Congregational Drummers

Ingrained in Americana is the image of the church steeple with its bell. We have a rich cultural tradition of the church bell tolling the hour, peeling out news both good and bad and calling the faithful to Sunday Services. But in the earliest days of America it was the drum that served this function. The town crier announced his presence with the beat of a drum, the militia was directed in many of its functions by drumbeat, and in the Congregational Societies the call to worship was the beating drum. In places where most of the populous lived and worked in town the call to worship was the roll of the drum from the meetinghouse roof. In a farming community like Killingworth it is my guess that the drummer served his function by making a quick ride up and down the two streets that connected the scattered farms. Found in the town records for Killingworth are a number of small documents that note the hiring of a drummer. The fact that this was a matter of town business underlines its importance. Making it to church on time was important. In the earliest days it was mandatory. In our era what we would term as “an announcement” was recorded in early church records as a “warning”. It was not an “announcement” that we are having an event come if you can, instead, it was a “warning” we are having an event, you had bettered come. In the minutes of the Society future plans and events were noted and the line was always added, “and the members were warned”. Church attendance was important, gaining ones salvation was critical, and the drummers sounded the call.