| Notes |
- Ordained minister on 21 Apr 1697 and served as the minister of Medfield, MA from 1697 until his death in 1745.
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William S. Tilden, History of the Town of Medfield Massachusetts - 1650-1886 (Boston; Geo. H. Ellis, Publisher, 141 Franklin Street. 1887 Third Reprinting - 1991), 315-317.
"Rev. Joseph Baxter, second mnister of Medfield, was the son of Lieutenant John Baxter of Braintree, and was born in 1676. He graduated from Harvard College in 1693, at the age of seventeen.
He first preached in Medfield when he was eighteen years old; and though entirely acceptable the people thought best to wait awhile before settling him, on account of his extreme youth. He recieved a call, however, April 26, 1694. As soon as he was twenty-one years of age, he was ordained, April 21, 1697.
In 1696, he bought the homestead of Joseph Bullard on Main Street, opposite the head of Main Street. Judge Sewall, in his Diary, speaks of visiting Medfield in 1697, and says he "viewed Mr. Baxter's house, and the orchard Captain Frary hath given to the ministry, which lies very convenient; a living brook running by it, and through Mr. Baxter's." The orchard had belonged to John Frary, Sen., and was on the spot owned by heirs of Cyrus Stedman. Mr. Baxter's house lot contained ten acres, lying on both sides of the way.
He married Mary Fisk of Braintree, who was recieved to church here in 1701. His salary was £70 for several years. His first wife having died about 1710, he married in 1712 Rebecca Saffin of Bristol, who died the next year. His third wife was Mrs. Mercy Brigham.
He, in common with other wealthy citizens, owned slaves. In 1714, we find that "Mr. Baxter's man Tony" was paid for ringing the bell. In 1717, the salary was advanced to £80; and in 1721, he had a monthly contribution besides. The value of money was depreciating at this period, owning to the large quantities of paper oney that had been issued. In 1725, he had £100.
In 1731, he had from the town a grant of "half an acre of land on the east side of the meeting house to build a house on. This is where the straw-shop now stands. He did not build upon it however, and in 1742 gave a quit-claim to the town.
In 1733, his salary was made £130; in 1738, £60, "new tenor"; in 1741, £180. "old tenor." In 1743, his salary was to be £55, lawful money, or L220, "old tenor." The paper money was growing worse and worse.
Mr. Baxter died of dropsy May 2, 1745, aged sixty nine.
He published the Election Sermon, 1727, sermons to two societies of young men, and sermons, in 1729. He preached the sermon at the dedication of the first meeting-house in Sturbridge, 1733. When Governor Shute proposed to the Indians that a Protestant missionary be sent to them at the eastward, Mr. Baxter's name was mentioned; and he commenced a correspondence with the French Jesuit, Ralle, who was then in those parts. The correspondence was in Latin, and Ralle accused Mr. Baxter of a want of scholarship. The Governor replied that the "main qualification in a missionary to the barbarous Indians was not to be an exact scholar as to the Latin tongue, but to bring them from the power of Satan, who has usurped possession of these parts of the world for many ages, into the kingdom of the Son of God."
His real and personal estate at his death was valued at £1883. Besides land in this town, he owned rights in iron woks at Crack Rock in Stoughton (now Foxboro), iron works in Walpole, half a farm "at a place called Tuesick in the township of Georgetown at the eastward, "part of a right in land lying on Georges River, and an island neat Topsham, "commonly called Baxter's Island."
In his will is the following: "I devise to my beloved wife, Mercy Baxter, twenty pounds a year in bills of the old tenor, so long as she live, besides all the household goods she brought to me, and whatsoever she had by her father, or former husband, or sister; and also my horse and chaise and the tacking belonging to it, and the service of my Negro Slave, Nanny, during my wife's life; and to my Negro Slave I give her freedom at my wife's decease." He afterward adds, "It is my will that upon condition my Negro woman shall not in all things carry and behave herself dutifully and well towards her said mistress, my wife, then she shall not have her freedom; but I give to my wife full power to sell or dispose of her for life at her discretion."
During his ministry, three hundred and seventy-three persons were admitted to the church, two hundred and twenty eight owned the covenant, and one thousand one hundred and seventy-five received baptism."
Catalog of Graves in the Old Section of Vine Lake Cemetery - Medfield, MA (Compiled in 1976), 45. Lot 260, Baxter, Joseph (Rev.), birthdate - 1676; date of death - 1745.
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1676 - 1745 (68 years)
