USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 24
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"McCulloch, David, Esq. of Ardwell, Kirk- cudbright. A naked arm and hand throwing a dart, ppr; motto, vi et animo." Fairbank's Crests, vol. I., p. 306; vol. 2, plate 42, Crest 13; Burke's Visitation of Arms, vol. 2, p. 70. Also :
"McCulloch (Barholm Co. Kirkcudbright) Erm. a fret engr. gu. on an escutcheon az. three wolves heads erased or. Crest. A hand throw- ing a dart ppr. Supporters. Two men in armour, each holding a spear ppr. Motto. vi et animo." Family Crests, Vol. 1, 302. Burke's Gen. Armory, 637 ; Rietstap Armorial General, Vol. 2, p. 121. Also :
"McCulloch, Sco. a hand throwing a dart ppr. Vi et animo." Family Crests. Pl., 61. no 19. Also :
"McCulloch, Myrtoun, (this seems to be the same as "Myretoun" p. 122) co. Wigton, bart Erm, fretty gu. Crest. A hand throwing a dart. ppr. Motto vi et animo." Family Crests, Vol. I., P. 302.
The name was originally "McCullo," and afterwards was written "McCulloch," "Mc- Cullock," and "Mccullough." The latter is the modern spelling ; but they are all the same probably-idem sonans. And the above all given accordingly, for what they are worth, as they may interest somebody.
Hugh Mercer, physician and
MERCER soldier, for whom the county of Mercer is named, was a member of a distinguished Scottish family which had furnished, particularly to the kirk, men famous in public life.
The great-grandfather of Hugh Mercer was John, a minister of the church in Kinnellan, Aberdeenshire, from 1650 to 1676, from which pastorate John Mercer resigned a year before his death. The wife of this eminent divine was Lilias Row, a great-granddaughter of John Row, the reformer. Of this union there were three children. The grandfather of Hugh, was Thomas Mercer, baptized January 20, 1658,
GENERAL HUGH MERCER
From portrait presented to New Jersey Society Sons of the Revolution, by James Burke, Esq., of Princeton, 1901.
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and polled 1696. Thomas was twice married, one wife being Anna Raite, the other Isabel Of the seven children of whom Thomas Mercer was the father, one was Will- iam, baptized March 25, 1696. William was educated for the ministry, was in charge of the Manse at Pittsligo, Aberdeenshire, from 1720 to 1748. He married Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Munro, of Foulis. Sir Robert was killed while commanding the British troops at Falkirk in 1746. To William and Anne there were born three children, one of whom was Hugh, the subject of this memoir. The date of Hugh's birth was probably 1725, as he was baptized in January, 1726. His wife was Isa- bella Gordon, of Virginia. The children of Hugh Mercer and Isabella (Gordon) Mercer were: I. Anna Gordon, a celebrated beauty, married Robert Patton, of Fredericksburg. 2. John, born 1772, died 1817. 3. William, died unmarried. 4. George Weedon, died unmar- ried. 5. Hugh Tennant Weedon, born August 4, 1776, educated under an act of congress, 1793, married Louisa Griffin, daughter of Judge Cyrus Griffin, by Lady Christiana Stuart. Colonel Hugh Tennant Weedon Mercer died December, 1853, at the "Sentry Box," Fred- ericksburg, Virginia, while Mrs. Mercer died December 28, 1859, aged eighty years.
Of the boyhood life of General Hugh Mer- cer little is known. As was the case with many Scottish lads, he entered college, when about fifteen years of age, matriculating in the School of Medicine, Marshall College, in 1740, graduating in 1744. Moved by the loyal spirit of his ancestors, Hugh Mercer joined the army of Prince Charlie, the "Young Pretender," and during the 16th of April, 1746, he appears as assistant surgeon upon the ill-starred field of Culloden.
Driven by the butcheries of the Duke of Cumberland, Hugh Mercer, in the autumn of 1746, set sail from Leith, remained a short time in Philadelphia, and settled at Greencastle, Pennsylvania, now Mercersburg, then upon the frontier of new world civilization. Practicing his profession in the wilds of the "Indian Coun- try," Hugh Mercer does not appear promi- nently until the year 1755, when in the "Brad- dock Expedition" he appears as a captain of militia. Following Braddock's humiliating de- feat, Hugh Mercer, although wounded, walked many miles through the wilderness to his home. Early in the spring of 1756 Hugh Mercer was selected as Captain of the local militia, having a supervision over a wide district with Mc- Dowell's Ferry (Bridgeport) as headquarters,
and acting as physician and surgeon to the garrison. Again was Hugh Mercer wounded, and in retreat from an Indian fight, walking over one hundred miles through the forests, hiding in the trunks of trees, and living upon roots, berries and the carcass of a rattle snake, until he could rejoin his command at Fort Cumberland. For these and other patriotic services the corporation of Philadelphia pre- sented him with a vote of thanks and a medal.
In 1757, Mercer was in command of the militia stationed at Shippensburg, Pennsyl- vania, being appointed major in December, 1757, with command of all Provincial forces stationed west of the Susquehanna. In 1758 Major Mercer was in command of a portion of the Forbes Expedition against Fort Du- Quesne. It was during this period that Mer- cer met George Washington whose military. fame had spread beyond the confines of the Great Northern Neck of Virginia. Between the two men a friendship was established that led Mercer to remove from Pennsylvania to Virginia, taking up his residence in Fredericks- burg, famed not only as the home of Washing- ton's mother, but as the then residence of John Paul, who, assuming the name of Jones, later became the world-renowned naval commander ; of James Monroe, afterward President of the United States; of John Marshall, subsequently chief justice of the United States; of General George Weedon, owner of the "Rising Sun," and brother-in-law of Mercer; and of George Mason, of Gunson Hall. In Fredericksburg, General Mercer attended the meeting of Lodge No. 4, Free and Accepted Masons, of which George Washington was a member.
Throughout the period of constitutional agitation preceding the revolution, Dr. Mercer devoted himself to his practice and to the delights of those social relationships for which Fredericksburg was and is noted. In 1775, the Royal Governor, Dunmore, at Williams- burg, transferred a portion of the Colonial store of powder from the magazine to the ship "Magdalen." It was this crowning act of exec- utive incompetency to deal with local phases of the general revolutionary problem, that led to the organization of the Whig regiments. Upon September 12, 1775, Mercer was appoint- ed as colonel of minute-men for the counties of Caroline, Stafford, King George and Spottsylvania. Stimulating the spirit of the committees of safety and sustaining the en- thusiastic but untrained provincials, Mercer wrote to the Virginia Convention :-
"Hugh Mercer will serve his adopted coun-
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try in the cause of liberty in any rank or sta- tion to which he may be assigned."
At this critical juncture three regiments of Virginia provincials were organized, and for the command of the first of these, Hugh Mer- cer was defeated by Patrick Henry by one vote. Subsequently, Mercer was elected colonel of the third and at Williamsburg drilled the volunteers and levies.
A wider field of duty demanded Mercer's services. In recognition of his popularity and military skill, upon the 5th of June, 1776, the title of brigadier-general in the Continental army was conferred upon the gallant Virginian. Within a few weeks, General Washington, re- turning from Massachusetts to New York, selected General Mercer to take command of the troops engaged in the fortification of Paulus Hook, now known as the old downtown resi- dence section of Jersey City. But one year remained of the short half century allotted to Mercer. That year he was destined to spend largely within the confines of the state of New Jersey. Besides discharging his duties at Paulus Hook, General Mercer was placed in command of the "Flying Camp" of ten thous- and men stationed at and near Perth Amboy.
Events between the rout of the patriot army at Brooklyn and the retreat through the Jer- seys moved rapidly, nor can the military de- tails of the crossing of the Delaware and the attack upon Trenton, be repeated here. His- torians have credited General Mercer with sug- gesting the change of Washington's Fabian policy, and of his working out the details of the movement that altered the fate of an empire. This much is sure, that upon the Christmas night of 1776 no one of Washington's galaxy of leaders was more trusted than was Mercer, and no one shared greater fruits of victory. Upon the recrossing of the Delaware, it was at General Mercer's headquarters on the night of January 2, 1777, that the plan to break camp and leave the camp fires burning upon the south bank of the Assunpink creek, was formulated. Thence it was that General Mer- cer went to his doom.
The story of the surprise at Princeton, on the morning of the 3rd, of the clash upon the frost covered ground between Mercer's men and Mawhood's British regiments and troops of dragoons, of the fight about the Clark house, of the peril of Washington, and of Mercer's leaping from his horse and rallying his men, has often been told. But to the gallant Scotch- Virginian, Death, if it must come, came not quickly. Enfuriated by the turn of the for-
tunes of war, General Mercer, while in the very act of leading his men to victory, was attacked by several British soldiers. Repeat- edly stabbed he was beaten upon the head with the butt ends of muskets, and, refusing to sur- render, was left for dead. The retreating Brit- ish soon gave place to the Continental soldiers, who tenderly carried their general into the Clark house, where he was nursed by the de- voted Quaker women of that family. By his side, in attendance, were Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, Dr. Archibald Alexander, of Virginia, and Major George Lewis, nephew of General Washington. Lingering in agony for nine days, General Hugh Mercer died in the arms of Major Lewis.
The death of Mercer created a profound impression throughout the nation. His body was removed to Philadelphia under military escort, was exposed in state, and it is said thirty thousand people attended the funeral. It was upon the south side of Christ church, Philadel- phia, that his body, interred with military and civic honors, was placed beneath a slab upon which was cut "In memory of Gen'l Hugh Mercer who fell at Princeton, January 3rd, 1777."
Moved by a sense of patriotic duty, congress, upon April 9, 1777, directed that monuments be erected to the honor of General Mercer at Fredericksburg, and of General Warren at Boston. Upon the 28th of June, 1902, one hundred and twenty-five years thereafter, the Fredericksburg monument was erected bearing upon its face the following inscription, order- ed to be placed by the resolution of 1777:
"Sacred to the memory of Hugh Mercer Brigadier General in the Army of the United States He died on the 12th of January, 1777 of the wounds he received on the 3rd of the same month near Princeton, in New Jersey Bravely Defending the Liberties of America
The Congress of the United States In testimony of his virtues and their gratitude Have caused this monument to be erected."
With that singular perversity that seems to afflict mankind, a succeeding generation re- fused to permit General Mercer's bones to re- main undisturbed. The St. Andrews Society removed Mercer's body to Laurel Hill Ceme- tery, then upon the edge of the city of Phila-
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delphia, and upon the 26th of November, 1840, dedicated a monument to his memory. Of this society General Mercer was a member, the monument being properly inscribed.
Besides the name of one of New Jersey's twenty-one counties, there are in the state of New Jersey two memorials to Mercer. One is the old fort at Red Bank, Gloucester county, where at Fort Mercer, in 1778, a gallant de- fense of Philadelphia was made by General Greene and the navy upon the Delaware. The other memorial is in Princeton and consists of a bronze tablet unveiled October 1, 1897, the gift of Mercer Engine Company, No. 3.
An interesting and accurate "Life of General Hugh Mercer," from which much of the in- formation for this sketch has been secured, was written and published in 1906, by the Hon. John T. Goolrick, of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
BALDWIN The name Baldwin has been a familiar one in the annals of England and of Europe even since Baldwin I, Count of Flanders, car- ried off and married Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald of France, and wife of Aethelwulf, king of the West-Saxons of Eng- land; and their son, Baldwin II, the Bald, married Aelfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great. Their great-grandson, Baldwin V, sur- named van Ryssel, married Adela, daughter of Robert of France, and sister to Matilda, wife of William of Normandy, the Conqueror. Hence we find the Baldwin name on the roll of Battle abbey, and Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, a century later, riding at the side of Richard Coeur de Lion to the Crusades, in which, as the Latin Kings of Jerusalem, his cousins of Flanders, descendants of the young- est brother of Godfrey de Bouillon, had already made the name famous throughout Europe, and later were to make it still more famous as the name of two of the Emperors of Con- stantinople.
Coming back to England, we find the Bald- wins playing their part in the history and life of their country until January 6, Edward VI, i. e. 1552, when Richard Baldwin, of Dun- dridge, in the parish of Ashton Clinton, county Bucks, makes his will and leaves his property to his three sons Henry, John and Richard, making the first-named his executor. Five years later Henry becomes owner in fee simple of Dundridge, Ashton Clinton, where he and his wife Alice spent their lives and he writes his will, January 2, 1599, which is proved July 2, 1602, in the prerogative court of Canter- i -- 8
bury, by his eldest son Richard, his executor, and in which he divides his property among his children, Richard, Sylvester, John, Robert, Jane, wife of James Bonus; Mary, wife of Richard Salter; and Agatha, wife of Henry Stonehill. Sylvester emigrated with his wife and children to New England, but died on the voyage, June 21, 1638. His widow and chil- dren settled in Milford, Connecticut, and two of his sons, Richard, of Milford, and John, of Stonington, have left a numerous offspring in that part of the country. Richard his elder brother seems to have remained in England, but at least three of his sons, Timothy, Nathan- iel and Joseph, came over to America and have perpetuated his name and blood here. All three apparently came over to Milford where their cousins were already settled, and where Timothy and Nathaniel elected to remain, while Joseph, whose line we are to follow, went to Hadley, Massachusetts.
(I) Joseph Baldwin, son of Richard Bald- win, of Cholesbury, near Ashton Clinton, coun- ty Bucks, England, must have come to Milford, either with the original settlers from New Haven or Wethersfield, in 1639, or else almost immediately after them, as he is of record there in that year. Five years later, January 23, 1644, his wife Hannah joined the church there, and had their first four children baptized ; the next year two more were baptized, and four years later a seventh. Of the last two chil- dren no record of baptism had been found. About 1663 Joseph Baldwin and his family removed to Hadley, where he and his son Joseph were admitted as freemen in 1666. Meanwhile his wife Hannah had died and Joseph, Senior, married Isabel Ward, sister to Deacon Lawrence Ward, of Newark, and George Ward, of Branford, the father of John Ward, the turner of Newark. As the Widow Catlin, Isabel and her son John had been among the original settlers of Newark from Branford in 1666; but while John had remain- ed in the new settlement to become one of its foremost men and its first schoolmaster, his mother had removed to Hadley, married again, this time, James Northam, and before Septem- ber, 1671, on the 2d of which month she was granted as the wife of Joseph Baldwin and "sister," i. e. sister-in-law of Elizabeth the widow, letters of administration on the estate of her brother, Deacon Lawrence Ward, she had became widow a second time and married her third husband. The administration, as the East Jersey Deeds tell us, she turned over to "her son John Catline and her kinsman John
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Warde, turner, both of Newark ;" she does not appear to have borne her second and third husbands any children; she died in Hadley, December 8, 1676. Shortly after this Joseph Baldwin himself married a third time, Eliza- beth Hitchcock, widow of William Warriner, of Springfield, by whom likewise Joseph seems to have had no children, although she survived him over twelve years, dying April 25, 1696. Joseph, Senior, himself died November 2, 1684; but long before his death he conveyed a half interest in his homestead in Hadley to his son Joseph, Junior, who died about three years before his father. The will of Joseph. Senior, is recorded in Northampton, Massa- chusetts, and is dated December 20, 1680, and in it he gives his Milford property to his three sons, Joseph, Benjamin and Jonathan, and the remainder of his estate to his wife and other children.
Children: I. Joseph, Jr., born about 1640, died November 21, 1681; married Sarah daughter of Benjamin Coley, of Milford, bap- tized 1648, died 1689; children : Joseph, James, Mehitable, Hannah, Mary, Mercy or Mary again, Hannah again, Samuel, and Hannah, a third time. 2. Benjamin, born about 1642, will proven June 19, 1729, married Hannah, daughter of Jonathan Sergeant, of Branford, who died before 1721 ; children: Joseph, Jon- athan, Benjamin and Sarah, married Robert Young. 3. Hannah, born about 1643, married, May 6, 1658, Jeremiah, son of Richard Hull, of New Haven, and had a daughter Mary, possibly also other children. 4. Mary, born about 1644, married John Catlin, son of her stepmother, who removed from Newark, New Jersey, to Deerfield, Massachusetts, before 1684; children: Joseph, John, Jonathan, Eliz- abeth, married James Corse, and with brothers Joseph and Jonathan were killed by the French and Indians in the Deerfield massacre, Febru- ary 29, 1704; Hannah, married Thomas Bas- com; Sarah, married Michael Mitchell; Esther, married Ebenezer Smead; and Ruth. 5. Eliz- abeth, baptized March, 1645, died April 24, 1687; married, March 31, 1664, at Hadley, James Warriner, of Springfield, eldest son of her stepmother and William Warriner; chil- dren : Samuel, James, Elizabeth, William, Hannah, Samuel again, Ebenezer and Mary. After Elizabeth's death, James Warriner mar- ried (second) July 10, 1689, Sarah, daughter of Alexander Alvord; children: Sarah, Jona- than, John, John again, Benjamin and David. Sarah (Alvord) Warriner died May 16, 1704, and widower married (third) December 19,
1706, as her third husband, Mary, widow of Benjamin Stebbins. James Warriner himself died May 14, 1727. 6. Martha, baptized March, 1645, married, at Hadley, December 26, 1667, John, son of John Hawkes, and died January 7, 1676 ; children : John, John again, Hannah, married Jonathan Scott, of Waterbury, Con- necticut ; John Hawkes married (second) No- vember 20, 1696, Alice, widow of Samuel Allis, of Hadley, and removed to Deerfield, having by his second wife one child, Elizabeth. 7. Jonathan, treated below. 8. David, born Oc- tober 19, 1651, died September, 1689; mar- ried, November II, 1674, Mary,. daughter of Ensign John Stream, of Milford, who died May 28, 1712; children : Samuel, David and Nathan. 9. Sarah, born November 6, 1653, married as second wife, Samuel Bartlett, of Northampton, Massachusetts. Both died be- fore February 12, 1717; children: Samuel, Sarah and Mindwell.
(II) Jonathan, of Milford, son of Joseph Baldwin, was born according to the New Haven records, February 15, 1649, and was baptized at Milford two days later. He died December 13, 1739. He lived and died at Milford. November 2, 1677, he married (first) Hannah, daughter of Sergeant John Ward, of Branford, who in 1666 became one of the Branford-Newark settlers and one of the most prominent figures in the founding of the latter town. Children: I. Jonathan. born January 31, 1679-80, baptized February I, following ; settled at Waterbury in 1733, died January 5, 1761 ; married, September 28, 1710, Mary Tibbals, of Milford; children: Mary, Martha, Abigail, Rachel, Esther, Jonathan and Eunice. Mary married Timothy Porter. 2. John, born May 22, 1683, died January 20, 1773, aged ninety, and is buried at Connecticut Farms, New Jersey. Sergeant John Ward, their grandfather, had left lands in Newark to Jona- than, Daniel, Joshua, Joseph and John. By agree- ment, the last two took possession of them in 1716; and John's will, 1764, mentions his wife and names children Ezekiel, Enos, Nathan, Phebe Ogden, Mary Wade, of Union, and Jemima, wife of Colonel Samuel Potter. 3. Joseph, treated below. 4. Hannah, born 1687, died in childhood. 5. Daniel, baptized at Mil- ford, March 3, 1688-89, was with his wife Patience, who survived him, of Wallingford. Connecticut, in 1728, and of the parish of Meriden, at the formation of the church there. His will, 1767, mentions wife and children, all baptized at Milford: Daniel, Jehiah, Patience, wife of Daniel Hall, of Wallingford, and Lois,
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wife of John Yeomans, of the same place. 6. Joshua, baptized January 24, 1691, at Milford, settled there ; joined the church with wife Eliz- abeth, September 3, 1727 ; died April 20, 1758, aged sixty-seven, his wife predeceasing him November 20, 1753, in her fifty-second year, according to the record of the family Bible of her son Joshua, of Milford ; children : Han- nah, Joshua, Elizabeth and Sybil. The first wife of Jonathan Baldwin died June, 1693, and Jonathan married (second) Thankful, daugh- ter of Elder John and Abigail (Ford) Strong, of Windsor, Connecticut, born 1663. Elder John was the son of Richard Strong, of Taun- ton, England. Children: 7. Abigail, baptized 1695, married Joseph Tibbals and settled in Durham; children: Joseph, James, Thomas, Abigail, John, Ebenezer, Mary and Sarah. 8. Hannah, born 1696, married, January, 1723, Josiah Fowler (Abraham (III), John (II), William (I) ), removed to Durham, where he died September 7, 1757; children: Josiah, Hannah, Caleb, Elizabeth and Jonathan. 9. Martha, baptized January 8, 1698, died Feb- ruary of the same year. 10. Ebenezer, born 1699, died before 1728. II. Noah, baptized November 30, 1701, joined the church at Mil- ford, May 26, 1728; married, March 27, 1733, Thankful Johnson, of Stratford; one child, Eunice, died unmarried. 12. Phebe, born No- vember 6, 1704, died unmarried in 1728. 13. Ezra, born September, 1706, baptized Decem- ber 3, the same year, became deacon in Dur- ham and died there March 26, 1782, aged over seventy-five years. By his wife Ruth he had five children born in Milford and four born in Durham: Phebe, Ebenezer, Ezra, Noah, Ruth, Amos, Elnathan, Reuben and Ruth.
(III) Joseph (2), son of Jonathan and Hannah (Ward) Baldwin, was born Novem- ber 29, 1685, died September 20, 1777. In August, 1715, when he received with his brother John the deed of the Newark lands of their grandfather, Sergeant John Ward, he conveyed to those of his brothers who remain- ed in Milford his lands there and styles him- self as of Newark, East Jersey. According to tradition, his wife was a Bruen, and they were buried in Newark. Their children were: I. Eleazar, whose will in 1799 gives his property to his brothers and sisters. 2. Amos, born in Newark, see sketch elsewhere. 3. Moses, treated below. 4. Joshua, born 1710, died May 7, 1767; lived in Orange with his wife Pru- dence (Lyon) and children: Zenas, Josiah. Rebecca Roberts, Mary Ball and Jemima. 5. Caleb, born and died in New Jersey, although
his will was made when he was in "Derby, Connecticut, sick." By his wife Jemima he had children: Jonathan, Noah and Eleazer. 6. Phinehas, born in Newark, New Jersey, died there March 6, 1803, in his seventy- seventh year, having by his wife Hannah chil- dren : John, Joshua, Enos, Eleazer and Rachel Jones. 7. Rebecca, married (first) Daniel Matthews and had children : Daniel and Will- iam; she then married (second) John Camp- bell and had children: Caleb, Phinehas, Lucy, Rebecca, Pierson, Esther, wife of Moses Smith. 8. Sarah, married a Wolcot. 9. Hannah, mar- ried a Johnson. In 1712 Joseph (2) Baldwin was overseer of the poor in Newark, and he and Abraham Kitchell were the sheep masters for the same town for 1717.
(IV) Moses, son of Joseph (2) Baldwin, was a master carpenter. He lived in the stirring times of the revolution, but whether he was the Moses Baldwin who was a private in the Essex county troops is uncertain. His home was in Orange, and in 1753 he was one of the heads of the eleven Baldwin families who subscribed for the erection of a new meeting house for the Mountain Society, his subscription being £3. This house of worship, completed and dedicated to its sacred uses in the last days of the year 1754, was a stone structure, of ham- mer-dressed sandstone laid in regular courses. The committee "regularly chosen to manage the affair of the building," were Samuel Harri- son, Samuel Freeman, Joseph Harrison, Ste- phen Dod, David Williams, Samuel Condit, William Crane and Joseph Riggs. Matthew Williams, who was a mason, had the superin- tendence of the mason work. Moses Baldwin had the charge of the carpenter work. A writ- ten contract between the latter and the com- mittee is preserved among the manuscripts of the New Jersey Historical Society. The "agree- ment" provides that he shall perfectly finish the house, excepting the masonry, after the model of the meeting house in Newark, finding all the materials, "such as timbers, boards, sleepers, glass, oils and paint, nails, hinges, locks, latches, bolts, with all other kinds of materials necessary for finishing" the same. The details of this contract, supplemented by the recollections of many who have worshipped within its walls, furnish a good idea of the building and its appointments. Standing as it did lengthwise with the street, its south broad- side was its front, with the broad entrance door in the centre. Opposite to this door was the pulpit, approached by a broad alley with a double row of pews on each side, and narrow
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