Today we can scarcely envision what it was to venture into an unmarked wilderness, select a site and settle there, with nothing but one's own instinctive foresight and the natural facilities of the land as means of survival. Beyond the first spade pushed into virgin soil and the first tree felled for starting an abode, there had to be a reason for selecting a site. Copper ore attracted early settlers along the Delaware River. Fertile land attracted agricultural undertakings. But individual settlers scattered over large tracts of land eventually needed a means of binding themselves together. A church provided that bond. It became the focal point of the region. Even though an industry had provided the start of a village, the presence of a church could be the deciding factor in the future growth of a village. Here again, we can scarcely imagine a time when religion was so compelling a force and a church so much the mainstay of community relations.
Wending its way down from New England during the early 1700's, Puritan Congregationalism became the way of life in many communities. The Puritans did not call their place of worship a "church," but termed it the Meeting House. The Puritan Meeting House was built on private land with private capital and became something of a business investment for its owner. He collected rents or "tax" for seats. Besides religious services, public meetings on civic subjects and the like were held in the Meeting House.
Near the summit of the western hill on the road that led through the village, a Puritan Meeting House was built in Branchville. It was that that structure that is commonly known as the "Free Church or "Union Church." The road, once the main east-west highway, is Church Hill. Speculation has it that the structure was built about 1750. It is known that in the late 1700's it was owned by Job Cosad, who gave it and seventeen acres of adjoining land to his daughter Hannah as part of a dowery when she married John Ellot. John and Hannah Ellot continued to maintain the Meeting House and subsequently to collect the "tax.
The Cosad-Ellot Meeting House ("Union Church") in Branchville was finding that times were changing in the early 1800's. A younger generation found the austere Puritan "Meeting" rather tedious, with its hour after hour service, especially on the hard seats. A description of that meeting house is sufficient for understanding the discomforts. "The house was framed of wood, then merely enclosed, with floors, siding and roof, without window sashes." (Ed. note: A window sash usually implies that the window has glass in it. It is unlikely, however, that the place was built without means of admitting outside lights. That description was written about 1870 and may mean that the windows did not open.) The account continues, "The seats were made by placing logs lenghthwise and crossing them with boards. For the preacher, there was an elevated contrivance which might be called a desk."
By 1803, both the Methodists and Presbyterians were becoming active in the vicinity. It appears agreed that the first church built in the vicinity of Branchville was a log cabin erected in 1710 by Lutherans on or near the site of the present Frankford Plains United Methodist Church. In 1750, a frame structure was built to replace the log cabin. Some doubt exists as to whether the original "church" was of Lutheran origin, but the 1750 church was definitely under their domination. In 1787, the Society of Methodists gained control of the church. The first Methodist pastor was Thomas Morrill who had been an officer in Washington's army at Valley Forge. It is likely that the zealous missionary work of Francis Asbury, who in his "circuit riding," had covered much of New Jersey, was directly responsible for the aquisition of the church by the Methodists. Francis Asbury (Asbury Park was named for him) had become Bishop and licensed Thomas Morrill.
A third church was built on this same site in 1810, replacing the earlier structure. Some accounts give the date as 1803. It reputedly became the first full-fledged Methodist Church in Sussex County. The present building was constructed in 1860 and is the current Frankford Plains United Methodist Church.
Many church congregations became split over issues during the Civil War, and this church was no exception. In 1866, what there was of a Methodist Society in Branchville proper joined with the Frankford Plains brethren to form one parish. Off and on, Branchville and Frankford Plains were separate and then together as one charge, but in 1957, Frankford Plains regained its worthy individuality as a separate parish.
At one juncture in its honored but varied existence, the Frankford Plains Church employed a woman preacher who was a Unitarian. Her doctrines were at variance with many members of the congregation and one faction denied her further use of the pulpit. However, one of her sympathizers discovered that part of the church had been built on his property so he directed that the woman preacher could use that portion of the church that was on his land. Other members rose in protest and prepared to move the church building entirely onto church-owned land. To counter this move, other members chained the building fast so that it could not be moved!
The Presbyterians furthered their activity when the Reverend John Boyd of the Newton Parish preached in Branchville on occasions "through 1811." Services were held in private homes and probably in the Cosad-Ellot Meeting House. It is likely that John and Hannah Ellot were faced with a dwindling income from rental of the meeting house seats as Puritan Congregationalism began giving way to more appealing forms of religion. It is probably at this juncture that the leasing of the Meeting House to various denominations led to its becoming known as the "Union Churtch." And probably, the Ellots were pleased to bolster their income from those rentals. Here again it becomes conjecture whether the Ellots were concerned with fees. Their own children may have turned away from the Puritan system. Perhaps, the Ellots offered their building for use "free," thus supporting the name of "Free Church" so often applied.
The early death of Hannah Cosad-Ellot at the age of thirty-five on September 26, 1813 was to open another important page in Branchville's history. The greater number of home owners lived on farms scattered around Frankford Township and other places in the county. It was customary to bury the dead on their own land. However, with a concentration of dwellings in a village, Branchville being typical, burial on private land was impossible, for village lots were small; therefore land had to be set aside for a cemetery. The first cemetery land was allotted next to the Meeting House. It seems unquestionable that this land belonged to the Ellots at the time. John Ellot had already owned most of the land adjoining the Meeting House when seventeen acres were given as Hannah's dowery, at the time of her marriage to him. Property to the east of that land was owned by Richard Ryerson, a close friend of John Ellot, and probably his lawyer.
Hannah Ellot is believed to have died from consumption. She was described as "a good wife, fine mother, and an obedient child." She was the first person to be buried in the new cemetery.
Her mother, wife of Job Cosad, died March 2, 1815 at the age of 82 and was buried in the cemetery.
John Ellot remarried. He had children by both marriages it is believed. He died on November 14, 1833, aged fifty-seven years, and was likewise buried in the cemetery.
Marriages were made between the Ellots, Ryersons, and a family named Coursen. These marriages and the subsequent change of property ownership may be the basis of some claims that the old cemetery belongs to the Coursens. It has been wisely stated that the real "owners are the persons buried there."
The Presbyterians pusuing their services in Branchville were led by a Reverend Osburn, conducting his services in the "Branchville Schoolhouse" (believed to be the same place referred to as the "Academy"), and in the old Roe homestead in Augusta.
Finally, on the third Sunday of May in 1820, a "little company" in Branchville formed the First Presbyterian Church of Frankford, as it was named, in the "Old Union Church"-obviously the same as the Cosad Meeting House-,choosing the Reverend Edward Allen as moderator and the Reverend Enos Osburn as clerk.
Augusta is known to have had a "meeting House" situated near the present Frankford Township Municipal Hall. Nothing definite has been discovered about it. It may have been of Puritan origin. It may well be that the Augusta interests were vying for the Presbyterians and the advantages of having a church center in that town, for in 1827, Colonel John Gustin deeded land to the Presbyterians in Augusta, at the location where the Augusta Meeting House stood. He completed his generosity by building the church. Part of the old fence line of the original deeded property can still be traced along Route 206 near the Frankford Town Hall.
The 1827 church was described as not unlike the Branchville "Union Church" for size, "accommodating perhaps 200 people but much better as to its interior finish- still a very plain building." The structure was eventually sold to George Roe in 1875 and moved to the old Gustin farm for use as a barn! The establishing of the Presbyterian Church in Augusta, and the Methodist Church in Frankford Plains, about one mile distant, was a decided boost for Augusta and a blow to Branchville. The effect on Branchville, if taken for all that is implied, was disaster, judging from the following descriptions.
"In the 1850's, Branchville sustained at that time and before, a most unenviable reputation. It was a very godless village-singularly given to drunkeness and kindred evils, and hitherto not greatly influenced by Christian influences at work in the Township (Frankford). Both the two churches, Methodist and Presbyterian, were at the other end of Frankford remote from Branchville; the only religion potent in the village was a bad type of Universalism, and the godless and the vicious had it almost all their own way."
We must remember that a "godless" person, in those days, could be anyone who was not conspicuous by his presence at church. Exactly who the "vicious" were is perhaps best left to history.
The Presbyterians returned to Branchville as their permanent location in 1857, changing the church's name to the "First Presbyterian Church of Branchville." The corner stone of the church was laid in 1856 and the structure remains in its original location currently. Many improvements have been made in the structure, and on April 25, 1971, ground was broken for a new building for Christian Education, adjoining the church but to be a separate structure.
As to the Methodists in Branchville, disaster was to mark their initial efforts to establish their own church buildings. For many years they had met in the old Free Church. In 1864 while they were part of the Lafayette charge, Rev. William C. Nelson promoted action for erecting a church. Ground facing Broad Street, Branchville, was donated by William H. Bell. Contracts were let, local lumber was hewn and many were the enspirited hearts. Then, when framing was nearly completed but not fully supported, a heavy windstorm arose and the structure collapsed, leaving the Methodists with ruins and indebtedness. The land had to be sold to help settle outstanding bills and for the next fourteen years, the Methodists held services in village halls and private homes.
Finally, under the leadership of Rev. T.D. Frazee, the Methodists succeeded in erecting a church building. It was dedicated July 10, 1879. This same building with modifications and additions remains in use today.
