A History of the Yellow Frame Presbyte·Rian
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A History of the Yellow Frame Presbyte·rian Church i . t. FREDON TOWNSHIP SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY -by- NATHAN H. LANNING THE CHURCH AS IT STANDS TO·DAY A HISTORY OF THE YELLOW FRAME PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH HE HISTORY of the Yellow Frame Church begins with the history of the Upper Hardwick Church. The official name of this congregation T was Upper Hardwick First Presbyterian Church until 1859. The name was taken from the township in which it was situated. Hardwick comprised all the land north of the Musconetcong Creek to the Delaware River on the west and north, and, on the east to the line dividing East and West Jersey. This was a straight East-West Jersey line extended from a point on the Delaware River to Egg Harbor on the Atlantic. The exact location of this line has been much disputed but it is generally thought that the line crossed near Fredon. The history of this church is more than the history of a church; it is the history of the things which made America great. More than two hun dred years ago a group of settlers in and around Log Gaol decided some thing ought to be done about having "regular preaching." And so Upper Hardwick Church was organized. Log Gaol is now Johnsonsburg and the vicinity, Frelinghuysen Township. Long before Warren County was known and even before Sussex County, from which Warren was taken, was thought of, this region was settled by a few German pioneers whose love of freedom and religious liberty led them into the wilderness in quest of homes. Among these honest industrious pioneers were such names as Green, Armstrong, Kennedy, Pettit, Linn, Hazen, Dyer, Cook, Shaw, Everitt, and others. Their ancestors had come from Ireland, Scotland, England and Germany, according to Snell's History. Upper Hardwick's first church site was located one and one-quarter miles east of Johnsonsburg on what is now the farm of Russell Hendershot. The newly organized Presbyterian body leased an acre or two of land for a pe• riod of ninety-nine years from a Quaker named Dyer. A spot in the woods was cleared and a log house was built. It was built on a knoll very close to the road. (It overlooked a meadow through which Trout Brook runs. This made a very beautiful setting for the church.) One can see about where the foundation was. A large stone near the gutter of the now abandoned road is said to have been in the foundation of the church. According to the sites pointed out the building stood at an angle to the road. Soon burials were made near the church on both sides of the road. In 2 THE YELLOW FRAME PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH this ancient city of the dead lie the remains of the pioneers of the valley and the hills surrounding it. This cemetery is now completely in ruins. Some broken headstones lie around. A few inscriptions were still discernible sev eral years ago. Among them were the following: Jane Reader, 1769, in the 26th year of her age; Mary, daughter of John and Ann Wright, aged 17 years; Thomas Allen, 1769; Jane Hunt, wife of Abraham Hunt, aged 26 years; John Wright died 1797; a Mr. Luse died 1796; Moses Hazen, 1799; Isaac Lanning, senior elder died 1811. This Lanning plot is enclosed within a solid wall of concrete. For many years after the church was abandoned burials were made in this cemetery called the Dark Moon Cemetery. In those early times not far upstream on the before mentioned Trout Brook there was a double log tavern. In the yard of this tavern stood a tall sign post with a high horizontal arm from which was suspended a sign painted white. In the center was a crescent moon painted black. This was the notorious Dark Moon Tavern. Upper Hardwick Church and graveyard became known as Dark Moon Church and Dark Moon Cemetery whether from the name of this tavern or because the road to the church was through a very dark and thickly wooded section of the country. The records of Hardwick Church previous to the year 1823 were de stroyed by fire. The Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church by Alfred Nevin says, "As near as can be ascertained Yellow Frame Church, Upper Hardwick- was organized in 1750._ The people of Hardwick supplicated ye Presbytery for a candidate if one might be obtained and, if not, for sup plies. Byram and McCrea supplied Presbytery Woodbury Sep. 4, 1751, Neshanny Mar. 6, 1751. The commissioners renew their supplication to Presbytery for a candidate in order for settlement arranged then and for Mr. Harker in particular. A call from Roxbury and Hardwick and parts adjacent for Mr. Harker Oct. 25, 1752. Call from Upper and Lower Hardwick was presented in 1764 to Mr. Peppard, was refused and Presbytery of New Brunswick took action reproving Mr. Peppard." No record seems to have been kept by the Presbytery of New Brunswick of the ministers appointed to organize the church but it is well established by tradition that the Reverend William Tennent took part in the services. The Reverend Isaac H. Condit during his pastorate at the Yellow Frame Church often talked about the "Great Awakening." George Whitefield, called England's greatest preacher of his time, came to America seven times and traveled up and down the colonies with others. The man generally re garded as the first preacher of the Great Awakening was a young German named Theodore Frelinghuysen. In 1720 he was called to America to be pastor of three Dutch Reformed congregations in the New Jersey Raritan Valley. He began to preach that every man needed rebirth. Revival spread among ministers and laymen alike. One of those was a Scotch Irish Pres byterian preacher, Gilbert Tennent, who became closely associated with Fre linghuysen. Through Gilbert Tennent and his father, William Tennent, revival fire fell upon the Presbyterian Church. While Gilbert preached in New THE YELLOW FRAME PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 3 Brunswick, William taught three younger T ennents and a group of about a dozen other young men in a little log Academy at Neshaminy in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. From 1726 to 1746 this "Log College" as it was de!'isively called by its enemies, trained a band of spiritual leaders. These men were destined to be the leaders of the Presbyterian Church during the "Great Awakening" and were responsible directly or indirectly for the found nig of at least one hundred schools and colleges before the close of the eighteenth century. Among the best known institutions were Princeton, Hamp den, Sidney, Lafayette, Dickinson, and Washington-Jefferson. We wonder whether the influence of the great revival spread to the frontier here at Log Gaol or J ohnsonsburg and was reflected in that little Presbyterian Church organization called Upper Hardwick. It would be very interesting if we could find some light on who were the organizers of the church. Not many years later the church fa the rs began looking about for more space. Rich minerals had been discovered in Sussex County and the popula tion was growing rapidly. Newcomers were pouring in from the Passaic Valley, from the Hudson River region, and even from Philadelphia and Long Island. By 1780 the log meeting house needed repairing and it was too small. The people agreed that they needed a new and larger building. The question was "where." That question split the congregation. Some wanted a new building on the same site and ochers wanted a new location nearer the center of the congregation. The controversy grew bitter. Tradition says that some young men pried some of the logs out of place one night. Those who favored the new site carried the day. The place selected was at the head of Shaw's Lane, the present site of the Yellow Frame Church. The old building had been in a valley; the new edifice was to be on the crest of a hill overlooking two broad river valleys, the Paulinskill on the north, and the Pequest on the south, presenting a panorama of magnificent scenery. Shaw's Lane took its name from the tract of seven hundred and fifty acres through which it passed. It was said that Robert Shaw wanted the church built here. The site chosen was at the intersection of Shaw's Lane with the Great Road leading from Newton to J ohnsonsburg. That is the name used on legal documents at the time to designate the road. We never learned why it was so called. The name King's Road was also used on maps. It was the stage road from Boston to Philadelphia. The building of the new church was _hindered somewhat by the young men going off to join Washington's army in the War of Independence. But by the time the Revolutionary War was over the first real church edifice in this part of Sussex County neared completion. Tradition says that the church was built among large oak trees; the last one blew down in the hurricane of November 25, 1950. The site 1s an ele vation of 889 feet. On this sightly elevation the congregation built a substantial structure fifty-two feet by fifty feet. Sawed lumber was used in the construction. Huge ceiling beams and rafters were of oak. It had a shingle roof; the original 4 THE YELLOW FRAME PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH shingles were handmade, some were still good in 1905 when the building was torn down. There was a stove in each corner of the church. Wood was burned.