USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Montclair > History of Montclair township state of New Jersey; including the history of the families who have been identified with its growth and prosperity > Part 11
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* The old pulpit has been replaced by a new one, severely plain. in exact keeping with the simplicity of the service of the church and modern notions of pulpit architecture. It now consists of a mere platform, with a small mov- able desk."
In 1870 the organ was placed in the church at a cost of abont $6,000. The public school building located on grond adjoining the church lot was pur- chased in 1869, and converted into a lecture room, and in 1883 that building was removed and the present chapel erected.
The first parsonage. on Bloomfield Avenue, opposite Park Street, was built about the time of the original church building. and first occupied by the Rev. Samuel Fisher, D.D., and his family ; his son, Rev. Sammel Fisher, pastor of the church, boarded with his parents. The strip of land on which the parsonage was built extended from Bloomfield Avenue to Church Street, and was a legacy from Nathaniel H. Baldwin. The present handsome and commodions parsonage. located in Church Street, was built during the pastorate of Rev. J. R. Berry, D.D.
In 1870 a large Colony went out from the First Presbyterian Church, and nniting with others formed the First Congregational Church of Montelair, and the separation took place amid such farewell greetings and benedictions as are expressed by an affectionate but overgrown family when its younger members go out to an independent life.
Most of these had united with the Presbyterian Church, though of Congregational convictions and preferences, with the understanding that they should, when it should become expedient. withdraw in order to organize a Congregational Church. The departing Colony received therefore the cordial Godspeed of the old MOTHER CHURCH.
During the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Berry, the Trinity Presbyterian Church (of which a sketch appears elsewhere in this work) was established. Its charter members were set off from the First Church by the Presbytery of Newark, to compose the new organization.
Francis L. Patton, D.D., LL. D., President of Princeton University, supplied the pulpit of Trinity Church for a year ; after which the present devoted and highly esteemed pastor. the Rev. Orville Reed. was settled over the Church.
Since the Rev. Dr. Junkin became pastor of the First Church, two church edifiees have been built in Montelair, at a cost to the Mother Church of ten or twelve thousand dollars.
The first of there is known as Grace Presbyterian Church. It stands on a beautiful and extensive plot of ground,-the generous gift to the Trustees of the First Church. for the purposes of this building, of Mr. Alfred J. Crane,-at the corner of Forest and Chestnut Streets. Within two years after the establishment of a Sunday school, by the First Church, in this section of the town, so hopeful was the progress of the work, the building was erected and a church organized : a history of which will be found on another page of this work. The Rev. F. N. Rntan was called and installed as its first pastor.
HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSIttP.
and the church has grown steadily during his pastorate. He and his people are hekl in high regard by the pastor and members of the Mother Church. The colony which she sent out has become a prosperous and growing church, and the building and plot of ground, which were transferred to their Board of Trustees by the Trustees of the First Church in 1893, has become the centre of most promising Christian activities.
The Cular Street Chapel is the name of the second forward movement made by the First Presbyterian Church during the last few years. The lot on which it stands, one of the most eligible and beautiful in the south section of Montelair, was given to the First Church, as a site for the chapel, by Messrs. Edwin and I. Caldwell Williams. It was a most generous donation, and greatly encouraged and helped the devoted workers, who have labored so zealonly to establish and carry on the Sunday school, which with preaching services conducted there on Sunday night, gives hopeful promise of Presbyterian advance in the south end of the town.
The policy of the First Church is that of organizing new enterprise-, new centres of fresh aggressive movement, rather than of retaining over-crowded membership in the MOTHER CHURCH.
The old landmark, so dear to the hearts of many, and so pleasantly familiar to the eyes of all the people of Montelair, will. however. soon be a thing of the past. a fragrant memory, rich with sacred associations. Arrangements are now being made which will result in the removal of the old and the erection of a new, larger and handsomer edifice. The same commanding site and extensive grounds will be used, and the new structure will, it is believed, be a worthy tribute of the present to the noble and generous past of this honored church. The able and judicion- Board of Trustees, under whose efficient management thi- forward movement is rapidly taking shape, led by its earnest and devoted President. is composed of the following gentlemen: Benjamin Carter, President : William Wallace. Secretary : Arthur Horton. Treasurer : 1. Seymour Crane, Andrew P. Morrison and John Maxwell.
The aggregate expenditure for grounds and buildings has been about $$5,000. Since its organiza- tion the church has received 1,357 persons into its membership-711 by certificate and 616 on profession of faith. There are now 450 communicants.
The record of expenditures for the first thirty-two years is incomplete and no accurate state- ment is possible. During the last 23 year- $325, Too has been expended. Of this amount 8220.681 was raised for congregational purposes, and $108.019 for benevolent objects.
Of the eight pastors who have presided over this church and congregation, data referring to the work of five only has been found.
REV. JOB FOSTER HALSEY. D. D.
Dr. Halsey was a graduate of Union College and was a classmate of Hon. Wmn. II. Seward ; he studied theology at Princeton Seminary. His first pastorate was over a church in Monmouth County. From thence be removed to Allegheny, but his voice failing him. he obtained a professor's chair at a college in Missouri, but soon resigned to open a female seminary at Raritan Hall, Perth Amboy. Ile accepted the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church at West Bloomfield in 1852. continuing until 1856. It was during his pastorate in 1956 that the new church edifice was erected. He left this church to go to Norristown. Pa., where he died at the advanced age of eighty-two.
While he was thoroughly orthodox as to his religious tenets and his church, his heart was big enough and his charity broad enough to embrace every member of the human family within their influence. Simple-hearted and gentle as a child in mere worldly matters, in the cause of the Master he was not only valiant, but an aggressive soldier, who would not abate one jot of his faith. his loyalty and his allegiance.
The following reference to the installation of REV. J. A. PRIEST was published in one of the local papers at the time :
" The Rev. J. A. Priest was installed as pastor of the Presbyterian Church in West Bloomfield. N. J., on Tuesday of last week by the Presbytery of Newark. Rev. I. N. Sprague, of Caldwell, pre- sided : Rev. J. Pingry of Roseville, read the Scriptures and offered the introductory prayer. Rev. Asa
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D. Smith, D.D., of the Fourteenth Street Presbyterian Church, New York City, preached the sermon ; Rev. I. N. Spragne offered the installation prayer ; Rev. J. Few Smith. D.D. of Newark, delivered the charge to the pastor ; Rev. C. M. N. Nickols, of Newark, the charge to the people. The discourse of Dr. Smith was based on Psalms Ixxxvii. 7: . All my springs are in thee.""
Referring to his resignation three years later, the same paper says: " Rev. J. A. Priest, of West Bloomfield, N. J., has resigned the charge of the Presbyterian Church at that place, and intends sojourning in Europe for a couple of years for health and study. We trust he may be abundantly prospered and return to labor for many years in that sacred calling in which he has already been so worthily sneeessful."
REV. NELSON MILLARD, D.D.
The pastorate of Rev. Mr. Millard extended from 1862 to 1867. and during this period the church inereased in numbers and influence. A friend of Dr. Millard, under date of March 24, 1867, writes :
" Mr. Millard did not venture into the region of the pathetic, but in plain, familiar language, often interrupted by emotion, he led us back over the scenes of the past five years of honest, faithful ministry. This was his earliest settlement, and he will probably never fail to review the seenes of his ministry here with peculiar pleasure. Never were a people more perfectly united in a pastor. It is the sundering of ties, such as are seldom formed-of associations full of endearment. He counseled his people to avoid divisions-to be willing to bear and forbear, and to seek the general good of the church even to the saeri- fice of private judgment. The church now numbers about three hundred members, half of which have joined under Mr. Millard's ministry. Of these additions twenty-two were by profession and seventy by certificate. There have been seventy baptisms (of which forty-eight were children) and twenty marriages."
Dr. Millard left this church to go to the Olivet Street Presbyterian Church in Chicago, and was afterward for ten years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Syracuse, N. Y., and was said to be " one of the ablest clergymen of that denomination in the Empire State."
REV. J. ROMEYN BERRY. D.D.
Dr. Berry was born in Hackensack, N. J., in 1826, and died at Asbury Park, N. . I., June 12, 1891. Ile was a graduate of Rutgers College and the Theological Seminary of New Brunswick. While quite young he became the pastor of the Reformed Church at Lafayette, now a part of Jersey City. From there he went to Fishkill, N. Y., serving as the pastor of the Reformed Church there. In 1870 he accepted the unanimous call of the First Presbyterian Church at Montelair. One of the Newark papers referring to the call said : " Dr. Berry's experience of nineteen years in the ministry, his well-known abilities and his invariable snecess in the several fields where he has labored, are a sufficient guarantee of success in his new field. These characteristics, together with his genial manners, are sure to prepare a hearty welcome for him among his Presbyterian brethren with whom he now casts his lot."
An impromptu gathering took place at the elose of his first year's pastorate, and he was presented with a purse of $300 in gold. The surprise was complete and the response touching. He said that the year past had been a happy one with him, and that in his ministry he had never experienced so mueh kindness, nor spent a year so full of pleasant memories.
Just previous to the coming, of Dr. Berry, some eighty members had withdrawn to organize the First Congregational Church of Montelair, but notwithstanding this loss the church prospered and there was a steady growth from year to year. During his pastorate of seventeen years,-far exceeding that of any of his predecessors,-532 persons were admitted to the church, 276 of whom united upon profession of their faith in Christ, and there was a constant growth of spirituality among its members, an increase in the benevolent contributions, and an improved material and financial condition of the church. Nearly $50,000 of the debt was liquidated, and the handsome chapel on Church Street was built during his ministration. An average of over $14,000 per annum was raised for congregational and benevolent
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
purposes, and during the last two years of his pastorate. 62 united with the church on confession of faith and 36 by certificate.
Just previous to his departure from Montelair, a large number of his fellow-citizens signed the following request :
" DEAR SIR -- The under-igned citizens of Montelair, recognizing the value of your minstry in our community, and feel- indebted to you in ways it ing that these sentiment- the churches, and among gratified to have a public their love for you a> a you as a minister. ask you when they may meet you ing, in some formal way. and esteem. We feel that leave the place where you so efficiently without carry- ances of appreciation as we time and place as shall be
ing that the whole town is cannot repay : and believ- are shared by many in all all classes, who would be opportunity of expressing man. and their love for to name some near day for the purpose of present- their tribute of affection we cannot allow you to have labored so long and ing with you such assur- desire to express at such most pleasing to you." thanked them for the af- stated that the nearness of would preelude the oppor- Before his departure the by his people and present- love to him and of their
Dr. Berry, in his reply. feetionate suggestion, but his intended departure tunity for such a reception. sum of $5,000 was raised ed to him in token of their appreciation of his labors. Dr. Berry was a man of all that tended to benefit was fervent and unwaver- which he expounded with up the Kingdom of God In polities he was a staunch noble qualities, foremost in mankind: as a preacher he ing from the Great Truths the sole purpose to build and to save his fellow-men. REV. J. ROMEYN BERRY, D. D. Republican. Personally Dr. Berry was a kindly disposed gentleman, of commanding and dignified presence, and the attachment between him and his people was deep and lasting.
REV. WILLIAM FINNEY JUNKIN, D.D., LL. D.
It was certainly a " new departure." and an indication of the progressive spirit of its membership. for the First Presbyterian Church of Montelair to call as pastor a man who from his youth had been identified with the people of the Sonth, and was as much a Southern man in principle as though to the manor born. They made no mistake in their choice, however, as results have proven. Dr. Junkin's work had been in a different field under different environments, but he readily adapted himself to his new field of labor, and found the people in hearty sympathy with him and ready to aid him in his work. The sketch of his life will be read with interest by those who have learned to love him as a man and admire him as a preacher.
Rev. William F. Junkin was born in Philadelphia, Pa., May 1st. 1831. He came of a sturdy lineage. His father was Rev. George Junkin, D.D., LL.D., the famons leader of the Presbyterian Church of his day, whose father in turn was Col. Joseph Junkin, an officer in the Pennsylvania line during the Revolution. An old record says of Col. Junkin : " His Company on the 7th of July. 1776, was on parade when a conrier rode up with the news, that the Declaration of Independence had been
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IHISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
adopted and and bringing a copy of the instrument. It was unanimously and by acclamation ratified on the spot. The Company volunteered at once, and soon were ordered to Amboy, New Jersey, where they were employed in guarding the Court. Ile was severely wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. Having fainted from loss of blood, the enemy passed him by, taking him for dead. Night came on. A shower of rain revived him. He arose, and dreading to fall into the enemy's hands he made his way across woods and fields and rejoined his command. A horse was procured for him and with a rope for a bridle, a knapsack stuffed with hay for a saddle and wrapped in his bloody garments, he arrived at his home, ninety miles in three days."
Joseph Junkin's grandmother was present at the immortal seige of Derry. "She saw from the walls of glorious old Derry the smoke of the most important gun ever fired, the lee-gun of the Mountjoy, which righted the ship, broke the boom, relieved the starving garrison, forced the allies to raise the siege and retreat upon the Boyne, where the arms of William and of liberty triumphed and completed the blessed Revolution of 1688." Just a century later her great-grandson, George Junkin, was born at the family seat in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. From a Memorial Volume of distinguished Pennsyl- vanians we quote : " Ile was a man of God. devont, humble, prayerful. A strong intellect. great powers of generalization and analysis, a keen and discriminating logie, a power of language always elear and vigorons, often rising to the height of poetry, a glowing heart full of deep affection. a disposition firm as a rock when contending for the right, but gentle as a woman's in all social elements. made George Junkin the great and good man that he was." While a student of theology, under the distinguished Dr. John M. Mason, in New York, he assisted in organizing the first Sunday school formed in that city.
Ile was a prominent leader in the progress and conflicts of the Presbyterian Church. A staunch Old School man in the trying times of 1835-37, he maintained then and always, with pen and voice and undannted courage, the views of truth as he believed them. He was the author of many books and addresses and essays of the times. As the founder and father, and President. for many years. of Lafayette College, at Easton. Pennsylvania, his name will be held in that influential institution in everlasting remembrance. He was President of Miami University, in Ohio, and for many years also President of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, in Virginia. Ilis influence in these seats of learning was felt and acknowledged throughout many States of the Union. He left his delightful home in Lexington, Virginia, in 1861, because he " would not live under any other flag than the Stars and Stripes." Dr. George Junkin had five sons and three daughters. Among these, William Finney was the youngest son. The eldest was Margaret J. Preston, of Virginia, whose writings, prose and poetry, have given her a name as one of the most gifted women of the country. She is often called affection- ately the Southern Poetess. Another daughter, Elinor, was the beloved first wife of Gen. T. J. (Stone- wall, Jackson. And Mrs. J. M. Fishburne, of Philadelphia, is an honored and useful officer of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Board of the Presbyterian Church. John Junkin, M.D., the Rev. E. D. Junkin, D.D., an able Presbyterian elergyman. late of Texas, and George Junkin, Esq .. for years a distinguished and honored member of the Philadelphia Bar, are brothers of the subject of this sketch.
William F. Junkin was graduated at Washington College, in 1851, and in theology at the Seminary of the Presbyterian Church in Princeton, in 1854. Ilis first pastorate was in the Falling Spring Church, one of the oldest and largest in the Valley of Virginia. Here he remained for thirteen years. Four of these years were years of Civil War. He volunteered in the Confederate Army, in 1861, serving under Generals Henry A. Wise and Robert E. Lee, in Western Virginia, and subsequently in the Army of Northern Virginia, as a private soldier, an officer, and volunteer chaplain. He was for a time Lient .- Colonel of the Reserves. The permanent results of his ministry in his charge of the old Falling Spring Church were a large increase in the membership and efficiency of the Church, the erection of a beautiful manse, and the building of a large and handsome church which adorns one of the most picturesque sites in the Virginia Valley. In 1868 he was called to the pastorate of the First Church of Danville. Kentucky, in connection with the Southern Branch of the Presbyterian Church. While in Kentucky his Alma Mater, Washington and Lee University, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
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As a preacher and churchman, Dr. Junkin's influence and eloquence gave him high position throughout the State. His inherited devotion to educational interests led him into large fields of effort. Ilis labors at Danville started the movement and did much to lay firmly the foundations of the Central University of Kentucky, which by its rapid growth and rich endowments has asserted a vast power for good in the southwestern section of our country. In the position of Chancellor of the University for a short period, and as Moderator for the Synod. expression was given of the regard in which he was held. by those who controlled large influence in Church and State. From Kentucky he removed, in 1876. to Charleston, South Carolina., to take the pastoral charge of the Glebe Street Presbyterian Church, in that city, to which he had been called by the unanimous vote of its people. He had been preceded in this charge by the renowned pulpit orator. Dr. Benjamin M. Palmer, now, and for many years, of New Orleans, and by Dr. J. L. Girardean, whose fervid zeal, eloquence and scholarship have placed him high in the public esteem, both in his own State and throughout the South.
During Dr. Junkin's pastorate in Charleston, the Glebe Street Church drew into connection with it-elf the Central Presbyterian Church of that city. The nuited body assumed the name of the West- minster Presbyterian Church, whose imposing church editice adorns the historie oldl King Street in the City by the Sea. Dr. Junkin's inthenee extended throughout the city and State, reaching far beyond denominational lines. He was prominently and actively identified with educational and other movements of public concern, and when he left his loved Southern home in Charleston-compelled to do so by the shattered health of members of his family -the Church, High School, School Board, the civic authorities and the city press were fond and earnest in their declarations of regret, and their expressions of admiration and regard. After a rest of a few months in his old Virginia home, he was, in 1989, greatly to his own surprise, asked to become pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Montelair. Ilis force of character, faithful and able pulpit ministrations, his elo- quence and zeal, have won him many friends, and assigned him a place of prominence and large influence in the community. The aggressive character of his church work has advanced the Presbyterian interest, adding a new and flourishing Church and a most promising Chapel work to that denomination. The degree of LL. D. wa- conferred on Dr. Junkin during his early ministry in Montelair. In 1-55 Dr. Junkin was married to AAna AAylett Anderson, eldest daughter of Judge Francis Thomas Anderson, Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, where the record of his opinions ranks him with his illustrious fellow statesman. John Marshall. She, like her husband, comes of honored Revolutionary lineage and churchly Presbyterian ancestry. She reaches back through distinguished family lines during the Colonial period of Virginia's history to illustrions antecedents of English blood. She is the granddaughter of Andrew Alexander, of Virginia, oldest brother of Dr. AArchibald Alex- ander, of Princeton Theological Seminary. Her maternal grandfather. William Aylett. was Commissary- general in the Revolutionary war. Her paternal grandfather. William Anderson, was an active colonel in the war of 1512, and also a distinguished soldier during the Revolution. In both these wars he was a volunteer.
Of Dr. Junkin's seven children tive are living, two sons and three daughters. His oldlest son, Francis T. A. Junkin, is a lawyer in New York City, and the youngest, William Alexander Junkin, a student at the University of Virginia. All the daughters are married.
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
It has been stated that the first Sunday school in the State of New Jersey was established as early as 1814 in connection with the First Presbyterian Church at Newark, in the house of Rev. Dr. Richards, who was then pastor of that church, but the oldest inhabitants of this section state that in 1813 Michael Osborn, an apprentice of W. Crane, then associated with Israel Crane in the cotton-spinning mills on Tony's Brook, started a Sunday school in Bloomfield in which he was assisted by Gorline Dorems.
The movement extended to West Bloomfield as early as 18to, and for many years before the First
HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
Presbyterian Church was organized in West Bloomfield Sunday-school services were held in the public school building, and teachers from the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomfield came regularly on Sunday afternoons to assist in the work. This was the nucleus of the church and Sunday school, which was regularly organized in 1837-8. The first superintendent of the new school was Mr. Warren Holt, who at that time was a teacher in the district school. He was succeeded by Elias B. Crane, John Munn and J. B. Wheeler. The old school room which formed the lecture room of the new church was used for the Sunday school. After the changes were made in the old building and a more suitable room was provided for the Sunday school. Mr. William S. Morris became superintendent. Mr. Philip Doremus, who was one of the original scholars of the school, returned to his native place in 1848, after an absence of several years, and entered the school as a teacher, and in 1853 became superintendent. He had long been con- nected with a prominent church and Sunday-school in Brooklyn, and was thoroughly imbued with the advanced ideas of that period, the most important of which was Sunday-school missionary work. He introduced this and many other improvements, which proved of great and lasting benefit to this school. During his administration Mr. Wm. B. Bradbury, the famous author of Sunday-school hymn books, and the manufacturer of the piano which bears his name, was a frequent visitor to this school, and assisted in drilling the children in singing the tunes from his own books, which had been adopted by the school.
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