USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union County, New Jersey > Part 26
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
At the time Dr. Kempshall entered upon his duties as pastor of this church, -now thirty-five years ago, -the population of Elizabeth was twelve thousand, and in appearance the city was but a quiet little village. There was not a single paved street, and only on Broad street a partially flagged sidewalk, while at the depot one hack, with its single white horse and venerable colored driver, was the only public conveyance then to be found for passengers through the muddy streets of the city. At that time an old brick wall shut off the church from the road way. A row of venerable buttonwoods stood guard over the church-yard, under which trees 4th of July celebrations were held.
The installation exercises of Dr. Everard Kempshall as pastor were opened by the reading of the eighty-fourth Psalm, by Rev. Mr. Edgar, of Westfield, after which an impressive prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Magie. Rev. Dr. McIllvane, of Princeton College, preached the sermon, taking for his text the sixth verse of the third chapter of Second Corinthians.
On the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pastorate of the old First church, public services were held and his Sunday-school scholars gave him a valuable gold watch and chain. On the thirtieth anni- versary they gave him thirty pieces of gold, and when his health broke down under the combined strain of his pastoral duties and the anti-race-track crusade, his people sent him abroad, supplied his place and continued his salary. He was a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian
244
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
council in Belfast, and has often been a representative to the general assembly.
"Dr. Kempshall," says a writer, "is a man of very marked ability. His position on any question is never uncertain. His yea means yea, and his nay, nay. What his hands find to do he does with all his might. His sermons are practical and marked with directness, thought and vigor. He has much local pride and interest and is prominent as citizen as well as clergyman."
His sermons denouncing race-tracks and gambling were begun in the spring of 1890. These anti-race-track crusade sermons began about one year before Governor Abbett dropped a hint one Saturday afternoon that unless the people objected, he would sign a race-track bill which the legislature had just passed. The next day a call for a union meeting was read from all the pulpits of Elizabeth, and in the evening all but two churches were closed, and the people met in a monster anti-race-track gathering in St. John's Episcopal church. The immense building could not contain the throng, and an overflow meeting was held in the old First church. On Monday a large delega- tion from Elizabeth, Rahway, Plainfield, and other towns appeared before Governor Abbett to protest against the bill, and Dr. Kempshall delivered what was known as the " Coon-skin Speech." The bill was not signed.
On the same day the State Citizens' League was formed, with Dr. Kempshall as president. In 1892 a bill giving the state five per cent. of all race-track gate receipts, was introduced into the legislature. It was persistently opposed by the Citizens' League, and it died in the committee. In 1893 the race-track men controlled both branches of the legislature and turned a deaf ear to all remonstrance and petitions against their proposed schemes. But the opposition of the people to the race-track element culminated in a public gathering of the citizens of New Jersey in the city of Trenton. This was the result of a call of Dr. Kempshall, chairman of the Citizens' League, to all the citizens opposed to the race-track power to meet on this date for the purpose of a hearing by the senate then in session. About two thousand citizens of the state responded to this call, but upon entering the capitol, they found the doors of the assembly rooms closed and locked. This seemed to them a crowning evidence of the determined purpose of the legisla- ture to refuse the people a hearing in any form. A cry was raised "Burst the door !" but the janitor, having received direction from the proper authority, opened the door, when the citizens instantly took possession of the assembly rooms, and placed Dr. Kempshall in the speaker's chair. His opening remark was as follows: "FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE AS YET FREE AND SOVEREIGN COMMONWEALTH OF NEW JERSEY: We are met here to-day not by the permission of Speaker Flynn, but under the right of eminent domain."
245
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
After organization the meeting adjourned to the opera house, where addresses were made by Chancellor Bird, Dr. Scott, president of Rut- gers College, and other eminent men. At this meeting it was resolved that an appeal should be made to the people of the state to overthrow the race-track power at the ballot box. A circular was issued to every minister in the state, and the pulpit and the press united in the effective attack upon this monster evil, resulting indeed, in a revolution of poli- tics throughout the state.
The outcome of this agitation was the utter rout of the race-track power in the next session of the legislature, whereas the Republican party, which had not elected a governor for a quarter of a century, -the ordinary majority of the Democratic party having been from eight thousand to twelve thousand, -gained through this agitation a plurality of twenty-three thousand, with control of both branches of the legisla- ture. In that session of the legislature all previous enactments in aid of the race-track interests were repealed, and statutes were enacted which make it practically impossible to conduct race-tracks in the state after the system which hitherto existed. To crown all and make sure that this work of the people, for the people, should not be undone, an amendment to the constitution forbidding all book-making, pool-selling, and gambling of any kind, and forbidding the repeal of existing statutes against the race-track gambling, was passed by the legislature and was submitted to the people for their action, and was unfortunately defeated. The aim of this crusade, of four years' continuance, under the leader- ship of Dr. Kempshall, was to free the state of New Jersey from the humiliating tyranny of gamblers who had gained control of the legisla- ture, and to remove from its citizens the temptation to indulgence in a most demoralizing vice.
THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
So numerous were the accessions to the old church during the revival of 1813, that the Sessions house, on the rear of the parsonage lot, and fronting on Washington street, was opened for worship on September 10th of that year. The great revival of 1817 made it necessary to take measures for the organization of a second church.
On Tuesday, February 29, 1820, application having been made to that effect, arrangements were consummated, whereby the Sessions house might be used on the Sabbath, free of rent for five years, by such persons as were desirous of forming a second church. The house was enlarged in the summer following. Separate Sabbath services were commenced March 26, 1820. A religious society was organized by the election, October 26, 1820, of Messrs. David Meeker, John Humes, James Crane, Richard Townley, Elijah Kellogg, William Brown and Elihu Price as trustees. A church of forty-one members, all but one from the First church, was constituted on Sunday, December 3, 1820,
-
246
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
when Elihu Price, James Crane and David Meeker were set apart as elders. The same month they called as their pastor the Rev. David Magie. He was the great-grandson of John Magie, who came over from Scotland during the period of persecution, 1685-7, and the father of Justice Magie, of the supreme court of the state. His ancestors were noted for their piety and stanch Presbyterianism.
SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
David was converted in the revival of 1813, and in June of that year was received as a member of the First church. He prepared for college under the supervision of his pastor, and graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1817. He at once entered the theological seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, and the next year was appointed one of the tutors of the college, holding the post for two years. In the spring of 1820 he was licensed by the presbytery of New Jersey, and preached his
247
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
first sermon on April 28th. He began his work in the ministry October 1, 1820, was ordained and installed on Tuesday, April 24, 1821. May 7, 1821, he married Ann F. Wilson, the daughter of James Wilson, deceased. April 30, 1821, measures were taken to build a new house and on June 20th following, the corner-stone of the new church was laid. The house was dedicated May 1, 1822.
This was Mr. Magie's first and only charge, and he continued to labor as a faithful minister of the gospel here among his own townsinen nearly forty-five years, declining promptly several calls and appoint- ments to other fields and spheres of labor. In 1842 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Amherst College.
The additions to the church during his ministry were six hundred and fifty-one on profession, and five hundred and ninety-six on certifi- cate. He departed this life May 10, 1865, greatly lamented, as he had been greatly loved.
Rev. Dr. W. C. Roberts, associate pastor with Dr. Magie, succeeded him and remained until 1866, when he resigned to become pastor of the new Westminster church, in another part of the city ; a number of members also going to form the new church.
Rev. James Patterson was the next pastor and served ten years. Rev. Eben E. Cobb was installed in 1887, and under his pastorate the church has now become one of the most flourishing churches of the city. Dr. Cobb is a native of Auburn, New York, and was graduated at Hamilton College, New York, in 1875. From this institution he secured his degree of Doctor of Divinity, in 1895.
THE GREYSTONE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. [BY ELIAS D. SMITH.]
This organization has just completed its half century of existence, and celebrated its semi-centennial in 1896 in a fitting manner. Organ- ized in 1846, as the First Presbyterian church and congregation of Elizabethport, and commonly known, for many years after the town became merged into the city of Elizabeth, by the more distinctive title of the Marshall street Presbyterian church, it marked its jubilee by taking possession of its handsome new edifice, at the corner of Elizabeth avenue and Florida street, and changing its name to that given in the above caption. For years the old building on Marshall street had ceased to meet the wants of its vigorous and growing congregation, and a movement for better accommodations, which was begun in 1892, cul- minated in the possession of its present very desirable quarters. The building is of light grey-stone, trimmed with rough-built doorways and window openings, and in architectural design it is a pleasing and har- monious example of the Romanesque style. The main audience-room in front, opening upon the avenue, and the Sunday-school room and the parlors in the rear, upon the same level, can all be thrown into one
248
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
room by large sliding doors. Underneath the rear rooms is the enter- tainment room and kitchen, with entrances in the side street. It is furnished with an organ, piano, steam heat and electric lights, and in all its appointments is fully up to the latest requirements of church work.
The first pastor was Rev. Oliver S. St. John, who served only a few months, when he was succeeded by Rev. Edwin Harley Reinhart, who for forty-three years was the honored pastor among his people. He was called to his rest in 1890, leaving an enviable record for effici- ent and faithful service.
Rev. Isaac H. Condit was called as co-pastor in 1885, and retired in 1889, when Rev. George Buckle was chosen to fill his place. After the death of the pastor, he was elected to that office in 1891 and still remains in charge of the organization.
The membership of the church comprises about three hundred and fifty, and its affairs are supervised by four elders and nine trustees. The Sabbath school is one of the largest in the county, numbering a little over five hundred members, with a full corps of officers and teachers. The Y. P. S. C. E. and the Y. P. Missionary Society are in flourishing condition, while the Ladies' Aid and other organizations add to the variety of church work followed out in different lines.
Under the care of this church is a vigorous branch of the work known as the Good Will Mission, numbering about one hundred and twenty-five, located in a chapel building situated in South Park street, near the corner of Fifth street, in a section of the city fast filling up with residents. Its workers are all members of the home church and it may be that in future years it will prove to have been the predecessor of another strong and enterprising church congregation.
THE THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
November 17, 1851, the presbytery of Elizabeth Town organized a third church, which had become necessary on account of the crowded state of the other two Presbyterian churches as increased in membership by the growth in population of the city.
The new church numbered seventy-six members, who had been dismissed in equal proportion from the first and second churches for this purpose. Public service was commenced by the new congregation in Collet hall, September 14, 1851. Rev. Robert Aikman, previously of Troy, New York, began his services as their pastor on September 21, 1852, and served sixteen years.
The grounds of the late Dr. Isaac Morse, on Jersey and Bridge streets, 145 x 245 feet, were purchased in June, 1852, for three thousand dollars. On September 21, 1852, the corner-stone was laid, and the house completed and dedicated March 28, 1855.
The Rev. Mr. Aikman was succeeded, in 1868, by Rev. E. G.
249
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
Read, D. D., 1875 ; Rev. E. C. Ray, D. D., from 1876 to 1881 ; Rev. Paul F. Sutphen, 1882-6 ; and Rev. John T. Kerr, from May 14, 1886, to the present time. Mr. Kerr is a graduate of Princeton College, in the class of 1879, and of the seminary of that institution, in 1882.
During the years just prior to the late war this church entered upon a period of financial depression, and during the memorable
f
THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
struggle a number of its members went to the front, but this depletion in finance and membership has been fully recovered, and the church is now in a healthy and prosperous condition.
WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
This church was organized on the 3Ist of January, 1866, ninety- three members from the Second church, and seven from other churches,
250
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
-
MADISON AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
251
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
joining the organization. The church was organized under the corporate name of the Westminster Presbyterian church of Elizabeth.
The first services of this church were held in Library Hall on the 4th of March, 1866, and the Sabbath school was organized with about sixty scholars. On June 13, 1866, the corner-stone for the new edifice, at the corner of Westminster and Prince streets, was laid on grounds costing seven thousand dollars, and during the next eighteen months a massive building of brown stone in the Norman style, 75 x 105 feet, with an organ projection on the north side, 16 x 27 feet, was erected and was opened for worship December 29, 1867. The original cost of the property was one hundred and thirty-five thousand six hundred and six dollars. The large tower and spire cost over twenty thousand dollars.
The Rev. William C. Roberts, installed March 7, 1866, served till September 11, 1881, when his relation was dissolved that he might enter upon the duties of a secretary of the board of home missions. The Rev. John Gillespie, D. D., from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, was installed as his successor, January 26, 1882, and served this church with signal ability and faithfulness until February 1, 1886, when he too was released from pastoral responsibility, in order that he might become one of the secretaries of the foreign mission board. June 6, 1886, the Rev. John W. Teal, D. D., accepted the call to the pastorate of this church, and was installed July 2d, of that year, and he was succeeded by the present pastor, the Rev. Henry A. MacKubbin.
MADISON AVENUE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
This church edifice was erected in 1884, and is of the Queen Anne style of architecture. The church is the outgrowth of a Sabbath school, organized by Westminster church, October 6, 1873, the school having been under the superintendency of Charles L. Doe. Rev. William S. C. Webster commenced in July, 1875, as a stated supply, and in September, 1876, the services of Rev. A. L. Clark were procured, and on May 7, 1877, this church was organized. Mr. Clark officiated as pastor until April, 1879, beloved by his people. He was succeeded by the Rev. C. E. Cunningham, who began his ministrations in September, 1879, and continued the same until in June, 1889. Under the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Cunningham the church prospered spiritually and temporally.
On January 23, 1890, Rev. James M. Nourse was installed as pastor and served the church until January, 1894. During his pastorate an addition was made to the building for the accommodation of the largely increasing Sabbath school.
On October 5, 1894, the Rev. Harle Wallace Hathaway was installed. Mr. Hathaway was graduated at Princeton seminary in May, 1894, and was called to the church in July of that year.
252
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
THE GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH.
The German Lutheran congregation was organized in May, 1858. The first pastor was Rev. John Charles Wirz, and the Rev. C. G. Fisher is the present pastor.
The church building was erected in 1859. In 1871 it was enlarged and a steeple and a bell were added. The first parish-school building was erected in 1860. The church has a large and flourishing Sunday school, and the church likewise is in a prosperous condition. In 1884 a commodious parsonage was built, and in 1885 a new school building was added. The church is open every day.
THE FIRST GERMAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
This church building stands on Third street, between Livingston street and Broadway. The congregation was gathered by Rev. John Rudalph in 1875, and he served as pastor of the church until August, 1889. The congregation at first worshiped in a hall on the corner of Third and Fulton streets, rented November 15, 1875. In January, 1878, they moved into the lecture room of the new church, dedicated September 8, 1878, the Rev. Dr. W. C. Roberts preaching the dedicat- ory sermon in German and the Rev. Dr. Kempshall in English.
The present pastor is the Rev. Alfred E. Wirth. The work of erecting the church was financially encouraged and assisted by the
253
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
Presbyterian churches of this city and the presbytery of Elizabeth, and by the German Presbyterian churches of Newark. The church prop- erty is valued at ten thousand dollars. A parsonage was built in 1881.
GERMAN MORAVIAN CHURCH.
This society was organized in 1863 under favorable auspices. The first location was in a school house on the corner of Second avenue and Centre street, then in a mission chapel on Martin near Smith street,
GERMAN MORAVIAN CHURCH
and in 1869 the present church building was erected at the corner of Seventh and Marshall streets. Rev. Christian Neu was installed pastor in 1867. Rev. Nagel succeeded Pastor Neu and he was followed by Rev. Schwarze. The present pastor is Rev. Clemens Hoyler.
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
This church was organized in January, 1864, in a chapel that stood on the corner of First and Livingston streets. Its first pastor was the Rev. Frederick H. Parmenter, under whose ministry the church made rapid growth. In 1865 the present edifice was erected at the corner of Third and Marshall streets. Rev. C. C. Clark is the present pastor.
254
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
The church has been fortunate in securing able men for the pulpit, and it is steadily growing. The pews are free and everybody is made welcome. The property is handsomely located in a growing part of the city.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
There were churchmen among the early settlers of Elizabethtown1, but Episcopal services were not performed in the town until after the surrender of the government, by the proprietors, to the crown, in 1702.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
Lord Cornbury, the royal governor, had been charged with a special mission in behalf of the Church of England, and about this time a church was gathered here through the labors of George Keith, a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Keith had been a Quaker. He was born in 1638, in Aberdeen, Scotland, was educated at the University there, and was brought up a Presbyterian. In 1682 he emigrated to America, aud was surveyor-general of East Jersey from 1685 to 1688. In 1700 he went to England and was ordained a priest by the bishop of London. In 1702 he returned to America.
255
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
In the town of Elizabeth he had many acquaintances, and at the house of Andrew Craig, a fellow Scotchman, he preached from second Peter I : 5, November 3, 1703, and on the same occasion he baptized
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL
the four children of Mr. Craig, and also the seven children of a widow. On the next day he baptized the children of Andrew Hampton, eight in number. On Sunday, December 19, he returned to Elizabeth and preached at the house of Colonel Townley, both forenoon and after-
256
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
noon, and baptized a child of Mr. Shakmaple, son-in-law of Colonel Townley.
The establishment of the Episcopal church in Elizabeth Town was accomplished. The Rev. Jolin Brooke, the first minister of St. John's church, was also a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and arrived in East New Jersey July 15, 1705. Lord Cornbury directed him to officiate sometimes at Perth Amboy. He was probably a graduate of Emanuel College, Cambridge.
During the fall and winter of 1705-6 Colonel Townley's house accommodated the congregation on Sundays. In the spring of 1706 they began to worship in a barn, but after the harvest season, the barn being occupied by the summer crops, the inissionary was permitted to officiate twice every Sunday in the Independent church, with the understanding that the service of the common-prayer book was not to be read. Mr. Brooke, in speaking of this agreement, says: "I complied upon the condition I might read the psalms, lessons, epistle, and gospel appointed for the day, which I did, and said all the rest of the service by heart, the doing of which brought a great many to hear ine who otherwise probably would never heard the service of the church, and (through God's blessing) hath taken away their prejudice to such a degree as that they have invited me to preach in their meeting house until our church be built. Their teacher begins at eight in the morning and ends at ten, and then our service begins, and in the afternoon we begin at two. The greater part of the dissenters generally stay to hear our service."
In his report of October 11, 1706, Mr. Brooke says: "I laid the foundation of a brick church at Elizabeth Town, on St. John the Baptist's day, June 24th, whose name it bears. It is fifty foot long, thirty wide, and twenty-one high. It hath nine windows,-one in the east end, ten foot wide and fifteen high ; two in each side, six foot wide and ten high ; and four ovals, one in the east window, one in the west end, and over each door, which are near the west end. The church is now covering, and I hope to preach in it in six weeks or two months. We shall only get the outside of our church up this year and I'm afraid 'twill be a year or two more before we can furnish the inside, for I find these hard times a great many are very backward to pay their subscriptions." The church was erected chiefly by the care and diligence of Colonel Richard Townley, who gave the ground it stood on and a place for a burying ground.
The ministry of Mr. Brooke came to an abrupt terinination in November, 1707. The Rev. Thorowgood Moore, of Burlington, had, by his faithful rebuke of Lord Cornbury's disgusting iminoralities, drawn upon himself the wrath of the governor, by whom he was arrested and imprisoned in New York. Mr. Brooke deeply sympa- thized with his afflicted brother, and, when in prison, visited him. Mr. Moore escaping, and Mr. Brooke being sought for by the enraged
257
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
governor, they resolved to proceed to London and lay their grievances before the proper authorities at home. They embarked at Marblehead, Massachusetts, in November, 1707, for England, but the vessel was lost at sea and all on board perished. Mr. Brooke seems to have been greatly esteemed, and had the reputation of being the most pious and industrious missionary the honorable society ever sent to the colonies. He left a widow, a daughter of Christopher Billop, whose residence and large plantation, at the south end of Staten Island, gave to it the name of Billop's Point, which name it still retains.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.