Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/164

 124 THE HISTORY OF BARRINGTON Warren, on a spot within the limits of Wannamoisett (now Barrington) a few rods south of the Rehoboth line, and a little south of the road that now leads from Warren through Seekonk to Providence." This locality is still further established by the Rev. Abiel Fisher, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Swansea (the Myles Church) in 1845, whose diligence and fidelity in searching records and collecting memorials of the ancient church are commended by Rev. Mr. Tustin. He makes the following statement: "It has been supposed, and often stated by Backus and others that the First Meeting House was erected near Kelley's Bridge, on Tyler's Point (Barrington) opposite Warren, but I have ascertained that it was about three miles northwest from that point, a little southwest of the road leading from Warren to Seekonk and Providence. The very spot has been pointed out to me, being on a road leading from the main road to the house of Squire Allen, lately deceased. This road leads out of the main road, between the houses of Timothy P. Luther and John Grant, only twenty or thirty rods from the latter. The line of Seekonk is only a few rods north of this spot. It seems nearly certain that while most of the Church resided in Rehoboth (as that town then embraced Seekonk), they chose a site for their meeting house as near their residences as possible, where they could be permitted for a time to worship God according to the dicates of their own consciences." I may state that in the year 1870, while preparing the historical address for the Centennial Celebration, I visited the site of Myles's first Meeting-House, in company with Mr, Timothy P. Luther, who resided in the neighborhood, and he pointed out to me the lot on the east side of the road leading to the residence of Joseph G. West, as the place where the first house stood. The location was south of the Seekonk line, within the present limits of the town of Barrington, and also within the original boundary lines of Swansea, at the time of the incorporation of the town in 1667. The query may arise in some minds why this location was