USA > New York > Dutchess County > Pine Plains > History of Little Nine Partners of North East precinct, and Pine Plains, New York, Duchess county, Vol. I > Part 20
USA > New York > Dutchess County > North East > History of Little Nine Partners of North East precinct, and Pine Plains, New York, Duchess county, Vol. I > Part 20
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New responsibility now rests upon the church and congregation. You have a pastor to seek, his salary to raise, and a home for him (if he shall have a family) to be provided. In meeting this responsibility, you will need to exercise sound judgment and be favored with wisdom from above. In the whole matter of settling and sustaining a pastor, be united, be gen- erous, and when he shall have been settled over you attend statedly upon his ministrations, and in all his labors among you accord to him a hearty co-operation. Look not for perfection in any man. Even partially sanctified humanity is imperfect, and ministers are but men. Let ground- less criticism give place to fervent prayer for your pastor, and to earnest support, if you would render his ministrations profitable to the people.
I now close this review of my fifty years ministry among you, by sim- ply expressing my great satisfaction in the firm belief, that though I cease to be your pastor, I still share your confidence, and your best wishes, as was made very manifest by the large gathering of my friends, and the ex- pressions of good will which Mrs. Sayre and myself received at the celebra- tion of our Golden Wedding on Tuesday the fifth of the present month of June, and may the blessing of a covenant keeping God rest upon and abide with you all. Amen. The services closed with prayer by Rev. J. Burnett, pastor of the Baptist church, the hymn, "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah" by the choir and the benediction by Mr. Sayre.
Rev James Wyckoff succeeded Mr. Sayre as pastor. He came October 1, 1883, and was installed on the twenty-third of the same month, After a pastorate of over twelve years he resigned, preaching his farewell sermon to the church on the morning of April 25, 1896, from the text in I Timo- thy, i, 15. In the evening of the same day he preached his final sermon to the society and community from the text in Acts viii, 35. In the morning he alluded to the church status, saying in part: "I leave the church richer both in property and membership than I found it. During my pastorate the amount of property owned by the society has been increased. Since I became pastor a parsonage has been purchased and put in re- spectable condition. The chapel has been improved and newly furnished,
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HISTORY OF PINE PLAINS
the barn has been repaired, and the expense incurred by these im- provements has been fully met. To-day the church has a valuable prop- erty, which is altogether free from debt We have met our expenses and paid off our debts, and to-day are in what by church treasurers generally would be pronounced good financial condition. During twelve years we have reported as contributions for congregational purposes and objects of benevolence sums which have aggregated above $23,500, or an average of $1,875 a year. While your pastor I have administered the sacrament of baptism to 85 persons, 42 adults and 43 infants. One of these infant bap- tisms was recorded on the Methodist roll, and 42 on that of the church. I have solemnized 33 marriages. It is plain to you all that I have not se- cured a fortune by wedlock while in Pine Plains. One hundred and twenty-nine have been added to the membership roll during my pastorate, one hundred and three on probation and 26 by letter. Forty-three have died and fifty have been or soon will be dismissed. One member has been suspended. The total loss in membership during the twelve years and sev- en months is ninety-nine, a tremendous loss for a small church in an old settled locality. The total number of the membership April 1, 1896, is 151."
Mr. Wyckoff had many warm friends, who at his leaving presented him with a gold watch as a small token of their high esteem and regard. He has taken the pastorate of a church at Leonia, New Jersey. The Rev. James MacGowan was his successor, and is now (1897) pastor.
CHAPTER XVI.
METHODIST CHURCH.
It is an interesting fact in our history that Bishop Elijah Hedding was born near the southwest border of Pine Plains. His father, James Hed- ding, owned lands adjoining the south boundary of the present Frank Eno farm as early as 1768 or '69. It is thought to have been the "Ten Eyck farm," but whether or not he lived there is surmise. There is a tradition that his residence was on the west side of Stissing Mountain in the south- west border of the town. The traces of an early settlement there is said to have been the "Hedding farm" on which a fine spring called the "Hedding Spring" seems to give a touch of fact to this tradition. Wherever it was, it was within the bounds of North East Precinct, for in 1769 he was an over seer of the poor in this precinct, an office then which bespoke honor and ability. He held this office many years. In 1780, eleven years after this, Elijah Hedding was born, his father, James, being a resident of North East Precinct. In 1788 the Dutchess circuit was first recognized in the an- nual conference, and Freeborn Garretson was appointed elder. In 1789, Benjamin Abbott was stationed on Dutchess Circuit, and it is said he trav- ersed what is now Milan and Pine Plains, preaching with great effect. He was zealous, uncompromising, fearless and aggressive. Among his con- verts at this time were Elijah Hedding's mother, his grandmother, and oth- er relatives. He had class meetings, and established a class during his term of one year with which Mrs. Hedding united. This was the origin of Methodism in Pine Plains. Milan came under this influence at the same time, the central point being what has been known as the Rowe neighbor- hood. Amenia and the Oblong had preceded us, the first society in Ame- nia having been formed in 1788 and Sharon the same year, and all through the influence of Freeborn Garretson.
In 1791, two years after this ministry of Benjamin Abbott, the Hed- ding family emigrated to Sharpsborough, Vermont, The class was under the supervison of Freeborn Garretson, and the first members coming down to us as fact succeeding the Hedding family previous to 1798, were Ira Wi- nans, Walter Mead, David Dabol and Philip Rowe. These were represent- ative members of their respective families. In 1802, '3 and '4, that unique and remarkable pioneer Methodist preacher, Billy Hibbard, first came upon this circuit, and he may be called one of the builders of the society in Pine Plains.
Meetings were held in these early years in the dwellings and groves, in the old Round Top church, at Bethel and in the old church at Sackett's
METHODIST CHURCH, JANUARY. 1889.
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THE CHURCHES.
Corners, near Attlebury. Meetings were held at John Harris', founder of the "Harris Scythes, who lived at the saw mill house of the "Willow Vale" mills, now owned by Charles Turpin, where it is said seats were made from slabs to accommodate the hearers. David Dabol, a plow maker living at the outlet of Halcyon Lake-Buttermilk Pond-had meetings in his shop which stood at the right of the outlet, in going in from the main road. Meetings were held at the Ten Eyck farm house, a short distance south of C. C. More's dwelling house, where it is thought James Hedding lived about 1768. Here about 1805 Miss Sarah Wilber, now deceased, one of the lady members of the church, was baptized by Rev. John Culver, a pioneer preacher then well known in northern Dutchess. He preached also in the old church at Sackett's Corners, where quarterly meetings were held. This old church seems to have been the principal place of Methodist meetings in these years. Peter Powers and "Tommy" Ingraham from Amenia "ex- horted" here frequently. Rev. David Pitt Candle was another Methodist preacher in this locality at this time and earlier. He was a preacher here in 1798, and a few years later he baptized at this old church Doctor Benja- min S. Wilber, and his sister Matilda, early members of the Methodist church at Pine Plains. Methodist meetings were held at the dwelling of Philip Rowe, now Henry Palmer's, by Billy Hibbard in 1802, '3 and '4, and by other Methodist preachers. Billy Hibbard, John Culver and David Pitt Candle were contemporaneous at this time.
Walter Mead came to Pine Plains in 1805 and built a shop for cabinet work. He was a pioneer Methodist, and in this shop, which stood on the present Mrs. Elizabeth Bostwick dwelling property, Methodist meetings were held. This building has been removed and now forms the rear of the late Henry Engleke cabinet shop on South Street. At this time (1805) the early class of the ten years previous had become solidified and strengthened. Among its members were Tammy Mead Smith, wife of Isaac Smith, Ann Landon, wife of Edward Thomas, father of Richard Thomas, one of the founders of the present church, Josiah Finch and Liz- zie Finch, Walter Mead and Elizabeth Winans his wife, Philip Rowe and his son Elijah, David Dabol and wife, John Harris the scythe maker and his wife Mary Gamble. Probably there were others, as members, or in sympathy with this denomination. The method of holding meetings as time and place offered continued until 1837. They had no part nor lot in the "Union Meeting House" of 1815. So they took to the school houses and work shops in the winter and to the groves and woods in the summer, where they could have camp meetings, free air, a free gospel, free grace and a free shout.
In 1835 Doctor Benjamin S. Wilber settled in the town of Pine Plains, on the present Mrs. Henry Myers farm at Halcyon Lake. The dwelling at the entrance at the bridge stands on the site of the old house into which he moved. He was an intelligent, zealous Methodist and a good family phy-
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HISTORY OF PINE PLAINS.
sician. With him and wife and children, came also as part of his family, his father and mother and one sister, Matilda-an acquisition of five to the M. E. Society. At this time (1835) Pine Plains and Copake were in one cir- cuit, and the preachers were D. B. Ostrander and W. Lull. At Pine Plains it is said-there is no record-there were only eight members, who were Richard Thomas and wife Harriet Mead Thomas, his mother Ann Landon, widow of Edward Thomas, John Peter Keeler and wife, Tammy Mead, Electus B. Chamberlain, and Mrs. Maria Pugsley Harris, the wife of Col. Silas Harris. Thus the real work of the Methodist Episcopal Society and church building at Pine Plains commenced in 1835, with thirteen members including the five in the family of Doctor Benjamin S. Wilber. The soci- ety received new life and zeal under the fervent exhortations of Doctor Wilber, and two years later the following contract was entered into for a church building :
CONTRACT FOR CHURCH BUILDING.
"An article of agreement entered into on the 16th day of February, 1837, by Richard Thomas, Electus B. Chamberlin and Benjamin S. Wilber of Pine Plains, Dutchess County and state of New York, of the first part, and Alanson Humphrey of Stanford, N. Y., of the second part. Said Alan- son Humphrey of the second part hereby agrees with Richard Thomas, Electus B. Chamberlin and Benjamin S. Wilber of the second part, to build a house of worship in or near Pine Plains, N. Y., for the use of the Meth- odist Episcopal church. The dimensions and specifications as follows, viz: said house shall be forty-five feet in length by thirty-five feet in width, twenty feet posts in height, with five bents, and a gallery in front eleven feet wide, with eight windows of fifty lights each, glass ? by 9 inches, two of the windows to be in the front end, with two flights of stairs to enter the gallery and a partition five or six feet from the front end to afford an entry way, a large front door double, the back of the seats to be ceiled up above the bench, and a book board on the top, and an altar, the floor of which shall be elevated about six inches with cherry railings and banisters with turned posts, the seats and ends to be inch and a quarter stuff, the backs to be inch stuff, with three pillars under the end gallery to be cased. The pulpit to be made in good style, with good materials, two flights of stairs to enter it, the wall to be three coats with hard finish to be put on in workmanlike manner. Two chimneys to be built up from foundation with brick and carried up a suitable height above the roof with a cap on the top of each. The breastwork of gallery to be of ordinary height to be done in a workmanlike manner, the gallery to be properly seated, the seats to be at a proper distance from each other there, and also on the lower floor, and to be fastened to floor by mortise tenons, the house to be painted with white lead, two coats to be put on the outside and inside, the paint made of good materials, the floor to be inch and a quarter stuff, white pine good floor stuff, the same for gallery floor, the platform in front of the house to be six feet by twelve, on the top steps all around except next the house to be inch and a quarter stuff spruce, the siding to be good white pine half-inch stuff. and the shingles first rate. Projection at the eaves and suitable cor- nice, also up the rafters, also window fastening. Four panel doors the inside
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THE CHURCHES.
properly trimmed, the two outside doors properly trimmed, a first rate lock .. The whole to be made with good materials and in good style, and in a workmanlike manner. And he further agrees to have the mason work done by the first of October, 1837, and the house finished by the 1st of Nov- ember, 1837.
In consideration of the above, Richard Thomas, Electus B. Chamberlin and Benjamin S. Wilber of the first part hereby agree to pay to said Alan- son Humphrey of the second part, for building said house as aforesaid the sum of fifteen hundred and forty dollars. Payments to be made as fol- lows, viz: five hundred dollars on or before the first of May, 1837, and three hundred dollars more when the house is enclosed, and the remaining seven hundred and forty dollars by the first of January, 1838 (without in- terest).
Also, we of the first part agree to stain the book boards, banisters and railing. We the undersigned do agree to place our hands and seals.
RICHARD THOMAS, L. S. ELECTUS B. CHAMBERLIN, L. S. BENJAMIN S. WILBER, L. S. ALANSON HUMPHREY, L. S.
There is the following endorsement on this contract:
" This contract is this 28th day of Nov. A. D. 1837, is hereby made null and void by the said who executed the above agreement.
RICHARD THOMAS. ELECTUS B. CHAMBERLIN. ALANSON HUMPHREY.
Signed and sealed in presence of J. D. Jordan."
A man by the name of Merritt did the mason work. The site was pur- chased from Dr. Cornelius Allerton, and Richard Thomas broke the ground for the foundation. The house was dedicated in 1837. The Rev. Fitch Reed preached the sermon. Rev. Benjamin Griffin was elder, and was present. Rev. Richard Wyman preached in the evening of the same day. Rev. E. S. Stout and Rev. A. G. Shears were the ministers assigned to Pine Plains and Copake for that year, Mr. Stout being the preacher at Pine Plains. In 1838 David Holes and David Plumb were appointed to these places, Holmes preaching at Pine Plains. He was here also in 1839, and for ministers thereafter see appended list.
In 1871 the church building was repaired and enlarged by an addition to the front on which a fine steeple was erected, and a small addition on the rear. The old original frame was not changed. An excellent pipe or- gan was placed in the choir gallery, and the result of the repairs then made is the present neat church and its furnishings.
Dedicatory exercises commenced at eleven o'clock in the morning of November 16, 1871, by a voluntary on the organ, followed by an anthem, reading the ritual service by the pastor, singing hymn 966, prayer, Gloria Patri, reading Scriptures, singing hymn 970, sermon by Rev. Dr. Ridge- way of New York, dedicatory services by Rev. J. B. Wakely, D. D., who read responsively with the congregation Psalm 122. The exercises closed by singing the doxology and the benediction. Dr. Ridgeway preached a
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HISTORY OF PINE PLAINS.
very able discourse on this occasion from Matthew, 26, 43 .: "Verily I say unto you wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her." Rev. F. S. Barnum preached in the evening of the same day.
In the summer and fall of 1892, Rev. A. E. Barnett then pastor, the church was again repaired by being thoroughly renovated and painted in- side. The walls and ceiling were neatly frescoed, and the choir gallery enlarged by extending its entire front, thus giving more seating room above. The improvements were completed by October 14, 1893, and on Sunday, October 15th, John Wesley Selleck, a beloved and popular pastor who had served the church in 1882, '4 and '5, preached an earnest and in- structive sermon. On the Monday evening following, by appointment of Rev. A. E. Barnett, there was "platform speaking" in the church, which was participated in by several ministers. The following synoptical report of this church from its first dedication written by Isaac Huntting appeared in the Pine Plains Register of that week:
DEDICATORY SERVICES IN THE M. E. CHURCH.
The completion of the present repairs on and in the Methodist church has furnished an opportunity for the third dedicatory service in that church. The first dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev. Fitch Reed, I think in December. I was present but do not remember his text, but well remember him as a preacher of ability, and a man of sober mindedness and dignity. He was a conservative Methodist preacher compared with the aggressive Benjamin Abbott and Jesse Lee of an earlier date. I well remember, too, the almost,-yes, quite unspeakable joy of the members of this society at the completion of this first church building. To say they had more than fulness of joy is no figure of speech. They had gone from pillar to post to find a place for worship, had used the woods, the barns, the mills, the shops, enduring contumely and reproach and scorn. They were poor and the poor found a home with the Methodists. The Methodist church of to-day is not the Methodist church of 1837 in its makeup. What wonder, then, that those early members, who had struggled to build a home, should mingle tears and laughter with emotional joy in having a church of their own ? Another thing which comes fresh to my mind was the theological disscussions on doctrinal points, dogmas the curse of the times which I sincerely believe wrecked many an anxious, earnest spirit. These dogmas are sleeping now. Let them Lethe be .:
It seems fit that these new starts in the race should come about. Rev. Fitch Reed may have congratulated the few brethren on their entering the honse and home of their hearts, and encouraged them for the future. It would have been proper and appropriate if he did. A full generation passes wherein the elements and forces of nature are made subservient to man, broadening in their influence the world over. The second dedication took place Nov. 16, 1871. Dr. Ridgway embodies the religious thought of
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THE CHURCHES
the times preaching from these words: "Verily I say unto you wheresoev- er this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman hath done be told as a memorial of her." The sermon was in- structive and eloquent, the main thought being charity and the doing of good deeds from a full heart. Such work has an everlasting memorial.
Twenty-two years later comes the third dedication, October 15, 1893. More marvelous still during these years have been the inventions to anni. hilate space, and in the means for bringing together all nations or their representatives which has been accomplished. What now ? Rev. J. W. Selleck, the preacher of the occasion, has this text from John vii. 15: "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned." (See Matthew xiii, 54.). Again it is the uppermost question of the times that presses upon him. The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. The divine and hu- man combined in the "carpenter's Son." This is the Christ. Mr. Selleck had the close attention of the congregation from start to finish, and the finish was complete. He said in substance among other things that this "carpenter's Son" had knowledge of all the forces of the natural world as well as the secrets of the heart and soul, that science did not disprove, but on the contrary confirmed the wisdom of the sayings and acts of this untaught Man, said and performed two thousand years ago. "How knoweth this. man letters having never learned ?" He used the parables freely in proof and illustration of the main point to wit: The union of the divine and human in this "carpenter's Son," and in his manner of doing so carried the. congregation to his own elevated mental plane and broader view in thought and feeling, a power or gift that only few preachers are possessed of. Those who missed hearing him missed an eloquent and able discourse, and those who did hear him will not soon forget it.
Looking backward at these dedicating sermons there seems to me a striking fitness to the times and current religious thought in which they occurred. They reflect the religious public opinion. Public opinion rules the church as well as state each in its sphere. One cannot be convinced against his will. This is the rock-to be called in future the very small nut-that is rending the church world at present. More charity is needed, and it will surely come.
The following list of Methodist preachers was compiled from the min- utes of the general conference in New York city by the late Professor Wil- liam W. Wilber, of Pine Plains, who spent his life in teaching in the public schools in Poughkeepsie and New York city. To him I am indebted for this valuable list. There were other ministers, itinerants preaching as. they went, whose names do not appear.
1788, Duchess Circuit first mentioned this year, Cornelius Cook, An- drew Harpending, Presiding Elder, Freeborn Garretson.
1789, Duchess Circuit, Samuel Q. Talbot, Benj. Abbott, Presiding El- der, Freeborn Garretson.
ISAIAH DIBBLE. [See Lineage.]
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THE CHURCHES
1790, Duchess, Peter Moriarty, Menzies Raynor, Presiding Elder, Free- born Garretson.
1791, Duchess, Peter Moriarty, - Halleck, Presiding Elder, Free- born Garretson.
1792, Duchess, Thomas Everard, Zebulon Zankey, Presiding Elder,. Freeborn Garretson.
1793, Duchess, Samuel Fowler, Robert McCoy, Presiding Elder, Free- born Garrison.
1794, Duchess, Jacob Rickhow, David Brown, Presiding Elder, Free- born Garretson.
1795, Duchess, Peter Moriarty, David Brown. Presiding Elder, Free. born Garretson.
1796, Duchess, Peter Moriarty, Samuel Fowler, Presiding Elder, Syl- vester Hutchinson.
1797, Duchess, Philip Wager, Joseph Mitchell, Presiding Elder, Syl- vester Hutchinson.
1798, Duchess, Jacob Rickhow, Billy Hibbard, Presiding Elder, Syl- vester Hutchinson.
1799, Duchess, Joseph Totten, Roger Searle, Presiding Elder, Sylves- ter Hutchinson.
1800, Duchess, William Thacher, Peter Jane, Presiding Elder, Free- born Garretson.
1801, Duchess and Columbia, David Brown, William Thacher, Lo- renzo Dow, Presiding Elder, Freeborn Garretson.
1802, Duchess and Columbia, David Brown, Sylvester Foster, Billy Hibbard, Presiding Elder, Freeborn Garretson.
1803, Duchess, James Coleman, Lowry, Billy Hibbard, Presiding Elder, Freeborn Garretson.
1804, Duchess, Datus Ensign, Billy Hibbard, Presiding Elder, Free- born Garretson.
1805, Duchess, Francis Ward, Robert Dillon, Presiding Elder, William Thacher.
1806, Duchess, Daniel Ostrander, S. Ward, Robert Dillon, Presiding El- der. P. Moriarty.
This year Rhinebeck is given as a District, with 4 stations or circuits, Duchess, Lebanon, S. Britain, Pittsfield.
1807, Duchess, Daniel Ostrander, Wm. Vredenburgh, Wm. Swayze, Presiding Elder, P. Moriarty.
1808, Duchess, Peter Moriarty, Z. Covel, Tabor Blaney, Presiding El- der, Aaron Hunt.
This year Freeborn Garretson is put down as preacher at Rhinebeck. 3,808 white, 58 colored members in the district. 1,077 white, 40 colored members in Duchess Circuit.
BOWMAN'S OPERA HOUSE.
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THE CIIURCHES.
1809, Duchess, Zenas Covel, J. Crawford. S. Arnold, Presiding Elder, Aaron Hunt.
1810, Duchess, E. Woolsey, Z. Lyon, Smith Arnold, Presiding Elder, Aaron Hunt.
1811, Rhinebeck Circuit, B. Hibbard. A. Dunbar, Isaac Candee, Wmn. Anson, Presiding Elder, Aaron Hunt.
1812, Duchess, Wm. Anson, W. Swayze, M. Richardson, Presiding Elder, Aaron Hunt.
1812, Rhinebeck, B. Hibbard, Coles Carpenter, E. Woolsey, Presiding Elder, Aaron Hunt.
1813, Rhinebeck, James W. Smith, Friend Draper, Presiding Elder, Aaron Hunt.
1814, Rhinebeck, Wm. Anson, John Crawford, Presiding Elder, Free- born Garretson.
1815, Rhinebeck, Wm. Anson, Thomas Thorp, Presiding Elder, Na- than Bangs.
1816, Rhinebeck, Datus Ensign, John B. Matthias, Presiding Elder, Nathan Bangs.
1817, Rhinebeck, Datus Ensign, N. W. Thomas, A, Pierce, Presiding Elder, Eben Washburn.
1818, Rhinebeck, N. W. Thomas, Henry Eames, Luman Andrus, Supt. 1819, Rhinebeck, Samuel Howe, Samuel Luckey, Luman Andrus, Supt. 1820, Rhinebeck, Samuel Howe, Jesse Hunt.
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