Rev. Ernest E. Eells (1892-1981)

1930-1940

14th Minister of the First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton

Like many ministers of the time, Rev. Earnest Eells descended from a long line of ministers.  His father, Rev. Edward Eells held pastorates in many New England churches.   Earnest Edward Eells was born in Falls Church, Virginia on November 28, 1892.  He was the first born of seven children born to Rev. Edward Eells (1861-1939) and Anna Auchmoody (1871-1927): Hope and Joy, (twin girls born and died at birth 1894), Rev. Hastings Eells (1895-1970), Truth Eells-Paisley (1897-1986), Evangeline Eells-Wheeler (1900-1979), and Julia Eells-Broadley (1905-1993).   Rev. Eells received a B.A. degree from Clark University, in Worcester, MA, graduating in 1914.  He then received a M.A. degree from Princeton University in 1917.  Shortly after graduation, he married Ada B. Cox, from Maspeth, Queens, New York, in August 1917.  Ada Louise Cox (1892-1951) had attended the Teachers College in Jamaica Queens, NY.  Rev. Eells continued post graduate work at Auburn University, receiving a Bachelor of Divinity and a Master of Sacred Theology degree there in 1921. 

Rev. Eells first call was to the First Presbyterian Church of Boonville, NY in the Western Adirondacks.  His stay in Boonville was brief.  Within the year, Rev. Eells was installed as Pastor of the Chambers Memorial Church in Rutledge, PA, a Philadelphia suburb, near Swarthmore College, in February 1922.

From 1925-1930, Rev. Eells served as Pastor at the Orchard Park Presbyterian Church in Orchard Park, NY, a suburb of Buffalo, NY. At Orchard Park, Rev. Eells arrived to replace the late Rev. John A. Black, a 21 year term minister, who was killed in an automobile accident in front of the church.  It was here in Orchard Park, that the Eells second son, David (1927-2016) was born. After five years in Orchard Park, the now family of 4, headed to a call at the First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton.

The 37 year old Rev. Eells, arrived in East Hampton, the first day of November 1930, along with his wife Ada, 37, and two sons, Calvin, 7, and David, 4.  He would have only one day to prepare for his first sermon, preaching the next day, on a Sunday.  Rev. Eells arrived during the Great Depression, and during the prohibition years.  Franklin Roosevelt had just won the Presidential election.  Funding had just been secured for a new cultural and social center in East Hampton to be known as Guild Hall. A front page headline in the East Hampton Star announced the installment of Rev. Eells on November 21st at an 8pm evening service.  Other headlines of the time, announced the opening of the cod fishing season and a record harvest of potatoes shipped via the railroad.  Three ships ran aground at Montauk, including a 50ft rum runner at Napeague.   The Coast Guard seizing 1,100 cases of whiskey.  The local Edwin C. Halsey Post of the American Legion was doing a cigarette drive to send cigarettes to disabled veterans in the Northport Hospital at Christmas. 45,000 cigarettes were collected.  The Library decided to open for two hours on Sundays, allowing a short period for reading, but no book borrowing. In a 1935 letter, Rev. Eells described fishing as the main industry in town.  He wrote East Hampton had in the summer some of America’s most prominent citizen’s as residents. 

As the manse was having work done when the Eells family arrived, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Miller offered their cottage on Dunemere Lane to the family for the next few weeks.  The minister’s temporary phone number, at the Miller’s, was posted in the paper. Within 6 months of his arrival, the East Hampton Star reported Rev. Eells and his whole household were very sick with the grippe.  The minister who was said to be in serious condition, also has a step infection on his skin. A New York Specialist was called in and he was also under the care of two local physicians and two local nurses. 

The Presbyterian Church in the 1930’s had a large Sunday School, overseen by Sunday School Superintendent Edward T. Dayton (known as E.T. Dayton), and later Geoffrey Bass (1934), an active Women’s Association, a Missionary Society, a Christian Endeavor Society, a Kings Daughters Chapter, the Springs Chapel Association, Senior and Junior Choirs, and the Christian Brotherhood men’s group. Sunday worship was at 10:45 am, Sunday School for juniors and intermediates was at 9:30am and beginners and primary students at 10:45.  Christian Endeavor was Sunday nights at 7 pm. The Springs Chapel service was Sundays at 8pm. Occasionally Services were led at the Chapel by a group of young people known as the Stony Brook (University) Fellowship Team.   In some years, a Thursday night service or prayer meeting was held at 7:30pm. The Annual Congregational Meeting was held on a weekday evening, one year at 8pm followed by ice cream. During Rev. Eells call in East Hampton, the Session was made up of: George Bass, Baldwin Cook Talmage, Stanley Miller, L. Stanley Talmage, Gilbert Miller, Eugene Lester, John Dayton, William Y. Strong, Thomas Crane, Frank Tillinghast, James H. Mulford, Frank B. Eldredge, Charles O. Gould, C. Louis Edwards (Clerk of Session) and Rev. E. E. Eells. The Board of Trustees was clerked by Newt N. Tiffany, with members: Percy Schenck, I.Y. Halsey, K.E. Davis, Ernest Miller and W. H. Strong. 

In February 1934, Rev. Eells went with I.Y. Halsey and Felix Dominy to the Civilian Conservation Camp (CCC) in Bridgehampton to show photographs and talk to 200 young men about Dominy and Halsey’s recent hunting trip to New Brunswick. 

Rev. Eells had varied professional interests. Rev. Eells researched and gave historical addresses on the early history of the East Hampton Church and its ministers, as well as Indian life here during the colonial days and missionary work among the Indians. While preparing for a historical address on Indian Missionary Work on Long Island, Rev. Eells discovered Montauk deeds at the Long Island Historical Society.  The Town of East Hampton said they owned the deeds, and they had been given to Arthur Benson for safekeeping, and his executors inadvertently gave them to the Long Island Historical Society.  Rev. Eells is also given credit for bringing the 1717 Church’s Clock back to East Hampton permanently after an absence of 50 years.  Several of the town’s oldest resident’s recalled seeing and hearing the clock, and were reported to be under a debt of gratitude to Rev. Eells for bringing the clock back to East Hampton for future generations to see.  

As the East Hampton Church at the time, also had responsibilities for the Springs Chapel, Rev. Eells had the assistance of paid student ministers for 10 weeks each summer.  In the summer of June 1933, Rev. Eells had a paid student assistant, John Bouquet.   Bouquet lived and worked extensively in Springs at the Springs Chapel.  Rev. Eells wife, Ada Cox Eells’ family had a summer camp in Sebago, Maine, called Camp Hiawatha.  They enjoyed bringing their boys there in the summer. Rev. Bouquet would cover Sunday services in East Hampton during the family’s August vacations.  In the summer of 1934, the Student Assistant from the Princeton Theological Seminary Class of 1935 was (Rev.) S. Carson Wasson who boarded at the home of Baldwin Cook Talmage and later Mr.  & Mrs. Frank Tillinghast.  In summer 1935, the student intern from Princeton was Patrick W. Brink (1909 -1976).

In 1935, the Long Island Presbytery appointed Rev. Eells to look into a controversial matter of the New York Board of Education’s attempts to close a school on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation in Mastic, NY.  Rev. Eells was described as a strong advocate for the Unkechaug Indians. In John A. Strong’s book, on the Unkechaugs, he wrote the state education officials “were taken aback and undoubtedly quite surprised to find such a well-informed adversary as Rev. Eells”.   In 1935, Rev Eells agreed to get markers and signage to mark the entrance and history of the Poospatuck Reservation.  In its 235 year history, there were never markers to note its existence. Rev. Eells made headlines when he traveled up island to the 55-acre Poospatuck Reservation in Mastic, to “bitterly protest the actions of the State Board of Education, for closing down the reservation’s school”.  East Hampton Resident Morton Pennypacker also opposed the closing of the school and worked with Rev. Eells on the issue.  Rev. Eells called the closure of the nine student school a “historic calamity” and an attempt by the state to remove the Unkechaugs from their homes and reservation and sacred ground where their ancestors have been buried for 235 years.  In December of that year, Rev. Eells and Pennypacker testified at a trial in Riverhead over the conflict. 

Rev. Eells joined the Officer Corp of the U.S. Army Reserve in 1924.   Each year, he was called to serve two weeks of reserve duty. In July 1935, Rev. Eells served his two weeks reserve duty at Fort Niagara with the 98th Army Division.

In 1936, the East Hampton Star reported Rev. Eells wrote an appeal to the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, “at the request of our leading citizens”, to prevent the closure of many Coast Guard Life Saving Stations along the ocean beaches. 

In 1936, Rev. Eells and the Church hosted the Long Island Presbytery Meeting, with 100 present from 24 churches. Rev. Eells, during his time in East Hampton, served as Chaplain for the Star of the East Masonic Lodge, along with church members Percy Schenck, Frank Dayton, Lewis Edwards and Alexander Shott to name a few.  Rev. Eells favorite pastime was genealogy.  In 1934, he and his wife traveled from East Hampton to New Milford, CT to visit the Eells-Stowe house built in 1660.  Proving a local belief, that everyone in East Hampton is related, Rev. Eells reported he shared ancestry with Josiah Edwards born in East Hampton in 1671. Rev. Eells and his son Calvin also enjoyed beekeeping, with a bee hive at the manse.  Calvin labeled bottles “1934 Honey, Garden Corner Apiary, Calvin Eells, Prop.”  The honey was distributed to “convalescents” in the village, and sold thru advertisements in the East Hampton Star.

Mrs. Eells’ obituary described her as “a woman of charm, culture and refinement, an ideal minister’s wife”.  While in East Hampton, Mrs. Eells served as Vice President of the Church’s Women’s Association and was active in the Ramblers- a women’s literary group, the Order of the Eastern Star, and enjoyed playing bridge.  At one November Rambler’s meeting in 1937, Mrs. Eells hosted the meeting at the manse.  The four children of James M. Strong performed in a quartet and Mrs. Eells son David played a piccolo solo accompanied on piano by his mother. In 1936, Rev. Eells presided over a double wedding ceremony of Gladys Fink and Leroy Parsons, and Alice Wiedegreen and Nathan Conklin.  Alice Conklin (1908-2006) was a long term member of the church. In 1936, Rev. Eells presided over the funeral of Melinda Tucker Dayton (Mrs. A.P. Dayton), age 51, a founding member of the Choral Society in 1923.

In May 1938, Rev. Eells was named Director of the Board of Directors, for his alma mater, the Auburn Theological Seminary in Alabama.  When he accepted the position, he reminded the Board of East Hampton’s connection to the founding of Auburn University and the Auburn Theological Seminary:

….Rev. Asa Hillyer, the first to preach at Auburn, was Principal of Clinton Academy 150 years ago.  Rev. James Richards, a member of the faculty of the Seminary was a protégé of Dr. Buell and a pastor on Shelter Island and Sag Harbor in his youth.  Dr. Henry Davis, a founder of the Seminary, was a native of East Hampton, and two others, Rev. Luther Halsey, and Rev. Jeremiah Osborne, were descended from East Hampton Ancestors. The Seminary President ….expressed his great pleasure in having Long Island Presbytery again connected with Auburn Seminary and thanked Mr. Eells for accepting the Office of Director. East Hampton Star, May 12, 1938

On a windy day in April 1938, the church furnace overheated causing a great deal of smoke.  The sexton Phineas Dickinson, threw a bucket on water on it and became overwhelmed by the resulting smoke.  Mrs. Eells, saved the day, running into the street to summon Herbert Bennett from a passing truck.  The paper reported Bennet “pulled the dazed Sexton from the church”.  $1000 of damaged was caused with repairs needed for a new heater, carpet, linoleum and carpentry work. 

A bigger wind was ahead for the Eells family and the town of East Hampton.  On September 21, 1938, the Eells family were in East Hampton, to experience one of the largest and most powerful hurricanes in recorded history.  Most likely the Eells children, Calvin, a 17 year old senior, and David, age 11, road out the storm at school.  Teachers held a dance in the auditorium and played the Victrola at full volume to drown out the fierce sound of the wind.  The children were able to walk home after the winds had died down around 6pm. The following day, the Star reported barely a tree standing on Main Street, 68 trees were down on Main Street alone.  The spire of the Session House and the steeple of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church were blown off. A few days after the storm, Rev. Eells and Rev. W. G. Aldridge of the Methodist Church, presided over the funeral for Springs fisherman Samuel Edwards, 35, who along with his brother Gilbert, 30, and fellow fisherman Vivien Smith, were drowned at sea during the hurricane.  Samuel Edwards’ body had washed up on Block Island.

In the December 1938 issue of the quarterly journal, Church History, Rev. Eells published an article on the unpublished journal of Rev. George Whitefield, a famous evangelist, detailing his life from 1744 to 1745, during which time he met and gave his opinion of East Hampton’s Rev. Buell.  The journal had been in the Princeton Theological Seminary Library since 1816.  The journal bears an inscription showing that it was given to the seminary by Dr. John R. B. Rodgers, the famous pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New York.  Possibly the journal was part of the papers which Dr. Rodgers is said to have guarded and carried about in a trunk during the Revolutionary War.  The East Hampton Star called Rev. Eells article “a great contribution to Long Island’s church history”.

In his 10 years in East Hampton, the minister’s young son, David, grew from a toddler to a teen, and along the way made many memories, some more permanent than others. Twice the papers reported on young David being quite ill, once with the Flu and once with pneumonia.  He had once broken an arm falling out of a hammock.  In 1939, the Star reported David Eells, age 12 , had fallen on the ice while skating on Town Pond and knocked out three of his teeth.  In another accident, the previous summer, David had broken two teeth.  David sang in the church choir and performed in church events and school plays.

Rev. Eells son Calvin, was valedictorian of the East Hampton Class of 1939.  He graduated from Lafayette University in Easton, Pa, with a degree in mathematics, in 1943.  He was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. He had completed an advanced R.O.T. C. course and was drafted in the Army during World War II.  He was assigned to the European Theatre where he was a tank platoon leader in the 2nd Armored Division.  In the fall of 1943, in Germany, his tank was destroyed by enemy fire. The 24 year old officer was the only one of his tank crew to survive.  While severely injured, he was able to direct other tanks to safety. Cal, as he was known, spent more than a year in Army hospitals from Belgium to San Francisco, suffering from burns and severe hepatitis which was caused by blood transfusions given to him in Belgium.  In 1945, Lt. Calvin Eells, was presented the nation’s second highest award, the Distinguished Service Cross   The honor was pinned on the injured Lt. Eells, at Fort Monmouth NJ.  Lt. Eells had requested Brig. Gen. Stephen H. Sherrill, Commanding General of the Eastern Signal Corps Training Center, to present the award, as they were both graduates of East Hampton High School.  Calvin Eells obituary described him as a faithful man, he believed that he was always in God’s care. Calvin Eells recovered from his war injuries and died at the age of 100, in Florida in 2022.

With World War II raging in Europe, Rev. Eells was called from East Hampton into a one year active duty assignment from October 1940 to October 1941.  He was assigned as Chaplain, to the Headquarters of the 26 Infantry Regiment in Plattsburgh, NY. The church granted Rev. Eells a one year leave of absence with the understanding that he would return to duties at the church.  If he chose to stay in the service longer than a year, he agreed he would resign. A retired minister, living in Bridgehampton, Rev. Edgar Hyde, filled in during Rev. Eells one year leave of absence.   In September 1941, Rev. Eells submitted his resignation, after he decided continue in active duty for the Army.  In November 1941, he joined the Corps of Chaplains at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Mrs. Eells supervised the families move from the Manse in December 1941.  After leaving East Hampton, like his father and older brother, son David would also serve overseas in the U. S. Army during World War II. 

 In 1943, newspapers reported Rev. Eells led Easter services to an audience of 6,000 in the base’s outdoor theater in New Jersey.  Joined by a choir of 200 and a 35 piece orchestra, the large scale service was also broadcast over the radio.  During the war, Rev. Eells traveled to North Africa, and Italy.  He left the Army in 1946, with the rank of Lt. Col.  He and his wife were reported to have moved briefly to Decatur, Georgia to work for the Presbyterian Ministers Fund for Life Insurance Company. 

Prior to his departure, while in East Hampton, during the war years, Rev. Eells created a chapter of the Presbyterian Men’s Brotherhood, a bible study and group encouraging church service. The Men’s group was interdenominational and held suppers and meetings in the Session House.  He was invited back to speak to this group in 1946, about his experiences thru the Italian campaign as an Army Chaplain during WWII.  By 1948, a chapter of the Women’s Association of the East Hampton Presbyterian Church was known as the Earnest Eells Chapter.

After his Army service, from the late 1940’s thru 1954, Rev. Eells was Pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Canton, NY, home to Sarah Lawrence University.  While in Canton, his wife Ada, became ill, and after spending most of 1951 in the hospital, died on December 6, 1951, at the age of 59.

The following year, in December 1952, Rev. Eells remarried.  His second wife, a widow, Florence Wilson-Gallagher, (1893-1991) lived in Canton, NY.  Florence had one daughter.  Her only son, Robert, died serving his country during World War II on Iwo Jima in 1945.  In 1954, Rev Eells and Florence retired to Sebago, Maine where he served as a supply pastor.  Son Calvin established his residence in Sebago after the war.  In 1955, Rev. Eells, began year round weekly services in the Sebago Center Community Church, founded in 1876.  The church was used by Congregational and Baptist congregations, and for years previously, had only offered summer services.

Rev. Eells returned to East Hampton again in September 1958, to guest preach.  He stayed as a guest of E. T. Dayton. The following year, son Calvin Eells returned to East Hampton for his 20th Class Reunion, the East Hampton High School’s Class of 1939. 

In 1961, Rev. Eells served as the Interim Pastor for the North Bridgton Congregational Church in Portland, ME.

In 1965, Rev. Eells and his wife Florence, left the cold Maine winters behind and relocated to Lakeland, Florida.  It was here, in 1981, that Rev. Eells died at the age of 89, after a lifetime of service to God and country.  His wife Florence died in Lakeland, Florida, ten years later, at the age of 98.  

                                                                                                                                                                                 -H.O.M.

Eells, Earnest E..,Rev., Indian Preachers and Work Among Long Island Indians, East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY (1935, Mar 7, 14 & 21) p. 4 & 7

Eells, Earnest E., Rev., Indian Deeds Claimed By Town, East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY (1935, April 4), p.1

Relics of Pres. Church, Long in Brooklyn, Back Here, East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY (1935, April 25), p.1

Eells, Earnest E., Rev., Long Island Presbytery Hears Report on Poosepatuck {sic} Dispute, East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY (1935, April 25), p.6

Presbyterian Church Relics Attract Great Interest Here, East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY (1935, May 2), p.1

Jottings (Easter Services-Clock Returned), East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY (1935, May 2), p.4

Cleric Leads Fight on Indian Eviction, Daily News, New York, NY, (1935, June 3)p. 379

Court Fight Looms Over Indian Reservation, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, NY (1935, Jun 14), p. 3

Senior Class Urged to be Discreet by Rev. E.E. Eells, Baccalaureate Speech, East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY, (1935, July 4) p. 7

E.E. Eells, Rev. Career of Rev. Samuel Buell Here 1746-1798, East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY (1935,July 11 & 18) p.2

Poosepatucks{sic} to Express Thanks to Rev. E.E. Eells, East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY (1935, (1935, Sep 5) p.2

Earnest E. Eells, 200 Year Old Clock Now Being Restored, East Hampton,Star, East Hampton, NY, (1935, Oct 24), p.23

Delays Decision of Poosepatucks, Times Union, Brooklyn, NY, (1935, Dec 7), p. 9

Church and State in Early L.I. Subject of Rev. E.E. Eells’ Talk, East Hampton Star, East Hampton, NY, (1939, June 15)

The Unkechuag Indians of Eastern Long Island: A History, 2013, Strong, John A. University of Oklahoma Press