Records of the First Church at Dorchester, in New England, 1636-1734 (1891)

Printed transcript of the Dorchester church records, read in the archive.org full text. Used for the Foster, Bate and Bigg families:

• The early list of members includes “Alice Bate,” “Lydia Bate” and “mary Bate,” and, a little later, “Hopestill ffoster,” “Rachel Bigge” and “Patience ffoster.”
• Baptisms of 1644: “Hopstill ffoster : 10 1 mo 44” (p. 156).
• Capt. Hopestill Foster as the church’s messenger: on 12 (4) 1670 the church chose “Elder Humphry & Capt ffoster,” with Mr. Stoughton, to counsel the divided Braintree church; on 7 (3) 1671 it named “Capt Clap & Capt ffoster” again for Braintree; and on 16 (5) 1671 it sent “the Elder & deakon Captin ffoster & some more” to Mr. Josiah Flint “to sterr him up to hasten his remove to dorchester.”