LIBRARY OF CONGRESS D0D1355D554< UBRARY^CONGRESS. Shelf ^JM-^a^.%- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. \ / ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, HEMPSTEAD. Anthony Yelverton Head Workman. Opened for divine worship Wednesday, April 23, 1735. Rev. Robert Jenney, Rector. ^^^rvij^'^^^^ HEMPSTEAD, INCLUDING ^ OYSTEKBAY AND THE ILLUSTRATED FKOM LETTERS OF THE MISSIONARIES, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC DOCUMENTS. By henry ONDERDONK, Jr., B., University of Cambridge A. ; A. M., Columbia College •,:-.^ •' A' dm HEMPSTEAD, N. Y.! LOTT VAN DE WATER, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER, 1880. I J dl H405% In 1701, some members of the Church of England formed a "Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts." Their Missionaries were required to report to the Society once a year, or oftener, the state of their several Missions. This volume contains so much of their correspondence relating to Hempstead as is indebted to the kindly has been procurable : for which privilege the compiler influence of the Rev. George Williamson Smith and the Rev. Dr. Drovvne, and the obliging courtesy of Bishop Perry, the custodian. This Venerable Society held its annual meetings in London, and published abstracts from the Reports of its Missionaries. Some of these letters seem to by the Rev. have been subsequently lost or mislaid ; for in the collection made Dr. Hawks many letters used in making out the Society's Annual Reports are not now to be found. These printed abstracts are now, however, all incorporated in the present volume with the Rev. Dr. Hawks' unabridged transcripts; and they shed additional light on the obscurity of the early history of the Hempstead Church. After the first selection of these letters had been printed, my generous publisher, Mr. Lott Van De Water, like a true son of the Church, allowed me to go over the field again for a second gleaning. Hence the letters do not independent of follow in a chronological order ; but as the topics are quite each other this will cause little inconvenience. Though Mr. Thomas served the parish over twenty years, all remembrance of him had so faded out that his name does not appear in the list of Ministers inscribed, in 1823, on a marble tablet in the church. Some extracts from his correspondence and that of the succeeding Missionaries were published for the first time in 1841, by the Rev. Dr. Carmichael, in "The Rise and Progress of St. George's Church." The Rev. Dr. Moore, the eleventh Minister of this ancienc Parish, has for some years been gathering materials fur a more connected, full and complete history of the Church, brought down to the present time, which it is hoped may see the light at no distant day. IV John J. Latting, Esq., has kindly copied and verified sundry documents and greatly facilitated my researches. The author of this compilation has in press: "Antiquities of the Parish Church, Jamaica, L. I.," which will be a companion volume to this, as the two will embrace an outline of the early history of the entire Diocese of Long Island. Henry Onderdonk, Jr. Jamaica, L. I., May, 1880. Other Contributions to Local History by the Compiler. Revolutionary Incidents of Queens County," 1846. Letters to J. F. Cooper on the Death of General WoocUiull," 1848. Revolutionary Incidents of Suffolk and Kings Counties," 1849. Genealogy of the Onderdonk Family," 1852. ' Queens County in Olden Times," 1865. ' Bibliography of Long Island," 1866. ' Reformed Dutch Churches and Ministers on Long Island," 1866. 'Agriculture, Stock-Breediug and Manufactures in Hempstead," 1867. ' Rise and Growth of Friends on Long Island and in New York City," 1870. ' Annals of Hempstead," 1878. ' Antiquities of the Parish Church, Jamaica, L. I.," 1880. |iiiti(ntitics flf Jcmpstciib C|iirc|. By henry ONDERDONK, Jr. >«<0-D Hempstead was settled in 1643, by Presby- " From the want of a minister, now so long terians and Independents, who bnilt a house continued, many of our children are yet un- of worship and maintained a minister by a baptised." Tlie Governor sent (March 12th) town rate. We cannot ^ive a clear account Rev. Samuel Drisius to them, who preached of the early ministers. In 1G51 Rev. John and baptised forty -one children and an aged Moore styles himself " Minister of the Church woman of Hempstead." In 1662, May 16th, the town had voted a In a letter of the Dutch ministers at New salary of £70 to Mr. Jonah Fordham, who " York (1G57) it is stated that At Hempstead had been one year amonst them ; but the magistrates had to send to the Governor for there are some Independents ; also many of the Dutch persuasion and Presbyterians. a warrant against some that refused to pay They have a Presbyterian preacher, Richard the minister's rate. Denton, an honest, pious and learned man, 1670, April 1st. By major vote the minis- who has in all thinojs conformed to our ter of the town is allowed to have free pasture Church. The Independents listen attentively for six oxen. to his preaching, but when he begins to bap 1671, April 25. The town-house or the par- tise the children of parents who are not mem- sonage lot is sold at £9 in corn. bers of the church, they sometimes burst out 1674, November 80. Some of the towns- of the church." people petition the Governor " to install such In IGoT, July 15tli, Gov. Stuyvesant., who authority among us as may be a means under favored the Presbyterian interest, visited God for upholding and maintaining the min- Hempstead in hopes of settling Mr. Denton's istry, the worship of God and the Gospel of " us, the continuance there, and says : It he cannot be the Lord Jesus Christ amongst that persuaded to stay, you must then look for honor of God might be promoted and his Sab- baths observed, for the good of us and our another able and godly man ; but as Mr. Fordham, sometime your minister, left the posterity." place and exercise of the ministry without 1678, January 7th. By major vote it was our wish or knowledge, and for little or no agreed to build a meeting-house forty by reason, we cannot admit of his coming back twenty-six feet, and twelve feet in the stud, again." with a leanto on each side. The quarter's rate for Mr. Denton in 1657 1679, May 26th. Gov. Andros forbids Qua- was £17.10, being a levy of 3i pence to the ker meetings in Hempstead, but to no pur- acre. In 1658 it was paid in wheat at 5s. per pose. bushel, or cats at 2s. 6d. 1680, May 12th. The old meetinghouse In August, 1657, traveling preachers of the and the fort enclosing it were sold at outcry Society of Friends began to visit Hempstead, for £2.12 in meeting-house pay. and by inveighing against paying money to 1682, May 6th. By major vote at town- " liireling priests," in the course of time drew meeting, Rev. Jeremy Hobart is called to be off many from the church. minister. A house eighteen by thirty-six feet 1660, November 10. The town order a is to be built for him to live in. His salary house-end to be set up to Goodman Pearsall's was by subscription, £70 in corn or cattle, house, for the entertainment of young Master and his fire wood brought him at free-cost. Fordham, and that the meeting house be re- Jeremy Wood is allowed 10s. a year for look- paired and made comfortable to meet in. ing after the opening and shutting of the In 1661, February loth, some people of window-shuts of the meeting-house, and to Hempstead write to Gov. Stuyvesant that : look carefully after the hour-glass. Though the town had ordered a bell from Amsterdam The Friends having made such inroads into as long ago as 1G56, it seems not to have ar- the Presbyterian Church, there seemed a good rived, for Richard Gildersleeve, Sr.. is hired, opening for establishing a Church of England. at 20s. a year, to beat the drum to announce Accordingly the Rev. George Keith, a con- the hours of worship. verted Quaker, but now an itinerant mission- 1087. The people of Great Neck (then in- ary of the Society for Propagating the Gospel cluded in the town) complain that Hobart in Foreign Parts, resorted to Hempstead sev- don't preach and visit amongst them. In eral times in hopes of gaining over both 1083 they had built a church by themselves Friends and Presbyterians to the Church. and hired Eev. Morgan Jones as pastor, but On one occasion Keith, following the steps of Hobart forbid his preaching there as being in one Samuel Bovvnas, a traveling preacher, to his parish. Hempstead, appointed a meeting at the same 1090, April 20. Samuel Sewall says, "I hour as Bovvnas had, and to preach within rode to Hempstead to hear Mr. Hobart, but hearing distance. Between the two appoint- he was at York. So I staid at Mr. Jackson's, ments there was a very large gathering. read chapters, and Mr. Stoughton, my com- The Quaker champion says: "I being very panion, prayed." young and strong, my voice was plainly In 1090, December 4th, Mr. Hobart bad to heard by the people who were with Keith, resort to the Court of Oyer and Terminer to so that they all left his meeting but the compel the town to pay tlie arrears of his clerk and William Bradford, and came to salary. In 1092 he was constrained to leave ours, for we had room enough for both meet- " Hempstead, by reason of numbers of the ings, it being a very large barn of Nathaniel peoi)le turning Quakers and many others Pearsall.