USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > Amwell > The history of the First English Presbyterian Church in Amwell > Part 2
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On this complaint the Queen removed him. He was succeeded by eight others from the time of his removal until 1738. The colonists wearied of their union with
*Smith's New Jersey, p. 218, and Ridpath's History of United States, p. 208.
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THE COLONIAL PERIOD
New York, by which they were overshadowed, and, be- cause of her larger numbers and influence, that Colony received the greater part of the Governor's attention. From 1728 to 1738, petition followed petition on the part of the Assembly for a separate Governor for New Jersey. It is evident that the Ciuncillors united with the Assem- bly in this petition, from the fact stated that they united with them "in most hearty and sincere thanks to his Majesty, George the Second, for having, at their earnest Petition, appointed a Person to govern this Province Solely." This "Address" was signed "by order of the Council."
JOHN HAMILTON, Spr.
And by order of the House of Representatives.
JOSEPH BENNET, Spr.
[New Jersey Archives, Series VI, p. 58.]
Of that Council John Reading was an honored mem- ber, and had been since 1720. He was also at that time a member of this congregation. We have then these two interesting facts, viz., that in the year 1738, in which this Church was received as a corporate member of the Pres- bytery of New Brunswick, a commission arrived, appoint- ing Lewis Morris Governor of New Jersey, and separa- ting the Colony in its government from that of New York. Here, again, this Church and the State, with Mr. Reading connected with both, move forward on synchron- ous lines to that common date, 1738, when, under a new administration they were better fitted for their respective spheres of usefulness. Who were the people of the Church at that early period? While this inquiry cannot be fully answered, there are some very important facts to gratify
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us, gathered from the memorial stones in our cemetery and from family records.
There are families in the Church at the present time whose ancestors reach back to her earliest days, and whose first records are on these tombstone memorials. We have with us other families with such memorials going back to nearly the same date, and when we examine the plots we find near these graves others unmarked and undated, but bearing evidence of being older graves, and hence showing that these families have also been on the ground from the earliest days of the Church. Then again there are many old graves marked with names no longer represented on the Church records.
Among the oldest graves in our cemetery we mention the following: Jacob Mattison, died December 7th, 1804, aged 95 years. Ann, wife of Jacob Mattison, died June 30th, 1761, aged 52 years, 5 months, which makes the birth of both in 1709. Joseph Mattison, died August 26th, 1745, aged 34, and Ann Bishop, wife of Joseph Matti- son, died May, 1748, aged 31 years. The Mattison family furnished several men for the Army of the Revo- lution. One of these was the ancestor of Mrs. Van Fleet, widow of the late Vice-Chancellor Van Fleet. The Hoag- lands are one of our oldest families, of which Jacob Hoagland is still with us as a member of the Church. John Hoagland, born 1761, and died 1842, aged 81 years. Derrick Hoagland was the first representative of the Church in Presbytery, of whom we have any record. He heads the list of elders of the Church, and was commis- sioner to Presbytery at Bound Brook May 30th, 1753. He was a prominent man in the affairs of the township
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during that early period. John Brown, a native of Bris- tol, England, born 1721, died March, 1797, aged 76 years. Garret Schenck, born 1716 or 1719, died 1791. His wife, Mary, born 1720, died 1778. William Schenck, born 1727, and died 1806, aged 79 years. Captain John Schenck, born 1750, and died 1823, aged 73 years. See Appendix 2, p. 284. Another member of this family is Captain Garret Schenck, born 1782, and died 1858, aged 76 years. Up to a very recent date the Schencks were numerous on the rolls of this Church. At present the family is represented by only one family, viz., Mr. Rhut- son Schenck, and his wife.
The grave of Aaron Van Doren is found in the ceme- tery. He was born April 8th, 1730, and died September 30th, 1792, which dates make him to have been one of the old families of this congregation, but the family is no longer represented among us. The same is true of Jacob Kershaw. He was born 1744, and died 1818, seventy- four years of age. He is the representative of a large family here in the early days of the Church, but is no longer found among our people.
THE CASE FAMILY.
Subsequent records will make frequent mention of the Cases. Dr. Mott, in his valuable history of the Presby- terian Church of Flemington, says: John Philip Case came to this country from Germany in 1738, and pur- chased from Penn a tract of land on which he built the first house in the neighborhood of Flemington. The date is slightly in error, both for the arrival of the family and the purchase.
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Chambers, in his history of the Germans in Hunterdon County, places the arrival of the Cases in 1730. And I have in my possession a deed conveying a tract of land from the same Penn plantation to one William Anderson in the year 1737. The deed describes Anderson's pur- chase as joining lands of one Philip Kase. The convey- ance was made by Thomas Penn, for himself and his brothers, John and Richard. The signatures were taken March Ist, 1737, by John Reading, "one of his Majesty's Commissioners." This document has additional interest because it bears the signature of John Reading, as well as that of Thomas Penn. The Cases have been connected with the Church all through its history. Several families of this name are now in the congregation, although Mrs. Martin Bellis and Mrs. Robert Smith, daughters of Lewis Case, are the only communicant members of the Church at the present time.
The family was represented by Jacob Case, born Au- gust 11th, 1765, and died January 4th, 1850, and John L. Case, born January 24th, 1806, and died September 23d, 1883, and more recently by Mr. Lewis Case, who, during my pastorate, moved to Flemington. At different periods the family has rendered efficient service to the Church.
THE HOLCOMBES.
Another of our old families is that of the Holcombes. John Holcombe, of Abington, Pa., purchased a tract of land November 16th, 1705, of one Richard Wilson. This land, then a wilderness, is now covered in part by the borough of Lambertville. At that time the name for
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THE COLONIAL PERIOD
the village was Corryell's Ferry. In 1724 John Hol- combe was appointed one of the freeholders for Amwell township. In 1725 he was collector. In 1726 he was again freeholder, showing him to have been a man of affairs in the early days of the township.
John Holcombe bequeathed to his son Richard the farm he bought of John Ways. It was situated just north of the borough. Richard served in the Revolutionary War. He also entertained General Washington in the stone house erected by his father on the farm just mentioned. This was just before the battle of Trenton. The early Holcombes were Quakers. Tradition says they came from Devonshire, England, and not long after the arrival of William Penn.
From John Holcombe are descended all the Holcombes in this part of New Jersey. During the early days of this Church Lambertville was a part of the congregation.
Richard Holcombe and Hannah Emley, his wife, were the parents of Miss Ann Holcombe, who became the wife of Furman Romine, grandfather of Charles Romine, and great-great-grandfather of Dr. George L. Romine, of Lambertville, with whom Mrs. John Emiley Holcombe is connected. I may add to this Mrs. Holcombe was Miss Emma A. Skillman.
The Church at Mount Airy, or Amwell II, was organ- ized in 1754, by our first pastor, Rev. Eliah Byram.
The Church at Lambertville was organized much later. Both of these Churches contain families originally con- nected with our Church.
The Holcombes have long been prominent in this Mother Church, also in these two Churches of later date. 2
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Trustee Peter Q. Holcombe and his brother, Deacon John Emiley Holcombe, are son of John Holcombe, an honored elder and Sabbath School Superintendent of our Church. And the late esteemed Mrs. Caleb F. Quick, and Mrs. John Quick, both very active and useful mem- bers of this Church, were members of the Holcombe family.
THE CORYELLS.
The Coryells, an old family of Lambertville, were in this Church during its early history. After the Revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 they came to this country, landing at Perth Amboy. They settled soon after that near Dunellen and Newmarket. Their church connection was with the First Reformed Church, of Som- erville, where many of their children were baptized. In 1732 John Emanuel Coryell came to Amwell and pur- chased a large tract of land, on part of which Lambert- ville is located. He made other purchases in 1737. In 1743 his name appears as one of the witnesses to the will of John Holcombe. In 1748 he is named among the managers of the "Amwell Lottery, gotten up to raise funds to finish the Presbyterian Church, and to purchase a parsonage." At that time the family had control of the ferry at Lambertville, which connected the king's high- way from Philadelphia to New York. This family had the honor of aiding Washington crossing the Delaware and in preparation for the movement on the Hessians at the battle of Trenton.
After the organization of Amwell II Church at Mount Airy, the Coryells were in connection with that Church
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and so continued, as did many of the Holcombes, until the organization of the Church at Lambertville in 1822. From that time onward the Coryells have been identified with the Lambertville Church.
THE STOUTS.
The Stouts, said to be one of the largest families in the United States, have been identified with the Church throughout its entire history, and they may be found to- day in nearly every department of human industry and in almost every section of the country. On the subscription paper of February, 1753, we not only have the names of James and Jonathan Stout among the subscribers, but James Stout is one of the four persons named in that paper for receiving the subscriptions. This paper is our oldest written document.
The name occurs in many, if not all the subscription papers of the Church during that century. Because of the vast numbers of the family it will be impossible to give anything approaching a record of it in this history. But because of its early connection with the Church and intermarriage with a large number of its families, we must repeat a few of its widely known facts of the fam- ily's history. A history of the family was printed at the Herald office, Hopewell, N. J., in 1878, which was writ- ten in 1823. This part of the history has since been en- larged, and the whole referred to, or copied in part by subsequent writers. The first of the name in America was Richard Stout, who was born in Notinghamshire, England, and was the son of John Stout. Richard, when quite young, left home and went aboard a war vessel
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and served in the British navy for seven years. He got his discharge from this service at New Amsterdam, now New York.
At or near the same time a ship left Amsterdam, in Holland, for New Amsterdam. She was driven by the wind out of her course, and landed near Middletown, Monmouth County, N. J. The vessel was freighted with passengers, who with great difficulty reached the shore. Here they were met with hostile Indians, who murdered or thought they had, all who landed. One woman, Pene- lope Van Princes, whose husband had been killed by the Indians, regained consciousness after the Indians had gone away. She crawled to a place of hiding, where, after she remained for a short time, she was found by an Indian of a friendly disposition, who cared for her until she recovered from her wounds. Then he took her in his canoe to New Amsterdam and sold her to the Dutch. Legendary as this appears, this narrative is considered genuine history by the Stouts themselves. The man Stout of whom we have spoken and this widow Van Princes became acquainted in New Amsterdam, were married, and soon after went to Middletown, where Penelope had lost her first husband. This was in 1648. At that time there were but six families in the settlement, including themselves. From this couple we have the Stouts of this country.
As I have said you will find them on almost every record of our Church's history. Their name is found in the old cemetery of the Church. They will be found on the roster of the Army of the Revolution. You will meet with it to-day in the different communities to which you
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may go. We shall meet them in subsequent parts of our history and find them in places of usefulness and honor.V/
THE CHAMBERLAINS.
Elder James Prall Chamberlain represents another of our old families. Also a cousin, Lewis Chamberlain. Elder Chamberlain was born December, 1825, and is the son of Lewis Chamberlain, born December/ 18, 1797, and died November 24th, 1830. He and Lewis first men- tioned are grandsons of Lewis Chamberlain, born 1749, and died January 15th, 1812. They are great-grandsons of Lewis and Leucretia Chamberlain. It is not known when this earliest Lewis was born, but he died about 1762. A family record in existence says that Leucretia his wife, was born in 1709, and died in 1812, making her 103 years old. Another record, however, makes her age a trifle less than one hundred years.
This family of the Chamberlins lived on lands now owned in part by the two Chamberlin's first mentioned. The farm of Martin Hoffman, lying between the two, is also a part of the original tract. Subsequent history will speak of the official relation of James P. Chamberlin to this Church.
THE HILLS. .ylimet end to end
The Hill family, well represented in the Church at the present time, appears on our earliest records,moto
On the subscription paper of 1753 we have the names of Jonathan and Samuel Hill. The names occur in the same order on papers of a later date. As the name of Jonathan disappears, the name of Isaac occurs and con-
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tinues down to 1789, when we have the name of Richard. We have no family record to assure us that Jonathan was the father of Samuel. They may have been brothers, but more probably it was father and son, as Samuel is believed to be the father of Isaac, because in each case they stand in the same order. Up to 1789 Samuel and Isaac are found on the subscription papers of the Church giving liberally for its support.
Isaac Hill was the father of Joakim, the maker of the old fashioned eight day brass clock, still highly prized by those fortunate enough to possess one. In 1791 Isaac and Samuel joined in the movement to establish the Pres- byterian Church at Flemington. After this they became useful members of that congregation, Samuel being for several years a trustee and Isaac an elder. Other sons of Isaac were William and Thomas. They remained with the congregation of the Mother Church. Thomas lived on the farm now owned by Whitefield Case. His chil- dren were Joseph, William, Theodore and Calvin, and Ara, wife of Clinton Blackwell. Joseph resided on the homestead farm and his family attended, and some were members of the Church during my pastorate. His son, George, was one of our active trustees. William was himself a member of the Church and also several mem- bers of his family.
It should be said in honor of the abiding consistency of his esteemed wife that according to a concurrent opinion of friends and neighbors, Mrs. William Hill exerted the influence more than any other that led her husband and several of her children to follow her example in the ser- vice of the Saviour. Of these, Ira and Miss Bessie, united
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with the Church during my pastorate, and later I was called upon to perform the funeral services for both Joseph and William. And what was more sad, after re- tiring from the pastorate, to render the same service for Ira, who became entangled in the machinery of the mill and was killed. Bessie, after serving the Church many years during my pastorate and afterwards as organist and leader of the choir, died early in life, "her sun going down while it was yet day," and I was called to officiate at her funeral. Alvin, son of William, became an elder of the Church, an office for which he was well fitted.
Ara (Mrs. Blackwell), was one of our most faithful Christian women, ready at all times to serve the Church and the Master in the cause of missions, in whatever her hand found to do. And, again, for her, the funeral service was rendered after I had left the Church. So we meet "at the closing scene," and say farewell "until we meet be- yond the river."
THE SUTPHINS.
Deacon Lewis Sutphin, with his wife and children, are members of one of the original families of this Church. They are represented throughout the entire history of the Church. Members of the family are found on the Church's oldest document. They can be traced back as follows: The Sutphins, or Zutphens, may still be found at Zutphen, a town and fortress on the Yssel in Holland. There the Zutphens of Holland can trace back their family record for a thousand years, and even before this, to Denmark, whence they came with the "Northmen" to Holland.
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Derick, or Direk Janse Van Zutphen, married Lysbeth Van Nuys, stepdaughter of Aneke Janse Van Nuys. Her real name was Lisbeth Janse Jacobs.
Derick Janse and his wife came to America and settled at New Amsterdam, Long Island, in 1651. Their chil- dren were Jacob, born 1684, John, born 1686, Derick, in 1688, and Guisbert, in 1690. That part of the family at present connected with the Amwell Church trace back to Jacob. Jacob married Engethe Bennet, and in 1717 moved to Freehold, Monmouth County, N. J. Among the children of Jacob was his son, John, born 1711, who died 1784. John married Penelope Stout, daughter of John Stout, and granddaughter of the John Stout who was the son of Richard Stout and Penelope Van Princes, his wife, whose tragic history has been given. These per- sons were married in 1648.
The son of this John Sutphin was Derick, born July 14, 1743, and died 1831. Derick, or more probably his father, John, while Derick was yet very young, moved from Monmouth to Hunterdon County and settled in Amwell Township. He married Ann Chamberlain in 1767. The ceremony took place in the Amwell First Church and was performed by Rev. William Kirkpatrick, third pastor of the Church. This is the only marriage in the Church up to this time of which we have record.
Among the children of Derick Sutphin and Ann Chamberlain was Arthur, born March 20th, 1785, who died January 28th, 1860. Arthur Sutphin married Mary Cox. One of their children was Deacon Lewis Sutphin, who was born June 3d, 1829. The death of Lewis Sut- phin July 2d, 1898, will be more fully noticed in its
1
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THE COLONIAL PERIOD
proper place. Lewis Sutphin married Ann Waldron, who was born January 23d, 1842. She was a daughter of Samuel Waldron, born August 6th, 1808, and grand- daughter of Jerome Waldron, born November Ist, 1760. His son, William, was an elder in this Church. To this brief sketch, tracing an officer in this Church, should be added that members of the Sutphin family also settled in Somerset County. From this branch have sprung some very prominent men, among whom was Rev. Morris Sut- phen, D. D., who was with me in Princeton College and Seminary, and who occupied some of our leading pulpits. His son, Dr. Paul Sutphen, of Cleveland, Ohio, is fol- lowing well in the footsteps of his honored father. An- other of this branch is the celebrated oculist, Dr. Sutphen, of Newark, N. J. Jacob Sutphen moved from Somerset County to Amwell about 1700, and settled along the Neshanic, on the farm now owned by Robert Cain.
On the old subscription paper of 1753 we have the names as written by themselves of Jacob Sutphen and Derick Sutfin. Many others of the name are settled in nearby places, but they do not have a record in these pages.
THE GRIGGS FAMILY.
Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Griggs and their daughters, Belle and Nellie, all church members, together with younger children not members of the Church, represent another of our old families. With this family there have been periods of interruption, but during the first forty or fifty years of the Church's history, they were very active in all its undertakings. During these years their record
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is similar to that of the family of the Hills, of which we have just spoken. In proceeding with the record of this family, I have the satisfaction of obtaining a part of my statement from two members of the family, viz., Mr. Samuel Griggs of the Church and a Miss Griggs, of Flemington, whose independent accounts are in full accord.
Samuel Griggs is the son of Aaron, the grandson of Samuel, and the great-grandson of Joakim Griggs. Sam- uel, of our Church, had two uncles, Daniel and John. The Griggs' home, that is, where Samuel the elder lived, was on the farm, a mile and a half east of Flemington, or between Flemington and Reaville, where Mr. Theodore Hill now resides. There is a family burying ground on this farm. During the lifetime of the elder Samuel, the family became identified with the Church at Flemington, in fact were instrumental in its organization. As Dr. Mott had needed to refer to the records of Amwell in writing the history of the Flemington Church, so, to complete our record, we must refer to the history of the Church at Flemington.
From Dr. Mott's history we learn that Daniel Griggs united on confession with the Church at Flemington in 1816, while a "Mrs. Griggs" is found on a list of mem- bers in 1810, previous to which date the records of Session of the Flemington Church had not been regularly kept. Also that John Griggs and Mrs. Catharine Griggs united in 1834, and Aaron Griggs and Margaret Griggs in 1838. In the same record we find that John Griggs was ordained an elder in 1838, holding the office until his death in 1872.
I was personally acquainted with Elder John Griggs,
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THE COLONIAL PERIOD
as during the early forties he moved to Frenchtown and resided there for one or two years. This was at the time when the Sabbath School in Frenchtown had just been organized by a governess in the family of Louis M. Prevost, Esq. Sometimes Mr. Griggs, and at other times my father, would come to the Sabbath School and open it with prayer, a service much appreciated by all.
In the same history Samuel Griggs, the grandfather, is named among the trustees of the Flemington Church in 1814, 17, 21 and 25. At some date in this period not known by my informant, Daniel Griggs moved to Sussex County "and settled on a tract of land belonging to the family." Here, the Hon. John W. Griggs, the most dis- tinguished member of the family, grew to manhood. It is well known that he was elected Governor of New Jersey and that during his term of office he was appointed Attor- ney General by President Mckinley. He discharged the duties of the high office with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his superior, to whose regret he left the cabinet that he might resume the practice of law. So if not in one of her sons, yet in one of her grandsons, the Church is honored, by having a representative in the high- est councils of the nation, as also another Governor of the State. In many particulars we have gone beyond the information furnished by members of this family. But many facts remain to be mentioned. A paper was circulated, bearing date June 23d, 1791, stating why it was desirable to form a Presbyterian Church in Flemington. This petition was circulated with the known purpose of presenting it to the Presbytery of New Brunswick.
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The first name on this petition is that of John Griggs. It also contains the name of Samuel Griggs and Joakim Griggs. Documents in our possession show that these persons all resided in what was popularly known as the "North Side," meaning north of Neshanic, the latter two being identified with the farm east of Flemington. A ยท comparison of the dates here given shows a period of eighty-one years between the death of Elder John Griggs and the signing of this petition, which makes it plain that the John Griggs here signing is not Elder John Griggs. But the members of the family, to whom I am indebted for the relation of the different members of the family above given, knew nothing of this John Griggs. But from salary lists and other subscription papers, and a list of pew holders in the Amwell Church, some additional information may be obtained and also another name. On a salary list dated April 23d, 1779, there are many sub- scriptions of produce as well as money. Of this we shall speak at the proper time, but now to add to our history of the family under consideration.
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