Rev. Samuel Fogg ~ Calvinist Baptist Minister

Rev Samuel Fogg had an interesting life. Although he never officially served a church in Readfield, that I know of, his religious path was certainly influenced while living in Readfield.

Samuel Fogg was born in 1787 in Raymond, NH to Samuel and Ruth (Lane) Fogg. His parents, who had a large family of seventeen children, was among the first to move to Cornville in Somerset County, Maine about 1800. In 1810 young Samuel left his family and moved to Readfield where he bought 1 acre of land from Robert Cornforth. Fogg’s occupation was joiner (builder) at that time and he used those skills to build a tannery. His newly acquired property bordered on the same mill stream as Cornforth’s woolen mill.  Fogg was allowed water privileges for grinding bark - provided he did not interfere with Cornforth’s carding machine production.[i] Fogg's half-uncle Dudley Fogg and cousin Josiah, of Readfield, bought / owned Craig’s sawmill and grist mill nearby on the same steam.

Samuel Fogg married in 1811 to Charlotte Dow, a Sanbornton, NH native.[ii] They had four children: 1) Samuel D. b.1818 in Winthrop 2) Charlotte C. b.1822 in Thomaston 3) Abigail b. in 1824 Thomaston 4) Ruth b.1832 in Winthrop.

In 1822 Samuel and Charlotte Fogg sold the tannery to his brother Joseph. At that time they were living in Thomaston and his occupation was preacher. He had graduated from Waterville College (Colby) on June 21, 1821[iii] and immediately succeeded the early Baptist minister Rev. Elisha Snow in Thomaston. Interesting that Snow’s daughter Joanna was married to Rev. Isaac Case – founder of the Baptist Church at East Readfield in 1792 and a highly regarded Baptist minister and missionary throughout Maine and eastern Canada. Most likely it was Case who converted and mentored our Rev. Samuel Fogg.

As a Calvinist Baptist Rev. Samuel Fogg served his first church in Thomaston for five years, during which time he baptized thirty-two people,[iv] and in 1826 started a Sunday school.[v] In 1827 the Baptist Convention meeting was held in Thomaston at which time Fogg’s colleagues learned that he had received an appointment as agent of the Maine Baptist Convention. He resigned his pastorate at that time, in order to accept this appointment. A year later the Baptist Convention met in Readfield when Fogg was elected recording secretary.[vi] By then he was serving the Baptist Church in Greene, ME where he remained until 1831[vii]. From there he moved to Winthrop.[viii]

In East Winthrop a Baptist church had been established in 1822 where Baptist churches from all over the state met in 1824 and organized the Maine Baptist Convention.  Rev. John Butler was the first pastor to serve there starting in May 1825. A parsonage was built especially for Butler at a cost of $800.[ix] and when Rev. Samuel Fogg took over the post in 1832 he bought and lived in that parsonage for the same amount of $800. He served the East Winthrop church for four years and after that engaged in missionary work and served other churches for ten years after while remaining a resident of Winthrop[x]. During his years as Baptist preacher he was an ardent supporter of antislavery, temperance and for further education.[xi]

From Winthrop Rev. Fogg went to Lowell, MA and served in churches there – with his wife and all three daughters in tow. Abigail and Catherine were married with families by then, and three generations lived together. In 1850 there were twenty members of this family living in the same household, with Rev. Samuel as the head.[xii] They remained a close family and, until their deaths, Samuel and Charlotte continued to live with one or more of their children.[xiii]

No doubt Rev. Samuel Fogg always considered East Winthrop his home for that is where he returned in late life[xiv] and he died there in 1868. He is buried in East Winthrop Cemetery with his wife Charlotte, only son Samuel and youngest daughter Ruth.[xv]

Churches Served[xvi]

1820-1821 Waterville Seminary College

1821 – 1826 Thomaston

1828 – 1831 Greene

1832-1836 East Winthrop

1836-1847 Missionary

1847-1860 Lowell, MA

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[i] Kennebec County Registry of Deeds book 21 page 374; 12/5/1810

[ii] Massachusetts Death Records 1841-1915 www.ancestry.com accessed 6/2/2015

[iii] Richardson, Peter Tufts; History of Thomaston Baptist Church; 2009 http://www.redbarnrockland.com/otherwritings/History_First_Baptist_Thomaston.pdf accessed 6/2/2015

[iv] Easton, Cyrus; History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine Volume 1;  Masters & Smith Printers, Hallowell, Mel 1865; page 322; https://books.google.com accessed 6/2/2015

[v] Ibid Richardson

[vi] Burrage, Henry Sweetser; History of the Baptists in Maine; Marks Printing House, 1904; page 225; https://books.google.com accessed 6/2/2015

[vii] Merrill, Georgia Drew; History of Androscoggin County; Boston, MA 1891; https://archive.org/details/historyofandrosc00merr accessed 6/2/2015

[viii] Stackpole. Everett History of Winthrop, ME 1771-1925; Merrill & Webber, Auburn, ME; page 369

[ix] Irish, Dorothy; Excerpts from: The History of The East Winthrop Baptist Church; http://www.endtimes.com/ewbc/ew-150th.html accessed 6/2/2015

[x] Ibid Stackpole

[xi] Ibid Burrage

[xii] 1850 US Census Lowell, MA; page 697; family 1789

[xiii] 1870 US Census Merrimac, NH; page 7; family 59; 1880 US Census; 1880 US Census  

[xiv] 1860 US Census Winthrop, ME; page 1015; family 186

[xv] www.findagrave.com East Winthrop Cemetery accessed 6/2/2015

[xvi] Approximate years based on compiled information

Baptists in Readfield - "Bowdoinham Association"

Dedicated Baptist missionaries spread the word in
the backcountry of Central Maine in the 1790's.

By 1790 in the Central part of the state (where Readfield is located) newcomers were rapidly settling the area. That led to the development of the Bowdoinham Association, which began its gradual development simultaneously with the York Association (see below FMI). Churches organized prior to 1800 in the Bowdoinham Association included: Bowdoin 1783; Lewiston 1792; Readfield 1792; Fayette 1792; Greene 1793; Wayne 1794; 2^nd Lewiston (Webster) 1794; Litchfield 1798; Wales 1799; and Jay 1799.


Elder James Potter, Rev. Isaac Case and Rev. Eliphalet Smith were responsible for bringing the Baptist's message to Readfield and the immediate area, where the Baptists were established even before the Methodists, for which Readfield is best known. See this blog for more information about Potter, Case and Smith. 


"The first Baptist association in the Province of Maine was in York County and was called the York Association. It was begun in 1776 with three churches, one of them being in New Hampshire. By 1790 when the population of Maine included 3,572 families living in 2,789 houses, there were only 11 Baptist churches with not more than 500 members.
It appears from dates given that the third Baptist church in Maine to be recognized was the one in Sanford in 1772 and in Oct.1780 fourteen persons were set apart under newly ordained Nathaniel Lord in the town of Wells. Shapleigh (1781) was next as a few pious Baptists united together for worship under Nehemiah Davis and in nearby Lyman twenty-nine members were constituted a Baptist church where Simon Locke faithfully presided until he died in1821. Davis and Locke succeeded in establishing a Baptist church in Waterborough in 1791 which later joined the Saco River Assoc. Other late Baptist churches in the York Association was Buxton in 1799 from which later the churches in Hollis and Scarborough owed their existence."
Source: "Old Maine Pastor, History of Baptists in Maine http://www.oldmainepastor.com/baptist-history-in-maine.html

Rev Eliphalet Smith

Rev. Eliphalet Smith was born 1742 in Grafton, MA. He came to live in Readfield well before 1800 and served the area as a Baptist preacher. About 1790 (1) he purchased land in the 30 Mile River Gore, which is now part of Readfield. Two local histories reveal that Rev. Smith performed weddings in Winthrop in 1795 and preached in Jay in 1799 (2).  No doubt, there are  more of his activities recorded in other local histories.


Little more is known about Rev. Smith at this time. We do know he died before April 17, 1807 because on this date Eliphalet's "farm with buildings thereon" were sold by his sons Eliphalet and Charles for $1,200 to Josiah Gordon of Mt. Vernon. Their father had willed them his property (both of them were residents of Readfield). The deed placed it in 30 Mile River Gore and size 75 acres. It also provides another important piece of information "the homestead where he (Eliphalet) formerly lived". Josiah Gordon sold this property to Luther Sampson later on, who was the founder of Kents Hill School (Maine Wesleyan Seminary) in 1821. I find it ironic that Maine Wesleyan Seminary was built on the home site of an early Baptist missionary. An institution where many Methodist and Universalist ministers hence received their religious training. This is hallowed ground indeed.


(1) Kennebec County Registry of Deeds book 11 page 222
(2) Stackpole's History of Winthrop; pub 1925 and History of Jay by Benj. Lawrence; pub.1912

Rev. John Leavitt Stevens



Rev. John Leavitt Stevens

Rev. John Leavitt Stevens born in Mt. Vernon 1820 and lived much of his life in Hallowell. He attended Maine Wesleyan Seminary (Kents Hill School) and became a Universalist minister. His friend James Blaine convinced him to leave the ministry and become co-owner with him of the Kennebec Journal. He was very active in the Anti-Slavery movement in Maine, among many other accomplishments. His involvement seems contradictory to me in view of his role in the US overthrowing Hawaii. At any rate, his life is a very interesting and controversial one! He and his wife and daughter Gracie are buried in Hallowell Village Cemetery. There is extensive info about him on Wikipedia. I was pleased to see the author used one of my web sites as a reference (#38). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Stevens