History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 19

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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Rev. Dr. Bright was the first superintendent. He held the office for nine years. He was followed sue- cessively by Mr. Van Kirk, Capt. Holmes and Mr. John A. Amelnng. Mr. Ameling remained in the office about six years. Then, about four years ago, R.

FMG

WARBURTON AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH,

YONKERS, N. Y.

YONKERS.

Oliver Phillips, M.D., was elected. The present Superintendent is Mr. William H. Belknap.

The school remained in the Spring Street building for many years. When the Mount Olivet Baptist Church building on North Broadway was left by its people for their new church on Warburton Avenue, it was taken down, aud its materials were used in the construction of a chapel ou Nepperhan Avenue for the mission school. A few years ago this building was enlarged to double its first capacity, and now again within a year it has been further and much enlarged to meet the continuously growing prosperity of this school. The school is said to be the largest in the city. It has sixty-seven teachers, besides its officers. The average attendance each Sabbath during the first six months of 1886 was about five hundred scholars. There were seven hundred ou the roll. Collections from the school are largely de- voted to procuring of clothing for poor children, that they may be able to attend the school decently clad. The result is that very little appearance of poverty is seen among the children at the chapel.

Messiah Baptist Church (colored), on North Broad- way .- This church was established by a number of colored people of Yonkers in 1874, and has occupied from the beginning, a hall in the second story, of No. 50 North Broadway. The church was uot officially recognized till the 12th of August, 1876. The first regularly ordained pastor was the Rev. R. D. Winn; lie was followed by the Rev. Joseph M. Francis. Then the Rev. Wm. S. Bass served the church as its pastor till March, 1882. From 1883 the pastor has been the Rev. Albert Miller. The number of men- bers is forty. A Sunday-school was organized May 21, 1881. It has five teachers and forty-three scholars, of whom eighteen are adults. Charles S. Fariess is the Superintendent.

The first board of trustees of this church were Richard R. Bailey, Chairman ; A. Johnson, Edward Bush, Charles Mann, J. Cox, Jaques White and Joseph Maltby.

THE PRESBYTERIANS-First Presbyterian Church on North Broadway .- The history of the Reformned Church, already given, has supplied the introductory information needed to an understanding of the origin of this church. On the 26th of April, 1852, Rev. Dwight M. Seward, then pastor of the Reformed Church, with forty-six of the members, scparated from the church, aud ou the 10th of May were re- ceived by the Third Presbytery of New York, and organized into the First Presbyterian Church of Yonkers. The first elders of the church were Lem- uel W. Wells and Samuel S. Barry. The first pastor was the Rev. Dwight M. Seward, and the members at the organization were the forty-six members from the Reformed Church.

The church edifice was begun on the 15th of Nov- ember, 1853, and dedicated iu May, 1854. Its seating capacity is about one thousand. The congregation ii .- 7

before the dedication worshipped in Getty's Hall, on Mechanic (now New Main) Street.

Rev. Dwight M. Seward (long since Dr. Seward) continued to be pastor of the church for more than eighteen years, till June 20, 1870, when he resigned his charge on account of impaired health. During his period five hundred and twenty members were added to the original membership of the church, and two hundred and twenty-three were lost by deaths and dismissious, leaving three hundred and forty- three on the register at its close. Rev. Dr. Seward was born at Durham, Conn., July 31, 1811, and was graduated at Yale College in the class of 1831. After spending a year as a teacher in the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in New York City, he pursued his theological studies in Yale Theological Seminary, and was theu on the 3d of February 1836, ordained to the ministry, and installed pastor of the Congrega- tional Church of New Britain, Conn. He remained in this pastorate six years, till June 15, 1842. During this short time he did a great work for this church, resulting in the addition of about two hundred to its communion. From 1842 to 1845 he was stated supply of a Congregational Church at Middlefield, Conn., and from 1845 to 1850 pastor of a Congregational Church at West Hartford, Conn., whence he was called to Yonkers. Dr. Seward was a thorough scholar, a neat and tasteful writer, an impressive preacher, a most faithful, loving and successful pastor, and a warm Chris- tian brother and friend. Resting awhile after leav- ing Yonkers, he resumed work, rendering excellent service during several summers among the churches and Sunday-schools of the Adirondack region, and subsequently in Portland, Me. He is at present living in retirement at South Norwalk, Conn. The great work of his life was this work of over nineteen years in Yonkers. He left the impress of a most val- nable service here, and the record of this service will follow him to his reward above.

The uext pastor was the Rev. T. Ralston Smith, D.D. He was installed March 1, 1871, and retained his pastorate until March 21, 1879, when he received and accepted a call to the pulpit of the Westminster Pres- byterian Church of Buffalo, N. Y., which he still occupies. Dr. Smith was boru in the city of Phila- delphia and was graduated at the University of Penn- sylvania. Immediately after graduation he taught for a time in one of the leading classical academies of his native city, and then was for one year presi- dent of the Eastern Dispensary of New York City. Subsequently having studied for the ministry in Philadelphia under private pastoral instruction, he was pastor successively of the First Presbyterian Church, Delaware City, Del., of the Houston Street Presbyte- rian Church, New York City, and of the Seventh Presbyterian Church, New York City. From 1866 to 1871 he was one of the secretaries of the American Bible Society. It was from his secretaryship that in 1871 he was called to his Yonkers pastorate. Dr.

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Smith is a rarely ready, neat, and elear speaker and a man of most accurate scholarship and regular habits, who enjoys in the highest degree the coufi- dence of his owu denomination and of the general Christian Church. He has occupied and still holds many positions of honor and trust, filling them all with signal ability. He was aeting permanent clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church

in 1864, and has been temporary elerk of the same body several times. He was permanent clerk of the Synod of New York and New Jersey (N. S.) and of the Syuod of New York after the reunion from 1862 to 1879, has been stated clerk of the Consolidated Syn- od of New York from 1882, and was moderator of the Synod of Western New York in 1881. The Doctorate of Divinity was conferred upon him many years ago by the trustees of Williams College. Ile left many warm friendships behind him in Yonkers, where he had reudered eight years of earnest service. During his pastorate here he was successful in bringing into being, and putting on a solid foundation, the third Presbyterian organization of the eity, known as the Dayspring Church.

The present pastor is the Rev. John Reid, who was installed November 6, 1879. He was born at St. John, N. B., was educated in the public schools of New York City, and was graduated at the New York University in 1870, and at the Theological Seminary at Princeton in 1873. After brief pastorates in Pater- son and in Hoboken, N. J., he entered his present position. His pastorate has been a very high success to the church in its temporal affairs, and in the arousal of the people to activity iu Christian work. In the summer of 1880 the church building was greatly improved in appearance internally, being fres- coed, supplied with stained-glass windows, and newly carpeted. The new chapel in the rear of the church, providing Sunday-school, lecture and ladies' rooms, and pastor's study, was built about the same time. The entire eost of these improvements and ad- ditions was about twenty thousand dollars. In 1883 a mortgage of ten thousand dollars, long resting on the parsonage property, was generously paid off by Mr. Walter W. Law, a member of the church. In 1884 the amount of teu thousand dollars was sub- scribed, the old manse removed, and a beautiful and commodious new one erected. The church property is beautifully located, all in perfect condition, and now wholly without incumbrance. The congregation is financially and socially one of the strongest, and the pastor is very popular in the pulpit and out of it. The people have many ways in which they display their activity and liberality in church and mission work, and they have been able to exert a great influ- ence and accomplish a great deal of good. At the present time they are conducting with good success, a new mission work in the vicinity of Alexander Smith & Son's carpet-works, upon a street known as Moquette Row.

The following statistics of the church are furnished to us : The number of communicants in the spring of 1886 was four hundred and forty, aud the number of Sunday-school teachers and scholars three hundred and forty-three. The present elders are William C. Foote, Samuel D. Rockwell, Lucius E. Clark, John W. Skinner, Walter Graves and Theodore Gilman. The deacons are Johu Thompson, G. Livingston Morse, E. B. Schoonmaker, A. H. Johnson, Robert M. Reeves and Thomas Adams. The trustees are G. Livingston Morse, Lucius E. Clark, John W. Rock- well, William Allen Butler, Jr., William B. Strang, Walter W. Law, John Olmsted, William P. Ketcham, Horace H. Thayer. The superintendent of the Sun- day-school is W. W. Ellsworth.

The Sunday-school is a society supporting a mis- sionary iu the Northwest. The Ladies' Missionary Association, comprising the Foreign, Home and Lo- eal branches, is doing a noble work, in which it ex- pends about seven or eight hundred dollars a year.

Westminster Presbyterian Church, on Warburton Are- nue .- The history of this church, like those of nearly all the Yonkers churches already given, has been carefully and minutely written, and preserved in priut. To the date of the laying of the corner-stone of the present church, May 20, 1880, we condense from valuable historic pamphlet, prepared by the Rev. Lewis W. Mudge aud the Rev. John Dixon, two of the pastors, and bringing everything down to that day.

The church was organized February 3, 1858. It grew out of a nominally union, but really Presbyter- ian movement started as early as 1855. In that year. on the 16th of September, a mission Sunday-school was begun in Yonkers, just then formed into a vil- age. It was held in the district school house and known as "The School Street Mission Sunday- School." Mr. Ebenezer Curtiee was the superintendent, and Mr. John Davidson the assistant. It opened with ten scholars and five teachers. In May, 1856, Mr. Rollin A. Sawyer, of the Union Theological Sem- inary, was invited to aet as missionary in connection with the school. By Christmas, 1856, the roll showed one hundred and fifty scholars and twenty-five teachers. On the 5th of April, 1857, the school was re- moved to Getty Lyceum, no room in the district school-house being large enough for it. Preaching began April 26, 1857, with about eighty hearers. On the 18th of October, Mr. Sawyer was employed as a stated supply, and from that time there were regular services. The first prayer-meeting was held at John Fisher's on Brook Street, with twenty-seven persons. The place of meeting became too small, and was changed to Grant's Hall, Guion Street. At Christmas, 1857, the school numbered two hundred and eighty- seven scholars and thirty -six teachers. The name was then changed to " The First Mission Sunday- School of Yonkers," During the summer and fall it had been visited with a great outpouring of the Spirit. There were many conversions and the ques-

YONKERS.

tion what to do with the converts and inquirers was pressed on the teachers. A meeting was called January 19, 1858, to consider the subject. Fifteen persons, all but one teachers in the school, were pres- ent. It was the opinion of all that the circumstances called for a new organization, and the following reso- lutions were unanimously adopted, and signed with the accompanying names :

" Resolved, That we who are here present deem it our duty to form a new Presbyterian Church in Yonkers.

" Resolved, That we apply to the Third Presbytery of New York to effect the proposed organization.

" Resolred, That Messrs. John Davidson, Josiah Rich and Archibald Baxter be a committee to make application to the Rev. Dr. Ilatfield, of New York City, to procure the necessary action of the said Presby- tery.

" Resolved, That we, being members of the First Presbyterian Church, Yonkers, address the following communication to the pastor of said church : 'We, the undersigned, members of your church, deeming it to be our duty to form a new church in this village, respectfully request you to furnish us with the necessary letters of dismission.

". ARCHIBALD BAXTER. JESSIE BAXTER.

HENRY H. PARSONS. EMELIE PARSONS.

JOSIAH RICH.

CARRIE M. RicH.

JOHN NAIRN.

JANET C. NAIRN.

JOHN DAVIDSON.

ANNE DAVIDSON.

HI. A. UNDERWOOD. EMMA P. UNDERWOOD.

DUNCAN C. RALSTON. MARY RALSTON.

WILLIAM STEEDMAN. MARION P. STEEDMAN.' "

To this, at an adjourned meeting, held January 20, 1858, there were added the names of Charlotte Baird and Lucy Marsh.

On January 25, 1858, the Third Presbytery of New York received and entertained the application, and on the 3d of February, 1858, the church was organ- ized with the already named eighteen persous as members. Rev. D. B. Coe, D.D., presided, and organ- ized the church under the name of the Westminster Church, Yonkers. Rev. D. M. Seward, D.D., Rev. V. M. Hulbert, D.D., and Dr. Kinsley also took part in the exercises of organization. A congregational meeting followed, when Messrs. Archibald Baxter, Henry A. Underwood and William Steedman were elected elders, the two latter receiving ordination, and Messrs. John Davidson and John Nairn were chosen deacons. Of the original eighteen, but three remain in the communion of the church at this day -Mr. Josiah Rich, Mrs. Charlotte Baird and Miss Lucy Marsh. As this history is to go on record, courtesy to other denominations demands some ex- planation of the fact that a union enterprise was so abruptly turned into a Presbyteriau Church. The fact is it was uever a union Sunday-school but in nane. Its originators and supporters, its missionary and stated supply, and, as far as any record shows, every one of its teachers, were Presbyterian. If any members of other churches werc connected with the school, the record shows conclusively that it was by accident of invitation or personal interest, and that no other than Presbyterians were ever connected with its support or control.

The church has had five pastors, including the present one, Rev. Charles P. Fagnani. We will name

them and then consider its history under the succes- sive names,-Rev. Rollin A. Sawyer, Rev. Samuel T. Carter, Rev. Lewis W. Mudge, Rev. Jolin Dixon, Rev. Charles P. Fagnani.

Rev. Rolfin A. Sawyer (uow Dr. Sawyer) was called February 11th, and ordained and installed February 17, 1858, the services being held in the Getty Lyceum. Rev. Mr. Sawyer, as already stated, had served as the missionary of the Sunday-school from May, 1856. The first work of the church, after its organization and the ordination and installation of a pastor, was to take care of the new converts already mentioned. The first who presented themselves were Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Lorenz. Thirty two were added at the first communion, March 14, 1858, and the first year brought in a membership of one hundred and ten.

At a meeting held October 28, 1858, a resolution that it was expedient to build a house of worship was adopted, and a committee on building was appointed. In June, 1858, the congregation removed from Getty Square to a hall at the corner of North Broadway and Wells Avenue, known as "The Lecture-Room." In due time Messrs. Rich, Chamberlain and Lawrence gave ground for a church. The church was built, and on the first Sabbath in May, 1859, it was dedicated. It cost about eight thousand dollars of which a considerable amount remained as a debt at the time of the dedica- tion. The earnest, beloved and successful pastor was, immediately after this event, laid aside by illness for four months. He succeeded in putting the church on a very firm foundation, and especially in starting it upon a very active career of home and benevolent work, but could not regain his physical Health at the time, and finally, on the 3d of April, 1862, tendered his resignation. From the first Sabbath in July the pulpit was vacant till the 15th of October, 1862. Rev. Dr. Sawyer was subsequently pastor at Dayton, Ohio, and Greenwich, Conn., and is now pastor of the Gilead Church, at Carmel, N. Y. When he left the Westminster Church its membership was one hundred and thirty-seven.

Rev. Samuel Thompson Carter, a son of Mr. Robert Carter, the well-known publisher of New York City, was graduated at the New York University in 1858, and studicd theology in Edinburgh, Scotland, and at Prince- ton, N. J. He was ordained and installed as pastor of this church November 13, 1862. The church, during Mr. Carter's pastorate, was for some time prosperous, and was especially noted for its delightful social char- acter, to which the exceptionally amiable tempera- mient and good judgment of the pastor gave great im- pulse. In time, however, owing to unhappy elements in the congregation, over which he had no control, a dissonance arose, and the pastor having no need to sub- mit to what was growingly distasteful to his Christian heart, tendered his resignation April 9, 1867, and the pulpit was deelared vacant April 21st. The disturbing persons were few, but just then strong. The congre- gation at large was devotedly attached to its pastor,

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

and warmly cherishes his memory still. Upon his de- parture, a large number of his friends withdrew from the comnnmion of the church, and united with other churches of the village. At this date one hundred and fifty-five names were left on the membership roll, which, however, these withdrawals greatly reduced. The debt on the church was paid during Rev. Mr. Carter's pastorate. After he left Yonkers he was pastor of the Yorkville Presbyterian Church in New York City for two years. Then, in 1868, he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Huntington, L. I., where he still remains.

Rev. Lewis W. Mudge, son of a well-known and highly respected city missionary of Brooklyn, was graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1862, and at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1866. During his seminary study, which he continued for four years, he was a tutor in Greek in the college. He was or- daiued and installed as pastor of the Westminster Church on the 1st of August, 1867. On his arrival here he found the church scattered. The 155 enrolled members left by Rev. Mr. Carter had dwindled to 98. The expenses of the church stood at more than $3000, while its income was but $1040. A debt of $3000 had accumulated. Rev. Mr. Mudge was courageous him- Helf, and found the remaining people willing and hopeful. He possessed accomplishments, which be- came at once practicably available. Dismissing the precentor, who had been sustained at cost, he himself, a fine vocal and instrumental musician, managed his own musical service. The elements of the church were now thoroughly changed. All discordant parties left. The church became, and for many years continued to be, a missionary church. Rev. Mr. Mudge's pastorate extended over almost ten years. It ended May 6, 1877. He had a peculiar adaptation to the special mission of the church during his period, which was that of draw- ing, confirming and upbuilding. He gathered his people from the middle and poorer classes, and organ- ized and trained them effectively. He had a very unusual power with young people, and a very kindly spirit towards other churches. Soon, with the assist- ance of excellent advisers and co-workers, he put the church on a sure and safe financial foundation, from which it has never moved. His ten years were crowd- ed with clearly-planned and industriously executed work. With him, as with his successors, the West- minster Church grew to be what Yonkers people call a "working church." Its Sunday-school, its Young People's Association, its Industrial School, its work among the Germans and the colored people, its cot- tage prayer-meetings and its general mission work were all carried on with wonderful industry and suc- coss. The thought of building a new church, which was a necessity for the organization, occupied Rev. Mr. Mudge's time and thought very strongly, but the times from 1873 were adverse, and this work was left to his successor. Rev. Mr. Mudge was called in 1877 to the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church of

Princeton, N. J. His Yonkers pastorate was dissolved May 6, 1877. He still continues in his Princeton charge.

Rev. John Dixon was born in Canada, and was graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1873. His first pastorate was of the First Presbyte- rian Church of Providence, R. I. He was installed pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian Church Oct. 11, 1877. At his coming there were two hundred and ninety members on the church roll. Rev. Mr. Dixon met the church and carried it forward on the high plane of efficiency it had reached under its preceding pastor. He was called from Yonkers in the summer of 1884 to the charge of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, N. J., where he now is. His Yonkers pastorate was nearly seven years in length. His general charae- teristics were earnestness, good judgment, financial skill, untiring industry and never-ceasing faithfulness. The church gathered strength apace during his period in every department of its work. While it maintained its missionary simplicity and thoughtful interest in the more depressed classes, and did every thing it could to lift them up socially as well as spiritually, it went further, and itself grew in social influenee and in financial power. It is the great characteristic of this church that every one in it is drawn into some form of work for and with thechurch, and in this way becomes a constituent part of the church's working force. It did not have, for many years, the status and strength enjoyed by some of its neighboring churches. But it knows how to turn every one and every element in it to account, and the result is that it has become at last one of the very strongest .churches in the city, and is becoming stronger every vear.

The great event of Rev. Mr. Dixon's pastorate was the building of the new church. The foundation for this building was begun in the fall of 1879, and the corner-stone was laid May 20, 1880. It was dedi- cated in the fall of 1881. The cost of the building and ground, with that of the furniture, was about $35,000, of which all except about $5000 was paid during Mr. Dixon's pastorate. The church was built of gray stone, and had a seating capacity of five hun- dred. Its dimensions, with the lecture-room in the rear, were sixty-two by one hundred and seven feet. It was prepared for a gallery, but none was ereeted. The building was an ornament to the city and a great credit to the people. The site on Warburton Avenue is nearly opposite to that of the first house. Its internal arrange- ments, both of church and lecture-room, were unique, but very attractive, and adnurably adapted to the work of the pastor and people. The Sunday school of the church was always large and a model of organization and working plan. The church services were well attended and so was the prayer-meeting. There was a large opening future before this active church; but the tine building was destined to be destroyed.

Rev. Charles P. Fagnani is on his father's side of

YONKERS.

Italian and on his mother's side of New England descent. He was born in New York City and was graduated at its City College and its Union Theolog- ical Seminary. For two years before coming to Yon- kers he was employed by the Fourth Avenue Presby- terian Church (Dr. Howard Crosby's) as missionary in charge of its Grace Mission Chapel. He was in- stalled in the spring of 1885, and though recently started on his Yonkers charge, had made a mnost excel- lent impression for devotedness to his work, and for ability to present truth with clearness, concischess and power. Under his ministry the church was eon- tinuing its activity in every good work, when to the great grief of his people and of the whole city, his health gave way. It soon became apparent that con- siderable time would be required for his restoration. In March, 1886, his people tendered to him a vacation of indefinite length, with a continuance of his salary. He is away from Yonkers now. It is hoped that his recovery will be specdy and permanent. Shortly after his departure on his vacation, the Westminster Church took fire from a defect in its heating appar- atus, and the interior of its auditorium, and also that of its lecture room, were destroyed. The fire occurred on the morning of the Sabbath day, April 30, 1886. Providentially the loss was covered by a sufficient in- snrance. The work of restoring was begun promptly and will soon be finished. Improvements will be inade in the Church with the reconstruction, and it will be more liberally fitted up for its growing work than it was before.

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 19

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286