USA > New York > A history of the purchase and settlement of western New York : and of the rise, progress and present state of the Presbyterian Church in that section > Part 10
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Mention has been made of Rev. David Harrowar. He was not, at this early period, a resident of what in this work is denominated Western New York, but lived in the near vicinity, in the county of Delaware. His ecclesiastical connexion was with the Northern Associated Presbytery in the State of New York. Living in the
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immediate vicinity, he often labored on this field, assisted in or- ganizing churches, in ordaining and installing ministers, and per- forming, to a greater or less degree, the various duties of a Christian evangelist. To some extent he was employed as a missionary on this part of the field ; first under a commission from the Columbia and Berkshire Missionary Society, and afterwards in the employ of the Connecticut Missionary Society. It is believed that his labors were useful in this part of the vineyard. For about twenty years past he has resided in the county of Steuben, and preached to different congregations in Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Rev. William Stone is also mentioned in connexion with the history of the churches in this region, as preaching in different places. He is said to have preached at times at Windsor, during the period which intervened between 1791 and 1795. The writer does not know that he ever resided on this territory, but be- lieves that his residence was in the county of Otsego adjoining. Mr. Stone was a native of Guilford, in the State of Connecticut. During the war of the Revolution he served as a soldier in the army. Subsequently he entered as a student in Yale College, and graduated in 1786. He was licensed to preach by the Association of New Haven, and subsequently ordained to the ministerial office. At a pretty early period he came out into Central New York : the writer believes that he resided in the county of Otsego. At a later period he removed to Sodus in the county of Wayne, where he died a number of years since, at an advanced age. He has preached in different places ; but, as the writer believes, was never regularly installed as the pastor of any church. The name of Rev. Joel T. Benedict occurs as an early occasional laborer on this part of the moral vineyard. His residence was in the town of Franklin, county of Delaware, where for a number of years he had a pastoral charge, and was eminently successful in his ministry. He was indefatigable in his labor, and frequently preached and performed other minis- terial duties in the Chenango country. At two different periods, at least, he officiated as a missionary on this field, under a commission from the Connecticut Missionary Society. On one of these occa- sions he organized the church of Norwich, consisting of twenty members. This event occurred in the month of June, 1814. Mr. Benedict was the son of a clergyman, and in early life studied the law, and for a period was a practitioner in that profession in the State of Connecticut. But when his heart became imbued with the grace of God, he relinquished the profession of the law, and directed his attention to the ministerial office, and after some time of preparation was licensed to preach, and subsequently ordained to the work of the Christian ministry. His first settlement as a stated pastor, it is believed, was at Franklin; afterwards at Chat- ham, Columbia county. Death removed him from the labors of this life a number of years since. Rev. Seth Sage was one of the
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early ministers of this region. He came into the town of Windsor and located himself on a farm in 1800. He supplied the congre- gation of Windsor, and preached frequently in the region on the Susquehannah river, and in Randolph, from 1800 to 1807. Respect- ing his history the writer is not informed of any other particulars.
The ministers of whom mention has been made as located in the Chenango country and its vicinity, were at that period of the Con- gregational denomination, strictly Calvinistic in their doctrines, and highly evangelical in their preaching. The churches which they formed, and over which they presided, were of similar views, and tenacious of what they denominated their Congregational privi- leges. The inhabitants of the country were generally emigrants from the New England States. The professors of religion among them had been members of Congregational churches in New Eng- land. They would naturally, in organizing churches in the wilder- ness to which they had emigrated, wish to be formed on the model to which they had been accustomed. In this respect the ministers and churches were entirely harmonious. For a considerable period no Presbyterian church, strictly so called, existed in the Chenango country, and no minister of that denomination had located himself on the territory. The writer knows of no exception to this remark, unless it should be thought that the Reformed Dutch churches at Chenango Point and Union, with their ministers, constitute an ex- ception. As the churches and ministers were harmonious in their views of gospel doctrine and order, it was judged expedient for their mutual edification, and to enable them more effectually to promote the interests of the Redeemer's kingdom, to organize an association to be composed of ministers, and lay-delegates of the churches, which should meet statedly, and constitute a bond of union between the ministers and churches, and be a standing ecclesias- tical council for advice and assistance to the ministers and churches in their various difficulties. Accordingly an association was formed, which took the name of "The Susquehannah Association." This association embraced the ministers and churches in the Chenango region, together with some who were located further east, and some in Pennsylvania. The author has not been able to ascertain with any certainty, the date of the organization of this Association, nor what ministers and churches were connected with it. The author of the Annals of Binghampton says that Dr. Williston was installed pastor of the church of Lisle, in October, 1803, and that at the time of his installation, the council organized what was then called "The Susquehannah Association, taking in some of the Northern Counties of Pennsylvania." Dr. Williston says, that the organization of the Association must have been about the beginning of the present century. The ministers recollected by him who were members at the organization, besides himself, were, -Rev. Joel Chapin, Rev. David Harrowar, Rev. Seth Sage, and Rev. William
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Stone. The churches where the ministers resided, and some others, were associated in this ecclesiastical organization. Rev. Hiram W. Gilbert of Windsor, in a letter to the author, says,- " I will here volunteer one remark in regard to the earliest ecclesiastical body, of which I have any information : there appears to have been an organization for the accommodation of churches in the county of Chenango and its vicinity, as early as 1801. According to records found in an old church-book, the first meeting of this asso- ciation, that afterwards received the name of ' The Susquehannah Association,' was held at the house of Rev. Joel Chapin, in Jericho. Ministers present : Rev. Joel Chapin, Jericho ; Rev. David Har- rowar, Walton ; Rev. Seth Williston, Lisle ; Rev. Hugh Wallis, Solon. With these, there were also ten delegates. They had to travel no inconsiderable distance through a new and rough country, to attend their ecclesiastical meetings." A letter dated February 25th, 1802, which the author received from his father, who was at that time pastor of the Congregational church of Greenville, county of Greene, speaks of a ministerial conference which had been held at Franklin, county of Delaware, a few days previous to the date of the letter. The writer says,-" There were present, Messrs. Stone, Fenn, Harrowar, Buck, Williston, Chapin, and myself. The meet- ing was carried on very agreeably, but an association was not formed, as there were but two ministers proposing to join, who were settled men-Mr. Harrowar and Mr. Chapin. They agreed to keep up a conference of ministers and churches, and for that purpose examined the Confessions of Faith and Covenants of a number of churches, to see if they could agree to walk in fellow- ship with each other, and appointed another meeting at Oquago next October." The convention spoken of in the foregoing extract, was held with a reference to the organization of the Susquehannah As- sociation. Of the ministers present in the convention, Mr. Hotch- kin of Greenville, and Mr. Fenn of Harpersfield, were entirely with- out the proper bounds for the Association, and entertained no idea of uniting with it. They were members of the Northern Associated Presbytery. The others, all of them, it is believed, eventually be- came members of the Association. Comparing these several state- ments with each other, it is probable that the Association was organized in the latter part of the year 1802, or in 1803 ; that the ministers mentioned by Dr. Williston were those who composed it at the time of organization, to whom others were afterwards added ; and that the meeting mentioned by Mr. Gilbert as the first meeting, was not the meeting at which the organization took place, but probably the first meeting subsequent to the organization.
This was the first organization of the kind in this region of coun- try, and no doubt its influence was salutary in promoting unity among the ministers and churches of which it was composed. It continued to operate a number of years. Dr. Williston says it was
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in existence in 1809, when he left the country. In the month of July, 1811, the author of this work attended a meeting of delegates from different congregational bodies in the State of New York, with a view to the formation of a General Association for the State. This meeting was convened at Clinton, town of Paris, in the county of Oneida. There were present commissioners from the following organized bodies, viz .- The Northern Associated Presbytery, the Oneida Association, the Black River Association, the Ontario Asso- ciation, the Union Association, the Luzerne Association, and another organization (the name is not remembered) existing in the county of Saratoga and its vicinity. At this meeting it was announced, that the Susquehannah Association had become extinct, and that the churches and ministers that had composed it generally had con- nected themselves either with the Union Association or the Luzerne Association. It has been stated to the writer, that a principal rea- son for suffering this Association to expire, was a peculiarity in the Constitution, requiring as a quorum for the transaction of business, that there should be present a majority of all the ministers belonging to the body-together with lay-delegates from a majority of all the churches in connexion with it. In consequence of this requisition, it is said, that there was frequently at the appointed meetings a failure of a quorum, and that in this way the Association at length became extinct.
Northward of the Massachusetts ten townships, the settlements generally were of a somewhat later date, and of course the organi- zation of churches. The settlement of the town of Sherburne, as has already been stated, commenced in the spring of 1793. The pioneer settlers of this town were pious characters, and members of the congregational church. The second Sabbath after their arrival public worship was set up, which has been regularly continued ever since. In July, 1794, a church was organized consisting of seventeen members. They were, however, destitute of the stated preaching of the gospel for a number of years, and in 1802 the church was divided and a second church formed. The cause of this division of the church was a disagreement respecting the loca- tion for a house of worship. The second church soon after its or- ganization erected a house of worship, and settled Rev. Joshua Knight as their pastor, who continued in that station till 1823. The first church, in 1806, settled Rev. Roger Adams as their pastor. His continuance with them was for about three years.
The settlement of the town of Oxford commenced in 1791. . In 1794, an Academy was incorporated in that town by the Regents of the University : a building was erected, and the Academy actually went into operation the same year. In the Academy building, the gospel was preached by the Rev. Uri Tracy, the principal of the Academy, and by travelling missionaries who occasionally visited the place. Soon after Rev. John Camp was employed to preach
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alternately at this place, and at Norwich, and continued his minis- try in this manner for seven or eight years. He is said to have been a missionary, but no such name is to be found on the list of the missionaries of any Society which at that period sent its mis- sionaries to Western New York. It was not uncommon at that period to speak of every travelling minister as a missionary. In 1799, a church was organized by the name and style of " The First Congregational Church of Oxford." The church must have been small at its organization, as at the time of the settlement of its first pastor, Rev. Eli Hyde, in June, 1808, it consisted of about twenty members only. The settlement of Cazenovia, as has been related, was commenced by Col. John Lincklaen in 1793, and progressed with rapidity. During several years no stated preaching was en- joyed. Missionaries and itinerant preachers afforded a partial sup- ply. But in the year 1799, Rev. Joshua Leonard from Ellington (Conn.) removed into the place, and was employed to preach to the inhabitants. Soon after his arrival he sought out and collected to- gether the few professors of religion in the vicinity with a view to their being organized into a church. The organization of the church took place on the seventeenth day of May, 1799, and on the sixth day of June of the same year Mr. Leonard was installed as their pastor. The church at its organization was composed of nine members including Mr. Leonard, who united as a member, in ac- cordance with the practice then prevalent in some parts of the New England States. These churches were all organized Congrega- tional churches. They were, as far as is known to the writer, the earliest church organizations in this part of the country.
As it respects the territory south of the Military Tract, the set- tlement of the town of Candor commenced in 1795 by emigrants from the town of Berlin (Conn.). Public worship was commenced before 1800, and with short intervals only has been continued ever since. A church was organized by Rev. Seth Williston and Rev. Jeremiah Osborne, June 29th, 1808. It consisted of nine members. Their first pastor was Rev. Daniel Loring, who was settled in 1810, and dismissed in 1816.
It has been stated that Rev. Daniel Thatcher, in 1795, organized a Presbyterian church at Newtown (Elmira). After the organiza- tion of the church, a physician, Doctor Amos Parkes, under a license to preach from the Morris County Associated Presbytery, was employed to preach for a season. He did not, however, con- tinue in this employment long, but renounced his Christian profes- sion, and became an apostle of infidelity, and a ringleader in wickedness. At a subsequent period, he manifested deep repent- ance for his apostasy, returned to the church, and conducted like a consistent Christian. After Dr. Parkes, a Mr. Brown, from Massachusetts, was employed to preach for a season. Whether Mr. Brown was an ordained minister, or a licentiate preacher, is
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not known to the writer. He embraced the sentiments of the Unitarians. After Mr. Brown, Rev. John Smith, from Dighton (Mass.), preached in the village for a season. For what length of time these individuals respectively preached, cannot now be ascer- tained ; nor with respect to the two last, at what period they offi- ciated. Their ministrations, however, were concluded previous to the commencement of the year 1805.
To what extent the revival of 1799 and 1800 affected the Che- nango country, and the county of Tioga, the writer has not the means of determining. The revival was felt in this region, but it is supposed that it was by no means as great as in the region fur- ther west, or in that which lay to the east. The counties of Dela- ware and Otsego were powerfully affected by it. So also was the county of Oneida, which lay to the north. It was a general shak- ing of the valley of dry bones. God manifested himself in his glory in building up Zion. The tide of infidelity which was setting in with so strong a current, was rolled back, and Western New York was delivered from the moral desolation which threatened it. The general prosperity, the religious order, the benevolent and literary institutions, which constitute the glory and happiness of this section of country, it cannot be doubted, are, in no incon- siderable degree, attributable to the change produced in the cur- rent of public sentiment, as the consequence of this extended revival of religion. The year 1798 is an era which should long be remembered in Western New York, as giving a character to this part of the State, which laid a foundation for its large prosper- ity, and improvement in all things useful.
But though infidelity had received a check, it is not by any means to be supposed that it had become extinct. The power of God had been manifested in the conversion of some souls. The reality of religion, and its holy nature, had been exhibited, and the glory of the gospel had been set before the eyes of mankind, in the exhibi- tions of its transforming power on the hearts and lives of those who embraced it ; but many hated the light, and refused to come unto the light, because their deeds were evil. The spirit of infidelity lived in many hearts, and the open profession of it was not unfre- quent, even on the part of many who were persons of high standing in civil life. Opposition to the gospel was manifested in every variety of form. The truths of the gospel were assailed, the insti- tutions of the gospel were opposed, and the ministers of the gospel in their labor were counteracted in many ways. At the settle- ment of Dr. Williston as pastor of the church of Lisle, this spirit of opposition to the gospel was exhibited in a most glaring manner. A number who had called themselves Members of the Religious Society, opposed his settlement as their minister, purely, as is be- lieved, on the ground of their opposition to the humbling truths of the gospel exhibited by him in his preaching. To such an extent
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was this opposition carried by them, that after the settlement of Dr. Williston, a number of them withdrew from his ministry, and employed Mr. John Camp to officiate as their minister. This Mr. Camp had once been an authorized minister of the Gospel, but at this period had been deposed from the ministry, and excommuni- cated from the church on the ground of habitual drunkenness. He was an educated man, a graduate of Yale College, having received his first degree in 1777. He entered the ministry, and was settled as pastor of the Congregational church in New Canaan, county of Columbia, over which he retained his pastoral supervision till about the commencement of the present century. He is represented as having been a speaker of ready utterance, and popular in his man- ner of preaching. He was very acceptable to a large portion of his hearers. He made himself very familiar with all sorts of his parishioners, and was no doubt bland in his conversation. But the pious of the flock were not fed. They complained that they were put off with bare generalities, and that nothing calculated to alarm the conscience of the sinner was exhibited, and that on funeral occasions the most fulsome flattery was employed in depicting the character of the deceased. Previous to Mr. Camp's dismission from his pastoral charge at New Canaan, it was known to some of his parishioners, that he had contracted 'habits of intemperance in the use of intoxicating liquors, and that he was sometimes seen to
be disguised with drink. It was not, however, a matter of public notoriety, and he was dismissed from the people of his charge as a minister in good standing. In 1802, he removed to the Chenango country, and located himself near where now is the village of Binghampton. His intemperate habits increased upon him, and in a short time he became a notorious drunkard. Being removed to such a distance from the ecclesiastical body, the Northern Asso- ciated Presbytery, which had jurisdiction over him, it was compa- ratively late before an investigation of his character was held. This, however, at last took place, and on the strongest evidence of guilt, he was deposed from the ministry, and excommunicated from the church of Christ. This event, the writer believes, took place in the early part of 1806. Notwithstanding his intemperate habits, and his deposition from the ministerial office, he continued to preach when any would employ him ; and it is believed that he obtained a considerable employment in this way for a number of years after his ministerial standing and habits of inebriation were generally known. It was subsequent to his deposition that he was employed in Lisle in opposition to Dr. Williston. In concluding this article, the writer is happy in being able to say, that Mr. Camp, near the close of his life, manifested a deep sense, not only of the degrada- tion and wretchedness, as it respects this world, which he had brought upon himself, but also of his exceeding sinfulness in the sight of God. Pious people deemed the evidence of his penitence
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satisfactory. Mr. Camp expressed a strong desire to be restored to a standing in the visible church of Christ, and to be permitted again to commemorate the Saviour's dying love. On his humble confession of his sin, connected with a favorable representation of his case from Rev. Benjamin Niles, pastor of the church of Bing- hampton, the Presbytery removed from him the sentence of excom- munication, and restored him to the fellowship of the church ; but before the information of this act could reach the ear of Mr. Camp, he was called from this world to have his case adjudicated before a higher tribunal, where, we trust, that through the mercy of God, and the merits of a Saviour's blood, he was accepted as a penitent believer, and is now rejoicing before the throne of God.
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CHAPTER VII.
State of the Country in 1800. Territory West of Genesee River. Joseph Ellicott : effect of his influence. Scotch Settlement at Caledonia. Organization of a Church. Rev. Alexander Denoon. Division of the Presbytery of Albany. Organization of the Synod of Albany Presbytery of Geneva constituted. Rev. David Higgins and Rev. Hezekiah N. Woodruff became Members of the Presbytery. Are to have pious and orthodox Ministers. Strictness in examining Members for the Church. Proposal of a union of the Middle Association with the Synod of Albany : plan of Union proposed by Synod : approved by the General Assembly. Union consum- mated. Presbytery of Geneva and Middle Association constituted three Presbyteries, Geneva, Cayuga, and Onondaga. Synod of Geneva constituted. Plan of union considered as establishing a general principle. Adopted as such in other parts of the Presbyterian Church. Difference between Churches received on the accommo- dating plan, and strictly Presbyterian Churches.
IN the preceding chapter we have brought down the history of Western New York to the commencement of the present century, or a little later. In the year 1800, the number of inhabitants, ex- clusive of Indians, was near sixty-three thousand. The number of churches of the Presbyterian and Congregational denominations was small, and the number of ministers still less. The missionary aid received was very inadequate to the supply of the wants of the scattered and destitute population. But though the inhabitants were dispersed over an extensive territory, and in many instances few in a place, still it was a fact that very large portions of con- tiguous territory were an entire wilderness, utterly destitute of in- habitants. The Holland Purchase was yet a waste. But few families were settled west of the Genesee river. The large county of Steuben contained less than two thousand inhabitants, and much of the Military Tract was a complete forest, or but sparsely settled. But from this period the settlement of the country progressed with accelerated rapidity. The Indian title to the whole country had become extinct, with the exception of comparatively small reserva- tions. The vast tract purchased by the Holland Land Company had been surveyed, or was in the course of being surveyed, into townships and lots convenient for settlement, and inhabitants were rapidly moving in on the Holland Purchase and in other parts. In the year 1810, the number of inhabitants had increased to nearly .two hundred and twenty thousand. As new settlements were formed, and the number of inhabitants increased, new churches were formed, missionary operations were enlarged, and a greater number of ministers located themselves in the country, and became settled pastors. Encouragement was given by some of the large
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