Notes for REV. AZEL ROE, D.D., S.T.D.:
Son of John and Joanna (Miller) Roe.
Born: February 20, 1738 in Port Jefferson, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York.
Died: December 3, 1815 in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey.
Buried: Woodbridge Cemetery, Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey.
Education:
1756 - Graduated from Princeton.
Ordination: 1762 - New York Presybytery.
1800 - Graduated from Yale.
Occupation:
1763-1815 - Pastor of First Presybterian Church, Woodbridge, Middlesex, New Jersey.
1778-1807 - Trustee of Princeton.
Married: (1) Rebecca Foote September 2, 1763 in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey. She had married (1) Rev. Caleb Smith b. December 29, 1723 (old style)/January 9, 1724 (new style). d. 1761.
(2) Hannah Barrett December 24, 1796 in Unknown. She had married (1) General Alexander McDougall About 1767. He was born about 1731. d. June 9, 1786.
Rev Azel Roe, D.D.S.T.D., the beloved and venerable Pastor of the first Church in Woodbridge, (J.J.) breathed out his soul into the arms of that God and Saviour whose faithful servant he had been, December 2, 1815, in the 77th year of his age, and 53d of his ministry. In full health, he folowed the remains of his second wife to the tomb, and in four days after, he himself died of grief, occasioned by his painful divorce.
Rev. Roe is interred in the church cemetery with wives, Rebecca, who died Sept. l, 1794, and Hannah, who died Nov. 28, 1815, just four days before her husband. Rev. Roe was a trustee of Princeton from 1778 to 1807. He was a delegate to the first General Assembly in May 1789 and Moderator of the General Assembly in 1802. The Metuchen Church became a separate body on May 9, 1793, when it was granted separation from the Woodbridge Church by the Presbytery of New York. Our present church building was completed and consecrated in December 1803. Rev. Roe was a most loved pastor and an ardent patriot, having been captured by the British and imprisoned in the Old Sugar House in Manhatten during the Revolutionary War. As a preacher Rev. Roe is said to have been an able man but not brilliant. He relied more on the words of the Gospel than upon the arts of an address.
(Source="wikhttp://www.oldwhitechurch.org/church_history/pastorbios/roe.htm")
