The Churches of Tiverton, Massachusetts

Colonel Benjamin Church, uncle to Hannah Church (my 7th great-grandmother), was a famous Captain in the King Philip’s war. I have found a great historical text titled Our Country and It’s People: A Descriptive and Biographical Record of Bristol County, Massachusetts (1899).

In chapter 24, pages 423-423 the author describes the Church family in early Fall River, which I have included a copy of below. It describes how the Colonel and his brother Caleb (Hannah’s father) acquired the majority of Tiverton, Massachusetts in the early days of its development. This included the saw mill, grist mill and fulling mill before selling it off to another man for a profit.

The story of Col. Benjamin Church becomes of great interest when his involvement in King Philip’s war is mentioned in a footnote. It turns out that he was a key figure, and that he wrote about the war with enough accuracy that his writings are some of our major historical reference points for the event. The book quoted from above goes into detail about this war (in chapter 3) and makes mention of the Colonel on many occasions,which I’ve included images of below.