A History of the Baptists

John T. Christian

Vol. 2 - The Colonial Period

Chapter 7

The Baptists in New York,
Delaware, Connecticut and Vermont.

The Baptists in New York—Dutch Settlers—The Reformed Church—The Baptists—Conventicles Suppressed—Lady Moody—Baptists in Flushing—Francis Doughty—Laws—Fines—Valentine Wightman—The Various Sects—Governor Andros—Governor Hunter—First Baptist Church, New York—Nicholas Eyers—Fines—The Baptists in Central New York—Delaware—The Settlement of the State—The Welsh Tract Church—Elijah Baker and Philip Hughes—The Sounds Baptist Church—Connecticut—The Severity of the Laws—Early Baptists—The Slow Progress—Vermont—The Rise of the Baptists.

The Dutch, who first settled New York, set up the Reformed Religion, according to the Acts of the Synod of Dort, and the colonial clergy were commissioned by the Classis of Amsterdam. No formal constitutional restriction was enacted until 1640, when the East India Company, which then controlled the colony, decreed that "no other religion shall be publicly admitted," "except the Reformed Church" (Documents of Colonial History of New York, I. 123).

In a description of the New Netherlands, in 1644, by Father Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit missionary, is found the following statement:

There were, therefore, Baptists in New York preceding 1644; but their location is not indicated. A grant of worship had been given the town of Flushing for sectaries. It was soon discovered that the Lutherans and other dissenters were using these privileges, and the authorities became alarmed. "In the meantime we already have the snake in our bosom." These persons were required to abstain from all "church services or holding any meetings." On February 1, 1656, the authorities decreed that all "conventicles and meetings" held in the province, "whether public or private," should be "absolutely and expressly forbidden"; and that "only the Reformed Divine service, as this is observed and enforced according to the Synod of Dortrecht," should be held,

A noted woman called Lady Moody bought a plantation near Lynn, Massachusetts. "She soon embraced Baptist principles, and suffered therefor. And divers of those at Aquidneck turned professed Anabaptists" (Backus, I.) . She was on this account compelled to leave Lynn. For a period she was in New Haven where she is reported to have brought over to her views Mrs. Eaton, the wife of the governor of the province and the daughter of an English bishop. This brought much distress to the Congregational pastor. She finally settled at Gravesend, near New Amsterdam. She took out, December 19, 1645, a patent of land, which, among other things, guaranteed "the free libertie of conscience according to the custom of Holland, without molestation or disturbance from any magistrate or magistrates, or any other ecclesiastical minister that may pretend jurisdiction over them." Without regard to her patent the authorities were not always amicable. Many others of like sentiments gathered around her, "with liberty to constitute themselves a body politic as freedmen of the Province and town of Gravesend." James W. Gerard says: "The settlers at Gravesend seem to have been generally affected with Anabaptist views, and to have had no settled church" (Gerard, Discourse Before the New York Historical Society, May, 1880, 28).

There were likewise Baptists in Flushing where some toleration had been granted. George Gardyner, in his description of America, remarks that the Northeast part of Long Island is inhabited by "some English, who have been thrust from New England for their judgment. The most of them holding the Christian Tenet of confession before baptism" (Felt, II.). The following is the old record:

Clearly the preacher referred to above was Francis Doughty, who "had fled from troubles in England, and found that he got out of the frying pan into the fire." In Massachusetts he denied "baptism to infants." He was the first pastor in Flushing, but in 1656 he went to Virginia. "He was unquestionably the first religious teacher in Flushing, and had adopted Baptist views on baptism" (Prime, History of Long Island; Mandeville, Flushing Past and Present).

The documentary narrative continues:

This cobbler was none other than William Wickenden, the pastor of the church in Providence. He was one of the foremost men in Rhode Island, and had served the State in various important positions. In 1656 he visited Flushing, dipped his converts in the river and administered the Lord’s Supper. O’Callagan, under date of November 9, 1656, gives an account of these occurrences. "The Baptists at Flushing," says he, "were the next to feel the wrath of the law. William Hallett, sheriff of the place, ‘had dared to collect conventicles in his house, and to permit one William Wickendam (Wickenden) to explain and comment on God’s Holy Word, and to administer sacraments, though not calling thereto by any civil or clerical authority.’ He had, moreover, assisted at such meetings and afterward, ‘accepted from said Wickendam’s hands the bread in the form and manner of the Lord’s Supper as usually celebrated.’ For this violation of the statute Hallett was removed from office and fined fifty pounds, and failing to pay he was to be banished" (O’Callagan, Laws and Ordinances o f the New Netherlands, 1634-1678; Broadhead, History of the State of New York).

When the Council was informed that he was a very poor man, "with a wife and many children, by profession a cobbler, which trade he neglects, so that it will be impossible to collect anything from him," the costs of the fines were remitted. He was condemned November 11, "to immediate banishment, under condition if ever he be seen again in the province of New Netherland he shall be arrested and kept in confinement till the fine and costs are paid in full" (Albany Records, VIII.).

These Baptists, in 1653, elected officers. The record is: "The English do not only enjoy the right of nominating their own magistrates, but some of them usurp the election and appointments of such magistrates, as they please, without regard to their religion. Some, especially the people of Gravesend, elect libertines and Anabaptists, which is decidedly against the laws of the Netherlands" (Ecclesiastical Records of the State of New York, 1. 318. Albany, 1901).

The laws were more severe as time went on. The authorities September 21, 1662, say that because they

From time to time in the records there were various notices of the Baptists and others. Governor Dongan reported, in 1684, as follows:

Governor Andros had made inquiries, in 1678, in regard to New York. The following answer was given in regard to the Baptists

The friends of Governor Hunter, in 1717, addressed the Bishop of London, as follows:

The Dutch ministers of New York, August 15, 1728, wrote to the Classis of Amsterdam, as follows:

Valentine Wightman, of Groton, Connecticut, began to hold meetings in Broad Street, New York, in 1711. He preached in the house of Nicholas Eyers. Under his ministry many became serious and, in 1714, twelve persons were baptized. Wightman baptized, for fear of the mob, five women at night, and seven men stood ready to be baptized. The following text dropped into Mr. Eyers’ mind: "No man doeth anything in secret, when he himself seeketh to be known openly." Accordingly he and his brethren put off their design till morning, when Eyers waited on the governor (Burnet)-told the case, and solicited protection, which the governor promised, and was as good as his word, for he and many of the gentry came to the water side, and the rite was performed in peace. The governor, as he stood by, was heard to say, "This was the ancient way of baptizing, and in my opinion much preferable to the practice of modern times" (Benedict, 541; John Dowling, Sketches of New York Baptists, The Baptist Memorial, 112, 113. 1849).

This church was said to have been Arminian in sentiment. Some of its members embraced Calvinistic doctrines, but the church continued only about eight years. The remnant became a part or arm of the Scotch Plains, New Jersey, church. In 1762 it became independent and settled John Gano as pastor.

The severity of the laws against the Baptists; the difficulties in which their houses of worship were licensed; the annoyances incident to their meetings; and the general difficulties attending their surroundings are all well illustrated by the documents here presented. These documents show the red tape and almost impossible legal barriers thrown around them. The following papers are taken from the Documentary History of New York:

BAPTISTS

Nicholas Eyers.

Rip Van Dam.

City of New York.

R. Walter.

Davis Jamison.

The First Baptist Church of New York was organized June 10, 1762. ,The year previous sixteen Baptists emigrated from England and, not securing religious liberty in Massachusetts, purchased Block Island and settled there. Through John Clarke and Roger Williams, Block Island enjoyed liberty through the charter of Rhode Island. The king granted "that no person within the said colony at any time hereafter shall be in any way molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for any difference in opinion in matters of religion, and do not actually disturb the civil peace of the said colony."

A Baptist church was formed in Warwick, in 1776, on the west side of the Hudson, fifty-four miles north of New York City, by the labors of James Benedict, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, who continued pastor till his death. From this church soon after several others were formed. Still further north on the east side of the river, in Dutchess county, there were Baptist churches at an earlier date than this. In Fishkill there was a church previous to 1745, which had a pastor by the name of Holstead. William Marsh, of New Jersey, in 1755, gathered a church in the township of Dover. He was succeeded by Samuel Waldo, who served the churches as pastor for thirty-five years. Simon Dakin, who had been a Newlight preacher, gathered a church in the northeast. On the eastern borders of the State still further north many churches were organized (The Christian Review, June, 1839. IV. 217).

The Baptists in Central New York did not begin until 1773. The first church organized was Butternuts, out of which finally grew the Ostego Association. The old historian gives the following interesting story of the beginning of this church:

In 1773 there were in New York twelve Baptist ministers who had congregations, some of them pretty large, and some but small. There were four vacant congregations, but no one of them very large (A Brief View of the State of Religious Liberty in the Colony of New York. Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Second Series, V. 141. Boston, 1814). In 1790 there were thirty-four Baptist churches in the State.

It was early in the eighteenth century that William Penn granted to David Evans and William Davis thirty thousand acres of land, to be divided and deeded to settlers from South Wales, some of whom had at that time settled in Radnor township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. This grant ever afterwards was known as "The Welsh Tract." It is located partly in Pecadur Hundred, New Castle county, Delaware, and partly in Cecil county, Maryland. Prominent among the original settlers upon the Welsh Tract were the founders of the Baptist meeting, who, with Thomas Griffith as their first minister, came from Pembroke and Carmarthenshire, South Wales, in 1701, and soon after erected a log meeting house in which they worshiped until the present structure was built in 1746. This was the third Baptist meeting house founded in America. The first house occupied the same location as the present one. The house constructed in 1746 is built of brick, and is said to contain some of the material used in the first building. The bricks were brought from England, and transported from New Castle, where they were landed in panniers upon mules. It is reported as still in a good state of preservation, regular services are held there, with a stated minister.

The following, "Our Beginnings as a Church," is taken from the old church records:

The gospel was preached in this meeting in Welsh until 1800; and for several years the records were kept in the Welsh language.

There came from Virginia into Delaware, at the close of 1778, Elijah Baker, and in the spring of 1779 he was followed by Philip Hughes of the same State. They labored together as evangelists for about twelve months, preaching at Broad Creek, Gravelly Branch, and other places. Many converts "were baptized on profession of faith and repentance." They prepared material and resolved to build churches. At first they were known as Separate Baptists, but shortly afterwards the distinction was dropped. They were not only well received but were assisted in their efforts, by ministers and laymen, in organizing churches and ordaining ministers.

These men were instrumental in founding twenty-two churches in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, and spent much time in "visiting them, as fathers do their children." The Salisbury Association was organized by them. It takes its name from a town in Maryland near the Delaware line, where this association was formed.

Baker died at the home of Dr. Robert Lemon, who was for years the moderator of this association. He testified to his exalted character, the faithfulness and power of his preaching, and his triumph in the hour of his death, which seemed to be a translation rather than a painful dissolution. Morgan Edwards gave an interesting account of how Baker came to leave Virginia, where he was born in 1742, and was baptized by Samuel Harris, in 1769. He suffered much for the cause of the truth. He came into Delaware upon "an invitation from Thomas Batston, Esq., who had heard him preach through the grates in Accomack jail about the year 1777. The rude Virginians, in order to get rid of him, put him on board a privateer, where he suffered much abuse, but he continued to sing, and pray, and exhort notwithstanding, till the crew was tired, and then let him alone, saying, ‘He is not worth a curse’; but the privateer being detained in the harbor by contrary wind, the crew suspected the cause was that preaching fellow, and therefore put him on board another vessel; but the wind continued contrary, that vessel began to be of the same mind with the privateer, and therefore shifted him to a third, and the third put him ashore. When Jonah found himself on dry land he complied with Squire Batston’s invitation." And be it said to the credit of Delaware that she had no prison, like Virginia, or whipping post, like Massachusetts, for Baptists, who were left undisturbed in their views and practices.

The account which Edwards gives of his co-laborer is not without interest:

The Sounds Baptist Church was the second church organized in Delaware, and was one of the constituent churches of the Salisbury Association. It was formed August 12, 1779, with twenty-one members. During the first thirteen years six preachers came from this body (Scharf, History of Delaware, II. 1342. Philadelphia, 1888) .

The laws of Connecticut were rigid against all sectaries. The following law was enacted by the General Court, in October, 1656:

In 1658, the Court of New Haven made a similar law increasing the penalties and prohibiting all conversation of the common people with any heretics (Quakers, Baptists, etc.) and of all persons giving them any entertainment upon penalty of five pounds (Trumbull, History of Connecticut, I. 299, 300).

The following is the enactment of May, 1723:

In December, 1740, John Merriman, pastor of the Baptist church at Wallingford, invited Rev. Philemon Robbins, pastor of the Congregational Church in Bradford, to preach for him. Mr. Robbins accepted the invitation and preached to the Baptist Church in Willingford, January 6, 1741; for this offense, the New Haven Congregational Association laid Mr. Robbins under censure, and finally deposed him from the ministry. A majority of the church in Bradford decided with the pastor rather than with the New Haven Association, renounced the Saybrook and adopted the Cambridge platform; for this act the New Haven Association held the Bradford church under censure till 1748 (Trumbull, II.). In 1741, Rev. Mr. Humphreys, of Derby, a Congregational minister, preached to a Baptist church, and on that account was soon after deprived of a seat in the New Haven Association (Trumbull, II.).

In February, 1744, fourteen persons were arrested in Sayville for holding a Baptist meeting; the charge brought against them was, "for holding meeting contrary to law, on God’s holy Sabbath day." They were arraigned, tried, fined, and driven on foot, through a deep mud, to New London jail, a distance of twenty-five miles, where they were thrust into prison, without food, fire, or beds, and kept in dreadful sufferings for several weeks, and probably would have perished had not some Baptist brethren, residing in New London, Great Neck, carried them provisions. One of the imprisoned was an infant, who afterwards became the wife of Mr. Stephen Webb, of Chester. Another was an unconverted man by the name of Job Buckley; the prayers and Christian patience with which these Christians bore their sufferings in jail were blessed to his conversion; when they were released they formed a church in Sayville, placed his name first on the list of constituent members (Trumbull, II.).

The earliest operations of the Baptists in Connecticut were commenced by a small colony from Rhode Island, in the year 1705. It was in New London county, in the southeast part of the State. This part of the State was a distinguished resort for the advocates of the standing order. A great excitement was raised on account of the baptisms, and the Legislature was asked to suppress the innovations. At this time no Baptist church was formed, and the believers under this strong opposition united with a church in Rhode Island. Here, however, at a later date, Baptist churches multiplied and sent out branches in various directions; and here were revivals great and powerful.

The first church organized in the colony was planted at Groton in 1705, by Valentine Wightman. The second was organized at Waterford, then a part of New London, about the year 1710. The third was gathered at Wallingford, in 1735, with Timothy Waters as pastor, who was succeeded by John Merriman. Three were established in 1743: one in Stonington, one in Lyne, and one in Clochester. A seventh was gathered at Saybrook in 1744.

Their progress at first was extremely slow, and much embarrassed; they had to work their way against the deep-rooted prejudices of a people who had always been taught that the Baptists were the descendants of the mad men of Münster; that they propagated errors of a pestilential and dangerous kind; that they were aiming to subvert all the established forms of religion in the land, and by their disorganizing and heretical principles to ruin all the Pedobaptist churches in the land; and for the people to hear them preach, or for the magistrates to permit them to meet, was an enormous crime.

These were only shadowy obstacles compared with the severity of the laws with which the Connecticut rulers had fenced their ecclesiastical establishment. In the New Light stir, the foundations of this establishment were sensibly shaken; many ministers opposed this extraordinary revival as the fruit of fanaticism and the devil; divisions ensued; Baptist principles almost everywhere prevailed; separate meetings were set up in towns and parishes; and many of the New Lights became Baptists.

By 1789, there were in the State about thirty Baptist churches, and twenty ministers. From that date the denomination increased much more rapidly than it had formerly; so that in 1795 the number of churches amounted to sixty, the ministers about forty, and the communicants a little over three thousand five hundred. Baptist churches were found in almost every township in the State. In 1842 there were over one hundred churches and sixteen thousand members.

"The first Baptist church in Vermont was organized at Shaftsbury in the latter part of August, 1768, at a time when the inhabitants were greatly excited over the contentions between New Hampshire. and New York, both claiming jurisdiction over the New Hampshire Grants. These grants had suddenly risen in importance, and a very strong current of immigration had set toward them for eight years previous.

"The earliest records of this pioneer church have been carefully preserved, and, in quaint language, tell the story of its origin, and incidentally of the other Shaftsbury churches. They reveal, too, somewhat clearly the character of the founders of this early church, and the course of their church life. The first entry in the old church records is as follows:

"That the church prospered in its earlier years is evident from the fact that, in August, 1774, they wrote that they had thirty-nine members, twenty of whom were men. Thomas Mattison, one of the original members, was one of the first settlers in the town, and its first town clerk, a position which he held for more than forty years.

"For twelve years the first church in Vermont was without a pastor. There were two members, with recognized ministerial gifts, whose record was interwoven with that of the church, and illustrative of its life (Crocker, History of the Baptists of Vermont, 15, 16. Bellows Falls, Vt., 1913).

Books for further reading:

Barnas Sears, The New York Baptist Missionary Convention, The Christian Review, IV. 217-243. Boston, 1839.