Joseph Lord was born June 30, 1672, the son of Thomas Lord and Alice (Rand) Lord of Charlestown, Massachusetts. On a return visit to New England, he married Abigail Hinckley, daughter of Governor Thomas Hinckley, who was three years his elder, on June 3, 1698.
He was educated at Harvard University, graduating in 1691.
He served as a pastor in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and then Dorchester, South Carolina, for two decades before becoming the pastor of the diocese of Chatham, Massachusetts. He was ordained as a minister at Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1695. In 1695, he led a group of his parishioners to the Ashley River in South Carolina to found the town of Dorchester, South Carolina, where he became pastor.
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Lord and others challenged Screven to public debates. After twenty years in South Carolina, he moved back to Chatham, Massachusetts on June 15, 1720. When Mr. Adams first sought to form the church, there were seven male members and 20-30 female members.
The male members in 1720, when Reverend Lord came to the church, were himself, Jonathan Collins, John Collins, Deacon Thomas Atkins, Deacon John Atkins, Moses Godfrey and Elisha Mayo.
When he came to the church in 1720 with his large family, the church voted to build him a house which was completed in 1721. The history and records of this church have for the most part been lost.
Samuel Taylor was given the title of Deacon in 1736, Paul Crowell as early as 1738 and Stephen Smith in 1749. Her first husband was Lieutenant Isaac Hawes, a descendant of John Howland, by whom she had seven or more children.
Reverend Lord died June 6, 1748 in Chatham.
