edly made after the establishment of the commonwealth of England."

SECTION III.

THE GENEALOGY STILL FURTHER
TRACED.

Maturin Ballou (1), whom we have named, had five sons and one daughter, namely, JOHN (2), Peter (3), James (4), Nathaniel, Samuel, and Hannah. Of these, John, Peter and James, lived to raise up families; the other two sons died when young. JOHN (2), who married Hannah Jaret, raised a family of three sons and three daughters, namely, JOHN (5), MATURIN (6), PETER (7), Sarah, Hannah, and Abigail. The family of Peter (3) consisted of Peter, William, Jeremiah, and Barbara, Phoebe, Jemima, and Martha. James (4) had James, Nathaniel, Obadiah, Samuel, Nehemiah, Susannah and Bashabe.

Hosea, whose history we write, descended from the first-named of Maturin's sons, namely, JOHN (2); and he, we have said, had three sons, John (5), Maturin (6), and Peter (7). Let us now look at the families that sprung from the three sons above named of John Ballou (2). John (5), who married Naomi Emmond, had four sons and three daughters, namely, John, Abraham, David, Peter and Mary, Tabitha and Sarah. Maturin (6), who married Mary Cooper, had two sons, William and Maturin. PETER (7), the grandson of Maturin, and the grandfather of the subject of this biography, was born Aug. 1, 1689. He married Rebecca Estan, from whom were born MATURIN, the father of Hosea, with one other son, Peter, and nine daughters,

namely, Rebecca, Sarah, Mary, Hannah, Abigail, Amey, Elizabeth, Hopestill, Mercy. PETER (7) died May 9, 1784, at the age of ninety-four, and Rebecca his wife died Feb. 13, 1787, in her ninety-first year.

SECTION IV. HIS FATHER.

We now come to Maturin, the father of Hosea. He was born in Providence on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 1722. He continued to reside in Rhode Island for some fortythree or four years, where, we suppose, the families we have described principally remained. Little is known of his early life. He married, when at the age of twenty-two, Lydia Harris, daughter of Richard Harris, who was the mother of the subject of this biography. His earliest settlement, in the married state, was at Smithfield, R. I., and here his first four children were born, namely, Mary, on Oct. 30, 1745; Benjamin, on Nov. 8, 1747; Amey, on June 6, 1750; and Lydia, on Oct. 21, 1752. From this place he removed to Pawtucket, R. I., where two sons were born: Maturin, on July 8, 1755, and David, on Sept. 15, 1758. Shortly after the birth of the last-named, the family removed to Scituate, R. I., and settled in that part of the town now known as Foster, where Nathan was born, on Sept. 9, 1760; Sarah, on May 4, 1763; and Phoebe, on May 24, 1765. A short time after the last date, the family removed to Richmond, N. H., then almost a wilderness, where the two children yet to be named were born; namely, Stephen, on Sept. 6, 1768, and HOSEA, on April 30, 1771.

When Hosea was about two years old, his amiable and excellent mother died; so that it was not possible for him to have any recollection of her, but her character was embalmed in his memory by the descriptions he early received. Maturin, the father of Hosea, although for many years a Baptist clergyman, probably did not receive a regular education for the ministry. Few Baptist clergymen did, in that day. And what opportunity had he for such a purpose? He had a family to maintain, before the intention to preach was formed. We are not able to state at what particular time his attention was so powerfully called to the subject of religion as to induce him to offer himself a candidate for baptism; but he commenced to preach while residing in Smithfield, in 1752, at the age of thirty. He preached in Pawtucket and Scituate, where we have said he had his residence; and, at length, either in 1767 or 1768, he removed to Richmond. He was one of the first to bear the sentiments of the Baptists into New Hampshire. Richmond had been settled by a few families of emigrants from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, about 1757; and among others who had there invaded the wilderness, were Anthony and Uriah Harris, brothers of Maturin Ballou's wife. She also had two sisters there, Mrs. Sweet and Mrs. Phillips. It is probable that Maturin and wife went up to visit their relations, and were induced to remove there and commence the establishment of a Baptist church. This church was formed in 1768; and Mr. Ballou was ordained as pastor in 1770.*

* See Farmer's New Hampshire Gazetteer, Art. "Richmond."

"About the year 1770, and during a few succeeding years," says Benedict, the historian of the Baptists, "a considerable number of Baptist brethren, and some ministers of the denomination, removed from different parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and some from other parts, and settled along the western line of New Hampshire, in the counties of Cheshire and Grafton, on and at no great distance from Connecticut river, which divides this state from Vermont. Some of the ministers who settled in this region were Maturin Ballou, Ebenezer Bailey, Jedediah Hibbard, Eleazar Beckwith, Thomas Baldwin, now of Boston, Isaac Kenney, &c. The oldest churches along or near the river are those of Richmond, Westmoreland, Marlow and Newport."*

From the above we should infer that the church in Richmond, probably founded by the labors of Mr. Ballou, was one of the earliest Baptist churches in New Hampshire. Mr. Benedict says, in another place, "But one church was formed in New Hampshire, previous to the year 1770; that was the one at Newtown, which was gathered in 1755. From 1770 to 1779, nine other churches were planted. From this period they began to increase with great rapidity, so that nine more were established in the year 1780." If there was but one Baptist church in New Hampshire previously to 1770, and that one was at Newtown, then the church in Richmond, formed in 1770, must have been the second church of that faith in the state. It is no exaggeration, then, to

* See a General History of the Baptist Denomination in America, &c., by David Benedict, A. M., Boston, 1813, vol. 1. p. 325.

+ Ibid. 315.

say that Maturin Ballou was one of the earliest Baptist preachers there. He lifted up the standard of that sect when there were but few to help him.

Rev. Maturin Ballou was a man of highly examplary character for integrity, benevolence and piety. He sought diligently to discharge his duties to God and to man, and endeavored to bear about with him the remembrance that he was an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a pious Calvinist; but yet, in spite of the awful doctrines of his creed, he had moments of pleasantry, and would relate an anecdote, or enjoy the relation of one, with much zest. Still, after an indulgence of this kind, he would sometimes heave a sigh, as if he almost feared it was a sin to be merry. In his manners he was a gentleman,- a perfect gentleman, when compared with the society in which he moved. For a dozen or fifteen years before he died, he had ceased to be pastor of the church in Richmond. Some cause of division sprung up, and a second Baptist church was formed; but the character of Mr. Ballou was above all suspicion, and was no part of the cause of the separation. It is probable that the people divided on the subject of the Calvinistic decrees, upon the one hand, and free will upon the other. He continued to reside in Richmond, preaching in the neighboring towns, maintaining his connection with the Baptist denomination, and evincing a deep interest in its welfare and in the conversion of sinners, until, at the age of fourscore, he felt himself admonished to abstain from his public labors; and after a serene quiet of two years, he yielded up his spirit to the God who gave it, in the year 1804, at the