Funeral Of John Voorhees

01/10/1919 |

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The funeral of John Voorhees was held at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church at 1:15 pm.

  1. Edward Laubin played Ave Maria on the organ as the funeral party entered
  2. The funeral was well attended
  3. The funeral party was led by the 6 ministers who took part in the funeral
  4. The service was conducted by Rockwell Harmon Potter
  5. During the service, the choir sang “Hark, Hark, My Soul,” “The Thousand Times Ten thousand,” and “The son of God Goes Forth to War.”
  6. Clifford Case offered the invocation
  7. Irving Berg read from Scripture.
  8. Preston Searle read the personal pastoral prayer
  9. John Wetzel read “Now the Laborer’s Task is Over”
  10. Sherrod Soule gave the benediction

  1. An honor guard made of young men of the church attended.
  2. The six active bearers were Guy E. Beardsley; John H. Buck; Harry S. Conklin; William H. Corbin; Merwin Gray; and Charles W. Gross.
  3. The honorary bearers were Charles S. Blake; Robert M. Brewster; Charles G. Case; Levi B. Cochran; Atwood Collins; Charles E. Gilbert; R. Eaton Phyfe; Samuel O. Prentice; Charles C. Russ; Frederick F. Small; Charles M. Starkweather; Charles E. Thompson; John H. Thompson; Martin Welles; Frank H. Whipple; Charles S. Williams; Samuel P. Williams; and James Wyper.
  4. Edward S. Parsons represented John R. Mott of the International YMCA at the funeral, and George Hubert and Walter Schutz accompanied Parsons as representatives of the Hartford YMCA.

According to Voorhees’s obituary, his funeral service was going to be led by five ministers – Sherrod Soule was not reported as participating until the report on the funeral itself.   Soule was likely included because Voorhees had been a director of the Connecticut Missionary Society.

Voorhees had died in New York City on January 8, 1919.

  1. Voorhees’s body was scheduled to be taken to Newburgh, NY, on the 8:36 am train from Hartford tomorrow morning.
  2. Voorhees would be buried in Newburgh on January 11, 1919.

An American flag was draped over Voorhees’s casket during the service.

  1. Rockwell Potter was the pastor of the Center Congregational Church.
  2. Clifford P. Case was the pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church in Poughkeepsie, NY (Voorhees was ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church).
  3. Irving Berg was the former pastor, South Congregational Church, and he was now based in New York
  4. Preston Searle was New Brunswick Theological Seminary (Voorhees had studied here).
  5. John W. Wetzel was assistant pastor at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church.
  6. Sherrod Soule was superintendent of the Connecticut Missionary Society (Voorhees was a director of the society).
  7. Charles Blake, Atwood Collins, R. Eaton Phyfe, Samuel O. Prentice, Charles E. Thompson, and Frank H. Whipple were current deacons of the church
  8. Levi B. Cochran was the Voorhees family physician
  9. Charles E. Gilbert, Martin Welles, and Charles S. Williams were former deacons of the church.
  10. John H. Thompson was a Rutgers classmate and personal friend of Voorhees.

Unattributed, “Church on ‘Hill’ Honors Pastor Who Gave Life in War,” Hartford Courant, January 11, 1919, page 8.

Unattributed, “Obituary – Dr. Voorhees’s funeral,” Hartford Courant, January 10, 1919, page 2.

Unattributed, “Rev. Dr. Voorhees Dies in New York,” Hartford Courant, January 9, 1919, page 4.

Unattributed, “Social and Personal,” Hartford Courant, January 11, 1919, page 11.

John Voorhees
Asylum Hill Congregational Church

History


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