Peter Sharpe was a "whip manufacturer" and William B. Crosby is listed
as "gentleman."
[Illustration: North Dutch Church]
Nothing is known of the architect or builder, tho they were probably the
same, as was the fashion of the time. The building was required by the
deed "to be of brick or stone materials, and the whole building of a
size not less than that of the Presbyterian church in Rutgers Street."
A hundred years have proven the substantial character of the Market
Street church. The men of that day did their work well. Whether it was a
simplified copy of the North Dutch church or not is not known. It looks
much like it, tho the tower is simpler and the two rows of windows in the
Fulton Street building become one row of great windows on Henry Street.
But it has all stood the test of time. The old hand-hewn oak timbers
still span the lofty ceiling, the glistening gray stone walls still
stand four-square against all the winds that blow. The hand-made hinges
and numbers are still on the pew doors, and the so-called slave
galleries are still there, tho neither colored servants nor Sunday
school children are consigned to them now. Hidden away, but still there
are the hand-made laths, the shingles under the tin roof and the
four-foot thick foundations.
The old tower is there, for many years untenanted, until the men came
who worked and lived there, a place of seclusion in a busy time and
neighborhood, and if the symbols on the rough walls have made their
thoughts roam to the early Christian days the telephone brings them back
again into 1919.
The years have brought some changes; better heating than the first
stoves,--the first coal bill was paid in February, 1832, and a new
furnace cost $150 in 1848; better lighting than in 1819,--they had no
gas till May, 1843,--but there have always been men who studied to
maintain the quiet simplicity and beauty of the house, never more
marked than in the days of its centennial.
The Reformed Protestant Dutch church in Market Street was "dedicated to
the worship of Almighty God" on June 27, 1819, the Rev. Dr. Milledoler
preaching the sermon. On September 8, 1819, twenty-four members united,
on the 29th more were added, but "on account of the prevailing sickness"
the consistory was not elected until November 10. Henry Rutgers, John
Redfield and Isaac Brinkerhoff were elected elders, and William B.
Crosby, Elbert A. Brinkerhoff and Thomas Morrow were chosen as deacons.
On November 28, 1819, they were ordained. On the day following they met
at the mansion of Colonel Rutgers, when he was chosen president of the
consistory. On January 2, 1821, the property was finally deeded to the
consistory.
The first minister of the church was William McMurray, D.D., "who with
fidelity and zeal" served from 1820 to May, 1835.
Dr. McMurray was born of Scotch-Irish parents in Washington in 1783, and
graduated from Union College in 1804, studying theology under the famous
J. M. Mason. He was a great worker, preached three times each Sunday,
conducted catechism classes, and is said to have known nearly everyone
in the Seventh Ward. He contracted typhoid fever, lingered for a while
and died September 24, 1835.
A Sunday school was started in 1821.
In 1834 the elders and deacons are recorded as being: Crosby, Hoxie,
Andrews, Doig, Moore, Herrick, Cisco, Montanye, Conover and McCullough,
all famous names. Hoxie and Cisco were wholesale clothing merchants in
Cherry Street then the center for that trade.
[Illustration: Isaac Ferris]
In August, 1836, Dr. McMurray was succeeded by Isaac Ferris. He was a
New Yorker, entered Columbia when only fourteen years old, graduated
with first honors and fought in the War of 1812 with his father. The
Sunday school reported 213 pupils at the time of his coming, which
soon increased, for Dr. Ferris paid special attention to the school.
He was president of the New York Sunday School Union and first
president of the Foreign Mission Board of the Dutch Church. The church
had 600 communicants, and was described as "a fashionable church in the
aristocratic Seventh Ward."
His son, Dr. John Ferris, spent much of his earlier life with his
father. Dr. Isaac Ferris died June 13, 1873. He was tall, broad
shouldered and of commanding presence.
In 1841 the organ was ordered and finally completed in 1844. It was
built by Henry Erben, of New York, whose son became admiral in the Navy.
Experts tell of the amount of lead used in the construction of its
pipes. It is still pumped by hand as in the olden days. John Pye was
the first man to do this. George Loder was the first organist, and
P. A. Andri the first chorister.
[Illustration: Organ]
In 1843, on the land back of the church the "Consistory Building" was
erected. It was a plain brick building with a high stoop and heavy
wooden shutters. The upper floor was for the Sunday school and provided
with circular seats for classes. In an alcove on one side and closed by
glass doors was the library railed off from the rest of the school. On
the main floor was the lecture room, the floor of which rose in the
back. Between the stairways leading to the next floor was a platform
with two heavy Greek columns and a reading desk between them. It was a
bold boy who would run back there thru the dark when the "infant class"
met in the room. The columns were removed in the seventies and later on
the rounded stiff seats went too. Then the floor had to be leveled so
that the room could be put to general use. Before that it was possible
to reach most of the seats only by passing between the "leader" and the
audience.
[Illustration: Platform in Old Consistory Building]
In the basement in dingy quarters in the rear lived the sexton. He had
the great improvement of having water brought into the house in June,
1847, by a sixty-foot hose. Six years later the hydrant was put up in
the front church yard, remaining there until quite recently.
To the right and under the stoop there was a hallway, which later was
changed to the "pastor's study," in which all smaller important meetings
were held. It was in this little room that the session received members
and for many it holds very sacred memories.
There were no pictures in the building, but later a few mottoes with
Bible texts were hung about.
In early days a part of the building was rented for use as a school. The
rental was only nominal. At the time of the erection of the consistory
building the sidewalks around the whole property were flagged and the
iron fence erected.
In 1848 the upper floor was arranged for the Sunday school at a cost of
$500. About 1871 doors were cut thru to the galleries of the church from
the upper floor. For more than twenty years this had been urged.
John Crosby is recorded as "paying off the church debt of $10,542" in
June, 1852.
Dr. Ferris left in 1853 to become chancellor of the University of
New York, succeeding his friend, Theodore Frelinghuysen. The first
chancellor had been Dr. Matthews, a trustee of the church, and the
successors of Dr. Ferris were Howard Crosby, John Hall and Henry M.
McCracken. So of six chancellors of the university, four were vitally
interested in the Market Street church.