The organization of the Congregational Church and Society of Albany, took place on the 13th day of February, 1842. The meeting was held by members who had withdrawn from the First Presbyterian church, together with some others. Rev. Mr. Hazard acted as Moderator at the meeting, and Mr. Erastus Allen as clerk. After some preliminary proceedings, the following certificate was drawn up and signed:
“This certifies that we, Messrs. James Bothwell, William H. Efner, Duty Buck, Erastus Allen, William Bothwell, and Mrs. Hannah Allen, Mrs. Ruth Bothwell, and Mrs. Fannie Buckingham, members of the First Presbyterian Church in Albany, Whiteside County, State of Illinois, being dissatisfied with the principles of said church, and being desirous with others of forming themselves into a Congregational Church, and having taken the preliminary steps assembled at the appointed place and hour on the 13th of February, A.D. 1842, for the purpose of completing our organization and acknowledgment as a church of Christ, to be called the First Congregational Church of Albany, Whiteside County, Illinois, with the Rev. Mr. Hazard, their counselor and moderator, and Mr. E. Allen, their scribe, the undersigned were now embodied, by letter and profession, into an Evangelical church, according to Congregational usage. Signed; James Bothwell, Erastus Allen, Duty Buck, William H. Efner, William Bothwell, G. Buckingham, by profession, Mrs. Ruth Bothwell, Mrs. Fanny Buckingham, Mrs. Dinah Bothwell, by profession.
The articles of Faith and Covenant were then adopted, after which Messrs. Duty Buck and Wm. Bothwell were chosen deacons, and Erastus Allen, clerk. Rev. O. Emerson was the first pastor. On the 20th of July, 1844, E. Allen, James Bothwell, Duty Buck, P. B. Vannest and Washington Olds were elected Trustees for five years "to control the building and use of the meeting house,” and on the 1st of December, 1844, the new meeting house of the society was was dedicated. On the 12th of July, 1846, Dr. C. Abbott and James Bothwell were elected deacons for three years. Two of the members died in 1847, James Bothwell on the 31st of January, and Mrs. Lucy Howard on the 1st of March. Rev. A.J. Copland became pastor on the 1st of October, 1847, at a salary of $400 per year, and on the 5th of December, 1849 he was succeeded by Rev. J. J. Hill. P.B. Vannest and J. B. Crosby were elected deacons on the 6th of July, 1850. The following pastors succeeded Rev. Mr. Hill up to 1870: Revs. Nathaniel Pine, James Quick, Samuel Hemenway, Robert Stuart, Chas. Hancock, C.S. Cady, H. S. Hamilton, M. Ostrander, 0. Emerson, and D.R. Macnab. Rev. Mr. Chapman and other ministers filled the pulpit when there was no seated pastor.
Mr. Duty Buck, a member of the church, was killed by the tornado of June 3, 1860. His wife had only died during the March previous. Mr. Henry Pease was chosen clerk of the church on the 31st of March, 1861, which position he still holds. On the 9th of April, 1870, a proposition was received from the Presbyterian church for a union of the two churches “to the end that a minister acceptable to both could be secured.” No definite action seems to have been taken in this matter. On the 6th of June, 1874, the members of the church appointed P.B. Vannest, Ezekiel Olds, and S. B. Bliss a committee to wait on a like number from the Presbyterian church at Garden Plain, with a view of obtaining a minister whom both churches could agree to support as a stated supply. This effort eventuated in the call of Rev. N. D. Graves as pastor for both congregations, and in July, 1875, he began his labors. Mr. Graves still remains as such pastor, preaching each Sabbath at Garden Plain in the morning and at Albany in the afternoon.
Source: Bent & Wilson History of Whiteside County 1877
