USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn, N.Y. : an illustrated centennial record, historical and biographical > Part 9
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Henry Willis
From Roberts' " Centenary Album."
77
Record of Ministers.
Fielder Parker, and J. Forrest, sup'y; 1803, Fredericktown, sup'y, with Jona- than Forrest; 1804. Frederick cir. again, with R. R. Roberts and James Lucas, sup'y; 1805, sup'y, without appointment; 1806, sup'y, Frederick cir., with II. Jefferson, F. Parker and John Watson; 1807, sup'y, without appointment.
The foregoing record shows how extensively he traveled, and how frequently he was compelled to retire from the ef- fective ranks, returning to the front again and again, with a soul full of fire and zeal. He was the first man ordained deacon and elder by Bishop Asbury after the Christmas Conference in 1884, having in his absence been elected to or- ders by that conference.' He received William Thacher into the church in Baltimore in 1790.2 It is quite probable that he was the "Brother Willis" who solemnized the marriage of Lorenzo and Peggy Dow in 1805.3
Endowed by nature with rare gifts, respectably educated, and imbued with much of the spirit of Christ, he performed heroic service for the church while sinking slowly to the grave with pulmonary consumption. . James Quinn, who knew Henry Willis in the Redstone valley, thus describes him:
Ile was six feet in stature, slender, well read, an eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures, and a most profound and powerful reasoner. 4
During the last years of his life, although stationed at Fredericksburgh as a supernumerary preacher, he was most of the time, in fact, a retired minister, settled with his fami- ly on a farm of five hundred acres, at Pipe Creek, within the . bounds of that circuit. In ISof the Baltimore Conference held its session in his parlor. When not able to perform full ministerial work, he would accept no pay from the church.' He was one of the dearest friends of Asbury. The good bishop "kissed and encircled in his arms the orphan children of his departed friend, Henry Willis, and blessed them in the name of the Lord."6
Mr. Willis died in the early part of the year 1808, "with triumphant faith in Christ," at his home in Pipe Creek, Frederick County, Md., in the immediate vicinity of the
' Lednum, "Rise of Methodism," p. 224.
2 Wm. Jewett, in The Christian Advocate.
3 Sce Dow's Journal.
4 Quoted in M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopedia.
5 Minutes of Conferences, 1808, p. 157. 6 Bohm's Reminiscences, p. 189.
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Old Sunds Street Church.
place where Strawbridge introduced Methodism .nto Mary- land. A low brick monument, without inscription marks the spot where his sacred dust reposes, not far from the house in which he lived. It is near the Wakefield station, on the Western Maryland Railroad.
The following brief extract from a letter by Henry Willis to Freeborn Garrettson, dated New York, November 11, 1788, breathes the sweet spirit of this saintly man.
I received your letter by Thomas, and I really rejoice to hear that the Lord is with you. I hope you will lay the foundation of much good this year. * * * Who can commemorate the gracious acts of divine merit, or proportion unto God the praise that is his due? * * * Thoughts are not sufficiently quick to trace the footsteps of [divine] goodness; they are more than the soul is able to're- count. * * * The day and the night are full of God, and all the way that I go le is round about it. I trust he will give me a heart to love him more and more. 7
ANN, wife of Henry Willis, was the daughter of an emi- nent layman, Jesse Hollingsworth, of Baltimore,-a woman of intelligence and of a sweet Christian spirit. The venera- ble Joshua Warfield, of Sam's Creek, Maryland, wrote as follows:
The wife and children of Henry Willis I remember very well, and frequently visited the family when I was growing up to manhocd, in company with my sisters. Some years after, the place was seld, and Mrs. Willis bought a farm on Sam's Creek, adjoining my father's, and lived there several years, and final- ly removed to Baltimore and died there, 5
She survived her husband thirty-four years, and outlived all her children. Their names were Henry, William, Jesse, Mary Yellott, Jeremiah, and Francis Asbury. On the sixteenth of February, 1842, at the age of seventy-three, "she bade earth adieu, and, passing peacefully the shades of death, leaning on the Savior's arm, entered triumphantly the city out of sight."º Her remains are sleeping in the old burial ground that belonged to the Methodists, in the rear of Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore, and the place is marked by a tomb- tone." Iler portrait, with that of her husband, has been bre- served by the Baltimore Conference Historical Society.
7 Copied from the original, in possession of the Rev. Dr. A. S. Hunt.
8 1.etter to the author. 9 Extract from inscription on her tombstone.
1º Roberts' Centenary Album, p. 55.
2
VI.
Thomas Monle
HE REV. THOMAS MORRELL was born in New York city, November 22, 1747. He was a school-mate and life-long friend of Lindley Murray, the gram- marian. Ilis mother was converted through the labors of Philip Embury, and joined the first Methodist class in America. The family afterward moved to Elizabethtown, New Jersey.1
The eventful history of Thomas Morrell previous to his conversion is thus narrated by the Rev. Dr. S. R. Dunn, of New Jersey:
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, and on receiving the news of the battles of Concord and Lexington, lie formed a company of volunteers and joined the patriot army." He was severely wounded in the battle of Long Is- land, in which three thousand patriots lost their lives. His own company, be- ing in advance of the main army, was nearly cut to pieces. Lying wounded on the field of battle, and only escaping the brutal fury of the British soldiery by feigning himself dead, Washington permitted six soldiers to carry him on a hurdle to New York, and thence to his father's house in Elizabethtown. From thence, as Lord Cornwallis approached, he was removed to New Providence, to the house of Rev. Jonathan Elmer, where he finally recovered. He received,
1 The father was a resident of Newtown, L. I., before going to New York. See Sprague's Annals.
2 For the name and number of his military company, see sketch of the Rev. John Merrick in this book.
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Old Sands Strect Church.
while there, a commission as major of the Fourth New Jersey Regiment of the Continental army. Accepting the appointment, he was out in active service nearly the whole year 1777. He was in the battle of Brandywine, where, guard- ing the passage of Chadsford, his regiment suffered severely, and finally gave way under the furious charge of Kuyphausen. It was in this battle that Lafay- ette was wounded in the leg, from which he never fully recovered. Major Morrell was also in the battle of Germantown. ITis health, after this hotly contested battle, which was so honorable to the army of Washington, was so feeble that he retired from the army amid the regrets of Washington and his fellow patriots. He returned to Elizabethtown, and re-engaged with his father in mercantile pursuits."
When about thirty-eight years of age, he was brought to repentence by the powerful preaching of the Rev. John Hag- gerty. In three months thereafter he was induced by this earnest preacher to abandon his lucrative business and de- vote himself to the ministry of the word. One of his carly efforts has been styled a "successful failure." So complete- ly had he failed in his own estimation that he concluded he was not called of God to preach, and determined to proceed no farther in that direction. The sequel is thus narrated by the Rev. John Atkinson:
Early the ensuing morning while at breakfast at his uncle's, there was a knock at the door. A lady entered desiring to see the preacher of the previous evening. In a few moments another came, and then an old man upon the same errand. all of whom had been awakened under the sermon deemed by him a failure, IIe of course recalled his purpose to preach no more, and was encour- aged to go forward.+
Here follows the list of his
APPOINTMENTS: 1786, supply on Newark cir., N. J., (including Stat- en Island, N. Y.,) with Robert Cloud; 1787, (traveling connection,) Elizabeth- town cir., with K. Cloud; 1788, ordained deacon, Trenton cir., with J. John- son; 1739, ordained elder, associate presiding elder, with F. Garrettson, New York Dist., also New York city and Brooklyn, with Robert Cloud, John Merrick, Wm. Phoebus, and last part of the conference year, Jacob Brush;5 1790, presiding elder, New York Dist,; 1791, New York city, with R. Whatcoat and J. Mann; Traveled with Asbury, and preached in Charleston, S. C., several months previous to the session of the New York Conference, 1792; 1792, New York again, with Lemuel Green and Geo. Strebeck; 1793, ditto, six months, with Daniel Smith and Evan Rogers;6 1794, Philadelphia, Pa .; 1795, no appointment on account of ill health; 1796-1797, local; 1793,
3 Year Book of Churches in New Jersey, 1881.
4 Memorials of New Jersey Methodism.
5 "Lost Chapters," p. 368.
6 Ibid., p. 395.
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Record of Ministers.
Elizabethtown, N. J., with James Tolleson and S. Thomas; 1799, (Baltimore Conference,) Baltimore cir., Md., with I .. Mansfield and II. Willis; 1800, Bal- timore and Fell's Point, with Geo. Roberts, Philip Bruce and N. Snethen; 1301, New York city, with John M'Claskey, D. Ostrander and M. Coate; 1802, ditto, with Thomas F. Sargent and Jolin Wilson; 1803, ditto, with Michael Coate, Ralph Williston and John Wilson; 1804, (Phila. Conf.,) Elizabethtown, N. J., with B. Iliff and S. Budd; 1805, no appointment; 1806-1824, local; 1825-1826, (Phila. Conf.,) sup'y, Elizabethtown, N. J., with T. B. Sargent; 1827-1828, ditto, with Daniel Parish; 1830-1831, ditto, with E. S. Janes; 1832, ditto, with William A. Wilmer; 1833, ditto with E. L. Janes; 1834, ditto, with Wm. II. Gilder; 1835-1836, ditto, with James Buckley; 1837, (N. J. Conf.,) sup'y. Elizabethtown, with J. A. Raybold; 1838, ditto, with I. N. Felch.
His appointment to New York in 1789 is not mentioned in the Minutes. In his unpublished journal, however, he states that he was so appointed with Robert Cloud, who was with him all the year, and John Merrick, who was with him four months. During a part of that year he was engaged by order of the conference in building the old Forsyth-street church. In less than six months from the date of his com- mission he preached the dedicatory sermon. It was at the conference of this year that Mr. Morrell was appointed with John Dickins to conduct the "official interview of the Meth- odist bishops with the great first president, in which the de- nomination was the first of American churches to recognize publicly the new government."1
In 1791 his health failed, and he left his station in New York to accompany Asbury to the South. On this journey Morrell shared with the bishop in some of his romantic ex- perience. A woman was preparing supper for them who had never seen any tea. The bishop having some with him, handed her the paper and requested her to make some tea. She boiled the whole of it, threw away the "juice," and spread the leaves on a plate, and said, "Help yourselves to tea." " The bishop left him in Charleston, S. C., where he performed good service till June, 1792. He made "an effective stand against Hammett, publishing a pamphlet in reply to his at- tacks on Asbury and Coke."" On reading this pamphlet, Bishop Asbury wrote: "Had Brother Morrell known more
" Stevens-Hist. M. E. Church, vol. iii, p. 144.
$ Wakeley-"Lost Chapters," p. 378.
9 Stevens-Ilist. M. E. Church, vol. iii, p. 147.
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Old Sands Street Church.
he would have replied better."" The verdict of history is, however, that the bishop had good reason to be satisfied. That strong defense of Methodism added to its author's al- ready acquired fame as a leading man in the denomination.
Mr. Morrell was twice married. Bishop Asbury officiated at both nuptial ceremonies. Concerning the former the bish- op on the day of the marriage wrote:
Wonders will never cease. Nothing could serve but I must marry Thomas Morrell to a young woman. Such a solitary wedding, I suppose, has been but seldon seen. Bchold Father Morrell, fifty-five, Father Whatcoat, sixty-five, Francis Asbury, fifty-seven, and the ceremony performed solemnly at the sol- emn hour of ten at night.11.
Soon after his location in 1796, his good old mother died. Although his ministerial record shows that he was supernu- merary many years, he preached during much of the time as frequently as when he was numbered among the effective preachers. Ile lived to be past ninety, and was held in great honor. When in his eighty-ninth year, he was invited to dedicate the second Forsyth-street church in New York, but was too feeble to comply. The following-the only para- graph from his writings which our space will permit us to quote-gives a pleasing view of his experience in the calm sunset of his life.
Through the tender mercy of God I have lived to see the beginning of anoth- er year, being now ninety years, one month, and nine days old-a longer period than any of our family have lived. I have many things to be thankful for -- my life prolonged to so advanced an age, having the faculties of mind in perfect exercise, my health tolerably good, sleep sound, appetite good, my wife in health, my children all religious and in health, my son successful as a preacher, my scul devoted to God, and plenty of temporal things. Would to God I was more thankful, more holy, more heavenly-minded. This morning I have de- voted my soul and body to God; and though I am unable to preach as former- ly, yet I am endeavoring by grace to walk with God. 12
He died in triumph, August 9, 1838, in Elizabethtown, N. J. IIe said in his last moments: "I am going to glory; I have gotten the victory; all is well!" Throughout the length and breadth of the land, the church which had increased from twelve members when his mother joined, to upwards of sixty
10 Asbury's Journal, edition 1852, vol. ii, p. 154.
11 Asbury's Journal, vol. iii, p. 67.
12 Stevens-Hist. M. E. Church, vol. iii, p. 148.
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Record of Ministers.
thousand at the time of his death, heard with deep emotion the tidings of his departure. He had been a contemporary and friend of Washington and La Fayette, of Wesley, and Coke, and Asbury, and had given a long life of pure and no- ble devotion to the country and the church.
He is described as "a man of thoroughly defined habits and character," "an early riser, scrupulously temperate and frugal, and punctual to preciseness." One who knew him well, says:
Ile was always occupied with something; and hence to the very last he was cheerful. He carried with him down to extreme old age, the freshness, bouy- ancy, and energy of youthful feeling, and the entire capability of attending to all his business with the utmost punctuality and accuracy. *** His appearance was unique and striking. He was rather short in stature, but strongly built; his neck was short, his head not large, his eye bright and blue, his lips thin, and his whole appearance indicative of more than ordinary firmness. Ile al- ways wore a covering on his head like a smoking cap, from which his hair fell gracefully on his neck, IIe wore a long frock coat buttoned to the chin, and without the least ostentation was a nian of the old school. 13
His ability was well worthy of respect. Mr. Murray says:
While he never made any pretentions to extensive learning, philosophic acu- men, or critical researches, he was a pungent, practical, and at times a power- ful preacher.
Ilis remains, with those of his wives and several of his de- scendents, repose in the family vault in the burial grounds of the First Presbyterian church in Elizabeth city, N. J.
LYDIA FRAZER, his first wife, was mother of the Rev. F. A. . Morrell, who writes:
She died when I was an infant, [October 11, 1808.] I have heard my father speak of her as an amiable and accomplished lady.14
EUNICE, his second wife, had formerly been married to a Mr. Hamilton. October 8, 1809, is the date of her marriage to Thomas Morrell. She lived until 1850, surviving her hus- band twelve years.
The Rev. Francis Asbury Morrell, son of Thomas Morrell, died December 12, 1881, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and the fifty-first year of his ministry. He was an honored and useful member of the New Jersey Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
13 Murray in Sprague's Annals.
14 Letter to the author.
VII.
Robert Cloud
HE REV. ROBERT CLOUD was stationed in New York soon after the formation of the little society in Brooklyn, and while it was yet under the care of New York city preachers. Soon afterward he was in charge of Brooklyn as presiding elder.
He was born in Brandywine Hundred, New Castle Coun- ty, Delaware, August 21, 1755. One who knew him inti- mately wrote as follows in an obituary notice:
When about twenty-one years of age. through the instrumentality of the Rev. Mr. Webster, 1 of Harford County, Md., he embraced the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, and united with the Methodist Episcopal Church. The writer has often heard him relate the circumstance of his conversion, in a Meth- odist class-room, habited in the uniform of a soldier of the Revolution, which, however, he soon exchanged for the uniform of a Methodist preacher.'
This fact makes him conspicuous, for notably few are the heroes of early Methodism with whom Robert Cloud must share the honor of having been a soldier in the Revo- lution. And had he been the only man to enter the itinerant ranks from out the
" Heaven-born band, Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,"
It would have imparted no brighter lustre to his name than now gilds it as accompanied on the roll of honor by the names of such renowned soldier-preachers as Thomas Mor- rell, Thomas Ware, John Merrick, and Robert Hutchinson.
Ilis obituary further states that he commenced his min-
' This was the Rev. Richard Webster who joined the Methodists in 1768, and faithfully served the Church as an itinerant and local preacher, till his death at the age of eighty-five, in the year 1824. Lednum.
* Baltimore Visitor, 1833.
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Record of Ministers.
isterial labors in 1777, and suffered his full share of the pri- vations incident to the itineracy of that carly day. From various sources we have compiled the following brief
MINISTERIAL RECORD: 1777, local preacher; 1778, (traveling connec- tion, ) appointment not known,3 1779-1784, located; 1785, (re-admitted to conf.) Trenton cir,, N. J., with John M'Claskey and Jacob Brush; 1786, Newark; 1787, ordained deacon,-Elizbethtown cir., with Thomas Morrell; 1788, Long Island cir .; 1789, ordained elder, -- New York and Brooklyn, with John Merrick, Wm. Phoebus, Thomas Morrell, and Jacob Brush;+ 1790, New York, with Wm. Jessop; 1791, presiding elder, New York Dist .- L. 1. to New- burgh; 1792. presiding elder, Wyoming to Staten Island; 1793, Chester, Penn., six months, and Wilmington, Del., six months; 1794-1796, "under a location;" 1767-1808, probably most of the time a located preacher; 1809, (Western Conf.) missionary; 1810, Knox, Ind. ; 1811, Delaware, Ohio, 1812, Deer Creek, with Chas, Waddle; 1813-1832, located.
Ilis location in 1779 is the first on record in the history of the itineracy in America. The reader will observe that he returned to the conference in 1785, located again in 1794, was again re-admitted to the traveling connection in 1809, and located a third time in 1813. His first location occurred about the time of his marriage to Miss Rachel Matson, of Philadelphia-a Quaker lady who afterward united with the Methodists. While in his prime, as the foregoing record shows, he was for several years presiding elder. In the states of Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Kentucky, he was known as a fervent, laborious, clear-head- ed minister of God. He was one of the preachers in New York and Brooklyn in 1789, and among those converted un- der his powerful preaching in John-street was J. Barnet Matthias, who afterward became a heroic standard-bearer in the church.
The question may arise, How could a man like Robert Cloud so completely escape the notice of the historians of the church, notwithstanding he was colleague to such well- remembered preachers as John M'Claskey, Jacob Brush, Thomas Morrell, John Merrick, William Phoebus and Will-
3 So incomplete are the early conference records that the fact of his joining the traveling ministry is not named, and the first record is of his "desisting from traveling" in 1779.
4 These men alternated throughout the year. See Minutes of Conferences, and "Lost Chapters," pp. 366, 368.
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Old Sands Strect Church.
iam Jessop? The only explanation of his passing into com- parative obscurity that can be given, is hus temporary depart- ure from God, his lapse into immorality.5
He sought forgiveness and regained the favor of God; and in the west, whither he removed, his downfall appears not to have been remembered against him." The author of his obituary describes his zealous labors in the itineracy, and then adds:
Nor did his exertions cease when compelled by ill health and family concerns to locate; far, very far from it. Every hour that could be spared was employed in carrying the glad tidings of salvation to those who were destitute. Societies were formed, houses built and then handed over to the itinerant brethren, while he went in pursuit of more lost sheep. Yes, "the wilderness" of Olio "heard his voice and did rejoice." In Kentucky, also, where he ended his days, so long as he was able, although in his seventy-eighth year, did he preach the un- searchable riches of Christ.
A "Report of the Independent Kentucky Bible Society
5 The Rev. Geo. W. Lybrand writes: "It is painful-the blot on Mr. Cloud's name. Ile was overtaken by adultery, and his fall is proved by testi- mony from four sources:
(I.) Memoir of Jesse Lee, p. 242 :- 'Saturday Oct. 6, 1798. On to Wm. How- ell's at North East, and put up with him. I was greatly pained at hearing of the apostaey of R- C -- , an old minister, dismally fallen.' 'Sun., Oct. 7. We staid at North East, and at 11 o'clock Mr. Asbury preached on Heb. xii, 15-17. He gave us a good discourse, and I exhorted. There was some stir among the hearers.
(2.) Asbury's Journal, vol. ii, p. 329 :- The bishop was with Lee. His journal indicates trouble. 'Maryland. On Saturday [ October 6, 1798,] we rode six miles to North East. My bruised side pained me much; my spirits were sad. Dark clouds imposed over Methodism here.' 'Sunday, Oct. 7. I preached in the North East church on Heb. xii, 15-17. The substance of my sermon was, 1. A caution against failing to obtain the repenting, converting, persevering, sanetifying grace of God. 2. How some bad principles, persons and practices were like wormwood, gall and poison to society. 3. Ilow small the gain-how great the loss of peace. 4. That some might apostatize beyond the possibility of being restored, and weep hopeless and unavailing tears, etc.'
(3.) Methodism in . New Jersey, by Rev. John Atkinson, P. 351 :- 'Robert Cloud * * * is said to have been an excellent preacher, but he unfortunately de- parted from the narrow path, *** Rev. Thomas Morrell received a letter from . Mr. Cloud, in which he stated that he was restored to the church, and intended to remain within its enclosure till his death.
(4.) I traveled (1860 and 1861) Newark circuit-one of the points Cherry Hill, Cecil County, Md. An aged member, a mother in Israel, knew all about his fall, his restoration in the revival of 1799, his preaching again, going west in ISoo, and she heard his farewell sermon. I have no doubt that he was fully restored."-Letter to the author.
6 It remained unknown to some of his nearest friends. One of them writes: "My grandfather never left the Methodist Episcopal Church, nor did he ever 'depart from the narrow path.' I lived with him from my earliest recollection till his death in 1833, and never heard of such a thing. A more consistent man I never met with, I think."-Letter to the author.
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Record of Ministers.
for 1819," printed that year in The Weekly Recorder, a relig- ious journal published in Chillicothe, Ohio, and signed "Rob- ert Cloud, President, J. W. Palmer, Secretary," indicates great energy and enterprise on the part of the officers, and bears testimony to the activity of Mr. Cloud in those days. His published obituary adds:
It is but just to say that in the latter part of his life he became dissatisfied with the form of government in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and although he continued in connection with it, he often lamented its departure from prim- itive Methodism, and manifested much concern for the Methodist Protestant Church. But let all his friends know, let the church of Christ know that he died in the full assurance of faith. He retained his senses to the last, and left this for a better world without a struggle or a groan.
His death occurred at the residence of his son, in Lexing- ton, Ky., on the 5th of June, 1833, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. The place of his rest is marked by a head-stone in Dr. Cloud's family ground in the city where he died.
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