USA > New Jersey > Burlington County > Burlington > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 41
USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > History of Burlington and Mercer counties, New Jersey : with biographical sketches of many of their pioneers and prominent men > Part 41
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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
lodging. The cooking and the laundry are worked by steam-power. The Princeton National Bank and the telegraph-office are in the building, and every convenience which belongs to the first-class city hotel is found here.
June 1, 1709, Benjamin Clarke conveyed by deed nine acres and sixty hundredths of an acre of land, on the northeasterly side of Stony Brook, to Richard Too much cannot be said in praise of this beautiful and magnificent hotel. It is the pride of Princeton, the attraction of visitors, and it is in harmony with the imposing and costly public buildings of the in- stitutions. It was built at a cost of about one hun- dred thousand dollars, and it is understood that Mr. Libbey holds the great bulk of the stock. There is : land so set apart still remains held for the purposes Stockton and others in trust to build a meeting-house on it, and for a burying-ground for the Society of Friends. This was about twelve years after the set- tlement at Stony Brook by the families of Clarke, Olden, Worth, Hornor, and Stockton, all of whom were reputed to belong to that society. This lot of for which it was dedicated by the grantor. In the not strictly a public inn; it is uot a licensed house, [ latter part of the summer of 1709 a small frame build- ing was erected on said lot for a meeting-house. in which meetings for worship and church business were held till the year 1760, when, being too small aud out of repair, it gave place to the present stone building, which was at that time erected on the site of the original oue. Before the first building was erected the families of the society in the neighborhood wor- shiped together in their private dwellings.
oue peculiarity about this house which is rare. It is nor does it stand upon the grade of temperance hotels under the license laws of the State. It has no bar where liquors are retailed. Guests of the house may obtain wines and liquors at their meals if they wishi them to driuk, as they would do in their own homes, but there is no tippling, no treating and waiting to be treated with intoxicating drinks, no tipplers or drunk- ards lounging in or about the house. The atmosphere . is free from the flavor of a bar-room. The halls and parlors are free from the presence of the intemperate and the baser sort of men. It is orderly and quiet. The fact that it is uot a licensed liotel enables the managers to protect it from the presence of objection- able guests and visitors. It seems to be, as it now stands, the perfection of a first-class public-house.
The building stands back from Nassau Street about fifty feet, with ground in beautiful sward, inclosed with a growing hedge and a neat iron fence. It is : admirably adapted for summer boarders, when the town is quiet and shady, or for winter residence, when ' the institutions are iu session. It is well patronized. 1 It went into operation in 1876. The managers of the company do not rent it, but employ a superintendent . at this place where Washington's army, retreating to conduct it for them.
" Whoe'er has traveled life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found His warmest welcome at an inn."-SHENSTONE.
The Churches .- The early settlers in Princeton did not keep their religion in the background. Be- longing to the Society of Friends, as we have shown, ! their place of worship claims greater antiquity than that of any other denomination of Christians estab- lished here. We notice them all briefly in order.
The Quaker Meeting-House at Stony Brook, hoary with age, seems to have outlived the society which established it. The fathers who built it and planted their families around it, connecting with it a school-house for their children, and a burial-place for themselves and their descendants, now, after half a dozen generations, have scarcely a representative among the living in the neighborhood. The old school-house is closed. The meeting-house is seldom if ever opened for worship, and there are but few new
graves made in the old burying-ground which belongs to it.
This place of worship is over one hundred and seventy years old, probably older than the Presbyte- rian Church at Maidenhead, though the grant of land to that congregation antedates the deed for this Stony Brook meeting-house lot about ten years. The house is small, and in its interior it resembles an ancient country school-room more than a house of worship. But it is historic. It was the only place of publie worship in Princeton prior to the building of the col- lege in 1757, and the school on the same ground was probably the only school in the neighborhood before that date. It was the centre of a large geographical circuit of a Quaker population, no other such place of worship being nearer to it thau Trenton. It was from Trenton, halted, while Mercer made his flank movement upon the British regiments on their march to Trenton by the Lawrenceville road. It was in sight of this place that the battle of Princeton was fought, and the house in which Gen. Mercer died was only a few hundred yards distant from it. It and Worth's Mills are old jaudmarks which have sur- vived the families that built them, and the genera- tions that cherished and supported them. Among the descendants of the ancient Quaker families of Stony Brook who adhere strictly to worship of the Friends we know of but one in the neighborhood. The old men and women, who were accustomed to conform to the rules of worship and habits of life pre- scribed by their society, have disappeared. Their distinctive costume is very rarely seen in our streets or public assemblies. Their children and descend- ants, though few in number, have gradually with- drawn or been cut off from the seciety, and joined the Presbyterian or Episcopal Churches. The society at Stony Brook adhered to the Orthodox school, and never sympathized with the Hicksites.
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PRINCETON.
The Presbyterian Church. - The Presbyterian feet square, with a gallery and organ. In this chapel public worship was held on the Sabbath, in which families residing in and near the village united with President Burr and the seventy students who came with him to college. Pews in the chapel were rented to families of the town. These Sabbath assemblies, congregated in the college chapel for worship, at- tending upon the ministry of the early presidents, Burr, Edwards, Davies, and Finley, constituted the germ of the Princeton Church. It was a rare privi- lege to sit under the preaching of those extraordinary men. element in Princeton was of very gradual growth for wwarly half a century after the Quaker Church was : built at Stony Brook. There was a Presbyterian Church built at Maidenhead ( Lawrenceville ) a short time after the Quaker meeting-house at Stony Brook was built, and there was one also at Kingston at or before 1730. Presbyterian families of Princeton attached themselves to one or the other of these churches. Kingston, being nearer to Princeton than Lawrenceville, was the place where the Presbyterian families generally attended. But as the town grew in population and Presbyterianism gained the ascend- ency, it began to be felt a burden for so many people to ride three or four miles to church every Sabbath, preacher who was required to preach in the chapel to and a movement was made to have publie worship in the village occasionally, if not permanently.
The earliest agitation in the Presbytery of New Brunswick foreshadowing a movement for a Presby- terian Church in Princeton arose on the 3d day of September, 1751. Upon an application in behalf of the congregation of Kingston for supplies, some member moved " that the supplies granted should be equally divided between Kingstown and Princetown." The subject was laid over till the uext day, when the following minute was adopted, viz. :
"The Presbytery taking into consideration the case of Kingstown and Princetown, do judge it not expe- client that there be two places of meeting upon the Sabbath, but do recommend it to those that supply them, that they preach a lecture at Princetown if they can."
No meeting of Presbytery had ever been held iu Princeton until December, 1751, when a pro re nata meeting was held for the purpose of addressing their letter to the British government in favor of Governor Belcher.
When it became fixed that the College of New Jersey was to be permanently located ir Princeton, the church movement received more favor in Presby- tery. In a meeting of that body hield at Maidenhead, May 27, 1753, application in behalf of Princeton was made "for supplies and for liberty to build a meeting- house." On the 29th of that month the result was expressed in the following minute: "The affair of l'rinceton being considered, the Presbytery do grant liberty to the people of said town to build a meeting- house, and also conclude to allow them supplies."
The Rev. Mr. Davenport and the Rev. Mr. Ken- nedy were directed to supply Princeton with preach- ing for three Sabbaths. From this time Princeton became an ecclesiastical place, and the Presbytery held its meetings here more frequently than in any other place.
Although in 1755 leave had been given to the twople of Princeton to build a church, no definite Mop for executing the work was taken before 1762. The college, old Nassau Hall, which was erected and fit for use in 1757, contained a chapel nearly forty
The Rev. Aaron Burr, the first president of the col- lege after its removal 'to Princeton, was the first the students and the families of the village statedly on every Sabbath. His ministry was short. He came here with his students in November, 1756, and died Sept. 24, 1757. He had been preaching here but a few months when a remarkable revival of religion occurred, both in the college and in the town. It is graphically described in a letter written by the Rev. William Tennent to Dr. Finley, under date of Feb. 27, 1757, published iu the "Log College" and else- where.
The Rev. Jonathan Edwards, the great metaphysi- cian and theologian of the age, was elected to fill the place made vacant by the death of President Burr. He came to Princeton in February, 1758. He preached a few times with great power, and died in March of that year, greatly lamented by the church and by all the schools of learning.
The Rev. Samuel Davies succeeded the great Presi- dent Edwards in July, 1759. He was in the front rank of pulpit orators. It was the privilege of the people of Princeton to sit under the preaching of President Davies for a year and a half. He died on Feb. 4, 1761.
The Rev. Samuel Finley, the successor of presi- dent Davies, was installed president of the college in September, 1761, and preached to a mixed congrega- tion of students and citizens in the chapel, as his pre- decessors had done. But the prosperity of the col- lege and the growth of the village inspired a renewed effort to build a church both for preaching and for college uses on commencement occasions. To accom- plish this object a subscription paper was circulated to raise funds.
The original subscription is in the handwriting of Richard Stockton, afterwards signer of the Declara- tion of Independence, dated 20th of January, 1762, promising money to Rev. Mr. Samuel Finley, presi- dent of the college, for building a Presbyterian Church in Princeton.
The names of the subscribers with the number of pounds given by each are as follows : Richard Stock- ton, one acre of land to set the church on ; Ezekiel Forman, £50; Derrick Longstreet, £50; Job Stock- ton, £25; Newell Forman, $20; Jacob Scudder, £20;
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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY. NEW JERSEY.
Nathan Formau, £10; Thomas Van Dike, £3; Jon- athan Baldwin, £20; Samuel Hornor, £10; Jonathan Sergeant, £10; Richard Patterson, £10; Thomas !
Wiggins, £10; Patrick Barber, £5; Samuel Brunson, £5; Stephen Truesdell, £6; Gilbert Gaw, 23; Thomas Randolph, $10; William Hammell, £6; William Whitehead, £20; Isaac Van Dike. £15; John Schenck, £15; Paul Randolph, 23; Wilson Hunt, £3.
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An agreement was made between the college and the congregation in 1762, stipulating that the church could be built on land of the college, and that the college should advance a loan of seven hundred pounds to aid in building the church, and that college should have certain privileges,-the use of a portion of the gallery for the students and the church for commence- ment.
The church edifice was probably commenced in 1762, on the lot where the present church stands. It was not ready for use till the year 1766, a few months. . before the death of President Finley, who, it is under- stood, preached for a few months in it before he died. It was built with its side and not its end to the street. The pulpit was on the side of the audience-room. There were fifty-seven pews; twenty-three of them were squares around the walls. There were three aisles running in one direction, aud two in another. It was built of brick, with galleries on one side and two ends of the building. In 1792, Dr. Witherspoon erected a large canopy over the pulpit, with ample drapery of dark-colored material hanging about it in festoons, fastened by a large gilded, radiating, star- shaped ornament.
A second great revival of religion in the college and in all the neighborhood around occurred during Dr. Finley's ministry, in the fall of 1762, just after the building of the church was commenced. The Rev. Mr. Whitefield soon after this, in the year 1763, visited Princeton, and spent several days here with President Finley, and preached several times "with much approbation and success," as he relates it.
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President Finley rendered valuable service in pro- curing the erection of the church at Princeton. In the pulpit "he was always solemn, sensible, and sometimes glowing with fervor. His learning was very extensive." " He was remarkable for sweetness of temper and politeness of behavior." He died in July, 1766, while on a visit to Philadelphia. His death was so remarkably triumphant that Dr. Mason wrote an eloquent sermon, contrasting it with the death of Humne.
After the death of Dr. Finley, the Rev. William Tennent filled his place for six months, when the Rev. John Blair, the vice-president of the college, and Professor of Theology, performed the duties of the president till the installation of Presideut With- erspoon, in 1768.
Such was the slow and struggling process of this church, from the little nucleus of Presbyterians who became united in Sabbath worship with the college
in the chapel under the eloquent preaching of Presi- dents Burr, Edwards, Davies, and Finley, and in the two powerful revivals which have been mentioned ; and yet during those years of development there was really no church, no ecclesiastical organization. The Presbytery had, after one refusal at least, given them permission to build a church in 1755, and occasionally sent supplies, but nothing more. There does not ap- pear to have been a session or any organized eldership prior to 1786, yet the Rev. Dr. John Woodhull states that, while at college, he was admitted to the com- munion of the church at Princeton by President Finley in 1763; and the Rev. Dr. S. S. Smith, in his discourse at the funeral of Richard Stockton, the signer, in 1781, said that the deceased was at the time of his death a member of this church. There is no record of the church prior to 1786.
The Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D., who was elected president of the college, came from Scotland to Princeton in 1768, and he assumed the pastorate of the church with the presidency of the college. Dr. Witherspoon was eminent as a theologian, scholar. and preacher. He sustained the relation of pastor to this church for almost twenty-five years. A revival of religion of some power took place in Princeton after he had been preaching here three or four years, and young men then in the college, who afterwards became prominent in the country, shared in that work of grace.
On the 17th of May, 1776,-a day appointed by Congress for a fast, in reference to the state of the country,-Dr. Witherspoon preached a sermon in the church on "the Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men." This sermon was printed and addressed to John Hancock, president of Congress, and widely circulated in this country and in Great Britain. It placed the author prominently before the liberty men as a bold and able advocate of inde- pendence. The Revolutionary war now broke upon the country, and Dr. Witherspoon entered the conn- cils of the State, rendering his services with distin- guished ability. The church was closed, and its distinguished pastor, with Richard Stockton, one of its members, both signed the Declaration of Inde- pendence. The church edifice was occupied by the army of Lord Cornwallis as barracks. The pews and gallery were taken out and burned, and afterwards the American army occupied it till 1781. In 1784 the building was repaired, and worship was resumed under Dr. Witherspoon. Ruling elders were elected, the trustees were incorporated, and a book of minutes was opened in 1786. The first trustees then elected were Richard Longstreet, Maj. Robert Stockton, Maj. Enos Kelsey, Capt. James Moore, Isaac Anderson, Col. William Scudder ; and the ruling elders were Richard Longstreet, James Hamilton, Thomas Black- well, and Capt. John Johnson.
These were the first men in the community, and among the fifty-two who contributed three hundred
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and seventy-five pounds for the repairs of the eburel. Including these, there were others of equal influence and character, such as Elias Woodruff, Jonathan Dean, Thomas Stockton, Aaron Mattison, S. Stan- hope Smith, Col. George Morgan, Capt. John Lit- tle, Isaae Van Dyke, Abram Cruser, Matthew Van Dyke, John Van Dyke, John Sehenck, Jr., Garret health, April 29, 1801. He held several pastorates afterwards, the last being at Sackett's Harbor, where he was greatly blessed in his ministry. He died there suddenly in his chair, having risen that morning in his usual health, without a struggle or a groan, in May, 1845, at the good old age of seventy-eight years. He had expressed a desire to die suddenly when called Schenck, David Hamilton, Christopher Beekman, ; to die. He was a good writer, a faithful pastor, and agreeable in social life.
Samuel Knox, William Millette, Richard Stockton, John Harrison, Maj. Stephen Morford, James Fin- ley, Jacob Hyer, Zebulon Morford. The roll of naines.
Dr. Witherspoon continued to minister in the church till about a year before his death, which oc- curred at Tnseulum, his country-seat, on the 15th day of November, 1794. He became blind, and for a year, while blind, he continued to preach. His name is indelibly stamped npon the history of the Princeton Church, the college, and the country.
After the death of Dr. Witherspoou, as well as for a year or two before, while he was too infirm to preach constantly, the church was supplied by the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, the snceessor and son- in-law of President Witherspoon. He was a very polished and eloquent preacher, and most highly es- teemed in the town as a citizen as well as a minister. President Smith officiated until the congregation ob- tained a pastor. Hitherto the church had no voice in calling a minister. The congregation, both of choice and necessity, had received the ministrations of the college presidents, but the time had now come for a pastor to be elected by the people, and the several pastorates in succession are herein briefly noticed.
The Rev. Samuel Finley Snowden received a call from the congregation on the 14th day of September, 1795. The session, then consisting of Dr. Thomas Wiggins, James Hamilton, and James Finley, mod- erated by Rev. Dr. Smith, put the call in due form, and prosecuted it.
The Rev. Mr. Snowden was a son of Isaac Snow- den, of Philadelphia, who was treasurer of that city before the Revolution, and was at one time a ruling elder in Dr. Sproat's ehureh, and a friend and helper of David Brainerd. He was born Nov. 6, 1776; he graduated at Prineeton; studied law with Thomas Bradford, and afterwards abandoned the law for the ministry, and studied theology in Princeton with Drs. Witherspoon and Smith. He accepted the call, and was ordained pastor of the church Nov. 25, 1795.
There is but little to be gleaned from the records of the church to illustrate its progress during the short pastorate of Mr. Snowden. Only three persons appear to have been admitted to the church on ex- amination during his ministry here, and one of these was connected with the college. Ile was released from his pastoral relation on account of failing
church communieants in 1792 eontained fifty-three . congregation, and served as such from Jan. 1, 1801, to
After Mr. Snowden's resignation, President S. S. Smith was again employed as a stated supply by the Jan. 1, 1804. For three years this church listened again to this eloquent and distinguished preaeher.
In January, 1804, the church extended a call to Rev. Henry Kollock, of Elizabethtown, to become its pastor with a salary of five hundred dollars a year. He was a son of Shepherd Kollock, a widely- known editor and publisher of a newspaper in New Jersey in the days of the Revolution, and was a zeal- ons patriot. Henry Kollock was born Dec. 4, 1778, in Essex County, N. J. He was a bright youth, and graduated at Nassau Hall in 1794 very young. He became tutor in college, and very intimate with Bishop Hobart, who was his contemporary in college. He was licensed to preach in 1800, and his first pulpit efforts attracted unusual attention. While tntor he preached frequently in Princeton, and was very pop- ular. The trustees of the college were anxions to secure his presence and services in Princeton, and, young as he was, they elected him Professor of The- ology, and the church called him to be their pastor at the same time. He accepted the call of the ehureh, and also that of the college, and was installed June 12, 1804. A subscription paper for his salary was signed by one hundred and one persons, and the aggregate of subseriptions, from thirty dollars down to one, amounted to six hundred and sixty-six dol- lars.
Dr. Thomas Wiggins, an elder and trustee of the church, died in 1804, and devised his house and about twenty acres of land in Witherspoon Street to the choreh for the use of the minister. The pastor oceu- pied this new parsonage soon after the death of Dr. Wiggins, and it was occupied by sueeessive pastors till the close of Dr. Rice's ministry in this place in 1847.
Dr. Kollock's ministry in Princeton was prosperous and attractive, but short. After holding his eall less than three years, he resigned it in October, 1806, to aceept a call from the Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Ga. A strong remonstrance was made against his resignation, for he was greatly admired here in all his public services. But he re- moved to Georgia, and died of affection of the heart, at Savannah, Dee. 29, 1819, greatly lamented by all who knew him and loved him. His reputation for eloquence never waned. He received many honors, and the mayor of the city directed the shipping in the
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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
harbor to place their colors at half-mast at his deatlı. A cenotaph has been erected to his memory in the pastor's burial lot in the Princeton Cemetery. Dr. Kolloek published four volumes of sermous.
There was now again a vaeaney in the pastorate of this church till 1810. President Smith again took the principal charge of the congregation and per- formed ministerial duties. The session was increased to eight members in number, ineluding some of the first citizens of Princeton. The trustees were Col. Erkuries Beatty, Capt. James Moore. Richard Stock- : ton, James Hamilton, Dr. Ebenezer Stockton, and Samuel Bayard.
On the 6th of June, 1810, the Rev. William C. Schenck, a son of Joseph Sehenek (a pious farmer in the vicinity of Princeton), who had been edueated in Princeton and had been prcaching for a time as a supply, was ordained and installed as pastor of this church, after having received a call. He was only twenty-two years of age at that time. His ministry continued for nine years, and was greatly blessed. The church grew in numbers and influence. The Theological Seminary was established here in 1812, and the religious interest of Princeton began to as- sumc a new and important aspect in the church under the zealous ministry of Mr. Sehenck. Twenty-two ! new members had been received, when, on the 1st of March, 1813, the church edifice was totally destroyed by fire. The fire originated from hot embers put into a cask in a closet by the sexton. A new building was erected on the same site, and ready for use in June, 1814. It was built as the original one, parallel with the street, but it was differently seated. The pulpit was in semicircular projection at the east end of the building, the doors, as before, at the east and west corners, next to the street, and two large aisles, with pews next to the walls. The debt due for building the church when finished was five thousand four hun- dred dollars. The sale of the pews was made under rules prepared by Rev. Ashbel Green, D.D., then president of the college,
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