First
Presbyterian Church History
October 1, 1667 - Present
The First Presbyterian Church
is the oldest church in Newark. It was originally a Congregational Church. The
change to Presbyterian occurred in 1720.
The original settlers in Newark, from Branford and
Milford Connecticut, came to Newark because they opposed the absorption of their
communities by the Colony of Connecticut. Newark was founded with its laws based on
the Scripture and with full citizenship granted to only church members. This
organization was the last attempt in the United States to establish a theocracy. The
pay for the first minister, Rev. Abraham Pierson, was Eighty pounds per year. He
came from Branford Connecticut and his ministry began on October 1, 1667.
The first church building had
the following dimensions: "Four or Six and Twenty Foot wide, and thirty Foot Long and
Ten Foot Between Joints, which for the Better Carrying it to an end, the Town hath made
choice of Five Men, Viz: Deacon Ward, Sarj. Harrison and his Son John, Sarg. Obdh.
(Edward) Rigs and Michael Thompkins." The church was Newark's first public
building. It stood, on Broad Street, opposite the present First Presbyterian Church.
In the back of the church was the graveyard which became known as "The Old
Burying Ground". It was named that to distinguish it from the graveyard which
was behind the present First Presbyterian Church. For the next forty years all
affairs of the town were held in the church. On August 28, 1675, flankers were built
at two of the corners of the church. Soldiers were positioned in them to guard
against possible Indian attacks. For the first forty years of Newark, this
meeting-house was the scene of worship, town-meetings and military proceedings.
After its completion, young Joseph Johnson beat the drum to call families to
worship.
The first reverend, Abraham
Pierson, was born in Yorkshire, England. He graduated in 1632 from Cambridge
University. He arrived in Boston in 1639 and resided in Lynn. He had at least
four sons and found daughters, Abraham, Thomas, Theophilus, Isaac, Abigail, Grace, Mary,
and Rebecca. In 1640 he moved to Southampton, Long Island to have more freedom to be
more conservative. In 1644 he moved to Branford, in the New Haven community, when
Southampton was annexed to Connecticut. In the fall of 1666 the Branford people
moved to Newark, Abraham Pierson followed them in 1667. On March 4, 1772 Abraham
Pierson Jr. joined his father in a co-pastorate. The elder Pierson died on August 9,
1678 and was buried in an unknown plot in Newark. Speculation is that he was buried
"on the third small hill behind the church, possibly beyond the present Halsey
Street."
Abraham Pierson Jr. became the
sole reverend with the death of his father and remained there until the spring of 1692.
He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1641, graduated from Harvard College in 1668,
and came to Newark in 1669. It was during his pastorate that many of the original
settlers of Newark, "one by one, crept silently to rest". Their places
were filed by their children and by new settlers from abroad. It was these new
settlers that were inclined to be less rigid in church politics and favored Presbyterian
government. Reverend Pierson also leaned toward Presbyterianism. It was this
controversy that is assumed to have caused the removal of the Reverend. After his
resignation he sold his house and lands and moved back to Connecticut. In 1694 he
became the pastor of the Killingworth church and soon after the first rector of Yale
College. The College was temporarily moved to Killingworth when the church would not
release him from his duties there. He held both offices until his death on March 5,
1707.
The third reverend was John
Prudden. His pastorate began on August 23, 1692. His salary was 50 pounds a
year and firewood. John Prudden was born in Milford on November 9, 1645.
He graduated Harvard in 1668 and in the spring of 1670 he began preaching in
Jamaica, Long Island. During his pastorate the church was repaired with new shingles
and the church lands of 200 acres were confirmed through a deed. He resigned on June
9, 1699 and lived in Newark until his death on December 11, 1725.
Newark's next pastor was Jabez
Wakeman, son of Rev. Samuel Wakeman of Fairfield, Connecticut. He was born around
1678 and graduated from Harvard in 1697. His pastorate began on April 15, 1700.
Rev. Wakeman was only 21 years old at the time and he lasted less than five years.
He died from dysentery on October 8, 1704. His only child, Samuel, had died
of the same illness nine days before. The "retired" Rev. John Prudden
supplied the pulpit until a minister could be found.
On October 1, 1705, Mr. Samuel
Sherman was invited as the next reverend but unsatisfactory information about him was
received and the offer was withdrawn on February 19, 1706. During the negotiations
with Samuel Sherman the church thought that it would be wise to apply to Lord Edward
Cornbury, who was the Governor of New York and New Jersey, for permission to hire a
minister. Lord Cornbury ordered that no one should be allowed to preach without
either a certificate from the Bishop of London or a license from himself. This
obviously meant that the minister had to be an Episcopalian but Cornbury then extended it
to the Presbyterian and Congregational churches.
Mr. Samuel Whittlesey had a
trial as minister on May 17, 1706 and was offered the job as the next minister on March
31, 1707 but he declined. The fifth pastor of the church then became Nathaniel
Bowers. He arrived by ship on June 16, 1709 and on June 22, 1709 he became the
pastor. Nothing is known about his early years, except that he came from New
England. He died on August 4, 1716.
During this time the seeds of
Presbyterianism where being sown. Also the second church was built. It was
made of Stone and measured 44 feet in both length and width. A bell was introduced
in the steeple. After 1791 it served as a Court House. The building stood on
the west side of Broad Street and to the south of the first church building. It was
also during this time the "Mountain Society" was formed which later became
the second church of Newark and then the First Presbyterian Church of Orange.
October 22, 1719 brought Newark
its sixth pastor, Joseph Webb. He remained for eighteen years and was dismissed by
the Presbytery of East Jersey in November, 1736. It was during this time the
Congregational Church became a Presbyterian Church. The first representative of the
church at the Synod of Philadelphia was Caleb Ward (in 1725). It remained in the
Synod of Philadelphia until 1733 when it became part of the new Presbytery of East Jersey.
In 1733 a prominent member of
the church, Colonel Josiah Ogden, harvested his crops on a Sunday. This outrage led
to a long bitter argument and his leaving the church. Colonel Ogden and his
followers then started the First Episcopal Church
(Trinity Church).
The seventh pastor of the
church was the Rev. Aaron Burr. His tenure lasted from December, 1736 until the fall
of 1755. Aaron Burr was the son of Daniel Burr and was born in Fairfield Connecticut
on January 4, 1716. He graduated from Yale College in 1735 and preached his first
sermon at Greenfield, Massachusetts. It was during his tenure in Newark that the
Great Schism in the Presbyterian Church of America occurred. The result was the Old
Side and the New Side parties. The New Brunswick Presbytery was ejected and the
division became localized with the Presbytery of Philadelphia standing with the Old Side
and the Presbytery of New York with the New Side. In 1745 the Presbytery of New York
and the Presbytery of New Brunswick formed the new Synod of New York. This split
stayed until 1758.
The Great Schism produced the
New Jersey College, which is now Princeton University. To continue to provide
education after the split, the Synod of New York granted a charted to the College on
October 22, 1746. The original site of the College was Elizabethtown (Elizabeth) and
after four months it moved to Newark under the care of Rev. Aaron Burr. The College
was reorganized in September of 1748 under a new charter secured from Governor Belcher.
Rev. Burr resigned his
pastorate in 1755 but retained the presidency of the college. It moved to Princeton
in 1756. He died on September 24, 1757 and was buried in Princeton. 1758
brought the end of the Great Schism and the First Presbyterian church fell under the wing
of the new Synod of New York and Philadelphia.
Immediately after the
resignation of Rev. Burr, the Rev. John Brained began to preach. He stayed until May
of 1759, at which time he requested to leave the church and resume his missionary work
with the Indians.
The Rev. Alexander MacWhorter
succeeded the Rev. John Brained in the summer of 1759. He was born at New Castle,
Delaware on July 15, 1734 and graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1757. He
served in Newark for forth-six years until his death on July 20, 1807. During his
pastorate he became a chaplain in the patriot army and the third church building was
completed. It was opened for worship on January 1, 1791. Free stone for the
church was quarried on Bloomfield Avenue and the mortar made from clam shells left by the
Indians along the banks of Newark Bay gave the building it's Georgian Colonial
appearance. This church was nicknamed "Old First Church". On January
1, 1801 Rev MacWhorter preached his well known "Century Sermon".
The Rev. Edward Dorr Griffin
was installed as a colleague pastor with Rev. MacWhorter on October 20, 1801 and succeeded
him in the pastorate when the Rev. MacWhorter died. Rev Griffin was born at East
Haddam, Connecticut on January 6, 1770 and graduated Yale in 1790. During his
pastorate a parsonage was built for him on the west side of Mulberry Street. His
pastorate ended on April 27, 1809 when he accepted a professorship at Andover Seminary.
He returned to Newark as pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in
1815. In 1821 he became president of Williams College. He died in Newark on
November 8, 1837 and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
The Rev. James Richards became
pastor upon Rev. Griffin's resignation, he had previously preached in Morristown. He
was born at New Canaan, Connecticut on October 29, 1767 and entered Yale in 1789 but was
unable to finish. A degree in Mater of Arts was awarded him in 1794. Rev.
Richards remained until the fall of 1823 when he became a professor of theology in Auburn
Seminary, New York. During his pastorate the first Sunday School in Newark was
started (1814).
July 27, 1824 brought the
installation of the Rev. William T. Hamilton, who was an Englishman by birth. His
pastorate lasted 10 years to October 22, 1834 when he moved to a Southern Climate for his
health. A division over his hiring brought about the Third Presbyterian Church.
In 1824 the Presbytery of Newark was formed from the Presbytery of Jersey.
The Fourth Presbyterian Church, now extinct, was
formed on April 14, 1831. The Plane Street
Presbyterian (African) Church was organized in October of 1831.
The Rev. Ansel D. Eddy began
his pastorate on August 11, 1835. He was a graduate of Union College (1817).
He resigned on February 22, 1848 and became the pastor of the Fifth Presbyterian
Church (Park).
A Bedford, Massachusetts born,
Rev. Jonathan P. Stearns, was installed as pastor on December 13, 1849. A graduate
of Harvard in 1830, he then studied theology at Andover. He remained pastor until
February 21, 1883 when he was made pastor emeritus.
The Rev. David R. Frazer was
installed on February 21, 1883. He preached until June 16, 1909. He was a
graduate of Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary. It was during his
pastorate that the First Presbyterian Church took a prominent part in the development of
church extension work, giving liberally and establishing missions.
After a vacancy, the Rev.
William J. Dawson was installed on March 25, 1912. He was born in Towchester,
England and graduated Didsbury College in Manchester. During his pastorate the
church was extensively renovated (1912).
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
From "HISTORIC NEWARK":
"Behind the church, Dr. MacWhorter has said, was the old training-ground.
This was between the swamp and the brow of the hill. The burying-place was beyond
this swamp, ' on a rising knoll or tongue of land which divided this from a greater swamp
or pond, westward of which the land rose into another hill, then presently sunk into a
flat or brook, called the watering-place'. This last hill was the original
burying-ground."
From "The WPA Guide to 1930's New Jersey":
"Whatever the origin of its name, Newark was unmistakably founded as a theocracy with
the Puritan Congregational Church securely in control of village affairs. The church
quickly erected a barrier around the religious freedom won by emigrating from New
Haven. Church membership was a prerequisite to owning land, holding public office
and voting. The church maintained such strict supervision over personal and public
life that early Newark was more Puritan than much of New England itself."
