Category: History

This is the sixth in a series of excerpts from “A Journey of Faith for 150 years: A history of the Princeton United Methodist Church” by Ruth L. Woodward, Copyright 1997.

Thomas O’Hanlon’s preaching results in “the greatest outpouring of grace” but trustees can’t meet payroll

In November 1859 a committee was again appointed to investigate a course of Lectures for the benefit of the church. In February 1860 it was announced that $50 had been netted from the lecture series. In December an application was granted for a Singing School to hold sessions in the Lecture Room; however, permission was soon revoked as the school failed to comply with whatever conditions had been set.

In 1860 the Annual Conference appointed the Reverend John W. Kramer to the Princeton charge. However, he resigned after five weeks to take a position with the Seaman’s Friend Society and the Reverend Isaac Wiley was appointed in his place.

Wiley had spent three years as a medical missionary in China;  at a time when few people travelled very far from home he must have had many interesting anecdotes. He spent the usual two year tenure in Princeton. In 1872 he was elected a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. A committee had been appointed to find housing for Kramer, but since Wiley was a widower the need for a parsonage could be postponed.

In December 1860, in anticipation of the spring meeting of the Annual Conference the Trustees “suggested” that they be provided with an unmarried man “as will suit our wants.” When notified that there was no unmarried man in the Conference who would be suitable for their needs, they requested, if possible, the appointment of Thomas O’Hanlon, then serving in New Brunswick. Since O’Hanlon received a bachelor’s degree from the College of New Jersey in 1863 he must have been attending classes during his ministry in Princeton.

Whether the special needs of the church were a revival of spiritual life, the raising of funds, or both, Thomas O’Hanlon seems to have been the right man. O’Hanlon was a warm and gifted speaker, and the Princeton church is said to have experienced the greatest outpouring of grace in its history during his pastorate. Hundreds of people are said to have responded to his call and “bowed the knee” at his meetings. Church records do not reflect that great an influx of new members; perhaps many united with other churches and for others it may have been only a temporary enthusiasm.

O’Hanlon apparently also had ideas about fund raising. In the spring of 1862, when funds were very low, he set forth a financial plan that listed amounts to assesseach member, presumably based on estimates of income. Assesments ranged from $1.00 to $50.00, with the average ranging between $5.00 and $8.00. If this method had worked it would have been possible to pay the pastor’s salary of $500 and parsonage rent of $135, as well as salaries for the sexton, presiding elder, and collectors. Class leaders were to inform members of their assessments and make collections. These monies were over and above pew rents, which members were urged to pay in advance, if possible. A list is available showing which pews rented for $5, $6, $8, $10, $15, and $20 respectively, but it is impossible to determine what factors determined desirability. Size may have been a factor, as well as closeness to the preacher, distance from a draft, etc. Besides the assessments and the pew rents, members were asked to contribute to a penny collection to help pay for light and fuel.

The trustees still had to grapple with other day-to-day problems. In July 1862 a committee was appointed to select the proper site for a privy in the rear of the church; the privy was completed by September. Later in the fall four tons of coal had to be purchased and a committee was appointed to solicit. subscriptions to pay for this necessity.

That year the church received some unwelcome notoriety when, on the evening of November 13, Charles Lewis, a drifter in town, temporarily left his horse and wagon in the church’s horse sheds. Lewis was later convicted of the murder and robbery of James Rowand, a jeweler and watchmaker. As Rowand walked from his shop on Nassau Street to his home, just beyond the cemetery on Witherspoon Street, he received a blow from a heavy club which fractured his skull.

On January 2, 1863 it was resolved to make Bro. O’Hanlon a “Donation visit.” It is not known whether this was to solicit a donation or to pay a portion of the’ pastor’s salary, but funds were very low. The following month the Treasurer, who showed a balance of $24.24, was ordered to pay the Sexton $25 on account of his salary. In March it was noted that insufficient money had been collected from pew rents to pay the minister’s salary, and in May, at a congregational meeting held after the Sabbath service, it was resolved, that in the future pew rents would be collected monthly in advance.

This is the fifth in a series of excerpts from “A Journey of Faith for 150 years: A history of the Princeton United Methodist Church” by Ruth L. Woodward, Copyright 1997.

The first African American woman joins, gas lights are added, the young Rev. George Batchelder attracts large crowds.

Times were changing fast, the Princeton Gas Light Company was organized in 1849, and in March 1852 it was determined to have gas in the church “if Practicable.” In September 1855 the street commissioners were asking that the trustees pave the walk in front of the church. An appeal to the Common Council managed to delay this action, since it was not until June 1857 that a committee was appointed to supervise the laying of the pavement, and the work was not actually done until September 1858.

The fall of 1855 also saw a decision to purchase a furnace for the purpose of warming the church and to purchase shades for the gas lights. When Susan Voorhees was admitted as a probational member in 1855 it was an unusual event for that time and it was considered necessary for membership records to describe her as “Colored.” She was admitted to full membership on January 2, 1856.

Pew rents were difficult to collect and there was a constant need for extra money. In May 1856 there was a plan to secure speakers to lecture for the benefit of the church, and in July of that year it was decided to rent out a room in the basement of the church. In October receipts from a Harvest Home helped to replenish the treasury. The following spring $200 was due on a $1,000 mortgage, and the treasury was $7.00 short of meeting the required amount. A committee was appointed to borrow this amount.

In 1857 horse sheds were to be built in the rear of the church lot for all members who wanted them and were willing to pay for them. Two years later Dr. Bartine was given permission to cut a gate in the fence between the church and his property, he having purchased one of the sheds to use during the week, the church to have the use of it on the Sabbath.

The Reverend George Batchelder, who served the Princeton church from 1857 to 1859 seems to ‘have been a particularly charismatic young man. Only twenty-one when he was appointed to this church, he was described as “one of the most eloquent men of American Methodism,” attracting large crowds whenever he preached. Always in frail health, he became ill enough in 1862 to be granted the superannuated relationship by Conference. After travelling west in the hope of improving his health he returned to Princeton with his wife, the sister of Oliver Bartine. He died the following year, probably of tuberculosis.

In spite of a constant scarcity of funds the trustees did their best to keep the church building in good condition. In 1858 the basement was painted and whitewashed and new curtains procured for its windows. The upper floor of the church was painted and a railing and platform built for the front of the pulpit. The following year a second bridge was built in front of the church; i.e. , a connection from the sidewalk to one ‘of the lower entries.

 

This is the fourth in a series of excerpts from “A Journey of Faith for 150 years: A history of the Princeton United Methodist Church” by Ruth L. Woodward, Copyright 1997.

With a full-time minister in Princeton, a number of the Cedar Grove Methodists had joined this congregation. On May 30, 1856 their chapel was purchased for $400 by the philanthropist Paul Tulane, the founder of Tulane University, who had been born and raised in the Cedar Grove community. He maintained the building as a community chapel for thirty years, with ministers from the Princeton Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, the Dutch Reformed Church of Blawenburg, and the Baptist Church of Hopewell alternating in conducting Sunday afternoon services. Eventually Tulane conveyed the property to the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton. It later passed through the hands of several private owners, before being razed so that the glass and lumber could be used in renovating the old schoolhouse into a residence.

Joseph Ashbrook was succeeded by Israel Saunders Corbit, who was thirty-two at the time of his appointment to Princeton. Corbit’s oratory was said to have been brilliant enough to attract not only townspeople to the Methodist services, but a number of the seminary students as well. He increased the membership with more than 150 new members and probationers, including over fifty adult baptisms. However, he must also have been an extremely strict disciplinarian. Several members were removed from the church rolls because of their failure to attend class meetings regularly, including Dr. Bartine who was the president of the Board of Trustees (editor’s note, he had purchased the land for the building as the ‘shell buyer’ and was the son of a previous pastor of this church!). Apparently a doctor’s busy and unpredictable schedule was not sufficient excuse for the Reverend Corbit. Bartine joined the Methodists who were meeting at Cedar Grove, and with true Christian forgiveness transferred his membership back to Princeton when Corbit was succeeded by the Reverend Samuel Monroe.

Corbit began the systematic keeping of church records. The first infant baptism that he performed was for six-year-old Louise Marion Mershon in June 1849. The first adult baptisms on September 23, 1849, were fourteen-year-old William Vandewater, and Catherine Leggett, the wife of William Leggett, who served faithfully as church sexton for many years, in spite of seldom receiving his salary on time. The first wedding Corbit recorded is that of Dr. Oliver Bartine and Mary Cottrell on May 21, 1850. Miss Cotrell lived on Cottrell Lane, which has since become Moore Street. That year Corbit also presided at the wedding of Emily Young and the Reverend Aaron E. Ballard, who was to become pastor of the Princeton church in 1852.

The trustees held many of their meetings at Dr. Bartine’s office and were kept busy checking proposals for carpentry work and plastering the interior of the church. Apparently there was no general-contractor and payments were made for bricks, stone, sand, etc. as work progressed. In May 1849 the trustees resolved to “proceed to finish the Church as soon as practicable.” Decisions were made that the seats were to be continued against the walls on each side and the walls would be wainscoted; iron columns would support the galleries if the cost were not too much. Everything needed to be in good order for the dedication of the building on October 17, 1849,

Corbit aimed high in seeking a speaker for the dedication service (in 1849). On September 24 he wrote to the Reverend Stephen Olin, President of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, inviting him to be present for the occasion. Olin had previously taught at Franklin College in Athens, Georgia, and had served as president of Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. A noted orator and one of the well-known Methodists of his time, he was instrumental in organizing the Evangelical Alliance, one of the earliest ecumenical organizations. As president of two Methodist colleges he tried to arouse the denomination, both clergy and laity, to the importance of higher education. He was one of the few Methodist ministers of his time who believed in theological training for the clergy.

Excerpt’s from Corbit’s invitation read:

For more than 20 years, efforts were made to establish Methodism in this town, but without success: the great difficulty in the way was the want of a suitable place in which to hold public services; for so great was the prejudice existing against our church, that no such accommodations could be procured. However, that difficulty has been finally overcome. Our Conference at its Annual Session held in April 1847 Resolved to build a House here, and pledged itself to raise by the personal efforts of its members the sum of $3000 toward the enterprise. After tailing hard from that time until the present, we have succeeded in the erection of a neat brick edifice 48 by 65 feet at a cost of $6000. Our debt on the day of dedication will be about $1600; the greater part of which we hope to raise on that day. . . .

Princeton is one of the most beautiful and flourishing towns in our state: occupies a central position on the line of the Rail Road between New York and Philadelphia. It Contains a population of 4000 souls. For more than one hundred years, this Community has been controlled by Calvinistic influence. The Presbyterians have laboured zealously to exclude all other denominations, and especially have their efforts been directed against Methodism: they have represented our beloved Church as being a compound of ignorance and enthusiasm; but by the blessing of God we have overcome these prejudices to some extent, although we have much even now with which to contend.

You are doubtless aware of the high Literary Character of this place, and this fact renders it very desirable that a Man of Renown and acknowledged Literary acquirements should dedicate our Church.

Unfortunately, no records are available to tell us what happened at the dedication, but it seems certain that Olin did not participate. His 1849-50 Annual Report states that he had become ill shortly after the 1849 commencement, making it impossible for him to attend to his duties until the end of the fall term. We can only hope that Corbit was able to obtain the services of an equally eloquent orator and that it was a beautiful autumn day in Princeton, with the trees a riot of color. The only traffic noise from Nassau Street would have been the sounds of a few horses’ hooves. The congregation had already chosen “What hath God wrought,” as the inscription on the cornerstone, and this thought must have been much in their minds that day.

Corbit’s optimism about raising enough money to payoff the final construction costs was ill founded. In the spring of 1850 it was resolved that “the trustees approve of the females get up a fair to help in Liquidating debt of church.” The fair was apparently a success since part of the proceeds helped to payoff an outstanding note, and the remainder of the proceeds were left at the disposal of the fair committee to be used for the benefit of the church. In April of that year Conference removed Princeton from the status of Circuit and it became the Princeton Station.