USA > New York > The earliest churches of New York and its vicinity > Part 23
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pastor, and the spirit of discontent increased until 1824, when the Consistory resolved that their connection with the Classis of Bergen and the General Synod was dis- solved. The congregation immediately united with the "True Reformed Church." Charges were now pre- ferred against Mr. Demarest by his old Classis, and he, when cited to appear, replied, as Dr. Fræligh had when summoned, "that he had made up his mind not to come." He was consequently suspended from his offi- cial relations in the Reformed Dutch Church. On the contrary, a complaint was then made by sixty-two mem- bers of his congregation against the old Consistory, elders, and deacons, and a contest followed about the vexed rights of church property. Both parties claiming the ownership, a law case of vital importance to the old Dutch churches in New York and New Jersey, was tried before the Supreme Court of the latter State. The bench consisted of Chief-Justice Ewing, with the associate Judges, Ford and Drake, whose opinions were elaborate ; and it is only necessary to say, that judgment was de- clared in favor of the plaintiff's, and adverse to the seces- sion, February, 1831.
In Hackensack and English Neighborhood, the secos- sion then erected churches for themselves. The Rev. Gustavus Abeel followed Mr. Demarest, in 1825, as pas- tor of the English Neighborhood church, and although the lawsuit did not improve the spiritual state of the people, still, the Lord blessed his ministry among them. They generously aided the establishment of the Theo- logical Seminary by a subscription of nearly six hun- dred dollars.
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During 1828, Mr. Abeel removed to the congregation at Second River, now Belleville; and Rev. Peter Dur- yee, from Saratoga, succeeded him. Increasing infirmi- ties induced Dr. Duryee to request another minister in 1847, and after twenty years' pleasant, successful minis- try, his pastoral connection with this congregation dis- solved. Ile was an honored servant of his Master, and under his ministry here, one hundred and twelve members were added to his flock. In 1834 he received the honor of D. D. from the Rutgers College. Removing to Morristown soon after his resignation, Dr. Duryec, on February 24th, 1850, received his crown of glory, aged seventy-five years. A beautiful white marble tablet has been placed to his pious memory in the Eng- lish Neighborhood church, where he long preached Jesus and the Resurrection.
THIS TABLET
IS ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THE REV. PHILIP DURYEE, D. D., WHO, NEARLY TWENTY YEARS, MINISTERED TO THIS CONGREGATION IN HOLY THINGS. THIS FAITHFUL PASTOR AND EXEMPLARY CHRISTIAN WENT TO HIS REWARD, February 24th, 1850, Aged seventy-five years. May the memory of his virtues long live in our hearts.
In 1849, the Rev. James MeFarlane was installed pastor of this congregation, and, during 1855, the Rev. Andrew B. Taylor followed him.
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CHAPTER XXXII.
REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH AT SECOND RIVER (BELLEVILLE), THE LAST OF THE FIVE EARLIEST CHURCHES ERECTED (1725)-MR. COENS, PASTOR -- MR. ARENT SCHUYLER, A LIBERAL CHRISTIAN -- ISAAC BROWN, AN EPISCOPALIAN CLERGYMAN, CLAIMS HIS BENEFACTIONS ---. MR. HAUGHOORT, THE DOMINIE - INIS SUCCESSORS-CHURCH INCORPORATED (1790) AND SCHOOL-HOUSE ERECTED -PREACHING IN DUTCH DISCONTINUED -TORNADO DEMOLISHIES THIE STEEPLE- NEW CHURCH - REV. MR. STRYKER - DOMINIES - STEPHEN VAN CORTLAND -HIS LIBERALITY - NEW CHURCH (1853) -JOHN VAN RENSSELAER'S LIBERAL PROPOSITION-MINISTERS-COLONIES FROM BELLEVILLE CONGREGATION -MINISTERIAL FAMILIES-SCIIOONMA- KER, STRYKER, AND ROMEYN.
WE now come to the Reformed Dutch church at Sec- ond River (Belleville, New Jersey), the last of the five old churches we are describing in this region - Bergen, Hackensack, Schraalenbergh, and Second River. Pre- cisely when this last church was organized has not been ascertained ; in the year 1225, however, the present church fronting the Passaic was erected. It was a square stone building, with the belfry upon the centre of the roof. Subsequently the belfry was removed, and a stone tower added on its north end.
In 1726, the Rev. Henricus Coens became its pastor, and during his ministry rates were fixed for the inter- ment of the dead. For a married person, eighteen shillings; unmarried, between the ages of twelve and twenty-five years, ton shillings ; and under twelve, five
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shillings. Ilis ministry continued until the year 1730, when the Rev. Cornelius Van Santfoord became his successor, continuing till 1732.
An early emigrant from Holland to this region was Mr. Arent Schuyler. Industrious and prosperous in his business, he purchased a large tract of land on the east- ern bank of the Passaic River, where a valuable copper- mine was discovered, which enriched his family. God mercifully gave them liberal hearts. Mr. Schuyler, his widow, and children, donated the liberal sum of eight hundred and fifty pounds to be invested for the support of a pastor. There was some misunderstanding and trouble as to the clergyman, or rather denomination, which should use these funds. For a while an Epis- copal minister, the Rev. Daniel Isaac Brown, from Newark, officiated at Belleville. His friends claiming these funds, Mr. Haughoort kept possession of the Dutch church pulpit for some time, until locked out, when he performed his religious services "standing on the steps at his church door." In 1770, these difficulties formally adjusted, Mr. Haughoort's services continued until 1776. He was buried within the walls of the old church, and in front of its pulpit. From 1778 to '79 thuis congregation had no pastor, the American Revolution interfering, when the " voorleeser," or clerk, conducted public worship. Mr. Matthew Leydt was the next pas- tor, 1779, and succeeded by the Rev. Henricus Schoon- maker, who for eight or ten years supplied the pulpits of Belleville and Acquackanonck alternately. In the year 1790, the latter church became incorporated as the " Reformed Dutch Church of Second River," and the
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Consistory two years afterwards erected a school-house, thus carrying out the well-known union of the CHURCH and SCHOOL, so characteristic of the Hollanders and their descendants. During 1794, the Rev. Peter Stry- ker, of Staten Island, became the pastor of this church, and preaching in Dutch ceased, the new dominie only using that language when especially requested by the congregation. In the month of May, 1804, a violent tornado demolished the steeple of this church, which was rebuilt, however, during the next month. A new church had been erected at Stone House Plains, to which Mr. Stryker devoted one-third of his time, and in 1807 a new stone edifice took the place of the old one. In Sep- tember, 1809, the Rev. Mr. Stryker removed to Amboy, New Jersey, but was recalled the next year, and re- signed his charge in 1812. During 1814, the Rev. Staats Van Santvoort became pastor, preaching here until June, 1828. The Rev. Gustavus Abeel succeeded him, and, in 1834, he settled at Geneva, New York. Next, the Rev. H. Meyers served this congregation, whose pastorate continued only two years, and then came the Rev. John Garretson, of Brooklyn ; and during his ministration the venerable Stephen Van Cortland. Esq., so long a most liberal supporter of this church, left the world for his heavenly treasures. His name was precious in this congregation. He bequeathed one thou- sand dollars to it ; and in 1812 a bequest for the same stum was left by his widow. For many years they came to the house of God together. Their holy exam- ple and pious works have left a blessed influence.
In 1849, the Rov. Mr. Garretson received the appoint-
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ment of corresponding secretary to the Board of Domes- tic Missions, from the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church. The Rev. Isaac S. Demund succeeded him ; and during 1853, a new church was erected. It is a beautiful Gothic edificc, and cost some sixteen thousand dollars ; two thousand dollars wore found necessary to pay its extra cost, when John Van Rensselaer, Esq., in · addition to his original subscription, proposed to give one thousand more if the congregation would supply the balance. The liberal offer was immediately inct, and the holy tabernacle entirely paid for, as all houses of the Lord should be.
Mr. Demund remained, faithfully preaching among this people, until, having accepted a call from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he resigned the charge in 1856. The Rev. Thomas De Witt Talmage was installed pastor in 1856.
The Reformed Dutch church at Belleville has been eminently blessed herself, and a blessing to others. Her pious sons and daughters constituted, in 1801, the con- gregation of Stone House Plains -- the First Reformed Dutch Church at Newark, 1833 -- and in 1855, the church at Franklin.
Many of the "Fathers" repose in the consecrated grounds of this sanctuary, honored names-Joralemon, Vreeland, Cadmus, Spens, Kidney, Jacobus. Winne, King. Copymans, Brown, Wauters : and later, the Horn- blowers, Rutgers. Van Cortlandts. &c. : and they rest from their labors, having served their day and genera- tion : and verily their works do follow them !
The historical events recorded in our volume concern- ing the earliest Reformed Dutch churches and their
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ministers, of New Jersey, prove how carefully they were watched and served by faithful and able ministers of the Gospel. Their pastors then and since have been men of usefulness, learning, and piety. Their memory is precious, and their descendants may well cherish and honor their names ; and it is a most striking and remarkable fact, that many of the descendants of these earliest preachers' children and children's children, for . several generations, have proclaimed the everlasting Gospel of the world's Redeemer. Take, for example, Henry Schoonmaker, the father, and we find his son, Jacob Schoonmaker, D. D., and his grandson, the Rev. Richard L. Schoonmaker ; Peter Stryker, D. D., Rev. Herman B. Stryker, his son, and Rev. Peter Stryker, grandson, all in the ministry. Among the well-known Romeyns the descent is still more remarkable: the Rev. Thomas Romeyn, father ; his sons, the Revs. Theodore F., James V. C., and Thomas Romeyn ; his grandson, the Rev. James Romeyn, and his great-grandsons, Theodore B. Romeyn, William J. R. Taylor, James Romeyn Berry, and Francis N. Zabriskie.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
RALEIGHI NAMES THE WHOLE REGION FROM VIRGINIA TO MAINE AS VIRGINIA-NEW JERSEY ATTACHED TO NEW YORK, AND BY ROYAL PATENT CONVEYED TO LORD BERKELFY-TWO HUNDRED ACRES OF LAND GRANTED IN EVERY PARISH FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE MINIS- TRY-GOVERNOR CARTERET (1665) ARRIVES, WITH THIRTY ENGLISH SETTLERS-EMIGRANTS FROM NEW ENGLAND AND LONG ISLAND- PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHI FIRST ORGANIZED (1666-7)-CHURCH BURNED BY A " REFUGEE"-ANOTHER ERECTED-JOIIN HARRIMAN, PASTOR- COLONIAL TROUBLES -- GOVERNOR ANDROS OF NEW YORK -THE " FIVE PROPRIETORS "-DEATH OF CHARLES II., AND ACCESSION OF JAMES II. -- INTERNAL DISSENSIONS-QUEEN ANNE UNITES EAST AND WEST JERSEY-HIGH CHURCHISM-BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER TO BE READ-GOVERNOR CORNBURY, A PROFLIGATE, DEPOSED-PERSECUTED THE PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS IN NEW JERSEY-MINISTERS-REV. J. DICKINSON -INIS PUBLISHED WORKS-WINTEFIELD PREACHIES IN ELIZABETHTOWN-SMALL SALARIES-MESSRS. KETTLETAS AND CALD- WELL-REV. MR. LINN-SYNODS-A COLLEGE AT ELIZABETHTOWN -- REMOVED TO NEWARK-REV. AARON BURR. PRESIDENT-NEXT TO PRINCETON-MR. DICKINSON'S DEATH-HIS USEFUL LIFE --- FAMILY ---- JOIN SARGEANT, OF PHILADELPHIA.
DURING the year 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh obtained for himself and heirs a patent from Queen Elizabeth, to possess forever any lands he might find. not already discovered by a Christian Prince, nor inhabited with a Christian people. Under this royal authority, Sir Walter settled a colony in Carolina, and in honor of his illus- trious patron, the Virgin Queen, he gave the name of
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Virginia to the whole region now extending from Maine to Virginia.
James I., without any regard to the rights of Sir Walter, granted a new patent of Virginia to two com- panies, the London and Plymouth, but they met with little success in their attempts to colonize it.
To this period, New Jersey was a part of Virginia, but subsequently became attached to the New York province, which region, in 1664, extended "south to Maryland, east to New England, northward to the river of Canada, and westward as far as land could be dis- covered." From the discovery of Cabot, the British claimed the title to the whole country from Maine to Florida ; but the Dutch gaining possession of what is now called New York, they claimed the region, in virtue of the discovery made in the year 1609, by the navi- gator Henry Hudson, who, in the employ of the Hol- land East India Company, was searching a northwest passage to China. This gave offence to Charles II., now on the British throne, and, to dispossess the Dutch. he gave a patent to the Duke of York, his royal brother, for a large portion of the whole new country, which in- cluded New York and New Jersey. To place the Duke in possession, Sir Robert Carr was dispatched with a small fleet, and the Dutch settlers ignorant of his object and unprepared for defence, the English commander quietly took possession of New Amsterdam in the year 1664.
The Duke of York, thus possessor of the soil patented by the Crown, granted and conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret the tract of land between the
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Hudson and the Delaware Rivers, and from the ocean to the present northern line of New Jersey, for a yearly rent of "twenty nobles, lawful money of England, to be paid in the Inner Temple, London, at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel." This region was at first named New Canary, but afterwards changed to New Jersey, in honor of Carteret, a native of the Isle of Wight, and who defended that place with great bravery against the Long Parliament, during the civil wars.
Berkeley and Carteret, the proprietors, now invited immigrants into the province of New Jersey, publishing a constitution, which contained many valuable pro- visions. It carefully guarded the civil and religious rights of the people, as that under which the citizens of New Jersey now live. While the prelates of Virginia, with the Puritans of Connecticut, had each their objec- tionable and absurd "Blue Laws," the organic con- stitution of New Jersey provided that " No person shall be molested or questioned for any difference of opinion or practice in matters of religious concernment." To every parish was granted two hundred acres of land, for the support of the ministry, and secured to the peo- ple the right to select their own ministers.
Under this liberal charter, Philip Carteret, the brother of Sir George, came to New Jersey, as Governor of the province. He reached Elizabethtown in August, 1665, with thirty English settlers, the place then containing only four houses, and naming it Elizabethtown, in honor of his brother's wife, Lady Elizabeth Carteret. Settlers soon came in considerable numbers from Now England and Long Island. Puritans, English Quakers,
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and Scotch Presbyterians were the principal immigrants to this section of New Jersey, and formed its moral character.
The Presbyterian Church was the first organized for the worship of the Almighty in the State of New Jer- sey,* and coeval with Elizabethtown, about 1666-7. Its house of worship was a wooden building, with high steeple and town clock. It was enlarged twenty feet in the rear, and the pulpit ornamented by the ladies with an elegant set of curtains, at a cost of twenty-seven pounds. This venerable temple, the earliest erected in the province, continued to be used for its sacred pur- poses for almost half a century, when it was fired by the torch of a "refugee," in January, 1780; but, Phoenix- like, another structure arose from its ashes. It is not known who ministered here during the first twenty years' existence of this church, and the earliest pastor of whom we find any record was the Rev. John Harri- man, who graduated at Cambridge in 1667. He died in 1701; and his ashes rest beneath the present church edifice at Elizabethtown. A house on Meadow street, which he erected, has been in the possession of his de- scendants to the sixth generation.
He was distinguished for much practical wisdom, of which virtue he had great need, as his ministry con- tinued through a period of unhappy confusion in the civil affairs of the province. Governor Carteret, deposed by the Assembly, had returned to England, and James Berry, his deputy, was in daily conflict with James Carteret and the Governor's associates. Andros, at * Dr. Murray.
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this time, was the profligate Governor of New York, and assumed also the authority of the New Jersey province. In 1680, he demanded the submission of the . inhabitants, in the name of his master, the Duke of York ; and which refused, he threatened invasion. The people were on the brink of a civil war. To increase the troubles of Mr. Harriman, the province became divided, Berkeley selling his right to one-half of it, for one thousand pounds, to a Mr. John Fenwick ; he dis- poses of it again to four Quakers, Billinge, Penn, Lawry, and Lucas, thus making, with Carteret, five " proprie- tors," by what is styled the "Quinpartite Deed" of July 1, 1676. These divided the province into East and West Jersey, George Carteret retaining the East. In 1670 he died, leaving this section to be sold for the payment of his debts, and it was purchased, in 1682, by twelve Quakers, with William Penn at their head. To allay the jealousies of the people, they united with them twelve others as partners, among whom was the Earl of Perth, after whose name the point of land called by the Indians " Ambo" was named " Perth Amboy."
King Charles II. died in 1684, and was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of York, as James HI. Unfor- tunately, the royal monarch, as James the King, had the best possible regard for the contracts of James the Duke ; for ho immediately formed the plan to annul all the deeds and charters of these American colonies. Pretended complaints were entered against the people of the "Jersies" and " Que warranty" immediately issued. Vainly did the " proprietors" remonstrate against this injustice ; for they reasoned with a king,
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who was a Stuart, the most faithless and imperious royal race that ever ascended the English throne. Well for our world that this usurping and faithless race has.died out ! Thus oppressed and embarrassed by the royal power, controversies and internal dissensions spread among the people, until at last the proprietors of East and West Jersey surrendered their gubernatorial to the Crown. This was made to Queen Anne, in 1702, when she immediately united East and West Jersey, sending out her kinsman, Lord Cornbury, as Governor. All these public disturbances took place during the ministry of Mr. Harriman in Elizabethtown, and the earliest Presbyterian church there experienced peculiar and severe trials.
In the year 1782, the government of the proprietors ceased in the New Jersey province, and that of the Crown, now worn by the last of the Stuarts, commenced. He was a high-church tyrant, curtailing religious liberty, and commanded the Book of Common Praver to be read on Sundays and holidays, the Sacrament to be adminis- tered after the Episcopal form, and all ministers not Episcopally ordained should be reported to the Lord Bishop of London ! The bigot also interfered with the liberty of the press, as no book, pamphlet, or paper could be printed without the Governor's license. With this improved Constitution. Governor Cornbury reached New Jersey in the month of August. 1703, and the province very soon felt what it was to be governed by a tyrant's hireling. The Assemblies convened by him had the independence to oppose this proffigate, and his official race way a short one, for in 1709 he was deprived
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of his commission, and afterwards imprisoned in New York for debts. Here he lay until he luckily became a Peer, by the death of his father, when he returned to England, and died in 1723. The Presbyterians do not venerate his memory, as he was the persecutor of their preachers, and confiscated their church property ; and from all such rulers, in the good old language of the Church of England, we say, "Good Lord, deliver us !"
In 1704, Mr. Harriman finished his earthly toils and cares, and was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Melyne, whose ministry continued only a short time. Tradition says that he was strongly suspected of intemperance. On a certain Sabbath morning, the choir of the church sung a hymn, as a voluntary, which he imagined was designed to expose and reprove him. Whilst singing, he left the pulpit, walking out of the church with his wife, and never again returned. Whence he came, and how long he remained here, and where he went, are questions unrecorded.
The next pastor was the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, the impress of whose pious character and labors is said to be still visible on the old town of Elizabeth. He was a great and good man, born in Hatfield. Mass .. April 22, 1688, and graduated at Yale College, in 1706. He settled in Elizabethtown, two or three years after- wards, at the age of twenty-one years, and for almost forty remained the joy and glory of his congregation. Ilis published works, too, praise him in Zion, and will transmit his pame to posterity. There is a list of them in Dr. Green's " History of the College of New Jersey." Ilis contemporaries were Whitefield, Edwards, Brainerd,
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and the Tennents, and his ministry shared largely in the remarkable revivals with which God favored the labors of these eminent men. During Whitefield's second visit to America, in 1740, whilst passing through Elizabeth- town, and after a short notice. he preached to a large audience of seven hundred people. At the close of the service he made a liberal collection, it is said, for his orphan asylum in Georgia.
Mr. Dickinson's parish, then a large and laborions one, embraced Rahway, Westfield, Connecticut Farms, Springfield, with a part of Chatham. Then the people of Westfield would walk here to worship God, and not deterred either by bad roads or weather. The Gospel was, indeed, precious to them. About 1730, however, a church was organized in Westfield, a log hut the first place of worship, and the beating of an old drum the call to the public services. The Rev. Nathaniel Hub- bell was its first pastor.
At this early period small salaries were paid to min- isters in the province of New Jersey, and, probably, from the cheapness of living. The Rev. Mr. Kettletas received only two pounds ten shillings por Sabbath ; Mr. Caldwell, three pounds one shilling and sixpence. But in 1776, his salary was raised to one hundred and eighty pounds, and he was paid by the week punctually every Monday morning. Mr. Linn was settled with a salary of three hundred pounds, York currency, and a parsonage and lands. Nor were the publie officers paid any better. In East Jersey, the governor received a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds; in West, two hun- dred pounds ; and at one period they were paid in peas,
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corn, and tobacco, at fixed prices. Venison and beef sold at a penny per pound ; corn, two shillings sixpence a bushel ; barley, two shillings; and other things pro- portionably cheap.
At that period the Synod of Philadelphia represented the entire Presbyterian Church in the American Prov- inces ; but. during the year 1741, this body divided into two parts-the Synods of New York and Phila- delphia-New Jersey uniting with the former. The Presbyterian Church of New Jersey was then much stronger than in New York, and it was determined to establish a college at Elizabethtown. A charter was obtained, and Mr. Dickinson chosen its first president. With an usher he was its only teacher, and the students numbered about twenty, boarding with the town fam- ilies. The institution stood where the lecture-room of the old Presbyterian church now stands, and was burn- ed down during the Revolutionary War. Then the students removed to Newark, and received their instruc- tion from the Rev. Aaron Burr, the second president of the college. Although Mr. Dickinson may be called the father of the institution, he acted as its president only one year, as he finished his many earthly toils, October 7, 1747. When the classes had reached seventy members, they removed to Princeton, where the first college editier was erected, and called " Nassau Hall," in honor of William HHL. of England, Prince of Orange and Nassau, and the glorious defender of Protestant liberty.
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