CHAPTER VIII

Churches and Religious Institutions

PREPARED UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF HAMILTON SCHUYLER

I.   Foreword

The editor responsible for the religious section included in this history has sought the cooperation of the men he deemed best qualified to prepare an historical sketch of the respective communions. While he has exercised editorial supervision over the manuscripts solicited by and submitted to him and gone carefully over them with the writers, and in some instances suggested additions and modifications, the history as prepared by the various writers who have generously given their assistance remains substantially as they have written it.

In the case of bodies where none was found who would undertake the task, the editor himself has done the work with such information as he could glean from reliable sources and from interviews with qualified persons.

Appended in some instances to the historical narratives of the various bodies will be found brief biographical sketches of some outstanding figures in the religious life of Trenton during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The principles in accordance with which the selection of the names is made are: (1) the relative length and value of their services in the community; (2) their place in the public esteem; and (3) their prominence in their respective ecclesiastical bodies. Doubtless many more worthy names might have been added but the exigencies of space required the strict limiting of the number.

Under the general denominational title of each main body are listed the names of the several church organizations belonging thereto in the order of their permanent establishment. The space available does not in most instances permit more than a brief reference to each of these, with a mention of the names of those who were responsible for their organization.

The beginnings of institutional religious life in the territory now embraced within the City of Trenton found their natural origin in the commendable desire of the adherents of the various ecclesiastical bodies to establish as soon as practical societies and churches for the benefit of themselves and their co-religionists.

The following is the chronological order and approximate date of the foundation of the main bodies represented in Trenton today, but does not take account of earlier informal services.

After the middle of the nineteenth century and more particularly after the beginning of the twentieth, as the population of the town increased and especially as the high tide of immigration from Europe set in, other bodies came into existence, either as recognized branches of churches and societies already established or as new organizations answering to the racial and religious needs of the foreign people settling here. At present there are about one hundred church organizations belonging to the various ecclesiastical bodies, possessing each its own building for worship. Besides these there are miscellaneous bodies either with or without church buildings.

STATISTICS OF PRESENT CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

The following statistics were furnished by representativesof the bodies here listed:

The unclassified group includes one congregation each of Christian Science, Unitarian and Evangelical, besides one each of four different foreign-speaking peoples.

The Roman Catholics include in their figures all units of family groups affiliated with the church, infants as well as adults.

The Protestant bodies include in their stated membership only those individuals whose names are officially enrolled in the records of the congregation and do not count infants or those who may be reckoned as adherents through attendance at the services or by family association. The addition of this class would probably more than double the number of those who receive ministrations from these bodies.

There are twenty-four congregations of foreign-speaking or bilingual peoples. Of these ten are Roman Catholic with a total estimated membership of 30,635, besides one Greek Catholic of extra-diocesan jurisdiction and thirteen of other faiths. The Lutherans include four, the Baptists two, the Presbyterians two and the Episcopalians one. Other congregations are a Magyar Reformed, a Ukrainian Orthodox, a Greek Orthodox and a Polish National Catholic outside the Roman obedience.

SOME DEFUNCT CONGREGATIONS

From time to time minor religious bodies not connected with any of the existing church institutions were formed, had a precarious life, and finally disappeared. Among such was a Universalist society which was organized in 1843 and continued for ten or twelve years. This society never erected a building but held its services in the City Hall. Another society of Adventists or Second Adventists known as "Messiah Church," being a branch of a congregation in Morrisville, was established in 1863. A small church was erected on Clay Street near Market and dedicated in 1864. This building was sold in 1871 to the Evangelical Lutheran Christ Church and subsequently destroyed by fire. The Messiah Congregation in 1873 built a new church at Front and Montgomery Streets which in turn was sold in 1902, to the Lutheran Church of the Saviour.

Reference is elsewhere made to a Dutch Reformed Congregation which came into existence about 1840 and was dissolved some three years later. This congregation held its services in the building on Front Street which subsequently came into the possession of the Methodists who afterwards sold it to the congregation of St. Francis' Roman Catholic Church by whom it is occupied today.

NOTE: Since these pages were in type, some recent changes in pastorates and in the personnel of church officials may possibty have occurred which it was not practical to rectify in the historical sketches as they appear in this chapter.

II. The Society of Fricnds - 1684

BY MARC P. DOWDELL

The initial formal religious activities in and about Trenton were undertaken by members of the Society of Friends as early as 1684.

Sundry members of the Society who had landed at Burlington in 1678 soon pushed on towards "Ye ffalles of Ye De-la-Warr" to take up land in the neighborhood. Scattered clumps of log houses sprang up quickly in the region which centered loosely around Crosswicks and soon extended to the mouth of the Assunpink Creek where Mahlon Stacy had settled and built a grist mill in 1679. 1

1 See Chap. I "The Colonial Period " above.

It should be explained at the outset that the Society of Friends in Trenton was from the beginning affiliated with the Monthly Meeting which had its headquarters at Crosswicks and was known as the "Chesterfield Meeting." This was the center from which for many years radiated the Quaker influence and activities operating in this section of New Jersey. The history of the Chesterfield Meeting includes therefore that of the Trenton Meeting which cannot property be isolated from it.

THE ORIGINAL CHESTERFIELD MEETING

By August 1684, temporal affairs were sufficiently advanced for the Friends to meet together for worship at the home of Francis Davenport, their spiritual leader, at Chesterfield, or Crosswicks as it is now known, and to establish the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting of Friends. The original minute book of this meeting, now preserved among the records at the Trenton Meeting House, Hanover and Montgomery Streets, contains a paean of praise to God for His blessings in leading His people to a place where they could worship Him in peace and after a fashion of their own. This declaration was probably written by Francis Davenport and is signed by him and by John Wileford and William Watson.

On the occasion of this first meeting of Friends Davenport's house was selected as a place of worship and for the transaction of the business of the monthly meeting until otherwise ordered, the day chosen being the first Thursday of each month. Births, burials, and marriage bans were to be recorded at the monthly meeting.

It is on record that Samuel Bunting and Mary Foulkes were the first pair to signify their intention of marriage. Their bans were published on September 9, 1684, and the marriage was solemnized according to good order and the custom of Friends on September 18, following. Witnesses at the Bunting wedding numbered most of the original settlers. They were:

Thomas Foulkes, Sr.           Robert Murfin            John Tomlinson

Thomas Foulkes, Jr.            Peter Fettwell             Sarah Davenport

Job Bunting                         Thomas Lambert         Esther Gilberthorpe

Francis Davenport              Samuel Sykes              Mary Wright

Thomas Gilberthorpe          John Curtis                 Elizabeth Curtis

The first direct evidence that a considerable settlement of Friends existed at the Falls, or Trenton, appears in the action taken November 7, 1695, when the first death occurred among the colonists, that of John Brown. This brought a decision by the Society to establish burying grounds both at the Falls and at Chesterfield.

John Lambert granted a portion of his estate at the Falls for this purpose. The plot was used by Friends for a long period, finally becoming a part of the present Riverview Cemetery. The trustees named to accept Lambert’s gift were: William Emley, Thomas Lambert, John Wileford, Joseph Wright, Mahlon Stacy, and Joseph Eby. All of these are presumably to be included among Trenton's earliest settlers.

At the same monthly meeting the settlers at the Falls were given permission to establish a branch meeting for week-day worship each Thursday. They  were to meet in rotation at the homes of Mahlon Stacy, Thomas Lambert, Samuel Sikes, and William Black.

That there were non-Quaker settlers in the community at least as early as 1686 is established by the fact that on April 4, 1686, Alice Fulwood asked the monthly meeting to grant her permission to wed a non-Quaker. This was reluctantly given and Mary Andrews and Sarah Davenport were appointed to see that the Friends ceremony was used. The wedding took place on May 1, 1686, but Alice was too staunch in her upbringing to be comfortable, and on June 5 following she confessed in Meeting to an uneasy conscience for her act.

On June 5, 1686, John Lambert asked permission to wed Rebecca Clower, daughter of John Clower of the Pennsylvania Falls Meeting, for which permission was granted July 2.

In July 1686 the Quakers organized their first local charity. A store of corn at Stacy's Mill was provided under the administration of John Wileford, for the assistance of Friends who had met with misfortune. This action was determined by a fire which destroyed Robert Shelby's home, and Thomas Lambert and Mahlon Stacy were sent to inquire of Shelby if he was in need of help.

Trenton's first representative to the yearly meeting, which then met alternately at Philadelphia and Burlington, was Mahlon Stacy, who with William Biddle of Crosswicks was deputized to attend that held in Burlington on July 8, 1686.

A readjustment of places of meeting was effected on May 5, 1690, when it was determined that the monthly meeting should gather in turn at the home of Francis Davenport, Chesterfield; then at Edward Rockhill's, Chesterfield; at Thomas Lambert's, Nottingham; at Robert Murfin's, Nottingham; at William Biddle's, Chesterfield; and finally at Mahlon Stacy's, at the Falls, and then in rotation down the list again. By this arrangement it would appear that the membership was about evenly divided geographically between Chesterfield and the settlement at the Falls, or Trenton, for Thomas Lambert's estate, on the bluff overlooking the river just below the Falls, is spoken of as being at Nottingham, but subsequently became a part of Trenton.

A MEETING HOUSE BUILT

On January 5, 1691, it was proposed that two meeting houses be built, one at Chesterfield and the other at the Falls. Discussion came up at each successive meeting until June 6 when it was decided that only one meeting house should be built for the present and this at Chesterfield. On November 11 of the same year definite action was taken and Davenport, Samuel Andrews, William Wood, Samuel Bunting, and Thomas Gilberthorpe were appointed to secure estimates on the cost of building the proposed structure. Nothing more appears on the record until October 4, 1692, when John Greene was awarded the contract to build the meeting house. On June 3, 1693, the first meeting was held in the new building.

Apparently Greene rendered a bill for services in excess of expectations, for on November 4 it was recorded that the meeting had reasoned with him and, according to agreement, had paid him 40 pounds for materials, 1 pound for his work, and 2 shillings overage. At the same time Davenport reported that he had paid 6s. 8d. for the lime used and had 4 pounds 11 shillings 1d. left in his hands.

LEGAL AND DISCIMINARY MEASURES

Light on the attitude of the Friends towards the sale of liquor is cast by a minute dated March 5, 1687, when the meeting was informed that one of its members, John Bainbridge, had been selling rum to Indians. John Bunting and Samuel Sykes were appointed to remonstrate with the offender. At the following monthly meeting, April 2, Friends Sykes and Bunting reported that the rum had been sold by John Bunting, Jr., who, at the time of their visit had been hard and defiant. At a quarterly meeting, which had been held in the interim, John had been present and at that time, so Sykes and Bunting reported, "the Power of the Lord broke his spirit" and he had confessed to Samuel Bunting his determination to abstain from the practice.

For many years subsequent to their original settlement the Quakers shunned all courts of law. They had had enough of these proceedings with their corresponding penalties in the mother country. Hence the Society insisted on settling all differences arising among its own membership and if any member failed to accede to the terms of settlement he suffered summary expulsion, and then only the offended member was permitted to appeal to the courts of the Colony for justice.

The first case for settlement before the Chesterfield Meeting was recorded on December 8, 1684, when Robert Murfin and William Black reported the need for an arbitrator. Robert Wilson was appointed to hear the testimony and make a decision. On January 5, 1685, Wilson reported that the difference had been settled to the satisfaction of both parties.

In November 1697 came the first of a long series of expulsions when Esther Gilberthorpe, wife of one who had been most prominent in meeting affairs, was read out for "scandalous gossiping." Thomas, her husband, thereafter absented himself from meeting. In 1699 a committee was sent to reason with him but without avail and he was the second to be dropped from the rolls. Gilberthorpe was carried as a member until 1703 when the Friends finally whipped themselves up to a public denunciation of him.

By this time a new wilderness-raised generation was coming on to plague the old zealots in their endeavors to maintain the traditional Quaker discipline. It is on record that several of the young bloods - Richard French, Thomas Curtis, and David Curtis - were forced to apologize publicly for "rowdy conduct." The Society thenceforth found its attempt to regulate the private lives of its members a most difficult task, and it is a tribute to the unbending fortitude of the leaders that they did not cease their attempts to disown those whom they considered to be unworthy until they thereby had reduced the Society's place among the religious bodies of the era from a dominant position to a quite minor one.

A NEW STRUCTURE PLANNED

The original meeting house, built in 1692 at Crosswicks, was found to be inadequate for its purpose and a new structure requiring forty thousand bricks was determined upon in 1706. Davenport and Wood entered into a contract with William Mott for the required number of bricks at a stipulated price of 40 pounds.

On November 11, following, the bricks were reported as having been made and Samuel Bunting, Davenport, Wood, William Tantum, Thomas Lambert, and Robert Wilson were named the building committee. Tantum was hired to do the carpenter work and John Farnsworth was sent to Burlington to buy two hundred bushels of lime. Tantunt and Lambert agreed to furnish the shingles.

Early in 1707 Francis Davenport died and the meeting lost its first leader. Samuel and John Bunting thenceforth were to hold joint possession of the records, and, by implication, to assume the leadership of the meeting.

OTHER MEETINGS ESTABLISHED

In 1709 the first of the distant meetings recognizing the authority of the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting was established at Little Egg Harbor and a small meeting house was built. Six years later, in 1715, this branch was strong enough to become a monthly meeting itself.

Stony Brook Meeting House was the next to be built by the Chesterfield Meeting, a stone structure 34 feet by 3cs feet being agreed upon on May 2, 1724, at a cost of 150 pounds. Some months later, on January 4, 1725, Tanturn and Lambert, the building committee, reported that the cost would reach 200 pounds and subscriptions to this amount were asked. This meeting house is still standing on the historic Princeton battlefield.

The growth of the Chesterfield Meeting was rapid from that time forward and in 1727 collections were being taken for the building of still another meeting house at Springfield, near Mount Holly.

THE EARLY STAND AGAINST SLAVERY

Friends took an early stand against slavery. In 1730 we find that the members of Chesterfield Monthly Mecting were holding prolonged and anxious discussions over a question submitted to them by the yearly meeting, and on July 3 Benjamin Clark, Thomas Lambert, and Isaac Horner were appointed to draw up a reply.

At the next meeting the paper was ready for approval and was duly recorded. It read:

"This Meeting having considered the proposal of some Friends to our last Quarterly Meeting to restrict Friends from purchasing Negroes imported into these parts. It is the sense of this Meeting that as Friends both here and elsewhere have been in the practice of it for some time past and many Friends differing in their opinions from others in that matter we think restricting Friends at this time and bringing such as fall into the same thing under dealing as offenders will not be convenient lest it create contention and uneasiness among them, which should be carefully avoided. We hope those Friends that are dissatisfied with such actings will not only be exemplary but in a Christian spirit persuade against a practice so contrary to that Noble Rule laid down in Holy Scriptures in doing to all as they would that they should do to us.

Signed by order and in behalf of

         said meeting by Thomas Lambert."

Conservative ideas prevailed in 1730 in the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, but abhorrence for slavery had crept in and less than a score of years afterwards the Society had purged itself of participation it the slave traffic and was preparing for that long campaign against it which finally led up to the Civil War and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

In October 1731, Friends at Bethlehem, near Belvidere, set up a brand of the Chesterfield Meeting with Charles Wolverton and Daniel Robins as overseers appointed at Chesterfield and reporting there.

ANOTHER MEETING HOUSE BUILT

Mansfield meeting house was the next to be built, Joseph Pancoast and Isaac Horner being appointed to receive subscriptions for it in April of 1732.

The claims of Trenton as a center were again put forward in 1734 and, in April of that year, a group headed by Isaac Harrow was given permission to hold meetings there on First Days (Sundays), for a trial period of six months. Bordentown friends received the same recognition in November following.

In 1736 a general subscription for some unreported purpose was ordered taken and the listing of those appointed to take funds shows the number of branches of the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting then existing, These were located at Chesterfield, Springfield, Mansfield, Stony Brook, Bethlehem, and Trenton. For some unknown reason the Bordentown group was omitted from this list, although at the monthly meeting of September 1736 Isaac Horner, Richard French, William Morris, Joshua Wright and Marmaduke Watson were appointed to treat with Joseph Borden for land for a meeting house at Bordentown.

In October 1736, Samuel Satterthwaite, Benjamin Shreve, Thomas Newbold, Benjamin Clark, Jr., Ananiah Gaunt, and Joseph Gardiner were appointed to receive two parcels of land from Borden, one for a meeting house and the other for a burying ground. On May 7, 1737, the deeds were executed.

PROJECT FOR A MEETING HOUSE AT TRENTON REVIVED

About the year 1730 the group of Friends living at Trenton or Trent Town, as it was then called, acquired a new leader in the person of William Morris who came thither from Barbadoes and apparently established himself as an importer of West Indian products, probably sugar and rum, and, perhaps, slaves. Morris soon was a recognized leader in the monthly meeting and was chosen to attend quarterly and yearly meetings and appointed on various special committees. It was he, doubtless, who revived the project for a meeting house at Trenton, for on December 2, 1737, he, with Isaac Horner, headed a delegation asking permission to build the structure.

The following month Joseph Reckless, clerk of the monthly meeting, was ordered to draw a deed for a meeting house plot in Trenton. It was to be conveyed by William Morris to Benjamin Smith, Stacy Beakes, William Plasket, Joseph De Cow, Nathan Beakes and Isaac Watson. John Tantum and Benjamin Smith were named overseers to supervise the transaction. On August 5 Reckless reported that the deeds had been completed for the meeting house and burial plot in Trenton.

The committee in charge at once proceeded to erect the building, the work being completed in November 1739, when William Morris made application for subscriptions, saying that he had expended 25 or 30 pounds in excess of the money in hand.

Meanwhile the building of another meeting house had been authorized "near the home of Robert Lawrence." For some reason Friends were not satisfied with the location they had acquired for the Bordentown meeting house, and Thomas Potts, Jr., and Preserve Brown, Jr., were authorized to see Borden in an effort to exchange the plot for one across the street from it. This was done and the transfer effected. The building of the Bordmtown meeting house was begun in 1742.

Friends Meeting House

SHRINKAGE IN MEMBERSHIP

In 1743 the meeting at Bethlehem broke away from the parent monthly meeting and became an independent monthly meeting. Prior to this dissolution, the Chesterfield Meeting embraced nine meeting houses which were scattered from Mount Holly (Upper Springfield) to Bethlehem, near Belvidere. It is estimated that the total membership of the Chesterfield Meeting just before the Revolutionary War numbered about eight thousand. The present membership of Friends within the same area is probably fewer than one thousand, despite the vast increase in population.

Doubtless the chief reason for this shrinkage lies in the fact that the Society set itself firmly against the tendency to exalt worldly advantage as opposed to the old Quaker simplicity. Friends were not given to compromise. When they believed a thing was wrong they opposed it at whatever cost. The Quaker equivalent of excommunication, "disownment," received its first use, as noted before, against a family which had been one of its honored founders in the wilderness. After the original leaders died off, "disownment" began to be used much more frequently and ruthlessly.

OPPOSITION TO "WORLDLINESS"

In 1724 the Society's concern for the spiritual purity of its membership resulted in the following minute being published:

This Meeting, having considered the great love of God in gathering His Church to the true knowledge of Himself, are careful that all members of it be under their immediate care and therefore think it necessary to recommend to such Faithful Friends as this meeting approves of for that service to have the oversight and regard to the actions and practices of such as pretend to be of us and use their seasonable endeavors by way of advice, reproof, etc., as occasion may require and advise this meeting as they find cause.

John Tantum, Isaac Horner and Benjamin Clark were named as the first elders and were commissioned to attend meetings of ministering Friends then being organized by the yearly and quarterly meetings.

The opposition to "worldliness," of which the above was a symptom, brought an ever-growing stream of charges and disownments of those who chose to lead their lives rather in keeping with the general spirit of the community than in conformity to the notions of conduct as laid down by their elders.

In 1745 England was engaged in one of her numerous wars with France and Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, first burgess of Trenton, the friend of Benjamin Franklin and the founder of Trenton's first public library, was moved by his patriotism to join with others in fitting out a privateer warship. His membership in the Socicty ceased from the moment his shocked fellow members could act. Here is the indictment they drew up against him:

Whereas it appears to this meeting that Thomas Cadwalader is concerned in privateering vessels contrary to our ancient testimony and the discipline established among Friends and it appears he hath been tenderly cautioned and dealt with from time to time in order to bring him to a sense of his undue liberty, but he refusing to give such satisfaction as the offense requires, therefore this meeting appoints Isaac Horner and Marmaduke Watson to draw a paper of testification against the said Thomas Cadwalader and his practice and to declare him out of unity with us as a Society until he shall give satisfaction to this meeting suitable to the offense.

TRAVELLING MINISTERS

The period of the 1740's marked the rise of a system of voluntary travelling ministers who ranged up arid down the countryside, living at the homes of the more well-to-do members of the Society and preaching on Sundays. These travelling ministers bore as credentials letters from their home meetings, testifying that their messages were in "unity" with Friends' principles. Nearly every meeting had, at some time or other, one or more of these travelling ministers and it was through them that the Society, as a whole, was led to take the vigorous stand on such moral questions as slavery and rum selling. Among the earlier travelling Friends bearing the credentials of the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting were Jacob Andrews, Joshua Shreve, and John Sykes.

THE "WOMEN'S MEETING"

BY 1753 the Chesterfield Meeting House at Crosswicks needed enlargement to care for the "Women's Meeting." A 16-foot addition was thereupon authorized. Among Friends it had been customary for the men and women to sit in separate sections of the meeting houses on Sundays and to meet entirely separately for the transaction of business, committees from each sex arranging the details of questions involving the meeting as a whole.

This, perhaps, was the first recognition of woman suffrage in America and of her status as an individual apart from her husband.

The first woman to be recognized as a minister and elder of the Chesterfield Meeting was Margaret Porter, who was so named in 1760.

MANY "DISOWNMENTS"

A resumption of military activities by the Colony in 1756 brought a recurrence of disownments for participation by Friends. Joseph Thorne, Aaron Quickes, Francis Key, Marmaduke Bunting, John Schooley, John Shrieve, and Daniel Shrieve were youths who suffered this fate. Samuel Farnsworth was disowned for challenging a squad of soldiers near Bordentown to fight, by which it would appear that Farnsworth must have been a mighty man of valor, akin to one of Dumas' fire-eaters.

Two members of the Stockton family of Princeton suffered disownment in 1758. Amy Stockton had married her cousin contrary to rule and was disowned in April. The following month Daniel Stockton was found guilty of military service and of marrying outside of the meeting. Benjamin Thorn and Clement Rockhill were "dealt with" for military service. In July Abigail Schooley was disowned for the heinous offense of visiting her husband in a military camp. November brought the disownment of John Thorne for teaching the elements of military drill to William Black and Benjamin Field. December brought disownment to Joseph Bunting for training Francis Borden and Samuel Allen in military principles.

The following year brought more disownments to the Stockton family when Samuel was read out of meeting for fighting, militarism and marrying contrary to discipline.

With clouds of the Revolutionary War darkening the horizon the Friends were whirled irresistibly into dissension. Many of the younger men were sympathetic towards the cause of the Colonies. Their elders, in common with a large proportion of the more substantial citizens, abhorred the idea of a revolution which involved a bloody war fought at their doorsteps with a traditionally invincible mother country. Moreover, the conscientious members of the Society were convinced beyond any chance of conversion that war on any pretext was an inexcusable offense against the Almighty.

It thus came about that the Society took a firm stand against participation. Disownments for military activities were redoubled, the penalty being invoked against active Tories or patriots. Only a public confession of error before the meeting could excuse members embroiled on either side.

Not all of the "disowned" Quakers were patriots, Many of them, perhaps the larger number, were loyalists. They came of prosperous families who were satisfied with the established order and who looked upon the Revolution as "Rabbleism," as did many members of the propertied classes in other Colonies. And thus as loyalists, they hastened to join the British Army in Canada.

But the Revolution was the beginning of a steady decline in the membership of the Society of Friends. Meetings ceased to grow and many of the old places of worship had to be "laid down."

Many Quakers salved their consciences and the demands of the meeting by submitting more or less cheerfully to levies on their properties imposed by the new government for failure to take the oath of allegiance. Stacy Potts, who led in the searching out of military offenders, was himself fined 100 pounds and submitted to seizure of goods to that value by the sheriff.

THE "HICKSITES"

Following the Revolution the Society resumed its campaign for the abolition of slavery, a campaign which helped to foment another and equally terrible war. But before that campaign had borne fruit another crisis within the body had to be faced. This was the famous doctrinal controversy precipitated by the preaching of Elias Hicks of New York, one of the itinerant preachers who travelled from meeting to meeting.

In 1827 this controversy reached the breaking point. Separation took place in a number of meetings, among them the Chesterfield Meeting. In Trenton the meeting house was retained by the "Hicksites." In Stony Brook, on the contrary, the Orthodox succeeded in the legal maneuvering which retained ownership for them. A famous lawsuit resulted,' one which has set precedents cited to this very day in the courts of New Jersey and other States.

I See under "Famous Cases Tried in Trenton," Hendrickson vs. DeCow, in Chap. XII, below.

In 1873 the Hicksite Friends of Trenton enlarged the original meeting house at Hanover and Montgomery Streets and changed its aspect considerably. Some of the original walls built in 1738-39 are incorporated in the present structure.

It is noteworthy that three Signers of the Declaration of Independence were members of families associated with the Chesterfield Meeting. These were George Clymer of Morrisville, whose body is buried in the Hanover Street Meeting House yard, Richard Stockton of Princeton and Joseph Hewes of North Carolina.

QUAKERS AS OFFICE‑HOLDERS

Owing to the original Quaker settlement in these parts, members of the Society of Friends naturally had a share in local civic affairs in the early days. Mahlon Stacy served as justice of the peace and member of the Colonial Assembly from 1684 to 1699; Thomas Lambert served as a justice for several terms as did also Peter Fretwell. The latter was also Provincial treasurer in 1699. William Biddle served as commissioner, justice, assemblyman and member of the Council. William Emley was a justice, registrar of the Ninth Tenth, member of the Assembly and of the Council. Joshua Wright served several terms as an assemblyman. Robert Murfin and John Lambert were constables.

George Hutchinson was an assemblyman, member of Council, and Colonial treasurer. John Hooton, elected to the Assembly, failed to take his seat and was fined twenty shillings. Thomas Folke, Jr., was appointed a ranger. Anthony Woodward, John Abbott, William Wood, Richard Stockton, I, John Wilkinson, Richard Ridgway, Joseph Kirkbride, Roger Park, William Watson and Thomas Folke, Jr., were named to various offices during the first fifty years of the Colony's history. Francis Davenport, however, was the original of the famous "Pooh Bah" of Gilbert and Sullivan's opera, holding at one and the same time the offices of high sheriff of Burlington County, justice of the peace of Somerset, Essex, Bergen, Gloucester, Burlington, Salem, Cape May, Monmouth and Middlesex Counties. He was also an assemblyman at various times, and a judge of the higher courts, thus serving continuously in several important offices until his death.

As time went on members of the Society held public office less frequently, partly as a result of the influx of new immigration, and partly, no doubt, owing to the Society's policy of avoiding "worldly things" as much as possible.

Since the Civil War, however, members of the Society have had a share in public office. Former City Commissioner J. Ridgway Fell is an instance in this locality, as also is State Senator A. Crozer Reeves.

MEMBERSHIP A DWINDLING ONE

Though the membership has been a gradually dwindling one, the Quaker leaven of religious tolerance, avoidance of war, personal liberty, popular education and the spirit of benevolence towards all mankind irrespective of color or race has been a patent example and influence in the community. During the Civil War and the reconstruction period, the Trenton Society of Friends united with their associates throughout the country in corporate works of relief, nursing and education. Also in the World War and subsequently in the efforts to provide for the needs of the suffering peoples in war-stricken Europe, the Friends of Trenton have played a conspicuous part.

The present officers of the Hanover Street (Trenton) Meeting (Chesterfield Monthly Meeting) are A. C. Reeves, chairman, and a council associated with him of fifteen others. Overseers of the Trenton Meeting besides Mr. Reeves are Sarah C. Reeves, Arthur E. Moon, Elizabeth B. Satterthwaite, Sarah C. Atkinson, Caroline S. Bamford, Jane H. Armstrong, Mary T. Finley, Norman B. Zimmerman, Cassel R. Ruhlinan and Dr. Joseph H. Satterthwaite. Clerks of the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting are Jane H. Armstrong, Clara M. Newbold and Helen T. Hollister. The treasurer is Arthur E. Moon, the recorder Elizabeth B. Satterthwaite and the treasurer of the trustees Harvey T. Satterthwaite. The organizations include the Lucretia Mott Parent-Teacher Association, a First Day School, and a study group. The present membership is 282.

The Trenton Meeting is now the most prominent in the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting.

QUAKER SCHOOLS THE FIRST

Friends have been credited with organizing the first schools in Trenton. Occasional instruction was given in members' homes from 1684 to 1786, when the Chesterfield Meeting reported to the Yearly Meeting that schools had been established at convenient places. Thenceforward there were always schools for the children of the members until the establishment of the public school system had made such institutions no longer necessary.

THE ORTHODOX FRIENDS

MERCER STREET

After the great schism of 1827, those who adhered to the old doctrine formed a separate Meeting. Complying with the suggestion of the Courts, the Hanover Street meeting house was surrendered to the Hicksite branch and the Orthodox met until 1856 in what had formerly been a Methodist church located at Academy and Broad Streets. Since that time the meetings have been held in the building on Mercer Street. Weekly meetings are held on Sundays and Thursdays. Monthly meetings are held alternately here and in Crosswicks. The Quarterly Meeting, known as the "Burlington and Bucks County," is held in Burlington, and the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia, designated as the Yearly Meeting "For Friends of Philadelphia and Vicinity."

The present head of the Mercer Street Meeting and the preacher is William Bishop, the clerk is James W. Edgerton, the elders are Ellen P. Reeve, Martha H. Bishop, Sarah E. Wright and Caroline Allison, and the overseers are John R. Hendrickson, Eliza F. Ivens, Mary Anna Hendrickson and James W. Edgerton. There are seventy enrolled members.

III. The Episcopalians - 1703

BY THE REVEREND HAMILTON SCHUYLER, LITT.D., RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH

PREVIOUS to the changes brought about by the war of the American Revolution, the Church of England in the Colony of New Jersey was under the general charge of the Bishop of London, who of course was non-resident and was supported largely by grants from The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts which appointed the missionaries and provided in part for their support. New Jersey was organized as a diocese in 1785 but did not obtain a bishop until 1815, when Dr. John Croes, then rector of Christ Church, New Brunswick, was chosen for the office. He was succeeded in 1832 by Dr. George W. Doane who made his home in Burlington. Then came Dr. W. Henry Odenheimer in 1858, under whom the division of the diocese took place in 1874. Up to that time the Diocese of New Jersey included the whole State, but in that year there was a division, the portion f rom Elizabeth southerly retaining the old name and the northern portion taking the title Diocese of Newark. The first bishop of that portion of the State in which Trenton is located was John Scarborough, 1875, who made Trenton the see city, and where he lived up to the time of his death in 1914. The headquarters of the diocese are in the Diocesan House at 307 Hamilton Avenue. The diocese is organized under the bishop with a Cathedral Foundation composed of clergymen and laymen to which body is committed the missionary, educational and social service work, The general legislative body is the Diocesan Convention which meets annually.

THE HOPEWELL CHURCH (CHURCH OF ENGLAND)-1703

Shortly after the coming of Thomas Lambert and Mahlon Stacy to this neighborhood in the year 1679, a group of Church of England families appears to have settled upon plantations adjacent to the Falls of the Delaware both up and down the river. Among these families whose names have come down to us were the Pearsons, the Hutchinsons, the Tyndalls, the Eatons, the Parks and the Heaths. Naturally these families would desire as soon as possible to provide for their religious needs by securing the ministrations of their church and erecting a building for worship.

The Rev. John Talbot, a missionary of The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, commonly known by the initials S.P.G., had come to Burlington and gathered a congregation there in 1702, and he also took under his pastoral charge the Church of England families which had settled along the banks of the Delaware River in the neighborhood of the Falls. There is a record of baptisms administered by him in this vicinity and entered in the parish register of St. Mary's Church, Burlington, as early as 1702-3. The names of children of the Park, Hutchinson, Tyndall and Heath families are thus recorded.

A property comprising two acres in Hopewell Township as it then was, and identified today as being a portion of what was recently known as the "Breese farm" on the River Road adjoining the grounds of the State Hospital on the west, was conveyed in 1703 by John Hutchinson out of the extensive holdings of his father Thomas Hutchinson, one of the West Jersey proprietors, to certain others whose names are given in the deed.

The deed to the Hopewell Church property is on record in the office of the secretary of state in Trenton, in Deed Book AAA (PP. 105, 114), and bears date of April 20, 1703. The deed conveys

Two acres of land from John Hutchinson, son of Thomas Hutchinson, to Andrew Heath, Richard Eayre, Abial Davis and Zebulon Heston in trust for the inhabitants of the said township of Hopewell and their successors inhabiting and dwelling within the said township forever, for the public and common use and benefit of the whole township for the erection and building of a public meeting house thereon and also for a place of burial and for no other uses, intents or purposes whatsoever.

The map on the opposite page will show the location of the Hopewell Episcopal Church as also of the Presbyterian Churches in Ewing and Maidenhead.

Location of Early Churches

A CHURCH BUILDING ERECTED, 1704‑05

Upon this property in Hopewell township was erected a church building in 1704-05. Nothing is known as to the character of this building, but it was probably a very rude affair, and long before the beginning of the nineteenth century it had utterly disappeared, probably having ceased to be used for worship when its successor, St. Michael's Church, was built in Trenton about 1747-48.

A "License to Build," the original of which is in possession of St. Michael's Church today, was issued in 1705 by Richard Ingoldsby, lieutenant governor of the Provinces of New Jersey and New York. In this license it is distinctly stated that the church was for the worship of God "according to the forms and worship of the Church of England as by law established." Thomas Tyndall and Robert Eaton are named as church-wardens and the church was to be called by the name of "Christ Church," The document also sets forth that the minister and vestry of the church are granted "all such power and privileges as the minister, church-wardens and vestrymen usually have and enjoy in the Kingdom of England."

Besides the occasional services rendered by the Rev. John Talbot to the Hopewell congregation in the early days, there is evidence that other clergymen, mostly itinerants, officiated in the church from time to time, but there is no record of the services of a settled minister until a much later period. The Rev. John Sharpe, who came to this country in 1702 and subsequently became chaplain to Lord Cornbury, makes mention in his Journal of ministrations to the Hopewell Church under dates November 7, 1705, December 8, 1706, December 9, 1706, and March 10, 1706. On Whitsunday, April 23, 1706, Sharpe records that he preached at Hopewell Church and that Lord Cornbury, the governor nf the Province, was present in the congregation.

The names of other itinerants and missionaries who from time to time conducted services and attended to the pastoral needs of the congregation as gleaned from the records of the S.P.G. include the Rev. Thoroughgood Moore 1705‑07, the Rev. Mr. May before 1714, the Rev. Thomas Holliday 1714‑17, the Rev. Robert Walker, the Rev. William Harrison 1721‑23 and the Rev. William Lindsay 1735‑45. 2

2 For an extensive account of the Hopewell Church with full reference to documents and authorities, see Schuyler, A History of St. Michal’rs Church, Trenton, Chaps. III and IV.

The Hopewell Church property, the legal title to which devolved upon the congregation of St. Michael's Church as the direct heir and successor to this congregation was sold by St. Michael's Church in 1838, the parish retaining only a small section which had been used as a burying ground.

In Hall's History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton (p. 18, 2nd edition, 1912), there is a description of the Hopewell graveyard plot, evidently as Dr. Hall saw it when he published the first edition in 1859.

"The inclosure is made by a stone wall now falling into ruins and has the appearance of having been designed for a family cemetery. The only gravestones remaining are those of Samuel Tucker, 1789, and Mrs. Tucker, 1787, . . . one in memory of John, son of William and Elizabeth Clayton, who died November 6, 1757 (possibly 1737), aged 19 years; another of 'Ma [probably Margaret] the wife of John Dagworthy, Esq., who died May 16, 1729, aged 37 years'; and a few which cannot be deciphered beyond 'Grace Da‑' or 'Hend,' etc, It is said that the widow of William Trent, whose name was given to the town, was buried here, but there is no trace of the grave."

Doubtless during the period before the graveyard of St. Michael's Church was established about 1747-48, several generations of Church people were buried in the old Hopewell graveyard, but there remains no record of the names of any such, except of those who were buried in the little plot where lie the remains of Samuel Tucker and a few others.

Since the Tucker plot was originally protected by a stone wall, these graves alone have survived the ravages of times, while the others scattered over the original two acres remain unidentified. 3

3 See Appendix 1, No. 5, A History of St. Michael's Church, Trenton.

Burial Plot of Samuel Tucker

It seems to be certain that Mary Trent, the widow of William Trent, from whom Trenton took its name, the record of whose death appears in the parish register of St. Michael's Church under date "December 15, 1772, 83 years," was buried in the old Hopewell graveyard. The author of A History of St. Michael's Church gives his reasons for believing that Mary Trent elected to be buried there because the body of her distinguished husband who died in z724 was likewise interred in that graveyard. Of this fact there is no direct proof, but it is known that William Trent was interested in the Hopewell Church and in all probability after making Trenton his home in 1720 was a regular worshipper there up to the time of his death in Trenton, December 25, 1724. 4

4 See Appendix I, No. 4, "The Burial Place of William and Mary Trent," A History of St. Michael's Church, Trenton.

ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH (SUCCESSOR TO THE HOPEWELL CHURCH)

NORTH WARREN STREET

The date when St. Michael's parish as such came into being and a church building was erceted in Trenton cannot be precisely determined. It is known that a deed for the property (deed missing since 1755) was given by John Coxe, son of Colonel Daniel Coxe, previous to 1748. The land had been bought by John Coxe at a sheriff's sale in 1742, the price paid being 48 pounds 10 shillings. This land on which the church building stands was a portion of the property included in the original purchase by William Trent from Mahlon Stacy, Jr., in 1714. 5

5 See A History of St. Michael's Church, Trenton, P. 44.

A church building was erected certainly by the early autumn of 1748, since Peter Kalm in his Travels into North America noted its presence in giving a short description of Trenton under the date of October 28, 1748. How the parish got its title "St. Michael's" does not appear, but the probabilities are that such was done because it was upon the Festival of St. Michael which falls upon September 29 that the cornerstone was laid or the church perhaps dedicated. The minutes of the vestry which have been preserved from 1755 onwards throw no light upon the subject nor tell anything as to the character of the building or its cost, The title, St. Michael's Church, does not appear upon the minutes of the vestry until 1761, references being to the "English Church" or simply the "Church" in contradistinction to dissenting places of worship which were in those days commonly termed "meeting houses."

A lottery "for raising Three Hundred and Ninety-three pounds fifteen shillings for finishing and completing the Church in said town" (Trenton) was advertised in the Pennsylvania Gazette, June 20, 1751, but the lottery does not appear to have been drawn until the late spring of 1752. 6

6 ibid., Appendix J, P. 345.

The earliest indication as to the personnel of the leading members of the church is found in the list of the managers of the lottery advertised in 1751, "for finishing the church in Trenton." Of the following names, those marked * indicate persons whose names are subsequently found on the roll of the vestry of St, Michael's Church.

1751, June 20  (Advertisement), Colonial Documents 1677 - 1776

Trenton Lottery for finishing Church in said town to be drawn under the management of *Robert Pearson, *Robert Lettis Hooper, *John Allen, David Dunbar, *Elijah Bond, *John Dagworthy, Jr., Daniel Biles and *William Pidgeon and *Daniel Coxe in Hopewell and John Berrian in Rocky Hill.  7

7 ibid., Appendix J.

In 1757 a petition for the erection of a barracks was presented to the General Assembly of the Province, "by Magistrates, Freeholders and inhabitants of the Town of Trenton." Among the signers are the following, who were then or subsequently became, members of St. Michael's vestry:

Joseph Higbee, Charles Axford, J. Warrell, Jno. Barnes, Thomas Barnes, Abraham Cottnam, and there also appears the name of Michael Houdin, at that time the resident minister of St. Michael's. The same and other names appear on similar petitions, viz.: Dan Coxe, William Pidgeon, John Dagworthy, R. L. Hooper.

In the "Act for Building the Barracks," passed April 15, 1758, also appear the names of two other vestrymen - John Allen and Richard Saltar. 8

8  ibid., pp. 84, 85.

The earliest settled minister of St. Michael's Church seems to have been the Rev. Michael Houdin, who assumed charge of the congregation about 1750 in response to an invitation from the church people of Trenton. He remained here for about seven years.

Other missionaries serving St. Michael's Church up to the period of the War of Independence were the Rev. Augur Treadwell, from 1762 to the time of his death in Trenton, August 19, 1765; the Rev. William Thompson, 1769 to 1773; and the Rev. George Panton, who was in charge when the war broke out, and being a Tory sympathizer was compelled to flee the town after the Declaration of Independence. He was subsequently commissioned as Chaplain of the Prince of Wales American Regiment and at the conclusion of peace went to Nova Scotia as S.P.G. missionary at Yarmouth. 9

9 For biographical sketches of the Rev. Michael Houdin and the Rev. Augur Treadwell, see Chap. VII, A History of St. Michael’s Church, and of the Rev. George Panton, see both Chap. X, ibid., and Chap. II of this book.

St. Michael's Church

THE CHURCH CLOSED DURING THE REVOLUTION

Owing to the excited state of public feeling directed against everything British which the War of the Revolution brought to a head, the vestry of St. Michael's Church, several of whom were prominent Tories, passed a resolution Sunday, July 7, 1776, the day before the Declaration of Independence was publicly read from the steps of the Court House, and voted to close the church for an indefinite period.

Besides the rector, one of the wardens and three at least of the vestrymen held pronounced loyalist views and subsequently took an active part on the British side. All these who survived the war went into permanent exile with their families. The church was closed and all services suspended for a period of seven years, The church building and furniture suffered great damage, at the hands of both armies, as each in turn occupied the town. The church building was used as a barracks by the Hessian troops for some days previous to the Battle of Trenton and was subsequently occupied as a hospital by the Continentals.

A bill for damage to the property was filed by the parish authorities in 1782, the inventory showing losses and destruction amounting to 173 pounds 4 shillings. There is nothing to show that this claim was ever paid. 10

10 See Chap. X, A History of St. Michael’s Church, Trenton.

Upon the conclusion of peace, a meeting of the congregation was held January 4, 1783, and a resolution to open the church and resume the services was adopted. The next twenty-five or thirty years were years of struggle and financial stress. The parish was depleted in members and had lost many of its staunchest supporters through the exodus of loyalists. It was difficult to maintain the services owing to the scarcity of clergy and the lack of funds to provide for their maintenance. With the exception of the Rev. William Frazer, who became rector in 1788 and served until his death July 6, 1795, and the Rev. Henry Waddell, who began his ministry in 1798 and died in office January 20, 1811, all the rectorates up to 1836 were of brief duration. Often the parish was without a settled clergyman and had to depend upon such occasional services as the diocesan authorities could provide.

NOTED NAMES CONNECTED WITH ST. MICHAEL'S

During the post‑war period, as previously, the vestry of St. Michael's Church continued to include many prominent men. Those whose names appear on the roll during this period, say from 1800 to 1825, may be taken as typical. Many of them were leaders in the community, and some of them were of national distinction. To mention the names of a few such: Charles and Joseph Higbee, Jonathan Rhea, John Rutherford, James A. Stevens, Samuel Meredith, Henry Clymer, George Woodruff, William Halsted, Jr., Zachariah Rossell, Garret D. Wall, Pearson Hunt, Barnt DeKlyn, Henry Kean, and Dr. Plunkett Fleeson Glentworth. None stood higher in Trenton and in the State during this period than did these."

" See Biographical Sketches, Series B, and Appendix N, "Men of St. Michael's Church Prominent in Public Life," A History of St. Michael's Church, Trenton.

During the long rectorate of the Rev. Samuel Starr, 1836‑55, the parish consolidated its position and increased greatly in members and general prosperity. From the close of that period onwards, though there were from time to time financial vicissitudes and parochial disagreements, St. Michael's has known an orderly progress.

At various times since the beginning of the nineteenth century the church building has been enlarged, improved and renovated, notably in 1819 when the church was almost entirely rebuilt, in 1843 when it was repaired and extended, and again in 1862 and 1870 when extensive additions were made, as also in 1886 and 1906.

Since the War of Independence, St. Michael's has been served by twenty rectors, of whom the Rev. William Frazer had a ministry of seven years, the Rev. Henry Waddell of thirteen years, the Rev, Samuel Starr of nineteen years, the Rev. William Hude Neilson of sixteen years, the Rev. Oscar S. Bunting of seven years, and the Rev. W. Strother Jones of twelve years. 12 The present rector, the Rev. Samuel Steinmetz, has held office since 1920.

12 For biographical sketches of rectors, see A History of St. Michael’s Church.

Among the outstanding extra-parochial events which have been held in the parish were a meeting of the General Convention of the Church in 18o1, when Dr. Moore was consecrated to the see of New York and the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion established, and the election in 1815 of the first bishop of New Jersey, the Right Rev. John Croes.

In 1925 Mr. Newton A. K. Bugbee, senior warden, purchased for the parish the plot of ground on the north side of the church, thus affording a clear space up to the corner of Perry Street.

Many fine memorials, silver vessels and stained-glass windows have been presented to the parish in recent years. The chapel was rebuilt and adorned in 1918. There is also a substantial endowment fund.

Many distinguished Trentonians lie buried in St. Michael's graveyard. The earliest tombstone of which the record remains and is decipherable bears the date of 1763 and the latest 1893. Between these periods many hundred bodies have found their resting place in this little "God's acre." To mention a few of the better known names: David Brearley, warden, chief justice of New Jersey and first grand master of Masons in the State, over whose tomb the Grand Lodge of New Jersey erected a fine memorial slab in 1924; the Rev. William Frazer, rector of St. Michael's Church, of whom it is inscribed that "he left not an enemy on earth"; Thomas Cordon, prominent in the masonic fraternity and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas; William Kerwood, another prominent Mason with a tombstone erected by Trenton Lodge No. 5; Jonathan Rhea, officer in the Revolutionary War and the second president of the Trenton Banking Company; Rensselaer Williams, one of the founders of the Trenton Academy; the Rev. Henry Waddell, rector of St, Michael's Church and a man of distinction in the annals of the early American Church; Joseph Wood, mayor of Trenton for two terms; James D. Westcott, secretary of State for New Jersey; and George Woodruff, who at his death was said to have been the oldest member of the Bar in the State. He was the original owner of "Woodlands," the property now occupied by the Trenton Country Club. A stone slab set in the south wall bears the names of John Coxe, who gave the deed for the church property, Daniel Coxe and Rebecca Coxe, children of Colonel Daniel Coxe, whose bodies were buried in a vault under the aisle of the church. Here are also the graves of several generations of the Henry, Higbee and Hunt families, names notable in the early annals of the town. There is a monument to an infant daughter of Joseph Bonaparte and Annette (Holton) Savage, who died December 6, 1823, aged four years.

St. Michael's Cburch observed the two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of its parochial life in 1928.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: In making frequent references to A History of St. Michael's Church, Trenton, the writer of this narrative feels he should offer an apology, or rather an explanation. Up to the time this History was published in 1926 there had been little or nothing known or printed concerning the parish. In A History of St. Michael's Church there are copious references to documents which the author had consulted in preparing that work, but as all such are collated in the History it seemed simpler in the present instance to refer directly to the text of the book which contains all the information available on the subject.‑H.S.

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH - 1848

CENTRE STREET

St. Paul's Church was the first daughter of St. Michael's. The parish was organized in 1848, by a group of persons who deemed the time was ripe for another Episcopal church, and that the location of such was needed in South Trenton. The building was erected in 1848. The wardens and vestrymen chosen were: John Hewitt, Josiah N. Bird, Edward Cooper, Jacob B. Gaddis, Charles Hewitt, William E. Hunt, Abram Salger, Joseph Tompkins.

The formation of St. Paul's parish was due to the establishment about that time of the Cooper & Hewitt iron mills in Trenton, which drew here a large number of industrial workers, chiefly Irish and German, though there was evidently a contingent which desired the ministrations of the Episcopal Church. Peter Cooper, the New York philanthropist, was the head of the firm and the other member was his son-in-law, Abram S. Hewitt, subsequently mayor of New York City.

St. Paul's Church has had twelve rectors, of whom the Rev. Benjamin Franklin was the first; others were Francis Clements, J. L. Maxwell, Thomas Drumm, John C. Brown, John Bakewell, Henry S. Williamson, Fred H. Post, J. McAlpin Harding, Horace T. Owen, Wilson E. Grimshaw, and the present rector, the Rev. William H. Decker. Of these the Rev. Mr. Harding served from 1886 to 1906 and the Rev. Horace T. Owen from 1906 to 1924.

TRINITY CHURCH - 1858

ACADEMY STREET

Trinity Church was organized in 1858 by certain parishioners separating themselves from St. Michael's Church for that purpose. The ostensible occasion of the break was found in a disagreement over the method of calling a new rector to St. Michael's, the Rev. Richard Bache Duane. The dissentients sent a letter of protest to the vestry under date June 23, 1858. The remonstrance having proved unavailing, a meeting of the protestants was held on October 28, 1858, and steps were taken to organize a new parish. The original vestry chosen was as follows: wardens, Wesley P. Hunt and Alfred S. Livingston; vestrymen, Thomas Cadwalader, Philemon Dickinson, Mercer Beasley, Charles H. Higginson, Edward D. Weld, William M. Babbitt, William W. Norcross, William E. Hunt, Samuel Simons and William Howell. Charles H. Higginson was elected secretary. At a meeting of the vestry, held November 3, 1858, a call was extended to the Rev. Hannibal Goodwin, of St. Paul's Church, Newark, to become rector of the new parish, and he assumed charge the following December. Services were first held in a hall, which had been fitted up for the purpose, where Dolton's Block now stands on North Warren Street.

There appear to have been thirty-nine parishioners connected with the parish when it was organized.

The first parish meeting was held April 26, 1859, at which it was resolved "That the title by which this Church shall be known be, 'The Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church, Trenton."' The same wardens and vestrymen were reelected, excepting that G. A. Perdicaris and Dr. J. L, Taylor were substituted for William E. Hunt and William Howell.

A lot for a new church with a frontage of seventy feet on Academy Street was purchased for $3,500, January 25, 1860, and steps were immediately taken to erect a building, the cornerstone of which was laid on June 15 of the same year. The church was occupied on October 14 following.

During the first ten years of its life the parish, doubtless due to the Civil War and other disturbing influences, had a precarious existence and the property was at one time offered for sale. The parish surmounted these difficulties and with the coming of the Rev. Albert U. Stanley in 1867 a more prosperous era ensued. The Rev. Mr. Stanley was succeeded by the Rev. Henry M. Barbour in 1875, who held the rectorship for nineteen years. He was succeeded by the Rev. Joseph C, Hall, who remained only one year, followed by the Rev. Charles C. Edmunds, who resigned in 1899.

In January 1900 the Rev. Hamilton Schuyler, the present rector, was called and began his ministry on the first Sunday in February of that year.

Trinity Church has been enlarged and renovated many times, especially during the rectorate of the Rev. Mr. Barbour and of the present incumbent. Its property is valued today at some $200,000, and it has endowment funds totalling over $50,000. It possesses many beautiful and costly memorials.

Including the present one, Trinity Church has had ten rectors and has numbered among its vestry and parishioners many of the leading men and families of Trenton. Among the better-known men who have served in the vestry during the seventy years of its existence are found the names of the following: Wesley P. Hunt, A. S. Livingston, Thomas Cadwalader, Philemon Dickinson, G. A. Perdicaris, John P. Stockton, S. Meredith Dickinson, Thomas W. Clymer, William P. McIlvane, Benjamin F. Lee, Richard A. Donnelly, William H. Brokaw, Frederic A. Duggan, Frank S. Katzenbach, Jr., Edward L. Katzenbach, William T. White, Ferdinand W. Roebling, Jr., and Arthur D. Forst. 13

13  For an extended account of the parish, see Schuyler, An Historical Sketch of Trinity Church, 1858 - 1910.

CHRIST CHURCH - 1885

HAMILTON AND WHITAKER AVENUES

Christ Church had its beginnings in a Sunday school which was started by Mrs. Scarborough, the wife of the bishop, in order to provide for the needs of families living in the Hamilton Avenue district. Sunday evening services were started in September 1885, by the Rev. Frederick Post, rector of St. Paul's Church, Trenton, and subsequently continued for about a year by the Rev. Henry M. Barbour, rector of Trinity Church, and his assistant, the Rev. Elliot White. The first minister in charge was the Rev. William Hicks, who was followed by the Rev. Charles A. Tibbats, and the first rector was the Rev. Robert Mackellar. Then came the Rev. Edward Jennings Knight in 1891, who remained until he was elected missionary hishop of Western Colorado. He was succeeded by the Rev. Robert W. Trenbath, 1907 - 15. After Bishop Matthews was elected he himself became rector of the parish, and Christ Church was made the pro-cathedral. He appointed as his vicar and a canon the Rev. William H. Moor, the present incumbent.

The cornerstone of Christ Church was laid in 1887. The members of the first vestry were John G. Burgelin, senior warden, and Robert Surtees, junior warden; vestrymen were Eagleton Hanson, William E. Ireland, Isaac Yates and Thomas Perry.

After Mrs. Scarborough's death, a window was placed in the church to her memory. The window bears the inscription

Catherine Elizabeth Scarborough

1847‑1909

Founder of this Church

St. Matthias Mission, Schiller Avenue, was started by the Rev. W. H, Moor of Christ Pro-Cathedral in 1925 to provide for a group of church people living in that vicinity. The services are held in the old Volunteer Fire House on Schiller Avenue. The mission is served by a lay-reader with regular ministrations by the Rev. Mr. Moor. There is a communicant list of about fifty names.

GRACE CHURCH - 1896

NORTH CLINTON AND SHERIDAN AVENUES

Grace Church had been started as a mission of St. Michael's Church in 1875, the ground being the gift of Samuel K. Wilson, a warden of St. Michael's Church. In 1896 it was organized as an independent parish under the Rev. Milton A. Craft, who had been assistant minister in the charge of the chapel since 1893. Two flourishing missions have since in turn sprung out of Grace Church, St. Andrew's in 1895 and St. Luke's in 1913. Those responsible for the formation of the parish, besides Mr. Craft, were James Walkett, George Cochran, Henry Robinson, Harry Klagg, Jr., and Charles Bradbury.

The present and the only rector the parish has ever had is the Rev. Milton A. Craft, whose ministry covers a period of thirty-five years. His twenty-fifth anniversary was observed by the parish an September 24, 1918.

ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH – 1901

WEST STATE STREET AND SOUTH OVERBROOK AVENUE

All Saints' Church grew out of a mission which was established in the rapidly growing Cadwalader section in 1894. This mission was first served by members of the Associate Mission of Trenton, the Rev. Thomas A. Conover being in charge for several years. Services were first held in the Cadwalader mansion. Mr. Conover was succeeded in 1900 by the Rev. Ralph E. Urban, who became rector the following year when a parish organization was effected. The cornerstone of the present parish house was laid on All Saints' Day, 1896, and the first service held on Easter Day, 1897. The ground was deeded by the Cadwalader estate. Members of the first vestry elected in 1901 were Louis H. McKee and Dr. Joseph M. Wells, wardens; Josiah Hollies, Dr. William N. Mumper and James C. Tattersall, vestrymen.

In 1927, the congregation determined to erect an appropriate church building, the parish house in which services had hitherto been maintained for over twenty years having proved inadequate for the needs of the parish. The cornerstone of a new church, costing some $8,000, was laid on All Saints' Day, November 1, 1927, and the building was occupied in the spring of 1928.

ST. JAMES’ CHURCH - 1910

GREENWOOD AVENUE AND LOGAN STREET

St. James' Church was started as a mission in 1894 and placed in charge of the Rev. Thomas Conover, then the head of the Associate Mission. It was organized as a parish in 1910. The first rector was the Rev. William G. Wherry, and the following composed the first vestry: Joseph Everill, rector's warden; John Wilcox, people's warden; T. Mallam, A. Rowley, J. K. Chambers, Wm. Layton, H. Robinson, R. Jackson, A. Wildblood, C. E. Wannop.

The present rector is the Rev. William B. Rogers, who has held the position since 1912.

ST. ELIZABETH HUNGARIAN MISSION - 1916

A mission for the Hungarian-speaking peoples was organized in 1916 by Bishop Matthews. The Rev. George E. St. Claire, then a layman but subsequently admitted to holy orders, was placed in charge of the congregation. Services were held for a period in St. Paul's Church and subsequently a small cha