and the church in the Old Town burying-ground whose site is now marked by Quassaick Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.[1]
According to history, the few remaining Lutherans did not give up their church without a struggle. On a certain bright July Sunday the two congregations met, each with its minister at the head, accompanied by many people from both sides of the river and the Justices of the Peace who carried staves of office. Birgert Meynders, a burly blacksmith and bold defender of the Lutheran faith, fell crushed by the falling door, and then the jubilant English rushed in to hold the fort. It was after this memorable riot that the Reverend Hezekiah Watkins,[2] a most excellent clergy-*
- ↑ On this Glebe site was erected about 1730 the Lutheran Church
of the Palatine Parish by Quassaick. Reverend Michael Christian
Knoll, Pastor.
From July 19, 1747, the Reverend Hezekiah Watkins of the
Church of England held services for about twenty-five years.
Erected by Quassaick Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution.
- ↑
In Memory of
REVEREND HEZEKIAH WATKINS
YALE 1737 ORDAINED 1754 IN ENGLAND
SENT HERE BY VEN. SOC. P. G. IN F. P.
FOUNDED THE PARISHES OF
S. DAVID'S, S. ANDREW'S AND S. GEORGE'S
RESIDENT MINISTER AT NEWBURGH
FROM 1752 UNTIL HIS DEATH.
APRIL 10, 1765. AET. 57.Tablet in S. George's Church, Newburgh.
