Bicentennial Church History 1Bicentenniel Church History - Chapter One
Jessie J. McNall wrote a marvelous Sesquicentennial History of The First Presbyterian Church of Potsdam, New York, 1811 to 1961. The excerpts that follow are mostly adaptations or quotations direct from this booklet. The other print source used is a 1911 article written on the occasion of the Church Centennial and published in the Potsdam Courier. These latter passages from the Potsdam Courier are identified by the notation: [PC]
Chapter 1: Establishing Our Church, 1811-1820Potsdam is settled.Back in the days when James Madison was President of the United States and Thomas Jefferson had recently retired from the presidency to his estate at Monticello, a few families had settled on the west bank of the Raquette River near where Potsdam now stands. A grist mill was built and put in operation in 1805. The first baby born here (April 20, 1804) was Orpha Maria Smith. Mr. Benjamin Raymond built the first house in 1804. Before the first bridge was built (in 1809), people had to cross the Raquette River on a raft. In this environment, Sabbaths were spent mostly in hunting and fishing and visiting. But not in Judge Benjamin Raymond’s household. He conducted religious services each Sunday. These services consisted of Scripture reading, prayer, singing, and the reading of a sermon (of which it was said, he had a good supply). Other families requested the privilege of joining in the worship services. [PC] The following words are taken from a letter written (to Rev. C. C. Riggs while pastor of this church) by Deacon Asel Lyman when he was 82 years of age: “I removed,” he says, “with my family from Vermont to Potsdam in March 1810, at that time there was a scattered population over a part of the township and seven dwelling houses in the village but no church organization and very few if any professors of religion, no missionaries visited the place, the Sabbath was spent by most of the inhabitants in visiting, fishing, hunting, etc. Hon. B. Raymond and family were exceptions. He held religious services every Sabbath, which consisted of reading Scriptures, singing, prayer, and the reading of a Sermon. I requested the privilege of Judge Raymond to attend with my family which request was granted cheerfully. I invited others to make the same request and in a few weeks the house became too small for the audience and not a gun was heard, not a fisherman was seen on the Sabbath.” According to Deacon Lyman, the first meeting held in the first building was the funeral service of his first child, a daughter, two years of age.
Plaque on Union Street commemorating the spot where the St. Lawrence Academy stood. Plaque reads: "Upon this spot was built in 1810 by Benjamin Raymond. The first school house of Potsdam. First Session 1812. Rev. Jas. Johnson A.B. - Harvard - Teacher. Hhere from 1816 to 1826 was St. Lawrence Academy. Nahum Nixon A.B. - Middlebury - First Principal. This tablet erected 1916." Church and school founded
The building was 36 by 24 feet. It had a vestibule, a small steeple, and a bell. It was called the “First Academy” and later referred to as the “Conference Room”. It served as a school and religious center for many years. This close association of religion and education continues to the present. The Church Society established in 1811 became the First Presbyterian Church of Potsdam, and the academy developed into the Normal School, which became the State University College of Education, and eventually SUNY Potsdam. Potsdam First Church.On June 9, 1811, the first church in Potsdam was organized with eleven members: Daniel Ballard, Ezra Barnum, Joseph P. Reynolds, Benjamin Burton, Reuben Field, Judith Burroughs, Rebecca Hough, Asenath Field, Polly Garfield, Sally Reynolds and Nancy Shepherd. On August 14, 1811, the Saint Paul’s Society was formed, with Liberty Knowles, Joseph P. Reynolds, and Azel Lyman as trustees. Mr. James Johnson was named the first teacher and minister, and he was ordained and installed on March 10, 1812 by a council of Congregational churches, with preachers from Champlain, Malone and Madrid at hand for the ceremony. Students came from miles away to attend the academy. Rev. Johnson was a man of considerable ability, but he was too outspoken to please his congregation. It is said that the members of his congregation did not fail to understand whose sins were rebuked from Sabbath to Sabbath. This brought so much displeasure, that Rev. Johnson was dismissed on July 1, 1817.
First Subscription Papers.For over a year there was only occasional preaching. On December 14, 1818, a meeting was called to form a religious society for the support of the Gospel. At this meeting Trinity Church Society was organized and the following people were chosen as trustees: John Clarkson, Horace Allen, Forest Morgan, Ezra Barnum, Daniel Shaw and Samuel Partridge. On December 23, 1818, the first subscription paper on record in Potsdam was drawn up by the Society asking for support money for a Congregational minister. The church was without a settled [called/elected] minister until 1826. Sometimes Benjamin Raymond or another deacon led the service; sometimes an outside minister came to preach.
A new name adopted.The name, First Presbyterian Society, was adopted December 16, 1820.
What the town and church was like then.In 1825 the village of Potsdam numbered about 400 inhabitants. Indians camped nearby. Deer were frequently seen using pathways to the Racquette River, called by the Indians “Me-han-e-wa-kie” river of the rapids or noisy water, and called by the townspeople “Racket” [PC]. Sometimes a panther could be heard purring. The congregation came to Church on foot, by horseback, or in ox carts. Wednesday evening prayer meetings were started in 1814, and they continued until 1935. On one Wednesday evening, one of the first seven members of the group found only Deacon Reynolds in the Conference Room and said, “What, are you alone, Deacon?” “No,” replied the deacon, “Jesus Christ is with me.” High quality music was a part of the service from the Church’s very beginning. When services were held in the Conference Room, the choir had fifteen members who stood near the minister to help lead the singing. |
First Presbyterian Church of Potsdam, New York
A community gathering in Christ and ministering as God leads
After the mill and the bridge, the next community project was a place for worship and education. Again Mr. Raymond was the key person. He erected a building on the west side of what is now Union Street [which runs alongside the Potsdam Post Office] at a cost of $500. A plaque now marks the place where this first school house was built; a cut of the building is at the top of the plaque. 
