which delivered power to two grist mills; the outflow of water from these mills returned the creek water to the River Thames.The last of the ponds, Smith's Pond, came to an end in 1976. The advent of steam power in the 1850s freed industries from dependence on water power and proximity to mill ponds. This allowed new industries to locate on the north side of the Thames and other hitherto neglected places. Historical churches From the earliest days, the people of the Oxford settlement were drawn to evangelicals and evangelism. The families brought in by Thomas Ingersoll were active in an era when Puritanism (Congregational Church) was still the official religion in most of New England, and a great many could not abide the extreme self-denial preached by such men as the pastor at Great Barrington, one of many who have been described by historians as "Puritans gone haywire". The Anglican, Methodist and Baptist forms of worship had become popular alternatives. Thomas Ingersoll's associate, Rev. Gideon Bostwick was so popular that the people of Great Barrington refused to make any further payments to support the Congregational pastor, although required by law. Bostwick's missionary circuit from Great Barrington grew to include parts of Vermont, Connecticut, New York state, and the whole western end of Massachusetts. In his journeys he preached in the same frontier towns as Baptist and Methodist missionaries. After Bostwick's unexpected death in 1793, at least five Baptist preachers were amongst the Thomas Ingersoll settlers, and Methodist missionaries won the hearts of two of Ingersoll's daughters. All of the churches established in the hamlet of Ingersoll had their origin in such missionary work. As the community grew, it raised its own missionaries who went out into the wider world, including the first mayor's daughter Dr. Belle Chone Oliver, and most famous of all, Aimee Semple McPherson. First Baptist Church Without any resident clergy, the Oxford settlement relied on visiting missionaries for spiritual guidance in its earliest years. Amongst the first of these to make the journey were sent by Baptist associations in the state of Vermont, where families such as the Canfields and Burdicks, who were headed by Baptist preachers, had spent time before their move to Canada in the 1790s. Members of the first Baptist congregations joined in covenants to watch over each other. By the 1850s there were several such separate congregations in the Ingersoll area. A