USA > New York > New York City > A history of St. James' Methodist Episcopal Church at Harlem, New York City, 1830-1880 : with some facts relating to the settlement of Harlem > Part 5
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He was licensed as a local preacher in 1846. While teaching in Harlem, in 1847, he was appointed, December 22d, preacher in charge of the Harlem M. E. Church, by the Presiding Elder, the Rev. Peter P. Sand- ford, D.D., for the remainder of the Conference year (1847-8.) In Janu- ary (1848) a protracted meeting was begun and continued for two months. The congregations were frequently so large as to crowd the audience room of the church. The interest became very great and extended to the other churches of the place. A dancing school was completely broken up as most of the dancers attended the meetings, and many of them were con- verted. Nearly one hundred souls in all were converted, some of whom joined the other churches. The membership was more than doubled during the year. In 1847, fifty-nine were reported in the minutes. In 1848, one hundred and thirty-two. In 1850, Dr. Freeman joined the New Jersey Conference, and was among the members of that conference, who, in 1857, were set off to the Newark Conference.
The following have been his appointments: Quarry Street, Newark ; Camptown; Milltown; Prospect Street, Paterson; Orange; Union Street, Newark; Trinity, Staten Island; Haverstraw, New York; Market Street, Paterson; Halsey Street, Newark; Hedding, Jersey City; Hackettstown, whencc he was taken, in 1852, and appointed Assistant Editor of Sunday- school and Tract publications. In 1866, Wesleyan University conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M., and in 1875, Mount Union College, Ohio, that of D.D.
Dr. Freeman has written over thirty small books for children, besides packages of tracts. Also, "Hand Book of Bible Manners and Customs," "Short History of English Bible," and other smaller works for Sunday- school teachers and Bible students.
REV. RUFUS C. PUTNEY.
The Rev. Rufus C. Putney was born in Union, Tolland County, Conn., August 17, 1820.
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He received from his parents a careful and prayerful, moral and religious training.
At the age of sixteen he came to New York State, and entered, and subsequently graduated from the White Plains Academy.
He then engaged in teaching until he entered the itineracy.
He was converted December 29th, 1839, in Greenburgh, Westchester County, under the ministry of the Rev. John A. Selleck and by the evangel- istic labors of Samuel Halsted, and immediately joined the M. E. Church on probation.
In 1840 he was granted a local preacher's license.
In May, 1844, he joined the New York Conference, and during the years 1848-9, served the Harlem (125th Street) Church.
In speaking of his pastorate in Harlem, the Rev. Mr. Putney writes: "While my pastorate embraced no little sacrifice and privation, as well as arduous labor, it also affords me much pleasure, and even at this distant day, furnishes me with precious memories and a sweet anticipation of greet- ings in the heavenly land.
"And I rejoice that the little society, for the interests of which it was mine to care, over thirty years ago, has grown to such dimensions, as to constitute it a peer among the city churches of the metropolis."
The Rev. Mr. Putney died in the city of New York on the eve of December 16, 1881.
REV. THOMAS BAINBRIDGE.
Rev. Thomas Bainbridge was born in Appleby, England, October 26, 1792. His conversion took place in his twenty-fourth year. About three years after this he became a local preacher in the Wesleyan connection.
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Shortly after entering the ranks of the local ministry in England, he came to America,
He joined the New York Conference in 1833, having been previously employed under the Presiding Elder as the colleague of the Rev. Dr. Levings, in New Haven, Conn. He became a superannuate in 1853.
He was a great sufferer for the six months previous to his death, but was calm and resigned.
He was taken suddenly worse on Saturday, March 8, 1862, and from that time failed rapidly, being scarcely able to articulate, but made out to say to his kind and pious physician, "I know in whom I have believed."
On the following Sabbath the Rev. S. C. Perry called to see him, and to him he said: "I trust in Christ crucified; He is my only hope." On Monday morning, at half-past two o'clock, March 10, 1862, he sweetly fell asleep in Jesus.
REV. A. S. LAKIN.
The Rev. A. S. Lakin was Pastor of the Harlem M. E. Church during the years 1852-3.
He is now Presiding Elder of the Marion District of the Central Ala- bama Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
REV. JOHN B. COCAGNE.
The Rev. John B. Cocagne was born October 1st, 1821, in a village called Roziere, in the department of the High Saone. This village is in that part of France called Franche-Comte, and within the Diocese of Bes-
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ancon. He was carefully and rigidly educated in the faith and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1831, his father concluded to see the wilds of America, in order to better his circumstances and worldly prospects. After taking leave of friends, and a pleasant passage and journey, they arrived in New York in April, and in May following reached Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, N. Y.
It was after having been brought in contact with Protestants, and especially while attending Methodist prayer meetings, that he became con- vinced of the need of a Saviour, and finally, after severe struggles with sin, and self, and Satan, emerged into the glorious liberty of the Gospel of Christ.
It was not long afterwards that he felt he was called to the ministry, and accordingly, after spending several years at school, he was received on trial in the Black River Conference in June, 1846, and appointed to the East Creek Circuit. The following year he was appointed to Lee Circuit. He was ordained deacon by the Rev. Bishop Janes, July 9, 1848.
The next two years were spent on Three Mill Bay Circuit, at the close of which he was ordained elder by Rev. Bishop Waugh, June 30, 1850, and appointed to Henvelton and De Peyster charge. In July, 1851, he was transferred to the New York Conference and stationed at the French Mis- sion, in New York City, which position he filled during 1852 and 1853 also.
In 1854 he was stationed at Harlem, and in 1855 transferred to the Black River Conference and assigned to the Chateaugay Mission. In January following he was sent to the Detroit French Mission, and in Sep- tember, 1856, he was transferred from the Michigan Conference to the Black River, which he regarded as his own Conference.
Partly to benefit his health, and in part for social and religious purposes, he thought to visit his native land in the interval that must elapse before the next session of the Black River Conference.
November 1, 1856, he left New York for Havre, in the steamer Lyonnaise, and on the following Sabbath night, at one o'clock, the vessel was wrecked, and he perished in the mighty deep.
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REV. PELATIAH WARD.
Rev. Pelatiah Ward was born in Dover, Dutchess County, New York. While studying law at Poughkeepsie, he attended the Cannon Street M. E. Church, and there, under the pungent and faithful appeals of Rev. J. B. Merwin, he was awakened to sce himself a lost sinner.
While pondering the question as to the path he should pursue, he went to hear Professor Mahan preach from the text: "How can ye believe who receive honor one of another ? "
That sermon decided his course. At its close he rose, went forward to the front of the pulpit, and falling down on his face, asked the prayers of the Church in his behalf. Soon after he found peace in Christ, and turned his attention to the Christian ministry.
In 1846 he joined the New York Conference, and served, in succes- sion, the following appointments: Dutchess, Lee, Salisbury, New Concord, Chatham, Harlem, Yonkers, Yorkville.
In the Spring of 1861, he was appointed to Ellenville, and entered upon his work with promise of great sucecss and usefulness. The people were just learning to love him as a pastor, when, suddenly, under the impulses of those strange and unnatural times, he appeared before them in another and a new relation. The government wanted soldiers, and under the influence of his stirring and almost resistless appeals, some one hundred and thirty men rallied to the standard within the short period of ten days. He thought to go with those who thus gathered about him as a ehaplain of the regiment in which they enlisted, and had the position offered for his acceptance. But they demanded him as their eaptain. He felt himself in honor bound to comply, and gave himself at once to the faithful discharge of the onerous duties of his new ealling. He went with them to the seat of war. He never even left them on a furlough to visit his much-beloved family. Hc marched with them, and shared their hardships; and when ealled to face the enemy, he fought at their head until the deadly missile laid him low, and he could do no more.
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In the last letter he ever wrote to those he loved most, he uttered a sentiment which indicates a patriotism unsurpassed in the history of the world :
"If I fall, my wife will have the satisfaction of knowing she has con- tributed a husband, and my children a father, for the salvation of the country."
REV. J. C. WASHBURN.
Rev. J. C. Washburn was Pastor of the Harlem M. E. Church during the years 1857-8.
He sustains at present a supernumerary relation in the New York Conference, and resides at Pleasantville, N. Y.
REV. BENJAMIN M. ADAMS.
The Rev. Benjamin M. Adams was born in Stamford, Conn., April 11, 1824. His father, Mr. Sands Adams, was a local preacher for forty years. The Rev. Mr. Adams was converted in the Winter of 1840-1. He was examined and licensed to preach in 1847, by the Rev. P. P. Sandford, D.D., and received into the New York Conference in 1848, the year it was divided, and remained, after the division, in the New York Conference.
He was stationed in Harlem (125th Street) during 1859-60.
At this writing he is a member of the New York East Conference, and stationed at Meriden, Conn.
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REV. J. B. WAKELEY, D.D.
Rev. J. B. Wakeley was a native of Danbury, Conn., born in 1809. He was converted at Sugar Loaf, Orange County, N. Y., and became a Church member when about sixteen years old.
In the Spring of 1833, at the age of twenty-four, Joseph B. Wakeley was admitted to the New York Conference on trial, and two years later to full connection, and for forty-two years, until released by death, continued in the work of the ministry.
After serving various charges in the New York, New Jersey and New York East Conferences, and again in the New York Conference, and as Presiding Elder of the Poughkeepsie and Newburgh Districts, in 1875, he was appointed to Cold Spring, at which place, at the time of his death, (which occurred at the house of a friend in the city of New York, April 27, 1875) he had officiated but one Sabbath.
As an ecclesiastieal antiquarian, Dr. Wakeley had no equal in the Church, and his writings were mainly devoted to historical and biographical memoirs of early Methodism. Brother Wakeley's last illness was brief, but very severe: his end peaceful and triumphant.
REV. JOHN E. COOKMAN, D.D.
Rev. John E. Cookman, D.D., was born in Carlisle, Pa. His very early childhood was spent in Baltimore and Washington. While still a young boy, his mother moved to Philadelphia, and here he was educated, gradua- ting with honor, and receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and subse- quently the degree of Master of Arts.
In 1876 he received the honorary degree of D.D. from the Illinois Wesleyan University.
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After his graduation, being in delicate health, through hard study, he spent four years in active business life.
In Philadelphia, while yet a schoolboy, he experienced religion and joined the Trinity M. E. Church, of which he was a member some years, and from which he received his license to exhort and to preach.
After this he went to Europe, and on his return, went to the Biblical Institute of Concord, N. H., and the school of Theology of the Boston University. On leaving the Biblical Institute, he took work under the Presiding Elder, and was stationed for eight months at the St. James' Church, New Brunswick, N. J. Immediately after this, he joined the New York Conference, his first appointment being Lenox, Mass.
His next charge was 125th Street, Harlem. This pastorate was among the most pleasant of all his ministry and blessed with the reviving influences of the Holy Spirit.
Speaking of the members of the Church, Dr. Cookman writes: "Never have I served a more appreciative or kinder people than I found in Harlem. Friendships were formed which were and are still the joy of earth, and shall be perpetuated in Heaven."
After two pleasant years in Harlem, he was appointed to the Washing- ton Street Church, Poughkeepsie.
His next charge was Bedford Street Church, New York City, and then Trinity Church, 34th Street, New York City. He was then transferred by Bishop Peck to the New England Conference, and stationed at Tremont Street, Boston.
At the end of three years he was transferred to the New York East Conference, and stationed at the Sixty-first Street M. E, Church.
Having served this Church the allotted period, he was, at the Confer- ence session of 1880, assigned the Pastorate of First Place Church, Brook- lyn, New York.
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REV. J. LE GRANGE MCKOWN, D.D.
Rev. J. Le Grange Mckown was born in Guilderland, Albany County, New York, August 13, 1824, and died at Roseville, N. J., May 2, 1879, aged fifty-four. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was reared in the Reformed Church, but at the age of fourteen united with the M. E. Church. When seventeen he became a student in the Troy Conference Academy at West Poultney, Vt. Subsequently he entered Middletown University, where he graduated in due course. In 1849 he united with the Oneida Conference. His first appointment was in the suburbs of Utica, N. Y. Here his health failed, and his friends advised rest and retirement from active work. But his ambition and love for souls urged him on, and he was appointed to Vernon Centre. Soon ill health compelled him to retire from the regular pastoral work, but not from active duty. For eight years he gave his energies to the education of youth. During this time he was Professor in Newark Wesleyan Seminary, President of Richmondville Union Seminary, of Cooperstown Seminary, and of Pittsburgh High School. His health improving, he was transferred to Ohio, and stationed at Union Chapel, Cincinnati. From Cincinnati he was transferred to New York Conference, and stationed at Trinity Church, New York City. He was afterwards stationed successively in Washington Street, Poughkeepsie; St. James' Church, Kingston; and Harlem, (125th Street) New York City.
By request of Bishop Janes he was transferred to Iowa, and stationed in the city of Dubuque. Here, his health failing, he was obliged to seek a less rigorous clime. By the call of his old friends in Cincinnati, he was returned to the Union Church in that city. His subsequent appointments were: President of Albion College, Michigan; Pastor of Third Street Church, Rockford, Illinois; Wabash Avenue and Ada Street Churches, Chicago. Here the health of his wife failed, and, partly on that account, he was transferred to Newark Conference, and stationed at Hedding Church, Jersey City. The last year of his active ministry was spent in Roseville, near Newark.
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It had been a cherished wish of Dr. Mckown to return to the New York Conference and there finish his ministry. Accordingly, he was trans- ferred to that Conference in April last, and appointed to Milton-on-the- Hudson. He was, however, too ill to attend the session of Conference; too ill to go to his appointment. His work was done. He lingered in the parsonage of his last charge until, early in the morning of May 2, he passed away. When prayer was offered for his recovery, he responded: "I am not going to die, I shall live. I have been a long time in the land of the dying, and I am now going to the land of the living. I shall not die. ' Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die.'"
REV. WILLIAM H. FERRIS, D.D.
Rev. William H. Ferris, D.D., is a native of Westchester County, New York.
His paternal ancestry were English Quakers, and were among the earliest settlers of Westchester County.
His mother was descended from the French Huguenots who fled from persecution in France, and settled in and about New Rochelle, N. Y.
When thirteen years of age, he experienced religion, and joined the M. E. Church, of which his parents were members.
In 1842 he was licensed to preach, and in 1843 he joined the New York Conference, of which he has remained a member to the present time. He has been a member of three successive General Conferences, (also of the General Conference of 1880) and has served two full terms in the Presiding Eldership, first in the Newburg District, afterward on the New York District.
Six of the M. E. Churches in New York City, and others along the Hudson River were organized by him.
He was also the principal originator of the present "City Church
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Extension and Missionary Society " of New York City. Union College bestowed upon him the honorary degree of D.D.
Dr. Ferris was Pastor of the Harlem M. E. Church from the latter part of the year 1867, to the session of the New York Conference in the Spring of 1868.
He is at present the Pastor of the Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, New York City.
REV. GEORGE H. COREY, D.D.
The Rev. George H. Corey was born at Athens, New York, May 18, 1839.
He was converted and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church at Hudson, N. Y., in April, 1856.
Ile very soon received from the Church an exhorter's and a local preacher's license, and in April, 1863, he joined the New York Conference.
At the session of the Conference in 1868, he was sent to Harlem, and it was during his pastorate there, that the subject of the crection of a new church was revived.
Having succeeded in removing prejudice, overcoming opposition, and surmounting obstacles, with the blessing of God and the co-operation of the officiary and members of the church, he was instrumental in the purchase of a site, and the erection of a church, which is at once a glory to Methodism, an ornament to the city, and has moulded the neighborhood in which it is located, besides inciting other denominations to efforts in church enterprise and church architecture. It is not affirming too much, when it is said that had it not been for the energy, the persistence and indomitable will of Mr. Corcy, the beautiful church edifice, chapel and parsonage of St. James' would not now exist.
In 1881, Syracuse University conferred upon Mr. Corey the honorary degree of D.D.
REV. HENRY B. RIDGAWAY, D.D.
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REV. HENRY B. RIDGAWAY, D.D.
Henry B. Ridgaway was born in Talbot County, Md., September 7, 1830, and removed to Baltimore City in 1839, where his youth was spent.
He went through the course of four years' instruction at the Baltimore High School, and from thence, entered the Junior class of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa. He was graduated from this institution in 1849.
After teaching one year, he was requested to supply a vacancy on Summerfield Circuit, adjacent to Baltimore, until the ensuing session of the Baltimore Conference, and, at this session, March, 1851, he was received as a probationer in the Conference, occupying several of the principal circuits and stations until the Spring of 1860, when he was transferred to the Maine Conference, and appointed to the charge of Chestnut Street Church, Portland, Me.
In 1862 he was transferred to the New York Conference and appointed to St. Paul's Church in New York.
In 1864 he was assigned to the Washington Square station in the same city.
In 1867 he was appointed to the church in the village of Sing Sing, and, at the end of one year, he was again returned to the St. Paul's charge in the city, where he spent a second term.
During the Summer of 1870, in company with his wife and Miss Janes, daughter of Bishop Janes, be made a tour in Europe, and was an eye witness of some of the most stirring scenes of the Franco-German war. In the Spring of 1871, he was put in charge of the new St. James' Church, (then approaching completion) at Harlem, New York.
Under his administration, the church edifice was dedicated May 14, 1871, and the society and congregation steadily increased. In the Winter of 1873, he carried out a long-cherished desire, and, as previously agreed upon with the official Board of his Church, left, accompanied by his wife and mother-in-law, Mrs Caldwell, to make a tour of Southern Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land.
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While at St. James', Mr. Ridgaway wrote the biography of the Rev. Alfred Cookman, which was published by Harper & Bros., and contributed regularly to the Methodist periodicals. On his return from abroad, in the Autumn of 1875, he assumed the charge of St. James' Church, Kingston, N. Y., to which he had been appointed during his absenee. Here he re- mained two years, during which period he served as a Delegate to the Gen- eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Baltimore, and also embodied the results of his observations in the Holy Land in a large illustrated volume, ealled the "Lord's Land," published by Nelson & Philips, of the Methodist Book Concern, (1876.)
During the present year, (1881) there has appeared from his pen the Life of Edmund Storer Janes, D.D., LL.D., late Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, published by Philips & Hunt, S05 Broadway, N. Y.
In the Autumn of 1876, he was transferred to the Cincinnati Conference and stationed at St. Paul's Church, in the city of Cincinnati.
At the expiration of a term of three years in this charge, he was removed to the Walnut Hills charge, in that city, where he now lives.
Mr. Ridgaway has received the honorary degrees of A.M. and D.D. from his alma mater, and has several times been approached to enter the educational work of the Church, but thus far he has strictly adhered to his original ealling as a pastor.
He looks baek to his term spent with the St. James' Church, New York, as one of the most satisfactory of his ministry. The society, on getting into its new and beautiful edifiee, entered at once upon a career of the utmost unity, activity and prosperity.
During the Fall of 1881, Dr. Ridgaway was nominated by the Trustees of the Garrett Biblical Institute, located at Evanston, Ill., for the Chair of Historieal Theology in that institution. The Bishops, at their meeting in November, confirmed the nomination, and Dr. Ridgaway will enter upon the duties of the professorship in the Autumn of 1882.
REV. BISHOP CYRUS D. FOSS, D.D., LL.D.
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REV. BISHOP CYRUS D. FOSS, D.D., LL.D.
The Rev. Cyrus D. Foss, D.D., LL.D., was born at Kingston, New York, on the 17th of January, 1834.
He prepared for college at Amenia Seminary, Amenia, N. Y., and entered Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., in 1850, from which institution he was graduated in 1854. During 1854-5, he was teacher of Mathematics in Amenia Seminary, and the subsequent year, (1856) principal.
In 1857 he joined the New York Conference and was stationed at Chester, N. Y.
In 1859 he was transferred to the New York East Conference, and stationed at Fleet Street, Brooklyn, N. Y .; 1861-2, Hanson Place, Brook- lyn; 1863-4, South Fifth Street, Brooklyn.
In 1865 he was transferred to the New York Conference, and stationed at St. Paul's Church, New York City; 1868-70, Trinity Church, New York City ; 1871-3, St. Paul's Church, New York City.
During the year 1867, he spent four months in travel in Europe.
In 1872 he was elected a Dclegate to the General Conference held in Brooklyn, N. Y ..
In 1874 he was appointed to the Pastorate of St. James' Church, corner of 126th Street and Madison Avenue, New York City.
In the midst of his pastoratc here, (1875) he was elected President of Wesleyan University, in which capacity he served until his election to the Bishopric, which took place at the session of the General Conference, held at Cincinnati, May, 1880.
REV. WESLEY R. DAVIS, M.A.
The Rev. Wesley R. Davis was born January 14, 1847, in the county of Carroll, Maryland.
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His father's name was Francis; his mother's Cecelia.
His parents died before he was five years old.
The Rev. Charles A. Reid was appointed his guardian, and was in every respect a father to the orphan child. He prepared for the ministry under Professor Henry M. Harman, (now of Dickinson College.)
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