USA > New Jersey > The early Germans of New Jersey : their history, churches, and genealogies. > Part 15
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The next farm also formerly owned by H. W. Hunt, Esq., also belonged to Robert Colver.
WILLIAM HENN purchased 350 acres of the Stevenson tract
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
in 1745 of Samuel Schooley and his wife Avis, of Bethlehem township, Hunterdon Co. This land Schooley had bought of Isaac DeCou in 1726.
THE SCHOOLEYS, after whom the mountain was named, came from England to Burlington. There were several families of them. SAMUEL who sold land to Wm. Henn was the son of Thomas, who came to the above city in 1678. He was residing in Bethlehem township when he sold his land on the mountain and probably never resided here.
ROBERT, the son of William-perhaps a cousin of Samuel- who owned land at Draketown, is said to have resided there until he removed to Randolph in 1740, where he bought 600 acres of the Kirkbride tract. The family were Quakers.
ROBERT COLVER bought of William Cook in 1748 265 acres west of Henn. This included what is now the Martenis farm. This Robert was the son of John and grandson of John Sr., who came from New London before 1732. His brother Thomas settled near Draketown. They came from Monmouth Co., having gone thither from the mountain.
THOMAS NUNN was in possession in 1764 of 200 acres west of the Henn property. He left his property to his two sons Ben- jamin and Thomas, and the latter's right became vested in Joshua Nunn, grandson of Thomas. Joshua sold to David Colver in 1788 and Colver to Philip Hann, and Peter Woolf, surviving executor of Thomas, the elder, sold the other half to John Bacon who sold to Philip Hann and Hann sold the whole in 1803 to James Hance.
LAWRENCE HANN owned the farm on which the Pleasant Grove church and parsonage stand.
CALEB SWAYZEY bought the next farm of 197 acres in 1793 of Andrew Little. Caleb was the sixth child of BARNABAS Swazey who came from Southold, L. I., to Roxbury in 1737. He was a cousin to Israel Swazey, who owned the farm below the min- eral spring.
ROBERT COLVER, JR., bought the next farm, containing 140 acres, of Edward Taylor, of Amwell township, in 1774. The farm had come from Stevenson to DeCou (as part of 500 pur-
REV. CONOVER S. OSBORN.
REV. W. J. OILL, D. D.
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SBTTBERS OF SCHOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN
chased in F714) and from DeCou to Freegift Stout and from his executors to Taylor.
The Hugh Sharp tract of 230 acres, south of Stevenson's, surveyed in 1715, included the farm of 106 acres sold by Jere- miah Bacon in 1786 to James Hance and that sold to Daniel Dilts in 1802.
PHILIP TERRYBERRY purchased very early the farm which he sold in 1784 to Jacob Dufford. Between Dufford and Dilts was the farm of Henry H. Hoffman.
The HENRY I. HOFFMAN farm was once owned by Frederick Young. It was sold in 1775 by Nathan to Joseph Colver, by Colver in 1795 to Fred. Young, by Young in 1806 to John Hoff- man and by him in 1808 to Henry I. Hoffman. Henry I. Hoffman was a son of John Hoffman and a grandson of Henry, who probably came from New York State to New Jersey. Henry I. was a prominent elder in the Presbyterian Church of the Valley.
The farm of the late Mrs. George Lindaberry, originally 124 acres, was sold by George Beatty, of Trenton, to Joseph Colver and by Colver in 1799 to Philip Terryberry.
THE MORGAN TRACT included the Hann farm formerly be- longing to Terryberrys, upon part of which the Dorincourt house now stands.
THE BOND TRACT of 500 acres was taken up 24th July, 1751, and was sold to Braithwaite in 1771. Two hundred and forty- two acres of this land was sold 15th April, 1795, by Jos. Colver to David Welsh. This included the Seneca Wise farm and the village of Springtown ; the Hiram Petty farm formerly owned first by John Sager, and then by John Terryberry ; and part of the Philip Terryberry property.
THE BENJAMIN HUNTER TRACT of 750 acres was bounded on the east by the road at Pleasant Grove from the store to the county line. It was taken up October, 1714, and included the John P. Sharp farm, probably owned in 1764 by George Eick, the Hann farm and the Walters place, sold in 1818 by Edward Sharp to T. and J. Walters. West of these farms was the Conrad Honness place.
The first land purchased by a resident on the mountain was
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
the farm afterwards in possession of J. Beatty. This was sold March Ist, 1733, to WILLIAM PEW, of Lebanon, by Thomas Schooley, of Bethlehem, Hunterdon Co. It contained 136 acres and was afterwards owned by P. Sailor.
THE ELIJAH BOND TRACT of 438 acres next to the mineral spring was taken up in 1719 and sold to DeCou and 321 acres of it were sold by him to Charles Drake in 1779. William Drake, the son of Charles, bought the eastern part (135 acres) in 1807 and Israel Swayzey, son-in-law of Chas. Drake, bought the western end of 175 acres. The lot containing the spring of ten acres was not included in William Drake's farm.
The English settlement, through which the road from the springs to Hackettstown passes, formed part of the large Beswick tract of 1072 acres. Several families of English people settled upon this land at the beginning of this century. They were the Rawlings, Ruslings and DeRoses. Some dispute arose as to the title and an agreement was entered into 25th September, 1817, in consequence of which a new survey was made and the land was divided into lots and assigned to James Upjohn, James Rusling and Anthony Rawlings, so far at least as to give them the share of Ann Bland, while the rest went to the heirs of Ann Dickerson, the other heir of Francis Beswick.
Judge Aaron Robertson owned part of the southern end of this tract. South of and next to the Beswick came the Samuel Johnson survey of 364 acres (taken up in 1755) consisting mostly of wood land.
MOORE FURMAN sold to Henry Hance 278 acres along the Musconetcong in 1794. This farm was joined on the west by James Martins who had settled on his farm at least before the year 1755.
STEPHENSBURG owes its name to the family upon whose land the place is situated. This land was purchased before 1800 by Samuel Stephens, the son of Richard, of Mt. Olive. Robert Colver Stephens, the son of Samuel, was an elder in the Pleas- ant Grove church and was a fervent christian and an active business man as shown by his diary, which is still in existence.
In 1750 John Rockhill surveyed "to Jonathan Robeson a
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SETTLERS OF SCHOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN
tract of 100 acres, besides allowances, north of the Stevenson tract and next to the mineral spring lot.
SCHOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN SPRINGS
has been a resort for visitors in pursuit of health for over a hundred years. In the year 1770 Dr. Henry M. Muehlenberg, while visiting in this vicinity, tested the virtues of this spring then "recently discovered." It was probably long known to the Indians and its medicinal properties taken advantage of by them.
In Morse's Geography, published in 1789, the following account is given of this spring, which seems to have become a place of general resort even thus early:
In the county of Hunterdon near the top of the Musconetcong mountain there is a noted medicinal spring, to which invalids resort from every quarter. It issues from the side of the mountain in a very romantic manner, aud it is conveyed into an artificial reservoir for the accommodation of those who wish to bathe in, as well as to drink, the waters. It is a strong chalybeate and very cold. These waters have been used with very considerable success, but perhaps the exercise necessary to get to them, and the purity of the air in this lofty situation, aided by a livel. imagination, have as great efficacy in curing the patient, as the waters.
In 1810 Professor Mitchell, of Columbia College, made.an analysis of the waters of the spring and announced as a result that "if there is anything that deserves the name of a pure chalybeate water in the world, this would seem to be such a composition."
The popularity of this spring made it necessary to provide some accommodations for the visitors who resorted thither. Before the close of the last century JOSEPH HEATH erected a house to accommodate boarders. This building is still stand- ing. About 1809 another building was erected. In 1817 Ephraim Marsh, a son-in-law of Joseph Heath, became asso- ciated with him in the hotel business and erected the main buildings of the group now known as the Heath House.
Belmont Hall, recently enlarged and now known as "The Dorincourt,' was first erected about 1820 by Conover Bowne of New York. It was afterwards owned in succession by William Gibbons, of Madison, then by his daughter, Mrs. Francis Lathrop, then by Edward Holland and finally by the late
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
David Crowell. At Mr. Crowell's death the house was started anew under a different name and with greatly increased accom- modations.
The HON. EPHRAIM MARSH was the most prominent man on the mountain in his day. He was born at Mendham in 1796 and died on the mountain in 1864. He came to the mountain in 1816 as a manager for Joseph Heath. He represented the county in both houses of the legislature ; was county judge ; a member of the N. J. Constitutional Convention and President of the Morris Canal Company. His management of the Heath House brought it into national fame and very many of the prominent public men of the time before the war, sought enter- tainment at the springs.
The late William W. Marsh, the son of Judge Ephraim, in- herited the public spirit of his father and filled a large place in the community up to the day of his death.
THE INDIANS
have left some evident traces of their early existence upon the mountain. Three Indian paths are referred to in old surveys. One crossing the South Branch at Middle Valley and passing through Pleasant Grove, another crossing the mountain above the mill at Two Bridges, above Naughright, and a third pass- ing down the mountain near the spring.
An Indian camping ground was once to be found on the Ayer's farm near Draketown, and what were called "The Indian Fields" was situated between the latter place and Hack- ettstown. Hiram and Tim, two Indians, with their squaws and papooses were living on the mountain fifty or sixty years ago. All the land in Warren and Sussex and this part of Morris counties belonged to what was called " the last Indian purchase above the falls of the Delaware."
THE ROGERENES
were the first religious body in this section. This peculiar body of sectarians were led apparently by a desire to cultivate undisturbed their strange form of religious life, in seeking this frontier so far distant from their home in New London, Conn.
John Colver was their leader and he brought with him to
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SETTLERS OF SCHOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN
this wilderness in 1732 his children and their families to the number of twenty-one persons. Other families affiliated with them, such as the Tuttles, Burrows, Manns, Weirs, Waterhouses, Lambs, Pechers (Pishers ?), Salmons and Owens.
They removed from Schooley Mountain after three years to Monmouth Co., whence they returned hither after eleven years.
Where they worshipped on the mountain we cannot tell, but they had a house of worship, referred to in Smith's History of New Jersey (1765), near the point where the road from Mountain Pond joins the highway from Rustic to Mount Arl- ington. They had a graveyard near Silver Spring about a furlong from Lake Hopatcong. Some removed to the Red Stone country or Virginia. (See Dover Era July 18th, 1890.)
Sandford's History of Connecticut (p. 141) speaks of them as follows : "Some trouble was caused by a sect known as the Rogerenes that flourished mostly in the neighborhood of New London. While their doctrines were obnoxious to their neigh- bors the principal annoyance came through the indecencies of dress and behavior that marked the more than eccentric actions of this peculiar people. Holding the views of the Seventh Day Baptists they added notions of their own both eccentric and immoral."
They were strenuously orthodox in their belief, holding to the doctrines of the Trinity, of salvation in Christ, the new birth, the resurrection and eternal judgment. But to these they added their peculiar views, in which they largely resem- bled the Society of Friends. To them all days were alike and it was lawful to labor after worship on the Lord's Day. They were opposed to the taking of oaths and to audible prayer, except when moved by the spirit. Any resort in sickness to physicians or the use of medicine was sinful. They abhorred such adjuncts to worship of God as church steeples, pulpits and cushions, a paid minister or even a separate church building. Nor did they approve of monuments to the dead. They gloried in suffering for their belief and even courted the penalties of the whipping post, fines and imprisonment. The ' were accus- tomed to attend the service of the churches an 1 carry their work into the church with them. This they are said to have
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done in the year 1770 in the churches both of Mendham and Basking Ridge. This sect was originated in the year 1674 by John Rogers, whose father James was a baker in New London, and the richest man in the colony next to Governor Winthrop. It is still in existence. [Manwaring's Hist. of New London].
REV. HUGH SMYTHE.
REV. WILLIAM J. MEWHINNEY.
CHAPTER XX.
SCHOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
CHOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN SPRINGS has been a place of resort probably since the year 1770. About 1825 it became more widely known and patronized. The native population was sparse and scat- tered and its religious conveniences and accommodations very few and uncertain. At that time the visitors being largely religious people felt the need of better opportunities for public worship, while staying upon the mountain. Their liberality combined with the enter- prise of some influential people among the permanent residents resulted in a successful effort to build a church.
This was designed to be a union church in which clergymen of all denominations, either visitors or settled in the neighbor- hood, would be welcome to hold religious service. In order the better to secure this end, the ground upon which the church was erected was deeded to the trustees of the Theological Seminary at Princeton in trust for a site upon which should be erected a building for the religious worship of " all denomina- tions of christians."
The building was of stone and had seating room for 200 people. It was of two stories, the upper room being used as a school room, and cost altogether about six hundred dollars. It
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
was dedicated on the 7th of August, 1825, by the Rev. Dr. Pohlman, then the pastor of the Lutheran Church of German Valley, N. J. The building when completed was, by the trus- tees of the seminary, placed in the hands of a committee of three, consisting of the Rev. Dr. Campbell, of Hackettstown, Ephraim Marsh, an elder in the same church, and Dr. Pohlman.
From that time forth visitors on the mountain heard the gospel preached by clergyman of every denomination ; Episco- palians, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Methodists. The pastors of neighboring churches took their turn in con- ducting service on Sabbath afternoons.
When in the course of time the old stone chapel became unfit for use and was removed, the community felt the need of a larger and more comfortable building in which, as in the pre vious structure, union services might be regularly maintained. With this end in view the present large and elegant building was erected and dedicated on the 7th of August, 1870.
Upon this occasion the Rev. Dr. Moffat, of Princeton Theo- logical Seminary, preached a sermon, and the Rev. Dr. Pohl- man, of the Lutheran Church of Albany, who had dedicated the old stone chapel forty-five years before, offered the dedi- catory prayer. The basement was fitted up for the purposes of the Sabbath school, and the structure cost altogether $13,000.
A LARGE REVIVAL,
occurred in the year 1874. Rev. Samuel Sawyer, pastor at Pleasant Grove, began a series of meetings, a week before Christmas, in that year, and soon found he had not been mis- taken in his belief that a deep religious thoughtfulness was prevalent throughout the community. These meetings were continued for six weeks or more, with very little intermission, the clergymen of the neighboring churches occasionally aiding in the services. It was a most remarkable work of grace, reaching almost every family, and in some instances, every member of a family, until as many as seventy were indulging a hope of salvation through Christ. It now became a matter of serious consideration how to care for these new converts After careful and mature deliberation it was decided to organ-
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SCHOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
ize an independent congregation. Neighboring congregations with one exception bid the new enterprise, "God-speed."
As a result of the application to the Presbytery of Morris and Orange, a committee was appointed by that body and met in the chapel of the church of Schooley's Mountain on Wednes- day, March 17th, 1875, and proceeded to organize the church. An able and instructive sermon was preached by Dr. Alfred Yeomans, of Orange, and Rev. Messrs. Mix and Souper, the other members of the committee, also took part in the impres- sive service. Twenty-four persons, principally from the churches of German Valley, Hackettstown and Pleasant Grove, signified their desire to become members of the new organiza- tion. Messrs. Wm. W. Marsh and H. W. Hunt were chosen as elders. The membership was increased at the next commun- ion to the number of seventy-five.
The first minister regularly supplying this church was the REV. SAMUEL SAWYER, who became stated supply on the 15th of April, 1876, having previously resigned as pastor of the Pleasant Grove Church. He only remained one year, when he removed to the West. Services were regularly maintained by different supplies, until the REV. E. P. LINNELL, of the Presby- terian Church of German Valley, began regular service every Sabbath afternoon, and continued from December Ist. 1878, to June ist, 1879. The church was again served by temporary supplies, for a period, until the REV. J. KINSEY SMITH was called to be the first pastor, October 15th, 1882. He was ordained and installed October 26th, 1882. He remained for four years, when he accepted a call in March, 1886, to the Church of Mt. Washington, Md. Very soon afterwards, 23d May, 1886, the REV. WILLIAM J. GILL, D. D., became the stated supply, to be soon, 12th December, 1886, elected pastor. By a mysterious providence this relationship was of but short duration and was terminated by the death of Dr. Gill in the spring of 1387. During his ministry the church on the mountain was united into one pastorate with the church of Beattystown. Dr. Gill was born in the North of Ireland, and had spent the first years of his ministry in Europe, and had been settled over churches in Baltimore and Brooklyn.
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The REV. E. P. CRANE, of Rutherford, spent six months on the mountain as supply to the church, from June till December, 1887. He resigned to accept the position of American Consul at Stuttgart, Germany, a step to which he was impelled by his impaired state of health.
The present minister-in-charge is the REV. HUGH SMYTHE, who has been ministering to this people since the 15th of January, 1888. Mr. Smythe was born in the North of Ireland, is a graduate of Princeton College, and in his Theological edu- cation has enjoyed the advantages of the educational institu- tions at Belfast, Ireland, and Geneva, Switzerland. He had been the pastor for four years of the Broadway church, Cin- cinnati, and for eight years of a Presbyterian church in Eliza- beth. He has had four brothers, all of whom were ministers, and two sisters, both of whom married ministers.
Of the elders, besides W. W. Marsh, recently deceased, and H. W. Hunt, ordained 17th March, 1875, there are Thomas Y. Ward, ordained 18th April, 1875, Lawrence H. Hunt and J. Newton Smith, ordained 1894. The above history has been compiled from the session book of the church, which is a model of completeness and accuracy. This church is a living instance of what may be done in the way of sustaining the continuous and regular worship of the sanctuary in the face of great diffi- culties and discouragements. In this respect the self-sacrifice and public spirit of Messrs. Marsh and Hunt cannot be too highly appreciated.
PLEASANT GROVE CHURCH.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF PLEASANT GROVE.
BY REV. WILLIAM J. MEWHINNEY.
N OLD STONE CHURCH in which the congregation of Pleasant Grove wor- shipped for more than fifty years, was probably completed in the year 1806, certainly in 1807. The congregation assumed the name of Pleasant Grove in 1807. Whether a log house of worship preceded the erection of the stone church it has been impos- sible to ascertain.
Pleasant Grove applied to the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick for the appointment of ministers to supply its pulpit both at the spring and fall meetings in the year 1808. Rev. Wm. B. Sloan, of Mansfield and Greenwich, Rev. Garner A. Hunt (uncle of Rev. H. W. Hunt, Jr.), and Rev. Joseph Campbell, preached in the church as the result of these applications.
Toward the last named,
REV. JOSEPH CAMPBELL,
then but recently licensed to preach the gospel, the congregations of Independence, Hackettstown and Pleasant Grove, turned as the man they desired to be their pastor. Some time before the first of April, 1809, these congregations held meetings respectively, and voted to make out a call.
Mr. Campbell accepted this call at the meeting of the Pres-
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EARLY GERMANS OF NEW JERSEY
bytery which began April 25th, 1809. He was ordained and installed at Hackettstown on the thirteenth day of June, 1809.
The Rev. Mr. Campbell was about thirty-two or thirty-three years of age at the time of his installation. His birthplace was Omagh, in the North of Ireland. He emigrated to America with his parents in 1797, at the age of nineteen or twenty. In ISoI he was married to Miss Abigail Denton, who came with him to Hackettstown. He acquired his scientific and literary education under Dr. Smith, of Nassau Hall, now Princeton University, teaching school in Princeton while he was doing so. He studied theology with Dr. Woodhull, of Freehold. The churches of Independence and Pleasant Grove were his first charge. Mr. Campbell conducted two services at Pleasant Grove every third Sabbath, with a brief intermission between them. He was an able preacher, both as respects the matter and the delivery of his sermons. A volume of these, published two years after his death (1842) furnishes very interesting testimony to the quality of his discourses. A man who knew him wrote : " His delivery was deliberate, earnest and impres- sive, though somewhat marked by the Scotch-Irish pronuncia- tion. Those who have personal recollections of his pulpit appearance will remember the peculiar smile he wore, which was not banished even when his tears flowed."
The "Old Stone Church" in which Mr. Campbell preached stood where the present church stands. The building was a plain structure, without bell-tower or cupola. It had galleries on three sides and was heated by charcoal fire. The pulpit stood in the north end of the church. It was a small, box-like structure, built high up against the wall, supported by a tall post and reached by a winding stair on either side.
Conrad Honness, James Hance and Lawrence Hann, of Pleasant Grove, Peter Lance and his son John, of Little Brook, and Samuel Stephens, his son Robert, and William Hance, of Stephensburgh, were all conspicuous members of the congre- gation in that day. Conrad Honness, of Pleasant Grove, Peter Lance, of Little Brook, and Samuel Stewart, were probably chosen members of the first session. James Hance was elected
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THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF PLEASANT GROVE
elder about 1818 ; John Lance was a member of session in 1826 and John Lindaberry in 1827.
How many members of the church there were in 1809 or who were admitted into the church from that time till 1826, there is no record to show. From 1826 until 1830 thirty-five were added to the church-thirty-four of them confessing Christ publicly for the first time.
Mr. H. W. Hunt, Jr., a young member of Newton Presby- tery, seems to have become the stated supply of Pleasant Grove and Danville, the out stations under Dr. Campbell, on April 21, 1831. Pleasant Grove was still under Dr. Campbell's pastoral oversight. Dr. Campbell resigned the pastorate of Pleasant Grove in the spring of 1832, and Rev. H. W. Hunt, Jr., was installed as pastor in November of that same year.
REV. H. WHITEFIELD HUNT, JR.,
was the son of Rev. H. W. Hunt, an able and popular minister in Hunterdon county. The son was born at Sparta, N. J., Jan. 8th, 1799. He graduated from Princeton College in 1820, and spent one year in Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1822 he became a home missionary, and made a missionary tour through New York and Pennsylvania. He was licensed by the Pres- bytery of Newton October 4th, 1821, and ordained by the same body on the 29th of November, 1823. From 1823 till 1826 he was stated supply of the churches of Alexandria and Kingwood under his father. In 1826 he became the teacher of a prepara- tory school at Schooley's Mountain, and was occupied thus till he became the preacher of Pleasant Grove. He was a man of medium height, fair complexion, and in his later years of portly figure. One has written of him, "Rev. Mr. Hunt was a classical scholar, thorough and solid in his attainments, he had a warm heart, was a devoted friend, and an able and eloquent preacher of the word." He was an earnest, energetic and effective worker, and a good pastor. His death occurred on the 29th of January, 1868, eight years after he resigned the pastorate of this church.
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