minister of a church in the Highlands, which lay within the territorial jurisdiction of such Presbytery. We have no means of knowing whether his retirement from the pastorate of the Goodwill church, twenty years later, was due in any part to his holding views, one way or the other, not acceptable to his congregation, touching, for instance, the practical value of "vivid religious experiences," or whether his retirement was due to the secessions that followed the activities of the Reformed and Associate missionaries, already referred to, or to other causes. It is probable that when he graduated at college he was not identified with what might be called the radical wing, for which Rev. Gilbert Tennent and other Log College men stood; but this is, at best, conjecture and even if sound would afford little indication of the tendency of his maturing development. Of the seven men graduated in the class of 1749 at New Brunswick, four beside John Moffat became Presbyterian ministers: JOHN BROWN who, in 1753, was ordained and called to the United Churches of Timber Ridge and New Providence, in Virginia, and opened a grammar school near his residence which was afterwards merged in Liberty Hall and finally grew into Washington College; JOHN HOGG (or Hoge) who was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick in 1753, was ordained by the Presbytery of New Castle in 1755, and became the first pastor of the churches of Opecquan and Cedar Creek, Virginia; JOHN TODD who, in November 1750, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, and went at once to Virginia where he became assistant minister of the Providence church, and incidentally kept a classical school; and ELEAZER WHITTLESEY who was licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle in 1750 and went to Harford County, Maryland, where he died within two years. and The other two graduates of 1749 were: THOMAS KENNEDY, of whom nothing seems to be known; WILLIAM BURNET, a resident of Elizabethtown who became a distinguished physician, was a member of the Continental Congress, served as Surgeon-General of the American Army for the Eastern District of the United States throughout the Revolutionary War, and was for two years a representative in Congress. From an old bible now in the possession of Dr. J. F. Howe of Brooklyn [No. 169 below] it appears that John Moffat was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New York on May 30, 1750, and that he was ordained by the same Presbytery at the Goodwill church on October 4, 1750. It is said in a book entitled "Princeton College during the 18th Century," written by Samuel Davies Alexander,13 that John Moffat was a Scotchman by birth; but no authority is given for such statement, and none has come to the writer's notice. It is also stated there that he was ordained by the Presbytery of New York, in 1751; that in 1773 he was residing in Delaware,—a statement that the writer hereof has been unable to verify; and that in 1795 he joined the Associate church. The last mentioned date is undoubtedly a misprint; for a subsequent clause in the same paragraph states that he died April 22, 1788. It may be that John Moffat's retirement from the pastorate of the Goodwill church was due to his sympathizing with the Associate church; but the little evidence that there is does not seem to point that way. In the "History of the Presbyterian Church in America" by Rev. Richard Webster,14 it is stated that in 1773 Rev. John Moffat resided in the bounds of the New Castle Presbytery, without charge, and without employment in the ministry; and such statement is doubtless the authority upon which Mr. Samuel Davies Alexander relied, fifteen years later, for his assertion that in 1773 John Moffat resided in Delaware. An old account book now in the possession of Rev. John Moffat's granddaughter, Mrs. Mary Moffat Young [No. 30 below], contains many memoranda in John Moffat's handwriting covering a long period of years; but it contains nothing from which a residence out of Ulster County, New York, is to be inferred. Published in New York in 1872 by A. D. F. Randolph & Co. 14Published in 1857, in Philadelphia, by Joseph M. Wilson. As to the personal characteristics and general appearance of John Moffat, we also have little information. In a letter written forty years ago, Mrs. Mary Moffat Allen [No. 64 below] tells, from conversations had in her girlhood with the "Aunts,"-greataunts they were, of hers,-Mrs. Roosa and Mrs. Howe [Nos. 8 and 9 below], that Rev. John Moffat was small of stature, with scant sandy hair and pale blue eyes, while his wife, on the other hand, was of fine commanding presence, had dark eyes, and was possessed of energy and ability. And this is all that has came to the writer's notice. In a census of slaves and slaveholders in the Province of New York, taken in 1755, less than one hundred slaves were recorded; and of these Rev. John Moffat had one. It is known that in the later years of his life Rev. John Moffat taught school,-he described it as a Latin School,-at Little Britain (whether at Stonefield or not is uncertain) and from the old account book in Mrs. Young's possession, already referred to, we learn that the school continued for about three years, from 1778 to 1781. Among the pupils whose names are found in the book, are Alexander, Charles, George, DeWitt and Mary Clinton; Robert and William Burnet; Robert L. and William Annan; Abimael and John Nicoll; William Townsend; William Denning; David and George Denniston; Stephen Belknap; James and Samuel Boyd; Nathaniel and Isaac Dubois; Joseph Barber; David Davison; Leah DeWitt; Charles and Susanna Smith; and James and Jesson Wilkin. The rates of tuition charged do not seem exorbitant to us in the present day. A bill rendered General James Clinton under date of February 15, 1781, is transcribed in the book and reads as follows: Gen. James Clinton, Dr. to John Moffat for school teaching: To 24 years schooling of Alexander and Charles, to the middle of February, 1781, at 5 pounds per year, comes to.... £22:10:0 8:12:0 The school continued until July 18, 1781, by which time, as the account book further shows, an additional £6:5:0 was run up against Gen. James Clinton which he liquidated to the extent of £2:8:0 by the delivery of eight bushels of wheat at six shillings per bushel, leaving £3:17:0 due on the additional bill, or a total of £27:13:32 in which amount, as John Moffat writes in the account book, "General James Clinton is indebted to me for the "schooling of his children." The book shows that the tuition of other students was paid in wheat and in Indian corn; and it is quite possible that the inability to collect for tuition during the distressing period of the Revolutionary War led to the discontinuance of the school. John Moffat died on April 22, 1788, and his widow occupied the home at Stonefield until her death on October 18, 1800. "On the hilltop, a few rods north of the old Stonefield house," wrote the late George Pierson, of Campbell Hall [No. 116 below], under date of May 6, 1907, "can be seen a number of sunken graves, some with common field stones for markers, some have been broken off, but most of them without any. These are the graves of the Rev. John Little and family, and of the Rev. John Moffat and wife." John Moffat's will bears date March 10, 1787, nearly a year before his death, and is recorded in the office of the clerk of the Surrogate's Court of Ulster County, at Kingston, New York, in Book B of Wills, at page 156. It was not proved until January 12, 1795. It reads as follows: IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN. I John Moffat, of the Precinct of New Windsor in the County of Ulster and State of New York, Clerk, being weak in body but of sound mind and memory, Blessed be God, Do this tenth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven, make publish and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following that is to say, Imprimis, I order all my just debts and funeral charges to be paid out of my personal estate in as short a time after my decease as may be done with convinency. Item I give and bequeath all my books to be equally divided by lot in nine parts between my loving wife and my eight children (to wit) John Little, William, Margaret, Mary, Samuel, Frances, Elizabeth and Catharine. Item, I give and bequeath to my son William the sum of ten pounds lawfull money of New York to be paid him by my Executors hereinafter named on or before the expiration of three years from my decease together with my wearing apparel except my new Beaver hat which I give to my son Samuel. Item, I give unto my beloved wife, Margaret Moffat, the use and profits of all my lands and tenenments whereof I shall die seized, during the term of her natural life or while she remains my Widow, and at her marriage or death, I do order that the same be sold by my Executors and be equally divided between my son Samuel and my three youngest daughters (to wit Frances, Elizabeth and Catharine). Item, I do order that all my grain of every kind and other provisions together with all my Wool and flax that I shall be possessed of at the time of my death as well as the grain of every kind that I may then have growing on the ground shall be kept and reserved for the use of my family and not inventoryed at all by my Executors. Item all the residue and remainder of my personal Estate not herein before particularly disposed of I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife, Margaret, my son Samuel and my three youngest daughters (to wit) Frances, Elizabeth and Catharine to be equally divided among them in the following manner that is to say, I order an inventory and appraizment to be made of all the said residue and remainder of all my personal Estate not herein particularly disposed of as aforesaid and that my said wife said son Samuel and said three last mentioned daughters shall each be entitled to an equal share of the value thereof according to such appraizment which legacies so hereby devised to my three mentioned daughters and son Samuel shall be paid to them at their respective marriages or at their Mothers death or marriage. Item, I order that my said three last mentioned daughters continue to live with their mother on the place whereon I now live and to be subject to her directions (and if she thinks proper my daughter Catharine may continue with her Brother in law Mr. Jacob Wright) until they respectively marry, and I do hereby make ordain constitute and appoint my well beloved Wife and my well beloved sons Samuel Moffat and John L. Moffat Executors to this my last Will and Testament in trust for the purposes in this my will contained. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the day and year first above written. JOHN MOFFAT (L. S.) Signed sealed and acknowledged by the testator as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who were present at the signing and sealing thereof and at his request subscribed the same as witnesses in the presence of each other. JOHN JOHNSON, |