USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > Bushkill > Reformed (Dutch) Church of Walpack [Pike County, Pa.] : historical discourse preached at the dedication of the Reformed Church at Bushkill, Penn., January 13th, 1874 > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01205 3960 E
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Willa Compliments of
REFORMED (DUTCH) CHURCH
OF
WALPACK. P.
Ajistorical Hiscourse
PREACHED
AT THE DEDICATION
OF THE
REFORMED CHURCH,
AT BUSHKILL. PENN.,
JANUARY 13th, 1874, BY
REV. S. W. MILLS.
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.
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ELLENVILLE, N. Y .: TAYLOR & FISHER, PRINTERS, JOURNAL BUILDING .; 1874.
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Wjistorical Discourse. + 4
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Call to remembrance the former days .- HEBREWS x : 32.
It is often both seasonable and profitable for us to review the scenes and events of other days ; to study the history of the past, that we may gather from it lessons of wisdom and instruction,-of admonition and encouragement. The contem- plation by ns as individuals, of the dealings of Divine Provi- dence with us in the past history of our lives, -the calling up in review before the mind the mercies and blessings conferred upon us, and the sorrows and arials, which we have endured, when properly done, will ever prove beneficial. We shall be led thereby to recognize the goodness and mercy of God to- ward us, as well as His faithfulness to His promises, and thus be led to repose our trust in Him for the future, no less than to be admonished of the evil of departing from Him. That which is true of individuals, is equally so of communities, whether associated together for religious or for seenlar and civil purposes. The deeds of patriotism and piety performed by those who have preceded us, and who have served their day and generation, may well be held in remembrance by ns, and often recited for our own and others' good. This is so espec- ially when those whose history we review have been placed in circumstances of great trial and hardship, and have been called to act their part amid dangers and perils, and under manifold discouragements and difficulties. With what feelings do we
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recall the history of our patriot sires, in the perilous times in which their lot was cast ! In what veneration do we hold their memory ! What an influence for good may be produced by contemplating the toils and privations which they endured, the labors which they performed, and the sacrifices which they made to gain those liberties which they prized above property, case, and even life itself ! Let us often dwell upon them in these times of degeneracy and national corruption. Let us re- count them to our children and our children's children, that we and they may alike be inspired with loftier and purer mo- tives and purposes, and prove ourselves their worthy descend- ants.
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The duty of recalling the past is repeatedly spoken of in Scripture. In Job viii : 8, we read : " Inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers." In Deut. xxxii : 7, Moses says to the Israelites : " Remember the days of old, consider the years of many gen- erations." In accordance with these is Paul's direction in the text, in which he seeks to encourage the Hebrew Christians under the trials which they were called to endure, by a consid- eration of those which they had already experienced. "Call to remembrance the former days." To this pleasant duty we ad- dress ourselves on this occasion of so much interest to this congregation. We ask your patient hearing while we recite as briefly as is consistent with the subject, the history of the Church of Walpack, from its first organization up to the pres- ent time.
The first settlers of the Neversink and Delaware valleys were Huguenots and Hollanders, who came from Kingston and Esopus, in Ulster County, N. Y. Their first place of settle- ment was at Peenpack, along the Neversink north of Hngue- not, and about six or seven miles from Port Jervis. From this they passed down the Delaware, and subsequently some of them or of their descendants crossed over the Mountain to the Clove, near Deckertown. Deeply imbued with the principles and spirit of Protestantism-for which some of them had been
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pelled to fice from their native land,-they brought with them their religious privileges, and made early efforts to es- tablish churches and schools.
REV. GEORGE WILHELMUS MANCIUS.
It is highly probable that as they came from Kingston and its vicinity, the Rev. George Wilhelmus Maneins, Pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston, first preached the gospel here, and organized Churches both along the Neversink and Delaware. There were four churches organized probably about the same time-viz : Machackemech (now the Re- formed Church at Port Jervis), Menissinek, at Montague, N. J., Walpech and Smithfield.º The precise date of organiza- tion is not known, but the Minutes of Consistory date back to August 23d, 1737, at which time a Consistory was found in each Church performing Consistorial acts. Maneius, as it would seem from the record of baptisms in his handwriting, was in the habit of coming here regularly every six months (in May and November, ) from their first organization, to preach and administer the sacraments, until they obtained a minister of their own. These Churches were without a Pastor for four years, when the
REV. JOHANNES CASPARUS FRYENMOET İ
commenced his labors among them, June Ist, 1741, at the age of twenty, as appears from his own record in the Church Book. He was found among the people here, a lad of but sixteen, of much promise, who had been born in Switzerland, and had re- cceived a partial education for the ministry before coming to this country. In the scarcity of ministers they desire him to become their spiritual teacher. But he was only a boy, and
*The names of the first three churches are variously spelled in the min- utes -- Machackemech, Magagkamek, Magaghhamach, Mahackamach ; Menis- sinck, Manissinek, Menissing, Minisink ; Watpech, Walpek, Walpack. Usu- ally, for the first fifty years as in the first of each of these names,-and so we have written them.
+Until 1747 ke wrote his name Fryenmuth, and after that invariably Fry- enmoet. The first is supposed to be the Swiss, and the second the Holland mode of spelling it.
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his education was very imperfect, while the regulations of the Churches were very strict in requiring an educated ministry. There were no schools of theology in this country to which he could be sent, and no ecclesiastical organizations to give the proper commission for the work of the ministry. What was to be done ? In their poverty they raise among themselves the requisite means to send him to Holland to complete his studies, and to receive ordination from the Classis of Amster- dam, upon which the Reformed Churches in this country were then all dependent ; and after four long years he comes back to them, true to his engagements, and commences his labors among them. What an honorable record is this for both min- ister and people ! What an instance of liberality, of confi- dence and of hope on the part of the one, and of devotedness and fidelity on the part of the other! Their long years of patient waiting were well rewarded. Mr. F. proved a most acceptable, faithful and successful minister, and withal was remarkably genial and social in personal intercourse. His praise went abroad, not only through all this region, but other communities and Churches were charmed by him. Efforts were made at different times by various Churches to induce him to leave his field of labor here. A strong effort was made at the time of his leaving, to seeme his services for the Churches of Harlingen, Readington, Raritan and North Branch, N. J. Only six months after his settlement here a call was made upon him by the Churches of Rochester, New Paltz, Shawangunk and Marbletown, which called forth a reply from the Consisto -. ries of Machackemech and Menissinck, which for its keenness and expressions of kind Christian feeling is seldom equalled, even at this day." The Church records kept by him are mod- els of neatness and accuracy as well as of penmanship. His name was signed invariably in a monogram, very frequently placing under it his age at the time. The number of members received into the Church of Walpack during his ministry here I have been unable to ascertain ; but in the Churches of Ma- chackemech and Menissinek, whose records were kept in the
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160 same book and recorded with great care, we find that full were ed to the membership during the fifteen years of his labors. During this period the Baptismal record of the sune Churches shows that he baptized 504 children.
The district of country covered by his labors in these four Churches extended from Westbrookville at the north, to Smith- field (Shawnee, ) at the south, being full fifty miles. Within this same district are now twenty ministers of different evan- gelical denominations engaged in the regular work of the min- istry.
The amount of salary paid to Mr. F. by each of these four Churches was seventeen pounds and ten shillings, or seventy pounds in all, together with one hundred schopels of oats,- twenty-five schepels from each Church.º The Churches of Machackemech, Menissinck and Walpeck were to pay the amount pledged by them in " New York Current Money," and the church of Smithfield in " Proclamation Money." It would i seem from the Church Records of Machackemech and Menis- sinek that at first there was an explicit and definite agreement as to the money to be paid for his services, between these Churches and Mr. F. alone ; for after he had deelined the call from Rochester and the other Churches already referred to. the Consistories of these two Churches met together; January 7th, 1742, and resolved that "after the transit of this year, they should pay him yearly or every year the full amount of forty pounds in New York engrent money whenever he should mar- ry," (cach Church paying at a specified time twenty pounds,) " but if he should continue unmarried. the two Churches should only pay the sum of thirty-five pounds." The young minis- ter took good care that the two Churches should pay the twenty pounds each, as appears from the following record, made by himself six months afterward, in which he was but setting a good example before his people, and at the same time proving that he possessed at least one of the qualifications of a Serip- tural bishop, given by Paul in I Timothy, iii : 2. "Johannes Casparns Fryenmuth, young man, born in Switzerland, and
*A schepel is three pecks.
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Lena Van Etten, young woman, born in Nytsfield, were mar- ried with a License from Governeur Morris in Jersey, by Jus- tice Abram Van Campen, 23d day of July, 1742."8
Subsequently to the agreement made by these two Churches to pay the above amount of forty pounds, the Churches of Walpeck and Smithfield, in which he had been preaching all along, and where he had, we may suppose, received some com- pensation for his services, entered into the arrangement with them, when each of the four was to pay seventeen pounds and ten shillings. These four Consistories likewise at a later date (April 11th, 1748,) adopted the following minute bearing upon his support, and aiding him in his ministerial duties, which it must have required their combined wisdom and gen- erosity to devise. No two of them were adequate to it. The minute reads thus : .. They have authorized Cornelius West- brook to purchase a horse for the Dominic, and pay for it from the Elders' chest in each Church, which horse the Dominic hath agreed to use exclusively for the Churches, except he will use it for himself." How well the arrangement regarding this Church horse worked we are left to conjecture from the follow- ing extract from the minutes just nine months later, signed by the minister himself : " I bind myself, by my signature, to the four united Churches of Smithfield, Walpeck, Menissinck and Machackemech, pursuant with an obligation of the same date with this, henceforth to serve the Churches with my own horse. For the establishment of this I subscribe my name. J. C. Fryemmoet."
Toward the close of Mr. FY's ministry here the Church of Smithfield withdrew from the other three Churches. At a joint meeting of the Consistories of the four Churches, held December 23d, 1753, " the elders of the Church of Smithfield desired, with the consent of Rev. Mr. F., to be relieved of his services. Their request was granted through love by the oth- er three Churches." No reason was assigned for the request :
*Van Campen was one of the first four Judges of Sussex County, New Jersey, appointed by the King of England in 1753.
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but all appears to have been done with the utmost good feel- ing. There was a canse for it, as we think, to which allusion will be made hereafter.
Mr. F. remained here until August 12th, 1756, a period of fifteen years, when, on account of the Indian massacres in this region, he accepted a call from Kinderhook, Claverack, and Livingston Manor, where he remained for twenty-one years, and where his ministry, as well as here, was greatly blessed. He died about 1778, and was interred under the Kinderhook Church. The Van Burens and Kittles of the vicinity of Kin- derhook were his descendants. It is said that Mr. F., accord- ing to the custom of his day, was the owner of slaves, as were also many of his parishioners.
MORAVIANS.
It may be a matter of some interest to state that at one time during Mr. F.'s ministry here, " the Moravian Brethren preached and kept a school in the upper valley of the Dela- ware, on the Jersey shore, in 1746 and 1747. In the former year Joseph Shaw was settled at Walpack. Here his wife de- ceased. He also preached at Minisink Church, and on one oc- casion, in April, 1747, had a promisenous audience of Swedes, English, Scotch, Irish, Welsh, Germans, Walloons, Shawan- ese, Mohawks, Delawares and Catawbas."+ In October, 1747, Mr. Shaw sailed as a missionary to St. Thomas, and was lost at sea during a violent gale. No further mention is made in their annals, of the efforts of the Moravians after this in the valley, and the field was evidently left to Mr. Fryenmoet.
REV. THOMAS ROMEYN.
After the departure of Rev. Mr. Fryenmoet the three Churches were vacant four years, when the Rev. Thomas Ro- meyn, of Long Island, accepted a call, September 6th, 1760. Mr. R. was born in Pompton, N. J., March 20th, 1729, stud- ied under Goetchins and T. Frelinghuysen, sailed from New- York for Europe, April 11th, 1752, and was ordained by the Classis of Amsterdam, September 3d of the same year ; ac-
+Moravian Annals.
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cepted a call from Success, Newtown, Oyster Bay and Jamai- ca, on Long Island, November 10th, 1752, where he remained until coming here in 1760. But little is known of his minis- try among these Churches, and such is the character of the Church Records kept by him that it is well nigh impossible to learn anything from them. His wretched, illegible penman- ship, contrasts strikingly with the neat, distinct hand of his predecessor. He was a quiet, peaceable man, devoted to his work, and served the churches faithfully. Soon after his set- tlement here, Mr. R. commenced preaching a part of the time in Wantage, N. J. (at the Clove), which resulted at length in the organization of a Reformed Dutch Church there in 1788, during Mr. Van Benschoten's ministry. While here Mr. R. married for his second wife, Susan Van Campen, daughter of Col. Ab'm . Van Campen, of Pahaquarry. He remained in Charge of the churches here twelve years, until 1772, when he became the Pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Caugh- nawaga, Montgomery County, N. Y., and continued such for twenty-one years, when he was by ill health compelled to re . sign his charge, and where he also died, October 22d, 1794.
. Three of Mr. R.'s sons entered the ministry of the Reformed Dutch Church, while a fourth died in the course of prepara- tion for it. A grandson (James,) was for many years one of the most able and learned ministers in our denomination, while a great-grandson (Theodore B.,) is at the present time the highly esteemed Pastor of the First Reformed Church in Hackensack, N. J. It is a most gratifying testimonial that is thus furnished to the faith and piety of the second Pastor of these Churches of the Delaware, that while comparatively little is known of his labors here, his descendants to the third and fourth generation have been engaged in preaching in the Church of their fathers the same blessed gospel proclaimed by him.
After Mr. R. left there was an interval of about thirteen years during which these churches were without any regular services, owing chiefly to the troubled state of the country pre- ceding and during the Revolutionary war. Occasional sup-
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plies broke to them the bread of life, among whom we find on the church-book the names of Jacob R. Hardenbergh, V., D. M , and Benjamin DuBois, V. D. M., in 1784.
REV. ELIAS VAN BENSCHOTEN.
On May 11th, 1785, a call was given to the Rev. Elias Van- Benschoten (Van Bunschooten he usually wrote it), by the three Churches of Machackemech, Menissinck and Walpack. The call was accepted July 9th, and he was installed August 28th, by Rev. Dr. Jacob R. Hardenbergh, of Marbletown, Ulster County, N. Y. The name of no minister in our Church, dead or living, is so generally known in it. Mr. V. B. was born at New Hackensack, Dutchess Co., N. Y., October 26th, 1738. Graduating from Princeton College in 1768, he stud- ied Theology with Dr. Hermanns Meyer, of Kingston, N. Y., as appears from a receipt in the Dutch language. signed by him, October 7th, 1772, acknowledging the payment in full of three pounds, two shillings and sixpence, for board and tu- ition. If this receipt covered the entire term of study, " either the course of study (it has been well said,) was not very extended, or provisions for both mind and body were mar- velously cheap in the good old times." Mr. V. B. was first settled at Shaghticoke, on the Hudson, for twelve years until coming here. About two years after commencing his minis- try here, application was made to the Classis of New Bruns- wick for the organization of a Reformed Dutch Church at the Clove, near Deckertown, which was effected the succeeding year. + Subsequent to this his services were divided between that Church and the Churches on the Delaware, and at length, in 1792, he removed to the Clove, though still serving the Churches here until 1799, or 1800. He continued to labor at the Clove (where he owned a farm and mill,) with much ac- ceptance and success, until 1812, when, on account of his ad- vanced age (74), he gave up his charge. Three years later, (January 10th, 1815,) after a lingering and painful illness, he closed his useful life on earth, and entered upon his reward. A few years subsequent to his death, his remains were taken +Sre No.t. B.
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up by the General Synod from their place of interment at the Clove, and removed to New Brunswick, N. J., and laid by the side of those of many of the Professors of the College, and of the Theological Seminary. Dr. McClure says : " A very singular event took place at the exhumation of his remains. Among those attracted to the spot was a very. respectable wo- man who had grown up under his ministry. When she saw the coffin raised the thoughts of his sermons and more pri- vate instructions rushed upon her with overpowering force. Filled with anguish of spirit, under convictions of the light she had sinned against while enjoying his teachings, she sank exhausted by the tumult of her feelings. Months passed in deep anxiety before she found peace in believing."
Possessed of some eccentricities, Mr. V. B. had likewise many excellencies, and was held in high esteem. He was re- markable for his frugality, for his strict and exact honesty in business transactions9 (which is too often confounded with meanness), and for abstemiousness in his manner of living. His services were conducted in either the Dutch or English language, as occasion required ; and the Church Records kept by him show entries in both languages, but principally the former. His preaching was highly Scriptural and evangelical, was clear and distinct in argument, and his messages delivered with an earnest and holy unction. His labors were much blessed. There are those still living in our valley who retain a distinct recollection of him,-of his person, his appearance, his manners and his services. In 1814, at the suggestion of Rev. Dr. Livingston, Professor of Theology at New Bruns- wick, and a warm personal friend, he made what was in that day a munificent gift, of $14,640 (increased at his death to $17,000), to the Trustees of Queen's (now Rutger's) College, the income of which was to be applied to the support of young
*Whether in paying or receiving money, he insisted upon the last cent. As an instance of this, we are told that in settling with a customer at his mill, upon finding that he owed him THREE CENTS, he went to his house for the coppers, against the earnest remonstrance of the man for troubling himself about such a trifle. Finding him gone upon his return, he sent a negro in chase, who followed him seven miles until he overtook and paid him.
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men desiring to preach the Gospel. This fund now amounts to over $20,000, and has already educated over one hundred and twenty-five ministers in our Church, besides inciting many others to like gifts. For sixty years it has been doing its bles- sed work, in furnishing the Churches at home with those who break to them the bread of life, as well as in sending mission- aries to India and China, and the islands of the sea. It has been said that this was the first gift of the kind for theologi- cal education in our country.
Mr. V. B. was the last minister who served these three churches jointly, Menissinck and Machackemech from this time until 1838, uniting together in one minister.
REV. JAMES G. FORCE.
Walpack remained vacant until November 15th, 1808, when their fourth minister, Rev. James G. Force, commenced his labors among them as Stated Supply. He continued as such for three years, until November 17th, 1811, when he was in- stalled Pastor by Rev. John M. Van Harlingen. In connec- tion with Walpack, Mr. F. preached at Hardwick, a township in Warren County, N. J., from 1811 until 1816, and at one time supplied for several months the Presbyterian Church of Smithfield. He remained the Pastor of this Church until 1827, the entire period of his services being about nineteen years. At the beginning of his ministry there were but twen- ty-six persons in communion with the Church. From 1812 until 1827, sixty-two were received into connection with it by confession and certificate. Mr. F. is said to have had a good mind, and to have been an instructive and profitable preacher. Ile was a kind hearted, benevolent man, and very pleasant and friendly in intercourse. He had one quite serious failing in connection with his public services, not altogether in accord- ance with his name,-a want of punctuality in commencing his services. He was seldom at the place of worship in time. His habit in this regard was a matter of general complaint. llis ministry however was in the main useful, though a mod- est and unassuming man. His successor speaks of him as " a faithful and able preacher of the Gospel, who labored with ac-
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ceptance and success until a few years before he gave up his call," and who was "conspicuous for his great humility." After resigning his call, in 1827, he lived in Sandyston, with- out charge, until his death in July, 1851, aged 84 years. His remains were interred in the Church Burying Yard at Peters' Valley, though, shameful to say, no stone of any description marks the spot where this servant of God was laid.
The Church of Walpack, as also those of Minisink and Ma- hackamach, when Mr. F. commenced his labors here, and for five or six years subsequently, appears to have been in a very feeble and discouraging condition. The whole region seems to have been a missionary field ; and hence the Classis of New Brunswick in 1813 applied to General Synod for aid to sup- port the Gospel on the Delaware. " These Churches," says the Report of Synod, "are in a destitute state, and require more service than the Classis can afford them. If a suitable char- acter could be found to visit these societies, the Churches above mentioned might be soon placed in a situation to support at least one minister, and new churches be organized."
NEW CHURCH ORGANIZATION.
In 1827 serious divisions arose in the Church, growing out of some cases of discipline, which greatly affected its prosper- ity. To such an extent did these proceed that the Classis of New Brunswick advised the organization of a new Church. This was accordingly effected June 14th, 1827, by the Rev. Mr. Elting, who had been appointed by the Classis for that purpose. The new organization bore the name of the Lower Dutch Reformed Church of Walpack. John Depue, Jr., and Nathaniel Eldridge were chosen Elders. One month later, July 14th and 15th, seventeen members were received by the Con- sistory upon confession, and seven from the old Church, the Rev. I. S. Demund, a Missionary of Classis, being present, preaching and administering the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. From records made at the time, it appears that the new. Church were greatly encouraged, feeling that the blessing of the Lord was evidently resting upon them. On August 18th the Consistory of the old Church met, there be-
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