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History of Orange County
Town of Montgomery
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THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GOODWILL.
This congregation, formerly called the Walkill congregation, appears to have been formed some time previous to 1740. At its first organization it consisted of about forty families that had emigrated from different parts of Ireland but principally from the county of Londonderry. They formed a connection with the Presbyterians in this county, and were supplied by them with the preaching of the gospel for several years, until the settlement of the Rev. Joseph Houston, who, in the year 1740, was installed the first pastor of the congregation. He survived this event but a few months, dying in October of the same year, aged 48 years. He was the progenitor of most of those of this name in the county.
The congregation remained vacant some years, until the way was prepared for the settlement of the Rev. John Maffit, who served them for some years, but some difficulties arising, he was dismissed from his pastoral charge. After this, a portion of the people withdrew and formed another congregation, (probably Neelytown) under the ministry of the Rev. Robert Annan of the Secession Church of Scotland.
The next pastor of this church was the Rev. John Blair, from the college of New Jersey, who was installed 1768 and deceased 1771, aged 52 years. The congregation remained vacant until the settlement of the Rev. Andrew King in 1776, who continued to serve there till the period of his death, which took place in 1815. The remains of the Rev. Messrs. Houston, Blair and King are deposited in the grave yard of this church, which is probably one of the oldest burying places in this region of country.
The next pastor of the congregation was the Rev. Robert W. Coudit, who was installed December, 1820, and at his own request dismissed in April, 1830. The Rev. William Blain was settled in this congregation in the summer of 1830, and is still their pastor, to whom we are indebted for our account of this early mother of other churches.
ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH OF NEELYTOWN.
This congregation was formed before the Revolution, in about 1765. The meeting house was erected about the same time and called “Neelytown Church,” from a family by the name of Neely living in the vicinity, who were early settlers. The Rev. Robert Annan, of the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, was the first pastor—in connection with the Little Britain congregation as a united charge—to whom he preached for many years with great acceptance. It was during his ministry between these congregations that the union was formed between the Associate Presbyterians of Pennsylvania and New York, and the united body assumed the name of the “Associate Reformed Synod.” This was in 1782. Mr. Annan was active in the matter, and his congregation acquiesced in the union.
Mr. Annan having left and removed to Boston, this congregation was without a pastor for several years, though many efforts were made to procure one. The Rev. John McJimsey preached as a supply for a few Sabbaths in the summer of 1795; and in July 22, 1795, the congregation gave him an unanimous call, and he was regularly installed December 22d, 1796. The elders at this time were James Morison, William Bull, Charles Bull, Samuel McCord, William Gillespie and Joseph Crawford.
Mr. McJimsey remained the pastor of this congregation in connection with Graham’s Church in the town of Crawford, then recently organized, till October 18, 1809, when the connection was regularly dissolved, and he accepted a call from an Associate Reformed congregation in the city of Albany. The congregation remained vacant, with occasional supplies, till 1819, when, by the invitation of the congregation, he returned and resumed his pastoral labors as a stated supply; dividing his time equally between the Neelytown and Graham’s Church, which was then also vacant. This he continued to do for twelve years, with pleasure and satisfaction to himself and profit to his hearers. During the long vacancy of the church in the absence of Mr. McJimsey, the number of members were greatly reduced by deaths and removals, and on his return there were only nineteen members in full communion then living; while the whole board of trustees and elders had been swept away by death, and none elected to fill their places. The church was organized by the ordination of elders on the 2d of July, 1820. Trustees were also duly elected, and on administering the Lord’s Supper on the 25th of August ensuing twenty-two new members were received.
Nothing of special importance in regard to the history of this church occurred until the winter of 1831, when the town of Hamptonburgh was erected, and a plan set on foot to erect a new church at Hamptonburgh and form the congregation out of the old one at Neelytown, and such new members as the new location would induce to unite; the understanding being, among all parties, that it should be an Associate Reformed Church. It was nothing more than a transfer of the old establishment to a new location, with a view to increase the congregation, accommodate the inhabitants of the new town, and bring in a new population to support the church. The object was accomplished; the old church edifice taken down, and a fine large church erected in a beautiful location at Campbell Hall on the Otter Kill. In these proceedings the members of the old church residing within the limits of the new town were most active; while the residue of the congregation gave a reluctant assent.
The new church was opened with a sermon by the Rev. John McJimsey February 7, 1832. A call was made out for the Rev. Malcolm McLaren, a minister of the Associate Reformed Presbytery of Saratoga, which he accepted, and was installed, October 1, 1832.
Here ends the history of the old Neelytown Church, and it grieves us, personally, to write the fact. Perhaps, all things considered, it was best; yet, like the intrusion of death amidst the sacred hearth, it is difficult to reconcile our feelings to the apparently trying and cruel dispensation. If there is one spot on earth dearer than all others, this is that one. Here lies entombed in the dark cerements of the grave some flesh that once was ours. Here we first heard the glad tidings of salvation preached to men, and saw the solemn distribution of those mysterious emblems which represent the broken body and shed blood of a crucified Redeemer:—here, for many years, and till grown to manhood, we heard from Sabbath to Sabbath an exposition of the sacred scriptures, and listened to the fervent and pious admonitions of that now aged and venerable herald of the cross, the Rev. John McJimsey, ever true to an early faith and ever anxious for men’s salvation:—here we can now see in vision the aged and noble forms of pious and patriol worshippers, with deep devotional feeling lifting their hearts to heaven, and ready to lay down their lives for their God and their country:—here are the green graves of our ancestors, and still around them dwell our friends and kindred here lives at the age of fourscore years the mother who gave us life and nourished our infancy, and as she gently glides to her final rest, watches our steps as in the day of our boyhood,—and here, by the will of God, we will mingle our dust with the sands of the grave yard, in the humble hope of a glorious resurrection to immortal life.
For the history of this and Graham’s Church, we are indebted to the Rev. John McJimsey, who kindly permitted us to extract them from some notes made for another purpose.