USA > New York > Nassau County > Hempstead > History of St. George's Church, Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y. > Part 8
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The purpose thus expressed by Mr. Cutting, was not soon fulfilled. It was ten months afterwards before he forwarded to the Society the following letter. But he compensates for the delay by the. interesting details with which it is replete :
# " It was about this time that Hendrick Onderdonk, grandfather of the two bishops, joined the Hempstead Church."-Henry Onderdonk,. fr., Jamaica.
+ About two years, as we have seen.
¿ Three miles long, ten miles broad.
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Rev. Leonard Cutting.
1768, January 7 .- " I have not," writes Mr. Cutting, "transmitted an account of my mission in the limited time, owing to my being incapable of giv- ing so perfect information as I could have wished. The parish is large, and I was prevented in the sum- mer, by several accidents, from visiting every part of it, as I expected, nor is it any easy matter in so short a time to form a certain judgment of so great a num- ber, so dispersed. I have, however, found the people civil and hospitable, and I may venture to say, are grateful. As a proof of this, on the death of their late worthy missionary, Mr. Seabury, they at their own expense built a handsome house and made it a present to his widow; but I am afraid they are opin- ionated and not very easy to be persuaded.
"The church at Hempstead is large, and in general full : but that is an imperfect way of judging of the number. of a congregation, as several of other denom- inations pretty constantly attend divine service. The sectaries here have no settled teacher amongst them. Many of them, therefore, frequent the church, and appear devout and attentive. The spot where I live is surrounded with Presbyterians. I find them kind and obliging neighbors, sober and pious in their con- versation, and no friends to religious animosities ; though I am confident the number of those who pro- fess themselves members of the Church are superior in number to those of any other denomination, the Dutch excepted. Great numbers of every profession, however, remain unbaptized, owing, I imagine, to the principles of Quakerism, which prevailed here so long, nor are there so many catechumens* as I might have hoped from so large a parish. I have proposed to some to attend for that purpose on evenings, at houses properly situated, and hope that plan will succeed.
* i. e., persons under catechetical instruction.
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To the south of Hempstead [village-Ed.] for sev- eral miles, are great numbers of inhabitants, in gen- eral in very indigent circumstances. They say they can't procure conveniences to come so far to church. I frequently, on week days, go among them to offici- ate. I find large numbers of them assembled, who appear glad of my services and willing to be in- structed ; but are totally illiterate, great part of them not being able to read, nor have they abilities or op- portunity to get their children instructed. A school there would be a real blessing.
" At Oyster-bay, the church is not finished, nor are they able to do it. It is indeed in general well filled, as neither have the dissenters there (who are mostly Anabaptists and Quakers) any settled teacher. The members of the Church are constant, serious and de- vout, though not equal in numbers to those of other denominations."
Mr. Cutting wasl aboring under a mistake in assert- ing, above, that the members of the parish at their own expense had built a house for Mrs. Seabury and made it a present to her. They may have done the larger part of the benevolent work, but the widow had assisted in it with her own small means. We learn this fact from a letter of Mrs. Seabury to her brother- in-law-Judge James Helme, of Narragansett, Rhode Island-as given in Updike's Narragansett Churches .* Under date of Nov'r 26, 1764, she writes to Judge Helme: "I am much hurried with business, having with the assistance of some gentlemen of the parish raised a dwelling-house and got it under cover, but don't purpose doing any more to it this winter, as I see no prospect of being obliged to quit the Par-
* Page 137.
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Rev. Leonard Cutting.
sonage. My affairs will not allow of my making a journey to you."
Another observation suggested by the statement in Mr. Cutting's letter that the Dutch were more numerous in the town than persons of any other de- nomination is, that it is surprising they should not have had an organized congregation in the town. From lack of one they were in time absorbed by other denominations.
The next communication we give from Mr. Cut- ting to the Venerable Society, is under date of December 28, 1768, in which he says :
" As we are not in this parish disturbed with a variety of itinerant preachers,* a greater appearance of regularity, with its happy consequences, prevails ; and as no animosity (that I can discover) reigns amongst those of different persuasions, no consider- able change in any short time can be expected. Persons of all denominations attend Divine service, and the Church here is much esteemed, and is cer- tainly, both in respect to the number and import- ance of its friends and professors, superior to the sects .. Amongst the friends to the Church I include the Dutch (who are a very respectable congregation), and it is with pleasure I observe that the disputes which some evil-minded persons (to serve a present particular term) have raised concerning our earnest desire for Episcopal government in the Church, has been of real service, as it has opened the eyes of the people, made them examine more closely the princi- ples of the Church, and habituated them to the name of a Bishop, and taught them to reflect upon that sacred office without terror or suspicion."
* Alluding, perhaps, to Whitfield and his followers.
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Allusion is made in the last sentence to the yearn- ing and efforts made among Episcopalians in all the provinces to have a Bishop consecrated for the colonies. Bishops have ever been regarded as es- sential to the existence of the Church. The an- omaly of a Church striving to live with its mem- bers in one continent and its head in another, was being felt daily more and more, as intolerable. To remedy the evil in part, certain clergymen in several of the colonies had been made " Commis- sioners of the Bishop of London." But they had no superior ecclesiastical power, because they were not inheritors of Apostolic grace and authority. They could supervise the material affairs of churches, but they could not continue and transmit spiritual authority to men to preach the Gospel and minister the Sacraments. To obtain ordination, those in this land who desired Holy Orders were obliged to cross the Atlantic. Of those who yielded to this stern requisition it is calculated that one-fifth were lost by shipwreck or by disease. No wonder that the clergy here should earnestly desire and petition to be supplied with a Bishop. And little wonder that those should be unfavorable to the effort and do all in their power to thwart it, who had not been instructed that for a true ministerial au- thority, it should be received from those who had themselves received it through the Apostles from our Lord Himself, the great Bishop. Petitions to have the Church duly equipped with its three orders of an Apostolic Ministry, were constantly going to England, and Mr. Cutting was probably do-
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Rev. Leonard Cutting.
ing his share in this work. But politicians in Eng- land were able for some time yet to come, to baffle all these efforts.
In 1769, there was no communication of moment from Mr. Cutting. In 1770, there were two. In the second he states that a school had been opened at the south of Hempstead, which began operations, June 22, 1769 ; Mr. William Leaky being the school- master, with the approbation of the Venerable Mr. Society, who had appropriated to him £10.
Leaky removed in 1771. This same year Mr. James Greaton is appointed Missionary at Hunting- ton, with an allowance of £40, having been licensed January 28, 1760, by the Bishop of London. Mr. Greaton was formerly of Christ Church, Boston. He died, after a short illness, at Huntington, April 17, 1773. Mr. Greaton's widow married B. Y. Prime, M. D.
The abstracts of the reports of the Venerable Society for the following two or three years present no items from Mr. Cutting, relating to any new features in the condition of the parish. In a letter dated January 8, 1774, he mentions the issue of the effort made to establish a Presbyterian church in the south part of the town.
" The dissenting teacher who was settled to the south of Hempstead, made no long continuance here. He married, and from the inability of the people to support him, was obliged to remove. They now de- pend (as they have for a long course of years) on those who are sometimes sent by the Presbytery from the other congregations. When their meeting-house
6
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is shut, numbers attend Divine service at church, and we live on very amicable terms.
" As to the wild set at Oyster Bay, they must dwindle. They already disagree among themselves. Opposition would raise them to a character they can't attain of themselves, and as it is not worth while for any artful person to make himself their head and form them into a regular sect, they will, I trust, soon sink into their primitive insignificance. The masters of the slaves and the near inhabitants feel the principal inconvenience."
We do not know the tenets of the "wild set " to whom Mr. Cutting alludes in the above extract, but probably they were the sect which arose in 1759, and is described in Chas. S. Wightman's History of the Baptist Church in Oyster Bay, as " New Lights," of which a certain Madame Townsend was the ruling spirit. One of its tenets was unrestrained freedom in speaking, the right of every member of the church, in the time of worship. . The outcome of this claim was, says Wightman, " the wildest disorder and tumult."*
In 1775, February 17, Mr. Cutting reports the baptism of thirty-six children and seven adults dur- ing the year, and the admission of six male communi- cants. Mr. John Lefferts, a person of character, has taken the school, erected by the Society at the south of Hempstead, with the usual salary of £10.
We have no information when the schoolhouse above mentioned was built; nor have we been able to learn where it was located, nor is there any record of what became of it.
* History Bap. Ch., Oyster Bay, p. 4.
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Mr. Cutting, under the same date, mentions that " a petition had been received from the Church Wardens, &c. in Huntington, Brookhaven, Islip and Queens Village for a Missionary in the place of their late worthy pastor, Mr. Greaton, with the former allowance from the Society, to which they hope they shall be able to add £20. But the Society, consider- ing the proposed subscription as insufficient, nor properly engaged for, on the part of the petitioners, have thought it advisable for the present to postpone the application."
January 9, 1776, Mr. Cutting states that Mr. Lefferts continued at his school but a quarter of a year, and that he has no encouragement to attempt to supply the vacancy. The Church continues in its usual state. Thirty-three children and eight adults have been baptized, and five new communi- cants added.
At this point we have the first intimation that this parish was feeling the effects of the political turmoil which was upheaving the country, and whose un- happy effects were to be felt more and more by the parish, but not by any means to such a disastrous extent as by many others in our country. This inti- mation is in this brief paragraph in the annual report of the Venerable Society, viz .: "Owing to the gen- eral disturbance in the Colonies, the accounts are short and imperfect."
In fact we have mention of but two more letters being sent by Mr. Cutting to the Society, during the war of the revolution ; and one is thus referred to in their report :
" January 6, 1777 .- The Society have received
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one letter from Mr. Cutting, whence they learn that his church at Hempstead had escaped better than was expected, but that he was obliged to shut it up for three Sundays before the arrival of the King's troops, and that in the foregoing year he had not attended at Huntington, thinking it not advisable to go out of his own parish. Since his last he has baptized one negro child, and twenty-five whites, and five white adults and one negro woman."
The letter of which an abstract of its contents is thus given is so interesting, and conveys such a vigorous representation of the condition of the parish and of this part of the country in those "troublous " times, that we herewith give it at length :
" Fan. 6, 1777 .- In the turbulent and precarious situation this country has been in since January last, the Church here and at Oysterbay has escaped better than was expected. The people in general in this par- ish and through the whole county [of Queens] were profest steady Loyalists and opposed to the utmost of their power the choosing Delegates, Committees, &c. They were indeed harrassed by parties from almost every Province ; our houses often filled with an armed rabble who lived at free quarters; the men forced to quit their habitations and conceal themselves in woods and swamps; some were seized and carried pris- oners to Connecticut. These frequent incursions, however, and this temporary distress they rather chose to suffer than submit to the hourly tyranny of a Com- mittee of the basest and vilest among themselves ; and in this they persisted till the King's troops happily landed on this Island. In this distracted state the Church was often threatened by banditties from the Jerseys and other Provinces. I continued, however, as usual. Divine service was uninterrupted for some
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Rev. Leonard Cutting.
weeks after Independence was declared by the infatu- ated Congress, and the Church was in general much better filled than I could expect from the perilous situ- ation the people were in. Orders were often issued from some distant parts, to take me out of the church, but never executed. At last I received intimation that as this was the only church in this and the neighboring Provinces that was kept open, it would be particularly marked for vengeance ; and as the suc- ceeding Sunday several armed men were sent from various districts, we were advised, though with re- luctance, to shut the doors. I abstained from per- forming Divine service three Sundays at Hempstead and one at Oysterbay, when we were (by the blessing of God) relieved by His Majesty's forces, since which time we have been secure and undisturbed, suffering now only in common with others, the natural though great inconvenience that must attend every place that is the seat of war, the scarceness and dearness of the necessities of life.
" The Church here has rather gained, I think, during this unnatural tumult, for it is with pleasure said, I can assure you, that in the whole parish there were not above three who called themselves Church- men amongst the malcontents, and as there was no settled Presbyterian preacher to influence the minds of the people, the dissenters were left to their own cool judgment, attended the Church service, and in general approved of and joined their neighbors in the opposition to the Congress.
" I have not attended the vacant church at Hunt- ington this last year, as the principal persons of my congregation thought it by no means advisable for me to go out of my own parish.
" I have written some particulars to the Rev. Dr. Chandler, which (as he knows the people) may be agreeable to him." 6*
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St. George's Church.
The Rev. Thomas Bradbury Chandler, Rector of St. John's Church, Elizabethtown, N. J., is here. meant. He was a man of eminent qualities, and the author of a work appealing strongly for Bishops to be provided for North America. He was in England from 1775 to 1785. A daughter of Dr. Chandler be- came the wife of Bishop Hobart; who was in a few years to succeed Mr. Cutting.
It will be seen from Mr. Cutting's letter that this. parish had not been able to evade sharing in that great struggle of our forefathers which was to end in sundering the colonies from the mother country and in dissolving the connection-which had been fruitful in results which were to bless unnumbered genera- tions-between the clergy and people of the Protest- ant Episcopal Church in America and the Venerable Society which had faithfully acted as a nursing mother of the Church here for many years.
The situation of Mr. Cutting and his parish in this trying struggle was favorable for continued pros- perity. Minister and people were of one mind. Almost all were Loyalists. Indeed, nearly the whole of Queens County adhered to the side of the King and Parliament. Sabine* says, that "in 1776, 1293 persons in Queens County were avowed Loyalists, or Tories." In most of the parishes in the country, the political sentiments of the clergy not according with those of their people, led to the abrupt dissolution of their relations to each other, and left the clergyman without a parish and without any means of support.
But the unanimity of political views between Mr.
* American Loyalists, p. 17.
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Rev. Leonard Cutting.
Cutting and his parishioners did not wholly secure him and them from annoyance. We see from his letter that service in the church had been suspended for three Sundays .* We may conclude, therefore, that the friends of the colonial cause, to whom the prayers for the King and royal family were obnox- ious, were at work here using repressive measures. And this interruption of services may be explained by and sustains the statement of Judge Thomas Jones, who was a member of this parish at that time, in his recently published " History of New York during the Revolutionary War." "Col. Cornell, of the Rhode Island Line, of the Continental Army," says he, " with 1600 men, established his head-quarters at Hempstead, seeking out Tories. He converted the Episcopal Church into a store house, forbid the parson to pray for the King or any of the royal family, and made use of the communion table as a convenience for his Yankees to eat upon."t
How long Col. Cornell remained here is not known, but probably not long, for in August, 1776, the British troops landed upon Long Island, and the 17th Light Dragoons took up their quarters here. Henceforth Hempstead became a retreat for many royalists banished from other places. Of this number was the Rev. Mr. Mansfield from Derby, in Connecti- cut.
Nov. 21, 1778, the Hon. Josiah Martin died at his seat, Rock Hall, Rockaway. He had been Governor
* Mr. Cutting, in 1776, removed the royal coat of arms and other things from the church .- H. Onderdonk, fr., p. 15.
1 Vol. I, p. 109.
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of the Province of North Carolina. But at the break- ing out of the war his Tory principles made him ob- noxious to the Whigs of that province, and he was obliged to flee from it, leaving a large landed estate in North Carolina, which was confiscated .* He established himself at Rockaway, and built Rock Hall for his residence. The architect or draftsman was Timothy Clowes, who also drafted the plan of the present St. George's Church. Said Timothy was son of Geradus, who was son of Samuel, who came from England ; lived in Jamaica, and was a. member of that parish at the time of its prolonged troubles. In Rock Hall there is still a fine painting by Sir John Copely, representing a child playing with a dog. The child's portrait is that of one of Gov-
ernor Martin's family. The widow of Governor Martin died in 1825, in New York city, in a house standing on what is now the site of the Astor House.+ Governor Martin was the father of Dr. Samuel Martin, of whom we shall hear more ; who also died at Rock Hall, April 19, 1806, aged sixty-six years, and was buried under the then chancel of St. George's Church. On the removal of the church to a dif- ferent position, his grave was left unmarked.
When the British troops took up their quarters in Hempstead it was reasonably expected that the pre- dominant Tory element here would cause the troops. to show them particular favor. In this expectation, they were doomed to be greatly disappointed. Judge Jones, who was himself a distinguished up- holder of the royal cause, and a most determined:
* Sabin's Loyalists.
+ Furman, p. 150.
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opponent of the Federal Congress and troops and cause, suffered annoyance and loss from those he supposed would befriend all loyalists. It is not sur- prising therefore that he should say, somewhat tartly, " Instead of finding protectors in the King's troops, they (the royalists) were most scandalously, barbar- ously, and indiscriminately plundered ; suffered every insult and abuse during the whole war ; could never obtain redress either from generals or governors."*
The Presbyterian church in Hempstead was seized and converted to military uses. The Episcopal church -whose Rector was an Englishman, and an up- holder of the cause of the King, and whose prayers for him were constantly used,-where the officers of the army attended, and the Chaplain of the army, the Rev. Elias Cooper frequently officiated-even this was not exempt from intrusion.
In the account of a meeting of the Vestry of St. George's Church, held Feb. 4th, 1780, it is stated that application had been made to the Rev. Mr. Cut- ting, by the commander of the British troops, for the use of a part of the church for a granary, and that Dr. Samuel Martin and Mr. Leffert Haughwout having been appointed a committee, waited on the commander, who withdrew his request and left the church free from desecration. Two months after this, the Rector and Vestry found themselves obliged to forward a protest to Lt. Col. Birch, then in command of the British troops, quartered here, in respect to an " outrage committed by one Cornet Searle of the
* Vol. I, p. III, note.
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17th Dragoons, during service on Whitsunday, by which the whole congregation had been offended; and beg redress and protection for the future." The pro- test was not in vain. Cornet Searle was required to send a letter of apology, which he did in the following terms, on the 29th of May, 1780:
"SIR-It was never my intention by the circum- stances last Sunday to give any general offence to the inhabitants. Had I forseen it could have been taken in so serious a light, I should have saved you this trouble with pleasure .- Through you, however, as minister of the church, I feel myself bound to make every acknowledgment to the congregation, and as nothing is further from my mind than to disoblige, so I shall always be happy to apologize.
"I am &c., Your Most Obed't Servant,
Thursday night.
CHAS. SEARLE, 17th Light Dragoons.
REV. MR. CUTTING, Hempstead."
This stiff and evidently reluctant approach to an apology the Vestry felt it best to accept and be satis- fied with, and they passed the following resolutions :
" Resolved, That it is the opinion of the Vestry that by the kind behavior of Colonel Birch the Honour and Peace of the Church is (sic) Secured.
Resolved, That in consideration of the thoughtless- ness of youth, the Vestry are willing to accept of the apology of Cornet Searle for this time, in full assur- ance that they shall have no cause of complaint for the future.
Resolved, That the Rev. Mr. Cutting and Dr. Sam- uel Martin wait upon Colonel Birch to thank him for so kindly exerting himself to redress the Insult offered
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the Church, and acquaint the Colonel that the Vestry is satisfied, and rest assured of his future Protection.
Resolved, That Cornet Searle's Letter be entered into the Records of the Church."
Again, in April of the following year, the Vestry · found it necessary to take the position of complain- ants; as the following action of the Vestry, April II, 1782, shows :
" Resolved, That the Church-Wardens do wait upon Captain Archdale, commanding officer at Hempstead, to complain in the name of the whole Congregation of an outrageous insult committed on Saturday night, the 30th of March last, by boisterously breaking open the doors of the church, and various other riotous acts, committed against Religion, and the peace of the Congregation by Cornets Sinclaire, Loyd, De Lancy and others, and to beg Redress for the present injury and protection in future.
" At the same time the Vestry beg leave to observe, that Mr. Sinclaire, as a gentleman, has expressed much concern, and made such an apology as the circumstances of the case will admit."
At the same time the Rev. Mr. Cutting produced a letter from Mr. George D. Ludlow, wherein he (Mr. Ludlow) declines acting at all in the affair, or giving his opinion as a Vestryman, and desired that at the ensuing Election some other Person might be chosen to serve in the Vestry in his Room.
The Honorable George Duncan Ludlow, Esq., had been elected a Vestryman Oct. 3, 1780, in the place of Mr. James Turner, deceased.
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