USA > Delaware > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 12
USA > Pennsylvania > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 12
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The Rev. George Ross had another son, whose name was George, who became a statesman of distinction, and signed the Declaration of Independence.
In 1758 the Rev. Hugh Neill took charge of this missionary station. He receives notice in Sprague's invaluable Annals. He was "for many years minister of a Presbyterian Church in New Jersey." He crossed the sca in 1749, and was ordained by the Bishop of London. This distinguished clergyman had been a Church of England missionary in Kent County, Dela- ware, where his Sunday evening colored class numbered one hundred. Dover was in his charge.
In 1760 the Rev. Charles Inglis, afterward Bishop of Nova Scotia, wrote that the Dover Church, which was in a very poor condition when Mr. Inglis came, was "finished and ornamented with a bell, pulpit-cloth, etc., the donations of particular gentlemen." The churches were crowded on Sundays.
Mr. Neill was the uncle of Mr. Wilson who was edu- cated by him, and sent to England for ordination, and who was drowned with another young clergyman just ordained, as they were returning and in sight of the American shore. It is little wonder that Mr. Neill felt deeply the need of a bishop in America. We find his name on a petition to the Bishop of London for an American Bishop in Rev. Samuel A. Clark's History of St. John's Church, Elizabeth, New Jersey. Mr. Neill's ministry lasted fifteen years.
When Mr. Neill was at Dover, he reported that the Duck Creek Congregation was united and the church in good repair. Contributions were made toward needed repair at Dover Church, which was called Christ Church. This good man showed a great desire to advance Christ's holy religion. He had services for Negroes on Sunday
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evenings and baptized one hundred and nine adults of them, and seventeen of their children.
In 1760 this missionary wrote from Germantown that the Oxford Congregation was growing. The church had been pewed, and yetnumbers could not be supplied with seats. The glebe house had been burned, and he had thus lost the best part of his valuable effects. The Governor and citizens of Philadelphia subscribed two hundred and fifty-five pounds for rebuilding the house, which was almost double the value of the "old wooden building." He proposed to officiate in Germantown Sunday evenings. A bill was put in Assembly to sell the old glebe, and buy one more convenient with "bet- ter land."
In 1761 Mr. Neill reported that he "officiated the chief part of last summer Sunday evenings in German- town, where the rising generation of the Dutch that understand English are well affected to the Church of England." Rev. Dr. William Smith and he had agreed to get a lot for a church and graveyard, but the plan did not then succeed. Those good men could not fore- see the number of churches now in Germantown. "What hath God wrought !"
Mr. Neill went from house to house in his country parish, instructing his people about baptism, more effect_ ively than by sermons, with good result. He officiated at St. Paul's, Philadelphia, in connection with Oxford in 1765. He found an orderly congregation there which appreciated his services and made him a valuable pres- ent to testify their esteem. Dr. Buchanan places this gift in connection with a time of temporary work at St. Paul's which occurred after leaving Oxford. In 1,67 Rev. Dr. Wm. Smith wrote that Mr. Neill had left Oxford. He became rector of St. Paul's, Queen Anne's
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County, Maryland, and was there as late as July, 1771. His name occurs incidentally in Bolton's History of the church in Westchester County, New York. Hawkins's Missions, Anderson's Colonial Church, and the Protest- ant Episcopal Historical Society Collections contains notices of this excellent missionary at Oxford.
In 1766 the Rev. Dr. William Smith assumed charge of this parish. Ile is closely connected with the gov- ernmental, educational and church history of Pennsyiva- nia. He was bred at the University of Aberdeen, in Scotland, leaving it in 1747. He came with some young gentlemen to America, and lived over two years in New York. In 1753 he came to Philadelphia, and was asked to take charge of a seminary. He went to England that year, and was ordained deacon and priest by the Bishop of London. In 1754 he returned to Philadelphia and formed the Seminary into the College of Philadelphia, on Fourth Street, which was afterward merged into the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Smith was the Provost of the young college, and there was a subordinate academy. There were near three hundred students from different parts of America. Dr. Smith was also a Trustee for the Free Schools for the Germans on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and adjacent Colonies. In England he made zealous efforts to collect money for his college, and Thomas Penn said it was the main object of his thoughts in his English solicitations. The care of the German Schools was met by his personal visitations, and he desired to have Indian children at his college. In 1762 he reported "about eighty strangers from the West Indies and Southern Colonies always educating in the Institution." Archbishop Secker writes Rev. Dr. Peters that the funds raised were much beyond his expectation, and that Dr. Smith's "abilities
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and diligence have been the chief instruments of the success." Rev. Samuel Chandler wrote to the same . gentleman of the Doctor's indefatigable endeavors to serve the college in England. Dr. Llewelin also wrote from the old country to Dr. Edwards, of Philadelphia, that Dr. Smith ought to be welcomed home with ringing of bells, illuminations and bonfires, and the professors of the College, for which he collected over 6000 pounds Sterling, ought to meet him half-way from New York, and usher him into Philadelphia "with all the magnifi- cence and pomp in their power," and the students should attend the cavalcade, which should march through the principal parts of the city to the Lecture Hall, where orations should be delivered, praising learning and the generosity of the mother country.
Dr. Smith was a leader in the blessed Society for the Relief of the Widows and Children of Clergymen, though there was a society for this object in Virginia, in 1754. He preached a sermon on American affairs which went through several editions in this country, and was republished in England and Ireland, and translated into Welsh and Swedish by Rev. Dr. Wrangel. Dr. Smith's works were edited by Bishop White in two volumes, and his grandson, Horace Wemyss Smith, has published a life of his eminent ancestor in two large volumes. The sermon spoken of is given in the Patriot Preachers of the Revolution, edited by Frank Moore, which also contains one of Dr. Duche's sermons. Rich's Bibliotheca Americana Nova, Duyckinck's Cyclopedia of American Literature, and Allibone's Dictionary of Authors notice this literary clergymen.
He was once a private tutor in Governor Martin's family, on Long Island. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Oxford University, and Aberdeen College, and Trinity College, Dublin.
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In person Dr. Smith was tall and dignified, and said to have been intellectually beautiful in youth, as a por- trait by Benjamin West indicates. In 1789 he returned to Philadelphia, resuming the Provostship of the College. He had a country-seat at the Falls of the Schuylkill. He was a great writer and published much. He was active in public affairs as well as in the church and was an eloquent preacher, and is classed with Rittenhouse as an astronomer.
The wife of this Oxford clergyman was Rebecca, daughter of William Moore, of Moore Hall, Pennsyl- vania, who was a descendant of Sir John Moore. She was an accomplished lady.
Dr. Smith went from Pennsylvania to Maryland, where he was rector in Chestertown, and established a large Classical Seminary, which became Washington College. Washington was a trustee and Dr. Smith was the president. He was also the president of the First Maryland Church Convention, and was elected bishop, but could not afford to go to England for consecration. He was prominent on the committee with Bishop White and Rev. Dr. Wharton in revising the Prayer-book. He died in 1803, aged seventy-five.
This clergyman deserves special remembrance in the American Church as the author of the Preface to the American Prayer-book. Bishop Hobart was his pupil in the College of Philadelphia.
In 1785, by a strange coincidence, another Rev. Dr. William Smith, who was also a teacher for a time, became for a short period the minister of this church and of All Saints', Lower Dublin, and Dr. Buchanan adds "most probably" of St. Thomas's, Whitemarsh. The Ilon. Gulian C. Verplanck gave an interesting account of him in Sprague's Annals, which I will
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abridge. He lived in Connecticut and was a man of influence there. He was born in Scotland. The Office of Institution in the Prayer-book was composed by him. He also wrote an important book on Church Music and is believed to have exerted an important influence in the advancement of chanting in an early day. His book per- tains to vocal music, and he was a practical musician.
Dr. Smith was born in 1754, and was educated in one of the Scotch Universities, and came to this country as a clergyman in 1785. He was a good scholar.
He held Stepney parish, in Maryland, St. Paul's, Nar- ragansett, Rhode Island, and Trinity Church, Newport, and was influential in organizing the church in Rhode Island, preaching the Convention Sermon in 1790, which was printed. He became rector of St. Paul's Church, Norwalk, Connecticut. Afterward he was at the head of a school in New York City, and then of the famous Episcopal Academy, at Cheshire, Connecticut, where students were often educated for the clerical life. He was an ardent man with a bright fancy, and warmed by religious zeal and devotion. He had a kind heart. . In stature he was short, and in motion lively. He was an animated extemporaneous preacher. He died in New York in 1821, in his sixty-ninth year. Reference is made in the sketch to the History of the Episcopal Church in Narragansett, by Updike.
In 1786 Rev. Dr. Joseph Pilmore succeeded this clergyman. I have treated of this remarkable and zealous man in the Standard of the Cross and in a ser- mon at St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, where he was rector. Bishop Hobart was the next rector.
Bishop John Henry Hobart was of English descent. His grandfather married a Swedish lady, and settled where Kensington, Philadelphia, now is. The father of
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the Bishop was the faithful captain of a merchant ship. His mother was Hannah Pratt. The Bishop was born in 1775, and the following year his father died, and his pious and accomplished mother trained her distinguished son. He attended Mr. Leslie's school, and the Episco- pal Academy, then under the Rev. Dr. John Andrews, afterward Provost of the University. He was a good scholar, and entered the College of Philadelphia before he was fourteen. In his fifteenth year the serious youth was confirmed by Bishop White, who was afterward to ordain and consecrate him. Young Hobart went to Princeton College where he graduated with high honor. After a little experience in mercantile life, he became a tutor at Princeton, studying theology also under Bishop White and Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, President of Princeton College. In 1798 he was ordained deacon. The young divine took charge of Trinity Church, Oxford, and All Saints', Lower Dublin. He was after- wards rector of Christ Church, New Brunswick, N. J., and St. George's, Hempstead, I .. I. He became an assistant minister at Trinity Church, New York City, and was ordained priest by Bishop Provoost. Mr. Hobart married Mary Goodwin, the daughter of Dr. Chandler, of Elizabeth, N. J., one of the most noted of our early clergy. In 1811 Dr. Hobart was elected assistant bishop of New York. His Episcopate was a laborious and brilliant one, as he was foremost in Chris- tian labors, and stood prominent in the General Conven- tion, and added the duties of a professorship in the General Theological Seminary to the cares of his Diocese ; also assisting the Diocese of New Jersey, before the consecration of its first Bishop, Dr. Croes, in IS15. For some time he also had charge of Connec- ticut during a vacancy in its Episcopate. In addition
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to the furtherance of missions, Sunday-schools and tract distribution, and the circulation of Bibles and Prayer-books, Bishop Hobart took great interest in the Oneida Indians and ordained Eleazar Williams, thought by many an heir of the French Crown, as their min- ister. The Bishop died at Auburn, N. Y., at the house of the Rev. Dr. Rudd, in 1830. His Christian faith overcame death. His funeral was in the city of New York, which was deeply moved at its great loss. There are thirteen funeral sermons in his Memoir. The Bishop's son became an assistant minister of Trinity Church where his father had served.
Bishop Hobart was a voluminous and powerful writer and left many works in print. The Rev. Dr. James M. Matthews describes the Bishop as true-hearted and gen- erous in his friendship toward him, and as quick and energetic in character. His eye was clear and piercing, and his expression intellectual, as his picture indicates. He was a rapid walker, and a rapid and earnest talker. He was sympathetic and ready to relieve distress. The Bishop preached in a rapid and earnest manner. He believed what he said, and tried to make his hearers believe it. He admired the works of Baxter. His deep attachment to the church led him to strive zealously to advance its interests.
Governor John A. King speaks of the Bishop as a transparent man, of an "elevated impetuosity " that fired his life. Governor King's father was a warden of Trinity Church, and a trustee of Columbia College, so that the family were well acquainted with the Bishop. The Bishop was natural, sincere and thorough in his char- acter. He was strong in his sense of right, and firm in purpose to the point of heroism. His knowledge was ever at his command. He was a great leader, and a
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fine debater. In preaching there was a glow and flash of fire within, as Governor King describes it. IIe appeared dignified in the pulpit, and his sermons were concise and pointed. His influence as a bishop over his large Diocese was very great. In his toilsome and abundant labors this busy man who loved country life dearly, but was often pent up in the city of New York, must have often reverted in thought to the first year of his ministry, when as a deacon he rode through the beau- tiful country district between Oxford and All Saints' Churches, learning lessons of spiritual life to aid him in after years, and it may be presumed that the simple ser- vices with his rustic flock were ever dear to his memory. Bishop Hare, of South Dakota, is a grandson of Bishop Hobart, as his mother, the wife of Rev. Professor Hare was Bishop Hobart's daughter.
I find it recorded in the Church Records that Rev. James Wiltbank was called to the rectorship of this parish in Iso9, and was acting as rector on the first of January, A.D., 1810. He resigned this position in 1816.
According to the fashion of the day this worthy rector was styled "Parson Wiltbank." He left the savor of a good name, Mr. Overington recollects his faithful min- istry. The Rev. Dr. James W. Robins, the head-master of the Episcopal Academy, is a grandson of this clergy- man, and his son, Dr. R. P. Robins has given me some items regarding Mr. Wiltbank. He was the son of John and Mary Shanklands Wiltbank, and was born at Lewes, in Delaware, in 1773. He was descended from Helmanns, or Hermanns Frederick Wiltbank, who probably emi- grated from Holland. He settled where Lewes now stands, and held various important offices there, both under the Dutch and English Governments,
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Rev. James Wiltbank graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1791. Bishop White ordained him a deacon on the first of March, 1795. From that year until 1809 he was rector of St. George's Church, in Sussex County, Delaware. I have worshiped in the fine old church, built of brick in the old style, in its ample churchyard where he used to serve. In this parish Mr. Wiltbank held All Saints', Lower Dublin, and St. Thomas's, Whitemarsh, as well as Trinity Church, Oxford. He was head-master of the Grammar School of the University of Pennsylvania from 1814 to 1830. From 1836 until the time of his death in 1842, he was chaplain in the United States Navy.' His wife was Mary, the daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Paynter White. W. W. Wiltbank, Esq., of Philadelphia, is a grandson of Rev. James Wiltbank.
The Rev. Frederick B. Scheetz, rector of Grace Church, Kirkwood, Missouri, the son of your former rector, has kindly sent me a sketch of the life of his father, who is still remembered with affection and honor by persons in this neighborhood. He was devoted to his work, and had the esteem and love of his parishioners.
He was born on the 27th of January, A.D., 1785, so that to-morrow would mark his birthday, but he is beyond those marks of time. His father died when he was a little boy. He was employed by a relative to learn paper-making, but in time entered the ministry among the Methodists. The son thinks that this was about the period when he became of age. He was first engaged in laboring in the peninsula between Chesa- peake Bay and Delaware Bay, afterwards in Wilming- ton, Delaware, and then in Philadelphia, it is thought in the church on Fourth Street, near Arch Street.
Bishop White ordained Mr. Scheetz a deacon in St. James's Church, Philadelphia, on the 14th of May, A.D.,
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1816. He had been prepared for ordination under the guidance and instruction of the bishop. He was a special friend of the bishop who ordained him to the priest- hood in St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia, on July 20th, 1817. He officiated at the bishop's funeral. On being admitted to the Diaconate he assumed charge of this parish in connection with that of All Saints', Lower Dublin, and held them conjointly until their separation in 1835, when he became rector of Oxford alone and retained that position until 1854. A short time after that he moved to Wilmington, Delaware, and became rector of St. James's Church, Stanton, a few miles from that city. In 1857 he removed to Missouri, where his son was a deacon in charge of St. Jude's Church, Sharpsburg, where the father had the position of rector, though he only occasionally performed ministerial work until his death, which occurred in Chicago, on February 21, 1867.
Mr. Scheetz lived for a short time in Bustleton, and also at Collegeville, where the Academy Road joins the Bristol Pike. He moved thence to Sandiford, where he owned the farm on which Charles Snyder now resides, and his study still stands as a separate building of stone. He afterward lived in Frankford.
This good country parson was devout and studious from childhood. He picked up learning from books brought to the paper mill as waste paper to be made over, making these fragments of volumes useful. He obtained a knowledge of Latin and Greek while riding on horseback in his peninsula appointments.
Emmanuel, Holmesburg, and St. Mark's, Frankford, were founded during his rectorship. Mr. Scheetz married Mrs. Maria May Browning, whose maiden name was Capelle, on the 12th of September, ISII.
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She was born on March 28th, 1787, and died on the 7th of April, 1860.
When it became needful to separate this parish from All Saints, that both might have more frequent services, the love of each parish was shown to the rector in the fact that both desired to secure his sole services. He has been described to me of a medium size, dignified and impressive in manner. His solemn way of saying grace at table, lingers in the memory of one who noticed it in childhood. His white hair was brushed back from his forehead, and added to his patriarchal appearance. He was popular in marrying, and people came from a long distance to secure his services for such occasions. In the Diocesan journals of Delaware, I noticed that he held services in a district school-room in the evenings, which were well attended. He reports the death of Mrs. Catherine Justis, a pious widow lady who for about twenty years had had charge of the Communion Service at Stanton, and provided for the Lord's Table, and says that she had "gone to her everlasting rest in the sweetest peace." This beautiful expression now befits our departed brother. In the saintly Bishop Lec, Mr. Scheetz found one like-minded with himself. When the vestry of Oxford passed resolutions of sorrow at his resignation they speak touchingly of having grown up from boyhood under his ministry, and of his untiring zeal and kindness, and of the churches erected under him. In 1834, George Breck, as a committee of All Saints' Church, writes a loving letter on the resignation of Mr. Scheetz.
It is a touching duty to look over such ancient church records as those possessed by Trinity Church, Oxford, which by the courtesy of the accounting warden, Mr. William Overington, have been submitted to my
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inspection. Mr. Overington's memory can supply miss- ing links. The old yellow paper has faithfully held the ink which hands now dead used to record the joys and sor- rows of human life, as baptisms, weddings and burials succeed each other. Here is the record of a son of the clergyman Hugh Neill, also named Hugh, born in 1761. In 1713 John Humphreys, a missionary, baptizes mem- bers of Hickst family, of Springfield Manor.
In 1795 Rev. Mr. Armor occasionally preaches at Trinity Church. From 1802 to 1804 the Rev. Charles Cotton holds Trinity and All Saints' Churches. In 1806 Rev. Mr. Nankivel seems to have served these two parishes. After Mr. Cotton, Dr. Abercrombie fre- quently served the parish, and is remembered by Mr. Overington. The Rev. Dr. Edward Young Buchanan, whose first name commemorates the devout author of the " Night Thoughts," succeeded Mr. Scheetz in the rectorship of Oxford in 1854. He is a native of Penn- sylvania, and had been rector of St. John's Church, at Peaquea, in Chester County, and of other parishes in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He graduated at the General Theological Seminary in New York in 1832, in a class which contains the names of Dr. Hallan, author of Lectures on the Prayer-book, and Dr. Smedes, after- ward the head of St. Mary's School at Raleigh, North Carolina. Drs. Haight and Norwood were in the pre- ceding class. Dr. Buchanan had been a student at Dickinson College before entering the seminary. Trinity College gave him the degree of Doctor of Sacred The- ology. At Oxford he opened a Sunday-school, at the parish church and afterward at Crescentville, and held services in the Lyceum at Jenkintown, where the Church of our Saviour arose. A good parsonage was built at Oxford, and a tower was erected, and a bell placed in it
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by the liberality of Mrs. Mary P. Lardner. The chapel at Crescentville was built on ground given by the Misses Fisher, and the building was afterward enlarged. The parish church was improved. The corner-stone of the chapel was laid by Bishop Stevens in 1870. Mr. Wm. H. Rhawn informs me that Rev. Mr. Scheetz, and Rev. Dr. Buchanan held services in the octagon school- house at Fox Chase. In 1882 this rector, who had won the love of his people by nearly twenty-eight years of faithful work, was succeeded in the rectorship by Rev. R. Bowden Shepherd, who had been his assistant. Mr. Shepherd was ordained a priest in this church, being presented by Dr. Buchanan. A parish building begun, under Dr. Buchanan's rectorship, was finished under Mr. Shepherd's, and made a memorial of Dr. Buchanan. After a short and successful rectorship, Mr. Shepherd accepted a call to the Church of the Advent, Phila- delphia, in 1885. The Rev. Henry Macbeth succeeded him. He is a graduate of Hobart College, at Geneva, New York, and of the Berkeley Divinity School, at Middletown, Connecticut. He was assistant at St. John's Church, Troy, New York, when called to this parish, which he assumed on All Saints' Day, A.D., 1885. His rectorship has been marked by a beautiful improvement in the church building in which the architects, Furness, Evans & Company, have with great skill kept up the antiquity with added beauty, until one wonders how the old building could be so changed and yet retain its characteristics. The cathedral glass and chancel window, and brass lectern and credence-table of brass and walnut, and beautiful pulpit and font show how the living love to keep up the memory of the dead in their holy worship, and perhaps the spirits of the departed whose mortal remains lie about us in this ancient cemetery rejoice in this worship.
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