USA > Delaware > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Early clergy of Pennsylvania and Delaware > Part 5
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THE SWEDISH CHURCHES.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SWEDISH CHURCHES.
R EV. C. M. PERKINS, of Salem, N. J., communi- cates the following additional information to the Swedish sketches :
"Pennsville is a village located on the western side of Penn's Neck township. The village is a little over a mile from the old church. The church building is located at the junction of what is known as Church Landing road and the Pennsylvania road. Church Landing is one of the points where the U. S. Govern- ment determined the variation of the compasses of vessels on the river. In my opinion the Landing took its name from the fact that the people used to come in boats to church. The property now consists of a brick church in good repair, and a rectory opposite. The land may contain two acres probably. The larger part is the churchyard and has been used as a burying- place for many years. The rectory was built within the last few years from certain funds that had been in- vested for years. St. George's and Trinity, Swedes- boro', were once made recipients of land. But St. George's did not have so much and it was not so care- fully managed ; now it has only the rent of its rectory
- beside what the people pay themselves. For many years Rev. J. W. Bradin was missionary. He was suc- ceeded by Rev. W. A. Schubert, M.D., now living in Washington, D. C. Then G. W. Fisse was in charge.
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THE SWEDISH CHURCHES.
Rev. W. B. Otis had charge for awhile. Rev. W. A. Matthias, now of Philadelphia, was missionary for a period. Rev. H. L. Phillips succeeded. The church was closed for a time, and I have had charge now for near two years."
Mrs. Edwin L. Lightner adds the following : "The Rev. Edwin L. Lightner was the first rector of Christ Church, Upper Merion, holding the position for well nigh eleven years ; and all the many years of his ministry were passed in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, except the last few years of his life in Central Pennsylvania, dying in the Parish of Christ Church, Danville, almost fifteen years its rector."
. The Rev. E. Leaf, a former rector of St. Gabriel's, Morlatton, Central Pennsylvania, having requested me to add something about that parish to the Swedish articles, I append the following notes from Bishop W. Stevens Perry's valuable historical collections of the American Colonial Church, Vol. II., Pennsylvania.
A petition of William Bird and others in A.D., 1760 to the Venerable Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, under the encouragement of Rev. Dr. Wm. Smith, who had officiated among the petitioners, prays that a missionary be sent over to live in Reading, and also officiate "at Molattin, a place fifteen miles distant, where a church has for many years been built by a society of English and Swedes, who are desirous of having a missionary of the Church of England and join with us in this application." "Molattin congrega- tion " joined the Reading people in a subscription to- ward the support of the missionary, pp. 288-289.
On the 9th of April, 1763, Rev. Alexander Murray. the missionary, writes from Reading that in " Molatton"
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THE SWEDISH CHURCHES.
(the name is variously spelled) there are 39 church fam- ilies, making 232 souls, 65 being under 7 years old ; all were "baptized to a very few, being chiefly of Swedish extract. At Molatton there is a ruinous kind of church, built of logs or rough timber about thirty years ago by the Swedes, and as a great part of the congregation there consists of these I have been hitherto allowed the use of it, but it matters very little whether I am or not for the future, as it will cost as much to repair it as would build a new one of like materials and dimensions in a rather more convenient centrical place," p. 345. There was then no church in Reading ; service was held in a dwelling-house where civil courts were held.
On January 25th, 1764, Rev. Mr. Murray reports that the Molatton congregation "has decreased by re- movals to 29 families, making in all 185, of which I have baptized 2 adults and 12 infants. I can no more prevail on that people than those here in town (Read- ing) to engage heartily in any scheme for building a church," p. 357.
On June 25th, 1765, the same missionary reports that Molatton congregation " has neither diminished nor in- creased much since the commencement of the mission, and consists presently of 30 families, and in both places, including the single persons residing in other families, amount to the number of 331, young and old," P. 383.
On June 17th, 1765, "the church wardens and vestry of the Episcopal congregation at Molatton, in the county of Berks," petition the Society, saying, "they have en- gaged to raise {roo" toward repairing their church. They hope this will "encourage others to unite with them," and "it will accommodate themselves." They,
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THE SWEDISH CHURCHES.
with Reading, ask for an increase of their missionary's stipend.
They hope " to provide a glebe and parsonage and a better maintenance for their worthy missionary, which, they are convinced, is too scanty at present."
Signed by Jolin Kinlin and John Warren, church war- dens, and John Godfrey, George Douglass, Mounce Johes, Peter Jones and John Old, vestrymen, pp. 388, 389. Four Johns and one Peter among seven names shows a worthy honor of the Apostles.
Rev. George Ross writes that St. Paul's Church, Chester, was built at a Swedish burying-place, and that the Swedes had originally "a church, endowed with a valuable glebe, not far from this place of burial, which in 1714 disappeared," pp. 78-79.
Rev. J. L. Heysinger writes the following letter to the Standard of the Cross: "As Church antiquarian you are fairly entitled to much credit for your indefa- tigable industry in exhuming the records of the past in regard to the old Swedish churches. No doubt these re- cords are often obscure and sometimes incorrect. Allow me to call your attention to a mistake or two. You men- tion that ' Rev. Slator Clay was assistant in 1792 ; offici- ating monthly at Upper Merion (Bridgeport), and on fifth Sundays in the month at Kingsessing. . He gave a part of his time to the Swedes, but served them until he died in 1821.' Rev. Slator Clay was ordained to the diaconate in 1786 by Bishop White, and the following year to the priesthood. This was done at the request of St. James's, Perkiomen, where he resided, and St. Pe- ter's in the Valley, St. David's, Radnor. He remained at St. James's, Perkiomen, all his life, living and dying
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THE SWEDISH CHURCHES.
in the glebe house there. You also state that Dr. Clay (Jehu Curtis Clay) was born in Upper Providence. He was born in the glebe house of St. James's, Lower Provi- dence."
The author's statement about Rev. Slator Clay was taken from the Appendix of Rev. Dr. Jehu C. Clay's Annals of the Swedes, p. 177, and Acrelius's New Sweden, p. 262, note. As Rev. Mr. Heysinger has been rector of St. James's Church, Perkiomen, he has had ac- cess to records there which may show an error. It is interesting to note that one who was baptized by Slator Clay, but who was not old enough to remember him, revering his memory, has had his tombstone at St. James's, Perkiomen, cleaned and put in order.
The author of this work prepared the following sketch of St. Luke's Church for the Germantown Telegraph. As this church was served in its early work occasionally by clergy of All Saints', Torresdale (Lower Dublin), and Emanuel Church, Holmesburg, which may be called children of Trinity Church, Oxford ; St. Luke's may be called a grandchild of that venerable parish.
It is a pleasure to state that Dr. Charles R. King, the Accounting Warden of All Saints' expects to issue a history of that parish, and his long connection with it well fits him for the work, while his interest in antiquity will give zest to the laborious undertaking. Would that every parish had such a historiographer. Rev. Dr. Beas- ley held this parish over forty years. It is now in charge of Rush S. Eastman. Rev. John T. Magrath and Rev. Frederick J. Bassett succeeded Dr. Beasley.
In the Frankford Gasette, of May 27th, 1887, is an ex- tended sketch of the history of Emanuel Church,
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THE SWEDISH CHURCHES.
Holmesburg, by the rector, Rev. Dr. D. Caldwell Millett, who assumed the rectorship in 1863. Rev. W. H. Bo- wens was the first rector in 1844; in 1848 Rev. George G. Field became the second rector. In 1857 the parish school began, the Misses Lardner and Mrs. Ann W. Glenn and Mrs. Elizabeth D. Fisher, her sister, kindly teaching it, with the assistance of others. It is now under the faithful care of Miss Bolton.
In 1857 Rev. John P. Lundy, D.D., became rector. In 1858 the beautiful new brownstone church was first used for service. In 1858 it was consecrated by Bishop Bowman. In 1863 Dr. Lundy resigned the rectorship.
In 1879 the beautiful stone parish building, in memory of Mary D. Brown, was opened. It contains a tablet in memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Darch Fisher, who died in 1876, erected by the Parish School.
Miss Catherine Moore was a munificent donor to this parish.
Holy Innocents Church, Tacony, was started by the efforts of Dr. Millett, who held services in that place in 1868.
In 1869 the first service was held in the new church, which was consecrated in IS72. Rev. William Augus- tus White is the present rector. Rev. Mr. Avery (now of Atlantic City), and Rev. Messrs. Post (now of Ore- gon), and Rev. Dr. Osborne have held the rectorship of this parish.
ST. LUKE'S CHURCHI, BUSTLETON.
Bishop Leighton Coleman, of Delaware, was the first rector of the Memorial Church of St. Luke, the Beloved Physician. He outlined its history in a sermon in A.D., 1861. Rev. George Sheets, who was the faithful rector
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THE SWEDISHI CHURCHES.
of Oxford, used to hold a service in the Old Academy when he lived in Bustleton. Years after the beloved Dr. Beasley, rector of Torresdale (All Saints), main- tained services, assisted by neighboring clergy. Drs. Buchanan, Millett, Lundy and the late Samuel E. Smith assisted in this good work. Dr. Beasley used also the former Sons of Temperance Hall for services by the good will of Joseph Wagner, the owner, who did much to advance the young parish, with the aid of his devoted wife. Services were also held in private houses and in Union Hall, where Bishop Coleman first officiated. The church lot was bought of Rev. Theo- philus G. Crouch, in July, A.D., 1860. The corner- stone was laid on Thursday, September 20th, A.D., 1860, in the afternoon. Bishop Alonzo Potter was present. Rev. Dr. Buchanan and Rev. Dr. Wilmer (after- ward Bishop of Louisiana), made addresses, and Rev. Dr. Stevens (afterward Bishop of Pennsylvania), con- cluded the services. Upjohn & Son, of New York, were the architects. The church is built of blue stone, and brown stone and brick are used in trimming the building, while the roof is of slate. It is one of the prettiest churches in the country, and is surrounded by a large and beautiful churchyard. The chancel is apsidal, and a bell gable holds the bell .. It is surmounted by a gilded cross, which proclaims our faith in the Crucified One.
On August 29th, A.D, 1861, the church was conse- crated by Bishop Alonzo Potter, assisted by Bishop Odenheimer, of New Jersey, and thirty surpliced clergy from various Dioceses. Dr. Wilmer was the preacher, but being ill Dr. Ducachet read a part of his sermon and the bishops made addresses. The church was filled so that many could not enter. Many friends of
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THIE SWEDISH CHURCHIES.
Dr. and Mrs. Henry were present and many who had associations with the neighborhood. Mrs. Pauline E. Henry built the church in memory of her husband, Barnard Henry, M.D., who died April 15th, 1860. Mrs. Henry had some associations with the neighbor- hood. She continues her interest in the parish. A memorial church is a blessed monument, as it aids the living. It it much to be desired that many such churches may arise. The first vestry were Morton P. Henry, Esq. (Dr. Henry's brother), secretary; Amos A. Gregg, Esq., Robert J. Henderson, Esq., Charles Till- yer, Newberry A. Smith and John Trump.
On the roth of June, A.D., 1861, the vestry elected the Rev. Mr. Coleman, a deacon in the General Theo- logical Seminary, New York City, the first rector. On June 19th, A.D., 1861, he accepted the call and entered on duty on the Ist of July following. On May 30th, 1861, the parish was admitted to the Convention of the Diocese. On May 15th, 1862, the rector was ordained priest ; that saintly man, Professor Johnson, of the Gen- eral Seminary, preaching the sermon.
Dr. Coleman resigned November 26th, 1863 (Thanks- giving day). In November, 1861, Mrs. Henry gave the rectory to the parish. The pretty stone chapel and Sunday-school room was first used in January, 1870, and the foundress of the church gave the larger part of its cost. She has also enriched the chancel windows by inserting some beautiful designs of ancient stained glass from Europe. The beautiful west window is in memory of Dr. Henry, and the brass lectern commem- orates her daughter, Miss Connor, and the brass altar- cross, her father, Mr. Van der Kemp.
The rectors after the first have been, Rev. Edmund Roberts, Rev. James II. Barnard, Rev. Henry A. Par- ker, Rev. Lucius N. Voigt and Rev. S. F. Hotchkin,
cau. "
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THE SWEDISH CHURCHES.
now in charge. The present vestry are : Edward Evans, accounting warden ; Charles H. Strout, rector's warden ; Amos A. Browne, William S. Robinson, Eugene Beck and General Pennock Huey. The late Mr. John B. Wil- lian was long a faithful vestryman, a volunteer organist and Sunday-school teacher. His work was well done. The workers die, but new ones arise and the work ad- vances, and the abundant labors of the toilers in the service of the Blessed Master will not be "in vain in the Lord." The rectory has been enlarged. The St. Luke's School boys and the voluntary choir in their ab- sence do good and acceptable musical service in the Lord's house. Harry Ashton, William Maguire and Edward Rylott have been the sextons during the present rectorship.
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REV. SLATOR CLAY.
CHAPTER IX.
REV. SLAATOR CLAY.
I WOULD add to the notes already given that Rev. Dr. Sprague's Annals of the American Episcopal Pulpit (pp. 355-357) contain a most interesting ac- count of Rev. Slator Clay (A.D., 1787 to A.D., 1821), by his son, Rev. Jehu C. Clay, D.D.
He was the son of Slator and Ann Clay, having been born in Newcastle, Del., October Ist, 1754. His mother was the daughter of Jehu Curtis, Speaker of the Dela- ware Assembly, Judge of the Supreme Court and Treas- urer of the Loan Office. The Judge is buried in the Newcastle churchyard. Benjamin Franklin wrote his epitaph.
Slator Clay studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1779 or 1780 he went to the West Indies with a friend who was a sea captain. This was during the Revolutionary war, and a British privateer captured the vessel and Mr. Clay was put on shore on the Island of Antigua with only one piece of money in his possession. However, he took passage for New York, then held by the British. A sailor proposed mutiny, and Mr. Clay informed the captain and the ringleader and per- haps others were confined. The vessel was seized by an American privateer. Mr. Clay afterward gained the confidence of the mutineer. The vessel was endangered by the sea off Hatteras and wrecked on Bermuda rocks. At Bermuda the young lawyer taught school for six
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REV. SLATOR CLAY.
years. His dangerous voyage turned his thoughts to religion. A Presbyterian clergyman, Dr. Muir, of Alexandria, to whom he confided his views, led him on in his new life. He determined to enter the ministry. His warm friends in Bermuda desired him to be ordained by the Bishop of London and serve " as their pastor." This was being arranged when Mr. Clay heard of the proposed consecration of Bishop White, and wishing to return to the land of his nativity, though he loved his island friends, sailed for Philadelphia, arriving there in 1786. That year Rev. Dr. Collin married him to Mrs. Hannah Hughes, a widow lady. They had " four children-a daughter and three sons." On December 23d, A.D., 1787, Bishop White ordained Slator Clay a deacon in Christ Church, Philadelphia. This was the ycar of the Bishop's consecration. On the 17th of the next February he was ordained priest in St. Peter's Church. He became rector of St. James's, Perkiomen, in Upper Merion. The church had been built in 1721. He was also rector of St. Peter's, Great Valley, Chester County, and St. David's, Radnor, which had been built in 1713. Mr. Clay was furthermore assistant minister of the Swedish parish of Christ Church, Upper Merion (Bridgeport), under Dr. Collin's rectorship. Episcopal clergy were scarce and their fields wide. In 1790 Mr. Clay moved from Upper Merion to Perkiomen, where a parsonage had been erected for him, and there was "a glebe of some thirty acres." He gave a part of his time to St. Thomas's, Whitemarsh, in addition to his work at the other churches named, though he went to Radnor more seldom, as it was so distant from his new home. He was called to Alexandria, Virginia, but pre- ferred to remain in his quiet country home. Where he began his ministerial work he ended it, dying September
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REV. SLATOR CLAY.
25th, 1821. Like Goldsmith's parson, he changed not his place. He was highly honored for his sincere piety which shone in his life. In favorable weather his churches "were always crowded." The hearers felt that the preacher exemplified his doctrine. "Jesus Christ and Him crucified," was his great theme. He thought little of human merit, but much of Christ's suf- ficiency for man's salvation. He was a natural and earn- est preacher, and his voice was agrecable. He died at sixty-seven, closing "a life of faith on carth in a sure hope of entering on a life of glory in eternity."
Mr. Clay was about five feet and eight inches high, and his body was slender and delicate, his eyes were of a hazel color, and his countenance was "benign and interesting." Ile was affable to friends. His Chris- tian character made him humble, gentle and child- like.
Slator Clay's elder brother, Robert, was a church clergyman. His birth occurred on October 18th, 1749. He was in a mercantile establishment in Philadelphia in youth. Bishop White ordained him about 1787. He "was for thirty-six years rector of the church at Newcastle, and died December, 1831. He was a fine reader of the Church Service and sustained an unblemished reputa- tion, Ile was never married."
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BISHOPS.
CHAPTER X.
RT. REV. HENRY USTICK ONDERDONK.
[The following sketches are abridged from Rev. Dr. Batteron's Sketch Book of the American Episcopate. Bishop White is noticed in the histories of the parishes he served. ]
B ISHOP Onderdonk was born in the city of New York in A.D., 1789. He was a graduate of Columbia College in that city, and became a physician, but in 1815 was ordained deacon by Bishop Hobart. He was rector of St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn, when elected Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania. Hc was consecrated in Christ Church, Philadelphia, in 1827, by Bishops White, Hobart, Kemp, Crocs and Bowen. When Bishop White died in 1836, "he be- came Bishop of Pennsylvania." He died in 1858, and was buried at the churchyard of St. James the Less.
He wrote "Episcopacy Tested by Scripture," and other works as well as various hymns and three Psalms in the Old Prayer-book Collection."
THE RT. REV. ALONZO POTTER, D.D., LL.D.
Bishop Potter was born in the State of New York, A.D., 1800. He was a graduate of Union College, where he became a professor. In IS22 Bishop Hobart ordained him to the Diaconate, and in 1824 Bishop Brownell ordained him a priest ; "acting for the Bishop of New York. In 1826 he became rector of St. Paul's Church, Boston." In 1831 he was again a professor in
BISHOP STEVENS.
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BISHOPS.
Union College, and from this post he entered the Episco- pate. He was consecrated in Christ Church, Philadel- phia, in 1845, by Bishops Philander, Chase, Hopkins, G. W. Doane, Whittingham, and Alfred Lec. He died on board ship in San Francisco Harbor, July 4th, A.D., 1865. He is buried at Laurel Hill. He wrote various works, and edited " The Memorial Papers."
THE RT. REV. WILLIAM BACON STEVENS, D.D., LL.D.
Bath, in Maine, was the birthplace of this worthy bishop. He studied in Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., trav- eled abroad, and became a physician in Savannah, Geor- gia, and was the historian for that State, writing its his- tory. In 1843 Bishop Elliot ordained him a deacon, and the next year a priest. He became rector of Emanuel Church, Athens, Georgia, and a professor in the Univer- sity of Georgia. In 1847 the diocese sent him as a deputy to the General Convention. In 1848 he became rector of St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia, and in 1862 Assist- ant Bishop of Pennsylvania, being consecrated in St. Andrew's Church on the 2d of January by Bishops Hopkins, A. Potter, H. Potter, A. Lee, Clark, H. W. Lee, and Odenheimer. When Bishop Potter died in 1865, "he became Bishop of Pennsylvania." In 1865 the Dio- cese of Pittsburgh was taken from the Diocese of Penn- sylvania, and in 1875 Central Pennsylvania was erected into a diocese. From 1868 Bishop Stevens had " charge of the American Episcopal Churches in Europe" for six years.
He wrote many things which appeared in print, among them a work on the Parables and on Consola- tion, and on the Lord's Day, and on the History of St. Andrew's Church. He preached the Consecration
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BISIIOPS.
Sermons of Bishops B. H. Paddock and S. F. J. Scher- eschewsky, Missionary Bishop to China. At the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Nice, France, he preached "in behalf of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and the Church Missionary Society,". in 1866, and in 1878 the closing sermon in the Cathedral of St. Paul, in London, at the Pan-Anglican Council, was delivered by him.
THE RT. REV. OZI WHITAKER, D.D.
The State of Massachusetts and the town of New Salem, in 1830, are noted as the place and date of the birth of this bishop. He is a graduate of Middlebury College, Vermont, and of the General Theological Seminary. In 1863 Bishop Eastburn ordained him a deacon, and he received priest's orders from him also. He became rector of St. John's Church, Gold Hill, Nevada, but in 1865 took the rectorship of St. Paul's Church, at Englewood, N. J. In 1867 he was rector of St. Paul's Church, Virginia City, Nevada, and in 1868 was elected Missionary Bishop of Nevada, by the General Convention which met in St. John's Church, New York.
Kenyon College gave him the Doctorate in Divinity in 1869.
In 1869 he was consecrated in St. George's Church, New York, by Bishops McIlvaine, H. Potter, Eastburn, Odenheimer, and J. C. Talbot.
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CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA.
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CHRIST CHURCH.
CHAPTER XI. CHRIST CHURCH.
"And the priests that bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan."-Joshua, 3: 17.
A S Christ's people "pass the waves of this trouble- some world," the priests of God stand firmly to encourage them, as they did at the crossing of the Jordan. For long centuries the noble Church of England has had a host of such witnesses for the truth at home and in foreign lands. It is near two hundred years since the first building for the use of Christ Church arose; and what was a provincial village is a mighty city, but the same words of prayer and praise in the dear old Liturgy resound within these walls as echoed in English cathedrals in early days. As Bishop Coxe poetically expresses it :
"O where are kings and empires now, Of old, that went and came ? But, Lord, Thy Church is praying yet, A thousand years the same."
The first edifice used by Christ Church was erected in A.D., 1695, and by following the brief sketches in Dr. Dorr's excellent "History of Christ Church," issued nearly fifty years ago, and Bishop Perry's invaluable collection of the Propagation Society records, with their extensive and careful references to other works, we may gain some idea of those who ministered at this altar in the earliest days of the parish history.
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CHRIST CHURCH.
The first missionary here was Rev. Thomas Clayton, who was sent by Bishop Compton, of London, by the influence of Rev. Dr. Bray, the faithful Commissary in Maryland. The congregation did not exceed fifty, but - in two years it numbered seven hundred, and a " hand- some church " had been built. This useful clergyman died after about two years' faithful service, of a contagi- ous disease, which he had caught while visiting the sick, and so passed through his dangerous duty to his glorious reward. His zeal and success in his short min- istry are worthy of note. He is mentioned in Watson's Annals, and Sprague's Annals of The Episcopal Clergy, and in Anderson's History of the Colonial Church, and Hawkins's Missions of the Church of England in the Colonies. There is a reference to his death in the 9th volume of the Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in a letter from Isaac Norris to Jonathan Dickinson, in Jamaica.
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