USA > New York > Queens County > Newtown > The annals of Newtown, in Queens County, New York; containing its history from its first settlement, together with many interesting facts concerning the adjacent towns; > Part 23
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The Newtown church were more fortunate in the choice of their next minister, the Rev. Nathan Woodhull, who was called on the recommendation of Mr. Fish. He was the son of Capt. Nathan Woodhull, of Setauket, where he was born, April 28th, 1756, his mother, Joanna, being a sister of the Rev. William Mills, minister at Jamaica. Mr. Woodhull graduated at Yale College in 1775, and entered upon agriculture at Southold, but giving his mind to theology, he was ordained and settled at Huntington, Dec. 22d, 1785. From here he took his dis- mission in 1789, and in February, 1790, received an invitation to preach for one year in Newtown, which he accepted. He was, however, regularly installed as pastor of that church on Dec. 1st of that year. The new edifice for public worship was finished the year after, and dedicated on Dec. 21st, 1791, by a day of public thanksgiving and religious exercises. The Rev. Dr. Rogers, of New-York, who ever manifested a special inte- rest in this church, preached on the occasion from the first verse of the 97th Psalm.
Here Mr. Woodhull labored for twenty years. He was much admired on account of his fine personal appearance, his gentlemanly and winning manners, his vivacity in conversa- tion, and his talent for popular pulpit address. He also pos- sessed great purity of character, was faithful in pastoral duty, " given to hospitality," and enjoyed, in a high degree, the con-
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fidence and affections of his parishioners. Being of a suscep- tible nervous temperament, there were occasions, during the later years of his life, when this physical infirmity partially unfitted him for official duty. He died, universally regretted, March 13th, 1810. By his wife Hannah, daughter of Stephen Jagger, of Westhampton, who survived him nine years, he had seven children, now all deceased, one of whom, Ellen, married the Rev. John Goldsmith. His only son, Ezra C. Woodhull, was born at Newtown, May 11th, 1790; married a daughter of Joseph Howland, Esq. of New-York, and died in Brooklyn, March, 17th, 1831, leaving issue.
The Rev. Peter Fish, who had formerly preached here, suc- ceeded Mr. Woodhull as a supply. Mr. Fish having preached ten years at Connecticut Farms, removed to the Holland Pa- tent, state of New-York, where he labored for a season, but being in poor health, he purchased a place in Newtown and removed hither in the spring of 1807, with the intention of seeking repose from the arduous duties of the ministry. But on the death of Mr. Woodhull it was agreed, May 1st, 1810, to engage him to preach for the congregation till presbytery met, or longer if necessary. Mr. Fish accepted the invitation, but the labors of this good man were suddenly terminated by his death, on Nov. 12th, 1810, in his 59th year. He possessed through life a delicacy of constitution that greatly restricted his usefulness. In person he was tall and spare.
The Rev. William Boardman was the next pastor of this church. He was born at Williamstown, Mass. Oct. 12th, 1781, and was educated at the college in that place. He was or- dained and installed pastor of the Presbyterian church at Du- anesburgh, N. Y. in 1803, from whence he removed to this church, in which he was installed Oct. 22d, 1811. Immedi- ately after his settlement the church was blessed with a revival of religion, in which a large number of persons became hope- fully converted. He was a man of ardent and active piety, and died deeply lamented by his people, March 4th, 1818. His wife, whom he married in 1804, was Rachel, daughter of Abraham Bloodgood, Esq. of Albany. It was during his mi- nistry that the parsonage farm which Mr. Woodhull and his predecessors had occupied for more than a century, was sold, having been found a serious burden to their pastors, consum-
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ing much of the time and labor required by the duties of their sacred calling. The trustees were empowed to dispose of this property by a special act of the legislature, passed March 8th, 1811. It is now owned by Robert Thompson. The church then purchased, May 3d, 1817, the " Union Hotel," commonly called the " corner house," with eleven acres of land attached, which became, for a certain time, the parsonage house, and here Mr. Boardman resided.
After the trial of several candidates, the congregation unit- ed in a call to the present pastor, the Rev. (now Dr.) John Goldsmith, who was born April 10th, 1794, being the son of the Rev. Benjamin Goldsmith, of Riverhead. He graduated at Princeton, in 1815, and was installed over this congregation Nov. 17, 1819, having now officiated in this charge thirty-two years, with much acceptance and numerous marks of divine favor upon his labors.
After Mr. Goldsmith's settlement the "corner house" was disposed of, the church retaining a portion of the land, on which the present parsonage house was erected, in or about the year 1821.1 It is a fact really remarkable, that eight minis- ters of this church have here terminated their labors and their lives, and the monuments of five of them, namely, Pumroy, Horton, Woodhull, Fish, and Boardman, are yet remaining in the burial grounds of the town.
Within a few years a Presbyterian church has been orga- nized at Astoria, and a church edifice erected, the corner stone of which was laid on Nov. 30th, 1846, with an appropriate ad- dress by the the pastor elect, the Rev. Frederick Gorham Clark, who was afterwards installed, and still retains the charge.
THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH.
No church of this denomination was organized in Newtown till nearly four score years after its settlement ; a circumstance explained by the fact that the Dutch inhabitants were few, and
1 It was in an orchard which covered the ground now occupied by this par- sonage, that that eminent and godly divine, the Rev. George Whitefield, preached, on his visit to Newtown in the summer of 1764. He is said to have had a very numerous auditory on that occasion, who were powerfully affected by his discourse.
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nearly all located on the northern and western borders of the town, whence they found easy access by water to the churches at New-York, Bushwick, or Harlem. In the year 1686 the fami- lies of Arnout Webber, Hendrick Wiltsee, Abraham Rycken, Harck Krankheyt, and Teunis Cornelissen, all residing at or near the Poor Bowery, attended the ministrations of Dominie Selyns in New-York. Such families as lived more inland, though not possessing cqual facilities for attending divine ser- vice, were no neglecters of the sanctuary, for our Dutch fathers valued the institutions of religion not less than their puritan townsmen. And the writer has been assured that it was no rare occurrence for those devout Dutchmen, and the practice of his own ancestor with the rest, to set out on Sabbath morning, each with his good vrow, and perhaps an infant child, and proceed afoot to the distant village of Flatbush to join in religious service, and even then esteeming it a precious privi- lege. When a congregation was formed at Jamaica many of the Dutch residents within the Newtown limits were connected with it and contributed toward the erection of the church there in 1715. Thence they enjoyed the preaching of the col- legiate pastors of King's county, who supplied this church for many years.
But in the increase of population it became desirable to form a church at Newtown. The precise date when this was done is not ascertained, though "it is probable the organiza- tion did not take place until shortly before measures were adopted for the erection of a building." The year 1731 wit- nessed the first efforts to effect the latter object, as appears from the following record of a meeting called for that purpose. " In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1731, on the 2d of De- cember, the members of the Reformed Low Dutch congrega- tion of Newtown, in Queen's county, on Nassau Island, and some others, have convened in the house of Samuel Fish, Jun. and have resolved in peace and love to build a church or house of God, 50 feet in length and 40 feet in breadth, in said town, on the ensuing year, (provided the necessary funds be raised,) and that the said church shall be built on the land of Peter Berrien, near the town-house, he having promised to convey a plot of ground to the congregation, of 70 feet in length and 60 in breadth, for their usc. Therefore, to carry the above into
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effect, certain persons have been appointed by the said meet- ing to go round and obtain from individuals in said congre- gation subseriptions for the above mentioned purpose, request- ing earnestly the members of said congregation and others who may be pleased to further this object, to be liberal and generous in their subscriptions and promises ; to the end said work may be speedily commenced and finished."
Encouraging advance having been made in obtaining sub- scriptions, (amounting in the end to £277 12s.) the congrega- tion, on May 27th, 1732, appointed " their brothers and faith- ful friends" Abraham Remsen, Isaac Bragaw, Joris Rapelje, Abraham Lent, Nicholas Berrien, and Abraham Brinckerhoff, a committee to superintend the building of the church, who forthwith entered upon arrangements for the work. On the 3d of April, 1733, Peter Berrien made good his offer, and con- veyed by deed,1 to Elbert Luyster and Abraham Riker, Jun. trustees on behalf of the congregation, the before named plot of ground, as a site for the edifice. The undertaking progress- ed as fast as a work of that kind was wont to do in those days, when much depended on the voluntary labor of the members of the congregation in preparing and transporting materials ; and on the 30th of August, 1735, the building committee re- ported that they had brought the edifice to a state of comple- tion, and readiness for divine service. The singular architecture of this church, which was taken down only a few years since, is yet familiar to many. It was built of wood, and in shape an octagon, the favorite style for a church among the Dutch at that day, and a form confessedly suited for casy speaking. The roof ascended from all sides to a point in the centre, which was surmounted by a cupola. Inside, at the back end of the building, stood the high narrow pulpit, with its sounding board projecting above it, while rows of seats or chairs extended across the main body of the church, for the convenience and comfort of the worshipers.
The building committee also submitted the following curi- ous but sensible rules for the disposal and occupancy of the seats. "The inhabitants of Newtown shall have the first choice of the seats, the highest subscribers and payers towards the said
1 Recorded in " Newtown Great Book of Records," pp. 297, 298.
16
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building having the preference and first choice in said seats, and in the same manner from the highest to the lowest sub- scriber and payer in regular order, until every one is pro- vided with two seats; and in cases where equal sums have been paid, lots shall be drawn for the first choice, unless friendly arrangements be made between themselves." "When there shall be preaching in the church, those who own seats shall move and give room for one another, the first seated moving and giving room for those who come in after them, (both males and females,) in order to preserve love, politeness and friendship in our said church.", Accordingly the allot- ment of seats was made in March, 1736. On the 26th of June following, the first "kerck-meesters," or church wardens, were chosen, consisting of Thomas Skillman, Peter Berrien, and Petrus Schenk.
Owing either to the difficulty of procuring a minister of the gospel, or an inability to sustain one, this church, during several years, was destitute of a pastor, and dependent for oc- casional preaching and administration of the sacraments upon the Dutch ministers of King's county and the city of New- York. But, at a meeting held at Flatbush, July 23d, 1739, the congregation united with three other churches of Queen's county, those of Jamaica, Success, and Oyster Bay, in engaging the ministerial services of Dominie Van Basten, for one year, at the salary of £75. From this period these churches con- tinued to form one collegiate charge till the year 1802.
Nothing is known of the transient services of Mr. Van Basten. He was succeeded by the Rev. Johannes Henricus Goetschius, of Pennsylvania, to whom a call was given in Oc- tober, 1740. Early in the following year Mr. Goetschius was settled over these churches, and on Sept. 1st succeeding, agents appointed by the four congregations (Abraham Lent and John Wyckoff, from Newtown) united in buying a parsonage house at Jamaica, being the premises opposite the residence of Dr. Schoonmaker, and still known as the old parsonage. On No- vember 1st, of the same year, Mr. Goetschius administered the Lord's Supper to the members of the Newtown church and other christian brethren from the adjacent towns, for the first time. Ninety communicants were present, and their names are yet treasured up in the archives of the church.
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Mr. Goetschius was a native of Zurich, in Switzerland, and when quite young emigrated to this country with his father, Henricus Goetschius, who was also a clergyman. His know- ledge of the learned languages was acquired at the University of his native place, but his education was finished after his arrival here, under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Dorsius, and he was licensed and ordained to the gospel ministry by the the German Reformed Church in Pennsylvania. After his ordination he preached for a time with much acceptance in the Reformed Dutch churches of North and Southampton, in that state, whence he was called to officiate in Queen's county.
Soon after his settlement here a revival of religion com- menced, but it excited violent opposition from some who denominated Mr. Goetschius an enthusiast. Special offence was taken at a discourse which he delivered from the words of Paul in Acts 17th chapter and 23d verse. "Shall this young stripling," asked some of the seniors in the church, " come and tell us that we have so long served an unknown God ?" His opponents also disputed the validity of his ordi- nation, because it had been performed neither in nor by au- thority from Holland, for at that time there was existing in the Dutch Church an unhappy controversy upon this subject, which gave birth to what were called the cœtus and confer- entie parties. The latter upheld the authority long claimed and exercised by the classis of Amsterdam over the American churches, in the ordination and settlement of their pastors, while the cœtus maintained that in consequence of the incon- venience of sending to Holland for ministers, and the increase of the churches in this country, this power should be exercised by the ministers here. To the cœtus party was imputed the better piety, and to that Mr. Goetschius belonged. The oppo- sition to him became violent, the church door was shut upon him in Jamaica, and he preached for some time in barns, pri- vate houses and under shady trees. It is said that to quiet the minds of the people he consented to be ordained a second time. But he finally removed, and in 1748 took charge of the churches of Hackensack and Schraalenburgh in New Jersey. Here his labors were blessed with a special out-pouring of the Holy Spirit, the gracious effects of which are visible in those churches to this day ; and here he died in 1774, in the 57th
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year of his age. He was thrice married, and had sixteen chil- dren, one of whom, named Salome, became the wife of the Rev. Henry Schoonmaker, and was the mother of the present vener- able Rev. Dr. Schoonmaker. In person, Mr. Goetschius was a little below the middle size, and of a vigorous constitution. He was somewhat inclined to be abrupt in speaking, but his lan- guage was clear and expressive ; and though a Boanerges when denouncing the eurses of the law, his addresses to the saints were tender and full of consolation.
Doubts had arisen in the minds of some of the members of the church at Newtown, as to the validity of the baptisms per- formed by Do. Goetschius, and it appears that, after his depar- ture, the Rev. Henricus Boel, of New-York, visited Newtown and re-baptized many of the children that Do. Goetschius had baptized, in some instances seven years before. Do. Boel offi- ciated in Newtown repeatedly for several years, when the Rev. Thomas Romeyn was called to the four associated churches. He was the son of Nicholas Romeyn of Pompton, N. J. where he was born March 9th, 1729. He began to study theology in 1747, and graduating three years after at Princeton college, went to Europe and was ordained by the classis of Amsterdam Sept. 3d, 1753. Returning to New-York, August 29th, 1754, he immediately accepted a call from Queen's county. Faith- fully he labored in this part of his master's vineyard till Sep- tember, 1760, when he removed to Minisink, on the Delaware, and thence, eleven years after, to Caughnawaga, N. Y. and remained pastor of that church till his death, Oct. 22d, 1794, departing with a firm reliance upon the promises of God, and in the truths of the gospel he had for more than forty years proclaimed.
The Rev. Hermanus Lancelot Boelen, from Holland, be- came minister of the collegiate churches of Queen's in the year 1766. He was a man of small stature, a widower, and aecom- panied by his daughter. He was regarded as a talented and sincere man, but being a pure Dutchman, his language was not easily understood by the people, and it is said that this was eventually a cause of his leaving here. His voice was so powerful, that on a still day his preaching could be distinctly heard at the house of Charles Roach, now the premises of Al- mond D. Fisk. During Mr. Boelen's ministry, the unhappy
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breach which had long existed between the cœtus and confer- entie parties, to the great distraction of the churches, was finally healed by a convention of ministers and elders, who met at New-York, October 15th, 1771, and adopted a plan of union and church government, by which confidence and peace were again restored. At this convention Jacob Ra- pelje, an elder of the Newtown church, was the lay repre- sentative of the collegiate churches of Queen's. Do. Boelen did not attend the convention, and probably disapproved of the separation from the mother church. He appears to have given up his charge in 1772, and after living a few years in Flatlands, being somewhat advanced in life and unwilling to leave his daughter in a strange land, in case of his demise, he returned to Holland, carrying with him the esteem of many friends.
During the vacancy which followed the departure of Do. Boelen, the Newtown church enjoyed occasional preaching by Messrs. Rubel and Van Sinderen, of King's county, and De Ronde and Livingston, of New-York. The associated churches extended a call to the Rev. Rynier Van Nest, Dec. 13th, 1773, which was not, however, accepted. In 1775, the year previous to the commencement of the Revolutionary war, the services of the Rev. Solomon Froeligh were secured. In the origin of this contest Mr. Froeligh openly avowed whig principles. He was, therefore, forced to flee his pulpit on the entrance of the British army in Sept. 1776, and during the period of revolution which succeeded, the church was without a settled pastor, but enjoyed the services of their former mi- nister, Do. Boelen, with some degree of regularity from 1777 to 1780. Thence, for nearly two years, public worship seems to have been suspended, at least there are no baptisms recorded during that time, and, no doubt, it was then that the church was used as a powder magazine. After this there were occa- sional services by Schoonmaker, Rubel and Van Sinderen, till peace took place. In 1783, Do. Froeligh visited his churches, but declined to remain. He settled in the churches of Hacken- sack and Schraalenburgh, as successor of Mr. Goetschius, and was appointed professor of divinity by the general synod of the Reformed Dutch Church, in which capacity he trained many young men for the ministry. He was for many years a man
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of high standing and influence, and died Oct. 8th, 1827, in the 78th year of his age, and the 53d of his ministry.
The Rev. Rynier Van Nest was the next pastor after the Revolution. He was born in Somerset county, N. J. in 1738, being the son of Peter Van Nest, a man known throughout that region for his deep toned piety. Blessed with the influ- ence of such a parent, Kynier early became the subject of di- vine grace, and gave himself to the work of the ministry. He was educated chiefly under the care of his pastor, the Rev. John Frelinghuysen, obtained licence to preach in or about 1760, and was first settled at Shawangunk, Ulster county, where he married Catherine, widow of the Rev. Mauritius Goetschius. From there he was called to Queen's county in 1785, where he continued to officiate till 1797, proving himself " a good man and full of the Holy Ghost." He removed from here to the church at Schoharie, N. Y. in which place he con- cluded his active public life. Finding his labors too heavy for his advanced years, he resigned his charge and retired to his native place, where he closed his life, July 9th, 1813, in his 76th year. Mr. Van Nest is worthy to be classed among the good. The principle of grace was so exhibited in his actions as to excite the respect and confidence of all. He held a repu- table position in the Dutch Church, often appearing in her councils, and for a long time occupied the post of trustee in Queen's, now Rutger's College. His preaching was of an in- structive and impassioned cast, and though he does not seem to have succeeded so well with the English as with his mother tongue, the lovers of Dutch preaching always spoke of his ef- forts with the kindest interest.
In 1794 the churches of Queen's procured the Rev. Zacha- riah H. Kuypers as a co-laborer with Mr. Van Nest, and he was ordained at Success, on July 13th of the above year. He was the son of Rev. Warmoldus Kuypers, of Hackensack, N. J. and was born at Rhinebeck, N. Y. Feb. 19th, 1771. He officiated in Newtown till 1802, and at Success till 1825, and then removed to New Jersey, where, after some years of labor, he laid aside the duties of the ministry. He died in the city of New-York, Oct. 4th, 1850, in the ripeness of age and fullness of joy, having walked as a consistent and amiable minister of Christ.
-
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. On the 20th of April, 1802, at the desire of the four colle- giate churches, the classis of New-York dissolved the com- bination that had existed between said churches, and on the same date approved a call which the congregations of New- town and Jamaica had extended to the Rev. (now Dr.) Jacob Schoonmaker, who had served their pulpits since February of that year. Mr. Schoonmaker was ordained at Newtown on the 24th of October succeeding. He had graduated at Colum- bia College three years previous. He was born May 11th, 1777, at Acquacknonk, N. J. where his father, the Rev. Henry Schoonmaker, was a pastor for more than forty years.
The Rev. Garret J. Garretson was settled as a co-laborer with Dr. Schoonmaker in the two collegiate churches, on Jan. 6th, 1835. Mr. Garretson was born at Hillsborough, N. J. June 29th, 1808, being son of John Garretson, Esq. of that place. He graduated at Rutger's College in 1829, and study- ing divinity with Dr. Philip Milledoler, settled in 1830 as first pastor of the Dutch church at Stuyvesant, Columbia co. N. Y. from whence he came to Newtown. His first wife was Miss Ellen Van Liew ; at Newtown he married his second, and pre- sent wife, Catharine, daughter of Daniel Rapalje. . In June, 1849, he resigned his charge here, and accepted a call from the Reformed Dutch church at Lodi, N. Y. whither he removed, carrying with him the affections and well wishes of his people. His resignation was soon followed by the withdrawal of his venerable associate, Dr. Schoonmaker, from his pastoral charge in Newtown, owing to the desire of this church to be separate from that of Jamaica, a measure evidently demanded by the great increase of the congregation. And it is gratifying to know that this separation between pastor and people was made from proper motives and with mutual good feeling. Dr. Schoon- maker delivered his farewell discourse at Newtown, on Sun- day morning, October 14th, 1849, from the text, "In all places where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee." The occasion was deeply affecting, as would naturally be the severing of a pastoral tie of nearly a half-century's con- tinuance. How great and solemn the changes of such a period. Dr. Schoonmaker has out-lived all the church officers and members who first welcomed him here. Not a single one sur-
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vives. Many of the living will remember with gratitude his prudent counsels and his faithful labors.
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