USA > New Jersey > Atlantic County > Port Republic > History of the Methodist Episcopal Church on Port Republic and Smithville charge : also, a sketch of the Presbyterian Church at Port Republic, and the Friends' at Leeds' Point > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 03247 8197
Go 974. 902 Sm6c Collins, Anna C. History of the Methodist Episcopal Church ...
HISTORY
OF THE
methodist Episcopal Church ÒN
Port Republic and Smithville Charge
ALSO, A SKETCH OF THE
Presbyterian Church at Port Republic,
AND
The Friends' at Leeds' Point.
PREPARED BY
ANNA C. COLLINS.
1892.
Laura
3972
HISTORY
OF THE
methodist Episcopal Church
ON
Port Republic and Smithville Charge
ALSO, A SKETCH OF THE
Presbyterian Church at Port Republic,
AND
The Friends' at Leeds' Point.
PREPARED BY ANNA C. COLLINS.
-1892.
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
PRINTED AT THE GAZETTE PRINTING HOUSE, CAMDEN, N. J.
INTRODUCTION.
IN gathering these scattered fragments of church history and putting them in such form as to be easily read and preserved, I have had two main ob- jects. First : I had a desire to make generally known among our members some of the circum- stances attending the establishment of our churches and the names of those who wrought so faithfully in the early days, the fruits of whose labor we now so richly enjoy. Second : I hope to encourage the church by the progress made.
The class of twelve members at Port Republic, and probably the same number at Smithville, meet- ing in private houses, has grown to two hundred and sixty-four members, with two hundred and twenty-five children in the Sunday school. There are two fine churches and a nice parsonage prop- erty. The church ought to be stimulated to greater
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zeal and faithfulness when we consider the work that yet remains to be done before the church pros- pers as she should and enters into the possession of the full heritage promised to the fathers and which of right belongs to our Lord and His Christ.
The nation strews the graves of her heroes with flowers and tells the story of their deeds in immor- tal song. So the church should honor the names of her founders and keep green the memory of their struggles, sacrifices and triumphs ; that, " By adorning the names of men long gone she educate the men that are to be."
A few years since the New Jersey Annual Con- ferencé sent out to the churches a list of questions concerning the beginning of Methodism and its progress in the respective charges. Such a paper was placed in my hands by the Quarterly Conference. In preparing to answer those questions I sought out and conversed with the oldest and best-informed persons and heard many things of interest, and learned to love and reverence those workers for God whom my eyes had never seen, but whose very
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names awaken thronging memories with the older members of our churches. Before these questions, however, had been sent out Aunt Mary Collins, loving Methodism as she did her life and knowing that she alone was left of those who lived in the early days, and desiring that the church of the present should keep in touch with that of the past, on one of her visits to my father's house, requested me to write down the names of the first class and other items of interest of which there is no record .. This I did, not thinking that I should ever put it to the present use. Mrs. Ann E. Cake has told me much of the church in her father's house. Quar- terly meeting brought brethren and sisters from Leedsville, Absecon, Mays Landing, Pleasant Mills and intervening places, not only for the services but for entertainment. After the first church was built she and her sisters used to sweep and scrub the floors and scour the candlesticks rejoicing that they could thus help in the service of the God of their father. D. S. Blackman, J. P. Cake and J. W. Johnson of Port Republic, and Mrs. Giberson (the daughter of Richard Leeds), J. Smith and J. B.
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Turner, of Smithville, also have given all the information and encouragement in their power.
Rev. C. W. Livezley kindly put in my hands some old Methodist Minutes bearing dates from 1796 to 1820, which were of great interest, and gave me the names of circuits and appointments for those years.
After 1828 the Minutes of Bargaintown Circuit and its subsequent divisions furnish quite full ac- count of passing events.
In pursuing the course of the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church I was led to inquire concerning other branches of the household of faith and found that the Methodist, society at Port Republic had been preceded by a Presbyterian church. I am indebted to Rev. Allen H. Brown, to whose zealous labors the church owes much, for the account of that organization, as well as other valuable information concerning the saintly John Brainerd and his work in New Jersey.
The Quakers were by many years the first reli- gious organization in the county. When the Metho- dist Episcopal Church was first organized in Smith-
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ville the Friends' Society was well nigh one hundred years old. So far as I know there is no printed account of their early meetings in this vicinity, but their records are well kept, and through the courtesy of Hon. John Clement, of Haddon- field, and the kindly research of Sarah Nicholson, a Friend of the same place, and information re- ceived through members of Japhet Leeds' family, I have been enabled to give to my readers this ac- count of the Friends at Leeds' Point.
I trust these sketches will not be without interest to all, irrespective of denominational preferences, for they are not alone church history, but they tell us somewhat of the character of those who were the first settlers in these communities.
A. C. COLLINS.
THE
methodist Episcopal Church IN
Port Republic, N. J.
The first Methodist meetings in what is now known as Port Republic were probably held in the house of Micajah Smith. The first revival occurred in 1796-97, and resulted in the formation of a class with the following members : Micajah Smith, Rebecca Smith, Jesse Leach, Betsy Leach, Henry Adams, Dorcas Adams, Jeremiah Adams, Sarah Adams, Sarah Blackman, Sarah Bowen, Margaret Martin, Rebecca Burnett and Dorothea McCollum. Nehemiah Blackman was appointed leader. The descendants of most of these persons have been influential in the church until this day. Bishop Asbury first introduced Methodism into South Jersey, and Nehemiah Blackman had been converted under his preaching, in his father's house at English Creek.
mis Charlotte Plus grand father
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The first Presiding Elder was Rev. John McClaskey. His district embraced all of New Jersey, and Newburg, Delaware, Herkimer and Albany, in New York. There has been preserved to us a brief account of him (see “ Method- ism in New Jersey ") which I trust may not be without interest. He was a man of influence in American Method- ism, and was a member of that wonderful Conference of twenty members that met in the old John Street Church in 1789, when the Methodist Book Concern was founded. John McClaskey was born in Ireland, in 1756, and emi- grated to this country when sixteen years of age, and set- tled in Salem county, N. J. Prior to his conversion, he was rather a wild young man, but, attracted by curiosity, he went to hear the Methodist preachers when they came into his neighborhood, and at length became concerned for' his salvation. He earnestly sought the Lord and obtained the great salvation, and almost immediately began to warn sinners to repent. He entered the ministry in 1785 and was appointed to Trenton Circuit. In appearance, he was large and noble looking, with fine flowing locks, and his presence in the pulpit was very commanding. "As a Christian, he was deeply experienced in the things of God. As a minister, he was mighty in the Scripture, orthodox in his sentiments, systematic in his preaching, zealous in his labors ; the blessed effects of which were enjoyed by thous- ands. In the latter part of his life he was greatly
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afflicted and suffered much, in all of which he manifested great patience and confidence in God. He departed this life September 2, 1814."
In 1786, New Jersey was divided into four circuits : Newark, Trenton, East and West Jersey. West Jersey Circuit embraced all that section of the state south of Burlington. In 1788, it was divided, and Salem Circuit formed from the lower part of it. In 1800, there were five hundred and fifty members on Salem Circuit. Rev. Richard Swain and Rev. Richard Lyon were the trav- eling preachers, and Rev. Solomon Sharp was Presiding Elder over all New Jersey. In the state were seven cir- cuits, with three thousand and thirty members and fourteen traveling preachers. When we remember the fact that in New Jersey there are now two Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with over four hundred and fifty ministers and nearly seventy-five thousand members, we may well exclaim " What hath God wrought!"
There is a peculiar significance in calling these old Methodist heroes "traveling preachers," when we recall the extent of their circuits, generally taking from four to eight weeks to make the round of their preaching places, their way often being through miles on miles of forest, with no path save the Indian trail. They counted not their lives dear unto themselves, if only they might win souls; preach- ing week days and Sundays; going up to Conference in
-
I2
Philadelphia with homespun, perchance threadbare and patched garments, but rejoicing that free salvation had been preached and souls had been saved. Is it any wonder that the cause prospered, and churches multiplied ? The story of their zeal and sacrifice cannot be too often repeated.
The first house of worship was erected near the begin- ning of the century on property owned by Micajah Smith and was known as Smith's " meeting house." An old bury- ing ground marks the spot. This preaching place was one of the appointments on Salem Circuit, until about 1811, when Gloucester Circuit was formed. The meeting house was a two-story frame building, twenty-five feet square, plain as poverty and primitive Methodism could make it ; guiltless of paint and no attempt at ornamentation save a crescent on the gable outside. It was never dedicated, but, as soon as weatherboarded, meetings were held in it during the summer, but in the winter, for several years, services were held in the upper room of Nehemiah Blackman's house. In 1809 windows were put in and a ten-plate stove purchased. Instead of being plastered the house was sealed up with boards. In 1812 they purchased planed boards and had benches made with pieces across the backs to rest the shoulders. Their lights were tallow dips in tin candlesticks. The traveling preachers came once in four weeks and even then could not often make their appointments here on Sun- day. In this state of affairs it was necessary for the local
I3
preachers, exhorters and class leaders to care for the inter- ests of the church a large share of the time. To these faith- ful laborers the church owes a debt of gratitude which I fear this generation scarcely realizes. Their names should be held in reverent memory. The older members of the church will readily recall the names of Richard Leeds, Parker Cordery, Nicholas Vansant, Absalom Cordery, Nehe- miah Blackman, Evy Adams and more recently William Smallwood and William S. Blake, who for years served this and adjacent churches. Bro. Blake alone of the number is left on the shores of time.
The name of
John Collins
is associated with the first revival in this place, and as the place of his nativity and residence till thirty-five years of age is within the bounds of our charge, we claim him as among the founders of our church. He was the son of Dr. Richard Collins, the first resident physician in what is now Atlantic county, and was born in 1769 at Collins Mills, about a mile west of Smithville. He was converted in 1794 and was soon licensed as a local preacher. He traveled extensively and helped to sow the seed of the Kingdom through a large part of West Jersey. His wife was Sarah Blackman, daughter of David Blackman, of English Creek.
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She proved a loyal and efficient help-meet, greatly interested in his labors for the salvation of men, and when not able to accompany him on his travels was accustomed to spend the hour of his services upon her knees in prayer that God would bless his labors. In 1803 he removed with his family to Ohio and took up an extensive tract of land in Clermont county. He was accompanied by his brother-in-law, Larner Blackman, who was awakened to his sinful condition under the first sermon preached by Mr. Collins. He afterward became an eminent preacher of the gospel in the Methodist church. In those days Ohio was the " Northwestern Terri- tory " and was considered " away out west," and the journey was long and tedious. When Mr. Blackman returned for a visit to his aged parents, upon his arrival among friends in Philadelphia the young preacher's clothing was found to be in such a dilapidated condition that some of the good Meth- odist sisters met and made him a new suit before allowing him to proceed to his father's house in Jersey. It may be doubted if many of the young preachers of the New Jersey Conference would be anxious to appear in this home made and, perhaps, home spun suit, but Mr. Blackman seems to have gone on his way rejoicing. This item is from the lips of an aged member of his family who, in her youth, received it from some of these same Philadelphia sisters. In 1815 Mr. Blackman was drowned a few days after the adjournment of Conference at Cincinnati, with one or two others, in
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attempting to cross the Ohio. The horses in the open ferry boat became frightened and, running together, pushed several of the passengers into the river. He seemed not to be alarmed and swam some time, but eventually sank to rise no more.
Mr. Collins joined the traveling connection in 1807. He preached the first Methodist sermon in Cincinnati in 1804, and established the first society in Dayton in 1808. He was made Presiding Elder in 1819. As a local and traveling preacher, it is supposed the Methodist church had not in its early days, a more successful preacher than Mr. Collins. The following description of him is given by an eye- witness :
"The occasion was a quarterly meeting in Ohio. The meeting had been opened by a young man who, I was informed, had been recently initiated into the ministry. He was followed by an old man dressed in linsey woolsey. He was tall and thin ; his head was whitened by the frost of years; his countenance was one that men love to look upon; there was nothing remarkable or peculiar in his features ; his forehead was high and a little projecting; his eyes small and sunken; his nose thin and a little aquiline, and chin rather long. But he had an expression of . countenance that is not easily forgotten. His image is hung up in the chamber of my memory, to be contemplated and admired. As he arose, every eye was riveted on him,
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and such was the silence of the large assembly that the softest whisper might have been heard. My interest was excited in his first appearance, but when he spoke I felt that I was in the presence of no ordinary man. His voice was rather weak, but its intonation was sweet, soft and touching. It is what we readily conceive as perfection in utterance, though it may not be so easy to describe it. His gestures were few and unstudied. In fine, there was in his whole manner an indescribable charm, which I have not before witnessed. He read the parable of the prodigal son. On coming to these words, 'And when he saw him afar off, he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him,' he stopped. 'This,' said he, ' is my text.' I had heard it preached on a hundred times; I thought I could preach a decent sermon on it myself. But even his manner of reading it, told me he had discovered something in this passage which was new to me. He proceeded to illustrate the love which our Heavenly Father bears to His disobedient children, by the affection manifested by parents toward their offspring in all circumstances, even when disobedient and unnatural in their conduct, and the joy they experience when they return to their duty. I felt that I had never heard the subject handled in so interesting a manner, and my reflections involuntarily took a retrospect of my early life; and I taxed my memory for an unkind look, word, or action, toward the dear authors of my being. I felt an assurance
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that those around me were similarly employed. There was a peculiar solemnity pervading the entire audience. Some eyes began to moisten, and I felt my own do likewise. 'But,' said the preacher, 'I will tell you a story. In the year 1821, I was stationed on the Mad River Circuit. You know, my friends,' said he, 'there are extensive prairies in that part of the state. In places no houses within miles" of each other, and animals of prey are often seen there. One evening, late in autumn, a few of the neighbors were assembled around me in one of those solitary dwellings, and we had got well engaged in the worship of God, when it was announced that the only child of a widow was lost on the prairie. It was cold; the wind blew, and some rain was falling. The poor woman was in agony, and our meeting was broken up; all prepared to go in search of the lost child.' He then described the weary, almost hopeless, search in the darkness and storm; and finally the return with the child restored to the arms of the mother. It was too much; the whole assembly burst into an involuntary gush of tears. 'Such,' said the preacher, 'are the feelings of your Heavenly Father, when He sees His disobedient and wandering children returning unto Him, when even afar off.' I heard him preach the two succeeding days, and with a still more exalted idea of his oratorical powers."
In a letter written to a member of the family in 1819, he
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says : " I have just passed the fiftieth year of my age, and I can truly say with the patriarch, 'Few and evil have been the days of the years of my pilgrimage.' I have passed through a variety of interesting scenes. I have seen a wilderness converted into a thickly-inhabited country; the wigwams of the relentless savage converted into costly dwelling-places of civilized society. Our villages have changed into towns, and our towns into cities. All these changes and their wordly importance are hemmed within the little circle of a few short years ; our children are soon to take the stage of action, and we are to pass away ; but where and in what country shall we make our permanent residence ? I trust where more than brotherly love, more than parental affection, more than all earthly felicity may be ours forever. Some of my friends think strange of my leaving home to travel at so late a period in my life. I can only say, I think it my duty. I hope to thus be of some use to my fellow-creatures, and I trust I shall meet some in heaven, who have taken warning from my poor, stam- mering tongue, and fled for refuge and laid hold on the hope set before them. I have not been home for three weeks, but my son David lives in Chillicothe, about the middle of my district, so I am often with them. My wife and four little daughters are all my family at home in my absence, but I have three good tenants on the farm, and the care of the stock, milling, fire-wood, etc., all falls upon
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them. Religion in this place and state is in a flourishing condition; there were upward of 6,000 increase in the Ohio Conference last year. No preventing Providence, I expect to go to Baltimore to attend the General Conference next spring, and expect to start early and go by the way of Egg Harbor and visit my relatives and friends."
It is presumed this visit was made; and his last visit to Jersey was made about 1835. He passed to his reward at the age of seventy-six in 1845. A marble shaft marks the place of his rest in the little churchyard at Bethel, near the road to Ripley, Ohio. A sketch of his life was published by the Western Book Concern in 1849.
For the first twenty-five years of its history, Methodism in Port Republic owes more to
Nehemiah Blackman
than to any other man. He was in affluent circum- stances and freely contributed of his means for the support of the church and the help of the poor. He was class leader and exhorter for nearly fifty years. Though a res- ident of Port Republic he was honored and beloved in all the societies along the shore. He was an active worker for the cause of temperance in the days when the use of liquors, as a beverage, was almost universal, and nearly every gro-
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cery store dealt in the vile liquid. He was the son of David Blackman, of English Creek, and was born in 1770. His father's house was one of the earliest Methodist preach- ing places on the shore. Bishop Asbury had there found welcome shelter and hospitable entertainment when he first penetrated the forests that lay between the Delaware and the sea.
I have in my possession one of Mr. Blackman's class books, dated 1838, when Jacob Loudenslager and John Spear were the preachers. On the first page is the follow- ing entry : "The Fridays immediately preceding the Quarterly Meetings shall be observed as days of fasting and prayer for the revival of the work of Grace on this circuit." Sabrina Bates is the only member of that class who remains with us to-day, most of the others long years ago answering to the roll call beyond the river. I will here give the names of some members of that class whose descendants have helped forward the cause of the church in this and other places : Sarah Blackman, Sarah Ashley, Elizabeth Leach, Mary Clark, Edward and Mary Blake, Gilbert and Eliza Hatfield, Achsa Johnson, Hannah Johnson, Elizabeth Huntley, Martha Sooy, Sarah Smith, Dorcas Adams, Phoebe Kendall.
qual grandmerit
I notice particularly' Lydia Johnson, who was almost helpless for many years with rheumatism; I'can count sixty of her descendants scattered through various states from this
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Atlantic coast to the Pacific shore, who are in the church. Who can measure the boundless influence of even one Christian life ?
Mr. Blackman died in 1847. He was active to the last, and was present at the Quarterly Conference of Bargain- town Circuit held at Absecon in June of that year; but when the Conference was held in August, at Port Republic, he was not, for God had taken him in the seventy-seventh year of his age. His family has been closely identified with all the subsequent history of this church. His grandson, R. A. Cake, though still a young man, has for years been the only local preacher on the charge. One daughter, Sarah Ashley, was for many years a devoted and active member. The only son, Hon. D. S. Blackman, was for years a man of influence among us, serving the church as Sunday school superintendent, class leader, trustee, and in other offices. No one had more sympathy for, nor greater interest in, the young. The evil doer feared him, but for all who were striving upward he had only words of loving counsel and encouragement. Both these sleep in our churchyard and their names are held in loving memory. Mrs. Anna E. Cake, another daughter, has given a long life of active, loving service to the church and now awaits the summons to join the ransomed who have passed to the other side.
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The next name prominent in the annals of our church is that of
Mary S. Collins.
She was the daughter of Morris and Sarah Collins, and was born at Port Republic in 1791. She was blind from her infancy, having lost her sight from small pox when four months old. She never knew a father's care. Her mother was a weaver and very poor. Mary said she often went to bed hungry, after her grandfather died, when she was nine years old. She joined the church in 1806, being the eighteenth member. Rev. Samuel Budd was preacher in charge and Rev. Joseph Totten, Presiding Elder. She was fearful of being refused admission as she was so young and very poor, and though a seeker had not yet experienced religion, but in a few weeks she was joyfully converted, and through a long life looked back with gratitude to the hour when Mr. Blackman introduced her to the preacher as "the little blind gal who wants to join the class." Though unable to see she longed to own a Bible, and in 1807 was fortunate enough to secure one, joyfully doing without shoes during the summer that she might save money for its pur- chase. Her mother died when Mary was twenty-three years old; she then partly supported herself by picking
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oakum for calking vessels, but she was assisted by the church, and a long life of Christian usefulness bore beau- tiful testimony to God's providential care for his afflicted child.
In 1839 the Philadelphia Conference presented to her a copy of the New Testament for the blind. She then learned to read, and in the next ten years read it through by course twelve times, beside much promiscuous reading. In 1842 the New Jersey Conference, in session at Third Street, Camden, presented by the hand of the Bishop a copy of the Psalms. This she also read many times. She became well known to most of the members of the Philadelphia and New Jersey Conferences, and many of the ministers were cherished friends and correspondents to the end of life's journey. She was a welcome guest in most of the prominent Methodist families of South Jersey, beloved by the rich as well as the poor. Mr. Richards' family were affectionate and helpful friends as long as she lived. In her younger days she would walk long distances to attend camp and quarterly meetings. Her pastors always felt that in her they had an appreciative and prayerful hearer, and an efficient helper wherever the battle waxed hottest. She was a sweet singer, earnest in prayer, and at times when moved by the Spirit of God exhorted with great power and effect. She died at Leeds' Point in 1878 at the home of Mr. Job Giberson. A few friends knelt around her bed as she received for the last time
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