In 1777, Tories in Monmouth County burned down the first Mount Pleasant Church, an early iteration of FPC Matawan. Reverend Charles McKnight, the pastor at the time, was gathering crowds on the church's green to speak to them in support of the ongoing Revolution against the Crown. Some months earlier, Rev McKnight had suffered a saber wound to the head at the Battle of Princeton.
The congregation struggled over twenty years without a regular pastor or building, during the entire war and beyond. In 1793, the State of New Jersey authorized a $1,500 lottery to be conducted to raise monies for a new edifice. The lottery was a success. Tickets were sold, funds raised, prizes won, and a building erected by 1798. But sermons continued to be delivered by a steady stream of supplies. Even with a church building, the congregation lacked a permanent pastor for an additional twenty-two years.
It wasn't until August 1820 that Rev Eli Cooley accepted the call to preach at the second Mount Pleasant Church. And that took three letters of petition, including a letter to Rev Cooley's father-in-law asking him to intercede with his son. The letter also offered an increased salary package as an incentive. [NOTE: This could be the Reverend Eli Field Cooley (1781 - 1860), who graduated Princeton in 1806, served as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Cherry Valley, New York from 1810 - 1820 (source) and the Presbyterian Church in Ewing, NJ circa 1838. (source)]
A Sunday School book found in the church archives that was published in 1818 indicates that Sabbath School began at 9:30 am and involved the reading of catechism and New Testament verses. Notations for teachers said: Each student present at the calling of names to receive one blue Ticket for punctual attendance & one blue Ticket to be given for every 3 ans. in the catechism & every 4 verses in N.T. repeated by memory. A blue ticket to be given or, equal in value to one read ticket -- 20 read tickets to procure a copy of the N. Testament.
Source: Presbyterians Pioneer at Matawan (1682-1959), pp. 19-20, 25-28.
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