Oliver Mills, Alexander Thompson and Hieromous Weller were the first school commissioners chosen at the formation of the town. From 1843 to 1856 the public schools were under the control of town superintendents chosen at each annual election. There were ten school districts in 1823, and 655 children between the ages of five and fifteen in the town, small portions of the towns of Wallkill and Montgomery being then included in this enumeration. The amount of public money received was $264.44. Among the early school teachers of this town were John Hardcastle, William Brown, Mr. Reed and Mr. Crosby. And they are said to have been firm believers in the free use of the rod in the inculcation of a thorough knowledge of the three "Rs" and the maintenance of proper discipline. THE CRAWFORD CHURCHES. The first effort to build a church in Hopewell was made in 1779 by the Presbyterian association. But they succeeded only in completing the exterior of the building and very little was done toward finishing the inside of the structure. And yet for the next three years those devoted Christian people were content to worship in this unfinished building with all its discomforts. They went to church faithfully and regularly. In 1792 they united in a corporate body and selected a full board of trustees, as follows: William Cross, Robert Milliken, Jonathan Crawford, Daniel Bull, Andrew Thompson, Nathan Crawford, Abraham Caldwell, Robert Thompson and Robert McCreery. Soon after this they finished their church and called the Rev. Jonathan Freeman as their pastor, who was installed August 28, 1793. This may be regarded therefore as the date of the organization of this church, which began with twenty-one members. Mr. Freeman multiplied this number by five during the next five years and then resigned for another field of labor. The next five years this little pulpit remained vacant. Rev. Isaac Van Doren took up the work there in 1803 and labored most successfully for 21 years, adding some 152 members to the little flock of worshipers during that period. Then, after further changes in the pastorate, a new and more commodious church building was built of stone on another site, which was completed in 1832. Rev. John H. Leggett was then the pastor for the next twenty-three years, when he went to Middletown. His ministerial work in this Hopewell church is highly spoken of in the records, he being a powerful preacher and a man of great activity and influence.