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 9
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 9
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 9
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The Right Reverend JOHN WILLIAMS, D.D.
The fifty-fourth American Bishop and fourth Bishop of Con- necticut, for forty-seven years, three months and eight days, being Assistant Bishop for the first thirteen years. Conse- crated Oct. 29, 1851 ; died Feb. 7, 1899.
The Right Reverend CHAUNCEY BUNCE BREWSTER, D.D.
The one hundred and eighty-third American Bishop and fifth Bishop of Connecticut, being Bishop Coadjutor the first year of his episcopate. Consecrated Oct. 28, 1897, one hundred years after the consecration of the second Bishop of Con- necticut.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
The Right Reverend SAMUEL SEABURY, D.D.
Samuel, the second son of Samule and Abigail, (Mumford,) Seabury, was born at North Groton, (now Ledyard,) Con- necticut, on November 30, 1729; died Feb. 25, 1796, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Early in life he married a Miss Hicks of New York, who died before 1784 and he did not marry again .. At the time of his birth his father was officiating as a licentiate of the "Standing Order " in the meeting-house of the Second Ecclesiastical Society of Groton located in North Groton, but soon after conformed to the Church of England, was ordained in England and became the first incumbent of St. James's Church, New London. The future bishop was educated by his father and in the common schools of the town until his father's removal to Hempstead, Long Island, in 1742. He entered Yale College in 1744, and was graduated with honor in 1748. Mr. Seabury was sent by his father to Huntington, Long Island, as "catechist" in 1748, in which position he was confirmed by the Venerable Society with a salary of ten pounds sterling per annum. He commenced the study of medicine while at Huntington and in 1752 went to Edinburgh to continue his medical course until of age to present himself to the Bishop of London for ordination.
He was made deacon in the Chapel of Fulham Palace on St. Thomas's Day, Dec. 21, 1753, by the Rt. Rev. John Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln, acting for the infirm Bishop of London. Dr. Thomas Sherlock. He was ordained priest in the same chapel on Sunday, December 23, 1753, by the Rt. Rev. Richard Osbaldiston, Bishop of Carlisle.
He was immediately appointed by the Propagation Society to the mission of Christ Church, New Brunswick, N. J. In 1757 he went to Grace Church, Jamaica, from which he removed in 1766 to the rectorship of St. Peter's Church, Westchester County, N. Y. To add to his small income, he opened while at Westchester a classical school.
As the Revolution approached, with his friends Dr. Chandler, Dr. Inglis, and the Hon. Isaac Wilkins, he allied himself with the cause of the united British Empire, which to his mind
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included the welfare of the church of England, and wrote strongly in its favor. His "Letters of a Westchester Farmer" are an excellent specimen of his style in political controversy. He was also for several years the Secretary of the Voluntary Conventions of the Clergy of New York and New Jersey, which some from Connecticut occasionally attended.
He was roughly treated by the patriots in his neighborhood, compelled at various times to conceal himself and on one occa- sion was taken to New Haven and treated with much indignity. Upon his release from confinement he returned to Westchester, but was soon obliged, early in 1776, to close the churches in his parish and join the numerous loyalists in the city of New York. After the departure of General Washington from Man- hattan Island in September, 1776, he officiated, in turn with other clergymen who had left their parishes, for the refugees in the old City Hall on Wall Street. In 1778 he was appointed to the charge of St. Andrew's Church, Staten Island, but found it unsafe to take up his residence there.
His support for seven years came from the stipend of fifty pounds a year from the Venerable Society, the practice of medi- cine, and his chaplaincy of the Royal American Regiment of Colonel Edmund Fanning. He was made a Doctor in Divinity by Oxford University in 1778. With his election and accept- ance of the Bishopric of Connecticut came a new period in Dr. Seabury's life. He went to England in July, 1783, in the flagship of Admiral Digby. His noble and unceasing efforts to induce the Bishops in England to rise above political and traditional precedents and consecrate him under a special act of Parliament, form a chapter of pathetic interest in our annals. In the summer of 1784, he made a formal application to the Bishops of the Church in Scotland to consecrate him. Upon their favorable answer he journeyed to Aberdeen and was con- secrated a Bishop in the Church of God, in Bishop Skinner's chapel in Long Acre, Aberdeen on Sunday, November 14, 1784, by the Primus, Dr. Robert Kilgour of Aberdeen, Dr. Arthur Petrie of Moray and Ross, and Dr. John Skinner, Coadjutor Bishop of Aberdeen. He returned to London immediately after and sailed for America in March, 1785. He spent some weeks among relatives in Nova Scotia and arrived at Newport, R. I., on June 20, 1785.
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The Right Reverend ABRAHAM JARVIS, D.D.
Abraham, the sixth son and ninth child of Captain Samuel and Naomi, (Brush,) Jarvis, was born at Norwalk, Conn., on May 5, 1739; died May 3, 1813, nearly seventy-four years of age. Married May 25, 1766, Ann, daughter of Samuel Farmar of New York City. She died at Cheshire, Conn., Nov. 4, 1801, and he married, second, July 4, 1806, Mrs. Lucy, widow of Nathaniel Lewis of Philadelphia. He was a born Episcopalian, his father having conformed to the Church of England two years before the Bishop was born. He was carefully trained in the district school and at home, and then placed under the tuition of the Rev. Noah Wells, the Congregational minister of Stratford, to be prepared for college. He became a student at Yale when eighteen and was graduated with honor in 1761.
He went immediately after to Middletown to officiate as lay reader in Christ Church. He also pursued by himself a course in theology, presumably set forth for him by the learned Dr. Samuel Johnson.
About 1762 it becoming necessary to leave his work to be inoculated for the small pox, he resided for several months at Elizabethtown, N. J., in the family of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Bradbury Chandler, the well-read theologian and acute pleader for an American Episcopate. Under him he probably com- pleted his course in theology.
In the fall of 1763, in company with his intimate friend, Bela Hubbard, and William Walter of Roxbury, Mass., he sailed for England to seek holy orders. His expenses were defrayed by a subscription of the members of the Middletown parish. He was made deacon in "the royal Chapel of St. James, West- minster," on Sunday, February 5, 1764, by the Rt. Rev. Fred- erick Keppel, Bishop of Exeter.
He was ordained priest in " the parish Church of St. James, Westminster ", on Sunday, February 19, 1764, by the Rt. Rev. Charles Lyttleton, Bishop of Carlisle.
Both of these ordinations, at which his companions also were ordained, were by special commission from the aged and feeble Bishop of London, Dr. Richard Osbaldiston, who, as had his predecessors, exercised jurisdiction over the American Colonies. Mr. Jarvis sailed for America in April and was again at work in
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June. He had been duly chosen as Rector of Christ Church, Middletown. An unusual salary of seventy pounds sterling was pledged to him by the parish. For some reason not now to be ascertained, the Venerable Society declined to continue the stipend of twenty pounds which had been allowed to the Rev. Ichabod Camp, the first Rector and Missionary. Mr. Jarvis became a true pastor, not only for the people in Middletown, but in all the surrounding country. He greatly encouraged the small band of Churchmen in Hartford by his presence, his ser- vices and his advice. There would have been rapid growth in Hartford had the suggestion to make Middletown and Hart- ford a mission under Mr. Jarvis met with the approval of the authorities in England.
His energy and success as a parish priest are shown by a memorandum made a few years after his ordination, in which three hundred and sixty-five souls, of whom one hundred and fifty were communicants, are recorded as under his charge. With the continued regard and affection of his parishioners, he served them in holy things for thirty-five years.
Upon the death of Bishop Seabury, at the special Convention held in Trinity Church, New Haven, on May 5, 1796, he was chosen Bishop. As there had been a diversity of opinion among the clergy and some opposition by prominent laymen, he immediately declined the election.
When Dr. Bowden, who in October, 1796, had been elected, finally declined the Episcopate, Mr. Jarvis was unanimously elected at the annual convention held in St. James's Church, Derby, on June 7, 1797. He accepted and was consecrated in Trinity Church, New Haven, on the feast of St. Luke, October 18, 1797. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. William Smith, of St. Paul's Church, Norwalk. It is one of the five instances in the history of the American Church when the ser- mon at the consecration of a Bishop has been by a priest. The others are: The Rev. Dr. William Smith, Provost of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, preached at the consecration of Dr. Claggett, 1792; Dr. Robert Smith, 1795; and Dr. Bass, 1797. The Rev. Dr. Frederick Beasley preached at the consecration of Mr. Chase in 1819.
The second Bishop of Connecticut was faithful in his admin- istration of the Diocese and saw a moderate but real growth.
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During his later years he was afflicted with asthma and any clerical duty was done with difficulty, but he never allowed his bodily infirmity to interfere with his official and religious obli- gations. In 1799 he removed to Cheshire, where the Episcopal Academy, under Dr. Bowden, was coming into favorable knowl- edge of the people.
In 1803 Bishop Jarvis removed to New Haven, where he passed the remainder of his days.
When the present Trinity Church was erected, his body was removed from the public cemetery and buried beneath the chancel. An elegant Gothic monument, with a classic and affectionate Latin inscription written by his son, the distin- guished scholar, Dr. Samuel Farmar Jarvis, adorns the walls of the church.
These sketches of Bishop Seabury and Bishop Jarvis are mainly taken from the historical notes by the Rev. Joseph Hooper, in the "Records of Convocation."
The Right Reverend JOHN HENRY HOBART, D.D.
John Henry, son of Capt. Enoch and Hannah, (Pratt,) Hobart, was born at Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 14, 1775, died Sept. 12, 1830; married in the spring of 1800, to Mary Goodwin Chandler, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Bradbury Chandler, of Elizabethtown, N. J. His father died when he was one year old, so that his early training fell wholly upon his pious and talented mother. He was received into the Episcopal Academy at Philadelphia when he was nine years of age. In 1788 he entered the College of Philadelphia, and in the autumn of 1791 was transferred to Princeton College, where he was graduated in . 1793, with the highest honors of his class. He was tutor at Princeton 1796-1798, and studied theology under Bishop White. He was ordained deacon, June 3, 1798, and settled over two small Churches near Philadelphia, Trinity Church at Oxford, and All Saints at Perkiomen, Pa., until 1799, when he had charge of Christ Church, New Brunswick, N. J. In May, 1800, he went to St. George's Church, Hempstead, L. I., but was called to Trinity Church, New York, in September of that year
RT. REV. THOMAS CHURCH BROWNELL, D.D.
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as assistant minister. In 1806 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Union College and in 18II he was elected Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of New York. He was conse- crated in Trinity Church, New York, May 29, 1811, by Bishop White, by whom he had previously been both confirmed and ordained. "He had a mind that never wearied; he had a nerve that never was relaxed." A long list of his publications may be found in Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit," Vol. V.
The Right Reverend THOMAS CHURCH BROWNELL, D.D., LL.D.
Thomas Church, eldest son of Sylvester and Mercy, (Church,) Brownell, born at Westport, Mass., Oct. 19, 1779; died at Hartford, Conn., Jan. 13, 1865. Married Aug. 6, 18II, Charlotte, daughter of Tertullus Dickinson of Lansing- burgh, N. Y., by the Rev. Dr. Butler, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Troy, N. Y. She was an Episcopalian, and thus by this marriage he was for the first time brought into intimate relations with Episcopalians. At the age of fifteen he was a teacher in one of the common schools. After a preliminary education at the Bristol Academy, Taunton, Mass., he entered Brown University but changed to Union College in 1802, where he was graduated with highest honors in 1804. In 1805 he was tutor in Greek and Latin, and in 1806 professor of logic and belles lettres. He studied theology while in College under the Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott, who became president of Union Col- lege in 1804, and made young Brownell tutor and professor as before stated. About 1809 he was appointed professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy with leave to spend a year in Europe in the study of chemistry and other sciences. He had intended to enter the Congregational ministry, but being convinced of the historical and scriptural grounds of Episcopacy he was bap- tized by the Rev. Cyrus Stebbins of Schenectady, N. Y., Sept. 5, 1813, and shortly after confirmed. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Hobart, April 10, 1816, and priest by the same Bishop, Aug. 4, 1816. In 1814, he was appointed professor of rhetoric and chemistry at Union College. After being made deacon,' in 1816, he was missionary in Schenectady, and its vicinity, and in
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1817 he became assistant minister of Trinity Church, New York, where he remained until he was elected Bishop of Con- necticut in 1819, but a little over three years after he was made Deacon. For many years he was President of the Retreat for the Insane at Hartford. The last twelve years of his long epis- copate he was, by seniority, the Presiding Bishop of the Church in America. For other data, see the preceding article on the Church in Connecticut. Besides the Prayer Book there men- tioned, he published " Selections on the Religion of the Heart and Life", the "Christian's Walk and Consolation", an abridgement of an "English Commentary on the New Testa- ment " and the " Errors of the Times ", being his charge to the clergy in 1843.
Dr. Beardsley says: "His equability, his sagacity, the impartiality of his determinations, the largeness of his views, the avoidance of needless collisions, the decision of his conduct, when decision became needful, had their result in the strong and united and confiding Diocese. He sought no constrained uni- formity. He entertained no fanciful ideal. He leaned towards no extreme tendency. He was steadfast, because his mind was clear. He brushed away all that was not essential to any ques- tion or purpose, or smiled and suffered it to pass by. He recognized the right of all. No one had cause to suppose him- self wronged with him by any prejudice; and when 'swift to hear, slow to speak, and very slow to wrath', he spoke, at length, the Church listened and was satisfied."
A colossal statue of Bishop Brownell, the gift of his son- in-law, Gordon W. Burnham, stands on the campus of Trinity College.
The Right Reverend JOHN WILLIAMS, D.D., LL.D.
John, son of Ephraim and Emily, (Trowbridge,) Williams, was born at North Deerfield, Mass., Aug. 30, 1817. His father was a lawyer and author of the first volume of the Massachu- setts Reports. His youthful education was in his native town and his Unitarian parents trained him in that faith. Later he attended an academy of high reputation at Northfield, and entered Harvard College in 1831. After two years he changed to Trinity College, Hartford, where he was graduated in 1835. His
RT. REV. JOHN WILLIAMS, D.D. .
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discussions at Harvard with a friend and a careful study of the Book of Common Prayer led him to the Episcopal Church and caused him to transfer to a Church College with the consent of his father. Having become a candidate for holy orders, he entered the General Theological Seminary at New York in 1835, but was called home by the illness of his father, with whom he remained until his death. He completed his theological studies with the Rev. S. F. Jarvis, D.D., of Middletown, Conn., and was ordained deacon by Bishop Brownell, in Christ Church, Middletown, Sept. 2, 1838, and priest by the same Bishop in the same church, Sept. 26, 1841. He was tutor in Trinity College, 1837 to 1840, after which he spent about a year traveling with his mother in England and on the Continent. For some months he assisted Bishop Luscombe at the Chapel of the British Embassy in Paris. He was assistant minister in Christ Church, Middletown, 1841 to 1842, and Rector of St. George's, Schenec- tady, N. Y., 1842 to 1848. He was elected President of Trinity College and removed to Hartford in 1848, holding that office until 1853.
He was elected Assistant Bishop of Connecticut at St. John's church, Waterbury, June II, 1851, and was consecrated in St. John's Church, Hartford, Oct. 29, 1851, by Bishops Brownell, Hopkins, DeLancey, Eastburn, Chase, Henshaw and Burgess.
He was Assessor to the Presiding Bishop and Chairman of the House of Bishops by election from Oct. 26, 1883, until he became Presiding Bishop of the Church on the death of Bishop Alfred Lee of Delaware, April 12, 1887.
In addition to these other duties, he was a Junior Fellow of Trinity College, 1845 to 1849; Professor of History, 1849 to 1853; Lecturer on History, 1853 to 1892; Trustee, since 1848; Visitor, since 1853; Vice Chancellor and Chancellor, since 1865. He was the founder of Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, in 1854, and was its Dean and Professor of Doctrinal Theology and Liturgics until his death.
He was made Doctor of Divinity by Union College, 1847; Trinity, 1849; Columbia, 1851, and Yale, 1883, and made Doctor of Laws by Hobart College in 1870.
Entered into rest from his home in Middletown, February 7, 1899, aged 81 years, 5 months and 8 days, and was buried in the Indian Hill Cemetery, Middletown, Feb. 10, 1899.
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We quote from the "Commemorative and Biographical Record of Middlesex County," as follows:
" Bishop Williams was famous as a bishop and as a wit. His humor was of a character that was subtle, and his manner digni- fied, yet gentle, kindly and lovable. His personality attracted to him the love of his people, and to them there will never be another Bishop Williams. He was a great and good man."
The Right Reverend CHAUNCEY BUNCE BREWSTER, D.D. Chauncey Bunce, the eldest son of the Rev. Joseph and Sarah, (Bunce,) Brewster, was born on September 5, 1848, at Wind- ham, Conn. His father was then Rector of St. Paul's Church in that pleasant village, but soon after of St. Paul's, Walling- ford, whence he removed to New Haven, and became Rector of Christ Church, in which position he remained highly esteemed and beloved for nearly thirty years. The Rev. Joseph Brewster ended his useful life on Nov. 20, 1895, during his incumbency of St. Michael's Church, Brooklyn, N. Y.
It is an interesting and unusual fact that he gave three sons to the ministry. The family is one that has been highly honored in New England, and especially in Connecticut. It can trace its ancestry directly to the elder of the Plymouth Colony, William Brewster.
After a careful preparation in the Hopkins Grammar School, Chauncey Brewster entered Yale College, graduating with honors in 1868 and having the distinction of being class orator. During the collegiate year 1870-71 he was tutor at Yale College. He was well trained in the studies necessary for the holy minis- try at Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn. He was made deacon in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Middletown, on Wednesday, May 29, 1872, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. John Wil- liams. He spent his diaconate as assistant to the Rev. Dr. Deshon at St. Andrew's Church, Meriden, Conn. On May 30, 1873, he was ordained priest in St. Andrew's, Meriden, by Bishop Williams, and soon after accepted the rectorship of the historic parish of Christ Church, Rye, N. Y., where he made full proof of his ministry.
In 1881 he became Rector of Christ Church, Detroit, Mich. Besides his round of parish duty he was called to occupy several
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diocesan positions of importance, being a member of the Stand- ing Committee and deputy from that Diocese to the General Convention of 1883.
In 1885 he accepted a call to Grace Church, Baltimore, which had been served by such men as Bishop Atkinson and Bishop Coxe. His last parish was Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights. In the Diocese of Long Island he has been President of the Standing Committee, Chancellor of the Cathedral of the Incar- nation, a Trustee of the Church Charity Foundation, and Chair- man of other boards and committees. He was a deputy to the General Convention of 1892 and also to that of 1895. He was by the General Convention of 1895 appointed on the Commis- sion on Church Unity, and has been for some years a member of the Board of Managers of the Domestic and Foreign Mis- sionary Society.
His election by the Diocesan Convention at St. John's, Water- bury, on Tuesday, June 8, 1897, called him back to serve his native State as Bishop Coadjutor. He received the degree of Master of Arts in course from Yale, and that of Doctor in Divinity from Trinity College in 1897.
Dr. Brewster has written various review articles and is the author of a series of Good Friday addresses, entitled " The Key of Life," published in 1895.
The foregoing sketch was prepared by the Rev. Joseph Hooper and published in the "Jarvis Centenary," 1897. A recent work of Bishop Brewster is worthy of special mention. It is entitled " Aspects of Revelation, being the Baldwin Lec- tures for 1900. By Chauncey B. Brewster, D.D., Bishop of Connecticut." These lectures were delivered at the University of Michigan and published by Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1901. 300 octavo pages.
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SYNOPSIS OF CONNECTICUT LAWS RELATING TO ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS
1636-1821.
Compiled from Colonial Records and Statute Laws of the Colony and State.
1636. The Court, April 26, 1636, ratified and confirmed the formation of the Church on the River of Connecticut, composed of members dismissed from the Church at Watertown, Mass.
1637. Church officers were exempted from military duty March 8, 1637.
1638-9. The Fundamental Orders of 1638 9, between Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, recite in the preamble, that they confederated " together to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, which we now profess, as also the discipline of the Churches," but there is not a word in the body of the "Orders" that refers to ecclesiastical affairs.
1642. Among the capital laws passed Dec. 1, 1642, idolatry and blasphemy were punishable with death. This was dropped as to idolatry in the revision of 1784, then changed to whipping on the naked body, not exceeding forty stripes, or sitting in the pillory one hour.
1644. Minister's support was first provided for Oct. 25, 1644, requiring the people to be called together " that every man voluntarily set down what he is willing to allow "; those refus- ing, to be rated by authority and collected as other debts.
1650. In 1650, the first code of laws was enacted, but it was over a century and a half before it was printed. It was distributed in manuscript and read at times in various public meetings. Excommunicated persons as well as others were given power to make their wills. The Selectmen were in- structed to " have a vigilant eye over their brethren and neigh- bors" for having their children and servants educated and " once a week at least, catechised in the grounds and principles of religion," and if not, the Selectmen should bind out such children for such instruction. Substantially this law was in force until 1821.
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It was forbidden to behave contemptuously "towards the Word or the Messengers thereof"; the penalty for the second offense was a fine of 5 pounds, or to stand two hours in public " upon a Lecture day, with a paper fixed on his breast written with Capital Letters,-AN OPEN AND OBSTINATE CONTEMNER OF GOD'S HOLY ORDINANCES." In force until 1750.
Wheresoever Gospel Service was held on Sunday, "every person shall duly resort and attend thereto", also on public Fasts and Thankgivings, or be subject to a fine of 5 shillings. The civil authority, until 1750, had power and liberty to see "the rules of Christ's Church observed in every Church according to His Word," and to deal with any Church member "so it be done in a civil and not in an ecclesiastical way."
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