Complaints, Declarations and Testimonies: Sources of Contention in Stockbridge, 1753-1756

Abstract

Printed here are transcripts of four recently purchased documents relating to Edwards' tenure at Stockbridge, in particular the struggles of pastor and church with members of the Williams family over control of the boarding schools for native children and over charges against Ephraim Williams and his kin for absenting themselves from church. These are all of a legal or semi-legal status, since they are recorded statements presented as evidence, one even countersigned by a local justice of the peace, destined for either the Stockbridge church committee or for the Massachusetts General Assembly.