CHAPTER XXXV

THE CHURCHES OF ORANGE COUNTY.

By Rev. Francis Washburn.

The prevailing religion of Orange County is still nominally Christian, differentiated in forms of worship and principles of faith. As yet few representatives of other religions have formed any settlement within its boundaries.

The organized religious bodies are numerous and strong, exercising still against many adverse agencies a controlling influence over the lives of the people. Those first established in the county in the Colonial epoch still maintain the predominance they then secured. Although the confessions of faith of some of them have been modified somewhat, yet they all with a few minor exceptions hold to the creeds Apostolic and Nicene. With more general diffusion of education amongst the people has come to prevail a more genial and less dogmatic form of enunciating the great truths of the Gospel of Christ. The churches or associations of religious people are becoming more conservative of all that is good and wholesome for human beings both here and hereafter.

Faith in the parental love of God the Father, and brotherly love of Christ are being taught by the Church of Christ as the mother of the world's children and the bride of Christ, whose spirit is more and more the atmosphere of a heavenly home for us all. The ministry of the church is coming to be a ministry over us everywhere in all places and at all times. She is extending her work of sponsorship into every sphere of human activity. And the time seems to be rapidly approaching when she will guard us all from the cradle to the grave from every agency of ill that would deprive us of the love and approbation of God.

The different religious bodies bearing the name of Christian are all seeking the good of humankind, animated by the same spirit which actuated the Christ when He went to Golgotha and when He ascended at Olivet. They are agreed in their aim and are united in their sympathy. They work in agreement and will not contend with each other. Christian charity to-day is prevailing to the elimination of denominational pride.

The Christians of Orange County are becoming assimilated to the spirit of those on whom the Holy Ghost fell in the day of Pentecost. For years since the earliest settlement of this country they have been known as Presbyterians, Lutherans, Reformed Dutch, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Quakers, etc., and are still connected with organizations bearing these names, but they are coming to bear in their membership the same characteristic devotion to humanity and God.

We cannot be to-day what our ancestors were who came from Europe. They were unaware of a vast deal we know. Their knowledge of the world and its peoples was infinitely little, ours is infinitely large. They came and settled here amid dense forests and interpreted God's word by and through their limited experience, but God's word to them was a sealed book; they could not interpret it at all. They came from different countries of Western Europe, and brought with them their theories religious and secular. The Dutch came to the mouth of a great stream that ran north, and settled on an island, and called their settlement New Amsterdam. Some of them sailed up this great river, now known as the Hudson, and established homes in the neighborhood of the present city of Kingston, at the confluence of two streams, known to us as the Wallkill and Rondout. Their expression of the Christian religion exists in their descendants to-day as the Reformed, known to me in my boyhood as the Dutch Reformed. The churches of this denomination in Orange County owe their origin to the missionary zeal of Rev. Petrus Vas and the Rev. George W. Marcius, pastors of the church at Kingston. The _Montgomery Reformed Church_ was first organized as the _German Reformed Church of the Wallkill_ in 1782. The _Warwick Church_ was organized October 24, 1694, at Orangetown. In 1764 its congregation united with the Presbyterians, and remained thus united until 1803, when the congregation determined that as the deed of the property was to the Presbyterians it should continue to be held by them as trustees, while the Reformed Dutch Consistory should control the spiritual interests. At the present time there are ten churches of this type in the county, as follows:

Location. Pastor. Membership.

Newburgh A. T. Brook 308 Walden W. W. Schomp 420 Montgomery Peter Crispell 312 Port Jervis, 1st Willard Conger 418 Port Jervis, 2nd J. B. Appel 99 Minisink Vacant 60 Warwick Faber Knox 347 Pine Bush H. K. Post 169 Cuddebackville W. W. Whitney 70 Unionville Vacant 20 ______ Total 2,223

There are hundreds if not thousands of people living in this county to-day, who do not understand why there are so many Christian societies bearing different names and worshiping apart. There are almost as many, in all probability who are ignorant of the doctrines wherein they differ from other Christian bodies.

The last generation arriving at adult age has heard so infrequently doctrinal and controversial preaching as to know not why they are of one denomination rather than another. On this line the men who established Presbyterian bodies in this county, away back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were well informed.

The differences between the Presbyterians of the various schools are equally beyond the knowledge of the great majority. I am not going to attempt to enlighten myself or my readers by any research of old pamphlets, etc., of the Presbyterian denomination. Life is too short and the matter too immaterial to the issue in which we are interested.

In 1752, says Ruttenber, the Associate Presbytery of Scotland sent the Rev. John Culbertson to America, who organized in the Wallkill valley a praying society in 1753, which eventually became the _Reformed Presbyterian Church_ at Coldenham.

In 1816 or 1817 a praying society established in Newburgh became the first _Presbyterian Church_ there.

In 1765 the _Associated Reformed Church_ of Little Britain and Neelytown began their corporate existence.

In 1831 the _Graham Church_ of Crawford, organized in 1800, united with the church at Hamptonburgh.

The first _Associate Reformed Church_ of Newburgh was organized in 1797, and the _Union Associate Reformed_ in 1837.

The _Presbyterian Church_ at Goshen was the first of this denomination established in Orange County. Its first edifice stood at the site now occupied by the Court House.

The second _Presbyterian Church_ was that at Goodwill. It was originally established for the use of immigrants principally from County Londonderry, Ireland. Its first pastor was Rev. John Houston. Out of this organization rose not less than five others, namely: Neelytown, Hamptonburgh, Hopewell, Graham, Berea and Montgomery. Its first house of worship is said to have been erected in 1735.

The third _Presbyterian Church of Cornwall_ at Bethlehem, was organized in 1730. From it sprang into existence the first _Presbyterian Church_ of Newburgh, and the first of New Windsor (now defunct).

The following statement was prepared by the Rev. Charles O. Hammer:

Churches. Pastors. Membership Money 1902 1906 Raised Amity R. H. Craig, LL.D. 92 102 $1,086.80 Denton J. L. Harrington 45 33 725.60 Chester R. H. McCready, Ph.D. 284 278 3,378.56 Goshen F. S. Haines 630 393 7,792.92 Montgomery T. D. Elder 186 205 4,416.72 Port Jervis Vacant 410 335 3,635.86 Scotchtown " 126 119 1,156.70 Goodwill J. H. Thompson 143 152 1,811.48 Ramapo R. B. Marble 320 304 5,674.00 Hopewell J. S. E. Erskine 142 128 1,136.32 Westtown F. H. Bisbee 160 169 1,638.72 Middletown, 1st W. R. Ferris 465 465 7,328.00 Monroe Vacant 111 114 1,870.00 Suffern Pastor Elect ___ 166 2,225.40 Hamptonburgh W. B. Johnson 127 162 2,085.32 Ridgebury F. A. Gates 82 86 1,381.24 Washingtonville J. A. McCallum 126 146 2,102.44 Florida Vacant 155 170 2,699.90 Centerville " 43 40 412.00 Circleville " 105 118 1,137.44 Middletown, 2nd Pastor Elect 400 486 6,408.72 Mt. Hope Vacant 29 26 290.24 Otisville " 114 109 1,010.24 Slate Hill " ___ 44 786.96 Calvary, N. B. City J. Searles 282 284 10,840.50 First, " " " Vacant 506 490 9,700.59 Union, " " " S. K. Piercy 400 400 7,044.03 Grand St.," " " R. H. Barr ___ ___ ________ Bethlehem S'l'y Mills I. Maxwell 174 196 2,274.25 Cornwall H. R. Fraser 185 201 2,035.58 Little Britain J. S. King 129 130 1,817.25 Highland Falls A. R. Barron 113 135 1,880.25 Canterbury Supplied 41 73 1,022.88 _____ _____ __________ 6,134 6,259 $99,715.52

Churches 33 Vacant 8 Membership increase, 1902-1906 125

_Reformed Presbyterian._ The Reformed Presbyterians are the ecclesiastical descendants of the Covenanters of Scotland. In the latter half of the eighteenth century some of them who had come to Orange County, organized as a church society in Coldenham, and called as pastor, Rev. Dr. Alexander McLeod, who afterward became famous as a preacher in New York City. For five years, from 1812, Rev. James Mulligan was pastor, and he was followed by the eloquent J. R. Williams, who delivered the famous address at Goshen when the bones of the patriots who fell in the battle of Minisink were buried. The present pastor is Rev. Thomas Patton.

A society of Reformed Presbyterians was formed in Newburgh in 1802, and services were held for a time at the residence of James Clarke. This was a part of the Coldenham congregation until 1824, when it was organized as a separate society and called for its first pastor Rev. J. R. Johnston, who afterward joined the _Presbyterian Church._ The present pastor, Rev. J. W. V. Carlisle, is the successor of his father, who died in 1887.

December 12, 1854, a second Reformed Presbyterian society was organized in Newburgh, which is known as the _Westminster Church._ It has had but one pastor, Rev. J. R. Thompson, whose ministrations in December, 1907, had extended through the long period of fifty-two years. He has said of his church: "The motto of Harvard College is 'Pro Christo et Ecclesia'; but that of Reformed Presbyterians is, 'Pro Christo et Ecclesia et Patria.' Their aim is to Christianize the National government as well as the church."

_The Protestant Episcopal Church._ This branch of the Church Catholic now represented in Orange County is shown by the following statistical report. A brief general history of the Protestant Episcopal Church may be appreciated. Prior and up to the war of Independence, there were several places in the county where worship was maintained by the Church of England Society, for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, namely, at Newburgh on the Glebe, granted to them by King George; at St. David's in the vicinity of the present village of Washingtonville, and at St. Andrews west of Newburgh some twelve miles.

The success of the colonists in the above war took these and other churches from the jurisdiction of the Church of England. To meet the new situation measures were immediately taken by the ordained clergy of the colonies, who had accepted the results of the Revolutionary War for the restoration of the government and worship of that church. The church in the United States was without a head, that is to say without a Bishop. Those who constituted it could not continue without such. All English Bishops were so sworn to the Crown of England that they were unable to act in an independent state such as this. No priest could be elevated to the office of Bishop in England without subscribing to the following article, _i. e._ That the King's Majesty under God is the only Supreme Governor of this realm and of all other of His Highness's dominions and countries as well as in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal. In the American church no ordination or confirmations could take place. In 1780 a conference of the clergy and laity assembled at the call of the Rev. Dr. William Smith, president of Washington College. The purpose was to unite the separated parts into a body corporate. A second conference was called in 1783. There were present at this eighteen clergymen.

When the Revolutionary War closed there were in Connecticut forty Episcopal congregations, fourteen clergymen and forty thousand members, ten of the fourteen met at Woodbury in Litchfield County, and chose two men either of whom they thought would be suitable for the office of Bishop, namely, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Leaming, and Samuel Seabury. Dr. Seabury accepted, went to England and laid before the Bishop his credentials submitting to him the fact which in the judgment of the Connecticut people made the appointment of an American Bishop an immediate necessity. In case of failure in England he was to go to Scotland and endeavor to secure consecration of the non-juring Bishops. To these Bishops Seabury was finally compelled to resort for consecration. In a private chapel of a modest house in Aberdine he was consecrated by Robert Kilgour, Arthur Petrie and John Skinner. He came home to America the first Bishop of the church here.

In May, 1784, at a meeting held in New Brunswick, N. Y., by the managers of the society for the relief of the widows and orphans of clergymen the general condition of the church came up for discussion, the result of which was a call for a conference of churchmen from all the States to be held in October. It met. There were present delegates from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Connecticut. A call was issued summoning the churches in the several States to send delegates to a constitutional convention. This was held in Philadelphia on St. Michael's Day in 1785, with the following result: A constitution for the church. Having made it they proceeded to consider the Episcopate; they drew up an address to the Archbishop and Bishops of England. Upon the receipt of the answer they met in October, 1786, for its consideration. In reply they informed the English Bishops that the Nicene and Apostles' Creeds were retained and that in fact the English prayer book was kept intact. They then called the roll of States present to ascertain if any had chosen men for Bishops. New York delegates presented the name of Dr. Provoost. Pennsylvania presented the name of White. Maryland had already chosen Dr. Smith. White and Provoost went to England and were consecrated in Lambeth Chapel, February 4, 1786. On their return to this country they were met by the Bishop of Connecticut and with him consulted on terms of union. The result of their deliberation was the adoption of resolutions which it was thought would harmonize both sides. In these resolutions they recognized the validity of Seabury's consecration and that together with Provoost and White they had all the power which belongs to the Episcopal office limited only by such canons or laws as the entire church of the United States might fix. They then adjourned to meet again in Connecticut in convention of the whole church. When the constitution was altered, the Bishops became a separate house, the other house was to be composed of representatives, lay and clerical (not Bishops). They also revised the English prayer book to make it harmonize with the government of these States. These things being satisfactorily adjusted the organization of the Protestant Episcopal church of the United States of North America became an established fact.

The Protestant Episcopal churches of this section, with those of other sections of New York State, first came under the superintendence of Bishop Samuel Provoost, Rector of _Trinity Parish_ in the city of New York; at which time, _St. Andrews Parish,_ Walden, then in Ulster County and _St. George's,_ Newburgh, were the only ones surviving the ravages of the Revolutionary period. These churches with _St. David's_ had been organized under an act of incorporation granted by King George the Third, dated July 23, 1770, at which time the Rev. John Sayre was in charge of missionary work at Newburgh and parts adjacent.

There do not appear to have been any Episcopal duties performed in either Ulster or Orange Counties until 1700, from the time of the superintendency of Bishop Provoost when Rev. George H. Spierin became the minister and schoolmaster of St. George's Glebe School and Church in Newburgh and the rector of _St. Andrews,_ Walden. There is no record of any visitations of the parishes by Provoost.

In 1804 when Rev. Frederick Van Horn was rector of _St. Andrew's,_ it and _St. George's_ were members of the Diocesan convention. Bishop Moore was then in charge of the diocese. During his Episcopate _St. James' Church,_ Goshen, was received into union with the convention, 1808, and _Christ's Church,_ Warwick, 1804. Although there are no records of any Episcopal visitations in this section of the State there probably were such. February, 1816, Bishop Moore died, and was succeeded by Bishop John Henry Hobart, who became the third Bishop of New York. _Trinity Church,_ from which the bishops were selected down to the time of Bishop Horatio Potter, furnished not only the Bishops but the financial means for the maintenance of church work throughout the whole country. The Episcopal Church in the United States, when Dr. Hobart assumed Episcopal jurisdiction, was apparently dying. He revived hope in the hearts of its adherents. With him the church began to live and grow. He established a Churchman's magazine in New York, provided for a learned clergy by establishing a college at Geneva, did much for the endowment of the college in New York and was also the real founder of the Theological Seminary there. It was while he was bishop that the Rev. John Brown became rector of _St. George's Parish,_ Newburgh (1816) and _St. Thomas',_ New Windsor, 1818.

The original diocese of New York is now divided into five. The names of successful Bishops of New York from Hobart's time to this are Right Rev. Treadwell Onderdonk, who was consecrated in 1830; Bishop Wainwright, Bishop Horatio Potter, Bishop Henry C. Potter and Bishop Greer. In 1838 the diocese of western New York was created. _Grace Church,_ Middletown, was organized under Onderdonk's Episcopate. During which also the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright was consecrated to perform the Episcopal duties in the diocese provisionally. Bishop Wainwright died on the feast of St. Matthew, Thursday, September 21st, 1854, in the sixty-third year of his age. Dr. Horatio Potter became Bishop, November 22, 1854, and served provisionally until the death of Bishop Onderdonk in 1861, and wholly from that time until the twelfth day of September, 1883, when he withdrew, having faithfully served the church as Bishop of New York for twenty-nine years. His Episcopate was the most successful and satisfactory from the beginning; Hobart's was brilliant, but his was masterful and complete. He was a great man, master of himself and others. He ruled with ease and equity the variant elements that composed the ministry and membership of the church. With clear perception of character he indulged idiosyncrasies in men whom he saw were sincere and earnest. A perfect gentleman, a true Christian, a sound churchman, unobtrusive and inoffensive. He handed the administration of the church to his successor affluent and strong, socially, spiritually, intellectually and financially. He was succeeded by his nephew, the Right Rev. Henry C. Potter. When he resigned his diocese there were in Orange County the following flourishing parishes: _St. George's,_ Newburgh; _St. Pauls,_ Newburgh; _St. John's,_ Canterbury; _St. James',_ Goshen; _Grace Church,_ Middletown; _St. Andrew's_ Walden; _St. John's,_ Arden; _St. George's Mission,_ Newburgh; _Grace Church,_ Monroe. Under the present administration of his successor the growth of the church in this county has been continuous since 1904, being greatly aided by the Right Rev. David Hummel Greer, D.D., L.L.D., Bishop coadjutor. Orange County is united for missionary work with Sullivan County and Ulster County under the Rev. W. R. Thomas, D.D., Rector of Highland Falls, Arch-Deacon.

THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.

_Grace Church,_ Monroe. Minister in charge, J. H. McGinnis, D.D. Number of communicants in 1905, fifty-six. Income, 1905, between five and six hundred dollars.

_St. Paul's Church,_ Chester. Rector, J. H. McGinnis, D.D. Income, 1905, $901.39. Number of communicants in 1899, thirty-three.

_St. Daniel's Church,_ pre-Revolutionary, near Washingtonville, (extinct).

_Christ's Church,_ Warwick. Rev. W. M. Pickslay, Rector. This parish was admitted into union with convention, in 1866. Number of communicants in 1905, 130. Income, 1905, $4,305.47.

_St. Mary's Church,_ Tuxedo. Rev. Wm. FitzSimons, Rector. Number of communicants in 1905, 242. Income, 1905, $18,654.20.

_St. John's Church,_ Arden, N. Y. Rev. J. H. McGinnis, Minister. Received into union with convention, in 1868. In the year of 1885 communicants, fifty-seven, in 1905, forty. Income, 1905, $1,167.25.

_St. Johns Church,_ Canterbury. Rev. W. W. Page, D.D., Rector. Organized, 1858, church edifices erected and opened for divine service, advent, 1859. A rectory was given to the parish by Miss E. C. Purdy in 1876. Number of communicants in 1858, three, in 1863, thirty-three, in 1879, fifty-nine, in 1885, 104, in 1905, 200. Income, 1905, $1,559.

_Holy Innocents,_ Highland Falls, Rev. W. R. Thomas, D.D. Receipts for 1905, $2,387. Communicants, 112.

_St. Thomas' Church,_ New Windsor. Rev. Creighton Spensor. Organized, April 8, 1818. Church built in 1848. Number of communicants in 1905, thirty-three. Receipts, $1,441.71.

_St. Andrew's Church,_ Walden. Rev. Thomas G. Losee, Rector. Present number of communicants over 142. Incorporated in 1770, escaped dissolution during the Revolution.

_Good Shepherd,_ Greenwood Lake. Rev. W. R. Thomas, D.D. In 1905 number of communicants, forty. Receipts, 1905, $1,902.80.

_Good Shepherd Church,_ Newburgh. Rector, Rev. J. M. Chew. Organized in 1872. Number of communicants, 1905, 813. Rev. Francis Washburn. Receipts, 1905, about $4,000.

_St. Paul's Church,_ Newburgh. Organized 1860. Rev. James Calhoun Elliott, Rector. Number of communicants, 1905, 193. Receipts, 1905, $6,671.76.

_St. George's Church,_ Newburgh. Rev. John Huske, Rector. Incorporated by Royal charter, July 30, 1770. Present church built 1819. Number of communicants, 1905, 558. Receipts between seven and eight thousand dollars.

_St. Agnes' Chapel,_ Balmville. Rev. Frederick Everet Whitney, minister in charge. Built by Mr. and Mrs. Whitney, and maintained by gifts from the communicants and members of the congregation. Number of communicants, 1905, fifty-eight.

_St. Andrew's Chapel,_ Montgomery. T. G. Losee, Rector. Number of communicants, 1905, twenty-nine.

_St. James' Church,_ Goshen. Parish organized June 25, 1803. Church built about 1804, and rebuilt, 1852. Rector. Rev. George William Dumbell, D.D. In 1812, there were six communicants, and in 1905, 222. Income about $4,000. It appears from the records that there was an Episcopal Church before the Revolution, at Decker's Corners. In 1843, the Rev. W. W. Page, of Goshen, preached occasionally at Middletown.

_Grace Church,_ Middletown. Rector, Rev. F, J. Simthers, Jr. Parish organized, February 8, 1845. Church built, 1847. Number of communicants in 1885, 272, in 1905, 350. Income between seven and eight thousand dollars.

_Grace Church,_ Port Jervis. Rector, Rev. Uriah Symonds. Income in 1905, between eight and nine hundred dollars. Parish organized in 1854. First church built in 1856, and the present edifice in 1870. Number of communicants in 1871, twenty-seven, in 1905, 117.

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.

The Rev. George W. Grinton, secretary of the New York Conference, reports that there are at present thirty-six churches of this denomination in Orange County, with a total membership of 5,900. Detailed reference to each appears in the various town histories of this publication.

Methodism began its existence on this continent and in this county, contemporaneously with the Republic of the United States, John Wesley, the founder of it, began his zealous propaganda in England, among the un-churched masses, in the year 1739, the year that Whitefield began his second tour of America. Independent of any effort of his, the first society of Methodists was formed in the city of New York by some of the German Palatines from Ireland. At the conference held by Wesley, at London, in 1770, two letters were received from New York reporting a society there of about one hundred members and a chapel.

In 1784 Wesley appointed Cooke superintendent of the Methodist societies in the United States, giving the following reasons for doing so--"that as the Revolution had separated the United States from the mother country and the Episcopal establishment was utterly abolished in the States it became his duty as providently at the head of the Methodist societies to obey their demand and furnish them the means of Grace. Recognized as their founder by the American Methodists; required by them to provide for their new necessities, and unable to induce the English prelates to do so, he ordained Cooke that he might go to America and ordain preachers." Cooke arrived in America and "ordained" Francis Ashbury first, as a presbyter and finally as a superintendent. Says Stevens, the Methodist historian: "The Colonial English Church being dissolved by the Revolution, its fragments were yet floating as had been the Methodist societies amid the stirring tide of events. When Ashbury began his superintendency there was small membership and but a few itinerant preachers. When he died there were seven hundred itinerants, 2,000 local preachers and 240,000 lay members."

The first services held in this country by a Methodist itinerant, Mr. Cooper, was held in the house of Colonel Daniel McCauley at Warwick in 1706. The second at that of Mrs. A. Smith, a sister of the colonel, situated at Middlehope. Mr. Cooper also visited John Woolsey near Milton. Six weeks later, accompanied by a Mr. John McCloskey, John Cooper passed through the same section, going as far north as New Paltz, holding services at the homes of Hendrick Deyo and Andries Du Bois.

In 1787 Ezekiel Cooper visited the town of Newburgh and held religious services at Samuel Fowler's in Middlehope, where he established a preaching station which remained such until 1813.

In 1788 the Methodist Conference established the Flanders circuit, which embraced a portion of this county, and put James O. Cooper in charge, with Jesse Lee, Orin Hutchins and John Lee as assistants.

In 1789 the circuit of Newburgh was created, with James D. Cromwell as presiding elder, and Nathaniel B. Mills and Andrew Humphrey as preachers. The following classes composed the circuit:

Samuel Fowler, Middlehope; Munson Wards, Fostertown; Jacob Daytons, Lattingtown; Mr. Schultz, Dolsentown; Mr. Warwick, Warwick; Luff Smith, Marlborough; Daniel Stephens, in the Clove; Richard Garrison, in the Clove; Elnathan Foster, Newburgh; Daniel Holmes, Middlehope; Samuel Wyatts, Keytown; Winslow Allison, Pochunk; John Ellisons, New Windsor; Daniel Ostrander, Plattekill; Samuel Ketcham, Sugar Loaf.

The first class to be organized (1807) as a church was the one at Vail's Gate under the name of the _Union M. E. Church of New Windsor._ In 1819 the Newburgh circuit was divided and another circuit created, including the societies at Bethel, Bloomingburgh, Middletown, Montgomery, Walden, Burlingham, Sam's Point and Walker Valley.

In 1837 Sugar Loaf circuit came into existence. This embraced Sugar Loaf, Florida, Ellenville, Bellevale, Chester. Monroe, Oxford, Satterlytown, Washingtonville, Blagg's Corner, Highland Mills, Little Long Pond and Greenwood Lake.

THE BAPTIST CHURCHES.

The Baptist denomination, we are informed by Dr. A. R Fuller of the _First Baptist Church,_ Newburgh, N. Y., has at the present time, March, 1907, eleven churches. One in Cornwall, Unionville, Port Jervis, Warwick, Walden, Maybrook, two in Middletown and three in Newburgh. It has church property valued at $162,500.

The first minister of this persuasion to preach its tenets in the county was Mr. Halstead, pastor of a society at Fishkill, Dutchess County. April 24, 1790, a society was organized in Newburgh. In 1806 another society erected a place of worship at Luptondale, and established a burying ground.

The Baptist congregation at Warwick originated with the settlers from Connecticut. These organized what has since been known as the Old School Baptist Body. The first place of worship was erected on what is now the junction of the road leading from the village of Warwick, and the road leading from the Welling schoolhouse to Bellevale. In 1809 and 1810 the society bought land in Warwick, and erected the building which it now occupies.

THE LUTHERAN CHURCHES.

The Lutheran churches are _St. Peters,_ Port Jervis, and _St. Paul's,_ Newburgh. This society was founded by the immigrants from the Palatine, who were sent here in the reign of Queen Anne.

THE UNITARIAN CHURCH.

A Unitarian church, named the _Church of Our Father,_ was organized at Fishkill-on-the-Hudson in 1847, at a private residence. The first meetings were held at the De Witt homestead, and afterward in the public hall of the village. The congregation included men and women of culture, public spirit and unquestioned high character. It was ministered to by such men of repute for ability and piety as Revs. William H. Channing, Edward Turner, F. A. Farley and H. W. Bellows among others. Occasional services were held at Low Point, Channingville and other points in the neighborhood of Fishkill for eight years. About 1855, in consequence of the increasing attendance from Newburgh, the church was reorganized in that city, where services were held in the court house and the Universalist church, and there was preaching by some of the ablest ministers of the denomination. There were so many accessions to the church that in 1869 a committee was chosen to consider the subject of building a house of worship. This consisted of William W. Carson, John Heron, George Lamey, Benjamin Dumville, George H. Southard, J. N. Dichey, George W. Peters and William Stocker. Warren Delano was afterwards added, and made chairman. The deliberations and resulting efforts brought about the erection of the present building at a cost of $16,000, and it was consecrated in 1870. The first pastor was Rev. F. W. Holland, and the present pastor is Rev. Alson H. Robinson.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ORANGE.

The first Catholic missions in Orange County seem to have been established in 1817 and 1818. The Rev. Dr. French came in 1817, and the Rev. Father Langdill arrived about a year later.

The first Catholic church, _St. Patrick's,_ was organized at Newburgh in 1826, and the parochial school in connection with that church was started soon afterward.

The introduction of Roman Catholicism in this State during the colonial period is fraught with much interest. The history of these initial efforts covers the incidents of the French and Indian wars, beginning in 1687 and terminating in the French domination of Canada. Even as far back as 1608, the work was begun among some of the northern Indian tribes. But the conversion of the Six Nations met with little success until after the accession of James II to the English throne. He instructed the province governors to aid the French missionaries and grant them every facility in the prosecution of their work.

But these privileges were also used to advance their national cause among the Iroquois, and the King was compelled to modify his zeal for the propagation of the Catholic faith, which he professed.

This policy of the English government was entirely changed, however, on the accession of William and Mary. Trade with the Indians had been seriously affected by the influence of these French priests, and the alliance between the English and the Iroquois was greatly weakened in consequence. Even the toleration of Catholicism was now forbidden; not from any hostility to the faith in itself, but for political reasons which affected the nation and its interests. Severe measures of repression were adopted. Catholic priests who came into the provinces voluntarily were subject to the death penalty.

This practically was the state of affairs until after the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. Then, by the terms of the first State constitution, freedom of opinion was permitted to all who subscribed to the oath of allegiance. When Ireland was appealed to for aid in the war, and the subsequent assistance of Catholic France was asked, the prejudices of the people were materially affected. This made it possible to engraft upon the federal constitution of 1787 the full and complete equality of all religious faiths. This of course opened the door to Catholicism, and yet the church authorities seem to have made little effort to extend their faith until after the Irish rebellion of 1798. Then the Catholic immigrants began to arrive in America.

The first priest stationed in New York City was the Rev. Charles Whalen, an Irish Franciscan, who had been a chaplain in the French fleet. He settled here after the war, and his brother, Dr. Joseph Whalen, purchased a plot of land from the Schuyler patent in Montgomery in April, 1788. The Rev. Luke Concanen was the first Bishop of New York, but he died before entering upon his duties. The Rev. John Conelly, his successor, was consecrated in 1814. And the first thing he did was to establish missions in the Hudson River valley. He is said to have sought "to prevent the children of Catholics conforming to the persuasions of their neighbors."