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CHAPTER VIII Churches
and Religious Institutions |
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VI. The Baptists - 1805
BY THE REVEREND JUDSON CONKLIN, FORMERLY PASTOR OF CLINTON AVENUE BAPTIST
CHURCH THE Trenton Baptist churches are affiliated with what is
known as the Northern Baptist Convention, the other great division of
the white Baptists of the country being known as the Southern Baptist
Convention. They are associated for purposes of fellowship and service
with the New Jersey Baptist State Convention, one of the thirty-eight
State Conventions of the Northern Baptist Convention, covering thirty-five
States, including the District of Columbia, some of the States having
two conventions within their bounds. The four colored Baptist churches
of the city are affiliated with the National Baptist Convention, Colored,
and are separately classed in the minutes of the State Convention under
the name of the Afro-American Churches. The New Jersey State Convention is divided into nine Associations, and it
is with one of these, the Trenton Association, that the ten white Baptist
churches of our city are connected. The first mention of the Baptists in Trenton dates back to the year 1787,
when the Rev. Peter Wilson, the pastor of the Baptist Church in Hightstown,
began preaching services in the city, or rather village. As a result
of Mr. Wilson's occasional visitations, five persons were baptized by
him in the Delaware River on the fourth of March, 1788, “when the surrounding
ice was so strong,” writes the ancient chronicler of that event, “as
to bear a large congregation of spectators.” The work of Mr. Wilson
widened and deepened, and the place in which the first services were
held, the home of Mrs. Hannah Keen, a mother in Israel familiarly called
the “Trenton Deacon,” gave way to a meeting house, which was opened
for worship on November 26, 1803. Two years later, on November 9, 1805,
the “Trenton and Lamberton Baptist Church” was organized with forty-eight
members. THE FIRST CHURCH - 1805
CENTRE STREET It was
a day of small things. In the whole State, the population of which in
1801 was only 200,000, there were only thirty Baptist churches, the
first one having been organized in Middletown in 1688. The Trenton church
was the thirtieth. The first pastor was the Rev. William Boswell, who
was called and ordained in May 1809. He continued his pastorate until
1823, when, on account of changes in his belief, he was excluded from
fellowship and withdrew with sixty of the members and organized another
church in the vicinity which was known as the “Reformed General Baptist
Church of Bloomsbury, N.J.,” Bloomsbury with Lamberton being then one
of the suburbs of Trenton. A building was erected by the church that
same year on Union Street, which was afterwards sold and became known
as the Second Presbyterian Church of Trenton. Mr.
Boswell continued with the new organization as pastor until his death
in 1833. He was an able preacher, popular with the young people and
held in high esteem by the other denominations of the city. The Rev.
Thomas S. Griffiths, to whom the writer is indebted for many of these
facts, states in his History of the Baptists in New Jersey that
Mr. Boswell's “mistake was that, instead of saying that his views had
changed and quietly resigning, he kept his place, preached heresy.”
He had embraced, it would seem, some of the teachings of Swedenborg,
“stating his views with increasing boldness, until unendurable by the
evangelical element of his bearers and hence they were compelled
to act.” It is
a matter of interest to note that Mr. Boswell's salary for one‑half
of his time given to the church, at the beginning of his pastorate,
was only $350. “His name will ever live,” said Dr. Miller, “as one of
the founders of the American Baptist Missionary Union,” now known as
the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society. After
Mr. Boswell's exclusion and withdrawal from the First Church, a long
succession of pastors followed him down to the present time. For
seven years, from 1823 to 1830, temporary ministrations, or men who
gave only half‑time, supplied the pulpit and ministered to the
spiritual wants of the members. But in 1830 Morgan J. Rhees, a man of
unusual ability, was called to a joint pastorate with the Bordentown
church, an arrangement which continued until 1834 when he gave his full
time to the Trenton church. He was succeeded, after ten years of most
efficient and successful service, by the following pastors: Luther
F. Beecher, 1841‑42; John Young, 1843; Levi G. Beck, 1844‑49;
Henry K. Green, 1850‑53; Duncan Dunbar, 1853‑54; Lewis Smith,
1854‑57; O. T. Walker, 1858‑63; D. Henry Miller, 1863‑67;
G. W. Lasher, 1868‑72; Elijah Lucas, 1873‑93; M. P. Fikes,
1894‑1900; J. J. Wicker, 1900‑05; Charles J. Keevil, 1906‑08;
John Wellington Hoag, 1908-11; W. D. Thatcher, 1912. The
First Church is directly or indirectly the mother church of all the
other Baptist churches now in the city.
A tribute should be paid especially
to the work of the Rev. Peter Wilson, to whose efforts the founding
of the church and the beginning of the Baptist faith here are due. From
1787 to the organization of the church in 1805 he came from Hightstown
almost every Month to preach, and after its organization he continued
his monthly visits until 1809, when Mr. Boswell was called. Mr. Wilson
also preached occasionally at Mt. Holly, Pemberton and Marlton, and
at Manasquan, Washington, South River, Penns Neck and Hamilton Square
he maintained regular preaching stations. The churches there are largely
due to his ministry. Morgan Edwards in his History of New
Jersey Baptists, speaking of Peter Wilson, says “he was a man to
be wondered at.” His connection with the church lasted twenty‑two
years, from 1787 to 1809 - the longest pastorate or semi‑pastorate
in the church's history. From
that time until the present, the longest pastorates with the church
have been those of the Rev. Elijah Lucas, who served twenty years
- from 1873 to 1893 - and of the Rev. William D. Thatcher, the present
popular and successful pastor, who has been with the church since
October 1912. Mr. Lucas baptized into the fellowship of the church
during his long period of service nearly seven hundred and fifty members.
Of the eighteen pastors that followed Mr. Wilson, all were men who commanded
respect, and some were of distinguished ability. Only four of
the pastors of the church are now living: the Rev. M. P. Fikes, the
Rev. John J. Wicker, the Rev. J. Wellington Hoag and the Rev. W. D.
Thatcher. During Mr. Fike's pastorate, the Rev. S. S. Merriman and the
Rev. John C. Killian were assistant pastors. THE SECOND BAPTIST (CENTRAL) CHURCH – 1843 EAST HANOVER AND NORTH MONTGOMERY STREETS It was
during the short pastorate of the Rev. John Young in 1843 that the second
break in the harmony of the First Church was made, a break which, however
deplorable at the time, led ultimately to the establishment of another
Baptist church in the center of the city, where it was greatly needed.
There were two factors which contributed to the bringing about of this
break: Mr. Young claimed that it was his right to preside as moderator
at all the meetings of the church, while there were members who thought
differently and argued that an election should take place at each church
meeting as to who should preside. This created a factional spirit in
the church, which was increased by the infusion of the reaching of the
doctrines of the Campbellite sect into Mr. Young's sermons. The result
was that Mr. Young resigned to take effect on August 15, after six months'
service, he having been elected to a professorship in a Campbellite
college in Virginia. The church accepted his resignation and on the
following Sunday he preached a sermon in which his views were more particularly
set forth. “This added to the excitement which before existed,” writes
Dr. Miller, “and resulted finally in a sad division.” The
Rev. Mr. Young was considered “a fine preacher, a strong thinker and
a man peculiarly independent in his views.” He had made many friends
outside the church, and when it became known that he had resigned his
pastorate in the First Church and was about to leave the city, these
friends together with those in the First Church whom he had won to his
following persuaded him to remain in Trenton and promised him their
support in the organization of another congregation. Mr. Young assented
and on the second of September, 1843, 124 members withdrew from the
First Church to form the Second Baptist Church. This congregation built
an edifice on the site now occupied by the Central Church, on the corner
of Hanover and Montgomery Streets, and the new building was dedicated
on November 28, the Rev. J. Lansing Burroughs preaching the sermon in
the afternoon and the Rev. George B. Ide in the evening. Mr. Young continued his ministry
with the Second Church about two years. After his departure, the three
pastors who followed him remained only a short time, the Rev. Joshua
Fletcher about we year, his brother the Rev. Leonard L. Fletcher only
a few months, and the Rev. Joseph Hammitt from 1849 to 1851. During
the ministry of the latter the church became divided in sentiment as
to the continued service of Mr. Hammitt and as a result twenty‑six
of the members withdrew with him from the church and organized the Trinity
Baptist Church, meeting in Temperance Hall. Of the few members left
in the Second Church to bear the burdens, some became discouraged and
asked for letters of dismissal to their first home, thus weakening by
their removal those that remained. An appeal was made to the Baptist
State Convention for financial aid in their troubles, which was promised
them as soon as they called a pastor. This they seemed unable to do
and “then,” says Dr. Miller, “went out the light of hope for the life
of the Second Church.” Fearing
that the property of the church would be sold and pass into other hands,
the State Convention now entered the field, paid off a floating debt
and made needed repairs. A missionary was appointed to the field, the
Rev. J. T. Wilcox, in October 1853, and through his earnest and patient
labors he was enabled to gather together the scattered remnants of the
two churches, the Second and Trinity, which was now about ready to disband,
and on the thirtieth of April, 1854, the Central Church was organized
with twenty‑nine members, From this small beginning has grown
the strong and influential church of that name which now occupies the
beautiful, recently remodelled edifice on the site of the original building,
the corner of Hanover and Montgomery Streets. When Mr. Wilcox closed
his work in Trenton with the Central Church four years later, March
1858, he left behind him a happy and united church of ninety‑three
members. The
history of the Central Church from that time to the present has been
one of growth in numbers and influence. It has had a long succession
of honored pastors from the beginning, up to the time when the Rev.
Don Clyde Kite, the present pastor, came to the church in 1915. Between
Mr. Wilcox and Mr. Kite there have been nine other pastors. Of these
the longest and most fruitful pastorates were them held by the Rev.
T. S. Griffiths, 1863 to 1870; the Rev. L. B. Hartman, 1879 to 1891;
the Rev. A. W. Wishart, 1895 to 1906; the Rev. Guy L. Brown, 1909 to
1914; and the Rev. Don Clyde Kite, who has been longer with the church
than any other. The ministry of the Rev. T. S. Griffiths was fervently
missionary and evangelistic, and it was through him that “Elder” Jacob
Knapp was brought to Trenton and conducted a six‑weeks evangelistic
campaign in the spring of 1867, the result of which was the addition
of 136 members by baptism to the church while probably five hundred
members in all were added to the churches of the city. Dr. Hartman was
with the church twelve years and as a strong preacher and a man of executive
ability he did much to strengthen and build up the membership. Mr. Wishart,
now the pastor of the widely known Fountain Avenue Baptist Church of
Grand Rapids, Mich., wielded a wide influence in the community and was
especially popular with men. Mr. Kite has seen the church grow under
his leadership and has had the joy of so enlarging and beautifying the
church building that it is now held to be me of the finest in the city. THE
CLINTON AVENUE CHURCH -1873
NORTH CLINTON AND LINCOLN AVENUES It was
during the ministry of Mr. Griffiths that several mission enterprises
were begun in different sections of Trenton, one of these flowering
out into the Clinton Avenue Church. A chapel was built on Perry Street
near Southard in 1867, and in 1873 the church was organized with thirty‑five
members. The present beautiful edifice was erected in 1876, after the
Rev. C. B. Perkins had been ministering to the church as its first pastor
since 1873. He resigned in 1878 and four pastors succeeded him: Dr.
N. W. Miner, 1878‑81; O. T. Walker, 1883‑85; Judson Conklin,
1885‑1926, and Wayland Zwayer, 1926. Troubles followed the departure
of Mr. Perkins. An almost crushing debt weighed down upon the members,
and it all probability the building would have been sold by the sheriff
if the State Convention board and the Baptist churches of the State
had not come to their relief. It is safe to say that no church in New
Jersey has ever received so much help from the State Convention as this
church. Dr. Miner was permitted by the board members to go up and down
through the State soliciting funds for its preservation from the various
churches and through their generous response a great part of the burden
was lifted. The mortgages and floating debt were reduced to $10,000,
and the board then agreed to pay the $500 interest on the mortgage in
the way of a grant toward the pastor's salary. This was in 1885. In 1888,
after Mr. D. P. Forst of the Central Church bad left $2,000 to the Clinton
Avenue Church in his will on condition that the church raise or secure
the balance of $8,000 on the $10,000 mortgage which still remained,
the churches again responded to the cry of need and contributed $3,000
in all, thus clearing the Clinton Avenue Church of all indebtedness.
Since then, its progress forward has been continuous. From seventy‑five
members who could be found on the coming of Mr. Conklin, the membership
has grown to eight hundred. The contributions to benevolence have increased
from $100 a year to $5,000. Special honor should be paid to Thomas C.
Hill, who, at a time of stress, mortgaged his own home in order to save
the church from losing its building. In 1898 a commodious chapel was
erected at a cost of $12,000 and the interior of the church auditorium
was remodelled and a pipe organ was installed. CALVARY
CHURCH - 1874
SOUTH CLINTON AND ROEBLING AVENUES Shortly
after the third Baptist Church in Trenton was organized, under the superintending
care of the Central Church, the members of the First Church saw the
fruitage of their oversight and missionary zeal in the organization
in 1874 Of the fourth Baptist church (Calvary), located at the corner
of South Clinton and Roebling Avenues. The Rev. George W. Lasher was
the pastor of the First Church when lots were bought and a chapel built,
and on September 10, 1874, the church was organized with fifty-four
members. Eleven pastors have ministered to its needs since that time,
four during the first nine years. Then came the longer pastorate of
the Rev. E. J. Foote, from 1883 to 1889. He was succeeded by H. B. Harper,
D. S. Mulhern, Dr. J. K. Manning, G. L. Allen, Morris G. Dickinson,
and the present pastor, Joseph C. Pierce. Mr. Pierce has brought a strong
and wise leadership to the members and the Calvary Church is now one
of the strong Baptist churches of the city. FIFTH
BAPTIST CHURCH – 1891 - 1910
CENTRE STREET, NEAR LANDING STREET Two other
churches have come into being under the fostering care of the First
Church, the Fifth Church on South Centre Street and the Grace Church
in West Trenton, at the corner of West State Street and Hermitage Avenue.
It was under the inspiration of Pastor George W. Lasher of the First
Church that lots were bought and a chapel was built in the sixth ward,
the chapel being dedicated on March 19, 1871. Sunday school devotional
meetings were maintained until 1891. Then, during the pastorate of the
Rev. Elijah Lucas of the First Church, the Fifth Baptist Church was
organized in 1891 with thirty-one members. There were good men called
during the next twenty years to its pulpit, but the church languished
and at length in 1910 it was voted to consolidate with the mother church
by which it had been founded. Forty-five members returned to the fold
of the First Church and so the Fifth ceased to be anything more than
a memory. OLIVET
CHURCH - 1896
MULBERRY AND OHIO STREETS From
the Clinton Avenue Church, two other churches have sprung: the Olivet
Church on Mulberry Street and the Gethsemane Church in Wilbur, the latter
occupying now the handsome and commodious auditorium and community
building on the corner of Greenwood and Garfield Avenues. The mission
from which the Olivet Church has grown was started originally by the
Central Church, the chapel there having been built through the generous
gift of D. P. Forst. For a time it prospered. This was in 1868. After
the chapel was built in 1870, the Central Church under the pastor who
succeeded the Rev. T. S. Griffiths abandoned the mission and the Clinton
Avenue Church was persuaded by Mr. William Ellis, a member of the Central
Church, to take it under its care. A missionary, W. A. Pugsley, was
appointed to look after the field, and, as a result of his labors, the
Olivet Church was organized in April 1896, with thirty-four members,
twenty-six of whom came from the Clinton Avenue Church. The Rev. J.
L. Coote became pastor in 1896, and he was succeeded in turn by the
Rev. S. V. Whittemore, Dr. W. W. Case, and the Rey. Samuel S. Merriman,
formerly the assistant pastor of the First Church. GRACE CHURCH - 1901
WEST STATE STREET AND HERMITAGE AVENUE Grace Church has become
one of the strongest and most promising churches in Trenton. A Sunday
school was started near its present location on April 20, 1897, and
on July 10, 1901, the church was organized. Its growth since that time
has been almost phenomenal. The first missionary pastor, Mr. Leckliter,
was followed by Pastors George W. Price, 1902; John C. Killian, 1906;
Harvey W. Chollar, 1911; Charles F. Fields, 1914; and the present pastor,
Oscar W. Henderson, 1920. Under his inspiring leadership, the church
has built a splendid Bible school house and is now engaged in erecting
an equally beautiful building for the church. In missionary offerings
the church is a leading one, and two of its members are missionaries
on the foreign field, the Rev. F. Carroll Condict in Assam and Dr. Howard
Freas in Africa, on the Congo. GETHSEMANE CHURCH - 1909
GREENWOOD AND GARFIELD AVENUES The
mission in Wilbur, from which the Gethsemane Church has grown was started
by the Clinton Avenue Church in 1902. A chapel was built in 1906, costing
$6,500, and in 1909 the church was organized. There have been only two
pastors, the Rev. Cuthbert P. Newton, who as a student in Peddie Institute
had done yeoman service in gathering together the members, and the Rev.
P. Vanis Slawter, who succeeded Mr. Newton in 1924. The church has grown
to almost eight hundred members and it has built and dedicated its beautiful
edifice without calling upon the State Convention or the other churches
for aid. THE HOMECREST CHURCH - 1928
PARKWAY AVENUE AND PROSPECT STREET This
church, the latest of all the Baptist churches of Trenton, is the outcome
of a Sunday school started by the Central Church in the offices of the
Belle Mead Sweets on Prospect Street on October 30, 1921. The Sunday
school was so successful that after the coming of the Rev. George R.
Faint it was thought wise to organize a church and this was done on
July 19, 1928, with a constituent membership of sixty. The building
in which the church is worshipping was purchased of the Perth Amboy
Baptist Church and is located on the corner of Parkway Avenue and Prospect
Street. OTHER
BAPTIST CHURCHES
There
are three other white Baptist churches in the city, the Memorial Church
on Chambers Street near South Broad Street, a mission of the Calvary
Church; the St. John's Italian Baptist Church on Butler Street; and
the Magyar or Hungarian Church on South Clinton Avenue, now occupying
the old chapel of the Calvary Church. The Rev. M. P. Fikes, the former
pastor of the First Church, is now filling the pulpit of the Memorial
Church, but the two foreign-speaking churches are at present pastorless.
There are also four colored Baptist churches in Trenton, the Shiloh
Church being in charge of the Rev. John A. White as pastor. The total
membership of the white Baptist churches of Trenton, as reported in
the State Convention minutes, 1926, was 4393; that of the colored churches
is not known, only two of the four churches reporting 870. The number
reported in all the churches is that only of the communicant members,
not of the Baptist adherents, children and others who are members of
Baptist households being excepted. Among the prominent laymen now passed
away, who had done much to advance the Baptist cause in Trenton, were
Judge James Buchanan, William Vannest, Henry Coleman, D. P. Forst, J.
E. Darrah, Daniel J. Freas, Thomas C. Hill, Charles P. Brown, Robert
B. Bonney, Charles W. Howell and George W. Warren. BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCHES
It is
fitting that some more extended notice should be paid to those pastors
of the Baptist churches of Trenton who were longest with the churches
and who did much to bring about their present prosperity. Among these,
mention should be made of the Rev. Elijah Lucas of the First
Church. He has the distinction of having the longest pastorate in the
history of that congregation, twenty years, from 1873 to 1893. Mr. Lucas
was regarded in his day as one of the strongest preachers of the city
and his influence is still felt in the church and the community. The
second longest pastorate in the history of the First Church is that
of the present pastor, Rev. William D. Thatcher, who
began his ministry with the church in 1912. The
Rev. Dr. L. B. Hartman, who became the pastor of
the Central Church in 1879, continued with the church until 1891. During
his stay he built up a strong congregation and greatly endeared himself
to the membership. He began his first pastorate in the city of Philadelphia,
where he was successful in organizing Grace Church, now known as Grace
Temple, of which Dr. Conwell was afterwards the pastor. After Dr. Hartman’s
withdrawal from the pastoral relation he continued to live in Trenton
and was “a sort of pastor-at-large,” showing a lively interest in his
denominational work and in all matters of good citizenship in the city.
He died in Trenton on November 22, 1907. Another
pastor of the Central Church, who exercised a wide influence in the
city, though his pastorate was one of only ten years, from 1895 to 1905,
was the Rev. Alfred W. Wishart, now the pastor of the Fountain
Avenue Church of Grand Rapids, Mich. Mr. Wishart was greatly interested
in the civic affairs of Trenton and for several years was the editor
of the Trenton Times. He is a brilliant preacher and the author
of several books. Though
not a pastor of any church in Trenton, the Rev. Daniel Johnson Freas
should not be overlooked in this series of brief sketches of the prominent
Baptists of the city. Mr. Freas came to Trenton from Woodbury, N.J.,
where he organized the First Baptist Church and was its pastor for a
number of years. After making his residence here in 1876 and uniting
with the First Church, he took up the work of a city missionary and
for twenty years, until his death in 1898, he was a familiar figure
in our city, having the respect of our citizens of every faith. “Father
Freas,” as he was affectionately called by many, was greatly beloved
by the poor to whom he ministered and his death was deeply deplored
by all classes in the community. BY
THE EDITOR
The Rev. Judson Conklin,
who in 1926 rounded out a pastorate of forty-one years in the Clinton
Avenue Baptist Church, came to this city in 1885. He had built up a
strong congregation and had also made himself a prominent figure in
church and civic circles. Mr. Conklin is a graduate of New York University,
and of the Union Theological Seminary in the class of 1883. On
the occasion of his retirement the State Gazette said of him
in an editorial: “The Rev. Mr. Conklin’s life in Trenton . . . has been
one of glorious achievement even though he lived in a quiet and humble
way. His retirement from the active work of the ministry will mean a
serious loss for the people of his church, but it will not be a complete
loss. The results of the Rev. Mr. Conklin's long labor in Trenton will
be permanent in character, and while he continues to live in this city,
his life will always serve as an influence for good.” The
congregation of the Clinton Avenue Church on his retirement purchased
a house for their pastor, giving him and Mrs. Conklin a life-lease upon
it and also in other material ways showed its deep appreciation of Mr.
Conklin's character and long services. |
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