...a welcoming spiritual community

Our History

North Parish ministers have continued the tradition of theological liberalism and added to it a strong dose of social action.

Unitarian Universalism History

Unitarian Universalists, moved by compassionate commitment to principle rather than adherence to creed, have been a strong voice for individual liberty, religious tolerance, democratic process and community responsibility from the inception of the “American Experiment”. Unitarian Universalist contributors to America's heritage include Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Louisa May Alcott, Clara Barton, Susan B. Anthony, William Ellery Channing, William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell and Horace Mann.

A Liberal Spirit From the Beginning

On September 19, 1644, ten freeholders, the minimum required by law, met at Rowley to form a church for the new settlement of Cochichawicke. They were John Woodbridge, the first minister of the new church; John Osgood, Robert Barnard, John Frye, Nicholas Holt, Richard Barker, Joseph Parker, Nathan Parker, Richard Blake and Edmond Faulkner. The First Church of Christ at Cochichawicke was formally established on October 24, 1645. It was the thirty-seventh church organized by Puritan settlers of Massachusetts. The settlement came to be known as Andover, after a town in East Anglia, and the name of the church changed accordingly. The First Meetinghouse was supposed to have stood near the "Old North Burying Ground" on Academy Road. When it was built is unknown, but there is reason to believe that it was among the first buildings in town. It stood only until 1669, when it was replaced with a second structure that was built a bit east of the first location. This was followed by a third, fourth and fifth or present one built in 1836, the tower of which houses a Paul Revere bell cast in 1806.

Witch Hysteria and a new Building

The witch hysteria that swept Salem in 1692 touched Andover as well. Two teenage girls from Salem visited Andover and accused many of the town’s citizens, including the daughter of the minister, Francis Dane. From the beginning of the fever, the 76-year-old Dane had spoken out against the proceedings, calling for the exercise of reason. He wrote a letter highly critical of the General Court, the colony's legislature, that helped turn the tide against the witch hunt.

Fifteen years later a new church was formed to the south. A larger population now lived in the southern portion of the settlement. They wanted the new meetinghouse located among them, because it was difficult to get to the northern reaches during bad weather. Eventually, the General Court split the town into two parishes: North and South, each of which would go a very different way.

In the aftermath of the Revolution and the Constitution, the country began to grow and develop, and North Parish reflected these changes. William Symmes, like his four predecessors, had maintained a farm as well as serving as minister. The new minister, Bailey Loring, devoted his full attention to the ministry. Andover was no longer a frontier settlement, but a developing town. Captain “Nat” Stevens built the first mills in Andover during this period.

The second Great Awakening swept the country at this time. South Parish had always been more conservative than North Parish and was caught up in the revival. Andover Theological School was founded to resist the Unitarianism exemplified by North Parish, which was moving ever closer to becoming formally Unitarian. William Ellery Channing preached his famous sermon “Unitarian Christianity”in 1819. Six years later the American Unitarian Association was founded. Under Loring's leadership the North Parish became Unitarian in 1835. Not all members of the congregation were pleased. Seven members of North Parish met with fourteen members of South Parish to form the Trinitarian Calvinist Church, which soon changed its name to the Trinitarian Congregational Church. But the overwhelming majority of North Parish’s congregation remained in the North Parish Unitarian Church.

The Andovers Split

By the 1850s the original split with the church in Andover had become more political. South Parish was larger and more populous than North Parish and longed for legal separation and the name Andover. Many in the North Parish resisted this move, but the split was eventually worked out, and South Parish paid North Parish $500 for the right to the name “Andover”.

The Civil War touched North Parish as it did the rest of the country. Native son lsaac Ingalls Stevens was killed at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and by the end of the war, thirty-three men from North Andover joined him in a soldiers’ grave.

Women were taking a more important role and were admitted to full voting membership in the church in 1887. The women of the North Parish organized the Women’s Alliance in 1896. It conducted social and educational activities and raised money to send to schools for African-Americans in the South. The Progressive Era of the early twentieth century also touched the church.The Women’s Alliance agitated for suffrage and worked to improve social conditions in Lawrence.

The Twentieth Century

North Parish ministers have continued the tradition of theological liberalism and added to it a strong dose of social action. Rev. Elvin Prescott invited children of immigrants in Lawrence to celebrate Christmas at North Parish and hired a truck to transport outlying families in still-largely-rural North Andover to church. In a time of isolation, he advocated a greater understanding and compassion for other nations and cultures. Rev. Ernest Brown was active in the Civil Rights movement. Rev. James Reeb spoke at the North Parish just weeks before he was murdered in Alabama while marching for Civil Rights. Rev. David Blanchard was active in support of integration and in opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1970s.

Our Current Minister

On October 24, 1999, Lee Bluemel was installed as the seventeenth minister of the North Parish Church, exactly 354 years from the date of the founding of the church in 1645. She received her bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and her M. Div. from Harvard Divinity School. Our congregational vote to call her as our minister culminated a two year, nation-wide search. She follows David Blanchard, who retired after 32 years of service to North Parish.

Welcoming Congregation

North Parish is a Welcoming Congregation, consistent with the guidelines of the Unitarian Universalist Association. We actively welcome lesbian, gay. bisexual, transgender, and intersex people as full participants in the life of the church. For more information, see our Welcoming Congregation page, or contact our Interweave chapter.