USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn, N.Y. : an illustrated centennial record, historical and biographical > Part 29
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Crossing the East River into Brooklyn, I traveled that day as far as Jamaica, where, by direction of friends in New York, I called at the hospitable mansion of Brother Disosway, whose friendly greetings and kind attentions made ample amends for my previous embarrassments and perplexities. Friday I reached Hauppauge, a principal appointment on the circuit, and a short morning ride from Westfield, where the next day our quarterly meeting was to commence. I reached there on Saturday in time for the meeting, where I found my colleague, Rev. Wm. Jewett, and our presiding elder, Rev. Samuel Merwin. 2
Concerning his appointment to Dunham circuit, whose north- ern limit was in sight of Montreal, he writes :
Frail as I was, I did at first wonder that the lot should fall to me just here, and thought that possibly the bishop had made a mistake in my appointment ; yet, before the year had expired, I most clearly perceived that it was the Lord, more than the bishop, who had supervision of the case. The harsh climate, the hard work and plenty of it, and the harder fare, were just what infinite Wisdom saw I needed. I praise the Lord to this day for Dunham circuit. It saved me from an early grave.3
In the following year, 1820, he was the gospel pioneer in the wilderness lying north of Lake Ontario. He says :
The distance to be traveled in reaching it, including my journey to and from conference, was nearly one thousand miles. No circuit had been formed ; no one had preceded me as a messenger of mercy ; not a sermon, I believe, had been preached in all that region; little more, indeed, than twelve months had elapsed since the ax was first heard to break the stillness of the forest. There were no roads, no bridges, no food for a horse ; so that all my travel, by no means very limited, was of necessity on foot. I was directed by a compass, without regard to the marks or monuments of the sur- veyor. I carried with me a common Indian hatchet, both as a defense against ferocious wild beasts, and as a means of constructing bridges over streams of water too deep to ford.4
It is not a little surprising that one so well entitled to the
2 " Reminiscences," in the Northern Christian Advocate, 1863.
3 Semi-centennial Sermon, p. 9.
4 lbid., p. II.
-
3º3
Record of Ministers.
rank of a pioneer should have so little prominence in the stand- ard histories of the church.
He was married in 1823 to Miss Almeda Dana, sister of the late eminent Judge Amasa Dana, of Ithaca, N. Y.' He was a member of the General Conferences of 1824, 1832, 1840, and 1844.6 In 1860 the Genesee College requested the Oneida Conference to designate some member of that body upon whom the degree of D.D. should be conferred. His daughter writes :
The conference selected my father. He valued the honor, coming in that way, as a mark of their respect, though he had no fondness for degrees in themselves.7
During the ten years of his retirement he resided in Ithaca, N. Y., where he had been pastor several terms, and where his wife's relatives resided. Notwithstanding a troublesome bron- chial and asthmatic affection, he was able to preach occasionally, and was not confined to his room until one week previous to his death. His uniformly clear and blessed experience became manifestly more glowing and exultant during the last year of his life ; and "when finally too weak to do more than whisper now and then a word, he still strove to tell how unspeakably precious Jesus was to him."" Thus he passed away on the Ioth of October, 1871, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. A plain head-stone designates his grave in the cemetery in Ithaca, N. Y. His widow and two or three daughters reside in or near Ithaca.
Fitch Reed was one of the golden links uniting this genera- tion of Methodists to the early fathers of the church. He is thus characterized in his conference memorial :
Dr. Reed was a man of scholarly attainments, possessed of an active, log- ical mind, refined taste, quick, sound judgment, pure, strong, and noble im- pulses. His preaching was at once instructive, entertaining, convincing, and persuasive. By his labors and sympathies he was always identified with the progressive spirit of the church. His piety was ardent and transparent. All knew its source ; it bore the seal of Christ, and could meet the approval of heaven.
5 Smith's " Pillars in the Temple," p. 187.
6 The conference memorial says, incorrectly, 1820, and omits 1832 and 1834.
7 Miss Kate Reed-letter to the author.
8 The Rev. O. II. Warren, in The Christian Advocate.
LX.
STEPHEN MARTINDALE.
ONG ISLAND having been detached from the old New York District in 1840, the REV. STEPHEN MARTINDALE, one of the leading ministers in the conference, then fifty-two years of age, was placed in charge of the district as its first presiding elder. He was a native of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He hailed from a state in which Methodism was carly established and has always flourished; a state which gave to the denomination the first native American preacher, Richard Owen, and the first native. American itinerant, William Watters;1 and after them such renowned and heroic. men as Freeborn Garrettson, Wm. Phœbus, Laurence M'Combs, George Pickering, Bish- ops Emory and Scott, and many others of equal power and fame. Tuckahoe Neck, the neighborhood from which he came, "furnished its quota of preachers for the itinerancy in the Reverends Ezekiel Cooper, Solomon Sharp, Stephen Martindale and Thomas Neal.""
Stephen Martindale was born near the Choptank River in the year 1788. His grandfather was a clergyman of the Church of England. His father, Daniel Martindale, was a Methodist class leader and local preacher. Ezekiel Cooper was a member of his class. A large part of his property was in slaves, but he set them free. He was a holy man. The mother of Stephen Martindale was named Mary Mead. He was the youngest of a family of ten children, and was two years old when his mother died. While he was yet a child his father was taken from him, and he was placed un- der the care of his sister, a woman of rare accomplishments, from whom he received an excellent training, and toward whom he ever cherished the deepest and truest affection.3
1 Lednum-Rise of Methodism, p. 21.
2 Ibid., p. 165.
3 The author is indebted for these facts to the daughters of Stephen Martin- dale, Mrs. Dr. A. S. Purdy of New York, and Miss Mary Martindale of Tary- town.
.
G. CO.N.Y.
4. Martindale
REV. STEPHEN MARTINDALE.
Record of Ministers. 3º5
He engaged in the work of the ministry under the direction of his presiding elder in the year 1808. The name of his charge is not known.
PASTORAL RECORD : 1808, supply ; 1809, Somerset cir., Md., with David Best; 1810, Dover cir., Del., with J. Sharpley ; 1811, ordained deacon, -- Snow Hill cir., Md., with W. Wickes ; 1812, Morris cir., N. J., with J. Van Shaick ; 1813, ordained elder, -Essex cir., with John Finley ; 1814, Bergen cir., with Phineas Price : 1815, Philadelphia, St. George's, with Robert Burch and L. Laurenson ; 1816, ditto, with Robert Burch and Martin Ruter ; 1817, Talbot cir., Md., with W. Quinn ; 1818, Queen Ann's cir.,. with Thos. Ware ; 1819, ditto, with Wm. Ryder ; 1820, Kent cir., with T. Smith ; 1821, New- ark, N. J. ; 1822, (New York Conf.,) New York city cir., with E. Washburn, M. Richardson, Wm. Ross, H. Bangs, and J. Summerfield ; 1823, ditto, with E. Washburn, P. Rice, J. B. Stratton, S. Bushnell, and E. Brown ; 1824, New Rochelle cir., with H. Bangs, L. Andrus, sup'y ; 1825, ditto, with P. Rice, L. Andrus, sup'y : 1826-1327, Troy ; 1828-1829, (New England Conf.,) Boston, Mass., with E. Wiley ; 1830, (New York Conf.,) New York city cir., with S. Luckey, S. Merwin, L. Pease, B. Goodsell, N. Bangs, and S. D. Ferguson ; 1831, ditto, with S. Merwin, L. Pease, B. Goodsell, S. Landon, J. Clark, B. Sillick, and C. Prindle ; 1832, Stratford cir., Conn., with L. C. Cheney ; 1833-1836, presiding elder, New Haven Dist., Conn. ; 1837, White Plains and Greensburgh cir., N. Y., with D. I. Wright, R. Harris, sup'y ; 1838, ditto, with J. A. Sillick, S. U. Fisher, sup'y, and R. Harris, sup'y : 1839, pre- siding elder, Rhinebeck Dist. : 1840-1843, presiding elder, Long Island Dist. ; 1844-1845, New York, Eighteenth-street ; 1846-1847, New York, Norfolk-street ; 1848-1850, presiding elder, Delaware Dist. ; 1851, Newburgh Dist. ; 1852-1854, New York Dist. ; 1855-1858, Poughkeepsie Dist. ; 1859, Irvington, N. Y, ; 1860, superannuated.
His daughter writes :
I heard my father say that when he went out to preach he was but nineteen years of age and had only one shilling in his pocket, but that he had never wanted for money.+
Having traveled four years, he was married in 1812. His wife taught school to supplement their insufficient salary. He was ordained by Bishop Asbury, and was on familiar terms with all the earlier bishops. " He came North," says his daughter, "on account of slavery. His wife was greatly opposed to the system, and told the Southerners that some day all their slaves would be free."
Remarkable revivals attended Mr. Martindale's labors in Troy, Bowery Village, and Boston. He was greatly inter- ested in the work of his friend, Father Taylor, of Boston, and he aided in the formation of the Port Society of that city.
4 Mrs. Dr. A. E. Purdy-letter to the author.
306
Old Sands Street Church.
With R. R. Roberts, L. M'Combs, Joseph Totten, Ezekiel Cooper, and other famous men, he represented the Philadelphia Conference as General Conference delegate in 1816 and 1820, and with Garrettson, Merwin, Bangs, Ostrander, Washburn, Sandford, Waugh, Richardson, Clark, Rice, Olin, Peck, and oth- ers of like standing, he formed a part of the New York Confer- ence delegations in 1824, 1828, 1836, and 1844.
After more than half a century of devoted, heroic, and useful service in the active ministry, he departed this life in great peace, May 23, 1860, in the seventy-third year of his age. His illness was of about two months' duration. To an aged friend who visited him he said, "I have always believed in the doc- trines I have preached, and they sustain me now."' To the Rev. John J. Matthias, who called upon him, he quoted with animation some of the most triumphant strains of the psalmist. That was an hour of supreme interest to these two men of God. They were to meet no more on the shores of time, but were destined to hail each other very soon on the plains of heavenly glory. The memorial in the Conference Minutes contains the following :
Mr. Martindale's eldest daughter states that about a week before his death he awoke from sleep with an expression of joy on his countenance. She in- quired why he looked so joyous. "O," said he, "I rejoice with all my heart. * * * My work is done. * * * I am a sinner saved by grace !"
His friend, John J. Matthias, wrote for The Christian Advo- cate as follows :
Ilis funeral sermon was preached by the writer on 2 Tim. iv, 7, 8 : "I have fought a good fight," ete., in the presence of a numerous congregation, in the Methodist church in Tarrytown. Rev. Mr. Wakeley offered prayer at the house, and Rev. Drs. M'Clintock and Foster, and Rev. Mr. Todd, of the Dutch Church, led the devotions of the congregation. Among the pall-bear- ers were the pastors of the village (Baptist, Episcopalian, Dutch Reformed) and others. The neighboring gentlemen sent their carriages to convey the people to the grave.
He and his wife are buried in a neatly inclosed plot in Sleepy Hollow cemetery, in Tarrytown, N. Y., and modest head-stones mark their resting-place.
Mr. Martindale is uniformly described by those who knew him as a man of uncommon amiability, cool self-possession, and good judgment. Many remember him as a sound theolo-
5 Minutes of Conferences, 1861, p. 113.
1
307
Record of Ministers.
gian, a good pastor, a loved presiding elder, (twenty years in that office,) a popular preacher, a sweet singer, and " remark- ably gifted in prayer." His " diction was always correct and often elegant." He was " tall and well-proportioned, with a countenance fair and ruddy, expressive of intelligence and be- nignity," and he spoke with "a voice whose rich intonations flowed and rippled like a brook."" In all his varied relations he maintained a consistent piety. His daughter says-and her words are quoted in his obituary-
It was my father's example that made me a Christian. It was his daily walk in the privacy of family and home that preached and made us love the religion which he illustrated.
Twenty-one years after his death his younger daughter wrote :
I often heard my father say that if he thought he had one drop of bigotry in his veins, and knew where to find it, he would take an instrument and let it out. Nevertheless, both of our parents were the most intense Methodists ; and we children gloried in Methodism because it was the religion of such parents, and was progressive. Yes, my father made us intelligent Methodists. Ile said he wished us to choose Methodism for ourselves ; and so, as soon as we came to years of discretion, he procured the standard books of each church, as well as " Hurd on all Religions," and frequently conversed with us on any mooted point ; not forcing us, but leaving us alone to read and in- quire at our own option. In looking into my father's face I always thought of the glory of a June day-the deep-blue eyes were like the sky, and his smile was like the sunshine. Seldom are children nurtured amid such ele- vating influences. * * * Both parents were singularly fond of young people, especially such as were struggling to rise. Our house was a home for many such, and many have been sent forth therefrom rejoicing. When my brothers were in college (we lived in the town part of the time) they were urged to bring their college mates home ; for both father and mother were aware that there was no safeguard for these young men like such a home as thev knew ours to be. Dr. Fisk, his compeers and successors, were household friends, and loved to come to our house for relaxation and social cheer. Excuse me for writing so freely-it is seldom I do this.
My father was morbidly sensitive in regard to any parade of services rendered. We used to talk often about this, but I could not change his mind. I sometimes playfully told him, " I might some day support myself by such things," but his invariable, gentle, reverent reply to me was, "God knows." To-day, when papers and books do so laud human service, I love the memory of my sainted father all the more intensely because of this reti- cence. I have two manuscript volumes of sermons and outlines to tell me what he did in public. His home life is in my heart.7
6 Conference Minutes, 1861, p. 114.
7 Miss Mary Martindale-letter to the author.
308
Old Sands Street Church.
MARY (SANDFORD,) his wife, daughter of Joseph Sandford," was born in Belleville, N. J., September 26, 1788, and died in Tarrytown, N. Y., November 6, 1868, in the eightieth year of her age. Dr. Joseph Holdich wrote a beautiful sketch of her life for The Christian Advocate, in which he says :
Mrs. Martindale used to tell the story of her own conversion. When she was twenty years of age her father, [an Episcopalian at the time, ] one even- ing soon after his own awakening, went to a prayer-meeting held at a near neighbor's. "Tell Mary," he said to her mother, "to come to the prayer- meeting." Mary was accustomed to say, " If my mother had told me my fa- ther was dead, I could not have felt worse than when she told me that he had gone to a Methodist prayer-meeting, and directed me to come likewise." But she never dreamed for an instant of disobeying him. That prayer-meeting resulted in the conversion of both father and daughter. She gave her heart to Christ, and both united in membership in the same " household of faith." At the age of twenty-four she was united in marriage to the Rev. Stephen Mar- tindale, then in the zenith of his popularity ; * * * but the Methodist Church, then in its infancy, was feeble, poor, little understood, and not in good repute among the more cultured classes, or in the world at large. But none of these things moved her. She became the devout and devoted wife of a Methodist preacher, and cheerfully shared all his toils. She was his helpful compan- ion, encouraging, counseling, sustaining him, manifesting a happy temper, and looking naturally at the bright and hopeful side. She could put up with inconveniences without complaining ; while, by a prudent but not pinch- ing economy, she made the small stipend of a minister of that day not only meet their wants, but sustain a reputable appearance. She brought up their children with great propriety and respectability, securing them educations adapted to any station in society. * * * Her children and grandchildren have in her sweet life and example a blessed treasure that shall not be forgotten.
Her pastor, the Rev. Charles S. Brown, in an address at her funeral, said :
I shall never forget-those who sat near her, and especially the daughter who was with her, will never forget -- the rapture of her spirit the last time she filled her seat in the house of God. It was her custom to retire, leaning on the arm of her beloved daughter, before the closing services, to es- cape the excitement of passing out with the congregation. But on that day she could not go. She joined with unusual fervor in singing the last hymn, and at the close, turning to a lady who sat near her, expressed her desire, if it might be the will of God, to go from the earthly directly to the heavenly sanctuary.9
The day before her death this pastor found her too feeble for distinct utterance, but giving other signs of peace that is
8 See sketch of the Rev. P. P. Sandford in this work.
9 Quoted by the Rev. Dr. Holdich in his memorial sketch.
Record of Ministers. 309
"like a river." The Rev: J. W. B. Wood, a former pastor, was with her when she departed. Mr. Brown said further :
She was a member of the New York Female Bible Society, and active as a Bible visitor. She was also a member of the Female Assistance Society, and for some time one of its managers. * * Not only her husband and her children shared the fruits of her self-denial, but strangers and the poor always found in her a friend. Take the following specimen : Twelve little children coming in yesterday to look at her remains, one of them said to the rest, " Who will give us cake, now Grandma Martindale is dead ? "
Dr. C. K. True, who knew her long and well, wrote a loving testimonial to her children after her departure. Our limited space forbids us to quote from it. The following tribute by her daughter is too good to be omitted :
My mother learned by heart many of the poems of standard English au- thors, and in the last year (eightieth) of her life would repeat page after page of Pope, Pollock, Cowper, " dear old Goldy," (Goldsmith,) and lots of others. My father, even, with his fine mental qualities, always deferred to my mother on that score. She was wonderfully appreciative and brilliant, even in her eightieth year, quick at repartee, and well posted in all important political, social, and intellectual questions in home and foreign lands. She was, moreover, one of the best and most sympathizing of friends to the poor and lowly. I was but a child when we lived in Boston, I remember, and my sis- ter was a lovely young lady. One of my brothers had a little hand wagon. Often, after night-fall, my mother would fill this wagon with fuel, and, giving my sister a basket filled with good things, would send the two out on missions of love to some distressed home. We were always taught by both parents that any loving, unselfish aet never degraded us, however poor and miserable might be the recipient.
When my parents were young, father's salary was so small that my mother opened a little school, and in after years she used laughingly to say she "made much more money than did my father." * * * We lived one year in Brooklyn while father was presiding elder of Long Island District, and he advised us each to unite with a different church. My mother went to York- street, brother Stephen to Centenary, I to Washingson-street, and all rallied at Sands-street.10
As we might expect, we are able to make a gratifying record of the children of Stephen and Mary Martindale : James Alex- ander, after studying medicine at Yale, lost his health, took a sea-voyage for restoration, (his passion was the sea,) rose to rank, and died in Santo Domingo, of yellow fever, November 15, 1844. Anne Sandford, wife of Dr. Alfred S. Purdy, of New
10 Miss Mary Martindale-letter to the author.
310
Old Sands Street Church.
York, who died December 2, 1883, was for nearly twenty years first directress of the New York Female Assistance Society for the Relief of the Sick Poor, and for a long time a manager of the New York Female Auxiliary Bible Society, (with both of these societies, as we have seen, her mother was connected many years ago ;) she was also a manager of the New York Branch of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, and of the M'Clin- tock Association, and of the Five Points' Mission. She is also remembered as connected with the Soldiers' Relief Association in the work at the hospitals during the war for the Union. Stephen, Jr., a true Christian gentleman, was graduated with honor at the Wesleyan University, practiced law in the city of New York, and died May 28, 1852. Joseph, a druggist by occu- pation, died May 24, 1853. Mary, twin sister of Joseph, was never married. She wrote, July 9, 1883, to the author :
I am trying to follow my father as he followed Christ, which was lovingly and faithfully. I am a lone woman, fighting the world with my own two little hands, but the memories of the departed are my strongholds, and, please God, when the fight is over the reunion and rest will be glorious.
She entered that "glorious rest," from her home in Tarry- town, N. Y., on the 15th of February, 1884, and near the graves of her parents a new mound was made over her mortal remains. Daniel, a younger brother, was graduated from Wesleyan Univer- sity at the head of his class, entered the legal profession, was State's attorney in Jackson, La., and died a victim of yellow fever, November 1, 1853-" a martyr to his own kindness of disposition, as he caught the fever from nursing a friend."11 Mary wrote in a letter :
My three younger brothers all died within eighteen months-all noble sons, our great hope and dependence. My parents never fully recovered from the pain of this bereavement, yet never let the shadow of our great loss fall upon others. It seemed to ripen them for heaven.
11 Dr. Holdich in The Christian Advocate.
LXI.
V
E are informed that the Oakleys sprung from the substantial yeomanry of old England. The name can be found as far back as the eighth century. At a very early period in the history of this country, three mem- bers of the Oakley family came hither and landed in Boston. After a while one of them settled in the county of Westches- ter N. Y. George Oakley, one of his descendants, was father to the subject of this sketch. He became a Methodist in West- chester county, moved to New York city, joined the old John-street church, and finally moved "up town," casting in his lot with the Forsyth-street brethren, and his remains were laid to rest in the burial ground of that church.
The REV. PETER CANNON OAKLEY was born in the city of New York, August 20, 1800. From early childhood he at- tended the Methodist meetings, but his mind was not per- manently impressed with divine truth until he read in a book called. "Russell's Seven Sermons" a discourse on "Time and Eternity." About this time his father died instantly from a stroke of apoplexy. This terrible bereavement strengthened his purpose to choose God for his Father and guide. A kind Providence had prepared for him an excellent Chris- tian home with the parents of "Harper and Brothers," where, though he was but an apprentice, he was treated as one of the family. Gradually, by the leadings of the Spirit and the encouragement afforded by "Father and Mother Harper," he was brought to the enjoyment of divine favor, and joined the John-street church when about seventeen years of age. In recalling this event he writes: "I am probably the only person now living who was then in the old hive."1
1 Letter to the author.
312
Old Sands Street Church.
His first license as an exhorter was signed by Ebenezer Washburn, preacher in charge, New York city, November 11, 1822. About twelve months later, after he had been traveling some time under P. P. Sandford, presiding elder, as a supply, he received a local preacher's license, and a recommendation to the New York Annual Conference.
Previous to his conversion he had gained but a limited knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic. His conversion aroused in him an ardent thirst for knowledge, and though working at the printing press fourteen hours a day, he found " much time to read," and, in company with J. Wesley Harper and Nicholas Murray, (afterward the Rev. Dr. Murray,) he studied English grammar. Having served his apprenticeship, he entered the Wesleyan Seminary, in Crosby-street, New York, where he acquired some knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages.
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