He was born in 1810 in Hartford. The Cornings conducted a large South American import business, with offices at 74 South Street. Three generations were active in it.
Hanson K. Corning lived in Brazil for a few years, paying special attention to the rubber business and also acting as United States Consul.
On his return to the United States he became a member of the firm, and the business prospered greatly. Altho Mr. Corning in later life became an invalid, he went to his South Street office until 1860. Thereafter he gave his time completely to religious and philanthropic work.
When, in the early sixties, the decline of the Market Street church became evident, Mr. Corning conceived the idea of making it a sailors"
church.
He entered into negotiations with the consistory and on May 1, 1866, he became owner of the property, paying $36,500 for it. The Church of the Sea and Land moved into the building about this time. The congregation occupied the premises rent free, and in October, 1868, the property was transferred to the Presbytery of New York, to insure greater permanence.
Mr. Corning sold it for $25,000, which meant a gift of some $10,000 from him, the church itself giving about $1,500. James Lenox contributed $1,000.
The deed was a peculiar one, making the Church of the Sea and Land a third party, and giving it the right of occupancy as long as it was in ecclesiastical connection with the Presbytery, "or until in the judgment and by vote of three-fourths of the members present at any regular meeting of the Presbytery it shall be decided to be no longer expedient to continue or sustain religious services or missionary work in that church or locality."
It was also stated in the deed that all seats should be free, whereas in the Dutch church the pews were private property except that one-tenth of the pews were to "be free forever for the use of the poor and of strangers," and such pews were marked on the doors as free.
This is why the new church boldly painted "seats free" over the doorway.
Mr. Corning was a member of the Brick Presbyterian church, to which he gave considerable sums. He contributed liberally to many objects, but not indiscriminately, and the mission fields in Brazil, the American Bible Society and many other organizations were stronger for his munificence and wise counsel. Mr. Corning died April 22, 1878. A gift of Mr. Corning that the church still cherishes is its pulpit Bible.
Mr. Corning"s interest in the church that practically was founded by him has never ceased, for after his death his daughter and son again became interested, and the third generation is still represented in the officers of the church and among its givers.
Rev. S. F. Farmer supplied the pulpit for a little while till John Lyle was installed June 25, 1867. Next January the session met almost continuously for the reception of members. The records show that in 1867 and 1868 133 members were received after examination and 80 by letter.
In November, 1868, Mr. Lyle was deposed by Presbytery. He died in 1881.
Edward Hopper came in 1868 and on June 29, 1869, he was installed as pastor.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Edward Hopper]
Mr. Hopper was born on February 17, 1816, graduating from Union Seminary in 1842. He was pastor at Greenville, N. Y., eight years, at Sag Harbor, L. I., eleven years. After a short time at Plainfield, N. J., he accepted the call to New York. In 1871 Lafayette College conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity on him.
Dr. Hopper wrote a number of poems that were publisht in three volumes.
During his Sea and Land ministry he was brought in contact with seamen and this finds expression in his later works taking character from life on the sea. Many of his verses have found place in Christian hymnology, notably such a lyric as "Jesus, Savior, pilot me over life"s tempestuous sea," with that sweet verse "as a mother stills her child Thou canst hush the ocean wild." Another hymn was "Wrecked and struggling in mid ocean, clinging to a broken spar."
During the Civil War Dr. Hopper had written some stirring verses, one on The Old Flag being especially noted.
He was of fine literary taste and culture, proud of his Knickerbocker ancestry. Physically as well as intellectually he was every inch a man, with his bright eye, fine face and, in later years, a snow-white beard.
Even in his three score years and ten a decline was hardly perceptible until in the fall of 1887 the companion of his lifetime and partner of his literary pursuits was taken from him.
On April 22, 1888, his text was: "Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Next day at noon his niece found him in his study chair, his pencil dropt from his lifeless hand. Before him was a poem: "Heaven."
He left to his nieces a rather large estate, consisting princ.i.p.ally of railroad stocks, with legacies for home and foreign missions. His investments had been made on the advice of his friend, John Taylor Johnson, the railroad president, who presented to the church the communion service that was in use for over fifty years.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
IV
In Dr. Hopper"s time the work of the church for seamen reached its highest development, and that was due to Christian A. Borella. He was a missionary of the American Seamen"s Friend Society for twenty-one years, stationed at the Sailors" Home in Cherry Street, and surely a man of G.o.d. Borella never came to church or prayer-meeting alone: he always had men in tow.
There was an upper room at the Sailors" Home that meant much to many men, and there Borella did a work that resulted in great acquisitions to the church. It is true that many "going down to the sea in ships" were never heard of again, and years afterwards nearly 400 names of seamen were at one time removed from the roll by the session. But again and again word came from all parts of the earth and in many languages from men that called the church blessed. It was only an exemplification of the wide scope of Sea and Land when a generation later one of its ministers chanced across one of these men in Western Australia.
A feature of the prayer-meeting in those days was the reading of these seamen"s letters, giving account of themselves to Borella. They always stirred the man, who would add words of Christian admonition that lacked nothing in definiteness.
He was the right hand of Dr. Hopper, re-wrote records and generally made himself useful.
But in his olden days he became restless and as no mission board would take a man of sixty-four years he went, after Dr. Hopper"s death, to Africa at his own expense. He soon attached himself to Bishop William Taylor and with his master"s certificate ran the missionary boat _Anne Taylor_ on the Congo.
Bishop Taylor says of his end: "One Sunday morning we walked together to a preaching service at Vivi top. Captain Borella was suddenly taken ill and on my return there Monday morning was very low with fever. On August 12, 1891, he fell asleep in Jesus, and we buried him under a huge baobab tree at Vivi top."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Christian A. Borella]
Physically he was stockily built, well knit and evidently a strong man, always neat, but exceedingly plain in dress. He was born in Southern Denmark, of Spanish ancestry. His modest fortune he had made in California in "49, and his conversion was under Father Taylor when Borella came under his influence in Boston. It was Father Taylor of whom Walt Whitman said that he was "the one essentially perfect orator" he had ever heard.
After several voyages Borella became "cold and a backslider," and an eye disease nearly blinded him. "The Lord cured my blindness, physical and spiritual, and I promist him then that I would serve him the rest of my life," and he did it with the virility and sternness of an Old Testament prophet.
Borella was succeeded by Captain William Dollar, a dear old saint, who was stationed at the Sailors" Home for twelve years.
The church"s work in these earlier days was simple enough, prayer-meeting Thursdays, then Wednesdays, and temperance meeting under McClellan and Campbell on Friday. But on Sunday, besides the two long church services there was Sunday school, morning and afternoon, and young people"s meeting preceding the evening service.
When the sailing vessels were still along South Street, meetings were held on ships as opportunity offered.
In 1882 the interior of the church was papered and painted by Elder B.
A. Carlan at a cost of less than $1,000. New cushions, carpets, etc., brought the total up to $1,564.
The one annual event was the Sunday school excursion, when all went on board a barge, which was towed by a tug to a grove on the sound or on the Hudson. Dancing was tabooed, but a "melodeon" was carted to the dock and hymns were sung. The tickets were fifty cents for adults, but Sunday school children were free. Robert S. Taylor, veteran secretary, was chief ticket seller, not only on the dock that morning, but in Wall Street for weeks before. The president of the Temperance Society once or twice put in an excursion just ahead of that of the Sunday school, and there was dancing. But this was generally disapproved.
Miss f.a.n.n.y Crosby often came to the Primary in those days and many of her hymns were first sung there. Mr. Blackwood, her attendant, married Miss Devlin, the teacher of the cla.s.s.
In those days Market and Henry Streets had many two-story and attic houses and in almost every one of those about the church people lived who went there.
Teachers whose names stand out about this time were: Hans Norsk, James Brown, Thomas Miller, William Stevenson, Evan Price, James Smith, William Gibson, Robert Pierce, Dr. Theodore A. Vanduzee, Jesse Povey, Mrs. B. C. Lefler, Mrs. S. M. Nelson.
The excursions gave rise to a committee of young people who started to provide amus.e.m.e.nts other than dancing: swings, songs, and so on. There came also an "executive committee" that asked many questions, and Dr.
Hopper, in a courteous and kindly way answered them in full: that was the first report made to the congregation. Till then the annual meeting had consisted of reading the names of the subscribers who had contributed by means of the monthly envelopes, and the amounts they gave.
But Charles J. Lemaire could not understand why this excursion amus.e.m.e.nt committee should not become a permanent organization with literary purposes. Thus began the Lylian a.s.sociation that for twenty years was a mainstay of the church and in its days of dire necessity was a vital factor. From it came the young men that in later years were trustees, and it was the opening wedge that was to transform the whole church work.
When two of the young men came to the trustees for permission for a literary society to meet weekly, it was questioned whether anything but religious meetings might be held in the building. But after serious reflection the two were made personally responsible for good order, provided always meetings were opened and closed with prayer.
In a day when the young people had no outlet whatever for their active spirits the Lylian a.s.sociation became a training school for the church.
The debates of that day will never be forgotten, notably when the Lylians wrested the laurel wreath from the Goldeys at Clarendon Hall, and that other one, when Dr. Hopper suddenly appeared at a meeting and after an impromptu debate "showing every evidence of being well prepared," as he said, some consciences were ill at ease.
Then there was the Gossip"s Journal, provoking endless parliamentary wrangles, and perhaps helping to develop later on an editor. Memorable were the Young People"s Conventions of 1886 and 1887, and Lylians will never forget the patriot Kromm, Sp.o.o.pend.y.k.e Shreve, the poet laureate and a dozen others. The Fourth of July picnics at Pamrapo and Nyack are happy memories for many.