USA > New York > Rensselaer County > East Greenbush > History of the Reformed church, at East Greenbush, Rensselaer County, New York > Part 4
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CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.
But their memory is precious, while the mantle of their faith and industry has fallen upon their descend- ants, who will carry the ark of this Zion into the future conflicts of truth and righteousness. And all this is the outgrowth of good preaching. And as we con- clude, we look all around. The work is well done; the Consistory deserve praise; the committee, our thanks; the choir, our respects; the carpenter has done his work well and the sexton is obliging. All stand upon their merit from pulpit to pew. Even the ministers carry in their faces a dignity and reverence becoming this memorable occasion. You can only celebrate one centennial; and will you, as the custodians of this house of the Lord, prepare to hand down the great work of this vast congregation to your successors, unimpaired by the rapid flight of time, remembering that the ultimate end and object of all church work is the conversion of sinful man to Christ, not the wearing of gold or apparel, but the ornaments of a meek and quiet spirit. There were twelve pastors in the century, and the Lord has permitted your humble servant, the only one of the twelve, to come and participate in these festivities, and say to the past, rich in ancient and historic lore, in faith and prayer, in word and deed, " vale amice, vale amice," and congratulate you all as a people and a church as you step over into the second century of your church life.
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DR. STEELE'S LETTER.
A letter was read from Rev. John Steele, D.D., the last pastor, which in his feeble state of health, he had dictated. It ran in these touching lines.
DR. STEELE'S LETTER.
NEWARK, N. J., Nov. 7, 1887. My Dear Christian Brethren and Friends of the Reformed Church and Congregation at East Greenbush, N. Y .:
I had fondly hoped, and, until a comparatively recent date, rather confidently expected to be present at the centennial cele- bration of your church, but as the days and months of the advancing year have rolled by, it has become more and more apparent that my state of health would not allow the fatigue of the journey, or the natural excitement of the occasion.
But although not permitted, in the Providence of God, to be present with you in person and take part in the interesting exer- cises and glad festivities of the time, yet I cannot resist the inclination to send you, at least, my cordial greetings and warm congratulations, that God, in his Providence, has brought you to so interesting a period in the history of your beloved church, permitting you to commemorate, in this fitting manner, the cen- tennial year of the church's existence. For more than two years I have looked forward with deep interest to this celebra- tion. In view of ny official relation to the church, I had expected to spend time, thought, and a labor of love in the preparation of a memorial discourse.
Although the materials for such a discourse were quite meagre, yet I hoped, with what I had, and with what I might still be able to gather, to produce something which would, at least, be appropriate to the occasion, and perhaps prove of some value as giving to the church at large a small contribution to the history of one of the venerable churches of our denomination.
Those of you, Christian friends, who were present at our joy- ous harvest home festival, a little more than a year ago, will
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DR. STEELE'S LETTER.
remember that I made a distinct reference to the approaching centennial of the church, which you are now privileged to cele- brate, and which, in the excellent health that I then enjoyed, I so confidently expected to carry forward to the best of my ability and make it, if possible, a grand success. Few things, indeed, in the course of my ministry have been more delightful in the contemplation, than the prospect of closing up the century with you, and, if the Lord willed, to minister to you for a time, at least, at the beginning of the second century of your exist- ence. But, at a most unexpected moment, I was stricken down. The hand of God touched me, and all active service in the min- istry was suddenly brought to a close. I shall not say more at this point, as you know the rest. Whether the Master will have any more work for me to do in His vineyard, in seeking to alarm the careless, comfort christians, and guide inquiring sin- ners to the Saviour, He only knows, and will make it manifest in His own time. Until then, we will try by His grace to wait with patience and unmurmuring submission. The way some- times seems dark, but "we follow where our Father leads, and trust where we cannot see." His Providence and ways are wise. Infinite wisdom and goodness must ever characterize all the allotments of the Divine hand.
" Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face."
But I must not write a lengthy communication. I have already exceeded the limits I had laid out for myself. Had I been permitted, as on former occasions, in leaving the churches I have served, to take forma! leave of this congregation, I could have said many things which I cannot write. But the pastoral relation between myself and this church has been dissolved in God's own time and way, and He will, I am sure, send you a man after His own heart, to break unto you the bread of life. You are no longer my people, as I was happy to call you; I am no longer your pastor. But allow me to say that, as a family, we have, and shall continue to have, while life shall last, very
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DR. STEELE'S LETTER.
precious memories of this church and congregation. Ten of the best years of my life were spent among you. For your uniform attention and love, and for your unnumbered acts of thoughtful kindness and tender ministrations, I thank God, and I thank you. Never can we possibly forget the unwearying assiduity, with which you strove to relieve my distress, during those long and weary months which immediately followed the afflictive dis- pensation by which I was brought low. These countless acts of affectionate regard at your hands, are engraven upon the tablets of memory, never to be effaced. Truer and more constant friends we have never had, nor shall ever find in this world. But we have parted-
" Time can never Bring the fadedpast again. Like the wave of some lone river, It is buried in the main. We have parted, yet we linger Where the light of memory plays, As that wizard, solemn finger Wanders back to other days. Then farewell, yet oh, Watch o'er us, Father, On the land or sea ; Till the weary way before us Bears us up, at last, to Thee.
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. May the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlast- ing covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ.
Affectionately, JOHN STEELE.
Dr. Steele died at his home in Newark, N. J., January 17, 1889.
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DR. ZABRISKIE'S LETTER.
LETTER FROM REV. F. N. ZABRISKIE, D.D.
PRINCETON, N. J., Nov. 15, 1887. Mr. J. P. Van Ness, Sec'y.
DEAR SIR :- I thank you for your courteous invitation to be present at the centennial celebration of the Reformed Church of East Greenbush on the 16th and 17th of this month. I regret that I am unable to attend an occasion of so much interest to myself, as well as to those who are more immediately concerned. I have never been at your church or village, but they are both of them sacred places in my associations and my affection. There my venerated grandfather, James V. C. Romeyn, began his ministry; and there my mother, his eldest child, was born. There also one whom I loved and honored as an uncle, the Rev. Dr. Benj. C. Taylor, began his long and useful work as a pastor.
Of the latter two, I do not suppose that I can add anything but my personal tribute of reverence and affection to what will be told by the historian, the preacher, and others who shall be present at the centennial observance. I knew my grandfather only in his last years of extreme infirmity, both of body and mind, and I was then a very little boy. But I have the vision before my memory of a beautiful old man, with a face as pure and beaming as a child's, and yet moving about in his decrepi- tude with the dignity of a patriarch.
Of my mother, it would not become me to speak at length, or to utter the feelings of my heart. I wish merely to say that in force of character, in strength and quickness of mind, in vivacity and sensibleness of conversation, and above all, in nobility, generosity and humble piety of spirit, she was one whom Greenbush may well be proud to claim as a daughter, even as I am proud to call her my mother.
May God grant to old Greenbush Church many such pastors as Romeyn and Taylor in the coming century; many such min- isters' wives as Susan Van Vranken Romeyn and Anna Romeyn Taylor; and many such ministers' danghters as Susan Van
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DR. GRIFFIS' LETTER.
Campen Romeyn, the wife of George Zabriskie, and the mother of
Yours faithfully,
FRANCIS NICOLL ZABRISKIE.
Rev. F. N. Zabriskie, D.D., died at Princeton, N. J., May 13, 1891, in the 60th year of his age.
LETTER READ FROM DR. GRIFFIS.
BOSTON, Sept. 19, '87.
Mr. Jesse P. Van Ness, Cor. Sec'y, Centennial Committee, East Greenbush Reformed Church .:
DEAR SIR :- Reading in the Christian Intelligencer of the centennial celebration of the East Greenbush Reformed Church, to be held November 17, the memory of very pleasant days spent among your people during the years 1866 and '67 came vividly to my mind, and I cannot forbear sending you greetings and good wishes.
While a student in Rutgers College, I visited the home of my classmate, now the Rev. Edward Lodewick, and enjoyed the hospitalities of several of the good people of the congregation, and of the pastor, Rev. William Anderson, and his family. I remember speaking in the Sabbath School several times, and I think also on my return from Japan, eight years later, I lectured in the church, and again met some of the people.
It is because I have such a happy remembrance of the church and people that I am tempted to add my testimony to the warm- heartedness of the East Greenbush people, and to say that I have a love for the Reformed Church which prompts me to join with you in spirit on your centennial anniversary day, and pray for a continuance of the Divine favor upon you all as you enter upon your second century of history.
In sincere sympathy with your honored pastor in his affliction, I remain, with a warm love for the Reformed Church, and in the patience and kingdom of Jesus Christ,
WM. ELLIOT GRIFFIS,
Pastor of the Shawmut Congregational Church, Boston, formerly domine of the Reformed Church, Schenectady, N. Y.
JEREMIAH F. YATES.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
BY REV. JEREMIAH F. YATES.
T HE Banian, the sacred fig tree of India, is a thing of centuries. It is a spectacle of wonder and beauty, a pillared temple of the plain, car- peted with verdure, ceiled with foliage and frescoed with flowers and fruit. The beasts of the field seek its grateful shade, fowls of varied wing find refuge in its mazy depths and feed upon its perennial sup- plies. Every bough is at once a result and a factor. Not content to be only a bough, it bends to the ground as if in prayer, and the answering earth draws down its fibers into roots and starts a new trunk into the air world. And the process has no end. All other trees bear in themselves the sen- tence of their decay and death; but this mysterious growth from an unreckoned Past multiplies with every year and argues immortality. Men may die, empires dissolve and time change the face of the world itself, but this wondrous tree, before which from time out of mind the Hindoo has knelt in prayer, proves to him its divinity by its constant, silent, certain triumphs over all the years. The lightning is a plaything for the mighty grove, the hurricane a welcome refreshment, and the very earthquake but quickens its roots.
[5]
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Every column of this verdant temple is alive, and the passing seasons witness its increment of girth and power. "The trees of the Lord are full of sap." The apothecaries' art has turned its products into medicine, and "the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." Is not this vision of beauty, this tent for an army, this retreat for the unfallen sparrow, this laden table spread in the wilderness for the lowly families of animated na- ture, this Tree of Life, a shadow of the church ? "Behold," said Jesus, "the fig tree !"
In the story of this church's visible life we shall find an example of the force of the Kingdom of God in human hearts bearing fruit, through His grace, in multitudes of regenerated human lives.
The past of the Reformed Dutch Church of Greenbush ("Greene-Bos") is interwoven with the whole history of this region. In A. D. 1652-one hundred and thirty-five years previous to the organization of this church, and one hundred and forty years before the township was created-Ger- rit Smith was commissioned from the church in Holland to perform ministerial duties here. Nor was he the first. His commission reads: "He shall use for his dwelling the house formerly used by the former preacher, situated in Greenbush, and there reside with his family and exercise his afore- said office ("Schout ") with all due diligence and
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
fidelity, according to the laws, edicts and ordinances already or to be enacted there. * * Having arrived, with God's help, at the island of Manhat- tan, he shall proceed by the first opportunity to the colony and report himself to Jan Baptist Van Rensselaer and make known to him his quality by exhibition of his commission and instructions. He shall above all things take care that divine worship shall be maintained in said colony conformably to the Reformed religion in this country, as the same is publicly taught in these United Provinces. He shall in like manner pay attention that the Lord's Day, the Sabbath of the New Testament, be prop- erly respected, both by the observance of hearing the Holy Word as well as the preventing all unnec- essary and daily labor on that day. And whereas, it is a scandal that the Christians should mingle themselves unlawfully with the wives or daughters of the heathen, the officer shall labor to put in exe- cution the placards and ordinances enacted or to be enacted against the same, and strictly exact the fines imposed hereby without any dissimulation."
He was to receive for his services one hundred and fifty dollars, all fines and penalties amounting to ten guilders, or under, and one-third of all in ex- cess of that amount .*
The province was known as Rensselaerwyck, and
* Sylvester's History of Rensselaer County.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
its settlement was coeval with that of Beaverwyck, or Albany. It is believed that divine worship was held in "Greene Bos" as early as at any point north of Manhattan Island. The land on this side the river was so superior to that on the west that patroon Van Rensselaer encouraged the earlier set- tlements here. He was a strong adherent of the Church of Holland, and as we have seen, the min- ister sent from the Netherlands was accredited to him. There is an authentic old record to the pur- port that timber for a church edifice was sent from Holland to Greenbush several years before the first church was erected at Albany. For some unknown reason the design was not carried out, and the tim- ber was used in the construction of "an old-fash- ioned low-eaved barn of sixty by seventy feet dimensions, which was consumed in a great fire in the village." * The church was to have been built on Douw's Point, within the limits of East Green- bush, and would have taken the place of the room, whatever it was, in which public worship had been held from the beginning.
So this territory on which we stand is not only among the earliest occupied by white men on the American Continent as their home, but probably antedates all other places, except Jamestown, Ply- mouth and Manhattan, in stated Christian worship. Just as the council fires of the Mohicans died out,
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
another fire was kindled on this spot, which for two hundred and fifty years has gladdened the eyes and warmed the hearts of thousands, and has drawn us together to-day.
It is also matter for gratitude and honest pride that this land on which we were born and on which our churches are builded, was not stolen from the aborigines, nor seized as the spoils of unjust war- fare, but was bought and paid for by Mr. Van Rens- selaer before he set up his manorial title. The Mohican chief, Narranemit, conveyed for a price by regular deed, signed with his own hand, his grounds called "Semessick," and which included Greenbush. This was followed a few years later by his purchase of all the lands back into the interior claimed by the Indian grantors, and with his previous pur- chase he thus became proprietor of a tract of coun- try twenty-four by forty-eight miles in extent, containing some seven hundred thousand acres, now comprising the counties of Albany and Rens- selaer, and a portion of Columbia.
But though with old Dutch honesty the territory had been purchased of the occupying tribe of Mo- hicans, other red men of the woods were found to dispute with the settlers pre-emptive rights, and much of this land was purchased of different Indian claimants several times over. Alarms were not in- frequent, and no house was safe without weapons
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
of defence. The soil in this region was so wonder- fully favorable to the production of Indian corn, that the savages were reluctant to give it up. The most famous of many rich tracts was the cornfield on the Evert O. Lansing farm. On one occasion several men returning from the cornfield to the old " Bomb Barrack "-still standing and occupied, two hundred and fifty years old, on Staats' Island- were waylaid by savages near the David Rector place, a couple of miles from this spot. Several were killed and others wounded. In 1777 a man from Scott's Corners, named Shans, had started for Albany with a load of wheat, accompanied by a negro. They were set on by Indians and both were killed and scalped. The frightened horses ran to the residence of Mr. Lansing, thus convey- ing the dreadful news.
There are many such traditions of those days, and it is little wonder that the stern old settlers deemed the life of a hostile Indian forfeited on sight. There is a story of a brave old believer in fore-ordination, that when starting out to go to another settlement-Scott's Corners or Nassau, per- haps-he carefully prepared his gun and ammuni- tion for the journey. His grown-up boys, thinking to make a point against their father, rallied him on his precautions. "No matter about the gun, father," they said; "you know you won't die till
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
your time comes !" "Yes, yes I know that," said the sharp old man, "but suppose I should leave my gun at home and then meet an Indian in the woods yonder, and his time had come, what then ?" If the savages ever imagined they could frighten a Dutchman off from land he had bought and paid for, their delusion cost them dear.
The tribe of the Mohicans claimed that theirs was among the most ancient of all aboriginal nations. "One of their traditions was to the purport that many many moons before the white man came, their ancestors had lived in a far-off country to the west, beyond the mighty rivers and mountains, at a place where the waters constantly moved to and fro, and that, in the belief that there existed away toward the rising sun a red man's paradise-a land of deer and salmon and beaver-they had traveled on towards the east and south to find it, but that they were scourged and divided by famine, so that it was not until after long and weary journeyings they came at length to this broad and beautiful river which forever ebbed and flowed like the waters from which they had come; and that here amidst a profusion of game and fish they rested, and found that Indian elysium of which they dreamed before they left their old homes in the land of the setting sun."*
* Sylvester's History of Rensselaer County.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
This plausible legend may never be verified, but it is none the less true that this land of the Mohi- cans was a spot of rare fertility. They reared immense crops of corn, and this cereal which will always bear the Indian name, seems to have fur- nished them with the larger part of their food sup- plies. A shoulder-blade of the moose or deer, or a clam-shell rudely fastened to a stick, was the imple- ment of agriculture, and as a fertilizer a fish was buried in each hill of corn. The words hominy and succotash are of Indian origin.
The entire work of planting and harvesting the crop was done by women, the men reserving to themselves the raising of tobacco as too sacred for women to use or handle.
Not only the field, but forest and flood yielded generous supplies. The river and stream abounded with fish, and the moose and deer, beaver, bear, wild turkey, pigeon and partridge, nuts, berries and roots furnished exhaustless luxuries with little toil.
The first name given by white men to this terri- tory we call Greenbush was De Laet's Burg, so called in honor of the historian of Hendrick Hud- son's expedition up the river in September, 1609. Hudson anchored on the eighteenth of that month at a point opposite the present site of Castleton, according to his own account. He came ashore, and the famous navigator was probably the first
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
white man to set foot upon this soil. The historian, De Laet, gives the following interesting extract from Hudson's journal of the incident :
"I sailed to the shore in one of their canoes with an old man who was chief of a tribe consisting of forty men and seventeen women. These I saw there in a house well constructed of oak bark and circular in shape, so that it had the appearance of being built with an arched roof. It contained a great quantity of Indian corn and beans of the last year's growth, and there lay near the house, for the purpose of drying, enough to load three ships, beside what was growing in the fields. On our coming into the house two mats were spread out to sit upon, and some food was immediately served in well-made red wooden bowls. Two men were also despatched at once with bows and arrows in quest of game, who soon brought in a pair of pigeons which they had shot. They likewise killed a fat dog and skinned it in great haste with shells which they had got out of the water. They sup- posed that I would remain with them for the night, but I returned after a short time on board the ship. The land is the finest for cultivation that I ever in my life set foot upon, and it also abounds in trees of every description. These natives are a very good people, for when they saw that I would not remain with them they supposed that I was afraid
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
of their bows, and taking their arrows they broke them in pieces and threw them into the fire."
This was in Greenbush, about two miles from this spot, and about three hundred years ago.
The navigator who thus becomes related to us in an interesting way, continued up the river in his ship, the Half Moon, to the head of tide-water, as is supposed, near where the Mohawk empties into the Hudson. He named the river with a fitness better than he knew-The River of the Mountains.
In his brief history of East Greenbush, Mr. Sylvester gives the following description from "Dwight's Travels in 1798," showing that Hudson's estimate of its great fertility was justified in the lapse of time, and affording an interesting glimpse into the ways of our forefathers :
" After crossing the ferry at Albany, we rode over a charming interval at Greenbush, handsomer and more fertile than any I had seen on this road. It extends several miles toward the south and is divided into beautiful farms and planted in a thin dispersion with houses and outbuildings, whose ap- pearance sufficiently indicated the easy circum- stances of their proprietors. From the excellent gardens which I have at times seen in this spot and the congeniality of the soil to every hortulan pro- duction of this climate, I should naturally have believed that the inhabitants would have supplied
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
the people of Albany with vegetables. Instead of this, they are principally furnished by the Shakers of New Lebanon,-a strong proof of the extreme reluctance with which the Dutch farmers quit their ancient customs, even when allured by the pros- pects of superior gain."
From the old records in the office of the Patroon, it appears that this little village, now called East Greenbush, was settled as early as 1630. No docu- ments or legends of its founding are known to exist, and the ancient date alone survives to remind us that more than a quarter of a millennium has passed since white men first climbed this healthful hill to build, to plant, and, let us believe, to pray.
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