Sunset memories

Front matter

Chap. _______ Copyright No.

ATESO^AM]

UNITED STAT]

PART I. Thl: Family

Chapter Page

III. Brothers and Sisters : John W., 34 ; Joel, 36 ; James, 38 ; Rebecca, 41; Samuel, 44; Nicholas, 50; Nathaniel D., 51 ; Mary A., 53 ; Isaac N.,53, 34-56

PART II. Personal Life and Ministry

I. A Notable Birthplace — Almost, . . . 59-61

II. Some Incidents of Boyhood : Protection and Escape, 62 ; A Solitary Combat, 65 ; Early School Days, 66 ; Sunday School Life, 63, . . 62-71

III. Conversion and What Followed, 72 ; Various Re-

sults, 74 ; Further Camp Meeting Experiences, 77, 72-82

IV. Semicentennial Address, .... §3-94

Part III

Chronological Glimpses of Pastoral Charges and Work : Medford, 97 ; Freehold, 99 ; Paterson, 105 ; Dover and Millbrook, 108; Madison, no; Bloomfield, 119; Woodrow, S. I., 121; Belleville, N. J., 125; New Brunswick, 129; Bridgeton, 137; Trinity, S. I., 144 ; Haverstraw, N. V., 14S ; Newark, N. J., Clinton Street, 151; Rahway, First Church, 156; Bethel, S. I., 157; Jersey City District, 160 ; Washington, N. J., 166 ; Newton District, 167 ; Newark, Trinity, 171 ; Elizabeth, Fulton Street, 173; Trinity, S. L, 176; New Providence, N. J., 179; Chatham, 186; Port Oram, 1S9; St. John's, S. I., 191, . . 97-194

10 Contents

Part IV

Memories of New Jersey and Newark Conferences : New Jersey Conference, 197; Newark Conference, 199; In Memoriam, 200; J. R. Adams, 237 ; B. Andrew, 230 ; S. Armstrong, 205 ; R. S Arndt, 245 ; J. Ayars^ 219 ; O. Badgeley, 207 ; G. Banghart, 210: D. W. Bartine, 222 ; C. H. Bassett, 250 ; A. H. Belles, 239 ; J D. Blain, 218; H. Boehm, 216; A. L. Brice, 245: A. H Brown, 246 ; J. K. Burr, 223 ; W. M. Burroughs, 205 ; W. Bur rows, 210; T. T. Campfield, 229; J. F. Canfield, 248; G. O Carmichael, 213; I. B. Carmichael, 201 ; C. Clark, Sr. , 235 ; J.S Coit, 208 ; I, W. Cole, 243 ; A. S. Compton, 241 ; A. Cookman, 213 ; J. N. Crane, 243 ; J. T. Crane, 219 ; I. Cross, 227 J. P. Dailey, 225 ; J. IT. Dandy, 224 ; R. L. Dashiell, 220 ; B Day, 240; E. A. Day, 227; P. D. Day, 236; W. Day, 249; S. W Decker, 226; W. H. Dickerson, 220; M. E. Ellison, 223; J Faull, 231; I. N. Felch, 217; M. Force, 204; J. P. Fort, 247 D. Graves, 229; E. M. Griffith, 226; L. G. Griffith, 254; J.Han Ion, 215; M. Heir, 249; S. W. Hilliard, 213; T. H. Jacobus, 248 B. Kelley, 214; J. N. Keys, 232; J. L. Lenhart, 205; C. A. Lip pincott, 2T2; W. M. Lippincott, 206; H. Littz, 253; F. Lummis, 222; N. A. Macnichol, 252; J. B. Mathis, 242; H. Mattison, 209; T. McCarroll, 203; J. McClintock, 211; C. Maybury, 241; S. Y. Monroe, 207; W. C. Nelson, 207; S. H. Opdyke, 221; T. W. Pearson, 203; J. S. Porter, 239; D. F. Reed, 204; W. Robertson, 206; J. O. Rogers, 231; J. H. Runyon, 234; S. K. Russell, 225; J. Scarlett, 236; J. K. Shaw, 202;

Introduction

I THINK this little volume unique and charming in its way, of singular and abiding interest, and beg to solicit for it a wide circle of readers. It is both biographical and historical, and a choice bit of both biography and history. It is a brief history of a New Jersey family of sterling life and character, that began life down in the Jersey " Pines " a century or so ago, and now consists of over two hundred descendants, not one of whom has become a pauper or a criminal, or a drunkard even, but all of whom have added to the honor, the prosperity, and the wealth of the State, and bid fair to do so yet for long years to come.

Of the seven sons, six became ministers of the Gospel — two in the Newark Conference, two in the New Jersey Conference, and two local preachers- — all of them men of integrity and honor. And it gives me rare pleasure to hold up the senior Nicholas Vansant and his Methodist family, of Lower Bank, Burlington County, N. J., as the natural fruit and logical result of the Church and the Sunday school, and as a model to America and to mankind. These are the stuff of which commonwealths are made and empires are butlded if they are to stand long; and would that our Republic had more of such sturdy and honest stock ! This little book reveals their home life — shows how they began

12 Introduction.

and grew, and how afterward they broadened out into eminent and successful ministers and distinguished and useful citizens, and gives glimpses of American life and character that cannot fail to be helpful and inspiring to every reader. I bid it hail and Godspeed ! And may its author survive long before he reaches his own " Sunset ! " James F. Rusling.

Trenton, N. J., April 24, 1896.

CHAPTER I Family Name*

CONCERNING the family name, Vansant, there has been no little perplexity. For many years the impression was that, at some time and lor some reason to us unknown, the old Holland name; Van zandt, had been changed by dropping out the d and substituting s for z; but a careful examination several years ago satisfied me that this theory was incorrect, and that our long-standing mode of spelling the name agrees more nearly than any other with the original form.

Making a search in the county clerk's office of Richmond County, N. Y., in 1879, I found a deed, dated May 2, 1706, the fifth year of the reign of Queen Anne, of England, conveying land to Aries Jansen by Stoffel and Rachel Vansant, the last name of each of the grantors being spelled as here written, without the z or the d. The search was made by request of George H. Vanzandt, of Philadelphia, counselor at law, who had been giving diligent attention to the subject of his own family pedigree, and incidentally of ours. From him I learned many interesting facts, some of which are given in the following extracts from his correspondence:

"I am engaged in looking up the genealogy of some members of the Vanzandt family — those descended from Stophel Vanzandt, formerly of Port Richmond, Staten

Island, who settled there about 1680, and afterward removed to Bucks County, Pa., where for some time he was a trustee of Bensalem Presbyterian Church. ... I suppose we have the same common ancestor. We have traced matters back to Staten Island. Rev. Dr. Brownlee, of the Reformed Dutch Church, of Port Richmond, writes that Stophel Vanzant had his son Stophel baptized October 22, 1701, and his daughter Sophia in 1706; so it appears on the records of the church."

Here we must pause to note this medley of names relating to the same persons — in my correspondent's letter Vanzandt, in the baptismal record Vanzant, but in the deed of conveyance Vansant'. Do these variations seem strange? Especially, do they invalidate the historical facts related? No one is stupid enough to hold this. These discrepancies in the orthography of proper names, as in hundreds of other things, are constantly occurring. Talk of various readings in the ancient manuscripts of the Bible! Other old writings of renown reveal even greater variations; but they are not rejected as spurious on this account, nor must the Bible be thrust aside because of its various readings or its apparent discrepancies. Was Stophel Vansant a myth because his name was spelled in several different ways? Not at all, but a veritable man, who lived and moved and had his being at the close of the seventeenth century and beginning of the eighteenth.

Now we turn again to the correspondence concerning him: K

" Note particularly from whence he came, which I suppose to be either Xanten, in Germany, where the family became Huguenots, or, previous to that, from Santona, on the Bay of Biscay, in the north of Spain, where I suppose they were good Catholics. . . . He imported from Holland the bricks of which his house was built.

. . . The Vanzandts in the old deeds of Bucks County spell their name as above written. The family were originally Spaniards and Catholics of Santona (Eugenie's watering place on the Bay of Biscay in the north of Spain), and I suppose spelled their name either Santon or Santona, that town having been either named after them or they having taken their name from the town. Near it is also the town of Santander, which is also the name of a province in Spain. In Holland, in Groningen, is a town called 't Zand; in Prussia (Westphalia),. just below Wesel, is the town of Xanten ; and in Drenthe, Holland, is the town of Zandberg. I may also say that in Texas is a county named Van Zandt, after a cousin of my father's, who negotiated or made the treaty for the admission of Texas into the Union."

He continues:

'The Vansants, Santons, or Santonas went up with Alva or Parma into the Netherlands to persecute the Dutch. They were people of some consequence, who gave name to one province and two towns in Spain, three towms in Holland, and one county in the United States. Settling in Holland, they married Dutch Huguenot wives, became Huguenots themselves, and as such settled on Staten Island. Those who prefer the Spanish form spell their name Sant, or Santen, or Santon ; those who prefer the Dutch or German, as I always have, take the Dutch form. Van or von is a title of distinction in Germany."

From these interesting statements, the fruit doubtless of much careful research, it seems plain enough that: tli is old family name, however spelled or whatever its Dutch modifications or accretions, had a genuine Spanish origin. Of this fact, indeed, no Protestant bearing the name can ever feel proud, especially when he recollects that only four centuries ago Spain was the chief center of that consummate iniquity of the Romish Church, the Inquisition.

But, amid all the dark chapters of Spanish history, there shines out that one luminous page, the brightness of which can never be dimmed — the page which bears the illustrious name of Christopher Columbus. Not being a native of Spain, but of Genoa, in Italy, it must all the more stand to the credit of Spain that Columbus, after having applied to various courts without avail during long years of disappointment and waiting, was enabled to prosecute his coveted work of discovery under the auspices of Ferdinand and Isabella, of Spain, " though the honor of having aided the great navigator belongs, not to Ferdinand, but to Isabella, a woman of remarkable energy and talent, and possessed of no inconsiderable beauty and much winning grace." The late and great Columbian Fair at Chicago has made our own country and, indeed, the civilized world familiar with Columbian and Spanish history as never before. Henceforward we can scarcely think of this vast American continent without also thinking of its renowned discoverer and his queenly patroness.

Doubtless our family name has come to stay; and so we will neither regretfully deplore it nor vainly boast of it, whatever maybe its true orthography or its real etymology. I must, however, express a cordial sympathy with my Philadelphia correspondent in his decided preference for the Dutch form of spelling, since our family preference is at least equally decided in favor of the Spanish form.

Incidentally, this has sometimes proved an agreeable service, as when, several years since, a son of the writer went to Baltimore, Md., an almost total stranger, to engage in mercantile business. One of the old and honored residents of that city was Joshua Vansant, who once or oftener had served as mayor, and who for many years had held the office of city comptroller, in which, by his proverbial economy, carefulness, and honesty, he had won the odd but honorable sobriquet, "watchdog of the city treasury." The young stranger, bearing his exact family name, though not at all related, soon found an answer to the question, " What's in a name? " for his own had become so well and favorably known in business circles through that long-trusted citizen as to become substantially helpful to him in winning an honest success.

CHAPTER II. Parents*

ft A Y father's Christian name was Nicholas. But * * * whether he was so called in honor of 'any one of the five Roman pontiffs bearing that name, or of the highly popular St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, who for more than fourteen centuries has been regarded in Catholic countries as the especial patron of the young and whose Christmas fame has become so world-wide, I have no certain means of determining; but we are quite content to believe that it had no popish origin.

When a very small boy I fancied that he might have taken his name from the august Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia. But as I became better acquainted with history I found this fancy quite exploded by the fact that the emperor was not born until some years after my father, to which w 7 as added, by way of " cumulative evidence," the further fact that Nicholas I did not succeed to the Russian throne until December, 1825, previous to which his name and his fame could have been but little known in American homes ; and at that date my father was approaching middle life!

One other conjecture remains. As he and my mother gave scripture names to all of their eleven children, so his parents, who were reverent believers in the Bible, may have adopted for him the name of one of the seven deacons at Jerusalem, the slight difference in the orthography — Nicolas and Nicholas — being due to the fact that the one, in derivation and form, is Latin, and the other Greek.. According to Webster, the two names are identical in their heroic signification — "victory of the people."

This name has been greatly aspersed by the allegation that the wise and good deacon of Acts vi, 5, fell from grace, and became founder of the corrupt sect of Nicolaitans so strongly condemned in Rev. ii, 6, 15. The decided weight of opinion, logic, and probability among the commentators seems to be against this damaging assumption.

There is another name in which I feel a deep and tender interest — that of our mother ; an unusual name, though not an unusual word. It occurs in the Bible two hundred and seventy-two times, and is a soft, gentle, tender word of two syllables — " Mercy."

Never did a woman's name give more fitting expression to character than did this name of our mother. A plain, practical woman, of large common sense, with a heart and life sanctified by grace, she was a mother to be respected, esteemed, and loved.

Both she and father had become Christians and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church before their marriage, which occurred December 23, 1808, a marriage followed by their happy, loving union as husband and wife for more than seventy years, each of them dying at last in the ninety-first year of life — the date of his birth being November 9, 1788, and that of his death March 6, 1879, her birth occurring March 13, 1789, and her death January 8, 1880. Thus beginning and closing life but a few months apart, the legacy they left behind them, though small in earthly treasure, was great in purity of character, in fervor of piety, in chasteness of conversation, in frugal industry of habits, in consistency of Christian deportment, and in a calm, unfaltering, holy trust in death.

ANCESTRY AND EARLY LIFE OF FATHER.

His forefathers came from Amsterdam, Holland, and settled on the Delaware River above Philadelphia, at a place called Shamony, which is described in the early editions of Lippincott's Gazetteers " a post office of Burlington County, N. J.," though the name was long since superseded, no doubt, by another for the same place. From there his grandfather removed to New England, where his father was born, and, on arriving at manhood, married. His father's earlier years were spent in following the sea, and often making long voyages to foreign ports; but at length he came to New Jersey and settled at ''The Forks " on Mullica River, Gloucester, now Atlantic, County, and engaged in vessel building. He also owned a place at New Columbia, a few miles above, where a part of the time he resided. It was here that his youngest child was born and took the name Nicholas. Father, in making this statement to me as he lay in bed, remarked, " This, I suppose, is the very bedstead upon which I was laid for the first time," showing with what care that article of furniture had been preserved as a family heirloom.

To the teachings of li is mother he chiefly owed his early religious impressions, though she at that time was not a professing Christian. She often told him of the preaching of David Brainerd, and taught him the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, which made a deep impression on his young mind. Nor was this labor lost, either as to him or herself, his early conversion being followed not long after by her own, which was brought about in no small degree through his instrumentality, as the following incident will show. Being greatly burdened for his mother he made her conversion a subject of special and earnest prayer. Religious service was then held in the neighborhood on a certain day of the week ; and while on his way to the meeting he turned aside in the woods, where he spent a considerable time in prayer for the object that lay nearest his heart. Before he arose lie felt an assurance that his prayer was heard and would speedily be answered. Shortly after the service began the words of the preacher found way to her heart, and she cried out for mercy under her keen convictions. Soon her mourning was turned to rejoicing, and, though she had always been very much opposed to shouting, as also to class meetings, she praised God aloud, and thenceforward became a regular, happy attendant upon the means of grace, which hitherto she had so much despised.

When he was about three years of age his parents had removed to Bass River, now New Gretna, Burlington County, which a few years later became his spiritual birthplace, and subsequently the scene of his mother's conversion as just narrated. Here as he grew up he devoted himself to farming, applying his wages to the support of his parents, the father having become too old and infirm to continue the business of his trade. Though the son was but little more than twelve at his conversion and gave promise of great stability and usefulness, taking delight in all the means of grace, and especially in reading and studying the hymn book of the Church, yet at length, strangely enough, his religious zeal declined and he lapsed into a cold, backslidden state, but without falling into gross outward sins. Happily at the age of eighteen he was renewed, from which time, forgetting the things that were behind and reaching forth to those which were before, he steadily pressed forward during all the years that followed toward the goal of eternal life.

In 1 814, at the age of twenty-six, he went out to serve in the war with Great Britain, and was stationed at Cape May awaiting orders ; but after remaining there a few months he was allowed to hire a substitute, with the understanding that his own name should be continued on the roll and his substitute answer to it. Not long after he began to devote himself to his father's business as a shipwright, in the active prosecution of which he continued well nigh half a century. When, several years' ago, Congress enacted a law providing for the payment of pensions to the few remaining soldiers of the war of 1812 father's name became entered upon the pension roll, and thenceforward to the close of his life he was a grateful recipient of the annual allowance thus provided for.

SUMMARY OF LATER LIFE AND CHARACTER.

The summary that follows was prepared by the writer soon after father's death, and is here given without essential change or alteration.

The Rev. Nicholas Vansant, Sr., was born at New Columbia, near Pleasant Mills, Atlantic, then Gloucester, County, N. J., November 9, 1788, and died at Lower Bank, Burlington County, N. J., March 6, 1879, having attained the venerable age of ninety years and four months, less three days. He was connected with a long-lived family, his father and mother, with several of his brothers and sisters, having died at a greatly advanced age. He united with the Methodist Episcopal Church when about eighteen, so that his entire membership in the Church covered a period of over seventy-two years. ,

The exact time when he was licensed as an exhorter is not known, nor is the precise date of his first local preacher's license at hand; but his ordination parchment shows that he was ordained a local deacon by Bishop Hedding April 17, 1831, which office he filled with great acceptability and usefulness for nearly fortyeight years. ' !

The number of marriages solemnized by him during this period was two hundred and twenty-seven, as appears from his carefully preserved records.

The last baptism administered by him took place at a camp meeting held near Green Bank in July, 1877, the subject being a grandchild of his greatly esteemed friend and fellow-laborer in the local ministry, the Hon. Joel Haywood. He w r as too nearly blind to perform the whole service; but, others having read the prescribed ritual, he applied the water in the name of the Holy Trinity, his hand being guided to the tender infant's head by the hand of one of his sons. It was a beautiful and touching scene.

He lived, not only to see all his children and many of his children's children converted and members of the same Church with himself, but was also blessed in having four of his sons enter the itinerant ministry, another son licensed as a local preacher, a sixth honored with a local preacher's ordination, and the seventh intrusted with various official positions in the Church.

The following may be mentioned as among the leading traits of his character :

1. He was a man of great energy and perseverance in his business relations. For many years he prosecuted the work of vessel building with great success, and not a few of those who came after him in the same business were largely indebted to his knowledge and skill for their later success.

2. He was an ardent lover and a devout student of the Bible. His habit was to read some portion of it every day; nor did he lose his interest in it after he had become too blind to read it with his own eyes. His beloved wife, whose sight yet remained good, continued his long established habit by reading a chapter or more every morning and evening in connection with their family worship. And so well stored had his mind become with its precious truths that he was often heard reciting large portions of it to himself, or for the convenience and help of some of the grandchildren living near, who not unfrequently applied to him for aid in the preparation of their Sunday school lessons.

3. He was eminently faithful in his attendance upon the public and social means of grace. The preaching of the word, the prayer service, and the class meeting were sure of his presence unless some providential hindrance prevented, /ind after his sight had become too dim for him to go alone, his form still remaining erect, he would cheerily say to his faithful wife, as with bent form she led him along, "You can be eyes to nie, and I will be a staff to you."

4. His strict attention to family worship, already hinted at, needs to be emphasized. Not only were his nine children as they grew up required to be present, but during the long years in which he carried on his business extensively, employing large numbers of workmen and apprentices, he made it a fixed rule that all who expected to eat at his table should attend the family devotions, which always preceded the morning meal.

5. He attached great importance to the duty of secret prayer. Besides maintaining a constant spirit of prayer, he had his stated seasons of private devotion, which he observed with great regularity day by day, not allowing business or visitors or aught else to rob him of this enjoyment. Among his special subjects of prayer were his own children, for each of whom he statedly prayed by name.

6. He was eminently loyal to the doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, The long line of pastors in the localities where he lived found in him a true friend and fellow-helper. Though most unobtrusive in spirit and manner, he was always ready to perform official duty whenever calkd upon by his pastors or brethren. He was quick to notice the least deviation from strict orthodoxy in the pulpit, and with great modesty and gentleness would seek to correct it.

7. He was remarkable for his progressiveness. Old age brought not with it to him a sour, complaining spirit, as is too often the case. On the contrary, he kept abreast of the times as they advanced, readily accepting all needful changes and improvements in the Church and the community, never saying in a spirit of discontent or fault-finding, fc ' The former days were better than these." His interest in new books from our great publishing house, and especially in 77ie CJuistian Advocate, which he took from its beginning, continued without abatement to the last. Well do his older children remember with what enthusiasm he became a subscriber for Clarke's Commentary, which was first issued in numbers, and afterward grew into six stout volumes, these becoming supplemented at length by Benson's Commentary. Words can scarcely express his exalted estimate of these great companion works. And even near the close of his extended life there was not a more enthusiastic admirer of Bishop Simpson's Yale Lectures than he, who was a hearer of them as they were read to him by others.

8. As a preacher he was not only concise and clear in his statements of scripture truth, but unusually apt in his illustrations, preaching at times with great power. Without the culture of the schools, he was pronounced by cultured hearers a natural orator. His unswerving fidelity in the pulpit, as elsewhere, was honored by the great Head of the Church with many seals to his ministry.

9. His record as an advocate of the temperance reform was one of rare labors and successes. When, in 1841, he settled at Lower Bank it cost not a little to stand up against the desolating march of intemperance; yet he did it most heroically amid sneers and scoffs and threatened violence, nor was it in vain. Then not less than six or seven licensed hotels were in full operation in the old township of Washington, whereas at the time of my latest information (1879) there was not to be found in the same territory more than one such place, and not even one in the new township of Randolph, within the bounds of which he lived and died. A similar record had been made by him in the neighborhood of Port Republic, Atlantic County, where he resided about eighteen years before removing to another county. He practiced and advocated the total abstinence principle there at a time when he was obliged to stand almost alone. But the seed then and afterward sown has yielded a rich harvest of blessed results. According to our best information not a licensed or unlicensed place exists in all that neighborhood where intoxicating drink is sold.

10. His final sickness, was of short duration, continuing but four or five days. He was thus mercifully preserved from a long season of suffering. To this, however, he had not been a stranger within the previous few years, having suffered at times from severe attacks of sickness, especially inflammatory rheumatism. In his last illness he was part of the time unconscious, and when not so was but little inclined to conversation except as he was roused by mention of the precious name of Jesus, which always brought forth a cheerful response as long as he was able to articulate. Said one of his sons to him, a day or two before his death, " Father, if you should die, do you think you would go to heaven ? " to which, with characteristic modesty, he answered, "I think so." The question followed, " Have you ever done anything to merit heaven? " u No," said he, "but it is written, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' " This may be taken as a true illustration of his peaceful, trustful frame of mind until the weary wheels of life stood still.

A formal review of the life and character of mother would here be appropriate did space permit ; yet in reality this is rendered needless by the summary already given of father's, which in its general spirit and tenor would equally apply to her. Their lives were full of coincidences, not only as to the times and places of their birth, but also as to their early conversion, their church relations and activities, their social tastes and habits, their general Christian character, with their special religious experiences, and the dates of their final departure.