USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > Tennent > History of the Old Tennent church : containing : a connected story of the church's life, sketches of its pastors, biographical references to its members, all its earlier record lists, full quotations of its earlier historical records, a complete list of burials in all its graveyards, many of its local traditions, most of its important illustations and maps, an account of the battle of Monmouth, and a large collection of genealogical notes > Part 10
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"We the Subscribers do solemnly profess and swear that we do not hold our- selves bound to bear Allegiance to the King of Great Britain. So help us God.
We the Subscribers do solemnly profess and swear that we do and will bear true Faith and Allegiance to the Government of this State as established under the authority of the people. So help us God.
We the Subscribers do solemnly profess and swear that we will execute the trust reposed in us, as Trustees of the first Presbyterian Congregation in Freehold during our continuance in office with Fidelity and to the best of our Understandings. So help us God."
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REV. JOHN WOODHULL, D. D.
Six of the trustees took oath before Thomas Henderson, M. D., Justice of the Peace ; and Thomas Henderson took oath before John Covenhoven, Justice. The certificate is "Recorded in the Clerks office of Monmouth County in book B x pages 26-7 the 13th day of April 1789. J. Rhea. Clk." The seal after the autograph of these seven trustees subscribing under their new title, has the imprint of a device of two birds standing face to face under what appears to be a leaf, which is suggestive of the new seal that the trustees that same day adopted. (See in Chap. Ist).
More than seventy years later this corporate name was changed again, by an act passed by the Legislature of the State of New Jersey, and approved by the Governor March 16, 1859, to the name "The First Presbyterian Church of the County of Monmouth." This act was not to take effect until it had been submitted to the congregation and approved by them, and a certificate thereof, signed by the President of the Board of Trustees, should be filed in the office of the Secretary of State of New Jersey. It was approved almost unanimously by the congregation. But the certificate, through some inadvertence, was not filed until several years afterwards, when through a business transaction arising in connection with some money to be transferred to the church the neglect was discovered, and the need of its remedy made apparent. Report was then made to the legal authorities and the corporate title of the church was recorded ; and also, all deeds given by the trustees under this name since 1859 were made true and effectual. This was completed in 1882, and thus the above named title is the present legal name of Old Tennent.
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HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
CHAPTER X.
REV. JOB FOSTER HALSEY, D. D. 1826-1828.
. After the death of Dr. Woodhull a year and a half elapsed before the congregation again had a settled pastor ; when a call was given to Job Foster Halsey, a young man twenty-six years of age, and just completing his studies in Princeton Seminary. The salary promised in the call was $700 annually. In arranging for those who should vote for a pastor at this time the congregation, among others, passed the following resolution, "Resolved, that no married lady vote unless hur husband be present with hur & agree that she may vote for him, unless she is a subscriber & paid for herself." Mr. Halsey, young in years and experience, was a contrast to the preceeding pastor ; but during his short ministry in Old Tennent he proved himself an earnest and energetic successor to the old and able servant of the church. He was born at Schenectady, N. Y., July 12, 1800. His parents, names were Luther and Abigail. At nineteen years of age he was converted ; and the same year, 1819, he graduated from Union Col- lege in the town of his birth, under the presidency of the famous Dr. Eliphalet Nott. In 1820 he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of North River. He entered Princeton Theological Seminary in 1823, where he studied for three years. June 14, 1826 he was ordained by the Presbytery of New Brunswick in session in the Old Tennent church, and installed its pastor. In December of that year he was married to Elizabeth Parker Brinley. His pastorate was one of the shortest in Old Tennent's list, continuing for one year and nine months, when it closed March 5, 1828. Afterwards he served in important positions as agent American Bible Society, as a teacher, and also as a pastor in different churches. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Lafayette College 1860. He died March 24, 1882 at Norristown, Pa , where he had been pastor for twenty five years.
When Mr. Halsey became pastor in Old Tennent there were over two hundred names on the communicant roll of the church. Among the oldest members at that time were Elizabeth English united in 1767, and Eleanor C. Forman united in 1776. During his pastorate
REV. JOB FOSTER HALSEY, D. D.
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REV. JOB F. HALSEY, D. D.
more than ninety people were added to the communion, forty of these joining on one occasion. This record reveals a healthy activity in spiritual things in the church, and gave evidence of the faithful sow- ing of seed by Dr. Woodhull, as well as of zealous effort on the part of the young pastor Halsey.
A seminary student (J. W. M.), from Princeton visited Mr. Halsey in the summer of 1827, and many years afterwards wrote of him thus ; "He was in the habit of keeping his pockets filled with verses of Scrip- ture, which were printed on blue pasteboard in that day, for Sabbath- schools, and distributing single verses to people whom he met. He
called them 'small shot'-good for driving away black-birds." It is told of Mr. Halsey that he was a stringent supporter of Sabbath observance, that he did not want his people to do any cooking on that
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HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
day, not even to set the tea-kettle to boil. An amusing story is still current about Mr. Halsey's courtship and marriage. It is told that he preached on a certain Sabbath in the town of his bride-to-be, and was entertained at her mother's home where were two or three daugh- ters. Being much pleased with one of these young women he began corresponding afterwards with her, and his suit was accepted. On his next visit to the home he was surprised to find that he had been corresponding with a different one of the sisters than he had intended (evidently having been mistaken in the name when he began the letter writing). However, Mr. Halsey accepted the correspondent for his wife, and it is said that he considered this marriage an arrange- ment of Providence.
Mr. Halsey has preserved an interesting story of the early times of the church in a letter he wrote to the editor of "The Monmouth Democrat" in 1873, and that is now published in Salter's "History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties" p. 215. In this letter "Mr. Carr" is evidently Walter Ker. Mr. Halsey writes : -
"In the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Monmouth county, N. J., a special meeting was held to pray that the Lord would send them a minister, and at that meeting a Mr. Carr was selected to go to the Log College (now Hartsville, Pa.), where the father of the Tennents preached and taught. Though it was at harvest time, so eager was Mr. Carr to execute his mission that he started the very next day, When he had made known the object of his visit, he could get none of the sons to consent to go. But as he left to return home he said : 'So sure am I that I have come on the Lord's errand, and that our prayers will be favorably answered, that I shall not reach home before you will send for me and assure me that I have not taken this journey in vain,' and so bid them farewell.
And sure enough, he had not gone on his way more than a few miles before a messenger overtook him, calling him back, and assured him that Rev. John Tennent would return with him as their minister, which he did. He lived and labored among them less than two years, and was succeeded by his brother Rev. William Tennent, who labored at Freehold forty-eight years, and is buried in the aisle of the church.
I said that Mr. Carr went on his mission to Neyhamings, Pa., leaving his harvest unreaped. When the farmers had hurriedly gathered in theirs, feeling that he had gone on their business as well as his own-that he was the church's servant-they turned out and
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REV. JOB FOSTER HALSEY, D. D.
cut his grain for him, and Mr. Carr, on his return, found it put up in shocks in the field. A sudden and long rain compelled him to leave it standing so, and so it happened that when the next season for sow- ing arrived the best seed grain was Mr. Carr's, as his neighbors had gathered in theirs before it was thoroughly ripened, and many applied to him for seed.
Such was the tradition told me more than half a century ago by some of my aged elders, who themselves had been gathered into the church under the ministry of Rev. William Tennent. J. F. Halsey."
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.
About the year 1827 a Sunday-school was started in the church, and Mrs. Halsey, wife of the pastor, was its first superintendent. This was the beginning of a branch of church work that has proved of inestimable benefit to Old Tennent down to the present time. Those who have served as superintendents of the Sunday-school in the church are :
Mrs. Job F. Halsey, Nathaniel S. Rue, William G. Denise, James Rue, R. Perrine Craig, Joseph Combs, Elijah Reid, Luther D. Bugbee, William H. Reid, and George L. DuBois. The Sunday-school ser- vices were conducted at first in the old Session house on Sunday afternoon. Afterwards they were held on Sunday morning in the new Session house. And finally it became the custom to convene the Sunday-school in the church building in connection with morning sanctuary service. Beside the one in the church, Sunday-schools have been conducted for many years in various district school-houses on Sunday afternoon, and much good has been effected in this way through the widely extended congregation.
For many years it had been the custom to hold two preaching ser- vices in the church on Sunday, with about a half hour intermission for the partaking of some refreshments. As late as 1819 the congre- gation decided to hold two services on Sunday from the middle of April to the middle of September, and only one sermon on each Sun- day throughout the remainder of the year "except on sacramental occasions." This practice of having two sermons and services close together was well suited to the conditions of a newly settled country, where church privileges were rare, and some of the people driving many miles to and from service. It was not specially needed in long settled communities, and it had its disadvantages in more ways than
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one. Every age suits itself to convenient and advantageous progress, and thus this practice of holding two sermon services near together was finally abandoned in the churches. But it was not because of a disposition to lessen labor on the part of the pastor nor attendance on the part of the people, for, since this change, sanctuary services have tended rather to increase in number than to diminish. About the time of Dr. Woodhull's death this old custom was discontinued in Old Tennent ; possibly when Mr. Halsey became pastor, or certainly so during Mr. Roy's ministry. Right here may be told an ancestral story :- Rachel Burrowes, daughter of John and Hope, born in 1751 in an old colonial homestead at Middletown Point (now Matawan ), used to come up with her parents to services in Old Tement ; they would bring lunch and stay the whole day to both services. On one occasion Rachel, as a little girl, became restless in the service, and finally her mother reproving her said "I will not bring you again to church." After the service, walking down the hill with her mother, she turned round and made a profound courtesy toward the church building and said "Good-by, cousin meetin-house, I never expect to see you again." This vein of humor in the little girl expressed itself in her through a long life ; and indeed she sat for many years in the services of the old church for she became the second wife of Thomas Henderson, M. D.
PERRINEVILLE CHURCH.
The old New Brunswick Presbytery appears to have been watchful of promising places for the establishing of churches, and of supplying destitute districts with the means of grace. An interesting iten occurs in its records under date April 28, 1802 : "The committee appointed to enquire into the State of the frontier Settlements Reported that there is a considerable extent of country on the Sea coast, between 80 & an 100 miles in length & about 20 in breadth very destitute of the means of grace : There are some villages considerably inhabited & tolerably productive, but generally the country is of a thin Soil & thinly inhabited. Their religious instruction hath been chiefly from the Methodists, who we believe have been useful among them." Obviously this refers to the southeastern portions of the State. Per- rineville was an outstation of the older churches that early became an important point. Preaching services were conducted there possi- bly as early as 1777. Dr. Woodhull manifested special interest in
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REV. JOB FOSTER HALSEY, D. D.
this work, and secured regular preaching services at Perrineville by Rev. Joseph Clark, who had been a theological student under his care, and in 1784 was ordained as an evangelist. Mr. Clark became pastor at Allentown June 1788, having preached there regularly for a considerable time previous. After this there was an arrangement by which Perrineville was regularly supplied with preaching by the pastors of Old Tennent, Cranbury, and Allentown. This continued until 1826, when on June 5, of that year, the Perrineville church was organized, Rev. Symmes C. Henry acting as the committee. The church took the name of "The Second Presbyterian Church of Upper Freehold." This name was changed by an act of the Legislature in 1847 to the name of "The First Church of Millstone." Rev. Wm. Henry Woodhull, grandson of Rev. John Woodhull, was the first pastor at Perrineville, being installed there Sep. 6, 1826, and con- tinuing in the office for more than five years. There were thirteen original members in the church.
Finial of the Steeple on Old Tennent Church.
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HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
CHAPTER XI.
REV. ROBERT ROY.
1829-1832.
After Mr. Halsey left the congregation they were without a settled pastor for about a year : and yet souls were added to the church. Twenty-two united with the communion in the autumn of 1828. It is possible that Rev. Robert Roy had been preaching in the church previous to that autumn, for the congregation voted to give him a call, July 14, 1828, at an annual salary of $700. He was installed pastor in Old Tennent Feb. 18, 1829. He was born about 1792, and entered Princeton Theological Seminary in 1820, where he studied for three years. Afterwards for a time he was a missionary in Va. He came from the Presbytery of Hudson to the Pby. of New Bruns- wick. In 1829 Mr. Roy purchased nine and a half acres of ground from Joseph H. Sutfin (et al), which is the same plot of ground on which Mrs. A. P. Cobb's house now stands. On this he built a home at his own charges, and here he lived during his pastorate : and here also he died. After his death this was the home of his widow for many years. Mr. Roy was not of robust health. Within two years after his settlement he made a journey to the South, seeking repair of his throat and lungs. From St. Augustine, Jan. 1831, he wrote a letter to his elders in the session of Old Tennent, addressing it to John Baird, one of the oldest elders at that time. This letter (still pre- served) is full of expressions of interest and attachment to his charge. On his return he endeavored to preach, but it was with a weak voice, which was not much above a whisper during the last of his pulpit services. He died at his home March 15, 1832. Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander preached the sermon at his funeral, and he was buried a few feet from the door of the church, being the fifth pastor laid to rest in the cemeteries of Old Tennent. Mr. Roy was a very sociable and amiable man, exceedingly pleasant in conversation and company, and kind to all. He was very much liked by the people of his charge, and was happily remembered among them. Mr. Roy married Sarah Trimble, of Orange County, New York. An adopted daughter's name was Sarah Jane who married a Dr. Kemble.
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REV. ROBERT ROY.
HOWEL CHURCH.
While Mr. Roy was pastor a Presbyterian church was formed at Howel, N. J., which may be considered an offshoot from Old Ten- nent. The organization took place Nov. 1, 1831, and was effected by Rev. Eli F. Cooley, pastor of the First Church of Trenton, N. J., the Rev. Robert Roy also being present. There were eight original members, three of whom came by certificate from Old Tennent. These were Amos Shaw and his wife Caroline, and Thomas Gulick, all now buried in Old Tennent cemetery. The other five members came by profession of faith. Amos Shaw and Thomas Gulick were elected and ordained ruling elders. This church existed about seven years, and then was dissolved by an act of Presbytery, and its mem- bers were directed to unite with the church in Freehold village, which they accordingly did April 1839. Yet preaching services were held at this place for some time afterwards, since as late as 1848 per- sonal notes, made by Amos Shaw, record the fact that Revs. J. F. Halsey, L. H. Van Doren, and D. V. McLean preached there at intervals during that year.
STOVES IN THE CHURCH.
In the comforts and conveniences of the sanctuary services for the early worshippers in Old Tennent, necessity was a law as regarded some things; so also was stern and rugged conscience. The latter of these was possibly the reason that no stoves were used in the church for many years, neither was there any fire-place. But this was in accordance with the custom and opinion of the times, as some church people of those early days thought that the introduction of stoves into the churches was "an invention of Satan." The Old Tennent build- ing, in its erection, could easily have been arranged to be heated; or it could have been fitted up for this sooner than it was. It has been said that the Tennent fathers of those days gave as their reason for not having any fire in the church, that they had determined not to be lukewarm, but to be either cold or hot. This may appear somewhat facetious, and yet nevertheless it suggests the existence of a rugged sense of self-sacrifice in religion. For some time it was the custom of the women worshipers to keep themselves warm by means of a "foot- warmer," which was a tin-lined box with a pan of live coals in it, covered over with some ashes. Stoves were introduced into Old Ten- nent church somewhere about 1800, and even then some of the church
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members were opposed to their being put in: the opposition and objec- tion to the stoves was so strong that some members are said to have gone out of their pews and sat in other seats as far from the stoves as they could get, so as not to feel their warmth any more than possible. It is known from the records that stoves were in the church by 1815. They stood in the aisle that runs the whole length of the church; one near to the juncture of this aisle with that running north and south on the east side, and the other correspondingly on the west side. The smoke pipes led up over the gallery, and passed out at the windows on the east and west gable ends of the church. The present arrange- ment is different.
In this broad aisle, running the whole length of the church, four pews were added in 1815, one at the end of the wall pews on the east side of the church, and a similar one on the west side of the church ; also one on each side of the middle entrance-aisle at its juncture with the long aisle. These pews were sold to the highest bidders, viz., the one on the east end to Jacob Baker for $27.00, the one on the west end to Samuel Forman for $26.50, the pew on the east side of the middle aisle to Dr. Woodhull for $48.50, and that on the west side to Moses Sproule for $48.50. Some years afterward the two pews opening on the middle aisle were removed in order to give more space in the long aisle in front of the "Elders' square." Moses Sproule was an Ensign in the American army during the Revolution. He became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati May 24, 1784. He married Miss Mary Laird as his first wife, and her sister Susanna Laird as his second wife. It is said that he possessed a number of colored slaves, and that he lived in Englishtown and there conducted a store of general merchandise. While in the vicinity of Freehold Gen. Washington presided at a masonic meeting, and Gilbert Apple- gate still preserves the Masonic apron used by Moses Sproule on that occasion. Moses Sproule died 1820.
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REV. DANIEL VEECH MCLEAN, D. D.
CHAPTER XII.
REV. DANIEL VEECH MCLEAN, D. D. 1832-1836.
In 1832 the congregation unanimously decided to make out a call to Rev. I. C. Converse ; but evidently this relation was not effected, for a few months later, in August, they made out a call to Rev. D. V. McLean, and he followed Mr. Roy in another short pastorate. He was born at Dunlap's Creek, Fayette Co., Pa., Nov. 24, 1801, and was the brother of Judge Amzi C. McLean. When about twenty-one years of age he united with the Presbyterian church at Athens, Ohio. In 1824 he graduated at the University of Ohio, and subsequently for a time was a teacher in Chambersburg, Pa. He studied for two years in Princeton Theological Seminary, and was ordained as an evange- list by the Presbytery of Miami, June 29, 1831. At Somerville, N. J., Feb. 1, 1830, he was married to Miss Evelina B. Linn. Although he acted as Stated Supply for a church in Lebanon, Ohio, for a short period after his ordination, his first installation was in Old Tennent, Nov. 16, 1832. Dr. McLean is said to have preached for his first time in Old Tennent on a week day in the summer of 1832, a day set apart for fasting and prayer on account of cholera then raging, the text for his sermon being Joel 2 : 13-14. During the four years of his pastorate additions were made to the communion ; but the meagre records of those years, that are extant, show no specially large in- gatherings. The largest number of enrolled members during that time was two hundred and seventy. But attention is noticeably called to the liberality of the congregation by the large increase of gifts to missions as reported in the Minutes of the General Assembly ; and this liberality appears to have been steadily generous through all of Dr. McLean's pastorate. The largest amount, reported during these four years, as given to the missionary fund, was $178 in 1833. This may be contrasted with the church's contribution to the Mis- sionary fund of $20 in 1812, and $29.50 in 1825. Whatever other compensation was given Dr. McLean as salary for his pastoral ser- vices, the amount of money paid him annually appears to have been $600. He resided in the old parsonage, and was probably the last of the Tennent pastors to occupy it.
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HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
REV D V MCLEAN. D. D.
FREEHOLD VILLAGE CHURCH.
In 1836 Dr. McLean resigned his charge, and Presbytery dissolved the pastoral relation Nov. 8 of that year. Previous to this, in March 1835, a few members of Old Tennent church and congregation resolved to build a house of worship in the village of Freehold, with no special intention at that time of forming themselves into a separate church, "but rather to provide for themselves and families more convenient facilities for holding religious service." Accordingly on June 10, 1835, the corner stone of a brick building was laid. Two years and one week later it was dedicated, having been completed at a cost of about $4000. Feb. 21, 1838, a committee composed of Rev. Eli F. Cooley and Benjamin H. Rice, D. D., of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, organized this church with thirty-two members, all of
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REV. DANIEL VEECH MCLEAN, D. D.
whom presented letters from Old Tennent. The first elders were Samuel Forman, M. D. (previously an elder in Old Tennent), and William T. Sutphin. The corporate name adopted for this church was "The Village Church at Freehold." On the roll of the churches of Presbytery this name was changed in April 1873, to "The First Church of Freehold," which has sometimes caused confusion front the fact of its similarity to the early name of Old Tennent. The present corporate name of the church in Freehold town is "The First Presbyterian Church of Freehold, N. J.
Dr. McLean having supplied the pulpit of this young organization for some time, was finally installed its pastor Nov. 1, 1838, which position he filled with efficiency for twelve years. He was a man of considerable energy, of fine preaching abilities, and of business capacity. In 1848 he received the honorary title of Doctor of Divinity from Lafayette College. Three years later this college called him to her Presidency, which office he filled from 1851 to 1857. Dr. McLean was a Director in Princeton Theological Seminary from 1848 to 1860. In his later life he again entered the work of the pastorate, and in this service he died Nov. 23, 1869, at Red Bank, N. J. He died of ulceration of the stomach, in full possession of his mental powers, and in his dying hours confirmed and illustrated the promise of the Master that he would never leave nor forsake those who put their trust in him. His wife died in Winfield, W. Va., 83 years of age. The graves of both are in Old Tennent church yard.
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