History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 65

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 65
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 65

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Among the articles stolen from the captain's house on this occasion was the stately eight-day clock that had been the family monitor for years. The size of the clock made it a cumbersome prize to transport. After carrying it some distance, the soldiers took out the works and abandoned the wooden case. The case, minus the essentials for keeping time, was restored to its former place in Capt. Morse's home. Subsequently Isaac Brokaw put in this historic case new works, and it still echoes to the time-beats of its restored works two servants, she crossed over to Staten Island at | in the home of Mrs. Mary H. Tichenor, in Seminary Blazing Star Ferry, now Tufft's Landing, and made : Street, Rahway. Mrs. Tichenor is a granddaughter

known the object of her mission to the officer in com- mand. The personal presence and spirit of the he-

from the officer. After inquiry and search the Bible was found in a gunboat near to the shore. When brought to the officer he examined it, and, noting in the registry of deaths a recent entry of a brother of the petitioner as having been killed by the British in - battle, he handed the volume to the applicant with the remark, " Well, there is one rebel less to fight us." As to the cow, the petitioner could have it if she could identify it among the great berd that had been gath- ered from East Jersey farms in the recent raid. They were huddled together by a fence inclosure near by. It was a dangerous and fruitless endeavor to go within the inclosure and move among the restive beasts to make search for the one that was supposed to be among the many. The herd was scanned by search- ing eyes again and again, but the favorite cow could not be found among them. Before giving up the search as fruitless it occurred to Eunice to use an expedient that was successful at home in bringing the cow from the neighboring field to feed and to ! the pail by a call. The call was given with natural home tone, and, to the surprise of the commanding officer and subalterns, and to the great joy of Eunice, the favorite responded to the call by leaping over the | inclosure and coming toward her. The commanding officer without hesitation said, "That cow is yours : you can take her home." With both Bible and cow identified and reclaimed, there was a going home with great gladness of heart.

of Capt. Amos Morse.

The pastorate of Rev. Aaron Richards was followed roic petitioner secured at least a favorable hearing | by a vacancy of more than five years. The pulpit was supplied by a " Mr. Cooley," who had sought ad- mission to the Presbytery, " but not producing satis- factory testimonials could not be admitted." He was followed by Mr. Henry Cook, a licentiate. During the rest of the interval supplies were furnished by the Presbytery.

Rev. Robert Hett Chapman was of New England ancestry. He was the second son of the Rev. Jede- diab Chapman and Blanche Smith, and was born at Orange, N. J., March 2, 1771. He was educated at the College of New Jersey, where he graduated in 1789. After a full course of theological study, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New York, Oct. 3, 1793. In the winter of 1794-95 he visited the Southern States on a missionary tour. On his return he supplied for a while the newly-organized church of Wardsesson (Bloomfield), N. J.

The call from Rahway was laid before Presbytery Oct. 12, 1796, and accepted. The ordination and in- stallation took place Jan. 5, 1797. Feb. 14, 1797, he was married to Hannah Arnett. This pastorate was of short duration. The disasters of war, that had broken up many families, destroyed and prostrated much of the material wealth of the community, the inability of Mr. Richards in the closing years of his ministry to perform the needed pastoral duties, and the more than five years of vacancy conspired to leave the church in a low estate spiritually and poor in earthly substance.

After three years' labor the pastoral relation is dis- solved, Oct. 2, 1799, for want of adequate support, the

1 Historical Magazine, vii. 81.

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CITY OF RAHWAY.

people being unable to fulfill their engagements. Mr. flock did not conduct their meetings for social prayer Chapman was subsequently the bonored president of just according to his pattern. When the revival of the University of North Carolina, received the de- gree of Doctor of Divinity from Williams College in 1815, and died on a journey at Winchester, Va., June 18, 1833.1 1825 took place under the direction of Mr. Sexton, it is not to be wondered at that Mr. Carll, with his nat- urally positive and nervous temperament, now suffer- ing, as he himself writes, " with premature old age, attended with painful chronic diseases, from which I can expect no relief but by the hand of death," should demur at some things in the teachings of the young evangelist, his fellow-worker, at modes of operation, and currents of thought, feeling, and expression that at high tide were breaking over old landmarks.

Rev. Buckley Carll was born in Cohansey, Cum- berland Co., N. J., in 1780. In 1799 he became the pastor of the Pittsgrove, N. J., Presbyterian Church. In the summer of 1802 he received a call to this church. Oct. 6, 1802, he was received from the Phila- delphia Presbytery by the New York Presbytery. On Dec. 28, 1802, he was installed pastor of this church. During Mr. Carll's pastorate of twenty- three years there were three occasions of special re- ligious interest in the church. The revival in the First Church of Elizabeth under the pastorate of Dr. John McDowell in 1808, in which one hundred and eleven persons were added to his church on profession, extended in its gracious effects into the bounds of the Rahway Church. At this time sixteen persons were added on profession. In the winter of 1814-15 there was an addition of fifty-six to the church on profes- sion. In addition to the stated ordinances of the church there were prayer-meetings held at private houses in the evenings of the week. Several men who came from Springfield and were at work in the Taurino Factory were especially active in conducting the cottage prayer-meetings.

In the spring of 1825 Mr. Carll, at the request of many of his people, invited the Rev. N. C. Sexton, au evangelist, who had with special divine favor been conducting religious services in Springfield and Westfield, to come to Rahway and hold similar ser- vices here. When Mr. Sexton commenced his special services he had also the co-operation of the Rev. Mr. Wiggans, of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Rahway. Mr. Sexton had associated with him by special invitation James Brainerd Taylor, an intelli- gent, earnest, spiritually-minded young man, who was now in his junior year in the College of New Jersey.

In June, 1825, thirty-two united with this church on profession of faith, still others who experienced a change of heart during this work of grace united with the church at subsequent communions; some united with other churches. While Mr. Carll was earnestly devoted to his Master's cause, and wronght faithfully in the line of his duty as he saw it, he did not seem to have that liberality of spirit and tact which were necessary to enable him successfully to co-operate with others, and to give general and spe- cific direction to others who were willing to work under judicious leadership, when the awakening and quickening spirit of revival was present.

In the revival of 1814-15 the members of his own

The reason why Mr. Carll, who had with great fidelity recorded the transactions of the session from 1802 until the close of the year 1815, ceased after this date to make any entry in the record is accounted for by the exceptions that Presbytery in 1816 took to the proceedings of the session in some cases of dis- cipline, which exceptions are recorded in the session- book by order of Presbytery, and are as follows:

" In several instances members of the church are considered as guilty before they are tried.

" There are instances in which members have been suspended from the communion of the church withont due formality in taking and re- cording the testimony."2

At the stated meeting of the Presbytery of Eliza- bethtown at Connecticut Farms, April, 1826, at the request of the congregation, the pastoral relation be- tween Mr. Carll and the Rahway Presbyterian Church was dissolved.

More than a year after the pastoral relation was dissolved, when Mr. Carll was located on his farm near Deerfield, he thought it necessary for self-vindi- cation to publish a series of articles in the New Jersey Advocate, a Rahway paper. In these articles he was unsparing in the judgment he pronounced on revivals, also on those who were active in promoting them, and upon those who, by God's grace, bad been brought to accept of Christ in revival times. These articles, which are still in some of your homes, should not be taken as a correct index of the man. His naturally legal mind, under the stress of disease and increasing years, became morbidly positive when he thought himself wronged. His pastorate of twenty-three years here left a better record for him than this controversy. He certainly had more wisdom than many of his min- isterial brethren in managing the temporalities of his home. While he had means of his own, he made his salary of three hundred dollars per annum, on which he was called, go a good deal further than it would with many others. The people in good will came to his help with voluntary labor, in drawing wood and in suhduing the briers and thorns that had taken pos- session of the twenty-five acres that were attached to the parsonage.

He came to the church when it was in debt and there were but few members. The feeble folk were

1 Hatfield's Hist. of Elizabeth, pp. 632, 633. MS. Records of Presby- tery of N. Y., vol. iv. pp. 123-24, 185-86, 237, 242-43, 310. Sprague's Annals, vol. iv. pp. 95-96. Chapman Family, pp. 108-49.

2 Ibid., vol. i. p. 44.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

gathered together and the debt seems to have been disposed of, and everything pertaining to the church property put on a new face. The spiritual life of the church was at a low ebb. While he was not in favor of some of the revival measures that were in vogue in his day, it should be remembered that in the years coming between the revival periods mentioned he had additions on profession of faith that indicated fidelity in dispensing the ordinances of the church. Speaking of the field in the early period of his min- istry here he says,-

" During my ministry the Presbyterian congregation had nominally attached to it near three hundred families, about fifteen hundred souls. From various causes about one-half of these were never seen in the house of public worship. But each and all expected and received my services in their sick-rooms, at their dying beds, and in burying their dead.

" I preached twice and often three times on the Sabbath, catechiged and inetructed the children and youth with no little diligence and care, lectured at private houses ju the eveninge throughout the week, pro- moted and attended prayer-meetings, and made miany ministerial visits from house to house. . . .

"In the autumn of one year for six weeks (besides meeting and per- forming my other duties) I preached as many funeral sermone as there were daye.

"This is a specimen of my lahora as a minister in Rahway for the space of twenty years, during which, taking one week with another, I preached five times a week." 1

After the pastoral relation was dissolved, Mr. Carll returned to the neighborhood of his former charge, purchasing a farm within four miles of Deerfield, N. J. He died at Deerfield, May 29, 1849, and was buried at Pittsgrove, N. J. His third wife, Mrs. Abigail Carlì, survived him, and subsequently resided in Bridgeton, N. J. His first and second wives died during his pastorate here, and their remains are in- terred in the church cemetery.

At a congregational meeting Sept. 15, 1825, mod- erated by the Rev. John McDowell, a unanimous call was extended to the Rev. Elias W. Crane, at the time stated clerk of the Presbytery of Elizabethtown, and pastor of the Springfield Church. Mr. Crane did not accept the call.

In addition to Mr. Crane the pulpit was supplied at this period by Rev. A. G. Fraser, who supplied the pulpit continuously for eighteen weeks, Mr. George Coan (licentiate), Rev. William B. Barton, and Rev. Lewis Bond.

At a congregational meeting, moderated by Rev. David Magie, May 16, 1826, Rev. Alfred Chester was chosen pastor of the church. He graduated at Yale College in 1818, and pursued his theological studies at Andover, Mass., and Princeton, N. J. On July 18, 1826, he was ordained by the Presbytery of Eliz- abethtown, and installed pastor of this church. This pastorate was brief. In less than three years, March 3, 1829, the pastoral relation was dissolved. That the most amicable relation existed between the church and Mr. Chester is indicated by his continuing to sup-

ply the pulpit and act as moderator of the session for some time after the relation was dissolved.

The spiritual life of the church, that had been quickened into zeal and vigor in the revival of 1825, did not manifest itself in continued power and prog- ress during the pastorate of Mr. Chester. During the same year in which his pastoral relation with this church was dissolved (1829) he became principal of the academy in Morristown, N. J., in which capacity he served until 1843. Afterward he was agent for our church board of publication. In his latter years he resided in Elizabeth. He made his closing days use- ful in furnishing religious reading and preaching to the prisoners in the county jail. He died in Eliza- beth, July 2, 1871, aged seventy-three years. He was married to Miss Mary Ann F. Chetwood, of Eliza- beth, N. J.

At a congregational meeting July 20, 1829, Rev. John McDowell presiding as moderator, Rev. Abra- ham O. Halsey received a majority of votes cast for pastor. The minority voting against his present elec- tion were anxious to have Mr. Halsey preach as a stated supply for three months with a view to mutual acquaintance and future settlement. The majority acquiesced in the proposition, and in the spirit of Christian unity and fraternity extended an invitation to Mr. Halsey to supply their pulpit for the next three months.

Rev. Thomas L. Janeway was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 27, 1805. He was the son of Rev. Jacob J. Janeway, D.D. His mother's maiden name was Martha Gray Leiper. . He had peculiar advantages in being prepared for the ministry, from the position that his father occupied as a minister in Philadelphia.

He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1823, and at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1827.

In the autumn of 1829, Dr. John McDowell, pas- tor of the First Church of Elizabeth. commended Mr. Janeway to this church, and soon thereafter Dr. McDowell moderated the congregational meeting that made out the call for the pastoral services of Mr. Janeway. He had been licensed by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, October, 1827, and on Nov. 3, 1829, was ordained by the Presbytery of Elizabeth Town, and installed pastor of this church. On this occasion Rev. John McDowell, of Elizabeth, preached the sermon, Rev. Albert Barnes, of Morristown, gave the charge to the pastor, and Dr. Magie, of Elizabeth, the charge to the people.

At this time piety was at a low ebb, and many un- believers and scoffers at religion were in the habit of speaking reproachfully and bitterly of the Scriptures, the church, her ministers, and her members. On street corners, where there were groups of men gathered in the evening, these topics were often the themes for ridicule and discussion. In some of the shops and stores Christian ears were made to tingle because of the reproachful and blasphemous words uttered by the men who gathered in these places for

1 New Jersey Advocate, Jan. 30, 1827.

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an evening's ribaldry. It was, therefore, at a critical juncture in the moral and religious life of the com- munity that the young pastor entered npon his duties.

On several occasions as he was passing along the street or entering shop or store, he was put to the test by an intentional and profane attack on the truth and the cause of which he, as a minister of the gospel, was an exponent. What might have been an impru- dent and perilous course for some young ministers was successfully adopted by Mr. Janeway. He met the challenge on the spot. Familiar with the popular objections urged against the Scriptures and the church, schooled from youth in the knowledge of the Scriptures and theology as a system, having a well- poised mind, a fruitful store of anecdote, an unusual discernment of character, he was enabled to meet the opponents of the truth with such thoroughness and effect that if not convinced they were at least suffi- ciently impressed with the young minister's intelli- gence, readiness, and courage thereafter to be re- spectful in deportment and speech while he was present.

At the commencement of Mr. Janeway's ministry the practice of two services, with but short intermis- sion, was still in vogue. The young pastor objected to the two services coming so near together. He plead for a later hour in the afternoon, or an evening service. He stated that unless this was done he would have to use a manuscript and read at the second service. As there seemed to he a decided preference on the part of the people that their pastor should preach without manuscript, his desire in regard to change of time for the second service was granted.

During his pastorate several extensive revivals of religion blessed the church. Some of the oldest members of the church remember a precious work of grace that had its origin in sunrise prayer-meetings held in the academy building, that was located within the inclosure of the marble-yard adjoining the ceme- tery, facing St. George's Avenue. This was in 1831, when forty-one united with the church on profession of faith. Identical with this revival the project of building the new church edifice commenced.

The year 1834 is the year of grace in the history of this church : one hundred and fifty-seven united with the church on profession of faith and twelve by cer- tificate, making a total for the year of one hundred and sixty-nine. During Dr. Janeway's pastorate of eleven years two hundred and sixty-two were added to the church on profession of faith, and one hundred and twenty-seven by certificate, making an aggregate of three hundred and eighty-nine during his pastor- ate.

At this time the Society of Friends and the First Methodist Episcopal Church were the only additional religious organizations in Rahway. The pastor of the Presbyterian Church had an immense field from which to gather, and he did his work well.

The discerning members of his church and congre-

gation in the second year of Mr. Janeway's ministry saw that policy and necessity demanded a new church edifice. Some could not think of giving up the old location, and so it was decreed at parish meeting that the new building was to be planted upon the spot oc- cupied by the old one. But at a subsequent meeting, held March 1, 1831, this action was rescinded, and the trustees were authorized to purchase from Samuel Oliver and Job Squire the property known as the Richards lot, at the price they had previously paid for it, viz., eighteen hundred dollars. It was also de- termined at this meeting that the new church should be located on this Richards lot. It was called the Richards lot because it had been the property of Rev. Aaron Richards, the first pastor of the church.

The house that was on the lot was subsequently re- moved. and is now located on the southwest corner of Union and Oliver Streets, the property of Lawrence Bumgartner, Sr. The land, having the present church and parsonage front, extended north to the river, all north of Union Street being subsequently disposed of by the trustees of the church.

The church edifice was commenced in May, 1831, under the auspices of John Y. Van Tuyl, Samuel Oli- ver, Joh Squire, Dr. D. S. Craig, John Wood, Jr., and Henry Mundy, trustees at that time.

The contract for building was given to Moses Dodd, the builder of the Third Presbyterian Church of New- ark, N. J. It was a general specification that this church was to he patterned after the Third Church of Newark, with the definite requirement that in some of the interior appointments and finish it was to be superior to its model. The work was well and faithfully executed. When completed it was re- garded as superior to most of the churches in the neighboring towns, and excelled by few, if any. The contract price for the erection of the church was fourteen thousand six hundred dollars. In addition to this, five hundred dollars was paid for the upper bent or story of the cupola, which was not contem- plated in the original design. This would make the aggregate cost of the church fifteen thousand one hundred dollars. The erection of the parsonage, which followed that of the church, cost about three thousand dollars, making the cost of the church and parsonage eighteen thousand one hundred dol- lars.

After the proceeds of the sale of the parsonage and ground on St. George's Avenue and the old church building were added to the amount subscribed by the people, there was the sum of ten thousand dollars to be raised to clear the church and parsonage of debt. I am told that Mr. Job Squire and Samuel Oliver each advanced five thousand dollars, taking as their security for future reimbursement pews at a specified valuation. By this noble act the church and attached property were freed from debt.

The church was dedicated to the worship of Al- mighty God Feb. 5, 1832. The Rev. Samuel Miller,

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

D.D., of Princeton Theological Seminary, preached the dedicatory sermon in the morning; Dr. J. J. Janeway, father of the pastor, preached in the after- noon, and Dr. McDowell, of Elizabeth, in the evening.

The old church was purchased by Mr. Job Squire, moved to the lot on which the Franklin school-house is located, where it was used as a tenement-house until 1851, when it was sold and removed in frag- ments to give place for the school-house.

At the request of Dr. Janeway, the Presbytery of Elizabeth dissolved the pastoral relation with this church Nov. 17, 1840. This request was made that called to the First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City, he might accept of an urgent call extended him by the North Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia. He was installed pastor of the North Church in Decem- ber, 1840. He remained pastor of this church for nearly fourteen years, when impaired, health com- pelled him to resign, April, 1854. With partially restored health he was settled in 1855 as pastor of the Kingston Presbyterian Church, New Jersey. In 1861 he was chosen to the responsible position of sec- retary of our Board of Domestic Missions, and was called upon to administer its important interests when the church was dismembered by civil war, and there was peril and confusion in the finances of the country, and many of our churches on the war line were threatened with complete extinction. He re- signed this secretaryship in 1868. He has also served the church as director and trustee of the theological seminary at Princeton, N. J., and has discharged other important duties to which the church on special occasions has called him. The College of New Jersey conferred upou him the de- gree of Doctor of Divinity in 1850.

In the good providence of God, this church was not at this time long exposed to the perils of pulpit vacancy. Before a month had expired after the time the Presbytery had dissolved the pastoral relation between the church and Mr. Janeway, Dr. Magie, of Eliza- beth, was requested to preside at a congregational meeting in this church having as its object the election of a pastor. The result of this meeting, on Dec. 11, 1840, was the election by a unanimous vote of Charles K. Imbrie as pastor.

Charles K. Imbrie was born in Philadelphia, Dec. 15, 1814. His father was James Imbrie, of Scotland, and the maiden name of his mother was Margaretta Kisselman, of Philadelphia. He graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1835, and after a four years' course graduated at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1840. Hle was licensed to preach by the Presby- tery of Philadelphia, Oct. 7, 1840. In the same year he was called to the pastorate of this church. On Jan. 5, 1841, he was ordained by the Presbytery of Elizabethtown, and installed pastor of this church.

While the pastorate of Mr. Imbrie had the sanction of the Divine Presence in securing additions to the church on profession of faith during each passing year, the years 1842 and 1843 were years of peculiar

blessing. In 1842 thirty-two were added to the church on profession of faith, and in 1843 sixty-seven.

The session made record of their gratitude for the divine blessing in these words :

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 65

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