In 1717 a committee consisting of Jonathan Parker, Thomas Hutchinson, and Jacob Taylor was appointed to negotiate with Mr. Daniel Putnam as a potential minister. Daniel Putnam was a native son of Salem Village (Danvers), born November 12, 1696 to Benjamin and Hannah (Putnam?) Putnam. Daniel was the nephew of Sergeant George Flint. He graduated Harvard College in 1717 and was ordained on June 29, 1720. He married Rebecca (Putnam) Putnam February 25, 1718 in Salem Village, MA.
The settlement consisted of twenty acres of land, four of which the Parish would break, and a house twenty-eight by nineteen feet, with a fifteen foot stud, if Mr. Putnam would furnish the nails and the glass for the building. The annual salary was fifteen cords of wood and sixty six pounds, to be paid in hard money.
At the time of his ordination there were thirty nine members of the now formalized church and fifty three tax payers in the North Precinct.
Editor’s note: Pastor Daniel and I share common "grandparents": Richard Hutchinson and Alice (Bosworth) Hutchinson of Salem Village.
