USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > New Brunswick > Historical discourse delivered at the celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the First Reformed Dutch Church, New Brunswick, N.J., October 1, 1867 > Part 2
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account of a traveler by the name of William Ed- mundson," a minister of the society of Friends in England, who passed through the State with an Indian guide in 1677, on what was then an Indian path, after- ward erected into a public highway. After crossing the ford at this place at low water, and penetrating inland about ten miles, he lost his way in the wilder- ness, and was a whole day in retracing his path to the Raritan river. At night he encamped in the woods, kindling a fire for protection from the wild animals. This Indian path was afterward erected into an im- portant road, passing through the State from Elizabeth- town Point to a spot on the Delaware river in the vicinity of Trenton. The travel on this route became a matter of so much importance that a grant was given to John Inians and his wife, December 2d, 1697, to ferry passengers across the river, for which privilege he was to pay the annual rent of five shillings sterling.+ The place was called "Inians's Ferry" or "The River" for about eighteen years.
Probably about this date (1697) a few buildings be- gan to spring up around this centre, wharves were built at the foot of Albany street, and vessels from Amboy and New-York began to make their regular trips. Mechanics set up their places of business for the ac. commodation of their neighbors, and enterprising shop- keepers erected their stores and exposed their wares to the farmers who came down to the river for barter or
* See Whitehead's East-Jersey, p. 95.
+ The ferry at first provided only for pedestrians and horsemen. Even in 1716, in the rates allowed by the Assembly, mention only is made of "horse and man" and "single persons." The facilities for traveling did not develop very rapidly. In 1704, the New-York paper complains that in the "pleasant month of May, the last storm put our Pennsylvania mail a week behind, and is not yet com'd in."-Whitehead's Amboy, pp. 269, 273 ; East-Jersey, 162.
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news. This was the beginning of our town. The name of "Prigmore's Swamp" had been exchanged for that of "Inians's Ferry " about the year 1697, and now the accession of the House of Brunswick to the British throne in 1714, induced the loyal Dutch inhabitants to dignify the village with the name of the reigning family, New-Brunswick.
Robert Hunter, the royal governor of the province, residing at Perth Amboy from 1709 to 1719, frequently visited this place, and eleven years after his return to Europe wrote to his agent, Mr. Alexander, for informa- tion in respect to the value of property around Inians's Ferry, desiring to purchase five or six hundred acres, if in his judgment it would prove a profitable investment. Mr. Alexander was very enthusiastic in his description of the place, stating that, during his residence of fifteen years, New-Brunswick had grown very rapidly, for the reason that the country back of this had improved quite fast. The farmers principally raised wheat, and the facilities of the large mills in the vicinity rendered this an important flouring mart. " As New-Bruns- wick," he adds, "is the nearest landing, it necessarily makes this the store-house for all the produce that they send to market, which has drawn a considerable num- ber of people to settle there, insomuch that a lot of ground is here grown to near as great a price as so much ground in the heart of New- York."*
About this time (1730) several families emigrated from Albany, N. Y .; and the tradition is, that they brought with them their building materials, according
* Whitehead's Amboy, p. 155 : "In a previous letter, dated in Janu- ary, Mr. Alexander says that 'plantations north of the Raritan had risen extravagantly high, even to three, four, and five pounds per acre, and for a tract of five hundred acres, unimproved land, belonging to Hunter, south of the Raritan, he had refused twelve hundred pounds.' "
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to the Dutch custom, and located along the public road, which they called, after their former home, Albany street. Among these settlers we find the names of Dirck Schuyler, Hendrick Van Deursen, Dirck Van Veghten, Abraham Schuyler, John Ten Brock, Nicholas Van Dyke, and Dirck Van Alen. These were men of considerable property and enterprise, and their arrival gave a fresh impulse to trade. The city was now a growing town of much activity. The principal streets were Burnet, Water, and Albany, with perhaps a few buildings on Church street. The inhabitants lived along the river as far south as Sonman's Hill, extending north for about one mile, or a short distance above the ferry. A few of the ancient buildings are still stand- ing, but these will soon give place to more modern structures, and every relic of the olden time will have passed away. The old house recently standing in Bur- net street, near Lyle's brook, known as the property of Dr. Lewis Dunham, was built by Hendrick Van Deur- sen, one of the Albany settlers, who owned several acres of land in the vicinity .* John Van Nuise, of Flatlands, L. I.,+ bought a farm of one hundred acres of Enoch Freland, April 28th, 1727, having its front on Neilson street, its northern line along Liberty street, its southern along New street, extending west as far as the Mile Run. For this property, in connection with five acres of "salt meadow at the mouth of South river,"
* He was offered about forty acres of land lying below Morris street, and having George street for its western, and the rear of the lots on Burnet street for its eastern boundary, for $256. Judge Morris owned a large farm on both sides of Commercial avenue. Abeel and Hassert owned twenty or thirty acres above Van Deursen's.
+ The ancestor of the Van Nuise family in this country is Aucke Jansen Van Nuyse, who, with his wife, Magdalen Pieterse, and children, emigrated from Holland in 1651, and settled in New-York. His place of birth is supposed to have been Nuise in Groningen, hence the surname Van Nuise. He was a carpenter by trade, and built the first church of Midwout, (now Flatbush,) completed in 1660 .- Bergen Family, p. 157.
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he paid the sum of £800 .* In the summer of that year he erected a large farm-house on what is now Neilson street, between Schureman and Liberty, and surrounded it with suitable out-buildings. This house was used as the headquarters of the Hessian commander during the occupation of this town by the British army in the Revolutionary War, and is still remem- bered by nearly every middle-aged man. Some of our citizens will remember the Appleby House, a stone edi- fice with gable roof and broad hall, on the corner of Church and Peace streets, now Van Pelt's drug-store ; the Gibbs House, an antique stone mansion built by Hendrick Voorhees, standing between Burnet street and the river, near Miller's brook, crossing the street below Town lane; the French property in George street in front of the hotel near the depot ; and the large apple orchard on the hill, where now stand the buildings of Rutgers College. Perhaps a few may remember the old barracks standing in the rear of our present par- sonage on George street, which were burned in the year 1794 ..
We shall have occasion to call up some reminiscences of the past, and will leave this rapid sketch of the city, while we proceed in our narrative of the church proper, to which we now turn our attention.
There was throughout this section, as in all new settlements, great destitution of religious privileges. The inhabitants, in writing back to their friends, urged
* He was bounded by lands owned by Gose Vandenbergh, Court Voor- hees, Roelef Voorhees, Laurence Williamses, Stephen Philips, and Siba, Mart and Cornelius Solems .- Deed in possession of Mrs. James Van Nuise. + The well in Spring alley is still known as the Barrack Spring. After the destruction of the building, the stones were employed in the construc- tion of the " old jail " in Bayard street; and the same stones now form a part of the foundation of the public school occupying the same ground .- Dr. Davidson's Historical Sketch.
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them to encourage ministers to come and settle among them, holding out the inducement of a large field to occupy, and of the ability of the people to give them a competent support. The principal town in the county of Middlesex was Woodbridge, which obtained a char- ter June 1st, 1669, and deeds of land were granted that and the following years to about forty families who had emigrated from New-England. They were mostly from the parish of Rev. John Woodbridge, of New- bery, Mass., after whom they named their town. Ef- forts were made immediately to settle a pastor, but without success until eleven years after, when Rev. John Allen settled among them to the great joy of the people. This was the first religious organization and first minister in our county .*
As ministers of our denomination were obtained only from Holland, our churches experienced even greater difficulties in procuring pastors than other or- ganizations, and only succeeded after long delays and frequent correspondence with the Classis of Amsterdam. But our Dutch ancestors could not long remain without the privileges of the Church. And although a pastor was not obtained until many years afterward, yet these early settlers had their house of worship, in which they statedly met to hear the Scriptures read by the Voor- leezer, and where the Lord's Supper was administered perhaps not oftener than once a year.
The first building erected within the bounds of our congregation for religious purposes, was about one mile and a half beyond the limits of the present corporation of New-Brunswick, on the lot at the east of the burying- ground, near the residence of Abraham J.Voorhees. Our
* A small church building was erected in 1674, the first in our county, thirty feet square .- Whitehead's Amboy, p. 382.
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knowledge of this organization is quite limited, and de- rived mostly from the traditions in the neighborhood. There are no records of Consistory known to be in exist- ence, and no allusions to it in ancient deeds and con- veyances. The remnants of its foundation were still remaining within the recollection of a few who are yet living, and it is described as a building quite moderate in its dimensions, exceedingly plain in its construction, and never completed. The date of its organization is not known, nor has the name of the minister who officia- ted on the occasion been transmitted to us. There is in existence a subscription paper, recently discovered, bear- ing the date of 1703, on which the sum of £10 16s. 6d. is provided to defray the expenses of a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, to be procured from Holland .* This church may have existed some years before that period, and was probably the first religious organization along the Raritan ; for the great highway following the Indian path, as it is called in ancient deeds, from Inians's Ferry to the falls of the Delaware, was the first point occupied by the Dutch settlers in this section of the State. The families represented in this list resided on both banks of the Raritan, from near Boundbrook to New-Brunswick, and along the route of travel to Rocky Hill.
This congregation was known as the church of Three Mile Run. Its prominent elders seem to have been Frederick Van Liew and Hendrick Vroom. The build-
* The names of the following persons are attached to the subscription : Dollius Hageman, Teunis Quick, Hend. Emens, Thos. Cort, Jac. Probasco, Neclas Wyckoff, Mic. L. Moor, John Schedemeun, Nec. Van Dyke, John Van Houten, Wil. Bennet, Folkert Van Nostrand, Jac. Bennet, Hend. Fanger, Ab. Bennet, Cor. Peterson, Philip Folkerson,-avi. L. Draver, George Ander- son, Stobel Probasco, Isaac Le Priere, Simon Van Wicklen, Cobas Benat, Garret Cotman, Lucas Covert, Brogun Covert, Wil. Van Duyn, Dennis Van Duyn, John Folkerson, Jost Banat .- Hon. Ralph Voorhees, Middlebush.
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ing stood for upward of fifty years, and was used for neighborhood services long after the project of making it a separate congregation had been abandoned. This church never enjoyed the services of a settled pastor, although two efforts are known to have been made to procure one from Holland. The first attempt in 1703, already referred to; the second in 1729, when a more extensive plan was formed to revive the church and build up a second congregation within our bounds.
In the mean time, the town around Inians's Ferry had grown into considerable importance, and, as it was the centre of traffic and commerce for all this region of country, it was soon felt that there was a demand for church accommodations in this place. Accordingly, instead of completing their building at Three Mile Run, with great prudence they removed to this locality, and erected an edifice of larger dimensions for the accommo- dation of this increasing population. This was the first religious organization in the town, and owes its existence to the enterprise and foresight of that portion of the original congregation residing at this point, and occupy- ing farms along the Raritan river. The building was erected, according to an early map of the city, " previous to the year 1717, but how long before is not known." There are reasons for believing that it was built as early as the year 1714, at which time the place was be- ginning to assume some importance, and gave promise of considerable activity. It stood on the corner of Bur- net and Schureman, then called Dutch Church street, and at that date it was called the church of the "River and Lawrence Brook." The building fronted the river, and occupied the corner lot, subsequently and for many years in the possession of Dr. William Van Deursen. The structure was of wood, and, like most of the early
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churches, its breadth was greater than its depth. Its dimensions, according to a plan in the volume of records previously referred to, was fifty feet broad and forty feet deep. There were seven pews on each side of the pul- pit, and eight along the middle aisle. The total number of pews in the building was fifty, and the church accom- modations was three hundred. It was not completed until several years afterward, and stood upward of fifty years, giving place in 1767 to our second church edifice, erected on the site of the one we now occupy.
The project of forming a church in this town did not proceed without some opposition. The old congrega- tion at Three Mile Run were reluctant to part with any of their numbers, and those families living still further back in Franklin township urged the impor- tance of all continuing in one organization. Several meetings of the church seem to have been held, and the matter discussed; and on the 12th day of April, 1717, " in order to prevent disturbance and contention, and thereby to establish peace in the church," the following plan was harmoniously adopted: "That the church built near Abraham Bennet shall be considered as belonging to the church of Lawrence Brook and on the River; and that the members of the congregation residing in the neighborhood of Six and Ten Mile Run shall also build a church for themselves at either of these places, or at some point intervening, as they may agree." It was also determined that the church at this place and at Three Mile Run should each have a con- sistory, who should cooperate with each other; and, " notwithstanding these two places of worship, the two congregations shall form one church; and in matters of great importance the two consistories shall meet as one body, and transact such business as may come
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before them for the establishment of the Christian church." The arrangement was not intended to be permanent, and seems to have been entered into out of respect to the older members of the church, who could not but feel an attachment to the first house of worship and the original organization. In a very short time this relation probably ceased, and all the services were held in the church of New-Brunswick.
In the old book of records, from which the above facts are taken, there is a decision that Roelef Seebring be the elder for the new congregation, and Hendrick Bries and Roelef Lucas the deacons. This number was soon after increased to three elders and three deacons, and the names of the following persons are recorded as constituting the first full Board of Con- sistory : Aart Aartsen, Izack Van Dyk, Roelef See- bring, elders ; Johannes Folkersen, Hendrick Bries, and Roelef Lucas, (Van Voorhees,) deacons. Thus was organized the Reformed Dutch Church of New-Bruns- wick, one hundred and fifty years ago .* There is also a decision in the same minutes that Pieter Kinner be appointed elder, and Elbert Stoothof, deacon, for that part of the congregation at Six Mile Run. We have a complete list of the original membership of the church, numbering seventy-three persons, and it is pleasant to notice how many of their descendants are still found among our congregation.
Our register of baptisms begins on the 14th of Au- gust, when three children were baptized : Elizabeth,
* As this church is a continuation of the Three Mile Run congregation, which had an existence as early as 1703, there is a propriety in the state- ments made in public documents, that we trace our origin as a religious society to near the commencement of the last century, although we did not have a distinct organization until April 12th, 1717. The Consistory was sometimes ordained at Three Mile Run; at least, this is known to have been the case in one or two instances.
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daughter of Johannes Stoothof; Cornelius, son of Mar- tin Salem; and Jan, son of Jacobus Ouke. During the three years of vacancy twenty-nine baptisms are re- corded, but who occupied the pulpit during this period we have no information.
We know that Rev. Bernardus Freeman, of Long Island, took a deep interest in this church, and through him early efforts were made to obtain a minister from Holland, in connection with three other churches al- ready organized, namely, Raritan,* Six Mile Run, and North-Branch, now Readington.
As the result of this combined movement, there came to this country, commissioned by the Classis of Am- sterdam as the first pastor of this church, January 1st, 1720,
REV. THEODORUS JACOBUS FRELINGHUYSEN.
His name is one of the most honorable in the State of New-Jersey, and the influence that he exerted among the early churches has given to this whole re- gion the name of the "Garden of the Dutch Church." The field of his pastoral charge was very extensive, embracing all the churches in Somerset and Middlesex counties. Very little information in reference to this pioneer of the gospel ministry in this section has been transmitted to us, which is the more surprising from the fact that his descendants have always lived in this vicinity, and have exerted a great influence in the poli- tical and educational interests of the State. Short biographical sketches have been published at different times, giving the few items of history which have been
** The church of Raritan was organized March 9th, 1699. Their first house of worship was not erected until about the year 1730. The Read- ington church (then called North-Branch) was organized in 1719.
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gathered from the personal allusions in the sermons which he printed during his ministry, and from the traditional knowledge of the inhabitants covering his extensive pastoral charge. To Dr. Abraham Messeler and Rev. William Demarest the church is indebted for the valuable information which has been preserved of this most remarkable man.
The residence of Dominie Frelinghuysen was within the bounds of this congregation, his grave is with us to this day, and as this was the centre of his charge, his history properly belongs to the sketch we are giving.
He was born in the year 1691, at Lingen, in East- Friesland, now a province in the kingdom of Hanover, and was educated at his native place under the instruc- tion of Rev. Otto Verbrugge, Professor of Theology and Oriental Literature. He was ordained to the min- istry by Rev. Johannes Brunius at the age of twenty- six, and for about two years was the pastor of a church at Embden in his native country. While thus engaged he received the call from the churches in New-Jersey to labor in this destitute field. The circumstance of his selection by the Classis of Amsterdam for this im- portant mission, as related by Dr. Thomas De Witt, in- dicates the hand of God in the gift of the first minister of this church. A pious elder entertained a young traveler, on his way through the town to Embden to assume the charge of an academy in that place. Dur- ing the evening he was so well pleased with the spirit- uality of his conversation, and his eminent gifts, especially in prayer during family devotions, that he immediately informed his pastor, Sicco Tjadde, that he had "found a man to go to America." In answer to this call he made his arrangements to emigrate to this
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country, and arrived in the city of New-York about the 1st of January, 1720, and on the 17th of that month he occupied the pulpit of Dominie Boel, immediately after which he came to New-Brunswick and commenced his pastoral work.
He brought with him from Holland, according to the custom of the church, a school-master, holding also the position of chorister and " Voorleeser," Jacobus Schureman by name, the ancestor of this family in our State. He was a well-educated gentleman, and noted for his piety. He had the gift of poetry, and wrote seve- ral pieces which are said to have displayed considerable genius as well as literary taste and cultivation. They were spoken of about fifty years ago as doing " honor to his memory." None of them are known to have been translated into the English language, and with the disuse of the Dutch they have probably long since perished. There is a tradition that he used this gift in a very effectual way against the enemies of Mr. Fre- linghuysen, who commenced very early working their mischievous arts, in consequence of which he incurred their great displeasure. He was a warm friend of the Dominie, supporting him in all his plans; in conse- quence of which there sprang up between them an inti- macy which awakened some opposition on the part of the people, who complained of the influence which he exert- ed over the minister. They were both unmarried, and resided in the family of Hendrik Reyniersz, in the neigh- borhood of Three Mile Run. He had been promised in his call five acres of land, which was increased to fifty acres on his arrival, with the use of a parsonage. Quite early in his ministry he was married to Eva Ter- hune, of Long Island, after which he resided at or near the residence of the late John Brunson. About the
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same time Schureman became his brother-in-law by marrying the sister of his wife, Autje Terhune, and re- sided near the farm which is known as the Schureman property.
At the time when Mr. Frelinghuysen commenced his ministry, the churches under his care were in a most deplorable state. They had been entirely destitute of the stated ministry of the Gospel since the first settle- ment of the country ; and although church organiza- tions existed and houses of worship had been erected, yet, as the natural result of the absence of pastoral su- pervision, there must have been a great departure from serious and vital piety. Indeed, this was the charac- teristic of the times, and was the prevailing mark among all the churches. When we consider that, for a period of at least thirty years, the early settlers in this section of the State had only enjoyed such services as could be rendered by neighboring ministers, we are surprised that there should be such a respect for the ordinances of God's house, as we have indicated by the regular administration of the sacraments, and the in- crease of membership to the church.
The physical aspect of the country very much resem- bled the morals of the people. It was wild and uncul- tivated. Dense forests surrounded New-Brunswick ; the streams were unbridged; the settlements were widely scattered ; the roads, with the exception of the main thoroughfare from New-York to Philadelphia, were little more than paths through the wilderness; and it had all the appearance of a new country.
This was the state of things when Dominie Freling- huysen came here in 1720. But he was a man equal to the times, of great energy of character, of large attainments in knowledge and grace, and with a certain
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fearlessness of spirit that enabled him to go immedi- ately at the hearts of the people. From the sermons which have been preserved, we gather that he was a warm, earnest preacher, dwelling principally upon the necessity of the new birth, and having a dreadful an- tipathy to all manner of formalism. He preached the doctrines of grace with so much spirituality and direct- ness that the people, who had never had their hopes questioned, began almost immediately to raise against him a loud opposition. He was charged by his enemies with preaching doctrines contrary to the standards of the Church, and subversive to the whole spirit of the Gospel. When he insisted on the necessity of experi- mental evidences as a qualification for the Lord's Supper, he is represented as introducing customs con- trary to the principles of the Reformed Church. A very elaborate pamphlet was published by his enemies in the year 1723, setting forth their grievances, and making an appeal to public opinion against the course he was pursuing. The complaint is issued under the sanction of Simon Wyckoff, a deacon of the church of Six Mile Run, Peter Dumont, an elder at Raritan, and Hendrick Vroom, a former deacon at Three Mile Run. In addition to these names, the signatures of sixty-four heads of families are appended, from all the congrega- tions to which he ministered, with the exception of New- Brunswick. The controversy seems to have been quite bitter, and was continued several years. Indeed, it seems to have disturbed the peace of the church in some portions of his field during his entire ministry. Mr. Frelinghuysen states in one of his sermons, that the violence of the opposition to him had been so great that on one occasion the door of the church was shut against him, and he was not permitted to administer the ordi-
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