One of the things I learned early on when I started researching our congregation’s history is that you can’t trust everything you read. Every reference – websites, on-line family genealogies, books, newspapers, even the U. S. Census – may contain errors. Some of these errors have sent me on wild goose chases or led me to rule out conflicting information which turned out to be accurate.

Our own church documents are no less fallible than other sources. Our earliest records are in a bound notebook titled “Proceedings of the Sheshequin Universalist Society.” The notebook is dated “1846,” though it contains some records from as early as 1833; these may have been copied into the notebook from earlier documents.

The first membership list, containing 66 names, is on page 6. There is no date on page 6, but, in the notebook’s table of contents, that page is titled “Members, 1843.” I didn’t have to look far to discover that the 1843 date was probably incorrect. Turning to page 7, I found a list of people who were removed from membership. Under “Deaths” are the names of five people from page 6, including dates of death for three of them; I found death dates for the other two in other sources. All five died between 1840 and 1842.

My first guess, then, was that the membership list dated from around 1840. But then I started researching each of the 66 members in greater depth. I learned that four of the women members on page 6 – listed there by their birth names – had gotten married before 1840. In fact, all four were married between 1833 and 1835. I also found that two of the male members had relocated to Illinois in the ‘30’s, one in 1836 and one in 1838.

All of the above information pushed the date of the first membership list back to no later than 1833. I feel fairly confident that this date is correct. The earliest records of trustees, officers, and delegates to association meetings date from 1833 as well. The society probably started keeping detailed records in that year.

I have lots of other “war stories” about my adventures in church history. The quest is challenging but always interesting. I get excited about each new discovery. I look forward to sharing highlights with you.