USA > Arkansas > Pulaski County > Little Rock > The annals of Christ church parish of Little Rock, Arkansas, from A. D. 1839 to A. D. 1899 > Part 15
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Emma J., unmarried.
Mary J., married Charles Henry Waring, of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Leonard McIlvaine, who died June 17, 1877, aged 15 years.
Charles K., unmarried.
Norman Blake, unmarried.
John Hampton, unmarried.
The consecration of Henry Niles Pierce to the Bishopric occurred at this time, who succeeded Mr. Morrell for a limited time as Rector of Christ Church as well as Bishop of the jurisdiction of Arkansas and Indian Territory.
From The Little Rock Churchman February, 1888, the following reference to this Rector is taken :
The Rev. Mr. Degen's paper, "The Diocese of Arkan- sas," has reappeared, after a suspension of six months. The contents evince conscientious industry.
The leading article is a historical sketch of Christ Church, Little Rock, illustrated by a beautiful engraving of the edifice. The materials at the command of the writer were evidently meager, e. g., no mention is made of the Rec- torship of the Rev. Dr. Morrell (1869-70), whose ministry amidst great difficulties was most faithful.
The history of this parish remains to be written.
. RT. REV. HENRY NILES PIERCE, D. D., LL. D.
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RT. REV. HENRY NILES PIERCE, D. D., LL. D.
A. D. 1820-1869. Rt. Rev. Henry Niles Pierce, D. D. LL. D., fourth Missionary Bishop of Arkansas and Indian Territory, was born in Pawtucket, R. I., on the 19th day of October, 1820. He was the son of Benjamin Bentley Pierce, a Deacon in the Baptist Church at Pawtucket, R. I., who was born in East Greenwich, R. I., in 1786, and died in 1839. His mother was Susan Walker, born in Pawtucket, R. I., March 21, 1784, and died July 30, 1869. The history of the Walker family, of the old Plymouth colony, fills a
volume of 450 pages. His grandfather was Moses Pierce, a ship captain, who died at sea about the year 1791, when his son, Benjamin Bentley Pierce, was only 5 years old. He was the great great grandson of John Pierce of East Greenwich, R. I., who had removed from Newport.
A. D. 1842-1854. The parents of Rt. Rev. Henry N. Pierce were both members of the Baptist Church, and at the age of 16 he was baptized into and remained a communicant of the same Church for five years. ' He left the Baptist Church because he found to his satisfaction that that Church originated in the sixteenth century, and had no descent from apostolic times. He became a communicant of the Episcopal Church when about 21 years old. On joining it he was hypothetically baptized. He graduated at Brown University, Providence, R. I., in 1842; was ordained Deacon at Christ Church, Matagorda, Texas, April 23, 1848, by the Rt. Rev. George Washington Freeman, D. D .; ordered Priest in the same Church on January 3, 1849, by the same prelate. From May, 1848, to May, 1852, four years, he labored as Mission- ary at Brenham, Washington, Independence and Chapel Hill,
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in Washington County, Texas; was the first minister of the Episcopal Church that ever settled there. From 1852 to the spring of 1854 he was Rector of Christ Church, Mata- gorda, Texas. At that place he married, April 18, 1854, Miss Nannie Haywood Sheppard, who was born near Selma, Ala., March 6, 1830, the daughter of Abram Sheppard, a sugar planter and slaveholder, who was a native of North Carolina. Her mother was Eleanor Wallace, of Scotch, Irish, and Swiss descent.
Mrs. Pierce is the niece of the wife of William Henry Haywood, a leading lawyer at Raleigh, and, for a time, United States Senator from North Carolina. She was educated at St. Mary's School, Raleigh, N. C.
A. D. 1854-1880. In June, 1854, Rev. H. N. Pierce took temporary charge of Trinity Church, New Orleans, but left there in December following. In the spring of 1855 he became Rector of St. Paul's Church, Rahway, N. J., and continued in charge until 1857. In October of 1857, he became Rector of St. John's Free Church, in Mobile, Ala., where his income, dependent upon the offering alone, amounted to $3,000 per annum until 1868. He established there the Church Home for Orphans. While residing there in 1861-62, he translated Muhlbach's Henry VIII. He re- ceived the degree of D. D. from the University of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa, in 1862, and that of LL. D. from the college of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., in 1869. From Mobile, Dr. Pierce went to Springfield, Ill., where he was Rector and Dean of Springfield from November, 1865, to January 1, 1870. On January 25, 1870, he was consecrated Bishop of Arkansas and Indian Territory, in Christ Church, Mobile, Ala., by Rt. Rev. William Mercer Green, D. D., Bishop of Mississippi, assisted by Rt. Rev. Henry John
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Whitehouse, D. D., LL. D., Oxon; D. C. L., Bishop of Illinois ; Rt. Rev. Richard Hooker Wilmer, D. D., Bishop of Alabama ; Rt. Rev. Charles Todd Quintard, S. T. D., LL. D., Bishop of Tennessee; Rt. Rev. Joseph P. B. Wilmer, D. D., Bishop of Louisiana, and Rt. Rev. John Freeman Young. S. T. D., Bishop of Florida.
In March, 1870, he settled in Little Rock, where he now resides in his own home, on Seventeenth and Center streets. He is a great student and has a library of more than 3,000 volumes. He also owns 3,000 acres of rich, wild lands in Matagorda County, Texas. The children of Bishop and Mrs. H. N. Pierce are as follows :
Abraham Wallace, born in Rahway, N. J .; grad- uated at Sewanee University, August, 1877; studied for the ministry; has been Rector of Grace Church, Wash- ington, and the Church of Our Redeemer, Nashville; Rocky Comfort mission, Arkansas, and is now the successor of Rev. D. I. Hobbs, at Trinity Cathedral, Little Rock. He is unmarried.
Henry Walker born in Rahway, N. J .; educated at Sewanee; married May 4, 1880, Marie Moffat, of English birth ; died of rapid consumption, September, at Mobile, Ala., where, accompanied by his brother, Wallace, he had gone to recruit his waning strength. He was buried at Little Rock from Trinity Cathedral, September 4, 1886, by his father, the Bishop, assisted by his brother, Rev. A. W. Pierce, of Mobile, Ala.
Elizabeth Powell, born in Mobile, Ala. ; educated at home by her father, and is ranked in the first class of musicians as an artiste by the musicians of New York, where she studied music several years. She was married at Trinity Cathedral
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to Gerry Austin Lyman, of Boston. Her father performed the ceremony.
Susan Sheppard, the youngest child, was born in Mobile, and educated under the parental roof. She was married to Mr. William C. Stevens, son of Bishop Stevens, of Pennsyl- vania. Over the non de plume of Sheppard Stevens, she has published two novels, "I am the King," and "The Sword of Justice," both issued previous to the death of her father.
Bishop Pierce has written sermons, essays, addresses, besides a volume of verse entitled "The Agnostic," with other poems, issued by Thomas Whittaker, New York, in 1884.
At the seventeenth annual Council of the Diocese of Ar- kansas, which was held at Christ Church, Little Rock, May 3, 1889, Bishop Pierce formally accepted the office of Dio- cesan, in lieu of Missionary Bishop .*
From The Daily Press Little Rock, of date January 24, 1895, the following sketch of the life and services of Bishop Pierce is reprinted. It was written on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his consecration as Bishop :
RT. REV. HENRY NILES PIERCE, D. D., LL. D.
TWENTY-FIFTHI ANNIVERSARY OF IIIS CONSECRATION AS BISHOP-A VERY ILAPPY SILVER JUBILEE-SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND SERVICES OF A MAN WHOM
ALL ARKANSAS LOVES-THE GROWTH OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCHI.
To-morrow, January 25, will witness an event of more than ordinary interest, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the consecration of the Rt. Rev. Henry Niles Pierce, D. D., LL. D., as Bishop in the Church of God. The silver jubilee of the pastorate of a simple flock, is an event of great interest and of congratulations, but the silver jubilee of a Bishop, is a far
*Abstract from the biography of Bishop Pierce in "The Encyclopedia of the New West," 1881.
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more notable event in that the Episcopate is one of the greatest monumental evidences of the truth of Jesus and the resurrec- tion. Indeed, the Episcopate was raised up for this very purpose, that it should be a witness to the resurrection unto the end of the world. That one should be spared for a quar- ter of a century to participate in this monumental witnessing, is an event that must command the attention of all thoughtful and earnest men.
The Rt. Rev. Henry Niles Pierce, D. D., LL. D., the fourth Bishop of the Missionary jurisdiction of Arkansas, and the first Bishop of the Diocese, was born in Pawtucket, R. I., October 19, 1820. He was graduated at Brown Uni- versity in 1842. After passing his theological examination, he was ordained Deacon April 23, 1843, so that he has been in the ministry for fifty-two years. On January 3, 1849, he was advanced to the Priesthood, and was successively Rector of St. John's Church, Mobile, Ala., and St. Paul's Church, Springfield, Ill., his Rectorship of the two parishes covering a period of twenty years, or from 1850 to 1870. It was while he was Rector of St. Paul's Church that he was elected by the House of Bishops to be the Missionary Bishop of the jurisdiction of Arkansas and Indian Territory. His conse- cration to the Episcopate took place at Mobile, Ala., on the feast of the conversion of St. Paul, January 25, 1870, the consecrating Bishops being Bishops Green, of Mississippi, Whitehouse, of Illinois; R. H. Wilmer, of Alabama; Quin- tard, of Tennessee; J. P. B. Wilmer, of Louisiana, and Young, of Florida.
It may not be uninteresting to note that Bishop Pierce was the ninety-fifth Bishop consecrated in the American line of the Episcopate. Of the Bishops then living there were fifty-one, there being thus fifty Bishops ranking as his seniors in office. During these twenty-five years seventy-nine Bishops have been consecrated, making 174 in all. Of these eighty- two are still living, and Bishop Pierce ranks fifteenth in the order of consecration, thus showing what "manifold changes and chances" have characterized the history of the House of Bishops.
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When the Bishop took charge of the jurisdiction to which he was assigned he entered upon a life of hardship, sacrifice and unremitting toil. The field he had entered was purely a missionary field, with a few scattered congregations, very feeble, both in means and numbers, and far removed from one another. The Episcopal visitations involved great labor, fatigue and exposure. Only a very strong man physic- ally could undertake such work. The only railroad at that time in the State was the Memphis and Little Rock, and per- haps some portions of other lines. The great Iron Mountain system had not yet been completed. The railroad bridge at Little Rock was not built until 1872-73. Traveling in the State was mostly by stages, private conveyances and by boat. From the Bishop's first published record of visitations the following extracts are given. Lamenting the small attend- ance of the clergy and laity at the council, he says :
"I know better than most, it may be, the difficulties of travel in a State so ill supplied with means of communica- tion as Arkansas is, and therein I find a partial excuse for the many vacancies in this body.
"May 2, 1871-Started for Lewisville, but the roads being so bad and the carriage out of order, we were obliged to return.
"May 8-At 2 o'clock in the morning started for Little Rock, arriving the next evening.
"July 21-At night took a boat for Fort Smith ; the boat small and very greatly crowded.
"August 18-At 4 a. m. took stage for Camden, and, riding all night, reached my destination next day at 2 p. m."
The above extracts are simply taken at random and give some idea of the missionary field and work upon which the Bishop had entered. The old journals, as well as the later ones, show that he traveled as many as 8,000 and 9,000 miles each year, which is a remarkable record of endurance and faithfulness of purpose.
Shortly after the Bishop's arrival in the State steps were taken towards the organizing of the missionary jurisdiction of Arkansas into a Diocese. To this end a convocation was
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held on Ascension Day, May 18, 1871, at which there were present seven clergymen and three lay delegates from three parishes. At this meeting a full Diocesan organization was decided upon and the Bishop was asked to call the primary council of the Diocese of Arkansas to be held on St. Bartholo- mew's Day, August 24, 1871. This primary council met in Christ Church, Little Rock, on the day appointed, and set forth a constitution and canons, and elected Bishop Pierce as Diocesan. The first annual council was likewise held in Christ Church, Little Rock, on May 9, 1872.
Of these early days of the Bishop's Episcopate, very little can be found in the way of statistics, showing the condi- tion of the Episcopal Church in the State of Arkansas. But Church life was very feeble, the communicants few in num- ber and greatly scattered, and what parishes there were were simply at the beginning of things. Long years of patient toil, many discouragements and drawbacks, but withal an abiding hopefulness must be experienced before anything like an assured and confident life could be realized. The Bishop's work and that of his clergy was foundation work, and with but small means to carry on even that. But already there are many evidences of life and strength manifested in this still small Diocese that are an earnest of the future. When Bishop Pierce took charge there were but five church build- ings, one parsonage, and 605 communicants, as reported by Bishop Lay, who was translated to the Diocese of Easton, in 1869. To-day there are twenty-six church buildings, six- teen parsonages, or rectories, one guild hall, one hospital, nearly 3,000 communicants, and a Church membership of about 15,000. The Diocese has property valued at some- thing over $225,000 and the offerings for religious purposes average about $30,000 a year. The Episcopal endowment fund has gradually grown, and without any special effort for its increase, until it now amounts to $13,000.
One work in this enumeration must not be omitted. Bishop Pierce is to be congratulated that the twenty-fifth an- niversary of his consecration witnesses the completion of his Cathedral and its entire freedom from debt. It has been
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a marvel to us who were mere onlookers how the Bishop ever managed to accomplish so much. Year after year witnessed some addition until to-day it stands forth as a fine specimen of old English Church architecture and as a monument to the Bishop's unfailing faith, business management and of the high purpose he has in mind. For several years a burden of debt rested upon it which it was thought would take many years to lift, but through the large-hearted liberality of a member of the Cathedral congregation the debt was paid and the Cathedral is now free and ready for consecration.
Besides building Trinity Cathedral, the Bishop also built St. Philip's Church and parsonage for the use of the colored people of this city. This property is also free from debt through the Bishop's own efforts, and the Church is ready for consecration. It is used every Sunday by a con- gregation of colored people, a minister of their own race, Rev. Isaiah Daniels, officiating .*
But the life of a Bishop is not simply Diocesan; it belongs to the Church Universal; it touches the throbbing, pulsating life of the Church throughout the world. And . what great events and mighty achievements and advances has the venerable Bishop of Arkansas witnessed during these twenty-five years of his Episcopate ! Want of space forbids the happy enumeration, but for a moment let us turn our eyes on the growth of his own branch of the Church in the United States. On the consecration of Bishop Pierce in 1870 the Episcopal Church had thirty-nine Dioceses and nine mis- sionary jurisdictions, fifty-one Bishops and 2,786 other clergy. The number of communicants reported was 170,000. In 1895 we find that the number of Dioceses has increased from thirty-nine to fifty-three, the missionary jurisdictions from nine to eighteen, besides eight missionary jurisdictions in foreign lands, and the number of Bishops has increased from fifty-one to eighty-two, while the number of other clergy
*In the Journal of the Twenty-seventh Annual Council of the Diocese of Arkan- sas of date May 3, 4 and 5, A. D. 1899, the value of this church building is given as $10,000 by the Rector, Rev. Douglas I. Hobbs: Rectory $2,000. In the parochial report of Rev. Isaiah P. Daniels, the colored Rector of St. Philip's Church for colored people, its value is given as $1,00) and Rectory $).
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is now nearly 5,000. To-day the Episcopal Church has about 600,000 communicants, and a Church membership of more than 2,000,000. The proportion of communicants to the population twenty-five years ago was one in every 225; today there is one communicant for every 103 of the popula- tion. Or perhaps a more interesting statement will be to state that in 1820, the year in which Bishop Pierce was born, the proportion of communicants to the population was 1 in 416. To-day, as already stated, there is one communicant for every 103 of the population. In 1850, when Bishop Pierce was just beginning his ministry, the population of the United States was 23,847,884 and there were only 79,987 communicants in the Episcopal Church. To-day the State of New York alone, with only 5,997,853 population, has 240,- 000 communicants. These are remarkable figures and it is
not surprising that they attract attention. The Roman
Catholic News said recently : "The gain of the Episcopalians in this country, steady, onward, undeniable and that at the expense of the denominations called evangelical, is one of the remarkable characteristics of our times." The New York Evening Post and Public Opinion have devoted much space to the consideration of this growth, the latter remarking: "The general growth of the Episcopal Church far exceeds, proportionately, that of the population at large, or of any other religious seetion of it in particular. It looks like the 'Church of the future.' "
All this remarkable growth and advance the Bishop of Arkansas has witnessed. To-day he sees that there is not a State or Territory which is not under the pastoral care of a Bishop, many of the States having several Dioceses, each with its Bishop at its head. To-day he realizes and thanks God for it, that the quiet, persistent loyalty to the truth as this Church has received the same, the missionary zeal and enter- prise, the practical work enlisting so largely the labors and co-operation of the laity, the far-reaching influence on the religious thought of the day, the proposal of terms for Chris- tian unity, the multiplying of services and the more frequent communions, all manifest the inner and outward growth of
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the Church of which he is an honored Bishop, and demon- strate the reality and high purpose of her mission.
W. J. M.
A. D. 1899. As the "Journal of the Twenty-seventh Annual Council of the Diocese of Arkansas, 1899," relates in detail the last Diocesan work of the lamented Bishop while on earth, it is transferred to these pages intact :
BISHOP'S ADDRESS.
Dear Brethren of the Clergy and of the Laity :
Almighty God has spared me to meet you once more in Council, and it is with unusual peace of mind and freedom from care, that I welcome you to your seats in this, the Twenty-seventh Annual Session of this body. For I now know, so far as we are able to see the future, and estimate the probabilities thereof, that in case I meet you here no more, there will be one who has already won your confidence and taken from my shoulders a large portion of the burden, to assume the remainder of it when I lay that down, or am unable to bear it. Until that time I have the satisfaction of feeling that peace has been restored to the Diocese and left it free, and, as I trust, resolved to work for Christ and His one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, which is His Body mystical, as it has never yet worked in its long years of struggles, sometimes severe struggles, for existence. To one and all, I say, let bygones be bygones indeed, and let us hope- fully look forward to and pray and work for a grand and a glorious future for the Church in Arkansas.
In reviewing the events of the past conciliar Diocesan year, I find the most important, of course, to be the consecra- tion of our beloved Coadjutor-Bishop. Of that and of his work since his consecration I need say little, for you are all fully informed on that subject. I add merely this: Much good seed has been sown and some of it in wholly new ground, and even now first fruits by no means scant have been gathered,
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and the promised full harvest in due time is hopefully and joyfully anticipated in a not remote hereafter.
The number of Clerical changes in the Diocese during the past year has been unusually large. I have given letters dimissory as follows :
The Rev. John Gass, transferring him to the Diocese of Georgia.
The Rev. E. J. P. B. Williams, transferring him to the Diocese of Springfield, Ill.
Rev. W. T. Allen, transferring him to the Diocese of West Missouri.
The Rev. Douglas I. Hobbs, transferring him to the Diocese of Nebraska.
I have accepted letters dimissory presented by the Rev. W. D. Buckner, from the Diocese of Southern Virginia; the Rev. Caleb B. K. Weed, from the Diocese of Newark, N. J .; the Rev. R. W. Rhames, from the Diocese of Missouri.
The Rev. George Gordon Smeade has resigned the Rec- torship of Trinity Church, Pine Bluff, and accepted the Rec- torship of Christ Church, Little Rock. The Rev. W. D. Buckner has succeeded to the vacancy at Pine Bluff. The Rev. William Cross resigned the Rectorship of St. Luke's Church, Hot Springs ; was chaplain for some months in the United States army, and is now out of the State, but still Canonically resident in the Diocese of Arkansas. The Rev. G. W. Flowers has recently resigned the Rectorship of Trinity Church, Van Buren, and is beyond the bounds of this Diocese at present, though Canonically resident here. The Rey. Mr. Weed has become Rector of St. Paul's Church, Batesville. The Rev. Mr. Rhames has become Rector of St. Paul's Church, Newport. The Rev. W. G. Coote, of the Diocese of Kansas, is officiating at St. Luke's Church, Hot Springs, and I have hopes of his becoming the Rector of that important parish. The Rev. I. M. Merlinjones, of the Dio- cese of Los Angeles, Cal., is officiating at St. Agnes's Church, Morrilton, very acceptably. The Rev. P. P. Boland, of the Diocese of Mississippi, is officiating at the parish of St. Johnson's, Fort Smith. Trinity, Van Buren; St. Andrew's,
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Marianna ; The Church of the Good Shepherd, Forrest City, and the mission points vacated by the removal of the Rev. Mr. Williams, are still without stated clerical services. But I feel assured that the most important of these vacancies will be soon filled. I do not speak of a vacancy at Trinity Cathe- dral, because no absolute vacancy can occur there as long as the Bishop is in residence, though additional workers are needed, and will, I hope, be soon secured.
I consecrated the beautiful new St. John's Church, at Helena, on Septuagesima Sunday last. Further particulars concerning this consecration will be found in the abstract of my journal under the date of January 29, 1899. On the 22d day of May, 1898, I laid the corner stone of the new St. John's Church, at Fort Smith. When I saw this fine stone edifice in December last, the workmen were finishing off the interior. Whether it was made ready for Easter services, as was then intended, I have not been informed. As there is on the building some debt, though not a large one, considering its beauty and substantial character, it may not be ready for consecration very soon.
Great progress has been made in paying off Church debts during the year. A grand Easter offering very largely re- duced that of Christ Church, Little Rock. That of St. Luke's Church, Hot Springs, has been much cut down. The debt on St. Andrew's Church Rectory, at Marianna, is being steadily lessened. A mere fragment is left of the debt once resting on the Deanery of Trinity Cathedral. Except the five mentioned, I believe none of the parishes of Arkansas are encumbered with debt. Few, if any, of the Dioceses of the American Church ean show a better record than Arkansas in this respect.
Spiritually, I have reason to believe the Diocese has advanced no little during the past twelve months. This is my conviction, though the small number of confirmations may seem to indicate the contrary. The past year has been, to a great degree, a broken one. Men's minds have been deeply stirred by discords-discords international, political, and ecclesiastical-both in our country and in other lands. But
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