Joshua Spalding

SPALDING, Joshua. b. Killingly, Connecticut, 14 December 1760; d. Newburgh, New York State, 26 September 1825. According to the Douglas Family Records (see below) Spalding, whose name is sometimes spelt ‘Spaulding’, studied theology with the Rev Mr Bradford, of Rowley, Massachusetts. In 1785 he was ordained ‘over the church and society’ of the Tabernacle church, Salem, Massachusetts, where he was remembered as ‘an energetic pastor’, so that ‘the drooping interests of the church and society gradually revived under his ministry’. He married Susannah Douglas in 1790, and they had two children; after her death he married Elizabeth Bradshaw. They had nine children. About 1800, ‘he imbibed and...