We cannot be to-day what our ancestors were who came from Europe. They were unaware of a vast deal we know. Their knowledge of the world and its peoples was infinitely little, ours is infinitely large. They came and settled here amid dense forests and interpreted God's word by and through their limited experience, but God's word to them was a sealed book; they could not interpret it at all. They came from different countries of Western Europe, and brought with them their theories religious and secular. The Dutch came to the mouth of a great stream that ran north, and settled on an island, and called their settlement New Amsterdam. Some of them sailed up this great river, now known as the Hudson, and established homes in the neighborhood of the present city of Kingston, at the confluence of two streams, known to us as the Wallkill and Rondout. Their expression of the Christian religion exists in their descendants to-day as the Reformed, known to me in my boyhood as the Dutch Reformed. The churches of this denomination in Orange County owe their origin to the missionary zeal of Rev. Petrus Vas and the Rev. George W. Marcius, pastors of the church at Kingston. The Montgomery Reformed Church was first organized as the German Reformed Church of the Wallkill in 1782. The Warwick Church was organized October 24, 1694, at Orangetown. In 1764 its congregation united with the Presbyterians, and remained thus united until 1803, when the congregation determined that as the deed of the property was to the Presbyterians it should continue to be held by them as trustees, while the Reformed Dutch Consistory should control the spiritual interests. At the present time there are ten churches of this type in the county, as follows:
| Location. | Pastor. | Membership. |
|---|---|---|
| Newburgh | A. T. Brook | 308 |
| Walden | W. W. Schomp | 420 |
| Montgomery | Peter Crispell | 312 |
| Port Jervis, 1st | Willard Conger | 418 |
| Port Jervis, 2nd | J. B. Appel | 99 |
| Minisink | Vacant | 60 |
| Warwick | Faber Knox | 347 |
| Pine Bush | H. K. Post | 169 |
| Cuddebackville | W. W. Whitney | 70 |
| Unionville | Vacant | 20 |
| _____ | ||
| Total | 2,223 |
There are hundreds if not thousands of people living in this county to-day, who do not understand why there are so many Christian societies bearing different names and worshiping apart. There are almost as many, in all probability who are ignorant of the doctrines wherein they differ from other Christian bodies.
The last generation arriving at adult age has heard so infrequently doctrinal and controversial preaching as to know not why they are of one denomination rather than another. On this line the men who established Presbyterian bodies in this county, away back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were well informed.
The differences between the Presbyterians of the various schools are equally beyond the knowledge of the great majority. I am not going to attempt to enlighten myself or my readers by any research of old pamphlets, etc., of the Presbyterian denomination. Life is too short and the matter too immaterial to the issue in which we are interested.
In 1752, says Ruttenber, the Associate Presbytery of Scotland sent the Rev. John Culbertson to America, who organized in the Wallkill valley a praying society in 1753, which eventually became the Reformed Presbyterian Church at Coldenham.
In 1816 or 1817 a praying society established in Newburgh became the first Presbyterian Church there.
In 1765 the Associated Reformed Church of Little Britain and Neelytown began their corporate existence.
In 1831 the Graham Church of Crawford, organized in 1800, united with the church at Hamptonburgh.
The first Associate Reformed Church of Newburgh was organized in 1797, and the Union Associate Reformed in 1837.