USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, N.J. : from the first settlement of the town > Part 6
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May, 1764 .- Samuel Tucker, Sheriff, will sell that well-accustomed tavern, the lot 67 feet on Front street, and 174 on Market, adjoining lands of William Morris, Junior, Wm. Cleayton, James Smith, and Robert Singer; house 35 feet square, having a "genteel assembly- room, with a door opening into a fine balcony, fronting Queen street," late the property and now in possession of Robert Rutherford.
March, 1765 .- For sale, a settlement on the river called Lamberton, about half a mile below the ferry near Trenton, with utensils for cur- ing herring and sturgeon.
March, 1768 .- For sale, "Hermitage" on the Delaware, one mile from Trenton, 220 acres. Apply to Benjamin Biles.
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I have taken the trouble of making this collection for the sake of the local interest it may possess with the inhabitants of Trenton, and to corroborate what was said in the begin- ning of the chapter as to the probable size of the town in the first quarter of the century.
CHAPTER VI.
COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY-COWELL, BURR, DAVIES, FINLEY.
1746-1760.
OF THE College of New Jersey, the Rev. Mr. Cowell was so early and active a friend, that he may be counted among its founders. The College was, indeed, projected by mem- bers of the Synod of New York, as one of the means of strengthening themselves after the disruption of 1741, and not unlikely as a means of removing the taunt connected with the inadequacy of the Neshaminy school. But as it was to be established in New Jersey, and for all that he knew, in Trenton or its neighborhood, Mr. Cowell was not so bigoted a churchman as to withhold his influence from a scheme which, while it had no positive connection with any party, promised such important advantages to the re- ligious and educational condition of the whole Province.1 He had learned the value of college training from his own career at Harvard, and must have shared the indignation of the friends of David Brainerd against Yale, when he was expelled in 1742, for saying of one of the tutors, "he has no more grace than this chair," which incident is said to have had its influence in encouraging a new college.
The College of New Jersey received its first charter in 1746, and was opened with eight pupils, at Elizabethtown, under President Dickinson, in 1747. Upon his decease that same year, the pupils were removed to Newark, and placed under the Rev. Aaron Burr, who had a classical school in the town. In 1748 a more enlarged charter was obtained.
(69)
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Of the trustees named in this instrument, Mr. Cowell was one, and he was deputed to wait on Governor Belcher with an address from the corporation, acknowledging their ac- ceptance of the trust .*
The Governor was regarded so much in the light of a founder of the College, that upon the completion of the edifice they formally asked his permission to call it Belcher Hall. He declined the honor, professing to "have always been very fond of the motto of a late great personage, pro- desse quam conspici-to be useful rather than conspicuous"2 -but asked the liberty of naming the College Nassau Hall, in memory of William III., "who was a branch of the illustrious house of Nassau, and who, under God, was the great deliverer of the British nation from those two mon- strous furies, Popery and Slavery."; Mr. Burr was chosen President, and the first class, seven in number, was grad- uated.3 At the first regular meeting of the trustees after the correspondence it appears that President Burr fre- to apply to the Legislature for pecuniary aid, and to re- ceive subscriptions in Trenton. From the few remains of the correspondence it appears that President Burr fre- quently and familiarly consulted with Mr. Cowell about the affairs of the College. In July, 1753, he presses him to be at a certain meeting of the Board: "Besides discharg- ing your duty as a trustee, you might consult about pro- viding for your school in the best manner. I find myself a great deal in your debt as to the article of letters, and, like other bankrupts, though I never expect fully to pay, yet I would make some attempts, that I may retain my credit a little longer. I will do my best in providing you a schoolmaster, but have some fears whether I can quite suit you or me. One of the best I must keep for my own . use ; one or two more that I could recommend are otherwise
* Maclean's "History of the College of New Jersey." 1: 62, 90.
t Dr. Green's "Notes," pp. 274-5.
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engaged. I have three in my mind, and am a little at a loss which to send." The compensation offered for a teacher at that time was twenty-five pounds and boarding.
From the allusion in this and other letters, it appears that Mr. Cowell was looking for a good teacher for Trenton, and that the school referred to had a connection with his own parish, or at least had been built on the church grounds, and conducted under some general control of the congrega- tional authorities.
Some light is thrown upon this enterprise by an adver- tisement which is found in the Philadelphia newspapers of May, 1753, and which is not without interest for other reasons :
"We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, sons of some of the principal families in and about Trenton, being in some measure sensible of the advantages of learning, and desirous that those who are' de- prived of it through the poverty of their parents, might taste the sweet- ness of it with ourselves, can think of no better or other method for that purpose, than the following scheme of a Delaware Island Lot- tery, for raising 225 pieces of eight [Spanish dollars] towards build- ing a house to accommodate an English and grammar school, and pay- ing a master to teach such children whose parents are unable to pay for schooling. It is proposed that the house be thirty feet long, twenty feet wide, and one story high, and built on the southeast corner of the meeting-house yard in Trenton, under the direction of Messieurs Ben- jamin Yard, Alexander Chambers, and John Chambers, all of Trenton aforesaid. The managers are Reynald Hooper, son of Robert Lettis Hooper, Esq .; Joseph Warrell, Junior, son of Joseph Warrell, Esq .; Joseph Reed, Junior, son of Andrew Reed, Esq .; Theophilus Severns, Junior, son of Theophilus Severns, Esq .; John Allen, Junior, son of John Allen, Esq .; William Paxton, son of Joseph Paxton, Esq., deceased; and John Cleayton, son of William Cleayton, Esq."
The drawing was to take place June IIth, "on Fish Island in the river Delaware, opposite to the town of Tren- ton, and the money raised by this lottery shall be paid into the hands of Moore Furman, of Trenton, who is under bond for the faithful laying out of the money for the uses above. And we the Managers assure the adven-
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turers upon our honor, that this scheme in all its parts shall be as punctually observed as if we were under the formalities used in lotteries; and we flatter ourselves, the public, considering our laudable design, our age, and our innocence, will give credit to this our public declaration."
The lottery of the innocents was drawn on the 2d July, 1753, and the building was doubtless erected immediately afterwards on the spot indicated. The minutes of our trustees record that in 1765, Alexander Chambers and Ben- jamin Yard were elected by the congregation "Directors of the School-House." In a lease of 1800 to the "Trenton Academy," the premises are described as "a certain brick building, which was erected on the lot belonging to the trustees of the said church for the purpose of a school house." The lessees added a story to the building, and it continued to be used for school and church purposes until it was taken out of the way at the erection of the present church.
To return to the College. In 1753 the Reverend Samuel Davies and Gilbert Tennent were sent to Great Britain to solicit contributions for building a suitable edifice for the institution. Princeton was selected as its place. It was while making his final arrangements for the voyage that Davies first made his personal acquaintance with Cowell. In his journal of September 18, 1753, Davies writes : "Rode solitary and sad from Philadelphia to Trenton. Spent the evening with Mr. Cowell, an agreeable gentleman, of the Synod of Philadelphia; but my spirits were so ex- hausted that I was incapable of lively conversation, and was ashamed of my blundering method of talking." It was a bachelor's home. The next evening was enlivened by his visit to the family of the gentleman who succeeded Mr. Cowell in the pastorship of Trenton. "Rode on and came to Mr. Spencer's, at Elizabethtown, where I was most kindly received, and my spirit cheered by his facetious con- versation."5
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At various dates in 1754, President Burr writes from Newark to Mr. Cowell, who was on the building committee. "I liked Mr. Worth's (the mason) proposals very well on first view, and think with you it is necessary to have a meeting of the committee, and as many others as can attend, as soon as may be. * Yesterday I received letters from Messrs. Tennent and Davies, dated April 30, which bring the agreeable news that they have in hand and promises £1400 sterling." "Let me know if you think I had best bring a man with me to Princeton that understands quarrying." "They ask double the price for carting at Princeton to what they do this way; so I believe it would not be best they should cart much sand." "We must be- gin a barn, buy a wagon, etc., immediately." "It pleases me to find the College lies so much on your mind. I have a hundred things to say that must be deferred to our meet- ing, and can only add that I am ut semper yours affection- ately." "We appointed the committee to meet at Princeton on the third Tuesday of November, but I fear, things will suffer in the meantime. We depended on Mr. (John) Brain- erd's going6 to see how things went on, but he is sick. I wish your affairs would admit of your visiting the building ; and if you think there is need of it, you may appoint our meeting sooner; but if nothing will suffer, it is best the other appointment should stand. * *There should be the utmost care that the foundation be laid strong. We ought to have had a man to oversee the work de die in diem, though I put great confidence in Mr. Worth. I know how much you have the affair at heart."
The trustees, by a vote on the 29th September, 1756, directed the removal to Princeton to be made "this fall." President Finley, in 1764, wrote: "In the year 1757 the students, to about the number of seventy, removed from Newark." President Green, writing in 1822, believed it took place in the vacation succeeding the commencement of
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1756. Dr. Griffin, at Dr. Macwhorter's funeral in 1807, said the removal was in October, 1756, and this is confirmed by a memorandum of Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, made in 1758. The commencement of 1757 fell on the 26th Sep- tember; President Burr died in Princeton on the 24th of the same month. Before leaving the town, after the funeral and comemncement, the trustees elected the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, Sr., to the vacant chair. Mr. Edwards not com- ing immediately, the trustees in December appointed Mr. Cowell to act as President of the College until their next meeting.7 "The choice of the said Mr. Cowell," according to the minutes of the trustees, "being made known to him, he was pleased to accept of the same, and was qualified as the charter directs." Upon his election it was "voted that President Cowell provide, as soon as possible, an Usher for the grammar school." He served until February 16, 1758, when President Edwards took his seat; but held it scarcely a month, falling a victim to the small-pox on the 22d of March.
Mr. Davies was elected his successor on the 19th April, being then but thirty-four years of age. Mr. Cowell was appointed an alternate to the Rev. Mr. Caleb Smith, to act at the next commencement, and was placed on the com- mittee to attend to Mr. Davies' removal from Virginia, import books from England, and attend to the completion of the President's house and the College.
Mr. Cowell had been corresponding with Mr. Davies on other matters, before his election to the presidency. In a letter of February 20, 1758, after lamenting the loss which the College and the church had suffered in the recent re- movals by death of Governor Belcher, President Burr, and the Rev. Mr. Davenport, Mr. Davies indulges in what he calls a reverie, as follows :
"As the death of these good men was undoubtedly gain to them, may we not modestly conjecture that it will also prove an advantage
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to the world, though we are apt to lament them as lost? I cannot conceive of Heaven as a state of mere enjoyment without action, or indolent supine adoration and praise. The happiness agreeable to vig- orous immortals must consist, one would think, in proper exercise, suitable to the benevolence of their hearts and the extent of their powers. May we not then suppose that such devout and benevolent souls as these, when released from the confinement of mortality, and the low labor of the present life, are not only advanced to superior degrees of happiness, but placed in a higher sphere of usefulness, em- ployed as the ministers of Providence, not to this or that particular church, college, or colony, but to a more extensive charge, and perhaps to a more important class of beings, so that the public good, as the good of the universe of creatures taken collectively, to which the interests of private persons and inferior communities must always be subordinate under a wise administration, may be promoted by their removal from us, and from their narrow sphere of beneficence in this imperfect world. And if, when they cease to be useful men, they commence angels, that is, ministering spirits, we may congratulate them and the world upon this more extensive beneficence, instead of lamenting them as lost to all usefulness. Thus, sir, I sometimes per- mit my imagination to rove; but I must confess, sense prevails against speculation and conjecture, and as an inhabitant of this world I deeply feel the loss. Forgive me, dear sir, this reverie, which seems to sug- gest a new thought; if it should be new to you, I should for that very reason suspect it not to be just.
"I heartily rejoice in the choice the Trustees have 'made of a suc- cessor to Mr. Burr. Mr. Edwards has long been very high in my esteem as a man of very great piety, and one of the deepest thinkers and greatest divines of the age. May the Lord long continue his life, and his capacities for action !"
Mr. Davies was much perplexed as to his duty, when in- formed of his own election as successor of President Ed- wards. Upon referring the matter to his Presbytery they recommended his remaining in Virginia, and he yielded to their judgment. His later resolution, and the state of mind which led to it, are described in a letter which he wrote on the 14th of September, 1758, to Mr. Cowell, and which, notwithstanding its want of direct connection with our nar- rative, I think, needs no excuse for its insertion here, es- pecially as this correspondence has not before been edited .*
* See "Biblical Repertory." July, 1840.
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"Though my mind was calm and serene for some time after the decision of the Presbytery, and I acquiesced in their judgment as the voice of God, till Mr. Smith [Rev. Caleb Smith, of the Committee] was gone, yet to-day my anxieties are revived, and I am almost as much at a loss as ever what is my duty; nor can my conscience be easy without sending this postscript to my former letter at a venture, though I have no other medium of conveyance but the post, which is often uncertain and tedious. I can honestly declare, sir, I never was so much concerned about my own estate as I have been and still am for the prosperity of the College. And the very suspicion that I may possibly have done it an injury by not accepting the honor the Trustees were pleased to confer upon me, causes me to appear almost an unpar- donable criminal to myself. This suspicion haunts me night and day, and I can have no ease till I am delivered from it. It received a terrible confirmation when I found that though the Presbytery could not positively determine, it was my duty to leave Virginia and accept the invitation. Yet they were very skeptical about it, and wished I could have determined the matter for myself. I am also apprehensive the generous error of their excessive personal friendship for me, and their excessive diffidence of their own abilities to manage affairs in a concern of so much difficulty without my conduct and assistance, had no small influence upon their determination. I am likewise con- vinced, that if I had been able to form any previous judgment of my own, it would have turned the scale, and theirs would have coincided with mine.
"I have indeed a very large, important congregation; and I am so far from having any reason to think they are weary of me, that it is an agreeable misfortune to me, that they love me so well. But I make no scruples even to tell themselves that they are by no means of equal importance with the College of New Jersey; and some of them, whose public spirit has the predominancy over private friendship and self- interest, are sensible of it. I am sure if I had appeared in the same light to your Board as I do to myself, I should have escaped all this perplexity. It is the real sentiment of my heart, without affectation of humility, that I am extremely unfit for so important a trust, the most important, in my view, that an ecclesiastic can sustain in America; and I have never as much as suspected that it would be my duty to accept it, except upon the supposition of its being a desperate case, if I should reject it; and it is my fear, that it may be so, consideratis considerandis, that makes me so extremely uneasy. When I reflect upon such things as these, I am constrained to send you this answer, though I am afraid out of season, that if the Trustees can agree to elect my worthy friend, Mr. Finley, with any tolerable degree of cordiality and unanimity, I shall be perfectly satisfied, and rejoice in the advantageous exchange. But if not, I shall think it my duty
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to accept the offer, if the Trustees judge it proper to continue or renew my election.
"If this should come to hand before another election, I give you leave, sir, though with trembling hesitation, to communicate it to the Board; if not, I beg you would forever conceal it, for the real diffi- culty of the affair, and the natural caution and skepticism of my mind, have given my conduct such an appearance of fickleness that I am quite ashamed of it. My life, sir, I look upon as sacred to God and the public; and the service of God and mankind is not a local thing, in my view. Wheresoever it appears to me I may perform it, to the greatest advantage, there, I hope, I should choose to fix my residence, whether in Hanover, Princeton, or even Lapland or Japan. But my anxieties in the present case have proceeded from the want of light to determine where the sphere of my usefulness would be the most ex- tensive.
"If matters should turn out so as to constrain me to come to Nassau Hall, I only beg early intelligence of it, by Mr. Smith, who intends to revisit Hanover shortly, or by post, and I shall prepare for my journey and the removal of my family with all possible expedition. The honor which you, sir, and the other gentlemen of the Trustees, who are in other instances such good judges of merit, have done me, is such a strong temptation to vanity, as requires no small degree of self-knowledge to resist.
"I shall always retain a grateful sense of it, and I pray God it may have no bad influence upon a heart so deeply infected with the un- creaturely vice of pride."*
After dispatching this letter, "extorted from him," as he said, "by irresistible anxieties," a second messenger (Halsey) from the trustees, appears to have intimated to Mr. Davies, that in the event of his declining the chair, the Rev. Samuel Finley would be the choice of the board, and that he was, by some, already preferred to himself. Accordingly, on the 18th October, Davies writes again to Cowell, to urge Finley's election :
"Since you and a majority of the Trustees have thought me fit to fill so important a seat, you must also think me in some measure fit to judge of the proper qualifications of a President; I therefore beg you would not only believe me sincere, but also have some little regard to my judgment, when I recommend Mr. Finley, from long and inti- mate acquaintance with him, as the best qualified person in the com-
* See Davies' Farewell Sermon at Hanover. Vol. iii., p. 359.
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pass of my knowledge in America for that high trust; and incom- parably better qualified than myself. And though the want of some superficial accomplishments for empty popularity, may keep him in obscurity for some little time, his hidden worth, in a few months, or years at most, will blaze out to the satisfaction, and even astonish- ment, of all candid men. A disappointment of this kind will certainly be of service to the College; but as to me, I greatly fear I should mortify my friends with a disappointment of an opposite nature; like an inflamed meteor, I might cast a glaring light and attract the gaze of mankind for a little while, but the flash would soon be over, and leave me in my native obscurity.
"I should be glad you would write to me by post, after the next meeting of the Trustees, what choice they shall have made; for though I never expect another application to me, yet I feel myself interested in the welfare of the College, and shall be anxious to hear what con- clusion may be formed upon this important affair."
When the Trustees met in November (1758), after con- ferring and comparing letters, it was put to vote whether Mr. Davies' refusal was to be regarded as final. Upon two ballots, the voters of "not final" and "non liquet" had the majority, but to remove the embarrassment, they yielded ; upon which the Rev. Jacob Green, of Morris county, father of Dr. Ashbel Green, was chosen Vice-President, and the election of President postponed till the next May. I find these particulars in a letter from Mr. Cowell to Mr. Davies, dated at Trenton, December 25, 1758, to which he adds :
"If I may be allowed to guess, I think :
"I. That you will be elected next May ;
"2. That if you are not, Mr. Finley will not be.
"I think with you, dear sir, that the College of New Jersey ought to be esteemed of as much importance to the interests of religion and liberty as any institution of the kind in America. I am sensible your leaving Virginia is attended with very great difficulties, but I can not think your affairs are of equal importance with the College of New Jersey."
At the May meeting Messrs. Davies and Finley were both nominated. Davies was elected, and in July arrived in Princeton. Mr. Cowell's interest and activity as a trustee
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did not abate upon the accession of his friend and favorite candidate; but scarcely had eighteen months elapsed from the President's inauguration, before both were in their graves. The last relic of their correspondence shows that Mr. Cowell's medical skill ( for he had studied and on emer- gencies practiced medicine) was valued in Princeton. Under date of February 15, 1760, Mr. Davies writes :
"Doctor Scudder has inoculated a number of the students, who are all likely to do well, except one, who was taken with the pleurisy about the time of his inoculation, and had an inveterate cold for some time before. The Doctor's own family and his father-in-law were inocu- lated about the same time, and one of them is so ill that he has not been able to give good attendance here. I made an explicit reserve of liberty to consult any other physician upon the appearance of any other alarming symptom, therefore I send for you at the request of many, as well as my own motion. I beg you would come immediately, for the young man's life is in evident danger, and my dear Mrs. Davies is so affected in her mouth, etc., with the mercurial and antimonial' preparations, that she has been in exquisite agony, and stands in great need of immediate relief. I long to hear from my promising pupil under your care."
CHAPTER VII.
MR. COWELL'S DEATH AND BURIAL.
1759-1760.
In June, 1759, Mr. Cowell was present in the Presby- tery, which met at Trenton, but his health was probably then failing, as a request was made from the congregation that his pulpit "might be supplied at least in part during his illness." He was present again at the meeting in Prince- ton, July 25, 1759; at which time his friend, President Davies, was received from Hanover. At Basking Ridge, October 30 of that year, another petition was brought from Trenton, "praying that as Mr. Cowell is unable through sickness to attend the ministerial function, Mr. Guild might be ordered to supply them every third Sabbath." In com- pliance with this, Mr. Guild, pastor of the Hopewell (Pen- nington) church was directed to "supply as much of his time as he can at Trenton." Mr. Cowell was present at the meeting of Presbytery, held at Nassau Hall, March II, 1760. The regular Moderator being absent, Mr. Cowell was chosen in his place, and President Davies acted as clerk. One of Mr. Cowell's successors, William Kirkpat- rick, was at this meeting, and another, Elihu Spencer, sat as a corresponding member.
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