Rev Benjamin F Stelle

... JOHN DRAKE, First Pastor. 1689-1739.

This gentleman was chosen as pastor of the Church at the time of its organization and was then ordained, the Rev T. Killingsworth ofificiating. Mr. Drake, as we have seen, was one of the early settlers, having come into the province in 1668. His native place was Devonshire, Eng., the home of Sir Francis Drake, of whom he is supposed,

not without good reason, to have been a nephew. ...

...

Mr. Drake, according to Morgan Edwards, was thrice married.

The names of his children were Isaac, Abraham, Francis, John, Benjamin, Samuel, Sarah and Rebecca. The daughters married into the families of the Huls and Randolphs.

...

BENJAMIN STEELE, Second Pastor.

1739-1759-

The Rev. Benjamin Stelle was a son of Poincet or Pontius Stelle,

a native of the South of France, who, as one of the oppressed Hugenots,

sought refuge in America and settled in New York. There Benjamin

was born in 1693. His mother's name was Eugenie Legereaux Stelle.

About the year 1707 he came to Piscataway. The time of his uniting with the Church is unknown. He married Miss Mercy Drake. His name first appears in the Associational list of delegates in 1729, ten years before Mr. Drake's death. We meet with it again in the lists of 1733, '35, '39, '40, '42, '44, and for the last time in that of 1746. He may have attended other sessions, the names of delegates not appearing in all the minutes. The time of his license is also unknown. But from his moral and Christian worth and his high standing as a citizen,

it was quite probable that he was called by his brethren to preach the Word and render assistance to the venerable Drake in the last years of his ministry. But of this there is no certain record. He was not ordained till after Mr. Drake's death. He was then no novice, being

at least 55 years of age. Held in high esteem by his fellow citizens, offices of honor and trust had been thrust upon him. He was a Justice of the Peace, a chosen Freeholder for ten consecutive years, a Collector

of Taxes from 17 27-1 731, and Overseer of Roads after as Avell as before his ordination. His election to these various offices speaks loudly for the sagacity and moral worth of the citizens of that day in seeking to fill these offices with men of integrity and ability. It speaks volumes for the man who could discharge all these civic functions

without compromising his character as a consistent Christian and a good minister of Jesus Christ. Honored as Mr. Stelle was by the people, he was still more honored by the Great Head of the Church, who, in his grace, made him a winner of souls and an upbuilder of the saints.

During his pastorate the Church largely increased in numbers and influence, numbering in 1746 over one hundred members. These members were not all in Piscataway, but scattered over a wide extent of country.

Fifteen of the members living in the vicinity of Plainfield and Scotch Plains, were on September 8, 1747, constituted an independent Baptist Church at Scotch Plains, of which the Rev. Benjamin Miller, a native

of Piscataway, and also a licentiate of this Church, took the spiritual oversight in February, 1748. This Church, the eighth one organized in New Jersey, united with the Philadelphia Association the same year. The wisdom of organizing this new interest soon became apparent. Small in the beginning, the divine blessing so largely rested on the labors of the devout and zealous Miller that after the lapse of

1. Their names were William Darby, Recompense Stanbery, John Lambert, John

Dennis, John Stanbery, Henry Crosley, John Sutton, Jr., Isaac Manning-, MaryBrodwell,

Mary Green. Mary Denials, Tlbiah Sutton, Catherine Manning, Sarah DeCamp, Sarah

Pearce. The letter dismissory is signed by Benjamin Stelle, Benjamin Miller, Isaac Stelle,

James Pyatt, John Clarkson, Thomas Worthington, Thomas A. Martin and John Drake.

This letter bears the date of August 5, 1747.

Fifteen years from its recognition it reported to the Association one

hundred and forty-four members, or, more than three times the member-

ship of the mother church for that year.

In the year 1752, another band of members living in and near

Morristown, some twenty-five miles distant from Piscataway, were duly

set apart as an independent Church.^ Their first pastor was Rev. John

Gano, wliose interesting life is well told by Dr. Benedict.- From this

time on we know but little of the life or labors of the much revered

Benjamin Stelle, only that he continued in the pastoral relation up to

the time of his death in January, 1759, in the 76th year of his age, and

the twentieth of his pastorate. As a pastor he had fed the flock and

welcomed lambs to the fold. Zealous for the triumph of truth and for

the glory of the Master, he had seen two colonies go out from the

Church, yet comparatively small in numbers, to plant the standard of

his and their Lord in other fields, and therein he rejoiced. While in

his prime, before " age stole fire from his mind, and vigor from his

limbs," he was regarded by his contemporaries as "a popular preacher "

and a man without reproach. And although years before his death his

head became " frosted o'er with time " we do not learn, either through

record or tradition, that the Church grew weary of his ministry and

wished him to vacate the field. On the contrary, they clung to him to

the last, as one justly entitled to their veneration and love. His

remains were buried in tlie old graveyard at Piscatawaytown. An

ordinary headstone, erected to his memory, bears this simple inscrip-

tion :

In Memory of

THE REV. BENJAMIN STELLE,

Minister

Of the Baptist Society

in Piscataway,

Who departed tliis life Jan. 33, 1759.

[aged] 76.

Your Fathers, where are they ? And

the Prophets, do they live

forever ?—Zech. 1:5.

Mr. Stelle left a large family, the genealogy of which will appear

at the close of our narrative.

1. The names of the constituents were: Daniel Sutton, .Jonas Goble, John Sutton,

Malatiah Goble, Jemima Wig-gins, Daniel Walling, Ichabod Tompkins, Sarah Wiggins,

Mary Goble, Naomi Allen and Kobert Goble.

2. Vol. 11, pp. 306-323.

...

THE STELLE GENEALOGY IN PART.

Rev. Benjamin, son of Pontius Stelle, born 1683, married Mercy Drake.

Their children were as follows : Mercy, Susanna, Betsy, Benjamin, John, Isaac.

Benjamin became a deacon of the Church. John, a Chaplain in the Revolutionary Army ;

Isaac, a minister of the Gospel, and third pastor of this Church.

...

-- "History of the First Baptist Church of Piscataway : with an account of its bi-centennial celebration, June 20th, 1889" BY J .F. BROWN, D.D., 1889

http://www.archive.org/stream/historyoffirstba00drak/historyoffirst...

____________________

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6840100

Birth: 1683

Death: Jan. 22, 1759, USA

This is the second son of Sieur Poncet Stelle des Lorieres,who was born in 1650 as a French Huguenot.He lived in Boston and New York.

Benjamin moved to Piscatawaytown in before 1705 and became a leading Baptist.He was the second pastor of Saint James from 1739-1759 following John Drake and helped organize several daughter churches in Scotch Plains and Morristown.

Before being ordained,he was also a Justice of Peace,a collector of Taxes,an overseer of the roads,and a chosen Freeholder.

The Stelles were primarily located in Stelletown, Stelton

Burial:

Saint James Episcopal Church Cemetery

Edison

Middlesex County

New Jersey, USA