USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union County, New Jersey > Part 27
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Rev. Edward Vaughan was appointed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the missionary at Eliza- beth Town, Amboy, and Piscataway, in the summer of 1709, to succeed Mr. Brooke. Mr. Vaughn was from the west of England. In Decem- ber, 1709, he writes : " That there is not one family in Elizabeth Town that can accommodate me with an ordinary lodging excepting Colonel Townley, who, on account of some difference with Mr. Brooke, (though a gentleman of an unblemished character) hath declared never to enter- tain any missionary after him. Secondly, that my salary of fifty pounds per annum will not afford me a competent subsistence in this dear place, where no contributions are given by the people towards my sup- port, and where I am continually obliged to be itinerant and conse- quently at great expenses, especially in crossing ferries."
Colonel Richard Townley (the main pillar of St. John's at that early period) died within the year 1711. The church then had about thirty monthly communicants. In the summer of that year the Rev. Thomas Holliday was sent by the society to take charge of Amboy and Piscataway, leaving to Mr. Vaughan, Elizabeth Town and Rahway. But Mr. Holliday proving unworthy of his office, was obliged to leave Amboy, and this parochial district was again included in that of Mr. Vaughan. Shortly after the decease of Colonel Townley, the congre- gation obtained from his son, Charles, a clear title to the church lot, for want of which the interior of the church had not been fitted accord- ing to the rules of decency and order.
In the year 1714, Mr. Vaughan married Mrs. Mary Emott, widow of James Emott, of New York, the daughter of Mrs. Philip Carteret, and the stepdaughter of Colonel Townley. She had a handsome fortune of two thousand pounds; was of high social standing, and was married at the close of the first year of her widowhood. After this marriage Mr. Vaughan removed his residence to Amboy for the benefit of his health, but continued to officiate in the forenoon and afternoon three Lord's days successively in every month, the other being given to Amboy. But the society did not favor this plan of non-residence, and he returned to his former charge in or before the year 1721, the exact time not being given.
In 1721 his audience had increased to two hundred souls, and the
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communicants were over forty in number. At the close of 1733, he reports the baptism, for the year, of eighty-eight children and five adults; and for 1734 "thirteen adults, six of whom were negroes; beside these, there were one hundred and sixty-two children." The communicants were seventy. In 1739 the number of communicants was eighty-four. A glebe of nine acres of good land, with a fine orchard thereon, had been given by Mrs. Anne Erskine, of Elizabethi Town. Mrs. Erskine was the widow of John Erskine, who came over in the Scoteli emigration of 1684-5, and was, doubtless, originally a Presbyterian. The land referred to appears to liave been subsequently sold by the church.
Mr. Vaughan continued his work in the ministry as rector of St. John's church until his decease, about the 12th of October, 1747. This was a few days after the death of Rev. Mr. Dickinson, of the First Presbyterian church, who died on the 7th. The personal relations between these two ministers were always of the most pleasant character, and when tidings of the death of Mr. Dickinson reached Mr. Vaughan, then old, feeble and nigh unto death, he exclaimed: "Oli that I had hold of the skirts of Brother Jonathan." The memory of Mr. Vaughan, as in the case of Mr. Dickinson, was very precious to the people of his charge.
The decease of Mr. Vaughan left the church without a settled pastor. It was no easy matter to fill vacancies, as all the Episcopal clergymen either came here from the mother country, or were under the necessity of making a voyage to England to obtain orders. As this required time, Mr. Chandler, then a young man in his twenty-second year, teaching school at Woodstock, Connecticut, and studying theology at intervals with Dr. Johnson, was induced to come to St. Jolin's as lay reader, about December 1, 1747; was subsequently recommended by the Rev. Dr. Johnson and others to the propagation society, and in May, 1748, was appointed catechist at Elizabeth Town, on the stipend of ten pounds a year, the church having agreed, in case he should be appointed to the mission, to raise the sum of fifty pounds, current money of the province, per annum, in addition, and to provide him with a convenient parsonage. December 11, 1749, the church purchased about four acres of land on Pearl street, with the old dwelling-house built in 1696-7 by Andrew Hampton. Most of the land has been sold, but the house, subsequently rebuilt, still (1897) belongs to the church. It served for more than a century as the parsonage, but is now known as St. John's home.
In the year 1750 "a register for the use of the missionary at St. John's church, Elizabeth Town, New Jersey," was commenced and, with the exception of the Revolutionary period and a few years after, was in use in the parish for the entry of baptisms, marriages, etc., for over a century, and is still in possession of the church. If any records were left prior to 1750 they have never been preserved. An old silver cup in the
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communion service was presented to the church by Mrs. Dennis previous to 1750. Mrs. Dennis spun the flax to make the linen for the napkins and table cloth for the communion table, and spun the flax to send to England to make the linen which was sold to procure the means with which to purchase the cup.
Mr. Chandler remained catechist three years in this church, reading divine service, catechising children and visiting all ranks of people, both here and in Rahway. Urgent representations having been made to the society for a resident rector,-one who could give them his whole time, Mr. Chandler was appointed missionary at Elizabeth Town in 1750, should he, upon his arrival in England, be found worthy of ordination as a deacon and priest.
In the summer of 1751 he repaired to England and was admitted to the priesthood by Dr. Thomas Sherlock, bishop of London. About the first of November he returned and began his labors in the church on a salary of thirty pounds sterling from the society and sixty pounds New Jersey currency (valued at a little more than thirty pounds sterling) with a house and glebe, from the people.
In the year 1752 he was married to Jane, daughter of Captain John Emott, and his wife, Mary, daughter of Elias Boudinot, Sr. At the close of 1754 the congregation included eighty-five families and numbered ninety communicants. About the year 1757 King George II. ordered a chime of bells and a valuable library for the use of the congregation, with some plate for the altar, but they were all captured by the French.
In 1757, during the prevalence of the smallpox, of which President Edwards and his daughter, Mrs. Burr, died in the spring of 1758, Mr. Chandler was prostrated by the terrible scourge and did not recover from its ill effects for nearly three years, his face retaining its marks to the end of his life.
The church was incorporated July 20, 1762. The charter appoints John Halsted and Jacob DeHart to be the first and present church wardens of the said church, and Henry Garthwait, Jonathan Hampton, Amos Morss, Ephraim Terrill, Matthias Williamson, John DeHart, John Ogden, Chevalier Jouet and John Chetwood to be the first and present vestrymen of said church.
In November, 1763, Mr. Whitfield again visited the place, and the refusal of Mr. Chandler to grant him the use of this pulpit offended many of the people. Mr. Whitfield was very popular here among all classes, and a division was created in the parish, reducing the number of the communicants of the church to about seventy-five, of whom seldom more than fifty could be gathered together at any one time. The revival of religion in 1764 tendered to embarrass Mr. Chandler, also as he opposed movements of this kind, but at the close of the next half year matters improved. The services were better attended and an enlargement of the parsonage was provided for by a generous subscrip-
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tion. In 1766 the Stamp-act agitation, then at its height, constrained him, however, to feel and say that "the duty of a missionary (Episcopal. of course) in this country is now more difficult than ever." In 1766 the University of Oxford conferred on Mr. Chandler, at the solicitation of Rev. Dr. Johnson, of New York, the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
The struggle in reference to an American episcopate was now in progress, and was exciting deep interest. Some of the ablest writers took part in the discussion, and at the solicitation of Dr. Johnson, whose infirmities would not allow his undertaking the work himself, and by appointment of the clergy of New York and New Jersey met in convention at Shrewsbury, October 1, 1766. Dr. Chandler, prepared and published at New York, in June, 1767, an " Appeal to the Public in Behalf of the Church of England in America." To this the Rev. Dr. Charles Chauncey, of Boston, Massachusetts, responded, in 1768, in a pamphlet entitled, "The Appeal to the Public Answered, in Behalf of the non-Episcopal Churches in America, Containing Remarks on what Dr. Thomas Bradbury Chandler has Advanced, etc."
It was natural for Dr. Chandler to magnify the importance of the peculiarities of his church, and having been bred an Independent, with all the zeal of a proselyte, he sought to widen rather than to narrow the beach between the "Church and the Meeting," as it was customary then to call the two bodies of the Christian people. Consequently there were not a few appeals and rejoinders from both sides. Dr. Chandler continued in the regular discharge of his parochial duties, however, and the congregation increased in numbers until, in 1774, it was found necessary to build a new church. The foundations of the new building, 85 x 50 feet, were laid around the old building, materials were collected and money subscribed to pay the expenses, but the first shock of the war put an end to the work, destined not to be resumed by that generation.
"Dr. Chandler," says Dr. Rudd, "found his situation painful and unpleasant, as well as from the active part which he deemed it his duty to take, as from the violent feeling generally entertained against the church of which he was a minister. These considerations induced him to leave the colonies and go to England." Just before his departure he received a letter from John Pownall, under secretary of state, bearing date April 5, 1775, as follows: "I am directed by the Earl of Dart- mouth to acquaint you that His Majesty has been greatly pleased from a consideration of your merit and services to signify His Cominands to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury that they do make an allowance to you, out of such Funds as their Lordships shall think proper, of two hundred pounds per annum, the said allowance to continue from the first of January last."
On the night of the 10th of May, 1775, the house of Dr. Myles Cooper, of New York, a friend of Dr. Chandler, was sacked, which so
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alarmed the latter that they together found refuge on the Kingfislier, Captain James Montague, a British ship-of-war in the harbor of New York. On the 24th of May, in company with Dr. Cooper and Rev. Samuel Cook, he sailed in the Exeter, for Bristol, England.
The church being left without a supply for the pulpit, public wor- ship was, at length, suspended. As the combat thickened, houses were needed for hospitals, and barracks, and St. John's being used for such purposes, the building suffered in consequence. Nearly all the wood- work of the interior was destroyed, and two futile attempts were made to burn the edifice. The organ was demolished, the metal pipes being converted into bullets. The dragoon who tethered his horse by day upon the graves of the dead, led him by night within the church for a shelter from the storm. About the year 1779 or 1780 the congregation began to assemble in a private house for public worship on Sundays. The Easter elections were resumed in 1778, no record previously occur- ring for four years. In 1779 the election was held at the church. It is probable that from this time, or perhaps earlier, worship was resumed there. In 1786-7 the church and steeple were put in repair and the seats were rented for revenue.
Dr. Chandler remained in exile the full period of ten years, a pen- sioner upon the royal bounty. During this time his family continued to occupy the rectory as before, and various clergymen filled the pulpit in his stead, the Rev. Uzal Ogden, of Newark, officiating from time to time for several years. Dr. Chandler greatly desired the restoration of the royal authority in America, but Cornwallis' surrender was the beginning of a change in his opinions. December 3, 1781, he wrote from London to the Rev. Abraham Beach, of New Brunswick, New Jersey: "The late blow in Virginia (Cornwallis' surrender) has given us a shock, but has not overset us. Though the clouds at present are rather thick about us, I am far, very far from desponding; Ithink matters will take a right turn and then the event will be right."
In May, 1783, after the proclamation of peace, an effort was made to secure the appointment of a bishop for the province of Nova Scotia, to minister to about thirty thousand refugee loyalists who had removed from the states to that land, many of whom were from New York and its viciuity. The zeal to provide an episcopate for their benefit, as very few of them belonged to any other body than the Church of Eng- land, naturally directed attention to the Rev. Dr. Chandler as a person in every way qualified to discharge the duties of that office with dignity and honor. The Doctor greatly desired the office, but, after waiting over two years for the appointment, and desiring greatly to visit his family, he engaged passage in the ship Greyhound, and on Sunday, June 19, 1785, reached New York, but too infirm to resume his paro- chial charge. In 1786 the long-sought episcopate of Nova Scotia was offered to him, but his health was so impaired that he declined it. At
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the request of the vestry, he retained the rectorship and rectory until his death, which occurred at his home, June 17, 1790, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. Mrs. Chandler, to whom an annual pension was allowed by the British government, after the decease of her husband, survived him until September 20, 1801, dying in her sixty-ninth year.
Rev. Samuel Spraggs, the resident minister of St. John's church from April, 1789, succeeded to the rectorship after the death of Dr. Chandler, being appointed January 1, 1791.
Mr. Spraggs had been an acceptable preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church, having been admitted on trial May 25, 1774. He served on different circuits, having charge of the old John street chapel, New York, from 1778 to 1783. He was regarded by the British authorities as a loyalist, so neither he nor the chapel was disturbed during the war. His ministry there closed in 1783, and it is probable that he became connected with the Episcopalians about this time. He came to Elizabeth Town from Mount Holly.
His salary at first was one hundred and twenty pounds, but was raised, in April, 1793, to one hundred and fifty pounds. He died sud- denly, September 7, 1794. Rev. Menzies Rayner, formerly a circuit rider also in this town for the Methodist church, after the second call, accepted the charge and began his ministry here January 1, 1796. He was a young man of promise, and entered the Methodist ministry in 1790, and was very acceptable among his people as a preacher. Hav- ing engaged himself to marry a young lady whose family was unwill- ing that she should share his privations as an itinerant, he chose the alternative of resigning his ministerial post. "It was done," says Dr. Stevens, " with frank notification of his purpose to his presiding elder, Rev. George Roberts, and the avowal of undiminished confidence in the doctrines and discipline of Methodism." He had just left the con- nection when he was called here. His pastorate continued nearly six years. He then served the Episcopal church of Hartford, Connecticut, for twelve years, and later withdrew from the Episcopal ministry, and became a Universalist preacher.
Rev. Frederick Beasley, a native of Edenton, North Carolina, and a graduate of the College of New Jersey, was next called to St. John's, and was installed in February, 1802. He resigned June 5, 1803, having accepted a call to the rectorship of St. Peter's church, Albany, New York. He was afterwards rector of St. Paul's church, Baltimore, and subse- quently provost of the University of Pennsylvania. His son was the late chief justice of New Jersey. His successor was Rev. Samuel Lilly, who was appointed rector of St. John's, August 28, 1803. He was to receive a salary of five hundred dollars and the use of the parsonage. There was some difficulty about raising the salary, and Mr. Lilly agreed to resign his charge May 1, 1805, "being paid up all arrears of the stipend due to that time." Some time afterward he removed to the south, where he died.
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In December, 1805, Rev. John Churchill Rudd became rector of St. John's, with a salary of five hundred dollars and the use of the rectory. Mr. Rudd's ancestors were of Puritan faith, and he himself was bred a Congregationalist. At this time, the congregation seldomn exceeded a hundred souls and the communicants were sixty in number.
A new steeple was erected in 1807. In 1808 the length of the building was increased seventeen feet. These repairs cost about four thousand dollars. In 1810 Mr. Rudd's salary was increased to six hundred dollars. In 1813 Mr. Rudd became editor of a new series of the Churchman's Magazine, and the place of publication was changed from New York to this town. In 1818 the parsonage was rebuilt at an expense of about three thousand dollars. In July, 1823, the University of Pennsylvania conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Owing to the loss of health, and particularly his voice, Dr. Rudd was released from his parochial charge June 1, 1826. He died at Auburn, New York, in 1848, but was buried in St. John's churchyard. He was succeeded June 1, 1826, by the Rev. Smith Pyne. His salary was five hundred dollars and the rectory. His ministry was acceptable, but he resigned the rectorship December 31, 1828.
March 8, 1829, a call was extended to the Rev. Birdseye Glover Noble, who came here on a salary of five hundred dollars, the rectory and his firewood. His ministry terminated by his resignation in 1833. The church met with severe losses by death during the cholera season of 1832.
At the close of January, 1834, the Rev. Richard Channing Moore, Jr., son of Bishop Moore, of Virginia, was chosen rector and at once entered upon his work. He was graduated at Washington (Trinity) College, Hartford, in 1829. He continued in charge of St. John's till March, 1855, when he resigned. At first his salary was four hundred dollars, with the usual perquisites, but it was afterwards increased. His ministry was very acceptable to the people, and during his stay as rector an addition of eight feet was made to each side of the church, and the interior was wholly renewed.
He was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Adams Clark, to whomn a call was extended February 4, 1856, on a salary of twelve hundred dollars and the usual perquisites. He was born in Newburyport, Massa- chusetts, January 27, 1822. He belonged to a family of clergymen, several of whom have been prominent. An elder brother is the present bishop of Rhode Island, Rt. Rev. Thomas M. Clark, D. D. He was prepared for the ministry at the theological seminary at Alexandria, Virginia. In 1856 the parish library was founded, one hundred dollars being contributed by Mr. La Chaise. It is still inaintained, is constantly added to, and has become quite a valuable collection. In April, 1857, measures were taken to raise twenty thousand dollars for a new church, and the work was undertaken in 1859, the corner-stone being laid Sep- tember 5th, and the new house completed in the following year.
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The new St. John's is a noble specimen of the Gothic style of architecture of the fourteenth century. The whole cost was about fifty thousand dollars. A chapel was built in 1867, costing about fifteen thousand dollars. On St. John the Baptist's day, June 24, 1860, the new church was opened for service, that day being the one hundred and fifty-fourth anniversary of the laying of the foundation of the original church building. It was consecrated March 26, 1865, by Bishop Oden- heimer. The tower was completed in December, 1864, and by competent authority has been pronounced one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in the land.
Dr. Clark died January 28, 1875, 10 head of St. John's church ever being so heartily mourned. His ministry was pre-eminently successful. It was due to his efforts that the new church and chapel were built. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Rutgers College, New Brunswick, New Jersey. He wrote a history of St. John's church, pub- lished in 1857 by J. B. Lippincott & Company, Philadelphia.
Dr. William S. Langford succeeded in July, 1875. His ministry continued ten, years when he resigned, September 1, 1885, to become general secretary of the board of foreign and domestic missions, at the urgent request of the church at large, and against the wishes of his own people.
Rev. Otis A. Glazebrook, D. D., was elected as his successor, and took charge in November, 1885. He was born in Richmond, Virginia, October 13, 1845, and was prepared for the ministry at the theological seminary at Alexandria, in his native state. He first took charge of a parish at Lawrenceville, Virginia, going from there to Baltimore, Maryland, and next to Macon, Georgia. While there he met with a terrible railroad accident which nearly cost him his life, and caused him to resign his charge, as the surgeons thought he could never resume work. Recovering, after prolonged treatment at liome and abroad, he was made chaplain of the University of Virginia and from there he was called to St. John's. During his rectorship the church has had large accessions to its membership, and it is now the largest Episcopal church in the state. In 1897 the communicants enrolled numbered eleven hundred and eighty-two. The pews of St. John's are rented, but in 1888, with the consent of the pewholders, the vestry declared the church free on Sunday evenings.
During the latter part of the rectorship of Dr. Clark he built a home of his own on a portion of the old parsonage lot, which he had bought from the church. For some years the parsonage was rented, and after Dr. Langford became rector it was thought advisable to locate nearer the church, and a house and lot on East Jersey street were purchased, in December, 1875, for about thirteen thousand dollars. This house was occupied as the rectory until early in 1894. In March, 1892, a committee of the vestry was appointed to consider the advisability of selling the
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rectory and erecting a parish building and rectory adjoining the church, and in December, 1892, the land adjoining the churchyard on the south and having a frontage of thirty-three feet on Broad street, was purchased for ten thousand six hundred dollars. In November, 1893, the rectory on East Jersey street was sold for about the same amount paid for it in 1875, and in October, 1894, the erection of a new rectory was begun on the Broad-street property, and the work was completed in about a year. The new rectory is of pale brick, trimmed with stone, and the style of architecture is the domestic gothic. It cost about nineteen, thousand dollars, exclusive of the land. It is proposed to ultimately raze the chapel in the rear and erect a parish building, connecting the church and the rectory, the buildings forming three sides of a quadrangle and making a beautiful group. The architect was Mr. Augustus Howe. Much costly work has also been done within the church building during the present rectorship, the walls having been decorated and the floors tiled.
In 1879 ex-Chancellor Benjamin Williamson, then senior warden, gave to the church five thousand dollars as a "Memorial Easter Offering," to be used to establish a "missionary home for charitable purposes," and with part of this money and its accumulations the old parsonage on Pearl street was secured for the home. Together with about four acres of land, it was purchased by the church, December 11, 1749, for one hundred and sixty-two pounds, New Jersey inoney, at eight shillings the ounce. This glebe was one of the oldest in America. After being thoroughly repaired the building was opened as St. John's Home, April 23, 1885. It was intended as a place for rest and convalescence and a centre of church work, and as such was used for some years, but, conditions changing, it was deemed wiser to concentrate parish work near the church. After consultation with Mr. Williamson, and with his approval, it was decided, in 1892, to sell the home and apply the proceeds toward the erection of the proposed parish building. These times of business depression have not, however, been propitious, and nothing has yet been done.
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