FPC History: Reverend Charles H Bruce (1912 - 1925)

Dr Charles H Bruce was called to FPC Matawan on 20 September 1912 to replace the Rev Edwin I Stearns, who had resigned that year to become superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of New Jersey in Newark. Dr Bruce was installed 1 November 1912 at age 49 and served until he retired at age 63 on 30 July 1925. He moved to Sharon, Pennsylvania, where he died at age 70 on 27 July 1933.

During Dr Bruce's tenure, the church received 189 new members and baptized 91, and the manse was "altered and redecorated," according to Presbyterians Pioneer at Matawan, p. 44. For some reason, his annual salary remained $1,500 throughout his years of service at FPC Matawan.

According to the 1850 Federal Census, Dr Bruce's father was a 45 year old farmer named Abraham Bruce living in Moon, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He had $3,500 worth of property. His wife was Christina (44) and their children were Emma (13), Hannah (11), Maria (9), William (6), George (4), and Abraham (2). 

According to the 1860 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 7 year old living on a farm in the village of New Sheffield in Moon, Beaver County, Pennsylvania in the household of the widowed 53 year old Christina Bruce. He was the youngest of six children, his elder siblings being Emma (23), Hannah (21), William (17), George (14), and Abram (11).

According to the 1870 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was an 18 year old living on a farm in Moon, Beaver County, Pennsylvania in the household of 64 year old Clara Bruce. His siblings in the household included Emma (33), William (25), George (23), and Amanda (10). The farm was worth $9,800 and their personal property $1,000.

According to the 1880 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 27 year old seminary student living in the Village of Sheffield in Hopewell, Beaver County, Pennsylvania with the 74 year old widow Christianna Bruce and a sibling Abraham, a 31 year old dentist.

Dr Bruce does not appear in what remains of the 1890 Federal Census, which was mostly destroyed by fire.

Presbyterian Issues: The General Assembly of 1892 shows that Dr Bruce served as a commissioner to that assembly, which was held in Portland, Oregon in May. He represented the Synod of Missouri from the Presbytery of Kansas City and reported an address of No 3, 208 East Twelfth Street in Kansas City. The case of Dr Briggs and Revisionism was a major issue at the time. Dr Bruce was on the Standing Committee for Publication and Sabbath School Work.

According to The Descendants of Francis Graves of Gloucester County and Essex County, Virginia, Dr Bruce married Elizabeth Smith Graves on 14 June 1893. She was born 7 July 1870 to David William Graves and his wife Julia Ann Crockett. Elizabeth's father, David Graves, was a Baptist minister, and her maternal grandfather was a Cumberland Presbyterian minister.

The Presbyterian Ministerial Directory, Vol I, 1898 ,  ed by Edgar Sutton Robinson, reports that Charles H Bruce was a minister of the Presbyterian Church USA (Northern). He was born in New Sheffield, Pennsylvania; earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1879 from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania; studied at Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pennsylvania from 1879 - 1881; was licensed by the Presbytery of Erie in 1880; was ordained by the Presbytery of Council Bluffs on 18 October 1882; served as pastor in home ministry at Menlo, Iowa from 1881 - 1885, then as pastor at Union City, Pennsylvania from 1885 - 1887, Fifth Church in Kansas City, Missouri from 1887 - 1897, and currently was pastor elect of the Presbyterian church in Muncy, Pennsylvania since 9 July 1897. He received his doctorate of divinity in 1895. [BRUCE, Charles H, Muncy, Pa - Born New Sheffield, Pa.; Ag. C., Pa, BA, 1879, DD, '95; Stud. Wn. T. S., Pa., '79-81; Lic. Apr 14, '80, Pby of Erie; Ord. Oct. 18, '82, Pby. of Council Bluffs; P. Menlo, Ia., HM, '81-85; P. Union City, Pa., '85-87; P. Fifth Ch., Kansas City, Mo., '87-97; PE, Muncy, Pa., July 9, '87 - . ]

According to the 1900 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 46 year old preacher living on Washington Street in Muncy, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. The census provides his birth as being in July 1853. His 29 year old wife Elizabeth was born in July 1870 in Missouri to a father from Virginia and a mother from Missouri. Dr Bruce and his wife had been married seven years. Three children were living in the household: Laura (May 1887), Mildred (Sep 1894), and Margaret (Aug 1896). The census suggests that Elizabeth had had three children and all were surviving, but the eldest child in the household was not hers. Laura's mother was born in Pennsylvania.

According to the 1910 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 57 year old  working for the Presbyterian church and living in Aberdeen, Brown County, South Dakota. He and his wife Elizabeth (39) had been married 17 years, this being his second marriage and her first. Elizabeth was born in Missouri to a father born in Virginia and a mother from Kentucky. Four children were living with Dr Bruce and his wife in 1910: Laura (22), Mildred (15), Margaret (13), and Charles Jr (9). Given her age, Laura was a product of Dr Bruce's first marriage. This census suggests Laura's mother was a Missouri native, while the previous census said her mother was born in Pennsylvania. The census says Elizabeth had had five children, but only four had survived. Theoretically, this could mean that Elizabeth lost two children, as one of the four remaining children was not her natural child.

Dr Bruce of Aberdeen, SD, visited the Chicago office of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in 1910 at Room 48, 328 Wabash Avenue, according to Woman's Work, Vol 25, p 238.

According to the 1920 Federal Census, Dr Bruce was a 62 year old Presbyterian clergyman living in Matawan, Monmouth County, New Jersey. He and his parents were all Pennsylvanians by birth. His wife was Elizabeth, age 49, born in Missouri to a father from Virginia and a mother from Missouri. The Bruces had three children living with them in 1920: Daughters Mildred, age 25, and Margaret, 23, were both born in Missouri and working as public school teachers.  Their son Charles H Bruce, Jr was age 19, born in Pennsylvania, and not employed. They resided at 230 Main Street in Matawan. Their neighbors at 234 Main Street were 55 year old Baptist clergyman William N Ludwig and his wife Sadie. The Ludwigs were both New York natives; his parents were both from Germany.

Dr Bruce represented the Presbytery of Monmouth to the 100th Annual Session of the Synod of New Jersey at the First Presbyterian Church of Atlantic City, New Jersey 16 - 18 October 1922, according to the minutes of that meeting.

According to the 1930 Federal Census for Pennsylvania, Dr Bruce was a 77 year old retiree living with his wife Elizabeth and son Charles Jr at 234 Daugherty Avenue in Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania. The son was a 28 year old dentist at the time. This census says that Dr Bruce was first married about 1883, while his marriage to Elizabeth occurred about 1894.

January/February 2010 Lantern

The January/February 2010 edition of The Lantern is now available. It contains a full calendar of events, a message from the pastor, plus a number of articles of interest. Below is a brief summary of what you'll find.

New Activities:

• Drama Choir seeking participants Grade 4 to adult for possible Lenten performances. Rehearsals to begin 2 February. RSVP by 21 January if interested.
• Valentines for Veterans will support the New Jersey Veterans Memorial Home at Menlo Park, one of three such facilities in the state. Reportedly the most modern, state-of-the-art nursing home in the US, this 332-bed establishment was rebuilt in 1999 on 108 acres adjacent to Roosevelt Hospital in nearby Middlesex County.
• Western Monmouth Habitat for Humanity is building a home on Broad Street in Matawan and is looking for volunteers to provide hot meals to professional volunteers doing work at the construction site in January.
• Adult Education begins a weekly video series on 3 January called The Prayers of Jesus.
  

Ongoing Activities:

• You can visit the chapel for meditation and prayers on Sunday mornings between Sunday School and Worship.
• Six and One Half Club Friendship Dinners continue on occasional Tuesday evenings.
• Wheelchairs, walkers, and commodes are requested for the infirm.
• Nonperishable foods and disposable diapers are sought for needy families.
  

Previous Events:

• Our congregation participated in a number of programs that directed Christmas gifts to the needy. Through the Christmas CONNECT program, sponsored by Long Branch-based Love INC, gifts were distributed to needy families in eastern Monmouth County. Our junior and senior high youths each donated a gift to a child they "adopted" from among a group selected by Red Bank Primary School counselors and social workers. And members contributed towards a gift for our refugee family.
  
• A portion of last fall's Pentecost Offering went to Manna House. Lunch Break and Mission Matawan were among the groups receiving budgeted local mission dollars this year.
  

Upcoming Events:

• 23 January: Soup and Hymn Sing
• 2 February: Presbyterian Nursery School Open House
• 27 March: Fish Fry
  

FPC History: Phillips Academy (1839 - 1842)

The second Mount Pleasant Church served our congregation from 1798 to late 1839 or early 1840. While technically a Matawan church, it was located outside of the city center on New Brunswick Avenue (Route 516) near its intersection with Main Street. Rumblings to erect a more centrally located edifice in downtown Matawan had by 1836 developed  into a petition for subscribers. But money was tight and the subscription plan went nowhere. A cash-strapped congregation couldn't even pay the salary of the Reverend Joseph L Shafer, who resigned in 1838 and sued for recompense.

Not long after the Reverend Charles Webster was installed on 6 November 1838, the church's chimney malfunctioned and the sanctuary filled with smoke one particular Sunday that winter. Tradition tells us that the situation was exacerbated by the green firewood that had been used to fuel the fire to heat the church for worship. Services were canceled that day.

By the next Sunday, worship had been relocated to the recently constructed Middletown Point Academy, operated by Philetus Phillips at the corner of Church and Jackson Streets. The congregation would meet at the "Phillips Academy's" more favorable location for nearly two more years. Soon a nationally-known private school, the Academy would have many names, including the Collegiate Institute of Middletown Point (1857), the Glenwood Institute (1874, pictured above), and the Matawan Military Academy (early 1900s). The growth of public schools forced the academy to close in 1915.

Webster's congregation continued to grow, exceeding the available space, so the Reverend encouraged a movement to build a new church along Main Street. A great effort would be required, so one Sunday his sermon topic was "For the people had a mind to work." This sparked the women to hold a fair and raise several hundred dollars. The men tried the then-current fad of sericulture, which involved growing mulberry trees and silkworms to produce silk, but the project failed. The rest of the necessary funds were raised the more traditional way through subscriptions and pledges.

The old church building was sold to meet part of the obligation to Rev. Shafer. Simon Arrowsmith bought the building at sheriff's sale and moved it to his farm, which was located where the Buttonwood Manor currently sits. It first served as a warehouse building associated with the farm's dock near the head of Matawan Creek. It later became a barn and was eventually razed. Robert Little paid the balance of the debt to Rev. Shafer -- $60.

In March 1841, a half-acre of property at 216 Main Street was acquired for the new church building from Elizabeth and Eleanor Covenhoven at a cost of $650. The deed (Monmouth Deeds, C-4, p. 86) described the property as having been designated Lot 14 on a map made by Leonard Walling. The cornerstone of the new church was laid on 17 July 1841, and the new building was dedicated on 6 January 1842. Rev. Webster would serve here for eleven years.

FPC History: Two Manses (1955-1959)

According to Presbyterians Pioneer at Matawan, the church's manse on Main Street gradually became the church's operational headquarters after the Christmas 1955 fire:

The guest room was stripped of its former fittings and set up as a temporary office. The pastor's secretary was established there amid piles of equipment. A telephone and buzzer system connected with the minister's first floor office and the kitchen of the Manse.


The dining room table was used by the financial secretary during the week and by the Church School officers on Sunday.


The flow of traffic through the Manse was so heavy that by common consent, the doorbell was never used. People simply came in and called out to announce their presence.


... On February 18th, 1959, the Rev Mr Galloway and his family moved into a new Manse, the beautiful Koopman homestead overlooking Lake Lefferts, the gift of two members of the church, Mrs Helen Terhune Schock and Miss J Mabel Brown. The house was built in 1950.

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FPC History: 1900 - 1903 Revisionism

At Perrineville on 25 September 1900, the Presbytery of Monmouth's Committee on Revision recommended in favor of revising the Westminster Catechism, according to The New York Times. But the membership voted down the motion, 16 to 38. Turning Points in American Presbyterian History says the General Assembly had received 34 overtures that summer from presbyteries seeking revision, so the GA had appointed a study group that included former US President Benjamin Harrison and sitting US Supreme Court Justice John Harlan to look into the matter. It would be three more years before this battle between Union and Princeton, launched in 1891 by Charles A Briggs (pictured left) of Union Theological Seminary, would result in a modification of Westminster that took the focus away from the tenet of predestination and added support for ecumenism. Presumably FPC Matawan and Monmouth Presbytery took these revisions in stride.

Mission-Mindedness Brings Old Congregation and Young Minister Together

Finding a fit: Older St. Joseph congregation welcomes young pastor
by Erin Wisdom
Saturday, December 12, 2009
St Joe News

The Rev. Heather Walchar didn’t grow up going to church all that regularly.

Born in Las Vegas, she didn’t grow up around here. And she certainly didn’t grow up picturing herself as a pastor in a relatively small Midwest city.

But she didn’t picture herself as an actuary or a math teacher, either — which ended up being a first step in this direction.

“I was a math major, but careers math majors end up in didn’t interest me,” says Rev. Walchar, who three months ago became the pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1108 S. 33rd St, St Joseph, Missouri.

A summer she happened to spend as a counselor at a church camp motivated her to change her major to religion, but even then, she wasn’t planning to become a pastor. And as surprised as she might have been then to know what she’s doing now, meeting a young woman serving as pastor of a largely older congregation is perhaps just as surprising to people.

“We have few female ministers in town and even less at her age, in the mid-20s,” says the Rev. Chase Peeples, pastor of First Christian Church in St. Joseph. “For that matter, nationally, ministers that come straight through college and into seminary are becoming more and more rare; most people entering the ministry today do so in middle-age or later, as a second or even third career.”

He adds that Rev. Walchar “is very sharp and could have chosen to go to many other places” — and until relatively recently, other places were the only ones on her radar.

After graduating with a degree in religion from a college in Chicago, Rev. Walchar went on to Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey with plans to someday be a youth minister. She eventually decided against this, however, and considered pursuing a Ph.D. in order to have a career in academics — but this began to change during a summer internship at a church in Texas.

“What I enjoyed most was visiting people, which really surprised me, because I’m an introvert,” she notes, adding that during an internship a few years later in Laurel, Md., she realized how much she liked the idea of combining this kind of pastoral work with preaching and teaching.

It was last January, while she was still at that internship, that Rev. Walchar had a phone interview with Trinity Presbyterian in St. Joseph that stuck with her, even as she interviewed with other churches. She says that she kept comparing those churches to what she’d learned about Trinity; especially, that although the congregation is older, it’s open to change and to the community.

The church — which formed in 2005 through the merging of Westminster Presbyterian and Second Presbyterian — has been very involved with The Haven and Judah House, she says, and has also expressed an interest in somehow reaching out to the Hispanic community.

“For me, the fact that they were even using this as an example of their interests showed me that they were not afraid of opening up the church to try programs that might be out of their comfort zone,” Rev. Walchar adds. “ ... A lot of churches can get a bunker mentality when the neighborhood around the church changes, but they’re open to anyone coming.”

Barb Ranner, chairperson of the committee that called Rev. Walchar, notes that being mission-minded is a quality that’s always been important to Trinity and that Rev. Walchar especially — out of more than 100 applicants — fits the church well in that it’s also important to her.

“We kept e-mailing her (during her internship and job search), saying, ‘Are you still available? We’re still interested,’” Ms. Ranner says, adding that when Rev. Walchar indicated she did want to move forward with the interview process, “the committee gave out a big war whoop.”

This likely doesn’t come as a surprise to Rev. Walchar, who notes that what her church lacks in size — with a membership of about 90 and a Sunday attendance usually between 35 and 55 — it makes up for in enthusiasm.

“I think they’re excited to have someone come in with new ideas,” she says, adding that while the tendency for some older congregations seems to be to snuff out ideas they feel have been tried and failed before, she doesn’t think her congregation will — even if one member did comment to her that she’s “all of 12 years old.”

“I’m new to this,” she notes, “so I haven’t tried anything before that hasn’t worked.”

11 Suburban Churches Step Up to Rescue Inner City Congregation

Suburban Presbyterian churches join effort to save Cleveland's North Presbyterian Church

By Michael O'Malley, The Plain Dealer
November 24, 2009, 2:36PM
Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Eleven suburban Presbyterian churches have come together to rescue a century-old inner-city church that was once a sanctuary for high society but now is too poor to keep its doors open.

North Presbyterian Church, a grimy, weather-beaten, brick-and-stone edifice built in 1887 at East 40th Street and Superior Avenue in Cleveland, has only about 65 congregants, nearly half of whom are homeless.

"Our folks are dirt poor," said the Rev. Charlie Hurst, the church's part-time pastor. "And we don't have an endowment, so there's no money here."

But closing North's doors on the few remaining souls is not an option for the Presbyterian community.

The suburban churches have taken over the cost, cooking and serving of North's free hot-meals program and have begun exploring ways to raise money to keep the congregation going.

"Partnering suburban churches with urban churches is an alternative to closing churches down," said the Rev. Louise Westfall, senior pastor of the 1,200-member Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights.

"There is only one church, and we're all in it together."

One plan is to mothball the old North building, which is too expensive to operate, and build a new church in the neighborhood.

Hurst said he paid $15,000 in heating bills last year, digging into the church's savings and relying on handouts from other churches.

"These old buildings no longer work," said Hurst, who recently had the main sanctuary walled off and its boiler shut down to cut costs. Services are now held in the basement.

"I have no idea what the building could be used for," said the Rev. Martha Shiverick of Fairmount Presbyterian. "But I don't want to kill a congregation and the congregation is determined to stay in the neighborhood. I think that's where Jesus wants the church to be."

The old building is a Cleveland historic landmark, so it can't be torn down without going through layers of red tape in City Hall. And selling such a castlelike behemoth -- appraised last year at $160,000 -- is a difficult task.

Still, Shiverick has a vision of a new "green" energy-efficient building with easy access for the elderly and disabled. She already has architectural drawings and a proposed site nearby.

"The church has such a great ministry to underprivileged and homeless people that we want to keep it in the neighborhood," she said. "And we want it to grow."

North's roots go back to 1859 when the Old Stone Church on Public Square -- which has joined the suburban churches to rescue North -- established a Sunday school in the near East Side neighborhood.

From that school, the church was established in 1870, named after North Church in Boston, where militant colonists two centuries ago lighted signal lanterns in the bell tower on the night of Paul Revere's famous ride.

The church was first located on St. Clair Avenue, then on East 36th Street before the existing building -- which seats over 1,000 people -- was built.

Philanthropist Flora Stone Mather, wife of industrialist Samuel Mather and sister-in-law of statesman John Hay, was the largest contributor to the building fund.

The first service in the new building was held Oct. 23, 1887, with 800 people in attendance. A choir, accompanied by a cornet, two violins and an organ, sang "Christ is Our Corner Stone," according to a story in The Plain Dealer the next day.

The organ, donated by the Old Stone Church, is still there. So is the giant bell that still rings with the pulling of a rope in the bell tower. And despite what might happen to the old building, church leaders hope the old bell will be salvaged and continue to chime in the neighborhood for another 120 years.

"Urban churches have to be sustained," said Hurst. "And if suburban churches go into their cocoons, it's bad for both. If God is calling us to take care of each other, we need to know where each other is."

Church Sign Project Complete

Phase I of the church sign project is completed.

Without a lot of fanfare and minimal funding, the church has completed the replacement of the church "banner" portion of the signage by Highway 34.

Requested by the pastor over a year ago, funding was planned by Evangelism with the assistance of the Property Commission to replace the aging banner. The new banner base is coated or 'encapsulated' plywood, made to withstand the rigors of the weather better than regular painted wood.

The Property Commission installed letter tracks so that changeable messages can be placed on the sign as often as needed to advertise church events or sermon titles.

Why "Phase I"? With minimal funding, providing the changeable letters was an inexpensive way to replace hand-made or costly laser printed banners that had to be laminated, and took hours to plan, create, and install. The current solution is more of a proof of concept. Changing the letters still requires some manual work. If it (the idea) takes off, down the road the idea is to consider technical upgrades, such as signs that can be changed by computer.

So what do you think? Great teamwork everyone!