USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > Amwell > The history of the First English Presbyterian Church in Amwell > Part 9
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And in order to promote the union and interests of these congregations ordered that Dr. Witherspoon preach at Amwell First Church the first Sabbath of November, and that Dr. Smith preach at Flemington the first Sab-
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INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-1776-1820
bath of December. The parties having heard the minutes read, agreed to stand by the decision of Presbytery, and to prosecute the call to Mr. Grant agreeably to the meaning and intent of this decision. The annual provision for salary was £130 gold or silver, besides the free use of a parsonage of £700 or £800 value. At this meeting of Presbytery the call was tendered to Mr. Grant and he signified his acceptance of the same.
The second Tuesday of December at eleven o'clock, was appointed for his ordination and installation. This service was held December 13th, 1791. The Moderator of Presbytery Rev. Joseph Clark, preached, and Rev. John Hannah presided and proposed the constitutional ques- tions. Mr. Clark also gave the charge to the "newly or- dained bishop."
Much as the members of this Church regretted and op- posed the action of the Flemington people, and naturally, for they could see that it must result in a separate Church and greatly weaken the old Church. Yet it was inevita- ble, and in view of the history of that movement, we of Amwell First must admit that for the greater honor of the Master and the saving of men, it was wise.
And while the Presbytery hesitated to grant their re- quest, saying "matters do not appear ripe for forming a new congregation," their action in recommending a call to Mr. Grant, and that one-fourth of his time be given to Flemington, practically accomplished what they de- clined to do. For on the 9th of January, 1792, these same petitioners met after due notice, in the Baptist Church as a Society under the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick, and according to the laws of the State for Religious 9
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AMWELL FIRST CHURCH
bodies, did form themselves into a body corporate, and did then and there choose Trustees. And these Trustees being duly sworn in, on the 28th of January inst. that they might be distinguished in Law from other incorpor- ated bodies, styled themselves Trustees of Flemington English Presbyterian Church in Amwell in the County of Hunterdon and state of New Jersey.
The document recording this incorporation, and all its particulars, is on file, among the unengrossed papers from which we have drawn at first hand so many of the original facts of this history. This act of incorporation of the Church at Flemington, occurring at the very opening of Mr. Grant's pastorate is doubtless the most significant event of that pastorate, both to the mother Church, and the new organization.
For the event that follows close after this, and the first on record, we have the satisfaction of going to the min- ute book of the Trustees of the Old Church Corporation. The first entry of this old book of the Trustees is as fol- lows: Amwell, April, 1792, Trustees of the First and Second English Presbyterian Churches in Amwell pur- chased a plantation of Jacob Williamson for a parsonage containing 120 acres of land for £650 to be paid in three equal payments, £216 13s 4d down-or on the first day of May next-and the same amount the first day of May, 1793 and 1794, requiring of each congregation for each payment £108.6.8. At the same time the Trustees sold to Henry Kanaday (Kenedy) 401/2 acres off the old plan- tation leaving 34 acres to be united with the new planta- tion for £126.2 to be paid in three payments, £85.7.4 down, and £20.7.4 on the first of May, 1793, and the
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INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-1776-1820
same May first, 1794. The money arising from this sale was to be equally divided between the First and Second Amwell Churches.
Now that the contributors of the Flemington district, are no longer among the supporters of Amwell First, it will be of interest to see who are the men in Amwell First who are ready to take up the financial burden. They are given as follows:
Collection list for the first payment on the purchase of a parsonage:
£ s. d.
John Schenck, Capt.
4 00 0
Peter Prall
2 IO o
Ralph Schenck, Sen.
3
6
8
Enos Lanning
I
3
4
Derrick Sutphin
3 00
0
John Williamson
I 6 8
Ralph Sutphin
I 00
O
Jacob Williamson
2 00
O
Garret Schenck
4 00 O
Jacob Schenck
1 00 O
Gersham Cravan
2 00 O
Henry Kannady
4 13
4
David Bishop
4 00 0
Abraham Prall
5 00 O
5 00 O
Tunis Quick, Sen. Hite Runyan I IO
0
Lewis Chamberlin
5 00 O
Joshua Kershaw 5 00 O
Abraham Williamson
5 00 O
Amos Hoagland 3 6 8
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AMWELL FIRST CHURCH
4 Jacob Mattison I 13
William Schenck
5 00 0
70 10 0
John Schenck, collector, received £68.17.6. This with the half of £85 7s 4d from the sale of the old plantation was more than enough for the first payment, but the list for the next two payments was much smaller, and the amount collected insufficient for the payments. But in 1796 the Trustees borrowed money and paid off the debt.
The third event which characterized Mr. Grant's pas- torate, was the sale of this plantation. This took place April Ist, 1806, Nathaniel Wilson was the purchaser. The price paid was six thousand four hundred and twen- ty-nine dollars and thirty-three cents ($6,429.33). And although, as stated, the Trustees of Amwell First had a book of records, which is in existence, and dates back to 1792, when it records the purchase of this property, the sale of it is not recorded in that book. However, we have the date, price and particulars of the same preserved in the parchment Deed on file among the papers of the Church. The names of the Trustees making this sale, are from the First English Presbyterian Church of Am- well, John Schenck, Amos Hoagland, Derrick Sutphin, Enos Lanning, Ralph Schenck, Jacob Schenck and Titus Quick, and from the Second Church, John Reading, John Prall, Jr., John Wilson, Samuel Holcombe, Jr., Jo- siah Holcombe, Amos Wilson and John T. Skillman.
After the sale of this property, Mr. Grant received a consideration from the Trustees as rent, for which he gives his receipts.
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INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-1776-1820
Turning from the material to the spiritual interests of the Church, we have during Mr. Grant's pastorate, as we have from that of his predecessors, very little definite information. And we do not have even in the minutes of the Presbytery of New Brunswick a record of the communicants of the Church, nor any regular statement of its beneficence. The health of Mr. Grant during the closing years of his ministry was such, that he frequently failed to meet his appointments to preach. The Flem- ington Church met this condition by appointing some one to read a sermon, and two of the Trustees were appointed to keep order at the same time. The Second Amwell Church felt his failure to preach so keenly, that many of the supporters refused to pay their salary.
These facts were sent with manifest reluctance in a memorial to the Revd. Presbytery of New Brunswick April 1, 1809. In the same communications the Presby- tery was informed that a joint committee from the First and Second Churches have waited on Mr. Grant, and invited him to meet the corporation of these Churches, and talk over the situation and in a friendly manner they requested him to agree to an application for the dissolu- tion of the pastoral relation between them and himself. This he declined to do. The committee, however, re- quests of Presbytery, the dissolution of the relation. The report is signed by
Amwell, April Ist, 1809.
JONATHAN BORROUGHS, Moderator. SAMUEL HOLCOMBE, JR., Clerk.
We are not informed what steps the Presbytery took in this matter, but it is stated that Rev. Thomas Grant pre-
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AMWELL FIRST CHURCH
sented a request for the dissolution of the pastoral relation between himself and the Churches which he served, and Presbytery granted his request.
After his withdrawal from the Amwell Churches, Mr. Grant moved to Mill Hill, neår Trenton. Here he ex- perienced a new affliction in the death of his second wife, which occurred August 9th, 1809. Mrs. Bryan Grant was buried in the old Amwell burying ground in a grave adjoining that of her sister, and her sister's husband, Hon. George C. Maxwell, M. C., of Flemington, and who had been esteemed one of the ablest lawyers of Hunter- don Co. Mr. Grant and Elizabeth, eldest daughter of John Bryan, Esq., of Somerset County, had been married December 6th, 1805. The issue of this union was one child, Elizabeth, as shown in her father's will.
Mr. Grant himself died in March, 1811, and was buried according to the True American in the Presbyter- ian Church yard, Trenton, and that paper added "Rarely has the Church been called upon to mourn the departure of a more solid, judicious and evangelical divine."
Further obituary notice of Mr. Grant seems to be called for. Especially so, because up to the present time no account of his life and work has been published. Even Dr. Mott, in his day the historian of Hunterdon Co., felt compelled to say, when he published his history of the Church at Flemington, of which Mr. Grant was the first pastor, that he had no facts of Mr. Grant's life excepting his graduation and the statement of his pastorate of the Amwell and Flemington Churches. After the publication of that history there came into his hands the manuscript copy of the sermon which had been preached at Mr.
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INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-1776-1820
Grant's funeral. By whom this sermon had been written he did not know. Dr. Mott kindly sent that manuscript to me. The preacher claims to have been a co-presbyter with Mr. Grant, and to speak from personal knowledge. We gladly cull the few facts thus furnished. In the mat- ter of the difficulty between Mr. Grant and the Amwell Churches, he views the case from the other side. He in- forms us that Mr. Grant's parents had moved from New York to New Brunswick during his early childhood, and that he lived there until he entered the ministry excepting the period of his studies at Princeton. After his gradua- tion in 1786, he applied himself to the study of divinity, and received an early call from one of the largest and most respectable congregations of the State. This was to the Amwell Ist and 2nd and Flemington Churches. "Dur- ing the first and longest part of his ministry in these Churches he met with but little apparent success. It pleased the Great Head of the Church, however, to give him abundant success in the latter years of his ministry, in the congregations of Amwell and Flemington. Then dis- cord arose and the pastor's health failed, which finally drove him from his pulpit." Mr. Grant, as the minutes of General Assembly show, represented the Presbytery of New Brunswick in the General Assembly in 1802. I can supplement the information furnished by the manuscript, by adding some interesting facts sent me by Mr. Granville Leach of Philadelphia, which he discovered in some of the Archives of New Jersey, while searching for the date of the marriage of Theodosia, daughter of Captain Daniel Reading and Rev. Thomas Grant. We thus learn that Rev. Thomas Grant was the son of Thomas Grant, and
136
AMWELL FIRST CHURCH
Catherine Stevens, his wife, and that he was born in New York city, 16th of March, 1763. He was baptized at the Presbyterian Church of that city 3Ist of March of the same year. Then it gives his graduation and settle- ment in Amwell as already stated."
He resigned the pastorate of these United Churches at the meeting of Presbytery in April, 1809. His pas- torate extending from 1791 to 1809, makes his the longest pastorate in the history of Amwell First. Both Amwell Second and Flemington have had pastorates much longer than this.
Early in this pastorate occurred the marriage of Theo- dosia Reading and Mr. Grant, date of which has not been discovered. The children of this union were Catherine Stevens Grant, born 16 August, 1793. She was married June 6th, 1815, to Abraham Schuyler Neilson, Esq., of New Brunswick. And Theodosia Grant who married Rev. William Whitehead. Also Thomas and John Grant. Mr. Grant's second marriage has already been given. Mr. Leach adds-The inventory of his property, filed at Tren- ton, among the Burlington Co. probate files, is most in- teresting, showing a degree of affluence which I should think rather uncommon among clergy of small parishes of that period.
Of this statement he gives the following illustration : His will was proved at Burlington, N. J., 9 April, 1811, which showed him to be possessed of considerable real estate in Virginia and that his personal property was in- ventoried at twenty-five thousand dollars, Archives, N. J. David Bishop was one of the active elders during Mr. Grant's pastorate. He represented the Presbytery of New
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INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-1776-1820
Brunswick in the General Assembly in 1803. Abraham Prall was another. Also Joseph Reading was a member of the session. He was a member of the Amwell Second Church and an elder in the same.
THE REV. JACOB KIRKPATRICK, 1810-1818.
In continuing our "walk about Zion to tell her towers and mark her bulwarks" we come now to a name en- deared among the older members of this Church more than that of any other pastor. The Rev. Jacob Kirkpat- rick, the sixth pastor of Amwell First, is really the con- necting link between the past and the present. No pre- vious pastor of this Church was personally known by any of our members now living, and he not perhaps by his pastorate over this Church, but because he continued to reside and labor in a neighboring congregation. The resignation of the Rev. Thomas Grant occurred as stated in 1809. Mr. Kirkpatrick together with his friend and fellow student, Jacob T. Field, was taken under the care of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, October 7th, 1807. Their next appearance in Presbytery, was on April 26th, 1809, when each read a lecture. They were both li- censed to preach the gospel August 8th, 1809. Mr. Kirk- patrick preached for the first time in this Church, the Old Meeting House, as it was then called in September, 1809. Afterwards, by appointment of Presbytery he preached in Amwell five Sabbaths in December, 1809, and in February and April, 1810. It is to be presumed that during this appointment of Presbytery, he preached in all the Amwell Churches, though he does not so state
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AMWELL FIRST CHURCH
in his semi-centennial sermon, nor do his biographers. From the Records of Presbytery, it appears he was called to take the pastoral charge of the Amwell Churches. This call was presented at the meeting of Presbytery at Trenton April 24th, 1810. The call was made out in due form except that it was for five years, and the phase "for five years" was underscored. Dr. Kirkpatrick in re- ferring to this time limit, in his semi-centennial discourse says Dr. S. Stanhope Smith casting his keen eye upon me remarked, "I would throw it back in their teeth." The reason for adding this limitation in their call, as explained by Dr. Kirkpatrick, was because of the trouble that had existed between the Church, and the previous pastor. Dur- ing the latter part of Mr. Grant's pastorate, his health became very much impaired, so that he often failed to meet his appointments, and yet declined to resign the charge at the suggestion of the people. Because of this difficulty, the Church had unwisely decided not to call another man for life as they put it, the fact being that a call in due form is without a time limit. Mr. Kirkpatrick however, signified his willingness to take charge of the Churches. But the Presbytery, being unwilling to place the call in his hands, and install him for five years, ap- pointed him as a stated supply to the Amwell Churches for that period and so the young preacher began his labors. On the 19th of June, 1810, the Presbytery met in the Amwell First Church and heard the candidate's trial ser- mon for ordination from Col. 3:4 and on the next day June 20th, Mr. Kirkpatrick was ordained, but not in- stalled. Dr. John Woodhull, of Freehold, with whom he had studied for the ministry, preached the sermon, and
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INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-1776-1820
made the ordaining prayer. The Rev. Holloway W. Hunt gave the charge to the minister, and delivered a suitable address to the people. Originally, you will re- member, our own Church, Amwell First, was the only Church on the territory from the Delaware to Somerset Co. and the Readington Reformed Church. In 1754 Amwell 'Second was organized, and the two Churches formed but one pastoral charge up to 1809 and they con- tinued to have the same pastor until 1818. Between these two Churches was the German Church at Larison's Corner, or formerly Pleasant Corner. The time of the organization of the German Church can not now be defi- nitely stated. The people who worshipped there came originally from Germany and Holland. The Church be- longed to the Coetus or German Reformed Synod of Pennsylvania. They worshipped, in what was known as "The Old Stone House," which stood in the graveyard, on the opposite side of the road from the present Church.
The deed for the land on which this "Old Stone Church" stood, is dated the twenty-first day of January in the twenty-second year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George, the Second, over Great Britain, etc. King, Anno Dom. One Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty- nine." The Church was dedicated December Ist, 1749. In the erection of the building, the Church received aid from the Old Dutch Church in New York City, whose records state that "it was resolved to pay £15 to the High Dutch Reformed congregation which meets at Amwell for Christian help in building a Church for divine ser- vice. Since their own means fall short. John Ritzema, pastor." (Rev. C. S. Converse, p. 7). To this may be
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AMWELL FIRST CHURCH
added Dr. Kirkpatrick's statement that the deed by which the German Church held their graveyard is dated 1740 (p. 8).
This shows them to have been on the ground very near- ly as early as the founders of our own Church. This German Church was served by pastors from both Ger- many and Holland. The first of these preachers, of whom we have any record, though he was never settled as pastor in Amwell, was the Rev. Michael Schlatter. He visited Amwell as early as 1747, and administered the Sacrament. He found thirty communicants on the ground at that time.
From Rev. C. C. Converse's historical discourse I add the following: "The next supply to the German Church was Rev. John Conrad Wertz. He also supplied Rocka- way and Fox Hill. The next was the Rev. Johann Cas- per Lapp, preaching in 1755, and 6. We then have the Rev. William Kalls 1757-59. The Rev. George Alsentz is mentioned as preaching in Amwell in 1760. He was followed by the Rev. Caspar Michael Stabel or Stapfel. He preached also at Rockaway and Fox Hill. The Rev. Frederick Dallicker was Mr. Sapfel's successor, 1763- 1770. Then we have Rev. John Wesley Gilbert Nevel- ing, 1770-1783, covering the period of the Revolution. After the war there appears to have been a vacancy for about fifteen years, yet doubtless some pastor or pastors visited the Church from time to time during this vacancy, of whom all trace has been lost."
The last of these German pastors was the Rev. John Ja- cob Mack. He preached also in the two Dutch Churches of Knowlton, and Hardwick at the same time he was pas-
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INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-1776-1820
tor here. The date of his pastorate is differently stated by different authorities, from 1798 to 1805, or 1809. He was a man of commanding appearance, and a ready and fluent speaker, in both German and English. He was the first pastor who preached in the English language in that Church (Converse, p. 12). This statement shows the trend of the times. The German language was giving way to the English, even in the German families. The children must be supplied with English preaching, or they will go where they can get it. This granted, it re- quires but a generation to supplant the German altogeth- er. On the same principle, they must withdraw from the distant German Synod, and become identified with an ec- clesiastical body near at hand, and more in touch with their surroundings. Such a movement was favored by the fact that the Rev. Thomas Grant had in April, 1809, resigned the pastorate of Amwell First, Amwell Second and Flemington Churches. The four neighboring Churches were thus without a pastor at the same time. Flemington was the youngest, and the weakest of these Churches. The Flemington people came to the German Church offering to unite with it in calling and supporting a pastor. The overture was favorably considered, and would, in all probability have been accepted had not Am- well First approached the German Church with a similar proposition. All the three Amwell Churches had funds in hand for repairs and supporting the gospel at this time together yielding an income of about six hundred dollars annually. Flemington was without funds. Not only for this reason as it appears, but because union with
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AMWELL FIRST CHURCH
Amwell First was the more natural and wiser, the pro- posal to unite with Amwell First was accepted.
Concerning this movement Dr. Jacob Kirkpatrick makes this every significant statement. "In the early part of the year 1810, the people of the First Presbyterian Church and the German Church came together. They elected their trustees, and were incorporated according to law, assuming the name of The United First Presbyterian Church of Amwell. They became by this act one organic Church, having two branches or places of service. The funds of the First Church and the German Church, though managed by one board of Trustees, were kept sep- arate. And the whole charge was under the care of one session (Converse, p. 14). The call presented to Presby- tery April 24th, 1810, for Mr. Kirkpatrick's service "for five years," was for what are now the three Amwell Churches. At the expiration of this period, the Amwell people came to Presbytery April 25th, 1815, and presented a call in due form for Mr. Kirkpatrick to take the pastoral charge of their Churches. On the 15th of June follow- ing in the Old Stone Church, the Rev. Jacob Kirkpatrick was installed, and thus became the pastor of these Churches. In this service, his cousin, the Rev. William B. Sloan, of Greenwich, N. J., preached the sermon, and the Rev. George S. Woodhull gave the charge to the pas- tor and the people.
The relation between these Churches was not changed by this act, nor was that of Dr. Kirkpatrick's relation to them changed as to the time of service. The act, however, consummated the relation and gave him the authority of
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INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-1776-1820
the office and the seal of the Presbytery. This is really very much.
Dr. Kirkpatrick informs us that he preached eight years in these houses of worship, commonly called the Old House, the New House and the Stone House. The Old House was our Church, Amwell First, the New House, Amwell Second and the Stone House that at Larison's Corner. These were the local names by which they were known at the time.
While speaking of the names of these Churches, it will clear up, what has long been obscure, to add other names by which these Churches have been known, and state the relation they have, or have had to each other. First, be it remembered that they are all situated along the "Old York Road," which runs in practically a direct line east and west from Lambertville to Reaville, where the road turns northward to Three Bridges. Amwell First is at Reaville since 1839. Previous to that date it or its pre- decessor was located in the Cemetery a mile to the west. At first, when it was the only Church it was called the Amwell Church or the Presbyterian Church in Amwell. Shortly afterward when the German Church was estab- lished at Pleasant Corner (now Larison's Corner) our Church was called the English Presbyterian Church in Amwell. Then in 1754 we have the Church at Mount Airy, as an offspring of the First Church. Our Church is known as the Eastern Presbyterian Church in Amwell or the First English Presbyterian Church in Amwell and Mt. Airy the Second. The old Trustee book calls ours The Amwell First Church and sometimes the First Eng- lish Presbyterian Church in Amwell, which name is so
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AMWELL FIRST CHURCH
used as late as 1865, when building the parsonage, and still belongs to it. The Presbytery in the olden time uses the terms Old House and New House. Thus Dr. With- erspoon was appointed to preach in the Old House and administer the Sacrament the third Sabbath in June, 1779, and to preach the third Sabbath in July.
Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith was appointed to preach on the first Sabbath in August and the first Sabbath in September at the New House, i. e. (Mount Airy, which is farthest to the West). Between these two Churches was the German Church, having no connection with either un- til 1810.
And then the interesting fact, given by Dr. Kirkpatrick in his historical discourse, that the Church at the "Corn- er" and our Church during the time our Church was un- der his pastoral care, bore in common, the name of The United First Presbyterian Church in Amwell.
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