USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Paterson > History of the Old Dutch Church at Totowa, Paterson, New Jersey, 1755-1827 : baptismal register, 1756-1808 > Part 3
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It is said that on one stone on the south side wall there was rudely sculptured a heart in outline, and on another a diamond, the former inclosing the initials of Marten Ryerson, and the latter those of his wife Annetje Van Rypen, of whom more anon. Hence the following story : One day a blacksmith down the road saw an Irishman pounding away at the door of the church. He hallooed to him, "What do you want, Pat?" "Sure an' I want a pack of cards." "Cards ! How do you ex- pect to get cards there? What do you take that building for?" "Troth an' I thought it was a card factory !" "A 'card factory !' Why, man, you must be crazy : what put that notion into your head?" "Faith, and didn't I see the ace of hearts an' the ace of diamonds on the wall, an' I thought them the advertisement of a card factory." Pat was mightily taken back when informed that it was a church. The Marten Ryerson referred to was a son of Frans Ryerson, of New York, one of the earliest pur- chasers of the Wagraw tract. Marten lived in an old stone house torn down about 1870-72, near the corner of Clinton and Water streets, Clinton street being the westerly line of his property. They were interred in a private burying-ground in the rear of the old stone house, No. 117 Water street, whence
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THE OLD DUTCH CHURCH AT TOTOWA.
the bodies were removed many years later to the old Dutch cenietery, south of the quarry road. Some years ago a grand- son, Martin Ryerson, then living in Chicago, had the still handsome marble box-tombs removed to Cedar Lawn cemetery. He died in 1787, aged 79 years ; his wife, 1784, aged 68 years. One of the daughters of old Marten Ryerson married James McCurdy, from whom McCurdy's pond took its name. Tradition differs as to the part Ryerson took in the building of the old church-some saying that he did the mason work, and others that he gave largely of his means to help on the under- taking, and hence the privilege accorded him of perpetuating his name in the walls of the church.
Over the doorway, in front, was a whitish or light-colored stone, smoothly cut and polished, about sixteen inches square, but inserted in the wall so as to present the form of a diamond, and in this stone was deeply inscribed this inscription :
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Het
Huijs
des
HEEREN
1755
"This [is] the House of the Lord, 1735."
The late Avery Richards, of Paterson, who lived for many years in the old frame house still standing ( ISSS) at the north- east corner of Broadway and Carroll street, was the only per- son the writer ever found who could recollect that date, but he remembered it very distinctly, from the time he first saw it in 1819, and his recollection was undoubtedly correct, being sustained also by collateral evidence
Mr. Richards, by the way, when a mere lad, heard his great-uncle, Daniel Fuller, a soldier of the New Hampshire
*In the printed pamphlet of the late Judge Dickerson's IHistorical Sketch of Pater- erson he gives this date as 1745-clearly a blunder, and doubtless a misprint for 1755.
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ITS INTERNAL APPEARANCE.
Line in the Revolution, and quartered hereabout one or two winters, tell how he and the rest of a foraging party of sol- (liers "camped" one night in this very church, "close by the Great Falls."
In front of the church stood a majestic oak tree, which threw , its grateful shade over all the space between the church and the road, and its long arms reached out lovingly to the quaint building as if it would fain encircle it in its mighty embrace. For sixty or seventy years did that oak wax grander and lustier. Then, for some reason never explained, it was cut down, to the general regret, it seems, of the whole congregation, for the event was considered of such importance that it is remembered who laid the axe to that trunk the girt of which was upward of ten feet -- it was Cornelius G. Post. It has been suggested that it afforded too convenient a shade for loiterers during ser- vice, but the true explanation doubtless is that the Consistory were on some occasion hard pressed for money, and sold the tree to replenish their treasury. But the old people in years after always connected the felling of that tree with the sub- sequent destruction of the church ! On the north side of the building, up the hill, stood a great buttonwood tree, whose rapidly growing branches, with adjacent undergrowth, formed a favorite and sheltered retreat for the women and children of the congregation.
XI. INTERNAL APPEARANCE.
Entering the front door (and there was no other) the con- gregation were immediately in the audience room of the build- ing, there being no vestibule or ante-room. A narrow stair- way on either side ran up to the two galleries. The floor was occupied by two double rows of pews -- straight, high-backed affairs, with doors to them, the rows being separated by an aisle stretching up the middle of the church. The pews were quite long. Along against each of the side-walls was a high- backed bench, whereon the boys and youths were accustomed to sit, and in front of them, occupying a similar long bench, running the length of the church, sat the slaves and "free per- sons of color." Human nature was much the same then as
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THE OLD DUTCH CHURCH AT TOTOWA.
now, it seems, for it is related that the mischievous urchins and youths on the back seats used to "wile away the weary hour" of the Dominie's sermon by carving holes in the backs of the seats before them, and with sundry pins and the like were wont to prod the backs of the aforesaid slaves and free persons of color ! But the most striking object that greeted the eye on entering the church was the pulpit. How shall we describe that wonderful product of the carpenter's craft? Fancy a shang- hai rooster ent in two vertically and latitudinally, his front half placed up against a wall, and his head cut off and suspended an inch or two above him. Or, it has been described as being like a swallow's nest. Or, like the half of a newel-post cut in two perpendicularly. It was a semi-octagonal box placed against the rear wall, tapering down to a mere post at the floor. This swallow's nest pulpit, only about large enough for one person, was reached by a narrow and steep step-ladder, and the Dominie when mounted to his perch was eight or ten feet above the mass of his congregation, and could almost look down upon the few who occasionally gathered in the galleries. Above him was suspended, like a great umbrella, or like the lid of a box (and we wonder if the preachers who sometimes uttered nonsense in those days did not fear, while talking, that this lid would suddenly come down upon them like an old- fashioned candle-extinguisher?), that wonderful, ancient con- trivance known as a sounding-board, which was supposed to catch all the preacher's eloquence and hurl it down upon the congregation below him. This was an elaborate eight-corner- ed affair, extending from the wall, and supported by a large iron bar which projected several feet out from the wall and held the sounding-board from above. The galleries simply contained long benches, but no pews ; the face of the galleries was a kind of open lattice-work, of half-rounded rails -- like stair bannisters. The ceiling sloped up like the roof, from the four sides toward a common centre, but in the middle there was a flat space ; the whole was ceiled with boards, instead of plastered, and the whole interior was painted a dingy drab. The Elders occupied a pew on the right of the pulpit, and the Deacons sat on the left. Before the pulpit, and about six feet
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HOW THE CONGREGATION KEPT WARM.
from it, was a little box, with a book-rest rising before it, for the accommodation of the man who, next to the Dominie, was altogether the most essential to the successful holding of service in the church. This was the Voorleser-the fore-read- er or singer, a position occupied in the old Totowa church for many years, with great acceptance, by Albert Van Saun, father of the late Samuel A. Van Saun.
Thus we have described the exterior and the interior of the old church, as it appeared from 1755 until 1816, when it was overhauled. But, says the reader, "Stop, you have told us nothing about the heating and lighting of the church." True, but there were no appliances of the sort about the building ; there was preaching there only every third Sunday, and as the people came long distances night meetings were out of the question. As for the heating, everybody carried his or her foot-stove, or if not, suffered accordingly. But the ladies never forgot in winter their warming-pan or foot-stove-a tin box on a stout wooden frame, filled with live hickory coals, covered with ashes which were raked occasionally as the fire grew dull, the tin perforated with holes to let the heat escape and give the fire ventilation. With such a contrivance as this under their feet the ladies kept far more comfortable, generally, than their successors do in badly-ventilated buildings, where all the cold air settles on the floor to chill people's feet through. In these olden times when one got her feet thoroughly warmed she pushed the foot-stove along to the next, and so on. About 1812 or 1814 box stoves were introduced to warm the church, but the elderly ladies always carried their own stoves with them still.
It is said that there was a sketch or view of the church drawn by old Gen. Abraham Godwin, once upon a time, on the walls of the Passaic Hotel, which was so admirable and striking a likeness that his son declared it should always remain, but it was whitewashed over many years ago. There is a crude sketch of the building still in existence on a map of the adjacent Wallis property, executed by Uzal W. Freeman, a local survey- or, about IS25.
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THE OLD DUTCH CHURCHI AT TOTOWA.
XII. CHURCH GOING IN THE OLDEN TIME.
It is a bright Sunday morning say a hundred years ago, and it is the "turn" of the Totowa church people to have service in their Kerk-on the Hillside. The Voorleser and sexton stands in the middle aisle of the old church, in the centre of the build- ing, vigorously pulls the rope that dangles down from the bell through the roof nearly to the floor, and the wheel in the bel- fry gives a whirl and the bell turns and clangs out its call to the people. Along the few roads leading hither great wagons are seen slowly wending their way churchward, while far more numerous are the groups of horsemen and horsewomen, who prefer that means of conveyance to jolting in heavy wag- ons devoid of springs over the rough roads. As the appointed hour draws nigh the people gather about the church, awaiting the coming of the Dominie. He arrives in good season, and after appropriately greeting his parishioners on every side, he enters the church, followed by the congregation, who with be- coming gravity take their accustomed places, paterfamilias closing the door of his pew as the last of his flock enters. On ascending to the pulpit the Dominie kneels, bows his head, holding up his hat before his face, and silently prays, the con- gregation likewise engaging in silent prayer. Then he an- nounces a hymn to be sung, or (as was the custom in those earlier days) hands the Voorleser a notice of the hymn selected. The Voorleser stands up in his place before the pulpit, and placing his book in a rack before him starts the tune and leads the singing, all the congregation joining. And with what fer- vor, and how sonorously they chorus the praises of Jehovah ! There is no violin, nor bass-viol, nor organ to keep the accom- paniment, and no choir to do the singing. The congregation feel that everything depends on their voices, and most heartily do they respond. If you want to hear such singing now, at- tend one of our Holland churches some Sunday. The Domi- nie now offers up a brief invocation to God, and then an- nounces a chapter in the Bible, which the Voorleser stands up and reads. After this the pastor gives out another hymn, which is sung as before, the Voorleser leading, and then the congregation settle themselves for a good, full hour's discourse,
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1
ORDER OF SERVICES.
under the several heads of "firstly" to "twenty-firstly." Of course the young people thought this terribly prosy, but the longer and more controversial the discourses were the better the old people enjoyed them, for be it remembered they heard a sermon but every third Sunday, and most of them came miles to hear that. The sermon over, the Deacons arise, grasp the long poles in their pew and sally out among the congregation to take up the usual collection-originally sacredly devoted to establishing a fund for the payment of the pastor's salary. The poles are six or eight feet long, to reach the end of the long pews, and on the extremity of each pole is attached a small black bag with a little bell at the bottom which answers a double purpose -- awaking sleepers (some of the congregation were remarkably drowsy during the ceremony), and an- nouncing by its responsive jingle, whenever any coppers were dropped in. About 1816. the bells were taken off the collec- tion bags, which were retained in use, however, till the burn- ing of the old church. This sort of "contribution box" was common in all Dutch churches during the last century. The Dominie now offers up another short prayer and dismisses the congregation for three weeks. The service lasted from halt- past ten o'clock in the morning until one or half-past one in the afternoon. When the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered, the table having been spread before the pul- pit, the Elders, Deacons and heads of families first went up and partook of the symbolical bread and wine together, as handed them by the pastor; then the remainder of the congregation took their turn in sitting down at the Lord's table, till all had been served. After the ceremony, the bread and wine re- maining was passed around among the poorer people who had come long distances, by way of refreshment, before they start- ed for home. It was customary for many of the congregation to lunch out on the open green sward in front and on the south side of the church, after service.
XIII. THE SUCCESSORS OF DOM. MARINUS.
As already stated Dom. Marinus left this part of the country in 1773. But it seems that in 1762 the Conferentie
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THE OLD DUTCH CHURCH AT TOTOWA.
party, anxious to get clear of Marinus, who was of the Cœtus party, called Dom. Cornelius Blauw to take charge of the churches at Totowa, Fairfield and Boonton (now Montville). Ile remained about five years, then removed to Hackensack, and died about 1770, after a three years' pastorate. He lived at Two Bridges, and having no carriage was taken to and from church by the more fortunate people. He is said to have been from Holland, a good preacher, but quarrelsome, "invading the congregations of others, accepting calls from the disaffected, and illegally administering the ordinances to them." He fell into irregular, dissipated habits at the last.
From 1767-'72 the Totowa pulpit appears to have been va- cant, unless Dom. Marinus resumed his old pastoral relation, which is not improbable. However, in November, 1772, Pompton and Totowa called the Rev. Hermanns Meyer, D. D., and he was installed over those churches. Dr. Meyer was born in Bremen, Lower Saxony, July 27, 1733, of good parentage, and received an excellent education. In 1763 he was called to Kingston, N. Y., where he served with marked ability, but desiring to remain neutral between the Cœtus and the Conferentie he offended both, and a majority of the Con- sistory being of the latter party closed the church door against him, and repulsed him by an armed sentinel. He consequent- ly had to minister for several years in private houses, until he was called to Totowa. In 1784 he was appointed Professor of IIebrew, and in 1786 Lector or Assistant to the Professor of Divinity ; in 1789 Queen's (now Rutgers) College conferred on him the degree of D. D. Ile died at his residence at Pacqua- nac or at Two Bridges, after a brief illness, Oct. 27, 1791, widely lamented. He was a profound scholar and had begun a new translation of the Old Testament, but only completed the Psalms. He was buried under the pulpit of the Pompton church, and his remains have never been disturbed .*
"It is said that his last sermon was from the text, 'He that hath the Son hath life,' dwelling particularly on the last clause of the text, 'hath life.' He had contemplated administering the Lord's Supper two weeks from that day, but he was taken ill. During his sickness he sent for one of the Elders and gave him
«Sprague's Annals Reformed Dutch Church, pp. 31-6.
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THE SUCCESSORS OF DOM. MARINUS.
directions about his funeral. He only remarked, 'I meant to have administered the Lord's Supper next Sabbath, but the Lord has intended otherwise, and I shall not drink wine again until I drink it in my Father's Kingdom.' As expressive of his pious sentiments he remarked on taking a little refresh- ment, 'I have no more taste for what I once relished, but the bread of heaven is provided for me.'" (MS. of Rev. Dr. John H. Duryea, 1869.)
After the death of Dr. Meyer, the connection between Toto- wa and Pompton was dissolved, after thirty-five years dura- tion, and the connection with Acquackanonk was renewed, the two churches calling the Rev. Henricus Schoonmaker, who was to preach one-third of the time in Totowa. Mr. Schoonmaker was born in Rochester, Ulster County, N. Y., July 18, 1739, and was one of the first licensed by the Cœtus. Hence his ordination was opposed by the Conferentie, who managed to get possession of the church at Poughkeepsie, where the ceremony was to take place, locked and barred it. But his friends brought out a wagon under an apple-tree before the church, and from that impromptu pulpit the Rev. John M. Goetschius preached the sermon, and the candidate knelt there and was ordained. He served very acceptably and with great success, until his church required preaching in English, which was beyond his power. Receiving a call in 1773 to Acquack- anonk and Totowa he removed hither, and continued to preach in Dutch till the last. In March, 1816, owing to the infirm- ities of advancing age, he formally relinquished his charges here, after forty-three years of successful labor. As a mark of their appreciation the Acquackanonk Consistory voted him a life annuity of $205. In the summer of IS16 he removed to Jamaica, L. I., where he lived peacefully and happily with his son, the Rev. Jacob Schoonmaker. "Here, in the blessed hope of a glorious, immortal life, he terminated his earthly career, in the eighty-first year of his age, on the 19th of Jan- uary, 1820. His body was removed for burial among the peo- ple of his last charge, at Acquackanonk, and an impressive funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. P. D. Freligh, then the pastor of the church in that place, from Zachariah 1., 5."*
*Sprague's Annals of the Reformed Dutch Church, p. 39.
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THE OLD DUTCH CHURCH AT TOTOWA.
His son Daniel afterwards lived and died at what is now No. 172 Market street, Paterson. As remarked before, the good old man could not preach English. When John King's little daughter Grace (aged five years) died (Nov. 14, 1795), there being no other clergyman within several miles, Dom. Schoon- maker was invited to preach the funeral sermon. But what was the astonishment of the bereaved parents when the Don- inie preached away in Dutch, of which they could understand very little ! Small consolation could they get from his discourse, however comforting it might have been intended to be.
The Totowa church, which had hitherto had preaching only every third Sunday, now resolved (March 12. 1816) to have service every other Sabbath, if possible, and so notified the Acquackanonk Consistory, but that body seem to have taken time by the forelock, and March 20th notified the Totowa church that they had secured the services of the Rev. Peter Van Pelts, of Staten Island, and asked Totowa to take a third of his services. The Totowa church resolved that Acquack- anonk had acted prematurely or ex parte, in not consulting To- towa, and repeated the demand for half the ministerial service ; but on April 23, agreed to pay $300 a year for the pastor's sal- ary, if he would preach one-third of the time at Totowa, and also give them services on the intervening Sunday afternoons. for eight months in the year, Totowa to be also exempt from the care or cost of the parsonage. But before this arrangement was consummated it was learned that the Rev. Wmn. Eltinge, of Paramus, could be got for sixteen full Sundays in the year (Paramus agreeing), and that he likewise agreed to give his six free Sabbaths, making a total of twenty-two Sabbaths in the year, besides two holiday sermons, Totowa to pay $300 a year. A proposition was also received from the First Presby- terian church at Paterson to this effect : If Totowa would pay $250 ("less than one-third of the salary") toward the support of the Rev. Samuel Fisher, Mr. F. would act as their minis- ter in visiting the sick, attending funerals, visiting the schools, and catechising- the children, and would preach at Totowa every other Sunday, while the Totowa people would also have the privilege of attending the Presbyterian church. This
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THE TRAGIC DEATH OF MRS. CUMMING.
offer was declined, and after some further negotiation Mr. El- tinge was secured, on the above terms. He always preached in English.
XIV. A TRAGIC INCIDENT.
The proposal just mentioned, from the First Presbyterian Church, recalls an earlier occasion when English was preached in the old Totowa church, perhaps for the first time-an occa- sion connected with the most romantically tragic incident in the history of the Passaic Falls. The Presbyterians of the little town had from time to time been favored with a service in Eng- lish, and by the year IS12 had become so numerous that they thought themselves entitled to regular preaching. Application was accordingly made to the Presbytery of Orange, and that body recognized Paterson as a a mission station, and assigned certain preachers to officiate there at regular intervals. Among those so assigned was the Rev. Hooper Cumming, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Newark. Mr. Cumming was a brilliant young man, the son of Gen. John N. Cumming, of Newark, who had been an officer in the Revolution, afterwards owner of an important line of mail coaches, and had built the first raceway in Paterson. Gen. Cumming was one of the lead- ing citizens of Newark, his son was a graduate of Princeton, of marked ability and engaging manners, a favorite in society, and one of the most promising young clergymen in New Jersey. About six weeks before coming to Paterson to fulfil the assign- ment of Presbytery he had been united in marriage to Miss Sarah Emmons, of Portland, Me., a young lady spoken of as attractive in person and charming in manners, and but twenty- two years of age. It is not unlikely that Mr. Cumming thought the trip to Paterson on ministerial duties might be utilized as a continuation of his wedding journey, and doubtless his fond young wife was glad enough to accompany her husband where she was sure she would witness new triumphs of his eloquence, and where she would, in his society, enjoy novel and beauti- ful scenery. We can see in fancy, their delightful drive one Sat- urday afternoon, in June, along that charming road from New- ark to Acquaekanonk, by the riverside, and so on to Paterson,
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THIE OLD DUTCH CHURCH AT TOTOWA.
where they were cordially welcomed by Mr. Samuel Colt, in his spacious mansion on Market street, near Main, where the Masonic Hall now stands. On Sunday morning, June 21st, IS12, the bell of the Totowa church clanged out notice that services were to be held that day. It was not the regular Sun- day for Dominie Schoonmaker's ministrations, and the use of the church had been kindly given to the Presbyterians on this occasion, no doubt to the gratification of many of the congrega- tion who longed for a sermon in English. Here is a description of the service, from the vivid and imaginative pen of Peter Archdeacon, as published in his " Sketch of the Passaic Falls," in 1845. Mr. Archdeacon did not come to Paterson until several years after 1812, so that his information was necessarily derived from others, but what he lacked in personal knowledge he made up in fertile fancy. Says this veracious chronicler :
" He was brilliant as an orator, and seemingly sincere as a Christian ; the congregation was delighted with his discourse, his lady was beautiful and possessed virtues in an eminent degree that smooth the rugged path of life and soften the pillow to divine repose. The concluding words of his discourse were : ' Oh, ye people of Israel, why will ye not return?' The accent yet hung on his tongue when a blackbird was seen, and with trepidation flew all around and alighted on the pulpit, over the preacher's head. All eyes were turned to this ominous bird. The preacher in silence viewed the agitated throng, all inspired with divination, but none the point could fix. The next day alas ! before the sun had veiled his head behind yon western hill, the flush was nipped, and the lovely seraph's spirit fled to the regions of the blessed ! A melancholy gloom overspread the village ; the silence of death seemed to pervade ; few could give utterance to their thoughts ; the mysterious appearance of the bird, thought some, was the harbinger of death ; we turn, the angel to conduct her to the mansions of the blest."
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