THE TOWN OF BEDFORD. 69 



Hobby, William Downs, Samuel Lounsbury, Oliver B. Finch, Henry 

 Hobby, Joseph H. Hobby, David M. Johnson and Henry Downes, 

 vestrymen. The Church edifice, erected in 1853 at a cost of $1600, 

 was consecrated to the service of Almighty God, on the 2 2d of Septem- 

 ber of that year, by the late Rt. Rev. Jonathan M. Wainwright, D.D., 

 LL.D. At present, services are performed here by the rector of Bed- 

 ford, every Sunday afternoon. The bell was presented by St. Matthew's 

 church, Bedford. 



Within the ajoining Hamlet near the Episcopal church, at the junc- 

 tion of the Sing Sing and Bedford roads stands the Baptist church. 

 The Baptist Society was first organized Sept. 22d, 1798; seven of its 

 members having received legal letters of dismission from the Baptist 

 church in Stamford, to form a new Society under the pastoral charge of 

 Elder Jones. On the 8th of May, 1802, Elder Ezra Fountain was 

 elected pastor of the church, an office which he held with great accep- 

 tance for thirty-five years. Mr. Fountain was descended from the 

 Fountains of Stockinghami, Devonshire, England. The first member of 

 the family who emigrated to America about 1650, was a merchant of 

 opulence, who lived to the age of a hundred years. In the church of 

 Mysborough in the county of Devon, England, are several monuments 

 to members of this family; among others is one to the memory of Sir 

 John Fountain, of whom there are some fragmentary sketches extant. 

 The emigrant left two sons, the eldest of whom was Moses, a man re- 

 markable for his piety, and who also lived to over a hundred years; the 

 youngest son Moses, had two sons, Moses and Mathew, who died with- 

 out issue at the age of one hundred and four, the latter was a British 

 officer of some distinction previous to the Revolutionary war, but re- 

 moved from Bedford to Eastchester with the refugees and there died 

 from the bite of a fox, aged fifty-six. He left four sons, Stephen, Aaron, 

 Ezra and James, besides two daughters. . Ezra the third son, the pas- 

 tor of this church was born, on the 20th of May, 1743, and died Oct. 

 25th, 1840, and was interred on his own farm at present occupied by 

 John A. Miller in this town where a monument has been erected to his 

 memory containing the following epitaph written by himself. 



" A dying preacher . I have been, 

 To dying sinners such as you ; 

 A dying preacher I remain, 

 To all who come my grave to view." 



It may be truly said of this good man "Though dead he yet speak- 

 eth." 



