USA > New York > Orange County > Newburgh > Newburgh; her institutions, industries and leading citizens, historical, descriptive and biographical > Part 24
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" I replied, ' Father, I am ready.'
" He tried to dissuade me from an immediate decision. But I re- plied I was as ready to decide now as I would ever be.
"' And what,' said he, 'is your decision?'
" I said, ' Give me the books.'
"Well,' said he, ' go and bring home your effects from the store, and you must remain with me on the farm till the Fall harvest is gath- ered in, and then you shall have your discharge.'
" I did as directed; and I do not know that Jacob served his time more cheerfully, in view of obtaining Rachel, than I lahored through the Summer, in prospect of obtaining an education."
Dr. Johnston then entered upon a course of study under the Rev. Jonathan Freeman, of Hopewell Church, and two years later entered the Montgomery Academy, remained two years, and then went to the Kingston Academy. After he had been studying there a few months his father died. His mother was, however, able to supply the means of continuing his education.
In October, 1799, he entered Princeton, and gradnated in 1801. He then went to western Pennsylvania to study theology under Dr. McMillan, and in 1803 he was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Ohio as a candidate for the ministry. His funds becoming ex- hansted, for a year and a half following he was a teacher in a private
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family in Maryland, and then in the Spring of 1805, having replen- ished his purse, he returned to Princeton, and resumed his theological studies. In the Fall he was appointed a tutor in the college.
In October, 1806, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick. Then he returned to his native place, and received appointments to preach in Newburgh, New Windsor, Florida and Pleasant Valley, all of which congregations were then without pas- tors.
From all these churches he received invitations to become their pastor, and he accepted the one from the united churches of Now- burgh and New Windsor. He began his regular service on the Ist of April, 1807, and was ordained and installed the following July at New Windsor.
In January, 1807, he married Mary Bull, and after coming to New- burgh they occupied a small house in Old Town. In 1813 he erected the residence now 273 Liberty Street, between South and Farring- ton, and resided there till his death. His salary at first was $650, of which each congregation paid half. In 1810 he was relieved from the charge of New Windsor, and thereafter he gave his whole service to the Newburgh congregation, at a sal- ary of $750. Here he continued to labor till his death, August 23, 1855.
For thirty-eight years he was a director of the theological seminary at Princeton. He was long the stated clerk of his Presbytery; four- teen times he was a commissioner to the General Assembly. In 1814 he was appointed by the General As- sembly a delegate to the General Association of Massachusetts, and in 1816 a delegate to the General Association of New Hampshire and the General Convention of Vermont. In 1840 he was elected a trustee of the College of New Jersey, and in 1848 Lafayette College conferred on him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity.
"To pursue the history of his ministry in Newburgh would be to rehearse the record of a pure, godly man, whose walk and conversa- tion were without a spot and blame- less, and whose life was a long testimony to the power of simple goodness. He rarely preached a sermon without weeping. But he was sincere. He felt all that he said, and when pleading with sinners to be reconciled to God, and with saints to be more like the Saviour, tears would flow and his voice would break, so that he could scarcely proceed with his dis- course. This was not weakness, for he was not a weak man; he had immense energy, industry and endurance; he went about doing good with vitality and perseverance rarely equalled in the ministry."
REV. WILLIAM K. HALL. D. D., was horn in Boston, Mass., November 4, 1836. He was fitted for college at the Boston Public Latin School, and was graduated from Yale in the class of 1859. After graduating he pursued his theological studies in New Haven, and in Berlin, Germany. In October, 1862, he was ordained a Chaplain of the 17th Connecticut Volunteers. Was installed pastor of the First Congregational Church of Stratford, Conn., in October, 1866. Febru- ary, 1873, he accepted the call of the First Presbyterian Church, of Newburgh, and in the following May was installed.
He was elected Moderator of the New York Synod in 1878. In 1879 he was honored by the President with the appointment as a mem- her of the Board of Visitors at the United States Military Academy, at West Point. Other members of the Board of that year were ex- President Porter, of Yale College, ex-Secretary Windom and General Gordon, formerly Governor of Georgia, and recently elected U. S. Senator from that State, a position which he held when serving on the Board of Visitors. In 1881 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the University of New York.
He married Anna B. Bond, of Boston, and has four daughters and one son. Three of these were born in Newburgh. The following reference to him is made in the Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States:
" Dr. Hall has fine scholarly attainments and a vigorous and healthy intellectual organization. He combines with an earnest and intelligent interest in the various phases of modern thought a wise and strong conservatism. He is decidedly a thinker, and shows his New England training in his lean- ing toward the philosophical and metaphysical aspects of truth. But not less marked are the practical tendencies of his thought, which are always characterized by keen spiritual insight, elevation of tone, width of view, comprehensiveness of grasp and vigorous common sense. His sermons show marks of careful preparation, literary finish, rhetorical power and logical se- quence of thought, and never lack the directness and earnestness and simplicity which distinguish his or- dinary address. His manner in the pulpit is impressive. He combines breadth of sympathy with decision of character and thought. He is a man of public spirit, ready and ef- cient in the support of every public good."
REV. WILLIAM K. HALL, D. D.
Dr. Hall is President of the His- torical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands, and has been prominently connected from the be- ginning with the Associated Chari- ties of Newburgh. He has spoken at many assemblages of his towns- people; he presided and delivered PHOTO. BY ATKINSON, an address at the Religious Cen- tennial at the Armory in 1883, and delivered the principal address at the presentation of the flag by Ellis Post, G. A. R., to the pupils of the Academy, at Washington's Head- quarters, on Memorial Day, 1889.
FIRST ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH.
This congregation was formed in 1798, and legally incorporated February 7, 1803, when Derick Amerman, Hugh Walsh, Daniel Niven, Robert Gourley, Robert Boyd, John Brown, Isaac Belknap, jr., John Coulter and Robert W. Jones were elected trustees. The rul- ing elders were John Currie, Samnel Belknap, Hugh Speir and John Shaw.
The first pastor was the Rev. Robert Kerr, a native of Ireland. He was installed April 6, 1799, and resigned Jannary 14, 1802. The Rev. James Scrimgeour, from Scotland, was installed Angust 11, 1803. He resigned in 1812 to accept the pastorate of the Little Britain Church (founded in 1763), where he remained until his death in 1825. The Rev. A. I. Stansbury was the next pastor; installed December 4,
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1816; resigned April, 1818, and accepted the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church at Albany. The Rev. James Chrystie was in- stalled September 20, 1818, remaining as pastor and winning the warm regard of his congregation until October, 1821, when he joined the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and moved to another city.
His successor, Dr. Joseph McCarrell, commenced his labors as a supply on the 4th of December, 1822. He was installed March, 1823, and served the congregation faithfully for more than forty years. He was succeeded in 1864 by the Rev. Thomas T. Farrington, who died June 5, 1875. He was succeeded by the Rev. John Macnaughtan, December 24, 1875. He resigned to accept the pastorate of a church at Morristown, N. J., and was succeeded by the Rev. R. H. Barr in November, 1888. The present elders are James Cathcart and E. Y. Clarke. Trustees-James McCord, James W. Miller, Archibald Tag- gart, James Cathcart, James F. Templeton, William N. Brown, George R. Mitchell, David Eaton and Charles H. Wise.
The first church stood on the hill west of Renwick's Dock, on a lot given by James Renwick, afterwards forming part of the Captain Robinson farm. It was completed in 1798. As the growth of the vil-
FIRST ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH-Corner of Grand and First Streets.
lage was more toward the north than the south, the church came to be very inconveniently situated for most of its members. In 1821 it was taken down and rebuilt on its present site, the congregation hold- ing services in the meantime in the Academy. The present edifice was dedicated Jannary 4, 1822. The lot on which the church stands was bought of William L. Smith for $900. The lot on which the par- sonage stands, which was erected in 1820, was purchased by the exe- cution of the will of the late Hugh Walsh, who left $1,000 for that purpose, and given to the Trustees of the Associate Reformed Church. The cupola on the church was erected in 1834, and the bell hung therein. The lecture-room was built in 1840. During Mr. Macnangh- tan's pastorate the interior of the church was remodeled, new pews built, the old pulpit at the east end removed, and a new one built at the west end.
Union Church was organized by a colony from this church. In 1858 a large secession of congregations joined with the Associate Church Society and formed the United Presbyterian Society, leaving at this writing but two Associate Reformed churches in the State of
New York, but a large body of the Associate Reformed Church con- tinues in the Southern States.
THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
The theological seminary of the Associate Reformed Church was the first institution of the kind in the United States. The first steps toward its establishment were taken in 1796 on the suggestion of one of its youngest members, Dr. John M. Mason, of New York, then in the early dawn of his brilliant career. He went to the old country and obtained a fund of $5,500, which was chiefly expended in the pur- chase of a noble library. He was chosen to preside over the infant institution, which was first opened in New York. It was very snc- cessful for a time, but suspended in 1821, mainly owing to the failing health of Dr. Mason.
By a vote of the General Synod of the church in 1822 (which a few years afterwards was declared illegal) the library was transferred to the seminary at Princeton.
In 1829 the Associate Reformed Seminary was resuscitated and fixed at Newburgh, and the Rev. Dr. McCarrell was elected professor of theology, and the Rev. Drs. John McJimpsey, Alexander Proudfit, Robert Forrest and D. C. McLaren were chosen superintendents. The following year the necessary steps were taken (after sundry fruit- less appeals to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church) for the recovery of the library and funds removed to Princeton in 1822, and after a protracted lawsuit they were restored to their old owners. The decision then recorded is the law of church properties to this day. The foundation of the seminary was laid in 1837, and the building completed in 1839, and cost, including the land, $25,000. It is 104 front by 40 in depth. It is a stone structure, and stands on the crown of the hill at the head of Campbell Street. Thornton M. Niven was the architect. The land was purchased from Henry Walsh.
In 1858 an organic union was effected between the Associate Pres- byterian Church of North America and the Associate Reformed Church under the title of the United Presbyterian Church. A few congregations of the Associate Reformed Synod refused to enter into this union, one of them being the church at Newburgh. These laid claim to the seminary, but by a snit at law it was decided that the property rightfully belonged to that portion of the Synod, the great majority, which had assented to the union. The use of the building as a seminary ceased several years ago, and it is now rented to Henry W. Siglar for school purposes.
REV. JOSEPH McCARRELL, D. D., was a native of Shippens- burgh, Pa., and was born on the 9th of July, 1795. His parents were warmly attached members of the Associate Reformed Church of that place, and the region was one whose history was connected with the earliest annals of the denomination, in the communion of which Dr. McCarrell lived and died, and for which he had an unchanging affec- tion. His mind was early turned toward the ministry of the gospel, and he entered upon studies preparatory thereto, availing himself of such steps as were within his reach, though in the main he had to depend upon his own efforts, and was in fact, to a great extent, a self-made man,
While preparing himself for college in 1814, the country was elec- trified by the capture of Washington, the burning of the capitol and other public buildings, and the threatened attack on Baltimore. The militia of the adjacent counties of Pennsylvania marched as quickly as possible to the scene of danger. Among them was Joseph Mc- Carrell. For three days and nights the young student-soldier was in the trenches, awaiting the onset of the enemy, and witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry.
He entered Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pa., and was gradnated with high honors in the class of 1815. In 1818 he entered the theological seminary of the Associate Reformed Church, then in New York, under the care of the distinguished Dr. John M. Mason. He brought to the seminary an amount of attainment in certain branches of learning which very few persons possess on leav- ing it, for he had made himself a thorough Hebrew scholar, and had read the whole of the Old Testament in that language. Having fin-
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ished the prescribed course of study, he was licensed by the Presby- tery at Big Spring, Pa., June 21, 1821.
For several months he supplied the Associate Reformed Church in Murray Street, New York (vacant by the resignation of Dr. Mason) with so much acceptance that not a few of its members wished to call him as their pastor. But he was destined to spend his life in another sphere. Declining a call to a church in Hagerstown, Md., at the same time, he was soon after invited to assume pastoral care of the Associate Reformed Church at Newburgh. This invitation he ac- cepted, and was ordained to the gospel ministry and installed pastor March 14, 1823.
His pastorate of this church covered a period of forty-one years. The society though one of the oldest in Newburgh was by no means large when he came, but from that time it steadily advanced in num- bers, and became the mother of two other churches. In 1829 the Seminary, which had been suspended in New York City for some years, was revived, established, and Dr. McCarrell was chosen Professor of Theology by the Associate Reformed Synod of New York. He held this office until a few years before his death, and during that period he had some seventy young men under his care, all of whom ever felt for him the warmest affection because of his rare goodness in every sense of the word, and the highest respect for his intellectual abilities.
As a preacher, he had not a particle of sensationalism about him. In the pulpit he was wholly free from all mannerisms, and usually calm, yet occasionally he would rise to a high strain of pathetic eloquence, showing what a latent power there was in the man. He had a profound reverence for sacred things. The creed he professed was the creed he held with his whole heart, and from which he never varied. The tones of his voice, the changing expressions of his face, the ballad-like simplicity of his lan- guage, all showed the intense reality of his feelings, and hence very readily communi- cated them to others.
" In the discharge of his duties as Pro- fessor." wrote the late Rev. A. B. Jack, "the doctor was chiefly remarkable for the completeness and conscientions thorough- ness of all he undertook. In all that he did he seemed impressed with the profound- est sense of his responsibility, a feeling which grew deeper and deeper as he advanc- ed in life. Of no man could it be more truly said, that whatever his hand found to do he did it with all his might. In his intercourse with students there was always an utter want of display, a noble incapacity of guile, compelling him to seem what he was, Honesty and integrity were the habits of his soul, and one might say of his body, too. The doc- tor was pre-eminently true, unmistakably, invariably, fearlessly true, and he could well afford to be so, for his nature was as gentle as it was genuine."
Dr. McCarrell died at his home in Newburgh, March 28, 1864, aged 68. He had been able to preach in his own pulpit until within three weeks of his decease. The funeral took place Friday, April 1. The services at the house were conducted by the Rev. Dr. Brown, of St. George's Episcopal Church (the neighbor and friend of the deceased for many years), and the Rev. Dr. Krebs, of New York. The services at the church were conducted by the Rev. Joseph Kimball, of Fish- kill, the Rev. Alexander B. Jack, the Rev. G. H. Mandeville and the Rev. Dr. Forsyth, of Newburgh, and the Rev. Dr. Snodgrass, a classmate in college. Father Reilly, of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, was among those who followed the body of Dr. McCarrell to the grave. He asked for himself the privilege of walking in the pro- cession with the other clergy of the town. Ile wished to show this mark of respect for one with whom in life he had held pleasant intercourse.
REV. ROBERT H. BARR, Ph. D.
REV. ROBERT H. BARR, Ph. D .. was born thirty-nine years ago in Glasgow, Scotland, and was brought to this country by his parents when a child. He is a graduate of Rutgers College, and of the theological seminary of the Reformed Church at New Brunswick, N. J. He was pastor of the Owasco Reformed Church, Cayuga County, N. Y., and of the Old Bushwick Reformed Church, of Brook- lyn. He became pastor of the Associate Reformed Church, of New- burgh, in 1888.
FIRST REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
This denomination is historically known as the Covenanter Church of Great Britain; so called because of the public covenants that were entered into in behalf of civil and religious liberty during the Reform- ation in Scotland. In later years it bears the name of the Reformed Presbyterian Church and still manifests some of the spirit and heroic courage of its martyred ancestry in vindicating the claims of Christ as Ruler of the nations as well as King in Zion. In this country the church is the outgrowth of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Great Britain. In the latter part of the 18th century members of this denomi- nation began to settle in the United States, and some of them found a home in Orange County, N. Y., and were organized into a society at Coldenham in 1750 by the Rev. Mr. Cuthbutson, a minister from Scotland.
The first planting of this denomination in Newburgh was in the year 1793, when several families of the Covenanter faith settled in the vicinity and began to hold ser- vices on the Sabbath in their different homes. With the incoming of new families, the little band was strengthened so mater- ially that in 1802 the first Covenanter Soci- ety was organized. The leading members of the organization were Josiah Gailey, Robert Johnston, James Clark, and John Curry. This society became a branch of the Coldenham congregation, in which Mr. Clark, mentioned above, was chosen as an Elder in 1803. For some time this society held services in Mr. Clark's house in Clark Street, which received from him the name it still retains. Afterwards it occupied the old Academy as a place of worship until a church edifice was erected in 1818. For several years this society was ministered to by the fathers in the church; bnt es- pecially by Dr. James Milligan, who was pastor of the Coldenham congregation, and afterwards by his successor, the Rev. J. R. Will- son, D. D., an eminent theologian and a man of commanding pres- ence and of matchless pulpit eloquence that attracted large audiences to his public ministrations. In 1822 Dr. Willson began the publica- tion of the Evangelical Witness, a magazine of forty-eight pages, which continued for four years. He also edited the Albany Quar- terly and Christian Statesman, which had but a brief existence. He delivered the eulogium at the interment in Goshen of the bones of those that fell in the battle of Minisink, and which is published in " Eager's History of Orange County." Such is a brief history of this denomination in Newburgh until the formation of a distinct and sep- arate congregation.
The First Reformed Presbyterian congregation was separated from the Coldenham church in the year 1824, and was organized into a separate congregation. James Clark, Samnel Wright and John Lawson were chosen Elders, and John Crawford elected Deacon. The next year Matthew Duke was elected an Elder, and William M. Wiley and William Thompson were also ordained Deacons, and the latter was soon after chosen to the office of Rnling Elder. In 1825 the Rev. James R. Johnston was installed as the first pastor of the
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congregation and continned in that relation until 1829, when he re- signed and connected himself with the Presbyterian Church. He was succeeded by the Rev. Moses Roney, who served with great accept- ance from 1830 to 1848, when he resigned because of failing health and moved to Pittsburgh, where he died in 1853. While in Newburgh Mr. Roney published a monthly magazine of thirty-two pages, which is still published in Pittsburgh.
The third pastor was the Rev. Samuel Carlisle, of Coleraine, Ire- land, who was ordained and installed over the congregation on the 14th of November, in the year 1849. His pastorate covered some thirty-eight years, Mr. Carlisle being called to his rest July 3, 1887.
During his administration the congregation was blessed abund- antly in the increase of members, being compelled twice to enlarge its edifice. The debt on the old church building was discharged in 1851, and in 1852 the edifice was remodelled so as to make double seating capacity.
During the Autumn of 1854 a large number withdrew from the First Church and formed the Second Congregation (Westminster), calling to its pas- torate the Rev. J. R. Thompson.
As the First Church increased in members, it was compelled to make a second enlarge- ment of their edi- fice. This was done in the Fall of 1877. The im- provements con- sisted in putting a basement under the former build- ing and making an addition to the front of thirty feet by fifty. This im- provement cost ten thousand dollars, all of which was discharged some years before the death of the pas- tor through his en- ergetic efforts. REV. SAMUEL CARLISLE. Under his pastor- ate over seven hundred were admitted into membership by certificate and pro- fession of faith.
The fourth pastor and the one now in charge is the Rev. John W. F. Carlisle, the eldest son of the late pastor. Called to the congrega- tion from his charge in New Alexandria, Pa., in December, 1887, he was installed in June, 1888.
The present condition of the congregation is most encouraging and promising. It numbers three hundred and has a membership list of two hundred. It has an active board of officers, a strong mis- sionary society, an energetic organization of Young People's Chris- tian Endeavor, and three well equipped Sabbath schools. It has a most cheerful and commodious house of worship, well situated, fine acoustic features, entirely free of debt. In addition to those previons- ly named, the following have been elders in the church: David T. Cavan, William Brown, David Stewart, Alexander Wright, William Hilton, John F. Beatty. John W. McCullongh, Isaac Cochran, Henry Ross, Hugh Robinson, William Lynn, William Wilson and James Flemming.
The present board of officers are : Pastor-John W. F. Carlisle; Elders-James Greer, Andrew Henderson, William McMeekin, John Frazer ; Deacons-Samnel Dunlap, Thomas M. Ross, George Haw- thorne, W. Johnston Mckay and James L. Ross.
REV. SAMUEL CARLISLE was born at Coleraine, Ireland, May 4, 1828. He was the son of the Rev. Samuel and Letitia (Craig) Car- lisle. His father was an eminent minister of the Covenanter Church and was settled over the congregation of Coleraine. The education of Mr. Carlisle was of a thorough nature. Born of a pious parentage, he was reared most carefully in the things relating to morality and the Christian faith. At an early age he attended the Coleraine acad- emy; took his college training at Queen's College, Belfast; studied theology in the seminary of Paisley, Scotland; and was licensed to preach by the Northern Presbytery of the Covenanter Church of Ire- land on May 4, 1848. Thus he was ready for his lifework at the youthful age of twenty.
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