RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
IN 1765 there were in the county, according to the historian Samuel SMITH, fourteen houses of worship. There were nine erected by the Presbyterians--those of Hanover, organized
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
IN 1765 there were in the county, according to the historian Samuel SMITH, fourteen houses of worship. There were nine erected by the Presbyterians--those of Hanover, organized in April 1818, and then presided over by Dr. Jacob GREEN; Mendham, where Rev. Francis PEPPARD preached; Morristown, organized from Hanover in 1738, and whose pastor was the celebrated Dr. Timothy JOHNES, who began his ministry in 1743 and who maintained his connection with the church till his death, in 1798; Madison, where Rev. Azariah HORTON was pastor; Parsippany, Rockaway and Chester, at that time without settled pastors. The other two Presbyterian churches were probably at Succasunna and near Basking Ridge. The Evangelical Lutherans at German Valley had erected a church there in 1745. The Baptists had built a church at Morristown in 1752, and the Congregationalists a church at Chester in 1747. The Quaker meeting-house about a mile south of Dover, erected at that time, is still standing. The Rogerines, a peculiar, fanatical sect, had at that time an organization, most of the members living upon Schooley's Mountain. It became extinct before or about the beginning of the Revolutionary war. Not till 1771 did the Dutch Reformed church of Pompton Plains erect an edifice on the Morris county side of the river.
Under the leading of Dr. Jacob GREEN, in 1780, he with three other ministers withdrew from the Presbytery of New York and formed what was called the Presbytery of Morris county. For twelve years it stood alone; but in 1792 the Westchester Presbytery was formed, and in 1793 the Northern Presbytery, and the name "Associated" was adopted. They were properly Congregational bodies, not holding the authority of synod and being Presbyterians in little but in their name. One of the first ministers ordained by this Morris County Presbytery (in 1783) was Joshua SPALDING, said by Dr. JOHNSON, of Newburgh, to have been the means of converting more souls than any other man since Whitefield's day. Rev. Albert BRUNDAGE, who was taken under care of the presbytery in 1715, was one of the last. In 1830 the Presbytery of Westchester, the last of this group of Associated presbyteries, ceased to exist. Their history has been only partially preserved; but enough remains to show that they were instrumental in doing a great amount of good in a region which required a class of ministers who were willing to endure hardship, and whose work was quite as acceptable although their education had been not of the best. These men were ordained by these Associated presbyteries, and this was one cause of their separation from the synod.
In Alden's "New Jersey Register" of 1812 it is said that the churches and pastors of that day were as follows:
Presbyterian--Black River or Chester, Rev. Lemuel FORDHAM; Hanover, Rev. Aaron CONDICT; Mendham, Rev. Amzi ARMSTRONG; Morristown, Rev. Samuel FISHER; Rockaway, Rev. Barnabas KING; Pleasant Grove and Hackettstown, Rev. Joseph CAMPBELL; Boonton and Pompton, vacant.
Baptist--Morris and Randolph, vacant.
Methodist--Asbury charge, which embraced a part of this county, had as ministers James MOORE, Charles REED and John VAN SCHAICK.
Congregational--Split Rock and Newfoundland, Rev. Jacob BOSTEDO; Chester and Schooley's Mountain, Rev. Stephen OVERTON.
The Society of Friends held meetings at Mendham.
The history of these various churches and of those which were afterward organized will be found in more or less detail in the sketches of the different townships. The following is a list of all the churches at present in the county, and the names of their respective pastors:
Presbyterian--Morristown, First church, Rev. Rufus S. GREEN (now resigned); Morristown, South street church, Rev. Albert ERDMAN, D. D.; Chatham, vacant; Dover, Rev. W. W. HOLLOWAY; Boonton, Rev. Thomas CARTER; Madison, Rev. Robert AIKMAN, D. D.; Whippany, Rev. David M. BARDWELL; New Vernon, Rev. Nathaniel CONKLIN; Parsippany, vacant; Succasunna, Rev. Elijah W. STODDARD, D. D.; Chester, Rev. James F. BREWSTER; Mendham, First church, Rev. I. W. COCHRAN; Mendham, Second church, Rev. James M. HUNTTING jr.; German Valley, Rev. E. P. LINNELL; Mt. Freedom, Rev. W. W. HOLLOWAY sen.; Flanders, Rev. Daniel W. FOX; Hanover, Rev. James A. FERGUSON; Mt. Olive, Rev. O. H. Perry DEYO; Rockaway, Rev. James O. AVERILL; Pleasant Grove, Rev. Burtis C. MEGIE, D. D.
Methodist Episcopal--Rev. J. H. KNOWLES, presiding elder; Morristown, Rev. S. L. BOWMAN, D. D.; Rockaway, Rev. E. H. CONKLIN; Dover, First church, Rev. H. D. OPDYKE; Dover, Second church, Rev. William H. McCORMICK; Dover, free church, Rev. Mr. TAMBLYN; Walnut Grove and Mill Brook, Rev. C. L. BANGHART; Port Oram and Teabo, Rev. J. B. McCAULEY; Mount Hope, Rev. C. W. McCORMICK; Succasunna, Rev. J. THOMAS; Flanders and Drakestown, Rev. D. E. FRAMBES; Mendham, Rev. J. R. WRIGHT; Hibernia, Rev. G. T. JACKSON; Denville and Ro