Sharon Reformed Church Historical Notes

Kenneth L. Johnston 7/31/1960

            From time-to-time accounts, or evidence about historical beginnings of the “High German Reformed Church of The United Congregations of New Rhinebeck and Dorlach” have been brought forward to enlighten today’s stage of activities.

            On this occasion of the Homecoming and Fellowship of members and old friends of the Sharon Reformed Church, the lineal descendent of “New Rhinebeck and Dorlach” the Pastor and Consistory wanted to have prepared some facts of interest which you could take home.

            While the historian, William E Roscoe, in 1882, pointed out that this organization dates back to 1771, church material on hand at the moment shows a page of fine, brown ink, German script reading as follows: “In the year of our Lord and founded a high German Reformed Church, by the Rev. F.C.L. Droffell of Schoharie. The following officers were ordained: Peter Young, Phillip Karker, Abraham Marinus, Martinus Vroman (Elders); Conrad Ecker, Wilhelm Heintz, Johannes Engel, Henrich Adami (Deacons).”

            The first settled minister of this united congregation was the Reverend Christian Bork of the City of Berlin, Providence of Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia. He was ordained in the City of Albany, March 2, 1796, and installed at this church on August 14,1796 “at the house of Judge Beekman where the Reverend John Bassett, Minister of the gospel at Albany, managed the whole business and preached a suitable sermon.”

            A country church like this one has architectural beauty and dignity to the but, as Ruskin said, “Beauty is Truth” The truth of a temple like this, after that which is its cornerstone of religious faith, is the honesty of its frame and building. Here the beams and struts are oak; roof boards are twenty inches wide and sixteen feet long; ole lime plaster is mixed with wool instead of the hair of hogs or cows and the tall belfry is hand hewn maple from the nearby woods of early America.

            Speaking of the belfry, this occasion come near to being a hundredth anniversary date for the 858-pound bell which stands above us, for it was patented in 1858, installed here, according to Classis report of April 14, 1861, the first year of the Civil War. Considering that this date was at least 41 years after the 1798 building of the church, one wonders, one wonders about the story behind “a church without a bell,” was that the case.

            It seems that there was a bell which was never installed. On October 13,1790, William Johnson Spornheyer signed a deed of gift to Peter June (Young) and Phillip Koerger (Karker), Church Wardens and their successors, a certain bell to the value of L6, to and for the use of a High Dutch Church in Dorlach. Witnesses to this paper were Mattius June (Young) and John M. Brown. It was Mr. Brown who “presented the paper to the Consistory on December 7, 1810” twenty years later.

            Twenty years later, plus one, an entry in the records resolves unanimously that the bell formerly given to the congregation by William Spornheyer be and is hereby given to John Redington for and towards the purchase of a new bell for the church on the Patent (Lawyersville.)

            As no man liveth unto himself, it is gratifying to this generation to view the records of the hard work, the living and worshiping together, the multiplying members of people and their decisions to go out and found other churches; their giving of their substance so that these churches with their belfries and bells might rise upon the countryside. Surely, they are better than the original barns in which some congregations necessarily but devoutly gathered; then houses without enough space for the growing numbers.

            Beside the Sharon Church there was, formerly, a burying ground like that surrounding many a church like that where Gray wrote his “Elegy.” The record has faded out, which told of the latter dry decision to transfer those dead to other places of rest, but certainly as the church rosters had contained the names still plentiful in Schoharie County- Mereness, Schuyler, Vroman, Hiller, Empie, Ottman, and Young and scores of others – so must “God’s Acre” have held its regiment of the same.

            Original books of record of our Church bearing dates at least as early as 1793 are in the hands of the Pastor as Lawyersville. Those are a heritage of sentiment, genealogy and legal importance; they are irreplaceable and you will all be glad to know that there is hope, at present, of securing a fireproof, safe depository for them, close to home. Not all records are on paper, however. Investigations among members of the present Consistory have observed a record of those whom the bell tolled when sextons marked on the beams of the belfry entries such as “David Becker. June 7, 1871, 77 years; Mrs. Augustus Parsons, age 53 years; David Borst, June 6, 1876, 66 years etc.”

            A Vroman farm provided the land which the church is built; here was where Low Vroman lived throughout his life of 79 years from May 24,1813. Peter Hilton, who built what is now the Pindar Farmhouse at Beekman’s Corners served as a deacon for years and was Church Treasurer in 1810. Members of the early families of this community could confer a favor on posterity if they jot down memoranda and facts of interest and send them to the Clerk of the Church for recording.

            One memento of this church will have museum preservation as some years ago the New York State Historical Society and Farmers Museum at Cooperstown purchased the ancient shed beneath which the worshipers horses and carriages were sheltered more than a hundred years. One relic preserved by the church is the actual pew which William Beekman bequeathed to his slaves. It is marked with a reversed “S” to identify it for them. The Chalice and pitcher on the Communion Table date back almost one hundred years. When various re-decorating was done last year, they were restored to their place and put back into use.

Ministers who Served this Church:

Christian Bork                  1796-98                             Joseph H. Kershov (S.S.)             1877-1879

Isaac Labagh                     1801-11                             Andrew Parsons                            1881-85

Nicholas Jones                  1816-20                            Edward Miller                               1886-87

Henry A. Raymond           1829-32                            Philip T. Phelps                              1889-94

Benjamin Bassler              1833-37                            Issac Messler                                1897-1901

Thomas Frazer                  1838-40                            William A. Wurtz                           1902-07

Alanson B. Chittenden      1841-45                            Charles W. Smith                           1913-18

Manning Bogardus            1846-48                            Henry D. Frost                               1918-22

Henry Eckel                      1849-50                            Geroge B. Scholten                        1922-26

Robert D. Julien                1852-53                            Charles W. Smith                            1927-29

Nathan W. Jones (S.S)      1855-56                             Leonard Braam                       1929-44

Henry A. Raymond           1856-64                            Wilbur E. Ivins                       1945-49

Jacob H. Van Woert          1867-71                             Thomas M. Groome Jr.           1950-51

Thomas L. Shafer             1871-74                             John F. Pelon                          1953-54

William H. Carr                1875-77                             Donald J. Hull                        1954-