Although the Baptist Society in Holden, Mass., was not formally organized into a parish until 1807, there were meetings of Baptists at the neighboring Templeton church for nearly a century before, and later in private homes. From 1804 to 1807 the Holden Baptists were a branch of the Templeton Baptist Church, but in 1807 their request for a separate parish was granted by Templeton. That town's minister, Elisha Andrews (1768-1840), supplied the Holden church on a part-time basis until 1813. In that year Thomas Marshall (1785-1842), a parish member, was ordained as its minister, followed by John Walker (1789-1866), 1818 to 1831. In 1820 a church meeting house was built, and again in 1835. During the middle part of the ninteenth century, the church experienced pastorates of relatively sort duration until the Rev. David Foster Estes (1851-1926) was installed in 1886.
From the description of Records, 1804-1909. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 207133422
