Name/Title
St. Thomas Episcopal ChurchEntry/Object ID
MSS-09-004Scope and Content
The collection contains programs, copies of newspaper articles, correspondences, and transcriptions or copies of older records pertaining to St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Taunton, ranging from the years 1740-1999.Context
The foundation of St. Thomas Church is often credited to Captain Thomas Coram, an English ship-master who settled in Taunton in 1698 and attempted to establish a Church of England there for five years until his relocation to Boston. In 1703, he deeded fifty-one acres of land in Taunton (in an area that is now Berkeley) held in trust by the King’s Chapel in Boston, “until the inhabitants of the town of Taunton should become more civilized than they are now, and should incline to have a Church of England built among them”, according to Taunton’s centennial celebration sermon preached by Reverend Thomas L. Crum in 1964.
Although Thomas Coram’s deed was abused by the King’s Vestry in Boston and the lands were sold in 1754, a tract known as the Glebe was purchased in 1728 by the Three Mile River and Tremont Street for the erection of a church, and the first St. Thomas’ Church was built in 1740 through the organization of a group of local men and churchmen (“History of St. Thomas’ Church”). A building on this property for the use of clergymen became as Coram Hall, after Thomas Coram for his dedication to the promotion of Anglican faith (St. Thomas and the Anglican church in pre-Revolutionary War America”). Coram also gifted his library to St. Thomas Parish, which has since been distributed among Taunton’s museums and libraries following its storage in the church.
In 1815, the first church building was blown down in a storm, and only the stone foundations remained. A new church was constructed in the center of Taunton in 1828, with one of the remaining stones from the old church being inscribed and inlaid in the floor of the new one. After the parish expanded beyond the limits of the second church, construction began on the third and present church building, designed by Richard Upjohn and modeled after English architecture. The Third Church was consecrated on March 3, 1859 by Bishop Eastburn. Since then, a number of outbuildings have been constructed for and donated to St. Thomas’ Parish, including The Chapel, the rectory, and the Parish House.Archive Details
Archive Size/Extent
There is one box in this series with eleven folders, the first folder being a diary containing the typed transcription and photocopy of Early Records of St. Thomas Church.
