JENNINGS AT PLAINFIELD
Terrill Road Bible
Chapel in Fanwood has an illustrious history. By the year 1870, a small group
of 15 or 20 believers were gathering together in assembly fellowship in
Plainfield. Of the original company, only one name is remembered, that of Louis
Rhéaume. Mrs. Elie Loizeaux was a step-daughter of his.
Later in
the 1880s, Paul and Timothy Loizeaux with their families moved to Plainfield
and met with this small group. They were the founders of the Bible Truth Depot,
later known as Loizeaux Brothers Publishers. At about this time F.C. Jennings,
a gifted writer and teacher, joined with the group. The assembly grew and the
Lord blessed. A little later, J.D. Loizeaux, the Perrins, the Hardinghams, and
the Maugers came into fellowship.
Toward the end of the 1880s,
F.W. Grant, the well known
assembly leader and writer, came to Plainfield with his family and took his
place among this group. (F.W. Grant’s sons, Fred and Frank, and some
members of the Loizeaux family, were associated with a similar assembly in
nearby Berkeley Heights – the Berkeley Heights Gospel Hall – which
continued until World War II.) F.W. Grant produced The Numerical Bible while in
Plainfield. Miss Emily Farmer, who assisted C.I. Scofield in the
preparation of his well known reference Bible, was also in the assembly for
many years. During these years, the assembly was known as Bible Truth Hall in
Plainfield, but was usually called the Front Street Meeting, denoting its
location in downtown Plainfield at 331 E. Front Street.
Soon after the
turn of the century, Samuel Ridout, another well known author, came to
Plainfield with his family, and came into fellowship. F.W. Grant and Samuel
Ridout were successive editors of Help and Food. The Front Street Meeting was
quite large at this time. After Mr. Ridout died in 1930, John Bloore assumed
the editorship of Help and Food for twelve years. He perhaps more than anyone
else was used to break down some of the party lines among brethren. The Front
Street Meeting had been in the ‘exclusive’ camp, and with Mr.
Bloore’s and others’ efforts, became an ‘open’
meeting.
Others in the meeting in the first half of the 1900s were
James Parker; Hughes Fawcett; P. Daniel, Elie, Alfred, and Parker Loizeaux, the
sons of Timothy Loizeaux; Fred and Frank Grant, the sons of F.W. Grant; the
Armerding family; the Loughs; Carvers; Inglis Fleming; Ferdinand French; Walter
Temple; and for a time, John Smart and R.E. Harlow. Those who ministered at the
assembly comprise a veritable Who’s Who among the brethren.
Hillside Cemetery, located on the border of Scotch Plains and Plainfield,
stands today as a memorial of many saints, including those listed. Their
tombstones stand as a great tribute to God’s Word. The entrance of this
cemetery is graced by the markers of three of the original Loizeaux family,
whose inscriptions are written in French.
The Front Street Meeting
built a new chapel in the neighboring town of Fanwood in 1957 and since then
has been called the Terrill Road Bible Chapel. Others in leadership over the
years include John Reid, Phillip Carter, John French, Ledley Perrin, Douglas
Haggan, Robert Hansen, and William Patterson. The assembly has commended
several people to the work of the Lord in Puerto Rico, to itinerant ministry,
to Emmaus Bible College, and other areas. Terrill Road has about 110 adults and
youngsters in attendance at this time.
* * * * * * *
The
assembly that meets today at Cedarcroft Bible Chapel in South Plainfield has
its roots in the Front Street Meeting, discussed above. In late 1898 or early
1900, several men with their families left that ‘exclusive’ assembly
and started an open meeting in a storefront – the Liberty Street Assembly.
Among these were F.C. Jennings, Sydney Perrin, Walter Hardingham, Joshua
D. Loizeaux, Nathan Saunders, and Nicholas and Edward Mauger.
The
Baehr family moved from Bronx, NY to Plainfield in 1912. A couple named Platts
lived across the street from the Baehrs and sent Mr. Perrin to visit them. He
told the Baehrs about the Sunday School at Liberty Street, and the parents
realized this was the place they had been looking for. This was in 1918. Conrad
Baehr and his wife Myrtle later became missionaries to China.
Mr.
Perrin, the son of W. L. Perrin who owned an insurance company in New York, was
a Sunday School superintendent; he picked up the children and bought bus or
trolley car tickets for others who lived further away. Joshua D. Loizeaux took
young people to the local rescue mission to help in the assembly ministries
there.
Later, the Christians moved to a larger building and became the
Washington Avenue Gospel Hall in Plainfield. For many years, F.C.
Jennings had a Tuesday evening Bible class at the Westfield Assembly, which
was a hive-off from the Washington Avenue Meeting. He would walk the five to
seven miles to Westfield for these classes, and take transportation home.
In the 1930s, the Washington Avenue Meeting moved to the Grove Street
Chapel in North Plainfield. They remained there until buying property and
building a chapel on Kenyon Avenue in South Plainfield in 1965, calling it
Cedarcroft Bible Chapel. Leading brothers over the years at Grove
Street/Cedarcroft include Frank Biffen, Rufus Hummel, James Van Duzer, Alfred
Guzzetti, and many others. Kingsley Baehr is a resident worker for the
assembly.
* * * * * * *
When the Front Street Meeting broke
from the ‘exclusive’ camp in the 1930s, ties between the two
Plainfield meetings became strong, and there was much interaction between them.
They formed monthly missionary meetings in Plainfield, alternating
responsibility for the meetings. They fellowshipped regularly together for a
number of years until the Front Street Meeting moved to Fanwood. The William
Deans family, who had ties with both the Front Street and Grove Street
meetings, left for Africa as missionaries in 1929, with a send-off from both
assemblies. In 1940, the Front Street Meeting procured a printing press for the
Deans in the Congo, with which to print Christian literature.
Captain
Barlow, who had been a sea captain, became the New York dock captain of the
Cunard Line and did much to help many missionaries with transportation and in
other ways as well. He also helped start a monthly missionary meeting, probably
in the early thirties, in a small meeting in Elizabeth. A light supper was
served and missionary letters were read, followed by a prayer meeting. The
monthly missionary meeting outgrew the chapel in Elizabeth and was moved to the
larger Kenilworth Gospel Chapel (see below) with the same format, and attended
by a sizable number of people from many different New Jersey assemblies.