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Archiver > DEVON > 1999-07 > 0931635960


From: John Pritchard< >
Subject: Re: EBENEZER; CHAPEL; Okehampton, Devon.
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 19:46:00 GMT


In reply to Rhonda Newell's message of Sun, 11 Jul 99:

>I would be pleased if somebody could help with information on the Ebenezer Chapel, Okehampton, Devon.
>My gggrandparents George ROGERS and Loveday HOLMES were married in the chapel in 1847.
>The marriage certificate states that it was an Independent church.
>
>Could somebody tell me whether it was Methodist, Baptist or another religion.

When it says "Independent" that is the name of the denomination - they
were later known as "Congregational". The Congregational churches
joined with the English Presbyterian church in 1974 to form the United
Reformed Church.

The Independents, together with the Baptists and the Presbyterians,
were essentially the "puritans" of the 17th C., the earliest groups of
Protestant dissenters to break away from the Church of England and
establish their own chapels. The Independents believed that each
congregation should run its own affairs, appointing its own Minister,
and not controlled by any central Church authority.

Ebenezer Chapel, Okehampton, appears to have been founded as an
Independent congregation in 1799.

--
John Pritchard

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