USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn, N.Y. : an illustrated centennial record, historical and biographical > Part 34
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His youth was divided between the occupations of farmer and student. At home, when twenty years of age, he gave his heart to the Saviour. He was baptized by Peter P. Sandford, at Shrub Oak, N. Y. At White Plains, N. Y., where he prepared for college, he received his first license as a local preacher in 1834. He was graduated from the Wesleyan University in 1837, and was employed that same year as the first president of the Troy Conference Academy, in Poultney, Vt. Two years later he was appointed to a professorship in the Georgia Female College, in Macon. He was ordained local deacon by Bishop Andrew, in the State of Georgia, in 1841. He entered the itinerant min- istry that year, and the following is his
CONFERENCE RECORD : 1841, (Georgia Conf.,) Athens, Ga. ; 1842, Athens and Lexington ; 1843, ordained elder,-Savannah ; 1844, Columbus; 1845, (New York .Conf.,) New York, Twenty-third street, with Z. Davenport, sup'y; 1846-1847, New Haven, First ch .; 1848-1849, (New York East Conf.,) Brooklyn, Washington st .; 1850-1851, Brooklyn, Fleet-st .; 1852-1853, Hart- ford; 1854, New York, Twenty-seventh-st .; 1855-1857, (Indiana Conf.,) Pres't Indiana Asbury University ; 1857, (New York East Conf.,) Brooklyn, N. Y., South Third-st .; 1858-1859, Middletown, Conn .; 1860-1861, New Rochelle, N. Y. ; 1862-1863, New York, Thirty-seventh-st .; 1864, presiding elder, Long Island South Dist .; 1864-1876, editor of The Christian Advocate ; 1876-1880, editor of The National Repository ; 1880-ISSI, associate editor of The Methodist, with D. H. Wheeler ; 1881-1882, New York, Eighty- second street and South Harlem ; 1883, New York, Bethany chapel ; 1884, New York, Trinity ch., with T. II. Burch until May, then elected editor of the Methodist Quarterly Review.
Dr. Curry was married, February 16, 1838, to Miss Mary Hal- stead, daughter of A. L. Halstead, of White Plains, N. Y. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by the Wesleyan University in 1852, and that of LL.D. by the Syracuse Univer- sity in 1878. He has been a member of every General Con- ference from 1860 to 1884, inclusive, leading his delegation five times out of seven. He was a delegate to the Methodist Ecu- menical Conference, in London, 1881.
Daniel Curry has been prominently before the public for . nearly half a century ; with voice and pen, as teacher, preacher, platform speaker, author, and editor-one of the busiest men of
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his age; and to this day his " bow abides in strength." More than forty years ago he took rank among the ablest writers in the Methodist Episcopal Church, a pre-eminence which he still maintains. Besides the incalculable product of eighteen years of editorial work, scores of elaborate contributions from his pen have appeared in cyclopedias and magazines, and about twenty-five of his best articles are in the Methodist Quarterly Review. He is the author of a " Life of Wicklif," "The Met- ropolitan City of America," and " Platform Papers." The works of Dr. James Floy and Southey's " Life of Wesley " were edited by him. His last book is a revision of Clarke's " Com- mentary on the New Testament," an " elaborate, scholarly work," upon which he " has spent the energies of his ripe, rich genius."
Great satisfaction has been expressed concerning the almost unanimous election of Daniel Curry to the difficult and honor- able position of editor of the Methodist Review. Few, even among the ablest men of Methodism, would have been trusted to take charge of this highest periodical of our Church, espe- cially as the successor of that mighty theologian, scholar, and writer, Dr. Daniel D. Whedon.
Since one of the boldest of men has written, "Dr. Curry is too much alive for us to risk a characterization," the author of this book ought surely to be prudent enough to resist any temp- tation in that direction. But Dr. Buckley proceeds to say : " No man living ever taught the writer more than Dr. Curry ; " which statement is, perhaps, as great a climax as this chapter can reach.
Three sons of Daniel and Mary Curry, namely, Edward Coxe, Francis Shay, and David Stanford, died in childhood. Their only daughter, Georgia, is the wife of Mr. James Armstrong.
LXXV.
CHARLES FLETCHER.
HE REV. CHARLES FLETCHER was born near Leeds, Yorkshire, England, January to, 1811. His wife was often heard to speak of her acquaintance with him as a boy in the Sunday-school, where he showed un- common talent and won the admiration of many. At six- teen he was converted, and began to preach when eighteen years of age. His educational advantages were exceedingly limited. After a short time spent at school, the only oppor- tunities of his youth were such as a factory life affords; a fact which afterward elicited the question, "Whence hath this man such wisdom?" He developed a fine talent for busi- ness, and came to this country as a wool-buyer in 1842.
It would seem that he had ceased to be a preacher, if, in- deed, he was a church-member at the time of his coming to America. Some important facts in Mr. Fletcher's history, occurring about this time, are vividly presented in a com- munication by the Rev. Aaron Foster. He writes:
In the year 1842, I resided in Glenham, Dutchess County, N. Y., had charge of the village school, and was one of the class-leaders in the church of that place. My first interview with the lamented subject of this tribute was soon after he arrived in this country, when, while walking apparently for pastime, he halted in front of my residence where I was standing, and seemed inclined to make my acquaintance. I recognized in him a stranger. Moved by what proved a mutual impulse, I reciprocated his advances. We had not con- versed long, till his pleasant manner, together with the ease, grace, elegance and fluency of his conversation, convinced me that he was more than ordi- nary. In this conversation I learned he had belonged to the Wesleyan Church in the old country, and also that he had been a local preacher, and he showed himself conversant with the Church, its institutions, and leading standard- bearers in that country. Indeed, he seemed, comparatively as a luminous star bursting from behind a dark cloud-such a man as one seldom meets. I at once sought a closer acquaintance, and invited him to my class-room. He
MOSS ENGL.I.N.Y.
hus.
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REV. CHARLES FLETCHER.
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came. I introduced him to our pastor, he joined on probation, and his utter- ances were fragrant with a deep and rich experience. His words thrilled our souls. While he spoke our hearts burned. In due time he was licensed to preach.1
Thenceforward to the close of his life, Mr. Fletcher continued, either as a local or an itinerant preacher, to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation to men. Indeed, while he was outside the conference, his field, as a commercial traveler, was even more extended, and his transient visits and mighty sermons, in widely distant parts of the country, will not soon be forgotten. His record as a pastor in this country is briefly contained in the following list of
APPOINTMENTS : 1845, (New York Conf.,) Hartford Conn., with W. K. Stopford ; 2 1846, ditto, with P. C. Oakley ; 1847-1851, a local preacher ; 1850, last part, Brooklyn, Washington avenue, (Summerfield)-a supply ; 3 1852 (New York East Conf.,) ordained deacon, -Brooklyn, Summerfield chapel; 1853-1854, Birmingham, Conn .; 1855, ordained elder ; 1855-1856, Bridgeport, Conn .; 1857-1858, New York, Seventh-street ; 1859-1860, New York, Twenty- second-street, the first year with J. J. Matthias, sup'y ; 1861-1862, Mamaro- neck ; 1863. Meriden, Conn. ; 1864-1866, Brooklyn, Sands-street ; 1867- 1868, New Haven, Conn., First ch. ; 1860-1871, Brooklyn, Pacific-street; 1872-1875, presiding elder, Long Island South Dist., 1876-1879, presid- ing elder, New York East Dist .; 1880, supernumerary.
His field of labor in his first appointment was not in the city of Hartford, but, as the junior preacher, he was assigned to an outlying village, which afforded him an inadequate support, and he left the charge and engaged in mercantile business before the second year had expired. He was not happy, however, until he had re-entered upon the work to which he was conscious the Head of the Church had called him. He was providentially led into a hitherto unoccupied but hopeful field, and, by the bless- ing of God, he became the founder of the strong and prosperous Summerfield church, in Brooklyn.
When Mr. Fletcher was stationed in New Haven he had reached the height of his fame. It was then that the author, as a neighbor, had opportunity to witness the power of his in- fluence, and to observe the cause and the extent of his popular- ity. In his sermons he almost invariably presented the greatest
1 " Reminiscences," etc., in The Christian Advocate, 1880.
2 His memoir in the Conference Minutes, 1881, p. 79, is inaccurate and mis- leading, as it speaks of " his conference work, begun in 1852."
3 Quarterly conference record.
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and grandest topics of revelation. "The finished sacrifice," " the transfiguration," "the Christian's spiritual foes," " the sov- ereignty, majesty, power, dominion, and government of the Almighty," were some of the subjects in which his great heart and intellect found ample scope. He seemed to lose himself in his subject, and there was a clearness, depth, and grandeur, and "a steady march to the climax," which captured the attention, and made a most powerful impression upon the minds and hearts of his hearers. His conference memorial says :
People of mature judgment and scholarship, and of cultured taste, sat under his ministry with delight. The professors and students of Yale College were fond of dropping into his church.
The official board of the First Methodist Episcopal church in New Haven, in resolutions adopted after his death, declared :
Though we have been favored with the devoted pastoral care of many of the eminent ministers of the church, none have left a more fragrant memory, or a more salutary Christian influence.
The author remembers to have heard him preach a sermon at the Plainville camp-meeting from the text, " It is finished," which swept like a mighty torrent over the assembly. . A min- ister in the stand, most remarkable for his equanimity, seemed as much overwhelmed by his thoughts and emotions and as ' violently demonstrative as the others. The following is an ex- tract from the Rev. Dr. Buckley's excellent memorial article in The Christian Advocate :
As a man, he had the advantage of a large stature, a dignified bearing, and a deep yet musical voice. When in repose, or as he stood before an audience about to begin a discourse, his presence was imposing. In reading the Holy Scriptures he was very impressive. The late Canon M'Neil, of Liverpool, had a high reputation as a reader, but having heard both, we are of opinion that in solemnity, dignity, and pathos Charles Fletcher nearly equaled him ; perhaps, aided by similar externals, he would have attained the same excel- lence. * * *
Ordinarily reticent in social intercourse, when with a few kindred spirits, he was the charm of the occasion. He was capable not only of wit, but of that which is hi her than wit, genuine humor, which was illustrated at the union of the New York East and New England Conferences a few years ago. There those who did not know the rich vein of humor in his composition were surprised and delighted by his happy speech. Every conference has a few men who, if they do not stand above, stand out from the body, not in
Record of Ministers. 363
seclusion, but in marked individuality. When such men die, they should be fitly described ; and so we have tried to represent this man, unique, reserved, not unkind, always a gentleman, and a truly great preacher.
If he had possessed the adaptive facility of some others in prayer-meetings and the Sabbath-school, or had preached from the elevated pedestal of a col- lege presidency, or an episcopal position, his fame would have been as wide as the nation.
While it is not true, as some have believed, that Mr. Fletcher never wrote his sermons, it is a fact that of some of his greatest sermons not a written line or word have his friends been able to find. His memory was well trained. Mr. Foster, already quoted, says :
ITis reading was select and close, yet various and extensive. He made the best thoughts of the best writers his own, but every thing he borrowed was perfected by the ordeal of a powerful original analysis.
This statement is strikingly exemplified in a manuscript ser- mon, which Mrs. Fletcher placed in the author's hands. If there were space in this work to publish it, many of his friends would recognize therein the style and spirit of Mr. Fletcher's discourses. After he began to decline in health he spent some time at his son's residence near the writer's home in Great Neck, L. I. He was. affable, genial, entertaining, though evidently suffering, and apprehensive of his approaching end. He remarked with a weary smile, when invited to preach, "I feel just now as if I could endure about as much rest as any other man." He was confined to his room in Brooklyn during the session of the conference in 1880; but, prisoner as he was, he took great interest, and even participated in the work of the conference. As death approached he talked some, though not much, about his departure. His theme was Christ. He recited again and again the lines,
"Jesus, our great High Priest, Hath full atonement made."
After repeating impressively "The burial of Sir John Moore," he added : " And more gloriously the Christian war- rior dies." Thus he entered into rest on the 20th of April, 1880, having reached the age of sixty-nine years. Ilis funeral was attended in the Sands-street church, Dr. Curry and other ministers participating in the services, and his remains were borne thence to their last resting-place in Greenwood cemetery.
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SARAH (MARSDEN,) his wife, was born near her husband's birthplace, in Yorkshire, (date unknown.") Her father was brother to the noted Australian chaplain and pioneer mission- ary to New Zealand, the Rev. Samuel Marsden, who was, dur- ing his earlier Christian life, a Wesleyan. She had known and loved Charles Fletcher from childhood, and none could fail to observe that she regarded his character, his talent, his work, with a fondness and pride rarely equaled. She stood guard at his study door to prevent unnecessary interruption of his prep- aration for the pulpit, assumed the cares of the household, and performed an untold amount of pastoral work. It is safe to say that the usefulness of her husband's ministry was largely due to Mrs. Fletcher. Having, on account of studious habits and peculiar tastes, less adaptation than some to certain kinds of pastoral duty, he fortunately found in his energetic and de- voted wife a valuable assistant. It is a fact known to some that Mr. Fletcher was subject to despondency, and at times strongly tempted to withdraw from the ministry, but the cheering words and tender persuasions of his wife held him to his work. She never attempted to conceal her admiration for her husband's pul- pit ministrations. Forty years of familiarity with his thought and voice and manner only intensified her interest in his sermons.
Mrs. Fletcher was an ardent Methodist, well informed and thoroughly decided on all questions agitating the church. She cherished a profound interest in the welfare of Methodist min- isters. She knew and placed her own estimate upon nearly every member of the New York East Conference.
After her husband's death she looked and talked like one homesick for heaven. With all her tender affection for the living, she could not refrain from conversing about the dead, and the hope of meeting them above. Thus she lingered about one year, and died in peace at the residence of her son, Charles M. Fletcher, in Great Neck, L. I., August 14, 1881, aged (probably) about seventy-two. John Pegg, E. Warriner, Geo. Hollis, and others, took part in the funeral services. She sleeps in Greenwood by the side of her husband. Their two sons, Sydney and Charles M., survive them, and will never cease to remember their virtues, their counsels, and their prayers.
4 She was peculiar in this particular. Though it was understood that she was older than her husband, she would never tell her age, even to her children.
B, Pilsbury
REV. B. PILSBURY, D. D.
LXXVI. BENJAMIN PILSBURY.
OUTH LONG ISLAND DISTRICT was in charge of the REV. BENJAMIN PILSBURY, D. D. from June, 1864, to April, 1868. These were years of great prosperity to the church. Large sums were contributed in the "cente- nary offerings," and many debts of long standing were liq- uidated. Sands-street church paid a debt of ten thousand dollars. Several new societies were organized, and some dead ones revived; several new houses of worship were built, and thousands of souls were converted to Christ. The number of pastors employed increased fifty per cent., and the amount paid for ministerial support nearly one hundred per cent.
Benjamin Pilsbury was born in Boscawen, N. H., October 25, 1824. His ancestors came to this country from England, in 1651, and settled in that part of Newbury, Mass., called Belleville. The site where the first log-cabin was built has descended from father to son through all the subsequent generations. Here Daniel Pilsbury. the grandfather of Ben- jamin, was born; but in early life he emigrated to Boscawen, N. H., where he raised a numerous family, of whom Daniel Jr., the father of Benjamin, was the eldest.
The mother of Benjamin Pilsbury was Betsey Burleigh, daughter of Joseph Burleigh, Esq., of Salisbury, (now Franklin,) N. II., whose farm adjoined that of the father of Daniel and Ezekiel Webster. She became the second wife of Daniel Pilsbury, Jr., and Benjamin was her youngest child, and the only one who lived to maturity.
While he was yet an infant, his parents moved from Bos- cawen to a farm on Baker's River, in Plymouth, N. H., and there and in that vicinity remained until he was fifteen years old. In 1839 they moved to West Newbury, Mass., where they died at a good old age.
Benjamin's carly advantages for schooling were not great. The district school was distant, of short continuance, and
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not always well taught. In Massachusetts his opportunities were much better, and he commenced to prepare for college. Two winters he studied at the celebrated Dummer Academy, in Newbury, and one year at the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbra- ham, Mass., but a large part of the required studies were mas- tered by him alone, by the " midnight oil," while helping his father on the farm. He entered the Wesleyan University in 1843, and at once took a high position in his class ; but his ex- cessive labors had so exhausted his physical system, that he soon fell sick with typhus fever. When this subsided, his phy- sician commanded rest, and he went home. This sickness, al- though a serious interruption, was not altogether disadvanta- geous. Hitherto his father had opposed his seeking a collegiate education, but now he desired his return and promised some assistance. His mother had always sympathized with him in his efforts, and aided him as much as she was able. He returned to college at the beginning of the second term, and although obliged to teach and preach to pay part of his expenses, and at times suffering from ill-health, he was able to graduate honor- ably with his class in 1847.1
Mr. Pilsbury experienced religion while studying at Wilbra- ham, in April, 1842, and this event soon changed all his plans for the future. He had in view the legal profession; but the voice of the Spirit and the leadings of Providence pointed him to the ministry as the work of his life. In order to earn funds for the further prosecuting of his studies he taught a district school in Agawam, Mass., in the winter of 1842-1843. He found there a Methodist class, without a pastor, but holding meetings in the school-house on the Sabbath. Of course the teacher, though young and but just received into the church, was pressed into the service ; and in that place, without license, and with no intention of seeking one, he commenced to lead the meetings, and call sinners to repentance. A precious revival followed, and in consequence a little church was soon erected.
While in college Mr. Pilsbury was an active worker in holding meetings in the school-houses and little churches in Middletown and vicinity ; and at length yielded to the convic- tion that he must make the " preaching of the cross " his life- He was first licensed to preach by the quarterly work.
1 Bishop Andrews, Dr. Winchell, and other eminent men were members of this class.
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conference held in Middletown, Conn., August 4, 1845. Bar- tholomew Creagh was presiding elder, and by his appointment Mr. Pilsbury had the pastoral charge of a little church in Rocky Hill during his last collegiate year.
Feeling the need of additional preparation for the ministry, he resolved to pursue a course of study at some theological seminary, and a providential opening . led him to New Haven. The Methodist church in Westville desired him for their pastor, and consented to allow him all the advan- tages of the theological department in Yale College. Here he spent one year as a supply, and two years as a con- ference preacher, graduating from the seminary in 1850. Combining pastoral duties with attendance at school was an arduous task, but boarding at Westville, the long and regular walks gave him vigorous health, which he has gen- erally enjoyed ever since.
MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENTS : 1846-1847, Rocky Hill, Conn. a supply; 1847, Westville, a supply; 1848-1849, (New York East Conf., ) returned to Westville ; 1850-1851. Guilford, 1852, New Britain ; 1853-1854, Water- bury; 1855-1856, New York, Seventh-street : 1857-1858, Hempstead, L. I .; 1859, Rye, N. Y .; 1860-1861, New Haven, Conn., St. John-street ; 1862- 1863, Brooklyn, N. Y., South Third-street ; 1864-1867, presiding elder, Long Island South Dist .; 1868, West Winsted, Conn .; 1869. Middletown, with J. II. Knowles, (nominal appointment;) 1870-1871, Watertown; 1872- 1875, presiding elder, New Haven Dist .; 1876, Danbury; 1877-1379, Strat- ford ; 1580-1831, Woodbury ; 1882-1883, Durham : 1884, Forestville.
In Waterbury (1853) the large brick church on East Main- street was built. In 1856, under his ministry, an old debt of $5,000 was paid by the church in Seventh-street, New York. A parsonage was built by the people of South Third-street church, Brooklyn, under his administration. His nominal appointment to Middletown was at his own request, that his wife might care for her sick mother residing there. Mr. Pilsbury has witnessed many conversions under his ministry, in some appointments re- ceiving additions to the church every month ; but we have not space for details. The great revival in Hempstead, L. I., in the winter of 1857-1858, however, requires special notice. One hundred and sixty professed faith in Christ, of whom one hun- dred and thirty-five united with the Methodist church on pro- bation. The society about doubled its membership during his administration and became one of the strong churches of the conference. One of the converts is now a useful minister in
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the New York East Conference. Mr. Pilsbury rendered ac- ceptable service as delegate to General Conference in 1864 and 1868. He received the degree of D.D. from the East Tennes- see University in 1875.
During his first year as a conference preacher, on the 24th of April, 1848, Benjamin Pilsbury was married to Miss H. MARIA CHANDLER, only daughter of Theophilus Chandler, of Middletown, Conn., and sister of the late Rev. T. B. Chandler, of the New York East Conference. Two children have been born to them-a son and a daughter. The son, Benjamin Chandler, was graduated at the Wesleyan University in 1875, taught Latin and Greek in two conference seminaries, studied in Yale Theological Seminary, and is now a member of the New York East Conference. The daughter, Sarah Maria, " after sixteen beautiful years," departed "to be with Christ." Both were converted young.
Edu chy, Andrew,
BISHOP EDWARD G. ANDREWS, D. D., LL. D.
LXXVII.
EDWARD G. ANDREWS.
ANDS-STREET Methodist people do not disguise their pleasure in numbering among their pastors the REV. BISHOP EDWARD GAYER ANDREWS, D.D., LL.D. The church desiring for its pastor "the office of a bishop, desireth a good work." The helpful influence of pastors and churches is mutual ; noble, godly laymen may therefore expect not only to be gratified, but even honored and "admired," through the well-deserved promotion of the minis- ters with whom they have faithfully labored, and in whose suc- cess they have been personally and actively interested. While many others among the eighty-nine pastors and presiding elders of the Sands-street church may have been worthy of this office, Dr. Andrews stands alone among them as bishop.
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