FPC History: Reverend J Henry Kaufman (1871 - 1873)

The Reverend J Henry Kaufman was installed at FPC Matawan on 23 October 1871 and died two years later, nearly to the day, while serving this church.


On 7 April 1853, J Henry Kaufman was certified by the Presbytery of Philadelphia to preach the gospel, according to The Home and Foreign Record of the Presbyterian Church.

According to marriage records, J H Kaufman married Maria Louisa Vandeventer on 23 May 1855. Maria was the daughter of Princeton, NJ druggist James Vandeventer and his wife Sarah, per the 1850 census. (Perhaps Henry and Maria met while he was in seminary?)

Resolution No 177, approved by the Mayor Samuel Hinks and the City Council of Baltimore on 25 September 1855, authorized J Henry Kaufman,  pastor of the Presbyterian church at the corner of Church and Light streets, to erect an iron rail in front of the church. (This could have been the South Presbyterian Church, which was founded in April of that year and was renamed the Light Street Presbyterian Church in 1871. If so, Rev. Kaufman appears to have been their founding pastor.)

I have been unable to locate the family in the 1860 census. (The family could have been traveling in the South at the time as a daughter was born about 1861 in Georgia.)

As of the 1870 Federal Census, J Henry Kauffman was a 44 year old native of Pennsylvania in Presbyterian ministry living in Baltimore County, Maryland, with his New Jersey-born wife Maria (40), sons William (14) and Henry (12), and daughters Kittie (9) and Maria (5).  All of the children were born in Maryland, except for Kittie, who was born in Georgia. The family was rather well off, according to the 1870 census, having $6,000 in property and two black servants.

Rev J Henry Kaufman of Matawan is mentioned in the 1870-1871 Memorial Offering. Valuations recorded include $1,300 for home objects and $200 for general objects. (Someone may wish to read the full report to sort out what this memorial fund is all about.)

According to Presbyterians Pioneer at Matawan (1959), pp 36, 38:

On Sunday morning, October 26, 1873, the Rev Mr Kaufman rose and repeated, somewhat feebly, the words of the hymn to be sung:


Soon the delightful day will come,
When my dear Lord will call me home,
And I shall see his face.


He sat down and the congregation sang the hymn. Then the Rev Mr Kaufman offered a prayer and fell against the pulpit. He had suffered a heart attack and the next day died at his home.

The Matawan Journal of 1 November 1873 confirms his death on 27 October without elaboration.

As of the 1880 census, the widow M L Kaufman was living in Plainfield, NJ with 3 of her children and a servant.

The widow Maria Louisa Kaufman died 17 November 1905. Her funeral service was held at FPC Matawan on 20 November, according to the NY Tribune of 20 Nov 1905.