RAND, WILLIAM (REV.), a native of Charlestown; graduated at Harvard, 1721; ordained May 20, 1724, second pastor of the Sunderland church; dismissed 1745; afterwards settled in Kingston, Mass., where he d. Mar. 14, 1779, ae. 79; lived on the "minister lot," No. 10, West side. He m. Bridget, dau. Westwood and Sarah (Coleman) Cook of Hadley. She was b. Jan. 26, 1701. Rev. Zephaniah Willis, a successor of Mr. Rand at Kingston, thus describes him: "He was of middling stature, very spare habit, dark complexion, and strong constitution, of few words, disciplined in the school of affliction by the death of children, and the consequent derangement of his wife's intellect. He was liberal in opinions and doctrines, plain and unornamented in his discourses, pleasing to judicious and discerning, rather than to warm and superficial hearers. He was a scholar highly esteemed by the learned and informed in the province, with whom he had an extensive acquaintance." His reply to discourse of Jonathan Edwards supporting Whitfield, is regarded as the ablest argument against the revivalist that has appeared in print. He m. (2) Rebecca, dau. John and Mary Waterman and wid. John Holmes. Children were all born in Sunderland, and were by first wife.
