Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A Memoir of the Late William Hodge, Sen. Bigelow Bros., Buffalo, N.Y. - 1885 (114-122) EARLY RELIGIOUS SERVICES AND SUNDAY SCHOOLS EARLY SUNDAY SCHOOLS -------- I became a scholar in the first Sunday-School which was established in the Town of Buffalo, very soon, as I am quite sure, after it was commenced; and this was at least as early as the spring of 1817. I do not find any records showing positively that this was the time at which the school was started; but it was that of the First Presby- terian Church, and the yearly anniversary meeting of that school is held in May. And, although Dr. WALTER CLARKE in his "Historical Dis- course" and ELDER FARNHAM in his paper on "The First Presbyterian Church," give the date of 1816 for the organization of this school, the published Manuals of the Church give 1817 as the date, which is doubtless the true one. This school at first contained not more than a dozen scholars, but the number soon increased. And it might appear that other schools were very soon established, for, on the sixth of August, 1817, the "Buffalo Sunday-school Society" was formed. I copy a notice of the meeting at which this Society was organized, from the Buffalo Gazette of August 12, 1817, as follows: "At a meeting of a number of the inhabitants of the village on Friday last, an Association was formed denominated 'The Buffalo Sunday-school Society,' and the following gentlemen (were) elected to manage the concern the ensuing year: Isaac Kibbe, . . . . . . . . President. Heman B. Potter, . . . . . . Vice President. Eleazer Aspinwall, . . . . . Treasurer. Jasper Corning,. . . . . . . Secretary. AMOS CALLENDER, JOSEPH STOCKING, SAMUEL BOSWORTH, NATHANIEL SILL, ELIJAH HOLT, ASA RICE, H. M. CAMPBELL,. . . . . . . . . . .Committee." Yet, it may have been that this Society was formed for the purpose of Sunday-school extension, when as yet only one school was in opera- tion, —especially as the officers appear to have been chiefly, if not wholly, members of the First Church congregation. This view is favored by the fact that the name appears to have been within four years changed to "The Buffalo Sabbath-school Union Society," which is indicated in the following notice cut from an old Buffalo paper, the date being August 7, 1821: "The fourth anniversary of the Buffalo Sabbath-school Union Society was held at the Court-house, yesterday. At 2 o'clock, P. M., scholars and teachers to the number of nearly two hundred assembled at the District School-house, and went in procession to the Court-house. The public exercises were opened with an appropriate hymn, and prayer by the Rev. M. P. SQUIER. The report of the Board of Managers for the last year was read. On motion of J. B. HYDE, accompanied with some suitable remarks, seconded by Rev. M. P. SQUIER: Resolved, that the report of -the Board of Managers be accepted. On motion of Mr. SQUIER, attended with an appropriate address, and seconded by Mr. JABEZ GOODELL: Resolved, that the thanks of this Society be tendered to the superintendent and teachers of the various schools for their persevering labors the past year. The public exercises were closed Avith a prayer by Mr. HYDE, after which the Society proceeded to the election of the following Board of Officers for the ensuing year: Joseph Stocking, . . . President. H. B. Potter,. . . . . Vice President. Abner Bryant,. . . . . Treasurer. Asa Rice,. . . . . . . Secretary. Rev. MILES P. SQUIER, JABEZ GOODELL, PETER WEST, ELIJAH D. EFNER, SAMUEL BOSWORTH, HIRAM PRATT, BENJAMIN HODGE, Jr., . . . . . . Managers." The "various schools" which are referred to in this report, might seem to have been different denominational schools; but the officers of the Union Society appear still to have been almost or quite all from the First Church. At any rate it is true that when Sunday-schools were first established in Buffalo, they were approved of by all Ortho- dox Christians, and nearly all who were not professors of religion. Some few parents there were, however, who did not approve of them, and therefore would not let their children attend. As I have said, I was a member of the First Church Sunday-school almost from its commencement. Its place of meeting was at first a one- and-a-half story wooden building near the center of the "Kremlin Block," Main street, between Eagle and Niagara. I think that a day- school was also kept in this building, probably the district school; and that the church services were at that time held there also. The Sunday-school was called by us boys " Mr. CORNING'S Sunday-school." This was for the reason that he, Mr. JASPER CORNING, was the Super- intendent; and it was especially appropriate, because he was in fact the former of it. Miss ABIGAIL KIBBE (whom Mr. CORNING subsequently married) and Miss MARY MARTIN, were teachers with him, from the commencement. Miss KIBBE and Mr. CORNING had joined the First Church, she by letter, he on profession of faith, the same day, —April 4, 1816. Miss MARTIN was a sister of a Mrs. LARNED whose name is erron- eously given in the Historical notices of the First Church published in its Manuals, as one of the organizers and first teachers of its Sunday-school. It is distinctly remembered by a lady now living, Miss MARY COTTON, that Miss MARTIN, and not Mrs. LARNED, was the teacher with Miss KIBBE; and that her sister, MARCIA A. COTTON, and SARAH REMINGTON, sister of Reverends DAVID and JAMES REMINGTON, were in Miss MARTIN'S class. Mr. CORNING was then a young man in business here as clerk, or as part owner, in (if I am not mistaken) Mr. CUNNINGHAM'S dry-goods store; a dry-goods store of those days, I may observe, however, which contained many other articles than dry-goods. When the Church meetings began to be held in the Courthouse, the Sunday-school also met there, between the morning and afternoon services. I do not remember, positively, that any scholars from our neigh- borhood went with me to that Sunday-school at the beginning; but I think that one or two other boys did do so: and I remember only CHARLES C. HADDOCK and MUNSON LANDON, who lived in the village, as attending at that time. From information, I can give only the names of MARCIA A. COTTON and SARAH REMINGTON, already mentioned. I know that ORSAMUS H. MARSHALL was in the school, but not till a few years after the commencement. I am not sure whether at this time the school was held before the morning service or immediately after it. But when the church services began to be attended at the Court-house, the school was also held there, and then met between the forenoon and afternoon services. The custom was for the school to be opened by the Superintendent with the reading of a portion of Scripture, and a prayer. I do not remember that there was any singing at first, though there may have been, and it is certain that there was singing after a while. Deacon ABNER BRYANT used to bring his children, as soon as they were old enough, to the Sunday-school. His sons, ISAAC, HENRY and ABNER, and his daughters, MARIA and LUCY, all became scholars, and afterwards teachers. And HENRY, when grown up, led the school in singing, for a time; —and so we used to have, if not the very best, some pretty loud singing. The older scholars were required to learn and recite about six verses from the New Testament. My first lesson was from the second chapter of Matthew, beginning with, "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem." The younger scholars were required to learn one verse, or more, if they could, from some little hymn, or one verse of Scripture. After the recitation the Superintendent explained the lesson, and talked to the scholars. There were no libraries of Sunday-school books, nor Sunday-school papers, for the children of those days to read; nor were there any such things here until many years after the school was organized. There were no Sunday-school picnics, either, to attract children to the school, or give them a pleasant variety now and then. There was in fact nothing provided to give to the scholars by way of inducements to be present, except now and then, though very seldom, a few tracts (at first, I am positive, —not even these), and occasionally, by way of reward, a Bible. These, like other books, were scarce and not easily procured. But, in 1816 The American Bible Society was formed, in the city of New York, and in September of that year The Buffalo Female Bible Society (Auxiliary) was established here. The main object of this was to furnish a complete copy of the Bible at a low, cash price, so that every family, even every indivi- dual, might possess one. By paying fifty cents into the Society's treasury, a person could become a member, and receive a Bible. I remember how an Englishman, JAMES BROMLEY, who was working for my father at this time, felt quite delighted to belong to a Bible Society, though he was not a religious man. So he paid his fifty cents, and received his new Bible. Being uneducated, however, he could hardly read a word. He had left England in the capacity of servant to an English officer, in the War of 1812, but had deserted and come across Niagara river to Buffalo. With this Bible he made considerable progress in learning to read. Now, as a reward for learning and reciting a certain number of Scripture verses a new Bible was sometimes promised and given. In that way I remember to have received one. This arrangement made it compara- tively easy to procure Bibles for presents, and carry out this plan for inducing the children to commit the Word of God to memory. An incident connected with this matter of learning and reciting verses, was given me by the late HENRY H. HAWKINS, Esq., of Silver Creek (son of WHIPPLE HAWKINS whom I have already had occasion to mention) who was a scholar in the First Church Sunday-school when it was meeting in the Court-house. Mr. HAWKINS remembered that the sessions were held in a room on the south side of the hall in the Old Court-house building; —he thought the Grand Jury room. He remembered, also. Rev. Mr. SQUIER, the minister, DEACON GOODELL, DEACON STOCKING and DEACON CALLENDER, as some of the teachers. And he remembered that on first entering the school a lesson was given him in the New Testament, to learn. But he did not understand that he was to learn only a small given number of verses, —so he learned and recited the whole chapter. After he had finished the recitation Mr. SQUIER patted him on the head, and said, "My little son, you have done nobly and well, in getting the whole chapter by heart, but you need not learn so much in future; you may learn six verses only." No doubt the Sunday-school Society, too, with its anniversary exercises and processions, had a good effect in making the idea of the Sunday-school a pleasant one, in a time when means of enjoyment of a public character were few. It is to be feared that the children of to- day do not appreciate their advantages and privileges as they would if, for even a very little while, they should be situated as the children were in the days of which I am writing. It is to be regretted that no records were kept in the early days of this school of any of its proceedings; and that so many of the facts concerning it can only be gathered up, in fragments, from the memory of the few who knew anything of those days gone by. A Sunday-school was commenced in our neighborhood (Cold Spring), after the organization of the Buffalo Sunday-school Society, though probably not till the spring or summer of 1818. This school was started in our little log schoolhouse, which I have already mentioned, and which stood on the grounds occupied by Police Station number six; or, to be more particular, on the west side of Main street, at the northeast corner of farm lot No. 58. The male teachers were DAVID REMINGTON and BENJAMIN HODGE, Jr.; and, some of the time, ADAMS HOLT, from "The Plains." The female teachers were Miss SARAH REMINGTON, Miss SARAH HODGE, Mrs. DANIEL LEWIS, and, I think, her daughter. Miss CALISTA LEWIS, and Miss MARY COTTON. Others become teachers from year to year, whose names I cannot at this late day bring to mind. I can state it as a fact that the ranks of the teachers were mainly filled by the scholars of the school as they grew up, and became able to assume the responsibility. From the beginning and till 1829, BENJAMIN HODGE, Jr., was the Superintendent, and of him it is only just to say here, that during the thirty-two years that this school existed, he was absent but a very few times, I believe never unless on account of sickness. There were even times when he was the only teacher present. In 1829, Deacon ABNER BRYANT, having moved from the village into our neighborhood, took charge of the school as Superintendent. The scho- lars whom I can mention as among the first in attendance at this school were WILLIAM A. REMINGTON, WILLIAM HODGE, Jr., SOPHIA HODGE, MARY A. B. HODGE, SAMUEL WARD COTTON, HENRY H. HAWKINS and his sister, JOHN MUNGER, MARIA GRANGER, BEULAH GRANGER, EDWARD GRANGER, CHARLES WILBER, LUCY WILBER and GEORGE WILBER. I presume that there were some from other families, such as JACOB MORRISON'S and StEPHEN FRANKLIN'S. After Mr. BRYANT became Superintendent, in 1829, BENJAMIN HODGE, Jr., continued as principal teacher. DAVID REMINGTON and ADAMS HOLT had removed from the place some years before. Of myself I can say that I was a constant attendant, from the beginning, first as a scholar, then as a teacher, until the school was united with that of the present Westminster Church, in 1850. And I think I have attended Sunday-school as scholar and teacher in Buffalo longer than any other person now living here. It is sixty-eight years since I entered the first one, and I have been in the Sunday-school most of the time since. The Cold Spring school was held immediately after we had returned home from the afternoon service in the village. It was kept up every year through the warm weather, in the schoolhouse, commencing in the spring, as early as we ceased to need fires; continuing until the weather became too cold in the fall; and even through a few of the winters it was also continued, BENJAMIN HODGE, Jr., having it meet in a room in his own house. But the attendance was small in the winter season, as the weather was too cold, and the walking was bad, there being no sidewalks. In 1850, this school, the second started in Western New York, was merged in the one which was the beginning of Westminster Presbyterian Church. The united schools met in the little brick Chapel which stood where the edifice of Westminster Church now stands. ===========================================================================