USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, N.J. : from the first settlement of the town > Part 3
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Latin, and in such Latin as might be expected from the circumstances it describes. "For," he says, "I spent only three years in the study of languages and the arts, and for twenty-five years I have labored almost constantly with my hands. A Latin, Greek or Hebrew book I have sometimes not had in my hands for a whole year. I have scarcely any books: possess no dictionary but an imperfect Rider. I have no commentaries, nor theological systems nor his- tories. I have no leisure for reading, nor for writing dis- courses for the church, and often know not my text before the Sabbath." The letter is chiefly in reference to some physical and metaphysical arguments against Deists, Socinians and other heretics, which Morgan had sent to Mather some months before, but which had not been ac- knowledged. He incidentally mentions that "in Hopewell and Maidenhead, thirty miles distant, where the Rev. Moses Dickinson preaches, there is a great increase of the church."
Whether there were any unfavorable rumors in regard to Mr. Morgan when he came from New England, is not certain ; but he seems to have been received by the Presby- tery with some caution. On the 21st September, 1710, a committee was appointed "to inquire into Mr. Morgan's and [Paulus] Van Vleck's affair, and prepare it for the Presbytery." In the afternoon the committee reported on "Mr. Morgan's case," and "after debating thereon," he was admitted to the Presbytery. There was "serious de- bating" upon Van Vleck's case before he was received. Within two years Van Vleck (who was settled with the Dutch Presbyterian congregation at Neshaminy), was found guilty of bigamy and other offenses. Mr. Morgan's irregularities begin to be noticed in 1716, when his "ab- sence this and several years by-past being inquired into, it was resolved that a letter should be writ, informing him that if he comes not, nor sends sufficient reasons against
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
next year, we shall take it for granted that he has alto- gether deserted us." It was at this session that the Presby- tery of Philadelphia divided itself into three (Philadelphia, New Castle and Long Island), and formed the Synod of Philadelphia, and there being no minutes of the Presby- tery extant after 1716 until 1733, the further history of this part of Morgan's delinquency is not traceable. He appeared at Synod in 1717, and was a punctual and active attendant for several years. In 1728 "divers papers of complaint" against him were presented to the Synod by some members of his church. Of the seven charges one related to astrological experiments, another to dancing and a third to intemperance. The Synod judged that, though Mr. Morgan may have been imprudent in some particulars, the accusations proceeded from a "captious and querulous spirit"; and as to the charge of intemperance, "it appears to the Synod to be a groundless prosecution against one who has ever been esteemed a temperate man." But on this head the Synod were probably too charitable, as in 1736, when Morgan had been settled in Hopewell for some seven years, he was tried by the Presbytery and found guilty of intemperance and suspended. A reference from the Presbytery to the Synod in May, 1737, led to the directing of the Presbyteries of Philadelphia and East Jersey15 to meet as a committee at Maidenhead in August, and review the case. After this resolution was adopted, a paper was presented by Enoch Armitage, the preacher of the "Meditations," "signed by many hands of the congre- gations of Hopewell and Maidenhead, requesting that since Mr. Morgan is not likely to be useful any more as a minister among them, from his repeated miscarriages, if the Synod should see cause to restore him to his ministry, he might not be reinstated as their minister." Upon this the Synod came to the decision: "That the people of Hope- well and Maidenhead be left at their liberty to entertain
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Mr. Morgan as their pastor or not, even supposing the committee appointed to meet on his affair in August, should see cause to restore him to the ministry; only the Synod enjoins the people to pay to Mr. Morgan what arrears are due to him for time past."* The committee left him under suspension, which continued until 1738, when the Presby- tery restored him; but his name is not found again on the records as present after 1739.
During Mr. Morgan's pastorate-1729-1736-his resi- dence was near Maidenhead church. In the course of that time the people of Hopewell opened a subscription for the purchase of a parsonage, or, as they expressed it, "a planta- tion to be a dwelling-place at all times" for the minister of "the Presbyterian society in that town" [township]. If the subscription should admit of it, a Latin school was to be founded on the plantation. Mr. Hale, from whose col- lections I obtain these facts, thinks it "probable that this resulted in the purchase of the parsonage-farm on the west side of the Scotch road, where for so many years resided the Rev. John Guild and the Rev. Joseph Rue, successively pastors of the First Presbyterian Church of Hopewell at Pennington."
As names16 help to identify localities, and preserve other historical traces, I subjoin a list of the subscribers to the parsonage :
Timothy Titus,
Edmund Palmer,
William Lawrence,
Alexander Scott,
Thomas Burrowes, Jr.,
Edward Hunt,
John Branes,
Thomas Hendrick,
Cornelius Anderson, Robert Akers,
Benjamin Severance,
Peter La Rue,
Francis Vannoy, John Fidler,
Jonathan Moore,
Andrew Milbourn,
* Records of the Presb. Church. The minutes of the committee are inserted under the date of the Synod's session of May 24, 1738.
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Roger Woolverton, Benjamin Wilcocks, Johannes Hendrickson, Henry Oxley, Roger Parke, John Parke,
Ralph Hunt,
Joseph Hart,
Abraham Anderson, Bartholomew Anderson, Joseph Price,
Ephraim Titus,
Robert Blackwell,
Ralph Hunt, Jr.,
Richard Bryant, Jonathan Stout, Jonas Wood, Thomas Read, John Hunt, Jonathan Furman, Samuel Furman, John Carpenter, Samuel Hunt, Nathaniel Moore, George Woolsey, Jonathan Wright, Caleb Carman, Elnathan Baldwin.
CHAPTER III.
THE TRENTON CHURCH : THE REV. DAVID COWELL.
1714-1738.
Heretofore the principal settlements of Hopewell were at some distance from the "Falls of the Delaware." But now the enterprise of William Trent opened the way for the secular and ecclesiastical progress of the township in an- other direction. Mr. Trent had come to Pennsylvania from Inverness, in Scotland, but belonged to the Church of England. He was a merchant in Philadelphia, and, not- withstanding his unprofessional occupation, was for many years a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and Speaker of the House of Assembly, and withal is called "Colonel."1 Mr. Trent, in 1714, bought Mahlon Stacy's tract of eight hundred acres, on both sides of the Assanpink creek, and some time afterwards removed his residence thither. He soon fell into the same lines of public life which he had left in the sister province, for he represented Burlington county in the Legislature of 1721 ; was Speaker in 1723; and in the same year was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He died, however, in the first year of his office, December 25, 1724.
That "Trent's-town," or "Trent-town," was growing to a respectable condition is indicated by the direction of the Governor in 1719, that the county courts should be held here, and it became the seat of the Supreme Court in 1724. As the population thickened, the convenience of the people would call for a church within reach of a walk; and it is reasonable to suppose that before the time had come for building a new church the Presbyterians in and near the
(31)
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HISTORY OF THE
town would hold religious meetings there, and might even erect some temporary structure which would afterwards be properly regarded as the foundation of the new church. In tracing the deeds of the lot now occupied by the State-street church, there is an appearance of its having been long de- signed, if not partially used, for church purposes. In May, 1684, Mahlon Stacy2 conveyed to Hugh Standeland sixty acres on the north side of the Assanpink. His heir-at-law, in 1707, conveyed to Joshua Anderson one-fifth of the same. This fifth, or twelve acres, Anderson, in November, 1722, conveyed to Enoch Andrus. On April 10, 1727, Andrus conveyed a portion of his lot-one hundred and fifty feet square-for the nominal sum of five shillings, to
John Porterfield,
William Yard,
Daniel Howell,
William Hoff,
Richard Scudder,
John Severns,
Alexander Lockart, Joseph Yard.3
The witnesses to the conveyance are John Anderson, Francis Giffing and Daniel Howell, junior.
Now, Enoch Andrus was one of the trustees in the deed of Basse and Revell of 1698-9 for the Maidenhead church; five of his eight grantees were signers of the call of the first pastor of the town church in 1736, which they subscribe as "inhabitants of Trenton belonging to the Presbyterian con- gregation"; Joshua Anderson was an active Presbyterian, living near the town ; Lockart was the grantor, Scudder and Howell were among the grantees of the country church. All this looks as if a church plot in town may have been long in view, although no specific object is mentioned in the conveyances. This, indeed, does not appear in the deeds until August 24, 1763, when Joseph Yard, sole survivor of the joint tenants, conveys the same lot to "the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton, for the special uses and trust following, that is to say, to be and remain forever
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
for the use of public worship and as a burial place for the Presbyterian congregation of Trenton forever."4 The joint tenancy was undoubtedly for the purpose of holding the lot for the congregation, which was not incorporated until 1756.
Another portion of the lot was purchased in 1759. A deed of July 23, of that year, from Moore Furman, Sheriff of Hunterdon, conveyed to the Trustees a lot described as follows :
"Being lot No. 3, beginning at the corner of the Presbyterian Meet- ing-house lot of land on the north side of the street or road that leads towards the old iron works, and from thence runs along the line of the said meeting-house lot north three degrees west, 2 chains and 14 links to the land of William Morris, Esq., and from thence runs along his line N. 87º E. one chain, 23 links to a post, being a corner of lot No. 4; and from thence runs along the line of the same S. 3º E., two chains and 14 links to the aforesaid street or road, and from along the same one chain and 23 links to the first mentioned corner or place of beginning."
This part of the present grounds was bought for ten pounds proclamation money, being sold under execution, at the suit of James Hazard and Richard Alsop, Executors of Nathaniel Hazard, against Benjamin Stevenson, Executor of Enoch Anderson.5 The trustees took it "for the use and benefit of the said Presbyterian Church of Trenton, to bury their dead in, and for other public uses of the said Church."
From this it appears that the purchase of 1759 was of a lot about eighty feet front; making, with the lot of 1727, a front of two hundred and thirty-one feet.
The present dimensions of the lot, as surveyed in 1840, are :
South line (the front), 247 feet 9 in.
North
24I
East 66
142 "
West
I26 “
3 PRES
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Over one of the doors of the church is a marble tablet, thus inscribed :
"PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. FORMED 1712, BUILT 1726, REBUILT 1805."
This memorial was transferred to its present place, from the brick church taken down in 1805; and the first two dates were copied from a similar inscription found in the stone building which preceded the brick. The date of 1712 is presumed to apply to the organization of the country church. There is more difference of opinion about the second line-some supposing it to be the date of the frame church on Lockart's ground, which superseded the log building first erected. But while the matter is not certain, the weight of probability appears to be in favor of the supposition that some kind of building was erected on the Andrus ground a year before he made the formal convey- ance of 1727, and that this is the explanation of "Built 1726."
I am strengthened in this conclusion by finding that sixty- six years ago the tradition of the day was to the same effect. In a note prepared April 25, 1792, by the Rev. James F. Armstrong, in compliance with the call of the General Assembly for historical documents, and in which he refers to "Mr. Chambers and Mr. Benjamin Yard," as his author- ities, in this statement :
"The first Presbyterian congregation in the county of Hunterdon was formed in the township of Trenton, and the church called the Old House was built about the year 1712, where the Rev. Robert Orr, a Scotsman, preached part of his time during three or four years; the remainder of his time he preached at Maidenhead, where a church . was built about the year 1716. *
* * The congregation of Trenton, in or about the year 1726, built a church in the village of Trenton, not as a different congregation, but for the convenience of that part of congregation in and near the town."
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
In this place may be appropriately inserted a description of the original town church, furnished for this volume by my lamented friend and fellow elder, Francis Armstrong Ewing, M. D., whose departure from this life before the publication, will call upon me to introduce his name and character more fully in a later chapter. The engraving is taken from a drawing made by Dr. Ewing from the descrip- tions of those who remembered the first church.
1194948
THE OLD STONE CHURCH.
"The old stone church, built in 1726-the first of the series-stood on the southwest corner of the church lot, on the same site as its successor, the brick one, but not covering so large a space. It fronted south on Second street (now State), standing a little back from the line of the street, and having a large flat stone before the door. Its front presented in the center a large doorway, closed by two half-doors, on each side of which was a pretty large window, square-headed, as was the door ; and probably over
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HISTORY OF THE
the door another window, though on this point there is a difference of recollection. The stones of the building, free of wash or plaster, showed only their native hue, or that acquired by long exposure to the weather. The roof, with gables to the street, was of the curb or double-pitched kind, and was covered with shingles, each neatly rounded or scalloped. Entering the front door, a middle aisle, floored with wood, led towards the pulpit, which was at the opposite or north end. The first object reached was a settle, occu- pied during service by the sexton. Raised one step from the floor was an inclosed space with desk in front, where stood the minister while administering the sacraments or hearing the catechism. Behind and above was the pulpit, of wood, unpainted, as was all the woodwork in the build- ing, except the ceiling, having a soundboard over it, fast- ened against the rear wall. In this wall, on each side of the pulpit, was a window corresponding to those in front. The pulpit stairs rose from the pastor's pew, which was against the rear wall on the east side of the pulpit. A gal- lery ran around the front and two sides, the stairs to which rose in the front corners. Between the front door and these corner stairs were two square pews on each side, of unequal size, over the one of which, nearest the stairs, was one of the front windows. Before these pews was a cross-aisle, leading to the stairs and to the side-aisles. These were narrower than the middle one, and led to the north wall. All the pews against the walls were square, and, like all the others, had the usual high, straight backs of the time. Sitting in church was not then the easy, cushioned affair of modern days. Two square pews against the rear wall; four on each side, the fourth from the front being in the corner, and the four on the front completed the number of fourteen. The rest of the floor was occupied by narrow pews or slips, opening into the side and middle aisles. The ceiling was wooden, curved in four ways (the lines of junc-
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
tion rising from the corners), and painted in a sort of clouded style, blue and white, intended to represent the sky and clouds, if the childish impressions of one of my in- formants have not thus mistaken the mottled results of time and dampness.
"While the old church was standing, there was a tradi- tion that there was a vault under the building, but it was not known where. When the house was taken down the vault was discovered, containing two coffins with plates, and other evidences that the bodies were those of persons of standing and importance. In the brick church, in the floor within the railing before the pulpit, was a trap door, which was said to lead to this vault. The vault was cov- ered over when the present church was built, and is em- braced in one of the burial lots in the space where the old house stood .*
"The old church was rich enough to own a bier, which, except during service and when not in use, was kept in the middle aisle. There was no pulpit Bible; the pastor's family Bible supplied its place, being taken to church in the morning and carried back after the afternoon service. This return being once neglected, and the book being needed in the evening, 'Black George,' the minister's boy, was sent to bring it. After a long absence he came running back, alarmed and agitated, saying he had stumbled over the 'pall-bearers,' meaning the bier. There was seldom service in the evening, and no provision for it; when needed, two large brass candlesticks, belonging to the pastor's wife, were put in requisition to enlighten and decorate the pulpit.
"In the yard behind the church stood a fine apple tree, much resorted to for its shade, its blossoms, and its fruit, by the children from the school-house, which was on the eastern part of the same lot. This school was taught by Mr. Nicholas Dubois, who united in himself the offices of
* The mystery of the vault will be explained in a later chapter.
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HISTORY OF THE
elder, teacher and chorister; in which last capacity he had a place with his choir in the gallery.
"In the pews of the old church I have described, were gathered every Sabbath, to listen to the preachers of the olden time, the principal families of that day. Of these a few relics still linger among us, treasuring up the memory of others; while even the names of most of them are al- most unknown to our present people. There were Hunt and Milnor, the leading merchants of their time, whose names were for many years attached to the corners they respectively occupied (now Norcross' and Britton's). There was Leake, learned in the law, but of extreme simplicity and guilelessness ; Smith, eminent as a physician and judge; Belleville, from France, at the head of the medical profes- sion, and esteemed by the highest authorities in the neigh- boring cities; the elder, Judge Ewing; and besides these, the Gordons, Ryalls, Haydens, Calhouns, Yards, Moores, Collins, Chambers, Woolseys and others whose names and memories have nearly passed away. In another place will be found the names of eminent preachers, whose voice at times filled the old house.
"But all things come to an end, and so did the old stone church. Having stood for nearly eighty years witnessing the growth of the town almost from its beginning, and the stirring events of the Revolution, it was at length taken down in the year 1804, to make room for its successor. On the last Sabbath before its destruction, besides the installa- tion of two new elders, the communion was administered. The solemnities of that occasion must have been deeply impressive, for the language and manner of the pastor, and, indeed, the whole scene, are still spoken of, by some who were present, with strong emotion."
The Rev. Mr. Armstrong's memorandum, already quoted, proceeds to say: "After the founding of the two places of worship in the township of Trenton, Messrs. Hubbard, Wil-
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
son and Morgan, unsettled ministers, preached in succession at Trenton and the old house; but their first settled pastor was the Rev. David Cowell." Morgan has already been mentioned in connection with the other Hopewell churches and with Maidenhead. Of Hubbard and Wilson, the date and duration of their ministries, nothing is known beyond Mr. Armstrong's record. It has been suggested to me that the first-named person may have been the Rev. Jonathan Hubbard (the family name is sometimes spelled Hobart), of Connecticut, who graduated at Yale in 1724, and died in 1765. He was a fellow collegian and townsman of the Rev. Dr. Richard Treat, of Abington, Pennsylvania. Dr. Treat was at the Synod of 1733, when the Trenton people applied for supplies, and the conjecture is that he may have obtained the services of Mr. Hubbard, who about that time discon- tinued his connection with the church of Eastbury, Con- necticut. 6.
There was a Rev. John Wilson, who, on September 19, 1729, according to the minutes of the Synod of Philadel- phia under that date, "coming providentially into these parts, signifying his desire of being admitted as a member of the Synod, his credentials being read, and the Synod satisfied therewith, was unanimously received." He was afterwards employed at Newcastle, where some misunder- standing arose between his congregation and the Presby- tery, which was referred to the Synod (September 18, 1730), who "judged that, as far as things appear to us, they (the Presbytery) are not chargeable with any severity to him, but the contrary." There was another Rev. John Wil- son, a Presbyterian pastor in Chester, New Hampshire, in 1734, who died there in 1779, aged seventy-six, and is sup- posed to have been a son of the first named .* One of these may have been the Trenton supply.
* Webster, p. 405.
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HISTORY OF THE
The township of Trenton was set off from Hopewell by the Hunterdon County Court of Quarter Sessions in March, 1719-20. The new township included the country (now Ewing) and town churches, so that the name of Hopewell did not properly apply to either of the parts of the joint con- gregation after that date, although from habit the term may have continued to be used, especially of the country church. The call of the Rev. David Cowell was made on behalf of the united Trenton church. The original document, in its ample sheet, and well engrossed by a clerkly hand, is before me, and runs as follows :*
"Whereas we, the subscribers, inhabitants of Trenton, belonging to the Presbyterian congregation, being desirous to settle a Gospel min- istry amongst us, and having had the experience of the ministerial abilities, and the blameless life and conversation of the Reverend Mr. David Cowell, do hereby unanimously call and desire him to settle amongst us, and to take the charge of this congregation as their min- ister. And we, the said subscribers, do hereby promise and oblige our- selves to support the said Mr. Cowell with a maintenance, and other- wise to assist him as we may to discharge his ministerial function amongst us; as witness our hands the seventh day of April, 1736.
Joseph Higbee,
Joseph Jones,
William Hoff,
Isaac Joens,
William Worslee,
David Howell,
William Reed,
Robert Lanning,
Jonathan Furman,
Joseph Green,
William Lartmoor,
William Green,
Richard Furman,
Francis Giffing,
Jacob Anderson, Isaac Reeder,
John Scudder,
John Porterfield,
Henry Bellergeau,
William Yard,
Andrew Reed,
Richard Scudder,
Ralph Smith,
Ralph Hart, Charles Clark,
Peter Lott,
James Bell, Jr.,
Cornelius Ringo, Samuel Johnson, Joseph Yard,
Eliakim Anderson,
William Yard, Jr.,
* For this and other papers I am indebted to Mr. John V. Cowell, elder of the Central Church, Philadelphia, who is a great-nephew of our pastor.
Samuel Hooker,
Arthur Howell,
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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Ebenezer Prout,
Neal W. Leviston,
Clotworthy Reed,
John Osburn,
Christopher J. Cowell,
Daniel Bellergeau,
Richard Green,
William Peirson,
David Dunbar."
On the call is this indorsement :
"Trenton, April the 7th, 1736. The following persons, viz., Richard Scudder, Ralph Hart, Charles Clark, Samuel Johnson, Cornelius Ringo, and Joseph Yard, were appointed by the Presbyterian congregation present at Trenton the day above, to be a committee to present the within-named call to Mr. Cowell, and to discourse with him in behalf of the congregation, and his settling among us.
"Jos. YARD, Clerk, S."
There is also on the back of the call a memorandum by the hand of Mr. Cowell, "Recepi. May 1, 1736," denoting the day on which he was waited on by the committee.
Mr. Cowell, although then in the thirty-second year of his age, was only four years from college, and was still a licentiate. He was born in Dorchester,7 Massachusetts, December 12, 1704, and was graduated at Harvard in 1732, the seventh year of the Presidency of the Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth. Mr. Cowell was in college in disorderly times. In the September of his last year a committee of the cor- poration closed an eight-months' investigation of the causes of the low condition of morals and study. The commence- ment had become the occasion of so much dissipation in the town and neighborhood, that for some years about this time it was held on Friday, and then with a very short public notice, so as to allow but the end of the week for its indulgence .*
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