A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 25

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 25

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The Rev. Mr. Whiting continued as pastor of the old church until his death, in 1723, when he had attained the patriarchial age of eighty-two years. His successor, the Rev. Samuel Gelston, was associated with him as colleague from 1717 and remained in charge of the congregation until 1727, when he re- moved to Pennsylvania, where his career was by no means a creditable one. On Gelston's retirement the Rev. Sylvanus White became pastor and so continued until his death, in 1782, a period of service of fifty-five years. His successors have been Revs. Joshua Will -. iam, Herman Daggett, David S. Bogart, John M. Babbitt, Peter H. Shaw, Daniel Beers, Hugh N. Wilson, John A. Morgan, Frederick Shearer, Andrew Shiland, Walton Condict and R. S. Campbell.

The oldest congregation in Queens county is that now known as "Christ's First Church" in Hempstead. It was organized, it is claimed, in 1643, the same year in which the town had been settled by a colony from Stamford, Con-

necticut, made up mainly of people who had emigrated from England a few years before. The leader of this colony was the Rev. Robert Fordham. It has been the custom to give the honor of founding this colony to Richard Denton, but a series of patient investigations undertaken by Dr. William Wallace Tooker, of Sag Harbor, seems to prove that that preacher was the third and not the first re- ligious leader of the Hempstead colony. From a manuscript essay by Dr. Tooker the fol- lowing facts are gleaned :

Robert Fordham was the son of Phillip Fordham, of Sacombe, Hertfordshire, Eng- land. He came to America with his wife Elizabeth and family in the year 1640. After his arrival in America he spent brief periods at Cambridge and Sudbury, Massachusetts. From Sudbury he probably went to Stamford, Connecticut, and organized the migration to the Hempstead Plains in 1643.

The Journal of New Netherland [says Dr. Tooker], written previous to 1646, translated from Holland documents (Documentary His- tory of New York, Vol. 4, page 15), declares that there was an English colony at Hempstead dependent on the Dutch before the hostilities of 1643-4. Underhill's attack upon the Mas- sapeag Indians did not take place in 1653, as some of our historians have placed the date, but it was actually in the winter of 1643-4. The question now arises, Was there an Eng- lish colony there previous to that winter as claimed by the Dutch? According to circun- stantial evidence there certainly was one. * * * The Indian deed to Hempstead is dated November 13, 1643, and conveys to "Robert Fordham and Jolın Carman, on Long Island, Inglishmen, the halfe moiety or equal part of the great plain lying toward the south side of Long Island," etc. This deed surely locates Fordham and Carman there in the fall of 1643, a date previous to the hostilities against the Long Island Indians, and being named first proves that Fordham was the lead- er in the enterprise as well as in the purchase, whatever else he might have been.

In the Dutch work called "Breeden Raedt," printed at Antwerp in 1649, it is stated that

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"in April of the year 1644 seven savages were arrested at Hempstead, where an English clergyman, Mr. Fordham, was Governor. * * This proves that in April, 1644, Robert Fordham, an English clergyman, was the head of the Hempstead colony, and the record would surely indicate he had been there some time. After quoting several other au- thorities which show conclusively that Ford- ham was the head of the Hempstead colony, Dr. Tooker proceeds to prove that he was the first minister of the colony just as Mr. Youngs was at Southold. He says, "Edward Johnson, a New England contemporary and historian, in his 'Wonder-Working Providence' (Mass. His. Col., Vol. 7, page 22), says, 'Chap. XVIj, of the Planting of Long Island :' 'This people [Southampton] gathered into a church and called to office Mr. Pierson, who continued with them seven or eight years, and then with the greatest number of his people removed farther into the island ; the other part that remained invited Mr. Fordham and a peo- ple that were with him to come and joyne with them, who accordingly did, being wan- dered as far as the Dutch plantation and there unsettled, although he came into the country before them.' There are some errors in this story, but the lines relating to Mr. Fordham are to all intents true, for many of his people did follow him to Southampton and became citizens of that town, which even at that early day possessed many advantages over Hempstead. The lines also demonstrate that he had been up to that time the minister. of Hempstead and the people coming with him were his parishioners."

Dr. Tooker also says:

We have still another witness whose testi- mony cannot be questioned, and although it has been printed for nearly fifty years we can- not understand why it has been ignored or overlooked. This testimony is by none other that Peter Stuyvesant, who writes in his own hand to the people of Hempstead under date of July 17, 1657, nine years after Fordham and his people had abandoned the Hempstead

plantation and Dutch rule: "You all do know that Mr. Robert fordim sum tymes minister of the town off Hempstead, du leave that pleic and alsoo the exercise of the ministery without our wish or knuwledge and for no or littel rea- sons, therefore we ken not ad mitt him in such a mennor of comminge againe." This Stuy- vesant letter is a harmonizing sequence to the earlier Dutch record as before quoted and taken altogether they form a connecting nar- rative authentic and undisputable, confirming as they do beyond question the historical fact that the Rev. Robert Fordham's ministry ante- dated that of the Rev. Richard Denton some years, and from Stuyvesant's remarks it is evi- dent that at the time of his visit to Hempstead some of the people had expressed a desire for Mr. Fordham's return, a desire perhaps un- known to, and not approved, by Mr. Fordham himself, who was then firmly established and prosperous at Southampton, as the records of that period bear witness. Mr. Fordham and his followers undoubtedly had good and suf- ficient reasons for leaving Hempstead, and with it the rigorous government of the Dutch, which was oppressive in his day and later.

Rev. John Eliot, the well known apostle to the Indians, in a letter of May, 1650, describ- ing New England and speaking of Long Is- land, says : "50 myles to the southwest end is Hempstead, where Mr. Moore preacheth." This is confirmed in a complaint against the Indians dated September 25, 1651, by the in- habitants of Hempstead to the Directors at Amsterdam, which is attested as a true copy by "John Moore, the minister of the church of Hempstead." With the Hempstead people, among whom were Robert Coe and Richard Gildersleeve, he migrated to Middleburg (Newtown) in 1652 and became pastor there."

In view of this there seems no doubt that the first minister of Hempstead was Mr. Ford- ham, who labored from 1643 to 1649, that the second was Mr. Moore, who held the office un- til 1652, and that the third minister was the Rev. Richard Denton, who became minister in that year, probably by appointment of Gov- ernor Stuyvesant. If we accept Woodbridge's statement that a church building was erected at Hempstead in 1648, it would seem that the honor of being its builder should be given to Mr. Fordham, which would deprive its present day representative of its claims to be "the first Presbyterian church in America," for Mr. Fordham and Mr. Moore would assuredly

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rank as Congregationalists rather than Pres- byterians.

Richard Denton was a native of Yorkshire, England. He was graduated at Cambridge in 1602 and for some years was minister of Coley Chapel, Halifax, England. In 1630 the famous Act of Uniformity forced him to re- linquish his church and in search of religious liberty he crossed the Atlantic, settling first at Watertown, Massachusetts. In 1650 he was engaged in preaching in New Amsterdam to the English people and seems to have won the good will and friendship of Stuyvesant. The Rev. Cotton Mather, who apparently knew Denton well, gives him the character of being an excellent man and an able preacher and mentions that he wrote a voluminons work, a system of divinity, under the title of "Sol- iloquia Sacra ;" but all trace of it has appar- ently been lost .* It may be said in passing that a son of this clergyman, Daniel Denton, wrote a work entitled "A Brief Description of New York, with the Customs of the Indians," in 1670 (London), which is said to have been the first description in print of New York and New Jersey. An edition of this work (100 copies) was printed in 1845 by Gabriel Fur- man, with some valuable notes.

It has been doubted whether even Denton was a Presbyterian, and the matter has fre-

*Cotton Mather's reference was as follows: "Among these clouds (meaning the ministers who early came to New England) was one pious and learned Mr. Richard Denton, a Yorkshire man, who, having watered Halifax, in England, where, first at Weathersfield, and then at Stamford, his doctrine dropped as the rain, his speech distilled as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass. Though he were a little man, yet he had a great soul; his well accom- plished mind, in his lesser body, was an Iliad in a nut shell. I think he was blind of an eye, yet he was not the least among the Seers of Israel; he saw a very con- siderable portion of those things which eye hath not seen. He was far from cloudy in his conceptions and principles of divinity, whereof he wrote a system entitled 'Soliliquia Sacra,' so accurately, considering the four-fold state of man, in his created purity, contracted deformity, restored beauty, and celestial glory, that judicious persons, who have seen it, very much lament the churches being so much deprived of it. At length he got into heaven beyond the clouds, and so beyond storms, waiting the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the clouds of heaven, when he will have his reward among the saints."

quently been argued at considerable length, many holding that he was simply an English "nonconformist" and what would be termed nowadays a Congregational minister. Still the Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge, who was pastor of the Hempstead church from 1838 to 1848, and wrote its history, claims Denton to have been a Presbyterian ; and as he is as good an authority as any other we may be content to take our stand on that matter with him; for if Denton be deposed from the honor of be- ing the first minister of Hempstead the de- nominational point at issue is lost. Wood- bridge is also our authority for much of what follows concerning the story of the church. "It was not until 1648," he tells us, "that the congregation was able to move into its own meeting-house. It stood near the pond, in the northwest part of the village (northwest cor- ner of Fulton and Franklin streets), and was surrounded by, or at least connected with, a fort or stockade. It may be proper to observe that at this time the most intimate connection existed between church and state in all Chris- tian countries. In towns which, like Hemp- stead, were Presbyterian (that is, which chose their own officers) this was particularly the case. The same persons constituted 'the church' and 'the town' and elected the two boards of magistrates and elders who were often the same individuals."

The Rev. Mr. Denton continued to officiate as minister, evidently after rather a stormy pastorate, until 1659, when he returned to England. He died at Essex in 1662. In 1660 the Rev. Jonas Fordham became the pastor, but how long he remained is not clear ; but we do know that the Rev. Jeremiah Hobart was installed to the pastorate in 1683 and remained until 1696, although he seems to have had some trouble in receiving his salary with due punctuality. The authorities to whom he ap- pealed ordered a tax to be levied to meet the amount, and this naturally rendered him very unpopular. The next minister was the Rev. John Thomas, who died in 1724, and after him came a period of struggle during which

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the congregation dwindled down to a few fam- ilies, lost their church property to the Episco- palians and became "a remnant," meeting in each other's houses. Their devotion, however, ultimately found its reward, and in 1762 they again worshipped in a church, a small build- ing which they erected near the site of the congregation's present meeting place.

The Rev. Benjamin Woolsey and the Rev. Abraham Keteltas acted as pulpit supply, if not as regular pastors, and kept the people to- gether. The Rev. Joshua Hart was minister during the continuance of the Revolutionary War, but his labors were sadly interferred with by the military operations. The church build- ing was used by the British as a stable and received pretty rough usage. . The congrega- tion again dwindled down to a remnant of some fifteen or twenty members, and it seemed as though it would soon become extinct. Still the brethren held together.

On June 5, 1805, the Rev. William P. Kupors was installed. The roll of communi- 10

cants showed but twenty-three names when he- retired in 1811. For some four years the pas- torate was filled by the Rev. Samuel Robert- son as a "side issue" in connection with his own church at Huntington, but he did little more than keep the people together. With the installation of the Rev. Charles Webster in. 1818 a better state of things began to set in. A new house of worship was erected and the members began slowly, but steadily, to in- crease. He remained in charge until 1837, and when he retired he had the satisfaction of announcing that the congregation numbered. one hundred and twenty-five. His successor was the Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge, Jr., who. remained with the people until 1849. Then. followed in succession Revs. Charles W .. Shields; 1849-50; N. C. Locke, 1851-60; J. I. A. Morgan, 1860-7; James B. Finch, 1867-75 ;. Franklin Noble, 1875-80; F. E. Hopkins, 1881-4; Charles E. Dunn, 1884-8; John A. Davis, 1890-3; and from 1894 the present pas- tor, the Rev. F. M. Kerr.

CHAPTER XII.

RELIGIOUS PROGRESS IN KINGS COUNTY.

HE first church in Kings county, the Reformed Church, Flatbush, has a most complete and interesting history from its inception in 1654 to the pres- ent day. Its annals have been fully and ably detailed in a most interesting little brochure written by Mrs. Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt, so well known as an entertaining and pains- taking writer on old and new Flatbush, and we herein reproduce her study of the history of the old church, with but trifling changes, feeling that so interesting a contribution to local history should be preserved in a more permanent form than that in which it orig- inally appeared :

The West India Company, then the ruling power in the New Netherland, recognized the authority of the Church of Holland over their colonial possessions, and the care of the trans- atlantic churches here was extended by the Synod of Holland to the Classis of Amster- dam. The first provision made for the spirit- ual comfort and edification of the colonists was the sending of pious men whose duty it was to officiate at religious meetings, to read a sermon on the Sabbath day and to lead the devotions of the people. These were not or- dained ministers; from their particular duties they were called "Krank-besoeckers" or

"Zeikentroasters"-comforters of the sick. In 1626 two of these godly men were sent over with Governor Minuit. They conducted re- ligious service in the colony of New York un- til 1628, when Domine Michaelius was sent by the North Synod of Holland. He formed the first regular church organization in the colony, and had about fifty communicants at the first communion administered there.

In 1633 he was succeeded by Domine Everardus Bogardus. In that year the first church used exclusively as a place of public worship was erected ; previously they had wor- shipped in the upper story of a mill. This church was a plain wooden structure, standing near the East river, on what is now Pearl street.

The increase in number, as well as the wish of the people to have a more imposing and commodious structure, led them, in 1642, to build a church of stone, seventy-two feet long and fifty-two feet broad, at a cost of $1,000. The worshippers seem to have taken pride in their new edifice, for they placed a marble slab on the front of it with this inscription : "Anno 1642: William Kieft Directeur General ; Heeft de Gemente Desen Temple doen bouwen." This church was erected by the people in 1642. William Kieft being Directeur General.

It is probable that at this period the people from all the surrounding Dutch towns and the small scattered settlements gathered from time to time to worship in this church. We must admit that this could not be done without en- countering many obstacles, for, pleasant as it may have been to join in worship with their old friends, yet the journey to the Fort at that day was not an easy one. In a report upon the state of religion in the Province, written to the Classis of Amsterdam in 1657, we read that the "people living in the three villages of Breukelen, Medwout and Amersfort [Brook- lyn, Flatbush and Flatlands] come with great difficulty to the preaching here" [New York]. Again we read, "It was some three hours' work for some of them ere they could reach here." The ferry established about this time had no better accommodations than could be offered by a small boat rowed by a farmer who came at the blowing of a horn hung upon a neigh- boring tree. Somewhere about 1697 there was

FIRST REFORMED CHURCH OF FLATBUSH, L. I.

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RELIGIOUS PROGRESS IN KINGS COUNTY.

a ferry from what is now the foot of Joralemon street, Brooklyn, to the Breede Graft, now Broad street, New York; through the centre of this street ran a creek which the boats could ascend to the ferry house there. As it was not until 1704 that the main road to the ferry, known as the King's Highway, was opened, we do not wonder that the journey from the various settlements in Kings county was a toilsome one, and that the people resi- dent there began to petition for a more ac- cessible place of worship. To the real ob- stacles there may have been added those which, in the absence of reliable information, were supplied by fancy ; for in a letter written from Amsterdam in 1671 an imaginative traveller describes some remarkable animals supposed to roam through the woodlands. They are unknown to the naturalists of the present day and are of a type chiefly found among the unicorns and griffins of heraldic devices.

Under these circumstances we do not won- der that the attendance upon public worship in the sanctuary, erected by the "gemente" of New York in 1642, was not so constant as might be desired, and that Governor Stuy- vesant recognized the necessity of having a church on Long Island. It seems to have been generally conceded that Midwout, now the little town of Flatbush, was most central as to position and most accessible. This spot was, therefore, honored in being selected for the site of the first church in Kings county. Here, in 1654, was erected a place of worship upon a spot where for nearly two and a half centuries those who have held to the doctrines of the Church of Holland have assembled Sun- day after Sunday for worship.

It appears upon the records that the first church in Kings county cost $1,800 ; as a con- scientious historian I am bound to admit that the whole of this sum was not raised in this county. It seems to have been collected throughout the whole colony, Governor Stuy- vesant himself contributing toward the liqui- dation of the debt left upon the building.

In after years, however, this indebtedness was returned in kind, for there is a petition still to be found among the church records bearing date January 19, 1784, in which New York appeals to the country churches for help. In response to it the sum of £20 6s 8d was raised, and is acknowledged as coming from Kings county. But an examination of the names on this paper will show that all the contributors were residents of Flatbush ex-

cept two, and from these two the amount col- lected was very small.

The farms in the village of Flatbush were originally laid out in long, narrow tracts on each side of the Indian path which at the present time forms the main street. Central among these was a long strip of land set aside for the church. It was not a poor, bar- ren tract, but as fertile and as pleasantly sit- uated as the land reserved for their own farms. They gave of the best they had for the service of the Lord's house. They made ample pro- vision for the continuance and maintenance of the ordinances of the sanctuary for gen- erations to come. They planned wisely and well, and the church to this day holds a large portion of this goodly tract.

The first church was in the form of a cross. It was sixty-five feet long, twenty-eight feet broad, and about twelve or fourteen feet high. The rear was reserved for the minister's dwelling.

Like a mote in the otherwise pure amber, the dignified ecclesiastical records of this period have preserved an incident which in- dicates that readiness to find fault which some- times accompanies our best works. We are told that the people of Flatbush sent a com- plaint to Governor Stuyvesant, to the effect that, while they did all the work in building the church, the other towns stood idly looking on. The Governor came to the rescue with an order to the other towns to "assist in cutting and hauling wood." The other towns determined to draw a line somewhere, and did so at the minister's house. They agreed to help build the house of the Lord, but as for the house of the minister they replied that the "Medwoud folks were able to do it them- selves." As in 1656 the minister complained that his house was not yet completed, the "Medwoud folks" do not seem to have been as prompt in fulfilling their share of the con- tract as they should have been.

The clergymen sent to the colony were men of thorough theological training; "for," says Brodhead, "the people, who at Leyden pre- ferred a University to a Fair, insisted upon an educated ministry."

In New York Rev. Everardus Bogardus was succeeded by Rev. Johannes Megapolen- sis ; his singular name was in its original form of a family name, Jan Van Mecklenburg. He seems to have been a man of liberal views and kindly feelings. He saved the life of a Jesuit missionary, Father Jogues, who was captured

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND,

by the Mohawks and kept for torture. After this he showed a similar kindness to another priest, Father Poncet. In 1658 a friendship grew up between himself and Father Le Moyne, a priest who spent that winter in New Netherland. He was settled over the church in New York, but seems to have had the over- sight of the congregations in Kings county, and was expected to see that their spiritual wants were supplied, although not to officiate regularly as the pastor of the church at Flat- bush.

Rev. Johannes Theodorus Polhemus was the first regular ordained minister in the coun- ty towns worshipping here. He had for a time joint charge of the churches of Breuck- elen, Midwout and Amersfort. He was quite an aged man and required an assistant.

The first church at Amersfort ( Flatlands) was erected in 1662 ; the first church in Brook- lyn in 1666. The morning service for Brook- lyn, Flatbush and Flatlands was held at Flat- bush; the afternoon service alternately at Brooklyn and Flatlands.

The Rev. Henry Solyns, or Selwyn, was called from Holland in 1660, and the Rev. Casparus Van Zuren in 1677. After Domine Selwyn was installed in Brooklyn Domine Pol- hemus confined his services to Flatbush and Flatlands; when Selwyn returned to Holland in 1664, then the associated towns were again in care of Domine Polhemus. Carel De Beau- voise, the schoolmaster, was directed to read prayers and some sermon from an approved author every Sunday until another minister was called.

It is probable that about this time the church at New Utrecht was organized and added to the pastoral care of the minister preaching in the churches already established, for Rev. Mr. Van Zuren in 1677 states that two elders and two deacons were chosen for the church in New Utrecht.

In 1681 the consistory of the church at Flatbush was enlarged by the addition of one elder and one deacon chosen from among the members living in New Lots. For many years after this none of the churches on Long Island had more than two elders and two deacons, with the exception of the Flatbush church.

Rev. Casparus Van Zuren returned to Hol- land in 1685, and was succeeded by Rev. Ru- dolphus Varick.

The last minister who officiated in this sec- ond church edifice was Rev. W. Lupardus.

He preached here until his death, which oc- curred in 1701.

Arrangements were made in 1698 to build a new church. It seems probable that the old building was too small to accommodate all who by this time assembled together for worship, as the inhabitants of Brooklyn, Flatbush, Flat- lands, Gravesend, New Utrecht and Bush- wick all united in the service. Brooklyn, Flat- bush and Bushwick communed together, and Flatlands, Gravesend and New Utrecht.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 25

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188