1739 August 29 (Wednesday). Mr. Loring preach’d a very profitable sermon on Deut. 32.47. N.B. After Sermon I read the brief Representation of the Case of Mr. Torry[1] in Narragansett. N.B. Madam Sartel[2] and her daughter Prentice[3] here.
[1]A brief representation of the case depending between the Rev. Dr. Mc’Sparran, plaintiff, and the Rev. Mr. Torrey, defendant, relating to the ministry land at Narraganset ([Boston?: s.n., 1739]). Rev. Joseph Torrey (HC 1728), minister of the Congregational Church at Kingston, R.I., 1732-1791. He was also a physician. Immediately after his ordination Torrey was involved in a lawsuit defending his right as a Congregational minister to 300 acres of glebe land. In this complicated and extraordinary case which went as far as the Privy Council, the real issue was the democratic nature of the New England church system. The case dragged on for a number of years, and in 1739 the Boston ministers Colman and Prince headed a successful campaign to raise money to pay the cost of Torrey’s defense. SHG, 8:498-507.
[2]Wife of Capt. Nathaniel Sartell (Sartel, Sartele, Sawtell) of Groton.
[3]Sarah Sartell, daughter of Capt. Nathaniel, married Rev. Solomon Prentice of Grafton, Oct. 26, 1732. Groton Vital Records 2:148.