Biography
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Joseph Stennett, Jr., the eldest living son of Joseph and Susanna Guill Stennett, was born in London 6 Nov. 1692.
BN1
When he was about fifteen years of age, he made a profession of religion, he was
baptized and joined his father's Pinner's Hall Seventh Day Baptist Church in London.
BN2
His father, in his last illness (1713) which was at the "house of his brother-in-law, Mr. [William] Morton" (Knaphill,
Buckinghamshire)
"in a particular manner gave his dying advice to his eldest son [Joseph, Jr.], with respect to the management of his studies,
and the conduct of his future life.
BN3
Joseph, Jr., has recorded his marriage to "Rebekah ... Daughter of Nathanael Morgan of Uske Castle in Monmouthshire, Gent., to whom I was married at Radnage ... Bucks ... on the eight day of April 17l4. BN4 This is confirmed in the Radnage Parish Register, "Joseph Stennet of Hitchendon and Rebecka Davies were married with a license of the 8 th of April l7l4 BN5 "In the year 1714, Providence called him into Wales, where he first entered upon his public ministry, and spent about four years at Abergavenny in Monmouthshire."BN6 Rebecka bore "eleven children in thirteen years." She died 24 June 1744.BN7 A later writer is mistaken in giving her name as "Mary."BN8 Joseph Stennett "preached with great acceptance to the Baptist congregation at Abergavenny. There was a poor man belonging to that meeting ... he ... walked seven or eight miles every Lord's-day to hear the Doctor [Joseph, Jr.]." This account goes on to tell how a voice at night persuaded a non-church doctor to send food to that poor man and his family. This narrative from Joseph, Jr., and related by Dr. Samuel Stennett had been sent in to the Baptist annual register. III (1798-1801), by J. S., presumably Dr. Samuel's son, Joseph.BN9 This incident from around Abergavenny shows him as a very active pastor. Joseph Stennett, Jr., from Abergavenny provided on 28 Jan. 1718 Monmouthshire information for John Evans' list of Dissenting congregations.BN10 A letter from Joseph Colet, an English government official in India, was addressed to him in Abergavenny on 28 Aug. 1718.BN11 Among Joseph and Rebecca's children, Sarah was born 18 Jan. 1714 at Uske Castle, Joseph (III) was born 8 Nov. 1717 at Abergavenny, and Susanna Maria was born 26 Dec. 1719 at Abergavenny. BN12 Joseph Stennett "by recommendation" was received as a member of the Baptist church in Leominster in Oct. 1717, though it is believed he lived largely at Abergavenny at this time. Joshua Thomas in his history of the Leominster Church wrote (as late as 1769) that "I heard it said that he preached his first sermon at Abergavenny, and others that he began his Ministry at Leominster, But however that was, it is certain he preached at both places in the Beginning of his Ministry." There has been uncertainty as to when he moved to the Particular Baptist Church in Exeter. One source (written about 1772) says he that it was in July 1720 when he preached his first sermon at Exeter.BN13 In a 24 ~ month [Sept.] 1721 letter from the Exeter (Particular) Baptist Church to the Baptist Church in Leominster the Exeter Church relates that "(after ... a Solemn day of fasting & Prayer) wee unanimously called [Joseph Stennett] to take the Pastoral Care of us." Stennett accepted. Exeter asks Leominster to release him to Exeter since he "is a Member in Comunion With you". Exeter also requested that Thomas Holder the Leominster pastor would come to assist in Stennett's ordination even though the distance is considerable. Stennett added his approval of the letter in a postscript. The next day ("Sept. 25 th ") ) Stennett wrote another letter to Holder "my Pastor" urging him to come for the ordination. The "extremity of this Church's circumstances seem to call for a speedy settlement." Stennett is concerned about the Arian heresy--a controversy about the Trinity had begun in Exeter in 1718, resulting in the Salters' Hall controversy in London in 1719BN14 The Mill Yard Seventh Day [General] Baptist Church in London at its 5 March 1721, business meeting decided to contact Joseph Stennett, Jr., since "its thott might bee usefull: for the promotion of ye Sabbath: [for him] to come & preach amongst ye Sabbath Keepers & yt its agreed by the Church to invite him in Love: Trusting to his Moderation hee knowing our principles abt ye Generall point." Stennett was a Particular (Calvinistic) Baptist. His answer is not known but it is clear that he remained at Exeter. BN15 While the Old Meeting (Nonconformist) in Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales, was between pastors "Mr. Stennett" (believed to be Joseph, Jr.) supplied twice for which he was paid 12 Dec. 1728 and 12 Jan. 1736 for his services and/or horse and journey.BN16 Wrexham is a considerable distance from Exeter. Stennett preached at Broadmead Bristol Church 11 Aug. 1732 at the ordination of deacons. BN17 He preached a sermon at Broadmead Bristol which resulted in Hugh Evans feeling a personal call to ministry. BN18 Stennett was called to become pastor of the Little Wild Street [Particular] Baptist Church in London. By a letter of 26 March 1737, he accepted; he was "in the chair" at that church's 30 June 1737, business meeting. BN19 At the ordination of Benjamin Beddome at the Baptist church in Bourton-on-the-Water, on 23 Sept. 1743, Stennett preached the ordination sermon.BN20 Stennett's wife, Rebekah Morgan Stennett, died 24 June 1744, after ten years of declining health. BN21 She was buried at Bunhill Fields in a grave, 1 July 1744.BN22 In a marriage announcement in The Gentleman's magazine, 14 (March 1745), 164, the format gives the place of residence of the persons being married--not the place of the marriage ceremony. Thus "Mr Stennet, an eminent baptist preecher, at Cote, Oxfordshire,--to Miss Robarts of Abingdon, Berks." refers to Joseph III, not Joseph Stennett, Jr. When Joseph, Jr., did the funeral sermon for Mary Robarts [Roberts] at Abingdon, and he said, "my near relation to the deceased", though it furnishes me with a more intimate acquaintance with her character, will yet the more restrain that liberty I might otherwise have taken"--in praising her. BN23 Presumably this Mary Robarts was one of the sisters of Rebecca Morgan Stennett, Joseph, Jr.'s late wife. BN24 In turn, a daughter of Joseph, Jr., married a Robarts: "Mrs. Anna Robarts ... a daughter of ... Dr. Joseph Stennett" died on Jan. 15, 1771 ..." in the "45th year of her age."BN25 Joseph, Jr., in 1748 preached the funeral sermon for the Rev. David Rees; Joseph reminisced that at Rees' ordination (19 Feb. 1705/6) "the public work ... fell chiefly on my honoured Father [sermon], and the late reverend Mr. John Piggott. I was present on that occasion, and, tho' very young, I shall not easily forget the solemnities of itBN26 There is a marriage record for "Joseph Stennett and Elizabeth Haley" for 25 April 1750 in an Allhallows London Wall parish record book.BN27 This is probably Joseph Stennett, Jr. This inference is strengthened by (1) a letter from Dr. Samuel Stennett of 15 Aug. 1770, from Watford: "I write from my mother's [presumably his step-mother's], who lives at the distance of nearly twenty miles from London. Her health being in a declining state, I think it my duty to be with her as much as possible." BN28 (2) The Bunhill Fields registers record the burial 5 July 1771, of "Mrs. Eliz Stennet from Watford ... in a vault." BN29 Joseph, Jr., in 1754 was honored with the degree of D. D.--Doctor of Divinity--by the College of St. Andrews in Scotland. There are several glimpses of Joseph, Jr.'s involvement with Seventh Day Baptists in London late in his ministry at Little Wild Street. (1) In the Pinner's Hall Seventh Day Particular Baptist record book (the church now meeting at Cripplegate), a woman proposed for membership on 17 June 1753; on "the Wednesday following shee was baptized by Mr. Stennett." The officiant was likely Joseph, Jr., though possibly his younger son Samuel.BN30 (2) A money raiser for the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), Samuel Davies, visited the Stennetts. On Saturday, 23 March 1754, Davies "Preached ... P. M. for Dr. Stennet in a small Congregation of seven-Day Baptists, who seem very serious People." This is presumably the Cripplegate Church of which Joseph Stennett, Sr., had been pastor when they met at Pinner's Hall. Though the congregation had Edmund Townsend as its pastor that quotation suggests that Joseph Stennett, Jr., sometimes preached there. BN31 Perhaps at this time Townsend preached in the mornings and Stennett in the afternoons. On 16 July 1755, Joseph, Jr. was one of those who participated in the ordination of Samuel Bowen to the pastorate of the Shortwood Baptist Church.BN32 Joseph, Jr., died 6 or 7 Feb. 1758 in the city of Bath. His funeral was elaborate and expensive, costing what a London craftsman would make in about two and a half years. The receipt for the payment is dated 3 May that year. BN33 The Bunhill Fields register for 24 Feb. 1758, records: "The Revd. Dr. Stennett from Charterhouse Square for the ground to Bilid a vault seven foot by 7 For his family & Selfe l0-10-0." BN34 The commemorative sermon for him was preached by the well known pastor Dr. John Gill on Feb. 26. BN35 |
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1738. Gods awful Summons ... 1737 ... Wind ... (London. 1738; second edition, London, 1738). 1738. The Christian strife for the faith ... before a Society of Ministers, and Gentlemen ... 
(London. 1738, xii, 84 p.; second edition, London, 1739, vi, 42 p.).
1741. National Ingratitude ... Gideon ... Little-Wild-Street November 5. 1740. (London,
1741; second, third, fourth, and fifth editions, all (London, 1741).
1741. The Nature, and Reward of true Liberality. A Sermon ... Decease of Mr. Samuel Burch ...
Little-Wild-Street, London. (London, 1741).
1742. The Happiness and Glory of Heaven ... Death of the Reverend Mr. Joseph Collet ...
1741 ... Preach'd at Coat in the County of Oxford. (London, 1741) Since Joseph
Stennett III was pastor at Coat, it is easy to assume that he preached the sermon,
but it is in Joseph Stennett, Jr.,
Sermons on several subjects and occasions
(London,
1742), so it is clear it is by J. Stennett, Jr., later D. D.
1742. [A book with a preface by Joseph Stennett: Joseph Collet [of Coat].
The unsearchable depth of Gods judgments ... (London, 1742).
1743. A Sermon ... For the late glorious Victory ... at Dettingen. (London, 1743; second
edition, London, 1743). There is a quotationfrom this sermon in The church and war,
ed. by W. J. Sheils ([Oxford?] Basil Blackwell, 1983), 247.)
1744. [A book with a preface by Joseph Stennett: Mrs. [Hannah] Housman. The power and
pleasure of the Divine life . ...(London, 1744; second edition, London, 1755.)]
1745. Rabshaketh's Retreat ... December 18, 1745. (London, 1745; second edition,
London, 1745). There is a discussion of this book in BQ 36 (1995-96), 213-5.
1746. The LORD was there ... October 9, 1746. (London, 1746). the above except for the
Housman book,were reprinted in his
Sermons on several subjects and occasions
(London: Aaron Ward, 111742)
1748. The everlasting Covenant ... Funeral of the Reverend Mr. David Rees .. (London. 1748). 1749. A sermon preach'd at Little-Wild-Street on ... April 25, 1749 ... Peace. (London, 1749) 1750. A funeral oration ... Interment of the Reverend Mr. Samuel Wilson ... (two printings:
London, 1750). Also in S. Wilson,
Sermons on various subjects
(London, 1753)
Ivimey, 3.548, says Stennett edited the latter volume for
publication;
Stennett also provided the preface.
1752. Ivimey, 3.271, says Stennett edited Alverey Jackson, The question answered
(London, 1752)
1753. The Complaints of an unsuccessful Ministry ... preached to the Ministers and
Messengers ... met in Association in the West of England, June 9, 1752 Messengers ...
(London, 1753; second edition1 London. 1753).
1753. The Importance of Religious knowledge ... November 15, 1753. to the Society for
promoting Religious Knowledge among the Poor (London, 1754).
1754. Christ's Care ... preached at Abingdon ... Decease of Mrs. Mary Robarts ... 1754
(London, 1754). Stennett spoke of my near relation to the deceased ... TI (36).
The deceased had the same name as a sister of Stennett's wife Rebekah Morgan
Stennett (d. 1744) (Joseph A. Bradney.A history of Monmouthshire, 3.2.135
(London, 1923).
Stennett gave a sermon before the Western [Particular Baptist] Association in 1734;
quotations from it are in the BQ, 32, no. 8 (Oct. 1988), 413. He wrote that Association's
letter to its churches in 1734 and 1736 (in its manuscript minutes
(Regents Park College Library) , 24-35, 56-62)
Several Stennett letters are extant. One is to Daniel Booth, 8. Feb. 1749 asking to use a coach as he is going "to wait on the King" tomorrow.JB1 Another is to Rev. John Waldrond in Exeter, 22 March 1750.JB2 A third was dictated (in his last illness) at Bath (written by his son Samuel) to his London congregation, 30 Nov. l757. JB3 There is also a 19 Aug. 1789 letter by [Joshua] Thomas which gives information on Stennett's career at Exeter. JB4 Just before his death (1758) he was briefly a trustee of Dr. John Ward's Trust (for ministerial students). JB5 There is a small book addressed to him: The fall of the old serpent called the devil ... explained in a third letter to Doctor Joseph Stennett ... (London, 1757). The funeral sermon for Joseph Stennett, D. D. was by John Gill, The mutual gain of Christ ... (three editions1 all London, 1758). There is a description of his elaborate funeral: BQ, 25.12-3. Biography: Baptist magazine , 11 (1819), [501]-4 from John Gill, Sermons and tracts , 1 . 531) ; Ivimey, 3 . 580-8 ; Albert W. Light, Bunhill Fields , 2nd ed. (London, 1915), 181-2.
JOSEPH STENNETT, JR. (1692-1758) and his wife, Rebekah (d. 1744), daughter of Nathanel Morgan, Family: The five children named below are listed in Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, ed. by Joseph Jackson Howard, Third series, III (London: Mitchell and Hughes, 1900), 87. The date of the register of these births is 27 Feb. 1747, which is probably the legal year, 1747/48=1748; these are presumably their children who are alive at that time. Joseph Stennett attests that he and Rebekah, daughter of Nathanael Morgan of Uske Castle in Monmouthshire, were married at Radnage, Buckinghamshire, 8 April 1714, which agrees with the parish register except that her surname is given in the register as Davies. The funeral sermon for her, Rebekah Stennett, was preached by Samuel Wilson in 1744, and reported that she had borne "eleven children in thirteen years." Jb1 Sarah Stennett
As a young man, Joseph Jenkins lodged with a "pious family" in London, the mother being a sister of [Dr.] Samuel Stennett; Jenkins taught their son. Jenkins in 1766 was baptized by Dr. Stennett and joined Little Wild Street Church.Jb5
JOSEPH STENNETT [IV] ~ son of Joseph Stennett, who was a son of [Dr.] Joseph Stennett, Jr. Since his father was born in 1717, a birth date of 1737 is about the earliest likely time. He succeeded his father as pastor of the Baptist Church at Coate, Oxfordshire, after his father's death which was May 22, 1769. It is possible he preached some before that date as his father died in London at the home of Dr. Samuel Stennett, the deceased's younger brother. Joseph [IV] "carried on the work for two years after his father's death, and probably during his father's illness. ... He apparently stayed for a time after his father's death, and later went to London with his mother. There was a "Rev. Joseph Stennett [who] left Warwick [Baptist Church] in 1779."Jiv1 He was buried as 'The Reverend Mr. Stennett, of Hackney, " a year before his mother in the family vault at Bunhill Fields.Jiv2 In the Bunhill Fields records there is a record for Sept. 10, 1783, "The Revd. Mr Joseph Stennet from Hackney in a Grave." Then there is what appears to be his mother"s record (Sept. 9, 1784) : "M Mary Stennett from Mile end in a Grave."Jiv3 This is presumably the Joseph Stennett who is a pastor at Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in 1772 or 1773, presumably at the Baptist Church.Jivi Apparently this Joseph Stennett was pastor of the Baptist Church at Warwick 1777-1779--Whitley gives these datesJiv5 A Rev. Joseph Stennett left the Warwick church in 1779.Jiv6 |
