A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 86

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 86

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Jamaica Decemr 15th 1741

However in the mean time be pleased to accept this general account of the State of my Mission there being three Churches belonging to my Cure, that of Jamaica Newtown and

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Flushing, I must with a great deal of truth say that not only they are in a growing con- dition & the members thereof generally of an exemplary life and conversation but that the Church of England here was never in so much credit and reputation among the Dissenters of all sorts as at this day, their opinion con- cerning her doctrine as well as discipline be- ing vastly more favourable than ever. En- thusiasm has of late been very predominant amongst us but is now in a declining state several of the teachers in that way as well as their hearers being found guilty of the foulest immoral practices and other of them have wrought themselves into the highest degree of madness-these occurrences together with those good books lately sent over by the So- ciety have taught people what the true spirit of Christianity is and what it is not & that it is to be found in a more sober rational Scheme than that delivered to mankind by Mr Whitfield that Arch Enthusiast and his ad- herents, having nothing more to add but the promise of all due diligence & fidelity in the discharge of all the Offices belonging to my Mission.

Jamaica March 23d, 1743

Our Church here is in a flourishing con- dition her being depressed of late by those clouds of error & enthusiasm which hung so heavily about her, has in effect tended to her greater illustration & glory.

If the Society would be pleased to order me some small tracts, such as The trial of Mr Whitfield's spirit ; An Englishman directed in the choice of his Religion, Bishop Stilling- fleet's Unreasonableness of separation &c. I'm your most obt &c. THIOS COLGAN.

Jamaica Sept 29th 1743.

Our Church here was never in so thriving a way as at this time-for it has increased both in number & esteem with those who are without her pale, these eight or ten years last past more than it did for 30 years before being one of the oldest Missions from the Society --- This must be an argument with them, that under the benign influence of Heaven and their pious Care & bounty, my faithful en- deavours have not been wanting to promote and answer the end & design of my Mission to this place I would further acquaint the Ven- erable Society that since my last accounts I have baptized 17 persons belonging to 3 fam-

ilies in this parish, consisting of Men Women & children who before were tainted with the corruptions of Anabaptism & Quakerism & have now before me a fair prospect of doing the like good office for others in a little time.

Jamaica Sept 29 1744.

The several Churches belonging to my Cure (as those of Jamaica, Newtown & Flush- ing) are in a very peaceable & growing state, whilst other seperate Assemblies in this Parisli are in the utmost confusion & this I can write with a great deal of truth that Independency which has been triumphant in this town for the 40 years last past is now by the provi- dence of God in a very faint & declining con- dition which gives us hopes that better Prin- ciples than such as issue out thence will gen- erally prevail amongst us & that we shall be better united than heretofore.

Jamaica Sept 29th 1746

These are to acquaint the Venerable So- ciety that my endeavours in the work of my Mission are by the blessing of God attended with success a late & remarkable instance whereof we have in the conformity of a Fam- ily of good repute in ye Town from Inde- pendency to the Doctrine discipline and Gov- ernment of our Church which considering all circumstances may be thought worthy of notice.

In my letter of the 26 March last I gave information to the Society of our being in a very likely way of having a Church erected in the town of Flushing a place generally in- habited by Quakers & by some who are of no religion at all which indeed has all along from the first settlement of the town been a great obstruction and discouragement to an under- taking of this kind but now by the kind prov- idence of God ( who has raised up Friends & money for the purpose ) the work is actually begun so that I have hopes of performing divine Service in this new Church in about 3 months time and also that the Society will bestow upon it a Bible & Common Prayer Book according to their usual bounty for cen- tainly there can be no set of People within this Province who are greater objects of the Society's pity & charity than those belonging to the town of Flushing of which I have been so truly .sensible that it has brought me (if I may be permitted thus to express it) to

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double my diligence in that place where error & impiety greatly abound nor have I been wanting (thro' the Divine assistance) in the other parts & duties of my Mission for the space of almost one and twenty years to ap- prove myself a faithful Labourer & my trust in God is that I shall continue to approve my- self such whilst

Jamaica March 28th, 1749.

I have great hopes that our Church at Flushing will in a little time gain ground among the Quakers who are very numerous there, and it is somewhat remarkable and may be thought worthy of notice, that a man who had for many years strictly adhered to the principles of Quakerism, when that new Church was opened & a collection made he gave money for the use of that Church, but thinking he had not put enough in the Plate, went immediately after service and gave more to the Collector.

Mr. Colgan died in 1755 and then the "dissenters" tried their coup-long famous locally-of at once installing one of their own ministers, Simon Horton, into the vacancy, but Governor Hardy made short work of that and Samuel Seabury, Jr., was inducted to the charge of the three towns. He was not a suc- cess by any means, and by 1760 he complained that the communicants in Grace Church were less than 20. Under these circumstances the full amount of his stipend was not forthcom- ing and the constant attention necessary to keep the church in repair was relaxed with the usual result. With the view of improving matters, Seabury got up the idea of having Grace Church incorporated, and the following document, which explains itself, was drawn up, signed and presented to Cadwallader Colden :

To the Honourable Cadwallder Colden Esq President of his Majestys Council and Commander in Chief of the Province of New York and the Territories depending thereon in America &c

The Petition of the Minister of the Parish of Jamaica & Sundry of the Inhabitants of The Town of Jamaica on Nassau Island Communicants & professors of

the Church of England as by Law Es- tablished

MOST HUMBLY SHEWETH

That the Inhabitants of the town of Ja- maica : Members & professors of the Church of England as by Law Established : did some years ago by Voluntary contributions Erect & finish a decent & Convenient Church in the Town of Jamaica: for the Celebration of Di- vine Service according to the use of the Church Of England, but that through the Want of some proper Persons to Superintend the Affairs of the Same: With Legal Au- thority, the Building is now Considerably out of Repair, and There is Danger Least moneys contributed for the Repair of the Same may be Improperly Applyd to the Detriment of your Petitioners : & Thro' the want of Such Persons. it also comes to pass yt Pious & Well Disposed People are Discouraged, in their Designs of Establishing & Erecting proper Funds for the Support Of the Church & its Ministry Your Petitioners Therefore Humbly beg that yr Honour Takeing these things into Considera- tion Would be Pleasd to Grant us a Charter ( Incorperateing such Persons as upon Mature Deliberation shall be found Worthy) with such Privileges & Immunities as in Your Wis- dom you shall think Proper And Your Peti- tioners as in Duty bound Will Ever Pray Aprill the 8th 1761.

SAMUEL SEABURY Jur Minister

Robert Howell

Benjamin Carpenter

John huchiens

John Smith

Jacob Ogden

Joseplı Olfield

Joseph Olfield Junr

Jhno Troup

John Comes

Gilbert Comes

Thomas Truxton

Thos Braine

Benj. Whitehead

Samll Smith

William Sherlock

Jolın Innes

Richard Betts.

Isaac Vanhook

Thos Hinchman

Adm Lawrence

The charter was granted, the church was repaired as the result of a subscription which

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netted £93 18d, but the people did not flock to Mr. Seabury's ministrations in any greater numbers than before. So he gladly went his way when an opening occurred for him at Westchester, and the Rev. Joshua Bloomer was installed in his stead. Mr. Bloomer com- menced his ministry May 23, 1769, and soon was able to announce that his services were well attended-"crowded assemblies who be- have with decorum." But the times were sadly out of joint and it was not long before he had some trouble in getting payment of his salary as it fell due. When the crisis came Mr. Bloomer found it necessary to close his church for a few weeks ; some of his members were sadly persecuted by order of Congress, several even sent to prison or to Connecticut, but with the victory of August 27, 1776, all went well and the good, loyal minister was again per- mitted to pray for King George and the royal family without hindrance. In 1778, as a re- sult of a lottery, $780 was realized for the . purchase of a glebe, and with the money a farm of seventy acres was bought about a mile west of Jamaica village. It was not the first time a lottery had come to the aid of Grace Church. By one, in 1747, the bell in its steeple had been bought. The glebe does not seem to have proven a profitable adjunct to the church, and it was offered for sale in 1786. With the cessation of hostilities, Mr. Bloomer seems to have passed over the crisis of the sentiment against everything British ut- disturbed, and ministered in his three charges until 1790, when he passed to his reward, and his remains were laid in the chancel of Grace Church.

After Mr. Bloomer's death, however, the congregation began to dwindle, although most of the rectors were men of more than or- dinary ability. In 1808 the money received at a communion season was only $234. There is no doubt that the influence and generosity of the King family was the most potent agency in carrying the church through its darkest days, which may be said to have lasted from 36

1796 until 1815, and the first substantial token of that interest was a gift from Rufus King of real estate in New York sufficient to yield the rector $500 a year. The same generous hand in 1820 started the movement for the erection of a new church, and as a result the second Grace Church was built and opened for service July 15, 1822. This building served the congregation until January 1, 1861, when it was burned to the ground and to the building which took its place, a beautiful gothic struc- ture of stone, and which was consecraited by Bishop Horatio Potter January 8, 1863, the King family were princely subscribers, while their subsequent gifts were numerous and munificent.

The Dutch Church seemed to have had its beginning in Jamaica in 1702, and for a time its services were held in the little stone build- ing erected by the Presbyterians. For some years the congregation was ecclesiastically at- tached to the Kings County Consistory, but in 1715 they managed to build one of the little octagon edifices such as the early Dutch con- gregations delighted in, and tried to get a min- ister of their own, but they failed to offer enough in the way of inducement and that project slept. Afterward when there were small congregations formed at Newtown, Suc- cess and Wolver Hollow further attempts were made to get a clergyman to devote him- self to the four, but it was not until 1741 that they succeeded, and the Rev. Johannes Hen- ricus Goetschius settled among them. He and his successors were able men, but they did not attract large congregations somehow and the people did not seem to act as a harmonious unit with regard to them. During the Revo- lution the church was unceremoniously used by the British as a storehouse, the people were without any stated pastor, but Dominies Rubell and Schoonmaker, of Kings county, visited them at intervals and held services in Grace Church. After the war was over the Rev. Rynier Van Nest became the pastor of the four churches. It was decided, in 1794, to have

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half of the services in English, as it was thought that the younger people might wander away, seeing that the tongue of the motherland was thoroughly understood by only a few. But the old Dutch service continued to be a feature and old Dr. Schoonmaker, who was minister of the church when the old building was abandoned, June 23, 1833, delivered the farewell sermon in Dutch, although not over half a dozen could follow his words clearly. The new church, a frame structure, was con- secrated July 4, 1833, by which time the octagonal edifice had been demolished. With this change the congregation (it had parte:1 company with the other Reformed Churches in the county) seems steadily to have waxed in strength. The building was. burned to the ground on November 19, 1857, but on Oc- tober 6, 1859, the present tabernacle was opened for worship. It cost over $20,000.

The Methodist Episcopal body had a con- gregation in Jamaica in 1784, but it was not until 1810 that they erected a church. The first Roman Catholic Church, St. Monica's, was erected in 1839 and the first Baptist Church in 1869. In 1873 the German Rc- formed Church was erected.

From the consecration of churches we pass 'easily as a corrollary to the God's acre, where the fathers of the village sleep. There are several of these in Jamaica township, notably that at Springfield and the quaint Hebrew cen- ·etery at Woodhaven, but the oldest of them all is that in Jamaica village. It was first set aside-to the extent at least of ten rods square -in 1668 and with considerable additions has been used since then, although the oldest exist- ing stones bear such comparatively recent dates as 1732 and 1737. It has been much beautified in recent years and the chapel at its gateway, the Chapel of the Sisters, built "by Nicholas Ludlam, of New York, in 1857, in memory of his daughters, is an attractive piece of architecture. In Jamaica village also the Roman Catholic, Methodist and Protest- ant Episcopal Churches each have their

grounds "sacred for the resting place of their dead." In the ground of the last named is the grave of Rufus King and of many of the other members of that famous family.

At first, as might be expected, agriculture and hunting were the two industries of Ja- maica most generally followed, the two indus- tries in which the early settlers found their employment and their amusement. It was not long, however, before the area of industry was widened. In 1663 John Ouldfield, at a town meeting, was voted a home lot and twenty acres of meadow land on which to set- tle and pursue his occupation-that of a tan- ner. He was admonished to stick strictly and constantly to his trade and to take care only to produce good leather. How he behaved him- self after "getting in" we are not told, but as the eyes of the leaders of the community were upon him it is very likely that he fully met their views. In 1669 the settlers offered James Hubbard, of Gravesend, ground on which to erect a mill, but he preferred to re- main in Lady Moody's bailiwick. Benjamin Coe, however, fell in with the offer in the following year and the people agreed to build a dam for the mill which he agreed to erect and work. It was part of the agreement that in return for the lot and the other bounties conferred upon him, he should grind the corn of the townspeople in preference to that of strangers on days to be mutually agreed. Mr. Coe carried out his part of the agreement so well that they added ground for a grist mill. The milling business after a time fell into the hands of Joseph Carpenter and Caleb Carman on the same terms as Coe had received and which did not pan out very well with him, but whether owing to his incompetency or neglect history sayeth not. The new firm, however, were also allowed to erect a saw mill and were to be permitted to feed it from the common lands of the township under a few restrictions pertaining to growing trees. Their work ac- cording to the peculiar ideas of the time was to be done cheaper for the townspeople than

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for others, but even toward outsiders they were not permitted to make extravagant . charges. This arrangement seems to have proved eminently satisfactory all around. Mill- ing privileges were awarded in 1685 to Benja- min Coe and John Hansen, but there is no rec- ord as to how Coe profited in this venture by his first experience. There is also a record of half an acre of land being voted to a cooper on condition that he work at his trade, build a home "and supply the town with such coop- er's work as they shall stand in need of." In 1704 permission was given to Jonathan White- head and Benjamin Thurston to establish a fulling mill to "full [shrink] all kinds of cloth, press the same for three pence the yard, and to full for the townspeople before other towns- people." For a long time the milling indus- try in Jamaica was a most important one, but little has been heard of it in recent years.

In 1676 the first record of a local school appears in the record, for in that year Richard Jones was given the use of the little stone church "for to teach scoule in for ye yere en- sting, provided he keep ye windowes from breaking and keep it deasent and cleane on Saturday nights against ye Lord's Day and seats to be placed in order." How Brother Jones fared and how long he kept "scoule" is not stated. Nine years later mention is made of a girls' school kept by "Goody" Davis. In 1705 Henry Lindley was licensed by Governor Cornbury to teach school in Jamaica and a sim- ilar authority was conferred in the same year on Thomas Huddleston. The ministers of the Church of England generally were in receipt of small grants from the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to provide teaching facilities, but the amount was never, in the case of Queens county, sufficient to se- cure more than temporary service. Thus the Rev. Mr. Poyer complains, in 1724, that while there were schools in Jamaica, Newtown and Flushing, they were taught by Quakers 01 Presbyterians. A public meeting was called in 1726 to consider the possibility of estab-

lishing a free school, but nothing came of it, probably owing to theological differences. Still the educational facilities of Jamaica seem to have been ample at all times, and several of the teachers, such as James Lockhart, Thomas Temple and John Moore, all pre- Revolutionary schoolmasters, were men of more than ordinary education. In 1777 An- drew Wilson opened a grammar school, and in 1784 the Rev. Matthias Burnet, the Pres- byterian minister, opened a private school, in which he proposed to teach Latin and Greek, and for which he had engaged "a person" to teach the common branches, writing, book- keeping, vulgar arithmetic and the like. The opening, in 1791, of Union Hall Academy led the way to other schemes of higher education. The history of that institution has already been referred to. In 1812 the common-school sys- tem of the state superseded all private enter- prises to a great extent and put all the pri- mary schools in the commonwealth within a short time on a standard basis. Still even under that system, as it progressed, much was due to the work and intelligence of local teaclı- ers and superintendents, and in this regard we must recall the work of Henry Onderdonk, Jr., who was the first superintendent of common schools under the law passed in 1844.

Jamaica has never figured much in the out- side world. The General Assembly of the Province of New York met in the village in 1702 and again in 1753, and in 1790 it received a visit from George Washington, who seemed to have been fully satisfied with his reception and his entertainment. The village received a charter in 1814 and an additional patent of the same class in 1855. The town meetings were held at first in the meeting house, which has been generally spoken of as the stone church, but afterward when that place became the Episcopalian sanctuary they were held in the court house. That building was torn down by the British troops in 1777 for military rea- sons, and from that time until 1858 they were convened at various inns and public houses.

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In 1858 a town hall was erected on Herriman street, near Fulton street-a wooden two- story structure, inconvenient and dangerous. It served its purpose, however, until 1870, when the present town hall was completed and was then converted into dwellings.

In 1827, so far as the records show, the first made road in Jamaica was laid out, and it was followed by several others, but it is not likely that any of these early highways are still used and their original boundaries are not now exactly determinable. In 1785 the people in town meeting decreed that no hogs should be permitted to roam about the streets, and we see plenty of other evidences of a desire to improve the amenity of the town much earlier than was the case in many other Long Island villages. It was not until 1833, however, that the township was divided into ten road districts, and a systematic effort made at their improvement and maintenance.

While Jamaica was in all moral respects quite a clean community, yet the people seemed to be at all times in a condition to punish such evil doers as might turn up among them. The early town meetings were liberal in their scale of fines for contraventions of local laws and a significant appointment was that of whipper, to which office Joseph Prue was ap- pointed in 1772. His work, it is true, lay principally among negroes, but still he stood ready to suitably admonish any one the law thought deserving of such treatment. In those early days theft was a capital offense, and as late as 1782 we read of two unfortunates -- William Guthrie and Joseph Alexander -- being hanged at Jamaica for stealing from a farmer at Cow Neck. But hanging was too expensive a luxury to be indulged in by a country town like Jamaica. Such corrective agencies as the lock-up or cage, or even the stocks, were much more in vogue. In fact as late as 1808 new stocks were ordered to be erected.

When the Revolution was over, the red- coats gone and peace had been proclaimed, Ja-

maica celebrated the result with huzzas and ovations and feasting, and then quietly settled down to the even tenor of its days. Of course, it felt remotely the trend of the outside world, it had a reverent funeral procession when the news reached it that George Washington was no more, and it felt a revival of the old pa- triotic thrill when the news came in 1812 that war with Britain was again on; it was stirred to its depths around each election time, but such flurries soon passed over and left little trace. Its splendid fishing in Jamaica Bay seems to have attracted few adventurous spirits and the islands which dot that inland sea, and which were included in the boun- daries of the township, were untenanted and unknown. It had its newspapers-the Long Island Farmer was started by Henry C. Sleight in 1819, and the Long Island Demo- crat first saw light at Jamaica in 1835,-and these in a measure supplied the news of their day and more or less sage comment and com- munication was kept up with the outside world by means of lumbering stages, which run on1 the schedule time which was formulated each trip by the caprice and in accordance with the temper of the driver.

A revival, the great modern revival, set in in 1837, when the Brooklyn & Jamaica Rail- road was opened. With that came, slowly at first but surely, wonderous changes. The once famous plank road of 1854 has already been spoken of, and other road improvements were soon in vogue. By and by the horse car supplemented the service of the railroad, but the advent of the trolley and the introduction of something like rapid transit by the railroad brought the old village nearer and nearer, as it were, to Brooklyn.

As the means of transit increased the land boomers began to turn their attention in the direction of Jamaica, especially after it began to be understood that the elevated railroad sys- tem of Brooklyn was certain, sooner or later. to be extended there. Under their manipula- tion such places as Dunlin, Richmond Hill.

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Woodlawn, Clarenceville, Morris Park, Wood- hull Park and half a dozen settlements were opened up and the lots disposed of with re- markable celerity. Even the old pre-Revolu- tionary village of Springfield-a place in fact not many years the junior of Jamaica village itself-felt the impulse of the change, and Woodhaven, founded in 1836 by John R. Pit- kin, talked confidently of extending its manu- factories. In 1863 Messrs. Lalance & Grosjean entered upon the manufacture of agate ware in an old factory building and extended the business so rapidly that in 1870 it was neces- sary to organize a joint stock company to op- erate and control it. The capital stock was fixed at $500,000 and the operations grew steadily year by year. In 1876 its buildings were destroyed by fire, but the calamity in the long run really helped the corporation, for the old structures were at once replaced with mod- ern buildings, in which the most advanced ap- pliances were introduced. The goods made by this establishment are now to be found all over the country.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 86

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