USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, N.J. : from the first settlement of the town > Part 19
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
Among the legacies of Mr. Smith's will was one of twenty-five hundred dollars for the endowment of a scholarship in the Theo- logical Seminary at Princeton, which was realized in 1839, upon the decease of his widow. It stands the twenty-sixth on the list of scholar- ships, and bears the name of its founder.
VI.
(Added from Dr. Hall's Supplement.)
Rev. Mr. Waddell, mentioned in the account of the New Jersey Bible Society in the Appendix, p. 355, was the rector of St. Michael's Church. Another of Mr. Armstrong's friends was Rev. Thomas Pictou, of Westfield, Essex county, New Jersey, for a time pastor in Woodbury, N. J., and afterwards chaplain at West Point (1820). He was a Welshman by birth. His daughter married Edwin Stevens, of Hoboken, where Mr. Pictou for a time resided. His wife was a Zantzinger. He is mentioned in E. D. Mansfield's "Personal Memo- ries," 1803-1843, published in Cincinnati, 1879, pp. 88-91.
In our baptismal records, in the handwriting of Mr. Armstrong, is this :
"1806, Nathaniel Sayre Harris, born September 24, 1805, son of Rev. Nathaniel and Catherine Harris, baptized by Rev. Thomas Pic- tou, of Westfield, Essex county."
235
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Rev. Nathaniel Harris married the widow of Samuel Witham Stockton (p. 243), who was the daughter of Col. (John?) Coxe. Mr. Harris was a Presbyterian, and Principal of the Trenton Academy, 1801-1803.
Nathaniel Sayre Harris was a cadet at West Point (afterward Professor of Tactics), and then an Episcopal minister. In 1878, when he was on a visit at J. G. Stevens', in Trenton, I showed him the baptismal entry above, a copy of which I had previously given to his son, Rev. J. Andrews Harris, of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia (an Epis- copal minister).
י
REV. SAMUEL B. HOW. D.D.
CHAPTER XX.
SAMUEL B. How, D.D .- WILLIAM J. ARMSTRONG, D.D .- THE REV. JOHN SMITH .- NOTES.
1816-1828.
On the nineteenth of August, 1816, the congregation met and elected for their pastor the Rev. SAMUEL BLANCHARD How.
Mr. (now Dr.) How, a native of Burlington, graduated in the University of Pennsylvania ( 18II) ; was tutor for a short time in Dickinson College ; then a master of the Gram- mar School of his University; was licensed by the Presby- tery of Philadelphia in 1813; then passed a session at the Princeton Seminary, and on November 10, 1814, was or- dained and installed pastor at Solebury, Bucks county.
Mr. How was installed over the Trenton congregation December 17, 1816, on which occasion Dr. Miller presided, Dr. Alexander preached (2 Cor. 3 : 16). Dr. Miller gave the charge to the pastor, and the Rev. I. V. Brown the charge to the congregation. This pastorship was happily and usefully continued until April, 1821, when a call from the First Church of New Brunswick was laid before the Presbytery, and he was installed in that city in the follow- ing June.1 The additions to the communion of the church in these five years were fifty-six on their first profession, and thirty on certificates from other churches.2
Dr. How was followed by the late WILLIAM JESSUP ARMSTRONG, D.D., son of the Rev. Dr. Amzi Armstrong, of Mendham and Bloomfield. Mr. Armstrong graduated at Princeton College in 1816; studied theology under his
(237)
238
HISTORY OF THE
father, and for a year in the Princeton Seminary ; and upon his licensure in 1819 (by the Presbytery of New Brunswick) entered on two years' service of the Board of Missions in Virginia, in the course of which he founded the Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville. Mr. Armstrong returned to New Jersey in 1821, and on the twenty-eighth September he was unanimously elected pastor of Trenton.3 On the twenty- seventh November the Presbytery of New Brunswick, meet- ing in Trenton, the session was opened, according to a cus- tom then prevailing, with Mr. Armstrong's trial sermon for ordination. On the next day, together with Charles Hodge and Peter O. Studdiford, he was ordained, and himself installed.4 At this service Dr. Miller presided ; Rev. George S. Woodhull preached (2 Tim. 4 : 12) ; Rev. E. F. Cooley gave the charge to the ministers, and Rev. D. Comfort that to the congregation. The date of Mr. Armstrong's actual entrance upon the duties of the pastorate is October 20, I821.
During his short residence of about two and a half years, fifty-three new communicants were received on their pro- fession, and fourteen on certificate.
While residing here Mr. Armstrong was married to Sarah Milnor, daughter of Lucius Horatio Stockton.
When Dr. John H. Rice was called to relinquish the church at Richmond, Virginia, he recommended Mr. Arm- strong as his successor, and a call from that congregation was put into his hands February 3, 1824-the same day on which one of his successors in Trenton (James W. Alex- ander ) was received by the Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry. At the following April meeting the pastor read to the Presbytery a statement he had previously made to the Trenton parish, of the reasons of his favorable inclin- ation to the Richmond call. The Rev. Jared D. Fyler (then residing in Trenton) and Joshua Anderson, one of the elders, presented a written statement of the views of the
239
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
people, expressive of their reluctant submission to the wishes of their pastor in the matter, and accordingly the dissolution took place.
Dr. Armstrong remained ten years in Richmond, when he entered the service of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, first as agent, then as secre- tary ; and it was on his passage from Boston to New York, on the business of the Board, that he was wrecked in the steamboat Atlantic, November 27, 1846. The last scene of that catastrophe of which there is any account presents him reading the Gospel, praying with, exhorting and comforting his fellow-passengers, so long as the fatal event was de- laying.
The characteristics of Dr. Armstrong's preaching have been stated by two good judges. The Rev. Dr. James W. Alexander wrote to the compiler of his Memoir :
.
"While he was at Trenton I often listened to his sermons, and there was no man whom at that day I heard with more impression. His sermons were carefully prepared, and were pronounced with a degree of warmth and emotion which are quite unusual. My recollection is vivid of his appeals to the heart, as being of a high order. When at a later period I was called to labor among the same people, I found that he had left that good name which is 'better than precious oint- ment.' There were manifest tokens of his faithfulness in public and in private."
Mr. Theodore Frelinghuysen, now President of Rutgers College, then a member of the bar, says in a letter in 1851 :
"I very often enjoyed the privilege of hearing him while he was a stated minister at Trenton, and the impression made upon my mind, deep and unfading, was that of uncommon earnestness, sincerity, and power. He commenced in his calm and solemn manner; he rose with his subject; his mind kindled and his heart warmed as he discoursed ; and towards the conclusion he poured his whole soul into it, as if he thought he might never speak again, and as if some impenitent friend before him might never hear again the voice of warning and the invita- tions of mercy."5
240
HISTORY OF THE
The Rev. J. C. Smith, of Washington City, says : "One of our own elders knew him as a pastor in Trenton, and he blesses God that through him he was converted to God."6
The congregation was without a settled pastor for about twenty months, when having united in the choice of the Rev. JOHN SMITH, of Connecticut, that minister began to supply the pulpit regularly in December, 1825.7 He was not received by the Presbytery until the following February ; and on the eighth March he was both ordained and installed in Trenton. In that service Dr. Carnahan presided, Dr. Hodge preached (I Cor. I : 21), and both the charges were given by the Rev. E. F. Cooley. Mr. Smith was a native of Wethersfield; a graduate of Yale College ( 1821) and of the Andover Theological Seminary, and a licentiate of the Congregational Association of East Fairfield.
Mr. Smith continued in this charge less than three years, but in that time fifty-nine persons made their first profes- sion. Twenty-six of these were received at the communion of April, 1827; two of whom afterwards entered the min- istry, namely, Mr. George Ely, pastor of Nottingham and Dutch Neck, who died August 14, 1856, and George Bur- rowes, D.D., pastor of Kirkwood, in Maryland; Professor in Lafayette College, and pastor in Newtown, Pennsylvania. One of eleven new communicants in April, 1828, is com- memorated in the following inscription in our church-yard :
"Here lie the remains of JEREMIAH D. LALOR, who departed this life March 8th, A.D. 1845, aged thirty-two years. To those who knew him the remembrance of his virtues is the highest eulogy of his char- acter. He had devoted himself to the service of God in the ministry of reconciliation, and when just upon the threshold of the sacred office was removed by death from the brighest prospects of usefulness, to serve his Maker in another sphere."
Some confusion was created during Mr. Smith's ministry by the indiscreet, however sincere, zeal in what they called the cause of Christ, of two or three superserviceable min-
REV. JOHN SMITH.
-
24I
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
isters and candidates, who wished to introduce those meas- ures for the promotion of the work of a pastor, that had, then at least, the apology of being too new to have taught their warning lessons. An attempt was made to form a distinct congregation, and separate meetings were held for a time, and even a small building erected, which was put into connection with the German Reformed Church; but the Presbyterians gradually returned, and no effort was made, or probably designed, to produce a schism. Mr. Smith, however, in August, 1828, requested a dissolution of the pastoral relation, which was granted by the Presbytery, and in February of the next year he was detached from that body and took charge of a Congregational Church in Ex- eter, New Hampshire. He has since exercised his ministry in Stamford and other towns of Connecticut, and large numbers have become united with the churches he has served. While resident in Trenton, Mr. Smith was married to a daughter of the late Aaron D. Woodruff, Attorney- General of the State.
NOTES. I.
During Dr. How's residence in Trenton several useful public enter- prises were undertaken, in which he, together with the other ministers of the town, participated. In January, 1817, he was of the committee (with Colonels Beatty, Bayard, and Frelinghuysen, and Mr. Wm. Coxe) to prepare a constitution for the New Jersey Colonization Society, then formed. In 1820, the Presbyterian and Episcopal clergy- men were associated with Samuel L. Southard, George Sherman, Charles Ewing, and other philanthropic citizens, in encouraging the institution of a Savings Bank. The same persons were active in found- ing the Apprentices' Library in April, 1821, and Mr. Ewing delivered a discourse in the Presbyterian Church on the last day of that year, in view of the opening of the Library on the following day. In 1816 "The Female Tract Society of Trenton" began the useful ministry which it still continues. In 1822 the ladies of the congregation formed a "Missionary and Education Society," which met once a fortnight to
16 PRES
242
HISTORY OF THE
provide clothing for theological students and for children at mission stations. Whilst the work of the hands was going on, one of the ladies read missionary intelligence. Two associations for the circula- tion of the Scriptures were formed in 1824; in May "The Apprentices' Bible Society," of which Wm. P. Sherman was Secretary, and in August "The Bible Society of Delaware Falls, Auxiliary to the Ameri- can Bible Society." The latter was organized in the State House, and among the speakers were the late Rev. Dr. Milnor, of New York, and "Mr. Bethune, a theological student."
On the twenty-fourth June, 1817, died AARON DICKINSON WOOD- RUFF, who had been a Trustee from May 4, 1789.8 He was born Sep- tember 12, 1762; delivered the Valedictory at the Princeton Com- mencement of 1779; was admitted to the bar 1784; was made Attorney- General of the State in 1793, and annually reelected, except in 1811, until his death. He also served in the Legislature, and was influential in having Trenton selected for the State capital. He was buried in the Trenton church-yard, where his epitaph records that,
"For twenty-four year he filled the important station of Attorney- General with incorruptible integrity. Adverse to legal subtleties, his professional knowledge was exerted in the cause of truth and justice. The native benevolence of his heart made him a patron of the poor, a defender of the fatherless; it exulted in the joys, or participated in the sorrows of his friends."
Mr. Woodruff's successor was SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD, who signed the triple oath required by the charter, (of allegiance to the State, to the United States, and of fidelity as a trustee,) May II, 1818. Until called from Trenton, in 1823, to the cabinet of President Monroe, he was one of the most punctual and active officers of the congregation. He was a Manager and Vice-President of the "Education Society of the Presbytery of New Brunswick," formed in 1819, and a Vice-Presi- dent in the Board of Trustees of the Theological Seminary at Prince- ton. Mr. Southard's public life as Legislator, Judge, Attorney-General, and Governor in his own State, and as a Senator, Secretary of the Navy, and President of the Senate at Washington, needs no record here. He died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, June 26, 1842, at the age of fifty-five.
The name of LUCIUS HORATIO STOCKTON having occurred in this chapter, it deserves commemoration as that of a prominent member of the congregation and church. He was a son of Richard Stockton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a nephew of Elias Boudinot. Mr. L. H. Stockton was for some time District-Attorney of New Jersey, and his nomination to be Secretary of War, within a few weeks (Jan., 1801) of the close of the administration of President Adams, was one of the causes of umbrage to Mr. Jefferson. He died at Trenton, May 26, 1835. Mr. Stockton was eccentric, and a very
243
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
earnest politician, but did not deserve to be called "a crazy, fanatical young man," as Wolcott wrote.9 In a long series of articles in the Trenton Federalist of 1803, Mr. L. H. Stockton defends himself and his deceased uncle, SAMUEL WITHAM STOCKTON, from attacks in the Democratic True American. Mr. S. W. Stockton went to Europe in 1774, and was Secretary of the American Commission to the courts of Austria and Prussia. He negotiated a treaty with Holland, and returned to New Jersey in 1779, where he held various public offices. In 1792 he was an Alderman of Trenton; in 1794 Secretary of State; and his monument in our church-yard records that he died June 27, 1795, (in his forty-third year,) in consequence of being "thrown from his chaise."1º The Rev. James F. Armstrong, who was "long on the most friendly and intimate terms with him," preached at his funeral from I Sam. 20: 3.
While Dr. How was pastor another of the prominent citizens of Trenton and members of this church was removed by death. Samuel Leake was born in Cumberland county, November 2, 1747. He received his preparatory training in the two celebrated schools of Fagg's Manor and Pequea. The Rev. John Blair, Dr. R. Smith, and Enoch Green gave him certificates, 1767-9, of proficiency in different branches, and of his high religious character. After teaching three years in Newcastle, he received (May, 1772) testimonials from Thomas McKean and George Read (two of the three Delaware signers of the Declaration of Independence), George Munro, John Thompson, and the Rev. Joseph Montgomery. He then entered Princeton College, and took his Bachelor's degree in September, 1774. In the following March President Witherspoon gave a written certificate of his quali- fications to teach Greek, Latin, and mathematics, to which he appended : "I must also add that he gave particular attention to the English language while here, and is probably better acquainted with its struc- ture, propriety, and force than most of his years and standing in this country."
Mr. Leake, however, did not resume the employment of teaching, but entered upon the study of the law, first with Richard Howell, Esq., afterwards Governor of the State, and then with Charles Pettit, Esq., of Burlington, and with their certificates, and that of Thomas Mckean (afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania), he was licensed as an attorney in November, 1776. He began practice in Salem, but in October, 1785, removed to Trenton, where he pursued his profession so successfully as to be able to retire before he was enfeebled by age. He paid unusual attention to the students in his office; regularly devoting one hour every day to their examination. I have before me an example of his systematic ways, in a document engrossed in a large hand, beginning thus :
"I. Be it remembered that Samuel Leake, on Sunday, the thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
244
HISTORY OF THE
and eleven, in the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, received the Lord's Supper; James F. Armstrong then being minister of the Gospel, and administering the Supper in that church."
Entries in the same form, with the proper dates, follow as to each of the semi-annual communions until October 1, 1815, when the record is that, "Dr. Miller preached the Action Sermon; Dr. Alexander ad- ministered the ordinance. Mr. Armstrong was sick and absent." The paper continues to make a formal register of each attendance at the Lord's Supper until it closes with that on January 2, 1820, two months before his decease. He prepared similar documents for each of his daughters as they became communicants. Mr. Leake died on the eighth of March, 1820, in his seventy-third year. The Supreme Court being in session at the time, the bar not only resolved to attend the funeral, but recommended to their brethren throughout the State to wear the customary badge of respect. His epitaph is as follows :
"Sacred to the memory of Samuel Leake, Esquire, Sergeant at Law. Died eighth March, A. D. 1820, A. E. 72. Educated to the bar he attained the highest degree of eminence; distinguished for candor, integrity, zeal for his clients and profound knowledge of jurisprudence, he fulfilled the duties of his station with singular usefulness, 'without fear and without reproach.' Deeply versed in human literature, and devoutly studious of the words of sacred truth; he lived the life of a Christian, and died the death of the righteous."11
II.
In the term of Dr. Armstrong's ministry the session and church were painfully concerned with a public affair in which one of their members was implicated. Peter Gordon, Esq. (who was elected an elder in March, 1797, and a Trustee in September, 1804), after eighteen years' tenure of the office of State Treasurer, was found to be in default. While the matter was in course of investigation by the Legislature (1821-2) Mr. Gordon voluntarily withdrew from the com- munion, and from his place in the session, but was restored in June, 1825, and the next month took a certificate of dismission to New York.
III.
During the time of the Rev. John Smith, two of the elders of the church died.
BENJAMIN HAYDEN was in the session in September, 1806-how long previously to that date cannot be ascertained. He was also a Trustee from September, 1811, till his death, which took place Feb- ruary 28, 1827, in his seventy-fourth year. This venerable and excel- lent man left a son of the same name, who died a member of this church, April II, 1858, in his eighty-fifth year.
1
245
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
JOHN BEATTY was a son of the Rev. Charles Beatty, the successor of Wm. Tennent, at Neshaminy. His mother was a daughter of Governor Reading, and his grandmother was of the family of Clinton, so distinguished in the history of New York. Mr. Beatty was a native of Bucks county; graduated at Princeton 1769; was educated in medicine under Dr. Rush, but entered the army of the Revolution, where he soon became a Lieutenant-Colonel. He was among the cap- tured at Fort Washington, on the Hudson, and afterwards rose to the rank of Major, and was Commissary-General of prisoners.12 After the peace he practiced medicine in Princeton, and was Secretary of the New Jersey Medical Society; but in 1783 and other years was in Congress ; in 1789 was Speaker of the State Assembly; and from 1795 to 1805 was Secretary of State. From May, 1815, until his death, he was President of the Trenton Banking Company. He was President of the company which built the noble bridge that unites Trenton to his native county in Pennsylvania.13 General Beatty was a Trustee of the church from 1799 to 1804, and again from 1822 till his death. He was received to the communion May, 1808; ordained to the elder- ship September, 1817, at the same time with James Ewing, Robert McNeely, and Joshua Anderson.14 Chief Justice Ewing wrote his epitaph :
"Sacred to the memory of General John Beatty; born December 10, 1749; died May 30, 1826. Educated as a physician, he became early distinguished for benevolence, assiduity, and skill. In the War of Independence, in important military stations, he faithfully served his country. By the public voice he was called to the discharge of emi- nent civil offices. In the State and National Legislatures repeatedly a representative, always active and influential. For many years a ruling elder of this church. In every walk of life amiable, honorable, and useful. He crowned the virtues of the man, the patriotism of the soldier, and the sagacity of the statesman by the pure piety and sin- cere religion of the devout and humble Christian."
Colonel Erkuries Beatty, of Princeton, was a brother of General Beatty, and father of C. C. Beatty, D.D., of Steubenville. He died in Princeton, February 23, 1823.
IV.
In the summer of 1821 the Rev. John Summerfield, the English Methodist preacher whose visit to this country produced an impres- sion still vividly retained by many of his hearers, passed a few days in Trenton, and occupied the Presbyterian pulpit for two successive evenings. Abstracts of both his sermons are given by his latest biographer, who was one of the large audience that crowded the church. He says: "Mr. Summerfield received the most marked
246
HISTORY OF THE
attention from every class during his brief stay in Trenton; and though suffering all the while from sickness (for he was attacked the day after his arrival), he strove to entertain and edify the various company that sought his society." "A New Life of Summerfield, by William W. Willett." Philadelphia, 1857.
The most notable public event of 1824 was the visit of General. Lafayette to the United States. In his tour he arrived in Trenton on Saturday, the twenty-fifth of September. Next morning he attended public worship in our church; afterwards15 he visited Joseph Bona- parte at Bordentown, and returned to spend the night. He break- fasted here again July 16, 1825.
President Monroe (who was wounded in the battle of Trenton), on his tour of 1817, arrived here on Saturday, June 7th, and attended worship the next day in the Presbyterian Church.
V.
JAMES EWING, father of the Chief Justice, and the tenth child of Thomas and Mary Ewing (p. 218), first came to Trenton as a repre- sentative of Cumberland county, in the Legislature in 1774, and re- moved his residence there in 1779. He was afterwards, under Con- gress, Auditor of Public Accounts, Commissioner of the Continental Loan Office for New Jersey, and Agent for Pensions. He was Mayor of Trenton, 1797-1803. For some years he was a partner of Isaac Collins (p. 198) in merchandise, and there is a letter of condolence from him to Mr. Collins, on the death of his wife, in the Memoir of Mr. C. He was one of the founders of the Library and the Academy. He was a corporator, commissioner, and secretary of the Society in- corporated March 15, 1796, to make the Assanpink navigable from the "Trenton Mills" to "the place where it intersects the stage road from Burlington to Amboy"; and doubtless was in the company who on the third February, 1797, descended the creek in the boat Hope, from "Davidstown," where the upper lock was situated, to Trenton, in three hours, and so opened one half of the proposed line of naviga- tion.16 Mr. Ewing was elected a Trustee of the church September 5, 1808, and ordained an elder September 21, 1817. He continued in both offices until his death, which took place October 23, 1823. In accord- ance with his known objections to the practice, no stone was placed to mark the spot of his interment, which was in our church-yard.17
VI.
It may be placed among the miscellaneous items of 1828, that on the fourteenth July the church was struck with lightning; but the conductor answered its purpose so well that no mischief was done be- yond the shattering of a few panes of glass.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.