USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. VI > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26
22-Left Williamstown about 8 o'clock-took the road to Albany across the mountains, on the ground of the proposed turnpike. After passing a high mountain, came
220
Journal of Rev. John Taylor.
into a valley, and into the town of Petersburg, in ye state of N. York. This town contains about 2900 inhabitants. There are 2 chhs. of Pedobaptists, and one of Saturday baptists. After passing in this valley about 3 miles, I rose another mountain, and for 10 miles found a most intolerable road. Passing off this stony and hard ground, I came down into Greenbush, a level country-for about 4 miles from the mountains the soil appears to be good -from thence to the river it is too sandy.
ALBANY, July 23, at Trobridge's .- At 11 o'clock left Albany. From Albany to Schenectada is a barren sandy plain-the road very bad in consequence of sand-but 3 or 4 houses in the whole 17 miles. Schenectada makes a singular appearance, being built in the old Dutch form -houses in general but one story, or a story and half, and standing endwise to the street. Its local situation is excellent, standing upon the south bank of the Mohawk -and there appears in every [thing] a simplicity, and neatness that is very pleasing.
Passed the Mohawk at Schenectada-found an excellent turnpike for about ten miles. Some very good meadow on the left. The country in general level. Soil, except in the meadows, a hard gravel, not very productive. Fields of grain, however, appear good. People in the midst of harvest. After about 10 miles from Schenec- tada, the country becomes more hilly. As we pass up the river into Montgomery county, we find for several miles but little intervale; what there is, appears to be good. On Tripe's or Tribe's hill, about 20 miles above Schenectady, we have the prospect of a few hundred acres of excellent meadow, which was formely the seat of the famous Hendrick, the sachem of the Mohawks. The ancient and elegant seat of Sir William Johnson I passed about 4 miles back. This is commonly called the Old fort. On Tribe's hill, I had great satisfaction and plea- sure of meeting a Mr Plum, an old acquaintance from Westfield, and was treated with great kindness in his family-tarried with him until Monday the 25th; received correct and considerable intelligence from him respecting the country-especially in Montgomery county.
.
221
Journal of Rev. John Taylor.
There is an apple tree on this hill, which I am credibly informed produces apples without a core or seeds. There is also in this town, what is called by the people the Jerusalem thorn. There is also a singular production called mandrakes-of which I have taken a rough drawing.
This place appears to be a perfect Babel, as to lan- guage : But very few of the people, I believe, would be able to pronounce Shibboleth. The articulation even of New-England people, is injured by their being inter- mingled with the Dutch, Irish, and Scotch. The character of the Dutch people, even on first acquaintance, appears to be that of kindness and justice. As to religion, they know but little about it-and are extremely superstitious. They are influenced very much by dreams, and apparitions. The most intelligent of them seem to be under the. influence of fear from that cause. The High Dutch have some singular customs with regard to their dead. When a person dies, nothing will influence ye connections, nor any other person, unless essentially necessary, to touch the body. When the funeral is appointed, none attend but such as are invited. When the corpse is placed in the street, a tune is sung by a choir of singers appointed for the purpose-and continue singing until they arrive at the grave; and after the body is deposited, they have some remarks made-return to ye house, and in general get drunk. 12 men are bearers-or carriers -and they have no relief. No will is opened, nor debt paid, until 6 weeks from ye time of death.
26-Herkimer, Little Falls. The Albany stage arrived at the public house which I now am at, 1 o'clock last night; thro' the unaccountable carelessness of the driver, I soon found that the small box of books was missing, and to complete my misfortunes and anxiety, I found that, contrary to my directions, the boxes had been placed behind the stage from Palatine, and that the bottom of the large box had fallen out, and that all the books were missing, 4 catechisms only excepted. I instantly in- formed the stage driver what the property was, and the condition of my agreement with the stage owner at
222
Journal of Rev. John Taylor.
Albany. The fellow appeared to be shocked. and went directly back 3 miles, but found nothing. He agreed with a man to go back at daybreak, and he himself this morning has returned down the river, to find them if possible, and has not yet returned-it is now ten o'clock. The shock has been almost too much for my weak nerves, and I am fearful the property will not all be recovered. This parish contains 6 or 7 hundred inhabitants. They have a new meeting-house, but do not improve it. In this place may be found men of various religious sects. At 2 o'clock the stage driver returned, having fortunately recovered all the books which the large box contained.
29th .- Utica and Whites-Borrough, about 4 miles apart, form but one Presbyterian congregation, of which Mr Dodd is the minister. The boxes of Books have not come on; and as I can not with consistency go upon missionary ground again until they arrive, I have con- cluded to visit Mr. Dodd of Whitesborough, and Mr Norton of Clinton, 8 miles from the river.
HOFFMAN DEL SC
THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
( 223 )
HISTORY
OF THE
THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH .*
The Third Presbyterian Church of Albany was organ- ized in the year 1817, by a union of the Associate Re- formed Church with a number of members from the First Presbyterian Church.
The germ of the Associate Reformed Church can be traced as far back as 1796. It was not, however, re- gularly constituted by the ordination of ruling elders till the second sabbath in January, 1800, when it was received into the Associate Reformed Presbytery of Washington. Its first pastor was the Rev. Andrew Wil- son, then recently from Ireland, who was installed over the churches of Albany and Lansingburgh in April, 1802. In March, 1804, his relation to the church of Lansingburgh was dissolved, and from that his labors were confined to the church of Albany till September, 1807, when he obtained his dismission, with the design of returning to. Ireland. Abandoning this design, he was subsequently settled over the Associate Reformed Church of Seneca, where he died in June, 1812. His successor over the church in Albany was the Rev. John McJimsey, D. D .; called in October, 1809: installed. in June, 1810; and dismissed in October, 1813. On leaving Albany, Dr. McJimsey removed to Poughkeepsie, where for several years he devoted himself to teaching. He was then
* This historical sketch of the Third Presbyterian Church in Albany, forms the appendix to two sermons preached by the Rev. E. A. Huntington, D.D., on dissolving his connection with that church. The. reader is referred to these sermons, and to the dedicatory sermon. preached by the same pastor when the present edifice was opened, for · other facts.
[ Annals, vi.]
20
.
'224
Third Presbyterian Church.
settled a second time over the Associate Reformed Church known as Graham's Church, in Orange county, and there, highly esteemed and beloved, he attained to a good old age and died in the summer of 1854.
Among the ruling Elders of this church appear the names of John Magoffin, John Hartness, Peter Muir, Mi- chael Flack, James Hartness, and William Meadon. The following is a catalogue of the members received from some time before the year-1810, probably from the time of the organization of the church, to August 23, 1813:
Mary Baird,
Mary Harbison,
Mary Black,
James Hartness,.
Jennet Blakely,
Sarah Hartness,
Elanor Baxter,
John Hartness,
John Campbell,
Maria Hartness,
Jean Campbell,
Martha Humphrey,
Alexander Campbell,
Nancy Humphrey,
Margaret Campbell,
Margaret Kirkland,
Mary Campbell,
Grizzy Lauderdale,
William Carlisle,
Jennet Luzier,
Mary Carlisle,
David Lyon,
Alexander Carey.
John Magoffin,
Jennet Carey,
Catharine Magoffin,
Andrew Conning,
James Martin,
James Cumming,
Mary Martin,
Margaret Cumining,
Thomas McAuley,
John Dierman, Donaldson,
Catharine McCoy,
Robert Dunn,
James McElroy,
Samuel Edgar, -
Samuel McElroy,
Agnes Edgar,
James McElroy, Jr.,
Rosannah Farnham,
Jean McElroy,
Henry Farnham,
Elanor McElroy,
Michael Flack, Hannah Flack,
Esther McElroy,
Agnes Forrest,
Peter McGibbons,
Archibald Greive,
William McGill,
Agnes Greive,
Isabella McGill,
Samuel Harbison,
Anne McJimsey,
Mary McAuley,
Elanor McElroy,
225
Third Presbyterian Church.
John McLachlan,
William Philps,
Agnes Mclachlan,
James Robertson,
Donald McLeod,
Grizzy Rutherford,
Margery McLeod,
James Strange,
John McMillan,
Maxwell Strange,
Andrew McMullan,
Elizabeth Strange,
Jean McMullan,
Agnes Strange,
James McMullan,
Maria Strain,
James McMurray,
William Strain,
Rachel McMurray,
Dennison Shaw,
. Cornelia McMillan,
Shaw,
Jean McMillan,
Catharine Stewart,
William Meadon,
John Stewart,
Robert Minziers,
Paul Spencer,
Christiana Minziers,
Elizabeth Storey,
John Moore,
Michael Strong,
Peter Muir,
Mary Strong,
Jennet Muir,
Ann Van Vrankin,
Jean Muir,
John Wade,
Jean Muir, -
Jean Wade,
Anne Oley,
Abraham Weaver,
Martha Parker,
Margaret Weaver.
Of these members, but two, Maria Hartness and Anne Oley, survived, and continued in connection with the Third Presbyterian Church, to witness the dedication of their new house of worship, in Clinton Place, December 3, 1845. Thomas McAuley, now the Rev. Dr. McAuley, became professor of languages in Union College, and was afterwards settled over prominent churches in Phila- delphia and New York where he was for many years distinguished for his eloquence.
During the existence of the Associate Reformed Church it seems never, at any one time, to have consisted of more then fifty communicants, nor to have embraced a larger number of families in its congregation.
On the division of the Associate Reformed Presbytery of Washington. this church was connected with the new Presbytery of Saratoga, in 1808: and in 1809, or 1810, was transferred to the Associate Reformed Presbytery of
226
Third Presbyterian Church.
New York, with which body it continued till merged in the Third Presbyterian Church.
The immediate occasion of the organization of the Third Presbyterian Church, was the desire of the parties which concurred in organizing it, to enjoy the ministry of the Rev. Hooper Cumming. After the necessary preliminary proceedings, through committees of the Associate Reformed Church on the one side, and of a large body of citizens on the other; all the action of said committees to be null and void unless Mr. Cumming could be secured, the new church, in the midst of a good deal of popular excitement, was formed in the usual way and ushered into legal existence by the recording of the certificate of the election of trustees, by permission of Chancellor Kent, in clerk's office, city and county of Albany, in book number one for registering certificates . incorporating religious societies, February 5, 1817.
The trustees, elected January 27, 1817, were William Eaton, Joseph Fry, Isaac Lucas, James Warren, John McLachlan, John Shaw, Hugh Humphrey, James Cum- ming and John Wade. Of these men, Hugh Humphrey, previously, in the Associate Reformed Church, a mem- ber of the board of trustees, was elected to the same office again in 1831, and has remained in it to the pre- sent time, since 1838, as president of the board; from youth to age, through the long period of nearly fifty years, amid many remarkable vicissitudes and trials, ever approving himself a fast friend and most liberal sup- porter of the church under both its titles.
Upon a memorial from the new Presbyterian Church thus regularly constituted, it was received under the care of the Presbytery of Albany, Feb. 18, 1817. Already, at a meeting of the church, at which the Rev. Dr. John Chester presided, had a call been made upon Mr. Cum- ming to become its pastor, and the means had been secured to pay him the then unprecedented salary of two thousand dollars per annum. As soon as the church was received under the care of the presbytery, the commissioners of the church, according to form, placed said call at the dis-
227
Third Presbyterian Church.
position of the presbytery ; and the church of Schenectady, of which Mr. Cumming was the pastor, declaring that they should not oppose his removal, the call was found in order and put into his hands, whereupon he announced his acceptance of it, and his pastoral relation with the church of Schenectady was accordingly dissolved.
At this stage of the proceedings, Elder John L. Winne, a delegate from the Second Presbyterian Church, Albany, stated that " common fame" charged a member of the presbytery with unchristian walk, and moved the ap- pointment of a committee.to inquire whether the charge was of a nature to demand the notice of the presbytery. Drs. Nott, and Hosack, and Mr. McCrea, the committee appointed upon this motion, reported that the Rev. Hooper Cumming was the person alluded to, that he was accused of plagiarism in preaching other men's com- position as his own; breach of the promise not to make so free use as he had made of other men's labors; and deliberate prevarication and falsehood, particularly in de- claring that his manuscripts had been submitted to the chancellor of the state, who had compared them with Toplady, and acquitted him of the plagiarism imputed. The committee stated in their explanatory remarks that nothing had appeared before them to justify an additional charge of intemperance, however Mr. C. might need private caution and advice on that subject, but that presbytery could not, without a violation of its trust, suffer the charges specified to pass without a judicial in- vestigation, alike for the honor of religion and to afford the individual impeached an opportunity to vindicate his character if assailed without cause.
This report of the committee was accepted and put into the hands of Mr. Cumming. The trial, at his solicitation, was deferred to the fourth Tuesday of the following April. Dr. Hosack and Elder McCrea were appointed to conduct the trial on the part of the pres- bytery.
But before the presbytery adjourned a counter-move- ment was made by the friends of Mr. Cumming. William
228
Third Presbyterian Church.
Eaton, Isaac Lucas, and John T. B. Graham, the com- missioners from the Third Presbyterian Church to prosecute its call upon Mr. Cumming, stated, in a written communication to · presbytery, that " common fame" charged the Rev. John Chester, and Mr. Mark Tucker, then studying for the ministry, with conduct unbecoming the Christian character, and respectfully requested pres- bytery to investigate the matter. In compliance with this request, Dr. Nott, Rev. Mr. Halliday and Mr. Kelly were appointed a committee of inquiry to report at a subsequent meeting, whereupon presbytery adjourned.
This committee, at the next meeting of presbytery convened in Albany, March 14, 1817, by the moderator, Dr. Nott, who was also chairman of the committee, re- ported that "common fame" charged the Rev. John Ches- ter with industriously circulating reports of plagiarism and intoxication against the Rev. Hooper Cumming, and of falsehood in denving the circulation of the report of intoxication. The committee, moreover, reported like charges against Mr. Mark Tucker. Presbytery resolved therefore to institute a trial of Mr. Tucker and of Dr. Chester, Dr. Chester's trial to be taken up first in order, on the 8th of April.
It is obvious from the charges against Dr. Chester that his trial could have been only what it proved to be, an indirect trial of Mr. Cumming. The acquittal of Dr. Chester-and his acquittal was morally certain-would be the condemnation of Mr. Cumming without a hearing. But there was no alternative. The eighth of April came. The presbytery met according to adjournment in the First Presbyterian Church of Albany, and the trial of Dr. Chester commenced, awakening the deepest interest in the public mind.
The Rev. Drs. Bradford and De Witt of the Dutch churches of Albany, and the Rev. Drs. Coe and Blatch- ford of the Presbyterian churches of Troy and Lansing- burgh, attended the meeting of the presbytery as corre- sponding members. Indeed, that the sympathy-to use no stronger term-of all classes of the community was drawn
1
229
Third Presbyterian Church.
out by the occasion, may be inferred from the names of the witnesses: Dr. Nott, Dr. Hosack, Isaac Hutton, Uriah Marvin, Rev. H. Cumming, Dr. Willard and wife, Abraham Eights, Chancellor Kent, Charles R. Webster, Theodorus V. W. Graham, Gilbert Stewart, E. F. Backus, John L. Winne, J. Boardman, Mark Tucker, Major I. Smith, J. Warren and Chester Buckley. The church where the presbytery met was crowded to its utmost capacity. A committee of twenty or thirty gentlemen attended Mr. Cumming to and from the place. and sat with him during the sessions of the court, and often counseled with him till midnight in his own house. He was the universal topic of conversation, not always quite peaceful, in the markets and at the corners of the streets. . It may be questioned whether any thing of the kind, un- less it be the comparatively recent trial, in a neighboring city, of a conspicuous member of another denomination, has ever in the ecclesiastical affairs of this country aroused more intense or unprofitable feeling.
The moderator of the presbytery, President Nott, then in the meridian of his splendid life, opened the court with an address on the doctrine of slander; one of the most lucid and discriminating and comprehensive and satis- factory disquisitions on that subject to be found in the language. As a literary essay it is worthy of a Foster. As a judicial utterance it is worthy of a Marshal. Dr. Chester followed with a statement of his own view of the facts which induced the charges against him, and of the course which he intended to pursue in vindication of his conduct. This, too, is an exquisite specimen of its kind, simple, perspicuous, in some passages touchingly eloquent, evincing throughout a frank, generous, forgiv- ing spirit, and throughout adapted to prepossess the court strongly in his favor. During the progress of the examination which then began of the witnesses in the case, it became more and more manifest that the character of Mr. Cumming was suffering from their testimony. He and his friends grew more and more uneasy and irritated. They construed his exclusion as a witness while the
230
Third Presbyterian Church.
testimony of the preceding witnesses was taken, into a deliberate and malicious attempt to blast his reputation behind his back. And when he was called to the stand and the moderator expressed the belief that he was in- sane, as a reason for declining to administer the usual oath to him, his numerous and earnest supporters with himself were exasperated beyond measure, convinced that he was unrighteously and unmercifully persecuted. At one time they withdrew in a body from the house leaving it almost empty. At another time Mr. Cumming presented to the presbytery an indignant remonstrance against the course which the trial had been allowed or made to take; a statement of grievances, methodically arranged, and skillfully and powerfully urged, showing at least one thing, that he could, if he did not, write his own sermons. He then moved that the trial of Dr. Chester should be commenced de novo, and' conducted in a manner which should not implicate the character either of himself or Mr. Tucker; and speaking to this motion, and on other occasions, he dealt out eloquent in- vectives, sometimes severely personal, in which he like- wise displayed not only the consummate orator but the resources of a highly gifted and cultivated mind. It appeared, however, most plainly, that Dr. Chester was innocent, as he was unanimously declared to be.
Mr. Tucker, too, after a trial altogether similar in its incidents and developments to that of Dr. Chester, was fully exculpated, and the presbytery adjourned, to meet in Schenectady, April 22, 1817.
At that meeting, it was the designated business of presbytery to proceed to the direct trial of Mr. Cumming. But he did not appear. His people advised him to stay away, while they presented a memorial, worthy of any man's head and heart, praying presbytery to discontinue all further proceedings against him, and to take measures for his immediate installation. A letter from his father was also read, expressing the conviction that he had been suffering under a kind of derangement, from the time of the sudden death of his first wife. After some
231
Third Presbyterian Church.
other transactions, among which it was resolved to add the charge of intemperance to the charges originally tabled against Mr. Cumming, presbytery again ad- journed.
At the next meeting, in Schenectady, July 24, 1817, twelve commissioners, appointed by the Third Presby- terian Church, appeared, to assist in conducting the trial of Mr. Cumming, and to act, of course, in his defense. An interesting letter from the Rev. Dr. E. D. Griffin, then of Newark, N. J., was read, 'affirming that any physician in America would pronounce Mr. Cumming in a considerable degree insane, and that those who knew him best were persuaded that he needed "the balm of sympathy and kindness, rather than the rod of discipline. " But his people introduced witnesses to show, that, since he had been their pastor elect, he had exhibited no signs of insanity, except (according to the testimony of Elder Aaron Hand) during the excitement of the trial of Dr. Chester, and that to call him mad appeared to them supremely ridiculous. Mr. Cumming himself addressed a letter to presbytery, evincing, at all events, that there was "method in his madness," uniting with his people in urging presbytery to stop his trial and at once to install him. Minutes of the Pres- bytery of Jersey, December 13, 1814, having respect to the previous conduct of Mr. Cumming, and bearing on the question of his sanity, were also produced, together with certain testimony obtained by his father, and minutes of the Associate Reformed Presbytery of New York, and of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, April 15, 1817. Two other letters from Dr. Griffin, full of tender, paternal sympathy for Mr. Cumming, reaffirming his in- sanity with additional proof of it, must have had great weight to induce presbytery to follow the suggestion, which they made, to allow him to withdraw from its jurisdiction, presbytery simply recording the fact and assigning his derangement as a reason for taking no further steps in his case. Accordingly, the following resolutions, presented by the Rev. A. J. Stansbury, were finally adopted:
.
232
Third Presbyterian Church.
" Resolved, That this presbytery do not view the Rev. Hooper Cumming as a fit subject for discipline.
Resolved, That the further prosecution of the libel now pending be dispensed with.
Resolved, That the request of the Third Church, for Mr. Cumming's installation, be not granted."
Before the adoption of a fourth resolution, declaring the presbytery no longer responsible for the acts of Mr. Cumming, Elder Hand presented a paper from the com- missioners of the Third Church, requesting, in the event of the refusal of the presbytery to install Mr. Cumming, that the said church and their pastor be regularly dis- missed from said presbytery; whereupon the church was regularly dismissed just about five months after its re- ception by that body; and respecting the corresponding request of Mr. Cumming it was "Resolved, That the Rev. Hooper Cumming, against whom certain charges have been preferred, but who, as this presbytery have probable grounds to believe, labors under a partial derangement of mind, and has for that reason been adjudged an unfit subject for discipline, be permitted, at his own request, to withdraw from all further connection with this pres- bytery; but that it is not in the power of this presbytery to pronounce him in regular standing, or to hold them- selves, in any wise, responsible for his future acts, either public or private." From this action, Mr. Cumming together with the elders and trustees of the Third Church appealed to the Synod of Albany, but without effect, although the course of the presbytery was not altogether approved by the superior judicatory.
The result of the remarkable and painful trials, thus brought to a close, was to confirm, in the minds of a large and influential class of citizens, the impression which they had before received, and which can not now be re- sisted by the warmest surviving friends of Hooper Cum- ming when calmly and dispassionately recalling what they saw and knew of him, that he was in the habit of making a free use in the pulpit of other men's sermons, sometimes defending the habit to the extent to which he
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.