HISTORY OF THE KINGSTON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

There are some historical events of a general nature which are so closely related to Kingston and the Presbyterian Church of that village, that a history of the church would not be complete without a brief account of them.

The fact that William Penn bought a very large tract of land led to the settlement of Quakers in New Jersey and their influence is felt in this neighborhood to the present day, as is shown by the old Quaker Church at Stony Brook.

Also an invitation for settlers was sent to Scotland when that country was passing through religious persecution. This led to an influx of sturdy and consecrated Presbyterians and the early establishment of Presbyterian churches such as the Presbyterian churches of Elizabeth, Newark, Woodbridge,Old Tennent, Bound Brook, Maidenhead (Lawrenceville), in the latter part of the 17th Century and the Ewing, Amwell, Kingston,etc in the early part of the 18th century. Quakers and Presbyterians predominated in the early history of this State.

In 1610, the East India Company, a Dutch Company taking advantage of the discoveries of Henry Hudson, an Englishman but employed by the Dutch, sent over a vessel to engage in the fur trade. In 1614 trading points were established, the chief of which was on Manhattan Island called New Amsterdam. Others were established along the Delaware. Fifty years later the English took New Amsterdam and the Dutch settlements on the Delaware. The road, or better described as the path, connecting New Amsterdam and the Delaware settlements, passed through Kingston and is what is now known as Route 27 or the Lincoln Highway.

Besides these Quakers from Pennsylvania and Scotch from Europe, there were those who moved down from New England and New York. Of special interest to us, in this part of the State, is that a goodly number of Dutch from Long Island settled in and about where Princeton and Kingston are now located. Stony Brook was named by Richard Stockton, who lived near Stony Brook of Long Island and when he came to what was little better than a wilderness, he wanted the little stream to remind him of his old home in North Central Long Island. Their influence is seen in the large number of Dutch names, especially in Kingston - the Vans, the Gulicks, the Strykers, Van Dikes and Schencks. The Dutch churches at Rocky Hill, Blawenburg, Harlingen, Franklin Park testify to the same fact. The Kingston Church forms the dividing line between the Dutch of New Brunswick and the Presbyterians of Princeton.

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