HISTORY 
 
 l FIRST PRESBYTERIAJSr 
 CHURCH 
 
 PI-AiNFXELD, NEW pRSEY 
 
 /<^- ^^::^^^:.rl^'y-yi^ 
 
 % ALLEN E. BEALS 
 
 
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LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 Presented by 
 
 The Au+loor 
 
 BX 8949 .B42 1825 
 Beals, Allen E. 
 History of the First 
 Presbyterian church at 
 
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 History 
 
 of 
 
 The First Presbyterian Church 
 
 at 
 
 Plainfield, New Jersey 
 
 By ALLEN E.''BEALS 
 
 Commemoraring the One Hundredth Anniversary of 
 the founding and organization of 
 
 The Presbyterun Church of Plainfield, New Jersey 
 
 July 9th and loth, 1825 
 
In kindly memory o. 
 Living and Departed Friends he has Icnown in 
 
 "The Church of Brotherly Love" 
 
 this work is respectfully dedicated by 
 its author 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Subject Page 
 
 Chapter I 
 
 The Lord's Supper Beneath the Green Brook 
 Trees i 
 
 Chapter II 
 What Came from Cordially Greeting a Stranger 7 
 
 Chapter III 
 
 "A Gloomy Box Inside and Out" 13 
 
 Chapter IV 
 How THE "Anxious Seat" Issue Divided the Church 17 
 
 Chapter V 
 Sarah M. Latimer and "The Little Black Cross" . 21 
 
 Chapter VI 
 The Close of the First Century 27 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Earliest Known Map of Plainfield, 
 
 New Jersey Front Cover Insert 
 
 The Original Presbyterian Church 
 Building in Plainfield Erected 
 IN 1826 Facing page v 
 
 The First Presbyterian Church of 
 
 1 85 5-1 887 Facing page xiii 
 
 The First Presbyterian Church of 
 
 188 8- 1925 Facing page xxiv 
 
Compiler's Note — This manuscript is submitted with profound reali- 
 zation on the part of its author that it must be, of necessity (considering 
 the circumstances under which it has been prepared), in some, if not many, 
 respects unworthy of the subject with which it deals, namely, One Hun- 
 dred Years of Influence in this Community of the First Presbyterian 
 Church of Plainfield. Great indulgence is craved from those who may 
 scan it with the eye of the literary critic. It has been the author's purpose 
 to transform ordinarily dry and uninteresting dates and chronological 
 sequence along the very thin line of pastorates by bringing out the human- 
 interest touches, much as a narrative that might be recounted to a family 
 grouped beside a homely fireplace with the subtle consciousness that former 
 pastors and people are spiritually listening in as to a tale that is being told. 
 
 Tuesday, September 8, 1925. A. E. B. 
 
The History oi the First Presbyterian Church 
 of Plainfield, New Jersey 
 
 By Allen E. Beals 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The Lord's Supper beneath the Green ^rook Trees 
 
 UR Blessed Lord, who supped beneath the Green Brook 
 Trees with eighteen founders of the first Presbyterian 
 Church in Plainfield, one hundred years ago, alone can know and 
 trace the world-'round good their successive hosts have wrought. 
 
 It long has passed the power and ken of human tongue or pen 
 to fully cite the blessings that since have flowed beyond the clarion 
 of its heralding or tolling bell ; and as the years begin to drape the 
 mantle of antiquity about the sacred pile that more than half a thou- 
 sand now look upon as their church home one cannot help but feel 
 impotent adequately to trace the halo that pervades it much less 
 to portray the symbolic setting that marked its modest birth. 
 
 While Time has warped the pristine beauty of the spot where 
 arching trees were rafters and greensward the carpet of the 
 homeless flock, it has sublimely glorified the aspirations and the 
 prayers of those who were the first Presbyterians to worship in 
 their home church here, on that memorable Sabbath day, July 
 10, 1825. 
 
 Contemporary events alone convey to men and women of to- 
 day a worthy conception of the times in which this event in the 
 religious life of Plainfield occurred. 
 
 John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States, 
 had just entered office four months before, and the political feud 
 between the President and Andrew Jackson, defeated in the cam- 
 paign the preceding year, was just beginning to sweep the 
 country. 
 
 The Monroe Doctrine, promulgated in 1822, was still as- 
 tounding the countries of Europe and the great dispute over the 
 subject of slavery which was to eventuate in the Civil War forty 
 years later, was fanned by the Missouri Compromise that sought 
 to draw a geographical line of demarkation between the pro- 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 slavery south and the anti-slavery north. People were just be- 
 ginning to realize that the Mason-Dixon line, the result of a 
 survey by Mason, a surveyor of the North and Dixon, a sur- 
 veyor of the South, was, in fact, destined to be a power for divid- 
 ing the nation against itself, and, filled with Biblical admonitions, 
 churchmen were prophesying that the nation, no more than a 
 house, could thus stand. 
 
 The Village of Plainfield consisted of only sixty scattered 
 buildings then. There was a stream of rather generous propor- 
 tions that made its way from the Scotch Plains notch through the 
 watercourse that is now not much more than a trickling rivulet, 
 by comparison, and which we misname Green Brook. 
 
 But then it broadened out into a pond that served to store up 
 water power for a grist mill now between Watching Avenue and 
 Somerset Street. This site was surrounded almost entirely by a 
 grove of stately chestnut, oak and elm trees, save for a mossy 
 place where the farmers of the country-side brought their grain 
 to be ground into flour. 
 
 On Sunday, July lo, 1825, this was the spot where the Presby- 
 terian church in Plainfield first saw the light of day. 
 
 On the day before, Saturday, July 9, 1825, according to the 
 minutes of the Session, carefully preserved by John M. Bettman: 
 
 "Agreeably to the appointment of the Presbytery of Eliz- 
 abethtown, The Rev. John McDowell, D.D., and the Rev. 
 Alexander G. Frazer, attended for the purpose of organ- 
 izing a Presbyterian Church in this place." 
 
 At that time the following persons presented certificates and 
 were recorded as the original eighteen founders of the Plainfield 
 Presbyterian Church : 
 
 William Sayre New Providence 
 
 Anna, wife of William Sayre New Providence 
 
 Elizabeth Littell New Providence 
 
 Mrs. Sarah Layton Baskingridge 
 
 John King Baskingridge 
 
 Eliza, wife of John King Baskingridge 
 
 Deborah, wife of Frederick Cadmus .... Bound Brook 
 
 Dinah, wife of Cornelius Cadmus .... Bound Brook 
 
 Elizabeth C. Vermeule Bound Brook 
 
 Ruth P. Cook Newburgh 
 
 Robert Anderson New Brunswick 
 
 2 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 Agnes, wife of Robert Anderson New Brunswick 
 
 Pierpont Potter Westfield 
 
 Rebecca Manning Westfield 
 
 Sarah, wife of Matthew A. Brown .... Westfield 
 
 Conrad Neil ....■•.... New York 
 
 Lydia Gardiner Orange 
 
 John Layton, Jr Bedminster 
 
 At the same time Robert Anderson, proprietor of a dry goods 
 store at the South East corner of Watchung Avenue and East 
 Front Street and John Layton, Jr., "were set apart" to the offices 
 of ruling Elders and Deacons whereupon "The Church of Plain- 
 field" was declared to be duly organized, at 3 o'clock P. M., 
 July 9, 1825. 
 
 On the following Sabbath, (July loth), the Rev. Dr. Mc- 
 Dowell conducted the first known local service of Worship of 
 Almighty God under the rules of the Presbyterian faith and 
 "under the shade of the trees" there participated in the rites of 
 The Lord's Supper after hearing Dr. McDowell preach from 
 I Corinthians 11 :i8 : 
 
 "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that 
 bread and drink of that cup." 
 
 On October 7th, 1825, the session minutes show that the con- 
 gregation had increased to 23. 
 
 Prior to these dates Presbyterians living in and near Plainfield 
 were obliged to attend public worship in either Bound Brook or 
 Westfield. There were no regular means of transportation be- 
 tween the two communities. 
 
 If a registered member of the church failed to attend regu- 
 larly, to the services of public worship, he was reported to Ses- 
 sion which waited upon the delinquent to ascertain why he or 
 she did not attend or why he or she "turned the back upon the 
 Lord's Table." 
 
 It can easily be understood why, therefore, the growing com- 
 munity of Plainfield, taking in as it did territory between Basking- 
 ridge, Bound Brook, New Bunswick and Westfield, desired to 
 have a Presbyterian church of its own, because the perils of 
 travel in winter were great and in the summer, often most un- 
 comfortable, especially for the aged. 
 
 Scotch Plains was the metropolis of all this surrounding coun- 
 
 3 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 try in those days, and even up to 1840, until the railroad tracks 
 were moved over to Fanwood, some years later, all mail was re- 
 ceived and delivered to Plainfielders in Scotch Plains and public 
 gatherings in the interest of Plainfielders were held in the Town 
 Hall at that place. The City of Plainfield was not incorporated 
 as a city until 1869. 
 
 Church services for the Presbyterian congregation were held in 
 the Academy conducted by the Rev. Lewis Bond, which stood a 
 few yards away from the present church property to the west, 
 although in later years that name was given to another semi- 
 public building that stood at what is now Arlington Avenue and 
 Fourth Street. 
 
 These services were conducted by the Rev. Lewis Bond, of 
 whom first mention in the official Session minutes occurs under 
 date of January 9th, 1826, when he was recorded as being the 
 "Stated supply" and who, as such, acted at that meeting as moder- 
 ator. It is evident, however, that he served the congregation as its 
 leader shortly after the church was organized in 1825. He con- 
 tinued as pastor until April, 1857, a total of 32 years during 
 which time he received into membership nearly 500 persons, of 
 whom 200 were received on certificates from other churches. He 
 died January 23rd, 1885. 
 
 During his long pastorate, 200 were dismissed to other 
 churches, of whom 86 united in forming the Second Presbyterian 
 church under the Presbytery of Newark. This church was, for a 
 time, also located on Front Street. The Rev. William Whittaker 
 was its first pastor serving until 1885. It later purchased the prop- 
 erty at Crescent Avenue and "Broadway," that having been the 
 name of Watchung Avenue above "Peace Street" which termi- 
 nated at East Seventh Street. The First Presbyterian church 
 also contributed largely in membership toward the founding of 
 Trinity Reformed Church. 
 
 Meeting sometimes in the Academy, and sometimes in the 
 homes of its members, there soon arose great need for a regular 
 house of worship. 
 
 The congregation, as has been seen, was very small, none of 
 them having means, probably, beyond their daily requirements, 
 because we are told in some of the records available from the 
 archives of the first pastor of this church, that while twenty-five 
 years before there were only twenty houses in the village of Plain- 
 field, there were, indeed, only sixty when the Presbyterian church 
 
 4 
 
O) 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 in Plalnfield was organized. At the time the map, which accom- 
 panies this sketch, was made (1832), there were only 168 houses 
 in the community and, in his quarter century sermon the Rev. 
 Mr. Bond records the fact that as late as 185 i this number had 
 been increased to only 400 dwellings, 8 churches and 15 store- 
 houses. 
 
 The same papers make record of the fact that the first frame 
 house ever erected in Plainfield, noting the passing of the tent 
 and log cabin habitations of the first settlers and Indians, was in 
 1700 and there are authentic records to show that a part of this 
 original first permanent shelter in this city was part of the John 
 Wilson home. 
 
 Prior to the organization of the Presbyterian church in Plain- 
 field there had been no weekly prayer meetings nor had there 
 ever been a Bible Class, much less a Sunday school. The popula- 
 tion of Plainfield at the time our church was organized was 300, 
 740 in 1832, and in 1850 it had increased to 2,000. 
 
 The eight churches then supplying the spiritual needs of this 
 community were able to join the first Pastor of this church in 
 rejoicing in the fact that they could count one-half of the popula- 
 tion as members of the Church of Christ. This was in great con- 
 trast with the record of forty communicants in the Baptist church, 
 twenty-three in the Presbyterian church and (not counting the 
 membership of the Society of Friends) there totalled in all this 
 church community, around 1825, from Westfield to Basking- 
 ridge. Bound Brook, New Brunswick and Rahway, only a little 
 over sixty professed disciples of Christ! 
 
 Reference to the accompanying map will make it possible for 
 the reader to picture the sparsely settled place that was destined 
 to be the great industrial and residential community of nearly 
 40,000 inhabitants living in Plainfield and North Plainfield to- 
 ward the close of the first quarter of the twentieth century. In 
 1832 it was really a thin line of small frame dwellings stretching 
 the length of Front Street from Plainfield Avenue to a little be- 
 yond Division Street, some few structures on "Cherry Street," 
 now Park Avenue, some on Division Street, now Westervelt Ave- 
 nue, and North Plainfield was not more than an equally thin line 
 of dwellings for a block or two beyond the brook which was 
 spanned by a rustic bridge beside which was a ford where the 
 folks stopped to chat and trade over their carts while their horses 
 refreshed themselves in the stream. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 IVhat Came from Cordially Greeting a Stranger 
 
 NE hundred years before the Presbyterian church in Plain- 
 field was organized, or a span of years equalling those be- 
 tween that event and the year to which we reverently pay homage, 
 the first organized meeting of the orthodox Quakers was held at 
 "Tow Town," later known as New Brooklyn, just outside of the 
 present community of New Market. It is recorded that these 
 meetings were held at the home of John Laing, forebear of the 
 John Laing whose inn, famous in its day, stood upon the site 
 of the Babcock building. He gave a plot on which to erect a 
 meeting house on March 27, 1731 and the Woodbridge Monthly 
 Meeting gave its permission to erect a building directing that it 
 should not exceed "24 feet square and 14 feet between 'joynts.' " 
 It was completed "and all accounts settled" by the latter part of 
 1736. The larger plot, standing near the present railroad sta- 
 tion was given and the Meeting House still standing was built 
 in 1788. 
 
 In thus giving a setting of the conditions surrounding the 
 founding of our church and of the state of the community into 
 which it was launched, it may not be inappropriate to note the 
 sequence of the establishment of other early churches in this 
 community : 
 
 The Presbyterian church was the fourth, in this respect; the 
 next organization following that of the Quakers being the Bap- 
 tists, nearly one hundred years later, or in 18 18; the Methodist 
 church in 1820, the Presbyterian in 1825, Seventh Day Baptist 
 in 1838, Second Baptist church, in 1842; Second Presbyterian 
 church (Crescent Avenue) in 1844; St. Mary's Roman Catholic 
 church in 1849; Grace Episcopal church in 1852; Central Re- 
 formed church 1863, which, however, became defunct in 1883; 
 Mount Olive Baptist church 1870 (colored) ; German Reformed 
 church, 1873; Park Avenue Baptist church, 1876; Church of 
 Heavenly Rest, 1879. 
 
 Trinity Reformed church and the Congregational church were 
 formed between the years 1879 and 1880, 
 
 The erection of the original Presbyterian church in this city 
 brings to mind the circumstances under which the land came to 
 be given and its dramatic sequence. 
 
 7 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 There lived in Plainfield at the time a gentleman and a con- 
 siderable land owner who, while not particularly interested in 
 churches prior to his coming to Plainfield, had been cordially and 
 graciously received in the ancestral Bond Manor, which stood on 
 the present site of the City Hall. Feeling the welcoming influence 
 of the quadruple row of trees, now marking East Seventh Street, 
 having been the driveway leading up to the portico, he be- 
 came interested in the school master and preacher and after 
 the organization of the church under the Green Brook trees, 
 came to the pastor of the flock with his wife, and offered their 
 help, saying that they were willing to deed over to the Presby- 
 terian church in Plainfield, "Meeting House Lot." 
 
 Ample confirmation is to be found of this couple's gracious 
 gift in the archives in the custody of the Register of Deeds, New- 
 ark, New Jersey, which at the time was the seat for Union as 
 well as Essex counties. 
 
 There, under date of 1826 may be seen a transcript of the 
 original deed, done in clear, bold handwriting, apparently with 
 a quill pen, and, after the usual formalities of such documents, 
 it proceeds to grant "forever, for the sole purpose of a Presby- 
 terian Meeting House, Academy and Burying Ground, and no 
 other, that lot of land known by the name of 'Meeting House 
 Lot' situated in the Village of Plainfield in the township of 
 Westfield," signed Matthias A. Brown and Sarah Ann Brown, 
 his wife, dated February 5, 1826, and by Caleb Freeman, Jarvis 
 B, Ayres, Frederick Cadmus, John King and the Trustees of 
 the Presbyterian church in Plainfield. This instrument was duly 
 attested May 11, 1826 before John Woodruff, "Commissioner 
 for taking Acknowledgments." 
 
 The years slowly doled out their meed of fortune, fair as well 
 as ill, and in the course of time fate weaved a pathetic web of 
 want around the benevolent gentleman of earlier years. Among 
 the few stores of that day doing business in Plainfield, that of 
 Drs. John and Lewis Craig, druggists, for whom the North 
 Plainfield street was named, is memorable as the shelter of the 
 man whose generosit}'^ made permanent the location of our 
 church. 
 
 Upon this site was erected a frame church of which the only 
 graphic likeness so far known to be in existence is on the Map 
 of 1832, accompanying this sketch. The famed academy later 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 had its location in the basement of the church and among its 
 pupils were James E. Martine, former U. S. Senator from New 
 Jersey, William H. Shotsvell, Abraham L. Cadmus and other 
 prominent Plainfielders of their time. 
 
 It was a white frame church with a steeple that barely sur- 
 mounted the stately trees about it, with green shingles, probably 
 the result of being much in the shade. 
 
 The little church, compared with the present edifice, stood far 
 back on the propert}', probably at about the line where the pres- 
 ent church building stops and the chapel begins. Its construc- 
 tion must have been largely the result of labor contributed by 
 its members. 
 
 Just before the excavation work began upon the construction 
 of the church of 1855, the frame church which had been dedi- 
 cated in 1827 (not 1837 as most histories give it) after consider- 
 able and unavoidable delays, as the pastor said in his dedicatory 
 sermon, "because of much embarrassment occasioned by our in- 
 fant state," there being then only twenty-seven in communion, 
 "was moved across the tracks." 
 
 The labor that must have been expended upon this church, 
 simple in architectural appearance though it was, can be con- 
 ceived only by realizing that in those days planing mills and mass 
 production of structural parts of building were unknown and 
 little dreamed of. All house building of any kind was framed 
 with hand-hewn timber, braced by hand-wrought girdles of iron 
 to hold the supporting beams in place. 
 
 The building before removal was cut in two and thus removed 
 to a site that is now a coal yard near the corner of East Fourth 
 Street and Roosevelt Avenue. About seven years ago, they were 
 again moved, this time to their present location at 326 and 32B 
 East Fourth Street, across the street, where they face the rail- 
 road track and can be plainly seen by any interested passenger on 
 trains going to or coming from New York. 
 
 No. 328 is still dedicated to church uses, and is occupied as 
 a Manse by the pastor of the congregation known as The Church 
 of God and the Saints of Christ, the place of worship having 
 been erected in the rear of this building. 
 
 No, 326 is the best preserved of the two structures, however, 
 and is used as a dwelling, being now owned by the occupant. 
 When the two buildings were removed to this site, a single build- 
 
 9 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 ing then standing there was cut in two and the two halves were 
 attached to the two halves of the old church, for purposes of 
 providing kitchens. 
 
 In the attic of No. 326 there are eloquent testimonials to this 
 day of the reasons for the delay in the completion of the original 
 building as referred to by the Rev. Mr. Bond. 
 
 There, in the subdued light, one might almost say, hallowed 
 by sacred memories and loving, albeit, sweaty toil of the sturdy 
 parishioners of 1826, the spectator stands amazed at the patience 
 and the evident determination of those early Presbyterians to 
 found their church in Plainfield for all time. Black walnut beams 
 and girders, bear mute, but impressive, evidence of the labor 
 that must have been expended with crude, half-tempered adzes 
 and home-made mauls to cut and trim and fit these sustaining 
 timbers so that down the long decades they might bid successful 
 defiance to the destroying agencies of Time. 
 
 It would be irreverent for us to turn this page of history upon 
 the little white Presbyterian church at Plainfield without quoting 
 at least in part, the sermon delivered on January 5th, 185 i, by 
 the venerable pastor of this people, a sermon which has been 
 preserved in the historical archives of the State of New Jersey 
 as one of the masterpieces of eloquence and of historical fact. 
 (See Pamphlets N. J. Vol. VIII, File No. N-040; N-42, New- 
 ark, N. J. )_ 
 
 From First Samuel, 12: 24: "Only fear the Lord, and serve 
 Him with all your heart; for consider how great things He 
 hath done for you," he took his text. 
 
 Reviewing the historical events that had transpired up to that 
 time he said: "But while we mingle in the universal mourning at 
 the death of W^ashington, we may still rejoice in the possession 
 of that Liberty, which, under his guidance, with the Blessing of 
 God, our fathers had achieved." 
 
 But the following extract from the minister's far famed elo- 
 quence, the lofty flights of his oratory, pathos, prophecy and 
 importunity for a continuance of the great effort enjoined upon 
 all mankind to forget "those things which are behind, and reach- 
 ing forth unto those things which are before," to "press toward 
 the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus 
 Christ," stands forth without question as the clearest glimpse 
 we of this day and generation can have of the qualities that 
 
 10 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 bound his people so affectionately to him for nearly a third of a 
 century : 
 
 "The memory of our kindred, the low whisper of our 
 departed people, invite us to cast one more lingering look 
 at the silent mansions of the dead. 
 
 "There lie entombed nearly 200 of our flock. Age, Activ- 
 ity, Youth and Infancy lie slumbering together. Over these 
 the storms may rage and the thunder roll, but they heed 
 them not. Over these may gather the tumult of the busy 
 throng, and the shrill whistle or the rolling car may pierce 
 the skies, but they shall not awake. Over these, the church- 
 going bell may announce the sacred morn, and the songs of 
 Zion sound loud the joyous day, but they may not come 
 hither. Others shall be added to their number, and the sigh 
 of the mourner mingle with the clods of the valley, but these 
 shall still sleep sweetly. 
 
 "They count not the revolving years nor note the pass- 
 ing centuries; nor will they regard 'till time shall be no 
 longer.' Then shall they listen to the Tramp of God. Then 
 shall they startle into Life 'and burst the caverns of the 
 grave. Then shall they take on immortality.' Then shall 
 the living be changed in a moment; in the twinkling of an 
 eye. Then shall all nations be gathered before the throne of 
 God. Then and there must He appear and then and there 
 shall be melded in eternity. 
 
 "Let us then arise and 'serve the Lord in truth and with 
 a perfect heart.' Let us labor and pray that this house may 
 be evermore 'The House of God, the Gate of Heaven' that 
 here the closest blessings of His Grace may be shed down 
 on us and on our children; that our land may be Immanuel's 
 Land and the whole world be full of His Glory." 
 
 11 
 
The First Presbyterian Church 1855-1877 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 **Q>^ Gloomy 'Sox Inside and Out** 
 
 ICTURES of "the church of 1855" are extremely rare. 
 The only one known to be in existence was quite accidentally 
 discovered to be in the possession of Elder and Mrs. A. V. Sear- 
 ing, Jr., who kindly loaned it for its reproduction in that history. 
 
 It has been referred to as "A gloomy box inside and out" and 
 the reasons for this characterization of the house of worship of 
 that day is amply confirmed by the architectural features of the 
 edifice, which, let it be remembered, was in strict compliance 
 with the tendency of the time to enshroud religion and things re- 
 ligious with the gloom of darkness and the dead, rather than 
 the radiancy of the light of joy and the completeness of Christ in 
 life. 
 
 The church stood on the lot almost to the sidewalk line, abreast 
 of the front of the J. B. Coward house adjoining to the east. It 
 was built of brick plastered with brown mortar, ruled into squares 
 about 9 by 15 inches so as to give the appearance as having been 
 erected of brownstone. Surmounting the building was a rather 
 stubby latticed tower into which the bell, which hung in the origi- 
 nal frame church, was placed and which, by the way, is still 
 calling worshipers to service as it did when the first pastor of the 
 church preached to the congregation. It is thus the only articu- 
 late voice that links the congregation of 641 today with that of 
 the 166 devout communicants who crowned their valiant con- 
 struction efforts in 1827 with the opening service of praise and 
 prayer when the little white church was completed. 
 
 The building had a peak roof, was about forty-five feet high, 
 and its entrance was in the middle with two huge masonry but- 
 tresses on either side to take up the remainder of the building's 
 width. Two Ionic columns of brown stone to match the ma- 
 sonry graced either side of the entrance and as one entered 
 they faced at once the main aisle at the head of which was the 
 communion table, standing upon a dais about seven inches from 
 the floor and above it, raised from the floor by about thirty inches, 
 stood the pulpit. 
 
 Looking from the pulpit one saw the gallery where the colored 
 worshipers sat, they having access to their seats by circular stair- 
 ways built on each side of the entrance up through the masonry 
 
 13 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 buttresses. A large gilt circular clock, given by Robert H. Rad- 
 ford, had a place on the face of the balcony directly opposite the 
 pulpit. The lighting was accomplished by gas and emergency 
 kerosene lamps. 
 
 Natural illumination, however, was through long narrow win- 
 dows on either side of the church. These windows were about 
 twenty-four inches wide and the lights were made up of a great 
 number of small panes of glass each about five inches square. The 
 windows were bowed at the top and on the outside there were 
 full length shutters running from the floor level to the roof. 
 
 When the sun shone through the clear glass windows too 
 brightly, as it is even wont to do today, the ushers would be asked 
 to go out and close the shutters. 
 
 This would result in the removal of two long poles from their 
 recesses at the entrance near where Howard A. Pope and W. A. 
 Woodruff were wont to sit for years as ushers, each taking two 
 windows they would proceed to slap and poke the shutters closed, 
 amid much clatter, especially in summer when the windows were 
 opened for ventilation. 
 
 The expression that the church was "gloomy within and with- 
 out" has its chief foundation in that when the shutters were 
 closed the black walnut trim of the interior of the church re- 
 flected so little light that at times it was difficult to read. How- 
 ever, most of the singing at the time was done by the congre- 
 gation by the aid of a melodeon and a singing leader. Regular 
 meetings were held for the purpose of learning the words of the 
 hymns. 
 
 Those who could afford them, however, owned their own 
 singing books and cushions and when they left the church by dis- 
 missal or otherwise, they took their hymn books and cushions 
 with them for use in the churches to which they were transferred. 
 
 The seats were extremely narrow and straight backed. Miss 
 Dietrich remembers an incident that gives an excellent idea of 
 how uncomfortable the church pews were at that time. It seems 
 that a Mrs. Milliken joined the church and in order to more com- 
 pletely enjoy the service, caused to be made for her an excep- 
 tionally wide cushion which, when it continued to slip off the pew 
 onto the floor at prayer, finally had it nailed fast to the pew 
 seat. 
 
 Each pew had a door with a catch upon it so that it would not 
 swing open and encumber persons passing up and down the aisle. 
 
 14 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 The purpose of the doors is variously explained. Some insist 
 that it was for the purpose of keeping the draft from the feet of 
 the worshipers in winter. Others said that it indicated that the 
 pew seats were reserved for belated members of the families. 
 Pews were often sold and deeded to their owners for life use. 
 Still others maintain that the real object of the door was to sym- 
 bolize the Biblical admonition, Matthew 6 :6 : 
 
 "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and 
 when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is 
 in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret shall reward 
 thee openly." 
 
 The pastor's study was on the side of the church now used by 
 the choir for assembly purposes and on the opposite side was a 
 great heater the chimney for which ran up the rear wall of the 
 church on the outside, about at the edge of the platform in the 
 Sunday school room where, it will be recalled, there is a recessed 
 arch in the face of the wall. 
 
 In course of time the chapel was added to the church, but it is 
 not shown in the picture. When the chapel was added, the chim- 
 ney seemed out of place. It left an awkward vacancy in the \vall 
 and so it was decided to build a counterpart of the chimney on 
 the other side and the arch was put in so as to bridge the two 
 structures and at the same time the wall above it was carried up 
 to give added support to the roof of the chapel. Across this arch 
 was formerly a motto, cut out and pasted, which read: 
 "Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only." 
 
 An ordinary crockery bowl, held by an elder, served as the 
 baptismal font for years. 
 
 One Fourth of July eve some youths bent upon proclaiming 
 anew the continued and successful independence of the United 
 States of America, broke into the church and made the very welkin 
 ring above the sleeping town until by dint of too great effort to ac- 
 complish their purpose, they swung the bell so that its lip caught 
 under the mechanism controlling the tolling hammer, thus effect- 
 ually silencing it while the drowsy populace hazily wondered 
 what dire punishment had been so promptly meted out to the 
 perpetrators of the tumult, with the nation's birthday still unborn. 
 
 The sexton, seeking to summon the people to their accustomed 
 place of worship the following Sunday, pulled first on the ring- 
 
 15 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 ing rope and then on the tolling line, only to find both inflexible 
 in his hands. Climbing into the belfry he saw, with consterna- 
 tion, the bell swung back as if to ring, but silent in the iron grip 
 his feeble hands could not unloose, and so it came to pass that 
 on that day those who went to church did so from sturdy habit 
 instead of being bidden by the customary summoning bell. 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 How the ^'^Anxious Seat'' Issue divided the Church 
 
 ■ HERE came about this time experiences which must have 
 'sorely tried the pastor's soul and caused the gravest appre- 
 hension among many of the congregation as to whether the Pres- 
 byterian Church of Plainfield would survive. 
 
 After protracted negotiation a section of the church departed 
 to form the Second Presbyterian church, which later became the 
 Crescent Avenue Presbyterian church. 
 
 The First church then had 230 communicants and the Session 
 minutes show that indeed it had been richly blessed "with refresh- 
 ings from the presence of the Lord." 
 
 During this period the question, probably inspired by frequent 
 revival meetings held in the city, arose, regarding the installation 
 of the Anxious Seats in the Presbyterian church. It might here 
 be explained that the Anxious Seats were the front pews of the 
 auditorium and whenever any member attending public worship, 
 felt especially moved by the words of the pastor or by the Spirit 
 they would leave their places in the pews and move up forward 
 as a sign that they desired to be especially prayed for. 
 
 To this proposal the Rev. Mr. Bond was unalterably opposed; 
 but some of the people, stirred by a deep religious fervor, 
 launched a movement not only for the purpose of establishing 
 another Presbyterian church, but of forcing the pastor, the Rev. 
 Mr. Bond, to resign. 
 
 There came a time when Mr. Bond actually handed in his 
 resignation as pastor. It was accepted and referred to the Pres- 
 bytery of Elizabeth Town, but in view of the fact that the resig- 
 nation had been acted upon by members of the church and by 
 Elders who had already been dismissed from the church on their 
 own application for the purpose of establishing another Presby- 
 terian church In Plainfield, the Rev. Mr. Bond held that its accept- 
 ance was unconstitutional, unauthorized and therefore Illegal, a 
 position which the Presbytery of Elizabeth Town subsequently 
 upheld. 
 
 On February 16, 1844, another Parish meeting was author- 
 ized and, upon due notice being given that it was the intention of 
 the applicants for dismissal to organize another church, the 
 
 17 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 dismissals were granted to the following as a means of avoiding 
 litigation : 
 
 William L. Simpson 
 William Hendrickson 
 Ira Pruden 
 James Thorn, Jr. 
 Daniel P. Martin 
 Frederick Cadmus 
 William McD. Coriell 
 Henry A. Cory 
 Isaac Van Nostrand 
 Leonard Vermeule 
 Elias Kirkpatrick 
 Albert Marsh 
 Richard Townsend 
 John S. Parker 
 Josiah Layton 
 Daniel Bullman 
 J. H. Coward 
 Jinnette E. Martin 
 William B. Hill 
 Harry Harris 
 Caroline Hill 
 Phebe E. E. Coward 
 Deborah C. Coward 
 William B. Shotwell 
 David Pound 
 Christopher Stewart 
 Mary Thorn 
 
 Charlotte Martin 
 Jane V. Clawson 
 Mary B. Clawson 
 Nancy B. Southard 
 Agnes Anderson 
 Eliza Anderson 
 Mary A. Shotwell 
 Agnes Anderson, Jr. 
 Mrs. Hariett H. Cory 
 Mrs. Sarah Layton 
 John L. Heath 
 Sophonia M. Heath 
 Sarah M. Campbell 
 Hannah Staats 
 Altha M. Marsh 
 Elsey Vermeule 
 Phebe Marsh 
 Zupporah R. Irven 
 Mary Hendrickson 
 Margaret Hendrickson 
 Henrietta Hendrickson 
 Mary C. Van Kirk 
 Harriett Van Kirk 
 William Nicoll 
 William Thorn 
 Milton F. Cushing 
 Fanny Cushing 
 
 Elizabeth Pound 
 Sarah Coriell 
 Eliza Jane Vermeule 
 Harriett Townsend 
 Elizabeth Boice 
 Abraham Cadmus 
 Anna Cadmus 
 Jenetie Cadmus 
 Eleanor Cadmus 
 John L. Laing 
 Elisha Coriell, Jr. 
 Eliza Coriell 
 Martha H. Coon 
 Martha E. Woodruff 
 Ann Martin 
 Ann B. Bullman 
 Margaret Barton 
 Eliza Jane Ditmas 
 Sarah Ditmas 
 Eliza C. Coriell 
 Eunice V. Van Nostrand 
 Frederick H. DeCamp 
 William Wilberson 
 David Whyte, Sr. 
 David Whyte, Jr. 
 Jane Whyte 
 Elizabeth Whyte 
 
 The requests were also granted of Robert Anderson, John 
 Layton, Jr., Ephraim Coriell and William Hill, Jr., who were 
 dismissed, their letters "stating that the applicants were mem- 
 bers of this church and as such dismissed." 
 
 The remainder left in the original Presbyterian church was 
 148, and from that time the church had its serious struggles, 
 finally resulting in the application previously made to the New 
 Jersey State Legislature, for a change in the corporate title re- 
 corded March 28, 1826, as "The First Presbyterian Church and 
 Congregation of Plainfield, New Jersey," to that of "The First 
 Presbyterian Church of Plainfield, N. J." This change in name 
 was approved March 27, 1857. 
 
 18 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 But during these years the same calm, dignified, kindly pastor 
 went his way in the community. Those who remember him 
 speak of his infinite patience and of his exemplary life. For 
 nearly thirty-two years he was the leader of his flock. Slight in 
 build, gentle of voice, he was always immaculately attired in the 
 ministerial frock coat of the day and the white stock forming 
 both collar and scarf. 
 
 Two years after the separation and the new church building 
 had gotten well under way, he gave notice to the Session of his 
 intention to ask leave to resign his Pastoral Charge, and on May 
 2 1 St, 1857, the Session records the calling of the Rev. Joseph 
 H, Myers to take his place. 
 
 It is interesting to note that when the Rev. Lewis Bond relin- 
 quished his charge there were only two members of his church 
 still numbered among the founders of his church. 
 
 The Rev. Lewis Bond's picture is still reverently preserved 
 by this congregation, having a place of honor in the Chapel. 
 Some of his sermons have been preserved by his grandson, Clar- 
 ence E. Bond. 
 
 The Manse of our church then stood directly across the street 
 from the present edifice, where the Young Women's Christian 
 Association Building is just being completed. The original build- 
 ing, however, now stands around the corner on Church Street, 
 next adjoining the Y. W. C. A., where it was moved, and has 
 been considerably altered to meet modern dwelling requirements. 
 Later the church owned a manse on East Fifth Street, which was 
 sold to aid the building fund for improvements to the present 
 chapel. 
 
 This minute appears in the Session records of March 8, 1885 : 
 
 "In recognition of the death on January 23, 1885 of the 
 Rev. Lewis Bond, for 32 years Pastor of this church, the 
 Session desires to record its sense of his sterling character 
 and worth as a Christian and a Gospel Minister, his long 
 life of fidelity and usefulness, his tranquil and Godly walk 
 and conversation, his unabated interest in the church, his 
 peaceful death in the Lord as the Lord's." 
 
 The new church building was completed and dedicated during 
 the pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Myers, who resigned within two 
 years of his call to found a college in Florida. 
 
 19 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 The next minister was the Rev. Samuel M. Studdiford, who 
 was installed in i860, but who, after a brief pastorate was called 
 to the Presbyterian church at Stewartsville, New Jersey, and in 
 1862 the Rev. Daniel V. McLean was called. 
 
 His pastorate was inaugurated with much enthusiasm and 
 closed with circumstances which resembled in some degree the 
 difficulties the congregation passed through when the Second 
 Presbyterian church was formed, except that it contributed 
 largely, in this case, to the formation of Trinity Reformed 
 church, there being some question as to the legality of dismissing 
 some forty members after he had resigned as pastor. Those 
 who remember him recall that he was of a dynamic turn of mind, 
 impetuous, fiery and yet a magnetic man who conceived for our 
 church a militant place in the exposition of the Christian life. 
 
 A new pastor again occupied the pulpit in 1863 when the Rev. 
 Benjamin Cory of Perth Amboy was called. He stayed between 
 four and five years, during which time the church prospered and 
 the membership increased greatly. He was in every respect a 
 most charming and popular preacher. His daughter was mar- 
 ried in the church during Mr. Cory's pastorate. Mr. Cory's 
 wife was a member of the well-known Crane family of Elizabeth. 
 He was called elsewhere and resigned early in 1868. 
 
 The Rev. Henry L. Teller, young, eloquent, polished, and 
 an earnest Christian worker, became pastor as successor to the 
 Rev. Mr. Cory, but resigned within two years of his being called 
 to go to the Amsterdam, N. Y., Presbyterian church. His wife, 
 who was wealthy in her own right, did not fancy the life of a 
 minister's wife and soon induced her husband to give up the 
 ministry. 
 
 20 
 
The First Presbyterian Church i8S8 — 1925 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Sarah M. Latimer and the ** Little Black Cross*' 
 
 jHE present church edifice stands as the monument to the 
 'personahty and activity of the Rev. Kneeland P. Ketcham 
 as the leader of this congregation from 1871 until March 13, 
 1902. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Ketcham was called from AUentown, New 
 Jersey, a settlement located near the present town of Bridgeton. 
 He was a man of vision and action, energetic and with a per- 
 sonality that inspired great confidence and cooperation. 
 
 In the strange working out of God's plans it was not intended 
 that the then pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Plain- 
 field, just entering upon the second half of his long pastorate, 
 should know that the business success of a non-believing cotton 
 shipper from South Carolina would be the indirect source from 
 which the physical monument of his ministry in Plainfield would 
 rise even before his leadership was to end. 
 
 Yet the story of the remarkable life of Henry Latimer, proud 
 of his disbelief in the Christian church, is not only entwined 
 about the First Presbyterian church of Plainfield, but successive 
 generations who shall gaze upon the little cross that tops the 
 steeple will know that it is there because of him. 
 
 Born in poverty in the Carolina cotton fields, Henry Latimer 
 as a boy took ship on a boat that was bringing cotton to New 
 York at a time when there was a boom in that staple. The first 
 time he arrived in the great metropolis, he bought himself a new 
 hat and some clothes. 
 
 Earning his passage back and later coming north again with 
 another shipment of cotton, he induced the captain to let him buy 
 a bale. His earnings, great because of the boom, were quickly 
 turned into the purchase of several more bales on the next trip 
 north and the result was that in a short time he was operating a 
 fleet of cotton-carrying boats for himself and finally directed the 
 shipment north of great quantities of cotton so that in compara- 
 tively early life he was enabled to retire. 
 
 By some strange coincidence Mr. and Mrs. Latimer, the 
 latter formerly Sarah M. Stocking, of Kentucky, selected Plain- 
 field as their home and by a still stranger coincidence, in the light 
 of the part this couple were later to play in the affairs of the 
 
 21 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 First Presbyterian church, they moved into a home on Bank Place 
 within stone's throw of the very spot where the first church ser- 
 vice of that congregation was held on the brink of what for years 
 was known as Tier's pond. They later built a home on the cor- 
 ner of Bank Place and East Front Street near where now stands 
 the Strand theatre. 
 
 As has been stated, Mr. Latimer did not believe in churches, 
 but he is reported to have given an organ to the Masonic fra- 
 ternity of this city. 
 
 At the time of his death his wife, desiring to have someone 
 conduct the funeral services, called in the pastor of the church 
 "up the street" and the Rev. Mr. Ketcham responded, conduct- 
 ing the services also at the grave. 
 
 This was the first time the Latimer family ever came in con- 
 tact with the Christian church, according to Miss Addie Dietrich, 
 who was intimately acquainted with Mrs. Latimer, the two fam- 
 ilies being very closely associated as neighbors and friends. 
 
 Mr. Latimer's death, and the loss of their adopted son, David, 
 in the Civil War caused Mrs. Latimer to reach out for the con- 
 solation of the church and when Mr. Ketcham called to comfort 
 her in her affliction, Mrs. Latimer asked what she could do to 
 aid him In realizing the aspirations he had for the enlargement 
 of the influence of his church in Plalnfield. 
 
 Upon hearing that the church had decided to build a new edi- 
 fice, she volunteered to give the necessary amount needed to com- 
 plete the contributions which had already begun to come in from 
 the members of the congregation, which had grown to a total of 
 268, not Including the membership of the Bible Class, totalling 
 190 in addition. 
 
 Her gifts embraced $32,000 for the church, $6,000 for the 
 organ which, plus $2,000 received by the sale of the old one, 
 cost $8,000. Gifts for finishing the church and special purposes 
 brought the total of Mrs. Latimer's gifts to the church, so far 
 as known, to $44,000, which also included the beautiful stained 
 glass circular window in the front of the edifice. 
 
 Two incidents are sufficiently authenticated In connection with 
 Mrs. Latimer's benefactions as to merit inclusion In a History 
 of the Presbyterian Church of Plalnfield. One concerns the cir- 
 cular stained glass window and the other the little cross that sur- 
 mounts the steeple. 
 
 J. M. Bettman and the pastor of the church believed, with the 
 
 22 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 members of the congregation, that some tribute should be made 
 to Mrs. Latimer's generosity either in the form of a stained glass 
 window or a tablet. To all proposals of this sort the modest 
 widow of the cotton trader entered objections. She desired that 
 her gifts be received in as great secrecy as possible. 
 
 The building committee consisting, besides the pastor and Mr. 
 Bettman, of Robert H. Radford, William H. Shotwell, Edward 
 St. John, Howard A. Pope and F. C. Lounsbury, believed that 
 at least some record should be made of this gracious woman in 
 the structure she so freely helped to build. It was decided that 
 the manufacturer of the stained glass window be appealed to in 
 some way to work in her name, and those desiring to see the 
 artist's handicraft in this particular need may look on the selvedge 
 of the window near where it enters the frame on the central edge. 
 
 Mrs. Latimer did not live to see the church entirely com- 
 pleted. Toward the completion of the structure, however, she 
 was taken in a wheel chair, accompanied by J. Fred MacDon- 
 ald, who, with William H. Shotwell and William A. Woodruff 
 were later named executors of her estate, to the site. She sat on 
 the platform with Mrs. N. W. West, another generous con- 
 tributor toward the building fund, when the corner stone was laid. 
 
 During the course of conversation on the way back, Mr. Shot- 
 well, not knowing about the inscription of her name on the 
 window, again pressed her for permission to place her name 
 somewhere on the church or in it. 
 
 After some thought on the subject, and when she had been 
 placed in a comfortable chair in her home, she spoke of her hus- 
 band saying that the only reference of a sympathetic nature she 
 had ever heard him make to a Christian church was the fact that 
 once when he was a little boy on the cotton plantations he had 
 gone to a Sunday school on which there was a little black cross. 
 Mrs. Latimer then said, in the presence of all three men who 
 had walked back with her from the church site, that if they in- 
 sisted upon doing something in memory of her that, in remem- 
 brance of this remark by her husband, they put a little black cross 
 on the top of the church. 
 
 After her death, which occurred very soon thereafter, the 
 Executors, who proved to be the three men who heard her make 
 the remark, advised the church, through its finance committee, 
 which included the Pastor, Elders, Deacons and Trustees, and 
 F. C. Lounsbury, W. H. Van Slyke and Peter Hoagland, that 
 
 23 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 a little black, cross had to be included in the architecture of the 
 church as a condition of the payment of the remainder of Mrs. 
 Latimer's benefactions. 
 
 Reporting this to the congregation, some protest developed 
 from a small section of the membership, upon the ground that 
 a cross of whatever color was out of place upon a Presbyterian 
 church. The position of the Executors could, of course, be only 
 that of "No cross, no money." 
 
 It was finally decided to put the cross on the top of the steeple 
 and, while there was some quiet mumbling, it soon caused little 
 comment and few finally noticed that it was there. 
 
 At about noon time one extremely hot day in July when the 
 interest in the cross had entirely waned, a puffy white cloud came 
 out of the west in what otherwise was a clear sky. It proved to 
 be a little shower with only a single flash of lightning, but that 
 bolt struck off the little black cross and tumbled it in fragments 
 upon the church yard below. 
 
 At once there was a vigorous renewal of the discussion about 
 the propriety of having the cross on the church, but when the 
 Executors, who had long since settled up the estate, paying the 
 residue to two nephews who lived somewhere In Kentucky, were 
 appealed to It was their Insistence upon keeping faith with the 
 only stipulation Mrs. Latimer made In connection with her great 
 gifts, and, further, upon the continued importunities of the church 
 people she benefited, that a little black cross should be replaced 
 upon the steeple, which was accordingly done. 
 
 Again the cross incident had passed into mutual forgetfulness 
 when, again, also on a July day, and at noon, another small puffy 
 cloud came over the low lying Watchung mountains and, during 
 the shower that followed, a single forked flash from Its curling 
 center again, removed the cross without doing any other damage 
 to the building. 
 
 This time the objection to the presence of thei cross was based 
 upon the belief that, lightning having struck twice in the same 
 place, was most certainly a manifestation of the displeasure of 
 Providence and that the cross should not be replaced. 
 
 However, after due course, the cross again appeared at the 
 top of the steeple, and while the tower has been struck since by 
 lightning, the cross has remained to this day, having lately been 
 substituted by a copper cross of sturdy construction. 
 
 24 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 It is interesting to record at this point some other incidents 
 and facts concerning the erection of this church. 
 
 On June 6, 1888, a special meeting was held by the Session 
 when it was decided to call a Parish meeting for the purpose of 
 building, if the way be clear, a new church. On June 19, 1888, 
 the building committee appointed Oscar S. Teale, architect, who 
 now lives in the city of Newark. 
 
 J. W. Pangborn was the builder who submitted a bid of 
 $26,900 for the construction of the building and the contract 
 was awarded to him. The records of the Session under date of 
 September 16, 1888, show that the building, including the organ 
 and every appurtenance, cost about $45,000. The entire church 
 building was appraised by John Abbott, of the Board of Trus- 
 tees, before the Great War, for the purpose of determining how 
 much insurance the congregation ought to carry on the property, 
 at $100,000. Mr. Abbott was a practical builder. 
 
 The contributors to the church building fund were as follows: 
 
 Sarah M. Latimer 
 William R. Anthony 
 J. W. Anthony 
 John Barr 
 J. M. Bettman 
 Theophilus Bond 
 Miss Kate Bond 
 Aaron Berkaw 
 Sallie Butcher 
 Rutgers V. Cadmus 
 Abraham L. Cadmus 
 Elisha Coriell 
 Mrs. D. Chase 
 Mrs. J. W. Craig 
 John Dietrich 
 
 Mrs. Forbes 
 
 Peter Hoagland 
 
 Alvin E. Hoagland 
 
 Rev. K. P. Ketcham 
 
 Mrs. Fanny Ketcham 
 
 Isaac L. Miller 
 
 Miss Meig 
 
 Mrs. Charles McCutcheon 
 
 Miss Jane Petrie 
 
 Mrs. Petrie 
 
 Howard A. Pope 
 
 R. H. Radford 
 
 A. G. Remsen 
 
 Henry W. Rogers 
 
 Carrie Runvon 
 
 R. J. Shaw 
 William H. Shotwell 
 Freeman J. Shotwell 
 A. V. Shotwell 
 J. Augustus Smith 
 Edward St. John 
 J. W. Schenck 
 J. Evarts Tracy 
 W. H. Van Slyke 
 William Van Winkle 
 Miss Vanderweg 
 Mrs. N. W. West 
 C. J. Westervelt 
 J. M. White 
 
 The new church was dedicated with special services on the 
 evenings of June 25th and 28th, 1889. The services on June 
 25th were conducted by the Pastor, the Rev. Kneeland P. 
 Ketcham, the dedicatory sermon being preached by the Rev. 
 Charles L. Thompson, D.D., of New York City. 
 
 The services on June 28th were conducted by the Rev. W. L. 
 Richards, pastor of the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian church, 
 with addresses by the Rev. D. J. Yerkes, pastor of the First Bap- 
 tist church; Rev. Erskine M. Rodman, rector of Grace Episcopal 
 
 25 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 church; Rev. Cornelius Schenck, pastor of Trinity Reformed 
 Church; Rev. Charles L. Goodrich, pastor of the Congrega- 
 tional church, and Rev. Asa R. Dilts. There were also addresses 
 by James McGee, C. W. McCutcheon and William D. Murray. 
 
 The official seating capacity of the church building is 900 and 
 every seat was occupied during these services, for the church, 
 with its inclined auditorium with seats arranged fan like and 
 radiating from the pulpit, was then a distinct architectural 
 novelty. 
 
 The design of the church was similar to the Methodist Episco- 
 pal church at Hackettstown, which also was designed by Oscar S. 
 Teale, architect, and many Plainfielders passing through the main 
 street of that Warren county city stop to compare the architec- 
 tural face of the edifice there with that in Plainfield. Howard A. 
 Pope, William H. Shotwell and John M. Bettman were the com- 
 mittee sent to Hackettstown to view that church and upon their 
 recommendation the design of the Plainfield church was made 
 like it, but modified in some respects, to conform to local condi- 
 tions, particularly as to lot width. 
 
 Dr. Ellis W. Hedges was organist for a great many years and 
 A. V. Searing, Jr., and Edward Petrie were for many years offi- 
 cial organ pumpers. 
 
 One time when an eminent organist from New York came 
 out to give a recital he brought with him a device that oper- 
 ated a dozen-odd pedals at once so as to produce climactic vol- 
 ume, and the frantic efforts of the young organ pumpers to keep 
 the instrument supplied with air, and thus not to spoil the concert, 
 resulted in great physical fatigue between the two assistants of 
 the organist and an hour or two of incidental wonderment as to 
 what sort of a many-handed and footed "monster" sat at the 
 console. 
 
 On March 13, 1892, Dr. Ketcham applied for a dissolution 
 of the pastoral relation and on July 6, 1892, a call was extended 
 to and accepted by the Rev. Henry L. Miller. 
 
 It was, however, destined for him never to become the actual 
 pastor of the church, because just while preparations were being 
 made to receive him and he had moved his household effects to 
 Plainfield, Mr. Miller's wife was taken critically ill and he de- 
 clined the call on that account. 
 
 26 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 "The Close of the First Century 
 
 N October 20, 1892, a call was extended to the Rev. Charles 
 E. Herring, of New York City, where he had been ordained 
 totheministry by the Presbytery of that city, January 19, 1888, the 
 same year, it is pleasant to note that the church that he was des- 
 tined to serve as pastor for 29 years, was built. He received 
 the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy from Columbia University 
 in 1887, and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from New York 
 University in 1907; but the honor that he most craved, but reso- 
 lutely awaited for it to be honorarily conferred, namely, that of 
 Doctor of Divinity, was received by his widow, Alice Miller 
 Herring, a few days after his death at Muhlenberg Hospital, 
 Plainfield, May 26th, 192 1, he having been stricken while preach- 
 ing his usual sermon Sunday morning, May 15th, at 11:40 
 o'clock. 
 
 This incident was one of the most tragic in the history of this 
 church. It was a bright sunshiny Spring morning and the church 
 was well filled when, after greeting the children in Sunday school 
 as was his wont before entering the pulpit, the congregation 
 assembling for worship saw him in his pulpit as usual. 
 
 No hint of anything amiss occurred until, after being well 
 started upon his sermon, the text of which was "Moses, my ser- 
 vant, is dead," he paused and said: 
 
 "I cannot go on with the sermon. It is all right." When, in 
 sinking to his chair, he said to the treasurer of the church, Howard 
 W. Satterfield, who, sitting close to him, was first to grasp the 
 full extent of the minister's distress, "I want to go home. Brother 
 Manning, will you dismiss the people?" 
 
 Dr. N. W. Currie and Mrs. Herring, both of whom were sit- 
 ting in the gallery, hurried to the study as tender hands lifted 
 the stalwart but now limp frame of the pastor irlto the room 
 where his wife and physician awaited him, while Elder J. H. Man- 
 ning, with a benediction, dismissed the congregation. 
 
 Nine days later Dr. Herring passed away in Muhlenberg hos- 
 pital and was buried, after a double funeral service, in Hillside 
 cemetery, this city. 
 
 The services in tribute to the pastor, thus suddenly taken from 
 the leadership of his congregation, were held on successive days. 
 
 27 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 On, a Sunday evening a few weeks before he was stricken, the 
 church was filled to capacity with the masonic fraternity of Plain- 
 field and friends as a tribute to the long years as Chaplain in 
 Jerusalem Lodge No. 26 F. & A. M. and also as a public testi- 
 monial of their appreciation of Dr. Herring as a citizen and 
 patriot. 
 
 Dr. Herring remarked to friends after the service that it was 
 the first time in many years that the full capacity of the church 
 had been taken at an evening service. 
 
 Little did the genial minister realize that within a very short 
 time the same fraternity and the same friends would again fill 
 the church to a point where the capacity of the edifice was to be 
 exceeded to the extent even that many of every color and creed 
 who sought to pay tribute to his memory had to be turned away, 
 for there was a genuine feeling "that he belonged not alone to 
 the sorrowing wife and sister but to the whole community." 
 
 The Rev. R. F. Y. Pierce, Baptist minister, and a Chaplain of 
 the New York Police Department, presiding over and voicing 
 the people's tribute at that service, summed up the public's ap- 
 praisal of Dr. Herring's character and citizenship in these words 
 during his address on the subject, "I Live," before an enthralled 
 audience : 
 
 "Our brother. Dr. Herring, embraced an ideal of an ennobled 
 life and wrought a glorious manhood which made him a prince 
 among his fellow men. His gentleness, kindness, sympathy, 
 strength of character, genial spirit, broad charity and virility of 
 Christian manhood made him to be revered as one of God's 
 noblemen. 
 
 "He lived, not for himself, but with the mind of the Master, 
 he sought to lift the burdens from the hearts of others, to speak 
 words of cheer to those fainting and faltering on Life's weary 
 way. His was the joy to wipe sorrow's tears from everflowing 
 eyes; to sow the seeds of truth In hearts of age and youth; to 
 lead the wanderer home ; to teach the world about Christ, and to 
 be a friend of man. 
 
 "His memory will ever be a precious legacy, not only to the 
 loved ones of his heart and home, but to all who came within the 
 circle of his Influence." 
 
 In strict accordance with a plan for his funeral which he 
 had prepared some years before and was discovered among his 
 papers after his death, the body lay in state in the church he 
 
 28 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 loved and served well nigh three decades, lovingly guarded by 
 representatives of the Session, Deacons, Trustees, officers of his 
 church and Masonic brethren in the persons of: A. W. Dunning 
 and A. V. Searing, Jr., until midnight; Allen E. Beals and G. F. 
 Murphy until 3 o'clock; F. O. Dunning and John S. Johnston 
 until 6 A.M. and George B. Wean and W. H. Abbott until 9 A.M. 
 He was borne to his last mortal resting place on the beautiful 
 slopes of Hillside cemetery by Alvin E. Hoagland, Isaac L. Wil- 
 liamson, John H. Johnston, Dr. N. W. Currie, John G. Bicknell 
 and Allen E. Beals. 
 
 There are many today who pay to Dr. Herring the encomium 
 so richly earned that his great gift to the First Presbyterian 
 church of Plainfield was the deep-seated spirit of Brotherly Love 
 that has embued the members of this church body over so many 
 happy years. 
 
 It was during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Herring that an 
 incident occurred which resulted in enriching the church with its 
 beautiful onyx baptismal font, the first two children to be bap- 
 tised at which were the great-grandchildren of the Rev. Lewis 
 Bond, first pastor of the church, Bessie Wright and Clarence 
 LesHe Bond, children of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Eugene Bond. 
 
 Dr. Herring was invited on a certain occasion to deliver a 
 sermon at Crescent Avenue church. In the audience was Mr. 
 Charles L. Hyde, who listened with great interest to what Dr. 
 Herring had to say. After the service he made inquiry as to 
 who that preacher was and, upon being told it was the Rev. Dr. 
 Herring of the First Presbyterian church, he declared: 
 
 "That is the kind of a preacher I like and we will worship in 
 his church hereafter." 
 
 During his attendance upon public worship in Dr. Herring's 
 church, Mrs. Hyde noticed that there was no suitable font for 
 the baptism service, whereupon, making further inquiry, she 
 arranged to present to the church the beautiful example of the 
 stone cutter's art that graces the front of the auditorium to the 
 left of the pulpit. 
 
 Other notable baptisms at this font were: Irving Bond Hin- 
 man, Kenneth Russell Hinman, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Grove 
 Porter Hinman; Gordon Van der Vere Bond, son of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Alexander Russell Bond, descendants of the first pastor of 
 the church; and Harold Deforrest and Donald Deforrest Beebe, 
 sons of Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Beebe, direct descendants of Pier- 
 
 29 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 pont Potter, one of the founders of the Presbyterian church of 
 Plainfield. 
 
 On June 19, 192 1, a "Pastor Selection Committee" consist- 
 ing of E. M. Cave, F. O. Dunning, Harry Williams, Dr. N. W. 
 Currie, John S. Johnston, Alvin E. Hoagland, Mrs. T. C. Bo- 
 dine, Mrs. Harold S. Beebe and Allen E. Beals met for organ- 
 ization and by acclamation Mr. Dunning was made chairman 
 and Mr. Beals secretary. 
 
 Events seemed to amply evidence the predestination of the 
 Rev. Leroy W. Warren, just returned from Europe following 
 a long period of war service in this country, to be the pastor of 
 this church and spiritual leader of this people. 
 
 The Rev. L. B. Crane, of Elizabeth, hearing of the vacancy 
 existing in the pulpit of our church, suggested that representa- 
 tives of our congregation go to hear Mr. Warren preach in his 
 church, the Westminster Presbyterian, at Elizabeth. Elders 
 Charles M. Hummer, F. O. Dunning and A. V. Searing, Jr., at- 
 tended accordingly. Their report to the committee on Pastor 
 Selection, submitted after its organization, was so unanimously 
 enthusiastic that the recommendation was approved that it enter 
 the name of Mr. Warren as its first candidate, resulting in Mr. 
 Warren, upon invitation, preaching two sermons before leaving 
 for his customary summer sojourn in the mountains of Colorado. 
 
 During the summer this committee personally heard fourteen 
 candidates and carried on correspondence with one hundred and 
 thirty-nine persons, but at its sixth meeting it reported unani- 
 mously that "after impartially analyzing every one from every 
 angle, there is none who stands forth anywhere near so favorably 
 as does the Rev. Leroy W. Warren, of Galena, 111." 
 
 It is a significant vindication of the judgment and wisdom of 
 this committee that during the pastorate of Mr. Warren, more 
 than 330 new members have been received into full communion 
 of this church, a manse at 41 Sanford Avenue has been purchased, 
 and the chapel has been rebuilt at a cost of $20,000, and that 
 complete harmony and spiritual unity has prevailed, making the 
 total membership at the time of the annual meeting on April 15, 
 1925, 641, the highest total ever recorded in our church history. 
 
 It is fitting to note in connection with the rebuilding of the 
 chapel, finished in the Spring of 1925, that at a bazaar held for the 
 purpose of aiding in liquidating some of the cost of the improve- 
 ment made necessary by the growth of the Bible School, an en- 
 
 30 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 graved picture of the White House at Washington, autographed 
 by Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, wife of the President of the United 
 States, was sent by her to the Guild for sale. 
 
 The Elders of our church from its organization down to the 
 annual meeting of 1925 follow: 
 
 1825 Robert Anderson 1886 
 
 1825 John Lavton 1889 
 
 1833 Jarvis B. Ay res 1890 
 
 1841 Lucas V. Hoagland 1890 
 
 1845 Abijah Titus 1892 
 
 1845 Andrew A. Cadmus 1892 
 
 1847 Ephraim Coriell 1893 
 
 1847 Job Squier 1893 
 
 1850 Tunison T. Soper 1894 
 
 1856 Peter J. Smith 1900 
 
 1858 E. Dean Dow 1908 
 
 1858 Ellis Potter 1910 
 
 1858 Frazee Cole 1918 
 
 1858 David J. Gordon 1918 
 
 1858 Edmund V. Shotwell 1919 
 
 1864 Peter Hoagland 1920 
 
 1864 Daniel Van Winkle 1920 
 
 1864 Peter B. Westervelt 1923 
 
 1871 Samuel MiUiken, Jr. 1923 
 1876 Benjamin F, McKeage 
 
 1880 Isaac L. Miller 1925 
 1882 Henry B. Opdyke 
 
 John M. Bettman 
 Edward St. John 
 F. C. Lounsbury 
 A. L. Cadmus 
 
 E. M. Cave 
 William H. Shotwell 
 W. L. Ladd 
 
 R. H. Radford 
 Howard A. Pope 
 Leroy H. Gates 
 J. H. Manning 
 Charles M. Hummer 
 
 F. O. Dunning 
 Harry Williams 
 A. V. Searing, Jr. 
 
 E. D. George 
 
 F. L. Palmer 
 
 Dr. Thomas D. Blair 
 Dominico Di Diario 
 {Italian Mission) 
 Arthur N. Hazeltine 
 
 THE END 
 
 31 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
 
 Grateful acknowledgments are due and are respectfully made 
 by the compiler of these records for valuable assistance and 
 greatly appreciated cooperation from the following: 
 
 Mrs. Howard A. Pope, for information. 
 
 J. M. Bettman, for session records. 
 
 Charles M. Hummer, for session records. 
 
 Miss Addie Dietrich, for memoirs and suggestions. 
 
 Joseph P. Byrnes, Principal Clerk, Register's Office, Newark, N. J., 
 for search of original deed of church property and records, dating back 
 to 1826. 
 
 The New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, N. J. 
 
 Frank J. Hubbard, Civil Engineer, for map. 
 
 J. Fred MacDonald, Assessor and formerly Executor of Mrs. Sarah 
 M. Latimer's Estate, for memoirs and data. 
 
 Plainfield Public Library and Librarians, for records. 
 
 Miss Minerva Freeman, Dover, N. J., for historical setting. 
 
 Mrs. Howard W. Satterfield, for historical locations and incidents. 
 
 The Plainfield Courier-News and old newspaper files. 
 
 Mrs. A. V. Searing, Jr., for photograph of "Church of 1855." 
 
 A. V. Searing, Jr., for information relating to proceedings of Board 
 of Trustees, etc. 
 
 H. L. Luckey, photographs. 
 
 Clarence E. Bond, for memoirs and records, manuscripts, etc. 
 
 Mrs. Allen E. Beals, for information. 
 
 Mrs. H. S. Beebe, for information. 
 
 Mrs. Grove P. Hinman, for information. 
 
 J. H. Coward, for information. 
 
 History of Plainfield, by O. B. Leonard. 
 
 History of Plainfield, by A. Van Doren Honeyman. 
 
 History of Middlesex County, 1882, Public Library. 
 
 Pamphlets of New Jersey, Vol. VHL 
 
 E. P. Morris, for information. 
 
 S. L. Pach, for data. 
 
 M. F. Elderton, for information. 
 
 Thomas Butler, Inspector of Buildings, for data. 
 
 32 
 
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