USA > New York > Ulster County > Kingston > Semi-centennial celebration of the Rondout Presbyterian Church, Kingston, N.Y. 1833-1883 > Part 3
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place, and we got a tax levied of $300 to build a school-house. There was no place to hold meetings for public worship, and the few people that were here were desirous of having some place and we concluded to enlarge the school-house a little larger than $300 would build it, and raised a subscription of something like $200 more, and built it larger than was neces- sary for the school so as to hold religious meetings there for
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
all the denominations. There were meetings there occasion- ally ; Dr. Gosman used to come down and preach sometimes. Whenever we could get preachers we had meetings ; not every Sunday, but generally Sundays we would have some one to preach for us. In 1833, I think it was, the Presbyterian society was organized, and they built a church. I do not know so much about that as Mr. Crane and some others who were particularly interested in the building of the church; I knew but little about what they did as I was not one of them. The number of members however was very small ; it is stated here that it was sixteen. I think that Mrs. Hasbrouck, the wife of Abraham Hasbrouck, Mr. Wurts, Mr. George Endicott who was here at that time, a man named Mansfield - I thought Deacon Osterhoudt was one, and Mr. Crane, these are all I can recollect. I thought Deacon Osterhoudt was one, but Mr. Crane tells me he did not join until a year after that. I cannot remember who the other members were. There were Methodist meetings here, and there were Baptist meetings, and occasionally Mr. Sherwood, an Episcopalian minis- ter from Saugerties, would come down here and preach, but Mr. Burgess was the principal man in the Baptist church : A man named Wakeman seemed to be the principal man in the Methodist church and Mr. Endicott and Mr. Wurts were the leading men in the Presbyterian church. That is about as much as I can recall about the formation of this church.
Dr. MAGEE :- I presume it is not recollections that reach so far and such interesting points, that have pleased us most, but the fact that we are permitted to look upon one who stood in the midst of those scenes, so long ago, and whose clear mind to- day reaches back and lives over again in our presence those early ยท times. I believe in heredity. Worthy fathers give us worthy sons ; and the father who could follow the line of civil im- provement that has opened the great resources about this city, who could sleep beneath the pine boughs and catch the spirit of their beautiful sayings, whose mind could devise, and skill
33
Jervis Mc Entee.
construct these works of commercial art, must have felt in him the spirit of the songs and airs of these free hills, and must have gathered up, with increasing and widening knowledge, points of beauty and interest that have been transmitted to other lives. We have with us the son of the father ; the cunning of whose fingers can win from nature her choicest scenes of beauty, to whom the flowers speak and the montains teach to pray, who interprets the language of the bubbling brook, to whom the trees, with their arms of benediction reaching over him, grant baptism of beauty, and who can by the enchantment of his art place these upon canvas and set them before the eyes of ad- miring millions. I delight to bow before such men; and I know you will be delighted to hear them say even a word. I have had to coax, to get even a word from Mr. McEntee. But I take great pleasure in introducing him.
REMARKS BY MR. JERVIS MCENTEE :
I am afraid I should have hardly come here to-night if I had supposed I would be called upon for a speech, for certainly that is very far out of my province, but as the doctor has so kindly alluded to me, it seems proper at least that I should at- tempt to say something. I am sure I have a great deal to say if I only knew how to say it, but never having been practiced in the expression of my thoughts and ideas in that way it is rather a difficult thing to do. Although I have never been connected with this Church, still my earliest recollections cluster about it. The people who belong to it are the people among whom I have grown up and whom I early learned to respect. And certainly an occasion like this, in which you are gathered together to celebrate fifty years of your organization, is some- thing in which I only wish I could bear a more important part. I think the doctor would perhaps like to betray me into some of the confidences which I narrated to him to day, but I should hardly like to go back with my recollections with you here as I did with him. I have arrived at an age when I am perhaps a little sensitive on those points, and you will excuse
5
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
me if I do not go into those reminiscences, but simply enjoy with you all that pertains to an occasion of such extended and abiding interest.
Dr. MAGEE :- I now turn with a great deal of interest to one who, from the language of people and the passage of time, would seem able to make me think that I was not old, and yet with his steady bearing and fine smile and ready hand it seems as though he was about as young as those of us who are just be- ginning to feel a little sensitive about how long we can re- member.
We all know how this city has grown up. Nature gave its stones and gave its argillaceous banks, but there needed to be something to cement them together. And the man who knows all about these processes and all about the ties that bind and make solid the fabric of nations, is worth listening to. I have the honor of introducing the Honorable Mr. Lindsley.
REMARKS BY EX-MAYOR JAMES G. LINDSLEY :
DR. MAGEE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : - I have always found that it was a great deal easier to make cement than to make speeches, and yet if the speeches that I could make would bind your hearts together as one and make you feel as neighbors and friends and Christians I should endeavor to do as much in speaking, as I do in making that which unites in other ways and whatever the result may be, I will attempt it only to a small extent here to-night. As regards the Presbyterian church of Rondout, I look upon it as the main pillar in the advance and progress of this town and I can say that all my early recollections cluster around and about the people that form the congregation of the Presbyterian church in Rondout, and I am glad to be here with you to-night, not that I would say much that would be interesting to you, but because I have always felt an interest in this church.
There was a circumstance that occurred to me when I first heard that the organization of this church was in the year 1833.
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James G. Lindsley.
In 1832 I first heard of Rondout. I was engaged in a post office, and it being the cholera year, there was a great deal of irregularity and excitement in regard to the mails, and one day in the office there came a mail labeled New York and Rondout. "Rondout," I said " Rondout ?" I thought I was a bright scholar in geography but I had never heard of Rondout, and it set me at work increasing my knowledge in that direction.
I afterward found out that it was a thriving and busy place on the Hudson, and that they had succeeded in getting a post office there after a great trial. They applied to the Post- master-General in Washington to give one to them. The rep- resentative in Congress from this district at that time was General Erastus Root, of Delhi, and of course the authorities at Washington appealed to him to know what kind of a place Rondout was. " Rondout, Rondout," he said, "why, it is Natchez under the hill." That was the most opprobrious epithet that could be given to any place in the United States ; nevertheless by the persistent effort of the people here they obtained a post office.
We can see from that little incident the necessity there was for a Presbyterian church in a place that could be compared with Natchez under the hill.
Now that this congregation has grown as it has, that Rond- out stands so high in the estimation of the community, shows what work has been done by this church and by the other churches that have assisted in bringing this place from the position it occupied then to the one it occupies now.
I afterward came to live here. It was yet only a small place and the Presbyterian church, which was the nearest church of any to me, at that time became my regular place of attendance, and I mingled with those who were members of this church ; and I can say for one that my whole intercourse with this people has been of the most pleasant and satisfactory kind, and I to-day stand here before you and congratulate you upon the strength of your society, upon the magnificence of the church
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
you have to worship in and of this lecture room that you can gather in, for social and devotional exercises.
I do not know as it is worth while to go into reminiscences of the early times of this church. I have given you what was fifty-one years old, and I think that should suffice, as it reaches back one year longer than the church itself, and I suppose we will during the evening hear many things and many of the incidents that have transpired in regard to the church.
Now wishing that even a greater prosperity may attend your efforts, and that this church may be enlarged not only in its membership but in its influence in the community, and that it may have an enlargement sufficient for all the advanced ideas of the times that are necessary for religion and truth, I bid you good night.
The pastor then read the semi-centennial poem which may be found at the end of this volume, after which the congre- gation went into the auditorium of the church for the princi- pal exercises of the occasion.
WEDNESDAY EVENING, AT 7:30.
The exercises were opened with an anthem by the choir. The Rev. F. Washburn of the Espiscopal church read a portion of scripture, and prayer was offered by the Rev. A. Schriver of the Methodist Episcopal church. After the singing of the hymn, " Blest be the tie that binds" by the whole congregation, the pastor gave a few informal words of welcome.
ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY THE PASTOR.
It has been counted in all ages a fitting and beautiful thing for men to remember the past, with its deeds and its beautiful acts. We stand here to night as a congregation that we may commemorate the founding of this church, which occurred fifty years ago. A half century ago this morning the Rev. John
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Address of Welcome.
Mason began his work as the first pastor of this church. All the intervening years have blossomed with blessing, and been showered with the benedictions of God ; and I stand here to-night as the representative of this Presbyterian church of Rondout to extend to all of you a simple word of welcome. I trust that our hearts express more than our words can utter, with what fullness of gladness we welcome you here on this occasion. There are flowers that bloom in the winter. (Directing attention to the banks of flowers about the pulpit.) So the bloom of our gladness at your presence flowers beneath the wintry skies. They are of that hardy nature that shall not fade, and we trust that their fragrance may fall upon many future years. To those who have come here with us to night from the other churches, we welcome you as of one great and christian brotherhood, and we ask that the arches of heavenly bloom may bend over your pathway till the end.
And to those who were members of this church long ago, and have gone to other places and kneel at other altars and worship in other sanctuaries, we bid you welcome not only to our sanctuary but to the enclosure of our hearts ; we open them - their widest doors - to receive you in.
I cannot forget the absent - those who never shall come again, that shine out of the past upon our memories ; we would have the glow and color that rest upon them, fall upon us when we turn our faces toward Heaven.
For those who because of age or sickness are not permitted to be here to-night, but who are with us in spirit, we pray that the benediction of God, because of our asking, may fall upon their hearts, that the joy that we experience shall be theirs, multiplied by the touch of God. My brethren, the dear pastors that walked before me as the leaders of this people, when I come to you with the greeting, the congratulation and the love of this people, I give only what is your own. No years can rob you of the treasure that lights up your hearts. There is no hand, of all this number, that would take away the bloom of a single sweet memory that lingers in your hearts.
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
And walking here as their pastor, where you walked, my sweetest ambition would be to walk as worthily as you did. And when God shall direct, and I shall turn my face ever away from them, I shall be satisfied if I may be held in as beautiful recollection, covered with something of the spirit, and clasped in the embrace of such gracious affection, as that in which you are held even unto this day. You shall never fade out of these hearts; this sanctuary, will always be your sanctuary, and if the wide world had no other home and your weary heads no other pillow, one should they find in the homes and upon the breasts of those whom you have here led in worship, many of whose heads your hands have rested upon in holy consecration, and who, as I have learned from their tender words expressed to me, will bear you upon their hearts and in their love until you stand side by side before the Great White Throne. And then they would that you should lead them onward through what eye hath not seen. You, who are most of this church, I bid you welcome.
And now I must give one other welcome, and I must ex- press the deep thankfulness and devoted gladness of all these hearts as I give the welcome, to the oldest, possibly with one exception, surely the very oldest member of our church who as an office bearer in it from the very beginning, helped to lay its foundation stones, and still stands after the passage of fifty years at the head of its official board - the venerable Elder Walter B. Crane. I give him a welcome to this place that he may for a short time tell us some of the precious things that memory brings back to him.
ADDRESS BY ELDER WALTER B. CRANE.
Mr. WALTER B. CRANE then read an address giving his " his- torical reminiscences," prefacing the reading of the paper with the following remarks :
I find it a difficult thing to go over fifty years after it has been gone over so thoroughly by two others so recently, one who in 1876 gave us a history of our church from its com-
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Walter B. Crane.
mencement, with all the information he could at that time gather. That history has been published and has been circu- lated, and many have read it. Since that time our beloved pastor had gathered similar information and has preached a sermon recently on the history of this church. Now you will pardon me if during the little time that I will occupy I shall rehearse some of what has been said in your hearing, at least to many here. I came to Rondout early in the summer of 1829. At that time, as you are aware, it was a very small place but not a very easy place to reach. At that time there was but one steamboat running in the creek, and that made two trips a week from Wilbur, which was then called Twalfs- kill. That was the old steamboat Congress. Another way to reach here was to land at the Slate Dock, Rhinebeck, and be conveyed to Kingston Point by a horse boat. From there you would walk to Rondout or go with the stage on the Kingston road until you reached a house on the fork of the road where Dr. Kennedy now lives, and then come down here. I landed from the old steamboat North America, not the one of recent date but one older, and came across to Kingston Point, and from there I walked up here. There were no roads from Kingston Point to Rondout, and there were three or four other gentlemen with me. We had rather difficult walking; it was up hill and down, and through the woods part of the way, but we reached the place and I found it a very small place in comparison with what it is now. It contained some ten or twelve dwelling-houses, two or three stores, with a population not to exceed one hundred inhabitants, of which about one-half were journeymen ship-carpenters boarding in two or three houses and not permanent residents. The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company had just com- menced receiving coal by the canal, and this year received about seven thousand tons.
" At this time there was no religious organization or place for worship in Rondout which was a serious objection to any one (who wished to enjoy the privileges of the sanctuary) of
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
making this a permanent place of residence. Yet, it was my privilege, as well as others who wished to attend church on the
Sabbath, to walk to Kingston or hire a conveyance, but, as there were boarding with me at the old stone Mansion House (standing on the side of the present one) a few gentlemen who would join me in the walk to Kingston (unless the weather
the Sabbath, and we did not think it a hardship either. When was too unpleasant) morning and evening to attend church on
thinking of it now, I don't know but it required a little more zeal than some of us possess at the present time. Yet, we enjoyed it, the exercise was good, and the cause which prompted it better, and I do not believe that any of us have or will live a day less for having done it. But some may ask, did you not have any religious services in Rondout ? Yes. The Rev. Dr. Gosman, pastor of the Reformed church in Kingston, would occasionally preach, say once in three or four weeks (during the summer) in the hall of the old Mansion House, or in the hall of a large boarding house kept by Major Swarts on the opposite side of the street, either of these halls being sufficiently large to accommodate all who would attend or listen to the preaching of the word. In addition to preaching by Dr. Gosman, the Methodist minister from Kingston would occasionally preach in the same place. Prayer meetings were also held, generally in private dwellings. As the religious in- terest increased and prayer was being answered (although there were but few to pray) yet, He who hears and answers prayer is not confined to numbers. Whenever and wherever, the sincere and earnest prayer of a believing soul is offered, the answer comes : according to your faith shall it be done unto you. Although there were but few children in Rondout at this time, yet, it appeared the time had come when the train- ing of the young in religious truth should not be overlooked or longer neglected. Accordingly a few of the inhabitants, prompted by the good Spirit, came together and organized a Sabbath school. Mr. Benjamin J. Seward, brother of the late Hon. Wm. H. Seward, and father of the Rev. Augustus Sew-
4I
Walter B. Crane.
ard, D.D., was chosen for superintendent, and Mrs. Abm. Has- brouck, assistant superintendent.
The first session was held August 16, 1829, and was com- posed of seven male and six female teachers, sixteen male and eighteen female scholars. I wish just to say a word here in praise of these most worthy and efficient superintendents. Their happy tact in plain practical teaching, pleasant and win- ing ways with the whole school, together with superior manage- ment and interest manifested for the comfort and happiness of all, I have never seen surpassed in any school. The first session of the school was held in the hall of a boarding-house stand- ing on the site or near where the flour and feed store of Thomas H. Tremper now stands; then in a stone-house, known as the farm-house of Mr. Abram Hasbrouck, standing on or near the present garden-plot of Mr. Jansen Hasbrouck ; and then in a new school-house built on the corner of Wurts and Abeel streets with reference to religious services and the ses- sions of a sunday school as well as the needs of a day school, and thence to the basement of the Presbyterian church which had then just been built. Failing health compelled the resignation of Mr. Seward as superintendent, after a little more than a year's service, and he was obliged to remove from the place. His successor was George W. Endicott who held the office about two years. He was a man of most lovely christian spirit, fully competent yet timid and diffident. The third superintendent was Alexander Snyder. The fourth Richard Bolton. The fifth Thomas Young. The writer of this succeeded Mr. Young in November, 1840, and from that time a period of forty-three years has been honored with the office. Mrs. Abram Hasbrouck held the office of assistant superintendent with great acceptance and profit to the school the most of the time for about twenty years, when she removed from the place. In connection with Mrs. Hasbrouck as co-laborers in sabbath school work, I would not forget that most lovely and amiable christian lady, Mrs. George North, who was always ready, helpful and willing to engage in any christian
6
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
work, and I believe her labors in sabbath school and church work were greatly blessed. It was not long before there began to be a growing desire for a church organization and a church building. On the third sabbath of June, 1833, the Rev. John Mason of New York was invited here and commenced preach- ing in the school-house, and was immediately invited with great unanimity to continue with us and organize us into a religious society, which invitation he accepted. He being a Presbyterian as was also a majority of professed christians liv- ing at that time in Rondout, on the first day of November, 1833, the Rondout Presbyterian church was organized with Thomas Young and Phineas Terry, as elders, and sixteen members. Mr. Mason soon became very popular with his people, being a man of fine address, a good preacher, fine orator and ready off-hand speaker; we soon found the little school-house too small to accommodate all who desired to wait on his ministry. After careful and prayerful consideration, it was decided to circulate a subscription paper, soliciting sub- scriptions for the purpose of building a church, and the follow- ing bearing date July 3, 1833, was circulated and the sum of $778 was subscribed. The heading of the paper reads as fol- lows : Being impressed with the importance of supporting the public worship of God in this place constantly and with regu- larity, and it being necessary, in order to accomplish this, that there should be erected immediately a larger house than the one at present used for that purpose, we, the subscribers, agree severally to pay the sum affixed to our names. While we feel friendly to all orthodox denominations of christians, and are willing to extend our support to them, it is our wish that this house should be in the hands of the Presbyterians and at their disposal, there being at present no other denomination of christians who feel willing to assume the responsibility of building a church. The following are the names of the sub- scribers with amounts given to the church building in Ron- dout :
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Walter B. Crane.
Maurice Wurts.
$200 Joseph Rodman $10
George W. Endicott.
100 Edwin Bolton. 10
Daniel H. Mansfield
100 David H. Snyder 5
Alexander Snyder
100 David Abbey, Jr. 5
Harvey Otis
25 Peter D. Hasbrouck 5
Paoli Brooks.
25 Edgar Hudler 5
Jacob T. Hendricks
10 Daniel Snyder. 5
Richard Bolton.
10 James M. Burgess 5
W. B. Crane
10 Robert Watt. 5
Morgan Everson
10 Jabez Wakeman
5
Henry Battle.
10 James Bridger. 5
John Ferguson
20 Maurice Wurts, Jr
5
George North.
10 Edward Palmer 5
John D. Middagh.
10 Edgar R. Bevier 5
John McCausland
15 John L. Hasbrouck. 5
Wm. Sims.
10 John Hoag 4
Thomas Burgess
10 Thomas Johnson 2
Charles Smith.
10 Edgar Brodhead 2
This was but a small beginning toward building a church at an estimated cost of about $4,000, and did look discouraging to the few who felt a deep interest in carrying forward to comple- tion this important part of christian enterprise. But there were noble men and earnest christian workers, who took hold with a will, and the church was built with a seating capacity for about four hundred persons. June 19, 1834, the church edifice was dedicated to the worship of the Triune God, the Rev. Cyrus Mason of New York preaching the sermon, and the Rev. John Gosman, D. D., of Kingston, offering the dedicatory prayer. The cost of the building without the tower was about $5,000. November 13, of the same year, the Rev. John Mason was ordained and installed pastor of the new church and congre- gation. He also served the Reformed church of Hurley, preaching for us morning and evening and in the Hurley church in the afternoon. He also gave us an evening lecture during the week, and usually attending and conducting our
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Semi-Centennial Celebration.
weekly prayer meeting. A word just here in regard to the weekly church prayer meeting. These have been regularly maintained since the organization of our church, in fact they were commenced before the church organization, while at times there were barely enough in attendance to claim the promise, yet never when earnest prayer did not go up for a blessing upon the church, for the conversion of souls and the spread of the Gospel at large. Many a meeting have I attended when not more than eiglit to ten persons were present, and if the number reached fifteen to twenty we thought it a large gathering ; compare this to the present day, when we rarely have less than one hundred, from this to one hundred and fifty.
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