USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > A history of Saint John's Church, Hartford, Connecticut, 1841-1941 > Part 6
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Mr. Hooper was a man of unlimited mental ability and physical energy. His gifts as a preacher, pastor, teacher and organizer soon made a tremendous impression upon the life of the parish. His dreams for a larger and better equipped parish house finally came true when, on Novem- ber 27, 1927, in a solemn service Bishop Chauncey B. Brewster dedicated the new Parish House, Outdoor Pulpit, Peace Cross and Cloister.
His great love for children was revealed not only in his dealings with them but in his insistence that the Parish House should be a structure of beauty as well as of use- fulness. His gifts as a teacher were clearly shown in his direction of the Church School, which grew from a small number to several hundreds and had the reputation of being the largest Church School in the diocese.
Mr. Hooper was regarded as a preacher of high intel- lectual ability by members of the parish and community. His background as a teacher of science stood out clearly in all his preaching, and he constantly developed a scientific approach to all things.
In 1929 he became a member of a national committee for the rebuilding of Saint Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen, Scotland. In recognition of his untiring efforts and unusual ability, he was honored by being installed as an Honorary Canon of Aberdeen Cathedral. He was also a member of the Board of Education of West Hartford; a Trustee of Kingswood School for Boys; Chairman of the Department of Religious Education of the Diocese of Connecticut; Presi- dent of the Widows Homes of Hartford; and a member of the Archaeological Society of America. He founded the Saint John's Church Servers' Guild.
As the amazing growth of the parish continued under his ministry, it was felt that an Assistant could lighten the heavy burden of pastoral work. In 1921 The Rev. Robert H. Burton assisted for a time. Formerly he had been in charge of St. Gabriel's Mission at East Berlin in 1902, and Rector
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of The Church of Our Saviour in Plainville from 1903 to 1921. Later he served on the staff of Christ Church Cathedral. By 1928 the parish had increased to over nine hundred communicants, with more than seven hundred pupils in the Church School.
In 1928 The Rev. Walter H. Gray was appointed assist- ant to the Rector. On February 17, 1929 he was ordained a Priest in Saint John's Church by The Rt. Rev. Chauncey B. Brewster. He served as Assistant at Saint John's until 1932, when he was elected as Dean of the Pro-Cathedral of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In 1936 he returned to Hartford as Dean of Christ Church Cathedral. At the Diocesan Convention in May 1940 he was elected Suffragan Bishop of Connecticut. He was consecrated on November 12, 1940 by the Presiding Bishop Henry St. George Tucker.
The Rev. James W. Kennedy became the assistant to the Rector in July 1932 and served until December 1932.
In March 1938 Mr. Hooper entered into the larger life and his passing was a great blow to the parish and the community. His memory will linger long in the hearts of everyone, and the present beautiful and stately additions to the Church and Parish House stand as a living memorial to The Rev. William Thomas Hooper, eighth Rector of Saint John's Church.
The Rev. John Moore McGann, D.D., who was already well known to the parish through his preaching at Lenten services, was elected Rector in 1938. He was a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, and of Episcopal Theological School, and received ordination as a priest in 1898. Before coming to Hartford he had served churches in Boston, Erie, Columbus, Chicago, and Springfield, Mass., where he became Honorary Dean of Christ Church Cathedral. Dr. McGann resigned from the Rectorship of Saint John's in February 1939.
On April 26 the newly-elected Rector, The Rev. Harold Hand Donegan, B.D., began his duties. He was born in
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Matlock, Derbyshire, England on February 6, 1905. He received the degree of B.A. from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in January 1927. In September of that year he entered the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge, Mass. In September 1928 he transferred to the Berkeley Divinity School, New Haven, Conn. and graduated from there in June 1930. He was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Mary- land in Christ Church, Baltimore, his brother, The Rev. Horace W. B. Donegan, D.D., being Rector of Christ Church at that time.
Mr. Donegan served as a Missionary under the Bishop of Maryland until February 1931 when he was elected Rector of the Church of the Resurrection in Baltimore.
On May 30, 1931 he was ordained priest by the Bishop of Maryland in the Church of the Resurrection. In May 1934 he became Rector of Saint Bartholomew's Church, White Plains, New York. While Rector there he was a member of the Diocesan Commission on Social Service and a Trustee of the Church Mission of Help. For three years he was a member of the Westchester County Council of Social Agencies. In March 1939 he was elected Rector of Saint John's Church, Hartford.
Mr. Donegan married Frances Britton Chamberlaine of Baltimore in June, 1932. They have one daughter and two sons.
THE PRESENT STAFF:
In August, 1924 Mrs. Edward Lewis was engaged for the secretarial work of the parish. Her duties have increased during the years and in 1939, in addition to her work as Parish Secretary, she became Assistant Director of the Church School under the direction of the Rector.
In April, 1926 Mr. Edward Lewis took up the duties of Sexton and Verger of the Parish and Church. He is responsible for the care and upkeep of the buildings and grounds and performs special duties at all church services. We are
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fortunate in having a Sexton who spares no effort to serve the parish to the utmost, and his love for the Church is expressed in the splendid care which he gives to our church property.
In June, 1932 Mrs. William W. Malcolm was engaged as Organist and Choir Director. As a musician and director she has maintained the high standard of our church music. Mrs. Malcolm is responsible for the Girls' Choir, which sings at each Church School service, and the Men and Boys' Choir which sings at the eleven o'clock service on Sunday and at all special services.
The history of Saint John's recalls a few words spoken with prophetic insight by Dr. Burgess of Christ Church in his sermon at the consecration of the first church in 1842: That a church which keeps the Apostles' teaching and is established in faith and peace "need not envy even the spiritual triumphs of such ages as have sowed their seed in the blood of martyrs." For such a church, he said, there is "a less painful path from victory to victory." Saint John's came from a peaceful increase of the Church in Hartford, an harmonious separation in a family which had lived in unity of spirit. It came in a fullness of time, when from humble origins the Church had risen to a place of high regard in the community, because it defended the principles of truth, unity and order.
The new parish was founded in a high resolve to declare those principles with religious seriousness and unity of feeling, with zeal and yet with that respect for the faith of others which is charity. From their former pastor the founders received a charge to live harmoniously with their fellow Churchmen, to be one family with them in maintain- ing a great spiritual inheritance. The record of one hundred years shows a parish life in every way worthy of that charge from the pastor who in breadth of vision bade the new
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church Godspeed. It will continue to inspire Saint John's to fulfill the ideal of his parting words:
"To the eye of faith, you are a company of pilgrims and of brethren . You are to bear one another's burdens; to strengthen the weak; to bring back them that wander; to guide the young; to comfort the sorrowing; to abide in love, one with another."
RECTORS
The Rev. Arthur Cleveland Coxe, 1842-1854 Bishop of Western New York, 1865-1896 The Rev. Edward A. Washburn, 1854-1862 The Rev. William Croswell Doane, 1863-1867 Bishop of Albany, New York, 1869-1913 The Rev. Lawrence H. Mills, 1868-1872 The Rev. Matson Meier-Smith, 1872-1876
The Rev. A. Douglass Miller, 1876-1882 The Rev. James Watson Bradin, 1882-1918 Rector Emeritus, 1918-1923
The Rev. William Thomas Hooper, 1918-1938
The Rev. John Moore McGann, 1938-1939
The Rev. Harold Hand Donegan, 1939-
SENIOR WARDENS
William T. Lee 1841-J. M. Goodwin 1850-Clements Belknap 1854-George M. Bartholomew 1857-James G. Wells 1858-Nathan M. Waterman 1861-Edwin Taylor 1867 -Henry Pease 1870-James G. Wells 1872-R. J. Allyn 1880- James G. Wells 1881-James A. Smith, Jr. 1882-Dwight W. Pardee 1886-George W. Woolley 1894-Edwin P. Taylor 1903-Charles A. Pease 1926-Oliver R. Beckwith 1927- Richard B. Bulkeley 1930-L. Edmund Zacher 1935-Samuel Ferguson 1939
JUNIOR WARDENS
Lemuel Humphrey 1841-J. M. Goodwin 1845-Thomas Belknap 1850-George M. Bartholomew 1854-James G.
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Wells 1857-Charles M. Beach 1858-Edwin Taylor 1859- Thomas Belknap 1861-T. C. Allyn 1862-Edwin Taylor 1864-Jacob Knous 1865-L. B. Goodman 1866-Henry Pease 1867-James G. Wells 1870-Thomas Belknap 1872-R. J. Allyn 1874 -James A. Smith, Jr. 1880-George W. Woolley 1882-Edwin P. Taylor 1894-Charles A. Pease 1903-Oliver R. Beckwith 1926-Charles J. Bennett 1927-James M. Linton 1930-Hon. Joseph Watson Beach 1935-Walter E. Batterson 1939
TREASURERS
Charles H. Brainard 1841-James M. Goodwin 1859- Henry Corning, Jr. 1861-Samuel H. White 1864-Stiles D. Sperry 1868-Lucius J. Hendee 1871-Joseph Breed 1881- Charles A. Pease 1886-William C. Pease 1903-Morgan W. Taylor 1924-Oliver R. Beckwith 1925-Shiras Morris 1926- Blair J. Wormer 1927-Henry H. Conland 1928-Charles L. Campbell 1931-Charles E. Ferree 1933-A. Wallace Cud- worth 1936
CLERKS
Edward Goodman 1841-Ralph Saunders 1842-William H. Gilbert 1947-H. S. Parsons 1849-H. G. Batterson 1852- Nathan M. Waterman 1854-Ralph Saunders 1861-John S. Robinson 1864-Charles E. Wilson 1876-Robert A. Wads- worth 1886-Richard B. Bulkeley 1925-William H. Bulkeley 1930-Frank W. Young 1933-John C. Braislin 1937-Clarence H. Taylor 1939
CHRONOLOGY
March 15, 1841: Special meeting of Christ Church Parish to consider the matter of another parish in Hartford
March 18, 1841: Saint John's Parish formally organized, articles of association signed
April 19, 1841: First Parish meeting of Saint John's
May 1, 1841: Purchase of lot reported to parish meeting
July 14, 1841: Cornerstone of the first church laid
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March 17, 1842: The Rev. Arthur Cleveland Coxe elected first Rector
April 20, 1842: Saint John's Church consecrated by Bishop Thomas C. Brownell of Connecticut
April 24, 1842: The first baptism
September 25, 1842: The Rev. A. C. Coxe ordained priest by Bishop Brownell
January 8, 1843: First episcopal visitation and confirmation
May 14, 1843: The first funeral in the church
December 22, 1847: Bell raised to the belfry: 2029 pounds June 18, 1849: Voted to reconstruct and ornament the chancel December 1, 1850: Founding of Church City Mission Society October 29, 1851: The Rev. John Williams consecrated a bishop in Saint John's. Fourth Bishop of Connecticut, 1865-1899
April 16, 1854: The Rev. Edward A. Washburn, second Rector, began services
May 9, 1863: The Rev. William Croswell Doane, third Rector, instituted
April 21, 1864: The Rev. Henry Welles Nelson elected assistant to the Rector
July 18, 1866: Church of the Good Shepherd organized from Saint John's
January 29, 1868: The Rev. Lawrence H. Mills elected as fourth Rector
March 1, 1868: Church of the Incarnation (Saint James's) or- ganized from Saint John's
October 20, 1872: The Rev. Matson Meier-Smith elected as fifth Rector
March 20, 1876: The Rev. A. Douglass Miller elected as sixth Rector
April 10, 1882: The Rev. James Watson Bradin elected as seventh Rector
November 28, 1886: The first vested choir of men and boys
August 1890: Interior of the church remodeled
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April 17, 1892: Easter, fiftieth anniversary celebrated, debt was liquidated
November 1, 1905: Lot sold for site of the Morgan Memorial
March 31, 1907: Easter, last services in the old church
April 7, 1907: First service in Kings Daughters Chapter House, Prospect Avenue
July 14, 1908: Cornerstone laid for the new Saint John's Church July 9, 1909: The new church consecrated by Bishop Chauncey B. Brewster
December 30, 1914: Cornerstone of parish house laid
March 19, 1916: Celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary
June 18, 1918: The Rev. James Watson Bradin elected Rector- Emeritus, Rev. William Thomas Hooper elected eighth Rector
October 14, 1923: Dedication of memorials by Bishop Chauncey B. Brewster
May 1, 1927: Cornerstone laid for enlargement of parish house June 28, 1928: Cornerstone laid for extension of the nave
December 9, 1928: Dedication of the building extension by Bishop E. Campion Acheson
February 17, 1929: The Rev. Walter Henry Gray ordained priest in Saint John's Church
April 10, 1932: Commemoration of the ninetieth anniversary of the church
May 9, 1938: The Rev. John Moore McGann elected as ninth Rector
March 9, 1939: The Rev. Harold Hand Donegan elected as tenth Rector
April 20, 1941: Celebration of the centennial of the parish
PARISH DIRECTORY
Rector: The Rev. Harold Hand Donegan, B. D. Organist and Choir Director, Mrs. William W. Malcolm Parish Secretary: Mrs. Edward Lewis Sexton: Mr. Edward Lewis
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WARDENS AND VESTRY Samuel Ferguson, Senior Warden Walter E. Batterson, Junior Warden A. Wallace Cudworth, Treasurer Graham H. Anthony, Assistant Treasurer Clarence H. Taylor, Parish Clerk
Henry Perkins Smith
Herbert S. Murphy
Charles E. Ferree
Frank W. Young Ostrom Enders A. Wallace Cudworth
John Hendee Bradin
Charles F. Spalding
Graham H. Anthony
Nicholas W. Manocchio
Morgan W. Taylor
Clarence H. Taylor
Church Service League: President, Mrs. Frazar B. Wilde; Vice-President, Mrs. Jesse M. Waller; Treasurer, Miss Carolyn B. Taylor; Secretary, Mrs. Harry C. Bean.
Young People's Fellowship: President, Miss Phyllis Holmes; Secretary, Miss Mary Lee Minter.
Altar Guild: President, Mrs. John D. Stout
Servers' Guild: Chairman, Edward E. Hunt, Jr.
Saint John's Chapter of the American Red Cross: Director, Mrs. Robert F. Linton; Assistant Director, Mrs. Ralph H. Merrill.
THE GROWTH OF SAINT JOHN'S
Communi-
Years
Families
cants
Teachers
Scholars
1843 (Coxe)
130
177
28
143
1854 (Washburn)
200
290
26
136
1864 (Doane)
232
356
27
195
1873 (Meier-Smith)
100
175
21
160°
1882 (Bradin)
200
250
15
100
" After organization of the Church of the Good Shepherd in 1866 and the Church of the Incarnation (St. James's ) in 1868.
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Communi-
Years
Families
cants
Teachers
Scholars
1892 (50th An.)
150
300
17
125
1907 (Removal)
80
150
14
80
1916
231
290
32
225° *
1930
585
1083
78
1042 ***
1935
664
1308
74
854°
1940
680
1234
74
435
1941 (Mar. 1st)
644
1300
77
448 * ****
After erection of the parish house.
After a great growth of West Hartford and the building expansion, 1927-28. Including the entire department of religious education, with adult classes, Cradle Roll and Servers.
Including adult classes for confirmation, Cradle Roll, Servers and young people away at school.
Pupils actually enrolled in the school.
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