A large portion of my ancestors were farmers and many had very limited formal education.  However, I had a very early ancestor who apparently farmed, but also graduated Princeton and became and early American Presbyterian preacher.

 

Francis Peppard’s History

Francis Peppard is most likely my fifth great grandfather on my dad’s side through his all male ancestors.  If you recall, this has been shown by DNA, but determining the exact family line to Francis is still being determined.  If you are confused because Dad’s last name was McCracken, Y-DNA shows that he matches a man named Peppard and autosomal DNA shows his great-grandfather Lemuel McCracken’s parents are most likely a McCracken and a Peppard.  Thus, it is a reasonable conclusion that his great-grandfather Lemuel’s father was a Peppard and his mother was a McCracken.

 

A Bounty of Information

Francis was an early American Presbyterian preacher and the first or one of the first pastors at multiple churches.  As such, he appears in many records and has multiple biographical sketches written about him.  Not all of them agree on the details.  Not all of the facts are verifiable.  However, some are easily disproven.  Thus, the details from the sketches and other records that are deemed most credible or most likely are used to form this story.

 

Family History

Francis Peppard was born in Ireland around 1724.  The Peppard family had lived in that area for some time.  However, the family is believed to have originated in the Normandy region of France several centuries earlier.  When they lived in France the name is believed to have been spelled Pipart or something similar.  However, some people believe it is a derivative of the name Pepper.

 

America Bound

Francis’ parents apparently belonged to the Roman Catholic faith.  As the story goes, he was selected to enter the priesthood.  However, this was not to Francis’ liking.  Francis’ refusal to enter the priesthood greatly upset his parents.  So, Francis left Ireland and left the Catholic faith.

Francis sailed from Dublin to America about 1742.  It is believed that he came alone and was a redemptioner.  A redemptioner was similar to an indentured servant.  The difference was that the person negotiated their service and that the transaction took place upon arrival instead of prior to sailing.  It seems reasonable that he took this approach to pay for his passage since at approximately 18 years of age, he would not have had the funds to pre-pay for his travel.

Once in America, Caption Ebenezer Byram either purchased his service or at the very least they became acquainted.  In either case, once he learned that Francis was educated, Captain Byram set Francis to teaching school.

 

Francis’ First Family

In 1752, Francis married Susan McCollum of the Basking Ridge, New Jersey area.  Between 1752 and 1760, they became the parents of four children: Mary (m. Reverend Ruben Clark), John (never married), William, and Francis Jr. (m. Clarissa Savidge).  Then, in late 1760, Susan died.

 

Princeton

At the same time that Francis was building a family with Susan, he began studying to become a Presbyterian minister.

Dr. Samuel Kennedy was pastor at the Presbyterian Church in Basking Ridge, New Jersey where Francis and Susan worshipped.  He had been a spiritual advisor to Francis and it is believed that Francis likely studied with Dr. Kennedy. 

When Francis enrolled in Princeton to study theology, they apparently credited him two years of study toward his degree as he entered as a junior.  The school was not yet 20 years old.  It had originally been named the College of New Jersey and had moved around before settling in Princeton.  At the time, the entire student body of the college only numbered approximately one hundred and the library only contained 1200 volumes.

Francis studied at Nassau Hall, which later (1783) served as the U.S. capital for a few months.  His study was broken into two terms per year with a vacation between the terms.  Francis Peppard graduated Princeton in 1762 with a Bachelor of Arts degree after only attending for two years.

It is unknown who cared for Francis’ young children while he was attending Princeton.  However, one can assume that it was likely someone from Susan’s family.

 

Becoming A Minister

Graduating was not enough to grant Francis the right to preach.  He had to meet with members of the Presbytery multiple times giving sermons on assigned text and answering any questions regarding his language skills, sciences, divinity, and more.

 

The Preliminary Test

He was first tested at Princeton on August 16, 1763 in a preliminary examination.  He was given Romans 5:12 as text for a trial sermon that he was to give at a later date.  In the King James version (KJV) of the Bible that text reads “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.”

 

The Second Test

His second meeting was held at Trenton on October 12, 1863.  He delivered his sermon on the as assigned verse and read his Latin exegesis (critical analysis of a Latin phrase/sentence).  He was also examined on various topics including rhetoric and logic.  His performance in each area met with approval of the Presbytery.

 

The Final Exam

Francis’ final test was held April 24^th and 25^th, 1764.  For this final portion of his examination, he had to give a sermon on Titus 3:8, which states, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” (KJV)

The sermon was given at Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church on April 24 in front of anyone that chose to attend.  Since Francis was from the area, it is likely the church that held 78 people had a large attendance.  After Francis gave his sermon, two more men from Princeton, who had also studied to be Presbyterian ministers, gave their sermons.  They likely also had family and friends in attendance that day. 

It would be interesting to know the content of Francis’ sermon.  However, neither sermon was preserved.  Like the earlier one, the latter one was considered acceptable.  The following day, the men were questioned again on various topics.  Upon completion of the testing, Francis was judged qualified to preach the Gospel.

 

Decision Time

Nova Scotia

Before being accepted by the Presbytery, Francis had already received a request to come and preach in Nova Scotia.  How the people of Nova Scotia knew of Francis is a mystery.  Had Francis accepted, his life would have been very different.  His decision to stay in the area was likely influenced by the lady who was waiting for him to complete his studies.

Therefore, Francis accepted short-time assignments until he received a full-time engagement.  Over the coming weeks he preached six weeks at Menham, six at Harwick-Hackettstown, and eight at Black River.  The Presbytery told him that he could fill the remaining weeks until the next meeting of the Presbytery as he chose.

 

Marriage

Francis’ next decision appears to have been an easy one.  On May 1, 1764, one week after becoming a licensed minister, Francis Peppard married Phebe Whitaker.  Phebe was the daughter of Jonathan and Mary Whitaker of Basking Ridge.

 

Selecting An Assignment

Francis entered the next meeting of the Presbytery with a call from Upper and Lower Hardwick (Yellow Frame and Hackettstown), which he declined and one from Mendham, which he accepted.  The people at the churches that he turned down resented it.  Apparently, they had been a misunderstanding and that they thought he agreed that if they issued the call, he would accept.  One of the churches filed a formal complaint for breach of faith.  It is unclear what action occurred because of the complaint.  However, they must have forgiven Francis as he would later preach at the church.

 

The Ministry

Francis preached at various locations over the years.  Often, an assignment was to an area, which included multiple small churches or multiple areas within a church.  Thus, assignments tended to overlap.  They also present challenges as names changed or they were referenced by the general assignment vs. the specific church.

The following is an attempt to outline the churches were Francis preached over the years.  It may be incomplete or have multiple references to the same church, which were unclear in records and notes.  This may be clarified with further study of the Presbyterian records.

• Mendham, NJ 1764-1769
• Hanover NY 1764-1766
• Hudson, NY 1767 -1771
• New Windsor, NY 1769-1773
• Newburgh, NY 1769-1773
• Bethlehem Church, Cornwall, NY 1769-1773 (possible 1767 -1771)
• Murder’s Creek (dates unknown)
• Yellow Frame Church, Frelinghuysen, NJ 1773 -1783
• Knowlton, NJ 1773-1775
• Hackettstown, NJ 1773-1783
• Frelinghuysen, NJ 1773 – 1783
• Allentown Township (Forks/Settlement), PA 1781 (unofficially) 1783-1795 (officially)

 

He also occasionally preached at other churches.  He was always having to realign with different Presbyteries to have standing even when the churches were close together.  In part, this was because NJ had two different districts.

 

His Controversies

Music

When Francis began to preach, there was no actual singing in Presbyterian churches.  At most, it consisted of singing the Psalms a cappella, which often was a leader reading a line from the Bible in a rhythm with the congregation attempting to repeat the line and rhythm.

At some point, Francis “introduced the fashion of singing by note.”  This created quite a stir and offense not only in the church, but in the entire surrounding area as only the words of the Bible were considered holy enough for worship.  One of the elders was so upset by this that he would leave the church when singing began and return after it was over.

Francis apparently continued, but he did not win over the old timers.  One person said, “Truly, I have a great jealousy, that if we once begin to sing by note, the next thing will be to pray by rule, preach by rule, and then comes Popery.”  This gentleman basically believed that it was a step toward becoming Roman Catholic, as that religion allowed such things including musical instruments during the church service!

Who knows what would have happened if the issue had been allowed to fester.  But, the issue became old days news when talk of taking a political stand against England took over the conversation.

 

The Academy

Unhappy with education in the area, some local people started what they called the Academy.  They built a stone building that was far superior to the church, created a library, and started a debating society.  A classical school was taught there for a time.

Francis took issue with it.  He felt like it was a challenge to the church.  He thought the Academy was created to evolve to a church pitting “altar against altar” to divide the congregation.

Built on land without a good title, the land was recovered.  The land and the building were purchased by a member of the congregation and the building was used thereafter as a chapel for the Presbyterian church.

 

They Couldn’t Let Him Go

In Oct 21, 1794, he requested to be dismissed related to an issue over his salary.  Despite multiple differences of opinions with the congregation over the years, they still did not want him to leave.  Thus, a member of the congregation was chosen to argue against releasing him.  Despite their best efforts, Francis’ request was granted.  However, he did not actually leave the church until at least May 1795.

 

Family

During these years Francis and Phebe’s family was growing.  Their children included: daughters Phebe, Elizabeth, Rebecca, and Sarah; and sons Jonathan, Nathaniel, and Isaac.

To provide for them, it seems that Francis also farmed and perhaps gave out some medical advice.

 

His Prescription Book

Francis had a hand-written book of prescriptions for curing the sick.  It was believed that he collected these prescriptions as he worked with parishioners.  However, he may also have learned many of them from Dr. Kennedy, with whom it is believed that Francis studied prior to attending Princeton.  Dr. Kennedy was both a minister and a medical doctor.

Francis’ book contained 42 cures.  It had medicinal solutions for animals as well as humans.  Two of his formulas as written are shown below.

 

At the time his prescriptions were published, the prescription book was in the possession of his great-great granddaughter.

 

His death

Francis died March 30, 1797 (some references say March 29, 1797).  He is buried at the church known as Yellow Frame.  He was the first pastor of the church.  When he resigned in 1782, log meeting house was too small for the congregation, which was considered a testament to his success.  The replacement building was built on a hill and used for the next 100 years.  

At the time of Francis’ will, his oldest son John was not living and had no children.  Francis gave five of his children £5 each so that they could not make further claims on the estate.  He gave his son Nathaniel a plantation and money.  Three daughters got ¼ of the remainder of the estate as a gift to set up housekeeping.

The will said that his son Isaac was to be educated to become a minister.  Isaac was also to receive Francis’ divinity books, half his clothes, and some money when he turned 21.  This made me wonder if Isaac had shown an interest in becoming a minister or if Francis was in a sense repeating his own parents mistake.  However, if it was a mistake, it may not have mattered.  A boy named Isaac, who people believe is Francis’ son, died between the time Francis’ will was written and Francis’ death.  I have not been able to verify that this boy was his son.

 

His Bible

Several pages from Francis’ small (4 inches by 6 inches), worn Bible were at one time on display at Washington’s Headquarters Museum in Newburgh, NY.  It is unknown if they still reside in the museum.  I will be adding this to my list of genealogically-related places to visit.

 

Phebe

Phebe, who was much younger than Francis, lived until April 18, 1824.  She died in Washington County, Pennsylvania.  She was living with one of her daughter’s family at the time of her death.  She is buried at Pigeon Creek Church Graveyard.

 

Afterward

Although I reviewed many documents when researching this story, many more references exist.  I am hoping one day to expand upon this story to add more to Francis’ experiences in the ministry.

 

 

Featured Image: FotoRieth via pixabay.com

Prompt: Earliest Ancestor

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