USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > The birthplace of the American episcopacy : a history of St. Paul's Church and the Glefe House, 1740-1940 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/birthplaceofamer00unse
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 03271 4716
Go 974.602 W852bi
The birthplace of the American episcopacy
The Birthplace
of the
American Episcopacy
1740
1940
Price One Dollar
GEN
WOODBURY ST. PAUL'S CHURCH THE GLEBE HOUSE
The contents of this booklet will be of greatest interest and value to every Episcopalian. It will also prove of value to every student of Church history in America.
Herein are assembled for the first time the story of the S. P. G. Missionaries in Connecticut; the founding of St. Paul's parish; the election of the first American Bishop, Samuel Seabury; the Glebe House; St. Paul's Church; the Ministry from 1722 to 1940 and important events in the history of the parish.
Woodbury, St. Paul's and the Glebe House are to the National Church what Philadelphia and Independence Hall are to the Nation.
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
The Birthplace of the American Episcopacy:
A History of St. Paul's Church and the Glebe House
Woodbury, Connecticut
1740-1940
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I COLONIAL DAYS
CHAPTER II JOHN RUTGERS MARSHALL AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
CHAPTER III ELECTION OF SAMUEL SEABURY AND THE ORGANI- ZATION OF THE AMERICAN PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH the above chapters by Miss Muriel Kinney
CHAPTER IV THE GLEBE HOUSE by Lloyd Elihu Barber
CHAPTER V THE CHURCH EDIFICE
by Herbert H. Somerset
CHAPTER VI CELEBRATIONS IN ST. PAUL'S - the clergy - 1722-1940 by Mrs. Jane S. Stacey
ILLUSTRATIONS
Line Drawing of St Paul's Church in early days. .. . Front Cover
Exterior of St. Paul's Church . Page 4
The Marshall House . 9
Grave of John Rutgers Marshall 12
Bishop Samuel Seabury 15
Exterior of the Glebe House 20
Room where election of Bishop Seabury occurred . 21
Early Seating Plan of the Church 24
Interior of St. Paul's Church .
36
Woodbury Medallion in Pilgrim Pavement of Cathe-
dral of St. John the Divine - New York City. . Back Cover
[3]
€
St. Paul's Church, Woodbury. Erected 1785, Dedicated 1822
CHAPTER I COLONIAL DAYS
TRATFORD on the Sound, ships, traders, a look and a longing S toward the hills, the trek to the good valley and the settlement of Woodbury, then called Pomperaug, all of this belongs in the annals of St. Paul's, Woodbury: And more too, for we, as every Christian Church, trace our source to Galilee, its ships and hills, the feet of the Master treading those hills and his lips speaking, not only to the men of Galilee, but to us.
While the Puritans had greatly desired the purification of The Church of England from abuses which had crept in, many of the settlers in New England still harbored a love for the Mother Church.
[4]
The knowledge of this, or perhaps only hoping that it might be so, brought the Rev. Dr. Bray to these shores and, upon his return inspir- ed the formation of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, often referred to as the S.P.G. and later sometimes as the Venerable Society. This was in 1701 and to this event the Church owes its existence in the Colony of Connecticut. Stratford, with its ships and well-to-do traders, saw the first Episcopal Church in the Colony. The Hon. Caleb Heathcote, trader and ship-owner of Stratford interested himself in the matter and did all in his power to bring about an organized parish in his town. Dr. Vesey, Rector of Trinity, New York, "Mother of Churches" was appealed to but his activities were in too great demand nearer home and it was not until 1707, when the Rev. George Muirson, S.P.G. Missionary at Rye, N.Y. visited Stratford, that the Church was regularly organ- ized with Wardens and Vestrymen. Not until 1722 did the parish have a resident rector, the Rev. George Pigot, who was sent out by the S.P.G. to Providence, Rhode Island, but instructed to go temporarily to Stratford. Here, in this gentleman, we have our first personal contact between Church of England adherents in Woodbury and the organization of St. Paul's.
The first settlement of Woodbury was in 1673. A company of fifteen families, led by the Rev. Zachariah Walker, Congregational Pastor, left Stratford for the valley of the Pomperaug. This migra- tion was occasioned by a dissent among the people of Stratford as to their pastor. The settlers of Colonial Connecticut were great individualists, not to say egoists. It was not easy for them to agree to disagree. So these fifteen families came with the pastor of their choice leaving the church at Stratford to enjoy its choice. Among these people there may have been some lovers of the Church of England. However this may be, at a much later date, in 1722, there was at least one such house-holder, for he wrote thanking the S.P.G. for the baptism of his children by the Rev. George Pigot, of Stratford. But this same George Pigot has other claims upon our gratitude.
For it was he, who by his counsel cleared up the last questions in the mind of Samuel Johnson, Pastor at West Haven, in the tur- moil of his mind concerning his ordination. This is the story of the great upheaval in Yale College, when the President, the Rev. Tim- othy Cutler and his entire faculty in the person of a single Tutor, the Rev. Daniel Brown, together with Samuel Johnson and certain other gentlemen, declared their conviction that the ordination
[5]
given by the Puritan Church was insufficient; and that, in order properly to administer the sacred offices of the priesthood, one must be ordained by a bishop regularly consecrated in the Apos- tolic Succession. This declaration came like an earthquake-shock to Yale and to all of Puritan New England. It was not less drama- tic in its way than the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia fifty-three years later. The "Rector" or President, and his Tutor resigned. Samuel Johnson told his people in West Haven that he should go to England for Episcopal ordination and if they chose to adopt the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, he would return to them, but if not he would leave them with his blessing. He, to- gether with Yale's retired president and faculty, sailed from Boston on November 5, 1722, and were ordained in March following, first as Deacons and then as priests, by Dr. Green, Bishop of Norwich, the Bishop of London being, at that time, too ill to perform the office. Samuel Johnson, upon his return, took charge of the mission at Stratford, George Pigot having now gone to his original charge at Providence.
Samuel Johnson found sufficient labor for his zeal. His parish at Stratford had been developed by his predecessor and the church edifice actually begun, but he must minister also to the surround- ing settlements, Fairfield, Norwalk, Newtown, Huntington (then called Ripton), West Haven and be prepared to travel into by- ways where his services were desired. He wrote to the Bishop of London, "There is not one clergyman of the Church of England, besides myself, in this whole colony, and I am obliged in a great measure to neglect my cure at Stratford . . . to ride about to other towns (some ten, some twenty miles off) when in each of them there is as much need of a resident minister as there is at Stratford, especially at Newtown and Fairfield, so that the case of these destitute places, as well as of myself, who have this excess of business, is extremely unhappy and compassionable."
The church edifice in Stratford was completed late in 1724 and services held in it on Christmas Day of that year.
For some time Johnson continued the sole representative of the Anglican Priesthood in Connecticut but as parishes were organized and missionaries stationed to serve them, Johnson became very truly "Father of Episcopacy" for the colony and must be so con- sidered for the State. It is said that he held services in Woodbury. He certainly fathered Episcopacy in Woodbury for, in 1732, a certain Congregational minister, the Rev. John Graham, located
[6]
there used some abusive language in regard to the Church-of-Eng- land and its Clergy. His utterances were published and were an- swered both by John Beach, then officiating in Newtown, and, at more length by Samuel Johnson, who carried on the controversy for some little time. This discussion awakened considerable interest among the people and it was not long before there began to be a demand for the establishment of a parish in this neighborhood. The nearest Church at this time was at Newtown, and the mission- ary there, one John Beach, was a graduate of Yale, whither he had gone thru the influence of Timothy Cutler, who had at one time been pastor of the Congregational Church at Stratford, where Mr. Beach's family attended. After graduation he had become pastor of the Congregational Church at Newtown, but after serving some years declared his intention of going to England for ordination to the Priesthood in the Anglican Church. He went highly recom- mended by Samuel Johnson as a "Popular and insinuating young man, a very studious and ingenious person and a truly serious and conscientious Christian". Upon his return as S.P.G. Missionary to Newtown and Redding a number of his former parishioners left the Established Church and joined the Episcopal Society under him. He was missionary to Newtown, Redding and adjacent parts and in 1740 he did organize the Woodbury parish. John Beach seems to have been a most zealous and devoted worker and to have "taken in his stride" the varied and strenuous labors of his mission. In his letters he only says that his labors involve much travel "roads very poor, snow, rain, sometimes no track" but adds, "Con- sequently my parishioners are ashamed to stay away from services."
The first church edifice in Woodbury was located between the present village and Roxbury Center. Just when it was built does not appear but the Rev. Thomas Davies, who ministered here in 1758, wrote to the S.P.G., "In Roxbury there is a pretty church neatly finished". The parish of Woodbury was also served by the Rev. Richard Clark, of Milford, the Rev. Abraham Clark of Stam- ford and the Rev. Roger Viets of Simsbury. It is not certain when these services began to be held in the village of Woodbury. In 1747 the Congregational Society abandoned their first building for their new "transcendently magnificent" one. Apparently the Episco- palians began holding their services in this abandoned building (also used as Town Hall) about this time. The original parish was at some time, for convenience, split in two, one going to Roxbury Centre and the other to Woodbury village; but the dates of these movements have been lost. Both Christ Church, Roxbury and St. Paul's, Woodbury go back to John Beach's organization of the
[7]
Woodbury Parish and to the "pretty church neatly finished" on the hill between the two settlements, but in the absence of records of the time we can only guess as to the dates of separation.
Whether separate or joined together, the Church people of Wood- bury Village were ministered to from 1740 to 1771 by S.P.G. Missionaries who were stationed at other points but in 1771 Wood- bury acquired a resident rector. From the time that Samuel John- son came to Stratford until he left to become first president of King's College, New York, in 1754, he acted, first as sole and later as chief advisor for the Church people thruout the colony. He must have become much interested in Woodbury thru his debate with the Rev. Mr. Graham and also thru John Beach's interest in it. It would appear that we must thank him twice for our first rector, John Rutgers Marshall. First for the interest which he took in the young man at King's College, where he attended for three years, leaving in 1758 without a degree. Later when Dr. Johnson had re- tired from the presidency and returned to Stratford, where he, "several times directed one or more in their studies", he again influenced Marshall to study for the Anglican ministry. He pre- pared him at Stratford both for his final examinations at King's College and also for his ordination into the priesthood. King's Col- lege awarded John Marshall his B.A. in 1770 and, for the studies preparing him for the Priesthood, his Master's Degree in 1773. He sailed for England on May 20, 1771 and was ordained by Bishop Terrick of London, on July 25th as Deacon and three days later as Priest. He then returned as S.P.G. missionary at "Woodbury and adjacent parts." It would seem that Dr. Johnson suggested to the Venerable Society that he be so assigned and this is the second cause for thankfulness to Samuel Johnson for St. Paul's first Rec- tor, John Rutgers Marshall.
The Marshall family took up their residence in the Glebe House in October, 1771. It consisted of the Reverend Mr. Marshall, Mrs. Marshall, their two children, Susanna and Richard and two negro slaves. Here in the Glebe House, or Rectory, they made their home until sometime after the close of the Revolutionary War. In the spring of 1774, midway between the Boston Tea Party and the Declaration of Rights, the Episcopal Clergy of Connecticut con- vened in this Glebe House and in celebrating the Holy Eucharist, partook of wine sent to John Marshall by his two good aunts from New York. We know no wave-lengths that can carry to us the words spoken within those walls on that day; but no doubt the topic was how to carry on with all these troubles brewing.
[8]
Home of John Rutgers Marshall Main Street, Woodbury
CHAPTER II JOHN RUTGERS MARSHALL AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
FOR these were troubled times. The American colonists, from Maine to Georgia were aroused in defense of their just rights as English subjects. William Pitt across the ocean was pleading their cause in vain. Lord North could not see very far with a penny be- fore each eye and all of this caused especial trouble for the Anglican Clergy in the colonies, especially in the New England Colonies where most of the clergy were under the direction and pay of the S.P.G. Also, no doubt, the fact that they had been opposed by the ruling Puritan population, increased their loyalty to the Mother Country. They had been ordained into a church whose titular head was the King of England. Their Book of Common Prayer was
[9]
English and a part of the ritual upheld the King and Parliament. Their path had not been easy from the first for the idea of religious freedom had not yet to any extent passed beyond the individual stage. The Puritans had come here to worship God as they chose; but they did not wish to be bothered by having people come here with other ideas of worshiping God. To extend freedom of worship to others as well as to oneself seemed to them to be most undesire- able. For example, when the Rev. Mr. Muirson went to Stratford to conduct services and to baptize adults and children of Episcopal parentage, it seemed necessary for Col. Heathcote to ride at his side fully armed to protect him from the angry Puritans, who, both at this time and on subsequent visits of Mr. Muirson, threatened him, locked doors against him and otherwise showed their displea- sure. His success in overcoming these things was thru his great sweetness of temper. As he wrote to the Venerable Society, "Gentle- ness and sweetness of temper is the readiest way to engage the affections of the people; and charity to those who differ from us in opinion is the most likely to convince them that our labors are intended for the welfare of their souls."
This sentiment seems to have characterized many, if not all of the S.P.G. missionaries. For instance, it is told that when the Rev. Thomas Davies was holding his first service at Woodbury he was rudely interrupted. He paused and "addressed to them such an earnest and tender rebuke that, not only was perfect order restored but he enlisted the feelings of the whole audience strongly in his favor." The Puritans, as shown in their treatment of Roger Wil- liams and others who differed from them in their religious beliefs, were no less severe than the government in old England had been to them; and they did not hesitate to imprison persons for attending Episcopal services. During the stormy years after the Declaration of Rights and especially after the Declaration of Independence on that Glorious Fourth of July, 1776, John Marshall suffered all that a man can suffer in the way of persecution. He, unlike some of the S.P.G. missionaries, remained at his post all thru the war. He was responsible for St. Paul's, Woodbury, and also for Christ Church, Roxbury; and during a part of the time also for St. John's, New Milford. At one time, as he was driving from Roxbury he was way- laid, beaten, and left for dead. He finally provided himself with a secret hiding place from where he came forth on Sundays to con- duct services in the Town Hall. It was contrary to the Puritan Law to arrest a man on the Sabbath but on other days he was not to be
[10]
found. It has been told of him that he never, thru all this persecu- tion showed anything other than a truly Christian spirit.
No one has produced conclusive evidence either that John Rut- gers Marshall was a Tory or that he was a Patriot. All New England clergymen of the Episcopal Church were considered Tories and treated so. It was enough that their Book of Common Prayer asked Divine blessing on King George III. No one of their persecutors apparently took the trouble to find out whether or no these prayers were indeed read during these times in the Episcopal Churches. As a matter of History, at a convention of the Connecticut Clergy held in New Haven from July 23-25, 1776, it was voted that, altho they might not safely use the full Liturgy of the Prayer Book, "Yet that if we should open our churches and read the Holy Scriptures, together with some approved practical commentaries on them; read the Homilies or other orthodox Sermons published by Divines of our Church, or any pious Tracts which may be thought most proper for the perfect State of the Church, to examine the children in their catechism and read approved lectures thereon, and also to continue all the occasional Services when requisite (except the Holy Eucharist, which we think should only be used for the present in the Chambers of ye Sick), it will have a tendency to promote a great part of ye general intentions of public religious incitings & that the retired devotions of the people may make up in a great measure for the unavoidable deficiencies - and that such a mode of procedure will preserve us in a conscience void of offense towards God and toward man." And the Rev. Mr. Tyler of Norwich even went so far as to omit the prayers for the King and Parliament while using the other prayers as usual. And he was exonerated both by the Connecticut clergy and later by the S.P.G.
As to John Marshall, it is a matter of record that he was sum- moned before the Committee of Inspection on the charge of, "wishing well to the mother country" and "put on the limits" which means that he could not go beyond stated bounds without special permission. Twice during the war he sought and was granted special permission to go to New York to see his only surviving aunt, who was then past eighty years of age. There is, moreover, another item in the record; at a Town Meeting held on April 12, 1784, it was voted, "That those persons who joined the enemies of the United States in the course of the late civil war of what description soever are denied a residence in this town from this date until the General Assembly shall grant them full liberty for that purpose."
[11 ]
3 1833 03271 4716
L'
Later there was provision made for releasing such persons on their taking the "Oath of Fidelity". However there does not appear any record of John Marshall having been called upon to take this oath and he certainly was not denied residence in the town.
Some historians have deduced from Marshall's truly patriotic conduct after the war was over, the belief that he was, all along a staunch American. This seems good reasoning but there is no act- ual proof. All that we can affirm is, "He suffered, he was patient and faithful." After the war, also he and his parish seem to have stood well with their Puritan neighbors; for, between the First Congregational Church and St. Paul's there appear to have been many friendly and neighborly dealings.
Grave of John Rutgers Marshall Old South Cemetery, Woodbury
[12]
CHAPTER III
ELECTION OF SAMUEL SEABURY AND THE ORGANIZATION OF THE AMERICAN PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH
ALL thru Colonial times, especially in New England, there was more or less agitation for an American Bishop. Without a bishop neither confirmation nor ordination could be had, except by cross- ing the ocean, then a tedious undertaking of weeks by way of a sailing vessel. Good Queen Anne had recognized this need and had set on foot a plan for organizing an American Diocese, but, with her sudden death in 1714 the plan died also. The house of Hanover proved indifferent and Parliament actually hostile, so much so, indeed, that the Bishop of Glocester in writing to Samuel Johnson in 1736 says, "No one is more sensible of the difficulties in general you labor under in those parts and in particular those you com- plain of for want of a Bishop residing among you. My own interest, to be sure, is inconsiderable; but the united interest of the Bishops here is not powerful enough to effect so reasonable and right a thing as sending some bishops into America."
Occasional conventions of the Anglican Clergy were held all thru the colonial period. The first of record in New England was held at Newport, Rhode Island in 1725, attended by seven clergymen, three of whom come into our story, Timothy Cutler, now stationed in Boston, George Pigot, and Samuel Johnson. A letter was drawn up addressed to the Secretary of the S.P.G. from which I quote, "We humbly conceive nothing can more effectually redress those grievances and protect us from the insults of our adversaries than an orthodox and loyal Bishop residing with us ... If once this happiness were granted, this would supply us with many useful Ministers from among ourselves, whom the hazards of the sea, and sickness, and the charge of travel discourage from the service of the Church and tempt them to enlist themselves as members of Ministers of Dissenting Congregations. Our people might receive the great benefit of Confirmation, the usefulness whereof we preach and they are deeply sensible." This expresses in their own language the plea which these missionaries were constantly making to their superiors in England. A memorial was sent by this same convention to the King and one to the Bishop of London much to the same effect. From this time on New England conventions continued and, as the clergy became more numerous, they tended to become
[13]
colonial. Connecticut held her first Assembly at Fairfield in August, 1742. In the memorial sent by this assembly we find Samuel John- son recommended as worthy to receive the Episcopal Consecration.
I have already mentioned a convention held in the Glebe House, Woodbury in the spring of 1774. In September of that year another was convened at Norwalk, the purpose apparently being to apprise the people of Connecticut of their innocence of the charges and suspicions to which the Church and its ministers were being sub- jected and to ask relief from the abuses which were being heaped upon them. In laying before the public "the Sentiments of this Convention" and to exculpate themselves from what they "appre- hend unjust Censure laid upon particular instances" of their con- duct, they go on to regret and lament the "Commotions and Broils" of the time but declare that, "Any measures to redress actual grievances or ward off impending Ones, which the laws of God and the Realm authorize are justified to be taken." Conventions were held also during the war, one of which has been mentioned in a pre- vious chapter. All of these conventions were of importance in teach- ing the clergy to rely on their united judgment and they served also to relieve the strain caused by the lack, felt now more keenly than ever, of a Bishop at their head, a source of ecclesiastical authority.
By October 19, 1781, with the surrender of Cornwallis, the war was over, tho as yet there was no established peace. The next fall a pamphlet appeared entitled, THE CASE OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCHES IN THE UNITED STATES CONSIDERED. This was the work of the Rev. William White, one-time Chaplain to the Continental Congress, and later Bishop of Pennsylvania. He called attention to the fact that the American Churches were cut off from their relations with the Bishop of London and the S.P.G. thru the political severance of the American Colonies from the mother country. His idea was to organize thru conventions and he outlined a plan. Many of these suggestions were used in the final organization of the American Church but his postulate that the Episcopacy "cannot be had at present" and his further recommen- dation to carry on without Bishops, "for a time at least" met with decided opposition in various parts, especially in New England. Connecticut offered immediate and conclusive opposition. On March 25, 1783 there assembled at the Glebe House in Woodbury, ten of the fourteen clergymen in Connecticut and they elected a Bishop for their State.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.