USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > First church in Newark : historical discourses, relating to the First Presbyterian church in Newark; originally delivered to the congregation of that church during the month of January, 1851 > Part 10
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* Among the old men who still took " the town agreed that a rate of £80 should part in public affairs at the beginning of this period, were Mr. Ward, who died soon after, Mr. Thomas Johnson, Thomas Luddington, Zechariah and Ephraim Bur- well, Thomas Richards, Edward Ball, Ben- jamin Baldwin, William Camp, andThom- as Pierson, senior.
+ When the salary of good old Abraham Pierson, senior, was fixed in 1668, and
be made for the minister forthwith for the year past by Deacon Ward and Mr. Samuel Kitchell," direction was given to the same official worthies that they should "speak to the young men in our town that are for themselves, and to see what they will vol- untarily pay to the minister."-Records, p. 9. Among the number so designated were several of the names above men- tioned.
97
REV. JOHN PRUDDEN.
were now high in office and influence; and the frequent recurrence in all important matters, of the names of Samuel and Joseph Harrison, Theophilus Pierson, Jo- seph Johnson, Seth Tompkins, Nathaniel Ward, Jabez Rogers, reminds us of the prophetic promise, "instead of thy fathers shall be thy children." In the progress of this history we shall have less occasion hereafter to speak either of individuals, or of the community in its civil and social relations.
The next minister was the Rev. John Prudden, who was called to the office by a vote of the town, and sig- nified his acceptance of the invitation with its terms, at the town meeting, August 23, 1692. The choice appears to have been unanimous and cordial. "It was consulted, consented and unanimously agreed," says the record, "that Mr. John Prudden should be called to be their minister," and in testimony of their disposition to show all due respect to the sacred office, notwithstand- ing any adverse inferences which might be drawn from the untimely dissolution of the former ministerial con- nection, the people covenanted that "in case he should come and settle among them in that work, they would freely and readily submit themselves to him and to his dispensations and administrations, from time to time, in the discharge of his ministerial office, as God should assist and direct him therein by His Word and Spirit, for their spiritual good and edification."*
Mr. Prudden was a College classmate of his imme- diate predecessor, Abraham Pierson, junior, and a
* Town Records, pp. 116, 17.
7
98
REV. JOHN PRUDDEN.
fellow townsman, and doubtless an intimate compan- ion, in his boyhood, of a large portion of the original inhabitants of Newark." His father was the Rev. Pe- ter Prudden, a genuine Puritan, born and educated in England, where he began to preach ; and, about three years after his arrival in this country, having declined several invitations to settle in Massachusetts, was or- dained as the first pastor of the Church in Milford on the 18th of April, 1640. Trumbull says of him, that " his ministry was attended with uncommon success ; and when he came to this country it seems that many good people followed him, that they might enjoy his ministrations. He had the character of a most zealous preacher and a man of most excellent spirit. He had a singular talent for reconciling contending parties, and mantaining peace among brethren and neigh- bors."+
The younger Prudden was the second son in a nu- merous family ?- born at Milford, Nov. 9, 1645, and left an orphan by the death of his excellent father, at the early age of 11 years. Graduating at Harvard College in the year 1668, he was invited, in the Spring of 1670, to preach for the term of one year in Jamaica, Long Island, where " a convenient pew" was ordered by the town to be built for him to preach in. There he remained, officiating under a temporary arrange- ment, till January 1674, when, regarding himself as under no obligation to continue his services, he quietly
* See Harvard College Catalogue; also
Lambert Hist. Col. New Haven, p. 152.
# Thompson's Hist. Long Island, vol. ii, p. 102.
+ History of Conn., vol. i, p. 294.
99
REV. JOHN PRUDDEN.
told the people he was engaged to another congrega- gation, and took his leave .* After an absence of about two years, more effectual and permanent provis- ions having been made for his support, he resumed his labors and continued in the service of the Church in Jamaica till 1691, a short time before his removal to Newark.
It has been said that on his coming to this place, perhaps in consequence of it, "the town received an- other large accession of people from Milford."+ The records of Newark show, that not long after this event, a company of eleven men-one of whom, James Clisby, was a Scotchman, and four others Dutchmen, if we may judge from their names-were on the same day admitted as planters.
About this time the old meeting-house, constructed originally, as we must suppose, in not the most durable manner, was needing considerable repairs. As early as November, 1688, the townsmen had received direc- tions to get it repaired, so as "to keep out the wet and cold for the present, and also to repair the seats and provide cedar shingles to cover it, when the Spring comes suitable." But, it is very likely, that when the
* Prime's Hist. Long Island, p. 313.
+ Lambert's Hist. New Haven, p. 152.
į Mar. 5, 1693-4. Newark Town Records, p. 120. The persons above referred to are -Joseph Wood, Caleb Ward, Hendrick Hendrickson, Tunis Johnson, Hans Hen- drickson, Bostyan Vangiese, Garret Lay- dicker, Eleazar Lampson, James Clisbe, Jonathan Tichenor and William Brant. Other prominent individuals were added about the same period. Robert Young had leave given him to purchase land in
1693. John Cooper first appears in 1694; James Nutman in 1695 ; Thomas Hayes in 1696; Samuel Alling, called afterwards Lieut. Samuel Alling, or Samuel Alling, Esq., father of the Deacon of the same name, came in 1798 ; Joseph Peck in 1699 ; John Medlis in 1700. The Tuttles-Ste- phen, Joseph and Timothy, children of Stephen Tuttle, of Woodbridge-appear in Newark in the year 1725 .- S. II. Congar.
I find nothing in the Records to sub- stantiate the above statement of Lambert.
100
REV. JOHN PRUDDEN.
Spring came, the pressing necessity was less felt ; for it is not till after the lapse of four years, when the settlement of a new minister may have given a new spring to parochial enterprise, that the actual procur- ing of seven hundred shingles for the purpose, gives the first token that the work is to be performed in good earnest .*
The salary assigned to Mr. Prudden was much smaller than that of either of his predecessors, and de- notes either a decay of pecuniary means, or of the spirit of liberality and love for the institutions of the gospel, on the part of the people.t It was fifty pounds an- nually, and " his firewood free." However, the town took care to pay the expenses of his transportation, and provided for him "accommodations ;" that is, as the word was then understood, a dwelling-house, with its appurtenances, and the lot of land occupied by it. These were given him, on certain easy conditions, as his own property ; and " a rate" having been ordered, to raise the sum necessary for the purpose, two com- mittees were appointed, the one to put him in posses- sion of the before named accommodations, and the other, consisting of two divisions, corresponding to the two ends of the town, north and south, "for to see af- ter the bringing of the wood to Mr. Prudden, and for
* Town Records, pp. 113, 118. "Thom- as Brown 500, Jasper Crane 200 of shin- gles for the meeting house."
+ That the spirit of self-interest was in pretty vigorous exercise about this period, take the following indication : "Town meeting, June 19, 1695. Thomas Davis
hath liberty to set up a saw-mill, with liberty to have use of timber in any com- mon lands, provided he shall let any of the inhabitants have boards as cheap as others, and before strangers." Town Records, p. 121.
101
REV. JOHN PRUDDEN.
to call out the people for that purpose whenever there is need for his supply therein."*
The ministry of Mr. Prudden was short-only seven years-though he continued to preach to the people several months longer. He was not a young man when he came to Newark-having already served in
* The following extracts from the Rec- ords may serve to illustrate the method of conducting affairs of this sort at the pe- riod in question :
"It is also consulted, voted, and con- sented to and agreed by the said inhabit- ants then convened, for Mr. John Prudden's encouragement to come and settle among us, and that he may the better attend upon the work of the ministry as his busi- ness, and for the more comfortable susten- ance of his family in his attendance there- on, that he shall have fifty pounds per annum and his firewood free, to be paid yearly, according to several contributions voluntarily subscribed by them, to Mr. Prudden or his order, so long as he shall continue with them employed in the min- istry. It is moreover voted and agreed, that Mr. Prudden shall have and hold such a propriety and other conveniences, for his accommodations in the town, as shall be agreed upon between him and the committee appointed to treat with him, viz : Mr. Ward, Mr. Johnson, John Curtis, Azariah Crane, Jasper Crane, Thomas Lud- dington and Stephen Bond, nominated and empowered for that purpose."-p. 116.
"Aug. 23, 1692. The result of a treaty between Mr. John Prudden and a com- mittee chosen, constituted and empowered by the inhabitants and freeholders of Newark to act in their behalf, is as follow- eth, viz : It is concluded and agreed by the said committee, that Mr. Prudden shall have and hold the accommodations purchased of Mrs. Falconer [the widow of Patrick Falconer] for his own propriety, to him and his heirs forever, he paying or causing to be paid the two last payments, indented for with Mrs. Falconer, except- ing only five pounds, which the town is to
discharge, beside what is already done in prime bill of debt made to the said Mrs. Falconer, as witnesseth our hands sub- scribed, Mr. John Prudden. Committee in behalf of themselves and their neighbors : Mr. John Ward, Mr. Johnson, John Cur- tis, Azariah Crane, Jasper Crane, Thomas Luddington, Stephen Bond." Records, p. 117.
"Town meeting, Oct. 1692. It was voted whether the charges for purchasing that accommodations that was Mrs. Falconer's, and the charge of transporting Mr. John Prudden should be equally levied on every person's estate, and it was agreed, with a unanimous consent, that it should be so. Secondly, it was also voted that the charge for the payment and transport should be charged by a rate according to our own agreement formerly made, that is, by heads and stock." Query-was this the agreement of January 9, 1687-8? "Third- ly, it was voted that Mr. Johnson and Jas- per Crane should give Mr. Prudden pos- session of the accommodations that was purchased of Mrs. Falconer."-p. 117.
" It was voted that Zechariah and Ephraim Burwell, for the south end of our town, and Samuel Harrison and Nathaniel Ward for the north end, [ be a committee] for to see after the bringing the wood for Mr. Pierson, and for to call out the people for that purpose, when there is need for his supply therein."-p. 117.
" Town meeting, Jan. 2, 1692-3. Benja- min Baldwin, Jabez Rogers, William Camp and Seth Tompkins are chosen to collect the money that is gathered by the subscriptions in Newark for the mainten- ance of the ministry in the year 1692."-p. 117.
102
MR. PRUDDEN'S DISMISSION.
the ministry more than twenty years, and, having a large property, which freed him from the necessity of labor, he may have begun to find the cares of office in so large a congregation too heavy for him, and desired a release .* Several months before he resigned his charge, measures were taken to procure for him an assistant, and an unusually large sum of money was raised in order to meet the additional expense.f.
Difficulties, however, of some kind, undoubtedly ex- isted in the congregation at this time ; and an eccle- siastical council was convened, the result of whose de- liberations was so far satisfactory, that "the town did vote their full compliance with and acquiescence in that issue ;" withal signifying that they would "take sufficient care to defray the whole charge of this their journey and trouble till they return."} That these difficulties were not such as seriously to disparage Mr. Prudden in the eyes of his people, may be inferred
* The elder Prudden had an estate in and Jasper Crane are chosen for to treat the country, valued at £924, and left a and agree with Mr. Wakeman and Mr. Prudden, and if Mr. Wakeman will not come, then some other for a year."-p. 126. landed interest in England of £1,300 ster- ling. (See Trumbull's Hist. Conn., vol. i, p. 294, note.) Lambert says: "The Pruddens in New Jersey shared half of # "Town meeting, June 9, 1699. " Item -It is agreed upon by vote that we will send for the Hon'd and Rever'd Council of Elders, and [request them] to favor us with a sight of those papers wherein the issue of the late difficulties so far is con- tained. Item-The town did vote their full compliance with and acquiescence in that issue. Item-The Rev. Mr. Prudden and Mr. John Brown are chosen by vote to return our thanks to the Rever'd Coun- cil for their faithful and painful services for our settlement, signifying that we will take sufficient care to defray the whole charge of this their journey and trouble till they return." Town Records, p. 127. the interest money received from the Prudden estate in England." (See Lam- bert's Hist. Col. New Haven, p. 151, note.) + The following is the record bearing on this point, viz: "Town meeting, Jan. 2, 1698-9. Item-It is agreed by vote that the town will raise £100 in a way of a rate for the upholding of the worship of God amongst us for a year. Item-It is voted for to know whether the town would have Mr. Wakeman, if he could be obtained, for to join with Mr. Prudden in helping him to carry on the work of the ministry ; and if he cannot be obtained, then some other. Item-Mr. Pierson, Mr. Treat, Mr. Curtis,
103
MR. PRUDDEN'S DISMISSION.
from the fact that they made choice of him, with one other, to convey their vote of thanks to the Reverend Council " for their faithful and painful services ;" and at the same town meeting commissioned three of their most prominent men to express to him their thanks for his past services, and their desire, testified by a very full vote, for his continuance among them, and his ser- vice in preaching to them, till God should favor them with some other supply. This vote was passed June 9, 1699.
Never was a pastoral connection dissolved with greater manifestations of kindness and good under- standing between the parties. His full salary was continued to him as long as he should continue to preach ; and an order made "that all persons from sixteen to sixty years of age shall give to Mr. Prudden each of them one load of wood for the year ensuing, whether he serve the town in the ministry another year or no."* But Dr. Macwhorter intimates that his ministry had not been an easy one, owing to the dis- satisfaction of the minority with his views and those of the' " predominant party" in respect to ecclesiasti- cal government ; and as he is represented "not to
Newark Town
Records. Item-
Capt. Curtis, Mr. Treat, Mr. Pierson and
Thomas Richards are chosen by a full vote to return our thanks to the Reverend
Mr. Prudden for his hitherto services amongst us, with a signification that we
will speedily pay off our arrears due to him by our particular subscriptions, and
by a full vote declare our desire of his con- tinuance among us, and his services at present in preaching the Word to us till
God shall furnish us with some other sup- ply. Item-It is agreed that we will al- low him for his further ministry according to what he formerly had in proportion to the time we have occasion to use him as a minister. Item-It is voted that all per-
sons from 16 to 60 years of age shall give
Mr. Prudden each of them one load of wood for the year ensuing, whether he serve the town in the ministry another year or no." Records, pp. 127-8.
104
PARSONAGE LANDS.
have been a popular preacher," it is possible that a de- cline of interest in his preaching, on the part of the people, may have been among the causes of his resig- nation.
It is to the period of Mr. Prudden's ministry that the origin of the Church property, or title to the "par- sonage lands," is usually referred. The original Pro- prietors, in their Concessions, while they engaged never to exercise the "right of patronage and power of ad- vowson," granted by his Majesty to the Duke of York, and by him transferred to them, "thereby to infringe the general clause of liberty of conscience," empowered the General Assembly of the Province by their act to appoint as many ministers or preachers as they should see fit, and establish their maintenance; at the same time giving liberty beside, to any person or persons to keep and maintain what preachers or ministers they should please.
This power seems never to have been exercised by the General Assembly ; and at a subsequent period, namely in the year 1672, when, disagreements having arisen, it was thought proper to abridge the powers of that body, the Lords Proprietors, in the instrument al- ready referred to, which purports to be an "Explana- tion of their Concessions," and a " Declaration of the true intent and meaning" of the Proprietors in making them, transferred this authority from the General As- sembly to the Governor and Council, subject however to the previous nomination and choice of the people in the several corporations .* In furtherance of their
* Grants, Concessions, &c., pp. 12-34.
105
PARSONAGE LANDS.
design, to see that religious institutions should be maintained on the freest practicable terms, a grant of two hundred acres of land was made in the beginning "to each parish for the use of their ministers," free from all rents and other charges whatsoever. The people of this congregation being then the only parish in the town, early availed themselves of this grant.
In the month of October, 1676, a warrant was taken out for the survey of two hundred acres of land and meadow in proportion, for the purposes of a parsonage, and " also so much as shall be convenient for landing places, school house, town house, meeting house, market places, &c .; in pursuance of which warrant, two hundred and twelve acres were surveyed the same year, includ- ing three acres for a burying place, three for a market place, and six for a training place .* I find no evidence that any use was made of these lands for religious pur- poses, except the erection of a house of worship and the burial of the dead on one of the smaller tracts, until after December 10th, 1696, when a deed was ex- ecuted by the Proprietors, conveying all the above named reservations, with their appurtenances, to John Curtis, John Treat, Theophilus Pierson and Robert Young, their heirs and assigns for ever, "to the only proper use, benefit and behoof of the old settlers of the town of Newark, their heirs and assigns for ever," to be for the several uses expressed in the deed, and for "no other use or uses whatsoever," they paying annually "six pence sterling money of England, on every five and twentieth day of March, for ever here-
* Bill in Chancery, pp. 91-93.
106
REV. JABEZ WAKEMAN.
after." It is under the title conveyed by this deed, if I am rightly informed, that all that part of the church property which came from the original settlers of the town has been held ever since.
Mr. Prudden continued to reside in Newark after his dismission, as long as he lived. He never assumed another pastoral charge, but lived on the best of terms with his former parishioners, preaching for them, at their request, whenever they had no stated minister. and fulfilling important trusts connected with their re- ligious and secular interests. He died in the year 1725, at the advanced age of eighty years, having outlived two, and sat under the ministry of three of his succes- sors in the sacred office ; and his remains lie in the bu- rying ground in the rear of this church, to which they were removed from their original resting place a few years ago .*
The fourth pastor was the Rev. Jabez Wakeman, a younger son of the Rev. Samuel Wakeman, who was installed as pastor of the Church in Fairfield, Conn., in the year 1665, and removed by death between March and October, 1692.+ Jabez Wakeman was about fourteen years of age when his father died, and in the will, direction is given that he be kept at school, and enter college the next August. The delay of a year however, seems to have occurred, for we find by the catalogue of Harvard College-"the college," as the
* The following is the inscription on the tombstone of Mr. Prudden-but whose muse presided at its composition I am not informed.
" Here lyes ye Body of ye Revd Mr. John Prudden, Minister of ye Gospel, who de-
parted this Life Dec. 11th, 1725, Aged 80 yrs.
"Nor grace nor favour fill my reins. Loe room for ye there yet remains."
t Trumbull, Hist. Conn.
107
MR. WAKEMAN'S SETTLEMENT.
will denominates it, that he was graduated in the year 1697. About a year and four months after this date, the people of Newark wishing to obtain an assistant for their worthy pastor, had their attention turned towards this young graduate, and appointed a commit- tee to treat with Mr. Wakeman and Mr. Prudden for that purpose. But the resignation of Mr. Prudden, which took place early in June following, gave a new aspect to affairs, and shortly afterwards, measures were adopted to secure Mr. Wakeman's services as a candi- date for the pastoral office. He was first engaged to preach in that capacity for a year, but scarcely was the year half out, before the ardor of the people pressed the question to an issue, and at a meeting held on the 15th of April, 1700, "it was particularly inquired of every person, whether they desired Mr. Jabez Wake- man to be called to the pastoral office in this town, and they every one manifested their willingness thereto, and also voted the same."*
In the preliminary arrangements for the settlement of Mr. Wakeman, we discover the first evidence of separate concurrent action of the Church and town in religious affairs. On the dismission of Mr. Prudden, the town appointed a committee of three men, "to join with such as the Church shall appoint, in speedily look- ing out for another person to be on trial, in order to settlement in the pastoral office," and again, shortly after, another committee "to join with the Church committee, to treat with Mr. Jabez Wakeman about
* Town Records, p. 131.
108
CHARACTER OF MR. WAKEMAN.
his taking the office of pastor upon him." This was in the years 1699 and 1700.
· The salary of Mr. Wakeman was, at first, £60, but it was soon after raised to £80, the same with that of the two Piersons; and whereas Mr. Prudden's had been paid "according to several contributions voluntarily subscribed," the people now returned to the old prac- tice, and agreed that the above named sum should " be raised by way of a rate."* A subscription was also raised to procure for him a "settlement," that is a homestead or " accommodations," as in the case of his predecessor ; in pursuance of which, a house and its appurtenances were purchased, and presented to him, by a deed of gift, " as the town's act and deed."+
Mr. Wakeman became the sole pastor of this con- gregation at the early age of about twenty-one years. He was a young man of great promise, amiable, ac- complished, and remarkably popular in the pulpit. The attachment of the people to their young and talented pastor, appears to have been deep and tender. Under his ministry the congregation became so much increased, that additional accommodations were re- quired for public worship, and the town ordered a gallery to be built across the north end of the meeting
* Upon closer examination, I am satis- fied that the rate referred to was levied only on the estates of those who had vol- untarily agreed to be taxed for the pur- pose. The record is very explicit respect- ing the "settlement," that though the deed of gift was to be delivered to Mr. Wake- man as the town's act and deed, the money to procure it should " be raised by way of rate upon the estates of the subscribers." In apparent accordance with the same
plan, it was voted that the way of rating for the salary " should be as the major part of the subscribers should agree upon." I find no evidence of a tax levied indiscrim- inately and without consent of parties for the support of the minister, after the first deviation from the original practice in the case of Abraham Pierson, junior, in the the year 1687. Town Records, p. 133.
+ Besides the accommodations mention- ed above, we find the following under date
109
MR. WAKEMAN'S DEATH.
house .* But the hopes of the people and the fair earthly prospects of the young minister and his family, were destined to an early reverse. In the autumn of the year 1704, that fearful malady, the dysentery, pre- vailing in a fatal form among the people, invaded his family. 'His little son, Samuel, a child of two years old, and an only one, died on the 29th of October; and only nine days later, the father followed, leaving a childless widow, and a disappointed flock to shed their tears over his early grave.t.
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