A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 27

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 27

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The landed estate and general financial in- terests of the Flatbush church had from the time of its organization been entrusted to the management of church masters according to the usage of the Reformed churches in Hol- land. An annual statement of the receipts and expenditures was certified on the church books. For a period of one hundred and seventy years the church property was pru- dently and judiciously managed by these church masters; then the church became in- corporated under an Act passed by the Legis- lature in 1784, authorizing the incorporation of religious societies ; some years after this a special Act provided for the incorporation of the Reformed Dutch churches by which the ministers, elders and deacons become the Trus- tees. This is the oldest religious corporation in this country.

The church erected in 1698 was pulled down in 1793, and the church at present standing was finished in 1796. It is, there- fore, the third upon the same spot and is still in an excellent state of preservation, as it was substantially built and has always been kept in good repair. The stones of the former churches were all placed in the foundation of this, the foundation wall being six feet broad.

The small Dutch bricks around the doors and windows were brought from Holland as ballast in one of the ships belonging to the Hon. John Vanderbilt. The stones for the wall were quarried at Hurlgate, N. Y., and the brown stone used in the construction of the courses above the foundation were broken from the rocky ridge of hills dividing Flat- bush from Brooklyn. The cost of this church was £4873, 7, 7, a sum equal to $12,183.44. This is exclusive of a great amount of labor and cartage gratuitously given by the mem- bers of the congregation; in that age the people were not ashamed to do their share of the manual labor. We were told years ago by an aged person who was living at the time this church was built that it was esteemed a privilege to assist in building the house of the Lord.

The consecration sermon of this church, in January, 1797, was in the Dutch language, by Dominie Schoonmaker. That being almost ex-

clusively the language of the family, it was taught in the schools and used in the church . services entirely until 1792. After that date the English came gradually into use. The regular and public preaching in the Dutch language ceased altogether upon the death of old Domine Schoonmaker, which occurred in 1824. Until 1818 sermons were preached in the towns of Flatbush, New Utrecht, Graves- end and Bushwick by Domine Schoonmaker in Dutch and by Domine Lowe in English. Domine Schoonmaker preached until he was nearly ninety years of age. He was the last connecting link of the chain which had bound the churches togetlier from 1654. The six collegiate congregations of Kings County were those of Brooklyn, Bushwick, Flatbuslı, New Utrecht, Flatlands and Gravesend. In 1805 Rev. Selah S. Woodhull was called as pastor of the church of Brooklyn. In 1811 Dr. Bas- sett was called to Bushwick. In 1809 Dr. Beattie was called to New Utrecht. Dr. Bas- sett supplied also the church at Gravesend when Domine Schoonmaker preached in Dutch at Bushwick. Flatlands and Flatbush were the last churches to separate. In 1818 they extended a pastoral call to Rev. Walter Mon- tieth. He resigned from these churches in 1820. In 1822 Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Strong was installed as pastor of the church at Flat- bush. He was the first minister who had sole charge of this church.

All the ministers who died after 1701 were interred under the church. This practice was continued until 1794. All persons belonging to the church who could afford it were also allowed this privilege. This accounts for the fact that there are not more old tombstones in the burying ground attached to the church. In that portion of this graveyard which has apparently no graves in it, the bodies of those who died in the battle of Flatbush are buried. They were gathered from the woods and hills in the route of the invading army. As they were hastily interred, without coffin or tomb- stone, that part of this old graveyard was not used afterwards.

At this present time, in order to have roon for church extension, a small portion of the ground immediately adjoining the church has been disturbed, but very few bones have been found ; they have nearly all mingled with the dust during the century and more that they have lain there.

For some twenty years interment in this graveyard has been forbidden. A plot was

155.

RELIGIOUS PROGRESS IN KINGS COUNTY.

purchased in Greenwood for the church in 1873, so that the ministers preaching here should, at their death, be interred there, and not in the old churchyard.

There is a significance in this, as being part of the constant change which the old church has undergone. There are no more burials here; no more Dutch tombstones; Dutch speaking and Dutch preaching are no more to be heard. The binding link of the six collegiate congregations was long ago broken. We approach so close to other churches that everything distinctively Dutch is lost.

Since its completion in 1796, the Flatbush church has been several times changed as to its interior arrangements. Until 1836 the back and front of the pews were very high, having resemblance to pens. The wood was grained ; there were no blinds on the windows and the walls were white. A mahogany pulpit was some five or six feet above the floor, supported on columns and reached by means of spiral stairs. The pews were lowered in 1836, and blinds were placed in the windows to soften the light. Two cast-iron stoves, known as Dr. Nott's patent, supplied the heat. The woodwork was painted white, and for the first time the aisles and the pulpit were car- peted.

In 1862 the church was again renovated. The high mahogany pulpit was removed, and a reading desk on a broader platform took its place. Two large heaters made the church more comfortable than the cast-iron stoves had done. An organ was built in the east gallery of the church, and a clock was placed in the steeple. The clock strikes upon the old bell which was presented to the church in 1796 by Hon. John Vanderbilt, who imported it for this purpose from Holland in one of his merchant ships. It is said that this bell was injured by being captured by the British and carried into Halifax in the belief that it was the property of a Holland merchant. It was released and returned when the fact was proved that the owner of the bell was a citizen of the United States. Since that first strife over its possession it has not been called to give the alarm of war, as did its predecessor in the little bell tower in 1776. Only the call to worship or the solemn announcement of a funeral has awakened its voice. It formerly gave warning of fires, but of later years even that duty has not been required, and now we hear its sound only for church services.

In 1887 the building was once more remod-

eled. An entrance for the minister in the rear of the church and a robing-room added accom- modations which had been much needed, for the example of the Holland clergy and long custom in this country favors the black Geneva gown in the pulpits of the Reformed Church. The interior of the building was stencilled in quiet colors. With the new upholstering and dark carpets a subdued effect was produced, and the pervading tone is rich and unob- trusive. A steam heater adds to the comfort of the church, and by the contrast suggests the accounts given of days when the church was not warmed even in midwinter. Some of us may recall the two tall stoves in the rear of the church, which heated it so unequally that it was necessary for comfort to supply small foot stoves for every pew; these were carried into the church by the colored ser- vants before the opening of the morning ser- vice.

The addition built in the rear of the pulpit at the west end of the church, however, was chiefly for the new organ which was placed there at this time (1887) and for the conven- ience of the choir. The organ is a large une and of good tone, and the choir has been in- creased in numbers. The music forms an im- portant part of the worship, and great pains has been taken by those who love church music to interest the young people in the service of song.

In the more primitive days the "voorzang- er," or precentor, stood in front of the pulpit to lead in the singing of the hymns. The next step was to have the young people of the congregation serve as a choir in the gallery opposite the pulpit. The first organ was pur- chased in 1860. This latest arrangement of a larger organ and the choir facing the con- gregation has been made in accordance withı the requirements of the age in regard to church music, and in the desire on the part of the consistory that nothing should be left undone which should tend to a devotional spirit in the church worship.

The latest change made in the interior of the church has been in regard to the windows. The light was found to be at times too strong without blinds ; the church too dark with closed blinds. In the winter of the present year (1890) the advisability of inserting stained glass windows was suggested. After some consideration, the consistory agreed to give those desiring it an opportunity to replace with memorial windows the coarse glass in the

155

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

sashes. Most of these memorial windows have been made for families rather than for individuals. By adding dates, something of an historical character is included in this change, for it tends to perpetuate the names of families who have supplied its membership through the two hundred years and more cf its organization, who have upheld its ordin- ances, and have worshipped here on this spot through successive generations.

The following are the ministers who have had charge over the church since its organiza- tion in 1654:

I. Johannes Megapolensis, born 1603. Sent to America by the Classis of Amsterdam in 1842. He was settled in New York with oversight over the congregations worshipping on Long Island. Died about 1668.

2. Johannes Theodorus Polhemus. First pastor of the collegiate churches on Long Island. Born in Holland 1598. Died in 1676.

3. Henricus Selwyn or Selyns, born in Holland in 1636; liad charge chiefly of church in Brooklyn, although he preached occasion- ally in the church at Flatbush. Died about 1701.

4. Casparus Von Zuren. Returned to Hol- land 1685.

5. Rudolphus Varick. Preached in the Long Island collegiate churches until 1694. 6. Wilhelmus Lupardus. Preached 1695. Died about 1702.

7. Bernardus Freeman came to America in 1700. Entered upon his ministry here in 1705. Emeritus 1791. Died soon after. 8. Vincentius Antonides. Born 1670. Preached in the Long Island churches. Died 1744.

9. Johannes Arondeus came from Hol- land 1742; preached in the Long Island churches. He was suspended in 1751, and died about 1754.

IO. Antonius Curtenius. Born in Hol- land 1698; came from Holland 1730. Preached in Hackensack and Schraalenburgh first, after- wards preached in the Long Island churches. Died in 1756.

II. Ulpianus Von Sinderen. Preached in the Long Island churches. He was declared emeritus in 1784. He died July 23, 1796.

12. Johannes Casparus Rubel. De- posed.

13. Martinus Schoonmaker. Born in Ulster Co., New York, 1737. He was the last minister who preached in the Dutch language in this county. He died in 1824.

14. Peter Lowe, born at Kingston 1764. Died 1818.

15. Walter Monteith accepted a call in Schenectady in 1820. Died 1834.

16. Thomas M. Strong, born at Coopers- town, N. Y., 1797. Preached in Flatbush from 1822 to 1861, at which time he died.

17. Cornelius L. Wells, present pastor, born at New Brunswick, N. J., 1833. Called to the ministry of this church 1863.

With the exception of the Rev. Dr. Strong and Rev. Dr. Wells, all these were collegiate ministers preaching in the churches and pre- siding over the six congregations in this county.

In the early days of settlement the various ministers do not seem to have remained long in charge over the churches, but this century shows the reverse and presents a remarkable record in this respect.

Rev. Dr. Strong remained for nearly forty years in charge of the church at Flatbush. He was removed by death in 1861. He was great- ly beloved by his people ; the younger members of his congregation looked up to him as a fa- ther. He was a man of great learning, with great fluency as a speaker and ease of manner in the pulpit. He was genial and affable in social life, and by his daily conduct exempli- · fied the beauty of the precepts he held up to his people.

Dr. Strong was succeeded by Rev. Dr. C. L. Wells, who was called to the ministry of this church in 1863. The twenty-fifth anni- versary of this call was the occasion of a very pleasant celebration given to Dr. Wells by his people, in recognition of their love and esteem for him as their pastor and personal friend. His pastorate has been a very successful one. The church has flourished under his care and the utmost good feeling prevails. The mem- bership has increased, and that, to a great ex- tent, from among the young people. Surely nothing can be more gratifying to the heart of a faithful pastor than this. May he be long continued in his place, with the same encour- aging results that have blest his labors in past years.

This church was formerly known as the Reformed Dutch Church. In 1867 the word Dutch was dropped and the distinctive title became "The Reformed Church in America."

In this country the "patrial adjectives" have been retained in many of the Reformed churches to indicate their origin.

The name with us had lost much of its

157

RELIGIOUS PROGRESS IN KINGS COUNTY.

significance owing to the various nationalities in church membership; because a false impres- sion was created as to the language used in the church service, the change was thought by many to be desirable, and it was accordingly made.

We do not, however, wish to have the fact lost to history that the churches of this de- nomination were those established by the Hol- land settlers in America. The doctrines taught are the articles of faith formulated by the reformers in the Netherlands. They had gone through the most terrible struggle recorded on the pages of history, maintaining for some forty years a most unequal combat against big- otry and despotism of Spain, at that time the most formidable power in Europe.

The church at Flatbush was designed, as we have seen in the preceding extract, to sup- ply the needs in the way of public worship of the people in Flatbush, in Flatlands and in Breuckelen. The Rev. Mr. Polhemus, how- ever, seems never to have been able to win the favor of the people of the last named place. He was a man pretty well advanced in years when he took hold of his charge at Flatbush, and while no complaints were ever made as to his neglecting his sacred work, yet from the first the Brooklyn settlers and he did not get along well together. They were quite willing to help the Midwout (Flatbush) folks to build their church as by the Governor's or- der, but they strenuously objected to help in the work of building a house for the dominie, and it required some of the usual Stuy- vesant persuasion, a big oath, or a violent stamıp of the silver-mounted wooden leg, to make them bear a helping hand. It was quite a distance from Breuckelen to the church at Flatbush and possibly it was more fashionable for the former people now and again, when the weather was fine and the water smooth, to cross over into Manhattan Island and listen to the words of the Rev. Johannes Megapo- lensis, one of the most gifted preachers of his time, in the handsome stone church in the fort. At all events they gave Polhemus the cold shoulder. In 1656 the people of Flatbush (Midwout) and Flatlands (Amersfort) asked

their brethren in Breuckelen to help in paying the salary of Brother Polhemus, but this met with polite refusal, as they replied they did not feel disposed to pay for the upkeep of a min- ister who was of no use to them. They sug- gested that if Polhemus would agree to preach in their midst on alternate Sundays they would be willing to aid in his support. Possibly they thought this beyond the dominie's physical ability. Stuyvesant and his Council settled the matter by declaring that Polhemus should preach in Breuckelen when the weather per- mitted. The dominie at first apparently did his best to visit Brooklyn on alternate Sun- days, and while the Flatbush folk were satis- fied with this the people of Flatlands and the other towns began to complain. So to end the matter Stuyvesant decreed that the dominie was to preach each Sunday forenoon in the church at Flatbush and on alternate Sunday afternoons at Brooklyn and Flatlands. The two towns last named were assessed each 300 guilders and Flatbuslı 400 guilders on be- half of the dominie's annual salary.

But the Brooklyn people were even then by no means satisfied. They did not care for Mr. Polhemus, did not want him for a pastor, and it looks as though all their agreements were but subterfuges, hoping that the other communities would not live up to them and that thereby the ire of the peppery old Gov- ernor would be directed against the other parties to the agreements rather than against themselves. But in 1657 they could bear it no longer and co came out openly in an appeal to Stuyvesant and the Council to be forever rid of the good man. Through their chosen town officials they said, under date January 1, 1657 :

The Magistrates of Breuckelen find them- selves obliged to communicate to your Hon- ors that to them it seems impossible that they should be able to collect annually 300 guilders from such a poor congregation, as there are many among them who suffered immense losses during the late wars, and principally at the invasion of the savages, by which they have been disabled, so that many, who would

158

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

otherwise be willing, have not the power to contribute their share. We. must be further permitted to say that we never gave a call to the aforesaid Reverend Polhemus, and never accepted him as our minister ; but he intruded himself upon us against our will, and volun- tarily preached in the open street, under the blue sky; when, to avoid offense, the house of Joris Dircksen was temporarily offered him here in Breuckelen. It is the general opinion and saying of the citizens and inhabitants of Breuckelen generally, with those living in their neighborhood, that they could not resolve, even when it was in their power to collect the money, to contribute anything for such a poor and meagre service as that with which they have thus far been regaled. Every fortnight, on Sundays, he comes here only in the after- noon for a quarter of an hour, when he only gives us a prayer in lieu of a sermon, by which we can receive very little instruction ; while often, while one supposes the prayer or sermon (which ever name might be preferred for it) is beginning, then it is actually at an end, by which he contributes very little to the edification of his congregation. This we ex- perienced on the Sunday preceding Christmas, on the 24th of December last, when we, ex- pecting a sermon, heard nothing but a prayer, and that so short that it was finished before we expected. Now, it is true, it was nearly evening before Polhemus arrived, so that he had not much time to spare, and was com- pelled to march off and finish so much sooner, to reach his home. This is all the satisfac- tion-little enough, indeed-which we had during Christmas ; wherefore, it is our opinion that we shall enjoy as much and more edifica- tion by appointing one among ourselves, who may read to us on Sundays a sermon from the "Apostille Book," as we ever have until now, from any of the prayers or sermons of the Reverend Polhemus. We do not, however, intend to offend the Reverend Polhemus, or assert anything to bring him into bad repute. We mean only to say that his greatly ad- vanced age occasions all this, and that his talents do not accompany him as steadily as in the days of yore; yea, we discover it clearly, that it is not the want of good-will in Polhe- mus ; but as we never did give him a call, we cannot resolve to contribute to his mainten- ance.

Their pathetic appeal, however, had no ef- fect on the Governor. He held that the ar-

rangement in force should continue, and then the Brooklyn folk neglected to pay their share of the dominie's salary, to the temporal con- fusion and discomfort of the poor old man. The others, too, seemed to become laggard in their payments. Stuyvesant, however, was equal to the emergency and on July 6, 1658, ordered that no grain should be removed from the fields until all arrearages in the minister's salary had been paid-and paid they at once were. So the dominie was supreme for a year or so longer, encountering roads the poorer and weather the more wretched as his age and infirmities increased.

Then the people of Brooklyn adopted fresh tactics to get rid of his ministrations, by ask- ing permission to call a minister to dwell among themselves and so relieve Polhemus of his tiresome journey. This was agreed to. The Classis in Amsterdam was communicated with, and in September, 1660, the Rev. Hen- ricus Selyns, sometimes described as Henry. Solinus and Henricus Selwyn, was installed as minister of Brooklyn, the first of a long line of gifted men who have made the name of the old town famous over the Christian world.

Selyns was born in Amsterdam in 1636, and was descended from a family which for a century previous had furnished a succession of Protestant ministers to the Church in Hol- land, and his own ability as a preacher had won hin high commendation in his native town. He was installed into his pastorate with considerable pomp, the Governor being rep- resented by two of his officials. Stuyvesant seems to have taken kindly to the young min- ister from the first, and to help him to earn an increased salary he engaged him to spend his Sunday afternoons on his country residence in New York, his famous Bouwerie, and there preach and teach the servants and poor neigh- bors, black and white. For this Stuyvesant agreed to pay 250 guilders each year, thus bringing up the minister's salary to 600 guil- ders. Selyns was a man of many accomplish- ments, a poet, lisping in sacred numbers, and

THE CHURCH AT BROOKLYN, 1766.

159

RELIGIOUS PROGRESS IN KINGS COUNTY.

now and again in Latin, and he possessed con- siderable historical acumen and diligence, for he transcribed all the records of the Dutch Church in New York down to his own time, and his transcription, still preserved, has kept alive much of the history of that body which but for his patient labor would long ago have been lost. Cotton Mather valued him highly and said that "he had so nimble a fancy for putting his devout thoughts into verses that upon this, as well as upon greater accounts, he was a David unto the flocks in the wil- derness."

Although ushered into his charge with be- coming ceremony, Selyns had neither a church nor a congregation. So far as church mem- bership went his flock was enrolled on the books of the Flatbush organization, but in answer to a letter the Rev. Mr. Polhemus sent him a list of those on his roll who resided in Brooklyn (at the Ferry, the Wallabout and Gowanus) including one elder, two deacons and twenty-four others. This epistle probably acted as a letter of dismissal and doubtless the good old dominie was heartily glad to be rid of a people that had proved so rebellious and contumacious. A church building seems to have been erected under Selyns' ministry, or else the services were held in some building set aside for his use, for we find that the peo- ple in 1661 petitioned the home authorities for a bell which would not only call the people to worship but would be of service in all time of danger. If a church was there built all trace of it even on paper has disappeared. It seems that the people after a time were not quite satisfied with Selyns' ministrations, their main grievance being that he did not make his home among them, but preferred to reside on Manhattan Island. The congregation had strengthened slowly : in 1661 it had over fifty communicants, but latterly he had some dif- ficulty in collecting his salary, and, probably feeling that the field was not a promising one and experiencing some of the plain speaking which had been used to Polhemus, he tendered his resignation in 1664, giving as his reason

a desire to comply with the request of his aged father that he return to Holland. There he went, returning to America in 1682 to be- come pastor of the Dutch Church in New Amsterdam, in which service he continued un- til his death, in 1701.

The spiritual welfare of Brooklyn was thus again placed under the pastoral care of Dom- inie Polhemus, Schoolmaster Debevoise ap- parently doing the active work and reading a discourse from an "approved author" each Sabbath. Apparently the people desired a pastor as soon as possible, and probably in the hope of being the better able to induce a de- sirable one to settle in their midst they de- cided to erect a substantial church and have it ready for his ministrations when he did come. Accordingly they erected in 1666 on what is now Fulton street, near Lawrence street, about a mile from the Ferry, on the site 'of a fort, some of the stones of which were used in its walls, what is generally held to be the first church in Brooklyn. It re- mained in active use for exactly a century, when it was pulled down and a new edifice erected on its site. Stiles describes this, the structure of 1766, as "a large, square edifice. with solid and very thick walls, plastered and whitewashed on every side up to the eaves ; the roof as usual ascending to a peak in the centre, capped with an open belfry in which hung a small, sharp-toned bell brought from Holland shortly after its erection, and after .. ward (1840) hung in the belfry of the dis- trict school-house in Middagh street. The interior was plain, dark and very gloomy, so that in summer one could not see to read in it after four o'clock in the afternoon, by rea- son of its small windows. They were six or eight feet above the floor and filled with stained-glass lights from Holland, represent- ing vines loaded with flowers. The old town of Breuckelen, it will be remembered, com- prised at this time several divisions or settle- ments, each possessing local names-squares and avenues of the new city-Gowanus, Red Hook, Bedford, Cripplegate, Wallabout-and

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 27

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