History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 53

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 53
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 53

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" From this one congregation went forth over forty commissioned officers of the Continental army, not to speak of non-commissioned officers and privates, to fight the battles of independence."

We shall not recount here the events of the Revo- lution, having given that history already in several general chapters of this work. In that history will be found an account of the burning by a party of the enemy from Staten Island, under command of the notorions Col. Van Buskirk, of the court-house and

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

the meeting-house of this parish, in which Mr. Cald- well had then preached for twenty years. This was on the night of the 25th of January, 1780. This was undoubtedly the second house of worship which had been built by the congregation.

In a letter addressed to the Elizabeth Daily Journal of May 12, 1873, Dr. Hatfield says, "Through the kindness of a friend in Philadelphia, I have recently came into possession of an original document, pur- porting to be an agreement or contract between the building committee of the congregation and the car- penters by whom the old meeting-house that was burned down in 1780 was built." The agreement which follows bears date " this twenty-fourth day of February, Anno Domini 1723-24, and in the tenth year of our sovereign Lord King George, etc," and is signed by John Thompson, Nathaniel Bonnell, Joseph Woodruff, David Morehouse, Nathaniel Bonnell, Jr., "a committee chosen by the Presby- terian Society of Elizebeth Town for taking care of building a meeting-house for said society." " It will thus be seen," as Dr. Hatfield adds, " that the house was built in the summer of 1724, and was fifty-eight feet in length and forty-two feet in width, and that the audience-room was twenty-four feet in height. ... An addition to the length in the rear of sixteen feet was made in 1766, so that its final dimensions were seventy-four by forty-two feet."

We may gather some idea of the appearance of the interior of the church at the time it was destroyed from the directions given by the trustees to the new sex- ton, William Woodruff, elected March, 1766: "Once every three months the alleys below the pulpit stairs and gallery stairs must be washed out and well sanded. For evening lectures you are to get the candles, such as the trustees shall direct, and illumi- nate the church in every part, and at the conclusion of prayer, before sermon, you are immediately to go up and snuff the pulpit candles and the rest of the candles in the church. When you judge the sermon to be about half finished, you are once more to snuff the candles in the pulpit and at the clerk's desk." (The most serious objection to this rule would be the suspicion that the sexton might be open to outside influences to snuff the candles prematurely.) " You are to be very careful of the silk hangings and cushions that they receive no injury by dust spots. You are to see that the pulpit door be always opened ready for the minister's entrance, and the Bible opened on the cushion. You are to prevent, as much as in you lies, all undue noises and disorders, and suffer no white boys or girls to be standing or sitting on the gal- lery or pulpit stairs, and if at any time you cannot prevent unruly behavior during divine service, you are immediately to step to one of the magistrates or elders present and inform them of the same. You are weekly to wind up and regulate the church clock." Such, as nearly as we are able to present it to you, was the venerable church edifice in its external and in-

ternal appearance.1 "The church in which Cald- well preached," says Dr. Murray in his notes, " was cheerfully yielded as a hospital for sick and disabled and wounded soldiers, as some of the aged ones yet among us testify ; it was its bell that sounded through the town the notes of alarm on the approach of the foe; its floor was not unfrequently the bed of the weary soldier, and the seats of its pews the table from which he ate his scanty meal."

In April, 1776, Col. Dayton's regiment, that had heen quartered in town, received orders to march to the relief of the army besieging Quebec. As most of the officers and many of the privates were members of Mr. Caldwell's congregation, a strong desire was expressed that he should serve as chaplain. Lieut. Elmer, in his diary, April 28th, says, " Members of the Presbyterian meeting met about Mr. Caldwell's going to Quebec with us, which was agreed on after some debate."

" Parson Caldwell," or the " Fighting Chaplain." as he was called by the British, who had reason both to fear and hate him for his powerful influence in aid- ing the patriot cause, was from that time forward to the close of his life occupied more or less continually in the service of his country. "He was at once the ardent patriot and the faithful Christian pastor. The Sabbath found him, whether at home or in the camp, ready to proclaim the gospel, with its messages of mercy and comfort, to his fellow-men, while he was ever watchful at other times to use every opportunity to promote the spiritual welfare of citizens and sol- diers. He was held, therefore, in the highest esteem by officers and men, confided in by all, and regarded with enthusiastic love by thefrank and file." No one, consequently, save his parishioner, Governor Living- ston, was more feared and hated by the Tories and the British. Gladly would they have kidnapped him if they could. Doubtless it was owing to a full appre- ciation of this fact that he was wont, as Dr. McDowell relates, when returning from active service to pass a Sunday with such of his flock as could be gathered in the old red store-house, to make ready for open- ing the service by laying his cavalry pistols upon the pulpit enshion, ready for immediate use if re- quired, while sentinels were stationed at the doors to give warning."

When Caldwell and his people returned to their homes in January, 1777, after an exile of six weeks, "they found everything in ruins, their houses plun- dered, their fences broken down and consumed, their gardens laid waste, their fields an open common, and their records, both public and private, destroyed."

Upon the retreat of Knyphausen's forces from the Short Hills expedition, in June, 1780, the British sol- diers deliberately murdered Mrs. Caldwell, the wife of the pastor, who was at that time occupying the parsonage at Connecticut Farms with his family and

1 Caldwell and the Revolution, by Rev. Everard Kemphall, D.D).

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nine children, having been removed thither by Mr. Caldwell for safety. She was sitting in a back room with her children about her, when a British soldier approached the house, and thrusting his gun throngh a window shot her dead upon the spot. The few dwellings in the hamlet were plundered of everything portable, and then, together with the Presbyterian Church of the place, were burned to the ground.

While this sad bereavement cast a gloom over Mr. Caldwell and affected him deeply, it no doubt inten- sified his hatred of the British soldiery, and added new zest to his patriotic exertions. At the battle near Springfield, in the midst of a severe engagement with Clinton's forces, Caldwell, finding that the militia were out of wadding for their muskets, galloped to the Presbyterian Church near, and returning with an armful of hymn-books threw them upon the ground, exclaiming, " Now put Watts into them, boys !"

Such is one of the noted instances of the zeal and ready energy of this truly patriotic and noble man. He lived one month after the surrender of Lord Corn- wallis to enjoy the victory, which to him was tinged with a sadness never removed in this world. He had become more and more endeared to the whole com- munity, but in an evil hour he was snatched away by the hand of an assassin. On the 24th of November, 1781, he was cruelly murdered while attending upon a lady who had come over from New York for a visit to her friends in Elizabeth Town, and had landed at the Point. He was shot, without cause or provoca- tion, by a man named Morgan, who had been enlisted as a twelve-months' man in the Continental service, and was then acting as a sentinel at the landing at Elizabeth Town Point. In the absence of any as- certained motive for so base a deed, it was quite gen- erally believed that the man had been bribed by British gold. He was tried by court-martial and executed upon the gallows; but he never made any confession of his object, or of what influenced him to the deed. During the funeral services of Mr. Cald- well the whole town suspended business, and ex- pressed in unmistakable manner the deep sorrow that filled all hearts. Surely among the many trying scenes through which the people of this congregation had been called to pass during the war of the Revo- lution, none could have been more touching and sad- dening than that which occurred at the funeral, when, " after all had taken their last look, and before the coffin was closed, Elias Boudinot came forward leading nine orphan children, and placing them around the bier of their parent, made an address of surpassing pathos to the multitude in their behalf. It was an hour of deep and powerful emotion, and the procession slowly moved to the grave, weeping as they went."

REV. JAMES FRANCIS ARMSTRONG was chosen to succeed Rev. Mr. Caldwell in the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church after the lapse of some eight months. The general feeling was, no doubt, that expressed by Abraham Clark, who, in a letter

from Philadelphia to Capt. Benjamin Winans, dated Jan. 16, 1782, says,-

" I suppose by this time that the murderer of Mr. Caldwell has heeo tried and received his doom; but that will not restore our loss which will be long felt in Elizabeth-Towu. I hope you will not be in a hurry to get another, for few can be found fit to succeed him that is gone. I have one or two in my mind that might answer, but I think that they could not be got till the end of the war, as they are chaplains of the army."1

Possibly Mr. Armstrong may have been one of the ministers alluded to, as he was a chaplain in the army at the South till the close of the war. He was the son of Francis Armstrong, of West Nottingham, MId., where he was born, April 3, 1750. He graduated at Princeton College in 1773, studied theology under Dr. Witherspoon, and was licensed to preach in January, 1777, but did not receive ordination till Jan. 14, 1778, at which time it appears he accepted an appointment as chaplain in Gen. Sullivan's brigade. He spent the next three years in the service, mostly in the South. He began his ministerial work here in June, 1782, and was married on the 22d of August following to Susanna, daughter of Robert J. Livingston, deceased.

Mr. Armstrong remained less than a year as pastor of the church, his services being terminated by a se- vere affection of measles, aggravated by exposure in the army. He, however, recovered his health in two or three years, when he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Trenton, and remained until his death, Jan. 19, 1816.

For about eighteen months following the resigna- tion of Mr. Armstrong the church was supplied by ministers mostly of the Presbytery of New York.

NEW HOUSE OF WORSHIP .- Meantime measures were taken for the erection of a new house of worship in place of the one which had been destroyed by the British. At a meeting for that purpose, July 11, 1784, "the Congregation voted that the Trustees should mortgage the Parsonage Land against Mr. Jelf's for as much Money as they can get upon it, to be laid out for building the Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth Town."

The trustees at this time were Isaac Woodruff, Lewis Mulford, Isaac Arnett, Jonathan Price, and David Ogden. The work was immediately undertaken, and prosecuted with diligence. In May, 1785, a meeting of the congregation was held, at which it was agreed that four pews just in front of the pulpit, four next the door, and four pews in the galleries were to be free forever for the congregation ; one square pew at the side of the pulpit to be for the minister's family, and the square pew on the other side for strangers, and three side pews near the door for negroes.

The building was so far finished in the autumn of 1785 as to allow of occasional occupation by the con- gregation, as appears from the following record in the i journal of Bishop Asbury :

1 Proceedings uf N. J. Hist. Soc., iii. 86.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

"Wednesday, [Sept.] 6, [1785.] After preaching, this morning, I left the city, overstaying the hour, the stage left ns, and we found ourselves under the necessity of walking six miles ; I dined with Mr. Ogden, and preached in Elizabethtown, in the unfinished church belonging to the Presbyterians."

He repeated the visit a year later, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 1786, and "at seven o'clock preached and had much liberty." 1

The church was dedicated, though in an unfinished state, about the 1st of Jannary, 1786, the sermon hay- ing been preached by the Rev. Dr. Mcwhorter, of Newark. During the whole period from the time of commencing the work of erecting the church the congregation were visited with a special revival. It prevailed mostly in 1785, and extended into the re- mote parts of the town.

REV. WILLIAM ADOLPHUS LINN, the next pastor, remained but a few months. He was called early in the year I786; was a man of commanding talents, and of more than nsual eloquence as a pulpit orator ; was a graduate of Princeton College in 1772, and a class- mate of Aaron Burr ; was licensed in 1775, ordained in 1776 by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and was a chaplain in the Revolutionary army. It was during his services as chaplain that his eloquence attracted public attention. His reputation in this regard was well sustained as pastor of this church, indeed, too well for the wishes of the congregation, for it caused him to be called to the Collegiate Dutch Reformed Church of New York, as a colleague of Rev. Dr. Livingston, and the Elizabethtown Church lost their pastor, " greatly to the grief, and not a little to the indignation, of both people and Presbytery." "Hon- ored the following year by the College of New York with the honorary degree of D.D., Dr. Linn com- manded in an eminent manner the respect and admi- ration of the city of New York, where he continued to labor in the ministry until failing health compelled him to resign his charge in January, 1805. He died in Albany in Jannary, 1808, aged fifty-five.

During Mr. Linn's ministry here the church edifice appears to have been finished with money raised by a lottery, the grant for which was obtained from the Legislature. The scheme was advertised at length in the New York Gazetteer, June 16, 1786. Isaac Wood- ruff, Jonathan Dayton, and Aaron Lane were mana- gers. At the settlement of their accounts, in 1789, each manager was allowed two hundred dollars for his services, and thirteen hundred and sixty-five dol- lars were paid into the treasury of the church.2

On the 7th of May, 1788, a call was extended to the

REV. DAVID AUSTIN, a native of New Haven, and a son of David Austin, collector of customs of that port. Mr. Austin was born in New Haven in 1760, graduated at Yale College in 1779, was licensed to preach in May, 1780, being but twenty years of age; yet, young as he was, he preached to great acceptance,

1 Asbury's Journals, i. 388 ; ii. 3.

2 N. Y. Gazetteer, ii. 56. Trustees' Book. ·

and was earnestly solicited to settle in the ministry. He, however, declined these offers, went abroad at the close of the war, spent some time in foreign travel, and after returning to America supplied the Congre- gational Church at Norwich, Conn., where he mar- ried Lydia, daughter of Dr. Joshua Lathrop. He was ordained minister of this parish on the 9th of September, 1788. Mr. Anstin, besides being an earn- est worker in the church, pushing forward the new edifice to completion, proved to be an able preacher and a literary character of no little distinction. One of the first literary enterprises in which he embarked was the publication bi-monthly of a magazine, enti- tled "The Christian's, Scholar's, and Farmer's Maga- zine, Calculated, in an eminent degree, To promote Religion, to disseminate useful Knowledge, to afford literary Pleasure and Amusement, and To advance the Interests of Agriculture. By a Number of Gen- themen."

The first number was for "April and May, 1789." It was "printed at E. Town, by Shepard Kollock, one of the Proprietors." It was conducted with more than ordinary ability. Its articles were mostly brief, instructive, entertaining, in good style and taste, and well adapted to interest and profit the reader. At the close of the first year it was spoken of as a success, and was continued through the second year.

Mr. Kollock about this time was induced to enter largely into the publishing business, and the charac- ter of the works issued from his press would indicate that his pastor exerted a powerful and healthful in- fluence over him, at least in the matter of suggestion. Among these were "Sermons to Children," "Ed- wards' Narrative of the Surprising Work of God, 1735," "Chapman on Baptism," "Dr. Watts' Psalms," " Dickinson's Five Points," and similar works.

Mr. Austin began in 1790 the publication, by sub- scription, of " The American Preacher," a serial con- taining some of the choicest discourses of living American divines, without respect to denomination. The first two volumes were issued Jan. 1, 1791, the third volume August, 1791, and the fonrth volume in 1793. Other gentlemen were associated with him in the enterprise, but it was his work almost wholly, begun and carried forward by him.

As early as Jan. 1, 1791, when the first two volumes made their appearance, Mr. Austin had begun to take an interest in prophetic studies. Nor was he singular in this respect. Everywhere, under the inspiration of the wonderful movements of Divine Providence, men were studying the prophecies and applying them to the remarkable events of the period in which they lived. The pulpit resounded with earnest ntterances on the downfall of Babylon and the speedy coming of the millennial reign of Christ and his saints. Mr. Austin became an enthusiast upon this subject. In 1794 he published, from the press of Mr. Kollock, a volume entitled "The Millenium : or, The Thousand Years of Prosperity, promised to the Church of God,

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in the Old Testament and in the New, shortly to com- mence, and to be carried on to perfection, under the auspices of Him, who, in the Vision, was presented to St. John." ·

At length, on the second Sabbath of May (8th), 1796, Mr. Austin announced that the Lord would surely come on the ensuing Lord's Day, the 15th. Of course a prodigious excitement followed this an- nouncement. In the midst of the ferment Mr. Aus- tin made all his arrangements to receive his adorable Lord in a becoming manner. A number of his fol- lowers were arrayed in white robes. On Saturday, the 14th, a crowded and deeply-agitated meeting was held in the Methodist Church. On Sunday the church was thronged ; an eager multitude more than filled it. The bell tolled long, but the heavens gave no sign. Mr. Austin, after long and wearisome waiting, took the desk and preached, taking for his text: "My Lord delayeth His coming." It is reported that in the course of the day the clouds gathered, and low mutterings of thunder were heard, adding intensity to the frenzy that ruled the hour. Mr. Austin had so much faith in the speedy advent that he concluded a slight mistake only had been made in his computa- tion of dates, and devoted himself to preaching the doctrine with more zeal than ever, often preaching three times a day, and going everywhere through all the neighborhoods, calling upon men to repent. " Crowds resorted to hear him, and many souls were hopefully converted to God." It was a perplexing situation for the Church, for while the more sober- minded did not sanction his course or his doctrines, all loved him and many adhered to him with great devotion. At length, after many remonstrances with him in private, the Presbytery was appealed to to dissolve the pastoral relation. That body met in New York, May 3, 1797. Mr. Austin being asked if he concurred in the petition, renounced their jurisdic- tion and withdrew, whereupon the Presbytery granted the application, and put upon record their sense of the whole matter.

Mr. Austin, though having quite a large party in the church who adhered to him, did not remain long in town, only a few weeks, when he removed to Con- necticut. It should be added that this wild and vis- ionary course entirely destroyed his usefulness as a minister.

In this state of things it was difficult for the con- gregation to unite in the choice of another pastor. Several calls were made, but none of them were ac- cepted. In June, 1799, REV. JOHN GILES began to supply the pulpit. He was installed as pastor of the church June 24, 1800, and remained only till the 7th of October of the same year. He came from England.

Shortly after his coming to this town his wife was removed by death, and her remains lie buried in the graveyard, with this inscription on her headstone :

" Here lies the remains of JANE, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Peach, of Westbury, Wiltshire, Old England, and wife of the reverend

JOHN GILES, of Elizabeth-Town, New Jersey, who departed this life on the 5 day of August, 1799, aged 36 years. She lived deservedly beloved, and died sincerely lamented."

REV. HENRY KOLLOCK accepted a call on Oct. 22, 1800, and was ordained on the 10th of December following. This brilliant young man, who in a min- istry of nineteen years shone as a star of the first magnitude in the ecclesiastical heavens, was a native of New Providence, whither the family had retired from Elizabeth Town for greater security during the stormy period of the Revolution. " An uncommonly bright youth, he was fitted for college at the academy in his native town, entered the junior class of the College of New Jersey in 1792, and graduated in September, 1794, before he had completed the six- teenth year of his age. In 1797 he accepted an ap- pointment as tutor in the College of New Jersey, a position which he held for three years."

Mr. Kollock received license to preach May 7, 1800, and at once, in his very first pulpit efforts, at- tracted unusual attention. He continued at Princeton until September, preaching every Sabbath afternoon, greatly admired and drawing the largest audiences, a popularity that followed him through life, and that nowhere was more strikingly manifested than among his own townsmen. In the summer of the year fol- lowing his settlement he visited New England, pro- ceeding as far as Boston, and producing by his pulpit efforts a great sensation wherever he preached,-a mere boy of less than twenty-three years.

Having been requested by the standing committee of missions, then newly appointed, to preach a mis- sionary sermon before the General Assembly, he per- formed the service at Philadelphia, May 23, 1803, from the text,-John iii. 30,-" He must increase." The Assembly presented him their thanks, and pub- lished the sermon. His reputation as a preacher was thereby spread through the country. Calls were ex- tended him from several important places. The trustees of the College of New Jersey appointed him, young as he was, Professor of Theology, and the Pres- byterian Church of Princeton called him to be their pastor. He deemed it his duty to accept these posi- tions, and, the congregation consenting, he was re- leased, Dec. 21, 1803, after a ministry of three years.

In 1806 he was honored by Union and Harvard Col- leges with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. About the same time he accepted a call from the Indepen- dent Presbyterian Church of Savannah, Ga., and re- moved thither in the autumn of 1806. He continued in this charge until his decease by paralysis, Dec. 29, 1819, aged forty-one years.

He was married in this town, June 1, 1804, by his friend, Rev. J. H. Hobart, to Mehetabel, the widow of Alexander Campbell, of Richmond, Va., and daughter ' of William Hylton, of the island of Jamaica. The Hylton family belonged to St. John's parish in this place. Mrs. Mehetabel Hylton, the grandmother of Mrs. Kollock, died here Oct. 16, 1810, aged ninety-

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

two years. Dr. Kollock had no children. His widow survived him.1

REV. JOHN MCDOWELL .- This distinguished min- ister was installed as pastor of the church Dec. 26, 1804, and remained until his call to Philadelphia in 1833. He was a descendant of the McDowells from the north of Ireland, who settled at Lamington, N. J., about 1746, and where he was born on the 10th of September, 1780. His father was Matthew McDowell, a farmer, and his mother's name was Elizabeth An- derson. At eleven years of age he experienced re- ligion, and at fifteen entered upon a course of study preparatory for the ministry under Rev. William Boyd, who taught a classical school in the neighbor- hood. Entering the junior class of Princeton Col- Jege in 1799, he graduated with honor in the class of 1801, pursued his theological studies at Newton under Rev. Holloway W. Hunt, and at Freehold, N. J., under Rev. John Woodhull, D.D., and was licensed in April, 1804, by the Presbytery of New Brunswick.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 53

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