USA > New Jersey > History of the Parsippany Presbyterian Church > Part 2
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The Throne of Grace having been addressed by the Rev. John Ford the meeting proceeded to the business of electing the follow- ing trustees : Henry Harrison, Tobias Boudinot, Hiram Smith, Jr .; William Gladson and Stephen Fairchild were respectively nomi- nated and to these men with the consent of the meeting it seems evident that we are indebted for the readoption of the name we have so lately discarded, viz. The Second Presbyterian Congregation in Hanover. Upon returning to the meeting after having organized with Tobias Boudinot as president they announced that they had chosen the name above mentioned which was unanimously approved by the meeting. In 1787 this was the name by which the church was known, but as we see at this date, March 10, 1828 they are resuming this name, they must have felt it more desirable than the parish of Parsippany which probably had been used during some at least of the intervening years. They were now to take the fol- lowing oath: "I do solemnly promise and swear that I will faith- fully and impartially and justly perform all the duties of office of a trustee of the Second Presbyterian Congregation in Hanover, according to the best of my ability and understanding, so help me God. Sworn to and subscribed before me the tenth day of March, 1828. Ebenezer F. Smith, Justice of the Peace."
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Resolution one and two of this meeting related to minor busi- ness but resolution three that a subscription be drawn by the Clerk for the purpose of raising money to build a new meeting house at Parsippany and that a committee of five persons be appointed to solicit subscriptions for that purpose, was an all important one. William Hennion, Jacob Green, Isaac Quimby, James Renton, and Samuel P. Smith were the trustees chosen.
A resolution was then passed that the new meeting house should be constructed of brick about forty-three feet wide and about sixty feet long with a steeple and bell and with a lecture room under- neath in the basement story. That seven thousand dollars be raised by subscription on or before the first day of May next, and if the said sum of seven thousand dollars be not actually and in good faith subscribed by that time, such subscriptions as may then have been obtained shall be deemed void and of no effect and not binding on the subscribers. That the new meeting house shall be erected on the present meeting house lot or on Mr. Paddleford's hill, as may be determined by a majority of the votes of the Parish- oners who shall have responded toward the erection of the said new meeting house and who shall be present at the first parish meeting called for that purpose. Every person who subscribed toward this building was to have the right, when finished to purchase and hold a seat or seats to the full amount of what he or she had subscribed toward this meeting house, that John Mitchell, Benjamin L. Condit, Isaac Quinby, Stephen Fairchild, Richard Smith and Walter Kirk- patrick are hereby appointed a building committee. All this busi- ness seems to have been transacted at this one important meeting.
On the first of May their hearts must have rejoiced as they learned that more than the required seven thousand dollars had been subscribed in sums from twenty-five cents to five hundred dol- lars, which heads the list as subscribed by Hiram Smith and sons. The Troy Sewing Society gave one hundred dollars. There are twelve other $100 subscriptions, eight $200, four $150 and one $140 and many more in sums of smaller amounts, making in all the sum of $7,420.25.
On May seventh another meeting was called to decide upon the site for the building of the new meeting house. The subscription list was taken up by the moderator, Ebenezer F. Smith and each and every name thereon called and the vote of each person noted by the stated clerk, Walter Kirkpatrick. On this interesting page are three columns of names separated by two perpendicular lines, one marked "old site" and the other "new site" and there a cross marks each man's choice. The result was seventy-one votes for Mr. Paddleford's Hill for which $100 was afterward paid and twenty-four for the old site.
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This list of names and a copy of the deed are in the church book, also a copy of the contract for building the church which was awarded to Moses Dodd and Aaron Marsh, of Newark.
It is interesting to note that employment was to be given to residents of the parish whenever possible and preference given to those who subscribed to the building fund and mention is made of hiring men and teams in and about the brick yard and of purchas- ing wood to burn the brick. Abiathan Lyon is said to have paid his subscription of $25.00 and to have carted sand with an ox.team for two weeks. Inspectors of the work were Calvin Howell, of Whippany ; Daniel H. Fairchild, of Dover, and Isaac Nichols, of Newark. The trustees proposed to reserve as much of the old church as may be needed to finish the session room in the new church and to sell the remainder.
They now proceeded to enlarge the cemetery by placing the fence nearer the road and to circulate a subscription which they believe will meet with universal approbation to build a good fence around the spot "wherein they have deposited their dead and where in the living must very soon go." They also had an urgent call to repair the parsonage. They seem to have met these demands promptly and on October ninth, 1829 they were called together to attend the sale of pews and seats which had been advertised in two newspapers published in Morristown, also an account of the dedication of the house which took place the previous day October eighth. I have not been able to find any account of the dedicatory services but the following three verses taken from an ode contain- ing fifteen, written by Mr. Ford for the occasion brings to us a little of the spirit of strength and devotion which pervaded this house of worship.
This mansion now thine eyes behold Dearer to us and Thee than gold, And now like those of ancient days, We dedicate it to Thy praise. Not give it Thee, 'twas Thine before, E'en while in clay, and tree, and ore,
We have but reared what Thou hast given, And now we seal it back to Heaven.
Accept Thine own and own it Thine,
Here may Thy power and mercy shine, Enter and make it Thine abode, An earthly palace for our God.
Isaac Quinby, Stephen Fairchild, Benjamin L. Condit and Tobias Baudinot were chosen to make a fair valuation of each pew and lay an anuity of six percent on each valuation. This was done to raise the yearly salary. Our church book contains the plan of the ground floor and gallery seats. Each seat numbered, giv-
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ing valuation, anuity and name of original owner. I have John Howell's deed for pew No. 10 for which he paid $100.00 and was to pay an annuity of $600 unless they needed more money when an additional annuity was to be paid by each pew owner. The trustees were directed to procure a seat on the first floor for the use of the poor.
On June 28, 1834, the parsonage farm was sold to Mr. W. C. H. Waddell for $2259.85 and the farm of Martin Boulsby pur- chased for $2250.
At a meeting on September 5, 1834 Hiram Smith and D. S. Quinby were empowered to circulate a subscription for the purpose of engaging Mr. Maybe to play the base viol on the Sabbath for one year.
At a meeting August 21, 1830 it was voted that the sexton, Daniel Lyon, received compensation at the rate of $26.00 a year for ringing the bell, sweeping and keeping clean the meeting house, building fires when needed, lighting candles at night meeting and properly taking care of the house. I do not know in what these fires were to be lighted as it is not until 1836 that we find a com- mittee appointed to procure stoves and materials for warming the house. From this time to the close of Mr. Ford's pastorate there is nothing on the records of the parish calling for special remark, the minutes containing little more than the names of the officers elected at the annual meetings.
In May 1857 Mr. Ford having reached the age of seventy years and having been pastor of this church more than forty-one years tendered his resignation. Mr. Ford had been a hard worker. During his early ministry his parish extended as far as Boonton, Littleton, Pine Brook and a portion of Montville, and he was in the habit of preaching statedly at these points. He prepared a cate- chism which was printed and extensively used in the Bible classes which he organized in the different neighborhoods and which were regularly met and instructed by him. There were several extensive revivals during his pastorate and large additions made to the church. He ranked high as a Preacher and the testimony of his ministerial brethern was that he was remarkable for readiness and power as a preacher and debater, which is proven by the fact that at his evening service he would frequently ask his congregation to give him a text upon which he would proceed to preach a sermon. At his resignation a series of highly commendatory resolutions were adopted by the parish and published in the New York Observer and the Evangelist. As a teacher he was held in high esteem and he greatly aided a number of young men in their efforts to study for the ministry or for business.
The following regarding the African School at Parsippany is taken from the Newark News of July 21, 1914, as described in a
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pamphlet that was issued in 1817. In this year New Jersey was a slave state but there was inaugurated about this time an extensive movement to benefit the negro particularly the freedmen. As a re- sult there was authorized by the synod of New Jersey and New York an African School at Parsippany of which abundant infor- mation may be obtained from the old pamphlet entitled, "A Plea For Africa," printed by Gould in Chatham Street, New York in 1817. Mr. Ford was doubtless the sole instructor during the school's existence.
He was a noted linguist and during the later years of his life is said to have preached a sermon in Newark entirely in French, and it was his habit to use his Greek and Hebrew bible during his entire life.
After the resignation of Mr. Ford, Mr. J. Ford Sutton was engaged to supply the pulpit for five months. Unusual religious interest attended the ministrations of Mr. Sutton and an earnest movement was made for his ordination and settlement as pastor of the church. To this a very strong opposition was developed, the result of which was the withdrawal of a portion of this church and the organization of the First Presbyterian Church of Par- sippany of which Mr. Sutton was ordained pastor. The Rev. A. R. Wolfe was immediately employed to supply the pulpit of this church which he did with great acceptance and success until April 1859 when his health compelled him to cease from ministerial labors. During his ministry there was much religious interest and several additions were made to the church.
On the fifteenth of August 1859 the Rev. F. F. Judd received a unanimous call to the pastorate of this church which was ac- cepted and Mr. Judd continued as pastor until the fall of 1863 when impaired health compelled him to resign. That Mr. Judd was much beloved by this people the following resolution will show. "That we cannot permit relations which have been rendered so dear to us by his faithfulness, ability and discretion as a Christian instructor and by his delicate and well timed ministrations as a pastor at all times, but especially in seasons of sickness and affliction to be closed without a grateful expression of the deep sense of our loss and affectionate assurance that our intercourse with him and his family has been a power for good and will remain with us a cherished recollection, and we do further assure him that our earnest prayer in parting shall be that "He who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, will have him and his in his keeping."
In 1859 when this church had been built thirty years we find the congregation desiring to remedy some of the original defects in the construction of the building and with a becoming regard to the public taste which has led to improvements very generally in houses of worship, requiring that some modifications or changes should be made in this house.
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John N. Mitchell, Andrew J. Smith, John Bates, Monroe Howell and R. V. W. Fairchild were appointed a committee with instructions to proceed to repair and remodel the parsonage, also to build a barn for the same. In April 1860 this committee who were entrusted with the renovation and modernizing of the church and parsonage received a vote of thanks for the "laborous, faith- ful and highly satisfactory manner in which they have discharged their arduous and responsible duties."
In April 1864 a committee consisting of Thomas O. Smith, John N. Mitchell and William A. Condit were appointed to procure a musical instrument for the church. This organ was used for about ten years when another considerably larger and containing more stops was purchased under the direction of Dr. E. P. Cooper. This one still stands in the church gallery but was consigned to rest from its labors when in 1906 our pipe organ was installed at a cost of $1,931.25.
Rev. F. A. M). Brown succeeded Mr. Judd in January 1864 but resigned before the year was closed and Rev. Joseph Board came with the congregation from the First Church of Parsippany and remained as acting pastor until 1866. In August 1868 Rev. George Le Boutillier was called to the pastorate and remained in charge until April 1871. During his pastorate in 1870 we find the following minutes: Whereas the Presbyterian Faith is no longer represented in this place by a divided church but now by one reunited, resolved that we the session of this church do render thanks to Christ our Great Head for His love and grace thus mani- fested and that we call upon this congregation heartily to do the same. We exhort them and one another "To follow after the things that make for peace" and edification, and to walk together as children of our Heavenly Father and as brethern beloved in the Lord.
Dr. Charles Carroll Parker was installed pastor of this church March 27, 1872. He died in the midst of his labors February 8, 1880. Dr. Parker and his family were much beloved by the con- gregation and we are indebted to him for the two Historical ser- mons he preached celebrating our one hundredth anniversary on April 5, 1875.
At a parish meeting held April 11, 1874 John N. Mitchell, moderator, and John Ogden, clerk, it was decided that a vote of thanks be sent to Mr. J. Condit Smith for his generous gift of land donated for building a parsonage and to be forever used as church property. The trustees were authorized to sell the old par- sonage property and in October 1875 this having been done, Monroe Howell, Garrett De Mott, and Stephen H. Condit were appointed the committee to build the parsonage with instructions that the expense shall not exceed four thousand dollars. A new roof was to be put on the church, walls of the areaways to be repaired,
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grounds graded, hitching posts provided, trees set out and such improvments made as the trustees think advisable provided such improvements be paid from money arising from sale of property or any other source than creating a debt.
In 1875 Dr. E. P. Cooper was appointed organist and so re- mained for ten years. In 1830 Ashbel Burnett was made chorister. In 1841 Frederick Stone and Davis S. Quinby were appointed; in 1843 David S. Quinby and John Stone, in 1849 David S. Quinby and Thomas O. Smith and from this time until 1891 forty-three years Mr. Smith rendered most devoted service and it seems but fitting that his name should be perpetuated on one of the windows of the church.
In June 1880 Rev. A. V. C. Johnson came from Fulton, New York and supplied the pulpit until April 1881. Rev. J. Leonard Corning filled the pulpit a number of months during 1881 and 1882.
In November 1882 Mr. Bullard was called to the pastorate, was ordained and installed January 17, 1883 and for nearly four- teen years or until the fall of 1896 Mr. Bullard rendered faith- ful service. In that time there were fifty additions to the church by confession and eighteen by letter, a total of sixty-eight.
In 1887 twenty-two horse sheds were built at a cost of $847.78. In 1889 the Young Peoples Society of Christian Endeavor was started. In 1891 under the direction of a building committee com- posed of William C. Bates, Phineas Farrand and Andrew L. Cobb our chapel was built at a cost of $2,353.00. In 1894 a donation of $200 was received from Mrs. John Bates, $35.00 from Mrs. Wil- liam Condit and $213.00 from the Ladies fund, making a total of $448.00. $430.00 of which was used in repairing the church, putting up ceiling, door in the back, and so forth. That Mr. Bullard has not outlived the esteem and affection of many of his one time parish- oners is evidenced by his frequent return when the angel of death visits our community.
Rev. A. A. Zabriskie ministered to the congregation until the coming of Rev. Horace D. Sassaman who was installed as pastor May 18, 1898. In November 1899 the Home Department was organized under Mr. Sassaman's direction with Mrs. George B. Smith as superintendent, Mrs. Phineas Farrand, Mrs. W. B. Bene- dict, Mrs. J. J. Mitchell and Mrs. H. D. Sassaman as visitors. In 1900 our present mode of holding parish meetings and hearing yearly reports was established. Our ladies' missionary meeting in its present arrangement was due to the organizing ability of Mrs. Sassaman, also our Ladies' Aid Society. The Christian Endeavor Work was dear to the heart of both pastor and wife.
In 1902 nine memorial windows were donated to the church commemorating the names of Rev. John Ford, Rev. C. C. Parker
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and Rev. Elihu Doty and his wife Eleanor Smith, daughter of Hiram Smith and his wife, Mary Osborn, who were married in this church on the seventeenth day of February 1847, going thence to Amoy, China where they labored as missionaries until Mrs. Doty's death in 1858. Mr. Isaac L. Condit and wife, Drs. Stephen and R. V .W. Fairchild and Mrs. Stephen Fairchild, Mr. Thomas O. Smith, who for forty-one years was our faithful chor- ister, Monroe Howell and his wife and daughter, Miss Eliza Cobb and Edward Estle Baldwin are the names perpetuated by the families on these windows. At the time these were placed each pew was lowered to make the seats more comfortable.
Forty-four were added to the church roll by confession and twelve by letter during the seven years Mr. Sassaman was in our midst and he and his family are held in loving remembrance by us all.
Our present pastor, Rev. David A. Craig was installed Febru- ary 7, 1906. During that year Mr. Craig was made chairman of the committee composed of Dr. E. P. Cooper, W. C. Bates, W. H. Grimes, Jr., and W. O. Cooper to procure the pipe organ to which reference has been made, this committee was continued to purchase a new furnace for the church using the balance of the organ fund for the purpose. .
In 19II a bathroom and steam heat was put in the parsonage at a cost of $959.20. This past year 1914 the house has been painted at an expenditure of $208.15 and our chapel addition of kitchen and serving room been completed for $1,591.55 of which sum we have a debt of $500.00 without interest. Mrs. Horace T. Brumley has presented the congregation with fixtures and wiring for electric lights in the chapel, and how shall I adequately discribe the gift of land and work so generously provided by Mr. Vail. It has changed the landscape into one beautiful picture and given to all who are permitted to look upon it an incentive to better things. Our financial conditions seem very prosperous and now our pastor has asked us to turn our thoughts to the better part, "Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high."
I will preserve the list of names of elders and trustees with this history, but must tarry for a moment to speak of two who have given long and faithful service. In 1863 Phineas Farrand's name appears for the first time when he was elected trustee for two years. In 1878 he was again elected and continued in office until 1908 when his son W. O. Farrand was appointed in his stead, thirty consecutive years and two in his early life. William C. Bates was elected in 1891 serving almost the entire time as treasurer of the board. Until in April 1913 when Andrew J. Smith was appointed Treasurer.
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The care of the cemetery seems to have been on the minds and hearts of our worthy ancestors from the time when the sexton was to be dismissed for turning any creature other than a sheep on a grave yard lot until by the energy of Mr. John O. Condit, Hiram Smith and Monroe Howell and later John L. Baldwin and others, there was in 1889 a fund of $921.00 bearing interest which was to be used for keeping the yard in order.
We have had sweet singers and faithful organists but time fails us to record their names.
Ere long our church will have been reared a rounded century.
"Here shed the radiance of Thy face, And the rich glories of Thy grace, Forever may this temple be A covenant pledge twixt us and Thee." A. C. B.
Read at the home of Mrs. A. B. Paulmier, April 13, 1915.
THE LIST OF RULING ELDERS SINCE THE FIRST DATE OF SESSION BOOK IN 1834.
Lot Dixon
Harkness Bastelo
Silas Baldwin
Timothy W. Crane
Jacob Heller
William A. Condit
Henry Harrison
Edward Tuttle
John Mitchell
John Ogden
Paul Leonard
Marcus L. Dixon
Abraham Kanouse
George E. Righter
James Lewis
William H. Grimes
William Dixon
John Orvil Burnett
Archibald D. Green
Isaac L. Condit
FROM THIS LIST OF NAMES THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Silas Baldwin
Archibald D. Green
Isaac L. Condit
William A. Condit
B. Smith Condit
S. Hobart Condit Judd Condit E. Halsey Ball
TRUSTEES.
Stephen Fairchild Hiram Smith, Jr. William Gladson John O. Condit Tobias Boudinot Henry Harrison Walter Kirkpatrick William H. Thomas
John A. Cobb Amos Harrison
Benjamin L. Condit
James H. Quinby
Thomas O. Smith
Timothy W. Crane
William A. Condit Henry Boughton John N. Mitchell
John De Hart
Benjamin F. ¡ Howell Andrew J. Smith
Edgar G. Smith Charles F. Ogden
Samuel P. Smith
Jacob Holloway John Mitchell Ebenezer F. Smith Jacob Heller
Elijah D. Thompkins
Samuel F. Righter Benjamin B. Green
R. V. W. Fairchild F. N. Benedict Monroe Howell Stephen H. Condit John Bates Edward E. Baldwin John C. Green Edward Tuttle
Phineas Farrand
Samuel B. Harrison
William N. Hennion Samuel F. Ogden Jacob Green David S. Quinby James Renton
George E. Righter Isaac L. Condit De Witt Quinby George B. Smith Garrett De Mott Melvin S. Condit Richard Smith William C. Bates George W. Smith E. Halsey Ball Theodore S. Condit William B. Benedict John S. Kitchell Raymond R. Webb
William O. Farrand
Andrew J. Smith 2nd
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B. Smith Condit Edmund Thompkins S. Hobert Condit
E. Halsey Ball Charles F. Ogden William O. Cooper
Frederick D. Johnson Judd Condit
George E. Righter
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