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 8
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Rev. John A. Liddell succeeded Bennett (1838-1848), during whose ministry a hundred and twenty-one new members were re- ceived. Mr. Liddell was a Glasgow graduate, an attractive and able preacher. He served the church at Cicero for a year after leaving this field, and died in 1850. After a year Rev. Garret J. Garretson was installed in September, 1849. Rev. Gustav Abeel, a Rutgers trustee for forty years, then in the Geneva church, preached the sermon, as he did also for Mr. Liddell eleven years previously. Mr. Garretson remained three years (1849-1852), and died within a couple of months after the relationship was dissolved. After an interim of a year, Rev. Geo. J. Van Neste was installed in November, 1854. Van Neste was connected with the celebrated family of that name in the Dutch Reformed church. He remained until November, 1865. During this pastorate the church numbered two hundred twenty-three members, its largest roll. One hundred and thirty-four were received while he was pastor. After several pastorates he took up the work at St. Johnsville (cf), and later was pastor at Flatbush, and Pottersville, N. J. at the latter place dying in 1898. Rev. John Addison Van Doren
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was next called, and accepted (New Years, 1866), but a serious ill- ness prevented his being installed. He remained here but six months. In 1866 he became the first pastor of the Annandale, N. J. church, and remained in that field until 1873, when he retired from the active pastorate; Rev. Isaac H. Collier from Nassau, N. Y. was in- stalled by Geneva Classis January 29, 1867, and remained until Sep- tember 25, 1869. Forty-five were added during this ministry. Leaving Lodi Mr. Collier had pastorates at Saratoga and Montville, N. J. when he entered the Presbyterian ministry; and while supplying the Oakfield, N. Y. church died, February 19, 1881. For more than a year following the close of the Collier pastorate the pulpit was sup- plied by Rev. Alexander McMann, who had been in the Ithaca Dutch church for seven years (1831-1837), and had gone into the Presby- terian body in 1862. He died in 1893. The next settled pastor was Rev. H. P. McAdam, who delivered an interesting address at the Centennial. Mr. McAdam began his work about New Year's, 1871. In the Autumn of 1871 repairs upon the church were begun under the committee, S. S. Gulick, Peter Lott, P. V. W. Bodine, Voorhees Minor, and Covert Osgood. The expense incurred was $6,500. Six months later, July 14, 1872, the church was burned. Two hundred of the members and friends of the congregation at once sub- scribed toward a new church and the congregation began to build under the direction of the former committee of repairs, and $20,000 was spent, the new church being dedicated July 15, 1873, Rev. Wm. W. Brush of Geneva preaching the sermon. Rev. McAdam remained thro a part of 1884 when he went to the Wolcott Presbyterian church of Utica, later pastor of the Worthington (O.) Presbyterian church, and has been living retired at Saugerties since 1905. The pres- ent parsonage was built in this pastorate. His successor at Lodi was Rev. Chester P. Murray (1884-1886), a Presbyterian min- ister who reentered the work of that church and is now living in Cleveland, O.
Rev. William H. Ballagh succeeded Murray, remaining thro 1888. Mr. Ballagh died at Palmyra, N. Y. in 1892. The next pastor was Rev. Charles F. Porter (1888-1904), an Auburn graduate who came from the Alden Presbyterian church to a sixteen year pastorate at Lodi. For several years now Mr. Porter has been connected with the New York State Library at Albany. Rev. Frederick Perkins of Bainbridge (Ga.) took up the work in 1905 and remained thro 1909, going next to St. Johnsville where he is now pastor. Succeeding him was Rev. Seth Cook who was installed in 1909 and dismissed in the Fall of 1914, going to the Dryden, N. Y. Presbyterian church. Rev. E. J. Meeker, who had served the churches of Mohawk and Glen, next took up the work in December, 1914, and is the present pastor. The Reformed church of Lodi has sent many men into the ministry, evi- dencing the sort of work that has been accomplished there thro the years. Among these have been Revs. Elbert Nevius, Arad Sebring, John Minor, James Wyckoff, William Cornell, Minor Swick, G. DeWitt Bodine, John V. N. Schenck, Elbert Sebring, Charles Wilson, and John Van Neste. A son of Rev. Isaac Collier, William M., after the Spanish-American war became the American Ambassador to Spain.
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MANHEIM REFORMED CHURCH
Manheim is very nearly the central point of New York state and is five miles east of Little Falls. It has been an immemorial tradition in the community that the town was so called by Dr. Wm. Petry out of his personal associa- tions in a town of the same name in Baden, Germany. Manheim was set off as a town from Palatine on March 3, 1797, and on April 2, 1817, it was annexed to Herkimer county. Originally Sir Wm. Johnson owned all the land hereabout, the same having been granted to him a few years before his death by King George, some forty thousand acres in all, called the Royal Grant. The oldest patent of land in the town was given to Rev. Petrus Van Driesen who for a quarter-century was in the old First Dutch church of Albany. This grant was made in 1737 and contained twenty-five hundred acres. With him was joined Rev. John Jacob Ehle, and both of these men conducted a mission among the Indians, Ehle keeping at the work at what is now called Fort Ehle (still stand- ing), for upwards of half a century, or until his death, about 1780. Originally the town of Manheim was in what was known as the Stone Arabia district, created in 1772, but in the following year the same was changed to Palatine district. In March, 1778, the Indians and Tories invaded the settlement and caused general devastation, some scalps were taken besides quite a number of prisoners. Among the families who suffered were those of Cobus Mabee, Conrad, Joseph, Abram and Jacob Klock, Mabus Forbush, Robhold Ough, Adam and Rudolph Furrie, Henry Shafer, John and Michael Keyser, Calvin Barnes. Between 1786 and 1796 the supervisors of the town were: John Frey, Christian Nellis, Jacob Eaker, Frederick Getman, Samuel Gray, and Jacob Snell. Judging from the votes cast for Governor in 1786 there were a thousand population in the town then, while in 1796 there were over six hundred electors, indicating a population of thirty-five hundred.
With the settlement of the town of Manheim in 1770 the people who were mostly German, soon formed the first church organization, and as they had to depend on the Stone Arabia Dutch Reformed church for preaching, naturally the organization followed that de- nomination. Among the influential inen of that day were Jacob Mar- kell (later a congressman), Michael Myers, Andrew Finck, Dr. Wm. Petry, John M. Petry, and others. Most of the inhabitants were unprogressive and uneducated. They did not keep up either their German language or adopt the English, but used what was called a Mohawk Dutch. But with the coming of the New England settlers, who were better educated and more enterprising, and with the English preaching and English teaching in the schools, the community as- sumed a higher condition in morals and education. Sometime before
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the Revolution there were four of the Snell brothers, Jacob, Joseph, Peter, and Suffrenus, who gave seven acres of land for the church and twelve acres for the school. So many Snells lived in the vicinity that the place was popularly known, and is in a measure to this day, as "Snell's Bush." The first church built was burned sometime during the Revolution. The second church, probably erected soon after the war, served the congregation until 1850, when it was taken down, part of its timber used in the construction of the new edifice. On January 8, 1850, at a meeting of the congregation it was voted to build a new "St. Paul's Reformed Protestant Dutch church" to be sixty by forty feet, and the following committee was appointed to build it: John Markel, Peter P. Snell, and Jacob Yoran. The con- sistory at this time consisted of elders, Peter A. Timmerman and Jacob Yoran; deacons, John Garlock and Levi Timerman. The "slips" (pews) were sold on February 3, 1851, for $4,464, and among the purchasers were eighteen Snells and ten Timermans. Peter P. Snell's family was so large that he bought two pews for $221, while Adam A. Feeter paid $141 for a single pew, and Jehoram Snell $136 for a pew.
All but half an acre of the nineteen acres given by the Snells was finally deeded to the church, an act of the legislature being necessary to consummate the deal and establish the title. In 1801 the Rev. Caleb Alexander who was travelling thro the country wrote, "between Fairfield and Little Falls is a Dutch settlement called Man- heim-rich farms, a meeting house and a minister. The church was at first called the Reformed Calvanist church, and was incorporated in 1792. Originally it was a German Reformed church, and is called "St. Paul's" in the incorporation article. It united with the Mont- gomery Classis September 27, 1822. Consistory minutes which are extant begin in 1850, all previous ones seeming to be lost. The mem- bership roll begins in 1860 and the marriage register in 1872. An 1839 subscription list for a coffin cloth contains the names of Jacob I., Joshua, Adam P., Simeon, Peter P., Peter, Frederick F., and George P. Snell, Adam H., David, Levy and Samuel Timerman, Benjamin and Nicholas Petrie, John and Jacob Yoran, John and Hiram Gerlock, Adam Feeter, John Markell, Jonas Elwood, Joseph Casler, Henry Dockey, John Moyer, Henry Young, Daniel Getman, Isaac Smith, and Uriel Van Valkenburg. The first pastor at Manheim was the Rev. John H. Dysslin of St. Johnsville Reformed church (cf), who began preaching here in 1770 and supplied the pulpit for nearly a quarter of a centry. Dysslin was a scion of Swiss nobility, coming to America to seek his fortune, shipwrecked on the high seas, and vowing to God while tossed about on the wreckage that if He would spare his life it should be devoted to God's service. He was rescued, brot to New York, returned to Switzerland for education, then re- turned and spent the rest of his life in the Reformed ministry (cf St. Johnsville).
In 1820 Rev. Isaac Ferris (Chancellor of New York University, 1852-1873, dec.) was appointed by the Board of Domestic Missions to labor in the Classis of Montgomery. He spent considerable time at Danube, Manheim, Oppenheim and Herkimer. He reports that Man- heim had no ecclesiastical connection at the time with the Classis. ʻ The Fonda records give the names of the men elected July 3, 1816, for consistorymen, elders, Adam H. Timmerman, Lawrence Timmer-
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man, and John Rasbach, and deacons, Suffrenus Snell, Peter P. Snell, and Adam Kilts. These were ordained by Rev. Daniel De Voe, who was called to this church and Oppenheim in 1816. He came from Middle- burgh. Following him came Rev. Stephen Z. Goetschius who after a couple of years work seceded from the denomination and joined the "Wyckofites," and was suspended by the Montgomery Classis. Later (1828) he reentered the church and served Canastota as a sup- ply for two years (1836-1837) and then went west. Following Goet- schius in the pastorate was Rev. Isaac S. Ketchum (1822-1830), who was ordained here, and spent about the same time in the Stone Arabia pastorate (cf). Among the families in the church at the time shown by an old list were those of Ayres, Altenburgh, Baum, Beardsley, Bloodough, Cook, Couch, Dockstader, Feeter, Fink, Garlock, Get- man, House, Hart, Ingham, Johnson, Klock, Kilts, Loucks, Lipe, Markel, Nestle, Owens, Powell, Petree, Pettibone, Richtmyre, Ras- bach, Snell, Shults, Shaver, Scott, Timmerman, Turney, Tacka, Vedder, Van Allen, Van Valkenburgh, Woolaver, Walrath, and Yoran.
Rev. John Manley (1831-1833) was the next pastor; he died in 1871. Rev. Jas. Murphy who was pastor at St. Johnsville (cf) supplied from 1834 thro 1836. Rev. Paul Weidman came to Manheim from a seventeen year pastorate at Schoharie, and remained here from 1837 almost up to the time of his death in 1852. This is what Corwin's Manual of the Reformed church says, but Rev. John DuBois began his work in the ministry here in 1843, remaining three years, and go- ing next to Cicero (cf). And after this Rev. Abraham H. Myers came in 1848 and staid here thro February, 1852. He began his work in the Montgomery Classis at St. Johnsville (cf). After this the Rev. Paul Weidman returned for an eight year pastorate (1852-1860), re- linquishing the active ministry of forty years in October, 1860. Rev. Rufus M. Stanbrough on his graduation from New Brunswick, came to field in the spring of 1861 and was ordained and installed over the Manheim church in October that year, serving the church at Indian Castle also, on the south side of the river. He also supplied the Stone Arabia church (cf) for a while. He remained until June, 1876. Later he was six years in the Columbia church. He died in 1905. Rev. Algernon Matthews, who succeeded Stanbrough in the Manheim church in November 1876, was born on the Isle of Geurnsey and educated in Germany, tho graduating at New Brunswick in 1875. He remained with this church thro 1878, and then entered the missionary work of the Presbyterian church in Canada.
During the year 1880 from November thro October, 1882, the pulpit was supplied by the Rev. John Minor who had previously been pastor of the first Amsterdam church (cf). For several years the pulpit was supplied by the St. Johnsville and other nearby pastors. In the records are the names of Rev. David E. Van Giesen, George W. Fur- beck and Rev. Philip Furbeck (cf St. Johnsville). In 1892 David T. Harris was received from the Methodist Conference and was ordained and installed over the church which he served for two years. He is now pastor of the West Copake church. Rev. Fred W. Ruhl was next called, coming to the church from Cicero, and staid four years (1892-1895). Again the church began an itinerant supply. Rev. Louis H. Baehler's pastorate began in 1898 and continued thro a part. of 1900. Mr. Baehler entered the Presbyterian church, retiring from the active work of the ministry in 1912, and spent the rest of his life
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at Schenectady, where he died in 1914. A brother of Rev. Baehler, Rev. P. G. M. Baehler, is in the Williamson, N. Y. Reformed church, while his father, Rev. P. B. Baehler served several Holland churches in New York, and the grandfather, was a preacher at Zwolle, Holland. This was the last settled pastorate at Manheim, whose pulpit has been since supplied, mostly in the summer time, by seminary students, neighboring pastors, and the classical missionary. Among the sup- plies of the pulpit may be mentioned Rev. C. V. Bedford (1896), now of Hagaman, N. Y .: Rev. John A. Thomson (1892), now of Middle- bush, N. J .; Benjamin F. White (1902), now of Germantown, N. Y .; Rev. Burton J. Hotaling (1904), now of Albany, N. Y .; Rev. Henry D. Cook (1905), now of Paramus, N. Y .; Rev. Daniel G. Verwey (1906), now of Walkill, N. Y., during whose summer services the church was repaired and renovated; and Rev. George S. Bolsterle (1907), now of N. Y. City. During 1908 the pulpit was supplied by a young Christian worker, Henry McIlravy, and in 1909 the Rev. R. J. Van Deusen, a Lutheran pastor, preached here in conjunction with Ing- hams Mills. During the summers of 1910 and 1911 the work was done by the student, Andrew Van Vranken Raymond, Jr., who is in the Presbyterian church at South Wales, N. Y. During the summer of 1912 the Rev. Arthur J. Wyman of the Little Falls Presbyterian church supplied, and in 1913 the classical missionary of Montgomery, Rev. W. N. P. Dailey, preached occassionally thro the year. Rev. Herbert D. Leland, now of Utica, supplied one summer, and Rev. Edward B. Irish of Fultonville, spent his 1914 vacation on the field ministering to its wants. The church cemetery has recently been cleared and beautified and may be seen for many miles, on the high land surrounding the church. The principal burials are the Snells, Timmermans, Yourans, Feeters, Garlocks and Markells. The oldest stone in the yard marks the burial spot of Peter Snell who was born in 1731 and died in 1804. Other burial spots not far distant, as the one on the Beardsley farm where many of the Kilts family are in- terred, and another surrounding the Lutheran ("Yellow") church, where many of the original settlers were buried, as the Keysers, Windeckers, Bellingers, Petries et al. were laid to rest, are interesting spots for the student of the early history of the town of Manheim and the valley of the Mohawk.
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MAPLETOWN REFORMED CHURCH
Anotlier name for the place is "Middletown," and in the earlier records the church is often given this name. The sugar maples abounding in the vicinity naturally suggest the origin of the name of the place. Jacob Ehle and Joseph Knox were settlers here in 1791. Mr. Knox died in
1809, Mr. Ehle in 1850. Services were held as early as 1793, but the or- ganization was not perfected - until September 12, 1801, the meeting for the same being held at the tavern of Elisha Taylor and presided over by Rev. Isaac Labagh, who at the time was preaching in the churches of "Sand Hill" (Canajoharie), Stone Arabia, and Sharon. Jacob Ehle is mentioned in the 1801 Fonda records as a trustee. A full consistory was chosen and services were continued in the homes of the members until 1805, when the first house of worship was erected. Jacob Elle, Ebenezer Hibbard, Jacob S. Keller, Daniel Van Hoesen and Ebenezer Lathrop were the first con- sistory. The first pastor was Rev. John Calvin Toll (Tol), who had studied under Livingston, and on his ordination in October, 1803, assumed charge of this church, preaching also at Bowman's Kill (Buel) and Westerlo (Sprakers). Mapletown renewed its call No- vember 3, 1807 (approved in Classis May 31, 1808), and again renewed it December 20, 1817. The 1807 call is signed by Peter Clement, Elijah Taylor, Ebenezer Hebberd and John R. Van Evera, elders, and Luke Wesseley, James Dây, Peter Deremer and Garett Van Valkenburg, deacons. The 1817 renewal is signed by Peter Deremer, David Huguarin, L. Van Dervolgen and James Dey, elders, and Peter Clute, Rudolphus Dingman, John Davis and William Smith, deacons. After a pastorate of some eighteen years Mr. Toll left the denomination and joined the "True Reformed Church" ("Wyckoffte"), and or- ganized a church of this name at both Westerlo and Middletown, and spent a second eighteen years in these two fields. He died at Glen- ville in 1848. During his pastorate at Mapletown (1803-1821) he married two hundred couples and baptised six hundred and fifty in- fants and received one hundred and seventy members into the church. Rev. Toll was born in 1780 and died in Glenville in 1849 at the old Toll homestead. His father was Adj. Carl H. Toll of the 14th Regt. N. Y. Militia. Rev. Toll was chaplain in Lieut. Col. John Roof's regiment of Montgomery county. His wife was Annatje, daughter of Barent Mynderse of Guilderland (a Lieut. Col. in the war of 1812), whom he married in 1802. During 1820 and 1824 Rev. Samuel Van Vechten occassionally preached here. After an interim of a few years, with a Rev. Alonzo Welton supplying one of them, Rev.
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Douw Van Olinda, a native of Charleston, became the pastor (1827). Rev. Buckelew, pastor at Mapletown (1851-1854) in an article in the "Christian Intelligencer" says that Van Olinda was pastor in 1824, but this can hardly be so, since on graduation from New Brunswick in the class of 1824 Van Olinda spent a year in missionary work at Johnstown, Mayfield and Union, and in 1825-1827 he was the pastor at Palatine (St. Johnsville). Mr. Van Olinda's pastorate closed in December, 1831. After serving the church at New Paltz (1832-1842), he returned to the Classis (1844) and was pastor at Caughnawaga until the time of his death in 1858. In 1831 the custom of electing deacons was discontinued and trustees were elected. In 1883 the Board of Trustees was disbanded and a return made to the election of deacon's.
Rev. Jacob W. Hangen came next to the church from Columbia (cf) and was installed March 14, 1832, and remained four years. He served Currytown while pastor here. Consistorial meetings were held monthly and a fine of fifty cents was imposed on the members who were either absent or tardy one hour. During Hangen's pas- torate the name of the church was changed from "Middletown" to that of Mapletown. Hangen had several other pastorates in the Re- formed church, then entered the German Reformed church, preaching in Pennsylvania, where he did at Trappe in 1843. A brief pastorate of two and a half years followed by Rev. Harrison Heermance, who came September 25, 1837. After several years in the active work of the Presbyterian ministry, Heermance became an army chaplain. He died in 1883. From 1842 thro 1848 there were no consistorial records kept. Rev. Thomas Frazier was pastor in 1840 thro 1843, of whom we know nothing further except that he died in Montreal, Canada, in 1884. Jasper Middlemas succeeded him in 1844 and acted as a stated supply thro 1846. The next pastor was Rev. John H. Carle (1847- 1851) whose ill health compelled him to give up the active ministry. Rev. William D. Buckelew was next called and began his ministry in this church in 1851, and spent forty-two years in the pulpit, his death occurring in 1893. He was four years at Mapletown. During Buckelew's ministry a new church was built. The last service in the old church was held Sunday, May 30, 1852. The church was taken down during the following week. The corner stone of the new church was laid July 8, 1852, by Rev. J. C. Van Liew of Stone Arabia. The church was finished in October, 1852. Rev. John J. Quick's pastorate extended over seven years (1856-1862). He also preached at Curry- town, which was frequently joined with this church in pastoral work. Rev. Richard M. Whitbeck succeeded Quick, was ordained and in- stalled by the Montgomery Classis but remained only two years, 1863 and 1864. After a few more years he left the active ministry to enter educational work and lived a retired life for many years at Hudson, N. Y.
Rev James M. Compton was next ,called and staid four years or until 1868, but to remain in the Classis for twenty-five years at Stone . Arabia and Ephratah (1868-1870), Columbia and Henderson (1870- 1875), Union (1875-1876), Sprakers (1878-1882), Mapletown again dur- ing 1882, and, finally, Columbia again from 1888 to the time of his death at the latter place, December 12, 1891. Josiah Markel supplied the Mapletown pulpit from the summer of 1869 thro the summer of 1871. His death occurred at Albany, N. Y., in 1898. He had not been
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in the active ministry for twenty-five years. Two years the pulpit was occasionally supplied by different men, and until Rev. George Sharpley became pastor in 1874 who resigned in 1880. He was licensed and ordained by Montgomery Classis. A son of this pastor, Giles H. Sharpley, after studying at Rutgers and New Brunswick (1888-1889) entered the ministry of the Episcopal church, graduating from the General Theological Seminary in 1897. In 1880 from May to December the pulpit was supplied by Rev. Dewey Jones. Rev. John Minor was installed in 1882 and remained thro 1884. Later Mr. Minor supplied several Presbyterian churches and died November 20, 1890, while supplying the Fort Herkimer church (cf). Rev. Garret Wyckoff succeeded Mr. Minor, coming to the church in 1886 and staid two years, to be followed by Rev. Henry H. Sangree (1888-1893). Mr. Wyckoff is now supplying the church at Flatbush, N. Y. Mr. Sangree entered the ministry of the German Reformed church and later still that of the Presbyterian and is now in Philadelphia, Pa. The last installed pastor at Mapletown was John A. Thomson (1894- 1902). Since leaving this charge Mr. Thomson has been pastor at Middlebush, N. J. Following Mr. Thomson Rev. E. M. Forest sup- plied for a year, after which the Rev. Frank R. Shepherd (Presb.) supplied for three years (July, 1903-March, 1906). Beginning Sep- temper 30, 1906, Rev. Sybrandt Nelson of the Buel Presbyterian church began a supply which continued until October 23, 1912. During the summer of 1913, Mr. Charles Stube, a New Brunswick Seminary graduate, supplied the church. The present supply, Rev. Elmer E. Frederick, has had charge of the Buel Presbyterian church and of Mapletown since the fall of 1913.
MOHAWK REFORMED CHURCH
The Reformed Protestant . Dutch church at Mohawk was organized in 1838 by the Classis, and the following year incor- porated. At the time of organiza- tion Christopher Bellinger and Samuel Meeker were elders, and Samuel Bellinger and Henry Harke, deacons. The lot for the church was given by Frederick Bellinger. The church records were lost in a hotel fire during The Mr. Meeker's pastorate. first supply of the church was the Rev. James Murphey, who at the time was the pastor of the Her- kimer church (cf). Rev. Jede- diah L. Stark followed in 1842 and died in 1862 and was buried at Utica, N. Y. Corwin says that Mr. Stark preached at German Flatts, Mohawk, and Frankfort at the same time thro the years 1843 and 1844, and from 1844 thro 1846 he preached at Mohawk and Frankfort, and from 1846 thro 1852 he was the pastor at Mohawk, from which
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