Jämsä

Jämsä's parish joined the scattered settlements of inland Tavastia through a common church and clergy. The district appears in a boundary document of 1417, and an independent parish is recorded in 1442. Before separation from Sysmä, a visiting priest came from there to conduct services; Jämsä had its own parish priest by at least 1497.

Church administration gave this extensive countryside a durable framework. The parish passed from Turku to the diocese of Viipuri in 1554, returned briefly to Turku in 1629–1648, and entered the new diocese of Porvoo in 1722. Its size also prompted the creation of nearer places of worship: Korpilahti became a chapel in 1691, and Petäjävesi's prayer-house community was founded in 1728 and made a chapel in 1779. The surviving accounts begin in 1697, parish registers in 1707 and communion books in 1726. These records preserve the households and obligations of a community organized long before the modern municipality.