The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 76

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 76

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).

"Those of Flatbush shall provide that the minister's field be enlarged two morgen, in order that the minister may keep a horse and suitably attend to the service of the Church, and also make all necessary repairs to the fences, dwelling, kitchens, well, and appurtenances, with earnest desire and integrity of heart."

The interference of the British authorities, who then held the Dutch colonies in subjection, with the concerns of the Reformed Dutch churches, produced much un- easiness and a considerable show of opposition among the inhabitants of the four towns. And in 1680 the Church Council, assembled in synod at Flatbush, form- ally resolved that the charge and management of church lands and property belonged to the Church Council, and was secured to them by the Charter of Freedoms ; and, furthermore, that the English officials were, by their oaths of office, bound to protect and not to abridge the rights of the church. They also chose church masters, to take charge of the church property ; and these officers were reappointed for several successive . ycars.

The Rev. RUDOLPHUS VAN VARICK was the next minister of Kings County, from 1685 to 1694. During the Leislerian troubles, in 1669, he had been one of the Dutch ministers who stood out against the authority of Leisler, and was treated with much harshness, being dragged from his home, cast into the jail, deposed from his ministerial functions, and fined heavily. These severities undoubtedly hastened his death. His con- gregation, also, were divided, and many of them refused to pay his salary according to the terms upon which they called him from Holland-especially, as he says, in a petition to the Governor, Sept. 11th, 1691, for the six months of his imprisonment. The Court ordered the arrears of salary due him by his congregation to be collected, by distress, if necessary. Mr. Varick was naturalized on the 29th of July, 1686, and his posterity are to be found on the island.

Second Church erected at Flatbush, 1698 .- He was succeeded by the Rev. WILHELMUS LUPARDUS, whose ministry was terminated by death in 1701 or 2. During his ministry (1698) a sum equal to $6,291 was raised by subscription for the erection of a new (the second) church in Flatbush. It was built upon the site of the first church; but unlike it, was of stone, and larger, being 50x65 feet. The front was the longer side, facing toward the main road, with a high-arched doorway, with double doors, in the centre. The roof, starting from each of the four walls met in the centre, forming a high and steep "hip-roof," surmounted by a small steeple. The pulpit was in the middle of the west side of the building, facing the door. The male portion of the congregation was seated in a continuous pew along the wall, which was divided into 20 compartments, with doors to each. In the centre of the building chairs were arranged in seven rows, or blocks, for seating the females and children, each chair being numbered, or marked with the name of the occupant or family, on the back. As the first church had contained apart- ments for the minister, it was now necessary to erect a parsonage. This was built of stone, on the lot im- mediately south of, and about 150 feet from the church. This building was taken down in 1852, when the pre-

334

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

sent parsonage was built. After this church was com- pleted, arrangements were made by which interments were allowed under the church, upon payment of a liberal fce; and the care of this matter was entrusted to the village schoolmaster, who, in addition to £4 paid to the church, for every adult interred, was to receive a stipulated sum (about $10) for his own benefit. All the ministers, of the church, who died at Flatbush, dur- ing the time of the second edifice, were buried beneath it. It was probably completed about 1702.

Being thus again deprived of a regular ministry, the people of the four towns empowered the elders of the churches within said towns to procure a minister, "either out of the province or out of Holland," and the elders determined upon the Rev. BERNARDUS FREEMAN, of

Barnardus Freeman

Schenectady, and applied to the Governor, Lord Corn- bury, for permission to call him. Their action, how- ever, although well-meant, gave rise to a contention which was destined to distract and agitate the inhabi- tants of Kings County for many succeeding years. The people, always jealous of the English power, to which they were unwilling subjects, and particularly sensitive to any interference of that power with their ecclesiastical affairs, were highly indignant because the elders had seen fit to ask the Governor's permission to call Mr. Frecman. In Flatbush, the disaffected even went so far as to convene a town-meeting, whereat the regular elders of that church were deposed from office and new ones elected in their stead, who were instructed forthwith to send for Mr. Freeman; while, at Breucke- len, certain busy-bodies went around endeavoring to get signatures to a petition or call to the said Freeman, and also for the choosing of three new elders from that town, as had been done at Flatbush. Their discontent was undoubtedly encouraged by Dominie Freeman's evident desire to come among them-although in direct opposition to the expressed desire of his own church at Schenectady.

The legal examination of the contending parties be- fore the Council, resulted in the decision by Governor Cornbury : " The petitioners should not call or receive Mr. Freeman. But they were left at liberty to send for such Minister as they should think fit, from Holland or any other place, as hath been customary."

The opposition to Mr. Freeman, from the Governor, the people of his charge at Schenectady, and the dis- affected minority in Flatbush and Brueckelen, although it retarded, did not defeat his settlement in Kings County. Late in the year 1705, he received the Gover- nor's permission, and was installed at New Utrecht ; but his troubles were not yet over. While his adher- ents had been foistering him into the pastorate, his opponents had formally applied to the Classis at Amster- dam for a minister; and, in response to their request, the Rev. VINCENTIUS ANTONIDES arrived from the Fatherland on the first of January, 1705-6, and was duly installed at Flatbush, assuming the charge of the four churches, to which, in 1702, had been added the newly formed church of Jamaica.

The controversy between the two parties rapidly increased in bitterness and extent. Freeman's adherents, conscious of the protection of the Governor and Coun- cil, formally demanded that the church books, lands, and stock should be delivered into their keeping ; to which the "original" church party very naturally demurred. The Governor issued a warrant to the authorities of the Flatbush and Breuckelen churches, to deliver up said property and books to Mr. Freeman; to which the elders of the churches of Breuckelen, Flat- bush, and Flatlands replied by a counter-petition, recit- ing the circumstances attending Dominie Antonides' settlement, asserting that Mr. Freeman was " only called minister for the town of New Utrecht," and "has entered upon two of the same churches without any lawful call, and has continually obstructed their minis- ter, etc., and conclude by calling for a council, composed of some of her Majesty's Council and the deputies of the Dutch churches of the province, by whom the mat- ter may be fully examined and decided.

After a full and patient hearing of all the testimony in the case, the Council sent in majority and minority reports to the Governor. The former, finds "that Mr. Antonides is duly and regularly called minister of the said towns of Brookland, Flatbush, and Flatlands, according to the discipline, practice, and constitution of the Dutch churches of the towns aforesaid, and that Mr. Freeman is duly called minister of New Utrecht, on the said island, and we believe is likewise minister of Bushwick, though it has not been proved before us." The minority report, finds that "Mr. Freeman is justly and legally called and entitled to the ministry of the churches of Breukland, Flatbush, New Utrecht, and Boswyck." The majority report, however, in favor of Mr. Antonides, was accepted by the Governor and Council, who thereupon promulgated an order directing

335

THE CETUS CONTROVERSY.

that Mr. Freeman and Mr. Antonides should preach at all the said churches in Kings County, alternately, and divide all the profits equally, share and share alike ; if either of them refused to comply with the order, he was to be dismissed.

But neither dominie or their adherents would obey, and so the weary quarrel went on, to the great discredit of human nature and the Christian religion, until it had vexed the souls of four Royal Governors and their Councils.

Near the close of the year 1714 the long contest was happily terminated by a convention of delegates from the several congregations, who mutually agreed to lay aside their ancient differences, and acknowledge Messrs. Freeman and Antonides as their ministers. Breuckelen, Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, New Utrecht, and even Jamaica, were all included within the charge. It was arranged that one minister should preach on one Sab- bath in Bushwick, and the other in New Utrecht ; the next Sabbath, one in Brooklyn, and the other in Flat- lands ; on the third Sabbath, one in Flatbush, the other in Jamaica ; and so on, in regular rotation. As to communions, Bushwick, Brooklyn, and Flatbush were to commune together ; Flatlands, Gravesend, and New Utrecht, together; and the congregations of Queens County should form another communion. Both the dominies thereafter resided at Flatbush, in the pleasant and harmonious discharge of their duties. They were esteemed as men of respectable talents and acquire- ments.

It now became necessary to procure another parsonage. The congregations, therefore, purchased from Johannes Johnson a house on the main road (near the corner of Vernon Avenue, and more lately known as the Hess property), in Flatbush. This building was used as a parsonage until 1809.

During their ministry the Reformed Dutch Churches of New Netherlands were sadly agitated by the ques- tion concerning the organization of a Cœtus, or assembly of ministers and elders, in this country, subordinate to the Classis of Amsterdam. This unhappy controversy continued until 1772, and so alienated and embittered were the opposing parties, that many would not worship together with, or even speak to, those of the other party. "Sometimes " (says STRONG, Hist. Flatbush,) " they would not turn out when they met on the road. On one occasion, it is said that two of these redoubtable opponents, belonging to Flatbush, meeting in their wagons, and both refusing to give the road, they each deliberately took out their pipes and began to smoke ! How long they continued at this very pacific employ- ment is not stated, nor is it said whether the difficulty between them was lost sight of by the cloud of smoke obscuring their vision, or whether their pipes were ever turned into the calumet of peace."

Freeman was born at Gilhius, Holland ; received a call to Schenectady, to which charge he was ordained

March 16, 1700 ; learned the Mohawk language, and made many Indian converts. In 1721 he published a volume of sermons entitled "The Balances of God's Grace," and printed in Amsterdam ; also one called " De Spiegel der Selfkennis " (or Mirror of Self-knowl- edge), a collection, in the Dutch language, of ancient moral and philosophical maxims, displaying a great amount of learning and research. In 1735 he purchased seven acres of land at Flatbush, and built a house, which is still standing, although altered ; and died in the year 1741. His successor in 1742 was the Rev. Jo- HANNES ARONDEUS, from Rotterdam, a man of contu- macious spirit, and irregular life. He quarrelled with his new colleague, Van Sinderen, very soon after the latter's arrival ; and, in May, 1747, he went off secretly, as was alleged, to the Raritan, where he was installed as minister ; returning, however, July 31, 1748, to Kings county, where he resumed his functions, es- pecially in Brookland and New Utrecht. His outraged parishioners brought charges against him before the Cœtus, which he refused to notice, whereupon he was declared to be an unlawful minister of Kings County, but persisted in officiating there. On appeal to the Classis the action of the Cotus was confirmed, and on April 16, 1752, sentence was passed upon Arondeus, but was, however, totally disregarded by him. Pro- posals of peace for Long Island were offered (December 5, 1752) by the Classis of Amsterdam. On the 20th of September, 1753, the Cotus confirmed anew their former sentence. The last time he baptized a child, in Queens County, was at Jamaica, in April, 1754. He probably remained on the island, leading a dissolute life, until 1773.

Mr. Antonides died July 18, 1744, at Flatbush, in his 74th year. He was a gentleman of extensive learning ; of an easy, condescending behavior and conversation, and of a regular, exemplary piety, kind, benevolent and

V. Antonides Ill Each ; Branfalls &c

charitable to all, according to his abilities ; meek, hum- ble, patriotic, and resigned under all afflictions, losses, calamities, and misfortunes which befell him in his own person and family, which were not a few. He was succeeded by the Rev. ULPIANUS VAN SINDEREN, a native of Holland, in the year 1746. He began to preach at Flatbush, April 19, 1747.

Upon the deposition from the ministerial office of the Rev. Mr. Arondeus, his place was filled by the Rev. ANTONIUS CURTENIUS, from Hackensack, N. J., who was intalled as Van Sinderen's colleague, May 2, 1755, and died in October, 1756, aged fifty-cight years. He was regularly educated ; and remarkable for indefatigable diligence in his pastoral duties. He was succeeded by

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

JOHANNES CASPARUS RUBEL, a native of Hesse Cassel, Germany, who had been settled at Red Hook, until August, 1757, when he was called to be the colleague of Van Sinderen, over the churches of Kings County. He had previously led an insubordinate clerical life ; was naturalized on the 23d of December, 1765 ; and in June, 1769, styled himself "Ecclesiastes in Kings County and in the Manor of Cortland ;" and in August, 1770, " Min- ister of Clarkstown"-probably on the strength of his having occasionally filled a pulpit there.

Both of these gentlemen continued in the work of the ministry until after the close of the Revolutionary war. In politics they differed extremely, Mr. Van Sin- deren being a firm Whig, while Mr. Rubel was as de- cided a loyalist. Colonel GRAYDON's Memoirs gives us the following spirited picture of the two pastors. "The principal person in a Low Dutch village appears to be the Dominie or minister, and Flatbush, at this time, revered her dominie, Rubel, a rotund, jolly-looking man, a follower of Luther, and a Tory. * * * At Flatlands there was also a dominie, Van Zinder[en], a disciple of Calvin, and a Whig. He was, in person and principle, a perfect contrast to Mr. Rubel, being a lean and shrivelled little man, with a triangular sharp-pointed hat, and silver locks which 'streamed like a meteor flowing to the troubled air,' as he whisked along with great velocity in his chaise through Flatbush. He was distinguished by a species of pulpit eloquence which might be truly said to ' bring matters home to men's business and bo- soms.' Mr. Bache as- sured me that, in once descanting of the wily arts of the devil, he likened him to my land- lord, ‘sneaking and skulking about to get a shot at a flock of snipes,' in shooting of which REV. ULPIANUS VAN SINDEREN. it seems Jacob was eminently skillful." STRONG's Flatbush relates that he was " too much in the habit of introducing the occurrences of the week pre- vious in his sermons on the Sabbath, and often would allude to very trifling circumstances. On one occasion, a good elder, who had borne with the Dominie in this particular till his patience was exhausted, very injudi- ciously, under the excitement of his feelings, rose in his seat during divine service, and interrupted Mr. Van Sinderen by saying that they had called him to preach the gospel, and not to detail to them such matters. The Dominie, indignant at being stopped in his dis- course, leaned over the pulpit and replied : 'You, Philip Nagle, if you can preach the gospel better than I can, come up here and try !'"

In 1784 the Consistory of Flatbush and the other

churches of Kings County complained to the Synod of N. Y., concerning the shortcomings of both of their ministers, Van Sinderen and Rubel, and request- ing to be released from them; one (Van Sinderen) being useless from advanced age, and the other (Rubel) being of notoriously bad habits. All the witnesses agreed that they had nothing against Van Sinderen ex- cept his age, and that the breach between him and Rubel had gone so far that the old Dominie could not control his temper. Rubel was, therefore, deposed in 1784, but continued to reside in Flatbush, devoting his time to the preparation of quack-medicines, and in his advertisements styles himself " Minister of the Gospel and Chymicus." He died in 1797, and his solitary tomb-stone is still existing in the Flatbush churchyard.

Mr. Van Sinderen, at the request of the Consistory, resigned his pastoral charge in June, 1784, although he received a stated salary until his death, at Flatlands, on 23d of July, 1796, in his 89th year, and was buried there. He was a learned but eccentric man.

With Messrs. Van Sinderen and Rubel, the European Dutch ministry in Kings county ceased. During their ministry, in 1774, the Flatbush church was remodelled, the chairs being superseded by 65 pews, each contain- ing six seats apiece.

In 1785, the Rev. MARTINUS SCHOONMAKER, a native of Ulster county, N. Y., then officiating at Harlem and Gravesend, accepted a call to take charge of the colle- giate churches of the county, to which the church at Gravesend was then added ; and, on the 28th of October, 1787, the Rev. PETER LOWE was ordained at New Utrecht as his colleague. The former officiated in the Dutch lan- guage until his death, in 1824; and the latter, in the English tongue. In their regular rota- tion through the county, four churches would be closed, and two open, for divine worship on the Sabbath. Such, how- ever, is the peculiar position of the county, and the easy communication between the several towns, that, with the REV. PETER LOWE. exception of Bushwick and Gravesend, each of the others could quite conveniently follow the ministers, who consequently preached to full and crowded houses.

Mr. Schoonmaker, while holding the pastorate of the six collegiate churches of Kings county, received a salary of £150 per annum. He resided at Flatbush, where he spent the remainder of his life in the faithful discharge of his labors as a minister of God.

He was a man of reserved and retiring habits ; more so, perhaps, from the circumstance that it was exceed- ingly difficult for him to hold even a common conversa-

337

CHURCH MASTERS-NEW CHURCH AT FLATBUSH.

tion without mangling most horribly the English lan- guage. Fluent and ready in the language in which he was educated, he displayed, by his manner and ges- tures, all the dignity and sincerity applicable to his position and functions. Courteous and polite, he was a relic of the old school, and universally respected. Indeed, it may be questioned whether the venerable old minister had a solitary enemy. An anecdote was, many years ago, in common circulation, which some may consider a slander upon his abilities and acquire- ments. Having celebrated a marriage, at the close of the ceremony, for the benefit of the spectators, he at- tempted to terminate it in English with the sentence, " I pronounce you man and wife, and onc flesh ; whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." His English failed him ; yet, conscious of perfect recti- tude, and the propriety of a shorter translation, with

BUSH WICK HOUSE.

OLD BUSHWICK CHURCH.

much solemnity and emphasis, he exclaimed : "I pro- nounce you two to be one beef !" IIc died May 20, 1824, aged 87 years. With him ceased the regular public and official use of the Dutch language in all the pulpits of the Dutch Reformed churches. He was succeeded by the Rev. PETER LOWE (his colleague since October 28, 1787), who, since April 10, 1792, had preached the afternoon service every Sunday in the English language.

"Church Masters," superseded by Trustees, 1785 ; and Seal of the Flatbush Church .- It inay here be mentioned, also, that, in 1785, the Church- Masters elected, during the preceding 170 years, by the " Gemeente," or congregation, were superseded by Trustees, under the Legislative Act of 1784, and it is

probable that the first seal of the Flatbush church was also then adopted. This has quite an elaborate and curious design. At its top is represented the final coming of the Son of God, in clouds. In the fore- ground stands a preacher proclaiming the fact, as he points to the clouds, and utters the words, "Lo, He Cometh." Five skulls, at his feet, represent the dead rising from their graves at the resurrection. On his left are the lost souls peering out from the flames; while, on his right hand stand the righteous. Encir- cling this device is the corporate title of the church : " The Seal of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, of Flatbush." In 1867, after the change of the corpo- rate name of the denomination by dropping the word " Dutch " from the title, this seal was replaced by a new one, adopted Fcb. 8, 1875, simply bearing the corporate title of the church.

The plan of government by trustees continucd until 1804, when a special act was passed by the Legislature, providing that in the Reformed Dutch churches in the State, the minister, elders and deacons, should constitute a Board of Trustees for the congrega- tion.

A New Church Erected at Flatbush, 1793 .- In 1793, arrange- ments were made for tearing down the old church, which had become un- safe, because of the peculiar construc- tion of its roof. The building, now standing, was three years in process of construction. All the stones of the old church were placed in its founda- tions. The stones for the wall were quarried at Hurlgate and brought to Gowanus by water, whence they were carted to Flatbush. The brown stone used in the building was found in the Brooklyn woods, and the bricks around the doors and windows were brought from Holland in ships belonging to Hon. John Vander- bilt. At the completion of the church, in 1796, a fine bell, imported expressly from Holland, was presented to the church by the same gentleman. The vessel in which the bell was shipped was captured by the British and carried into Halifax. It was a singular fact that the second or third time the bell was used was at the funcral of its donor. The new church was dedicated in January, 1797.

In 1802, the Brooklyn church called a separate pastor ; and, in 1808, the Flatbush and Flatlands churches called Mr. Lowe as their pastor. Thus the collegiate connection of the six Kings county churches was partially dissolved.

NOTE,-For matter in this chapter relative to the Flatbush Church, we are indebted to the Rev. R. G. STRONG, the author of the History of Flatbush in this work. The cut, above given, of the old Bushwick Church, represents a form of edifice not uncommon to the Dutch churches of Long Island. Those of New Utrecht, and of Jamalca, were of this octagonal, conical-roofed design .- EDITOR.

HISTORY

OF THE

BENCH AND BAR

OF KINGS COUNTY,

1668-1832.

BY IMburator EsQ.

I T was said by De Tocqueville, the profound and variously accomplished commentator on American Democracy-a work which was the result of his own personal observation-that, in our great com- mercial cities, the lawyers, merchants, or men of trade constitute what he decmed an aristocracy.

This is, to a certain extent, true ; for experience has strongly demonstrated that when the possession of actual capital, in the various forms it is capable of assuming, becomes in any way affiliated with those classes whose native intellectual powers have been expanded and energized by education, these, for many purposes, form a single class, in which mind and money create an influence so powerful that it wields fully as much power here as the real aristocracy of Europe can command ; and, if not an aristocracy, it is a powerful element in American society.

In our population of 50,155,783, as it was numbered a little over two years ago, there were 64,137 lawyers, or, one in every 782 of men, women, and children. But what is of even more significance is the fact that the ratio is an increasing one. Twelve years ago there was but one lawyer to every 946 persons in the population. Nor yet does this growing numerical statement express, even approximately, the influence on American society of its lawyers.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 76

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1114

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114