First Presbyterian Churchyard, New Brunswick
Encyclopedia
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
is one of the oldest churches in the Presbyterian denomination. It was the seat of the Presbytery of New Brunswick which is now located in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
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History
In 1738 the Presbyteries of East Jersey and Long Island were merged with the Presbytery of New York, and two days after that, the Presbytery of New Brunswick was created.In late 1726, or early 1727 Reverend Gilbert Tennent
Gilbert Tennent
Gilbert Tennent was a religious leader. Gilbert was one of the leaders of the Great Awakening of religious feeling in Colonial America, along with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield...
was ordained pastor of the congregation. The church records were destroyed or lost, during the American revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
when British soldiers were quartered in the manse
Manse
A manse is a house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of a Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist or United Church...
. The records of the First Presbyterian Church (Newark, New Jersey) were destroyed at the same time. Because of damage to the church from the war, a new building was set up to replace the damaged one.
In 1937 John Gresham Machen
John Gresham Machen
John Gresham Machen was an American Presbyterian theologian in the early 20th century. He was the Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary between 1915 and 1929, and led a conservative revolt against modernist theology at Princeton and formed Westminster Theological Seminary as a more...
was condemned by the Presbytery of New Brunswick for disobeying higher authorities in a religious court hearing held in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
.
In 1947 a fire caused $147,000 in damages.
Around 1966, Alfred Yorston removed 520 bodies from the church's cemetery to Van Liew Cemetery to make way for new construction at the church.
Pastors
- Gilbert TennentGilbert TennentGilbert Tennent was a religious leader. Gilbert was one of the leaders of the Great Awakening of religious feeling in Colonial America, along with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield...
(1703-1764) 1726 to 1743. - Thomas Arthur (minister) 1746 to 1751.
- Israel Reed 1768 to 1786.
- Walter Monteith 1786 to 1794.
- Joseph Clark (minister) 1797 to 1813.
- Levi J. F. Huntington 1815 to 1820.
- Samuel B. How 1821 to 1823.
- Joseph H. Jones 1821 to 1823.
- Robert Birch 1839 to 1842.
- Robert Davidson (minister) 1843 to ?.
- Howard Crosby (1826–1891) 1861-1862.
- William White Knox (1843-1929) circa 1900.
- Szabolcs S. G. Nagy 1977 to 2010.