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Barly Ecclesiastical Affairs IN NEW CASTLE, DEL. AND HISTORY OF IMMANUEL CHURCH
BY
THOMAS HOLCOMB
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01772 5802 E 45
T
GENEALOGY 975.102 N43HO
BRSK
IMMANUEL CHURCH, NEW CASTLE, DEL., 1890.
10
SKETCH
OF
Early Ecclesiastical Affairs
IN NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE,
AND
Mistory of Immanuel Church
BY
THOMAS HOLCOMB.
WITTEN BY REQUEST OF THE CHURCH CLUB. OF DELAWARE.
WILMINGTON, DE .: DELAWARE PRINTING COMPANY. 1 890.
1
MMA
SKETCH
OF
Early Ecclesiastical Affairs
IN NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE,
AND
Mistory of Immanuel Church
BY
THOMAS HOLCOMB.
WRITTEN BY REQUEST OF THE CHURCH CLUB, OF DELAWARE.
WILMINGTON, DEL .: DELAWARE PRINTING COMPANY. 1890.
PREFACE.
The early history of Immanuel Church, running back, as it does, into the seventeenth century, has been but little known, and it required much research, here and there, to gather the facts which make up this book. It has been my desire to write a true and entirely relia- ble history. Through publications made in recent years by the State of New York many data relating to the early history of New Castle have come to light; and the publication by Bishop Perry of the documentary history of the London "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," relating to Delaware and Maryland, has been a source from which I have derived much that is of interest. Besides Bishop Perry's valua- ble work, I have drawn upon "O'Callaghan's History of New York;" "Brodhead's History of the State of New York;" "Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York," vol. 12; "Hazard's Annals;"' "Journal of George Keith, Missionary;" "Hill's History of the Church in Burlington;" "Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit;" Acrelius' "History of New Sweden;" Volumes A and B of New Castle County Records, etc. The New Castle County Records are especially valuable for their historical contents, and our Legislature should secure the preservation of these books by having them printed. They will be of increasing value as the time to which they refer becomes
more remote, and the people take greater interest in colonial history. Volume C of these records has been lost, or destroyed, and so is gone forever the record it contains of a very important period of the history of New Castle County, i. e., the early years of Penn's proprietorship. There is still wanting for a complete history of New Castle a translation of the papers relating to the colony while it belonged to the city of Ainsterdam. The records are preserved by the city of Amsterdam, and the time will come when the value of those documents will be appreciated and copies secured by our State. THOMAS HOLCOMB. New Castle, Delaware, October 8, 1890.
CHAPTER I. 1651-1671.
First Dutch Settlement. Fort Casimir. Domine Grasmeer. Fort Captured by Swedes under Risingh. Recapture by Stuy- vesant. Petrus Hjort first Swedish Minister. Domine Mega- polensis. Condition of Dutch Clergy and People. Swedish Clergy and People. Rev. Lock or Lokenius. Evert Pieterson, School Master. Domine Everardus Welius. Distress in the Colony. Welius' Death. Great desire for a Minister. Domine Warnerus Hadson. Lokenius in Trouble. Abelius Zetscroon. Capture of New Amstel by English, and Name Changed to New Castle. Rev. Jacobus Fabritius. New Fort in Centre of Town.
New Castle was first settled by the Dutch. The Swedes had claimed dominion over the locality, which they called Sandhuken, but there is no good evidence that they had made any settlement there. The first settle- ment of the Dutch on the South or Delaware river was at the mouth of Timmerkill, now within the limits of the city of Gloucester, New Jersey. They built a fort, which was called Fort Nassua, as early as 1623. After the arrival of the Swedes in 1637, the authorities at New Amsterdam (New York) began to realize that they had established their post too far up the river, and in view of the fact that the Swedish power was rapidly increasing, determined, that to hold their own, it was necessary to take a position below the Swedes, and thus command the river and the approach to the settlements. With this object in view, Stuyvesant, the Dutch Director
6
EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS
General at New Amsterdam, organized an expedition to the South river in 1651, and after abandoning and demol- ishing Fort Nassau, a colony was established and fort built at Sandhuken, which they called Fort Casimir. This was done in uch to the chagrin and disgust of the Swedes, and against the judgment of the directors of the Dutch West India Company in Holland.
The name given to the new fort was that of a Swedish prince, and the West India Company in a letter to Stuyvesant, were curious to know why that name was chosen. The Dutch minister, Grasmeer, accompanied Stuyvesant on this expedition, so that he was probably the first minister of the Gospel who visited New Castle. There is no record of any religious services conducted by him at the new post, but it is reasonable to suppose that there were such services. He returned to New Amsterdam with Stuyvesant.
Fort Casimir was captured by a Swedish force under John Risingh on May 30, 1654 and called Fort Trinity. Stuyvesant at the head of a small fleet and army recaptured the place on September II, 1655, and two weeks thereafter the Swedes' stronghold, Fort Chris- tina, surrendered to Stuyvesant and so the Swedish power on the Delaware was completely overthrown, although many Swedes remained, and receiving accessions from time to time, gave more character to the civilization of the colony than their rulers, the Dutch. During the Swedish occupancy of about sixteen months, a Swedish minister named Petrus Hjort resided at the fort, and he was the first minister of any denomination who was stationed at New Castle. Sprinchorn says concerning him: "Rising likewise exhibited zeal and circumspection in administering the religious interests of the colony,
7
IN NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE.
of the ministers (already spoken of) who came out on the 'Ornen,' one Petrus Hjort, described by Rising as 'both temporally and spiritually a poor parson ¡was assigned a home in Fort Trinity, also to be the centre of his parochial duties, while his companion, Matthias Nertunius, dwelt at Upland." After the recapture of the Fort by Stuyvesant the two clergymen above named were|taken to New Amsterdam, to be conveyed thence to Europe in November with Rising. (1).
The second expedition under Stuyvesant was accom- panied by his chaplain Rev. John Megapolensis, who preached a sermon to the troops on Sunday, September 12th, the day after the capture. The Dutch West India Company recognized the authority of the established Church of Holland over their colonial possessions, and the specific care of the transatlantic churches was early in- trusted by the synod of North Holland to the Classis of Amsterdam. By that body all the colonial clergy were approved and commissioned. The clergymen com- missioned by the Classis of Amsterdam were of course Calvanists. They were generally men of high scholar- ship and thorough theological training, "for the people who at Leyden preferred a University to a fair, insisted upon an educated clergy." (2) The Dutch people on the Delaware, unlike their pastors were as a rule uneducated, hard drinkers, turbulent and irreligious.
The following extract from the appendix to Brod- head's History of New York at page 760 gives a curious picture of ecclesiastical affairs in Manhatan about the close of Kieft's administration: "What religion could men expect to find in a person (Kieft) who from the
(1). Sprinchorn Hist. Colony of New Sweden, Pa. Mag. Vol. 8. p. p. 136 and 157.
(2). Brodhead's His .. N. Y. 614.
EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS
3rd of January, 1644, to IIth of May, 1647, would never hear God's word, nor partake of the Christian Sacra- ments, doing all he could to estrange from the church all those who depended upon him. His ungodly example was followed, in like manner, by his fiscal Cornelius van der Hoyckens; his counselor, Jan de la Montaigne, who was formerly an elder; besides various inferior officers and servants of the company, to the soldiers inclusive, who all, not only no longer frequented the administration of the communion, but, also the congregation to hear God's word. During the sermon he allowed the officers and soldiers to practice all kinds of noisy amusements near and about the church, such as nine-pins, bowls, dancing, singing, leaping, and all other profane exercises; yea, even to such an extent that the communicants, who came into the fort to celebrate the Lord's Supper, were scoffed at by these blackguards. Here Director Kieft several times allowed the drum to be beat. The clergyman, Bogardus, having therefore requested that the drum might be beaten somewhat farther off, so as not to disturb the hearers, was answered that the drummer must keep on there, as the director had given him orders. The cannon were discharged several times during the service, as if he had ordered it out a Maying." As illustrating the hard drinking of the Dutchi, we find Beekman in a letter to Stuyvesant from Fort Christina, August 7, 1661, writing that he "wants two ankers of brandy or distilled liquors to plant some more corn for the garrison, as it is easier to obtain workmen for liquors than for any other wares." *(I).
The Swedes were Lutherans according to the Con- fession of Augsburg, and while their clergy in the
* (1.) Hazard's Annals 327.
9
IN NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE.
.
colony do not appear to have been so highly educated, nor so pious as the Dutch, their people were given to piety and less dissipated. They were generally tillers of the soil, while the Dutch were mostly traders and hunters. During the Dutch rule, the jealousies and irritations between them and the Swedes on account of the religious differences were great. The Dutch Cal- vinist could see little good in the Swedish Lutheran Minister; and this will account largely for the opinions expressed about the Swedish Minister Lokenius in the following letter from the Revs. John Megapolensis and Samuel Drisius, written from New Amsterdam to the Classis of Amsterdam, August 5, 1657 .* (1). "On the South river it has been hitherto very poorly as regards religion and the church. Ist, Because we had there but one little fort and therein but one commissary with ten or twelve men in the company's service, merely for the purpose of carrying on some trade with the Indians. 2nd, In the year 1651, the fort called Nassouw was abandoned and razed, and another named Casimir erected somewhat lower and more towards the sea, and somewhat better garrisoned, and strengthened by divers freemen who commenced a village. But the Swedes increasing in numbers troubled, and oppressed our people daily, and after they had taken Fort Casimir from us, they harassed and vexed our nation so sorely that the South river was at once abandoned. But our people re-took that Fort Casimir again in the year 1655. So one was appointed who should read every Sunday some- thing out of the Apostiles, which has as yet been con- tinued, and the Lutheran Minister who was here was sent to Sweden. Two miles from Fort Casimir, up the river, stands another fort named Christina which was
* (I.) O'Call. N. Y, 3,p. 105.
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EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS
also taken at the same time by our people and the preacher, together with the Swedish garrison, was sent away. But as many Swedes and Finns to the number of at least two hundred were dwelling two or three miles up the river above Fort Christina, the Swedish Governor insisted in the capitulation that one Lutheran Minister should be retained to instruct the people in their own tongue. This their request was too easily granted. Ist, Because trouble had broken out at Manhatan with the Indians, and men required quick dispatch, and to hasten back to Manhatan to repair matters there. 2nd, Because we had no reformed preacher to establish there or who understood their language. Now this Lutheran Parson is a man of a godless and scandalous life, a rolling, rollicking, unseemly carl, who is more inclined to look into the wine-can than to pore over the Bible, and would rather drink a kan of brandy for two hours than preach one, and when the sap is in the wood, then his hands itch, and he becomes excessively inclined to fight whomso- ever he meets. The commandant at Fort Casimir, named Jan Paulassen Jacquet, brother-in-law of Dr. Casparo Carpentier, told us that it happened in the spring that the parson was tippling with a smith, and being full of brandy they came to fisticuffs, and beat each others heads black and blue; yea that the smith tore all the clothes from the Domine's back so that the good Domine had to withdraw privately and suddenly, and becoine somewhat recovered before any of his flock had sought explanation, the one from the other."
At the time of the overthrow of the Swedish Gov- ernment on the Delaware, and for some years before, there was a Swedish Church and Congregation, at Swan-
II
IN NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE.
. wyck* a small settlement about one English mile above, Fort Casimir, at which place the Lutheran minister, above spoken of, officiated, and not at New Castle. After the visit of Dr. Megapolensis to Fort Casimir in 1655, there appears to have been no one at that point to look after the religious interests of the colonists until the transfer of the territory, "from south side Christinakill to Boomtze's (Bombay) Hook," to the city of Amsterdam, which event occurred July 12, 1656, and the colony was given the the name of New Amstel.
The city engaged to send out "a proper person for a schoolmaster, who shall also read the Holy Scriptures in public and set the Psalms. " The first colonists sent out by the city numbered, including 50 soldiers, 167 persons under Director Jacob Alrichs. Evert Pieterson, who had passed a good examination before the Classis, accompanied the emigrants "as school master and Zieken- trooster to read God's word and lead in singing, until the arrival of a Clergyman''(1).
During the first few months of Alrichs' administra- tion, Evert Pieterson, the "voorleezer," performed the duties of his office. The Classis of Amsterdam, how- ever, soon commissioned Domine Everardus Welius, a young man of much esteem "in life, in studies, in gifts
*NOTE. This Swedish village, with the very pretty name, was, for several years, a place of some importance as is shown by references to it in various historical documents. It was doubtless settled before the Dutch located at Fort Casimir which was over a mile lower down the river. The writer recently visited the site of the village, which is upon the farm now owned by James M. Hurst, Esq. There are traces of a number of houses still remaining. The location of the grave yard, which was doubtless adjacent to the Church, was pointed out by Mr. Hurst, but nothing on the surface remains of it. The houses composing the village seem to have stretched along the river for about one-third of a mile. Mr. Hurst has frequently picked up relics of the people who occupied the village, in the shape of buckles, pieces of pipes and crockery, and these, with the foundation stones of some houses, are all that are left of this once busy place. "Life and thought have gone away side by side."
(1). Brodhead, N. Y., 631.
.
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EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS
and in conversation," to take charge of the congrega- tion, who sailed for the South river in company with about four hundred new emigrants. They arrived at New Amstel on board the "de Waegh" and galiot "Nieuwe Amstel" on August 21, 1657, and a congre- gation was at once organized of which Director Alrichs and Jean Williams were appointed elders, and Evert Pieterson and a colleague, deacons. Thus we find the first regularly appointed Dutch minister settled at New Castle, and this event marked the beginning of an era of prosperity in the new colony.
At the end of the first year after the arrival of these colonists, New Amstel was a goodly town of one hundred houses. (I).
The prosperity of the colony was, however, at this time, short lived, as the season of 1658 was remark- able for excessive rains which ruined the crops of the colonists, and as the winter which followed was extremely severe, the distress in the colony was very great, and almost threatened its destruction. A public fast and prayer day was directed for.April 2, 1659, and Alrichs wrote to Stuyvesant that "the order for the day of prayer was communicated to Rev. Welius, who will make his serinon accordingly in the next week, so as to observe the same here also. '' (2) Domnine Welius seems to have been a quiet, unobtrusive minister, attending only to his Master's work, as his name is never seen in connec- tion with civil affairs, as was frequently the case with other ministers in this colony. A violent epidemic of dysentery raged in the town of New Amstel in the fall and winter of 1659, and on the 9th of December of that year Welius fell a victim to it, after an illness of ten
(1) Hazard's Annals.
(2) Albany Records 12, p. 228.
I3
IN NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE.
days, and "the afflicted colonists lost a kind friend who had helped to sustain them under their heavy trials." (I) Pastor Welius was buried December 12th, presumably in the Dutch churchyard. No stone or other monument now marks the grave of this first Dutch minister at New Castle. Like many another martyr in the same cause, this gifted young missionary laid down his life after the sacrifice of all the comforts and luxuries of his home in his native land; his reward surely awaited him.
After the death of Welius, great inconvenience was felt in the absence of a minister, and we find the author- ities constantly reminding the Directors in Holland of their needs and great desire that one should be sent them. Governor Beekman at Altona (theretofore Fort Christina,) writing to Stuyvesant, May 12, 1660, says: "I learn from Capt. Crieger that your Noble Worship is expecting three or four preachers from the Fatherland; I would request your Honor that one of them might be sent to us here on the river, for the relief of the com- munity of christians; it would occasion further increase and population. (2) Of his own needs for a minister, Beekman, under date of January 14, 1661, writes "Yes- terday, the Lord our God did give an increase to our family by a boy; I could wish there was an opportunity of initiating him by christian baptism," (3) and on September 8, 1662, says in letter to Alrichs, "Yesterday my wife was delivered of a son, so that now two of my sons are unbaptized. We are expecting daily the shallop with the desirable Gospel minister."
Beekman was probably misinformed as to the
(I) Alrichs' letter to Classis of Amsterdam, Dec. 12, 1659.
(2) Albany Records, Vol. 12, p. 310,
(3) Hazard's Annals, p. 320.
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EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS
arrival of the minister as no other mention is made of it. In a letter to Stuyvesant dated August 3, 1662, he writes, "If your Honorable Worship would con- sider it expedient to send hither the Honorable Fiscal, I would respectfully request, that he be accom- panied by a minister, as there are several children to baptize here at Altona as well as New Amstel. Nor has the Lord's Supper been administered to us here for two and one-half years so that your Honorable Worships would do us a good favor by it." (1). No Dutch minister was sent until the spring of 1664 when Domine Warnerus Hadson was selected by the Classis of Amsterdam and sent, but he died on the voyage out, and the Dutch colonists there, whose children had not been baptized since the death of Welius, and who held the Lutheran clergyman Lokenius in little esteem, anxiously desired another minister. (2).
Laers Lokenius who was a Lutheran" preacher and ecclesiastical deputy in matrimonial affairs (3)", among the Swedes had the misfortune to lose his wife who eloped with one Jacob Jongh, September 20, 1661 and the unfortunate Domnine got himself into much trouble by making a search of the house of said Jongh. The elopement of his wife did not prove a lasting sorrow with him as we find him, less than a month after, soliciting the Governor's consent to his marriage to a girl seventeen or eighteen years of age, and on November 8th he again solicits the Governor's approbation for his proposed marriage, "as the situation of his family imperiously requires it." (4).
He obtained a divorce from his wife on December
(1) Hazard's Annals 338.
(2) Brodheads N. Y. 734.
(3) Albany Rec, vol. 12. p. 150.
(4) Hazard's Annals 329.
I5
IN NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE.
15th, and Beekman wrote under date February 1, 1662, "Yesterday I was informed that he married himself again on Sunday, a transaction in my opinion under correction, entirely unlawful, and expect your Honor's orders how to conduct myself in it." (1) On April 14, 1662, Loken- ius' second marriage was declared null and void. What must the morals of the people have been when their pastor was guilty of such irregularities ! This Lutheran minister was not stationed at New Castle, but as quite a number of Swedes were located there, he probably visited and ministered to them.
In 1663 Abelius Zetscroon, a student, came to the country and for some time held Divine service, to the Swedes at Sandhook (New Castle.) (2.) Beekman in a letter to Stuyvesant November 15, 1663, says, "Abelius Zetskroon has been called by those of the Augsburg Confession who belong to the colony of New Amstel as I informed your Honorable Worship before this, with the consent of Director and council there, subject to the approval of their very Honorable Worships, the Lords Burgomasters, since his staying there he has been here in the district of the Honorable Company only once (it was last Whit Monday) and then preached at Tinne- konch at the request of the Swedish commissaries. Afterwards he was offered as high a salary as Domine Laers (Lokenius) receives. They wanted him especially as school master, but they of New Amstel would not let him go. In regard to the information received by your Hon. Wor. that he also administers the rite of baptism; this is not true." (3).
On October 10, 1664, the town and fort at New
(1) Hazard's Annals, 330.
(2) Acrelius "New Sweden."
(3) Albany Records vol. 12. p. 446.
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EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS
Amstel were taken by the English under Captain Robert Carr. Ten Dutch soldiers were wounded and three killed at the capture of the fort. This expedition was sent from New York by Richard Nicolls, Deputy Gov- ernor under the Duke of York, who had previously taken that place.
Captain Carr was instructed to promise to the Dutch all their privileges, "only that they change their masters." To the Swedes he was to "remonstrate their happy return under a monarchical government." After the capture of New Amstel by the English it was called . New Castle.
The sixth of the articles of capitulation promised 1 "That all the people shall enjoy the liberty of their conscience in church discipline, as formerly." (1)
After the surrender, the Dutch Governor D'Hino- yossa returned to Holland, and ended his days there as did, probably, many of the early Dutch settlers. The Swedes more generally remained; the remnants of both nations becoming so blended as to constitute one people. (2)
For some years after the arrival of the English, but little attention appears to have been given to religious matters at New Castle. The notorious Rev. Lock or Lokenius seems to have been the only Swedish minister, indeed, the only minister of any persuasion, on the Delaware river for some years. During the year 1667, the Swedish Church at Crane Hook near the mouth of the Christiana, was built, and about that time the church at Swanwyck near New Castle, was abandoned. Governor Richard Nicolls was succeeded by Governor
(1) Hazard's Annals, 364.
(2) Idem, 368.
1.
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IN NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE.
Francis Lovelace, in May, 1667. During the year 1669, a Finn, who was called the "Long Finn," representing himself to be a son of a great Swedish General, attempted an insurrection against the English, but he was seized and sent to New York. Lovelace, in a letter to Captain Carr about the matter, says: "I perceive the little Domine (Lokenius) hath played the trumpeter to this disorder. I refer the quality of his punishment to your discretion." (I)
Rev. Jacobus Fabritius, a Dutch or Polish Luth- eran minister who had come over from Holland in 1669, and was given charge of the church at Albany, came to New Castle in 1670, as appears by the following letter from Governor Lovelace to Captain Carr, dated New York, April 13, 1670. "Upon ye request of Magister Fabritius, pastor of ye Lutheran Confession, commonly called ye Augustan, who by the Dukes' Lycence hath a congregation here, I have granted iny passe to him and his wife to go to New Castle or any place in Dela- ware river. I pray show him all civill respect when he comes amongst you and take care he receives no affront there, and I p'sume he will comport himself with civil- ity and moderation so as to give no just occasion of offence to others." (2).
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