USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century > Part 7
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As near as can now be ascertained the church was organized with a membership of about 100, and was from the beginning self-supporting. It was within
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the bounds of the Presbytery of New York, which had been constituted during the same year as above men- tioned, by the union of the presbyteries of Long Island and East Jersey.
In the mind of the writer there is scarcely a doubt that Rev. John Cleverly, bachelor, who continued to re- side in West Hanover after his failure of installation, conducted the services of the newly-organized church most of the time from its inception until the settlement of a pastor, about four years later. It will be no re- flection upon the character and professional attain- ments of Mr. Cleverly, for the writer to express the opinion, that but for eccentricities, the exact nature of which are not now ascertainable, he may have been the first, of a by no means short list of installed pastors, who have served the First Presbyterian Church of Mor- ristown during the past 162 years of its remarkable history.
The first house of worship in what is now Morris- town, was erected probably during the year 1740, or about two years after the organization of the church. It is said to have stood on the site, or nearly so, of the present substantial stone manse of the First Presby- terian Church, upon a piece of land given to the church by two of its well-to-do members-Benjamin Hatha- way and Jonathan Lindsley for a parsonage and burial- ground. It is understood to have faced what is now Morris street.
It was a nearly square structure, and small, and is by some said to have been a frame building, shingled on
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
its four sides, as well as on the roof. By others we are told that it was a "log meeting-house." The writer is inclined to accept the former opinion, for the reasons following : It is a well authenticated fact that as early as the year 1727 the first frame house was erected in West Hanover. It is highly probable that by the year 1740 frame ยท houses were becoming numerous in what had then come to be known as Morristown. And one can scarcely be charged with jumping to conclu- sions if he infers, that a house of worship erected at that period was a frame structure, whose sides and roof were shingled. It is quite probable that this house of worship was a sort of duplication in form, if not also in dimensions and general appearance, of the first house of worship previously erected in the older settlement of Newark; since, among the projectors of this primitive house of worship then identified with the Morristown Presbyterian Church, there were probably not a few per- sons who, prior to their removal to the last named place, had attended the Newark Church, and hence were familiar with the character, capacity and cost of the latter structure. That, in the construction of the original house of worship in Morristown, the sugges- tions of these former members of the Newark Church were taken into consideration, is a most natural infer- ence. It is to be regretted that there is extant no relia- ble representation of this house of worship; but it would not be far from the truth to say, that it was in form and dimensions a duplicate of the primitive house of worship in Newark, of which an apparently accu- rate picture is to be seen among historical collections.
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Among the many commendatory patriotic services rendered by the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, through its various chapters, was the placing, on November 10, 1904, of a stone tablet which is said to mark the site of a corner of the original house of wor- ship in what is now Morristown. One of the most in- teresting features of the occasion of the formal placing of this marker was the circumstance that a great-great- granddaughter of Rev. Timothy Johnes, Miss Little, performed the ceremony of unveiling the tablet. This stone tablet, which is about two feet in width and three feet in length, and elevated about four inches above the surface of the ground, bears the following inscrip- tion : "This stone marks the site of the original church built in 1740, used as a hospital for the Revolutionary soldiers in 1777. Erected by the Morristown Chapter, D. A. R., 1904." The picture of this memorial tablet, which appears in this volume, is from a photograph taken by Frederick F. Curtis, of Morristown, about the middle of November, of the year 1904. The stone work conspicuous in the background of the picture is a por- tion of the First Church edifice.
In the year 1764 a steeple, 125 feet in height, as we are informed, was added to the original house of wor- ship, which by some is said to have been built in the middle of the structure; the more probable theory, however, is that it was attached to one end of the mod- est building. By no means the least interesting fact concerning the erection of this steeple is this : that to Colonel Jacob Ford Sr. was assigned, by the trustees
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of the parish, "the care, management and oversight" of the work. Hitherto the people had assembled for di- vine worship on Sunday, for the space of nearly a quar- ter of a century, without the use of a bell, but after the completion of the new steeple, a bell was placed in its tower. On this bell, which has been used from the year it was first placed in position until the present time, a period of 141 years, is the impress of the British crown, and also the names of the makers, "Lister & Pack, of London fecit." Tradition informs us that this bell was presented to the Presbyterian Church of Morristown by the King of Great Britain. This bell, it is said, was brought from Elizabeth Town to Mor- ris Town, by Benjamin Freeman; he who was subse- quently the proprietor of the tavern formerly kept by Jacob Arnold, and who, late in the seventeenth century, ran a stage coach to Elizabeth Town. Although since the time of its first hanging in the tower of Morris- town's historic church, this bell has been twice recast in consequence of its cracking, it has since been used to summon the congregation for worship in the handsome stone edifice standing upon ground made sacred by the associations of a truly eventful past. Owing to its great age and the rich historical associations which cluster about it, this bell has become an object of veneration on the part of those acquainted with its remarkable rec- ord. It is in some respects a most singular fact, that now, (1905) for the third time, this bell is cracked, and will again require recasting.
The growth of the Morristown church, during the
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decade following the erection of the new steeple and the hanging of the imported bell, necessitated the en- largement of the primitive house of worship, which was accomplished in the year 1774. It is said that the original structure was separated in the centre (sawn asunder, it may be said), the two sections thus made, moved away from each other and the open space left between them filled in by the construction of a new part. The entire building when completed was about thirty by fifty feet. At each end of this house of wor- ship was an entrance for the accommodation of at- tendants coming from different directions to attend divine services. The main entrance was on what is now Morris street.
The seats in this enlarged house of worship were enclosed, leaving a square space within, which re- sembled in appearance more a pen than church pews. These pen-like pews were made for the accommoda- tion of an entire family. A single flight of stairs led up to the dizzy heights of the "cup-like" pulpit.
In the summer of the year 1742, commencing with the thirteenth of August, the pulpit of the Presbyterian church of Morristown-at that time the congregation, as will be seen, worshipped in the original structure erected about two years previously-was for six con- secutive Sundays supplied by Rev. Timothy Johnes, a graduate of Yale College, and a licentiate of the Con- gregational body in New England. From an interest- ing paper read by Mrs. Isaac R. Pierson, at the sesqui- centennial celebration of the First Baptist church of
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Morristown, in the year 1902, the following extract is presented :
"The Indian name for the country around was Rockciti- cus, as late as the arrival of Parson Johnes, in 1742. Pastor Johnes was one of the prominent historical characters of the times. Previous to his coming to Morristown he had several other calls, and he was perplexed as to which to accept, so he referred the matter to Providence-deciding to accept the next one made. He had not risen from his knees, when two old men came to his house and asked him to become pastor of a small congregation at Rockciticus (now Morris- town). He consented and after traveling a long distance, through the forest, he inquired of his guides: 'Where is Rockciticus?' The reply was. 'Here, there and everywhere.'"
It is, perhaps, superfluous to say, that "Par- son Johnes" came to Morristown on horseback. So satisfactory were the preaching and person- ality of this young theologue that at the termination of his engagement as a temporary supply, a call was ex- tended to him to become the pastor of the newly or- ganized church. This call, after due consideration, he accepted, and in the spring of the year 1743 he removed his family, consisting of a wife and two children, to Morristown. On the ninth of February, of the year of his removal to his new parish, Mr. Johnes was in- stalled by the Presbytery of New York as pastor of the church, which for more than half a century he served most faithfully and efficiently. Prior to the coming of Mr. Johnes to Morristown, no record of church proceedings had been kept, or if any had been kept,
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they have not since been available. But almost im- mediately after the commencement of his services as a supply with the church of which he was to become the pastor, he began a record of its proceedings, which was continued until his decease. The title which appears at the beginning of this record, written by Mr. Johnes himself, is worthy of presentation, and is as follows :
"The Record of the Church, in the town of Morris, from the first Erection and founding of it there ;- and, under Christ, as Collected, and Setled, and Watered (in much weakness) by Timo. Johnes, Pastor; who first came, Aug. 13th, 1742, stayed 6 Sab., and then fetched my Family, and was ordained, Feb. 9, 1743."
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CHAPTER IV
"I love the memory of the past, its pressed but fragrant flowers,
The moss that gathers on its walls, the ivy round its towers."
A
T the time of the installation of the Rev. Mr. Johnes, the Presbyterian church of Morristown had a mem- bership of somewhat over 100, of which, in view of its rare genealog- ical importance, a complete list is here appended :
"John Lindley, Elizabeth Lindley, his wife; John Lindley, Jr., Sarah Lindley, his wife; Jacob Fford, Hannah Fford, his wife; Joseph Prudden, Joanna Prudden, his wife; Caleb Fair- child, Anna Fairchild, his wife; Joseph Coe, Judith Coe, his wife; Joseph Coe, Jr., Esther Coe, his wife; Solomon Mun- son, Tamar Munson, his wife; Benjamin Pierson, Patience Pierson, his wife; Stephen Freman, Hannah Freman, his wife; Matthew Lum, Susanna Lum, his wife; Peter Cundit, Phebe Cundit, his wife; Philip Cundit, Mary Cundit, his wife; Joseph Howard, Mary Howard, his wife; Sarah, wife of Samuel Ford; Benjamin Bailey, Letitia Bailey, his wife;
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
Samuel Nutman, Abigail Nutman, his wife; James Cole, Phebe Cole, his wife; Benjamin Coe, Rachel Coe, his wife; Thomas Kent, Ebenezer Mahurin and his wife, Uriah Cutler, Timothy Mills, Job Allen, of Rockaway; John Clarke, Abi- gail Clarke, his wife; Benjamin Beach, of Rockaway; Abner Beach, of Rockaway; Jonah Arstin and his wife; Zeruiah, wife of Isaiah Wines, 'now of Captain Samuel Day;' Sarah wife of Isaac Price; Martha, wife of Cornelius Arstin; Susan- na, wife of Caleb Tichenor; Sarah, wife of James Frost; Mary, wife of Isaac Clark; Elizabeth, wife of David More; Ann, wife of Alexander Robards; Ann Allen, widow; Sarah wife of Abraham Hathaway; Bethiah, wife of Thomas Wood; Experience, wife of Benjamin Conger; Charity, wife of Ben- jamin Shipman; Phebe, wife of Shadrach Hathaway; - -, wife of John Jonson; Catherine, wife of Peter Stagg; , wife of Eliacam Suerd; Mary Burt; Comfort, wife of Joseph Stiles; Joanna, wife of Peter Prudden; Samuel Sweasy, Su- sanna Sweasy, his wife; Hannah, wife of Joseph Fowler; Hannah, wife of Jeremiah Johnson; Martha, wife of John Fford; Abigail, wife of Jonathan Conklin, 'now of Samuel Bayles;' Charles Howell, daughter (?) of Charles Howell; Deborah, wife of Charles Howell; Dr. Elijah Jillet; Jane, wife of Dr. Jillet; Elder Morris, of Basking Ridge; Mary, his wife; Sarah, wife of Abraham Campfield; Phebe, wife of Joshua Ball; Elizabeth Kermickle, widow; Nathan Ward's wife; Jemima, wife of Deacon Matthew Lum; Samuel Bald- win, of Mendham; Rebecca, wife of Zechariah Fairchild; Elizabeth, wife of Captain Clark; Sarah, wife of Samuel Mills; Elizabeth, wife of David Gauden; Mattaniah Lyon, his wife; Alexander Johnson's wife; Silas Halsey, Abigail, his wife; Bathiah, wife of Benjamin Halsey; John MacFeran, Elizabeth, his wife; Nathan Price, Peter Prud- den."
As explanatory of the composition of the list of names above presented, it should be said that in connection
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with the list, as recorded in the book of the First Pres- byterian church of Morristown, there appears, in the neat handwriting of Mr. Johnes, the following head- ing :
"The number and names of the persons that were in full communion when the church was first collected and founded, together with the number of those that came since from oth- er churches."
The following entry upon the membership roll of the young church in Morristown-the first to be made after the entry of the long list above given-is of such special interest that it is here presented :
"August 15, 1765, Naomi, wife of John Laporte, turned from the Anabaptists and received on ye foot of her being a member of that ch. in good standing."
West Hanover, afterward Morristown, was prob- ably settled under the following regulations made by the Duke of York for all settlements in the province of New Jersey :
"Every township is obliged to pay their own minister, ac- cording to such agreement as they shall make with him, and no man to refuse his own proportion; the minister being elected by the major part of the householders and inhabitants in the town." 1
In strange contrast with the salaries received by min- isters of the Gospel in the twentieth century (insuf-
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
ficient as, in the writer's judgment, they are), the sal- ary, in money, promised Mr. Johnes at his settlement, or installation as we would now call it, was twenty pounds, which at that period was equivalent to about $50 per year; we must, however, rely upon tradition in the acceptance of this statement. It could not have been long after the settlement of Mr. Johnes as pastor of the Presbyterian church of Morristown, that he was able to furnish his table chiefly from the products of the parsonage plot, which covered the piece of land bound- ed by the present Morris, South and Pine streets, and extending down to the Whippany River.
Just when Mr. Johnes began to occupy the par- sonage cannot now be definitely stated ; but it could not have been long after his settlement as pastor of the Presbyterian church. This parsonage stood on the site now occupied by the Memorial Hospital, on the left of Morris street, as one goes "from town" to the station of the Lackawanna Railroad. It was the writer's privi- lege to frequently see this interesting old building while it stood upon its original site. The old parsonage build- ing has been moved to a place almost directly across Morris street, and now stands somewhat back from the sidewalk. It is occupied by a private family.
The farmers of the parish plowed the ground, planted the seed and gathered the crops, for "the parson;" and furnished and cut the wood used in his house. The periodical parish "bees" furnished the parsonage with liberal supplies of necessaries for the table; and on the return of the beloved pastor from his social visits over
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the parish he was not permitted to be empty-handed. It has been said that "every imaginable article, from a riddle to a squire's publishment of a marriage, has been found on the account books of ministers (of 'ye olden times') as having been received in partial payment of stipend." Could the account books of Mr. Johnes their secrets unfold, they would doubtless relate a similar story ; a story which would make extremely interesting reading for the present generation.
Reference has already been made to the casting of lots at Whippanong, as a means of deciding the long mooted question whether the primitive church organi- zation should remain there, or be removed to another part of the extended parish; to the refusal of that portion of the Whippanong church, residing at West Hanover, to abide by the decision of the lot that the church organization should remain where it was origin- ally established, notwithstanding their solemn agree- ment so to do; and to the fact, also, of the premature establishment of religious services at West Hanover, regardless of the counsel of synod and presbytery, and the wishes of the brethren residing at Whippanong.
The sequel to the ecclesiastical irregularities above mentioned could not have been particularly agreeable to the active participants therein; for almost imme- diately following the settlement of Rev. Timothy Johnes, as pastor of the young church at Morristown, they were called to an account for their conduct in the matter. The citation of the following extract from the records of the First Presbyterian Church of Morris-
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town, will suffice, without note or comment, for our enlightenment upon this interesting subject :
"An accompt for Public Confession. A public confession at the settlement of the ch. for a transgression Relating to a Lot Cast with Reference to the Settling of a house for Pub- lic Worship between Hanover & this town. Ye persons that confessed are Joseph Coe, John Lindley Jr., Joseph Prudden, Matthew Lum, Uriah Cutler, Stephen Freeman, Peter Cun- dit, Jacob Fford, Joseph Howard, Benj. Bailey, Philip Cundit, Benjamin Coe, Ebenezar Mahurin, Samuel Nutman, Timo- thy Peck, Cornelius Arstin, Solomon Munson, Caleb Fair- child, Joseph Coe, Zachariah Fairchild, Joseph Tichenor."
That the Morristown church, and its conscientious young pastor, did not regard these fellow-members as totally and irremediably depraved, is clearly appar- ent from the fact that five of them were subsequently elected to the eldership, in which capacity they rendered most excellent service to the church, which may be facetiously spoken of as having been "born out of due time." The names of these elders, who seem to have composed the first session of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, were: Joseph Prudden, Mat- thew Lum, John Lindsley, Joseph Coe and Jacob Ford, the latter, the son of John Ford, Esq., of what is now known as Monroe, situated about two miles to the east- ward of Morristown. One at least of these church offi- cials, Jacob Ford, played a conspicuously important part in the civic affairs of a town which is now famous, the country over, because of its rare Revolutionary his- tory. Of Jacob Ford it has been said by a local histor-
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
ian of high repute (the late Edmund D. Halsey, Esq.) : "He was no doubt the leading man in Morristown"; but close behind him, it should be said, come not a few other Morristonians, whose names and deeds materially aid in illuminating the pages of its local history.
Almost from the time of its first settlement by the whites, about the year 1710, what is now Morristown, was called West Hanover and New Hanover, inter- changeably ; and it was a part, at first of Burlington, and later of Hunterdon County. The following ex- tracts from the minutes of the Hunterdon County Court, under date of June 5, of the year 1722, held at Trenton, then the county seat, will serve as a link between the original settlement of what is now Mor- ristown, and its subsequent history as a separate town- ship officially bearing that name:
"Whereas, there is no assessor returned to this court to serve for the inhabitants of the township of Hanover, it is, therefore, ordered by the court that Elisha Bird serve as as- sessor for the said township of Hanover for the ensuing year, to assess the tax to be levied upon the said inhabitants towards the support of his Majesty's government; and it is hereby ordered accordingly."
Additional links between the periods mentioned, will be found in the several facts following: At the ses- sions of the same court, held in the years 1723, 1724 and 1725, other officers were appointed for the township of Hanover, which, it should be borne in mind by our readers, included what is now Morristown. Com-
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
mencing, however, with the year 1726, the Hanover Township officers were elected by the people in town meeting assembled, in genuine New England fashion. The record of the first town meeting convened for the election of officers in Hanover Township, is of too much interest to be passed over, hence it is given, ver- batim :
"It being the General Town Meeting appointed by Law for Electing their town Officers, and the Inhabitants of our Said County being met on that acct., proceeded to chose as follows: John Morehouse assessor for ye Governor Tax, Jo- seph Lindsley Collector, Morris Morrison and Joseph Coe Freeholders, Abraham Vandine and Jonathan Stiles commis- sioners for laying out roads, Benjamin Beach and Matthas Van Dine, Thomas Huntington, Nathaniel Cogswell and John Courter overseers of ye Highway, John Morehouse Town Clerk."
In the year 1729 the following persons were elected to the office of constable : Ephraim Rue, Stephen Tut- hill and Paulus Berry. Among the associate judges who sat at the October term, in the year 1737, of the Hunterdon County Court, was Abraham Kitchell, a resident of what is now Whippany.
In the year 1739 a new county was laid out within the bounds of what had been Hunterdon County, to which was given the name of Morris County, in honor of Governor Lewis Morris, the first Chief Magistrate of New Jersey after its separation from New York. The act of the Legislature, passed on the fifteenth day of March, in the year 1739, by which Morris County was established, declares that :
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
"All and singular the lands and upper parts of the said Hunterdon County lying to the northward and eastward, sit- uate and lying to the eastward of a well-known place in the county of Hunterdon, being a fall of water in part of the north branch of Raritan River, called in the Indian language or known by the name of Allamatonck, to the northwestward of the northeast end or part of the lands called the New Jersey Society lands, along the line thereof, crossing the south branch of the aforesaid Raritan River, and extending westerly to a certain tree, marked with the letters L. M., standing on the north side of a brook emptying itself into the said south branch, by an old Indian path to the north- ward of a line to be run northwest from the said tree to a branch of Delaware river called Muskonetkong, and so down the said branch to Delaware river, all which said lands be- ing to the eastward, northward and northwestward of the above said boundaries, be erected into a county; and it is hereby erected into a county, named and from henceforth to be called Morris county, and the said bounds shall part and from henceforth separate and divide the same from the said Hunterdon county."
The Morris County of the year 1739, as above de- fined, included what are now Morris, Sussex and War- ren Counties, containing 1,360 square miles, with a population of nearly 2,000. Morristown, owing in part to its central location, and in part, no doubt, to its importance as a town, by reason of the high character of its citizens, became, almost inevitably as it ap- pears, the county seat of the newly constituted county.
The sessions of the Morris County Court, or Court of Common Pleas, as it is now generally known, whose institution followed promptly the establishment of the new county, were at first held in the tavern of which
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
Jacob Ford, Esq., one of the justices at the time, was the proprietor. This tavern may have been situated in the neighborhood of the original settlement at the foot of Town Hill; it may have been somewhere in the vicinity of what is now the Green; or, what seems more probable to the writer, it may have been in the neighborhood of the "Washington Headquarters," at some point on what is now Morris street, which even as early as the period under consideration had doubtless become something of a thoroughfare for travelers east and west. This theory as to the situation of Jacob Ford's tavern, finds support in the fact, that Jacob Ford Sr., built the house now known as the "Wash- ington Headquarters," the foundation of which was laid in the year 1772, and which was completed in the year 1774, and the same year occupied by Judge Ford and his family. It is a matter of record (and this fact seems to be even more positively corroborative of the theory above suggested) that as early as the year 1731, Jacob Ford became the owner of a large tract of land, a portion of which lay to the eastward of what is now the Lackawanna Railroad. The writer had the privi- lege of examining a copy of the deed by which this tract of land was conveyed to Mr. Ford, on the "Thirty- first day of May In the fourth year of the Reign of King George the Second Defender of the faith Annoquo Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty one." The witnesses to this deed were: Jonathan Osborn, Zachariah Fairchild and John Morehouse.
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