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 8
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In the midst of his usefulness, and in the fullness of his powers, the Rev. Junius Marshall Willey has been taken from us. It is a mysterious Providence which has caused his loss; one of those which tasks a Christian's faith. Zealous, earnest, practical, successful in his work, never sparing himself, he has left living proofs of his devotion to his calling which are his noblest monument. Not only his parochial and missionary labors, but the offices of trust which he filled so efficiently in the Diocese, make his loss no ordinary one. God sanctify it to all the many mourners it has made!
Dr. Hudson was born in Cornwall, Vermont, January 28, 1814. In early life he worked at the trades of baker and wheelwright, while he educated himself and earned money to enter college. He was graduated from Middlebury College in 1840, after which he
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went south and taught school in Kentucky. While there he was introduced to Shakespeare, a poet of whom he had previously known nothing. Yet in less than a quarter of a century he was an authority in the field, and so excited interest in the subject that one man was inspired to endow a professorship in Shakespeare at Boston University. In 1849 Mr. Hudson was ordered deacon; then for a few years he edited the Churchman, and later the American Church Monthly. He was ordained priest in 1858. His rectorate at St. Michael's seems to have been his only parochial service. He published a volume of sermons which are said to be remarkably like the Essays of Francis Bacon in style. He obtained a chaplaincy in a corps of engineers in the Civil War. He received the degree of LL.D. from Middlebury College in 1881. For two years he was editor of the Saturday Evening Gazette, and was professor of Shakespeare at Boston University. He died at Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, January 16, 1886. Included in his works are Lectures on Shakespeare (2 vols., 1848), Shakespeare, His Life, Art and Char- acters (2 vols., 1872), and the Harvard edition of Shakespeare's Works, in 20 volumes (1880-1881).
Dr. Southgate was born in Portland, Maine, April 10, 1831, graduated from Bowdoin College in 1851, and from the General Theological Seminary in 1855. He was ordered deacon by Bishop George Burgess of Maine in 1855, and advanced to the priesthood by the same bishop in 1856. He was assistant minister at the Church of the Advent, Boston, from 1855 to 1856, and of St. Michael's, Brattleboro, Vermont, from 1856 to 1860, from which he came to St. Michael's, Litchfield. He left Litchfield because of his wife's ill health, and spent the next four years in Europe and Mexico. In 1869 he became rector of St. Anne's Parish, Annapolis, Maryland, staying there for thirty years, until his death on Whitsunday, May 21, 1899. Many memorials to Dr. Southgate are to be found in Annapolis, where he was greatly admired. His successor often re- ferred to him as "the Annapolis Saint," for his truly Christian spirit made all Annapolis his parish and friends.3
3 From the Maryland Churchman, January, 1946.
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1864-1893 WILLIAM S. PERRY . CALEB S. HENRY GOUVERNEUR M. WILKINS STORRS O. SEYMOUR . L. PARSONS BISSELL
THE REV. MR. SOUTHGATE resigned the rectorship of St. Michael's at the close of the year 1863, and the parish was without a rector until Advent Sunday, 1864. However, it was not without a regular supply, among whom were the Rev. Charles Arey, Dr. Fuller, Mr. Southgate, and others. In May the vestry was requested to invite the Rev. Mr. Arey "to supply the pulpit for such time as he and they may agree." But he declined, accepting instead a call to the rectorship at Fredonia, New York, where he had been a resident. However, on November 27, 1864, the Rev. William Stevens Perry accepted the St. Michael's vacancy, and took charge on Advent Sunday. From his reports to the Diocese we learn most of what we know of his rectorate. In 1865 he spoke of increased attend- ance at church, and a largely increased liberality toward objects without, as well as within, the parish, which, he says, "attest our in- creased prosperity in temporal things, and also evidences, we trust, that spiritual blessings have not been withheld."
In 1865 two important meetings of the Episcopal Society were held to consider its investments in two banks, one the Phoenix Bank of Hartford, and the other the Bridgeport Bank, both of which notified their stockholders that they were becoming Na- tional Banking Institutions under the National Currency Act of
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1863. In both cases it was voted to continue to hold the Society's stock in the newly organized institutions.
In January, 1866, a special meeting of the vestry of St. Mi- chael's was held to consider the purchase of a new organ. Dr. Perry's report of 1866 mentions one then in process of construc- tion. The next year he reported: "During the year a new organ, built by J. Simmons, of Boston, has been placed in the church, at a cost of nearly $3,000, giving perfect satisfaction and rendering efficient aid in the service of song in the House of the Lord."
In his report of 1866 he also said that the annual rental of pews at Easter had been much larger than in any previous year, and an increased liberality toward objects both outside and within the parish was noteworthy and encouraging. He added:
This report would be incomplete without a notice of the death, at the advanced age of 93, of Mrs. Clarissa (Seymour) Marsh, widow of the late Rev. Truman Marsh, many years rector of the united parishes of Litchfield. This estimable Christian lady, a link binding us to the earlier days of the parish, and to the period of our Church's organiza- tion, and the only one remaining among us on which head the hands of the Apostolic Seabury were laid in Confirmation, fell asleep in Jesus, full of years and honors, on the 2d of September 1865. Her memory is blessed both on account of the constant benefactions to- ward St. Michael's, marking all her years, and saintly virtues and graces adorning the doctrines she professed.
At the annual meeting of the Society in April, 1866, it was voted that the rector of St. Michael's be the rector of the First Episcopal Society, and that the rector or rectors of St. Paul's and Trinity be assistant ministers of the Society. This reorganization did not remain in effect indefinitely, however.
At an adjourned meeting held in May of that year the follow- ing interesting vote is recorded: "That the Treasurer be directed to Fund the Legacy of Chloe Haywood of one hundred dollars when received of the Executor in memory of the Donor she hav- ing been born a Slave." Chloe Haywood had been given to Mrs. Truman Marsh when a child while slavery still existed in this state.
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On receiving her freedom she had remained in the family until her death, and had bequeathed her estate to those who had cared for her in her last illness, after legacies of $ 100 each to St. Michael's and the Methodist churches.
At the June meeting of the vestry of St. Michael's another inter- esting entry was the vote to pay Dr. Howard E. Gates a salary of $75 for playing the organ and leading the choir for a year, and also to pay his expenses for an organ blower for practice, not ex- ceeding $25 in addition!
In July, 1867, the Society sold for $500 a piece of land south of the rectory to Mr. Lewis B. Woodruff, who owned the adjoining property. Dr. Algernon S. Lewis acted as agent for the Society and the deed was executed July 15, 1867.
On February 13, 1869, and again on February 27, meetings were held to consider the disposition of the trust fund which, by the death of Dr. Alfred H. Beers, had become payable to the Society. It was voted to defray Dr. Beers' funeral expenses, and to pay his widow the sum which would have been paid her husband from the trust during the year 1869.
At this second meeting Dr. Perry's resignation was read, to take effect on Ascension Day, May 6. He wrote of his unfeigned regret at submitting his resignation; of the associations which had been dearer than words could express; of his earnest prayer that God would give St. Michael's a man after His own heart, to whom the large-hearted love of the congregation would be as freely and fully accorded as it had been to him. Upon hearing the resignation read, the meeting unanimously adopted resolutions expressing deep re- gret and best wishes for their rector's future happiness.
After Mr. Perry's removal the rectorate was vacant until Jan- uary 1, 1870, when the Rev. Caleb Sprague Henry, D.D., was ap- pointed rector and began work immediately, though he did not move to Litchfield until April 17. In August, 1870, the rectory was remodeled and an addition was built on the south side. The cost of the alterations, $1,600, was raised by mortgaging the rectory,
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and it was specifically voted "that it is the sole duty of St. Mi- chael's Parish to provide for the payment of the debt so created."
In 1870 Dr. A. S. Lewis died. Another of the faithful laymen to whom our parish owes much, he had served as clerk of the Epis- copal Society from 1850 to 1866, treasurer of St. Michael's from 1854 to 1856 and from 1858 to 1867, vestryman from 1867 to 1869. A window in his memory was placed in the church in 1881 by his family.
In 1871 Dr. Josiah Gale Beckwith died after a long service to his church. He had been treasurer of the Society since 1833, with the exception of one year; this meant that he was treasurer of St. Michael's until 1852, when a general treasurer and treasurers for the three separate parishes were elected. He was vestryman from 1830 to 1835, junior warden from 1836 to 1851, and senior war- den from 1852 until his death. In 1871, also, occurred the death of Samuel G. Braman, who had been a vestryman from 1841 until his death, almost without interruption.
In September, 1871, a committee was appointed by the vestry of St. Michael's to solicit subscriptions to the amount of $1,000 to purchase furnaces for heating the church and for such other re- pairs to the church and chapel as were necessary. In June, 1873, at a special meeting it was voted that in view of the financial condi- tion of the parish the remuneration of the rector, after January 1, be $ 1,200 a year and the rectory.
In October, 1873, Dr. Henry submitted his resignation to take effect the last Sunday in November. He was largely influenced in this decision by impaired health which could never be any better in this climate. The resignation was accepted with regret and with gratitude for the earnest and acceptable manner in which he had discharged his duties as rector.
At a meeting of the vestry on February 9, 1874, it was voted unanimously to call the Rev. Gouverneur Morris Wilkins at a sal- ary of $1,200. Mr. Wilkins accepted in a gracious letter which ended as follows:
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I need scarcely remind you that I shall need your prayers and hearty cooperation in the great work which I have undertaken, for without these, but little good can be accomplished, and believing that you will thus aid me,
I am, most affectionately your Rector, G. M. Wilkins.
Mr. Wilkins, unmarried, occupied the rectory.
While Mr. Wilkins was rector, a font was given to St. Michael's in memory of Gerard Sumner Wiggin by his mother, Mrs. Buckley-Matthew. A member of St. Michael's today remembers the funeral of this young man. Because his mother wished to mini- mize the sadness of the occasion, at her request the primary class of the Sunday school attended the funeral dressed in white with pink sashes. The font given by Mrs. Buckley-Matthew replaced that given by the Rev. Mr. Brandegee, which was given to St. Paul's, Bantam.
In 1875, at an annual meeting grateful acceptance was accorded for a gift to the Society by the will of Mrs. O. S. Weller, which consisted of property at the corner of North and East streets, fac- ing the Green. Because of the terms of the bequest the property did not come into the hands of the Society until much later, after the death of other heirs of Mrs. Weller.
On September 11, 1878, Miss Maria Seymour, the only daugh- ter of Judge and Mrs. O. S. Seymour, died. She had been active in church affairs, particularly in the Sunday school and the choir. To the funeral in the church she had so loved her casket was borne from her home across the street by her three brothers and three cousins. In her memory a window was placed in the church, the gift of the children of the Sunday school.
The parish grew steadily during Mr. Wilkins' rectorate, as shown by the statistics in his diocesan reports. In his last report, for 1878-1879, the number of families is given as 127, of com- municants, 161, of confirmed, 5. The Sunday school was consider- ably smaller than in 1876, but two parishioners were studying for the ministry.
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In January, 1879, he submitted his resignation to take effect im- mediately. He spoke of regret at leaving St. Michael's, where, he said, he had spent years that were in many respects the pleasantest of his life. His resignation was accepted with deepest regret and gratitude "for the active benevolence, willing charity, and gen- erous spirit which he manifested during his rectorship with us."
In February it was unanimously resolved to call the Rev. Storrs Ozias Seymour, then at Trinity Church, Norwich, who, by a letter dated February 14, accepted the call to take effect the sec- ond Sunday after Easter, April 27. Mr. Seymour was a native of Litchfield.
In October of that year the Society received, by the will of Mrs. Mary Ann Wilmot, a gift of property for the use of St. Paul's Church. Two shares of Phoenix Bank stock were sold and turned over to the vestry of St. Paul's to secure a quitclaim deed to the property-a half acre of land and a new house-which were given as ground and rectory for the use of the rector of St. Paul's.
During several months Mrs. Seymour, wife of the rector, had been at work collecting portraits of former missionaries and rec- tors of St. Michael's. At the annual meeting of the Society in March, 1880, a vote of thanks was extended to former rectors or their friends who had so kindly furnished photographs. A portrait of only one of the missionaries who served previous to the Revolu- tion was obtained, but of the nineteen rectors since 1773, portraits of sixteen were secured, and they all hang in the Parish House today. By additions the collection has been kept up to date.
In 1882 the parish received a bequest of $500 from Mrs. E. S. B. M. Fleming, formerly Mrs. Buckley-Matthew. This be- quest was used for a reredos and wainscoting in the chancel, a new chancel rail with brass standards, and a brass tablet in memory of the three rectors who had died in Litchfield, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Marsh.
On August 12, 1881, Judge Origen Storrs Seymour, father of the Rev. S. O. Seymour, died in his seventy-eighth year. Born in
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Litchfield in 1804, he was throughout his adult life active in parish and diocesan affairs. He was clerk of the Episcopal Society from 1828 to 1848, and succeeded Dr. Beckwith as Society treasurer. He was a vestryman of St. Michael's. For many years he was a delegate to the Diocesan Convention, and for sixteen years he represented the Diocese at the General Convention, besides oc- cupying numerous important civil and judicial posts. On the day following his death the following resolution was adopted by the vestry of St. Michael's:
RESOLVED, That we deeply deplore his death, that we shall greatly miss his wise counsel in this assembly, but the example of his earnest, blameless Christian life, will long live among us as a cherished mem- ory, that we desire to tender to his bereaved family our most heart- felt sympathy in their time of trial.
In 1882 a window was put in the church in his memory. It is now in the sanctuary of St. Michael's Chapel.
On September 17, 1883, Mr. Seymour reluctantly resigned to accept a call to the rectorship of Trinity Church, Hartford. The ties which united him to St. Michael's made leaving more difficult, he wrote, but apart from these, the connection had been so entirely a pleasant one that he broke it with deep regret. Mr. Seymour's resignation, to take effect October 8, was accepted with profound regret, but with heartfelt thanks for his services. To Mrs. Seymour were expressed warm personal regards and appreciation of the in- defatigable and valuable services she had rendered the Parish.
A committee was appointed to confer with the Bishop and with candidates about a successor to Mr. Seymour. As a result, on No- vember 26, 1883, the Society voted to extend a call to the Rev. Linus Parsons Bissell, who agreed to enter upon his duties the first Sunday of January, 1884.
In the summer of 1884 a window in memory of Hosea Webster was put in the church by his son and daughter, William Webster and Mrs. H. B. Belden. On October 26 of the same year Mr. Bis-
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sell preached a sermon, of which one hundred copies were printed, commemorative of the 100th anniversary of the First Episcopal Society.
At the annual meeting on April 6, 1885, Mr. Tomlinson Wells was appointed Warden Emeritus, a novel title which arouses some curiosity. Reading further we learn that Mr. Wells, when he died on April 12, aged ninety-three years, was the oldest member of St. Michael's. Born on March 23, 1793, at New Milford, he came to Litchfield in 1812, and soon after entered the service of his coun- try. After the war he returned here and his name first appears on the Society's records as one of the standing committee in 1827. In 1857 he was made a vestryman of this church and continued to fill that office until 1868 when he was elected warden, which position he held until 1885, when his extreme feebleness compelled him to decline renomination. The parish, unwilling to sever its official connection with so faithful a servant, elected him Warden Emeri- tus. At a Society meeting held on May 17, it was on motion unani- mously
RESOLVED, That in the death of Mr. Tomlinson Wells this parish mourns the loss of a long tried and faithful officer and a much es- teemed personal friend whose memory will be held in grateful remem- brance by the members of this parish in common with his numerous friends in the community at large.
A bequest of $1,000, left the parish by Mrs. M. E. Thompson, who died December 29, 1884, was used for repairs on the church and rectory during the summer of 1885. Among other memorials given at about this time were an alms basin and two offertory plates, presented by Mr. William H. Sanford as a memorial to his mother, Mrs. Clarinda Harrison Sanford, whose father, Elihu Harrison, had been an active communicant of St. Michael's for many years. This gift was first used on the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, August 1, 1886. The plates were manufactured in Eng- land by special order of Mr. Sanford, and were given in the hope
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that they would continue to be used to receive the "devotions of the people" for a hundred years to come. They are being used in St. Michael's today.
From the year 1891 numerous memorials were presented to St. Michael's, among the other donors being Mrs. Nathaniel R. Child, Mrs. Francis Wells, Mr. and Mrs. F. Ratchford Starr, Mr. Heman Ford, and Mr. Cornelius R. Duffie, Jr. On July 29, 1891, a fair and festival was held by the ladies of the church at the Court House, to raise money to meet current ex- penses of the parish. The net receipts were about $900. So encour- aged were the ladies with the success of their efforts that they voted to appropriate a sufficient amount to paint the church, chapel, and rectory, and to put running water and a bathroom in the latter, all of which was done in the fall of 1891. In the summer of 1890 there had been a thorough renovation of the interior of the church, the walls covered with "plastica," a rough coating, the carpets steam cleaned in Torrington, the organ tuned. The chapel was also refinished, and a black birch floor laid over the old floor.
On October 16, 1892, St. Michael's suffered another grievous loss in the death of Judge Edward Woodruff Seymour. Like his father, Judge O. S. Seymour, he had been a devoted servant of his church, having served as vestryman from 1857, junior warden from 1885, and senior warden from 1889. He succeeded his father as treasurer of the Episcopal Society. Like his father's, too, his contributions to the civil and judicial life of the town and state were many and important. Following is the memorial to him in- scribed in the parish records:
IN MEMORIAM
In the sudden death of Judge Edward W. Seymour St. Michael's Parish has suffered a loss which, to human view, seems irreparable.
Identified with this Church from infancy, baptized and confirmed therein, in these later years its Senior Warden, his religious life influ- enced and nourished by its services and worship, he came to the stature of a strong, devout follower of the Master.
Up to the closing day of his life on earth he was a faithful teacher
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in the Sunday School, and a regular attendant upon all the appointed services of the Church.
If the Commonwealth mourns the loss of this eminent citizen, repre- sentative and jurist, how much more the little flock to which his example was ever an incentive to good living, his presence a benedic- tion and his counsel a law.
As a disciple of the Master, he was consistent, manifesting in his life the principles he professed, showing himself "a pattern of good works."
Suddenly came the Master's summons. On the Lord's Day, while his brethren were kneeling in prayer before the throne of Heavenly grace, he was called away. "He was not, for God had taken him."
For ourselves personally, as a Vestry and in behalf of St. Michael's Church, we sorrowfully record our deep sense of the privilege we esteem it to have known and loved him, and to have been associated with him.
We shall ever hold him in affectionate remembrance.
On April 2, 1893, Easter Sunday, the Rev. Mr. Bissell ended his connection with St. Michael's. The Rev. Storrs O. Seymour was called to succeed him, and on April 16 became rector of the parish for a second time.
Before leaving them, further information about the rectors touched on in this chapter may not be out of place. Mr. Perry was born in Providence, Rhode Island, January 22, 1832. After his graduation from Harvard University in the class of 1854 he at- tended the Theological Seminary in Virginia, but left to continue his studies under the Rev. Alexander H. Vinton, of Boston. He was one of the founders of Grace Church, Newton, Massachu- sets, where he was ordered deacon on March 29, 1857. He was advanced to the priesthood on April 7, 1858. Before coming to St. Michael's he had been rector of St. Luke's, Nashua, New Hampshire, from 1858 to 1861, and of St. Stephen's, Portland, Maine, from 1861 to 1863. He left St. Michael's to become rector of Trinity Church, Geneva, New York, where he remained until 1876. From 1871 to 1874 he was a professor of history at Hobart
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College, and for a short time served as president of that college. While at St. Michael's he was assistant secretary to the General Convention and continued as assistant and as secretary until 1876. In that year he was elected bishop of Iowa, and continued in that office until his death on May 13, 1898. He was eminent as an his- torian of the Episcopal Church, and for this gratitude is due him, not only for his studies and writings, but also for preserving much material which might have been lost. He spent considerable time in England, where he used the archives of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, as well as other important collections, in his study of the early Church. His literary activity was enor- mous, and the results most valuable.
Dr. Henry was born in Rutland, Massachusetts, August 2, 1804. He was graduated from Dartmouth College in 182 5, studied theol- ogy at Andover and at New Haven, and was ordained into the Congregational ministry January 1, 1829. He held two pastorates only, and then left the Congregational to join the Episcopal Church; he was ordained deacon in 1835 and priest in 1836. His life was devoted mainly to literary and educational pursuits. From 1838 to 1852 he was on the faculty of the University of the City of New York, now New York University. An inspiring teacher, of great personal magnetism, he was described by one of his stu- dents as "an intellectual force, full of animal vitality, sparkling vivacity, mental ability and literary enthusiasm." He held only two rectorates, at St. Clement's, New York, from 1847 to 1850, and at St. Michael's. Dr. Arthur E. Bostwick, a native of Litch- field, who was a boy when Dr. Henry was at St. Michael's, speaks of his sermons as intellectual treats, which, unfortunately, he was too young to appreciate. He was, however, aware that "this was not pulpit oratory of the kind usually found in rural towns." 1 Dr. Henry was especially renowned as an editor and author, and the fields in which he worked and wrote were varied. He was editor.
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