History of the First Presbyterian Church, Morristown, N.J., 1742-1882 pt 1, Part 60

Author: First Presbyterian Church in Morristown (N.J.)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Morristown, N.J. : "Banner" Steam Print
Number of Pages: 942

USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > History of the First Presbyterian Church, Morristown, N.J., 1742-1882 pt 1 > Part 60

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But it is in the old cemetery that we find the most interesting mementoes of the past and the clearest proofs of the antiquity of the town, for there we can find tombstones, green with the moss of age, with inscrip- tions worn away by the storms of years till they are almost illegible-which were plac- ed there early in the eighteenth century, or over one hundred and fifty years ago. When my iong-cherished desire to visit the ancient burial-place had been gratified, and I found myself wandering among the marble

monuments and hoary headstones rich with the history of the past, I could not resist the temptation to linger for a time in a spot consecrated by so many sacred memories, and pencil in hand, to note a few of the in- scriptions that I found there, and that are interesting or instructive to the student or curiosity-seeker.

Upon the rough notes thus hurriedly taken the sketch before you has its origin.

A complete history of all the extraordi- nary events that have happened in a neigh- borhood may frequently be gathered from a diligent study of its tombstones, and there- fore this burial place at Morristown acquires new and stronger interest as it grows older, and will ever continue to be a favorite re- sort with the antiquary and the student of history.

The old Cemetery occupies a central po- sition in the village of Morristown, immedi- ately in the rear of the Presbyterian Church. This Church is built upon the spot where the meeting-house in which Washington worshipped and engaged in communion service once stood, and has lately been re- paired and greatly improved in its appear- ance.

After entering the burial-ground I took the path to the. right, and my attention was soon arrested by a large, flat tombstone in- scribed as follows :-

" In memory of Peter Dickinson, member of the first Provincial Congress of New Jersey in 1775, afterwards captain of the sec- ond Company, third Regiment of the New Jersey Brigade of the Revolutionary army of 1776. Died 1785. Came to Morris Co. with his family 1724."

Then the path led me to the grave of the Rev. Dr. Johnes, who was pastor of the Presbyterian Church during the Revolution and concerning whom I find the following anecdote in Lossing's " Illustrated Field Book of the Revolution."

" It is related that he (Washington) called upon the Rev. Dr. Jones, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Morristown, on learning that the communion service was to be observed in his Church on the follow- ing Sabbath, and inquired whether com- municants of another denomination were permitted to join with them. The doctor replied :-

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" Most certainly. Ours is not the Presby- terian's table, General, but the Lord's ; and hence we give the Lord's invitation to all his followers of whatever name."

"' I am glad of it,' said the general ; " that is as it ought to be ; but as I was not quite sure of the fact, I thought I would ascertain it from yourself, as I propose to join you on that occasion. Though a member of the Church of England, I have no exclusive partialties."

" Washington was at the communion ta- ble on the following Sabbath."

There appear to have been several clergy- men of the name of Johnes (Lossing and several other historians spell the name Jones, but I prefer to follow the ortho- graphy of the old headstone), and the pul- pit of this church may have been filled by the same family for several generations.

A little further on I saw the tombs of a number of the Ford family ; it was one of the most distinguished in the county in the days of '76. These tombs are surmounted by large stones raised some two feet from the ground, and supported by brickwork. The bricks, however, are crumbling rapidly, and in some places are tumbling down. One of the stones is inscribed as follows :-

"In memory of Colonel Chillion Ford, who departed this life on the nineteenth of October, 1800, aged forty-two years, nine months and twenty-three days. He early showed his attachment to his country by entering into her service at the commence- ment of her struggle with Great Britain, and continued during the war an able and active officer in the artillery. He was a warme friend, a tender husband, a kind father, and an honest man."

I will quote here two other inscriptions, the first of which shows that the Baptist Church of Morristown must have been es- tablished at a very early date in the history of our country.

" In memory of the Rev. John Walton, who was minister of the Baptist Church in Morristown, and who died October the first, 1770, aged thirty-five years."

"In memory of Captain Job Brookfield, an officer of the Revolution, who died in the year 1833, aged 83 years."

When the small pox was raging so fear- fully in the little army of patriots stationed

at Morristown, many of the soldiers who died of this loathsome disease-a more dreaded foe than the British rifle-were buried in this cemetery ; but although some of the inhabitants of the village know in what part of the ground they were interred, I could find no marks to indicate their final resting-place.

So after this war in which we are now en- gaged is concluded ; when relatives or friends search over the battle fields and grave yards to find some mark or trace of the dear ones who died in the service of their country, they will find as they wander upon the banks of the Potomac or Missis- sippi, or on the plains of Kentucky, that-

"No monument or lettered stone

Marks the lone resting of the brave." but far from the scenes of his childhood and the loved ones at home sleeps the brave volunteer, where no willow shall weep, no flower bloom, no mother or sister come to mourn over the little spot of earth that covers their lost soldier-boy.

Many of the inscriptions found in this old cemetery, especially those written upon the oldest stones, are very eccentric, and often excite a smile by the quaintness and even humor that they exhibit. . The poetry-if it should be thus designated- is in an especial manner remarkable for the poetic license and the new and often startling similes and figures of rhetoric that are used by the epitaph writers. I copied several inscrip- tions of this character, and will give them to you, although the quaint carving with which the headstones are decorated, and the curious manner in which the letters are engraved upon them cannot be described by type.

" Come see ye place where I do ly As you are now so once was I As I Be now soon You will be PrePare for Death and Follow me."

Another :-

" Beauty and wit with virtue joined Did grace the Body here confined Weep not Kind reader but Rejoyce In Heaven is heard here tunefull voice However weep yt Faith has taken more Than Nature can to Friends Restore."

The following curious epitaph seems to

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be addressed pointedly and particularly to the wife of the deceased-

" Farewell dear wife my life is past My love to you till death did last Now after me no sorrow take

But love my orphans for my sake." Most of those old epitaphs begin thus :- " Here lyes ye Body of-'

The annexed is another of these super- scriptions :-

" In memory of Benjamin Hathaway Esqr Aged 63 years Dec'd April 21 1762

"Here's ye Remains of him that was a Esqr may. Rest with Kings & Princes In ye Dust

Until ye world Desolves In flaming Fire At ye Last Resurrection of ye Dust When ye arch Angels trump'h sound Arise ye Dead appear before ye Lord

When Christ will meet Ye Righteous in cloud."

The tombstone from which theabove was copied had settled so much in the ground that I was unable, even after putting away the grass and leaves from its base, to make out the whole of the inscription. which ap- pears to have been quite lengthy. What I have given, however, will doubtless furnish an idea of the whole.

" In memory of Susannah, consort of Uzal Tompkins. Aged 69 years. Died Jan. 25, 1817, and was attended with eight children and nineteen grand-children at her funeral."

Many of the epitaphs are elegant and very touching. The following verses, inscribed upon the tombstone of "Our little Willie" are truly beautiful :--

" There is another little hand

To heaven's sweet harpstrings given Another gentle seraph's voice Another star in heaven."

As no quotation marks were used I suppose the poetry to be original.

One handsome stone bore only the words, "Gone to Rest." One handsome monu- ment was surmounted by a tastefully sculp- tured dove-

just on the wing for heaven."

A little stone upon which was carved a rosebud just ready to burst with bloom was inscribed, "Our little Laura." A similar one in another part of the ground read, " Our Lizzie." Near the latter was a marble slab bearing only the words, "The Orphan Boy," and farther on was another, inscribed " Margaret, the Orphan." Upon one large gravestone was sculptured a sailor, clad in a short jacket and broad-brimmed straw hat with a wide ribbon, weeping at a tomb al- most hid from view by a weeping willow. This stone was inscribed "My Mother's Grave," and we can imagine that from time to time the gallant. tar who would erect so beautiful and costly a memorial above the

ashes of his departed mother, will often re- call the pleasant little nook where she re- poses, when he is "rocked in the cradle of the deep." far from his native land and child- hood home; and will recall the blessed moments when he sat, a happy child upon his mother's knee, and never dreamed of sorrow or death or ocean storms.

A number of slaves, as I believe, have been buried here, but few of their resting- places have been honored with headstones . The following is engraved upon a handsome block of marble :-

"Cato. Died Oct. 1831. He was, for nearly forty years, a faithful servant in the family of D. Phoenix."

Some of the tombstones are in the form of a cross, the letters I. H. S. being written above the epitaph. Many of the old stones have sunk so far in the ground that they are almost invisible; others have been broken off and disfigured, and others still have been worn away by the storms of a century until their inscriptions are no longer legible. " Beneath one stone were placed the bodies of a husband and wife who were mur- dered, a short distance from Morristown, on the same day, by a French servant whom they had procured from the city only a short time previous, and had selected on account of his honest and prepossessing appearance.

Upon a majority of the old stones are wretchedly carved a death's head and cross- bones. "Ye" for " the" and the old-fash- ioned long "s" are often used. One stone is inscribed as follows :-

" Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth Ica- eclo, wife of Moses Esty, who niade her exit Feb. 11, A. D. 1793. Erected by her son, William, the Rover.'

This inscription, like that written by the sailor is one very suggestive of thought. When we remember at what an exciting period in the history of our country and of the world " The Rover" lived, we cannot but suppose that his history was an event- ful and an exciting one.

The oldest date that I could discover upon a tombstone was 1722, but a friend informed me that he found a stone dated 1713. so it appears that this ground was used as a bur- ial-place more than half a century before the time of the Revolutionary War, and at least a hundred and fifty years before the present day.

Here beneath a handsome monument re- poses the dust of the celebrated William Alexander Duer, who was member of the New York Legislature, Judge of the Su- preme Court of the United States, author of a treatise on the Constitutional Jurispru- dence of the United States, and President of Columbia College. He was born at Rhine- beck, Dutchess County, New York, prac- tised law for some time at New Orleans, and died at Morristown, having been forced to return North for the benefit of his health.

THE RECORD

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MORRISTOWN, N. J. " THIS SHALL BE WRITTEN FOR THE GENERATION TO COME."-Psalms 102 : 18.

VOLUME V.

SEPTEMBER, 1885. NUMBER 33.

[Printed with the Approval of the Session. 1

THE RECORD

Is published monthly ; terms $1.00 a year, in advance. Single numbers for any month, 10 cents each.

Subscriptions should be made to Mr. James R. Voorhees. Matters pertaining to the publication should be addressed to the

EDITOR OF THE RECORD.

Entered at the Post Office at Morristown, N. J., as second class matter.

SUPPLEMENT.

The Supplement for this month continues the publication of the Combined Registers, beginning with Mary, daughter of Nathan- iel Broadwell, and extending to Hannah Campfield who was married to John Mc- Ewen, of Hanover, on the 5th of February, 181 8.

EVERY WEEK.

Sunday : Church Services, 10:30 A. M. and 7:30 P. M. School of the Church, 3 P. M. Young People's prayer meeting, 6.45 P. M.

Tuesday : Pastor at home afternoon and evening.

Thursday : Church Mid-week service of Prayer, 7.45 P. M.

WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSIONS.

The next meeting of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society will be held in the Chapel on Friday afternoon, September 4th, 1885, at half past three.

This change of date has been made so that the ladies may have the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Dr. Dennis, of Beyroot, who will talk informally about the interests of the Tripoli School, and other mission work in Syria.

The meetings of this society are increasing in interest. A cordial invitation is ex-

tended to all the ladies of the congregation to be present at these meetings, and to be- come members of the society.

The question is frequently asked, " What are the conditions of membership in this society ?" In answer we quote from Article VI of the Constitution, which reads :

"Every woman of the Church shall be considered a member of this society, who by signing this Constitution or giving her name to be affixed thereto, agrees to enter into the work by attending as far as possi- ble each meeting, and giving according to her ability to promote its object."

OUR MANSE.

BY E. F. R. C.

It stands in finished beauty ; broad and firm Are its foundations, strong its stately walls, As fitted to endure through coming years. A monument of Christian faith and zeal .. Within, the tinted light falls cheerily

O'er graceful arch and polished floor, and through.

The well-appointed rooms, like rainbow hues

Of promise, betokening peace and joy ; A fitting resting place for him who serves This ancient Church of God.

But ah ! to us,

Who hopefully have watched its rise and end,

Above it rests a cloud, bright-edged, 'tis true,

For all God's hidden ways are just and kind, But dark with disappointment, and sur- charged

With bitter grief. The gentle presence, which. We fondly hoped would grace the finished home.

Is missing there ; the heart of home is gone. Gone to a better dwelling, this we know,

A mansion far more fair ; 'tis not for her

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We mourn, 'tis for ourselves alone. But now The shadow deepens, as again the wing Of the death-angel broods, this time above The cradle of the home, the household shrine,

Where stricken hearts find hope and com- fort sweet

In loving homage. Soon the baby-tones Are hushed, the shrine is broken, and fond arms

Are empty, as the happy little soul Leaps to the new-found mother's clinging · clasp,

.And the sweet waxen form is laid to sleep Among the summer flowers. And once more

. Alone, the smitten one gives meekly back To God the precious legacy of love, And mutely bows beneath the added stroke. Oh mystery supreme ! We vainly ask " What does it mean ?" then make reply, " God knows."

Thus has our beauteous Manse been sancti- fied.

'Twill ever be a consecrated place, Hallowed by tender memories, baptized In sacred tears, and linked in holiest thought With Heaven and white-robed angelhood above.

August 17, 1885.

THE OLD CEMETERY.

SOME CORRECTIONS.

There was not room in our last number to note and correct the errors in the article entitled, " The Old Cemetery," which was reprinted from an old newspaper clipping. and it was thought best to give the article entire, as it originally appeared.

Some of these corrections are here noted : General Washington did not commune in the old Church, which was used as a hos- pital at the time ; but in the hollow, shaped somewhat like a half bowl, a little to the east and rear of the house now occupied by Mrs. Eugene Ayers, on Morris street. This ·was then part of the parsonage property, which included nearly all the land now bounded by the Green, South street, Pine street, and the river. The present Church was begun in 1791.

Peter Dickinson, or as the name was then Commonly written, Dickerson, was born in

the year 1724. He came to Morristown with three brothers, Thomas, Joshua and Daniel and a sister Elizabeth. according to the headstone. He was married to Ruth Coe, 20th Oct., 1745. He died on the roth of May. 1780, in his 56th year.

The Church has had but one pastor by the name of Johnes. This was the Rev. Timothy Johnes, pastor from 1742 till his death in 1794. Several of Dr. Johnes' de- scendants have been physicians here.

The soldiers that died with the small-pox were buried in the Graveyard in trenches, where the Lindsley vault now stands. When this vault was out a great many brass buttons were thrown out, and pieces of blue cloth, parts of the uniform, have been turn- ed up at even later dates.

The first wife of Moses Estey was Eliza- beth Fearclo (not Icaeclo), who died 10th Feb., 1783, aet. 23. His second wife was Ann, who died HIth Nov., 1809, aet. 47 ; and the stone bearing her name has the inscrip- tion, "erected by her son, William the Rover."

It is a flat slab that marks the grave of William Alexander Duer, in a lot surround- ed by a thick hedge.

DR. WILLIAM A. McDOWELL,

PASTOR FIRST CHURCH, FROM 13 DEC., 1814, TO 23 OCT., 1823.

[The following sketch is taken from one entitled, " Sketch of an Eminent Jersey- man-Rev. Dr. McDoweil, The Revivalist- by an old Journalist," which appeared in the Jerseyman, 23 Feb., 1883 .- EDITOR.]

In writing a sketch of any eminent man, it should be the aim of the biographer to direct attention to the obstacles he had to overcome in his youth in the pursuit of dis- tinction, for sometimes young men are de- terred from making any great effort at suc- cess because of some physical weakness which they fancy may prove a bar to their advancement ; but when they are told how this or that distinguished person rose to fortune and position despite his frail consti- tution or serious bodily ailments, they pluck up courage and determine to do their best to win the prize set before them.

We have written these introductory re- marks to the biographical sketch of a rev- erend gentleman whose career was a very

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remarkable one, because of their especial fit- ness to him. He was not gifted with a robust physique, his health was never very good, and his voice was far from oratorical, but, notwithstanding every drawback, he was enabled by his spirit, will and energy to place himself in the front rank of preachers, and become noted as a great revivalist.

It is true that the generation to which he addressed himself has mostly passed away, but the descendants of those who were wont to listen to him with such close atten- tion still recur with interest to the period when he held sway over the religious com- munities to which he preached. Many good fathers and mothers were converted to the cause of Christ during his memorable min- istry, and hence his name will ever be held in reverence and respect.

William Anderson McDowell was born in Lamington, N. J., on the 15th of May 1789. Up to the age of thirteen he was employed on a farm, attending at intervals the gram- mar school in the vicinity. About three years later he entered the college of New Jersey, from which he graduated in 1809.

In 1811, while a tutor in Princeton Col- lege, his health became so poor that he was advised to visit Savannah, Ga., with a view of testing the experiment of a change of climate. In that city he was the guest of the Rev. Dr. Kollock, and it was at this time that young McDowell's gift for leading re- vivals was developed. Though a mere boy compared with Dr. Kollock, he took an ac- tive part in the services at the latter's Church, and such was the power of his ap- peals to the crowded audiences in attend- ance that, in a short time, a revival took place, second to none in the Church annals of Savannah.

In 1812 Mr. McDowell returned to his native State. Resuming his studies at Princeton, he remained there until 1813, when he accepted a call to Bound Brook, N. J. It was about this time that he was married to Miss Jane Kollock, daughter of Shepard Kollock, Esq., of Elizabethtown. While at Bound Brook, such was the popu- larity he had already achieved, he was called to Morristown and Flemington. He chose Morristown, where he preached with the greatest success until 1822, when his health gave way, and he was advised to

visit the South. He journeyed as far as Charleston, S. C., and derived so much bene- fit from its mild climate, that in a little while he felt strong enough to return to Morristown.

But fate had willed that the North should no longer have the benefit of his ministerial labors, for his health soon again broke down, and when he received a most pressing call from a leading Presbyterian Church in Charleston, where he had made hosts of ad- inirers and friends, he felt constrained to ac- cept it, though parting from his congrega- tion in Morristown with great regret.

He was installed in Charleston in 1823, and from that time, for years afterwards, was distinguished for the numerous and spirit- stirring revivals in which he was the leader. But his fame was not limited to a single city or State. Having occasion to visit Georgia, his exhortations while there were so effective that revivals took place where- ever he preached. In truth he was known all through that portion of the South as " the great revivalist."

In 1827, Franklin College, Ga., honored him with the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and in 1832, he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly, and in the same year was chosen professor in the Theological Seminary at Columbia, S. C. But Dr. Mc- Dowell was averse to occupying so retired a position ; he required a wider field of use- fulness, and therefore he declined the very flattering honor.

It was about this period that, in the lan- guage of Dr. McDowell, "an awful cloud hung" over the South, and particularly over South Carolina. "Nullification," or opposi- tion to certain Federal laws deemed oppres- sive, was the prevailing sentiment, and the Doctor being a Northern man, was placed in an embarrassing situation ; but such was his attachment to the people of his Church, and such his devotion to the cause of reli- gion, that he remained steadfastly at his post, secure in the confidence and affection of those who had been so frequently wit- nesses of his power as a revivalist. When he did leave Charleston, to accept the posi- tion of Secretary of the Board of Domestic Missions of the Presbyterian Church, he did so chiefly on account of his failing health.

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Passing over the intervening years, we | ing. He would write it down on a shingle, come to the year 1850, when Dr. McDowell and keep it until he had secured a sheet of paper. Then he would copy it, and repeat it, until it was lodged in his memory. Once there, it remained, and in his manhood he could quote Burns' poems from end to end, having learned them when a youth. resigned the Secretaryship of the Board of Missions and again visited Charleston, where he was received with Ezerally " open arms," all eager to hear him once more in the pulpit which he had filled with so much ability and success.

In both public and private circles he was the recipient of the most hospitable atten- tions, and his sojourn in Charleston was protracted far beyond the time fixed upon for his stay. On his way back to the North, he was cordially greeted in every place where he tarried, showing that his fame as a revivalist had not abated one whit.

Dr. McDowell, on his arrival home, con- sulted his former physician concerning his health, but little could be done for him, and so the subject of this biography gradually succubmed to the approaches of the great destroyer and died from exhaustion on the 17th of September 1851. He was buried in the town in which he was born.

It is related of Dr. McDowell that during the summer preceding his death, notwith- standing his feeble health, he preached with much of his old-time vigor and earnestness, and that his voice was clearer and louder than it had been for some time before. How grand those sermons were we can readily imagine.

The success of Dr. McDowell shows to every youth in the land what may be ac- complished by those who are filled with the same ambition-an ambition that nothing could check, not even ill health, and that finally won for him the marked distinction of " the great revivalist."

MASTERING CIRCUMSTANCES.

" His example teaches," sald Lincoln, in his eulogy on Henry Clay, "that one can scarcely be too poor but that if he will he can acquire sufficient education to get through the world respectably." Lincoln himself illustrated the truth of his opinion. He was the son of a poor pioneer, who had a hard struggle to make a home in the wilderness. There were no common schools' but at intervals an itinerant teacher would stray into a settlement, and announce that he had come to teach " readın', writin' and cipherin' " as far as the " rule of three."

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History of the First Presbyterian Church, Morristown, N.J., 1742-1882 pt 1, Part 60

Author: First Presbyterian Church in Morristown (N.J.) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Morristown, N.J. : "Banner" Steam Print Number of Pages: 942

Author: First Presbyterian Church in Morristown (N.J.)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Morristown, N.J. : "Banner" Steam Print
Number of Pages: 942