66 FACTS RELATING TO GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 



The two following epitaphs are taken from a copy of 

 Mr. Edward Doubleday Harris's " Lexington, Epitaphs," in 

 manuscript, now in the possession of the Massachusetts 

 Historical Society. 



Here Lyes the 

 Body of Deacon 



Nathaniel Lawrance 



Formally of GROTON 



Dec'^ at LEXINGTON 



April the 14"' 1724 



in the 85* Year 



• of His Age. 



HERE LYES THE 

 BODY OF DEACO^ 

 THOMAS TARBALL 



AGED 48 YEARS 

 & 3 M'> DIED 



BR e th 



OCTO Y 8 1715 



He belonged to 



Groten 



THE FIRST CHURCH AT WEST GROTON. 



The following account of the gathering of a religious 

 society at West Groton, and the dedication of their house of 

 worship, is taken from the " Zion's Herald " (Boston), Octo- 

 ber 14, 1885 : 



The editor of this paper [Rev. Bradford Kinney Pierce] was in- 

 vited to preach the sermon at the dedication of a house of worship in 

 West Groton, Mass., last Wednesday [October 7]. This village has 

 been connected with Ayer Junction, and a minister from the Confer- 

 ence has supplied both preaching places. Worship is held in a hall 

 in Ayer, and had a very incommodious room heretofore for its services 

 in West Groton. This year one of our enterprising and devoted 

 young men, Rev. H. G. Buckingham, has been the pastor of the 

 circuit. There is no church edifice in West Groton. The church 

 members, of various orders, are connected with distant bodies. The 

 village is small, and there was little wealth that could be summoned 

 in aid of a new religious enterprise. The neighbors met together and, 



