In A New and Free Land, Settlers Flexed Their Religious Freedom
Judy Baehr
Staff Writer for The Daily Journal
Congregations grew rapidly, spurred on by open-minded Quakers
Many of the first settlers in Cumberland County came to America for religious freedom, and once they arrived on these shores, it didn't take them long to establish congregations.
Members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) first came to the region in 1675. Firm believers in freedom of worship, they invited other religious denominations to live among them. They established the first house of worship in Greenwich some time after 1686.
An early deed book records that "Whereas Mark Reeve, of Caesarea River, yeoman, by a deed of Dec. 4, 1686, sold to said Joseph Browne 16 acres in Greenwich, now he sells to Charles Bagley a lot 50 feet on the street and 55 feet deep, for the only use, service & purpose of a Meeting-House & graveyard for those people in scorn called Quakers... ."
At that time, not everyone thought well of that religious denomination.
Members of Greenwich Meeting, with the assistance of the Salem Monthly Meeting, built a meeting house soon after. The original log church burned, and was replaced by the present brick church in 1771.
Around 1683, some Baptists from Tipperary, Ireland, settled in the neighborhood of Cohansey. About five years later, the Rev. Thomas Killington settled nearby, and in 1690, the small group formed a church with Killington as their pastor. During his pastorate, the group built and occupied a log meeting house in Back Neck, on the south side of the Cohansey River.
In 1687, another group of Baptists came from Swansea, Wales, to Swansea, Mass., and from there to the Cohansey neighborhood, where they settled around Bowentown. They soon built a church and elected the Rev. Timothy Brooks as pastor.
The two groups differed in doctrine and rubrics, however, and maintained separate churches for 23 years. They were finally brought together, with Brooks serving as pastor of the united church. In 1714, a new church was built at a site in Lower Hopewell, midway between the two congregations, which eventually became known as Baptist Landing.
In 1737, the Seventh-Day Baptist Church of Shiloh was organized, and its members included Deborah Swinney, the first white child born in Cohansey.
Other Baptist congregations included West Creek Baptist Church in Maurice River Township, established in 1792, and Dividing Creek Baptist Church, 1761.
The organization of the Fairfield Presbyterian (Old Stone) Church is believed to predate the formation of Fairfield Township in 1697. The original meeting house was built with the logs on the south bank of the Cohansey, where the ancient graveyard still remains. The first minister was the Rev. Thomas Bridge. All the records of this early church are lost.
In 1717, the log meeting house was replaced by a frame building with shingled sides. But by 1775, it had become so dilapidated that the benches were taken out and placed under an old oak tree, where the pastor preached in good weather.
Ground was purchased for a new church, and on May 1, 1780, the first stone of the Old Stone Church was set. The building was raised and the roof installed on June 14, but it wasn't until September that the first sermon was preached there.
Other early Presbyterian congregations included Greenwich Presbyterian, believed to date from around 1700; Deerfield Presbyterian, about 1737; First Presbyterian, Cedarville, 1818; and Millville Presbyterian, 1823.
The Port Elizabeth Methodist Episcopal Church dates from a congregation that was meeting in the area of Port Elizabeth around 1773. In 1785, Elizabeth Bodley, for whom Port Elizabeth is named, gave a parcel of land "for the purpose of building a preaching house and a burying-yard, and to build a schoolhouse for the use of the neighborhood after the said meeting-house is built."
Other Methodist Episcopal congregations were located in Heislerville, Leesburg, Dorchester, Ewing's Neck, Manumuskin Manor, and Millville.
The Methodists established a system of circuit riders who held classes in every neighborhood, and they were also firm believers in establishing neighborhood churches. By the 1850s, they outnumbered members of every other denomination. Their legacy is that the religious character of the county is still strongly Methodist.
The Mount Pisgah Union American Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1858 in a log cabin in the woods of East Vineland. Bethel AME Church in Millville was established about the same time, and it is difficult to determine which congregation is older.
There was also an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Springtown. Over the past five years, this church has experienced a resurgence, and its building is being restored.
St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran Church was established in Millville in 1859, and Christ Episcopal Church the following year.
A Catholic Church was established in Port Elizabeth between 1810 and 1845 in the old Port Elizabeth Academy. That church closed about 1860 and the congregation moved to Millville. The building was relocated to Goshen in 1879. It was transported down the Maurice River to the Delaware Bay and up the Dennis Creek. Then it was taken by horse-drawn wagon from South Dennis to Goshen, where it still serves a Catholic congregation.
The first Mass in Millville was celebrated in 1859 at the home of John Marshall on Main Street. The church of St. Mary Magdalene was built in 1861, to be replaced 10 years later by a new brick church.
A Catholic congregation met in Vineland homes in the 1860s. They then worshipped in the Union Hall and in 1874 moved to a stone church at Eighth and Almond streets -- now the Spanish Catholic Center. Sacred Heart Church was built in 1927.
The first Catholic Church in Bridgeton was named St. Mary's until 1914, when the name was changed to Immaculate Conception.
Carmel and Rosenhayn were both planned communities for Jewish immigrants in the late 19th century. Many worshipped at Temple Beth Hillel in Carmel.
The 20th century saw a profusion of religious groups establish houses of worship in Cumberland County. Pentecostal churches in particular proliferated.
Immigrants from Greece to Russia brought with them their Orthodox beliefs and built churches here. There is also a Buddhist Temple at Seabrook.
Taken from The Daily Journal;
Special Commemorative Section - 7/1/98