Queer Places:
Old North Church, 35 Washington St, Marblehead, MA 01945
Ebenezer Knight (born 1700) of the Old North Church of Marblehead was suspended from Communion in 1732 for a "long series of uncleanness with mankind", but he was restored to membership six years later, after having earned the "charity" of the congregation".
Ebenezer Knight is given the honorific title of Mister as a subscriber to Samuel Mather’s biography of his father, The Life of Cotton Mather, published in 1729. Thus marked as a man of prominence in Marblehead society, Knight three years later was suspended from communion with the First Church for a “long series of uncleanness with mankind.” He moved to Boston. On his return home six years later he convinced the congregation that he had seen the error of his ways and was restored to full membership. The record reveals no details of his “uncleanness” but his repentance and perhaps also the assuaging effect of his prolonged absence were enough to bring about his reacceptance into the church community.
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