648 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



MR. HOUDIN TO THE SECRETARY. 



[extract.] 

 "Trenton, New Jersey, Nov. 1st, 1750. 

 Rev. Sir. — ' ' Having my residence at New York, I heard of repeated complaints 

 made by gentlemen and principal inhabitants of this place, Allen's Town, and 

 Borden's Town, it being for many years past destitute of a Church of England 

 minister, and without any sort of application of mine, about five months ago 

 some of them were pleased to press me by letter to come amongst them. I, being 

 then conscious to myself that I had no license from the Lord Bishop, or sanction 

 from the Society, I deliberated some time till I had consulted several gentlemen 

 of the clergy in New York, the Governour and others, who unanimously advised 

 me to go over to them, and hear their proposals. When I waited on them, I 

 realty found they were destitute indeed, there not being a minister of the Church 

 of England nearer than Burlington."* 



To this may be added the following, from the Society's abstracts for 

 1753 : — "The Rev. Mr. Houdin, having for some years officiated at 

 Trenton and the neighboring places in the Province of New Jersey, 

 among the members of the Church of England, upon such slender sup. 

 port as they, in their poor circumstances would afford him, with the ad- 

 dition of one gratuity of ^30 from the Society ; they have lately thought 

 fit, upon the especial recommendation of the Rev. Mr. Barclay, rector 

 of Trinity church in the city of New York, and of other worthy persons, 

 bearing witness to Mr. Houdin's merits and diligence in the pastoral 

 office, to appoint him their itinerant missionary to officiate in Trenton, 

 and in the parts adjacent. Mr. Houdin is a converted priest from Popery, 

 formerly superior of a convent in Canada — and from his letters of orders, 

 it appears he was ordained priest by the Archbishop of Treves on Easter 

 day, 1730; and on Easter day, 1747, he made a public renunciation of 

 the errors of the Church of Rome, received the holy communion accord- 

 ing to the liturgy of the Church of England, in the city of New York, 

 and he afterwards took the oaths of allegiance, and subscribed to the 

 XXXIX Articles of our Church : and after having made himself a tolerable 

 master of the English language, he began to officiate in it and hath be- 

 haved, according to full testimonials, as it becometh a good Christian 

 and a good clergyman — and by his letters of thanks to the Society, dated 

 Trenton, Nov. 4th, 1753, it appears that he is usefully, and to very good 

 purposes employed, he having baptized from the 13th of December pre- 

 ceding, forty-five children and five adults, after proper instruction ; and 

 at Anuwell, a town within his mission, above two hundred Presbyterians 

 and some families of Anabaptists, during the last summer, joined with 



a New York MSS. from archives at Fulham, vol. ii. (Hawka.) 



