USA > New York > Steuben County > Bath > The official records of the centennial celebration, Bath, Steuben County, New York, June 4, 6, and 7, 1893 > Part 2
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The church adopted the Congregational form of government, and appointed Joseph Inslee and Samuel S. Haight as deacons.
A unanimous call was soon extended to Rev. John Niles to be their pastor ; he accepted and was installed by a committee of the Ontario Asso- ciation of Congregational churches on the 7th day of July, 1808. He entered earnestly upon his work with true devotion to it, as his letter of acceptance to the call plainly shows. On the 18th of September, 1811, the church completed its Presbyterial organization by electing five elders, namely, William Aulls, Elias Hopkins, Samuel S. Haight, Henry A. Town- send and Howell Bull, and removed its connection from the association and united with the Presbytery of Geneva.
Of the original fourteen members who composed this church, five have lineal descendants residing in town, namely, Henry A. and Elizabeth Townsend, Howell and Eunice Bull and Robert Campbell. We are pleased to note that three of these are represented in the congregation which regu- larly worships with the church they helped to found in the wilderness a century ago. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend are represented by Mrs.
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William Rumsey and family, and Mr. Robert Campbell by his son Will- iam Campbell and family, and Hon. Frank Campbell.
The health of the pastor had been for some time impaired, and after ministering to the church but four years he rested from his labors on Sun- day morning, September 13, 1812, aged thirty-five. His remains rest in the old cemetery, near the center of the grounds. The church had re- ceived thirty-five members during his short pastorate.
The cemetery has always been so closely connected with the church, being anciently called the churchyard, that we may linger here a moment. We find from its stone records that our city of the dead is exactly contem- poraneous with our village, and both were started by members of the same family. The earliest burial we find is Christina Williamson, daughter of Charles and Abigail Williamson, who died September, 1793, aged six years. There could not have been more than ten or twelve families in the new settlement. Not one of the great pines was cut in the plot which was thus early selected for a burial place, and we may see the little company of per- haps a dozen persons carrying a little coffin into the forest, and without a clergyman to lead the service, amid their tears depositing the remains of the loved child in the first grave opened for a white person in this town. A well preserved stone marks that little grave now a century old.
Near it stands a stone bearing the name of James Moore, who died February, 1829, aged 102. Very few are the cemeteries in which lie the dust of one whose age is given with three figures.
The only monument we find in the old cemetery is one in honor of George C. Edwards, erected by the bar of the county, and bearing this inscription, " A just man, an able lawyer, a good citizen, an honest man." On the other side of the monument, "The richest legacy to leave to pos- terity is a good name." At the age of fifty he had wrought out a character that commanded such recognition on the part of those who knew him best.
Following Rev. Mr. Niles, Rev. David Higgins, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Auburn, N. Y., was called as pastor of this church, and accepted in January, 1813. He was born in Haddam, Conn .; was graduated at Yale college in 1785 ; preached at North Lyme, Conn., Union Springs, N. Y., and Auburn, previous to his pastorate in Bath. "He was a robust and stalwart man, an earnest and vigorous preacher, and a marked character in the community." He was quick to apprehend any means suggested for enlightening and improving the peo- ple in the community, and the people of this church were ready to follow his lead and second his efforts, as was manifested in the organization of the Steuben County Bible Society. The late Dr. Gardner Spring, of New York City, once said : "This government rests upon protestant Christiani- ty ; its corner stone is the Bible. As early as 1777 the want of Bibles in our country was the subject of solemn discussion in Congress, and that
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
body appointed a committee to advise as to the expediency of publishing an edition of 30,000 copies of the Bible, to meet the needs of the families in America." It was not done, however, and to meet this want the Ameri- can Bible Society was organized in May, 1816, in New York City. In less than nine months from this time the knowledge of this parent society had reached Bath, its object had been approved, an interest awakened, and the Steuben County Auxiliary Bible society had been formed, with the follow- ing officers : David Higgins, president ; Christopher Hurlbut and George McClure, vice-presidents ; Robert Porter, treasurer ; David Rumsey, secre- tary ; Rev. James H. Hotchkin, Henry A. Townsend, Elias Hopkins and Thomas McBurney. managers.
In the constitution the object of this society it is declared shall be " To supply those who are poor and destitute of the Bible in this county and vicinity with the Holy Scriptures without note or comment." .
Then follows a list of seventy-four names of men as contributing mem- bers, and this Steuben County Bible Society, certainly one of the first auxiliaries, has continued in existence until the present time, Dr. Ira P. Smith being president, and Dr. Dunn being secretary. It has scattered thousands of copies of the sacred Scriptures, giving with a liberal hand to the destitute, in some years giving three times as many copies as were sold.
At this time, 1817, the Presbytery of Geneva, of which this church was a part, was divided into four Presbyteries, namely : the Presbyteries of Bath, Niagara, Geneva and Ontario. This church, of course, belonged to the Presbytery of Bath.
During Mr. Higgins' pastorate the first church edifice was erected, and dedicated March 2, 1825. This was an imposing structure at the time of its erection, of graceful proportions, built at considerable sacrifice on the part of the congregation, but a house which the Lord owned by the gift of the Holy Spirit again and again to those within its walls. Many to-day hold it in precious memory as associated with the beginning of their spiritual life, and for fifty years it stood the sanctuary of this congregation, until it was removed to give place to this more stately edifice.
Another act that shows that this pastor and people were at the very front in good works, is found in the record made in the minutes of the church on March 6, 1830. Dr. Lyman Beecher had preached his six famous sermons on temperance, which were published in 1827. This was the beginning of the temperance reformation ; up to that date ardent spirits were a common beverage with all. It was those six sermons that aroused the religious public to the need of doing something to stay the evil of drunkenness. Within three years of this first movement we find this rec- ord in our church books: "Agreeable to a notice previously given, the church held a meeting which was attended by a large proportion of the
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members, and after lengthy deliberation the following was passed unani- mously : 'Resolved, That under the general effort in our country at the present time in favor of temperance, this church feels itself powerfully called upon to act in favor of the measure ; therefore we agree to entire abstinence from the use of ardent spirits and wine except as a medicine or at the Lord's table.'" So early this church ranged itself on the side of sobriety and total abstinence.
In the last year of Mr. Higgins' pastorate he was permitted to wel- come a large ingathering to church fellowship. At the last communion service which he led, in June, 1831, twenty-one (by far the largest number which had up to this time united at once), entered into covenant to be the Lord's. Surely, a blessed termination of eighteen years of pastoral work ! At the close of his seventieth year he resigned his pastoral charge, removed to Norwalk, O., where he died June 18, 1842, aged eighty-one years. To this date the church had received 190 members.
Rev. Isaac W. Platt was called immediately to the vacant pastorate on June 4, 1831. Mr. Platt was born at Huntington, Long Island, 1788, took his college and theological courses at Princeton, N. J., was pastor at Charl- ton, N. Y., and Athens, Pa., before coming to Bath. He labored eleven years with this people. The first five years were years of great spiritual growth in the church. At every communion service a number confessed Christ, and ninety-two in all were received to the church in those years.
Then began the discussions which ended in the disruption of the Pres- byterian church in 1837, in the cutting off of three Synods, nineteen Pres- byteries (one of which was Bath), with 444 churches and with 40,000 com- municants from the Presbyterian body. They were, of course, forced to form a separate body, holding, however, to the same confession of faith, the same catechism, and the same name, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America. The grounds for this excision were two; first, that these Synods and Presbyteries were formed of churches, many of which were Congregational in government ; and second, that these ministers held grave errors. But these ministers denied that they held or taught these errors, but believed and upheld the Westminster standard. They were, however, cut off. A meeting of this church was at once called and a majority of those present resolved to with- draw from the Presbytery of Bath which had been cut off from and by the General Assembly, and to connect themselves with the Presbytery of Sus- quehanna in Pennsylvania, which was done. About a score of the mem- bers of the church, among whom were two elders, felt that they did not desire to leave the Bath Presbytery, believing that the excision was unjust, and so formed themselves into a church and called themselves the Presby- terian Church of Bath (Constitutional), and secured a pastor. This division, of course, weakened the church and discouraged the pastor, Mr. Platt ;
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the loss of a son also so weighed upon his spirits that in 1844 he resigned the pastorate. He removed in 1847 to West Farms, N. Y., where he was pastor till his death in February, 1858. One hundred and thirty had been received to this church during his ministry, making three hundred and twenty in all.
Mr. Platt was succeeded at once by Rev. L. Merrill Miller, a young man whose examination for licensure Mr. Isaac Platt had chanced to hear, and with the ability and learning and spirit which the young man dis- played, Mr. Platt was so impressed that he recommended him to the church as his successor. For seven years he led a successful ministry ; the church flourished in all departments under his wise administration. Sixty-four were added to its communion. He was then called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian church in Ogdensburg, N. Y., where he has already labored with unwonted ability and success for more than forty-two years, and still preaches with strength unabated. And I desire to say there is no pastor in our whole Presbyterian church more esteemed for his wisdom and his pru- dence, and whose counsel is more eagerly sought and appreciated in all ecclesiastical interests and affairs than your former pastor, Rev. L. Merrill Miller. May he yet live long to serve the Lord in his church and to guide in its deliberations.
Rev. Geo. D. Stewart, having formerly preached at Fort Byron, N. Y., began in 1851 his ministry here. He had a special gift for interesting those who had not been in the habit of attending church, and the church had to be enlarged to accommodate the audiences that assembled. During the winter of '58 and '59, the revivals which were so general through our whole country were experienced here in great power. More than fifty persons united with this church in that one year. He, like Rev. Mr. Hig- gins, was enabled to leave his work when crowned with the richest divine blessing. He has since been doing good work in the western states, and is now pastor at Fort Madison, Iowa.
Rev. William E. Jones succeeded him with six years of faithful and successful labor, and resigned to accept a chaplaincy in a regiment in the war of the rebellion. Mr. Jones, by last report, was residing in Philadel- phia, Pa., without charge.
Rev. James M. Harlow was engaged as stated supply. His preaching was remarkable for the fine classical finish which characterized his dis- courses. After preaching five years he was called to Shortsville, where for many years he has been on the honorably retired list. He still resides there. To this time 607 members had been received to the communion of this church.
In September, 1869, Rev. James M. Platt, son of Rev. Isaac W. Platt, former pastor of this church, accepted a call to its pastorate. He was ed- ucated at the New York university and at Princeton Theological seminary,
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was pastor at Zanesville, O., and Leetsdale, Pa., before coming here. He writes, "It was a happy circumstance that on coming back to my boy hood's home to take the place once occupied by my father, the way seemed already prepared for receiving to our communion the remnant of those who more than thirty years before had organized a separate church." It certainly was fitting that the rent which occurred in his father's time should be repaired in the ministry of the son.
The Bath Presbyterian church (Constitutional), composed of nineteen members and two elders, who separated from the parent church in 1837 and held their connection with the Bath Presbytery, soon developed church life and activity. In 1841 they erected a suitable house of worship on Liberty street on the spot now occupied by the Purdy Opera House. The building was burned in 1871. The church enjoyed the ministry of the fol- lowing clergymen : Revs. William Strong, Orris Fraser, Hiram Gregg, Samuel Porter, Sabine McKinney, Loren W. Russ, Geo. Hood, Edwin Benedict, H. E. Johnson, C. H. De Long and William Dewey. The follow- ing were elected at different times and served as elders : John Emerson, Ira Gould, John Dudley, Moses F. Whittemore, Daniel Seaver, Joseph Breck and John Rose. Two hundred and eleven were received to its mem- bership during its separate existence. There were times of refreshing en- joyed by its members, nineteen were welcomed on confession of faith on April 20, 1845, and there are those with us now who look back with de- lightful remembrance of the experiences they enjoyed in the beginning and development of their Christian life in that church. The reunion of the two general assemblies obliterated the distinction between the Old School and the New, and I have seen no better evidence of the good results of that reunion than I find recorded on the last page of the church records of the Bath Presbyterian church (Constitutional) as follows: "Interesting inci- dent concerning membership. On the first page of these records we find that this church was first formed of nineteen members from the former church during the pastoral labors of Rev. I. W. Platt. We record on the ninety-third page the names of nineteen members of this church, who united with the Old School church-or, more properly, were reorganized as members of that church-under the pastoral labors of Rev. James M. Platt after a separation of thirty-two years; this in consequence of the action of the two General Assemblies, convened at Pittsburg, Pa., in 1869, guided and controlled very clearly by the kind hand of our Heavenly Father and in the spirit of the Gospel of Christ. We now labor together with greater harmony and good will than ever before. And may the act of secession in church or state be never repeated in this our loved Zion or this our happy land." Thus ends this book of records and history of the separate church.
Mr. Platt was a scholarly man, a faithful preacher, and one who shrank from no work by which he might accomplish good. The Young People's
-
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THE CENTENNIAL OF BATH.
association was formed under his ministry, which gave a new impetus to the Christian activity of the young people.
The great work wrought under his ministry was the rearing of this beautiful, commodious, convenient and stately house of worship. From the beginning of the enterprise in 1874 to its dedication in 1877, $50,000 had been raised by this society and this amount expended in erecting this house complete, with the exception of the towers, and this church will stand for many years a substantial monument to the zeal, devotion, untiring effort and liberality of this people under the lead of Mr. Platt. For fourteen years he ministered faithfully, "And there were added to the church yearly of such as shall be saved," two hundred and thirty-nine connecting themselves during his ministry, a larger number than during any former pastorate. But in the midst of his days and his strength he was called by the great Head of the church whom he served to cease from his earthly labors and enter upon his reward. April 14, 1884, he passed away, aged 57 years.
In response to your call your present pastor, leaving the church at Skaneateles, where he had preached for twenty-two years, his only previous pastorate, began his labors on December 1, 1884, and after eight years he desires to bear testimony to the harmony that has existed, and to the valuable services that have been rendered by the officers and members of this church in every good work. In these eight years 261 have been received to church membership. There have been thirty elders in this church, namely : William Aulls, Elias Hopkins, Samuel S. Haight, Henry A. Townsend, Howell Bull, Finla Mc Clure, Lyman Hopkins, Thomas Aulls, Phineas Warren, Peter Halsey, James G. Higgins, John Emerson, Samuel Rice, Ira Gould, Louis Biles, John W. Fowler, Gustavus A. Rogers, David Mc Master, Edward Crosby, Samuel Ensign, Z. L. Parker, A. H. Otis, Edwin H. Hastings, Ambrose Kasson, M. D., Tenney K. Gage, Charles Van Wie, J. F. Parkhurst, B. F. Smith and S. G. Lewis.
Those who have been elected and served as deacons are : Joseph Ens- lee, Samuel Haight, William Aulls, Elias Hopkins, Henry A. Townsend, John W. Fowler, Henry W. Rogers, John L. Scofield, S. G. Lewis, Will- iam H. Shepard, Edwin H. Hastings, Conrad Gansevoort, Eugene F. Par- ker, Robert J. Davison, Thomas Pawling, M. D., Clinton W. Richardson and John H. Bowlby, seventeen in all.
The trustees, who have stood nobly for the financial welfare of the church and brought it up triumphantly through all the straits to which it has been subject so that it is without indebtedness, have been, with those formerly mentioned :
James G. Higgins, James May, Louis Biles, Harry W. Rogers Ezekiel S. Drew, David McMaster, John R. Gansevoort, John W. Fowler, Geo. A. Taylor, Geo. Edwards, TenEyck Gansevoort, Gustavus A. Rogers, David
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Rumsey, Amasa Beck, Moses H. Lyon, Josiah W. Bissell, S. H. Hammond, Amasa B. Beckwith, Robert Campbell, Ziba A. Leland, Orrin Smith, Peter Halsey, James R. Dudley, Wm. A. Biles, Sylvanus Stevens, John B. Paw- ling, Ansel J. McCall, Levi C. Whiting, W. W. Perine, Harvey Bull, Wm. Davison, John Magee, John S. Schofield, John Abel, J. S. Dolson, D. M. VanCamp, Orange Seymour, Wm. S. Hubbell, Chas. Underhill, A. Beek- man, G. H. McMaster, Wm. C. Hoyt, Geo. Edwards, Wm. McFee, G. W. McDowell, Wm. Rumsey, Maj. D. H. Hastings, Henry Faucett, C. A. Ellas, Clarence Campbell, John Davenport, E. H. Hastings, John Beek- man, John L. Schofield, Chester Knight, J. F. Parkhurst, M. Ramsey Mil- ler, A. H. Otis, Frank Campbell, Wm. H. Hallock, Harry S. Hull and Abram Beekman.
There have united with this church in all, 1147 persons, 665 by profes- sion ; of them 246 have died while members of this church, and 486 have been dismissed, leaving 415, the present membership.
Mention ought to be made of the remarkable success of the late Harry S. Hull as a worker among young men. He gathered a class of young men into our Sabbath school which averaged just one hundred in attendance each Sunday for six months, one hundred and eighty being present on one rally Sunday. From that class many were pursuaded to begin a Christian life, and are grateful that they ever came under the influence of Harry Hull.
The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor was organized in October, 1886, and has been a power for good among the young people, starting them in various channels of Christian activity and benevolence. The Women's Missionary Association and the Ladies' Aid Society have for years been doing good by their charities and relieving suffering among the poor.
So has the Lord blessed and helped this church in the past. The prophet Samuel, after a time of special blessing, set up a great stone and called it "Ebenezer," saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." It is certain- ly appropriate that we, on this Centennial year, after this long period of blessing, should bring together great stones-as we are doing-and with them rear a tower as a finishing touch of our house of God ; and let that tower, as it will be completed this year, be our " Ebenezer," we also saying with all reverence and gratitude for the goodness of God in the past, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."
ST. THOMAS CHURCH.
SERMON BY REV. BENJAMIN S. SANDERSON.
SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 1893.
TEXT :- " Other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours." -- John iv, 38.
Our Lord inculcates here a general principle, equally true in its appli- cation to every department of human effort. "One soweth and another reapeth." Thus are successive generations of men linked together. Rude and barbarous ages are not complete in themselves ; they are the precur- sors, the seedlings, to keep to our metaphor, of those refined and cultured days which surely, if at times slowly, follow them.
Comparison and contrast, how beneficial they are! Only in this way can we either understand the present, or plan for the future. To break with . the past, that is to ignore it, what it is and all we owe to it -- this is more than the disturbance of perfect continuity in growth and healthy develop- ment. It is the introduction of a principle of eccentricity and individual- ism, bound sometime to prove fatal to the perpetuation of a sound, cor- porate life. This at the outset. It suggests our theme and its proper treat- ment.
We may count it a wise and happy thought on the part of the General Committee, that our Centennial anniversary should be ushered in with appropriate services in the churches on this Sunday morning. Also that while giving God thanks for His continued mercies to our beloved com- munity during its first century of existence, we should likewise hear recited the history of the churches of the town during these same one hun- dred years. We, as churchmen, may well be thankful for the opportunity thus afforded us of reviewing the history of our own particular parish ; not alone for the interest which attaches to the past, but chiefly because of the inspiration and hope for the present and in the future such a recital is bound to produce. Think where we stand. Not face to face with a fin- ished work and ended task. Far from it. Midway between the inception
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HISTORICAL SERMON, ST. THOMAS CHURCH.
and final achievement, our part it is, knowing how the good work began, to carry it on towards final accomplishment. The wise workman ceases from the labor on the walls from time to time, consulting his drawings and specifications, thus assuring himself that, in his own particular task, he has deviated no whit from the original design. As workers together with God, set here in Bath to help rear this Temple of Zion, fitly do we pause now to make an inspection of the tasks already performed, scan foundation and superstructure so far as the walls are raised, noting how excellently the work thus far completed has been done, prepared on the morrow to resume our labors on the rising walls, in the spirit of enthusiasm, faith and fidelity, so characteristic of those gone before, who, having finished their course, do now rest from their labors. To such a review I now invite you.
My task as historian has been made comparatively easy for me. Two of the former Rectors have taken pains to transcribe quite fully the records of the parish, from which it has not been difficult to arrange a pretty com- plete summary of our parochial existence. One of these MSS., the address of Dr. Howard at the Semi-Centennial in 1876, probably many present will recall. At any rate, I shall attempt little more than a compilation from records already existing.
Bath was settled in 1793. Twenty-two years elapsed before the ser- vices of the Episcopal church were rendered in the newly created village. Just why this was, the ancient chronicles do not inform us. It is true that the journals of some early travelers through this region, notably that of old Doctor Dwight (then President of Yale), do not refer enthusiastically to the religious zeal displayed at the outset by the first settlers here, or during the first decades of our village life. Nor does the very first attempt to organize religious services of any sort make a very spirited tale. Dr. How- ard has quaintly written : "The village Fathers had been forward to pro- vide a Hippodrome and an Opera House for the people, but to make ready a place for the worship of God did not seem to occur to them as a part of their duty. This task, as usual, devolved upon the Mothers of the village." Be this as it may, one fact about a century ago we must not ignore, The Missionary agencies of the Church, with which we are so familiar to-day, did not exist at the close of the last century. There was really no organ- ized society, whose treasury could be drawn upon for funds to carry the Gospel into the wilds, as Bath could then have been termed. Nor were the settlers themselves in a very good way to do much for themselves financially. The stern task of subduing a pathless forest confronted them. It is but fair to remember this, lest we judge our fathers too harshly. But to resume.
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