History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 52

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 52
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 52

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The following names were subscribed to 'a promise to pay into the trustees of the Presbyterian Society of Bloomfield, for the purpose of hiring a minister to preach the gospel for six months," with the date appended "Cranetown. April 13, 1797, give the principal citizens among the Puritan population at that time :

Oliveri'mity

Widow thorens Williams.

William t'rune

Widow Suminun I'nifr Tol. I'mRe. losar Tompıkılın.

Inhh R ker.

Samuel Michroney

Samuel Ward John Vincent.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

N ih Prate Jr

Fhakim ( raHe

Vah t'rane

Elizabeth Rouz .

Phele Dod.

Thomas Fur .r.

James Gube Jr

William Holmes.

Я корь ('гале. John Ballwını. Na haniel Dod

Daniel Ougheltter

Levi Vincent.

Cornelius Vincent

laraet t'rane.

John smith

aleb Martin.

Henry Shoemake

Aar ne'rane.

John Fry

Reuben Doil.

Widow Jane Crane.

lewis Baldwin

Zadok Crate

Natbani 1 Crane

Samuel Tichenor.

Tuac Mitchell.

Peter Day's.

Bonjan in fran >

Matthew Did

In the original parchment subscription for building the church, in 1796, among the principal subscribers are Eleazer Crane for $40, Joseph ('rane for £60, Jo- seph Crane for £20, Oliver t'rane for $25, William Crane for £22, Stephen Fordham for $45, Aaron Crane for £90, Caleb Martin for £12, Gideon t'rane for $14, and Nathaniel and Israel Crane each for £100, Many Cranetown names also appear on the additional subscription in 1798 "for the use of the meeting-house." Some sixteen of the names on this subscription are of Holland extraction. Nearly three- fourths of the original members of the Bloomfield Church came from the Orange Church. Among the ellers and deacons at the organization of the church was Joseph Crane, who had been an older from 1794- 95 in the Orange Church. The other early elders from the western part of the town were Israel Crane and Oliver Crane from 1805, David Taylor and Na- thaniet C'rane from 1812, and Matthias Smith and Elias B. Crane.

The pastors under whom the people of West Bloom- field las the place afterwards began to be called ) wor- shiped were the Rev. Abel Jackson, 1800-10; Rev. Cyrus (riklersleeve, 1812-IS; Rev. Gideon N. Judd, 1/20-34; Rev. Ebenezer Seymour, from 1834 until their own church was organized.

The Reformed Dutch Church of Stone House Plain was organized at the beginning of the century. As the Puritans had had two churches on the south vat Newark and Orange), so the Hollanders had had two churches on the north and east (at Acquaekanonek and Second River). Dutch zeal was not behind the Puritan zeal in catechetieal instruction and in mis- sionary appointments for preaching. We must, there- fore, believe that the sermon and the catechism were at the Speertown school-house before the formal church organization. The congregation was gathered by the Rev. Peter Stryker, pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church at Second River. The church was organized under the direction of the t'lasis of Bergen in 1x01. The first church edifice was erected in 1802. Mr. stryker became the pastor, having both churches in his care. The Rov. Staats Van Santvoord seems to have succeeded him as pastor of the two churches, and the two churches continued together till 1826. The pastors down to the time of the organization of the township of Mont jair were Rev. John G. Tarbell.

1827-2>; Rev. Alexander G. Hillman, 1837-4] ; Rev. Eben S. Hammond, 1812 44 ; Rev. William Thompson, 1845-46; Rev. Robert A. Quin, 1847-49; Rev. John A. Liddell, 1849-50; Rev. John Wiseman, 1851-52 ; Rev. Peter S. Talmage, 1853-65; and the Rev. Ben- jamin 1. Statesir, 1865-72. Under Mr. Talmage's pastorate the present edifice built of freestone and ten feet longer than the first, was erected in 1857 on the old site. The spire was completed in 1860-61.

The division of the township, in 1868, left this church edifice within the township of Bloomfield, and an im- portant part of its parish within the township of Mont- clair. The Holland population, therefore, have con- tinued largely under the recent pastor, Rev. John Kershaw, 1873-82, and the present pastor, the Rev. William G. E. See.

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH of Montclair was organized in 1838, as a strong colony from the Bloom- field Church. For some time previously it had been the custom of the Bloomfield Church to divide the service in the winter-time, the morning service being held in Bloomfield and the afternoon service in West Bloomfield. The place of meeting was the room in the second story of the public school building, on a site just in front of the present church.

Maj. Nathaniel Crane, an elder in the Bloomfield Church, left a bequest at his death, in 1833. designed to assist in establishing a new organization. He directed that the residue of his estate, valued at about ten thousand dollars, should be invested for the sup- port of a church in West Bloomfield, whenever that portion of the parish should form a separate congre- gation and erect a church edifice. The propriety of such an organization was considered at a meeting on the 17th of August, 1>37. On the 31st of the month the new parish was created. "The West Bloomfield Society " was taken as the title. The trustees were Zenas S. Crane, Cyrus Pierson, Jared E. Harrison, Reuben D. Baldwin, James Crane and William Smith.

The school building was purchased and enlarged. The main audience-room was placed on the second Hoor, the lecture-room and the pastor's study on the first floor ; and columns stood in front before the open vestibule. The building was dedicated and the church organized on the 9th of August, 1838, the churches of Orange and Bloomfield being represented by their pastors, Rev. Asa Hillyer, D.D., and Rev. Ebenezer Seymour. Sixty six of the members came from the church in Bloomfield, two cach from the churches of Callwell and Succasunna Plains, and one from the First t'hurch of Orange. The two elders, Matthias Smith and Elias B. Crane, came also as officers from the Bloomfield Church.

The first pastor, then fresh from the seminary, was Rev. Samuel W. Fisher, D.D., who continued pastor from 1839 1o 1843, and was afterwards pastor at Albany, N. Y., Cincinnati, Ohio, president of Hamil- ton College, New York, and pastor at I'tica N. Y.

MONTELAIR TOWNSHIP

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The later pastor have been Key Nathaniel E. John- Mon, 1848-41; Rev. Varon (. Adams, 1:45-51. Rev. Job F' Halsey, D. D., 1552 56; Rev Silas Billings, a stated supply of the pulpit, 1866 08; Rev .Josiah .V. Priest, D. D., 1858; Rev. Nelson Millard. D.D., and Rev. Romeyn Berry, D. D.

Under the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Habsey the present church edifice was created, at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars, and was dedicated in 1856. It has since been much improved, especially by the addition of side galleries. The bell wa the gift of Miss Mary t'rane, the mece of Maj Nathaniel Crane, who had made the like graceful rift to the Bloomticht Church.

The parsonage lot was a legacy from Nathaniel 11. Baldwin, 'The property of the school district, con- sisting of the lot anl building in the rear of the church, was purchased in 1son and converted into a lecture-room. During the present year this building has been displaced by a handsome stone chapel ar- ranged for all the social and Sunday school purposes of the church

The MrrHopist EpiscoPAL CHE Ron of Montelair was an outgrowth from that at Bloomfield, as the pastoor at the time of this transition.

Bloomfield Church was from that of Belleville. More properly, the three churches were on ene wide circuit, aud churches at Belleville, Bloomfield, Montclair and Orange were organized in order. The Bloomfield Church worshiped probably for some years before 1×20 in the house of Mrs. Naomi Cockefair, north of the Morris neighborhood, and a small stone church was erected just above Bay Lane, near the Coit house, in 1822 Meeting+ were held in the western part of the town, about 1517, at Joel Crane's house, across the turnpike from where Leist's Hotel now stands. " Woods meeting-" were also held south of the Joel Crane house at about the same time. During the year 1-27 the ladies Wilde family came from Saddleworth, Lancashire, England, to West Bloom- field, and established a woolen manufactory in the Jurael Crane mill. This manufactory continued in various forms the production of blue broadcloths. printed shawls, flannels and cotton prints until 1839 or later, and the Wilde establishment became an in- portant element in the church. During the carly years Rev. Isaae Winner, who supplied the circuit, organized a church in Orange, in which Henry Wilde, of West Bloomfield, was a trustee. The ST. LUKE'S PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH WAS organized in 1546. Mr. John Wilde and the other portion of the James Wilde family, who were early connected with the Church of England, were largely interested in the organization. A small wooden cli- fice was first erected. The location, which proved unfortunate, was in the rear of a deep lot, which fronted the turnpike. Wildes wereoriginally Church of England people, it the second Mrs. Wilde had become a Wesleyan in England. The carlier portion of the Wilde family therefore gave assistance in the organization of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, but the latter portion sup- posted the Methodist organization. Many of the work .people in the mill came from the vicinity of Saddleworth, and were Wesleyan- The strength, Services were held with more or less regularity until May 28, 1558, when it was decided to re- organize, and a vestry was elected. There was still, however, no settled pastor until June, Isto, when Res. therefore, of the Methodist Church in the town was transferred to the vicinity of the factories. Washington School-house was created on a lot previously purchased in 1-25 for twenty -five dollars. The children of those George R. Day's became the rector The first

@ployed in the mill were taught on Sunday, -pr ling, rerling and writing, as well as the Scriptures. John Relelife was the superintendent. Gorbine Dor mus become active and efficient. The house was full of parents and chileren, and preaching services were held. The name of IMmund S. Janes, afterward- a bishop in the church, appears for the year 1523 as care of the preachers for the Bloomfield stations. James Wille gave a lot lor a church the lot on which the colored Methodist Church now stand --- before his deati in 1535. The charen edifice was erected ie 1836. Rev Watters Burrows was the pastor : t the time and also out of the trustees. A parsonage was also created. After the influence of the Wildes was withdrawn, on account of their removal from the town, the sowiety continued to increase.

The - wiety in the C'oit neighborh and ha I now become only a class. An union was therefore made of the remaining portion at the little Cuit Church and a portion of the West Bloomfield Society, and in 1863 the united body erected a new edifice facing the common in Bloomfield. Rev. G. R. Snyder was the

The WEST BLOOMFIELD METHODIST EPISCOPAL. C'Et Ren became a separate congregation in 1827. The present church was built in 1879. It is on the west side of Fullerton Avenue, north of Bloomfield Avenue and is a handsome wooden structure The valuation of the church property is thirty thousand dollars. The old edifice was vacated after the last meeting held on Sunday evening, Dec. 7. 1579. The new edifice was dedicated on December 14th, the dedication services being conducted by the Rev. J. F. Hurst, D. D., and Chaplain Met'abe. An ample par- sonage adjoining the church lot was completed and occupied in November, Issl.

The pastor- since 1565 have been Rev. Jeremiah Tomens, 1865-67; Rev. Jesse Lyman Herbert, 1987- 69; Rev. Thompson H. Landon, 1569-72; Rev. James 1. Ayars, 1572-74; Rev. George W. Smith, 1874-77; Rev. Jonathan K. Burr, 1877-75; Rev. James J. Boswell, 1579-80; Rev. John T. Reed, 1550->] ; Rev. John Crawford, 1881-84. Rev. Morris D. Church, Isst.

The old church edifice has been occupied by the colored Methodists.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

wardens were Owen Doremus. C. St. John Seymour: Vestrymen, Dr. R. F. Brown, Richard Naylor, William H. Ashley. A. W. Crittenden, George N. Wright. Mr. Davis remained with the parish for two years. when the church was again without a regular pastor for the same space of time. In 1902 the Rev. Mr. Crystal was inducted rector. During his pastorate the present stone edifice was commenced in 1866. The lots on which the church was built (about two acres were the gift of Robert M. Hening. The Rev. J. L. Maxwell has been pastor since June, 1869. The new edifice was completed and opened for wor- ship on Easter Sunday, April 17, 1870. The cost of the church was thirty-five thousand dollars.

THE CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION (Roman Catholic) is an outgrowth from Belleville. The Rev. John Hogan, pastor of St. Peter's Church, Belleville, visited West Bloomfield as one of his stations, and about 1-56 the edifice was erected. It is located on Washington Street. It continued nu- der the care of the Belleville pastor till 1864. The Rev. Titu- Joslyn, the first resident pastor, came to the congregation on February 6th of that year. Ile was born a Protestant, in Schenectady, N. Y .. and was educated in Union College, under the care of his father, Professor Joslyn, of that college. His parents removed to New York in 18-3, where he was baptized by Bishop Hughes, June 16. 1545. Hle entered St. Joseph's Seminary. under the Jesuits. in 1×47, was ordained priest in St. Patrick's Cathedral. in New York, March 13, 1-52, apel labored under the direction of Archbishop Hughes till he came to the parish,-West Bloomfield. He remained pas- tor for over ten years, till Sept. 5. 1871. Under his direction the church was enlarged, in 1866 the tower built, and one-half of the present property purchased. The parish included the Roman Catholic population of d'aldwell, Bloot field and Watsessing.

The Rev. A MI. Streets succeeded Mr. Joslyn as pastor from Sept. 5, 15,4, to March 18, 1879. During his pastorate the new rectory, at the corner of Elo and Fulton Streets, was built in 1576.

In the year 1575 the Church of the Sacred Heart was organized in Bloomfield a- a colony from the Montelair Church.

Rev. Joseph F. Mendel has been the pastor since 1879. During his pastorate the parochial school leis been organized,-in Iss1. It has five Sisters of ('har- ity as teachers, and an average daily attendance of two hundred and thirty pupils. The property of Ber- nard Wallace was also purchased for the church in Iss]. The Rev. Walter Purcell has been appointed assistant pastor, and has under his care the Catholic people of Verona and Caldwell. The value of the church property is twenty-five thousand dollars.

THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL, CHURCH OF CHRIST in Montelair had its organization in Isto. A consulta- tion in respect to the desirability of such an organi- tion was held the year before, on the 18th of Decem-

ber. at the house of Mr. J. B. Beadle and a committee on organization was appointed. The society was organized on the 29th of January, 1870, when Samuel Holmes, Joseph B. Beadle, Charles II. Johnson, Edward Sweet, Samuel Wilde, Jr., and Julius II. Pratt were elected trustees. The ecclesiastical organ- ization was made on the 29th of May, at the residence of Mr. Beadle, when the Articles of Faith were accepted and sixty-four persons entered into the church covenant. Samnel Holmes, Joseph B. Beadle, James B. Pearson and David B. Hurd were elected deacons. The Rev. Leonard Bacon, D.D., of New Ilaven. Conu., preached the first sermon in a public hall tastefully furnished for public worship, and the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches held an union service in the afternoon. The formal recogni- tion by the fellowship of the churches was on the sth of June, when the Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, I. D .. preached the sermon. The present and only pastor, the Rev. A. 11. Bradford, D.D., was ordained and installed on the 25th day of September of the same year. A church edifice and lecture-room, with a pastor's study and every appliance for social and religious uses, were dedicated in 1873. The church is situated at the corner of Fullerton Avenue and Plymouth Street, and can seat seven hundred persons. A parsonage has since been erected.

THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY of Montelair was or- ganized in October, 1×65, and had a member-hip of from thirty to forty members. For some two years the pulpit was supplied by clergymen of other I'ni- tarian societies. The Rev. J. B. Harrison became the pastor in Is70, and continued in that service until 1-73. From that year Mr. John A. bellows conducted for some time the religious services of the society.

THE CHRISTIAN I'NION CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH of Upper Montclair completed it organization on April 13, 1882. The first deacons were Winskw Amer and Henry II. Hall. The society, under the name of " The Christian I'nion," was organized Feb. 25. 1881, Thomas H. Bird, John R. Anderson, George A. Gates, Winslow Amer and A. Eben Van Gicson being the trustces.

The origin of the religious movement which re- sulted in this church was as early as 1816-17. The Rev. Enos A. Osborn, then a theological student in the Bloomfield Academy, opened a Sunday-school in the neighborhood. It was held at first in a barn, afterwards in private houses. It was afterwar Is removed to the Reformed Dutch Church at Stone House Plain ; it was brought back again to the Speer Neighborhood, as Upper Montelair was then called, and hell inthe school-house. In later years it hadgrown to be the custom to have a preaching service after the afternoon Sunday -school, whenever a preacher could be obtained. Members of the Presbyterian Church of Montclair united with the neighborhood in maintaining the Sunday-school and the service. A

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MONTELAIR TOWNSHIP.

handsome stone chapel, called the t'hittade t'hapel. was completed in 1880 at the corner of the Valley road and Belleville Avenue.

A difference of opinion, however, in respect to vedle- sia-tical connection resulted in the disuse of the Chilide t'hapel and in the erection of another chapel, dedicated on April 13, 1382, in which the present society worships. The edifice is a frame building, in two rooms, capable of being used as one, with seats for about three hundred persons. The cost of the property is about ten thousand dollars.

The first and only pastor is the Rev. George V. Gates, who was ordained and installed on the 13th of April, 1582.

Education .- Little is known of the history of the « hools before the time of the Revolution. On the testimony of the most authentic tradition, and with- out the certainty of records or inscriptions, the first school-house was erected at about the year 1740. The same school-house is varionaly remembered asexisting near the end of that century, and until 1812. It stood at the junction of the Orange and Bloomfield und upper Valley branches of the old road mouth of the present High School building, where the plumbers' shop now stands on land owned by Mr. Allison. It was a one-story building, built of stone, low and rude in structure, twenty-six feet long and eighteen feet broad. It faced the east, and the curve in the road was then such that it looked down the street. . \ large fire-place was in the southwest corner of the building; flat desks or tables were placed around the sides of the room, with benches at the walls, the seats being slabs with the bark side down. At the south and was an oblong platform two steps in height. which was called "the rostrum." In the centre of this platform was a trap-door, through which mis- chievous John Allen and others about 150; or INN. were let down into a little dungeon, and asked by the equally mischievous teacher, " What do you see?" There was no rellar. The earliest trachers now known and occupying the rostrum probably in the list cen- tury were Inae Watts Crane, well known afterwards, and Hugh Thompson.

Rev. Jedediah Chapman, the pastor from Orange. cate every two weeks to catechise the children. The venerable clergyman wore the cocked hat and was mounted on his horse, and master and school stood in tile uncovered by the roadside until he had entered.

Dr. Gruet, Mr. Tracy, Mr. Smith, Mr. Hiuman and Mr. Norton were teachers in this school house. One octogenarian remembers, with a lively sensibility which penetrated the fourscore years, the spirit of the Scotch-Irish Tracy and the cruel suitability of the weeping-willow to its stroke of discipline.

Gideon Wheeler was the last teacher in th's anti- quated structure. He took his school through a summer course in a blacksmith-shop down the cast- wird road while the old walls were being moved to a new building, in 1812.

The next period of the ~ had hist irs is that during which the school was located on the present lot of the Presbyterian Church. This period extended from 1×12 to 1800. There were two school-houses on the church lot, one twostories in height, twenty-two by forty foot in size, the second story of which was used for religious meetings, and standing about fitty feet in front of the present church; the other a stone building of one story, which stood on the site of the present chapel. The first of these two remained a school-house until 13%, when it was purchased by the newly organized church, was enlarged and reno- vated, and was devoted to church purposes ontil 1506. when it gave way to the new church edifier.

The three prominent teachers in this school-house were Gideon Wheeler, Philander Seymour and War- ren S. Holt. William Heddon and David .I. Allen also taught for a short time.

Gideon Wheeler was a man of intellectual force and sound judgment, an excellent teacher for the time. Ile was a magistrate for a number of years, and held court on Saturday afternoon. He was also a surveyer and conveyancer. He bell his position with satisfaction on the part of the people until declining health compelled him to re- linquish the school-house for the farm. He attracted pupils from Speertown, Verona, the Coit Neighbor- hood, Tory Corner and from " between the mountains. ' His full period of service was from about 1-10 to 1822.

Philander Seymour came as a young man from trenon, N. Y., but had already taught " between the mountains" south of Pleasant Valley. Ile was a superior man and a superior teacher. He was con- sidered a gentleman and was very popular. His years in the new school-house were the longer part of the time from 1822 to 1830. He withdrew to Bloomfield, where he taught "in the old school- hallse."

Warren S. Holt taught first in the public school and afterwards established a private school. He acquired the reputation of a good teacher, especially in mathematics, while at the school-house. llis success led him to his wider enterprise at the M mutain House. His period of instruction was shorter than that of Mr. Wheeler or Mr. Seymour. It was from about 1835 to 1835, and his withdrawal from the school district teaching may have been in conse- quence of the sale of the school building.

The period from 1810 to 1538 was the period of high success in the Bloomfield Academy. In the ori- gin and maintenance of that academic and the dogical institution Israel Crane and other intelligent men of West Bloomfield were profoundly interested. The academy, under such abl preceptors as Vinzi Lewis, Ir., Rev. John Ford, Roy. Humphrey Mount Perine 1

1 Ahper Hrundag was his usher er astat int Mir Urun las was a minger, and taught singing & hool a few y are tobe in ritual & hvol-Inge ol the rostrom and truf stir

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY NEW JERSEY.

Rev. Dr. Amay Armstrong, assisted by his son, Rev. William J. Armstrong. Albert Pearson and Dr. Edwin Hall most of them strong. college-bred men, with no little philosophie and theological force, over-hadowed the more common education in that part of the town. It was supported also at first financially by a Society for the Promotion of Literature, composed of the strong men of the town, and after Dr. Armstrong assumed the financial support, by the social and moral aid of the people throughout the Presbyterian parish. Samuel Hanson Cox and other young mon from the academy conducted religious services in the second story of the West bloomfield school-house. . 1 number of the young men from this western district found their way to those strong instructors. still. in this part of the town the interest in the common education was well maintained. Mr. Gideon Wheeler had under his instruction from ninety to a hundred pupils, and the number increased rather than dimin- ished under his successors, and during some portion of the time there were two departments,-the girls' department in the second story and the boys' depart- ment on the first floor.

The time had now come for the organization of the new church. The new society in 1838, therefore, pur- chased the school building for four hundred dollars ; the second story was enlarged and made to project some twelve or fourteen feet over the east wall; pil- lars were placed under the projection ; the north end of this veranda was inclosed for a pastor's study and the south end for a stairway and the central part remained as a portico, with three pillars in front. The upper part became the audience-room, and the lower part the lecture-room of the new church.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 52

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830