USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Torrington > Trinity Church, Torrington, Connecticut > Part 2
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The Rev. Benjamin Eastwood's pastorate, from 1868 to 1874 was uneventful. The ground so thoroughly tilled by his predecessor brought forth good fruit. The Parish grew and flourished and dur- ing this time a rectory was purchased from Mrs. E. C. Hoyt on Migeon Avenue, a house which appar-
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ently did not please those most interested. There was much discussion of building a new rectory. This was done a few years later.
After six years Mr. Eastwood resigned to move to Rhode Island leaving a quiet and well organized parish to the Rev. Henry B. Ensworth. Mr. Ensworth was rector of Trinity Parish for two years. He was an unassuming man, conscientious in the discharge of his duties. During his incumbency no history was made but the Parish was happy and moved har- moniously.
VI
In 1876 the Rev. Henry Sherman, a man of initia- tive and excellent business ability accepted a call to Trinity Parish. For fourteen years he was its Rector and directing genius. He was interested not only in the affairs of his parish but in those of the town. After the Church was again renovated and repaired, a new organ purchased, the new rectory built and the Church Building Fund started, Mr. Sherman turn- ed his attention to the public schools in which he suggested some much needed changes. His advice was accepted and the changes made raised the standard of education considerably. He was made Archdeacon of the diocese, a high honor in the Church. He was also made a member of the Stand- ing Committee, a greater honor. The interior ar- rangement of the church edifice was changed at this time, and the new organ placed in its proper place by the chancel. Steam heat was introduced in the Church and the system of free pews which had previously been unsuccessfully tried was put into operation.
During the rectorship of the Rev. Melville K.
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Bailey the drive for the Church Building Fund was accelerated, and a keener interest in church affairs was evidenced throughout the town. The names of 20 new applicants for membership in the Parish- at any time a large number-were considered and accepted.
Mr. and Mrs. Lyman W. Coe were greatly be- loved by the members and on the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary, a very beautiful gift of "Apostle Spoons" was presented to them by the Wardens and the Vestrymen of the Parish.
Mr. Henry J. Hendey and Mr. Frederick F. Fuessenich gave a plot of land to the Parish which is now covered by the sanctuary and the choir of the new church. The Parish extended its property by the purchase of a lot on Water Street between the church retaining wall and the first business block on the east.
A feeling of confidence in the future and a cer- tainty that the new church edifice so sadly needed would soon be a reality inspired the hearts of the people. Gifts for the new church were being present- ed by parishioners. Mr. and Mrs. Uri Taylor Church, Miss Nellie Church and Mrs. Andrew Workman gave as a memorial to James Seymour Church, the twelve year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Uri T. Church, who had died in August, 1890, the very beautiful lectern from which the lessons are read each Sun- day at Trinity. The lectern is inscribed: "To the glory of God and in loving memory of James Sey- mour Church. Born June 15, 1879-died August 4, 1890. A member of Christ, a child of God and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven."
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Mr. Walter Harrison's Sunday School class also presented a memorial to Jamie Church and Willie Slade, a set of alms basons, both collecting basons and the receiving basons. These, now constantly in use, are of the finest workmanship. From Mr. and Mrs. Lyman Coe, ordered for the Church before Mr. Coe's death, a gift was received of the beautiful Communion set, flagon, chalice, credence paten, distributing paten and chalice spoon. The design of the set was made especially for Trinity Parish.
On February 9, 1893 the death of Mr. Lyman W. Coe occurred and brought sorrow to the whole com- munity and particularly to Trinity Parish who had so long loved and honored him. In a memorial minute prepared for the religious and secular press, by the wardens and vestrymen, these lines occur:
"We shall miss him more and more. His constant attendance at the service of the Church and his manifest appreciation of it, his recogni- tion of all who were ever near him, the bouton- niers which he always gave to some child in the church porch, his cheery salutations on the street, the marked courtesy of his office hours, the warm hospitality of his home-these things and many others we shall miss more deeply as the days go by."
The Rectorship of the Rev. Melville K. Bailey ended just as the vision of a greater parish was dawning.
His stewardship closed Easter Monday, April 15, 1895, and the Rev. J. Chauncey Linsley took up the duties which he was not to resign for a period of nearly thirty-two years.
LAYING OF THE CORNERSTONE OF THE PRESENT CHURCH EDIFICE - OLD RECTORY AND OLD EDIFICE IN BACKGROUND
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VII
A vigorous man in his middle thirties, Mr. Lins- ley infused new life into the work of the Parish. He had stalwart aids on his Vestry, men whose first and abiding interest was the Church.
Henry J. Hendey was Senior Warden and John Workman Junior Warden. Both of these men had directed the affairs of the Parish for many years. They were towers of strength. The Vestrymen for the first year of Mr. Linsley's incumbency were: Frederick F. Fuessenich, Hilan M. Rogers, Edward T. Coe, Henry Hotchkiss, Luther G. Turner, with An- drew E. Workman as clerk and Charles McNeil as treasurer. Oliver P. Coe, for fifteen years a member of the Vestry, died shortly after Mr. Linsley came to Trinity Parish.
The old wooden church structure was feeling the impact of time. It was frail, the winds sifted through it. As the Parish grew its quarters became cramped. The special offerings at Easter and All Saints had increased the Building Fund until in 1896 it stood at $16,000. Now the Vestry decided that the time had arrived when a new church edifice and a Parish House must be erected. The Rector was ap- pointed to consult with various architects and to se- cure plans.
In 1897 a special parish meeting voted to accept the plans submitted by the firm of Henry W. Cong- don and Son of New York. It was voted that the Parish House should not be built at that time.
VIII
The corner stone of the new church building was laid on Sunday, October third, 1897. Bishop Brewster
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had been elected the previous June but had not yet been consecrated, and the Rev. Dr. Storrs O. Sey- mour of Litchfield, as president of the Standing Com- mittee, the head of which ranks second to the Bishop in the diocese, was invited by Mr. Linsley to lay the. stone. The Church structure was completed the next year, 1898, and services were held there, but a debt remained on the edifice and it could not be con- secrated until this was liquidated.
A campaign was inaugurated within the Parish to meet the payment of the debt. Men and women gave liberally, and often to the limit of their ability. Church organizations vied with each other to earn money for the cause. Sunday School children made many small sacrifices of the pleasures they loved for the greater pleasure of seeing their classes' con- tributions loom large in the reports of The Trinity Messenger.
Gently yet insistently the Rector reminded his Parish from the pulpit and the pages of The Messen- ger that the church edifice in which they worshipped was still unconsecrated, that it was their duty and their privilege to clear it of debt.
Mr. Linsley's letters in The Trinity Messenger to the Sunday School children were models of tactful suggestion. And their money came rolling in, in pennies and nickels and dimes. Many a child's head lifted proudly at well earned praise from the Rector and many then learned the habit of giving systematically to the Church.
Further contributions were made by the older members, and some of these spelled sacrifice. The story is told of a man, prominent in the Parish and in the town, who had planned to make some changes
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in, and additions to his house for the greater comfort of his large family. He decided instead of doing this to add the cost of such alterations to his subscription to the church debt and he left the repairs to his own house to a later day.
"Many gifts and memorials were received for the new church. A thousand dollars for a tower clock was presented to the Parish by Mr. Elisha Turner and Miss. Ella Coe gave $500 for its installation. The
THE ALTAR AT CHRISTMAS
Sunday School class of Miss Annie Spittle (Mrs. Charles E. Bennett), gave a credence table of quarter- ed oak.
Mrs. John Workman and Miss Josephine Work-
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man gave the marble font and baptistry, in memory of Miss Jennie G. Workman.
Mrs. Andrew E. Workman's gift was a Bishop's chair and a prie dieu of quartered oak.
A memorial gift of the marble floor and kneeling step for the sanctuary was made by Mr. Henry J. Hendey.
The altar cross, vases, candlesticks and candel- abra of brass were presented by Mrs. W. H. K. God- frey and Miss Ella Coe, daughters of Mr. Lyman W. Coe.
Also there was given a kneeling rail of oak for the sanctuary inscribed, "In memory of members of this Parish now in Paradise."
Five years after the Church was finished the en- tire debt was paid and on June 28, 1903, the new Trinity Church, the second edifice to bear that name in the Parish, was consecrated.
The following account of the consecration writ- ten by Dr. Linsley, is copied from the July 1903 issue of the Trinity Messenger:
"At 7:30 a. m. the Holy Communion was celebrated by The Very Rev. George Brinley Morgan, D. D., Rector of Christ Church, New Haven, and again at 9 o'clock when the Rector, the Rev. J. Chauncey Linsley was the celebrant. The principal service of the day, which drew to- gether such a congregation as never before assembled in the spacious church, took place at 10:30. Not only from Torrington and vicinity but from Thomaston, Winsted and Litchfield and many far-away cities, people had come to share in the joy of the Parish and the most memorable day in the history of their mother church."
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Promptly on the hour, the procession of clergy and laymen, marching from the chapel, advanced to the tower door, where Bishop Brewster knocked three times. Mr. Henry J. Hendey, the Senior Warden, swung back the door and the procession entered the Church. Bishop Brewster was preceded by his chap- lain, the Rev. S. Wolcott Linsley, Rector of St. James Church, Winsted, bearing the pastoral staff present- ed by the Scottish Church to the Bishops of Connecti- cut.
In the procession was Mr. Herbert W. Congdon, of the firm of Henry M. Congdon and Son, the archi- tects of the Church, and the members of the Vestry. The hymn, "O 'twas a Joyful Sound" was sung as the procession passed from choir room to portal. After the recitation of the 24th Psalm the Bishop took his place in the sanctuary. Mr. Hendey read the instrument of donation declaring the property to be free of any lien or encumbrance and asking the care and oversight of the Bishop. After the Bishop had read the prayers and the sentence of consecration, Morning Prayer followed, The Rev. S. Wolcott Lins- ley reading the first lesson and the Rector of the Parish the second.
Bishop Brewster then preached an inspiring ser- mon from the 122nd Psalm, "For my brethren and companions' sake I will wish thee prosperity. Yea, because of the House of the Lord our God I will seek to do thee good."
At the celebration following, the Bishop was assisted by the Rev. Dr. Morgan as gospeller and the Rector as epistoler. The Rev. S. Wolcott Linsley assisted them in the administration. The special of- ferings for the day, the first in the consecrated
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church, were for General Missions. The music was by the regular vested choir of thirty voices, under the direction of Stanley Blake Smith, organist and choir master. The choir was ably supported by an orchestra of ten pieces led by Mr. Henry E. Hotchkiss.
Of special merit were the organ and orchestral selection "Praise ye the Lord" before the service, the Te Deum, and at the Offertory Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.
In the afternoon at the Sunday School celebra- tion the rite of confirmation was administered by the Bishop.
It is doubtful if any members of the Parish who were able to be present absented themselves from the services of that day. There was one who had greatly desired to be present but who lay dying at his home-Mr. Uri T. Church, for many years a com- municant, and tireless servant of the Church. In the minutes of the vestry we find this beautiful tribute to Mr. Church written by the Rector:
"Anticipating for years the joy of seeing the consecration of the new granite church he en- tered Paradise on June the 28th while the service of consecration was in progress, and saw a vision fairer far than that from which his earthly eyes had been with-held. We thank God for his good example and for his works which do follow him."
IX
In addition to his other duties as Rector; Dr. Linsley undertook the writing and editing of a parish publication, "The Trinity Messenger", which carried on with only occasional breaks in its continuity dur-
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ing his long pastorate in Torrington. The Messenger was designed to be a medium of communication be- tween the Rector and his officials and the body of parishioners. For years it was an attractive monthly magazine, later a weekly. Its files, carefully pre- served, have proved a mine of information and a valuable history of the Parish during the years from 1895 to 1927. Baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths were faithfully recorded in its pages. It was an open Parish Register, accessible to all.
It is a matter of regret that such a publication can scarcely be made self-supporting. The editors do not press for payment of subscriptions and its readers are lax in meeting such an obligation. Also a parish paper must always be a thing of sec- ondary importance among the manifold duties which crowd a rector's busy life. Further growth of the Parish since 1927 and the long period of depression in the early 1930's have prevented the determined renewal of such an effort. But Trinity Parish has rea- son to be grateful to Mr. Linsley's successful essay into journalism. Many events of importance at the time would have been lost to the memory of the Parish if The Trinity Messenger had not left records of them for future generations.
X
The old wooden church edifice which had been moved over on the Maiden Lane side of the property when the new granite church was erected was used for a Parish House for nine years.
Further repairs on it were deemed inadvisable and in 1906 the Vestry felt justified in asking funds. and pledges for a new Parish House to be built ac-
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cording to the original plans made by Mr. Henry Congdon. Mr. Linsley was requested to appoint a committee of five to solicit the parishioners for con- tributions. Later this committee was increased to seven and found its task not too onerous. The people were receptive to the idea of tearing down the old wooden church. It was old in years and in service. It had been moved from its first foundation, renovat- ed and repaired many times and twice struck by lightning. Bids for the construction of a new Parish House were asked and The Torrington Building Com- pany's estimate was unanimously accepted.
XI
A lamentable loss to Trinity Parish was sustain- ed in the death on December 8, 1906, of Mr. Henry J. Hendey. His service to the Church was long and continuous. For 26 years he performed the exacting duties of Warden, first as Junior Warden and then as Senior Warden, filling the office faithfully and wisely until his death.
He was chairman of the committee which built the granite church. The minute prepared by Dr. Linsley and two members of the Vestry on December 17 of that year says of him:
"He gave richly of his thought, counsel and substance. His soul was lofty in its conception of the honor due God and of the integrity in business dealings deserved by men. In duty he was unfaltering, in faith unswerving and in humility before God, lowly."
In his will Mr. Hendey bequeathed to Trinity Church $2,500 to be added to "The Elisha Turner Fund" to be held by the Church in the same manner and under the same regulations as that fund is held.
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As a memorial to Mr. Hendey in 1907, Mrs. Hendey and her daughters, Mrs. C. H. Alvord and Maude Hendey gave the Church the beautiful carved pulpit designed by the architect, Mr. Congdon, and used since that time.
Mrs. W. H. K. Godfrey, Miss Ella Coe and Mr. Edward T. Coe requested permission to replace the windows in the sanctuary of the Church with figured glass, the subjects being, "Our Lord in Gethsemane", "The Crucifixion", "The Resurrection" and "The Ascension", in memory of their mother, Eliza Sey- mour Coe. Two paintings, copies of Murillo, brought from Spain by Mr. Lyman W. Coe, and two steel engravings were also gifts of Mrs. Godfrey and Miss Coe.
The entire community felt the loss of Eliza Sey- mour Coe. She was a leader in every good work. Her absorbing interest was the Church. The rich marble altar in the sanctuary with the statues of Our Lord, the Holy Virgin, St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. John was but one of her gifts to Trinity Church. No one knew the extent of her gifts to the needy.
XII
In January 1909 the new Parish House was form- ally opened with a brief service of benediction. The second unit of the group of granite buildings which the architects had planned for Trinity Parish was completed. The cost of the building, furnished and equipped, was approximately $25,000 of which more than one half had been paid at the time of opening. The building fronts on Prospect Street and stands well back from the street at right angles to the Church. It opens also on Maiden Lane and can be entered through the Crypt Chapel on Water Street.
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STANLEY BLAKE SMITH .Organist and Choirmaster
"Men richly furnished with ability-such as sought out musical tunes- the congregation shall show forth their praise-" Ecclesiasticus.
Forty years on Trinity staff, Stanley Blake Smith is a dean among church officers not only in the Parish but in the Litchfield Archdeaconry and throughout the Diocese of Connecticut.
Mr. Smith began his duties as organist and choirmaster on April 27th, 1901 coming here from New Haven. On May 11th, 1904, he was married to Mabel Fuessenich. In 1921, after twenty years' service he was given a hard earned year's leave of absence, during which he traveled extensively in this country. Again, on June 24, 1928, he was honored at a parish reception, given a purse of gold and sent- on a trip to Europe. During this period the church was tem- porarily without an organ, the old instrument having been dismantled and the new one was in building.
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Placed on the peak of a sharp hill on the one end and on a lower level on the other its outline is pleas- ingly irregular. At some points it is two stories in height, at others, three stories. Even today, thirty- four years since its erection, it is, except for the some- what restricted space given to the Church School, fully adequate for most occasions. It contains a large assembly hall with a stage at one end, a bal- cony overlooking it from the mezzanine floor. On the first floor below the assembly hall, is a sizeable room where the parish organizations meet. Opening out of this is a well equipped kitchen. A small li- brary, an office for the Rector and robing rooms for the choir are also provided. The Parish House is di- rectly connected with the Church by a hall with doors at both ends.
The people of Trinity have a gracious instinct to make gifts to their Church and soon after the com- pletion of the Parish House things both useful and beautiful appeared in its various rooms. In the kitchen one day a large and fine gas stove was dis- covered already installed. A complete set of dishes was neatly arranged on the shelves, enough for a score of people, flat silver sufficient for any occasion, all marked "Trinity Parish", lay in neat cases in the cupboard drawers. And later a Steinway piano roll- ed quietly into Assembly Hall. These were only the most important donations. Other smaller gifts ap- peared from time to time.
All this happened years ago. Today Trinity Parish, and particularly The Women's Guild, is most grateful to Mr. Frank M. Travis who has completely transformed the kitchen which is the scene of so many of the Guild's labors. He installed there the
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1 -+ model of electric range, electric dish washers, tables and everything which a modern house or hotel requires for the smooth running of its men- age. Such labor saving devices would have been quite beyond attainment for any of the parish organ- izations. These have made the serving of food at parish entertainments a thing of little effort.
XIII
Again death struck at the Vestry. Mr. Edward T. Coe, whose interest in Trinity Parish was an in- herited one and who was for years a Vestryman of the Parish, died in 1909. Generous with financial aid, he also gave his time and sympathetic attention to the needs of the Church. Mr. Coe was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Lyman W. Coe, pioneer members of Trinity Parish.
The three windows in the baptistry were replac- ed sometime after the consecration of the Church, by Mr. and Mrs. John Workman in memory of their daughter, Miss Josephine Workman. These win- dows, in keeping with the iconographic scheme of the architect depicted, "The Baptism of Our Lord", "Augustine baptising King Ethelbert", and "The Passage of the Red Sea" and "The Ark and the Flood." Mr. and Mrs. Workman also replaced the wainscoting in the baptistry with quartered oak wainscoting, buttressed and paneled, made from designs by the same architects; and to add to the font in the baptistry, to the memory of their daughter, Jennie Gould Workman, a cover of quartered oak and bronze. All this work was con- structed and placed in position under the super- vision of the architects of the church.
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XIV
It was voted in 1908 to purchase more land on Maiden Lane to protect and conserve the interests of the Parish. Four of the Vestry purchased this land from The Warrenton Woolen Company and later Mr. Frederick F. Fuessenich bought it from them and donated it to the Parish. Some years later the Parish bought from Dr. Hanchett another narrow strip on the east to straighten out the boundary line of the church property. Thomas W. Bryant bought the Iredale property on the corner of Prospect Street and Maiden Lane with the same generous purpose in mind, to protect the parish interests.
More gifts were presented to the Church:
A stained glass window was placed in the north transept portraying "The Triumphant Entry Into Jeru- salem" and "The Last Supper", by Mrs. Uri T. Church, Miss Nellie E. Church and Mrs. Andrew E. Workman, in memory of Uri T. Church.
Mrs. E. C. Hoyt bequeathed to Trinity Parish her estate consisting of a house and lot on Migeon Ave- nue. This was sold and the money added to the permanent funds, to be known as "The Elizabeth C. Hoyt Fund".
One thousand dollars was left to the Parish by Miss Ann Gilbert of New Haven. This was also placed in the permanent fund.
XV
Tragedy came stalking into the homes of Tor- rington in 1911 and caught the people unawares. A scourge of typhoid fever struck the community and a black cloud of fear settled upon every home. There were no hospital facilities nearer than Winsted
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and few of the patients were able to endure so long a journey. Dr. Linsley's word picture of those first few days of dread and uncertainty, from the Trinity Messenger of September 1911, tells a harrowing story:
"How quickly it all came about! Like a bolt out of the clear sky fell the pestilential stroke. Doctors and nurses worked heroically but were overwhelmed. Borough officials and other repre- sentative men, recognizing their great and im- mediate responsibility, met to plan and aid with brain and purse to relieve the sufferers and stop the spread of the disease. An emergency hospi- tal was imperative. The Armory would be used. This was Thursday night. All day Friday the state authorities were pleaded with for use of the Armory. Men of Torrington pleaded. They asked men throughout the state to plead for us. But all to no avail. 'Use tents', was the reply. Tents, with autumnal storms at hand! Tents, on a field with not a foot of sewer, for typhoid patients! Tents! It was nine o'clock on Friday night when the Armory proposition was found to be hopeless. The officers of Trinity Parish offer- ed the Parish House for an emergency hospital and at once took the Warden and Burgesses through the building. The head of the emer- gency nurses was sent for. All were amazed at the completeness of the appointments and the adaptability of the building for hospital pur- poses. At ten o'clock it was accepted.
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