USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, N.J. : from the first settlement of the town > Part 25
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W. A. Whitehead (Newark, July 7, 1859) writes about "a letter which I found among some MSS. added to my collection a few days ago." "The letter is dated at 'Belville,' Sept. 16, 1765, but references in the letter indicate a location near Trenton, its purport being that a certain old woman had, in his absence, intruded herself into his Greenhouse, where Lady St. Clair 'lay in' and was then confined to her bed; and afterwards went to his dwelling-house and stole 'four pair of Lady St. Clair's silk stockings,' and two silver spoons, but although caught, the Justice before whom she was taken allowed her to go off, ordering 'a constable to see the thief over Trenton Bridge.' The letter is addressed to Cortlandt Skinner, the Attorney-General, and he threatens to "look out for another place of abode 'if the Justices are not restrained from conniving at robberies,' signing himself 'John Sinclair.'"
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The "Historical Magazine" of May, 1862, says: "Sir John St. Clair, baronet, was from Argyleshire. He had been Lieutenant-Colonel of the 22d Foot, then appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General of this ex- pedition (battle of Monongahela, July, 1755) with the rank of Colonel in America only. In this defeat he was shot through the chest. On January 6, 1756, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the 3d Battalion, Royal American or 60th Foot, and served with his regiment until the peace of 1763, when the 3d and 4th Battalions were disbanded, and he retired on half-pay, having been previously made Colonel in the army (February 19, 1762). He died towards the end of 1767, at Elizabethtown, New York (sic), according to the Gentleman's Maga- sine."
Concerning the baronetcy, "Chambers' Miscellany," vol. 6, p. 2, (Stirling case), says: "To induce British subjects, especially Scots- men of rank, to take land in the district, the new dignity of baronets of Nova Scotia was created. It was to be conferred on acceptable persons who paid for and received a grant of 10,000 acres of land in the colony."
"Maritime Provinces," Boston, 1875, p. 76, also says: "The order of the baronets of Nova Scotia was founded by King Charles I. in 1625, and consisted of 150 well-born gentlemen of Scotland, who re- ceived with their titles and insignia presents of 18 square miles each, in the wild domains of Acadia. These manors were to be settled by the baronets at their own expense, and were expected to yield hand- some revenues. But little was ever accomplished by this order."
Hills' "History of Episcopal Church in Burlington," p. 273, "March 17, 1762, Sir John St. Clair, baronet, and Elizabeth Moreland, married in Burlington by Rev. Colin Campbell."
"I wrote him (Dr. Johnson) one letter to introduce Mr. Sinclair (now Sir John), the member for Caithness, to his acquaintance." Boswell, A. D. 1782.
From a Boston paper, 1768: "Philadelphia, Dec. 7, 1767 .- On Wed- nesday, the 23d November, at his home in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, died Sir John St. Clair, baronet, Colonel of His Majesty's Regiment, and Quartermaster-General of the Army in North America, in which station he has acted for 13 years with great honour and integrity. His death was occasioned by a wound he received through the lungs, on the banks of the Monongahela, in July, 1755, at Braddock's un- fortunate defeat, of which wound he never recovered. He was be- tween 50 and 60 years of age, and has been near 40 years in His Majesty's service. He acted on all occasions with a firmness of spirit, resignation and dignity becoming his profession and character. His remains were interred on Saturday, the 26th, with all military honours. His Excellency, General Gage, accompanied by the gentlemen of his suite from headquarters, and the officers from the adjacent garrisons in New York and New Jersey attended the solemnity.
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"His only son, now Sir John St. Clair, succeeds to his title and estates."
6. In the first edition (1708) of Oldmixon's British Empire in Amer- ica, it is said there are "but two Church of England ministers in both the Provinces" of East and West New Jersey.
The most comprehensive account of the denominations existing in the middle of the century, which I have seen, is in "A digression con- cerning the various sectaries in religion, in the British settlements of North America," contained in Dr. Douglass' "Summary, Historical and Political." Boston, 1753, vol. ii., pp. 112-157.
7. In a map in Humphreys' Historical Account of the Gospel Propa- gation Society, 1730, I find the following topography :
° Hopewell,
° Maidenhead,
° Burlington.
If this was the understanding in 1705, the Hopewell of the manu- script could not be so near Trenton as the "Old Church."
8. In 1732 "the inhabitants of Amwell and Hopewell" applied to the Society for a Missionary. In 1739, Colonel Daniel Coxe made his will, devising one hundred acres in Maidenhead, "known as the town-lot, for the use of an Episcopal Church erected, or to be hereafter erected, in the township of Maidenhead." The minutes of St. Michael's Vestry, of 1775, mention "the glebe of Maidenhead."
9. Joseph Peace owned land near the barracks. He was the father of Mrs. Sarah Chubb, from whom the lot was purchased under the law of 1758. It consisted of one acre, and was part of a tract of 36 acres, purchased by Peace from James Trent, in 1732, for 170 pounds in silver money.
IO. November 1, 1861, I saw in the Post Office Department at Wash- ington, the thin little folio which includes the entire account current or ledger, of Dr. Franklin, while Postmaster General. In it is the ac- count of "The Post Office at Trenton," which places the revenue of the office in 1776 at fio. 16. II. See the account given at large in "Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society." 1862, vol. 9, pp. 83-85.
II. April 5, 1744. Dr. Franklin mentions "Mr. John Coxe, of Tren- ton, and Mr. Martyn, of the same place," among the first members of a Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Sparks' "Life of Franklin," vi : 29.
12. Wm. Morris and Richard Salter were Justices of the Peace at Trenton. Gov. Belcher (Dec., 1755) disapproved of their course in committing a number of Susquehannah and Delaware Indians to jail, as they belonged to Pennsylvania. An. Index, p. 330. See also p. 280.
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Nov. 2. Saltar was the name of the Treasurer of the State who, in October, 1803, was seized in his house in Trenton, and robbed of the public funds to the amount of eleven thousand dollars.
13. April 5, 1757, is the date of a letter of Dr. Franklin in Trenton, on his way from Philadelphia to New York, to take passage for Eng- land. "My kind friend Mr. Griffith's carriage being too weak in the wheels, I have accepted Mr. Master's obliging offer and take his car- riage forward from this place, and he will return to town in Mr. Grif- fith's. About a dozen of our friends accompanied us quite hither to see us out of the province, and we spent a very agreeable evening to- gether." Sparks' "Franklin," vii : 131.
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CHAPTER VI.
I. Dr. Green, in his "Notes," overlooked the pastor of Trenton and the Rev. Mr. Guild, when he wrote: "In the Province of New Jersey it is not known that there was a single clergyman who belonged to the Synod of Philadelphia." (Discourses and Notes, p. 281-2.)
2. This motto of the House of Somers was adopted, probably from the Governor's answer, by the Cliosophic Society of the College, in- stituted in 1765. It was the theme of the striking oration before the rival societies, by the Rev. Baynard R. Hall, D.D., in the commence- ment week of 1852.
3. There is a particular report of the first commencement in the Penn- sylvania Gazette, for December 13, 1748.
4. I have seen (I suppose now in the State House Archives) a Peti- tion of the Trustees of Princeton College, dated May 23, 1753, signed Caleb Smith, to the House of General Assembly at Burlington, asking for permission to open a lottery for the benefit of the college.
Also, an application of the "Trustees of the College of New Jersey at Newark," to the Assembly at Perth Amboy, November 9, 1748, for "assistance toward defraying the necessary charges of it." Mr. Cowell, John Pierson, Tim. Johnes and Thos. Arthur were the committee of the Trustees to wait upon the Assembly, but the petition is signed only by the last three.
5. The interesting and valuable journal of Davies, from 1753 to 1755, is given entire in Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia, first series, chap. xii. It adds to my personal interest in this part of the history, to find that it was possibly my ancestor, Matthew Clarkson, of Philadelphia, whom Davies mentions as a fellow-passenger to London, and certainly it was the great-grandfather of my great-grandfather, who is referred to in Davies' journal of January 27, 1754, when having preached in Berry street, Davies says: "When I entered the pulpit it filled me with reverence to reflect that I stood in the place where Mr. Clarkson, Dr. Owen, Dr. Watts, and others had once officiated."
6. I have the original of the following:
"REV'D SIR,
"BORDENTOWN, December, '55.
I intended to have seen you in my way to Philadelphia, but the business I am upon naturally led me to Freehold, Allenton, &c., and now to go by Trenton would be too much out of the way. I have used and dispersed these pages (like the enclosed) in the best manner I could, and am still prosecuting the design. You will please to accept
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of this, and use it as your wisdom and sincere concern for the good of the college shall direct. I hope to see you in my return, which per- haps may be some time next month, and conclude for the present with subscribing myself,
Rev'd Sir, Your humble serv't, JOHN BRAINERD.
To the Rev'd Mr. Cowell."
Addressed "To the Rev'd Mr. David Cowell, at Trenton-per Mr. Jas. Bell."
On the back is this memorandum:
"Feb. 16, 1756, Rec'd of Jno. Wellin for Princeton subscn. 2-10."
7. "The Treasurer was directed to pay the Rev. David Cowell, for his inspection of the College from the 14th of December to the time of President Edward's arrival in Princeton the sum of eleven pounds." Maclean's "History of the College of New Jersey," I : 174.
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CHAPTER VII.
I. Mr. Cowell bequeathed fifty pounds to the College.
2. In August, 1874, the congregation placed a marble monument on his grave, inscribed :
"REV. DAVID COWELL, First Pastor of this Church, 1736-1760. Born near Boston, Dec'r 12, 1704; Died in Trenton, Dec'r I, 1760."
(The old headstone still remains.)
3. Something more might be made out of this "memorandum" (which is in our archives) by a deciphering of the shorthand.
4. I have a leaf of notes on the text "Death-is yours," with six heads, twenty-eight sub-heads and two applications, marked "Sept. 7, 1740, Maidenhead, Thos. Moore's wife's burying."
5. In the church-yard is the headstone of John Dagworthy, Esq., died Sept. 4, 1756, aged 70 years.
6. Total, 260; not equal to Mrs. Honeywood, noticed by Fuller, who had at her decease (living?) 367 descendants; nor to Dame Hester Temple, who lived to see 700. (Cited in Southey's "Life of Cowper," chap. 17.)
August 2, 1868, Janet Davis, widow, died in Trenton, who was 96 years old the previous June. She was admitted to her first communion in Paisley, Scotland, when she was 16, and had, therefore, been 80 years in communion. She was received to the Trenton Church in 1819.
7. For more about Armitage, see Hale's "History," pp. 18-24.
8. Benjamin Yard has a "plateing forge at west end of Trenton, and furnace for making steel," Governor Belcher, 1750, in "New Jersey Archives," vii : 558, 560.
9. I had a letter from David Cowell, July 14, 1782, Trenton, to "Benjamin Cornwill, near Penny-Town," which I sent to Wm. W. Cowell, Wrentham, Mass. He says, "I talked with Jacob Blackwell about your affair, and assured him that you are willing to have your money matters settled by the Table." (See p. 291.)
I also sent to W. W. Cowell (Nov. 1871) four small sheets of notes of sermons by Rev. David Cowell, preached 1738-1746.
IO. A letter of Dr. Franklin, April 5, 1744, mentions among the members of a Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, "Mr. Morris,
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APPENDIX.
Chief Justice of the Jerseys; Mr. Home, Secretary of do." Sparks' "Life of Franklin," vi., 29.
II. It has been suggested to me by Rev. John Miller, May, 1874, that the difficulty about Sir John's being in Trenton may be removed by supposing the meaning of the sentence on page 91, to be given by putting "and brother to the celebrated Sir John Hume" in parenthesis.
12. A letter from William Nelson, Esq., Secretary of the New Jer- sey Historical Society, July 22, 1890, says : "I have just received from a London bookseller a handsome quarto volume in manuscript, con- taining about 150 pages of Poems of Archibald Home, late Secretary of His Majesty's Province of New Jersey. It has evidently been copied with the greatest care; I should judge by a professional pen- man, for some devoted friend of Mr. Hume, and evidently about the time of his death, in 1744."
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APPENDIX.
CHAPTER VIII.
I. In Cooley's "Genealogy of Early Settlers of Trenton and Ewing," Trenton, 1883, p. 39, it is said that "Mr. Clark bought and lived till his death on the night of the battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776, on the place near the church, now owned and occupied by Edward Ship- pen McIlvaine. He was in a room whose floor was covered with weary, worn and sleeping soldiers. He was supposed to have been in the act of hanging his watch over the mantel when he fell into the open fire, and there burned to death. His condition was first dis- covered by a negro servant. He died aged 88.
2. May 15, 1872, I officiated at the funeral of Joseph Yard, great- grandson of this Joseph (the same, I suppose, as on pp. 54, 55, 68, etc.). At this time were living two of his brothers, Jethro and Archibald William (see this name, p. 143). May 29, 1874, I attended the funeral of Jethro, and May 26, 1880, that of Archibald William.
3. It may now be added that Mr. Benjamin Fish Chambers, named here as "the present Clerk of the Board" of Trustees, died August 22, 1885. John Chambers (elder 1760-1764) was brother of the grandfather of the present Robert Chambers of our church (1859). "The Robert Chambers family" pedigree is given in Cooley's "Genealogy," p. 29-34-
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CHAPTER IX.
I. In several of the manuscript sermons of Mr. Kirkpatrick which I have seen, the texts (sometimes several verses) are written in Greek, an indication that his college studies were not useless.
2. Preface to Sermons. Rev. Wm. Tennent, of Freehold, wrote an account of the state of things to Dr. Finley, which is printed in Dr. Alexander's "Log College," pp. 367-9. In that letter he mentions that both of his sons, John and William, were partakers "of the shower of blessing."
3. His name is written Killpatrick in the earlier minutes.
4. Presbyteries would act for Sessions, too. Thus in October, 1756, a request was presented by Jacob Reeder, a member of Hopewell and Maidenhead congregations, "that for the sake of the conveniency of his family, the Presbytery would please to dismiss him from the aforesaid congregation (which yet he professed a regard to), that he may join with Amwell; and the Presbytery taking into consideration said re- quest, judge it to be reasonable, and grant it."
5. A second exegesis used to be required of candidates, besides the one given for licensure. The Minutes of the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick for October, 1761, providing trials for certain licentiates in view of ordination, state "that these three young gentlemen represented to the Presbytery their great fatigue and continued hurry in riding from place to place, and begged to be excused from making exegeses, as usual before ordination, and these their requests were granted." In the last century a branch of trial was sometimes introduced which would scarcely be considered reverent now. In the licensure of Charles Tennent, by the Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1736, record is made of "a previous test of his ability in prayer." The examinations on scholar- ship were more specific than with us; for example, Latta and Ander- son, at one sederunt, were examined on "Logic, Pneumatics, and Ontology." (Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, 1765.)
6. I have seen a letter from the Rev. David Bostwick, New York, November 3, 1760, "to the Rev. Wm. Kirkpatrick, chaplain to the Jer- sey Regiment at Albany." In it he says, "Being just now informed that the people of Elizabethtown are about to apply to you as a candi- date for settlement in the ministry since the dismission of Mr. Kettletas, I should rejoice to see them so happily supplied," but goes on to request him to engage nowhere till he (Mr. B.) sees him. "There
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are certain reasons for this which I do not choose now to mention. Only, I will request the favour of you to come to New York as soon as you can. I depend on preaching a few sermons here. I rejoice to hear that God has preserved your life and health through the diffi- culties and dangers of a campaign."
There is in the papers shown me by Mr. Kirkpatrick's grandson (Donald Kirkpatrick, of Syracuse, N. Y.), an unfinished letter or draught of the Rev. Mr. Kirkpatrick, dated Montreal, September 10, 1760, as follows (no address) :
"DEAR SIR :
"I received your kind letter of the 13th of July per post, for which I heartily thank you. In return for it I have the pleasure of informing you of the reduction of Montreal and of all Canada to the obedience and subjection of his Britannic Majesty, which happened on the 8th inst. You will, sir, no doubt have accounts from the public prints of this affair better than I can give, and perhaps before this comes to hand; yet it may not be disagreeable to have something from the hand of your friends.
"I gave my dear, good friend, Mr. McWhorter, an account of the reduction of Fort Levy on Ile Royale, which very probably he has communicated to you, as I may desire you to do this to him, for 'tis very seldom I am able to command so much time as to write to you both at the same time, having engaged correspondence with so many.
"On the 30th of August our army decamped from the Ile Royale and embarked in their batteaux, proceeding down the river towards Montreal having left about 300 men to garrison that fort. The diffi- culty of the Rapids, together with bad weather that we met with, detained us four days before we came to the inhabited country of our enemy. On the 5th of September our whole army were collected to- gether on Ile Perro (Perreau?) about twenty miles above Montreal. The inhabitants of that island had left their houses, and many of them retired into the woods, and in the evening great numbers came and took the oath of fidelity, and had liberty to return to their habitations.
"On the morning of the 6th our army re-embarked for Montreal, being distant from the upper end of the island about five or six miles. We knew not in what shape we should find our enemy, whether on the shore to dispute our landing, or in ambuscade to surprise us, or entrenched, or in the field, or in the city."
7. I am told that it is stated in "Clark's History of Onondaga", that Mr. Kirkland was induced to settle among the Oneida Indians by the influence of Rev. W. Kirkpatrick and Mr. Wheelock. "Trenton, June 21, 1761," is the date of a letter, from John Brainerd to the Rev. Enoch Green, written "in a minute or two, as I passed through town"- printed in the Presbyterian Magasine, October, 1852.
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APPENDIX.
8. I have seen in MS. "A state of the accounts between the Rev. W. K., deceased, and the cong'n of Trenton, from December 1, 1761, to May, 1766," "containing three years before his dismission and one year and five months after it."
9. I have seen a considerable number of Mr. Kirkpatrick's manu- script sermons, dated from 1760 to 1768. Among them is one marked "Pennington, October 15, 1764," and "Bedminster, September 20, 1766." At one or both of these places the sermon was applied to rousing the congregation to the duty of rebuilding their church. He was requested to preach on the day appointed to open a subscription, or as he says, "to be your monitor." "It is a standing reproach to you to live in houses lined with cedar, and that the house of God not only lacks every decent ornament, but be inferior even to your barns for your grain and houses for your cattle."
Another is marked "Pennington, March 16, 1766, preached on occa- sion of the funeral of Mr. Elijah Hunt" (possibly Hart). In it he says, "Not long since we were called together in this place to pay the last tribute to the memory of a dearly beloved sister, Mrs. Guild."
In this year also he preached at the dedication of the second church edifice of the Hopewell (Pennington) congregation.
The list of sermons and dates is as follows :
1. April 10, 1760. "Tn. O." (Trenton old.)
March 21, 1761. Trenton.
Aug. 26, 1764. Trenton.
2. Nov. 22, 1761. Amwell, July 17. (No year.)
3. Nov. 29, 1761. Trenton.
Oct. 16, 1763. T. O.
July 10, 1769. (This sermon was also marked in another hand, "April, '82," with others bearing marks of having been used after his death.)
4. August 29, 1762.
Feb. 12, 1769. A. O.
5. March 13, 1763. Trenton.
6. May 15, 1763. Trenton.
("The last week has brought us the definitive treaty of friendship and peace concluded by the prin- cipal contending powers in Europe." Text, Ps. II0:2.)
7. July 17, 1763. Trenton. June 12, 1767. A. O.
8. Nov. 27, 1763.
9. Dec. 3, 1763. ("At the baptism of John Reeder." No place men- tioned.)
IO. Sept. 2, 1764. Trenton. Oct. 15, 1764. Pennington.
II. Sept. 20, 1766. Bedminster.
12. Sept. 8, 1765. Trenton.
13. Nov. 17, 1765. Trenton. May 3, 1767. A. O. July 3, 1768. A. N.
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14. Feb. 9, 1766. Trenton.
15. March 16, 1766. Pennington, funeral of Elijah Hunt.
19. Jan. 1, 1767. Am. N. (Amwell New?) He mentions two instances of mortality in the last week, Wm. Pierson and Wm. Ely, Junior.
20. Sept. 25, 1768. "A. M."
21. Aug. 25. Date of year obliterated, but it was on the death of Rev. Mr. Treadwell, rector of the Episcopal Church of Trenton, who was settled here in 1763, and his successor in 1770.
IO. The Convention had annual sessions alternately in New Jersey and Connecticut, until 1776. See Minutes by Dr. Field.
II. The name of the Rev. Jacob Kirkpatrick, D.D., is so much identified with the churches of Amwell, where he is now [1858] ac- tively passing the forty-eighth year of his pastorate, that it will meet a natural inquiry to state, that Dr. Kirkpatrick does not know that he has any family connection with his predecessor and namesake.
On June 20, 1860, Dr. Kirkpatrick delivered An Historical Discourse at Amwell, on the fiftieth anniversary of his ministry in that church. It was printed by order of the Presbytery of Raritan, by Martien, Philadelphia. Dr. Kirkpatrick died in May, 1886.
12. According to the MS. account mentioned at p. (183) the salary was "£100, fire wood, hay to winter a horse, per annum." The town congregation paid two-thirds, the country one-third. The account ends with a balance due "to the time of his dismission, exclusive of wood and hay, £123, 7. 1." Add "interest from May I, 1766, till Feb. I, 1786, exclusive of three years and nine months, for depreciating times, containing sixteen years." 139. 2. 8.
I23. 7. I.
£262. 9. 9.
"Proposed to the Trustees of Trenton as due on the three years before dismission." "He was also a stated supply for one year and five months=£141, 13, 4." "His salary was as before by order and agreement."
The Committee of Presbytery on the question of salary due (met Aug. 3, 1786) were Dr. Witherspoon, Edward Bainbridge and John Miehelm and "upon the whole are of the opinion that no suffi- cient ground appears to suppose that there are any arrears due, from the Trenton part of the congregation, before the time of Mr. Kirkpatrick's dismission, Dec. 1, 1764; but that they think a sum not less than £27 of arrears at that time was due from the country con- gregation. They are also of the opinion that for the year and five months in which Mr. Kirkpatrick served as a stated supply before his removal to Amwell, there is due from the town congregation £84,
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8, 10, and from the country congregation £37, all these sums exclusive of interest, which seems to us to be claimed on equitable principles."
In a will made by Mrs. Kirkpatrick before her remarriage (Nov. 7, 1769), she mentions "my two daughters, Lettice Charlton and Han- nah," "my son, William." She leaves to the latter "his deceased father's watch, silver-plated shoe buckles, silver stock buckle, shirt buckle, gold sleeve buttons." Her brother-in-law, James Evans, and friend, Thomas Charlton, and his wife, Lettice, are her executors.
William's son, Donald Kirkpatrick (grandson of our pastor), called to see me in August, 1860, with his stepmother, Mrs. Hollister, and went to Amwell and had the monuments put in repair.
22 PRES
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CHAPTER X.
I. May II, 1769, Governor Franklin writes: "Mr. Reed, our Deputy Secretary, has, I understand, let his house in Trenton and intends soon for England, to marry De Berdt's daughter." "Colonial Docu- ments of New Jersey," x: 114.
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