USA > New Jersey > Union County > Plainfield > History of the First Presbyterian church at Plainfield, New Jersey > Part 3
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The contributors to the church building fund were as follows :
Sarah M. Latimer
Mrs. Forbes
R. J. Shaw William H. Shotwell
William R. Anthony
Peter Hoagland
J. W. Anthony
Alvin E. Hoagland
Freeman J. Shotwell
John Barr
Rev. K. P. Ketcham
A. V. Shotwell
J. M. Bettman
Mrs. Fanny Ketcham
J. Augustus Smith
Theophilus Bond
Isaac L. Miller
Edward St. John
Miss Kate Bond
Miss Meig
J. W. Schenck
Aaron Berkaw
Mrs. Charles Mccutcheon
J. Evarts Tracy W. H. Van Slyke
Rutgers V. Cadmus
Mrs. Petrie Howard A. Pope
Miss Vanderweg
Abraham L. Cadmus Elisha Coriell
R. H. Radford
Mrs. N. W. West
Mrs. D. Chase
A. G. Remsen
C. J. Westervelt
Mrs. J. W. Craig
Henry W. Rogers
J. M. White
John Dietrich
Carrie Runyon
Sallie Butcher
Miss Jane Petrie
William Van Winkle
The new church was dedicated with special services on the evenings of June 25th and 28th, 1889. The services on June 25th were conducted by the Pastor, the Rev. Kneeland P. Ketcham, the dedicatory sermon being preached by the Rev. Charles L. Thompson, D.D., of New York City.
The services on June 28th were conducted by the Rev. W. L. Richards, pastor of the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian church, with addresses by the Rev. D. J. Yerkes, pastor of the First Bap- tist church; Rev. Erskine M. Rodman, rector of Grace Episcopal
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THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
church; Rev. Cornelius Schenck, pastor of Trinity Reformed Church; Rev. Charles L. Goodrich, pastor of the Congrega- tional church, and Rev. Asa R. Dilts. There were also addresses by James McGee, C. W. Mccutcheon and William D. Murray.
The official seating capacity of the church building is 900 and every seat was occupied during these services, for the church, with its inclined auditorium with seats arranged fan like and radiating from the pulpit, was then a distinct architectural novelty.
The design of the church was similar to the Methodist Episco- pal church at Hackettstown, which also was designed by Oscar S. Teale, architect, and many Plainfielders passing through the main street of that Warren county city stop to compare the architec- tural face of the edifice there with that in Plainfield. Howard A. Pope, William H. Shotwell and John M. Bettman were the com- mittee sent to Hackettstown to view that church and upon their recommendation the design of the Plainfield church was made like it, but modified in some respects, to conform to local condi- tions, particularly as to lot width.
Dr. Ellis W. Hedges was organist for a great many years and A. V. Searing, Jr., and Edward Petrie were for many years offi- cial organ pumpers.
One time when an eminent organist from New York came out to give a recital he brought with him a device that oper- ated a dozen-odd pedals at once so as to produce climactic vol- ume, and the frantic efforts of the young organ pumpers to keep the instrument supplied with air, and thus not to spoil the concert, resulted in great physical fatigue between the two assistants of the organist and an hour or two of incidental wonderment as to what sort of a many-handed and footed "monster" sat at the console.
On March 13, 1892, Dr. Ketcham applied for a dissolution of the pastoral relation and on July 6, 1892, a call was extended to and accepted by the Rev. Henry L. Miller.
It was, however, destined for him never to become the actual pastor of the church, because just while preparations were being made to receive him and he had moved his household effects to Plainfield, Mr. Miller's wife was taken critically ill and he de- clined the call on that account.
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CHAPTER VI
The Close of the First Century
N October 20, 1892, a call was extended to the Rev. Charles E. Herring, of New York City, where he had been ordained to the ministry by the Presbytery of that city, January 19, 1888, the same year, it is pleasant to note that the church that he was des- tined to serve as pastor for 29 years, was built. He received the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy from Columbia University in 1887, and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from New York University in 1907; but the honor that he most craved, but reso- lutely awaited for it to be honorarily conferred, namely, that of Doctor of Divinity, was received by his widow, Alice Miller Herring, a few days after his death at Muhlenberg Hospital, Plainfield, May 26th, 1921, he having been stricken while preach- ing his usual sermon Sunday morning, May 15th, at 11:40 o'clock.
This incident was one of the most tragic in the history of this church. It was a bright sunshiny Spring morning and the church was well filled when, after greeting the children in Sunday school as was his wont before entering the pulpit, the congregation assembling for worship saw him in his pulpit as usual.
No hint of anything amiss occurred until, after being well started upon his sermon, the text of which was "Moses, my ser- vant, is dead," he paused and said :
"I cannot go on with the sermon. It is all right." When, in sinking to his chair, he said to the treasurer of the church, Howard W. Satterfield, who, sitting close to him, was first to grasp the full extent of the minister's distress, "I want to go home. Brother Manning, will you dismiss the people ?"
Dr. N. W. Currie and Mrs. Herring, both of whom were sit- ting in the gallery, hurried to the study as tender hands lifted the stalwart but now limp frame of the pastor into the room where his wife and physician awaited him, while Elder J. H. Man- ning, with a benediction, dismissed the congregation.
Nine days later Dr. Herring passed away in Muhlenberg hos- pital and was buried, after a double funeral service, in Hillside cemetery, this city.
The services in tribute to the pastor, thus suddenly taken from the leadership of his congregation, were held on successive days.
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THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
On a Sunday evening a few weeks before he was stricken, the church was filled to capacity with the masonic fraternity of Plain- field and friends as a tribute to the long years as Chaplain in Jerusalem Lodge No. 26 F. & A. M. and also as a public testi- monial of their appreciation of Dr. Herring as a citizen and patriot.
Dr. Herring remarked to friends after the service that it was the first time in many years that the full capacity of the church had been taken at an evening service.
Little did the genial minister realize that within a very short time the same fraternity and the same friends would again fill the church to a point where the capacity of the edifice was to be exceeded to the extent even that many of every color and creed who sought to pay tribute to his memory had to be turned away, for there was a genuine feeling "that he belonged not alone to the sorrowing wife and sister but to the whole community."
The Rev. R. F. Y. Pierce, Baptist minister, and a Chaplain of the New York Police Department, presiding over and voicing the people's tribute at that service, summed up the public's ap- praisal of Dr. Herring's character and citizenship in these words during his address on the subject, "I Live," before an enthralled audience :
"Our brother, Dr. Herring, embraced an ideal of an ennobled life and wrought a glorious manhood which made him a prince among his fellow men. His gentleness, kindness, sympathy, strength of character, genial spirit, broad charity and virility of Christian manhood made him to be revered as one of God's noblemen.
"He lived, not for himself, but with the mind of the Master, he sought to lift the burdens from the hearts of others, to speak words of cheer to those fainting and faltering on Life's weary way. His was the joy to wipe sorrow's tears from everflowing eyes; to sow the seeds of truth in hearts of age and youth; to lead the wanderer home; to teach the world about Christ, and to be a friend of man.
"His memory will ever be a precious legacy, not only to the loved ones of his heart and home, but to all who came within the circle of his influence."
In strict accordance with a plan for his funeral which he had prepared some years before and was discovered among his papers after his death, the body lay in state in the church he
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THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
loved and served well nigh three decades, lovingly guarded by representatives of the Session, Deacons, Trustees, officers of his church and Masonic brethren in the persons of : A. W. Dunning and A. V. Searing, Jr., until midnight; Allen E. Beals and G. F. Murphy until 3 o'clock; F. O. Dunning and John S. Johnston until 6 A.M. and George B. Wean and W. H. Abbott until 9 A.M. He was borne to his last mortal resting place on the beautiful slopes of Hillside cemetery by Alvin E. Hoagland, Isaac L. Wil- liamson, John H. Johnston, Dr. N. W. Currie, John G. Bicknell and Allen E. Beals.
There are many today who pay to Dr. Herring the encomium so richly earned that his great gift to the First Presbyterian church of Plainfield was the deep-seated spirit of Brotherly Love that has embued the members of this church body over so many happy years.
It was during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Herring that an incident occurred which resulted in enriching the church with its beautiful onyx baptismal font, the first two children to be bap- tised at which were the great-grandchildren of the Rev. Lewis Bond, first pastor of the church, Bessie Wright and Clarence Leslie Bond, children of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Eugene Bond.
Dr. Herring was invited on a certain occasion to deliver a sermon at Crescent Avenue church. In the audience was Mr. Charles L. Hyde, who listened with great interest to what Dr. Herring had to say. After the service he made inquiry as to who that preacher was and, upon being told it was the Rev. Dr. Herring of the First Presbyterian church, he declared :
"That is the kind of a preacher I like and we will worship in his church hereafter."
During his attendance upon public worship in Dr. Herring's church, Mrs. Hyde noticed that there was no suitable font for the baptism service, whereupon, making further inquiry, she arranged to present to the church the beautiful example of the stone cutter's art that graces the front of the auditorium to the left of the pulpit.
Other notable baptisms at this font were: Irving Bond Hin- man, Kenneth Russell Hinman, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Grove Porter Hinman; Gordon Van der Vere Bond, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Russell Bond, descendants of the first pastor of the church; and Harold Deforrest and Donald Deforrest Beebe, sons of Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Beebe, direct descendants of Pier-
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THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
pont Potter, one of the founders of the Presbyterian church of Plainfield.
On June 19, 1921, a "Pastor Selection Committee" consist- ing of E. M. Cave, F. O. Dunning, Harry Williams, Dr. N. W. Currie, John S. Johnston, Alvin E. Hoagland, Mrs. T. C. Bo- dine, Mrs. Harold S. Beebe and Allen E. Beals met for organ- ization and by acclamation Mr. Dunning was made chairman and Mr. Beals secretary.
Events seemed to amply evidence the predestination of the Rev. Leroy W. Warren, just returned from Europe following a long period of war service in this country, to be the pastor of this church and spiritual leader of this people.
The Rev. L. B. Crane, of Elizabeth, hearing of the vacancy existing in the pulpit of our church, suggested that representa- tives of our congregation go to hear Mr. Warren preach in his church, the Westminster Presbyterian, at Elizabeth. Elders Charles M. Hummer, F. O. Dunning and A. V. Searing, Jr., at- tended accordingly. Their report to the committee on Pastor Selection, submitted after its organization, was so unanimously enthusiastic that the recommendation was approved that it enter the name of Mr. Warren as its first candidate, resulting in Mr. Warren, upon invitation, preaching two sermons before leaving for his customary summer sojourn in the mountains of Colorado.
During the summer this committee personally heard fourteen candidates and carried on correspondence with one hundred and thirty-nine persons, but at its sixth meeting it reported unani- mously that "after impartially analyzing every one from every angle, there is none who stands forth anywhere near so favorably as does the Rev. Leroy W. Warren, of Galena, Ill."
It is a significant vindication of the judgment and wisdom of this committee that during the pastorate of Mr. Warren, more than 330 new members have been received into full communion of this church, a manse at 41 Sanford Avenue has been purchased, and the chapel has been rebuilt at a cost of $20,000, and that complete harmony and spiritual unity has prevailed, making the total membership at the time of the annual meeting on April 15, 1925, 641, the highest total ever recorded in our church history.
It is fitting to note in connection with the rebuilding of the chapel, finished in the Spring of 1925, that at a bazaar held for the purpose of aiding in liquidating some of the cost of the improve- ment made necessary by the growth of the Bible School, an en-
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THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
graved picture of the White House at Washington, autographed by Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, wife of the President of the United States, was sent by her to the Guild for sale.
The Elders of our church from its organization down to the annual meeting of 1925 follow :
1825 Robert Anderson
1886 John M. Bettman
1825 John Layton
1889 Edward St. John
1833 Jarvis B. Ayres
1890 F. C. Lounsbury
1841 Lucas V. Hoagland
1890 A. L. Cadmus
1845 Abijah Titus
1892 E. M. Cave
1845 Andrew A. Cadmus 1892 William H. Shotwell
1847 Ephraim Coriell
1893 W. L. Ladd
1847 Job Squier
1893 R. H. Radford
1850 Tunison T. Soper
1894 Howard A. Pope
1856 Peter J. Smith
1900 Leroy H. Gates
1858 E. Dean Dow
1908 J. H. Manning
1858 Ellis Potter
1910 Charles M. Hummer
1858 Frazee Cole
1918 F. O. Dunning
1858 David J. Gordon
1918 Harry Williams
1858 Edmund V. Shotwell
1919 A. V. Searing, Jr.
1864 Peter Hoagland
1920 E. D. George
1864 Daniel Van Winkle
1920 F. L. Palmer
1864 Peter B. Westervelt
1923 Dr. Thomas D. Blair
1871 Samuel Milliken, Jr.
1923 Dominico Di Diario
1876 Benjamin F. McKeage
(Italian Mission )
1880 Isaac L. Miller
1925 Arthur N. Hazeltine
1882 Henry B. Opdyke
THE END
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THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Grateful acknowledgments are due and are respectfully made by the compiler of these records for valuable assistance and greatly appreciated cooperation from the following :
Mrs. Howard A. Pope, for information.
J. M. Bettman, for session records.
Charles M. Hummer, for session records.
Miss Addie Dietrich, for memoirs and suggestions.
Joseph P. Byrnes, Principal Clerk, Register's Office, Newark, N. J., for search of original deed of church property and records, dating back to 1826.
The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, N. J.
Frank J. Hubbard, Civil Engineer, for map.
J. Fred MacDonald, Assessor and formerly Executor of Mrs. Sarah M. Latimer's Estate, for memoirs and data.
Plainfield Public Library and Librarians, for records.
Miss Minerva Freeman, Dover, N. J., for historical setting.
Mrs. Howard W. Satterfield, for historical locations and incidents. : The Plainfield Courier-News and old newspaper files. Mrs. A. V. Searing, Jr., for photograph of "Church of 1855."
A. V. Searing, Jr., for information relating to proceedings of Board of Trustees, etc.
H. L. Luckey, photographs.
Clarence E. Bond, for memoirs and records, manuscripts, etc.
Mrs. Allen E. Beals, for information.
Mrs. H. S. Beebe, for information.
Mrs. Grove P. Hinman, for information.
J. H. Coward, for information.
History of Plainfield, by O. B. Leonard.
History of Plainfield, by A. Van Doren Honeyman.
History of Middlesex County, 1882, Public Library.
Pamphlets of New Jersey, Vol. VIII.
E. P. Morris, for information.
S. L. Pach, for data.
M. F. Elderton, for information.
Thomas Butler, Inspector of Buildings, for data.
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