(This was not the start of the letter and no date was given)… James from Staten Island in 17?…store and operated a tannery. He became very prosperous and built himself a fine stone house. This was directly across from the church and there is a picture of it in the clipping which I do not think could be successfully copied. It was in the fine new house that Bishop Ashbury preached. In 1844 the old frame building was replaced with a fine solid stone house of worship still standing and in excellent condition. Trustees at the time of building the new church edifice: Abraham A. Vansyckle, Abraham Egbert [ James' son], David MeClellan, Derrick R. Gulick, and John Quick.
    In addition to the news items there were other interesting items pasted or copied into the book. In 1894 the church celebrated the 50th anniversary of the new building put up in 1844. Among the letters received on this occasion was one from Rev. J.H. Egbert, M.E. Parsonage, 154 Main St., Belleville, NJ:

“It was my own Uncle James Egbert who was the prime mover in the building of the church. You may think I make a mistake or must be an elderly man if that be true, but I am a child of my father’s old age, he being about 70 when I was born and he was a younger brother. So you see that I am closely allied to Methodism in Mt. Bethel.”

Another 1894 letter is even more enlightening: This is from Rev. Richard VanHorn, 165 Roseville Ave., Newark, NJ.  

     “Your circular relating to the 50th anniversary of Mt. Bethel M.E. Church dated Aug. 13 only reached me Sept. 1st. It nevertheless awakened in me the memory of fifty-two years ago. In the spring of 1842 I was received on trial in the N.J. Conference and appointed to Hope Circuit with Rev. Edward Saunders as preacher in charge. Mt. Bethel was one of the appointments of our circuit and was the first point that I touched of the large field…
     “I had received directions where to go and on what family to call for entertainment. The place was Mt. Bethel and the family that of Judge Egbert. I call to mind this moment how a trembling heart, owing to my youth and inexperience I rode up to the hitching post near the yard gate of the Egbert Mansion and alight from my horses and proceeded to tie him. Before it was done a tall venerable clean-shaven man with benevolent countenance lighted up with a friendly smile approached me and inquired, ‘Is this Brother VanHorn?’ and when I replied, he added ‘You are welcome here.’ His words and looks were so timely and cheering that I have never forgotten them. I was ushered into his house and introduced to his estimable wife and his two daughters, who were girls of remarkable intelligence and vivacity. It was ever after a most comfortable as well as hospitable resting place.
     “Hope Circuit extended from Mt. Bethel on the east to the Water Gap on the west. We had 8 regular Sabbath preaching places with sundry weekday appointments in schoolhouses. Our Sabbath appointments were Mt. Bethel, Vansyckles (now Jayne’s Chapel), Buttsville, Wolftown (now Mt. Zion), Hope, Greens Chapel (now Mt. Hermon), Hainsburg, and Columbia. Each place had only one service in two weeks. I made my home so-called at the house of James VanHorn, who lived on the Pequest halfway between Danville and Townsbury. Amos H. VanHorn, the noted furniture dealer of this city (Newark) is the grandson of my hospitable host who was commonly known as Uncle Jimmy. It was while I was on circuit that I became acquainted with the lady who afterwards became my wife…
    “I have not said all I would like to say. My colleague Brother Saunders was an upright earnest faithful Christian minister. His wife was a Mt. Bethelite, the daughter of Judge Egbert. One of the best families at the time was that of Abraham Egbert, a son of the Judge, who only lived a short distance from the home of his father. In 1842 Mt Bethel was an old frame building neither attractive without or comfortable within. It was hten the cherished aim of Judge Egbert to build a new substantial and commodious house of worship to take the place of the old one. This he did a few years afterward and this year is its Jubilee you are celebrating.”

I am sure you will enjoy these vivid accounts of people who had known James Egbert. He is mentioned a number of times in the clippings as having come from Staten Island, an Episcopalian. Have you ever had a chance to look at the Staten Island Church Records? I believe the St.Andrews records are Episcopalian, but honestly don’t remember. Next time I get to a library which has those records I will see what I can find.
 
 

Jan. 1, 1963,
Mrs. Louis Daum
Toulon, IL,

Dear Mrs. Daum:

 I am ashamed to have taken so long to answer your letter and tell you how much we appreciate the information you are sending. The holidays wre pretty busy around here and I have simply been unable to take care of correspondence.

  I have been copying the material you sent for my own files before ending it on for the Society’s files at Rutgers, and, as I have gone along I have checked to see what records I have in my own files which verify the family backgrounds shown in your data. I have enclosed a copy of this material with added information underlined in red as I think you may be interested.

  Also, I do not seem to have sent you the following Egbert, etc. marriages, come of which I believe apply to your family. I looked these up when we first started our correspondence and don’t see why I didn’t send them at once.

  Could you send Addis and Sanders next? Actually any order is OK, so just keep them coming as long as you find the time to work them out. Thank you, and a Happy New Year.

Sincerely,
Helen P. Alleman (Mrs. Fred)
 

March 16, 1963
Mrs. Louis Daum
Toulon, IL

Dear Mrs. Daum:
 At last I have something real good on the Egberts, I think. Today was very nice; the snow was al melted on the level places where the sun hit nice and warm, and we decided to see what we could find in the Mt. Bethel Methodist Cemetery. That graveyard has never been copied that we know about. As we went along we weren’t too sure about whether we had waited long enough, for the road goes through woods in several places and there must have been at least a foot of snow on both sides as far through the trees as we could see.

  But the graveyard was clear and the following headstone records are all of your Egberts.

Egbert, Abraham: wife Ann Stillwell, d. Oct. ?, 1871, in ?7th year;
 son, William H., d. Apr. 24, 1844, a. 17.7.0;
 dau., Ann (middle initial?), d. Sept. 7, 1836, a. 3.0.8;
 son, Richard S., d. July 8, 1833, a. 2.1.18
Egbert, Abraham; wife Mary;
 dau., Eliza Ann, ‘of the City of New York, d. in Mansfield, NJ, Sept. 17, 1821 while at a visit at her friend’s. age 14/7/8
 (Abraham must have moved to some other place; can’t find his stone.)
Egbert, James, d. Sept. 19, 1847, a. 75 yrs.; wife Rachel, d. June 16, 1880 in 86th yr.
 dau. Mary Ann, d. Dec. 7, 18(66?), age 50
 dau. Elizbeth, d. Sept. ?, 18(62?) age 11 mos. and 1? days
 inf. son, age 9 days (these two on same stone)
 dau. Catherine, d. Apr. 12,1814, a. 1.3.5

     Tomorrow we have a date with the pastor of the church, Rev. James Williams who is going to let us see the church register. He thinks perhaps the oldest records have been sent to (Drew?) Library at (Madison?), but really doesn’t know for sure, so we will see what we can find in the material he has at his home. If it requires a letter to Drew, I will let you know and you can take over from there.

     We own a Peers Atlas of Warren Co 1874, an invaluable possession. That shows two Egbert farms, one on each side of the road near the church. The only evidence remaining is a tall old stone chimney and fireplace. This, my husband took a picture of, as well as the James Egbert stones in the graveyard. We will have something real on your Egberts yet, at this rate. (We keep a black-and-white film in one camera just of these excursions.)
 
 

March 17th, 1963.
    Had a most interesting afternoon with Rev. James Williams and his family at Port Murray. The old records are not available at the church and may be at the Drew University Library, Madison, NJ. You might try an inquiry there. However, the church has kept a historical record book in which have been pasted clippings, letters, etc. relating to various anniversary celebrations. This was a gold mine.

    Hackettstown Gazette, July 30, 1909: The Mt. Bethel Church was organized originally as a Baptist Church by Dr. Robert Cummings, a surgeon in the Revolution, when he came to Warren Co. shortly after the close of the War. Dr. Cummings bought several tracts of land in what is now the Mt. Bethel area and lived on what in 1909 was the Schomp farm. His partner in the activity with the church was William Tims who lived on the road from Mt. Bethel to Hackettstown. These two men died about 1806 leaving the church heavily in debt and the congregation sold their property to James Egbert who owned the farm and tannery directly across the road. James and Rachel Bray Egbert deeded the property to the Methodist group a few years later.

     The Methodist Congregation was organized about 1809 in the home of James Egbert by Bishop Ashbury and the Church was christened Mt. Bethel by him though it was also known as Egbert’s Church. Apparently the group had met for a number of years at the Egbert home.
From 1800-1805 William Tims taught the ‘quarter ‘ school, - 3 months in the winter. A list of his pupils in 1805 is given in the news item:

Betsey & Sally Johnson,
Thomas & Abraham Egbert,
Mary & John Rose,
Sally, Barbara, & Joseph Garrison,
Sally, William & Peggy Tunis,
Charles & Fanny Robertson,
Sally, Morgan & Mary DePue,
Abraham & Kozia Johnson,
Anna, Hannah, & Theodore Tindall,
Peggy Kelly,
William Hoffman,
John & Samuel Jewell,
Joseph Robertson,
David Johnson,

Ann Cummins

Unidentified clippings:
 Robert Cummins, surgeon in the Revolution, bought 4 tracts of land from Andrew Bray and wife, Jan. 16, 1788. He sold part of this property to James Egbert when he…..
 

(note from Mary- I have not found out who Mrs. Louis Daum is, or Mrs. Alleman, in the Egbert family as yet. )