THE NEW CHURCH
 
 a Brief Ibistor^ of the 
 jFitst Presbyterian Gburcb 
 of Bewtown, %ong IFelanb 
 
 tloaetber witb tbe 
 sermon oelivereo bp 
 tbe pastor, on tbe 
 occasion of tbe 250tb 
 Hnniversars ot tbe 
 Cburcb 
 
 1902
 
 fficers 
 
 REV. WM. H. HENDRICKSON 
 
 Pastor 
 
 Ruling Eiders 
 
 JOHN H. PRALL 
 GUSTAVE HAFLINGER 
 COE F. HOWARD 
 
 Deacons 
 
 J. WILLIAM MORGAN 
 THOMAS L. PROCTOR 
 
 trustees 
 
 HENRY BLACKWELL 
 JOHN G. SCHEPER 
 THOMAS E. HARDGROVE 
 GEORGE W. REY 
 GEORGE L. MARSHALL 
 
 JAMES L. M. HATHAWAY 
 
 Treasurer 
 
 LOUIS S. BOND 
 
 Musical Director 
 
 MRS. GEO. L. MARSHALL 
 
 Organist
 
 REV." WILLIAM H. HENDRICKSON
 
 Hcknowledgment 
 
 writer bereb acknowledges bis 
 indebtedness to tbe several sources from 
 wbfcb tbe information contained in tbe 
 following historical article was obtained, 
 particularly, to " IRifcer's annals of 1\e\v* 
 town/' to tbe printed manuscripts of 
 tbose wbo bave served as pastors of tbis 
 cburcb, and to tbose members of tbe 
 cburcb, wbo, bp. correspondence witb tbe 
 descendants of tbe earlg pastors and 
 members of tbe cburcb, and witb various 
 universities and colleges, obtained mucb 
 of tbe information berein recorded. 
 
 TIDlm. f>. fjcndricfcson 
 October, 1902
 
 1bietor\> of the 
 fmt Presbyterian Cburcb 
 
 IRewtown, X, 1 . 
 
 1652^1902
 
 gtatrdml and ^ifttj 
 
 in 1652, a few English emigrants 
 from New England came to this locality, 
 calling it Middleburg. 
 
 " Several of the new comers were direct from Green- 
 wich, Stamford, Fairfield, and other villages along the 
 Connecticut shore. From Boston and Salem, Mass., and 
 from Hempstead, L. L, came men who afterward were 
 prominently identified with the town." 
 
 To the credit of the early settlers of Middleburg be 
 it said, they dealt fairly with the Indians, who held 
 undisputed possession of the land, purchasing from 
 them, as the early records show, 1,376 acres of land for 
 one shilling per acre. 
 
 " The hamlet was begun upon the street whereon 
 the Presbyterian Church in the village of Newtown 
 now stands, on both sides of which lots were laid out. 
 And then resounded the axe in the forest; the noise of 
 the saw and the hammer told the arrival of a people un- 
 like any those wilds had ever known before." 
 
 A scene of life and activity ensued, and a group of 
 cottages fashioned after those of New England of 
 simple construction, and roofed with thatch, arose to 
 adorn the new settlement, to which the name of Middle- 
 burg was given, after a place of some note in the 
 Netherlands, the capital of the province of Zealand, and 
 remembered with gratitude as the asylum of many of the 
 English Puritans. 
 
 Next to providing for their families, the new settlers 
 broke up the fallow ground, committed their seed to
 
 10 
 
 the earth, and the summer of 1652 witnessed the in- 
 gathering of the first harvest in Middleburg. 
 
 After two and a half centuries, we are a rapidly grow- 
 ing community, in the enjoyment of all modern con- 
 veniences; no longer a distinct and separate town or 
 village, but a part of the greater city of New York so 
 recently organized. 
 
 We do not forget, however, that there is much of 
 interest in the past history of the town, much that is 
 worthy of our attention, and, which, though a matter of 
 history, will bear repetition. 
 
 The early history of Middleburg was not altogether 
 a peaceful one; the first years were marked by rumors 
 of war, which so startled the people that some of them, 
 with residents of Maspeth and Vlissingen (Flushing), 
 went to Stamford, Conn., for safety. 
 
 These rumors grew out of a story that Governor 
 Stuyvesant had entered into an agreement with the 
 Indians to help him against the English; doubtless these 
 rumors were exaggerated because England and Hol- 
 land were then at war, and fear was aroused lest the 
 Dutch rise against the English in and near New Am- 
 sterdam; this was followed by Indian outrages and 
 depredations, that kept the early settlers in constant 
 fear for their lives, and constant watchfulness of their 
 possessions. 
 
 But still another enemy is mentioned by Riker; he 
 says : " An enemy more insidious and fatal to the peace 
 of the settlement was lurking among its habitations. 
 Intemperance had appeared to such an extent as to call 
 for some restrictions upon the sale of spirituous liquors. 
 On August 22, 1659, the town court ordered that no 
 inhabitant of the place should sell any liquors or strong 
 drink by retail, after the first of the ensuing September, 
 without an order from the magistrates, upon penalty of 
 fifty guilders (about nineteen dollars)."
 
 II 
 
 During the unsettled times of 1662 andi663, Middle- 
 burg was placed under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, 
 by reason of a charter from Charles II., confirming to 
 that colony " the islands adjacent," which Connecticut 
 interpreted as conveying Long Island to the colony. 
 " Middleburg, in allegiance to Charles II., showed its 
 loyalty by discarding the name by which the township 
 had been designated since its settlement, and took the 
 name of Hastings, after a town in Sussex, England, dis- 
 tinguished in history as the scene of the famous victory 
 of William the Conqueror, by which that monarch ob- 
 tained the throne of Britain." 
 
 But that was not to be its permanent name, for in 
 1665 Governor Nicoll addressed a circular letter to the 
 several towns, directing the inhabitants to elect dele- 
 gates to a convention to be held at Hempstead, on Feb- 
 ruary 28, to settle the affairs of the province; the terri- 
 tory then brought within the town of Hastings was 
 called New Towne, or, as we know it, Newtown. Why 
 the name should have been changed to Elmhurst in the 
 last days of its existence as a separate and distinct vil- 
 lage, it is hard to say; better to have let it go down in 
 history, as it will remain in the memory of the people, 
 Newtown. 
 
 One thing must be apparent to any one who has read, 
 or is at all familiar with, the history of Newtown: i.e., 
 the history of the town and church is one; no line can be 
 drawn; no date, other than that of the settlement of the 
 town, can be fixed upon as the time for the beginning of 
 religious services. The town and church came to- 
 gether, for the Rev. John Moore, the first minister, was 
 one of the original settlers, coming from Hempstead 
 with others who settled at Newtown. 
 
 Out of this original ecclesiastical body grew the 
 church whose 25<Dth anniversary we now celebrate. 
 
 One of the first acts of the settlers was to set aside
 
 12 
 
 a piece of land on which to erect a town house, to be 
 used as a church and home for the minister; it was also 
 to be used for a day school, and for town meetings. 
 
 This first public building of the town stood where the 
 house of the late Dr. Franklin Booth now stands, on 
 Broadway, adjoining Clermont Terrace. " On Decem- 
 ber 13, 1670, the inhabitants of the town voted that a 
 meeting-house should be built, and that a tax of forty 
 pounds be made on the citizens of Newtown, to be paid 
 one half in corn and the other half in cattle." Ralph 
 Hunt, a prominent citizen of the town, who, under the 
 Dutch government, held the position of magistrate, and 
 was also a town surveyor and overseer, gave to the 
 town " a small gore of land on which to build the 
 edifice." This land is at the corner of Hoffman Boule- 
 vard and Grand Street, on which now stands the famous 
 " Corner House," the property of Mrs. Brown. On 
 this site was erected the first church building in New- 
 town. In the fall of 1694, this church building was en- 
 larged, the work being done under the direction of John 
 Coe and Content Titus. 
 
 The church building erected in 1671 being much 
 dilapidated, in 1715 it was decided that a new one 
 should be erected, and on the tenth day of May, in that 
 year, Jonathan Fish, who for fifteen years was the town 
 clerk, presented the church with a piece of ground four 
 rods square; the deed was given to Robert Wilson, 
 Thomas Hazard, James Renne, and Silas Titus, in be- 
 half of the " dissenting Presbyterian Congregation of 
 Newtown." This land was situated on the north side 
 of the Hoffman Boulevard, and is that on which the old 
 church now stands. The church took possession of this 
 property March 22, 1716, and work on the new edifice 
 was begun immediately, but the interior was not fin- 
 ished for many years, a pulpit not being procured until 
 1741. This structure was smaller than the present old
 
 13 
 
 church, which stands on its site; it was adorned with a 
 spire in which was a small bell. During the Revolu- 
 tionary War, when for seven years Newtown was in the 
 hands of the British, they, with some of their sym- 
 pathizers, vented their spite against the church edifice, 
 probably because most of the Presbyterians took an 
 active part against the English. One night a party of 
 young Tories, all members of prominent families in the 
 town, actually sawed off the steeple of the church. 
 Riker says, " Embracing the occasion to vent their 
 hatred, a few young Tories, shortly after the British got 
 possession, went one night with a saw, and a rope taken 
 from the well of Alexander Whaley, and actually sawed 
 oft" the steeple of the church." He further says that 
 these men were known, and in a foot-note gives initials 
 of those who were the leaders in the work of desecrating 
 God's house, citing an incident where one was brought 
 to shame by a well-directed jest regarding the removal 
 of church steeples, occasioned by the fact that the 
 steeple of a certain church in New York was to be taken 
 down, and no one could be found to do it; one of the 
 company said, " Why, give * * * a hand saw and a 
 well-rope, and he'll have it off while you are asleep/' 
 The Rev. Dr. John Goldsmith says, in a paper entitled 
 " Memoranda of the Revolution in Newtown " : " The 
 steeple of the Presbyterian Church was sawed off in the 
 night by certain violent Tories, whose names are well 
 known." After this, the pews were removed and the 
 building used as a prison and guard house; afterwards, 
 the British took the church down and used such of the 
 material as they wanted for huts, and some of the tim- 
 bers were sold to a Mr. Alburtis for two hundred and 
 fifty dollars ; " this," says Dr. Goldsmith, " is the only 
 positive evidence I have that the church was torn down 
 by the British; I am inclined to believe it was so." A 
 pillar on which the pulpit stood was converted into a
 
 14 
 
 horse post, and stood at the side of the Town House for 
 a long time. 
 
 After the Revolutionary War, when the people re- 
 turned to Newtown, only five of the members of the 
 church appeared at its first meetings. These had no 
 place of worship, but set bravely to work to erect an- 
 other church building, the foundation stones of which 
 were laid in the year 1787. On the foundation stones 
 of this church are cut the initials of certain prominent 
 members of the church at the time it was erected; thus, 
 to this day are they known as lovers and supporters of 
 the church. This building was enlarged in 1836, and is 
 now used for Sunday-school purposes. 
 
 Once again we speak of the erection of a church edi- 
 fice. Mr. John Goldsmith Payntar, who was born in, 
 and spent the first eighteen years of his life in Newtown 
 village, died in August, 1891; he left to this church 
 sufficient money for the erection of a magnificent stone 
 building, the corner-stone of which was laid July 6, 
 1893, in the presence of a large company of people; this 
 edifice was completed nearly two years later, and was 
 dedicated Sunday, May 5, 1895. The previous Sunday, 
 an appropriate historic sermon was delivered in the old 
 church by the pastor, the Rev. Jacob E. Mallmann, and 
 the farewell service was held in that historic building, 
 where so many generations had listened to the word of 
 God, and been instructed in the way of righteousness. 
 On the day of dedication, the sermon was preached by 
 the Rev. Dr. John D. Wells, of Brooklyn, from Psalm 
 xlvi. 6, " Strength and beauty are in His Sanctuary." 
 This substantial and magnificent building will be the 
 home of the Presbyterian Congregation for many years 
 to come. A bronze tablet in the vestibule contains the 
 following tribute to Mr. Payntar and his generosity: 
 
 " To the glory of God, and for the welfare of His 
 people, this church was erected in grateful memory of
 
 MR. JOHN GOLDSMITH PAYNTAR
 
 15 
 
 John Goldsmith Payntar, whose love for his early home, 
 and veneration for God's house, provided the funds by 
 will to build this edifice." 
 
 Just as it was said in the late war with Spain, " it was 
 the men behind the guns " who made possible the 
 speedy victories and the heretofore unheard-of tri- 
 umphs, so we say, much of the blessing that came to the 
 community and people was because of the men in the 
 pulpit ; not only so, but because of the men who, in ad- 
 dition to their preaching of divine truth, and being 
 advisers in spiritual things, were counsellors in all 
 things that related to the interests of the community. 
 They were at all times leaders in the community, and 
 their words told for God and righteousness; those were 
 days when the influence of the minister was very great 
 in things outside the church, when his opinion was 
 sought and his advice heeded. 
 
 One has only to notice the record of the men of God 
 who have been pastors of this church, and the events 
 that transpired during their different pastorates, to be 
 convinced of their power and influence in the commu- 
 nity and among the people. In the two hundred and 
 fifty years of the church's history it has had nineteen 
 pastors. The first of these was the Rev. John Moore. 
 He was an Englishman, and came to New England 
 when he was twenty or twenty-one years of age. It is 
 a matter of record that he settled at Southampton, L. I., 
 in 1644; he was engaged in collecting funds for the edu- 
 cation of students in Harvard University, where, in 
 1646, he completed his studies. In the same year he 
 obtained a license to preach, though not authorized to 
 administer the sacraments, being merely a licentiate, 
 and not a regularly ordained minister. On account of 
 the Indian troubles on the eastern end of Long Island 
 at that time, he moved to Hempstead, evidently preach- 
 ing the gospel there, as he had done at Southampton.
 
 i6 
 
 In 1652, he moved to Newtown and became the first 
 minister in the village. In the winter of 1655-6, Mr. 
 Moore returned to England, for the purpose, it is 
 thought, of receiving ordination. He returned in 1657, 
 and died in September of that year, when comparatively 
 a young man. Mr. Moore was an educated man and 
 excellent preacher. His descendants were prominent 
 and influential in the town and church. Among his 
 descendants were two bishops of the Episcopal Church, 
 and two presidents of Columbia College. The name of 
 Moore has nearly died out in the community, there 
 being but one male descendant in the town at this time. 
 Mr. Moore was buried in what is now called " the 
 Town Burying Ground," on Court Street, but no stone 
 marks his grave, nor is its exact location known; thus 
 unknown, and almost forgotten, lie the remains of the 
 first minister of this church, and one of the most hon- 
 ored and respected men in the community during his 
 life-time. 
 
 Jn those early days it was extremely difficult to secure 
 the services of a minister, and for nearly five years the 
 town had no minister. In 1661, Richard Mills became 
 the first school teacher in Newtown, and in addition to 
 his school duties, he was to conduct religious exercises 
 on Sundays. 
 
 In 1662, the Rev. William Leverich was settled as 
 pastor, being given the use of the Town House, which 
 had undergone extensive repairs. Riker says, " The 
 learned and reverend William Leverich, than whom his 
 descendants need wish no better ancestry," and one of 
 his descendants adds he " appears to us on the pages of 
 colonial history as a man of singular piety and learning; 
 of great executive ability, and as a true soldier in the 
 Christian warfare. Like the great Apostle, he was a 
 man of many journeys, the founder of many churches, 
 the friend, counsellor, and pastor of his people. Or we
 
 17 
 
 may see him with Bible in hand, telling the Indians, in 
 their native tongue, of the love of One ' Who loved 
 them and gave Himself for them.' ' 
 
 Mr. Leverich was born in England in 1605; he was a 
 son of Sir Sabille Leverich of Drawlington Hall, War- 
 wickshire; he was a graduate of Emmanuel College, 
 Cambridge, receiving the degree of A. B. on his gradu- 
 ation in 1625, and of A.M. in 1631. " Though born and 
 educated in the Church of England, his sympathies were 
 with the Non-Conformists. A colony of merchants 
 from Bristol, England, had settled at Dover, New 
 Hampshire, of which Captain Thomas Wiggins was the 
 superintendent. In 1632, he went to England in the 
 interests of the colony, and on October 10, 1633, re- 
 turned in the ship 'James/ with thirty others; among 
 them, says the record of Winthrop, ' was the Rev. Wil- 
 liam Leverich, a godly minister.' They landed at Salem, 
 Mass., and reached Dover on the last Sunday in 
 October." Mr. Leverich remained at Dover but two 
 years; he then went to Boston, Mass.; there he entered 
 into friendship with those two noted men, the Rev. John 
 Cotton and the Rev. John Eliot; soon afterward he be- 
 came associated with the Rev. Ralph Partridge, of Dux- 
 bury, Mass. " In 1637, Mr. Leverich, with ten others, 
 went to Sandwich, Cape Cod. They were soon joined 
 by fifty more from Duxbury, and a church was formed 
 with Mr. Leverich as pastor." Influenced by the Rev. 
 John Eliot, Mr. Leverich, during his pastorate at Sand- 
 wich, made a study of the Indian language, and 
 preached to the Indians with marked success. " In 
 view of his success among the natives, the Society for 
 the Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians 
 directed that he should turn his attention to the Indians 
 of Long Island. Accordingly, in 1652, with a dozen or 
 more parishioners, he explored the country about 
 Oyster Bay, Long Island, and in 1653, with these faith-
 
 i8 
 
 ful friends of Sandwich, he left Cape Cod for the shores 
 of Long Island, the ' Isle of Shells.' ' He continued 
 his work among the Indians of that locality until 1658, 
 when he removed to Huntington, L. L, where he re- 
 mained as pastor until 1662, when he became pastor of 
 the church at Newtown. In the early part of 1665 Mr. 
 Leverich returned to Huntington, and for three years 
 the town was without a minister; but in the early part of 
 1669, at the urgent request of the leading citizens of 
 Newtown, Mr. Leverich was persuaded to return to 
 Newtown and resume his ministerial work. 
 
 It was during the pastorate of Mr. Leverich that the 
 first church building was erected. He died in the midst 
 of his usefulness and influence, in the spring of 1677. 
 Dr. Knox, in his twenty-fifth anniversary sermon, says of 
 him : " He may be considered the father of this church. 
 He had unquestionably organized its members; but how 
 organized, or what spiritual fruit of his labors, or how 
 many in membership, we do not know, as all record of 
 these facts are lost." Mr. Leverich was a most learned 
 man and ranked high among the clergy of his day; he 
 was a firm friend of the Indian, to whom he took the 
 light of the Gospel; he faithfully served the people 
 among whom he lived, and was deeply and sincerely 
 mourned by all who knew him; his name is still borne by 
 people living in and near Newtown. He has as a 
 memorial a number of pages of manuscript, consisting 
 of a running commentary on the first books of the Old 
 Testament, and it furnishes a proof of his learning and 
 proficiency in Bible study. The writing, while very 
 perfect and handsome, is so fine as to make it almost im- 
 possible to read with the naked eye. This curious 
 manuscript is now bound up in the first volume of the 
 town records, or, rather, it is written on the first one 
 hundred pages of the book, which, it would seem, was 
 at one time the property of Mr. Leverich, and intended
 
 19 
 
 by him to be an index to the subjects he should meet in 
 the course of his studies; but the plan was not carried 
 out beyond the pages being headed with a great variety 
 of subjects written in Latin and arranged alphabetically. 
 After Mr. Leverich's death the book was probably 
 given to the town for public records. 
 
 On July 28, 1677, it was voted by the citizens of the 
 town at a public meeting, that a second Town House 
 should be built for the accommodation of a minister; it 
 was also voted that another minister be secured as soon 
 as possible, but it was not until the spring of 1680 that 
 the vacant pulpit was filled, when the Rev. Morgan 
 Jones was called by the town to be its minister. Mor- 
 gan Jones was the son of John Jones, of Baasaleg, in 
 Monmouthshire, England, and a near relative of Colonel 
 John Jones, the brother-in-law of Oliver Cromwell. 
 Mr. Jones was a graduate of Jesus College, Oxford, and 
 received ordination as a minister of the Church of 
 England; he had charge of a parish in Wales. On the 
 passage of the act of uniformity in 1662, he was one of 
 about two thousand ministers who refused to agree to 
 its terms and was ejected from his parish. He came to 
 America, where in 1669 ne was i n Virginia officiating as 
 chaplain to Major General Bennett ; from there he went 
 to South Carolina, where he was captured by the Tus- 
 carora Indians, who decided to put him to death; his 
 life was saved by a sachem of the Doeg Indians, who 
 found that Mr. Jones was an Englishman, and, taking a 
 fancy to him, ransomed him, and took him to the settle- 
 ment of his own tribe. Mr. Jones remained for four 
 months, preaching to the Indians three times a week in 
 English, which language they understood; he was 
 treated with great kindness, and the Indians frequently 
 went to him for advice and counsel. 
 
 On coming to Newtown, Mr. Jones took up his resi- 
 dence in the Town House erected in 1677, which stood
 
 20 
 
 on the site of the present Newtown Hotel on Broad- 
 way ; the town also agreed to give him fifty pounds ster- 
 ling per year for his services. The agreement of Mr. 
 Jones with the town stands on the records as follows: 
 
 " This is to certify home it may concern, that I Mor- 
 gan Jones doe acknowled to have a Greed with the con- 
 stable and overseers of Newtown on Long Island, In 
 West Riding of Yorkshire in America, In the behalfe 
 of the towne for to be there minister, and to doe the 
 work of a minister ffor the full time of one year, be 
 Ginning att the tenth of March in the year 1680." 
 " Witness my hand, 
 
 " MORGAN JONES." 
 
 At the end of the year there was much trouble in col- 
 lecting Mr. Jones' salary, as some objected to the law 
 that compelled them to pay a portion of the minister's 
 salary whether they agreed with his doctrines and 
 preaching or not. Others could not understand 
 English, and objected to help support a man they could 
 not understand; probably on account of this, Mr. Jones 
 left the town at the end of the year, and accepted a call 
 from Staten Island. He made a complaint, through the 
 town constable, to the Court of Sessions, about the non- 
 payment of his salary, and the Court ordered the en- 
 forcement of the law against those who had not paid 
 their proportion of his salary. 
 
 The unfairness of this law now became very evident, 
 and a Town Meeting was called December 17, 1681, to 
 consider the matter. A liberal sentiment prevailed and 
 it was voted to sustain the minister " by a free will offer- 
 ing, what every man will give "; thereafter the minister 
 was paid in that way. 
 
 Mr. Jones had the same trouble in collecting his 
 salary in Staten Island, and left there to return to New- 
 town, agreeing to accept a " free will offering " for his
 
 21 
 
 services, which were to include, in addition to religious 
 services, the duties of a school-master, as will be seen 
 by the following minute on the Town Records : " Att 
 Towne Meating February 28, 1683, it is also voted that 
 Mr. Morgan Jones shall be scoole master of Newtown, 
 and will teach on the Sabath days to those that will 
 come to hear him alowing him for exercising on the 
 Sabath day what every one please." Mr. Jones con- 
 tinued his work in Newtown until August, 1686, when 
 he resigned and went to Eastchester. 
 
 In 1693 the first attempt was made by the govern- 
 ment to force the ministrations of the Church of 
 England upon the people of Newtown. On September 
 22d, a law was passed to divide Queens and several 
 other counties into parishes, providing for the annual 
 election in each parish of two church wardens and ten 
 vestrymen to superintend the affairs of the church. 
 These men were given power to call a minister, and, 
 with the justices, to lay a yearly tax upon the inhabit- 
 ants of the town for his support. Newtown, with 
 Flushing and Jamaica, formed one parish, whose inhab- 
 itants were required to furnish sixty pounds sterling for 
 the support of a minister, who was to reside in Jamaica. 
 All this was resented by the people, who, up to this 
 time, had enjoyed the services of the minister of their 
 own choice, who lived among them and was supported 
 by their contributions. To be obliged to support a 
 clergyman of the Church of England, residing in an- 
 other town, was strongly objected to, and Content Titus 
 and Daniel Bloomfield were appointed in 1694 to at- 
 tend a meeting to be held at Jamaica for the purpose 
 of petitioning the Assembly to repeal this unjust law. 
 In consequence of these objections the Assembly, on 
 April 9, 1695, passed a bill exempting Newtown from 
 the requirements of the law, but the Governor refused 
 to sign the bill.
 
 22 
 
 After Mr. Jones's resignation and removal from the 
 town, the church was again without a pastor for some 
 time. Turning again to the records of the town, we 
 find that on April 12, 1694, the following resolution was 
 adopted : " The town will call a minister to preach the 
 gospel amongst us upon liking." In accordance with 
 this resolution a letter was prepared for Content Titus, 
 who went to New England to secure a minister; he suc- 
 ceeded in persuading the Rev. John Morse to accom- 
 pany him to Newtown. Mr. Morse became the fourth 
 pastor of the church; he was the son of Ezra Morse, a 
 prominent resident of Dedham, Mass., and was born in 
 that town, March 31, 1674. Early in life he gave 
 evidence of intellectual ability, and when but eighteen 
 years of age graduated from Harvard College; two 
 years later he came to Newtown. At a public meeting 
 held May 15, 1697, this resolution concerning Mr. Morse 
 was adopted : " It is the desire of the town that Mr. 
 John Morse to be ordained for to be ye paster and 
 teacher of our church according to ye trueth of the 
 gospel, and also voted at ye same time above that these 
 men are underwritten chosen by the Town for to elect 
 and carrie on the minister in order to the act above. 
 Captain Beats, Content Titus, Samuel Moer, Ch. Hallit, 
 Joseph Sackit, Caleb Leverich, John Berrian, Mr. Eisel, 
 Richard Bets, John Lawrence, John Coe, Edward Hunt, 
 Jeremiah Burroughs, Jonathan Hazard." 
 
 The above names give a good idea as to who were 
 the prominent church members at that time. 
 
 At the same meeting it was voted " that the town be 
 at the charge to by a bell for the town, of about ten 
 pounds value." Soon afterward the sound of a church 
 bell was heard for the first time in Newtown. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 9th of September, at a Town 
 Meeting, the following was voted : " Whereas Mr. John 
 Morse hath consented to be ordained to the worke of
 
 THE FIRST PARSONAGE 1695
 
 23 
 
 ye minestery at the solicitation of those persons deputed 
 by the town to treat with him about that affair. It is 
 there foer voted and agreed that we doe exsept him as 
 our menester, to dispense to us in things speritall 
 according to the mind of Christ and order of the gospell, 
 and will doe and shall redely submit ouer selves to him 
 in the Lord as such and to all his menesteriell dispensa- 
 tions and sperital administrations among us according 
 to ye mind and will of God, as God shall assist and direct 
 him from time, and at all times, whether he shall con- 
 tinue amongst us in ye works of the menestiry." After 
 Mr. Morse had been in Newtown about six years he 
 contemplated resigning because of the smallness of his 
 salary. As soon as this became known the town 
 people, who had become greatly attached to him, called 
 a public meeting on July 4, 1700, and appointed a com- 
 mittee to collect the salary due him, and also try and 
 persuade him to remain with them. These efforts were 
 successful, and Mr. Morse consented to remain. Soon 
 after this he was taken violently ill, and died in October, 
 1700, after a ministry of six years. 
 
 Mr. Morse was greatly beloved by his people, with 
 whom his first and only pastorate was spent. His early 
 death was greatly deplored. 
 
 During Mr. Morse's pastorate on April 17, 1695, the 
 town decided to purchase a house and twelve acres of 
 land from Samuel Coe; thus, for the first time in the 
 history of the town, a building was set apart for the sole 
 use of the minister and his family. This house was used 
 for over a century as a parsonage, and is still standing 
 on Hoffman Boulevard, being the one now owned by 
 the Thompson estate. 
 
 Immediately after the death of Mr. Morse it was 
 voted " to obtain another minister as soon as possible," 
 and in 1701 the Rev. Robert Breck was chosen pastor. 
 Mr. Breck was born in Dorchester, Mass., December 7,
 
 2 4 
 
 1682; he entered upon his ministry in Newtown with 
 great earnestness, but met with much opposition. Lord 
 Cornbury, the Governor of the Province, was anxious 
 and determined to establish the Church of England in 
 Queens County. In order to accomplish his purpose 
 he ordered that the law regarding the settlement of 
 ministers, which was passed in 1693, be now put in force. 
 On January 12, 1703, at an election for church officers 
 held at Jamaica, Newtown was represented by William 
 Glen, church warden, and John Coe, Content Titus. 
 Joseph Sackett, and John Berrian, vestrymen. These 
 men, as well as others in the vestry, were Non-Con- 
 formists; they protested against the action of the 
 governor in making the Rev. William Urquhart rector 
 of the parish of Jamaica, thereby displacing the Rev. 
 John Hubbard, the pastor desired by the Presbyterians. 
 Mr. Breck was a strong opponent of the tyrannical 
 governor; he boldly took the part of the Non-Con- 
 formists in spite of the threats and other ill treatment 
 received at the hands of the authorities. At last he 
 grew weary of the strife and, probably having been 
 commanded to silence by the governor, resigned his 
 pastorate in 1704, and after a ministry of three years 
 returned to Massachusetts; he there became pastor of 
 the church at Maryborough, where he died, January 6, 
 1731. A handsome monument marks the place of his 
 burial, on which is inscribed a eulogy in Latin, which, 
 as it gives a good description of his life and character, 
 we give a translation of in full : 
 
 " Beneath this stone are deposited the mortal remains 
 of the truly Reverend Robert Breck. His immortal 
 part hath ascended to join the innumerable company of 
 angels, and the spirits of the just made perfect. He was 
 by nature a man of acute intellect, capacious mind, and 
 sound judgment, together with singular mental resolu- 
 tion. As to his attainments, he was eminently skilled
 
 25 
 
 in the learned languages, familiar beyond the common 
 measure with polite literature; and what to others was 
 difficult, he, by the power of his mind and close applica- 
 tion to study, accomplished with ease. Thoroughly 
 versed in every department of theology and truly ortho- 
 dox in sentiment, he was a scribe instructed unto the 
 kingdom of Heaven. The duties of the pastoral office 
 in the church at Maryborough, over which the Holy 
 Ghost made him overseer, he discharged faithfully and 
 assiduously, in peace and with great reputation, for 
 twenty-seven years. He was a skilled and able asserter 
 of the doctrines of Revelation, and of the worship and 
 discipline of the New England churches. He was a 
 counsellor in cases of difficulty, both public and private, 
 of distinguished uprightness and consummate prudence. 
 He was a sincere lover of his friends, his country, and 
 the whole church of Christ. In a word, he was a model 
 of piety and every social virtue, and of moderation in 
 regard to earthly things. In the severe pains of his last 
 sickness his patience had its perfect work, and his de- 
 parture, if not in triumph, was full of hope and peace. 
 
 " Born December 7, 1682. Died January 6, 1731. 
 Even the prophets do not live forever." 
 
 After the resignation of Mr. Breck, the church build- 
 ing was seized by the authorities, and the Rev. William 
 Urquhart was placed in charge, by order of the gov- 
 ernor. This was in line with the governor's previous 
 action in forcing the Episcopal Church upon the people. 
 
 Mr. Urquhart's parish included Jamaica and Flush- 
 ing, as well as Newtown, at which place he could preach 
 but once a month; this was, of course, a great hindrance 
 to the progress of religion in this town. During Mr. 
 Urquhart's ministry in the town there were frequent 
 acts of religious intolerance. In 1707, the Rev. Francis 
 Mackemie and the Rev. John Hampton, two Presby- 
 terian ministers, arrived in the province on their way to
 
 26 
 
 New England. Mr. Hampton was invited by the 
 people of Newtown to preach on Sunday, January 2Oth, 
 which request he complied with, and gave notice that 
 the Rev. Mr. Hampton would hold a service on the next 
 Wednesday ; but, on the arrival of the latter on Tuesday, 
 both ministers were arrested by Thomas Cardale, the 
 high sheriff, on a warrant from Lord Cornbury, accus- 
 ing them of preaching without a license from his lord- 
 ship, who had been told that they had " gone into Long 
 Island with intent there to spread their pernicious doc- 
 trine and principles, to the great disturbance of the 
 church by law established, and the government of the 
 province." After being in prison for six weeks, Mr. 
 Hampton was discharged, there being no evidence 
 against him. Mr. Mackemie was tried and honorably 
 acquitted, but was forced to pay heavy costs. It was 
 because of such tyrannical acts that the Church of 
 England was hated and its ministry disliked. Mr. 
 Urquhart writes of the people of Newtown in a very 
 interesting way in 1705; he says: "The inhabitants of 
 Queens County are generally Independents, and what 
 are not so, are either Quakers, or of no preferred 
 religion at all : the generality averse to the discipline of 
 our Holy Mother, the Church of England, and enraged 
 to see her ministry established among them. The an- 
 cient settlers have transported themselves from New 
 England and do still keep a close correspondence, and 
 are buoyed up by schismatical instructions thence, 
 which occasion all the disturbance and opposition we 
 meet in both our parishes. They have hitherto been 
 used to a dissenting ministry and they still support one 
 at Jamaica, who has a most pestilential influence over 
 our people, who, from their cradles, were disaffected to 
 conformity; yet we bless God we have not been alto- 
 gether unsuccessful, having brought over some of the 
 most rigid of them into a close communion, and hope
 
 27 
 
 through God's assistance to have a more plentiful 
 harvest among them. Their prejudice of education is 
 our misfortune, our church their bugbear." The Epis- 
 copal Church founded by Mr. Urquhart continues to 
 this day. 
 
 With the removal from office of Lord Cornbury, 
 greater religious liberty was permitted, and in July, 
 1708, the people of the town, to the number of " some 
 scores," sent an invitation to the Rev. Samuel Pumroy, 
 of Northampton, Mass., to become their minister. Mr. 
 Pumroy was born at Northampton, September 16, 1687. 
 He graduated from Yale College at the age of eighteen, 
 and studied theology with the Rev. Solomon Stoddard,of 
 Northampton. Mr. Pumroy accepted the call to New- 
 town, and with his wife came to this place in September, 
 1708; he soon became very popular with the people and 
 at a town meeting, held February 18, 1709, it was 
 resolved " that Mr. Pumroy shall be settled in the town, 
 and have the Town House for his own use as long as he 
 shall be our minister"; beside this, a subscription list 
 was drawn up in the following fall, to which over fifty 
 persons subscribed such sums as they were able. Dur- 
 ing Mr. Pumroy's pastorate an event of much interest 
 transpired. Up to the time of the coming of Mr. Pum- 
 roy, the church had been the town church, that is: all 
 its business had been transacted at a regularly called 
 town meeting; all the records of the church were kept 
 with the town records. Some have thought that the 
 church records previous to the pastorate of Mr. Pum- 
 roy have been lost, but on examination, the old town 
 records show that all such business as calling a minister, 
 building and repairing the church or parsonage, and 
 other matters of interest pertaining to the church, are 
 recorded with other matters of business transacted in 
 public town meetings. True, there is no record to be 
 found of a list of church membership, or marriages and 
 deaths, a matter very much to be regretted.
 
 28 
 
 After Mr. Pumroy had been pastor of the church for 
 seven years, he made application for membership to the 
 Presbytery of Philadelphia, in session at New Castle, 
 September 23, 1715; the matter is thus referred to on 
 the minutes of Presbytery : 
 
 " The Rev. Mr. Samuel Pumroy, minister at New- 
 town, on Long Island, offered himself to be a member 
 of this Presbytery, and was heartily and unanimously 
 accepted; he promising subjection to the Presbytery in 
 the Lord." Of this, Dr. Knox said : " This church had 
 hitherto been an immature Presbyterian Church, under 
 a Congregational polity; but now, when organized Pres- 
 byterianism offered itself, it at once entered the ranks 
 of that denomination." 
 
 Mr. Pumroy joined with the Rev. Mr. Macnish, of 
 Jamaica, and the Rev. Mr. Phillips, of Setauket, in or- 
 ganizing the Presbytery of Long Island in 1717. In 
 1724 we find for the first time a regularly elected ses- 
 sion ; in that year three ruling elders were chosen by the 
 people, of this the following account is given : " Where- 
 as some time ago the Rev. Mr. Samuel Pumroy, pastor 
 of the church of Christ in Newtown, did complain to the 
 church of his wanting some assistance in the business of 
 governing the church; there was by him nominated to 
 the church and congregation, Content Titus, James 
 Renne, and Samuel Coe, to serve in the affairs relating 
 to the church as ruling elders; and desired if there were 
 any person, or persons that had anything to object 
 against any of them, their taking upon them that office 
 and their subjection to them as officers of authority in 
 the business of government, that they would signify it 
 to the said Mr. Pumroy in some convenient time. This 
 was repeated after a considerable time, nothing being 
 objected, Mr. Pumroy, upon the Lord's day, after the 
 evening sermon, did rehearse the above declaration, and 
 not one person opposing the motion and purpose, did
 
 REV. JOHN P. KNOX, L.L.D.
 
 2 9 
 
 propose to the men in nomination, whether they were 
 freely willing to do what service they were able to do for 
 Christ in His church; upon which, after prayer, they 
 were solemnly appointed to the office of ruling elders, 
 and did engage and promise to take care of this branch 
 of the Lord's vine, as far as God should enable them. 
 
 " The members of the church were also required and 
 exhorted to acknowledge them as men in authority and 
 to subject to them in their government in the Lord." 
 
 This was done June 28, 1724. Thus began the elder- 
 ship in our church, in which so many faithful, conse- 
 crated men have served, to the glory of God and edifica- 
 tion and well-being of the church. 
 
 With the election of a session, other things tending to 
 a more orderly and regular observance of spiritual 
 services were introduced; the weekly Wednesday even- 
 ing prayer meeting was instituted, a day of thanksgiv- 
 ing was observed, religious services were held, and an 
 appropriate sermon was preached by the pastor. This 
 day of thanksgiving was observed in the fall of the year, 
 very much as our national Thanksgiving Day is now 
 observed. In 1725, a small basin, two platters, and a 
 napkin were purchased; probably these were used at 
 the communion service; this service has disappeared; 
 most likely it was lost during the time of the Revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Pumroy died June 30, 1744, after a pastorate of 
 thirty-six years; he was buried in the town burial 
 ground, but last fall the trustees of the church had his 
 remains, and those of the Rev. Simon Horton, the Rev. 
 Peter Fish, Content Titus, the first ruling elder of the 
 church, and Philip Duneveer (who, in 1745, left two 
 hundred pounds sterling to the church, the income of 
 which was to be used for the poor of the church and the 
 minister's salary), removed to the church-yard, where 
 they now rest in one plot, on which is a beautiful bed
 
 30 
 
 of flowers. In this way we seek to keep in mind those 
 who, in former years, have been pastors, office bearers, 
 and supporters of this church. 
 
 The grave of Rev. Mr. Pumroy is marked by the 
 stone erected to his memory in 1744, bearing this quaint 
 epitaph : 
 
 " Here lies the body of ye Revd. 
 Mr. Samuel Pumroy who depd. 
 This life the 3Oth of June, 1744, 
 In the 57th year of his age. 
 Kind earth keep safe my sleeping dust 
 Till Christ shall raise it with the just; 
 My ministerial work is done 
 For you, dear people of Newtown, 
 Years almost thirty-six I try'd 
 To spouse you for Christ Jesus' bride, 
 If you do still refuse to hear, 
 Gainst you at last I must appear, 
 When Christ shall come to raise the dead, 
 And call me from this gloomy bed." 
 
 Soon after the death of Mr. Pumroy, the Rev. George 
 Macnish, a son of the pastor of the Presbyterian Church 
 at Jamaica, was called to fill the pulpit; he remained but 
 two years, removing to Walkill, N. Y., where he died in 
 1779. He was succeeded by the Rev. Simon Horton. 
 Mr. Horton came from a prominent family at the east- 
 ern end of Long Island. He was born at Southold, 
 March 30, 1711, and graduated from Yale College n 
 1731. His first pastorate was in the Presbyterian 
 Church at Connecticut Farms, N. J. ; from there he 
 came to Newtown in 1746. Mr. Horton was thirty-five 
 years of age when he came to Newtown; here he spent 
 the best portion of his life, being the pastor of this 
 church for twenty-six years. He resigned in 1773, con-
 
 3* 
 
 tinuing to reside in Newtown until the Revolution, 
 when, being an active Whig, and strongly espousing the 
 cause of the Colonies, he was forced to leave Newtown 
 while it was in the hands of the British. Returning to 
 Newtown in 1783, he lived with Benjamin Coe, his son- 
 in-law, until his death, which occurred May 8, 1786. 
 Mr. Horton was a man of great piety, learning, and 
 eloquence, and is described as a man of middle size and 
 solemn deportment. 
 
 Mr. Horton's successor was the Rev. Andrew Bay; 
 he is first heard of as a member of the Presbytery of 
 New Castle. He was settled at March Creek, Penn., 
 and at Deer Creek, now Churchill, Md. In 1768 he 
 went, at the request of Synod, to the Scotch settlements 
 near Albany, N. Y. ; he remained in that work until 
 called to Newtown in 1773; he continued as pastor of 
 this church but two years, and died at the parsonage, 
 shortly after the severance of the pastoral relationship 
 by the Presbytery. 
 
 We have already referred to the time of the Revolu- 
 tion, when Newtown was for seven years in the hands of 
 the British; and how, at the close of that period, when 
 the people returned, there were but five of the members 
 of the church to be found; these were Benjamin Coe, 
 Philip Edsall and his wife, and Benjamin Cornish and 
 his wife. The church having been destroyed, the Re- 
 formed Dutch people kindly allowed the Presbyterians 
 the use of their building every other Sunday, until they 
 could erect another church edifice; this they began to 
 do in 1787, and completed in 1791, at a cost of $3,950. 
 
 The same year that the building was completed 
 (1791), there was placed in the belfry a bell which, for 
 all these years, has called the people to the house of 
 prayer. It has on it the name of the maker, and the 
 date of casting, " Gerit Bakker, Rotterdam Ag. 1788." 
 Also on one side are these words, " Sur die Evangelisch
 
 32 
 
 Lutherische Gemeinde Sur Elizabet Staate, Maryland, 
 Noord America." This bell still calls our people to the 
 house of God, and, after all these years of service, is as 
 perfect as ever. 
 
 The church was legally incorporated in 1784, under a 
 law passed April 6th of that year, entitled, " An act to 
 enable all religious denominations in this State to ap- 
 point trustees, who shall be a body corporate, for the 
 purpose of taking care of the temporalities of their 
 respective congregations, and for other purposes 
 therein mentioned." On May 4, 1784, the congrega- 
 tion elected the first board of trustees; those elected 
 were Capt. Thomas Lawrence, William Sackett, Peter 
 Alburtis, William Leverich, and Dr. John B. Riker. 
 
 The first minister after the Revolution was the Rev. 
 James Lyon, a graduate of Princeton College in 1759. 
 He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New 
 Brunswick in 1762. In December, 1764, he went to 
 Nova Scotia, where he preached for several years; in 
 1771 he removed to Maine, where, in 1782, he was the 
 pastor of a Congregational church. During the stormy 
 period of the Revolution he endured great hardships by 
 reason of the suspension of the lumber industry upon 
 which his people were dependent. It is said that he was 
 brought to a place of actual need for the necessities of 
 life, and could only provide for his family by gathering 
 clams from the near-by bay. 
 
 Mr. Lyon came to Newtown in 1783 and remained 
 until 1785. He is spoken of as a man of sincere piety 
 and faithful labors; he published a small " Manual of 
 Devotion," copies of which are still preserved, and serve 
 to give a most favorable impression of his piety and 
 talents. 
 
 Following Mr. Lyon's pastorate came that of the 
 Rev. Peter Fish, the only minister of this church who 
 was a native of Newtown. He was a direct descendant
 
 X.WOODHULX.
 
 33 
 
 of Jonathan Fish, of England, who came to Newtown in 
 1659. Peter Fish was the son of Nathan and Jane (Ber- 
 rian) Fish, and was born November 23, 1751, in what 
 was recently known as the Lent homestead, on the 
 shore of Flushing Bay; this house was torn down a few 
 years ago, but is well remembered by the older residents 
 of the town. 
 
 Mr. Fish was converted at the age of thirteen, under 
 the preaching of Whitefield, who preached at New- 
 town some time during the year 1764, when the Rev. 
 Simon Horton was pastor of the church; he graduated 
 from Princeton College in 1774, and received his license 
 to preach from the Presbytery of New York, in 1779; 
 he became stated supply of this church October 20, 
 1785; his desire was to see another church erected on 
 the spot where the old one had stood; in that edifice his 
 father had died suddenly while attending service, March 
 3, 1769; then, too, his uncle had given the land on which 
 the old church had stood, and had lived and died in 
 the " Corner House " directly opposite. Under these 
 circumstances, as well as his desire for the spiritual wel- 
 fare of the people, it is no wonder that all his energies 
 were devoted to the erection of a new church building 
 on the site of the old one. Mr. Fish resigned in 1788, 
 before the completion of the church, and removed to 
 Connecticut Farms, N. J. After preaching there for 
 ten years, he preached for a time in New York State, 
 but, being in poor health, he retired from the active 
 ministry and purchased a home in Newtown. After the 
 death of the Rev. Mr. Woodhull, in 1810, Mr. Fish, at 
 the earnest request of the people of the church, agreed 
 to occupy the pulpit for a time. This he did from May, 
 1810, until his death in November of that year. 
 
 The same year in which Mr. Fish resigned (1788) the 
 Rev. Elihu Palmer became pastor of the church; he 
 remained but one year. After his resignation in 1789, 
 3
 
 34 
 
 he removed to Philadelphia, and soon after left the Pres- 
 byterian Church because of a change in his doctrinal 
 views. 
 
 The coming of the next minister, the Rev. Nathan 
 Woodhull, marks a new period in the history of the 
 church ; as Dr. Knox said, speaking of the opening days 
 of Mr. Woodhull's ministry, " We now enter upon the 
 period in the history of this church most pleasing, as 
 showing the Lord's favor in still giving to it, in succes- 
 sion, able and distinguished ministers, permanent settle- 
 ment, peace and prosperity, and continued stability and 
 success." 
 
 Mr. Woodhull was the son of Captain Nathan and 
 Joanna (Mills) Woodhull, and was born at Setauket, 
 L. I., April 28, 1756; he graduated from Yale College, 
 and was ordained and installed pastor of the church at 
 Huntington, L. L, December 22, 1785. He came to 
 Newtown in February, 1790, and was installed Decem- 
 ber ist of that year. During Mr. Woodhull's pastorate, 
 the church building, begun in 1787, was completed and 
 was dedicated December 21, 1791. The Rev. Dr. John 
 Rodgers, of New York, preached the sermon, and the 
 day was observed as a day of public thanksgiving. Mr. 
 Woodhull remained pastor of this church for twenty 
 years, dying in the midst of his usefulness, March 13, 
 1810. " His character and qualifications as a divine 
 were of a high order, and perhaps no man was ever more 
 popular with the people of his charge. He was of a 
 very amiable disposition, an affectionate and interesting 
 preacher, lived universally esteemed, and died as uni- 
 versally regretted." 
 
 His bereaved and sorrowing people placed a hand- 
 some stone over his gra^e in the church-yard, on which 
 is the following : " Beneath this stone are deposited the 
 remains of the Reverend Nathan Woodhull, A.M., who 
 departed this life, March 13, 1810, in the 54th year of
 
 THE SECOND PARSONAGE l8l I
 
 THE PARSONAGE ERECTED IN 1 822
 
 35 
 
 his age, after serving the Presbyterian Church in this 
 place as an able and faithful pastor for near twenty 
 years. His bereaved congregation, sensible of the value 
 of his services and of the greatness of their loss, have 
 erected this perishable tablet as a memorial of his use- 
 fulness, and of their affection. ' Blessed are the dead 
 which die in the Lord from henceforth, yea, saith the 
 Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their 
 works do follow them.' ' 
 
 After an interval of six months the church secured the 
 services of the Rev. William Boardman, who was born 
 at Williamstown, Mass., October 12, 1781. He began 
 his work at Newtown in 1810, and was installed October 
 22, 1811. At the beginning of his pastorate a great 
 revival broke out, resulting from the faithful sowing of 
 the seed by his predecessor, as well as from his own 
 active and fervent piety. While Mr. Boardman was 
 pastor, the old parsonage and farm were sold, and the 
 " Corner House," with eleven acres of land, was pur- 
 chased; this continued to be used as a parsonage until 
 1822, when the present parsonage was erected with 
 funds obtained from the sale of the " Corner House," 
 and part of the land. Mr. Boardman was a man of 
 fervent piety, and his people were much attached to him; 
 he labored faithfully until stricken down with disease, 
 and died March 4, 1818, when but thirty-six years of 
 age. His people, as a mark of their love and esteem, 
 erected a stone over his grave, similar to the one over 
 the grave of Mr. Woodhull; the inscription on this stone 
 gives quite a sketch of his life; it reads as follows: 
 
 " Sacred to the memory of the Reverend William 
 Boardman, the late faithful and beloved Pastor of the 
 Presbyterian Church at Newtown, L. I. He was born 
 in Williamstown, Mass., on the i2th day of October, 
 A.D., 1781; ordained as a minister of the Gospel, and 
 installed Pastor of the Church in Duansburg, N. Y.,
 
 36 
 
 1803; installed Pastor of the Church at Newtown, L. L, 
 on the 22d day of October, A.D., 1811, and died on the 
 4th day of March, A.D., 1818, while pastor of the New- 
 town Church, in the 3/th year of his age. Graduated at 
 Williamstown College, March, 1802. ' I am the resur- 
 rection and the life.' ' 
 
 Mr. Boardman's remains, with this stone, were re- 
 moved to Evergreen Cemetery some years ago. 
 
 Mr. Boardman was succeeded by the Rev. John Gold- 
 smith, D.D., of sainted memory, whom some of the old- 
 est inhabitants of the town still remember with great 
 affection. Dr. Goldsmith was the son of the Rev. Ben- 
 jamin Goldsmith, who, for forty-six years, was pastor 
 of the Presbyterian church at Riverhead, L. I. He was 
 born at Lower Aquebogue, now Jamesport, L. L; grad- 
 uated from Princeton College in 1815; in 1848 he re- 
 ceived the degree of Doctor of Divinity from that insti- 
 tution. He was installed pastor of this church, Novem- 
 ber 17, 1819, and remained until his death, April 6, 
 1854. Dr. Goldsmith was president of the Long Island 
 Bible Society from 1843 to J 853; ne was a ^ so one f the 
 leading members of the Presbytery of New York, 
 " where whatever he advocated was sure to prevail." 
 From the very first, Dr. Goldsmith enjoyed the con- 
 fidence and affection of the people, and not only of his 
 own people, but of the entire community. This con- 
 fidence and affection he enjoyed increasingly to the day 
 of his death. The Rev. Dr. Knox, his immediate suc- 
 cessor, said of him : " For his stern love of the truth, 
 dignified and imposing manner, intellectual ability, re- 
 fined spirituality, and uncompromising devotion in his 
 ministerial work, he stood high in the estimation of his 
 brethren, and commanded the reverence and love of 
 his people." 
 
 During his ministry two hundred and fifteen persons 
 united with the church. Few men have so faithfully
 
 REV. JOHN GOLDSMITH, D.D.
 
 37 
 
 devoted themselves in singleness of purpose to the work 
 of the ministry, and the fruits of his labors yet testify to 
 his faithfulness. His death was greatly felt by those 
 with whom he was associated in the Presbyterian min- 
 istry, and scarcely less so by those of other denomina- 
 tions of this town, with whom he was harmoniously 
 engaged in promoting the interests of Christ's kingdom 
 and of the community. On the day of his funeral, Sun- 
 day, April 9, 1854, all the other churches were closed. 
 Of the service, Rev. Dr. John D. Wells, of Brooklyn, 
 wrote : " There was an immense concourse of people. 
 Rev. E. D. G. Prime, D.D., read the scriptures and 
 prayed at the house. He also read selections of script- 
 ure at the church. The Rev. W. W. Philips prayed. 
 The Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., preached from II. 
 Cor., v. i. The Rev. John W. Krebs, D.D., gave a bio- 
 graphical sketch. The Rev. D. R. Strong read a hymn. 
 The services were of an instructive and solemn char- 
 acter." He was buried just at the door of the church 
 he had served so long and faithfully, and a monument 
 with this inscription marks his last resting place : " The 
 Rev. John Goldsmith, D.D. Born April 10, 1794; or- 
 dained pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Newtown, 
 November 17, 1819. Died April 6, 1854. After a 
 faithful ministry of more than thirty-five years, his lov- 
 ing co-presbyters laid his body here among the people 
 for whom he labored, and over it his congregation have 
 erected this memorial of their reverence and affection 
 for a man of God." 
 
 The Rev. John P. Knox, LL.D., succeeded Dr. Gold- 
 smith ; he was installed March 28, 1855. Dr. Knox was 
 born in Savannah, Ga., July 26, 181 1. He was educated 
 at Rutgers College and Seminary; from 1837 to 1841 he 
 was pastor of the Reformed Church at Nassau, N. P. ; 
 the next ten years he spent in the island of St. Thomas 
 in the West Indies, as pastor of the Reformed Church.
 
 38 
 
 While at St. Thomas he wrote a valuable history of that 
 island, and, to some extent, of the adjacent isles. Be- 
 sides his ministerial work, he entered heartily into the 
 cause of education. Among the pupils he was instru- 
 mental in developing, and fitting for the duties of life, 
 was a native colored boy, Edward Blyden, afterward 
 president of Moravian College in the Republic of 
 Liberia, Africa, who has also represented that country 
 at the court of St. James. 
 
 Some years before his death, Dr. Knox travelled ex- 
 tensively in Europe, and on his return gave a series of 
 lectures that were very interesting; at the close of the 
 last lecture he was publicly congratulated and thanked 
 by the Rev. Samuel D. Cox, D.D., then rector of St. 
 James Episcopal church, this village, for the instruction 
 and entertainment given the people. Dr. Knox de- 
 voted one Sunday evening service a month to a question 
 meeting: questions previously sent to him were pub- 
 licly answered at that service ; all questions were of a 
 religious or scriptural nature; this was done to en- 
 lighten and instruct the people in scripture truth and 
 knowledge. These services, together with a monthly 
 praise service, made the church very popular and drew 
 large audiences. 
 
 Under Dr. Knox's ministry the church greatly in- 
 creased in power and influence. To the 109 communi- 
 cants that constituted the membership when he became 
 pastor of the church, 139 were added in twenty-five 
 years. During Dr. Knox's pastorate the old church 
 was remodelled; the old square back pews were taken 
 out; the old-fashioned windows, with their small panes 
 of glass, were replaced by colored glass; the interior lost 
 much of its old-fashioned appearance, while the exterior 
 remains much the same as it was one hundred years ago. 
 On the celebration of Dr. Knox's twenty-fifth anniver- 
 sary as pastor, a pipe organ was placed in the church.
 
 REV. GEORGE H. PAYSON, D.D.
 
 39 
 
 After a pastorate of twenty-seven years, Dr. Knox died 
 June 2, 1882. His was a singularly pure life, and he is 
 remembered as a just and good man; and though 
 twenty years have passed since he fell asleep, he is still 
 held in honor by many in our community who knew and 
 loved him; he is indeed remembered for his piety and 
 labor of love among this people, and in this church. 
 
 At Somerville, N. J., where he is buried, a monument 
 with this inscription marks his grave : 
 
 Rev. John P. Knox, LL.D., 
 
 Born at Savannah, Ga., July 26th, 1811. 
 
 Passed to Glory, June 2d, 1882, at Newtown 
 
 Long Island, N. Y. Together with Christ." 
 
 Our Father 
 Clear in Judgment 
 Firm in Principle 
 Earnest for the Truth 
 Faithful unto Death 
 An Honored Father 
 A Pastor Beloved. 
 
 The Rev. George H. Payson, D.D., the next pastor, 
 was installed in October, 1882, resigning in 1889 to ac- 
 cept a call from the First Presbyterian Church at Rail- 
 way, N. J., where he still remains. 
 
 The Rev. Jacob E. Mallmann succeeded Dr. Payson, 
 and was installed May 5, 1890. He resigned in 
 October, 1895, and soon afterward accepted a call to the 
 Presbyterian Church at Shelter Island, N. Y., of which 
 he is still pastor. 
 
 The present pastor, the Rev. William H. Hendrick- 
 son, was installed June 22, 1896. 
 
 There have been those who have gone forth from this 
 to other places who have been worthy citizens, carrying 
 with them the same stern love for justice and desire for
 
 40 
 
 the spread of the Gospel that has always characterized 
 the people of this church. " The town of Hopewell, in 
 New Jersey, was settled in 1700 by immigrants from 
 Long Island, of whom twenty came from Newtown; and 
 the flourishing Presbyterian churches in the neighbor- 
 hood were, in part, founded by these immigrants." 
 " Many of the families of Newtown had their represent- 
 atives in years past, and still have their representatives, 
 among the leading families in the city of New York, and 
 who are prominent in various professions; some of our 
 family names enter conspicuously into the history of 
 the State and nation." From the membership of this 
 church three ministers of the Gospel have gone forth 
 to labor for Christ. 
 
 The members of the church have been helpful in the 
 organization of other churches. The Presbyterian 
 Church at Astoria, L. L, organized in 1846, was greatly 
 assisted by Dr. Goldsmith, who frequently preached 
 there previous to its organization and the erection of a 
 church edifice. 
 
 The Union Evangelical Church, of Corona, L. I., was 
 erected and founded by a member of this congregation, 
 and, at its organization, a number of the members of 
 this church identified themselves with it, among the 
 number, one who was at that time an active trustee. 
 
 The Colored Church on Union Avenue, long known 
 as the Second Presbyterian Church of Newtown, was 
 organized for the colored people who were members of 
 this church; the building still stands, but no service has 
 been held in it for years. The church now has a mem- 
 bership of 169; its contributions for the last fiscal 
 year, for its own expenses, were $3,137; to benevolent 
 objects we gave $1,297. Our Sunday-school numbers, 
 including Home Department and Cradle Roll, 432. 
 There is also in connection with the church a Women's 
 Missionary Society, a Young Ladies' Auxiliary, and a 
 Christian Endeavor Society.
 
 These are some of the facts concerning the history of 
 this church. Very much more might be written re- 
 garding the past of this historic church, but enough has 
 been said to show how God was with our fathers, how 
 He has watched over and guided the church; how, 
 through much of difficulty in its early history, God fin- 
 ally established and made it a factor for good in the 
 community all these years. We may not know, we 
 cannot tell, what good has been done; eternity alone 
 will reveal it. Some day we shall know how many have 
 here learned of, and received Jesus Christ as their 
 Saviour. Some day we shall know how many weary 
 souls have found rest, how many burdened hearts have 
 found relief, how many prayers have been answered. 
 Aye, some day; that day when " the books are opened," 
 we shall know the struggles, and the triumphs, of those 
 who labored here, and, together with them, rejoice in 
 the final triumph of the kingdom of Christ, " whose we 
 are, and whom we serve."
 
 Sermon 
 
 250th Anniversary 
 
 of the 
 
 First Presbyterian Church 
 
 of ncwtown, Cong Island 
 Hew York 
 
 October 26th, 1902 
 
 Delivered by Rev. William 1$. Bendrlckson, Pastor 
 
 Cext 
 Hcts XXVIII 15 
 
 'Be thanked God, and took courage"
 
 Sermon 
 
 We speak of this service as a Historic Service, but it 
 must be borne in mind that a history of the church has 
 been written, and is now, with this sermon, in the hands 
 of the printer, so that we cannot dwell as fully as we 
 would upon the past history of the church, for it would 
 simply mean repetition in the book that is being 
 published. 
 
 This much, however, we can say : We look back on a 
 wonderful record. Two hundred and fifty years of con- 
 tinuous service; years that speak of God's faithfulness 
 and man's loyalty. 
 
 As we recall the past, as we think of what God has 
 been to our fathers, as we think of their faith in, and 
 loyalty to Him, we cannot but say, gratitude to God. 
 and courage for life duties, should characterize every 
 life. 
 
 The Apostle Paul, a prisoner on his way to Rome, was 
 greatly cheered and helped by the fellowship of the 
 brethren who came out to meet him. " He thanked 
 God and took courage." Our gratitude to God ought 
 to be materially increased as to-day we look back over 
 the past history of this church, and recall His goodness. 
 We, too, should take courage as we look forward, " for 
 this God is our God, forever and ever." 
 
 We are standing at a point of great interest to-day, a 
 place from which we cannot but look back, and notice 
 the leadings of God, in connection with this beloved 
 church. 
 
 Two hundred and fifty years have passed since the 
 sturdy New Englanders came to this place. 
 
 That they were men of God, that their thought was of
 
 4 6 
 
 religious liberty, as well as of a home in some fertile 
 spot, is proven by the fact that they began regular 
 religious services at once. 
 
 With the building of their own homes, with the pro- 
 viding of a place of shelter for their families, came the 
 building of a suitable place for public gatherings, the 
 most important of which, in their minds, was the gather- 
 ing for the public worship of God. 
 
 It is fitting that we look back to those early times 
 with some feelings of pride, for those were worthy men 
 that came to this place; men of honor; men who be- 
 lieved in the Golden Rule, as is shown by their dealings 
 with the rightful owners of the soil the Indians. 
 
 Too often, alas, have the people of our country for- 
 gotten, trodden upon, and by force taken from the 
 original Americans that which was rightfully their own. 
 
 Our fathers had in mind, not only their own temporal 
 welfare, but the spiritual welfare of the Indian as well. 
 They came here, not simply to possess the land for 
 themselves and their children, but to possess the Indian 
 for Christ; that there were misunderstandings between 
 them is true; that the Indians did not always put faith 
 in their white brethren is likewise true; that sometimes 
 the settlers were annoyed by thieving Indians is a 
 matter of record, but not once, in the entire history of 
 the town, is it recorded that the settlers turned, and 
 warred against them with a view of exterminating or 
 banishing them from their rightful place and posses- 
 sions. 
 
 Our fathers were stern, stalwart men, men who in- 
 sisted that " right was right," men who resisted wrong 
 by protest, and, when occasion demanded, with their 
 lives ; but they were not of the class that took advantage 
 of others, oppressing the weak, or driving out the right- 
 ful owners of the land, to which they, in the Providence 
 of God, had come.
 
 47 
 
 That God was with those men whom we speak of as 
 the makers of history no one can doubt; that God 
 guided their ways there is abundant proof. 
 
 Theirs was a life of hardship; little do we understand 
 in the midst of present-day luxury the hardships they 
 endured. They came to a place of primitive forests; 
 they selected a spot where there was abundance of nat- 
 ural meadow; they could not, as we do, move their 
 household goods from place to place in a covered van; 
 ox teams and rude wagons were all they had; they were 
 not burdened with the quantity of goods the modern 
 housekeeper possesses; they did not come from homes 
 of luxury to still fairer and finer ones, but from their 
 log cabins in New England to no house at all in New- 
 town. They came among people of different language 
 and customs who might possibly be hostile to them; 
 they came to standing trees which must be turned into 
 lumber for houses. And yet, with courage born of faith 
 in God, and joy at the thought of having religious 
 liberty, they went to work with a will, and soon their 
 labors were rewarded as regards ownership and occupa- 
 tion of their own homes. " And the rich virgin soil 
 yielded them, in the summer of 1652, an abundant har- 
 vest as a result of seed sown in the spring time." 
 
 Nothing worth having is gained without toil, hard, 
 honest toil; and we are not to suppose that the early his- 
 tory of this town is merely the story of ease and com- 
 fort. Quite the contrary is true; those early days were 
 days of toil, of hardship, of struggles against poverty, 
 of fear of the aborigines, of efforts to get the author- 
 ities to enact just and proper laws, and at last of dark- 
 ness and almost despair, when during the dark days of 
 the Revolution, most of the people were forced to flee 
 from their homes, because the enemy was in possession 
 of the town. 
 
 Thank God our fathers were men of courage, as well
 
 48 
 
 as men of right convictions, and were found on the right 
 side in that great struggle for American Independence, 
 to which not only our own people, but the nations of the 
 earth owe so much. 
 
 Through all these trying times our fathers were sus- 
 tained and cheered by the knowledge that God was with 
 them, and right must prevail. God give us such men 
 to-day, men of faith, men of courage, men that will 
 stand for right, because it is right, men that will let God 
 work in, through, and by them, for His own glory, the 
 salvation of men, and the betterment of the world. 
 
 But let us turn from this thought to that of the 
 church itself, the church of our choice and love; here, 
 too, as we trace the story of its beginning, its struggles 
 for existence, and its final establishment, do we see 
 God's loving care and power manifested; reverently we 
 pause, thank God, and say, " Behold what God hath 
 wrought." 
 
 From the very first the people of Newtown have sus- 
 tained religious service. There has been no failure to 
 provide a place of worship; first it was the Town House, 
 then a church edifice, and at the present time we possess 
 the fourth church building. 
 
 One thing can be said to the credit of the early 
 settlers of Newtown: they believed in the complete 
 separation of Church and State ; they protested against 
 being forced to pay the salary of a minister with whose 
 teachings they did not agree, and whose language they 
 did not understand. Of this the Newtown Register 
 well said, in a recent editorial: 
 
 " The celebration of the 25oth anniversary of the 
 establishment of the Presbyterian Church at Newtown 
 is so memorable and so historically important that the 
 Society which will observe it is too small a part of the 
 community to commemorate the event. That which 
 most distinguishes the United States from all other
 
 49 
 
 countries is the absolute separation of Church and State, 
 and the complete independence of the one from any 
 authority or control by the other. This point was 
 clearly and strongly set forth by Secretary Root in his 
 able letter of instructions to Governor Taft on his mis- 
 sion to the Vatican. But in framing these instructions 
 the Secretary of War merely voiced current American 
 sentiment and can claim credit for the form in which the 
 idea was expressed and not for the idea itself. One of 
 the earliest, perhaps the very earliest promulgations of 
 the great idea of religious liberty was made by the 
 people of Newtown soon after its settlement. Those 
 bold pioneers and sturdy freemen objected to paying 
 the salary of a minister with whose teachings they did 
 not agree and whose language they did not understand. 
 This contention on their part was accepted and from 
 that time forward the minister's salary was paid by vol- 
 untary contributions from the members of his church. 
 There was thus established at that early period the 
 settled principle that religious societies should be main- 
 tained by those who belonged to them and not by a gen- 
 eral tax upon the whole community. This is genuine 
 American doctrine, and to Newtown thus belongs the 
 honor of what may be regarded as the earliest declara- 
 tion of independence put forth on this side of the At- 
 lantic and formally acknowledged as soon as put forth. 
 The 25oth anniversary of a church so founded should be 
 observed by all the people of the old town now forming 
 the Second Ward of Queens Borough. Its history is 
 based upon a doctrine now accepted by all classes and 
 creeds. It is seldom that an anniversary which strictly 
 speaking, is purely local in its character, thanscends the 
 narrow bounds of a neighborhood and rises to the lofty 
 dignity of a State or even national event. It may truly 
 be said that no American incident in the seventeenth 
 century so well deserves remembrance by posterity as 
 
 4
 
 50 
 
 this early colonial recognition of the principle of 
 religious liberty by the Presbyterian freemen of New- 
 town." 
 
 It was difficult, in the early days, to secure ministers, 
 and there were long intervals between pastorates, but 
 this was not considered sufficient cause for neglect of 
 the house of God; and there always arose a cry, ex- 
 pressed in resolutions at public town meetings: We 
 want one in our midst who will preach to us the word of 
 truth, and instruct us in the way of righteousness. 
 
 It was difficult at times to pay the salary of the men 
 of God who ministered to this church, but there was 
 never a thought of closing the church, or abandoning 
 the services. 
 
 The building of a church in those days was no small 
 matter; it meant sacrifice on the part of every one con- 
 nected with it. It meant work, too; it was not merely 
 the giving of money to pay others to do the work, but 
 every man was expected to work. In 1787-1791, when 
 this church in which we now meet was being erected, it 
 is a matter of record, that one man was fined a certain 
 sum of money because he would not do his share of the 
 work. 
 
 What a splendid thing it would be in these days if 
 authority were given those who rule in the church, to 
 fine those who would not do their share of the work of 
 the church; the church would either have a large sur- 
 plus in its treasury, or be a live, active body. Why not 
 realize that the Holy Ghost in us can make us " dead 
 indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 It is fitting that we think for a moment of those men 
 of God, who have lived among the people of this place, 
 who labored in the Gospel, declaring the word of life, 
 and who led the people heavenward, as well as being 
 their advisers in all things relating to their temporal 
 welfare.
 
 THE OLD CHURCH
 
 Let us call the roll of honor, the great lights: John 
 Moore, Wm. Leverich, Samuel Pumroy, Simon Horton, 
 Peter Fish, Nathan Woodhull, William Boardman, John 
 Goldsmith, John P. Knox ; of those lesser lights, yet men 
 of like faith and usefulness through shorter pastorates: 
 John Morse, Robert Breck, George McNish, Andrew 
 Bay, James Lyons, Elihu Palmer; of those men of God 
 who have lived and labored here, and now occupy places 
 of honor and usefulness elsewhere : Geo. H. Payson and 
 Jacob E. Mallmann, of whom I need say nothing, for 
 they will both be here during this celebration, and will 
 speak for themselves. 
 
 Each of these have, in their time, been used of God 
 for the building up of the saints in their most holy 
 faith, and the winning of souls to our Lord Jesus Christ; 
 each has contributed his share to the success of the work 
 of the Lord in this place, each has left his impress upon 
 the community. The descendants of some of these men 
 are still among us, connected with this, or other 
 churches, useful citizens and honored members of 
 society. 
 
 All these years God has watched over and guided the 
 church; it has been the religious home of many genera- 
 tions. Here parents and children have sat together to 
 hear and learn of Christ, the Saviour of men. Here, in 
 the Sunday-school connected with the church, the chil- 
 dren and youth have been taught the truths of the Bible, 
 and instructed in the things of the kingdom of Heaven. 
 Here many have publicly confessed Christ, and become 
 actively identified with His church, as members; here 
 parents have dedicated their children to God and sol- 
 emnly promised to train them for Him. Here have 
 been borne the silent forms of our beloved dead, and we 
 have sorrowfully bid them good-night, with the full 
 assurance of meeting them in the morning " some 
 glad day, by and by."
 
 52 
 
 All this, and much more makes the church very 
 precious to us. 
 
 When we think of those who have lived, who have 
 labored in and for it; those who have gone on to be with 
 Christ, we cannot but thank God for those men and 
 women of faith, for what they were, for what they have 
 done, for what they have left of blessed memory; truly, 
 " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence- 
 forth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from 
 their labors, for their works do follow them." 
 
 But we are not to rest on the past altogether, glori- 
 ous as has been the past history of this church; much as 
 it has received of the blessing of God ; honored as it has 
 been of Him, it will not do for us simply to rejoice in the 
 past; rather ought we to " thank God and take cour- 
 age "; rather ought we to hear the word of God, " There 
 remaineth yet very much land to be possessed," and 
 apply it to present conditions, and our own lives and 
 service. 
 
 The fact is, we are facing new conditions; the people, 
 of to-day are not, as a rule, church-going people, as 
 were our fathers in the early days of the church in this 
 place; the Sabbath day is not observed as it used to be, 
 and as God demands it shall be. If the church of to-day 
 is to live, if it is to do the work the Lord expects of it, 
 it must not rest content because it is a historic church, 
 a church with a wonderful past, but it must be alive to 
 its present responsibility and opportunities; it must be 
 alive to God, and separate from the world; it must be 
 rilled with the Holy Ghost ; it must enter into the desire 
 of its Lord ; it must be obedient to His commands. 
 
 The problems that confront the church are so well 
 known and have been so freely and fully discussed, that 
 there seems little need of dwelling on them at this time; 
 but it will not be amiss to notice and speak of some 
 things that are vital and important.
 
 53 
 
 The church that meets the requirements of God, and 
 which will be of influence in the community, and world, 
 is the church that holds " the whole counsel of God"; 
 that realizes man is alienated from God by reason of 
 wicked works, that declares to all men the teaching of 
 Christ to Nicodemus, " Ye must be born again." 
 
 It will be the church that co-operates with Christ in 
 the matter of service. " We are workers together with 
 Him." Not merely having Christ as an example, not 
 simply that men are to work to prove their faith, but as 
 a result of faith in Christ, permit Him, by His Holy 
 Spirit to work in, through, and by them, " to will and to 
 do of His own good pleasure." 
 
 It will be the church that is fully and thoroughly con- 
 secrated to God, that is free from the world and the 
 things of the world, that will realize it was not organized 
 to be a place of amusement, or to furnish entertainment 
 for the world, but to show men their need of Christ, to 
 so let its light shine before men, that they may be 
 turned to Christ. 
 
 It will be the church that is filled with, and led by the 
 Holy Ghost in all things, that acknowledges the owner- 
 ship of Christ and brings forth the fruits of the Spirit. 
 
 It will be the church that depends more on God than 
 on its attractive edifice, its eloquent preacher, its his- 
 toric ritual, its charming music; that believes more in 
 the power of God in answer to prayer, than in its own 
 efforts self-directed. 
 
 It will be the church that hears the cry of the lost; 
 that looks upon the world as actually lost; that realizes 
 the need of the world to be the knowledge of Christ and 
 His saving power; that hears and heeds the Saviour's 
 command, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
 Gospel to every creature." We deplore the worldliness 
 in the church; we are grieved by the indifference that 
 manifests itself everywhere; we pray God that the
 
 54 
 
 church may see, and seize upon the opportunity to 
 speedily proclaim the Gospel " to the uttermost ends of 
 the earth." 
 
 This is no time for idleness; our Lord has said, " Lo, 
 I am with you alway, even to the end of the age "; the 
 open doors on every hand appeal to us ; the oft-repeated 
 Macedonian cry, " Come over and help us," still sounds 
 in our ears. Modern modes of travel make every part of 
 the world easy of access ; truly the world might be evan- 
 gelized in a decade if only Christians would consecrate 
 their possessions to, and use them for God. A host of 
 consecrated men and women stand ready to go to every 
 quarter of the earth, with the light of the Gospel, if they 
 can only be assured of sympathy, prayer and support on 
 the part of the church at home. 
 
 The church of Christ must never permit itself to be- 
 come discouraged. God is, and God is all powerful; 
 there may be, there are, discouragements, but we are to 
 take courage. Take courage, because there is a revival 
 of interest in the study of the Word of God. We are 
 reading a great deal about what men say of the Bible, 
 but we are living in a day of real searching of the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 Take courage, because there is a recognition on the 
 part of God's people that He requires of them " holy 
 living," that the people of God are not to be merely 
 hearers of the Word, but doers also. 
 
 Take courage, because of the increased and growing 
 conviction that we are brethren, evidenced by the ceas- 
 ing to emphasize the non-essential differences that exist 
 among the various denominations, and the joining of 
 faith and forces for the bringing of men to Christ. 
 
 Take courage, because of the greater realization of 
 the church's dependence on God, and the united prayers 
 of His people for the speedy bringing about of the de- 
 sire of our Lord Jesus Christ, as taught to the disciples
 
 55 
 
 in the prayer commonly called " the Lord's Prayer," 
 " Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it 
 is in heaven." 
 
 Take courage, because " the Lord thy God in the 
 midst of thee is mighty." He hath promised and He 
 will perform. " I will never leave thee nor forsake 
 thee." It may seem that His promises will never be ful- 
 filled, but " the Lord is not slack concerning His prom- 
 ise, as some men count slackness." 
 
 Let us not, however, be deceived by the commonly 
 accepted idea, that because there is so much being done 
 for the world in the way of charity and education, help- 
 ing men to help themselves, that the world thereby is 
 to be brought to that state of perfection God desires 
 and intends. 
 
 God forbid that anyone should cast discredit on the 
 men and women who have come to the relief of their 
 fellow men so nobly. God forbid that we should think 
 of the rich man as a dishonest man, or impute wrong 
 motives to his kindly acts and generosity ; but God for- 
 bid, also, that we should fall in the common error, that 
 greater is the man who gives his possessions to relieve 
 or educate his fellow men, more useful are his acts 
 in the lifting up of the world, than the knowledge of the 
 " Man of Galilee," and the possession of His love and 
 Spirit in human heart and life. Let us thank God for 
 every loving impulse, for every kindly deed, for any- 
 thing and everything that adds to the good cheer of this 
 old world, and the life of its people, but, let us under- 
 stand that what the world and its people need more 
 than anything else, is the knowledge of God, and the 
 possession of that salvation purchased by Him " Who 
 bore our sins in His own body to the tree, and by whose 
 stripes we are healed." 
 
 Let us again thank God for the past, for the faith of 
 our fathers, for the triumphs of the Gospel, for the
 
 56 
 
 church of the living God, for the blessings now enjoyed 
 by the church, for the privilege of its services, for its 
 weekly meeting for prayer, which has been held reg- 
 ularly for nearly two hundred years, for the knowledge 
 that ultimately Christ and the church will prevail, and 
 " righteousness will cover the earth, as the waters cover 
 the sea," for the knowledge that Christ will come again, 
 and " the kingdoms of this world will become the king- 
 doms of our Lord, and of His Christ." 
 
 Looking back over these years of victory in spite of 
 trial and opposition, and looking forward to greater vic- 
 tory for, and the final triumph of the church of Christ, 
 we exultingly say: 
 
 " Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood 
 
 Shall never lose its power, 
 Till all the ransomed Church of God 
 Be saved, to sin no more."
 
 Officers and teachers of the 
 Sunday School, 1902 
 
 JOHN H. PRALL 
 
 Superintendent 
 
 JAS. L. M. HATHAWAY 
 
 Secretary and Treasurer 
 
 THOS. L. PROCTOR 
 
 Librarian 
 
 Ceacbers 
 
 Miss E. AUGUSTA COX 
 
 MR. T. E. HARDGROVE 
 
 Miss MAY N. HARDGROVE 
 
 REV.WM. H. HENDRICKSON 
 
 Miss MATILDA R. JEBENS 
 
 MR. WM. H. JEBENS 
 
 Miss ALLETTA K. LAWRENCE 
 
 MRS. GEO. L. MARSHALL 
 
 Miss CORNELIA MANWARING 
 
 MR. GEO. L. MARSHALL 
 
 Miss PHEBE MORGAN 
 
 MR. J. WM. MORGAN 
 
 Miss MARGARET J. NELSON 
 
 MR. JOHN G. PRALL 
 
 MR. EUGENE S. PRICE 
 
 Miss MARGARET J. SMITH 
 
 Miss M. GRACE SHILSON 
 
 Miss CHARLOTTE B. SCHEPER 
 
 MR. F. DEHASS SIMONSON 
 
 MR. R. H. SELLERS 
 
 Miss ANNIE C. SMILEY 
 
 Miss SUSIE P. TAYLOR 
 
 MRS. R. H. WAY 
 
 MRS. EUGENE S. PRICE 
 
 Miss JESSIE M. WRIGHT
 
 Societies in Connection with the 
 Church 
 
 Officers 
 
 President, - - MRS. JOHN H. PR ALL 
 
 Vice-Presidents, { MRS.WM. H. HENDRICKSON 
 1 MRS. MARY A. ODEKIRK 
 
 Secretary, - - MRS. F. H. MEAD 
 Treasurer, - MRS. G. HAFLINGER 
 
 [MRS. M. INGLIS 
 
 I MRS. S. WOODRUFF 
 Managers, - 4 MRS R HQMEYER 
 
 I Miss S. J. THOMPSON 
 
 Young Cadies' Huxiliary 
 
 President, - - MRS. G. INGLIS 
 Vice-President, - MRS. J. E. DAVIS 
 Secretary, - - Miss IRENE H. ODEKIRK 
 Treasurer, - - Miss SUSIE BURFORD 
 
 Young Peoples 9 Society of 
 Christian Endeavor 
 
 President, - - REV.WM. H. HENDRICKSON 
 Vice-President, - Miss JENNIE RODMAN 
 Secretary, - - Miss JANET B. HAIGHT 
 Treasurer, - - Miss MARY MURDOCH
 
 REV. JACOB E. MALLMANN
 
 Cist of ministers and Supplies 
 
 Names. 
 
 1. JOHN MOORE .... 
 
 2. WILLIAM LEVERICH . 
 
 3. MORGAN JONES . 
 
 4. JOHN MORSE .... 
 
 5. ROBERT BRECK . 
 
 6. SAMUEL PUMROY . 
 
 7. GEORGE McNISH * 
 
 8. SIMON HORTON . 
 
 9. ANDREW BAY* 
 
 10. JAMES LYONS* 
 
 11. PETER FISH* .... 
 
 12. ELIHU PALMER* . 
 
 13. NATHAN WOODHULL . 
 
 14. WILLIAM BOARDMAN . 
 
 15. JOHN GOLDSMITH, D.D. . 
 
 16. JOHN P. KNOX, L.L.D. . . 
 
 17. GEORGE H. PAYSON, D.D. . 
 
 18. JACOB E. MALLMANN . . 
 
 19. WILLIAM H. HENDRICKSON 
 
 Ministry 
 Commenced. 
 
 Ministry 
 Closed. 
 
 1652 
 
 Died, 1657 
 
 1662 
 
 Died, 1677 
 
 . 1680 
 
 Resigned, 1686 
 
 . 1694 
 
 Died, 1700 
 
 I7OI 
 
 Resigned, 1704 
 
 . 1708 
 
 Died, 1744 
 
 1744 
 
 Resigned, 1746 
 
 1746 
 
 Resigned, 1773 
 
 1773 
 
 Resigned, 1775 
 
 1783 
 
 Resigned, 1785 
 
 1785 
 
 Resigned, 1788 
 
 . 1788 
 
 Resigned, 1789 
 
 . 1790 
 
 Died, 1810 
 
 1810 
 
 Died, 1818 
 
 1819 
 
 Died, 1854 
 
 i8SS 
 
 Died, 1882 
 
 . 1882 
 
 Resigned, 1889 
 
 . 1890 
 
 Resigned, 1895 
 
 1896 
 
 
 * Stated supply.
 
 Cist of Elders 
 
 CONTENT TITUS Chosen 1724 
 
 SAMUEL COE " I724 
 
 JAMES RENNE I724 
 
 SILAS TITUS 1740 
 
 CORNELIUS BERRIEN 1742 
 
 PHILIP EDSALL I74 2 
 
 SAMUEL FISH I75 6 
 
 JOHN ALBURTIS 1767 
 
 BENJAMIN COE 1767 
 
 JACOB PALMER I79 i 
 
 RICHARD BROGAW 1791 
 
 JESSE LEVERICH ...... 1794 
 
 EDWARD HOWARD " 1812 
 
 WILLIAM LEVERICH . . ... 1812 
 
 CHARLES PALMER . . . ... 1820 
 
 ADRIAN VAN SINDREEN .... 1820 
 
 WILLIAM HOWARD ..... 1820 
 
 SIMEON BENJAMIN 1830 
 
 JACOB PALMER LEVERICH . . . 1833 
 
 ANDREW B. RYERSON 1833 
 
 SAMUEL LEVERICH . . . . . 1835 
 
 ABEL SAMMIS , 1838 
 
 THOMAS DEVINE . . . . . . 1838 
 
 WILLIAM RAIMAN . . ... . " 1843 
 
 JOHN L. RIKER 1849 
 
 JULIUS C. WRIGHT " 1849 
 
 PETER LUYSTER, JR. ..... 1861 
 
 JOHN P. PRALL 1863 
 
 FRANCIS PLAIN " 1877 
 
 ROBERT PIERCE ...... " 1881 
 
 JOHN H. PRALL ...... " 1889 
 
 CORNELIUS W. LUYSTER .... " 1889 
 
 ABRAHAM PROCTOR, JR " 1891 
 
 GUSTAVE HAFLINGER 1891 
 
 JOHN F. RODMAN " 1891 
 
 COE F. HOWARD " 1897
 
 
 MR. JOHN H. PRALL 
 MR. COE F. HOWARD MR. GUSTAVE HAFLINGER 
 
 RULING ELDERS
 
 members Received 
 
 From the year 1652 to 1708, no records have been 
 found of membership. The town records state that in 
 July, 1708, " some scores" invited Rev. Samuel Pumroy 
 to be their pastor, " promising subjection to his doctrine 
 and discipline, according to the rules of the Gospel." 
 The first eight names on the following list have been 
 preserved of the " scores " who called him, as being 
 members in full communion. 
 
 1708. Content Titus, 
 
 Joseph Sackett, Sr., 
 
 Philip Ketcham, 
 
 Caleb Leverich, 
 
 Thomas Pettit, Sr., 
 
 Kezia Ketcham, 
 
 Margaret Strickland. 
 1708. Silas Titus, Sr., 
 to Lydia Pumroy, 1725. 
 
 1724. James Reune, 1726. 
 
 Joanna Hunt, 1727. 
 
 Sarah Reune, 
 
 Mary Titus, 
 
 Catharine Pettit, 
 
 Samuel Ketcham, Sr., 1730. 
 
 Margaret Furman, 1731. 
 
 Mercy Hayard, 
 
 Nathaniel Hazard, 
 
 Margaret Hazard, 
 
 Samuel Coe, 
 
 Richard Sackett, 
 
 Margaret Coe, 
 
 Sarah Titus, 
 
 Mary White, 1733. 
 
 Judith Wood, 1734. 
 
 James Keile, 1736. 
 
 Mrs. James Keile, 
 
 Andrew Colbrith, 1737. 
 
 Mrs. Andrew Colbrith, 
 Mercy Sackett, 
 Mary Moore, 
 Mrs. Tuthill, 
 Abigail Springstein, 
 Sarah Culver, 
 Deborah Hazard, 
 Elizabeth Hunt, 
 Elizabeth Pumroy. 
 Hannah Morrell. 
 Thomas Hunt. 
 Richard Wood, 
 Deborah Burroughs, 
 Sarah Morrell. 
 Anna Woodward. 
 Anna Wood, 
 Samuel Burtis, 
 Mrs. Samuel Burtis, 
 Charity Ketcham, 
 Benjamin Cornish, 
 Judith Morrell, 
 Widow Lawrence, 
 Martha Ketcham. 
 Susannah Comfort, 
 Amy Berrien. 
 Philip Edsal, 
 Hannah Fish. 
 Jacob Reeder,
 
 62 
 
 Charity Renne. 
 
 1738. Samuel Fish, ST., 1763. 
 Timothy Wood, 
 
 John Reeder, 
 
 Wm. Burroughs, 1765. 
 
 Susannah Howard, 
 
 Elizabeth Hunt, 1766. 
 
 Sarah Morrel, 
 
 Cornelius Berrien, Jr., 
 
 Hannah Bailey, 1768. 
 
 Nathaniel Bailey, 
 
 Margaret Burroughs. 
 
 1739. Phebe Hunt, 
 
 Jonathan Hunt. 1769. 
 
 17^ Samuel Hallett, Sr., 
 Abigail Smith. 
 
 1742. Samuel Bruce. 
 
 1743. Susannah Morrell. 
 
 1744 to 1746. No record of mem- 1770. 
 bership received. 1771- 
 
 1758. Amy Cornish, 
 
 Sarah Culver. 
 John Alburtis, 
 Sarah Cornish, 
 Hannah Ketcham. 
 Benjamin Cornish, 
 Elsie Divine. 
 Benjamin Coe, 
 Benjamin North, 
 Margaret North. 
 James Pettit, 
 Keziah Morrell, 
 Mary Palmer, 
 Jannetie Divine. 
 Dorothy Leverich, 
 Sarah Morrell, 
 Abigail Wainwright, 
 John Pettit, 
 Mrs. John Pettit. 
 Ann Moore. 
 Joshua Ketcham. 
 
 The above is unquestionably an imperfect list of the 
 members received by Mr. Horton during his ministry, 
 from 1746 to 1773. His records of Baptisms, Mar- 
 riages and Deaths are full and perfect for each year. 
 That of members received has been lost from the old 
 book, save the few names above recorded at the close of 
 the list of those received by Mr. Pumroy. 
 
 The following additional names of adults are recorded 
 among those who were baptized, or as having " entered 
 into covenant." 
 
 1752. William Furman, 
 
 William Sackett, 1759. 
 
 Elizabeth Leverich, 
 John Cornish. 
 
 1753. Elias Daly, Jr., 
 
 William Laurence. 1760. 
 
 !754- John Hambleton. 
 1755. Richard Penfold, 
 
 Paul Alburtus, 
 
 Mary Alburtus. 
 Richard Betts, 
 Elizabeth Betts, 
 Robert Morrell, 
 Rebecca Morrell. 
 John Gersline, 
 Thos. Cumberson, 
 Wm. Devine, 
 Mrs. Wm. Devine,
 
 Mrs. John Alburtus. 
 1763. Abraham Devine, 
 Lydia Watkins, 
 Phebe Coe. 
 
 1766. Nathan Furman. 
 1771. Susannah Fish, 
 Jacob Palmer. 
 
 1775 to 1790. No record of membership in existence. 
 
 1790. Jacob Palmer and Wife, 
 
 John Hamilton and Wife, 1798. 
 
 Richard Leverich, 
 
 Elizabeth Coe, 
 
 Sarah Edsal, 
 
 Abigail Pettit, 1799. 
 
 Sarah Woodard, 
 
 Robert Gillmore, 1800. 
 
 Richard Brogaw, 
 
 Mary Howard, 1801. 
 
 Fanny Stillwill. 
 
 1791. Elizabeth Titus, 
 Anna Strang, 
 Susannah Leverich, 
 Richard Berrien, 
 
 Jesse Leverich, 1803. 
 
 Ghaske Leverich, 
 Peggy Remsen. 
 
 1792. William Howard, 
 Callaman, Sert. of G. Coe, 
 Sarah, Sert. Mr. Remsen, 1804. 
 Kate, Sert. R. Furman, 1805. 
 Isaac Smith, 
 
 Mrs. Merrel, wife of Jesse 
 Merrel, 1808. 
 
 Charity, Sr. of Widow 
 Remsen, 1809. 
 
 Eve, Sr. of Ben. Betts, 
 
 Bette, Sr. of Wm. Howard, 
 
 Elizabeth Palmer. 
 
 1793. Hannah Culver, 
 Lydia Blackwell, 
 Jane Bailey. 
 
 1794. Mary Lawrence, 
 Jemima Furman, 
 
 Mrs. Lane, wife of P. Lane, 
 Mrs. Leverich, wife of S.iSn. 
 Leverich. 
 
 1795. Mary Ketcham, 
 
 Wm. Leverich, 1812. 
 
 Elvan Hyatt and his Wife, 
 
 Mrs. Lent, 
 
 Stephen Hoyt, 
 
 Edward Howard, 
 
 Elizabeth Morrel. 
 
 Mary Hamilton, 
 
 Robert Moore. 
 
 Thomas Hecks & his wife, 
 
 Abraham Morrel. 
 
 Edward Leverich & Wife, 
 
 Wm. Howard, 
 
 Mrs. Wm. Gorsline, 
 
 Benjamin Howard, 
 
 Abel Ketcham, 
 
 Elizabeth Wiggins. 
 
 William Penfold and wife, 
 
 Mrs. Gabriel Leverich, 
 
 Mrs. Bois, 
 
 Joseph Gosline, 
 
 Mrs. Jonathan Sackett. 
 
 Peter Remsen. 
 
 Wilmot Oakley, 
 
 Wm. Painter and Wife. 
 
 Wm. Gray. 
 
 Eve Lawrence, 
 
 Sarah Palmer. 
 
 Mrs. Hopper, 
 
 Wm. S. Rayner, 
 
 Luke Remsen, 
 
 Adrian Vansenderen, 
 
 Abm. Culver, 
 
 Phebe Saydam, 
 
 Hannah McDonack, 
 
 Maria Vansenderen, 
 
 Cornelia Leverich, 
 
 Aletta Manifold. 
 
 Ann Ledyard, 
 
 Mary Ledyard, 
 
 Mr. Tylee. 
 
 Jane White,
 
 6 4 
 
 1813. 
 
 1814. 
 
 Sarah Coe. 
 
 Catharine Coe, to 
 
 Mary Coe, 
 
 Sally Woodhull, 1816. 
 
 Anna P. Leverich, 
 
 Abby Leverich, 
 
 Rebecca Smith, 
 
 John Morrell, 
 
 Benjamin E. Coe, 
 
 Ely Benedict, 
 
 Temperance Tucker, 
 
 Jane Lawrence, 
 
 Nancy Fish, 1820. 
 
 Betsy Fish, 
 
 Jonathan Howard, 
 
 Elizabeth Betts, 
 
 Mary Gorslin, 
 
 Elizabeth Berrien, 
 
 Catharine Morrell, 
 
 Jane Betts, 
 
 Patience Leverich, 
 
 Elizabeth Remsen, 
 
 William Morrel, 
 
 Gertrude R. Leverich. 
 
 Charles Palmer, 
 
 Susannah, wife of Thomas, 
 
 Astick Stratton, 
 
 Mary Berrien, 
 
 Deborah Haviland, 
 
 Mary Howard. 
 
 Lucretia Morrell, 
 
 Martha Colder, 
 
 Anna Morrell, 
 
 Jane Fish, 
 
 Mary Howard, 1821. 
 
 Betsy Palmer, 
 
 Aletta Palmer, 
 
 John Oliver, 
 
 Jane Oliver, 
 
 Henry Oliver, 1822. 
 
 Mary Oliver, 
 
 John E. Tomkins, 
 
 Aletta Palmer, 
 
 Elizh. A. Underbill, 
 
 John Peebles, 
 
 Frances Coe. 1823. 
 
 Hannah Cumberson, 
 
 Sally Berrian, 
 John Pott, 
 George Woodbridge, 
 Abiram Chamberlain, 
 Anna Luyster, 
 Caroline Woodbridge, 
 Susannah Leverich, 
 Elizabeth Strang, 
 John Jackson, 
 Thomas Johnson, 
 James Hallett, 
 John Hallett. 
 Ellen W. Woodhull, 
 Eliza F. Leverich, 
 Samuel Lindsday, 
 Sarah Smith, 
 Susan Folk, 
 Susan Hallett, 
 Ann Luyster, 
 Hannah Sackett, 
 Sarah Leverich, 
 Margaret Monfort, 
 Catharine Phares, 
 Mary Phares, 
 Joseph Phares, 
 Peter Luyster, 
 Wm. Monfort, 
 Joseph Leverich, 
 Daniel Halsey, 
 Sarah Townsend, 
 Ann Peebles, 
 John Painter, 
 Sarah Painter, 
 James Leonard. 
 Alexander Johnson, 
 Robert Lindsday, 
 Mary Van Sindren, 
 Mary Remsen, 
 Palmer Leverich. 
 John Leverich, 
 Aletta Leverich, 
 Eliza Furman, 
 Mrs. Starr, 
 Magaret White, 
 Edmund Hallet. 
 Eliza Van Senderen, 
 Mary Demur.
 
 1824. Sarah Leverich, 
 Mary Tylee, 
 Nancy Duryea, 
 Simeon Benjamin. 
 
 1825. Cornelia Lyman, 
 Levi Hedges, 
 Ellen Gorsline, 
 Sarah Gorsline, 
 Adeline Gorsline. 
 
 1826. Amy Goglet, 
 
 Ann Loyd, 1832. 
 
 Samuel Leverich, 
 Jane Jackson, 
 Freelove Johnson. 
 
 1827. Mary Lot, 
 Anna Leverich, 
 Nancy Lane, 
 Anna Palmer, 
 Mary Bruce, 
 Eleanor Youle, 
 Hannah Baylies, 
 
 Mrs. James Lot, 1833. 
 
 Cornelia Strang. 
 
 1828. Ellen Mundy, 
 Margaret Gorsline, 
 William Luyster. 
 
 1829. Samuel Palmer, 
 Patience Leverich, 
 
 Steward Maxwell. 1834. 
 
 1830. Louisa Rider, 
 Sarah Sammis, 
 Thomas Kinkaid, 
 Betsy Barrian, 
 
 Sarah Palmer, 1835. 
 
 Sally Marshall, 1836. 
 
 Nancy Buist, 
 
 1831. Harriet Punnett, 1837. 
 Abel Sammis, 
 
 Jane Willet, 
 Mary Hunter, 
 Margaret Betts, 
 
 Jane Luyster, 1838. 
 
 Cornelia Howard, 
 Hannah King, 
 
 Mary Jackson, 1839. 
 
 Katy Durland, 
 John Potter, 
 5 
 
 John Peterson, 
 Mary J. Berrian, 
 Grace Waterman, 
 Deborah A. Howard, 
 Gertrude Sackett, 
 Sarah Betts, 
 George Howard, 
 Jane Peterson, 
 Henry Durland, 
 Ann Durland. 
 Elizabeth Leverich, 
 Andrew B. Ryerson, 
 Phebe Jackson, 
 George Durland, 
 Judith Durland, 
 Elizabeth Murch, 
 Frances Stocker, 
 Joseph A. Sexton, 
 Susan Brogaw, 
 Sarah Lewis, 
 Susannah Kinkaid. 
 Jane Burroughs, 
 Elizabeth Cershow, 
 Mary Sammis, 
 Mary Wetmore, 
 Hannah Wetmore, 
 Maria Wetmore, 
 Agnes Baylies. 
 John Murch, 
 Alexander Mclntosh, 
 Catharine Moore, 
 Catharine T. Davidson, 
 Sarah Peebles. 
 Judith Schenck. 
 Samuel R. Ward, 
 Catharine Mclntosh. 
 Thomas Devine, 
 Catharine Devine, 
 James Strickland, 
 Elizabeth Strickland, 
 Wm. C. Spratt. 
 Maria Plane, 
 Agnes Mclntosh, 
 James Lewis, 
 Dr. Julius C. Wright, 
 Elizabeth Bragaw, 
 Rachel Garrison,
 
 66 
 
 Mrs. Schenk, 
 
 Jane P. Leverich, 
 
 John L. Riker, 
 
 Lavinia Riker, 
 
 Peter Van Pelt, 
 
 Maria Van Pelt, 
 
 Maria Hallet. 1848. 
 
 1840. Catharine M. Paynter, 
 Abigail Pettit, 
 Hannah Leverich, 
 Catharine E. Morrell, 
 Evelina Cornel. 1849. 
 
 1841. Philip H. Moore, 
 Aaron Howard, 
 Jeremiah Palmer, 
 Mary A. Palmer, 
 Cornelius Luyster, 
 Ellen Luyster, 
 Andrew B. Ryerson. 
 
 1842. Eliza Goldsmith, 
 
 Jane Townsend Leverich, 1851. 
 
 Margaret Leverich, 
 
 Mary Lewis, 
 
 James Martin, 
 
 Michael McCrea, 
 
 Mary Ann Gustin, 1852. 
 
 Taliafero H. Goldsmith, 
 
 Elizabeth Hendrickson, 
 
 Wm. Johnson, 
 
 Elizabeth Samis, 1853. 
 
 Sarah Martin. 
 
 1843. Wm. Raiman, 
 Ann Raiman, 
 Susan A. Luyster, 
 Rebecca Townsend, 
 Garret S. Strang, 
 
 John Folk, 1854. 
 
 Susan Folk, 
 
 Wm. Gosman, 
 
 Sarah Jane Howard, 1855. 
 
 William Leverich. 1856. 
 
 1844. Andrew Scott, 
 Margaret Scott. 
 
 1845. Moses Schenk, 
 Clarissa Spratt, 
 Catharine Moore, 
 
 1847. Ezra Berrian, 
 
 Rachel Frew, 
 Wm. Hammil, 
 Margaret S. Hammil, 
 Mrs. Caroline Luyster, 
 Cornelia Luyster, 
 Elizabeth Morrell. 
 Ann Burroughs, 
 Elizabeth D. Hull, 
 Jeremiah DeGraff, 
 Caroline DeGraff, 
 Ellen L. Timpson. 
 May A. Peebles, 
 Andrew Scott, 
 Hannah Scott, 
 Matilda D. Leverich, 
 Sarah Baird. 
 Wm. M. Raymond, 
 Peter Gersline, Jr., 
 John W. Crane, M.D., 
 Mary H. Crane. 
 Francis Curran, 
 Mary Lewis, 
 Frederick Bell, 
 Sophia Bell, 
 George W. Hall. 
 Richard Gould, 
 Keturah Gould, 
 Catharine L. Luyster, 
 Anna L. Leverich. 
 Mariah Goldsmith, 
 Ann Powell, 
 John H. Teves, 
 Anna M. Teves, 
 Philip Furman, 
 Mary Furman, 
 Elizabeth Cogswell. 
 Elizabeth Murch, 
 Eliza Ward, 
 Elizabeth Gossman. 
 Susan Farrel. 
 John Patterson, 
 Arietta Patterson, 
 Mary Ann Riker, 
 Peter Luyster, Jr., 
 Hannah Folk, 
 Susan Sprague, 
 Joseph G. Remsen,
 
 6; 
 
 Mary A. Coles, 1863. 
 
 John Peebles, 
 
 Mary Peebles, 
 
 Lavinia Riker, 
 
 Gertrude L. Gorsline, 
 
 Mary F. Gorsline, 
 
 Elizabeth Mander, 
 
 Mary Peebles. 
 
 1857. Susan M. Folk, 1864. 
 Eliza Graham, 
 
 James Smith, 
 
 Hannah A. R. Hyatt, 1865. 
 
 Hannah Elizabeth Knox. 
 
 1858. Melchior C. G. Witte, 
 Mary E. Witte, 
 
 Catharine Sprague, 1866. 
 
 Cornelia Strang, 
 
 Ann E. Strang, 
 
 Adeline Goldsmith, 
 
 James S. Knox, 
 
 Wm. W. Knox, 
 
 Gertrude Mundy, 
 
 Sarah J. Van Pelt. 
 
 1859. Ann Gray, 
 Sarah Luyster, 
 Nancy Palmer, 
 Mary Faulkner, 
 Elizabeth Faulkner. 
 
 1860. Emily L. Faulkner, 
 
 John Moule, 1867. 
 
 Marianne W. Moule. 
 
 1861. Alexander Kenny, 
 Mary E. Hyatt, 
 James McArthur, 
 Georgia N. Knox, 
 
 James Smith, 1868. 
 
 John P. Prall, 
 
 Elizabeth M. Prall, 1869. 
 
 Wm. Wheaton, 1870. 
 
 Jane L. Wheaton, 
 
 Josephine Field, 
 
 Francis Plain. 
 
 1862. Mary Price, 
 Mary J. Price, 
 Emily Duncan, 
 Abraham S. Bergen, 
 
 Maria Bergen. 1871. 
 
 Joninah Shaw, 
 Mary C. Spratt, 
 Ann E. Mack, 
 Dr. Wm. H. Humbert, 
 Susan Humbert, 
 Elizabeth Van Wickle, 
 Aletta V. D. Knox, 
 Elizabeth Campbell. 
 John B. Mclntosh, 
 C. B. Sherman, 
 Catharine V. Knox. 
 Charles D. Leverich, 
 Julia L. Leverich, 
 Sarah D. Goldsmith, 
 Mary A. Odekirk. 
 Wm. Greenlie, 
 Georgiana Greenlie, 
 Charlotte Shears, 
 Anna M. Denton, 
 Amelia A. Denton, 
 Julia W. Wright, 
 Arthur B. Graves, 
 Jennie R. Graves, 
 Sarah M. Denton, 
 Phebe Denton, 
 Rhoda M. Shears, 
 Sarah A. Raiman, 
 Maria McNeal, 
 Amanda Brower. 
 James Campbell, 
 Christina Campbell, 
 Eleanor P. Trippe, 
 Mary Faulkner, 
 Charlotte D. Knox, 
 Matilda R. Leverich. 
 Elizabeth Kieth, 
 S. Duncan Leverich. 
 Sarah A. Wright. 
 Anson P. Norton, 
 Jane Norton, 
 Louisa Arnoldi, 
 Bertha Trippe, 
 Eliza Bradish, 
 Eliza Bradish, 
 Chas. S. Bradish, 
 Fanny S. Wright. 
 Edith Brown,
 
 68 
 
 Sarah A. Barmore, 
 Jemima A. Barmore, 
 Kate Mundy, 
 Louisa P. Shears. 
 
 1872. Samuel A. Wright. 
 
 1873. Margery Kenny, 
 Henry M. Luyster. 
 
 1874. Cornelius W. Luyster, 
 
 1875. Anna Salina Shears, 
 Lydia A. Howard, 
 John H. Prall, 
 Wm. R. Prall, 
 Abm. Proctor, Jr. 
 
 1876. Francis G. McArthur, 
 Mary C. Prall, 
 Sarah P. Mundy, 
 Cornelia E. Barmore, 
 Jonathan C. Howard, 
 John H. D. Barmore. 
 
 1877. Elizabeth Smith, 
 Sarah Smith, 
 Charles S. Barmore, 
 Cornelia Lansing, 
 Sarah C. Kingsbury, 
 John Burroughs, 
 Amelia A. Burroughs, 
 Harriet A. Bogart. 
 
 1878. Sarah B. Hatch, 
 Sarah Ella Hatch. 
 
 1879. Abbie White. 
 Coe F. Howard, 
 Anna E. Howard, 
 
 Dr. Abbot C. Combes, 
 Margaret Inglis. 
 
 1880. Harriet D. Luyster, 
 Thomas Weaver, 
 Emily Weaver, 
 Clementina McKinley. 
 Phoebe E. Meissnes, 
 George Burr, 
 
 Mary Burr, 
 Frederick Meeks, 
 Margaret D. Meeks, 
 Robert Pierce, 
 Mary Pierce. 
 
 1881. Joseph Manwaring, 
 Edward C. Davis, 
 
 Mary A. Davis, 
 Mary A. Terhune, 
 Sarah E. Daniels, 
 Francis M. Terhune, 
 Griffith Teller, 
 Charlotte Teller, 
 Minnie Teller. 
 
 1882. Alexander Baxter, 
 George A. Wren, 
 George P. Norton. 
 
 1883. Esther E. Norton, 
 William H. Duryea, 
 Cornelia A. Duryea, 
 Walter Manwaring, 
 J. L. M. Hathaway, 
 George E. Hathaway, 
 Albert D. Teller, 
 Richard Hathaway, 
 Maria L. M. Hathaway, 
 Mary Payson, 
 
 Mary Lewis, 
 Elizabeth E. Cox, 
 Annie S. Burr, 
 Margaret J. Smith, 
 Elizabeth G. Snelling, 
 Henry Campbell, 
 Thomas H. Lewis, 
 Amanda Lewis, 
 Emma A. Hubbs, 
 Louisa Mundy, 
 Agnes E. Smith, 
 Marion E. Campbell, 
 Frederick W. Burr, 
 Robert H. Pierce, 
 Lillian M. Johnson, 
 Eliza J. Bogart, 
 Emma L. Barmore, 
 Mary E. Woods, 
 Clara E. Davis, 
 Ada L. Cox, 
 Ann E. Duryea, 
 J. W. Morgan, 
 Laura J. Proctor, 
 Phoebe J. Taylor, 
 Beatrice Brown, 
 Carrie L. Woodruff, 
 Amy F. Weaver.
 
 1884. Susie P. Taylor, 
 James Miller, 
 Nellie Norton, 
 Clarissa E. Snelling, 
 Stephen Duryea, 
 Ida Worth, 
 Jennie R. Clark, 
 Theodore J. Cox, 
 James R. Smith, 
 James Proctor, 
 Mary Proctor. 
 
 1885. Mr. Banks, 
 Mrs. Banks, 
 Jane Haflinger, 
 Frank S. Smith, 
 Mary A. Devany, 
 Elizabeth Smith, 
 Robert McK. Powers, 
 Sarah A. Conklin, 
 Ellen A. Ingam. 
 
 1886. Mary A. Luyster, 
 Bessie Lawrence, 
 Elizabeth Ferguson, 
 Emma Brown, 
 Gustave Haflinger, 
 Minnie L. Rodman, 
 Sarah E. Palmer, 
 Charlotte A. Palmer, 
 Lorenzo J. Jones, 
 Charlotte A. Cox, 
 Margaret J. Nelson, 
 John H. Jebens, 
 Samuel A. McKinney, 
 Gertrude C. McKinney, 
 Grace Gillingham. 
 
 1887. Samuel T. Porter, 
 Agnes McLean, 
 Almira S. White, 
 Caroline I. Rodman, 
 Aletta K. Lawrence, 
 Clarence E. Mundy, 
 William H. Jebens, 
 Irene Taylor, 
 Matilda R. Jebens, 
 Louisa Jebens, 
 John W. Smith. 
 
 1888. Mary J. Wood, 
 
 Emma Manwaring, 
 
 John G. Scheper, 
 
 Mary Scheper, 
 
 Anna M. C. Scheper, 
 
 Carrie E. Spratt, 
 
 Maud A. Haflinger, 
 
 Susie J. Maynard, 
 
 H. T. Rodman, 
 
 John F. Rodman, Jr., 
 
 John F. Rodman, 
 
 Mary Rodman, 
 
 Jean C. Prall, 
 
 Ann G. Cox, 
 
 Sarah A. Woodruff. 
 1889. William Karsens, 
 
 Frances Plain, 
 
 Lizzie Campbell. 
 1800. Ella A. Cox, 
 
 Louisa Karsens, 
 
 Henry J. Karsens, 
 
 Ida E. Smith. 
 
 1891. Charles Estergarde, 
 George Estergarde, 
 James Estergarde, 
 Caroline Estergarde, 
 Thomas E. Hardgrove, 
 Sophie Hardgrove, 
 Thomas D. L. Hardgrove, 
 Roberta B. Pettit, 
 Albert C. Price, 
 
 Mary Gerbe, 
 Theresa Leisner, 
 Anna M. Chamberlain, 
 Joseph B. Chamberlain, 
 Abraham Proctor, Jr., 
 Mary C. Proctor, 
 Hannah M. Mallmann, 
 Ruth R. Mallmann, 
 Anna A. Losee, 
 
 1892. Richard Bragaw, 
 Janet D. Bragaw, 
 David A. Smith, 
 Agnes McLean, 
 George W. Taylor, 
 Jane C. Heaney, 
 Alexander Scott, 
 Mrs. A. Scott,
 
 Emma T. North, 
 Nathaniel Heaney, Jr., 
 John Edward Davis, 
 Robert N. Irwin, 
 John A. Rapelyea, 
 Philip Kochersberger, 
 Nora Harper, 
 James Shilson, 
 James R. Macdougal, 
 Maria D. C. Mallmann, 
 Carrie A. Dudley. 
 
 1893. Emma A. Rodman, 
 Sarah J. Thompson, 
 Susan M. Smith, 
 Charlotte B. Scheper, 
 Jane Donaldson, 
 Mary E. Spratt, 
 Martha E. Douglass, 
 Cornelia Manwaring. 
 
 1894. Annie Rapelyea, 
 Addie M. Meinikheim, 
 Josephine Williams, 
 
 D. Wilhelmina Jebens, 
 Ida F. Douglass. 
 
 1895. John A. Lang, 
 Frances J. Lang, 
 Kate Geweye, 
 Elizabeth Homeyer, 
 George Shuttleworth. 
 
 1896. Annie F. Hendrickson, 
 Lillian Hendrickson, 
 Walter E. Hendrickson. 
 
 1897. Elizabeth T. Jones, 
 John Boyes, 
 Margaret Boyes, 
 Ida A. Johnson, 
 Maria E. Johnson, 
 J. Walter Hartman, 
 Minnie B. Hartman, 
 Augusta Powell, 
 Eugene S. Price, 
 John Goldsmith Prall, 
 Wallace J. Hardgrove, 
 May N. Hardgrove, 
 Lucy J. Hardgrove, 
 Franklin B. Smith, 
 Jennie S. Rodman, 
 
 Thomas L. Proctor, 
 Henry Blackwell, 
 Jennie H. Blackwell, 
 Charles Hendry, 
 Jean A. Hendry, 
 George Grover, 
 Edith M. Grover, 
 Lulu Grover, 
 Katie Grover, 
 Emily H. Winton, 
 Matilda Perry, 
 Fred. H. Mead, 
 Henne F. Mead, 
 Eleanor Price, 
 Arthur D. White, 
 George A. Spencer. 
 
 1898. Jessie M. Wright, 
 Florence Pedley, 
 Frank Dirlam, 
 Mary B. Wells, 
 Bertha K. Wells, 
 Annie C. Smiley, 
 Eliza A. McPherson, 
 Richard Homeyer, 
 Janet B. Haight. 
 
 1899. Edward F. England, 
 Helen S. Bennett, 
 Henrietta S. Bennett, 
 William S. Bennett, 
 Mary E. Grant, 
 Marie A. Cox, 
 Oliver C. Grant, 
 Florence M. Grant, 
 Sarah A. Hendrickson, 
 George L. Marshall, 
 Emma L. Proctor, 
 Elizabeth A. Hunter, 
 Sarah Campbell, 
 Phebe Morgan, 
 Mary C. Murdoch, 
 Janet Tulloch. 
 
 1900. Rebecca K. Garrett, 
 Sarah Baxter, 
 
 Isabel H. Van Wickle, 
 Amy G. Scott, 
 Nellie W. Grant, 
 Charles A. Van Wickle,
 
 Anna E. Marshall, 
 Richard H. Way, 
 Florence M. Way, 
 William F. Hamilton, 
 Lillian M. Hamilton, 
 Clara F. Bond, 
 Margaret G. Nelson, 
 Abbie L. Bunting, 
 Maggie Schumacher, 
 Minnie Schumacher, 
 Grace E. Whitaker, 
 Mary Grace Shilson, 
 John Nelson, 
 Rose Nelson. 
 
 i ooi. Barton W. Brush, M.D., 
 Mabel H. Foster Brush, 
 Margaret Parker, 
 Margaret Ann Parker, 
 Clara D. Jones, 
 Jane D. Walrath, 
 
 Annie H. Forbell, 
 Susan P. Burford, 
 Cora L. Carrie, 
 Sarah A. Manwaring, 
 James Campbell, 
 James H. Robinson, 
 Alexander MacKenzie. 
 1902. Benjamin H. Davis, 
 Carrie M. Davis, 
 Ada C. Merz, 
 Mary E. Carrie, 
 David J. Murray, 
 Grace B. Murray, 
 Grace F. Murray, 
 Douglas G. Hardgrove, 
 Maud J. Southwick, 
 Elizabeth Simonson, 
 Celia Amanda Homeyer, 
 Wm. F. Young, 
 Irene L. Gregory.