The Fourth Baptist Church

The Fourth Baptist Church Fifth and Buttonwood Streets, Philadelphia ALTHOUGH the corporate name of the Fourth Baptist Church was 1 not assumed until the middle of the nineteenth century, the church might perhaps be said to have grown out of a congregation in being as early as the last years of the eighteenth century. The existence of this earlier congregation is noted in the minutes of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia under date of 6 February 1796. At that time a letter had been submitted to the church's trustees "on behalf of people who styled themselves the Second Baptist Church in Church Alley," requesting use of the First Church's meeting house for evening preaching. Probably because this congregation was not a member of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, the request was not granted, and a second letter, dated 8 July of the same year, met with a similar response.' Then at the beginning of February 1803, the First Church was again petitioned. In a letter dated at the Northern Liberties, twenty persons, "Having been, by the interposition of a kind providence, permitted to assemble together in society for the worship of God, from time to time in the Northern Liberties, for these two years past, and some of us for six years upwards, our number being small when we first met," requested dismission from the First Church "in order to be constituted into a separate body," and to raise a house for worship in the Liberties. This petition was signed by Isaac Johnson, Margaret Beakes, Jacob Burkelow, Lydia West, Thomas Timmings, John Ellis, Kate Burkelow, William McGee, Cornelius Trimnel, Ann Hartley, Philip Halzell, Sarah Springer, Ann King, Hannah Thomas, Elizabeth Collard, Jacob Bayer, Mary Trimnel, James Wiley, Jr., and Isaac Carr.' le“er is quoted in David Spencer, The Early &Pasts of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1877), 151. The Baptist Ass«iation, established in Philadelphia in 1707, originally included the congregations at 'TennePek" (Lower Dublin); Middletown, Piscataway and Cohansey in New Jersey, and the Welsh Tract in the Lower Counties, now Delaware. By the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, member congregations had grown In 42, located between Stamford. Conn, sod Virginia. When the Association was chartered in 1797, local member congregations numbered nine. 2 7114 petitioning letter, dated 1 Feb. 1803, is quoted in Spencer, cited above, 1311 38 36 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine This group was duly dismissed by the Reverend Thomas Ustick, pastor of the First Church, and its trustees, Thomas Shields, George Ingels, Joseph Keen and John McLeod, and constituted the Second Baptist Church on 5 March 1803. Nine days later a group calling itself the Congregation of the Northern Liberties entered into articles of agreement with the Second Church to form a joint congregation. The articles setting down the rules under which the new church would operate were signed by Thomas Timmings, Isaac Johnson, John Collard and Cornelius Trimnel for the Second Church, and by Samuel Bowne, Isaac White and Jacob Keene of the Northern Liberties Congregation.' The following October the newly constituted Second Church was admitted into the Philadelphia Baptist Ass0ciation with thirty additional members, twenty-five of whom had been baptized since its constitution in the early spring. The group met for a time in a Masonic Lodge room in York Court while a "neat brick building, 66 by 47 feet on Budd (now New Market) Street above Poplar Lane," was being built. This edifice was dedicated 15 December 1803, although the congregation had no settled pastor as yet.' The Reverend William White was called the next year; under his care the membership steadily increased. By 1808 the members numbered 233, and John Hewson and Samuel B. Harris were licensed preachers. Others licensed during White's pastorate were Richard Proudfoot, James Clark, Isaiah Stratton, George Patterson and Samuel Huggins. As the congregation grew, the church sent an increasingly large number of messengers or delegates to the annual sessions of the Baptist Association. These included, in addition to many of the founding members who had signed the 1803 petition, Adam Corfield and Thomas Altimus in 1805, Thomas Gilbert in 1806, Christopher Jones in 1808, Thomas Goldsmith in 1809, Nicholas Le Huray ' in 1810, William Booth in 1811, George Swope in 1812, William Ashton, Joseph Thomas and Levi Gerrish in 1813, Franklin Lee, J. Taylor and John McMichael 8 Ph0adelphia Deed Book EP-22, Ca 14 March 1805, Articles of Agreement between the Second Baptist Church and the Congregation of the Northern Liberties. Included in the articles was the stipulation that four trustees were to be appointed by the Second Church, thrm by the Northern Liberties Congregation; the Second Church was to have sole right of government in all spiritual causes and as the nomination of ministers. There seems little doubt that the Northern Liberties Congregation included the remnants of an earlier church organised in 1769 in the Northern Liberties with 16 members. It had been recognized by the Association, but had been dropped after 1776, when Bs membership had diminished. See J. Thomas Scharf and Thompson Wetmore, History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 (Philadelphia, 1884), II, 1307, 1359. Spencer, cited above, 158, 173. The church was incorporated by Act of Legislature in 1809. John Ellis and Coastline Trinusel had been licensed to preach by the Association before a paw had been sdected; see Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, 96 300 Session (1803). 5 Pot. a bfief account of him, see Lewis D. Cook, "Nicholas Le Hum, Clock and Wamh Maker ...... The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, XXIV (1961), 113. In the Association Minutes for 1819, he was listed as a licentiate at the Second Baptist Church in New Market Street. The Fourth Baptist Church 37 in 1814, Peter Ebert, John Casner, and Israel Deacon in 1815, and William Gray, Isaac Church, John C. Ginnings, Henry Charles and William Hyneman in 1816, the last year the Reverend White was associated with the church.' In that year the membership had risen to 495, but after White's exclusion, the congregation had difficulty in agreeing on a successor, and finally concluded a new church should be formed. According to the Session's report for 1817, ninety-four members were dismissed from the Second Church, eighty-eight of whom organized a new congregation. It was formally constituted as the New Market Street Baptist Church in the Northern Liberties of Philadelphia on 10 September 1817, in the meeting house of the Second Church.' On 26 September following, William Martin and Robert Parham conveyed to Cornelius Trimnel, Adam Corfield, Nicholas Le Huray, George Hacker, Reuben Jarman, Abednego T. Whitton, Enoch Cummings, Peter Ebert, and William Dyer, in trust for the use of the new church, a lot on the east side of Delaware Second Street, 125 feet north from the north side of Noble, and extending 239 feet to the west side of New Market Street. On 11 October, the corfterstone for the new church was laid, and by 27 December, the building, 60 by 54 feet, was ready for worship. Dedication was held on 1 January 1818.' The Reverend Jacob Grigg, formerly of the Lower Dublin Church, was called as pastor, and though he stayed for only a year and a half, the membership rose to 158. His successor was the Reverend Thomas Griffin; in 1823, during his pastorate, the Baptist Association held its annual sessions at the church. Membership rose to 249, but had declined slightly when the Reverend Elisha Cushman was called to the church in 1826. From 1828 to 1830 the pulpit probably was vacant, since no reports were sent to the Association. Under John R. Dodge, a renewed vitality was exhibited by increased membership to 257 in 1831, and then under Joseph H. Kennard rose rapidly. 6 From the 1817 hfinutes, it appears Whim was excluded for contempt of the church and for refusing to meet certain charges brought against him: he was "continuing a career of unparalleled immorality . . travelling with a woman whom he calls his wife, while his wife and family am now ha Philadelphia" For the listing of eult year's delegates to the annoal senions, see the "Records of the Churches" in Minutes of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, published annually in pamphlet form. "i Spencer, 190, states that 76 members were eltsmissed to form the new church. Philadelphia Deed Book MR-15, 391: 17 Sept. 1817, William Martin root. to Cornelius Trinmel of al. The Lot was subject to m annual ground rem of ten pieces of eight, two rents each of eight pieces of eight, and one of $420, all payable semi-annually to Martin and Parham. According to Spencer, 191, the first choice for a location for the new church was at Fifth and Buttonwood Streets, but it was concluded the site was "too far mm." For the church's incorporation 20 March 1820, see Scharf and Wettcom. II, 1311, cited in Note 2 above. 38 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine By 1833, the New Market Street Church had outdistanced its parent congregation in membership; when the Association met again in the church in 1836, membership was at 561, and the following year at 598, as compared with the 420 of the Second Church. This size now appeared to generate interest in the formation of a new church, and during 1838, a sizable body of members decided to withdraw from New Market. On 1 January 1839, one hundred and sixty-one former members established the Tenth Baptist Church under the leadership of the Reverend Kennard. The Reverend William S. Shadrach, formerly of Alleghenytown, Pennsylvania, became the new pastor of the New Market Street Church, and under his inspiration some three thousand dollars were expended in improving the meeting house. In November of 1839, the improvements had been completed. Membership rose to 450 in 1840, but the next year Shadrach entered the mission field, and the next two pastors, J. B. Everts and G. B. Perry, did not remain with the congregation for any length of time. In 1845, William L. Dennis was called to the church and remained five years. Membership again rose to 476 in 1848, but dropped the following year as the result of the exclusion of forty-seven members, thirty of them "by erasure." The next year, seventy-six members were dismissed to form the Franklin Square Church, Dennis left, and J. B. Saxton assumed the pastorate briefly. He resigned in April 1851, whereupon the Reverend Benjamin B. Griffith was given a unanimous call. Membership was down to 292, fifty-six more members having been excluded who gave "clear indications of moral gangreen." The financial situation of the church had not improved and that year, in an effort to reduce the charges against the property, the portion of the lot fronting Second Street was sold to Joshua Francis Fisher for $3000. Rollin H. Morgan, president of the board of trustees, and John T. Brown, secretary, acted for the congregation." Then apparently some time during the next year the trustees were approached with an offer to purchase the church building and lot. But if the property were sold, a new location had to be found, and in view of a consequent removal, some reorganization should be undertaken. Precisely when the details of the final decision were reached remains undetermined, but Statistics and paston enumerated are from the "Records of Churches . and .Eatracts from Letters of the Church.. published in the various Minutes. 1, Philadelphia Deed Book GWC-118, 474: 28 Nov. 1851, Nnv Market Street Baptist Church to Joshua Francis Fisher. Morgan had been, delegate to the Association', annual sasions in 1848, Brown in 1349. 011 the same day as the mini, Fisher, an agreement was reached with the American Fire Insurance Company to reduce the ground rents, by then payable to the insurance company, for recital of which see Philadelphia Deed Book GWC-118, 469: 28 November 1851, American Fire Insurance Ca to New Market Street Baptist Church. The Fourth Baptist Church 39 early in March 1853, the entire property was sold to the "Congregation known as the Assembly of Israel" for $9000. William Hardin, now the president of the trustees, and Fred A. Wallace, secretary, acted for the New Market Street Church." Between that date and the following 26 May, the congregation had assumed the corporate name of the Fourth Baptist Church of Philadelphia; on the latter date, John Phillips, a merchant of the Northern Liberties, conveyed the lot at the northwest corner of Delaware Fifth and Buttonwood Streets to the newly constituted Fourth Church, represented by Joseph Walton, president, and Rollin Morgan, secretary." amstruction was begun on a church building the same year, with completion expected by I September 1854. The congregation had been strengthened by the addition in 1853, of ninety-three new members, dismissed apparently from the Franklin Square Church, which ceased then to exist under that name; in 1854, when the congregation was occupying the basement of their new church, membership had risen to 428. The Reverend Griffith, under whom these changes had occurred, remained with the congregation until 1857, when he resigned to become Secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society. To fill his place, the Reverend Reuben Jeffrey, late of Albany, was called. It is his register of marriages which follows below. The congregation today, one hundred and ten years later, is designated the Fourth Baptist Mission Foundation and is under the pastorship of the Reverend John Bystanko. The surviving records of the original Fourth Church are presently being microfilmed, processed and indexed for the Collections of the Genealogical Society. Unfortunately not all of the records have survived, and those which have been located are not complete. Membership roll books, minute books and baptismal records are not continuous. The marriages of the Reverend Jeffery which follow are the only marriage records which appear to have survived. Philadelphia Deed Book TH-72, 516: 22 March 1853, New Market Street Baptist Church to the Corporation known as the Assembly of Israel. This congregation, organized in March 1847, was the forerunner of the praeot Reform Congregation Kcneseth Israel. See Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel: Its Fnst 100 Years, 1847-1947 (Philadelphia, 1950). 22 Philadelphia Deed Book TN-SO, 496, 26 May 1851, Jobe Phillips to the Fourth Baptist Church. Phillips reserved a ground rent of $840 on the lot which was 102 feet along the north side of Buttonwood and 70 feet on Fifth Street. There is some evidence to indicate that at least as early as 1844 the congregation thought of itself as the Fourth Church, but it was not so designated the Sessions' "Records" until 1853, whereas the Third Church, constituted in 1809, and the Fifth in 1825, were consistently so listed an the Minutes. The trustees' president in 1853, Joseph Walton, had been a delegate from the Franklin Square Church to the Annual Session in 1850.