USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Torrington > Trinity Church, Torrington, Connecticut > Part 3
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"On Saturday morning the Parish House was . stripped bare. Seats, tables, stage curtains and ' fixtures were sent to a storage warehouse and
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pianos moved to the Church and Chapel. The floors were all scrubbed anew, walls wiped, and every faucet and tap carefully inspected. Ward- en Dayton ordered fifty hospital cots sent from New York. They came by special express and were in place that evening, less than twenty-four hours after the Parish House had been accepted. By Sunday night at ten o'clock the ambulance work for the day was over; forty-nine patients were in the hospital. The blessed work had be- gun. The building had been dedicated to hu- manity".
Bishop Brewster telegraphed his hearty congrat- ulations to the Parish for its offer of the Parish House. "The House", he said, "will receive an added touch of consecration from this service to humanity." Of- fers to send nurses who would accept no remunera- tion for their services came in from all over Connecti- cut and from New York. £ And the Rector of St. Michael's, Litchfield, echoed the Bishop's senti- ment, "your Parish House has received a consecra- tion which must always be felt". Messages of sym- pathy and substantial checks came from strangers in other places. Through the mail $518.00 came to the Relief Committee, from Bethlehem, Naugatuck, New Haven, New Britain, Litchfield, Hartford, Water- bury, Watertown, Stratford, New York and from Enid, Oklahoma. A large hamper of vegetables, fruits and jellies was sent from Christ Church, Bethlehem. A tag day brought $3,400.
The Hartford Courant said:
"Did you ever meet a man or woman from Torrington who was not proud of the town and of belonging to it? Surely none such has ever
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come into the Courant editorial rooms. In their recent distress they have stood by each other splendidly. Torrington has about one-sixth the population of Hartford and last Saturday its peo- ple in the haphazard tag day way of raising a fund of small contributions got together about $3,400. The money they have raised in various ways for the relief of the sufferers is between $20,000 and $25,000. It's fine; it's the true Yankee spirit. The sweet and gentle graces of life are not lost. They are not on every day parade but they are on hand when the crisis arrives."
Only eight out of the 112 patients cared for in the Parish hospital died. The largest number sick there at any time was 96. At noon on Monday No- vember 20 the doors were closed, the building was sealed and the work of disinfecting was begun. It was battered and stained and disfigured. It had been a port in time of dreadful storm. But Trinity Parish loved its scars. Four months from the time the first typhoid case entered its doors it was reopened in January 1912, and became again a house for play and recreation, but a sadder and older place.
XVI
The new century was more than ten years old. It still looked surprisingly like the nineteenth in its later years, but there were signs of development everywhere. Torrington had grown in population and its industries were expanding. Finer buildings surrounded the new Trinity Church and an urban at- mosphere pervaded the neighborhood. The Rector was encouraged by longer lists of baptisms and confirmations and the Sunday School was growing
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healthily. The Parish debts were not oppressive and collections for missions increased in size.
THE IVY-COVERED CHURCH-WATER STREET SIDE
The new granite in the Church was mellowing in tone and the "climbing vines" which the Vestry had asked for in 1898 were stretching their fingers higher on the tower. Certainly there was stronger illumination in the Church than in 1891 when the Torrington Register said, "Trinity Church was brilli- antly lighted for the first time last night. There were twenty-seven of the electric lights and the change was very satisfactory."
Within, the Church was growing more beautiful. Memorial windows had replaced much of the origi-
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nal glass and cast a soft glow over chancel and nave. Richly embroidered hangings for altar and pulpit were placed in the Church by Mrs. Hendey and Mrs. Alvord. For the sanctuary Mrs. Swayze gave the beautiful burses and stoles and book markers. All these were in the proper colors for the various seasons of the church year.
Many of the pioneers of the Parish had finish- ed their labors and passed on to a better world.
Miss Josephine Workman whose gentle charity impelled her to relieve suffering wherever she found it and who gave all her adult years to the service of the Church is unforgotten.
Major William Spittle was a familiar and loved figure in Torrington. Precentor of the Sunday School, he led its choir. He gave the same love to his Church that he gave to his country and many mourned him when he was called to higher service.
Clara A. Hendey, wife of Henry J. Hendey, a gentle woman who bore with quiet fortitude the ill- ness which marked the last years of her life, died May 1, 1915. Dr. Linsley spoke of Mrs. Hendey as a woman whose entire devotion was to God, her Church and her family and as one brave with a
splendid courage for things right, noble and true. Mrs. Hendey left a legacy of $2,500 which should be placed in the permanent endowment fund to be known as "The Clara A. Hendey Fund."
A beautiful figured glass window was placed in the south transept in memory of Mrs. Hendey by her daughters, Mrs. Charles H. Alvord and Mrs. Charles S. Palmer and very near to the carved oak pulpit which Mrs. Hendey had given as a memorial to her husband, Henry J. Hendey, after his death.
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The scenes depicted in the window were "The Nativ- ity" and "The Adoration of the Magi."
Miss Nellie Elizabeth Church left the world as quietly and unostentatiously as she had lived in it. She loved the Church and was seldom absent from its services. She left a gift of $2,000 which was plac- ed in the permanent endowment fund and which it named "The Nellie E. Church Fund."
XVII
In April 1913, after 35 years of service as Treas- urer of the Parish, Charles L. McNeil resigned. The Vestry expressed deep regret that he would no long- er continue in the work, and thanked him for the long years of meticulous oversight that he had given to the finances of the Parish, and his careful and detailed reports. They asked, if he felt it possible, that he continue as Treasurer until the new rectory was free of debt. Mr. McNeil, after some considera- tion of the matter agreed to the request.
In 1915 he definitely declined to be nominated again to the office. Most reluctantly his resignation was accepted. The Vestry at the Easter Parish meet- ing of that year wrote into their minutes an apprecia- tion of Mr. McNeil.
"His annual report just presented is his thirty- seventh. During these years the finances of our Par- ish have been entrusted to his keeping. It can have been no easy task. Certainly it has necessitated much work and the exercise of good judgment. There have been periods of difficulties, especially in earlier years, when our Treasurer's trained mind and willingness to serve proved of inestimable value in conserving the interests of the Parish. During the recent building enterprises he saw and provided for
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many an exigency. By his own resolution a vote was passed providing that duly appointed auditors should examine the Treasurer's accounts before his annual report be accepted, thus establishing a wise rule in our own Parish and setting a good example for other parishes. We extend to him our gratitude for many years of faithful service and we congratu- late him and ourselves upon the present sound con- dition of the finances of the Parish."
H. Blake Fuessenich was elected Treasurer for the ensuing year.
XVIII
The old rectory had grown shabby and its faded exterior contrasted sadly with the new Church and Parish House. The Vestry decided that the time had arrived for a new rectory. This would complete the group of granite buildings which Henry M. Congdon
THE OLD RECTORY
and Son had designed in 1897 for Trinity Parish. A vote was taken to ask for pledges for the erection of the Rectory and the amount required, $25,000, was soon over-subscribed and bids for its construction were invited. It was voted to sell the old rectory which should be moved off the church property.
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In 1916 Saint Stephen's College at Annandale on Hudson conferred on the Rev. J. Chauncey Lins- ley the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, to the gratification of Trinity Parish.
The tragedy of World War was destroying Eu- rope and threatening America. In 1917 and 1918 this country became a participant in the conflict. From Trinity Parish ninety-five young men and three grad- uate nurses entered the service. Four died to estab- lish freedom in the world. On Trinity's Roll of Honor were inscribed these names:
HARRY L. BRENKER WILLIAM E. HUBBARD EMMANUEL CHARLES REVAZ ANSON MOULTHROP VIBBERT
4
Permission to place a figured glass lancet win- dow in the south transept was granted by the Vestry to Mrs. Homer Thrall and Charles L. McNeil, the subject to be named in the iconographic scheme of the architects of the church. The window was for a memorial to the donors' father and mother, Henry Lincoln McNeil and Martha O'Dell McNeil.
XIX
The Rev. Henry St. Clair Whitehead had been the first curate of Trinity Parish. Mr. Whitehead re- signed after one year to go to a parish in Bridgeport. The Rev. Albert Jepson was then chosen curate and served for four years in that capacity. Deaconess Roberts and later Deaconess Young assumed paro- chial duties here, each remaining but a short time.
In 1917 Mr. Jepson accepted a rectorship outside the Parish and Dr. Linsley was instructed to engage the services of another curate or priest. His search
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was unavailing and the entire work of the Parish again devolved upon its Rector.
Long and trying illness patiently endured had not hindered Henry E. Hotchkiss from service to his Church and the community. He shirked no duty, however arduous. In. 1918 he completed a full and fruitful life. For nearly forty years a Vestryman in Trinity Parish, his name is interwoven into the fabric of Trinity Parish history. He was a member of The Building Committee and was in charge of the con- struction of the granite church. A talented musician, he did much to inculcate a higher standard of musical production both in the choir and in his own orchestra. Parish records for years show his name and that of Walter Harrison on the Music Committee of the Church. Undeterred by the condition of his health he served always to the full limit of his strength. Mr. Hotchkiss belonged to that strong breed of men, who in its middle period, made Trinity Church a power for good in Torrington.
Mr. George Workman had been Vestryman for several years in the early days of the Parish. He was also organist for some time. He died in 1918.
The daughters of the Rev. Henry M. Sherman, Rector of Trinity Parish from 1876 to 1891, asked per- mission in 1918 to place a memorial window to their father in the north transept of Trinity Church. This request was granted by the Vestry.
XX
Another man greatly needed by the Church died after a brief illness, in 1919. A member of a family most closely associated with the Parish since its earliest beginnings, Samuel C. Workman reflected its long devotion to the Church. In the prime of life,
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he had both enthusiasm and energy for the work be- fore him. He found none more congenial than that of the Church. Clerk of the Vestry and Collector of the Parish as a young man, he became a Vestryman in 1907 and so continued to the end of his life. He left a legacy of $2,000 to the Parish which was to be known as "The Samuel C. Workman Fund."
Death struck again at the Workman family. After long years of association with Trinity Parish, intimate with every detail of its work and progress, John Workman received his summons and passed to another world. For more than fifty years he had worshipped in the small wooden church which made way in 1897 for the large granite edifice. He follow- ed each step in the construction of the new church with eager interest. He was proud of the accomplish- ments, physical and spiritual, of Trinity Parish. He made rich gifts to it, the gift of his pure devotion and his loving heart. When he and his wife wished to place a memorial in the Church to their daughters who had died it was the beautiful baptistry, so per- fectly conceived and executed. Vestryman, Junior Warden and Senior Warden in turn, his long service made John Workman almost father of the Parish but he was forever young in heart and mind. One did not think of him as old and nearing the end of his life; yet he had survived all of his immediate family and stood almost alone in his generation.
Certain endowment funds were left to Trinity Church by Mr. and Mrs. Workman. Mrs. Workman left $1,000 in trust for the Josephine Workman Fund, the income from which should be used for the sick of Trinity Parish.
Mr. Workman left the sum of $1,000 in trust, the
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income of which should be used for the same pur- pose. An equal amount was left to be invested for the support of missions. To Trinity Parish he made a gift of $2,500 absolutely. He bequeathed also to the Parish the sum of $5,000 for an invested fund to be used and expended toward the purchase of a new organ.
In addition to the endowment funds of John and Sylvia Workman, they provided that their home- stead on Mason Street was to be used, on their death, as a convalescent home. Mr. Workman endowed the proposed home in the amount of $25,000 and also gave the sum of $5,000 for a memorial tablet to be placed in this home for the sick: directing that use of any balance remaining after the installation of the tablet, be made for furnishing or improving the property and premises.
A corporation, known as The John and Sylvia Workman Home for the Sick was formed in 1930. Its officers and directors are, for the most part, members of Trinity Church Vestry to whom the bequests and homestead were originally left in trust.
Through lack of adequate income, this home for the sick has not been able to function in a prac- tical form. The bequests have been most carefully invested however, and now amount to $79,000. The homestead, too, has been rented and from this source of income there has been accumulated $12,000. This faithful stewardship gives good promise that con- valescent care, as intended by Mr. and Mrs. Work- mạn, cạn bẹ soon realized,
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XXI
The new rectory was not long in building. It was attractively furnished by a Committee from the Women's Guild, assisted by Mrs. Swayze. The sim- ple old wooden church and frame rectory of the past seemed remote and unreal to one looking upon the
THE PRESENT RECTORY
impressive group of granite buildings standing in their place. In 75 years "Mast Swamp" had become the busy industrial city of Torrington and Trinity Parish had evolved into a large parish, important in the Diocese of Connecticut.
Another member of the Vestry of Trinity Parish, Luther G. Turner, died in 1923. A man of blameless character, deeply respected by his townspeople, Mr. Turner had been found wise in counsel and gen- erous in action. His death was a sorrow to the community and a loss to the Church.
It was voted in 1925 that the fiscal year be made to coincide with the calendar year and the annual meeting of the Parish was ordered to be held here- after in January instead of on Easter Monday.
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Frederick Ferdinand Fuessenich entered Para- dise on June 28, 1925. He had served his Church dur- ing his long life in many offices of responsibility. As Vestryman, Junior Warden and Senior Warden he had an eye single to duty. That duty was to serve God and worship Him. To matters parochial, dio- cesan, national or world-wide, when called, he gave his whole heart and mind. Outside the Parish he was known and recognized. In Diocesan Conven- tions and in General Conventions he was often plac- ed on important committees. In 1901 he went as deputy to the General Convention in San Francisco.
He was always in his place in Church, devout and reverent. He risked fatal illness near the end of his life that he might worship God in His sanctu- ary.
Mr. Fuessenich's sons enjoy telling a story illus- trative of their father's discipline. Only illness or absence from home was permitted to interfere with their attendance at Church. On a certain stormy Sun- day when a miniature blizzard raged and it seemed reasonable that they should be allowed to stay at home, Mr. Fuessenich produced four snow shovels and bade his sons precede him and dig a path to Church, a distance of four good blocks.
As if heaven itself bowed in recognition on the day of his funeral, soon after his body was carried from the Church, the flag staff which he had given when the new Church was built in 1898, crashed down from the tower into the street. It was thereafter replaced by the Fuessenich family with a steel staff, safely set.
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XXII
Dr. Linsley had been Rector of Trinity Parish for 25 years. One pauses for breath after quarter of a century of hard work and the vestry felt that the occasion should be celebrated. They planned a party for him and Mrs. Linsley at Trinity Hall on the eve- ning which marked the anniversary. The hall was gaily decorated with laurel and flowers, an orches- tra was engaged and refreshments planned. The parishioners were notified and some of the towns- people and the ministers from other churches were especially invited. Only the guests of honor knew nothing about it until they read a brief notice of an anniversary celebration in the Torrington Register that night. They were overwhelmed by the crowd which greeted them. There was much handshaking and congratulation. Wadsworth Doster read tele- grams from Bishop-Coadjutor Acheson and from Bishop Brewster who was on the high seas bound for the Lambeth conference in England. There were other messages from friends in neighboring towns.
Dr. Linsley had not mentioned the fact that 25 years of his service to the Parish had been com- pleted but the Vestry had planned to celebrate it and in other ways than by a parish party. Three hun- dred men attended early Communion that last Sun- day and both of the later services were uncommonly well attended. The choir sent out a call for all former members and the long procession of singers crowded the choir stalls.
Dr. and Mrs. Linsley left for their European trip with the crowding emotions one feels at an unex- pected evidence of affection shown by one's friends.
On November 2, 1922, five years after the death
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of her husband, Mrs. Henry E. Hotchkiss passed away. She was a woman of sweetness and charac- ter, of pioneer stock in the Church. Her parents, Gen- eral and Mrs. Allen G. Brady, had been among the founders of Trinity Parish. A window in the south transept depicting "Christ among the Elders" is Mrs. Hotchkiss' memorial to them.
Collections for missions had increased during later years in the Parish and when Bishop Acheson asked for larger gifts in 1926 the Vestry voted that the All Saints Offering which was customarily given for the Improvement Fund, be diverted to that pur- pose. It called for a "One Day's Income" donation from the Parish in so far as individuals were able to contribute such a sum.
In that year George H. Atkins, treasurer had re- ported that the Easter offering for the church was $1,660 and for the Sunday School $350. He further stated that the present financial statement was very satisfactory.
XXIII
At the vestry meeting of October 15, 1925, Dr. Linsley asked to make a statement. To their unwel- come surprise he announced his intention to retire. He said, in brief, that the time had come when this great and growing Parish ought to have as its Rector a younger, stronger, abler and better man.
December first he would reach the appointed age for retirement. He realized that he had a two- fold position, as Rector and as member of the Parish. As Rector he would like to remain for many years in the Parish he loved but as a member of the Parish he was convinced that its welfare deserved new and stronger leadership at the earliest possible day.
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Mr. Swayze asked that Dr. Linsley postpone his resignation for perhaps two years and in the mean- time take a vacation of six months with Mrs. Linsley. The Vestry were of the unanimous opinion that Dr. Linsley should remain and passed a resolution to the effect that he be granted six months leave of absence with salary, that an assistant be obtained with his approval and that Mrs. Linsley should accompany him on his vacation. They expressed the hope that both Dr. and Mrs. Linsley would return to Trinity Parish fully recuperated and remain for many years to come.
Notwithstanding the urgency of the expressed wish of the Vestry, on December 10, 1926, Dr. Linsley presented his formal resignation, to take effect of Jan. 1, 1927. This was reluctantly accepted by the Vestry, and he was given a sum of money equal to a year's salary. They conferred upon him the title of Rector- Emeritus.
At midnight New Year's Eve Dr. Linsley con- ducted his last service as Rector of Trinity Parish. He made no farewell to the crowded congregation but shook hands with each person as he left the church. He and Mrs. Linsley sailed next day for Italy.
XXIV
Trinity Parish was feeling lost without its Rector and as in its infancy when St. Michael's, Litchfield had occasionally mothered it, so now it asked the Rev. Mr. Curry of that parish for help in its present straits. He agreed to take over the preaching for a short time.
The Vestry decided on what the qualifications
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of a new rector should be: First, he must be at least forty years old and therefore possessed of good judgment. Second, he must be a proved executive. Third, he must emulate the Saviour, "going about doing good", rather than one given to deep reading and rhetorical sermons.
Bishop-Coadjutor Acheson recommended the Rev. H. Francis Hine of Stratford and the Rev. Francis S. Morehouse of Shelton. He recommended both these men as wise and good leaders and excellently suited for the position. The Vestry recommended that Mr. Hine be engaged and he was unanimously elec- ed. Shortly after this Mr. Hine was sent to Trinity Parish to conduct a mission, and was urged to give his decision. On April 2, 1927 he accepted the call. He began his parish work on July first after a trip abroad which had been a farewell gift of his parish in Stratford.
By the kindness of Mrs. Swayze the Church was newly decorated at this time. In 1928 Mrs. Swayze gave the small altar at the east end of the north transept for The Chapel of Remembrance. This is used sometimes for services at which there is a small attendance and for small wedding ceremonies.
Mr. Hine informed the Vestry that the Church sadly needed a new organ. He stated that the cu- mulative organ fund established by John Workman was now $7,500. The cost of a new organ, he said would be about $12,500 but he believed that the dif- ference could be raised in a few months.
He paid a fine tribute to our organist, Stanley Blake Smith, and to his constructive abilities in parish affairs. Mr. Hine and Stanley Blake Smith were authorized to purchase a new organ at a cost
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not to exceed the sum of $15,000.
As soon as they were authorized to select the new church organ, Mr. Hine and Stanley Blake Smith went to Hagerstown, Md., and after much study and investigation decided upon a Moller organ. The in- strument contained every modern accessory for con- venience in playing known to the world, harps, chimes, the French horn, the tuba, clarinet and vio- lins. In December 1928, it was dedicated and a special sermon was preached by the Rector.
Dr. T. Tertius Noble of St. Thomas' Church, New York, gave a recital on it December eighteenth, 1928, before a crowded congregation.
Stanley Blake Smith gave a series of recitals, one of Christmas music, and instituted the custom which he has continued of playing for twenty min- utes before services each Sunday.
XXV
By the will of the late Frederick F. Fuessenich the sum of $3,000 was left to Trinity Church Parish, to be invested in trust funds, the income of which was to be used by the Vestry as they saw fit for the benefit of the Church. The children of Frederick F. and Elizabeth Blake Fuessenich established an en- dowment fund of $3,000 in memory of their mother, to be invested in the manner provided for trust funds, its income to be used by the Wardens and Vestry as they deemed best for the benefit of the Church.
After the Church had been newly decorated Mrs. Migeon made a gift to the Church of the beautiful electric lamps which illuminate the nave.
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