Page 42
History of Orange County
Town of Montgomery
Page 42
COLDENHAM CHURCH.
The Reformed Presbyterian Congregation of Coldenham was organized by the Rev. James McKinney in the year 1795. Forty-two years before this time, however, a praying society had been formed by Rev. John Culbertson, who came to this county in 1752. This society received supplies of gospel ordinances occasionally until the union between the Reformed Presbytery and the Associate Synod in 1782, which was attended with results so disastrous to this small community that it was unknown to the church until visited by Mr. McKinney: but from the time he began to labor in its bounds it increased so rapidly that, at the time of its organization there were about twenty-five communicants, two of whom were elders. Robert Johnston, who had been ordained to the office of ruling elder some time previous to his removal from Ireland, and Robert Beattie, who had been an elder in the Associate Reformed Church at Little Britain, from which he had withdrawn, were the ruling elders of this new congregation. Commencing as it did under favorable auspices the new organization received liberal supplies of gospel ordinances from those eminent men, who became the fathers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America. These supplies were joyfully and profitably received and attended, although they were in the dwelling houses and barns of the neighborhood until 1799, when a house of worship was erected.
In the year 1800 a call was made by the congregation, in company with one previously organized in the city of New York, upon Alexander McLeod, who, together with Messrs. Donelly, Black and Wylie, had been licensed to preach the gospel by the Reformed Presbytery, which met at Coldenham in June, 1799. The call having been accepted, Mr. McLeod was ordained and installed accordingly. For three years he labored so successfully in his united charge, that at the end of the time each of the congregations wished to obtain all their pastors labors. His labors were in the country in summer and in the city in winter. Mr. McLeod chose to occupy New York as his future field. Coldenham, of course, was left vacant, and remained so until time settlement of Mr. James Milligan in 1812. Mr. Milligan remained in it until 1817; at which time he removed to Ryegate Street, and in August of the same year, Mr. James R. Wilson, having received and accepted a call, became its pastor. Dr. Willson went to Albany, New York, in 1830; and in consequence of his removal, the congregation remained vacant until his return in November, 1833.
After his return the house of worship, having become through age uncomfortable, the erection of a new edifice began to be talked of, and in 1838 a new and commodious house was built. In the fall of 1840 Dr. Willson went to Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and the congregation was supplied by Presbyterian assistants, until the settlement of James W. Shaw, its present pastor, in May, 1844. The other officers of the congregation are John Beattie, James Beattie, Samuel Arnat, William Elder and Daniel Wilkin, elders; and William B. Acheson, William Fleming and William Turner, deacons.
We acknowledge ourselves indebted to Mr. James Beattie for the items of this church history.
THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH OF BEREA.
This church is distant ten miles from the village of Newburgh, and three miles from the villages of Montgomery and Walden. The church was organized under the statute of the State by the name of BEREA; which was suggested by Elder Thomas McKissock, and adopted by the congregation. The church was a secession from the Presbyterian Church of Goodwill—at present under the pastoral care of the Rev. William Blain—caused by difficulties which originated in the settlement of a minister. The Reformed Dutch Church of Berea has had but one settled minister, the Rev. James B. Ten Eyck. Mr. Ten Eyck was sent for, to preach four Sabbaths in November, 1821. The church there made application to the classis of New Brunswick, to which Mr. Ten Eyck belonged as a licentiate, for his services as an ordained missionary for one year. The classis of New Brunswick examined Mr. Ten Eyck, and ordained him as a missionary, with direction to labor a year in the church. In April, 1823, Peter Lowe and Robert Crowell were appointed commissioners to present to the classis of Ulster certain proposals; having in view their connexion with the Reformed Dutch Church.
The following is an extract from the minutes of the classis of Ulster:
“The classis received the following communication and proposals from the congregation at Berea, for connecting themselves with this classis:
“1st. That the temporalities of the congregation be managed by Trustees agreeably to the statute.
“2nd. All persons that are stated hearers at this church, and shall have contributed to the support of the same for one year immediately preceding an election, shall have a voice in fixing the amount of salary, and in making choice of a pastor, etc.
“3d. That the Westminster Confession of Faith, together with the Dutch Reformed Confession of Faith and Catechisms, shall be the standards of this church.
“The above communication arid proposals were referred to a committee of the classis of Ulster, consisting of the Rev. Messrs. Wm. Bogardus, H. Bogardus and Elder E. Bunk.
Your committee beg leave to report the following resolutions, viz:—
“1st. That the said church and congregation of Berea, be and hereby is admitted into connexion with this classis, and received under our Constitutional care and government.
“2d. That the classis are willing that said congregation take any measures, and adopt any plans for its internal government, which are not repugnant to the constitution of our Reformed Dutch Church.
“3d. That the classis advise the Rev. Mr. Ten Eyck, who now labors among that people, to take the proper measures for the due organization of said church, and to complete their connexion with this body.
“Classis rejoice in the hope that said congregation will become a pious and valuable member of our church, and pray that the Great Head of the church may receive them under his covenant protection and grace.
(Signed.) HENRY OSTRANDER, Chairman.”
In pursuance with this act the ecclesiastical relation of Mr. Ten Eyck was regularly transferred from the classis of New Brunswick to the classis of Ulster, and installed by a committee of the latter body in 1823 as pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Berea. The first consistory was composed of the following persons: Thomas McKissock, John Blake, Caleb Dill, Peter Lowe and Christian Crist. This consistory was chosen August 2d, 1823. The following are the names of the first Trustees: Andrew Kidd, John Milliken, Robert Crowell, Nathaniel Akerly and Thomas Clineman.
We acknowledge our obligations to Mr. Ten Eyck for the facts of this church history.
THE PROTESTANT REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH.
In the village of Walden is a handsomely constructed frame edifice of 70 feet in length by 46 in breadth, with a neatly finished cupola and bell. The interior is in imitation of live oak; the pulpit and pews are in modern style, and the whole building is a specimen of simple and beautiful architecture.
It contains 78 pews on the floor, which, with a gallery in the rear, are calculated to accommodate 500 persons. There is also a commodious and pleasant basement room, well appropriated to Sabbath School and evening exercises. It occupies a fine elevation, commanding an extensive prospect of the surrounding country, embracing mountains arid vallies, fruitful fields and flowing streams—reminding the worshipper, as he ascends towards the sacred temple, of the description of the Psalmist, “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion.”
The church edifice was erected under the direction of a committee, consisting of Messrs. Jesse Scofield, Peter Neafie, Cornelius Neafie and Augustus F. Scofield, and was completed in the spring of 1838, at a cost of between ten and eleven thousand dollars.
There has since been erected a neat and comfortable parsonage within a few feet of the church; the expense of which, together with that of the house of worship, has been entirely defrayed.
The house of worship was dedicated to the service of the Triune God in the month of August, 1838: the Rev. Thos. De Witt, D.D., of New York, preaching the sermon on the occasion.
The church was organized on the 1st of September, 1838, with fourteen members, when the following persons were elected to the offices of elders and deacons, viz: Jesse Scofield and Barent Van Buren, elders; Alexander Kidd and Peter T. Clearwater, deacons; who, on the 18th of the same month, were ordained into their respective offices—thus constituting the first consistory of this infant church.
On the 10th of August, 1839, the Rev. John M. Scribner was installed pastor of the congregation, who resigned his charge on the 5th of April, 1841, and was succeeded by the present pastor, the Rev. Charles Whitehead, who was installed on the 10th of May, 1842.
Under the smiles of a gracious Providence the church has rapidly grown, and is now in a prosperous condition, comprising 120 members in communion and about 75 families in the congregation.
For the items of this church history we are indebted to Mr. Whitehead, its present pastor.