{"id":1912,"date":"2019-12-30T10:14:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T10:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/?page_id=1912"},"modified":"2020-07-02T06:13:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T06:13:05","slug":"morgan-memories-george-washington-doane-memorial-chapel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/sample-page\/morgans-people-places\/places\/morgan-memories-george-washington-doane-memorial-chapel\/","title":{"rendered":"George Washington Doane Memorial Chapel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"George
George Washington Doane Memorial Chapel stained glass window in Christ Church, South Amboy, New Jersey with sailboats on Raritan Bay in the background. Image courtesy of Joyce Elyea.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Morgan Memories \u2013 George Washington Doane Memorial Chapel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Like so many other things about Morgan, it wasn\u2019t until many years after I moved out of Morgan that I learned that there was once a chapel in Morgan.  The best account of it I have thus far encountered is in the 1882 book, \u201cHistory of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey<\/a>\u201d edited by W. Woodford Clayton: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"History
History of Doane Memorial Chapel as described on page 835 from the 1882 \u201cHistory of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey\u201d, edited by W. Woodford Clayton.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The article mentions Mrs. R. S. Conover as the benefactor. Her name was Sarah Jones Conover, n\u00e9e Potter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Painting
Painting of Sarah Jones Conover, n\u00e9e Potter. Painted for her father by Thomas Sully, 1849.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Stevens Conover, Sr. (25 April 1832 to 3 April 1912) and his wife Sarah Jones Conover (24 July 1835 to 24 February 1879) once owned a large part of present-day Morgan<\/a> \u2013 roughly the area enclosed by South Pine Avenue on the west, Luke Street on the south, Raritan Bay on the east and Portia Street to the north.  At one time, that property extended all the way to just south of Bordentown Avenue.  A sizeable portion of that property became the now long-gone southern part of the Raritan River Railroad including the round house, locomotive turntable, and shops located at the bottom of hill south of Bordentown Avenue and Stevens Avenue.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"1919
Sheet 7 of 1919 South Amboy, New Jersey Sanborn Fire Map showing the location of Doane Memorial Chapel. Image courtesy of the Map Division of Princeton University Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ten acres of the Conover\u2019s property was donated in 1856 to the community for use as a cemetery.  Sometime after 1866 when the chapel was built, it was moved to the north west corner of what was then named Doane Memorial Cemetery (now named Christ Church Cemetery<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Doane
George Washington Doane Memorial Chapel. Date unknown. Image courtesy of Christ Church and Joyce Elyea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Conover and Stevens families were themselves\nfamilies.  Richard Conover\u2019s mother\u2019s family\n(Stevens family) were the founders and principal executives of the Camden and\nAmboy Railroad. Through the wealth the family accumulated, many causes, then\nand still, beneficial and not, were financed including the Stevens Institute of\nTechnology in Hoboken, the America\u2019s Cup Yacht Race, the long gone Stevensdale\nInstitute in South Amboy, Christ Church in South Amboy, and Christ Church\nCemetery in Morgan.  A number of Conovers\nbecame priests in the Episcopal Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bishop
Image of Bishop George Washington Doane, circa 1855 to 1865. Image courtesy of the Brady-Handy Photograph Collection in the Library of Congress.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The man for which the chapel was named had himself been named\nthe Bishop of New Jersey for the Episcopal Church in 1832.  Born in Trenton, NJ on 27 May 1799, George\nWashington Doane was ordained deacon in 1821, priest in 1823, and bishop in\n1832.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1837, the Right Reverend Doane established St. Mary\u2019s Hall, the first all-girls academic boarding school in the United States, via the purchase of an existing girls school located on the banks of the Delaware River in Burlington, New Jersey.  It was the first institution of its type in the United States, i.e., a boarding school providing a classical education for girls. Today, that institution is a pre-kindergarten to grade 12 coeducational, independent day school and in April 2008 was renamed to Doane Academy<\/a> in honor of its founder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Doane
George Washington Doane Memorial Chapel Choir. Date unknown. Image courtesy of Christ Church and Joyce Elyea.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

George Washington Doane served as the second Bishop of New\nJersey until his death at age 59 on 27 April 1859.  The chapel was dedicated to him some seven\nyears later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For many years, Doane Memorial Chapel was part of the fabric\nof the South Amboy area \u2013 especially for the local Danish community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This from 1888:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This from 1891:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

From the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New Jersey Journal for the meeting of the Annual Convention of 1892<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A candidate for Holy Orders assisted the Rev. H. M. P.\nPearse in maintaining services at Doane Memorial Chapel, South Amboy, and at\nErnston, 3 miles away.   There have been\n170 services in Doane Memorial Chapel, of which 45 were in the Danish\ntongue.  Of 18 Baptisms, 7 were infants\nwith Danish parents; 7 have been Confirmed, and the offerings have amounted to $362.82.  Connected with the work at this Chapel is a\nDay School with 2 teachers and 60 scholars.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Page 7 of the July 25, 1957 South Amboy Citizen<\/a> newspaper recalled some additional history:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footnotes to Raritan Bay\nHistory<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been other\nschools under church and private sponsorship. At one time classes were held in\nthe basement of Doane Memorial Chapel with Miss Annie Mohlson (later Mrs. George\nNellus) as teacher.  This structure was\ndear to the Danish people of our town. They worshipped there and called Christ\nChurch \u201cThe Big Church.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also discussed the cause of the end of the chapel which\nexplains why nearly no one \u2013 if indeed anyone – in the area knows anything about\nthe chapel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chapel was destroyed\nduring the [October 1918] Morgan explosion. A stained glass window in Christ\nChurch given by a family to whom the chapel was their church home, can be seen\nthere. It depicts the little brown chapel against the background of Raritan Bay\nwith several sailboats in the distance \u2013 both realistic and lovely.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Damages
Portion of page 109 from the June 9, 1919 \u201cDamages to Private Property at Gillespie Plant\u201d report for the 66th Congress, 1st Session, US Senate Showing the Original Amount of the Claim for Structural and Personal Damages for Christ Church\u2019s George Washington Doane Memorial Chapel.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In simple terms regarding the demise of the chapel and its value, here is a portion of page 109 from the June 9, 1919 \u201cDamages to Private Property at Gillespie Plant<\/a>\u201d report for the 66th Congress, 1st Session, US Senate Showing the Original Amount of the Claim for Structural and Personal Damages for Christ Church\u2019s George Washington Doane Memorial Chapel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally posted on December 30, 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morgan Memories \u2013 George Washington Doane Memorial Chapel Like so many other things about Morgan, it wasn\u2019t until many years after I moved out of Morgan that I learned that there was once a chapel in Morgan.  The best account of it I have thus far encountered is in the 1882 book, \u201cHistory of Union […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":979,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1912","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1912"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2040,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1912\/revisions\/2040"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}