Joseph Grafton

Who was Joseph Grafton?

Joseph Grafton was a founder of the Newton Theological Institution. For more than forty-eight years he was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Newton, Massachusetts. He was succeeded by the Rev. Frederic Augustus Willard. As the minister of a member church of the Warren Association, Grafton served on committees to advise individuals and churches who were taxed in order to pay the town-supported Congregational minister's salary. He also served as a messenger to associations in other states such as Connecticut and Maine.

In September 1793, members of the Warren Association elected Joseph Grafton as one of twelve founding Trustees of the Baptist Education Fund. The purpose of the fund was to help young men pay for tuition to colleges such as Rhode Island College.

Upon his death, the Rev. Daniel Sharp preached a funeral sermon and his biography by Samuel Francis Smith was published in Boston in 1849.