History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 66

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 66
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 66

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" It was a season of great joy and edification to the church, and the session here record their grateful acknowledgment to the Lord Jesus Christ, the great head of the church, for the great blessing with which he has favored ourselves and the other churches of the Presbytery."1

The qualities that secured a successful pastorate to this faithful servant here were the eause of his being sought and desired for other important pulpits. Being

he deemed it his duty to accept it. The people of his charge complied with regret with his request to have the pastoral relation dissolved. This was done by Presbytery Jan. 6, 1852, after a pastorate of about the same length as Dr. Janeway's, eleven years. Dr. Ini- brie still continues the pastor of the First Presbyte- rian Church of Jersey City. His peculiar and mani- foll qualifications give him an adaptation to the varied duties of an efficient and honorably conspicu- ous ministerial life. He has not sought places away from his own pulpit and the vineyard of his own pas- toral charge, but the church and the Christian public have sought him. It is thus that he has been called to membership in the executive committee of the Board of Foreign Missions. His bold handwriting, his clearly articulated paragraphs, and his analytical mind in the arrangement and record of facts, that we have exhibited to us in the sessions book of this church during the years in which he served as both moderator and clerk, show us why he was selected the recording secretary of the Board of Foreign Mis- sions, and served in that capacity for a period of thirteen years. It was not the fact that he was a good penman, but the fact that he was a man of thought and intensely interested in the living issues of the day from the Christian stand-point, and could ex- press himself clearly and pungently in regard to them, that he was called to the editorship of the New York Evangelist in 1870. It is because he is deeply interested in the work of edneational institutions that he was called to the trusteeship of the State Nor- mal School of New Jersey, and to that of the College of New Jersey. It was because he was worthy that his alma mater, the College of New Jersey, in 1861, conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. Yet you love him and revere him when he comes among you, not because he has been called to these places of honor, but because he was your faithful pastor, because he lived a holy life among you, and with great diligence, faithfulness, and ten- derness preached unto you Jesus, because with sym- pathetic heart he was the partner of your sorrows, the sharer of your joys.

As soon as the pastoral relation between Mr. Imbrie and the church was dissolved, Jan. 6, 1852, the session

1 Session Records, vol. ii. pp. 129, 133-34.

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CITY OF RAHWAY.

without delay addressed their former pastor, Mr. Jane- way. in regard to a successor. He commended to them the Rev. Samuel S. Sheddan, of Northumber- land Presbytery, Pennsylvania. Arrangements were at once made for him to supply the pulpit for two Sabbaths, on the last Sabbath of January and the first Sabbath of February.

The pleasant fraternal relation that existed between this people and their surviving ex-pastors is illus- trated in the fact that Mr. Janeway is requested to recommend a minister for the vacant pulpit, and after the minister commended by him is heard, Mr. Imhrie is requested to preside at the congregational meeting, Feb. 9, 1852, which after a month's vacancy elected his successor, the Rev. Samuel S. Sheddan. Mark also the minute giving an account of the installation :

" The Rev. Samuel Sheddan was this evening (April 21, 1852) installed pastor of this church by the Presbytery of Elizabethtown, acting by their committee. Sermon by the Rev. Thomas L. Janeway, D.D .; charge to the pastor by the Rev. Mr. Murray, and to the people by Rev. Charles K. 1mbrie."1

Samuel Sharon Sheddan was born in Northumber- land County, Pa., Sept. 13, 1810. His grandparents, who were Scotch, located on a farm not far from the Susquehanna River, where the family homestead still remains. He pursued his academic course at the academy in Milton, Pa., and graduated at Jefferson College, Pa., in 1831. After teaching for a short time he entered upon his theological course at Princeton, N. J., where he spent over two years.

In the autumn of 1834 he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Northumberland. In this year he was stated supply of the church at Williamsport, Pa. In 1835 he was ordained and installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Muncy, Pa. With the pastorate of the Muncy Church, he for about two years gave half his time as stated supply to the Wil- liamsport Church. In 1837 his services were desired as co-pastor with Dr. Bryson, the venerable pastor of the Warrior Run Presbyterian Church. The half of his time that had been previously given to the Wil- liamsport field was now as co-pastor given to Warrior Run, the church of Mr. Sheddan's childhood and ancestors; his father and grandfather were both ruling elders in this church. Dr. Bryson had already served this church a half-century.

The co-pastorate continued for four and a half years, when the aged patriarch resigned his charge, and Mr. Sheddan, who had been baptized and reared in this church, became its sole pastor. At this time the War- rior Run Presbyterian Church was one of the largest and most influential churches in the Presbytery of Northumberland. While here, in addition to preach- ing and pastoral work, he conducted successfully a large classical school. From the young men he was instrumental in preparing for college, more than a dozen of them subsequently became ministers of the gospel.

From Warrior Run he came to this church, where he remained throughout a pastorate of twenty-two years, when the Lord, the Great Shepherd of the fold, pronounced his work done and called him to his reward in the home of the blessed.

The field and influence of this church was divided with the formation of the Second Church about two years before Mr. Sheddan's settlement here. The active, earnest element that was dismissed from the First to form the nucleus of the Second Church left a gap in congregational presence and life that it was hard to fill.

The increase of population within the contracted field bore but a small ratio to the aggregate number of persons who had a few years previously been iden- tified with this congregation. While Dr. Sheddan's pastorate was not characterized by any such extensive revivals as those of 1825, 1834, 1843, yet there were seasons of quickening in which there were encourag- ing additions to the church on profession of faith, as in 1855, when 28 united with the church, 19 of whom by profession of faith. In 1858, again, 19 united on profession of faith. Subsequent years are designated by 10, 15, 13, 12, 11 uniting on profession. During his pastorate 151 united with the church on profes- sion of faith and 184 by certificate. Dr. Sheddan had some peculiar characteristics that distinguished him as a man, a preacher, pastor, and brother in Christ. His habit of taking hold of the central truth of a passage or paragraph and evolving it in a series of pictorial representations, always faithful to the main thought, attracted attention, secured interest, and was calculated to lodge in the mind and heart the master thought of the preacher.

In acknowledgment of his abilities as a preacher and his especial acquirements as a divine, Columbia College, in New York, in 1864, conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

Dr. Sheddan's health was seriously impaired sev- eral years before his decease. The visits made to the old homestead in Pennsylvania, the scenes of his boy- hood days and early ministerial life, and to the sea- shore, the tender care of loving friends, and the skill of his physicians alleviated for a time the sufferings that came from his deeply-seated pulmonary disease, but they could not avert death.

On Oct. 18, 1874, Dr. Sheddan fell asleep in Jesus, in the hope of a blessed immortality. He was sixty- four years of age Sept. 10, 1874.

The Synod of New Jersey, of which Dr. Sheddan had a few years previously been moderator, was in session at Camden, N. J., when his death was an- nounced. There was a solemn pause in the business routine to permit the event to speak and teach its lesson to the members of the Synod. A committee, composed of as many members as there are Presby- teries in the Synod, was appointed to attend the funeral.

The following persons were appointed as this com-

1 Session Records, vol. ii. p. 289.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

mittee : Revs. George Shelden, D.D., Charles K. Im- brie, D.D., J. M. Ogden, D.D., H. Hamill, D.D., A. M. Jelley, W. T. Findley, D.D., and L. C. Baker.

The Common Council of the city of Rahway, on learning of the decease of Dr. Sheddan, adopted the following preamble and resolutions, a spontaneous tribute to his memory :

" WHEREAS, We have heard with sadness of the death of Rev. Dr. S. S. Shedden, which occurred on Sunday last, after a lingering illness, the sufferings of which he bore with that fortitude which only a true Chris- tien can endure ; and whereas we deem it proper, considering the warm place he occupied in the hearts of our citizens, from his long association with us as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, to take sobie official action in relation to his death ; therefore,

" Resolved, That we bear testimony to the loss the city of Rahway has sustained by the death of one who has ao long labored for the cause of Christianity among us, and who, by his mild disposition, able preaching, and earnestness in hie calling endeared himself to all who became ac- quainted with him ; and, further,

" Resolved, That we will gratefully cherish the memory of him who wee alwaye faithinì in the discharge af hie duties, and who was ever ready to perform any act of charity or mercy that came in his way; and, further,

" Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with his family, and with the congregation over which he so long presided, in the irreparable lose they have austained by his death ; end, further,

" Resolved, That as a mark of respect we will, as a body, participate in the funeral ceremonies, and also invite all the city officers to join with us in paying the last tribute of respect to an honored minister and citizen ; and, further,

" Resolved, That a copy of these resolutione be spread upon the min- utes of tha Comowon Council and published in the papers of the city, and also that an engrossed copy be presented to the family of the de- ceased."

The following messages, dictated by the dying pastor to his elders and people but a few days before his death, when read under the shadow of the sore bereavement, struck chords of tender and pathetic interest in the hearts of all :

" Ост. 6, 1874.

" TO THE SESSION :

" I had expected to have taken you once more by the hand, but God has seen fit to order it otherwise.

" ] want to thank you as a Session for your kindness and liberality to me.

" Forgive my shortcomings, and forget my omissions of duty.

" And now the welfare of the church reste with you. Be true to her. Be men of prayer, be men of wisdom; not rash, yet not elow ; not over- bearing, yet Dot weak.

" And may the blessing of God rest upon you always.

" YOUR PASTOR."

" Ocr. 6, 1874.

" TO MY PEOPLE:

"I had hoped to see you once more face to face and thank you for your kindness to me, but it is denied me.

" Please accept my thanks for your never-failing kindness to me as your Pastor for twenty-two years, and your continued goodness to me during my sickness.

"I know I have not filled up my measure of duty, bat I ask your for- givenese for my shortcomings.

" I have tried to labor with the ability God gave me, and I trust him for Hie blessing on the seed sown in euch weakness.

" And now to you as a church I would esy one word : Keep together, study the best interesta of the church, and as far as possible be of one mind.

" To you who are Christians I say he prayerful, be zealous, be ye workers for Christ, and work while it is called to-day, for the night cometh when no mau can work.

" And you whoni I have so long invited to come to Jeque, and whom I have eo uften tuld there is no other way, hear ma once more urge you

to come. And ob l hear your dying Pastor as ho pleada with you not to wait until you come to your death-bed to prepare for the other world.

" And to the Sabbath-school one last word: To the teachers, be faithful and weary not in your work. To tha scholara I say God takes little ones home as well as those of threeacore : ba ye ready.

" Now may God's blessing reet upon you, my people, until one by one you are gathered home, and we all meet again where there is no parting. " Youa PASTOR."

The funeral services were conducted Thursday, October 22d, commencing at 2 P.M. The interior of the church was heavily draped with the sombre folds of mourning. The casket containing the body of the beloved minister was placed in the church at twelve o'clock, and from this time until the voice that an- nounced the introductory service was heard an almost continuous procession was passing through the church to look upon the still, placid features of the man of God, who seemed to be in sweet repose by the pulpit from which for nearly a quarter of a century be had preached Jesus.

Dr. Sheddan was unable to preach after May 17, 1874. On the morning of this day he exchanged with the Rev. W. H. Roberts, of Cranford. In the evening he preached his last sermon to his own people. From this date until the first Sabbath in March, 1875, the pulpit was supplied. The following persons preached for the congregation during this period :

Revs. W. H. Roberts, J. F. Pingry, Ph.D., E. B. Edgar, J. A. Liggett, Aaron Peck, of the Presbytery of Elizabeth ; Drs. W. H. Green, Princeton, N. J .; Cyrus Dickson, New York ; Charles K. Imbrie, Jer- sey City ; and D. M. Halliday, of Princeton, N. J .; Revs. Francis Rand, Charles S. Dewing, of Union, N. Y .; O. H. Elmer, of Moorhead, Minn .; William Imhrie, of Jersey City ; J. E. Peters, of Huntingdon, W. Va .; William C. Rommel, of Helena, Mon. Ter .; J. A. Chambers and W. J. Bridges, of theological seminary, Princeton, N. J .; and Messrs. I. M. K. Pittenger, C. N. Cate, C. B. Ramsdell, and Washing- ton Choate, of Union Theological Seminary, New York City; and the Rev. G. W. Pendleton, of the Baptist Church, Rahway.

At a congregational meeting held Jan. 5, 1875, moderated by the Rev. J. A. Liggett, a unanimous call was extended to the present pastor of this church. He commenced his ministerial duties on the first Sab- bath of March, 1875, and after having been received as a member of the Presbytery of Elizabeth, April 20th, he was duly installed as pastor April 29th.

On this occasion the Rev. C. K. Imbrie, D.D., of Jersey City, preached the sermon from the words, " The common people heard him gladly." Mark xii. 37.

The Rev. Samuel Parry, of Pluckamin, N. J., moderator of the Presbytery, presided and proposed the constitutional questions. The Rev. William C. Roberts, D.D., of Elizabeth, gave the charge to the pastor, and the Rev. J. A. Liggett, of Rahway, the charge to the people. The closing prayer was offered by the Rev. A. Craig, of the First Methodist Episco-

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pał Church of Rahway, and the benediction pro- nounced by the newly installed pastor.

Since the commencement of the present pastorate to the time of writing, a period of about two years, one hundred and ten persons have been added to the inem- bership of this church, ninety-one of this number on profession of faith. That a large proportion of this number has come from families not identified with the church in membership is shown from the fact that the ordinance of baptism was administered to forty-three ont of the ninety-one uniting on profes- sion of faith.

That heads of families connected with the church are claiming the blessings of the covenant promised to themselves and their children is indicated by the fact that in the same period twenty-six infant children have been baptized.

Accompanying the spiritual quickening of God's owe it to' those who come after us at least to note people and this addition to their numbers there has some of the changes that have been made. The old been an energetic and liberal spirit manifested in dis- charging duties pertaining to the temporal affairs of the church.

It is a fact worthy of commendation that this con- gregation continued the salary of their deceased pas- tor to his family to Jannary, 1875, and that in the following spring liberal expenditure was made in changing and improving the interior of the parsonage for the reception of the new pastor and his family.

Expenditure on church property became a necessity when the city authorities graded the three streets, Grand, Church, and Union, that are the southern, western, and northern boundaries of the lots upon which the church and parsonage are built. To the ex- pense of curbing and paving on these three streets was added the expense of five hundred and seventy-nine dollars for the iron fence in front of the church, and of seventeen hundred and seventy-five dollars for the stone and work in erecting the steps and platform in front of the church.

These changes environing the church edifice very naturally raised the question as to what should be done to improve the interior of the church. This re- sulted (1870-71) in remodeling the lecture-room. Old partitions and seats were removed, the floor was lowered a foot and a half, and the darkness, gloom, and inconvenience of the old order of things were displaced by the conveniences that made it a delightful room for weekly religions meetings, social gatherings, with special adaptations for the Sabbath-school, that by sliding sash-doors can in a few moments be divided into four apartments or thrown into one.

In June, 1875, a project was started with the object of securing by subscription a fund of ten thousand dollars, to be devoted to reducing the debt of the church and making needed improvements on the church edifice.

An organization was formed at a congregational meeting, termed the "The Centennial Association of the First Presbyterian Church."

The object was to secure the fund of ten thousand dollars in the year 1876. The subscription was made on the percentage plan, viz., a certain per cent. of the ten thousand dollars, or of whatever sum raised less than ten thousand dollars.

In soliciting subscriptions from the people for this fund, many persons were found in favor of making radical changes and improvements in the interior of the church. Under the co-operation of the trustees and the centennial committee the work was com- menced and carried forward, securing in the end a total transformation of the main audience-room and the addition of organ annex, and painting the wood- work of the exterior. In the fall of 1875 the church had been re-roofed. Feeling quite secure under this new covering, after months of test, the work on the interior was commenced early in May, 1876. We

cylinder-shaped wood-stoves in the back part of the audience-room, raising their burly heads above the backs of the pews, and surmounted in the gallery with capacious turret-drums, have been displaced by heaters, doing the work better from the basement. The old pulpit was removed, giving place to one smaller and of neater proportions, placed on a low and roomy platform. Fitted underneath the top of the pulpit is a large tin bowl, terminating as a funnel, the pipe of which runs underneath the platform of the pulpit, and from thence pipes are conveyed under the floor to several pews, where there is connection with flexible gutta-percha tubes that can be adapted to the ears of persons hard of hearing. The top of the pul- pit is perforated, so that there is little obstruction to the sound of the speaker's voice. It is the simple principle of the ordinary speaking trumpet brought in a practical way into church.

The organ has been brought from the gallery and placed in the new annex built especially for it im- mediately in the rear of the pulpit. The organ is pumped by water-power, the motor doing its work in the kitchen underneath, being supplied with water from the pipe in the street, connected with the city water-works. The side galleries have been removed. The end gallery, since the removal of the organ and the placing of arm-chairs on the neatly carpeted floor, has been made one of the most desirable locations for hearing in the audience-room. The doors have been removed from the pews, and new arms, paneled ends, and book-racks have been added. The new cushions in the pews are covered with wine-colored rep. The upholstering of the new chairs in the pulpit and the carpet are in complete harmony with the exquisite frescoing on the ceiling and walls.

The most notable improvement consists in the thirteen stained-glass windows that fill the old frames. The material of which they are composed is of excel- lent quality, the colors rich without being gandy, and the harmonious blendings of the different shades

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

produce a pleasing effect. The simple scriptural symbols that adorn the heads of the windows are strikingly appropriate for a house of divine worship.

After worshiping for six months in the lecture- room of the church, the congregation quietly, without having the fact published, assembled in the re- modeled audience-room, Sabbath morning, Oct. 29, 1876.

The object, as stated by the pastor, was not to have . acteristic of the spirit of the Friends.

the usual service, but reverently, and in the spirit of worship, look upon the changes that had been wrought, and to provide for the pecuniary obliga- tions resting on the church, and thus to prepare in good faith to rededicate the house to the service of Almighty God. After a brief outline of the work performed, commendation of the spirit of harmony with which the trustees of the centennial committee had performed their respective duties, it was stated that the debt on the church previous to the com- mencement of the recent improvements was nine thousand dollars, the accumulation of years; that the improvements recently made cost eight thousand dollars, making a total of seventeen thousand dollars. The centennial committee reported the ten thousand dollars they set out to raise as pledged by subscribers. The people were now asked for additional subscrip- tions to create a sinking fund of seven thousand five hundred dollars to remove every vestige of debt that rested on the church. At this point the pastor in- troduced Mr. Jeremiah Johnson, Jr., a former elder of this church, who, in Christian spirit and with ad- mirable tact, called for and secured pledges to the proposed sinking fund. The people responded to the call nobly, and in about half an hour monthly pledges, extending over the period of three years, were received from one hundred and forty persons, reaching in the aggregate eight thousand dollars, five hundred more than had been requested in the call.

The membership of the church, 1882, is two hun- dred and eighty-eight ; Sunday-school, three hundred and one.

Whole amount of money raised by the congrega- tion for the ecclesiastical year ending April 1, 1881, was six thousand six hundred and thirty-five dollars.

CHAPTER X L. CITY OF RAHWAY .- (Continued.)

Friends' Meeting .- The records of Friends' meet- ings in East New Jersey have been very carefully kept since 1686, the date of their first Monthly Meet- ing at Perth Amboy. In a single volume in the pos- session of Mr. Abel V. Shotwell, of Rahway, there is the record of a hundred years, reaching from 1686 to 1786, and including minntes of their meetings at Perth Amboy, Woodbridge, Plainfield, and Rahway.

These records also contain numerous incidents and facts of rare interest to the historian and the biog- rapher. Should the history of the Friends in this country ever be undertaken this volume would be of great value.

It is not our purpose in this local sketch to go much further back than the beginning of their meetings in Rahway, except to mention briefly a few facts char-

The entry made on the 10th of September, 1686, announces that the Monthly Meeting held at Perth Amboy "agreed" that "all friends should bring Minuts of ye Births and Burials since they first came into this place that they may be Recorded."

" At the Monthly Meeting beld in Amboy the 13th uf the 2d month, 1687, John Pearce being present; the Meeting told him that he had dons wrong in sending a paper to the people of the world (desiring to be sup- plied with a cow, he being poor) and not coming to the Monthly Meet- ing of friends to lay his necessities before them. And thus left him to consider, etc., whether he would rødress his fault it he feels it in him- self."

On the 11th of March, 1686, it was directed that " John Reid or his wife take care that widow Mill do not want, and give Report to the Meeting." Also two Friends were appointed "to speak to widow Mitchell that shee do not talke of Peter Sonmans as it seems shee doth, Rather wish hir to come to the Meeting and if ye be difference lay it before friends according to the order of truth." At the next meet- ing (April 8th ) the " difference" alluded to was settled by arbitration.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 66

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