Early Maybrook History

During those early years, trains were the focus of the residents of Maybrook, most of which were employed by the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad and the Central New England Railroad*. In 1908, a plan was made to build a large switching terminal which became one of the largest in the Northeast. Employees numbered about 1500.

Our historic Maybrook church, under the name of the People’s Baptist Church, was organized in 1905, with the church building constructed in 1906.*  The earliest photo we know of was taken in 1910, and is featured on a postcard which is part of the church’s historical records. The postcard caption reads:  “Baptist Church, Walden Road, Maybrook, N. Y.” 

 

Over the years, the church changed and grew.

In recent years we find the current congregation was formed by uniting the First Regular Baptist Church and the People’s Baptist Church of Maybrook.  The two congregations were supposed to join together in a service on January 3, 1999, but the service was snowed out.  The first service together was on the following Sunday, January 10th.*  The new combined congregation chose the name, Peoples Regular Baptist Church (PRBC).  The group made their new name official in July, 2015, when the congregation officially incorporated as Peoples Regular Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Thomas Jackson. They also elected to continue the First Regular Baptist Church affiliation with the General Association of Regular Baptists and the former Empire State Fellowship, now known as Northeast Fellowship…A Network of Independent Baptists.

Peoples Regular Baptist Church Today

Each of the men who have served faithfully at PRBC have brought their unique gifts, talents, and skills, to continue the legacy of the Maybrook church.  Under the leadership of these men, the congregation has grown, matured, and changed, but always has reached out into the Maybrook community.  We praise the Lord for their faithfulness and steadfastness in teaching the Word of God.

Our Current Pastor…

  Pastor Thomas Jackson

Pastor Tom began serving as pulpit fill for Sunday Mornings from August 2013-August 2014.  He accepted the call as a bi-vocational pastor for PRBC on August 10, 2014.  Pastor Tom also continues to serve as a firefighter for the East Fishkill Fire District, where he has served for the last thirty years.  He has a degree in Animal Husbandry from the State University of Cobbleskill, NY. He continues to work with his family on the Shenandoah Farm, established in 1892.  Pastor Tom and Nancy have five children and several grandchildren. 

In 2015, Pastor Jackson encouraged an amendment to the Articles of Incorporation between the First Regular Baptist Church and the Peoples Baptist Church be formalized and registered.  This served to finalize “Peoples Regular Baptist Church” as the official church name. 

Peoples Regular Baptist Church (PRBC) has hosted Appreciation Sundays for the local Maybrook Fire Department in 2015 and the Village of Maybrook Police Department in 2016.  We value the service these civil servants provide to us and the Maybrook Community. An appreciation service for Maybrook Veterans was hosted in 2018.

The church family has been actively involved with the Maybrook community offering “free sales” and participating in the annual Montgomery St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Maybrook Memorial Day parade and memorial service.  An annual Vacation Bible School is hosted for the children of Maybrook.  We also enjoy a Christmas Caroling and Fellowship Event at the local Senior Living community.

The people at PRBC strive to live up to our motto:  “Following Christ. Focused on People.”

Faithful Former Pastors…

  Reverend Timothy Mowers, Pastor 2011-2013

Reverend Timothy Mowers, a graduate of Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit, PA, was installed as the pastor of Peoples Regular Baptist Church on July 10, 2011.  He is a former church planter with Evangelical Baptist Missions in Cape Town, South Africa.*  He served at Peoples Regular Baptist Church until his resignation in August 2013, after he accepted the call as pastor to Calvary Baptist Church in Preble, NY.  Pastor Mowers was instrumental in updating the Church Constitution.  Ministry to the Maybrook community is of great importance to the people of PRBC. The church family hosted Vacation Bible School each summer for Maybrook children.  Thanksgiving was a time for sharing food baskets, and during the Christmas holidays, the church family gave away boxes of Christmas cookies and sang carols around the Maybrook community.

 

  Reverend Brian King, Pastor 1999-2010

In 1999, Reverend Brian King, who was already pastor to both church groups, continued ministering as pastor to the newly formed Peoples Regular Baptist Church.*  He served as pastor until his resignation in December 2010, when he accepted a call to West Windsor Baptist Church in Windsor, NY. 

Pastor King was instrumental in starting the Answer to Cancer ministry to the Maybrook community in September, 1997, which continued until mid-2011.  Other ministries included Bread of Life, supplying bread and baked goods from local groceries and Homework House, an after school program to help children and teens complete their homework and enjoy an after school snack and fellowship time.  Through the years, the Village of Maybrook children and their families were ministered to through Bible Clubs, the Kids Club, and Teen rallies.  Sunday school and Bible verse memorization were key factors in spiritual growth.  The church family was privileged to provide financial and prayer support for various missionaries and their families stationed abroad.  In February, 2004, a Hallet Davis Baby Grand piano was purchased by the church to complement the worship service.  Mrs. Judy King served faithfully as Sunday School teacher and Church Pianist.

A Little Background On the Two Congregations...

First Regular Baptist Church

First Regular Baptist Church began in July 1990, with a small group of people previously from Cornwall Baptist Church holding prayer meetings in various homes.  Later they held their prayer meetings at the Quigley Funeral Home in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y.   There, they voted to incorporate as a church on August 16, 1990, calling Pastor George Chadwick as their pastor.  The first annual picnic was held on September 1, 1990, and the first celebration of the Lord’s Supper was held on September 6, 1990.  On September 9, 1990, the first Sunday services were held at the YWCA in New Windsor, NY.  The church incorporated on September 17, 1990, with officers voted in on October 17, 1990.  Mrs. Darlene Prosser began holding the Ladies Bible Study in her home, which continues today at the Church.  Wednesday night’s “Hour of Power” Prayer Meeting was also held at the Quigley Funeral Home.  The church met at the YMCA from September 9, 1990 through April 14, 1991.  A major milestone for the congregation was on February 17, 1991, when they began support for two missionaries, with a third being accepted that September.  Then the church relocated to the Little Britain Grange Hall, having their first Sunday Service on April 21, 1991.  In May, it was decided an associate pastor was needed.  Pastor Brian King was extended the call, and he accepted.  Mrs. Faye A. Benthe was the organist.  During the year 1991, the church was officially recognized as tax exempt by the IRS and New York state.

Faithful Former Pastors...

  Reverend Brian King, Pastor 1992-1999

Reverend Brian King was called to be the Associate Pastor in May, 1991.  He was ordained May 31, 1992.  His father, Reverend Thomas King, was a part of the ordination committee.

Pastor King became the senior pastor in July, 1992.  Under his leadership the church joined the Empire State Fellowship of Regular Baptist Churches on October, 20, 1992.

    Reverend George Chadwick, Pastor 1990-1992

Reverend George Chadwick was called as Pastor on August 15, 1990. Under his leadership, First Regular Baptist was incorporated on September 17, 1990, with thirty charter members.

The church was voted into the fellowship of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC) on June 24, 1992, with both pastors in attendance.*  On July 1, 1992, after being welcomed into the GARBC, Reverend Chadwick moved into the position of Associate Pastor while Reverend King took over the position of Senior Pastor.

On July 1, 1993, Reverend Chadwick* retired from the ministry, his second career.  A retirement dinner and plaque was given in his honor.  During his years in the ministry, he started four churches.  He had earlier retired from the U.S. Postal Service in about 1961, after thirty-three years of service aboard trains in the mail car as a railroad postal clerk.*   He passed away after a brief illness on January 2, 1994, in Cheektowaga, NY.  He resided in Williamsville, NY, a suburb of  Buffalo.  Funeral services were held at Calvary Baptist Church on Harris Hill Road in Clarence.  Calvary Baptist is now Harris Hill Baptist Church at the same location.

People’s Baptist Church

The People’s Baptist Church congregation had a long history in Maybrook.  Their 100th anniversary was celebrated in 2006.  Church records indicate that People’s Baptist Church had long been affiliated with the American Baptist Association, but resigned their affiliation in 1999.

Faithful Former Pastors…

  Reverend Brian King, Pastor 1993-1999

Rev. Brian King was called to preach in the 3:00 PM Sunday afternoon service in 1993.  His first Sunday was January 3rd, and continued through the spring.  Then, beginning on June 19, 1994, on Father’s Day, Pastor King began preaching a Sunday evening service.  There was no morning service.  Wednesday night prayer meeting began on January 3, 1996, with members of First Regular Baptist Church also attending the joint service.

In the fall of 1998, from about September through December, Robert (Skip) Rankin began preaching Sunday morning services, while Reverend King continued the other services.   After the merge in 1999, Reverend King became the Senior Pastor.

  Reverend Thomas Secore, Pastor 1991-1993

Reverend Thomas Secore was called as pastor on January 1, 1991 and served to 1993.  He was a graduate of the Philadelphia School of the Bible and the owner of the Bible Book Store in Newburgh, NY.  He had served as a missionary in the Philippines.  Reverend Secore passed away November 3, 2013.*

William Holmes, Pastor 1988

*In June, 1988, William Holmes of Port Jervis, NY was granted preaching authority by People’s Baptist Church.  He became the acting pastor.

Dr. Lewis Terry, Pastor 1986-1988

Dr. Lewis Terry was called as pastor of People’s on July 20, 1986, and Mr. Ronald Pinckey was called as his assistant at the same time.  He served as Pastor until 1988.  Dr. Terry was a long time member of People’s Baptist Church having joined in April, 1944.  He served until 1967 in the U.S. Army Security Agency.  In 1969, he graduated from the Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.  He also earned his Bachelor and Master’s degrees of Divinity from the Luther Rice Bible College in Jacksonville, FL.  Peoples accepted a request for a letter of transfer for Dr. and Mrs. Perry to the First Baptist Church of Holyoke, MA.  Dr. Terry passed away on December 2, 2010.*

    Reverend William C. Dietrich, Pastor from 1953-1985

Rev. William “Bill” Casperson Dietrich and his wife Roberta “devoted their lives to being the ministry team at First Baptist Church of Newburgh, NY and the People’s Baptist Church of Maybrook, NY from 1952-85”.*  He became the pastor of Peoples Baptist Church in Maybrook in 1953.  He attended Moody Bible Institute from 1939-1941, and attended the Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1948-52.  He was an ordained Southern Baptist minister.  At age 92, he died on September 15, 2012, in Round Rock, TX.

His obituary from South Jersey News, September 19, 2012:

Reverend William “Bill” Casperson Dietrich, 92, died September 15, 2012, surrounded by his family in Round Rock, TX. Bill was born on June 2, 1920 to Carl and Ruth Dietrich of Pedricktown, NJ. He attended Moody Bible Institute from 1939-1941. After his schooling, he became a clergyman at the Pedricktown Methodist Church from 1941-42. In December of 1942, he was drafted in to the military where he served as a Grade Tech 3 Medic/Surgical Technician in China and India until January of 1946. Upon returning from WWII, he married his wife of 62 years, Roberta. Bill attended Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1948-52. He became an ordained Southern Baptist minister in his grandfather’s Baptist church. Bill and Roberta devoted their lives as the ministry team at First Baptist Church of Newburgh, NY and the Peoples’ Baptist Church of Maybrook, NY from 1952-85. Bill and Roberta retired to Austin, TX after over three decades in the ministry, to focus on being grandparents. Bill will be remembered as an honorable man that devoted his life to God, his family and his church. Bill was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Roberta Dietrich and his sister Marian Dietrich. He is survived by his brother Frank Dietrich, two children, Charles (Bill) Dietrich and Mary Takvam, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Reverend Alfred Vanderbergh, Pastor from 1947-1953

Rev. Alfred Vanderbergh began his ministry sometime in 1947.  He is listed as presiding over the business meeting on May 23 1947, and is listed in the May 1, 1949 minutes as the pastor.  He continued as pastor at Peoples Baptist Church until his resignation in 1953.

Reverend Walter Baghurst, Pastor 1945-1946

In September, 1945, Rev. Walter Baghurst of Colman, PA began his ministry at Peoples Baptist Church.  A motion was made and passed in a business meeting held on Feb. 6, 1946 to ordain Rev. Walter Baghurst with ordination following on May 3, 1946 in a special ordination service.  Following the service, Rev. Baghurst was unanimously called as an ordained minister to be the pastor.  He resigned as pastor on Sept. 1, 1946 to take a teaching position in a religious college in Delaware.

Reverend Arthur Thomson, Pastor 1943-1945

Rev. Arthur Thomson was called on Oct. 17, 1943.  The church letters of Rev. Thomson, his wife, and son Rodney were voted to be accepted in a business meeting on Dec. 12, 1943. Rev. Thomson resigned as pastor in a business meeting on July 22, 1945.  His resignation took effect on Sept. 1, 1945.  The church was a member of the Hudson River Central Baptist Association. 

  Reverend Charles V. Sanford, Pastor from 1930-1943

Rev. Charles V. Sanford of Warwick, NY was the beloved pastor of Peoples Baptist Church for many years.  The earliest account of Rev. Sanford is a listing in the minutes of a business meeting as a member and presiding over the business meeting on Sept. 21, 1930.  At the time he was filling in for the previous pastor who had resigned the previous July.  On Oct. 13, 1930, during a special business meeting, members voted to allow Rev. Sanford to preach for $5 per week for as long as needed.  He served as pastor until his death in Sept. 19, 1943 at age 83.

Reverend Justin Davis Field, Pastor from 1929-1930

Rev. Justin D. Field and his family, Gertrude, children Owen, Gertrude, and Everett are found in Suffolk County in Southold, serving at the E. Marion Church as pastor, where they stayed until 1922.  He is listed in a 2012 Bicentennial edition of the The History of the Baptist Church of Northville, NY in a short listing under the heading of “Through the 20th Century”.  It reads:  “Evangelistic meetings in 1923 with Rev. J. D. Field added 15 members to the church.”  Justin D. Field is listed as a state evangelist in the 1923 and 1925 City Directories of Kingston, NY.  The 1929 Kingston, NY City Directory lists him as a pastor in Maybrook.  He was forced to resign in July, 1930, from Peoples Baptist due to the church being unable to pay his salary.  Rev. C. V. Sanders lent the money to help make up the amount owed.  The family lived in Kingston, NY for many years before relocating temporarily to East Aurora, Erie, NY.  He died in March, 1958.

 

Bibliography:

*Kidd, John. “Village of Maybrook History.”  Village of Maybrook, 2013,  <http://villageofmaybrook.com/history/> (April, 2014).

*”History of Montgomery, NY”.  The History of Orange County, New York; Edited by: Russel Headley; Published by: Van Deusen and Elms; Middletown, New York, 1908.   <http://history.rays-place.com/ny/ora/montgomery.htm> (March, 2014)

*”Maybrook/Newburgh Article”.  The Baptist Bulletin (1999).

*Memories from Pastor Brian King, June, 2014.

*”Tim Mowers Called to Peoples Regular Baptist Church.”  Baptist Bulletin, August 10, 2011.  <http://baptistbulletin.org/?p=17648> (March, 2014).

*”The Mowers Family”:  Fellowship Baptist Church , Watertown, NY Web site.  <http://www.fellowshipbaptistwatertown.org/missions/mowers.html>.

*History of First Regular Baptist Church.  October 13, 1993.

*”Rev. George M. Chadwick.”  Obituary Listing (1994), Highbeam Research.  <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-22593112.html> (June, 2014).

*”Rev. Thomas E. Secore.”  Photo and Obituary Listing (2013),  The White Venuto Funeral Home Web site. <http://www.whiteandvenutofuneralhome.com/_mgxroot/page_10732.php?id=1310924> (March, 2014)

*”Dr. Reverend Lewis Terry”.  Obituary Listing (December 5, 2010), The Ledger Web site.  <http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/theledger/obituary.aspx?pid=146970070> (2014)

*”William Dietrich”.  Photo and Obituary Listing (2012),  All Faiths Funeral Service Web site.  <http://www.allfaithsonline.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1593574&fh_id=14160> (2014)

*Reverend William Casperson Dietrich”.  South Jersey News.  < http://obits.nj.com/obituaries/southjerseytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=159978159>

*”Rev. Alfred Vanderbergh.” Church Minutes and Yearly Reports

*”Rev. Walter Baghurst” Church Minutes and Yearly Reports

*”Rev. Arthur Thomson.” Church Minutes and Yearly Reports

*”Rev. Charles V. Sanford.” Church Minutes and Yearly Reports

*”Rev. Justin D. Field.”  Church Minutes;
Source Citation: Year: 1920; Census Place: Southold, Suffolk, New York; Roll: T625_1268; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 147;
Source Information (1923):  Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations
Source Information (1925):  Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Source Information  (1929):  Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
Source Citation:  Year: 1940; Census Place: East Aurora, Erie, New York; Roll: T627_2526; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 15-23