The Congregational Church.—On the 3d of March, A. D. 1867, the Rev. John G. Hale, then pastor of the Congregational Church in Poultney, preached a sermon to his congregation from the following text: Psalms xiv:1. — "We have heard with our ears, O God! our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old." In that sermon, Mr. Hale reviewed the history of the Congregational Church of Pjoultney, and much of what will appear in this sketch must be cacredited to his researches.

Mr. Hale says, in his introduction, that "it is greatly to be regretted that the earliest records of the church are lost. There are but two volumes of the records of this church known to be in existence. The older of these volumes is headed in an oldfashioned, large, clear hand: 'Poultney Church Records, Book 3.' Books No. 1 and 2," he says, " were undoubtedly small — very probably unbound books" — and that "the first records we have bear date, June 1, 1793."