USA > New York > Essex County > Bloomingdale > The New York of yesterday; a descriptive narrative of old Bloomingdale, its topographical features, its early families and their genealogies, its old homesteads and country-seats, the Bloomingdale Reformed church, organized in 1805 > Part 18
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improvements and 38 cases of taxes, making in all 80 cases, constituting a liability of $51.025.44, with interest and costs, say about half as much again-total $86,000, of which a large amount, with accrued interest, has been averted, remitted or paid, leaving $16,000 with interest and costs yet to be adjusted. Of the items composing said amount a schedule has been prepared, embodied in a petition for relief to be presented to the Assessment Com- missioners appointed by the Legislature of 1880 for the adjustment of such matters. Beyond this sum the church has no debt but the two small contingent mortgages held by the Collegiate Church upon a section of the old Church plot, not payable at present and it is to be hoped the con- tingency never will arise which will make them fall due.
The above statement enables one to understand how the misfortunes of the Church came about. Had it not been for the invaluable services above enumerated it could not have lived. It may be safely asserted that the pastor had saved the corporation upwards of $50,000 in the above class of liens, by his vigilant and energetic labors. To summarize, in the words of The History of Eighty Years, he became a ubiquitous real estate agent. He had been kept busy enough in fencing off taxes and assessments, levied or purposed to be levied, upon the church grounds and belongings. One day he was at the City Hall protesting against some ob- noxious action of Assessors or Street Commissioners. The next day he was in Albany pelting the Legislature with arguments against pending bills laying a tax upon churches and cemeteries. He was singularly success- ful, too-had a genius for such work.1
The Rev. Alexander G. van Aken, the pastor's
1 Cemeteries were specifially exempted from taxation by Chap. 498, p. 1077, Laws of 1893, approved by Governor Roswell P. Flower, April 29.
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nephew, was called as associate on April 28th, with a compensation of $1000. The call was, however, never perfected and was consequently invalid. Samuel Hanaway was installed Deacon on September 25th, and Samuel B. Reed was elected to the same office on the 27th. At the session of that date a tentative plan of reorganizing the church was considered. The Church Extension Committee of Classis had made a proposition to that end. Discussion thereof was postponed. Otis D. Stewart was chosen Deacon in October. A special meeting was called which met December 5th at the house of Elder Curtis, 28 West 60th Street. The matter was again postponed to meet the convenience of Classis. A communication from Classis was received and read on the 16th stating that the necessity of having the pastor declared emeritus, be- cause of his disability and his residence in New Jersey far from his people, had been thought advisable and passed on the 6th instant, as both Mr. van Aken's interest and that of the Church imperatively demanded that this course be taken. The Rev. A. G. Vermilye, Rev. Carlos Martyn, and Horatio P. Allen were ap- pointed to undertake this arrangement. A very friendly presentation of the subject was made to Do- mine van Aken, in which views he concurred. The local Consistory thereupon resolved "that, with regret and continued respect and affection for him after his long and faithful services among us, this Consistory recognize the Providential necessity for this step and join with him in his application to the Classis." A salary of $500 was agreed on. Worn out by years of labor, he had for some time been palsied and was residing in New Brunswick. The assistant pastor was also a non-resident. The Domine was accordingly
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declared emeritus on December 20, 1881, and a com- mittee consisting of Dr. Vermilye, the Revs. Carlos Martyn and E. A. Reed, and Elders D. P. Hoffman and H. P. Allen was appointed for the purpose of aiding the local Consistory. By their advice the pulpit was to be supplied for the time and Reed was selected to arrange it. He was likewise to get the books and business papers from Domine van Aken and to collect the rent of the parsonage.
Beginning with 1882 services began at 3 P.M. and the Sunday-school at 2, under the superintendence of Hanaway. Wood, who had declined to serve because of ill health, now returned to the Board. Emmons resigned on the Ist of December "in conse- quence of impaired health and the infirmities of age." A communication from the pastor emeritus was re- ceived. Therein he detailed the situation as related to his work in re assessments and stated that the liens could be materially reduced by the act of the Legisla- ture exempting cemeteries which he helped to procure. The question of the number required to be present to form a quorum and the official relation of the pas- tor with reference thereto was submitted to Classis, which in answer quoted the 13th article of the Synod of Dort (1618), the original of all others on the sub- ject, as stating that
" If a minister become incapable of performing the duties of his office, either through age, sickness or otherwise, such minister shall, notwithstanding, retain the honor and style of his office and be provided with an honorable support." Similarly in the first American Constitution (1792) (explan- atory of Article 16) he is declared "excused from all further service in the church" but retains "the title, rank, and character," with an adequate support. Indeed at that
16
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date so entirely was his position regarded as titular and honorary, so completely was he set aside from duty and even prerogative, that by Article 17 he was not allowed to administer the communion or celebrate a marriage without express permission of Classis. This article is left out of the Constitution of 1833, but Article 16 remains substantially the same. He is "excused from all further services in the Church," retaining only "the title, rank, and character "; the outward dignity and reputable shadow of the connection. It only remains to say that the Constitution of 1874 makes no change in the relation thus designated. Not dismissed, but honorably "excused from all further services in the Church"-services in the Consistory as well as out of it-and on the sufficient ground of physical (or mental) incapacity, he is not expected to be present or take any further part in the active working of the Church. That devolves upon the Consistory, without him, and he is not to be counted as in service or in reference to a quorum. His position, even if present, is honorary, his general position in and towards the Church being that of honorable retirement, with only such influence and power as may result from long service and the affection and respect of the people.
Domine van Aken continued to send regular com- munications to the Consistory reciting the condi- tion of the liens he had for so long a period in hand. At a meeting at Wood's residence February 21, 1882, Elder Reed was elected President until a pastor was provided, and Treasurer, and Hanaway, Clerk. The latter wishing to be relieved as Superintendent of the Sabbath-school in order to serve as organist, Deacon Stewart was chosen. The Secretary was directed to obtain from the late Pastor the corporate seal of the organization and all title deeds, instruments in writing, and documents belonging to the Church, and to convey to him the continued confidence of the Consistory.
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After due consideration of an offer of $80,000 which had been received for the lots on which the parsonage stood the matter was referred to a committee with power. Just as the bargain was being closed, to quote The History of Eighty Years, a new and unex- pected difficulty arose. Two or three of the heirs of Jacob Harsen objected to the sale on the ground that the land was restricted by the deed of gift to use as a parsonage plot; and they claimed that, if sold for other uses, the land would revert to the heirs. This question went to the courts, where it remained for nearly a year-the life of the Church hanging on the decision. During the interval, the Advisory Committee, through its clerical members and through other clergymen whose services they from time to time secured, supplied the pulpit as a freewill offering. Among the brethren so co-operating were the Rev. Drs. A. G. Vermilye, Wm. Ormiston, E. B. Reed, and J. H. Gardner and the Revs. Carlos Martyn, W. C. Handy, and A. J. Park. Thanks were voted in October to the reverend mem- bers for their services in most acceptably supplying the pulpit for nearly a year past, except for the few weeks in the summer when the Church was closed, it being deemed a duty to relieve them from further labor and responsibility in the matter. Pending the calling of a pastor, the Elders undertook to obtain a weekly supply.
Application to the Supreme Court had been made and permission to sell entered on April 8th, so, when towards the end of that year the right to sell was con- firmed, the sale was consummated on December Ist. To a recital of the above-detailed troubles were added by the Treasurer in his report of the transaction these words: "I refer to them as a part of the most memora-
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ble period in the history of this church and that it may become a part of its records." The deed for the 8 lots between 72d and 73d Streets ran to J. Augustus Page, and simultaneously therewith a deed from said Page and wife to Alfred C. Clark was delivered. From the proceeds, over $10,000 of taxes and assessments in arrears were paid and $6000 was reserved to await the result of the litigations commenced by Domine van Aken. Deducting other expenses, over $61,000 was deposited to the credit of the Church. Many needed improvements and repairs to the Chapel, which would add much to its appearance and the comfort of the worshippers, were announced as being in progress at a cost of $1500.
The Fifth Minister
On December 7, 1882, at a meeting at which the members of the Advisory Committee were present, the question of calling a pastor became uppermost. There appeared a distinct feeling in the Consistory favoring Rev. Carlos Martyn, of which the committee approved, whereupon the Clerk was directed to prepare the form of call prescribed, to begin January 1, 1883, at a salary of $3000. Mr. Martyn was born in this city, Decem- ber 15, 1841, and had had large experience in church work. Fresh from graduation in 1869 at Union Theological Seminary he became pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church at St. Louis; took charge of the North Church of the same denomination at Ports- mouth, N. H., in 1871, whence he returned (1876) to New York to fill the pastorate of the Thirty-fourth Street Reformed Church. He was there when, in obedience to the direction of Classis, he succeeded Domine van Aken. He was in the vigor of manhood
Charlya
Portrait and signature of Rev. Carlos Martyn, D. D.
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and brought to Bloomingdale an established reputation as a preacher and writer. This call was accepted and the pastor presided at the session on January 13th, when standing committees were appointed. Services were fixed for Sabbath mornings at 11, Sunday-school at 3, evening service at 7.30, and prayer meeting at 8 Wednesday evenings. Samuel Hanaway was confirmed as organist. A Committee on Installation was appointed. Meetings were to be held thereafter in the Lecture Room.
On Sunday afternoon, February 25th, the Chapel was reopened for public worship, the services being in the nature of a fraternal congratulation, participated in by the Rev. Drs. E. B. Coe, senior minister of the denomination, C. De Witt Brigham, Baptist, Howard Crosby, Presbyterian, G. H. Mandeville, Reformed, Wilbur F. Watkins, Episcopalian, S. H. Virgin, Con- gregationalist, and Charles F. Deems, Independent. The Rev. Dr. J. L. See was also present and offered prayer. The occasion, in the words of The History of Eighty Years, written by the pastor, which must be largely relied on for the history of this period, was a kind of love-feast and was enjoyed by a large congre- gation. The installation service occurred on Tuesday evening the 27th inst. The Chapel was filled and the exercises followed in this order: The new quartette, of which Edward Berge was organist and Samuel Hanaway bass, rendered an anthem; the Scripture lesson was read by the Rev. E. S. Fairchild; the Rev. Dr. T. W. Chambers delivered the prayer; the sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Ormiston; the charge to the pastor was made of Dr. Edward A. Reed, to the people by Dr. Vermilye, and prayer by Dr. Roderick Terry. It was reported on March 7th that
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the organ had been thoroughly repaired and removed to the gallery.
Mr. Martyn says that the field here at first look was not reassuring. There was little at the commencement of his ministry but a legal organization. Everything else needed to be created.
But I knew that God was not dead! I felt that I had in Messrs. Reed, Hanaway, and Dunlap [George E. Dunlap was elected deacon on April 4] able and devoted assistants, and we all saw the promise of the future. For the condition of Bloomingdale had amazingly changed since the period of Mr. van Aken's active experience. It had become a part of the metropolis. Buildings were going up in all directions, intelligent and well-to-do residents were rapidly pre-empting the ground. No better location for a church was to be found on Manhattan Island. Cheered by these good omens the new pastorate opened. Soon the various constituent elements of active and aggressive church life were gathered and set in motion. The prayer meeting, the Sunday-school, which had reopened March 11th, with half a dozen teachers, the congregation, grew apace; and we foresaw and commenced to provide against the time when the Chapel would fail to accommodate the parish. Where shall we put the new Church? This was the question which now confronted the Consistory. Which would be wisest, to build on 72d Street, or to go back to the old site on the corner of Broadway and 68th Street? This matter of location was anxiously, prayerfully debated. Eventually the latter spot was decided on. There is only one Broadway. A church on that corner would be easily accessible from
below and from above, and on either side. It was an admirable location for an imposing structure on account of the peculiar shape of the corner. These considerations controlled our action-these and the fact that the parsonage lots were marketable, while the Broadway plot was not, and we needed to sell our real
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estate, either here or there, in order to pay for the new edifice.
Accordingly on the 4th of April, 1883, the Consistory passed a resolution appointing Elders Reed and Hanaway a committee to blast out and prepare the cemetery plot for a new House of Worship-the fourth of the series the congregation had constructed. On top of the mountain of rock that occupied the space rested some ten or twelve feet of soil, wherein reposed the dead forefathers of the hamlet, buried between 1815 and about 1866, when a municipal ordinance forbade further interments. Memory recalls the scene; the old line of ruins made by the east wall of the demolished church, the dilapidated vaults, the broken headstones that marked the trampled graves, the goats that found sacrilegious pasturage above the dead, the little ragamuffins that made a noisy and profane play- ground of what should have been a hallowed precinct-a scene barbarous as war or rapine could have made it and utterly scandalous and disgraceful.
The actual work of removing the earth and debris of the Church and laying bare the rock was commenced on Tuesday, June 19th.
The Consistory on the same day directed that the bodies resting in this deserted and neglected cemetery should be disinterred and placed in a temporary vault on the ground. This reading notice, from the New York Herald of June 13th, fixes the date:
Permission was granted yesterday by the Health authorities to the Consistory of the Bloomingdale Reformed Church, Sixty-eighth Street and Boulevard, to transfer from an old to a new vault in the graveyard surrounding the Church, the bodies of thirty [sic] persons interred there over thirty years ago.
This work was carefully and piously performed, Elder
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Hanaway, a child of this Church, giving it his constant personal attention. Several men were specially em- ployed in removing the remains found in vaults and graves, and such interest was displayed by all con- cerned that it was believed that not a bone was lost. The bodies were all carefully put into new boxes pre- pared for the purpose, and where silver plates were found that were legible they were fastened on the boxes containing the remains of those whose names they bore. It was estimated that upwards of 120 bodies were taken up. Only a few of these could be identified, as the plates had disintegrated in most instances to such an extent as not to be decipherable. The inscriptions on such as were legible follow:
John Asten, Born Ap. 2, 1753 ; Died Aug, 3, 1830, in his 78th year.
Samuel Wiser,
Mary Dupont,
Obt. 4th March 1819, aged 34 yrs. 14 days. Died July 31st, 1842, aged yrs. 7 mos. 8 days.
Mary Winnans,
Died Feb. 17th, 1842, aged 8 yrs.
Hannah Knight, Died March 23rd, 1822, aged 79 yrs.
Mary H. Churchill,
Died July 24th, 1849, aged 1 yr. 9 mos. 21 days.
George T. Purth, John Cozine, Died Ioth Dec. 1831, aged 69 yrs. II mos. 9 days.
Died Nov. 8th, 1849.
Amos Freeman, John Ackerman, Died April Ist, 1824, aged 84 years.
B. Asten,
Died Ist June, 1825, aged 73 yrs.
Died 24th July 1816, aged 42 years.
Haram Betts, Died Sept, 29, 1830, aged in his 40th year.
James Russell Knight, Died May 23rd, 1824, aged 44 yrs. & 5 mos.
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Leo Graham,
No plate, tombstone standing. Re- mains could be identified and name placed on box.
The report of the committee in charge, Messrs. Reed and Hanaway, continues: "These boxes will be placed alongside of each other in the new vault with none others on top, so that when the boxes decay the plates will fall in on the remains to indicate correctly the identity of each body." By the end of July all the bodies were removed.
On Feb. 6, 1883, Senior Elder Reed, an architect of repute, submitted plans for the new church, par- sonage, lecture and Sunday-school room which met with the hearty approbation of Consistory and were adopted with enthusiasm. The work of excavation occupied the remainder of the year and was not com- pleted until the spring of 1884. In May of that year the masons commenced to lay the foundations of the new structure and on the 30th of the next month the corner-stone was laid with imposing ceremonies and in the presence of a numerous and deeply inter- ested gathering.
While we were agitating the question of building [says The History of Eighty Years] a singular event occurred. It was found that the plot we owned on this corner was too shallow for our purpose, on the 68th Street line only seventy feet six inches deep. Inquiries were made con- cerning the ownership of the adjoining lot in the rear, fronting upon 68th Street, where the chapel and Sunday- school are placed. It was found that it belonged to an estate. One cold spring day in 1883, as the pastor and Mr. Reed sat chatting in the latter's office, a friend burst in and told us that lot was to be sold at auction in the Real Estate Exchange at 12 o'clock that day. We looked
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at the clock. It was eight minutes of twelve. We threw on our overcoats and rushed forth. The Exchange was half a mile away. We reached it panting for breath. Just as we entered the room the auctioneer was crying, "Going, going, at $4500; first call, second call, third and last"- It was the very lot we wanted! Mr. Reed in- stantly said, "I offer $4600." The bids ran up to $7000, when it was knocked down to us. The parties bidding when we came in, not knowing us, supposed we were bidding against them in the interest of the estate which owned the lot. So they went up as high as they dared, and then unloaded, as they supposed on the estate, and turned away with a chuckle. When they learned the truth we were informed that they were very sad ! Had it been known how essential that lot was to us, we would probably have had to pay dearly for it. We owe the chapel, and indeed the whole building in its present form, to our opportune arrival.
While the work of construction was going on, we were all busy in a dozen different directions-poring over plans, superintending the construction, making contracts, carrying forward public worship, calling upon and endeavoring to interest new friends, caring for the sick, burying the dead; in short administering the parish. The Consistory, which had long been in an unsatisfactory state, and which, in the Reformed Church, is the source of spiritual and secular influence, the legislative, executive and judicial power,- in so far as the individual church is concerned, is White House, Congress, and Supreme Court combined-was at last composed of gentlemen of standing and ability, in the prime of life. At the session of the Consistory held January 3d, 1885, the number was raised to the require- ment of the resolution passed in 1814, by the election of an elder and a deacon to fill the long-existing vacancies: Messrs. Wm. M. Stout and Wm. J. Lyon being installed, the first in the eldership, and the second in the deaconry. These brethren have proved a mighty addition, "workmen
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313
I .- ECE OF PHARMACY
THE BLOOMINGDALE REFORMED CHURCH The Fourth House of Worship. Northeast corner of Broadway and 68th Street
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needing not to be ashamed." The Consistory was at that time constituted as follows, viz., Elders, S. B. Reed, Samuel Hanaway, Wm. M. Stout; Deacons, George E. Dunlap, J. P. Deyo, Wm. J. Lyon.
An offer was reported in March, 1884, of $85,000 for the eight lots on which the Chapel stood, and when a few days later it was raised to $110,000 the Consistory fixed a price of $20,000 apiece for the 72d Street lots and of $15,000 for those on 71st Street. The pastor's salary was increased to $3500. In an effort to place a mortgage on the new church site the old trouble which was temporarily allayed some years previously confronted the Consistory. The loans of $600 and $3093, secured by mortgage held by the Collegiate Church, had to be first removed. The principal of these liens was duly paid on August 7th, and satisfac- tion recorded. The building committee announced that month that the walls were ready for the roof. The total cost of the series of buildings which were com- pleted within the next two months, and including the organ and furniture, the amount paid for the chapel lot in the rear, and the cost of excavation, was $151,198.71. The organ was built by the long- established and celebrated firm of George Jardine & Son. It was scheduled at $5000, and was said by the builders and by acknowledged experts to be an instru- ment of grand tone and range.
The moneys used in the work of construction had been obtained from the balance on hand of the $80,000 received from the sale of the parsonage lots and from two loans negotiated with the Mutual Life Insurance Co .- one, for $55,000, secured by a mortgage resting upon the eight lots between 7Ist and 72d Streets, where the old Chapel yet stood and forming the southern
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half of the parsonage acre; the other, of $70,000, secured by a mortgage on the edifice. Some unusual problems had to be solved, such as fitting the structure to the triangular shape of the plot and at the same time avoiding objectionable exhibitions of these angles in the interior; harmonizing within graceful lines so many buildings containing ample accommodations for their prospective requirement, each distinct and separated from the others and yet capable of being used, should occasion require, at the same time without conflict or interference one with the other; extending through them all the systems of heating, lighting, and ventilation, each arranged to be easily controlled and directed, and adopting and introducing a plan of acous- tics having none of the defects common to most large churches. The task devolved entirely on the architect without the usual building committee to share the responsibilities of the work. Five hundred and twenty sittings were allowed for in the body of the auditorium. The finished product made as complete and perfectly equipped an institution as the city held, and by com- mon acknowledgment one of the most original and beautiful. By almost unheard-of good fortune this large enterprise was finished without a single accident involving injury or death to any person.
It may be said that, under God, this parish is pre- eminently indebted to two persons: the first, Barbara Asten, whose pious benefaction paid for the old Church; the other, Jacob Harsen, whose gift of the parsonage acre away back in 1809 enabled this magnificent structure to be built. Following the close of the service on the morning of December 14th, the Consistory met in the lecture room with the especial object of planning, for the new edifice, a memorial to express their respect
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