Our History

1778

Our founders Thomas Clark and Agabus Bishop were among the first settlers to move to Troy from Wrentham, Massachusetts.ⁱ At that time, Troy, Fitzwilliam and Marlborough were loosely connected under the township designations of Monadnock No. IV and No. V.ⁱⁱ

Mr. Clark was a soldier of the Revolution and lived a long and prosperous life. “…few men have left a better example, or been more generally beloved.”ⁱⁱⁱ

Mr. Bishop had the unique distinction of moving to Troy by horse and wagon, rather than using ox-teams as was the norm. For years, his horse was the only one in the area, and it was so noteworthy that it made the history books!

1789

On November 19, after much prayer and deep study of the Bible, a gathering of 25 men and women^iv met in Mr. Bishop’s home to establish a Baptist church in obedience to the Scripture:

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
as is the manner of some,
but exhorting one another:
and so much the more,
as ye see the Day approaching.”
~HEBREWS 10:25~

The Articles of Faith and Church Covenant were adopted that day and are preserved in our records, establishing the “The Fitzwilliam and Troy Baptist Church.” They had no regular preacher until 1791, when Rufus Freeman became the first ordained pastor.

1813

A public Meeting House was erected, and for the first time our church was able to meet in a public space intended for worship, rather than in schoolhouses or private homes. A few years later, the meeting house was sold to the town, moved to a central location and re-fitted to become the Town Hall.

1815

Troy was incorporated into a town; and so, our church divided into two branches, with 18 members charged with planting the First Baptist Church of Fitzwilliam. Meanwhile, the Troy branch continued under the same name until 1836, when it was changed to “The First Baptist Church of Troy New Hampshire,” the official name to this day.

1817

Elder Darius Fisher became the new pastor, with an annual salary of $1.50 and the shoeing of his horse. He was the longest serving pastor of our church until now. Today, that honor is held by Donn Williams, our current pastor – although we no longer include horseshoes as part of the compensation package.

1848

After more than 40 years, the members voted to build a church of their own; and in January 1849, our new church was dedicated to the worship of God.

The bricks were made here in Troy, and the large granite blocks which form the front steps were brought by oxen from the Troy Town Quarry.

The interior was the reverse of the layout we use today, with the pulpit located between the two front doors. The balcony for the choir could be accessed using stairs on either side of the pulpit. Two wood stoves were in the back corners of the room, with pipes running the length of the building. Foot-stoves were provided for people who suffered from cold feet.

Baptisms were performed outside in local ponds, even in winter. To baptize Mrs. Leaffy Brown in January, they had to cut a hole in the ice in Farrar Pond. Her clothes were frozen stiff by the time she’d walked across the street to go home!

1891-1892

Extensive repairs were made to the church building, with an addition built on the East end for a vestry, “affording commodious and pretty quarters for all the church gathering,” as well as a basement with classrooms for the school. The front entry was enlarged and the pulpit was moved to the opposite end of the sanctuary, with a choir loft in an alcove behind it. The wood stoves were replaced by a furnace. They also added a baptistry in a pit under the pulpit – no more cutting holes in the ice for winter baptisms! Eventually, more renovations included the baptistry we have today.

1896

A new bell was gifted to the church by Pastor Fredrick Oakes, in honor of his mother, who was the oldest member of the church at the time. It replaced the original bell, which cracked on July 4th and hadn’t rung in months. The “new” bell (now more than a century old) still rings every Sunday when our pastor and his wife arrive to open the church for worship.

1906

The parsonage was donated to the church by Alvah Clark, who was a deacon in the church for 47 years. Our pastors have lived in the residence ever since.

1900's

Evangelism was always important to the church, sending members out to plant new churches and establishing a Missionary Society in 1827. In particular, numerous outreach ministries developed after 1950. Pastor Cornelius VerHoeve launched a long-running radio program called “Fellowship Time.” There was a monthly newsletter. The youth ministry was very active with Word of Life for students in junior high and high school, AWANA for kids of all ages, and a Christian school. The Timothy Project prepared members to serve as lay pastors and missionaries. And we have our Missions Ministry, which sponsored a Missions Conference in 1989 with 11 missionary families from around the world.

2001

Pastor Donn Williams became the 55th pastor of Troy Baptist Church, where he and his wife Sue continue to minister to this day. (Click here to read their biography.) Pastor Donn is the longest serving pastor in our church history.

Today

Our outreach efforts were transformed in 2019 by the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person activities were paused everywhere. In place of live services, Pastor Donn began recording his weekly message as an audio podcast. As a result, our church has grown into a global “extended fellowship,” with believers who tune in remotely to the weekly message.

Prayer is also an important aspect of our Extended Fellowship. Prayer requests are shared among the Extended Fellowship so we can lift them up to God together and individually.

If you have a prayer request, we encourage you to reach out so we can pray for you too.

And this is the confidence that we have in him,
that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
I JOHN 5:14

Pastor Donn continues his podcast ministry today, even though we are back to in-person worship. His weekly messages are preached live on Sundays, while the podcast recordings are shared here on our website and available to all. We encourage you to explore them!