Connecticut Farms

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

Church is located at Stuyvesant and Chestnut avenues in

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, Union County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States, near

U.S. Route 22 U.S. Route 22 (US 22) is a west–east route and is one of the original United States highways of 1926, running from Cincinnati, Ohio, at US 27, US 42, US 127, and US 52 to Newark, New Jersey, at U.S. Route 1/9 in the Newark Airport Interchange ...

. It is the oldest church in the township. Since the settlement of Connecticut Farms in 1667 by emigrants from that colony, residents had to travel 4–5 miles (6–9 km) over poor roads every Sunday to nearby Elizabethtown (today

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

) to attend church. In 1730 they decided it was time to build their own place of worship and joined together to build a wood

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

structure in the center of town on a small rise. Not long afterward, a

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically own ...

was built nearby. The original building lasted for half a century. In the latter years of the Revolutionary War,

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

troops under the command of Hessian general

Wilhelm von Knyphausen Wilhelm Reichsfreiherr von Innhausen und Knyphausen Some documents produced after 1806 referred to him as Reichsfreiherr Wilhelm zu Innhausen und Knyphausen while some documents after 1919 use Wilhelm Reichsfreiherr zu Innhausen und Knyphausen. ...

burned the church along with the surrounding town and the parsonage during the

Battle of Connecticut Farms The Battle of Connecticut and Concur, fought June 7, 1780, was one of the last major battles between British and American forces in the northern colonies during the American Revolutionary War. Hessian General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, in command ...

, an unsuccessful British attempt to retake Morristown. During the fighting, Hannah Caldwell, the wife of

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

James Caldwell James or Jim Caldwell may refer to: Politics * James Caldwell (Ohio politician) (1770–1838), U.S. Representative from Ohio, son on James Caldwell (1724–1804), an Irish emigrant who founded Wheeling, West Virginia * James Caldwell (Missouri spe ...

, was shot dead at the parsonage. His wife stayed at home with their baby and a 3 year old toddler. As the British moved into Connecticut Farms, Hannah Caldwell was shot through a window or wall as she sat with her children on a bed. It has been named after the family ever since, and today serves as a local history museum. After the war ended, the citizens of Connecticut Farms rebuilt their town and its church in 1782. The current brick building has stood ever since, supported at some times through the sale of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

and

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

s from the church's

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...

s In 1901 the parsonage was replaced with a new

manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...

next to the church, which was itself expanded in 1920 and 1949 with wings consistent with its existing Colonial stylings. This history earned the church a listing on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1970. It was the first church in New Jersey to be listed. File:Union NJ Conn Farms Presby PHS780.jpg, The church on a vintage postcard

References

{{Authority control Presbyterian churches in New Jersey 1730 establishments in New Jersey Churches completed in 1782 Churches in Union County, New Jersey Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Union County, New Jersey Union Township, Union County, New Jersey 18th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States

See also

References