Fonds UC079 - Brigham United Church fonds

Brigham United Church, initially a congregationalist church, began meeting unofficially in 1871 (served by the Congregationalist minister from Cowansville). In 1872, Erastus Brigham, the founder of of the town of Brigham built a church on his own land as a gift to the community. The Brigham Congregationlist Church was formally organized in 1873 with 11 members. The congregation continued to be served by the minister from Cowansville until 1888, when church membership had risen high enough to warrant having their own minister. Because of this, all baptisms, marriages and burials of Brigham Congregationalist Church prior to 1888 were recorded in Cowansville's Congregationalist Church register. For nearly 30 years the church was served by a succession of student ministers from Montreal. In 1925, when the Congregational, Methodist and Presbyterian churches came together to form the United Church of Canada, Brigham Congregationalist Church decided to join the union. The Brigham Congregationalist Church had become the Brigham United Church. In 1937, the Farnham Centre United Church was destroyed by fire; instead of rebuilding, the members of this congregation decided to join the Brigham United Church. From 1925 to 1968, Brigham United Church was part of a two-point charge with Farnham's Grace United Church. In 1968, it then joined with Grace United Church, Cowansville's Emmanual United Church and East Farnham United Church, to become part of a four-point charge known as the Cowansville Area Pastoral Charge. In 1998, the church building was sold to the Muncipality of Brigham to be used as a cultural centre. It was subsequently sold again to a private party and has since been renovated into a home. Brigham United is under the jurisdiction of the Quebec and Sherbrooke Presbytery of the Montreal and Ottawa conference of the United Church of Canada. Over the years the church has been governed by a board of trustees, an official board, a board of stewards, a board of Session and a board of the congregation in co-operation with the church organizations (women's groups) and committees.