USA > New York > Orange County > Montgomery > The history of Montgomery classis, R.C.A. To which is added sketches of Mohawk valley men and events of early days, the Iroquois, Palatines, Indian missions, etc > Part 15
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A Reformed organization was once started at MIDDLETOWN some place in Saratoga county called Middletown, (Half Moon), but this is the only reference we have of the body. The present name of the town is Middle Grove. The date of formation of the society was 1791. This church is not to be confounded with the Mapletown church, formerly called Middle- town, in Montgomery county. Rev. John Clost is the only pastor known. Middletown was put into the Washington Classis in 1818. In the town of Minden (Montgomery Co.) a Reformed MINDEN Dutch church was organized February 12, 1816, and. was known as the "St. Paul's Reformed Dutch and Lutheran church." Peter Ressner was trustee. (The Geissenberg church in this town was a Lutheran body).
This church was collegiate with Naumburgh, six NEW BREMEN miles distant. The pastors and supplies were the same as those who preached at Naumburgh (cf). New Bremen is now a town of three hundred population on the Lowville and Beaver River R. R. The church was organized in 1855, and the last meeting of Consistory was held in 1876. The building was sold for $25 by the Board of Domestic Missions. The congre- gation was German, the minutes being kept in this language. The first church building was erected by the Lutherans (as was also the case at Naumburgh), but in 1873 Rev. Boehrer built a new church
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at a cost of $1,050, the Board of Domestic Missions giving $650 of this sum. Classis disbanded the church in 1900.
This was a German Reformed church at first, NEW RHINEBECK organized by Rev. J. C. L. Broeffle of the Schoharie church in 1788, and later merged into the present Lawyersville church. Durlach (Sharon) organized at the same time, and New Boston, a mission station, were all con- nected. The first settled pastor was Rev. Christian Bork, formerly a Prussian soldier under Burgoyne, and, later with Col. Willett, when the Indians were given their final scourging at Johnstown, and the Tories were driven forever from the Mohawk and Schoharie valleys. Rev. Mr. Bork began work here in July, 1795, tho he was not in- stalled till August 14, 1796. The church was one of the charter mem- bers of the Classis. In 1807 the Lutherans having demanded the church edifice, built in 1801, the Reformed church gave up the prop- erty. The church was a mile or more north of Lawyersville on a part of Lot No. 11 of Jacob Borst. From the call to Rev. Mr. Labagh in 1807, the congregation worshipped in the church at Lawyersville. In 1826 it was put into the Schoharie Classis. From 1798 to 1803, besides those above, Rev. Winslow Paige and Rev. Rynier Van Nest supplied. Rev. Mr. Labagh was first called to the church in 1803. In 1811 he desired to go to the Pompton, N. J. church, but the churches (New Rhinebeck and Sharon) would not dismiss him. Five months later Classis dismissed him. In May, 1813, he came back for a second pastorate of a year and a half. Rev. Nicholas- Jones was pastor for five years (1816-1821). Mr. Jones well illustrated the proverb about "man being born unto trouble." Con- sistory records and Classis records give him large space. In 1820 he was suspended. He did some work on the parsonage and with back salary made a demand for $1,770, but settled for $330.04. He later entered the Baptist church.
This church was organized in 1895. It was NEW YORK MILLS an Oneida county field. Rev. Jacob C. Berg- mans was the pastor for six years after its formation. He came from the Congregational body, and on leaving New York Mills in 1901, he went to Gilboa.
NORTH HARLEM
This church reported to the Montgomery Classis in 1820. It may be an error for New Harlem or Fonda's Bush (cf).
The town of Oppenheim was formed March 18, 1808, OPPENHEIM from the western part of the town of Palatine. In the Fonda records are three references between 1816 and 1822, anent the Oppenheim church. There were two churches organized, the first, the "St. John's Reformed church" in July 1816, which is the present St. Johnsville church (cf), and supplied by Rev. David De Voe for six years from 1816. Montgomery Classis received this church on February 11, 1829, and De Voe continued to serve it until 1830. It was also called "Youker's Bush." De Voe ordained the first consistory at Peter Kline's house, January 4, 1822. This church had no building. Rev. John C. Van Derveer, a Mission- ary of the Classis (1822-1823), reported the Second Oppenheim church as "small and weak." On September 25, 1830, a Lutheran church was organized at Eukersbush (Youkers Bush). On May 15, 1855, this church was reorganized as a Reformed Dutch Lutheran church,
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and a building erected in 1857. A second church was formed No- vember 28, 1821, and called the "Second Reformed church of Oppen- heim." In 1826 a third society was formed. De Voe recorded not only the incorporation of these two churches, but the names of the consistories also.
Originally in the Canajoharie district of Tryon Co.
OSQUAKO Later it was in the town of Stark (Herkimer Co.). We spell the name as found in the corporate title of the church tho it is found as "Asquach," "Osquak," etc. The meaning is said to be "under the bridge." The record is dated June 3, 1800, on file at Fonda. The church was in the town of Minden, the village being east of the creek near St. Johnsville. Another meaning of the Indian word is "place of wolves." Rev. Jonathan Morris (cf Amster- dam) preached here about 1823. At this time the consistory con- sisted of Peter Whitbeck, Anthony Devoe, Jacob S. Moyer and Peter W. Philip, elders, and Jacob J. Young, Lewis Young and Jacob F. Bronir, deacons. It was visited by Van Curler in 1655, and is a half mile west of Canajoharie creek. In August, 1780, the place was devastated by the Indians. John C. Wieting, a British prisoner (tho German) at Saratoga, became an American citizen. He began an itinerant preaching circuit about Greenbush, soon afterwards coming to the town of Minden where he established two churches (Lutheran), one at the "Squake" (Otsquago, Osquak, etc-cf), where he built a frame church near the source of the creek of that name; a second church was erected at Geissenberg ("Goat Hill") seven miles from the Squake church. The work was begun in 1750 by Domier (cf Palatine). This was a brick edifice, with galleries, high pulpit and sounding board, and was dedicated in 1806. It stood until 1849. A first church built here in 1767 was called "St. Paul's Lutheran church of Minden." Rev. Philip . Gras preached here, as also did Wieting, until his death in 1817. The work prospered for a few years and then ceased altogether. A Union church was organized in Minden in 1807, of which John Herkimer, Jacob Smith and Jacob Tarpenny were the trustees. The records of the Geissenberg church are in the Fort Plain Farmers National Bank. The place is now called Hallsville. John H. and Magdalena Walbracht gave a half acre of land in 1767 to the Osquako church. Mr. Pick was pastor.
In 1890 Rev. John A. Thomson (then pastor at EAST PALATINE Stone Arabia), began a work at East Palatine, the services being held in the school house in Schneck's Hollow, near the county house. Rev. Thomson continued to hold services from 1891 thro 1894, when the work was given up. The town of Palatine was formed March 7, 1778, PALATINE STONE CHURCH and embraced all the county between "An- thony's Nose" and Little Falls, north to Canada. On January 2, 1804, a "St. John's Reformed Protestant Dutch church of Palatine" was organized (St. Johnsville). What is popularly called the "Palatine Stone Church" (Lutheran) in the town of Palatine became a member of the Montgomery Classis on February 2, 1825. The transfer of this organization from the Lutheran Synod to the Reformed Classis was brot about by Rev. Domier, who was at the Stone Arabia Lutheran church from 1811 thro 1826, and who had trouble at the Palatine Stone church toward the close of his ministry there. Rev. Douw Van Olinda was called
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to the pastorate, but in February 14, 1825, it united with the old Cana- joharie ("Sand Hill") church under one pastor. In 1830 the church is reported vacant and on February 7, 1832 Classis dissolved the or- ganization. The property from the beginning had always been in the Lutheran body, and after the original organization there had been 110 efforts made to increase the membership or re-elect the consistory tho the congregation worshipped in the stone church. At Fonda is a record (1820) of the Canajoharie and Palatine church whose trus- tees were Henry I. Frey, Alfred Conkling, Isaac Hees, John Garlock and George Getman. A Presbyterian church of Palatine was or- ganized in 1823.
In the north-eastern part of the town of Perth (now PERTH , Fulton county and a part of the Royal Grant given Sir William Johnson) a Dutch Evangelical church was or- ganized in 1867 with fifty members (Child's Gazette, 1830).
This church was an out-station of the West Leyden POINT ROCK church, and some seven miles from that church (Lewis Co.). It was organized in 1881, and sup- plied by Rev. John Reiner of the West Leyden church. In the late eighties the work was given up, the Methodists assuming charge of it, and are still conducting services there.
It was also called "Bay," one of the original churches SACONDAGA of the Montgomery Classis (1800), tho it was or- ganized as early as 1789. The place was at first called "Concord." The names of the early pastors are not recorded, but doubtless, those serving Johnstown, Mayfield and Caughnawaga also frequently preached at Sacondaga. The later organization was in 1842, and the preachers were, Revs. John A. Lansing, Jacob N. Voorhis, Woodbridge L. James and Calvin Case (1855-1857). Sacan- daga means "swamp."
In 1822 a Reformed Dutch church was formed in SALISBURY Salisbury, Herkimer county. It was a Congregational body at first. It was supplied by Rev. Samuel Ketch- um during 1822-1823 and later, by Rev. David De Voe of St. Johns- ville (cf). A Presbyterian church was incorporated here in 1803, to which in 1824 Classis dismissed the Dutch church, which became part of the Oneida Presbytery.
The first President of the Classis of Montgomery SCHOHARIE was the Rev. Rynier Van Nest, the pastor of the Schoharie church. The place was also called, or at least, the church, "Huntersfield." Prior to its dismission to the Schoharie Classis in 1826, this church was pastored by Rev. Rynier Van Neste (until 1804), J. D. Schoeffler, and Paul Weidman. The organization of the church goes back to 1720 or 1725. The pastors at Schoharie were accustomed to preach at Stone Arabia after 1730.
The place was also called "Conesville," and
SCHOHARIE KILL the church here was formed about 1800 or a little before, and continued until 1846. Rev. Cornelius D. Schermerhorn, ordained by Montgomery in 1804, was the pastor for twenty-eight years, from 1802 on. He died in 1830 at Canajoharie (cf Simms "Schoharie"). Doubtless this organization was placed in the Schoharie Classis in 1826, but no mention is made in the record. About the time of the Revolution the Reformed churches on the Schoharie were known as "the churches of the
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Schoharie Kill." Included in these were Brakabeen, North Blenheim, Gilboa (Broome), Prattsville, Red Oak, Huntersfield and Windham. The Prattsville minutes begin at 1798. The Gilboa record, the oldest of them all, bears the name of Broome, and those of Prattsville, "Schoharie Kill." This last church, built in 1804 and rebuilt in 1834, together with the village itself, will soon give place to the great reservoir being built for New York City.
SCHOHARIE LOWER
Organized in 1770 and later merged into the Schoharie church.
Organized in 1808 near East Cobleskill, SCHOHARIE MOUNT and merged later into the Howes Cave church. No names of pastors given while church was in the Montgomery Classis.
Organized in 1732, and later (after 1800) it SCHOHARIE UPPER changed its name to Middleburgh. Pastors up to 1826 were, Revs. Johannes Schuyler (cf Stone Arabia), Rynier Van Nest, David De Voe, and John F. Schermerhorn, the latter ordained by Montgomery Classis in 1816. Later and for some years Schermerhorn was the Montgomery County Missionary. From 1828 for five years he was the Secretary Board Domestic Missions. Rev. Mr. De Voe, tho licensed in 1808, was not ordained until 1812 in order that he might study and better perfect himself for the ministry.
SCHUYLER
This was a small organization in Herkimer county, between Herkimer and Frankfort, where Henry Snyder supplied for a few years about 1830.
An earlier name for this place was Dorlach. It is in the SHARON present town of Seward (Schoharie county). Rev. Peter N. Sommer of the Schoharie Lutheran church began to hold services here as early as 1776. The German Reformed church of Dorlach was formed in 1788 by Rev. J. C. L. Broeffle of the Scho- harie German Reformed church. In 1790 a bell was given to the "High Dutch Reformed Church of Dorlach." But in 1798 Mr. Bork refused to remain longer at New Rhinebeck or Sharon, unless a church was built. Other preachers in this church were, Rev. Isaac Labagh, Rev. Nicholas Jones. In 1826 it went to the Schoharie Classis. In 1813 Sharon reported eighty members. Read the history of New Rhinebeck with that of Sharon. It was here that the Battle of Dorlach was fought on July 10, 1781, in which Capt. McKean was mortally wounded (cf Buel).
Another name for the church was the "Reformed STILLWATER Church of Sinthiock" (Sincock). It was organized in 1789 and ran thro, possibly, twenty years. It was a Saratoga county church and but two pastors are mentioned, Rev. Winslow Paige (cf. Florida) and Rev. Peter D. Froeligh (1802- 1807), who also supplied at the same time Pittstown and Tioshock. He was a son of Rev. Solomon. Froeligh, and like his father, seceded from the church to form the "True Reformed" church. He died in 1827. It was at Stillwater where the American forces encamped be- fore the Battle of Saratoga.
The Summit Reformed Dutch church was received into
SUMMIT the Classis in 1823. It was situated at Eminence (Scho- harie county). It never had any settled pastorate.
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The history of this church begins in 1767, when
TILLABOROUGH a grant of land was given (115 acres) for church and school purposes to encourage certain settlers who had been placed upon the contiguous territory. The church was built on Lot No. 13 of Magin's Purchase. The place is about three miles west of the present village of Ephratah.
One of the owners of the land, and one of the givers of this church tract was the Rev. John Ogilvie of New York City, who had been the rector of St. Peter's P. E. church of Albany (1749-1764). He died four years after this deed of land, aged fifty-one. Under the conditions existing in the province at the time between the Church of England and the Dutch church we are persuaded that there must have been some commercial reason for putting into the deed the pro- vision that the church must be a Reformed one. The church for a century or more has always had a building, but never a stated pastor, and for most of the time no congregation. For more than three generations the property has been held by trustees who have used the same for personal profit. An incorporation is recorded April 15, 1823, and a form of re-incorporation in 1831. Since 1865 there has been no consistory or membership even. Nearly all the men who were at Stone Arabia, and later, at Ephratah, have supplied the church at intervals. In this field Revs. Domier, formerly at Stone Arabia Lutheran, and Wack, so long at "Sand Hill" (cf) finished their ministerial work. In order to hold the property the old church, fall- ing to pieces, was taken down and another one built in the seventies. There is an old forsaken cemetery connected with the church.
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Independent and Seceding Reformed Churches
AMSTERDAM A Union church was organized in 1822 and existed for eight years. Rev. Sylvanus Palmer (cf Maple- town) established the work and was its only pastor, remaining here for eight years. Palmer had become a "Wyckofite" after his suspension from the ministry and also was at Mayfield and Broadalbin.
CANAJOHARIE An independent organization continued in the "Wyckofite" church, was started here by Rev. John J. Wack in 1819 after his being dropped from the Montgomery Classis in 1814. An incorporation of this church is found in the Fonda records. Mr. Wack preached in this church for more than ten years and was followed by Rev. John C. Toll (1827- 1842), when the church became extinct. The building was in the eastern part of the present village, and some years ago, it was torn down, its timber being used in the construction of the dwelling now owned by O. C. Van Evera. The trustees were Henry I. Frey, Al- fred Conkling, Isaac Hees, John Garlock, Jacob Hees and George Gartner, all found in the membership of the later Reformed church, organized in 1827. A church was built which remained for many years after the services were given up. Prominent in the work were Hugh Mitchell, Gloudy Van Deusen, Rudolph Dingman, Anthony, Daniel and Wessels Cornue, Nicholas and John Sweatman, Dr. Jonathan Shineman, Bartholomew Van Alstyne, Uriah Wood, Lewis and Abraham Putman, Peter and Martin Van Deusen and John Davis. What was known locally of the "True Reformed Dutch church" was an organization made up of certain persons who seceded from the old "Sand Hill" church to become followers of Rev. Wack. They organized this church May 26, 1825, the preacher also supplying a similiar church at Westerlo (Sprakers) and Middletown (Mapletown). Rev. John C. Toll was the pastor of this church for five years (1822- 1827), when he became the pastor of the new or Independent church referred to above, and remained till his own death and that of the church in 1848. The first consistory were, Hugh Mitchell, Garrett Van Valkenburgh and Martin Van Deusen, elders, and Rudolph Ding- man, Jr., Henry Smith and J. G. Van Deusen, deacons. We have gone thro the records of these churches, the main portion of which has to do with the discipline. In 1773 a "Lower Canajoharie" church is found recorded.
CATO
Corwin's Manual refers to a seceding church at Cato, or- ganized in 1827, a defection from the Dutch church of the same place.
CHARLESTON
During the years 1797 thro 1830 no less than five Reformed churches were organized in this town (Charlestown), two of which are spoken of under
These churches are given a place in this record for the reason that the organizations were defections from the Dutch church, and in most cases the men serving them were ministers of the Dutch Reformed church. These churches were of brief life, except those that Wyckoff and McNeil served.
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the "extinct churches." A seceding church was started by the "Wyckofites" in 1822, and from this a second church seceded in 1824 and, finally, in 1829, an Independent church was established.
This was another name for "Indian Castle" (cf) in Her- DANUBE kimer county. Rev S. Z. Goetschius, suspended in 1824 by Montgomery Classis, organized a church at Danube, and on its decline in 1828, he re-entered the Dutch church, supplied Canastota (cf) for three years from 1836, then went west. He also preached at Osquak and Westerlo. Rev. Goetschins furnished the "Wyckofite" Synod material for a tedious trial on strictly moral lines of conduct.
The Fonda records show the incorporation of what has al- GLEN ways been known as the "Wyckofite" church of Glen, formed in 1830. Rev. Jasper Hogan wrote an informing chapter on this secession in his "History of the Glen Church," and it is also treated in the "Bergen Classis History." The compiler of this work has recently filed in the Seminary at New Brunswick an almost com- plete set of all the printed documents (some manuscripts) of the "True Reformed church." Corwin's "Manual" refers to an independ- ent Reformed church at Glen of which Rev. Christian Paulison (N. B. Sem. '26) was the pastor, who had seceded from the Reformed church in 1831, and, later, was suspended from the "Wyckofite" Classis (there never were but two classes, and each in time dis- solved the other). The church building erected in 1831 is still in good condition, and is generally known as the "White" church. Services are held monthly in this church.
JOHNSTOWN A "Wyckofite" church was formed at Johnstown in 1822, and was served by two pastors for more than thirty years, first by Rev. A. B. Amerman (Asso. Refd. Sem. '16), who while servng Johnstown and Mayfield (1817- 181) was both suspended and restored, and continued at Johnstown and Mayfield thro 1843; and second, by Rev. J. P. Westervelt (1845- 1855). Both of these men later united with the Presbyterian church. The Johnstown church soon after Westervelt's pastorate disbanded. An "Independent" Reformed church was organized in MAYFIELD 1821, and served by Revs. Amerman and Westervelt of the church of the same character at Johnstown (cf Johnstown above). In the County Clerk's records at Fonda is shown the incorporation act, dated April 12, 1832, of the "True Reformed Dutch church of Mayfield." Besides these there was a Union Re- ligious Society incorporated at Mayfield on April 5, 1813.
There was a "True Reformed" church organized by
OSQUAKO Rev. S. Z. Goetschius at Osquako ("Asquach" or "Osquak"), in the town of Minden, about 1823, but it survived only a few years.
After serving Ovid (organized 1808 and in 1828 merged into
OVID Lodi, organized in 1800) for fourteen years, Rev. Abram Brokaw became a "Wyckofite," and was suspended by the Montgomery Classis. He at once organized a "Wyckofite" church at Ovid (1822), and probably supplied it for a while. In 1838 Rev. Archibald McNeil became the pastor of this church, and served it thirty years, the church dying with its minister. The General Synod of the True Reformed church met here in 1840.
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A secession from the old church at Owasco took place OWASCO in 1823, the first pastor to serve it being Rev. Archibald McNeil (cf Ovid), who remained five years, and was suc- ceeded by Rev. William Johnson, and after a lapse of ten years, who remained with the church for more than a quarter of a century (1838-1865).
A second secession from the Owasco church took place OWASCO in 1879 when Rev. Alfred E. Myers, pastor, and some members of the church withdrew and formed the Owasco Presbyterian church, which Myers served six years (1879-1885). The church erected has become the home of the Owasco Roman Catholic church. Rev. Horace Chadsey and Rev. Mr. Hoyt were other pastors of this church.
What was called a "Canajoharie" church was SPRAKERS BASIN formed by the union of Sprakers Basin ("Westerlo") and the Middletown (Maple- town) secessionists, who were pastored by Rev. John C. Toll for twenty years (after his suspension by Montgomery Classis in 1822). Toll died in 1848.
A "True Reformed Church" was formed and in- TRIBES HILL corporated at Tribes Hill in 1840. The record is on file at Fonda. This was probably a development of the Glen "Wyckofite" church. Beyond the County Clerk's record nothing is known of it.
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X
Reformed Churches Capuga and Geneva Classes
Cayuga Classis
In 1826 the Particular Synod of Albany formed the Classis of Cay- uga by setting off seven churches from the Classis of Montgomery, as follows: Cato, Chittenango, Lysander, Ovid, Owasco, Sand Beach, Six Mile Creek. Of these seven churches Owasco and Sand Beach (Owasco Outlet) are now in the Montgomery Classis. The other five are extinct or are merged into other churches (cf). When Cayuga Classis was disbanded in 1889 Chittenango was put back into Mont- gomery. In 1851 Cato was put into the newly formed Classis of Geneva, but is dropped from the roll of churches in 1884. Ovid, divided by the Brokaw secession of 1826, was finally merged into Lodi. Lysander became Congregational in 1883. Six Mile Creek had but a brief existence (1827-1831). In 1835 the Particular Synod of Albany sought to form a new Classis, to be called "The Classis of Oneida." From the Classis of Cayuga were to be taken Chittenango, Canastota, Jamesville, Lysander and Utica, while from Montgomery were to be taken Frankfort, Herkimer, Columbia, St. Johnsville and Manheim. Tho referred to several succeeding synods the plan of the Classis makers never materialized. In 1851 the Particular Synod of Albany, on request of the Cayuga Classis reformed that body, making the Classis of Cayuga to consist of Chittenango, Cleveland, Canastota, Cicero, Owasco, Lysander, Sand Beach, Syracuse, Utica. The statistical tables of 1852 add the church of The Thousand Isles. Of these churches, Canastota, Chittenango, Cicero, Owasco, Owasco Outlet (Sand Beach), Syracuse, Thousand Isles and Utica were put into the Montgomery Classis when the Cayuga Classis was disbanded in 1889. Of the other two churches that at Lysander, organized in 1826 by the Classis of Cayuga, joined with the Presbyterian church of the same place, and formed a Congregational church about 1883. The church at Cleveland (Oswego Co.) organized in 1850, became Presbyterian in 1856. In 1889 the Classis of Cayuga was disbanded, its churches being placed in the Montgomery Classis. The churches received by Montgomery Classis were Canastota, Chittenago, Cicero, Lysander, Naumburgh, New Bremen, Point Rock, Owasco, Owasco Outlet, Syracuse, Thousand Isles, Utica, and West Leyden. Other churches which were in membership in the Cayuga Classis before the Classis of Geneva was formed in 1851, were as follows: Arcadia, Caroline, Farmerville, Gorham, Geneva, Ithaca, Jamesville, Lodi, Tyre, Piffardinia, Wolcott. Of these churches Arcadia, Caroline, Farmer- ville, Geneva, Gorham, Ithaca, Piffardina, Tyre and Wolcott were placed in the Geneva Classis when formed in May, 1851. Unless re-
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