Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century, Part 6

Author: Sherman, Andrew Magoun, 1844-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Morristown, N.J. : Howard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 576


USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century > Part 6


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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 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31


"Ye 22 of August 1715 Inspected and approved of by ye Council of Props. and ordered to be Entered upon Record. JOHN WILLS, Clerk." "Tests,


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In the same year (1715), 1,250 acres of land embrac- ing what is now Morristown, and Morris Township, were surveyed, and deeded by the same Council of Proprietors to Joseph Helby and Thomas Stevenson. Helby's land lay to the east and north, and Stevenson's to the south and west of the present Morristown Green. Neither Kay, Helby nor Stevenson, however, settled in West Hanover, as Morristown was then called, and the large tracts of land owned by these early speculators were soon sold in farms and building lots, to those who had established themselves in the village and vicinity which, all unknown to them at the time, was destined to become famous in the annals of America.


From the fact of the transfer by the Council of Pro- prietors to Helby, Kay and Stevenson, in the year 1715, of the land embracing that on which the immi- grants from Whippanong first settled at the foot of "Town Hill," it is a safe inference that these immi- grants had either purchased their homesites and mill- sites and garden-plots from the friendly Indians (which seems improbable), or that they were "squat- ters," as were the first white explorers of Whippanong during their temporary sojourn in the region near the close of the seventeenth century. It is an equally safe inference that the industry of the founders of Morris- town-the industry which "sweetenth our enjoyment, and seasoneth our attainments with a delightful relish" -was soon rewarded with the means with which the more frugal of them were able to purchase such lands as were deemed necessary. Thus the 4,500 acres and


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more of land owned by three men in the year 1715 were, a few years subsequently, in the possession of numerous residents who were "here to stay," and in whose honored descendants they are still with us as interesting links with the eventful past.


It should be said at this point that the handful of immigrants from Whippanong who had settled West Hanover, was supplemented by frequent arrivals of English direct from Newark, Elizabethtown and New England, which is apparent from the fact of the newly added names which soon afterward appeared on the rolls of the village church.


Concerning the first frame house built in West Han- over, the following note, taken from a manuscript of the late Rev. Dr. Joseph F. Tuttle, is of more than ordinary interest : "Rev. Baker Johnson some years ago conversed with a Mr. Shipman (father of Lawyer Shipman, of Belvidere), whose father aided in build- ing the first house in Morristown, somewhere on the stream. It was in 1727, as Mr. Johnson thinks, Mr. Shipman stated." >


The character of the early white settlers of Whip- panong, and hence of West Hanover, may be inferred from the fact that almost simultaneously with their entrance into the region contiguous to what is now Morristown, they inaugurated religious services. At first they gathered for divine worship in their humble homes, and it may be in the rude barns of the period, the services then being conducted for the most part by some of their own number selected for their superior


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gifts and graces. It is highly probable that the vil- lage schoolmaster, whose coming into the new settle- ment was not long delayed after the first log hut was raised, and who was easily, before the arrival of the minister, the most highly respected of the settlers, was among the number selected to lead the worship of men and women who, even at that early period, cultivated "the presence of God." To the Whippanong school- master we shall have occasion to refer by name at a subsequent stage of this history. It may be that, as was the case in other early settlements in the province of New Jersey, the Whippanong people assembled, when the state of the weather permitted, in the open air for divine worship, with only the blue canopy of the skies for a roof. Occasionally, as seemingly reliable tra- dition informs us, a minister from the older settlement at Newark was present to conduct the services for the Whippanong worshipers. It is not improbable that Rev. John Prudden, pastor of the Newark church from the year 1692 to the year 1699, and who may have been a resident of Newark after his dismissal from this pastorate officiated now and then for the congregation gathered in Whippanong before a pastor was called by them. Such, indeed, is the opinion of those who have digged deeply into Morris County history. Of Rev. Mr. Prudden's Newark pastorate, which con- tinued out seven years, it is recorded that it was "not a smooth one," and if he occasionally officiated for the Whippanong worshipers his visits to that quiet hamlet were doubtless an agreeable relief from the memory of his troublesome pastorate in Newark.


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The religious services inaugurated by the pioneers of Whippanong, led to the organization, probably in the latter part of the year 1717 or in the early part of the year following, or even earlier, it may have been, of a church at Whippanong, the first of any kind to be organized in what is now Morris County. It was, in a sense, the mother of the numerous churches of the dif- ferent sects whose edifices, many of them costly and imposing, now lift their spires heavenward from the hills and valleys of this region. It is said, however, that soon after the settlement of Whippanong an unsuccess- ful attempt was made to establish an Episcopal chuch. As early, indeed, so it is said, as the year 1710, an Episcopal missionary from Newark held occasional ser- vices in or near Whippanong; "but they were soon discontinued."


In the early autumn or winter of the year 1718, a house of worship was erected in Whippanong, on land given by the village schoolmaster, John Richards, which land is now the burial ground for the village of Whippany. It is situated on the right hand of the road leading through the village from Morristown, as one goes toward Hanover. The original deed conveying the land on which the mother church edifice was erected is still (1905) in existence, and in excellent condition. The substance of this quaint document is as follows :


"I, John Richards, of Whipponong, in the county of Hun- terdon, schoolmaster, for and in consideration of the love and affection that I have for my Christian friends and neigh- bors in Whipponong, and for a desire to promote and ad-


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vance the public interest, and especially for the public wor- ship of God, give three and one-half acres of land, situate and being in the township of Whipponong, on that part called Parcipponong, on the northwestern side of Whippo- nong River; only for public use, improvement and benefit, for a meeting-house, schoolhouse, burying yard and training field, and such like, and no other."


This deed was dated September 2, 1718, and the wit- nesses thereto were Jedidiah Buckingham and John Cooper.


Dying in the month of December, in the year 1718, at the age of sixty-three years, the remains of Mr. Richards were the first to be deposited in the tract of land so generously given by him for a "burying yard," while living. His headstone, composed of red sand- stone, is still to be seen in the older portion of the Whippany burial-ground, and the sight of this ancient landmark kept free from moss by some friendly hand, so that the inscription is always discernible, arouses one's slumbering reverence for the past.


The history of the Richards deed deserves at least a passing notice. The document, as might be supposed, originally belonged to the mother church at Whippa- nong; but while other records and papers belonging to the parish were removed to Hanover, when, in the year 1755, the new house of worship was erected there, this deed, for some reason now unknown to the writer, was retained at Whippanong. Among the papers of Calvin Howell Esq., of Whippany, found after his decease, was the Richards deed. It was discovered in


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a sort of secret drawer in an old desk. For many years it was in the possession of William H. Howell Esq., a son of Calvin Howell, the former of whom was sheriff of Morris County about twenty years ago. Upon the decease of William H. Howell, the deed came into the possession of his family. The writer had the privilege a few years ago of carefully examining this rare docu- ment. It has since been presented to the Washing- ton Headquarters, in Morristown, New Jersey, where it may now be seen by the visitor.


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CHAPTER III 1271420


"Dissensions, like the small streams are first begun, Scarce seen they rise, but gather as they run; So lines that from their parallel decline, More they proceed the more they still disjoin."


HE house of worship erected in Whip- panong in the year 1718, traces of T the foundation of which were dis- cernible as late as the nineteenth century (as the writer has been in- formed by an aged resident, now deceased), was a small square struc- ture, covered on all four sides and on the roof with shingles, and was without cupola or spire. By at least one local historian this primitive church is said to have had galleries which were reached by an outside flight of stairs. The building stood to the left of, and some- what back from, the present front entrance to the Whippany burial ground. To this church, at first of the Congregational order, apparently, and later of the Presbyterian, the people of what are now Morristown, Madison, Chatham, Parsippany and other surrounding


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hamlets, went each Sunday, through the almost un- broken wilderness, for nearly a score of years for divine worship.


Of the Whippanong church the first pastor was the Rev. Nathaniel Hubbell, a native of New England, and a graduate of Yale College. He may have been set- tled as pastor of the church in the month of December, 1718, almost immediately following the decease of "John Richards, schoolmaster." After a pastorate, as near as can now be ascertained, of about twleve years, Mr. Hubbell was succeeded about the year 1730, by the Rev. John Nutman, also a graduate, in 1727, of Yale College. He was the son of James Nutman Esq., of Edinburgh, Scotland, by his second wife, Sarah, daughter of the Rev. John Prudden, of Newark, and hence was a grandson of the last named gentleman.


He may, therefore, have been introduced to the peo- ple of Whippanong by his grandfather, who had prob- ably, as we have seen, officiated occasionally in the church. Mr. Nutman is said to have been a man of excellent scholarship for his day. Soon after the installation of Mr. Nutman as pastor of the church at Whippanong-it may have been during the year 1731 or the year 1732-there began a discussion among the congregation over the matter of the erection of a new house of worship. The structure in which they wor- shiped was, if tradition may be regarded as trustworthy, considered by a portion at least of the worshipers as "old and dilapidated." This is a claim, however, which seems to have had little or no basis in reason, when it is


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remembered that the structure had at the time been used only about fourteen years, and was occupied as a house of worship for about twenty-three years sub- sequently. It is a claim that appears to have been, as all the circumstances of the case are recalled and im- partially considered, a mere pretext on the part of cer- tain elements in the congregation for the removal of the church organization to a part of the extensive parish which would more completely gratify their desires in the matter. There is little doubt that the church edi- fice in Whippanong was getting too small to accommo- date the growing congregation; but the natural remedy for that was the enlargement of the primitive build- ing. The failure of the project to abandon the old house of worship at Whippanong resulted in a deter- mination on the part of that portion of the congregation residing at West Hanover, to withdraw from the mother church and organize a separate church at that point. The reasons urged by the people of West Han- over in favor of a separate church organization were, the inconvenience of attending divine services at Whippanong, owing to the long distance and imper- fect facilities for travel, and the material increase of population at West Hanover, which rendered the sup- port of a pastor practicable. To the proposal to or- ganize a separate church at West Hanover the majority of the Whippanong congregation was stoutly opposed.


The West Hanover people were determined, how- ever, upon a separation, and as a means of adjusting the growing difficulty it was at length resolved by the


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several parties in the congregation at Whippanong, to submit the decision of the matter to the casting of lots, each party agreeing to abide by the result.


After much prayer the lots, with great solemnity, were cast. The result of the lot-casting was, that the mother church was to remain undivided; and if a new house of worship was erected, it should be upon the old site, in the burial lot given by "John Richards, schoolmaster." Contrary to agreement, however, the West Hanover people refused to accept this result, and the greater portion at least of the dissatisfied ones ceased attending the services at Whippanong.


Two versions of this episode have been given. One is, that the portion of the congregation living at West Hanover did not agree to abide by the result of the lot, and that they objected at the beginning to the employment of that means for the adjustment of the difficulty confronting the parish. The other is that there was a general agreement to abide by the result of the vote. The reader is left to decide for himself, from facts to be presented later, which is the correct ver- sion.


It is probable that religious services were soon after- ward inaugurated at West Hanover, in private houses. Some of the West Hanover people who had worshiped at Whippanong may have begun almost immediately to attend the services at Basking Ridge, which seem to have been inaugurated about the year 1720, two or three years later than the organization of the church at Whippanong.


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The alienation of the West Hanover people from the mother church, as might have been anticipated, seriously crippled the latter organization, render- ing it difficult for those who remained to suitably provide for the support of their clergyman, Mr. Nut- man. At the annual meeting of the synod of Philadel- phia, within whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction the Whip- panong church then belonged, held in the year 1733, Mr. Nutman sought relief from pecuniary embarrass- ment, which seemed to threaten the speedy dissolution of his pastoral relation with the mother church, over which he had but recently been installed. He pleaded for the exercise of the influence of the synod for a reunion of his divided parish. At this session of the synod, that body expressed in strong terms its disap- proval of resorting to the casting of the lot for the settlement of church difficulties, which were susceptible of adjustment by appeal to the constituted judicatories of the ecclesiastical body with which they were iden- tified.


The synod evidently did not approve of the organi- zation of another church at West Hanover, for the people of that part of the parish were advised to join themselves, temporarily at least, with the congrega- tions at Basking Ridge and Whippanong. This ar- rangement was to continue, however, only until the churches at East Hanover (Whippanong) and Basking Ridge should reach a condition of self-support, and until the growth of population at West Hanover should justify the establishment of a self-sustaining church,


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in that section of the parish. If it should, after proper effort, be ascertained that a reunion of the people of West Hanover with the mother church was impracticable, then the people of the former place were to be left at liberty to organize a new church. The fact that Mr. Nutman, at the same meeting of the synod as that above mentioned, and after the expressions of opinion by that body already referred to, requested dis- mission from his presbytery and the termination of his pastoral relation with the church at Whippanong, seems to indicate that his understanding of the temper of the West Hanover people led him to the conclusion that a reunion of the two sections of the parish was not to be expected. The presbytery of East Jersey, of which Mr. Nutman was a member, was recommended by the synod to exert its good offices on behalf of a reconcili- ation between the two portions of the dismembered parish, with the proviso that if such reconciliation could not be effeced then the presbytery was to be at liberty to dismiss the clergyman, upon his application.


At the meeting of the Synod of Philadelphia, in the year 1734, the Whippanong and West Hanover church difficulty was again before that body. The use of the lot in the settlement of church difficulties was formally condemned by the synod. The opinion was also ex- pressed by this ecclasiastical body that "we are afraid that much sin has been committed by many, if not all, the people in the profane disregard of said lot, and therefore excite them to reflect upon their past practises in reference thereto in order to their repentance."


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This deliverance of the synod only widened the breach between the two sections of the Hanover parish, and to thoughtful observers a reconciliation seemed among the impossibilities. The synod met again in the year 1735, and at this session the West Hanover peo- ole made application for the ordination to the Chris- tian ministry of John Cleverly, a graduate of Harvard College, who had recently come among them. This application, it will be noticed, was in evident disregard of the recommendation of the synod at its meeting of the year before. The matter of the ordination of Mr. Clev- erly was referred to the Presbytery of Philadelphia. Meanwhile Mr. Cleverly remained in West Hanover and probably conducted the religious services held there.


In the month of May, 1736, the Presbytery of Phila- delphia met, and at this session the people of West Hanover, by their representatives, urged upon that body the ordination of Mr. Cleverly. They were in-, structed to appoint a day, giving due notice to the presbytery, that they might attend to the matter in proper form. For reasons which do not appear upon the record no day was appointed for the ordination of Mr. Cleverly.


The meeting of the Presbytery of Philadelphia in the year 1737 was held at West Hanover, and when the matter of the ordination of Mr. Cleverly came before that body there was found to be opposition to its con- summation. This opposition appears to have originated among the people of Whippanong, or East Hanover,


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as it was also called. They were apparently determined to embarrass the establishment of another church at West Hanover, and this they could effectually do, tem- porarily at least, by preventing the ordination and set- tlement of Mr. Cleverly as pastor of the congregation at West Hanover. It was not, as it appears, that the people of East Hanover were opposed to Mr. Cleverly personally. They were simply opposed to the settle- ment of any individual as pastor of what they consid- ered a faction which had wrought havoc in the mother church. In view of the determined opposition to his ordination, the presbytery deemed it inexpedient to proceed further in the matter ; the congregation was excused for its failure to appoint a day for his ordina- tion, and Mr. Cleverly was advised to seek another field of labor. He chose, however, to remain in West Hanover, and he probably continued to conduct the services there, for the most part at least, until the year 1742, when a pastor was called and duly installed. It is said that during his residence in West Hanover, Mr. Cleverly preached, occasionally at least, in the Pres- byterian church at Turkey, now New Providence. In- deed, the writer has seen the statement that before com- ing to West Hanover, he supplied the Presbyterian pul- pit at Turkey. Mr. Cleverly remained unmarried all his life. He died in 1776, aged eighty-one years, and was buried on the last day of December in the yard in the rear of the First Church, where his headstone may be seen.


The synod had with commendable prudence and


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tact dealt with the difficulty which had so long existed between the people of East and West Hanover. The difficulty, however, still remained. Being desirous of bringing about a reconciliation between the estranged sections of the parish, a large committee was appointed at the meeting of the synod, held in the year 1738, and to it the entire matter was submitted for final consider- ation. On July 26 of that year this committee met at Hanover, almost certainly in the "old and dilapidated" house of worship in the burial ground at Whippanong. The Rev. Gilbert Tennent, of New Brunswick, one of the brothers famous in ecclesiastical annals for their religious trance experiences, was selected to preach the sermon, which he consented to do. He took for his text words found in the eleventh chapter of Ezekiel, nine- teenth verse: "I will give them one heart." From these words, in the selection of which the preacher was unquestionably guided by other than human wis- dom, Mr. Tennent, whose reputation as a profoundly religious man had doubtless preceded him to Whip- panong, delivered a sermon. The moral effect of it upon the hearts of his hearers may be inferred from the subsequent conduct of the parties involved in the long-standing difficulty existing between them, and from the prompt and happy settlement of the trouble to the entire satisfaction of all concerned. We notice first the consequent pliable disposition of the people of East Hanover, who expressed a desire for a reunion, if it could be had on reasonable terms. The West Hanover people were, however, indisposed toward a reunion, be-


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cause, as they declared to the committee, their numbers had increased since the separation from the mother church, about the year 1732, and they as a result were better able to support a pastor. Recognizing the force of these allegations of the West Hanover people, and having drawn, by questionings, from the East Hanover people, the admission that they, too, were in better con- dition to support Mr. Nutman than formerly, the com- mittee, on behalf of the synod, concluded that no further efforts for a reunion be made, but that there be two separate churches. To this all parties agreed, and harmony once more prevailed. Doubtless an appeal, at the outset, to the better nature of the parties con- cerned would have resulted in a more speedy settle- ment of the difficulty between them, and saved the cause of religion from the reproach which fell upon it.


In the autumn of the year 1738, or early in the year 1739, a Presbyterian church was formerly organized in West Hanover, or Morristown, as about that time it came to be known. During the year 1739 the county was laid out and given the name of Morris, in honor of Governor Lewis Morris. It then included what are now the counties of Warren and Sussex; and what for more than a quarter of a century had been called West Hanover came to be known as Morris Town. The first official reference to West Hanover as Morris Town, however, is to be found in the book of records in the county clerk's office, under date of March 25, 1740, when the county was divided into townships by the court.


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It is a fact greatly to be regretted that from the organization of the First Presbyterian Church of Mor- ristown, to the summer of the year 1742, when a pastor was called, there were no records kept, or if kept, are unavailable. As already remarked, John Cleverly, who was still in Morristown, continued to supply the pulpit of the newly organized church occasionally, and prob- ably continuously, until the coming of one whose name is still revered-Rev. Dr. Timothy Johnes, who, in the two or three succeeding chapters, becomes one of the central figures of Morristown's rare history.


The Presbyterian church of West Hanover, or Mor- ristown, as it had already come to be popularly called, was, as previously stated, organized in the autumn of the year 1738, or near the opening of the year 1739. The present writer is of the opinion, however, that the organization of this church was effected almost imme- diately after the meeting of the large committee of the Synod of Philadelphia, held in the primitive house of worship at East Hanover (Whippanong) July 26, 1738, at which time and place the long-standing diffi- culty between the two sections of the extensive Han- over parish was finally and satisfactorily adjusted; and that by the close at least of the month of September of the year last mentioned the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, New Jersey, had commenced its famous career as a regularly organized ecclesiastical body.




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