after charges against his moral character which, according to one biography, "were supported by proof and also by his own confession." He continued to preach for two more years, filling vacant pulpits, while he studied medicine and taught school.

In 1752, he married Abigail Burr of Fairfield, Connecticut; she died the following year. In 1757, he married Mary Osborne. He migrated to South Carolina and established himself as a physician at Dorchester, South Carolina,