Tag: church

A remarkable Troy woman and the burning of the Henry Clay

A story about the remarkable early Methodists of Troy, NY and especially those associated with the State Street Methodist Episcopal Church and its branches.

Nathaniel Currier (American, Roxbury, Massachusetts 1813–1888 New York)
Burning of the Henry Clay Near Yonkers–While on Her Trip From Albany to New York on Wednesday Afternoon July 28th, 1852.–The rapid spread of the flames forced the passengers into the water. Mothers and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters were drowned together, whilst trying to save each other. Little children buffetted the waves in vain for a few moments, and then sunk to rise no more. Persons on board about 500 of which number nearly 100 are supposed to have perished., 1852
American,
Hand-colored lithograph; Image: 7 9/16 × 13 1/2 in. (19.2 × 34.3 cm) Sheet: 10 1/16 × 14 15/16 in. (25.5 × 38 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962 (63.550.101)
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/662253 (Public domain.)

“One of the most touching incidents illustrative of the sanctifying power of God’s grace and the Christian fortitude of a pious woman, I may here relate as a tribute to the memory of a much- loved relative and an estimable member of the State Street and Congress Street societies, Miss Elizabeth Hillman, familiarly called Aunt Betsey Hillman, who was well-known to all its people as an earnest Christian and a zealous worker in the Lord’s vineyard. During revivals she frequently gave evidence of her joyous exaltation of soul with loud shouts of praise and hallelujahs. On

Tuesday evening, July 27, 1852, while present at a prayer-meeting held at the residence of Noah Clapp, a member of the State Street Church, she led in prayer. One of the special favors which she solicited of the Great Ruler and Disposer of events was that when her work was done on earth she might be called quickly to heaven, for she dreaded the pains of a prolonged illness.

On the following morning she took passage on the boat Henry Gay (sic), plying between Albany and New York. On the way the boat began racing with another steamboat, the Armenia, on the opposition line. The excited passengers became greatly alarmed for their safety. A young woman from Albany was much frightened and Miss Hillman, in her endeavors to calm her apprehensions, spoke to her about the salvation of her soul. Discovering that she had not yet accepted Christ as her Saviour, and was wholly unprepared to die, Aunt Betsy urged her to give her heart to God. This she promised to do, if she should be permitted to get off the boat alive. Shortly afterward the boat was discovered to be on fire, and was steered toward the shore. In attempting to save their lives about fifty of the passengers were burned or drowned. The young woman and Miss Hillman, in seeking a way of escape, were compelled to decide which one of the two should perish on board the burning boat. Aunt Betsy at once urged her dismayed and sorely-distressed companion to leave her, saying: “I am prepared to die, and you are not.” The young woman fortunately escaped and afterward obtained that peace of soul, of which she

delighted to speak when tearfully telling of the noble unselfishness of the Christian woman who went to Heaven in a bright mantle of flame. Her age was fifty -seven(sic.)” (Methodism in Troy, Joseph Hillman, 1888, pp79-80. She was actually 67. )

Joseph, the author of the seminal work on the history of our congregation, was the nephew of the woman in the story. He writes that the The Hillman* family, Isaac and his second wife, Nancy Hillman joined the church in 1827, as the second church structure, the “brick church,” was being built. Isaac had come under the influence of the renowned Methodist preacher, Lorenzo Dow, when the family still lived in Vermont, and became a fully confessing member of the Methodist Church in 1809, at the age of 12. In reality, as a family of German Palentines finding refuge in Ireland, his whole community was already allied with the Methodists before many migrated to America, many settling in the area of the New York-Vermont border. While Isaac and his wife immediately appear in the official membership records of the church, the first time Elizabeth HIllman is mentioned, in the surviving records, is in 1835, though she may have joined earlier. City Directories show that this extended family lived in adjoining lots on Congress Street, with Elizabeth and their brother David first appearing in the Troy City Directory in the 1837-8 edition, which says that she is “boarding” at 190 Congress Street Extended, with the rest of the family, including David. Another brother, John Hillman, a physician, appears in the Troy listing for only one edition.  

In Ireland, the family had kept their German name of Bergmann, but used various versions of the last name until the contingent who moved to Troy translated it, quite literally, into English as Hill-man. Elizabeth was born on July 1st, 1784, the fourth of 8 children born to John (see below for versions of his last name) and Mary –  also recorded as Maritia and Calreana – Miller. A book tracing the family line of her brother Isaac down to current survivors (“A Few More Left: The Story of Isaac Hillman” by Henry Z. Jones ,Jr.)  reveals that there was something of a scandalous break up between her parents, with her mother being disowned by her husband at least twice, and even by her own father who, at his death, divided her one-sixth share of his wealth between John and Mary’s 8 children, leaving none to his errant daughter. 

Her childhood went through other troubled times. In 1785, the parents and their four oldest children – including Elizabeth –  were asked to “depart the town immediately” (Bennington, VT Official records) and again in 1808 when the family were “warned out” of Shaftsbury – something that happened when a family was in danger of becoming a financial burden on a community. At the age of  24, you would expect Elizabeth to no longer be living with them, most typically already married, but a notification in the Vermont Gazette, in 1791, could explain why she might be needed with her father: her mother had left the family home. She later returned for a while, during which time their youngest child, Isaac, was born, but left again in 1799. It is tempting to play amateur psychologist on the subject of why Elizabeth never married!  Did Mary Miller reconcile with her children after their father had died? Enough, at least they buried her in the Mount Ida Cemetery inTroy, but I could find no evidence that she was living with any of them before that. 

As for Elizabeth, “Aunt Betsey”, what we do know is that she was baptized as Elisabetha Barrackman, later Hillman,  and is recorded in the Gilead Lutheran Church books of Center Brunswick, NY. which is intriguing, but there is family history linking the family to that area, including her mother’s family being in Brunswick. At the time of her birth, the family was living in Shaftsbury, VT and attending the Fourth Church, which later became the Shaftsbury Baptist congregation. Baptism In Center Brunswick would suggest this did not happen when she was a baby. Other siblings spent time with Isaac at various points of his life, in Middleburgh and then Lansingburgh, which is when Elizabeth reappears in records in1824. This was where Jerusha Sweet Hillman, Isaac’s first wife died, shortly after their second child was born – did she move in to help care for the children until he remarried? Either way Elizabeth was then to remain close to Isaac for the rest of her life.

During her life, Elizabeth conducted various property transactions, and at her death still owned a house in Lansingburgh, as well as being the owner of land on Congress Street, though she had previously sold some of the lots. There is no mention of any work she was undertaking in the city directories, but may have helped Isaac in his on-site business endeavors. She seems to have been left with sufficient money by earlier family members – her maternal grandfather is the one we know about –  in order to buy land. It was enough for her to be generous, too: Elizabeth is listed as one of three major benefactors of the Congress St, later Trinity, Methodist Episcopal Church on 13th Street. The cost of building the church was $6,199.84 , but half the cost was donated by just three people: Elizabeth, Isaac and Alvin Williams. It faced the entrance to Prospect Park, and burned after the congregation had merged with the State Street church in 1965. (I have an essay about the church on this site.) 

It is easy to presume she was a dour, unmarried, and hyper-religious presence, but her appellation of “Aunt Betsey” by church members and the fondness felt by her nieces and nephews belie that idea. Joseph Hillman calls her a “much loved relative.” She was certainly fiscally astute, especially in comparison to Isaac, who was far more prone to taking risks, making and losing and remaking his fortune on several occasions, though he was not to blame for them all! 

Elizabeth’s life is a reminder of the danger** of the only feasible way for people in Troy and environs to travel to New York City, which they did, in surprisingly large numbers: by boat. It was a cut-throat business. Numerous companies rushed from port to port trying to get ahead of a rival boat to get all the passengers.  Elizabeth’s final voyage, indeed, was not the only time she was involved with a ferry boat disaster on the Hudson.

A report in The Daily Whig newspaper in April, 1845, has Elizabeth Hillman of Troy, who was rescued from the The Swallow when a sudden snow squall caused the boat to strike a  rock near Athens, NY, and within 5 minutes the boat was at the bottom of the river. A long list of passengers were rescued, but a few drowned, including Elizabeth Spencer, a “young convert” according to Joseph Hillman, who had only 8 days earlier united with the State Street congregation. (Methodism inTroy, p.63) Was she traveling with Elizabeth? We do not know, but  how could that event not have influenced Elizabeth’s decision the next time she faces tragedy on the Hudson?

The New Yorker magazine in 1938 published a dramatic description of the fatal trip which claimed Elizabeth’s life (see link below.) The burning of the Henry Clay was the catalyst for a state law finally banning the racing of commercial ferry boats down the Hudson. It was too late for 50-80 souls (reports vary) including Elizabeth, though her brother Jacob, who was also traveling, did survive, and brought her body back to Troy.

Her death was officially given as drowning, although the telling of the story by her nephew makes it sound like she burned. A photo of her body in Jones’ book, taken after her recovery from the water, shows some dark marks, like soot, but is basically intact: she must have jumped or fallen from the boat, as others did, and drowned.

After her funeral, held at the Congress St Methodist Episcopal Church, Elizabeth was buried in the Mount Ida Cemetery, where her mother, brother David, and sister-in- law, Nancy, had all been buried before her. The memorial on her gravestone is quoted in the 1923 book, “Inscriptions of Graves from Mt. Ida Cemetery, Pawling Ave, Troy N.Y.” recorded by the Daughters of the American Revolution: “Elizabeth Hillman, one of the sufferers by the burning of the Steamboat Henry Clay, on the passage from Albany, N.Y. July 28, 1852. Aged 67 years.” 

With no photos on the Find-a-Grave site of these four Hillman graves, I presumed the sites had been lost, and an hour’s walk around the site on a recent cold, wintery day, proved what a small percentage of the hundreds of graves are visible. Many stones have fallen, even in the past one hundred years since the DAR, with difficulty, recorded the inscriptions. Stones are broken, fallen on their face, have been completely covered by grass, have fallen down the hill and onto the walk beside the Poestenkill or become victim to subsidence at the edge of the road. Those that stand are frequently so worn by wind and rain as to be illegible. Volunteers continue to work on the site to restore and preserve the stones of hundreds of early residents of Troy, including many from the State Street congregation. So, it remains with us to remember this courageous and faithful woman, who, with her family, became such an important part of the State Street, and Congress Street, congregations. In the third quarter of the 19th century, Troy was an overwhelmingly Methodist city – hard to imagine, I know! – and Elizabeth and her family surely played a large part in that, through their financial support, but also through their dedicated demonstration of a faithful Methodist way of living. 

Janet Douglass, Troy, NY, March 2026.

*Her father’s last name and some of the older children’s, was variously recorded as  Birkman, Barckman(n), Barkman(n), Barkemann, Barrackmann, Barrickman, and Banackman but Isaac and the family, including Elizabeth, her brothers David and Jacob, and mother Mary, seem to have chosen the literal translation from the German – Hillman – at the time they move to Lansingburgh and Troy. 

**In a sad postscript, this was not the last family tragedy caused by a racing steamboat. Her nephew, Isaac’s son born to his third wife after they moved to California, died when a racing ferry boat caused numerous passengers to be drowned, and nearly cost the boy’s mother life, too. Indeed Isaac himself had earlier been at risk of dying in a weather-related disaster at sea.. Isaac Hillman is such an interesting character he easily deserves an essay of his own: stay tuned!

An online copy of the DAR record of inscriptions at Mt. Ida Cemetery, Troy, NY.

Click to access Mt._Ida_cemetery_inscriptions%2C_Troy%2C_N.Y._.._%28IA_mtidacemeteryins00daug%29.pdf

Dramatic description of the race and the ship’s burning, when 50-80 of the 500 passengers died, the boat finally crashing near Yonkers. 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1938/07/23/the-fatal-hudson-river-steamboat-race

Also see the Wikipedia page for the boat and the disaster (Henry Clay 1851 steamboat)

The Swallow ferry boat disaster is described here:

Click to access 1845-04-10-troy-daily-whig-steamboat-swallow.pdf

The quoted biography of Isaac Hillman and his descendants is:

“A Few More Left: The Story of Isaac Hillman” by Henry Z. Jones ,Jr pub. Penobscot Press, 2005.

The County land records office in Troy, is the source for land transactions deeds for the family.  The Central Library’s Troy Room holds all City Directories, since they began in 1829. 

A Dream of Pigeons

An early story of the State Street Methodists, as recorded by Joseph Hillman

Isaac Hillman’s 1888 book,“Methodism in Troy,” is our main reference to the earliest days of the Methodist congregation on State Street in Troy, NY. We spent a whole year celebrating our 200th anniversary in 2007-8, including re-enacting some of those tales. We began with 3D wire and paper pigeons flapping their wings as they flew down wires from the balcony, over the heads of the congregation, landing at the communion rail at the start of worship one morning: an invention of resident engineer and installation creator, Alice Rose. They were decorated by members of the Sunday School and volunteers from the congregation, and 4 remain hanging in Fellowship Hall as a reminder of the dramatic event.

But why pigeons? In particular, why did we start with pigeons? It is because of a story told by Hillman. Here are his words:

”The congregation began to seek a suitable site for a meeting house. On the uninclosed ground then known as the Common, lying east of the line of Fourth Street, an eligible plot was found, which was designated on the map of the village as lots 743 and 744. They were originally part of the farm of Jacob D. Van der Heyden, which had been surveyed and laid out into building lots in 1807. As he had generously given to the Presbyterians and Baptists the ground on which they had built their meeting-houses, it was thought that if he were respectfully solicited he might be induced to convey lots to the society as a gift. When he was approached it was found• that he was not only unwilling to part with the property but personally opposed to the project of the society, asserting that the Methodists had no need of a meeting-house. Dr. John Loudon, a popular physician, who had begun his practice in the village in 1793, became greatly interested in the welfare of the society of which in 1810 he became a member, and he undertook to intercede with his brother-in-law to convey, for a small consideration, the lots to the trustees of the church. It is related that the business so much engaged his thoughts that one night he dreamed that he saw a large flock of pigeons fly over the village and settle down on the proposed site of the meeting-house. This dream he interpreted to presage the future prosperity of the church. After some further overtures, Jacob D. Vander Heyden consented to sell the ground for $500, demanding, however, the payment of an interest annually of $35 until the property was possessed by the purchasers. The conveyance was made on Christmas day, December 25, 1808.” (pp23-24 Methodism in Troy, Hillman, self-published 1888.)

The  first two buildings were on that same piece of land, on the eastern edge of the Williams Street alley between Fourth and Fifth, facing State Street, where the parish house and garden are today. Early illustrations show that the first small white clapperboard building was on otherwise empty ground. The land had been Jacob D. Vanderheyden’s farm. This was the land which Vanderheyden had made available for the African American community, enslaved and free, to hold their annual week-long PInkerfest celebration. As the influence of the original Dutch farming families – with their numerous enslaved workers – waned, the land reverted to common land which Hillman describes as “not very inviting” as it was mostly dense weeds, briars and very little grass. Hillman further writes that a nearby stream would frequently overflow and leave “a strip of water on the east side of the church where children, in winter, found good sliding on the ice covering it.” (Hillman, p 27)

Housing at the time was still limited to First, Second and Third Streets with most commercial buildings on the banks of the Hudson, on River Street and increasingly along Congress Street: the land was, at the time, truly on the edge of the village.

The years of the 19th century would prove Loudon’s dream interpretation to be valid. The State Street site was the scene of many religious revivals, and birthed Sunday Schools and new Methodist churches in the area, as well as inspiring many to become pastors.

The trustees of the congregation solicited funds to build the “Troy University”, a towering ideal which sadly graduated only one full 4 year class, as original benefactors decided to promote other academic institutions. The building, with its four tall spires, dominated the Troy skyline for more than a century. It stood on the hill at the end of State Street, in full view of the congregation as they came to worship. When the university closed for lack of funding, it  was purchased by the rapidly growing Roman Catholic faithful, and eventually sold to RPI. The last part of the original 1840’s structure was torn down 120 years later to build the current RPI library. 

On the edge of Round Lake, a  Methodist campground, set up by Hillman and his colleagues, in 1868, attracted 20,000 people annually to hear the preachers. It became a Chautauqua-style educational meeting, before becoming the settled village we see today, with houses built on the original church tent plots. Attendees gathered to hear well-known preachers and to sing hymns. The magnificent 1847 organ, which was placed in the tabernacle in 1888, is regarded as a treasure of the organ world, and the public can attend organ recitals every Summer.  Methodist Farm on Crooked Lake, which is still operational as a Methodist summer camp, was bought and set up by local Methodists in the 1920’s, including the financial support of the State Street Methodists. 

This all started with a dream about pigeons. As in the time of Jesus, early settlers of this nation  put great store in dreams as a way for God to inspire them. A dream could sway even a staunch opponent like Vanderheyden to have his mind changed – at a price! 

In the late 1860’s a plan was formed to build the current church, and the adjoining plot – now nowhere near an overwhelming stream – was purchased to make the site the size it is today.

As for Troy’s actual pigeon flock – some of whom survive despite the attentions of bald eagles and a variety of  hawks – they can be seen at the end of the next block from the church at Barker (“Pigeon”) Park, along the Riverfront and in Monument Square, where some kind soul throws out food for them each morning.

The life of Dr. Loudon,  the Round Lake campground, Methodist Farm on Crooked Lake, and Troy University will all have their own essays  – as will the subject of antagonism toward early Methodists, as witnessed in the difficulty with which the congregation secured the land it still holds to this day.

Janet Douglass, August 2025.

The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Troy: State Street/ Fifth Avenue-State Street/Christ Church United Methodist

Part of the series of extended essays on the early Methodist societies of Troy, New York.

The current sanctuary is the third building to house the Methodist congregation on State Street in Troy, NY, but it was a private home on State Street, which was regarded as the site of Troy’s first Methodist gatherings in the earliest days of the community, which would become the City of Troy. Records suggest Methodists first met on State Street in 1793. It is not yet possible to determine whose home that was and the location, but at that time there were few domestic buildings, and they centered on River, First and Second Streets. So, presumably where one of those crossed State there was a home where early Methodists found themselves welcome – which could never be assumed. Early Methodists were met with much opposition.

After its rocky start – Methodism did not have as many adherents as other protestant denominations at this point, and avowed Methodists were subjected, to ridicule, name-calling and outright violence for their beliefs – the congregation became sufficiently large and established, to need its own building. Lingering prejudice about the denomination is witnessed in the difficulty in obtaining the land to build. Jacob D. Vanderheyden, the landowner, had donated land for other denominations, or made the land extremely inexpensive for them to purchase, but he refused to sell land to the Methodists for a long time. It was the intervention of his brother-in-law, Dr. John Loudon, who shared his dream of pigeons “flocking” to the desired site, that is credited for Vanderheyden’s change of heart. Nonetheless, the Methodists paid top dollar for their piece of land.

The congregation was incorporated as “The Methodist Episcopal Church of the Village of Troy” on November 29th, 1808, and a few weeks later, on Christmas Day, Vanderheyden conveyed the land to the trustees, having agreed to sell the land for $500, though with a $35 annual interest fee until paid off in full. The piece of land they acquired was the western half of the current site: two narrow lots, which has been designated the previous year as city lots 743 and 744, on the north east corner of State Street and Williams Street (the alley.) The building stood in what is now the small garden area in front of the parish house. It was two stories tall, plain, weatherboarded and painted white. The subscription started to pay for the construction of this modest building, despite having masons and carpenters in the congregation who gave their skills at no cost, still meant that the church was not ready to use for worship until 1811. Hillman reports that one of the largest sums donated came from Phebe, the daughter of Caleb Curtis: $5. He hints that there were very many, but very small donations, from those with less to give. The list of donations in the subscription book closed at $557.82.

The earliest drawing of that first clapperboard building is in A.J. Weise’s ‘Troy’s One Hundred Years” in which the building stands open on all sides. Weise describes the location as being built next to the common land. This was the land, donated by the Vanderheydens, for the annual Pingster or Pinkster Fest. Each Pentecost, both enslaved and free African Americans would gather for their annual celebration on this land, which included plenty of eating, drinking, music, singing and dancing…(See my essay on the African Zion congregation.)

The building was opened, still unfinished, with rough benches having been hurriedly made from planks by the congregation’s carpenters, just in time for the first service. Hillman reports the land around was not inviting and consisted of thick weeds and briars and patches of bare earth. The remains of a small stream passed by the eastern side of the building and when it iced over in winter, the narrow strip made for “good sliding” for the children.

Over time, the hurriedly made rough benches were replaced with slightly better plain pine benches, backed with a narrow board, but still at that time the pulpit was a a plainly-constructed desk on a small platform with several chairs. Tallow candles in tin sconces along the walls of the church lit it when evening meetings took place. By 1817, the church had a fence, which Hillman reported was to be “painted either all red or Spanish brown except the front part which was to be white”, as in the etching above from Hillman’s book. At the same time seats were added to the gallery and were likely the ones removed from the main auditorium. Women and girls sat on the east side, and men and boys took seats on the west side. The pulpit too had been replaced, Hillman reporting that there not being enough space, the children sat on the kneeling-step which surrounded the “altar.” (Hillman,p 46)

Frederick Garrettson – a man of great renown in the history of American Methodism – whose daughter traveled with him and acted as a secretary for his travels passed this on to his biographer:

” From Schenectady they returned to Troy, and put up at the house of the Hon. George Tibbits, whose hospitable mansion is delightfully situated on the side of a sloping hill ascending from the eastern part of the city, denominated Mount Ida. On the Sabbath, Mr. Garrettson preached in the Methodist Church, in this city, morning, afternoon, and evening, to an attentive congregation; and ‘truly’ says he, ‘it was a good day.’

He remarks that when he visited this place about thirty years before (in 1788) , there were only a few scattering of houses, and no Methodist society; but that he now rejoices to find a flourishing little city, in which there were four houses of worship, and not less than three hundred members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. what seemed to add to his religious enjoyment was the catholic and friendly spirit manifested by the several religious denominations toward each other. (Hillman, p 45-6.)


Even so, it was not until 1823 that the congregation secured sufficient money to pay off the debt on that first building. Only 16 years after its opening for worship, the congregation had outgrown their space: a new, larger sanctuary was required. On February 28th, 1827, the building was sold to Thomas Read and Sterling Armstrong for $500, only taking possession on November 1st. The first building had been moved to the corner plot, immediately east of its original location, the common land no longer being used for its intended purpose. So it looks like they shuffled the clapperboard building along, and worshiped there, while the brick chapel was being built. There, it was afterward used as a temporary court house, while the first court house on 2nd Street was being constructed, and then as a grocery store, until the erection of the current stone church in 1867. (Hillman p. 48 and p.52).

In the 1860 stereograph below, taken from the corner of State and 4th Streets, looking toward Troy University – about which, much more later – the brick sanctuary can be seen and beside it, a little harder to discern, is a much smaller, white wooden clapperboard building… standing there until the site construction of the current limestone sanctuary, which began 7 years after the photo was taken.

Dr. Loudon, his dream of pigeons, his work as one of Troy’s earliest doctors, and his importance to the congregation will all be covered in a later post.

The main historical source for the congregation is Joseph Hillman’s 1888 book “Methodism in Troy.” Other histories of Troy and Rensselaer County, many of which, like Hillman’s book, were published around the 100th year anniversary of the naming of Troy, include similar information. These include several books by A.J.Weise and also Rutherford Haynes and Sylvester Peck. All are available to read at no cost online. The Library of Congress site is a good place to start, but Google books and various university libraries also have digital versions. The stereograph above is from the Library of Congress archive, and is available for free use as part of the Charles F. Himes collection (Library of Congress Control Number 2005687324.)

African Methodist / Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Zion/ AME Zion Church of Troy

Extended notes on State Street Methodist Episcopal Church (now Christ Church United Methodist) and the buildings and congregations that came from it.

Of all the societies that came out of the State Street Methodist Episcopal congregation, this is the one that has had the most locations, all but the current one, having disappeared in the 190+ years since its formation.

Joseph Hillman in his History of Methodism Troy from 1888, which includes the engraving of their third location as seen above, writes:

“The origin of the African Zion Methodist Episcopal Church, is traceable to a class connected with the State Street Church, called “the colored class,” which was led in 1830, by John Dungy, an intelligent and pious man of African descent, who in 1831 became the pastor of the small congregation of colored people, which that year was known as the African Methodist Church of Troy. In 1832 the society took the name of the Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of Troy. A small wooden dwelling, on Fifth Street, north of Liberty Street, was fitted for a house of worship for the congregation. In 1841, the society purchased a lot and building on Fifth Street, and altered the structure into a church. On February 23, 1842, William Meads, Jacob Brown, Lewis Butler, Littleton Becket, and Lewis Jones were elected trustees of the Wesleyan Methodist Zion Church of the city of Troy. The property was sold about the year 1863. In the spring of 1864, George Bristol purchased for the congregation, the property on the east side of Seventh Street, between State Street and Broadway, the title of which was afterward conveyed to Joseph Hillman, Reuben Peckham, and Adam C. Fellows as trustees. On the resignation of A. C. Fellows, H. Clay Bascom, was elected his successor, and he in turn was succeeded by Henry C. Curtis. On the death of Reuben Peckham, Edward O.House was appointed to fill his place. On the brown stone tablet in the front wall of the brick building, in which the congregation worships, is inscribed : A. M. E. Zion Church, organized, A. D., 1832, erected A. D., 1865. The present membership is 79.” (Hillman. pp 118-20

I have included the entirety of that text, because it illustrates the issues that surface in writing about this congregation: we do not know in what spirit the separation of the State Street society, along lines of race and color, took place. The history gives us tantalizing, but contradictory, information. And when the author was invited to give a historical address in the current Fifth Avenue AME Zion, at one of their historical celebrations, the pastor did so explaining the congregation had few records – other than a founding date a few years earlier than the one mentioned by Hillman.

But the real puzzle for us today, stems from the photograph of the trustees of the congregation as preserved in Hillman’s book: the trustees include two men from the State Street leadership. Was their presence paternalistic? Was their presence altruistic, wanting to advertise the continued friendship of the two congregations, at a time when America was recovering from civil war, but hurtling into its ugly era of Jim Crow laws? Or somewhere between those options: they considered themselves as simply protecting their investment, both financial and emotional, with the African American society? Unless we get a lot of new information we can only guess.

Before we add just a little more information to that discussion, let’s talk about the origins of the congregation, and its various locations.

After looking at the various early maps, and not finding the first two churches named anywhere, all I can conclude from Hillman and other texts, is that the first location: “the small wooden dwelling on Fifth Street and north of Liberty” was a small wooden house typical of the neighborhood at the time – a worker’s home, which later made way for the breweries and factories that would be built there. The congregation had, in any case moved to their next location, also on Fifth Street, according to Hillman. They moved there in 1842. There may yet be records of the location for the sale of that second church, around 1863, as this was a time of massive rebuilding after the Great Fire of 1862. That fire engulfed a huge area, stopping half a block short of the State Street M.E. Church, but engulfing the site of the German M.E. Church, and a Presbyterian Church less than a block away. The biggest clue to location, however, is that in 1834, Troy’s very first church building, a Presbyterian church which stood on Congress Street in what is now Sage Park, was physically moved to Liberty Street, and began to be used as a day school for children of color, with evening classes for their elders. This in turn led to the building becoming the Liberty Street Presbyterian Church – a famous African American congregation. It would make sense that these locations were not too far apart. A number of buildings still standing could be imagined as being modified for a church, as there are a few wooden ones to this day, as well as what could be early brick buildings on the street. Most of that block became industrial buildings around this time: the purchase of the property around 1863 could have been to raze it to build a factory or a brewery, or could still be there, obscured by later renovations

The view north from Liberty Street along Fifth Avenue towards the current Christ Church, United Methodist, on State Street.

Their third church was the brick edifice, in the engraving at the top of the article.It was on the east side of what was Seventh Avenue, between State Street and Broadway, an area just north of the current County Buildings (formerly a school). The 1885 Sanford map, which can be viewed online at the Library of Congress, shows it in the center of that street, at a location very similar to one which had previously been used by the Ladies’ Home Mission, which Weise tells us was burned in the Great Fire of 1862. The whole area was rebuilt after that massive devastation, which destroyed homes, businesses, churches, the RPI building of that time, and the train station.

The Hart Cluett website has a page on Black Religious Societies with some information, which differs from my research, especially on the location of Troy High School and this church at the time – but thought that it was razed for the High School. Today, the site is under a parking lot, behind mid twentieth century offices.

From there, the AME Zion congregation moved to the former Ninth Presbyterian Church, in North Central Troy. It stood on a now empty lot at the NW corner of 5th Avenue and Jay Street, having burned down in 1969. The next – and current – home of the Fifth Avenue A.M.E. Zion Church of Troy, is in what had been St. Savior’s Lutheran Church, (formerly a Unitarian Church), which had closed in 1968. The vibrant and socially active A.M.E.Zion congregation has served the local community from this building, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street, for over 50 years.

It is so appropriate that the history of this congregation has mostly centered on Fifth Street (now Avenue.) Fifth Street was one of the boundaries of the two fields where Jacob D. Vanderheyden, allowed the annual 6-day Pinkster or Pingster festival – meaning Whit Sunday or Pentecost in Dutch. Sylvester, in his book “The History of the City of Troy”(1880) quotes Henry Rousseau, who recalled: “In my early days there were many slaves in the state of New York. “Pingster” was the slave’s great holiday. The slaves of the four counties – Columbia, Albany, Schenectady, and Rensselaer – united in its celebration.”

As for the split between their congregation and the downtown Methodist congregation, historians of African Americans church history write that, by the 1820’s, all Protestant denominations were starting the process of splitting into separate white and black denominations. The State Street congregation seems to have done so later than many, but its timing, not longer after building a new brick sanctuary with a gallery level, does make me ponder if the church also introduced segregated seating at the end of the 1820’s, as that was one of the reasons other non-Methodist congregations had split a few years earlier. However, with the introduction of pew fees in the lower sanctuary space, to pay off the debt on the construction, I suspect there was plenty of reason for discontent. All we know, is, that the trend that had begun a few years earlier, spread to State Street.

I can imagine there was sadness when it happened, especially for the oldest members. Race – or class-based racism – may have been a matter of conversation for some Trojans, but was not seen as a subject of contention within the congregation. Hillman reports: “From the organization of the society not a few colored people were members of the church.”  The inclusion of Africans in the congregation from the earliest days is corroborated by the “young daughter” of Caleb Curtis, an early founder of the society. She felt the need to defend the congregation from outsiders criticizing it, and at least some of those attacks were based on the racial identity of the members, as she felt the need to give a list of the notable person of the then village who attended, concluding:“I have thus been particular because it was asserted at a love-feast that the first society was composed of the lower order of person, and, at the same time, it was said that the time was when there was no place to hold prayer- meetings except in the basement of a house occupied by a black family. it is true that the prayer-meetings were held there sometimes. Ritta (the negro woman) was considered pious and had considerable gift in prayer. Her room was ample and decent. The person who made the statement must have been misinformed” (Phebe Curtis, quoted by Hillman, pp 13-4) Of course she knew the group actually chose to meet in Ritta’s room – her short history of the congregation, so often quoted by other authors in the following century, was based on the meetings often held in her father’s home, but also in other homes; at the very least the Curtis home was always available.

It is not surprising that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were attracted to this young denomination: slave-owners were simply not allowed to be members of the society, following the work of the founder of Methodism. John Wesley had long campaigned for a law preventing the owning of slaves in Britain, while fighting a moral battle with those who profited from shipping slaves from Africa to the New World, many of whom lived in Bristol, where he spent much time.

As for John Dungy, “A class exclusively formed of persons of African descent was led, in 1830-31, by John Dungy, an intelligent and pious colored man.” (Hillman, pp 55) He includes him in the list of leaders of the State Street M.E. church in 1830-1 (p.176) and in the list of Methodist ministers, he is listed as the pastor of the African M. E church for 1831, 1832, 1833 and 1834 (Hillman, p. 288) after which the ministers no longer appear in his book. “The History of Troy and Lansingburgh” by A. J. Weise (1886), as well as the website of the current A.M.E. Zion congregation, lists the first minister appointed by their conference to the Zion M.E. Church of Troy, in 1834, as being Rev. R. Noyes. The only other reference found for John Dungy was a listing in the Troy City Directories for 1830, where he is listed as living at 4 Franklin St, occupation: shoemaker, and then for the years, 1831,1832,1833 and 1834 as the Rev. John Dungy, Pastor of the African Church, still living at the same address. His name is italicized which indicates him being a free person of color. He appears neither in the first city directory of 1829, nor in the 1835 one.

Nothing is known of the relationship between the white and black congregations after Hillman wrote his book in 1888, but it was doubtless far from ideal. However, during the author’s time with Christ Church, there were three occasions where the AME Zion congregation hosted its multi-district annual conference at the State Street location, where they filled the sanctuary and balcony with energetic singing, enthusiastic preaching, loud hallelujahs. It was a sight to behold, and an experience we were glad to participate in – not to mention the great smells coming from the busy kitchen and Fellowship Hall! It seemed a fitting time to welcome them back on site – and of course, the usual, mostly white, Christ Church congregation rejoiced to have their turn at being seated in the balcony…

The source book for most of the quotations is Joseph Hillman’s 1888 book ‘Methodism in Troy” which can be read online free of charge at a number of websites, including the Library of Congress. It includes the photograph of the 1887-8 Trustees of American Zion Church, with their names. Original Troy City Directories can be viewed at the Troy Central Library, and in facsimile at the Hart-Cluett Museum. Photographs are by the author.

The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Troy, NY: Fifth Avenue/ North Second Street

Extended notes on the Methodist congregations associated with the State Street Methodist Episcopal Church (now Christ Church, United Methodist.)

“The expediency of taking advantage of the growth of the city northward of Grand Division Street, and of having a church in which the seats were free, caused the State Street society to give consideration to the project of providing a place of worship in the north part of Troy. On May 23, 1831, the Quarterly Conference appointed a committee ‘to provide a place for preaching somewhere in the bounds of the fourth ward.’ On August 8, that year, the committee reported ‘that the only place to be had ‘ was ‘the dwelling-house’ of Stephen Monroe. A committee of five persons was then appointed ‘to provide a place or places for meetings in the first and fourth wards of the city (…) Considering that the lot on the northeast corner of North Second and Jacob streets would be an eligible site for a church.” (Hillman, pp 87-8)

On the evening August 13, 1831, the trustees of the State Street society “resolved that a subscription should be circulated throughout the City of Troy and elsewhere for the purpose of building a Methodist Episcopal Church in the fourth ward of the city ‘with free seats.” showing that the idea of having paid seating in the “mother church” on State Street had become an issue for some of the congregation.

This building was a brick structure and included a basement. As soon as it was built the Sunday School which had been organized nearby, in the school-room of Miss Annie Manwarring, was moved there and prayer meetings began. “On Sunday afternoon, August 30, 1835, Bishop Elijah Hedding dedicated the church.“ (Hillman 87-88.) The congregation having grown in number, this church building was replaced with a grander structure, which was originally slightly less grand than the drawing found in Hillman’s book. The original aspect of the church can be seen in this 1869 map by William Barton which can be seen online at the New York Public Library website. The private house next door in that drawing, appears have become the parsonage.

The congregation chose to re-merge with the State Street congregation in the 1920’s, at the same time as the German Episcopal Methodist church. The merger of these three churches occurred in 1925, and is recalled by an unknown member of State Street Methodist Episcopal, upon the 125th anniversary of the church in 1939:“Time passed on with greater or less success to Methodism in Troy, until the year 1925 when the mother church grew lonesome for her children and it was decided to unite the congregations of State Street, Fifth Avenue and the German Church under one head whose name should be the Fifth Avenue-State Street Methodist Episcopal Church.”

(quoted by Rev. Dr. James Fenimore in his 1998 paper: “Christ Church, United Methodist – a Church on the Edge of an Apocalypse” from a letter to the church entitled “To the Pastor and People of State St. Methodist Episcopal Church.” This paper is available online.)

The building and its parsonage became the property of St. Peter’s Armenian Apostolic Church in 1927. That congregation left the building when they constructed their new church in Watervliet, in 1971. An African American congregation then worshiped in the church, until it became suddenly and dangerously unstable, and was razed by the City of Troy in the 1999. The parsonage was demolished a little later.

In 2024, the lot which was occupied by the church and parsonage, is used for parking. It is located between Federal and Jacob Streets on Fifth Avenue, in the area now known as Columbus Square.

Line drawings and quotations are from “The History of Methodism in Troy” by Joseph Hillman, 1888, available as a PDF, free of charge, at a number of online archives, including the Library of Congress. Photographs are the author’s.

The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Troy, NY: East Side Church/ Pawling Avenue.

Extended notes on the Methodist congregations associated with the State Street Methodist Episcopal Church (now Christ Church, United Methodist.)

Pawling Avenue/ East Side Methodist Episcopal Church

“The first Methodist meeting house at Albia, in the fifth ward of the city, was erected by the trustees of the State street society, for the purpose of providing its members with a convenient place for hearing preaching and for holding prayer -meetings, when they were precluded from attending religious services at the State Street Church.“ The trustees of State Street formed a committee to build a meeting house in Albia, on August 15, 1826. The first reported sermon was preached there in 1829 (Hillman. p 83.)

This Methodist “society” – congregation- was not only the the first satellite church of the State Street church, but of all of those churches, is the only one still in operation today, in a building within sight of the location of the original one. It was needed because the mill workers would have had a xxx mile work to downtown Troy, and then walking back up a steep valley side, not only taking a lot of time and effort, but on unpaved roadways and in all weather, it must have been a dangerous and difficult journey. It is remarkable that up to this point some actually had made it!

The original building was made of wood, and Hillman reported that the stone tablet above the door read that the church was erected in 1827, and rebuilt in 1858. Maps show it as being a little smaller than the still-standing original Presbyterian Church, now labeled as a Church of Christ, though not in use, just a hundred yards away at the junction of Pawling Avenue and Winter Street. The site of the East Side Methodist Church became home to the Oddfellows Society, and the structure still visible at the site does have the appearance of a chapel, but one made of brick, not wood. It now appears to be a home.

The site of the original East Side Methodist Episcopal Church on the east side of Pawling Avenue.

The view from the junction of Pauling Avenue and Winter Street, with the Wynantskill immediately behind the photographer. These banks were lined with mill buildings, and some remains are visible looking over the bridge as well as on adjacent properties.

The congregation adopted the official name of the “Pawling Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church” in 1868, and in 1888 Hillman reported a membership of 166 persons.

A few years after the publication of Hillman’s book, the current brick church, known locally as “The Welcome Church,” was constructed on the western side of the road, less than half a mile to the north. This congregation continues to welcome neighbors and friend to worship and community meals, and can be contacted on Facebook and the web. If your genealogical search leads you to this congregation, you should start by asking what records they have, as operational UMC churches usually hold their records.

Many of the imposing brick structures of the mills, including those first erected by Mahlon Taylor not long after his arrival in Troy in 1789, and their successors, were still standing beside the Wynantskill into the 21st Century.

Line drawings and quotations are from “The History of Methodism in Troy” by Joseph Hillman, 1888, available as a PDF, free of charge, at a number of online archives, including the Library of Congress. Photographs are the author’s.