Susie Boyce, whose 1995 history of the Springdale Methodist Church won applause as one of the best local histories published that year, has followed up with a 398-page history of the Mount Horeb Methodist Church. Illustrated with numerous color photos and fully-indexed, Boyce’s history traces the church from its founding in 1820 to present-day events. The work is a must for those casually interested in the Mount Horeb church as well as genealogists and church historians. Copies of her book are available from the Historical Society for $30 postpaid. Mrs. Boyce has furnished the following excerpt to whet our appetite: "The Somerset Unionist of January 16, 1868, reported that ‘The M. E. Church at Mt. Horeb was dedicated in Wednesday, 8th inst. It is a beautiful edifice, 40x65 ft.; with recess pulpit and orchestra for the choir, and basement. It is finished in fresco, with oak graining of the pews, and is suitably and tastefully furnished. The cost of the building exceeds $10,000. About $300 were subscribed the day of dedication, and the building will be left free of debt. Rev. L. R. Dunn preached the sermon and performed the dedicatory services in the morning, and Rev. J. Atkinson, of Newark, preached at night.’ "It was no exaggeration to declare the structure a beautiful edifice. The specifications, carpenter's contract, mason's contract, preserved in a document now at Drew University, called for the finest materials and workmanship to bring into reality a structure designed by the architectural firm of C. Graham and Sons of Elizabeth. The carpenter, William C. Reeves of Clinton, was to receive $7,540 and the mason $1,150. The contract for the frescoing reveals that that part of the work would cost $350. Amendments to the contract call for the originally-planned spire and gallery to be left off, so as the work progressed the Mt. Horeb building committee must have decided that they were not going to raise enough money to have everything in the building they would have liked. "The building committee was composed of William Richardson, Chairman; Azariah Mundy, Treasurer; George O. Carmichal [pastor at the time], Secretary; Ruben Coddington, and Isaiah Coryell. Members who subscribed as much as $200 toward the building were Abraham W. King, Elizabeth Ruckman, A. Mundy, Joshua B. Erving, and Jane Perrine. "This building, which still graces the site high on the second ridge of the Second Watchung Ridge, was the second house of worship erected by a congregation that dates from about 1820. The main source for the early history of Mt. Horeb Church has been George T. Jackson, who was pastor in 1874, when the church celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. For that occasion Jackson sought historical information which he presented in two papers and a summary for the official church record book. "Jackson reported that a group of Methodists met in houses in the Mt. Horeb vicinity as early as 1820 and built a church just north of the present building in 1824. Several lay preachers from New Providence Methodist Church were the first preachers. A deed filed with Somerset County shows that in 1823 John Smith, William King, and Isaiah Coddington, trustees, bought thirty hundredths of an acre of property intending to "erect and build or cause to be erected & built thereon a house or place of worship for the use of the members of the Methodist Episcopal Church." Jackson was apparently repeating traditional lore in naming the early members of the first class and "members when the 'old church' was built:" John Smith, John Coddington, David Ruckman, Rachel Adams, Benjamin Codington, Isaiah Coddington, Hannah Codington, David and Elizabeth Ruckman, Fanny Coriell, Charity Bird, Jacob and Lydia Giddis, William King, John & Rachel Gordon, Josiah Eaton, Nancy Blue, David Codington, Mary Tunison, Henry Moor, Matty Richards, and Thomas Thomas. "In its early years this church was part of a circuit, at first called the Essex and Staten Island, then simply Essex Circuit. At least two contemporary references confirm that Mt. Horeb was an established church participating fully in the Essex and Staten Island Circuit in the 1820's. The Steward's record book, a manuscript holding at the Methodist Archives at Drew University, covers the years 1800-1839, and Mt. Horeb is first mentioned in 1824 as having contributed $5.57 for support of the ministry. Three earlier references, the first in 1823, to collections from John Smith's probably refer to the Mt. Horeb Methodist society. Betsey Crane, a member of the New Providence Methodist Church, kept a diary between 1824 and 1827. She specifically mentioned Mt. Horeb several times. The Essex and Staten Island stewards' book and the Crane diary entries prove that Mt. Horeb was established and active in the circuit in the 1820's and that the first building had been completed by July of 1826. "In 1831 the Methodist annual conference established a Somerset Mission assignment and transferred Mt. Horeb church to that circuit. In 1834 the minutes of the Newark Conference refer to the preacher's assignment as "Mt. Horeb," but the next year return to the citation "Somerset Mission." In that one year when it was listed separately in the 1830's, Mt. Horeb is credited in the conference records with a membership of 31. "The oldest record book preserved at the church has an entry dated June 10, 1839, stating "Mount Horeb Station, was set off from New Germantown [now Oldwick] & Somerset Mission at the New Jersey Conference held in Trenton April 14, 1839." Even after being made a separate station Mt. Horeb had subsequent associations with other churches, such as those in Plainfield, Metuchin, and Bound Brook, for short periods of time. In 1858 it began an affiliation with Springdale Church in the Washington Valley section of Warren that lasted almost ninety years. Sometime in the latter nineteenth century the Mt. Horeb preacher began holding evening services in the school house in Martinsville, and in 1895 the Mt. Horeb members living in or near Martinsville erected a church building for their area. From then until 1947 Mt. Horeb was part of a three-point charge with the preacher generally holding service at Mt. Horeb on Sunday morning, Springdale in the afternoon, and Martinsville on Sunday evening. "A certificate filed with the Somerset County Clerk states: "Be it remembered that we the subscribers being duly Elected and Sworn according to Law trustees of the first methodist Episcopal church and Congregation in Warren township Summerset County and state of Newjersey do take uppon ourselves the name of the trustees of the mount Horeb Church in warren township Witness our hands and seals This fourth day of march in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and thirty seven. "This wording suggests that the name Mt. Horeb was decided on sometime after the formation of the first society, although the references cited above shows it as being used as early as 1824. It is almost certain that the name of the vicinity, or "village" of Mt. Horeb as a section of Warren Township was derived from the name of the church, and not vice versa, since well researched maps of 1820 and 1824 do not show it, although they both show Warrenville and Mt. Bethel, two nearby local villages. Mt. Horeb is indicted on the next significant map, that of Otley in 1850. "A major event of the 1840's was the building of a parsonage. On September 21, 1844, the church purchased one and a half acres adjacent to the existing church lot "for a parsonage lot and burying ground connected to Mount Horeb Methodist Episcopal Church." The trustees executing the deed were Isaiah Codington, Jacob Giddes, Henry Moor Jun., David Ruckman, William King, William B. Codington, and Peter Perrine. |