USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. I > Part 15
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From the time Mr. Moeller left, in 1785, to 1794, the church was supplied with the word and ordinances by neighboring ministers. Among these were the Rev. Messrs. Schwertfeger, Groetz, and Johann Fre- derick Ernst, pastor of Loonenburgh (Athens) and Claverack. In June, 1794, Rev. Anthon Theodore Braun became their pastor, and re- mained till 1800. In 1801 the Rev. Heinrich Moeller again took charge of the congregation, and remained till 1806. In 1807 the Rev. Frede- rich George Mayer was settled as pastor, and remained until he was removed by death in December, 1843. In July of that year, the Rev. Henry Newman Pohlman, the present efficient pastor, accepted a call from the congregation, and was installed on the 24th of September. Under his ministry the church is gradually increasing in numbers, and there are at present about one hundred members in communion. The services of the church were in German until 1808, when at a meeting of the trustees, elders and deacons, held May 16th at the house of Martin Hebeysen, it was resolved that the sermons, after Whitsunday, should be delivered in English, except one sermon in the forenoon of the last Sunday in each month.
At the close of the last century, an effort was made to procure the location of a Lutheran seminary in Albany. The Rev. John Christo- pher Hartwick died in 1796, possessed of a large estate, which he left by will for the endowment of an institution for training up young minis- ters of the gospel, and misionaries to be sent among the Indians, accord- ing to the Augustan Confession and the tenets of the Evangelical Lu- theran church. The executors named in his will were Jeremiah Van Rensselaer of Albany, and Frederick A. Muhlenberg of Philadelphia, formerly a Lutheran minister of New York, but at this time speaker of the house of representatives in congress. His scheme contemplated the erection of a town on his tract in Otsego county, to be called New Jerusalem, where the theological school should be established, in which " no heathenish author should be read, until when, by divine providence, the revenues should increase, classical learning might be added." The administrators, on looking into the affairs of the testator, found that a large part of the landed estate, about 13,000 acres, including the intended
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Evangelical Lutheran Ebenezer Church.
site of the New Jerusalem, was claimed by Judge Cooper, who profess- ed to have purchased it of Mr. Hartwick at $2 per acre, payable at a distant time. Mr. Hartwick had desired to be buried in the Lutheran church of Albany, and his wishes were complied with. A marble tablet bearing his inscription (B) is placed in the floor of the church, in front of the pulpit. It being uncertain that much of anything remained to found the contemplated school, the trustees of the church at Albany desired to have the institution connected with their church, promising to raise $3,- 000 towards the erection of a suitable building. In fact, they claimed the estate, and deprecated the idea of erecting a college in the wilder- ness, as a " monument like the pillar of Absalom." They say that the Oneida Indians were provided with a Presbyterian minister forty years before, that "other nations have the same, and now the Indians have sold all their land, which will be inhabited by Christians, so that the whim of a college and a New Jerusalem, may fall away, and it may be better to support with it the congregation of Albany, which, from the time of Gov. Van Tromp, has always been oppressed. We, Lutherans of Albany, are the next heirs of Mr. Hartwick. . .. His own writings will show with what affection we took care of him." At another time, writing to the curators of the estate, the trustees, who at this time were J. Conrad Ruby, Martin Hebeysen and Daniel Pohlman, still complain of the neglect shown to their interests by those having charge of the legacy-"mournfully observing that our poor Ebenezer is entirely for- gotten, notwithstanding we appointed in our stead two worthy friends and gentlemen, the most Rev. Dr. Kunze and Mr. Jeremiah Van Rens- selaer, our advocates for our distressed Ebenezer. Yet in their twelve resolves, nothing appeared for such a poor flock of Lutheran Christians to support their pious business. We collect about £18 per annum from the members of our church, and no more. Our church is not finished and more like to decay. But we are forgotten, though we know that Hartwick loved us, for he would be with us, even when dead. It is now in your power to support that poor church out of an estate freely grant- ed by the owner." The solicitations of the trustees seem to have been crowned with partial success; for on the 17th of October, 1801, articles of agreement, drawn by Peter E. Elmendorf, were entered into between them and the trustees of the estate, by which all the estate was to be deposited with the trustees of the church, within two years, for the pur- poses of the seminary. subject to the order of the curators, John C. Kunze and Jeremiah Van Rensselaer. The foundation of an edifice was laid in Park street; but the arrangement seems to have given so much dissatisfaction among the Lutheran churches, as to lead to its abandonment. Accordingly at a meeting of the trustees on the 14th April, 1808, they resolved that since it was found impossible to execute the trust committed to them, they would redeliver the property into the hands of the surviving executor, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer ; and two years after the materials used for the foundation were ordered to be sold. The seminary was finally located at Hartwick, in Otsego county, and is now in successful operation, under a special charter, obtained of the legislature in 1816 .- (See Session Laws, e. 166.)
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In 1816, the city corporation purchased the lot on South Pearl street, which had been in possession of the congregation almost a century and a half, and paid for it $32,000. The boundaries were a little differently described at this day, as follows: " on the east by South Pearl, late
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Evangelical Lutheran Ebenezer Church.
Washington street; on the south by the Rutten kill; on the west by a small run of water called Fort Killitie; and on the north by Howard, late Lutheran street." There was at the time a small market on How- ard street, above the church, called Fly market. The common council presented to the congregation the lot which they now occupy on Pine street, on condition of the removal of their dead from the old burying ground on Pearl street. The expense of excavating the lot was $5,000. They have since built a consistory and parsonage on the premises, the former having been consecrated on the 10th of July, 1836; the state hav- ing previously, 1832, purchased the westerly and unoccupied part of their lot, for $45,000, upon which the State Hall was erected. With this money the trustees excavated and built upon the property fronting on State, Park and Lancaster streets, which was occupied by them as a cemetery until the common council granted them their present cemetery lot by deed dated Nov. 1, 1803. These old cemetry grounds have been excavated to a great depth to make proper grades for streets and build- ing lots-the cemetries of all the churches having been removed from thence to their present location west of Knox street, on the south side of State, at about the same time.
(A) Att a Court of Mayor and Aldermen held for ye Citty of Albany, ye 17th day of August, 1686. Present Peter Schuyler, Jan Jans Bleeker, Johannes Wandel, Dirck Wessells, Adrian Gerritse, Levinus Van Schaik. Hercules, ye negro of Myndert Frederikse being brought before ye Court by warrant of ye Mayr to answer ye fellonious taking out of his master's house a small chest wherein some bags of wampum was con- tained, belonging to ye Poor of ye Lutheran Church, and being examined doth confess yº fact yt upon Thursday night last he came to his master's house, and finding ye window of ye chamber open, went in and stole away ye small chest wherein ye money of ye poor of ye Lutheran Church was kept, and broke ye chest open without ye gate, at ye water side with an axe Ordered, yt ye sd Negroe be committed and secured in ye Common Goale till ye next Court of Sessions, when he is to be brought to his tryall .- Albany Records, iii., 4.
(B) The following is the inscription on the tomb stone alluded to: Hier ruhet Johann C. Hartwick
Prediger der Evangelisch Lutherischen Kirche Gebohren in Sax-Gotha den 6 Januer 1714 Gestorben den 16 Julius 1796 Seines alters 82 Jahre 6 Monat
Das kurzoesteckte ziel der tage, Ist siebenzig, ist aghtzig jahr, Ein unnbegrif von mueh und plage, Auch wennsnoch so kostlich war. Geflügelt eilt mit uns die zeit, In eine lange ewigkeit.
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Evangelical Lutheran Ebenezer Church.
(C) The followers of Zwinglius, who differed from the Lutherans in some matters relating to the sacrament," took the name of German Reformed. In the Albany Gazette, printed by the Robertsons in 1772, was published an advertisement of a lottery to be drawn in March of that year, for the benefit of the German Reformed Church, which is the first we hear of them in this place. Lotteries were not an unusual means of raising money even for churches at that day. The spot pointed out as the location of this edifice, is between Orange and Patroon streets, west of Ten Broeck street, where its foundation had an altitude considerably above the present grade of the latter street, overlooking a deep ravine on the south. The object to be attained by the selection of so retired a location, is somewhat difficult to conceive, unless it was to set it " upon a hill that it should not be hid," for it was far out of town at that day. An idea of its remoteness may be had from the circum- stance of some one having opened a tavern so far from any landmark, that he described it as " situated on the pleasant road to the German church." A cross-road ran diagonally up the hill from what is now Orange street to Patroon street, both of which were then common roads, and the church stood a little west of the cross-road, with a bury- ing ground in front. It was a wooden edifice, about fifty feet square, with a tower at the north entrance, furnished with a bell. It was pro- vided with an organ, the first one known to have been used in a church in Albany. The only notice we can find respecting it in the public archives, is an act passed March 27, 1794, " for the relief of Paul Hoch- strasser and others," as follows: "Whereas it hath been represented that Paul Hochstrasser, John Abbet and John Tillman, having expended large sums of money in erecting a building for the Reformed German congregation in the city of Albany with sundry appurtenances, which sums were never reimbursed by the said congregation through the means of their inability. And whereas also it has been further represented, that the said congregation is dispersed, and the building become useless : Be it enacted by the people of the state of New York represented in Senate and Assembly, That Abraham Hun, Teunis Ts. Van Vechten and John C. Cuyler, be, and hereby are appointed trustees, for the pur- pose of selling the aforesaid building, with the appurtenances, exclusive of the right of soil; and out of the moneys therefrom arising, to settle with all such persons who may have any demands against the same ; and should the moneys therefrom arising not be competent to satisfy the said claims, they shall be and hereby are authorized to pay each claim- ant a just proportion of the moneys arising from the said premises, ac- cording to his, her, or their respective demands." The church appears to have been sold accordingly, and afterwards occupied by the Seceders. It was subsequently taken down, and the frame work is still standing near Lydius street, about two miles out. On the 14th of April, 1803, Paul Hochstrasser and John Ram applied to the consistory of the Re- formed Protestant Dutch Church for permission to bury their deceased relatives in the ground belonging to that church, alleging that the grave yard of the German Reformed Church had become almost a public common; that the former wished to take up the remains of his mother, and the latter those of his children, and deposit them elsewhere. When
* Serious disturbances have recently arisen in Prussia, in consequence of an edict of the king, directing the union of these two churches in one.
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German Evangelical Lutheran Church.
the pier was built, the lot upon which this church stood was excavated, and the earth used to fill in that work. The bones of the dead buried there were placed in boxes, and left by the road side in a ravine, till some one having occasion to use the boxes, the bones were turned out upon the ground, and afterwards plowed under. It is believed that there is one member of this church still living, who now attends the Lutheran church.
GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
The building occupied by this congregation is situated in State street, above Swan, It was originally built for the use of a Methodist congre- gation, and purchased of them in 1842, for eighteen hundred dollars.
It will have been seen in our account of the Lutheran Ebenezer Church, that the use of the German language in the services of the sanctuary, virtually ceased in 1808. But the large number of immi- grants from Germany rendered it necessary for the pastor of that church to resume its use in 1834. Accordingly from that time a service in that language was held in the evening of the Lord's day, and occasionally during the week. After the erection of the Lecture Room of the Ebe- nezer Church, on the corner of Lodge and Steuben streets, in 1836, the Germans were regularly supplied with the word and ordinances in their mother tongue, by the Rev. William Moellman, from Hanover, in Ger- many. And when he accepted a call from Cincinnati, and removed to that city, the services were continued with more or less regularity by the Rev. F. G. Mayer, the pastor of Ebenezer.
In 1841, in consequence of the rapid increase of the German popula- tion, and the inconvenience of holding service in two languages, it was deemed expedient to organize a separate congregation, which was done on the 8th of August in that year. Early in 1842, by the effective aid of the mother church, and the kind liberality of the citizens of Albany, they succeeded in purchasing the church above mentioned, which was set apart for the worship of God in the German language, with appro- priate solemnities, on the 10th of May. The first pastor of this church was the Rev. George Saul, who remained with them a year and seven months, and then removed to Canajoharie. He was succeeded by the Rev. Edward Meyer, in October, 1842, who, after a ministry of four and a half years, resigned his charge, and removed on the first of May, 1847, to Lockport, Niagara county. While he was their pastor, the congre. gation, at the cost of $500, purchased a lot for a burial ground on the north side of the Schenectaday turnpike in Washington street, which was consecrated with appropriate solemnities, on the 26th of November, 1846.
On the 26th of September, 1847, the Rev. Frederick William Schmidt, the present efficient pastor, was installed, and entered upon the discharge of his ministerial duties. Under his ministry the church is increasing in members and usefulness. The debts of the congregation are nearly discharged, a balance of three hundred dollars only remaining ; and the hope is fondly entertained that a German Evangelical Lutheran Church, so necessary for the spiritual well being of this important part of our population in this city, is firmly established on a sure and solid basis.
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First Presbyterian Church.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
The Presbyterian Church in Albany. was formed at the conclusion of the French war, in the year 1763. In October of that year the cor- poration of the city executed a deed in trust for the congregation, to John Macomb, Daniel Edgar, Samuel Holladay, Robert Henry, Abra- ham Lyle and John Munro, for the ground on which the first building for public worship was erected by the church. This lot was bounded on the north by Beaver street, on the east by William street, on the south by Hudson street, and on the west by Grand street, including, it is sup. posed, all the ground now comprised within these boundaries. The house erected on this spot was of wood, of considerable size, with a tall steeple, and fronted to the east. It was occupied by the church till A. D. 1796. From the date of the formation of the church, A. D. 1763, till the commencement of the war of the revolution, the church had two pastors, viz .: Rev. William Hanna, who remained with them two years, and was succeeded by the Rev. Andrew Bay, who continued in the pas. toral charge for five years. The only elders known to have been or- dained in the church during this time, were Robert R. Henry and Mat- thew Watson. There are to be found, however, during this period, no sessional records, nor any records of communicants, baptisms, marriages or deaths. On the 12th of July, 1785, a unanimous call was given to the Rev. John McDonald, who was ordained and installed pastor of the church on the 8th of November of the same year, and continued in that office till A. D. 1795. On the first of January, 1786, the church, which had been scattered, and without stated services during the war, was re- organized, and four elders and two deacons were ordained. The first communion after the new organization was held on the third sabbath of April, 1787, when 116 members were admitted. In the spring of 1794, proposals were issued for building a brick church, the materials for which were already procured, as well as the lot, extending on Washing- ton (Pearl) street, from Beaver street to Store lane (Norton street.) The building was completed in 1796. in an elegant style for the day, being altogether the best church edifice in the city, and was opened on the 20th of November of that year. Its dimensions were 64 by 76 feet. In 1831 an addition of 16 feet was made to it on the north end, and the interior remodeled, so as to place it in advance of the other churches again for internal elegance. On the 3d of October, 1798, Eliphalet Nott was in- stalled pastor of the church, where he continued to preach until he was removed to the presidency of Union College, which office he has ever since filled. During the past season a new edifice has been erected for the use of the congregation, on the corner of Hudson and Philip streets. The following is a list of the ministers, elders, and deacons of the church, since its first organization.
MINISTERS.
1763 Rev. William Hanna continued 1795 Rev. David S. Bogart a licen- till 1765.
Rev. Andrew Bay continued five years.
tiate from the Dutch classis, New York, supplied the pulpit for about two years.
1785 Rev. J. McDonald continued 1798 Rev. Eliphalet Nott continued till 1795. till September, 1804, .
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First Presbyterian Church.
1804 Rev. John B. Romeyn con- tinued till October, 1808.
1809 Rev. William Neill continued till August, 1816.
1817 Rev. Arthur Jos. Stansbury continued till June, 1821.
1822 Rev. Henry R. Weed con- tinned till November, 1829.
1830 Rev. John N. Campbell.
TRUSTEES.
With the places of their nativity as far as ascertained.
1785 Robt. Henry ; Matthew Wat-I son ; Theodorus Van Wyck Gra. ham ; Danl McIntire, Scotland ; James Boyd, Scotland ; John Ro. bison, Scotland ; John W. Wen- dell, Boston ; Robt. McClelland ; Hunloke Woodruff, Elizabeth- town, N. Y.
1787 James Bloodgood ; Jas Cald- well, Ireland ; Abraham Eights, New York.
1739 Richard Sill; Alex. Chesnut. 1790 Charles R. Webster, Hartford 1791 Enoch Leonard.
1792 John V. Henry, Albany.
1796 Elisha Kane, Dutchess county ; Wm. McClelland.
1797 Francis Bloodgood; Geo Pear- son.
1799 James Barkley; John Grant. Scotland.
1801 Peter Sharp ; John Cuyler.
1802 Gilbert Stewart.
1803 Wm. P. Beers, N. E .; Wm Caldwell, Albany ; James Kane, Dutchess co.
1804 Andrew Brown.
1805 Isaac Hutton.
1806 Tho. Mather, Lyme; George Webster, Hartford.
1807 Robert R. Henry, Albany ;
Eleazer F. Backus, New Haven ; John Boardman, Weathersfield; Hugh Boyd, Lansingburgh.
1809 John Woodworth, Schodack. 1810 Charles Z. Platt.
1811 Wm. Boyd, Scotland.
1813 Peter Boyd, Albany.
1816 Isaiah Townsend, Orange co ; John Marvin, Lyme.
1820 Wm. James, Ireland ; Elisha Dorr, Lyme.
1821 Isaac Hamilton; Wm. McHarg, Albany.
1823 Willard Walker, S. Brookfield.
1824 Wm. Fowler ; James King.
1832 Rufus H. King, Ridgefield, Ct. 1833 Robert Gilchrist.
1835 James McNaughton, Scotland. 1836 Levi Philips, Mass.
1838 Andrew E. Brown, Albany.
1840 John Gibson, Albany.
1841 Alden March, Mass .; Benj. Tibbitts.
1845 Isaiah Townsend, Albany ; Wm. White, Albany; Wm. Mitch- ell, Albany.
1846 Danl Fry, Albany.
1847 Robert Boyd, Albany ; John D. Hewson, Albany.
1848 Anthony M. Strong, Albany; Wm. C. Durant.
There are now four Presbyterian churches in the city. It is proposed to give an account of the others in future, if the necessary facts can be procured.
DEACONS.
1786 James Boyd, John Folsom. 1794 Peter McHench, James Chest- ney.
1805 James Hodge, Andrew Hoff. man.
1812 Chester Bulkley.
1820 Stephen J. Rider, Green Hall.
1823 Abraham Covert.
1832 Walter R. Morris.
1836 Amos Fassett.
1837 Elihu Russell, William G. Brown.
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United Presbyterian Church.
ELDERS.
1786 Matthew Watson, Robert R.
Henry, Daniel McIntyre, Peter Sim, John Boyd.
1787 Joseph Newland, John Fol- som.
1790 Donald McLeod, Abraham Eights, Hunloke Woodruff.
1794 James Boyd, Isaac Hutton. 1805 Elias Willard, Gilbert Stew. art, John Boardman.
1812 Ananias Platt, Nehemiah B. Bassett.
1819 John Woodworth, Theodorus Van Wyck Graham, Timothy Fassett.
1820 Peter McHench, Peter Boyd. 1823 Green Hall, Stephen J. Rider, Josiah Sherman.
1831 Israel Williams.
1837 Amos Fassett, Elias Warner. 1842 Elihu Russell, Daniel Fry, Frederick S. Pease, Thomas Mc- Mullen.
Reminiscences .- At the ordination of Mr. McDonald in 1785, the society gave a public dinner to the three ministers who ordained him, probably to give eclat to the event. The trustees appropriated the seat on the right hand of the main door to the use of the cor- poration, and the opposite one to the governor; the pew on the right hand of the pulpit to the minister, and that on the left hand to the elders and deacons. The clerk was allowed 3s. for publishing marriages, and 6d. for every person christened. Three pounds ($7 .- 50,) was the price fixed for burying an adult under the church, and 30s. for a person un- der 14 years of age. It was ordained that "children must bebave well; " and courtesy was enjoined towards strangers. It was the sexton's duty to warn persons to attend funerals, and to walk before the corpse, for which he was allowed a fee of 12s. On the 4th of January, 1790, it was resolved "that 1,000 coppers be stamped church penny, and placed in the hands of the treasurer, for the purpose of exchanging with the congregation at the rate of twelve for one shilling, in order to add respect to the weekly collections." The Presbyterian burying ground was on Hudson street, above Pearl, and that as well as the church, is spoken of as being on the hill, while the region below is called the plains. On the 17th of May, 1792, Stephen Lush and Leonard Gansevoort, Jun .. conveyed to the trustees of the Presbyterian church, "the lot on the plains," in consideration of £110 ($275). The title seems to have been considered doubtful. The corporation lease and release is drawn in consideration of 5s. 'The lot is thus described in the first nien- tioned lease: "abutting to the north to the creek or kill called the Fuyck's kill; to the south on the common highway; to the west the hills; and to the east Anthony De Hoage's." The lot was used for a stave yard, through which the kill passed, and still passes, about midway under the church, being arched over as a drain. 'The entrance into Washington street, as it was then called, from State street, was through a gate, which was taken away some years later, when the street was opened to its present width. On the 15th of July, 1793, the trustees decided that the salary of the precentor. Mr. McFarlan, was inade- quate, and voted him £8 ($20) per annum. On the day the church was opened for public service, the Rev. Dr. Smith, president of Union College, preached two sermons. A call had been given to the Rev. David S. Bogert, of the city of New York, to become the pastor of the church, with a salary of $1,000 per annum. At a subsequent day, in order to prevent the passing of vehicles during service, the trustees procured the passage of a law which allowed two chains to be stretched across the street. at each end of the church, which effectually barricaded it to all but foot passengers. The chains were re- moved about twenty years ago.
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Mr. McDonald, who was deposed in 1795, by the Presbytery of Al- bany, removed to Canada. At a meeting of the Presbytery of Montreal, Sept. 15, 1800, he was restored to the exercise of the ministry, and in the following year laid the foundation of an edifice on the corner of Chapel and Canal (then Fox) streets, and organized a church, under : the name of the United Presbyterian Church. It is now known by another title. The materials for its history were not fully obtained in season for this publication.
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