USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn, N.Y. : an illustrated centennial record, historical and biographical > Part 7
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Wm. N. Coler, Jr.
1859 John W. Haskins 1881 Win. J. Reast
1859 Chas. J. Ashley
66 John Carrougher
1860 Lucien Warner
1882 Wm. H. Creshull
1862 Clarence Stanley
1883 Clarence White
¥ Joseph A. Hoyt
XV. Sunday School Organists.
1875 . A. J. Powell 1881 Thos. L. Doyle
1878 H. II. Nast 1882 Win. Neidlinger
XVI. Male Sunday School Teachers :- Intermediate and Senior Departments.
1816 Robert Snow Joseph Herbert
1816 Richard Cornwell Samuel Hall Enoch Jacobs
1
Daniel De Vinne
Andrew Mercein Sidney Herbert
66 John Dikeman
David Coope
James Engles Calvin Knowlton
Abraham Vanderveer Alfred Bush
John G. Murphy John S. Wright
Joshua I. Gascoigne
1873 Joseph A. Archer
Wm. A. Walker
Fred. A. Nast
1851 Joseph Richards
1852 Richard M'Donald
1877
Wm. HI. Aitkin
John E. Nast
51
Historical Record.
John Wright
1836 Chester Bedell
John T. Stibbs
66 Wm. Bowmen
John Bryant
66 Valentine Carman
Benj. Payne
Asaplı M. Youngs
J. Marsden Van Cott .. Isaac Carhart
Daniel Stanley
Jesse Gilbert
Jeremiah Mundell
66 Peter P. Haff
Samuel S. Powell
66 John Van Ness
John B. Brewster
1837 Henry Mallery
John Carhart
66 Job G. Habberton
John A. Swim
Peter W. La Roza
John Webb
Wm. Clinton
Newall Bond
6 WVm. S. Habberton
Isaac A. Swaim
66 Richard Cadmus
Chas. C. Leigh
Benjamin Handley
Wm. Bennett
Homer Wiltse
Martin Mandeville
George Heneger
William Smith
.6 Isaac Selover
Isaac Tillottson Wm. S. Burnett
1839 John H. Benjamin
1833 Hamilton Reeve
Isaac HI. Herbert
6. Benj. M. Stilwell
Daniel T. Wells Benj. Vail
George W. Copeland William E. Cornell
66 George W. Williams
66 Edwin Beers
16 William Rushmore
Joseph Adams
66 Hosea Clark
66 Edmund Morehouse
1840 Charles HI. Stilwell
1841 John G. Smith
Samuel Bragaw
Wm. M'Allister
John B. Sandford
16 John Balderson
66 Joseph Harrison
Charles D. Wadsworth
Washington Wadsworth
1835 Richard Thomas Albert Carpenter
18.42 Stephen R. Frazier William II. Drew
James Lovejoy
Richard Buggy
66 Cornelius Garrison
Thomas II. Burch Charles H. Fellows Horace Harrison Moses F. Odell Oliver C. Lincoln William Edmonds
1
66 Daniel Downs
66 Andrew Pinkney
Edward Morehouse
6 Richard Ducker
Thomas Reed
1836 George Hollis
Edward Sandford
George Slaughter Edwin C. Estes
Egbert Acker William J. Bogart
66
Henry Lane Edward Bishop
James C. Akin
Ephraim J. Whitlock
Alfred Dykes
.. Thomas W. Chadwick
1834 William S. Osborn Frederick Stevenson
Theron Burnett
66 William O. Stibbs
John Baldwin
52
Old Sands Street Church.
W. C. Marvin
1851 F. G. DeVictor
John Wiggins
66 Jolın D. Burtnett
Joseph Way
F. Asbury Johnson
John W. Valentine 66 David O'Neill
William Walsh
John Badger
Orrin Swift 1852 Thomas Wright 6 Robert Brown
James DeGray
Ira Perego, Jr.
George A. Williams
Benjamin A. Haff
Henry B. Keane
Samuel Utter
66 Henry Deane
Watson Sandford 1853 Charles E. Davis
Ira Sturgis
John G. Fay
John Moore
66
Augustus C. Wessell
Cornelius Moore
George S. Benjamin
James Bogart
Samnel W. Bliss
Edward Allen
1854 James F. Greenwood
1847 Sam S. Utter
66 James B. Gascoigne
.. Alexander Alexander
66
James B. Craig
James Cheetham Gilbert Reed
John B. Tuthill
Dillon Stevens Landon Edward Thomas Robert Turner
66 Frank A. Gale
6
Jolin W. Haskins
66
John M. Sawyer
66
William Parker
1849 Gilbert S. Dye
Joseph A. Armfield
66 John Davis
66 Harlow Fenn
6. Jacob Week
6. Benjamin Bryer
.. John W. Corson
66 John Randolph Martin
66 John Albro
66 Bethnel Rogers
66 Robert Young
Charles Shaw
Charles S. Norton
David A. Cooke
1850 Julius R. Pomeroy
James M. Bradstreet
66 Henry G. Howell
66 Frederick Hart
Robert M. Lockwood
Sidney Smith
1857 Henry G. Fay Alfred Perego
66 Charles J. Oliver
66 Henry Broad
Charles Nordhoff
Edward Torbitt
66 James L. Romer
66 Benjamin Bond
66 David Stanley
Thomas Markley
66 A. T. Van Wyck
-
Henry D. Gonld Benjamin Moore
1851 William E. Shelden William M. Ketchell
Thomas W. Armstrong
John J. Gentry
G. Saw yer
Charles T. Wales
David Tuthill
George W. Valentine
William Ringwood
Alfred P. Reynolds
1848 Benjamin Bennett
William S. Finch
Lemuel Burrows
1855 Benjamin Cornwell
66 William Irvine.
W. Sales
Edward Hoagland
53
Historical Record.
1858 Edward P. Bellows 1
Henry Duren
John J. Barnier
16 John O. Hoyt 1869 Henry L. Stiles
6 Henry J. Cutbill
P. T. Horton
John E. Fay 1870 E. P. Alvord
Andrew Merwin
1872 Erastus Hyde
Francis Dunn
Thomas Wintringham
Nathaniel F. Elkin
J. B. Sutton
John Cottier
James M'William
James Clayton Abia B. Thorn
John Bentley
6. George Vernam
1860 Thomas Tilley
1874 John B. Weaver
1 Charles A. Righter
Robert L. Tilton
Charles B. Hobart
1861 Thomas G. Peckham
1862 Thomas P. Waldron Charles Wood ¥
66 Remington Vernam
S. J. Strong
W. H. Soden
Lowery Somerville
1877 William R. Hegeman
1878 George A. Smith
John Walhizer
Frank Whiteley
Jewell F. Harris
LaGrange Browne
.. Thomas 1. Geehr
1879 William A. Heydecker Philip Brooks
Andrews Preston
W. R. Wengorovius
6. Longworth Parker
1880 Richard A. Brown Orris Thayer
1881 George S. Richards
J. Frank Dillont 1882 Herbert E. James
66 George E. Henderson
HI. C. Wood
1883 J. W. Robinson
Richard Moore
1
66 Samuel P. Kittle Charles S. Downs
George A. Smith
.6 P. J. Gruman
1868 William J. Tate Lewis N. Smith
Angustus T. Gurlitz John M. Espenscheid Fred. A. Nast
J. DeBan
1864 Peter Backman
Robert M. Moore James Darling
James E. Bloomer
John Parker Lewis N. Haskins
16 Clarence Stanley
66 Richard F. Vanderveer
1865 Charles A. Barnard
1866 David S. Quimby, Jr. Ebenezer Bell S. J. Hammond Willis M'Donald
6 William 1. Preston John Jeffrey
1867 William A. Knowles Theodore Sutherland
1875 L. B. Strong >
16 Edwin W. Dorlon
Richard Bunce
1876 William E. Lowe Britton C. Thorn
Daniel B. Phillips
1873 J. S. Seaman
Jason Moore John Reed
Z. Clayton Sam'l U. F. Odell
1868 Edgar M'Donald
54
Old Sands Street Church.
XVII. Female Sunday School Teachers :- Intermediate and Senior Departments.4
1816 Susan Remsen Sarah De Gray
66
married John Dikeman Mrs. Richard Cornwell
Ruthella Smith
1822 Ida DeGraw Mrs. Emily Buddin
Huldah Frazier married Samuel S. Powell
Mary Ann M'Gee
66 Elizabeth Rogers married Ira C. Buckelew
1847 Mrs. Andrew Mercein Justine Curtis 66 married Edwin Butler
66 Ann Noon
Julia A. Herbert married Orrin Swift
Amelia M. Haff
married John J. Welsh
Mary Garrison married - Washburn
Sarah Stilwell married Bradstreet
Ellen Mayor ¥
Henrietta Kingsland
د
married Wallace 66
Elisabeth E. Haff. married Egbert Acker Mary Whitlock married James Lent
6. Magdalen Storms
66
Ann Wright
Sarah E. Smith
married Edward Rowe
Rebecca Bangs
married Daniel Stanley
66 Julia Newton
married Henry Case
66
Harriet E. Frisby married James Gillen Mary Ann Mundell
Betsey C. Griswold married Warren Richmond
66
Sarah A. Fowler married DeMott
Mrs. Welch
66
Martha M. Oakley
Sarah Bumford
06
S. Lucinda Beers
Jane Ann Lewis
.. Mrs. Samuel Utter
Elisabeth Leonard
66 Isabella Mundell married Nattrass
Margaret M'Donald married Rev. F. Bottome
66 Emeline Stringham married Alex. M'Kay
Mrs E. Davis
Sarah Ann Holland
Mrs. Sarah E. Crook
Alice Appleyard
Phoebe A. Gascoigne
Cornelia Smith
Eliza Todd
Mrs. Emily Barndollar
Phæbe A. Morrell
Eliza A. Ward
Mrs. Robert M'Chesney
Maria H. Hewett
66 Sarah A. Hewett married Henry Funnell 1
Mrs. John Wright
Sarah Silleck
Abby Fowler
1.849 Charlotte Mallory
1829 Cecelia Stansbury
16 Margaret Perego
Jane Silleck 6.
Amanda Munson
Ann Silleck
married John Emmons
66
Elisabeth F. Vanderveer
Henrietta C. Sperry married Rev. R. S. Maclay
4 Some of the early teachers are probably omitted on account of the absence of records.
Eliza Wright married Barzillai Russell
married Thomas Reed
Alice Ostram
55
Historical Record.
1849 Isabella Lane
.. Mrs. Ann Eliza Crook
66 Eliza Bertschi
Charlotte Lawton
Mary Augusta Bonnell married Joseph Way Caroline M. Tryon
Jane Rowland
" Sarah A. Small
1850 Susan Elizabeth Mount
.6 Lydia Bedell
Harriet Eliza White
66 Mary E. Keeler
Wilhelmina Hertel
Joanna Zimmerman
Alma L. Powell
Sarah Gertrude Watson
Cordelia Johnstone
Mrs. Maria Dunham
Mary Wright
Angeline Tuthill
16 Mrs. Jane Hollis
66 Elizabeth Hadden
1851 Emma Tuthill
married Samuel W. Tubbs
66 Christiana Beatty
.6 Elizabeth W. Goodsell
Elizabeth Powell married A. B. Thorn
66 Lavinia Thorn married Joshua I. Gascoigne
Emma A. Watson married - Duryea Louisa Gildersleeve
1852 Sarah Matilda Kelsey Caroline Elizabeth Swift married Abram Inslee Sarah Jane M'Keon married William Smith
66 Susan Wright
1853 Harriet A. Peck married Dr. Baker Mrs. F. W. Murray
Mrs. Virginia Cutter
Margaret Stryker married Fred. G. Reast
Annie Herbert
Hannah Chadwick
Belinda Skippon
married Thos. J. Humphreys
Mrs. Phobe Claxton
Josephine Potter
Adaline P. Harper married - Vernam; after-
ward Henry Vanderveer. Adaline Goodfellow
1854 Cornelia Wiggins
Mrs. Moses F. Odell
Mrs. Mary T. Burns
married Henry G. Fay
1855
Eliza Jane Wright Fanny Baker married Joseph Richards
66 Mrs. John W. Haskins
Mrs. A. Wessell
Mrs. Caroline Chappelle
.. Mary A. Lightburn
16 Julia E. Knapp
.. Mrs. L. Canton
66 Theresa Beatty
Mrs. Cilley
1856 Anna Hinton
Carrie M'Donald married Rev. T. II. Pearne
Cornelia Anderson
.. Kate Tompkins married Beekman
1857 Mrs. Cath'n H. Seudder
Julia B. Ruggles
Caroline Torbitt
Mary Trippett
1858 Emma Clayton
Mary M. M'Cormick
.. Mary E. Beatty married Simmons
66 Carrie A. Wright
.. Mrs. G. W. Napier
.. Miss S. Strong
Mrs. Sarah Jane Utter
6 Mrs. J. O. Hoyt
1859 Miss J. Clayton
.. Jennie M'Donald married Robert M. Moore
.. Georgia Bentley
.. Amanda Drummond
.. Mary Bentley
.. Miss J. Goodmanson
66 Mrs. Thomas Tilley
1862 Mrs. Rebecca Hull
56
Old Sands Street Church.
1862 Harriet Farley married Avila married Sidney Smith
Mrs. David Hobart 66 Miss E. A. Seabury
Annie O. Gray married Theo. W. Sheriden
66 Mary H. Price
Rebecca M. Nadal
1863 Eliza L. M'Gee 66 Maria M. Hyde
Mrs. S. U. F. Odell
Elizabeth Landon
66 Emma Baylis 1874 Mrs. Rev. Geo. Taylor
Sarah Hines
66 Mary A. Burrows
1864 Miss C. J. Stewart
Mrs. Elizabeth Quimby Ella Folger
66 Mrs. S. E. Chamberlain
66 Miss M. E. Hatfield
66 Mrs. Emily Darrow
Mrs. Eliza Mott
1877 Mrs. Wm. R. Hegeman M. Addie Guhrauer Mrs. J. T. Stratton
Rhoda Clark
Mrs. Geo. A. Smith
86 Mary I. Pritchard married Jason Moore
66 Ada I. Buell
1879 Bella Peck
66 Mary J. Murray married C. C. Luckey
Addie L. Heckler
66 Emma C. Muldoon
Emma J. Allen
Louise C. Clayton Alice Johnston
Mrs. O. C. Cobb
66 M. Ethel Green
Martha L. Nast Mrs. William I. Preston
1880 Emma S. Miller
Emily A. Goodwin
Georgia Clancey
Mattie Malcolm
66 Mrs. Rebecca Winner
J. W. M'Ardle
1882 Mattie J. Brown
Lizzie Bunce
Miss A. C. Wengorovius
Lizzie M. Carpenter
66 Mrs. P. J. Gruman
-
Mrs. Georgie Douglas
1865 Annie Mumford Isobel B. Embree
1866 Mary G. Smith
66 Emily Luckey
Julia Cutter
Mary H. Wilkinson married Wilhelm Julia E. Gable
1867 Amy Landon married A. T. Gurlitz 66 Elizabeth Shaw
66 Miss M. E. Thompson
Mary J. Tate
66 Miss E. M'Kinley
66 Mrs. Charlotte S. Weller Mrs. Rev. E. G. Andrews 66
1868 Matilda M. Wallace
1869 Lizzie M'Kay
Miss E. M. Olliffe
Mrs. A. E. Van Zandt
Mrs. Sarah Creshull
Fannie Moore Jennie A. Price
1870 Emma L. Hyde
Maria E. Ducker Mrs. Edgar M'Donald
" · Mrs. D. K. Ducker
1872 Lizzie M. Olliffe
1873 Mrs. Jean M'Cloud Eleanor E. Seivwright
1875 Libbie M. Wells
Mrs. J. C. Drew
Jennie L. Taylor
66 Susie A. Allen
1876 Phœbe A. Allen
Susie Taylor
Josie Taylor
Mrs. E. H. Landon
66 Mary E. M'Donald married Wm. J. Tate 66 Josephine Crane
57
Historical Record.
t883 Mrs. Geo. R. Harrison
66 Mrs. Sarah Cottrel
66 Mrs. M. J. Luckey
1883 Sophy Stratton
Fannie Bunce
XVIII. Superintendents and Teachers of the Infant Department of the Sunday School.
1843 Moses F. Odell 1867 Mary H. Price
Esther Hollis 1868 Mrs. Harriet Taws
married Rev. Wm. M'Allister married W. Slade
66 Mary M'Allister 1870 Julia E. Gable
1847 William Cartwright 66 Mrs. Rev. G. F. Kettell
1848 John E. Hanford 1872 Sam S. Utter
Lucy Vining J. Allen
66 Hannah Chadwick 66 Mrs. Wm. I. Preston
1850 Betsey C. Griswold 1874 Mary H. Reast married Warren Richmond married Slater
William Edsall 1875 William I. Preston
1854 Lavinia M. Thorn married Joshua 1. Gascoigne
1855 David A. Cooke
1857 Mary E. Cooke
1862 Mrs. Egbert Acker
1882 Minnie Estabrook
XIX. Officers of the Sunday School Missionary Society.
PRESIDENTS-1847-'49, Charles HI. Fellows; '50-'53, Watson Sanford; '54, Win. Edsall; '55, David O'Neill; '56, John G. Fay; '58-'62, Rob't M. Lockwood; '64, S. U. F. Odell; '65-'68 M. F. Odell; '69 and '77, A. B. Thorn; '70-'73 and 'So-'83, Sam S. Utter; '74-'75, Henry G. Fay; '76, D). B. Phillips; '78-'79, D. D. Whitney.
VICE PRESIDENTS-1847, Joshua I. Gascoigne, Wm. Cart- wright; '50, Joseph Way; '51-'53, Wm. Edsall; '54, Watson Sanford; '55-'56, Richard F. Vanderveer; '58-'61, James L. Romer; '62-'68 and '76, A. B. Thorn; '69, and '78-'79, Sam S. Utter; '70-'71, S. U. F. Odell; '72-'73, Henry G. Fay; '74-'75, D. S. Quimby, Jr .; '80-'83, D. D. Whitney.
SECRETARIES-1847, Gilbert H. Read, S. S. Utter; '48, S. S. Utter; '49, H. N. Harrison; '50, Chas. G. Norton; ,51-'52, Ira Perego, Jr., Sidney Smith; 53, Sidney Smith; '54-'56, Joshua I. Gascoigne; '58-'59, Abia B. Thorn; '60-'61, James L. Ro- mer; '62, David Stanley; '64-'68, '72-'75, '77-'83, D. B. Phil- lips; '69-'71, Edgar M'Donald; '76, D. S. Quimby, Jr.
Mary E. Phillips married Gerald Whitney
1880 Ella Valentine
1881 Mrs. M. E. Pearsall
58
Old Sands Street Church.
TREASURERS-1847-,52, Egbert Acker; '53, David O'Neill; '54-'56; Edward Allen; '58-'59; J. M. Bradstreet; '60-'61; A. B. Thorn; '62-'68, Sam. S. Utter; '69-'76, and '78-,83, J. J. Barnier; '77, F. G. Reast.
XX. Sextons. 1
Joseph Moser, Abraham Bennett, Aaron Kimball, James Gillen, Conklin L. Gable, David Stewart, Hewlett G. Allen.
Susanna Moser and Mary Garrison used often to light the candles.
-
BOOK II. BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF MINISTERS.
Chronologically Arranged according to the Dates' of the earliest Connection of the several Ministers with this Church as Presiding Elders or Pastors; and accompanied by brief Memorial Sketches of the deceased Wives of the Preachers.
I.
WOOLMAN HICKSON.
IKE the ancient "Prophet of Fire," the REV. WOOL- 60 MAN HICKSON, whose name leads the list of Brook- lyn Methodist preachers, suddenly strides into view as an anointed messenger of the Most High. The Church seems to have inherited no history of his birth or early life. Beginning six years prior to his death, we trace him as fol- lows by his
PASTORAL RECORD: 1782, Somerset cir., Md., with F. Garrettson and J. Magary; removed during the year to East Jersey cir., where John Tun. nell and Joseph Everett had been appointed'; 1783, West Jersey cir., with J. Magary ; 1784, Orange cir. ; 1785, Georgetown cir. : 1786, Baltimore cir., with Adam Cloud ; 1787, (ordained elder)-his name does not appear on the - record of appointments, but he labored in New York and Brooklyn with John Dick- ins and Freeborn Garrettson.
In the absence of a complete history of this faithful min- ister's work, we are thankful for such a glimpse of his charac- ter and his soul-saving labors as we have in the following in- cident, recorded by Lednum. It transpired in Worcester Co., Md., within the bounds of Somerset circuit, his first charge, in 1782.
' The dates in the lists of successive appointments do not represent calendar years. but conference years, beginning with the adjournment of the annual gatherings of itinerant ministers.
! Atkinson-New Jersey Methodism, p. 305.
6
60
Old Sands Street Church
One of the appointments was at Robin Davis', near Indiantown, not far from the residence of a gentleman named Elijah Laws, a vestryman of the Church of England, as it was styled at that time. This man gave the Method- ist preachers a hearing, but he declared them to be deceivers and refused to hear them again. He had a daughter Rhoda, then in her twelfth year, who had been taught, in accordance with the views that church people generally held at that time, that dancing and other worldly amusements were quite innocent and proper diversions. Rhoda visited a widow lady of her acquaintance, with whom she went for the first time to hear a Methodist preacher. The minister they heard was Woolman Hickson.
After the sermon in which he condemned dancing, and warned his hearers against the awful consequences of all kinds of worldliness and irreligion, as the historian says,
Brother Hickson read the General Rules, and requested all who wished to join him to follow him upstairs. Robin Davis, his brother, their wives, the widow woman and Rhoda Laws followed him. The preacher spoke to each. Rhoda was asked if she would have her name enrolled. A question was raised as to the propriety of consulting her father first. Mr. Davis replied that her fa- ther was a man of moderation, and would use no violence toward his daughter. Before the preacher wrote her name he lifted up his eyes, hands and soul to God, and prayed that her name might be written in heaven and never erased. She returned home, fearing to tell her father what had taken place. Early next morning her brother Elijah, who was settled in the neighborhood, was seen riding with great speed to his father's house. He hastily throw the reins of the bridle over the horse's head on the pales, saying, "What do you think? Yes- terday Rhoda joined that new preacher, and now she must give up gay dress, dancing and worldly amusement. She is ruined, and she cannot be got away." The father listened to the tale, and after a moment replied, "Well. if the Meth- odists disown people for dancing, they will soon be clear of Rhoda, as she will dance the first opportunity she has."
In a short time a ball was gotten up at this man's house, in which she was urged to join. When her father chided her for reading the Bible instead of engaging in the amusement, her honest, loving answer brought tears to his eyes. Mr .. Lednum adds;
"Soon the father and mother became Methodists, and her brother Elijah, who was panic-stricken when he heard of what he supposed was her ruin, if not the ruin of the whole family, was made class-leader over his father, his mother and his sister Rhoda."3
The writer of the above had the account from the lips of this same Rhoda, after she had spent sixty-eight years of de- voted service in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
3 Rise of Methodism, pp. 342-344.
6 r
Record of Ministers.
The Rev. Thomas Ilaskins, who traveled Chester circuit in 1783, thus refers in his manuscript journal to this faith- ful minister, then laboring on West Jersey circuit.
September 23, 1783. Stayed in town for Brother Asbury's coming; but he was detained. Brother Hickson preached from I Samuel, ii, 30, a useful dis- course. He made me blush with shame to hear how far he excelled me in grace and gifts.
Jesse Lee states that "his labors were mostly in the coun- try, a small distance from New York, and on the east side of the North River. He then returned to the city of New York, and died, and was buried in the city." Wakeley re- cords the plaintive tale of his sufferings, and the kind atten- tion of the New York brethren, who "nursed him when sick, and buried him when dead." They provided a nurse, Ann Wheeler by name, and paid her £4 6s. They also paid his funeral expenses, 16 shillings.5 At so small a cost there could have been no pomp or ceremony attending his burial. He evidently desired none. When his ministerial brethren assembled in conference after his death, they paused to weep and to pay a brief but glowing tribute to the memory of h. "genius" and his "upright life;" then they grasped his fallen sword and mantle, and marched on to increasing triumphs.
There is probably no authoritative record concerning the exact place of his burial, and it seems both strange and sad that the children of those who wept over his grave should have forgotten the place of his rest. It may with reason be presumed that he was buried under the old John-st. church. Wakeley states by authority that "vaults were built very early under Wesley Chapel in which to bury the dead. Mr. Lupton's vault was there, and Philip Embury fixed the door of it in 1770."" Robert Duncan placed certain valuables be- longing to the Methodists in those vaults for safe-keeping during the war." Mr. Lupton's body was placed in his vault in 1796, and removed twenty-one years later. Wakeley says:
In 1817, when the old church edifice was torn down to erect upon the site a new and beautiful church, they disinte Ted the dead. It was necessary, as they
4 Ilistory of the Methodi ts 1. 138.
5 See "Lost Chapters," p ?. 313, 314.
" Ibid., p. 330.
6 Ibid., p. 130.
62
Old Sands Street Church.
were about to erect a larger edifice. Some of the bones were gathered together and buried under one end of the church, and the others were interred in bury- ing-grounds.8
Robert Duncan and perhaps others of the early Methodists were buried in Trinity church-yard;" but it seems probable . that an esteemed pastor, dying far from his relatives, (if he had any,) and buried by the trustees, would be laid to rest in a Methodist vault or grave. Such considerations, doubt- less, led to the statement in the memorial record in the New York Conference minutes, that Woolman Hickson's ashes lie beneath the old John-street church.
The introduction of Methodism into Brooklyn, an account of which has been given in a former part of this work, will be forever considered the distinguishing honor of Woolman Hickson. Should the father of old Sands-street Church re- pose in an unmarked tomb, and should the place of the church itself know it no more, yet we are well assured that the soul of Woolman Hickson lives, and his work will nev- er die.
8 "Lost Chapters," p. 330.
9 Ibid., p. 434. Dr. Wakeley in "Lost Chapters," p. 124, erroneously lo- cates the grave of . Barbara Heck in Trinity church-yard. See "Women of Methodism," pp. 199-205.
II.
Thomas Porter
HE "elder" in charge of the district including Brook- lyn at the time of the establishment of Methodism there by Woolman Hickson, was the REV. THOMAS FOSTER. Ile was born in Queen Anne County, Maryland.,' October 1, 1757. When abont twenty-three years of age he began his itinerant labors, and thenceforth received from the conference the following
APPOINTMENTS: 1780, Frederick circuit, Md., with Wm. Watters; 1781. Pittsylvania cir., Va., with James Mallory; 1782; Roanoke cir., with James Martin; 1783, Sussex cir., with Thos. S. Chew; 1784, Mecklenberg cir., with Reuben Ellis; 1785, (ordained deacon and elder, ) presiding elder in Va .; 1786, presiding elder, Eastern Shore of Md .; 1787, presiding elder for all the territory north of Philadelphia; 1788, Talbot cir., Md., with John Jarrell and Lenox Martin; 1789, Fells Point; 1790, Northampton cir., with George Pickering; 1791, Dover cir., Del., with Evan Rogers; 1792, located.
The above is an outline record of eleven years of most "heroic service" Rev. John Lednum, who knew him per- sonally, affirmed that "no minister was more esteemed on account of sound talent and a holy life."
A pastor stationed in the neighborhood in which Foster spent his last years, after making inquiries of his few re- maining contemporaries, wrote as follows:
He was a plain Methodist preacher of the olden type. Every body regarded him with the greatest respect. He boldly condemned the fashions; when some of the sisters bought shawls with fringes, and wore them to church, he told them they must cut the fringes off, and the commands were complied with. The fringes were cut off and the shawls hemmed,2
1 Lednum-"Rise of Methodism," p. 305. Stevens' statement that he was a native of Virginia, would seem to be an unauthorized and unintentional devi- ation from Lednum, whom he quotes as his sole authority in respect to Foster. See Hist, M. E. Church, vol. II, p. 83.
Letter from the Rev. J. E. Kidney to the author.
64
Old Sands Street Church.
In 1848 one of the veteran preachers paid a grateful tribute to the memory of Mr. Foster, who encouraged him in his early ministerial work. He says:
To be bid God speed by such a saint, such a truly apostolic man as Thomas Foster, was like hearing a voice from Heaven. Blessed was the young preach- er in those days, who was favored with his advice and counsel.3
During the last twenty-six years of his life he continued a local preacher, "a light and ornament to the church." Ile resided on a little farm in Dorchester, Md., near Washing- ton Methodist Episcopal Church, then known as "Foster's Meeting House," and was secretary of the board of trustees in that church for many years. From the neatly written minutes of the trustee meetings his signature was obtained. No one has been found who could give a description of his personal appearance; and it is believed that no likeness of him was ever made.
It is stated that Mr. Asbury esteemed Thomas Foster very highly, and sojourned in his hospitable cottage when on a tour through the Peninsula. Lednum recollected having heard him preach and lead class in the Washington Chapel, in 1814. About two years later he listened to the last ser- mon ever heard from his lips, from Eccl. iii, 16: "And more- over, I saw under the sun a place of judgment, that wicked- ness was there; and a place of righteousness, that iniquity was there." The wickedness of courts, royal, civil and eccle- siastical; and the iniquity practiced at places of worship was the theme of his discourse.
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