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 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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"At a Session held at the House of Samuel Ker February 7th 1744-5. Present Mr. William Tennent Pastor. Robert Cumming David Rhe John Henderson Elders. William Ker Samuel Ker Dea- cons. The Session having Examined the Stock belonging to the Congregation find, That (after the payment of Sundry Accompts which they allowed ) There is in the Hands of the Deacons the Sun of £16 : 0 : 3 at 8-p oz."
"Monday April ith 1745 being the Monday after the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was Administered in the Congregation, After Divine Service was Concluded : The Congregation Chose the fol- lowing Persons to the following Offices without One Disenting vote, viz. Capt. John Anderson and Joseph Ker, Elders to be Added to the Number of the Present Elders and Robert Newall and Samuel Craig Deacons to be Added to the Number of the Present Deacons And Jacob Sutphen and Samuel Craig Managers To take Care of the New Meeting-House and the Buildings on the Ministers place : And Peter Forman and Robert Rhe for Trustees in the Room of John Anderson and Peter Gordon."
"Lords Day May 19th 1745 Capt. John Anderson & Joseph Ker were Solemnly Ordained to the office of Elders & Samuel Craig to the office of a Deacon pursuant to the above Election. Robert Newall declined the office of a Deacon."
These long quotations are made in order to preserve in a printed book the important parts of the early records of the church, and to give opportunity to the reader for the study of all that is stated or suggested therein as to circumstances, conditions, discussions, cus- toms, names, and dates of that period.
A tradition has been handed down that it was planned by the "un- dertakers" to locate the church on a lower part of White Hill. and that Janet Rhea, of Scottish descent, seized the small corner-stone in her apron, and, toiling to the top of the hill, set it down there saying to the astonished builders, "Wha ever heard o' ganging doon to the Hoose o' the Lord, an no 'o ganging oop to the Hoose o' the Lord ?" (Smith.) This woman. of strong mind and scriptural application, was
42
HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
a communion member in Old Tennent. She was the daughter of John Hamton. She married Robert Ray, a carpenter, Nov. 9, 1689, at Shrewsbury in Quaker meeting. Her grave may still be seen on the D. D. Denise farm near Freehold, where she was buried in 1761 aged about 93 years.
Another ancestral tradition relates that James English dug the first spade-full of earth for setting the foundation of this new meeting-house on White Hill. This James English married Margaret - -: they had a son James, born in 1733, who married Catharine Hutchinson, daughter of Win. and Ann, in 1755 : and they had a son James born 1757, who became a physician and served as a surgeon in the Revo- lutionary war. It is understood that the brothers James, David, and Robert English came to Monmouth County sometime before 1730, and bought a large tract of land embracing about all of what is now called (after the family) "Englishtown," the brother David building on the ridge toward Tennent. Descendants of this family still sit in the pew on the middle aisle of the present church corresponding to that which James English occupied when the first map of pews was made in 1734. (compare illustrations.) The map of the pews is a history in itself.
The ground on which this new meeting-house stood was a rectan- gle five chains long by two chains wide, containing one acre. It was deeded by William Ker, out of ground purchased from Walter Ker, to four men of the church, viz. Aaron Mattison, David Rhe, John Henderson, and Samuel Ker, on May 1, 1731, for "the Sum of One Shilling Current Money of the province." This deed is still one of the treasured records of the church, a copy of which is given in the Appendix : and for plan of this ground see early map of Old Tennent cemetery, Chap. XX. In this new house on White Hill both John and William Tennent preached as pastors. Here also, it appears, George Whitefield preached, with whose labors William Tennent, the pastor, was in sympathy, (see Belcher's Life of whitefield, p. 117.); possibly, at times, also Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen, Dutch pastor at New Brunswick, as intimated in Win. Tennent's letter to Mr. Prince (see I,og College.) Tears of the penitent and songs of the saved mingled together within the walls of this house during revival times, when the blessed Lord shed abroad his grace from on high. Doubtless also David Brainerd preached in this church. In the present sanctuary, which is the second one built on White Hill, may still be seen an old
43
EDIFICES.
communion table, that bears evidence of belonging to the first sanct- uary built there. Its workmanship does not correspond to that of the
The Old Communion Table.
inner finishing of the present church, especially with that of the pul- pit and the square enclosure. There is a rugged massiveness about it that suggests the work of an earlier date than that of the fine panel- work of the present church. Also by comparing the conformation of this table with the plans of the pews of the two buildings, it will plainly be seen to apply more to the former one of 1734. It is a tra- dition that Brainerd (evidently David) administered the Lord's Sup- per to his converted Indians at this old table. David, in his diary Saturday, June 7, 1746, writes : "Being desired by the Rev. WIL- LIAM TENNENT to be his assistant in the administration of the Lord's Supper, I this morning rode to Freehold to render that assistance. My people also being invited to attend the sacramental solemnity ; they cheerfully embraced the opportunity, and this day attended the preparatory services with me." And the next day, among other things, he writes, "A number of my dear people sat down by them- selves at the last table ; at which time God seemed to be in the midst of them." The people of old Freehold seemed to have been kindly disposed toward missionary labors among the Indians in New Jersey ; and in a certain length of time they raised £12. 1IS. for that work. In the present Old Tennent church, some of the foundation stones, some of the frame work, some of the window-casings and sashes, and the old communion table, are probably parts and relics of the first church built on this present site.
Concerning some of the men whose names are mentioned ill con- nection with the above account of the first church on White Hill, William, Samuel, and Joseph Ker were sons of Walter, and like their
44
HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
father were active in the spiritual offices of the church, and they were prominent in its financial support. (see genealogy in Appendix.)
Robert Cumming was another very prominent member and elder for many years. Steen has to say of him that he was born in Mont- rose Scotland, and settled here in Monmouth early in the eighteenth century. He married Miss Blair, born in Ireland, and sister of Rev. Samuel Blair first pastor of Shrewsbury church. He had a son, Alex- ander, born 1726, who became a Presbyterian minister : and his youngest daughter Mary, by his first wife, married 1758 Rev. Alex- ander Mcwhorter. He was High Sheriff of Monmouth County. For his second wife he married 1746 Mary Noble born in New York City 1719, and who, when nineteen years of age, had become step- daughter to Rev. Wm. Tennent by his marriage to her mother. Of the children of Robert and Mary, Anna married Rev. Wm. Schenck once pastor at Allentown ; and Margaret married, in New York, James Watson 1780. Robert Coming was the first to subscribe to the building of the present Old Tennent church. Many of his de- scendants to this day occupy honored positions. His negro servants as well as his family were trained in things religious, and Cube and Mimbo were members of the church. (see lists in Appendix.)
Peter Forman was the second son of the trustee Jonathan, born in May 1718. He married 1742 Eleanor Williamson, and their children were William, Jonathan, Samuel P., Anna married Michael Sweet- man, Jane married Henderson Sweetman, Mary married Col. Elisha Walton, Eleanor married Win. Conover, Lydia married Garret B. Conover, and Helena married Tunis Vanderveer. From his list of dues on the church pews 1755 he appears to have been the treasurer. For some years after the present church was built he led the singing in the services. At the time of the Revolutionary War he was a justice of the peace. He died Sep. 8, 1785 in his 67th year, and was buried in Old Tennent yard.
In 1750, for the third time within a period of a little more than fifty years, the congregation undertook the work of another building. The prosperity and enlargement of the congregation was such during the twenty years previous that it justified them in undertaking the erection of a more commodious room. And indeed the growth must have been substantial and the people deeply interested and willing that it should move those staid and careful fathers to build two churches on the same spot only twenty years apart, tearing down one
45
EDIFICES.
and building up another. It is possible also that the attendance on the services in the Old Scots church was declining, and that it was becoming evident the meetings there might eventually be discontinued and all the congregation be assembling at White Hill. When this famous house was built amid the green swales and undulating knolls of Monmouth, times and conditions were changing for the better. It was in the reign of King George the Second, the most prosperous period that his country had ever before known when landed territory, and literary fame, and opulent commerce were being added to En- gland ; in times when the Crown looked with more religious tolerance on the wishes of the American colonists, and New Jersey was feeling the governing hand of broader minded men ; in the days of the in- fluence of "The Great Awakening" among the people under the preaching of Edwards the tremendous metaphysician and theologian, of Bellamy the precocious youth approbated to preach when about eighteen years of age, and of the saintly and powerful Tennents ; when peace and power and prosperity were settling over the state, and even the Indians at the doors were listening with accepting faith to the Brainerds preaching the gospel of the heavenly life ; - in such times the Old Tennent fathers were moved to build the grand old edifice that remains unto this day.
When the Royal Charter for the Monmouth churches was granted in Feb. 1750 the Trustees met in the next month, March, and organ- ized their board. At the very next meeting they took measures for the building of Old Tennent church. The record book reads :-
"1750 May 29th. All the Trustees Except Tobias Polhemus met at the New-Meetinghouse in Freehold Pursuant to the Presidents Call or Citation. And the Sd. Trustees Chose and Impowred Jonth. Forman & John Anderson Esqrs., James Robinson and John Hen- derson to Receive the Subscriptions, Imploy Work-Men, And Do every lawful and Necessary thing towards Building & finishing a New Meeting House or Church of Sixty Feet Long & Forty Feet Wide which House is to Stand at or near the Meetinghouse now Standing, Commonly Called the New-Meeting House."
At another meeting in the following August arrangements were made for the work to be done :-
"August 10th 1750. the Committee of the Trustees Met at Mr. Robinsons & Appointed the President to Agree with John Davies to be Chief Carpenter to Carry on the Work of the Meetinghouse or
+6
HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
Church ; Which he did, And Said Davies is to Work at four Shillings & Six pence light Money a Day & his Accommodations & to Assist in Getting Timber next October and to begin to Work the Latter end of next February or beginning of March & not to Leave the Work untill the House afd. is Finished."
This record would seem to imply that some movement had been begun towards a new church before the charter trustees took any action about it and so indeed it had, for a subscription paper had been started in March of that year headed with the name of Robert Cumming, and perhaps largely due to his influence. That paper, used to gather funds for the building of the present noble edifice, is an intensely interesting and suggestive document, still preserved among the treasures of the church. So fast and binding were its stipulations that a man's signature thereto was substantially in honor equal to his laying a mortgage on his property to the amount sub- scribed, until payment was made. This paper contains the names of one hundred and ninety-two persons, and the total amount subscribed by these is seen to be about £500. (see Appendix. )
This third house, the last and present one in Old Tennent history, was erected near to or on the spot on which the former house stood on White Hill. It is probable that some of the parts of the former house were used in the building of this one. For the most part a new frame was made, hewn out, by skilled hands with the sharp broad-ax, from the deciduous but enduring white oak. It is told that Dr. A. A. Hodge once said of this house "It was built out of the heart," which was doubly true, materially and spiritually. The sempervirens also yielded their riches, for the sides of the building were sheathed with long cedar shingles, and fastened with nails patiently wrought out on an anvil : and the interior was finished with beaded and paneled Jersey pine. An ancestral tradition tells that William Redford Craig, a carpenter, built the neat and unique pulpit, as his contribution toward the erection and furnishing of the church. It is placed on the north side of the room, built against the wall, with narrow stairs leading up to it, closed in with a door, and the Bible desk being nine feet above the audience floor, with a great sounding-board overhanging the whole. It is an amusing little reminiscense of the past that is often told to listening observers that Rev. Wm. Tennent was accustomed to hang his hat on one of the three little wooden pegs that are fastened in the paneling above the
PULPIT OF OLD TENNENT CHURCH, IN 1895.
48
HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
pulpit seat, and that in warm weather he would hang his coat on another one of the pegs, and in very warm weather his wig on a third. About one hundred years after its building the pulpit was draped with a damask valance. Below the main pulpit a second desk or sub-pulpit is built, where the precentors used to stand ; and around and in front is a square of seats, commonly called the "Elders Square." The galleries extend along three sides of the room, very capacious, and crowding like a canopy over the pews below. The seatings are in straight high-backed pews, closed in with entrance doors. The tower or steeple of the church is stoutly built, set on a trestle-work of enormous strength in the rafters, capable of supporting, in its ringing motion, a bell of respectable power. Although in 1856 the trustees made some movement toward the securing of a bell, yet the antique steeple still stands empty and quiet. Benjamin Van Cleve, whose initials are stamped in the iron bars or latches of the east and west doors, is reported to have made the iron furnishings of the church, such as nails, door-hinges, latches, and possibly the weather-vane or finial on the steeple, a study in itself. (see illustration.) These presum- ably were all forged out on his anvil. The whole make-up of the house is an excellent sample of the ecclesiastical architecture in colo- nial times. The church was built well, the best and of the best. Its stiff rugged foundation and straight level combing to-day proves its kind. Still it survives, while many of the old home buildings all around the country side have vanished in the past, like Samuel Craig's on the old Englishtown road, and Wm. Ker's and its famous "Barrs" contiguous to the south boundary of the cemetery, and on the hill anent the church the house of Matthew Rue Gordon with its well and cobbler's bench, and like the famous parsonage on the battle field. And "Old Tennent church" still stands to this present day ( 1904) in all general respects as it was when the last nails were driven; and this is probably the name by which it will go into future history, though locally it has been called the "New Meeting House ", and " Wood- lull's church ", and possibly the "Old Red Church ".
According to specifications in the record quoted above the building must have been begun March 1751, and it appears to have been two years before it was fully completed, as the iron bar fastenings of tlie doors are stamped with the date 1753. But, like its predecessor, it is likely that the work was rapid until the house was "Inclosed and Glased," and so Old Tennent may be spoken of as built in 1751,
49
& Samuel Preston.
Leget Smith
Abraham Clayton
Thomas Jomson .
Robert James &
William Covenhoven:E 15.
Joseph Ker.
Nicholas Cook.
Hendrick Voorhees
Robert Cummings-£ 15.
David Barclay. £17.
George Walker &
Peter Gordon.
David Gordon &
£ 15.
£ 15.
£16.
£16.
£17.
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
-
2
3
4 5
6
7
00
00
57
56 55
12
11
10
43
Lewis Forman. £ 11 .. 10.
Peter Gordon. £11. 10.
142
25
for the Minister. Jonathan Forman. £11 . 10.
£12.
£ 12.
£16.
44
Zebulon Baird. James English. £ 11.
41
26
Mr. Tenant. £11.
Samuel Me Konkey. £11.
23
John Little & Peter Knot. £11.
James Robinson. £ 11.
40 27
Joseph Forman. £ 11.
Gawen Watson. Peter Watson. £11.
22
Robt. Davison & Wm. Covenhoven. £10 .. 10.
William Crawford. 39 £ 11.
38
29
John Reid. £ 10. 10.
Peter Wilson. £ 10. 10.
20
Koert Schanck &
John Longstreet. Peter Forman.
Samuel Forman &
Robert Rhea.
48
John Truax & Thomas Craig .. £10.18.5*
John Craig. £10.10.
37
30
David Rhea. £10. 10.
Benjamin V.Clefe K Richard V. Matre. € 10. 10.
19
13
Charles Hibbits 53 £10.
49
Andrew Baird. £10.
William Hampton. £ 10. 10.
31
William Wikoff. £.10.10.
John Forman. £ 10.
18
52
£ 3.
Richard Compton. 50 William Compton, & John Clayton, Jr. £10.
John Vanscoyac. £ 10 .. 10.
35
William Mc Knight 32 & John Anderson. € 10 .. 10.
Richard Mit tenger. 17 £ 10.
Gallery la r
+.
51 Aaron Mattison, Jr. € 10.
Michale Sweetman 34 £ 10 .. 10.
33 John Anderson. £ 10 .. 10.
John Gaston.
€ 10.
16
0+
---
r
S
Diagram of Pews in Present Church, About 1755 or a Little Later.
EDIFICES.
William Laird. £
William Cheesman.
John Reid and
Joseph Cheesman
Jonathan Rhea Gordon.
Michale Erickson and £12
47
David Baird. £10. 10.
William Craig. £10 . 10.
Timothy Loyd & 28 John Lloyd. f 11.
John Clayton.
£10 .. 10.
21
£ 12.
54
West Door.
East Door.
15
£3.
David English. £16.
Elders' Square.
Son John.
Aaron Mattison &
William Norcross. £11.
£15 Samuel Ker.
Derick Sutvan. £ 15.
William Van kirk.
John Henderson. 216.
Michale Johnston &
John Silleman. £15.
William Hugan &
Derick Sutvan. £15.
Lower Desk
Thomas Davis and his
Pulpit.
£16.
£ 17.
24 £ 11. 10.
45
46
George Rhea. £8.
14
Middle Door.'
£11.
Tunis Vanderveer. £15.
50
HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
though not completely finished and furnished until 1753. The dia- gram of pews in this building was not dated when it was made, but evidently it was about 1755 or possibly a little later. Peter Forman, church officer and probably treasurer, made report May 29, 1755, showing what was due, "Interest to be payd. from May 1, 1754," referring to dues for the meeting house, or to dues on the pews. His pew list, apparently made out at the same date, may be compared with the diagram found in the record papers of the church (see illustration.) and is the same except in the following instances in which he puts, pew 4-Darick Suttfin Jacob son, pew 7-Michal Johnston, pew S-Darick Suttfin & his son Darick, pew 12-Cort Schank & son Garret & John Lonstrat, pew 13-paseg unto the pues, pew 15-by the stares a short pue, pew 18-John Formon son of Jonethn Esqr., pew 20-Petter Will- son son of Petter, pew 22-Gawen Wattson, pew 24-Jonethan Forman Esqr., pew 25-A ew for the Minester of the pleas, pew 28-Timethy Loyd & his son John Loyd, pew 32-John Anderson Esqr., pew 33- William Mc Knaight, pew 45-John Littel Esqr., pew 46-Robert Davi- son, pew 48-John Truaxe Thomas Craig & William Shaw, pew 52- Charels Hibbets for the banesters, pew 53-blank, pew 54-the upen Entrey, pew 55-Michal Errickson, pew 56-Joseph Cheseman William Cheseman & John Reid Junr., pew 57-William Laird & James Dey, pew 58-Abraham Clayton Win. Preston & Legged Smith, pew 60- William Covenhoven Pr. & his son Petter & John Chassman, pew 63- John Vorhis & his father & father in Law. And the prices of the pews are the same except Peter Forman puts pew 25-blank, pew 53- blank, pew 57-615, pew 66-David Gordon 14 : 10 : 0 Petter Gordon Esqr., 2 : 10 : 0 == {17. Peter Forman's list also shows fourteen pews in the gallery, beginning No. I at the northeast corner ; five of these were owned, No. 7 Dockter Petter Lacownt £8, No. 11 Philap Conine Estate 5 : 10 : 0 John Siliman 1 : 10 : 0=67, No. 12 James Mulligan & David Brooks £7, No. 13 Hugh Mcfarren £7, No. 14 Robert Mc Chesney & son [8.
In the map here given pew 53 should be marked {8 instead [10 ; this was the author's error in copying the original. The two dia- grams of pews of the two church buildings will be found interesting and informing as affording suggestive facts about the people of the congregation. The pews appear to have been sold and bought and written titles given, and possibly transmitted from parent to child. Some of the record papers speak of the pews as "The property of,"
5I
EDIFICES.
and "The property of the heirs of." The church support presumably was raised by assessing the pew holders according to the value of their pew : and other methods also were sometimes used such as promises on subscription lists etc., special efforts being necessary by occasion of accounts in arrears. Later the seatings were spoken of as being "rented to the highest bidder."
Old Tennent Church, in 1894, Showing the Big Oaks.
I. R. Cheeseman. photo.
Two giant white oak trees have for many years stood close by the old church. They must have been standing when the church was built, though possibly small in size, and they have kept a sort of guard on the old building ever since. In 1897 the trustees were com- pelled to take one of the trees down. It stood the nearer to the church and had many branching limbs which were beginning to die, and to threaten damage to the church by falling. The other oak still stands and is known as "the oak with the long limb." The people of the church have taken much delight in these two handsome trees with grateful shade and magnificent shape.
52
HISTORY OF OLD TENNENT.
-
of Tower
SECTIONAL ELEVATION. Scal. #:// Longitudinal Section Through Center.
One of Louis Rue's Drawings of Old Tennent Church.
In 1902 a very valuable work was rendered to the memory of Old Tennent by Louis Rue of Freehold, formerly of Manalapan, N. J. After very careful measurements and considerable study he drafted in blue print ten fine architectural plans of the old building, showing in detail its structure in different elevations, and its various frame- works and finishings. Also he prepared elaborate specifications of the construction of the building. So complete and accurate are the drawings and the descriptions that another edifice could easily be erected, by following these plans, as an exact copy of the original. This set of drawings and specifications are now in the possession of the church.
53
THE OLD PARSONAGE.
CHAPTER III.
THE OLD PARSONAGE.
As the congregation became more established and of sufficient ma- terial prosperity, their attention and desire was turned toward the securing of a parsonage. Whether or not the church had owned or held an interest in a parsonage plantation previously, at all events some few months after Wm. Tennent, Jr. settled in the congregation steps were taken to procure a permanent home for the pastor, which in those days was thought must be a good plantation rather than simply a house and lot. The congregational records read, "Thurs- day February 13th 1734 the Congregation Met at White Hill Meeting House and Chose, Archibald Craig & Jonathan Forman, Esqrs. and David Rhe and Robert Cumming to Purchass a Farm for Our Minister to Live on and to Have it Secured for a Ministers place or a Parsonage to Continue for the use of the Presbyterian Congregation forever."
"Second Tuesday in March 1734-5 at the Town Meeting the Above Messrs. Craig, Forman, Rhe & Cumming Made Report that they in Name of the Congregation had purchassed the Plantation Lying Be- tween Spotswoods Middle and South Brooks from William Cowen- hoven Son of Peter for £500. And John Henderson Drew the Arti- cles of Sale and was Desired to Draw the Deed in Convenient Time which he Did" etc. etc.
In the midst of the record about the parsonage business is inserted the following :- "Lords-Day June Ith 1735 David Rhe & John Hell- derson w * ed Elders for this Congregation : The Lord Enable them to * the weight of their Charge & preserve them from becoming * * to his Cause or People." This made five elders in the session at that time.
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