History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 94

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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THE CHURCH OF THE ATONEMENT was organized March 18, 1850, with nineteen members. The first meetings were held in Temperance Hall, at the corner of Randolph and Canal streets. Rev. Dudley Chase was the first rector and remained until 1852. For a portion of the year 1853, Rev. C. H. Gardiner served as supply, commencing April 17. The membership did not increase very rapidly for the first few years. Start- ing in 1850 with nineteen, in 1852 and 1853 there were forty-six ; in 1854, fifty-one ; in 1855, seventy; in 1856. eighty-four ; and in 1857. eighty-six. The first build- ing occupied as a house of worship was a rented one. It was fitted up by the parish in good taste, was cen- trally located, and capable of holding two hundred people. In 1851 the society secured a lot at a cost of SSoo, the money for the first payment of which was raised by the ladies. Upon this lot a tasteful house of worship was erected in 1854. About $800 were sub- scribed during this year by members of the Church and others toward the liquidation of the debt, and a fence was built around the church lot at a cost of $200. In 1856 the Church contributed to various purposes $580.08 ; and in 1857, including the rector's salary of $1,000, $1,977.50.

GRACE CHURCH .- At a meeting of a number of members of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Chi- cago, held May 20, 1851, Grace Church was organized by the election of Henry Ritchie and Jeremiah W. Duncan, wardens, and Talman Wheeler. David S. Lee, J. W. Chickering, Caleb Morgan, H. W. Zimmerman, r. B. Peuton and I. H. Osborne. vestrymen. Rev. Cornelius E. Swope was chosen rector. Services were at first held in Warner's Hall. on Randolph Street. Mr. Swope remained until the spring of 1854. when he was succeeded by Rev. Lewis L. Noble, who commenced his rectorship June 25, 1854, and closed it September 9. 1855. Rev. John W. Clark commenced his rectorship June s, 1856. U'pto 1855 the membership remained at seventy- three. In 1856 it was one hundred ; and in 183; it in- Creased to one hundred and forty. During this year a lot wais secured upon which to build. A description of

this edifice is introduced into the second volume of this History, as it was not completed until after the year 1857. During the year with which this volume closes, the total contributions of this Church amounted to $7,763.71.

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH was nominally organized Feb- ruary 22, 1856, and was fully organized about Easter time. Rev. Hiram N. Bishop was the first minister, preaching his first sermon on the second Sunday of May. The number of members at the time of organi- zation is not ascertainable. Three thousand dollars were subscribed for the erection of a church-one-third of which came from persons not members of any Church. A plain frame building was put up, thirty by sixty-five feet in size, capable of seating three hundred people. without incurring any debt. On the first of September, 1856, the pews were offered for rent and in a short time fifteen were taken, the rental amounting to $1.529. In 1857 at the time of making the parochial report to the dio- cese, there were fifty-two members. During the year the church building had been enlarged, and the im- provement paid for. Fifty-two new pews were added and the Church was thus made capable of accommodat- ing five hundred persons. 'A parsonage was erected at a cost of Sr.900, on a lot given to the Church by William Carpenter, and a lot seventy-five by one hundred feet in size. contiguous to the church building was donated and decded to the Church hy Job Carpenter. A Sunday school was organized with one hundred and twenty scholars, about eighty of whom were in attendance each Sunday. The total contributions of this Church for the year 1857 amounted to $9,901.1I.

CHURCH OF THE HOLY COMMUNION was organized in April, 1857, with eighty members, as a free Church. This was the distinguished feature of the organization. The founders believed that churches should be so con- ducted as to present no obstacle of any kind to any one who might desire to attend church, by selling or leasing pews, or in any other way ; that nothing should be done to keep the poor man from church. Rev. H. B. Whip- ple was called to the rectorship. and services were held in a hall rented for the purpose, no church building being erected that year. Like many others, this Church had to encounter and overcome numerous obstacles at the beginning, the chief of which was the want of a suit- able house of worship, but this was in after years sup- plied.

CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION .- Upon an invitation extended to him in April, 1857, Rev. J. W. Cracraft came to Chicago, in May, for the purpose of organizing a par- ish on the North Side. He preached his initiatory ser- mon on the first Sunday in May. As the new edifice of St. James' Church was approaching completion, that Church made an advantageous offer of their old church building, standing on Cass Street, near Illinois, to the Church of the Ascension. This society there- fore decided that no funds should be expended in erecting a temporary church, but that all their financial strength should be reserved for the purpose of remor- ing the Old St. James' Church. when that should be vacated in the fall. Gurdon S. Hubbard gave the new organization three lots, two to be used as a church site. the other to be used toward the erection of a suitable edifice. Subsequently, the proffer of St. James' Church, with reference to their old building was withdrawn, which, on account of the lateness of the season at the time of the withdrawal of the offer, coupled with the adverse influence of the financial revolution which that year depressed all business enterprises, made it imprar- ticable for the new Church to erect a permanent house

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

of worship that year, and its only recourse was to seek some temporary accommodations for the then present emergency, by renting some building or erecting a cheap one on their own account. In September a parish or- ganization was effected, taking the name of "The Church of the Ascension," but on account of the ab- sence of the warden and secretary the proper certificate could not be obtained at the time of the meeting of the convention of the Diocese, so the Church could not be represented therein. About forty families had joined the Church by the fall of this year, and through the liberality of the trustees of Westminster Chapel, they were accommodated with a convenient and comfortable building for their incipient services.

ST. ANSGARIUS' CHURCH was organized March 5, 1849. The first trustees were P. Von Schneider, W. Knudsen, Butten Markusen, Andrew Johnson, Andrew Lurson, J. Bjorkman, A. S. Sheldon and John Anderson. The members of the Church were emigrants from Nor- way and Sweden, about two-thirds from Norway. They were collected into a society by the Rev. Gustaf Unon- ius. The membership at the time of organization is not ascertainable, but in 1850 there were one hundred and sixty-three members, including men, women and children. During this year a building was erected at the corner of Franklin and Indiana streets. It was a frame structure, thirty-five by fifty feet in size, and cost $2,500. In 1856 a fine organ was added at a cost of $700. In 1851 this Church was represented in the Diocese of Illinois by John W. Chickering and P. Von Schneider. The membership reached one hundred and ninety-five in 1854, decreased to one hundred and sev- enteen in 1855, and in 1857 had increased to one hun- dred and forty-two. Mr. Unonius remained pastor until 1866, when he resigned and returned to Sweden, where he now resides. In the year 1851, when the society was weak financially and struggling to complete its house of worship erected the year before, Jenny Lind, at the solicitation of the pastor, presented to them $1,000 in money and a silver communion set. Toward the close of the year 1851, the question arose as to who should own the communion set, in case of a separation of the Church into two portions, the one of Swedes the other of Norwegians. The Norwegian members claimed an equal ownership in the set with the Swedes and that, in case of a division, they should have paid to them half the value of the set. Mr. Unonius claimed that the set was presented to the Church of St. Ansgarius on the condition that in case of a separation it should belong exclusively to the Swedish portion, and in this position he was sustained by the Swedish men- bers. In order to sustain this position, Mr. Unonius presented the following letter written by Jenny Lind: GUSTAF UNONIUS,

"Dear Sir: Whereas my attention has been called to the ninth section of the article of the congregations in Chicago constitution, I do hereby declare that the cup and paten which I last year do- nated to the Swedish and Norwegian Church congregation in Chi- cago, in the event of a dissolution of the said congregation, shall never be included in the value of said congregation's common property, but shall in such case belong exclusively to the Swedish portion of the congregation.

" Northampton, Mass., the 25th day of March, 1832."

Mr. Unonius made affidavit to the fact as follows: " STATE OF ILLINOIS. 1

COOK COUNTY. S

"Gustaf Unonius being duly sworn according to law says, that Mrs. Jenay Lind Goldschmidt, in presenting a silver communion set to the Church of St. Ansgarins in Chicago did so with the ex- plicit stipulation that it should become the exclusive property of a Swedish congregation.

" April 22, IS58."

Max Hjortsberg, the private secretary of Madam Goldschmidt, also made affidavit to the same effect. The result of the controversy was that the Swedish por- tion of the congregation retained the set. In after years the Church was divided on the line of nationality. as was anticipated. An account of the division, and a sketch of each separate portion of the Church will fol- low in the next volume.

BISHOP PHILANDER CHASE, D. D .- The Diocese of Illinois was organized at Peoria, March 9. 1535, at the primary conven- tion held there for the purpose .: This convention was composed of three clergymen and six lay delegates. The clericals were Rev. John Batchelder, rector of Trinity Church, Jacksonville; Rev. Palmer Dyer, rector of St. Jude's Church, l'eoria, and Rev. James C. Richmond, rector of Christ Church, Rushville, and Grace Church, Beardstown. The lay delegates were Rudolphus Rouse. Augustus O. Garrett, Edward Worthington, Milton W. Graves. James Fayerweather and Charles Derrickson. Rev. Isaac W. Hallam, rector of St. James' Church, Chicago, was not present at this convention. Rev. John Batchelder was elected president, and Rev. Palmer Dyer, secretary. Committees were appointed to frame a constitulion, canons and rules of order. A standing com- mittee was elected, and also delegates to the next general conven- tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. which met in Philadelphia, August 19, 1835. At the time of the organization of the Diocese of Illinois, there were but six organ- ized Episcopal parishes in the State, only three of which were at the convention. the parishes at Galena and Chicago not being rep- resented. In the evening of that day the following resolution was adopted: " Resolved, unanimously, that this convention do hereby appoint the Right Reverend Philander Chase, D.D., a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. to the Episcopate of Illinois, and that he be, and hereby is. invited to remove into this diocese, and to assume Episcopal jurisdiction in the same " Bishop Chase accepted the appointment April 3. 1835, but was not present at the second annual convention, which met at Jacksonville, Monday, May 16, 1536, being absent in Great Britain at the time, soliciting assistance toward the establishment of a theological school in his new diocese. Rev. Isaac W. Hallam who had been appointed to preach to the convention, was also ab- sent, but he arrived after the adjournment of the convention. . \t the third annual convention, Bishop Chase was present. presided. and delivered his first address, at Springfield. The Bishop made his first Episcopal visitation to Chicago in 1835, and his second in 1836, during the erection of St. James' Episcopal Church, preached twice, confirmed eleven persons, baptized one child and adminis- tered the sacrament of the Lord's supper to thirty persons. On the ISth of July he met with an accident which interfered with his duties as bishop for some time. This was the breaking of two ribs by the overturning of his carriage when on his way from Rockingham, Ill .. to his home in Peoria County. He made his first appearance after this accident at Rushville, October 3, 133 ;. The fourth annual convention was held at Rushville. June 4, 1532. Bishop Che presiding. He also pred led at the fifth annual con- vention, which was held in Chicago, June 3 and 4. 1339. No con- vention was held in 1-40, The sixth annual convention was helt in the chapel of Jubilee College, June ; and 8, 1sat. Bishop Cha-e presiding. The next annual convention held in Chicago was in 1850, on the 17th and 18th of June. Bishop Chave prevailed here. as at all those not specifically mentioned above. At this time there were four Episcopal churche- in Chicago. The Church of the AAtonement was a newly-formed congregation, the first on the West Side. Bishop Chase preached to this congregation on sunday

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PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS.

June 9, in the morning, and in the afternoon at Trinity Church. On the same day he met the congregation of St. Ansgarius, in St. James' Church, Rev. Gustaf Unonius pastor, whose church edifice was not then completed. On the 14th of June the Bishop confirmed twenty-four persons in St. James' Church. At the regu- lar annual convention held at Pekin, September S, of that year, Bishop Chase presided. This was the last convention at which he presided. At the annual convention held at Pekin, June 21, 1352, in the absence of Bishop Chase, the Right Reverend Henry J. Whitehouse, assistant bishop of the diocese, presided. Bishop Chase died on Monday, September 20, 1852, at his residence at Jubilee College, in Peoria County, an institution which he had founded. He was succeeded as bishop by Rev. Henry J. White- house, an account of whose Episcopate and residence in Chicago will be appropriately found in the second volume of this History. Bishop Chase filled the Episcopate of Illinois for seventeen years. The summary of his acts is as follows: He ordained to the priest- hood, seven; to the deaconate, twelve; to both, three; total, thir- teen persons. He consecrated sixteen churches, baptized two hundred and ninety infants and sixteen adults, and confirmed nine hundred and fifteen individuals. In 1835, when he was elected bishop of the diocese, it consisted of five organized parishes; in 1852. when he died, it contained fifty-two parishes, forty-three of which contained sixteen hundred and two communicants. Five of these parishes were in Chicago.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH was organized May 22, 1851. Its first church building was on Wash- ington Street, between Halsted and Union. Philo Car- penter, who had always taken leading positions in re- ligious movements, having in IS32 organized the first Sunday school in Chicago, and having assisted in organ- izing the First and Third Presbyterian churches, was one of the principal movers in this measure, which was the result of a schism in the Third Presbyterian Church, the particulars of which are fully developed in the sketch of that Church's history. By reference thereto the successive steps may be traced which led to the ex- cinding by the Presbytery of the names of those who persisted in their "disorderly and disorganizing action." Technically there were but seventeen excinded, fifteen of whom joined the First Congregational Church when that was organized. Twenty-five others who subscribed to the obnoxious fourth resolution of February 3, 1851, were regularly dismissed, their action in signing the resolution not having been done openly in Church meet- ing, and for this reason did not come before the Presby- tery in an official manner. For about one year after their exclusion from the Church, these forty-two ex- members held regular religious services in the lecture- room of the church lean-to, which had been erected principally at the private expense of Philo Carpenter, and which, according to agreement made at the time of its erection, not having been paid for at the time of the culmination of the schism, remained his private property and subject to his control. At a meeting held about the middle of April, it was decided to proceed to the organization of a Church to be called the " First Con- gregational Church of Chicago," and a committee was appointed to draft a constitution and articles of faith. On the 5th of May, steps were taken toward the pur- chase of a lot at the corner of Washington and Jeffer- son streets, and May 22 was fixed upon as the date for the organization of the new society. An Ecclesiastical Council, pursuant to a call, convened for the purpose in the Canal-street Methodist Episcopal church, on that day. This Council was composed of the following representatives from the several Congregational churches named below :

Chunhr%.

Pastur .. Delegates,

Milburn. . Rev. William B. Dodge ..

Waukegan

. Rev. D. F. Parsons. ... . 1 .. Fundv.

Elin Rev. N. E. Clark. .. H. Brooks.

Duwner's Grove . Rev. Alanson Alvor !! . . .. 1 .. H. Hatch. New.ırk

Kev. Lucian Farnham

Aurora .. Kes, Daniel It. Miller .. . W. J. Strong.

St. Charles Ker. Gieurge S. F. Savage. Monzy Harvey

Rev. William B. Dodge was chosen moderator, Rev. B. F. Parsons, scribe, and Rev. Timothy Lyman, from the Denmark Association, Iowa, was invited to a seat as member of the Council. The articles of faith and covenant, the credentials of those having letters, and the Christian character of those who had not, all proving satisfactory to the Council, it proceeded to the exercise of organizing the Church. Forty-eight assented to the articles of faith, and entered into covenant, thus con- stituting the First Congregational Church. Public re- ligious services were held in the evening. at which a hymn was sung, composed for the occasion by B. F. Worrell. . Of this hynin the first quatrain of the second stanza was as follows :

' Though by men we are rejected- Set beyond the church on earth, Should we mourn or be rejected If we be of heavenly birth ?"

Of the forty-eight first members the following fifteen were received without letter: Philo Carpenter, William H. Worrell, Mrs. Mary E. Morris, Mrs. Ann T. Carpen- ter, John Davis. Miss Lydia Clifford, Trumbull Kent, D. E. Davis, H. B. Mills, John Sheriffs, Mrs. M. E. Davis, Walter Lull, Benjamin F. Worrell, J H. Morris, Henry G. McArthur. The following thirty-three were re- ceived by letter: George B. Sloat, Amos Holbrook. Mrs. Isabella Warrington, Mrs. MI. Mack, Elisha Clark. Mrs. Cornelia A. Clark. Hannah Bragg, Mrs. Harriet Bristol, Samuel Aiken, Mrs. S. Aiken, Cornelia G. Sloat. MIrs. Sophronia Crawford. Mrs. Jane Mason, Mrs. Ellen Holbrook, Leverett H. Holbrook, Mrs. Susan A. Hol- brook, Mrs. Sophia Holbrook, Mrs. Elizabeth Ready. Mrs. Emeline Kent, Mrs. Elvira P. Belden. MIrs. Esther E. Gaffrey, Mrs. Mary Andrews, William Rawson, Mrs. S. Rawson, Mrs. M. T. Worrell, Mrs. E. Croner, Mrs. Julia A. Ensworth, Mrs. Sarah Lull, Abbey S. Dver, Caroline Mason, Joseph F. Lawrence, Mrs. Susan Law- rence, Caroline Mills. During the month of July. IS51, eleven additional members were received, in November six, and in December six, so that on January 1. 1852, the Church had a membership of seventy-one. The first deacons were Philo Carpenter and Elisha Clark, elected June 4, 1851. For one year from this time the Church had no settled pastor, but depended upon oc- casional supplies. Among these appear the names of Revs. Jonathan Blanchard, Julian MI. Sturtevant, J. E. Roy. Epaphras Goodman. Owen Lovejoy and J. M. Davis. To the latter gentleman the Church extended a call October 13, IS51, naming $800 as the salary. In December the call was declined, when a unanimous but ineffectual call was extended to Rev. Owen Love- joy. On June 1, 1852, an invitation was extended to Rev. J. M. Williams to become pastor for six months. The invitation was accepted and he remained until December 1, 1853, when he resigned. On the ed of January, 1854, Rev. W. A. Nichols was invited to sup- ply the pulpit for six months. At the close of this period Rev. G. W. Perkins was invited to become pastor at a salary of Sr.500. He preached his first sermon on the third Sunday of September, and was regularly installed January 4, 1853. Mr. Perkins died suddenly November 13. 1856, and was succeeded by Rev. W. W. Patton, who was installed January 8, 1857. Dr. Patton remained with the Church eleven years. An account of his ministry may be found in the second volume of this History. While negotiations were pending for the lot on the corner of Washington and Jefferson streets, a plain and inexpensive building was erected on Washing- ton Street, near Union, in 1832. Within a year from the time of its completion it was destroyed by fre, mn

340

HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

June, 1853. The proffer of the use of two houses of worship was promptly made to the afflicted Church- that of the Third Presbyterian and of the Tabernacle Baptist Church. The latter was chosen. Steps were taken toward the erection of a stone edifice at the south- west corner of West Washington and South Green streets, on a lot one hundred feet square, which Philo Carpenter granted to the Church in exchange for the lot at the corner of Washington and Jefferson streets, on which they originally intended to build. Meanwhile a temporary frame structure was erected on Green Street, just south of the location for the new edifice, and services were held therein until the stone church was ready for occupancy, which was completed and dedicated some time in October, 1855. Compared with the previous church edifices it was an elegant building. The total cost was $40,000. It was built of Illinois marble. The entrance led to a vestibule, from which two flights of stairs ascended to the main audience- room. The portion under the auditorium was admir- ably arranged for the various spiritual and temporal offices of the Church. It contained the Sunday school rooms, lecture room, church parlor, pastor's study, and offices. A very fine organ was erected in the church, and the Church had an excellent and accomplished choir. From a membership of seventy, on January I. 1852, the increase was quite slow for three years. In 1852 there were nineteen additions; in 1853, forty-four; and in 1854, fourteen; while for the next three years the growth of the Church was much greater and more satisfactory. In 1855 there were thirty-six additions; in 1856, eighty-four, and in 1857, eighty-six.

PHILO CARPENTER was born February 27, 1805. in Savoy, Mass. He is a direct descendant of William Carpenter. who, in 1635, came from Southampton, England, and settled in Weymouth, Mass. Both of Mr. Carpenter's grandfathers served in the Revo- lutionary War. His paternal grandfather, Nathaniel Carpenter, was a Captain under George III., but at the beginning of the strug- gle he resigned his commission, raised a company for the Colonial army and fought in many a battle during the war, and at its close was in command at West Point. Abel Carpenter, the son of Na- thaniel, was the father of the subject of this sketch. Young Philo's education was for the most part obtained at the common schools, but improved at the Academy of South Adams, Mass. In 1828 Mr. Carpenter went to Troy, N. Y., where he became a clerk in the drug store of Dr. Amatus Robbins, and also became a partner with Dr. Robbins and a medical student. Through the representations of a friend he decided to emigrate to the West. Packing his drugs, he started for Buffalo, embarking there for Detroit. From Detroit he came to Chicago, by way of Niles, Mich., down the St. Joseph River to its mouth, and thence to Chicago in a canoe towed round the head of the lake by two Indians hired for that purpose, ac- companied by a friend from Viles. They landed in July near the present site of the Douglas monument, and were conveyed to Fort Dearborn by Joel Ellis, whom they found living in a log cabin near the place of their landing. While waiting for his goods to arrive in Chicago, Mr. Carpenter secured a log building sixteen by twenty feet in size, on Lake Street near the river, in which he opened the first drug store in Chicago. In the early winter he moved into a larger building which had just been vacated by George W. Dole. In the summer of 1833 he purchased a lot on South Water Street, between LaSalle and Wells streets, upon which he erected a small store. To his stock of drugs he now added general merchandise and hardware. In this store he remained until 1542, when he re- moved to Lake Street, where he remained about two years, when he disposed of his mercantile business to Irs, Brinker not and Penton. Mr. Carpenter previous to this time invested H's spare funds in real estate, and was very judicious in this line of invest- ment. He was careful not to purchase bevond his ability to p.v. Hlis two lots of forty ivet front on South Water Street cost him $75.00, and the lot on Lasalle Street, twenty-five feet by one hun- dred and eighty feet, bought of Mark Beaubien, cost him $25.00. Billy Caldwell, the half-breed, owned two and a half sections of timber land up the North Branch of the river, about nine miles from the city. Mr. Carpenter, Colonel R. J. Hamilton, Captain Seth Johnson and Lieutenant Kingsbury each bought a quarter-section of this land for st.25 per acre. He also entered from the Govern- ment, at the same price, the one hundred and sixty acres of land

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 94

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340