BIOGRAPHY OF THE REVEREND JOSEPH DYAR, JR. (1774-1859) - JosephDyar Jr. conveyed land in Charlestown in 1796. In 1806 heemigrated to the province of Maine and settled at Phillips wherehe "was a leading Baptist elder of that section until he died"(Dyar Gen., p. 15). The 1820 census of Phillips township showsJoseph's household with one male aged 16-18 (James), two aged16-25 (Joseph 3rd and an unknown), and one aged over 45(Joseph Jr.), and females: one aged 10-15 (Eliza), and oneover 45 (Sally). Three of these people were involved inagriculture.As mentioned above Joseph Jr. was very involved in the religiouslife of his town. Until 1818, when the church went under, andsome years after it was revived Joseph (and two other ministers)did most of the preaching at the church in Phillips -- theseefforts were without any compensation from the church members.As the Farmington Chronicle stated in a series of sketches ofPhillips in 1869, "The devotion and sacrifices of those earlyministers who were faithfully engaged in their work challengesour admiration. Their privations and suffering excite ourcommiseration, but are to be attributed to errors taught by theministers themselves and too faithfully sanctioned by themembership."Despite the occasional decline of membership to a pointapproaching zero, Joseph Dyar continued preaching. When ElderSamuel HUTCHINS visited Phillips in 1827 he noted the poorattendance and was instrumental in starting the church again onher course. From this time, improvement in the manner ofconducting affairs became apparent. Elder Joseph Dyar wasconstituted pastor of the Phillips church and the preachingbecame more regular. In 1830 the members who lived in Madrid,Maine, were organized into a church by themselves and ElderDyar was dismissed from his pastorate in Phillips.After this he bestowed most of his labor on the church inMadrid. Ironically, after the departure of Joseph Dyar fromPhillips, the congregation there began to employ a paid preacherunder contract.The 1830 census of Phillips township shows Joseph's householdwith one male aged 10-14 (?), and one aged 50-59 (Joseph Jr.),and females: one aged 5-9 (?), and one aged 50-59 (Sally).Their farm appears to have been contiguous with that of theirson Joseph 3rd. The Rev. Joseph Dyar Jr. died at AE 85, and wasburied at the Riverside Methodist Church, Phillips, FranklinCo., ME. This cemetery (behind the Methodist Church, the town'sfirst which opened in 1840), was destroyed on 4 OCT 1869 aftertwo days of torrential rains washed out all the bridges over theSandy River but one, took out five dams above the town andkilled one resident.