REVEREND EZRA KING

Footnotes to Long Island History

Insert used in the South Haven Church Bulletin

Sunday April 15, 1962

Rev. Ezra King

by

Thomas R. Bayles

Rev. Ezra King was pastor of the South Haven Church from 1810 to 1839. He studied theology under Rev. Lyman Beecher, pastor of the East Hampton Presbyterian Church, and in 1810 at the age of 26 was called to become the pastor of the South Haven Church (also the Middle Island Church). The South Haven parish extended from Moriches to Patchogue, and the one at Middle Island was also a large one, all of which “Priest King”, as he was called, covered on horseback. He lived on his farm at Middle Island and raised a large family of eight children. It was during his pastorate that the South Haven Church was rebuilt in 1828. By 1839 his health failed and he resigned as pastor and moved to Miller Place, where he built a home and lived until his death in 1867, and was laid to rest in the cemetery opposite the church in Middle Island. The members of his two churches erected a monument to his memory which carries the following inscription:

“Grateful friends have erected this monument in memory of their beloved pastor, who devoted the vigor of his life to the united parishes of South Haven and Middletown. By his ardent piety, eloquent preaching and fervent prayers, his warm affection, true friendship and courteous dignity, he has left an enduring example to both church and the world.”