Louis Michel Francois Chabrier de Peloubet
(or simply Cliabrier Pelonbet, as lie always signed his name) was born in Philadelphia, February 22. 1806. His childhood was spent chiefly in New York City, and in Athens, Hndson, and Catskill on the Hudson. He learned the trade of making musical instruments, and while quite young he set up business for himself in New York City. He was married April 27, 1829, to Miss Harriet Hanks. Their four elder children were born in New York City. In 1836 they moved to Bloomfield, N. J., where all the rest of his life was spent. Here he continued to manufacture flutes and other wind instruments of wood till 1849, when he changed his business and commenced the manufacture of cabinet organs, in which business he continued, in connection with his son Jarvis. till his death in 1885.
(From Joseph Alexander de Chabrier de Peloubet
THE FIRST OF THE NAME IN THE UNITED STATES
WITH THE FUNERAL ADDRESS OF HIS ELDEST SON
L. M. F. Chabrier Peloubet)
Funeral Address
Bloomfield, N. J., Dec. 1, 1885
Delivered in the Bloomfield Presbyterian Church at the hurial of Elder L.M.F. CHABRIER PELOUBET,
By Rev. Henry W. Ballantine, Pastor.
Scripture Selections read :
Job V: 17-27.
Proverbs x: 20-32
Matt. XXV: 19-23 and 31-40.
Rev. xxi: 1-7.
When King David heard of Abner's death he lamented in the presence of his servants: "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? And I am this day weak, though anointed King."
So I feel, Christian friends, as pastor of this church, weak to-day. having no more the wise counsel and ever helpfnl aid of our faithful elder here to lean on.
So the whole, town feels weak, at having lost his steady voice and walk and work as citizen, that were always fearlessly and faithfuly given for every good cause.
We are all bereaved; for to him we have all been indebted.
Some of us heard a certain man say on Sunday last that there is not in Bloomfield one man or woman or child that is not to-day the better, in fortune, in health, in bodily comforts, in morals, in intelligence, in religlous hope, for what this good man, who now lies here, has done by his living among us.
For himself he needs no eulogy. In some cases surviving friends seen to think that the future state of their deceased relatives chiefly depend upon what the minister may say in praise of them at the funeral, and on the gathering of a large number to show respect. Those are the cases where there is least of good to be said truthfully, and least cause to show honor. But our friend here is not of that sort. His eternal well-being is not waiting upon anything we shall here say or do. Not one word of request or wish did he himself express concerning his funeral. We do not know that he even thought of it. It is to ourselves we are doing service by attending here; not to him.
Mr. Chabrier Peloubet came to reside in Bloomfield about fifty years ago, being at that time 30 years old, with a young wife and little children.
He was poor in fortune, but brought with him "an honest and a brave heart, integrity of character, industry, habits of economy and perseverance, a willingness to endure hardship for the right, and above all a conscience exercised to keep itself "void of offense toward God and toward men."
He was not, however, kindly received. People regarded him as an impracticable, uncomfortable sort of man. They suspected him and spoke against him.
I remember his telling me of the deep pain it gave him to find that an officer of the church had gone so far once as to advise a newly installed pastor to be on his guard with reference to him. You, friends, cannot appreciate the preposterousness of such advice as I do, who have for ten years borne to this man the relation of pastor. No pastor ever had a stancher or more faithful supporter than he has been to me, and I am confident that he was the same to my predecessors. This was one of his cardinal principles: to be loyal to the church and its authority. But by patient perseverance in well-doing, by integrity and Christian meekness, and a spirit of forgiveness, and of true godliness, he lived down in course of time all that suspicion and distrust.
They had altogether passed away when I was first privileged to know him. God set his seal of approval by letting his servant live to know himself respected by all.
He was spared to pass among us his golden wedding, the 50th anniversary of his marriage: to see his children and his children's children to the third generation; and no man has died here better known, or held in higher esteem, or possessing more largely the affection and confidence of our people.
In God's providence he was called to approach the close of life through a long and painful illness of eleven months. It gave him opportunity to look back over his life's course, and in this occupation he spent much time.
I remember calling upon him one day in the month of August last and finding him so engaged. The matter being fresh in his mind, he gave me some of his observations. His life, he said, he preferred to date from his conversion, when he was at the age of 19 years. Since that time he had tried to live by two principles: 1. To be just in all things. 2. To be useful.
How completely unselfish! That was indeed a true conversion: a turning from all selfish pleasure and avarice to make one's self useful as the chiefest aim!
His life, ordered on these principles, exhibited richly the qualities which our age is most lacking in. Let me hold it up to you:
I. Be just in all things.
He carried this out with a determination to do right at whatever cost, not excepting that of his own ease.
(1) He would not live beyond his means. He was willing to be frugal.
(2) He would not wrong another by word or deed.
Those who had to do with him found him strict and severe in his requirements; but it was always plain that he was no more so with others than with himself.
(3) He was never willing to be "partaker of other men's sins." This principle it was that brought him to be an Abolitionist in the days when to that name great obloquy attached. He felt within himself that the holding a fellow man in bondage was wrong; and he would not, by any vote or act of his, give support to that wrong - neither was he willing to let it go in silence, without protesting. He would not, even indirectly, support the employment of slave labor, or so much as purchase the products of such labor. At great inconvenience, and no little increase of expense, he was accustomed to drive to New York (before the railroad was built to Bloomfield) for all his family supplies, because there, in one certain store, he could trade without involving himself with slave-holding. So he would not deal with any who were in any wise engaged in the rum traffic.
(4) He hated evil. This was the cause of his before-mentioned unpopularity. Wrong-doers felt themselves condemned in his presence. But he read in the Scriptures: "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. He preserveth the souls of his saints. He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness."
With others, of like evil-hating spirit, he was mobbed once here in Bloomfield for his Abolitionist declarations ; but he lived to see the whole country brought to accept his convictions about slavery: and it may be well for us all to consider whether, as he confessedly saw clearer than most others in that matter, it be not wise to accept his judgment also concerning the other evil he took so firm a stand against; I mean the rum traffic.
II. The second great principle of our venerated friend's life was, to he useful.
This also contributed, along with the former principle, to make him the Abolitionist and the Temperance Advocate he was, through a benevolent interest to help the slave and the poor victim of drink. But his aim to be useful discovered itself in more wavs than these.
(1) First, in his business - this he never conducted with sole reference to his own profits; but it comforted him not a little in the careful reviewing of his life to know that he had been able, by it, for many years to furnish not a few men, young and old, with honorable work and remunerative wages. His business has contributed largely to the general prosperity of our town.
(2) The poor found always in him a friend. His was that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father" that" visits the fatherless and widows in their affliction," as well as keeps itself unspotted from the world. Many gifts of timely relief to the needy, I, as his pastor, had cocasion to know of, as he would often inquire of me about the circumstances of those he thought of helping. And when in recent years reverses in business came, his greatest expressed regret, and, I verily believe, his chiefest regret, was that his benefactions to others had to be so much curtailed. They by no means ceased, however.
(3) Another notable direction that his aim to be useful took was to interest himself in the education of the children. With the exception of a single year he has been continuously in office as School Trustee in this town since our present public school system was established, and it is not invidious to say that no other trustee has ever approached him in respect of the time and care and personal labor given to the schools. Almost every day he visited them, with an affectionate interest and kind solicitude for the welfare of both teachers and scholars that was evident to us all. In times of warm contention in the town about school management, whatever changes were made in the board he was always trusted and retained by the desire of all parties.
He did good service for the young as a faithful Sunday School teacher and Superintendent, and made himself a place whose vacancy will long be difficult to fill as a witness for true religion in our meetings and in his whole daily walk.
(4) All benevolent works enlisted his interest, particularly those connected with the church, as the cause of Foreign Missions, and Schools among the Freedmen, and the training of teachers and of ministers.
He was one of the directors of our Bloomfield Savings Bank, in which, with others, he hoped to encourage thrift and providence among the poor.
As a most diligent custodian of our village cemetery he did much to brighten away the gloom of death by making the resting place of our deceased friends and kindred more beautiful.
(5) To the last he was, before all other offices and services, an Elder in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here he allowed himself to open all the stores of his love and service without restraint. Here was his joy; for truly he loved the Lord with all his heart. From Christ's church nothing was held back. To minister to the least of Christ's disciples was for him a precious privilege. By his irreproachable life, his devoutness, his brotherly love, his charity, and prayers, and words of exhortation and comfort, by his wise counsels and godly walk he has shed a luster, for more than twenty years, upon this sacred office of the Eldership.
Until his death he was the faithful and careful custodian of the Session's fund for relieving the poor, and until his last illness was always pre-eminent among his fellow elders for regular and punctual attendance upon meetings of the Session and other church courts to which he was appointed. Perhaps in recent years he had less to interfere with this punctuality; but it is due to truth to say that he took care not to allow other matters to interfere.
During the months of his illness many visited him to express their sympathy and regard, which he truly and gratefully appreciated. In particular he mentioned to me one day that every pastor in the village had so called within a brief time, including the Roman Catholic, and a tear came in his eye as he went on to tell that he had not expected ever in this life to receive such respect.
"My life," said he "has been one full of trials; and not the least of them arose out of my being obliged to live so long with so little of the sympathy of my neighbors," referring to his unpopularity as an Abolitionist and Temperance reformer. "It was not because I have not valued men's approval and love; but because I must seek God's approval and that of my own conscience first. I never expected to be popular; I could not have been had I so desired, with my convictions; but I always tried to have others, with whom I worked, accorded the credit of any good we did." So again, friends, was fulfilled that assurance of our Lord's, "Give and It shall be given unto you," and, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" As he was not swerved or ever deterred from doing right by love of esteem, as many are, so, I thank God, this. His servant, lived to command and to receive, before the eyes of us all, a universal respect and love such as few men win.
On another day, nearer his end, he repeated to me how grateful the satisfaction was in looking back over his life to find: first, that he had not lived an altogether useless life, and secondly, that at last he had been able to prove before all, and to have acknowledged by all, the purity of his motives.
Concerning usefulness, he said he regarded religious usefulness the highest, and went on to compare himself with Mr. Harlan Page, so eminent for leading many souls to Christ. Mr. Page lie had personally known.
"I am not able to say," said our friend, "that alone, and without others' instrumentality concurring. I have even led one soul to the Saviour, but with my wife's help, who always heartily joined with me in every good endeavor, I hope I have been the means of saving some. I can say this: that no servant has ever served in our family, or apprentice lived with us for any considerable time, without giving evidence of being converted. I have been thinking over and can now count more than forty such!"
What a home influence this was, friends! And what a rebuke this amazing result to the many heads of families and employers who neglect and overlook the spiritual welfare of their servants.
Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Thou hast passed into the heavens, the earth follows thee with benedictions. Thy children rise up and call thee blessed. No richer inheritance than theirs can a father leave to those he loves. The workmen, to whom the great business builded up by thy prudence furnishes employment and support, are here to honor thee. The children of the village, whom thou caredst for so faithfully, their teachers, and their grateful parents, are here to thank God for thee. The poor, and all who have friends among the poor, are present to shed a tear for thee.
All who have loved ones among the dead are here to wish thee peace and follow thee to thy grave. May thy body sleep in the sweetest spot of yonder yard thou didst so much to adorn! All thy fellow citizens are here lamenting thy departure from among us.
The Church praises her divine Master for such a disciple. Thou wast of them that "counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of earth," and lo! having suffered with the Lord, thou art gone to reign with Him.
Thou art gone to be companion of him who wrote, "I have fought a good flght, I have finished my course, I, have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."
Thou hast been now joined to them that have "come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
Having "overcome," thou hast gone to "inherit all things," by the grace of Him that saith, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and
I will be his God and he shall be my Son."
Blessed be He who aives eternal life!
Amen. Amen.
(or simply Cliabrier Pelonbet, as lie always signed his name) was born in Philadelphia, February 22. 1806. His childhood was spent chiefly in New York City, and in Athens, Hndson, and Catskill on the Hudson. He learned the trade of making musical instruments, and while quite young he set up business for himself in New York City. He was married April 27, 1829, to Miss Harriet Hanks. Their four elder children were born in New York City. In 1836 they moved to Bloomfield, N. J., where all the rest of his life was spent. Here he continued to manufacture flutes and other wind instruments of wood till 1849, when he changed his business and commenced the manufacture of cabinet organs, in which business he continued, in connection with his son Jarvis. till his death in 1885.
(From Joseph Alexander de Chabrier de Peloubet
THE FIRST OF THE NAME IN THE UNITED STATES
WITH THE FUNERAL ADDRESS OF HIS ELDEST SON
L. M. F. Chabrier Peloubet)
Funeral Address
Bloomfield, N. J., Dec. 1, 1885
Delivered in the Bloomfield Presbyterian Church at the hurial of Elder L.M.F. CHABRIER PELOUBET,
By Rev. Henry W. Ballantine, Pastor.
Scripture Selections read :
Job V: 17-27.
Proverbs x: 20-32
Matt. XXV: 19-23 and 31-40.
Rev. xxi: 1-7.
When King David heard of Abner's death he lamented in the presence of his servants: "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? And I am this day weak, though anointed King."
So I feel, Christian friends, as pastor of this church, weak to-day. having no more the wise counsel and ever helpfnl aid of our faithful elder here to lean on.
So the whole, town feels weak, at having lost his steady voice and walk and work as citizen, that were always fearlessly and faithfuly given for every good cause.
We are all bereaved; for to him we have all been indebted.
Some of us heard a certain man say on Sunday last that there is not in Bloomfield one man or woman or child that is not to-day the better, in fortune, in health, in bodily comforts, in morals, in intelligence, in religlous hope, for what this good man, who now lies here, has done by his living among us.
For himself he needs no eulogy. In some cases surviving friends seen to think that the future state of their deceased relatives chiefly depend upon what the minister may say in praise of them at the funeral, and on the gathering of a large number to show respect. Those are the cases where there is least of good to be said truthfully, and least cause to show honor. But our friend here is not of that sort. His eternal well-being is not waiting upon anything we shall here say or do. Not one word of request or wish did he himself express concerning his funeral. We do not know that he even thought of it. It is to ourselves we are doing service by attending here; not to him.
Mr. Chabrier Peloubet came to reside in Bloomfield about fifty years ago, being at that time 30 years old, with a young wife and little children.
He was poor in fortune, but brought with him "an honest and a brave heart, integrity of character, industry, habits of economy and perseverance, a willingness to endure hardship for the right, and above all a conscience exercised to keep itself "void of offense toward God and toward men."
He was not, however, kindly received. People regarded him as an impracticable, uncomfortable sort of man. They suspected him and spoke against him.
I remember his telling me of the deep pain it gave him to find that an officer of the church had gone so far once as to advise a newly installed pastor to be on his guard with reference to him. You, friends, cannot appreciate the preposterousness of such advice as I do, who have for ten years borne to this man the relation of pastor. No pastor ever had a stancher or more faithful supporter than he has been to me, and I am confident that he was the same to my predecessors. This was one of his cardinal principles: to be loyal to the church and its authority. But by patient perseverance in well-doing, by integrity and Christian meekness, and a spirit of forgiveness, and of true godliness, he lived down in course of time all that suspicion and distrust.
They had altogether passed away when I was first privileged to know him. God set his seal of approval by letting his servant live to know himself respected by all.
He was spared to pass among us his golden wedding, the 50th anniversary of his marriage: to see his children and his children's children to the third generation; and no man has died here better known, or held in higher esteem, or possessing more largely the affection and confidence of our people.
In God's providence he was called to approach the close of life through a long and painful illness of eleven months. It gave him opportunity to look back over his life's course, and in this occupation he spent much time.
I remember calling upon him one day in the month of August last and finding him so engaged. The matter being fresh in his mind, he gave me some of his observations. His life, he said, he preferred to date from his conversion, when he was at the age of 19 years. Since that time he had tried to live by two principles: 1. To be just in all things. 2. To be useful.
How completely unselfish! That was indeed a true conversion: a turning from all selfish pleasure and avarice to make one's self useful as the chiefest aim!
His life, ordered on these principles, exhibited richly the qualities which our age is most lacking in. Let me hold it up to you:
I. Be just in all things.
He carried this out with a determination to do right at whatever cost, not excepting that of his own ease.
(1) He would not live beyond his means. He was willing to be frugal.
(2) He would not wrong another by word or deed.
Those who had to do with him found him strict and severe in his requirements; but it was always plain that he was no more so with others than with himself.
(3) He was never willing to be "partaker of other men's sins." This principle it was that brought him to be an Abolitionist in the days when to that name great obloquy attached. He felt within himself that the holding a fellow man in bondage was wrong; and he would not, by any vote or act of his, give support to that wrong - neither was he willing to let it go in silence, without protesting. He would not, even indirectly, support the employment of slave labor, or so much as purchase the products of such labor. At great inconvenience, and no little increase of expense, he was accustomed to drive to New York (before the railroad was built to Bloomfield) for all his family supplies, because there, in one certain store, he could trade without involving himself with slave-holding. So he would not deal with any who were in any wise engaged in the rum traffic.
(4) He hated evil. This was the cause of his before-mentioned unpopularity. Wrong-doers felt themselves condemned in his presence. But he read in the Scriptures: "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. He preserveth the souls of his saints. He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness."
With others, of like evil-hating spirit, he was mobbed once here in Bloomfield for his Abolitionist declarations ; but he lived to see the whole country brought to accept his convictions about slavery: and it may be well for us all to consider whether, as he confessedly saw clearer than most others in that matter, it be not wise to accept his judgment also concerning the other evil he took so firm a stand against; I mean the rum traffic.
II. The second great principle of our venerated friend's life was, to he useful.
This also contributed, along with the former principle, to make him the Abolitionist and the Temperance Advocate he was, through a benevolent interest to help the slave and the poor victim of drink. But his aim to be useful discovered itself in more wavs than these.
(1) First, in his business - this he never conducted with sole reference to his own profits; but it comforted him not a little in the careful reviewing of his life to know that he had been able, by it, for many years to furnish not a few men, young and old, with honorable work and remunerative wages. His business has contributed largely to the general prosperity of our town.
(2) The poor found always in him a friend. His was that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father" that" visits the fatherless and widows in their affliction," as well as keeps itself unspotted from the world. Many gifts of timely relief to the needy, I, as his pastor, had cocasion to know of, as he would often inquire of me about the circumstances of those he thought of helping. And when in recent years reverses in business came, his greatest expressed regret, and, I verily believe, his chiefest regret, was that his benefactions to others had to be so much curtailed. They by no means ceased, however.
(3) Another notable direction that his aim to be useful took was to interest himself in the education of the children. With the exception of a single year he has been continuously in office as School Trustee in this town since our present public school system was established, and it is not invidious to say that no other trustee has ever approached him in respect of the time and care and personal labor given to the schools. Almost every day he visited them, with an affectionate interest and kind solicitude for the welfare of both teachers and scholars that was evident to us all. In times of warm contention in the town about school management, whatever changes were made in the board he was always trusted and retained by the desire of all parties.
He did good service for the young as a faithful Sunday School teacher and Superintendent, and made himself a place whose vacancy will long be difficult to fill as a witness for true religion in our meetings and in his whole daily walk.
(4) All benevolent works enlisted his interest, particularly those connected with the church, as the cause of Foreign Missions, and Schools among the Freedmen, and the training of teachers and of ministers.
He was one of the directors of our Bloomfield Savings Bank, in which, with others, he hoped to encourage thrift and providence among the poor.
As a most diligent custodian of our village cemetery he did much to brighten away the gloom of death by making the resting place of our deceased friends and kindred more beautiful.
(5) To the last he was, before all other offices and services, an Elder in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here he allowed himself to open all the stores of his love and service without restraint. Here was his joy; for truly he loved the Lord with all his heart. From Christ's church nothing was held back. To minister to the least of Christ's disciples was for him a precious privilege. By his irreproachable life, his devoutness, his brotherly love, his charity, and prayers, and words of exhortation and comfort, by his wise counsels and godly walk he has shed a luster, for more than twenty years, upon this sacred office of the Eldership.
Until his death he was the faithful and careful custodian of the Session's fund for relieving the poor, and until his last illness was always pre-eminent among his fellow elders for regular and punctual attendance upon meetings of the Session and other church courts to which he was appointed. Perhaps in recent years he had less to interfere with this punctuality; but it is due to truth to say that he took care not to allow other matters to interfere.
During the months of his illness many visited him to express their sympathy and regard, which he truly and gratefully appreciated. In particular he mentioned to me one day that every pastor in the village had so called within a brief time, including the Roman Catholic, and a tear came in his eye as he went on to tell that he had not expected ever in this life to receive such respect.
"My life," said he "has been one full of trials; and not the least of them arose out of my being obliged to live so long with so little of the sympathy of my neighbors," referring to his unpopularity as an Abolitionist and Temperance reformer. "It was not because I have not valued men's approval and love; but because I must seek God's approval and that of my own conscience first. I never expected to be popular; I could not have been had I so desired, with my convictions; but I always tried to have others, with whom I worked, accorded the credit of any good we did." So again, friends, was fulfilled that assurance of our Lord's, "Give and It shall be given unto you," and, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" As he was not swerved or ever deterred from doing right by love of esteem, as many are, so, I thank God, this. His servant, lived to command and to receive, before the eyes of us all, a universal respect and love such as few men win.
On another day, nearer his end, he repeated to me how grateful the satisfaction was in looking back over his life to find: first, that he had not lived an altogether useless life, and secondly, that at last he had been able to prove before all, and to have acknowledged by all, the purity of his motives.
Concerning usefulness, he said he regarded religious usefulness the highest, and went on to compare himself with Mr. Harlan Page, so eminent for leading many souls to Christ. Mr. Page lie had personally known.
"I am not able to say," said our friend, "that alone, and without others' instrumentality concurring. I have even led one soul to the Saviour, but with my wife's help, who always heartily joined with me in every good endeavor, I hope I have been the means of saving some. I can say this: that no servant has ever served in our family, or apprentice lived with us for any considerable time, without giving evidence of being converted. I have been thinking over and can now count more than forty such!"
What a home influence this was, friends! And what a rebuke this amazing result to the many heads of families and employers who neglect and overlook the spiritual welfare of their servants.
Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Thou hast passed into the heavens, the earth follows thee with benedictions. Thy children rise up and call thee blessed. No richer inheritance than theirs can a father leave to those he loves. The workmen, to whom the great business builded up by thy prudence furnishes employment and support, are here to honor thee. The children of the village, whom thou caredst for so faithfully, their teachers, and their grateful parents, are here to thank God for thee. The poor, and all who have friends among the poor, are present to shed a tear for thee.
All who have loved ones among the dead are here to wish thee peace and follow thee to thy grave. May thy body sleep in the sweetest spot of yonder yard thou didst so much to adorn! All thy fellow citizens are here lamenting thy departure from among us.
The Church praises her divine Master for such a disciple. Thou wast of them that "counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of earth," and lo! having suffered with the Lord, thou art gone to reign with Him.
Thou art gone to be companion of him who wrote, "I have fought a good flght, I have finished my course, I, have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."
Thou hast been now joined to them that have "come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
Having "overcome," thou hast gone to "inherit all things," by the grace of Him that saith, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and
I will be his God and he shall be my Son."
Blessed be He who aives eternal life!
Amen. Amen.
Louis Michel Francois Chabrier de Peloubet
(or simply Cliabrier Pelonbet, as lie always signed his name) was born in Philadelphia, February 22. 1806. His childhood was spent chiefly in New York City, and in Athens, Hndson, and Catskill on the Hudson. He learned the trade of making musical instruments, and while quite young he set up business for himself in New York City. He was married April 27, 1829, to Miss Harriet Hanks. Their four elder children were born in New York City. In 1836 they moved to Bloomfield, N. J., where all the rest of his life was spent. Here he continued to manufacture flutes and other wind instruments of wood till 1849, when he changed his business and commenced the manufacture of cabinet organs, in which business he continued, in connection with his son Jarvis. till his death in 1885.
(From Joseph Alexander de Chabrier de Peloubet
THE FIRST OF THE NAME IN THE UNITED STATES
WITH THE FUNERAL ADDRESS OF HIS ELDEST SON
L. M. F. Chabrier Peloubet)
Funeral Address
Bloomfield, N. J., Dec. 1, 1885
Delivered in the Bloomfield Presbyterian Church at the hurial of Elder L.M.F. CHABRIER PELOUBET,
By Rev. Henry W. Ballantine, Pastor.
Scripture Selections read :
Job V: 17-27.
Proverbs x: 20-32
Matt. XXV: 19-23 and 31-40.
Rev. xxi: 1-7.
When King David heard of Abner's death he lamented in the presence of his servants: "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? And I am this day weak, though anointed King."
So I feel, Christian friends, as pastor of this church, weak to-day. having no more the wise counsel and ever helpfnl aid of our faithful elder here to lean on.
So the whole, town feels weak, at having lost his steady voice and walk and work as citizen, that were always fearlessly and faithfuly given for every good cause.
We are all bereaved; for to him we have all been indebted.
Some of us heard a certain man say on Sunday last that there is not in Bloomfield one man or woman or child that is not to-day the better, in fortune, in health, in bodily comforts, in morals, in intelligence, in religlous hope, for what this good man, who now lies here, has done by his living among us.
For himself he needs no eulogy. In some cases surviving friends seen to think that the future state of their deceased relatives chiefly depend upon what the minister may say in praise of them at the funeral, and on the gathering of a large number to show respect. Those are the cases where there is least of good to be said truthfully, and least cause to show honor. But our friend here is not of that sort. His eternal well-being is not waiting upon anything we shall here say or do. Not one word of request or wish did he himself express concerning his funeral. We do not know that he even thought of it. It is to ourselves we are doing service by attending here; not to him.
Mr. Chabrier Peloubet came to reside in Bloomfield about fifty years ago, being at that time 30 years old, with a young wife and little children.
He was poor in fortune, but brought with him "an honest and a brave heart, integrity of character, industry, habits of economy and perseverance, a willingness to endure hardship for the right, and above all a conscience exercised to keep itself "void of offense toward God and toward men."
He was not, however, kindly received. People regarded him as an impracticable, uncomfortable sort of man. They suspected him and spoke against him.
I remember his telling me of the deep pain it gave him to find that an officer of the church had gone so far once as to advise a newly installed pastor to be on his guard with reference to him. You, friends, cannot appreciate the preposterousness of such advice as I do, who have for ten years borne to this man the relation of pastor. No pastor ever had a stancher or more faithful supporter than he has been to me, and I am confident that he was the same to my predecessors. This was one of his cardinal principles: to be loyal to the church and its authority. But by patient perseverance in well-doing, by integrity and Christian meekness, and a spirit of forgiveness, and of true godliness, he lived down in course of time all that suspicion and distrust.
They had altogether passed away when I was first privileged to know him. God set his seal of approval by letting his servant live to know himself respected by all.
He was spared to pass among us his golden wedding, the 50th anniversary of his marriage: to see his children and his children's children to the third generation; and no man has died here better known, or held in higher esteem, or possessing more largely the affection and confidence of our people.
In God's providence he was called to approach the close of life through a long and painful illness of eleven months. It gave him opportunity to look back over his life's course, and in this occupation he spent much time.
I remember calling upon him one day in the month of August last and finding him so engaged. The matter being fresh in his mind, he gave me some of his observations. His life, he said, he preferred to date from his conversion, when he was at the age of 19 years. Since that time he had tried to live by two principles: 1. To be just in all things. 2. To be useful.
How completely unselfish! That was indeed a true conversion: a turning from all selfish pleasure and avarice to make one's self useful as the chiefest aim!
His life, ordered on these principles, exhibited richly the qualities which our age is most lacking in. Let me hold it up to you:
I. Be just in all things.
He carried this out with a determination to do right at whatever cost, not excepting that of his own ease.
(1) He would not live beyond his means. He was willing to be frugal.
(2) He would not wrong another by word or deed.
Those who had to do with him found him strict and severe in his requirements; but it was always plain that he was no more so with others than with himself.
(3) He was never willing to be "partaker of other men's sins." This principle it was that brought him to be an Abolitionist in the days when to that name great obloquy attached. He felt within himself that the holding a fellow man in bondage was wrong; and he would not, by any vote or act of his, give support to that wrong - neither was he willing to let it go in silence, without protesting. He would not, even indirectly, support the employment of slave labor, or so much as purchase the products of such labor. At great inconvenience, and no little increase of expense, he was accustomed to drive to New York (before the railroad was built to Bloomfield) for all his family supplies, because there, in one certain store, he could trade without involving himself with slave-holding. So he would not deal with any who were in any wise engaged in the rum traffic.
(4) He hated evil. This was the cause of his before-mentioned unpopularity. Wrong-doers felt themselves condemned in his presence. But he read in the Scriptures: "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. He preserveth the souls of his saints. He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness."
With others, of like evil-hating spirit, he was mobbed once here in Bloomfield for his Abolitionist declarations ; but he lived to see the whole country brought to accept his convictions about slavery: and it may be well for us all to consider whether, as he confessedly saw clearer than most others in that matter, it be not wise to accept his judgment also concerning the other evil he took so firm a stand against; I mean the rum traffic.
II. The second great principle of our venerated friend's life was, to he useful.
This also contributed, along with the former principle, to make him the Abolitionist and the Temperance Advocate he was, through a benevolent interest to help the slave and the poor victim of drink. But his aim to be useful discovered itself in more wavs than these.
(1) First, in his business - this he never conducted with sole reference to his own profits; but it comforted him not a little in the careful reviewing of his life to know that he had been able, by it, for many years to furnish not a few men, young and old, with honorable work and remunerative wages. His business has contributed largely to the general prosperity of our town.
(2) The poor found always in him a friend. His was that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father" that" visits the fatherless and widows in their affliction," as well as keeps itself unspotted from the world. Many gifts of timely relief to the needy, I, as his pastor, had cocasion to know of, as he would often inquire of me about the circumstances of those he thought of helping. And when in recent years reverses in business came, his greatest expressed regret, and, I verily believe, his chiefest regret, was that his benefactions to others had to be so much curtailed. They by no means ceased, however.
(3) Another notable direction that his aim to be useful took was to interest himself in the education of the children. With the exception of a single year he has been continuously in office as School Trustee in this town since our present public school system was established, and it is not invidious to say that no other trustee has ever approached him in respect of the time and care and personal labor given to the schools. Almost every day he visited them, with an affectionate interest and kind solicitude for the welfare of both teachers and scholars that was evident to us all. In times of warm contention in the town about school management, whatever changes were made in the board he was always trusted and retained by the desire of all parties.
He did good service for the young as a faithful Sunday School teacher and Superintendent, and made himself a place whose vacancy will long be difficult to fill as a witness for true religion in our meetings and in his whole daily walk.
(4) All benevolent works enlisted his interest, particularly those connected with the church, as the cause of Foreign Missions, and Schools among the Freedmen, and the training of teachers and of ministers.
He was one of the directors of our Bloomfield Savings Bank, in which, with others, he hoped to encourage thrift and providence among the poor.
As a most diligent custodian of our village cemetery he did much to brighten away the gloom of death by making the resting place of our deceased friends and kindred more beautiful.
(5) To the last he was, before all other offices and services, an Elder in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here he allowed himself to open all the stores of his love and service without restraint. Here was his joy; for truly he loved the Lord with all his heart. From Christ's church nothing was held back. To minister to the least of Christ's disciples was for him a precious privilege. By his irreproachable life, his devoutness, his brotherly love, his charity, and prayers, and words of exhortation and comfort, by his wise counsels and godly walk he has shed a luster, for more than twenty years, upon this sacred office of the Eldership.
Until his death he was the faithful and careful custodian of the Session's fund for relieving the poor, and until his last illness was always pre-eminent among his fellow elders for regular and punctual attendance upon meetings of the Session and other church courts to which he was appointed. Perhaps in recent years he had less to interfere with this punctuality; but it is due to truth to say that he took care not to allow other matters to interfere.
During the months of his illness many visited him to express their sympathy and regard, which he truly and gratefully appreciated. In particular he mentioned to me one day that every pastor in the village had so called within a brief time, including the Roman Catholic, and a tear came in his eye as he went on to tell that he had not expected ever in this life to receive such respect.
"My life," said he "has been one full of trials; and not the least of them arose out of my being obliged to live so long with so little of the sympathy of my neighbors," referring to his unpopularity as an Abolitionist and Temperance reformer. "It was not because I have not valued men's approval and love; but because I must seek God's approval and that of my own conscience first. I never expected to be popular; I could not have been had I so desired, with my convictions; but I always tried to have others, with whom I worked, accorded the credit of any good we did." So again, friends, was fulfilled that assurance of our Lord's, "Give and It shall be given unto you," and, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" As he was not swerved or ever deterred from doing right by love of esteem, as many are, so, I thank God, this. His servant, lived to command and to receive, before the eyes of us all, a universal respect and love such as few men win.
On another day, nearer his end, he repeated to me how grateful the satisfaction was in looking back over his life to find: first, that he had not lived an altogether useless life, and secondly, that at last he had been able to prove before all, and to have acknowledged by all, the purity of his motives.
Concerning usefulness, he said he regarded religious usefulness the highest, and went on to compare himself with Mr. Harlan Page, so eminent for leading many souls to Christ. Mr. Page lie had personally known.
"I am not able to say," said our friend, "that alone, and without others' instrumentality concurring. I have even led one soul to the Saviour, but with my wife's help, who always heartily joined with me in every good endeavor, I hope I have been the means of saving some. I can say this: that no servant has ever served in our family, or apprentice lived with us for any considerable time, without giving evidence of being converted. I have been thinking over and can now count more than forty such!"
What a home influence this was, friends! And what a rebuke this amazing result to the many heads of families and employers who neglect and overlook the spiritual welfare of their servants.
Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Thou hast passed into the heavens, the earth follows thee with benedictions. Thy children rise up and call thee blessed. No richer inheritance than theirs can a father leave to those he loves. The workmen, to whom the great business builded up by thy prudence furnishes employment and support, are here to honor thee. The children of the village, whom thou caredst for so faithfully, their teachers, and their grateful parents, are here to thank God for thee. The poor, and all who have friends among the poor, are present to shed a tear for thee.
All who have loved ones among the dead are here to wish thee peace and follow thee to thy grave. May thy body sleep in the sweetest spot of yonder yard thou didst so much to adorn! All thy fellow citizens are here lamenting thy departure from among us.
The Church praises her divine Master for such a disciple. Thou wast of them that "counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of earth," and lo! having suffered with the Lord, thou art gone to reign with Him.
Thou art gone to be companion of him who wrote, "I have fought a good flght, I have finished my course, I, have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."
Thou hast been now joined to them that have "come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
Having "overcome," thou hast gone to "inherit all things," by the grace of Him that saith, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and
I will be his God and he shall be my Son."
Blessed be He who aives eternal life!
Amen. Amen.
(or simply Cliabrier Pelonbet, as lie always signed his name) was born in Philadelphia, February 22. 1806. His childhood was spent chiefly in New York City, and in Athens, Hndson, and Catskill on the Hudson. He learned the trade of making musical instruments, and while quite young he set up business for himself in New York City. He was married April 27, 1829, to Miss Harriet Hanks. Their four elder children were born in New York City. In 1836 they moved to Bloomfield, N. J., where all the rest of his life was spent. Here he continued to manufacture flutes and other wind instruments of wood till 1849, when he changed his business and commenced the manufacture of cabinet organs, in which business he continued, in connection with his son Jarvis. till his death in 1885.
(From Joseph Alexander de Chabrier de Peloubet
THE FIRST OF THE NAME IN THE UNITED STATES
WITH THE FUNERAL ADDRESS OF HIS ELDEST SON
L. M. F. Chabrier Peloubet)
Funeral Address
Bloomfield, N. J., Dec. 1, 1885
Delivered in the Bloomfield Presbyterian Church at the hurial of Elder L.M.F. CHABRIER PELOUBET,
By Rev. Henry W. Ballantine, Pastor.
Scripture Selections read :
Job V: 17-27.
Proverbs x: 20-32
Matt. XXV: 19-23 and 31-40.
Rev. xxi: 1-7.
When King David heard of Abner's death he lamented in the presence of his servants: "Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? And I am this day weak, though anointed King."
So I feel, Christian friends, as pastor of this church, weak to-day. having no more the wise counsel and ever helpfnl aid of our faithful elder here to lean on.
So the whole, town feels weak, at having lost his steady voice and walk and work as citizen, that were always fearlessly and faithfuly given for every good cause.
We are all bereaved; for to him we have all been indebted.
Some of us heard a certain man say on Sunday last that there is not in Bloomfield one man or woman or child that is not to-day the better, in fortune, in health, in bodily comforts, in morals, in intelligence, in religlous hope, for what this good man, who now lies here, has done by his living among us.
For himself he needs no eulogy. In some cases surviving friends seen to think that the future state of their deceased relatives chiefly depend upon what the minister may say in praise of them at the funeral, and on the gathering of a large number to show respect. Those are the cases where there is least of good to be said truthfully, and least cause to show honor. But our friend here is not of that sort. His eternal well-being is not waiting upon anything we shall here say or do. Not one word of request or wish did he himself express concerning his funeral. We do not know that he even thought of it. It is to ourselves we are doing service by attending here; not to him.
Mr. Chabrier Peloubet came to reside in Bloomfield about fifty years ago, being at that time 30 years old, with a young wife and little children.
He was poor in fortune, but brought with him "an honest and a brave heart, integrity of character, industry, habits of economy and perseverance, a willingness to endure hardship for the right, and above all a conscience exercised to keep itself "void of offense toward God and toward men."
He was not, however, kindly received. People regarded him as an impracticable, uncomfortable sort of man. They suspected him and spoke against him.
I remember his telling me of the deep pain it gave him to find that an officer of the church had gone so far once as to advise a newly installed pastor to be on his guard with reference to him. You, friends, cannot appreciate the preposterousness of such advice as I do, who have for ten years borne to this man the relation of pastor. No pastor ever had a stancher or more faithful supporter than he has been to me, and I am confident that he was the same to my predecessors. This was one of his cardinal principles: to be loyal to the church and its authority. But by patient perseverance in well-doing, by integrity and Christian meekness, and a spirit of forgiveness, and of true godliness, he lived down in course of time all that suspicion and distrust.
They had altogether passed away when I was first privileged to know him. God set his seal of approval by letting his servant live to know himself respected by all.
He was spared to pass among us his golden wedding, the 50th anniversary of his marriage: to see his children and his children's children to the third generation; and no man has died here better known, or held in higher esteem, or possessing more largely the affection and confidence of our people.
In God's providence he was called to approach the close of life through a long and painful illness of eleven months. It gave him opportunity to look back over his life's course, and in this occupation he spent much time.
I remember calling upon him one day in the month of August last and finding him so engaged. The matter being fresh in his mind, he gave me some of his observations. His life, he said, he preferred to date from his conversion, when he was at the age of 19 years. Since that time he had tried to live by two principles: 1. To be just in all things. 2. To be useful.
How completely unselfish! That was indeed a true conversion: a turning from all selfish pleasure and avarice to make one's self useful as the chiefest aim!
His life, ordered on these principles, exhibited richly the qualities which our age is most lacking in. Let me hold it up to you:
I. Be just in all things.
He carried this out with a determination to do right at whatever cost, not excepting that of his own ease.
(1) He would not live beyond his means. He was willing to be frugal.
(2) He would not wrong another by word or deed.
Those who had to do with him found him strict and severe in his requirements; but it was always plain that he was no more so with others than with himself.
(3) He was never willing to be "partaker of other men's sins." This principle it was that brought him to be an Abolitionist in the days when to that name great obloquy attached. He felt within himself that the holding a fellow man in bondage was wrong; and he would not, by any vote or act of his, give support to that wrong - neither was he willing to let it go in silence, without protesting. He would not, even indirectly, support the employment of slave labor, or so much as purchase the products of such labor. At great inconvenience, and no little increase of expense, he was accustomed to drive to New York (before the railroad was built to Bloomfield) for all his family supplies, because there, in one certain store, he could trade without involving himself with slave-holding. So he would not deal with any who were in any wise engaged in the rum traffic.
(4) He hated evil. This was the cause of his before-mentioned unpopularity. Wrong-doers felt themselves condemned in his presence. But he read in the Scriptures: "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. He preserveth the souls of his saints. He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness."
With others, of like evil-hating spirit, he was mobbed once here in Bloomfield for his Abolitionist declarations ; but he lived to see the whole country brought to accept his convictions about slavery: and it may be well for us all to consider whether, as he confessedly saw clearer than most others in that matter, it be not wise to accept his judgment also concerning the other evil he took so firm a stand against; I mean the rum traffic.
II. The second great principle of our venerated friend's life was, to he useful.
This also contributed, along with the former principle, to make him the Abolitionist and the Temperance Advocate he was, through a benevolent interest to help the slave and the poor victim of drink. But his aim to be useful discovered itself in more wavs than these.
(1) First, in his business - this he never conducted with sole reference to his own profits; but it comforted him not a little in the careful reviewing of his life to know that he had been able, by it, for many years to furnish not a few men, young and old, with honorable work and remunerative wages. His business has contributed largely to the general prosperity of our town.
(2) The poor found always in him a friend. His was that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father" that" visits the fatherless and widows in their affliction," as well as keeps itself unspotted from the world. Many gifts of timely relief to the needy, I, as his pastor, had cocasion to know of, as he would often inquire of me about the circumstances of those he thought of helping. And when in recent years reverses in business came, his greatest expressed regret, and, I verily believe, his chiefest regret, was that his benefactions to others had to be so much curtailed. They by no means ceased, however.
(3) Another notable direction that his aim to be useful took was to interest himself in the education of the children. With the exception of a single year he has been continuously in office as School Trustee in this town since our present public school system was established, and it is not invidious to say that no other trustee has ever approached him in respect of the time and care and personal labor given to the schools. Almost every day he visited them, with an affectionate interest and kind solicitude for the welfare of both teachers and scholars that was evident to us all. In times of warm contention in the town about school management, whatever changes were made in the board he was always trusted and retained by the desire of all parties.
He did good service for the young as a faithful Sunday School teacher and Superintendent, and made himself a place whose vacancy will long be difficult to fill as a witness for true religion in our meetings and in his whole daily walk.
(4) All benevolent works enlisted his interest, particularly those connected with the church, as the cause of Foreign Missions, and Schools among the Freedmen, and the training of teachers and of ministers.
He was one of the directors of our Bloomfield Savings Bank, in which, with others, he hoped to encourage thrift and providence among the poor.
As a most diligent custodian of our village cemetery he did much to brighten away the gloom of death by making the resting place of our deceased friends and kindred more beautiful.
(5) To the last he was, before all other offices and services, an Elder in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here he allowed himself to open all the stores of his love and service without restraint. Here was his joy; for truly he loved the Lord with all his heart. From Christ's church nothing was held back. To minister to the least of Christ's disciples was for him a precious privilege. By his irreproachable life, his devoutness, his brotherly love, his charity, and prayers, and words of exhortation and comfort, by his wise counsels and godly walk he has shed a luster, for more than twenty years, upon this sacred office of the Eldership.
Until his death he was the faithful and careful custodian of the Session's fund for relieving the poor, and until his last illness was always pre-eminent among his fellow elders for regular and punctual attendance upon meetings of the Session and other church courts to which he was appointed. Perhaps in recent years he had less to interfere with this punctuality; but it is due to truth to say that he took care not to allow other matters to interfere.
During the months of his illness many visited him to express their sympathy and regard, which he truly and gratefully appreciated. In particular he mentioned to me one day that every pastor in the village had so called within a brief time, including the Roman Catholic, and a tear came in his eye as he went on to tell that he had not expected ever in this life to receive such respect.
"My life," said he "has been one full of trials; and not the least of them arose out of my being obliged to live so long with so little of the sympathy of my neighbors," referring to his unpopularity as an Abolitionist and Temperance reformer. "It was not because I have not valued men's approval and love; but because I must seek God's approval and that of my own conscience first. I never expected to be popular; I could not have been had I so desired, with my convictions; but I always tried to have others, with whom I worked, accorded the credit of any good we did." So again, friends, was fulfilled that assurance of our Lord's, "Give and It shall be given unto you," and, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" As he was not swerved or ever deterred from doing right by love of esteem, as many are, so, I thank God, this. His servant, lived to command and to receive, before the eyes of us all, a universal respect and love such as few men win.
On another day, nearer his end, he repeated to me how grateful the satisfaction was in looking back over his life to find: first, that he had not lived an altogether useless life, and secondly, that at last he had been able to prove before all, and to have acknowledged by all, the purity of his motives.
Concerning usefulness, he said he regarded religious usefulness the highest, and went on to compare himself with Mr. Harlan Page, so eminent for leading many souls to Christ. Mr. Page lie had personally known.
"I am not able to say," said our friend, "that alone, and without others' instrumentality concurring. I have even led one soul to the Saviour, but with my wife's help, who always heartily joined with me in every good endeavor, I hope I have been the means of saving some. I can say this: that no servant has ever served in our family, or apprentice lived with us for any considerable time, without giving evidence of being converted. I have been thinking over and can now count more than forty such!"
What a home influence this was, friends! And what a rebuke this amazing result to the many heads of families and employers who neglect and overlook the spiritual welfare of their servants.
Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Thou hast passed into the heavens, the earth follows thee with benedictions. Thy children rise up and call thee blessed. No richer inheritance than theirs can a father leave to those he loves. The workmen, to whom the great business builded up by thy prudence furnishes employment and support, are here to honor thee. The children of the village, whom thou caredst for so faithfully, their teachers, and their grateful parents, are here to thank God for thee. The poor, and all who have friends among the poor, are present to shed a tear for thee.
All who have loved ones among the dead are here to wish thee peace and follow thee to thy grave. May thy body sleep in the sweetest spot of yonder yard thou didst so much to adorn! All thy fellow citizens are here lamenting thy departure from among us.
The Church praises her divine Master for such a disciple. Thou wast of them that "counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of earth," and lo! having suffered with the Lord, thou art gone to reign with Him.
Thou art gone to be companion of him who wrote, "I have fought a good flght, I have finished my course, I, have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day."
Thou hast been now joined to them that have "come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
Having "overcome," thou hast gone to "inherit all things," by the grace of Him that saith, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and
I will be his God and he shall be my Son."
Blessed be He who aives eternal life!
Amen. Amen.
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