methodist – janetintroy

The 19th Century Struggle for Musical Instruments in Worship

“The use of musical instruments in the church, it should be known, was not approved by its early members and no little opposition was shown to the gradual innovations that were made to support the congregational and choir singing with such instruments as the bass viol and organ. At one time, the singers in the church attempted to introduce the use of a bass viol and obtained a player to bring one to the church for a rehearsal. Seeing the objectionable instrument in the gallery, while on his way to class-meeting, Isaac Hillman took his pocket-knife and cut the strings of the viol, thereby defeating, the purpose of the ambitious choristers. Although he had used so summary a method to sustain the authority of the society, he nevertheless indemnified the viol-player for the loss of the strings of his instrument.” (Methodism in Troy by Joseph Hillman, son of Isaac, p. 60)

Accompanied music in churches today seems so very ordinary, it is hard to consider what outrage the introduction of musical instruments into worship could possibly have caused, though there are Christians denominations to this day which forbid their use. In fact, many of us are very familiar with the very opposite of that: friends and family members for whom the absence of a fabulous organist, extensive voice or hand bell choir, or a great band, is reason to avoid a church altogether.

Our early records reflect the progression happening in many Protestant churches of the day: from unaccompanied congregational singing and chanting – solos were also impermissible – to the arrival of an organ. Indeed, we even have the wording of the original letter detailing why a group of leaders tried to prevent it.

So what was the problem? After all, the Psalms, in the Christian Old Testament, mention singing and dancing accompanied by musical instruments. The issue centers on the fact that in the brief comments in the Book of Acts, and in the Letters, about the early gatherings of those who followed “the Way” of Jesus, mention no instruments by name. When the people driving the Protestant Reformation started to look closely at the Biblical texts, intending to return worship to what they felt had been its original form, they found no instruments mentioned and began to call accompanied singing a “heresy” and so they outlawed it.

The records of the State Street Methodist Church reveal the hesitancy of moving away from this received Protestant wisdom. The congregation had been hiring a succession of men to teach multi part singing in the “classes” as well as to general congregation, from at least the late 1820s. In the early 1830s, the choir requested they be allowed to rehearse, at least occasionally, and for a one month trial period, with a bass viol: a very tentative step, indeed. They understood there would be objections, as detailed above. Nonetheless, the choir prevailed, and the bass viol appears to have become somewhat acceptable in Sunday services within a decade. The idea of installing an organ, however, would be a far larger step, partly it seems, because siting an organ seemed such an irrevocable step, and maybe even an offensive one to the very structure of God’s house.*

Christian Heritage Edinburgh has this brief history of the organ in worship:

“In AD 670 Pope Vitalian introduced the first organ in church history at the cathedral in Rome, but organs were not widely played in churches until the eighteenth century. In fact often they were met with great suspicion and even anger. The organ gradually made its way into general usage in the Catholic Church by the thirteenth century but some of the Reformers, particularly John Calvin (1509-1564), considered it an instrument of the world and the devil.”

Even so, by the mid 1700’s organs were being installed in congregations in New England, especially in Episcopal and Congregational churches, and pressure gradually mounted in all denominations to include musical instruments, with a large and complicated organ as a prized status symbol.

In the State Street Methodist society, those who fought hardest to prevent the acquisition of an organ called themselves the Memorialists. They were led by Dr. Avery J. Skilton, and when their cause appeared unsuccessful, they requested that the Leaders print their letter of objections, in full, in the minutes of their meeting held on August 22nd,1852. It begins:

” To the Leaders and Stewards Meeting regularly assembled Brethren.

A Church is an assemblage of pious persons associated together for the purpose of worshiping God, and of mutually aiding each other by advice, encouragement and exhortation to a Godly life and conversation, and to the exercise of holy disposition,” After several hundred words it concludes with a summary of the complaints of the Memorialists, who believed the leaders had made an “absurd” choice because firstly, the use of musical instruments is “unsanctioned by the Gospel”; an “imposition on their feelings” of people who joined the Church before this addition; an “injustice in a trespass upon the rights of property” of the members have paid their annual pew rental (threatening legal actions of trespass no less!); “an attempt to force the Church of God into accordance with man’s political preferences” (a comment on a presumed perceived imbalance between the objectors and those saying nothing, versus the leadership); “A withholding of the right of private judgment and conscience” – because there had not been a general ballot; and finally, they declared that the Leaders’ Meeting had “transcended its powers” and“violated the rights of members without the shadow of delegated authority” – a complaint that there had not been a vote for everyone, but neither were the leaders elected by the congregation as their representatives. The letter was signed by Dr Avery J. Skilton, Peter Bontecou, James Carnell, E. A. Burrows, William Ritter, Chester Brockway, Cynthia Brockway and S(Samuel? Sarah? Saul?) J. Peabody.

By early 1853, the organ was installed and the topic only reappeared in the minutes when requests were made in following months to first “dispense with the organ voluntarys”(sic) and later, the organ interludes, showing that while the organ was deemed helpful in hymn singing, not everyone was comfortable with it being used in a performative way – or maybe this was a nod to those who had objected all along. The disagreement had been intense and passionate, yet those who protested the installation of the first organ did not leave the congregation when they failed. If limiting the use of the organ for a while was a small accommodation to its detractors, who had not simply moved on when they lost the discussion, this author can find it nothing other than heartening.

Janet Douglass, Troy, NY. February 2026.

*The organ discussion takes place in the Leaders’ Minute Book which records meetings from1849. It begins with the February 1852 meeting: “On motion of Bro. Matthews, it was resolved that the chorister be permitted to introduce an instrument called the melodion into the choir of the church on trial for one month.” Permission was continued for another month in March, but there was a motion “to rescind use” in April, but the decision was delayed after much discussion. A second April meeting and another long discussion ended with the resolution “in view of the feeling of the church on the subject of instrumental music in divine worship the purchase of an organ for the above purpose is inadvisible.” At the meeting on July 2, 1852, “Dr. Skilton presented a paper…purporting to be a protest against the erection of an organ in this church, which he desired to read.” on the subject, and the following month his paper was recorded in the official minutes, as above.

The first organist of the church was Mr. Conant who had first been hired as the Singing Master or Chorister, both terms are used, in November 1849. He was discontinued some months later, rehired in December 1850 and in February of 1852 he made the request to introduce a melodion. After Mr Conant left his position, the society tried to hire a Mr. Clucas but this led to strife with the leadership of St Paul’s who also believed they had hired him. There is no evidence he ever took the position with the Methodists, but Mr William Cluett did, and the long and generous history of the Cluett family and this group of Methodists, began.

Quotation on the history of the organ is from www.christianheritageedinburgh.org.uk

For a contemporary take on the” heresy” of musical instruments in worship, read https://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualnls/InstrHer.htm

Reed Brockway Bontecou (1824 – 1907)

Stories from the lives of members of the State Street Methodist Episcopal Church

The gravestone of Reed Brockway Bontecou M.D. in Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, NY.

While the Cluett family, which played such an important part in the history of Christ Church, is now probably the best remembered name locally, on a national scale the most renowned person, by far, would be Dr. Reed Brockway Bontecou.

Dr. Bontecou’s name appears in medical journals dealing with surgery techniques and the beginnings of plastic surgery, in photographic journals detailing his photographs from the Civil War, and on Civil War and veteran sites, because of the pioneering nature of his surgical methods and how he recorded them in photos at such an early date of the craft. A few years ago, the Hart-Cluett Museum in Troy had a whole exhibit dedicated to Dr. Bontecou and displayed his medical bag.

In terms of the history of Christ Church, United Methodist in Troy, his lifetime spans all three of the buildings that have stood on State Street between the Williams Street alley and 5th Avenue, growing up in a devoted Methodist family.

He was descended from Pierre Bontecou, a French Huguenot, who was linked to Dutch Protestants before him. Pierre arrived in New York City as a refugee from the regime of King Louis XIV in the late 1600’s, and the family originally worshipped in a French speaking Huguenot (protestant) church. One branch of the family ended up in New Haven, CT. They were industrious and successful, but like many in the area suffered financially and physically at the hands of the British during the struggle for independence. This brought one branch of the Bontecous to the “village of Lansingburgh” in the late 1780s. Subsequently, Peter Bontecou, father of Dr. Reed Brockway Bontecou, was brought to Coeymans by his parents. But when still “a young lad” he removed to Troy to work as a clerk in a shoe store. He later became the proprietor.

Peter was a lifelong and ardent Methodist. Whether he heard about Methodism when he arrived in Troy, or had already made contact with the dedicated group already established in Albany County, we do not know. However, our records show he was a leader of State Street Methodist from its earliest days until his death in 1868. The family genealogist describes him as “cold and austere in manner, and strictly honest in all his dealings; a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a great student of theological works.“

Reed was his first child. He had married Samantha Brockway in Troy in 1823. A year later he had a motherless infant son. Samantha’s death 2 weeks after giving birth was credited by some historians for Reed becoming a physician.

Even as a child, Reed was studious, with a naturally curious, scientific mind. When a boy, he started a collection of sea shells and he noted the similarities and differences as he catalogued them. According to the History of Rensselaer Co., New York by Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, published in 1880, he attended the “High School Academy” then Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and then graduated M. D. from the Castleton Medical College, VT. At the age of 22 years, between attending RPI and medical school, he went on a year-long voyage up the Amazon to study. He was married, on July 18, 1849, to Susan Northrup and they went on to have 5 children.

In 1857, at the Troy Hospital, Bontecou “ligated the right subclavian artery for diffuse traumatic aneurysm of the axillary artery, the first successful case in America and one of the first three on record” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Brockway_Bontecou

In 1861, he left his physician’s practice to become the medical officer of the Second Volunteer Infantry of New York. Within 3 months he was running the Fortress Monroe military hospital and then was asked to lead Harewood Hospital in DC, which he left at its closure in 1866. By that time he had been brevetted lieutenant-colonel and colonel of volunteers for his faithful and meritorious services during the war.

He returned to Troy and became the assistant surgeon at the Watervliet Arsenal, resident surgeon at Marshall’s Infirmary off Hill Street in South Troy, and had a private medical practice for four more decades. He is quoted in numerous coroner’s reports in Troy and area newspapers, was an official examiner for those seeking Civil War pensions, and held a number of prestigious positions in medical societies. He published reviews of his work and inventions, which included a special kit for soldiers to take with them into battles to self-treat a wound until help arrived, greatly increasing their chance of survival.

His name appears in the works of Arthur Weise who published several books on Troy in addition to Sylvester’s history of Rensselaer County. The Hart Cluett Museum had a display about his life and work, a few years ago, and displayed his medical bag.

According to the site dedicated to medical collections: “Bontecou’s peers respected ‘his unselfish character, his strict devotion to the truth, his extreme modesty and his unswerving fidelity to his students, colleagues and friends,’ noted one physician. Another doctor called him, ‘the Napoleon of Surgeons.’ “ That site hosts a long article, with illustrations, and catalogs his medical achievements. It is entitled: “Dr. Reed Bontecou’s Pocket Surgical Wallet, Bloodstained from the First Recorded Battlefield Amputation in the Civil War, on a Soldier of the 5th New York (Duryee Zouaves) And the Coins Driven into a Soldier’s Groin by a Bullet!”

Dr. Reed Bontecou’s Pocket Surgical Wallet, Bloodstained from the First Recorded Battlefield Amputation in the Civil War, on a Soldier of the 5th New York (Duryee Zouaves)

The “Faces of the Civil War” blog has an entry entitled “The Napoleon of Surgeons” about Bontecou. http://facesofthecivilwar.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-napoleon-of-surgeons.html

In addition to the medical sites, he is remembered on historical photography sites for his pioneering use of the art as a documentary tool during the Civil War. This site has the most extensive descriptions of those achievements:

https://historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium2/pm.cgi?action=app_display&app=datasheet&app_id=3276&

One of the largest online collections of his photographs can be found at:

https://www.robertandersongallery.com/gallery/reed-bontecou/

The site says: “Reed Bontecou was responsible for pioneering, and taking, the largest number of photographs of wounded soldiers during the Civil War and was the single largest contributor of photographs and specimens to the Army Medical Museum and medical publications of the time. His close up images of surgery, anesthesia, and patients posing with their pathological specimens were unique to his time.”

Just a few of the many sites which speak of Dr. Bontecou, for all his great qualities, do recount a lapse of judgment and somewhat of a fall from grace, in a situation that caused his wife Susan Northrup Bontecou to file for divorce. Details are few. One site (the Faces of the Civil War blog,) quotes a New York Times report that Susan’s accusation was “criminal intimacy”- the term used for an affair with a married person – and gives two names for the woman involved. All other references state simply that they divorced because of his affair with a young woman. For now we will leave it at this: in the strict society of his day, and doubtless among his colleagues and social group, this brief affair must have been quite a scandal, and stirred up much gossip once divorce proceedings began, but I have found few references to it.* What we do know is that, despite the embarrassment and notoriety, Dr. Bontecou did not leave the city in disgrace and his career does not seem to have been radically changed by the events. He continued to be a member – and head of – various esteemed organizations and to work with the military, at Marshall Infirmary and in private practice in Troy. The divorce was finalized in 1883. He never remarried.

Bontecou died in 1907. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Troy.

(The photograph was taken by the author on 4th July, 2025. The headstone is very unusual, and I have not seen another in the century which is uncarved rock.)

Other interesting articles:

https://spotsylvaniacw.blogspot.com/2013/07/podcast-battlefield-photography-of-dr.html

https://www.hartcluett.org/rensselaer-county-blog/dreadful-accident?rq=bontecou

https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G000711.pdf

Bontecou genealogy, which starts with the amazing maritime adventures of a famous Dutch family member.

The FindaGrave website includes additional details of his Civil War Service I have not seen elsewhere and photos of the doctor, in uniform and on horseback.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7050830/reed-brockway-bontecou

*Ron Coddington’s blog: Faces of the Civil War says: “Susan Northrup (1828-1911) and Bontecou married in 1849. She alleged criminal intimacy between her husband and Emma Josephine Murray, also known as Emma Brockway. According to the 1870 U.S. Census, she is the daughter of Reed Brockway. There may be a genealogical connection between this branch of the Brockway family and that of Bontecou’s mother, Samantha Brockway Bontecou (1803-1824). New York Times, November 28, 1883.” As I started to research the matter, errors in family trees made the strands of the tale hard to untangle for this essay: I may go back to researching who this Emma was, as the only Emma in the family was never known as “Emma Josephine Murray” – even a little research has thrown up other inconsistencies with even that brief account and no interest in the story in local newspapers so far – Janet

A Congregation where Innovation Runs Deep

In 1999, the pastoral team of Christ Church, United Methodist, Troy, NY, was led by the Rev. James Fenimore, whose first degree had been in Computer Science. Jim arrived at the church, not quite 30 years old, and aware of the possibilities of the new digital world for a downtown city congregation in a city with one of the leading technological institutes of higher education in the country.

Christ Church became the first local congregation with a church website; the first Troy congregation to record services to CD and copy them for home distribution, then the first to offer DVDs and more…but I am getting ahead of my story.

In 1999, the website was up and running, CDs were, indeed, being produced, but Jim had had an idea based on his reading and conversations with other pastors he met at Drew Theology School, his alma mater…maybe what the church, what the city needed, was a different kind of church event: an evening “service” that did not seem like a church service at all. This would be nothing like a regular service: a dimmed coffeehouse setting, with good coffee and tea & snacks, free of course, live local musicians who could stop by on their way to the local busy bar music scene – paid a decent fee – and a big screen so we could show videos. The local “conference” of Methodist churches had just made it possible to buy into a licensing scheme to screen clips of current movies. Jim set about explaining the idea and winning the budget approval for the expense, which we thought would be near-impossible, but was, in fact, quickly approved, faster than we had dared hope.

We began to plan – and I have to say, there was real excitement about the idea. The upstairs fellowship hall would get round cafe style tables and candles, and a large back-projection screen would be placed on the stage, the projector hanging behind it out of view. Microphones for the musicians would be placed on the main floor of the room at the front, along with a couple of stools for the pastors, and the event run via a computer and sound system at the back of the room. The round tables were placed between those two areas.

The “service” would have no hymns, no prayers, no spoken appeal for donations. It would begin with a brief introduction to a theme – a guiding metaphor – for the evening, followed by the musicians, at times a Christian rock band or singer, but mostly any local talent who wanted to perform, whether a college a capella group, a blues guitarist or band, a classical musician or even an opera singer. The music would last 20-25 minutes of a 40 – 45 minute gathering. “Soul Cafe” was meant to gather those for whom sitting face forward and being told what to say, sing, think and do, just did not work. The title came – with permission! – from one of Jim’s professors: Leonard Sweet had a magazine for preachers of that name, and it was so perfect for us, we asked to use it.

And the main event of Soul Cafe was always the movie clip.

We would find a film sequence, often from a movie that was recently released, often days before so people had not had time to see it; where a more usual service would take a Bible passage and relate it to the world, Soul Cafe clips were picked to ask a question of the church. They represented a comment from the society about the society. So what did that society, have to tell us? The reflections would be no more than 5-6 minutes as the “service” ended, and the gathered group were always left with a question posed by the movie.

Well, I think the congregation, not just the leadership, felt we were being pretty “out there” to do this…

As the planning for “Soul Cafe”began, the church was also starting to use Ebay as a way to sell donated items which had value, though not maybe to those visiting our fundraising events. The leadership team, also being interested in the history of the congregation, would also check Ebay in case State Street Methodist Episcopal items were for sale. Never the best at keeping records, we had found very few historical things in closets, though they included a blueprint from the early 1920’s lining a drawer. Interestingly, it showed that someone at that time was an innovative thinker: one of the plans even showed a ten pin bowling alley being constructed right under the aisles of the sanctuary!

It was a quick glance at Ebay while I was away in the UK that turned up some 80 year-old bulletins of the church. I emailed the Senior Pastor, he put in a bid, and by the time I returned to Troy, the bulletins were waiting for me.

Imagine our surprise – and delight – to see maybe we were not as innovative as we thought!

80 years before, in the days of silent movies, the Church had had movies at the evening service, an innovation of the Rev. Mark Kelley DD – probably the man who had the idea of the bowling alley under the church.

We have only a few bulletins from 1921 and 1922, and many movie titles suggest they came from a religious source: a movie meant to inform about missionary work, or a Sunday School illustration (weren’t they on top of the latest developments!), but some of them seemed to be more about places in the world. I have traced a couple to an archive of educational films: Sights of Suva, Fiji* shown on Feb 19 1922; and Apple Blossom Time in Normandy** shown on May 8 1921.

As yet, I have not found any viewable copies, but wouldn’t it be fun to reenact one of those evening services, complete with their silent movie reel?

In 2005, the very week that the then largest, 50 inch, LED monitors came to market, the church installed two at the front of the sanctuary, along with 2 smaller ones further back, remotely operated digital cameras, a first-rate computer control booth and the latest recording and sound equipment. And so it was that the ability to screen movie clips came to morning worship and Soul Cafe ceased. The expense was considerable, and would have been unimaginable without what had happened in Soul Cafe, but it represented an openness of the congregation to embrace the new. With the new equipment, the congregation could now record CDs of worship, or weddings, or concerts, showing different angles and views. The Senior Pastor, Jim, was working on his Ph.D. on the impact of the digital revolution on church services around the country; the congregation was involved in planning, participating and running our media-rich and metaphor-based worship services. Another new era had begun – but we now knew we were in a congregation which had valued the spirit of innovation and experimentation for a lot longer than we could have expected, when we started on our digital journey.

Janet Douglass, Troy, NY, March 2025.

Motion Pictures for Instruction 1926 by A.P.Hollis M.S. pub. The Century Co. New York 1926. Available as a Google book at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V3gCdNeICZOQdWuz5fckOWVWTcbxrEkaPDjaxNDqMLg/edit?tab=t.0

*reel 2 of 5 : Fiji Islands by Burton Holmes Lectures, Chicago; a rental film listed in Hollis p.348

** listed by Hollis, in the Blue-Ribbon List of Films for Cities p.213

The Rev. Dr. James Fenimore’s Ph.D. was awarded by RPI in Troy, and his dissertation “High-Tech worship: Media Technologies and Christian Liturgical Practice” is available on his website: www.JamesFenimore.com. His DMin. thesis: “How a Congregation’s Identity is Affected by the Introduction of Technology-Based Worship” is also available on his website. He has 2 other theses available: “A church on the Edge of an Apocalypse,” a take on the history of Christ Church, is available online at: https://christchurchtroy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/earlyhistory.pdf. Jim first featured the congregation – before he was appointed as the Pastor – in his thesis From meeting house to house of God : the Gothic revival in the American Methodist tradition of Troy Annual Conference (1870-1879), which is available from Drew University.

Jim’s academic work on digital worship included the benefits and pitfalls of using other people’s images as visual representations. The significance can be easily grasped if you have ever seen a so-called Bible-based commercial film, where white skinned, blonde-haired, blue-eyed males prevail scene after scene (except maybe for Judas Iscariot…did you notice that?!) Movies can be enormously helpful – but graphical imagery can subtly mislead – or open us to the moviemakers’ biases or poor scholarship! Finding clips we wanted to present was always no quick task but could lead to valuable conversations about whose ideas prevail in society, and how to be a critical viewer of the imagery around us.

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.)

The Methodist Episcopal Churches of Troy, NY: First German Methodist Episcopal Church & St Titus Methodist Mission

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

“Although Troy had from a very early date not a few German inhabitants, it was not until 1855 that an effort was made to form a religious society, composed exclusively of German people. At that time it was estimated that there were no less than 2500 Germans in the city. The first German minister, who undertook to form a German society of a religious denomination in Troy, was the Rev. Mr. Swartz, the pastor of the German Methodist Church in Albany, who in 1855 began to conduct religious services in a building on the northwest corner of First and Ferry streets. Some months later, the Rev. F. W. Dinger of the New York Conference continued these services in the True Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church, on the south side of Congress Street, at its intersection with Ferry Street. In that building, the First German Methodist Episcopal Church of Troy was organized, on July 25, 1857. The society was incorporated March 31, 1859 (…) Shortly afterward the society purchased two lots on the north-west corner of Union and State streets for $1,500. The buildings on the lots were destroyed in the great fire of May 10, 1862.” (The History of Methodism in Troy, Joseph Hillman, 1888. p. 114-6.)

Interestingly, maps show that was the very point where the fire stopped along State Street, was just half a block from the current Christ Church, making the German Church the last structure lost on that street. The society then rebuilt, on that same lot, creating the church as pictured above, with the front facing State Street. It was dedicated on March 25, 1863.

This congregation, along with the 5th Avenue/ North-Second Street congregation merged with State Street Methodist Episcopal, in 1925, the three merged societies taking the official title of Fifth Avenue-State Street Methodist Episcopal Church. Many of the leading families of this congregation became leaders in the merged congregation, and their descendants were members until the end of the 20th century.

The original meeting house now lies under the car park behind the Central Library. As for the building above, Union Street no longer exists either side of State Street. It was the name for an alley which ran between Fifth and Sixth Avenue (alleys in Troy are named as streets) and this lot is now under the Trustco bank parking lot beside the Court building and Police Station. Maps show the building as one lot wide , but going back the whole two lots, as in the description above.

The spire of Christ Church United Methodist is at the left, the area immediately behind the sign, at right, is where Union St (alley) was. The black-topped parking lot was the site of the church.

The buildings on the east side of Fifth Avenue were removed during the 1960’s as part of an urban renewal program. I suspect this, too, was a victim of urban renewal, as the September 1950 copy “The Spire: Newsletter of Fifth Ave-State St Methodist Church,” lodged at the Troy Central Library, states the Liberty Presbyterian Church was at that time the occupant of the building above. It may have become unstable or in a fire between those two dates – so while that is unclear at time of writing, before that happened it became home to the …

St. Titus Italian Methodist Mission

So little is known of this congregation, that it has not appeared in Christ Church histories until this point. According to the collection of historical materials of Troy Conference, by Samuel Gardiner Ayres, archived at the Hart-Cluett Museum in Troy, St. Titus began as a mission to Italian families in 1913. However, he also states it began at that time in the Third Methodist Episcopal Church, which had been sold 15 years before that to the Ukrainian Orthodox congregation. I suspect this was an error, and the real location is 43 State Street – the German M.E. Church, where they remained after the latter congregation moved out.

The Adirondack Record- ElizabethTown Post newspaper for April 7th, 1932, carries an announcement by the Ausable Forks Methodist Church that: “The Reverend Lucius Martucci of St. Titus Italian Methodist Church, Troy, N.Y.” would give a talk on “The Melting Pot in America” in which he would talk of the pioneering missionary work of his mission among “the Italians of Troy.” The newspaper has another article about how the same church donated money each year to the St. Titus mission, stating it was the “only Church in the Troy Conference area, in which services are conducted in the Italian Language.” it gives the address of the church as 43 State Street, the same address as the building vacated in 1925 by the German Episcopal Church (above.) Interestingly, the author remembers several people named Martucci in the congregation, as well as the Rossi family, whose name is on a brass offering plate in Christ Church, United Methodist, to this today. It may have come along with the families when the congregation merged into State Street, at an unknown date, whether at its demolition, having shared the building with the Liberty Street Presbyterian Church, or before that, leaving the building empty for its new owner. I suspect someone will know…and if so, I will gladly update this mini history.

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.

Maggie Van Cott (Margaret Newton Van Cott): early woman preacher & evangelist.

Maggie van Cott (1830-1914), seen here in a screen shot of her biography on Wikipedia.com, was the first woman in Troy Conference to be given a license to preach, and became famous throughout the North East as a leader of revivals, and even made tours out West. She received her license to preach in 1869, which was obviously controversial, and yet also very popular. In the book “The Harvest and the Reaper” written from her recollections, there are contemporary reviews of her preaching, and whilst some criticize her lack of training as an orator and theologian, (and talk about her “womanly logic” – meaning lack of it,) they all have to admit to her success at her goal of “bringing souls to Christ.”

In March and April,1876, Maggie van Cott visited the State Street, Troy, NY congregation, staying with the Hillman family. Both Maggie and the Troy Praying Band, under Hillman, had visited the Springfield, MA Methodists in the past to run revivals.

The Troy Daily Times reports the revival events, reporting that the church was full for some, and that the one – weekday – afternoon, when they reported a smaller crowd, it still numbered several hundred. The pastor’s wife, Mrs. Kimball, and Mrs Joseph Hillman held some women only events, in addition to those open to the general public.

Joseph Hillman records in his book, Methodism in Troy, both his home and that of the pastor, Rev. H.D.Kimball, were robbed during the revival at the church: “the writer took the most complacent view of the loss as was possible, and proposed that the hymn “Hallelujah, ‘tis done” should be sung.” (Hillman, p.73.) He then continues to speak of the revival being a “glorious success” and how it also gave the Presbyterian church some new members.* Several of the revivals, at State Street Methodist Episcopal do appear to have been led with some support from the local Baptists congregations.

Revivals were not always seen positively in the Presbyterian denomination, as can be read at the link below, so it is interesting that the friendly relationships between denominations, praised more than half a century earlier by Frederick Garresttson when visiting Troy, seems to have continued to some extent. The objections by the Presbyterian denomination included the inordinate “enthusiasm” which so often was a criticism of Methodist worship, but also the preaching. The nature of revival preaching made it less likely to be on the theology of Calvin. Revivalists were often Methodists, and their founder, John Wesley, had written many treatises in direct opposition to Calvinism, contrasting it with his own theology of the Four Alls, a traditional summary of Methodism teaching which underpins British Methodism to this day:

She was born in New York City, but it is widely reported that, on the death of her husband, moved to Greene County, which she deemed a better base for her revival work, and died at Catskill. A Maggie Van Cott does appear on the list of city residents in the 1830s, which hints that maybe she moved first to Troy and, as her travels and fame grew, moved to Greene County.

By her 50th birthday she had supposedly traveled 143,417 miles, held 9,933 revival meetings, and given 4,294 sermons, but the total was far greater as continued her work until her eighties.

The New York Annual Conference of the Methodist Church created a bulletin insert for Women’s History Month in 2016, and it can be accessed at their site.

Online copy of her book: The Harvest and the Reaper can be read online, free of charge, at Google.com/books

Online copy of The Life and Labors of Mrs. Maggie Van Cott by John Onesimus Foster can be read free of charge, online, at Google.com/books

For more information on the Four Alls, one resource is the “What is Distinctive about methodism” page of the British Methodist Church.please visit the Methodist Church site at methodist.org.uk

The image at the top of the page comes from Wikipedia.com and is the title of their boigraphical sketch of the Mrs. Van Cott. The image of the “Four Alls” was created by the author.