The Joseph Dow trunk archive · Document gallery 69

Church notebook continued: sermons, drought and community worship, 1798–1802

23 photographs · 8 document groups

Photographed by Whit from the recovered Joseph Dow collection. Descriptions draw on visible names, dates and subjects; uncertain readings remain provisional. Reading copies are turned upright, and each image links to the unchanged full-resolution original.

JDT-D523 · 1798: ordinary Sundays and a fast during drought

Alongside the weekly sermon entries, an August 1798 note records a fast on account of severe drought. Prayer and preaching are named separately. This small entry connects the register of worship to a shared environmental crisis and shows how a community responded through collective religious observance.

3 photographs

JDT-D524 · The sermon calendar through 1799

Appleton appears frequently among a succession of ministers and visitors. Lecture days, sacramental services, thanksgiving and days without preaching break the regular Sunday sequence. The biblical citations make this a starting point for tracing themes once the handwritten references are fully transcribed.

4 photographs

JDT-D525 · Late 1799 and the opening of 1800

Entries move through summer and autumn services into a new year. The record continues to distinguish morning from afternoon and to note visiting preachers. Its steady form preserves the routine of churchgoing across the calendar rather than selecting only prominent events.

3 photographs

JDT-D526 · Worship and clerical visits during 1800

Sundays, lectures and sacramental days are recorded with preacher names and texts. The variations in ink, spacing and corrections suggest notes accumulated over time. These pages are best read as a continuous dated register rather than isolated quotations from sermons.

3 photographs

JDT-D527 · The end of 1800 and a new year’s reflection

A New Year entry quotes the thought that those who use the world should not abuse it, because its fashion passes away. The surrounding entries remain practical records of preaching and attendance. The quotation briefly opens a more reflective voice within the notebook’s customary abbreviated form.

3 photographs

JDT-D528 · 1801: a year of sermons and special services

The notebook records Appleton, Abbot and other clergy with sermon texts and special observances. A no-preaching entry is as deliberately recorded as a full day’s services, showing that absence was part of the chronology the keeper wanted to preserve.

3 photographs

JDT-D529 · Late 1801–1802: the final surviving sermon entries

The later pages continue through 1802, including notes on Appleton’s travel and illness and occasions without preaching. These brief remarks supply human circumstances behind the service calendar. The last photographed entries are not evidence that the congregation’s services ended at that point.

2 photographs

JDT-D530 · Back wrapper and binding wear

Two views close the notebook with its plain dark cover, torn corners and exposed binding layers. They preserve the condition of the volume after the long sequence of dated service notes.

2 photographs

Collection photographs supplied by Whit. Descriptions are finding aids, not full transcriptions. Names, dates and associations remain provisional where the handwriting is uncertain.