USA > New Jersey > Atlantic County > Port Republic > History of the Methodist Episcopal Church on Port Republic and Smithville charge : also, a sketch of the Presbyterian Church at Port Republic, and the Friends' at Leeds' Point > Part 3
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"An aged member of the Clark family who remembers in his boyhood to have seen John Brainerd, has informed us that this house was about twenty-five feet broad and thirty long, and was covered with shingles, and having been neg- lected for a long time was blown down about the year 1820. Here was an organized Presbyterian church and Robert Doughty and Thomas Clark were the ruling elders."
In grateful remembrance of what the church owes to John
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Brainerd it is proper that we give some particulars of his remarkable life and labors. In 1759 he was appointed as missionary to the Indians and took up his residence at Brotherton in what is now Shamong township, Burlington county. Hon. Joel Parker says of him: "This man, who was fitted to shine in any society, however cultured, was so imbued with the missionary spirit and possessed of such zeal for the Master, that for years he buried himself in the then forests of the eastern section of New Jersey and lived among the Indians without even the comforts or conveniences of life."
"It comes down to us by tradition that when Brainerd first told the Indians that Jesus came to earth to save Indians as well as whites, and described his suffering and death, they fell upon their faces, sobbed aloud and wept."
"The instrument with which Mr. Brainerd convened his congregation was not the church-going bell, nor the horn sometimes used for camp meetings, but was a conch shell It is still in existence and bears evident marks of age by its smoothness." "
"He was at that time the only resident preacher in all the region between Mount Holly and the sea. He solem- nized marriages, baptized children, visited the sick and afflicted, and officiated at the funerals of both races. He usually preached three times on Sabbath at places many miles apart, and often in the evening during the week. He
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was active in planting churches and quite successful in rais- ing funds to sustain them from year to year."
To have an idea of the hardships he endured, let us remember that the settlements were many miles apart and separated by streams and marshes, dense swamps and forests, which were traversed only by the Indian trail or bridle path.
These Presbyterian societies, organized by Brainerd and scattered through this large expanse of country, flourished for a time under the supervision of the Synod of Philadel- phia.
Prof. Macloskie, of Princeton, in an "Introduction to the Journal of Rev. John Brainerd," assigns as one reason for the subsequent neglect of this sparsely-settled district the long, desolating war of the Revolution. The church was impoverished in men and money; the stronger churches secured the ministers who survived the war and some of the feeble churches in which John Brainerd labored became extinct, and other denominations gathered some of the fruits of his labors.
These early laborers have long years ago entered into their rest, and "sower and reaper rejoice together."
The Friends at Leeds' Point.
A history of the Friends' Society of Leeds' Point takes us back to the early days of the settlement of " The Prov- ince of West Jersey." In 1676, this tract of land passed under the exclusive control of William Penn and his asso- ciate Friends, who completed and published a body of laws for the province. Goodrich says: " This simple code enact- ed by the Friends in America, rivaled the charter of Con- necticut in the liberality and purity of its principles." Before the end of the year, over four hundred families of Friends had arrived from England and found homes in West Jersey. Thus in the lower counties of the state, the Friends antedate by many years all other religious societies, and many of the best families, with justifiable pride, claim descent from these first Quaker settlers.
For nearly a generation, the Friends, as a Society, have ceased to exist at Leeds' Point, but a few of our oldest inhabitants can remember the generous hospitality, sturdy integrity, quaint, gentle manners of some of these families
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of seventy years ago, when the society was in a prosperous condition. Its most influential members at that time, prob- ably, were Japhet, Barzillai and Samuel Leeds, Richard Risley, Jeremiah Higbee, and John Shourds; others of the Leeds, Higbees, Risleys, Smiths, Sculls, and Collins were members.
The date of their first meeting for worship is not known, but the Hon. John Clement, of Haddonfield, an authority upon local history, says : " Daniel Leeds was an important man in the early history of West Jersey. He was the first Surveyor-General. In 1698, he made several surveys in Egg Harbor, and removed there, about which date I sup- pose the Friends' Meeting, at Leeds' Point, was established. In 1704, he published the first Almanac published in Amer- ica, and continued the publication until 1716. He then lived in Egg Harbor." It is probable he was among the first to choose this lovely spot for a settlement. It is beauti- ful for situation, being the highest point of land on the coast, from the Highlands to the capes of Virginia. What we know as two villages, Smithville and Leeds' Point, seems to have been known under one name. In the Min- utes of the Methodist Conference it was called Leeds', till 1844
We gather from the Minutes of the Haddonfield Quar- terly Meeting that as early as 1726 there were three places for holding Friends' Meetings in Atlantic county, namely :
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Japhet Leeds', Peter White's, and John Scull's. Joseph Leeds, doubtless, lived at Leeds' Point,* and was the son of the Daniel Leeds before mentioned. Peter White, in 1699, purchased of Susanna Budd, widow of Thomas Budd, 1000 acres of land at Absecon.t So this second preaching place was in all probability at or near Absecon. John Scull'st was in the vicinity of Somers' Point. He was one of the five men, who, in 1695, purchased land and prob- ably formed the first settlement in what is now Atlantic county. The names of the others were John Somers, Jonathan Adams, Jonas Valentine, and Peter Conover, " whalemen " from Long Island, New York. Capturing whale to secure the "oyle and bone" was profitable in those days, they being so numerous and coming so near the shore that nothing but small boats were needed.
In 1726 several Friends of Great Egg Harbor and Cape May, having for some time been under considerable incon- venience for want of a monthly meeting among them for the well-management of the business of the affairs of the church, addressed an' expostulatory letter to the quarterly meeting of Gloucester and Salem, which convened in Had- donfield, 7th mo., 16th, asking that such a monthly meeting be established. Their request was granted, and it was
* As early as 1693, a ferry was established by act of the legislature, between Somers' Point and Beesley's Point.
+ Leah Blackman's History of Little Egg Harbor.
Į John Clement.
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ordered to meet alternately at Richard Somers', on the Egg Harbor side, and Rebecca Garretson's, on the Cape May side. This union of Great Egg Harbor and Cape May in their monthly meeting for business of the church continued till 1804, when Cape May was joined to Maurice River and became a branch of Salem Quarterly Meeting. After 1806 the Friends on the Egg Harbor side held their monthly meeting alternately at Egg Harbor and Galloway, and were a branch of the Haddonfield Quarterly Meeting.
The first monthly meeting for Egg Harbor and Cape May met at Richard Somers' on the first Second Day of 9th mo., 1726. Richard Townsend was appointed clerk. Peter White and Jonathan Adams were appointed overseers of the meetings held at Japhet Leeds', Peter White's and John Scull's.
At a monthly meeting held at Richard Somers', 3d mo., 6th, 1728, Deborah Leeds asked that a week-day meeting be established at Upper Egg Harbor, but her request was not granted. All we know of Deborah Leeds * is that she was a widow and lived at Leeds' Point. And though we know but her name, her residence and her widowhood, yet this record of her request tells us of a woman who, bereft of husband, away from early friends, perchance bearing heavy burdens and the privations of life in a new country, kept her faith in God and cared for the spiritual interests of her neighbors.
* John Clement.
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We have no other item of interest till 1740, when the meeting which had been kept at Japhet Leeds' was removed to Robert Smith's. In 1744, Friends at upper end of the shore make request to build a meeting house. This, probably, was the first public house of worship in Atlantic county, and was situated directly west of the present site of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The lot reserved for the burial of their dead, adjoining the meeting house, is yet used for that purpose, and goes by the name of the Quaker Burying Ground. An old gentleman of over four score years of age remembers, when a boy, attending meeting in this building. It was then very old in appearance ; most of the seats were without backs, and when no one was moved to speak, as was sometimes the case, the service seemed very long to the active boy.
We do not know the names of their earliest ministers, but doubtless preachers from distant places used sometimes to visit these settlements on the coast. In 1758 testimonies were issued concerning the following-named ministers or elders of this monthly meeting: John Somers, Rem. Garret- son, Hannah Somers, Ruth Ireland, Elizabeth Smith and Ed- mund Somers. In 1784, William Murphy was recorded a minister; Vincent Leeds, also, was a minister belonging to this meeting. He was the great-grandson of Daniel Leeds, the first. His father, John Leeds,* was a Public Friend, and made ministerial journeys to various places; Vincent, also, was a Public Friend, and traveled extensively. Marjorie Leeds was appointed an elder in 1801. In 1797 Hannah Andrews and Catharine Leeds were appointed ministers.
* Leah Blackman, History of Little Egg Harbor.
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Hannah Andrews was probably the wife of Peter Andrews, and resided at Leedsville .*
True to the instincts of the founders of American liberty the Friends espoused the cause of education. As recent a date as the first quarter of this century the only schoolhouse in the vicinity adjoined the meeting house, and was under the control of the Friends, and their preacher at this time, Samuel Leeds, was the school teacher part of the time. He kept a store at Leeds' Point near the present residence of John Anderson. He was universally respected and honored for his noble character, intelligence, and Christian zeal. Services were held every First and Fifth day. He was far in advance of his time in temperance principles, for his was the only store in the neighborhood which did not sell intoxicating liquor. He was a brother to Japhet and
Barzillai Leeds. Japhet was for many years a prominent man in Galloway township affairs. The point called "Swim- ming Over," on the Mullica or Little Egg Harbor river, was so designated because in these primitive days the devout and sturdy Friends used to swim their horses across the stream, here about an eighth of a mile wide, when on their way to and from the Yearly Meeting at Tuckerton.
Leah Blackman in her History of Little Egg Harbor says: " Friends followed crossing Mullica river in this way until some of them were drowned during their watery journey, after which they relinquished that dangerous mode of going to meeting. Many of the young men of Little Egg Harbor used to go on courting expeditions to Atlantic county, and Atlantic county 'boys' came to Little Egg Harbor on the
* Leah Blackman, History of Little Egg Harbor.
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same errand, both parties swimming their horses across the river. Several wedding parties crossed the river in the same inconvenient way, when they had been to and were return- ing from the 'Old Meeting House,' whither they had gone to be married according to Friends' ceremony. When travelers reached 'Swimming Over Point' they came across the salt marsh to the 'Oliphant' farm and then pursued their way along 'Old Meeting House' road to Tuckerton."
The grant of King George III. defining the boundaries of Galloway township bears date of April 4th, 1774, and in a few years all records in the Minutes of the Friends meeting here are designated as being at Galloway. From 1806 to 1840 the monthly meeting was held alternately at Egg Harbor and Galloway, but after this last date, on account of the removal of part of their number, and the number remaining being very small, the monthly meeting was dis- continued at Egg Harbor, and met in future at Galloway. An indulged meeting was held at Egg Harbor on First day mornings.
After 1825 no new names appear on the minutes as offi- cers in this meeting, so time must inevitably soon carry the remnant from their places of usefulness to their reward beyond.
In 1843 the monthly meeting at Galloway was discon- tinued and the members were attached to Haddonfield monthly meeting, but the meeting for worship on First and Fifth days was continued as heretofore. This continued till 1865 when Galloway preparative meeting was laid down and an indulged meeting on First and Fifth day was kept up for a little time longer. After the first meeting house had served its day a new one was built about a mile east of the
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old site on a wooded eminence overlooking the bay. When it was no longer needed for a house of worship it was rebuilt into a dwelling and is now owned and occupied by Absalom Higbee. Thus after an honorable history of over one hundred and fifty years, the last of the Friends' meet- ings in Atlantic county was closed. One has, however, since been established at Atlantic City. We cannot but regret that this worthy division of the church should have ceased to be numbered among us. Perhaps some of the causes are not difficult to find, while Friends were among the very first inhabitants they were not the only settlers. Some Presby- terians from the eastern states early found homes in Gallo-
way township. Rev. John Brainerd in his Journal of 1761 speaks of preaching at John English's, and William Reed's on the seashore; at Chestnut Neck and Elijah Clark's. Besides these no doubt many pioneers with no special religious preferences or opinions came to this new land. The Friends were not aggressive, and their order of service not being attractive to the wordly minded, they failed to reach this outside class and made few accessions from this source. The old members died and many of their descend- ants moved away and some joined other denominations. Samuel Leeds, their last important preacher, was silenced by the church because he was too noisy and earnest in his sermons; he afterward moved away. It is possible that the heresy of Elias Hicks, which caused a division of the Quaker Church in 1827, might have helped in the dissolu- tion of this meeting, as I have been told that the Hicksite doctrine was much discussed for some time; but the weight of opinion is that the members of this meeting remained orthodox.
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