^^ out a plantation at the hop ground, " to take care that there should be a suitable lot laid out for the first minister of the place, and a lot for the minister forever." December 8th, 1681, the proprietors agreed to give Mr.