USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > St. Michael's Parish, Litchfield, Connecticut, 1745-1954; a biography of a parish and of many who have served it > Part 12
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1935-1954
serious things were not to the fore, his delightful and delicate humor was a joy, and in spite of suffering he retained this endearing quality to the end.
It is not given to many a man to receive during his lifetime, such a tribute as came to Henry Kelly. When he left St. George's, Bridge- port, to come to us, his former parishioners erected a tablet to him in their Church, the inscription of which reads in part as follows:
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY A GRATEFUL PEOPLE TO COMMEMORATE THEIR AFFECTION FOR THE REVEREND HENRY ERSKINE KELLY, RECTOR OF THIS PARISH FROM 19II TO 1935, AND AS A TRIBUTE TO HIS MINISTRY, BY WHICH THE MANIFOLD SOULS COMMITTED TO HIS CARE WERE DEEPLY ENRICHED.
We, too, recognize that among us, though for only seven years, walked a true Saint of God.
Mr. Kelly was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on January 13, 1881. He was graduated from Harvard University in 1903, and from the Episcopal Theological Seminary in 1906. He was admitted to deacon's orders by Bishop Lawrence of Massachusetts on May 6, 1906, and was advanced to the priesthood by the same Bishop on May 7, 1907. He was a curate at Grace Church, New Bedford, Massachusetts, from 1906 to 1909, and at St. Stephen's, Boston, from 1909 to 1911. He was the rector of St. George's, Bridgeport, from 1911 to 1935, when he came to St. Michael's. During World War I he served as an army chaplain.
Several gifts have been made to St. Michael's in Mr. Kelly's memory. An ambry has been placed in the sanctuary of St. Mi- chael's Chapel. The door is of tulip wood, and the carving is the work of the sculptor Alec Miller. Framed in blue and gold is the figure of the reigning Christ in white, red, and gold, and under- neath it a rainbow. The inscription, above and below the figure, is in Latin: EGO VENI UT VITAM HABEANT ET ABUNDANTIUS HABEANT/ EGO SI EXALTATUS OMNIA TRAHAM AD MEIPSUM/ FUERO A TERRA.
Besides the ambry, a beautiful festival frontal for the altar was given in her husband's memory by Mrs. Kelly and friends. Mrs. Kelly also presented St. Michael's with Mr. Kelly's chasubles
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1935-1954
and with his private communion set. Still another memorial to this well-loved rector is the purple pall used at funerals.
Late in 1942 the Rev. John Wallace Suter, rector of the Church of the Epiphany, New York, declined a call to the parish. In De- cember Mr. Nugent resigned as curate to take charge of the Church of the Messiah at Rhinebeck, New York. While the com- mittee appointed by the vestry was looking for a rector, the Rev. Richard Baxter of Middlebury was engaged to conduct weekly services at St. Michael's. In February, 1943, the Rev. Howard Frederic Dunn was called to take charge of the church, and con- ducted his first service on Palm Sunday, April 18.
Mr. Dunn is a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, a graduate of the University of Minnesota in 1925, and of the Episcopal Theolog- ical Seminary, Cambridge, in 1929. He has the degree of Master of Sacred Theology from Harvard University. Before coming to St. Michael's he had been curate at St. Ann's, Brooklyn, rector of St. George's, Lee, Massachusetts, from 1930 to 193 1, and of Grace Church, Windsor, 1932 to 1943.
Under the new rector the work of the parish has gone on with vigor, membership has increased and participation by members in parish work has shown a marked gain. Especially interested in young people, as one of his first acts the rector organized a boy choir, to sing regularly with the adult choir and to provide the singing at certain less formal services. The boy choir continued for several years, later changing into a girls' choir which has con- tinued to the present. With the assistance of Mr. John H. Cook, the Acolytes' Guild has grown in numbers and importance, and carries out a varied program in addition to the usual assistance at church services. An annual corporate communion service for men of the parish on Advent Sunday, followed by breakfast, with a speaker, in the parish house, though not new, has become a regular feature of parish life. The men, too, have carried on an annual Every Member Canvass with some success. The system of rota- tion of vestrymen has been adopted, which brings more men into
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1935-1954
a position of responsibility in parish affairs. The Woman's Auxil- iary has an important part in parish work, and although not all women of the parish have as yet been drawn into it, it has a large number of members and an active program.
The great festival services of the church year are planned with elaborate care, and carried out with corresponding results. The Christmas Eve service is attended by large numbers. A newly in- troduced crêche service on the afternoon of Christmas Eve for children and their parents is a successful part of the Christmas observance. Each year throughout Lent weekly supper meetings draw good numbers of men, women, and young people together most successfully. Supper served by committees of the Woman's Auxiliary is followed by a short period of hymn singing and an address by a visiting clergyman, with discussion. On Maundy Thursday continuous intercession from II A.M. to 5:30 P.M. 1S participated in by women and men alike. A quiet day for members of the Woman's Auxiliary, to which members of the branches of the Auxiliary of the entire Archdeaconry are invited, is an annual feature of Passion Week. A three-hour meditation on Good Fri- day is held regularly. Other special services, emphasizing the work of one or the other of the parish organizations, are frequently held.
Work on the church fabric, more often than not connected with the unfortunate initial faulty construction, has continued, requiring more attention than it should have needed. As this is covered by funds left for the purpose by the donor, Mr. Towne, the parish does not suffer as it might if it alone carried the heavy expense.
An objective toward which Mr. Dunn aimed from the begin- ning of his rectorship was the installation of a memorial west win- dow, which he first proposed as a memorial to those many young people who served their country in World War II. The design of the window has been made and is ready, but during the time
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1935-1954
that it has been under consideration the cost of its construction and installation has so increased that its realization is still impossible. Meantime a service banner, made by the Sewing Circle, bears wit- ness to those who entered the service of their country.
In 1948, on Mr. Brewster's ninetieth birthday, the parish gave a reception for him and presented him with money to be used for a window in the choir in his honor. He chose the window at the south, and, as the subject, the conversion of St. Paul, since the feast commemorating that event was the anniversary of his ordination. The window was made and installed by Wilbur Herbert Burn- ham, of Boston; it was dedicated on Sunday, January 16, 1949. The inscription under the window reads: THE SOUTH CHOIR WIN- DOW/ WAS GIVEN BY/ DEVOTED PARISHIONERS/ AND FRIENDS/ AS A THANK OFFERING/ FOR/ WILLIAM JOSEPH BREWSTER/ RECTOR OF/ S. MICHAEL'S PARISH/ FROM 1916 TO 1935/ ON HIS NINETIETH BIRTHDAY/ SEPT. 3, 1948.
In 1945 and 1946 the matter of making the First Episcopal So- ciety custodian of all moneys and securities belonging to St. Mi- chael's was decided upon, provided the Society agreed to accept the custody of the funds and to form an investment committee. This consisted of the treasurer of St. Michael's Parish, the treasurer of the Society, and one other member elected from the Society, and was empowered to invest all endowment funds, legacies, be- quests, and such gifts to the parish, and to pay over any income received therefrom, less incidental expenses, to the treasurer of St. Michael's. This transfer, in order to comply with the Canon of the Diocese relating to the holding of securities by a parish, and to bring all funds into a more satisfactory investment program, was made at the parish meeting of June 20, 1946. At the same meeting it was reported that the Beers Memorial in the East Cemetery was in bad repair, and $200 was voted to put it in order.
In 1952-1953 the rectory underwent extensive repairs. At the same time the principal rooms and exterior were redone in the
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style of the period in which the house was built, while the house- keeping arrangements and the plumbing were completely mod- ernized.
During the eleven years to date of Mr. Dunn's rectorate, the deaths of persons whose connection with the parish was of long duration included the following: Seymour Cunningham, who as vestryman and warden had given years of active service, especially during the period when the new church was being built; Norman B. Chapin, for several years vestryman and head usher; Philip P. Hubbard, lifelong member of the parish, and clerk from 1892 to 1938; Mrs. William J. Brewster, a devoted communicant; Martin G. Wright, vestryman for several years; Miss Ella S. Coe, one of the donors of the altar and reredos, who on her death left St. Michael's $20,000; Miss Sally Penman, formerly active in the Sunday school, who left a bequest of $500 to St. Michael's; Mrs. Anna Mae Wilson, active in several fields, but especially in the Woman's Auxiliary; Mrs. Seymour Cunningham, formerly a leader of the Sunday school and head of St. Michael's Guild dur- ing her latter years; Michael L. Wilson, a most faithful communi- cant and churchman; Hobart Guion, a former vestryman; Mrs. George S. Chappell and Mrs. Frederick T. Busk, both presidents of the Sewing Circle from its beginning to 1950; Alain C. White, treasurer of St. Michael's from 1921 to 1943, when he resigned because of continued absence from Litchfield, who left St. Mi- chael's $5,000; Mrs. S. S. Wetmore, the former able head of the Sunday school, and active in other ways as well; Miss Addie A. Ensign, at her death one of the oldest communicants of the parish. Mr. Brewster died on March 31, 1952, in his ninety-fourth year. Since his retirement he had assisted in the services of the church with great regularity until a year before his death. He preached his last sermon on November 5, 1945, at a special service in com- memoration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Parish. His text on that occasion was from Genesis 28: 17: "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
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The growth of the parish is shown in the report made by the rector in 1953, which tells of 118 families in St. Michael's Parish, and 87 individuals not included in families; 430 confirmed per- sons; 681 persons in the congregation; 303 services of all types, including private communions.
A comparison of the cost of operating the parish in the early years, and at present, is interesting, although such a comparison can not be used as a measure of growth. Rather it shows the change from a simple organization to one which is comparatively com- plex. For example, the first rector after the Revolution, Mr. Bald- win, was paid “{50 per annum upon condition that he officiates here one half of the time." For his support a tax of a penny half- penny on the pound on the List of 1783 was to be paid the first of January, 1785. This was almost the one item of expense of the parish for several years. In time $30 was appropriated for music. For repairs on the church which were becoming necessary, the sum needed was raised by voluntary subscription.
In 1855 or 1856 Mr. Seth Beers examined the parish books and made a computation of the amount which had been paid to rectors of the parish since its organization in 1784, and found it to be $28,507.56. The amount paid for temporary services to thirty- eight different clergymen at different times since 1784 was $1,694.29. Mr. Beers makes no reference to other expenses met by the parish. Regular expenses other than the rector's salary were still few and small. As before large items of expense were met by voluntary subscription, as was the case in the building of the church in 1851.
For 1954, the proposed budget of St. Michael's was:
Income
Plate offerings
$1,300.00
Interest on investments
3,000.00
First Episcopal Society
5,000.00
Pledges
14,750.00
$24,050.00
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1935-1954
Expenses
Salaries
$7,580.00
Choir and music 3,000.00
Operating expenses
5,000.00
Clergy pension
665.00
Insurance
900.00
Diocesan assessment
745.00
Church school
1,750.00
Relief of the poor
200.00 2
Rector's fund
200.00
Auto replacement
600.00
Diocesan missions
3,395.00
$24,035.00
These figures tell much to us who have seen the church grow from small beginnings.
This part of the history of St. Michael's Parish may well close with the words with which Dr. Seymour finished his sermon on the 150th anniversary of the founding of St. Michael's:
It is a great thing to belong to a Parish which has a history stretching back a century and a half. This history entails upon us, and upon each succeeding generation, a grave responsibility. We have received an inheritance, it is not ours to waste, nor to dishonor it, but having held it for a time and added to it what we could, hand it down unimpaired to those who come after us. How will it be one hundred years from now? Will our lives, our labors, our virtues be as fondly recalled and as highly exalted, as today are those of the men who have gone before us? "No man liveth to himself." The men whose names have been on our lips today, other men and women who were their contemporaries, wrought a work whose value and importance we know even better than they did. So I say that if at times the work of our own day seems of little account and the motives for doing it seem little powerful, still let us be earnest, faithful according to our abilities and quick to seize such opportunities as offer, and so, later generations shall reap a harvest of our sowing, and we shall receive the reward prepared for those who are faithful and true.
2 This and the Rector's Fund following are not the main sources of revenue for assistance to needy persons.
HENRY N. HUDSON, 1858-1860
WILLIAM S. PERRY, 1864 1869
GOUVERNEUR M. WILKINS, 1874-1879
WILLIAM S. SOUTHGATE, 1860-1864
CALEB S. HENRY, 1870-1873
L. PARSONS BISSELL, 1884-1893
Bochroch
STORRS O. SEYMOUR, 1879-1883; 1893-1916 EMERITUS 1916-1918
WILLIAM J. BREWSTER, 1916-1935 EMERITUS 1935-1952
HENRY E. KELLY, 1935-1942
XIV
EDUCATION
UNDER THE TERM "education" will here be included anything con- cerning Sunday or church school, church or Sunday school li- braries, and schools, of which there have been several in Litchfield, which included religious education with the secular.
In this broad field it is of libraries that we hear first. In the cor- respondence of the Rev. Thomas Davies with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel is reference to the latter's sending two quarto Bibles and two folio Common Prayer Books for the churches in Sharon and Litchfield. These were, no doubt, for use in the services of the Church. But Mr. Davies also made frequent requests for donations of books for his own use and that of his people. In one letter he writes:
I hope the honorable Society will not be offended with me, if I humbly request the favor of a library for this mission. Most of my books which I purchased while in London with all the money I could spare, are lent out amongst my parishioners who are exceeding fond of reading.
At another time he wrote:
There are so many poor people in my mission that the pamphlets which were sent by me fell greatly short of a supply for them. Many have desired me to petition the Society for some Church books. Calvinism has produced a brood of infidels in my mission, and a few well written answers to deists would be an acceptable favor.
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EDUCATION
This request was granted and shipment of books against deism was made; fifty small Common Prayer Books for the use of the poor were also sent.
In Mr. Marsh's account of the beginnings of St. Michael's, writ- ing of the help it had received from the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel, he says:
To the foresight and protection of that Society, we are much in- debted, under God, for the present prosperous state of our church. They presented a good library to this parish which now is nearly scattered and lost.
Mr. Beers, in his account of the early years of the parish, says this library contained rare and valuable books, and while most were scattered and lost when he wrote, a few volumes remained in the "Ladies' Library of St. Michael's Church."
In official parish records the first mention of a Sunday school is found in the report to the bishop of 1826 in which a Sunday school of eighty scholars is reported. In 1828 Mr. Stone reports two Sabbath schools, "one containing 110, the other 70, with a prospect of additions, in a flourishing condition, and exert a salu- tary influence on the parish." The two Sunday schools were prob- ably at St. Michael's Church and the West Church.
In 1831 Mr. Lucas reported 130 scholars in the Sunday school and 30 teachers. In 1834 the number of scholars is 90. The vigor- ous Mr. Fuller reported 122 scholars and 14 teachers in 1835, and that the average attendance in winter was 50, in summer 70. He added:
Jackson's Questions on the Lessons, Collect, Epistle and Gospel in the Morning Service is used in the higher classes. The anniversary of the Sunday School occurs when the annual meeting of the Litchfield County Missionary Society is held, in August, at which time a sermon on the subject of Sunday Schools is preached, and the scholars are examined in the Catechism in the presence of the clergy. Fifty copies of the Children's Magazine are taken in the congregation.
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EDUCATION
He speaks in this report, too, of a parish library, commenced in January by the ladies, which he said already contained 120 vol- umes. In the following year he reported 150 scholars and 24 teach- ers in the Sunday school. He further said the Sunday school library had received a large and valuable addition by the generous dona- tion of $70 by Hosea Webster, Esq., of Brooklyn, and as a result contained 400 volumes. One hundred copies of the Children's Magazine were taken in the school; so far as practicable a copy of that magazine had been placed in every family where there were children. The Sunday School Visiter was circulated among the teachers. Lectures on the geography of the Holy Land had been given before the school by the rector.
Statistics in succeeding years show the size of the school re- mained about the same, usually around 100. Mr. Payne did not re- port much if any progress during his rectorate, and yet the Rev. Mr. Nichols, who filled in between his and Dr. Fuller's sec- ond rectorate, speaks in his report to the Bishop of a flourishing school.
On his return as rector, Dr. Fuller spoke hopefully of the school, which he said in attendance and proficiency was encourag- ing. In several reports he emphasized the fact that the school met throughout the year, and in one report added that it "greatly needs a separate building for its accommodation, where likewise the Divine Service could be held on occasions during the cold season when it is now thought inexpedient to open the church." Nothing further of special import is mentioned in these diocesan reports, although the number of scholars and teachers reported remained approximately the same until 1856, when Mr. Willey reported the gift of $1,000 from Mr. Webster, who had previously made a substantial gift to the school. The income only of this gift was to be applied to the maintenance of the Sunday school. By then the new and third St. Michael's had been built, and in 1857 Mr. Willey spoke of a chapel which was nearly ready for occu-
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EDUCATION
pancy. This, when completed, housed the Sunday school for many years, until the present parish house was built in 1931.
There were at different times in Litchfield private schools which seem to have had a close connection with the Church. One of these was the Wolcott Institute, which was on the west side of South Street, just south of the Oliver Wolcott, Jr., house. Its prin- cipals were the Rev. C. H. Seymour and the Rev. D. G. Wright. The former removed to the Diocese of Massachusetts in 1857, but the latter reported in the diocesan journal of that year:
The Rev. Daniel G. Wright would respectfully report: That since his removal to the Diocese he has been constantly engaged in his duties as Rector of the Wolcott Institute, Litchfield.
In Mr. Willey's reports of contributions and expenditures in 1857 he included:
subscribed and paid toward the establishment of the Wolcott Insti- tute, a Church School, $3,700.
At the convention of the following year the Bishop, speaking of educational institutions belonging to the Episcopal Church in the Diocese, said:
the Wolcott Institute at Litchfield is under the superintendence of an Episcopal Clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Wright, though I believe it is not peculiarly a Church Institution.
The Institute was closely sponsored by Mr. Willey, however, who was President of its Board of Trustees. Other trustees were members, in most cases officers, of St. Michael's. The Wolcott Institute did not continue, however, after Mr. Willey left St. Michael's in 1858.
Ten years later, in 1867, the Rev. Mr. Perry in his report spoke of another school:
The establishment of a parish school under the efficient management of the Rev. William L. Peck, M.A., has been a noticeable epoch in our parish history, and gives promise of abundant results of good in the future.
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EDUCATION
Mr. Peck was also rector of St. Paul's and Trinity Churches. About the school Mr. Peck, himself, reported
that this institution was organized in October last, under the aus- pices of St. Michael's Parish, for the purpose of instructing the chil- dren of the church of both sexes in the truths and principles of the Gospel, in connection with a thorough secular education-English, Commercial and Classical.
In 1868 Mr. Peck, in his report on Trinity School, said:
That this institution has nearly completed its second year with an increasing interest on the part of the members of St. Michael's Parish, in the work for which it was organized. During the winter the school was completely full; as soon as the spring begins to open, the older pupils are (to some extent) withdrawn for home duties. The course of daily religious instruction in connection with the secular is con- tinued as at first, by which the youth and children are trained up as sons and daughters of the Church.
The reports of Trinity School keep up for a few years, the last, in 1871, being as follows:
This school is just about closing its fifth year of successful opera- tion, during which period over one hundred pupils have been under instruction. Three of these are now in colleges. Two others expect to enter next fall. One is pursuing his studies with the hope of enter- ing Trinity College in 1872.
The classical, scientific and commercial courses of study are con- tinued, with daily instruction in the principles, doctrines, discipline and worship of the Church.
In July, 1871, Mr. Peck moved to Watertown, where he was listed in the Diocesan Journal of the next year as assistant minister in Christ Church and the principal of a school.
Little information comes down to us about work with the young people of St. Michael's during the period following Mr. Perry's rectorate. That there was a Sunday school is quite appar- ent from the annual parochial reports, and until 1900 the number both of scholars and teachers was large. In a collection of news-
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EDUCATION
paper clippings of 1881 and 1882 we find accounts of the Christ- mas Sunday school festival and the Easter service, at both of which the infant class, numbering about fifty, and taught and trained by Mrs. Seymour and Mrs. Sedgwick, was featured prominently. The Sunday school library was continued also, because we read that in 1886 when, during Mr. Bissell's absence on vacation, four clergy- men were engaged to supply the pulpit at $25 per Sunday, one, the Rev. J. N. Mulford of Troy, New York, generously donated part of his stipend to the Sunday school library. Judged by today's standards the library was no doubt a sorry collection of books of a religious or pious nature. Whether because they were worn out with use or discarded because of their unattractive appearance and content, no trace of this library, nor of the parish library spoken of by Dr. Fuller, remains.
With little definite information on the intervening years, we come to 1925. In that year several ladies of the parish interested themselves in the church school and worked valiantly to arouse others' interest in it. Among the ladies were Mrs. S. S. Wetmore, Mrs. J. H. Brewster, Mrs. Seymour Cunningham, Miss Sally Pen- man, and Miss Gertrude Lansing. At the parish meeting of May 20, 1926, Mrs. Wetmore reported on the first year's work. At the parish meeting in 1929 she reported the total enrollment as 68, with an average attendance of 45. The school continued with marked growth, and in the year 1931-1932 received honor rank among church schools of the Diocese. In that year the enrollment was 88. Among the teachers during this period, Mrs. J. G. Dob- bins should be mentioned for her outstanding work with the kin- dergarten.
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