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History of Orange County
Town of Montgomery
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ST. ANDREWS CHURCH, WALDEN.
This Church, like many others in the United States, owes its origin to the pious exertions of the venerable society of London for propagating the gospel in foreign parts. As early as about the year 1732 or ‘33, this society sent out the Rev. Richard Charlton as their missionary for the parish of New Windsor, then forming a portion of Ulster county. This parish, together with the surrounding country, was then but thinly settled, and contained but few families professedly attached to the Church of England. The principal of these were the families of Messrs. Alsop, Elhison, Chambers and Lawrence, residing in New Windsor; and those of Messrs. Colden, Matthews, Wileman, Mackentosh, Bull, etc., in the interior part of the county, and all included in the parish of New Windsor. Mr. Charlton officiated for some time in private houses, until (being a young man) he married in New York; whither, with the consent of the society, he soon after removed.
The society supplied his place by removing their missionary, the Rev. W. Kilpatrick, from Cape Seir in Newfoundland to the parish of New Windsor. But he, having a large family and being a corpulent man, soon became tired of living in the country: a feeling, which, it appears, was most cordially reciprocated.
After his departure the mission continued vacant until the year 1744, when Dr. Johnson of Connecticut recommended Mr. Hezekiah Watkins, (who had several brothers then settled in this part of the country) as a proper person to be sent home for orders. Accordingly, a small subscription was raised for him, which enabled him to go to England, where he obtained holy orders, and was appointed by the society their missionary, with a salary of only $30 per year, to officiate at three divisions of the mission, viz at New Windsor, on the Hudson River; at the Otter Kill, in Orange County; and at Walkill, in Ulster County. At this period, and during the incumbency of Mr. Watkins, no church had been built, excepting that on the Walkill division, where a temporary log house with a fire place in it was erected. In this, it is said, the small congregation met very harmoniously and comfortably in winter. This very primitive house of worship was located at the fork of the roads now leading from St. Andrews to Shawangunk and Walden.
The circumstances attending and consequent upon the grant of 500 acres of land, for the support of the churches at Newburgh and New Windsor, belonging more properly to the history of those churches, they need not he detailed here.
Mr. Watkins died, after a long, lingering disease. He is represented as having been a single man, of an easy and inoffensive disposition, so that he lived happily with his people to his death. But his talents as a preacher were not of a popular cast, and therefore not calculated to increase the number of his flock. In the year 1768 or ‘69 the Rev. John Sayre was appointed by the society in London as their missionary to this station, then known by the name of Newburgh and parts adjacent.
Soon after entering upon the discharge of his ditties, Mr. Sayre removed from Newburgh and located himself in the country back; preaching alternately at Newburgh, Otter Kill division and Walkill division or Log Church. Being a man of talents and a very popular preacher, he was very successful in his ministrations, and gathered large congregations at the different stations where he preached. He succeeded in obtaining a charter of incorporation for each of the three churches under his care, viz: by the name of St. George’s Church at Newburgh, in the county of Ulster; St. Andrew’s Church in the precinct of Walkill, in the county of Ulster; and St. David’s Church in the county of Orange—all dated July 30, 1770. These charters, issued by royal authority of George 3d, king of England, were granted by Cadwallader Colden, Esq., Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the province of New York and parts adjacent, in council. The second named charter constituted the congregation of the Walkill Church a body corporate, by the name, style and title of “The Rector and Members of St. Andrew’s Church, in the Precinct of the Walkill, in the County of Ulster;” and appointed Cadwallader Colden, Jun. and Andrew Graham, church wardens; and George Graham, John Blake, James Galatian, Charles Brodhead and John Davidson, vestrymen.
Stimulated by this success, the congregations of St. David and St. Andrew’s determined each to build forthwith a suitable house for public worship. That of St. David’s was soon raised, enclosed and glazed, but never finished. The congregation of St. Andrew’s raised by subscription among themselves, and in the city of New York and elsewhere, about £400, with which they immediately commenced the building of a church and dwelling house for a sexton, on a lot of ten acres of land, which was presented to them for that purpose by Mr. Peter Du Bois. The church—which was 56 feet by 44 feet, and considered at that day a very handsome edifice—together with the dwelling house were both completed within a year, at a cost of £700, leaving the congregation indebted for the balance, about £300. In addition to the ten acres of land given by Mr. Du Bois, on which the church was built, there was also a donation of 220 acres, presented by Richard Bradley, Attorney General of the colony. This tract was situated about a mile from the church, and was afterwards known as the King’s Hill Farm.
After the building of the church, and under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Sayre, the congregation increased rapidly, and enjoyed a high degree of prosperity till the commencement of the Revolutionary war. At the first meeting of the Rector and congregation held under the charter in 1771, the same wardens and vestrymen were elected as named in the charter, with the exception of Andrew Graham, Jun. elected in place of John Davidson.
At a meeting of the corporation in 1772, it was resolved, that the Rector of St. Andrew’s Church be entitled to the sum of two shillings for every baptism registered—three shillings for every marriage—and two shillings for every funeral.
In 1775 the vestry consisted of Cadwallader Colden, Jun. and Andrew Graham, wardens; and Peter Bodine, J. J. Galatian, Ambrose Jones, Justus Banks, John Blake and Edward Burne—Justus Banks having been chosen in place of George Graham, deceased. In this year the Rev. Mr. Sayre, forseeing the troubles that were about to ensue on the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, suddenly relinquished his charge and left the congregation in a very unsettled state. Whither he went is not known. Up to this period the congregation of St. Andrew’s had been eminently prosperous, and the church was filled to overflowing. But amidst the collision of parties, the prejudices excited against the church as being the offspring of the Church of England, and other causes unhappily existing, the congregation of St. Andrew’s began from this time to decline.