USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn, N.Y. : an illustrated centennial record, historical and biographical > Part 14
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His son relates that "his first efforts at preaching were made when he was about nineteen years of age. His youth and unpretending appearance led many to go out and hear him," and he preached with' acceptability, notwithstanding "his homely dress and old woolen hat, with its crown kept in place by stitches of white country thread here and there appearing."' He served the Church four years as a local preacher.
In his twenty-third year he married a lady of the Eastern Shore, whose name is unknown. She was a woman of great excellence, but survived her marriage only a few months.2 Soon after her death, "in the fall of 1789," he entered upon his itinerant labors, which covered a period of sixteen years, as indicated in the following
'Roberts' Centenary Album, p. 93. 2Sprague's Annals.
3Ilis letter to Bishop Asbury, quoted in Centenary Album, p. 97. Stevens' Hist. M. E. Church, Vol. ii, p. 439, says "1790." but see Conf. Minutes, 1790, P. 36, where he is reported as "remaining on trial."
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CONFERENCE RECORD : 1789, appointment not known ; 1790,4 Annamessex cir., Md., with J. Wyatt ; the same year he went to New En- gland with Jacob Brush and Daniel Smith, to re-enforce Jesse Lee ; 1791, or- dained deacon-Middlefield cir., Ct., with John Allen ; 1792, Hartford cir., with Hope Hull and F. Aldridge ; 1793, ordained elder-New London cir., with R. Swain and F. Aldridge ; 1794, elder, his district including about the entire west- ern half of New England ; 1795, in charge of a district including Long Island, and reaching to Pittsfield, Mass. ; 1796, New York city, with Andrew Nichols ; 1797, ditto, with J. Wells and W. Beauchamp; 1798, ditto, with Joshua Wells and Cyrus Stebbins ; 1799, Baltimore Conf., Annapolis, Md. ; 1800, Baltimore and Fell's Point, with T. Morrell, P. Bruce, and N. Snethen ; 1801, ditto, with L. M'Combs ; 1802, (Phila. Conf.,) Philadelphia, with J. M'Claskey, and W. P. Chandler, sup'y ; 1803, ditto, with Solomon Sharp, and T. F. Sargent ; 1804, (Balt. Conf.,) Baltimore, Md., with J. Bloodgood, and T. F. Sargent ; 1805, ditto, with T. F. Sargent and Alex. M'Caine ; 1806, local elder in Baltimore.
Stevens graphically describes the arrival of Roberts and his colleagues, Jacob Brush and Daniel Smith, at Dantown, in New England, in 1790, and the joy of Jesse Lee, as he saw them riding up, and welcomed them with the benediction, " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."" It would require volumes to record his labors and privations in the Eastern States. His son wrote to Dr. Stevens :
I once heard my father say that during the whole period of his labors in New England he never received over forty dollars per annum from any source. Ile never had more than one suit of clothes at a time. On one occasion Bishop Asbury punched his saddle-bags with his cane and said, " Brother Roberts, where are your clothes?" His reply was, "On my back, sir." Ile accompanied the bishop, piloting him through New England, in his first visit to that portion of our country.6
While preaching in New England he received Lorenzo Dow into the Church.7 On the 16th of August, 1797, about eight years after the death of his first wife, he was united in marriage to a daughter of Shmuel LePage, of New York. That same year, June 29, he laid the corner-stone of the old Duane-street church. Bishop Asbury made an exception in his case, and allowed him to continue three years in that city. He was embarrassed by the example, and wrote to Thomas Morrell, under date of June 10, 1790 :
4 About this time he was in Talbot, Md., and adjoining counties. See Ste- vens' Hist. M. E. Church, vol. ii, p. 439.
5 Hist. M. E. Church, vol. ii, p. 435.
6 Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 440, 441.
" Lost Chapters," p, 501.
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Record of Ministers.
Feeling the great, the exceeding great want of preachers, I wished to keep one another year, George Roberts. He hath stayed an unwarrantable time in New York. IIe cannot be supported upon any station but Baltimore.8
Mr. Roberts was a member of the General Conference in 1804. Dr. Wakeley errs in assigning ill health as the reason for his locating in 1806.º His son, Dr. George C. M. Roberts, states that he attended two courses of medical lectures while preaching in Philadelphia, and while stationed in Baltimore was licensed to practice medicine ; but that he abstained from doing so until he ceased to be an itinerant preacher. The change in his occupation is thus explained :
The manner of his locating, or what led to it, was somewhat peculiar, and is not generally known. He attended conference in 1806, having no inten- tion of locating at that time until the day before the conference closed. On this occasion he was seated at the table, when Bishop Asbury wrote him a short note, stating the great difficulty he had in stationing him, on account of the size of his family, and his unwillingness to send him to any place where their comfort would be jeopardized in the least, and asked him what he could do under the circumstances. My father replied that he did not wish, in the slightest degree, to embarrass the bishop or trammel the work ; that when the Church was unable to support him, he would ask a local relation. When the appoint- ments were announced by the bishop, his name appeared as having located, thus taking by surprise his numerous friends, who had not known before of the circumstances.10
From that time until his death he sustained an honorable place as physician and local elder in the city of Baltimore. He died December 2, 1827, aged sixty-two years, translated from a death-bed scene of physical anguish and spiritual triumph, "never, perhaps, surpassed in the history of man." One who heard his shouts of rapture, says :
A night or two previous to his dissolution, I urged him to spare himself, and offered, as a reason for it, the possibility of his disturbing the neighbors. He immediately replied : " Be quiet, my son ? No, no! If I had the voice of an angel, I would rouse the inhabitants of Baltimore for the purpose of telling the joys of redeeming love. Victory ! victory !" "Victory through the blood of the Lamb," was the last sentence that ever trembled on his dying lips.11
His friends laid him to rest in Mt. Olivet cemetery, a few feet from the grave of Bishop Asbury.
8 See The Christian Advocate, May 1, 1884.
9 See " Lost Chapters,"'p. 509.
10 Centenary Album, p. 95.
1 Dr. G. C. M. Roberts ; letter to Dr. Abel Stevens.
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Old Sands Street Church.
The accompanying portrait, copied from the one drawn by Ruckle, is said to be an excellent likeness, though made from recollections of him after his death. Abel Stevens gives a clear portraiture of George Roberts in the following words :
The person of Dr. Roberts was large and athletic, his manners exceedingly di nified, and in social life, relieved by a subdued cheerfulness. To his dig- nity, which well befitted his noble person, was added, in the pulpit, a most impressive power of persuasion. His sermons were systematic and digested, and in their application often overwhelming. Wherever he went, his presence at once commanded respect. The infidel and the scorner grew serious, or shrunk from before him, in either the public congregation or the conversa- tional circle. A reckless skeptic once attempted with the air of a cham- pion to engage him in a difficult discussion in presence of a company of friends. Roberts heard him for several minutes without uttering a word, but as he advanced in his scornful criticisms, the listening preacher's countenance and whole bearing assumed an expression of solemn scrutiny, which struck the by-standers with awe and made the skeptic quail. When he had concluded, Roberts placed his hand on the infidel's breast, and with a look of irresistible power, exclaimed, "Sir, the conscience which God has placed within you re- futes and confounds you." The rebuked scoffer trembled and fled from his presence. This fact illustrates, better than could pages of remark, the charac- ter of this mighty man of God. 12
Of the first wife of George Roberts only the facts already stated are known. His second wife, SUSANNAH MORRELL LE- PAGE, was born in Albany, N. Y. She removed with her par- ents to New York city, and there, while a child, she found con- verting grace, and joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which she continued a faithful and honored member for seventy- six years. She was an intimate friend of Bishop Asbury, whom she frequently entertained at her house, and for whom she per- formed many kind offices. On one occasion, after she had washed his feet, the venerable bishop said, "Susan, many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all." The graces of the Spirit were harmoniously and beautifully devel- oped in her character and life. Her intellect, at the advanced age of eighty, remained unimpaired. She departed this life, at the residence of her son, the late Rev. Dr. Geo. C. M. Roberts, in Baltimore, in the month of November, 1869. Her obituary says :
As she approached the margin of the river her spiritual sky brightened. She was anxious to depart. Bidding loved ones adieu, she leaned on the
12 Hist. M. E. Church, vol. ii, p. 441.
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bosom of the Lord, and in the same room, and on the same bed where her sainted husband expired, forty-two years before, calmly fell asleep."3
George and Susannah Roberts were the parents of cleven children." Four of their sons were physicians. The author had the honor of the acquaintance of one of them, the Rev. Dr. George C. M. Roberts. He was every way worthy of his noble parents, very closely resembling his father in person and char- acter. "The oldest daughter, Emily Roberts, married Dr. Isaac Hulse, U. S. N., and died and was buried at sea, between Pensacola and New York. Her little girl was taken to her grandmother's, and under the sweet influence of that home, de- veloped unusual talent. She is the Mrs. George Hulse M'Leod, whose graceful pen and sweet voice have rendered efficient aid to the cause of temperance. The only remaining child of Dr. George Roberts is Mrs. Hough, of Virginia."" One of the daughters married the Rev. Henry Slicer in 1827, and died in 1873.1 16
13 Rev. W. H. Chapman, in The Christian Advocate.
14 Sprague's Annals.
15 Miss Fidelia M. Creagh, letter to the author. .
16 The Christian Advocate, Aug. 5, 1875.
XXI. Cluster foulchinson
HE REV. SYLVESTER HUTCHINSON was the third of four brothers, all of whom became Methodist preachers. Three of the four were itinerants. As- bury was a friend to this family, and mentions in his journal the grandmother of these brothers, Ann Hutchinson, who died nearly 102 years of age.
Sylvester Hutchinson was born in the town of Milford, N. J., April 20, 1765. At the age of twenty-one he was con- victed of sin, and sought forgiveness through Jesus Christ. His experience was peculiar, but of a character more com- mon in his day than now. It is related that he saw an ap- pearance "at the head of his bed, which he believed to be the figure of Christ. This at once satisfied him, and he no more doubted."1
Two or three years later he began his career as an itiner- ant preacher, which is briefly rcorded in the following list of
APPOINTMENTS: 1780, S.dem, N. J., with Simeon Pile and Jethro Johnson; 1790, ordained deacon,-Chester, Penn., with John Cooper: 1791, Fells Point, Md .; 1792, Wilmington, Del .; 1793, ordained elder, -Croton cir., N. Y., with Jacob Egbert; 1794, Croton and New Rochelle cir., with P. Mori- arty and D. Dennis-to change every three months with L. M'Combs of New York and Brooklyn; 1795, Long Island cir., six months; 1796-1797, associ- ate elder with F. Garrettson in a district including Long Island, New York city, and the state of Conn .; 1798-1799, in charge of a presiding elder's dis- trict including Long Island and most of the territory between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers; 1800, New York, with John M'Claskey and John Lee; ISOI, traveling with Bishop Whatcoat; 1802, named as an . elder, -- no appointment; 1803, presiding elder, Pittsfield District; 1804, on the list of elders, -- no appoint- ment named; 1805, not named at all; 1806, a local preacher.
We have no record or tradition of his preaching in Sands- street church, but have occasional glimpses of him while trav-
1 Atkinson-Memorials of Methodism in New Jersey, p. 425.
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Record of Ministers.
eling the large district in which Brooklyn was included. He signed, as presiding elder, Daniel Webb's first license to preach, on the recommendation of a quarterly conference held in Nor- wich, Conn., New London circuit, June 16, 1798.2
Father Boehm knew and remembered this earnest itinerant and wrote of him as a "thundering preacher."3 Clark, in his "Life of Hedding," makes honorable mention of Sylvester Hutch- inson, as presiding elder on the Pittsfield district in 1799, and characterizes him as a man of burning zeal and indomitable energy. He says :
Mounted upon his favorite horse, he would ride through the entire district once in three months, visiting each circuit, and invariably filling his numerous appointments. His voice rang like a trumpet-blast.
While on this district he penetrated into the far north. Ray- bold draws a vivid picture of the pioneer preacher lost in a dense Canadian forest in the dead of winter, and providentially rescued from the greedy wolves at two o'clock at night, nearly dead from cold and hunger, having traveled all day without food.4 Such incidents illustrate the wonderful zeal and energy of this man of God. It is known that he often rode fifty or sixty miles per day, and preached twice, when his receipts were only thirty dollars a year.
Dr. Wakeley describes him as a small, spare man, with a very intelligent countenance, an able minister, a son of thunder, and at times exceedingly "rough." He tells us that when preaching Hle would sometimes begin in a low tone of voice, and then raise it to the highest pitch, till he screamed, and then it was rather disagreeable.5
The statement by the same authority, that Mr. Hutchinson's location was occasioned by mental suffering produced by the breaking up of a matrimonial engagement, and that his subse- quent history shows the danger of locating, has elicited the fol- lowing comment :
It is impossible to get all the facts at this late day which would give a true history of his location. The widow and son, however, recollect distinctly
2 The original copy of this certificate of license is now in the archives of the New England Methodist Historical Society.
3 Boehm's Reminiscences, p. 25.
4 See " Methodism in West Jersey," pp. 19-21.
5 " Lost Chapters," p. 532.
11
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having heard him say over and over again that Mr. Asbury was to blame for his leaving the Church. He said he was in the good graces of Mr. Asbury until the difficulty occurred about his marriage : that he was to marry a young lady belonging to an influential family, and the friends, especially one brother, made such desperate opposition, that the engagement was broken off the day the wedding was to have taken place ; that Mr. Asbury reprimanded him se- verely for not marrying the girl at all hazards, as he was engaged to her ; that both of them being of good metal, they had a warm time ; that Sylvester came home on a visit, and that Mr. Asbury had his name left off the Minutes.6
According to a further statement by his son,
Ile remonstrated with Mr. Asbury for having done it, and offered to con- tinue in the ministry. Mr. Asbury finally offered him a circuit, but it was one in which he was not acceptable to the people. There was also another preacher, who was not very acceptable where he had been sent, and Mr. H. and he pro- posed to Mr. Asbury that they should be changed. But this was refused, and turning to Mr. H., he said, "Go there, or go home;" to which Mr. H. an- swered, "Then I must go home;" and thus ended his connection with the M. E. Church.7
He went West and entered into a land agency ; he also became a book publisher in Trenton, N. J.8 On the 10th of May, 1808, he was married to Miss Phoebe Phillips.
He was one of the three preachers who ordained the first elders in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, in 1822.º It is doubtful if he was regularly connected with any Church at that time. He at length became one of the minis- ters of the Methodist Protestant Church, but that denomination was not organized until a score of years after he parted with Asbury. Atkinson states that the last station he filled was the Kensington Methodist Protestant Church, in Philadelphia. Mr. Beegle adds :
Before he died his wife asked him if he had not better come back to the old Church. He expressed himself perfectly willing, but his death occurring soon after, it was never consummated.
The same writer strongly repels any intimation which may be contained in Dr. Wakeley's book, that Mr. Hutchinson was not good and true to the last. At the age of seventy years, on the 11th of November, 1840, Sylvester Hutchinson finished his earthly life. A tombstone marks the place where his
6 Rev. H. B. Beegle in Atkinson's "New Jersey Methodism," p. 425.
" See Atkinson's " Memorials.". 8 Wakeley-" Lost Chapters," p. 531.
9 Rush-Rise of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, p. 78.
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remains are buried in the cemetery in the borough of Hights- town, N. J.
His wife, PHOEBE HUTCHINSON, was born January 19. 1782, and died about 1865, in the eighty-fourth year of her age. She is buried in Hightstown, N. J. From Atkinson's " Memorials" we learn that she was a very estimable woman.1º Four sons and three daughters were born to Sylvester and Phoebe Hutchinson. Their names were John K., Aaron, Isaac, Elizabeth, Cornelia, Armenia and Daniel P., all of whom lived to maturity. One of these seven children, John K. Hutchinson, of New Brunswick, N. J., was the only survivor, January 3, 1882, when he wrote the above statement concerning the family. His children-a son and two daughters-and the son and daughter of his sister, Cornelia, are the only grandchildren of Sylvester and Phoebe Hutchinson.
10 Her son, John K. Hutchinson, in a letter to the author, states that Mr. Lednum is manifestly mistaken in saying that Sylvester Hutchinson married Sarah Deveau, of New Rochelle, N. Y. See " Rise of Methodism," p. 103.
XXII. Andrew Michals
HE REV. ANDREW NICHOLS was a Methodist pastor in Brooklyn in 1798. During his administration the oldest known list of members was written in a substantial book procured for the purpose. From that book his signature was taken.
It is probably too late to rescue from oblivion the material for a full sketch of his life. Of his history either before or after the ten years of his itinerant ministry nothing seems to be known. The following is his
PASTORAL RECORD: 1791, Baltimore cir., Md., with J. Lurton; 1792, Harford cir., with J. Lurton; 1793, Prince George's cir .; 1794, ordained deacon, -- Fairfax cir., Va., with Elijah Sparks; 1795, ordained elder,-Win- chester cir., Va., with T. Lucas; 1796, New York, with George Roberts; 1797, Long Island, Comac and Southold cir .; 1 1798, Brooklyn; 1799, Lynn and Marblehead, Mass., 18co, Merrimac; 1801, located.
Such a list of appointments speaks well for his ability and standing as a preacher. Aside from this record, perhaps the only direct testimony that has come down to us is the fol- lowing by Dr. J. B. Wakeley:
Mr. Nichols was an excellent man and a good pastor and preacher. I have heard the old Methodists speak highly of him. He resided in the parsonage- at Second-street, (now Forsyth- street.) They were going to hold a love-feast in the church one evening, and two lads wished to go in. In those 'days the Methodists were very careful who were admitted to them. The doors were closed, and none were admitted unless they had a ticket of membership or a per- mit from the preacher. Peter Parks was then sexten. The boys concluded if they volunteered to help him bring water and attend to making the fires, he would admit them into love-feast. Neither of them had ever attended such a meet- ing. He sent them to Mr. Nichols for a permit, for he could admit none with- out. They went to Mr. Nichols, and he treated them very kindly, and gave
1 Brooklyn is added in the Minutes, but the Quarterly Conference records of the Long Island circuit indicate that Brooklyn was separate, and under the charge of Wm. Phoebus.
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them permits. The love-feasts in those days were meetings of great power. One of the boys was deaf and dumb. He was all attention as the people, one after another, gave in their testimony; he watched the motion of their lips, and saw the expression of joy in their countenances; and, though he could not hear one word, it had a powerful effect, and was the means of his awak- ening and conversion to God. He was as happy as a king. They might have sung, with great propriety :
" Hear him, ye deaf ; his praise, ye dumb, Your loosened tongues employ." 2
The companion of the little deaf-mute was led by him to the Saviour; both immediately joined the Church ; and both lived sixty years or more afterward, to thank God for that love-feast, and to tell the story of Mr. Nichols' kindness to the boys. If there is any other written or printed reference to him, it is not known to the author.3 Several Methodist historical societies have been established within the territory in which he labored as a preacher, and it is to be sincerely hoped that the Church will yet come into possession of further information concerning the life and death of this excellent minister of Jesus Christ.
? " Lost Chapters," p. 485.
$ " Zion's Herald," January 4, 1824, refers to an address by Andrew Nich- ols, Esq., before the Essex Agricultural Society. If this were proved to be the same Andrew Nichols, (which is doubtful,) it might furnish a clew for the ascertaining of additional facts concerning him.
XXIII.
HE REV. CYRUS STEBBINS, D. D. was the son of Phin- eas and Anna Stebbins. He was born in Wilbra- ham, Mass., Oct. 30, 1772, and joined Conference at New London, in July, 1795, before he was twenty-three years of age. His entire ministry, first among the Method- ists, and then in the Protestant Episcopal Church, may be epitomized in the following
PASTORAL RECORD: 1795, Warren cir., R. I., with Zadok Priest; 1796, ordained deacon,-Readfield cir., Me., with J. Broadhead; 1797, Pitts- field cir., Mass., with E. Stevens; 1798, ordained elder,-New York city, with Joshua Wells and George Roberts; 1799, Brooklyn;1 1800-1803, Albany city ;2 1804, (N. York Conf.,) Brooklyn; 1805, reported "withdrawn;" 1805-1818, rector of St. George's Church, Schenectady, N. Y .; 1819-1831, rector of Christ Church, Hudson; 1832-1841, rector of Grace Church, Waterford.
He was deservedly popular in the early days of his itiner- ant ministry. Dr. Abel Stevens says:
He was a pungent and powerful preacher; some of his sermons are still often recalled in conversation by our older ministers in New England, one of them particularly, preached under the trees of the old homestead of Pickering on the text: "Those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me." The whole assembly stood ap- palled at the declaration of divine wrath against all ungodliness; trembling spread throughout their midst, and many went home to call on God and prepare for his coming retribution. HIad he remained in the itinerancy, his peculiar tal- ents would have secured for him an extended influence and usefulness, but on leaving it, he entered the Protestant Episcopal Church, where he lingered through many years of comparative uselessness, and died in obscurity.3
1 The Conference Minutes say "Brooklyn and Long Island, with James Camp- bell and John Wilson," but the quarterly conference records show that the charges were practically separate.
2 Strange as it may appear to us now, Albany and the Mohawk and Black River regions were in 1802-1803, included in the Philadelphia Conference. Af- ter 1803 they became a part of the New York conference.
8 Memorials of Methodism, Ist series, p. 339,
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As we have already observed in our sketch of Aaron Hunt, Mr. Stebbins caused Bishop Asbury no little anxiety on account of the difficulty of removing him from Albany city station, which, indeed, the bishop could not or did not do until the close of a four-years term, when the adoption of the two- years limit by the General Conference made his removal neces- sary and practicable. We here discover, as in almost every other instance in which he appears to our view, a want of the genuine spirit of Methodism. In the few references to him by the historians of the denomination, they invariably speak of his lack of harmony with our prominent peculiarities, and the . consistency of his course in withdrawing from us. William Thacher makes the following note of the doings of the New York Conference in 1804:
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