USA > New York > Rensselaer County > East Greenbush > History of the Reformed church, at East Greenbush, Rensselaer County, New York > Part 5
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But one hundred years ago this ground was the scene of notable events. The wilderness had blos- somed. A plain structure of forty or forty-five feet square, with gambrel roof fronting the north, and with main entrance on the east side, had been erected the year before, and was now filled with substantial-looking men and women, bearing an aspect of unwonted and earnest interest. A pass- ing Indian might have wondered at the sight, and indeed a pale-faced stranger would have fain paused to inquire, What did it all mean ? The people needed houses to dwell in, and shelter for harvest and herd. But this building is neither dwelling nor barn. Nothing like it was ever seen in the
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region before. Let us enter and look and listen. A man of reverend aspect, fifty years of age, is standing in an elevated inclosure, speaking. It is Dr. Eilardus Westerlo, for thirty years pastor of the First Reformed Dutch Church of Albany, and he is giving a name to the edifice. He calls it a " House of Prayer," and says in subdued tones, as if he felt the Unseen Presence, "Let us pray !" Every head is bowed in worship as the venerable man invokes a benediction, offers thanks for the providence that has crowned the building enter- prise, implores that wisdom may be given to the people in their purpose to establish here a new church of Christ, and prays for its future pros- perity. We and our fathers and our children were included in that prayer, precious answers to which the heavens have now been shedding upon three generations.
And the time was auspicious. It was four years after the close of the Revolutionary war and the treaty of peace with Great Britain, and John Adams had been accredited to England as ambassa- dor from the United States of America. Three days after this church was organized, the American Federal Constitution was adopted at Philadelphia, and peace and hope reigned everywhere. The thirty years' war of "Coetus " and "Conferentie " in the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in
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America, on the question of education and ordina- tion of ministers in Holland or here-a contro- versy which "Old Colony " Zabriskie designates as the "Guelph and Ghibeline war of our church " -- a controversy which was so sharp that it alienated very friends and divided families, and so prolonged that it threatened ultimate ruin-had been amica- bly settled by the consent of the mother church in Holland to the independence of that in America. It was sixty-seven years after the incorporation of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of America by King George the First, and five years after the commencement of preaching in English in Albany -" a half day each Sabbath." But it was ten years before the building of the North Dutch Church on Pearl street, fourteen years before the "Albany and Boston turnpike" was laid out, forty-three years before the "Greenbush and Schodack Acad- emy" was built, and five years before Greenbush was organized into a town.
It is greatly to be regretted that the records of our churches are so generally incomplete. During a few of your pastorates the journals were scrupu- lously kept, but of others scarcely a page of history remains.
And it has also seemed to be specially unfortu- nate that since this celebration was finally resolved on, the church had been closed for extensive re-
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pairs, with no meeting of the congregation for nearly three months. With a scattered flock, with- out a shepherd, little could be done to supplement imperfect records by those vivid traditions born of courage, of sacrifice, of zeal and devotion, of joy and triumph, which, when left to unwritten history, are so often left to die. A pastor mingling with the people might have chronicled many an inci- dent which drew a tear, evoked a prayer or inspired a song in this dear old church, which it has been impossible for your historian in his limited time to procure. But it is matter for devout thankfulness to our fathers' God that in the flying years, and frequent pastoral changes, so much of authentic history remains. And the historian trusts that though like the books of the Apocrypha, his story is uninspired, yet like those writings it may be accounted useful as history. " And if I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desired : but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain to."-II. Maccabees, XV. 38.
ORGANIZATION.
The "Reformed Protestant Low Dutch Church of Greene-Bos, in the manor of Rensselaerwyck and county of Albany," was organized in the "new- ly-built House of Prayer," on the fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
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seven hundred and eighty-seven, by enrollment of the following membership :
Harmon Van Hoesen,
Yachem Staats,
Peter M. Van Buren,
Jonathan Witbeck,
Barent C. Van Buren,
Benjamin Van De Berg,
Christopher Yates en vrouw, Catrina Lansingh,
Kasparus Witbeck,
John Lansing,
Abraham Cooper,
Jacob Ostrander,
Gerard Ostrander,
Thomas Mesick en vrouw, Maria Wiesener,
Melchert Vanderpool,
George Shordenbergh,
Matthew Shordenbergh,
Abraham Ostrander en vrouw, Elizabeth Os- trander,
Petrus Ham,
John Muller en vrouw.
The edifice had been erected in the previous year upon this spot, which is four miles southeast of the city of Albany, and two miles distant from the Hudson river, on a highway afterwards known as the Albany and Boston Turnpike.
The record of the meeting is in the Holland lan-
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guage and is very beautifully written. It is our most important document to-day and must be given entire. Here is the translation :
"The persons who have anxiously made their request of the Consistory of the Reformed Dutch Church of Albany, to the end that a Reformed Dutch Church might be organized in this place for which to elect a Consistory, have for this pur- pose been called to meet together to-day, and did meet in the newly-built house of prayer, when Rev. Dr. Westerlo, after calling upon God's name, made a short address to the people and earnestly re- quested all the male members who were present, that they should elect from among them, in the presence of the whole congregation, three Elders and three Deacons. Accordingly the following per- sons were unanimously elected :
Peter M. Van Buren, Abraham Cooper,
Abraham Ostrander, John E. Lansing,
Casparus Witbeck,
Christopher Yates, Elders. Deacons.
" The which were presented before the congrega- tion to learn if they had any objection why these persons should not be lawfully ordained, and no objection being made, these persons were accord- ingly ordained to their respective offices, after which the whole congregation, having with one
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accord invoked God's blessing upon the further upbuilding of their society, were dismissed.
" Whereupon the newly-ordained Consistory unitedly concluded to keep themselves by the constitution of the Reformed Dutch Church in the Synod of Dort, in the years 1618 and '19, bound in union with the Christian synod of the Dutch churches in the States of New York and New Jersey, and belonging to the Classis of Albany.
"There was also present with us Mr. Henry Schermerhorn, an Elder of Schodack, saying that other members of their Consistory were hindered from coming here with him for the purpose, if pos- sible, to unite themselves with this society in the calling of one pastor for both societies. Upon which the Consistory of Greenbush proceeded to send a call to Dr. Peter Lowe as shepherd and pas- tor of this society, to attend to the service of the Lord every other Lord's day for the yearly income of £80.
"The aforesaid Elder certified that the Con- sistory of the society of Schodack had resolved on their part to furnish the half of the salary, with a dwelling for the minister at Schodack, or wherever his honor might choose, with the necessary fuel.
" Upon which the Rev. Mr. Westerlo was re- quested to write out a call, and also to state that for further emergency, they would on each New [6]
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Year's day make him a present of £10, each society giving £5.
"The limits of this congregation, to distinguish it from that of Schodack, are the house of Jonathan Witbeck at the river, and from there to the house of Casparus Lodewick, and as far north as the com- monly-called Jan Vorms padt; and that any who lived within the aforesaid limits, and who belonged to the church in Albany could, if they so desired, remain in that church as long as they thought it best to do so."
So much was done the first day. The next rec- ord is as follows :
"January, 1788. As Mr. Lowe did not accept the aforesaid call, we, the Consistory of this society, with those of Schodack, have extended a call upon Dr. Jacobus Van Campen Romeyn, which was as follows :
"' The Rev. Jacobus Van Campen Romeyn, S. S. Ministerial Candidate. We, the undersigned, Eld- ers and Deacons of the Low Dutch Reformed Socie- ties of Schodack and Greenbush, in the State of New York, together united and in the fear of God, have met together and have unanimously concluded to extend to your honour, as you will see by the opening of this signed and sealed letter, our choice of you to be the Ordinary shepherd and teacher of the two afore-mentioned communities for the hon- our of God and our mutual benefit, so that your
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honour will be obliged to preach to us twice each Lord's day, once in the Dutch and once in the Eng- lish language, by turns to the different communi- ties ; and afternoons as customary to preach from the Heidelbergh Catechism, and also upon the feast days to administer the Holy Sacraments, to work for the welfare of the church, to catechise the young, and to perform all things according to the Requirements of a faithful minister of the Gospel, according to the Rule of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Synod of Dort, in the years 1618 and '19, confirmed and united with the Christian Synod of the Reformed Dutch Churches in the States of New York and New Jersey. For which services faithfully discharged, we, the undersigned, Elders and Deacons, each for our respective socie- ties, promise, and also our successors promise, and bind ourselves to pay to your honour yearly, and that in two equal parts, the full salary amount of one hundred and fifty pounds in legal coin of the State of New York, each society to pay the sum of seventy-five pounds, and also to furnish a Respecta- ble Residence at Schodack or wheresoever your honour might choose, with its privileges.
"' May the Lord who alone is good persuade your honour to follow in His fear upon this our Call, and come over to us in the full blessing of the Gospel.
.
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"' Written, signed and sealed this Day. Nov. 28th, 1787.
And'w. Ten Eyck, Peter M. Van Buren,
Jacobus V. D. Pool,
John H. Beekman,
Abraham Ostrander, Chris'r. Yates,
Jacob C. Schermerhorn,
Abraham Cooper,
Roelef Jansen,
Casparus Witbeck,
Dan'l. Schermerhorn,
John E. Lansing,
Maus Van Buren, Von Schodack.' Von Greenbush.
" Upon the first day of May, 1788, it pleased the Lord to persuade the afore-mentioned teacher to ac- cept the call of the afore-mentioned societies and come over to them, and he was ordained and installed on the fifteenth day of June, in the church of Green- bush, by the Rev. Dr. Dr. Dr. Thomas Romeyn, Dirk Romeyn and Eilardus Westerlo, the sermon being delivered by Dr. D. Romeyn, from Col. IV. 17 : 'And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.'
" The aforesaid call was accepted with the fol- lowing additions :
"1. While it is customary in the Low Dutch Reformed Church to allow the minister some Sun- days on which he may vacate himself and have for his own, and the said call not mentioning any, we, the ordained Consistory, grant that whenever their minister thought it necessary to be absent from his people, he was at liberty to do so.
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"2. The Consistory also resolved and promised that in addition to the afore-mentioned salary they would furnish for their minister pasture for his stock.
" As the selection of a residence was left to the choice of their minister, so his honour chose to reside at Schodack; accordingly the Consistory of Schodack took upon themselves the necessary prepa- ration of the dwelling and paying all the expenses of the same without the help of the society of Greenbush."
The last chronicle of this notable first year relates to the methods adopted for revenue, and shows that the spirit of harmony and brotherhood reigned in the church.
"1788. In Consistory. Present : Jacobus Van Campen Romeyn, V. D. M.
Elders.
Deacons.
Abraham Ostrander,
John E. Lansing.
Peter M. Van Buren,
Abraham Cooper,
Chris'r. Yates,
Casparus Witbeck.
" DISPOSING OF SEATS.
"1. As the house of worship being erected is now finished, the Consistory thought it proper that the seats should be sold.
"2. That the money proceeding from this sale should be applied toward paying off the debt made by the building of the church ..
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"3. That each seat should be taxed with the yearly rental of three shillings, and that the above-named rent should be merged in the subscription list for salary; of course as much as any should be in- debted for their rent, it would be discounted from the Subscription list, and if the rent should exceed his subscription, he is required to pay the full amount of said seat and be discharged from his subscription.
"4. And that in case a seat should be sold or transferred over to another by an occupant, it should be signed over to the buyer, for the regis- tering of which he would be required to pay the amount of four shillings to the Consistory.
"5. That notice should be given from the pulpit about the foregoing resolutions three Sundays pre- viously, and the time for the sale should be fixed upon Wednesday, at which time the conditions would be made known to all who should be present.
" And after rendering thanks to God, the whole assembly took leave, one of the other, in Peace and Love. J. P. JACOBUS ROMEYN."
(In a subsequent note dated " Wednesday, 1788," it is said that the sale was held according to the above resolutions, and that the minister was "re- quested to make a register of the seats sold and to write them down in the Church Book." This " register " has not been preserved).
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Another event of historic importance occurred this year. On the twelfth of August the church was duly incorporated under the statute, six days previous to the incorporation of the older church of Schodack. The title assumed was: "The Minis- ter, Elders and Deacons of the Reformed Prot- estant Dutch Church of Greenbush, in the County of Albany." This was ratified by record in the office of the County Clerk of the county of Albany on September 12th of the same year. (The title was altered by act of the Legislature February 7th, 1807, to: "The Reformed Protestant Dutch Congrega- tion of Greenbush, in the County of Rensselaer.")
Copy of record in book entitled "Church Patents No. 1."
" 23. Whereas, by virtue of an Act entitled 'An Act making such alterations in the Act for incor- porating religious societies as to render the same more convenient to the Reformed Protestant Dutch Congregations, passed the 7th day of March, 1788, we, the subscribers, Jacobus Vc. Romeyn, Minister, Christopher Yates, Abraham Ostrander and Peter M. Van Buren, Elders, and Abraham Cooper, Kas- parus Witbeck and John E. Lansing, Deacons, of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church or Congre- gation lately formed and established at Greenbush, in the county of Albany, having assembled together at the said church on this 12th day of August,
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1788, by virtue of the said Act, do by these pres- ents certify that the trustees of the said Church or Congregation and their successors forever, shall as a body corporate be called, distinguished and known by the style and title of the Minister, Elders and Deacons of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, of Greenbush, in the county of Albany. In witness whereof, we, the said Minister, Elders and Deacons have hereunto set our hands and seals the day and year last above written.
JACOBUS VC. ROMEYN, [L.S.] CHRISTOPHER YATES, [L.S.] ABRAHAM OSTRANDER, [L.S.] PETER M. VAN BUREN, [L.S.] ABRAHAM COOPER, [L.S.] his KASPARUS X WITBECK, [L.S. ] mark. JOHN E. LANSING. [L.S.]
Signed and sealed
in the presence of us, § ANTHONY BREES, JAS. MCKOWN.
"Be it remembered, that on the 12th day of Sep- tember, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, personally appeared before me, John M. Beekman, Esquire, one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the city and county of Albany, Anthony Brees, one of the subscribing witnesses to the within instrument,
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who, being duly sworn, says that he saw Jacob. Vc. Romeyn, Christopher Yates, Abraham Ostran- der, Abraham Cooper, Casparus Witbeck and John E. Lansing, sign, seal and deliver the within instru- ment for the uses and purposes therein mentioned, and that he, this deponent, together with James McKown, respectively, subscribed their names thereto as witnesses; and I, having perused the same and finding therein no erasures, interlinea- tions or obliterations, do allow the same to be recorded.
JOHN M. BEEKMAN."
In the same book of "Church Patents" is the record of Incorporation of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Schodack, on the 18th of August, 1788, signed, sealed and attested as follows :
"JAC. VC. ROMEYN, [L.S.] ANDRUS TEN EYCK, [L.S.] JOHN H. BEEKMAN, [L.S.] JACOB C. SCHERMERHORN, [L.S.] JACOBUS VANDER POOL, [L.S.] DANIEL SCHERMERHORN, [L.S.] JOHN J. VAN VOLKENBURGH, [L.S. ] MAES VAN BUREN, [L.S.] ROELEF JOHNSON, [L.S.] "
"Signed and sealed 1 in the presence of us, ANTHONY TEN EYCK, CORNS. SCHERMERHORN.
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ALTERING OF CORPORATE NAME.
The organization of the County of Rensselaer in 1791, and some ecclesiastical changes also, made it desirable to alter the title of church corporation. This was done in the twentieth year of its history.
LAWS OF NEW YORK, A. D. 1807. Passed the 30th Session, 1807. MORGAN LEWIS, ESQUIRE, Governor.
(Copied in office of Secretary of State, Sept. 21st, A. D. 1887, from volume entitled "Printed copy of the Laws, 24.")
"CHAPTER III.
" An act to alter the name of the incorporation of the Dutch congregation of Greenbush, in the county of Rensselaer.
(Preamble stating that the name of the incorpora- tion has become inapplicable) :
" Whereas, the minister, elders and deacons of the Dutch congregation of Greenbush, in the county of Rensselaer, have, by their petition to the legislature, stated that their said congregation was incorporated agreeable to the directions of an act entitled, 'An act making such alterations in the act for incorporating religious societies, as to render the same more convenient to the reformed prot-
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estant Dutch congregations, passed the seventh day of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty- eight,' and that the said incorporation took place at the time when the said town of Greenbush formed a part of the county of Albany, and that they assumed the name of the minister, elders and deacons of the reformed protestant Dutch church of Greenbush, in the county of Albany ; therefore,
"Be it enacted by the people of the state of New York, represented in senate and assembly, That the said congregation shall hereafter be distin- guished and known by the name of 'the reformed protestant Dutch congregation of Greenbush, in the county of Rensselaer.'
"STATE OF NEW YORK.
In Assembly, February 7th, 1807. This bill having been read the third time- Resolved, That the bill do pass. By order of the Assembly,
A. M. CARD, Speaker.
"STATE OF NEW YORK. In Senate, February 10th, 1807. This bill having been read the third time- Resolved, That the bill do pass. By order of the Senate,
JNO. BROOME, Presid't.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
"IN COUNCIL OF REVISION. February the 20th, 1807.
Resolved, That it does not appear improper to the council that this bill should become a law of this state.
MORGAN LEWIS."
One hundred years, 1,200 months, 5,200 weeks, 36,500 days, 876,000 hours, 52,569,000 minutes, 3,153,600,000 heart-beats! This is a century in simple outline, but who can begin to tell the sum of the life of a christian church for a hundred years ?
Brethren, in this period the Divine Master has sent you twelve apostles, with an average pastorate of one hundred months. Ten of them are dead- as much as such men can die-and one of the survivors has been touched by the beckoning finger of God. To eight of the number this was their first pastorate, whose ages at installation averaged about twenty-three years. To two others this was their fourth charge; to one the fifth, and to one the seventh, and it is believed that none of the twelve had reached the age of twenty-four years at the time of his ordination. The shortest pastoral term was two and a half years, and the longest seventeen and a half. Of the ten deceased, their average natural life was sixty-eight years, and that of their ministerial life forty-five years. None
.......
J. V. C. ROMEYN. From Oil Painting in Chapel of Rutgers College.
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have died here; but the baby dust of a child of Dr. Marselus, and one of Dr. Liddell lies under the shadow of this sanctuary.
THE FIRST PASTOR.
1788-1799.
Jacobus Van Campen Romeyn was called Nov. 28th, 1787, and dismissed to accept a call to the church of Hackensack, N. J., in the spring or sum- mer of 1799. He served the latter church thirty- five years, when he was stricken with partial paraly- sis and soon afterward resigned his charge. He halted upon his thigh for eight years and then fell asleep.
He was a son of Rev. Thomas Romeyn, who, with his brother Theodoric, was the first of a line of ministers whose names are justly household words of pride in the Reformed Dutch Church of America. Here is the list by direct male descent : Thomas, James Van Campen, James and Theodore B .; while the Taylors, Zabriskies, Danforths and Berrys, and I know not how many to whom their daughters transmitted faith like an heir-loom, adorn just as brightly the history of our Zion.
His wife, Susan Van Vranken, was born at Sche- nectady Feb. 9th, 1771. They were married May 29th, 1788, just after his installation, when he was in his twenty-third and she in her eighteenth year.
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In their family Bible, now in the possession of their grandson, Rev. F. N. Zabriskie, of Princeton, N. J., is the following record :
Children Born.
Susan Van Campen, February 6th, 1790.
Harriet,
June 19th, 1792.
Maria,
October 23d, 1794.
James,
September 30th, 1797.
Anna,
May 11th, 1800.
Elizabeth, July 3d, 1802.
Caroline,
December 10th, 1807.
Thos. Theodore,
August 22d, 1810.
Sarah, February 22d, 1813.
None of these children are now living. Four of them were born during Mr. Romeyn's ministry here-Susan, Harriet, Maria and James. Of this James, Dr. Corwin, author of the " Manual of the Reformed Church in America," says he became "perhaps the most eloquent of our preachers-a flame of fire in the pulpit." Anna, the fifth child, was the wife of your fifth pastor, Rev. B. C. Tay- lor, and the mother and grandmother of ministers.
The joy expressed by the Consistory that the Lord had "persuaded " this man to listen to their call, was amply justified in the sequel. For in that early day, and during his ministry of eleven years, one hundred and eighty-five persons were added to
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this church alone. The church books of Schodack, where he also served, are lost, and those of Wynantskill, where he preached the remaining five years, are either lost or are inaccessible. If anything like a similar prosperity prevailed in those communities-which seems probable, for in six years Schodack was erected into a separate charge-it would show that his labor here was not only the most fruitful this region has ever known, but also one of the most remarkable in the whole denominational annals. Early in his pastorate the church found it necessary to increase the number of elders and deacons to the full constitutional limit, to meet the growing wants of the congrega- tion. His watchful eye must have been upon every man, woman and child in his whole parish, and he left no means unemployed to win them to
the service of his Master. No one now living in this congregation can remember his ministry here, which terminated eighty-eight years ago, but the fruit of it is all around us. He wrote, with a beau- tiful hand, the first records of this church-your book of Genesis-and his personal piety and fruit- ful life show that, like his Master, he " was in the beginning with God." The first of the twelve apostles whom the Lord has sent you, he was a magnate fit to lead the noble procession. His veins were full of the blood of the prophets. His
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