Hutton, Mancius Smedes

Hutton, Mancius Smedes a Reformed (Dutch) minister, was born in Troy, N.Y., June 9, 1803. He attended the school of the famous blind teacher, Joseph Nelson, in New York city; graduated from Columbia College in 1823, and from the theological seminary at Princeton in 1826. He was licensed to preach the same year by what was then known as the Second Presbytery of New York, and acted as missionary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in Ulster County, N.Y., in 1827 and 1828. In the latter year he was called to the Presbyterian Church in German Valley, and remained there until 1834, when he was called to the city of New York to become the colleague of the late Reverend Dr. James M. Matthews, then pastor of the South Reformed Church in Exchange Place, the church which he had attended when a boy and up to the time of leaving the city. After the great fire of December 16, 1835, which destroyed most of the lower part of the city, including the Exchange Place Church, the Church divided, and the pastor went with that portion which built the edifice on the east side of Washington Square. The new church was dedicated in 1841. For many years this was one of the best-known churches in the city. The neighborhood was one of the most fashionable in the metropolis, and the congregation, a very large one, numbered among its members many of the most intelligent and wealthy of the residents of the west side. After the resignation of his colleague Dr. Hutton remained sole pastor until 1876, when the Church disbanded, caused by the removal from time to time of so many of its members to the upper part of the city. Thereafter Dr. Hutton continued without a charge until his death, April 11, 1880. Dr. Hutton was a trustee of Columbia College, a member of the Council of the New York University, president of the Board of Education of the Reformed Church for the education of young men destined for the ministry, and a director in the Bible and tract societies. By virtue of his descent from revolutionary stock, he was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati for the state of New York, and general chaplain of the society in the United States. He published a number of Sermons and Addresses, for which see Corwin, Manual of the Ref. Church in America, s.v.; also Necrol. Report of Princeton Theol. Sem. 1882, page 15.