[2] With the help of his family and ministers from the area, he was able to get private tutoring and an education at local academies, which then allowed him to attend Yale College, where he spent his vacations spreading the gospel to young people in the area as a way to repay the ministers who had helped him with his education.

[2] The church, also known as Old North, was the "rallying point of the town, and the great congregation, averaging about a thousand, thronged it every Sabbath.

[5] In addition to preaching there on Sundays, Bouton held open Monday evening meetings, instituted four Bible classes, traveled on horseback to different districts to give weekly lectures in schoolhouses, pray with the sick and elderly, and visit each family in his parish at least once a year.

[3][5] Sunday school attendance increased under him to 925 students by 1832, and Bouton was notable for allowing and even encouraging women to speak and ask and answer questions in church.

[6] In 1834, Bouton helped found the New Hampshire branch of the American Anti-Slavery Society along with Reverend George Storrs.

[7] In 1845, Bouton's Old North church hosted a famous debate between Franklin Pierce and John P. Hale on slavery and abolitionism.

[3] At different times he also served as Librarian, President, and Corresponding Secretary of the New Hampshire Historical Society, which he became a member of in 1831, and edited two volumes of its Collections.