Sunday, October 2, 2016, is the 142nd anniversary of the installation of the bell at our Sheshequin meeting house.  Fran Brown will ring the bell to commemorate that event.  But there’s more – I have just learned that October 2 is also the 182nd anniversary of the dedication of the Sheshequin meeting house.

The meeting house dedication service took place during the first meeting of the Susquehanna Association, which was held at Sheshequin on October 1 and 2, 1834.  The Susquehanna Association had just been spun off from the Chenango Association, to which the Sheshequin congregation had belonged.  The North Branch Association, to which our congregation currently belongs, was later spun off from the Susquehanna Association.

Rev. Dolphus Skinner, editor of the weekly Universalist periodical, The Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate, attended the 1834 meeting and wrote the following in that newspaper:

“On Wednesday and Thursday, October 1 and 2, … the Susquehanna Association of Universalists met, was organized and held its first session… The society here [at Sheshequin] has recently erected and completed a very commodious and pretty house of worship.  We do not recollect the exact dimensions – it has a well-proportioned steeple, a gallery on three sides, and will accommodate about eight hundred people.  It was dedicated to the worship of Almighty God on Thursday, A. M.”

I don’t know if “eight hundred” is a typographical error or a gross overestimate.  The actual seating capacity of the Sheshequin meeting house is probably less than 200.

Association meetings in the 1800’s generally included several worship services on both days.  The dedication was held on the second day of the Susquehanna Association meeting, on Thursday, October 4, 1834.  The service was described as follows in the meeting minutes:

“Thursday morning. – Dedication. – Introductory prayer, Br. G. Sanderson.  Reading selection from Scriptures, Br. O. Whiston.  Dedicatory prayer, Br. G. Messinger, Jr.  Sermon, Br. D. Skinner, Josh. Xxii 11,12.  Benediction, Br. Skinner.  The dedicatory services were interspersed with several appropriate hymns and set pieces of music.”

October 2 is a very special day in the life of our congregation!