USA > New York > Westchester County > Rye > Chronicle of a border town : history of Rye, Westchester county, New York, 1660-1870, including Harrison and the White Plains till 1788 > Part 36
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The effort to resuscitate the congregation was doubtless due, in a great measure, to the influence of the Rev. Dr. Lewis, of Green- wich. This excellent man had lately become the pastor of the Second Congregational Church in that place, and there were reasons why he should feel a special interest in the cause of relig- ion here. He had known the venerable Dr. Smith, the pastor of Rye and White Plains before the Revolution. His cousin, the Rev. Ichabod Lewis, had been associated with Dr. Smith as col- league for some time. And since the loss of their church the re- maining Presbyterians of Rye had frequented publie worship at Greenwich, several of them, indeed, connecting themselves with the church under Dr. Lewis's ministry. Nathan Brown, Eze- kiel Halsted, Robert Merritt, Isaac Loofborrow, and others who resided in Rye, were members of the church at 'Horseneck,' about the year 1790. Thus the relation which had existed for more than a hundred years between these neighboring congrega- tions continued, and Rye was still indebted, as in the old colonial days, to the fostering care of Greenwich.
The first step toward rebuilding the church was taken in 1792. On the twenty-second of November in that year, Jesse Park and Phobe, his wife, of the town of Harrison, conveyed to Joseph
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
Theale, Ezekiel Halsted, junior, and John Merritt, of Rye, as trustees for the Presbyterian Society, a tract of land comprising half an acre. The church was built in the following spring. A considerable part of the money raised for this purpose had been subscribed by the people of Greenwich. It was dedicated to the worship of God, in the course of the year 1793, by the Rev. Isaac Lewis, D. D., who preached here for some months every Sunday, after service in his own church. His son, the Rev. Isaac Lewis, junior, subsequently pastor at New Rochelle, succeeded him for a short time in this duty. But after this, the congregation remained for a long period without a stated ministry. Occasional services were held by ministers visiting the place, and sometimes the build- ing was occupied, on special occasions, by persons of other relig- ious persuasions. For about twenty years, from 1793 to 1812, the congregation had no settled pastor.
It had been incorporated on the fifth of June, 1795, under the name of ' The Presbyterian Church of Rye.' The trustees were Robert Merritt, Ezekiel Halsted, junior, Nathan Brown, John Donghty, James Hunt, and David Rogers. These were among the leading names in the little congregation, as it existed about the beginning of the present century.
NATHAN BROWN was a son of Thomas Brown. He lived to an advanced age, and in his later years was an active member of the Methodist Church.
EZEKIEL HALSTED, junior,1 came of a Presbyterian family, his grandfather's name occurring in 1753, at the head of a list of the trustees of Dr. Smith's congregation. He joined the church of Greenwich, July 26th, 1789. His first wife, a daughter of Andrew Lyon, of Rye, was also a member of that church.
ROBERT MERRITT united with the same church at the same time with Mr. Halsted. He lived near Port Chester, in the house lately owned by Isaae Carpenter. Some of our older inhabitants remember him well, and speak of him as a man of sincere and con- sistent piety. He lived till the age of seventy years, and was regular in attending the church at Greenwich with his family, when there was no service at Rye.
Dr. DAVID ROGERS had come to this place from Greenfield, Connecticut, where he was a member of Dr. Dwight's church. His wife was a daughter of the celebrated Presbyterian minister,
1 This gentleman was the father of the late Ezekiel Halsted junior, who was born in 1787, and was the fourth person in successive generations so named.
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NUMBERS GREATLY REDUCED.
William Tennent, and is said to have been a woman of remarkable excellence.
JOHN DOUGHTY was the well known innkeeper, of whom we have already made mention. He kept the tavern recently known as Van Sieklin's.
ISAAC LOOFBORROW lived near ' Saw-pit' or Port Chester. He left Rve after some years, and removed to the west.
Mrs. PHOBE PARK, the wife of Jesse Park, was a Presbyte- rian, and it was probably owing to her interest in the enterprise that the land for a building site was given. She had been a mem- ber of Dr. Smith's congregation before the war, and her recollec- tions of him were vivid and pleasant.
The old church, built in 1793, was a very plain and unpretend- ing structure. Mr. James Purdy, of Milton, now in his eighty- fourth year, remembers seeing it 'raised.' It was a frame build- ing, much smaller than the present church, and stood partly on the same spot, but fronting somewhat nearer to the road. It had neither belfry nor spire. There were two doors on the front. The interior of the building remained unfinished for many years. The walls were not plastered; and instead of pews, there were planks, the ends of which rested upon logs, for seats. In the hard times that followed the Revolution, this was all that the peo- ple felt able to do, toward the completion of their sanctuary ; and in this condition it remained for eighteen or twenty years.
In the autumn of 1811, Dr. Dwight, passing through this town, noticed the two ' small churches ' of Rye, -' an Episcopal and a Presbyterian.' 'An Episcopal Minister,' he observes, 'has occa- sionally been established here, but there has been no Presbyterian Minister within my remembrance.' 1
Soon after Dr. Dwight's visit, the Methodists of Rve obtained possession of the church and occupied it for a period of sixteen years, from 1812 to 1828. This circumstance is explained partly by the fact that the congregation was now greatly reduced in numbers. 'Owing to the death or removal from the place of some of the most prominent individuals, and the apathy of the rest, the society became in a manner extinct.' This was due, however, quite as much to a change in the religious views of some of the surviving members. Mr. Halsted and Mr. Brown had both united a short time before with the Methodist denomination, of which
1 Travels in New England and New York, by Timothy Dwight, S. T. D., LL. D. In four volumes. New Haven, 1822 : vol. iii. p. 489.
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
they became active and earnest members ; and at their invitation, the ministers of that church, who had already preached occasion- ally at Rye, commenced to hold stated services in the Presbyterian house of worship.
It was by the efforts of Mr. Ebenezer Clark, a merchant of New York, who came to Rye in 1821, that the building was re- covered to its original use. Ascertaining that a congregation of his own religious faith had formerly existed here, and that the edifice now standing had been built for them, he claimed it in behalf of the Presbyterians of the place. This claim was not admitted without some discussion. The Methodist congregation had now worshipped here for many years. They conceived that so long a possession gave them a right to the property, the original title to which was perhaps by that time somewhat obscure. Mr. Clark, however, was able to show clearly that the land had been given for a Presbyterian church, that a society of that denomina- tion had been incorporated under the law of the State, and that the building had been appropriated from the first to their use.
A service was held by the Presbyterian congregation on the seventh of December, 1828, in the district school-house of Rye, preparatory to the resumption of public worship in the church. The Rev. George Stebbins, of New Rochelle, preached on this occasion. Soon after the occupation of the building, the Rev. Noah C. Saxton began his ministry here as ' stated supply,' and continued until May, 1829. Meanwhile, on the fourth of March, the formal organization of a church took place by order of the Presbytery of New York. A committee of the Presbytery, con- sisting of the Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D. D., and the Rev. Henry G. Ludlow, performed this duty. A church was organized, with ten members, and Messrs. Ebenezer Clark and William Lester were chosen and ordained as ruling elders. The
REV. WILLIAMS H. WHITTEMORE 1
was the first minister of the little congregation after the organiza- tion of the church. Mr. Whittemore had completed his academic
1 Graduated at Yale College in 1825, and at the Theological School connected with that institution in 1829 : licensed to preach the Gospel, and ordained in 1830 by the Fairfield West Association. After laboring for three years at Rye, Mr. Whittemore preached for three years - 1833 to 1836 - at Charlton, Worcester County, Mass., and was for fourteen years - from 1836 to 1850- pastor of the Congregational Church at Southbury, Conn. Since then he has resided principally in New Haven and in Brooklyn, engaged, at different times, in ministerial work, advocating the claims of the Freedmen's cause, etc. He married Maria, daughter of Ebenezer Clark, Esq., of Rye.
349
REV. DAVID REMINGTON.
and theological studies at New Haven just before coming to Rye. His ministry of three years in this place, from May 1829 to April 1832, was very successful. A service had been commenced by Mr. Saxton in the district school-house at 'Saw-pit,' now Port Chester. It was maintained every Sabbath forenoon, the service at Rye being in the afternoon. Sunday-schools also were established in each place. In the summer of 1829, the church at Rye, now somewhat dilapidated, was thoroughly repaired, chiefly at Mr. Clark's expense ; and in May, 1830, the congregation commenced building a church at Saw Pit. The fruit of these early efforts ap- peared in a revival of religion, which resulted in numerous conver- sions. In the month of October, 1829, the Presbytery of Bedford was formed by the Synod of New York, and the ecclesiastical re- lation of this church was transferred from the Presbytery of New York to the new Presbytery.
Mr. Whittemore was succeeded by the
REV. DAVID REMINGTON,1
who officiated from April, 1832, until the time of his death, Jan- uary 24th, 1834. Mr. Remington had devoted himself early to missionary work among the Choctaw Indians, but his health fail- ing, he returned to the north, and had been preaching for several years at Upper Greenburg, in this county, when he was called to Rye. During his short stay here he endeared himself greatly to the little flock, among whom he labored with unsparing zeal. Modest and retiring to a remarkable degree, he was a man of no ordinary power, by the fervor of his piety and the strength of his convictions of truth. His death was most sudden, and was felt by his people, and indeed by the whole community, as an appalling visitation.
The Rev. Samuel Irenaus Prime, D. D., has favored me with the following notice of this good man, whom he knew at the time of his ministry in Rye : -
' My recollections of the Rev. Mr. Remington are fragrant and pre- cious. When I was entering the holy ministry, he was in middle life,
1 Was born in Springfield, Mass., November 7, 1797 ; married, August 24, 1821, Esther Rutgers, daughter of John Lowe, New York ; was appointed by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in October, 1821, as assistant mis- sionary to the Choctaw Nation, at Mayhew, Miss. ; returned to the north in 1823, and pursued a course of study in theology at Buffalo ; was ordained by the Presbytery of Buffalo in 1825 ; was appointed by the Domestic Missionary Society, July, 1825, to labor in Upper Greenburg, Westchester County, New York; became pastor of the united churches of Upper and Lower Greenburg, and from thence was called to Rye.
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
and full of useful labor. The pallor of his countenance - the result, I now believe, of that disease of which he suddenly died - impressed me when I first saw him with the thought that he was a sad and dying man. The atmosphere seemed solemn when he was present. Though his speech was affable, his face was that of a man who could not smile. This led me to do him injustice in my heart. Those who knew him better knew him to be genial, loving, and pleasant.
' Ile was a man of God ; a man of prayer, of faith ; and, as I thought, full of the Spirit. I wish the Church had hundreds of such blessed men as he.'
The Rev. THOMAS PAYNE commenced his labors at Rye a few months after Mr. Remington's death. He remained for two years, - from 1834 to 1836. The Rev. JOHN H. HUNTER next officiated for a few months. Until now, the ministers who preached here did so in the capacity of 'stated supplies,' the congregation hav- ing not yet secured, or not feeling as yet able to support a settled pastor. But in October, 1836, the Rev. JAMES R. DAVENPORT was ordained and installed as pastor of this church by the Presby- tery of Bedford. The relation, however, subsisted but a short time. In April, 1838, Mr. Davenport resigned his charge, and not long after entered another religious denomination. His suc- cessor was the
REV. EDWARD D. BRYAN,
a graduate of Princeton College and Seminary, who came here as stated supply, but at the invitation of the people consented to re- main with them as pastor. Mr. Bryan was ordained and installed in the sacred office on the ninth of October, 1838. His ministry in Rye lasted until the thirty-first of October, 1860, - a period of twenty-two years.
At the commencement of this pastorate, the congregation was still a small and feeble one. The whole number of communicants was but twenty-two. There had been as yet no considerable in- crease in the population of the place. Rye was the same quiet and obscure village as for generations past. In 1836 it contained but thirty houses, with less than two hundred inhabitants. The church thus far had been sustained by strenuous exertions on the part of a very few persons, and by aid from the American Home Missionary Society. But during the term of years covered by Mr. Bryan's ministry, a great change came over the face both of the community and of the congregation. In the direction of Port Chester especially, the town increased largely in population and
351
MR. EBENEZER CLARK.
activity. And the little churchi, once oppressed withi debt, and relying almost solely upon the liberality of one noble Christian man, became not only self-supporting, but able to take part in the promotion of religion elsewhere.
On the fourteenth of September, 1847, this church lost its ven- erable elder and benefactor, Mr. EBENEZER CLARK. He died at the age of seventy-eight years. The following notices of this excellent man have been kindly furnished for this work by the Rev. Richard W. Diekinson, D. D., who knew him well and long : -
' Mr. Clark retired from business to the still life of a country village, at a time when his pecuniary prospects were highly flattering. This was owing as much to those views of life in which he had schooled himself as to his desire of being relieved from constant application to a busi- ness which had already begun to wear upon a constitution naturally by no means strong. Nor did he ever regret his removal from the city to the country. or feel the loss of his original employment. He retired not to try the country, but to live in it ; not to fit up a great place and then to leave it, if it could be sold at a fair advance ; much less to lead a life of self-indulgence ; but rather to answer the true ends of life - to secure to himself a home where the interests of his family might be promoted, his own health restored, and the residue of his days be passed in usefulness and peace. Aware of the danger of retiring from busi- ness without resources, he had his daily routine of out-door interests - consecrating each day to its Giver. Aware, too, of the greater danger to personal piety, arising from the neglect of church privi- leges, neither distance nor the state of the weather, nor inconvenience, nor slight indisposition, much less worldly company, could hinder him from availing himself of some religious service on the Lord's day ; and as, on removing to Rye, he found the Sabbath generally neglected, and but few, comparatively, who took an interest in religious matters, he felt that it behooved him to be only the more circumspect and active in all matters pertaining to the moral and religious interests of the com- munity.
ยท To confer the greatest good on all is to bring all within the reach of Sabbath and sanctuary privileges ; and hence it was his primary aim to secure the regular ministrations of the Gospel both at Port Chester and at Rye. Having aided the church at the former place for some years, he at last fitted it up at an expense of not less than twenty-five hundred dollars, so that it became comparatively attractive, and the number of attendants increased ; but the old church at Rye still remained, ren- dered more primitive in its aspect by contrast with the other, and the less inviting as it stood opposite the new and spacious mansion which Mr. Clark ultimately built for his own abode.
352 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
' In 1841, Mr. Clark took five thousand dollars out of his capital to build the church - leaving a balance of a thousand to be raised, if possible, from the congregation. Trifling sums, it may be thought, in comparison with the sums not unfrequently contributed at the present day to Christian enterprises ; but at a time when few gave anything and the many had very little to give, they serve to reveal the spirit that animated the donor.
' But while he felt the incongruity of living in " a ceiled house " and suffering the Lord's house to lie waste, he felt also that the " laborer is worthy of his hire," and never omitted to pay even a supply ; while from the first he paid one half of the minister's annual salary.
' Particular in all matters about his premises, he was also exact to the fraction in business. He trenched on no one's rights, and allowed no one to trench on his; never went to law but when clearly in the right, nor declined to accommodate, even at times to his own inconven- ience. IIe was not to be swayed from his convictions of truth and duty, was outspoken in his sentiments, had no patience with idle- ness and vice, much less with dishonesty; and yet was he kind toward the erring, and ever forward to provide for the deserving poor. There was an honest candor about him, verging on bluntness, at times amus- ing as it was timely, as when he replied to a minister who expressed himself discouraged in view of the results of his labors: "I should think you would be ; the place does not suit you, and you must see by this time that you are not suited to the place." Again, " Are you sure the cars will not be seen on the Sabbath ?" said he to some one in charge of the subscription books of the recently incorporated New York & New Haven Railroad Company. "I cannot say," was the re- ply. " Will the company pledge itself not to desecrate the Lord's day ?" " I do not know." " Then I will not subscribe for the stock."'
'Such was Ebenezer Clark, - a true man, with strong points of character, and kindly sentiments ; while providing well for his own household, never forgetting the things which are Christ's; retaining to the last the integrity of his faith and the purity of his principles.'
Mr. Bryan was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. Charles W. Baird, installed May 9th, 1861.
In 1869, the congregation bought land adjoining the church lot, with a view to the erection of a new church, Sunday-school build- ing, and manse. Upon this tract, which comprises three acres, the Sunday-school building has been erected at the sole expense of William Mathews, Esq. The church is now in process of erection.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF RYE. - The corner-stone of the new building was laid with appropriate services on Tuesday, November 29th, 1870. The architect is Mr. R. M. Upjohn. This church is built of the stone of the country, with dressings of red and yellow stone. In plan, it has a nave, north and south aisles, and a transept.
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THE NEW CHURCHI.
The finish of the interior, for furniture, is of black walnut. The style of the architec- ture adopted for the building is thirteenth century Gothic. Connected with the church, and arranged for convenience of both buildings, and also for external archi- tectural effect, Mr. William Mathews has erected a memorial chapel to his infant daughter, Bessie, which he gives to the church to be used for Sunday-school and other parochial purposes. It is upwards of fifty feet square, internal dimensions. The main room will accommodate two hundred persons. In connection with this there is a Bible and Infant class room, and a room for the Sunday-school library, besides lob- bics, etc.
The tower and spire of the church stand at the west end of the south aisle. The tower is about twenty feet square, and has a turret at one angle which reaches with a staircase to the top of the tower. The tower and spire together are one hundred and fifty feet high, and are entirely built of stone. The tower has three stories ; the lower one for entrances, the middle for bell-ringers, and the upper for the belfry. It has double bayed and richly traceried windows, two stories high, and these are filled with appropriate louvers. The spire is octagonal, and has four windows and a corona. There is a stone clere-story, which is supported upon arches which derive their sup- port from richly carved stone capitals on stone columns.
The entrances to the church are by three doorways. The main door in the centre of the west front is double, and has deeply splayed recessed jambs, ornamented with columns and richly foliated capitals. The archway is richly moulded and otherwise ornamented. The tympanum of the arch is left of solid stone designed to be filled with sculpture. The doors to the tower leading to a tiled vestibule are designed to be correspondingly ornate.
The entrance to the Mathews' Memorial is by a richly moulded doorway. Around the arch is an inscription naming the donor, and the age and name of his child, with the text across the transom, 'Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven ?' Above this in the tympanum of the arch is a bas-relief representing our Saviour bless- ing little children.
The roofs of the church are open, and their construction has been made in harmony with the surroundings. They rest upon stone corbels, and both interiors it is designed to bring out in color. The whole of the buildings have been designed to meet the conveniences required, and to form a proper, harmonizing, and imposing structure. (Architect's description.)
23
CHAPTER XL.
THE CHURCHES : METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF RYE.
M ETHODISM 1 was introduced into Westchester County in 1771 by Joseph Pilmoor, stationed at that time in New York. Desiring to extend his labors beyond the city, he visited New Rochelle, and preached at the house of Frederick Deveau, whose wife was converted through his instrumentality. Francis Asbury, afterwards Bishop Asbury, came to New York in Novem- ber in the same year, and during that month organized a society at New Rochelle, and established appointments at various places, preaching at West Farms, Mamaroneck, Rye, and East Chester. The Revolutionary War compelled the preachers to leave New York, and the societies of this county remained without pastoral care until the return of peace.
In 1784 and the two following years, John Dickens and John Haggerty supplied the Methodist pulpit in New York, and doubt- less like their predecessors extended their labors to the country. In 1787, all the societies north of the city were constituted as a separate charge, and called the 'New Rochelle Circuit,' of which S. K. Talbot was the preacher. At the close of the year, Mr. Talbot reported five hundred and twenty-five members in his charge.2 This circuit was very large, embracing most probably Westchester and Putnam counties, and the societies became so numerous that it required for some years the services of four preachers. In 1803, the circuit, embracing at the time nine hun- dred and forty members, was divided, so that the southeastern portion of Westchester County formed the New Rochelle Circuit, with four hundred and seventy-three members. The preachers were W. Thatcher and A. Hunt. They were succeeded by J.
1 I am indebted to the Rev. N. Mead, the present pastor of the Methodist Episeo- pal Church of Rye, for the information here given. It has been obtained by diligent research for this work.
2 His successors were P. Moriarty, A. Van Nostrand, L. Smith, W. Phoebus, M. Swain, J. Bush, T. Everard, F. Lovell, J. Bell, B. Fisher, D. Vallean, S. Hutchin- son, D. Dennis, Thomas Woolsey, J. Perkins, Joseph Totten, J. Clark, T. Dewey, E. Kibby, D. Brown, J. Wilson, E. Chichester, J. Campbell, W. Picket, W. Thatcher, George Daugherty, II. Clark, and F. Ward.
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METHODISM INTRODUCED INTO RYE.
Coleman and J. Sawyer in 1805, and by Joseph Crawford and H. Redstone in 1806.
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