USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Wethersfield > History of Saint Mark's Church, New Britain, Conn., and of its predecessor Christ Church, Wethersfield and Berlin : from the first Church of England service in America to nineteen hundred and seven > Part 36
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of Saint Mark's Church, New Britain, Conn., and of its predecessor Christ Church, Wethersfield and Berlin : from the first Church of England service in America to nineteen hundred and seven > Part 36
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > New Britain > History of Saint Mark's Church, New Britain, Conn., and of its predecessor Christ Church, Wethersfield and Berlin : from the first Church of England service in America to nineteen hundred and seven > Part 36
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He was dismissed from the Diocese of Connecticut and transferred to the Diocese of Maryland 1854, and became assistant minister in St. Paul's Parish, Baltimore, Md. While there, he officiated upon various occasions for the Chaplain of the United States Senate.
He was received into the Diocese of Western New York from the Diocese of Maryland, Feb. 13, 1854, and became Rec- tor of Trinity Church, at Seneca Falls, New York, and was also appointed Chaplain of the Auburn State Prison. He resigned the rectorship of Trinity Church, Seneca Falls, Feb. 29, 1876, on account of failing health, after a rectorship of over twenty-one years and was made Rector Emeritus. Shortly
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after he settled at Seneca Falls he was invited to the principal- ship of the Seneca Falls Academy, which position he filled for several terms to the entire acceptance of its patrons. In 1865, Columbia College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology.
The Seneca Falls "Reveille" of July 26, 1878, contains an obituary notice of the Rev. John M. Guion, S.T.D., together with a copy of sympathizing resolutions passed at a meeting of the Rector, wardens and vestrymen of Trinity Church, also at a meeting of the Sessions of the Presbyterian Church and at a meeting of the Common Council of the city of Auburn, of which council a son of the Rev. Mr. Guion was a member. We copy the following from the above named obituary notice :-
"Dr. Guion was a man of finished education and eminently successful in his ministerial work. He always possessed the warm love and respect of the people to whom he ministered, and his kindness of heart, quiet humor and geniality endeared him to all those with whom he came into social relations. In the pulpit he exhibited his great powers of mind. His presenta- tions of gospel truth were made with all the grace and elegance which springs from the infusion of the mind with the spirit of classic learning. In his official capacity he united unusual mental power with impressive dignity of manner, and a com- manding influence over others, and he tempered and adorned them all in no ordinary degree, with the active graces of the christian. The sick and distressed found in him a tender and sympathizing friend. Among his people he was an honor and a pillar of strength, and many feel that a great man hath fallen this day in Israel. In every relation of life, in the Church, in society and family circle, he was a beloved and exemplary man, a consistent christian, beautifully exemplifying the power of holy religion, commanding and securing the love and confidence of all."
"His whole life was characterized by faithfulness to duty, and a self-sacrificing spirit for the good of others. In his daily walk and conversation he exhibited a type of christian faith of wonderful strength and beauty. Indeed, he exempli- fied in his own person the consistency and power of the religion to which he devoted his life."
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REV. CHARLES RICHMOND FISHER, M.A.
Charles Richmond, a son of Daniel and Betsey (Fisher,) Fisher, was born Sept. 17, 1819, at Franklin, Mass .; died at Hartford, Conn., Nov. 24, 1876; married at Hartford, by the Rev. George Burgess, May 26, 1846, to Susan B. Griswold, of Hartford, who died at Hartford, Dec. 28, 1905. His parents were members of the Congregational Church in Franklin, Mass. His father died when Charles was only fifteen, and for some years he was a clerk in the book store of William Marshall in Providence, R. I. Here he attended Grace Church and became acquainted with that time-honored form of worship and system of religion to which he was ever after heartily attached.
He entered Trinity College in 1838, graduating in 1842. His cheerful face and genial manners, coupled with an excellent spirit and diligerice in his studies, soon attracted the special attention of Bishop Brownell and Mr. Fisher was led by him to engage in the active duties of the ministry. On Aug. 2, 1842, he was recommended by the Standing Committee as a candidate for holy orders and on Nov. 5, 1845, they recom- mended him for deacon's orders. He had studied theology under the Rev. George Burgess, Rector of Christ Church, Hart- ford, who was afterwards the Bishop of Maine. On Dec. 21, 1845, in Christ Church, Hartford, he was admitted to the order of deacons by the Rt. Rev. Thomas Church Brownell. Morn- ing Prayer was read by the Rev. Dr. Totten and the Rev. George Burgess read the lessons and preached the sermon. Before being made deacon he had officiated in various places as lay reader and was quite frequently called to New Britain as a lay reader during the closing year, (1845,) of the Rector- ship of the Rev. Mr. Guion, and immediately after being made a deacon he was called to officiate for three months in St. Mark's Church, New Britain, as narrated in the preceding pages. In the Journal of Convention 1846, he is reported as having been transferred to the Diocese of Massachusetts. The Bishop's address, as reported in the Massachusetts Journal of Convention for 1846, says, "A parish has been organized dur- ing the past year in the manufacturing village of Cabotville, in the town of Springfield. The congregation is served by the
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REV. CHARLES RICHMOND FISHER, M.A.
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Rev. Charles R. Fisher." He remained here one year and then was re-transferred to the Diocese of Connecticut. Mr. Fisher wrote in his diary under date of May 24, 1848, "I have had this day the great pleasure of attending the consecration services of Grace Church, Cabotville. This is the church which, with God's blessing, I was the chief instrument in erect- ing, having visited Boston three times for the purpose and collecting there and in other places, the sum of twenty-three hundred dollars."
Mr. Fisher went immediately from Cabotville to St. Mary's Church at Manchester Mills and on June 9, 1847, at the Dio- cesan Convention in Christ Church, Hartford, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Brownell. The Rev. Dr. Burgess was the presenter, who, with the Rev. Dr. Mead of Norwalk, the Rev. F. J. Goodwin of Middletown, and the Rev. Frederick Miller of Branford, united with the Bishop in the laying on of hands. The sermon was preached by the Rev. F. J. Goodwin.
The Rev. Mr. Fisher was first present in the Diocesan Con- vention of Connecticut for 1847, and was present thereafter every year except 1865, for thirty years, his last attendance being in 1876, the year of his death.
He officiated at Manchester Mills until the 9th Sunday after Trinity, 1848, when he was obliged to suspend his ministerial labors on account of a severe and protracted sickness. On Good Friday, 1849, he resumed his labors, taking charge of the parish of Grace Church, Saybrook and continued in charge until the first Sunday after Christmas. On the first Sunday after Epiphany 1850, he took charge of St. Peter's, Hebron.
On Dec. 2, 1850, the Bishop appointed him the City Mis- sionary and Rector of the Free Episcopal Chapel at Hartford. The first meeting of this mission, (which afterwards became St. Paul's Church,) was held Nov. 27, 1850, and Mr. Fisher, with the exception of about two years, was the Rector as long as he lived.
At the Dioceson Convention 1853, the Rev. C. R. Fisher was appointed to receive the assessments for the Bishop's Fund, and was re-appointed at every Convention, except that of 1865, until 1868. In 1863 he was the Rector of the Church of Our Saviour, at Plainville. From Aug. 2, 1862, until June, 1864, he
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held services twice a month on Sunday evenings at Christ Church, Unionville. In 1864, by the request of the Bishop he was in charge of St. Andrew's Church in Bloomfield. In 1868, he was elected by the Convention on the Board of Education of the Church Scholarship Society and was Secretary of the Board from 1869 to 1876 inclusive. In 1871 he reported to the Convention that he officiated in the wards of the Hartford City Hospital, every Sunday afternoon. His occasional ser- vices were very numerous; the number of marriages solemn- ized by him was 1717, and the baptisms and burials were also recorded by the hundreds.
His long service as missionary in Hartford caused him to be familiarly known as "Father Fisher." He had frequently been chaplain of the Lower House of the State Legislature, chaplain of the First Regiment of the State Militia, and grand chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Masons of this State. Although he served in many different places, he resided at Hartford during the last thirty years of his life. "He gave food to the hungry, help to the hopeless and from his heart, overfull with the broad humanity of Christ, he extended to every suffering one the word and act that gave them hope and strength."
"He carried his religion where it was most needed, viz., among those who had no other comfort or consolation. He walked in his warm-hearted ministry through the unpopular and unfrequented places, after the manner of his Master, who talked to the poor and humble by the dark waves of Galilee."
A memorial pamphlet published by Brown & Gross, Hartford, 1877, gives a full account of the funeral, several press notices of his life and death and the funeral Discourse by the Rt. Rev. John Williams, Bishop of Connecticut, delivered at St. Paul's Church, Dec. 10, 1876.
"Mr. Fisher's patient and faithful work for the good of Christ's people can never be fully known and its effects can never be truly estimated until the day comes when every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor."
REV. ABNER JACKSON, D.D., LL.D.
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REV. ABNER JACKSON, D.D., LL.D.
Abner Jackson was born Nov. 4, 1811, in Washington County, Pennsylvania. His childhood and early youth were spent in a quiet country home ; and that administration and love for the beautiful in nature, which were so strong in his soul, and so evident to all who knew him in after life, were, no doubt, first developed amid the lovely scenes surrounding him there. He prepared for a collegiate course, at West Alex- andria, Pennsylvania, and in 1828, he was admitted to the College at Washington, in his native State. At the end of two years he left that institution, intending to enter, eventually, the legal profession. In the meantime, he took charge of the Academy at Meadville, where he remained a year and a half. During his residence there, his attention was, in some way, probably by reading, turned to the Church. Led on, step by step, by that strong, clear conviction, and that simple, fearless devotion to duty which always characterized him, both in thought and in deed, he became a communicant, and subse- quently a candidate for holy orders. He entered Trinity (then Washington,) College, Hartford, in 1833, and very soon mani- fested his intellectual strength, by leading his class in all branches of study. He was graduated in 1837, with the highest honors, receiving for his appointment the valedictory oration.
He was at once appointed Tutor in the College, and served in that position one year. In 1838, he was elected Adjunct Professor of the Ancient Languages. On Aug. 3, 1837 he was recommended by the Standing Committee as a candidate for holy orders and on Sept. 2, 1838, he was ordained deacon at Middletown. In. 1840, he was transferred from the Chair of Ancient Languages to that of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy.
Professor Jackson was married April 27, 1841, to Emily, daughter of Governor Ellsworth of Hartford. She died July I, 1853, and he married second, on Sept. 9, 1856, Mary Wray, daughter of Frederick Cobb of Schenectady, N. Y.
He was ordained priest, at Hartford, May 13, 1847. He retained his professorship at Trinity College till 1858. In addi-
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tion to his work in the special departments already mentioned, he served as Lecturer on Chemistry, from 1839 to 1852. He was librarian of the College from 1837 to 1849. During a large portion of the time between the years 1840 and 1856, he had charge of the Latin, and gave nearly all the instructions in that department. From 1848 to 1853, he was editor of the "Calendar," a Church paper published in Hartford, which was afterward enlarged into the "Churchman." He officiated in many of the towns and missionary stations in the vicinity of Hartford, and, in several places, began services, the results of which are now visible in strong and flourishing parishes. His work at New Britain has been hereinbefore mentioned. He had charge of the Mission at Windsor Locks, from Oct. 15, 1854, to July 1, 1855. At times he was in charge of St. Luke's, South Glastonbury, and he had charge of St. James', West Hartford, from the second Sunday after Easter 1856, until some time in 1857.
In 1858, he was elected to the Presidency of Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y. He accepted the position, and remained there, serving at the same time as Professor of Ethics and Metaphy- sics, and of the Evidences of Christianity, until 1867, when he was called to his Alma Mater as President. The Bishop's address to the Diocesan Convention of Connecticut, 1868, says as to his presidency of Trinity College, "I heartily congratulate the Diocese and the College on so auspicious an event."
He entered upon the duties of that office at the beginning of Trinity Term, 1868. He came in the ripeness of manhood, with a mind unusually rich in learning, with the benefits of long experience, and with high hopes and far-reaching plans for the future of the College, prepared to concentrate all his energies upon this, the last as well as the first field of his col- legiate work. In 1868 he was made chairman of the Board of Education of the Church Scholarship Society and served until his death in 1874. He was also one of the Trustees of the Berkeley Divinity School, 1869-1874. He was on the Standing Committee of the Diocese 1870-71, and was appointed an examining chaplain by the Bishop in 1872. He was supple- mental deputy to the General Convention 1868 and deputy in 1872. It was under the presidency of Dr. Jackson that the
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great change involved in the sale of the old college grounds to the city and its transfer to the new site was begun.
But he was destined to be removed from earth to Paradise, in the midst of his usefulness, and while his work seemed incomplete. On Sunday morning, April 19, 1874, he entered into rest, and the transition from this world to Paradise was so painless and peaceful, that the sleep of life and that of death could hardly be distinguished from each other.
President Jackson was, it will be seen, for nearly forty years, engaged in the work of Christian education. He was beloved and will be always remembered with reverent affection by all those who were associated with him in academic life, as students or as instructors.
In all relations, as a devout man, a Christian scholar, and a priest of the Church, he won such love as seldom goes out from human hearts. There was in his character that harmonious blending of varied qualities which enabled him to impress others without seeming to do so. His was a well proportioned devel- opment in all the elements of sound scholarship and Christian culture. He was familiar with every important branch of learning. He was a careful and thorough student of literature, both ancient and modern, having gathered by patient investiga- tion, and thoughtful reading, the intellectual wealth of past ages. He also made it a matter of duty, as well as a pleasure, to keep pace with, and in some things to anticipate, the progress of present times. Though his special attention was, in his later life, given to metaphysics and philosophy, and though his thoughts were turned more directly to the great questions at issue in that field of speculation, he was not a stranger to those other sciences which are called practical. He made theology the starting point in every search after truth, regarding the problem of man and that of nature as blind riddles, except to those who believe in a higher revelation from God, made known through His Church and the Written Word.
Some of the above facts are from the Journal of Convention of this Diocese, but they are mainly taken from a memorial published not long after his death. The address of the Rev. Wm. Payne, D.D., Rector of St. George's Church, Schenectady, before the House of Convocation of Trinity College in affec-
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tionate commemoration of the Rev. Abner Jackson, D.D., LL.D., has also been published; so also has a volume of his sermons, a copy of which has been presented by his daughter to St. Mark's Church, New Britain for use in the Sunday School Library.
We quote the following from the Bishop's address to the Diocesan Convention, 1874 :
"When in 1868 I announced to you the assumption by Dr. Jackson of the presidency of the College, it was with the hope that I should not in my lifetime see that post again left vacant. It was a joy of joys to me that he was in it. Coming together as we did to the College, more than forty years ago, and having been immediately associated in all the intervening time, (with only the exception of the years when he held the Presidency of another College,) in labors for its welfare, the tie that bound us to each other was one of no common strength. I can bear witness, as few others can, to the single-hearted, self-sacrific- ing, untiring zeal and energy with which my dear departed brother gave himself to what he considered to be, and what has, indeed, been, though not as we had thought, his life-long work."
"But you will permit, I am sure, these few words of loving memorial to one who was my brother in every thing but natural descent ; and I know that your voices will join with mine in testifying to the greatness of the loss that God has been pleased to permit to fall upon the College, the Diocese, the whole Church, and the inestimable interests of Christian and Churchly education."
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REV. ALEXANDER CAPRON.
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REV. ALEXANDER CAPRON.
Alexander, a son of Cyrus and Althea (Allen,) Capron, was born in November, 1814 at Clermont, Columbia County, N. Y .; died at No. 181 Carteret Ave., Jersey City, N. J. on April 3, 1890. He was married in St. John's Church, Hartford, Conn. in June, 1848, to Mary Roxanna, daughter of Oliver and Hannah (Goodwin,) Welles, who was born at Hartford, Oct. 29, 1823 and died at Jersey City, N. J., Jan. 23, 1897.
He entered Trinity College in 1841 as from Hudson, N. Y., and was graduated in 1845. The Standing Committee of the Diocese met on Aug. 6 and 7, 1845, and recommended Alex- ander Capron from the graduating class of Trinity College, as a candidate for holy orders. He was reported as a candidate in the Journal of Convention for 1847, and the Bishop's address to the Convention of 1848 states that he had been transferred to the Diocese of New York. In 1848, he was recommended by the Standing Committee of that Diocese for the order of deacon and was made deacon some time during 1848. Alex- ander Capron, Deacon, was transferred in 1848 to the Diocese of Connecticut, and became the minister of St. Mark's Church, New Britain, Nov. 26, 1848, in which church he was ordained to the priesthood, Feb. 24, 1850. He was present at every Convention of the Diocese from 1849 to 1855 inclusive. He resigned the rectorship of St. Mark's on Easter Monday, 1855, and took charge of the mission at Central Village, Conn., which he resigned in the summer of 1856 and was transferred to the Diocese of Wisconsin. Here he took charge of St. Matthew's Church, Kenosha, on the first Sunday in September, 1856, and remained there for about two years, when he received a call to St. John's Church at Quincy, Ill. He entered upon the rec- torship at Quincy in November, 1858.
The "Calendar" of Hartford, Conn., issue of Dec. 18, 1858, for the benefit of the people of St. Mark's Church, New Britain, published the following from the "Kenosha Times." "It is a source of regret to all classes of citizens that the Rev. Mr. Capron of St. Matthew's Church has found it necessary to leave us. He has accepted a call from the beautiful town of Quincy, Illinois, where he thinks the climate is better adapted
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to the health of his family. It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Capron has made a warm personal friend of every member of his parish since his residence in Kenosha, and that the good wishes of every one go with him and his family to his new home. It will be difficult to supply his place. He is a man of rare ability and education, as well as of most excellent personal and social qualities. We congratulate our neighbors of Quincy upon their good fortune."
In addition to the charge at Quincy, Mr. Capron preached once a fortnight at Mendon, during the summer of 1859. The "Calendar," (Hartford,) for Feb. 12, 1859, says:" We learn from a correspondent that the active Rector of St. John's Church, Quincy, Ill., has recently established a "Church Home" in Quincy, in which already two orphans and two widows are comfortably provided for. In 1860 he reported holding ser- vices on Sunday afternoon three times a month, in a Methodist Chapel seven miles from Quincy. In 1861 and 1862 he reported additional service on alternate Monday evenings in a rural district ten miles from Quincy; thus making three separate missions in addition to his regular duties at St. John's in Quincy. He was one of the deputies from Illinois to the General Convention in 1862.
On March 10, 1863, another Rector took charge of the Church at Quincy and the Bishop's address to the Convention of 1863 names the Rev. Mr. Capron among those who had received "Letters Dimissory" but does not state to what Diocese Mr. Capron had been transferred. According to the "Church Almanac" he was settled at Middletown, N. Y., from 1864 to 1877 inclusive. He is reported in the Michigan Journal of Convention for 1878 as the Rector of Christ Church at Adrian, Lenawe Co., where he entered upon his duties on the first Sunday in October, 1877. On Feb. 10, 1880, he was trans- ferred again to the Diocese of New York, into which Diocese he was received for the third time and to which he belonged on the day of his death. He is reported in the "Church Almanac" as located at Port Jervis, N. Y., 1881 and 1882; at Highland, N. Y., 1883-4 and 5; Esopus, N. Y., 1886 and Walden, N. Y., 1887. His last parish was at West Park, N. Y., (near Esopus.) He was residing in Jersey City, N. J., 1887 to
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REV. FRANCIS THAYER RUSSELL, M.A., S.T.D.
IN NEW BRITAIN. 449
1890, without any charge but continued to preach as occasion offered until two days before his death.
On April 2, 1890, he received a fall that caused internal injuries from which he died after an illness of thirty-six hours, on the third day of April, 1890, aged 76 years. A brief notice of his death appeared in the "Churchman," saying that he "will be long remembered for faithful service." Another notice was published in the "Church Almanac" for 1891 and he was briefly referred to in the Bishop's address to the Diocesan Convention of New York, as one who was a mission- ary and in a true sense "giving himself in cheerful self devotion."
REV. FRANCIS THAYER RUSSELL, M.A., S.T.D.
Francis Thayer, a son of William and Ursula (Wood,) Rus- sell, was born at Boston, Mass., June 10, 1825; married in Christ Church, Hartford, Conn., Oct. 25, 1855, Mary Huntley, daughter of Charles and Lydia (Huntley,) Sigourney, who was born Aug. 3, 1828, at Hartford, Conn., died at Waterbury, Conn., July 20, 1889.
Mr. Russell's father was born and educated in Scotland and came to America in 1819 as a teacher. Francis T. Russell was educated in part by his father and partly at Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass. His theological studies were pursued at Trinity College, Hartford, before the Berkeley Divinity School, in Middletown, Conn., was established. He is reported in the Journal of Convention, 1853, as a candidate for holy orders and was seated as such in the Convention of 1854. He was made deacon at Christ Church, Hartford, on March 25, 1855, by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Brownell. He officiated for a time in various parishes, mostly in Hartford, and became the minister in charge of St. Mark's Church, New Britain, on May 6, 1855. He was ordained to the priesthood in his church at New Britain on March 12, 1856, and it was nearly nine years before he resigned the rectorship of that parish. The story of these years has been told in the preceding pages. In 1864 he accepted the Horace White Professorship of Rhetoric and
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elocution at Hobart College, Geneva, Ontario County, N. Y. In addition to his duties at this college he served as missionary at Phelps. He remained at Geneva until 1866, when finding that the lake region did not agree with his health, he became Rector of St. Stephen's Church at Ridgefield, Conn., in the hills of Fairfield County, on June 3, 1866, and was transferred from the Diocese of New York to the Diocese of Connecticut. He still retained his professorship at Hobart College, giving a few weeks instructions annually until 1869. Professor Rus- sell was trained in the theory and practice of public speaking by his father and by the distinguished public reader, Mr. James E. Murdock, who was then associated with the senior Mr. Russell in educational work in Massachusetts.
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