History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 167

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224

USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 167
USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 167

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The Rutgers College Natural History Society con- tributed largely to the collections in the museum. The class of 1858, in concert with Rev. Samuel Lock- wood, Ph.D., contributed rare and valuable Devonian fossils ; the class of 1862 contributed a large collection of crystals and ores ; and other classes and individual students have left substantial evidence of their share in making the collection. There is a considerable collection of birds, an herbarium is well begun, and a collection of the woods of New Jersey is now being made. Rev. Dr. A. R. Van Nest, during his long residence in Florence and other parts of Italy, has procured and sent to the college a fine collection of beautiful polished stones, marbles, and other interest- ing specimens and curiosities. At the commencement of 1873 liberal friends contributed a sum sufficient to pay for cases in which to arrange the geological, mineralogical, and other collections.

There are two literary societies, named “ Peithes- sophian" and "Philoclean." They were founded in 1828, and their object is to train their members in composition, declamation, and debate. Nearly every student is a member of one of these societies, and they are about equal in numbers. They have halls provided by the trustees, but these halls are furnished at the expense of the societies. Their libraries num- ber nineteen hundred volumes eachı.

A chapter of the "Phi Beta Kappa Society" was established in the college on Feb. 22, 1868.

The " Rutgers College Bible Society," which has for its object the distribution of the Holy Scriptures, was founded in 1829. It has for a long time been enabled to send from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty- five dollars annually to the American Bible Society. It has now eighty members, and has had six hundred and twenty-five in all since its foundation.

The Temperance Society was organized in 1873; the Base-Ball Association in 1860; the Foot-Ball Club in 1868; the Boating Association in 1867; the Alumni Association in 1832.

While Rutgers College is not a free institution, yet ample provision is made for granting free tuition to every young man who has a good character for moral- ity and studiousness, and who is not able to pay his own way. And besides these general arrangements, it has several large and productive sources of bene- ficiary aid.

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CITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

Theological Seminary.1-The Theological Semi- nary of the Reformed Church in the United States had its origin in the desire to educate young men for the ministry in this country instead of being depend- ent for a supply upon Holland, and particularly upon the Classis of Amsterdam. Difference of opinion upon this important question divided the Church into the Coetus and Conferentie parties, involving an unhappy controversy, which lasted for many years. During this controversy the Coetus party not only struggled for independent American judicatories but also contem- plated the establishment of a university, with regular advantages for a theological training, and in May, 1755, commissioned Rev. Theodore Frelinghuysen to solicit funds for that object in Holland. His departure was delayed for four years, and this, to- gether with the unhappy schism in the church, defeated the movement. Eight years after this J. H. Livingston, while studying for the ministry in Holland, proposed to his friends in America that both contending parties should fix on some poor but sprightly boy and send him to Holland to be specially trained for a professor in the American churches, (liberal friends in Holland promising to defray the expenses), and thus ultimately perhaps the schism might be healed, and the churches here supplied with a satisfactory ministry.

This plan seems not to have been long enter- tained, for soon after Mr. Livingston formed the acquaintance of Dr. Witherspoon, who had been called from Europe to take the presidency of the college at Princeton, and who had visited Holland before embarking for America; and attempts were now made to secure arrangements for the education of ministers for the Reformed Church at the Prince- ton institutions. This, however, was opposed by the party leaders in America, and the proposition, as well as that of the Conferentie, to establish a divinity professorship in Kings College, was defeated in the subsequent articles of union, which stipulated that the professors of theology to be chosen from the ' afterwards raised to full professors.

Netherlands by the advice of the Classis should have no connection with any English academies, but should deliver lectures on theology, etc., in their own houses. They were not intended to be pastors, but a fund was to be raised for their support. As no such endowment could be immediately obtained, some of the most influential churches standing aloof from the union, and the disturbed political condition of the country rendering it impossible to proceed, no steps were taken to establish a professorship till after the Revolution. The Synod in the mean time advised students to study at their convenience with Drs. Livingston, Westerlow, Rysdyck, Hardenbergh, or Goetchius.

While the subject of the professorship was thus

pending, the trustees of Queen's College sought to carry out the plans of the Coetus party by calling Rev. John Brown, of Haddington, Scotland, to be- come their professor of divinity. He, however, declined. They subsequently wrote to the Classis of Amsterdam and to the Theological Faculty at Utrecht to recommend to them a professor of theology, to he also president of their college and a member of the ecclesiastical judicatories in America. The Synod indorsed the action of the trustees in 1774, and the next year the Classis, in concurrence with the Faculty at Utrecht, recommended their last American student, Dr. Livingston, as the pro- fessor. But the battle of Lexington had already been fought, and the subject was postponed.

At the close of the Revolution the subject of the professorship at once occupied the attention of the churches. Dr. Livingston was in favor of having a Divinity Hall opened in New Brunswick, because it was the most central place for all portions of the Reformed Church, the Dutch in New York and New Jersey, and the Germans in Pennsylvania. The Synod, however, decided to locate the chair in the city of New York. In October, 1784, Dr. J. H. Liv- ingston was chosen professor of theology, and Dr. H. Meyer, pastor at Totowa and Pompton Plains, pro- fessor of languages. Dr. Livingston entered upon the duties of his professorship May 19, 1785 ; for a number of years he was very poorly supported, re- ceiving previous to 1791 only a few honoria2 from students who were able to pay, and a few others from the Synod for the more indigent class. Only a few of the more wealthy students went to New York on account of the cost of living in the city, and the rest studied with their pastors at home. This induced the Synod to appoint authorized lectors in theology, to whom the country students could resort. One was appointed in 1786, viz. : Dr. Meyer, of Pompton ; and in 1792, Dr. Solomon Froeligh, of Hackensack, and Dirck Romeyn, of Schenectady. These were

In 1791 the Synod for the first time took active measures towards raising a fund for the endowment of the theological professorship. The consistory of the church in New York were at first made trustees of the fund, and Peter Wilson agent. Subsequently, in 1794, Peter Wilson, John Vanderbilt, Robert Ben- son, and Richard Varrick were made a board of trus- tecs of the theological fund. During the two years from 1791 to 1793 the work of raising the endowment was suspended, owing to a proposition from Queen's College that the Synod should recommend to them a professor of theology, who should also take the presi- dency of the college, in accordance with the expecta- tions excited in 1773. This the Synod declined to do until the institution was properly endowed.

In 1793 a very strong influence was brought to the General Synod in favor of an independent theologi-

1 Compiled by the editor of this work from an article in Corwin's Man- nal, 1869, and some additional data.

2 Five pounds each paid by the students for their license.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

cal professorship. The Classis of Hackensack urged the Synod to establish such a school at once, and claimed that if the professorship should be connected with Queen's College it could only be a subordinate office. At the General Synod in June, 1794, a com- mittee was appointed to report on this question, con- sisting of Revs. D. Romeyn, S. Froeligh, E. Van Bunschooten, and three elders. They reported that no union could be effected with Queen's College as long as it was situated at New Brunswick, that it ought to be removed to Bergen or Hackensack, and a committee was appointed to confer with the trustees on the subject. The committee at the same time re- ported that the Divinity School could not flourish in New York on account of the expense of living, that its continuance there prevented the raising of a fund, that the professor ought to remove to Flatbush, where a classical academy existed, or to some other place.

Prof. Livingston removed to Flatbush in the spring of 1796, relinquishing half of his services and half of his salary in the city, and receiving nothing in return. But the number of his students at once doubled, and everything appeared to be encouraging. The prosperity, however, lasted but a short time. The Synod failed to meet the financial requirements of the school, and Dr. Livingston's health becoming impaired by an over amount of unrequited labor, he deemed it advisable to leave his school at Flatbush and return to New York. Upon the announcement of this determination to the Synod Dr. Livingston received the thanks of that body for his gratuitous services, and was earnestly solicited to continue the duties of his office as he had previously done in con- nection with his pastorate in the city. Believing that it was " exceedingly inconvenient for all the stu- dents to get the certificate of one professor," and that " different localities would become interested by a professor residing among them," Synod distributed the school into three equal parts, to serve as many different localities by creating two other professors, viz., Drs. Froeligh and Romeyn, raised from the rank of lectors in theology, to which they had been appointed in 1792.

In 1800 two professors of Hebrew were appointed, namely, Revs. John Bassett and Jeremiah Romeyn. Students desiring to be examined by the Classis for licensure must have a certificate of lingual attain- ments, signed by one of these professors.

Thus matters remained until the year 1806, with the exception that every day the prospects of the pro- fessorate grew more dark and dubious, until its most sanguine friends had become ready to despair con- cerning it. The uncertainty of location seemed to destroy every effort in its behalf. But just at this time the trustees of Queen's College made a proposition which prepared the way for the ultimate success of the institution. They were now engaged in earnest in the revival of their college, and they proposed to unite with it the theological professorship. The i be made up as soon as funds permitted.

scheme was sanctioned by the General Synod, pro- viding that all the moneys raised in the State of New York should be applied to the endowment of the theological professorship.

" A covenant was then drawn up between the par- ties, in which the trustees promised to combine the literary interest of the college with a decided support to evangelical truth and the promotion of an able and faithful ministry in the Dutch Church ; that the funds raised in New York should be appropriated to the support of the theological professorship in the college, and to the assistance of poor and pious young men preparing for the ministry; that the trustees should hold the funds for the theological professor- ship, and should call the professor elected by the Synod as soon as their funds would allow ; that a per- manent board of superintendents be appointed by the Synod to superintend the theological institution, to aid the professor in arranging the course of instruction, to attend the examination of students in theology, and to be known by the name of 'The Superintendents of the Theological Institution in Queen's College ;' that the Synod provide money for a library ; and both parties were to unite in erecting the necessary build- ings, money even, if needed for this purpose, to be taken from the professorial fund.

" Synod now enjoined collections to be taken up in all their churches in the State of New York to help in the erection of the necessary buildings. It was resolved that the board of superintendents consist of nine members, three to be taken from each particular Synod, and three from the clerical members of the board of trustees.

" The effort to collect funds by the trustees met with unexpected success. The church of New York at once gave $10,000, and the church of Harlem $400.

" In less than a year the trustees called Dr. Living- ston as their Professor of Theology, according to the covenant, offering $720, and $220 additional as presi- dent of the college. He at first declined the latter office, but ultimately accepted, a vice-president being appointed to take the burden of the duties. He did not immediately remove to New Brunswick, but waited until the churches under his care should be somewhat provided for, and also lest his removal might retard the increase of the professorial fund.

" In February, 1810, the trustees offered him $650 additional. He now, after a pastorship of forty years, and a professorship without compensation of twenty- six years in the city, at the age of sixty-four, broke all the ties he had there formed and removed to New Brunswick. He had given his professional certificate up to this time to about ninety students. By his re- moval he sacrificed a salary of $2500 in his pastoral charge. In December of the same year, considering the great sacrifices he had made, the trustees increased his salary to $1700, allowing also $300 for house rent, promising that if there were any deficiency it should

689

CITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK.

" Dr. Livingston opened the seminary in October, 1810, with five students. But a few days before he left New York he wrote a letter to his venerable brother in the ministry, Rev. Elias Van Bunschooten, suggesting the propriety of his devoting a portion of his property to the benefit of the theological institu- tion.1 The effort was not in vain, but resulted in the endowing of the trustees in the sum of $14,650, which was increased by his will to $17,000. The income of this fund was to be appropriated to the support 'of pious youths who hope they have a call of God to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.'2 It at present exceeds $20,000, and has been the means of educating about one hundred and twenty-five young men for the ministry.

"In 1812, Dr. Livingston sent in his first report to the Synod, in which he briefly reviewed the facts, and stated the present condition of the seminary, urging the necessity of prompt and vigorous action respect- ing the endowment. At the same time the board of superintendents was fully organized by the adoption of a detailed plan respecting the government of the theological school. From this time the board of superintendents has regularly met, and has exam - ined more than five hundred students

" In 1814 the board of superintendents suggested to the Synod the necessity of another professor. To this end the church of Albany offered to contribute annually $750, and the church of New Brunswick $200 for a term of six years. Synod accordingly, to the great relief of the aged Livingston, the next year elected Rev. John Schureman Professor of Pastoral Theology and Ecclesiastical History. After his death, in 1818, the second professorship embraced the de- partments of Oriental Literature and Ecclesiastical History. Rev. Thomas De Witt having declined an appointment to this position, Rev. John Ludlow was chosen, who continued in this department for five years, when Rev. John De Witt was chosen his suc- cessor.

"The further endowment of the institution now weighed heavily on Dr. Livingston's mind. He felt that unless speedy measures were taken for this end the institution must die. In 1822 subscriptions were started, Dr. Livingston leading them with $500, and nearly $27,000 were subscribed within a year in the Particular Synod of New York.

" The Particular Synod of Albany now made efforts to endow a third professorship. Dr. Livingston saw this enterprise in its inception, but did not live to see it completed. He, however, lived long enough to see that success was certain, and that the institution for which he had sacrificed so much during forty years was established on a firm foundation. Different pro- fessors in different parts of the church had been ap- pointed for the convenience of students, and Dr. Liv-

ingston had an assistant most of the time in New Brunswick ; but it was only after his death, though in the same year, that the theological institution was fully organized by the full complement of professors, De Witt, Milledoler, and Woodhull. The Particular Synod of Albany, by the fall of 1825, had subscribed about $27,000 also for the endowment of the third professorship. It was several years before their moneys were paid in (some of the subscriptions in- deed were lost), but in the mean time the church of New York for several years gave $1750 per annum, and other churches or friends assisted in meeting the deficiency. Synod now purchased the college build- ing in payment of the obligation of the trustees to them. The trustees had saved the professorate in 1807 by taking it under their care, and the Synod now saved the college from extinction by a similar kindness. The theological professors became pro- fessors also in the college, and thus that institution, under the name of Rutgers, was reopened. . . . About 1861 the theological professors were relieved from further duties in the college.

" The want of a theological hall separate from the college building began to be seriously felt about 1851. Several young men were known to have gone else- where to study on account of the high price of board in New Brunswick. Elsewhere they could board in common. The students drew up a memorial stating their difficulties and their wants, and which paper passed through the hands of the faculty to the board of superintendents. The board took immediate action on it, and their efforts were crowned with complete success. At the personal solicitation of Dr. Ludlow, Mrs. Anna Hertzog, of Philadelphia, donated $30,000 for its erection, with the condition that it should be called 'The Peter Hertzog Theological Hall.'' Col. James Neilson then gave a lot of ground valued at $14,000 ; Mr. David Bishop gave an adjoining lot, valued at 81200; Mr. Charles P. Dayton gave an adjoining lot, and $2000 were given by Messrs. Fran- cis and Wessel Wessels, of Paramus, N. J., to pur- chase still additional land to make the rectangle complete. The building was speedily erected, and contained dormitories, refectory, lecture-rooms, chapel, and library. Since the erection of James Suydam Hall the professors have occupied lecture-rooms in it, and the library has been removed to Gardner A. Sage Library Building.

"In 1864 the Synod transferred the college prop- erty back to the trustees, and the next year the cove- nants of 1807 and 1825 were finally annulled. The money thus accruing was devoted to the erection of the beautiful professorial residences then in course of erection. The same year a fourth professorship, namely, of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology,

1 Letter printed in Livingston's Life, and in New Brunswick Review. 2 See bequest in History of Sussex County, p 169.

¿ Peter Hertzog was a native and citizen of Philadelphia, of German ancestry. He was an upright and successful business mau, one of the founders of the Third Reformed Church of that city, and president of its board of trustees.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

which had been suggested and desired for many years, was hy a very generous subscription through the churches secured, and Dr. David D. Demorest was elected to this position.

The Standing Committee on Peter Hertzog IFall, of which the three professors were members, reported in 1867 subscriptions and moneys received amounting to $62,233.09, of which what remained after the estab- lishment of the fourth professorship was to be used for the building of three professorial residences, which now occupy the seminary grounds. The professors, as members of the committee, raised almost the whole amount, a work in which they were obliged to spend much time and labor. They were stimulated, how- ever, early in the canvass by receiving from one per- son a subscription of $40,000 for increase of the en- dowment, on condition that a like sum should be raised for a new professorship.

Unfortunately, a large amount of the subscriptions could not be collected, although the subscribers had undoubtedly pledged their names in good faith. This caused embarrassment and rendered a new effort necessary. The Synod, in order to relieve the pro- fessors, in 1868 reconstituted the committee, making it up of nine laymen and one professor, selected by the faculty. The committee was authorized to em- ploy an agent to obtain subscriptions and collect moneys. The Synod at the same time passed a reso- lution requesting the board of direction to co-operate with the committee in raising $100,000 for completing the endowment of the seminary and for the payment of the debt of the Synod. The committee and board jointly employed Rev. Dr. James A. H. Crowell as agent, who commenced the work with enthusiasm and vigor, and was cheered by receiving from Mr. James Suydam $40,000 for the endowment of the professorship of Didactic and Polemic Theology, to which he subsequently added the sum of $20,000. Very appropriately the Synod attached his name to the professorship. The committee has been continued with some changes to the present time, and has made its regular reports to the General Synod. Extensive improvements and repairs have been made to Peter Hertzog Hall. Water and heating by steam have been introduced into it, and its appointments are cal- culated to make an attractive dwelling-place. A rector has care of the building, who also provides meals at moderate rates to the students. James Suy- dam Hall, the noble gift of Mr. James Suydam, of New York City, has risen on one side of Hertzog Hall. It was dedicated (the General Synod attending) June 5, 1873, and contains a spacious gymnasium, chapel, museum, and four lecture-rooms. In front of it a bronze statue of Mr. Suydam has been placed by his friends, a well-deserved tribute to the memory of this liberal benefactor of the seminary, whose contribu- tions considerably excceded $200,000.

On the other side of Peter Hertzog Hall stands the Gardner A. Sage Library, a fire-proof building, erected

by Mr. Gardner A. Sage, of New York City, presented by him to the General Synod, and dedicated June 4, 1875, the Synod being in attendance. In addition to his gift of the building, Col. Sage has paid the salary of the librarian, for the services of the janitor, for coal and other incidental expenses annually. He also contributed $2500 for the purchase of books, and $700 annually for several years for ordinary expenses of Peter Hertzog Hall, and united with Mr. Suydam in the purchase and presentation to General Synod of a professorial residence at a cost to each of them of $9000. Quite as valuable, perhaps, as these gifts have been his indefatigable personal services to the insti- tution as chairman and treasurer of the Standing Committee.

Through the efforts of Dr. Cornell about $50,000 were secured for the library, chiefly in subscriptions of $2500. These moneys were given, not to be in- vested, but to be spent, as soon as it could be judici- ously done, in the purchase of books. The larger part has been spent, and thus a good beginning has been made of an excellent library, which now contains over thirty thousand volumes. The selection of books is made by a committee of the General Synod, con- sisting of Rev. Drs. T. W. Chambers, E. T. Corwin, C. D. Hartranft, and Prof. Jacob Cooper, of Rutgers College, in connection with the theological professors. The library is open daily from 9 A.M. to 4.30 P.M., and is accessible to citizens of New Brunswick and others.

In 1873, Nicholas T. Vedder, of Utica, N. Y., pre- sented to the General Synod $10,000 in railroad bonds for the establishment of a course of lectures to be delivered by a member of the Reformed (Dutch) Church to the students of the seminary and of Rut- gers College on "The Present Aspects of Modern Infidelity, including its Cause and Cure." The lec- turer was to be chosen by the General Synod by ballot. The Synod accepted the gift, and established the " Vedder Lectures on Modern Infidelity," which have been delivered yearly since, except in 1878, as follows :

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 167

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts Number of Pages: 1224

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224