History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 64

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 64
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 64

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There was an old school-house, which stood on the east bank of the south branch of Rahway River, on the place now occupied by John Hults. It was a plain low building, and school was kept in it until about fifty years ago. It was built at an early time.

The building on the east side of Main Street, cor-

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

ner of Adams, on the premises lately occupied by Mr. Prentice, justice of the peace, was built for a school-house at an early day. John W. Seymour and James McKelvey were among the teachers there some fifty-five years ago. Mr. A. V. Shotwell and others now living attended school there in 1830. It has been converted into a dwelling, and is still standing on the same spot.

Up to the year 1821 there was no school building in Milton. In that year a school-house was built on St. George's Avenue about half-way between Milton and Elm Avenues, on ground belonging to George Brown, now the property of B. A. Vail. It was a plain one-story building, never painted, and only a scratch coat of mortar on the inner walls. School was kept there till about twelve or fifteen years ago, although the house was removed to another lot by the heirs of George Brown upon his decease. The first teacher was Miss Mary Hannahs, who afterwards taught a young ladies' select school at Princeton ; other teachers were Robert Dennis, Charles M. Saun- ders, William Griffin, Alfred Herbert, Ichabod Kirk- land, Howard M. Henderson, Royal Coleman, Pen- ina Hampton, and James McKelvey.

Some sixty years ago an open, unfenced lot stood opposite the Bramhall property near Six Roads, on which was a small, low school-house. The land was set apart by the early settlers. It was known as the " school-house on the hill." The property was sold some forty years ago, being vacated by act of the Legislature, and the school known as "Six Roads School" in Woodbridge township took its place. Ichabod Kirkland was an early teacher.

ATHENIAN ACADEMY .- Among the academical schools of Rahway the old Athenian Academy was probably the most famous in its day. It stood on Main Street near Commerce, not far from the present Second Presbyterian Church, and was for many years both a school-house and a public hall. The second story, to which the name of Athenian Hall was ap- plied, was capable of holding fifteen hundred people. It was built in 1833 by the Athenian Association, Robert Lee, president; Clayton Moore, secretary. The address at the opening of the academy was de- livered by John D. Scoles, a prominent lawyer of New York. The principals of the Athenian Acad- emy were as follows in the order named : Alvan Fox, John A. Grant, Frederick Kingman, James Ander- son, Sidney Avery.

After the public school system was adopted the building was abandoned for school purposes, and was converted into a theatre.

Mrs. Willard Phelps and Mrs. Lydia Sigourney, the poctess, kept a boarding-school for young ladies in a house now occupied by John R. Morse, built es- pecially for their accommodation by Samuel Oliver, deceased. Their school continued here several years, when they removed to Troy, N. Y. There are many persons in middle life in this city and vicinity who ' Peter Wyckoff.

can testify to advantages received from their instruc- tion.

Rev. Mr. Ely for several years occupied the build- ing near the corner of Irving and Grand Streets as a boarding-school. Some years after it was taught by Mr. Dwight, of Boston.

THE FRANKLIN SCHOOL .- The district schools in the townships of Rahway and Woodbridge within the limits of the village continued without change until 1848. In that year an effort was made by a few leading citizens, prominent among whom were John A. Van Ortwick and the late Enoch M. Ayres, two intelligent and enterprising gentlemen, to inaugurate a better system of education for the children and youth of the village. They proposed to consolidate the three districts in the village into one, and to es- tablish one large school under better appliances and a higher grade of instruction. Simple and reasonable as the plan was, it met with strenuous opposition from quite a large number. It was openly opposed by Rev. Mr. Ely, at that time superintendent of schools for Rabway township, and who had charge of a private seminary on Grand Street near Whittier. The meas- ures, however, were approved by a vote of the people, the districts were consolidated, and a school was opened in a building known as "Military Hall," which stood on the corner of Grand and Church Streets.

This was the preliminary step towards the erection of the Franklin school-house, now the oldest building used for school purposes in the city of Rahway. The school in the rented hall filled up so rapidly that in a short time a larger building was needed, and the Franklin school-honse was erected. In the mean time, Rev. Mr. Ely's time having expired as superin- tendent, Mr. Patrick Clark was elected in his stead. The latter co-operated heartily with the trustees in their plans to improve the educational advantages of the village, and, indeed, he was elected because he was known to be in favor of the new measures. A considerable struggle ensued over the question of ex- penditure in the construction of the Franklin build- ing, some being in favor of a cheap wooden structure, and others favoring a substantial and commodious brick building. The latter, with the trustees and friends of improvement, carried the day, the people voting a sufficient appropriation to build the new school-house.

The Franklin building was erected in 1851. It is a brick structure, fifty by seventy-five feet, two stories and basement,-practically three stories in height,- and cost about six thousand dollars, a considerable sum to be raised for a school-house in those days. When the present public school system was adopted this building was turned over to the city.

Among the principals of this school have been the following : James Anderson, in 1862, succeeded by lis son, Edward L. Anderson, Stephen A. Blazier, and

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CITY OF RAHWAY.

BOARD OF EDUCATION .- The Board of Education of the city of Rahway was incorporated by act of the Legislature March 8, 1861. An amendatory act was passed March 2, 1869, making the board to consist of one commissioner of public schools for each of the wards of the city, and one commissioner at large, who shall hold their office for one year. No commissioner is eligible cither to the office of superintendent of public schools or to that of secretary of the board.

The present members of the board are the following : First Ward, John A. Mallow; Second Ward, Henry Howard; Third Ward, William Rollinson; Fourth Ward, Walter Brewster; at large, Almeth White; City Superintendent, Gilbert R. Lindsay; Clerk, James M. Silvers.

Under the management of the board are the fol- lowing public schools :

Franklin .- Union Street near Church. Frank L. Stiles, principal.

Washington .- Lawrence Street near Grand. H. C. McIlvain, principal.

Columbian .- New Brunswick Avenue corner of Hazelwood. James Jones, principal.

Third Ward .- Central Avenue near St. George's. This building was erected in 1873 and contains the High School. Samuel D. Hillman, principal.

Colored .- No. 59 Central Avenue. Mattie V. Put- nam, principal; Miss E. Hazard, principal of grammar department.

The first class gradnated trom the High School June 30, 1876, and were the following : Miss Clara E. Mills, Miss Minnie C. Ayres, Miss Emily Reynolds, Miss Julia Merrick, S. B. Morse, L. B. Mundy.

Statistics of schools in the city of Rahway, 1881:

Whole number of children of school age. 1737

Number enrolled .. 1202

Average attendance, 741

Number in private schools .. 200

Number of seats 1380

Number not in school.

335

Eighty per cent. provided for, or one hundred and seventy-eight more than the number eurolled.

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CHAPTER XXXIX.

CITY OF RAHWAY .- ( Continued.)

First Presbyterian Church.1-It was during the pastorate of the celebrated Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, D.D., that the members of the First Church of Eliza- beth residing in this vicinity were organized into a church. It is said of this celebrated divine that in visiting this portion of his extensive field he was accustomed to preach in a barn located on the site of the mansion on St. George's Avenue recently owned by Jeremiah Johnson, an elder of this church, now the property of John Harper.

It is worthy of note that the project of building

1 Abridged from a historical sketch by Rev. John Jay Pomeroy, pnb- lished in 1877, with some new matter added.

the first church edifice in Rahway was undertaken soon after a precious revival of religion had quick- ened the people of Dr. Dickinson's charge.

In writing, Sept. 4, 1740, to Rev. Mr. Foxcroft, a ministerial friend in Boston, giving some account of the work of grace among his people, Dr. Dickinson says, " I have had more young people address me for direction in their spiritual concerns within this three months than in thirty years before."

It was doubtless under the divine impulse of the historic revival of 1740, which extended its influence and power into most of the English provinces of America, that the people of this community were aroused to build a house of worship. Put the fact of the revival of 1740-41 in conjunction with the tradi- tion that about the time of the memorable winter, known familiarly as the "hard winter," 1741-42, we can account for the desire to have a place of worship here; the unity of the people, how some who were not of the Presbyterian faith co-operated with frater- nal spirit in the work of building the Lord's house. The spirit of new-born faith and reconsecration led " the people even in that trying season to give liber- ally of their meagre meaus to the project." " Each one, both young and old, seemed anxious to do to the extent of their ability what they could to the ad- vancement of the great work in which the people were engaged."

The edifice erected in 1741-42 was located on what is now St. George's Avenue, just within the church cemetery inclosure. The present carriage-way passes directly over what was the church site. The brown sandstone memorial stones used in marking the graves that were made on the north, south, and west sides of the church designate clearly to-day the location of the first church edifice.

An old account-book of Amos Terrill, a carpenter by trade, iu possession of his grandson, Amos Terrill, Jr., shows that he performed considerable work on the church building in 1788. After standing for nearly half a century and through the Revolutionary war, repairs were needed. Some minor alterations in its construction may have been made at the same time.

The building, remembered by the older members of the congregation, was a two-story frame, of heavy timber, sides inclosed with shingles; two rows of windows let in an abundance of light; the surmount- ing tower for the bell culminated in a spire, upon which was adjusted a copper weather-cock, perforated by a bullet said to be a mark of the Revolutionary period. Within, galleries were upon three sides; the pulpit, located in the west end of the church, was high, of barrel shape, in size small, having room for but one, and overshadowed by a sounding-board. There were four rows of pews, with backs high and straight, approached by two aisles. The floor was laid of heavy hewn plank, not closely joined, the cracks widening with age, making it necessary for

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

the ladies in the winter season to bring foot-stoves to

These churches were all connected with this Pres- neutralize the cold of the under-current that came bytery before the year 1717. It was at this date, through the crevices of the uncarpeted floor. The after he had served the Elizabethtown Church nine years, that Dr. Dickinson became a member of the Presbytery. pulpit was modernized before the pastorate of Dr. Janeway (1829). He speaks of it as being moderately low, ascended by a stairway on either side, having room to seat three or four persons.

This is the original and the first church edifice in Rahway. The Friends, who located on the Rahway River in 1682 and in subsequent years, like their Puritan and Scotch-Irish neighbors, had their place for religious assemblage and worship outside of what is known as the Rahway vicinage to-day. The Puri- tans and Scotch-Irish worshiped in Elizabeth, many of them going afoot, crossing the river on stepping- stones at the point where the Rahway water-works are now located. The Friends first attended meeting in Perth Amboy; subsequently a meeting was organ- ized in Woodbridge, and they attended there. Like their neighbors, they had meetings for religious wor- ship in private houses in this vicinity before they had an organization or a building specifically for this purpose. It appears in the minutes of the Wood- bridge meeting that, by request, privilege was granted to hold a meeting in the house of William Robinson, which stood near the house now occupied by Mr. John Durand, on Hamilton Street. This meeting took place in 1707, on the 12th day of the eighth month, and the first day of the week. It was not, however, until March 17, 1759, that the Woodbridge meeting ordered a house to be built. This building is located on Main Street, and occupied by George Hall as a hardware-store. The first record of a busi- ness meeting is 1763, the 19th day of the 10th month.

The Presbyterian Church, built in 1741-42, doubt- less had an organization formed about the time the structure was completed. The records from the or- ganization of the church until 1795 have been lost. The data we have is from Presbyterial records and collateral history.

Nov. 15, 1748, the Presbytery of New York installed Rev. Aaron Richards pastor of the church. As there is no mention in this minute of the church being organized immediately preceding the ordination, it is presumable that the church was organized at the in- stance of Dr. Jonathan Dickinson at the completion of the church edifice in 1741-42. This makes the First Presbyterian Church the first church of Rahway historically. It antedates the first business meeting of the Friends by twenty-one years. Taking the absolutely certain date of Rev. Aaron Richards' in- stallation, Nov. 15, 1748, it has the precedence of six- teen years.

This church was from the commencement of its organization Presbyterian. The primitive church organizations in Newark, Elizabeth, Freehold, and Woodbridge were Independent or Congregational. They afterwards became Presbyterian, and were under the care of the Presbytery of Philadelphia.

In 1733 the Presbytery of East Jersey was formed out of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and Dr. Dick- inson at once became the acknowledged leader of the new Presbytery.

In 1738 the East Jersey and Long Island Presby- teries were united, forming the Presbytery of New York. It was under the care and direction of the Presbytery of New York, about 1742, that the First Presbyterian Church of Rahway was organized. The church being formed from a portion of the pastoral charge of Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, D.D.,1 who was an acknowledged prince among his brethren in the- ology and Presbyterian government, is a pledge of its pure Presbyterian origin.

The first five years of this church's history we must denominate the period of supplies.

Mr. John Cleverly was the first supply .* He was of New England birth, a graduate of Harvard College in 1715. He first supplied the church at New Provi- dence ; from thence he came as a supply to the Rah- way Church. The people under the pastoral care and teaching of Dr. Dickinson for a generation had a high standard of ministerial qualifications, which was not met in Mr. Cleverly. He retired after his first en- gagement to Morristown, where he continued to re- side until his decease, Dec. 31, 1776, aged eighty-one years.2

Mr. John Grant, a young mau of unusual promise, succeeded Mr. Cleverly as supply. He graduated at Yale College in 1741. How long he preached here is not definitely known. He was subsequently settled as pastor of the Westfield Presbyterian Church. After a brief, faithful, and successful pastorate of three years he was called from his earthly labors to his heavenly reward. " He died much lamented, Sept. 16, 1753, aged thirty-seven years." " His body lies in the West- field graveyard, near the street, under a table monu- ment."3 He was succeeded by a Mr. Strong, probably the Rev. Nathan Strong, of Woodbury, Conn. He graduated at Yale College in 1742, the year following the graduation of John Grant. He returned to New England, and was settled at Coventry, Conn., Oct. 9, 1745.

" A Mr. Watkins, probably Rev. Hezekiah Watkins, who graduated at Yale in 1737, was employed for a short period." 4

After being supplied for five years the church ex-

1 Mrs. Eliza A. Freeman Folsom, an artist, a member of this church, a descendant of Dr. Jonathan Dickinson in the fourth generation, has recently completed an excellent portrait of her distinguished ancestor, a fac-simile of the portrait in the museum at Princeton College, which was painted from a print that appeared originally in a Scotch magazine. 2 Hatfield's History of Elizabeth, pp. 572, 629.

3 Hunting's Hist. Sermon, p. 14.

4 Hatfield'e Ilist. Elizabeth, pp. 629, 630.

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CITY OF RAHWAY.

tended a call to the Rev. Aaron Richards. The call was accepted, and Mr. Richards became the first pas- tor of the church. The grandfather of Aaron Rich- ards came at an early date from Hartford. Conn., to Newark. Aaron had a twin brother named Moses. They were the children of John and Jane Richards, born in Newark, 1718. Aaron was sent to Yale Col- lege, where he graduated in 1743. He was ordained by the Presbytery of New York, Nov. 15, 1748, and on that day installed the first pastor of this church.

He is spoken of as naturally buoyant and vivacious, but often thrown into periods of darkness and spiritual melancholy.

Dr. Samuel Davis, subsequently president of Prince- ton College, on his return from meeting of Synod in Elizabethtown in 1753 called to see him, and strove to cheer him up and lead him out of his darkness by giving an account of a similar period of gloom and depression through which he had passed himself.

He was an ardent patriot during the war of the Revolution. He was compelled to flee from the Brit- ish invaders in 1776 to escape being captured and carried off, as were his co-presbyters,-McKnight, of Shrewsbury, and Roe, of Woodbridge. His place of refuge was in South Hanover, N. J., where he sup- plied the Presbyterian Church until he could return home in safety.

Towards the close of his ministerial life he was again the subject of acute melancholy, in which his spirit was depressed and buffeted by imaginary ter- rors. In 1790 he ceased to preach. The pastoral relation was dissolved Nov. 2, 1791. It is to the credit of the congregation that in petitioning the Presbytery to dissolve the pastoral relation they made generous provision for the comfort of their dis- abled minister's family. He died May 16, 1793, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.1

His body is buried in the church graveyard, within a few feet of the spot where for more than forty-two years he preached the gospel. The following is the inscription on his tombstone :

"Sacred to the Memory OF REV. AARON RICHARDS, of Rahway, Who daceased May 16th, 1792, Aged 75 Yeara, And in tha 45th Year of his Ministry.

" All who knew the man will join

Their friendly sighs and taara to mina ; For all who knew his merits must confess In grief for him there can be no excess. His soul waa form'd to act each glorious part Of life unstain'd with vanity or art ; No thought within his generous mind had birth But what he might hava own'd in heaven and earth."

His wife, Susannah Smith, a native of England, survived her husband but a few months. Her re- mains are interred beside her husband's. The remains

of Alexander Richards, son of Rev. Aaron Richards, deceased Oct. 4, 1813, in the fiftieth year of his age, are interred near the grave of his father and mother, also those of his first wife, Rhoda, who died June 8, 1792, and two children by his second wife,-Stephen C., died July 19, 1814, in the nineteenth year of his age, and Daniel Cooper, died November, 1796.

During the pastorate of Aaron Richards, one hun- dred years ago, the existence of this church was in great peril. The declaration of independence, that brought hostile troops to this vicinity, drew the line of separation between the sons and daughters of lib- erty and the adherents of the British crown. The Presbyterian ministers of East New Jersey and the churches to which they ministered were hostile to the British cause. So universally was this the case that to be a Presbyterian minister or a member of a Presbyterian congregation was prima facie evidence of being an advocate of American independence. Let your eye run along that part of the chain of Presbyterian Churches in which we find ourselves. Dr. McWhorter, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Newark; Rev. James Caldwell, of Eliza- beth ; Rev. Aaron Richards, of Rahway ; Rev. Azel Roe, of Woodbridge; and Rev. Charles McKnight, of Shrewsbury, all Christian patriots, having the care of congregations from which went able-bodied men and youth to fill up the ranks of the Continental army. Many of the homes in this vicinity a hun- dred years ago were left without their natural pro- tectors. The husband and father and sons were called away from home to the camp and the battle- field. During the greater part of the Revolutionary war the British troops were located on Manhattan and Staten Islands. From this base line of operation the enemy on several occasions came in force, march- ing over these highways, with view to actual posses- sion, and when driven back to his fastness on the islands, foraging parties, often under the lead of some refugee, kept the people in constant terror and vigi- lance by their forays in the night, often made mem- orable in robbing the stable of horses or driving away herds of cattle. The incendiary's torch was sometimes applied to the forage that could not be carried away to the barn or house of a loyalist. Un- armed citizens were carried away as hostages. Here, too, there was actual conflict, wounds given and re- ceived, and the foray crowned with ghastly death. When the morrow's sun rose upon the scene the British flag could still be seen floating on Staten Island, and the bugle blasts of her trumpeters could be distinctly heard by the watchmen on Rahway Neck. The oppressive burden upon the hearts of the aged ones, the women and the children in the homes here one hundred years ago, was that the foray of last night, in which there was robbery, fire, fright, skir- mish, wounds, and death, might be repeated again to- night or in the near future.

Gen. William Irvine, in command of Pennsylvania

1 Webster Presby. Ch., p. 582. MS. Recorda, New York Presbytery. Hatfiald's Hist., pp. 630, 631.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

troops located in the "Short Hills," a few miles west Amos Morse, deceased in 1871, for many years an from this point, in a letter that he wrote to his wife , elder in this church, had in his possession an heir- in Carlisle, Pa., June 18, 1780, speaks thus of the dangers and sufferings of the people of this district : loom that was a constant reminder of an incident in his father's life in the war of the Revolution. His " You may think your situation happy indeed, my love, when com- pared with that of the poor people of this part of our country. It grieves me beyond expression to see their distressed situation, particu- Jarly that of the women and children. Murder and rapine await them wherever these barbarians come. father held a captain's commission in the Continental army. His home was just north of the north branch of the Rahway River, on St. George's Avenue. The house of Capt. Morse was surrounded in the night- " Were it possible I would auffer a thousand deatha rather than see you in the situation some poor gentlemen here are forced to see their wives and daughters left in." 1 time by a detachment of British troops and refugees from Staten Island. The captain was taken out of bed and hurried off a prisoner, and for six months thereafter suffered the rigors of confinement and scant rations in the New York Sugar-House.

William B. Crowell, one of the senior elders of our church, has in his possession a large family Bible that was taken by British marauders from the home of his mother and carried with other plunder to Staten Island. This event occurred before Miss Eunice Bloomfield became Mrs. Crowell, when still at her father's home near Metuchin. The sacred volume, with a favorite cow that had also been taken, were a heavy loss to the spiritual and material com- fort of the family. Miss Eunice, with resolute spirit, resolved, if possible, to recover the stolen book and cow. With this object in view, accompanied with

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 64

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