The Early History of the First Presbyterian Church

The First Church Between “Paris and the Pacific”

The new settlement of Cazenovia, NY, founded by Holland Land Company* agent John Lincklaen in 1793, began to see the need for a permanent source of religious practice in 1798. For several years the religious needs of the frontier community had been met sporadically by the occasional arrival of a traveling parson who would hold services for a time and then move on. Near the end of 1798, a small group of New England emigrants decided that there was adequate support for a permanent church in Cazenovia.

Following New York State Law, which required that a secular corporate entity be organized before a religious congregation could be instituted, The First Presbyterian Society of Cazenovia was founded in November of 1798. The following spring, the First Presbyterian Church of Cazenovia, with eight adherents signing the original covenant, was founded.

The Elders of the new church, Congregational in organization, meaning that it adhered to no higher authority, cast about for a divine to minister over the new flock. They invited a young pastor name Joshua Leonard, of Ellington, CT, to occupy the new pulpit. Leonard was known to members of the congregation as one of the traveling ministers who had previously passed through the community.

For several years the new church met at the village school house located at the corner of Sullivan Street and what would become Seminary Street, on the outskirts of the tiny village. As the congregation grew in numbers and in influence, it was decided that a proper meeting house was needed.

Col. John Lincklaen, Holland Land Company agent, commander of the local militia battalion and Clerk of the Session of the church lead the effort by donating a plot of land facing the militia parade some two blocks from the center of the village and its comforting taverns.

Col. Lincklaen paid Albany architect Philip Hooker $10 for architectural plans for the new meeting house. Construction was completed and the edifice dedicated on February 14, 1806. The cost of the meeting house, according to Samuel Forman, the clerk of the land office, was about $5300, or about $1.3 million 2000 dollars.

The unheated interior was similar to many New England style churches of the period. Four ranges of enclosed pews, on by the various members spread across the main floor. Henry Severance, who boyhood memories were written down in 1883 and published a century later, wrote that ”the pews were probably the pattern which the modern cattle pens are constructed at the stock yards, built high with a fastening at the door suggestive of feudal rights.”

A balcony was built along three sides of the interior. On the fourth side, a high pulpit stood with is sounding bell hanging above, rising some “eight to ten feet above the level of the pews, so that the hearer could only see the preached when he leaned forward to hurl his fiercest denunciation upon the congregation,” according to Henry Severance.

The Sunday service was divided into two parts, separated by a break for a mid-day meal. Henry Severance wrote that

the minister would announce his text, stating its general import, and dividing it into a number of prominent heads, which he would discuss in their proper order.

When he got to “lastly”, hope would begin to brighten with idea that the end was near. “Finally”’ would be considered, which with hop deferred, would be succeeded by “in conclusion;…”

At the conclusion of the benediction the pew doors would be half open ready for a start as soon as the last amen was said , and a general rush for the outside door of the church and the inside door of the tavern was made.

In 1807, as more congregation were founded in central New York, the Cazenovia church joined with others to form a presbytery. As is often the case, the change of government upset a few members who felt the change abrogated their covenant and therefore they were free to withdraw from the church.

In the early church, the breaking of the covenant was a serious offense and few contemplated it. Mary Daniels, one of the original covenant signers, remarried after the untimely death of her first husband. Her second husband was a member of the Baptist church in New Woodstock and according, she withdrew from the Presbyterian congregation. The Session took the breaking of the covenant seriously and the following entry in the Session minutes sums up their response:

Serious enquiry was made, as to the conduct we ought to hold towards our sister Mary Dunham, who has left our solemn Assembly and not withstanding the friendly labor which has been used to bring her back to Christ's fold and to her duty, refuses to walk with us and has adopted the system of the separate Baptist.

The church was of [the] opinion that if she shall join herself to a Baptist Church, it will be proper for us, and our duty as we have it from the word of God, to withdraw ourselves from here and withdraw from her our watch and fellowship & consider here as a lapsed sister whom we ought admonish as opportunities shall favor…," 8/23/1805.

Such a harsh response quickly softened as more denominations settled in Cazenovia and moving between congregations became commonplace.

Although the intent of the state law requiring a secular corporation to hold the property of the church was aimed at preventing the clergy from dominating the political life of a community, Reverend Leonard felt himself quite at home doing just that. From his position he held sway over northern part of the town while the Baptist church in New Woodstock controlled the views in the southern part of the town.

During the War of 1812, Leonard, a Federalist in politics objected strongly to the active military participation of the local militia along the Canadian frontier. In a affidavit sworn before William Whipple Justice of the Peace on April 26, 1813, a Cazenovia woman stated that Rev. Leonard stated that if the woman’s husband crossed into Canada, he hope he would pile his bones there, and every other man who raised an arm against Canada “for this was a war waged against the only religious nation on the globe…” and that “the said Joshua did manifest and wish that the British and their Indian allies might succeed in the present war.”

As word of this incident spread through the community, opinion weighted heavily against him. In the words of Stephen Dodge, whose bones Leonard had wished piled in Canada, “This may be the religion of J. Leonard, but it is not the religion of Jesus Christ.” On July 27, 1813, resigned his pastorate citing “His habitual weakness of lungs.” According to Henry Severance “it was known by all that the difficulty was wholly with his mouth.”

After leaving the pastorate, Leonard worked for a time as an assistant in John Lincklaen’s land office. Lincklaen shared much the same opinion as Leonard but knew enough not to voice them publicly. He later became a Unitarian minister in Auburn and authored several theological works. He died in Auburn on December 18, 1843. His obituary, published in the Madison County Eagle January 3, 1844, stated that

Mr. Leonard was the first pastor who settled west of what are Oneida and Oswego Counties. In a postscript to a theological work published by him a few years since, he says—“I was the first pastor who settled in this wide region of the country. My church was a single apostolical, congregational church. I was a single, independent, congregational minister.—From Cazenovia to the Pacific Ocean there was not one Congregational or Presbyterian pastor; nor not one to the east, nearer than Mr. Steele in Paris, Oneida County.”

Joshua Leonard served that First Presbyterian Church in Cazenovia for 14 years. He began with eight members and at his retirement left a flourishing church of 127 members. He was replaced on December 7, 1813, by the Rev. John Brown. Henry Severance summed up the pastorate of Rev. Brown in these words:

Mr. Brown was a different type of man from his predecessor. Calm, dignified, and somewhate formal, be refrained from meddling with matters outside the church; be pursued the even tenor of his way smoothly but forcefully. When he announced his intention to resign his pastorate [in 1829], his flock was struck with amazement. The church had settle down in an almost inert condition

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