Exploring Hidden Histories in Church Records: A Virtual Roundtable with FCC Fairfield and FCC Natick

As more churches begin to critically examine their records, many find that they have had members of their congregations who were either enslaved, enslavers, or participated in the dispossession of Indigenous lands. Researching, understanding, and reckoning with these histories has an impact on congregations and communities.

In this roundtable discussion, New England’s Hidden Histories (NEHH) Project Director Dr. Tricia Peone talked with members of the First Church of Christ in Fairfield, Connecticut and the First Congregational Church in Natick, Massachusetts – two churches who have participated in NEHH and engaged thoughtfully with what their churches’ records have revealed about the past.

The Congregational Library & Archives is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the New England’s Hidden Histories (NEHH) project with this program series and the digital exhibition NEHH@20: Re-Examining Stories from New England Communities. Find out more on our NEHH@20 webpage.

SPEAKER BIOS

Jacque Paige is a 30+ year member of First Church Congregational, Fairfield, CT. She served as Moderator and Treasurer and then moved up to cleaning out closets as she worked on some long overdue renovations at the church. The closets held a treasure trove of church history.  Organizing those documents led to the First Church Racial Justice Pathway holding a town-wide event recognizing the ten enslaved people “owned” by First Church pastors in the late 1600s and early 1700s.

Dr. Tricia Peone joined the CLA in 2022 as the Project Director for New England’s Hidden Histories. Prior to joining the CLA, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She has also previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities, a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials, early New England, and public history, and as a researcher for cultural heritage organizations. Her scholarship focuses on early New England, particularly the history of magic and witchcraft, and her work on these subjects has appeared in journals, books, blogs, and on radio and television. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science.

Rita Skog is a Deacon and Chair of the Outreach Board and has been a member of First Church Congregational Fairfield for over 30 years. As a member of the Racial Justice Pathway, she became aware of the early church and town’s history with slavery. This led to the Pathway’s decision to recognize and acknowledge First Church’s legacy of enslavement and find a way to honor those individuals whose unpaid labor supported and enriched the community. As an Open and Affirming Congregation in the United Church of Christ, identifying, revealing and acknowledging the church’s role in the enslavement of ten individuals was a spiritual journey that the congregation had to undertake.

Rev. Cindy Worthington-Berry has been the pastor of First Congregational Church of Natick, MA since Oct. 2023. She was drawn to the congregation in part because of the way they had begun wrestling with the history of the church in relation to the Indigenous community in Natick. Cindy grew up in the United Church of Christ and has been thinking about church history since she was 17, when she helped her mom write a book celebrating the 250th anniversary of her childhood church.