1834 Camden, Maine Church Pew Deed – First Congregational Meeting House – Pew No. 62 – George Pendleton
An original 1834 church pew deed conveying ownership of Pew No. 62 in the First Congregational Meeting House of Camden, Maine, executed by George Pendleton, trader of Camden, to William Carleton, also of Camden, for the substantial consideration of $103.00.
Unlike ordinary land deeds, this document transfers ownership of a numbered church pew together with an undivided interest in the land on which the meeting house stood. It preserves detailed provisions governing the rights and responsibilities of the First Congregational Church and Society, including the minister's exclusive use of the pulpit, the committee's authority to invite ministers of other denominations, and the stipulation that the meeting house property would never revert to the grantor.
Signed by George Pendleton on December 25, 1834, witnessed and acknowledged before Charles C. Porter, Justice of the Peace, the deed retains its original folded paper wafer seal and is printed on a contemporary legal form with extensive manuscript insertions.
Printed pew deeds are considerably less common than standard land conveyances and provide a fascinating glimpse into a period when church pews were bought, sold, inherited, and treated as valuable real property. This example combines local Camden history, early New England Congregationalism, and nineteenth-century legal history in a single attractive document.
A desirable acquisition for collectors of Maine history, Congregational Church memorabilia, religious Americana, genealogy, and nineteenth-century manuscript documents.
An original 1834 church pew deed conveying ownership of Pew No. 62 in the First Congregational Meeting House of Camden, Maine, executed by George Pendleton, trader of Camden, to William Carleton, also of Camden, for the substantial consideration of $103.00.
Unlike ordinary land deeds, this document transfers ownership of a numbered church pew together with an undivided interest in the land on which the meeting house stood. It preserves detailed provisions governing the rights and responsibilities of the First Congregational Church and Society, including the minister's exclusive use of the pulpit, the committee's authority to invite ministers of other denominations, and the stipulation that the meeting house property would never revert to the grantor.
Signed by George Pendleton on December 25, 1834, witnessed and acknowledged before Charles C. Porter, Justice of the Peace, the deed retains its original folded paper wafer seal and is printed on a contemporary legal form with extensive manuscript insertions.
Printed pew deeds are considerably less common than standard land conveyances and provide a fascinating glimpse into a period when church pews were bought, sold, inherited, and treated as valuable real property. This example combines local Camden history, early New England Congregationalism, and nineteenth-century legal history in a single attractive document.
A desirable acquisition for collectors of Maine history, Congregational Church memorabilia, religious Americana, genealogy, and nineteenth-century manuscript documents.
