USA > New Jersey > Sussex County > Hardyston > Hardyston memorial : a history of the township and the North Presbyterian Church, Hardyston, Sussex County, New Jersey > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
-
125
HARDYSTON IN THE CIVIL WAR.
home at Franklin. Chosen to the State Legislature, he insisted upon being taken from a sick bed to make the journey to Trenton He was present at the organization of the House of Assembly, in the discharge of what he regarded as a duty, and was taken back to his hotel, where he shortly breathed his last, January, 1865. His funeral was attended by the Legislature in a body, and he was buried at North Church Cemetery.
Lieutenant JOUN FOWLER was a brother of the Colonel, and the youngest son of Dr. Samuel Fowler, born at Franklin 1825. He first entered the military service as 2d Lieutenant Co. K., 1st N. J. Cavalry. Ile resigned his commission in the Cav- alry, and upon the organization of the 15th N. J. Vols. was appointed 2d Lieutenant C'o. K., and promoted 1st Lienteu- ant of same company. Ile was in charge of the ambulance train, but anticipating the moving of the army, had some days before requested to be returned to his regment. He came back only to sacrifice his life, and to be killed by a bullet shot just before sundown in the battle of Salem Heights, Va., May 3d, 1883. A comrade wrote : " He was in the thickest of the fight, leading his company, when he was struck by a minnie ball in the left side of the breast, and with a single excla- mation fell to the ground, and lay perfectly motionless. At this moment we were ordered to fall back, and were obliged to leave our wounded and dead in the hands of the enemy." Ilis body was never recovered from the battle field. A handsome cenotaph is erected to his memory in North Church Cemetery.
JOHN P. FOWLER, born Nov. 13th, 1813, nephew of Dr. Samuel Fowler, was Captain of Co. M. 1st N. J. Cavalry, but re- signed his commission and accepted the appointment of Sergeant- Major of the 15th N. J. Vols. A brave and gallant man, his name was the first placed on the list for promotion to a com- mission in the regiment. A railroad bank below Fredricksburg had been captured by a part of the N. J. Brigade, on the after- noon of December 13th, 1862. Fearless of danger he stood upon the track, rendering himself, a tall man, a conspicuous mark for the enemy's sharp-shooters. A bullet struck him in the thigh, severing a large artery. In the confusion of the moment it was
126
HARDYSTON MEMORIAL.
impossible to stay the flow of blood, and he expired in a few min- utes. He was buried at evening; and as we were recrossing the Rappahannock two days later, his cousin, Col. Fowler, arrived, his body was taken up, sent to Washington for embalment, and to Hamburg for burial. On his tomb is inscribed : " He fell gal- lantly fighting for the constitution, the union, and the enforce- ment of the laws."
HENRY M. FOWLER was the second son of Sergeant Major Fowler, born near Hamburg in 1846. He was sixteen years old when he enlisted in C'o. K. 15th N. J. Vols. Upon the death of the father the Governor gave the commission intended for him to his son, who was made 2d Lieutenant Co. G. He was wounded and captured at Spottsylvania, Va., May 12th, 1864. After a painful experience of the hardships and cruelties of Southern prisons, he made his escape from the cars as a large body of prisoners were being transported to another place of confinement. By a romantic series of adventures and deliverances in the moun- tains and swamps, he at last reached the Union lines in Tennessee . Ile returned to the regiment and received his second promotion to be captain of Co. A. After the war he served in the regular army, and lost his life some years later in New Orleans during the prevalence of the yellow fever. He fell a victim to his sense of duty, refusing to leave his post, where he had charge of the large city cemetery. His memory was honored by a meeting largely attended by Confederate and Union officers in the city, who paid all the expenses of his burial and sent his orphan children to the North.
MARTIN C. VAN GELDER Was Orderly Sergeant of Co. K. 15th N. J. Vols. He was born at Hamburg about 1835, and was liv- ing at Deckertown, when he enlisted. He was mortally wounded at sunset in the battle of May Sth, 1863, at Spottsylvania, Va., and fell within the enemies lines, but after dark some of his com- rades reached him and brought him off in a blanket. As they carried him in, he said, "Tell my wife I die happy, Jesus is my Savior." He suffered great agony from a wound in the breast and could not lie down without causing the blood to flow afresh. On the 19th of May he died in the hospital at Fredericks-
127
HARDYSTON IN THE CIVIL WAR.
burg.
Among others of Co. K., who fell in battle, or died from wounds were :
JAMES CASSIDY, Corporal of the Color Guard, born at Ham- burg 1835, wounded at Spottsylvania, May, Sth 1864, and died May 22d. Buried at Fredericksburg, Va.
CILILEON H. BROWN, Corporal, born near Hamburg 1842, killed at Fisher's Hill, Va., September 22d, 1864, and buried on battle field.
FRANKLIN S. BISHOP, 24 years old, killed at Salem Heights, May 3d, 1863, body never recovered.
MONMOUTH BOYD, born near Hamburg, 1843, died June 8th, 1864, from wounds received May 8th, at Spottsylvania, Va., buried at Arlington.
ISAAC BYRAM, killed at Cedar Creek, October 19th, 1864, buried at Winchester.
SEAMAN CONKLIN, 25 years old, killed at Spottsylvania, May Sth, 1864 buried on battle field.
ANDREW J. DOYLE, born at Franklin, 1844. IIe had been twice badly wounded, and preferred to return to his regiment rather than be transferred to the Invalid Corps. He came back from the hospital a short time before the battle of Cedar Creek. Va., in which he was killed by a shell, which struck off his head, October 19th, 1864. He was buried by his comrades near the spot where he fell.
LEWIS L. KENT, Corporal, was a shoemaker at Hamburg, born 1823. When the Sixth Corps withdrew from the south bank of the Rappahannock, on the night of June 13th, 1863, the passage across the river was effected so quietly that numbers of our soldiers were not aware of it until the bridge was taken up. In a shelter tent under the bank were sleeping privates Albert Fowler, Hiram C. Sands, and Kent. In the morning they found themselves prisoners and were marched off to Richmond. They were shortly after exchanged, and Kent came home on a furlough. In the charge at Spottsylvania May 12th, 1864, he was instantly killed by a bullet wound in the breast, and buried on the field three days after the battle, near the Salient (Bloody Angle).
.
128
HARDYSTON MEMORIAL.
ANDREW LAMBERT, 23 years old, killed at Salem Heights, Va., May 3d, 1863. Body not recovered.
BOWDEWINE MEDDAUGH, nineteen years old, died at Alexan- dria, Va., June 7th, from wounds received May 12th, 1864. at Spottsylvania, buried in National Cemetery.
SIDNEY N. MONKS, born at Snufftown in 1840, killed in the Wilderness, Va., May 6th, 1864, and buried on the battle field.
DANIEL O'LEARY died May 11th, from wounds received at Salem Heights May 3d, 1863, buried at Washington, D. C.
ELI D. VAN GORDEN, of Wantage, born 1842, killed at Salem Church, Va., May 3d, 1863, body not recovered.
BARNEY VAN ORDEN, of Hamburg, aged 44. killed at Salem Church, Va., May 3d, 1863, body not recovered.
CHARLES A. ZEEK, aged 25. killed at Salem Church May 3d, 1863, body not recovered.
OBADIAN P. LANTZ, Co I., 15 N. J. Vols., aged 21, and JOSEPH W. STONABACK, Co. D., 15 N. J. Vols., aged 21, died from typhoid fever, in the army, in 1863. Their remains were brought home and buried in North Church Cemetery.
List of soldiers buried in Hardyston :
AT NORTH CHURCH CEMETERY.
1. Samuel Fowler, Colonel 15 Regiment N. J. Vols.
2. Thomas R. Haines, Captain Co. M., 1st Regt. N. J. C'av.
3. C'enotaph to John Fowler, Lieutenant Co. K., 15th N. J. Vols.
4. Henry O. Fowler, Co. 11., 37th N. J. Vols,
5. George W. Doland, Co. M., 1st N. J. Cav.
6. Charles Price, Co. M., 1st N. J. Cav.
Nathaniel D. Martin, Corporal Co. K., Ist N. J. Cav.
S. Thomas J. Lewis, Sergeant Co. K., 1st N. J. Cav.
9. Obadiah P. Lantz, Co. 1., 15th N. J. Vols.
10. Joseph W. Stonaback, Co. D., 15th N. J. Vols.
11. William Lozaw, Co. K., 15th N. J. Vols.
12. Daniel Everman, Co. K., 15th N. J. Vols.
13. John E. Congleton, Sergeant Co. D., 27th N. J. Vols.
129
HARDYSTON INE TH CIVIL WAR.
14. John Cassady, Co. II., 27th N. J. Vols.
15. Nelson Mabee, Co. D., 27th N. J. Vols.
16. Searing Wade, Co. D., 27th N. J. Vols.
17. Joel Campbell, -Penn. Vols.
18. James McDaniels, 16th N. Y. Independent Battery.
19. Matthew Babcock, Co. B., 124 N. Y. Vols.
20. Martin Wright.
AT HAMBURG.
21. John P. Fowler, Sergeant Major 15th N. J. Vols.
22. Daniel W. Tinkey, N. Y. Engineers.
CHAPTER IX.
EARLY CHURCHES.
In 1738 the population of New Jersey was less than fifty thousand, and that of Sussex County between five and six hun- dred. " At that time there was not a school house or a meeting house within the limits of territory comprising the present coun- ties of Sussex and Warren." [Edsall.]
The Hollanders, in the Minisink region, selected from their own people a youth of talent, sixteen years of age, John Casper Fryemoet, whom they sent for education to Holland. They paid his expenses for four years, and upon his return in 1741, erected four buildings for his use. These were the Mahackemack Church, now Port Jervis, the Minisink in Montague, the Wal- pack, and the Smithfield in Pennsylvania.
The first Greenwich Presbyterian Church was built of logs previous to 1744, in which James Campbell preached, and also David Brainerd, when in the vicinity.
Peter John Bernhard and Casper Schaeffer, his son-in-law, were Germans, who came in 1742 from Philadelphia to Stillwa- ter. With other Germans they formed a congregation and appropriated a plot of ground for burial purposes, and for a church site. Mr. Bernhard died in 1748, and his was the first interment in the new cemetery. A church building was erected In 1771. The congregation was German Reformed in its con- nection, and was subsequently merged into the Presbyterian Church of Newton.
131
EARLY CHURCHES.
Edsall says: " in 1769 Newton contained an Episcopal congregation ; about the same time a German congregation was gathered, and a Presbyterian congregation was soon brought together." The congregations at Newton had no church buildings for a long time afterwards, and their membership was small. After the Court House was erected the Presbyterians held servi- ces in it until their church was built in 1787; and there also the Rev. Uzal Ogden, the Episcopal minister, preached from 1771 until his removal in 1779.
The church at Beemer Meeting House was organized by set- tlers from Connecticut. Its government at first was Presbyterian in form, but afterwards it united with the Connecticut Association and became congregational. Its earliest pastor was A. Augustine, of whom little is known. The second was Jabez Colver, who was accused of Toryism during the Revolutionary war, and after the conflict removed to Canada, having served this church for thirty years. There the government gave him a large tract of land. He held extensive landed property in Sussex County, and Culver's Gap, and Culver's Pond were probably named for him. His suc- cessor was Rev. Mr. Seely, a godly man, who visited in Hardys- ton, and occasionally preached and administered the sacraments in the Cary Meeting House. Mr. Kanouse, in 1844, says of him : " He was a good man, and much beloved by his people, and is still remembered by the aged with delight. Under his ministry the church was built up by hopeful conversions to God." Seven other pastors succeeded Mr. Seely, the last of whom was Rev. Bar- ret Matthias, a cultivated and graceful speaker, and a vigorous and interesting writer upon religious subjects. On the 13th of July, 1844, the church resolved by unanimous vote to unite with the Second Presbyterian Church of Wantage. It was constituted a separate organization by Newton Presbytery in 1882, and is now called the Papakating Presbyterian Church.
The earliest settlers at Hamburg were Presbyterians and Reformed Dutch, who had occasionally religious meetings in their houses as early as 1750. Says Mr. William Rankin : "In 1770 three families came here from Rhode Island, named Marsh, Hart and Southworth, who were Baptists." The Baptists of the towns of
132
HARDYSTON MEMORIAL.
Wantage, Hardyston and Newtou, " banded together in church relation," with William Marsh as their preacher. An old bond, executed by William Marsh, of Hardys Town, October 20th, 1762, to Robert Ogden 2d, shows that he was living here at that date, and also that Judge Ogden had at that early time business trans- actions with the inhabitants along the Wallkill. Marsh lost his life in the massacre of Wyoming, in 1778.
In 1777 the Baptists chose Constant Hart as pastor, and organ- ized a religious society, taking the name of the "Baptist Church of Wautage, Hardystown and Newtown." They built a house of worship on Lawrence's Hill, to the west of Hamburg. Its loca- tion was not satisfactory to the Baptist families, who were mostly in Wantage ; and in 1782, five years after its erection, it was taken down and rebuilt in Wantage, and became " The First Baptist Church of Wantage," more commonly known as the Pa- pakating Meeting House.
The Dutch ministers from the Minisink region visited the settlers of the Clove, and at a meeting of the inhabitants, Angust 21st, 1787, a petition was drawn up and signed by fifty-five names, asking for organization as a Low Dutch Church from the Classis of New Brunswick. At September classis, 1787, " was granted and ordered the formation of a congregation in the Clove and vicinity." " Agreeable to said order," elders and deacons were ordained, and the church was constituted April 16th, 1788, by Rev. Elias V. Bunschooten, its only pastor while it continued a Dutch Church. Helmos Titsworth's barn served as a meeting honse for a time, until a log church was built a little south of the present edifice. By vote of the members, November 24th, 1817, it became Presbyterian.
The following record is found in the Clerk's office at Newton : " At a meeting of the Presbyterian congregation in Hardys- ton, in the county of Sussex, holden at the dwelling house of Rob. Ogden, Esq., the present and most usual place of meeting of said congregation, on Thursday, 23d Novebmer, A. D., 1786, in order to form a body corporate and choose trustees, agreeable to the act of the Legislature of this State, passed the 10th March, 1786, due notice having been given by advertisements agreeable to the directions of said act .. A sermon was preached by the Rev.
133
EARLY CHURCHES.
JJas. Wilson previous to the election.
The meeting then proceeded to business and chose Rob. Ogden, Esq., Moderator; Rob. Ogden, Jr., Clerk. The Modera- tor and Clerk being chosen, the meeting proceeded to the choice of trustees, when the following gentlemen were elected : Rob. Ogden, Esq., Christopher Hoagland, Esq., Charles Beardslee, Esq., Christopher Longstreet, Japhet Byram, Rob. Ogden, Jr., Esq., Thomas VanKirk, Esq.
" I certify the above proceedings to be regular and true. ROB. OGDEN, Moderator."
At the same meeting, the trustees chosen, took the oaths re- quired by the act of the Legislature, and assumed the name and title of the " First Presbyterian Church in Hardyston."
" It would not be amiss to date the church back to the time when services were held in the house of Robert Ogden. This was perhaps as early as 1780. The church was built on land (to the extent of 54 acres,) given for that purpose by the proprietaries of New Jersey. For some years it was a mere shell of frame, roofed and weatherboarded, with roughly hewn seats for the wor- shippers. The old frame remains to-day, apparently as strong as when first put together. The original members of the church are supposed to have numbered ten, and to have been named as fol- lows : Christian Clay, Mary Clay, his wife; Jonathan Sutton, Robert Ogden, Jonathan Sharp, Jane Mills, wife of Robert Mills ; Mary Johnson, wife of Andrew Johnson ; Gabriel Paine, John Linn, and Martha, [his mother.] AApril 8th, 1810, there were 40 on the roll. May 14th, 1819, there were 99 active members of the church, and 49 of them were dismissed to form the church of North Hardystou, and 13 to form that of Hamburg, leaving 37 to continue the First Church of Hardyston."
[Chambers Sparta Memorial.]
The congregation of the First Church of Hardyston began the erection of a house of worship at the head of the Wallkill, now Sparta village, in the spring of 1786. This organization was designed to include all the Presbyterians of the town, but the inhabitants of North Hardyston, who worshipped at Cary's meet- ing House, petitioned for land to be given them also, within a reasonable distance. The petition was favorably considered, and a second donation of land was secured through the courtesy of Judge Lewis Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a parsonage lot of 54 acres was set off for congregational pur-
.
134
HARDYSTON MEMORIAL.
poses to the people of North Hardyston. The land given is a part of the farm of Asa Munson, and known in his deeds as " the Parsonage Lot." The minutes of record at Perth Amboy, are in Book S, S, page 142, 30th May, 1787.
Grants of land had been made by the East Jersey Proprietors for church purposes to the leading denomination of cach town. In Newton the Episcopalians were stronger and received the gift of a farm ; in Hardyston the Presbyterians were the most num- erous, and obtained the double gift here spoken of.
The date of the erection of the first CARY MEETING HOUSE cannot be given with certainty. 1782, the year the Baptists re- moved their church from Hamburg, is accepted by some, and a commemorative meeting was held at the North Church in 1882. Others think it was standing during the Revolutionary War. Deacon Garret Kemble said, " It stood there long before." The testimony of the few living who worshipped there in early life makes it a very old building. Burials were made on the spot as early as 1774. Mrs. Sally Hamilton described it as having a very substantial frame, and said it was used many years before its com- pletion. The ceiling was never plastered, and the swallows made their nests on the beams.
A subscription paper, dated June 19th, 1813, speaks " of the decayed situation of the old meeting house near the Wd. Beard- slee's." A building must have stood many years, before such a description would be suitable.
The Cary Meeting House continued its connection with the First Church in Hardyston, at the head of the Wallkill, until May 15th, 1819, when it was organized as a distinct church with sixty-one members. Fifty of these came by letter and eleven were received on profession. On July 18th, nineteen more were received by letter, and eight on profession, making the total mem- bership eighty-eight. The corporate name adopted was "The North Presbyterian Church of Hardyston."
The " Presbyterian Church of Hamburg" was constituted a separate church May 14th, 1819, the day previous to the organi- zation of the North Church of Hardyston and by the same com- mittee of Presbytery. The records have long disappeared.
135
EARLY CHURCHES.
Very little is now remembered of the early 'ministry of the First Church in Hardyston. The names of Rev. Mr. Jackson, and of Rev. Mr. Seeley, from the Frankford and Wantage, or Beemer Meeting House, Church, appear as doing ministerial ser- vice among our people.
Rev. HOLLOWAY WHITEFIELD HUNT was the earliest pastor of whom mueli can be said. There is no record of stated preaching in our churches until 1795, when Mr. Hunt took charge of the 1st Hardyston, Cary's Meeting House, and Newton Churches, serving them until 1802. He received from Robert Ogden the use of a farm, and finally the possession of it, conditioned upon his re- .maining as minister to these churches for seven years. He re- ceived his deed, gave liis receipt in full, and shortly moved away. He was of an English family who came to America in 1652. His parents were Augustine Hunt and Lydia Holloway, and he was born in Orange Co., N. Y., 9th April, 1769. His father, who removed to Wyoming, Pa., but after the massacre, in 1778, fled with his family and returned to Orange Co., advised his son to seek some life work for himself, saying, " All I have to give you is a dollar and the blessing of God." After his conversion, Hollo- way began to preach as a Methodist minister, but found his edu- cation inadequate, and as soon as he had secured means,-by chopping wood and cleaning land-he prepared for college, grad- uated at Nassan Hall in 1794, and came here the following year. Ile was licensed by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, in Decem- ber, 1794, ordained and installed over the churches of Newton and Hardyston, June 17th, 1795, and died January 11th, 1858, in his 89th year.
During his ministry the Presbyterians of Hamburg used a large school-house, with a chimney at each end, which occupied very nearly the site of the present Presbyterian Church. In this school-house Mr. Hunt frequently held evening services. On one. occasion he preached a sermon, ever remembered by Mrs. Sally Hamilton, upon the words, "Faith, Hope and Charity." When Joseph Sharp was living here, he took down the large school- house, and built a smaller one, near where the iron bridge of the Lehigh & Hudson River Railroad stands. Mr. Hunt's brother
ยท
A
136
HARDYSTON MEMORIAL.
whom he assisted in educating, and several of his sons and grandsons, became ministers.
From 1802 the church had for three years supplies furnished by the New York Presbytery. In the winter of 1895 BARNABAS KING, a frail and youthful looking man, a graduate of Dartmouth College, who had studied for the ministry, was teaching in the State of New York, and preparing to go further west to some of the newly formed settlements. A friend, Mr. Beach, of Morris County, had written to him that there was an open door in north- ern New Jersey. He purchased a horse, crossed the Hudson River at Newburg, and entered New Jersey near Vernon. On Christmas eve he stopped for the night at a tavern where there was a country ball, but obtained very little rest. This was prob- ably the old tavern house in Hamburg whose site is now occupied by the new house of Henry W. Edsall. The next day the tray- eller reached the hospitable mansion of Robert Ogden, who gave him a cordial welcome.
Rev. Albert Barnes wrote that he knew of no minister whose walk and labor and success had been so admirable as those of Barn- abas King, of Rockaway. One of our members recollects his com- ing to the house of her father, Judge John Linn, at Harmony Vale, to baptize one of his children. Robert Ogden gave Mr. King a letter of introduction to his son-in-law, Colonel Joseph Jackson, of Rockaway. The churches of Rockaway and Berk- shire Valley were vacant, and Mr. King took charge of them in connection with Sparta and the Cary Meeting House, and this arrangement continged for three years, when he received a call to preach one-half of his time at Rockaway, with the salary of $125, and afterwards of $208. A great revival began at Rockaway, and at one communion nearly eighty were received into the church.
" He began at once," says Dr. Joseph F. Tuttle, "in the most systematic manner to minister to his people. He not only preached in every neighborhood, but visited every house for re- ligious instruction and prayer. His labors became excessive at times, and for weeks together amounting to ten public services a weak, besides his regular visits in the parish and visits to the
137
EARLY CHURCHES.
sick." He died in April, 1862, in his eighty-second year, and after a pastorate of fifty-five years.
In 1810 OLIVER GREEN, a licentiate, became stated supply. Before his ordination he died at the house of Robert Ogden, August 24th, 1810, and was buried in the rear of the Sparta Church, where Mr. Ogden placed a tombstone to his memory. He was the son of Oliver Green, of Ashburnham, England, grad- uated at Dartmouth College in 1807, and was licensed to preach by South Worcester Association.
In 1811 JOSEPH LINN SHAFER, D. D., began his ministry, giving by agreement one Sabbath out of four to the congregation at Cary's Meeting House, and preaching also at Sparta and New- ton. Ile received $132 from the North Church as their propor- tion of the salary. In 1815 he ceased to preach in Hardyston and took the exclusive charge at Newton, remaining there as pas- tor until his death, with the exception of two years spent at Mid- dletown Point.
Casper Schaffer came from the Palatinate, Germany, and set- tled in 1742 on the bank of the Tehoe-netcong creek, now the Paulins Kill, near the site of the present village of Stillwater. He married Maria Catrina, daughter of John Peter Bernhard, who also settled in Stillwater. Casper had eight children, of whom Isaac was the sixth. Isaac Schaffer married for his second wife, Martha Linn, daughter of Joseph Linn and Martha Kirkpatrick. Joseph L., their oldest child, was born at Stillwater May 9, 1787, united with the Yellow Frame Church in his fourteenth year, and died at Newton November 12th, 1853. His wife was Diana Forman, of Freehold.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.