USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > Frenchtown > Semi-centennial history of the Frenchtown M.E. Church with a chapter of reminiscences, and brief sketches of the pastors, also, a chapter on the part this church bore in suppressing the rebellion > Part 4
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A short time before I left my charge for conference, I held a little extra meeting in a neighborhood called the swamp, about three or four miles south of Quakertown, where some twelve or fifteen souls were brought to the Saviour. With this extra service, in connection with the regular work of the charge I closed up the year. It was a year of much sacrifice, of hard toil, but full of blessing to my soul.
For this year's labor I received all told, one hundred and twenty dollars, and riches of grace added thereto.
It may seem to you in reading the above narrative, and to your readers, that I betray much egotism, but this is far from me; I could not give you the facts without making myself prominent J. G.
TRENTON, N. J., June 13th, 1894.
4
44
HISTORY OF THE M. E. CHURCH,
CHAPTER V.
BRIEF PERSONAL SKETCHES OF THE PASTORS WHO HAVE SERVED THE FRENCHTOWN M. E. CHURCH.
Behold, a sower went forth to sow ; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up : But others fell into good grouud, and brought forth fruit, some a hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold .- Bible.
Joseph Gaskill.
PERSONAL sketch of the life and ministry of Rev. Joseph Gaskill.
The name of my father was Jacob Gaskill and the name of my mother Sarah Gaskill, her maiden name being Sarah Bass. I was born at Hanover Furnace, in Burlington County, N. J., in the year of our L'ord, December 3d, 1817. One year after I was born my father bought a tavern property and connected therewith a farm, five miles west of the Furnace, and moved with the family to this place, then called Centerville, (but now Pointville). Here I lived till I became twenty- one years of age.
Centerville was so called for the reason six public roads converged to a central point. The tavern, then so called, was more a place for travelers and entertainment than a saloon. This village was located near the line that divided the open oak farming country, and the pine region. The youth of this community were not favored with the best educational and religious advantages, however, we had a common district school and occasionally religious services. The house located here, was used for both purposes. This place then was included as an appointment on New Egypt circuit, and the preachers came once in two weeks and proclaimed the Gospel to a small membership of Methodist people comprising one class. On Sunday a local preacher sometimes preached the word, at other times a prayer meeting was held, and always the class was kept up uniformly and regularly.
Occasionally I attended some of these services, but never made a start for the kingdom, although I was subject nearly all the time to the keenest compunction for sin.
This condition of affairs remained till the year 1837, when the Rev.
8434
REV. JOSEPH GASKILL. (See Page 44.)
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FRENCHTOWN, NEW JERSEY.
Thomas G. Stewart, of blessed memory, came on the New Egypt circuit, and as a berald of fire he went around the circuit, and everywhere revivals took place, and hundreds were converted; and last of all he came to our little chapel and opened his batteries, and preached with such unction, and power, and plead with tears with the ungodly to flee from the wrath to come, and many broke down and rushed to the altar, and three of my sisters were among them. My feelings were stirred, my heart seemed to melt like wax before the fire, and my head became a fountain of tears; but I strove agaiust the spirit and finally suppressed my emotions, and dried my tears, and came off victor for the time. The next day (Thursday) as I was at work near the tavern, I looked up and saw Father Steward approaching, and soon he dis- mounted from his horse, and to my surprise at once went into the sitting room where my mother and sisters were. For a moment I thought it an unusual thing for a minister to visit a tavern ; I thought I would like to know what the preacher had to say to mother and sisters, yet I did not want him to see me, but the thought struck me, I can hear him without his seeing me ; so I went to the house and entered the cellar by the outside door and went up the cellar steps that led to the sitting-room, and planting myself by the door and putting my ear to the crack, I could hear distinctly the minister talking to my mother and sisters. After a little he proposed to pray, and they all bowed down. O, how earnestly he prayed and pleaded with God for the family and for the children especially by name, for some one had given him all our first names. When he held me up before God by name, I wilted and fairly broke down, then the spirit said, "Now or never, now or never ;" I said, "Lord I yield, I yield, I can hold out no more." So from the cellar I immediately went to the barn and there with God I cried and prayed for mercy and salvation, but with little comfort, except I was sure pardon was in reserve for me. From that Thursday morning I continued to pray, but without light or peace until the following Sunday afternoon. In the morning I went to the prayer meeting, but found no relief; I returned home, took a Bible, went up to the garret of the old tavern, threw myself on a bed and commenced to read the fifth chapter of Matthew ; when I came to the verse, " Blessed are they that mourn," etc., I paused a moment and said, that is I, I mourn, the comfort is for me; suddenly effulgent light filled the old garret, and joyful peace filled my believing soul. All glory to God for my salvation through the instrumentality of Rev. Thomas G. Steward.
A few days after I was converted, walking out in the evening for meditation and prayer, something seemed to say to me you must
4*
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HISTORY OF THE M. E. CHURCH,
preach the Gospel, and at the thought I was overwhelmed with joy, but soon after another thought rushed into my mind and said, you are greatly mistaken about this preaching business, it is all a delusion, the work is of your imagination. The idea of your being a preacher with- out an education. It is folly. The suggestion seemed very plausible and a matter of fact ; so I let the subject rest and gave it no further thought, but continued to pray and live a Christian as aforetime, but somehow I began to lose ground ; I did not find access to the throne, or realize the joy of the Lord, or the witness of the spirit, and fell into doubt and fear, so I was led to cry to God for help and mercy. While praying, the same messenger came to me again and said with increased emphasis, you must preach; and in my agony I said, anything, Lord, so I can have restored to my soul thy salvation : then I was again made unspeakably happy. From this time I began to make some prepara- tion for the great work. Up to this time I had only attended our common district school, but in the ensuing fall and winter I went to the Wrightstown school, and the next spring the trustees of our school wished me to take and teach their school. I thought it would give me some advantages for study, so I took the school, got along with it nicely, and I think gave general satisfaction. During the year Brother Pether- bridge, the Presiding Elder, came to me one day and said: "Jose, I want you to preach on the circuit Sundays regularly with the other preachers, and they will fill the week-day appointments and you can drive on your school through the week. Brother Webb will furnish you a horse and bridle;" I said, " Brother, I do not know about preaching." " Well," he said "go and try."
I feared to refuse, and when the next Sunday morning came I went over to Brother Webb's and found the horse ready ; I mounted, and away I started for my first appointment with fear and trembling as to the outcome; I continued in the work and school for the bal- ance of the year, nearly nine months. The record I made on the circuit may be judged by the fact that at the last quar- terly conference of the year the conference recommended me to be received into the annual conference of New Jersey, with- out my asking or knowledge until after it was done. I could but appreciate the favor and their confidence in me and returned my hearty thanks; but it was a question with me as to whether I enter the ministry at once or tarry for a time, and go to school for better preparation. After due consideration I concluded to go to Pennington Seminary at least for a season. I remained at the Seminary part of the years' 1841-'42, and at the last quarterly conference of Pennington charge of '42, I was recommended again to the annual conference of
49
FRENCHTOWN, NEW JERSEY.
New Jersey, and was received and sent to Quakertown charge as already stated in a former paper. (See reminiscences.)
Some two years prior to the meeting of the annual conference I had engaged to marry a young lady by the name of Mary Cliver, a daughter of a farmer living near Wrightstown, Burlington Co., N. J. This was a question of much thought to me, as to the time when this episode should come off. So, as I knew Father Petherbridge was my warm friend, I consulted him in reference to the matter, and he readily advised me to marry as soon as we wished ; being encouraged to take this step, we were married some two weeks before the sitting of the conference, by our pastor, Rev. James Long. When the conference assembled. I with other young ministers appeared, and as the proper time had come to consider their cases for admission, my name was called and the usual question asked, "is he married or single." Father Petherbridge, my former Presiding Elder, responded, " He is married, and I would rather have him married than single," so the motion was made for my admission and carried without a dissenting voice. At the close of the session my name was read for Quakertown. Among the many things that occurred during the year under my ministry that has afforded me great pleasure, was that memorable day when I preached my third and last sermon in Frenchtown, and at the close I invited persons to join the church when eleven men and women gave me their names and I enrolled them in a book for that purpose. That was the origin and start of the Methodist Episcopal Church in French- town. I wasallowed to remain on this charge but one year, and from there I was sent to Gloucester circuit, Gloucester County, of twenty- one appointments and fourteen hundred members with Joseph Atwood as my colleague. From this circuit I was sent to Cedarville, and from Cedarville to Cumberland circuit, from there to Cape May circuit, from there to Swedesboro circuit, and then to Pittsgrove, Salem County ; then Fairfield, Essex County; then to Madison, (the seat of the Theological Seminary), then to Sharpetown, Salem County, and from here suffice it to say, I went into other fields of labor and continued in the work as health and circumstances permitted. During these years of toil some hundreds of souls were gathered into the fold and some already have been housed in the heavenly garner, all of which I hope will be stars in my crown of rejoicing in the world of spirits. My precious wife entered the itinerancy with me in high hope and endured the hardships and privations with Christian fortitude and patience incident to such a life, and helped to bear my burdens, and cheerfully and tenderly nursed me through much sickness that fell to my lot. She was spared to me forty-six years to care for me, and seven years
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HISTORY OF THE M. E. CHURCH,
ago she was suddenly stricken down and peacefully passed away. Six children were born to us, three of whom died in infancy; the others grew to maturity, but while young they were all happily converted to God and joined the church. My oldest son entered the army during the Rebellion and soon fell a victim by disease, and I trust he died a victor ; my other and youngest son was seized with disease and died at the age of twenty. My only child and daughter still lives to be the light and joy of my home. Iam now in my seventy-eighth year and I am looking forward to the time of deliverance and cherish a sure and certain hope of entering through the pearly gate to sit down with the good and happy throng, where the wicked cease to trouble and the weary are at rest.
Zerubbabel Gaskill.
On the 13th of November, 1852, our Brother, Zerubbabel Gaskill, departed this life in the city of Philadelphia, at the house of his brother, aged forty-eight. He was blessed with that special blessing, a pious mother. In his eleventh year he was converted to God, in his seventeenth year he joined the M. E. Church, at Newport, N. J., then under the ministry of the Rev. John Creamer, of precious memory. In 1833 he was called to fill a vacancy in the Salem circuit, N. J. In 1834 he joined the Philadelphia Conference, and was appointed to Moorestown circuit, N. J .; 1835, Smyrna, Del .; 1836, Caroline, Md. ; 1837-'38, Bargaintown, N. J .; 1839, Crosswicks; 1840, Crosswicks and Bethel Mission ; 1841-'42, Middletown Point; 1843-'44, Quakertown circuit ; 1845-'46, Haddonfield ; 1847-'48, Blackwoodtown circuit ; 1849-'50, Tuckerton circuit; 1851-'52, Clarksboro, where his labors and suffering ceased. The text selected for his funeral discourse, Act xi : 24; " For he was a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith," is a very fit illustration of Brother Gaskill's character as a minister. Though he might not have been considered brilliant, yet he possessed all the substantial qualifications this sacred text imports. The substratum of his thoughts was strong and pertinent, and had he possessed the grace of delivery, he would have been considered among our strong men in the pulpit. His life exemplified the text. Consistency and fervor were marked characteristics in him. We do not know that he possessed what some have called the divine art, yet he loved sacred verse. On Sabbath, when near his end, and contemplating the holy temples of the Lord, and the gathering together of the people, he repeated these expressive lines :
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FRENCHTOWN, NEW JERSEY.
"Thousands, O Lord of Hosts, this day Around Thine altars meet, And tens of thousands throng to pay Their homage at Thy feet." " Deprived I am,"
but continued-
" I may not to Thy courts repair, Yet here Thou surely art, Lord consecrate a home of prayer In my surrendered heart."
Contemplating death, he exclaimed :
" How shall I meet this foe Whose frown my soul alarms? Dark horror sits upon his brow, And victory waits his arms !
He answered-
" But with an eye of faith, Peering beyond the grave, I see that friend who conquered deatlı, Whose arm alone can save."
In conversation with a brother in the ministry a little before his departure, he said he was very happy, and praised the Lord ; and when raised up a little, he said: "Let me go. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord !" and calmly folding his hands upon his bosom, he ceased to breath. Brother Gaskill has left a wife and four children to mourn their irreparable loss; and the church has lost a faithful minister.
To Thy behest, great God, we bow .- New Jersey Conference Minutes.
Abraham M. Palmer.
Abraham M. Palmer was born in White Plains, New York, Novem- ber 30th, 1817. His parents were Richard C., and Susan B. Palmer. Both were well known, and prominent in the community and in the church. His mother was a quiet, godly woman, dearly beloved. His father was the first class-leader in the church at White Plains, and for sixty-five years a licensed exhorter and was "abundant in labors." He held several of the most important positions in his township and county. Both were spared for many years, his father being ninety-five at his death. His father was a merchant in early life, and Abraham M. expected to follow his father in the mercantile business and received a good business education.
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HISTORY OF THE M. E. CHURCH,
His religious life had an early beginning; he believes that he was truly converted at twelve years of age, but at that time boys of his age were thought to be too young to unite with the church. Thanks be to God it is not so now.
In March 1835, he received a clerkship in New York City, and very soon thereafter united with the Allen Street Methodist Episcopal Church and Sunday-school. His church, Sabbath-school and class- meetings were dearly prized and he was seldom absent. A few years after uniting with the church he was deeply impressed with the thought that the ministry was to be his life-work. The thought was not in harmony with his desires. Flattering financial pro-pects were before him, and he had reached the first position in a large dry goods house, and had the promise of an early promotion to a partnership in the business.
In 1840, the impression ripened into a positive conviction and call from God to the work of the ministry which he dared not resist. " Woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel." God said it to him, and he began to make special plans for his life-work. He entered upon a preparatory course of study intending to enter college in the fall of 1842.
At that time young men were in special demand for the ministry, many of the large circuits had been cut up into small stations and single men only could be supported. In the spring of 1842, he was persuaded by prominent ministers in the church, to abandon his proposed college course, and enter the ministry at once and pursue his studies as best he could. Mr. Wesley's words were frequently repeated to him, "Gaining knowledge is a good thing, but saving souls is a better."
In April 1842, he was received into the New Jersey Conference and stationed at Fort Lee. His appointments after the above date were as follows: Parsippany, Bethel, Quakertown, Everittstown and French- town, Lambertville, Belvidere, First Church Phillipsburg, Newark, three of the leading churches on Staten Island, Jersey City, Plainfield and others.
In 1892, he closed his fifty years in the effective work without a break; he then asked for a supernumary relation, and removed to Newark where he now resides.
He has been blessed during his ministry with many gracious revivals and probably has received over two thousand persons into the church.
He has superintended the building of six new churches and three parsonages, and the repairing and beautifying of many others.
He has been especially successful in paying church debts, which in
PITCH
REV. ABRAHAM M. PALMER. (See Page 51.)
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FRENCHTOWN, NEW JERSEY.
some cases were very embarrassing to the success of the respective churches.
Three times he has been sent by the Bishops to settle painful diffi- culties in prominent churches, and has been called the " peacemaker " of his conference.
He has been treasurer of his conference for thirty-two years, and probably over a million of dollars passed through his hands to the several benevolent societies without the loss of a dollar, or any cost to the church.
Thomas T. Campfield.
Rev. Thomas Thornton Campfield was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, May 23d, 1811. His father died when he was only three years old. In his eighth year we find him a resident of Freehold, Monmouth County, N. J., in the neighborhood of which he continued to reside until he entered upon his itinerating career. After traveling several years under the Presiding Elder, he was admitted on trial in the New Jersey Con- ference, at Trenton, April 20th, 1844. He died suddenly at Washing- ton, Warren County, N. J., April 14th, 1885. At the same conference, seventeen others entered with him; eight of whom have fallen in the ranks.
He filled the following appointments in the New Jersey and the Newark conferences: Mount Zion, 1844-'45; Lambertville, 1846 ; Quakertown, 1847-'48; Flanders, 1849.'50; Springfield and Westfield, 1851-'52; Westfield, 1853-'54; Frenchtown and Milford, 1855-'56 ; Peapack and Cross-roads, 1857-'58; Somerville, 1859-'60 ; Springfield again, 1861-'62; Anderson and Mount Bethel, 1863 ; Mount Bethel and Oxford Furnace, 1864; Harmony, 1865-'66; Broadway, 1867-'69; Union and Pattenburg, 1870-'72 ; Springville and New Village, 1873-'75 ; Pleasant Valley, 1876-'78; Mount Bethel and Beattystown, 1879-'80.
At the conference in the spring of 1881, his effective work of thirty- seven years in the conference closed, and he retired to the supernumerary line. Some twelve years before he entered the ministry he had married Miss Ruhannah Smith, of Freehold, August 30th, 1832, with whom he lived nineteen years. On May 21st, 1856, he married Miss Fannie A. Kemple, of Hackettstown, who shared his toil for twenty-four years. He married, March 15th, 1882, Miss Maggie M. Cummins, also of Hackettstown.
These are a few outlines of the life of our departed brother. Each line is deserving of a fuller notice. We can only satisfy ourselves of some of the more salient features of his character. And first of all, he had a
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clear, strong and convincing proof of sins forgiven, which he held to through all his varied life as the strict anchor of his soul. He had studied the Book of God as the sole fountain of faith, and faith as the essential condition of the justification of his nature. His call to the ministry followed soon after this mighty change. He knew his acquired abilities were limited for the great work before him. He knew he could not enter into any regular schools of the prophets, for there were none. The church he loved and had been instrumental in his conver- sion, had not yet opened the gates of these grand institutions to candi- dates seeking literary culture and theological training. In fact, the voice of the church was then against such drill. The " Bush College " was the order of the day. What was he to do ? Check his convictions of imperative duty ? Remain at home? Continue in the use of the hoe, the axe, the spade, or to follow the plow and till the soil ? "No," he said ; "I must go and preach the Gospel." He knew that a knowl- edge of disease alone does not make a man a physician ; it shows him how to apply the remedies which another science has made known to him. He says, "I can by divine grace describe the sin malady, and point the struggling soul to the all-healing fountain." He had tasted the fruit of life and knew how to recommend it to others. He had found the kernel in the nut, the wheat in the husk, the marrow in the bones. Will the church now call him into her vineyard ? This question was not immediately answered. He was a married man, and thirty- four years old. Married men were not then so readily admitted into the conference. We remember the discussion-the suspense-the patient waiting before the favorable response was given. He entered, and for more than forty odd years he cut his way through the forest, plowed deep furrows and left in them the seeds of a great harvest.
He had in him evidently a heroic spirit. We claim, if the harder field of labor or the more dangerous line of battle is the place of honor, then surely our departed brother was entitled to that distinction. He was never known to wince or shrink at the word of command. He was naturally diffident and retiring, but as a captain in Christ's army he was as bold as a lion. We have often seen him leap into the thickest of the fight, and have never known him to flinch. His record will show that he possessed and maintained the truest Christian and minis- terial bravery ; some of the instances of time and place to illustrate his heroism have been in past written out by himself and are now filed away in the archives of our Historical Society. At our last con- ference, with roll in hand, he said to the writer, " Here is an account of my life work," and we verily believe when the future historian shall write of the acts and actors of the Church of God, he will find that in
REV. T. T. CAMPFIELD. (See Page 35.)
.
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FRENCHTOWN, NEW JERSEY.
many localities of New Jersey no inconsiderable part was played by T. T. Campfield. The most of us are ready to admit that true ministeria heroism consists very largely in self sacrifice and self-restraint. Are there any fields neglected, overgrown, abandoned ? Who will go? Our brother said, " I will go; send me." He went, esteeming it a great privilege to work anywhere for the Master. He lived on short allowances. His powers of endurance were sometimes taxed to their utmost capacity. He knew how to be abased and how to suffer need, and we have not the least doubt that there are some in our day who would retire if they had to till such fields and do the kind of work this man did in the earlier and later days of his ministry. There are but few men in New Jersey who have builded more churches and erected more parsonages than our departed brother. Thousands were converted through his instrumentality, many of whom are now preaching the Gospel. He labored, and others are now entering into his labors. He sowed and planted, and others are gathering and enjoy- ing the harvest.
Brother Campfield had a peculiar aptress for dates and figures. From these we learned that he traveled in his own conveyance as a minister from March 2d, 1839, to March 2d, 1884-45 years-about 120,000 miles; served twenty-two charges; preached about 7,000 times ; made about 12.000 pastoral calls; received into the Methodist Episcopal Church, on probation and into full membership, about 2,057 persons ; baptized about 1,000; attended about 700 funerals, and married about 600 couples.
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