USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn, N.Y. : an illustrated centennial record, historical and biographical > Part 17
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Many, to whom both of these men were well known, have been not a little amused on reading the foregoing paragraph. They affirm that the only rational view of the matter is that Mr.
7 Reminiscences, Northern Christian Advocate, 1863.
8 Hist. M. E. Church, vol. iv, p. 309.
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Record of Ministers.
Merwin, observing the listlessness of the audience, called on Dr. Bangs for help with the sole intent of startling his hearers, and gaining their attention. The doctor mistook this device for a token of embarrassment, and quite complacently tells of his "artifice " to help the preacher on.
A very excellent critic, Dr. Samuel Luckey, directs attention to his great power of imitation, and remarks that he would doubtless have excelled as an actor. He adds :
As a preacher, he was at once energetic and impressive, a model of correct- ness, power, and majesty, possessing a voice of great compass and uncommon melody. * *
* As a ruler in the Church, he was firm, prudent, concili- atory, and successful.9
In words of similar import the Rev. Elbert Osborn describes Mr. Merwin's majestic appearance, and melodious yet power- ful voice ; he then quotes the following remarks, which he heard him make at a quarterly meeting many years ago :
When I was stationed in Albany I sometimes went into the capitol, and listened for a time to the learned, able gentlemen engaged in the debate, but I soon grew weary and uninterested, took my hat and retired ; but I go from one quarterly meeting to another ; every Sabbath I am in love-feasts, where I hear men, women, and youth, most of whom make no pretension to eloquence or learning, speak in artless language or broken accents of God's goodness to them, and it is still interesting, affecting, and, as it were, new to me every Sab- bath.10
To these testimonies may be added a few lines from the por- traiture written by Dr. Abel Stevens. After describing Mr. Merwin as a " perfect Christian gentlemen," he says :
He possessed superior powers of government, and discharged the functions of the presiding eldership with special ability. The invaluable talent of rec- onciling discordant brethren or societies was his in a rare degree. * * * His pulpit appeals were accompanied by a flowing and sweeping eloquence, sometimes rising to wonderful power and majesty.11
SARAH, wife of Samuel Merwin, was a daughter of Nehemiah Clark, of Milford, Conn. There she was born in 1776. In early life she was converted, and, although few if any of her relatives were Methodists, she chose to unite with that people.
9 Sprague's Annals, vol. vii, p. 336.
10 Life of Osborn, p. 52.
11 Hist. M. E. Church, vol. iii, p. 457.
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Old Sands Street Church.
Right nobly she shared for eight years the toils and self- denials of her first husband, Peter Jayne, who fell at his post in the itinerant ranks in 1806, and whose memorial has a place in this book. She afterward married Samuel Merwin, spent thirty-five years more in this work, and, about eight years after his death, from the home of her son, the Rev. J. B. Merwin, in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., on the 8th of January, 1847, at the age of more than three-score and ten years, like a shock of corn fully ripe, she was carried to the garner above.
The children of Samuel and Sarah Merwin were five sons and two daughters. The eldest, Samuel C., a physician, fell a mar- tyr to his profession in Natchez, Miss., during the yellow-fever epidemic in 1839 ; next, Andrew M., of the book firm of Bangs & Merwin; third, John B., became his father's successor in the ministry and presiding eldership, and is numbered among the pastors of the Sands-street church ; fourth, Daniel O., a law- yer and judge in Massachusetts ; fifth, Elias, a lawyer in Bos- ton, Mass. One of the daughters, Julia M., married Dr. Bangs' oldest son, Lemuel Bangs, of New York, and the other daugh- ter, Sarah M., married Merrels Ward, of Middletown, Conn.
XXIX. Samuel Thomas
ROOKLYN station employed two pastors in 1806. One of these was une REV. SAMUEL THOMAS, at that time a supernumerary preacher. The follow- ing must be accepted as the only known record of his his- tory antecedent to his becoming a traveling preacher.
It was early in life that this man of God became acquainted with the power of religion through the instrumentality of Methodist preachers, and became a member of the society in the early days of Methodism in the state of New Jer- sey where he then resided. His house for many years was a home for the preachers that came into that neighborhood.
For many years he was an acceptable local preacher. during which time-the latter part especially-his mind was much exercised about traveling feeling an ardent desire to be more extensively useful in the church of God.1
ITINERANT RECORD: 1796, (Philadelphia Conf.,) Flanders cir .. N. J., with Thomas Woolsey; 1797, ditto, with T. Everard; 1798, Elizabeth- town cir., with J. Tolleson and Thomas Morrell; 1799, ordained elder,-Free- hold cir., with Robert Sparks; 1800, Newburgh cir. , N. Y., with E. Woolsey; 1801, ditto, with M. Swaim and D. Best; 1802, Bethel cir., N. J., with B. Iliff; 1803, Elizabethtown cir., with G. Woolsey and G. Stevens; 1804, Freehold cir., with W. M'Lenahan; 1805, ditto, with D. Dunham; 1806, (N. Y. Conf.,) sup'y in Brooklyn,? with E. Cooper; 1807, sup'y, New York, with T. Bishop, E. Cooper, F. Ward and P. Peck; 1808-1811, superannuated.
Under his labors in connection with Ezekiel Cooper, Sands-street church was blessed with a remarkable revival in 1806. Among the converts were Marvin Richardson, Josiah Bowen and Charles Wesley Carpenter, who became eminent ministers of the gospel.3
His brethren of the conference declare that he was "a man of great prayer, and diligent in searching the Scriptures."
I Minutes of Conferences, 1812, p. 208.
2 Sands-street records (1806) say he was appointed by Bishop Asbury to di- vide his time as supply between New York and Brooklyn.
8 Richardson's MS. autobiography, quoted in Stevens' Hist. M. E. Church, vol. iv, p. 254. See also Conf. Minutes, 1853, p. 194.
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Old Sands Street Church.
Special mention is made of the fact that he was " a strict disci- plinarian." " He was a man of slender constitution," suffer- ing much pain and weariness, and, therefore, “ subject to dejec- tion, and frequently tempted and buffeted by the devil."
In the fall of 1811 he removed, with his daughter and son-in- law, to Cincinnati, Ohio. He passed the winter contentedly and happily, though suffering at times from severe attacks of sickness. His death, in the spring of 1812, after an illness of three days, was serene and peaceful.4 At the time of his trans- lation he was the only superannuated minister in the New York Conference.
The " In Memoriam " record in the recent editions of the New York Conference Minutes states that he was buried in Cincinnati, O. There is no record of his interment in the old Methodist burial-ground in that city.ª
Concerning his family nothing definite has been ascertained.
4 See Minutes of Conferences, 1812, p. 208. The exact date of his death is not known.
5 John Dubois, Esq., of Cincinnati, attempted to find his grave, but without success.
XXX. Oliver Sykes.
HE REV. OLIVER SYKES was born in the north-west- ern part of the town of Suffield, Con., January 12, 1778. During his boyhood and youth he had serions reflections bordering ou despair. At the age of twen- ty-two he was residing in Westfield, Mass., and during a se- ries of revival meetings among the Methodists, he sought the Lord in secret. and was saved from doubts "arising from Calvanistic instructions," and enabled to trust that the work of grace was already begun in his heart, "although" he writes, "the evidence was not so satisfactory as that of many." He continues as follows:
I was not far from twenty-three years of age when I was baptized by the pre- siding elder, Rev. Shadrach Bostwick, and not a great while after that time joined the Methodist society, of which I was appointed class leader, and used to go in general about foar or five miles a wiek to attend class meeting; I also used to exhort at the close of sermons among the Methodists and Congregation- alists."1
He was licensed to preach in February, 1805; visited the conference that year, and heard Biskop Whatcoat preach. He was much exercised and depressed, believing that he ought to give up his secular occupation, that of a clerk in a store, and enter the traveling ministry. After at- tending a few quarterly meetings with Daniel Ostrander, the presiding elder, he says, "I returned to Westfield pretty much the same dejected creature." He had put his hand to the plow, however, and was determined not to look back. His career as a conference preacher began in 1805, and may be traced by the following
MINISTERIAL RECORD: 1805, supply on Dutches cir., N. V. ( three months with F. Ward and R. Dillon, and on Croton cir. nine months w +
1 Manuscript Autobiography.
13
I 72
Old Sands Street Church.
Billy Hibbard ; 1806, (N. York Conf.,) Redding cir., Conn., with N. Fitch ; last half of the year, Brooklyn, with Samuel Thomas ;2 1807, Middletown cir., Conn., with Reuben Ilarris ;3 1808, ordained deacon,-Dunham cir., Can- ada and Vt. ; 1809, Fletcher cir., Vt. ; 1810, ordained elder,-Middletown cir., Conn., with J. Lyon ; 1811, Redding cir., with Aaron Hunt and John Rey- nolds ; 1812, sup'd ; 1813, sup'y, without appointment ; 1814, smp'y, Cortland cir, N. Y., with N. W. Thomas and Samuel Bushnell ; 1815, Suffolk and Sag Harbor cir, with John Reynolds,-health failed ; 1816, sup'd ; 1817, sup'y, . Dutchess cir., with Samuel Cochran and J. B. Matthias ; 1818-1825, sup'd ; 1826, sup'y, Redding and Bridgeport cir., Conn., with M. Richardson, 11. Humphreys, and Aaron Hunt, sup'y ; 1827, ditto, with Henry Stead and J. Lovejoy ; 1828, smp'y, Stratford cir., with J. Lovejoy and II. Komer ; 1830, sup'd ; 1830, sup'y, Redding cir., with J. Youngs and J. Bowen ; 1831, sup'y, Newtown, with 1. Mead ; 1833, sup'y, Sangatuck, with N. White; 1834, sup'y, Derby cir., with II. Humphreys and John Crawford ; 1835, ditlo, with J. Bowen ; 1836, sup'y, Windsor cir., with E. Dennis and W. L. Stair ; 1837, sup'y, Derby cir., with D. Miller ; 1838, ditto, with. O. Starr; 1839-18.47, sup'd ; 1848-1852, (New York East Conf.,) sup'd.
The early promise and popularity of Mr. Sykes are indicated in the following extract from a manuscript letter by Francis Ward, preacher in charge of Dutchess circuit, dated Rhinebeck, December 14, 1805, and addressed to Freeborn Garrettson, then stationed in New York :
I am afraid the cause will suffer if Brother Sykes is taken from us. fle is a gracious and gifted mau, and universally acceptable. To take him from us. at this time is like breaking my bones. It would rejoice me exceedingly if you and Brother Thacher could so arrange matters as to leave him with us.
If his popularity did not greatly increase after that, it is prob- ably due in a large measure to his physical infirmities. There is something pathetic in the continued repetition of "supernu- merary " and "superannuated " in the foregoing record. He writes concerning it :
My relation to the Annual Conference varied according to circumstances, but for the most part I was on the list of worn-out preachers. I preferred this to supernumerary, as it left me more at liberty. However, I repeatedly took an effective relation, and was obliged to give it up on account of my health. At length Brother Bangs (now Dr. Bangs) told me he thought I had better make no more attempts to stand effective, but do the best I could in my condition. This course I have taken, and endeavored to labor as Providence opened the way.
2 Autobiography.
3 The Minutes add Win. Thacher, but he was on the Middletown station. See sketch of Wm. Thacher in this work.
173
Record of Ministers.
His active labors in Brooklyn and on the east end of Long Island did not much exceed a year in duration. He came to Brooklyn when Ezekiel Cooper went South, and boarded with John Garrison.
" He suffered patiently during his last sickness, which was severe and protracted," and departed this life "with an un- clouded prospect before him." He died at the house of Mrs. Joseph Curtis, of Stratford, Conn., who donates his manuscript autobiography to the New York East Conference Historical Society. The plain marble slab which marks his resting-place, in the Methodist cemetery at Stratford, bears the following in- scription :
Rev. Oliver Sykes, of the New York East Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, died in the faith of the Gospel, triumphing over the fear of death, February 13, 1853, aged 75 years.
" What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ."
It is doubtful if any portrait of Mr. Sykes was ever taken. He is remembered by the older preachers as a confirmed old bach- elor, a tall man, a great pedestrian, almost invariably seen with an umbrella, rarely taking notice of children, opposed to in- strumental music, remarkably gifted in prayer, fond of discours- ing on the resurrection, seldom looking his congregation in the face, and often stealing away after service without speaking to any one. We have from his pen the following example of this last-named peculiarity :
My first Sabbath appointment at Rhinebeck was in the forenoon. I was so much harassed in mind in endeavoring to preach, that instead of going into the house, as was customary, to get some refreshment, after meeting, I immediately took my horse and started for my afternoon appointment, think- ing, " You will never wish to see me at Rhinebeck again ; " * * * but when I came round to that place again I was told that Brother Sands, and I believe some others, were quite blessed under my sermon.
It was no unusual thing for him to walk nine miles from his lodging-place through the woods before breakfast, apparently with the sole motive of eating in a different place from where he slept. If he lodged at Redding, he would breakfast at Weston, and vice versa. He came at one time, by invitation, to see his friend, W. H. Dikeman, in New York, and was sincerely and cordially welcomed. In the morning, behold ! the guest
" Conf. Minutes, 1853, p. 212.
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Old Sands Street Church.
had abandoned his bed and his room secretly and without a word of explanation, before the family were awake, and his host never saw his afterward.
His property, about $25,000, he bequeathed to the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for the benefit of the China Mission.
To some it may be interesting to read his own written testi- mony concerning the loss of physical strength, which he fre- quently experienced " while engaged in secret or family prayer, but sometimes in the class or prayer meetings, and even in the [publie] congregation occasionally." He says :
I do not recollect any instance of it, but when earnestly engaged in prayer. The effect, in a religious point of view, is salutary. It brightens my enjoy- ment, and nerves up my mind to pursue my religious course. Others may endeavor to account for these things by saying that the mind becomes greatly excited, and overpowers the body. But as to myself, I write from experience and what I know. The influence begins, progresses, till suddenly, as if it were by a stroke of lightning, my strength is gone and I fall to the floor. It may be a peculiarity with me, but I do not recollect any instance in which I could not soon rise up again. It seems to me, judging from its results, to be a baptism of the Holy Spirit.
XXXI.
Joseph
HEN the REV. JOSEPH CRAWFORD was presiding el- der of the New York District, and when later he was appointed pastor of the Sands-street Church, he ranked among the foremost men of the denomination.
He was a native of White Plains, N. Y. His active minis- try began when he was twenty-four years of age, and the, following is his
CONFERENCE RECORD: 1797. (New York Conf .. , Pomfret cir., Ct. with Stephen Hull; 1798, Vershire cir., Vt .; 1799, ordained deacon-Vershire and Windsor cir., with E. Chichester; 1800, Platsburg; 1801, ordained elder, -1801-1802, Bernard, Vt .; 1803, presiding elder, Vermont District; 1804, ( New England Conf., by change of boundaries,) same appointment; 1505, trav- eled with Bishop Asbury; 1806, (N. Y. Conf.,) New Rochelle cir., N. Y., with HI. Redstone and Ezekiel Canfield, sup'y, 1807-1810, presiding elder, New York Dist .; IStr, Courtland cir., with Coles Carpenter; 1812, New York city, with Wm. Phebus, Laban Clark, and Phineas Cook; 1813, ditto, with Phineas Cook, Sammel Cochran and Phineas Rice; 1814, Hudson; 1815, Jamaica cir., with Benj. Griffen; 1816-1817, Brooklyn ; 1818-1819, Albany.
His second circuit, Vershire, Vt., included all that part of the state east of the mountains, and under his iabors large numbers were added to the church the first year, and he was still more successful in connection with his colleague, Elijah Chichester, during the second year, when "more than a hun- dren were added to the church, besides hundreds who were converted but entered other communions."' One of those converts was a young man residing in Bradford, Vt., twen- ty one years of age, Laban Clark by name, who afterward became one of the most distinguished members of the New York Conference. He thus describes Mr. Crawford's faith- ful labors in leading him to Christ:
1 Stevens-ITist. M. E. Church, vol. iv, pp. 49, 63.
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Old Sands Street Church.
I left my work and went to hear him. He dwelt upon the ample provision of the atonement; the liberty of all to come ; the manner of coming by faith ; that the sinner was to come because he was a sinner, and not tarry to make himself better; and in conclusion he sang the hynm,
"Come, ye sinners, poor and needy," etc.
A few weeks later he visited that part of the circuit again, and Mr. Clark writes :
Hle came to my father's family. They collected together, the itinerant gave an exhortation and prayed, and in taking leave he took each person by the hand, and addressed a few words to them individually. When he came to me I was so affected that I could not refrain from weeping. He held on to my hand. exhorting me to receive Christ by faith, and lifting up his voice, he prayed earnestly for the Lord to bless me.2
The wife of the Rev. P. P. Sandford, when a child, " was melted into tears " under his powerful preaching, and after awhile gave her heart to Christ.3
Dr. Abel Stevens quotes Bishop Asbury's account of the af- fecting farewell of the bishop and Crawford at the close of their journey through the New England States. Asbury wrote :
Joseph Crawford came over the ferry with me. When about to part he turned away his face and wept. Ah, I am not made for such scenes! I felt exquisite pain.4
He was a member of the General Conference in 1804 and in 1808. It is related that on one occasion Mr. Crawford attend- ed a meeting composed of Methodists and other people, and conducted by a Universalist preacher who had visited the place, and proposed to establish stated services. Mr. Crawford was invited to conduct the closing exercises, which consisted of sing- ing and prayer. He announced the following hymn, "lining " it in the old-fashioned Methodist style :
"Jesus, great Shepherd of the sheep, To thee for help we fly; Thy little flock in safety keep, For O, the wolf is nigh !"
That hymn and the prayer had a very discouraging effect on the Universalist preacher, and he never came again.
2 Memoir of Laban Clark, Conference Minutes, 1869.
3 See memorial sketch of Peter P. Sandford in this work.
4 Hist. M. E. Church, vol. iv, p. 312.
Record of Ministers. 177
The public career of this eminent standard-bearer was sud- denly closed in 1820 by his exclusion from the ministry and the Church. Two trials and two appeals resulted in a final and ad- verse decision by the General Conference of 1828. A partial account of his subsequent history is given in the following com- munications from the State of Ohio, where he spent the last years of his life. The Rev. Cyrus Prindle writes : 5
I was slightly acquainted with Mr. Crawford during the last of his connec- tion with the New York Conference, and was in attendance as a member of that body when he had his last trial in 1825. Though I personally knew him after this, I knew but little of him. I incidentally learned that after doing business in New York or its vicinity for a season, he left, and went, himself, to Sandusky city, Ohio.
Visiting Sandusky, about 1848, he conversed with an aged and intelligent Methodist brother who had known Mr. Craw- ford during his stay in that city. His testimony Mr. Prindle records as follows :
He stated that from the time Mr. Crawford came to Sandusky until his death, which was by cholera, if I correctly remember, his deportment was good. He stated that at one period, when a considerable company were gathered together, the former life of Mr. Crawford was a theme of conversa- tion, and it was voted to appoint a committee to call upon him and invite him to select a time and preach to them. This man informed me that Mr. Crawford was so overpowered that he wept as though his heart was broken, but finally consented, and preached the sermon as requested. The account to me at the time was. a most impressive narrative.
The gentleman to whom I refer informed me where I could find his grave, with a plain tombstone, and his name on it. I went alone to the public burying-ground, and found all as it had been told! me. I remained at the grave for meditation and reflection, thinking how Joseph Crawford, in his palmiest dlays, had swayed the multitudes while addressing them, as the winds of heaven the forests.
To the foregoing we may add the following note from a pas- tor in Sandusky, written August 29, 1881 :
The Rev. Joseph Crawford is quite well remembered by several old citi- zens here. Of his previous history they know nothing, save the rumor that he left New York on account of certain irregularities. While here he was engaged as a clerk in two or more stores. He is not known to have been con- nected with any church, although he often came to the Methodist Episcopal church. Old Mr. Clemens states that he often led class, and frequently went out into the country to preach.
5 Letter to the author.
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Old Sands Street Church.
This is not confirmed by others. He preached a funeral sermon at the burial of Mr. Boalt, which is remembered as a sermon of great power. He was considered a man of marked talent ; was kind and gentlemanly, of dig- nified carriage, florid countenance, and gray, or slightly gray, hair.6
This correspondent makes note of conflicting statements by the aged people of Sandusky concerning the report that Mr. Crawford fell into a habit of drinking. He quotes the follow- ing, inscribed upon a tombstone in an old and neglected ground in the western part of Sandusky city :
In memory of Joseph Crawford, who was born in White Plains, N. Y., and died in this city Aug. 9, 1832, aged 59 years.
His wife long since found rest in heaven ; and of their chil- dren, living and dead, many pages of merited eulogy might be written, but they are not required.
" Rev. Albert D. Knapp, letter to the author.
Elijali Wodiey
REV. ELIJAH WOOLSEY.
XXXII. ELIJAH WOOLSEY.
ANDS-STREET Church was favored with the pastor- al labors of the REV. ELIJAH WOOLSEY in the year 1807 He was born in Marlborough, Ulster Co., N. Y., July 26, 1771.1 Ilis memoir in the Conference Min- utes states that "his parents were pious; his mother especial- ly was deeply devoted to God, and no doubt imparted to him early religious instruction."
In his autobiography he relates that the Methodist itiner- ants were accustomed to visit his father's house. He was greatly affected when they took him by the hand, and affec- tionately urged him to seek the Lord. He was still more thoroughly awakened when his own sister was converted and became a Methodist In a short time he followed her example. He held meetings and exhorted his neighbors to repent. In 1792, he and his brother Thomas began their itinerant work; his brother on trial in the conference, and he as a supply on a very laborious circuit at the age of twen- ty-one. After that year he filled the following
APPOINTMENTS: 1793, (New York Conf., ) Cambridge cir., with Joel Ketcham; 1794, Upper Canada, upper cir .; 1795, ordained elder,-Bay of Quinte, with Sylvester Keeler; 1796, Redding eir., Conn., with Robert I.ceds; 1797-1799, local; 18co, (N. Y. Conf.,) Newburgh cir. , N. Y., with S. Thomas; 1801. (Phila. Conf.) Flanders, N. J., with Benj. Iliff; 1802, ditto, with G. Bailey; 1803-1806, presiding elder, Albany Dist., N. Y., (from 18044, New York Conf.,) 1807, Brooklyn, with John Wilson; 1808, Croton cir., with Isaac Candee; 1800, Pittsfield cir., Mass., with Phineas Cook; 1810, Dutchess cir., N. Y., with Z. Lyon and Smith Arnold; 1811, ditto, with Peter Bussing; 1812, presid- ing elder, Rhinebeck Dist .; 1813, Middletown cir., Conn., with A. Scolefield; 1814, Stratford cir., with Henry Eames; 1815, Redding cir., with Reuben Har- ris; 1816, Dutchess cir., N. Y., with Noble W. Thomas; 1817, Cortland cir.,
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