USA > New Jersey > Union County > Elizabeth > History of Elizabeth, New Jersey : including the early history of Union County > Part 35
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Three or four weeks only before his decease, David Brai- nerd recommended, to the Commissioners at Boston, his be- loved kinsman, Elihu Spencer, as a missionary to the Six
* Goodwin's Geneal. Notes, p. 203. Hall's Trenton, pp. 208-9. Brainerd's Life of John Brainerd, pp. 25-35. Sprague's Annals, III. 165. Jerusha Brainerd was the mother of Col. Oliver Spencer, at a later day a citizen of this town, of high social position, introduced here, doubtless, by his uncle, the Rev. Elihn Spencer. He married Anna, the 2d daughter of Robert Ogden and Phebe Hatfield, and the sister of the distinguished Robert, Matthias and Aaron Ogden.
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Nations, together with Mr. Job Strong, of Northampton, Mass. They were accordingly appointed, and directed to spend the winter following, with John Brainerd, at Bethel, N. J., among the Christian Indians, the better to become ac- quainted with the manners and customs of the Indians. They came to Brainerd's house, carly in January, 1748, and re- mained until the spring, when they returned to Boston for further instructions. They were then directed to repair to Northampton to pursue their studies with the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, during the summer; and to be present at the Con- ference in Albany, N. Y., July 23, 1748, between the Gov- ernors of N. York and Massachusetts and the Chiefs of the Six Nations ; with which instructions they complied. Ar- rangements were made at this Conference for the reception of missionaries among the Oneidas.
Mr. Spencer, who had probably been licensed by one of the Mass. Associations, returned to Boston, and was there ordained, Sept. 14, 1748, as a Missionary to the Oneidas. Shortly after, he entered upon his missionary work at Ono- hohguaga, [Unadilla], on the Susquehannah River, where he spent the winter. Meeting with many discouragements by reason of the incapacity and unfaithfulness of the interpreter, he returned to Boston, to obtain a better interpreter and a colleague. In the meantime, he was providentially directed to this town, soon after his return, and was employed, about the 1st of May, 1749, as a Stated Supply of the pulpit, and a candidate for settlement .*
At the meeting of the Synod of New York, at Maidenhead, N. J., May 17, 1749, Mr. Spencer was present as a Corre- sponding member, and was appointed, with Messrs. Prime, Davenport and Youngs, to write to the Fairfield County Association, East, to induce them to send ministers to Vir- ginia, in response to an appeal by the Rev. Samuel Davies. This would indicate, that his connection with the Synod, as the prospective pastor of Elizabeth Town, was even then regarded as quite certain. He was in attendance at the
* Edwards' Works, I. 208-70, 274. Brainerd's John Brainerd, p. 143. Hall's Trenton, p. 211. Webster's Presb. Chh., p. 5SS.
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College commencement in New Brunswick, Sept. 27, and had a pleasant time with his kinsman John Brainerd, with whom he spent the evening. Brainerd visited him in this town, on Wednesday, November 8th, and found him enjoy- ing the hospitality of Mr. Samuel Woodruff. Two or three days they spent very lovingly together, and on Saturday, Mr. Spencer went down to Bethel to spend the Sabbath with his old friends, the Christian Indians, and Mr. Brainerd remained here to supply the pulpit on the Sabbath, Nov. 12th .*
As the prospect of returning to his work among the Oneida Indians was not hopeful, a call was extended to him to become the pastor of the Presbyterian church of this town, which he accepted. He was installed by the Presbytery of New York, February 7, 1749-50; of which he made the following record in his family Bible :-
This day was installed E. Spencer, and took the great charge (onus humeris angelorum formidandum) of the ministry in Elizabethtown, ætatis suæ 28. The Lord help me.t
In the Diary of the Rev. John Brainerd, occurs this pas- sage :
Monday, Sept. 25 .- Spent the forenoon at Mr. Eaton's (it being rainy), partly in reading and partly in conversation.}
This was at Shrewsbury, at Eatontown, near the present Long Branch, and about 25 miles East of Bethel near Cran- berry. The village took its name from Mr. Thomas Eaton, who was settled here as early as 1685. It was at the house of John Eaton, the son of Thomas most probably, that Brai- nerd was a welcome guest. And here, quite likely, during the winter that Spencer spent with Brainerd at Bethel, he too enjoyed the hospitality of Mr. Eaton, and first saw and loved his daughter, Joanna, then a blooming girl of 19 years. She became his wife, Oct. 15, 1750. §
Scarcely any memorials remain of his pastoral work in this town. That he was a fluent and attractive preacher is
* Records of Presb. Chh., p. 237. Brainerd's John Brainerd, pp. 187, 218, 9.
+ Hall's Trenton, pp. 211, 2. # John Brainerd, p. 185. § Sprague's Annals, III. 166.
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well attested. That he lived in peace with his congregation is most probable. That he secured the respect of the Gov- ernor and the people generally cannot be questioned. But of the fruits of his ministry, in the absence of the Church- Records, nothing can now be learned. His ministry termi- nated in 1756, about seven years from the time of its com- mencement. It does not appear why he left. It could not have been, because of a call to Jamaica, L. I. ; for his work there seems not to have commenced until May 22, 1758, at which time, as appears from the Records of the Synod of New York, he was expecting an appointment as Chaplain of the New York forces .*
After leaving this town, he supplied the Presbyterian church of Jamaica, L. I., and Shrewsbury, N. J .; after which he became pastor, first, of St. George's, Delaware, and then of Trenton and Maidenhead, N. J., where he continued until his death, Dec. 27, 1784. In 1782, he was honored, by the University of Pennsylvania, with the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. He was buried at Trenton, and a mon- umental stone was placed over his remains, with the follow- ing inscription, commemorating as well the virtues of his spouse :
Beneath this stone lies the body of the Rev. ELIHU SPENGER, D. D., Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, and one of the Trustees of the College of New Jersey, who departed this life on the twenty- seventh of December, 1784, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.
Possessed of fine genius, of great vivacity, of eminent and active piety, his merits as a minister and as a man stand above the reach of flattery.
Having long edified the Church by his talents and example, and finished his course with joy, he fell asleep full of faith, and waiting for the hope of all saints.
Mrs. JOANNA SPENCER,
Relict of the above, died November 1st, 1791, aged sixty-three years.
From her many virtues she lived beloved, and died lamented. The cheerful patience with which she bore a painful and tedious disease threw a lustre on the last scenes of her life, and evinces that with true piety death loses its terrors.t
* Records, P. Chh., p. 253. McDonald's Jamaica, p. 176.
t Hall's Trenton, pp. 215-223, 278, 257-S. Sprague's Annals, III. 167-8.
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Their adult children were one son and seven daughters ; one or two sons having died in infancy.
1. John, graduated, 1784, at the College of New Jersey, practised law, married, and died, leaving several children.
2. A daughter, who died unmarried.
3. Sarah, born, 1756, married Stephen Lowrey, a Mary- land merchant, and died, May 1780, at Trenton, N. J., leav- ing at least one daughter.
4. Margaret, married, as early as 1778, Jonathan Dickin- son Sergeant (grandson of President Dickinson), an eminent jurist, and member of Congress, who was born at Newark, N. J., in 1746, graduated at the College of New Jersey, in 1762, studied law with Richard Stockton, Princeton, N. J., and died at Philadelphia, in 1793. Of their children were, (1.) the Hon. John Sergeant, born in 1779, graduated, C. N. J., 1795, an eminent lawyer, and a distinguished statesman, who died at Philadelphia, Nov. 23, 1852 ; (2.) Hon. Thomas Sergeant, who graduated, C. N. J., 1798, became Chief Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and died in 1860; (3.) Sarah, married, 1801, to Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D., of New York, and had ten children, of whom the eldest became the wife of the Rev. John Breckinridge, D.D., two of the sons became ministers of the gospel, one a surgeon in the Navy, and one a lawyer.
5. Elizabeth married George Merchant, who graduated, C. N. J., 1779, became a distinguished classical teacher, and left several children.
6. Valeria married Richard Fullerton, a broker of Phila- delphia, and left no children.
7. Lydia married Wm. M. Biddle, broker, of Philadelphia, and had several children. She outlived all her father's family.
8. A daughter, who died unmarried .*
REV. ABRAHAM KETELTAS.
Shortly after the departure of Mr. Spencer, the pulpit of the First Presbyterian church was supplied by Mr. Abraham
* Sprague's Annals, III. 169.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
Keteltas. He was the son of Abraham Keteltas, a well- known merchant of New York City, who emigrated thither from Holland at the close of the seventeenth century. The son was born at New York, December 26, 1732. In his youth he resided, a considerable time, among the Huguenots at New Rochelle, N. Y., and thus acquired a great familiarity with the French language. He was educated at Yale College, where he graduated in the class of 1752, with the Rev. Drs. Josiah Whitney and Elizur Goodrich. He received license to preach, Aug. 23, 1756, from the Fairfield East Association of Congregational Ministers, and, at the close of the winter, or early in the spring following, began to preach in the First Presbyterian church of this town. The Account Book of the Trustees shows that he was paid, on Monday, May 23, 1757, the sum of £19. 10. 0. for preaching ; as he was to receive £1. 10. 0. per Sabbath, this would indicate that he had al- ready preached 13 Sabbaths, and that he must have come here as early as Feb. 22, 1757. Another entry in the same book tells where he lived:
July 5, 1757, then paid to the widow Ross for Mr Kettletas Board £4. 10. 0 .*
This was, doubtless, the widow of Judge John Ross, of whose death, Aug. 7, 1754, notice has already been taken.
Mr. Keteltas, having preached as a candidate for six months, to the acceptance of the people, received a call to the Pastorate, on a salary of £130 " Lite Money," per year, and was ordained Pastor of the congregation, on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 1757, by the Presbytery of New York-just a fort- night after the decease of Gov. Belcher. He was, at the time, in the 25th year of his age.t
Previous to his licensure, he had been married, Oct. 22, 1755, to Sarah, the third daughter of the Hon. William Smith, member of the Council, and Judge of the Court of King's Bench. She was born in 1732, four years after her brother William, the historian. Mr. Keteltas and his wife both occu-
* Thompson's L. Isld., II. 111. Ecc. Con-
t Trustees' Book of Pres. Chh. tributions to the Ecc. Ilis. of Ct., p. 300.
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pied a high social position, consorting with the most dis- tinguished families of the two provinces .*
The accounts of the Treasurer of the congregation, Samuel Woodruff, show, that the salary of Mr. Keteltas was paid by regular weekly contributions on the Sabbath, averaging, for the years 1758 and 9, about £2. 16. 0. each Sabbath. They, also, show, that, in the spring of 1759, the belfry of the church was provided with a public clock, probably for the first time,-the handiwork, doubtless, of Aaron Miller, who, as has been seen, had established himself in the town, as a clock-maker. At whose expense it was provided, is left to conjecture ; as no charge for it is found in the Treasurer's accounts. It had but one face, for the making and painting of which, were paid to Mr. Ball, carpenter, and Joseph Woodruff, painter, £10. 6. 9. Mr. Abraham Woodruff was paid, £1, 8. 9. for " a clock rope."
The same old Account Book tells other tales. Repeatedly the charge is made-"To 1 quart of rum 1/4;" supplied to the men repairing the old church : "June 24, 1758 ; 2 quarts of rum @ 2/8 for ye people to pry up the sleepers :" from which it would appear, that the floor of the old edifice had be- gun very seriously to feel the effects of age. "June 18, 1759, paid David meeker Riding to Collect mr Spencer Arrerejes, £0. 5. 0." Mr. Spencer's account was not settled until May 21, 1760. Abraham Woodruff was paid 6s " for Rideing one Day to Collect yn the Scribtion."
At a later date, Sept. 10, 1760, occurs the following :
To Cash for highering a man Calling the Deakens and Elders a Bout m™ Ketteltass, £0. 2. 0.
Also, Sept. 17, the following :
Paid Thomas Woodruff for himself & Expences to Prince Town & shewing a hors for to cary Letter to ye pressbetiry, £1. 0. 8.
The ministry of Mr. Keteltas continued nearly three and a half years, terminating with the month of July, 1760. The meeting of the Elders and Deacons noticed above had respect
* N. York Marriages, p. 212.
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ELIZABETHI, NEW JERSEY.
401
to the dissolution of the pastoral relation ; as, also, the re- quest to the Presbytery, for their concurrence.
Something had appeared in the conduct of Mr. Keteltas, that led the Presbytery, in dissolving the pastoral relation, to pass a vote of admonition very much like a censure ; of which Mr. K. complained to the Synod, at their next meet- ing, in Philadelphia, May 23, 1761. The action taken was so mild and so carefully expressed, that nothing can be learned of the nature of the offence. It could not have been regarded as very flagrant, or the Presbytery and Synod would not have passed it over so lightly. He soon after withdrew from the Presbytery .*
Leaving this town, after a short stay in New York, he took up his abode, at the close of the year 1760, at Jamaica, L. I., where, for the most part, he continued to live, during the remainder of his life, preaching as occasion offered, but with- out a pastoral charge. His familiarity with both the Dutch and French languages, as well as the English, made him a welcome preacher among the Dutch and French in and about New York. Certificates, dated, April 14, 1769, and Oct. 6, 1775, are on record, in which he signs his name as " minister of the French Protestant church of New York." A Charity sermon, which he preached in the same church, Dec. 27, 1773, was published, by James Rivington, in 1774, the preface being dated at Jamaica, Feb. 25, 1774.+
In the political contests of the day he took a deep interest, espousing heartily, and advocating warmly, his country's Cause, against the British Government. In March, 1768, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Assembly of N. York. He was appointed, by his townsmen, Dec. 6, 1774, Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence and Observation. He was, also, elected a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1777 ; and, by his political essays and patriotic efforts, made himself so obnoxious to the enemy, and the Tories of Long Island, that, after the battle of Flatbush, Aug. 27, 1776, he was obliged to seek refuge in New England, until the close of the contest, leaving his property to be occupied, and
* Records, Presb. Chh., pp. 311, 2, 6, 333.
+ Cal. of N. Y. His. Mss., Eng., pp. 175, 834.
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greatly injured, by the British. He supplied the pulpit of the First Presbyterian church of Newburyport, Mass. for a season ; also of the Congregational church of New Fairfield, Ct., in 1782, and, probably, was frequently called upon to preach among the Ct. churches, during the period of his exile .*
His last days were passed in peace, in the midst of his family and friends at Jamaica. In the grave-yard of the First Presbyterian church there, a memorial tablet makes the following record :-
Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Abraham Kettletas, Obt. 30th Sept. 1798, A. E. 65 years, 9 mos. and 4 days. He possessed unusual talents, that were improved by profound erudition, and a heart firmly attached to the interests of his country. His mind was early impressed with a sense of religion, which fully manifested itself in the choice of the sacred office, in which he shone as the able and faithful divine. It may not perhaps be unworthy of record in this inscription, that he frequently offi- ciated in three different languages, having preached in the Dutch and French Churches in his native city of New York.
Rest from thy labors now thy work is o'er : Since Death is vanquished, now free grace adore ; A crown of glory sure awaits the just,
Who served their God, and in their Saviour trust.
His children were Jane (1st), Mary, Jane (2d), Sarah, Abraham, William, John, Elizabeth Scott, Ann, Philip Dod- dridge, and Clarissa. Sarah married John Fish, of Newtown, L. I., who was, subsequently, a merchant of New York, whence he removed to Tarrytown, N. Y., where he died in' 1807. Ann married, in 1799, Thomas Hackett, who had come, in 1794, from Holland. She was the mother of James Henry Hackett, the actor, who was born, March 15, 1800. William died suddenly, Nov. 19, 1812. Clarissa was never married. She died, greatly lamented, July 21, 1810. Jane, the first born, died in infancy. On the occasion of her death, the father composed fifteen stanzas of elegiac poetry, which are still extant.t
* Prime's L. Isld., pp. 318, 9. Onderdonk's Queens Co., pp. 33, 40. McDonald's Jamaica, pp. 191, 2, 3. Contrib. to the Ecc. His. of Ct., pp. 434, 521.
t Alden's Epitaphs, IV. 180-5. Thompson's Long Island, II. 111-3. Riker's Newtown, p. 368. ,
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ELIZABETHI, NEW JERSEY.
CHAPTER XIX.
A. D. 1764-1776.
Retrenchments at Funerals - Death of Alderman Thos. Clark - Non-Importation Leagues - Patriotism of the Town-Stamp Act-Gen. Congress - Robert Ogden, Speaker of N. J. Congress, resigns his seat -Steplien Crane succeeds him - Opposition to Stamp Act-Its Repeal -Non-Importation Leagues revived -County Meeting at E. T. - Patriotic Action - British Regulars quartered here - "Boston Tea Party "- Boston Port Bill -Great Indigna- tion everywhere- Principal Patriots of the Town - Lines drawn - County Meeting at Newark -Town Meeting - Congress sustained - Committee of Safety -- Non-Intercourse with Staten Island -Exciting Affair -Case of the Beulah -Sheriff Barnet implicated - Battle of Lexington - Uprising of the People - Aaron Burr and Matt. Ogden -General Congress- Gen. Washing- ton, Com. in Chief -- Battle of Bunker-Hill -Powder sent from E. T. to the Am. Army - Mrs. Washington at E. T. - Earl of Stirling in command here - Capture of the ship Blue Mountain Valley - Names of the Captors - Military Officers -- Military Preparations -Fortifications at the Point - Washington and the Am. Army at N. Y. - Appearance of the Town in 1776.
THE opening of the second century of the town's history found the people in a state of great agitation and apprehen- sion. The following incidents will serve to introduce the whole subject. They are taken from the current news of the day :-
December 24, 1764: We hear from Elizabethi-Town, that upon the 29th of last Month, near fifty Heads of the principal families, in and about that Place, entered into an Engagement to retrench the present usual and un- necessary Expenses of Funerals and Mourning, as the giving of Scarfs, Gloves, and Liquor at Funerals, and wearing black Apparel as Mourning, nothing but a black Crape round the Arm being allowed for the Future.
Elizabeth-Town, September 14, 1765. On Wednesday evening last, [11th], died here after a severe illness, THOMAS CLARK, Esq., one of the judges of the county court; who has been unanimously elected a magistrate in this Corporation, ever since we had a Charter ; and Friday
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was decently buried, in the plain manner, by his own directions, accord- ing to the new mode-none of his relations or friends appearing in mourn- ing, though he was universally lamented by all who knew him, as he left the character of an honest man. We flatter ourselves that this laudable example, so very seasonably set by people of fortune, will be imitated by all ; especially by those in slender circumstances, (no liquor was given at the funeral) .*
Mr. Clark was one of the first Aldermen of the Borough, father of the Signer, Abraham Clark, and a man of great personal worth. He was, also, an eminent patriot, and had entered heartily into the agreement of the previous Novem- ber. It was customary, in those days, at the funeral of respectable persons, to distribute gloves, scarfs and badges . of crape, by the dozens, with liquors in great abundance for all comers. Mourning-rings were, also, given, in the case of wealthy persons. The expense was often so considerable, as to impose great burdens on the surviving members of the family. It was not everybody that could afford to die and be buried according to the prevailing custom.t
The principle of taxation without representation, so per- sistently maintained at this period by the British ministry, and so resolutely opposed by the colonies, nowhere met with more determined opposition than in the English towns of East Jersey. Descended from an ancestry of Puritan origin and principles, they had cherished those principles, from generation to generation, with jealous care, and kept themselves in full sympathy with their New England breth- ren. The love of civil and religious liberty, and the hatred of despotism, they had inherited as almost their only birthright. Their fathers had fled from bitter persecution at home, and the story of their wrongs had sunk deep into the hearts of the children of the exiles. These wrongs were associated with the British monarchy ; and the only knowledge which
* N. Y. Mercury, No. 687. Barber's His. Coll. of N. J., p. 48. Holt's N. Y. Journal. No. 1185.
t Whitehead's Amboy, pp. 89, 145. Watson's Annals of N. Y., pp. 308, 9. Ind. Re- flector, No. 29. The Old Merchants of N. Y. City, III. 263-4. At the funeral of Philip Livingston, Esq., of New York, £500 were expended for the occasion of his burial. His son, Gov. Wm. Livingston, (afterwards, and for many years, a resident of this town), made an appeal to the public, as early as June, 1753, in favor of putting an end to this kind of extravagance.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
the second and third generations of these colonists had, of that monarchy, was of injury and wrong. They were far removed from the pomp and circumstance of courts, sur- rounded everywhere by staunch republicans, and accustomed always to institutions, in church and state, thoroughly demo- cratic. The ties that bound them to the throne were of the slenderest kind, and were constantly losing strength. These constituted the great majority of the people of these towns.
But, in addition to all this, a fundamental principle of the Constitution, under which they and their fathers had been born and nurtured, was perfectly identical with that which the British government were now seeking to overthrow. It was provided, by the " Concessions " of Berkeley and Car- teret, in respect to the Governor and Council, that-
They are not to impose, nor suffer to be imposed, any tax, custom, subsidy, tallage, assessment, or any other duty whatsoever, upon any colour or pretence, upon the said province and inhabitants thereof, other than what shall be imposed by the Authority and consent of the General Assembly, and then only in manner as aforesaid .*
In all periods of their history, under the Proprietary Gov- ernment, and under the Crown, the people of New Jersey, both East and West, had resolutely and consistently guarded this natural and covenanted right, and refused all induce- ments to part with this corner-stone of their free institutions.
Still further : the people of this town, as has been shown in this history, had, as early as 1670, or almost from the very first settlement of the place, been brought into conflict with the Proprietary government, in respect to the validity of the titles to their homesteads and plantations. In this con- flict, continued now for more than fourscore years, they had been thrown very much upon their own resources; had been compelled to make common cause, one with another, as Asso- ciates, and in their municipal capacity, in defence of their vested and inalienable rights ; had been educated and thor- oughly disciplined, to resist everything like oppression, and to maintain their right to all the blessings of civil and re- ligious liberty. That portion, therefore, of the people of the
* Smith's N. J., p. 517. Leaming and Spieer, p. 20.
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town, who held their lands by the Indian purchase, and were leagued together to defend themselves against the plaintiffs in the now celebrated "Bill in Chancery," could be safely relied upon to embark, heart and soul, in the wider conflict that was now opening, for the defence of American liberties. For the same reason, it might be anticipated, that not a few of those, to whom, in these land-conflicts, they had been op- posed, would be disposed to take sides with the monarchical party, and cast in their lot with the defenders of the royal prerogative. It was scarcely possible, after the experience of the previous twenty years, for the two parties in the town to act together on the broader field of American politics. Unanimity in regard to the question of resistance to the arbitrary measures of Parliament was not to be expected, and was not attained. It was not every one, moreover, however patriotic, that had the moral courage requisite, or the strength of nerve demanded, for times so fitted to try men's souls.
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