USA > New York > Columbia County > History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 48
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THE HUDSON CEMETERY.
Along the northeastern deelivity of Prospect hill, and extending down to the old Columbia turnpike, lies the ground of the Hudson cemetery ; a spot combining all the requisites that enlightened modern taste demands in a place of graves,-rural quiet, great natural beauty, and a conformation of surface peculiarly adapted to receive those artificial embellishments which sore-hearted mourners love to lavish around the resting-places of their dead.
But for the clustering stones, many of ancient date, a stranger would believe that this ground had been laid out in recent years, and that professional skill had aided in the selection ; and when he had been told the true story of its first use as a burial-ground by the Quaker proprietors of Hudson almost a century ago, he would not fail to wonder, as we do, that a commercial people, who were essentially and avowedly utilitarian in their ideas, should in that early day have decided on a spot so lovely and appropriate.
At the time of the arrival of the settlers at Claverack Landing a grave-yard was situated on the southerly side of the old country road, a short distance east of the ferry. Its location was upon sloping ground in an orchard owned by Justus H. Van Hoesen,* and it was usually known as the Van Hoesen or " Van Hoesen and Hyatt burying- ground." This would indicate that the burials in it were only of members of these families, but such is not known to be the fact, particularly in regard to the earliest inter- ments. Indeed, there is no reason to doubt that it was also used by the Van Alens and other residents at the landing.
The old " Hardiek burying-ground" is in the north- eastern part of the city, near the Hudson and Chatham branch railroad, at a place formerly known as Schermer- horntown. It was in use long before the New England settlers came, but received few interments afterwards. Among the latest buried there was Francis Hardick, Jr. The number of graves is about thirty, and these still re- main ; no transfers to the cemetery having been made.
The proprietors at once looked about them to find an eligible site for a new ground, and in accordance with their usage a committee was appointed for the purpose. Cotton Gelston was (almost as a matter of course) one of the mem- bers of this committee; the other was Daniel Paddock. Their selection fell upon a lot of some five acres,-the lower part of the present cemetery ground. It was the property of their friend Colonel John Van Alen, who, on being requested to name his price for the lot, promptly re-
* Justus H. Van Hoesen and his wife, Janneke (whose residence stood en the present site of Daniel Limbrick's house), came to their deaths in a tragie manner, which ercated very great excitement in the city and vicinity. They were seized with sudden and violent sickness in the morning of Feb. 4, 1794, from the effects of which Mr. Van IIoesen died the same evening, and his wife, after five days of agony, died in the morning of the 10th. It was found that beyond doubt their deaths were caused by arsenic taken accidentally, but hew taken was never discovered, though the general belief at the time was that it had by seme means become mixed with a preparation ef flewers of sulphur, which they were taking as an alterative. They were buried in this old grave-yard, and forty-four years afterwards, when the greund was taken for the opening of Allen street, their remains, with others, were transferred to the cemetery.
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plied that he would convey it as a free gift for cemetery purposes. His offer was thankfully accepted, and the land transferred and set apart as a burial-place. This was in 1784; and near the close of that year the ground received its first tenant,-Mrs. Phebe, wife of Benjamin Folger. The first man who was laid here was the donor, Colonel Van Alen, who died Dec. 15, 1784, respected and mourned by all who knew him. The two next interments are be- lieved to have been those of Hannah, wife of Gideon Gard- ner (died April 26, 1785), and William Mayhew, who died July 13, 1785.
A portion of the lot was set apart, and soon after in- closed, as a Friends' burying-ground. We do not know the precise time when it was fenced, nor the area of land within the inclosure, though the old ground of the Friends can yet be distinguished near the present small gate of the cemetery. On the 9th of March, 1795, the proprietors conveyed by deed to the city the burial-ground tract, ex- cepting the part which the Friends had inclosed, which was afterwards conveyed to that society. Thomas Jenkins and Alexander Coffin were made a committee (June 2, 1795) " to fence the burying-ground," but nothing appears to have been done by them under this authority. In 1798 the entire tract was inclosed; Cotton Gelston and Samuel Edmonds beiog appointed by the council (May 10) " a committee to build a Suitable fence round the burying-ground of three Boards high, with red Cedar posts and a suitable gate, and to have the Bushes cleared up from the said Ground." The committee made the improvement as directed, and the cost of the same was eighty-four pounds five shillings threepence. Four shillings more was expended for a lock, which was procured by Reuben Folger.
The first enlargement of the ground was made in March, 1801, by purchase of land by the city from Joel Bliss, for the sum of one hundred and fifty-five dollars. This appears to have-been in advance of actual requirement, for we find that soon after James Laraby, the sexton, requested and received permission to till a part of the land. On the 1st day of May, 1804, a committee was appointed by the city council " to survey and stake out a public square adjoining the Burying-Ground, and to take deeds of cession from the persons holding lands which will be affected thereby ; and the Common Council will lay out such part of the said Burying- Ground as shall fall within the said square." And on the 5th of the same month it was ordained by the same body " That so much of the ground taken from the Burying- Ground as is now left out be appropriated for a public Square."
For more than half a century from that time the burial- ground received but little care, and remained neglected and overgrown until about 1855, when an attempt was made to improve it, resulting in partial success ; but the effort was not sustained, and it was not until 1872 that the work was taken resolutely in hand, and prosecuted with an energy which has produced excellent results. At that time a num- ber of public-spirited citizens associated themselves for the sole purpose of improving and beautifying the cemetery, and to that end agreed cach to pay a certain sum annually for the period of five years to produce a fund additional to the insufficient amount appropriated by the city for the purpose,
and all to be expended by a committee appointed by the com- mon council. By this means two thousand five hundred dol- lars was raised the first year ; and although during the re- maining four years the interest grew somewhat less, and the yearly receipts were therefore diminished, yet the object of the association has been accomplished, and this ground, so beautiful by nature, has been improved and embellished, so that, instead of being a neglected waste, as formerly, it is now an ornament to the city and an object of pride to the people of Hudson ; a lovely retreat, where, along the shaded walks and avenues of the silent city,-nearly as populous as the living city which lies adjacent,-many an hour of leisure is spent in profitable musing among the graves of almost a century.
A searcher among the inscriptions that mark these graves will find here the names of many of those sterling men, the first proprietors of Hudson; the names of noble women whose deeds of benevolence are well remembered, and whose memory will be green for many a year ; of judges and orators who added lustre to the annals of old Columbia, and of heroic men who died in defense of their country's flag, on land and on the sea. There are few burial-places more beautiful or more interesting than the Hudson cemetery.
The ground has been added to from time to time until its present area is about thirty acres. The burial-ground com- missioners for 1878 arc Frederick F. Folger, Allen Ross- man, D. M. Haviland, and Stephen B. Miller.
RELIGIOUS.
FRIENDS' MEETING.
As the Society of Friends was so strongly represented among the proprietors and first settlers of Hudson, it was to be expected that this denomination would be the first to erect a house of worship, and such was the case.
On Sept. 8, 1784, the proprietors, at a meeting duly warned, resolved that whereas divers proprietors, members of the society called Quakers, had requested that a piece of ground be set apart for a meeting-house and school-house, they should be authorized and empowered to make choice of such lot as they might think proper, and that such lot should be a free gift to them on condition that they should erect thereon a meeting-house before a similar application should be made by any other society. Under this resolu- tion a lot was selected and conveyed, and very soon after a building was erected on it conformably to the condition of the grant. The lot was upon the south side of Union street, near the corner of Third street. The meeting-house erected upon it was a small frame structure, in which the society held their undemonstrative worship for a period of ten years.
In 1794 the society, having so much increased in num- bers that their meeting-house had become wholly inade- quate to their wants, erected on a lot which they had pur- chased (in the northeastern angle of Union and Third streets) a brick building fifty-two by thirty-eight feet in dimension, two stories high, and of capacity to accommo- date six hundred people. In accordance with the peculiar tenets of the sect, this building, both without and within, was totally devoid of ornament and characterized by its
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plain simplicity. The men on all occasions occupied the left side of the house, the women the right; and at times, on particular occasions, a movable partition was used to di- vide the room and entirely separate the sexes. From this time until 1854 this meeting-house was used by the Friends. At that time they sold one hundred feet front of their lot, including the meeting-house site, to the Methodist Epis- copal society, retaining a frontage of fifty feet on Union street.
Prior to this time, in the year 1828, a division occurred in the Society of Friends, caused by the preaching of pecu- liar doctrines by Elias Hicks, and the support given to him by a portion of the members of the sect. His followers assumed, or were given, the name of " Hicksite" Friends, while the other branch of the society received the title of " Orthodox" Friends. When this separation occurred the meeting in Hudson also became divided. The Hicksites composed about three-fourths of the society, and they con- tinued to hold the church property, while the Orthodox Friends, being in the minority, removed to another place.
Soon after the division the London yearly meeting fur- nished them (the Orthodox branch) with funds for the building of a house of worship, and with these funds they erected a building on the south side of Union street, above the Court-house park ; and this has continued to be their meeting-house until the present time. The title to this property is now vested in the New York yearly mecting.
This Orthodox branch of the Friends in Hudson have never had a minister. They have been connected, first with the Coeymans, and afterwards (since 1868) with the Poughkeepsie monthly meeting and with Stamford quar- terly meeting. Their membership is at present about twelve.
When the Hicksites sold their meeting-house and site to the Methodists they received in part payment the old Methodist church building on Diamond street, in which they held their meetings until about 1858, when they sold it to Charles Myers, to be used as a dye-house, and then erected their present meeting-house on the fifty feet of land reserved in the sale of their original lot. Their church property is now valued at $3000. The number of mem- bers of their meeting is fifteen. Their minister is Aaron C. Macy, who has held that position during the last forty years, and who is also one of the trustces of the Hudson monthly meeting, the other two trustees being Augustus Angell, of Ghent, and Samuel Greene, of Athens.
Among the prominent early Friends were Richard Alley, Charles, Thomas, and Franklin Jenkins, Silas, Barzillai, Tristram, and Elihu Bunker (the latter was the first clerk of the Hudson monthly meeting, established in 1793), Peter and Hannah Barnard, Eliab Coffin, Thomas Comstock, John Alsop, John Macy, John Williams, Nicholas Dean, and John Howard. Of these, Thomas Comstock and Hannah Barnard were recommended ministers, and the latter was a person of importanee among the members of the sect. She was a woman of medium height and slender form, with a pleasant countenance and eyes black, keen, and penetrating. Possessing. an inquisitive and thoughtful mind, and being remarkably gifted in the use of language, she evolved ideas and principles in advance of her day, and was not back ward
in making them known to the world. While traveling in England she fell under the displeasure of the English Friends on this account, and upon her return to this coun- try, in 1801, was disowned by the sect.
The early Friends at this place were nearly all seafaring men and interested in the (at that time) extensive commer- cial interests of Hudson. As that commerce waned and died their numbers suffered depletion and loss by the re- moval of many, especially the younger persons, to other and more promising fields of labor. Nearly a century has elapsed since the society was first formed, and but a rem- nant remains of this once numerous and influential sect.
THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF HUDSON.
The commencement of the existing records of this church is in the year 1790. There is no doubt that a Presbyterian organization existed in Hudson some time before this, but we find nothing showing its numbers, the date of its forma- tion, or the place where its members met for divine wor- ship
On the 23d of February, in the year above named, a meeting was held for consultation in reference to the build- ing of a Presbyterian house of worship in Hudson. This meeting is supposed to have convened in the then unfin- ished city hall, upon the site of the present church. The moderator and the secretary of this meeting were respect- ively Captain Thomas Frothingham and Elisha Jenkins. A committee was appointed to make a draft of a building suitable for a place of worship, and to procure subscriptions to a fund for its erection. Three days later, at an ad- journed meeting, this committee reported a plan with de- tails, and an estimate of cost, which was £865, equal to $2162.50. The subscriptions had been generous. Among those who gave the largest sums were Marshall Jenkins, £100; Nathaniel Greene, £40; Russell Kellogg, £20; Samuel Nichols, £17; John Hathaway, £16; Elisha Jenkins, £12; and these were followed by others who gave smaller sums, or who, in the lack of silver or gold, freely gave such as they had,-timber, bricks, team-work, or personal labor. Looking back to that day across the inter- vening years, it seems as if each emulated his neighbor, and that all were glad of the opportunity to contribute towards the building of a house to be dedicated to the God of their fathers.
At the adjourned meeting above mentioned, Marshall Jenkins, Captain Thomas Frothingham, Nathaniel Greene, Russell Kellogg, and Samuel Nichols were made trustees to receive the deed of the lot which had been donated by the generous and public-spirited proprietors, on Second street between Partition and Allen, and they were also con- stituted a building committee to erect thereupon the church edifice. Under them, Cornelius Tobey was appointed as an expert to make contracts with the different workmen and artificers.
The church, a plain but solid and commodious brick building, large enough to seat five hundred worshipers, was commenced at once, but was not completed until the au- tumn of 1792; the congregation, in the mean time, con- tinuing to meet in the city building. In this church-the first erected in the city of Hudsou-the first sale of pews
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realized the sum of £1635, almost double the amount of the committee's estimate of the total cost of the church. In speaking of this old church, the Rev. George C. Yeisley, in his discourse delivered July 16, 1876, said, " It was surmounted by a steeple of no inconsiderable height. Those who had the vigor to climb to where its open win- dews invited the summer breezes, were rewarded by a mag- nificent view of river and mountain. No edifiees eut off the view from its porches to the Hudson, and the hills sloping from its commanding site to the waters of the river were covered with the brightest verdure. The bell that hung in its belfry was for a long time the only bell that called the inhabitants of the city to their morning lahors, and announced the coming of the welcome hour of rest .* . . . The weather-vane that surmounts the tower, and the broad stone that has been made the threshold of our present church edifice, are the only remains of the structure in which for nearly half a century the fathers of this congre- gation worshiped God. ... Yet while the old church on Second street has thus passed away from sight, with so many of the good and worthy that refreshed their souls within its courts, its plain walls and plainer interior, its green blinds and high-backed pews, its elevated pulpit with the huge sounding-board hanging over it, threatening to extinguish the preacher beneath,-all these still hold a place, I am sure, among the cherished memories of many. There may they remain, even after the hour that summons them to worship Him who is a spirit, in a city and temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Until the spring of 1793 the church was served by irregular supplies, but at that time Marshall Jenkins and Ambrose Spencer, on behalf of the congregation, entered into a correspondence with Rev. John Rogers, D.D., of the Wall Street church, in New York, with a view to secure a pastor for the church in Hudson. This resulted in a call being extended to the Rev. Mr. Thompson, a young Scotch elergyman, then preaching in Wilmington, Del., and who in November of that year was installed as the first pastor of this church, with a promised salary of one hundred and seventy-five pounds a year. On account of ill health, how- ever, he was compelled to resign in 1794, when he was succeeded by Rev. Bildad Barney, who continued as the
* This bell was at that time a matter of no little pride to the citi- zens of Iludson. It was the first bell in the city, and might be termed the official bell, being rung by authority. On the 23d of March, 1795, it was resulved by the council "that James Frazer be and he is hereby appointed bellman of the city, and that he be paid for that service £16 per year by the Chamberlain. And that the bell he rung at sunrise in the morning, at 12 o'clock at noon, and at 9 o'clock in the evening, and to continue ringing not less than five minutes at any one time on working days; and on Sundays at 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning, 1 and 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and 9 o'clock at night." Nathan Folger and Peter Hall were successurs of Frazer as bell-ringers.
The city clock was also placed in the tower of this church. In 1801 (August 8) the council resolved "that Mr. Pratt and Reuben Folger be a committee to procure a suitable clock, with three dials, to be placed in the steeple of the Presbyterian meeting-house, and that they be authorized to procure a sum not exceeding $200 on loan for that purpose, to he applied with the sum already subscribed and now in the Bank for that purpose." That committee reported, Oct. 9, 1802, that they had placed the clock in the steeple, agreeably to direc- tions. The cost of clock and dials was 8465.28.
acceptable pastor of the church until his death, in Septem- ber, 1796. From this time the pulpit was variously sup- plied until April 15, 1797, when Rev. Ezra Sampson, a resident of Hudson, accepted an invitation to preach for one year, at the end of which time he resigned. During an interval of more than four years succeeding his resignation preaching was supplied by several different clergymen, among whom was Rev. Chauncey Lee, who preached here for more than a year. In 1802, Dee. 5, Rev. Reuben Scars was en- gaged for the term of six months, at the end of which time he was unanimously eleeted pastor, and settled with a salary of five hundred dollars per annum. ITis successor was the Rev. John Chester (afterwards D.D.), who was ordained at Hudson on the 21st of November, 1810, and on the same day installed pastor of this church, in which relation he con- tinned for about five years, and was dismissed Oet. 15, 1815, at his own request, to accept a call to a church in Albany. The pulpit remained vacant until Jan. 8, 1816, when Rev. Benjamin F. Stanton was installed pastor. Mr. Stanton's pastorate constituted a marked period in the early history of this church. His sermons were regarded the most eloquent that were delivered from the pulpit of the old church, and produced most powerful effects on the large audiences that crowded the edifice to hear them. During his pastorate David Auchenvole, David Mellen, and James Van Den- sen were ordained ruling elders, and William O. King deacon.
On the 20th day of April, 1824, Mr. Stanton asked the presbytery of Columbia for a dissolution of his pastoral re- lations on account of his continued ill health. His request was reluctantly acquiesced in by the commissioners ap- pointed by the church, Rufus Reed, John Raynor, and David Auchenvole.
On the 7th of September following the Rev. William Chester, brother of Rev. John Chester, was installed pastor, and served the church acceptably for eight years. During his pastorate John Raynor, James Van Deusen, William O. King, Warren Rockwell, Rufus Reed, and Campbell Bushnell were duly elected elders, and Barnabas Waterman and Frederick J. Barnard deacons. They were all ordained by the pastor, Nov. 27, 1825. Mr. Chester resigned on ac- count of continued ill health in 1832.
On the 22d of November, 1832, the congregation appointed Warren Rockwell and Edward C. Thurston a committee to offer the then vacant pulpit to the Rev. Jared B. Water- bury, D.D., who had recently resigned a charge in Ports- mouth, N. H. After preaching here most acceptably for several Sabbaths, he was duly installed pastor of the church February 20, 1833, and continued in the position with un- rivaled success for nearly fourteen years, during the first part of which pastorate their present house of worship on Warren street was erected. The congregation had become the largest in the city, and one of the most prominent in the valley of the ITudson. The old church on Second street had become too small, and the ereetion of a new edifice had been for some time in contemplation. In 1835 three lots (the old court-house site) at the corner of War- ren and Fourth streets were purchased at $4000, and the present imposing stone church was erected upon them. It was dedicated May 24, 1837, in the presence of an immense
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auditory, the services being conducted by the pastor, the Rev. John N. Lewis, of Brooklyn, and other clergymen. The cost of the church was $21,500 ; the building committee in charge of the work being composed of Elisha Jenkins, Rufus Reed, Samuel Anable, Alexander C. Mitchell, Jere- miah Bame, and Campbell Bushnell. The old church build- ing was offered at public sale, bought in by the trustees, and by them sold to Rev. William Chester, a former pastor.
During Dr. Waterbury's pastorate Barnabas Waterman, Lawrence L. Van Dyke, Nathan Chamberlin, Israel Platt, Cary Murdock, Charles Paul, John Gaul, Jr., and Josiah W. Fairfield were elected elders, and Jesse Williams, Peter Van Deusen, David Dalzell, William E. Parkman, and Philip K. Burger deacons. This pastorate closed in 1846, and was succeeded by that of Rev. Henry Darling, now the pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian church of Albany, who was ordained to the ministry Dec. 30, 1846, and on the same day was installed pastor of this church, in which relation he continued until April 4, 1853, during which period Nathan Chamberlain, Peter Van Deusen, and Far- nuin White were elected elders, and William E. Parkman, Aaron B. Scott, and Sidney Seymour deacons.
The successor of Dr. Darling was Rev. William S. Leavitt, whose pastorate extended from the date of his in- stallation, Nov. 22, 1853, to the spring of 1867, when he resigned to accept a charge in Northampton, Mass.
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