1711 ACTS OF THE CLASSIS OF AMSTERDAM. Kingstown. 1711, Oct. 5th. The case of Kingstown remains in statu. ix. 245. 1711, Oct. 23. That pursuant to her Majesty's commands he (the Governor) has contracted for the building of two forts with a Chapel in each, in the Indian country with accommodations for missionaries. The expense whereof her Majesty is graciously pleased to defray, 323. PETITION FOR A CHARTER FOR THE CHURCH AT NEW ROCHELLE. (1711) To His Excellency Robert Hunter Esq., Captain Generall and Governor in Chief of her Majesties Provinces of New York New Jersey and Territories Depending thereon in America etc. Vice Admiral of the same etc. The Petition of Daniel Bondet minister olmer Besly and other Inhabitants of New Rochelle of the communion of the Church of England in behalf of Themselves and others. Humbly Sheweth That Whereas They have been favoured with your Excellencys licence Bearing date the 2nd of August 1710 Empowering them to collect and Receive the charitable contributions of piously disposed Christians and apply them Towards building a house for the worship and Service of God according to the form and manner of the Church of England as by Law Established, and further Granting unto them the privilege to build and Erect such church in such place of the publick Street as to them should seem most convenient and proper. That by virtue of the said Licence and Encouragement and the contributions Thereby collected They have proceeded to build and have now finished a convenient building for the use aforesaid according to the directions limitations and Restrictions Therein mentioned. May it Therefore please your Excellency to grant them a patent for the said Church and the ground whereon it stands that it may be secured for the use of the church of England to them and their posterity for Ever against all attempts claims & pretensions that hereafter may be made and your Petitioners as in duty bound shall Ever pray etc. New Rochelle, the 11 of November. Daniel Bondet P. Valleau Elie De Bonrepos. Rev. Mr. Bondet died in 1722. He had been Minister of the Parish above twenty years. the Church. 1711 MEMORIAL OF THE CLERGY, ETC., RELATING TO MR. POYER AND To the Right Honorable & Right Reverend Father in God Henry, Lord Bishop of London. The Memorial of the Clergy of the Colonies of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia in America. Humbly Sheweth That it has been a general observation that considering the number of Inhabitants of the Colony of New York no place produces a greater diversity of opinions in matters of Religion. But how different soever they were in their opinions yet at their first settlements into communitys as Townships etc. they were generally unanimous in setting aside some quantity of land for a provision for a minister whenever they should be able to procure one and although Long Island may justly be said to be more divided than any other part of the Colony yet the several Townships therein following the example of others made the same provision & particularly the town of Jamaica (whose Inhabitants were composed of Church men and Dissenters of all sorts) the better to induce a minister to come and abide with them did at a general Town meeting in 1662 (according to their constant method and which was used in all other Townships within the said Colony) order & soon after build the parsonage house now standing in Jamaica by laying a rate upon all the Freeholders which rate was assessed upon their meadows (that being the most equal way because every mans right and proportion in that township did arise from the quantity of meadow land he possessed. Afterwards (according to their usual method of Town meetings) they appointed persons to procure Ministers for them and to agree with them for certain & fix't Salarys being usually about Sixty pounds per annum, for the levying whereof they appointed Assessors & Collectors who assessed & levied the said sums on the lands & estates of all the inhabitants of what sect soever they were and for the better encouragement of a minister they not only gave him possession of the said parsonage house but also of divers others parcels of land in the said town. The said Town as a further encouragement for a Ministry and that their habitation & maintenance might not be precarious but be made an orderly glebe on the 14th June 1676 at a general town meeting it was voted and concluded in these words (viz.) That there should be forty acres of meadow designed and set apart for a parsonage lot in the East neck adjoining to the lots of meadow laid out with upland proportionable to other lots laid out in the Town to continue at the dispose of the town to a minister when they shall have occasion to make use of it the greatest part of which Lands & Meadow they have lately resumed & divided amongst themselves. Among the rest of their Ministers that came unto them they made an agreement with one Mr. C. Prudden a Dissenting minister (there being no Orthodox divine sent over as yet) for forty pounds per annum but if he staid ten years then to have the Parsonage house and house Lot in fee (which agreement they could in no wise make having before that time given it for a Parsonage) however Mr. Prudden staid with them the ten years and afterwards by another agreement dated the 29th September 1693 the said Mr. Prudden in consideration of other lands given him by that Town by way of exchange conveyed the Parsonage house & land to the inhabitants of the said Town to hold as a Parsonage to the use benefit & behoof of the ministry to them & their heirs forever. During all this time they had not been able to erect a Church or public building for the worship of God but usually performed the same in the Town house or County Hall, but beginning to thrive and finding themselves in a capacity to build and erect a church on the 13th day of September in the year 1698, at a town meeting the deputed nine persons (some of which were professed Churchmen & some Dissenters) in these words (viz.) to carry on the work of a Church or meeting house and to see the same truly empleted & ended. Soon after this vote of the Town, in the year 1699 an Act of General Assembly was made to enable the respective towns within the whole province to build and repair their meeting houses & other public buildings upon which they laid aside the prosecution of building according to the said Town vote and took hold of the said Act by virtue whereof the present Church was built and erected in the middle of the highway in the main street and distress was made on Churchmen Quakers Anabaptists people of the Dutch Congregation etc. promiscuously for the payment of rates towards the same But before this time conformable to instructions from his late Majesty King William to the Governor for the encouragement of Religion in general and the Established Church in particular and to settle parishes within the said province in the year 1693 an Act of General Assembly passed whereby it was enacted that in the several Cities & Counties therein mentioned there should be called and Inducted and Established a sufficient Protestant minister amongst which one was to be for Jamaica and the two adjacent towns and another for Hempstead and its adjacent towns but so unhappy was this province as to remain a scattered people without any true Shepherd till the year 1697 when the Rev. Mr. Vesey came to the City of New York, however that act remained in force to enable any of the places to establish and induct Orthodox Ministers when they could obtain them from England, no other being intended by the express words of the act as is conceived neither have the Dissenters made any use of this, believing it not to suit their Church Government. Nevertheless it is confessed that they have made use of independent and sometimes itinerant preachers in no wise ordained, out of pure necessity for want of Orthodox preachers and out of the same necessity Quakers have been admitted into offices of trust at Pennsylvania without taking the Oaths and Justices of peace in the province of New York to perform the Office of Matrimony (Though both against the known laws.) In the year 1702 came from England the Reverend Patrick Gordon to the Church at Jamaica who before he could be inducted was snatched away by death from those people to their unspeakable loss which by a petition signed by upwards of fifty inhabitants to his then Excellency Lord Cornbury (that noble patron of the church here) they did sufficiently express and pray his Lordship to give such direction to the Rev. Mr. Vesey that they might have constant lectures amongst them until that loss shall be made up to them by her Majesty which would tend to the advancement of true religion and the best of Churches and the reconciling their unhappy differences, the which Mr. Vesey willingly & faithfully performed till the year 1704 when the Rev. Mr. Urquhart was established & inducted in the said Church by the then Governor Lord Cornbury. But one Mr. Hubbard an Independent Minister being then in possession of the Parsonage house his Lordship ordered him to deliver up the same to Mr. Urquhart which accordingly was done quietly and peaceably without any force and was enjoyed peaceably by the said Mr. Urquhart for several years and the Independents themselves seemed to rest satisfied so far that they unanimously at their own expence built themselves a Meeting house in the same town which they now use and enjoy. In the year 1705 another Act of General Assembly passed for the better explaining it more effectual putting in execution the former act for settling the Ministry etc. whereby it was enacted amongst other things that all the payments made to the present Incumbents inducted & established by the present Governor and to all and every the incumbents who should hereafter be presented instituted and inducted for the maintenance pursuant to the said act should be made by the Church-wardens in the Current money of this province. After which it might reasonably have been expected that this Church would have enjoyed the same peace as the Church at Hempstead in the same County and other the Churches settled in this province by virtue of the same Acts of Assembly but division's arising & parties making to heap up Complaints against his Lordship to remove him from his Government every Act of Government was to be nicely scanned and amongst the rest this Order of his Lordship was called an arbitrary & unjust Order and a turning a man out of his possession by force 1711 (though in fact no force was) and it is conceived that William Urquhart by his induction to the Church must take all that belongs to it particularly the parsonage so that Mr. Hubbards delivery of it was conceived rightfull & what by law he ought to have done. These Clamours stirred up the more rigid and obstinate of the Independents to claim the Church as built by them the majority in number to the Churchmen but nothing was attempted against the Church daring that noble Lord's Government. But after his removal by the arrival of Lord Lovelace That Dormant claim of the Independents did not want its secret and open abettors as well to blacken the Lord Cornbury's administration in that particular and to increase the number of petitions and complaints his enemies had prepared against him as also to destroy the established Church that had been peaceably enjoyed so many years, accordingly the Chiefs of that sect in 1709 presented a Memorial to the Lord Lovelace praying to be relieved therein. The which Mr. Urquhart fully answered but before that could come to a hearing the Lord Lovelace fell sick and soon after died, nothing being determined in the matter. Thus the affairs of this Church stood till the death of Mr. Urquhart who died in August the same year. After the death of Mr. Urquhart there was nothing but great threatenings thundered against the Church and parsonage but Col. Ingoldesby then Lieut. Gorernor of this Colony recommended to the adjacent Ministers to serve the cure alternately during the vacancy which they did willingly at their own expence and in the meantime the widow of the deceased Mr. Urquhart was suffered to live and enjoy the benefit of the parsonage house and Glebe. No sooner was her Majesty pleased to remove Colonel Ingoldsby from the Government whereby the same devolved on Col. Gerhardus Beekman as president of the Council, but the very next day being the 11th of April 1710 several of the more violent of that sect took possession of the Church and forcibly detained the same against a Justice of the peace who came pursuant to the laws in that case made and provided and recorded the Story as in his view and committed the offenders who afterwards were set at liberty upon their recognizances to appear at the next Sessions at which time they appeared and were by the Court fined so very small that Though there were six offenders all their fines amounted to no more than Eighteen shillings which was put upon them not as a punishment but rather a cautionary admonition not to attempt anything of the like nature for the future which mild dealing was so far from having any effect upon the Criminals that they put in a petition to the President and Council arraigning the Jus tices of the Court of Sessions in passing against them and on their allegations alone the Justices were ordered to appear by their Counsel to answer before the President and Council concerning what they had judicially done in their full Sessions and the Criminals so far encouraged as to have their several fines remitted them and the Justices dismissed from their further attendance as having acted according to Law; such an examination as this is unwarrantable and contrary to the known laws of the land (as we are advised) and of dangerous consequences as taking matters out of the ordinary course of the Law by which only they ought to be examined and determined. After this usage of the Justices so contrary to Law, and after such countenance to the Criminals shown by the President & Council, it may easily be concluded the Church could not be very secure from the further attempts of such bitter enemies and accordingly after the arrival of the Rev. Mr. Poyer the present minister but before his actually coming to the place they entered into the parsonage house upon the possession of the Widow of Mr. Urquhart who lived in it and kept the Widow out of it by force though she and her husband had been in possession of the same about Six years (though we have since very great reason to believe that she connived at their entry for she was soon afterwards readmitted as tenant to them with one Wolsey an Independent Student and approbationer who has married the Daughter of the said Widow Urquhart) and after Mr. Poyer was inducted into the Church the Justice repaired upon complaint to the parsonage house but could get no admittance whereupon a second record of forcible detainer was made by the Justice on his own view and Warrant issued to the Sheriff to apprehend the offenders & to keep them till they should be delivered by due course of law but the Sheriff who had been lately appointed by the President & Council in the room of the former deceased being a strong Independent told the Justices his conscience would not let him do it by which means the offenders have as yet escaped punishment and Mr. Poyer kept out of his possession of the parsonage and glebe. And here it may not be improper to remember that in February 1702 the Churchwardens & Vestrymen the major part of which were Dissenters called Mr. John Hubbard aforesaid to be Minister of the said precinct but he never officiated and the Lord Cornbury then Governor here (knowing the said William Hubbard not qualified to accept of the said call and that the Church-Wardens & Vestrymen had lost their right of presenting by calling an unqualified person) on the arrival of Mr. Urquhart in the year 1704 inducted him into the said Church & parsonage which act of his Lordship was so far from being thought irregular that the General Assembly by the before recited explanatory Act made in the year 1705 allowed the same by ordering the salary to him. In a short time after the death of Mr. Urquhart the Churchwardens & vestrymen (though new ones yet all independents) in the same manner called one Mr. George Macnish a Dissenting Itinerant preacher who being as much if not more "unqualified to accept or officiate than Mr. Hubbard the present Governor Mr. Hunter ordered Mr. Poyer to be inducted into the said Church and its appurtenances which was accordingly done by the Rev. Mr. Sharp Chaplain of the forces here on the 18th July 1710. Yet notwithstanding the said last recited Act of General Assembly that enacted that the maintenance should be paid to the Incumbent that should be inducted & established the Churchwardens refuse to pay Mr. Poyer who is qualified according to the Act any maintenance pursuant to the same (for though Mr. Poyer had duly officiated there for about the space of One year and a half and after a very tedious & expensive voyage with his family in a Merchant ship and being cast ashore with the ship above one hundred miles from his parish has not received one penny of his Salary there since his arrival but on the contrary they paid sixteen pounds certain (and we believe more that we know not of) of the money raised by the said Act to the said Mr. McNish. This is the unhappy state of the Church of Jamaica in the Colony of New York and since it plainly appears that the claim of the Independents is nothing but their rates towards the building of the Church and are more in number & now also in power (the magistracy Churchwardens & vestrymen being all of that persuasion) we say, since we have no other claim nor ever had any possession according to the Establishments made by the Acts of Assembly it is also submitted to your Lordship & to other impartial unpredjudiced and judicious persons to Judge of a right to a Church thus built and thus established as before at large set forth. And now because that upon so firm a foundation it may be expected that Mr. Poyer the present worthy incumbent of this unhappy place should by law endeavour to obtain his Salary together with the parsonage house and lands detained from him by the Independents to which method his Excellency Col. Hunter has encouraged him by promising him to be at the expense of the suit, We humbly crave leave to offer that we cannot at this juncture think it at all advisable for him, because we are humbly of opinion that a matter of that consequence ought not to be in such a manner undertaken without the express directions of your Lordship and the Honorable Society and also because such suit must be commenced before Judges who are professed implacable enemies to the Established Church Judges who were lately advanced in the room of others, who were men of character and true friends of the Church, at an unlucky time when they were actually doing Justice to the Church in this particular, and we could heartily have wished that his Excellency would have been pleased to have favoured Mr. Poyer's petition by writing to those new officers to enforce them in their duty and hope such admonitions would have had a good influence on them though indeed justice from these new judges may scarcely be expected after the acting of three of them who upon Mr. Poyer's complaint against the Church Wardens for the nonpayment of his first quarters salary gave Judgment against him and ordered him to pay 1711 |