Charles A. Nelson , A. M., Waltham, past, present and its industries, with an historical sketch of Watertown from its settlement in 1630 to the incorporation of Waltham, January 15, 1739.

[117] December 24, 1845. Mr. Hill resigned in January, 1860. The Rev. James C. Parsons followed, being ordained June 6, 1860. He also resigned in May, 1864, and was succeeded May 18, 1865, by the Rev. S. B. Flagg who remained till January 1, 1869. Rev. C. McCauley was the next pastor. He was installed December 29, 1869, and remained three years till December, 1872.

The present pastor, Rev. Edward C. Guild, was installed June 8, 1873. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1853, and from the Cambridge Divinity School in 1857.

An Act of the Legislature approved May 3, 1866, enacts that, ‘The Independent Congregational Society in Waltham shall be called and known by the name of the First Parish in Waltham.’ The church edifice was thoroughly repaired and remodeled in 1867.

A Committee was appointed by the Parish April 16, 1867, to ‘inquire into the history of the Ann Mills Fund and the Ripley Fund.’ From their report it appears that ‘Ann Mills by her Will, November 7, 1725, gave to the Church of the West part of Watertown one quarter of her estate, the interest of which was to be annually distributed to the Poor of the Parish by the Ministers and Deacons.’ The First Church appointed trustees of the fund, which in 1732 was £ 282 6s. 4d., and in 1747 was increased to £ 300, and the income was regularly given to the poor of the parish,

until about 1832, when the Rev. Samuel Ripley ... took or borrowed the Fund and gave his note for the same, as follows:—

Waltham, Oct. 1, 1832. For value recd. I promise to pay Mess. Jonas Viles, Nathan Sanderson, junr., and Jacob Lawrence, or their successors in office, or order, the sum of Three hundred and forty dollars, being the money left to the church by the Will of Ann Mills for the use of the Poor of the church with interest on demand.

Samuel Ripley.

Attest, Leonard Lawrence.

When the First Church dissolved in 1840, Mr. Ripley ‘became anxious to rid himself of the Ann Mills Fund, and, after repeated ’