Clifford S Arms, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Matawan (1828-1832)

Clifford Smith Arms served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Matawan from 1828 to 1832, "a period or relative inactivity in the church," according to Presbyterians Pioneer at Matawan, pg 31, published by the church in 1959. He left Matawan to become pastor at the Presbyterian church at Madison in the autumn of 1832.

The church at Madison provided this biography in 1854.

Rev. Clifford S. Arms was born in Sunderland, Mass., on the banks of the Connecticut river, on the 4th of June, 1796. The principal portion of his early life was spent in Canaan, Columbia county, New York, and there it was that in the year 1817, at the age of twenty-one, he was hopefully converted to God, and made a public profession of religion. His preparatory studies were pursued under the care of Mr. Moses Hallock, father of the Rev. William A. Hallock, of the American Tract Society. In the fall of 1820 he became a member of the Freshman class in William's College, where he remained but one year. He then entered Union College at Schenectady, New York, where, after three years' study, he graduated in the year 1824. In the autumn of the same year, he entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton in this State, and after a three years' course, graduated in the month of September, 1827.

He was licensed to preach the Gospel one year previous to his leaving the seminary, and when he had completed his studies in that institution, he labored four or five months as a missionary in " The Pines" of this State, under the Ladies' Missionary Society of Princeton. In the fall of 1827, he assumed the charge of a small church in Middletown Point, Monmouth county, N. J., and while he was there, he received ordination as an evangelist, from the same Presbytery that gave him license. The relation which he sustained to that church was that of stated supply, and while connected in this way with the church, his labors appear to have been signally blessed to its enlargement and permanent establishment.

After laboring in that field for a period of about five years, he received a call to become the pastor of this church in the autumn of 1832; and in the month of October of that year (1832) he removed his family to this place, and was regularly inducted into the pastoral office here, by the Presbytery of Elizabethtown, the Rev. David Magie, D. D., and others, taking part in the services.

While here, he resided for a short time in the house of the widow Cook, opposite the academy, then in the house now occupied by Mr. Henry Keep; and then in a house belonging to the family of the late Archibald Sayre, in the vicinity of the Catholic church. This last was his principal residence while the pastor of this church.

Appendix

" May 29. 1851 An application having been placed before the Congregation by Rev C. S. Arms for the appointment of commissioners to unite with him in requesting to be dismissed from the pastoral care of this Church — the following resolutions were unanimously adopted —

1. Resolved That we cherish a high sense of the value and importance of the past services of Mr Arms during his long and successful labors among us in the work of the ministry, and we rejoice to bear testimony to his fidelity and uniform devotion to his work, and to his pastoral care, in his readiness ever to sympathise with the afflicted, cheer the desponding, comfort the sorrowing, relieve the distressed, and point the inquiring soul to the Savior of sinners. And we also bear testimony to his unimpeachable character as a man, as a citizen, always studying the things that make for peace.

2. Resolved That we deeply sympathise with Mr Arms in the failure of his health, and regret the existence of any circumstances which render it necessary in his judgment to seek the dissolution of his pastoral relation.

3. Resolved That while we feel constrained to acquiesce in his request, it gives us pleasure to express our undiminished confidence in him as a man, a christian and a minister of Jesus Christ;and we would follow him with our prayers and best wishes for his future usefulness and comfort wherever the Lord in his Providence shall call him to labor.

4. Remembering the many years that Mr Arms has labored with this people, and in view of the impaired state of his health in which he retires from us, we feel it to be an act of justice to him and a pleasure to ourselves to offer him a substantial token of our esteem."

Source: A History of the Presbyterian Church at Madison, NJ: A discourse delivered on Thanksgiving Day, Nov 23, 1854 (excerpt edited slightly.)

His wife Sarah was the daughter of Major William Gordon Forman and the Major's second wife, Sarah Woodhull. Sarah Forman was baptized 8 October 1808 and died in 1872.
Source: This Old Monmouth of Ours, by William S Hornor, pg 130.

His wife: Sarah Woodhull Forman (1808 - 1872)
His sons: Gilbert Woodhull Arms (1834 - 1834) and Clifford Hastings Arms (1838 - 1842)
Source: Family Tree on Ancestry.com

Other Notes, in chronological order

He and a number of other men from Union, NY were enrolled in the winter session at the theological seminary, presumably a reference to Princeton Theological Seminary.
Source: Minutes of the UPCUSA (1816), pg 284-5.

Clifford S Arms was head of household in Middletown, Monmouth County, NJ in the 1830 Federal Census.

He was installed as an evangelist on 19 September in Columbia County, NY.
Source: The Quarterly Journal of the American Education Society (1834)

He was listed as a Director For Life, in New Jersey, at Bottle Hill.
Source: American Tract Society, Annual Report (1834)
Note: The Village of Bottle Hill was founded in 1715 in what is now Madison, NJ.

He moderated a session meeting at Morristown while a pastor at the Presbyterian church in Madison, NJ in Aug 1836. The church in Morristown was searching for a new pastor at the time.
Source:  History of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, NJ

Clifford S Arms was head of household in Chatham, Morris County, NJ in the 1840 Federal Census. There were a total of six persons in the household.

He was a pastor in the Presbytery of Newark in 1840.
Source: Synods of New York and New Jersey (New School), 1840

Clifford S Arms performed a marriage at the Presbyterian church in Madison, NJ in Jun 1844.
Source: Pierson/Hanke Family Ties, Rootsweb.

He also conducted a wedding service in Jan 1846 at the Presbyterian church in Madison.
Source: Riker-L, Rootsweb

Clifford S (53 Mass) and Sarah W Arms (42 NJ) were living in Chatham, Morris County, New Jersey in the 1850 Federal Census. He was listed as a clergyman NSP (New School Presbyterian). Two others lived in the household, including Clarissa Arms (27 NJ).


He was among the list of signatories to an 1850 letter from the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church encouraging Joseph Clay Stiles to publish his speech on the slavery question, remarks delivered in Detroit earlier that year in opposition to slave holding and how it was rending the church apart. 

Clifford S (64 Mass) and Sarah W Arms (52 NJ) were living in Wawayanda, Orange County, New York in the 1860 Federal Census. He was listed as a clergyman and had $600 in personal property. They had two domestics in their household, one -  Clarissa Arms (47 NY) - possibly related to Clifford.

He died at age 66 on 24 September 1863 in Ridgeway, NY in the Presbytery of Hudson.Source: The American Presbyterian and Theological Review, by Henry Boynton Smith et al (1864), pg 196

Glass Plant Haunted?

A paranormal discussion group has an anonymous member who claims to have seen a spirit at the Anchor Glass Plant. He even has a YouTube video of what he saw.

Maybe it's The Ghost of Improvements Past Due?

James Otis Denniston, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Matawan (1869-1871)

James Otis Denniston

Below are some useful resources on Reverend James Otis Denniston, who served as the minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Matawan for a couple of years after the Civil War. He had served as a lieutenant during the war and was injured at the Battle of Gettysburg. The first item is a wonderful summary published by his alma mater, Yale College, in a compendium of obituaries of their former students.

James Otis Denniston, B.A. 1856, Yale College
Born December 14, 1835, in Washingtonville, N. Y.
Died November 12, 1915, in New York City

James Otis Denniston, one of the eleven children of Robert and Mary (Scott) Denniston, was born December 14, 1835, in Washingtonville, N. Y., which had long been the family home. His father, a graduate of Union College in 1820, was prominent in politics in New York State, and had served in both the Senate and Assembly, and as state comptroller. His mother's parents were William and Mary (Mather) Scott. The son received his preparatory training at his home, and was graduated from Yale in 1856, receiving a Dispute appointment at Commencement.

After leaving college, he studied law in the office of the late Eugene A. Brewster of Newburgh, N. Y., and, being admitted to the bar in 1858, practiced for the next three years in New York City, where for a time he was in the office of Brown, Hall & Vanderpoel. In 1861, he decided to give up the law and study for the ministry, and in the fall of that year entered Union Theological Seminary in New York City. In the summer of 1862, while at home, he assisted in organizing Company G of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York Volunteers, and in September accompanied it to the front as first lieutenant. He was wounded at Gettysburg, and a few months later resigned, holding at the time a captain's commission. Upon his return to New York, he resumed his studies at Union Seminary where, with the exception of a few months in 1864 spent in the service of the Sanitary Commission, he continued until his graduation in 1865. During the summer of that year, he supplied a pulpit at Ludlow, Vt., after which he spent a year abroad in study at Berlin, Dresden, and Halle. In the succeeding years, he served as pastor of Presbyterian churches at Fishkill, N. Y., Matawan, N. J., Erie, Pa., Kingston, N. Y., and at Wappinger's Falls, N. Y. Owing to ill health, he spent the two years from 1883 to 1885 at Newburgh without pastoral charge, but in 1885 he was able to accept a call to the Cooperstown (N. Y.) Presbyterian Church, where he preached for eleven years. His next church was at State College, Pa., and he remained there until his retirement from the active ministry in 1906. Since then, Mr. Denniston had spent much of his time in New York City, and his death occurred in that city, November 12, 1915, after an illness of only a few hours resulting from cerebral hemorrhage. His body was taken to Washingtonville for burial.

Mr. Denniston was a life member and a director of the American Bible Society. He was married in Fishkill, N. Y., June 3, 1869, to Margaret C, daughter of Epenetus and Margaret (Walsh) Crosby, who died less than two months before her husband. Their only child, Mary, survives. Two of Mr. Denniston's brothers — William Scott and Henry Martyn — received the degree of B.A. from Yale, being members of the Classes of 1853 and 1862, respectively. The former graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1856, and died six years later, of typhoid fever, contracted as a volunteer surgeon in the Army of the Potomac. The latter entered the pay corps of the United States Army, and was retired with the rank of rear admiral, for war service, on reaching the age of sixty-two; in 1892, Yale gave him an honorary M.A. Mr. Denniston was a cousin, in the fourth generation, of John Denniston, who received the degree of B.A. at Yale in 1807.
Source: Obituary Record of the Graduates of Yale Undergraduate Schools 1869/70 - 1950/51

He was born in Washingtonville, New York on 14 December 1835. He graduated Yale College in 1856, then attended Union Theological Seminary in New York from 1861 to 1862, then again from 1863 to 1865. He served in the US Army 1862 to 1863. He was in Europe in 1866. He was ordained 4 July 1867 in Poughkeepsie (R D Cl?). He was stated supply at Tironda NY (1867-68), pastor at the Presbyterian church in Matswan, NJ (1869-70); pastor at Erie, PA (1871-72); stated supply at Kingston, NY (1873-75); pastor at Wappinger Falls, NY (1877-83); pastor at Newburgh, NY (1884-85); Cooperstown, NY (1885- ); currently pastor at State College, PA.   
Source: Presbyterian Ministerial Directory, Northern (1898) , pg 236

He was in Washingtonville, NY within the Synod of New York. No further details. Source: Minutes of the United Presbyterian Church USA Directory (1915)

He was born in 1835 and died in 1915. He served as a First Lieutenant, Company G, 124th Regiment, New York State Volunteers during the US Civil War. He was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg and was discharged due to disability. He became a Presbyterian minister in 1866. He married Margaret Crosby. He was living in Washingtonville, Orange County, New York at one time before the turn of the century. Source: Descendants of Alexander Denniston, a genealogy posted at Family Treemaker. The genealogy cites Portrait and Biographical Record of Orange County, Vols I-III (1895) for most of these details.

He (as Rev J Deniston) appeared in the Church Directory on page 4 col 1 of the 1 Jan 1870 edition of The Matawan Journal. Services at the Presbyterian Church were held Sundays at 10 1/2 am and 7 pm, with Sunday School at 9 am.

He (as James Dennison) was enumerated in the 1870 Federal Census as a 34 year old Presbyterian minister born in New York state and living in Matawan, along with his wife Margaret, aged 33 years and also born in New York. Living in the household were Elizabeth Crosby, 45 years old born in New York, who had no occupation, and Catharine O'Neal, an Irish domestic servant aged 26 years. The Reverend had $500 in personal property, while the church was listed as being worth $15,000.

The Park Presbyterian Church in Erie, PA called him to their church on 7 December 1870, while he was serving at Matawan. Source: History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Part III, Chapter IV (Churches), by Samuel P Bates.

He served at the Presbyterian Church in the Town of Wappinger beginning in June 1877. Source: The History of Dutchess County by James H Smith.

He was a minister on the Narrative standing committee of the Presbyterian General Assembly in 1878. Source: Minutes of the General Assembly of the PCUSA (1878)

He performed a marriage at the Presbyterian Church in Cooperstown, NY in October 1886. Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle-News, 6 Feb 1886

He was a minister in the Presbytery of Otsego. Sources: Minutes of the Synod of New York (1887); Minutes of the Synod of New York (1891)

From the church records of Sept. 1902, we quote an account of a pleasant gathering.

"Three former pastors of the Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown, the Rev. Frederick B. Savage, D.D, late of Newburgh, N. Y., the Rev. James Otis Denniston of State College, Pa., and the Rev. N. W. Wells of Brooklyn, N. Y., being temporarily here, the Ladies of the Congregation gave them and their wives a public reception in the chapel, on Thursday evening, September 4, instant, from 8 to 10 o'clock. The Rev. Charles K. McHarg, D.D., formerly pastor, now resident in the village, with the Rev. Sidney S. Conger, the present incumbent, made in all five clergymen in the chapel who had been installed pastors of this church and congregation. . . ." Source: History of the First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown, New York, by Helen A Ross, an excerpt from Chapter VI, as found in the 4 Apr 1952 edition of The Otsego Farmer, pg 6 col 5.

The Question Bridge

The Question Bridge is a creative art project that involves videotaped interviews of black men asking and answering questions. Now through 3 June 2012, the Brooklyn Museum is hosting an installation called The Question Bridge: Black Males, which provides the visitor with a multimedia experience using those interviews. Check out the video trailer below and read the museum's description at bottom.


Question Bridge: Black Males - Project Trailer from Question Bridge on Vimeo.

January 13–June 3, 2012

Mezzanine Gallery, 2nd Floor

Question Bridge: Black Males is an innovative video installation created by artists Hank Willis Thomas and Chris Johnson in collaboration with Bayeté Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair. The four collaborators spent several years traveling throughout the United States, speaking with 150 Black men living in 12 American cities and towns, including New York, Chicago, Oakland, Birmingham, and New Orleans. From these interviews they created 1,500 video exchanges in which the subjects, representing a range of geographic, generational, economic, and educational strata, serve as both interviewers and interviewees. Their words were woven together to simulate a stream-of-consciousness dialogue, through which important themes and issues emerge, including family, love, interracial relationships, community, education, violence, and the past, present, and future of Black men in American society.

The exhibition includes multiple screens playing videos of the interviews, edited so that it appears as if the men are having a conversation. The artists hope that the Question Bridge project will be a catalyst for constructive dialogue that will help deconstruct stereotypes about Black male identity in our collective consciousness. Museum visitors are also invited to visit the user-generated Question Bridge website, accessible on iPads throughout the gallery, which offers a platform to represent and redefine Black male identity in America.

Mediterranean Chateau to Replace Charlie Brown's in Matawan

The Asbury Park Press for 22 Feb 2012, page B3, includes an article that says that Charlie Brown's will soon become a Portuguese restaurant called Mediterranean Chateau. It is slated to open in a few weeks. The transfer of Charlie Brown's liquor license and plenary retail consumption license was approved at the Tuesday evening meeting of Matawan Borough Council.

The corporation is owned by Jose Barreiro of Sayreville.  Barreiro co-founded the successful Ria Bar Restaurant and Bar in South River in 1987. Check out the many awards and favorable reviews at the Ria Bar's news and events page.

UPDATE (23 July 2012): Mediterranean Chateau is tentatively set to open in mid-August or early September.

UPDATE (1 August 2012): I drove by yesterday and saw a stucco contractor working on the facade of the place. Definitely moving along but it looks like a few more weeks to go.

UPDATE (7 August 2012): Photo - Still under construction but nearly done.

UPDATE (24 November 2012) The restaurant finally opened on 16 November. There is a Facebook page but no webpage that I can find. See my recent article for link.

African-American Series: Lakewood Preacher Advises His Fellow Negroes to Behave or Risk Lynching (1903)

Morris F Matthews, an African American preacher, born in Virginia and living in Lakewood, submitted the text below to The Matawan Journal. The 25 Jun 1903 edition featured this most shocking broadside on the front page directed to his fellow blacks. His references to a 35th anniversary may represent bad math or a mistaken belief that emancipation took place in 1868.

There was a Morris F Matthews, age 27, who was living in Plainfield as a gardener in the 1900 Federal Census, along with a wife of two years. Ten years later, Morris Matthews, age 34, was living on John Street in Lakewood as a pastor at a church, along with his supposed first and only wife of three years and two sons. I believe both listings are for the same man, the man who wrote this piece.

COMMUNICATED.
------------
Reverend M F Matthews to the Negro.

MR EDITOR:

For the benefit of my people please permit space in the columns of your valuable paper for me to warn the negro.

If the negro would study to learn his lesson well he would find, as he advances with the twentieth century, more sympathy from the man of power in this country. When he, the negro, has not enough respect for himself and the well being of his fellow men—after thirty-five years of liberty—to pass along the highways and mind his own affairs without disturbing people of honor who pass that way, such negro does not deserve any sympathy. A negro who will interfere with the white race will do the same with his own people. Thirty-five years is sufficient for him to learn common sense and if there is one who acts unbecomingly in a vicinity he should be looked after. If he cannot see the advantages of behaving himself as intelligent people, he must expect what follows. Negro, they lynch in the North as much as in the South. This is no place of refuge. Be careful.

There is no negro from the Southland who has not had the advantage of schools that he might receive a reasonable degree of knowledge. Matters not how dumb he may appear in public he had the opportunity to prepare himself, and as endeavoring to elevate my people I have but little time and sympathy for some of them. Negro, stay in your place. For what wrong one does, all will suffer.

Rev Morris F. Matthews

History: Matawan Man Struck By Train Heading for Atlantic Highlands (1903)

Henry Miller of Matawan was struck by a train and gravely injured while crossing the railroad trestle between Raritan and Matawan on the afternoon of Friday the 13th, according to the 19 Feb 1903 edition of The Matawan Journal. He was dating Maggie Collins, who lived near Farry's brickyard in Raritan. He saw Maggie only once a week. Henry and his brothers John and George were all living with their widowed step-mother, so each of the boys had a job. Henry worked at a hotel in Newark the rest of the time.

It was common to step to the side as the train passed on the trestle, but Henry somehow misjudged the width of the breast bar of the engine and was struck in the side and knocked unconscious. The train man noticed he'd hit someone, stopped the train, and put Henry aboard. The 5:28 pm train had only moments earlier left Matawan for Atlantic Highlands, so the engineer reversed the train back to Matawan, where Henry was taken off the train and escorted home and laid on a couch. Two doctors were summoned, but they determined there was nothing to be done. Henry died around 2 am the next morning.

The funeral was held at St Joseph's on Monday morning. Henry was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery. He left brothers William, Edward, John and George, and a sister Mrs John H Fallon.

The 1900 Federal Census showed Henry b Jul 1879 (age 20); John b Jun 1881 (age 18), and George b Mar 1883 (age 17) living with Lena Miller b Jun 1853 (age 46) in Matawan. Henry was a grocery salesman, John a butcher, and George a printer compositor. The Miller boys were all born in New Jersey to German parents.

The 1900 Federal Census showed Margaret Collins b Jun 1882 (age 17), daughter of James and Bridget Collins. The Collins parents were Irish and had ten children. James was a farmer who had emigrated to the US in 1865.

History: Progressive Euchre and Domino Party Hosted by Mrs John Terhune, Matawan (1902)

A winning euchre hand (Wikimedia)

Mrs John Terhune of Matawan hosted a progressive euchre * and domino party on Tuesday afternoon 18 Feb 1902, according to that week's edition of The Matawan Journal. Winners received prizes purchased in the Catskill Mountains the previous summer "and were very useful and pretty." The article names many of the prominent participants, including Mrs H D Terhune of Hackensack, who was a guest of the party host all week. The winner had to be determined by cutting a deck of cards.

* Check eHow to see how to play progressive euchre. Wikipedia has articles about euchre, euchre game playing variations, and euchre rule and terminology variations.

A full set of dominoes (Wikimedia)

This article is a good example of the poor optical character recognition (OCR) product that came from scanning the microfiche of The Matawan Journal.

Below is a copy of the article (left), paired with an OCR rendering of this article (right). As you can see, the OCR version is virtually unintelligible once you copy and paste the text underlying the image. Perhaps we should resurrect the original newspapers and have them scanned before they deteriorate further? Many images are so poor that they cannot be discerned visually, much less through the OCR version.

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Will Howard Marine Lab Closing Affect MAST? Matawan Regional? Fisheries?

Today's Asbury Park Press features an article about how the James J Howard Marine Laboratory at Sandy Hook is to be closed soon due to budget cuts. The lab is under NOAA, which needs the $3 million to run other programs.

The article says the Jersey Coast Anglers Association is upset at the closing, calling it a disaster. The association says the lab was opened in 1961 to demonstrate federal and state support for local fisheries. State budget cuts have already impacted programs that monitor fisheries sustainability in New Jersey waters, so Federal cuts will put the nail in the coffin. No one will know whether particular breeds are being overfished, for example.

The article doesn't talk about the educational side of the equation. How will the closing of the Howard Lab affect the Marine Academy of Science and Technology (MAST), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary in March? How will the closing impact oceanography classes at Matawan Regional High School and other schools in Monmouth County? I doubt we'll be funding field trips to Connecticut, where NOAA is relocating its resources.

Take a look at this 2007 APP article about Liza Baskin, who teaches chemistry at MAST now but previously taught at Matawan. It shows how the programs at Sandy Hook, Rutgers and the county school system are intertwined, providing benefit to all. The closing of the lab could have a negative effect in so many ways.

UPDATE 4 March 2012:  There is now a Facebook page supporting the Howard Marine Laboratory and an online petition you can sign. If you'd like to see the lab stay at Sandy Hook, "like" and "share" the Facebook page and sign the petition.