USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Orange > The Mountain Society : a history of the First Presbyterian Church, Orange, N. J. organized about the year 1719 with an account of the earliest settlements in Newark > Part 7
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6
110
SERMONS PUBLISHED.
introduction to one higher, more glorious, and eter- nal.
Two productions of his pen were published; an " Exhortation to the people," delivered at Con- necticut Farms, in 1750, at the ordination and set- tlement of Daniel Thane; and the funeral sermon of President Burr, 1757.
CHAPTER V.
REV. JEDEDIAH CHAPMAN.
A YEAR passed. In December, 1763, a messen- ger from the Mountain Society was on his way to Bethlehem, Connecticut, bearing two letters to Rev. Joseph Bellamy .* The first, dated the 23d, was written by Rev. Alexander Mc Whorter, then four years a pastor in Newark, and contained the fol- lowing : "I have here wrote you by the bearer, at the appointment of the Presbytery, in behalf of the church of Newark Mountains, and I hope, sir, you'll recommend them to some young man whom you esteem for his knowledge of the truth ; and don't send us one of your Antinomians or Arminians, neither send us any of your Sandemanians ; we hear you have several such in New England, but I am apprehensive very few of them thoroughly un- derstand Sandeman's scheme. I thank you, sir, for the few remarks you have given us upon this in-
See the Bellamy correspondence, Pres. His. Soc., Phila.
¢
112
LETTERS TO DR. BELLAMY.
genious and subtle writer ... The messenger is in haste."
Six days later, December 29, Mr. Joseph M. White wrote from Danbury, Connecticut: "The bearer of these are in pursuit of a candidate. They are from Newark Mountains; probably you are acquainted with that place, and what sort of man would be like to do good among them. In that country they insist very much on a man's being a good speaker, and they hate the New England tone (as they call it) ; they insist likewise upon one that is apt to be familiar. But most of all, 'tis necessary that a man be a man of religion and good principles, in order to be useful among them. They seem to be a kind, curtious people, and willing to support the ministry." The results of the journey and the recommendations are not known.
A year later, Mr. Bellamy was again addressed :
NEWARK, Dec. 19, 1764.
" Rev'd Sir :- The church at Newark Mountains have represented to us their very unanimous desire to obtain Mr. Daniel Hopkins to settle with them in the gospel ministry, for which they have desired our approbation and assistance. We therefore do earnestly desire that you, sir, would use your influ- ence with Mr. Hopkins to return; assuring him that we not only concur with the people, but are very solicitous he may listen to their call. 'T'is a
113
DANIEL HOPKINS.
church we esteem of great importance, and hope there may be much service done here to the Re- deemer's kingdom. And they seem so hopely [happily ?] united in Mr. Hopkins, that we think the door is effectually opened to him. We doubt not you will engage his worthy brother and your other brethren to favor the call of the church, who, as well as we, place much dependence on your in- terest. And as we are not particularly acquainted with your constitution, we desire that you would act for us, if any application to the association be necessary, that he may come in a regular way.
We are, Rev'd Sir, with due respect, your hearty friends and fellow-servants.
By the order and in behalf of the Presbytery,
JAMES CALDWELL, ALEX'R MCWHORTER."
Mr. Hopkins was then a licentiate, in feeble health, so that he divided his time between manual labor, travelling, and occasional preaching. The state of his health probably caused him to decline the offered settlement .*
* Dr. Hopkins went two years later to Salem, Mass., where, after teaching and preaching for twelve years, he was settled in the pastoral office, and died in 1814, in the 81st year of his age. His abilities and patriotism led to his election, in 1775, as a mem- ber of the Provincial Congress. His theological sentiments were those of his brother Samuel, with whom he pursued his ministe- rial studies, and to whose writings he was an acknowledged con- tributor. He was thirty years of age when invited to this church.
114
MR. CHAPMAN'S SETTLEMENT.
For another year and a half the mountain flock were without a shepherd. The Chief Shepherd was putting their lessons of faith in exercise. In due time his care was manifest.
On the 10th of April, 1766, Rev. James Caldwell, of Elizabethtown, wrote to Mr. Bellamy : “ Yester- day Mr. Chapman was examined for ordination, and received parts of trial. His answers were well accepted. He did honor to his tutor and his senti- ments. The Presbytery were highly pleased. The congregation at Newark Mountains are much satis- fied, except in his delivery and something as to the manner, particularly the management of his voice, and his dwelling rather too long upon one thing, which is, or seems like, repetition. I should not write this, only I know you are his friend and may befriend him. We love him much."
This was Jedediah Chapman, a theological pupil (we suppose) of Bellamy. He was born in East Haddam, Connecticut, September 27, 1741; being a descendant in the sixth generation of Hon. Robert Chapman, of Hull, England, who came to America in 1635, and settled at Saybrook. Graduating at Yale, in 1762, he received license two years after- wards, and having preached here as a candidate in the spring of 1766, was ordained and settled over the church on the 22d of July. The call was not unani- mous, but the field had now been vacant almost four years, and we can easily credit the statement that the
115
HIS MARRIAGE.
congregation generally were "much satisfied " at seeing in their pulpit again a youthful, energetic, and promising pastor. He was neither Antinomian, Arminian, nor Sandemanian; his oratory, though it did not escape criticism, proved acceptable ; and though bred a Congregationalist, he was to do a work for the Presbyterian church, and to bequeath to it a posterity that would place his name upon its records among the fathers.
He entered the parish in his twenty-fifth year, unmarried, and poor. We make the latter state- ment on the authority of tradition, which represents that the attention of his parishioners was at first divided somewhat between the wants of his ward- robe and the word that he preached. It was enough, however, that he was clothed with salvation. They could furnish the rest.
About the second year after his settlement, he entered into matrimonial relations, and the stone parsonage was again the minister's home. The lady he married was Miss Blanche Smith, a Hu- guenot on her mother's side, and of a family that intermarried with the Adamses of Massachusetts. He had by this marriage three children, viz. : William Smith, Robert Hett, and John Hobert, the last dying (April 30, 1773) at the age of ten weeks and four days. The others are still remembered as ju- venile associates by some of our aged citizens .*
Robert Hett Chapman, born at Orange, March 2, 1771, gradu-
116
WANT OF SUPPORT.
Mr. Chapman had not long been settled and mar- ried, before he began to be straitened in his means of support. Writing to his friend, Dr. Bellamy, in April, 1772, he said: "I have been on the very point of breaking with this people on the account of their withholding my support,* but this seems to be in
ated at the College of New Jersey in 1789, received license in 1793, and after an extensive missionary tour in the Southern States, in which he labored several months without compensation, was set- tled at Rahway, in 1796. In 1811 he was elected President of the University of North Carolina., He entered upon the duties of the presidency the next year, and discharged them till 1817, to the great advantage of the institution. At the time of his death, June 18, 1833, he was a pastor in Tennessee. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was given him by Williams' College, in 1815. He mar- ried Hannah Arnette, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and had a family of twelve children, of whom seven survived him. Among them is Rev. Robert H. Chapman, D. D., of Asheville, N. C .- Sprague's Annals, 4, 95.
* Bellamy, in 1764, had been in the same condition. In appeal- ing to his society for relief, he reminded them of a declaration made by him twenty-four years before, when their call was before him : " I do not intend, if I should be a minister, to work for my living, or quarrel for my living. I am not willing to settle in the work of the ministry, unless I may give myself wholly to it, and I fear you are not able to maintain a minister." To which their committee replied : "It is just such a minister we would have, and do you settle among us and you shall never want." Now, he re- minds them of the straits and difficulties he went through for many years, when they were very poor. The appeal resulted in a pledge of " £80 lawful money, to be paid in money at or before the 12th day of March, annually :" and "sufficient firewood, in the same manner we have done in years past."
About the same time, (1768,) Samuel Hopkins, of Great Barring-
117
REVIVALS.
some measure got over now." The excellent char- acter given them by Mr. White, of Danbury, had to be taken, it would appear, with some allowance. We may infer, however, that the delinquency was not general, nor of long continuance. In the same letter he wrote : "My people seem to be in a very languid state in religious respects, though of late there seem to be more promising appearances. There has been a considerable revival of religion at Elizabethtown. Our college also has been visited again in a remarkable manner by the spirit of God, which I understand has been general-in which, I am informed, God has improved Mr. Bradford as an instrument of great good to the boys. I have had a very pressing invitation to visit them, which I hope to have it speedily in my power to comply with. Mr. Edwards' sentiments make surprising progress there." *
ton, wrote to Bellamy : " There is no prospect of my being main- tained by my people. I must go to farming, or leave them. But where shall I go? Where is there a clergyman who is well main- tained ? Where, then, is there a congregation that will maintain me ? Let such an one be found, where there is a prospect of use- fulness, and I am ready to go. I have a great aversion to go into worldly cares, but begin to suspect I am called to it."
* It was otherwise in Scotland, to which (as we learn from the letter quoted in the preceding note) Hopkins sent, in 1767, Edwards' Life, Sermons, and Dissertations, by the desire of a Mr. Hogg. This gentleman dying before the books arrived, they had no sale, and were sent back with forty shillings cost. "I am told few of the impression have gone off. Mr. Kneeland's house is full of them, which must soon be sold for waste paper." 6*
118
DEATH OF HIS WIFE.
Four months later (Aug. 14) he sent a letter to Bellamy by a "Mr. Perriam, who was formerly a tutor at Princetown college; " introducing him as "a very ingenious young gentleman, I trust a truly pious and humble Christian, one whom I greatly love and esteem-a steady, zealous friend to truth. He comes with a design to spend some time in the study of divinity with you, and I trust that on acquaintance with him you will be pleased to think it of great importance to encourage and forward him." He also hoped that Bellamy would think it a matter of no small importance to abridge and reprint his treatise on True Religion. " We have our hearts (said he) much set upon it." *
This correspondence favors the opinion that he had himself studied with the distinguished Con- necticut divine.
But a discipline of another kind now awaited him. On the 21st of November, 1773, a few months after the decease of their infant son, Mrs. Chapman was removed by death, in her 29th year. The parsonage was again a house of mourning. A double sorrow had fallen upon the heart of the young pastor. By the hand of the engraver it was stereotyped for posterity to read in the following lines :
For thee in death, thou one so dear,
Each common friend will drop a tear,
Between the dates of these letters (July 12, 1772) died Joseph Peck, the senior elder and deacon of the church, at the age of 70.
119
SECOND MARRIAGE.
But what can ease, O what can heal Pangs which a kinder husband feel, When thus the young, his joy, the just, Consume and moulder into dust ? Those balsams Faith alone can give, Which tells us that the dead shall live,
That Death his conquest shall restore, The just shall meet and part no more.
The ministers of Jesus need affliction. How shall they lead others to springs of consolation from which themselves have never drawn ? And so the Master sends them forth, as He went often Himself, weeping-sowing in tears that they may reap in joy. Mr. Chapman, like his two predecessors, saw the wife of his young affections laid in an early grave.
His second wife was Margaret, daughter of Dr. Peter Le Conte, of Middletown, Conn. This lady, who was slightly his senior in years, adorned to a good old age the station she was called to fill. She came to it at a critical time. The first notes of American independence were sounding. She was to share not only the anxieties of the pastor, but the perils of the patriot .*
The date of their marriage is not known to the writer. Their children were Peter Le Conte (born Jan. 8, 1778); Jolin Thomas (born April 24, 1779); Valeria Maria (born Feb. 23, 1784). The first, who became a lawyer, dropped the name of Chapman to pre- serve the name of his mother. He had three sons and four daugh- ters, but his sons are dead, leaving no children to perpetuate the name. Mrs. Chapman died at Geneva, Sept. 9, 1812-the autumn before her husband's death-in her 74th year.
120
SAMUEL HARRISON.
Just at this time an aged man of the parish, with whose name the reader is familiar, closed the con- flicts of a long life. We refer to Samuel Harrison. Born in 1684, half a life-time before the parish had a separate existence, he had seen its beginning and aided its growth. On the 6th of April, 1748, when he was sixty-four years of age, and when the first pastor of the church, several years his junior, had just been buried, he set his house in order for his own departure by making his will. Yet he lived to follow another pastor to his grave at the end of fourteen years, and was not followed to his own rest till yet another fourteen was added. On the 15th of September, 1776, when a national contest was taking the place of that land controversy in which he had been a somewhat conspicuous actor, at the age of almost ninety-three, he passed away. It was twenty-eight years after the making of his will, in which, after the distribution of his real estate betwen his sons Amos, Samuel, and Mat- thew, he gave to the second-named a yoke of oxen, a horse, and his young riding mare ; "also a horse colt one year old." We may doubt whether even the yearling lived to be interested in the execution of the will. The " team" tackling," given to Samuel and Matthew, "to be equally divided, as they do agree," could hardly have fur- nished by this time any occasion of strife. As to the "pale white brindle cow with white head,"
121
DANGERS GATHERING.
given to "Jane Bunel," and another brindle cow devised to Abigail Shores, " with two suits of ap- parel, one for Sabbath-day, and one for every-day wear, with a Dutch spinning-wheel and a Bible, to her and her heirs and assigns forever, as a reward for her service," these tokens of grateful remem- brance and benevolent forecast (the Bible excepted) must have proved of small avail to the legatees, supposing them still alive. A blind providence is man's ! But it is more commonly death, and not life, that deranges his plans and disappoints his good intentions .*
In the revolutionary struggle, Mr. Chapman espoused warmly the American cause. His bold- ness in defending the Revolution made enemies of those who opposed it, and more than once were plans laid for conveying him to the British camp. Soldiers were sent to his house to capture him, but, more fortunate than Roe and McKnight, his minis- terial compatriots, he eluded them. Freedom's sentinels were around him to give a timely signal when danger was seen, and under the shield of that Providence which favored our country's arms,
A number of persons have attained to great longevity in this parish. Samuel Harrison reached his 93d year. His sister Elea- nor, (Mrs. Ebenezer Lindsley,) lived to 100 years and two months. His son Samuel (above named, and who lived unmarried) reached his 92d year. Mrs. Martha, widow of Jedediah Freeman, died in 1831, in her 100th year. Several members of the church now living are almost ninety.
122
THE REVOLUTION.
he received no harm. Yet he was obliged several times to flee the parish,-seeking a temporary asy- lum behind the mountains, as did many of the families who composed his flock.
In November, 1776, the American army under Washington, then reduced to three thousand five hundred men, and fast diminishing, was retreating through New Jersey. Crossing the Passaic at Ac- quackonoc Bridge, it came down the river to New- ark, and there rested six days, till threatened by Cornwallis, who was on its track. As it left New- ark, the place was entered by a British force of six thousand men.
The whole vicinity was now traversed by for- aging parties and troops sent out for plunder. The Hessians were particularly dreaded for their merci- less depredations and cruelties. A company of those mercenaries came in this direction from Bloomfield. A few of the party, riding in ad- vance, promised protection to such of the inhabi- tants as should remain in their houses. If the people fled, as many did, they afterward returned to find their houses and farmyards thoroughly stripped. Nor were the plunderers over scrupu- lous to discriminate between friends and foes.
The following incidents are yet remembered. A Mr. James Jones, of Bloomfield, hearing of the approach of the British army, loaded hastily his wagon with such articles as were most valuable, and
123
A SKIRMISH.
was about starting for the mountain with his family, when the enemy came upon him. The captured family were taken to New York, where they re- mained till the end of the war. They afterward went to Nova Scotia.
Cornelius Jones, a brother of the man just named, was living near "the Junction," (East Orange,) where his son, Mr. Cyrus Jones, yet resides. His house was plundered, and his hogs and cattle taken by the Hessians, the family having temporarily left the premises.
After their return, a skirmish occurred a little east of their residence, on the hill by Judge John Peck's, between several Highlanders and three Americans, whose names were John Wright, John Tichenor, and Joshua Shaw. Wright and his party having muskets, while the others had only swords, ordered the latter to lay down their weap- ons. This was done, but as the men with the mus- kets came within reach, the swords were dexterously caught again and laid upon them with bloody effect. The captors were now the vanquished, and were left upon the ground badly wounded, while the Highlanders retreated to the army. It was about noon. The same afternoon a company of the ene- my returned. They came to the house of Mr. Jones in search of "the three rebels," whom his nephew, Moses Jones, had in the meantime taken upon a sled and removed to their homes in the
124
THE BRITISH IN ORANGE.
present neighborhood of Riker's store, Doddtown. Not finding them at the house, they set a guard over Mrs. Jones, while they took her husband to the barn to renew the search. As they were thus engaged, the nephew returned with his team and sled, which was covered with the blood of the wounded men. The affair ended in the two Joneses going to Newark as prisoners. They were released the following day. The uncle was afterward in the battle of Springfield, where he narrowly escaped death by a cannon ball.
A division of the American army, as it receded from the approach of Cornwallis, is said to have passed through Orange. Turning down the road now known as Scotland street, it was just out of sight when a detachment of the enemy appeared. Two men from over the mountain were coming into the village. The British officer in command inquired of them if the American troops had passed that way. Being answered in the affirmative, he asked if they were a numerous force. "Yes," said one of the mountaineers, " the woods in that direc- tion are full of them." Fearing an ambuscade, the officer desisted from pursuit.
The British force then encamped in the old bury- ing-ground. Two boys-Adonijah Harrison and David Lyon-who lived up the valley near " Tory Corner,"* resolved upon having a sight of the en-
* This place received its designation from a number of families
125
TWO YOUNG ADVENTURERS.
campment. So passing across the swamp and over the hill where St. John's (Catholic) church now stands, they had just leaped the fence which di- vided the forest from an open field, when they found themselves in alarming proximity to some soldiers who were lounging on the grass. "Oh ! oh !" exclaimed the boys, while a mischievous sol- dier added to their fright by discharging a pistol. Prudence now prevailed over curiosity. Scram- bling over the fence with all conceivable agility, they ran homeward for dear life, quite cured of the disposition for martial adventure.
The mountainous range that divides the town- ship of Orange was the limit of the enemy's incur- sions in this direction. Behind it large numbers of the exposed inhabitants took refuge, with such property as they were able to remove .* The mountain also served another purpose. A tall tree which now lifts itself conspicuously above the line of its summit, is said to mark the spot where tele- graphic signals with New York were given and received.
who then resided in that vicinity. Many worthy and excellent peo- ple were conscientiously opposed to the struggle for independence. Some of them left the country during the war, suffering the confis- cation of their property as the penalty of their principles. Others finally gave in their adhesion to the new government.
* Those who remained at their homes obtained a "protection " -as it was called-from the British officers, as persons friendly to their cause.
126
THE MOUNTAIN SENTINELS.
From the top of the mountain the movements of the enemy were carefully watched. Sometimes the latter from the opposite side of the valley, would also discover the reconnoitering party, and salute them with a well aimed discharge of their artillery. On one occasion, when Captain Jonathan Condit and his company were thus keeping watch on the hill-top, some shots from the old burying-ground swept through the forest quite near them. "Con- sarn it," exclaimed Capt. Jonathan, " how careless
the fellows do shute !* The captain and his broth- ers David, John, and Daniel, lived in the valley between the first and second mountains. His neph- ew, Dr. John Condit, was a surgeon in Washing- ton's army, and afterwards a member of Congress.
The drafts made upon the Newark militia from time to time took many from their farms in this part of the town. An order, dated Newark, Aug. 29, 1777, and signed by Samuel Hayes, was ad- dressed to Captain Williams, or the officer com- manding in his absence, to detach his proportion of men to relieve those on duty there, whose month
* From what is said of him, we suppose this Yankee impreca- tion was about the nearest approach to profanity of which he was capable. He was a conscientious church-goer, and in his old age, being poor, and having no vehicle but an ox-cart, he and his wife rode regularly to church in that. But not caring to show it, he would stop as he entered the village, hitch his cattle to a tree, (which stood in front of Mr. Patterson's present residence in Main street,) and thence walk to the house of God.
127
DRAFTS AND FINES.
was just expiring; also to meet, with his subal- terns, " at the house of Captain Pierson, to-morrow at three o'clock P. M., to appoint officers for said detachment ;" the same "to be marched into this town on Sunday, at three o'clock P. M."
There were some-tories of course-upon whom these orders were ineffectual. " At a court-martial held at Newark Mountain, July 7, 1780, at the house of Samuel Munn, for the trial of several persons, soldiers in Col. Philip V. Cortlandt's regi- ment, Essex county militia, belonging to Capt- Thomas Williams' company, being charged for disobeying orders and not turning out on their proper tour of duty the 20th day of June last, and on the alarm the 23d of June, and for desertion ; agreeably to an act of the Governor, Council and General Assembly in that case made and provided, entitled an act for the more effectual defence of the State in case of invasion or incursion of the ene- my :" the court having met, according to order, found three persons guilty of the above charges, and unanimously agreed to fine them in the fol- lowing sums : Jonathan Williams, £500; Charles Crane, £200; Joseph Tomkins, £3 15s. The pre- siding officer was Captain Josiah Pierson, the other members of the court being Captains Thomas Wil- liams, Isaac Gillam, Henry Jarolaman ; Lieuten- ants Henry Squier, John Edwards; Ensigns Rem- ington Parcel, Thomas Baldwin, Ralph Post.
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