Jf IX CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM BX9211.T65"F52"T9ir'''"'^ "'^*?iiiyiiiiiiiJiiri?™iiSri??i?y'^'''3" Church in Tr olin 3 1924 029 477 324 ^^^^w«^ V^^ ^hH^ /sj^ r^« InterlibV? Jry 6)0fk due 0R3>** 1922^, PIP itLo I < CAVLORD PRtNTCDINU.S.A. Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029477324 REV. JOHN HALL, D.D. HISTORY OP THB Presbyterian Church IN TRENTON, N. J. FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWN By JOHN ^Alvlv, D.D. M8MBER OF THE PRSSBYTEEIAN HISTOEICAI, SOCIETV, AND OF THB HISTORICAI, S0CIBTI8S OF NSW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA AND WISCONSIN. SECOND EDITION Prepared for the observance of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the First Church, with much supplementary material collected by Dr. Hall during his Pastorate TRENTON, N. J. MacCeeimsh & QuiGtBY, Printers 1912 PREFACE. T T WILL be at once noticed that this volume introduces many per- sons, places, and incidents, as well as churches, that do not come strictly within the scope of its title. But I thought that it would contribute to the interest and usefulness, not to say the circulation of the book, to make it contain as much information as without positive incongruity could be collected from the materials that came before me, and which would probably not fall so easily into other hands. I take the opportunity of asking to be apprised of the errors or omis- sions that may be discovered, and of any additional facts or documents relative to the history, which would make it more complete. Having now fulfilled the request of many esteemed friends in the church and city, I leave the work in their hands, hoping that none will be wholly disappointed, and praying that the result inay show that the time it has occupied has not been spent at all inconsistently with the obligations of my sacred office and my particular charge. Trenton, March 23, 1859. (iii) PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. A FTER the publication of his History, in 1859, Dr. Hall continued the collection of all manner of interesting illustrative material, which he wrote out at length in a book to which he gave the title "Sup- plement to the History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, by John Hall, New York, 1859." This manuscript book he deposited in the archives of the church. In the preparation of this second edition the bulk of this supplement has been added to the book of 1859, in the form of an appendix. Dr. Hall's preface to his supplementary collec- tion is as follows : "It should be remembered that the History was, avowedly, not exclusively that of the First Church (as sometimes noted in books and pamphlets), but of the 'Presbyterian Church in Trenton,' and 'from the first settlement of the town.' Also, that, as declared in the Preface, 'many persons, places and incidents, as well as churches,' were introduced, because of the opportunity which I then had, and no one might have again, of obtaining the information, even though the facts had no direct connection with the name of the work. I have taken the same license in the Supplement, and hope to forestall objec- tions by foretelling on this page that it has purposely included many names and occurrences which have only an indirect or casual associa- tion with the title, but which are not without some interest in them- selves, and will demand no apology." No changes in either the text or the form- of Dr. Hall's unique and invaluable book have been made, except that a very few of the footnotes, essential to the correctness and accuracy of the text, have been incorporated with it, and others of a general illustrative character (v) vi PREFACE. have been transferred to the appendix, where they appear in connec- tion with the other material of the Supplement. A very few errors, pointed out by Dr. Hall himself in his notes, have been corrected. It is believed that this second and enlarged edition of Dr. Hall's work will prove not less interesting and valuable, to readers of a later time, than was the first book to his friends and fellow-townsmen of 1859. I gratefully acknowledge the aid of the Rev. John Dixon, D.D., the Rev. Lewis Seymour Mudge, D.D., and the Rev. Henry Collin Minton, D.D., who have written the history of the church during their pas- torates, but especially am I indebted to the Rev. Walter A. Brooks, D.D., who has most happily combined the Supplementary Collections with the first published text in a continuous narrative, the original authorship of each being exactly preserved. Also am I indebted to the Hon. Garret D. W. Vroom for his generous interest in the super- vision of the book through the press, for his valued suggestions, and for his interest in securing some of the historical facts and illustra- tions for the book. MARY ANNA HALL. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE. Presbyterian Settlement of Central New Jersey — Falls of Delaware — 1682-1700, i CHAPTER II. The Churches of Hopewell and Maidenhead — 1698-1736, 13 CHAPTER III. The Trenton Church — The Rev. David Cowell — 1714-1738 31 CHAPTER IV. Rev. Mr. Cowell and Rev. Mr. Tennent — Schism of Synod — 1736-1760, 47 CHAPTER V. Trenton in 1748 — Episcopal Churches — Trenton Names and Places — 1746-1760, 57 CHAPTER VI. College of New Jersey — Cowell, Burr, Davies, FinlEy — 1746-1760, 69 CHAPTER VII. Mr. Cowell's Death and Burial — 1759-1760, 81 CHAPTER VIII. The First Charter of the Church — Trustees — 1756-1760, 93 CHAPTER IX. Ministry of the Rev. Wm. Kirkpatrick — His History — 1760- 1766, 99 (vii) viii TABLE OP CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. PAGE. Trustees — TbEnton and Maidenhead — 1764-1769 ii7 CHAPTER XL EtiHu Spencer, D.D.— His Previous History— 1721-1769, 125 CHAPTER Xn. Dr. Spencer's Congregation— i 769-1 773, i39 CHAPTER XHL Dr. Spencer's Ministry — Revolutionary Incidents in Trenton — 1773-1780, 159 CHAPTER XIV. Close oe Dr. Spencer's Ministry— His Death— i 780-1 784, 171 CHAPTER XV. The Rev. J. P. Armstrong — Previous History and Settlement — 1750-1790, 179 CHAPTER XVI. The General Assembly — New Constitution oe the Church — Notes, 1785-1790, 193 CHAPTER XVII. Public Occasions in Trenton — Notes — 1789-1806 201 CHAPTER XVIII. The New Brick Church — Notes — 1804-1806, 213 CHAPTER XIX. Theological Seminary — Mr. Armstrong's Death — Notes — 1807-1816, 223 CHAPTER XX. Samuel B. How, D.D. — William J. Armstrong, D.D. — Rev. John Smith — Notes— 1816-1828, 237 TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER XXI. PAGE. jAMfis W. Alexander, D.D.— John W. Yeomans, D.D.— John Hali,, D.D.— 1829-1859, 249 CHAPTER XXn. Supplementary Items— 1859-1884, 265 CHAPTER XXIII. John Dixon, D.D. — Lewis Seymour Mudge, D.D. — 1884-1901, ... 271 CHAPTER XXIV. Henry Collin Minton, D.D., 283 APPENDIX. PAGE. I. Dr. Hall's Supplement, 291 II. History of the Proposal to make Trenton the Capital oE THE United States, 365 III. Deed of Basse and Revel, 371 IV. List op the Pastors, Elders, Deacons and Trustees of Tren- ton Church, 373 V. List op Burials Made from Inscriptions on the Headstones IN THE Church- Yard, 377 VI. Inscriptions on Tombstones Under the First Presbyterian Church, 393 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN TRENTON. CHAPTER I. Presbyterian Settlement oe Central New Jersey — Falls of Delaware. 1682! — 1700. The territory occupied by the present city of Trenton lies so near the boundary between the Berkeley and the Car- teret, or the east and the west sections of the Province of New Jersey, that the history of its settlement is connected with that of both the original divisions. The advance of the Quaker colonists from the south and west, and of the Dutch and Puritan from the north and east, gradually peo- pled this central region. It is, however, to the policy which invited to East Jersey the inhabitants of Scotland and Ire- land that we owe the immigration, which, in the course of time, gave Presbyterian features tO' the religious character of its inhabitants, and made it "the cradle of Presbyterian- ism in America."* In the year 1682, when Carteret's in- terest in New Jersey was purchased by William Penn and his eleven associates, the Society of Friends, of which they all were members, was the smallest religious denomination there. The few settlements that existed at the time — the whole population was not more than five thousand — v/ere composed chiefly of families that had emigrated from New England, Holland and Scotland. As West New Jersey and Pennsylvania were sufficient to absorb the Quaker interest, it was a matter of policy to place the new enterprise on such * Hildreth's "United States," vol. ii, Chapter 17. I PRES (l) 2 HISTORY OF THE a foundation as would be inviting to persons of all creeds. For this purpose the twelve original proprietors determined to share their interest with an equal number of new adven- turers. The leading varieties of ecclesiastical connections then prevailing in the mother countries of England, Scot- land and Ireland, seem to have been represented in the new body of proprietors, but most of them, whether Protestants or Romanists, and even the leading Quakers, were connected with Scotland. The second set were a motley collection. The earls of Perth and Melford (Drummond) had apos- tatized to Romanism from: the Church of Scotland on the accession of James II. "They did this," says Macaulay,* "with a certain audacious baseness which no English states- man could hope to emulate." They were, at the time of becoming proprietors in the land of toleration, persecuting in Scotland such as refused to testify against the P'resby- t-erians. Barclay was a native of Scotland, became a Roman Catholic in Paris, was thereupon recalled by his father, and both became Quakers. The Scotch and Irish Presbyterians and New England Ptiritans (many, perhaps most, of whom were Presbyteriansf ) , made the moral character of the Province. In July, 1684, a vessel from Leith carried one hundred and sixty passengers, and another from Montrose one hundred and thirty to East Jersey. In that year Gawen Lawrie, the Deputy Governor, wrote from; Elizabethtown : "The Scots and William Dockwra's^ people, coming now and settling, advance the Province more than it hath been advanced these ten years." In closing a glowing account of the Province, he says : "I have none tO' write for me, but you must send a copy of this to Scotland." In another letter of the same month, the same writer remarks : "The Scots have taken a right course. They have sent over many ser- vants, and are likewise sending more. They have likewise * "History of England," chapter 6. t See Hodge's "Constitutional History," part i, 22-39. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 3 sent over many poor families, and given them a small stock." James Johnston writes to his brother in Edin- burgh : "It is most desired there may be some ministers sent us over; they would have considerable benefices and good estates ; and since it would be a matter of great piety, I hope you will be instrumental tO' advise some over to us." There appears to have been an early provision in some places for the ministry. Oldmixon says :* "A year or two after the surrender [of the patents of the proprie- taries to the Crown, 1702], Sergeant Hook purchased 3,750 acres of land in West Jersey, and gave the tenth part of it as a glebe to the Church. He was a Presbyterian ; but I suppose glebe is as consistent with that denomination, as any other.'' Peter Watson, writes to a friend in Selkirk (August, 1684) : "We have great need of good and faithful minis- ters, and I wish that there would come over some here; they can live as well and have as much as in Scotland, and more than many get. We have none within all the Prov- ince of East Jersey, except one who is preacher in New- ark ; there were one or two preachers more in the Province, but they are dead, and now the people meet together every Sabbath day and read, and pray, and sing psalms in their meeting-houses." In January, 1685, Eullerton writes from Elizabethtown to Montrose : "By my next I hope to insure sixty or seventy pounds to the parson, for we want a min- ister." In March, 1685, Cockburn writes toi Scotland: "There is nothing discourages us more than want of min- isters here ; but now they have agreed about their stipends, there is one to be placed in New Perth, Piscataway, Wood- bridge and Elizabethtown. They have a mind to bring themi from Scotland." Among the emigrants who left Scot- land in 1685 was George Scot, Laird of Pitlochie. It was the first year of the reign of James II., when already the ^ British Empire in America, i. p. 294. 4 HISTORY OP THE non-conformists of England and Scotland perceived that they had nothing to expect under the new monarch but a continuance of the persecutions of which their country, for its faith's sake, had been the bloody field. "Never," says Macaulay, "not even under the tyranny of Laud, had the condition of the Puritans been so deplorable as at that time. * * * Through many years the autumn of 1685 was remembered by the non-conformists as a time O'f misery and terror. * * * In Scotland the King had demanded and obtained new statutes of unprecedented severity against the Presbyterians."* "Severe as the sufferings of the non- conformists in England were at this period," says another historian, "they were nothing compared with that was en- dured by the poor Presbyterians of Scotland."t George Scot advertised his project in the following terms : "Whereas, There are several people in this Icingdom, who, upon account of their not going that length in conformity required of them by the law, do live very uneasy; who, beside the other agreeable ac- commodations of that place [East New Jersey] may there freely enjoy their own principles without hazard or the least trouble; seeing there are ministers of their own persuasion going along with the said Mr. George Scot ; who, by the fundamental constitution of that country are allowed the free exercise of their ministry, such as Mr. Archibald Riddel, brother to Sir John Riddel, of Riddel; Mr. Thomas Patter- son, late minister of Borthwick, and several other ministers ; it is hereby signified to all, who desire this voyage, that the Henry and Francis, of Newcastle, a ship of 350 tons, and twenty great guns, Richard Hutton, master, is freighted for the transportation of these families, and will take in passengers and goods at Leith, and passen- gers at Montrose, and Aberdeen, and Kirkwa, in Orkney, and set sail thence for East New Jersey, against the 20th day of July, God willing." Scot sailed about the time specified, with nearly two hundred of his countrymen, but himself and wife died * "History of England," chap. 5, 7. t Orme's "Life of Baxter," i. 294. And see Wodrow's "History of the Suffer- ings of the Church of Scotland." FIRST PRESBYTHRIAN CHURCH. 5 on the voyage.^ Previous tO' his embarking he pubHshed at Edinburgh a volume of 272 pages, entitled: "The Model of the Government of the Province of East New Jersey in America; and Encouragement for Such as Design to be Concerned There."^ The Stottish Presbyterian, or one knowing he was writing to such, is at once detected in the elaborate and learned argument, which precedes all his statistics, to' prove a warrant for colonization from the word of God. Among his points is that the wonderful openings tO' the discovery of America, and the encourage- ments offered tO' Protestant nations, indicated the purpose of Providence that "he might at length cause the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ shine out to them as it did to other nations, after the sharp times of the bitter desolations thereo'f betwixt the Romans and them." In bolder terms than in the more public advertisement of his undertaking, he thus appeals to the religious jealousy of his fellow- churchmen : "You see, it is now judged the interest of the government altogether to suppress the Presbyterian principles; and that in order thereto the whole force and bensill [violence] of the law of this kingdom are leveled at the effectual bearing them down; that the vigorous putting those laws in execution hath in a great part ruined many of these, who, notwithstanding thereof, iind themselves in conscience obliged to retain these principles; while, on the other hand. Episcopacy is, by the same laws, supported and protected. I would gladly know what other rational medium can be proposed in their circumstances, than either to comply with the government by going what length is required by law in conforming, or to retreat where by law a toleration is by his Majesty allowed. Such a retreat doth at present offer itself in America, and is nowhere else to be found in his Majesty's dominions." We find in this connection an allusion tO' the north of Ireland, which was fully realized in subsequent years, in the contributions made from that quarter to the Presby- terian population of America. "I had an account lately from an acquaintance of mine, that the Province of Ulster, where most of our nation are seated, could spare 6 HISTORY OP THE forty thousand men and women to an American plantation, and be sufficiently peopled itself. The gentleman who gave me this informa- tion is since settled in Maryland ; the account he sends of that country is so encouraging that I hear a great many of his acquaintances are making for that voyage."* But it was not contemplated to establish the Kirk in New Jersey. "Presbyter" of Britain was not, according to Milton, to be "Priest writ large" in America. "Liberty in matters of religion," said Scot, "is established in the full- est manner. Tb be a pltinter or inhabitant, nothing is required but the acknowledging of one Almighty God? and toi have a share in the government a simple profession of faith oif Jesus Christ, without descending intoi any other of the differences among Christians ; only that religion may not be a cloak for disturbance, who ever comes intO' the Magistrature, must declare they hold not themselves in conscience obliged, for religion's sake, to make an altera- tion, or to endeavor to turn out their partners in the gov- ernment, because they differ in opinion from them; and this is no more than to follow the great rule, to do as they would be done by." Mr. Bancroft, after following the remark, "this is the era at which East New Jersey, till now chiefly colonized from- New England, became the asylum: of Scottish Presby- terians," with an eloquent sketch of the sufferings of that people under the attempt of the Stuarts to force Episcopacy upon them, asks : "Is it strange that Scottish Presbyterians of virtue, education and courage, blending a love of popu- lar liberty with religious enthusiasm, hurried to East New Jersey in such numbers as toi give to the rising common- wealth a character which a century and a half has not effaced?" "In a few years," he adds, "a law of the com- monwealth, giving force to the common principle of the New England and the Scottish Calvinists, established a * See "History of the Church of Ireland," Biblical Repertory, April, 1844, Octo- ber, 1859. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 7 system of free schools. * * * Thus the mixed character of New Jersey springs from- the different sources of its people. Puritans, Covenanters and Quakers met on her soil; and their faith, institutions and preferences, having life in the common mind, survive the Stuarts."* Robert Barclay was the first Governor under the new proprietary administration (1683). Although the office was given him for life, he was not required to reside in the Province, and, in fact, he never saw it, but was repre- sented by deputies. Mr. Grahame, in his "Colonial His-i tory," says, under 168.5 '■ "-^^ ^ further recommendation of the Province to the favor of the Scotch, Barclay dis- placing a deputy (Lawrie), whom he had appointed of his own religious persuasion, conferred this office on Lord Neil Campbell, uncle of the Marquis of Argyle, who re- paired to East Jersey and remained there for some time as its Lieutenant Governor." Campbell was followed by another Scotchman, Andrew Hamilton. While Presbyterians were thus finding homics in the northern and eastern parts of the Province, others mingled with the settlements that were creeping up the Delaware on both banks and scattering between the river and the ocean. The fi:rst church in Philadelphia (less than thirty miles from Trenton) was organized about i6g8. There was a Dutch Presbyterian Church at Neshaminy (twenty miles) in 1710. But the church in Monmouth county, originally called "the Scotch Meeting-House," better known to us as the "Tennent Church" (thirty miles), was formed of Stottish materials about 1692. Its first pastor was from- Scotland.^ I have indulged in the foregoing retrospect for the pur- pose of showing the origin and general progress of the population that at length reached the more central region where the capital of the Province came tO' be established. * Bancroft's "Colonial History," chap. 17. 8 HISTORY OF THE And here I introduce, as a curious local memorandum, the earliest record to be found of a journey on what is now one of the two great thoroughfares between New York and Philadelphia, by Trenton, but eight years before Phila- delphia was laid out by Penn, and when the site of Tren- ton was only known as at "the Falls of the Delaware." William Edmundson, a minister of the Friends from Eng- land, made the following entry in his journal of 1675, after leaving Shrewsbury and Middletown : "Next morning we took our journey through the wilderness towards Maryland, to cross the river at Delaware Falls. Richard Hartshorn and Eliakim Wardell would go a day's journey with us. We hired an Indian to guide us, but he took us wrong, and left us in the woods. When it was late we alighted, put our horses to grass, and kindled a fire by a little brook, convenient for water to drink, to lay down till morning, but were at a great loss concerning the way, being all strangers in the wilderness. Richard Hartshorn advised to go back to Rarington river, about ten miles back, as was supposed, to find out a small landing place from New York, from whence there was a small path that led to Delaware Palls. So we rode back, and in some time found the landing place and little path ; then the two friends committed us to the Lord's guidance, and went back. We traveled that day, and saw no tame creature. At night we kindled a fire in the wilder- ness and lay by it, as we used to do in such journeys. Next day, about nine in the morning, by the good hand of God, we came well to the Falls, and by His providence found there an Indian man, a woman, and boy with a canoe; so we hired him for some wampampeg to help us over in the canoe; we swam our horses, and though the river was broad, yet got well over, and by the direction we received from friends, traveled towards Delawaretown [probably Newcastle], along the west side of the river. When we had rode some miles, we baited our horses and refreshed ourselves with such provisions as we had, for as yet we were not come to any inhabitants."* As "the Falls of the Delaware" was not only the first name given to the part of the river where Trenton was afterwards built, but was for more than a century used to * "A Journal of the life, travels, sufferings, and labors of love in the work of the ministry of that worthy elder and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, William Edmundson, who departed this life the 31st of the sixth month, 1712." London. 1715. (Philadelphia Library, No. 668. 8vo.) FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 9 denote the general locality, it may be well to notice that what is dignified by the term, is no more than the rapids of the current in the descent of about eighteen feet in six miles.^ The association of the term- has often led to the confounding of the Trenton ripples with the truly grand falls of West Canada creek in New York, which are called "Trenton Falls" from a village in their vicinity. This has given occasion to some ludicrous disappointments with travelers.* It was probably the cause of the illusion of the English tourist in 1797, who "entered the State of New Jersey and slept at Trenton, which we left before sunrise the next morning; a circumstance I regretted, as I wished to' see the falls of the river Delaware in that neighborhood, which, I am informed, are worthy the at- tention of a traveler."* The translator of the work of Kalm, to be more fully quoted hereafter, raises the humble rapids mentioned by the Swede, to "the catatracts of the Delaware near Trenton."! Another Englishman, and president of the Royal Astronomical Society, pronounced, in 1796, that "these do not deserve the name of fails, being nothing more than a ledge of rocks reaching across the river, and obstructing the navigation for large vessels. "t Wansey, the "Wiltshire Qothier," says in 1794: "In passing the Delaware with our coachee, we ferry within ten yards of one of the rapids, by which we are to under- stand that part of a river where the bed is almost filled up with rocks, chiefly below the surface Oif the water, which occasions the current to pass very quick and make it dangerous to those who are not acquainted with the navi- gation.** In a work by Dr. Douglas, a Scotchman, but for thirty years a resident of Boston, the following de- * "Priest's Travels, 1793-7." London. t "Kalm's Travels, by Forster." London. 1770. I. 49. t "Journal of a tour in unsettled parts of North America in 1796 and 1797. By the late Francis Baily, President of the Royal Astronomical Society." London. 1856. P. 115. ** "Journal of an Excursion," p. 106. 10 HISTORY OF THE scription is gfiven of the navig-ation of the Delaware river in 1749-53: "From Philadelphia to Trent-Town Falls are thirty-five miles; these are the first falls in the river, and the tide reaches up so high ; these falls are practicable, and the river navigable with boats that carry eight or nine tons iron, forty miles higher to Durhami iron works. * * * From' Trent-Town Falls this river is practicable upwards of one hundred and fifty miles for Indian canoe navigation, several small falls or carrying places intervening."* It was at the Falls that Mahlon Stacy, a Yorkshireman, found the tract of land that commended itself as the most suitable site for a new settlement. He was one of the emigrants to Burlington (or Bridlington) in 1678, and being] a creditor of Byllinge, he obtained from his assignees eight hundred acres, lying on both sides of the Assanpink, a creek which empties into the Delaware at Trenton. Here he took up his own abode and built a grist mill.'' If, according to Smith's "History of New Jersey," the first name given to the settlement at the Falls was "Little- worth," the disparaging title must have been disdained by Stacy, whO' pronounced it "a most brave place, whatever envy or evil spies may speak o-f it."* In letters dated from "the Falls of Delaware" in 1680, Stacy extols the fertility of the whole region, the abund- ance of fruit ("peaches in such plenty that some people took their carts a peach-gathering. I could not but smile at the conceit of it"), berries, game and fish, whilst he "hon- estly declares there is some barren land, as (I suppose) there is in most places of the world, and more wood than some would have upon their lands ; neither will the country produce com without labor, nor cattle be got without some- thing to buy them, nor bread with idleness; else it would be a g'ood country indeed." The good Friend would not * ("A Summary, historical and political, of the first planting, progressive im- provements, and present state of the British Settlements in North America." By William Douglass, M.D, Boston. Vol. I. 1749. Vol. II. 1753. Vol. II., p. 312.) FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. ii overlook the guidance of Providence in his own case, nor encourage his Yorkshire correspondents to follow him over the sea, unless they felt the same inward direction. "When I am walking alone, and the sense of the Lord's good dealings is brought before me, I cannot but admire him for his mercies, and often in secret bless his name that ever he turned my face hitherward, and gave me con- fidence in himself, and boldness by faith to' oppose all gain- sayers, though never so strong. * * * jf yo,y have clear- ness to come to! New Jersey, let nothing hinder ; but if you have a stop within yourself, let not anything farther you, until the way clears to your full satisfaction.." CHAPTER II. The Churches op HopEwEIvL and Maidenhead. 1698 — 1736. IHl y INl T E i' ^ . / © PSNNINC7VA// ^V ^ ^^AWR£NC£V/U^ <^ ^^^^OLD CHURCH \ * y > This little map will serve toi explain the topography of the region embraced in the history of the united churches of Hopewell and Maidenhead, which is the history of the churches of Trenton.^ In 1694 the Assanpink, was made the northern boundary of the county of Burlington; and in 1714 the new county of Hunterdon was formed, reach- ing from the Assanpink, as its southern line, to the north- ern extremity of West Jersey. Of this large and for the most part unsettled territory, now divided into several of the most populous and important counties of the State, Hopewell and Maidenhead were adjoining townships. It is reasonable to suppose that the Presbyterian inhabitants, scattered over the twin townships, were for some time de- pendent on itinerant or missionary preachers for the oppor- (13) 14 HISTORY OF THE tunities of public worship', and that, when such opportunities opened, the people would congregate from long distances in schoolrooms, or private houses, or in the shade of woods, in different neighborhoods, as convenience or some system of rotation might appoint.^ It is not strange, on this sup- position, that the names "Hopewell" and "people of Hope- well," should be used in the ecclesiastical records in refer- ence to different neighborhoods, and even parishes, so that after the lapse of a century and a half it would not be pos- sible to determine in every instance what particular locality, if any, is designated. The present churches of Ewing, Pen- nington and Trenton were in Hopewell ; that of Lawrence- ville was in Maidenhead. It is not improbable that the Presbyterians in the latter township were sometimes in- cluded in the general reference of "Hopewell." Some of my readers may need to be reminded of a New England peculiarity which then obtained in this Province, and will still further account for the confusion. I may ex- plain it in the words of Colonel (afterwards Governor) Lewis Morris, in 1700, when referring to the "towns" of East Jersey. "These towns are not like the towns in Eng- land, the houses built close together on a small spot of ground, but they include large portions of the country of four, five, eight, ten, twelve, fifteen miles in length, and as much in breadth; and all the settlements within such state and bounds is said to be within such a township ; but in most of those townships there is some place where a part of the inhabitants set down nearer together than the rest, and con- fine themselves to smaller portions of ground, and the town is more peculiarly designed by that settlement."* The first authentic notice of any effort on the part of the inhabitants of the two townships to provide a permanent place of worship is found in a deed dated March 18, * "The Papers of Lewis Morris." N. J. Hist. Soc, 1852. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 15 1698-9.* In that instriament, Jeremiah Basse, Governor of East and West Jersey, and Thomas Revell, "Agents for the Honoraible the West Jersey Society in England," con- veyed one hundred acres "for the accommodation and serv- ice of the inhabitants oi the township of M'aidenhead, within the liberties or precincts of the said county of Bur- lington and the inhabitants near adjacent, being purchasers of the said society's lands there, for the erecting of a meet- ing-house, and for burying-ground and school-house, and land suitable for the same."t The names of many of the grantees will be recognized as still represented in this region. Ralph Hunt, Joshua Andris [sometimes , John Bainbridge [or Ban- Andrus and Andrews, bridge],^ and Anderson], Johannes Lawrenson, Samuel Davis, William Hixon, Elnathan Davis, John Bryerly [Brearley?],* Enoch Andris, Samuel Hunt, Cornelius Andris, Theophilus Phillips, James Price, Jonathan Davis, John Runion, Thomas Smith, Thomas Runion, Jasper Smith, Hezekiah Bonham, Thomas Coleman, Benjamin Maple, Benjamin Hardin, Lawrence Updike, William Akers, Joseph Sackett, Robert Lannen ['Lanning] , Edward Hunt. Philip Phillips, The strong presumption is, that from the beginning this was a Presbyterian congregation, and that although the pre- cise year in which a church was erected on the ground thus conveyed, cannot be ascertained, the first house of worship * In this part of my researches I have availed myself of the' collections kindly placed at my disposal by the Rev. George Hale, pastor of Pennington. t Recorded Book B., No. z, p. 65s- in the State House at Trenton. i6 HISTORY OF THE for any denomination in the two townships was that at Mjaidenhead, now Lawrenceville. John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was baptized by the Rev. Jedediah Andrews, at Maidenhead, Diecember 31, 171 3. As Edward Hart, his father, lived in Hopewell, three miles below Pennington, it is probable that there was a church at Maidenhead to which the child was taken. There were ten baptisms at Maidenhead in April, 171 3, which goes to in- crease the probability of a permanent place of worship being there at that date. There is positive evidence of its existence three years later, for in the records of the Court oif Sessions for Hunterdon county, dated Tuesday, June 5, 1 71 6, is the entry: "Proclamation made and the court ad- journed to the meeting-house in Maidenhead in half an hour." I reg^ret that I am^ not able to produce views of any of the original churches. The engraving here presented is a copy of the Lawrenceville Church as it now stands, but excluding the lecture and school building, which stands at the extremity of the front of the lot, and excluding also FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 17 the extensive graveyard which surrounds the church. The present front (forty-five feet) and about thirty- two feet of the depth, is the same structure that was raised in 1764. The church was enlarged in 1833, to the dimensions of forty-five by sixty feet, and in 1853, fifteen feet were added to the length. I may add that in 1819 this congregation came into possession of a valuable farm, and parsonage devised to them by Jasper Smith, Esq., an elder of the church. The earliest sign o^f preparation for a church in Hope- well is found in two deeds of April 20, 1703.* In the first of these, John Hutchinson conveyed to Andrew Heath, Richard Eayre,^ Abiall Davis and Zebulon Heston, a lot of two acres, in trust. The second and concurrent deed declares the purpose O'f the trust. It is addressed, "To all Christian people to whom these presents shall come," and sets forth that the trust is "for the inhabitants of the said township of Hopewell and their successors inhabiting" and dwelling within the said township forever; for the public and common use and benefit of the whole township, for the erection and building of a public meeting house there- on, and also for a place of burial, and for no other uses, intents or purposes whatsoever." The ground thus con- veyed is within three miles of Trenton (marked "Old Church" on our map), a short distance beyond the State Lunatic Asylum. A church was erected on this site which seems to have become the exclusive property of Episco- pahans,® as that denomination occupied it until St. Michael's Church was built in the town, and the congre- gation sold the ground in 1838 — 'the house having long be- fore disappeared. It is probable that if the history of this church could be ascertained, it would read somewhat like the following record in the Minutes of the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick, September 19, 1738: * Deed Book AAA, 105 and 114- State House. 2 PRES i8 HISTORY OF THE "The aflfair of Cranberry concerning the Meeting-house was opened up before the Presbytery, wherein it appeared that the people of the Presbyterian and Church of England persuasion have a conjunct inter- est in the Meeting-house, by virtue of an agreement between such of the Presbyterians as assisted the building of it, and their neighbors of the Church of England; and therefore upon the proposal of the rest of our persuasion who are not willing to have any concern with the said house upon that foundation, the Presbytery do advise and judge it most proper that the gentlemen of the Church of England do either buy or sell their interest, that so the Presbyterians may all have a house for worship by themselves alone, and so that this whole body may be united." When St. Michael's Chtirch made the conveyance of 1838, by which the old church plot was added to a sur- rounding' farm, reservation was made of an inclosure measuringf thirty-two feet by twenty-seven, occupied by graves. The inclosure is made by a stone wall, now falling into ruins, and has the appearance of having been designed for a family cemetery. The only gravestones remaining are those of Samuel Tucker, 1789, and Mrs. Tucker, 1787, which will be described hereafter; one "in memory of John, son O'f Williami and Elizabeth Cleayton, whoi died November 6, 1757 [possibly 1737], aged 19 years"; an- other of "Ma — ' — [probably Margaret], the wife of John Dagworthy. Esq.,''' who died May 16, 1729, aged 37 years" ; and a few more which cannot be deciphered beyond "Grace Da ," or "Hend ■," etc. It is said that the widow of William Trent, whose name was given to the town, was buried here, but there is no trace of the grave. In less than six years from Hutchinson's deed tO' Heath and Others, the Hopewell Presbyterians took measures for the erection of a church for themselves, within three miles of the one just described. This was the beginning of the congregation, which, after the foundation of the township of Trenton (1719-20), was called the "Trenton First Church," but which now takes the name of the new town- ship of Ewing. The original deed was dated March 9, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 19 1709, and conveyed twoi acres of land from' Alexander L/Ockart, a Scotchman, to Richard Scudder,^ Jacob Reeder,* John Burroughs,® Cornelius Anderson, Ebenezer Prout, John Silerons [or Siferons, Daniel Howell, Severance, Severns], John Deane, Simon Sacket,^" John Davis, George Farley, Jonathan Davis, Caleb Parley, Enoch Anderson, William Reed, William Osborne, Joseph Sacket.^" .There are no original records or documents to remove the obscurity that surrounds the first action under this deed; but in the following minute of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, May I'l, 17091, Hopewell may refer to this people — perhaps in connection with those of what is now Pennington : "Ordered, that Mr. [Joseph] Smith go to the people of Maidenhead and Hopewell, and confer with them' on such matters as shall be propounded to him by them, concerning his being called to be their minister; and that Mr. Smith preach to the people aforesaid on his way to New England, or return from it, or both; and that this be in- timated to Mr. Smith, and the people aforesaid be writ to by Mr. Andrews." The first church on this ground was built of logs (1712) ; this made room, about 1726, for a frame building, which was used until 1795,^^ when one of brick was erected. In 1839 the church was remodeled. The cut represents the church of 1795 before alteration; and here I take the liberty of quoting a few verses from a poem, written for the amuse- ment of her grandchildren by an estimable member of this church,^^ and prompted by the destruction of one of the two old oaks in the churchyard in 1852. HISTORY OF THE "Two hundred years, or more, the storms you braved Unharmed, while round your head the tempest raved. A faithful guard, for all that time, you kept, Above the throng that 'neath your shadow slept. The wild tornado's breath hath o'er thee past. And prostrate on the earth you lie at last. ******** "And here they stood when the forefathers came, To build an altar to their Maker's name. Men from afar — perchance across the deep. This place they chose their Sabbath rest to keep. They built an altar of materials rude. Unhewn the stone, and roughly dressed the wood, 'Twas blest of Him, whose promised dwelling place Is where His people meet to seek His grace. ******* "Once in three weeks the stated pastor came With gracious message in his Master's name, Reciprocated all the greetings kind. Rejoiced in health and peace his flock to find. The morning service o'er, beneath your shade They ate their bread, and kind inquiries made: FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 21 'How fared it with the brother pioneers, What were their prospects, what their hopes and fears; What news from home, afar — beyond the sea — Fight Hampden, Cromwell, still for liberty? Or to his kingdom is King Charles restored? Has promised, but again to break his word? Has Scotland sheathed the sword, or does she still For conscience sake oppose her sovereign's will Worship the faithful still in caves and dens, In forest deep, or wild secluded glens? For Wales who strikes to put oppression down? Who nobly dares to wear a martyr's crown?' ******** "One to the other thus the tidings bore, Of clime and kindred they would see no more. That duty done, once more to praise and pray, The church they entered — thus they spent the day. ******** " 'Time levels all,' the old church passed away, It served a holy purpose in its day; And faithful men a new foundation laid, OiTerings of patient toil and substance made; Well wrought, the building rose by careful hands. Memorial of their zeal, the church now stands. ******** "Now, many a mossy stone the name discloses O'f faithful Reeds and Scudders, Howells, Roses, Reeder, Clarke, Hart, Carle, Furman, and the Moores, Pish, Welling, Hendrickson, Temples, Greens by scores, Lanning, Hunt, Cook, Burroughs, and Jones and Lott, And hundreds lie without a stone to mark the spot." ******** At the time of the formation of this venerable church, the Presbytery of Philadelphia was the only one in 7\merica. It was formed in 1704 or 1705, and included seven min- isters, who were pastors in Pennsylvania, Maryland and what is now D'elaware. In 1 706 a member was added from New Jersey. To' this body the Presbyterians, whether or- ganized or not into congregations, or represented on the roll, would naturally look for counsel and aid, especially for the obtaining of the ordinances of worship. In Sep- 22 HISTORY OF THE tember, 1710, the Presbytery, writing to the Presbytery of DubHn and Synod of Glasgow, in entreaty for their help in furnishing ministers, say that they have but two con- gregations "in the Jerseys" ; "the number of our ministers from the respective Provinces is ten in all' — three from Maryland, five from Pennsylvania and two from East Jer- sey." Under date of September 27, 171 1, the following minute appears : "Upon the desire of the people of Maidenhead and Hopewell, signi- fied by Mr. William Yard, for our assisting them in getting a min- ister, it was agreed that in case the people of Maidenhead and Hope- well are not engaged with Mr. Sacket, that they use all opportunities they have for a speedy supply, and apply themselves to the neighboring ministers for assistance in getting a minister for them."" There is no further reference in the Records of Pres- bytery to the congregations of this neighborhood until September, 1715, when Philip Ringo presented a call from Maidenhead and Hopewell to Mr. Robert O^rr, which was approved by Presb}d:ery, accepted by him, and his ordina- tion appointed for October 20. This took place on the day specified, when Mr. Orr was "solemnly set apart to the work of the ministry, by Masters Andrews, Morgan, Dick- inson, Evans and Bradner, at Maidenhead, before a numer- ous assembly."* As an old tablet, now in the wall of the first church in the city of Trenton, gives 1712 as the year in which the Presbyterian church was "Formed," that is supposed to be the date when the parent congregation was formally or- ganized in view of taking possession of the ground con- veyed by Lriockart in 1709. This, then, would be one of the centers of Mr. O'rr's ministry for Hopewell. He ap- pears to have resided on what is now the boundary line be- * Letter Book of Presbytery. Printed Records, p. 41. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 23 tween the townships of Lawrence and Ewing. A son of his, who died during his pastorate, was buried in the Lock- art ground, and the gravestone is visible from the present church. Mr. Orr remained in this charge nearly four years. His name occurs for the last time in ecclesiastical records, in the minutes of the Synod, September 19, 171 9, where he is spoken O'f as "having at present no pastoral charge," and the usual testimonials, were given to him and another minister, it "being uncertain how and where Providence may dispose of them." The age O'f the Hopewell church at Pennington^* is not. precisely known, but the building was used in 1725-6, as the township records of March 9 of that year show that it was "agreed upon by the majority of the town, to hold their town meetings ensuing at the new meeting-house by John Smiith's." Smith is known to have been owner of the land adjoining the lot which is still the site of the church. There is a tradition that prior to the building of a church, a school- house was used for some time, which stood on what is now the southern part of the graveyard, and long known as "the school-house Jot." This lot was conveyed by John Smith for the consideration of ten pounds, to Nathaniel Moore, William Cornwell, John Everitt, Ralph Hunt, Jonathan Purman, Reuben Armitage and Stephen Baldwin. The Rev. Robert Orr was followed in the Hopewell charge by the Rev. Mosi^s Dickinson, a younger brother of the first president of the College of New Jersey, and a graduate of Yale when the whole senior class numbered but five, all of whom entered the ministry. This was in 1717, the year in which the college was removed from Saybrook to New Haven. The history of Mr. Dickinson's Presbyterial connection cannot be given, as the records of that period are not extant; but according to the minutes of the Synod he attended the sessions of that body in 1722, 1724 and 1725. Among the delegates of those three 24 HISTORY OP THE years appears the name of Etioch Alrmitage, who was a ruling elder of Hopewell. Mr. Dickinson removed to the Congregational Church of Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1727, and continued tO' be its pastor until his death, May i, 1778, in the 83d year of his age, and 51st of his ministry. In his seventieth year he took a colleague from the Presbytery of New Brunswick, the Rev. William Tennent, Jr. There are two printed sermons of Mr. Dickinson's : one of them was preached at the ordination of the Rev. EHsha Kent, grandfather of the distinguished Chancellor of New York. Mr. Armitage, who was a native of Yorkshire in Eng- land, was an active elder. He officiated in Hopewell when no minister was present, not only in reading "the works of approved divines," as our elders and deacons are author- ized to do in such an emergency, but occasionally reading his own compositions. The Rev. Mr. Hale has in his pos- session a manuscript of the usual length of a sermon, in the handwriting of Mr. Armitage, headed, "Some Medita- tions 'Upon the 15th, 1 6th and 17th verses of the 27th chapter of Numbers, occasioned by the removal of Mr. Dickinson, and delivered at Hopewell m'eeting-house by E. A, 1727." The text of the "mieditations" is: "And Moses spoke unto the Lord, saying, L-et the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the cong'regation, which may g'o out before them, and which may go in be- fore them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in : that the congregation O'f the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd." The discourse opens in these modest terms : "Beloved Friends: I having no book of any subject suitable to the present outward circumstances of the congregation, and being some- thing more than ordinarily affected with our present desolate condition, I thought meet to deliver my own meditations on the forementioned subject, though I know not whether they will be of any use to you, or meet with acceptance from you; yet hoping they may at least do no harm to any, and presuming on your favorable construction, and FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 25 being encouraged by your kind acceptance of what I have been enabled to do in your service, since Divine Providence cast my lot amongst you, I therefore humbly proceed to deliver my meditations on these words.'' I quote the annexed paragraph from the Meditations for the sake of the intimation it contains that there was more than one place of worship within reach of the people of Hopewell — the reference being probably to Maidenhead ; Mr. Armitage's farm was within a mile of Pennington. "Now this being the case of this congregation, we are as sheep that have no shepherd by the removal of our minister from us : and whether the same Providence that removed him, notwithstanding all our en- deavors to the contrary, will permit his return, as some hope, I know not: but as however that may be, as affairs now stand, it seems likely that some part of the congregation will be as sheep that have no shepherd, therefore I hope," etc. Mr. Dickinson was followed in 1729 by the Rev. Joseph MoRGATsr. He is supposed to have come from' Wales, but was educated at Yale, and was one of the six first gradu- ates in 1702. President Woolsey, in a letter to Mr. Hale, remarks that "some interest is attached to Mr. Morgan from the fact that he was not only one of the members of the first class in Yale College, but also the only one of the class who did not also take his degree at Harvard,, that is, the only one veritably educated at Yale alone."* He came into New Jersey from Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1 710, and was pastor at Freehold from that time tintil called to the united congregations of Hopewell and Maid-, enhead. In the "Presbyterian Magazine" of November, 1857, is preserved a long letter from- Morgan to Dr. Cotton Mather, written at Freehold in September, 1721. It is wholly in * Mr. Morgan was never an undergraduate of Yale College. He received an honorary degree in 1719. See letter of Prof. Dexter, of Yale University, quoted by Judge Ivanning in "Sketch of EJwing Presbyterian Church," Journal of Presbyt. Hist. Soc, Vol. VI., No. 5, p. 173. i& HISTORY OP THE Latin, and in such Latin as might be expected from the circumstances it describes. "For," he says, "I spent only three years in the study of languages and the arts, and for twenty-five years I have labored almost constantly with my hands. A Latin, Greek or Hebrew book I have sometimes not had in my hands for a whole year. I have scarcely any books: possess no dictionary but an imperfect Rider. I have no commentaries, nor theological systems nor his- tories. I have noi leisure for reading, nor for writingi dis- courses for the church, and often know not my text before the Sabbath." The letter is chiefly in reference to some physical and metaphysical arguments against Deists, Socinians and other heretics, which Morgan had sent to Mather some months before, but which had not been ac- knowledged. He incidentally mentions that "in Hopewell and Maidenhead, thirty miles distant, where the Rev. Moses Dickinson preaches, there is a great increase o^f the church." Whether there were any unfavorable rumors in regard to Mr. Morgan when he came fromi New England, is not certain ; but he seems tO' have been received by the Presby- tery with some caution. On the 21st September, 1710, a committee was appointed "to inquire intoi Mr. Morgan's and [Paulus] Van Vleck's affair, and prepare it for the Presb)d:ery." In the afternoon the committee reported on "Mr. Morgan's case," and "after debating thereon," he was admitted to the Presbytery. There was "serious de- bating" upon Van Vleck's case before he was received. Within two years Van Vleck (who was settled with the Dutch Presbyterian congregation at Neshaminy), was found guilty oi bigamy and other offenses. Mr. Morgan's irregularities begin to be noticed in 171 6, when his "ab- sence this and several years by-past being inquired into, it was resolved that a letter should be writ, informing him that if he comes not, nor sends sufficient reasons against FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 27 next year, we shall take it for gfranted that he has alto- gether deserted us." It was at this session that the Presby- tery of Philadelphia divided itself into three (Philadelphia, New Castle and Long Island), and formed the Synod of Philadelphia, and there being no minutes of the Presby- tery extant after 1716 until 1733, the further history of this part of Morgan's delinquency is not traceable. He appeared at Synod in 17 17, and was a punctual and active attendant for several years. In 1728 "divers papers of complaint" against him were presented to the Synod by some members O'f his church. O'f the seven charges one related to astrological experiments, another toi dancing and a third to intemperance. The Synod judged that, though Mr. Morgan may have been imprudent in some particulars, the accusations proceeded from a "captious and querulous spirit"; and as to the charge of intemperance, "it appears to the Synod to be a groundless prosecution against one who has ever been esteemed a temperate man." But on this head the Synod were probably too charitable, as in 1736, when Morgan had been settled in Hopewell for some seven years, he was tried by the P'resb)d;ery and found guilty of intemperance and suspended. A reference from the P'resbytery to the Synod in May, 1737, led to the directing of the Presbyteries of Philadelphia and East Jersey^^ to meet as a committee at Maidenhead in August, and review the case. After this resolution was adopted, a paper was presented by Enoch Armitage, the preacher of the "Meditations," "signed by many hand's of the congre- gations of Hopewell and Maidenhead, requesting that since Mr. Morgan is not likely to be useful any more as a minister among them, from his repeated miscarriages, if the Synod should see cause to restore him to his ministry, he might not be reinstated as their minister." Upon this the Synod came to the decision : "That the people of Hope- well and Maidenhead be left at their liberty to entertain 28 HISTORY OF THE Mr. Morgfan as their pastor or not, even supposing the committee appointed to meet on his affair in August, should see cause to restore him to the ministry; only the Synod enjoins the people to pay to Mr. Morgan what arrears are due tO' him for time past."* The committee left him under suspension, which continued until 1738, when the Presby- tery restored him, but his name is not found again on the records as present after 1739. During Mr. Morgan's pastorate — 1 729-1 736 — his resi- dence was near Maidenhead church. In the course of that time the people of Hopewell opened a subscription for the purchase of a parsonage, or, as they expressed it, "a planta- tion to be a dwelling-place at all times" for the minister of "the Presbyterian society in that town" [township]. If the subscription should admit of it, a Latin school was to be founded on the plantation. Mr. HaJe, from whose col- lections I obtain these facts, thinks it "probable that this resulted in the purchase of the parsonage- farm on the west side of the Scotch road, where for so many years resided the Rev. John Guild and the Rev. Joseph Rue, successively pastors of the First Presbyterian Church of Hopewell at Pennington." As names^^ help to identify localities, and preserve other historical traces, I subjoin a list of the subscribers to the parsonage : Timothy Titus, Edmund Palmer, William Lawrence, Alexander Scott, Thomas Burrowes, Jr., Edward Hunt, John Branes, Thomas Hendrick, Cornelius Anderson, Robert Akers, Benjamin Severance, Peter La Rue, Francis Vannoy, John Fidler, Jonathan Moore, Andrew Milbourn, * Records of the Presb. Church. The minutes of the committee are inserted under the date of the Synod's session of May 24, 1738. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 29 Roger Woolverton, Benjamin Wilcocks, Johannes Hendrickson, Henry Oxley, Roger Parke, John Parke, Ralph Hunt, Joseph Hart, Abraham Anderson, Bartholomew Anderson, Joseph Price, Ephraim Titus, Robert Blackwell, Ralph Hunt, Jr., Richard Bryant, Jonathan Stout, Jonas Wood, Thomas Read, John Hunt, Jonathan Furman, Samuel Furman, John Carpenter, Samuel Hunt, Nathaniel Moore, George Woolsey, Jonathan Wright, Caleb Carman, Elnathan Baldwin. CHAPTER III. The Trenton Church : The Rev. David C0WE1.E. 1714— 1738. Heretofore the principal settlements of Hopewell were at some distance from the "Falls of the Delaware." But tiow the enterprise of William Trent opened the way for the secular and ecclesiastical progress of the township in an- other direction. Mr. Trent had come to Pennsylvania from Inverness, in Scotland, but belonged to the Church of England. He was a merchant in Philadelphia, and, not- withstanding his unprofessional occupation, was for many years a Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, 'and Speaker of the House of Alssembly, and withal is called "Colonel."^ Mr. Trent, in 1714, bought Mahlon Stacy's tract of eight hundred acres, on both sides of the Assanpink creek, and some time afterwards removed his residence thither. He soon fell into the same lines of public life which he had left in the sister province, for he represented Burlington county in the Legislature of 1721 ; was Streaker in 1723; and in the same year was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He died, however, in the first year of his office, December 25, 1724. That "Trent's-town," or "Trent-town," was growing to 3. respectable condition is indicated by the direction of the Governor in 17 19, that the county courts should be held here, and it became the seat of the Supreme Court in 1724. As the population thickened, the convenience of the people would call for a church within reach of a walk; and it is reasonable to suppose that before the time had come for building a new church the Presb3i:erians in and near the (31) 32 HISTORY OF THE town would hold religious meetings there, and might even erect some temporary structure which would afterwards be properly regarded as the foundation of the new church. In tracing the deeds of the lot now occuipied by the State-street church, there is an appearance of its having been long de- signed, if not partially used, for church purposes. In May, 1684, Mahlon Stacy ^ conveyed to Hugh Standeland sixty acres on the north side of the Assanpink. His heir-at-law, in 1707, conveyed to Joshua Anderson one-fifth of the same. This fifth, or twelve acres, Anderson, in November, 1722, conveyed to Enoch Andrus. On April 10, 1727, Andrus conveyed a portion of his lot — one hundred and fifty feet square — for the nominal sum of five shillings, to John Porterfield, William Yard, Daniel Howell, William Hoff, Richard Scudder, John Severns, Alexander Lockart, Joseph Yard.* The witnesses to the conveyance are John Anderson, Francis; Giffing and Daniel Howell, junior. Now, Enoch Andrus was one of the trustees in the deed of Basse and Revell of 1698-9 for the Maidenhead church; five of his eight grantees were signers of the call O'f the first pastor of the town church in 1736, which they subscribe as "inhabitants of Trenton belonging to the Presbyterian con- gregation" ; Joshua Anderson was an active Presbyterianv living near the town ; Lockart was the grantor, Scudder and Howell were among the grantees of the country church. All this looks as if a church plot in town may have been long in view, although no specific object is mentioned in the conveyances. This, indeed, does not appear in the deeds until August 24, 1763, when Joseph Yard, sole survivor of the joint tenants, conveys the same lot to "the Trustees of the Presb5^erian Church of Trenton, for the special uses and trust following, that is to say, to be and remain forever FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 33 for the use of public worship and as a burial place for the Presbyterian congregation of Trenton forever."* The joint tenancy was undoubtedly for the purpose of holding the lot for the congregation, which was not incorporated until 1756. Another portion of the lot was purchased in 1759. A! deed of July 23, of that year, from Moore Furman, Sheriff of Hunterdon, conveyed to the Trustees a lot described as follows : "Being lot No. 3, beginning at the corner of the Presbyterian Meet- ing-house lot of land on the north side of the street or road that leads towards the old iron works, and from thence runs along the line of the said meeting-house lot north three degrees west, 2 chains and 14 links to the land of William Morris, Esq., and from thence runs along his line N. 87" E. one chain, 23 links to a post, being a corner of lot No. 4; and from thence runs along the line of the same S. 3° E., two chains and 14 links to the aforesaid street or road, and from along the same one chain and 23 links to the first mentioned corner or place of beginning." This part of the present grounds was bought for ten pounds proclamation money, being sold under execution, at the suit of James Hazard and Richard Alsop, Executors of Nathaniel Hazard, against Benjamin Stevenson, Executor of Enoch Anderson.® The trustees took it "for the use and benefit of the said Presbyterian Church of Trenton, to bury their dead in, and for other public uses of the said Church." From^ this it appears that the purchase of 1759 was of a lot about eighty feet front; making, with the lot of 1727, a front of two hundred and thirty-one feet. The present dimensions of the lot, as surveyed in 1840, are: South line (the front), 247 feet 9 in. North " 241 " East " 142 " West " 126 " 3 PRES 34 HISTORY OF THE Over one of the doors of the church is a marble tablet, thus inscribed : "PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Formed 1712, Bxriw 1726, RfiBUHT 1805." Tliis memorial was transferred to its present place, from the brick church taken do'wn in 1805 ; and the first two dates were copied from a similar inscription found in the stone building which preceded the brick. The date of 1712 is presumed to apply to the organization of the country church. There is more difference of opinion about the second line — ^some supposing it to be the date of the frame church on Lockart's ground, which superseded the log building first erected. But while the matter is not certain, the weight of probability appears to be in favor of the supposition that somie kind of building was erected on the Andrus ground a year before he made the formal convey- ance of 1727, and that this is the explanation of "Built 1726." I am strengthened in this conclusion by finding that sixty- six years ago- the tradition of the day was tO' the same effect. In a note prepared April 25, 1792, by the Rev. James F. Armstrong, in compliance with the call of the General Assembly for historical documents, and in which he refers to "Mr. Chambers and Mr. Benjamin Yard," as his author- ities, in this statement : "The first Presbyterian congregation in the county of Hunterdon was formed in the township of Trenton, and the church called the Old House was built about the year 1712, where the Rev. Robert Orr, a Scotsman, preached part of his time during three or four years ; the remainder of his time he preached at Maidenhead, where a church was built about the year 1716. * * * The congregation of Trenton, in or about the year 1726, built a church in the village of Trenton, not as a dififerent congregation, but for the convenience of that part of congregation in and near the town." FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 3S In this place may be appropriately inserted a description of the original town church, furnished for this volume by my lamiented friend and fellow elder, Francis Armstrong Ewing, M. D., whose departure from this life before the publication, will call upon me to introduce his name and character more fully in a later chapter. The engraving is taken from a drawing made by Dr. Ewing from the descrip- tions of those who remembered the first church. THE OLD STONE CHURCH. "The old stone church, built in 1726 — ^the first of the series — stood on the southwest corner of the church lot, on the same site as its successor, the brick one, but not covering so lar-ge a space. It fronted south on Second street (now State), standing a little back from the line of the street, and having a large flat stone before the door. Its front presented in the center a large doorway, closed by two half-doors, on each side of which was a pretty large window, square-headed, as was the door ; and probably over 36 HISTORY OF THE the door another window, though on this point there is a difference of recollection. The stones of the building, free of wash or plaster, shoKved only their native hue, or that acquired by long exposure to the weather. The roof, with gables to the street, was of the curb or double-pitched kind, and was covered with shingles, each neatly rounded or scalloped. Entering the front door, a middle aisle, floored vdth wood, led towards the pulpit, which was at the opposite or north end. The first object reached was a settle, occu- pied during service by the sexton. Raised one step' from the floor was an inclosed space with desk in front, where stood the minister while administering the sacraments or hearing the catechism. Behind and above was the pulpit, of wood, unpainted, as was all the woodwork in the build- ing, except the ceiling, having a soundboard over it, fast- ened against the rear wall. In this wall, on each side of the pulpit, was a window corresponding to those in front. The pulpit stairs rose from the pastor's pew, which was against the rear wall on the east side of the pulpit. A gal- lery ran around the front and two sides, the stairs tO' which rose in the front corners. Between the front door and these corner stairs were two square pews on each side, of unequal size, over the one of which, nearest the stairs, was one of the front windows. Before these pews was a cross-aisle, leading to the stairs and to the side-aisles. These were narrower than the middle one, and led to the north wall. All the pews against the walls were square, and, like all the others, had the usual high, straight backs of the time. Sitting in church was not then the easy, cushioned affair of modern days. Two square pews against the rear wall; four on each side, the fourth from the front being in the corner, and the four on the front completed the number, of fourteen. The rest oif the floor was occupied by narrow pews or slips, opening into the side and middle aisles. The ceiling was wooden, curved in four ways (the lines of June- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. z^ tion rising' from the corners), and painted in a sort of clouded style, blue and white, intended to represent the sky and clouds, if the childish impressions of one of my in- formants have not thus mistaken the mottled results of time and dampness. "While the old church was standing, there was a tradi- tion that there was a vault under the building, but it was not known where. When the house was taken down the vault was discovered, containing two coffins with plates, and other evidences that the bodies were those of persons of standing and importance. In the brick church, in the floor within the railing before the pulpit, was a trap door, which was said to lead to this vault. The vault was cov- ered over when the present church wasi built, and is em- braced in one of the burial lots in the space where the old house stood.* "The old church was rich enough to own a bier, which, except during service and when not in use, was kept in the middle aisle. There was no pulpit Bible; the pastor's family Bible supplied its place, being taken to church in the morning and carried back after the afternoon service. This return being once neglected, and the book being needed in the evening, 'Black George,' the minister's boy, was sent to bring it. After a long absence he came running back, alarmed and agitated, saying he had stumbled over the 'pall-bearers,' meaning the bier. There was seldom service in the evening, and no provision for it; when needed, two large brass candlesticks, belonging to the pastor's wife, were put in requisition to enlighten and decorate the pulpit. "In the yard behind the church stood a fine apple tree, much resorted to for its shade, its blossomis, and its fruit, by the children from the school-house, which was on the eastern part of the samie lot. This school was taught by Mr. Nicholas Dubois, who united in himself the offices of * The mystery of the vault will be explained in a later chapter. 38 HISTORY OF THE elder, teacher and chorister; in which last capacity he had a place with his choir in the gallery. "In the pews of the old church I have described, were gathered every Sabbath, to listen to the preachers of the olden time, the principal families of that day. Of these a few relics still linger among us, treasuring up the memory of others ; while even the names O'f most of them are al- most unknown to our present people. There were Hunt and Milnor, the leading merchants of their time, whose names were for many years attached to^ the comers they respectively occupied (now Norcross' and Britton's). There was Leake, learned in the law, but of extreme simplicity and guilelessness ; Smith, eminent as a physician and judge; Belleville, from France, at the head of the medical profes- sion, and esteemed by the highest authorities in the neigh- boring cities; the elder. Judge Ewing; and besides these, the Gordons, Ryalls, Haydens, Calhouns, Yards, Moores, Collins, Chambers, Woolseys and others whose names and memories have nearly passed away. In another place will be found the names of eminent preachers, whose voice at times filled the old house. "But all things come to an end, and so did the old stone church. Having stood for nearly eighty years witnessing the growth of the town almost from^ its beginning, and the stirring events of the Revolution, it was at length taken down in the year 1804, to make room for its successor. On the last Sabbath before its destruction, besides the installa- tion of two new elders, the communion was administered. The solemnities of that occasion must have been deeply impressive, for the language and manner of the pastor, and, indeed, the whole scene, are still spoken of, by some who were present, with strong emotion." The Rev. Mr. Armstrong's memorandum, already quoted, proceeds to say: "After the founding of the two places of worship in the township of Trenton, Messrs. Hubbard, Wil- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 39 son and Morgan, unsettled ministers, preached in succession at Trenton and the old house; but their first settled pastor was the Rev. David Cowell." Morgan has already been mentioned in connection with the other Hopewell churches and with Maidenhead. Of Hubbard and Wilson, the date and duration of their ministries, nothing is known beyond Mr. Armstrong's record. It has been suggested to me that the first-named person may have been the Rev. Jonathan Hubbard (the family name is sometimes spelled Hobart), of Connecticut, who graduated at Yale in 1724, and died in 1765. He was a fellow collegian and townsman of the Rev. Dr. Richard Treat, of Abington, Pennsylvania. Dr. Treat was at the Synod of 1733, when the Trenton people applied for supplies, and the conjecture is that he may have obtained the services of Mr. Hubbard, who about that time discon- tinued his connection with the church of Eastbury, Con- necticut.®. There was a Rev. John Wilson, who, on September 19, 1729, according to the minutes of the Synod of Philadel- phia under that date, "coming providentially into these parts, signifying his desire of being admitted as a member of the Synod, his credentials being read, and the Synod satisfied therewith, was unanimously received." He was afterwards employed at Newcastle, where some misunder- standing arose between his congregation and the Presby- tery, which was referred to the Synod (September 18, 1730), who "judged that, as far as things appear to us, they (the Presbytery) are not chargeable with any severity to him, but the contrary." There was another Rev. John Wil- son, a Presbyterian pastor in Chester, New Hampshire, in 1734, who died there in 1779, aged seventy-six, and is sup- posed to have been a son of the first named.* One of these may have been the Trenton supply. ' Webster, p. 405. 40 HISTORY OF THE The township of Trenton was set off from' Hopewell by the Hunterdon County Court of Quarter Sessions in March, 1719-20. The new township included the country (now Ewing) and town churches, so that the name of Hopewell did not properly apply to either of the parts of the joint con- gtregation after that date, although from habit the term may have continued to be used, especially of the country church. The call of the Rev. David Cowell was made on behalf of the united Trenton church. The original document, in its ample sheet, and well engrossed by a clerkly hand, is before me, and runs as follows :* "Whereas we, the subscribers, inhabitants of Trenton, belonging to the Presbyterian congregation, being desirous to settle a Gospel min- istry amongst us, and having had the experience of the ministerial abilities, and the blameless life and conversation of the Reverend Mr. David Cowell, do hereby unanimously call and desire him to settle amongst us, and to take the charge of this congregation as their min- ister. And we, the said subscribers, do hereby promise and oblige our- selves to support the said Mr. Cowell with a maintenance, and other- wise to assist him as we may to discharge his ministerial function amongst us; as witness our hands the seventh day of April, 1736. Joseph Higbee, Joseph Jones, William Hofif, Isaac Joens, WiUiam Worslee, David Howell, William Reed, Robert Lanning, Jonathan Furman, Joseph Green, William Lartmoor, William Green, Richard Furman, Francis Gififing, Jacob Anderson, Samuel Hooker, Isaac Reeder, John Scudder, John Porterfield, Henry Bellergeau, William Yard, Andrew Reed,, Richard Scudder, Ralph Smith, Ralph Hart, Arthur Howell, Charles Clark, Peter Lott, Cornelius Ringo, James Bell, Jr., Samuel Johnson, Eliakim Anderson, Joseph Yard, William^ Yard, Jr., * For this and other papers I am indebted to Mr. John V. Cowell, elder of the Central Church, Philadelphia, who is a great-nephew of our pastor. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 41 Ebenezer Prout, Neal W. Leviston, Clotworthy Reed, John Osburn, Christopher J. Cowell, Daniel Bellergeau, Richard Green, William Peirson, David Dunbar." On the call is this indorsement : "Trenton, April the 7th, 1736. The following persons, viz., Richard Scudder, Ralph Hart, Charles Clark, Samuel Johnson, Cornelius Ringo, and Joseph Yard, were appointed by the Presbyterian congregation present at Trenton the day above, to be a committee to present the within-named call to Mr. Cowell, and to discourse with him in behalf of the congregation, and his settling among us. "Jos. Yard, Clerk, S." There is also on the back of the call a memorandumi by the hand of Mr. Cowell, "Recepi. May i, 1736," denoting the day on which he was waited on by the committee. Mr. Cowell, although then in the thirty-second year of his age, was only four years from college, and was still a licentiate. He was born in Dorchester,^ Massachusetts, December 12, 1704, and was graduated at Harvard in 1732, the seventh year of the Presidency of the Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth. Mr. Cowell was in college in disorderly times. In the September of his last year a committee of the cor- poration closed an eight-months' investigation of the causes of the low condition of morals and study. The commence- ment had become the occasion of so' much dissipation in the town and neighborhood, that for some years about this time it was held on Friday, and then with a very short public notice, soi as toi allow but the end of the week for its indulgence.* I find no record of Mr. Cowell's reception to the care of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, nor of his licensure. They were probably in the lost minutes of 1732-3. On the 20th of July, 1736, the people of Trenton supplicated the Presby- * Quincy's "History of Harvard University," i. 388-392. 42 HISTORY OF THE tery of Philadelphia, to which they then belonged, for the ordination of Mr. Cowell. This was granted, and accord- ing to appointment, a committee of Presbytery met at Tren- ton on the second of November of that year. The com- mdttee, as present, were the Rev. Messrs. Jedediah Andrews, David Evans, Eleazer Wales and Richard Treat. The Rev. William Tennent and Hugh Carlile were absent. The Rev. Jonathan Dickinson and John Pi'erson sat as correspond- ents, having been delegated on other business. In the fore- noon of the first day Mr. Cowell was carried through his examination in theology. In the afternoon he preached his trial sermon from Romans 3 : 25, read his exegesis ("An lex naturae sit sufficiens ad salutem"), and was con- versed with on personal religion and his motives for the ministry. The next day was observed by the congregation, according to the directory, with fasting and prayer. At two o'clock the services of ordination and installment took place "in the public meeting house, at Trenton, in the pres- ence of a numerous assembly," Mr. Jedediah Andrews, of Philadelphia, preaching from 2 Timothy 2 : 2. At this Presbyterial meeting an inquiry being instituted as to what provision could be made for the vacant congre- gations of Hopewell and Maidenhead (Pennington and Lawrenceville), Mr. Cowell was appointed to supply the former as often as he could, and Mr. Wales the latter. Mr. Cowell established his residence in the town. He was then, and continued through life, unmarried. In May, 1737, he was received in Synod, and at that session a sup- plication coming in from Trenton for an appropriation fromi the fund for the assistance of the feebler congrega- tions, the sunn of five pounds was allowed for the year. I would be glad to give some notice of each of the signers of Mr. Cowell's call, but find it impossible to collect ma- terials to any extent. Cornelius Ringo was of the German family which gave name to the village of Ringoes, in Amwell. Philip Ringo, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 43 of Amwell, in 1757 left four sons, Albertus, Henry, John and Cornelius. Cornelius died at Maidenhead, in 1768.* Peter Ivott was a name of several generations. In 1721 one of them: died, leaving five children, to one of whom, Peter, he bequeathed "six shillings" more than to the rest, and made him executor. He was of Hopewelh Peter Lott was a witness before Presbytery in Rev. Mr. Morgan's case in 1737. In 1755, Peter Lott, of Trenton, had (as appears by his will) a nephew, Peter, son of his brother, Hendrick, and a nephew, Peter Rappleje, and a third nephew, Peter S'chanck. He had a brother, Mewrice, or Maurice. He desired "to be buried in Long Island, where my father and mother were buried." In 1762 a Peter Lott, Junior, died at South Amboy, leaving sons, Peter, Daniel and Gershom., and a daughter, Ruth; and in 1764, the legatees of Peter Lott, of Middlesex, were his grandson, Gershom, and his sons, Henry, Abrami, George and Charles. John PortereiELD^ died in 1738. His will, dated three years before, describes him "o'f Trenton, merchant," and devises a thousand acres on the south branch of the Raritan, and other property in East New Jersey, "late recovered from John, Earl of Melfort," one of the noble proprietaries. It mentions his brother, Alexander, of Duchall, in Scotland, and a nephew, William Rollston, of the shire of Air, and "Boyd Porterfield, grandson tO! my brother." He be- queathed to another nephew, William Farquhar, "chirur- geon of Brunswick, all my interest in one third part of the forge at Trenton." John Kinsey, of Philadelphia, Joseph Peace, of Trenton, and William Farquhar were his exec- utors. Francis Gieeing. A blacksmith of this name died at Trenton in 1749. His children were John, Martha, and Rebecca. His wife, Margaret, and Joseph Yard were the executcTS. The BeelERJEaus are of French descent, and have their representatives still in Trenton. The name of S&muel Bel- 44 HISTORY OF THE lerjeau occurs hereafter, in 1770. One of the family was a physician. Richard ScuddEr came fromi Long Island in 1704, and established himself on a farm on the Delaware, about five miles above Trenton, which is still possessed by his lineal descendants. His children were Hannah, Mary, Richard, John, Abigail, Joseph, Samuel, Rebecca, and Joanna, all of whom were baptized by the Rev. Jedediah Andrews, eight of themi, together with their father, at one solemnity.^" He died March 14, 1754, at the age of eighty-three. His son, John, who also signed the call, died May 10, 1748, at the ag'e of forty-seven. His children were Daniel, Amos, Prudence, Jemima, Jedediah, and Ephraim. DanieI/^ the eldest son of John, died June 5, 181 1, aged seventy-five. He was a trustee in 1786 and subsiequently. His children were Rachel, Keziah, Abner and Elias. EuAS, the youngest child, died February 20, 181 1, at the age of forty-four. His children were D'aniel, John, Jasper Smith and Abner. The third of these is the present treasurer of the city congregation, being of the fifth gen- eration of the family. Andrew Reed was a merchant in Trenton, and is prob- ably the person mentioned in Governor Morris's papers, as having caused an excitment in 1744, in consequence of his having been elected loan officer, with some informality by the justices of Hunterdon.* He was the first treasurer of the borough of Trenton upon its incorporation in 1746.^^ He was made a trustee of the church by the charter of 1756, and served until 1759, when he removed to Amwell, where he died, December 16, 1769. He was the father of General Joseph Reed, of the Revolution, who followed him in the trusteeship in 1766. Mr. Andrew Reed resided for somie time also in Philadelphia, and was a trustee of the Second Presbyterian Church in that city. He had a * Papers o£ Lewis Morris, pp. 275, 303, 317. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 45 brother, Joseph, who died at Amwell, in 1774, whose will mentions the children of his late brother, Andrew, namely, Joseph, Boaz,^2 John, Sarah (wife of Charles Pettit), and Mary. He (Joseph) left a legacy to Margaret, "the wife of Ci^oTwoRTHY Rm-D, of Trenton,"!^ a name which is found among the signers O'f the call. He also left thirty pounds to Princeton College, in addition to twenty already subscribed, and fifty to the united Presbyterian congrega- tions of Amwell, directing that his body should be interred in "the old English Presbyterian meeting-houise graveyard in Amwell," or in any other Presbyterian graveyard nearer which he might be at the time of his death. . In the Register of Baptisms, by the Rev. Jedediah An- drews, pastor of the First Church of Philadelphia, some of the names oi the signers are foimd.^* August 2, 171 1, Mr. Andrews baptized in Hopewell, Richard Scuddkr, and his eight children, Hannah, Mary, Richard. John, Abigail, Joseph, Samuel and Rebekah. At Maidenhead, March 6, 1713, Rebekah, daughter of EeenEzer Prout, and Daniel, son of Robert Lanning. At Hopewell, April 21, 1713, Susanna, daughter of Richard Scudder, and Alexander, son of Charles Clark. At Maidenhead, December 21, 171 3, Abigail, daughter of Ralph Hart. At Hopiewell, July 28, 1714, Eunice, daughter of EbEnezER ProuT. At Maidenhead, April 17, 1715, Edward, son of Ralph Hunt. July 13, 1715, Joseph and Anna, children of Eliakim Anderson"; Frances, daughter of Robert Lanning. The year 1738 is notable in the history of New Jersey, as the first in which the Province had a Governor exclus- ively its own. Heretofore the crown had united it with New York in the commissions of the successive Governors ; but now Colonel Lewis Morris, a native of Morrisania, in New York, was appointed for New Jersey alone. The Legislative Assembly of the Province was accustomed to 46 HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. meet alternately at Perth Amboy and Burlington. Gover- nor Morris was anxious to fix upon a permanent and more central place for the seat o^f gKJverntnient. In 1740 he writes: "I have hired Dagworthy's house at Trenton." In 1742 he negotiates with Governor Thomas/^ of Pennsylvania, for a lease of his estate called Kingsbury — the property in the lower part of Warren (then King) street, subsequently occupied by other provincial governors — and which, after a long interval, became the executive mansion during the incumbency of Governor Price. Lewis describes it in 1744 as "about half a mile from Trenton; a very healthy and pleasant place, parted by a small brook (Assanpink) from Trentown, the great thoroughfare between York and Phila- delphia." He was not able to obtain a change in the seat of governrnent; but in accommodation tO' his bad health the Legislature was summoned to meet at Trenton, and once at least at Kingsbury, in order to be dissolved in per- son by the Governor. He died there. May 21, 1746. Governor Morris belonged to the English Church, and while a resident at his estate of Tintern, or Tinton, in Mon- mouth county, when President (1700) of Council, had recommended to the Bishop O'f London, as necessary "to the biinging over to the Church the people in these countries," that none but "churchmen" should be placed in the high offices; that members of that Church should have "some peculiar privileges above others," and that no man should be admitted to a great benefice in England who had not preached "three years gratis in Atrierica." But his secta- rian zeal had disappeared when he made his will : "I forbid any man to be paid for preaching a funeral sermon over me ; those who survive me will commend or blame my life as they think fit, and I am not for paying of any man for doing of either; but if any man, whether Churchman or Dissenter, in or not in priest's orders, is inclined to say any- thing on that occasion, he may, if my executors think fit to admit him to do it."^'' CHAPTER IV. Rev. Mr. Cowei^i, and Rev. Mr. Tennent. Schism op Synod. 1736 — 1760. Mr. Cowele's name appears in the minutes of Presby- tery, first of Philadelphia, afterwards of New Brunswick, as a punctual attendant down to 1746. From that year to 1762 there is a hiatus in the records, and there is no means of ascertaining what part he took in that judicature during the remainder of his life, beyond what transpires through the minutes of the Synod. It is only from the proceedings of this court that we obtain information of a theological controversy between Mr. Cowell and the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, of the Presby- tery of New Brunswick, that is first mentioned in May, 1738, at which time a large correspondence had already passed between them. Prom the tenor of the proceedings in three successive sessions of the Synod, it appears that Mr. Tennent suspected Mr. Cowell of holding that doctrine, or some form of it, which makes the happiness of the indi- vidual the chief motive of religion. Not satisfied with the result of the correspondence, Mr. Tennent brought the sub- ject to the notice of Syiiod May 27, 1 738, with a request for an expression of their opinion. The Synod appointed a ■committee, composed of Rev. Messrs. J. Dickinson, Pierson, Pemberton, Thomson, Anderson, Boyd and Treat, to con- verse with the two controvertists together, "that they may see whether they so widely differ in their sentiments as is supposed; and if they find there be necessity, distinctly to consider the papers; that Mr. Tennent and Mr. Cowell be (47) 48 HISTORY OF THE both directed to refrain all public discourses upon this con- troversy, and all methods of spreading it among the popu- lace, until the committee have made their report to the Synod, and that no other member take notice of and divulge the affair." The committee, finding that the debate was not to be settled by conversation, obtained leave to defer their report until the next Synod, and the Rev. Mr. Cross was added to their number. On the second day of the next year's session (May 2% 1739), the committee were not prepared toi report. On the 25th the subject was again deferred — ^the committee being probably engaged in private conference with the parties. On the 29th the report was presented ; upon hearing which the Synod expressed their great satisfaction in finding the contending parties fully agreed in their sentiments upon the point in controversy, accoirding tO' the terms in which the overture of the committee had embodied the doctrine. The committee preface the theological statement to which they had secured the assent of the disputants, with this somewhat caustic intimation: "Though they apprehend that there were some incautious and un- guarded expressions used by both the contending parties, yet they have ground to hope that the principal controversy between them flows from their not having clear ideas of the subject they so earnestly debate about, and not from any dangerous errors they entertain." The committee then proceeded toi harmonize the views which each oi the polemics took of his favorite side of the problem. The substance of their statement is, that God has been pleased to connect the highest happiness of man with the promotion of the divine glory, and therefore the two designs must never be placed in opposition. The decision was made at the last sederunt of the meet- ing, when Mir. Tennent had not much time toi weigh the terms of the report; but upon the reading of the minutes FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 49 at the opening of the session of 1740, he expressed his dissatisfaction and asked for a reconsideration of the subject. After much debate upon this request, it was refused by a great majority.* Mr. Tennent's disposition was not towards concession. Neither his pen nor voice as yet gave promise of the future "Irenicum.." As Dr. Pinley said at his funeral, if an end seemed to be attainable, "he would not give up the point while one glimpse of hope remained." He subsequently alluded in the harshest terms to what he conceived to be the heretical standing of many of the Synod on^ the point of hisi controversy with Mr. Cowell. "His natural disposition," says Dr. Alexander, "appears to have been severe and uncompro'mising ; and he gave strong evidence of being very tenacious of all his opinions, and not very tolerant oif those who dissented from his views, as appeared by the controversy which he had with the Rev. Mr. Cowell, of Trenton, and which he brought before the Synod."t Our whole Church was now approiaching one of the most exciting and tumultuous epochs in its history — an epoch si'gnalized by the discordant epithets of "The Great Re- vival," and "The Great Schism," to which might be added, as their sequel, "The Great Relapse" — the times of Edwards, Whitefield, Wesley, Tennents, Dickinson, Blair, Davenport, and the parties, sects, and controversies with which their names are associated; times of fanaticism and censorious- ness, yet alsoi of awakening and reformation; the good O'f which has overbalanced the mischief — the Divine wisdom neutralizing the foolishness O'f men. A full and candid survey of the period from; 1740 to. 1758, and a discriminat- ing view of what is pure and what spurious in the character of a "Revival," may be found in Dr. Hodge's volumes on * Records, pp. 138, 142, 143, 146, 149, 150. The proceedings are given in Dr. Hodge's Constitutional History. Part I., pp. 23S-239- t *%og College," chap. iv. 4 PRES so HISTORY OF THE the "Constitutional History of the Presbyterian Church." All that pertains to my limited poarpose may be compressed in a few paragraphs.* Both in this country and Great Britain, the piety of the Chmxh, its ministry and laity, was in a languid condition. In some parts this was accompanied with, or caused by, a looseness in doctrinal opinion. The fiirst marked symptoms of improvement appeared at Freehold, New Jersey, in the congregation under the care O'f the Rev. John Tennent, and throughout his brief ministry from 1730 toi his death in 1732. Under the itinerating ministry of the Rev. John Rowland, in Maidenhead, Hopewell, and Amwell, similar effects appeared a few years later, and most conspicuously in 1740. In Elizabethtown, Newark, New Brunswick, and other parts of New Jersey, as well as in the neighboring Provinces, and in Virginia and New England, the "awaken- ing" was remarkably extended and decided. In the year 1738, Whitefield first appeared in America, and repeated his visits at intervals until his death at Newburyport in 1770. His extraordinary preaching and inexhaustible enthusiasm served to increase and diffuse the religious fervor that had already made its appearance, while the irregularities of his measures, and the marks of fanaticism that characterized his language and conduct, excited the mistrust of some of the most pious and judicious, as to the ultimate effect of his course. It was the excitement, both good and bad, attending the movements just referred to, that led some of the most zeal- ous ministers to disregard formalities and regulations which they supposed were impediments in the way of attempting what the times required. In 1737, the Synod of Philadel- phia, the only Synod and the highest court of the Church, prohibited the intrusion of the ministers of one Presbytery within the bounds of another. The main object of this law * For the documents and records see Baird's Digest, 2d edition, pp. 592-617. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 51 was to prevent itinerant ministers from producing confusion by preaching in parishes uninvited by the proper minister. Again, in 1738, the Synod directed that every candidate for the ministry should present to the Presbytery to which he apphed a diploma of graduation, or an equivalent certifi- cate of scholarship from a committee oi the Synod. In that year the Synod had formed out of the Presbyteries of New York and Philadelphia the Presbytery of New Brunswick. All the churches and ministers to the north and east O'f Maidenhead and Hopewell, with some others, were united in the new Presbytery. On the first day of its constitution it deliberately disregarded the latter rule, and licensed a candidate without diploma or certificate. The Synod pro- nounced this act disorderly, and refused to recognize the licentiate. In reply, the Presbj^ery, led by the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, stated their objections to both of the above-named rules, as infringing on Presbyterial rights and transgressing Synodal authority.^ The Synod slightly modified the rule of examination, but adhered to its principles. The Presby- tery persisted in their contumacy, ordained the very proba- tioner (Rowland) that they had irregularly licensed, and continued to license in the old way. The Hopewell family of churches became involved in the schismatic proceedings. Hopewell and Maidenhead, still in the Presbytery of Philadelphia, supplicated the new Presby- tery for Mr. Rowland as their supply, which was granted. The Presbytery of Philadelphia, which had, through Mr. Cowell, informed Rowland that they adhered to the Synod's view of his defective standing, and advised him not to preach at Hopewell, now refused to allow him to minister in their jurisdiction. Thereupon the people who favored Rowland asked the Philadelphia Presbytery to form them into a separate congregation. This was consented to, pro- vided they would not erect a new church without the consent of the other part of the congregation to its location.^ Upon 52 HISTORY OF THE this agreement they were set off. The new congregation at once asked to be dismissed to the more congenial Presbytery of New Brunswick. The Presbytery insisted upon their first complying with the condition on which they were set off. The people complained of this decision to Synod, which (1739) wholly sustained the Presbytery, and pro- vided for their (the Presbytery's) fixing the place of the new house, but none of the parties submitted to its judg- ment. Matters became still more complicated as the Synod en- deavored to compromise the points in debate. Gilbert Ten- nent, with his characteristic harshness and uncharitableness, formally attributed the objectionable rules of the Synod, and its adherence to them, to doctrinal unsoundness and want of piety. Mr. Blair followed in the same strain. Tennent encouraged the schismatic tendencies O'f the Sjynod's opponents by a bold sermon at Nottingham, excit- ing the disaffected to withdraw from the ministry of those whom he condemned. It was fruitful in alienations and divisions. The Synod met in 174 1. A violent protest against recog- nizing the Tennent party as members of Synod was read, and then signed by a majority. Scenes of disorder ensued. The Presbytery of New Brunswick, regarding themselves excluded by this unconstitutional measure, withdrew in a body from the house. The next day it divided itself into the Presbyteries of New Brunswick and Ivondonderry, and took measures for organizing a new Synod. In 1742 the old Synod was occupied with ineffectual plans of reconcilia- tion. In 1743 Mr. Cowell being Moderator, and in 1744, the discussion went on, and no union taking place, the dis- owned members, and others who sympathized with them as unjustly dealt with, met as the Synod of New York in Elizabethtown, September, 1745. In the references to this schism the Synod of Philadelphia is called historically the FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 53 Old Side, and the other Synod the New Side. The separa- tion continued until 1758.* Through these agitations Mr. Cowell stood by the old Synod; and though after his experience of Mr. Tennent's qualities as an antagonist he may not have felt any personal prepossession for the side on which he was leader, his char- acteristic moderation and self-command were doubtless pre- served. According to President Davies, perhaps alluding to these times, "in matters of debate, and especially of relig- ious controversy, he was rather a moderator and compro- miser than a party." There is no reason to believe that he was carried away, as many were, by their admiration of the zeal O'f Whitefield, to overlook the serious perils O'f the excitement of his visits. Whitefield was, of course, a favorite with the "New Side." He was onle o^f those men towards whom a broad charity is extended by the humble minds who honor in another the zeal in which they regard themselves to be defective, and overlook extravagancies for the sake of the good which they hope they will be the means of producing. Whitefield's history stands in need of this charity, and we should be slow in suspecting those men of coldness to a true work of Divine grace who were consci- entiously restrained from giving their countenance to his methods of procedure. In the first year of his American travels Whitefield preached at the towns between Philadelphia and New York. His own journal of November 12, 1739, says: "By eight o'clock we reached Trent-town in the Jerseys. It being dark, we went out of our way a little in the woods ; but God Sent a guide to direct uis aright. We had a comfortable refreshment when we reached our inn, and went to bed in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." He left town early the next morning. After preaching in the neighborhood he was brought back to Trenton in the same month, by the pros- pect of a great gathering of people to view an execution. 54 HISTORY OF THE "November 21, 1739. Being- strongly desired by many, and hearing that a condemned malefactor was to suffer that week, I went in company with about thirty more to Trent- town, and reached thither by five in the evening. Here God was pleased to humble my soul, and bring my sins to remembrance, so that I could hardly hold up my head. However, knowing that God called, I went out, trusting in Divine strength, and preached in the court-house; and though I was quite barren and dry in the beginning of the discourse, yet God enabled me to speak with great sweet- ness, freedom', and power before I had done. The unhappy criminal seemed hardened, but I hope some good was done in the place." Whitefield, it appears from- this, preached according to English custom, in the presence of the condemned man.* Mr. Cowell improved the same occasion by a sermon in his own church, on the repentance of the dying thief, which looks as if he did not offer his pulpit to the eloquent itin- erant. A' letter of Jonathan Arnold, who appears to have been an Episcopal minister, perhaps a missionary, in Con- necticut, dated, "East Chester, November 27, 1739," and addressed to Wm. Smiith, Esq., of New York, refers to an incident of that visit. "When Mr. Whitefield came with me from Trenton, we agreed to search and examine each other. He had the preferance. I past his examination till we came to Brunswick, after which I was to- have the same liberty with him. He escaped by turning aside to preach for the famous Mr. Tennent." In November, 1740, Whitefield was here again, as his journal speaks of having had at Trenton "a long confer- ence with some ministers about Mr. Gilbert Tennent's com- plying with an invitation to go and preach in New Eng- land." It is probable that he visited Trenton during his other tours in America, from 1744 to 1770. On the 30th of July, 1754, one of his letters says: "To-morrow I preach FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 55 at Newark; on Wednesday, at two in the afternoon, at New Brunswick, and hope to reach Trent-town that night. Could you not meet me there quietly, that we might spend one evening together?" He was advertised in the Phila- delphia papers to preach at Trenton on the 13th and 14th September, 1754.^ Mr. Cowell was an active member of Synod. In 1738 he was on a committee to meet at Hanover, to adjust a diffi- culty between two parishes. At the same session he was placed on a committee of seven to- examine candidates for the ministry. This committee had charge of the students in the Presbyteries to the north of Philadelphia, and a cor- responding one had charge of those to the south. In 1743 he was Moderator, and elected on the Synod's commission for the year. F'or before the present constitution of our church was adopted, the Slynod followed the usage of the General Assembly of Scotland, in annually appointing a convenient number of its members to sit as a commission in the interval of its stated convenings, and perform any Synodal business that required immediate dispatch.® The Moderator of 1743 was also added to a committee to an- swer a communicaticn from Governor Thomas, of Penn- sylvania, in regard to a pamphlet by the Rev. Alexander Craighead, which the government considered seditious, and which the Synod disavowed, both as to its sentiments, and as having any jurisdiction over its author. '^ In 1749 the Synod of New York sent a delegation to the Synod of Philadelphia, with a proposal that each Synod should appoint a commission to meet and deliberate upon a plan of reunion. This movement towards reconcilation was acceded to by the sister S)mod, and on the 25th of May they appointed a commission of nine members, of whom Mr. Cowell was one. The iinited meeting was ap- pointed to be held in Trenton, on the first Wednesday of the ensuing October. The meeting took place accordingly S6 HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. on the 4th and 5th of October, and Mr. Cowell was chosen to preside. The negotiations initiated at this meeting were prolonged in various shapes until May 29, 1755, when a commission of conference was again appointed by the Synod of Philadelphia, and Mr. Cowell was one of its seven members. They met in Philadelphia on the same a-fternoon. He was also on a committee of five, in 1756, to answer a minute then received from the other Synod; and on another committe to obtain a charter for the Wid- ows' Ftmd from the Messrs. Penn, the Pennsylvania Pro- prietors, and also on the Synod's Commission and Fund.* In May, 1757, another joint conference was held at Tren- ton, of which Mr. Cowell was a member. He was on the Commlission of the Synod, and Commattee for the Fund, for 1758, in which year the two Synods were at length combined under the title of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia. At the first mieeting of the new Synod (May 30, 1758) Mr. Cowell and Mr. Guild (of Penningtoni) were trans- ferred from the Presbytery of Philadelphia to that of New Brunswick, and from that time the respective churches have retained the connection. The last mention of M'r. Cowell's name on the Synod's records is under the date of May 22, 1760, when, although not present, he was placed on a com- mittee to dispose oi the fund for the relief of poor and pious youth in the College of New Jersey.^ CHAPTER V. Trenton in 1748 — Episcopai. Churches — Trenton Names and Peaces — i722'-i768. 1746 — 1760. On. the sixth of Septettiiber, 1746, at the instance of Governor Morris, Trenton was, by royal charter, constituted a borough-town. Thomas Cadwalader was the first Chief Burgess; Nathaniel Ward, Recorder, with twelve Bur- gesses. But in April, 1750, the inhabitants having found that the disadvantages of incoirporation preponderated, sur- rendered the charter through the hands of Govemor Bel- cher.* For the sake of the impression it may convey of what the town was at this period, I will here make an extract from the joiimal of a traveler who saw it in the year 1748. This writer was Peter Kalm, Professor of Economy in the University of Abo, in Swedish Finland; who- visited North America, as a naturalist, under the auspices. O'f the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences. It was in honor oif his botanical researches that Linnseus gave the name of Kalmia toi our laurel. Ulnder the date O'f October 28, 1748, Kalm enters his observations as follows: "Trenton is a long, narrow town, situate at some distance from the river Delaware, on a sandy plain. It belongs to New Jersey, and they reckon it thirty miles from Philadelphia. It has two small churches, one for the people belonging to the Church of England, the other for the Presbyterians. The houses are partly built of stone, though most of them are made of wood or planks, commonly two stories high, together with a cellar below the building, and a kitchen underground, * The Charter is in book AAA of Commissions, p. z66: the surrender on p. 306. (S7) S8 HISTORY OF THE close to the cellar. The houses stand at a moderate distance from one another. They are commonly built so that the street passes along one side of the houses, while gardens of different dimensions bound the other side. In each garden is a draw-well' The place is reckoned very healthy. Our landlord told us that twenty-two years ago, when he first settled here, there was hardly more than one house; but from that time Trenton has increased so much that there are at present near a hundred houses. The houses were, within, divided into several rooms by the partitions of boards. The inhabitants of the place car- ried on a small trade with the goods which they got from Philadelphia, but their chief gain consists in the arrival of the numerous travelers between that city and New York, for they are commonly brought by the Trenton yachts fromi Philadelphia to Trenton, or from thence to Philadelphia. But from Trenton further to New Brunswick, the trav- elers go in the wagons which set out every day for that place. Several of the inhabitants, however, likewise subsist on the carriage for all sorts of goods which are every day sent in great quantities either from Philadelphia to New York, or from thence to the former place, for between Philadelphia and Trenton all goods go by water, but between Trenton and New Brunswick they are all carried by land, and both these conveniences belong to people of this town. "For the yachts which go between this place and the capital of Penn- sylvania (Philadelphia), they usually pay a shilling and sixpence of Pennsylvania currency per person, and every one pays besides for his baggage. Every passenger must provide meat and drink for himself, or pay some settled fare. Between Trenton and New Brunswick a person pays 2s. 6d., and the baggage is likewise paid for separately. "On the road from Trenton to New Brunswick I never saw any place in America, the towns excepted, so well peopled. An old man, who lived in the neighborhood, and accompanied us for some part of the road, however, assured me that he could well remember the time when between Trenton and New Brunswick there were not above three farms, and he reckoned it was fifty and some odd years ago."" When it is said that the landlord told Kalm that in 1726 there was hardly one house in Trenton, either the Swede did not understand the JersejTiian, or the host spoke at random; for if as early as 17 19 the courts sat in Trenton, it is not probable that such a selection would be made seven years before there was "hardly a house." The statistical guess'es or reports oif travelers are not to be relied on, especially if the reporters doi not speak the language of the country. The Rev. Andrew Burnaby, an FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. English clergyman, describes Trenton, in 1759, as "contain- ing about a hundred houses. It has nothing remarkable : there is a Church (of England), a Quaker's and Presby- terian meeting-house, and barracks for three hundred men."* These barracks, which are now in part occupied by the "Home for Widows," were erected in 1758, simul- taneously with those at New Brunswick and Elizabethtown,^ Elkanah Watson, who was here in 1777, says: "Trenton contains about seventy^ dwellings, situate principally on two narrow streets running parallel."! In the travels of the Duke de la Rochefoucault Liancourt, in 1795-7, Trenr ton is said to "contain about three hundred housesi; most of which are of wood. Those of the high street are some- what better in structure than the rest, yet still but very moderate in their appearance."^ In the same year an Eng- lish visitor says: "Trenton contains about two hundred houses, together with four churches. The streets are com- modious, and the houses neatly built. "§ Melish, in 1806-7, makes it "a handsome little town, containing abont two hundred houses." || The Rev. Mr. Burnaby "went to Sir John Sinclair's, at the Falls of Delaware, about a mile above Trenton, a pleasant rural retirem'ent."* Sir John Sin- clair's knighthood was of the order known in English heraldry as a Baronetcy of Nova Scotia. He was the first occupant of the mansion that afterwards belonged to "Lord" Stirling, and then to Mr. Rutherford, a short distance west of the State House, and on the river. The three families were connected. The house was subsequently tenanted by Robert Lettis Hooper, and the walls of "the * Travels through the Middle Settlements in North America etc., in 1759 and 1760. t Memoirs, p. 9. t Travels; Translated by Newman. London, 1799, i. 594. § Travels through the States of North America, etc., in 1793-7. By Isaac Weld, Jr. I/Ondon, 1799. 11 Travels, i. 143- 6o HISTORY OF THE Green House," remained to give name to the site long after the dwelling itself had been demolished. A correspondent of the Trenton "Federalist," of March 3ath, 1802, states that the first ice-house in the State, "in our recollection, was erected by Sir John St. Clair (so written), about the year 1760."^ I would here enlarge the notices already given incidentally of the foundation of the Episcopal Church in Trenton and its vicinity. I have mentioned the building erected on the ground conveyed by Hutchinson in 1703, and its occupation at intervals, if not jointly, by the Presbyterians. In Humphreys' "Historical Account of the Gospel Propaga- tion' Sbciety," we have the following statement : "Hopewell and Maidenhead are two neighboring towns, containing a considerable number of families. The people of Hopewell showed a very early desire of having the Church of England worship settled among them; and in the year 1704 built a church with voluntary con- tributions, though they had no prospect then of having a minister. The Rev. Mr. May was there some short time, but Mr. Talbot, from Burlington, often visited them. This church was for ten years vacant. In 1720 the Rev. Mr. Harrison was appointed missionary there, with the care of Maidenhead, but soon wrote the Society word that he was not able to undergo the fatigue of constantly riding between two places, and in 1723 he removed to a church in Staten Island." In the Society's "Account" for 1706, it is said: "Many other public letters were continually sent over, by which it appeared that the inhabitants of Hopewell and Maidenhead were building a church, and desired a minister and some subsistence for him." In 1709 Mr. Talbot writes from Burlington: "Poor Hopewell has built a church and have had no minister yet."® In a manuscript, headed, "State of the Church of England in America in 1705,'' probably a copy of some English document, it is said that a minister is wanted "at Hopewell, between Crosswicks and Maidenhead, where they are building" a church ; and one "at the Palls, thirty miles above Philadelphia, where a church is building." FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 6r In collating these notices, Hopewell and the Falls would seem' to indicate different localities; and if the former be the name of the "Old Church" of our map, in Chapter II., the latter may denote some other place — perhaps in Pennsylvania — to which the general neighborhood title of the Falls may have been applied.^ In 1749 a lottery "for finishing the church at Trenton," was drawn in Pennsylvania. Of the Trenton Episcopal Church, however, we find noithing definite until June, 1750, when the Rev. Michael Houdin is reported in the Society's Accounts as "invited by the inhabitants of Trenton and other places in New Jersey to go and officiate among them." Upon this he addressed a letter to the Society, dated Tren- ton, November i, 1750, which begins: "Having my resi- dence at New York, I heard of repeated complaints made by gentlemen and principal inhabitants of this place, Allen's Town and Borden's Town, it being for many years past destitute of a Church of England minister; and, without any sort of application of mine, about five months ago some of them were pleased to press me by letter to come amongst them. * * * When I waited on them I really found they were destitute indeed, there not being a minister of the Church of England nearer than Burlington." The Ab- stracts of the Society for 1753 say: "The Rev. Mr. Houdin, having for some years officiated at Trenton and the neigh- boring places in the Province of New Jersey, among the members of the Church of England, upon such slender sup- port as they in their poor circumstances could afford him," the Society appointed him their "itinerant missionary to officiate in Trenton and the parts adjacent." Michael Houdin, whose name has been usually given nearer to its pronunciation, as Udang or Eudang, in which latter form it actually appears in the first minutes of the Vestry of St. Michael's Church (April 30, 1755) — ^born in France in 1705 — was originally a priest in the Church of 62 HISTORY OF THE Rome and Superior of a Franciscan Convent in Montreal. He renounced that faith and entered the Episcopal Church in New York in 1747, and thence came to Trenton as the Society's "itinerant missionary in New Jersey," on a salary of fifty pounds. In 1759 Houdin accompanied General Wolfe to Quebec, as his guide; and in October "intreats the Society that his absence from his mission may not bring him under displeasure, as he was in some measure forced to it, in obedience to the commands of Lord Loudon and the succeeding commanders, who depended much on his being well acquainted with that country." After the reduction of Quebec, Houdin asked leave to return tO' his missionary post, but General Murray retained him in the army. He complained that he had lost much by the death of Wolfe, "who promised to remember his labor and services." From Canada he appears to have been sent as missionary to New Rochelle, Westchester county. New York, where were many French refugees. He died there in October, 1766.* The Rev. Mr. Treadwell was the successor to Houdin. In May, 1769, the Rev. William Thomson produced to the Vestry the Society's letter appointing him to the mission of "Tren- ton and Maidenhead," to which the Wardens gave their approbation.^ The nearest newspaper offices accessible to Trenton for half a century after its foundation were those of Philadel- phia. Through all that period the want of a local press and the obstacles to correspondence kept the affairs of the town in their native obscurity. Such notices and advertisements, however, as are found in the Philadelphia journals afford some idea of the population and business of Trenton, and give some names of its early inhabitants, not otherwise to be found. From a cursory inspection of a series of Brad- * Anderson's History of the Colonial Church of England. Ijondon, 1856, vol. iii. Bolton's History of the Episcopal Church in Westchester County. New York, 185s, p. 453-471. O'Callaghan's Documentary History of New York. Vol. iii. 955. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 63 ford's Weekly Mercury, and Keimer's and Franklin's Penn- sylvania Gazette,"^ I have made the following miscellaneous notes. A number of the names are among the signatures of Mr. Cowell's call in 1736. November, 1722.— William Yard, of Trenton, advertises the escape of a negro servant. August, 1723. — Joseph Peace" offers for sale two dwelling houses belonging to Peter Pummer, near Trent's Mill. Inquiry to be made of Mr. Peace, at his residence in Trent Town. September, 1723. — A line of transportation for goods and passengers is advertised as running between Trenton and Philadelphia, once a week each way. The agent in Trenton was John Woolland. The office in the city was at the celebrated "Crooked Billet." March, 1728. — A large stone house, with a good smith-shop, to be sold at vendue at the house of William Hofif. December, 1729. — ^John Severn's stable and seven horses burnt. October, 1731. — For sale a plantation, adjoining the town of Tren- ton, 130 acres ; also one three miles above Trenton, near the ferry above the falls, one mile from Yardley's old mill, and three from his new one, 500 acres. "Inquire of Capt. James Gould, at Trenton, and be further informed." December, 1731. — 'A bolting-house and store, belonging to Benjamin Smith, took fire, "but was seasonably prevented." June, 1732. — Enoch Anderson, "at the Falls' ferry.'' July, 1732. — Enoch Anderson, Junior, sub. sheriff. August, 1732. — The house of Ebenezer Prout, "near this place," was struck by Hghtning. William Pearson was hurt, a boy killed. September, 1732. — Eliacom [kim] Anderson, "now living at Trenton ferry." February 1732-3. — A fresh carried away the dam of the iron works, also the dam of the grist-mill, bridge and dyeing-house. September 19, 1734. — Notice is given of the establishment of a post office at Trenton, "where all persons may have their letters, if directed for that county; also where they may put in their letters directed to any parts, and due care will be taken to send them." The postmaster was Andrew Reed, and the office was at the house of Joseph Reed." The first advertisement of uncalled-for letters, which I have seen, is under the date March 25, 1755, and is as fol- lows: * In the Philadelphia Library is a series of the Mercury from 1719 to 1746, and of the Gazette from 1728 to 1774. The latter appeared at first under the ex- traordinary title of The Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences, and Penn- sylvania Gazette. 64 HISTORY OF THE "A list of letters now in the post office at Trenton. C William Carnegie, near Kingston, John Clark (Attorney,), Trenton. H John Hyde, Hopewell. M Joseph Morton, Princetown. P Richard Patterson, Princetown. S John Stevens, Rocky Hill. V Ares Vanderbelt, Maidenhead. "Letters not taken up within three months from this date will be sent to the General Post Office at Philadelphia." September, 1734. — Isaac Harrow, an English smith, has lately set up at Trenton a plating and blade-mill, where he makes axes, car- penters' and coopers' tools, tanners' and skinners' knives, spades, shovels, shears, scythes, mill and hand-saws, frying-pans, etc., "likewise all sorts of iron plates, fit for bell making or any other use." May, 1736. — Application for a stone house and a lot of three quarters of an acre, to be made to Cornelius Ringo in Trenton. It "lies in a very convenient part of the town for any manner of business, being near the mill." February, 1737. — There will be a stage-wagon from Trenton tO' Brunswick twice a week and back; will set out from William Atlee's and Thomas Hooton's, in Trenton. October, 1737. — Servants absconded from Benjamin Smith and Richard Noland. November, 1737. — A Scotch servant-man absconded from Mr. Warrell. January, 1738. — Servant absconded from Joseph Decow. August, 1739. — To be let, the grist-mills at Trenton, with two tene- ments adjoining, now in the tenure of Joseph Peace. December, 1739. — Andrew Reed receives subscriptions in Trenton for Whitefield's Sermons and Journals, to be published by Franklin. March, 1740. — William Atlee proposes to continue to keep a store with John Dagworthy, Junior, until his partnership with Thomas Hooton is settled. II, May, 1744. — ^To be sold, by Benjamin Smith, a corner lot; also a stone house, fronting King street; sundry lots on Queen street. September, 1745. — To be sold, "the iron plating works, smith's shop, and all the tools and moulds for making frying-pans, dripping-pans. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 6s etc., said works being now fit for use;" also a good dwelling-house- all of the estate of Isaac Harrow, deceased. Apply to Anthony Morris, Philadelphia, or William Morris, Trenton." January, 1745. — For sale, dwelling, malt-house, brew-house, and all utensils, and a quarter of acre of land in King street, estate of William Atlee. Enquire of James Atlee, Trenton, or Thomas Hooton, Trenton ferry. March, 1746.— Sundry lots offered by William Morris and William Morris, Junior, on both sides of Hanover street 45 feet front and 147 feet deep. October, 1746. — A fair for three days will be held in the borou.gh town of Trenton for cattle of all kinds, goods, wares, and merchandise. 1746. — William. Morris, Junior, at his store opposite to John Jen- kins's, advertises rum by the hogshead, and salt by the hundred bushels. June, 1748. — Enoch Anderson offers for sale a house "fronting the street that leads directly to New York," also "two lots opposite the Presbyterian meeting-house, on one of which is a very good stable." April, 1750. — House of William Douglass, at Trenton landing. 1750. — For sale by Benjamin Biles, a well-accustomed tanyard, with vats enough for 800 hides, and dwelling adjoining the tanyard, on the west side of King street, near the middle of the town. May, 1750. — Thomas Cadwalader offers 900 acres of woodland, a mile and a half north of the town, watered by fine streams, "one of which the Trenton mills stand on." Also a plantation of 700 acres, on the Delaware, where William Douglass now lives, north ofc Trenton about two miles, adjoining the plantation where Mr. Tuite lately lived; also a large corner brick house in Queen street, in a very public part of the town; also 25 acres of pasture land in the upper end of Queen street. June, 1750. — For sale, plantation, 447 acres, late in possession of Alexander Lockhart, Esq., between three and four miles from Trenton, on Scot's road, and adjoining the old meeting-house lot, and the plan- tation of Charles Clark, Esq. Enquire of John Cox, Trenton. April, 1751. — John Evans, cooper. January, 1752. — James Rutherford's house robbed. April, 1752. — Elijah Bond's stable and fourteen horses, and some adjoining houses burnt. September, 1753.— For sale, Nathaniel Moore's mills and plantation, six miles above Trenton, 400 acres; apply to William Clayton, or William Pidgeon, Trenton. 1754.— Several men for sale by "Reed and Furman." May, 1754.— Tickets in the lottery in Connecticut for the benefit of College of New Jersey, for sale by Rev. Mr. Cowell, and Reed & Furman. July, 1754.— Edward Broadfield has removed from Bordentown to Trenton. 5 PRES 66 HISTORY OF THE 1756. — The Philadelphia and New York line. John Butler's stage starts on Tuesday from Philadelphia, to house of Nathaniel Parker at Trenton Ferry, thence over the ferry to house kept by George Moschell, where Francis Holman will meet John Butler, and exchange pas- sengers, and proceed on Wednesday, through Princeton and New Brunswick to Perth Amboy, where will be a boat to proceed to New York on Thursday morning. " 1757- — Subscriptions for the New American Magazine, about to be published in Philadelphia, may be left with Moore Furman, Postmaster of Trenton. April, 1758. — ^Andrew Reed, of Trenton, advertises tract of 200 acres at Amwell, and in Trenton two good stone houses, with garden, well, etc., one of which now lets for £8 los. per annum, and the other, having a cooper's shop on the lot, for £12; also three lots on the west side of King street, 45 by 140. April, 1758. — ^William Douglass, sign of the 'Wheatshe'af, or at the house of John Cummings, is authorized to enlist a regiment of one thousand men for the King's service. July, 1758. — For sale by executors, the seat of Joseph Warrell, Esq., late deceased, well known by name of Bellville, on the Delaware, three-fourths of a mile from Trenton, with gardens, orchards, etc. Also a plantation of 300 acres, within one-fourth of a mile of the above, on the Delaware, with a patent for a ferry. May, I7sg.— Robert Lettis Hooper has laid out lots 60 by 181, for a town in Nottingham township, beginning on the Delaware at Trenton ferry, running as the road runs to the grist mills opposite Trenton, thence down the stream of the mills to the Delaware, thence down the river to the ferry, being the head of navigation, "where there is a considerable trade extended from the city of Philadelphia, and great parts of the counties of Hunterdon, Morris, Middlesex, Somerset, and Bucks, in Pennsylvania, deliver their produce," and rafts of timber, staves, etc., come from 120 miles up the river. Offered for sale, or on lease for sixty years. Apply to advertiser or his sons Robert L. Hooper and Jacob Roeters [or Rutters] Hoope'r, "living at his mills opposite to Trenton.'' May, 1764.— Samuel Tucker, Sheriff, will sell that well-accustomed tavern, the lot 67 feet on Front street, and 174 on Market, adjoining lands of William Morris, Junior, Wm. Cle'ayton, James Smith, and Robert Singer; house 35 feet square, having a "genteel assembly- room, with a door opening into a fine balcony, fronting Queen street," late the property and now in possession of Robert Rutherford. March, 1765.— For sale, a settlement on the river called Lamberton, about half a mile below the ferry near Trenton, with utensils for cur- ing herring and sturgeon. March, 1768.— For sale, "Hermitage" on the Delaware, one mile from Trenton, 220 acres. Apply to Benjamin Biles. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 67 I have taken the trouble of making this collection for the sake of the local interest it may possess with the inhabitants of Trenton, and to corroborate what was said in the begin- ning of the chapter as to the probable size of the town in the first quarter of the century. CHAPTER VI. College of New Jersey — ^Cowell, Burr, Davies, FiNEEY. 1746 — 1760. Of the College of New Jersey, the Rev. Mr. Cowell was so early and active a friend, that he may be counted among its founders. The College was, indeed, projected by mem- bers of the Synod of New York, as one of the means of strengthening themselves after the disruption of 1741, and not unlikely as a means of removing the taunt connected with the inadequacy of the Neshaminy school. But as it was to be established in New Jersey, and for all that he knew, in Trenton or its neighborhood, Mr. Cowell was not so bigoted a churchman as to withhold his influence from a scheme which, while it had no positive connection with any party, promised such important advantages to the re- ligious and educational condition of the whole Province.^ He had learned the value of college training from his own career at Harvard, and must have shared the indignation of the friends of David Brainerd against Yale, when he was expelled in 1742, for saying of one of the tutors, "he has no more grace than this chair," which incident is said to have had its influence in encouraging a new college. The College of New Jersey received its first charter in 1746, and was opened with eight pupils, at Elizabethtown, under President Dickinson, in 1747. Upon his decease that same year, the pupils were removed to Newark, and placed under the Rev. Aaron Burr, who had a classical school in the town. In 1748 a more enlarged charter was obtained. 69 70 HISTORY OF THE Of the trustees named in this instrument, Mr. Cowell was one, and he was deputed to wait on Governor Belcher with an address from' the corporation, acknowledging their ac- ceptance of the trust.* The Governor was regarded so much in the light of a founder of the College, that upon the completion of the edifice they formally asked his permission to call it Belcher Hall. He declined the honor, professing to "have always been very fond of the motto of a late great personage, pro- desse quam conspici — to be useful rather than conspicuous"^ — but asked the liberty of naming the College Nassau Hall, in memory of William HI., "who was a branch of the illustrious house of Nassau, and who, under God, was the great deliverer of the British nation from' those two mon- strous furies. Popery and Slavery."! Mr. Burr was chosen President, and the first class, seven in number, was grad- uated.* At the first regular meeting of the trustees after the correspondence it appears that President Burr fre- to apply to the Legislature for pecuniary aid, and to re- ceive subscriptions in Trenton. From the few remains of the correspondence it appears that President Burr fre- quently and familiarly consulted with Mr. Cowell about the affairs of the College. In July, 1753, he presses him^ to be at a certain meeting of the Board: "Besides discharg- ing your duty as a trustee, you might consult about pro- viding for your school in the best manner. I find myself a great deal in your debt as to the article of letters, and, like other bankrupts, though I never expect fully tO' pay, yet I would make some attempts, that I may retain my credit a little longer. I will do my best in providing' you a schoolmaster, but have some fears whether I can quite suit you or me. One of the best I muslt keep for my own use ; one or two more that I could recommend are otherwise * Maclean's "History of the College of New Jersey.*' i : 62, 90. t Dr. Green's "Notes," pp. 274-.";. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 71 engaged. I have three in my mind, and am' a little at a loss which to send." The compensation offered for a teacher at that time was twenty-five pounds and boarding. Prom the allusion in this and other letters, it appears that Mr. Cowell was looking for a good teacher for Trenton, and that the school referred to had a connection with his own parish, or at least had been built on the church grounds, and conducted under some general control of the congrega- tional authorities. Some light is thrown upon this enterprise by an adver- tisement which is found in the Philadelphia newspapers of May, 1753, and which is not without interest for other reasons : "We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, sons of some of the principal families in and about Trenton, being in some measure sensible of the advantages of learning, and desirous that those who are' de- prived of it through the poverty of their parents, might taste the sweet- ness of it with ourselves, can think of no better or other method for that purpose, than the following scheme of a Delaware Island* Lot- tery, for raising 225 pieces of eight [Spanish dollars] towards build- ing a house to accommodate an English and grammar school, and pay- ing a master to teach such children whose parents are unable to pay for schooling. It is proposed that the house be thirty feet long, twenty feet wide, and one story high, and built on the southeast corner of the meeting-house yard in Trenton, under the direction of Messieurs Ben- jamin Yard, Alexander Chambers, and John Chambers, all of Trenton aforesaid. * * * The managers are Reynald Hooper, son of Robert Lettis Hooper, Esq. ; Joseph Warrell, Junior, son of Joseph Warrell, Esq. ; Joseph Reed, Junior, son of Andrew Reed, Esq. ; Theophilus Severns, Junior, son of Theophilus Severns, Esq. ; John Allen, Junior, son of John Allen, Esq. ; William Paxton, son of Joseph Paxton, Esq., deceased; and John Cleayton, son of William Cleayton, Esq." The drawing was to take place June nth, "on Fish Island in the river Delaware, opposite to the town of Tren- ton, and the money raised by this lottery shall be paid into the hands of Moore Furman, of Trenton, who is under bond for the faithful laying out of the money for the uses above. * * * And we the Managers assure the adven- 72 HISTORY OF THE turers upon our honor, that this scheme in all its parts shall be as punctually observed as if we were under the formalities used in lotteries; and we flatter ourselves, the public, considering our laudable design, our age, and our innocence, will give credit to this our public declaration." The lottery of the innocents was drawn on the 2d July, 1753, and the building was doubtless erected immediately afterwards on the spot indicated. The minutes of our trustees record that in 1765, Alexander Chambers and Ben^ jamin Yard were elected by the congregation "Directors of the School-House." In a lease of 1800 to the "Trenton Academy," the premises are described as "a certain brick building, which was erected on the lot belonging to the trustees of the said church for the purpose of a school house." The lessees added a story to the building, and it continued to be used for school and church purposes until it was taken out of the way at the erection of the present church. To return to the College. In 17531 the Reverend Samuel Davies and Gilbert Tennent were sent to Great Britain to solicit contributions for building a suitable edifice for the institution. Princeton was selected as its place. It was while making his final arrangements for the voyage that Davies first made his personal acquaintance with Cowell. In his journal of September 18, 1753, Davies writes: "Rode solitary and sad from Philadelphia to Trenton. Spent the evening with Mr. Cowell, an agreeable gentleman, of the Synod of Philadelphia; but my spirits were so ex- hausted that I was incapable of lively conversation, and was ashamed of my blundering method of talking." It was a bachelor's home. The next evening was enlivened by his visit to the family of the gentleman who succeeded Mr. Cowell in the pastorship of Trenton. "Rode on and came to Mr. Spencer's, at Elizabethtown, where I was most kindly received, and rny spirit cheered by his facetious con- versation."* FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 73 At various dates in 1754, President Burr writes from Newark to Mr. Cowell, who was on the building committee. ■"I Hked Mr. Worth's (the mason) proposals very well on first view, and think with you it is necessary to have a meeting of the committee, atid as m^any others as can attend, as soon as may be. * * * Yesterday I received letters from Messrs. Tennent and Davies, dated April 30, which bring the agreeable news that they have in hand and promises £1400 sterling." "Let me know if you think I had best bring a man with me to Princeton that understands quarrying." "They ask double the price for carting at Princeton to what they do this way ; so I believe it would not be best they should cart much sand." "We must be- gin a barn, buy a wagon, etc., immediately." "It pleases me to find the College lies so much on your mind. I have a hundred things to say that must be deferred to our meet- ing, and can only add that I am ut semper yours affection- ately." "We appointed the committee to meet at Princeton on the third Tuesday of November, but I fear, things will suffer in the meantime. We depended on Mr. (John) Brain- erd's going® to see how things went on, but he is sick. I wish your affairs would admit of your visiting the building; and if you think there is need of it, you may appoint our meeting sooner; but if nothing will suffer, it is best the other appointment should stand. * * *There should be the utmost care that the foundation be laid strong. We ought to have had a man to oversee the work de die in diem, though I put great confidence in Mr. Worth. I know how much you have the affair at heart." The trustees, by a vote on the 29th Sleptember, 1756, directed the removal to Princeton to be made "this fall." President Finley, in 1764, wrote: "In the year 1757 the students, to about the number of seventy, removed from Newark." President Green, writing in 1822, believed it took place in the vacation succeeding the commencement of 74 HISTORY OF THE 1756. Dr. Griffin, at Dr. Macwhorter's funeral in 1807, said the removal was in October, 1756, and this is confirmed by a memorandum of Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, made in 1758. The commencement of 1757 ^^^^ o" the 26th Sep- tember; President Burr died in Princeton on the 24th of the same month. Before leaving the town, after the funeral and comemncement, the trustees elected the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, Sr., to the vacant chair. Mr. Edwards not com- ing immediately, the trustees in December app'ointed Mr. Cowell to act as President of the College until their next meeting.'^ "The choice of the said Mr. Cowell," according to the minutes of the trustees, "being made known to him, he was pleased to accept of the same, and was qualified as the charter directs." Upon his election it was "voted that President Cowell provide, as soon as possible, an Usher for the grammar school." He served until February 16, 1758, when President Edwards took his seat; but held it scarcely a month, falling a victim to the small-pox on the 22d of March. Mr. Davies was elected his successor on the 19th April, being then but thirty-four years of age. Mr. Cowell was appointed an alternate to the Rev. Mr. Caleb Smith, to act at the next commencement, and was placed on the com- mittee to attend to Mr. Davies' removal from Virginia, import books from' England, and attend to the completion of the President's house and the College. Mr. Cowell had been corresponding with Mr. Davies on other matters, before his election to the presidency. In a letter of February 20, 1758, after lamenting the loss which the College and the church had suffered in the recent re- movals by death of Governor Belcher, President Burr, and the Rev. Mr. Davenport, Mr. Davies indulges in what he calls a reverie, as follows : "As the death of these good men was undoubtedly gain to them, may we not modestly conjecture that it will also prove an advantage FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 75 to the world, though we are apt to lament them as lost? I cannot conceive of Heaven as a state of mere enjoyment without action, or indolent supine adoration and praise. The happiness agreeable to vig- orous immortals must consist, one would think, in proper exercise, suitable to the benevolence of their hearts and the extent of their powers. May we not then suppose that such devout and benevolent souls as these, when released from the confinement of mortality, and the low labor of the present Ufe, are not only advanced to superior degrees of happiness, but placed in a higher sphere of usefulness, em- ployed as the ministers of Providence, not to this or that particular church, college, or colony, but to a more extensive charge, and perhaps to a more important class of beings, so that the public good, as the good of the universe of creatures taken collectively, to which the interests of private persons and inferior communities must always be subordinate vmder a wise administration, may be promoted by their removal from us, and from their narrow sphere of beneficence in this imperfect world. And if, when they cease to be useful men, they commence angels, that is, ministering spirits, we may congratulate them and the world upon this more extensive beneficence, instead of lamenting them as lost to all usefulness. Thus, sir, I sometimes per- mit my imagination to rove; but I must confess, sense prevails against speculation and conjecture, and as an inhabitant of this world I deeply feel the loss. Forgive me, dear sir, this reverie, which seems to sug- gest a new thought; if it should be new to you, I should for that very reason suspect it not to be just. "I heartily rejoice in the choice the Trustees have made of a suc- cessor to Mr. Burr. Mr. Edwards has long been very high in my esteem as a man of very great piety, and one of the deepest thinkers and greatest divines of the age. May the Lord long continue his life, and his capacities for action!" Mr. Davies was much perplexed as to his duty, when in- formed of his own election as successor of President Ed- wards. Upon referring the matter to his Presbytery they recommended his remaining in Virginia, and he yielded to their judgment. His later resolution, and the state of mind which led to it, are described in a letter which he wrote on the 14th of September, 1758, to Mr. Cowell, and which, notwithstanding its want of direct connection with our nar- rative, I think, needs no excuse for its insertion here, es- pecially as this correspondence has not before been edited.* * See "Biblical Repertory.'' July, 1840. 76 HISTORY OF THE "Though my mind was calm and serene for some time after the decision of the Presbytery, and I acquiesced in their judgment as the voice of God, till Mr. Smith [Rev. Caleb Smith, of the Committee] was gone, yet to-day my anxieties are revived, and I am almost as much at a loss as ever what is my duty; nor can my conscience be easy without sending this postscript to my former letter at a venture, though I have no other medium of conveyance but the post, which is often uncertain and tedious. I can honestly declare, sir, I never was so much concerned about my own estate as I have been and still am for the prosperity of the College. And the very suspicion that I may possibly have done it an injury by not accepting the honor the Trustees were pleased to confer upon me, causes me to appear almost an unpar- donable criminal to myself. This suspicion haunts me night and day, and I can have no ease till I am delivered from it. It received a terrible confirmation when I found that though the Presbytery could not positively determine, it was my duty to leave Virginia and accept the invitation. Yet they were very skeptical about it, and wished I could have determined the matter for myself. I am also apprehensive the generous error of their excessive personal friendship for me, and their excessive diffidence of their own abilities to manage affairs in a concern of so much difficulty without my conduct and assistance, had no small influence upon their determination. I am likewise con- vinced, that if I had been able to form any previous judgment of my own, it would have turned the scale, and theirs would have coincided with mine. "I have indeed a very large, important congregation; and I am so far from having any reason to think they are weary of me, that it is an agreeable misfortune to me, that they love me so well. But I make no scruples even to tell themselves that they are by no means of equal importance with the College of New Jersey; and some of them, whose public spirit has the predominancy over private friendship and self- interest, are sensible of it. I am sure if I had appeared in the same light to your Board as I do to myself, I should have escaped all this perplexity. It is the real sentiment of my heart, without affectation of humility, that I am extremely unfit for so important a trust, the most important, in my view, that an ecclesiastic can sustain in America; and I have never as much as suspected that it would be my duty to accept it, except upon the supposition of its being a desperate case, if I should reject it; and it is my fear, that it may be so, consideratis considerandis, that makes me so extremely uneasy. When I reflect upon such things as these, I am constrained to send you this answer, though I am afraid out of season, that if the Trustees can agree to elect my worthy friend, Mr. Finley, with any tolerable degree of cordiality and unanimity, I shall be perfectly satisfied, and rejoice in the advantageous exchange. But if not, I shall think it my duty FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. ^^ to accept the offer, if the Trustees judge it proper to continue or renew my election. "If this should come to hand before another election, I give you leave, sir, though with trembling hesitation, to communicate it to the Board; if not, I beg you would forever conceal it, for the real diffi- culty of the aflfair, and the natural caution and skepticism of my mind, have given my conduct such an appearance of fickleness that I am quite ashamed of it. My life, sir, I look upon as sacred to God and the public; and the service of God and mankind is not a local thing, in my view. Wheresoever it appears to me I may perform it, to the greatest advantage, there, I hope, I should choose to fix my residence, whether in Hanover, Princeton, or even Lapland or Japan. But my anxieties in the present case have proceeded from the want of light to determine where the sphere of my usefulness would be the most ex- tensive. "If matters should turn out so as to constrain me to come to Nassau Hall, I only beg early intelligence of it, by Mr. Smith, who intends to revisit Hanover shortly, or by post, and I shall prepare for my journey and the removal of my family with all possible expedition. The honor which you, sir, and the other gentlemen of the Trustees, who are in other instances such good judges of merit, have done me, is such a strong temptation to vanity, as requires no small degree of self-knowledge to resist. "I shall always retain a grateful sense of it, and I pray God it may have no bad influence upon a heart so deeply infected with the un- creaturely vice of pride."* A'fter dispatching- this letter, "extorted from him," as he said, "by irresistible anxieties," a second messenger (Halsey) from the trustees, appears to have intimated tO' Mr. Davies, that in the event of his declining the chair, the Rev. Samuel Finley would be the choice of the board, and that he was, by some, already preferred to himself. Accordingly, on the i8th October, Davies writes again to Cowell, to urge Finley's election : "Since you and a majority of the Trustees have thought me lit to fill so important a seat, you must also think me in some measure fit to judge of the proper qualifications of a President; I therefore beg you would not only believe me sincere, but also have some httle regard to my judgment, when I recommend Mr. Finley, from long and inti- mate acquaintance with him, as the best qualified person in the com- * See Davies' Farewell Sermon at Hanover. Vol. iii., p. 359. 78 HISTORY OF THE pass of my knowledge in America for that high trust; and incom- parably better qualified than myself. And though the want of some superficial accomplishments for empty popularity, may keep him in obscurity for some little time^ his hidden worth, in a few months, or years at most, will blaze out to the satisfaction, and even astonish- ment, of all candid men. A disappointment of this kind will certainly be of service to the College; but as to me, I greatly fear I should mortify my friends with a disappointment of an opposite nature; like an inflamed meteor, I might cast a glaring light and attract the gaze of mankind for a little while, but the flash would soon be over, and leave me in my native obscurity. "I should be glad you would write to me by post, after the next meeting of the Trustees, what choice they shall have made ; for though I never expect another application to me, yet I feel myself interested in the welfare of the College, and shall be anxious to hear what con- clusion may be formed upon this important affair." When the Trustees met in November (1758), after con- ferring and comparing- letters, it was put to vote whether Mr. Davies' refusal was to be regarded as final. Upon two ballots, the voters of "not final" and "non liquet" had the majority, but to remove the embarrassment, they yielded; upon which the Rev. Jacob Green, of Morris county, father of Dr. Ashbel Green, was chosen Vice-President, and the election of President postponed till the next May. I find these particulars in a letter from Mr. Cowell to Mr. Davies, dated at Trenton, December 25, 1758, to which he adds: "If I may be allowed to guess, I think : "I. That you will be elected next May; "2. That if you are not, Mr. Finley will not be. "I think with you, dear sir, that the College of New Jersey ought to be esteemed of as much importance to the interests of religion and liberty as any institution of the kind in America. I am sensible your leaving Virginia is attended with very great difficulties, but I can not think your affairs are of equal importance with the College of New Jersey." At the May meeting Messrs. Davies and Finley were both nominated. Davies was elected, and in July arrived in Princeton. Mr. Cowell's interest and activity as a trustee FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 79 -did not abate upon the accession of his friend and favorite candidate; but scarcely had eighteen months elapsed from the President's inaugfuration, before both were in their graves. The last relic of their correspondence shows that Mr. Cowell's medical skill (for he had studied and on emer- gencies practiced medicine) was valued in Princeton. Under date of February 15, 1760, Mr. Davies writes: "Doctor Scudder has inoculated a number of the students, who are all likely to do well, except one, who was taken with the pleurisy about the time of his inoculation, and had an inveterate cold for some time before. The Doctor's own family and his father-in-law were inocu- lated about the same time, and one of them is so ill that he has not iDeen able to give good attendance here. I made an explicit reserve of liberty to consult any other physician upon the appearance of any other alarming symptom, therefore I send for you at the request of many, as well as my own motion. I beg you would come immediately, for the young man's life is in evident danger, and my dear Mrs. Davies is so affected in her mouth, etc., with the mercurial and antimonial preparations, that she has been in exquisite agony, and stands in great need of immediate relief, I long to hear from my promising pupil under your care." CHAPTER VII. Mr. Cowi;ivI,-'s Death and Buriai,. 1759^1760. In June, 1759, Mr. Cowell was present in the Presby- tery, which met at Trenton, but his health was probably then failing, as a request was made from the congregation that his pulpit "might be supplied at least in part during his illness." He was present again at the meeting in Prince- ton, July 25, 1759; at which time his friend. President Davies, was received from Hanover. At Basking Ridge, October 30 of that year, another petition was brought from Trenton, "praying that as Mr. Oowell is unable through sickness to attend the ministerial function, Mr. Guild might be ordered to supply them^ every third Sabbath." In com- pliance with this, Mr. Guild, pastor of the Hopewell (Pen- nil^gton) church was directed to "supply as much of his time as he can at Trenton." Mr. Cowell was present at the meeting oi Presbytery, held at Nassau Hall, March 1 1 , 1760. The regular Moderator being absent, Mr. Cowell was chosen in his place, and President Davies acted as clerk. One of Mr. Cowell's successors, William Kirkpat- rick, was at this meeting, and another, Elihu Spencer, sat as a corresponding member. "Mr. Cowell represented to the Presbytery that he has been long indisposed in body, and unable to discharge the duties of the pastoral relation to his congregation in Trenton, and therefore requested that he might be dismissed from it; and the congregation also by their petition, and the declaration of. their commissioners, intimate their acquiescence in it. 6 PRES (81) 82 HISTORY OF THE "The Presbytery therefore consent to the request, and do hereby dis- miss Mr. Cowell from said congregation; yet they aflfectionately recom- mend it to him that, if it should please God to restore him to an ability to exercise his ministry, he would preach as often as he can in that congregation while vacant, and in other vacancies as he shall have opportunity." The last session of Presbytery which Mr. Cowell attended was at Lawrenceville (Maidenhead), September 17, 1760, the sixth meeting held in that year. On the 28th of October Messrs. Kirkpatrick and Treat were deputed to supply Trenton. Mr. Cowell's decease took place on the first day of De- cember, 1760, at his residence in Trenton. He was in the fifty-seventh year of his age, having served the Trenton people in the town, and country congregations nearly twenty- four years. His beloved friend Davies, who was then in the middle of the second year of his presidency of Nassau Hall, was called upon to preach in the church on the day of the interment. He fulfilled this office with great affection and fidelity, and it adds interest to the narrative to know that in a few weeks afterwards (February 4, 1761) that most eminent preacher, just past the thirty-sixth year of his age, was himself sud- denly removed by death from the new sphere of usefulness and fame upon which he had entered ; so that on the page of the Synod's Minutes of May 20, 1761, is found the sen- tence: "The Presb3rtery of New-Brunswick further report, that it has pleased God to remove by death, since our last, the Rev. Mr. President Davies and the Rev. Mr. David Cowell." In his fatal illness Mr. Davies remarked that he had been undesignedly led to preach his own funeral sermon. He alluded to the fact that he had delivered a discourse on New Year's day (1761) from the words in Jeremiah, "Thus saith the Lord, this year thou shalt die." He took this text, how- ever, after having been informed that President Blirr had FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 83 preached from it on the first day of the year in which he died. Davies' sermon at the College on the first day of the preceding year is entitled, "A New Year's Gift." The text of that is : "And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." It is the fifty-ninth in the pub- lished collection. The autograph, from which Davies preached at Mr. Cowell's funeral, is now before me. It is a sermon on the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, "Let us labor, there- fore, to enter into that rest," adapted to the occasion by a new introduction, and by what appears to be an impartial and discriminating estimate of the character of the deceased. As these parts of the discourse are interesting as relics of the great preacher, as well as for their descriptions of a prominent person in our history, I shall quote them in full. The new opening was thus : "While death reigns in our world, and spreads its pale trophies so often before our eyes, how gloomy and dismal would our prospect be, especially at funeral occasions, if Jesus had not brought life and im- mortality to light by the Gospel ! And how intolerable would be the doubtful struggles, the toils and fatigues of life, if we had no prospect of rest ! Add an everlasting duration to them, and they become too oppressive for human nature. But blessed be God, there remaineth a rest for the people of God ; a rest that may be obtained by hard labor, though lost by unbeUef. 'Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest' Here heaven is represented under the agreeable idea of a time of rest; the way to obtain it pointed out, namely, by hard labor, and the necessity of laboring hard implied. These are the several topics I now intend to illustrate for the religious improvement of this melan- choly occasion." Having completed this plan in the usual fullness of his manner, the discourse closed with the new matter prepared for the day, as follows : "What remains of the present hour, I would devote more immed- iately to the memory of the dead. To pronounce a panegyric on the 84 HISTORY OF THE dead is supposed to be the principal design of funeral sermons; and to praise the dead is a debt which envy itself will allow us to discharge. But it is not a regard to ancient custom, nor an apprehension that the eulogium will not be envied nor disputed, that excite me at present to take some particular notice of the character of our worthy friend, who now lies a pale corpse before us. It is rather my desire to concur with the sentence of heaven, and to praise the virtue which I cheer- fully hope has ere now received the approbation of the Supreme Judge. It is my full conviction that the character of the deceased was in many respects worthy of the imitation of the living, and that in recommending it, I shall recommend virtue and religion with advan- tage, as exemplified in life. "Indeed, it would have relieved me from some anxiety, if my worthy friend had nominated some one to this service, whose long acquaint- ance with him would have enabled him to do justice to his memory, and exhibit a full view of his character. During the short time that I have been a resident of this Province, he has been my very intimate friend, and I have conversed freely with him in his most unguarded hours, when his conversation was the full image of his soul. But I had only a general acquaintance with him for ten of the years before, and of the earlier part of his life I had no personal knowledge, and have received but a very imperfect account from his earlier acquaint- ances. But from what I have heard from persons of credit, or have known myself, I shall give you the following general sketch of his character; and as I would by no means incur the censure of flattery, or risk the reputation of my veracity, you may be assured I fully believe myself in the account I give of his character. "The Rev. Mr. David Cowell was born at Dorchester, in the govern- ment of Massachusetts Bay, and educated at Harvard College. I am informed by one of his early friends, that the characteristics of his youth were a serious, virtuous, and religious turn of mind, free from the vices and vanities of the wild and thoughtless age, and a remark- able thirst for knowledge. The study of books was both his amuse- ment and serious business, while he was passing through his course of collegiate education, and even before he entered upon it, and I am witness how lively a taste for books and knowledge he cherished to the last. "I am not able to give you an account of the sensations and impres- sions of his mind from divine things in early life, which were the beginnings of his religion. But as every effect must have an adequate cause, from what I have observed in him of the Christian temper, I conclude he had been the subject of such impressions. "He appeared to me to have a mind steadily and habitually bent towards God and holiness. If his religion was not so warm and passionate as that of some, it was perhaps proportionally more evenly uniform and rational. He was not flighty and visionary, nor yet dull FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 85 and senseless. His religion was not a transient passion, but appeared to be a settled temper. "Humility and modesty, those gentle virtues, seemed to shine in him with a very amiable lustre. Far from being full of himself, far from taking airs of superiority, or giving himself the preference, he often imposed a voluntary silence upon himself, when he could have made an agreeable figure in conversation. He was fond of giving way to his brethren, with whom he might justly have claimed an equality, and to encourage modest worth in his inferiors. He was not impudently liberal of unasked advice, though very judicious, impartial, and com- municative when consulted. He had an easy, graceful negligence in his carriage, a noble indifference about setting himself off. And though his intellectual furniture, his experience and seniority might have been a strong temptation to the usual foible of vanity and self-sufficiency, I never have seen anything in his conduct that discovered a high estimate of his own accomplishments. Indeed, he seemed not to know them, though they were so conspicuous that many a man has made a -very brilliant appearance with a small share of them. "He had a remarkable command of his passions. Nothing boisterous or impetuous, nothing rash or fierce, appeared in his conduct, even in circumstances that would throw many others into a ferment. Had I not been told by one who has long and intimately known him, that he was capable of a manly resentment upon proper occasions, I should have concluded that he was generously insensible to personal injuries, for I can not recollect that ever I heard him speak a severe word, or discover the least degree of anger against any man upon earth. He appeared calm and unruffled amidst the storms of the world, peaceful and serene amidst the commotion and uproar of human passions. "Far from sanguine, prattling forwardness, he was remarkably cau- tious and deliberate; slow to pronounce, slow to determine, and espe- cially to censure, and therefore well guarded against extremes, and the many pernicious consequences of precipitant conclusions. "In matters of debate, and especially of religious controversy, he was rather a moderator and compromiser than a party. Though he could not be neuter, but judged for himself to direct his own conduct, yet he did not affect to impose his sentiments upon others, nor set up his own understanding as an universal standard of truth. He could exercise candor and forbearance without constraint or reluctance; and when he happened to differ in opinion from any of his brethren, even -themselves could not but acknowledge and admire his moderation. "His accomplishments as a man of sense and learning were very considerable. His judgment was cool, deliberate, and penetrating. His sentiments were well digested, and his taste elegant and refined. He had read not a few of the best modern authors, and though he did not often plod over the mouldy volumes of antiquity, he was no stranger to ancient literature, whether classical, philosophical, or 86 HISTORY OF THE historical. He could think as well as read, and the knowledge he collected from books, was well digested, and became his own. He had carefully studied the Sacred Scriptures, that grand accomplishment for a divine, and had a rational theory of the Christian system. "He had an easy, natural vein of wit, which rendered his conver- sation extremely agreeable, and which he sometimes used with great dexterity to expose the rake, the fop, the infidel, and the other fools of the human species. But never did his humanity allow him to use this keen weapon to wound a friend, or the innocent, whether friend or foe. His wit was sacred to the service of virtue, or innocently volatile and lively to heighten the pleasure of conversation. "He was a lover of mankind, and delighted in every office of benevo- lence. Benevolence appeared to me to be his predominant virtue, which gave a most amiable cast to his whole temper and conduct Did he ever refuse to give relief or pleasure to any of his fellow- creatures, when it was in his power to do it? I never had reason tO' think he did. "That he might be able to support himself, without oppressing a small congregation, he applied some part of his time to the study and practice of physic, in which he made no inconsiderable figure. In this .he was the friend of the poor, and spared neither trouble nor expense to relieve them. "As I never had the happiness to hear him in the sacred desk, I can say but little of him in his highest character as a minister of the Gospel. But fromi what I know of his disposition, theological knowl- edge, and other religious performances, I doubt not but his sermons were judicious, serious, well-composed, and calculated to show men the way of salvation. "In prayer, I am sure, he appeared humble, solemn, rational, and importunate, as a creature, a sinner in the presence of God; without levity, without affectation, without Pharisaical self-confidence. "In the charter of the College of New Jersey he was nominated one of the trustees, and but few invested with the same trust discharged it with so much zeal, diligence, and alacrity. His heart was set upon the prosperity of the infant institution, and he exerted himself in its service, nor did he forget it in his last moments.^ "This church has lost a judicious minister of the Gospel, and, as we hope, a sincere Christian ; the world has lost an inoffensive, useful member of society ; this town an agreeable, peaceable, benevolent in- habitant ; the College of New Jersey a father, and I have lost a friend ; and I doubt not but public and private sorrow and lamentation will be in some measure correspondent, and express the greatness of the loss. "Let us endeavor, my brethren, to copy his amiable character, and make his virtues our own. The character, indeed, is not perfect. The friend, the scholar, the minister, the Christian was still a man ; a man FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 87 of like passions with ourselves; and, therefore, he undoubtedly had his blemishes and infirmities. He is at best but a sinner sanctified and saved. However, I shall not describe his faults, because I hardly knew them, and because greater can be found almost everywhere. His virtues and graces are not so common, and therefore I have exhibited them to your view for imitation. "With him the dubious conflict of life is over, and we hope he has entered into rest, and sweetly fallen asleep in Jesus. Let us also labor to enter into that rest, lest any of us fall by unbelief." Mr. Cowell's body was deposited in the church-yard at Trenton, and the grave, which is within a few feet of the western wall of of the church, is designated by a head-stone with the following inscription : "In memory of the RjEVD. Mr. DAVID COWELL. Bbrn in Dorchester, 1704. Graduated in Harvard College, Cambridge, N. E., 1732. Ordained at Trenton, 1736. Died December the ist, j^tatis suae 56, 1760, "A man of penetrating wit; soHd judgment; strong memory; yet of great modesty, piety, and benevolence."^ Mr. Cowell was an industrious preacher. There lies before me a memorandum, kept by him, of the places and texts of his preaching, from June, 1735, to October, 1757.* In those twenty-two years there is seldom a Sabbath with- out its record of service, besides the extra duties of sacra- mental seasons and funerals. On a very few Sabbaths is the entry of "non valid" (not well), and but one or two "pro- cellosus" (stormy). The only observable blank is from April 10 to June 5, 1748, which is accounted for by the line, "went to New England." He frequently administered the Lord's Supper at Maidenhead and Hopewell. Occasionally he supplied Fisher's Island, Rocky Hill, Bristol, Borden- town, Whippany, ElizabethtoWn, Abington, Norrington, Shrewsbury, Neshaminy. The few notes of funerals in this little register may be of some chronological use or family interest.* 88 HISTORY OF THE 1736, July 7. Mary Eli. 1739, January 31. Armitage. 1739, February 6. George Snow. 1741, December 26. Mrs. Green. 1742, January 10. Widow Furman. 1742, April 14. Slack's wife. 1742, July II. Higbee. 1742, September 6. Margaret. 1743, June 16. Jones's child. 1744, March 21. Widow Reed. 1744, December 8. Mr. Yard. 1746, June 17. Stephen Rose. 1747, September 22. Mrs. Snow. 1747, October 21. Mrs. Yard. 1749, July 30. Hart. 1749, November 7. Howell's wife. 1749, December 19. Mr. Griffin. 1750, July 18. Susan Osborn. 1750, September 17. Mr. Paxton. 1751, January 7. Mr. Taylor. 1752, May I. John Green. 1753, January 2. Rose's wife. 1754, December i. William Green. 1756, September 5. Mr. Dagworthy." The "widow Furman" in the list is commemorated by Profesor Kalm, who, among other instances of Aknerican longevity, states that "on January 8, 1742, died in Trenton Mrs. Sarah Furman, a widow, aged ninety-seven years; leaving alive at the time of her decease five children, sixty- one grandchildren, one hundred and eighty-two great- grandchildren and twelve great-great-grandchildren."*® The sermon of January 31, 1739, was preached at Pen- nington, at the interment of the Elder Enoch Armiitage,'^ and I quote a passage as a specimen of the preacher's style. The text was: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word." "The words of our text Mr. Armitage adopted as his own, and de- sired they might be discoursed upon at his funeral. Those most acquainted with him testified his disposition for peace. God had given ' Kalra's Travels, vol. ii. s. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 89 him by nature a calm and quiet spirit, which was his ornament and glory. He was not subject to anger-heats and passions, as many others are, and this happy natural talent, assisted and improved by a religious principle and the love of God, was so bright and shining, that his moderation was known to all men who had the happiness of an intimate acquaintance with him. In his dealings he was strictly just and honest; to those in distress charitable, and ready to help and assist. In his conversation he was grave without moroseness, and pleasant without levity. From the quickness of his wit, and the strength and clearness of his judgment, he was ready on all occasions to bring out of the good treasure of his heart things new and old. The sum of his religion was love to God and his neighbor, without being rigid and contentious for things indifferent. The government of his family was with the greatest economy and religious order. His stated times for prayer, both private and secret, his times for instructing his family, for taking refreshment, and his times for following the works of his calling, fol- lowed one another so constantly by turns, and in the revolution of such certain periods, that they seldom interfered, much less jostled out each other ; and such a vein of religion ran through the whole, that his life was like the life of Enoch, whose name he bore, a walking with God. If we consider him at church, we shall find he was constant and devout in attendance upon God's public worship. In the management of church affairs, which was early committed to him, and continued to the last, he deservedly obtained that character of a good steward to be faithful ; and as his management was the product of religious prin- ciples and a sound judgment, he had the satisfaction to see them ap- proved by the wisest men and the best Christians. Such a religious, honest, and just walk in his own house, and in the house of God, procured to him the esteem of persons of all persuasions and all char- acters. If he was maligned by any self-conceited brethren, who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil, as their ignorance was the cause, so that only can plead their excuse. A sovereign God gave him such a fiducial sight of Christ, and his own interest in him founded on the divine promises, that he adopted the words of good old Simeon for his own. He made it the business of his life to follow peace with all men, and it was his grief his endeavors succeeded no better. He desired to die in peace, and to have a hopeful prospect of peace after his death. With respect to himself, his prayer was eminently an- swered. When he passed through the valley of death, God was with him. Death gave one friendly stroke, and it was over — so that he rather seemed to conquer, than to be overcome." One of the sermons is marked as preached on Friday, November 23, 1739, from the text of the crucified thieves, go HISTORY OF THE and a note is appended, "Execution, Trenton." This was the execution which, brought Whitefield tQ Trenton on the 2 1st O'f November, as already quoted from his journal. The only names of ministers that appear as relieving- him in his own pulpit through all those years, are Guild, Huston, Leonard, Miller, Phillips of Boston, Munson of New England, and Spencer. Mr. Cowell bequeathed fifty pounds to "the Presbyterian congregation of Trenton ; the principal to remain good, and the interest thereof tO' be applied for the benefit of the con- gregation forever." He left an equal sum' toi the College of New Jersey. The will was signed only four days before his death, "being sick and weak in body, but oif perfect mind and memory," and was witnessed by Samuel Tucker, Jr., Arthur Howell, Benjamin Yard,* and George Davis. Many of the wills recorded at that time have the same religious phraseology as that of Mr. Cowell, the testamentary part of which begins thus : "Principally and first of all I give and recommend my soul into the hands of God that gave it ; and for my body, I commit it to the earth, to be buried in a Chris- tianly and decent manner, nothing doubting but at the gen-- eral resurrection, I shall receive the samie again by the mighty power of God." It is to be feared that the scrive- ners' pious formulas are not always subscribed by testators with as much sincerity, as they doubtless were in this good man's case.® Among the few extant manuscripts of Mr. Cowell is a fragment of notes of a funeral sermon, marked as preached April I, 1744, at the "burying of Mr. Home." It con- tains an expression of the preacher's intention "not toi make encomiums on the Honorable person to whose remains we have been paying the last friendly office. That is a task to which I am on several accounts unequal. Besides, I humbly conceive the proper use tO' be made of instances, of mortality, is to instruct and exhort the living, according to FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 91 that of the wise men, Eccles. 7 : 2." This defunct was undoubtedly Mr, Archibald Home," who was Deputy Sec- retary of the Province in the time of Governor Morris, and who upon his recommendation to the Lords of Trade (Oc- tober 18, 1740) was appointed to a seat in the Council, made vacant by the death of Robert Lettis Hooper.* When the church was taken down in 1805, a vault was discovered under the broad aisle, containing the remains of two bodies in their respective coffins, the "dress and furni- ture" of which (according to the papers of the day), "and the habiliments of the corpses, denoted them to have been persons of distinction."! A year after the discovery, an- other newspaper made this publication: "A gentleman, on whom we can rely, and whoi says he will vouch for the authenticity oif his statement, infoirms us, that the name of one of the persons found in the vault was Fre^eman, a man of considerable connections in the West Indies, who re- moved to and resided at Bloomsbuiy with his family, and was interred about seventy years ago. The other was Archibai4> Hume, Esquire, a Scotchman of very consider- able literary acquirements, and brother to the celebrated Sir John Hume,^^ who came over and resided in Trenton some months after the decease of his brother."^ I have seen the will of Archibald Home,^^ which was made February 24, 1743. The device of the testator's seal is an adder holding a rose, which is the crest oif a Home family, in which there are several baronets named Sir John ; but I cannot find any trace of such a resident in Trenton. Mr. Archibald Home bequeathed all his property to his brother James Home, Esq., of Charleston, South Carolina. * The Papers of Lewis Morris, pp. 122, 137. 219, 283. Analytical Index, 180,. 181, 182, 193, 194. New Jersey Archives, vol. vi., 109, 127, 237. t Trenton Federalist, April 22, 1805. t Trenton True American, April 21, 1806. "Home," or "Hume," is the same family-name. "My father's family is a branch of the Earl of Home's or Hume's." {Autobiography of David Hume.) 92 HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. His executors were Robert Hunter Morris, Thomas Cad- walader, and the legatee. The witnesses to the will were Joseph Paxton and Moreton Appleby. The probate was certified October 5, 1744, by "J^^^s Home, S'ecr'y." This suggests the conjecture that he was the brother re- ported in the newspaper as "Sir John," and that upon re- moving from Charleston to Trenton, upon Archibald's de- cease, he was put into the vacant secretaryship. There is a tradition that connects one of the bodies in the vault with the family of Governor Cosby. I supposed this to be a mistake of the name of Cosby for Morris, and that the person referred to was Mr. Home, until I found the following item in the Pennsylvania Gazette, of March 7-14, 1737-38: "We learn from Trenton that Thomas Freeman, Esquire, son-in-law to the late Governor Cosby, died there on Saturday last after a few hours' illness.'' This would reconcile the tradition with the newspaper paragraphs, and appears to identify the body. It is part of the old report, that one of the interments was by torch-light. Mr. Cowell's memorandum shows, that Mr. Home's funeral sermon was on Sunday, and was a second service on that day. On the removal of the site of the church in 1839, the vault was a second time examined, before it was carefully closed, but neither the inscription nor arms upon the mould- ering plate that was found in it, could be deciphered. That could scarcely have been a family vault, in which any con- nections of such enemies as Morris and Cosby would be associated.* * Governor Cosby's wife was a daughter of Lord Halifax. Their eldest daugh- ter was married to a younger son of the Duke of Grafton. See "Autobiography and Correspondence of Mrs. Delany," i : 442. CHAPTER VIII. The First Charter of the Trenton Church — Trustees. 1756 — 1760. 'It was during the pastorate of Mr. Co well that the first charter of incorporation was obtained, and his name stands first among the corporators. The date of this instrument is September 8, 1756. It runs in the name O'f George the Second, through the Provincial Governor Belcher, and in- corporates The Rev. David Cowell, Charles Clark, Andrew Reed, Joseph Yard, Arthur Howell, William Green, Alexander Chambers, and their successors, by the name of "The Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton." The charter follows the phraseology of others given to our churches under the same administration,* in the preambulary acknowledgm^ent that "the advancement of true religion and virtue is absolutely necessary for the promotion of the peace, order and pros- perity of the State, and that it is the duty of all Christian Princes and Governors, by the law of God, to do all they can for the encouragement thereof"; and also that "the known loyalty of the petitioners, and the Presbyterians in general, to us, their firm affection to our person and gov- ♦ See Murray's "Elizabethtown," p. 62. Steam's "Newark," p. 193- (93) 94 HISTORY OF THE ernmeiit, and the Protestant succession in our royal house, gave the petitioners hopes of all reasonable indulgence and favor within the same colony, where the religious rights of mankind are so happily preserved, and where our equal grace and bounty tO' all our Protestant faithful subjects, however differing in opinion about lesser matters, has hitherto been sO' sensibly felt and enjoyed." Of the lay members of the first Board of Trustees I herewith furnish all the information within my reach. Charles Ci,ark came to Trenton from Long Island, and occupied a farm in the township near the country church. He is recorded as present at every meeting of the Trustees from 1757 to 1775. On the night of the battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776, he met his death by falling into the fire of his own hearth. ^ In 1777 his son, Benjamin, was elected a Trustee in his place. Another son, Daniel, was in the Board with his father from 1766 to 1788. At the annual meeting of 1777, "Daniel Clark and Benjamin Clark informed the B'oard that their father, Charles Clark, Esq., deceased, had left the congregation twenty pounds, to be put at interest, the interest to be an- nually applied towards the support of their minister. They produced the will of their late father, and paid the twenty pounds to Mr. Alexander Chambers, who put the same to interest to Mr. John Howell, at six per cent." Benjamin died November 25, 1785, in his fifty-fifth year. The Gazette of the week says : "He served in the magis- tracy with reputation, both before and since the Revolu- tion. The estimajtion he was held in by the neighborhood was manifest fromi the numerous and respectable attend- ants on his funeral, and his loss will be sensibly felt, not only by his family, but by the Church, and the county in which he lived." Of Andrew Reed, the next on the list of Trustees, I have given all I know in a previous chapter. There are FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 95 Stones in the Trenton church-yard marked Sarah, wife of Andrew Reed, March 15, 1739; lAinn, daughter of Andrew Reed, July 4, 1757, set 14; and three infant Reeds, Francis, September 12, 1747; Thomas, February 7, 1754; Andrew Jr., July 7, 1758. Joseph Yard belonged to a family which appears among the earliest settlers of Trenton, and spread into numerous branches.2 It is said that there was a doubt whether the name of Yard had not a superior claim to that of Trent for the new locality. Our trustee came from England •with his four brothers, Benjamin, William, John and Jethro. Benjamin was an elder of this church in 1765, and it is probably his death which is recorded as having taken place in October, 1808, in his ninety-fourth year. Joseph acted as trustee until 1762, and was Clerk of the Board. AbTHUR Howell's name appears on the minutes of May 8, 1762, for the last time. On the sixth of Decem- ber of that year his will was before the surrogate. His ■"trusty and beloved friend, Obadiah Howell," was one of his executors. William GreEn was in office until 1764. This family, like the Howells and Yards, is too ramified to be traced for any object of the present work. Alexander Chambers^ the last-named corporator, be- longed to a family which has its fifth and sixth generations to represent it at this time. I avail myself of a paper pre- pared by Mr. John S. Chambers, to furnish all the informa- tion necessary to* my purpose. "John Chamibers, the ancestor of the Chambers family of Trenton, came to America from the county of Antrim in the north of Ireland, about the year 1730. "His tombstone stands near the present church edifice in good pres- ervation, by the inscription on which it appears that he died September 19th, 1747, at the age of seventy years. "He had several children, of whom his son Alexander continued to live in Trenton. Alexander was his second son, and was born in Ire- cj6 PIISTORY OF THE land in the year 1716. He was one of the first trustees named in the Charter of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton, given from the King through Governor Belcher, and held the office from September 8th, 1756, until his death, September i6th, 1798, a period of forty-tviro years, during all which time, as is shown by the Trustees' Book of Minutes, his name is recorded as present at every meeting of the Board. He was elected Treasurer of the Board May 6th, 1766, and performed the duties of that office till August ist, 1796, a period of thirty years, when he resigned on account of his advancing age. He was also chosen President of the Board on the sth of May, 1783, which office he filled till his death, a period of fifteen years. "He was by occupation a turner, spinning-wheel and chair-maker. He built the brick house on the corner of State and Willow streets, for many years used as a store, and known as Chambers' Corner, and carried on store-keeping in the old mud house built by his father, which stood adjoining. "He died September i6th, 179S, at the age of eighty-two, and lies buried near his father in the churchyard. The first bequest in his will is in these words : " 'Item. I give unto the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, Thirty Pounds, to be put at interest, and the interest to go towards the sup- port of a minister, said Thirty Pounds to be paid to the Trustees one year after my decease.' "Alexander Chambers left several children. Two of the sons, John and Alexander, remained in Trenton. John carried on the trade of his father at his own shop at the head of town in Warren street. Alexander converted the brick house built by his father on the corner of State and Willow streets into a store, and carried on an extensive business for many years. He was the first to establish Bloomsbury as a port for sloops, and built a wharf and storehouse there about the year 1803; the transportation business having been previously con- ducted at Lamberton, about a mile below. "On the 7th of August, 1799, about a year after the death of his father, he was chosen a Trustee, and so continued till his death in 1824, a period of twenty-five years. John S. Chambers, son of the last-mentioned John Chambers, was chosen a Trustee November 24th, 1823, and so continued till his death in November, 1834, a period of eleven years; for the last two of which he was also President of the Board, having been elected to that office October 13th, 1832." To this I may add that the son of the last-named, who furnishes this paper, is the present Clerk of the Board. There was a John Chambers in the eldership in 1760-4.* My correspondent says : FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 97 "I have not yet ascertained who the elder, John Chambers, was. It is evident from the dates he could not have been the ancestor who first came over, as I at first supposed." According to the terms of the charter, the seven trustees were to hold their office until the first Tuesday of June, 1757, when and thereafter the trustees were to be elected by "the Minister, Elders, and Deacons of the said Presby- terian Church and Congregation." This unpopular feature of ecclesiastical corporations passed away in due time, to- gether with the loyalty to the house of Hanover; but the minister, elders and deacons continued, until after the in- dependence, to elect the trustees, of whom the minister himself was usually one, and also President of the Board. As such, he was constituted by the charter keeper of the books, seal and all papers of the corporation.* In 1760 the pastor was Treasurer as well as President. In 1760, June 12, John Chambers, John Hendrickson and Stephen Rose were "chosen elders," and on the same day is this entry on the trustees' minutes : "Memorandum, that it is agreed by the congregation now met, that the Presby- terian Congregation of Trenton shall annually meet on the first Tuesday in June to choose elders, and that then the minister, elders and deacons shall proceed to the choice of trustees of said Presb3^erian church." From this provision, and occasional subsequent records, it seems that there was for a time a departure from the principle of our church that the lay-eldership, like the clerical, is perpetual, and is not open, even as to the exercise oi the office, to repeated elec- tions, as is the custom of our sister Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Dutch. It must be remembered that this was nearly thirty years before the constitution of our American Church was framed. * The original Charter is still preserved. It is recorded in Book Q, p. 163, State House. 7 PRES 98 HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. In 1760 the name of Moore Furman appears in the Board in the place of Andrew Reed. In 1762 Obadiah Howell filled the vacancy made by the death of Mr. Cowell. A personal notice of Mr. Furman will come in more appropri- ately under a later date. Obadiah HoweI/I. was a trustee until 1770. He lived on a farm which is still in the family on the Scotch road on the borders of Trenton. CHAPTER IX. Ministry os thi; Rev. Wiu,iam Kirkpatrick — His History. 1760 — 1766. Soon after the Rev. Mr. Cowell's withdrawal irom: the pastorate, and before his decease, the attention of the people, perhaps at his suggestion, was turned towards Mr. Wil- liam Kirkpatrick as his successor. Neiher the place nor time of Mr. Kirkpatrick's birth is known. Judging from his age, as given without dates on his grave-stone, he was bom about 1726. He probably had not a liberal education at the usual age, as he was at least thirty years old when he took his Bachelor's degree at Princeton.^ This was with the class oi 1757, which was graduated in the year after the college was removed from' Newark to Princeton, and in which its distinguished Presi- dent, Aaron Burr, died. Among his classmates were the young men afterwards eminent Governor Joseph Reed, of Pennsylvania, and the Rev. Alexander Macwhorter, D.D., and in the class next below his were John V. and William Tennent, sons of the Rev.- William Tennent, Jr. It was in the March of that year that the College was blessed (accord- ing to the language of Gilbert Tennent) with "an extra- ordinary appearance of the divine power and presence there."^ In the next year (June 131 and 14, 1758), at the meeting of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, which was the first after the union of the Synods of New York and Philadelphia, and when Messrs. Cowell and Guild had been (99) TOO HISTORY OF THE transferred to it from the Presbytery of Philadelphia, Kirk- patrick^ and Macwhorter were taken under trials as candi- dates for the ministry. Upon their preliminary examination the Presbytery pronounced themselves "well pleased that they can with so great freedom encourage them in their design." The theme for Kirkpatrick's exegesis was "an certitudo sitbjectiva salutis sit de essentia fidei jusiificantis" ; his trial text was Rom. 3 : 28. On the 25th of the next month the Presbytery met at Princeton, when no other business was attended to but the hearing and approving of the compositions of the two candidates, and giving them texts for further exercises. These were heard on the 15th August, at Princeton; Kirkpatrick's second trial text was Philippians 4:5; and the course of trials being completed, they were licensed, and both of them were immediately sent out to supply vacant congregations till the Fall Presbytery. Kirkpatrick's appointments were to Oxford, Forks of Dela- ware, Greenwich, Bethlehem, Kingwood, and wherever else he should find opportunity. In October he was appointed to the same circuit, with Shrewsbury added to the places named. In the early part of 1759 he wrote the following letter to Dr. Bellamy, of Connecticut:* "Newark, Feb. 12, 1759. "Rev. and worthy Sir: I think, if I remember right, I came under a promise of writing to you, which, if made, I am now about to fulfill. "I remember we had some conversation about George's Town on Kennebeck river when I was with you. I have since seen a man who once lived on thd spot, who seems to be an intelligent, sober man, and his account of that people discourages from thoughts of settling there. He says they are a remarkably contentious, brawHng, difficult people, and that no minister can have any comfort, or be long useful with them. I have' had an invitation from the Presbytery of New Castle, (of which Mr. Finley is a member,) to come under their care, and settle among them, should Providence open a way for it. Likewise I * In the manuscript collections of the Presbyterian Historical Society, Phila- delphia. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. loi have had a probationary call from a place under the care of our own Presbytery, (viz.. New Brunswick). And another of the same kind from a congregation near Elizabethtown in York Presbytery bounds. I have not yet seen my way clear to accept of an invitation from any of these places, but continue to itinerate among the small vacancies towards the frontiers of this Province. If any door of more extensive usefulness opens with you, I would be very glad if you would take care to inform me; my inclinations lead me much to New England. If you can send a letter to this place from whence I write, or to Mr. Hazard's in New York, directed to me at Princeton, it will soon come to hand. However the matter stands, I would.be very glad of a letter fromi you, at least before the sitting of our Presbytery, (the third week in June). "I am lately informed that some of the trustees of our College have sent a messenger yesterday to Mr. Davies, a third time to invite him to the Presidentship of our College, after two former denials — we wait the event. Mr. Green presides pro tempore. I have lately heard from good Mr. Pinley that he is well. "Religion is here at a low ebb. Truth is fallen in the streets, and equity can not enter. Christians fallen from their first love, and vice triumphant. A spirit of deadness prevails. How long, Lord, how long? "But being in great hurry, I can not add any more, but salutations to Mrs. Bellamy, best respects to Mr. Wells and Mr. Day, with affec- :ionate duty and regard to yourself from "Rev. sir, your unworthy son and servant, "Wm. Kirkpateick." In June, 1759, the united congregations of Bethlehem and Kingwood brought a call for Mr. Kirkpatrick. There was also a request or "supplication," as such petitions were called, from the people of Tohikan (or Tehicken or Tini- cum) that he should supply their pulpit. But the Synod, which in those days often exercised what are now con- sidered Presbyterial prerogatives, had, in its sessions a month before, made other arrangements for the Presby- i;ery's probationer.* It "ordered, that Messrs. Macwhorter, Kirkpatrick, and Latta, take a journey to Virginia and Caro- lina, as soon as they can this summer, or ensuing fall, and spend some months in those parts"; and the Synod "fur- ther considering the destitute condition of Hanover, and the uncertainty of their being supplied, if suppliers are left to 102 HISTORY OF THE their own discretion, respecting the time of their going to Virginia," directed that Kirkpatrick should be at Hanover by the third Sabbath of July, to be followed by the two other licentiates in September and Noivember; and their respective Presbyteries were counselled to "take care that these gentlemen fulfill this appointment, and neither pre- scribe nor allow them employment in our bounds, so' as to disappoint this our good intention." Tihe direction! of their work was to lie with the Presbytery of Hanover, which be- longed to the same Synod. Deferring toi the superior au- thority, the Presbytery took no order upon the Tohikan supplication, but directed their two probationers toi supply vacancies as far as they coudd before their journey South. In view of their mission, the Presbytery determined tO' hasten their' ordination. They gave toi Kirkpatrick for his trial sermon the text, "The poor have the Gospel preached to them" ; and for a Latin exegesis, the perseverance of the saints.^ These were presented at Cranbury, July 4, 1759, and both Kirkpatrick and Macwhorter were ordained on that day. After all, none of the three fulfilled the Synod's appointment; but whatever were their reasons (Ma,cwhor- ter's was his call to Newark), they were admitted to be sufficient by the Synod, at their annual meeting in 1760. Mr. Kirkpatrick, in the mieantime, had declined the Bethle- hem and Kingwood call ; and had received one from Han- over, Virginia. The Trenton congregation now first signified their in- clination to him. On the day (March 11, 1760) on which the Presbytery released Mr. Cowell from that charge, they were petitioned to send Mr. Kirkpatrick to supply the pulpit, and he was accordingly directed to preach there "as many Sabbaths as may consist with his other obligations between this and the next Presbjrtery." But another and different kind of field was inviting him. The French war, though near its close, was still calling out FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 103 the loyal colooists to the frontiers. Kirkpatrick, through his associations with Hanover Presbytery, may have caught the martial spirit of such sermons of Davies, as the one we read "on the curse of cowardice," preached "at a general muster. May 8th, 1758, with a view to raise a company for Captain Samuel Meredith," or the one "preached to Cap- tain Overton's independent company of volunteers." But in the French and Revolutionary wars our clergymen' re- quired no special stimulus to accompany the troops, at least as chaplains. All we know of Kirkpatrick's engagement is derived from this entry on the minutes of his Synod, May 21, 1760: '"Tis allowed that Messrs. Alexander McDowel and Hector Alison go as chaplains to the Pennsylvania forces, and that Mr. Kirkpatrick go with the New Jersey forces, the ensuing campaign."" That his absence was not expected to be long, is intimated by the recommendation subjoined by the Synod, "that Mr. Kirkpatrick pay a visit to the people of Windham on his return." If he went at the time mentioned, he was back in season for the meeting of Presbytery in Princeton, Febru- ary 3d, 1 761, at which he was clerk. Supplications were made to Presbytery from various quarters for his services as a supply, or as a candidate for settlement; and on the 28th April, 1761, a regular call was presented from the Trenton congregation. No further order was taken in regard to it at that meeting, but it was probably with a view of affording an opportunity of making up his mind, that the Presbytery appointed Mr. Parkhurst, a new licentiate, to supply four Sabbaths at Trenton, and deferred giving Kirkpatrick any appointm'ent till the m'eet- ing in the intervals of the next Synod. At that Synod (May, 1761) we find Mr. Kirkpatrick one of a committee of nine to whom was referred the considera- tion of what was to be done for the better support of John 104 HISTORY OF THE Brainerd, who had left Newark at the solicitation of the Indians, made destitute by the death of his brother David, and had becomie his successor in the mission. Crosswicks, a place hallowed in the memory of the whole Church by these associations, is but eight miles from Tlrentom, and Mr. Kirkpatrick appears to have had the leading of the business devolved on him', as, though last-named on the committee, the overture, urging an addition to the mission- ary force as well as the funds, is minuted as coming from him. The Synod, however, concluded that as, after all their inquiry, no new missionary presented himself, they could do no more than direct a hundred and fifty pounds tO' be raised for Mr. Birainerd for the ensuing year. Two years after this (May, 1763), when the Synod appointed Messrs. Brainerd and Beatty to visit "the distressed frontier inhabi- tants and to report their distresses," and alsoi what oppor- tunities were opened for the Gospel among the Indian na- tions, Mr. Kirkpatrick was made the alternate oif either who might fail.'' Between the hours occupied by the Synod at the session of 1 76 1, the Presbytery had a special meeting, in the pro- ceedings of which Mr. Kirkpatrick was an interested party. The minutes, drawn probably by his own hand, as he was clerk, are thus : "Applications were made from Elizabethtown, Brunswick, and Deer- field for the labors of Mr. Kirkpatrick till our next Fall Presbytery. The Presbytery conclude to leave the disposal of his time entirely to himself, as he is supposed to be best acquainted with the necessity of these vacancies; and the Presbytery advise these vacancies not to insist upon his tarrying long among them, unless they design to put in a call for him; as they declare this to be their design, and he appears disposed for settlement." It would seem from this, though there is no record to the effect, that the Trenton call had not been accepted. Neither was it declined. From the complexion of the pro- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. los ceedings all through these years, and from the subsequent transactions, I should judge that Mr. Kirkpatrick preferred Trenton, but that the congregation were so backward on the point of salary or other arrangements, that he held the matter in suspense. Perhaps the minute last copied was ingeniously worded by himself so as to suggest motives to the people of Trenton to be more in earnest, if they wished their call to be preferred above the others that were coming in at every Presbytery. That that people supposed they had a special claim upon him, is seen in the tenor of the pro- ceedings of a special meeting summoned for August ii, 1761, at Trenton, to dispose of a fresh invitation. "A call was brought in by Capt. Samuel Morris and Capt. Wm. Craighead, commissioners from the congregation of Hanover, in Vir- ginia, soliciting the settlement of Mr. Kirkpatrick among them as their minister, which was objected to by the congregation of Trenton; and the Presbytery, having deliberately heard and maturely considered the arguments and reasons offered by both parties, and having likewise had a declaration by Mr. Kirkpatrick of his sentiments and inclina- tions relative to the case, came to the following conclusion, namely, that, although they would gladly concur with the congregation of Han- over in their call, yet as they can not think it their duty to appoint Mr. Kirkpatrick contrary to his own inclination and judgment to settle among them, they judge that it is inexpedient to present him the said call." It appears, therefore, that he continued tO' serve the Trenton congregation without installment; but took his share with the other members of the Presbytery and Synod in giving an occasional Sabbath to the numerous vacancies in their extended bounds. Among the places thus visited by him' from time to time were Mount Holly, Hardwick, Sknithfield, Springfield, Blackriver, Burlington, Bristol, Am- well, Williamsburgh (Virginia), S'econd Church, Philadel- phia, Bound Brook, Tehicken. At one time (November 2, 1763), the Presbytery of Philadelphia, being applied to by the Rev. Gilbert Tennent for a supply for his pulpit during a winter, on account of his ill health, the Presbytery advised io6 HISTORY OF THE the congregation to ask the Presbytery of New Brunswick to allow Messrs. Kirlq>atrick and Enoch Green to supply them as much as they can. Towards the end of the year (1761) commissioners from the Trenton congregation appear to have proposed to the Presbytery some advance on the amount of salary pre- viously offered to Mr. Kirkpatrick. The Presbytery ex- pressed their gratification at the exertion made to this end, but pronounced the "medium' proposed" to be insufficient. As the co-mniiissioners, however, had given their reason to hope that a still further effort would be made for "said medium's being increased," Presbytery advised Mr. Kirk- patrick to officiate among them until the next Spring meet- ing. At this meeting (December i, 1761) President Pinley was received from' the Presbytery of Newcastle, and he and Mr. Kirkpatrick were deputed to draw up and present an address to Governor Hardy, on his accessio'U to the administration of the Province. In the spring (April 20, 1762) no better proposals were received from Trenton. The Presbytery confessed great embarrassment as to their course, but finally gave their unanimous advice to Mr. Kirkpatrick to accept the call. He complied with the advice, but no direction was given for in- stallment. An important measure, however, was takien by the congre- gation, immediately after this meeting, towards encourag- ing the permanent settlement of their minister. This was the purchase of a parsonage. The people bought a lot on the north side of Hanover street, which runs in the rear of the church, sixty-five feet front, and about one hundred and sixteen feet in depth, containing twenty-eight perches of land, on which was a dwelling house. This property was conveyed to the trustees by deed of Stacy Beaks, and his mother, Mary Beaks, a widow. May 3, 1762, for the con- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 107 sideration of two hundred and seventy pounds, proclamation money, "to be and remain for a parsonage for the Presby- terian congregation of Trenton forever, and the use, benefit and profits thereof, to be held and enjoyed by the Presby- terian minister of Trenton, that shall be regularly called by the Presbyterian congregation of Trenton, and approved by the Presbytery of New Brunswick." May, 1763, brought another trial of the strength of Kirk- patrick's attachment to Trenton. This was in the shape of a petition from the congregation of Huntington, Long Island, that he should be allowed to settle there as the as- sistant or colleague of the Rev. Mr. Prime, who was disabled by age and infirmities for the pastoral service. The decision of this application was deferred till June, when he was al- lowed to relieve Mr. Prime for two Sabbaths in July. This was followed in August by an application in person by Dr. Zophar Piatt, on behalf of the Huntington congregation. To this oral call the Presbytery objected that it was too in- formal and indefinite; there was no liberty from the Pres- bytery of Suffolk, no mention of the capacity in which Kirk- patrick was desired, whether as stated supply, sole pastor, or colleague. Moreover, the Trenton difficulty existed here also; "the Presbytery look upon the proposed medium of support to be insufficient," and, therefore, could not encour- age Mr. Kirkpatrick to make a change. Immediately after- wards, however, upon a petition from Loudon county, Vir- ginia, for a candidate or supply, Kirkpatrick, among others, was directed to "pay a visit there as soon as possible, and tarry a number of Sabbaths at discretion." The Rev. Messrs. McKnight, Hait, Tennents, Senior and Junior, and Guild were appointed to supply his pulpit five Sabbaths. The Synod of 1763 brought to a final issue a series of investigations into certain erroneous opinions of the Rev. Samuel Harker, and of conferences with him, which had occupied some portion of their attention at every meeting io8 HISTORY OF THE since that of 1758, when the case was first brought to the Synod's notice by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, of which he was a member. Finding him the more mischievous and obstinate for their forbearance, the Synod pronounced him disqualified from exercising his ministry. This de- cision coming to the Presbytery, they directed Mr. Kirk- patrick to goi as soon as possible to Mr. Harker's congre- gation [Blackriver], "warn them not to receive his doc- trines, or receive his ministrations, vindicate the conduct of the Synod, signify the paternal care of the Presbytery over them-, and inquire whether they are resolved to: abide under our care; that if so, we may order them supplies." At the next meeting Kirkpatrick reported that he had fulfilled his appointment, and that the congregation were in such a con- fused and divided state they were unable to form a deter- mination. At the October meeting of 1763 the Trenton congrega- tion is again before Presbytery with an application for the installment of their favorite minister, now in the fourth year of his service as their supply. He declined to accede to the proposition ; but no clew is given to his reasons beyond the statement "that he could not in the present situation of affairs." At the same time he gave no intimation of with- drawing from the place, or of a willingness to yield to any of the numerous invitations that had come to him from other quarters. The Court was perplexed. They declared they could advise neither the people nor their called minister to proceed any further towards the installation, but rather in- clined to the opinion that by mutual consent both parties should allow "things by a natural and easy channel to return to their former state and situation." What follows in the minute does not help to throw light upon the difficulties of the case. "If this_ advice be complied with by the said par- ties, the Presbytery foresee that a congregation will become a vacancy of whom- they had entertained hopes that they might FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 109 have been happily and permanently settled, which is to them a very disagreeable prospect. But if this should finally be the event, the Presbytery do recommend it to the people to pay off the arrears to Mr. Kirkpatrick in proportion to what they have hitherto done; and in the present exigence of affairs do advise Mr. Kirkpatrick to supply the congrega- tion of Trenton at discretion, as much as he and they may agree upon till our next Presbytery." The charter of the congregation, as we have before seen, vested in the minister, elders and deacons the power of electing trustees. As long as Mr. Cowell lived after the charter was received, he was one of the trustees. There was no election in 1761. In 1762-3 the Trustees were all laymen. But in 1764 Mr. Kirkpatricck was elected Trustee and Clerk of the Board; an evidence that his relation was not considered that of a transient supply. In those times a formal installment was sometimes dispensed with as un- essential to the constitution of the pastoral connection. In 1736 the Presbytery ratified a decision of their commission (for Presb3^ery as well as Synod sat in those days in in- terims by commission) that the Rev. William Tennent was to be considered "the proper Gospel minister and pastor" O'f the congregation of Neshaminy, though he had never been regularly installed, on the ground that he had accepted their call; that in the preamble of their subscription for his salary, they had spoken O'f him. as their minister; that the body O'f them once owned him as such when the ques- tion was openly proposed to them in the church, and that he had for ten years carried on all parts of the Gospel ministry without opposition. An appeal from this de- cision was carried to Synod in the same year, but the Pres- bytery was sustained; the Synodal decision declaring that, though the omission of a formal installment was not to be justified, it was far from nullifying the pa:storal relation.* * "Records," p. 125. 110 HISTORY OF THE The people of Huntington, not discouraged by previous failures, and having* repaired the informalities of the year before, renewed their application for Mr. Kirkpatrick at the October session of 1764. At this time his position in Trenton, as inferred from the records, takes a more definite phase. The congregation appeared by their repre- sentatives, and expressed their opinion that Mr. Kirkpat- rick should be either installed or dismissed; but "earnestly desired the former." On the other hand, a paper was pre- sented with the signatures O'f fifteen mianbers of the con- gregation, charging their minister with using the people ill, especially in his delays about a permanent settlement, and concluding with a disavowal on their part of any further obliigations to him as their pastor, or for his future main- tenance. The Presbytery considered these allegations and pro- nounced them groundless. They likewise assured the mal- contents that the obligations between the congregation and Kirkpatrick remained in force "while he continues their regular minister." They proceeded to say that in the pres- ent confusion the way was not clear for the installment and deferred final action i'n the premises till their next meet- ing, which was to be held in a few weeks in Trenton. Mean- while, Mr. Kirkpatrick was at liberty to spend two or three Sabbaths in Huntington. Accordingly, on the 4th December, after ordaining Mr. James Lyon as a minister to Nova Scotia, it was de- termined, when the parties had been fully heard, first, that the opposition of some of the congregation to the settlement of the pastor was without just cause; secondly, that there was no satisfactory evidence that he could be duly sup- ported in the execution of his office, if settled; thirdly, that the way is not clear for the installment ; fourthly, that Kirk- patrick was under no obligation to settle in the place ; fifthly, that as the body of the congregation were in his favor, he FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. in might supply them for the present season; sixthly, that he should be paid his salary and arrears; seventhly, that he should have liberty to preach for vacant congregations; and, eighthly, if he should wish to leave the bounds of the Presbytery, Dr. Finley was authorized to give him the usual certificate.* Prom all this, it appears that no advance or change in the position of affairs was accomplished, and Mr. Kirkpatrick retained his place. In the Synod, as well as in the Presbytery, the minister of Trenton was a punctual and active member. He was often clerk, and his name is found in connection with much of the prominent business. In the Synod of 1763, he was on the committees for the education of pious students at Princeton, and for the direction and support of mission- aries on the frontiers, and seems to have been generally in request as a practical worker in the financial and judicial transactions of Church courts. On one occasion he is re- corded as having left town without leave; but it was for the two tedious days, in which the roll of Stynod was called, that each member might express his opinion on the question, whether a candidate should be required to narrate his re- ligious experience before a judicature, as a ground of de- ciding upon his reception.* New Brunswick and Metuchin, White Clay Creek and Christiana Creek and Walkill, applied to Presbytery in 1765 for the services of Kirkpatrick, with a view to settle- ment, or as a supply; but without resulting in any change. In April, 1766, there came once more a formal call from Trenton, and at the same time one from Amwell. The former of these is spoken of in the course of the proceed- ings as his "re-settlement," probably meaning a renewed effort for his settlement, as his work as pastor, in every thing but the name, had been continued without suspension. ■" "Records," p. 317-8. 112 HISTORY OP THE Both congregations made their pleas before the Presbytery. It would seem' from the Minutes, that, after both the min- ister and people of Trenton had signified their assent that the Amwell call should be prosecuted, both were disposed to retract, when the time of separation approached; for this is the deliverance : "That there was some degree of imprudence on the part of Mr. Kirkpatrick, or the people of Trenton, or both, in proceeding so far in their call, without the advice of Presbytery, and that, after they had jointly and severally given encouragement to the people of Amwell to invite him among them. "As the above congregations are places of importance, and equally dear to the Presbytery, and said congregations, together with Mr. Kirkpatrick, have submitted the final determination of the affair to the Presbytery, they do therefore judge, upon the whole, that it is most expedient for Mr. Kirkpatrick to accept the call from Amwell." But neither was this the close of this protracted business. Mr. Kirkpatrick's dilemma was not relieved by the decision he had invoked. The matter went on undecided for another month, when a new influence interposed. The Synod met in May, in New York. In the course of their meetings, the Presbytery held a session. At this, two members of the Presbytery of Philadelphia — the Rev. Andrew Hunter, and William Ramsey — were present, and in their capacity as correspondents, urged the reconsideration of the vote in April. They apprehended the most serious consequences to the interests of religion in Trenton, if Kirkpatrick should be removed. They pleaded, that from the happy union of "all societies" in the last call, and the extraordinary ex- ertions that had been made in view of its acceptance, a happy prospect opened of "an important congregation being gathered there," if he was settled among them. "But if not, that the hearts of the people would be so sunk and discouraged, that they would be effectually prevented from future applications, especially considering the unhappy prejudices they have contracted against the Presbytery, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 113 for the aforesaid judgment." "It was therefore earnestly overtured by these brethren" (and Mr. Kirkpatrick, if not the reporter, was the recorder of their language), "that the matter should be reviewed, in order tO' prevent the ruin of that growing society, which, on account of its situation, etc., is really important; and the rather, as the number of ministers present at said determination, was but small." The subject being thus opened afresh, the Presbytery, at six o'clock in the morning of the following' day, resumed the discussion, and consented toi adjourn to the next month at Trenton, and there reconsider their decision. The con- gregations of Amwell and Trenton were to be notified of the opportunity of being' heard. On the 24th June, the parties were again present; and the judicatory, perhaps tired of the subject, turned the whole responsibility upoo the candidate, by putting both calls into his hands, and requiring! him to make his own choice. Thus constrained, Kirkpatrick decided for Ana- well, and the Presbytery immediately appointed the second Wednesday of the following August for his installment there, which was accomplished.® Kirkpatrick had but a short career left. In 1767 he was elected a Trustee of the College of New Jersey. He was among the supplies for Trenton for that year. He was Stated Clerk of Presbytery, and Clerk of Synod, a member of the Commission of Synod, one of the Synod's deputation to meet the Consociated Churches of Connecticut at New Haven iti September, for a plan of union, in view of the prospect of the establishment of Diocesan Episcopacy in America by the Church of England.i^ i^ 1768 he supplied five Sabbaths in Trenton; is again on the Synod's Com- mission; a delegate to the General Convention or Union meeting with the Connecticut Consociation at Elizabeth- town ; in May a correspondent for the Presbytery with the Rev. Job Prudden in Connecticut, and in October for the 8 PEES 114 HISTORY OF THE Synod with ministers of Dublin, according to a system of intercourse with foreign churches. In 1769 he was Mod- erator of the Synod in Philadelphia, and a member of the Presbytery's committee to draft a memorial to obtain funds for the College at Princeton. This memorial is recorded on the minutes. Among its statements is this : "It is with pleasure they observe some very eminent departments of a civil nature already filled with the sons of this College; and that in the year 1767 not fewer than eighty of them were ministers dispersed through the several colonies ; since which time there has been a considerable addition." In the archives of the Assembly is a copy of this memorial in a printed folio^sheet, signed by Mr. Kirkpatrick as Moderator. There is also preserved in the same collection, and in the same form', with his signature as clerk, the S)Tiod's circular of 1767, recommending congregations to provide glebes for their pastors — a greater care for widows, orphans and the poor, the avoidance of law-suits, the appointment of masters to teach the catechism and psalmody, the disuse of spirituous liquors at funerals and the establishment in each congrega- tion of a society for the reformation of morals. In 1769 Kirkpatrick was both Treasurer and Clerk of Presbytery. On the 15th of June of that year his familiar name appears for the last time among its living members. He died in Amwell on the eighth of September, not yet forty-three years of age. His body was buried in front of the pulpit of the First Church of Amwell, or "Old House," between the villages of Ringoes and Reaville. The church has been since taken down and a new one built at Reaville, but the tomb remains in its first position, and is thus in- scribed : "Here lieth the body of the Rsv. WILLIAM KIRKPATRICK, Late Pastor of this church. Who died in the 43d year of his age. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 115 Reader, wouldst thou know his character for thy good? Think what a Man, a Christian, a MHnister of the Gospel, A Friend, a Husband, a Father, a Master should be; For in imitating this pattern (if justly drawn) thou shalt imitate him, and with him shalt with distinguished honor attain to the resurrection of the just." "Near him" (says a correspondent of The Presbyterian) , "lie the remains of a daughter who survived him, and whose name is found on the records of Amwell First Church as a member in full com- munion. We give the inscription on her tombstone: "In memory of Hannah, daughter of the late Rev. William Kirkpatrick. Pastor of this church, Who died August 7th, 1786, in the nineteenth year of her age. The dust beneath Proclaims this solemn truth: The young are fading, Frail's the bloom of youth; Life's a short dream, A false and empty show. And all is Fleeting vanity below. O reader ! speak. Can you believe too soon, The fairest morn of life Will not insure the noon." "Mrs. Margaret Kirkpatrick, his widow, was afterwards married to the Rev. John Warford, who having been called by the Amwell people April 3, 1776, was ordained and installed their pastor. The man of God, who is the subject of this sketch, fulfilled his course in about eleven years; but short as that course was, it left an abiding impression in the region where he closed his labors. Testimony to this effect has been frequently given to the writer by a highly intelli- gent parishioner, who was born in 1760, and lived to enter his ninety- first year. There is now living [1857] a venerable mother in Israel, aged ninety-seven, who, though only eight or nine years old at the time, has a distinct recollection of Mr. Kirkpatrick's personal appear- ance. She describes him as being above the ordinary size, but not corpulent ; grave, dignified, and commanding in his aspect, and of most engaging address. But by no survivor was he more loved and revered than by a slave, whom he owned to the time of his death, New Jersey 1x6 HISTORY OP FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. being then a slave-holding State. This slave lived to be about one hundred years of age. To old Cato his master was the model of a man and a Christian minister, and but for his greater love to the Lord Jesus Christ, his profound veneration and deep-rooted affection might have been looked upon as idolatry."" I am sorry to find, not only in the Records of our Trus- tees, but of the Presbytery, that there was, both before and after Mr. Kirkpatrick's dearth, some irregularity and delay in the discharge of his salary.^ ^ Insufficiency of stipend and unpunctuality in receiving it have long been among the trials of pastors, especially of those settled in rural districts, where the people, accustomed to maintain their own families from their farms, or by barter, have an inadequate idea of the necessity of money to those who have nothing else to live upon. In the. times of which I am writing, these evils frequently engaged the attention of the Presbytery, and for awhile reports of such delinquencies were statedly called for and acted upon. In regard to Mr. Kirkpatrick's case, inasmuch as the subject stands upon the Records, it ought to be said that, according to the church books, it appears that there was a difficulty in determining the claims for arrears due on the last six months' salary, and that the committee of the Trustees, appointed for the purpose, could not get access to the accounts of Mr. Kirkpatrick, so as to ascer- tain what amount, or whether, in fact, any remained unpaid. The subject was dismissed from Presbytery with the conclu- sion, "that all has been done that can conveniently be done relating to the Trenton arrears." One source of the diffi- culty probably was that the salary was collected by a com- mittee in each church, who may have handed their collec- tions to the minister without the agency of the treasurer. Thus in March, 1765, is a minute in the Trustees' book: "Appointed to collect the six months' salary for Mr. Kirkpatrick: "In town: John Ely, Hezekiah Howell. "In the country : Isaac Green, Richard Palmer." CHAPTER X. Trustees — Trenton and Maidi;nhead. 1764 — 1769. Prom Mr. Cowell's death, until Mr. Kirkpatrick's re- moval, the Trenton Board of Trustees remained unchanged, at the annual elections, except that in 1762 the name of Obadiah Howell appears in the place of Mr. Cowell's; in 1764, the names of Mr. Kirkpatrick, James Cumines, and Abraham Htmt, come in the places of Arthur HoWdl, Joseph Yard, and Moore Furman; in 1766, the names of Joseph Reed, Jr., S-amuel Tucker, and Daniel Dark, suc- ceed those of Mr. Kirkpatrick, Williami Green, and Jarfles Cumines. In 1764, John Chambers, John Hendrickson, and Joseph Green, were elected Elders; in 1765, Benjamin Yard, Hezekiah Howell, and William' Tucker were elected, apparently to succeed them. James Cumines, or Cumine, or Cumins, died February 21, 1770, aged sixty-six. He bequeathed ten pounds to the Trustees, to be invested for the support of the pastor. This was not payable until the death oi his wife, at which time the rest O'f his property was to be divided among James, William, Samuel, and Joseph, sons oif William Cumines, of Nottingham, Chester county, Pennsylvania. A Mrs. Jean Cumins signed the call of Mr. Spencer, in 1769. Abraham Hunt was, for many years, the most promi- nent and opulent merchant of the town. He was in the B'oard from 1764 till his death, at the age of eighty-one, O'ctober 27th, 1 82 1, a space of fifty-seven years. He was (117) n8 HISTORY OF THE regular in his attendance at the meetings, down to 1818. In that year he made his will, bequeathing one hundred dollars to this church, and the same amount to the Epis- copal. Mr. Hunt was Pbstmaster of Trenton, both before and after the Revolution. His grandson, Mr. Wesley P. Hunt, has in his possession one of his comimissions, dated January 10, 1764, by which "Benjamin Franklin and John Foxcroft, Postmasters-General of all his Majesty's. Provinces and Dominions in the continent of North Am'erica," appoint Abraham Hunt, Deputy Postmaster in Trenton, for three years ; and another, dated October 1 3th, 1775, also for three years, from "Benjamin Franklin, Post- master-General oif all the United Colonies on the continent of North America." The tradition is now on record, that Colonel Rahl was spending a late evening at Mr. Hunt's house, in Christmas festivities, the day before the battle o>f Trenton, in which he fell, and that his hilarity caused himi to leave unopened a note that warned him of the approach of Washington's army.* Mr. Hunt was the father of Pearson, Wilson, John W., and Theodore Hunt. Of his first wife, Theodosia, who died March 4, 1784, at the age of thirty-nine, her tomb- stone declares: "Such was the cheerful, uninterrupted benevolence of her heart, such was the gentleness and purity of her manners, that she never made an enemy, nor ever lost a friend. To know her once, was to love her forever." His second wife was Mary Dagworthy, who died April 4, 1814, in her sixty-sixth year. Joseph Reed, Jr., is well known in American history, in ccttinectioni with the public positions enumerated in the title of the two volumes of his "Life and Correspondence," as "Military Secretary of Washington at Cambridge, Adju- tant-General of the Continental Army, Member of the Con- gress of the Ulnited States, and President of the Executive * Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 119 Council of Pennsylvania." In 1767 he was Deputy Secre- tary of the Colony of New Jersey.* He was also (1777) elected Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, but declined the office. Mr. Reed was born at Trenton, August 27, 1741.^ Of his father, Andrew Reed, whoi was one of the original Corporators and Trustees, I have already made mention. Joseph Reed graduated at Princeton, in 1757; studied law with Richard Stockton, and was admitted to the bar ini 1763. He then went to Ivondon, and prosecuted his pro- fessional studies in the Middle Temple, until 1765, when he returned and compienced practice in Trenton. Accord- ing to a letter of 1766, his family in Trenton, at that time, consisted of himself, his father, sister, two brothers, his half-'sister (Mrs. Charles Pettit), and her three children. In the same year he writes : "There are sixteen courts which I am obliged to attend from home, oftentimes near a whole week at each, besides a;ttending the assizes once a year through the whole province, which contains thirteen counties." His dwelling, according toi an advertisement oif the property, in 1779, was near the market-house, hav- ing nearly two acres of ground attached toi it, extending two hundred feet on Market street, and commanding a beautiful view of the Ddaware, including the Falls. In 1770, Mr. Reed re-visited London, and was married to a daughter of Denys de Berdt, after which he took up his residence in Philadelphia, and his public life thence- forward was identified with his adopted State. ^ Mr. Reed was a Trustee of the congregation from' 1766 to 1769. On his removal to Philadelphia, he attended the Pine Street (third Presbyterian) Church. His biographer says : He "was fi'rmly attached to the Presbyterian Church, * I/ife and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, by his grandson William B. Reed, 2 vols., 1847. Memoir of the same, by Professor Henry Reed, in Sparks' Ameri- can Biography, vol. viii. The Life of Esther de Berdt [Mrs. Joseph Reed], by W. B. Reed; privately printed. Colonel Reed's commission is in "Documents, Colonial History of New Jersey," 1886, vol. x., pp. s, 6. 120 HISTORY OF THE in which he had been educated." In one of his publications, he said of it: "When I am convinced of its errors, or ashamed of its character, I may perhaps change it; till then I shall not blush at a connection with a people, who, in this great controversy, are not second to any in vigorous exertions and general contributions, and to whom' we are so eminently indebted for ouir deliverance from the thraldom of Great Britain." In the Pennsylvania Packet of April 22, 1779, is an address, presented to President Reed, from the officers of the Scots' Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, applauding his administration. The Pine Street congregation, for whom Mr. Reed had acted as counsel, in settling a differ- .ence about property with the Market Street, or First Church, presiented himi with a pew. It was to the pastor of Pine Street, that the direction oif Mr. Reed's will re- ferred in saying: "If I ami of consequence enough for a funeral sermon, I desire it may be preached by my old friend and instructor, Mr. Duffidd, in Arch street, the next Simday after my funeral." When John Adams was attending Congress in Philadel- phia, he often attended the Arch and Pine Street churches with Mr. Reed. Thus in his diary of 1774: "September 10 [which was Saturday, and preparatory tO' the com- munion], rambled in the evening with Jo. Reed, and fell into Mr. Slproat's meeting [Arch street], where we heard Mr. Spence preach. September 1 1 . Mr. Reed was so kind as to wait on us to Mr. Sproat's meeting." "October 24, 1775. Heard Mr. Smith, of Pequea. This was at Duffield's meeting." Mr. Adams pronounced Sproat to be "totally destitute of the genius and eloquence of Duffield."* Colonel Reed was with General Cadwalader's division when Washington crossed the Delaware, in 1777. In 1782 * Life and Works of John Adams, vol. ii. In 1777, Mr. Adams boarded with the family of Mr. Sproat. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 121 he was one of the professional representatives of Pennsyl- vania, before the Commiissioners of Congress, whO' met at Trenton to decide the dispute between that State and Con- necticut, in regard to the Wyoming lands.^ In one of his letters he writes of having received a letter "under cover of Mr. Spencer," then the pastor at Trenton. He was a Trustee of the College of New Jersey from^ 1781 until his death. In 1783, visiting England for his health, he was associated with Dr. Witherspoon, who went out in the same vessel, on a mission to obtain subscriptions for the College abroad. He died in Philadelphia, March 5, 1785.^ SamuEIv Tucker served in the Trusteeship from 1766 to 1788, and for most of the time was Clerk of the Board. He held many public stations. He had been Sheriff of Hunterdon, and when as a member of the Provincial As- sembly of 1769^ he took an active part in the investigation of alleged professional abuses of lawyers, there was a re- crimination in regard to his own fee bills as Sheriff.* He was President of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, which sat in Trenton from October 4 to 28, 1775, and ofhcially signed the Constitution which it framed, July 2, 1776. On the 4th Septemiber of that great year, he was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court. He was also for a time Treasurer of the new State, and in that relation there will be occasion to introduce his name hereafter. In 1776 he was Chairman of the Provincial Committee of S^afety,^ but in the subsequent panic he took advantage of the offer of British protection.! Perhaps some of this weakness was attributable to the family connection of Mr. Tucker — his wife beiftg an English lady. It is said that Mr. Tucker and John Hart (afterwards a signer of the Declaration) were competitors for the Assembly, in 1768; Tucker was supported by the Episcopalians, Methodists and • Field's Provincial Courts of New Jersey, p. 169. t Journal of Assembly of New Jersey, Dec. 17, I777- Sedgwick's Life of Gov- ernor Livingston, p. 194. 122 HISTORY OF THE Baptists ; Hart by the Presbyterians. "During the first and second days of election, Hart was ahead, but on the third, one Judge Brae, coming up with a strong* reserve of Church of England men, secured Tucker's return."* Mr. Tucker died in 1 789. By his will he left fifty pounds to "the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton and Lamberton," as it is named in the will, to distinguish the town from the country church ; the interest was to be paid armually "to the minister, to attend divine service in the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, towards his support." He left thirty pounds to the Episcopal Church. His will made judicious provision for the emancipation of his slaves, either immediate or at a conditional time; as, upon learning a trade, adding a legacy of money to that of liberty. Mrs. Tucker's maiden name was Gould.^ In 1766 she inherited from! Elizabeth Gould, of Exeter, Devonshire, some property, which, by her own will, in 1787, she be- queathed to her nieces. White and Murgatroyd. Mr. and Mrs. Tticker were buried in the old grave-yard described already as lying inclosed but desolate, in the midst of cultivated fields. The two large stones that cover their graves are the only ones in the little inclosure that remain unmutilated. The inscriptions are as follows: 1. "Underneath this stone lie the remains of SamuBI, Tucker, Esq., who departed this life, the 14th day of January, 1789, aged 67 years,. 3 months, and 19 days. "Though in the dust I lay my head. Yet, gracious God, thou wilt not leave My soul forever with the dead, Nor lose thy children in the grave.'' 2. "In memory of Elizabeth Tucker, the wife of Samuel Tucker, Esq., of Trenton, and daughter of James and Ann Gould, who departed this life on Sunday, the 13th day of May, 1787, aged 57 years, 8 months, and 14 days. ■ Sedgwick's Ivivingstone, p. 143. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 123 "This life's a dream, an empty show, But the bright world to which I go Hath joys substantial and sincere; When shall I wake and find me there? Then burst the chains with sweet surprise. And in my Saviour's image rise.'' At the meeting of Presbytery, in the fall of the year in which Mr. Kirkpatrick left Trenton, the congregation ap- plied for supplies, "and in particular for the Rev. Mr. Mc- Knight, in case of his dismission from his present charge which, they inform us, they have heard is probable." This was the Rev. Charles McKnight, who was the pastor of Allentown, but who at the same meeting was, at his request, dismissed from that charge. Alt that time, also, a call for him' was presented from Shrewsbury, Shark River and Middletown Point, which he subsequently accepted. The people next turned their attention to Mr. Jonathan Edwards, son of the eminent President of Princeton Col- lege, and himself afterwards distinguished as President of Union College, at Schenectady. Mr. Edwards graduated at Princeton after his father's death, and in 1767 was em- ployed there as tutor. He had been licensed by the Litch- field Congregational Association in 1766, but in April, 1767, he applied to be taken under the care of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, which was done, and among the vacancies assigned to him was Trenton, which he was directed to supply for three Sabbaths. On the 20th October, 1767, a call was brought for him from the congregation. As Mr. Edwards was not present, the matter was deferred, but "in the meantime the Presbytery cannot help expressing their pleasure to see such a harmony among said people in the call aforesaid, and that they have exerted themselves so far for the support of the Gospel ; and we assure said people we will concur with them in their prosecution of said call ; and we appoint Mr. Edwards, to supply at Trenton as much as he can do, till our spring Presb3^ery." 124 HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. The exertion, for which the people are commended, refers to a subscription for the support of the pastor-elect, which accompanied the call, and the lack of which — added, per- haps, to the w&nt of the same unanimity in the people — had been the miain cause of preventing the installment of their late minister. The application, however, was ineffectual, and on the 19th Ajpril, 1768, the entry is : "Mr. Edwards, having been chosen a Professor of Languages, etc., in the College of New Jersey, and being now employed as a tutor there, could not see it to be his duty to break his connections with the college aforesaid; and therefore, as he would not accept the call from Trenton, it was returned.'" The College was often looked to for ministers. Just before calling Mr. Edwards, Trenton was one of three vacant congregations that applied for Mr. James Thomp- son, a recent licentiate, to supply them statedly, "but Mr. Thompson's connections with the College of New Jersey as a tutor so embarrass him that it appears inexpedient to the Presbytery to lay him under any positive appointment, but only recommend it to him to supply as much as he can at these places, at discretion." (Minute of June 23, 1767.) In the year 1769 the two congregations of Trenton united with the Maidenhead congregation in an arrangement by which one pastor could serve the three societies. There must have been some strong necessity, financial or other- wise, for a measure that would reduce the share of each congr^ation from one-half of a minister's care to one- third. The first evidence of the union is in a minuite of October 18: "A petition was brought into the Presbytery, from the congrega- tions of Trenton and Maidenhead, signed by the respective elders, requesting them to invite the Reverend Mr. Spencer, a member of the Presbytery of Newcastle, to settle among them; which the Presbytery unanimously complied with." CHAPTER XL The Reiverend Ei^ihtj Spencer, D.D. — His Previous History. 1 72 1 — 1769. EuHU Spencer, thus introduced into our history, was a son of Isaac and Mary (Selden) Spencer, and was born in East Haddam, Connecticut, February 12, 1721. He entered Yale College in 1742, and commenced Bachelor of Arts in 1746, in the class with President Stiles and John B'rainerd. The families of Spencer and Brainerd were doubly con- nected, for Hannah Spencer, a sister of Dr. Spencer's grand- father, was the grandmother of David and John Brainerd; and their sister, Martha Brainerd, was the wife of General Joseph Spencer, brother of Elihu. In the Life of David Brainerd, President Edwards relates that when David was on his deathbed, his youngest brother, Israel, came to see him; "but this meeting," he says, "was attended with sor- row, as his brother brought himi the sorrowful tidings of his sister Spencer's death at Haddam.^ A peculiarly tender affection and much religious intimacy had long subsisted between Mr. Brainerd and his sister, and he used to make her house his home whenever he went to Haddam, his native place." Mr. S'pencer had entered college with the design of preparation for the ministry, and soon after his licensure he was chosen by the American Correspondents, or Com'- missioners, of the Scottish Society for propagating the Gospel in New England and parts adjacent, as a suitable missionary to the Indian tribes. At this time David Brain- (125) 126 HISTORY OF THE erd was the most prominent evangelist among the Indians, and it was partly owing to his favorable opinion that young Spencer was engaged for the same work. Under date of September, 1747, in the Life of Brainerd, it is said that, "Brainerd having now, with much deliberation, considered the subject referred to him by the Commissioners, wrote them about this time, recommending two young gentlemen of his acquaintance, Mr. Elihu Spencer, of East Haddam, and Mr. Job Strong, of Northampton, as suitable mission- aries to the Six Nations.^ The Commissioners on the receipt of this letter, cheerfully and unanimously agreed to accept of and employ the persons whom he had recom- mended." But upon David's death, in 1747, his brother John be- came the principal agent of the Society, and it was with him that Mr. St>encer and Mr. Job Strong spent a winter (1748) in studying Indian languages, and otherwise avail- ing themselves of the Brainerd experience. Jonathan Ed- wards was himself an active friend of the Indians, and after his removal from Northampton, in 1750, accepted, at the samie time, a call to the church at Stockbridge, and an appointment of the Boston Commiissioners as missionary to the Indians living in that part of Massachusetts Bay. Spencer passed a summer with Edwards, and accompanied him to Albany to witnless a treaty with the aborigines, many O'f whomi spent their winters about Stockbridge, and the rest of the year near Schoharie, beyond Albany. What it was to travel from Stockbridge to Albany a century ago, may be learned from the Rev. Gideon Hawley's nar- rative of such a journey in 1753.* Mr. Hawley was a teacher and minister of the Indians, under Edwards' in- structions, and says of the great metaphysician: "To In- dians he was a very plain and practical preacher; upon no * In Massachusetts Historical Collections, and in the Documentary History of New York (vol. iii, p. lo.-^s). FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 127 occasion did he display any metaphysical knowledge in the pulpit." Thus prepared, Spencer was ordained in Boston, Sep- tember 14, 1748, and went to the Oneida tribe — ^the chief of the Six Nations of the Mohawks, or Iroquois. His sta- tion was at Onoquaqua (afterwards Unadilla), at the head of the Susquehannah, one hundred and seventy miles south- west of Albany, and one hundred and thirty beyond any white settlement. One of the results of his mission was a vocabulary oi the Oneida langtiage, which he prepared. Hawley says he "could not surmount the obstacles he met •with." These obstacles are indefinitely described elsewhere, as difficulties connected with his interpreter, and other causes frustrating his usefulness. He soon withdrew from the mission, and going to Elizabethtown he received a call from the Presbyterian Church left vacant by the death oif President Dickinson. Having accepted the call he was re- ceived by the Presbytery of New York, and installed Feb- ruary 7th, 1749. Recording that date in his family Bible, lie writes: "This day was installed E. Spencer, and took the great charge (onus humeris angelorwm, formidandmn) of the ministry in Elizabethtown; setatis suse 28. The Lord help me." Mr. Spencer gave part of his time to Shrewsbury. In 1848 two m'en were living in that town, one in his ninety-seventh, the other in his eighty-ninth year, who remembered Mr. Spencer, and showed the house he occupied on his visits.* He took his place in Synod, Sep^ tember, 1750, at their meeting at Newark, and was placed on a committee of five for drafting proposals for a reunion with the Synod of Philadelphia. He was often on the commission for the interim. In 1753: he was on a commit- tee to settle difficulties in what was then our only church * Letter of the Rev. Rufus Taylor, of Shrewsbury, to the Rev. Dr. Miller. In October, 1750, Mr. Spencer was married to a daughter of John Eaton, of Eatontown, in the neighborhood of Shrewsbury. 128 HISTORY OP THE in the city of New York; the subject of discord being the introduction of Watts's Psalms the use of anthems, and prayer at burials.* In 1753, Spencer was appointed to take his part in supplying Mr. Tennent's pulpit in Philadelphia, during his abs'-ence in Europe for the College, the Synod directing at the same time that, "Mr. Spencer's congrega- tion be supplied in his absence the whole of the time, at the request of his excellency, the Governor" (Belcher). When' Mr. Davies was preparing for his voyage with Tennent, in September, 1753, he saw much of Spencer. After passing a night at his house in Elizabethtown, and proceeding the next day to Newark, Davies writes in his journal: "The Governor insisted that I should preach for Mr. Spencer next Sunday come se'nnight, that he might have an opportunity of hearing me." On the following Saturday he "sailed to Elizabethtown: was pleased with the company of my brother Mr. Spencer, and Mr. James Brown." The next day Davies preached ; and on Tuesday returned to Philadelphia to mCet the Synod, in company with Messrs. Spencer, Brainerd and Brown, "and spent the time in pleasing conversation, principally on the affairs of the Indians." At the Synod of October, 1755, various petitions having been presented fromi North Carolina, "setting forth their distressing circumstances for want of a preached Gospel among them," the Synod resolved to extend what relief was in their power, and appointed Mr. Spencer with Mr. John Brainerd to take a journey thither before winter, and supply the vacant congregations for six months, or as long- as th'ey should think necessary. This is a specimen of the manner in which Synods then exercised their authority over settled ministers, and of the manner in which congregations yielded to the necessity which called for the missionary * See "Alexander Gumming," in Dr. Sprague's Annals, vol. i. 462. "Records," Sept. 26, 1754. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 129 services of their pastors. No objection from any of these quarters prevented a compliance with the Synod's direc- tion; th'e entry of September, 1756, being that "the diffi- culties and dangers of the times rendered it in a great degree impracticable for Messrs. Spencer and Brainerd to answer the end of their appointment toi the southward, and for that reason said appointments were not fulfilled." The difficulties were those which arose from the French and Indian incursio'ns. At the same session "the Stynod agree that an address be prepared and presented to Lord Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty's forces in North America, and they do appoint Messrs. Aaron Burr, Elihu Spencer, David Bostwick, and Caleb Smith, or some one of them, to prepare and present it, in the name of this Synod, on the first proper opportunity." In 1756 Mr. Spencer was released from EHzabethtown, having accepted an invitation from the church at Jamaica, Long Island, in the Presbytery of Suffolk, vacant by the removal of Mr. Bostwick to New York. After a ministry of about two years there, as stated supply, he embraced an offer from Governor Delancey, of New York, of a chaplaincy to the troops of the Province then detailing for the French war. The Synod made provision for the Jamaica pulpit, "in case Mr. Spencer shall go out as chap- lain with the New York forces."^ I do not know the nature or duration of his services in this connection, but "Jamaica, July 2, 1759," is the date of a published letter of his to Dr. (afterwards President) Ezra Stiles, on "the state of the dissenting interest in the Middle Colonies of America;" and "Shrewsbury, November 3," of the same year, is the date of a postscript added to it. In May, 1761, he was received by the Presbytery of New Brunswick from the Suffolk Presbytery,* and was clerk at another meeting in the same month in Princeton, and in August in Trenton. In October he was appointed to supply three Sabbaths at 9 prES 130 HISTORY OF THE Amboy Southward, Middletown Point, and neighboring places; in April, 1762, the same places, "as much as he can;" in October, 1762, and May, 1763, one- fourth of his time at South Amboy; and in April, 1764, fouir Sabbaths along the seashore towards E^g Harbor. The day on which the Synod of New York provided for Mr. Spencei-'s absence with the army (May 27, 1758), was the last but one of the separation or schism. The two bodies assembled in Philadelphia, May 29, and constituted "The Synod of New York and Philadelphia." The num- ber of our ministers in all the Colonies was then nearly one hundred. Mr. Spencer first appeared in the new organiza- tion in May of the next year, when he was again put on the Synodal Commission. In the session of 1761 he was Moderator, and was added by the house to a committee ap- pointed to devise means for obtaining funds to support John Brainerd in his Indian mission. As has been already stated in the notice of his predecessor, it was Mr. Kirkpatrick who reported an overture from this committee, upon which it was determined to raise one hundred and fifty pounds for the maintenance of Mr. Brainerd another year. Mr. Spencer opened the sessions oi 1762, in the First Church, Philadelphia, with a sermon from Acts 20 : 28. The matter of the Rev. Mr. Harker's heretical opinions, the issue of which has been mentioned in the course of our notice of Mr. Kirkpatrick, came before this meeting, in consequence of Harker's having, "without the approbation of the Synod, printed a book containing his principles," and Mr. Spencer was first on a committee to examine and report on the pub- lication, which was next year condemned. We have seen that Dr. Macwhorter was associated with Mr. Kirkpatrick in college; that they were candidates and licentiates together, and with Mr. Latta were commissioned to itinerate in Virginia and North Carolina.^ The same excellent man was also connected with Mr. S^pencer on FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 131 another important mission. The Synod meeting in Eliza- bethtown in May, 1764, learning that many congregations in the South, particularly in North Carolina, needed a propter organization, deputed Messrs, Spencer and Mac- whorter to visit that region, as general overseers and coun- sellors for the welfare of the Church. They were to form and regulate congregations, adjust their bounds, ordain elders, administer the sacraments, instruct the people in discipline, direct them how to obtain the stated ministry, and do all things which their inchoate or feeble condition required; not failing to assure the people everywhere oif the Synod's interest in them, as the highest judicatory of the Church, and its readiness to do all in its power for their assistance. Ulnder the date of May 16, 1765, we have the Synod's record as follows: "Messrs. Spencer and Mac- whorter fulfilled their mission to the southward. Mr. Macwhorter's pulpit was supplied during his absence, and the Presbytery of Brunswick were satisfied with the care taken to supply Mr. Spencer's people." Mr. Macwhorter contracted a disease during this journey, from which he did not fully recover for two years. A journal oif this apostolic tour would be oif great interest and value. The influence of two ministers of such piety, prudence, and talents must have been as happy as it was welcome. The effects of their visit are partly developed in the proceedings of their Pres- byteries and Synod after their return. In Synod a commit- tee, at the head of which were Doctors Alison and Finley, were appointed to converse with the two missionaries, not only with reference to their expenses, which Synod had assumed, but "for the settlement of Gospel ministers in Carolina." At a meeting held by the Presbytery during the same session of Synod at which they made their report a call was presented for Mr. Spencer from the people of Hawfields, Eno, and Little Run, in North Carolina; but "upon the whole he declared he could not see his way dear 132 HISTORY OP THE to accept of it, and i^etunaed it to the commissioner." Imi- mediately another call was presented from' Gather's (after- wards Thyatira) and Fourth Creek settlements, in North Carolina, for Mr. Spencer, and to this he returned the same unfavorable answer.® It appears that the same calls were introduced into Synod by the committee for overtures, who also reported a supplication for supplies from the inhabit- ants between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers; "particularly for the removal of Mr. Spencer and Mr. Macwhorter to settle among them;" two other supplications for supplies from Bethel and Poplar Tent, in Mtecklenburg county; the same from New Providence and Six-mile Si>ring; a call for Macwhorter from Hopewell and Centre congregations ; and supplications from I^ong-lanes, in South Carolina. The Synod proceeded to mteet, as far as was in their power, the numerous opportunities opened through their judicious measures, by appointing six ministers to visit North Caro- lina, and each of them to tarry half a year in the most destitute neighborhoods. Next year Sugar Creek, Fishing Creek, Bethel, the Jersey Settlement, Centre congregation. Poplar Tent, and Rocky River united in a petition "for one or more of the Rev. Messrs. Spencer, Lewis, Macwhorter, and James Caldwell to be sent there, promising that the sum of eighty pounds be paid by any of these congregations in which he shall choose to spend half of his time, and another eighty pounds by the vacant congregations he shall supply." The record proceeds: "This petition being read, the several gentlemen mentioned in it were interrogated whether they would comply with this request, to which each of them returned a negative answer." Petitions for supplies were poured m at the same meeting from various sections of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, but all the- Synod could do was to nominate seven ministers to make journeys throughout those districts, as their other engagements would permit. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 133 In his notes on this mission of the Synod, Mr. Foote, after mentioning that the report of the two deputies has not been preserved, remarks: "We are not left at a loss for the names of part of the congrega- tions whose bounds they adjusted, as in that (1765) and the succeed- ing year, calls were sent in for pastors from Steele Creek,' Providence, Hopewell, Centre, Rocky River, and Poplar Tent, which entirely sur- rounded Sugar Creek, besides those in Rowan and Iredell. These seven congregations were in Mecklenburg, except a part of Centre, which lay in Rowan (now Iredell), and in their extensive bounds com- prehended almost the entire county." "This mission was fulfilled to such entire satisfaction, that these gentlemen were importuned to set- tle in Carolina, and Mr. Macwhorter was ultimately chosen President of the College erected at Charlotte. From the term of this visit we may consider the bounds of the old churches in Orange and Concord Presbyteries as settled, and the sessions as generally duly organized. Previous to this, the settlements acted independently in their religious m,atters."* In January, 1765, the Rev. Jo>hn Rodgers, the pastor at the town of St. George's, Delaware, accepted a call from the first church in the city of New York. Both Mr. Rodgers and the congregation appear to have considered Mr. Spencer as a desirable successor; for in Synod on the 20th of May, 1765, "ait the request of the Rev. Mr. Rodgers, and of the congregation of St. George's, Mr. Spencer is appointed to supply that congregation foulr weeks before Mr. Rodgers removes from them." In the following September, the proper steps having been first taken in the Presbytery of Lancaster, to which St. George's belonged, that congregation and Apoquiminey,® which was connected with it under Mr. Rodgers, presented their call, and upon Mr. Spencer's expressing his acceptance, he was transferred from New Brunswick to Newcastle — ^the bounds of Newcastle and Donegal having been changed for a single year, and the names of Lancaster and Carlisle substituted, but the original ones being now restored. On * Foote: North Carolina, ch. xiv. xxiv. 134 HISTORY OP THE the seventh January, 1766, Spencer was received by New- castle, and took his seat, together with Mr. Valentine Dushane as the elder of St. George's. On the seventeenth of the following Aipril he was installed over the united con- gregations.^ Mr. Spencer was one of the witnesses of the serene and happy close of the life of President Finley, which took place in Philadelphia, July 17, 1766. On the day before that event, Mr. Spencer said to him: "I have come to see you confirm by facts the Gospel y stone in that town records that he made fifty-five voyages between New York and London, and died in 1772, at the age of 88. His wife survived him. "It is presumed," says Mr. Whitehead, "that they left two children — one son. Dr. William Bryant, who was living, at Trenton in 1776, and thence supplied his mother's wants ; and one daughter, Mary, who crossed the Atlantic with her father in early life, and resided some time in London, where she became acquainted with the Rev. Dr. Watts, under whose instruc- tions she received those religious impressions which in after life 'brought forth fruiit abundantly,' being eminent for her piety and benevolende. She became the wife of the Hon. Wm. Peartree Simith, of New York, and subsequently of New Jersey — a scholar and a Christian."* Archibald William Yard was one of the sons of Joseph Yard, the Trustee. He died March 8, 1810, at the age of 78. Benjamin, another subscriber, was Joseph's brother. Mrs. Abigail Coxe and Daniel Coxe were of the family of that name which was one of the earliest and most re- spectable among the large land-owners. Their more im- mediate membership was with the Church of England, and their loyalty to the mother country survived the Revolu- tion. In the case of Coxe vs. Gulick, in 1829, it was con- tended that on the third July, 1776, Daniel Coxe, resid- ing in Trenton, was a subject of Great Britain, that he with- drew from the State in 1777, at the time of his decease lived ' History of Perth Amboy, p. 145. 144 HISTORY OF THE under the British Government, and never acknowledged allegiance to New Jersey.* David PinkErton® is supposed to have died in 1781, leaving a famlily of children named David, Jane, Ann, John, Samiuel, Joseph, William and Mary, to whom, with his wife, he bequeathed his "shop-goods, cows and horses," dwelling house and lot, "with my two orchard lots and meadow lot, and my little farm where Joseph Roberts lives. * * * I thus take my leave of a troublesome world." The witnesses of his will were three of his co-signers in the congregation — Howe, Moore and Woolsey. Another of themi, Decow, was an executor, and a fifth, Paxton, was the Surrogate before whom it was brought tO' probate. Mr. Pinkerton's son and namesake was a clerk in the Trenton Bank, and is remembered for his passion for fishing in the Delaware after bank hours. The only stone in our yard that bears the name of Pinkerton is that of a child (John) who died February 9, 1769. In August, 1794, there was a John Pinkerton, Jr., "intending shortly to remove to Philadel- phia." Joseph Paxton was the S'urrogate just named. In the portico of the church are memorials of Paxtons, namely, Joseph Paxton, who died September 15, 1750; aged 48. (The Rev. Mr. Cowell was one of his executors.) Jane Paxton, June i, 1768; 27 years. Children of Paxtons 1747-8. Abraham CoTTnam was a magistrate. In April, 1778, his executors (Robert Hoops, his son-in-law, and George Cottnam, his son) advertise for the recovery of his dockets, taken from the ofBce of Ebenezer Cowell, Esq., when the enemy were in Trenton. They offer for sale what had probably been the testator's residence, "DowsdaJe, near Trenton, on the Hopewell road." His will, which was * Halsted's Reports, v. 328. Sabine's American Loyalists, p. 232. Whitehead's Perth Amboy, p. 201, Field's Provincial Courts, p. 185. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 145 proved in February, 177,6, directs his body to be "laid in Trenton church yard, as near to my first wife and children as may be convenient, * * * ^^^ as little expense as possible, consistent with decency." Robert Lettis Hooper and Benjamin Smith were two of the witnesses of his will, and Hon. Daniel Coxe was an executor. He desired and entreated his friend, William' Pidgeon, Esq., to assist the executors with his advice. His wife was a daughter of Joseph Warrell, Sr.'' He gave to his son, Warrell Cottnam, all his law books, including those which he claimed under the will of Joseph Warrell, Esq., the elder, and to the same "his mother's family-pedigree roll by her miother's side, being of the Bradshaw family." The senior Warrell here alluded to, was Attorney-General in the administration of Governor Morris, and died in 1758. He left his own pedigree-roll to his son ; his wife's to Mrs. Cottnam. David CoAvell and Peter Kemble were witnesses to the will. Joseph Warrell, Jr., died in Trenton in 1775. His will directed that his body be buried as near as possible to his parents, in the Trenton church yard, but if he should hap- pen to die a considerable distance from Trenton, "I will that by no means my estate shall be put to the expense of a conveyance thither." His grave is in our ground, near the church, and is thus inscribed : "In the memory of Joseph Warrell, Esq., who departed this life March 6th, 1775 ; aged 36 years. This stone is erected, not from pomp, or pageantry, but from true affection. "For other thoughts employ the widowed wife ; The best of husbands, loved in private life, Bids her with tears to raise this humble stone, That holds his ashes, and expects her own." Hejzekiah Howeli^. "An aged and respectable inhabi- tant," of this name, died Oictober 15, 1800. Isaac Decow was for a time the High Sherifif of Hunter- don.* Isaac Decow, Alderman, died June, 1795, and was 10 PRES 146 HISTORY OF THE buried in the Friends' Meeting ground. Perhaps it was an ancestor of the family, of whom Dr. Franklin's Auto- biography makes mention, when he says that among the principal people of New Jersey, with whom' he made ac- quaintance in 1727, when he was printing paper money for the Province, was "Isaac Decow, the Surveyor-General, * * * a shrewd, sagacious old man, who told me that he began for himself when young by wheeling clay for the brickmiakers, learned tO' write after he was of age, carried the chain for surveyors, who taught him surveying, and he had now by his industry acquired a good estate; 'and,' said he, 'I foresee that you will soon work this man [Keimer] out of his business, and make a fortune in it at Philadel- phia.' He had then not the least intimation of my intention to set up there or anywhere." MiCAjAH How was the second who bore the name of the old prophet. The first, a shoem'aker, died in 1 740, who had a son Samuel, and a kinsman, Israel Hewlings. Of this family was the Rev. Thomas Yardley How,® for a time Rector of Grace Church (Episcopal), New York, who had a share in the celebrated church controversy with Hobart, Linn, Beasley, Mason, Miller and others in the early part of the present century. The Trenton newspaper of January 14, 1799, announces the death of Micajah How, Esq., formerly Sheriff of the county of Hunterdon, and one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the county. In July, 1807, Dr. William Innesly, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, was married to "Mary, daughter of the late Micajah How, Esq., of this place." January i, 183 1, died, "Mary, wife of Dr. Inslee, and daughter of Micajah How, Esq., deceased, formerly of Trenton." Six of the subscribers seem to have lived in the same neighborhood in February, 1772, as at that time a fire broke out in the house of Dunlap Adams, and spread to those of Merseilles, Cumings, Moore, Pinkerton and How. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. U^ Jose;ph Higbed died in 1796, at the age of seventy-six. Another of the name died December 12, 1829, in his sixty- fifth year. MERSE11.1.BS is a French family which has had its repre- sentatives with us for a century. Peter M'ersellis' — as the name is on his grave — died June 25, 1764, ^t. forty-three. He was a carpenter. His wife was Hannah, and he had a son Edin, Eden, Edon, Edow or Edo, according to the whirii of the scrivener or copyist^" — perhaps, after all, a French termination attempted in English, like Eudang and Udang for Houdin, the rector of St. Michael's.i^ Edin or Edo Merseilles' will was proved in April, 1800; he was then residing in Prekness, Bergen county, and his wife's name is given as Aurenche and Arreanche. He left sons Peter, Edo, Cornelius, John and Garret. His sisters were Rachel, Mary and Elizabeth. His daughters, Anna, Caty, Arre- anche and Jenny, a grandson, Adrian Van Houten. An Eden Merseilles, merchant, died at Bridgeton, January 13, 1808, in his forty-ninth year. "He had been in business longer than any other person in town." Henry Marselis was a brewer in Trenton until his death, in 1753. His will mentions a sister Catherine, and brothers Peter and John. There was a John Merselous, of Hopewell, whose will, in 1784, requires that fifteen geese should be kept on the farm to supply feathers for the beds which he bequeathed to his daughters. He had a son, John Holder. Isaac Smith was at first a physician, and perhaps never wholly relinquished the profession; but at a time when the constitution of the highest judiciary department of the State allowed of lay-judges, Mr. Smith was placed on the Su- preme Court bench (February 15, 1777). Hence, when he was elected a trustee of the congregation, March 12, 1788, his name is entered as "Doctor Isaac Smith, Enquire." His titles might have been extended, for he was Colonel-Com- mandant of the militia in the neighborhood of Trenton in 148 HISTORY OP THE the campaign of 1776. He was the first President of the Trenton Banking Company, having been elected to that post on the institution of the bank, February 13, 1805, and continued in it until his death. He served eighteen years on the bench, "during which time," according to his obituary, "he was also elected by the suffrages of the people of New Jersey, at a general State election, to the honorable station of a member of the House of Representatives of the United S'tates, where his high character for political wiisdom and tiied integrity was known and duly appreciated by all his co- patriots, and particularly by the illustrious Washington and Adams, with whom he enjoyed the intimacy of particular friendship." His epitaph is: "Isaac Smith, Esq., died August 29th, 1807, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. With integrity and honest intentions, as a physician and a judge, to the best of his ability, he distributed health and justice to his fellow-men, and died in hopes of mercy through a Redeemer."" Of his wife, who died in 1801, the comprehensive char- acter is graven on an adjoining stone: "She was what a woman ought to be." It appears by other inscriptions that three sons preceded their parents to the grave: Edward, lost at sea, in 1791, at the age of twenty-five; John Pennington, in 1797; and Charles, Lieutenant of the first United States Regiment, in 1800, aged thirty-two. One of the bequests of Dr. Smith's will was as follows : "To the Trustees, of the Presbyterian Church in the city of Trenton, one hundred dollars, with the intei^est that may arise thereon, to be applied towards building a new church; and provided, also, that they keep the tombstones of myself and family in good repair. I have no descendants to perform this duty." His executors were Lydia Imlay, of Tt^enton, Richard Stockton, of Princeton, and Edward Pennington, of Philadelphia. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 149 Samuei, BeiaerjEau^* was a nephew of Samuel Tucker. His wife was Achsah; daughters, Hannah Gee and Sarah Brearley; sons, Henry, Benjamin, John, Samuel, Thomas, and Daniel. He died July 8, 1795, at the age of fifty-six, and his gravestone is one of those that pave the portico of the present church. Godfrey WimER. I find no more than that a person of this name died in Nottingham township, June 5, 1801." BeWv. The only traces of this family are in the church- yard: Jamies Bell^^ (probably the signer of Mr. Cowell's ■call), September 10, 1747; age, seventy. John Bell, No- vember 10, 1788; age, forty-six. VoN or Van Veghten and Veghte occur frequently in the Dutch churches of Somerset county, as commemorated in the "Pastor's Miemorial" of the Rev. Dr. Messier, of Somerville (1853). WooLSEY has long been a highly irespectable family in the township and town. Benjamin was; elected elder in 1797, but declined. Dr. Jeremiah Woolsiey, "formerly oif Trenton," died in Cincinnati, February 9, 1834, in his sixty-fifth year. MaThis, sometimes Mathias, and probably also Mathews. The house of Captain James Mathis, deceased, at Lrami- berton, was advertised for sale in 1796. Wii^UAM PiDGEON, already named ini the notice of Mr. Cottnam, died at Stafford, Monmouth county, January 5, 1780. Elizabeth Cottnam- appears in his will, among his relatives. He left fifty pounds to the Methodist Society of Trenton, "for the repair of their meeting-house." He also put three thousand pounds at the discretionary disposal of his executors, for charitable purposes, and "for the relief of my negroes as they may merit it." To the registration of bis will is appended this paragraph : "Note, that the within- named William Pidgeon was so burnt by getting out of his bouse when om fire, that he could not hold a pen to write ISO HISTORY OF THE his name, but a mark as above, and escaped in his shirt." From the testimony before the Surrogate, and from the newspapers, it appears that two children of Captain Isaac Andrews, two men-servants, and a hired mian., were burnt to death at this time, and that the fire was the cause of the fatal illness of Pidgeon himself. George Creed was a physician. He removed to New Jersey from Jamaica, Long Island, of which town William Creed was one of the patentees in 1686. Dr. Creed was bom in Jamaica, October i, 1735, and resided for some time in Flemington, before coming to Trenton. He married Susanna Coleman, of Maidenhead, in 1762, who died in Trenton, September 24, 1835, in her ninety-fourth year. Dr. Creed died suddenly, of apoplexy, on a visit to Jamaica, about the year 1775. His daughter, Mrs. Rebecca Creed Ryall, still survives (1859), in the ninety-first year of her age, having been a communicant of our church for about sixty-three years.^® Robert LETTis Hooper.^'' The first person of this name was Chief Justice of the Province from 1724 to 1728, and again from 1729 till his death in 1739. In an advertisement of February 18, 1752, occurs the name of "Robert Lettis Hooper, now living at Trenton;" and that of his son, Reynald, is in the lottery prospectus of 1753, copied in our Sixth Chapter. Robert L,. Hooper, Jr., had a store in Philadelphia, in December, 1762; was Deputy Quarter- master-General in 1778, and was a Judge of the Common Pleas of Hunterdon in 1784. Robert Lettis Hooper died April 25, 1785, in his seventy-seventh year, and was buried in the Episcopal ground in Trenton. In August, of the same year, the death of a stranger (Ebenezer Erskine) is announced "at the seat of Robert Lettis Hooper, near Trenton," and Mr. Hooper was one of his acting executors. A paper of November 7, 1785, says: "Since our last the Hon. Robert Lettis Hooper, Esq., has been elected Vice- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 151 President of the Legislative council, in the room of John Cleves Symmes, appointed to Congress." In 1796, "Died at Belville, near Trenton, Mrs. Elizabeth, wife of Robert L. Hooper, Esq." July 30, 1797, died "the Hon. Robert Lettice [so spelled sometimes] Hooper, formerly Vice^ President of this State, in his sixty-seventh year." Soon afterwards is advertised for sale "that elegant seat called Belville, late the residence of R. L. Hooper," on .the Dela- ware, and containing one hundred acres. Belville was the Sinclair and Rutherford country-seat already mentioned. It is advertised in September, 1806, by John Rutherford, as "the summer residence of the sribscriber in the city of Trenton," having three hundred and thirty acres on both sides of the river, and one of the lots between the new street and Colhoun's lane, including "Prospect Hill." Tlhis exhausts my memoranda of this name in the list of the contributors to Mr. Spencer's salary. Robert Singer^® was at one time connected in mer- chandise with Bernard Hanlon, and at another in the auction business with Francis Witt. Witt kept a public house; at one time "the Blazing Star," at another, "an ordinary at the sign of Dr. Franklin, near the market." The Trustees sometimes held their meetings at his inn." John Clunn lived in Lamberton. In August, 1781, the Gazette mentions the death of the widow of John Clunn, aged eighty-three, "and in the evening of the same day, the weather being very warm, her remains were interred in the (Episcopal) church burying-place."^° Joseph Clunn^^ appears in the Revolution as "Captain in the State Regiment." In 1785 "Captain Clunn" kept an inn which bore the sign of Alexander the Great. In the Episcopal ground are the graves of Joseph Clunn, Sen., who died in 1798, aged fifty-nine; and of John H. Clunn, 1798, aged twenty-eight. In the Presbyterian ground is the grave of Amey Clunn, December 12, 1834; aged seventy-six. IS2 HISTORY OF THE John Fitch is one of the historical names of America, in connection with the invention or introduction of naviga- tion by steam. He viras a native of Connecticut, where his father was "a most strenuous Presbyterian." In May, 1769, he came to Trenton, and Matthew Clunn, a tinman, employed him in the manufacture of brass buttons. He also picked up some knowledge of the watchmaker's trade. Clunn's next door neighbor was James Wilson, a silver- smith, who employed Fitch as a sort of apprentice ; but in a short course of time Wilson failed, and became Fitch's journeym'an. One of his biographers says : "His skill and perseverance soon enabled him to master the diffi- culties of his calling, and money began to flow into his pockets. When the war of the American Revolution commenced, he was well estab- lished, doing an extensive business. The faculty of acquiring property appears to have been in him as strong as his disposition to spend it when acquired. His shop and its contents were estimated at three thousand dollars when the British army entered the village of Tren- ton. The troops were attracted to it, because he had large contracts for the repair of American arms. Th&y proceeded to burn the estab- lishment, and destroy the tools and all his visible property." When the first military company was formed at Trenton, in support of the Revolution, Fitch was one of the lieuten- ants, and had that rank in the cantonment at Valley Forge. The Committee of Safety afterwards made him their gun- smith, or armorer, and he was expelled from the "Method- ist Society" for working at that business on the Sabbath. He had a quarrel with Alexander Chambers, in the Com- missary department, and with John Yard, about military rank. When the enemy entered Trenton, in December, 1776, Fitch removed to Bucks county. He attended the Presbyterian church of Neshaminy, of which the Rev. Nathaniel Irwin was for miany years the minister, and who appears to have taken much notice of his ingemiity. It was on his return afoot from, that church, lame with rheu- matism, that the passing of vehicles caused him to feel the FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 153 contrast with his own difficult locomotion, and suggested the idea of "gaining a force by steam," that would relieve pedestrians of their disadvantage.^^ After making the first draft of a steam-power, Mr. Irwin showed him, in "Martin's Philosophy," that the steami engine had been already invented, and that the desideratum was to apply it to navigation. It was to the Neshaminy pastor that Fitch addressed his autobiography, which was deposited under seal in the Philadelphia library, with injunctions that it was not to be opened imtil thirty years after the inventor's death. Stacy Potts was one of the company formed to asssist Fitch in his experiments, and he, with Isaac Smith, Robert Pearson, Jr., Samuel Tucker, Abraham Hunt, and Rensselaer Williams,^^ John and Charles Clunn, and others of Trenton, gave their names to the application to the Legislature of 1790, which obtained for him fourteen years' exclusive privilege on this side of the Delaware. His boat Perseverance made several trips between Philadelphia and Trenton in that year.^* Fitch visited the Western States, and was for some time in captivity among the Indians. In Collins's Trenton Gazette, of July, 1785, is the following advertisement: "John Fitch having traversed the country northwest of the Ohio, in the several capacities of a captive, a surveyor, and a traveller, as the result of his labors and remarks has completed, and now wishes to sell, a new, accurate Map of that country, generally distinguished by the Ten New States, including Kentucky, which opens immense sources of wealth and advantageous speculation to the citizens of the United States, and therefore is an object of general attention. Having per- formed the engraving and printing himself, he is enabled to sell at the very small price of a French crown. "N. B. — They are also to be sold by Enos Kelsey, in Princeton, and by the printer hereof." It is said that this map, projected and engraved by him- self, was printed also by him in a Bucks county cider-press. In May, 1785, he wrote to his patron. Potts, from Bucks, 154 HISTORY OF THE that his map is so far formed that he "shall want paper for it thirty inches by twenty-three, and would wish tO' see you on the occasion, but am so engaged that I can not spare the time tO' go over to Trenton." In November, 1785, Fitch gave to the Governor of Vir- ginia (Patrick Henry) a bond for three hundred and fifty pounds, "conditioned for exhibiting his steamboat" on the waters of that State, "when he receives subscriptions for one thousand of his maps, at 6s. 8d. each." From the Methodists and Presbyterians, Fitch went over to the Universalists. One of his biographers says he was "a drinking man" in his later years, "but it is believed he was not a drunkard." Another says he was "a man of ex- tremely temperate habits for that time." The latter writer attributes his death to "gradual suicide" by the use of spirituous liquors, and says that he "foretold the length of time that his constitution would survive, by a mathematical ratio of debility."* But the version of the other, and latest author, is that being ill, he purposely made one dose of twelve opium pills, which had been directed to be taken at intervals, t He died at Blardstown, Kentucky, in 1798. "Will a delay of half a century," asks his biographer of 1847, "ill rendering public justice tO' the watch-maker and gunsmith of Trenton, weaken the obligations of his country- men to admire his genius ?" James Wilson was probably the silversmith mentioned in the preceding article. His father had prospered in Perth Amboy ; and Wilson, having some patrimony, neglected his trade and became intemperate. It was upon his becoming involved in some responsibility in Wilson's business, that Fitch undertook to pay the debt, by taking his tools, when the master and journeyman; exchanged places. * Memoir by Charles Whittlesey, in Sparks's I^ibrary of American Biography^ vol. xvi. 1847. t Ivife, drawn from his Autobiography in the Philadelphia lyibrary, by Thomp- son Westcott, 1857. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 155 'William Smith was the name of the landlord of whom Fitch hired a room in Trenton where he carried on the manufacture of silver and brass buttons for peddling. The only place in which I find the name is in an inscription in the grave-yard, the age of the subject of which is rather too young for a subscriber in 1770. "In affectionate remembrance, from a bereft consort and fatherless offspring of William Smith, who died April nth, 1799, aged forty years.'' Joseph BriTTain was a shoemaker, and a man of prop- erty. He was the principal owner of the lot on which the State House is built. In January, 1792, he conveyed two and a quarter acres to the Commissioners of the State for the nominal price of five shillings, and in February, of the same year, three-quarters of an acre for sixty-seven pounds and ten shillings. ^^ Mr. Brittain was a member of this church from 1809 to 181 3, when his connection ceased in consequence of his having embraced doctrines too much at variance with those of our communion for his comfortable continuance. Samuel Henry^* was a large owner of real estate in Trenton and elsewhere. He devised to his children exten- sive tracts in Nottingham, and Trenton, including "the old iron-works," and in Pennsylvania. His children (men- tioned individually as son or daughter of "Mary Ogilbee") were George, Samuel, Frances, and Mary. He left a prop- erty in Trenton to Mary Yard, daughter of Williami Yard, on condition of her keeping it as a comifortable home for his children during their minority; making special refer- ence to the vacations of his sons when they should be stu- dents at Princeton College. Their names, however, are not on the Catalogue. Mr. Henry had a brother Alexander in Ireland, whose son Arthur H. is prominent as the first legatee in his will, but is disposed of with five shillings. He 156 HISTORY OF THE left a contingent legacy of three hundred pounds "to the Trustees or managers of the EInglish Church in Trenton, for the maintenance and support of an orthodox minister." In the yard of that church are the tombstones of Samuel Henry, January 9, 1795, twenty-four years; Samuel Henry, May 10, 1784, sixty-seven years; George Henry, October 23, 1846, seventy-six years. The wives of George Henry and Aaron D. Woodruff, Attorney-General, were sisters- — Mary and Grace, daughters of Thomas L.owrey.^'^ There is a fourth stone in the group, marked Mrs. Mary Henry, January 23, 1804; twenty-nine years. There died in Bloomsbury, January 5, 1832, "Katy Willis, a native of Africa, aged one hundred and twelve years. She was for- merly a domestic in the family of Samuel Henry, Sen., of Trenton." Hugh Runyon, or Runyan, built one of the few good houses now standing in Lamberton, lately of the estate of John E. Smith, probably included in fifty acres in Notting- ham township, which Runyon conveyed tO' Elijah Bbnd in 1777. He removed to Kingwood, and died there. I have seen a deed of 1799, in which he conveyed land to his son, Daniel C. Rtayon, of Nottingham. Stephen LowrEy married Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Spencer. He had been a merchant in Maryland, but after his marriage in Trenton resided there, and for some time, at least, at the parsonage ; as there are advertisements of "Stephen Lowrey, at the Rev. Mr. Spencer's," offering "the highest price for loan office bills on the Commiissioners in Prance." He appears also tO' have been connected with the Commissariat Department in the Revolution; as in November, 1779, he offered a reward of a thousand dol- lars (Continental currency) for nine barrels of flour stolen from "the Continental store-house at Trenton." Mrs. Lowrey's grave is next to that of her father. Elsewhere in FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 157 the church-yard is a stone marked Thomas Lowery, Jr., March 11, 1803; age, thirty-one. Of this sort was, the congregation to which Mr. Spencer came to rdinister. At a time when neither the Episcopalians nor Presbyterians were strong enoug-h to maintain pastors for the exclusive service of their town churches, a number were accustomed to hold pews in both, that they might have the opportunity of worship in one or the other place every Lord's day. There seems to have been no difficulty even in holding offices alternately in both. Of the subscribers to the ag'reement when Mr. Spencer was called, the names of Pidgeon, Bond, Coxe, Hooper, Cottnam, How, Decow, Singer, Witt, Clunn and Adams are to be found among the Wardens and Vestrymen of St. Michael's between 1755 and 1783. From July 7, 1776, to January 4, 1783, that church was not opened at all for divine services.^^ CHAPTER XIII. Dr. Spe:ncer's Ministry — Revolutionary Incidents in Trenton. 1773— 1780. In the year 1773 there appears to have been a rearrange- ■ment of the pew-holding, probably in consequence of some addition to the number of pews. A' meeting of the congre- gation took place on the seventeenth of May, "for regulat- ing and granting seats and pews in the meeting-house." Certain pews — from one to twenty-four — are directed to be "numbered," and they are "rated," from f i 10s. in the gallery, to £3 los. below. It was ordered that "Every person, or persons, entitled to a pew by original purchase or grant, be continued in their right, on his or their paying their annual subscription or rate, in proportion to the size of the pew such person may possess ; not under forty shillings, nor exceeding three pounds ten shillings." "William Patterson made application for one-half of any pew below stairs." "James Peak applied for one-half of Mr. Pidgeon's pew in the gallery; in case Mr. Pidgeon should give it up, he would give fifteen shillings per annum for the half." There is no record to show when, if at all, Mr. Sipencer was installed in Trenton. At his reception by the Presby- tery, in 1771, it was without the mention of any particular charge. One cause that prevented this may have been the confusion and uncertainty arising out of the state of public affairs in colonies approaching a revolution. His patriotic spirit may have forethought that he should be called, if not like his co-Presbyter, Witherspoon, to the public councils, yet to a return to his chaplaincy in the army. In 1775 such (159) i6o HISTORY OP THE an opportunity of serving both his country and Church was presented, and it originated in the impressions made during his missionary visit to North Carolina.^ In Decem- ber of that year a special meeting of the Presbytery was summoned at Princeton, to hear an application from him. He then stated that in consequence of a resolution of Con- gress, he had been invited by the delegates of North Caro- lina to take a journey thither, "and preach and converse for some time among those people, as their case is extremely critical." Dr. Witherspoon was Moderator of the meeting - and the minute is that "the Presbytery most cheerfully acquiesce with the motion, and appoint Mr. Spencer to comply with the request; and appoint supplies for his sev- eral congregations during his absence; and ordered that the Moderator furnish Mr. Spencer with proper testimoni- als to the churches of Christ in North Carolina." In the Journal of the Continental Congress, of December 20, 1775, is this minute: "Resolved, That orders be drawn on the Treasurers, in favor of the Rev. Mr. EHhu Spencer and the Rev. Mr. Alexander Macwhorter, who have undertaken to go to North Carolina, for the sum of one hundred and twenty dollars each, being three months' advance, they to be accountable." The late Mrs. Biddle, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, a daugh- ter of Dr. Spencer, who survived him until 1858, gave to me in 1841 the following memlorandumi oi this mission : "In the beginning of the Revolutionary contest my father and Dr. Macwhorter, of Newark, were appointed by Congress to visit the more remote parts of Virginia, Georgia, North and South Carolina, for the purpose of informing the settlers there, who were at the time exceedingly ignorant, of the cause of the Revolution and the necessity of standing forth in defense of their right and country. This circum- stance made my father very obnoxious to the British, who suffered his library with all the writings of his whole life to be burnt and entirely destroyed." FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. i6i A daughter of Mrs. Biddle has since written toi me that she has> frequently heard her mother relate the incidents of that period, and their serious consequences to the zealous advocate of Independence, after his return to Trentom., which was soon in the centre of warfare. His interference was considered rebellion, and the authorities of the royal gfovernmient offiered a reward of a hundred guineas for his head. "This was known," says my correspondent, "to the American officers, and one of them (I think General Mercer) sent a messenger to him in the night to say that the British army were near, and that he must fly for his life. My mother was about nine years old, and recollects perfectly the panic and flight in the middle of the night. They went to St. George's, in Delaware, where they were treated with the utmost kindness and affection. My grandfather preached there until it was safe to return to Trenton. On the return of the family they found their furniture, books, and papers destroyed, and the house itself so much injured that it was scarcely habitable. My mother has often told me that her father was so discouraged by the loss of his papers, that from that time he never wrote another sermon ; preaching merely from short notes.'" In 1 78 1 the Legislature of New Jersey appointed Com'- missioners to "procure an estimate of the damages sus- tained by the inhabitants of this State from the waste and spoil committed by the troops in the service of the enemy, or their adherents." Peter Gordon, Sidney Berry, and Joseph Phillips were the Commissioners for Hunterdon county. From their report we can ascertain minutely the loss suffered by Dr. Spencer, and also that of the Church corporation. In the return of the former are given, "five hundred and twenty-four panel fence, four rails with post ;" "one hundred and sixty-seven panel of red cedar post and rail-fence, good as new;" agricultural implements, wheat in the stalk and in the ground, cattle, furniture, maps, clothing, china, glass, three spinning-wheels, provisions; "stable totally destroyed." To this inventory Dr. Spencer adds : II PEES t62 history of the "A large chest and barrel of books, packed close, but the particular volumes I can not remember or fully recollect. Among them were all the school-books and classics in Greek and Latin; a large collection of Hebrew books, French dictionary, grammar, and Bible, and several other books in French; Pool's Annotations on the Bible, Bates' Works in large folio, Willard's Works, with his Body of Divinity; six large volumes of Caryl upon Job ; Pope's, Swift's, and Addison's Works ; Mr. Edwards's Works, of Northampton, with a number of mathe- matical and philosophical books ; Dr. Witherspoon's Works, a good many of Wall's Works, several volumes of Doddridge's Works, be- sides his Family Expositor, and a great number of volumes on different subjects, which I can not recollect. The estimate of these books I leave to the discretion of the Commissioners, not being able to give a more particular account, but beg leave to say, I have always estimated the loss of the library to be one hundred pounds at the least." His affidavit was made September 6, 1783. Putting the books at eighty pounds, the total of the Commissioners' appraisement was £387 lys. gd. The parsonage was used by the Hessians for an hospital. The communion plate was plundered. The particulars of the loss sustained are given as follows: "An inventory of damages done to the Presbyterian Church in Tren- ton, and public property destroyed by the enemy in December, 1776: ■"303 feet of board fence three feet high, 45 round posts and rails, which was round the burying-ground, £6 00 II panel post and 4 rail fence, i 20 140 panes glass, 4 i 8 Large gates, hooks, and hinges, i 10 o A silk damask curtain and hangings, 12 00 A silver can with two handles, and large plate, 20 00 Damages done to the parsonage house whilst an Hessian hos- pital, (app'd by Miss Axford,) 19 50 1400 feet of boards stript off the stable, 5 50 310 feet board fence, five feet high, 40 posts and rails, round the parsonage garden, 6 16 4 2 large front gates, hooks, and hinges, i 00 I well-curb, bucket, and chain, i 10 o I table-cloth and about ten yards diaper, 2 00 £80 10 o FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 163 "Alexander Chambers being duly sworn, deposes and says, that the within inventory is just and true, to the best of his knowledge, and that no pay or compensation hath been received for the same or any part thereof. "In behalf of the congregation, "Alexander Chambers, Trustee." "Sworn this seventh day of September, 1782. "Jos. Phillips." On the second January, 1777, Cornwallis entered Tren- ton. One of the members of our Presbytery was a victim to the barbarity of the troops under his command. This was the Rev. John Rosborough, pastor O'f Allentown, Penn- sylvania, who was received as a candidate May 22d, 1762; licensed a probationer, August 16, 1763, and ordained December 11, 1764. He was Moderator of the Presby- tery in 1776. According to the report made to Synod, he was "barbarously murdered by the enemy at Trenton on January second." In a letter to Richard Henry Lee, of January 14, Dr. Rush wrote: "The savages [Hessians] miurdered a clergyman, a chaplain to a battalion of militia, in cold blood, at Trenton, after he had surrendered himself and begged fo>r mercy. His name was Rosborooxgh."* It ought, however, to be mentioned that before he was com- missioned as chaplain, Mr. Rosborough had united with his neighbors in forming a company to recruit Washington's forces on their retreat through New Jersey, and from a sentence in a letter to his wife, a few days before his cap>- ture, it seems probable that he was even then "riding with a French fusee slung at his back."^ The particulars of the outrage are given by Dr. Sprague as. follows: "Mr. Rosborough proceeded with his company to Trenton; and, as he was going towards the river in search of his horse, he was met by a company of Hessians under British command. He immediately gave himself up as a prisoner, but begged, for the sake of his wife and chil- * Memoirs o£ R. H. Lee, vol. ii. t6s. i64 HISTORY OP THE dren, that they would spare his life. He quickly found, however, that his request was to be denied, and that the bloody deed was to be per- formed without delay. He instantly knelt down, and, in imitation of his blessed Master, prayed for the forgiveness of bis murderers, and scarcely had this prayer passed from his lips before a deadly weapon pierced his body, and he lay struggling in death. They then took his watch, and part of his clothing, and left him weltering in his blood. The wretched creature who had committed the act, or had had a prin- cipal part in it, went immediately after, with the fury of a madman, into one of the hotels in Trenton, and profanely boasted to the woman who kept it, that he had killed a rebel minister, and showed her his watch ; but he added that it was too bad he should have been praying for them when they were murdering him. A young man by the name of John Hayes, of Mr. Rosborough's congregation, took charge of the corpse, and buried it the next day in an obscure place in Trenton. The Rev. George DufBeld, of Philadelphia, having heard of the sad event, took measures to have the body removed to the churchyard for its final interment."* Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Duffield, mentioned in this extract, was. one oif the chaplains of the First Congress. He would occasionally leave his congregation for a short time to. serve as a missionary toi the troops when they were within easy reach. It was probably during such an errand as this that he became acquainted with Mr. Rosborooigh's death; for, according to the annalist just quoted: "He was with the army in their battles and retreat through Jersey, and was almost the very last man that crossed the bridge over the stream immediately south of Trenton, before it was cut down by order of the American General. For this preservation he was indebted to a Quaker friend, whom he had essentially aided in his hour of trial — though of politics opposed to his own — and whose deliverance he had been the means of securing. The British officers had put a price upon his head, and were particularly anxious to destroy him, because of the influence he exerted among the soldiers of the American army. After the retreat from Princeton, he had retired to a private house in Trenton to seek repose, and was not aware that the American army had taken up their line of march, and had nearly all crossed the bridge, until his Quaker friend sought him out and gave him the alarm, just in time for him to escape, before the bridge was destroyed by the retreating army of Washington."* " Annals, vol. iii. 2S4. I am sorry to say that there is no trace of the chap- lain's grave in our grounds. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 165 Prom the blanks in the minutes of the Trustees, it ap- pears that there was no meeting of the Board in 1776. In that eventful year the Presbytery held five sessions: at Bound Brook in April, at Philadelphia (during Synod) in May, at Princeton in June (to receive Mr. Armstrong as a candidate), at Amwell in July, at Basking Ridge in Octo- ber. The State was the seat of war. In the beginning oif December, Washington and a large body of troops were at Trenton. Later in the month a brigade of three Hessian regiments, one of them Colonel Rahl's, was stationed here. The Colonel kept the town in commotion, even before he thought of being attacked. "The cannon,'' said one of his heutenants in his journal, "must be •drawn forth every day from their proper places, and paraded about the town seemingly only to make a stir and uproar. There was a church [the Episcopal] close by his quarters, surrounded by palings ; the officer on guard must march round and round it, with his men and musicians, looking like a Catholic procession, wanting only the cross, and the ■banners, and chaunting choristers. The hautboys — he could never have enough of them."* On the twenty-sixth was the famous battle. Rahl was carried mortally wounded to his quarters in Warren street^ — the residence of Stacy Potts." The journal of his Lieutenant, as translated in Mr. Irv- ing's work, says: "He died on the following evening, and lies buried in this place which he has rendered so famous, in the graveyard of the Presby- terian Church. Sleep well ! dear commander ! The Americans will hereafter set up a stone above thy grave with this inscription : "Hier liegt der Oberst Rahl, Mit ihm ist alles all!" "Here lies Colonel Rahl; all is over with him." The Americans have delayed the fulfillment of the prediction until it has become impossible to identify the "hier" for the epitaph. * Irving's Life of Washington, ch. xKii. i66 HISTORY OP THE The first mention of celebrating the anniversary of the battle of Trenton which I have found is in 1806, December 26, when the Trenton Light Infantry had a parade and a dinner, and in the evening the Rev. Mr. Stamford preached in the Baptist Church, from the text, "I was free-born." The observance afterwards degenerated intoi an annual sham-fight. Mr. Spencer was present at the election of Trustees of the congregation, September 2, 1777, "at the house of Mr. John Chambers." He attended the sessions of Synod and Presbytery in Philadelphia, May, 1776, and of Presbytery, at Amiwell, July 31, on which day he presided and preached at the ordination of Mr. Warford, and his installment over the coDigregation of Amiwell. In April, 1782, this minute is found: "The Presbytery thinks it proper here to note that the trouble occasioned by the war has been the general reason why the members of Presbytery have attended with so little punctuality for a number of years past — ^this State having been either the seat of war, or con- tiguous to it, since the year 1776." To the ravages of war is probably owing the order of the Trustees in August, 1 780, that "a subscription be opened in town and country for repairing the parsonage house, which at present is in a ruinous condition." A committee of 1792, to search for missing records, reported "that none were to be found, and that there is much reason to believe that those minutes were lost during the late Revolution among the papers of Dr. Spencer and Mr. Halsey." And in their reply, through the Rev. Mr. Armstrong, to the requisition of the General Assembly for historical materials, the Presbytery of April, 1793^ report: "They labor under peculiar difficulties, in this respect, from the extent of the ravages of the enemy in the State of New Jersey during the late war. The minutes of the Presbytery have been lost with the papers of the late Dr. Spencer, down to a late date." As early as 1779, Mr. Spencer himself. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 167 "As Standing Clerk, is requested to collect all the papers belonging to this Presbytery, from the several members or others in whose hands they may have been heretofore deposited; to be complied with by our next Presbytery." Nine years after Spencer's death, "Mr. WoodhuU informed the Presbytery that the old minutes, [prior to 1771,] so long searched for in vain, were known to be in the posses- sion of Mr. Warford, of the Presbytery of Albany, and it was ordered that Mr. Woodhull take suitable measures to procure them," (Sep- tember 18, 1793). As a further illustration of the hazards of ecclesiastical records of the times, and a probable explanation of the fate of many documents of the Trenton congregation, I produce the substance of an affidavit presented to the New Jersey Legislature, in February, 1777, by S'amuel Tucker, who was both a Trustee and Clerk of the Board. As Treasurer of the State he had a large amount of the paper currency, and other valuable public property in his custody. Hearing that the British army, under Howe, was likely to pass through Trenton, he removed his effects to the house of John Abbott, five miles off. Howe arrived in Trenton December 8, 1776, and next day Lieutenant-Col- onel Abercrombie sent Lieutenant Hackshaw with a detach- mient to Abbott's under the guidance of one Mary P'ointing, where they captured Tucker's property and carried it to New Brunswick. On the 14th of December, Tucker, on his way to Trenton, was met near Crosswicks by a party of horsemen, who took him prisoner, and detained him until a protection was obtained from the Hessian Colonel Rahl. He lost all the papers, public and private, which were thus removed. This statement of Tucker's was the cause of a controversy between him and Governor Livingston (who wrote under the signature of "Scipio") in the New Jersey Gazette of 1784. I suppose they were our pastor and trustee whose names occur in the diary of John Adams, September 19, 1777, i68 HISTORY OF THE when Congress were withdrawing from Philadelphia on the approach of the enemy. He says : "We rode to Tren- ton, where we dined. Drank tea at Mr. Spencer's ; lodged at Mr. S. Tucker's, at his kind invitation." The journal of the next day may have its local interest for some of my readers : "20th. Breakfasted at Mrs. J. B. Smith's. The old gentleman, his son Thomas, the loan officer, were here, and Mrs. Smith's little son and two daughters. An elegant breakfast we had, of fine Hyson, loaf-sugar, and coffee, etc. Dined at Williams's the sign of the Green Tree; drank tea with Mr. Thomson [Charles Thomson?] and his lady at Mrs. Jackson's; walked with Mr. Duane to General Dickinson's house, and took a look at his farm and gardens, and his green-house, which is a scene of desolation; the floor of the green-house is dug up by the Hessians in search for money. Slept again at Tucker's.'' Mr. Adams's first sight of Trenton was in August, 1 774, when his diary records: "Rode to Trenton [from Princeton, where he heard Dr. Wither- spoon preach] to breakfast. At Williams's, the tavern at Trenton ferry, we saw four very large black walnut trees, standing in a row behind the house.' The town of Trenton is a pretty village. It appears to be the largest town we have seen in the Jerseys. We then crossed the ferry over the Delaware river to the province of Pennsylvania.'" In the Presbytery of August, 1776, a singular complaint was presented against Mr. Spencer, arising out of his visit to North Carolina. Mr. John Debow, who had just been called to Eno and Hawfields, submitted a letter from the Presbytery of Orange, in North Carolina, complaining that Mr. Spencer had baptized a child of the Rev. Mr. Lisle, a minister from Scotland, who, without joining the Pres- bytery, was preaching in some of their vacant congrega- tions and gathering a new parish out of them. The minutes proceed to narrate that: "After diligent inquiry of Mr. Debow, concerning what he knew of the life and conversation of Mr. L,isle, and having received all the light he was able to give them, the Presbytery judge that Mr. Lisle FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 169 hath a right to Church privileges, and that Mr. Spencer, in baptizing his child, has done no more than what the laws of charity and church- fellowship required of him, and that the complaint against him is without foundation.'' The States were divided into three military departments. The middle department comprised New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the lower counties on the Delaware (now the State of Delaware), and Maryland. In October, 1776, William Shippen, Jr., was directed to provide and superin- tend an hospital for the army in New Jersey, and on Octo^ ber, 20, 1777, "Congress proceeded to the election of a chaplain for the hospital in- the middle department, and the ballots being taken, the Rev. Elihu Spencer was elected." In May, 1780, Mr. Spencer was afflicted by the death of his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Lowrey, in her twenty-fifth year. She was buried from her father's house. She was one of the ladies of Trenton who sympathized in the measures which originated in Pennsylvania for the relief of the suffering troops by raising contributions to add to their slender wages. Active measures were taken here on the fourth of July of that year, to effect this object. A genr eral committee was then appointed, composed of Mrs. Coxe, Mrs. Dickinson, Mrs. Furmian, and Miss Cadwalader, and another committee for each county. That for Hunter- don consisted of "Mrs. Vice-President Stevens, Mrs. Judge Smith, Mrs. Charles Coxe, Mrs. R. Stevens, Mrs. Hanna, Mrs. T. Lowrey, Mrs. J. Sexton, Mrs. B. Vancleve, Mrs. Colonel Berry, Mrs. Doctor Burnet." Mrs. Moore Furman was Treasurer, and Miss Mary Dagworthy, Secre- tary. A letter is preserved in Washington's correspond- ence, from Miss Dagworthy, dated at Trentoii; 'July 17, 1780, which transmitted to the Chief the sum of $15,488 — allowing for the depreciated currency, actually about $390.* * Sparks's Writings of Washington, vol. vii. 90- CHAPTER XIV. C1.0SS OF Dr. S'Pi;ncer's Ministry — His Death. 1780 — 1784. Throughout the years of Mr. Spencer's ministry in Trenton he W3,s a prominent member of the different church-courts, and often served as Moderator, Clerk, Treasurer, and Committee man. When the Synod (1769) regarded the College of New Jersey so much of a church institution as to divide themselves into committees for col- lecting donations fromi all parts of their territory, Mr. Spencer and Mr. McDowell, had Chester and parts of Lancaster county, in Pennsylvania, assigned to them. In 1770 and the five consecutive years Spencer was a delegate from the Synod to the Congregational and Presbyterian Convention, which met alternately in Connecticut and New Jersey. He was frequently called to take part in collect- ing and disbursing the Students' Fund, and Widows' Fund, and was an official visitor of Mr. Brainerd's Indian School. In the absence of the Moderator he opened the Synod of 1782 with a sermon. His name then appears for the first time with the title of Doctor of Divinity, which degree was given him by the University of Pennsylvania, in March, 1782, at the same time with the Rev. William White, who was afterwards so distinguished as a Bishop of the Protes- tant Episcopal Church.^ In 1782 Dr. Spencer was associated with Dr. Wither- spoon and Joseph Montgomery, in a committee "to prepare an address to the Minister of France, congratulating him on the birth of a Dauphin, son and heir to the crown of his royal Master; expressing the pleasure the Synod feel on (171) 172 HISTORY OF THE this happy event. "^ The last office assigned to him by the Synod was in 1784, the year of his death, when he was made one of the committee of conference and correspondence with the Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church. There being extant no record of the proceedings of the Session during Dr. Spencer's ministry, nor any registry of the communicants of that period, it is not in my power to furnish such statistics as might show the progress of the three churches in those relations. The minutes of the Trus- tees have been preserved, but are meager in their details. The following persons were memibers of the Board during Dr. Spencer's incumbency : Charles Clark, Obadiah Howell, Alexander Chambers, Daniel Clark, Abraham Hunt, Joseph Tindal, Joseph Reed, Jr., Nathaniel Furman.* Samuel Tucker, Moore Furman. These Trustees served for the country and town congre- gations, but not for Maidenhead. Their meetings were held in town, and either at the church or parsonag-e. Mr. Cham- bers was uniformly chosen Treasurer, Mr. Tucker, Clerk, and Mr. S'pencer, President, until May, 1783, when he ceased to be a Trustee, and Mr. Chambers was both President and Treasurer. The proceedings were not of much greater im;portance than to build "a shed between the parsonage- house and the stable, out of the six pounds rent put at in- terest ;" "to repair the roof of the stable," "tO' rent out and agree for the several pews that at this time are vacant, and get the two long seats made into- four small pews, and rent them out also;" to order "that all the pews shall pay the annual assessment as they may be stated — not under forty shillings per annum the smallest." The heirs of Daniel Howell and Joseph Green claimed a right to the pews "built by their ancestors, without being FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 173 liable to pay the annual assessment;" on this question the yeas and nays were called at two diflferent meeting's, and both times the claim was refused by the casting vote of the President. The salary accounts of the two churches were separate: "Ordered, that the Treasurer do pay the Rev. Mr. Spencer fifty-five shillings towards the deficiency of his salary for last year for Trenton, and fifteen shillings towards the salary for the last year for the old meeting- house." There were "collectors" for each house. On the sixth of June, 1781, it was resolved, "To petition the Legislature to confirm by law the charter granted by Governor Belcher; a memorial was accordingly drawn and signed by the President and all the Trustees. The President being desired, readily agreed to wait on the Legislature, and took with him the original charter to lay before them." On the twenty-fifth March, 1782, "The President informed the Board that agreeably to the order of this Board, of the sixth of June, 1781, he waited on the Legislature, and took with him the original charter, which he has since returned to the Clerk, which was laid before the Board this day, and that the Legislature told him they did not think proper to take the same into their consideration at present." I do not find any note of this application in the Journals of either branch of the Legislature. On the seventh June, 1 781, an act incorporating the Second Presbyterian Church of Newark, which had passed the Assembly, was brought into the Council, and after a second reading, was postponed until the next sitting; immediately after which it was "Or- dered that Mr. Frelingfhuysen and Mr. Caldwell be a com- mittee to prepare and bring in a bill upon a general plan for incorporating religious societies." On the next day, a petition from the Baptist Church of Pittsgrove, Salem county, was read, "praying a law to incorporate them as well as all other rehgious societies," which was referred to 174 HISTORY OF THE yesterday's cominiittee. The general law was not passed until March i6, 1786, when it was adopted under the title of "an act to incorporate certain persons as trustees in every religious society or congregation in this State, for transact- ing the temporal concerns thereof." As the Treasurer was directed in 1771 to fund and loan any sums that might come into his hands, it looks as if there were occasionally some receipts beyond the pew-rents, of which there was certainly no surplus for investment. Sev- eral small legacies were realized besides those already men- tioned. By the will of Jethro Yard, proved February 16, 1 761, seven pounds were left "to the Presbyterian Congre- gation of Trenton, to be paid to the overseers of the poor of said town." In 1780, John Howell, one of the executors of his brother Daniel, gave notice that the testator had given twenty pounds for the use of the congregation.* Dr. Spencer's name is usually found in connection with such patriotic demonstrations of his times as were consistent with his profession. When the surrender of Cornwallis was celebrated in Trenton, October 27, 1781, the Governor, Council, Assembly, and citizens, went in procession to the Presbyterian Church, where Dr. Spencer delivered a dis- course. On the fifteenth April, 1783, similar ceremonies were observed upon the conclusion of peace with Great Britain. The Governor, Vice-President of the State, Mem- bers of the Legislature, Judges, and other public officers met at Williams's hotel ; the trustees, teachers, and students of the Academy joined them there, and proceeded to the Court-house, where the Governor's proclamation of the cessation of hostilities was read. At noon divine service was attended, when a discourse was delivered by Dr. Spen- cer. Public dinners followed at Witt's, Williams's and Cape's hotels. A few days afterwards, when the Governor (Livingston) was about tO' leave the capital for his resi- dence at Elizabethtown, Dr. Spencer's name was at the head FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 175 of a committee of citizens who presented him a valedictory address.^ Dr. Spencer preached at the opening of Presbytery at Freehold, October 21, 1783. He was present in that court for the last time, in Pennington, June 15, 1784, when he was appointed to preach at the ordination and installment of Mr. William Boyd, at Bedminster, on the nineteenth October. This proved to be within a few weeks of his de- cease, but his failure to take the part assigned to him was not owing to his final illness, for that was an inflammatory fever of a few days' continuance. He died December 27, 1784, in the full support of the Christian hope. His re- miains lie on the western side of the church yard under a tomb inscribed as follows : "Beneath this stone Hes the body of the Rev. Elihu SpencEr, D.D., Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, and one of the Trus- tees of the College of New Jersey, who departed this life on the twenty-seventh of December, 1784, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. "Possessed of fine genius, of great vivacity, of eminent and active piety, his merits as a minister and as a man stand above the reach of flattery. "Having long edified the Church by his talents and example, and finished his course with joy, he fell asleep full of faith, and waiting for the hope of all saints. "Mrs. Joanna Spencer, ■"Relict of the above, died November ist, 1791, aged sixty-three years. "From her many virtues she lived beloved and died lamented. The cheerful patience with which she bore a painful and tedious disease threw a lustre on the last scenes of her life, and evinces that with true piety death loses its terrors.'' The late Dr. Miller declares that the eulogy of Spencer's epitaph is not exaggerated : "His piety was ardent, his manners polished, attractive, and full of engaging vivacity; his public spirit and activity in doing good inde- fatigable, and his character as a preacher singularly prompt, popular, and impressive. To all this may be added that in the various relations of life he was peculiarly amiable, exemplary, and beloved." 176 HISTORY OF THE The venerable father who wrote these sentences was con- nected by marriage with Dr. Spencer's family; for the widow of Dr. Miller is the granddaughter of Dr. Spencer, by the marriage of the Hon- Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant to Margaret Spencer. The late Hon. John Sergeant, the Hon. Thomas Sergeant, and the late Elihu Spencer Ser- geant, Esq., of Philadelphia, were children of the same marriage. Dr. Spencer's ancestors came from England to Massachusetts early in the seventeenth century. Of the five brothers who established the family there, one was a forefather of the late Chief Justice Ambrose Spencer, of New York; from another brother was descended, in the seventh generation, the late Rev. Ichabod Smith Spencer, D.D., of Brooklyn; and General Joseph Spencer, whose name often occurs in the Revolutionary history, was an elder brother of our pastor. Dr. Spencer bequeathed to his five surviving daughters,, and the children of a deceased one, three thousand acres of land in Saltash, Vermont,^ and to his son, John Eaton, one thousand acres in Woodstock, Vermont. There still remains in the possession of his descendants a lot of ground in the city of Trenton, which has in the lapse of time be- come more valuable than all the Vermont acres. NOTES. I. Governor William Livingston resided three years in Trenton, and was, undoubtedly, a regular attendant on Dr. Spencer's ministry. His previous life had brought him into prominence as an ecclesiastical con- trovertist. His ancestors were of the Dutch Church in New York, but the Governor had early united with the party which, for the sake of having English preaching, had merged into the Presbyterians. The dispute, which arose in 1751, between the adherents of the Church of England and the other churches in reference, at first, to the claims of the former to have the College (then King's now Columbia,) which- was founded in that year, under their control, was warmly espoused by Mr. Livingston in defense of those who were threatened with exclu- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 177 sion. He wrote largely and vehemently for his side in "The Inde- pendent Reflector'' and "The Watch-tower." He entered into the sub- sequent controversy on the attempt to establish the English episcopacy in America, and in 1768 published a letter to the Bishop of Llandaff, which was reprinted in London. His opposition, it should be noted, was not to the liberty of any church, but to the proposal to establish a particular denomination in the Colonies, as in England, Mr. Liv- ingston must have departed from his habits in those days, if he were not punctual in his pew at Trenton; for, according to his biographer: "Actively engaged during the week, in discharging the duties of a laborious profession, [the law,] or in an angry warfare in defense of his civil and religious rights, three times on every Sabbath, surrounded by his numerous family, he went up to that church, [Wall Street,] formerly contemned and oppressed, but for which his exertions had procured respect ; of which he was one of the brightest ornaments and chief supports."* In his first address to the Legislature, as Governor, (September 13, 1776,) Mr. Livingston had used the expression, "setting our faces like a Aint against that dissoluteness of manners and political corruption which will ever be the reproach of any people." From this phrase and the religious tone of the whole passage, the Governor was for some time nicknamed "Doctor Flint." This gave rise to an amusing con- tretemps at a dinner-table in New York, when Fisher Ames, addressing Livingston, said unconsciously : "Doctor Flint, is the town of Trenton well or ill-disposed to the new Constitution ?"t II. In December, 1783, died David Cowell, M,.D., who has been men- tioned in a previous chapter as a student in Princeton College at the time of the death of his uncle, the pastor, who bequeathed him an annuity of twenty pounds for three years. Upon his graduation, in 1763, he studied medicine in Philadelphia, took his degree and came to Trenton, where he practiced until his death. For two years he was senior physician and surgeon in military hospitals. Dr. Cowell undertook to draft an outline of his will while suffering under an attack of quinsy, and within a few hours of its fatal termination. Unable to articulate, he hastened to make a rough outline of his inten- tions, which he doubtless hoped to have had put into form by another hand; but he was compelled, by the force of the disease, to have the paper copied in the incomplete terms in which he had drawn it. It began: "I, Doctor David Cowell, being of sound judgment, but not able to talk much." One of the first items was, "my negro man, Adam, * Sedgwick's Memoir of Livingston, chap. iv. t Sedgwick, chap. vii. 12 PRES 178 HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. and the whole affair to the Presbyterian Congregation." In equally- brief and informal phrases stood a hundred pounds to "the Grammar School in Trenton"— the same amount to the College of New Jersey, and "to the Congress of the United States of America, one hundred pounds, if they settle themselves at Lamberton." He appointed Major William Trent one of his executors, and made John Trent, probably a son of the Major, his residuary legatee. As he drew towards the close of his painful task he throws in a hurried remark: "Had not I been on many public matters, it's likely I should had a more particular will before this time." By the time the copy was ready for his signa- ture, he must have felt unable to write, for it was subscribed by his ■'mark.'' But having the pen in hand, he seems to have made a last effort, and having made the customary cross between his Christian and surname, scribbled the incoherent or illegible sentence: "But I believe I am not quite so clear to me as my own D. C. our connection is now dissolved." Ebenezer Cowell, Jr., entered a caveat against the probate of the will, but after taking evidence, the Surrogate admitted it. The documents of the Trustees do not discover whether the legacy of the negro became available. "The whole affair" appended to it was probably a law-point ; for in the New Jersey Gazette of 1780, there are inserted, first, an advertisement by Dr. Cowell, of a negro man to be sold, or exchanged for a boy; and immediately under it, another, cau- tioning all persons against making any such purchase or exchange, as the man was entitled to his freedom, and ending with an expression of his hope for "That freedom, justice, and protection which I am entitled to by the laws of the State, although I am a negro. "Adam." These missives are followed by the Doctor, with a denial of Adam's averment; and this by a rejoinder in Adam's name, which in turn is answered by Cowell, who alleges that the negro is acting under the instigation of two very respectable citizens, whom he names. The New Jersey Gazette of the week announces Dr. Cowell's death as having taken place early in the morning of December 18, 1783, and his burial on the following day, in the Presbyterian church-yard, at- tended by the "Trustees, tutors, and students of the Academy in pro- cession, and a verj' large concourse of respectable inhabitants." An ad- dress was made at the grave by the Rev. Dr. Spencer. After men- tioning the legacy to the Government, the Gazette adds: "The above is the first legacy we recollect to have been given to the United States, and is respectable for a person of moderate fortune." In the same paper Dr. John Cowell advertises that he has been prevailed upon by the friends of his deceased brother to establish himself in Trenton as a physician. But he had a short time, as his gravestone marks his death "January 30, 1789, in the thirtieth year of his age.'" CHAPTER XV. The Rev. James Francis Armstrong — ^PrEvious History and Settlement. 1750—1790- Dr. Spencer's successor in the Trenton churches was the Rev. James Francis Armistrong, and the history of his pastorate will be introduced by a sketch of his previous life. Mr. Armstrong was bom in West Nottinghami, Mary- land, April 3, 1750. His father, Francis Armstrong, was an elder oi the church in that place. Part of his education was received at Pequea, but his chief training was at the celebrated school founded by the Rev. Samuel Blair, at Fagg's Manor, or New Londonderry, Chester county, Penn- sylvania, where President Davies, Dr. Rodgers, and Dr. Finley had preceded him> as pupils. When Mr. Armstrong was in the school it was under the Rev. John Blair, a younger brother of its foimder, afterwards chosen as Vice- President and Professor of Theology in Princeton College. In the autumn of 1771, Armstrong entered the junior class at Princeton, and had the advantage of residing in the family of President Witherspooni. Several of his class- mates are now known from the public stations they were called to fill; such as Governor Henry Lee, of Virginia, Governor Morgan Lewis, of Newi York, Governor Aaron Ogden, oif New Jersey, President Dunlap, of Jefferson College, President Macknight, of Dickinson, President John Blair Smith, of Hampden Sidney and Union, and President William Grahami of Liberty Hall (Washington College), Virginia. Aaron Burr, the unworthy son of the Princeton (179) i8o HISTORY OF THE President, was one of his contemporaries in college. Mr. Armstrong himself had the ministry in view when he en- tered college, and accordingly, upon his graduation in the autumn of 1773, he commenced a theological course under Dr. Witherspoon. On the sixth June, 1776, he was recog- nized by the Presbytery of New Brunswick as a candidate for the ministry. It was not easy at that period of Ameri- can history for Presbyteries to assemble in full number, and the only members present at this meeting!, which was held in Princeton, were PTesident Witherspoon, Rev. William Tennent, Rev. Elihu Spencer, and Mr. Baldwin, an elder of the Princeton Church. The subject assigned for Mr. Armstrong's exegesis was, "De veritate Christiancs relig- ionis," and I Timothy 1:15 the text for a sermon. On the first of the following August, at Amwell, those exercises were heard and sustained. His trials were continued at Basking Ridge in October, when he passed the examination on scholarship and theology, and was directed to prepare a sermon on Romans 12:2, to be delivered at the next meet- ing, which was appointed toi be held in Shrewsbury, in December.^ But great events happened between the June and the December of 1776. According toi the minutes, the "appointment could not be fulfilled, as the enemy were on their march through this State." Another minute of the same session (April 23, 1777) postpones the prosecution of a plan for the education of poor and pious youth, on account of "the great difficulties of the times, arising from the ravages oi the British army within our bounds." In consequence of this confusion, the regularity of Mr. Arm- strong's progress as a candidate was interrupted, and acting upon the best advice, he was transferred to another Presby- tery, in the manner stated as follows : "The Presbytery [of New Brunswick] is informed by one of the members present, that in November last, about the time that the British army made an irruption into New Jersey, Dr. Witherspoon FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. i8i gave Mr. Armstrong a letter of introduction to the Presbytery of Newcastle, informing them of the progress he had made in his trials, and of the difficulties in the way of the Presbytery's meeting to receive his popular sermon in December last, according to appointment; in consequence of which letter the Presbytery of Newcastle admitted him to finish his trials before them, and licensed him to preach as a candidate for the Gospel ministry." He received his license as a probationer in January, 1777.2 Even before that date (which was the month of the battle of Princeton) the war had approached so near the region of his residence, that Mr. Armstrong thought it to be his duty to unite with its armed defenders, and took a musket in a company of volunteers commanded by Peter Gordon, Esq., afterwards an elder with him in the session of the Trenton Church.^ This was, probably, only for an emergency; but he felt that his patriotic ardor cotald be indulged in a better consistency with his duties as a Christian minister, by serv- ing as a chaplain in the American army. With that view the Newcastle Presbytery admitted him to ordination in January, 1778. When this was reported toi the Synod in May, the higher court hesitated about approving an ordina- tion which appeared to be sine titulo, that is, before his be- ing called to some particular charge. The misapprehension arose from the absence of the official records; upon the production oi which, in May, 1779 (when Mr. Armstrong took his seat), the Synod made this minute: "By the report now made by the Newcastle Presbytery, it appears that there was a mistake in the report of last year respecting Mr. Armstrong's ordination; that he was not ordained sine titulo, but in consequence of his having accepted a chaplaincy in the army.'" The Newcastle records, as furnished me by their obliging clerk, the Rev. Mr. Dubois, are as follows: "December 2, 1777, Mr. James Armstrong, a probationer of this Presbytery, being chosen chaplain for General Sullivan's brigade or i82 HISTORY OF THE division, applied for ordination to the work of the Gospel ministry, having produced a certificate of his moral conduct from General Sulli- van. The Presbytery, after examining Mr. Armstrong at some length upon experimental and systematic divinity, were satisfied with his answers, and having had a good report of his labors, appointed Mr. Armstrong to deliver a discourse at our next meeting, with a view to his ordination." The ordination took place at Pequea, the place of his early education, January 14, 1778, and the official record of it gives these particulars: "Mr. Armstrong having accepted the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, as received in our Church, as the confession of his faith, and the Directory for Discipline, Worship, and Govern- ment as the plan for substance constituted by Christ; and given satis- factory answers respecting his views in entering upon the Gospel ministry, and to other questions, the Presbytery conclude that we have clearness to set him apart to the work of the ministry. And, accord- ingly, after a sermon preached, suitable to the occasion, by the Rev. Mr. Robert Smith, he was solemnly set apart to the Gospel ministry, with fasting, prayer, and imposition of hands. The charge was given by the Rev. Mr. Foster, and Mr. Armstrong now becomes a member of Presbytery, and having received the right-hand of fellowship, takes his seat." In consequence of the unsettled life into which he was thrown by the duties of the chaplaincy, and by other inci- dents of the state of the country, it was not in Mr. Arm- strong-'s power to maintain the punctual correspondence with his Presbytery, required of all its members. In 1784 offi- cial inquiry was made of him on this account, and his rea- sons were received as satisfactory. He retained his connec- tion with the Newcastle Presbytery until his dismission to that of New Brunswick, April 26, 1786. The minute of his appointment appears in the Journal oif Congress, of July 17, 1778: "In consequence of a recommendation, resolved, that the Rev. James Francis Armstrong be appointed chaplain of the Second Brigade of Maryland forces."" FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 183 Before receiving his commission he had accompanied the troops on the Southern campaign, and probably remained in the service until the decisive victory of Yorktown, Octo- ber, 1 78 1. During this period Mr. Armstrong communi- cated to the New Jersey delegates in Congress his observa- tions of current events, and from a few of those addressed to the Hon. Wm. Churchill Houston, I introduce some passages, showing at once a glowing and intelligent interest in the cause of his country, and a strong abhorrence of the evils of the most justifiable war.® "Wilcock's Iron Works, Deep River, North Carolina, July 8, 1780. We have marched five hundred miles from Philadelphia, ignorant as the Hottentot of the situation or numbers of the enemy. Though it was long knov^fn that we were marching to the assistance of the South, not the least provision was made to hasten or encourage our march. Wagons to transport the baggage, and provisions to subsist the troops, have both been wanting. We have for some time depended upon the precarious and cruel practice of impressing horses from post to post. We have also been driven to the disagreeable alternative of permitting the men to murmur and languish for the want of meat, or seizing cattle on the march; not knowing whose property they were unless the owners came to camp to complain of the injury. Horrid wart Heaven's greatest curse to mankind ! We are told things will grow better, the further we proceed south; but the hope must be pre- cariously founded which depends upon the complaisance of Gen. Lord Cornwallis. I would not write such plain truths, did you not know that I am not given to despondency; and I have the same providence to call forth my hopes, which exerted itself so miraculously when Howe was in New Jersey." "River Peedee, Masque's Perry, August 3, 1780. What the troops, officers, as well as privates have suffered is beyond description. The corporal of Gen. Gist's guard has returned for the second time to-day from the commissary's without being able to draw any provisions, and declares to me that for seven days they have only drawn two days' beef, but not a particle of meal or flour. The eye of the most rigid justice must wink at plunder in such circumstances; and such is the scarcity which reigns upon the Peedee, that provisions cannot be ob- tained even by unjustifiable methods. Apples have been the only support of the troops for several days at a time. Indeed I thought it impossible for human nature to have subsisted so long as I have known it to do upon green fruit. Fortunately green corn has sue- i84 HISTORY OF THE ceeded apples, but, without some less precarious and more substantial supplies, the effect must be dreadful. The hopes of final success never forsake me for a moment, but everything discouraging dwells around our little army. We have not much, I believe, to fear from the enemy, but troops must be more or less than men who can long endure what we now suffer." He wrote as follows of the panic then prevailingf in the Southern States, and the injury done to the American cause by the conduct of the militia : "The march of Howe through Jersey spread not half the terror which has been inspired by our defeats at the South. Those who escaped spread universal terror. All was conquered, ruined,, undone! Even the dominion of Virginia must fall ! And, by the by, had Clinton entered it with his army, they must have made a temporary submission, at least until our army could have marched to their assistance. We scarcely meet a man who has not taken the oath of allegiance to his majesty of Britain, or given his parole that he would be neuter, and give himself up a prisoner when called upon. The common people of the Carolinas are not to blame. Looking upon every tiling as lost, what could they do? The appearance of an army with lenity would, in a short time, have called all such to the American standard, were they not prevented by the militia, who take them prisoners, use them unmercifully, plunder and destroy their effects, and leave their helpless women and children in the utmost distress; so that many of them have left their families and carried off their negroes and cattle, some to the enemy and some to escape the route of our army. We have passed whole neighborhoods deserted by the inhabitants, and the few who remain trembling alive from the horrid accounts which have been spread of our army as a number of banditti, plundering all before them, and hanging forty or fifty at a time of those who had taken the oath to the King: though false, very laughable." A letter dated at Hillsboroiigh, the headquarters of the array, October i6, 1780, is resumed after a few lines, on the thirty-first of the same month. The explanation of the interval fixes the beginning of the disorder which afflicted Mr. Armstrong during the remainder of his life: "The blank between the dates has been filled up with the most violent pains through my bones. To what species they belong, I can find no one wise enough to inform me. They have at times been so FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. i8s violent, that insensibility by the use of opium has been my only resource for rest. They seem to be pretty well removed, but an attempt to ride on horseback has once or twice brought them back again, which makes me unwilling to renew the experiment until their light flying parties completely take themselves off." "I am highly delighted," he remarks to his correspondent, "with your sentiments on universal liberty. They have long been mine. I was instructed in them' before I could reason." The last letter of the campaign which is extant, is dated at Charlotte, December 8, 1780, when Gen. Greene had just taken the chief command. In it he says: "There is not a single department of our army which has, for some time past, maintained the least regularity, unless we are permitted to call it regular confusion. Think then what must be the situation of our present Commander-in-Chief, with few regulars, and those in such circumstances as often to stagger my faith whether desertion be a crime, especially in a person of no more refined sentiments than a soldier of the common level, and with militia whose conduct has been one cause of our common disasters. The want of provision, which lays the foundation for the distressing necessity of permitting the troops often to cater for themselves, has prostrated every idea of discipline, and given the reins to the most licentious conduct. An unremitting supply of food alone can restrain, and in time correct our dangerous manners. General Greene has already taken measures ■which promise everything. The heads of the Roanoke, Dan, Catawba, and the Rocky river, which have hitherto been considered as useless in the creation, are to transport our provisions from Virginia." "I have made an observation since I came South which I did not advert to before. The inhabitants of a State necessary for its defense in time of war, or even on a sudden invasion, must treble or quadruple the number immediately necessary for the fiield. With- out establishing this proportion, when those necessary to cultivate the land, the timorous, the disaffected, and delinquents of all orders, ■whom it is out of the power of government to bring to the field, are laid aside, no country can defend itself. This appears to me to be the condition of Virginia and North Carolina, unless the blacks are called in to their assistance. I really pity the gentlemen of Virginia, of enlarged and liberal minds. They are as good theoretic politicians as any on the continent; but when they meet in Assembly and make the best laws in the world for the defense of a State, there are not white subjects sufficient in the State for the laws to operate upon."' i86 HISTORY OF THE We find Mr. Armstrong returned to New Jersey in 1782, as in the June of that year he began to supply the church of Elizabethtown, made vacant by the assassination of the Rev. James Caldwell. In the month of August he was married, by Dr. Witherspoon, to Susannah Livingston, a daughter of Robert James Livingston, whose widow, Mrs. Armstrong's mother, was residing at Princeton for the education of her sons, three of Whomi, William Smith, Peter R., and Maturin, graduated at that college. Mr. Arm- strong's service at Elizabethtown was terminated in 1783, by an illness which required him to suspend his labors. Upon Dr. Spencer's death in Trenton, in December, 1784, Mr. Armstrong preached his funeral sermon, and afterwards frequently supplied the vacant pulpit. At a meeting of the Trustees, October 17, 1785, they "agreed to present a call to the Presbytery at Pennington, to-morrow for the Rev. Mr. Armstrong to settle in this congregation, and appointed Mr. Benjamin Smith [one of the elders] to present the call to the Presbytery." It is probable that there had been a previous election by the congre- gation, at which the Trustees were empowered to take the regular steps for effecting the call. The minutes of the meeting at Pennington were never recorded. When the Presbytery met in Trenton,* April 25, 1786, Mr. Armstrong being present as a corresponding member, it is recorded : "On the call offered to the Rev. Mr. Armstrong at the last meeting of Presbytery, Mr. A. informed the Presbytery that several steps have been taken towards obtaining his dismission from the Presbytery of Newcastle, and preparing the way for his settlement in the congre- gation of Trenton; and that he hoped soon to give his final answer." On the day he made this statement the Newcastle Pres- b)d:ery complied with his request, and on the seventeenth October, his name appears among the members of the New Brunswick Presbytery, without any preceding record of his formal reception. The question of the call being up : FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 187 "Mr. Armstrong being not yet prepared to accept this call from the congregation of Trenton, requested longer time to consider the matter, which was granted." The impediment seems to have been indefiniteness as to the salary. Mr. Armstrong was, however, considered so far committed to the congregation that as early as Feb- ruary 14, 1786, his name appears in their minutes as present as "the minister," who, according to the charter, was united with "the elders and deacons" in the election of Trustees.^ It was not until April 26, 1787, that, "The congregation of Trenton having informed Presbytery of the sum annexed to their call, presented to Mr. Armstrong some time ago, and having given written obligation for his support, Mr. Armstrong accepted of their call." There is no record of the installation. From the earliest date of his residence here, the church was open for the commemoration of the national anni- versary, and other acknowledgments of the divine provi- dence in public affairs. In the Gazette of July, 1786, it is published that on the fourth instant the inhabitants at eleven o'clock attended the Presbyterian Church, where they heard "an animated address by the Rev. Mr. Arm- strong; after which they met at the house of Mr. Drake, partook of a cold collation, and retired to their several em- ployments." In August, 1786, a subscription of one hundred pounds was directed to be undertaken for the repairing of the par- sonage for the new pastor.^" Two thirds of the sum were assessed on the town church, and the other third on the country church, and in this proportion the two divisions of the congregation were to receive the Sabbath services of their minister. The salary was two hundred pounds, pay- able in the same ratio. In April, 1 787, "the old house con- gregation" informed the Board of Trustees that they could i88 HISTORY OF THE not raise their third of the salary for only a third of the pastor's time; whereupon the town congregation offered to pay one hundred and fifty pounds salary, and have the ex- clusive services of the minister. In the following October a motion was made in the Board, "By Mr. William Burroughs, Mr. John Howell, and Mr. Ebenezer Rose, for a separation; and that we join with the country part to give up the present charter, and endeavor to get each a separate charter, and divide the property belonging to the present congregation; which was postponed for further consideration." When the Board met, March 12, 1788, "The gentlemen of the country part of the congregation agree to give their answer on Wednesday next, the nineteenth instant, what they can and will do with the town part." On that day, it being reported to the Board that "fifty pounds can not be raised in the country part of the congre- gation belonging tO' the Old House," a new modification was suggested, namely, that "the congregation of Trenton" should pay the pastor one hundred dollars yearly for one- half of his time, and consent "that he may dispose of the other half between Maidenhead and the Old House, as he and they may agree." By an Act of March 16, 1786, the Legislature of New Jersey changed the law of corporations (which had hitherto required a special application for each new charter) so that any Christian society, numbering at least thirty families, upon the election of trustees, and their qualification by oath, and the filing of a certificate to that effect with the County Clerk, should, by that process, be admitted to be fully in- corporated. The town part of the Trenton congregation soon took advantage of this provision to obtain a charter to supersede that of George II. ; and for which they had ineffectually applied to the Legislature of 1781, through Dr. Spencer. The congregation met May 4, 1788; "having FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 189 previously agreed to admit and receive the inhabitants of Lamberton, and those between that and Trenton, who may at any time join said congregation, as entitled to all the rights and privileges of their Act of Incorporation;" and elected as their Trustees, Alexander Chambers, Samuel Tucker, Abraham Hunt, Moore Furman, Isaac Smith, Ber- nard Hanlon, and Hugh Runyon. The corporate title as- sumed was, "The Trustees of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton." The device adopted for the seal (1790) was an open Bible with a burning lamp suspended over it, and the motto, "Light to my path." Around the edge is, "Pres- byterian Church of Trenton." In September, 1788, "The Board of Trustees from the country" met with the town Board, for the purpose of an equitable division of the bonds and other securities of the old corporation ; and in April, 1790, the town church bought the third of the parsonage of their late co-partners for one hundred pounds. ^^ On the twenty-third April, 1790, the congregation were called together in reference tO' a proposal from the Maiden- head church ; the result of which is seen in the proceedings of the Presbytery of the twenty-eighth April : "A call from the congregation of Maidenhead, in due form, signed by their Trustees, stipulating the payment of one hundred pounds in gold or silver, in half-yearly payments, for half of the ministerial labors of the Rev. James P. Armstrong, accompanied with a certifi- cate from the congregation of Trenton, of their willingness that he should accept of it, was laid before Presbytery, and the Presbytery having presented the said call to Mr. Armstrong, he declared his acceptance thereof." This arrangement continued until 1806; the pastor resid- ing in Trenton and giving his attendance on the Lord's day alternately at the two churches. In assenting to the plan, the Trenton people stipulated for "the privilege of present- ing a call at some future time to Mr. Armstrong for the 190 HISTORY OF THE whole of his labor, if Providence should continue him in this part of his vineyard." NOTE. In August, 1785, the Trenton Gazette announced the death of "Ebenezer Ekskine. nephew to the late Robert Erskine." He died "at the seat of Robert Lettis Hooper, near Trenton, and was interred in the Presbyterian ground." In his will, made in his last illness, he describes himself as "late of the city of Glasgow, in Scotland." "Being weak in his hand, he had not strength to write his Christian name," but after a legacy to a poor boy at the Iron Works in New- foundland, Morris county, he bequeathed his property to his sister, Nancy Erskine, of Edinburgh. Mr. Hooper and Samuel W. Stockton were his executors. The will of the uncle, Robert Erskine, is somewhat of an autobiog- raphy. It was made in New York, Ringwood, and Philadelphia in 1776-9, and proved at Gloucester, N. J., November 21, 1780. It begins : "I, Robert Erskine, son of the Rev. Ralph Erskine, author of the Gospel Sonnets, etc., by the providence of God at present in America for the purpose of directing, conducting, and taking charge of several Iron Works, and other lands and property belonging to gentlemen in England, who style themselves the Proprietors of the New York and New Jersey Iron Works." It further transpires through his will, that the testator, having sunk his patrimony in his London trade, became a surveyor and engineer, and was the author of several inventions, especially of a centrifugal engine, of the success of which he was so sanguine as to leave detailed directions how his widow should share the profits with his old creditors. Mr. Hooper was connected with these Iron Works. Advertisements in 1782-3, signed by him, in be- half of "the American Ringwood Company," in Bergen county, refer to Ebenezer Erskine as on the premises at Ringwood, and to Robert Erskine as "the late agent for said company."^'' In the Trenton Gazette of October 18, 1780, is this notice: "Died the second instant, at his house at Ringwood, Robert Erskine, F.R.S., and Geographer to the Army of the United States, in the forty-sixth year of his age." Some of the military maps in Mr. Irving's Life of Washington give credit for their origin to Mr. Erskine's manuscripts, which are now in the possession of the New York Historical Society. The memoir prefixed to the two great folios of the Glasgow edition (1764) of the Rev. Ralph Erskine's Works, opens thus: "The Rev. Mr. Henry Erskine, the author's father, was amongst the younger of the thirty-three children of Ralph Erskine, of Shielfield." The celebrated sonnetteer had three sons in the ministry : "his only son now FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 191 in life is Robert, a merchant in London," who died in New Jersey, as stated above. Lord Campbell (himself a son of the celebrated Pres- byterian divine. Dr. George Campbell, of Aberdeen), in his Life of Lord Chancellor Erskine, says : "The Earl's [Buchan, the Chancel- lor's father] great-grandfather had suffered in the Covenanting cause in the preceding century; and those pious men, Ralph and Ebenezer Erskine, who had recently seceded from the establishment, and whose sentiments have been adopted and acted upon by the Free Church of Scotland, were his 'far-away cousins.' " (Lives of the Lord Chancel- lors, chap, clxxvi.) CHAPTER XVI. The General Assembly — New Constitution OP THE Church — Notes. 1785—1790. Mr. Armstrong was active, both in Synod and Presby- tery, in the measures which resulted in the formation of the General Assembly. In the year 1785 the Synod of New York and Philadel- phia was the Supreme Judicatory or Court of our whole Church in the United States. It comprised fourteen Pres- byteries; namely, Suffolk, Dutchess, New York, New. Bruns- wick, First Philadelphia, Second Philadelphia, Newcastle, Donegal, Lewes or Leweston, Hanover, Abington, Orange, Redstone and South Carolina. Every minister and one ruling elder from each session were then, as now, entitled to seats in the S)niod ; but the list shows how distant were the extrem'es of its bounds, and the roll of that year's session in the central city of Philadephia shows how this distance prevented a full representation; for on the first day there were thirty ministers present and sixty-eight absent, not counting six entire Presbyteries without a single commis- sioner. There were only six elders ; and during the session no more than twelve of both orders dropped in. The over- ture was therefore timely which was then presented, pro- posing a division of the existing S^nod into several, and the formation of a new delegated body, as a General Synod, Council or Assembly, out of the whole. The subject being deferred until the session of 1786, a resolution was in that year passed in favor of the overture, and a committee ap- 13 PRES (193) 194 HISTORY OF THE pointed to report a plan of division. Their report recom- mended a new arrangement of the bounds of the Presby- teries and the formation oi four S^yiiods, to be subordinate to a General Assembly. The proposed alterations in the Presbyteries were adopted, and the remaining suggestions postponed for another year. At the same session a com- mittee was raised to digest a system of igovernment and discipline, which was to be printed and distributed among the Presbyteries for their opinion.^ This pamphlet was introduced into the New Brunswick Presbytery April 25, 1787, when it was referred for examination to Dr. Wither- spoon and Mr. Armstrong, tog'ether with James Ewing, Esq., an elder of the Trenton Church, and Mr. Longstreet, an elder of the Princeton Church, to report in the next month; but the elders not attending the committee, the clerical members did not offer any report. On the seven- teenth May, 1787, the committee of Synod reported the draught of the government and discipline, and it was daily discussed by paragraphs until the twenty-eighth, when a thousand copies of the work, as amended, were ordered to be distributed before final action. The same committee were directed to revise the Westminster "Directory for Public Worship," and add it to the printed volume to be submitted to the judgmtent of the churches.^ The last meeting held by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia Was opened in Philadelphia, May 21, 1788. Mr. Armstrong was clerk, and was one of a committee to select and publish the most important proceedings of the two closing sessions of the S3nQod, with certain statistics of the churches. Oti the twenty- third the draught of the new system came up for consideration, and on the twenty-sixth it was completed. On the twenty-eighth it was ratified and adopted as "the Constitution of the Presbjrterian Church in America." A correct copy was ordered to be printed, together with the "Westminster Confession of Faith, as making a part of the Constitution." FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 19s The Synod proceeded to consider the draught of the "Directory for the Worship of God," contained, like the basis of the parts already adopted, in the standard books of the Church of Scotland, and after revision this was adopted. The Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms were then sanctioned as they stood, excepting a slight amendment of the former on a point referring to civil government, and were ordered to be inserted in the same volumie with the confession, form of govemm'ent, and dis- cipline — ^the whole to be considered "as the standard of our doctrine, governmient, discipline and worship." Dr. Duffield, Mr. Armstrong and Mr. A'shbel Green* were miade the committee to superintend the publication of the whole work. Mr. Armstrong was also associated at this time with Dr. Witherspoon, Dr. S. S. Smith and others on a delegation tO' the convention, with corresponding dele- gates from the S'ynods of the Associate Reformed and the Reformed Dutch Churches, whith had been already hold- ing several conferences with a view to some systematic intercourse of those three Presbyterian bodies. On the twenty-ninth day of May the Synod was dissolved. It had then one hundred and seventy-seven ministers, eleven probationers, and four hundred and nineteen congregations. Fifteen ministers and twenty-six congregations were in the Presbytery of New Brunswick. By the new arrangement the Presbyteries of Dutchess, Suffolk, New York and New Brunswick constituted the "Synod of New York and New Jersey." It held its first meeting in New York, October 29, 1788, when Mr. Arm- strong was one of the clerks. The Synod taking "into con- sideration the distressed state of the people of the Presby- terian denomination on the frontiers," resolved to send missionaries among themi tiie next summer, and appointed Dr. Macwhorter and Mr. Armstrong to spend three months in this service. For satisfactory reasons the first appoint- 196 HISTORY OF THE ment was not carried into effect, but for several sessions an annual delegation of missionaries was made. In 1794 the Synod resolved to establish "a standing and continued mission on the frontiers of New York," and Mr. Arm- strong, who was the Moderator of that year, was by the house placed upon a committee to initiate it.* The three other S^ynods into which the parent body was divided were named Philadelphia, Virginia and the Caro- linas. "The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America," which was the style given to the chief judicatory, was required to be composed of delegates from' each Presbytery, in proportion to their num- bers. The first Assembly met in the Second Church (Arch Street) of Philadelphia, on "the third Thursday of May" (twenty-first), 1789. The first ratio of represenitation in the General Assembly was one minister and one elder, where a Presbytery con- sisted of not more than six ministers; double the number where it consisted of more than six, but not more than twelve, and so on. New Brunswick, consisting of fifteen ministers, was entitled to three commissioners of each order, and their first representatives in the Assembly were Dr. Witherspoon, Dr. S. S. Smith, and Mr. Armstrong, with elders John Bayard of New Brunswick, John Carle of Baskingridge, and Nehemiah Dunham of Bethlehem. Mr. Armstrong's associations with the Presidents With- erspoon and S. Stanhope Smith were those of neighbors and strong personal friends. The names of the three constantly occur on the same committees of the ecclesiastical bodies of which they were fellow-members. The ancient custom of making a formal acknowledgment of the civil authority was continued, for some time after the Republic was founded; and in 1790 the three friends were part of a dele- gation of Presbytery to present a congratulatory address to Governor Paterson on his accession. In 1799 Smith, FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 197 Hunter and Ai-mstrong were appointed to report on a recommendation fromi the superior judicatories favoring the formation of societies to aid the civil magistrate in the suppression of vice. The next year a majority of the com- mittee reported adversely to the propoBition, on the ground that the civil and religious institutions of our republic being totally separate, the best way left for ecclesiastical bodies and men to aid the laws is fidelity in pastoral duties and in strengthening moral and religious principles by the exten- sion of religious kmowledge. Mr. Armstrong entered his dissent, not from the principles of the report, but because he regarded it as contravening the recommendations of Synod and Assembly. In the classical Academy which wais founded by the ^'Trenton School Company" in 1781, Mr. Artnistrong took an active interest. In 1786 he furnished the trustees with a. draught of laws for the government of the schools. In June, 1787, he was engaged, on a salary, to take the gen- eral superintendence of the Academy, giving direction to the studies and discipline, attending in person as occasion required, and employing a master. This plan was relin- quished in September, 1788, but resumed in March, 1789, and continued until his resignation in January, 1791. Upon his withdrawal the Trustees granted him the privilege of sending two of his children to the school ; and in the news- paper of January 6, 1797, is printed an oration delivered at a late public examination of the Academy by his son, "Robert Livingston Armstrong. NOTES. I. "The Trenton School Company" originated in a meeting of citizens, held February 10, 1781. The original capital was seven hundred and twenty dollars, divided into thirty-six shares. Part of the lot still occupied by the Academy in Hanover (then Fourth) street was pur- 198 HISTORY OF THE chased, and a stone building erected, one story of which was occupied in 1782.' The next year it was enlarged, and the endowment increased. In 178s it was incorporated, and in 1794 its funds were aided by a lottery. In 1800 the girls' school of the Academy was removed to the school-house belonging to the Presbyterian Church. The grammar- school attained a high reputation under a succession of able masters. The public quarterly examinations were usually closed with exercises in speaking in the church. The newspapers tell of the "crowded and polite audiences" which attended, usually including the Governor, Legislature, and distinguished strangers. Among the latter, in 1784, were the President of Congress, the Baron Steuben, and members of the Congress and Legislature. A full history of the Academy down to 1847 may be found in ten successive numbers of the State Gazette of April and May of that year. II. One of the most useful and worthy citizens of Trenton in this part of its annals was Isaac Collins, a member of the Society of Friends,, and an enterprising printer. He came from Burlington to Trenton in 1778, and resided here until his removal to New York in 1786. His wife, Rachel Budd, was great-granddaughter of Mahlon Stacy, the original proprietor of the land. Mr. CoUins was one of the active- founders of the Academy, and although nine of his children were pupils, he would not take advantage of his right as a stockholder to have them instructed without further charge. It is a remarkable fact in the history of his family of fourteen children, that after the death of one in infancy, there was no mortality for the space of fifty years. His eldest daughter (still surviving, 1859) was the wife of Stephen Grellet, whose singular career as a convert from the faith of Rome and the position of body-guard of Louis XVI., to a devoted Quaker minister and missionary, has been commemorated in a printed discourse by Dr. Van Rensselaer. The first newspaper in this State, "the New Jersey Gazette," was issued by Mr. Collins at Burlington, December 5, 1777. It was then transferred to Trenton, and published there from February 25, 1778, to November 27, 1786, (excepting a suspension of nearly five months in 1783,) when it was discontinued. Mr. Collins was the con- ductor as well as proprietor of the paper. Indeed the title of editor had not then superseded that of "the printer." CoUins's paper was established to counteract the anti-republican tendency of Rivington's "Royal Gazette" in New York. Governor Livingston was a correspondent of the Trenton Gazette as long as it remained in CoUins's hands." The publication of the entire Bible was, at that period, so adven- turous an undertaking for the American press that it was necessary FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 199 to secure extraordinary encouragement in advance; and the first edition of the Scriptures, that of John Aitkin, was recommended to the country by a resolution of Congress. This was on September 12, 1782, just five years after the report of a committee on a memorial had stated that to import types and print and bind thirty thousand copies would cost £10,272 10s., and therefore recommended the im- portation of twenty thousand Bibles, which was adopted. In 1788 Isaac Collins issued proposals to print a quarto edition of the Bible in nine hundred and eighty-four pages, at the price of "four Spanish dollars, one dollar to be paid at the time of subscribing." The Synod of New York and New Jersey (Nov. 3, 1788,) earnestly recom- mended the undertaking, and appointed Dr. Witherspoon, President S. S. Smith, and Mr. Armstrong, to concur with committees of any other denominations, or of our own Synods, to revise the sheets, and, if necessary, to assist in selecting a standard edition. This committee was authorized to agree with Mr. Collins to append Ostervald's Notes, if not inconsistent with the wishes of other than Calvinistic subscribers. In 1789 the General Assembly appointed a committee of sixteen (on which was Mr. Armstrong) to lay Mr. CoUins's proposals before their respective Presbyteries, and to recommend that subscriptions be solicited in each congregation, and report the number to the next Assembly. The recommendation was reiterated in 1790 and in 1791. Thus sustained, the quarto edition (five thousand copies) was pub- lished in 1791.' Ostervald's "Practical Observations," which added one hundred and seventy pages of matter, were furnished to special subscribers. Collins's Bible was so carefully revised that it is still a standard. Himself and his children read all the proofs; and it is stated in the Preface of a subsequent edition, after mentioning the names of several clergymen who assisted the publisher in 1791, "some of these persons, James F. Armstrong in particular, being near the press, assisted also in reading and correcting the proof-sheets." As an instance of the weight which the most incidental acts of the Assembly carried at that early period of its existence, I would allude to a letter to the Moderator of 1790 from the Rev. David Rice, often called the Presbyterian pioneer, or Apostle of Kentucky, in which he states that having received from Mr. Armstrong, as Clerk of the As- sembly, a notification of the action in reference to the Collins Bible, he had procured the calling of a special meeting of the Transylvania Presbytery, "that we might be in a capacity to obey the order of the General Assembly." "Such is our dispersed situation," that it was some weeks before the meeting could convene. "After two days' delib- eration on the subject," they found that a compliance was impracti- cable, and on Mr. Rice was devolved the office of explaining the' cause of the delinquency. One of the difficulties was that of sending a mes- senger to Philadelphia in time for the Assembly, to carry the advanced 2O0 HISTORY OF THE subscription money; "the want of horses sufficient for so long a jour- ney, or of other necessaries, laid an effectual bar in our way."* There was a paper-mill in Trenton before the time of the publica- tion of Collins's Bible. In December, 1788, it was advertised by its proprietors, Stacy Potts and John Reynolds, as "now nearly com- pleted." The manufacturers issued earnest appeals for rags; in one of their publications, presenting "to the consideration of those mothers who have children going to school, the present great scarcity of that useful article, without which their going to school would avail them but little." In January, 1789, "the Federal Post, or the Trenton Weekly Mercury," printed by Quequelle and Wilson, was obliged to have its size reduced "on account of the scarcity of demy printing-paper." ' Green and Hazard MSS. CHAPTER XVII. Public Occasions in Trenton — Notes. 1789 — 1806. The twenty-first of April, 1789, was a memorable day in the history of Trenton. On his journey from Moirnt Vernon to New York, for the purpose of being inaugurated as the first President of the United States, General Wash- ington rode through the town, and was received at the Assanpink bridge in the manner which has become too familiar to require repetition here.* In the procession of matrons who met the President, wias the wife of Mr. Arm- strong; and one of "the white-robed choir" who sang the ode was their daughter, afterwards the wife of Chief Jus- tice Ewing. Washington's note acknowledging the compli- ment was first delivered to Mr. Armstrong, and read to a company of ladies at the house of Judge Smith. The auto- graph is now in possession of the family, who also preserve the relics of the arch or arbor under which the illustrious traveler was received. ■^ It was formerly required that the names of all persons duly proposed as candidates for Congress should be adver- tised by the authority of the Governor. In the list of 1792 is the name of Mr. Armstrong, but from what nomination or whether with his consent, I have no information. On the seventeenth June, 1795, Mr. Armstrong preached in Basking Ridge, at the ordination of Robert Finley and Holloway W. Hunt, when the former was installed minister of that congregation.^ In August of that year we find Mr. * Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. v., ch. 3. Sparks's Writings of Washing- ton, vol. xii., p. 150. Irving's Washington, vol. iv., ch. 37. (201) 202 HISTORY OF THE Armstrong taking a prominent part in a public meeting in- reference to an expression of popular opinion on the recent treaty between the United States and Great Britain. There were, indeed, few objects of public interest, whether political or philanthropical, with which his name was not found con- nected.* It even stands on the roll of the "Union Fire Com- pany" (instituted February 8, 1747), which included the most respectable citizens among its working members. The few minutes that are extant (1785-94) show that the clergyman's membership was more than nominal.* When the "Trenton Library Company" was founded, in May, 1797, Mr. Armstrong was immediately among its- supporters and directors. The same interest was evinced by him in the "Christian Circulating Library," established by the excellent Daniel Fenton, in 181 1. The third General Assembly (1791) began to take meas- ures, through the Presbyteries, for collecting materials for a history of our Church in North America. The New Brunswick Presbytery directed each of its pastors to furnish the history of his own parish, and assigned that of the vacant congregations to committees. Mr. Armstrong was appointed the collector for Amwell. In 1792 Dr. Witherspoon and three others were ap- pointed to write the history of the Presbytery; in April, 1793 (before the discovery of the old minutes), Mr. Arm- strong reported that, "either through inattention in the first ministers and congregations, or the loss of records during the war, no documents are to be found from which to fur- nish materials respecting the first formation of congrega- tions, or the early settlement of ministers." The order, however, was renewed, and the historical committee con- tinued. In 1 801 — ■ "The Presbyteries of New Brunswick and Ohio reported that, agree- ably to order, they had drawn up histories of their respective Pres- byteries, which were produced and laid on the table.'" FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 205 On the eleventh of May, 1794, Mr. Armstrong preached at the first opening of the new church at Flemington. In 1797 he was on the Assembly's delegation to the General Association of Connecticut, which met at Windham, and again in 1806 to the same body at Wethersfield. The enthusiasm of the Revolutionary soldier and chaplain was never wanting on the public occasions which appealed to it. The New Jersey branch of the Society of the Cin- cinnati, of which Mr. Armstrong was a member (and for a time Secretary), usually made it a part of their celebration of the Fourth of July to hear the Declaration read at his Church, in connection with devotional services. On the anniversary of 1794, according to the Gazette of the week, that Society proceeded to the Church, "where an elegant and well-adapted discourse was delivered by the- Rev. James F. Armstrong, in which the citizen, the soldier, and his brethren of the Cincinnati were addressed in a strain truly animated and pathetic, as the friends of freedom, of government, and of neutrality."' A fast-day was observed, by appointment of President Adams, in May, 1798, on account of the warlike aspect of our relations with the French Republic. The Trenton pastor appears to have aroused his audience on the occasion to a mode of response not common in our churches. Ac- cording to the newspaper report, the sermon, "while it deprecated the miseries of war, yet unequivocally showed that our existence and prosperity as a nation depended, under God, on the union of our citizens, and their full confidence in the measures adopted by our government ; to which all the congregation, rising with him, said. Amen!" A few months later there was a still more vociferous demonstration in the same place. I take the account of it from "The Federalist and New Jersey Gazette" of July 9, 1798: 204 HISTORY OF THE "We should do injustice to the Rev. Mr. Armstrong, orator of the day, [Fourth of July] were we to pass in silence the universal appro- bation with which was received his animated, patriotic, and elegant address, delivered before the Order of Cincinnati, and the most crowded audience we ever remember to have seen on any former occasion in this place. One circumstance demands our peculiar atten- tion: the orator, in closing his address, observed in substance, that as in defense of the American Revolution they had pledged their honors, their lives and fortunes, to defend the American cause, it might be expected that the Government would again solicit their aid to preserve and defend her from tributary vassalage ; and then called on his brethren of the Society again to join him in pledging their sacred honors, lives and fortunes to defend the government and laws of their country. With animated firmness and glow of patriotism the orator then pronounced, 7 resolve to live and die free;' to which the whole Society, as with one voice, made the response; and three animated cheers heightened the scene of sublimity and grandeur, far better to "be conceived than expressed." It appears from another column that the Cincinnati re- peated the emphatic sentence after the orator, and that ^'the whole military and audience" joined in the cheers, and afterwards in singing the chorus "Hiail Columbia."'^ TwO' days after this celebration Mr. Armstrong, with Generals Dayton, Bloomfield, Beatty, and Giles, as a com- mittee of the Cincinnati, presented to President Adams, in Philadelphia, an address appropriate to the politics of the day.® In 1799 and several subsequent years Mr. Armstrong's health was so much impaired that he was obliged to ask for supplies for his twO' pulpits. There were intervals in which he was able to officiate, but during the remainder of his life be suffered severely from the rheumatic disorder contracted during his service in the camp, and he was frequently de- prived of the free use of his limbs. Among those often ap- pointed in these emergencies were President Smith, Dr. John Woodhull, Geo. Spafford Woodhull, Robert Finley, Andrew Hunter, David Comfort, Samuel Snowden, Matthewi L. Per- rine, Joseph Rue, John Hanna. In a written exhortation FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 205 sent to the people during one of these illnesses, Mr. Arm- strong, after enumerating some of the reasons for their gratitude, said : "Added to this, if variety of faithful preaching is to be esteemed an advantage, you have enjoyed it in a signal degree. Though I am bold to say that no congregations were less neglected in the stated administrations of the Gospel ordinances while I was well, so also during the many years of sickness and inability to preach, you have enjoyed the abundant labors of love and of friendship of my brethren in the ministry, with all that variety of faithful preaching with which the best-informed mind or the most curious ear could wish to be indulged. Paul has planted — Apollos watered." The newspaper of Monday, Diecember 30, 1 799, preserves another instance of a communication made by Mr. Arm- strong to the people on one of the Sabbaths in which he must have peculiarly lamented his inability to be in the pulpit : "The Rev. Mr. Hunter, who officiated yesterday for Mr. Armstrong, after reading the President's proclamation respecting the general mourning for the death of General Washington, gave the intimation, in substance as follows, by the particular request of Mr. Armstrong:" " 'Your pastor desires me to say on the present mournful occasion, that while one sentiment — to mourn the death and honor the memory of General Washington — penetrates every breast, the proclamation which you have just heard read, he doubts not, will be duly attended to; yet believing, as he does, that he but anticipates the wishes of those for whom the intimation is given, Mr. Armstrong requests the female part of his audience in the city of Trenton and Maidenhead, as a testimony of respect for, and condolence with Mrs. Washington, to wear for three months, during their attendance on divine service, such badges of mourning as their discretion may direct.' "" Mr. Armstrong's ill health now often interrupted his habitual punctuality at the church courts ; but he continued to take an active part in their work whenever present. He was one of a committee that endeavored in vain from 1803 to 1812, to obtain a charter of incorporation for the Pres- bytery — a measure that was desirable in consequence of twa 2o6 HISTORY OF THE legacies (Miller's and Patterson's) that had been left to the Education Fund." In 1805 he was appointed to receive from the Assembly's Committee of Missions the Presby- tery's share of certain books and tracts for distribution on the seaboard of the State, and in the counties of Sussex, Morris, and Hunterdon. In June, 1804, he preached at the installation of the Rev. Henry KoUock in Princeton, and in 1810 presided at the ordination and installation of the Rev. William C. Schenck in the same church. He sat as a Com- missioner in miost of the General Assemblies from the first in 1789 to that of 1815. In 1804 he was elected to the chair of Moderator, and, according to rule, opened the sessions of the following year with a sermon. The text was John 14: 16. 'He also' preached the sermon at the opening of the Assembly of 1806, in consequence of the absence of Dr. Richards, the last Moderator. Oti that occasion his text was John 3 : 16, 17. Mr. Armstrong was elected a Trustee of the College of New Jersey in 1799, and Dr. Miller observed at his funeral that, "few of the members of that Board, as long as he en- j.oyed a tolerable share of health, were more punctual in their attendance on its meetings, or more ardent in their zeal for the interests of the institution." NOTES. I. A public commemoration of the death of Washington was observed in Trenton on the fourteenth January, 1800. By invitation of the Governor and Mayor, with the Rev. Messrs. Hunter, Waddell, and Armstrong, on behalf of the citizens, President Smith delivered the oration, and it was published. The late Dr. Johnston, of Newburgh, who was then in college, relates in his Autobiography (edited by Dr. Carnahan, 1856) that a large number of students walked from Prince- ton to hear the oration. A procession was formed opposite the Epis- copal Church, from which a bier was carried, preceded by the clergy, and all passed to the State House, where the ceremonies were per- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 207 "formed. At a certain stanza in one of the elegiac songs, ''eight beau- tiful girls, of about ten years of age, dressed in white robes and black sashes, with baskets on their arms filled with sprigs of cypress, rose from behind the speaker's seat," and strewed the cypress on the mock coffin. 11. Somie idea of the appearance and condition of Trenton at the date of this chapter may be formed from the observations of passing trav- elers. Brissot, the Girondist, who died by the guillotine in 1793, was here in 1788. "The taverns," he writes, "are much dearer on this road than in Massachusetts and Connecticut. I paid at Trenton for a dinner 2s. 6d. money of Pennsylvania. We passed the ferry from Trenton ^t seven in the morning. The Delaware, which separates Pennsylvania from New Jersey, is a superb river. The prospect from the middle •of the river is charming. On the right you see mills and manufac- tories; on the left two charming little towns which overlook the water. The borders of this river are still in their wild state. In the forests which cover them there are some enormous trees. There are likewise some houses, but they are not equal, in point of simple ele- _gance, to those of Massachusetts."* In 1794 an English tourist says of our town: "The houses join each other, and form regular streets, very much like some of the small towns in Devonshire. The town has a very good market, which is well supplied with butcher's meat, fish, and poultry. Many good ■shops are to be seen there, in general with seats on each side the entrance, and a step or two up into each house.'' The market prices •on the day of this visit were, beef 8rf., mutton 4d., veal 4d. "This was dearer than common on two accounts : the great quantity lately Tx>ught up for exportation upon taking off the embargo, and the As- sembly of the State being then sitting at Trenton. Land here sells, of the best kind, at about ten pounds [twenty-seven dollars] an -acre."t The Duke de la Rochefoucault, about the same time, makes this entry in his journal: "About a quarter of a mile beyond Trenton is "the passage over the Delaware by a ferry, which, though ten stage- 'Coaches daily pass in it, is such that it would be reckoned a very bad ferry in Europe. Ob the farther side of the river the retrospect to "Trenton is, in a considerable degree, pleasing. The ground between -that town and the Delaware is smooth, sloping, decorated with the flowers and verdure of a fine meadow. In the environs of the town, * Nouveau Voyage dans les Etats-unis, fait en 1788. J. P. Brissot de Warville. 1. 148. t Journal of an Excursion to the United States in the summer of 1794, by IHenry Wansey, F.A.S. A Wiltshire clothier. 2o8 HISTORY OF THE too, are a number of handsome villas which greatly enrich the land- scape."" The celebrated French naturalist, F. A. Michaux, son of A. Michaux, sent over by Louis XVI. for botanical research, passing in 1802, gives- us this paragraph : "Among the other small towns by the roadside,. Trenton seemed worthy of attention. Its situation upon the Delaware, the beautiful tract of country that surrounds it, must render it a most delightful place of abode.'"^ The situation of the town seems to have something that takes the French eye. In 1805 General Moreau established his residence on the opposite bank of the river, and Joseph Bonaparte was disap- pointed in the purchase of a site adjoining (now in) the town, before he settled a few miles below." It may have been the reputation of the river scenery that gave the hint to the wits of Salmagundi, in the journal of an imaginary traveler : "Trenton — built above the head of navigation, to encourage commerce — capital of the State — only wants a castle, a bay, a mountain, a sea, and a volcano, to bear a. strong resemblance to the bay of Naples."* An Englishman found nothing to remark of Trenton in 1805, than an exemplification of what he calls the American "predilection for wearing boots." "At Trenton I was entertained with the sight of a company of journeymen tailors, at the work-board, all booted as if ready for mounting a horse."t An Italian savant, crossing the State, takes time only to sayr "Although Trentown is not very large, nor very populous, it is to be regarded as the capital, where the Council and the Assembly con- vene."t III. In the Trenton newspaper of July, 1799, is an advertisement by Mr. Armstrong, relative to a suit in the English courts, the latest report of the progress of which is given as follows in the London papers, of May, 1856: Equity Court, London, May 7. Before Vice-Chancellor Kindersly. PARKINSON VS. REYNOLDS. "About the middle of last century there lived in the north of Ireland a family of the name of Rvitherford. Between the sons a quarrei arose, and the father, conceiving that the younger, Robert, was in. * Salmagundi, by Irving, Paulding, etc. 1807. t Travels in some parts of North America in 1804-6, by Robert SutclifE. t Viaggio negli Stati Uniti, 1785-7. Da Luigi Castiglioni, Milan, 1790. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 209 fault, chastised him. Robert Rutherford thereupon quitted his father's house, and shortly afterwards enlisted in Ligonier's troop of Black Horse. After a time he came to England, but he soon quitted the Kingdom and settled at the village of Trenton, in the United States, where he opened a tavern, which he called 'The Ligonier or Black Horse.' In the course of his migrations he had married, and the year 1770 found him settled at Trenton, at the 'Black Horse,' with a family consisting of one son and four daughters. About that period there one day drove up to the tavern, in a carriage and four, an English officer, by name Colonel Fortescue. Colonel Fortescue dined at the tavern, and after dinner had a conversation in private with one of Rutherford's daughters. Within two hours after this conversation Frances Mary Rutherford had, notwithstanding her sister's entreaties, quitted her father's house in company with Colonel Fortescue. With him she went to Paris, where after a few years he died, leaving her, it is supposed, a considerable sum of money. On his death she quitted Paris and came to England; and here she married a gentleman of considerable property, named Shard. In 1798 Mrs. Shard had a great desire to discover what had become of her father's family, whom she had quitted nearly thirty years previously, and through her confidential solicitor inquiries were made of Mr. Armstrong, the Presbyterian minister at Trenton. The inquiries were fruitless — her brother and all her sisters were dead; it appeared hopeless to expect to find a Rutherford, and the matter was dropped." Mr. Shard died in the year 1806, and in 1819 Mrs. Shard died a widow, childless and intestate. No next of kin appearing, the Crown took possession of the property. In 1823 an attempt was made to set up a document as the will of Mrs. Shard, but it was declared a forgery. In 1846 the present plaintiff made a claim to the property, setting up that claim through a Mrs. Davies, who was alleged to be first cousin of the deceased. It turned out that Mrs. Davies was not first cousin ; but further evidence having been procured, the claim was again made, through the same Mrs. Davies, who was now alleged to be a second cousin of the deceased. The Vice-Chancellor now delivered judgment, and came to the con- clusion that as between the Crown and the claimant the latter made out a case. It was sufficiently proved that Mrs. Davies was a second cousin of the deceased Mrs. Shard; but as it did not follow that there might not be a still nearer relative than the claimant in existence, and as the evidence on this latter point was not conclusive, the matter must go back to chambers for further inquiries." IV. Public morals were in such a low state in Trenton in 1804, that on the third of August a public meeting was held to consider measures for reform. Intemperance, obscenity, noisy assemblages on the Lord's 14 PRES 210 HISTORY OP THE day, brawling, fighting, and throwing stones in the streets were named among the signs of disorder. The causes assigned were the unlicensed selling of spirituous liquors, especially on Sunday, and "the relaxa- tion of discipline in family government." In August, 1806, Stacy Potts, the Mayor, publicly solicits Christians^ of all denominations, who as parents, guardians, masters or mistresses have charge of the young, to restrain them from vice and temptation. The same officer made a similar appeal to "the serious and prudent inhabitants of Trenton," in April, 1810, and trusts that the public authorities may be so assisted by the citizens "that religious people abroad may no longer be deterred from placing their children apprentices in this city, lest they become contaminated with the vicious habits which have too much prevailed among the rising generation in the city of Trenton." Half a century ago, as now, political animosity was ready to take any handle to create prejudice against an opponent. Thomas Paine was a strong partisan of Jefferson." Having rode up (Feb. 28, 1803) from his residence in Bordentown to Trenton, to take the stage for New York, the proprietors of both the stage offices, being Federalists, refused with strong oaths to give a seat to an infidel. When he set out in his own chaise, accompanied by Col. Kirkbride, a mob sur- rounded him with insulting music, and he had difficulty in getting out of town. The author of "Common-sense"' showed neither fear nor anger, and "calmly observed that such conduct had no tendency to hurt his feelings or injure his fame, but rather gratified the one and contributed to the other." Mr. Lyell, the geologist, gives a better account of the temper of Trenton politicians as he saw it in the processions of October, 1841. {Travels, 1841-2, vol. i, p. 82.) VI. The incidental reference to Mrs. Washington on p. 205, may recall a record in the Trenton newspaper of December 29, 1779 : "Yesterday Mrs. Washington passed through this town on her way from Vir- ginia to Head Quarters at Morris-Town ; when the Virginia troops present (induced through respect) formed and received her as she passed, in a becoming manner."" VII. I may add, as one of the illustrations of those times, a translation of a letter in French which I find in Mr. Armstrong's papers. The writer FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 211 was the widow of one of the several French-Canadian Roman Catholic families who found their way to Trenton as refugees from the bar- barities of the revolution in St. Domingo. On one of the tablets in the church vestibule which contain the names of persons whose graves are covered by the present edifice, is the line "Simeon Worlock, July, 1792, 39 yr." He is said to have resided in the Kingsbury mansion mentioned on p. 46. PhiI/Adelphia, November 3, 1792. "Sir: I leave to-morrow for St. Domingo without having the satis- faction of knowing that the marble which I caused to be made is placed on the grave of my husband. I have earnestly impressed on a mer- chant of this city named Wachsmath to spare no pains to have it fin- ished as soon as possible. I rely on his promise to give every atten- tion, but, sir, in addition to all the obligations I have already incurred, may I venture to beg you to assist me in a matter so essential to my repose, viz., when you have received the marble in which he is to be placed, to write to me to inform me. I shall not be at ease until I am sure that no strange dust shall mingle with that of the adored hus- band whom I shall lament all my life. Remember, sir, your promise that whilst you live these dear remains shall be respected. I trust and conjure you not to forget it, and to join your prayers with mine for the eternal happiness of my poor friend [mon malheureux ami] ! "Accept, sir, for Mrs. Armstrong, also the assurance of my remem- brance and my mother's: Miss Gobert, Mr. and Mrs. Sigoigne, Adele and Charles are well, and send their love to your dear children. "Farewell, sir, beheve the esteem and perfect consideration with which all my life I shall remain your very humble servant. "M. WOBIOCK. "My address is Mme. M|me. Worlock, Cape Francais." VIII. The Rev. William Frazer, rector of the St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, from 1788 to 1795, kept a boys' school in Trenton for a considerable time. To this school the sons of many prominent families of Burlington, Philadelphia, Slc, were sent. Rev. Mr. Frazer, and after him his widow, kept a diary of daily events, in which may be found mention of very many names, incidents and occurrences which illustrate vividly the social life of Trenton during that period. The Rev. William Frazer was rector or missionary of the Episcopal Church in Amwell, and on July 2, 1787, was engaged by the wardens and vestry of St. Michael's Church in Trenton "to preach at said church every other Sunday, and agreed to give him the rent of the pews in said church, to be collected and paid quarterly." On the fol- 212 HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. lowing 8th of December, 1788, Mr. Frazer accepted the position and was formally inducted, the connection of Mr. Armstrong with the Presbyterian ;Church beginning about the same time, and the two con- gregations, as well as their respective pastors and families, maintain- ing much of religious as well as social fellowship — greatly promoted by the fact that for many years both ministers were absent from Trenton at other settlements, on alternate Sabbaths, and the people were much in the habit of worshipping together. Entries in the diary like the following serve to show something of the intercourse: February 3, 1788. — Went to Trenton in two and a half hours. Day before attempted it, but found it too bad and turned back. February 23 and 24. — Mr. Armstrong here. (At Amwell.) December 8. — Mr. F. inducted into St. Michael's Church, Trenton. April 3, 1790. — Mr. Armstrong called here. September 16, 1792. — (In Mrs. F.'s hand, Mr. F. being absent.) Went to Mr. Armstrong's church. September 17. — Drank tea at Mr. Armstrong's in company with Mrs. Barton and several other ladies. September 28. — Went to Presbyterian meeting. December 13. — Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong, Woodruff, Lowrey, DeCou, Rogers, Reed, drank tea. December 30. — Heard Mr. Armstrong preach a Thanksgiving sermon. March 20, 1794. — (Mr. F.) Attended the Presbyterian meeting in the morning and preached in the church in the afternoon to a crowded audience. January i, 1795. — Went to the Presbyterian meeting. January 11. — Went to Mr. Armstrong's meeting in afternoon. I have a sermon of Rev. Mr. Frazer's on Affliction, Job 5:6, 7, with the following note by his widow : "The last sermon my dearest and ever beloved Mr. Frazer preached in his church in Trenton in the forenoon of the 28th of June, Samuel Stockton, Esq., being buried in the afternoon and a sermon preached on the solemn occasion by the Rev. Mr. Armstrong. "This sermon was the first object that presented itself to my view as it lay on my dear husband's desk in his study, the first time I entered that room after his death ; and which I could not help thinking was put there for my comfort, as it afforded me great consolation, as it appeared to me that although he was taken from me, he yet spoke comfort to my afflicted heart. R. F." The sermon was preached in St. Michael's Episcopal Church on June 28, 1795. — See S. D. Alexander's "Princeton in the Eighteenth Century," p. 270. CHAPTER XVIII. The New Brick Church — Notes. 1804 — 1806. The Trenton congregation, which had so long felt obliged to associate itself with one or other of its neighbors for the support of a pastor, at length found itself able to assume an independent position. Accordin,g to the under- standing which was had with the Maidenhead Church, when Mr. Armstrong divided his care between it and Trenton, he became the exclusive pastor of the latter in October, 1806. About the same timte that congregation accomplished the erection of a new house of worship. The stone building then in use was nearly eighty years old. The want of a better edifice had long been felt. In 1769 there was a subscriptioon for repairs^ It was probably with a view to rebuilding or enlargement that the Trustees, in 1773, proposed to the vestry of the Episcopal Church a joint application to the Legislature for a lottery. The vestry appointed a committee of conference on the lottery, "and to be managers thereof,"* but the project seems to have dropped until 1791 (Nov. 18-23) when "an act to empower the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church, and the ministers, wardens and vestry of the Episcopal Church in Trenton to have a lottery for the purpose therein noticed," after passing the Council and being ordered to a third reading in the House, was lost. Another experi- ment in this line was attempted in December, 1793, when the Trustees appointed a committee to unite with the Epis- * Minutes of Vestry of St. Michael's, February 28, 1773- (213) 214 HISTORY OF THE copalians in a lottery for the benefit of the twoi congrega- tions; but nothing further is said on the subject. However unequivocal the immorality of such an expedient may seem to us, the lottery has been a frequent resource of churches, as well as other institutions, even less than sixty years ago. At the same meeting in which the last lottery suggestion was made, Maskell Ewing and Alexander Chambers were appointed "to take about a subscription paper for the pur- pose of raising money to build a new Presb3rterian Church in Trenton." In 1796 the price of building materials was so high that the design was abandoned. It was not until May, 1804, that the successful measures w'ere taken. The building was now represented to be "in so ruinous a state that it can not long continue to accommodate those who worship there, in a comfortable manner." The subscription was headed by four names giving two hundred dollars each. By the twenty-fourth August nearly four thousand dollars had been subscribed, and it was determined to build in the ensuing spring. Moore Furmian and Aaron D. Woodruff were appointed to obtain a plan; Benj. Smith, John Chambers and Peter Gordon were the Building Com- mittee or "Managers." It was determined that the size should be forty-eight by sixty feet, in the clear ; with a pro- jection or tower in front of four by ten, with a cupola. The four largest contributors were Abraham Hunt, Benj. Smith, Alex. Chambers and Moore Furman. The corner-stone was laid April 15, 1805; the old house having been first taken down. The newspaper of the time has this report: "On the fifteenth instant were laid the corner-stones of the founda- tion of a new Presbyterian Church in this city. The Elders, Trustees,, and Managers of the building, with a respectable number of the citi- zens attending, an appropriate prayer was made by the Rev. Mr. Arm- strong, minister of the congregation. The scene was solemn, impres- sive, and affecting. A plate of copper, inscribed April, 1805, with the- minister's name, was laid between two large stones at the foundation: FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 215 of the southeast corner. The foundation, though much more extensive, is laid nearly on the site of the old church, which stood about eighty years."^ While the building was in progress, Mr. Armstrong preached on every alternate Sabbath in the Episcopal Church, the rector of which (Dr. Waddell) had a second charge at Bristol, as Mr. Armstrong had at Maidenhead. The new church was opened for its sacred uses August 17, 1806. The pastor conducted the services in the morn- ing, and President S. SI Smith in the afternoon.^ The pastor preached from' part of Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple: i Kings 8:22, 23, 27-30. At the next public service in which he officiated, he preached on the conduct becoming worshippers in the house of God, from Hebrews 10:25 and Job 13:11. This subject was pursued in a third discourse on public Avorship as a duty to God, to society, to ourselves. For the services of the dedi- cation, Mr. Armstrong prepared a prayer; and in the be- lief that on its own account, as well as for its historical associations, it will be read with interest and benefit by the people who worship in a house, which, though not the same as the one then dedicated, was included in the refer- ences of its supplications, I here insert it : PRAYER. "Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. There is no God like thee in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keepest covenant with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart. Thou art our God, and we would praise thee ; our father's God, and we would exalt thee. "Thou art the God who hearest prayer. Where shall we go but to thee, who art the way, the truth, and the life? "We adore thee for all the mercies and benefits which thou hast conferred on us through our lives. But especially we adore thee for the everlasting Gospel, and those gracious privileges to which we are called in thy Church on earth, and in thy Church in heaven. We adore thee that thy Church is founded on the rock Christ Jesus, and that the gates of hell shall never be able to prevail against it. We 2i6 HISTORY OP THE adore thee for the promise of thy presence to thy Church and people, that where two or three are met together in thy name, thou wilt be with them to bless them. We adore thee, O Lord, that when the place where our fathers had long worshipped was decaying with age, and the congregation of thy people needed room and accommodation in thy house, thou didst put it into our hearts to build a house for thy worship and service, and where thy people may meet and enjoy thy presence. We adore thee that thou hast permitted us to meet to set it apart, and dedicate it to the Lord our God by preaching, prayer, and praise. "And now, O Lord, our God, we thus offer this house to thee; that thy people may here meet for purposes of reading, preaching, and hear- ing thy word; of prayer and praise; of fasting and thanksgiving; of the administration of baptism and the Lord's supper, agreeably to the word of God and the constitution of our Church. "And now, O Lord, make this house continue to be the habitation of the God of Jacob forever ; a place where prayer shall be ever made to thee, and where Gospel worship shall be fixed and stated as long as it shall last for this purpose ; and that there never may fail a people and a congregation to worship thee in this place throughout all genera- tions. "We pray that thou wilt be pleased to give success to the labors of the ministers of the Gospel in this place ; accompanying , the means of grace with divine power and energy, making the administration of the Gospel effectual to convince and convert, establish and sanctify thy people. "And now, O Lord, our God, make it good for us that we have built a house for thy worship. But as the most sumptuous works of our hands can not communicate any holiness to the worshipper, make it good for us to draw near to God in the assembling of ourselves to- gether at all commanded, fixed, and proper times in this place. Enable us, thy people of this congregation, and all who may worship with us in this place, collectively and individually, to dedicate ourselves unto the Lord; to present our souls, and our bodies, and our spirits unto the Lord as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, which is our reason- able service ; to concentrate our time, our talents, our privileges, and opportunities, with all we have and are, to thy service; that each of us, and each of our families, with all who are near and dear to us, may prepare an habitation in our hearts and souls for God, and that our bodies may be the temples of the Holy Ghost. "And we do most earnestly pray that all our offenses may be blotted out; that we may be washed in the blood of Christ; that the vows and offerings, the prayers and the praises which we and our posterity offer up now, and in all future time, may be accepted through the merits and intercession of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and made effectual for our and their salvation. ■ FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 217 "Let thy grace and thy Spirit, O Lord our God, be with us to direct, assist, and strengthen us in all the prayers and supplications that we now and in future may offer in this place. Be graciously pleased to vouchsafe us thy presence herein continually. Hearken, O Lord, to the prayers and supplications of me thy servant, and of these thy people, in all times and in all circumstances, and in all places where we may pray in, or as towards this place; and when thou hearest answer us in mercy. "If we sin — for no man liveth and sinneth not — and turn and repent, hear and forgive our sins, O Lord ! "If the love of thy people wax cold; if our grace languish, faint, and be ready to expire, give renewed faith, grace, and love. "Hear us, O Lord, if we pray to be delivered from drought, famine, war, pestilence, disease, or death. "Hear us, O Lord, if we pray to be delivered from blasting, mildew, and whatsoever might threaten to prevent or destroy the harvest. "Hear us, O Lord, when we pray for all schools, colleges, and semi- naries of learning; "For our nation and country; "For all who bear rule and authority over us ; "For peace and prosperity; "For all missionaries and missionary labors throughout the world; that the Jews may be gathered, and the fullness of the Gentiles may come in; that the land of Ethiopia and the heathen may be given for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession to Christ Jesus. "Hear, O Lord, and hasten the time when all the families of the earth shall be blessed in Christ our Lord, and when his knowledge and his righteousness shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. "Ntiw, therefore, arise, O Lord God, into Thy resting place. Thou and the ark of Thy strength. Let Thy priests, O Lord, be clothed with righteousness, the ministers of Thy religion with salvation. Let Thy saints shout for joy, and Thy people rejoice in goodness. "Blessed be the Lord God— Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. As He was with our fathers, so let Him be with us. Let Him not leave us nor forsake us; and incline our hearts to do all things according to His holy will. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; peace be within these walls, prosperity within this place. For my brethren and companions' sakes I will now say, peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good. "The Lord bless thee and keep thee! "The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. "The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. "And in testimony of the sincerity of our desires, and in humble hope of being heard, let all the people say, Ambn.'' 2i8 HISTORY OF THE A sketch of the new Church was made from memory, by the late Dr. F. A. Ewing, who wrote of it : "Elevation seemed to be the great object to be attained, and so the walls were carried up to a height which would now be thought exces- sive. Its galleries were supported on lofty columns, and in conse- quence its pulpit was so high as sometimes to threaten dizziness to the preacher's head. Above the gallery the vaulted ceiling afforded almost roomi enough for another church. It had its tower, its belfry and bell, still sweet and melodious,' its spire, which, had it been pro- portioned in height to the tower supporting it, would have ascended needle-like almost to the clouds. With all its architectural defects, however, it was a fine old building, well adapted to the purposes of speaking and hearing; filled an important office, both to the congre- gation and on public occasions ; stood for years the chief landmark to miles of surrounding country, and at last resisted sternly the efforts of its destroyers. Its site, on the southwest corner of the grave- yard, is well defined by the old graves and tombs which clustered close to its northern and eastern sides, and is the only part of the ground divided into burial lots.'' Alas! before this manuscript could be brought toi the use for which it was prepared, the body of its accomplished writer was occupying a grave in the very part of the church- yard described in its closing sentence.* The building was of brick, and cost ten thousand eight hundred and twenty dollars. It had seventy-two pews on the floor, divided by two aisles, and thirty-six in the gallery. Forty-six were put at the annual rent of twelve dollars; eighteen larger ones at fourteen dollars. The gallery pews were free, and one side was reserved for colored persons.^ NOTES. Maskeli. Ewing, named in this chapter, belonged to what is now the widespread family of Ewing in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland. Thomas Maskell, of England, married Bythia Parsons in Connecticut, in 1658. Thomas Stathem; of England, married Ruth FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 219 Udell, in New England, in 1671. Maskell's son married Stathem's daughter. Their daughter was married in 1720 to Thomas Ewing, who had recently come to Greenwich, West Jersey, . from Ireland. Their eldest son was M^askell (1721), who was at different times. Justice of the Peace, Clerk and Surrogate of Cumberland county. Sheriff, and Judge of the Pleas, and died in 1796. One of his ten children was the Maskell Ewing, of Trenton. He was born January 30, 1758; in his youth he assisted his father in the clerkship in Green- wich, and before he was twenty-one was elected Clerk of the State Assembly. This brought him' to Trenton, and he filled the oflRce for twenty years. He was for a time Recorder of the city, and also read law in the office of William C. Houston. In 1803 he removed to 220 HISTORY OF THE Philadelphia, and in 1805 to a farm in Delaware county, Pennsylvania. He represented that county in the State Senate for six years. He died •on a visit to Greenwich, August 26, 1825. His son Maskell was born in 1806, was a lieutenant in the army, and has died within a few years. Among the branches of the Ewing stock was the family of the liev. John Ewing, D.D., Provost of the University of Pennsylvania (1779-1803), and pastor of the First Church of Philadelphia. On our session records of September 17, 1808, are the names of "Mar- garet and Amelia, daughters of the late Rev. Dr. Ewing," as then admitted to their first communion, and May 6, 1808, "Mrs. Dr. Ewing"' to the same. II. Not long after the establishment of the congregation in their new "house, two of the oldest Trustees, both corporators of 1788, were removed by death, namely, Mookb Furman and Isaac Smith. A notice of Mr. Smith has already been given. Mr. Furman was one of the successful merchants of Trenton. In the Revolution he served as a Deputy Quartermaster-General. He was the first Mayor of Trenton, by appointment of the Legislature, upon its incorporation, in 1792. Mr. Furman was elected a Trustee June 12, 1760, and Treasurer in 1762. Soon after that year he removed to Pittstown, and afterwards to Philadelphia. He returned to Trenton, and was re-elected to the Board in 1783, and continued in it until his death, March 16, 1808, in liis eightieth year. His grave-stone is in the porch of the present <;hurch.° Though so long connected with the temporal affairs of the congre- gation, Mr. Furman was not a communicant until November i, 1806. He made a written request of Mr. Armstrong that in case he should be called to officiate at his funeral he would speak from the words: "Into thine hand I commit my spirit : thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." (Psalm 31.) This request was faithfully followed in the body of the discourse, to which the Pastor added as follows : "This congregation well know his long and faithful services as a zealous supporter and Trustee of the concerns and interests of this Church. In the revolution he was known as a faithful friend of his country, and was intrusted by government and the Commander-in- Chief of our revolutionary army — whose friendship was honor indeed — in offices and in departments the most profitable and the most im- portant. When bending beneath the load of years and infirmities, Tiow did it gladden his soul and appear to renew his life, to see this edifice rising from the ruins of the old one and consecrated to the service of his God! And did you not see him, shortly after its con- •secration, as a disciple of his Redeemer recognizing his baptismal FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 221 vows, and in that most solemn transaction of our holy religion, stretch- ing his trembling hands to receive the symbols of the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour, and in that act express the sentiment of the words selected by himself for the use of this mournful occasion: 'Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.'" III. One of the Trustees elected to supply the vacancies made by the death of Moore Furman and Isaac Smith was Peter Hunt, whose wife was a daughter of Mr. Furman. Mr. Hunt had a large storehouse at Lamberton when it was the depot for the trade of Trenton, and at the time of his death was in partnership with Philip F. Howell. He resided on the estate now occupied by his son, Lieut. W. E. Hunt, of the navy. General Hunt (he was Adjutant-General) died at Charles- ton, S. C, March 11, 1810, at the age of forty-two, having spent the winter there on account of his health. The Rev. Dr. Hollingshead had a highly satisfactory conversation with him on the day of his death, when he said: "He had no reluctance nor hesitation to submit to all the will of God in the article of death; freely committed his soul into the hands of his Redeemer, and left his surviving family to the care of a holy and gracious Providence."* He was buried, with military honors, at Charleston, after services in the Circular Church, and there is a cenotaph commemorating him in our church porch.' IV. The newspapers of the day record the burial, in the Presbyterian ground, of William Roscoe, who died Oct. g, 1805, in his seventy-third year, "a first cousin of, and brought up by the celebrated Wm. Roscoe, of Liverpool, author of the Life of Leo X., etc. In the Revolution he was express-rider to Governor Livingston, and for many years Sergeant-at-Arms to the Court of Chancery."' January 18, 1806, a public dinner was given in Trenton to Captain (afterward Commodore) Bainbridge, upon his return from Barbary. The commodore's family were of this locality and church. Edmund Bainbridge was an elder from the united churches of Trenton and Maidenhead in the Presbytery of October, 1794. John Bainbridge was one of the grantees in the church deed of 1698 (p. 15), and that name is still visible on a tombstone in a deserted burying-place in Lamberton, marked, "Died 1732; aged seventy-five years." • Letter from Dr. H. in Trenton True American, March 26, 1810. CHAPTER XIX. Theological Seminary — Mr. Armstrong's Death — Notes. 1807 — 1816. Mr. Armstrong had the happiness of seeing the first Theological School of our Church established within ten miles of Trenton, and in the village sO' much associated with the earlier scenes of his academical and domestic life.-' He was in the General Assembly of 1810, which agreed upon the policy of one central institution; and in that of 1813, which established it at Princeton. With Dr. Alexander and Dr. Miller, the first professors, his intercourse was inti- mate during the few years of life that remained to him after their coming intO' the neighborhood, and both of them fre- quently supplied his pulpit during his protracted infirmity. It was an additional mark of providential favor that he lived to see the first fruits of the Seminary, and to give his voice for the licensing of its earliest graduates. The last time he appeared in P'resbytery was at the session of April, 181 5, which was held in Trenton. On that occasion Mtessrs. Weed, P'armele, Stanton, and Robertson, of the first class, ■were licensed.^ The records of each session are annually reviewed by a committee of Presbytery. In the meeting of April, 181 3, the committee (Drs. WoodhuU and Alexander), reporting favorably on the Trenton minutes, add, "That in one particular especially, the utmost care and attention have been paid to the purity and edification of the Church, and to guard against errors in doctrine and practice." (223) 224 HISTORY OF THE This commendatioon refers to an act of the session ex- cluding from church privileges a member who had adopted and was promulgating the Universalist heresy, vilifying the communion to which he belonged, and refusing to attend its worship. In April, 1816, the general approval of the book was qualified by some exceptions as to the sum- mary measures pursued by the session in suspending one of their own number, upon his declining to take their advice to discontinue his service as an elder. Upon this exception the session reversed their judgment, and the elder withdrew from the exercise of his office; but he appears afterwards to have been reinstated. When the New Jersey Bible Society was organized in 1810, Mr. Armstrong was elected a manager.^ In 1813 the anniversary of the Society was held in his church, when Dr. Wharton, the Episcopal minister of Burlington, preached, and the Rev. Wm. H. Wilmer, of Virginia, read the liturgy. This courtesy was extended in consequence of the Episcopal Church being under repair. On the anniversary of Independence, in 1808, Mr. Arm- strong was again the orator at the celebration by the Cin- cinnati, and citizens.* He acted as chaplain on that day in 11812, when the "Washington Benevolent Society of Tren- ton" made their first public appearance, and the concourse in the church was swelled by the members of a political con- vention opposed to the war, which was then meeting in the town.^ The suffering, and incapacity of freely moving his limbs, produced by his tedious disease, were now depriving Mr. Armstrong of the prospect of ever resuming his pastoral duties. The mere ascending into the pulpit cost the most painful exertion. He suppressed, as far as possible, the exhibition of his anguish, that he might perform the work in which he delighted; and although the act of writing must have been peculiarly distressing to his distorted hands. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 225 I have seen more than one discourse from his pen, indorsed as prepared to be read to the congregation by a substitute, when too ill to leave his house.® One of these (not dated) begins thus : "Unable, through the dispensation of Divine Providence, to address you in public, I embrace the only means in my power to convey a por- tion of that instruction which, I trust, has often been administered to our mutual edification. During the space of many years I have not for any whole day been free from pain. Reduced at times to the borders of the grave, and reviving, contrary to all human expectation, I have ardently desired to address you as one rising from the dead. A person on the verge of two worlds, contemplating the dread realities of eternity, standing equal chances to be the next hour an inhabitant of time or eternity, must have most impressive sentiments from the rela- tions which they bear to each other. In these moments, and under these impressions, I have wished for strength and opportunity, if it were but for once, to appear in the assemblies of the people of God, as I was wont to do. But on a conscientious review of the matter and the manner of my public instructions, I am constrained to ask what could I do more than I have done? All I could hope for would be that your sympathy, excited by my long and painful affliction, and heightened by an unexpected restoration to health, might, through the aids of divine grace, awaken a more lively attention, and give a more im- pressive solemnity to eternal things." This touching preface was followed by an earnest and tender application of the lessons of our Ivord's parable of the fig tree that remained unfruitful after years of faithful culture. In April, 1815, the congregation authorized the session to- engage an assistant minister, and they chose Mr. David Bishop, a licentiate, and at that time a teacher in the Trenton Academy — ^afterwards pastor in Easton. In the summer of that year Mr. Ai-mBtrong performed his last public ser- vice, and many still remember an affecting incident con- nected with it. Though emaciated and worn down by pain, there was no reason at that time to suppose that he might not yet, as for years past, make his way to the pulpit and assist in the services. But on that Sabbath it was noticed 15 PRES 226 HISTORY OF THE that the only psalm used in the sing-ing was the third part of the seventy-first; the first half (or to the "pause") being sung alt the beginning, and the remainder at the close of the devotional exercises. His text was "Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel." There could not have been many unmoved hearts as the feeble pastor, verging on three-score and ten, read — ' "The land of silence and of death Attends my next remove ; Oh ! may these poor remains of breath, Teach the wide world thy love. "By long experience have I known Thy sovereign power tO' save ; At thy command I venture down Securely to the grave. "When I lie buried deep in dust, My flesh shall be thy care ; These withered limbs with thee I trust. To raise them strong and fair.'' In a few months this faith was realized, and he entered on his rest, January 19, 18 16, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, the thirty-eighth of his ministry, and (counting from the date of his call) the thirty-first of his pastorship. On the twenty-second the remains of the deceased pastor were followed to the church by a large concourse, and, be- fore they were committed to the earth, an instructive discourse was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Miller. The preacher closed as follows : "With respect to the character and success of his labors among you, my brethren, there needs no testimony from me. You have seen him for nearly thirty years going in and out before you, laboring with assiduity, and during a great part of the time under the pressure of disease, for your spiritual welfare. You have seen him addressing you with affectionate earnestness, when his enfeebled frame was scarcely able to maintain an erect posture in the pulpit. You have heard him lamenting, in the tenderest terms, his inability to serve FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 227 you in a more active manner. And you have seen him manifesting with frequency his earnest desire to promote your best interest, even when weakness compelled him to be absent from the solemn assembly. "But why enlarge on these topics before those who knew him so well? or why dwell upon points of excellence in his character which all acknowledged ? The warmth of his friendship ; his peculiar urban- ity; his domestic virtues; his attachment to evangelical truth; his decided friendliness to vital piety; his punctuality, as long as he had strength to go abroad, in attending on the judicatories of the Church; these, among the many excellent traits of character exhibited by the pastor of whom you have just taken leave, will no doubt be remem- bered with respect and with mournful pleasure, for a long time to come. "More than once have I witnessed, during his weakness and decline, not only the anxious exercises of one who watched over the interests of his own soul with a sacred jealousy, but also the affectionate aspirations of his heart for the eternal welfare of his family and flock. Farewell ! afflicted, beloved man, farewell ! We shall see thee again ; see thee, we trust, no more the pale victim of weakness, disease, and death, but in the image and the train of our blessed Master, and in all the immortal youth, and health, and lustre of his glorified family. May it then, oh ! may it then appear that all thine anxious prayers and all thine indefatigable labors for the spiritual benefit of those who were so dear to thine heart, have not been in vain in the Lord.'" The epitaph on the tomb of Mr. Armstrong, in the church-yard, was written by President S. Stanhope Smith : "Sacred to the memory of the Reverend James Francis Armstrong, thirty years pastor of the church at Trenton, in union with the church at Maidenhead. Born in Maryland, of pious parents, he received the elements of his classical education under the Rev. John Blair; finished his collegiate studies in the College of New Jersey, under the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, and was licensed to preach the Gospel in the year 1777. An ardent patriot, he served through the War of Independence as a chaplain. In 1790 he was chosen a Trustee of the College of New Jersey. A warm and constant friend, a devout Christian, a tender husband and parent; steady in his attendance on the judicatories of the Church; throughout his Hfe he was distinguished as a fervent and affectionate minister of the Gospel, and resigned his soul to his Creator and Redeemer on the nineteenth of January, 1816. 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Amen : even so come Lord Jesus.' " 228 HISTORY OF THE NOTES. For the years of Mr. Armstrong's pastorate before 1806, there is no official record of statistics. In a memorandum made by him, he says that when he first came to Trenton "the number of communicants did not exceed perhaps eight or nine in that church, exclusive of Maiden- head. The numbers increased slowly and gradually. At every com- munion season, which was twice a year, a few were added; generally of such as had been under serious impression for some time before admission." In 1806 the whole number of communicants in Trenton was sixty- eight. Two only of these are known to be surviving in 1859. At the two communions of 1808 seventeen persons made their first profession at one, and thirteen at the other. In i8og seventeen more were re- ceived. Among the manuscripts of Mr. Armstrong is a series of ser- mons on the divine being, attributes, and perfections, marked by him as having been preached "just before so many were added to the church in 1808 and 1809." In 1810 the whole number of communicants was one hundred and twenty-four; in 1815, one hundred and eleven. II. I throw into this note some miscellaneous items collected from the books of the Treasurer and Trustees at the close of the last century. The windows of the church appear to have been exposed to extra- ordinary casualties, as there are constant entries of payments for glazing, and sometimes subscriptions for that object. Evening ser- vices were only occasional, as we learn from such entries as, "1786, March 18, paid for candles when Mr. WoodhuU preached in the evening, 2s. 6d." There were collections on every Sabbath; their amount varied from 2S. ^d. to £1 isj. 2d. That the old prescriptive coin was freely used on these occasions is revealed in such entries as, "By old coppers'' ; "to amount of old coppers on hand that won't pass." The collections were sometimes for other than church pur- poses. "1788, collection for Rev. Samson Occom."' "1789, collection raised for a poor traveler, 27J. 6d." In 1792, £2 ys. 6d. were collected "for Lutherans to build a church at Fort Pitt." In 1806, five mahogany "poles and [velvet] bags for collecting at church," were provided, ac- cording to a fashion long since superseded by boxes. For several years there is an invariable charge of is. 6d. for "sweeping meeting- house," every fortnight. The supplies for the pulpit, and the expense FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 229 of their horses, seem to have been regularly paid. "1779, paid Rev. Mr. Grant, as a supply, being a young man unsettled, £1 is. 6d." 1783, "Supply one day and a half, 45^-." "Half a day, 15^." The office of Deacon was performed by the pastor and elders at their dis- cretion, out of funds in the Treasurer's hands. "Paid Mr. Arm- strong for a sick woman at Mr. Morrice's." "Shirt for ■ — .'' "Reheving her distress." "Paid Bell that was scalded." "Seth Babbitt, a stranger that was in distress, being castaway, as he said." Fuel was often distributed. December 20, 1799: "Bill for sundries to put the pulpit in mourning for G. Washington, and Mrs. Emerson for put- ting it on." The expenses of Presbytery were sometimes borne by the church treasury. "To Presbytery's expenses at Mr. Witt's," one of the hotels, means probably the keeping of their horses ; but I must not conceal that in 1792 there is this charge, "for beer at Presbytery, 4J. lod." In the same year the other congregation were more liberal in their entertainment, as appears by this entry : "Bought of Abraham Hunt, for the use of the congregation when Presbytery sat in Maiden- head: "8 gal. Lisbon wine at ys. 6d., £3 o "S " spirits, gs., 25 £5 5" Ten years before — "half gallon of rum." The last, we may suppose, was for the use of workmen about the church, according to the cus- tom then universal. In building the church of 1805, "spirits" were bought for this purpose by the barrel. The churches were sometimes repaid for this branch of their expenditures; as in 1798, Mr. Bond (probably a magistrate), divided between the Presbyterian and Epis- copal churches a fine collected by him from some unlicensed vender of spirituous liquors. In November, 1786, the purchase of "an elegant, large Bible for the use of the Trenton Church," was authorized. The sexton's fee for digging a grave, inviting to the funeral, and tolling the bell, was fixed at two dollars. In 1799 it was increased to three dollars and a half. As late as 1842 it was the custom for the sextons to go from house to house and make verbal notice of funerals at the doors. There were not then, as now, three daily newspapers to supersede the necessity of pubhshing notices of this kind from the pulpit or other- wise. The Trustees appear to have provided for the conveyance of the pastor to the places of the meeting of the Presbytery. At one time it was "agreed that Mt. Jacob Carle or his son, Capt. Israel Carle [neither elder nor Trustee] attend Mr. Armstrong to the Presbytery." At another time (1787) James Ewing, Esq., [then in no church office,] 230 HISTORY OF THE was designated to this service. There may have been that deficiency of acting elders (at least in the town) at this time, to which Mr. Armstrong refers in a note of 1813, in which he speaks of his having had charge of the charity-fund : "I am inclined to believe before there were any elders in the congregation." The expenses of the session in attending judicatories were paid by the Trustees. The pew-rents in town were received by a collector annually ap- pointed by the Trustees out of their own number, or from the con- gregation. Delinquents were sometimes threatened with the last resort. In 1788 it was ordered, "that no horses or other creatures be put in the graveyard." It is presumed that this was a prohibition against hitching the animals there on the Sabbath, or pasturing them at any time. The sexton, however, had "leave to pasture sheep in the grave- yard." In 1788, "the present meeting taking into consideration the great defect in public worship in the congregation, by want of a regular clerk, and Mr. John Friend, a member of the congregation, having voluntarily offered himself steadily to supply that office, the congre- gation accepted of his offer and desire the Trustees to make any agree- ment they may think proper with said Friend on that subject." In 1799, (at a congregational meeting,) "whereas applications are often making for the burial of strangers in the ground belonging to this congregation, by which means it is filling up very fast, therefore it is ordered that no stranger be permitted to be buried in said ground hereafter, without paying what may be agreed upon by the Trustees of said church; and for relief in the premises it is agreed that pro- posals be made to the other societies of Christians in this place, and to the inhabitants in general, to open and promote subscriptions for the purpose of purchasing a piece of ground for a Potter's field." The Trenton "Potter's field" is on the New Brunswick road, and was probably purchased by the town about 1802. One of the graves is. designated as follows : "Sacred to the memory of Judy, wife of Wil- liam Field; faithful and favorite Christian servants of the late Robert Finley, D.D., of Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Erected 1839." In 1799 the Trustees "ordered that the minutes and proceedings of the congregation and Trustees be read by the minister or clerk of the church the next Sabbath, or as soon as convenient after their meetings, in order that it be generally known how the business of the Society is conducted." Some precedence seems to have been accorded to the Governor of the State. He was allowed the first choice of a pew in the new church of 1806. The incumbent at that time was Joseph Bloomfield, known by the titles both of Governor and General. He resided in Trenton during the successive terms of his administration, (1801-12.) Mrs. Bloomfield was a communicant of the church, and her nephew, Bishop FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 231 Mcllvaine, remembers the visits of his childhood to the then new, but now demolished church. In the earlier part of Mr. Armstrong's ministry he conformed to the custom, then common in our pulpits, of wearing a gown and bands. The practice seems to have fallen gradually into disuse, more from its inconveniences than from any rise of scruples. The variety of English academical gowns seems to have been known in our State as late as 1800, for in that year a Burlington tailor advertises in the Trenton Gazette: "D.D., M.A., and other clerical robes made correctly."' III. In 1815 the church lost one of its ruling elders. His epitaph is : "In memory of Nicholas Dubois," many years teacher of the Young Ladies' Academy, and an elder of the Presbyterian Church of this place. Died November 4, 1815. An. at. forty-four. A man amiable, pious, and exemplary; a teacher, able, zealous, and faithful; an elder ardently devoted to the welfare of his Father's fiock." IV. The interval between Mr. Armstrong and his successor is marked in our history by the commencement of the Sunday-school of the church. The earliest school of this description was instituted by mem- bers of the Society of Friends, for the instruction of colored persons. It was called the "Trenton First-day School," and the primary meet- ing of the Society was called for "the second second-day of the second month," 1809. This failed, as it would appear, from want of means to pay a teacher; and in May, 1811, a society of all denominations formed "a first-day, or Sunday-school, for the instruction of the poor of all descriptions and colors."" I am indebted to John M. Sherrerd, Esq., of Belvidere,"^ for the following interesting memoranda as to the introduction of the more strictly religious, or church Sunday- school : "While a student of law in the office of the late Chief Justice Ewing, in the winter of 1815-16, I became a member of the Trenton church, under the preaching of Dr. Alexander, who chiefly supplied the pulpit after the death of Mr. Armstrong. There was some awakening among the churches in that winter. We held a union prayer-meeting, weekly, for some time, and at one of these it was mooted whether we might not do good by starting a Sunday-school. Several of us had read about such schools in England, and heard that they had been begun in Philadelphia, but none of us had ever seen one. Our prayer-meeting was composed of about a dozen young men who had just united with the different churches, and a few others who were seriously disposed. I recollect the names of Gershom Mott, 232 HISTORY OP THE • John French, and Mr. Bowen, Baptists; John Probasco, a Methodist;^* Lewis Evans, who was brought up a Friend. At first I was the only- Presbyterian, but others soon joined me. I was appointed to visit the schools in Philadelphia, and accordingly spent a Sabbath there, during which I visited the old Arch Street, Christ Church, and St. John's Schools, which were all I could find. The teachers furnished me with all the desired information, and gave me specimens of tickets, cards, books, etc. On my return we determined to make the experiment, and obtained the use of the old school-room over the market-house on Mill Hill, which then stood nearly opposite the present Mercer court house, and eight o'clock on the next Sunday morning found us assembled there — six teachers and twenty-six scholars. "We kept up our weekly prayer-meeting at different places, in the Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist connection — chiefly in the first two. Every Sunday the school was dismissed in time to attend the three churches, on alternate days, each teacher accompanying his class and occupying a part of the gallery. We seldom failed of having a word of encouragement from the officiating minister, and I well remember the address of Dr. Alexander, the first Sabbath we met in the Presbyterian Church. At the end of three months, the room becoming too small for us, we formed a school in each of the three churches, and each soon became as large as the original one. The Presbyterian was held in the school building on your church lot. The others in the Baptist Church and Trenton Academy. I continued there about nine months, and until I left Trenton, during which time we kept up our union prayer-meeting, and the visits of all the schools alternately at the different churches on Sunday mornings. Towards the last they almost filled the gallery of each church. After the sepa- ration on Mill Hill female teachers, for the first time, took part. We followed the old plan of each schblar committing as much as he could during the week — receiving tickets, redeemed, at a certain number, with books. One factory boy, I remember, who, although twelve hours at work daily, committed so many verses that I could not hear him in school-hours, but took the time for it after church." From a document in a Trenton newspaper (August' 8, 1817) it ap- pears that the three schools mentioned by Mr. Sherrerd were organ- ized under the title of "The Trenton and Lamberton Sunday Free- School Association." The date of its beginning is there given as March 9, 1816. "From April to October the school consisted of ninety scholars. On the twenty-seventh October it was divided into three." "It is with peculiar pleasure the Association notice those two nurseries of mercy, the Female and African Sunday-schools, which have arisen since the establishment of their own.'' A column of a newspaper of October 4, 1819, is occupied with a report of the "Trenton Sabbath- day School," which opens with saying, "Nine months have now elapsed since, by the exertions of a few gentlemen, this school was founded." FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 233 The report is signed by James C. How, afterwards the Rev. Mr. How, of Delaware, a brother of the Presbyterian pastor. In February, 1821, the same Society reports that it had four schools, the boys', the girls', the African, and one at Morrisville." The last school had, in Novem- ber, 1819, eleven teachers and one hundred and sixteen scholars. The "Female Tract Society" furnished tracts monthly to the schools, and the "Juvenile Dorcas Society" supplied clothing to the children. Six female members of our congregation (Ellen Burrowes, Mary Ann Tucker," Mary A. Howell, Hannah E. Howell, Eliza R. Cham- bers, and Hannah Hayden) originated "The Female Sabbath Asso- ciation," October 4, 1816. To these were soon added Sarah M. Stock- ton (afterwards wife of Rev. W. J. Armstrong), Rosetta C. Hyer, Jane Lowry, Eliza C. Palmer, Lydia Middleton (afterwards wife of Rev. Henry Woodward), Ellen E. Burrowes (Mrs. Stacy G. Potts), Catherine Schenck, Mary Creed, Abigail Ryall, Juliette Rice," Susan Armstrong, Anna Jackson (wife of Rev. Jos. Sanford)." The ses- sion granted the use of the gallery of the church, as a place of teach- ing. The school was opened October 20, and was held for an hour and a half in the afternoon. A boys' school was afterwards formed, of which Mr. James C. How was the first Superintendent. There are eight hundred and twenty-two names on the roll of female pupils from 1822 to 1839. In the minutes of the Trustees, March 19, 1814, is this entry : "Benjamin Smith, Esq., who has for a long time been a Trustee and President of the Board, as also Treasurer for the church, all which oifices he has filled with faithfulness, but expecting shortly to remove to Elizabethtown, and make that his final place of abode, begged for said reason to resign his trusteeship." Mr. Smith was elected "a Deacon for Trenton," May 6, 1777, and was an elder in 1806, and probably for some years before. He died in Elizabethtown, October 23, 1824, and a sermon was preached at his funeral by his pastor, the Rev. Dr. John McDowell, from the words : "Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honor dwelleth." This text had been selected by himself for the purpose, and his will directed the same to be inscribed on his tomb. By the kindness of Dr. McDowell, I am enabled to present a copy of the statements in the funeral discourse, which show how applicable was its inspired motto : "Our departed friend loved the house of the Lord, and he has told the speaker that this evidence has often encouraged and comforted his soul, when he could get hold of scarcely any other. His conduct in this respect corresponded with his profession. Through a long life 234 HISTORY OF THE he manifested that he loved the Lord's house. It was taught him, I have understood, from his childhood. At an early age he became the subject of serious impressions, and hopefully of divine grace. He was first received into this church under the ministry of the Rev. James Caldwell, in the year 1765, when he was about eighteen years old. He afterwards removed to Trenton, and connected himself with that church, where he spent most of his days. There he long acted in the office of ruling elder. During the latter part of the time of his residence in Trenton, the congregation erected a new house of worship. In this he took a deep and active interest. He bestowed much of his time, contributed liberally of his means, and went abroad soliciting aid for its completion. About ten years since he removed to this town, and in the decline of life again connected himself with this church. He was soon elected a ruling elder, which office he exe- cuted with fidelity until his decease, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. He manifested his love to the house of God by his constant attendance on its worship until his last short illness; and he mani- fested it in his will, by leaving a bequest for the support of its wor- ship, and remembering other congregations in the town. His last words were : Welcome, sweet day of rest.' " Among the legacies of Mr. Smith's will was one of twenty-five hundred dollars for the endowment of a scholarship in the Theo- logical Seminary at Princeton, which was realized in 1839, upon the decease of his widow. It stands the twenty-sixth on the list of scholar- ships, and bears the name of its founder. VI. (Added from Dr. Hall's Supplement.) Rev. Mr. Waddell, mentioned in the account of the New Jersey Bible Society in the Appendix, p. 355, was the rector of St. Michael's Church. Another of Mr. Armstrong's friends was Rev. Thomas Pictou, of Westfield, Essex county, New Jersey, for a time pastor in Woodbury, N. J., and afterwards chaplain at West Point (1820). He was a Welshman by birth. His daughter married Edwin Stevens, of Hoboken, where Mr. Pictou for a time resided. His wife was a Zantzinger. He is mentioned in E. D. Mansfield's "Personal Memo- ries," 1803-1843, published in Cincinnati, 1879, pp. 88-91. In our baptismal records, in the handwriting of Mr. Armstrong, is this: "1806, Nathaniel Sayre Harris, born September 24, 1805, son of Rev. Nathaniel and Catherine Harris, baptized by Rev. Thomas Pic- tou, of Westfield, Essex county." FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 23s Rev. Nathaniel Harris married the widow of Samuel Witham Stockton (p. .243), who was the daughtetr of Col. (John?) Coxe. Mr. Harris was a Presbyterian, and Principal of the Trenton Academy, 1801-1803. Nathaniel Sayre Harris was a cadet at West Point (afterward Professor of Tactics), and then an Episcopal minister. In 1878, when he was on a visit at J. G. Stevens', in Trenton, I showed him the baptismal entry above, a copy of which I had previously given to his son, Rev. J. Andrews Harris, of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia (an Epis- copal minister). REV. SAMUEL B. EIOW, D.D. CHAPTER XX. Samuel B. How, D.D. — Wii^uam J. Armstrong, D.D. — The Rev. John Smith.^ — Notes. 1816— 1828. On the nineteenth of August, 18 16, the congregation met and elected for their pastor the Rev. Samuei. Beanchakd How. Mr. (now Dr.) How, a native of Burlington, graduated in the University of Pennsylvania (181 1) ; was tutor for a short time in Dickinson College; then a master of the Gram- mar School of his University; was licensed by the Presby- tery of Philadelphia in 1813; then passed a session at the Princeton Seminary, and on November 10, 18 14, was or- dained and installed pastor at Solebury, Bucks county. Mr. How was installed over the Trenton congregation December 17, 181 6, on which occasion Dr. Miller presided. Dr. Alexander preached (2 Cor. 3 : 16). Dr. Miller gave the charge to the pastor, and the Rev. I. V. Brown the charge to the congregation. This pastorship was happily and usefully continued until April, 182 1, when a call from the First Church of New Brunswick was laid before the Presbytery, and he was installed in that city in the follow- ing June.^ The additions to the communion of the church in these five years were fifty-six on their first profession, and thirty on certificates from other churches. ^ Dr. How was followed by the late Wiixiam Jessup Armstrong, D.D., son of the Rev. Dr. Amzi Armstrong, of Mendham and Bloomfield. Mr. Armstrong graduated at Princeton College in 181 6; studied theology under his (237) 238 HISTORY OF THE father, and for a year in the Princeton Seminary ; and upon his licensure in 1819 (by the Presbytery of New Brunswick) entered on two years' service of the Board of Missions in Virginia, in the course of which he founded the Presibyterian Church in Charlottesville. Mr. Armstrong returned to New Jersey in 1821, and on the twenty-eighth September he was unanimously elected pastor of Trenton.^ On the twenty- seventh November the Presbytery of New Brunswick, meet- ing in Trenton, the session was opened, according to a cus- tom then prevailing, with Mr. Armstrong's trial sermon for ordination. On the next day, together with Charles Hodge and Peter O. Studdiford, he was ordained, and himself installed.* At this service Dr. Miller presided ; Rev. George S. Woodhull preached (2 Tim. 4 : 12) ; Rev. E. F. Cooley gave the charge to the ministers, and Rev. D. Comfort that to the congregation. The date of Mr. Armstrong's actual entrance upon the duties of the pastorate is October 20, 1821. During his short residence of about two and a half years, fifty-three new communicants were received on their pro- fession, and fourteen on certificate. While residing here Mr. Armstrong was married to Sarah Milnor, daughter of Lucius Horatio Stockton. When Dr. John H. Rice was called to relinquish the church at Richmond, Virginia, he recommended Mr. Arm- strong as his successor, and a call from that congregation was put into his hands February 3, 1824 — ^the same day on which one of his successors in Trenton (James W. Alex- ander) was received by the Presbytery as a candidate for the ministry. At the following April meeting the pastor read to the Presbytery a statement he had previously made to the Trenton parish, of the reasons of his favorable inclin- ation to the Richmond call. The Rev. Jared D. Fyler (then residing in Trenton) and Joshua Anderson, one of the elders, presented a written statement of the views of the FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 239 people, expressive of their reluctant submission to the wishes of their pastor in the matter, and accordingly the dissolution took place. Dr. Armstrong remained ten years in Richmond, when he entered the service of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, first as agent, then as secre- tary ; and it was on his passage from Boston to New York, on the business of the Board, that he wias wrecked in the steamboat Atlantic, November 27, 1846. The last scene of that catastrophe of which there is any account presents him reading the Gospel, praying with, exhorting and comforting his fellow-passengers, so long as the fatal event was de- laying. The characteristics of Dr. Armstrong's preaching have been stated by two good judges. The Rev. Dr. James W. Alexander wrote to the compiler of his Memoir : "While he was at Trenton I often listened to his sermons, and there was no man whom at that day I heard with more impression. His •sermons were carefully prepared, and were pronounced with a degree of warmth and emotion which are quite unusual. My recollection is vivid of his appeals to the heart, as being of a high order. When at a later period I was called to labor among the same people, I found that he had left that good name which is 'better than precious oint- -ment' There were manifest tokens of his faithfulness in public and in private." Mr. Theodore Frelinghuysen, now President of Rutgers College, then a member of the bar, says in a letter in 185 1 : "I very often enjoyed the privilege of hearing him while he was a stated minister at Trenton, and the impression made upon my mind, deep and unfading, was that of uncommon earnestness, sincerity, and power. He commenced in his calm and solemn manner ; he rose with Tiis subject; his mind kindled and his heart warmed as he discoursed; and towards the conclusion he poured his whole soul into it, as if he thought he might never speak again, and as if some impenitent friend "before him might never hear again the voice of warning and the invita- tions of mercy. "° 240 HISTORY OF THE The Rev. J. C. Smith, of Washington City, says : "One of our own elders knew him as a pastor in Trenton, and he blesses God that through him he was converted to God."^ The congregation was without a settled pastor for about twenty months, when having united in the choice of the Rev. John Smith, of Connecticut, that minister began to supply the pulpit regularly in December, 1825.'^ He was not received by the Presbytery until the following February; and on the eighth March he was both ordained and installed in Trenton. In that service Dr. Carnahan presided, Dr. Hodge preached ( i Cor. 1:21), and both the charges were given by the Rev. E. F. Cooley. Mr. Smith was a native of Wethersfield ; a graduate of Yale College (1821) and of the Andover Theological Seminary, and a licentiate of the Congregational Association of East Fairfield. Mr. Smith continued in this charge less than three years, but in that time fifty-nine persons made their first profes- sion. Twenty-six of these were received at the communion of April, 1827; two of whomi afterwards entered the min- istry, namely, Mr. George Ely, pastor of Nottingham and Dutch Neck, who died August 14, 1856, and George Bur- rowes, D.D., pastor of Kirkwood, in Maryland; Professor in Lafayette College, and pastor in Newtown, Pennsylvania. One of eleven new communicants in April, 1828, is com- memorated in the following inscription in our church-yard : "Here lie the remains of Jeremiah D. Lalor, who departed this life March 8th, A.D. 184s, aged thirty-two years. To those who knew him the remembrance of his virtues is the highest eulogy of his char- acter. He had devoted himself to the service of God in the ministry of reconciliation, and when just upon the threshold of the sacred office was removed by death from the brighest prospects of usefulness, to serve his Maker in another sphere." Some confusion was created during Mr. Smith's ministry by the indiscreet, however sincere, zeal in what they called the cause of Christ, of two or three superserviceable min- REV. JOHN SMITH. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 241 isters and candidates, who wished tO' introduce those meas- ures for the promotion of the work of a pastor, that had, then at least, the apology of being too new to have taught their warning lessons. An attempt was made to form a distinct congregation, and separate meetings were held for a time, and even a small building erected, which was put into connection with the German Reformed Church; but the Presbyterians gradually returned, and no effort was made, or probably designed, to produce a schism. Mr. Smith, however, in August, 1828, requested a dissolution of the pastoral relation, which was granted by the Presbytery, and in February of the next year he was detached from that body and took charge of a Congregational Church in Ex- eter, New Hampshire. He has since exercised his ministry in Stamford and other towns of Connecticut, and large numbers have become united with the churches he has served. While resident in Trenton, Mr. Smith was married to a daughter of the late Aaron D. Woodruff, Attorney- General of the State. NOTES. During Dr. How's residence in Trenton several useful public enter- prises were undertaken, in which he, together with the other ministers of the town, participated. In January, 1817, he was of the committee (with Colonels Beatty, Bayard, and Frelinghuysen, and Mr. Wm. Coxe) to prepare a constitution for the New Jersey Colonization Society, then formed. In 1820, the Presbyterian and Episcopal clergy- men were associated with Samuel L,. Southard, George Sherman, Charles Ewing, and other philanthropic citizens, in encouraging the institution of a Savings Bank. The same persons were active in found- ing the Apprentices' Library in April, 1821, and Mr. Ewing delivered a discourse in the Presbyterian Church on the last day of that year, in view of the opening of the Library on the following day. In 1816 "The Female Tract Society of Trenton" began the useful ministry which it still continues. In 1822 the ladies of the congregation formed a "Missionary and Education Society," which met once a fortnight to 16 PRES 242 HISTORY OF THE provide clothing for theological students and for children at mission stations. Whilst the work of the hands was going on, one of the ladies read missionary intelligence. Two associations for the circula- tion of the Scriptures were formed in 1824 ; in May "The Apprentices' Bible Society," of which Wm. P. Sherman was Secretary, and in August "The Bible Society of Delaware Palls, Auxiliary to the Ameri- can BSble Society." The latter was organized in the State House, and among the speakers were the late Rev. Dr. Milnor, of New York, and "Mr. Bethune, a theological student." On the twenty-fourth June, 1817, died Aaron Dickinson Wood- ruff, who had been a Trustee from May 4, 1789.° He was born Sep- tember 12, 1762 ; delivered the Valedictory at the Princeton Com- mencement of 1779; was admitted to the bar 1784; was made Attorney- General of the State in 1793, and annually reelected, except in 1811, until his death. He also served in the Legislature, and was influential in having Trenton selected for the State capital. He was buried in the Trenton church-yard, where his epitaph records that, "For twenty-four year he filled the important station of Attorney- General with incorruptible integrity. Adverse to legal subtleties, his professional knowledge was exerted in the cause of. truth and justice. The native benevolence of his heart made him a patron of the poor, a defender of the fatherless; it exulted in the joys, or participated in the sorrows of his friends." Mr. Woodruff's successor was Samuel L. Southard, who signed the triple oath required by the charter, (of allegiance to the State, to the United States, and of fidelity as a trustee,) May 11, 1818. Until called from Trenton, in 1823, to the cabinet of President Monroe, he was one of the most punctual and active officers of the congregation. He was a Manager and Vice-President of the "Education Society of the Presbytery of New Brunswick," formed in i8ig, and a Vice-Presi- dent in the Board of Trustees of the Theological Seminary at Prince- ton. Mr. Southard's public life as Legislator, Judge, Attorney-General, and Governor in his own State, and as a Senator, Secretary of the Navy, and President of the Senate at Washington, needs no record here. He died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, June 26, 1842, at the age of fifty-five. The name of Lucius Horatio Stockton having occurred in this chapter, it deserves commemoration as that of a prominent member of the congregation and church. He was a son of Richard Stockton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a nephew of Elias Boudinot. Mr. L. H. Stockton was for some time District-Attorney of New Jersey, and his nomination to be Secretary of War, within a few weeks (Jan., 1801) of the close of the administration of President Adams, was one of the causes of umbrage to Mr. Jefferson. He died at Trenton, May 26, 1835. Mr. Stockton was eccentric, and a very FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 243 earnest politician, but did not deserve to be called "a crazy, fanatical young man," as Wolcott wrote." In a long series of articles in the Trenton Federalist of 1803, Mr. L. H. Stockton defends himself and his deceased uncle, SamuiX WiTham Stockton, from^ attacks in the Democratic True American. Mr. S. W. Stockton went to Europe in 1774, and was Secretary of the American Commission to the courts of Austria and Prussia. He negotiated a treaty with Holland, and returned to New Jersey in 1779, where he held various pubhc offices. In 1792 he was an Alderman of Trenton; in 1794 Secretary of State; and his monument in our church-yard records that he died June 27, 1795. (in his forty-third year,) in consequence of being "thrown from his chaise."" The Rev. James F. Armstrong, who was "long on the most friendly and intimate terms with him," preached at his funeral from I Sam. 20 : 3. While Dr. How was pastor another of the prominent citizens of Trenton and members of this church was removed by death. Samuel Leake was born in Cumberland county, November 2, 1747. He received his preparatory training in the two celebrated schools of Fagg's Manor and Pequea. The Rev. John Blair, Dr. R. Smith, and Enoch Green gave him certificates, 1767-9, of proficiency in different branches, and of his high religious character. After teaching three years in Newcastle, he received (May, 1772) testimonials from Thomas McKean and George Read (two of the three Delaware signers of the Declaration of Independence), George Munro, John Thompson, and the Rev. Joseph Montgomery. He then entered Princeton College, and took his Bachelor's degree in September, 1774. In the following March President Witherspoon gave a written certificate of his quali- fications to teach Greek, Latin, and mathematics, to which he appended : "I must also add that he gave particular attention to the English language while here, and is probably better acquainted with its struc- ture, propriety, and force than most of his years and standing in this country." Mr. Leake, however, did not resume the employment of teaching, but entered upon the study of the law, first with Richard Howell, Esq., afterwards Governor of the State, and then with Charles Pettit, Esq., of Burlington, and with their certificates, and that of Thomas McKean (afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania), he was licensed as an attorney in November, 1776. He began practice in Salem, but in October, 178S, removed to Trenton, where he pursued his profession so successfully as to be able to retire before he was enfeebled by age. He paid unusual attention to the students in his office; regularly devoting one hour every day to their examination. I have before me an example of his systematic ways, in a document engrossed in a large hand, beginning thus : "I. Be it remembered that Samuel Leake, on Sunday, the thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 244 HISTORY OP THE and eleven, in the Presbjrterian Church in Trenton, received the Lord's Supper; James F. Armstrong then being minister of the Gospel, and administering the Supper in that church." Entries in the same form, with the proper dates, follow as to each of the semi-annual communions until October i, 1815, when the record is that, "Dr. Miller preached the Action Sermon; Dr. Alexander ad- ministered the ordinance. Mr. Armstrong was sick and absent." The paper continues to make a formal register of each attendance at the Lord's Supper until it closes with that on January 2, 1820, two months before his decease. He prepared similar documents for each of his daughters as they became communicants. Mr. Leake died on the eighth of March, 1820, in his seventy-third year. The Supreme Court being in session at the time, the bar not only resolved to attend the funeral, but recommended to their brethren throughout the State to wear the customary badge of respect. His epitaph is as follows : "Sacred to the memory of Samuel Leake, Esquire, Sergeant at Law. Died eighth March, A. D. 1820, A. E. 72. Educated to the bar he attained the highest degree of eminence; distinguished for candor, integrity, zeal for his clients and profound knowledge of jurisprudence, he fulfilled the duties of his station with singular usefulness, 'without fear and without reproach.' Deeply versed in human literature, and devoutly studious of the words of sacred truth; he lived the life of a Christian, and died the death of the righteous."^ II. In the term of Dr. Armstrong's ministry the session and church were painfully concerned with a public affair in which one of their members was implicated. Peter Gordon, Esq. (who was elected an elder in March, 1797, and a Trustee in September, 1804), after eighteen years' tenure of the office of State Treasurer, was found to be in default. While the matter was in course of investigation by the Legislature (1821-2) Mr. Gordon voluntarily withdrew from the com- munion, and from his place in the session, but was restored in June, 1825, and the next month took a certificate of dismission to New York. III. During the time of the Rev. John Smith, two of the elders of the church died. Benjamin Hayden was in the session in September, 1806 — how long previously to that date cannot be ascertained. He was also a Trustee from September, 181 1, till his death, which took place Feb- ruary 28, 1827, in his seventy-fourth year. This venerable and excel- lent man left a son of the same name, who died a member of this church, April 11, 1858, in his eighty-fifth year. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 24s John Beatty was a son of the Rev. Charles Beatty, the successor of Wm. Tennent, at Neshaminy. His mother was a daughter of Governor Reading, and his grandmother was of the family of Clinton, so distinguished in the history of New York. Mr. Beatty was a native of Bucks county; graduated at Princeton 1769; was educated in medicine under Dr. Rush, but entered the army of the Revolution, where he soon became a Lieutenant-Colonel. He was among the cap- tured at Fort Washington, on the Hudson,, and afterwards rose to the rank of Major, and was Commissary- General of prisoners." After the peace he practiced medicine in Princeton, and was Secretary of the New Jersey Medical Society; but in 1783 and other years was in Congress; in 1789 was Speaker of the State Assembly; and from 1795 to 1805 was Secretary of State. From May, 1815, until his death, he was President of the Trenton Banking Company. He was President of the company which built the noble bridge that unites Trenton to his native county in Pennsylvania." General Beatty was a Trustee of the church from' 1799 to 1804, and again from 1822 till his death. He was received to the communion May, 1808; ordained to the elder- ship September, 1817, at the same time with James Ewing, Robert McNeely, and Joshua Anderson." Chief Justice Ewing wrote his epitaph : "Sacred to the memory of General John Beatty; born December 10, 1749; died May 30, 1826. Educated as a physician, he became early distinguished for benevolence, assiduity, and skill. In the War of Independence, in important miUtary stations, he faithfully served his country. By the public voice he was called to the discharge of emi- nent civil offices. In the State and National Legislatures repeatedly a representative, always active and influential. For many years a ruling elder of this church. In every walk of life amiable, honorable, and useful. He crowned the virtues of the man, the patriotism of the soldier, and the sagacity of the statesman by the pure piety and sin- cere religion of the devout and humble Christian." Colonel Erkuries Beatty, of Princeton, was a brother of General Beatty, and father of C. C. Beatty, D.D., of Steubenville. He died in Princeton, February 23, 1823. IV. In the summer of 1821 the Rev. John Summerfield, the English Methodist preacher whose visit to this country produced an impres- sion still vividly retained by many of his hearers, passed a few days in Trenton, and occupied the Presbyterian pulpit for two successive evenings. Abstracts of both his sermons are given by his latest biographer, who was one of the large audience that crowded the church. He says: "Mr. Summerfield received the most marked 246 HISTORY OF THE attention from every class during his brief stay in Trenton; and though suffering all the while from sickness (for he was attacked the day after his arrival), he strove to entertain and edify the various company that sought his society." "A New Life of SummerHeld, by William W. Willett." Philadelphia, 1857- The most notable public event of 1824 was the visit of General Lafayette to the United States. In his tour he arrived in Trenton on. Saturday, the twenty-fifth of September. Next morning he attended public worship in our church ; afterwards^" he visited Joseph Bona- parte at Bordentown, and returned to spend the night. He break- fasted here again July 16, 1825. President Monroe (who was wounded in the battle of Trenton)^ on his tour of 1817, arrived here on Saturday, June 7th, and attended worship the next day in the Presbyterian Church. V. James Ewing, father of the Chief Justice, and the tenth child of Thomas and Mary Ewing (p. 218), first came to Trenton as a repre- sentative of Cumberland county, in the Legislature in 1774, and re- moved his residence there in 1779. He was afterwards, under Con- gress, Auditor of Public Accounts, Commissioner of the Continental Loan Office for New Jersey, and Agent for Pensions. He was Mayor of Trenton, 1797-1803. For some years he was a partner of Isaac Collins (p. 198) in merchandise, and there is a letter of condolence from him to Mr. Collins, on the death of his wife, in the Memoir of Mr. C. He was one of the founders of the Library and the Academy. He was a corporator, commissioner, and secretary of the Society in- corporated March 15, 1796, to make the Assanpink navigable from the "Trenton Mills" to "the place where it intersects the stage road from Burlington to Amboy" ; and doubtless was in the company who on the third February, 1797, descended the creek in the boat Hope, from "Davidstown," where the upper lock was situated, to Trenton, in three hours, and so opened one half of the proposed line of naviga- tion.'" Mr. Ewing was elected a Trustee of the church September Si 1808, and ordained an elder September 21, 1817. He continued in both offices until his death, which took place October 23, 1823. In accord- ance with his known objections to the practice, no stone was placed to mark the spot of his interment, which was in our church-yard." VI. It may be placed among the miscellaneous items of 1828, that on the fourteenth July the church was struck with lightning; but the conductor answered its purpose so well that no mischief was done be- yond the shattering of a few panes of glass. In October, 1827, the celebrated Joseph Lancaster established his- residence here, and opened a school. In the next year a girls' school FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 247 was taught by Mrs. Lancaster. For a quarter the public schools were under their joint direction. Their contract was to teach eighty children for one year, and supply books and stationery, for two hundred and seventy-five dollars. In October, 1828, the Synod, meeting in Trenton, united in a general convention, which assembled in the church. Chief Justice Kirkpatrick presiding, and the present Chief Justice Green being Secretary. A project for raising forty thousand dollars in two years, for erecting school-houses and supplying teachers and missionaries through the State, was recommended, as were also the objects of the "General Sab- bath Union," the American Temperance Society, and the Sunday- school enterprise. In November, 1817, a convention met at Trenton and formed a State Society for the suppression of vice and the pro- motion of good morals, principally by aiding the civil authorities in executing the laws, and by diffusing a knowledge of the statutes and their penalties. VII. Copy of an inscription on a stone in the pavement of the church- porch : "To perpetuate the memory and the modest worth of Mrs. Mary Dunbar, this marble is placed over her grave, a tribute of the grateful and affectionate remembrance of her pupils, whom for three suc- cessive generations as school-mistress she had taught in this city. Ever attentive to the pious nurture of her pupils in private, and to the duties of rehgion in public, she closed an exemplary and useful life, December 9, A.D. 1808 : aged 76 years." REV. TAMES W. ALEXANDER, D.D. CHAPTER XXI. James W. Alexander, D.D.— John W. Yeomans, D.D. — John Haee, D.D'. 1829 — 1859. The successor of Mr. Smith was the Rev. James Wad- DEE Alexander; who graduated at the Princeton College in 1820; entered the Seminary 1821; was licensed 1825'; installed at Charlotte Court House, Virginia, 1827, and over the Trenton Church, February 11, 1829. On the last occasion Dr. A. Alexander presided. Dr. Miller preached (Matt. 4:19), Rev. Eli F. Cooley and Henry Perkins gave the charges. The services of this pastorship began January 10, 1829, and terminated October 31, 1832; during which period fifty-one new communicants were received, and thirty others on certificate. Dr. Alexander having complied with a request which I made of all the ex-pastors surviving at the time of preparing this volume, for such reminiscences O'f their residence here as would come within the scope of my work, I gladly incorporate bis letter in this stage oif the narrative.^ "New York, February 10, 1859. "My Dear Friend: The retrospect of my ministerial life brings to view so many defects, and such unfruitfulness, that I have never been able to take pleasure in numbering up sermons preached, visits made, and members added; nor have I any anniversary or autobiographical discourses to which I could refer. At your request, however, I can not refuse to give you a few reminiscences of my connection with the church of which you are the pastor. "A great intimacy subsisted between my father and our predecessor, the Rsv. James F. Armstrong, and the friendship between their re- (249) 250 HISTORY OF THE spective descendants continues to this day. Mr. Armstrong had been the friend of Witherspoon, Smith and Kollock. He was laid aside from preaching by a disabling and distressing rheumatism, before I ever entered his delightful and hospitable house — rich in good books, good talk, and good cheer — where old and young were alike made welcome and happy. But this brought me acquainted with Trenton, with that family, and especially with Chief Justice Ewing, by whose means and influence, more than any other, I was afterwards led. to- settlement among them. The family of Mr., afterwards Judge, Ewing, was the home of my childhood and youth ; which led that distinguished and excellent man to look upon my early performances in the pulpit with undue partiality. By him, and by the late General Samuel R. Hamilton, who was a Princeton man, my name was brought before the congregation, and I was installed as their pastor, by a committee of Presbytery, on the eleventh day of February, 1829. I had, however, begim my labors with them on the tenth of January, when I preached from I Cor. 11 : 28. My strictly pastoral labors ended on the last day of October, 1832. when I preached from Ezekiel 16 : 61, 62; though I continued to supply the pulpit until the end of the year. My term of settlement may therefore be called four years. The records of the Church session will show the number of accessions to the communion of the church; these were few. There was nothing- like a revival of religion during my continuance with them, and it was cause of painful thought to me that my labors were so little owned to the awakening of sinners. Neither am I aware that there was any remarkable addition to the number of hearers. But the people were- forbearing and affectionate towards their young and inexperienced minister, who for most of the time was feeble in health, and was sub- jected, as you know, to some unusual afflictions in regard to his early children. "In those days we worshipped in the old church, which was suffici- ently capacious, with one of the old-time high pulpits. The congrega- tion had been trained to habits of remarkable punctuality and atten- tion. Notwithstanding some inroads of new measures during the previous period, under the labors of a so-called Evangelist, the church was as sound and staid a Presbyterian body as I have ever seen. It comprised some excellent and experienced Christians, and among these the valued elders whose names you have recorded. Good Mr. Mc- Neely was slow but sure; an upright man, of more kindness than appeared at first; of little vivacity, and no leaning towards risks or innovation. Mr. Voorhees and Mr. Samuel Brearley came later into the session; both, in my judgment, judicious and godly men. Mrs. Armstrong, the venerable relict of the pastor first named, does not belong particularly to my part of the narrative, except that she chose to treat me with the regard of a mother for a son. She was then in health and strength, and lived to exhibit a dignified, serene, and beauti- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 251 fill old age. Having come of a distinguished family, the Livingstons of New York, she never ceased to gather around her fireside some of the most elegant and cultivated society. Her conversation, though quiet, was instructive, turning often upon the heroes of the Revolu- tion. She was, I think, at Princeton during the battle; indeed she was a native of that town. From that excellent family I received support and encouragement of the most useful and delicate kind, during a time of manifold trials. My term of service was marked by no striking external events, no great enlargement, excitement, or disaster.. The long-suffering of God was great towards a timid and often dis- heartened servant, who remembers the period with mingled thankful- ness and humiliation. "At this time the Trenton church contained some excellent speci- mens of solid, instructed, old-school Presbyterianism. I shall never forget the lessons which it was my privilege to receive from aged and experienced Christians, who must often have looked with wonder and pity on the young minister who undertook the responsible task of guiding them. The dying scenes which a pastor beholds in his early years make a deep impression ; and I recall some which were very edifying, and which attested the power of the doctrines which had been inculcated. Among my most valued parishioners was a man in humble life, who has lately gone to his rest, I mean James- PonoCK. At a later day he was most wisely made an elder. At that time he lived in a small house on Mill Hill, and worked as a dyer in one of the woolen factories on the Assanpink. His figure was somewhat bent, and his hands were always blue, from the colors used in his trade. But his eye was piercing and eloquent; his countenance would shine like a lantern from the light within ; and the flame of his strong and impassioned thought made his discourse as interesting as I ever heard from any man. He had the texts of Scripture, as many Scotchmen have, at his finger ends, and could adduce and apply pas- sages in a most unexpected manner. The great Scottish writers were familiar to him. I think his favorite uninspired volume was Ruther- ford's 'Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself.' I lent him Calvin's Institutes, which he returned with expressions of high admira- tion for Mr. Caulvin. His acquaintance with the reformation his- tory of his native land, in both its great periods, was remarkable, being such as would have done credit to any learned clergyman. Unlike many who resembled him in attainment, Mr. Pollock was inwardly and deeply affected by the truths which he knew. His speech was always seasoned with salt, and I deemed it a means of grace to listen to his ardent and continuous discourse. He was certainly a great talker, but without assumption or any wearying of competent hearers. His dialect was broad, west-country Scotch, for he was. from Beith, in Ayrshire; and while I was resident his sense of the 252 HISTORY OF THE peculiarity kept him from praying in the meetings, though none could otherwise have been more acceptable. Having from my childhood been used to Scotch Presbyterians, and knowing how some of the narrower among them will stickle for every pin of the covenanted tabernacle, and every shred and token, as if ordained in the decalogue, I was both surprised and delighted to observe how large-minded Mr. Pollock was, in respect to every improvement, however different from the ways of his youth. I have witnessed his faith during grievous illnesses, and I rejoice to know that he was enabled to give a clear dying testimony for the Redeemer whom he loved. Such are the men who are the glory of our Presbyterian churches. "During the term of my incumbency it is remarkable that the two persons who had most influence in congregational affairs were not communicants, though they were closely connected with all that occur- red in the church; these were Chief Justice Ewing and Mr. Southard, afterwards Secretary of the Navy. It deserves to be noted, among the traits of a Presbyterianismi which is passing away, that Judge Ewing, as a baptized member of the church, always pleaded his rights, and once in a public meeting declared himself amenable to the disci- pline of church courts. (Discipline, chap, i, § 6, page 456.) There is good reason to believe that he was a subject of renewing grace long before his last illness in 1832. During this brief period of suffer- ing he made a distinct and touching avowal of his faith in Christ. "Judge Ewing is justly reckoned among the greatest ornaments of the New Jersey bar. His acquaintance with his own department of knowledge was both extensive and profound, closely resembling that of the English black-letter lawyers, who at this moment have as many imitators at the New Jersey bar as anywhere in America. He was eminently conservative in Church and State; punctual in adherence to rule and precedent, incapable of being led into any vagaries, sound in judgment, tenacious of opinion, indefatigable in labor, and incor- ruptibly honest and honorable, so as to be proverbially cited all over the State. In a very remarkable degree he kept himself abreast of the general literature of the day, and was even lavish in regard to the purchase of books. He was a truly elegant gentleman, of the old school; an instructive and agreeable companion, and a hospitable entertainer. He deserves to be named in any record of the church, for I am persuaded that there was no human being to whom its interests were more dear. As the warm and condescending friend of my boyhood and youth, he has a grateful tribute from my revering affection. "In one particular the people of Trenton were more observant of our Form of Government (see chap, xxi) than is common. When from any cause there was no one to preach, the service was nevertheless carried on by the elders, according to the book, and a sermon was FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 253 read. The reader on these occasions was always Mr. Ewing, and the discourse which he selected was always one of Witherspoon's ; the choice in both cases being significant. I have often been led to con- sider how much better this is, for instance in country congregations, than the rambling away to hear some ignorant haranguer, perhaps of an erroneous sect, or the listening to a frothy exhortation from some zealous and forward brother, without gifts and without au- thority. "The name of Dr. Francis A. Ewing, son of the Chief Justice, naturally occurs to our thoughts here. Space is not allowed for that extended notice which might elsewhere be proper, for the Doctor's was a character well deserving close study. Though a professional man by title, he was in fact and of choice much more a man of letters and a recluse student of science. His attainments were large and accurate, though made in an irregular way, and though he never seemed to others to be studying at all. In the classical languages, in French, in the natural sciences, and in all that concerns elegant literature and the fine arts, he was singularly full and accurate. In matters of taste he was cultivated, correct, and almost fastidious. Music was his delight, and he was equally versed in the science and the art. It was after the term of my pastorship that he developed his skill as an organist, but at a much earlier day he devoted himself for years to the gratuitous instruction of the choir; and though I have heard many noted precentors, I can remember none who had greater power of adaptation and expression. Though his own voice was slender and uninviting, he long made his influence felt in ren- dering all that was musical subservient to the spirit of worship. "Dr. Ewing professed his faith in Christ during my years of min- istry. His early religious exercises were very deep and searching, and the change of his affections and purposes was marked. He had peculiarities of temper and habit which kept him much aloof from general society, and thus abridged his influence. His likes and dis- likes were strong, and if he had more readily believed the good will of others towards himself, he would have been more useful and more happy. I should sin against truth if I did not say that towards me he was for forty years a warm, forbearing, tender, and at times most efficient friend. I have been with him at junctures when it was im- possible not to detect, through all his extraordinary reserve, the work- ings of a heart agitated and swayed by gracious principle. "Samuel L. Southard was also a member of the congregation, and a friend of all that promised its good. More sprightly and versatile than Mr. Ewing, he resembled a tropical tree of rapid growth. Few men ever attained earlier celebrity in New Jersey. This perhaps tended to produce a certain character which showed itself in good-natured egotism. Mr. Southard was a man of genius and eloquence, who made 254 HISTORY OF THE great impressions on a first interview, or by a single argument. He loved society, and shone in company. His entertainments will be long remembered by the associates of his youth. It is not my province to speak of his great efforts at the bar ; he was always named after Stock- ton, Johnson, and Ewing, and with Prelinghuysen, Williamson, Wood and their coevals. Having been bred under the discipline of Dr. Fin- ley, at Basking Ridge, he was thoroughly versed in Presbyterian doc- trine and ways; loving and preferring this branch of the Church to the day of his death. Defection from its ranks gave him sincere grief, as I am ready more largely to attest, if need be. In those days of his prime, Mr. Southard was greatly under the salutary influence of the Chief Justice, who was his Mentor; I think he felt the loss of this great man in some important points. So earnestly and even tenderly did he yield himself to divine impressions, that his friends confidently ex- pected that he would become a communicant. During this period he was an ardent advocate of the Temperance Society, then in its early stage. I remember attending a meeting at L,awrenceville, in company with my learned friend, the present Chief Justice, where Mr. Southard, following Mr. Frelinghuysen, made an impassioned address in favor of abstinence and the pledge. In regard to religious things, the change to Washington did not tend to increased solemnity or zeal. I have been informed that Mr. Southard felt the deep impression of divine truth at the close of his days. As a young minister, I received from him the affectionate forbearance of an elder brother, and I shall always cherish his memory with love. "Before closing this hurried letter of reminiscences, let me note that the ruling elders during my day were Robert McNeely, Nathaniel Bur- rowes, John Voorhees, and Samuel Brearley, all good and believing men, and all gone to the other world. The Trustees were Messrs. Rose, Chambers, Ewing, Burroughs, and Fish ; of whom likewise all are gone, except my esteemed friends, Messrs. Burroughs and Fish. "Before taking my pen from the paper, let it be permitted to me to give expression to a feeling of personal regard to the late Mrs. Rice and her family, under whose roof my years of early ministry in Tren- ton were passed. She was a woman of a meek and quiet spirit, and was honored and beloved, during a long life, for the benignity of her temper and the kindliness of her words. Juliette Rice, her daughter, was a person who in some circumstances would have become distin- guished. To sincere piety she added more than usual cultivation, delicacy of taste, refinement of manners, and a balance of good qualities which elevated her to a place among the most accomplished and even the exclusive. Under the disadvantage of a deafness almost total, and a pulmonary disease which slowly wasted her away, she manifested a sweet", uncomplaining disposition, and a steady faith in Christ. Amidst the kindnesses of these good people I spent the first months of my REV. JOHN WIL.LIAM YEOMANS, D.D. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 25s married life, and welcomed the tender mercies of God in our first-born son, long since taken to be with the Lord. "Thus I end my rambling letter, (which, by-the-by, is only the last article of an epistolary series extending through forty years,) and am, .as always, "Your faithful friend, "James W. Alexander.'' "The Rev. Dr. Hai,l." For nearly two years after Mr. Alexander's removal the pulpit was supplied by transient ministers. Among those who were most frequently engaged were the Rev. Asahel ISIettleton and Truman Osbom. The minutes of Presbytery for 1834 and 1835 show that efforts were then proposed by some of the congregation for enlarging the means of religious instruction, either by employing an Evangelist or the erection of a Free Church. An "Evangelical Society" had been formed which sustained Mr. Osbom as a mission- ary in Trenton, Mbrrisville and Millham, but after his de- parture, and the settlement of a pastor, things gradually returned to their old channel. On the sixteenth March, 1834, the Rev. Symmes C. Henry, of Cranbury, was chosen pastor, but he declined the call. On the sixth of June, following, the Rev. John WiLUAM Yeomans was elected, being then pastor of a Congregational Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Dr. Yeomans is a graduate of Williamis College (1824) and of the Andover Seminary.^ He was duly received by Pres- bytery, and on the seventh October, 1834, was installed. In that service the Rev. David Comfort presided, the Rev. J. W. Alexander preached (from- i Cor. 11: i) and Drs. B. H. Rice and A. Alexander gave the charges. The actual ministry of Dr. Yeomans is to be dated from September II, 1834, to June I, 1841, when he entered on the Presidency of Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. To his energy and influence not less than to the enterprise of the congregation is owing the erection of the commodious church which is now occupied by the congregation. The corner-stone of 2S6 HISTORY OF THE the new building was laid May 2, 1839, and services were held for the first time on the Lord's day, January 19, 1840.* On the afternoon of that day Dr. How preached, and Dr. A. Alexander administered the Lord's Supper. On that occasion also three elders and three deacons were ordained.^ In the evening the Rev. J. W. Alexander preached. In the April of 1837 a church was organized by a commit- tee of Presbytery in Bloomsbury, then a suburb of Trenton, and the place of worship was the building erected by those who followed the Rev. Wm. Boswell in his secession from the regular Baptist denomination, and which was vacated upon his death in 1833. This mission was diligently con- ducted for a year by the Rev. Charles Wiebster,'' begin- ning on the second Sabbath O'f 1837, and was then sus- pended until the present "Second Church" of Trenton was formed there. Dt. Yeomans had a seat in the General Assembly of 1837, when the decisive acts were adopted which resulted in the division familiarly known as the Old School and New School — the latter portion forming a distincct organi- zation. No disturbance was produced in the Trenton con- gregation by this revolution; with entire unity it remained in the ancient fraternity of the churches of the New Bruns- wick Presbytery. In the letter written at my solicitation,. Dr. Yeom'ans, after mentioning separately the elders already introduced in this chapter as composing the session of his time, thus proceeds: "As then constituted, the session was in all respects the most inter- esting one I have ever known. It was a great pleasure and benefit to be with them in our frequent meetings (sometimes held every week). I remember those brethren with grateful respect and love, and for their services in the Church can commend them, as I have always done, for an example. "The erection of the new house of worship was an interesting occa- sion for that congregation. The whole process was conducted in a manner and spirit unusually commendable. The congregation felt the awakening enterprise of their venerable city, and the moment the FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 257 business of the place showed signs of revival, they were ready to conduct the motion into their measures for religious improvement. The building of the church fairly led the way to the construction of tasteful architecture in the place. The Court House was built at the same time, but the draft of the Church helped to determine the form of that; and the row of cottages beyond the canal, and some other handsome dwellings which followed in the course of improve- ment, were built by the men who came there to build the church. "I shall never forget the cordial and earnest way the Trustees and others of the congregation, and indeed the whole body, engaged in the work. I have scarcely known a people who resolved to appro- priate so much to the erection of a house of worship in proportion to their means at the time. They went through the work without one case of personal disaffection arising out of their proceedings, and their zeal and labor have since proved a great blessing to them and to others. It is also a gratification to remember the harmony and energy with which, when they got ready, they paid off the debt; and with what liberality they have supported their minister, and con- tributed to the extension of Christian influence in their growing and important city. I consider the history of that house of worship, from first to last, a very great credit to the congregation. "We had during my ministry there no occasion which was signal- ized as a revival. The accessions to full communion were, if I rightly remember, more or less at every sacramental celebration of the Sup- per. Sometimes, perhaps the records will show, twenty or thirty in a year; perhaps even on a single occasion twenty.' "It was probably one of the defects of my labors there, that they were attended with so few striking results. But many are far more decisive than I am inclined to be, in aiming at the kind of awaken- ings which are frequent in some parts of the Church, and published with so much avidity in the papers. But the fact in the history of my ministry in Trenton is as stated above. The duties of the pulpit, though very imperfect, were performed with very few interruptions through the period ; and the excellent spirit and active co-operation of the session were a great help to the efficacy of the divine ordi- nances. "Among the signs of improvement which appeared during that term, was that of increased attention to the baptism and religious training of children. The subject, when brought up in pubUc instruc- tion and private conversation, appeared acceptable and profitable. In following up the labors of Brother Alexander there, I recollect no evidence of improvement with more interest than that. As to general progress, the growing activity and intelligence of the leading members of the congregation, together with the increase of their number, would enable any discerning observer to foresee the progress made there 17 PRES 258 HISTORY OF THE since, under the incitements of a growing population, and of expand- ing business, and the impulse and guidance of a faithful and effective ministry." On the third May, 1841, the congregation unanimously resolved to recall Dr. Alexander, who was still in the pro- fessorship in the College at Princeton, to which he had been transferred from his charge in Trenton; but upon being assured that it would not be in his power to comply, it was prosecuted no further. A new election on the last day of May resulted in the choice of Mr. John Hall, of Phila- delpia, who immediately took charge of the congregation, and was both ordained and installed August 11, 1841. The Rev. Dr. Cooley presided, Dr. Yeomans preached (Ephe- sians 4: 11^), Dr. J. W. Alexander and Dr. S. C. Henry gave the charges.® The incidents O'f the last eighteen years' histoiry of the Church in Trenton must be despatched in a few particulars. The statistics, are as follows : Communicants received on examination, 217 Communicants received by certificate, 262 Communicants dismissed by certificate, 262 Present number of communicants, 312 Infants baptized, , . 290 Adults baptized, 114 Funerals, 335 Marriages 216 The Brick Church, already spoken of as once occupied by Mr. Boswell's congregation, was purchased, refitted, and opened for public worship with a sermon by Professor Al- bert B. Dod, July 24, 1842. The Second Presbyterian Church was organized there November 15, 1842, and the Rev. Baynard R. Hall was its first stated supply. The Rev. Daniel Deruelle, of Pennsylvania, was installed its pastor Miay 21, 1843. In Steptemiber of the same year a small lecture-room was built adjoining that church. Mr. Deru- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 259 elle's pastoral relation was dissolved February i, 1848, and on the ninth October the Rev. Ansley D. White, of Indiana, was installed. In 1851 the church was enlarged to twice its original size, and was reopened September 27. In 1857 a spacious building was erected, of two stories, for a lecture- room and Sunday-schools. The church was organized with eleven rrtembers from the First Church ; the present number of communicants is two hundred and sixty-five. In the year 1846 there remained a debt of six thousand seven hundred dollars for the building oi the First Church. By a general subscriptioni in the congregation at the dose of that year, the entire sum was at once obtained, and all obligations cancelled. In April, 1849, thirteen co^mmunicants of the First Church, and four from other churches, were organized as the Third Church. Twenty-five others from the parent body were soon afterwards added. The new congregation first met for public worship June 17, 1849. "^^^ -f^^"^- Theodore L. Cuyler was installed pastor October 3, 1849, and their house of worship was opened November 7, 1850. Mr. Cuyler resigned the charge April 27, 1S53, and the Rev. Jacob Kirkpatrick, Jr., was ordained, and installed Nbvember 3, 1853. The decline of his health compelled his resignation February 2, 1858. The communicants then numbered about two hundred. A parsonage was provided during Mr. Kirkpatrick's incumbency. On the eighth of February, 1859, the Rev. Henry B. Chapin, of Ohio, was installed as pastor. A mission chapel, built (at the cost of twenty-two hun- dred dollars) in the northen extremity of the city, on ground given by Mr. John S. Chambers, was opened for religious services January 8, 1854, and a Sunday-school organized. Worship was conducted on the afternoons of the Sabbath by the pastor of the First Church, with occa- sional assistance, until May, 1856, when Mr. John H. Sargent served statedly as the chaplain for one year. 26o HISTORY OF THE In 1853 the First Church was extensively improved by the building of ani iron fence and laying a stone pavement along the entire front of the lot, introducing gas, painting the interior walls, and other repairs, at a cost of thirty-four hundred dollars, mostly defrayed by private subscription. While the work was in progress, the congregation worship- ped with the Third Church, then without a pastor. On the sixth Novemlber, 1858, the Fourth Church was. organized, with a few members from' the First, and sixty from the Third Church. On the twenty-fifth February,. 1859, the Rev. Edward D. Yeomans, son of Dr. John W. Yeomans, was installed their pastor. In 1845 Mr- Hall, finding many Geirman families of the Lutheran faith who attended noi church, many oif them unable to understand English, wrote to Rev. Dr. Demme, of Philadelphia, suggesting a visit from him to explore, or the sending of a missionaiy. In 1848 services were held in the First Church lecture-room by Genman missionaries, and the work thus begun resulted in the organization of the German Lutheran church. The following ruling elders have been elected and or- dained, in the First Church, during the present pastorate: Samuel Roberts, ■^ ^ Jonathan Fisk, |J^"^n^ ^6, 1846. George S. Green, | ^ ^ Augustus G. Richey, r ' 5 • NOTES. I. Nicholas Jacques Emanuel de Belleville was born at Metz, Prance, 'n 1753 ; studied medicine under his father ; passed seven years in the schools and hospitals of Paris," and came to Trenton under the circumstances related in the following note furnished to me by Phile- mon Dickinson, Esq., as heard from the Doctor's lips ; FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 261 "He happened to be, in the spring of 1777, on a visit to a gentleman, an acquaintance of his father, who lived in the south of Prance, whither "he usually repaired in the winter season, on account of the delicate state of his health. He there met and was introduced to Count Pulaski, who had just come from Italy, where he had been obliged to take refuge on account of the active part he bore in the well-known attempt to restore the liberties of Poland. "The Count was then on the eve of his departure for this country, and having taken a liking for the Doctor, invited him to accompany him. Eor some time he hesitated, by reason of his want of money, but the gentleman at whose house he was, when informed of this fact, told Tiim if a hundred guineas would be suiificient for his purpose he would supply him, and that his father could reimburse him. He further sup- plied him with every thing necessary for the voyage, and on the last day of May, 1777, he left Paris, and embarked at Nantes on the ninth oi June, for the United States. "The vessel in which he sailed was a sloop-of-war, mounting fourteen •guns, with a crew of one hundred and five men. She had on board about sixteen hundred stand of arms for the American troops. On the twenty-second July they arrived in M'assachusetts, and the first town "he entered was Salenx, where he staid some days and afterwards went to Boston. "He attended the Count, in the capacity of surgeon, in the different parts of the country to which he went for the purpose of recruiting a legion, which the Count was authorized to raise by the Provincial Con- gress. "Pulaski remained some time at Trenton for that purpose, where Belleville became acquainted with Dr. Bryant, a physician of eminence, who took a fancy to him, treated him kindly, and endeavored to per- suade him to give up the army and settle in Trenton ; offering to do all In his power to introduce him into practice. Dr. Belleville, however, attended Pulaski to the South, and while stationed there he received a pressing letter from his friend. Dr. Bryant, repeating his offer, and urging his leaving the army; representing the improbability of his •succeeding there so well as by settling down to the practice of his pro- fession. This letter he showed to Pulaski, who told him it was not his wish to stand in the way of his advancement, and if he thought he could do better, to accept the offer of Dr. Bryant. He did so, and in ■the fall of 1778 took up his residence in Trenton, where he remained until his death." Dr. Belleville was eminent in his profession, and highly esteemed for "his social qualities. He was sometimes called to attend the exiled King of Spain at Bordentown, and was his almoner on at least one occasion, (February 5, 1831,) when the Female Benevolent Society of Trenton', acknowledged fifty dollars "from the Count de Survilliers, by Dr. Belle- -ville." Mrs. Belleville was a communicant ; the Doctor was a pew- 262 HISTORY OF THE holder and occasional attendant, but was too fond of his elegant edition of Voltaire to reUsh the Gospel. He was buried in our church-yard, and one of his pupils, Dr. F. A. Ewing, in addition to a discriminating obituary in the State Gazette of Dec. 24, 1831, furnished the inscription for his tomb : "This stone covers the remains of Dr. Nicholas Beueville. Born and educated in France ; for fifty-four years an inhabitant of this city. A patriot warmly attached to the principles of liberty ; a physician emi- nently learned and successful; a man of scrupulous and unblemished integrity. On the seventeenth day of December, A.D. 1831, at the age of seventy-nine years, he closed a life of honor and usefulness ; by all respected, esteemed, lamented." II. For a more extended notice of Chief Justice Chakces Ewing, than I can find room for now, I must refer to the eulogy, pronounced in the church at the united request of the Council of Trenton and the bench and bar of the State, by his intimate friend, Governor Southard, and to the memoir furnished by the same hand to Longacre's "National Portrait Gallery."" He was born July 8, 1780; prepared for college at the Trenton Academy, when it was under Mr. Armstrong's direction; took the first honor at Princeton College at his graduation in 1798; read law under Mr. Leake, and was admitted to the bar in 1802. The next year he was married to a daughter of the Rev. James F. Arm- strong. He was appointed Chief Justice in October, 1824, and reap- pointed in 1831. He died of cholera, August s, 1832. Mr. Ewing was a punctual and leading member of the board of Trustees, and of the congregation, from his election, April, 1814, till his sudden death. Mr. Southard declared in his public discourse that he was in the habit of holding up the entire character of the Chief Justice as a model for aspirants after professional honors, and said that "his exposition of the system of jury-trial, before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New Jersey, [January 28, 1826,] is the most finished and beautiful exhibition of its merits which is to be found, in the same compass, in our language." The epitaph on his monument, written by President Carnahan, of Princeton, is as follows : "Beneath this marble rest the mortal remains of Chaioles Ewing, LL.D., Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey. "In intellect, vigorous and discriminating. In industry, assiduous and persevering. In intfegrity, pure and incorruptible. In manners, affable, dignified, and polished. In morals, spotless. A profound jurist and upright magistrate. An accomplished scholar, and patron of litera- ture and science. The advocate and supporter of benevolent institu- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 263 tions. He won, in an eminent degree, the respect, the love, and confi- dence of his fellow-citizens. Happy in his domestice relation, home was the theatre of his most endearing virtues, and the sphere in which he loved to move. He reverenced the doctrines and practiced the pre- cepts of the Christian religion. In the vigor of his mental and bodily powers, surrounded by blessings, cheered by the approbation of his fellow-men, with an extended prospect of service and usefulness before him, he was attacked with a violent disease, which suddenly terminated his life on the fifth day of August, A.D. 1832, in the S3d year of his age." III. The Rev. Wm. Boswat had been for sixteen years pastor of the Baptist congregation of Trenton and Lamberton, when (1823) he issued an address to its members, on account of his adoption of some new tenets, which leaned to Swedenborgianism. His address was answered by a longer letter from the Rev. John Burtt (first editor of "The Presbyterian" in Philadelphia), who was then preaching in Trenton. Mr. Boswell died June 10, 1833, at the age of fifty-seven. His grave is in the rear of the building where he last preached — now the Second Presbyterian Church. Near to it is that of another prom- inent Baptist minister, the Rev. Burgess Almson, D.D., who died on a visit to Trenton, February 20, 1827.^^ The First Baptist Church of Lamberton was opened November 26, 1803; when the sermon was preached by Dr. Staughton. Mr. Boswell's was called "The Reformed General Baptist Meeting- House." It was built (of brick) in eleven weeks, and was opened October 19, 1823. The dimensions were fifty-four feet by forty. IV. Thomas Wii,son, an intelligent colored man, was received to our communion on certificate from New York, November, 1839. He was a shoemaker, but was bent upon becoming qualified as a missionary in Liberia. For this purpose he removed to Easton, and studied under the direction of his late pastor, the President of the College. He sailed for Africa, as a missionary of our Board, in April, 1843. His wife and infant died soon after their arrival, and a second child not long afterwards. Wilson's station was Sinoe, where he opened a day-school and Sunday-school, and preached every week. In 1845 he opened a small building as a church, and undertook to teach a school of native children in a neighboring town, and an evening school of adult colonists. He persevered manfully through great hardships till 264 HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. September 8, 1846, when he djed of an illness of a few days. In the artless language of one of his children who sent me the intelligence: "I hope he is resting, for when he did labor he labored hard, and suffered much from want of food and clothing." The Annual Report of the Board in the next year, says : "His death is a great loss to the Church and to Africa. His experience and knowledge, his indus- try and perseverance, fitted himi for usefulness in this important sphere of labor." Another colored member of our church, Elymas P. Rogers^ was ordained by our Presbytery, March 6, 1845, and became pastor of a large congregation in Newark. He afterward went to Liberia, to investigate the colony, and died of the acclimating fever in 1861. By the will of Miss Jane Lowry, who died November 1851, the sum of two hundred dollars and her pew were bequeathed for the benefit of the poor of the church. By the will of Mr. James Brearley, who also died November, 1851, the sum of five hundred dollars was left to the Trustees, without specific directions. VI. A newspaper of August 2, 1868, contains the following notice, headed "Eighty Years a Communicant" : "Mrs. Janet Davis, who died at Trenton, New Jersey, on the 2d inst., was two months over ninety-six years of age. She went to her first communion in Paisley, Scotland, when she was sixteen, was received by the First Church of Trenton in 1819, and continued there till her death ; consequently she was eighty years a communicant. Can your correspondents furnish a parallel instance of ecclesiastical longevity? It is pleasing to be able to add that Mrs. Davis retained in her memory the Scriptures and hymns with which her long Chris- tian life had made her familiar, and that her faith, like her faculties, though not childish, was eminently childhke." CHAPTER XXII. 1859— 1884. (Collated chiefly from Dr. Hall's supplementary notes.) In 1870 it was thought desirable to renovate the in- terior of the church by an entire change in the style of the pews, frescoing the walls, attaching a small room to the pulpit, and other improvements. From; September 18 to Decemiber 1 1 the congregation worshipped in the morning in a large public hall, and in the evening in the church lecture- room. On the 1 8th of December the use of the church was restored. The improvements left an outstanding debt of nearly three thousand dollars. Knowing how such debts become troublesome by delay in providing for them, the pastor, without revealing his purpose to anyone, adopted a plan of prevention which proved entirely successful. On the Sabbath of January ist, 1871, his sermon was on "Re- deeming the Time," in the closing pages of which he slightly alluded to the suitable opportunity of the new year to can- cel the cost of the renewal of the house. When he had fin- ished he requested the gentlemen of the congregation to remain after the service, without stating the purpose. When they had been arrested, the proposal was made that the con- gregation should practically obey the doctrine of the sermon by redeeming the debt of the past year, and in a few minutes it was pleasantly, somewhat amusingly, accomplished, to the surprise of all. It was at this time that the first organ, placed in the church of 1840, was replaced by the large one, built by (265) 266 HISTORY OF THE Erben, of New York, which has assisted our worship so appropriately during the past years. On the Sabbath after the paying of the debt, January 8th, a room annexed to the chapel, for the separate use of the infant-school, was. used for the first time. A strong temptation to begin a permanent endowment fund, for the financial benefit of the corporation, was felt in 1875-6, when an offer of thirty thousand dollars for sixty feet of ground on the eastern side of the church-plot was received. The Trustees submitted the proposal to a meet- ing of the congregation, Ottober 5, 1875, but as the plot, although seldom used for burial at that time, contained the graves of several generations, the sale was refused. The volume we are supplementing closed its history at the date of its publication, March, 1859. Our churches had increased from the single one of the first chapters to the Fourth, which was opened in that year. According to the location of these churches, two were near the center O'f the population, the others nearer the southern and eastern boundaries of the city, and the mission chapel mentioned in the preceding chapter was growing into the organized Fifth congregation of 1874. In October, 1864, Rev. Ansley D> White, who had been pastor of the Second Church for a time, but had, serving elsewhere for some years, returned tO' Trenton and was invited tO' supply regularly the congre- gation assembling in the chapel. So prosperous was the work done there that the JPresbytery, on February 23, 1874, organized the Fifth Church with twenty-eight members, three of whom were from the First Church. Mr. John S. Chambers, who had been an elder of the First -Church, and Mr. Albert S. Drake, were elected and installed elders, and on October 26 Rev. Ansley D. White was installed pastor. The location of these five churches left the western sec- tion of the city to be provided for. Members of the First Church living in thait part of the city interested themselves. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 267 in the organizing and conducting of a Sunday-school, which met in unoccutpied houses on West State street, until the desirability of a new church organization became ap- parent. On August II, 1874, the cornerstone of a church building, at the comer of Prospect and Sipring streets, was laid, and on April 25, 1875, the Presbytery organized the Prospect Street Presbyterian Church, with seventeen mem- bers fromi the First Church, six from the Third and twelve from other churches. Augustus G. Richey, an elder of the First Church ; John T. Nixon, an elder of the First Church of Bridgeton, N. J.; Samuel C. Brown, an elder of the South Reformed Church of New York, and Frederick J. Slade, an elder of the Tlhird Church of Trenton, were elected and installed elders. On October 14, 1875, Walter A. Brooks, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Bloomington, was ordained and installed pastor. Whilst the churches were thus increasing with the popu- lation of the city proper, the suburb of Cbambersburg had rapidly gro^wn from a farming district to an incorporated borough of miany thousand inhabitants. The name given in its charter was that of Robert Chambers, the original owner of much of the land, and a member of one of the oldest families in the First Church. A number of Pres- byterians, finding that the city churches required a long walk to reach them, determined to make an experiment for their greater convenience. Beginning with a Sunday- school and occasional preaching in a convenient school- building, the encouragement soon appeared to warrant the organization of a church and the erection of a substantial building. The Bethany Presbyterian Church was organ- ized by the Presbytery, on November 15, 1886, with three members from the First Church, and sixty-three from other churches. Professor George H. Voorhis and Mr. Thomas S. Morris were elected and installed elders. On November 29th the Presbytery transferred Rev. Daniel R. Foster 268 HISTORY OF THE from the pastorate of the Pennington Church to that of the Bethany Church. The new building, on the corner of Hamilton and Chestnut avenues, was occupied for services on the 6th of March, 1888. This may properly be called the seventli church of Trenton. We might with some propriety make an eighth, not in numerical order, but in the total, from the church at Morris- ville, Pennsylvania, which is separated from Trenton only by the Delaware, and which was established and main- tained, in great part, by the Trenton churches, until it was transferred to the Presbytery of Philadelphia North, where it naturally belonged, but after which change it continued to receive neighborly assistance from Trenton. Mr. Samuel Ro'berts, an elder of the First Church, superintended the Morrisville S'unday-school, with scarcely a day's failure, for twenty years. In 1880 the congregation of the First Church became interested in measures taken to establish a church and school for the emancipated colored population of Carthage, Moore county, Nbrth Cairolina. The minister and teacher upon whose hands had devolved this undertaking had been a resi- dent of Trenton, where he had won the confidence of the most respectable families by his meritorious character and faithful service. Henry D. Wood entered Lincoln Uni- versity in 1872, and was graduated from the theological department of that institution in April, 1878. He was placed in Carthage by the Missionary Board for Freedmen. He found a church of thirty-five members and a Sabbath- school of twenty-five, numbers which rose to 168 and 175, respectively, besides two schools in country settlements. Mr. Wood was enabled by his friends to build, at the cost of a thousand dollars, a neat and commodious church, which was opened for religious services October 19, 1884, imder the name of "John Hall Chapel," and in connection with the Yadkin Presbytery of our General Assembly. The FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 269 Minutes of 1887 report forty communicants received in that year at Carthage. During somie months of the year 1883-4, Mr. Richard A. Greene, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Ehiladelphia, was employed as assistant to the pastor, and fulfilled a use- ful service in that relation. Early in 1884 the pastor notified the congregation of his purpose to apply to the Presbytery for the dissolution of his pastoral relation to the First Church, after a pastorate of forty- three years. On April 8, 1884, the Presbytery com- plied with this request, and Dr. Hall became pastor emeritus. NOTE. I now subjoin the statistics of the entire period from the installa- tion in 1841 to the resignation of Communicants received on examination, 465 Communicants received on certificate, 435 Communicants dismissed on certificate, 485 Infants baptized, 463 Adults baptized, ipo Funerals (estimated) , 1,000 Marriages, 408 During the same period the pastor preached in the First Church, 3,452 Wednesday lectures, 1,631 He preached in other churches, 723 These figures do not include the many years' services every Friday evening, which were more or less expository as well as devotional, or the Bible classes of several winters. CHAPTER XXIII. John Dixon, D.D., Lewis Si^ymour Mudge, D.D. 1884 — 1901. On February 21, 1884, the Rev. Dr. John Hall gave notice to the Session that on account of impaired health and the increasing infirmities of age he felt it to be his duty to shortly resign the pastorate. On May 4, following, Dr. Hall formally tendered his resignation, which, after much hesitancy, was reluctantly accepted. The Presby- tery of New Brunswick dissolved the pastoral relation and constituted Dr. Hall pastor-emeritus as requested by the congregation. Thus was brought to an end the active ministry of Dr. Hall, which he had fulfilled so long, so lov- ingly and with marked distinction and success. While the dissolution of the pastoral relation released the congregation from its legal financial obligation to Dr. Hall, yet voluntary pledges were made towards a salary for him as pastor-emeritus, which amounted to over $2,100 per annum,. The passing years wrought many changes by death and removal in the list of subscribers, yet such were the love and devotion of the people to him that the salary was fully kept up until the time of his death, which occurred May 10, 1894. On June 11, 1884, the committee which had been ap- pointed toi seek out and recommend to the congregation a successor to Dr. Hall made report naming the Rev. John Dixon, of Yonkers, N. Y., who was chosen pastor. Mr. Dixon signified his acceptance of the call and began work on September 11, 1884. Arrangements were made by the Presbytery of New Brunswick for the installation services (271) 272 HISTORY OP THE to be held on October 15. On that occasion the Rev. Dr. S. M. Studdiford presided; the sermion was preached by the Rev. J. O. Murray, D.Di; the charge to the pastor by the Rev. William Henry Green, D.D., and the charge to the people by the Rev. John Hall, D.D; After some two years spent by Mr. Dixon in the neces- sary study of the congregation and of the spiritual needs of the city, it was thought best to endeavor toi interest our people in some form of Christian work outside of the church. Accordingly the attention of the congregation was directed to the mianifest need of a Sunday-school in East Trenton, known as Millham. The Session, at a meet- ing held November 18, 1886, took action as follows: "That as the attention of the Session has been seriously turned to the necessity of Sunday-school work in Millham in view of the spiritual destitution of that population, and after careful consideration of the subject, the Session recommend that such work be taken up by this church, and that the matter be referred to a meeting of the congrega- tion to be held on Wednesday evening next, following Thanksgiving- next, for consideration, and that the pastor be requested, instead of the ordinary service, to present at such meeting the needs of such work, such statistics and other data upon the subject as he may think proper. "Resolved further. That a committee consisting of Elders Elmer and Hamill be requested to consider, and at such meeting report, what would be the best location for such Sunday-school building, and what would be the probable cost of organization and accommodation." The interest of Judge Caleb S. Green in the project is shown by the offer he made as set forth in the following letter : "Trenton, December 20, 1886. "To the Pastor and Session of the first Presbyterian Church. "My Dear Friends — In order to avoid any misunderstanding in re- lation to my proposal to aid in establishing the 'Millham Mission,' I desire to state in writing my several offers more in detail for the guidance of the Session in arriving at a safe conclusion. "i. Should the Session be in favor of what I termed an aggressive policy in carrying on the mission work, that is, in addition to the Sabbath-school, to make provision for maintaining regular religious FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 273 services for the adult population on the Sabbath, and if deemed ad- visable occasionally during the week, I ami willing and offer to purchase a suitable lot to be selected by a committee of the Session and myself, and to lease the same for the purposes of the mission at a nominal rent for a term of years (not exceeding ten), with the privilege on part of the lessees of purchasing the lot at any time during the term at the price paid by me therefor. The lessees to erect on the premises within six months from the date of the lease a suitable building for the Sunday-school work and religious services, to cost, with furnishing, not less than $2,000. The lessees to pay all taxes and assessments on the property during the term. Should the mission fail and the Session neglect to maintain the school and religious services for the period of six months, the lease to terminate and be at an end. "2. But should the Session deem it advisable first to try the experi- ment of establishing the school alone, before expending so large a sum of money and pledging themselves to the continuance of the work, I will, if a suitable house for the purpose can be obtained, pay a reasonable rent therefor for one or two years and aid in defray- ing the expense of any alterations necessary to be made for the accommodation of the school. "Although the foregoing is to be considered as the substance of my proposal, I will cheerfully consider any modifications the Session may deem desirable. "Caleb S. Green." The proposals contained in Judge Green's letter were then carefully considered and discussed by the Session, and 00 motion it was determined that the interests of the church will be most surely promoted by declining the first and accepting the second proposal, and the Clerk was directed to write to Judge Green, expressing to him the thanks of the Session for the very liberal proposals he has made for promoting the work in Millham, and informing him; that the second proposal contained in his communica- tion of the 20th inst. is accepted. The S'lmday-school was begun February 13, 1887, and its sessions were held in the public school building by the permission of the authorities. Mr. Moore Dupuy was elected Superintendent and Mr. Barton B. Hutchinson, Assistant Superintendent. The school grew rapidly, and on 18 PRES 274 HISTORY OF THE October 14, 1887, the Session considered plans for the pur- chasing of property and the erection of a building. Dr. William Elmer and Mr. Hugh H. Hamill were appointed a committee to confer with Judge Caleb S. Green. As a result of the conference Judge Green purchased the lot comer of North Clinton and Olden avenues at a cost of $5,000. The erection of the building and its furnishing cost $6,313.50, miaking the total cost of ground and build- ing $11,313.50. The building was dedicated on December 26, 1887. Preaching in the evening was soon begun with such encouraging results that on the first of May, 1889, Mr. D. R. Warne, a student at the Theological Seminary, of Princeton, was engaged for a period of five months to spend his entire time on the field. Mr. Warne's services were warmly appreciated and the chapel continued to make steady and rapid progress. On May 23, 1890, the Rev. Edward Scofield, of Newark, N. J., was called by the Session to give his whole time to the field, preach morning and night on the Sabbath and maintain a prayer meeting during the week. Mr. Scofield remained one year and then the Session invited the Rev. Frank B. Everitt, of Kansas City, Mo., to take charge of the chapel. Mr. Everitt took vigorous hold of the work and under his energetic leadership every department of church effort was pushed with vigor. He began his min- istry January 15, 1892, and at every communion there were regular, and sometimes large, additions made to the mem- bership. While onr Session gave close as well as constant supervision to the work carried on at the Chapel, yet a separate roll of the members was kept and a separate report made to Presbytery. When under Mr. Everitt's ministry it had been so prospered as to be able to care fully for all its ordinary financial responsibilities it was deemed advis- able to apply to Presbytery for organization. This was done and the Presbytery gave favorable consideration to FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 27s the petition oif the people and the request of the First Church Session and organized the East Trenton Presby- terian Church on April 21, 1899. While the fomial relation hitherto existing between the First Church and the Millham Chapel was thus brought to a close, yet ouir church maintains to this hour a deep and smypathetic in- terest in the activities and welfare of the church in East Trenton. From the very beginning of this enterprise our people supported it with enthusiasm, not only giving all needed financial aid, but workers in church, Sabbath-school, Industrial school and Club were never lacking. The story of its beginning and progress constitutes the brightest page in the history of the First Church during the pastorate of Mr. Dixon. The Rev. C. A. R. Janvier, pastor of the Fifth Presby- terian Churcli, O'f Trenton, announced his purpose to return to India as a missionary under the Foreign' Board. Mr. Janvier's early life had been- spent in India, where his father had been a missionary. When the congregation of the First Church learned of Mr. Janvier's purpose they resolved to provide for his salary in addition to making their annual offering for the general work of the Board. On July 15, 1887, the Session gave the pastor permission to secure from individuals such gifts as they might be disposed to' make foi- this purpose. The salary as determined by the Foreign Board was fixed at $1,000 per annum. There was practi- cally no difficulty in raising this sum^ year after year. Mr. Janvier was located at Fatehgarh, N. W. P., India, and bis reports, from time to time, kept the congregation informed as to his work and maintained the interest of the church in himi. After several years absence Mr. Janvier returned to this country for a brief visit. He addressed the congre- gation several times on the need and character of his work. He returned to India, where he continued to labor for a considerable time and then returned to this country to look 276 HISTORY OF THE after the education of his only son, who specially required his parents' attention because of seriously impaired eyesight. Mr. Janvier became pastor of the Holland Memorial Pres- byterian Church, of Philadelphia, where he still labors. It is interesting to note that young Mr. Janvier graduated from Princeton University with honor and has returned to India. For many years the congregation was interested in the work of the Rev. Henry D. Wood, of Carthage, N. C. Mr. Wood and his wife were well known to many of the older families of the congregation, and when they went to begin work amongst their own people (colored) of Carthage, they carried with them the substantial good-wishes of our people. In December, 1888, the sum of $820 was raised by Mr. Wood's personal canvass of our people, which en- sured the erection of a church building. Out of gratitude for the interest so long shown by the congregation in Mr. Wood and his work, Mr. Wood and his people called the church the "John Hall Chapel." The school and industrial work carried on by Mr. and Mrs. Wood also required a building, and this being secured it was named "Dayton Academiy," because of the special interest taken by the late Mrs. Wm. L. Dayton in this work. The young people of our church have kept up their devotion to this special enter- prise and for more than a quarter of a century have sent Christmas boxes and money to Mr. Wood's people. On April 3, 1887, Miss E. B. Johnson resolved toi show a practical interest in the religious welfare of the China- men in this city. Permission was given her to start a school on Sunday evenings in the lecture-room. Miss Johnson secured the co-ioperatioo of fourteen others and each had a class of one or more Chinamen. Quite a ntimber of these teachers were young women connected with the Model and Normal Schools. This class •ws.s maintained for several years. From time to time the men were addressed by FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 277 ministers and others who could speak to them in their own language. Amongst these was the Rev. Btenjamin C. Henry, D.D., who was for many years a missionary in China under the Foreign Board. What were the permanent results of this bit of foreign missionary work at home may .never be fully known in this life, but it is interesting to remember that at least one of these men, Joe Wong, by name, was converted and united with the church on con- fession of faith. His life and spirit were in every way exemplary and he gave abundant evidence that his conver- sion was both intelligent and thorough. For many years the Women's Foreigni Missionary So- ciety of the church provided the money necessary to pay the salary of Mrs. Hepburn, wife of Dr. James C. Hepburn, of Japan. Mrs. Hepburn's letters to the society were so interesting that she had gained for herself the deep affection of the women who fully appreciated the privilege of being brought into such close relationship with such a distin- guished missionary. When, then, it was learned that Dr. and Mrs. Hepburn proposed returning to this country, it was decided not only to invite them toi Trenton, but also to give them a public reception which, shouild suitably mark the esteem in which they were held. The reception occurred on May 31, 1889, was loyally attended and resulted in bringing up the interest of the entire congregation in Foreign Missions to a higher level than ever before reached. On April 20, 1891, a joint meeting of the elders and trustees was held, to arrange for the suitable observance of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Dr. Hall's ministry. On Sun- day, May 31, Dr. Hall preached his fiftieth anniversary sermon. Characteristically enough the sermon contained very little about himself or about his work. It was an affectionate and earnest setting forth of the gospel. On the following evening a public reception' was given him in the lecture-room; of the church and a purse of $1,000 in 278 HISTORY OP THE gold was presented to him. The whole occasion not only called forth the warmest appreciation of Dr. Hall and of the love and devotion of his people to him, bait also stirred most profoundly the tender sensibilities of the congregation, many of whom had grown to manhood and womanhood under his ministry. At a meeting of the Session held January 25, 1893, it was resolved to recommend the church to elect additional elders and deacons, and accordingly at a meeting of the church held on Pebmary 26, 1893, the following persons were chosen elders, viz., John S. Chambers, Edward T. Green, L^wis C. Wooley, and Henry D. Oliphant; also, Thos. S'. Chambers and Barton B. Hutchinson were chosen deacons. Both Mr. John S. Chambers and Thomas S. Chambers desired to be excused from accepting the offices to which they had been elected, and on Sunday, Februaiy 26, 1893, the remaining brethren were duly ordained and installed. By reason of subsequent deaths and changes among both elders and deacons another election was held December 13, 1897, when John H. Scudder, Moore Dupuy and O'scar Woodworth were chosen elders and Benjamin M. Phillips, Henry W Green and G. Abeel Hall were chosen deacons, and on the following Sunday were duly ordained and installed. At this point it may be proper to note that at the time when Mr. Dixon began his pastorate the Board of Trustees was constituted as follows, viz. : Hon. Caleb S. Green, President; Barker Gumm'ere, Chas. E. Green, Hon. William E. Dayton, Gen. William S- Stryker, Abner R. Chambers, and Edward Grant Cook. The secretary of the Board at that time was Mr. Benjamin E. Chambers, and the treasurer M^r. Thos. S. Chambers. To fill vacancies caused by death the following gentlemen were elected trustees between 1884 and 1898, viz. : Mr. E. O. Briggs, Mr. Elm-er E. Green, Mr. John S. Chambers, and Mr. Charles Whitehead. The presidents of the Board follow- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 279 ing Judge Caleb S. Green were Barker Gummere, William L. Dayton, Charles E. Green and Judge Elmer E. Green. The secretaries succeeding Mr. Benjamin F. Chambers were Mr. Lewis W. Scott and Mr. Nelson L. Petty. On May 10, 1894, Dr. Hall died at his residence 224 West State street, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. The funeral services were held in the church. The whole city was affected by the sad event and in various ways showed its deep appreciation of the long life, the noble character and the many and great services he had rendered to the church and the community. The address was de- livered by the Rev. John Hall, D.D., pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, of New York. The bo'dy was taken to Philadelphia for interment, and on the follow- ing Sunday Mr. Dixon preached a memorial sermon from Hebrews 13:7: "Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God : whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversa- tion." The following resolution, prepared by the committee appointed for the purpose, was adopted by the Session : "The Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, N. J., hereby makes formal record of the death of the Rev. John Hall, D.D., the pastor-emeritus of this congregation. It occurred on the tenth day of May, last past. "Nothing could be more foreign to our purpose in making this sad minute than to spread upon this record mere eulogium of him who was so dear to us as our Pastor, Associate and Friend. "Silence born of sorrow is more suggestive of our loss than would be the eloquence of studied praise. And we are well assured that we are in thorough accord with his own oft-expressed wish when we restrain, as best we may, the impulse to speak the words of tender commendation and loving regard which our saddened hearts do con- tinually suggest. "Yet we cannot refrain from confessing our sense of painful be- reavement that has followed the sundering of the tie which knit us together, nor fail to record our personal love for him; nor, as well, to express our gratitude to our Father in Heaven, who permitted him to labor among us and with us and for us for so many years. 28o HISTORY OF THE "Dr. Hall's thorough faithfulness in the discharge of his duties ; his high appreciation of his sacred office ; his witnessing for Christ boldly and always in his everyday life, made him a power not only in his own church but, as well, in the community in which he lived. While the unsullied honesty of his life, the purity and unselfishness of his purposes and the love and tender sympathy which impulsed every act, forever enshrine him in the hearts of this congregation. "He has left us to go to his eternal home. In his Father's house of many mansions prepared for him by his Lord and Saviour, he is at rest. While the unbidden tear will flow, we rejoice that he has won the victory and has gained the crown." The work of the church was carried on with regularity and steady progress was made in every department. Noth- ing of note occurred after Dr. Hall's death until Mr. Dixon notified the congregation Oif his intention to resign the pastorate, which he did on September 19, 1898. The Pres- bytery of New Brunswick, upon request oif the pastor and congregation, dissolved the pastoral relation which had existed for fourteen years and the Rev. Jamles O. Murray, D.D., was appointed to preach and declare the pulpit vacant. The Rev. Lewis Seymour Mudge was unanimously called to the pastorate on May 24, 1899. On June 27, 1899, he was received into the Presbytery of New Brunswick, the call was placed in his hands and he having signified his acceptance, September 27, 1899, was appointed as the time for his installation. On that date Mr. Mudge was duly installed as Pastor, the followingi taking part in the service : The Rev. Samuel McLanahan presided and asked the con- stitutional questions. The sermon was preached by the father of the pastor, the Rev. Lewis W. Mudge, D.D., the charge to the Pastor was delivered by the brother-in-law of the pastor, the Rev. James D. Paxton, D.D., and the charge to the people by the former pastor, the Rev. John Dixon, D.D. Thus was initiated a delightful, though a brief pastorate. Nominally, the relation thus established continued for twenty-six months, but in reality Mr. Mudge's FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 281 term of service ended on D'ecemiber 13', 1900, when, because of ill health, he was compelled to ask for a leave of absence which was finally extended to October i, 1901. The health of the pastor not having been sufficiently restored by this time to justify his return to his duties, he regretfully pre- sented his resignation to the Session on October 18, 1901. Ob November 4, 1901, the congregation reluctantly acquiesced in the pastor's wish that the pastoral relation be terminated and at the joint request oif pastor and people the Presbytery directed that the pastorate should end on November 24, 1901. Although Mr. Mudge was in active service but fourteen months, marked progress was made in several directions. The adjustments in membership required by the formation of the East Trenton Chapel into an independent organiza- tion were completed, the r*oll oif members thoroughly re- vised, and sixty- four new members, sixteen on profession of faith and forty-eight by letter, were added. The Sun- day-school, under the direction of Mr. Edward S. Wood, who was appointed Superintendent by the Session on No- vember 22, 1899, and) who assumed charge of the school on December 10, 1899, grew rapidly in numbers and in- terest, a factor in its success being the large Bible class conducted by the Pastor. On November 22, 1899, the envelope system was adopted for use in connection with the benevolences oif the church with most gratifying results, a much larger number of contributors being secured as well as greatly increased gifts. The publication of a weekly Church Bulletin wasi begun and proved a decided success in reducing to a minirnum the giving of notices from the pulpit and in disseminating information concerning the church's activities. On December 6, 1899, a new hymn book was adopted for use in the Mid-week Service and plans looking toward a change in the hymnal in use in the church services were 282 HISTORY OF FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. considered. The various Missionary Societies oif the church all showed healthy growth, the Golden Hour Circle more than doubling its mjembership. The Christian Endeavor Society continued its faithful work and the Chinese Sun- day-school maintained its helpful ministrations. Just previous to- the departure oif the pastor on his leave oif absence, at a conference held at his residence with a representative of those interested in the remodeling of the church and Sunday-school rooms, and with the architect, the plans for thhis remodeling, which were ultimately adopted, were practically agreed upon in outline. It is greatly to the credit of the congregation that in spite oif the handicaps placed upon the church, first, by the illness and then by the resignation of the pastor, these greatly-needed improvements were soon pushed to completion. It will therefore be seen that Mir. Mudge's pastorate, though so brief, was not without its permanent results. And it is a cause for proifound gratitude that pastor and people alike can look back upon the few months of labor which they enjoyed together with unalloyed satisfaction and to the early sundering of the ties which bound them officially with sincere regret. CHAPTER XXIV. Henry CoIvWN Minton, D.D. The contribution to the histoiry of this venerable church, Co be expected from its pastor, will be, of course, short and insignificant. Makers of history are poor writers of the histoTy which they make. As the soldier in the thick of the fight is too intent upon his own struggle to see how the battle goes, much less the war; or as the workman on the wall is too busy with his own task to realize how the splendid building rises, much less how the great city grows; so they whoi are busy doing their own day's work have not yet gained the clear and true perspective which discloses itself to the eye that surveys the field in the calm light O'f to-morrow's sun. We can only add a little foot-note to the chronicles of the past. The present pastorate began in November, 1902, and, accordingly, covers the last decade 0)f the 200 years oi the church's histo^ry. First O'f all, we have to thank a covenant- keeping God for his constant mercies that have never failed us in these short years of happy but unworthy service in His Name. These years have been filled with incidents and events which have left their indelible marks not only on the lives oi us all but also on the life of the church itself. Somie pastors are careful to prepare and preserve statis- tics O'f their work as it goes on. Others find this practice, if not distasteful, at least somewhat irksome and of doubt- ful profit. During the present pastorate, as we learn from the official records, 260 have, up to the time when this is written (February, 1912, a little more than nine years), (283) 284 HISTORY OF THE been received into the memibership of this church. During this time 91 have died and 47 have been dismissed, includ- ing a few names which, for sufficient and appropriate reasons, have been dropped from the roll. It will thus be seen that during these ten years many changes have been brought about, and these changes have been miore import- ant than at first glance might appear. In this staid old community it is somewhat remarkable that nearly one-half of the .present congregation should be, as such, less than ten years old. Every local church has its own distinct individuality and in the coiurse o'f two centuries the marks of that individuality have had ample time to become deeply fixed and well known to the community. This church has long been conspicuous for its intelligence in Christian doctrine, its fidelity to every trust, and its generous leadership in the support of all good works. It has not been swift to depart from the ways of the fathers or to forsake the familiar landmarks of the past. It has been the prolific and fostering mother of neighbor- ing churches, until now there are in- Trenton ten English- speaking, fully organized churches. It is easy to believe that this colonizing policy has been carried out as far as the present or prospective developments of the community have as yet warranted. Possibly, if their number were smaller their strength, in the aggregate, would be greater; but while the offspring have been scattered throughout the city, surrounding and circumscribing the sphere of this church, they leave the venerable mother at the old home- stead in the center. It is perhaps but natural that the younger and possibly more vigorous elements of the city's population should set up their residences in the outlying districts, thus making it more convenient and more natural that they should find their church homes also with these younger churches, rather than with the old First in the center of the city. Thus the familiar difficulties of the down-town problem have begun to emerge. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 285 And yet the central churches of Trenton, by reason of the peculiar geography of the city and of its converging trolley lines from every direction, are not likely to suffer from the down-town tendencies as do the central churches of many larger cities. And, in any case, the affectionate interest that centers in this ancient location, with its his- toric church-yard and its hallowed burial-ground, and the fond attachment for this very building itself, which is cherished by those to whom this church through all their life has meant so much, are, under God, a pretty safe guarantee that a good many years must yet pass by before the old First will face the exigencies of a change of loca- tion. We may content ourselves with merely mientioning a few of the outstanding features in the life and work of this church. In the first place, it is perfectly obvious that this old church is passing through a period of transition. It can never again be what it was when the sainted Dr. Hall, of blessed memo'ry, ministered to it, or even when Dr. Dixon came to be its pastor. There were giants in those days that made this State, and this dty, and this church famous everywhere. These saints have departed, and with their sons have come conditions which their fathers never knew. The very generosity of their unstinted beneficence may have taught the great body of the congregation, by undue reli- ance upon their gifts, to be impotent and dependent. This is always the peril that is incident to such large and well- meant liberality on the part of a generous and deeply interested few. The result of the changes thus induced, however, will not be unfavorable if the transition can be successfullly accom- plished. To this delicate and difficult work, much thought and great care have been devoted and we believe that with a growing sense of responsibility, the effect will be a 286 HISTORY OF THE strengthening of the forces in respect both of material re- sources and spiritual energies, as well as a more democratic spirit in that the burdens of self-support and the gifts for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God elsewhere will less and less be felt to be burdens, for the reason that they will be more widely and mo^re equally distributed throughout the membership of the entire congregation. Second, with such new policies of work, it will be noted that those policies must largely be committed to new hands. There are to-day in the Session of this church only two ruling elders who were in it ten years ago. It is a striking and melancholy fact that within a period of about three years five faithful and beloved elders oi our Session wore called to lay down their work. Oi the seven members oif the present Session, not one is a native child of the church in which they serve. This is fairly indicative of the changes in the membership of the church itself. Miany family names that were most prominent in former generations have entirely faded out from the records oi this church and, with the new century with its new conditions and new de- mands, the pews are to be occupied and the work is to be done in large measure by those who will not be influenced by old associations and drawn by ancestral traditions and attachm'ents. It is equally obvious that with the exig'ency comes^ its own opportunity. Few churches ever had a finer field or a more inviting^ opportunity for aggressive evangelistic en- deavor. The prestige of these two hundred years is an invaluable asset in the work for which this church is set. The present is the past, capitalized and at work. The past must lend itself to the present for the sake of the future. Those who have the heritage of ancestral associations and those who freely select for themselves this church as the home and field of their Christian service, must join hands in the common work with a common zeal and to a common FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 287 purpose. Only thus will the future be worthy of the past. Only thus will the prayers of the fathers in a half dozen generations be answered. Only thus will this church, planted in virgin soil by the hand of faith and sacrifice and Icept by the Grace of God during all the vicissitudes oif the years, go on to coming generations, rich in blessing, fruit- ful in labors, and faithful even unto the end. APPENDIX (289) 19 PRES APPENDIX I. CHAPTER I. 1. "William Dockwra, of London, to whom London owes the useful invention of the penny-post." (Oldmixon, "British Empire in Amer- ica.") 2. Of the company brought over by Pitlochie, seventy-two are said to have been "prisoners, banished to the plantations," and "made a pres- ent to the Laird." Their crime was non-conformity; and on the pas- sage, "when they who were under deck attempted to worship God by themselves, the captain would throw down great planks of wood in order to disturb them." The Rev. Mr. Riddel had already been im- prisoned several years in England. After the revolution he sailed for England (June, 1689), but was "captured by a French man-of- war, and after twenty-two months' imprisonment in France, he was at length exchanged for a Popish priest." (MS. History; citing Crookshank's Church of Scotland, vol. ii., no, 428. Cloud of Wit- nesses, App. 337.) 3. Only four copies of the original work are known to be extant, but it has been reprinted entire in the first volume of the collections of the New Jersey Historical Society, as an appendix to Mr. White- head's "East Jersey under the Proprietary Governments." The facility and satisfaction of reading this interesting document are much im- paired by its being printed in the obsolete orthography and abbrevia- tions of the original copy — a custom of our Historical Societies which seems to have very little to recommend it, even to the antiquary. In the edition of Evelyn's "Dairy," London, 1850, "in compliance with a wish very generally expressed, the spelling of the Diary has been modernized." 4. His grave is in the church-yard, with a Latin inscription, signify- ing: "The ashes of the very pious Mr. John Boyd, pastor of this church of Calvin^ are here buried, whose labor, although expended on a barren soil, was not lost. They who knew him well, at the same time prove his worth as rich in virtues. Reader, follow his footsteps, and I hope thou wilt hereafter be happy. He died August 30, 1708, the 29th year of his age." Mr. Boyd completed his trials with the Presbytery of Philadelphia September 27, 1706, and was ordained ten days afterwards. On the minutes of May 10, 1709, the following ex- pressive record is found: "The Rev. Mr. John Boyd being dead, what relates to him ceases." (291) 292 APPENDIX. The tombstone is now removed to the rooms of the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, and a commemorative monument is erected at the place. 5. Some pleasant associations must have lingered about the old name as late as 1824, when a Bible Society being formed in Trenton, the name was adopted of "The Bible Society of Delaware Palls." 6. In 1867 the Long Island Historical Society published the "Journal of a Voyage to New York and a Tour in Several of the American Colonies in 1679-80, by Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, of Vieward in Friesland," translated from the Dutch manuscript by Henry C. Murphy. (They were Labadists.) "November 17, 1679. The road from here (near Piscataway) to' the falls of the South (i. e., Dela- ware) river runs for the most part W. S. W. and then W. It is nothing but a foot-path for men and horses. — We saw many deer running before us. — As it was still daylight, and we had heard so much of the falls of the South river, or at least we ourselves had imagined it, we went back to the river to look at them, but we discovered we had deceived ourselves in our ideas. We had supposed it was a place where the water came tumbling down in great quantity and force, from a great height above, over a rock into an abyss, as the word falls would seemi to imply, and as we had heard and read of falls of the North river and other rivers. But these falls of South river are nothing more than a place of about two English miles in length, or not so much, where the river is full of stones almost across it, which are not very large, but in consequence of the shallowness the water runs rapidly and breaks against them, causing some noise, but not very much. The place, if it were necessary, could be made navigable on one side. As no Europeans live above the falls, they may so remain." — ^pp. 170-3. 7. From the "Journal" quoted above, at the same pages : "Resum- ing our route we arrived at the falls of the South river 3.bout sun- down, passing a creek (Assanpink?) where a new grist mill was erected by the Quakers, who live hereabouts in great numbers, and daily increase, but it seemed to us as if this mill could not stand long, especially if the flow of water were heavy, because the work was not well arranged. We rode over here and went directly to the house of the person who had constructed it, who was a Quaker, where we dismounted and willingly dismissed our horses. The house was very small and from the incivility of the inmates and the unfitness of the place, we expected poor lodgings — this miller's house is the highest up the river hitherto inhabited. Here we had to lodge, and, although we were too tired to eat, we had to remain sitting upright the whole night, not being able to find room enough to lie upon the ground. We had a fire, however, but the dwellings are so wretchedly con- structed that if you are set so close to the fire as almost to burn APPENDIX. 293 yourself you cannot keep warm, for the wind Dlows through them everywhere. Most of the English and many others have their houses made of nothing but clapboards, as they call them here (describes how they are made). When it is cold and windy the best people plaster them with clay. Such are most all the English houses in the country, except those they have which are built by people of other nations. Now, this house was new and airy; and as the night was very windy from the north, and extremely cold with clear moonshine, 1 will not readily forget it. About 10 o'clock, after we had breakfasted, we stepped into a boat in order to proceed on our journey down the river. The water was then rising, and we had to row against the current to Burlington. Before arriving at this village we stopped at the house of one Jacob Hendricks, from Holstein, living on this side. On their return (December 29, 1679), at or near Bordentown, "we crossed over about one o'clock, and pursued a foot-path along the river, which led us to a cart-road, and, following that, we came to the mew grist-mill at the falls, which, in consequence of the great flow of water, stood in danger of being washed away. Crossing here, we began our journey in the Lord's name, for there are no houses, from this point to Peskatteway, an: English village on the Raritans." "When we passed by the mill, a Quaker was there who gave us a letter, and told us it was difficult traveling on account of the height of waters in the creeks; that about eight miles further on some Indians had come to live, a little off the path on the left hand. We thought we could reach there by evening. We left the falls about 2 o'clock, following the ordinary path, which is the same for men and horses, and is grown up on both sides with bushes, which wore our breeches, stockings and shoes as much as all the woods in Mary- land together. The road runs from here E. N. E." A map is given with the above history, made by the travelers, en- titled (in Dutch) "The South river from its source to Burlington." The Rancocas is there "the Ohepiessing creek." Mill creek (Molekill) is the Assanpink. The names of property owners or holders, at the falls, are Richard Ridgway, 218 acres ; Wm. Biles, 309 ; Gilbert Wheeler, 205; Johan Uncas, 149; Robert Scolis, 206; Thos. Sibeley (?), 108; Johan Ackerman and son, 394. 8. The only positive evidence I have ever found that the name Ivittleworth, was actually used, is that of the Rev. Dr. Cooley, who states that he had seen a deed of two lots, lying east of Greene street, between Second street (now State) and the Assanpink, which were described as "being in Littleworth." The date of the deed is not given. It was probably the designation of some portion of the land too much exposed to the freshes of the creek to be as valuable as other parts. Smith's History, in the account of the great flood at Delaware Ealls in 1692, says: "The first settlers of the Yorkshire 294 APPENDIX. tenth in New Jersey had several of them built upon the low lands nigh the falls of Delaware, where they had now lived and been improving^ near sixteen years. It is to be hoped that there was nothing in the character of the settlers that suggested the application of Solomon's epithet : "The heart of the wicked is little worth." Proverbs lo : 20. Smith's language, when he mentions the death of Wm. Trent, Dec. 29, 1724, is: "Being a large trader at Trenton, when that place was laid out for a town, it from him took its name, being before signifi- cantly called Little- Worth." (History of New Jersey, chap, xxii.) In 1726 the Legislature granted to James, son of Wm. Trent, the exclusive use of the Delaware for a ferry, "two miles above and two below the falls." Smith's History, under date of 1765, says : "The courts are held at Trenton, a place of concourse and lively trade. It stands at the head of the tide, and in a high, pleasant situation. The inhabitants have a public library. Of places of worship [in Hunterdon county], the Presbyterians are nine, the Low Dutch do. one, German do. one. Episcopalians three, Quakers two. Baptists two." In a letter from Wm. Franklin (afterwards Governor) to his father, Burlington, June 10, 1767, he says : "Governor Wentworth [of New Hampshire] visited me on his journey home, and lay a night at my house. I next morning accompanied him as far as Trenton Falls, where we spent the day a fishing, and supped together." (Franklin's Correspondence, by Duane, p. 35.) "The first falls in Delaware river in Trent Town are opposite to the forty-seventh mile of this divisional line" — that is, Lawrence's line between East and West Jersey, run in 1743, and starting from Little Egg Harbor. {Douglass" Summary, ii., 282.) APPENDIX. 295 CHAPTER II. 1. One of the most prosaic downfalls in the history of the change of names, took place when the ancient English term for maidenhood was converted by the Legislature, in 1816, on the petition of the inhabitants, into Lawrence for the township and Lawrenceville for the town, in honor of the hero of the frigate Chesapeake. It would be a parallel improvement if the people of Virginia should drop the name of their State for one that would embalm the name of Captain John Smith. The original Maidenhead is a small town on the Thames, in Berkshire, and is partly in the parish of Bray; one, at least, of whose vicars is an historical personage. Not far from- the town is Salt Hill, famous with scholars for the Eton Montem. On January 6, 1816, the inhabitants of the township of Maidenheiid were convened to consider the proposed change of name. The meeting ordered the clerk of township to call a special meeting on the nesct Saturday (Jan. 13). At that meeting the proposal was negatived "by a majority of at least 3 to i" — not less than 60 against, not more than 20 for the measure. A committee of three was appointed to con- tract the proposed measure, who presented to the Legislature a remon- strance, stating that the township has borne the name for more than 120 years, and that the change was the suggestion of "men whom the inhabitants consider as aliens in the township." The statements of this page would be more exact by inserting, that by act of Assembly Jan. 22, 1709-10, Burlington county was made to include Maidenhead, Hope- well, and Amwell. The portion of Trenton, now above 'the Assanpink, was then in Hopewell. Hunterdon county, as set off in March, 1713-14, included what are now the counties of Morris, Sussex, Warren, and Hunterdon, and the present townships of Trenton, Ewing, Lawrence, and Hopewell, in Mercer county. 2. The two townships would have been a small circuit for a mission- ary, compared with some that were assigned in the last century by Presbyteries to Supplies and even to Pastors. In 1739 the Presbytery of New Brunswick directed one of their ministers to divide his time among the people of Allentown, Cranbury, Pepack, Lebanon, and Mus- kinicunck. In 1740 Mr. McCray accepted a call from Lametunck, Leb- anon, Pepack, Readingtown, and Bethlehem; and Mr. Robinson was directed to supply Middletown, Shrewsbury, Shark-river, Cranbury, Crosswicks, the Eorks, Green's, and Pahaqually. In 1749 Mr. Chesnut was appointed to supply Amwell for four weeks, then Penn's Neck, then Woodbury, then seven Sabbaths at Cape May. 3. January 18, 1806, a public dinner was given in Trenton to Capt, (afterwards Commodore) Bainbridge, upon his return from Barbary. 296 APPENDIX. The Commodore's family were of this locality and church. Edmund Bainbridge was an elder from the united churches of Trenton and Maidenhead in the Presbytery of October, 1794. John Bainbridge was one of the grantees in the church-deed of 1698, (page 15,) and that name is still visible on a tombstone in a deserted burying-place in Lam- berton. The inscription on Bainbridge's grave stands thus: "In memory of lohn Banbridge who di'd Febry. the I4tli. 1732. In ye 7Sth Year of his Age." The first i in his name was inserted after the name had been cut. The family name in England had another variety, as is found in an epigram quoted in Bayle's Dictionary, beginning — "Doctor Sowbridge came from Cowbridge." (Art. on John Bain- bridge; born 1582.) 4. There is "Thomas Byerly," 1712, in "New Jersey Archives," ist series, vol. iv., p. 169, and "T. Byerley," 1717, p. 310. 5. Richard Eayre. This is probably the same family that has since been better known as Eyres and Eyre. In our church-yard is the grave of "Sophia, relict of Capt. Richard Eyres, formerly of Philadelphia"; February 9, 1801 : aged 60. 6. Concerning an Episcopal Church in Hopewell, John Talbot, of Burlington, writes, October 28, 1714, "The church at Hopewell has been built these ten or twelve years, and never had a minister settled there yet, though they have sent several petitions and addresses to the Society (for the Propagation of the Gospel), but I understand since that Hopewell, Maidenhead, &c., are kept under the thumb for Cotton Mather and the rest of the New England Doctors to send their emis- saries; and these hirelings have often come there, and as often run away, because they are hirelings, and care for no souls but themselves." Hills' "History of Burlington Episcopal Church," p. 126. Also, Talbot writes September 20, 1723, "I have been this month at Trenton, at Hopewell and Amwell, preaching, and baptizing nineteen persons in one day." (Hills', p. 175.) J. Bass (Hills' "History," p. 131) — no date — speaks of the "church at Hopewell, in the upper part of the county of Burlington, which hath since been finished, which was for some time supplied by the Rev. Mr. May, but is now without any minister." Jona. Odell, missionary at Burhngton, July S, 1768, is quoted in Hills' "History," as follows : "I think it my duty to represent to the Society the importance of a mission at Trenton. There is no other Episcopal church on the great road between Burlington and Bruns- APPENDIX. 297 wick, a distance of more than forty miles. Within the memory of many persons yet living, the inhabitants of Trenton and the country for some distance round it were chiefly members of the Church of England, and the few Dissenters that were among them were mostly Quakers." See "New Jersey Archives,'' ist series, vol. iv., pp. 156, 225. The Trenton "State Gazette," May, 1881, contained the following article descriptive of the church property held by the Episcopalians : The document, of which the following is a copy, represents the first establishment of the Episcopal Church of Trenton, New Jersey. It was located on a part of the 5,000 acres taken up by Thomas Hutchin- son, known as "Hutchinson's Manor," which had then, by the death of Thomas, fallen to his only son, John Hutchinson. Part of its walls are still standing on a hill a short distance beyond the State Lunatic Asylum. It was used by the Episcopalians until the building of their church (St. Michael's) in Trenton. It is worthy of note that Thomas Tindall was most prominent in its establishment and erection, and was one of its first Wardens. Thomas Hutchinson (the proprietor) had only one son, "John" here named. John had two sons, Marmaduke and Isaac. Marmaduke did not attain manhood. Isaac was living in Trenton in 1749, after which all trace is lost of him, and of the descendants of Thomas Hutchinson. "Richard Ingoldsby, Esquire, Lieut. Governor of Her Majesties Provinces of New Jersey, New York, and all the Territories, &c, depending thereon, in America &c. — To Thomas Tindall, Roger Parke, Robert Eaton and Andrew Heath, Greeting. — Whereas several of the Inhabitants of the Township of Hope- well, in her Majesty's Province of New Jersey, out of a pious designe, to promote the honour of God, and the advancement of the Protestant religion, and Church of England, as by law established; and in order thereunto, have purchased a convenient Tract of Land of John Hutchinson, deceased, as by the deed of sale thereof, bearing date, the twentieth day of April Anno Dom. 1703, for the erecting and building a house for the more decent worshipping of God, accord- ing to the usage aforesaid; and have by voluntary contributions begun to erect and build the same; for which they have also desired my Lycense, — These are therefore to Lycense, authorise or empower you, or any three or more of you, to erect and build, upon the said Tract of Land, as purchased, as aforesaid; a church or place for the more decent worshipping of God, according to the forms and worship of the Church of England as by law established ; and also to take and receive such gifts and Contributions as well-disposed people shall voluntarily bestow, for the said pious designe. — Hereby appointing ye the said Thomas Tindall and Robert Eaton 298 APPENDIX. to be church wardens, of the said church; to be called by the name of "Christ Church", for the year next ensuing.— Giving hereby and Granting unto you; in Conjunction, with the minister and vestry, of the said church, all such power and privileges as the minister. Church wardens and vestrymen, usually have and enjoy in the Kingdom of England. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seale, the third day of April, Anno Reg. Regn Anna Nunc Anatic &c. — Anno Dom. 1705. By his honners Commd. Rich. Ingoldsby. J. Bass." 7. "John Dagworthy,'' 1732, New Jersey Archives, vol. v., p. 317. 8. Richard Scudder and Jacob Reeder, whose names are at the head of the list on page 19, were lineal ancestors of Jasper S. Scudder and wife, their great-great-grandfathers respectively. The great-great- grandfathers, great-grandfathers, grandfathers and fathers of each are buried in the Ewing church-yard; and Jasper S. Scudder and wife have a son and grandson there — seven generations (including J. S. S. and wife, living in 1867). 9. The genealogy of the family of Burroughs may be found in Riker's Annals of Newtown, Queen's County, New York, published in 1852. The first of the name came from England to Salem, Massa- chusetts, in 1637, and died in 1678. His name was John. His son, Joseph, "a liberal supporter of the Presbyterian ministry in Newtown," died in 1738. Joseph's son, John, who married Margaret Renne in 1721, "owned land at Trenton," and died at Newtown, July 7, 1750. Mr. Charles Burroughs, who has been a trustee of our church since 1826, is a great grandson of the grantee in Ivockart's deed. His father, John Burroughs, died in Trenton, April 28, 1842, in his eighty-ninth year. 10. In Mr. Riker's work there is also given a history of the Sachet family, which appears to have been that with which the two grantees- of the name, and also the clergyman hereafter mentioned, were con- nected. Simon was a family-name. 11. The Ewing Church of 1795 was begun that year, but not finished until October 7, 1797. The first sermon in it was by Mr. Rue, October iS> 1797- (See sermon by Rev. David Judson Atwater at the last service in that church, March 3, 1867, previous to its being removed for a new one.) The new stone church was dedicated November 20, 1867. Dr. J. Hall preached, Ps. 96 : 9. 12. Mrs. Esther Mcllvaine, who died in Ewing, October, i860. 13. For fuller history of Hopewell, see "A History of 'the Old Pres- byterian congregation of the people of Maidenhead and Hopewell, APPENDIX. 299 more especially of the First Presbyterian Church of Hopewell at Pennington, N. J." By George Hale, D.D., Philadelphia, 1876. 14. Pennington "was first named Queenstown, in honor of Queen Anne." "The settlement of the village began near 1708." "As early as 1747 it began to be called Pennington." "The old congrega- tion was known in its earliest history as 'the people of Maidenhead and Hopewell.' " Hale, p. 47. 15. The Presbytery of East Jersey was formed by the Synod in 1733, by dividing the Presbytery of Philadelphia. In 1738 the Presby- teries of East Jersey and Long Island were united as the Presbytery of New York. In a subsequent day of the same sessions (May 2Sj 1738), the Presbytery of New Brunswick was formed out of the Presbytery of New York. Its bounds were "all to the northward and Presbytery of New York. Its bounds were "all to the northward and also Staten Island, Piscatua, Amboy, Boundbrook, Basking Ridge, Turkey, Rocksiticus, Minisink, Pequally, and Crosswicks." (Printed "Records," pp. 104, 134, 136.) This left our churches in the Pres- bytery of Philadelphia. 16. In 1886 I found in possession of Mrs. Cook, of Trenton, a volume of Records of Hopewell Church, which Dr. Hale had not seen until I showed it to him, with various items from 1730 to 1785. I made a memorandum of these, the most important being a list of com- municants of "Trenton" (Ewing), from 1733 to 1737, at the end of the Session book of the First Church (1806 to 1838), pp. 263-9, which see. 300 APPENDIX. CHAPTER III. 1. In that inexhaustible entertainment for the local antiquary, "Wat- son's Annals of Philadelphia," is a history and engraving of the house occupied by Col. Trent in Philadelphia from 1703 to 1709. It is the house still standing (1858) at the corner of Second street and Norris' alley, and was first inhabited by William Penn; (Annals, Edition of 1850, vol. i., 164.) In a Trenton newspaper of 1840 I have marked this announcement : "Died at her residence near this city, December 20, 1840, Mary, widow of Nathan Beakes, in her 79th year — the last per- son that had borne the name of Trent." In Hills' "History of the Episcopal Church in Burlington," I find reference as follows : "I waited on the Governor on Sunday morning with Mr. Trent, the chief man in the church." (Letter of Talbot to the Bishop of London, October 12, 1715), p. 141. From Trenton, September 20, 1723, Daniel Coxe and William Trent write to the Secretary of the S. P. G. about the church in Burlington, p. 173- A facsimile of Trent's signature is in the "New Jersey Archives," ist series, vol. v., p. 77. 2. A facsimile of Stacy's signature is in the "New Jersey Archives," 1st series, vol. v., p. 317. 3. The deed is in the possession of our trustees. It is recorded in book AT., p. 108. The grant is described as "a certain piece or lot of land lying on the north side of Second street, that goes to the iron- works in Trenton, containing in length 150 feet, and in breadth 150 feet; with all the mines, minerals, woods, fishings, hawkings, huntings, waters, and water-courses." The iron-works were about a mile east- ward of the church. 4. The original is with the trustees ; it is recorded in book AT., p. 114. There is a tradition that Andrus gave the lot for the church. The church first went by the name of "Anderson's Meeting-house," but Andrus was offended about letting of pews. The fourth and fifth generations in descent from Enoch Andrus, (Anderson,) are now mem- bers of the city church. 5. Enoch Anderson is mentioned in a letter of Theos. Severns, Tren- ton, May 29, 1750, in "New Jersey Archives," vol. vii., p. 546, as "a person intended to be appointed sheriff of Hunterdon county by your Excellency, upon which Mr. John Coxe replied 'the Governor dare not do it.'" In the "Pennsylvania Gazette" of June 15, 1758, is the following: "To Be Sold. The House and Lot of Land wherein Enoch Anderson, APPENDIX. 301 Deceased, lately lived; as also several other Lots of Land, situate in Trenton, in the county of Hunterdon, belonging to the Estate of the said Enoch Anderson. The Titles to the same are indisputable. Any Person or Persons inclinable to purchase the same, or any Part thereof, by applying to John Anderson, in Maidenhead, or to Abraham Cott- nam, in Trenton aforesaid, may be informed of the iConditions, &c." In the present church-porch is a grave-stone, "In memory of Enoch Anderson, who departed this life April 15th, 1756. Aged 59 years." In the church-yard hedge is the grave of "Margaret Anderson; 1733.'' Among the oldest is that of Robert Archbold, who died September 2, 1734. Aged 25 years. In the minutes of the Philadelphia Synod, September 19, 1733, is this record : "Upon a supplication of the people of Trenton, presented to the Synod by the committee of the Synod, it was recommended by said committee that the commission of the Synod do allow something out of the fund to Trenton, as to them shall appear needful, when they are settled with a minister: which overture being read was approved by the Synod nemine contradicento." 6. In the records of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, Sept. 19, 1734, "a letter from the people of Trenton desiring care to be taken to pro- cure a minister for them was read; but nothing was or could be done to purpose about it at that time." 7. A letter from William W. Cowell to J. Hall, dated Wrentham, Mass., Nov. 16, 1871, says : "Hon. Ezra Wilkinson is collecting materials for a history of this town: and as the descendant of Joseph Cowell he purchased the old homestead in the town where his sons Joseph, David and Ebenezer lived, and where the first Joseph, the second Joseph, Samuel, son of Joseph II, my father William, the son of Samuel, all lived and died, where I was born and lived some thirty years, and where my sister now resides, and where seven generations of the Cowell race and name and blood have gathered from time to time." "Joseph Cowell married Martha Eales in 1701, and lived the first nine years of his life in the then town of Dorchester, but which was soon annexed to Wrentham. In fact it was within two miles of the old homestead and some twenty-five miles from Dorchester proper. The record of his marriage, the birth of all his children, including my great- uncle David, do not appear at all upon the records of that town, but upon the records of Wrentham." Mr. W. W. Cowell sent me the engraved family-tree : the root, "John Cowell came from England" ; the main stem, "Joseph settled in Wren- tham, U. S., A.D. 1690"— father of David, Ebenezer and Joseph. David L. Cowell wrote me in 1874, irom Brockton, "that David Cowell was born December 12, 1704," as recorded in the Wrentham records. "Whether the spot on which he was born was really within 302 APPENDIX. the limits of Dorchester and subsequently annexed to Wrentham, or whether it was only supposed to have been in Dorchester until a more accurate survey decided that it belonged to Wrentham, I cannot posi- tively say. I have, however, seen an old list of taxpapers, dated as early as 1704, where his name appeared as of Wrentham. * *' * j^ would seem that it would be more appropriate to credit his birthplace to Wrentham." 8. Cornelius Ringo's name is in the advertisement quoted on p. 64. A meeting of the inhabitants of Hunterdon county was held "at the house of John Ringo in Amwell," July 8, 1774, Samuel Tucker in the chair, expressing loyalty to George III, but protesting against inter- ference with colonial rights, and appointing a committee to unite with the other counties in choosing delegates to Congress. The committee were, Samuel Tucker, John Mehelm, John Hart, Isaac Smith, Charles Coxe, Joachim Griggs, Benjamin Brearley, Abraham Hunt, John Emley. "M'inutes of Provincial Congress and Council of Safety of New Jer- sey," Trenton, 1877, P- i3- 9. I have a writ of summons, dated Sept. 6, 1720, commanding Henry Venhook (Verbrook?), Francis Kaine and Hezekiah Bonham, junior (see p. is), and Hezekiah Bunill to appear at the next General Quarter Sessions of the Peace at Trenton, witness, John Porterfield, "one of our Justices of the Peace of the county (Hunterdon)": Signed Wm. D. Yard, clerk, and addressed to Nathaniel Moor, constable. The seal is a crown and legend, "Tout pour — " the rest illegible. 10. An article in the New York Observer, a few years ago, said, "In the register of baptisms by the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, Rev. Jedediah Andrews, are found the names of Richard Scudder and his nine children, living on the river five miles above the 'Falls of the Delaware,' as the site of Trenton was then called. Richard Scudder had come from Long Island in 1704, and purchased a tract two miles in extent on the Delaware river, a por- tion of which is still possessed by his descendants. Rev. Jasper Scud- der Mcllvaine, for some years missionary of the Presbyterian Board at Shantung, China, is the seventh in lineal descent from' Richard Scudder and William Mcllvaine, one of the first elders of the First Church of Philadelphia." Rev. Jasper Scudder Mcllvaine, who died in China in 1881, was a grandson of Jasper Smith Scudder, the Treasurer of the First Church, Trenton, in 1859, and died in 1877. 11. Andrew Reed was possibly the first postmaster of Trenton. (See note on p. 63.) 12. "Boaz" is so written in the will, but Prof. Henry Reed, of Phil- adelphia (grandson of General Joseph), writes to me, October 27, 1876: "His mother's name being Theodosia Bowes, who was a daughter of Francis Bowes." APPENDIX. 303 "Lieutenant-Colonel Bowes Read" is mentioned in "Minutes of Provincial Congress," pp. 470, 573, 575. For Andrew Reed's daughter, Mrs. Montgomery, see page 135. 13. In "The Presbyterian," of August 17, 1861, is an obituary of Upton Reid, who died in Harford county, Maryland, July 17, 1861, aged 81 years. "He was the sixth of nine children of Clotworthy Reid and Mary Alexander, of County Antrim, Ireland." "His mother died when he was five years of age, and his father when he was thirteen. He came to this country when very young. For some years he lived in Chester county, Pennsylvania, but for more than forty within a mile of where he died." Rev. A. B. Cross, of Baltimore, writes me that "the above Clotworthy Reid and Mary Alexander were married January 18, 1770, and he died May 2, 1793, aged forty-three." 14. Ralph Smith's name follows that of Andrew Reed', and Samuel Johnson that of Cornelius Ringo. Both are in a list of subscribers of tbe "Province of New Jersey,'' to the first edition of Edward's "Life of Brainard," 1749. In a letter of Tbeophilus Severns to Gov- ernor Belcher, Trenton, May 29, 1750. he relates conversation of Johi Coxe, unfavorable to the Governor "when I was in company with Mr. John Coxe, Judge Nevill, Ralph Smith and others." 15. "Mr. Thomas's interest in Trenton had been bought by Robert Lettice Hooper for £2,900 sterling — thought a good sale." Letter of Governor Belcher, June 8, 1751, "Analytical Index." 16. "The papers of Lewis Morris," vol. iv. of Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society, pp. 9, 325, etc. Morris's rent in Trenton was sixty pounds ($160), the landlord expending i200 "in putting of it into repair and building a wing for a kitchen to lodge servants." "The lessee might cut his fire-wood, but not of timber-trees." "Our house is good," writes the Governor in 1744, "and not one chimney in it smokes. I have not yet got into ploughing and sowing, having but little ground, and that but ordinary, and much out of order, but shall try a little at it, when I get it into something better fence, which I am doing." 304 APPENDIX. CHAPTER IV. 1. Mr. Temient's warmth was undoubtedly increased by his belief that the cautiousness of the Synod in regard to the scholarship of candidates arose from a want of confidence in the accomplishments of the pupils of the Neshaminy Academy, established by his father. The arts and sciences were not thought to be as well taught there as the classics. Thus, Dr. Alexander remarks that the schism "was actually produced by the Log College." (Log College, pi 57.) Rowland was educated there, and, of course, by the Synod's rule, was subject to examination. 2. The old congregation were represented by Enoch Armitage, Thomas Burrowes, Edward Hart and Timothy Baker; the "new erection" by Benjamin Stevens, John Anderson, Samuel Hunt, and Joseph Birt. "We had the privilege," wrote Rowland, "minister at Hopewell," "of Maidenhead meeting-house [1738], and my people built a meeting- house in Hopewell. There is another town [township] lying contiguous to Hopewell, which is called Amwell. They petitioned for a part of my time, viz., one Sabbath in three." William Tennent writes in Octo- ber, 1744: "About four weeks since I gathered a church, and celebrated the Lord's Supper at a new erected congregation in the towns of Maidenhead and Hopewell." ("Gillies' Collections," ii., 137, 323.) This was a mile west of Penningtonv and was but a temporary secession, both parties reuniting afterwards in the old church, probably in 1766. 3. The unhappy personal effects lingered still longer. Dr. Green was ordained in Philadelphia in 1787, and says : "The arrangements for my ordination had been made with a view to mingle, and, if possible, to harmonize the old side and the new side members of the Presbytery. For although twenty-nine years had elapsed, since in. 1758 the rival Synods had become united, two Presbyteries of Philadelphia had existed, composed severally of the litigant parties ; and the aged mem- bers of both sides had retained something of the old bitter feelings towards each other." ("Life," p. 154.) The church where Df. Green was ordained and installed had the less favorable associations for the purpose mentioned, as it was the one built by the exertions of Gilbert Tennent, for a people described by Dr. Franklin as "originally disciples of Mr. Whitefield." In com- pliance with the philosopher's advice, Tennent "asked of everybody; and he obtained a much larger sum than he expected, with which he erected the capacious and elegant meeting-house that stands in Arch street" (Franklin's Autobiography: Sparks, i., 168.) 4. The custom in Newark as late as 1 791. Whitehead's Perth Am- boy, p. 319. APPENDIX. 30s 5. The Friends were also traveling about from meeting to meeting during this period. Prom "John Griffith's Journal," London and Phil- adelphia, 1780, pp. 55 and 56, we take these items: "About the latter end of the year 1744 — I went into West Jersey to visit the following meetings, as I found my mind drawn thereunto, viz. : Haddonfield, Chester, Evesham, Mt. Holly, Ancocas, Old Spring- field, Trenton and Burlington quarterly meetings." "In the fifth month (1746) I visited the county of Bucks, and had meetings at Middletown, Smith, the Falls," etc. 6. The sessions of the Commission appear to have been opened as formally as those of the Synod. I have before me, in a pamphlet, "A Sermon preached before the Commission of the Synod at Philadelphia, April 2Dth, 1735. By E. Pemberton, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in the City of New York." The dedication "to the Reverend Com- mission of the Synod," refers to its having been "preached in obedience to your commands." 7. The address to the Governor, signed by Cowell, and the Gov- ernor's reply, are in the Pennsylvania Gazette of June 9, 1743. 8. The Synod's "Fund" was for such "'pious uses'' as were desig- nated from time to time. The "Analytical Index" gives the heads of several communications that passed between Governor Franklin and the Royal authority in England in reference to a petition of the Presbyterian clergy in New Jersey, for a charter for the Widows' Fund. See index under dates of May II, 1772; February 27, April 10, June 2, October 18, 1773. The charter was granted. 9. It may have been expected that some notice should be found in this chapter of the celebrated case which was before the Supreme Court at Trenton, in 1742, in which the Rev. William Tennent was arraigned for perjury, on account of the evidence he had given to prove that the Rev. John Rowland was far from Hunterdon county when Bell, assuming his name, stole a horse. But I trust that an authentic account of that whole affair will soon be furnished by a more competent hand, and I believe that it will be made to appear that there is no foundation for the story of the supernatural mission of witnesses from Maryland to Trenton. A paper to this effect, by Mr. Richard S. Field, has already appeared in the "Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society." (Vol. vi., p. 31.) An article upon "The Trial of the Rev. William Tennent," by Hon. Henry W. Green, in the "Princeton Review," July, 1868, concludes: "We assert, therefore, with perfect confidence, that his deliverance' was not effected by supernatural means, and that the attendance of the witnesses was not procured by a dream." 21 PRES 3o6 APPENDIX. CHAPTER V. 1. Among the debits of the Treasurer's book, in account with the Trenton parsonage, are frequently to be found such items as, "to hoops for the well-bucket," "for cleaning the well," "to a rope for the well." 2. In a letter of 1730-1, quoted in Whitehead's History of Perth Amboy (p. ISS), the writer remarks that in 1715 "there were but four or five houses in the thirty miles between Inian's Ferry (New Bruns- wick) and the Falls of Delaware; but now the whole way it is almost a continued lane of fences and good farmers' houses, and the whole country is there settled or settling very thick." 3. The barracks are frequently mentioned in the minutes of the Provincial Congress. January 13, 1776, "The prisoners of war, now in the barracks at Trenton" are ordered to be removed by the Com- mittee of Observation, "in order that the Continental forces may occupy the said barracks.'' February 2, Abraham Hunt and Alexander Chambers were requested to value the blankets in the barracks, and appropriate them to the use of the Continental forces. At the same session Alexander Chambers and William Tucker were appointed barrack-masters, and instructed to repair the barracks for use. It was as early as 1758 that the Colonial Legislature provided for barracks at Trenton and four other points, each capable of holding 300 men. A full relation of the particulars is given by a member and trustee of our First Church, Adjutant-General William S'. Stryker, in the "Pro- ceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society," January, 1881. In a letter of Governor Franklin to the British Secretary of State, 1766, the statement is made that many of the king's troops "acknowl- edge that they are better accommodated here than they had ever been at barracks in Europe." See "Archives of New Jersey,'' first series, vol. ix., p. 577. In the Pontiac War, 1763-4, the persecuted Christian Moravian Indians, on their way from Pennsylvania to New York, were allowed quarters at the barracks in the towns through which they passed. "They spent the first night at Bristol and the second in the barracks at Trenton. Here (Joseph) Fox and (William) Logan took leave of them." "The Indians spent eight days in the barracks at Amboy." De Schweinitz's "Life of Zeisberger," chap. xv. 4. Items collated since the completion of the text of chapter v., are as follows : "I have seen several of the principal towns of the government, and bave not seen one that has in it 200 dwelling houses." Governor Belcher, in "New Jersey Archives," vol. vii., p. 66 (1747). "Trenton, with 130 houses. Near to this lie the valuable copper APPENDIX. 307 mines, for the use of the one-third of which Governor Morris within eighteen months, in 1755, paid five thousand pounds." Israel Acrelius, in "Description of Swedish churches of New Sweden," Stockholm,' I7S9, reprinted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. "Two other large and thriving towns, which make much more use of the post, * * * viz., Trenton and Brunswick." Dr. Franklin, Deputy Postmaster-General, April 23, 1761. In "New Jersey Archives," ix., p. 267. In the "letter addressed to the Abbe Raynal," by Thomas Paine, in answer to the Abbe's account of the American Revolution, Phila- delphia, 1782, referring to the battle of Trenton, he says of the town : "Trenton is situated on a rising ground, about three-quarters of a mile distant from the Delaware, on the eastern or Jersey side, and cut into two divisions by a small creek or rivulet." "The upper division, which is to the northeast, contains about seventy or eighty houses, and the lower about forty or fifty. The ground on each side this creek, and on which the houses are, is likewise rising, and the two divisions present an agreeable prospect to each other, with the creek between, on which there is a small stone bridge of one arch." Rev. Manasseh Cutler's description (1787) in "Proceedings of New Jersey Historical Society,'' 1873, P- 93, is as follows : "We made our first stage to Trenton (from Princeton, via Maidenhead), thirteen miles, at Vandegrift's tavern, at the ferry. This town is spread over a considerable space of ground. There are parallel streets that pass through the body of the town, and are connected by cross streets at right angles. There are no considerable buildings. The town is at a small distance from the Delaware river, and is situated on a river (Assanpink creek), that comes in from the northeast and unites with the Delaware at this place. There is only one small meeting-house and one church in this town. I therefore conclude that the people are not much disposed to attend public worship, for the two houses, I presume, are not sufficient to hold one-third of the inhabitants. Over the river in the compact part of the town is a spacious stone bridge, supported by arches built with stone and lime, and with a high wall on each side handsomely laid. At the foot of the bridge are mills for grinding and bolting wheat. These mills are contained in a very large stone building three stories high, and are remarkable for the prodigious quantity and excellent quality of the flour which is ground in them every twenty-four hours. The houses in this, and indeed in all the towns in New Jersey, are built 'in a style very different from that of New England. But I think it far less elegant, and by no means so good an effect on the eye. The want of large meeting-houses and towering steeples is a great defect. Neither are the houses so spacious or so well-built." "This town, with Lamberton, which joins it on the south, contains upwards of 200 houses, besides public buildings. In the neighborhood 308 APPENDIX. of this pleasant town are several gentlemen's seats, finely situated on the banks of the Delaware and ornamented with taste and elegance." From "An Historical, Geographical, Commercial and Philosophical View of the American United States,'' by W. Winterbotham, London, 1795, four volumes. In the same words "Guthrie's Geography,'' first American edition, Philadelphia, 1794-S, with the addition of "and about 2,000 inhabitants." Both say, "The inhabitants have lately erected a handsome court- house, 100 feet by 50, with a semi-hexagon at each end, over which is a balustrade." Also in "Nathaniel Dwight's Geography," Hartford, 1795. "Q. What is the capital of New Jersey? A. Trenton; it is the largest town in the State, though it does not contain more than 200 houses." In Goldsmith's "Easy Grammar of Geography," Philadelphia, 1811 : "Trenton, which is the seat of justice, contains but about 2,000 in- habitants." 5. There was a Sir John St. Clair in Braddock's army, who arrived in January, 1755 ; was Lieutenant-Colonel of the 22d Regiment, and Deputy Quartermaster-General for all the forces in America. In 1762 he was made a full Colonel. On the list of the wounded at the defeat (July 9, 1755) he was put down as "Sir John Sinclair, Baronet, Dep. Q. M. Gen." (Winthrop Sargent's History of Braddock's Expedition; Pennsylvania Historical Society, pp. 136, 143, 285.) The death of "Hon. Col. Sir John St. Clair, Bar't.," is announced in the newspapers of the day as having taken place at Elizabethtown, December, 1767. There was a "Captain Rutherford" with St. Clair in the Expedition. From some references and correspondence, it would appear that Sir John was a petulant officer. See "Letters and Papers relating to the Provincial History of Pennsylvania," principally from papers of the Shippen family, privately printed. Philadelphia : pp. 36-8, 61, 151. In one letter Sir John speaks of "Betsey — I mean. Lady St. Clair." W. A. Whitehead (Newark, July 7, 1859) writes about "a letter which I found among some MSS. added to my collection a few days ago." "The letter is dated at 'Belville,' Sept. 16, 1765, but references in the letter indicate a location near Trenton, its purport being that a certain old woman had, in his absence, intruded herself intO' his Greenhouse, where Lady St. Clair 'lay in' and was then confined to her bed; and afterwards went to his dwelling-house and stole 'four pair of Lady St. Clair's silk stockings,' and two silver spoons, but although caught, the Justice before whom she was taken allowed her to go off, ordering 'a constable to see the thief over Trenton Bridge.' The letter is addressed to Cortlandt Skinner, the Attorney-General, and he threatens' to "look out for another place of abode 'if the Justices are not restrained from conniving at robberies,' signing himself 'John Sinclair.' " APPENDIX. 309 The "Historical Magazine" of May, 1862, says : "Sir John St. Clair, haronet, was from Argyleshire. He had been Lieutenant-Colonel of the 22d Foot, then appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General of this ex- pedition (battle of Monongahela, July, i7SS) with the rank of Colonel in America only. In this defeat he was shot through the chest. On January 6, 1756, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the 3d Battalion, Royal American or 6oth Foot, and served with his regiment until the peace of 1763, when the 3d and 4th Battalions were disbanded, and he retired on half-pay, having been previously made Colonel in the army (February 19, 1762). He died towards the end of 1767, at Elizabethtown, New York (sic), according to the Gentleman's Maga- zine." Concerning the baronetcy, "Chambers' Miscellany,'' vol. 6, p. 2, (Stirling case), says: "To induce British subjects, especially Scots- men of rank, to take land in the district, the new dignity of baronets of Nova Scotia was created. It was to be conferred on acceptable persons who paid for and received a grant of 10,000 acres of land in the colony." "Maritime Provinces," Boston, 1875, p. 76, also says: "The order of the baronets of Nova Scotia was founded by King Charles I. in 1625, and consisted of 150 well-born gentlemen of Scotland, who re- ceived with their titles and insignia presents of 18 square miles each, in the wild domains of Acadia. These manors were to be settled by the baronets at their own expense, and were expected to yield hand- some revenues. But little was ever accomplished by this order." Hills' "History of Episcopal Church in Burlington," p. 273, "March 17, 1762, Sir John St. Clair, baronet, and Elizabeth Moreland, married in Burlington by Rev. Colin Campbell." "I wrote him (Dr. Johnson) one letter to introduce Mr. Sinclair (now Sir John), the member for Caithness, to his acquaintance." Boswell, A. D. 1782. From a Boston paper, 1768: "Philadelphia, Dec. 7, 1767.— On Wed- nesday, the 23d November, at his home in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, died Sir John St. Clair, baronet. Colonel of His Majesty's Regiment, and Quartermaster-General of the Army in North America, in which station he has acted for 13 years with great honour and integrity. His death was occasioned by a wound he received through the lungs, on the banks of the Monongahela, in July, 1755, at Braddock's un- fortunate defeat, of which wound he never recovered. He was be- tween so and 60 years of age, and has been near 40 years in His Majesty's service. He acted on all occasions with a firmness of spirit, resignation and dignity becoming his profession and character. His remains were interred on Saturday, the 26th, with all military honours. His Excellency, General Gage, accompanied by the gentlemen of his suite from headquarters, and. the officers from the adjacent garrisons in New York and New Jersey attended the solemnity. 310 APPENDIX. "His only son, now Sir John St. Clair, succeeds to his title and estates.'' 6. In the first edition (1708) of Oldmiixon's British Empire in Amer- ica, it is said there are "but two Church of England ministers in both the Provinces" of East and West New Jersey. The most comprehensive account of the denominations existing in the middle of the century, which I have seen, is in "A digression con- cerning the various sectaries in religion, in the British settlements of North America," contained in Dr. Douglass' "Summary, Historical and Political." Boston, 1753, vol. ii., pp. 112-157. 7. In a map in Humphreys' Historical Account of the Gospel Propa- gation Society, 1730, I find the following topography: ° Hopewell, ° Maidenhead, ° Burlington. If this was the understanding in 170S, the Hopewell of the manu- script could not be so' near Trenton as the "Old Church." 8. In 1732 "the inhabitants of Amwell and Hopewell" applied to the Society for a Missionary. In 1739, Colonel Daniel Coxe made his vrtll, devising one hundred acres in Maidenhead, "known as the town-lot,, for the use of an Episcopal Church erected, or to be hereafter erected, in the township of Maidenhead." The minutes of St. Michael's Vestry, of 177s, mention "the glebe of Maidenhead." 9. Joseph Peace owned land near the barracks. He was the father of Mrs. Sarah Chubb, from whom the lot was purchased under the law of 1758. It consisted of one acre, and was part of a tract of 36 acres, purchased by Peace from James Trent, in 1732, for 170 pounds in silver money. 10. November i, 1861, I saw in the Post Office Department at Wash- ington, the thin little folio which includes the entire account current or ledger, of Dr. Franklin, while Postmaster General. In it is the ac- count of "The Post Office at Trenton," which places the revenue of the office in 1776 at iio. 16. 11. See the account given at large in "Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society." 1862, vol. 9, pp. 83-85. 11. April s, 1744. Dr. Franklin mentions "Mr. John Coxe, of Tren- ton, and Mr. M'artyn, of the same place," among the first members of a Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Sparks' "Life of Franklin,'' vi : 29. 12. Wm. Morris and Richard Salter were Justices of the Peace at Trenton. Gov. Belcher (Dec, 1755) disapproved of their course in committing a number of Susquehannah and Delaware Indians to jail, as they belonged to Pennsylvania. An. Index, p. 330. See also p. 280. APPENDIX. 311 Nov. 2. Saltar was the name of the Treasurer of the State who, in October, 1803, was seized in his house in Trenton, and robbed of the pubHc funds to the amount of eleven thousand dollars. 13. April s, 1757, is the date of a letter of Dr. Franklin in Trenton, on his way from Philadelphia to New York, to take passage for Eng- land. "My kind friend Mr. Griffith's carriage being too weak in the wheels, I have accepted Mr. Master's obliging offer and take his car- riage forward from this place, and he will return to town in Mr. Grif- fith's. About a dozen of our friends accompanied us quite hither to see us out of the province, and we spent a very agreeable evening to- gether." Sparks' "Franklin," vii : 131. 312 APPENDIX. CHAPTER VI. 1. Dr. Green, in his "Notes," overlooked the pastor of Trenton and the Rev. Mr. Guild, when he wrote: "In the Province of New Jersey it is not known that there was a single clergyman who belonged to the Synod of Philadelphia." (Discourses and Notes, p. 281-2.) 2. This motto of the House of Somers was adopted, probably from the Governor's answer, by the Cliosophic Society of the College, in- stituted in 1765. It was the theme of the striking oration before the rival societies, by the Rev. Baynard R. Hall, D.D., in the commence- ment week of 1852. 3. There is a particular report of the first commencement in the Penn- sylvania Gazette, for December 13, 1748. 4. I have seen (I suppose now in the State House Archives) a Peti- tion of the Trustees of Princeton College, dated May 23, 1753, signed Caleb Smith, to the House of General Assembly at Burlington, asking for permission to open a lottery for the benefit of the college. Also, an application of the "Trustees of the College of New Jersey at Newark,'' to the Assembly at Perth Amboy, November 9, 1748, for "assistance toward defraying the necessary charges of it." Mr. Cowell, John Pierson, Tim. Johnes and Thos. Arthur were the committee of the Trustees to wait upon the Assembly, but the petition is signed only by the last three. 5. The interesting and valuable journal of Davies, from 1753 to 17SS, is given entire in Dr. Foote's Sketches of Virginia, first series, chap. xii. It adds to my personal interest in this part of the history, to find that it was possibly my ancestor, Matthew Clarkson, of Philadelphia, whom Davies mentions as a fellow-passenger to London, and certainly it was the great-grandfather of my great-grandfather, who is referred to in Davies' journal of January 27, 1754, when having preached in Berry street, Davies says : "When I entered the pulpit it filled me with reverence to reflect that I stood in the place where Mr. Clarkson, Dr. Owen, Dr. Watts, and others had once officiated." 6. I have the original of the following: "Rev'd Sir, "Bordentown, December, '55. I intended to have seen you in my way to Philadelphia, but the business I am upon naturally led me to Freehold, AUenton, &c., and now to go by Trenton would be too much out of the way. I have used and dispersed these pages (like the enclosed) in the best manner I could, and am still prosecuting the design. You will please to accept APPENDIX. 313 of this, and use it as your wisdom and sincere concern for the good of the college shall direct. I hope to see you in my return, which per- haps may be some time next month, and conclude for the present with subscribing myself, Rev'd Sir, Your humble serv't, John Bkainerd. To the Rev'd Mr. Cowell." Addressed "To the Rev'd Mr. David Cowell, at Trenton— per Mr. Jas. Bell." On the back is this memorandum: "Feb. 16, 1756, Rec'd of Jno. Wellin for Princeton subscn. 2-10." 7. "The Treasurer was directed to pay the Rev. David Cowell, for his inspection of the College from the 14th of December to the time of President Edward's arrival in Princeton the sum of eleven pounds.' Maclean's "History of the College of New Jersey," i : 174. 314 APPENDIX. CHAPTER VII. 1. Mr. Cowell bequeathed fifty pounds to the College. 2. In August, 1874, the congregation placed a marble monument on his grave, inscribed: "Rev. David CowBLI,, First Pastor of this Church, 1736 — 1760. Born near Boston, Dec'r 12, 1704; Died in Trenton, Dec'r i, 1760." (The old headstone still remains.) 3. Something more might be made out of this "memorandum" (which is in our archives) by a deciphering of the shorthand. 4. I have a leaf of notes on the text "Death — is yours,'' with six heads, twenty-eight sub-heads and two applications, marked "Sept. 7, 1740, Maidenhead, Thos. Moore's wife's burying." 5. In the church-yard is the headstone of John Dagworthy, Esq., died Sept. 4, 1756, aged 70 years. 6. Total, 260; not equal to Mrs. Honeywood, noticed by Fuller, who had at her decease (living?) 367 descendants; nor to Dame Hester Temple, who lived to see 700. (Cited in Southey's "Life of Cowper," chap. 17.) August 2, 1868, Janet Davis, widow, died in Trenton, who was 96 years old the previous June. She was admitted to her first communion in Paisley, Scotland, when she was 16, and had, therefore, been 80 years in communion. She was received to the Trenton Church in 1819. 7. For more about Armitage, see Hale's "History," pp. 18-24. 8. Benjamin Yard has a "plateing forge at west end of Trenton, and furnace for making steel," Governor Belcher, 1750, in "New Jersey Archives," vii : 558, 560. 9. I had a letter from David Cowell, July 14, 1782, Trenton, to "Benjamin Cornwill, near Penny- Town," which I sent to Wm. W. Cowell, Wrentham, Mass. He says, "I talked with Jacob Blackwell about your affair, and assured him that you are willing to have your money matters settled by the Table." (See p. 291.) I also sent to W. W. Cowell (Nov. 1871) four small sheets of notes of sermons by Rev. David Cowell, preached 1738-1746. 10. A letter of Dr. Franklin, April 5, 1744, mentions among the members of a Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, "Mr. Morris, APPENDIX. 315 Chief Justice of the Jerseys; Mr. Home, Secretary of do." Sparks' "Life of Franklin," vi., 29. 11. It has been suggested to me by Rev. John Miller, May, 1874, that the difficulty about Sir John's being in Trenton may be removed by supposing the meaning of the sentence on page 91, to be given by putting "and brother to the celebrated Sir John Hume" in parenthesis. 12. A letter from William Nelson, Esq., Secretary of the New Jer- sey Historical Society, July 22, 1890, says: "I have just received from a Londbn bookseller a handsome quarto volume in manuscript, con- taining about 150 pages of Poems of Archibald Home, late Secretary of His Majesty's Province of New Jersey. It has evidently been copied with the greatest care; I should judge by a professional pen- man, for some devoted friend of Mr. Hume, and evidently about the time of his death, in 1744." 3i6 APPENDIX. CHAPTER VIII. 1. In Cooky's "Genealogy of Early Settlers of Trenton and Ewing," Trenton, 1883, p. 39, it is said that "Mr. Clark bought and lived till his death on the night of the battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776, on the place near the church, now owned and occupied by Edward Ship- pen Mcllvaine. He was in a room whose floor was covered with weary, worn and sleeping soldiers. He was supposed to have been in the act of hanging his watch over the mantel when he fell into the open fire, and there burned to death. His condition was first dis- covered by a negro servant. He died aged 88. 2. May IS, 1872, I officiated at the funeral of Joseph Yard, great- grandson of this Joseph (the same, I suppose, as on pp. 54, 55, 68, etc.). At this time were living two of his brothers, Jethro and Archibald WiUiam (see this name, p. 143). May 29, 1874, I attended the funeral of Jethro, and May 26, 1880, that of Archibald William. 3. It may now be added that Mr. Benjamin Fish Chambers, named here as "the present Clerk of the Board" of Trustees, died August 22, 1885. John Chambers (elder 1760-1764) was brother of the grandfather of the present Robert Chambers of our church (1859). "The Robert Chambers family" pedigree is given in Cooley's "Genealogy," p. 29-34- APPENDIX. 317 CHAPTER IX. 1. In several of the manuscript sermons of Mr. Kirkpatrick which I have seen, the texts (sometimes several verses) are written in Greek, an indication that his college studies were not useless. 2. Preface to Sermons. Rev. Wm. Tennent, of Freehold, wrote an account of the state of things to Dr. Finley, which is printed in Dr. Alexander's "Log College," pp. 367-g. In that letter he mentions that both of his sons, John and William, were partakers "of the shower of blessing." 3. His name is written Killpatrick in the earlier minutes. 4. Presbyteries would act for Sessions, too. Thus in October, 1756, a request was presented by Jacob Reeder, a member of Hopewell and Maidenhead congregations, "that for the sake of the conveniency of his family, the Presbytery would please to dismiss him from the aforesaid congregation (which yet he professed a regard to), that he may join with Amwell; and the Presbytery taking into consideration said re- quest, judge it to be reasonable, and grant it." 5. A second exegesis used to be required of candidates, besides the one given for licensure. The Minutes of the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick for October, 1761, providing trials for certain licentiates in view of ordination, state "that these three young gentlemen represented to the Presbytery their great fatigue and continued hurry in riding from place to place, and begged to be excused from making exegeses, as usual before ordination, and these their requests were granted." In the last century a branch of trial was sometimes introduced which would scarcely be considered reverent now. In the licensure of Charles Tennent, by the Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1736, record is made of "a previous test of his ability in prayer." The examinations on scholar- ship were more specific than with us; for example, Latta and Ander- son, at one sederunt, were examined on "Logic, Pneumatics, and Ontology." (Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, 1765.) 6. I have seen a letter from the Rev. David Bostwick, New York, November 3, 1760, "to the Rev. Wm. Kirkpatrick, chaplain to the Jer- sey Regiment at Albany." In it he says, "Being just now informed that the people of Elizabethtown are about to apply to you as a candi- date for settlement in the ministry since the dismission of Mr. Kettletas, I should rejoice to see them so happily supplied," but goes on to request him to engage nowhere till he (Mr. B.) sees him. "There 3i8 APPENDIX. are certain reasons for this which I do not choose now to mention. Only, I will request the favour of you to come to New York as soon as you can. I depend on preaching a few sermons here. I rejoice to hear that God has preserved your Ufe and health through the diffi- culties and dangers of a campaign." There is in the papers shown me by Mr. Kirkpatrick's grandson (Donald Kirkpatrick, of Syracuse, N. Y.), an unfinished letter or draught of the Rev. Mr. Kirkpatrick, dated Montreal, September lO, 1760, as follows (no address) : "Dear Sir: "I received your kind letter of the 13th of July per post, for which I heartily thank you. In return for it I have the pleasure of informing you of the reduction of Montreal and of all Canada to the obedience and subjection of his Britannic Majesty, which happened on the 8th inst. You will, sir, no doubt have accounts from the public prints of this affair better than I can give, and perhaps before this comes to hand; yet it may not be disagreeable to have something from the hand of your friends. "I gave my dear, good friend, Mr. McWhorter, an account of the reduction of Fort Levy on lie Royale, which very probably he has communicated to you, as I may desire you to do this to him', for 'tis very seldom I am able to command so much time as to write to you both at the same time, having engaged correspondence with so many. "On the 30th of August our army decamped from the He Royale and embarked in their batteaux, proceeding down the river towards Montreal having left about 300 men to garrison that fort. The diffi- culty of the Rapids, together with bad weather that we met with, detained us four days before we came to the inhabited country of our enemy. On the sth of September our whole army were collected to- gether on He Perro (Perreau?) about twenty miles above Montreal. The inhabitants of that island had left their houses, and many of them retired into the woods, and in the evening great numbers came and took the oath of fidelity, and had liberty to return to their habitations. "On the morning of the 6th our army re-embarked for Montreal, being distant from the upper end of the island about five or six miles. We knew not in what shape we should find our enemy, whether on the shore to dispute our landing, or in ambuscade to surprise us, or entrenched, or in the field, or in the city." 7. I am told that it is stated in "Clark's History of Onondaga", that Mr. Kirkland was induced to settle among the Oneida Indians by the influence of Rev. W. Kirkpatrick and Mr. Wheelock. "Trenton, June 21, 1761," is the date of a letter, from John Brainerd to the Rev. Enoch Green, written "in a minute or two, as I passed through town" — printed in the Presbyterian Magazine, October, 1852. APPENDIX. 319 8. I have seen in MS. "A state of the accounts between the Rev. W. K., deceased, and the cong'n of Trenton, from December I, 1761, to May, 1766," "containing three years before his dismission and one year and five months after it." 9. I have seen a considerable number of Mr. Kirkpatrick's manu- script sermons, dated from 1760 to 1768. Among them is one marked "Pennington, October 15, 1764," and "Bedminster, September 20, 1766." At one or both of these places the sermon was applied to rousing the congregation to the duty of rebuilding their church. He was requested to preach on the day appointed to open a subscription, or as he says, "to be your monitor." "It is a standing reproach to you to live in houses lined with cedar, and that the house of God not only lacks «very decent ornament, but be inferior even to your barns for your grain and houses for your cattle." Another is marked "Pennington, March 16, 1766, preached on occa- sion of the funeral of Mr. Elijah Hunt" (possibly Hart). In it he says, "Not long since we were called together in this place to pay the last tribute to the memory of a dearly beloved sister, Mrs. Guild." In this year also he preached at the dedication of the second church ■edifice of the Hopewell (Pennington) congregation. The list of sermons and dates is as follows : 1. April 10, 1760. "Tn. O." (Trenton old.) March 21, 1761. Trenton. Aug. 26, 1764. Trenton. 2. Nov. 22, 1761. Amwell, July 17. (No year.) .3. Nov. 29, 1 761. Trenton. Oct. 16, 1763. T. O. July 10, 1769. (This sermon was also marked in another hand, "April, '82," with others bearing marks of having been used after his death.) 4. August 29, 1762. Feb. 12, 1769. A. O. 5. March 13, 1763. Trenton. ■6. May IS, 1763. Trenton. ("The last week has brought us the definitive treaty of friendship and peace concluded by the prin- cipal contending powers in Europe." Text, Ps. 110:2.) 7. July 17, 1763. Trenton. June 12, 1767. A. O. 8. Nov. 27, 1763. 9. Dec. 3, 1763. ("At the baptism of John Reeder." No place men- tioned.) 10. Sept. 2, 1764. Trenton. Oct. IS, 1764. Pennington. 11. Sept. 20, 1766. Bedminster. 12. Sept. 8, 1765. Trenton. 13. Nov. 17, 176s. Trenton. May 3, 1767. A. O. July 3, 1768. A. N, 320 APPENDIX. 14. Feb. 9, 1766. Trenton. 15. March 16, 1766. Pennington, funeral of Elijah Hunt. 19. Jan. I, 1767. Am. N. (Amwell New?) He mentions two instances of mortality in the last week. Win. Pierson and Wm. Ely,. Junior. 20. Sept. 25, 1768. "A. M." 21. Aug. 25. Date of year obliterated, but it was on the death of Rev. Mr. Treadwell, rector of the Episcopal Church of Trenton,, who was settled here in 1763, and his successor in 1770. ID. The Convention had annual sessions alternately in New Jersey and Connecticut, until 1776. See Minutes by Dr. Field. 11. The name of the Rev. Jacob Kirkpatrick, D.D., is so much identified with the churches of Amwell, where he is now [1858] ac- tively passing the forty-eighth year of his pastorate, that it will meet a natural inquiry to state, that Dr. Kirkpatrick does not know that he has any family connection with his predecessor and namesake. On June 20, i860. Dr. Kirkpatrick delivered An Historical Discourse at Amwell, on the fiftieth anniversary of his ministry in that church. It was printed by order of the Presbytery of Raritan, by Martien,. Philadelphia. Dr. Kirkpatrick died in May, 1886. 12. According to the MS. account mentioned at p. (183) the salary was "£ioo, fire wood, hay to winter a horse, per annum." The town congregation paid two-thirds, the country one-third. The account ends with a balance due "to the time of his dismission, exclusive of wood and hay, ^123, 7. i.'' Add "interest from May i, 1766, till Feb. I, 1786, exclusive of three years and nine months, for depreciating times, containing sixteen years." 139. 2. 8. 123. 7. I. £262. 9. 9. "Proposed to the Trustees of Trenton as due on the three years before dismission." "He was also a stated supply for one year and five months=:ii4i, 13, 4." "His salary was as before by order and agreement." The Committee of Presbytery on the question of salary due (met Aug. 3, 1786) were Dr. Witherspoon, Edward Bainbridge and John Miehelm and "upon the whole are of the opinion that no suffi- cient ground appears to suppose that there are any arrears due,, from the Trenton part of the congregation, before the time of Mr. Kirkpatrick's dismission, Dec. i, 1764; but that they think a sum not less than £27 of arrears at that time was due from the country con- gregation. They are also of the opinion that for the year and five months in which Mr. Kirkpatrick served as a stated supply before his removal to Amwell, there is due from the town congregation £&4y APPENDIX. 321 8, 10, and from the country congregation ^37, all these sums exclusive of interest, which seems to us to be claimed on equitable principles." In a will made by Mrs. Kirkpatrick before her remarriage (Nov. 7, 1769), she mentions "my two daughters, Lettice Charlton and Han- nah," "my son, William." She leaves to the latter "his deceased father's watch, silver-plated' shoe buckles, silver stock buckle, shirt buckle, gold sleeve buttons." Her brother-in-law, James Evans, and friend, Thomas Charlton, and his wife, Lettice, are her executors. William's son, Donald Kirkpatrick (grandson of our pastor), called to see me in August, i860, with his stepmother, Mrs. Hollister, and went *^o Amwell and had the monuments put in repair. 22 PEES 322 APPENDIX. CHAPTER X. 1. May II, 1769, Governor Franklin writes: "Mr. Reed, our Deputy Secretary, hsts, I understand, let his house in Trenton and intends soon for England, to marry De Berdt's daughter." "Colonial Docu- ments of New Jersey," x: 114. 2. The commissioners held their court at Trenton from November I2th to December 30th, 1782. Their decision, which was in favor of Pennsylvania, is known as "the Trenton decree." (Hollister's History of the Lackawanna Valley, p. 59.) The Commissioners were Wm. Whipple, Welcome Arnold, David Brearley, William C. Houston and Cyrus Griffin. The Agents for Pennsylvania were Joseph Reed, Wm. Bradford, James Wilson and Jona. D. Sergeant. Those for Con- necticut were Kiphalet Dyer, Jesse Root and Wm. Samuel Johnson. Henry Osborne was Solicitor. 3. Imputations upon the loyalty of Colonel Reed were made in 1782 (supposed to proceed from Dr. Rush), and repeated by Bancroft in volume IX of his History. This gave rise to a controversy between Bancroft and William B. Reed in 1867. William S. Stryker, a mem- ber of this church, Adjutant-General of New Jersey, discovered in 1875-6 documents which clearly show that the person actually con- cerned in the original charge was Col. Charles Read, of Burlington. Mr. Bancroft accepted the correction and published it in the centenary edition of his History. The facts are given in a pamphlet published by General Stryker, entitled "The Reed Controversy. Further Facts with Reference to the Character of Joseph Reed, Adjutant-General on the Staff of General Washington." Printed for private distribu- tion, Trenton, 1876. 4. When the news of the battle of Lexington (April 19, 1775) was expressed to Philadelphia, the following notes were made : Peincetown, Monday, Apl 24 6 o'clock and forwd to Trenton Tho. Wiggins ) Com. Jon. Baldwin f Members TkSnTon Mlonday Apl 24 g o'clock in the morng. Reed the above pr Express and forwarded the same to the Com- mittee of Philadelphia. Sam Tucker } Isaac Smith f *^°'^ On January 10, 1776, the New Jersey Committee (Samuel Tucker, President) meeting at Princeton comiplied with suggestions of the Continental Congress for promoting the more rapid carrying of in- telligence of public events, by directing "that a man and horse be kept in constant readiness by each of the several committees of New- APPENDIX. 323 ark, Elizabethtown, Woodbridge, New Brunswick, Princeton and Tren- ton, whose business shall be to forward all expresses to and from the Continental Congress; and that the aforesaid Town Committees shall, on every intelligence of any invasion or alarm, send expresses to the neighboring Town Committees, who are directed to provide ex- presses to forward the same from town to town." "Minutes of Pro- vincial Congress,'' 327, 328. Samuel Tucker, Abraham! Hunt, Joseph Ellis and Alexander Cham- bers were appointed, October 28, 1775, "Commissioners for the West- em Division" of the Colony to receive and expend money for arms and subsistence of the troops. One of the measures for obtaining ammunition was to "collect all the leaden weights from windows and clocks, and all leaden weights of shops, stores and mills, of one pound weight and upwards; also all other lead in and about houses or other places," paying "at the rate of sixpence. Proclamation money, the pound weight." "Minutes of Provincial Congress," 246, 417, 508. There are thirty-one references to the name of Samuel Tucker in the index of the Minutes. A sketch of his career and that of John Hart, is given in the "New Jersey Archives," vol. x., 269. 5. There was a "Captain Gould" in Trenton, in 1725, with whom Thomas Chalkley, the Quaker minister, lodged — "who treated me very politely." A brook, running through the meadows, near the old ceme- tery where the Tuckers were buried, is called Gk)uld's or Gold's run. 6. Mr. Edwards, on the 20th April, 1768, was appointed to supply at Allentown and New Brunswick at discretion; and this is the last time his name appears in the records of the Presbytery. He did not accept the Professorship, and on January 5, 1769, was ordained over the Con- gregational Church of White Haveni, Conn. It may be doubted whether his coming under the care of the Presbytery meant more than asking to be employed by them during his continuance in the College; but the Minute of April, 1767, is, "Being desirous to be taken under the care of this Presbytery, we do gladly receive him- according to his desire." In 1807, there was a case of this kind : "Mr. Enoch Burt, a licentiate of the Southern New Hampshire Association, appeared in Presbytery, and being asked whether he was willing to accept of appointment to preach in our vacant churches the ensuing summer, answered in the affirma- tive. The Committee of Supplies was directed to take notice of the same." 324 APPENDIX. CHAPTER XI. 1. From Brainerd's "L,ife of John Brainerd," 1865, note on p. 127. "The Rev. Dr. Hall, in his 'History of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton, New Jersey/ supposes the sister Spencer above referred to was the wife of General Joseph Spencer of the Revolution. This is a mistake. Two of Brainerd's sisters, Jerusha and Martha, married Spencers. Jerusha married Samuel Spencer, of East Haddam. Martha was the wife of the General." In the "Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society," 1886-7, is preserved "a sketch of the life of Col. Oliver Spencer," copied from "The Western Spy." He was a son of Samuel, who was brother of Elihu and of General Spencer; born at East Haddam, Connecticut, 1736; resided for some years at EHzabethtown, N. J., then removed to the Miami country, Ohio, where he died in 181 1. 2. In the first edition of Edwards' "Life of Brainerd," Boston, 1749, "Rev. Elihu Spencer" is on the list of subscribers prefixed. 3. "The Suffolk Presbytery on June 14, 1758, ordered its members in succession to supply Mr. Spencer's pulpit during his absence from his people as 'a chaplain in the army the present campaign,' and the period of supplies extends from the third Sabbath in June until the fourth and last of November." Letter of Rev. Epher Whitaker, clerk of Long Island Presbytery, October 10, 1883. 4. "The Rev. Elihu Spencer being about to remove from Jamaica to Shrewsbury, we (upon his request) recommend him to New Bruns- wick Presbytery as one of good standing in this Presbytery." "He was united to Suffolk Presbytery by order of Synod, and became enrolled as a member the day before he made his request of a transfer to the New Brunswick Presbytery.'' Minutes of Suffolk Presbytery in session at Old Man's, October 10, 1759. (Long Island Presbytery is successor of Suffolk Presbytery.) 5. In 1803 Dr. Macwhorter published in Newark two volumes of sermons. In the list of subscribers in vol. 2, is a large number from North Carolina, viz. : from Orange,, Mecklenburgh, Center, Thyatira, Lincoln, Salisbury, Salem, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Caswell, Halifax, Lewisburg, Edington, Coddle-Creek, Rowan, Cabarus; also a number in South Carolina. 6. The Church at Hawfields became distinguished in the religious history of North Carolina, in the end of the last century and the beginning of the present, by the efficient ministries of its successive pastors, James McGready and William D. Paisley. The latter died in Greensborough, March, 1857, in his 87th year. "The first camp-meet- APPENDIX. 325 jng held in the South was held at Hawfields, in October, 1802, and grew out of the necessity of the case." "Fourth Creek Church was organized by Mr. Elihu Spencer, and embraced the inhabitants between the South Yadkin and the Catawba rivers." Foote's North Carolina, chap, xvi., xxiv., where will also be found a history of the churches of the Haw and Eno. 7. "It is probable that the church on Steele Creek was organized by Messrs. Spencer and Macwhorter." Foote, chap, xxviii. The same is said of Poplar Tent. Chap. xxx. It was called Tent from the tem- porary shelter used before a church was built. lb. 8. "Apoquiminey is the corporate name of the Forest Church, now called Middletown. It is not to be confounded with the old church of Apoquiminey from which it broke off in the great revival, and which is now called Drawyers." MS. letter of late Rev. Richard Webster, 1848. 9. Mlay 30, 1766. Mr. Spencer, as Moderator, signed the Synod's pastoral letter ordered "to be dispersed among all our societies," call- ing upon them to acknowledge the interposition of Providence in leading the Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act, and thus probably preventing a civil war between the colonies and the mother country, "Records of the Presbyterian Church," p. 362. 10. "The services of religion have been observed in Pencader for nearly 170 years (1877), and conducted by eighteen ministers * * * Dafydd Evans, Thos. Evans, Timothy Gryffydd, Elihu Spencer, etc" "Pennsylvania Historical Society Magazine," vol. ii., p. 345. 11. "I am a great-grandson of the Rev. Joseph Montgomery, who is mentioned on pp. 13S, 171. My mother,, now in her eighty-seventh year, is the daughter of John Wright and Rose Chambers, the latter a daughter of one of the early settlers of Trenton and member of the First Church." Letter of J. H. from John Montgomery Forster, Insurance Department of Pennsylvania, Harrisburgh, November 26, 1877. [Note by John S. Chambers: "Rose Chambers, daughter of Alex- ander Chambers and Rose Craig, married John Wright."] In a letter to John S. Chambers, December 22, 1877, Mr. Forster says: "Rev. Joseph Montgomery's wife was the daughter of Andrew Reed, of Trenton, and sister of General Joseph Read. So you see that my ancestors on both sides of the house were from Trenton, and among the earliest settlers of the place. We (Forster and Chambers) both stand in the same relation to Alexander Chambers, he having been our great-grandfather." See "A Sketch of the Life of the Rev. Josq)h Mbntgomery, by John Montgomery Forster, Harrisburgh (for private distribution), 1879." 326 APPENDIX. Mr. Montgomery's second wife was the widow of Angus Boyce and sister of Dr. Rush. "Pennsylvania Historical Magazine," ii : 474. 12. In the "History of Eastern Vermont," by Benjamin H. Hall, New York, 1858, p. 700, it is said that Micah Townsend, born 1749, "entered at the age of fourteen the College of Nassau Hall, in Prince- ton, New Jersey, during the presidency of Dr. Elihu Spencer.'' At the commencement of 1766 Mr. Spencer presided and conferred degrees in place of President Einley, then dying in Philadelphia. See Dr. Green's "Discourses and Notes on the College of New Jersey," P- 36s, 331- Dr. Maclean's "History," i : 265-6, records the appointment of Mr. Spencer, in the illness of President Finley, "to preside at next com- mencement and confer degrees." After Finley's death the trustees presented ten pounds to Spencer for presiding and conferring degrees at commencement. The same, p. 314, records that in the absence of Dr. Witherspoon in the West Indies, Mr. Spencer was appointed to act as Vice- President. APPENDIX. 327 CHAPTER XII. 1. The name of Samuel Hili, is in the graveyard: "Born Septem- ber 14, 1716: Died May 5, 1785." An adjoining stone is marked, "Smith Hill: Died January 9, 1822, aged 71 years." 2. The paragraph on Ebenezer Cowell should be corrected as fol- lows: There were two of the name of Ebenezer Cowell. The signer was born December 7, 1716, and died May 4, 1799. His children were David, Ebenezer (born 1743), Joseph, Sarah (Mrs. Bowlsby), Lois and Eunice (twins), Robert, John. David was a physician and died in 1789 (see p. 177). Ebenezer, a lawyer in Trenton, died unmarried. John suc- ceeded his brother David in the practice of medicine in Trenton (p. 178). The first Ebenezer graduated at Princeton, 1766. The father of our first pastor was Joseph Cowell (1673-1771). There is a letter written by him to his son, dated Wrentham (Mass.), April 29, 1752, addressed to "The Rev'd Mr. David Cowell, Pastor of a Church of Christ in Trenton, New Jersey.'' In the manuscript collections of Mr. John M. Cowell, of Philadel- phia, are some interesting documents in relation to the first Ebenezer Cowell, son of Joseph, and brother of the pastor, who came from Wrentham to Trenton soon after 1761. He was a gunsmith at Cam- bridge, Mass., for more than twenty years. In 1770 he was deputy to Daniel Smith, Surveyor-General of New Jersey. The inscription on a stone in the Trenton church-yard, closes the history, as follows : "In memory of Ebenezer Cowell, who departed this life May 4, 1799, aged 82 years : My flesh shall slumber in the ground Till the last trumpet's joyful sound; Then burst the chain with sweet surprise And in my Saviour's image rise." 3. A deposition of Ralph Smith, May, 1750, speaks of his being on a certain occasion "At the house of Elijah Bond in Trenton, in com- pany with John Coxe and Samuel Nevel, Esq., and Mr. Theophilus Severns." "New Jersey Archives," vii., 544- 4. Mrs. Catherine B'eatty died in Trenton, January 27, 1861. She was born April 19, 1773. 5. Dr. Bryant appears to have belonged to the house represented in our day by the celebrated writer, William' CuUen Bryant. In his life by Mr. Parke Godwin, the Perth Amboy epitaph is quoted as that of "a son of Stephen Bryant and brother of Ichabod." Vol. i., p. 51. 328 APPENDIX. In the Pennsylvania Historical Society's Magazine, vol. v., is a journal of Miss Eve, 1772-3. Under date of November 2, 1773, she recorded a visit in Philadelphia to "a lady from Trent Town, who lodged at Dr. Duffel's" (Duffield). "Her name is Brayen; her hus- band is a doctor and a man of fortune." One who took a name from the sound only might easily write Brayen for Bryant. 6. "David Pinkerton, of Trenton," was a Commissioner for the Western Division, in 1776. "Minutes of Provincial Congress," pp. 459, 508. 7. In 1732 Joseph Warrell, Esq., was recommended to the Duke of Newcastle by Governor Cosby as "one who was so well recommended to me by Lord Malpas before I left England that there is little more for me to say in his behalf than that since my acquaintance with him his behaviour has, in every particular, confirmed the character given by his lordship, and one whom. I can presume to answer for to your Grace." "New Jersey Archives," v., 324. In 1751 Joseph Warrell, as "His Majesty's Attorney-General for the Province of New Jersey in America, and Notary and Tabellion Pub- lick, dwelling at Belleville, near Trenton, in the county of Hunterdon," gives a certificate in favour of the character of Samuel Tucker, Jr., "of Trenton, merchant; that I have known him from a child, and since he has grown up to man's estate (upwards of ten years), all which time he has been my neighbour." "Archives," vii., 639. In 1848, Mir. Warrell, as Attorney-General, attested the legality of Governor Belcher's charter of the College. In the "Pennsylvania Historical Society's Magazine," 1883, p. 456, is a "journal of a campaign from Philadelphia to Paulus Hook in August, 1776," by Shallop. At Bristol some of the travelers took to land for the rest of the journey. Arriving at Trenton, they took their provisions "to a church-yard at the upper end of Trenton, where we cooked them." "After dining, all who kept journals got journalizing on a tombstone erected to the memory of Joseph Warrell, and inscribed with the following inscription" — copying inaccurately the epitaph on p. 14s of this "History." 8. At a meeting of the Provincial Congress in Trenton, July 5, 1776: "Isaac DeCou, Esquire, having resigned his commission as Second Major of the First Regiment of foot militia in the county of Hun- terdon, whereof Isaac Smith, Esq., is Colonel, ordered that his resig- nation be accepted." "Minutes of Provincial Congress," 492. 9. Mr. Thomas Y. How was deposed from the ministry of the Epis- copal Church. His wife, Elizabeth, died in New Brunswick, July 28, 1811, and was buried in the First Presbyterian church-yard in Trenton, APPENDIX. 329 but I have not been able to discover through what connection her burial was made here. In December, 1830, Dr. J. W. Alexander wrote from Trenton: "Dr. Thomas Y. How, once so famous for his pulpit eloquence, and his con- troversy with Dr. Miller, is here delivering lectures on political and moral subjects, with a voluntary collection at the close. I have not heard him, as his first lecture only has been deUvered, and that on Sunday evening." "Forty Years' lyetters," i., 155. 10. There was an "Edo Merselius" in the Provincial Congress at Trenton from Bergen, 1775. "Minutes," 169, 183. 11. None of these blunders is so remarkable as one upon a marble now standing in Northampton, Massachusetts, on the grave of a "daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Edwards, President of Prenceta Col- lege, New Jersey." Nor does this equal a professed quotation from a sermon of Edward Irving, in a work of Mr. Wilks, London, 1854, where the Presbyterial exegesis is called an "ecce Jesum"! This is noticed in the "Edinburgh Review" (Art. Ecce Jesu), 1862, American edition, p. 221. Another similar blunder is that in the Travels of the Marquis de Chastellux in North America, 1780-1782, in which he says he was shown over Princeton College by the President Wederpurn (Wither- spoon). "Voyages, &c.," Paris, 1786, vol. i,, 139, 141. 12. In Dennie's Monthly "Portfolio," Philadelphia, 1809, is a sketch of Isaac Smith's life and a portrait. Philemon Dickinson, Esq., in April, 1871, presented a framed copy of this portrait to the church. Mr. Smith graduated at Princeton, 1755, and was a tutor there, with John Ewing and Jeremiah Halsey, for a few months before the induction of President Edwards. (Maclean's "History," vol. i., p. 177.) Mr. Smith was a Presidential elector in 1801. Of the epitaph quoted the "Portfolio'' says: "Of this tribute to departed worth we are ignorant of the author; but we should be cold to another and unjust to ourselves, if we did not describe the epitaph ' as a successful specimen of the lapidary style." (See II Samuel 18: 18.) See references to Isaac Smith, in Index of "Minutes of Provincial Congress," and Whittaker's "Historical Sketch of Trenton Banking Company," page 7 ; also, S. D. Alexander's "Eighteenth Century," p. 37. 13. The French name of Bellerjeau found many experiments in the way of writing it. The Provincial Congress made several appropria- tions to Daniel Bellingeau, for attendance as doorkeeper, for example: "To Daniel Bellingeau, doorkeeper, for his attendance 14 days at Trenton, £2, i6shiU." "Minutes of Provincial Congress," 1776, S74, 255- 14. Godfrey Wimer was grandfather of Samuel Evans, who died in our communion January, 1881, aged 89, and great-grandfather of John 330 APPENDIX. O. Raum, historian of New Jersey and of Trenton, whose grandfather of that name married Godfrey Wimer's daughter. 15. A letter of Rev. John Brainerd to Rev. Mr. Cowell was sent "per Mr. Jas. Bell." 16. Mrs. Rebecca Ryall died May 12, 1859, at the age of 91. Her daughter, Mrs. Susan C. Brearley, died January 7, 1884, aged ninety- six, having been sixty-seven years a communicant. Her sister, Rebecca Ann Ryall, died in August, 1866, age 82. 17. Governor B'urnett writes, New York, Jan. 2, 1724, that Chief Justice William Trent is dead, and "Mr. Robert Lettice Hooper'' has been nominated by the Governor to the Lords of Trade as his suc- cessor. "New Jersey Archives," vol. v., p. 97. His commission does not appear to have been issued until February 29, 1727, the first year of George II. The original is in the library of the New Jersey Historical Society, and printed in the "Archives,'' vol. v., 182, with a facsimile of the royal signature. December 7, 1734, Governor Cosby recommended to the Lords of Trade to move his majesty "that Robert Lettice Hooper, Chief Justice of the Province, may be ap- pointed Councillor to succeed Lewis Morris," who had been removed. "Archives," vol. v, 402. 18. "April 8, 1787. Baptized Susannah, third child of John and Singer of Trenton." Note in the diary of Rev. Mr. Frazer, rector of St. Michael's. 19. Job Moore, the next name to Singer, was the name of the father of Mrs. Vandegrift. 20. "March 17, 1788. Baptized Adrian, Charlotte and Charles, chil- dren of Capt. Charles and Rachel Clunn, of Burlington." Rev. Mr. Frazer's note in his Diary. 21. Joseph Clunn, ensign of a company in Trenton, whereof Isaac Smith, Esq, is colonel ; William Tucker, captain ; John Fitch, second lieutenant. "Minutes of Provincial Congress," 1776, p. 464, 482. 22. "I do certify that I was returning with John Fitch from the Neshaminey meeting, some time in April, 1785, as near as I can recol- lect the time, when a gentleman and his wife passed by us in a riding- chair; he immediately grew inattentive to what I said. Some time after he informed me that at that instant the first idea of a steam- boat struck his mind. Jambs OgilbeS." (Fitch's Pamphlet, Phila- delphia, 1788; reprinted in Documentary History of New York, vol. ii.) 23. Rev. Mr. Frazer makes this note in 1786: "December 4th, buried a daughter of Rensselaer Williams, E^q., at Trenton." The Dutch name is printed "Rensselier" in the "Minutes of Provincial Congress" APPENDIX. 331 and the "Minutes of the Council of Safety," 1879. On July 6, 1776, "Ordered, That the President do take the parole of honor of Mr. John Lawrence, of Monmouth county, not to depart the house of Mr. Rensselier Williams; and if Mr. Lawrence should refuse to give the same, that the President order him to be confined under such guard as he may deem necessary." On August 21, 1776, "To Rensselier Williams, six pounds six shillings, in full of his account." (Ordinance for payment of incidental charges "during the sittings of this Con- vention.") Rensselaer Williams was a Justice of the Peace. In 1781 he was Librarian of the "Trenton Library Company." He was one of the founders, in that year, of the "Trenton School Company," or Academy. He was found dead in the street, opposite the State House, December, 1796. His grave is in the Episcopal ground, where his age is given at sixty- four. Adjoining it is the grave of Rensselaer Williams, Jr., who died at the house of Abraham Hunt, in 1801 ; aged thirty-three years. He was in mercantile business in Cooperstown, New York. In James Fennimore Cooper's "Chronicles of Cooperstown," it is stated that Rensselaer and Richard Williams "arrived between the years 1792 and 1797." 24. It was one of Fitch's or Rumsey's experiments that Franklin wrote of in Philadelphia, October, 1788: "We have no philosophical news here at present, except that a boat, moved by a steam-engine, rows itself against the tide in our river, and it is apprehended the con- struction may be so simplified and improved as to become generally useful." (Sparks' Franklin, x., 363.) I have seen a letter of Fitch to Stacy Potts, Philadelphia, July 28, 1786, in which he expresses the greatest satisfaction in his prospects. "We have now tried every part, and reduced it to as certain a thing as can be, that we shall not come short of ten miles per hour, if not twelve or fovirteen. I will say four- teen in the theory and ten in practice." An advertisement in the "Philadelphia Gazette'' is as follows : "The Steamboat sets out to-morrow morning at ten o'clock, from Arch street ferry, in order to take passengers for Burlington, Bristol, Bordentown and Trenton, and return next day. Philadelphia, July 26, 1790." In the "Trenton Gazette," Aug. 7, 1809: "The Steamboat" is adver- tised to start for Philadelphia three times per week. "For passage apply at the Indian Queen, or to the Captain on board, at Beatty's wharf, Bloomsbury.'' 25. On the same day William Reeder (which name is also among the signatures) conveyed one quarter of an acre for the same pur- pose, at the price of sixty-two pound's ten shillings; and George Ely half an acre for one hundred and twenty pounds. 332 APPENDIX. 26. Samuel Henry was under suspicion of disloyalty in 1776. A "report of the Committee of Trenton" was made to the Provincial Congress, July 10. Mr. Henry appeared before the Congress to hear the charges July 16. The next day he was "committed to the common gaol of Hunterdon" to be kept "in close confinement until the fur- ther order of this Congress, or future legislature of this State." On the 20th he made such acknowledgment that the Congress, "for the contrition expressed in the above petition," discharged him from confinement, on his giving bond in the sum. of 2,000 pounds, "for the faithful performance of his parole, to remove to his mills in Trenton, and there, or within a circle of two miles thereof, continue and not to depart said bounds unless with leave of this convention, or the future legislature of this State." "Minutes," 498, 508, 511, 515. 27. In 177s, "Thomas Lowrey" petitioned the Provincial Congress for recommendation to the Continental Congress as "Commissary to the two battalions recommended to be raised in this colony." His request was granted. In 1776 "Thomas Lowrey" was appointed Lieu- tenant-Colonel of the Third Battalion of foot militia in the county of Hunterdon." "Minutes," 237, 265. 28. It may be added to this chapter that in 1771-2, Mr. Spencer was associated with Dr. Witherspoon, on behalf of "the Presbyterian clergy in communion with the present established Church of Scotland residing in the Province of New Jersey," in obtaining from the Colo- nial Council a charter for incorporating the "New Jersey Society for the better support of the widows and education of the children of deceased Presbyterian Ministers." The draught of the charter as first proposed presented as corporators the names of Richard Stockton, Elias Boudinot, William Livingston, William Burnet, Robert Ogden, Nathaniel Scudder, Witherspoon, Spencer and others. After amend- ments in form, as proposed by the Attorney-General Skinner, the King allowed the charter, and Governor Franklin wrote to the Earl of Dartmouth, October, 1773, that "the Presbyterian Ministers are much pleased with the permission his Majesty has given me to pass the charter they had requested; which will be done at the next meet- ing of the Council." "Analytical Index," 427, 431. "Archives," 339, 409. APPENDIX. 333 CHAPTER XIII. 1. In May, June and August, 1775, the Provincial Congress of New Jersey met in Trenton, May 24th. The President, Hendrick Fisher, of Somerset, was directed to write the ministers of the town to alter- nate in opening the Congress with prayer each morning at 8. Rev. Mr. Spencer officiated on October 4, 1775. A resolution of thanks to Rev. Messrs. Spencer and Panton "for their polite attention and serv- ices" was adopted. "Minutes of Provincial Congress," pp. 170, 198, 254- 2. In the "Life of Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller," by his son, vol. i., chapter xi, fuller particulars are given of the disturbance created in the pastor's family at this period of the war. Mr. Spencer, on being informed by Dr. Witherspoon of the enemy's approach to Trenton, took hisi family the same night to Howell's ferry, and then to Mc- Conkey's ferry, for two or three weeks, until General Mercer sent him word he was not safe there. "This was the Sunday before the battle of Trenton. He preached that day at Newtown (Pennsylvania). Afterwards, he went on slowly to Fagg's Manor, where he remained until the people of St. George, Delaware, hearing that their former pastor was a fugitive, and being themselves without one, sent for him. He accepted their invitation, and on his arrival found a house ready, well supplied with furniture and provisions, the wood cut, the fires made, and everything prepared for the comfort of his family. Here they remained until the July following, when, St. George's being sickly, and Trenton free fromi the British soldiery, he returned home." 3. In Dr. Witherspoon's Works (vol. 2, Philadelphia edition, 1800, p. 451) is a sermon "delivered at a Public Thanksgiving after peace," in which, speaking of "particular acts of barbarity," is this sentence: "I shall therefore omit everything of the kind, except one of the earliest instances of their barbarity, because it happened in one of the streets of this place, viz., massacring in cold blood a minister of the Gospel, who was not, nor had been, in arms, and received his death wound while on his knees begging mercy.'' It is not said where the sermon was preached. The proper spelling of the name is Rosbrugh. Rev. John C. Clyde, D. D., Bloomsbury, read an exhaustive paper on him. before the New Jersey Historical Society, at Trenton, Jan. 15, 1880, afterward pub- lished under the title of "Rosbrugh, a Tale of the Revolution." Easton, 1880, p. 92. 4. From Sprague's "Annals" I find that the Rev. Mr. Macwhorter was in the camp of Washington, opposite Trenton, at the time of the battle of 1776; and that William Paxton (afterwards D. D.) was in the ranks on that occasion, iii, 210, SS4- 334 APPENDIX. 5. Then King street, as the present Greene (Broad) was Queen. The former was also famiHarily called Front, and the latter Back street. The "Federal Post or Trenton Weekly Mercury," was printed in 1788, by Quequelle and Wilson, "on the north side of Front St.,. opposite the English Church," the neighborhood of Rahl's death. 6. This house is advertised for rent in the Trenton Gazette^ Decem- ber, 1784, where it is said to have been lately occupied by the President of Congress. It was provided for his use by James Ewing, Moore Furman, and Conrad Kotts, by the direction of the Legislature (August 25, 1784). The lease, which is before me, stipulates also for "the hay- house nearly full of very good hay, with the stables on each side thereof, together with a ten-plate stove belonging to the front part of the said house," but "reserving the use of the road as it now goes to the tan-yard, and so much of the lot as Samuel Phillips may have occasion for, adjoining his shop." The lease was for one year from October 30, 1784, at one hundred and fifty pounds in gold or silver (four hundred dollars). The house was the residence of Stacy Potts, and not a tavern, as is stated in Lossing's "Field Book." It was taken down in 1857. 7. Williams's tavern is also mentioned by the Marquis de Chastellux, at the time of whose visit an addition seems to have been made to the emblems of its sign ; for he says it represented a beaver at work with his teeth to bring down a large tree, and had the mottO' "Perseverando." (Travels in North America, 1780-2). The tree, beaver and legend con- stituted one of the devices printed on the Continental currency of 1776; the money which fell so miuch below the promise on its face, that in the Trenton advertisements of 1780 may be found offers of a thousand dol- lars reward for an absconding servant — fifteen hundred for a stolen mare — ten thousand for the detection of the incendiary of a barn. The subscription of the Weekly Gazette, of that year, was fourteen dollars by the quarter. 8. To President John Adams' notice of Trenton in 1774 may now be appended that of his son and successor in the Presidency seventy years afterwards. On his passage home to Quincy from Congress, July II, 1844, John Quincy Adams made this entry in his journal: "At five in the afternoon we left Walnut street wharf and came tO' Bristol, twenty miles, and there landed and proceeded in the train of cars through New Brunswick, Elizabethtown and Newark to Jersey City. The sunset between Trenton and New Brunswick was glorious, and equal to anything I ever beheld. As I witnessed the departing luminary, and the peace and quiet and felicity of all around me, I thought of Washington and Trenton and the 2Sth of December, 1776, and a feeling of inexpressible joy filled my soul." "Memoirs," xii., 70. APPENDIX. 335 In the year 1774 Governor Franklin reported "The tide in this river (Delaware) goes no higher than Trenton in New Jersey, which is about thirty miles above Philadelphia, where there is a Rift or Falls, passable, however, with flat-bottomed boats which carry five or six hundred bushels of wheat. By these boats, of which there are now a great number, the produce of both sides the river for upwards of one hundred miles above Trenton are brought to Philadelphia." "Archives," x, 438. 336 APPENDIX. CHAPTER XIV. 1. In the minutes of the Trustees of the University, Mr. Spencer is called BUsha. The same mistake is made in the first edition of Thomp- son's History of Long Island, where also his great-grandfather Jared is called Gerard. 2. The Minister was the Chevalier de la Luzerne. The Dauphin was son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and died in childhood. The birth was formally announced to Congress, and by Congress to the Governors of the States. It was celebrated in Trenton, May 24, 1782, when the "town artillery paraded at the market-place," and a dinner was attended by the officers of the State at "the French Arms." 3. In Rev. James F. Armstrong's MSS. is a fragment like an obit- uary, beginning: "Died on Monday, the 28th ult.. Miss Rachel Fur- man, daughter of Mr. Nathaniel Furman, of Trenton, in the twenty- fourth year of her age." Mr. Furman was in the Board from 1780 to 1788. I suppose that it is his death which, is published as having taken place April 27, 1831, in his eighty-eighth year. Mr. Tindal's is an old and respectable fam- ily. The other Trustees are spoken of in detail in other chapters. 4. Daniel Howell's will was proved in 1778; the legacy was payable in two years. He was brother of Hezekiah, John, Abigail, Eunice (Phillips), and Phebe (Phillips). His children were Rhoda, Sarah and Elizabeth. A relative of his, David Howell, died in 1785, leaving three daughters — Prudence, Patience, Charity. Jethro Yard (as I gather from his will) was a carpenter. He was a son of William Yard. 5. Mr. Jefferson, in his Autobiography, says : "I left home on the sixteenth of October [1783], arrived at Trenton, where Congress was sitting, on the third of November, and took my seat on the fourth, on which day Congress adjourned, to meet at Annapolis on the twenty- sixth." This statement has been followed by his biographers, Tucker and Randall, but Congress was sitting at Princeton, not Trenton. 6. Saltash was granted to sixty-four proprietors in 1761, settled in 1777, and in 1797 the name was changed to Plymouth. Plymouth and Woodstock are in the same county, Windsor. B. H. Hall's "His- tory of Eastern Vermont," p. 113. 7. An advertisement in a Philadelphia newspaper of July 16, 1776, calls on "the good people of this city and province, and of the province of New Jersey, to send all the old sheets and other old linen they can possibly spare, to Doctor Shippen, junior, for the use of the military APPENDIX. 337 hospitals in New Jersey." The people of New Jersey are requested to send their donations to Doctor Cowell in Trenton, Doctor Bain- bridge in Princeton, Doctor Cochran in Brunswick, Mr. Pettit in Amboy, and the Rev. Mr. Caldwell in Elizabethtown. Dr. Cowell and his brother Ebenezer, the lawyer, both bachelors, lived in a large house on the Pennington road. On a grave-stone in the Presbyterian church-yard we read : "In memory of Doct. David Cowell, who departed this life Dec. i8, 1783, aged 43 years." I have seen a letter of David Cowell (the M.D.) to "Mr. Benjamin Cornwill, near Pennington," as follows: "Trenton, July 14th, 1782. "Sir— Agreeable to your request, I have took an opportunity and talked with Jacob Blackwell about your affair and assured him that you are willing to have all your money matters settled by the Tables. The Assembly have made a law for the settlement of all such matters. He says he is willing to the same thing, and on its being done so he will make you a deed agreeable to your bargain. Or if you do not like your bargain on account of the title or any other thing, you shall have your money which you have paid paid back to you by the same Table, on your giving up the premises; so that if you come down I can see no reasonable objection to the whole matter's being finally settled, without cost or trouble, in the very exact way they would be settled were it done by court — ^to which good purpose you may always command your friend and very humble servant, "David CoweLL." 23 PRES 338. APPENDIX. CHAPTER XV. 1. A candidate who had been examined with Mr. Armstrong, up to this point, was not so successful; and for the sake of illustrating the proper care of a Presbytery in the matter of licensure, and the manner in which it is performed, I copy the minute in this case: "The Presbytery then proceeded to consider Mr. W.'s examination and sermon; and after the most mature deliberation are unanimously of opinion that they cannot sustain either his examination or his ser- mon as parts of trial, inasmuch as in his examination, although he manifested a competent skill in the languages, yet he appeared almost wholly unacquainted with several of the most important of the liberal arts and sciences, and also greatly deficient in his knowledge of divin- ity; and although his sermon contained some just and pious senti- ments, yet there appeared in it such confusion in the arrangement of the thoughts, such obscurity in expression, and inaccuracy in many of the sentiments, that they cannot consider it as an evidence of his capacity to be useful as a public teacher in the Church of Christ. "Therefore the Presbytery agreed to recommend to M!r. W., if he choose to prosecute his trials further with a view to the Gospel min- istry, then he apply himself diligently to the study of logic, natural and moral philosophy, and divinity, for one year from this time, as in these branches he appeared to be most deficient ; also that he study compo- sition with care, and labor to acquire a more clear and perspicuous method of communicating his ideas. And as they entertain a favorable opinion of Mr. W., for his modest, decent, and humble deportment, will always be ready to give him all due encouragement, provided he make such improvement in the above articles as shall remove the difficulties that now lie in the way of their admitting him into the ministry." The candidate probably withdrew from this Presbytery; but he must have found some way to licensure, as in 1784 the Presbytery of New- castle began to call him to account for neglecting to preach, and in 1785 dropped him as their probationer, on evidence that he had devoted himself to a secular life. 2. In the archives of the church is the certificate of his licensure dated "Elk Meeting House, Jany 15, 1777," attested by "Jas. Ander- son, Presby Clerk." It states that Mr. Armstrong being under trials in the Presbytery of New Brunswick, he now appears with a letter from Dr. Witherspoon, "Prof, of Divinity and a member of said Presby,'' certifying that he "had passed the greater part of his trials" "but by reason of the public distress of the State would not proceed to license him and requests this Presby to hear his popular discourse, APPENDIX. 339 the only remaining part of his trials, and if the way be clear, to pro- ceed to his licensure." They did so, "and considering his circumstances very peculiar, judge their way clear," etc. 3. The following document is in possession of Mr. Armstrong's family: "I do hereby certify that Mr. James Francis Armstrong bore arms in the year 1776, in an expedition formed for the defense of Staten Island against the British troops, and served as a volunteer private in my company of Militia wholly at his own expense, without drawing any of the subsistence due to a Volunteer, from the time the troops were raised until they were regularly discharged. "PerilR Gordon, Qr Master, Trenton. "November 28th, 1778." 4. "Sine titulo," "in retentis," "pro re nata," "sederunt," "non liquet," "nemine contradicente," "ad futuram rei memoriam," "inter- loquitur," "pro tanto," "in defense," "in hcEc verba," "de novo," and other Ivatin substitutes for plain English (sometimes even "Janitor" for Sexton), are freely used in the ecclesiastical records of the last century. The old Presbyteries and Synods used to date their sessions in Latin : "Die Jovis,'' "Die Saturni" "Post Merid. Sessione jta. Precibus peractis." They habitually employed the learned tongue to say that after prayer the members named took their seats. Some of the New Brunswick clerks ventured on writing "present after prayer," and "present as before," but in April, 1798, this innovation was checked by the following direction : "Resolved, that the Presbytery in future, for the sake of greater uniformity, make use of the old technical terms ubi post preces sederunt, in recording the first session of their meetings, and at any subsequent session, post preces sederunt qui supra." It was, however, considered lawful to give only the initials of the formula, and many a clerk spent more time and room in an elaborate execution of the capitals U. P. P. S. and U. P. P. S. Q. S., than would have answered for the words in full. The act of the Presbytery- was, perhaps, a testimony against the course adopted by the Synod of 179s. when it "Resolved, that the Synod will discontinue the use of Latin terms in their records to express the opening of their session, and their attendance on prayer, and that the same in future be ex- pressed in English." 5. Since this History was published I have seen in MS. a sermon by Mr. Armstrong, marked by him thus : "Delivered in the spring of the year 1779, to his Excellency Gen'l Washington and the Guards at Middlebrook." The army was on both sides of the North river during the winter of 1778-9. More than 7,000 were at Middlebrook under the immediate command of Gen'l Washington. The army left Middle- brook May 29, 1779. Marshall's "Life of Washington,'' vol. iv., 57. The text of the sermon was Proverbs 14 : 34, and probably had been previously delivered on one of the Fast Days appointed by Synod. 340 APPENDIX. I have placed it in the archives of the church. I also sent an abstract of it to the New York Observer, February 22, 1877. 6. In a Thanksgiving sermon (not dated, but probably at the close of the war) he says : "it will be sufficient to my present purpose to assure you that I have seen the hour of danger when the whole six Southern States were not able to bring 500 men into the field to oppose a victorious enemy." In the same (on the battle of Bunker Hill), "I have been informed that General Howe never could erase it from his mind; it haunted his pillow and disturbed his slumbers. Whenever he had a battle in prospect. Bunker Hill was painted in his imagination, and he could not be induced to risque an action where there was the least appearance of breastworks, or unless he had such appearances of superiority or advantage as would ensure success. This doubtless gave that wary complexion to all his conduct which gave time to our army to learn experience and discipline." 7. William Churchill Houston, Mr. Armstrong's correspondent, and afterwards a parishioner in Trenton, was a native of South Car- olina. After the age of twenty-one he entered Princeton College as a Freshman : while himself a student he assisted in teaching the Gram- mar School. He graduated 1768. In 1769, being then Master of the School, he was elected Senior Tutor of College, and in 1771,. Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. He resigned the chair 1783, at which time he was also Treasurer of the Trustees. Two years before his resignation he had been, after the requisite course of study, admitted to the bar. He removed to Trenton, and had a large prac- tice, notwithstanding his rigid adherence to the determination that he would never undertake a cause which he did not believe to be just. Mr. Houston held several public oiKces, such as Receiver of Continental taxes (1782-5), and Clerk of the Supreme Court (1781-8). He was five times (first in 1779) elected to the Congresses of the Confederation. He was one of the three delegates of New Jersey to the body of Commissioners which met at Annapolis (1786), which resulted in suggesting the Convention which formed the Constitu- tion. He was appointed a member of that Convention, but declining health seems to have prevented his attendance. In 1788 he left Trenton to try the benefit of his native climate, but before he reached Phila- delphia illness compelled him to stop, and he died at an inn in the village of Frankford. His body was taken for burial to the ground of the Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. For most of these particulars I am indebted to a notice communicated by my friend, William C. Alexander, Esq., to the New York Observer of March 18, 1858. "A letter from William Ch. Houston, captain of a company in the 2d Battalion of Foot militia in the county of Somerset, setting forth APPENDIX. 341 Ihat from his connexion with the College, in the absence of Dr. Witherspoon and other circumstances, he cannot pay the due atten- tion to his company, and begging leave to resign his commission." ■"Minutes of Provincial Congress," 395, S41, 542. See, also, Maclean's "History of the College of New Jersey," i: J13, 314- 8. For several years the Presbytery met at New Brunswick, Prince- ton, and Trenton in rotation. The efforts to repeal the rule were not successful until April, 1801. 9. The business meetings were not always held in sacred places. This one was "at the house of Francis Witt, in Trenton." At the next stated meeting of the Trustees, "the weather being severe, they adjourned to the house of Francis Witt, inn-keeper." At other times -the place was "the house of Henry Drake, inn-keeper." 10. The actual cost exceeded the estimate by seventy-five pounds. 11. The parsonage deeds may be found in Book AT. 103, 106. The Trustees of "the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton," which was the title taken by the country church upon the separation, were Daniel Scudder, John Howell, Ebenezer Ross, Timothy Howell, William' ■Green, James Burroughs, and Benjamin Johnston. Mr. Kirkpatrick was probably the first occupant of the parsonage. In 1768-70, "Mrs. Sarah Trent" was credited for the rent. The Rev. Dr. How (1816-21) ■was the last of the pastors who resided in it before it was sold. In the Trenton Emporium., December 15, 1821, the parsonage is .advertised for sale. "The house is of frame, 32 by 30, two stories ; three rooms and a large hall, all of which have iireplaces in them, ■on the first floor; four chambers with fireplaces in them and a good store-room on the second floor ; one room in the garret ; a dry stone ■cellar under the whole, divided into suitable apartments, and a large, ■convenient frame kitchen in the rear. The lot is sixty-five feet front by one hundred and twenty-five feet deep, having a well-arranged stable and carriage-house, with a hay-loft over both: a well of excel- lent water in the yard and a garden of convenient size." 12. Marquis de Chastellux, "Voyages dans I'Amerique," 1780-2, "Paris, 1786, vol. i., 285, speaks of visiting Ringwood, "a hamlet of seven or eight houses, formed of the manor of Mrs. Erskine and the forges she was concerned in. Mr. Erskine had been two months ■dead. Mrs. Erskine was nearly forty years of age. One of her nephews was at the house, and Mr. John Fell, a member of Congress." Erskine and the iron works are mentioned in the "Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society," vol. vi., 148, &c. Rev. A. Messier, D.D., of Somerville, furnished me the following ■copies of inscriptions at Ringwood, Passaic county. New Jersey: 342 APPENDIX. "In memory of Robert Erskine, P.R.S., Geographer and Surveyor- General to the Army of the United States. Son of the Rev'd Ralph Erskine, late Minister of Dunfermline in Scotland. Born Sep. 7th, 1735- Died Oct'r 2, 1780, aged 45 years and 25 days." "In memory of Robert Monteith, Clark to Robert Erskine, Esq., born at Dunblain in Scotland. Died Dec'r 2, 1778, aged 33 years." 344 APPENDIX. by such — at the same time so soon as the Society is well established none ought to be refused the privilege of attending to whom the exercises carried on might be expected to be productive of any good. The attendance upon this Meeting must be purely voluntary — no obli- gations upon any person but such as are imposed by their own opinion or feelings, and if any should attend it only at times, — or if after attending sometimes should choose to absent themselves, no opinion of religious character ought to be formed from such conduct. In short, attendance upon such meetings ought not to be made a term of communion, as it is in some societies — such terms lay an unlawful as well as unchristian burthen upon the conscience, often wound the peace and harmony of Society, and create real disorder and confusion, as well as prevent the good which they may be intended to promote." Rules and Articles for the Society. "I. When the Pastor of the congregation in which the Society is formed attends, it will be natural to expect that he should begin the Exercises by Prayer or singing, give an exhortation. Lecture, or exposition of a part of scripture or catechism as may appear good to him-, and then call upon som'Cone of those who profess religion, as may be determined among themselves, to conclude the exercises by singing and Prayer, — always remembering that both religion and prudence dictate that the exercises should be short, — perhaps the whole not exceeding an hour, unless something particular or un- common should justify it. "II. If the Society should at times indulge themselves in devotional conversation, which may be thought profitable, no subject, whether giving opinions upon the sense of passages of Scripture, or religious principles shall ever be admitted which may lead to disputations. "III. No person, except the Pastor, shall ever pretend to exhort, instruct or Lecture to the Society. "IV. When the Pastor is absent, one or more of those agreed upon by the Society shall sing or pray — read passages of Scripture — ap- proved devotional writings — or short sermons,, and conclude by sing- ing and prayer." In a sermon, without date, by Mr. Armstrong, on prayer, he said : "There are other stated times which ought to be attended to, such as prayer meetings and religious societies, where people meet sometimes to converse together about the things of God, but more commonly for social prayer and praise, for reading the Holy Scriptures and such books of practical piety and devotion as may tend to the in- struction and edification of God's people. Such societies and meetings with us, are and ought to be voluntary, and attendance on them ought not to be made terms of communion or discipline, at the same time APPENDIX. 34S it is highly discreet and becoming to attend them as regularly as our •circumstances and our callings and private concerns will admit." In another sermon, no date: "It is no new custom in our churches to have divine service once a month, beside the stated weekly service. It has long been practiced, and continues to be practiced by many. Yet, my brethren, I enter upon it with trembling because I know ys propensity of the human heart to view human institutions * * * as of equal importance with the word and command of God. This day is not appointed to be ob- served as a day of fasting and prayer in a congregational way; but rather to fix in our remembrance the importance of this commanded duty." 3. This name has become so venerable and familiar that it strikes one with surprise to find that in the sermon preached by Provost Ewing at his ordination and installment (May 15, 1787,) it is given both on the title page and in the resolution of the corporation of the Second Church ■calling for its publication, as Ashbald Green. 4. The region of New York around the Cayuga and Seneca Lakes was named sixty years since, "the north-western frontiers" of our ■Church. In 1798 Mr. George Scott, of the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick, was sent to that region to "itinerate for at least five months as a missioner." The minutes of 1805 contain an interesting historical docu- ment in a "general report concerning those districts within the juris- diction of the Synod of New York and New Jersey which most par- ticularly require the labors of missionaries and the distribution of pious tracts among the people." 5. The Academy was in Academy street on the ground now (1912) occupied by the Public Library. See the History of the Academy written by Dr. Hall in the State Gazette, April and May, 1847, ten num- hers. Also, "An Historical Sketch of the Trenton Academy" read at the centennial anniversary of its foundation, February loth, 1881, by Hon. William L. Dayton. .6. Sedgwick's Life of Livingston, ch. vii., viii. The Legislature (Dec. 9> T-777>) exempted Mr. Collins "and any number of men, not exceeding four, to be employed by him at his printing office," from militia service during the time they were occupied in printing the laws or the weekly newspaper. The pacific but courageous printer vindicated the liberty of the press by refusing to give the name of a political correspondent (1779) on the demand of the Legislative Council. "In any other case, not incompatible with good conscience, or the welfare of my country, I shall think myself happy in having it in my power to oblige you." {Selections from Correspondence of Executive, 1776-86, published by Legislature in 1848, p. 199.) 346 APPENDIX. 7. The American historiographer of printing makes no mention of this edition but speaks only of Collins's octavo New Testament of 1788, and Bible of 1793-4. {Thomas's History, ii., 124.) Collins printed in Trenton two thousand copies of Sewel's History of the Quakers, of nearly a thousand pages folio ; Ramsay's South Carolina, two volumes, and other large works. In 1848 the surviving family of Mr. CoUins printed for private use a memoir of their venerated parents, for the help of which I am indebted to my friend Isaac Collins, of Philadelphia. See also Blake's Bio- graphical Dictionary, 13th edition. I find in a Philadelphia newspaper, Sept., 1867, notice of the death of a son of Mr. Collins, as follows : "Joseph B. Collins, President of the United States Life Insurance Company, died yesterday morning at his residence in Eleventh St., in the 74th year of his age. He was born in Trenton, N. J., where his family have dwelt nearly two centuries. His father, Isaac Collins, was the founder of the noted publishing house of Collins and Co., whose books were once reckoned among the standard publications of the country and are still regarded by our old families as precious heir- looms." APPENDIX. 347 CHAPTER XVII. 1. "In the graveyard at Cape May Court House, N. J., there is a tombstone to the memory of Sarah Hand, widow of Jonathan Hand, born at Trenton, N. J., July 22, 1778, died April 3, 1871. This lady was daughter of Nathaniel Moore, of Trenton, and in her eleventh year, with several other little misses, strewed flowers in the path- way of General Washington at Trenton, in 1789." "Pennsylvania Historical Society Magazine," vol. i., 473. Another of the party was Mrs. Sarah Vandegrift (then Miss ), who died November 30, 1864, in her ninety-fifth year, for forty-eight years a member of this church. Irving says of the incident at Tren- ton: "We question whether any of these testimonials of a nation's gratitude affected Washington more sensibly than those he received at Trenton." 2. Among the sermons left by Mr. Armstrong is the one used at the ordination of Einley (the Colonizationist) and Hunt. The subject is Ministerial Zeal, and the sermon was used on more than one occa- sion. One of the leaves has this endorsement : "First page of the sermon preached at the Mr. P. and Mr. Hunt's ordination in 1795." It was again used, in part, at the ordination and instalment of George Spafford Woodhull, at Cranbury, June 6, 1798. Mr. Arm- strong said to the new minister : "You have succeeded two pastors, both lately, suddenly and unexpectedly called away by death, men of upright hearts and irreproachable lives. The memory of a Smith, whose accents were those of gentleness and love; the memory of a Snowden, who was all zeal and activity; these yet live in the hearts of a people who esteemed them highly for their works' sake." Thomas Smith, pastor of Cranbury, died in 1789, and Gilbert T. Snowden, February 20, 1797. There was a coincidence of names about that time. Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith being in the Princeton pulpit, as President of the College, and Samuel Finley Snowden, brother of Gilbert, as pastor of the Princeton congregation (1795-1802). Mr. Armstrong gave the charge at the ordination of Cyrus Gilder- sleeve, as evangelist, at Trenton, September 9, 1792, and preached at the instalment of Henry KoUock, in Princeton, June 12, 1804. He was appointed to preside and preach at Rev. Thomas Grant's instal- ment at Amwell Second Church, December 15, 1791, but was prevented from fulfilling the service by absence. Mr. Grant was the pastor of Flemington in 1794, when Mr. Armstrong preached at the opening of the new church, as mentioned on page 203. Mr. Grant died in March, 181 1, and in a sermon at the time, Mr. Armstrong spoke of 348 APPENDIX. "being early and long intimately acquainted with him and enjoying his friendship from his entrance into the ministry to his death." 3. To the instances of Mr. Armstrong's character as a philanthropist may be added a sentence incidentally dropped in a sermon referring to prisoners condemned to death : "I have more than once in my life been instrumental in procuring pardon for persons in such a situa- tion." The prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, at the close of the last century, gave occasion for many efforts of the Trenton pastor to call attention to its warnings. In one sermon (on Isaiah 9 : 12, 26 ; 9, Micah 6:9) he said he would not presume to call that pestilence a judgment for special sins, "yet there is one thing I beg leave to mention. In all my recollection I do not remember to have read or heard that ever the Saviour of sinners was insulted in a public news- paper, except in the city of Philadelphia not long since." It appears from Matthew Carey's "Short Account of the Maloignant Fever lately prevalent in Philadelphia,'' fourth edition, 1794, that the people of our town and neighborhood were much alarmed by the danger of persons flying from the city in this direction. He says: "The inhabitants of Trenton and Lamberton associated on the 13th •of September and on the 17th passed several resolutions to guard themselves against the contagion. They resolved that 'a total stop •should be put to the landing of all persons from Philadelphia at any ferry or place from Lamberton to Howell's ferry, four miles above Trenton; that the intercourse by water should be prohibited between Lamberton, or the head of tide-water and Philadelphia; and that all boats from Philadelphia should be prevented from landing either goods or passengers anywhere between Bordentown and the head of tide-water ; that no person whatever should be permitted to come from Philadelphia or Kensington while the fever continued; that all per- sons who should go from within the limits of the association to either of those places should be prevented from returning during the con- tinuance of the fever ; and finally, that their standing committee should inquire whether any persons, not inhabitants, who had lately come from places infected, and were therefore likely to be infected them- selves, were within the limits of the association, and if so, that they should be obliged instantly to leave the said limits.' " Mr. Caiey •gave his opinion "that the exercise of the duties of humanity towards the fugitive Philadelphian would not have been attended with the danger universally imagined," as although, "in defiance of all resolu- tions, many of the infected citizens took refuge outside the city, in very few instanced cases was the infection communicated." He after- wards modified this opinion upon hearing of several cases by communi- cation; among them "three people, of one family in Trenton, took it -from a sick person from Philadelphia, and died of it." APPENDIX. 349. 4. "Ordered, that Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Singer, and Mr. Taylor work the large engine in time of fire, and that Conrad Kotts and Isaac Barnes work the small engine." "Ordered, that Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Taylor be a committee to have good trail ropes put to both engines, and a necessary harness for one horse for the large engine."" The members being at one time required to give account whether they had done their duty, it is entered that "Mr. Armstrong, ladder- man No. I, attended, and brought forward his ladder and hook to the late fire." 5. I have looked in vain for the New Brunswick history in the archives of the Assembly. 6. In an interleaved almanac of 1794, I find a memorandum of Rev. Mr. Weems' preaching in the evening in the Presbyterian church. This was the author of the poor but widespread "Life of Washing- ton." I have a poem of his with his autograph, "Mrs. Frazer, from M. L. Weems." Mrs. Frazer was the wife of the rector of St. Michael's Eipiscopal Church. 7. The result of the experience of such uses of the Church as are related on this and other pages, was given by Mr. Armstrong in his sermon at the opening of the new church in 1806. The position taken by him in the annexed paragraph is now an established rule of our Trustees. "I know," said the preacher, "that superstition has often conferred upon churches a degree of sanctity which can only belong to the object of all religious worship. But I know also that in the attempt to wipe out this vestige of superstition, too many have swept away with it that respect and veneration which we ought to cultivate for places where God has promised his presence to his people. The use of churches, for purposes not immediately connected with religious exercises, though innocent in itself, must have a tendency to weaken our respect and veneration for them. Civil, poHtical, or literary scenes and exhibitions, mingled at intervals, though not on the Lord's day, will more or less weaken a sense of that seriousness and solemnity which is associated with a house set apart for the worship of God. Nothing, therefore, but urgent unavoidable necessity should open the doors of our sanctuaries for exercises which are not immediately subservient to the purposes of religion or devotion." 8. At that time, and for many years, the custom obtained in Trenton of adorning the windows and fronts of the houses on the Fourth of July with flowers and evergreens, instead of the former practice of illumination. It was also a custom> to spend the evening at the State House, where the usual entertainments of an evening party were pro- vided by the ladies. 9. The Rev. Andrew Hunter, D. D. (already mentioned on p. 204), was a personal friend, and in the pulpit a frequent assistant, of Mr. 350 APPENDIX. Armstrong. He graduated at Princeton, 1772; was chaplain in the Revolutionary army ; taught a classical school at Woodbury ; cultivated a farm on the Delaware near Trenton; was professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in Princeton, 1804-8; head of an Academy in Borden- town, 1809; afterwards a chaplain in the Washington Navy Yard, and died in Burlington, February 24, 1823. His second wife was Mary, a daughter of Richard Stockton, signer of the Declaration. Dr. Hunter had an uncle who was also the Rev. Andrew Hunter, and was pastor in Cumberland county, N. J. (about 1746-1760). He married Ann, a cousin of Richard Stockton, the signer. He died in 1775. His widow was buried in the Trenton church-yard, October, 1800, and the funeral sermon was by President Smith. In the Trenton Emporium, March i, 1823, "Rev. Dr. Andrew Himter, a chaplain in the U. S. Navy," is among the deaths as "at Wash- ington." For Andrew Hunter, the uncle, thirty years pastor at Greenwich, in Cohansey, see Allen H. Brown's "Outline History of the Presby- terian Church in West or South Jersey," Philadelphia, i86g. 10. In this year the national offices were removed to Trenton for some weeks, in consequence of the prevalence of the yellow fever in Phila- delphia. The Secretary of the Navy urged the President (Adams) to follow his Cabinet, remarking that "the officers are all now at this place, and not badly accommodated." The President was reluctant to come. He had written in 1797 of the "painful experience" by which he had learned that Congress could not find "even tolerable accommo- dation" here. However, he promised to go by the middle of October, submissively assuring his correspondent, "I can and will put up with my private secretary and two domestics only, at the first tavern or first private house I can find." He arrived on the tenth, and on the next day was greeted with fireworks. He found "the inhabitants of Trenton wrought up to a pitch of political enthusiasm that surprised him,'' in the expectation that Louis XVIII. would be soon restored to the throne of France. {Works of John Adams, vols, ii., vii., ix.) Adams had at this time a conference of six days with Hamilton and other members of his Cabinet before they could agree on the French business. {Randall's Life of Jefferson, vol. ii., 496-8.) 11. Three columns of the True American, of Trenton, for Novem- ber 23, 1807, are filled with the Presbytery's petition to the Legislature of that year, in which the two objections to former applications are ably met, namely, that the incorporation would endanger civil liberty, and that it would be granting an exclusive privilege. The political prejudice of the times had probably more to do with the refusal than these pleas. The democratic newspapers of the day contain many bitter articles against the Presbyterian clergy, who were generally Washington Federalists. Among other delinquencies they were charged with omitting to pray for President Jefferson. In February, 1813, the Presbytery received a charter for ten years. APPENDIX. 351 12. Travels in 1795-7, vol. i., 549. In April, 1795, Peter Howell ad- vertised a "two-horse coachee" to leave Trenton for Philadelphia every Wednesday and Saturday, at eleven o'clock. Fare for a passenger, 12s. 6d.; fourteen pounds of baggage allowed. 13. Travels of Francois Andre Michaux. By act of March 3, 1786, the Legislature granted Andre, the traveler's father, permission to hold land, not exceeding two hundred acres, in any part of the State for a botanical garden. There is a Memoir of Francois (who was the author of the "North American Sylva") in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. xi. Three years before the above-mentioned act, the French Consul for New Jersey offered in the King's name all Wnds of seeds whenever a botanical garden should be established. The Legislature (Dec. 10, 1783) made the ingenious reply that as soon as they estabhshed such a garden they should be glad to receive the seeds. 14. Moreau's mansion was burnt down on Christmas day, 1811. The stable is now a manufactory. Upon his first arrival the General resided ■'at the seat of Mr. Le Guen at Morrisville." By virtue of an act of Legislature (March 5, 1816) the estate of one hundred and five acres was sold by Moreau's executor, three years after his fall at Dresden. 15. In connection with this matter the following advertisement ap- peared in a Trenton paper of 1855-6, and Dr. Hall made deposition as to the existence of (no record of marriage,) for the writ in chancery: "Frances Mary Shard — next of kin. Pursuant to an order of the High Court of Chancery of England, made in the matter of the estate of Frances Mary Shard who died in the year 1819, and the personal representatives of any of such next of kin, as may since have died, are hy their solicitors, on or before the isth day of March, 1856, to come in and prove their claims at the Chambers of the Right Honorable the Vice Chancellor Sir Richard Toun Kindersley, No. 3 Stone buildings, Lincoln's Inn, London, or in default thereof they will be peremptorily ■excluded the benefit of the said order. Mrs. Shard was the widow of William Shard, Esq. (who resided at Torbay House, Paignton, in the county of Devon, and in Harley street, London, and died in the year 1806) and was a daughter of Robert Rutherford and Margaret his wife, who, it is believed, were natives of Ireland, but who were residing at Trenton, in the State of New Jersey, in the United States of America, where the said Robert Rutherford kept an hotel called the 'Legonier Tavern' (and afterwards the Black Horse), at the time of the birth of Mrs. Shard. Mrs. Shard died in the 6oth year of her age, at Torbay House." 16. Paine was in Philadelphia in 1777, when the British were ap- proaching the city. "I stayed in the city till Sunday, having sent my chest and everything belonging to the Foreign Committee to Trenton in a shallop.'' (He was Secretary of the Committee.) Letter of Paine 352 APPENDIX. to Dr. Franklin, "Pennsylvania Historical Society Magazine," vol. 2r 287, 290, 293. 17. In 1789 (May 25) Mrs. Washington slept at Trenton on her way from Mt. Vernon to New York. See Griswold's "Republican Court,"' 163. APPENDIX. 353 CHAPTER XVIII. 1. It appears that some assistance in building the new church was obtained outside of Trenton. Mr. Armstrong left a "memorandum of sundry persons who subscribed in New York, etc., towards the finish- ing of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, February, 1806." It is headed "Rev. Dr. Rodgers, $10; Col. Rutgers, $20; Mr. Edgar, $20." In the list that follows are the well-known names of Robert Lenox, J. B. Rodgers, M.D., Arch'd Gracie, D. Brace, John J. Astor, Maturin Livingston and Dr. Livingston (brothers of Mrs. Armstrong). D. Phoenix, Dr. Miller, Bishop Moore, Col. Wolcott, etc. Total, $369.31; and Newark, $136 = $505.31. 2. From the Trenton "Federalist" of Monday, August 11, 1806: "Notice. Divine service will be performed for the first time in the new Presbyterian Church in this place, next Lord's day. Service will begin at eleven o'clock in the forenoon and three in the afternoon. Collections will be raised after each service, to be appropriated for the expenditures incurred in finishing the house." 3. From a Trenton newspaper of July 29, 1807 : "On Saturday, the twentieth instant, was hung in the steeple of the New Presbyterian Church in Trenton, a new bell, weighing four hun- dred and seventy-eight pounds, cast by George Hedderly, bell-founder and bell-hanger of the city of Philadelphia, which does its founder much credit, both for the neatness of its casting and its melodious tone. "B. Smith, -i "P. Gordon, ^Managers." 4. Dr. Ewing's epitaph, now in Riverview Cemetery, is as follows : "In memory of Francis Armstrong Ewing, M.D., who died in Trenton, his native place, December 10, 1857, in the S2d year of his age. An accomplished scholar, an intelligent and conscientious Christian : tender in his affections : faithful in his friendship : his character combined many high and rare virtues. This church had in him a devoted Elder and firm adherent." 5. The salary was eight hundred dollars. Mr. Armstrong was suc- ceeded in Maidenhead by the Rev. Isaac V. Brown, at whose ordina- tion and installation (June 10, 1807) he gave both the charges. 6. Beside the gravestone of Mr. Furman is that of his wife Sarah, who died January 6, 1796, in her S3d year; and of his daughter, Anna Maria, widow of Gen'l Peter Hunt, October 8, 1816, in her 42d year, and also of her husband. Mr. Furman's son, Moore Furman, gradu- ated at Princeton in 1794, died at Lawrenceville, April 18, 1804. 24 PRES 354 APPENDIX. Mr. Furman's will is dated October lo, 1806. It describes him "of Lamberton, in the county of Burlington." Witnesses are P. F. Howell, Jas. P. Hunt and Gershom Mott. It is proved April 13, 1808. He left to his son-in-law, Peter Hunt, and his wife, Anna Maria, the estate called Pittstown, Hunterdon county, about seven hundred acres and a lot of limestone land, about half an acre, near the North Branch of the Raritan. I have a MS. receipt given by Mr. Furman, as follows : "Aprill 8th, 1754. Received of Mr. Nathaniel Moore Ten Shillings for his Annual Payment to the Library Company of Trenton. "MooRE Furman, Tr." 7. Jonathan Doan (now written Doane) having contracted to erect a State Prison at Trenton, Messrs. Hunt and Furman (1797) conveyed the ground on which the jail (now the arsenal) was built. The measurement was more than eight and one-quarter acres; the con- sideration £369 IS. I have in my possession Mr. Doan's receipt for the last payment of the contract alluded to : "Received Novr 14, 1798, of James Mott, Treas'r, four hundred and seventeen pounds, twelve shillings and two pence, being the balance of the sum allowed to me by an 'act to appropriate a further sum of money for completing the State Prison,' passed November 7, 1798. "Jonathan Doan." 8. April 7, 1848. I attended the funeral of Jesse Roscoe. He lived in the old house opposite the church which Mr. Pish bought (adjoin- ing his house). He was the grandfather of Mrs. Upton and Mrs. Miller. On March 15, 1879, Samuel Roscoe died, aged eighty-four. I was unable to attend the funeral. APPENDIX. 3SS CHAPTER XIX. 1. April 28, 1807, Mr. Armstrong preached before Presbytery at New Brunswick, from' Hebrews 12 : 10, and on June 10, gave charges to pastor and people at the ordination and installation of Isaac V. Brown. 2. Dr. Wm. A. MtDowell's name is first in the catalogue of Alumni, having been licensed in 1813 by the New Brunswick Presbytery, but he had entered in an advanced stage of his studies. The first three students were Wm. Blair, John Covert and Henry Blatchford. The Presbytery of April, 1813, which sat in Trenton, received both Drs. Green and Alexander, from Philadelphia ; the former having been elected Presi- dent of Princeton College in 1812. 3. Among Mr. Armstrong's papers I found a pamphlet of six pages, entitled "A plan for the Establishment of a Bible Society in the State of New Jersey. New Brunswick. Printed for the Committee by Ambrose Walker." It gives proceedings "'at a meeting of the ministers of New Brunswick, with a number of other gentlemen, in the city of New Brunswick, on the 4th day of Oct., A. D. i8og," when "the New Jersey Bible Society" was formed. A contribution of three dollars was to constitute a member and one dollar annually was to be paid in. Twenty-five dollars would constitute a life member. Bibles were to be obtained from the Philadelphia Bible Society. Subscribers were to meet at Princeton, on the first Tuesday of December, to choose managers. Then follows a list of gentlemen throughout the State who were requested to obtain subscribers and donations. Among these are Rev. Dr. Wharton and Isaac Collins, of Burlington ; Rev. Mr. Armstrong and Messrs Waddell and Harris, of Trenton; Dr. Smith and Samuel Bayard, of Princeton; Messrs. Clark and Cross, of New Brunswick ; Rev. Mr. Brown and Charles D. Green, of Maiden- head; Finley, of Basking Ridge; Vredenburg, of Raritan ; Cannon, of Six-Mile-Run; Labach (gh?), of Sourland — worthy representatives in this catholic body, of th^ Reformed Dutch, Presbyterian, Protestant Episcopal and Quaker denominations. To this was added a leaf of signatures of subscribers : "J. F. Arm- strong, Gov. Bloomfield, B. Smith, Peter Gordon, A. Chambers, Nath'l Burrowes, Jas. F. Wilson, E. Howell, Chas. Higbee, J. Oram, Sam. Dickinson, L. (Lambert) Cadwalader, Henry Waddell, Robt. Mc- Neely, Garret D. Wall, Lucius H. Stockton, A. D. Woodruff, Jas. Ewing, Ogden Woodruff, Dr. Beatty, Daniel Fenton, Saml. Paxson, Geo. Sherman, Eliz'th Stockton, EUet Howell." The pamphlet is now in the library of the American Bible Society. 4. In 1809 Mr. Armstrong preached twice on II. Corinthians. This memorandum is on the MS. : "The last preached, June 18, 1S09, on a 3s6 APPENDIX. , particular dispensation of Divine Providence, — a professor of religion, under great fear of mind, having, as supposed by some, been accessory to his own death, tho' uncertain.'' 5. There are MS. "Notes for the day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer appointed by the General Assembly, July 30, 1812," and the same MS. "for the day of humiliation and prayer appointed by the President of the United States, Aug. 20, 1812." 6. On April 7, 1881, Miss Mary Armstrong (age 93) gave me the printed slip of which the following is a copy, which she said was writ- ten by her father on a child of a parishioner : "an acrostic upon a child born blind. Sovereign benign, of love, of life, of light ! At whose command I'm born deprived of sight, 'Midst darkness and 'midst dangers ever nigh, Unseen a father's face, a mother's watchful eye, Eternal ! who 'midst darkness mak'st the light arise. Lighten my mind, and give me heavenly eyes. Rise, Sun of Righteousness, with feeling hght. Oh ! grant me Faith's unerring, saving sight ; Shine inward, that my enlight'ned soul may raise Eternal anthems to my Saviour's praise." 7. Mrs. Armstrong survived her husband until February 13, 1851, when she peacefully and triumphantly departed, in the ninety-third year of her age. I had the privilege of the friendship of this most estimable lady for ten years after becoming pastor of the church, and the dis- course delivered on the Sabbath after her funeral has been published under the title of "The Divine Promise to Old Age." One of the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong, was the wife of Chief Justice Ewing, who died in Trenton, July 4, 1816. Their son, Robert L. Arm- strong, a member of the bar at Woodbury, di^d in Trenton, September 22, 1836. Three unmarried daughters long survived both their parents ; Frances, who died June 22, 1868, aged 75 years ; Susan, May 18, 1878, aged 87; Mary Maturin, March 21, 1882, aged 94. 8. Occam, was a Mohegan (Connecticut) Indian, and the first of his race educated by Dr. Wheelock at Lebanon. In 1766 he collected more than iiooo in England for the Wheelock School. His agency is men- tioned in the celebrated case of Dartmouth College : Wheaton's Re- ports, vol. iv. See Sprague's Annals, vol. iii., 192. 9. In 1765 the Supreme Court required lawyers to wear bar-gown and band as in England. This was repealed in 1791. "Proceedings of New Jersey Historical Society,'' 1862, vol. 9, p. 66. APPENDIX. 357 10. For Mr. Dubois's genealogy, see the "Record of the Family of Louis DuBois, who emigrated from France to America in 1660," — only 150 copies printed, i860, p. 38. Mr. Nicholas Dubois bequeathed $100 to the church, which was realized on the death of his widow in 1861. 11. The "Narrative'' of the General Assembly of 1811 mentions the establishment of a Sabbath-school for poor children in New Brunswick. 12. Mr. Sherrerd died at B'elvidere May 26, 1871, aged seventy-seven. 13. I have since been informed that Mr. Probasco was a Baptist. Rev. James Briggs Bowen, another of the first teachers, called on me June 18, 1868. He said he was a Baptist minister, settled in the West. 14. For Bishop Mcllvaine's account of the first Sunday-school in Burlington, see Hills' "History of the Burlington Church," p. 393. 15. Mary Ann Tucker married James Wright in 1820, and died, his widow, Dec. 14, 1877, aged eighty-two. Mary A. Howell married John R. Vogdes, of Philadelphia. Catherine Schenck married Wm. Morse. At her death she bequeathed $100 to her pastor. Hannah Hayden died Sept. 21, 1867. 16. Miss Rice maintained her active interest in the School until her death in May, 1855. She served the general cause as a writer. Two of her books, "Alice and her Mother," and "Olive Smith," were pub- lished by the American S. S. Union; three others, "Consideration, or the Golden Rule," "Florence Patterson," and "Maria Bradford," by the Massachusetts S. S. Society. 17. Miss Jackson's name and Trenton associations frequently occur in the Memoir of Mr. Sanford, by Dr. Baird, pp. 28, 63, 66, 86, 97, 118, 121. 3S8 APPENDIX. CHAPTER XX. 1. In October, 1823, Dr. How became pastor of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Savannah ; in 1830 President of Dickinson College ; and subsequently returned to New Brunswick upon a call to take the pastoral charge of the First Reformed Dutch Church in that city. He died in New Brunswick, March i, 1868, having resigned his pastoral charge there June 14, 1861. He received the degree of D.D. from Union College in 1830. 2. As throwing somewhat amusing light on the comfortable and simple manners of the time, William Cobbett's Journal, March, 1818, says : "I am at the stage tavern, Trenton, New Jersey, where I have just dined upon cold ham, cold veal, butter and cheese, and a peach pie ; nice, clean room, well furnished, waiter clean and attentive, plenty of milk; and charged a quarter of a dollar. I thought that Mrs. Joselin (Joline?) of Princeton, Mrs. Beesler, at Harrisburg, Mr. Slaymaker, at Lancaster, and Mrs, McAllister were low enough in all conscience; but really this charge of Mrs. Anderson beats all. I really had not the face to pay a quarter of a dollar, but gave the waiter half a dollar and told him to keep the change.'' 3. So far as known, there is no record of when or how often he preached in the church before his election. 4. It is pleasant thus to meet with names, now well known, while in the uncertainties of their novitiate. Mr. Armstrong preached at the ordination of "C. C. Beatty," in 1822; and at the same meeting of Presbytery trials were assigned to "Mr. Albert Barnes." "Mr. Francis McFarland" preached his trial sermon, and was ordained. "Messrs. Robert Baird and John Breckenridge" were licensed. 5. Memoir and Sermons, edited by Rev. HoUis Read, 1853, pp. 31 and 104. A visitor in Trenton thus wrote, November 4, 1822: "I heard Mr. Armstrong preach a most eloquent sermon yesterday morn- ing. He is one of my favorites. At night Mr. L, , the Methodist, a very good preacher ; the coolest Methodist I ever heard. The Tren- tonians say that the Presbyterians have got the Methodist preacher, and the Methodists the Presbyterians." 6. The excellent man here referred to, was Mr. John Voorhees, who was admitted to the communion in Trenton in April, 1822; and elected a ruling elder in 1829. He emphatically discharged the duties of his office "well," until the removal of his residence to Washington, in 1843, where he died October 28, 1849. Concerning Mr. Armstrong's strong character, see also Rev. Dr. James W. Alexander's letter in "Forty Years' Letters," vol. 2, p. 59. APPENDIX. 359 7. Mr. Smith was born at Wethersfield, Sept. 2, 1797, licensed April 20, 1822, married Esther Mary, daughter of Attorney-General Aaron D. Woodruff, Sept. 11, 1826, and died in Stamford, Conn., at the house of his son, James D. Smith, Feb. 20, 1874, in his seventy-sev- enth year. He was buried from the Presbyterian Church of Stam- ford, Feb. 23d. 8. George Whitefield Woodruff was a brother of Aaron Dickinson Woodruff. He died at the family farm, near the Asylum, in 1846, at the age of eighty-two. He was an Episcopalian. See S. D. .^.lexan- der's "Princeton in the Eighteenth Century," p. 218. 9. Gibbs' Federal Administrations, ii. 468. In Mr. Jeremiah Evart's journal of April 18, 1827, he mentions a meeting in the Theological Seminary at Princeton on the subject of Foreign Missions, when Dr. Alexander "was followed by Mr. Stockton, a lawyer of Trenton, who spoke with great feeling.'' {Tracy's Life of Bvarts.) 10. Not many steps from this monument are those of two brothers, (Douglass and Philip P. Howell), on one of which it is said that the deceased "lost his Hfe by a fall from his horse" (1801), and on the other that the deceased was "thrown from his gig, and died in a few minutes" (1833). 11. Mr. Leake's widow survived him until March 13, 1843, when she died in her eighty-ninth year. Two of their daughters long survived both their parents in the family mansion and in the communion, Sarah dying Nov. 25, 1858, an adult member of the church from May, 1815; Clara dying Jan. 16, 1870, a member of the church from October, 1815, a period of fifty-five years. Dr. Maclean's "History of the College of New Jersey" produces a minute of the Trustees of April, 1774, from which it appears that Mr. Leake, whilst a Senior, was engaged in some pranks that were re- garded as too disorderly an outbreak of the rising of the American spirit of independence to pass without censure, and hence they passed a resolution that "the Board being informed that the said Samuel Leake, notwithstanding his conduct, hath been appointed by the Faculty to the honor of the Salutatory Oration at the coming Commencement, this Board doth highly disapprove of his designation to that honor, and do hereby vacate that choice, and direct the President of the College to appoint another Orator in his room.'' Dr. McLean's com- ment on the proceeding is that the Faculty sympathized, to some ex- tent at least, with their pupils in the patriotic demonstration they had made, and were not willing to deprive young Leake of his claim to a position at the Commencement, as "the first scholar in, his depart- ment." There was another Samuel Leake, a native of Virginia, in the Prince- ton class of 1764, a Presbyterian minister in Albemarle county. 360 APPENDIX. 12. Major Beatty is mentioned by Washington in a letter of May, 1788, and there are letters from the Commander-in-Chief to him, of 1779, in Sparks's Writings of Washington, v., 393; vi., 29S, 351. 13. The foundation stone of the first pier was laid by General Beatty, May 21, 1804, and on the thirtieth January, 1806, the completion of the bridge was formally celebrated with a procession, an address by the President, and a dinner. The Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1825) was "sorry for the great hurry'' in which he had to take the boat for Phil- adelphia, "because I should have liked to have examined Trenton; it is a very handsome place * * *. There is, moveover, at Trenton a remarkable bridge crossing the Delaware. It consists of five great suspended wooden arches, which rest upon two stone abutments and three stone piers. The difference between this bridge and others con- sists in this, that in commion bridges the road runs over the tangent, but in this bridge the roads form the segment of the arch." (Travels through North American, vol. i., 136. In contrast with this description of the bridge, we have this entry in the journal of the Rev. Jeremy Belknap, historian, of New Hamp- shire, who in October, 1785, visited his friend, Ebenezer Hazen, in Philadelphia : "We passed through Princeton about noon, and got to Trenton to dinner, then passed the Delaware in another scow (the first was at New Brunswick, 'open at both ends and the scow was propelled across by a rope') which was navigated only by setting poles." "Life of Jeremy Belknap," Harpers, New York, 1847, p. 115. 14. It appears from the following letter from Gen. Beatty to the Rev. Mr. Armstrong that he had declined a nomination for the elder- ship, in 181 I : "Bloomsbury, Sat'y morning, Oct. sth, 181 1. "Rev. and Dear Sir: "The proposition of my becoming one of the Ruling Elders of the church at which you preside has been the subject of much serious meditation through the week. Were I to be governed solely by the opinion of other persons, the pride of office so incident to human nature might have led me to have accepted the appointment. But as often as I came to commune with my own heart, and to view the little progress it had made in the Divine life, and especially its de- ficiency in those attainments, gifts and graces which would qualify me to fulfil the high and responsible duties which attach to the office of an Elder (who ought to walk as a light in the church, in all things adorning the doctrine of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ) I felt abased and discouraged. Believing, then, as I sincerely do, my un- worthiness as well as unfitness to minister in holy things, I cannot reconcile it with my duty to enter on the appointment, even though, the nomination should meet the general acceptance of the congrega- tion. In communicating this determination to the Session, I pray them^ APPENDIX. 361 and you, sir, to be assured that I shall retain a grateful sense of this distinguished mark of their attention towards me. "With sentiments of respect and esteem, "I am your friend and humble servant, "J. BEArfY." Fuller notice of the Beatty family may be found in the "History of Neshaminy Presbyterian Church," by Rev. Douglas K. Turner, Philadelphia, 1876. 15. "Apres I'office divin que nous entendimes dans 1' eglise Presbyte- rienne." Levasseur's Lafayette en I'Amerique. On the occasion of Lafayette's presence Mr. Peter O. Studdiford, of Lambertville, preached. In his prayer he said, "Let us remember that we are here to worship God and God alone." Mr. Tyler made one of the prayers. The following is from an article by Dr. Coleman in the Trenton "Public Opinion," February 14, 1874 : "Sunday morning the General attended Presbyterian Church in Market street, now State street. The minister at that time was William J. Armstrong, a thin, bilious, nervous and energetic man. He was a good preacher, and his wife was an estimable lady. She was a Stockton, daughter of Lucius Horatio Stockton, Esq., whose position — " "May I ask friend Pepys what that has to do with Lafayette?" said Clunn. "True, very true, nothing," replied Pepys. 16. It may have been a revival of this scheme that was contemplated in November, 1814, when a public meeting was called to form an association "to supply the town with fire-wood by water." 17. The remains of Judge Ewing have been removed from the church-yard to Riverview Cemetery, and the grave is designated by this inscription: "In memory of James Ewing, Esq., one of the Judges of the Com- mon Pleas of the County of Hunterdon. Born at Greenwich in the county of Cumberland, the 12th of July, A. D. 1744 (O. S.). Died at Trenton the l6th day of October, A. D. 1823." 362 APPENDIX. CHAPTER XXI. 1. The ruling elders during Mr. Alexander's term were : i. NathaniEi, Busrowes; first an elder in Pennington, and received into the Trenton session December 24, 1815. His monument is inscribed: "A memorial of Nathaniel Burrowes, who died January 29, 1839, aged seventy-one years. An elder of the Presbyterian Church for forty years." 2. Robert McNeely, who came to Trenton in 1791, was ordained to the eldership 1817; died January 27, 1852, in his eighty- fifth year. He was for eighteen successive years annually elected Mayor of Trenton. 3. John VoorhEES, who is mentioned in the pre- ceding chapter. 4. SamuEl BrEarlEy, elected with Mr. Voorhees in 1829, and died May 27, 1848. Mr. McNeely was Presidential elector in 1817. See an article respecting him in "Beecher's Magazine,'' Trenton, vol. i., 1870. Mr. McNeely was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, not far from the site of the "Log College," February 23, 1767. 2. Dr. Alexander did not live to see this History. When he wrote the letter of February, 1859, he was pastor of the congregation whose church stood at the corner of Fifth avenue and Nineteenth street, New York, now Fifth avenue and Fifty-fifth street. Soon after- wards his declining health led him to try the climate of Virginia, and he died at the Red Sweet Springs, July 31, 1859, in the s6th year of his age. 3. Mr. Yeomans was licensed while a tutor at Williams College, October, 1826, by the Berkshire Association, and was pastor at Pitts- field in the spring of 1831. 4. The preceding structures stood upon the western part of the church lot. The present one was placed in the central part. The dimensions are one hundred and four feet length; sixty-two feet breadth ; steeple one hundred and twenty feet. Dr. Yeomans' dedica- tion sermon was published. For the very accurate and artistic sketch of the church from which the frontispiece was engraved, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. J. Fletcher Street, of the Normal School. In the "Emporium" and "True American," of January 18, 1839, is a "Notice to Builders," for proposals for the erection of the new church, signed by Messrs. B. Fish, T. J. Stryker, Armitage Green, C. Blackfan, J. S. Scudder, and S. Evans, Building Committee. In the same, August 23, 1839, is an advertisement of a fair to be held in the City Hall, September 3, "to raise a fund for the purchase of furniture for the church." On January 3, 1840, there is a notice that "Pews will be sold on APPENDIX. 363 January 13. The church will be dedicated on the 19th. S. G. Potts, Chairman of the General Committee." The text of Dr. Yeomans' dedication discourse was Psalms 65 : 4, "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts : he shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple." The people were slow in giving their consent to introduce an organ into the public worship of the new church. Much of the success in securing this innovation is due to the influence of Elder Francis A. Ewing, and to the ingenious manner in which, by his own playing on the instrument, he confined its use to a quiet accompaniment of the voice, without interlude or flourish. The reconciliation of the scruples of some of the worshippers became so entire, by habit, that in 1871 the first organ was superseded by a larger one, with a paid organist and choir. 5. The elders were James Pollock, Aaron A. Hutchinson, and Francis A. Ewing, M.D. The deacons were John A. Hutchinson, Benjamin S. Disbrow, and Joseph G. Breaeley. In the year 1836 Thomas J. Stryker and Stacy G. Potts were elected and ordained elders. 6. "I preached in the church" says Mr. Webster in a letter written at my request, "in the morning and evening; in the afternoon attended the Sabbath-school. Once a month I took my turn of preaching in the State prison and visiting the cells. One evening in the week I lectured at private houses in Bloomsbury, Lamberton, or Mill Hill, and occa- sionally at Morrisville (on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware) in the afternoon." Mr. Webster died at Middletown Point, N. J., December 28, 1862, in his seventieth year. 7. The total additions to the communion in Dr. Yeomans' pastorate were seventy-two on examination, eighty-five on certificate. Dr. Yeo- mans died in Danville, Pa., June 22, 1863. 8. The substance of the sermon (on "the pastoral office") appeared in the Biblical Repertory for January, 1842. 9. I insert with great satisfaction a paragraph from a letter of Dr. Yeomans, of August 15, 1859, after the publication of the "History" : "There was one little item in the history of the transition of the church from my pastoral care to yours which is of a kind so unusual and in itself so interesting as to be worthy of notice. It was the fact that your ministry there began on the Sabbath after the termination of mine, so that the congregation was not without a virtual pastor any Sabbath and the pulpit was not declared vacant." 364 APPENDIX. 10. Dr. Belleville was in Paris in 1774 when Louis XVI. came to the throne and used to tell of his hearing the populace cry, (in allusion to the tradition of Henry IVth's wish that every peasant might have a fowl for his pot-pie,) "Poule-au-pot! poule-au-pot!" 11. There is also an extended notice of his character in an address by Lucius H. Stockton, published in the Nem Jersey Gazette, Sept. 15, 1832. For further matter concerning the life of Chief Justice Ewing, see "Life of Dr. Miller," ii., 168-171. 12. An obituary notice of Dr. Allison is in the Trenton Emporium, February 24, 1827. He was born in Bordentown, Aug. 19, 17S3, was educated under Dr. Samuel Jones of Lower Dublin, Pa., and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Brown University, in 1804. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society and for some time its secretary. He was for four years chaplain to Congress. APPENDIX II. History of the Proposal to Make Trenton the Capital of the United States. In the notice of Doctor Cowell's will, on page 292, it was stated that one of his legacies was to the United States, in case Congress should make Lamberton — then a precinct of Trenton— the seat of the National Government. Although this gives the subject a very slender connection with the title of this volume, I depend on the local interest it possesses, to make acceptable what I have digested from the Journals of the Congress of the Confederation. The Congresses before the Constitution held their sessions in different places, but principally in Philadelphia and New York. In June, 1783, preparation was begun to select what was called a "permanent residence" for Congress, by appointing the first Monday of the following October, to take into consideration such offers as might be made from the places that aspired to that distinction. In the same month in which the resolution was passed by Congress, the Legislature of New Jersey agreed to offer to yield to the United States, jurisdiction over any district to the extent of twenty miles square, and to grant £30,000 in specie for the purchase of lands and the erection of buildings. On the sixth of October, 1783, the question was taken, "In which State buildings shall be provided and erected for the residence of Congress ; beginning with New Hampshire, and proceeding in the order in which they stand." Upon this vote all the States were suc- cessively negatived. On the next day a motion was made by Mr. Gerry, "That buildings for the use of Congress be erected on the banks of the Delaware, near Trenton, or of the Potomac near George- town, provided a suitable district can be procured on one of the rivers aforesaid, for a federal town." By amendment the names of the towns were stricken out, and the rivers left; and it was finally resolved on that day, first, that th« federal town should be erected on the banks of the Delaware; and then, that the site should be "near the falls," that is, near Trenton on the New Jersey side, or in Pennsylvania on the opposite. A committee of five was appointed to view the re- spective situations, and report. The question of locality now became a subject of agitation be- (365) 366 APPENDIX. tween the North and the South. On the day after the appointment of the Committee, a motion was made tO' reconsider the proceedings, "in order to fix on some other place that shall be more central, more favorable to the Union, and shall approach nearer to that justice which is due to the Southern States." This failed. On the tenth, a motion of Mr, Williamson, of North Carolina, was unsuccessful, which pro- posed that the present Congress (then in session at Princeton) should adjourn at once to Philadelphia, sit there till June, and then adjourn to Trenton. A motion of Mr. Duane, of New York, also failed, which called for an immediate adjournment to Trenton. On the eleventh, Mr. Ellery, of Rhode Island, moved for an adjournment to Annapolis till June, and then to meet at Trenton. The latter clause was stricken out, and the words, "for the place of their temporary residence," were joined to "Annapolis ;'' but the amended motion was lost* The selection of Trenton, or its immediate vicinity, seemed now to be most probable; but the minority against the Delaware loca- tion was so large and influential, that Mr. Gerry proposed as a compromise that Congress should have two residences, to be occu- pied alternately; the one to be on the Delaware, as already deter- mined, and the other on the Potomac, at or near Georgetown. On the twentieth, Mr. Gerry further proposed, that until the buildings on the Delaware and Potomac were prepared, the residence of Congress should be alternately in Trenton and Annapolis. On the twenty-first, Mr. Gerry's entire motion was adopted.f In December, 1783, Congress met at Annapolis, and the question of the Federal city was reopened. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Monroe en- deavored to have Alexandria substituted for Georgetown, as the Southern capital, but Virginia was the only State that voted aye.f Congress met in Trenton, November i, 1784. On the tenth Decem- ber, South Carolina moved that: "It is expedient for Congress to adjourn from their present residence." This was negatived on the eleventh, and on the twentieth it was resolved to take measures for procuring suitable buildings for national purposes, and a sum, not exceeding $100,000, was appropriated for that object. It was also determined to be inexpedient to erect such buildings at more than one * "Trenton was next proposed, on which question the votes were divided by the river Delaware." *'The vicinity of its falls is to become the future seat of the Federal Government, unless a conversion of some of the Eastern States can be effected." Madison to Randolph, October 13, 1783. (Madison Papers, vol. i., 576.) t This act was the occasion o£ one of Judge Francis Hopkinson's humorous pub- lications, in which, under the title of "Intelligence Kxtraordinary,'* he described the new mechanism of government as a pendulum vibrating between Annapolis and Trenton. (Hopkinson's Works, vol. i., 178.) $ August 22, 1784, a memorial was presented to the New Jersey Senate from John Coxe and others, citizens of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, praying that ten miles square might be laid out on the Delaware, and furnishing the draft of such d. tract. APPENDIX. 367 place at that time. Mr. Pinckney made an unsuccessful motion to have the arrangements for alternate sessions at Trenton and Annapolis repealed, and on the twenty-third December an ordinance was intro- duced, providing for the appointment of three commissioners, to lay out a district of not less than two, nor exceeding three miles square, on the banks of either side of the Delaware, not lower than Lamber- ton, nor more than six miles above it, for a Federal town. The whole discussion was renewed on a motion for the appro- priation. An effort was made to substitute Georgetown for Lamber- ton, but the ordinance was finally adopted that the Commissioners, without delay, should have the Federal city laid out in some district not more than eight miles above or below the lower falls of the Dele- ware; and enter into contracts for erecting and completing, "in an elegant manner," a Capitol, houses for the President of Congress, and principal officers of the government, with a "due regard to the accom- modation of the States with lots for houses for the use of their dele- gates, respectively," and that Congress should hold its sessions in New York until the public buildings were ready for their reception. The immediate outlay of the Commissioners was not to exceed $100- 000. Congress adjourned on the day after the decision, after acknowl- edging the attentions of the Legislature of the State, and the exertions of the inhabitants of the town in providing the members with accom- modations.* The order of the day for February 8, 1785, was to elect Commis- sioners under the ordinance of December 23, 1784. Various eiforts were made by the Southern delegates to delay the progress of the measure, but the majority persevered, and Philip Schuyler, Philemon Dickinson, and Robert Morris were elected Commissioners, and upon Mr. Schuyler's declining, John Brown was put in his place. None of these were members of Congress. Mr. Dickinson was an inhabi- tant of Trenton, and Mr. Morris had an estate on the opposite side of the Delaware, now the town of Morrisville.f When the first appropriation to the Commissioners was called for by the Committee of Supplies (April s, 1785) — "Federal buildings, $30,000" — M(r. Grayson, of Virginia, moved its refusal, but he was overruled. Then, on motion of Mr. Pinckney, that vote was recon- * The landholders near the falls were not insensible to their opportunity. In the New Jersey Gazette of May, 1785, and many following months, Joseph Higbee offers for sale ''a valuable tract of land, containing three hundred acres, situate within three miles of Trenton, in the county of Burlington and township of Nottingham, and within a mile of I^amberton, where it is expected the Federal town will be built." t Washington foresaw the disadvantages of Lamberton. On the day of the above resolution, he wrote from Mount Vernon, to the President of Congress, in a private letter: **By the time your Federal buildings on the banks of the Delaware, along the point of a triangle, are fit for the reception of Congress, it will be found that they are very improperly placed for the seat of the empire, and will have to undergo a second erection in a more convenient one." {Writ- ings, vol. ix., 95.) 368 APPENDIX. sidered, and the report was recommitted. Here the matter rested until the twenty-second September, when the appropriation of $30,000 coming before the house, Mr. Gerry moved to make it the whole sum of $100,000, but none of the States except Massachusetts and New Jersey voted for it; upon which, on motion of Mr. Hardy, of Vir- ginia, the item was entirely stricken out of the bill, which was a virtual repeal of the ordinance. The question of location was not revived after this until May 10, 1787, when Mr. Lee, of Virginia, moved that the Treasury Board take measures for erecting public buildings, for the accommodation of Con- gress, at Georgetown on the Potomac. This was lost. In a few months (September, 1787) the Constitution of the United States was adopted, and the Congress of the Confederation expired. The Constitution contained a provision implying that the seat of Gov- ernment should be placed in a district "not exceeding ten miles square," which should be ceded to the exclusive legislation of Congress. Offers came in from all quarters. The Convention of New Jersey, which ratified the Constitution, recommended to the Legislature to enter into the competition for the Capital, which they did by a vote, Sep- tember 9, 1788, offering the requisite territory. In September, 1789, Mr. Boudinot, in the House of Representatives, once more proposed "the banks of either side of the river Delaware, not more than eight miles above or below the lower falls," but it failed by a vote of four to forty-six; and so Dr. Cowell's legacy to the United States lapsed. I may close the history by stating that the main question was finally settled by a compromise between the North and the South. The Northern States being anxious for the assumption of the debts of the several States by the General Government, and the Southern States being opposed to that measure, and the two sections being in like manner on opposite sides as to the locality of the Capital, there was a mutual bargaining of votes. The scheme is said to have origi- nated with Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton (Secretary of the Treasury), and consummated at the dinner- table of Mr. Jefferson (Secretary of State) by Messrs. White* and Lee, of Virginia, who agreed to change their votes on the assumption question, in considera- tion of Morris and Hamilton undertaking to effect a corresponding change in the Northern votes for the Capital ; accordingly, the Assump- tion measure passed the House by a vote of thirty-four to twenty- eight, and the Potomac site by thirty-two to twenty-nine.f In July, * "With a revulsion of stomach almost convulsive," says Jefferson in his Ana. t Hildreth's United States, vol. iv., 210-216. Mr. Jefferson said in 1818 that he was "most ignorantly and innocently made to hold the candle" in this game (Ana., Works, vol. ix., p. 92), and again, "I was duped into it by the Secretary of the Treasury, and made a tool for forwarding his schemes, and of all the errors of my political life, this has occasioned me the deepest regret." (Letter quoted in Hildreth, vol. iv., 363.) APPENDIX. 369 1790, it was determined to have the seat of Government on the Poto- mac, and in 1791, Washington selected the spot which now bears his name. According to the terms of the act, Congress remained in Phila- delphia until December, 1800.* * "We are to remove before the first of December to Philadelphia, and, if we live so long, in ten years to the Indian place with the long name on the Potomac." [Conococheague.] (Oliver Wolcott, July 28, 1790. Gibbs' Federal Administration, Ch. ii.) 25 PRES APPENDIX III. Deed of Basse and Revel. REFERRED TO ON PP. I4-IS. To all people to whom these Presents shall come: The Honorable Jeremiah Basse, Esq., Governor of the Provinces of !East and West Jersey, and Thomas Revel, of the town and county of Burlington, in the Province of West New Jersey, Gentleman, Agents for the Honorable the West Jersey Society in England, send greeting : Know ye that we, the said Jeremiah Basse and Thomas Revel, (as agents as aforesaid,) for the accommodation and service of the in- habitants of the township of Maidenhead, within the liberties or pre- cincts of the said county of Burlington, and the inhabitants near ad- jacent, (being purchasers of the said Society's lands there,) for the erecting of a meeting-house, and for burying-ground and school-house, and land suitable for the same, for and in consideration of five shil- lings to them, the said agents, or one of them in hand paid for the use of the said Society by Ralph Hunt and John Bainbridge, of Maiden- head aforesaid, as well for themselves as by the appointment and on the behalf of the rest of the inhabitants of said township at or before the sealing hereof, whereof and wherewith the said agents do hereby acknowledge themselves fully satisfied and paid on behalf aforesaid, they, the said Jeremiah Basse and Thomas Revel, have given, granted, and sold, aliened, enfeoffed, and confirmed, and by these presents, on behalf of the said Society, do fully and absolutely give, grant, and sell, alien, enfeoff, and confirm, unto the said Ralph Hunt, and John Bain- bridge, and Johannes Laurenson, Wm. Hixson, John Bryerly, Samuel Hunt, Theoph. Phillips, Jonathan Davis, Thos. Smith, Jasper Smith, Thos. Coleman, Benjamin Hardin, Wm. Akers, Robert Lannen, PhiUp Phillips, Joshua Andris, Samuel Davis, Elnathan Davis, Enoch Andris, Cornelius Andris, James Price, John Runion, Thos. Runion, Hezekiah Benham, Benjamin Maple, Lawrence Updike, Joseph Sackett, and Ed- ward Hunt, all of Maidenhead aforesaid, one hundred acres of land, already taken up, laid forth, and surveyed, within said Society's tract of land above the falls, commonly called the fifteen thousand acres, in the township of Maidenhead aforesaid, for the use aforesaid; together with all and every the ways, easements, profits, commodities, heredita- ments, and appurtenances to the said one hundred acres of land belong- ing or appertaining, and all the estate, right, title, interest, possession, (371) 372 APPENDIX. property, clainii and demand whatsoever, as well of the said Jeremiah Basse and Thomas Revel (as agents as aforesaid) as of the said Society in law and equity, and either of them of, in, or unto the said one hundred acres of land and granted premises belonging or apper- taining; and the reversion and reversions, remainder and remainders of the same and of every part thereof. To have and to hold the said one hundred acres of land and granted premises, a;id every part and parcel thereof, with the appurtenances, unto the aforesaid persons par- ticularly mentioned, and to their heirs and successors forever, as well to the only proper use and behoof of them the said persons particularly mentioned as abovesaid, as to all and every other, the inhabitants of the said township aforesaid, and parts adjacent, who are or shall be purchasers of the aforesaid Society's lands, and to the heirs, assigns, and successors of them and every of them forevermore ; to be holden for, by, and under the quit rents thereout issuing unto our Sovereign Lord, the King, and his heirs and successors, and the arrears thereof, (if any be). In witness whereof the said Jeremiah Basse and Thomas Revel, in the name and on the behalf of the said Society, have hereunto set their hands and seals the eighteenth day of March, Anno Dom. 169%. Annoq. R. R. Gulielm. tertii Angl. etc., undecimo. J. Basse, (l. s.) Thos. RevfiL. (l. s.) Sealed and delivered in the presence of Jno. Tatham, Nath. Cortland, Justice. Joseph Rbvel. A true copy of a deed recorded in liber B, No. 2, page 655. Thos. S. Allison, Sec. of State. APPENDIX IV. List of Pastors, Elders, Deacons and Trustees of the Trenton Church. PASTORS. 1736-1760, Rev. David CowEtL, D.D., installed November 3d, 1736; released March ilth, 1760; died December ist, 1760. 1761-1766, Rev. Whliam Kirkpatrick, supply April 28th, 1761 ; to 1766; died September 8th, 1769. 1769-1784, Rev. Elihu Spencer, D.D., called November i8th, 1769; died December 27th, 1784. 1786-1816, Rev. James Francis Armstrong, called April 2Sth, 1786; died January 19th, 1816. 1816-1821, Rev. Samuel Blanchard How, D.D., installed December' 17th, 1816; resigned April, 1821 ; died March ist, 1868. 1821-1824, Rev. William Jessup Armstrong, D.D., installed Novem- ber 28th, 1821 ; resigned February 3d, 1824 ; died Novem- ber 27th, 1846. 1825-1828, Rev. John Smith, installed March 8th, 1825 ; resigned August, 1828; died February 20th, 1874. 1829-1833, Rev. James Waddel Alexander, D.D., installed February nth, 1829; resigned October 31st, 1832; died July 31st, 1859. 1834-1841, Rev. John William Yeomans, D.D., installed October 7th, 1834; resigned June ist, 1841 ; died June 22d, 1863. 1841-1884, Rev. John Hall, D'.D., installed August nth, 1841; pastor emeritus until his death. May loth, 1894. 1884-1898, Rev. John Dixon, D.D., installed October isth, 1884; resigned September i8th, 1898. 1899-1901, Rev. Lewis Seymour Mudge, installed September 27th, 1899; resigned November 4th, 1901. 1902- Rev. Henry Collin Minton, D.D., LL.D., installed Novem- ber 19th, 1902. (373) 374 APPENDIX. ELDERS. 1760, John Chambers, 1840, John Hendrickson, Stephen Rose. 1764, Joseph Green. 1846, 1765, Benjamin Yard, HezEkiah Howele, William Tucker. 1858, 1771, Samuel Hill, Ebenezer Cowell, 1866, Jacob Carle, John Howell, Timothy Hendrickson. 1875, 1787, Alexander Chambers, Jacob Carle, Isaac Smith, Benjamin Smith, 1884, Nathaniel Furman, Ogden Woodruff. ■ 1797, Peter Gordon. 1806, Benjamin Hayden, 1893, Nicholas Dubois. 1815, Nathaniel Bueeowes. 1817, John Beatty, 1898, James Evving, Robert McNeely, Joshua S. Anderson. igog, 1829, John Voorhees, Samuel BrearlEy. 1836, Thomas J. Stryker, Stacy G. Potts. James Pollock, Francis A. Ewing, Aaron A. Hutchinson. Samuel Roberts, Joseph G. Brb^rlEy, Jonathan Fisk. George S. Green, Augustus G. Richey. Henry W. GrEEn, John S. Chambers, William J. Owens. John D. Cochrane, William Elmer, Robert P. Stoll, Julius Johnston. Barker Gummere, Charles E. Green, Edward S. McIlvainE, Hugh H. Hamill. Edward T. Green, Henry D. Oliphant, Lewis C. Wooley. Moore Dupuy, John H. Scudder, Oscar Woodworth. Barton B. Hutchinson, Edward S. Wood, Frederick T. Bechtel, J. Warren Covert, Ellery Robbins. APPENDIX. 375 DEACONS. 1771, Benjamin Smith. 1777, William Green, Joseph GreEn. 1782, John Howell. 1840, John A. Hutchinson, Benjamin S. Disbrow, Joseph G. Brearley. 1846, Stanhope S. Cooley, B. Wesley Titus. 1856, Andrew R. Titus, William J. Owens. 1866, Julius Johnston, William R. Titus, James H. Clark. 1875, Enoch G. Hendrickson, T. Wallace Hill, Samuel M. You mans, John C. Owens. 1884, Joseph T. Ridgway, James Hughes, William S. Covert. 1893, Barton B. Hutchinson, Benjamin M. Phillips. 1897, Henry W. GrEEn, G. Abeel Hall. 1909, Charles Howell Cook, Charles H. Dilts, Sam'l D. Oliphant, Jr., Huston Dixon, Alex. McAlpin Phillips. TRUSTEES. 1756, David Cowell, 1818, S. L. Southard. Charles Clark, 1822, John Beatty. Andrew Reed, 1823, John S. Chambers. Arthur Howeli,, 1825, Amos Hartley, Joseph Yard, Ebenezer p. Rose, William Green, Benjamin Fish. Alexander Chambers. 1826, Charles Burroughs. 1760, Moore Furman. 1833, Henry W. Green, 1762, Obadiah Howell. Armitage Green, 1764, William Kirkpatrick, Thomas J. Stryker. James Cumine, 1838, Samuel R. Hamilton, Abraham Hunt. X. J. Maynard. 7766, Joseph Reed, Jr., 1856, George S. Green, Samuel Tucker, William G. Cook. Daniel Clark. 1865, Barker GummErE, 1770, Elihu Spencer. John S. Chambers. 1771, Joseph Tindal. 187s, Caleb S. Green, 1777, Benjamin Clark. Frederick Kingman, 1780, Nathaniel Furman. Edward G. Cook, 1783, Moore Furman. William h- Dayton. 1786, Daniel Scudder. 1882, Charles E. Green, 1788, Isaac Smith, William S. Stryker, Bernard Hanlon, Abner R. Chambers. Hugh Runyon, 1893, Frank 0. Briggs. Moore Furman. 1896, Elmer Ewing Green. 1789, Aaron D. Woodruff, 1897, John S. Chambers, Benjamin Smith. Charles Whitehead. 1799. John Beatty, 1900, Henry D. Oliphant, Alex. Chambers, Jr. Barker GummerE, Jr. 1804, Peter Gordon. 1901, Thomas S. Chambers^ 1808, James Ewing, Henry W. Green. Peter Hunt. 1907, Henry C. Moore, 181 1, Benjamin Hayden, A. Reeder Chambers, Jr. Charles Ewing. 1912, Wm. E. Green. APPENDIX V. List of Burials Made from Inscriptions on the Headstones in tiie Church- yard by Mrs. Jennie Scudder Reed and Miss Adelia T. Scott, in the Month of September, 1911. In this record, w.=wife; wd.=widow; s.=son; d.=daughter, and a woman's family name in brackets means her maiden name. WEST YARD. Name. Date of Death. Age or Date of Birth. Joshua S. Anderson, June 17,1840. In 60th yr. Jemima Anderson, w. of Josuha S. Anderson, Dec. 10,1839. In s8th yr. John Fox, youngest s. of Joshua S.' and Jemima Anderson, May 18, 1810. In 19th yr. John Anderson, Oct. 5th. Sarah, w. of John J. Anderson, . .April i, 1810. 79 yrs. 2 mo. 23 da. Robert Archibold, Sept. 2, 1734. 35 yrs. A. Baker, C. Baker, Daniel Baker, Sept. 10, 1858. In 78th yr. Catherine C, w. Daniel Baker, . .Mar. 30, 1867. In 84th yr. Charles D. Baker, Dec. 15,1849. In 30th yr. E. Baker, R. Baker, Jane Bell June 23, 1835. i yr. John Bell, Nov. 10, . 46 yrs. Thomas S. Bell, June 7, 1811 Susan C, wd. of Benjamin Brear- ley and d. of Thomas and Re- becca Ryall, Jan. 7,1884. Sept. 4, 1789. Angelina Burroughs, w. of Rev. George W. Burroughs, July 22,1850. Sept. 23, 1810. Hon. Charles Burroughs, Oct. 29,1861. Jan. 27, 1788. Elizabeth, w. of Charles Bur- roughs, July 27, 1838. In l8th yr. Lydia Ann, w. of Charles Bur- roughs, Jan. 18,1864. Mar. 23, 1805. Virginia, d. of Charles and Eliza- beth Burroughs, July 2, 1863. Aug. 28, 1821. Mary Ca , July 26, 1801. 77 yrs. (377) 378 APPENDIX. Mame. Date of Death. Alexander Calhoun, Sr., July 25,1819. Alexander, Calhoun, April 25, 1826. Ann M., wd. of Alexander Cal- houn, May 7,1874 Susanna Calhoun, w. of Alex- ander Calhoun, Sept. 4,1821 Alexander Chambers, Sept. 16, 1798, Elizabeth, w. of John Chambers,. June 3,1821 David R. Chambers, Oct. 21,1785 David S. Chambers, s. of Alex, and Elizabeth Chambers, May 23,1795, David Chambers, Elizabeth Chambers, Oct. 18, 1770. Elizabeth, w. of Alexander Cham- bers, July 11,1806. Elizabeth, d. of Alexander and EHzabeth Chambers, Nov. 12,1793 7- 1759- 25, 1807. 13, 1813- 19, 1747. 10, 1834. 25, 1835- 13, 1757- Hannah, d. of John and Susanna Chambers, May Hetty Chambers, Mar. John Chambers, Nov. John Chambers, Sept. John S. Chambers, Nov. James Copper, s. of John S. and Elizabeth Chambers, Feb. Mary, d. of Alexander and Rose Chambers, April Mary, d. of Alexander Cham- bers, Rose, w. of Alexander Cham- bers, Nov. 23, 1780. John Chambers, Dec. 4,1778. Susanna Chambers, w. of John Chambers, Aug. — , 1799. William Chambers, Mar. 6, 1777. Chambers, 23, 1795. Mary, w. of Henry Chumar Dec. 30,1847. Charles H., s. of Henry B. and Mary Chumar, April 1,1831. Sarah Elizabeth, d. of Henry and Mary Chumar, Mar. 23, 1843. Rev. David Covs^ell, first pastor of this Church, Dec. i, 1760. Age or Date of Birth. 80 yrs. 38 yrs. 83 yrs. 63 yrs. 82 yrs. 74 yrs. Sept. 17, 1759. 10 mo. 2 yrs. — yrs. In i8th yr. 3 yrs. 3 mo. 27 yrs. 72 yrs. 70 yrs. In 53d yr. 6mo. 20 da. 13 mo. 60 yrs. 66 yrs. 28 yrs. 46 yrs. Nearly 2 yrs. 9 yrs. 7 mo. Dec. 12, 1704. APPENDIX, 379 Name. Date of Death. Ebenezer Cowell, May 4, 1799. Mrs. Sarah Cowell, w. of Mr. Ebenezer Cowell, Jan. Dr. John Cowell, Jan. Cowell, Dec. 20, 1774. 30, 1789. 10, 1783, I, 1760, 21, 1770, , 4, 1756. 3. 1783 1, 1815. 16, 1823. 14, 1872. David Cowell, Dec. James Cumines, Feb. John Dagworthy, Sept, Sarah, w. of John Dagworthy, . ..July John, s. of John and Mary Dixon, Nicholas Du Bois, Nov. Rose, w. of Sept. Evans and d. of John and Elizabeth Cham- bers, Jan. 17,1809. Robert Emmett, June 10, 1835. Charles Ewing, L.LD., Aug. 5,1832. James Ewing, % ., Oct. Charles Ewing, Mar. Eleanor G. Ewing, w. of Charles Ewing, July — , 1810. Elizabeth Tate Ewing, w. of James Ewing, Sept. 16, 1818. Elizabeth Este, d. of Dr. Francis A. and AdeHne Ewing, Feb. ig, 1861. Robert L. A. Ewing, s. of Dr. Francis A. Ewing, Sept. 24, 1862. Martha Boyd Ewing, w. of James Ewing, Nov. 12, 1782. Charles Henry, infant child of John and Margaret Grant, .... Feb. Charles Henry, infant child of John and Margaret Grant, .... Jan. Henry Clay, infant child of John and Margaret Grant July John Donald Grant, Jan. William C. Grant, April 29, 1869. Ann Maria Green, w. of Armi- tage Green Sept. 28, 1831. Frederick, s. of Armitage and Ann Maria Green, Nov. 15,1831. Emily Augusta, w. of Henry W. Green and d. of Charles Ewing, Jan. 11, 1837. Howard, infant child of Henry W. and Susan Mary Green, .. .Aug. 5,1842. Age or Date of Birth. 82 yrs. In 55th yr. In 30th yr. 43 yrs. 1704. 66 yrs. 70 yrs. 16, 1842. 1, 1843- IS, 1845. 30, 1865. 33 yrs- 9 mo. In 53d yr. July 12, 1747. June 6, 1841. May 17, 1785. In 17th yr. 10 yrs. 7 mo. In 29th yr. June 30, 1838. Dec. 31, 1842. June 21, 1844. Oct. 29, 1840. May 5, 1846. In 33d yr. 2 mo. 10 da. 38o APPENDIX. Name. Date of Death. Age or Date of Birth. Henry, infant child of Henry W. and Susan Mary Green, Sept. i, 1846 Ellen, infant child of Henry VV. and Susan Mary Green, Aug. 26, 1846 Mrs. Susanna Gordon, consort of Maj. Peter Gordon, July 18, 1823 John H. Gordon, Foster Hart, Jan. 18,1830. 64 yrs. Elizabeth Henderson, Feb. 11,1815. In 6sth yr. Abraham Hunt Oct. 27, 1821. In 8ist yr. Mary, w. of Abraham Hunt April 4,1814. In 66th yr. Theodosia, w. of Abraham Hunt, . Mar. 4, 1784. S9 yrs. Elizabeth Imlay, d. of John and Isabella McKelway, May 14,1827. In 8th yr. Lydia Imlay, Dec. 6, 1830. In 78th yr. Caleb B., s. of David M. and Sybella Irwin, Sept. 20, 181 1 Sybella, w. of David M. Irwin, . .Mar. 8, 1811 Rebecca, wd. of Dr. David Jack- son, Sept. 12, 1822. 48 yrs. 10 mo. Elizabeth Kallam, w. of Elisha Kallam, Dec. 14, 1826. 19 yrs. 9 mo. M. M. K., Clara Leake, d. of Samuel and Sarah Leake Jan. 16, 1870 Samuel Leake, Esq., Mar. 8,1820. 72 yrs. Mrs. Sarah Leake, Mar. 13, 1813. In 89th yr. Sarah Leake, d. of Samuel and Sarah Leake, ' Nov. 26, 1858 Thomas Lowrey, Mar. 11,1803. 31 yrs. Sarah Lowrey, w. of Stephen Lowrey and d. of Rev. Dr. Elihu and Johanna Spencer, . .May 28, 1780. In 2Sth yr. Hannah, w. of William Mar- seilles, Jan. 11,1849. In 63d yr. Latitia, w. of William Marseilles, . April 20, 1855. In S4th yr. William Marseilles, May 17, 1859. Dec. 25, 1788. Peter Merseles, June 25, 1764 Jane, d. of Samuel and Ann Mc- Clurg, Jan. 3, 1834. I yr. 7 mo. 3 da. Susan, d. of Samuel and Ann Mc- Clurg, Mar. 20, 1828. i yr. 2 mo. 12 da. George Miller, Mar. 27, 1855. 82 yrs. 9 mo. 12 da. Josephine, d. of John and Martha Milledge, Jan. 8, 1827. 6 yrs. 6 mo. 15 da. APPENDIX. Name. Date of Death. Martha, w. of John Milledge, Oct. *J, 1843. Margaret Matilda, d. of John and Martha Milledge, Sept. 2, 1825. Mary, w. of George Miller, Nov. 27,1834. John Morris Oct. 20, 1844. Margaret, w. of John Morris, . . . Mar. 27, 1837. Sarah Morris, Nov. 25, 1816. Catherine, w. of John R. Pear- son, Sept. 4, 1832. Cornelius S., s. of John R. and Catherine Pearson, Sept. 4, 1832. John R. Pearson, June 11, 1848. Louisa W., w. of John R. Pear- son, July IS, 1868. Ann, wd. of Daniel Phillips Jan. 5,1852. Daniel PhilHps, Oct. 11, 1839. Daniel, infant child of Wm. and Margaret Phillips, Oct. 2, 1826. Robert, infant child of Wm. and Margaret Phillips, Annie, infant child of Wm. and Margaret Phillips, Mar. 6, 1827. John Pinkerton, Feb. 9, 1769. Anna Maria Lloyd, d. of Stacy G. and Ellen E. Potts, July 21,1833. Ann Maria Lloyd, d. of Stacy and Ellen E. Potts, June 21, 1855. Cornelia S., d. of Stacy and Ellen E. Potts, Jan. 18,1845. Cornelia S., d. of Stacy and Ellen E. Potts, Aug. 12, 1848. Gardner Lloyd Potts, s. of Stacy G. and Ellen E. Potts, April 22, 1851. Stacy G. Potts, April 9, 1865. Ellen Eliza, w. of Stacy G. Potts,. Aug. 23, 1842. Stacy G. Potts, Mar. 21, 1858. William, s. of Stacy and Ellen E. Potts, Nov. 4, 1842. Andrew Reed, July 7. I7S8. Francis Reed, Sept. 12, 1747. Thomas Reed, Feb. 7, 1754- Charles Rice, Sept. 29, 1864. Charles Rice, Nov. 27, 1819. Decius W. Rice, Dec. 15, i860. 381 A %e or Date of Birth. 53 yrs. 4 yrs. 6 mo. 59 yrs. 11 mo. 79 yrs. 68 yrs. 51 yrs. 33 yrs. 9 yrs. In 55th yr. 69 yrs. yy yrs. I da. In 70th yr. April 22, 1823. July 2, 1825. 4 yrs. 4 mo. 9 da. Mar. 12, 1835-. 6 mo. 1 1 da. 20 mo. 2 da. June 6, 1830. Nov. 23, 1799. Aug. 7, 1803. June 24, 1834. April 5, 1841. 3 mo. 17 mo. 12 da. II mo. 25 da. Nov. 26, 1807. 81 yrs. 59 yrs. 382 APPENDIX. Name. Date of Death. Age or Date of Birth. Juliette Rice, May 5, 1855 Laura Rice Oct. 4, i8ig. In i6th yr. M. Susan Rice, Sept. 11, 1818. 78 yrs. Susan Rice, Feb 22, 1812 William D. Rice, Mar. 25, 1851 Ruth Rowley, Mar. 5,1848. 87 yrs. Charles A. Rozell, Oct. 9,1826. In 19th yr. George Rozell, Dec. 21, 1827. In 23d yr. Mary, w. of John Rozell, April 8,1842. April 8, 1774. Sarah Rozell, w. of George Ro- zell and d. of Charles Anford,..May 15, 1821. In 19th yr. Sarah Rozell, Dec. — , John Barkley Runyan, I yr. Runyan, Nov. 22, 1817. 21 yrs. Abigal Ryall, d. of Thomas and Rebecca Ryall, Aug. 25,1863. In 72d yr. Rebecca, d. of George and Sus- anna Creed and w. of Thomas Ryall, May 12, 1859. In Pist yr. Thomas Ryall, Nov. 19, 1843. yy yrs. Rachel Scott, May 22, 1811. i yr. Charles, s. of Isaac and Mary Smith, Jan. 30,1800. 32 yrs. Edward, s. of Isaac and Mary Smith Sept. 6, 1791. 25 yrs. ' Isaac Smith, Esq., Aug. 29,1807. In 68th yr. John Pennington, s. of Isaac and Mary Smith, Aug 8,1797. 32 yrs. Mary Smith, consort of Isaac Smith, Esq., May 7, 1801. 69 yrs. Sarah Smith, Mar. 20,1811. 85 yrs. II mo. William Smith, Nov. — , Rev. Elihu Spencer, D.D., Dec. 27,1784. In 64th yr. Joanna Spencer, relict of Rev. Elihu Spencer, Nov. I, 1791. 63 yrs. Martha Stansbury, w. of Rev. Abraham Stansbury, Jan. 15,1831. In 51st yr. Hannah [Scudder], w. of Thomas J. Stryker, Hannah Scudder, d. of Thomas J. and Hannah Stryker, May 18, 1867. Feb. 2, 1842. John Scudder, s. of Thomas J. and Hannah Stryker, Dec. 21,1833. 2 yrs. 11 mo. 8 da. Thomas J. Stryker Sept. 27, 1872. June 23, 1800. APPENDIX. 383 Name. Date of Death. C. S., 1806. E. S., 1815. H. S., 1850. J. S 1803. M. a, 1812. M. S., 1800, T. S., 1802. Margaretta, d. of Anthony Tate,. Jan. 31,1819. Stacy G. Potts, s. of Andrew and Mary E. Titus, July 3, 1856. Ellen Eliza, d. of Andrew R. and Mary E. Titus, May 27, 1816. Joseph Warrell, Esq., Mar. 9,177s. Mary Y. Waddell, May 13, 1811. Oliver, s. of John and Mercy Wilson, Dec. 7,1847. Anna Carle, d. of Thomas and Ann E. Woodruff, Sept. 19, 1831. Aaron Dickinson Woodruff, June 21,1817. Grace, w. of Aaron D. Woodruff, .June 23, 1815. George, s. of Aaron and Grace Woodruff, Sept. 11,1797. Susan S., w. of George W. Thom- son and d. of Aaron and Grace Woodruff April 8,1863. Ann Woolsey, d. of Benjamin and Ann Woolsey, Aug. 18, 1858. Archibald William Yard, Mar. Mary Yard, Nov. G. M. Y., Albert, s. of Martha , Dec. Ellen, Aug. Henry, Sept. Age or Date of Birth. Howard, Aug. Sophia, w. of Capt. Richard , Feb. William, Oct. James M., Nov. James B., Sept. 8, 1810, 28, 1849. 181S. 22, 1 82 1 26, 1846. I, 1846. 5, 1842, 9, 1801 6, 17—. 10, 1808. July IS, i8ss. 2 yrs. 9 mo. 36 yrs. 35 yrs. In 27th yr. In 9th yr. Sept. 12, 1762. Feb. 28, 1766. Mar. 22, 1796. Aug. IS, 1793. Dec. 9, 1779. In 78th yr. In 94th yr. 13 mo. 8 da. 3 yrs. 3 mo. 60 yrs. 70 yrs. II yrs. 30 da. 384 APPENDIX. IN PAVEMENT, WEST SIDE OF CHURCH. Name. Date of Death. Age or Date of Birth. Harmah Smith, d. of Joseph S. and Jemima Anderson, Dec. i6, 1807. Joseph Broadhurst, Dec. 2,1819. Rebecca Broadhurst, mother of Joseph Broadhurst, Jan. 26,1798. Benjamin Le Gay, Jan. 24, 1810. Eliza Ann Hill, d. of Smith and Elizabeth Hill, May 6,1814. Elizabeth Hill, w. of Smith Hill, Samuel Hill, May 5,1785. Smith Hill, Jan. 9, 1822. I yr. 3 mo. 10 da. 56 yrs. 88 yrs. 55 yrs. II yrs. Sept. 14, 1716. 71 yrs. TABLETS IN WEST WALL OF CHURCH. Date of Death. Mary, w. of Tho's Langstreth, . .Feb. 9, 1827. Caroline Francis, her daughter,. .Feb. 17,1829. Age or Date of Birth. 47 yrs. 17 yrs. EAST YARD. Name. Date of Death. Philipina, d. of Phillip and Mary Howell and w. of James F. Armstrong, April 19, 1854. Orlando Baird, s. of John B. and Ellen Appleget, June 11,1816. General John Beatty, May 30,1826. Mary, w. of John Beatty, Esq.,.. Nov. 5,1815. Catherine, wd. of Gen. John Beatty and d. of Barnt and Mary De Klyn, Jan. 27, 1861. Isabella Ann, d. of Richard L. and Isabella Beatty, Feb. 4,1808 James Bell, May 6, 1835 Rachel, wd. of James Bell, Dec. 26,1869 Dr. Nicholas Belleville, Dec. 17,1831 Jane Boss, Nov. 28, 1835 Samuel Brearley, Mav 27, 1848 Elizabeth, w. of Samuel Brearley, Aug. 4, 181 7. Sarah, w. of Samuel Brearley, . . .April 18, 1829, Age or Date of Birth. Feb. 2, 1825. Dec. 10, 1749. Mar. 5, 1736. April 19, 1773. 6 mo. 20 da. 49 yrs. 89 yrs. 79 yrs. 56 yrs. 4 mo. 10 da. 25 yrs. 10 mo. 12 da. 48 yrs. 8 mo. 26 da. APPENDIX. 38s Name. Date of Death. Age or Date of Birth. Mary Ann, wd. of Samuel Brear- ley and of Charles Parker, Mar. 9, 1882 Amanda H., d. of Samuel and Sarah Brearley July 13,1825. 3 mo. 20 da. Jane, d. of Samuel and Elizabeth Brearley, Sept. 21, 1817. 10 mo. 18 da. Theodosia, d. of Samuel and Sarah Brearley, Sept. 3, 1820. 9 mo. Charles Briest, Sept. i, 1825. 3 mo. Henry Briest, Oct. 24,1822. 10 mo. 16 da. Jane Brook Nov. — , Nathaniel Burrows, Jan. 29, 1839. 71 yrs. Ann M., w. of Nathaniel Bur- rows, Mar. 29, 1857. 56 yrs. Charity Burrows, Jan. 14, 1858. Nov. 27, 1792. Ellen BurrowSj Jan. 4, 1852. In 76th yr. Emma E. Burrows Mar. 24, 1855. 17 yrs. Stephen Burrows, Nov. 16, 1834. 21 yrs. Alexander Campbell, May 31, 1848. 6$ yrs. 3 mo. 13 da. Ann, w. of Alex. Campbell, Sept. 1,1836. S3 yrs. 7 mo. 11 da. John Campbell, Jan. 24, 1839. 3° y s- 9 mo. 26 da. Robert Cunningham, May 6, 1827. In 62d yr. Jane, w. of Robert Cunningham,. April 19, 1853. In goth yr. Ann, w. of Matthew R. Cu ,. .Jan. 17, 1816 Amy Clunn, Dec. 12,1831. 76 yrs. Henry Drake, Jan. — ,18-9 Susanna, w. of Henry Drake, April 18, 1808. 56 yrs. 4 mo. 7 da. Samuel, s. of Samuel and Mary Evans, April 14, 1838. 19 yrs. 9 mo. 20 da. James H. Galbraith, Eliza C, relict of Capt. Charles Hamilton, April 16, 1819. 53 yrs. James Hunter, s. of William and Rebecca D. Hart, Sept. 22,1838. 2 yrs. 7 mo. 17 da. Nathaniel W. Hart, May 20,1813. In 37th yr. Eleanor, w. of Benjamin Hayden, 1822. Anna Elizabeth, w. of Mahlon Hutchinson, Aug. 20, 1815. 21 yrs. Mary EUza, infant d. of Mahlon and Anna E. Hutchinson, S mo. 13 da. Aaron Howell, Feb. 8,1801. 45 yrs. Douglass Howell, Aug. 9, 1801. 20 yrs. 6 mo. Elliott Howell, April 25, 1821. 61 yrs. Hezekiah Howell, Oct. 13,1800. 75 yrs. 26 PRES 386 APPENDIX. Name. Date of Death. Age or Date of Birth. Hannah, w. of Ilezekiah Howell, . July 15, 1815. 86 yrs. Marcia Howell, Aug. 15, 1820. 32 yrs. 8 mo. Mary Howell, Feb. 18, 1819. 26 yrs. 5 mo. Phillip E. Howell, Aug. 21,18—. 31 yrs. 9 mo. Mary, wd. of Phillip E. Howell,. .Aug. 10, 1836. 58 yrs. William, s. of Phillip and Mary Howell, Oct. II, 1818. II mo. Susan, w. of Charles Howell and d. of Jane and Robert Cunning- ham, Feb. 25, 1815. 35 yrs. John Anderson Lalor, Dec. 8, 1845. Sept. 27, 1798. Richard Langstreth, s. of Richard and Isabella Langstreth, Nov. 19, 1810. 15 yrs. — mo. 7 da. Alexander Lowry, Dec. 17,1810. In 8ist yr. Mrs. Mary Lowry, Feb. 12, 1852. 87 yrs. Jane Lowry, Nov. 21, 185 1. Oct. 1789. Robert, s. of Alexander and Mary Lowry, Aug. 8, 1806. 5 yrs. 4 mo. lo da. Hannah H., w. of Xenophon Maynard, Jan. 19,1813. 36 yrs. Sarah, d. of Xenophon and Jane Maynard, July 26, 1826. 2 yrs. 8 mo. Maria, d. ol Xenophon and Jane Maynard, Aug. 21, 1827 Annie, w. of Thomas Maires and d. of Samuel and Mary Evans,. Oct. 22,1864. June 24, 1824. John McCoUum, Mar. — , 1836 ! William McKee, Jan. 29,1859- 7i yrs. 5 mo. 12 "da. Tlieodosia, w. of William McKee, Aug. 17, 1854. In 69th yr. James McKee, Dec. 14,1832. 22 yrs. 9 mo. 14 da. John McKee, July 25, 1818. 6 mo. 21 da, Mary McMonegal, Oct. 12, 1856 In 89th yr. Isaac, Meriam, Jan. 5,1821 John Mershon, Dec 17,1806. 50 yrs. i mo. ^7 da. Theodosia, w. of John Mershon,. 1822. Dec. 27, 1769. Catherine, d. of John and Theo- dosia Mershon, July 30,1806. 6 yrs. Amanda M., w. of George W. Miller June 5,1858. Gertrude Maria, consort of Nicho- las D. Mount, Oct. 29,1832. 31 yrs. 6 mo. 10 da. Sarah, d. of Nicholas D. and Gertrude M. Mount, July 31, 1825. 7 mo 8 da Mary Ann, d. of N. D. and G. M. Mo""t' Jan. 28,1832. I yr. 5 mo. 33 yrs. APPENDIX. 387 Name. Date of Death. Age or Date of Birth. Jacob Mulford, Mar. 20, 1837 Mary Osborn, d. of Rev. Truman and Eliza Osborn, Feb. 15, 1831. 11 yrs. Joseph Palmer, Mar. 24, 1831. 71 yrs. Elizabeth, w. of Joseph Palmer, .. Oct. 19,1832. 63 yrs. Helen Pollock, w. of James Pol- lock Feb. 20,1827. Aug. I, 1788. John Raum, Aug. 6, 1806. In 45th yr. Catherine, w. of John Raum, April 12, 1816. 45 yrs. 10 mo. Jacob Raum Oct. 30, 1827. In 34th yr. William T. Raum Sept. 11, 1841. 21 yrs. Ann Reed, Feb. 11,1815. 52 yrs. James Reid Ang. 11,1806. 11 mo. 18 da. Nancy Reed, Mar. 28, 1812. 25 yrs. Rebecca Reed, Dec. 11,1845. 61 yrs. Nancy Roberts, May 25, 1858. 29 yrs. Rebecca Roberts, Oct. 6, 1872. Sept. 6, 1782. Elizabeth Rock, Dec. S, 1826. 65 yrs. Henry Rossell, s. of Samuel and Mary Evans, Feb. 28,1845. 24 yrs. 9 mo. 22 da. Rachel Rulon, w. of John Sut- terley, Oct. 24, 1835. Nov. 27, 1766. Joseph Ryno, Mar. 7,1828. Oct. 5, 1825. Sarah, d. of J. Ryno, 17, 1836 Charles Smith, Dec. — ,1793. July i, 1792. John E. Smith, July 6,1831. May 12, 1790. Eliza, w. of John E. Smith, June 23,1871. April 2, 1794. John, s. of William and Elizabeth Smith, Aug. — , 1789. Oct. 12, 1788. Samuel Smith 1822. William Smith, April 11, I799-/ Appearance of, in 1788, comments of famous travelers, 207 Morals in 1804, ■ 209- Mob against Thomas Paine, 210 Mrs. Washington passes through the city 21O' Trbnton, Episcopal Church in, 61 Lottery for, 61 Rev. Michael Houdin, 61 Rev. Mr. Treadwell, 62- Trenton Library Co., 202 Trenton School Co., 197 Trustees op the Presbyterian Church op Trenton. Take title, 32- Tucker, Samuel. Gravestone of, i8' Sketch of, 121 Flight of, from British, with currency, 167 Trustee, 172- Tucker, William. Sketch of, 142- Udang. Rev. Mr. Houdin's name so pronounced, 61 Union Fire Company. Rev. Mr. Armstrong member of, 202- Updike, Lawrence. Grantee in Basse and Revel deed, IS Vannoy, Francis, 28 Vault in Church, 91 Van VlEck, Rev. Paulus, 26. VooRHEEs, John, 250 VoN Veghten. Name found in Dr. Messler's memorial, 149- Waddell, Rev. Mr. Rector of St. Michael's Church, 234 Wadsworth, Rev. Benjamin, 41 Wales, Eleazer, 42' Wardell, Eliakim, & Warford, Rev. John. Marries Rev. Wm. Kirkpatrick's widow, ,.... iiS Warrell, Joseph, Jr. Sketch of, 14s. INDEX. 423 Washington, George. page. Visit to Trenton, 201 Public commemoration of death held in Trenton, 206 Washington, Mrs. Passed through Trenton 210 Watson. Describes Trenton, 59 Watson, Petes. Letter of, 3 White, Rev. Anseey D. Pastor of Fifth Church, 266 Whitefield, Rev. Effect of his preaching visit to America, S3 WttCocKS, Benjamin. Subscriber to parsonage, 29 Wilson, James. Silversmith, iS4 WnsoN, Rev. John, 39 Wilson, Thomas. Work of, as Missionary to Liberia 263 Wiltshire Clothier, 9 WiMER, Godfrey, 149 WiTHERSPOON, Dr. Writes History of Presbytery, 202 Wood, Jonas. Subscriber to parsonage, 29 Woodruff, Aaron Dickinson. Attorney-General, 242 Wood, Rev. Henry D. Missionary work of, 276 WooLsEY, George. Subscriber to parsonage, 29 Woolverton, Roger. Subscriber to parsonage, 29 WoRixJCK, M. Simeon. Letter to Mr. Armstrong, 211 WoRSLEE, William. Subscriber to Mr. Cowell's Call, 40 Wright, Jonathan. Subscriber to parsonage, 29 Yard, Archibald William. Sketch of 143 Yard, Benjamin. Referred to by Rev. Mr. Armstrong, 34 424 INDEX. Yard, Joseph. page. Grantee in deed of church site, 32 Subscriber to Mr. Cowell's Call, 40 Sketch of, 95 Yaiu), Jethro. Bequest to Church, 174 Yard, Mr. and Mrs. Mention in Mr. Cowell's Register, 88 Yard, William. Mention in minute of Presbytery, 22 Grantee in deed of school site, 32 Subscriber to Mr. Cowell's Call, 40 Yard, William, Jr. . Subscriber to Mr. Cowell's Call, 40 Yeomans, Rev. John William. Chosen pastor, 255 Builds new church, 255 Letter of, 256