USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > Raritan > Forty years at Raritan : eight memorial sermons with notes for a history of the Reformed Dutch churches in Somerset County, N.J. > Part 24
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his Master's work, and shrunk not from labor in its performance. As a pastor he was affectionate and faithful ; as a citizen, truly patriotie; as a neighbor, benevolent, candid, and obliging ; and as a Christian, humble, devout, and liberal." He married in early life, and his wife sleeps beside him. Her tombstone is inscribed, "Sacred to the memory of Phoebe, wife of the Rev. Peter Studdiford, and only daughter of James and Lavinia Van- derveer, of the township of Bedminster and county of Somerset. She departed this life March 17th, 1808, aged thirty-three years nine months and eleven days.
" As through life religion was her stay, So, in her dying hour, Through its triumphing power, With joy she hailed the realms of day."
Later in life he married Maria Van Horm, who long survived him, and died in Somerville at the house of her daughter, Mrs. Ruckel.
Mr. Studdiford was succeeded, in 1828, by the Rev. John Van Liew. He was called May 1st, 1827, and died October 18th, 1869, at the house of his daughter, Mrs. Randolph, in Bloomfield, Essex County, N. J., after laboring in his pastorship for forty- two years. He was a son of Dennis and Maria (Suydam) Van Liew, and was born at Neshanic September 30th, 1798. He gra- duated at Queen's College October, 1816, studied in the theologi- cal seminary at New-Brunswick, and was licensed by the Classis of New-Brunswick June, 1820. He welcomed to the communion, during his ministry at Readington, 560 persons, and baptized 1119 infants and 85 adults. As a minister he was faithful, able. devoted; as a man, social, kind, generous, and the very soul of honor-a Christian gentleman. His funeral sermon, by Rev. Henry P. Thompson, of Peapack, a member of his church, was published, and to it we refer for an ample description of his labors and his character. He was entombed in the new cemetery near his church, and the following is the inscription on his monument : " Erected to the memory of Rev. John Van Liew, D.D., who died October 18th, A.D. 1869, aged seventy-one years and nineteen days. For forty-eight years he served the blessed Master in the gospel ministry ; for forty-three years he was the faithful pastor of the Reformed Church at Readington. Living we loved him,
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dead we cherish his memory, glorified we will meet him in the heavenly world."
A few months before his death, in consequence of his enfeebled health and inability to continue his pastoral duties, he had been succeeded by J. G. Van Slyke, who was ordained and installed July 1st, 1869, Mr. Van Liew assisting in the service and offering the ordaining prayer. He then went away to the house of his daughter to rest ; but he rested soon in his grave, to labor and sorrow no more. Mr. Van Slyke was called to Jamaica, on Long Island, the next year, and left the congregation. It is now under the care of the Rev. J. H. Smock.
HARLINGEN, OP DE MILLSTONE, SOURLAND, ETC.
This church was organized by the Rev. Henricus Coens, of Acquackanonk, on the 18th of May, 1827, and the first church edifice was built on the south-east corner of the old cemetery. The location of both was determined by a land-grant of one hundred and sixty acres, received from "the proprietors," who held nearly 9000 acres in the vicinity, and donated this tract for the benefit and behoof of the minister and consistory of a church to be gathered there, upon the basis of the confession of faith adopted by the Synod of Dort, or Dordrecht, in 1618 and 1619. This deed bears date June, 1710, and seems to have been kept in reserve for seventeen years before it was really claimed, and the grant rendered permanent by occupancy and the necessary organi- zation of the church provided for in it. What was the character of the house erected is not known; but it stood on the south- east corner of the cemetery, and was for some time in the pos- session of the malcontents to whom Arondaus preached and over whom he was installed. Like the other early church edifices, it was very contracted in dimensions and rude in structure. The people did what they could to provide a place for religious wor- ship, and it was not much ; but it showed their zeal.
The first consistory consisted of two elders and two deacons, namely, Abraham Reyters and Geribrant Peters, elders ; Johannes Koelbagh and Resolvert Waldron, deacons; and the church was
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"the Church op de Millstone." They were chosen unanimously, as stated, at the house of Reynier Veghte on the 18th of May, 1727, under the direction of Dominie Henricus Coens, of Acquacka- nonk, after calling upon the revered name of Almighty God, by all those who feared God and sought to build up his church ; which persons, after they had been published to the congregation, were on the same day ordained and installed into their respective offices.
Henricus Coens seems to be as little known as almost any minister who has ever exercised his gifts in the Dutch Church. His name does not occur in any of the published documents which we have seen; nor are we able to state when he came from Holland. It must have been as early as 1725, for in that year he is found ministering in the churches of Acquackanonk, Bellville, Pompton, and Ponds: and he continued his ministry among this people for five years. He wrote to Holland a detailed account of the troubles in the churches of Acquackanonk and Bellville, (or Second River, as it then was called.) He died in 1735, but when and where his remains were interred we are not able to say. Ilis ministry and death both antedate our published Minutes, and hence there is no trace of him excepting the re- cords of the churches where he labored.
All the circumstances seem to indicate that the organization was in the interest of "the Conferentie party," then beginning to be active in the affairs of the church. They were opponents of Frelinghuysen ; they held the church for a time ; and they were supplied by ministers belonging to that party, and Rynier Veghte was at that time a strenuous partisan in their favor. Harlingen for a time was the centre of their operations and influence. We are not prepared to condemn them entirely, but certainly circum- stances in aftertimes proved that they were in the wrong. They were many of them conscientious men, no doubt, but prejudiced and partisan to a very large extent.
In the year 1729, the elders at Harlingen were Johannes Koel- bagh and Resolvert Waldron; the deacons, Guysbert Bogert, Casparus Van Nostrand, and Abraham Hoover. In 1734, May 9th, at the house of Rynier Veghte, under the superintendence of Dominie Antonidus, preacher on Long Island, after invoking the name of God, the following persons were chosen : For Millstone, (Harlingen,) for elders, Koert Voorhees and Daniel Polhemus ;
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for Three-Mile Run, elders, Simon Wyckoff and Hendrick Vroom ; for deacons, Simon Van Wickelen and Denys Van Duyn ; for North-Branch, for elders, Daniel Sebring and Pieter Kinne; deacons, William Rose and Frans Waldron, and they were installed before the congregation. From the records in the other churches it would seem that the ordination was in the Three-Mile Run Church.
This record is an anomaly, and can only be explained, it seems to us, by supposing that these consistories were chosen out of the disaffected in these congregations; and how such a man as Antonidus should have done such a thing is almost marvelous. It is not in accordance with his spirit; but things were loose and many irregularities perpetrated. Dom. Vincentius Antonideus came out to New-Amsterdam in 1705, and preached at Brooklyn, Flatlands, and Flatbush, and Bushwick, New-Utrecht, and Gravesend until 1744, when he died. His name does not seem to occur as having been present in any of the meetings of Coetus or Conferentie, and a paper of that day says of him "that he was a gentleman of extensive learning, of an easy, condescending behavior and conversation, and of a regular, exemplary piety, endeavoring to practice him- self what he preached to others ; was kind, benevolent, and cha- ritable to all according to his ability ; meek, humble, patriotic, and resigned under all his losses and afflictions, his misfortunes and calamities, which befell him in his own person and family. It is not, therefore, anywhere stated what his leaning was in the emergen- cies of the times, but certainly his ordaining these consistories in Mr. Frelinghuysen's charge must be considered as an unjustifiable and irregular proceeding. It was really the organization and the commencement of a division in these churches which lasted until the General Convention of 1771. They actually took pos- session themselves of the church, and obliged the others to build themselves a new house of worship.
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The disaffection was encouraged and stimulated by a very dif- ferent person in the years 1745, 1746, and 1747. Dom. Johannes .Arondeus, also a preacher on Long Island from 1742 to 1747, when he was finally suspended by the Coetus, came and preached among these people. Ile actually had himself installed in May, 1747, though he had no dismission from the churches on Long Island, in the very churches and congregations under the pastoral
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supervision of T. J. Frelinghuysen, through the co-operation of Fryenmoet, and remained until June, 1748, when he went away as suddenly as he had come and in the same irregular way. He meanwhile preached and baptized children, the records of which are still existing in the baptismal books of Harlingen and Read- ington. The whole number from the different congregations amounts to 100; but the names of the parents for the most part, as they are given in the record, do not embrace those who really were the staid, intelligent, and better class of the religious people, though a few most honored names are found among them. This is particularly true of Raritan, with which our acquaintance is more thorough. Of this trouble in Israel, Rev. Mr. Corwin says, " He was a very headstrong and contrary man. The civil and ecclesiastical records constantly refer to him, but only to present him in an unenviable character. He was' a violent opponent of the Coetus. Ile went so far as to have himself installed pastor of the churches in Somerset County by Fryenmoet, and minis- tered there among the enemies of Frelinghuysen. The Harlingen records were taken possession of by his party, and his ecclesias- tical acts recorded in them, for all the surrounding churches."
After a long and factions resistance to the efforts of the Coetns to bring him to terms and prevent contention, the following minute, prepared by Dom. Ritzema and the Elder Hendrick Fisher, was passed April 16th, 1752 : " It is hereby made known to you that the decision of the Rev. Classis made Sept. 14th, 1750, and confirmed by the Rev. Classis of Amsterdam, Jan. 12th, 1751, in relation to the question of the lawfulness and unlawfulness of ministry of Dom. John Arondeus in Kings County, must take effect. Thus Dom. U. Van Sinderen is to be recognized as lawful minis- ter in Kings County, and Dom. John Arondeus as unlawful, and . therefore not authorized to administer the word and sacrament in the Hollandish churches on Long Island. So that each and every one whom it concerns, professing to be a member of the Netherlandish Church and under the church orders established in the National Synod at Dordrecht, 1618 and 1619, is to show himself obedient to the foregoing action, which the assembly ex- pects. Done in our meeting in the Consistory Chambers, New- York, this 16th April, 1752.
" In the afternoon, Dominie Arondens and his friends asked for a copy of the proceeding. The request was granted, on condition of their paying for it.
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"Then advice was asked, 1. What was to be done about the non-payment of salary by the subscribers to Dom. Van Sinderen's call? Ans. They are referred to the previous action of the assembly. 2. What is to be done with those who were admitted as church members during Dom. Arondeus's irregular sojourn on the island ? Ans. It is referred to the prudence of Dom. Van Sinderen and his consistory. 3. How is Dom. Arondeus and his consistory to be treated ? Ans. The minister being disapproved, the consistory must be also; consequently the church property must be restored to Dom. Van Sinderen and his consistory."
Finally, Sept. 15th, 1753, the eonelusion seems to have been effectually reached. "The sentence before pronounced upon Aron- deus, ratified by the Rev. Classis, at last executed in their name, and again confirmed on certain conditions, must hold good, so that he can no longer be a minister among you."
After this the name of the factions troubler disappears from the records, and he died in disgrace.
On the 15th January, 1749-50, the congregation met and re- solved to build a church near Hendrick Canada's, on the land of Jan Van Dyke. This church was finished in 1752, and the minutes of consistory contain a beautifully written agreement for the heading of a subscription, stating the object, the condi- tions, and the several privileges of the subscribers in regard to pews and other necessary arrangements. The subscription amounted to about £400. The building committee was Peter Nievius, Johannes Strycker, Garret Dorlandt, Abraham Van Ars- dalen, and Roelof Van Dyke. The old " Conferentie Church"" at the burying-ground was finally left to itself, and after a time demolished.
The church so provided for and built was the one which was erected by those who did not sympathize with Arondeus or with " the Conferentie party," and the location was the same as the one now occupied by the Harlingen Church. The edifice erected is represented as " being in the Dutch style of architec- ture, with high gables and steep roof, an aisle on one side, from which a door opened. Along the sides were short pews for the men, while the body of the church was divided into small squares occupied by chairs on which sat the women and children."
Abont this time the church left off the name "op de Millstone," and was called the Church of Sourland. The articles agreed
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upon are sensible and proper : " Every one having a seat in the church, it is provided, shall agree to and stand by the following articles ; and if any shall be disposed hereafter to sell his seat, the purchaser shall be in duty bound to agree to and come un- der the said articles, by subscribing to them. And 2d. If the owner of one or more seats shall die, his nearest heir is the next owner, to have and ocenpy the same." It then goes on in the same careful way, to provide that the church shall be for a Low-Dutch Reformed preacher, lawfully called and sent. " The plan of the buikling shall be such as the building committee think best and approve of. What every person subscribes shall be a free gift thereto ; and for every pound subscribed by each, he will be in duty bound to work in proportion, whenever the building com- mittee think it necessary, with wagon and horse, or otherwise with a hand by the day; and if he fails to come, when warned out by the committee, his fine shall be four shillings per day ; and if he fails turning out with wagon and horse, when notified, his fine shall be eight shillings per day. For this building five men shall be chosen by the present meeting, to carry on and com- plete the same, and to collect the money subscribed for it. When the building is finished, the committee shall have the seats num- bered and recorded in a book kept for that purpose. The con- mittee shall make an estimate of the money advanced by sub- scribers, and proportion it on the different seats, according to their value, so that all the seats go regularly to the subscribers in proportion to the money advanced by them." Then follow some minor regulations; and then it is agreed, "That three church masters must be chosen out of the congregation, to whom the building committee shall account for all moneys received and paid out by them, and deliver over all books and papers to them, respecting the building of the church; and in each succeeding year, there shall be an election of church masters, when two new ones are to be chosen, to serve in the place of two who are to go ont and retire; and those going out of office are strictly to ac- count to those elected in their places, and deliver over to them all property, books, and papers belonging to the church. And fur- ther, we, the subscribers, do hereby bind ourselves and our several heirs, and all those who occupy seats in this church, to stand by these foregoing articles, and. to pay the sums set opposite our respective names, as by us subscribed."
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The church masters appointed on the 30th day of December, 1754, were Jan Van Dyck, Henry Canada, and Cornelius Van Arsdalen. They were succeeded, in 1754, by John Staats, Geysbert Lane, and Cornelius Van Arsdalen. In 1759, Derick Gulick and John Van Nuyse took the place of Jan Staats and Henry Canada, and the catalogue is continued until 1786.
From the organization of the Harlingen church, in 1727 to 1750, it experienced great vicissitudes and changes. It was not served by T. J. Frelinghuysen except, perhaps, occasionally, and mainly depended upon the minister on Long Island for what religious services it enjoyed ; yet it was kept alive, and seems to have had its communion seasons twice in cach year, when the children were admitted to the ordinance of baptism. We can not give the original members who composed it ; but between 1727 and 1742, the following were received on certificate, namely; Auguts 25th, 1721, Geribrandt Peterse, Johannes Koelberg, Resolvert Waldron, An- netje Waldron, Maria Cortsibrus, Jannetje Meyers and Jannetje Stienmets. October 25th, 1727, Jan. Firkeyk. April 3d, 1728, Isaac Gouverneur, Willem Roos, Jannetje Coermans (Coejemans), Geer- tray Staats, Elizabeth Krom, and Magdalena Gouverneur; and on confession, Christina Roelers and Susanna Roelers. June 19th, 1728, on certificate, Hendrick Smock, Johannes Van Houte, Tryntje Peterse, Anna Geertraid Everse, and Anna Woertman ; on confession, Cosparus Van Nostrand and Abraham Slover. Sept. 11th, 1728, on confession, Creesje Runyen. Nov. 6th, 1728, on confession, Lucus Schermerhoorn and Sophia Schermerhoorn. Aug. 11th, 1729, on certificate, Dina Kouwenhoven. April 15th, 173.0, Marrietje Lange. June 10th, 1730, on certificate, Johanna Gouverneur. Oct. 11th, 1730, on certificate, Mitje Van Winke- len. Oct. 14th, 1731, on certificate, Asje Van Horne ; on confession IIelena Van Lieuven. March 29th, 1732, on certificate, Denys Van Deuyne and his wife ; on confession, Simon Van Winkelen. Dec., 16th, 1732, on certificate, Philip Yong, Jacob Wynand, Eva Thiese, Marietje Thiese, and Marietje Slover. April 18th, 1746, on certificate, Machteltie Van Duyn, wife of Hendrick Staats. Then follows the following list certified as being in the communion, but without date, namely, Albert Low, Abraham Dubois, Rynier Van Veghten, Jan Staats, Rem Ditmars, Jovis Bergen, Cornelius Low, Abraham Hageman, Reynier Van Angelen, Abraham Polhemus, Hendrick Herder, Johannes Gribling, (probably Sebring,) Peter
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Couenoven, Susanna Low, Deyna Van Lieuven, Helena Van Lieuven, Meria Backwier, Goertie Follemer, Antie Couwenhoven, Maria Herder. These were probably the malcontents in a body, brought by Arondeus to strengthen his hands and form a com- pany to support him.
On the 9th of April, 1752, John Frelinghuysen records on the minutes the following names as having been received on confes- sion of faith, namely, Gertrey Ammermar, wife of Jacobus Van Nuyse, Gysbert Zutphin, and Antie Schenck, wife of John Gorden. A better day had at last dawned. Harlingen had become one of the associate charges of a man who sought only to do good and preach the Gospel in its simplicity ; but alas ! his life was too short to effect much.
After the death of John Frelinghuysen, on September 15th, 1754, the church remained vacant until 1762, when it was associated with Neshanic in a call upon the Rev. Johannes Martinus Van Har- lingen. His ministry was a long one, extending to 1795, when he died in the service of these churches, and his remains were inter- red under the pulpit, and when the church was rebuilt, transferred to the burying-ground on the old parsonage farm, on which he had resided during the whole period of his service.
"He was the son of Johannes Martinus Van Harlingen, a native of Amsterdam, who emigrated when a young man, and settled at Harlem, N. Y., where he married Maria Bussing, and soon remov- ed to Lawrence's Brook, near New-Brunswick." It is said that John M. Van Harlingen, the son of the above, was born near Millstone. After commencing his theological course he went to Holland, for the double purpose of obtaining a more thorough preparation for the ministry, and of being ordained by the Classis of Amsterdam. After completing his theological course at one of the universities of Holland, and receiving ordination, he returned to America. He entered upon his ministry in 1762, and served his double charge with zeal and fidelity for thirty-three years, when he fell asleep, universally beloved and lamented. He preached exclusively Dutch until toward the close of his life, when, the younger part of his charge requiring English sermons, he preached occasionally in that language. He was an evangelical preacher, a faithful pastor, and a patron of learning. He was a member of the origi- nal Board of Trustees of Queen's College, and labored for its "first endowment. Dom. Van Harlingen was twice married. His
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first wife was Sarah Stryker, by whom he had two children; his second, Elizabeth Van Deursen, who was the mother of three, one of whom died in infancy, and the others survived him. His name has passed away, but his descendants are quite numerous in Som- erset; one of them is Rev. P. D. Van Cleef, of Jersey City.
The following words are inscribed on his tomb, in the Harlingen Cemetery : "To the memory of the Rev. Johannes Martinus Van Harlingen, pastor of the Reformed Dutch congregations of Sour. land and New-Shanick, who died Dec. 23d, 1795, in the 71st year of his age.
" Van Harlingen, recalled by Zion's King, Finished in haste his embassy abroad ; Then soaring up to heaven on seraph's wing, Blessed angels hailed the ambassador of God."
The want of English preaching was now increasingly felt in all the churches ; and a year before Mr. Van Harlingen's death the United Consistories of Harlingen and Neshanic provided for it in their congregations by calling the Rev. William Richmond Smith as his colleague, to preach in the English language exclu- sively, one Sabbath at Harlingen and two at Neshanic.
Mr. Smith was a native of Lancaster County, Pa. His father, Rev. Robert Smith, D.D., was minister of Pequea; and his mother was a sister of the celebrated brothers Samuel and Jol n Blair, eminent men in their day in the Presbyterian Church. 1Ie had also two distinguished preachers as brothers : Samuel Stan- hope Smith, of Princeton College, and John Blair Smith, at one time President of Union College, Schenectady, and afterward of Hampden Sidney, in Virginia. He was a man of sound mind and an edifying preacher ; a man highly esteemed and revered by the people to whom he ministered through the long period of twenty-five years; a courteous, gentlemanly man. He was stricken with paralysis on the Sabbath day, while preaching to his people. He survived the attack for several years, but was a wreck in mind and body, during the whole remainder of his life. His remains rest among the people of his charge in a rural cemetery near Flagtown; and he being dead yet speaketh. He died on the 23d of February, 1820. His funeral, on the 26th, was attended by a vast concourse of people, anxious to testify their esteem for a faithful pastor and friend. The Rev. Peter Labagh preached
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the sermon from 2 Timothy 4 : 7, 8. William R. Smith was not a popular man in the sense of attraction, but extensively popular in the sense of almost universal esteem; and he was a good man, a faithful man, and left behind him a memory which ephemeral popularity seldom attains-in converts who were real Christians.
In 1798-three years after the death of J. M. Van Harlingen- the united churches called the Rev. Henry Polhemus. He was a native of the congregation, born at Harlingen in 1772, graduated at Princeton College 1794, studied theology with Dirck Romeyn, and was licensed in 1798. Almost immediately upon receiving his commission, he was offered the call from Harlingen and Ne -. shanic as a colleague of W. R. Smith. He was to preach two Sabbaths at Harlingen and one at Neshanic alternately, Smith preaching two at Neshanic and one at Harlingen. He continued in this charge until 1809, when he received and accepted a call from English Neighborhood, in Bergen County, N. J. He re- mained there until 1813, when he settled at Shawangunk, New- York, and died in 1816, after laboring there two years. He is represented as having been an earnest and acceptable preacher, laborious and conscientious in the performance of his duties, and humble and pious in his walk and conversation. He did a good work in his day, and left a fair reputation behind him, when he died, as being a man of zeal, devotedness, and single-heartedness in all his intercourse with men, but especially in his ministry.
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