USA > Delaware > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 15
USA > Pennsylvania > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 15
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In 1710-11 Rev. Robert Sinclare is in charge of "New Castle on Delaware," as he prettily writes it. He notes the coming into the church of over twenty Quakers, and many others, so that the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper received more worthy partakers. The church at New Castle he calls "a stately fabrick." He returned to England in 1712.
In 1713 Rev. Jacob Henderson was missionary at New Castle. He became a commissary in Maryland, and was prominent.
In 1729 White Clay Creek Parish, known as St. James's, states that it contains sixty or seventy Church of England families, and is repairing its church. Rev. Mr. Campbell had served them for a time. They ask for a missionary.
In 1732 Rev. William Becket states that he has instructed over a thousand people, and ridden so far that two horses were needed to further his work. He preached and prayed and catechised, and administered the Holy Communion and Holy Baptism "with good success," as he expresses it.
He calls Lewes " a small seaport on the mouth of the great river, Delaware, where all European goods are
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generally sold at near {200 per cent. advance on Ster- ling," and remarks that the clergyman was often obliged charitably "to maintain shipwrecked and distressed people," as well as gentlemen and strangers, specially those " of the Communion of the Church of England."
In 1739 he reports an agreement to finish the interior of the church at Lewes, which has stood unfinished seventeen years. Humphreys' History of the Propaga- tion Society notices the work of this zealous missionary. Rev. Dr. David Humphreys was the secretary of the society. The diligent Mr. Becket, in 1721 notes the * finishing of the Lewes church, and of two country churches also. The buildings could not contain the hearers, and the people readily rode twenty miles to church. In one year Mr. Becket baptized eighty-two, twelve being adults; and in one day, in Kent County, where they had no minister for their new church, he baptized twenty-one, six being adults. The people were zealous.
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Major Patrick Gordon, Governor of Pennsylvania, describes Mr. Becket as " a man of sober good charac- ter." While Lord Baltimore and the heirs of Penn were contending about the ownership of Delaware, Becket suggests that many people think it belongs to the Crown, and that his Majesty should grant it to the Society to carry on its work, and that there should be a suffragan bishop. This would indeed have given the Propagation Society sufficient means for active work.
Mr. Becket was appointed missionary by the society in 1721, having the whole of Sussex County under his care, being fifty miles long, and twenty broad. He was a diligent and successful laborer in the vineyard of the Lord. The magistrates and gentlemen thanked him for reforming blasphemers and the drunkard by his faithful
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ministry. There was an increase of those who loved and honored the church, and were blessed by her Holy Sacraments and heavenly worship. Three years after he commenced his work three churches had been built, not one of which could hold the crowd of wor- shipers who came up to the House of the Lord. Five years later a fourth church arose in the forest. In :741 he had been twenty years at work, and his people were steadfast. The next year, when his labors were closing. one of his last letters to the Society speaks of his four churches as full on Sundays and holidays, and in sum- mer, when they could not hold the congregations, he was " often obliged to preach under the green trees for room, for shade, and for fresh air," as he strikingly ex- presses it. This is noted in the valuable History of the Church of England in the Colonies, by the Rev. James S. M. Anderson, one of the Queen's chaplains. True Christ- ianity increased under Becket, and his work was abiding. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia refer to a manuscript book by Mr. Becket, which states that he was born in Cheshire, and went from London to Lewistown. This clergyman wrote several poems. Watson also notes that Deputy Governor Thomas Lloyd, of Pennsylvania, sent his youngest daughters from Philadelphia to Lewis- town to finish their school life in an early period of the history of this country. This shows a cultured institu- tion in the little town.
In 1733 Rev. George Frazer writes that Dover has only "about fifteen or sixteen families" in the place. He preached in the Court House, and a subscription was started "to build a new brick church." ; The old wooden one was in a ruinous state. In 1734 he states that the walls of the church are completed, and the church would have been covered if the one who under- took the work had not died.
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In 1740 Rev. Arthur Usher reports an increasing congregation at Dover, and the finishing of the church, and the beginning of "two wooden chapels."
In 1745 he notes the flourishing condition of the Sussex County Churches under his care. On Sundays they were fully attended. He served four churches, officiating at Dover once a month. He labored twelve years in Delaware.
In 1748 the Dover Church wardens refer to the death of Rev. Mr. Morris. Some time before he had been a Missionary in Connecticut, and he is noticed in Rev. Dr. Beardsley's History of the Connecticut Church.
Rev. Thomas Bluett, of Dover, in 1748, mentions a sickness so that two, three, or four, or more would dic every day ; and the church-yard would see from one to two or three daily burials. A Public Fast was observed, .and the clergyman preached to the greatest audience he had seen since he came to the place. A rumor that Don Pedro, a famous Havana Privateer, would again infest the coasts with many vessels also caused much terror.
In 1761 the Rev. Mr. Inglis, afterward Bishop of Nova Scotia, reports from Dover that St. Peter's Church at Duck Creek is "too small for the congrega- tion," so that many could not get within it. The people intended to replace the wooden building with a larger one. of brick. Duck Creek was fifteen miles from Dover. The church at Mispillion had been enlarged.
In 1761 Rev. AEncas Ross, son of Rev. George Ross, in writing from New Castle, describes St. James's Chapel, Stanton, as out of repair, and states that the congregation proposes to build a new church at New- port, expecting one missionary to serve both places. In 1765 Bishop Inglis says that he had persuaded the
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Congregation at Cedar Creek Church to build a new church, as the old wooden one was decayed. They planned a brick church with galleries.
On the fifth of April, 1766, occurred a sad event which was long remembered in the history of our mission. Owing to the want of a bishop in this country, Rev. Messrs. Giles and Wilson went to England for ordination, and in returning were drowned off the coast of Delaware on that day. Mr. Wilson was a nephew of another missionary, the Rev. Hugh Neil. In writing from New York in 1766, Bishop Inglis mentions their sad death. The Dover Mission was to have been divided between them, making two separate missions out of one.
In 1767 Rev. Dr. Samuel Magaw reports "large, reg- ular and attentive" congregations at Dover. Dr. Magaw was afterward rector of St. Paul's Church, Phil- adelphia. In 1771 this gentleman writes, " The mem- bers of our Church are more numerous than those of any other denomination in this county." He speaks of their piety and zeal. According to Watson's account from Becket's manuscript, in 1728, the church people in Sussex County largely exceeded in number those of other religious beliefs.
In 1773 Rev. Mr. Lyon writes that he is to leave Sussex and go to Virginia. He had baptized many children and a number of adults. Colored people were among those baptized. In 1729 Rev. Walter Hacket . took charge of Apoquiniminck. He "appears to have officiated quietly and successfully," according to Bishop Perry's account. Humphreys and Anderson notice his work, and Dr. Dorr, in his Early History of the Church, appended to his History of Christ Church, Philadelphia, quotes Humphreys about him. He was inducted into a Maryland parish. The clergy often went to Maryland
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from Pennsylvania in early days. The establishment of the Church there gave them better support. There were no bishops at hand to arrange such matters. Rev. George Craig thought that there should be two bishops, one for our American colonies and the other for Canada.
The case of Rev. Philip Reading is a representative one in the Revolutionary days and other English clergy had like experiences. In war the strongest passions are roused, but now we can realize that many good men felt bound by their ordination oaths, and honestly refrained from advancing what they thought a rebellion. At the Convention of 1760 Mr. Reading reports from Apoquiniminck, now Middletown, that the Church of England congregation was " prior to any other religious denomination whatever." The people were "remark- able for a regular devout behaviour in time of Divine Service. The ordinances of religion were in great esteem among them." The Liturgy was greatly valued, "and the celebration of the Lord's Supper attended by a good number of devout, serious communicants." In 1765 he expects a new church to be built. A family has given ground for a church and graveyard, and a gentleman has promised to oversee the building, and over five hundred pounds were subscribed in a few days, which Mr. Reading thought would be increased. For a time this missionary had charge of St. Augustine parish on Bohemia Manor, as was the case in later times in the rectorship of Rev. Robert L. Goldsborough. That parish is in Cecil County, Maryland. In 1760 Mr. Reading had reported to Archbishop Secker. He wrote a long and touching letter to the Secretary of the Propa- gation Society on August 25th, 1776, as to his troubles in the new government, as he was not able in conscience to violate his ordination vows, and omit to pray for the
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King and Royal Family. He describes the weeping of the congregation when he told them that the church would be shut for six weeks, and then he "would administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper." The church was accordingly closed. The faithful parson busied himself with the Catechetical and parochial offices of his mission. He intended to be diligent in these things. He had labored thirty years for the society. The Protestant Episcopal Historical Society Collections state that this worthy man was licensed as missionary for Pennsylvania, on the seventh of April, 1746. In 1777 the Fulham Register records him as " dead." The weary one was at rest. The clergy list of the General Convention Manuscripts of 1777 also marks him as "dead." He removed to Maryland. The Rev. Mr. Hawkins's Notices of English Missions has some account of Mr. Reading. In Dr. Dorr's Christ Church we observe that on May 20th, 1761, the minutes in Bishop White's papers show that Mr. Reading was one of the twelve clergy who appeared at the annual con- vention of the clergy in Philadelphia. He was appointed . with the president of the convention, Dr. William Smith, to wait on the Governor, who assured them of "his countenance and protection at all times." Mr. Reading was appointed as the preacher of the next annual sermon before the Convention, and Rev. William Sturgeon, the assistant minister of Christ Church, Phil- adelphia, was his substitute. Rev. Mr. Inglis of Dover, was also at this convention. Christ Church was then the only Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. Twelve clergy were a large number for that day, as Dr. Dorr says, but now four dioceses exist in what was then one organization, as Delaware was joined with Pennsylvania. Let us thank God and take courage.
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In 17SI Rev. Samuel Tingley, of Sussex County, mourns over his dire troubles in Revolutionary times, as one loyal to England. He remarks that several thousand baptisms have taken place in his mission dur- ing the six years preceding his last report, including "many blacks from sixty years to two months old."
The Rev. George Ross finds a fitting notice in the invaluable Annals of the Episcopal Clergy by the inde- fatigable Rev. Dr. Sprague, in a note to the sketch of the Rev. Evan Evans, the laborious rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia. He was sent by the Society to New Castle, Delaware, (then Pennsylvania), in 1705. He afterward had charge of Chester. He went to Eng- land, and in returning was taken prisoner by a French man-of-war in 1711, and carried to Brest, stripped of his clothes and inhumanly treated. After his release he returned to Chester, and afterward to New Castle. Ile went with the Provincial Governor, Sir William Keith, through Kent and Sussex, and in a week baptized one hundred and two persons. The remainder of his life was spent in New Castle. In 1752 he wrote the society that he was in the forty-third year of his mission, and the seventy-third of his life and in poor health, and this might be his last address to the society, whose favors he heartily acknowledged, begging pardon for failings, and blessing God for the services which he had been by His grace permitted to perform in propagating Chris- tianity according to the worship of the Church of Eng- land. It had lately pleased God to call to Himself his worthy servant to receive his reward for his pious labors to the great loss of the church at New Castle, as the Society Reports for 1754 and 1755 declare, so he did not live long after that letter was written. The reports of Mr. Ross show that many places needed the "ministry
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of the Word," and there were few missionaries, so that the workers were in danger of exhaustion in endur- ing the heat of the day, and the necessary travels. The harvest was indeed great. The Church increased wonderfully in opposition. When the friends left their own body they generally came to the church mission- aries for baptisms, not to dissenters. They still love our quiet ways, even our bench of bishops has been re- inforced from that quarter.
Mr. Reading endeavored to promote family prayer. He used to visit families on Sunday evenings, and hold service, and recommend the master of the family to continue the custom. The missionary would make practical remarks on the Second Lesson. Dissenters . were drawn to these services.
Mr. Reading claimed to be loyal to King George. Mr. Humphreys and himself were at one time the only missionaries in Pennsylvania, as Mr. Talbot was "of a distinct government," being at Burlington, New Jersey. Governor Keith commends Mr. Ross's "capacity, pious exemplary life, and great industry.". Governor P. . Gordon wrote to the Bishop of London that he was "a very sober, good man." This devoted missionary finds notice in Bishop Perry's Historical Collections on Mary- land, as well as in those of Delaware. His son, Æneas Ross, was rector of Trinity Church, Oxford, Phila- delphia, and afterward succeeded Aaron Cleveland, an ancestor of Bishop Coxe, as rector of New Castle.
The Rev. Charles Inglis has been mentioned as pres- ent at a Philadelphia Convention. The plaint of Mr. Thomas Barton, a faithful Pennsylvania missionary, at his isolation indicates the need of such gatherings when "as iron sharpeneth iron" friends excite each other to good works. Mr. Inglis held Dover Mission which
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covered Kent County, and he served three churches. The church at Dover had been repaired handsomely ; and the churches were crowded on Sundays, and people constantly asked for the tracts of the society. The number of communicants increased. Sprague's Annals gives us the means of sketching the life of this mission- ary. That refers to Dr. Berrian's History of Trinity Church, New York, and is enriched by a manuscript from Judge Halliburton. Rev. Charles Inglis was the son of Rev. Archibald Inglis of Glen and Kilcarr, Ire- land. He was born about 1733. His grandfather, and it is believed, his great-grandfather, were ministers of the Established Church. This descendant of a priestly race came to America early in life, and taught school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He had been ordained by the Bishop of London. His work at Dover was commenced in 1759. The church there was much invigorated by him. He married Miss Vining, who died in 1764. In 1765 he became assistant to the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, rector of Trinity Church, New York, and Catechist to the Negroes. In six years in Delaware he baptized seven hundred and fifty-six children, and twenty-three adults. The communicants were more than doubled.
The University of Oxford gave Mr. Inglis the Doctor- ate in Divinity. In 1776 Trinity Church was burned in a fire which broke out in the city, while this clergyman was connected with the parish. Dr. Auchmuty died in 1777, and Mr. Inglis was chosen rector. The vestry speak of him as, " universally esteemed for his exemplary life." The Bishop of London notes his "eminent abilities," and piety. In taking the rectorship of Trinity Church after the fire he laid his hands on the ruined walls, thus strikingly assuming his duty. Bishop Coxe sings of the demolished and rebuilt church :
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"And so till good Queen Anna reign'd, It was a heathen sward : . But then they made its virgin turf An altar to the Lord.
With holy roof they covered it : And when Apostles came, They claimed, for Christ, its battlements, And took it, in God's Name."
When the stones had risen from the dust, the foundations laid "with sapphires," he thus salutes the new church, which still stands to the glory of God :
"Dear cross ! hold fast thy height in air : Stand ever wide, blest door ! And ever crowd, ye faithful, there, High, lowly, rich and poor ! Sweet bells ! ring ever your glad sound, And let its message be Ho! ye that thirst-here Christ is found, And here His home is free."
As the Rev. Mr. Inglis was a royalist he resigned Trinity Church in 1783, and soon afterward went to Nova Scotia where thousands of royalists, including many of his frends, had gone. He became the Bishop of Nova Scotia in 1787, being the first Colonial Bishop of the English Church. At first Canada and New Brunswick were also under his care. He died at Halifax, in 1816, being about eighty-two years old. His second wife was Miss Creek, daughter of John Creek, of New York. One of her sons, John Inglis, succeeded his father as Bishop of Nova Scotia. Hon. Chief Justice Brenton Halliburton married the oldest daughter of Bishop Charles Inglis, while the youngest daughter married Rev. George Pidgeon, rector of Frederickton, and afterwards of St. John's, New Bruns- wick. The Bishop published sermons on the deaths of
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Rev. Doctors Ogilvie and Auchmuty. In St. Paul's Church, Halifax, there are monuments to both the bishops. The son erected the one to his father, recount- ing his success in church work. Judge Halliburton describes the elder bishop as having an intelligent countenance, and of "light and active" figure. His manners were gentlemanly, and he was cheerful, and a good conversationalist. He was fond of his library, and delighted to instruct his children. In winter eve- nings he would read from Prideaux, and other " instruct- ive authors." That old-fashioned custom of reading aloud was useful ; would that it might come into use again.
The Bishop was powerful as a preacher, and severe upon indifference. He enforced Christian doctrine with energy, and insisted on good works as a result of faith. As the first bishop of a British colony he had peculiar difficulties, which he prudently met with patience, im- pressing his character on his diocese. He had labored at one time as a Missionary among the Mohawk Indians, finding in Sir William Johnson a counsellor and aider, as I find noted from Anderson's History of the English Colonial Missions. He went to England in 1783, and four years after was consecrated Bishop of Nova Scotia. Of late Dr. Courtney has been called from work in the United States to the Episcopate of Nova Scotia.
The father of Rev. Dr. E. Y. Higbce, of Trinity Church, New York, was at one time rector of St. George's, Dagsboro. Rev. Nathan Kingsbury followed him and kept a young ladies' school at Georgetown, and officiated at St. George's Chapel, Indian River Hun- dred, and at St. Peter's, Lewistown. He instructed the people thoroughly in church principles. After the death of his second wife, Ann Burton, he returned to New
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York, where his children lived. Rev. Charles E. Pleasants followed him. This amiable gentleman was much beloved. Lewes, and St. George's Chapel were under his care. After Rev. John Linn McKim, who succeeded Mr. Pleasants, resigned, Rev. John Reynolds took up work in Sussex County. He had been an English Wesleyan, and was of large size, and an earnest and excitable preacher, drawing crowds to church. Rev. Mr. Whitesides, who married a sister of Dr. Klapp, of Philadelphia, officiated for a time in Sussex County. The Rev. Walter E. Franklin, who lived at Georgetown, made a pleasant impression on his flock. He was atter- ward rector at Newark.
In reading the reports of the early English mission- aries, the work among the Negroes occupies an import- ant place, and Rev. Dr. Childs had a special monthly service for the colored people at Lewes. Bishop Lee took much interest in the work at St. Andrew's among this class; would that the diocese could in some way have an organized effort to reach them. Rev. Gidcon J. Burton, the descendant of Rev. Mr. Cotton, a Church of England missionary to Accomac County, Virginia, has given me some notes to guide these reminiscences of Sussex County.
Rev. Greenbury W. Ridgely once told me of Mount . Moriah Church, Black Swamp, where a graveyard remained to mark the site of a church. 'These old sites should be marked with a stone cross that the passer-by might breathe a prayer, and think of bygone days as he looked on the symbol of salvation. In summer time a service should be held annually at such spots, like the open air meetings of Bishop Lay, of Easton. and, per- haps, through the thin vail between earth and Paradise, the clergy and laity of the elder day might look down
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and join in the worship, thankful they were not forgotten. The graves of the old churchyards should be faithfuly guarded, especially those of the clergy. In the advance of population perhaps the old sites may again be found fit places for churches or chapels, and the children praise God where their fathers lifted up their voices in humble adoration and devout thanksgiving.
The Rev. John Leighton McKim writes me that St. Paul's Church, in Georgetown was built during the incumbency of Rev. William L. Gibson, though the church was dedicated on St. Paul's Day, in 1806 by Rev. Hamilton Bell. In 1844 a new brick church was consecrated, which had been built under the rectorship of Rev. John Linn KcKim, the father of the writer, who is now rector of his father's former parish. The last- named building was beautifully rebuilt, in Gothic style with a tower, in the rectorship of Rev. Benjamin Doug- lass in 1881. Mr. Douglass also erected a chapel. In the rectorship of Rev. James C. Kerr, in 1885, the interior of the church was improved, and a pipe organ procured. The Rev. John Foreman is one of the rectors named who has not received notice in this sketch. In 1868 Rev. Charles D. Allen held the parish a year in connection with Lewes.
Dr. J. Thomas Scharf's History of Delaware contains interesting information as to the Sussex County Churches in the second volume, while the Rev. Benjamin J. Douglass's narrative of Christ Church, Broad Creek, in that volume, will now aid these notes. Those of you who have visited that fine and well preserved wooden building, which has stood for generations, know how attractive the spot is. Rev. Hamilton Bell is buried near the chancel of this ancient house of God. He was vividly remembered by the aged people of the neighbor- hood, and crowded congregations attested his power.
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He founded St. John's Church, Little Hill, which was a colony of Christ Church. He was rector of Stepney Parish, Maryland, which included Christ Church. He died in ISI. He was called " Old Parson Bell," after his death, apparently because of the passage of time since that event, as he was only twenty-nine when he laid off his armor, and entered on his reward. The mention of St. John's Church, calls up a later name, that of my friend Rev. William R. Ellis, who for twenty years faithfully served this parish, and that of St. Mark's, Millsboro'. He died in ISS7. He was a commendable student in the Philadelphia Divinity School, and returned to his native home to do His Master's work until that Master called him to a higher home.
In riding around the lower part of Delaware years ago to view the churches, with Rev. Robert L. Golds- borough, I was much struck with the fine old wooden church known as Prince George's Chapel, Dagsborough, which by its name recalls English days. It was built under St. Martin's Parish, Snow Hill, Maryland. Dagsborough takes its appellation from General John Dagworthy, a Revolutionary hero who is buried under the chancel of this church, according to an ancient custom. He had a stately mansion, which was ap- proached by an avenue of trees, and he was a very large land owner.
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