Presbyterians in New Jersey and New England

The Prall family attended the Presbyterian Church after leaving Staten Island, NY and settling in Amwell Twp., Hunterdon Co., NJ. I believe the primary reason for selecting the Presbyterian Church was that it was Calvinist and close enough to the teachings of the Dutch Reformed Church the family had left behind to be suitable.

At least two generations of my line attended the church, Cornelius Prall, Sr. and Cornelius Jr. Other Pralls continued to attend Amwell Presbyterian.

There was a stretch before the Revolutionary War when the Presbyterian congregation was without a minister. The church members were forced to have their children baptized at another church or wait for a new minister.

Cornelius and Rebecca [Garrison]  Prall chose to have their daughter, Rebecca, baptized in the  Episcopal Church by Rev. William Frazier in 1771. Six years later, local patriots placed a hangman's noose over Frazier's pulpit because the reverend refused to omit prayers for the Royal family from his services. Frazier was forced to suspend operations until after the war. The citizens never harmed Frazier due to the respect they held for him.

Isaac Rittenhouse Prall married Ann Bathia Rhodes in Harford Co., MD in 1828. Ann was from a Methodist family. The next two generations were Methodist.

Move ahead to 1951. My mother decided to have me baptized at the Irvington Presbyterian Church [Indianapolis], so the link was reestablish, albeit briefly.

Hugh Mahurin settled in Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay in the late 1680s or early 1690s. His birthplace was believed to be Scotland or Ulster. Hugh's wife, Mary, was believed to be a Campbell. He worked at the iron forges in the area and farmed. Son Ebenezer, also an iron worker and farmer, made his way to Morris Co., NJ. The Mahurins became active in the Presbyterian Church there. Th

Seth changed the name to Hurin and would move the family Ulster Co., NY in 1787 and then to SW Ohio in 1795. Othneil Hurin died in 1813. His daughter Rebecca would marry Joseph Faucett and moved to Hendricks Co., IN. There the family  joined the Shiloh Methodist Church.