USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn, N.Y. : an illustrated centennial record, historical and biographical > Part 12
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On a certain occasion, when exhorting before one of the bishops, among other expressions, he spoke of the "Seatic" ocean. The bishop, in much kindness, told him that he should have called it the Atlantic ocean, and cor- rected other blunders, and requested him to be more accurate in his language; all of which he took in good part, and expressed much gratitude to the bishop, together with a determination to follow up his counsel. But now for the sequel. The next day he was set to preach before the bishop , he resolved to have his discourse as nice as possible, but he felt cramped and embarrassed, and saw that no interest was excited. At length he came to a pause and exclaimed : " If all the bishops on earth, and all the devils in hell were here, I must preach like Ben. Abbott." He then made a new start, and went
3 I.ife, p. 66.
+ Ibid., p. 219.
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Record of Ministers.
ahead with his usual style and energy, which was followed with a great move in the assembly and a shout of victory.5
Dr. Fitch Reed states that Abbott committed an amusing blunder once in preaching from the text, "Thou art an austere man."
He read it "oyster man," and so went on in his preaching to compare the Lord in the work of converting sinners to a man catching oysters with what were known as oyster tongs, describing the well-known process with much pre- cision, and making the application as he went along.6
He probably spoke of the " oyster man," raking in the natural oyster beds, as gathering where he had not strewn, and we may imagine how the preacher could use this fact to teach his hearers that, while God never brought men into sin, he can and does lift them up out of it.
His own account of a love-feast in New York, about the time he was appointed to Long Island, shows that his brethren were sometimes not a little tried with his loud and boisterous manner. He writes :
We went into the city of New York, and the next day conference was opened. We went on very lovingly in the affairs of the Church from day to day, until it came to the appointment of the love-feast ; then it was brought on the carpet by Bro. R. Cloud concerning the love-feast at our last con- ference. He said that I hallooed, and bawled, and cried " Fire ! fire !" Brother G. [probably Garrettson] got up and seconded him, and opposed the work with all the powers he had. Brother J. Lee said he was happy in the love-feast. The bishop said he did not want to hear them halloo, and shout, and bawl, but he wanted to hear them speak their experience."
He adds, that when the love-feast came to be held, though there were several hundred present, the meeting was " dead," and the preachers, " in discoursing together, acknowledged that they had been wrong in what they had done and said on the subject."
" Abbott's thunder-gust sermon " was, perhaps, the most mem- orable discourse he ever preached. It was on a funeral oc- casion at the Kent meeting-house, Md., in the midst of the most awful thunder-storm ever known in that country. " The people crowded in, up stairs and down, to screen themselves from the
5 Autobiography of Dan Young, p. 216.
6 " Reminiscences" in Northern Christian Advocate, 1863.
7 Life of Abbott, p. 177.
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storm," and while the lightning glared, and the thunder crashed, and the windows rattled, he set forth the terrors of the judg- ment ; and while the people quaked, and cried, and fell as dead men, he continued to preach, answering now and then to the voice of the storm-" My God, thunder on outside, while I thunder inside ! " " Many were convinced and many converted on that great day."" To the day of their death those who heard him did not cease to tell of the terrifying power which attended his words, when he made " the flesh quiver on their trembling bones.""
The following incident is related by the Rev. Isaac L. Hunt, of the Northern New York Conference, whose parents were well acquainted with Benjamin Abbott. About the time that Mr. Abbott preached on the Dutchess circuit, some of the oppo- nents of Methodist doctrines sent word to the preacher about the time of beginning the service in a school-house, that they would like to hear him preach from the text, " Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated." The Calvinists were out in force, intent on witnessing the embarrassment and discomfiture of the poor, ignorant itinerant. No allusion to the matter escaped the lips of the preacher until he knelt in prayer; then he told the Lord of this peculiar difficulty of his position, and prayed for help. " Help, Lord, help!" he cried. "Send the power, POWER, POWER ! " he repeated, with thrilling, terrifying earnestness. " Send down the POWER, Lord ! Let the power fall ! Power, POWER, POWER !" The deacons and elders began to tremble, and so did all who sympathized with them in their attempt to en- tangle the preacher ; and before the prayer was over they had all fled from the house, to escape that awful power which they felt that Abbott's wonderful prayer was bringing down upon them. The result was that when he rose to preach he felt quite relieved, because those who wanted a sermon from the Jacob- and-Esau text were not there.
Though a man of great physical strength, he wore himself out in the service of God. His last year on earth was one of extreme suffering. He was graciously sustained, however, and died in triumph, clapping his hands, and exclaiming: "I sce heaven sweetly opened before me! Glory! glory ! glory !" 10.
$ See Stevens' Hist. M. E. Church, vol. i, p 402.
" Elegy in Phœbus' Magazine, 1796, P. 317.
10 Life of Abbott, p. 274.
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His funeral sermon was preached, in accordance with his re- quest, by the eloquent John M'Claskey, who is said to have been - his son in the Gospel." His doctor's bill and funeral expenses, amounting to £9 7s. 6d., were paid from the preachers' fund.12
In the year 1831 the Rev. Dr. Noah Levings and Judge Gar- rison, of Brooklyn, visited his grave in the Walnut-street Meth- odist church-yard of Salem, N. J., where, up to that time, he had slept without a memorial. Only one man, an old negro, could point out the grave with certainty.13 Dr. Levings assist- ed in erecting upon the spot a suitable monument, bearing the following inscription, prepared by Daniel Ostrander:
Sacred to the memory of Benjamin Abbott, 23 years a member, 16 years a local preacher, and 7 years a traveling preacher in the M. E. Church. He died Aug. 14, 1796, aged 64 years. A holy, zealous, and useful man of God. O happy exit, etc. Erected by J. Garrison, Esq., and others, of Brooklyn, Kings County, N. Y.
Mr. Abbott was one of the founders of Methodism in Salem, and for some time a resident of the place, hence it is fitting that his mortal remains should repose there.
Search has been made in vain for likeness and autograph signature of this remarkable man. Mr. Ward, trustee of the original church in Salem, owned an old-style profile likeness of Benjamin Abbott. His son writes :
Since my father's death my mother has moved, and she thinks the likeness of the good old man must have been lost or mislaid. She and my sister both remember the likeness, and describe it as a very well-cut silhouette, which was prized as gold by my father.
I recently visited my father's grave, in the old South-street church-yard, the same burial ground in which rest the ashes of those honored ministers, Abbott, Ware, Crane, and Newell. Ware was Abbott's intimate friend and co-laborer in the cause of the Master, and the other two remembered him well, and had heard him preach several times. I have heard James Newell and Moses Crane again and again speak of " Daddy Abbott." They described him as a man of great size and strength, with a voice like the roar of a lion. 14
His wife was a Presbyterian and "a praying woman " at the time of his conversion, but, as he tells us, " knew nothing about experimental religion." She favored family prayer, but chided
11 " Lost Chapters," p. 509. 12 Minutes of Conferences, 1797, P. 71. 13 Levings, in The Christian Advocate and Journal.
14 John W. Ward, M.D., letter to the author.
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him for exhorting his neighbors so constantly; but the time soon came when she, too, was thoroughly converted. Pardon and peace came to her heart at a meeting led by Philip Gatch. Her husband was overjoyed. He says :
It was the happiest day we had ever seen together. "Now," said she, "I am willing to be a Methodist, too;" from that time we went on hand and hand, helping and building each other up in the Lord, * * * and in the course of about three months after my wife's conversion we had six children converted to God.
One of the six, David Abbott, began to preach as an itinerant in 1781, locating in 1784. He traveled again in 1793 and 1794. It was at his home, in Upper Alloways Creek, N. J., that his father died. A few months later Bishop Asbury mentioned him as a merchant in Crosswicks, in the same State. He re- mained faithful till his death. His son, David, was living about 1859 at Old Chester, Pa., walking in the steps of his father and grandfather.15
15 Lednum-Rise of Methodism, p. 326.
XIV.
JOHN RAGAN.
OON after the close of the Revolutionary war the REV. JOHN RAGAN came from Ireland, his native land, to the United States. He joined the Meth- odist itinerant ministry before the close of the conference year 1789. After that year he received the following
APPOINTMENTS: 1790, Montgomery cir., Md., with George Hagerty; 1791, ordained deacon,-St. John, N. B .; 1792, Long Island cir., with James Boyd; 1793, ordained elder, -Elizabethtown cir., N. J., with Wm. Rainor; 1794, named among the elders-no appointment; 1795, Trenton cir., N. J. with Joshua Taylor; 1796, Bethel cir., with Anthony Turck.
T. Watson Smith mentions him as one of the volunteer missionaries to Nova Scotia in 1791, with William Jessop, John Cooper, Win. Early, Benj. Fisler and James Boyd,- all from the States. "Ragan remained at Halifax to attend to the work there."!
In the absence of records of his time, we find at this late day no trace of his ministry in Brooklyn. Raybold, one of our Methodist historians, wrote in 1849 concerning John Ra- gan as follows:
Ilis labors and sufferings on the Bethel circuit, together with his success in winning souls to Christ, cannot be forgotten even at this day. We ourselves have found some of his living children .*** His colleague was Anthony Turck, a good preacher, but stern, unconciliating and severe in his preaching. Ragan, on the other hand, was all love , sweetness, kindness and mildness, and crowds followed him from one appointment to another on the circuit.
After one of his sermons, about a dozen young men, being deeply convicted of sin, followed Mr. Ragan from the meet- ing-house to the place where he dined, but were afraid to g > in and speak to him as they longed to do. As he sat down to dinner he saw through the open door the company of young people. Mr. Raybold says:
' See Methodism in Eastern British America, pp. 218, 219.
Y
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IIe stopped eating, and inquired what they sought. None could answer. He arose, went out to them, and seeing tears on many faces, and the solemn countenances of all, invited them to come in. The table was set aside; and there was no more dinner eaten for many hours. These hours were devoted to exhortation, prayer, and praise; and the result was that many of these young people were then and there truly converted to God.2
He was attacked with the yellow fever while on a visit to Philadelphia in August, 1797, and died soon after his return to the Bethel circuit, the scene of his pastoral labors. A recent pastor writes from the old Bethel circuit :
He was buried in the church-yard of the Bethel M. E. Church at Hurff- ville, Washington township, Gloucester county, N. J. His grave is marked by a plain, gray, marble slab, with the following inscription :
IN MEMORY OF REV. JOHN RAGAN, Who departed this Life September II, 1797. Aged 45 years. He has gone from all afflictions here To reign in joys eternal there.'
He reposes about eight feet north of the church, and a fir-tree grows near his grave.3
His memoir in the Minutes incorrectly states that he was be- tween thirty-five and forty years of age at the time of his de- cease. The conference put on record the testimony that he was "conscientious " and " upright," remarkably studious, and well versed in history; and, notwithstanding he was charac er- ized by "great solitude of mind, and was subject to depression of spirits, * * his labors were greatly blessed." "We be- lieve," said his brethren, "that he is now numbered among the spirits made perfect, in possession of uninterrupted pleasures above." 4
There is no evidence that he ever married. Neither portrait nor autograph signature has been found.
2 " Methodism in West Jersey," pp. 72, 73.
3 Rev. J. T. Price, letter to the author.
4 Minutes of Conferences, 1797, p. 73.
XV. JAMES BOYD.
ONG ISLAND circuit, which included Brooklyn, was manned by two preachers in 1792. One of these was the REV. JAMES BOYD. The following is his ITINERANT RECORD: 1791, Anapolis cir., Nova Scotia; 1792, Long Island cir., N. Y., with John Ragan; 1793, ordained deacon,-no appoint- ment named, probably Nova Scotia; 1794, Nova Scotia, with William Jessop, Isaac Lunsford, Daniel Fidler, Benj. Wilson, James Mann, John Mann and Richard Stockett; 1795, reported withdrawn.
Besides the above which is gleaned from the Conference Minutes, the following is the only undoubted reference to this man which the author has been able to find:
Boyd, who withdrew from the ministry, did not by that act surprise his breth- ren, who had stood in doubt of him. In 1796 he caused some confusion in Sheffield by an attempt to obtain the pastorate of the Congregational church in that place; though sustained in his application by a number of persons connect- ed with the congregation, he failed in his effort, and two years later re- turned to the United States. Previous to his withdrawal from the itinerancy he had married, and marriage at that day, when ministerial allowances were ex- ceedingly small and extremely uncertain, frequently involved early retirement from the active ranks. "So it is," wrote Jessop in reference to Boyd's with- drawal, to a brother whom he suspected of matrimonial intentions; "the devil tells us, when about to marry, that it will not hinder our traveling, but in the end, to our sorrow, we find him a liar. Wherefore, if we want to travel, the best way is to live single."1
At this point James Boyd vanishes from our view."
Thomas Boyd, "a native of Europe," joined conference the same year with James Boyd, and died in 1794.3 Whether
. or not they were of the same family is unknown.
1 T. Watson Smith-Methodism in Eastern British America, p. 309.
2 Another James Boyd, an eminent Methodist preacher in North Carolina and Virginia from 1804 to 1836, was at first thought to be the same man, but an extended correspondence with his friends has assured us to the contrary.
In the Vale College library is a collection of "Narratives of Missions," (Con- gregational,) which gives a brief history of one James Boyd, missionary in that part of Ohio formerly known as New Connecticut. He was ordained pastor of the churches in Warren and Newton in 1800, and retained the position till his death, March 3, 1813. The report mentions "his afflicted family," and dis- courses upon his character and work in terms of highest commendation. Ilis identity with the subject of this sketch is possible, but has not been established.
3 Minutes of Conferences, 1795, p. 60.
XVI. gogh Sothen
HE REV. JOSEPH TOTTEN was born in the town of Hempstead, Queens County, N. Y., Feb. 4, 1759. In the same township, within seven years, were born Albert Van Nostrand, Joseph Totten and probably Ja- cob Brush, who were to become prominent among the pio- neer Methodist preachers in their native island home. We learn from his published memoir that previous to his con- version
IIc was restrained from prevailing vice, and lived what was called a moral life, 'but when he heard the Methodist preachers he was deeply convinced of sin, and after a painful struggle he obtained a sense of pardoning mercy, and immediately united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He soon became conspicuous as an exhorter and leader, and was made useful to many in his neighborhood.1
At what age he became a Christian is not known to the author, nor whether it was previous to his removal to Staten Island. A relative, E. J. Totten, of Tottenville, who was personally acquainted with the Rev. Joseph Totten, writes:
There were three brothers nere, owning farms near each other; Gilbert, (my grandfather,) Silas and Joseph Totten. Joseph married Miss Mary Androvett.">
The inscription on Joseph Totten's tombstone at Wood- row states that "he was among the first members of the Methodist Episcopal Church on this island." It was proba- bly from his farm on Staten Island, that, "satisfied of his call to the work of the ministry, he entered the traveling con- nection in 1792," when thirty-three years of age. He re- ceived appointments from the conference for twenty-seven consecutive years, and the following is his
ITINERANT RECORD: 1792, Elizabethtown cir., N. J., with John Clark; 1793, Long Island cir., with George Strebeck; 1794, ordained dea-
1 Conference Minutes, 1819, P. 325.
2 Letter to the author.
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con, Freehold cir., N. J., with J. Robinson ; 1795, Brooklyn, " six months," probably twelve; 1796, ordained elder, New Rochelle and Croton cir., with David Brown and Ezekiel Canfield ; 1797, Long Island cir., with A. Nichols, - Donnovan, and E. M'Lane ; the Minutes add Brooklyn, but he only ex- changed at intervals with Wm. Phoebus, the Brooklyn pastor ;3 1798, New Rochelle cir., with John Clark ; 1799, Dutchess cir., with Roger Searle ; 1800- 1802, (Philadelphia Conf., ) Elizabethtown cir., N. J., with J. Justice and Wm. Mills ; 1803, Burlington cir., with J. Osborn ; 1804, Trenton cir., with Geo. Woolley ; 1805, Gloucester cir., with Wm. Bishop ; 1806, Philadelphia, with James Smith, M. Coate, and 'T. Everard ; 1807-1810, presiding elder, Jersey Dist. ; 1811, New Brunswick ; 1812, New Brunswick and Trenton cir., with Wm. Mills ; 1813, Bergen cir., with Joseph Bennett ; 1814, Freehold cir., with Wm. Smith ; 1815, Essex and Staten Island cir., with J. Robertson and D. Moore ; 1816, ditto, with J. Potts and D. Moore ; 1817, Sussex and Ham- burgh cir., with Jos. Osborn ; 1818, Philadelphia, St. John's church.
He appears in the record of the General Conference of 1800 as the author of the following important rule :
Brother Totten moved that every child of a traveling preacher shall receive sixteen dollars until the age of seven years, and from seven to fourteen years, fourteen dollars. Agreed to.4
He was an active member of General Conference, also, in 1804, 1808, and 1816. His memoir says :
After receiving his last appointment at the Philadelphia Conference, [in 1818,] he returned to his family on Staten Island, and on May 10, preached in the meeting-house at Westfield, [ Woodrow. ] from 1 Cor. ii, 2 : " For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." After the services he descended from the pulpit, and walked with his wife into the burying ground, and marked out a spot, saying, "There I wish to be buried," as though he apprehended his end was nigh.5
On the following Sabbath he preached three times in Phila- delphia. He preached again with great power on Tuesday even- ing, and retired feeling perfectly well. In the morning he com- plained of being ill, but walked out into the yard. Presently the barking of a dog attracted the attention of a lady, and she discovered him lying on the ground. " He was brought into the house, but expired in a few moments without uttering a word." Thus Joseph Totten passed away on May 20, 1818, aged fifty- nine years. A mound was made over him on the spot he had
3 Quarterly Conference Record of the Long Island circuit.
4 Journal of General Conference, vol. i, p. 37.
6 Conference Minutes, 1819, P. 325.
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selected, and there, in the church-yard at Woodrow, he awaits the resurrection of the just.
Joseph Totten was a noble specimen of the early race of Methodist preachers. His brethren of the conference, in the memoir from which we have already quoted, admiringly com- mended his ministerial faithfulness, and described him as "a man of piety, zeal, and courage, fearing no faces, and sparing no crimes."
It is to be regretted that no portrait of Joseph Totten exists. E. J. Totten, now well-nigh eighty years of age, has distinct recollections of his great uncle, Joseph Totten. He writes :
I frequently heard him and my father, who was the son of Gilbert Totten, debate on political matters, and become sometimes quite excited ; and I well recollect his personal appearance, and his voice in particular. He was rather short, stout, robust, with a strong voice, and quite commanding presence. 6
MARY, wife of Joseph Totten, survived him nearly ten years. She died January 8, 1828, and was buried beside her husband. Their graves are marked by head-stones, appropriately inscribed.
John C. Totten, the printer, whose name is on the title-page of many an old Methodist book, was a relative-a nephew, it is presumed. He married Letitia, a daughter of Joseph Totten.7
E. J. Totten writes from his personal recollection concerning two sons and three daughters of Joseph and Mary Totten. The sons were named Mark (he thinks) and Asbury. Asbury left a son, whose son is now living, and has a family of children to perpetuate the name, and, it is hoped, the virtues of their ances- tor. Two of the daughters' husbands were John C. Totten and John Pray. Mr. Pray and his wife were highly esteemed mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church on Staten Island. The third daughter married in New York.
" Letter to the author.
7 Letter from E. J. Totten.
XVII. Georges Sebeck
SBURY wrote that several "promising" young men had joined the traveling connection on trial in 1792. Among these was the REV. GEORGE STRE- BECK. He remained but a short time among the itinerant preachers, as will be seen by the following
MINISTERIAL RECORD: 1792, Methodist, New York cir., with T. Morrell and I .. Green; 1793, Long Island cir., with Joseph Totten ; 1794, name disappears ;- Wakely says he withdrew, but he seems never to have joined the conference in full connection; 1797-1804, Lutheran, pastor of a church lo- cated, first in Pearl-street, New York, afterward in Mott-street, which under his administration went over to the Episcopalians,-from his day until now it has been styled the Zion Episcopal Church of New York;1 1804, Episcopalian, ordained deacon by Bishop Moore, July 18, 1804, officiating in Bedford, N. Y., and vicinity; 1805, called to Grace Church, Jamaica, L. I., for six months; 1805-1808, rector St. Stephen's Church, New York; 1809-1811, residing in New York-had an honorary seat in the convention; 1814, name not on clergy . list.2
While in charge of the Lutheran congregation in New York, "Mr. Strebeck was a very zealous, popular preacher, and crowds attended his ministry."3 A local historian in the Protestant Episcopal Church writes as follows:
Mr. Strebeck was the minister of a Lutheran church in Mott-street, New York city. He and the mass of the congregation conformed to the Church. Soon after this a disaffection sprang up towards him in the congregation. It was too serious to be resisted, and his friends retired from Zion Church, and together with others proposed the erection of this church, [St. Stephen's, ] as an act of kindness to him, 4
He further states that at a meeting in the spring of 1805, a commitee was appointed consisting of the Rev. George Strebeck, Cornelius Schuyler and Isaac Emmons to take the necessary measures to become under the law a
1 See Wakeley's "Lost Chapters," pp. 386, 387. The dates are taken from an old record of Zion Church.
2 See "Lost Chapters," and Journals of Conventions in Diocese of New York. 3 Wakeley.
4 Rev. Joseph H. Price-Historical Sketch of St. Stephen's Church, New York.
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religious society, and that arrangements were soon afterward made for the purchase of lots for a church on the corner of First and Bullock streets. He also records the following :
On April 22, 1805, the Rev. Mr. Strebeck was invited to the rectorship, and being present at the meeting, accepted. * * * April 25, 1809, the Rev. Mr. Strebeck, in an unexpected and informal manner, resigned the rec- torship, having occupied it about four years. I have nothing to say concern- ing the efficiency or inefficiency of Mr. Strebeck's ministry in this church. If inefficient, then it must be acknowledged that the compensation for his serv- ice, small and uncertain in its payment, was a fair offset to his deficiency, and I think our better way is to let the poor man rest, and believe that the most ungrateful task any man can undertake is to sow the seed from which others are to reap the fruit. There are more martyrs in the church militant than are honored in the church calendar.
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