USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > Flemington > History of the Presbyterian Church in Flemington, New Jersey, for a century : with sketches of local matters for two hundred years > Part 4
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About the time this call was given, encouraged by the success of the effort to raise the salary, another sub- scription was opened, to obtain money for the comple- tion of the church building on which $700 were pro- cured, and during the summer of 1810 the interior of the house was completed. The walls were plastered, and the ceiling rounded and covered with narrow boards painted sky blue. Candlesticks fastened to the pillars
* Hence the Corporate name Amwell United First.
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. furnished light, when there was evening service, which was seldom. Wooden candelabra were made for the pulpit in 1816. Oil lamps were not introduced until about 1825. The old slab benches were put in the gal- lery, and fifty-four pews took their places on the ground floor. It was agreed to leave these pews free until the next spring. On the 3d of April, 1811, a meeting of the congregation was held, of which Geo. C. Maxwell, for many years a prominent lawyer of this village, was made President, Alexander Bonnell, Vice-President, and Thomas Gordon, Secretary. " It was unanimously re- solved, that the pews should be rented for the purpose of supporting the pastor, and other purposes." And so it has continued until this day. At this meeting, a reso- lution was passed, that "any person or persons, who choose, may have a door to their pew, but at their own expense." The rents amounted to $635.75. The highest was $23, and the lowest $5. If we compare the value of money then, and the incomes of the people, with the same now, we shall find that our fathers paid more in proportion then, for the support of the Gospel, than is paid by us. In other words, pew rents were higher in 1811 than they have been since. That you may know who were members of the congregation and hired those pews, I insert the names, Jonathan Hill, Cornelius Williamson, John R. Reading, W. Maxwell, J. Reading, Jr., T. Gordon, J. Maxwell (these four were probably unmarried men, as they occupied one pew), Christopher Cool, Sr., William Case, Dr. William Geary, John G. Trimmer, Jas. Disbrow, Charles Reading, Jr., H. Groff, Peter Groff (these four also took one pew), Peter Dilts, Leonard Kuhl, Peter Kuhl, Jr. (these three one pew),
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Neal Hart, Peter Haward, Joakim Hill, Matthew Thomp- son, Henry Baker, Preston Bruen, Elnathan Moore, Ferdinand Johnson, Derrick Waldron, Andrew Vanfliet, William Bloom, Peter Nevius, James Clark, Jr., John Schenck, Sr., John Schenck, Jr., Cornelius Wickoff, John Reading, Sr., Thomas Reading, Rev. Jacob T. Field, Alexander Bonnell, Mercy Gray, Mrs. Sarah Hill, Mrs. Hannah Gray (these three one pew), Daniel Reading, Charles Reading, Isaac Hill, Geo. C. Maxwell, William Young, Jacob Young, Christopher Rowe, Joseph Case, Thomas Capner, Matthew Lare, Joseph Stillman, Mrs. Elijah Carman, George Reading, Christopher Cool, Martha Wilson, Edward Wickoff, Elizabeth Griggs, William Young, David Bellis, Samuel McNair, John Maxwell, John Lee, Abraham Huffman, Isaac Van Dorn, Joseph P. Chamberlain, Colonel David Bishop, Arthur Schenck. Only four pews were unlet, and of four more the half of each was taken.
The pastoral relation terminated after three years, May 4th, 1813, by the request of Mr. Field. The con- gregation parted from him reluctantly, nor had there been any failure on their part in supporting him. He built the house now owned by Vice-Chancellor Van Fleet. The admissions into the church were on con- fession, fifteen ; by certificate, four. The Ruling Elders during his pastorate were, Thomas Reading, Isaac Hill, Cornelius Williamson, Jonathan Hill, Arthur Schenck. The Trustees were, George C. Maxwell, Charles Read- ing, John R. Reading, Samuel Hill, Isaac Hill, Arthur Schenck, Jonathan Hill.
Jacob Ten Eyck Field was born in Lamington, N. J., October 31st, 1787. Early in life he connected himself
REV. JACOB TEN EYCK FIELD, PASTOR 1810-1813.
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FLEMINGTON, NEW JERSEY.
with that church. He graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1806. He pursued his theological studies under Rev. Dr. Woodhull, of Monmouth. He and Dr. Kirkpatrick were in college at the same time, and studied theology together. He labored as a missionary for sev- eral years in and around Stroudsburgh, Pa, before he settled in Flemington. After leaving this church, he accepted a call to Pompton, N. J., where he remained from 1815 to 1827. From that field he went to the Presbyterian Church of Totowa, of which he was pastor from 1828-1832. He then became stated supply of the churches of Stroudsburgh and Middle Smithfield, Pa., until June, 1838, when he was installed pastor. In 1839, when fifty-two years of age, he was disabled by a stroke of paralysis, from which he never sufficiently recovered to resume the work of the ministry, although he lived twenty-seven years more. Released from that pastorate in 1841, he went to Belvidere, N. J, to live, where he died, May 17th, 1866, in his eightieth year. He was buried at Shawnee, Pa. He was very intimate with Rev. Drs. Kirkpatrick and Studdiford. And they went to their reward almost hand in hand. Kirkpatrick died May 5th, aged eighty-one; Field on the 17th, and on June 5th, Dr. Peter O. Studdiford followed. Mr. Field was "a man of fine personal appearance, and was a man of good talents and education, and a faithful and pun- gent preacher of the Word," says Rev. Dr. D. H. Junkin in his Historical Discourse.
In the autumn of 1813 a call was extended to Rev. William McDowell, afterward Dr. McDowell, of Charles- ton, S. C., on a salary of $700, which he declined, ac cepting a call to Bound Brook.
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John Flavel Clark was the next pastor. While he was a tutor in Princeton College, and was pursuing his theological studies under Dr. Ashbel Green, the Presi- dent of the College, he received an invitation to become stated supply of this congregation for three months ; beginning on the third Sabbath in November, 1814, at the rate of $600 a year. This resulted in his receiv- ing a call to become pastor, and he was ordained and installed June 14th, 1815.
Mr. Clark entered on his ministry here, at a time when Christians were bewailing the low state of religion and morals all over the land. Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher wrote in 1813 : "The crisis has come. By the people of this generation, by ourselves probably, the amazing question is to be decided, whether the inheritance of our fathers is to be preserved or thrown away; whether our Sabbath shall be a delight or a loathing; whether the taverns, on that holy day, shall be crowded with drunkards, or the sanctuary of God with humble wor- shippers ; whether riot and profanity shall fill our streets, and poverty our dwellings, and convicts our jails, and violence our land ; or, whether industry and temperance and righteousness shall be the stability of our times."
Various agencies were inaugurated to counteract these evils, and these endeavors became the beginning of a change, that wrought a transformation in Church and State.
Sabbath-schools were organized rapidly. In Som- erville and vicinity there were six in 1812. One had been in existence in New Brunswick since the opening of the century. One was begun in Rahway in 1812.
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FLEMINGTON, NEW JERSEY.
In 1817, Mr. W. W. Blauvelt was the teacher of the academy in the village for nine months. He became afterward pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Lam- ington, where he spent a long and very useful pastorate of sixty-two years, from 1826-1888. Mr. Blauvelt was brought up in New Brunswick. Mr. Clark's father had been pastor of the Presbyterian Church in that city. Naturally, therefore, the mind of the pastor and the teacher turned toward the religious instruction of neg- lected youth. Mr. Blauvelt saw that the blacks were not admitted to any of the schools, and were growing up in deplorable ignorance. In this community, there were prominent persons who were opposed to giving them any instruction, regarding them about as beasts of burden. Mr. Blauvelt interested several individuals in their behalf. A notice was written by him, and sent to the churches, announcing that a school would be opened for them on Sunday afternoon, in the academy. Sev- eral of the trustees, although not a majority, opposed this use of the building so earnestly that the request was withdrawn, and the school was held on the long back porch of Mr. Clark's house (now John L. Jones'). There were about twenty, mostly slaves, gathered Sabbath afternoon. The next year, 1818, a Sabbath-school was organized and held in the academy, a brick building on Church Street. The colored persons became a class, under the care of Miss Hannah Clark, the only sister of the pastor, and who lies buried in our graveyard. The school met in the academy for three years, and then was removed into the gallery of the church. In winter it was brought down around the stoves. This remained
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a union school until about 1824, when each congrega- tion formed its own school.
This was also the period of the formation of Bible Societies. In 1813 the Nassau Hall Bible Society was organized, and the Hunterdon County Bible Society in 1816. The record reads : "Persuant to public notice, which had been previously given, a large number of respectable inhabitants of Hunterdon County met on Thursday the 10th day of October, 1816, at the Stone Meeting House in Amwell, at Larison's Corner, for the purpose of forming a Bible Society. A sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Huntington, of New Brunswick, and an address delivered by Rev. Mr. Clark." The Society was organized by the election of Samuel L. Southard as President, Rev. J. F. Clark as third Vice- President, and Peter I. Clark, his brother, Correspond- ing Secretary.
Thus we note that this congregation entered heartily into this movement ; and it has ever since been rep- resented among the officials ; and for many years it has been the most liberal benefactor. The first President, Mr. Southard, began the practice of law in Flemington, in 1811. He was an active member of the congregation, and was President of the Board of Trustees. He built the house that was so long the residence of Alexander Wurts. He represented this district in the Legislature in 1815, but had been in the House only a week, when he was placed upon the bench of the Supreme Court, although only twenty-eight years old. He afterwards became one of the most distinguished men in this State, and had a national reputation, as United States Senator, and Secretary of the Navy under Presidents
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Monroe and John Quincy Adams. He was Vice-Presi- dent from 1841 to his death in 1842. He was a man of genius and eloquence. He removed to Trenton in 1817, where he became an active member of the congre- gation of the first Presbyterian Church. In 1837 he de- livered a remarkable address before the societies of Princeton College, on the importance of the study of the Bible, in forming the character of men in all profes- sions.
During this period also the public conscience was agitated over the evils of slavery. In 1818, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church made its famous deliverance upon that question, in which occurs this emphatic language : "It is the duty of all Christians to use their honest, earnest, and unwearied endeavors to correct the errors of former times, and, as speedily as possible, to efface this blot on our holy religion, and to obtain the complete abolition of slavery." That report was penned by Dr. Ashbel Green, at that time President of Princeton College. In his autobiography, page 417, he states: "I penned the minute on the subject of slavery, which is yet referred to by those that are hostile to African slavery." Probably his great influence in this State contributed very largely to the act of the Legislature, which was passed February 24th, 1820, which gave freedom to every child born of slave parents, sub- sequent to July 4th, 1804, the males on arriving at the age of twenty-five, and the females at twenty-one. In 1810 the number of slaves was 10,851. Under the operation of this act, slavery gradually disappeared from the State of New Jersey.
Also, the eyes of the people were opened to the awful
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gulf to which the drinking habits of the day were hurrying thousands. In 1812 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church made a deliverance : "Not only against actual intemperance, but against all those habits and indulgences which may have a tendency to produce it." A "Society for the Suppression of Intemperance," was formed in Boston in 1813. The Presbytery of Newton, on October 8th, 1818, " resolved, that, whenever the people where we meet provide us dinner at a public house, we request them to put no ardent spirits upon the table." This church was then connected with that Presbytery, which had been formed the previous year. The Rev. Dr. Ferris, Pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, in New Brunswick, sounded a vigorous alarm in 1821 ; and the General Synod of that denomination appointed a day of fasting and prayer, and required each minister to preach a sermon on the evil.
This region was astir in all good movements, guided and encouraged by Presbytery. Associations were formed within the bounds of the Presbytery, for the suppression of vice and immorality, especially Sabbath breaking. New prayer-meetings were established. Catechetical instruction received increased attention. In compliance with the recommendation of the General Assembly of 1815, monthly prayer-meetings were in- stituted, and were soon found in every neighborhood. Presbytery recommended, in October of that year, the formation of classes of young people to recite from the Holy Scriptures. This was generally complied with.
Mr. Clark entered with all his heart into this work, and endeavored to infuse deeper spirituality among the members of the church. Together with a band of
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earnest and devout disciples, he held prayer-meetings from house to house, and in the neighborhoods all around the village ; also Sabbath-schools were estab- lished wherever a suitable place could be obtained in those districts. The Session in October, 1817, "consid- ering the low state of religion and the worldliness of professors," set apart a day to be observed as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer ; and recommended the congregation to observe the same, praying for the out- pouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church. This was repeated in January, 1820, and again in January, 1822 ; also in October of that same year, when nine were added on confession. The Session kept a strict watch over the members, endeavoring to reconcile parties who were at variance. Applications for the baptism of in- fants were required to be made to the Session, who de- cided upon each case. (See minutes of Session, January 22d, 1818, and January 11th, 1823.) When Presbytery met in 1818, in Flemington, it encouraged the formation of societies to suppress vice, and measures to discourage the use of ardent spirits, and recommended to the min- isters and elders to refrain from offering these to occasional visitors. The effect of all these measures and labors was soon visible upon the congregation. The attendance increased ; additions were made at every communion, with few exceptions. In some years the accessions were large. In 1816, on confession, fourteen were added, and eleven in 1818. In 1823, eighteen, and twenty-four in 1829.
This church continued to enjoy the exclusive services of Mr. Clark until 1820. But the last four years had been a season of severe financial depression. The whole
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country was poor. Money was scarce. In the summer of 1816 there were frost and ice every month. Nearly all the crops failed. An extensive emigration to Ohio was the consequence. Farmers in this region had little to sell ; and their produce was carried a long dis- tance, and then the price obtained was small. More and more the congregation felt its inability to continue the whole support of Mr. Clark. Arrearages now amounted to $580, a whole year's salary and more. So thoughts were turned toward a union with the old Amwell Church, near Reaville, or Greenville, as then it was called. In December, 1819, an overture was sent by the Fleming- ton congregation proposing a union with that church, which had been without a pastor about a year. A com- mittee was appointed to confer with a similar committee from that church, should one be appointed. Such a committee was appointed in two weeks. On the 3rd of January following, the two committees met, and unani- mously resolved to unite the congregations under one pastor, upon an equal footing. When this report was laid before the old church it was resolved, as a condition to the union, that Mr. Clark should resign, and the two congregations elect a new pastor. This part the Flem- ington congregation promptly declined. A few weeks later and this church held its annual meeting, April, 1820. It was then stated, that "if a proposition should now be made to unite with the First Amwell, probably a union of the two congregations could be consummated. Whereupon it was resolved that this congregation will consent to unite with the First Amwell in supporting Mr. Clark, and will pay one-half the salary for one-half his time. Each congregation to pay $350." Commit-
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tees were appointed by each congregation ; which, after several meetings and much discussion, finally agreed . upon a plan, which was adopted by each party. A call was made by each for half the time of Mr. Clark. He was to preach one Sabbath in one church, and the next Sabbath in the other. Each should pay $325 ; and this arrangement was to continue three years. It did-and at the expiration of that time, it was renewed for three years more, and at the close of those years for three ad- ditional. Two services were held with an hour intermis- sion. On the Sabbaths when there was no service here, as many as could went to the old church. On com- munion Sabbaths, the members of the two churches, as far as possible, assembled about one table, in whichever church the service was held. But evidently this arrange- ment was unfavorable for the growth of the congrega- tion. The wonder is that the field was held as well as it was.
About the time this union was formed Abraham Williamson, a member of this church, entered the Gospel ministry. He was the son of Cornelius William- son, who was ordained an elder of this church in 1811. He graduated from Princeton College in 1818, and from the Seminary in 1821. He went as missionary to Illinois, when no Presbyterian minister as yet had settled in that State. In 1823 he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Chester, in this State, where he remained in the constant and faithful discharge of his duties until 1853. He then thought he was too old to preach, but a rest of three years seemed only to quicken his desire to return to the pastorate, and then at the age of sixty- seven years he took charge, as stated supply, of the
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Presbyterian Church of Mt. Freedom. Here he re- mained ten years. He died June 19th, 1869, aged seventy-nine years. He lived a calm, quiet, godly, useful life.
For almost sixteen years this union between the churches existed harmoniously. And then, on March 4th, 1836, a communication was received from the mother church, expressing the kindest feeling and grateful re- membrances of the pleasant associations of the past four years ; but stating that, in their judgment, the time had come when the interests of each congregation would be best served, by a discontinuance of the exist- ing relation ; that they desired the constant services of one pastor, and that intimations had been received, that many of the Flemington congregation were desirous of the same benefit ; and they requested that the union, which had so long and so happily existed, might be dis- solved at the approaching meeting of Presbytery, in April. For four years previously this feeling, which now took shape, had been forming and increasing in each congregation so that the desire for a termination of the union was not a sudden impulse on either side, nor did it grow out of any friction between them. Each desired to have services every Sabbath. On the 9th of the same month this congregation met, and concurred in the request. On the 21st the congregation again met, and made out a call for Mr. Clark, on a salary of $500. A call was also extended to him by the old church. Both these calls were presented to Presbytery, at its meeting, April 27th, 1836. He accepted the call from the other church, and his relations to this ceased. He remained, however, only a few months pastor of the
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First Amwell Church, for on the 27th of December that relation terminated, that he might accept a call to the First Presbyterian Church of Paterson. In this posi- tion he remained six years, and then accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church at Oyster Bay, L. I., where he stayed only a year, not feeling at home among the Quakers, who composed a large part of the population. He then was settled over the Presbyterian Church of Fishkill village, Dutchess County, N. Y., where he labored eight years, and died at the age of sixty-nine, in 1853.
John Flavel Clark was the eldest of three sons of Dr. Joseph Clark, who was pastor of the First Presby- terian Church, New Brunswick, N. J., from 1796 to his death, in 1813. John graduated from Princeton College in 1807, holding rank among the first scholars in his class. He was engaged, for some time after graduation, in teaching in the State of Georgia. He commenced the study of Divinity at Andover in 1810, and was ac- quainted with Newell, Mills and Judson, those pioneers in the cause of foreign missions. He remained about fifteen months, until September, 1811. Before his course was completed, he was chosen tutor at Princeton, and held that position three years, still pursuing his theo- logical studies under Dr. Green, the President of the College. From this position he was called to Fleming- ton. "Many here will remember his large, portly frame, his pleasant beaming countenance, his genial companion- ship, his exhaustless fund of anecdote, his kindly gen- erous heart, his clear, loud, and commanding voice, his impressive appearance and solemn manner in the pul- pit. He was a good preacher and a good man. Some
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were of opinion that his wonderful powers of wit and anecdotal conversation impaired his usefulness ; but so far as my observation extended, this power was kept under the restraint of good taste and piety, and whilst it made him the life of the social circle, I never saw it interfere with the graver duties of his ministry." So spake his old friend, Rev. Dr. D. H. Junkin in a His- torical Discourse, 1867. Soon after Mr. Clark became pastor of this church, his brother Peter I. Clark made this town his home ; and here he lived, a prominent lawyer, until his death in 1863. His memory was long and lovingly cherished. He was elected an elder in 1857. His widow died here August, 1891, at the advanced age of ninety-six.
During the pastorate of Mr. Clark, of twenty-one years, 127 united with this church on confession, and twenty by certificate. Elders elected, Jeptha Arrison, Paul Kuhl, Christopher Cool, John Trimmer. Trustees, Thomas Gordon, William P. Young, Andrew Van Fleet, William Maxwell, David P. Shrope, William Williamson, Daniel Marsh, Nathaniel Saxton, Joseph Reading, George Risler, John F. Schenk, M.D., Neal Hart, Elisha R. Johnson, Alexander Wurts, George Maxwell, Robert K. Reading, Paul Kuhl, Christopher Cool, Henry M. Kline, Cornelius Williamson, John Trimmer, Thatcher Prall. Leonard P. Kuhl, Charles Bartles, John Griggs.
The twenty-one years of Mr. Clark's pastorate were eventful to this town. I have previously described the introduction of moral and religious agencies. It may not be amiss to record some events, which form a part of the history of the town.
REV. JOHN FLAVEL CLARK, PASTOR 1815-1836,
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FLEMINGTON, NEW JERSEY.
The interior of the Presbyterian Church, and its sur- rounding, had been somewhat improved. In 1827 a new pulpit was put in. The old one was of the wine-glass style, so long prevalent. It was a small hexagon, only large enough for one person. It stood on a high pillar, with a sounding board over it. The new one was also well up, and approached by winding stairs. The time- honored slab benches in the gallery, which did service down stairs years before their elevation, were now re- moved, and rows of seats presented a more comely ap- pearance. The congregation was divided into four dis- tricts, and a collector appointed to each. A sum of money had been left by Martin C. Johnson, whose an- cestors and family were buried here, for the purpose of enclosing the graveyard. This led, in 1833, to an en- largement of the yard, by the addition of land purchased at $80 an acre, and the next year the whole plot was en- closed.
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