USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn, N.Y. : an illustrated centennial record, historical and biographical > Part 4
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The next year, 1796, Freeborn Garrettson was presiding elder for a third term, and Wm. Phœbus was a third time appointed to preach the Gospel in Brooklyn. A gain of eleven members was reported at the close of the year.
13 This was more than ten years previous to the erection of the first St. Ann's church. See Stiles' Hist. of Brooklyn, vol. ii, p. 108.
14 Asbury's Journal, Ed. 1852, vol. ii, pp. 243, 310.
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William .-
WRIGHT.
ALSY MARY JANE
A PORTION OF THE OLD SANDS STREET CHURCHYARD. 1882.
Historical Record.
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BROOKLYN IN 1798-(AS SEEN FROM THE NORTH.) Showing the Original Sands Street M. E. Church.
CHAPTER II.
A RECORD OF TEN YEARS; 1797-1806.
TILES' History of Brooklyn contains a wood-cut. from which the above is copied. The original sketch was accurately made by a French artist four years after the first Methodist church was built. It is a view from the New York side of the East River, about oppo- site Navy Yard Point. In the distance, on the right, are New York Bay and Bergen Point; nearer, Governor's Island, the East River, and the old Brooklyn ferry-house; and in the center, partly hidden by the sail of the sloop, is probably shown the original Sands-street church, built in 1794.
In the year 1797, the second year of Win. Phoebus' third term as pastor, Sylvester Hutchinson being presiding elder, the membership increased from fifty to eighty-one. The carli- est known register of members was made at the close of the Conference year 1798, (Andrew Nichols, pastor,) and from the records beginning at that time. we copy the names of all who are known to have been members of Sands-street Church, up to the close of the eighteenth century.1
1 For memorials of nearly all the founders of this church, see Book III.
2.04.
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Historical Record.
WHITE MEMBERS.
Thomas Van Pelt, trustee, and Sarah his wife; John Gar- rison, leader and trustce, and Mary his wife; Burdett Stryker, trustee, and Hannah his wife; Richard Everit, trus- tee, and Sarah his wife; Isaac Moser, leader and trustee, and Susannah his wife; James DeGraw, Icader and trustee, John Hastings, and Deborah his wife; Joseph Moser, Margaret Moser, Ida Moser, Jeremiah Smith, Hannah Smith, Caleb Shreeve, Meliscent Shreeve, James Herbert, Joseph Webb, Jolin Leaneigh, Samuel Engle, Sarah Engle, John DeVos- nell, Joseph Herbert, John Harris, John Cornelison, Wil- liam Foster, John Trim, John Schnell, Anna Schnell, Mary Powers, Jemima Kissam, Sarah Hillear, Catharine Johnson, Rebecca Lynch, Anna Sutliff, Mary Denton, Elizabeth Rote, Sally Howzy, Leanah Smith (afterward Lany Valentine), 'Anna Day, Betsey Dale, Leah Connor, Eleanor Ward, Ra- chel Cannon, Lany Acker, Eleanor Ferguson.
COLORED MEMBERS.
Abraham Anthony, Susannah Anthony, Peter Anthony, Wm. Thompson, Hannah Thompson, Thos. Hartley, Harvey Anderson, Thomas Bristol, Caty Jackson, Dinah Benson, Susannah Thomas, Adam Francis, Bethany Stewart, Mary Dolph, Frances, John Grace, Isaac Minix, Thomas Peterson, Philip Leonard, Cornelius Anderson, Caty Anderson, Titus, Nanny, Sarah, John Graw, Nelly.
It will be observed that some of the black people in those days had no surnames, and the names they were called by would hardly distinguish them from dogs and horses; but even such names, we cannot doubt, are written in the Book of Life.
On a stone in the church-yard is inscribed the name of Hannah Stryker, who departed this life in 1787. If tradition be true, she joined the original class, and was the first of the Brooklyn Methodists to gain a crown of immortality. Rich- ard Everit, a trustee, died in 1798, and his is the earliest obit- uary record in the old church books.
Cyrus Stebbins and David Buck complete the list of pas- tors, to the close of the eighteenth century. There had been a decrease in membership for a year or two, and at the Con- ference of ISoo, the number of members reported was only
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Old Sands Street Church.
fifty-four. In three years thereafter, under the administra- tion of David Beck, Peter Jayne and Ezekiel Canfield, the number had reached the former maximum, seventy-three.
In 1804, while Cyrus Stebbins was pastor a second term, the church building was enlarged. He withdrew from the denomination in December of that year, and Ezekiel Cooper, the book agent, supplied the vacancy until conference. Win. Thacher was then presiding elder. Mr. Cooper contin- ued as the stationed preacher from the June conference, 1805, but the old record states that Samuel Merwin occupied the station the last quarter, from February till the conference in May, 1806.
These preachers boarded with James Harper, the grand- father of the celebrated Harper Brothers, the price of board being fixed by the trustees at $3.25, or twenty-six York shil- lings per week.
The next name on the list of preachers is that of Samuel Thomas, associate pastor with Ezekiel Cooper in 1806. The trustees agreed to pay his house-rent, and the sum to be paid was $160.00 per annum. During the same year it was
Resolved: That there shall be a new set of steps erected at the front door of the church, and seats in the altar all round from the altar door, also that of a dark night, when there is a public meeting, the sexton shall light the lamp at the church door.
Joseph Moser was sexton on an annual stipend of £7 and grave digger's perquisites. Previous to this time the Methodists had begun to use the church-yard as a burying- ground, and the trustees adopted a resolution that none but regular attendants upon divine service in this church, should have the privilege of interment there; and furthermore, that "no person guilty of suicide could be buried in this ground under any pretence or condition."
Here was originally interred the sacred dust of Summer- field and Ross, and many of the carly Brooklyn Methodists. There many of them remain, and the visitor may read upon the mossy tomb-stones their names and modest epitaphs.
In the trustees' record, January, 1807, there is a minute, stating that Ezekiel Cooper had left Brooklyn for the South, and that Oliver Sykes came to board at John Garrison's on the 21st of January. Sykes was junior pastor with S. Thomas.
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CHAPTER III.
A RECORD OF TEN YEARS; 1807-1816.
'T the conference of 1807 Joseph Crawford was ap- pointed to the New York District; Elijah Wool- sey and John Wilson were stationed in Brooklyn. These pastors found two hundred and twenty-five members, and left two hundred and fifty-three. During this conference year preachers and people mourned the death of a pastor's wife, Mrs. Electa Woolsey. The following curious record may be seen in the old church book:
Jacob and Susan, joined together in marriage, October 12, 1807, by me, Elijah Woolsey-Consent of George Bennett, owner.
Many of the most respectable people of Brooklyn held slaves at that period, and the institution did not come to an end until about 1825. After a pastoral term of one year, Messrs. Woolsey and Wilson were succeeded by Daniel Ostrander.
In 1868, Joshua Sands, an Episcopalian, canceled a debt of one hundred dollars, the amount due him for land on which the church was built, and in the following year he gave the society a lot for a parsonage, on Iligh-street adjoining the church property. Andrew Mercein, Thomas Kirk and George Smith were the parsonage building committee, appointed in January, 1809. During the next conference year, the pastor, Rev. Reuben Hubbard, withdrew from the Methodists, and we find this amusing note in one of the church records:
Cyrus Stebbins left the Methodist connection, and joined the Church of Eng- land. He is stationed in Schenectady, and was formerly stationed in Brooklyn. Little Reuben Hubert left our connection, and joined the Church. He was for- merly a Methodist preacher, stationed in Brooklyn. Poor things!
Rev. Thomas Drummond, of the Philadelphia Conference, was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Mr. Hubbard. The length of the church edifice having been increased pre-
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Old Sands Strect Church
vious to 1810, it was now sixty feet long aud thirty feet wide, with end gallery for the Africans.1 The congregation having increased beyond the capacity of the church, the pastor offered a resolution which was adopted Sept. 10, 1810, to build a new church edifice. George Smith, one of the official members, purchased the old structure, and it was moved to the Jamaica turnpike, (Fulton Street), opposite High Street, and devoted to various purposes. In one part Judge Garri- son held court, and in another the leaders met their classes. The pastor, Wm. Thacher, labored with remarkable energy. He states that the brethren were inclined to increase the size of the original building, fearing to incur the expense of a new edifice. He writes:
The challenge was given by the preacher, "Put me in command, and I will show you that it is easier to raise $3,000 to build than $1,400 for enlarge- ment." The result was a house 70 by 42 feet, with galleries and furniture, at a cost of $4,200, Subscriptions, $3,300; sale of old church $260; raised a: dedication $220; in all $3,780. This increased the church debt $420 but resulted in the enlargement of the congregation, the conversion and addi- tion of souls to the church, and an improvement of the finances .?
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OLD WHITE CHURCH.
This new edifice was provided with seats for more than twelve hundred persons. It is remembered as the "Old White Church." Bishop Asbury preached in the building,
i Thacher's MS. Autobiography.
: MS. Autobiography.
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Historical Record.
Sunday, May 17, 1812, and described it as an "elegant house.""
At the expiration of the conference year 1811, an incident occurred which is thus narrated by Mr. Thacher:
It was at a love-feast, and I spoke in the following terms: "Brethren, I now close my labors as your preacher, You have paid me all my claims, and that I may not be suspected of any sinister design, I tell you that I ask no favors for myself; but I speak in the interest of my successors, You are in the habit of paying $350 for the support of a married preacher. New York pays $500 for the same purpose. They know that the whole of this is needed to support a family, and let me tell you that no man has paid so much to support your preacher as Wm. Thacher. I ask you to give more in the future to the sup- port of your preachers. As to myself I have no claims on you."
The meeting was dismissed, the trustees remained in the house and voted four hundred dollars for the next preacher, and then surprised me with a gift of sixty dollars.
The remaining pastors during this decade were Lewis Pease whose health failed, Thomas Drummond a second term, Nathan Emery and Joseph Crawford. The old trus- tees' record contains the following resolution adopted in the year 1815 :
Resolved, that the sexton be instructed to have the church open and the can- dles lighted at least a quarter of an hour before meeting begins, and to see that the boys make no disturbance.
Thomas Drummond has the honorable distinction of hav- ing formed the first class of children in Sands-street church (so far as the record shows) for instruction in the catechism. We here transcribe the complete roll of this class of juvenile learners, and should the reader chance to recognize the names of now aged parents or friends he will be pleased to find this recorded testimony to the fact that they in their childhood were taught the knowledge of God.
A Register of the Children that learn the Methodist Catechism, Brooklyn, March 1, 1814. By me, THOMAS DRUMMOND.
Thomas Garrison, Cornelia Garrison, George Smith, Sarah Smith, Samuel Moser, Pelmiah Duryea, Fannie Duryea, Nancy Hoey, Mary Fowler, Amelia Jackson, Hiram Richardson, Henry Moore, Ann Tunstill, Sarah Smith, Eliza Ann DeGraw, Maria DeGraw, Elizabeth Cann, Mary Ann Pray, Nancy Valen- tine, Eliza Herbert, Mary Herbert, Lucinda Vail, Hannah Bennett, Ebenezer Bennett, James Ilerbert, Benjamin Richardson, Hannah Snell, Eleanor Cozine, Mary Thomas, Mary Ann Higbie, Lenah Ann Wiliams, Deborah Smith Ilas- ings.
"3 Asbury's Journal, Ed. 1852, vol. iii, p. 386,
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Old Sands Street Church.
This was a pioneer work among the children, and was ex- actly two years in advance of the first Sunday-school move- ment in Brooklyn.
On the 11th of February, 1816, while Nathan Emery was pastor, at a meeting of the quarterly conference, Thomas Sands, a local preacher in this church, -subsequently a large shipping merchant, and mayor of Liverpool, England-pro- posed to establish a Sunday-school in the village of Brook- lyn. The following is a copy of the record:
Brother Sands proposed setting up a Sunday-school. The conference agreed to give him their aid.
The school was accordingly organized -- the first Sunday- school in Brooklyn,-and the credit of the suggestion be- longs without doubt to Mr. Sands, although it is not known that he was actually engaged in forming or conducting the school. The children were brought together on the Sabbath in a building known as Thomas Kirk's printing office, a long, narrow framed edifice on Adams-street, between Sands- street and High-street, in an apartment then occupied as a school-room by Daniel De Vinne. They entered the door shown on the right of the picture, and their room was close by on the left. The building still remains, and Mr. De Vinne remained with us until 1883, an esteemed minister of Christ.
The recognized founders of this school were Robert Snow, superintendent, and his assistants, Andrew Mercein, Joseph Herbert, and Daniel De Vinne. To these should be added Thomas Sands who first proposed the enterprise, John G. Murphy and Joseph G. Harrison whose signatures were ap- pended to the first printed statement or address to the peo- ple of the village concerning the Sunday-school, in March, , 1816.4
This address did not represent the school as professedly denominational, but requested parents and guardians to ex- press their wishes as to what catechism they would have their children study, and promised that they should be taken to such church services as their parents might choose; never- theless it is a fact that all the men prominently connected with this pioneer Sunday-school enterprise, including the
4 See Stiles' Ilist. of Brooklyn, vol. ii, p. 19.
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School ; as it appeared in 1881.
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Kirk's Printing Office, Birth place. (in 1816), of the original Brooklyn Sunday
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Historical Record.
occupants of the building where the school was held, were members of Sands-street church. Rev. Mr. De Vinne writes:
Ninety-seven names were received at the first meeting, although only half that number were present. The children were mostly of poor parents, and not more than one half of them knew their letters. There was a good deal of aris- tocratic spirit in those days, and few well-to-do people would allow their chil- dren to attend the same school with the poor ones.5
The founders of this school stated in their address that it was "under the management of four superintendents, a stand- ing committee of seven, and a number of [volunteer] teachers male and female;" that the design of the institution was to gather "poor children from the most destructive of all places to the morals of youth-the street-on the Sabbath day," and to "combine religious and moral instruction with ordinary learning." The historian of Brooklyn says:
In those early days, the gatherings of boys in and about the rope walks then so numerous in Brooklyn, and the card playing, profanity and other vices which they then indulged in, had become a most serious nuisance to the better part of the community.
Thus the quiet and comfort of the village, as well as the personal benefit the children might receive, incited the found- ers of the school to their noble work. These zealous and benevolent men, rising above sectarian motives, and hoping to induce many to co-operate with them, joined in a call pub- lished in The Star, March 27, 1816, for a public meeting, which "Christians of every denomination, all advocates of decency and order, and all friends of * * * religion," were in- vited to attend for the purpose of organizing a village Sun- day-school Union, the object of the society to be the estab- lishment of a Union Sunday-school. The result was the or- ganization of the "Brooklyn Sunday School Union Society" on the 8th of April, 1816, and among those who signed the first code of rules were the following members of Sands-street church: A. Mercein, vice-president of S. S. Union, Thomas Sands, treasurer, John G. Pray, Robert Snow. The Sim- day-school in Kirk's building thereby became a union school, and was removed to the school-house of District No. I, on the corner of Concord and Adams streets. James Engles,
5 Semi-centennial Sermon.
CHAPTER IV.
A RECORD OF TEN YEARS; 1817-1326.
HE presiding elders during this period were Samuel Merwin, Nathan Bangs, Peter P. Sandford, and Laban Clark; and the pastors were Joseph Craw- ford, William Ross, Alexander M'Caine, Henry Chase, (sup- ply), Lewis Pease, Mitchel B. Bull, (supply), Thomas Burch and Stephen L. Stillman. The Sunday-school, so hopefully be- gun, was destined to suffer a temporary defeat. A lack of teach- ers, and a strennous opposition on the part of some of the church members who regarded teaching in the Sunday-school as a desecration of the Lord's day, resulted in the suspension of the school for a period of about three years. In the mean time, the Episcopalians organized a Sunday-school in Brook- lyn, and certain members of the Baptist Churches in New York proposed coming over to the village and organizing another. The Sunday-school veterans of Brooklyn could not stand idly by, and see people from abroad superceding them in this good work; and, in 1821, the Union Sunday-school was resumed in the District school building, where it had former- ly been held.
As the school increased in numbers, its original accommo- dations became too restricted, and the first Sunday-school building was erected in Prospect-street, near Adams. It was built by Robert Snow, James Engles, Joseph Moser and Rob- ert Nichols, "with beams and timbers from Mr. Snow's old potash store in New York," and made large enough to con- tain all the Sunday-school children in Brooklyn. The first of January was always signalized as Happy New Year, and the Sunday-school room was made a happy place by the dis- tribution of cakes and apples, and the dispensing of "shoes, stockings, flannel garments, etc., which had been solicited from the wealthier citizens." Christmas was not at that time
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Historical Record.
as now in this country, pre-eminently the children's holiday. From this building after the Sunday-school session, the children were accustomed to repair to those places of wor- ship which their parents attended, or to return to their homes. In a few years, each of the churches Leco ning sufficiently established to maintain its own Sunday-school, the children of the other denominations gradually withdrew, leaving the Methodists to conduct the Sunday-school on Prospect-street, "where under the supervision of Messrs. Snow, Mercein, Herbert, Moser and others, it flourished exceedingly."' One of the most devoted and useful laborers in this school was Abraham Vanderveer, who, though a member of the Re- formed Dutch Church, was thoroughly and permanently identified with the Methodists in their Sunday-school work. The building on Prospect-street continued to be the rallying place for the Sunday-school until a Sunday-school building was erected near the parsonage on High-street in the rear of the church.
The colored members, having become quite numerous, de- · sired a separate place of worship, and, about 1817, being as- sisted by the members of the church generally, they succeed- ed in erecting a small meeting-house on High-street, between Bridge and Pearl. They were, however, under the pastoral care of the stationed preacher of Sands-street church. The church register, April 22, 1818, Joseph Crawford pastor, con- tains a record of the "African Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church," seventy-four members. The leaders were Thomas Bristol, Israel Jemison, Benjamin Croger,? Peter Croger, Samuel Anderson.
In the year 1820, while Alexander M'Caine was pastor, the colored members seceded in a body, only six remaining in the old church. At this date the reasons for their depart- ure may not be fully known. It has in a summary and gen- eral way been attributed to a spirit of insubordination to the Discipline.3 The following are the only records of official action concerning them:
1 Stiles' Hist. of Brooklyn, vol. ii, p. 29.
2 Benjamin and Peter Croger afterward joined the N. Y. Conf., A. M. E. Church. The former died in 1853.
3 N. Levings in Meth. Quar. Review, 1831, p. 265.
Old Sands Street Church.
October 15, 1819. Motion made and carried that the colored people of the Methodist Church in Brooklyn be requested to pay ten dollars per quarter for services rendered by Brother M'Caine, in taking care of aforesaid Church.
Feb. 17, 1820. It was suggested that from present appearances the colored people are about to separate from the charge. It was asked if it would not be advisable in such an event to set apart some seats in the house for the use of those who wish to remain among us. It was decided in the affirmative, +
Two years previous to their entire separation they num- bered seventy-four members. Since that time several other Methodist churches have been organized among the colored people of Brooklyn. Alexander M'Caine resigned his charge soon after this secession took place, and Henry Chase was appointed a supply for the remainder of the year.
In 1821, Lewis Pease having been appointed a second time to Brooklyn, this church was visited with a revival. It be- gan at a camp-meeting at Musketo Cove," and another re- freshing was enjoyed by this same people and pastor imme -. diately after the Musketo Cove camp-meeting in the following year,-a meeting of great interest and power, and largely. attended by the Brooklyn people.6 . The membership in- creased under Mr. Pease's ministry from 216 to 401.
During the Conference year 1822, a little society was or- ganized at Yellow Hook.7 This class, originally connected with the Brooklyn Methodists, afterward became the Bay Ridge M. E. Church. The following persons were the first members of this class: Daniel Field, leader; Adrian Bogart, Phoebe, his wife; Getty Bogart, Ellen Gold, Henry Stillwell, Anna Stillwell, Polly Bailey, Peter Bogart, Peggy Sping- steel and Anna Spingsteel. Soon were added Walter Van- Pelt, Winant Bogart, John DeGroff, Margaret Vanier, Eliz- abeth VanPelt, James VanPelt, Edward Williams, Eliza Fer- man and others.8
At the close of Mr. Pease's successful pastorate, William Ross, a former pastor and very much esteemed, was returned to the charge. Soon after his arrival, in 1823, a considerable number of members colonized and formed the York-street church, but this new society continued for twelve years un- der the same pastoral supervision as the mother church.
4 Quar. Conf. Record. 5 Meth. Magazine, 1822, p. 69.
6 Meth. Magazine; 1323, p. 117, also Bangs' Hist. of the M. E. Church.
1 Meth. Magazine, 1823. p. 118.
8 For biographical notices see Book III.
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Historical Record.
Except in the sad case of Woolman Ilickson, the found- er of this church, the Sands-street people had never been called to lament the death of a pastor in the midst of his useful labors among them. Now they were to pass through that mournful experience. In his youthful prime, the clo- quent and popular William Ross was called from labor to reward, and when he was buried a large concourse of bro- ken-hearted people watered his grave with their tears. The long and solemn procession, composed of nearly all the peo- ple of the village, formed at the parsonage on High-street. The bier, covered with a pall, was borne on the shoulders of four men; the choir, consisting of more than twenty chosen singers, led by Richard Cornwell, marched near the minis- ters at the head of the procession, and as they passed from the parsonage around the corner into Fulton-street, they sang to the tune "China" in sweet yet mournful harmony, one of our solemn and appropriate hymns.
The church records show that Mitchell B. Bull, as a sup- ply, filled Mr. Ross' unexpired term. In the following year the "seraphic Summerfield," as the time of his departure drew near, expressed a desire to be buried by the side of his beloved friend, William Ross, in the old Sands-street church- yard, and for many years, till their subsequent removal, the mortal forms of those two holy men reposed together there.
The conference of 1825 sent Thomas Burch to take charge of Brooklyn Methodism, and S. L. Stillman was appointed his colleague in 1826. That year a class was formed in Red Hook Lane, consisting of the following persons: Christopher Rutherford, leader; Joseph Baggott, John Baggott, Mary Goldsmith, Phobe Langdon, Lucretia (or Lucinda) Moser, Samuel Shepherd, Leonora Baggott (1828). This class was sustained for a number of years, and was led by the follow- ing persons; 1826 C. Rutherford, 1828 Joseph Moser, 1830 Isaac Moser, 1831 James Sweeney. In 1826 the eloquent Bas- com preached in this church. On that same Sabbath George Smith, one of the pillars of the church, passed peacefully away.' During this decade, notwithstanding the secession o" the colored people, the membership increased from 271 to 436.
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