USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Preakness and the Preakness Reformed Church : a history 1695-1902 : with genealogical notes, the records of the church and tombstone inscriptions > Part 16
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The movement to build the Preakness Manse appears to have started with the passing around of subscription papers, of which there are two with characteristic headings in Domine Staats's hand- writing :
"We, the subscribers, do hereby bind ourselves, our heirs and as- signs, to pay on demand, in cash, labor, or material, as below speci- fied, the sums opposite our respective names, to the order of the Con- sistory of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Preakness, in Passaic Co., New Jersey, for the purpose of erecting a Parsonage House, and the requisite outbuildings on a lot containing two acres to be gratuitously deeded to the said Consistory by Peter Voorhees and Garret Berdan for this purpose, one half by each, the same lying opposite to the head of the Lower Preakness lane."
(Dated)
PREAKNESS, Jan. 12, 1846.
The subscribers on the Upper Preakness paper, with amounts subscribed, were: Peter P. Voorhees, $100; Peter G. Merselis, $35; Garret P. Haring, $50; John G. Doremus, $50; Jacob A. Berdan, $15; Uriah J. Van Riper, $25; Jacob B. Van Riper, $100; Peter Perrine, $25 ; John D. Merselis, $20; Abraham Van Houten, $10; Mrs. Ellen Merselis, $25; Nicholas Jones, $5 ;- and afterwards without date the following additions seem to have been made : Uriah J. Van Riper, $5; Cash, .50; Henry Casey, $1; Garret Har- ing, $5; Elizabeth De Witt, $2; Peter G. Merselis, $2; Mrs. Ellen Merselis, $10; Abraham Van Houten, $5; Elexander Milne, $1. Total, $491.50.
The subscribers, with amounts subscribed on the Lower Preak- ness paper, were: Martin Van Winkle, $25; Garret Berdan, $25; Sickles and Traphagen, $45; Nicholas Kip, $50; John Stagg, Jr., $25; Martin H. Berry, $50; John G. R. Van Winkle, $50; Rich- ard J. Berdan, $25; Nicholas Jacobus, $10; Edo Van Saun, $10; Mary Ann Van Saun, $2; John Van Winkle, $10; David Demarest, Jr., $15; Jerem. Ryerson, $20 ;- and afterwards under date of March 9, 1847, second time: Jeremiah Ryerson, $25; Nicholas Kip, $15; Henry K. Berry, $10; John Van Winkle, $3; Martin H. Berry, $10; Cornelius Kip, $5; Richard J. Berdan, $10; John R.
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HISTORY OF PREAKNESS
Van Winkle, $10; Mindert Maby, $10; Martynes Hogencamp, $5. Total, $465.
We have since found, where these accounts were kept, the fol- lowing additional subscriptions: Henry Hopper, $15; Mr. Miller, $1; Mr. Web, .50. Total, $16.50.
Making a grand total of $973,00. So far as credits, however, are given only $724.75, was ever paid, although amounts may have been paid in, and probably were, that were not credited.
Just when the work of building actually began, we are not sure; but most likely early in the summer of 1846, as in the Consis- torial Minutes, under date of June 8, of that year, reference is made to the parsonage Subscription Fund, and Treasurer Uriah J. Van Riper was directed to collect at least $225 of the amount, and as much more as he conveniently could. Work must have begun very soon after this; for if the Domine was not in his house, with his family, before the year was out, he was in it very early in 1847. Naturally before any subscriptions were thought of, much less solicited, we judge from the headings of the papers, that the loca- tion for the new house was selected both by the Domine and the peo- ple, with an eye to beauty as well as centrality of situation ; the only drawback in these days to it being that it is too far away from the church. Of course, it may have been also that the spot where the house was put was really the only available one, or the mast avail- able one at the time, the parties owning the land being willing to convey it on the most favorable terms, or without material consid- eration,-a matter indeed of considerable importance to a weak and struggling Church. The parcel of land known as the Parsonage Lot was conveyed for the sum of one dollar by Peter Voorhees, Garret Berdan, and Rebecca, wife of Garret Berdan, to the Consis- tory, Feb. 13, 1846. This tract consists of two acres, one of which, the Western half of the lot, was given by Peter Voorhees, and the other, the Eastern half, by Garret Berdan and his wife. The mem- bers of Consistory to whom this conveyance was made were Jere- miah Ryerson, Jacob Berdan, John G. Doremus, and Martin H. Berry, Elders, and John G. R. Van Winkle, Jacob A. Berdan, Uriah J. Van Riper, and Martin Van Winkle, Deacons. The stipulation is that the property described in the conveyance or deed shall be used only for a Parsonage Lot, and with the understanding that it shall in no case, and under no circumstances, be alienated to any other purpose.
After this much was accomplished, the people went to work, but
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especially the Domine. He raised money and got materials together as donations, with all the voluntary days' work and carting he could induce the people to promise him, and in due time succeeded in putting up a good sized, well appointed (for the day), and com- fortable story and a half, with kitchen addition and shed, frame country house, as well as barn, carriage house, wood shed, &c., the carpenter work having been done by John Debow, Jr. We find in the records, however, that at a meeting of the Consistory on Mch. 8, 1847, after the house was finished, a debt of $400 still remained on
THE PARSONAGE OF THE PREAKNESS REFORMED CHURCH, BUILT IN 1846.
it. At the same meeting Jeremiah Ryerson and Nicholas Kip, for Lower Preakness, and G. I. Doremus and J. A. Berdan, for Upper Preakness, were appointed a committee to solicit subscriptions ; but they did not do well, as after they had been around, the sum of about $300 was still needed. Another committee was appointed Mch. 30, 1848, which did better, said committee being Rev. J. A. Staats, and the Elders. Aug. 31, 1848, it was reported to the Con- sistory that the notes held against them on this account had been paid and taken up.
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There are three papers in our hands on which these last sub- scriptions to the debt were made,-the subscriptions on them amounting in all to $293.81. With the $100, therefore, raised on the debt before this, by the other committee, the whole shortage on the parsonage, to the great joy of the people, was wholly provided for.
It may be well for us, as we have such a paper, signed by the Domine and Uriah J. Van Riper, under date of March 25, 1850, as their final report to the Consistory on this business, to give at least the totals actually paid by each subscriber, in cash, labor, or materials, in these various efforts combined.
The names and amounts are as follows:
Martin Van Winkle, $32.56 1-4; Miss Elizabeth Van Winkle, $1; Garret Berdan, $25; Richard J. Berdan, $57.60; Mrs. Rich'd Berdan, $5; Edo Van Saun, $7; Martin H. Berry, $75.96; Mrs. Martin H. Berry, $5; Henry K. Berry, $10; Geo. G. Doremus, $0.25; Mrs. Mary A. Van Saun, $2; Wm. Sickles, $58; Mrs. Wm. Sickles, $1; Nicholas Kip, $77.71; David Demarest, Jr., $20; John Stagg, Jr., $30; Mr. Miller, (Teacher), $1; S. C. Merrill, (Teach- er), $0.50; Benjamin S. Romeyn, $1; J. G. Van Winkle, $83.63; John Van Winkle, Jr., $13; Isaac Vanderhoof, $1; Cornelius Kip, $5; Peter G. Doremus, $1; Jeremiah Ryerson, $79.16 ; Mrs. Jerem. Ryerson, $5; Peter C. Post, $1; Peter Quackenbush, $3; Cash (from Pompton Congregation), $0.50; Leah Dodd, $0.06 1-4; Jacob B. Van Riper, $130.86 ; Mrs. J. B. Van Riper, $5; Uriah J. Van Riper, $34.28; Jacob A. Berdan, $18.73; Albert I. Berdan, $5; John D. Berdan, $1; Miss Rebecca Berdan, $1; Miss Margaret Berdan, $1; Mrs. Elizabeth De Witt, $11.95; Garret P. Herring. $75; Peter G. Merselis, $40; Mrs. Ellen Merselis, $45; John D. Merselis, $20; Peter P. Voorhees, $101.35; Peter Perrine, $45.50; Nicholas Jones, $10; Myndert Maby, $16; Abram Van Houten, $16; Mrs. Abram Van Houten, $1; Martinus Hogencamp, $5; Wm. S. Hogencamp, $5; Peter S. Post, $1; Henry Perrine, $0.25; Henry M. Brown, $1; Henry R. Sisco, $0.50; Wm. O. Rote, $2; Peter A. Smith, $3; John S. Hinchman, $1; James Hinchman, $2; Wm. Hinchman, $1; Wm. Comers, $1; Mrs. Catharine Voorhees, $0.50; Jacob Duryee, $1; Francis Torbet, $1; David Marinus, $0.50; Wm. H. Doremus, $1; Geo. I. Doremus, $2; Alex. Milne, $2; Albert B. D. Voorhees, $1; Gabriel Aken, $1; Miss Martha Aken, $0.25; John Redner, $1; Robert Martin, $2; John G. Dore- mus, $57.18 ; Henry Hopper, $35; Mrs. Henry Hopper, $1; Albert
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B. Voorhees, $1; Miss Harriet Merselis, $2; John A. Staats, $110.60. Total, $1,424.38.
A note with which this paper closes reads thus :
"In addition to the contributions specified above there has been fencing material, labor, and carting rendered gratuitously by mem- bers of the congregation in general, which, if accurately accounted for, would doubtless swell the aggregate to the sum of $1,600."
A few years after this, instead of adding a room, or a wing, on the East end of the parsonage, for the pastor's study (14 x 18 feet as was contemplated) a basement room was fitted up in the front part of the cellar of the house, which admitted of ordinary sized windows being put in it, and Domine Staats used this for his study the rest of his pastorate. The cost of this work, with some other odd jobs thrown in, which in the rendering of accounts Sept. 24, 1856, were all lumped together, was only $88.17. We have learned from the Rev. David E. Post, pastor (1901) of the Baptist Church of Gilbertsville, Otsego County, N. Y., who with his parents, when a child, for four years, lived in Preakness, that his earliest religious impressions were received, at the age of seven, while at- tending "singing meetings," as he calls them, in this basement study of Domine Staats's; and he believes he was truly converted at that time. But after Domine Staats's pastorate here, no other minister ever used this room for any length of time as his study. Domine Durand tried it for a little while, but his throat was affected with the dampness, and he had to give it up. In 1893, a piazza was built along the front of the house, considerably changing the ap- pearance of the building, and darkening the cellar basement win- dows. When the parsonage well was being dug by Wm. F. Ryerson, the work having progressed to the depth of about 30 feet, a colored man who was helping fell in by Mr. Ryerson, but not upon him, and, according to one report, that of Garret Van Winkle, of Detroit, Michigan, was killed ; but according to another report, that of a son of Mr. Ryerson, was not much hurt.
The year the parsonage was built there seems to have been considerable agitation over the interment of strangers in the old burying ground back of the church, which was rather rapidly filling up. At a meeting of the Consistory Jan. 1, 1847, it was
"Resolved, That hereafter the Consistory require compensation for the privilege of interring strangers in their burial ground; and that the sexton be informed of this, and requested to act in accordance." It was also
"Resolved, That the prices of interment be fixed at some future day."
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HISTORY OF PREAKNESS
Ths was done at the next meeting of Consistory, March 8, 1847, when the price was fixed at $4.00 for an adult, and $2.00 for a child under twelve years. It was further resolved at this latter meeting,
"That all living within the bounds of the congregation, or paying sal- ary, and all who can trace back a family connection to the builders or for- mer supporters of this Church, shall have a right of sepulture without charge."
John Stagg, Jr., was Sexton, as well as Chorister at this time; but he soon, (Apr. 2, 1847) resigned. Was this the reason ? When it was
"Resolved, That hereafter the person chosen to this office hold it for two years or until another be elected."
The agitation at any rate over this matter of burials appears to have continued ; for on March 30, 1848, at another meeting of the Consistory, it was
"Resolved, That hereafter such persons as live within the bounds of Preakness, and support the Gospel elsewhere, while they do not pay salary here, shall, in case they apply for the privilege of burial in this Ground, be taxed the same as strangers."
It is further added that
"This resolution is not intended to exclude from this privilege such as are spoken of in lines 6, 7, and 8 from the bottom of page recording meeting of March 8, 1847, which refers to those paying salary, or "who can trace back a family connection to the builders or former supporters of this Church."
Four days before this last Resolution, probably at a special meeting of the Consistory, an application was made by Deacon Martin Van Winkle to have "the East boundary of the burying ground removed in the Southeast corner nine feet to the East, the same to be for a burial plot for his family, and to be extended North whenever necessary." The application was granted by the Consistory ; but no mention is made anywhere, so far as we have seen, that the privilege was made use of ; yet we believe it was made use of, and that some of the Van Winkle family were buried in the aforesaid S. E. corner,-the bodies, however, having since been taken up and put in the New Cemetery south of the church, where Martin Van Winkle himself is buried. Also the nine foot addition at that time made in the aforesaid corner appears to have been extended later to the north, as there are several more recent inter- ments, and none earlier, in the strip east of that in which Edo Merseiles and others lie, and which latter strip no doubt was the original eastern boundary of the burying ground.
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AND PREAKNESS REFORMED CHURCH.
Nov. 19, 1847, after the Sunday School had closed for the winter, it was resolved in Consistory that a Bible Class be estab- lished, to meet one Sabbath afternoon a month in each neighbor- hood; that is, every two weeks alternately,-the same to continue until Sabbath School be resumed; and that the second volume of Union Questions be then used. The neighborhoods referred to here were those of Upper Preakness and Lower Preakness, the people from both sections to a considerable extent attending all these meetings. This arrangement, when spring opened, contrary to the original purpose, was continued through the following summer, and again the subsequent fall, and so on, by successive resolutions or understanding from year to year, during the rest of Domine Staats's pastorate. There is also some evidence that there was a class a year earlier than 1847, although we are not positive about that. The highest number reported as belonging to this class was 46, and the lowest 15. The lowest number was reported in 1847,-when it be- gan ; the highest in 1848 and 1850. Mr. Staats appears likewise to have had a second Bible Class, which met on Saturday afternoons, probably bi-monthly in private houses in the Mountain View neighborhood, (Mead's Basin, as it was then called), and extending down almost to the Two Bridges. This was organized most likely somewhat later than 1847, and was, we suppose, more of a neigh- borhood than a Consistorial, or congregational affair. Both these Classes were maintained beyond Mr. Staats's time, at any rate through the whole of Mr. Durand's pastorate, and the Upper and Lower Preakness Class anyhow for at least a year during Mr. Cole's pastorate.
Oct. 31, 1848, the Pastor was authorized to take measures to obtain signatures to a petition to the Legislature of the State of New Jersey, asking that the acre on which the church stands be vested in the Trustees of the Congregation, (the Church had been incorporated Sept. 12, 1811), which plan in due time was carried out, and resulted in the following Act :
Assembly-No. 135, State of New Jersey."
"An Act to vest certain real estate in the trustees of the Dutch Re- formed Protestant Congregation of Preakness, in the county of Passaic."
"WHEREAS. certain real estate, situate in the township of Wayne in the county of Passaic, was heretofore conveyed to David Demarest, Sam- uel Van Saun, Richard Van Riper, Jacob Berdan, Henry B. Spear, and John Van Winkle, and all the rest of the builders of the Church in Preak- ness, in the county of Bergen, by one Edo Marselis, by deed bearing date the seventh day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, and
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HISTORY OF PREAKNESS
which tract of ground has been occupied by the said Church building, and for a burying ground; and
"WHEREAS, the persons now composing said congregation have unani- mously desired that the title of said property should become vested in the trustees of said congregation by their corporate name; therefore
"BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, That all that tract or lot of ground on which has been erected the Preakness Church, situate in the township of Wayne, in the county of Passaic, and which lot or parcel of ground, consisting of one acre, was conveyed to David Demarest, and others in the preamble named, by one Edo Marselis, by deed, bearing date the seventh day of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, be and the same shall hereafter be vested and remain in the trustees of the Dutch Reformed Protestant Congregation of Preakness, in the said county."
This Act was passed by the New Jersey Legislature March 19, 1851. (See Laws of New Jersey, 1851, p. 438.) The object in having it passed, was, as we will see later on, in order to secure help, which was never granted, to build a much needed new church edifice.
Domine Staats, after being comfortably settled in his new par- sonage, felt very much at home, and like other ministers of his day, and especially as the inclination was more fully developed in later life, was disposed to do a little farming. Besides his horse, which he could not get along without, and which was always a good one,- for he liked to drive a good horse, and did not want a poor one,- the Domine further took a hand also in raising colts, and generally had one or two of these coming on. He also kept a cow or two, as well as pigs or hogs, and a few fowls. Hence, the two-acre lot about the parsonage, which, as a rule, has been too large for all the other ministers here after him, was not large enough for him. The peo- ple naturally had to gratify the desires of one so well adapted to them, and whom they all liked, and so in 1849, another tract of land, at one time called the parsonage farm, consisting of 5 86-100 acres, below the parsonage, across the Singac Brook and on the road to Paterson, was, for the sum of $293, May 22, 1849, conveyed by John G. Doremus and Mary Ann, his wife, to the Consistory, still made up of the same persons as are named in the parsonage lot . deed. This meadow property was in the possession of the Church from that time until the summer of 1898, almost 50 years, when it was sold for $400 to J. W. Hinchman. The lot or property thus referred to, when bought, was paid for by a note of $76, which the Consistory held against Mr. Doremus, by cash subscriptions raised by the people of the congregation to the amount of $59, and by $158 borrowed on note, the interest on which Mr. Staats agreed to
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AND PREAKNESS REFORMED CHURCH.
pay, and paid, until he was released from the obligation, in 1852. The cash subscriptions above mentioned were as follows :
Garret P. Haring, $10; Jeremiah Ryerson, Nicholas Kip, William Sickles, Martin H. Berry, Richard J. Berdan, Peter Per- rine, Jacob B. Van Riper, each $5; Peter G. Merselis, $3; David Tomkins, Henry Hooper, Myndert Maby, each $2; and Jacob De Witt, Peter A. Smith, Henry M. Brown, Albert Berdan, and Abram Van Houten, each $1.
Although most likely it had been established for some time, we notice in the minutes nothing of the weekly lecture, until Nov. 8, 1849, and then we read, that for the greater convenience of the Upper Neighborhood, it was resolved that their Wednesday evening lecture be held at private houses ; and that the pastor be instructed to appoint it in such places as will best accommodate all who desire to attend. We see consequently that the custom of a weekly lecture, now changed into a prayer meeting, has been established here already for over half a century; while we cannot tell how much longer than that. Probably a great part of the time from the first, alternating between Upper Preakness and Lower Preakness, the week day service has been held in the respective schoolhouses, as it has been for years and years back, particularly in Lower Preakness, -notwithstanding we have in later years, so far as Upper Preak- ness is concerned, returned to the cottage prayer meeting again.
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HISTORY OF PREAKNESS
CHAPTER IX.
THE PASTORATE OF THE REV. JOHN A. STAATS.
Part II.
The old church stood and served the purpose for which it was built, about 54 years. For a country church it was considered in its day a neat and handsome structure. The late George A. Haggerty, a prominent electrical inventor and contractor, whose office was at No. 201 East Forty-seventh street, and his residence at No. 504 Fifth avenue, New York City, who died May 16, 1898, in his 62nd year, of Bright's disease, after an illness of thirty-six hours' dura- tion, and was buried from Calvary Church, Fourth avenue and Twenty-first street, spent several years of his boyhood and youth in Preakness, with the late John S. Hinchman, who, at that time, lived on what is now (1902) the Charles H. Tintle place. Mr. Hinchman bought that place in 1848, and built on it the next year, in which year also Haggerty came to him at the age of 12 or 13. Living so near the church, Mr. Hinchman, for perhaps a couple of years, was often looked to, or volunteered at times, in the absence or disability of the sexton, to open the building and make the fires, and generally on such occasions he took with him this boy Haggerty, who in after years, on occasions, whenever he referred to those days, was very apt to declare the love he had for the old church, of which he said he always thought more than he did of the new one erected in its place.
This new edifice, the present one, was erected in 1852, largely of the material of the old structure. It is composed principally of stone, although the facing of the walls is of brick, except on the back end, which is both faced and built solidly of stone. Only after considerable debate, however, was it, that the new church was put up in this way. Quite a number of the congregation wanted a frame building, after the model of the old Second Presbyterian Church, since burned down (about 1875), in Morristown, N. J., which had then been standing about ten years, and which greatly pleased those who went to look at it. Several times before the work of rebuilding commenced, repairs were contemplated or attempted on the old church, but in every instance the movement failed for lack
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AND PREAKNESS REFORMED CHURCH.
of unanimity, until in 1851 the final move was made. The old church at this time was so much out of order,-besides the congre- gation was growing,-with such promise of continued growth,- that a larger building, as well as a better one, was very much needed.
The statistical tables from 1845 to 1850 show a slow, steady growth, in families, membership and size of congregation ;- fami- lies, from 54 in 1845, to 70 in 1850 ; members, 35 in 1845, and 42 in 1850; number of persons in congregation, in 1845, 308, and in 1850, 350.
As we have seen, application had already been made to the State Legislature for an Act vesting the acre on which the church stands in the Consistory, as "Trustees of the Dutch Reformed Protestant Congregation of Preakness," and the application had been granted,-the cost of said grant being only $5.00,-a very moderate sum as we in these days can not help but regard it. This Act, it seems, had been obtained, thereby making the property, the property of the congregation, and hence in a sense, of the Dutch Reformed Church at large, so that it could not be so easily alienated to another denomination, in order that, as was contemplated, aid for building purposes, in the sum of $1,000, might be secured front the Collegiate Church of New York City, which had been already conferred with, with that end in view. Whereas, before this, this acre, having been originally deeded to individuals, the title was in them, or in their survivors, and after these, in their heirs, or any of them, which was certainly not a very desirable condition of affairs. Although the move here made was a good one, and one which to a considerable degree at the time appeared necessary, the aid sought of the Collegiate Church was never allowed, and the congregation had to get along as well as it could, depending alto- gether upon itself, and the efforts of the pastor and people, a cir- cumstance, moreover, which was not after all, as things turned out, so great a misfortune.
A special meeting of the congregation was called for Nov. 27, 1851, whose object was, "the improvement of our church edifice in respect to comfort and convenience." On motion at this meeting it was resolved that the church be repaired. A committee of five, consisting of John G. R. Van Winkle, Peter G. Merselis, John M. Van Winkle, John Stagg, Jr., and Henry Hopper, was appointed to examine and consider what repairs were needed. This com- mittee on Dec. 11, reported the following items and expenses, to wit :
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