Does anyone know what the term "owned the covenant" in the Canaan Parish church records meant? John FANCHER and wife Eunice BOUTON owned the covenant on Jan 22 1737/8. (They were married in 1736). They were admitted as members of the church Sept 4 1748 - 10 years later. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Alison aliwallner@home.com http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wallner

Many many thanks to all of you who responded to my message! You have given me much food for thought! In answer to some of your questions: The Canaan Parish Church was Congregational. The minister, John Eels, was "on site", and not a circuit minister. John Fancher made 32 land transactions in Stamford and Norwalk, 1 in Greenwich, during this period which would seem to indicate that he was in the area at the time. His homestead was in what would become Poundridge NY, which was within the Canaan Parish. His children were all baptized in the church during this period. John and Eunice Fancher owned the covenant on 22 Jan. 1737, their first child, John, was b.15 July 1737. I had wondered if owning the covenant might have been a prelude to having their son baptized, but John's supposed brother Richard had children baptized in this church, with no record of him ever owning the covenant or being admitted as a church member. I have checked the copies of the Canaan Parish records for a few other families and there appears to be no rhyme or reason for the owing the covenant dates compared to the membership dates. Some were a prelude to a marriage, baptism, or membership. Others owned the covenant at a time which seems to have no relationship to another event. Ditto on church memberships. But I didn't find any other ten year gap. And I don't have all the records :) Family tradition says John Fancher was a seafaring man (although no proof of same has ever been found). Perhaps he waited until 1748 because his seafaring days ended then? Maybe John owned the covenant to "pay" for his pew to make his wife happy! And then dragged his feet about becoming a member of the church for another ten years :) Alison ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alison Wallner" <aliwallner@home.com> To: <CTFAIRFI-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2001 11:58 AM Subject: [CTFAIRFI] "Owned the Covenant" in Canaan Parish? > Does anyone know what the term "owned the covenant" in the Canaan Parish church records meant? > > John FANCHER and wife Eunice BOUTON owned the covenant on Jan 22 1737/8. (They were married in 1736). They were admitted as members of the church Sept 4 1748 - 10 years later. > > Any help would be greatly appreciated! > Alison > aliwallner@home.com > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wallner > > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 > Source for Family History Online. Go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB > >