USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan age of New England to the present day > Part 10
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" Every communion day of the Church is an All Saints' day. . . . Then surely she will be with us who has last departed from among us,- she whom we have marked so gentle in demeanor, so simple in speech, so firm in principle and duty ; she who was early disciplined in the school of sorrow and bereavement, but who always acknowledged the ruling hand of her Father, and was only strengthened in faith and re- liance by the severity of trial. And when we bless God for those de- parted this life in his faith and fear, we may bless Him in her departure. And when we beseech Him to give us grace to follow their good exam- ple, we may remember and cherish hers, among those which, in life and death, have taught us the beauty of holiness, the peace and the reality of religion."
WOOD-CARVING FROM CHANCEL.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE PRICE FUND.
HE same instinct which has led good and godly men and women in every age of the Christian Church to provide religious endowments has operated in the older American communities, although circumstances have made it more difficult to preserve such endowments unim- paired, than has been the case in the mother country. Several of the Puritan churches in Boston were thus endowed, at least so far as to have a parsonage house ; 1 and the Third (or Old South) Church now inherit from Madam Norton its considerable estate. It is probable that the custom of looking to the Crown for fa- vors, as it prevented individuals from giving communion plate to King's Chapel according to the usual practice in the Puritan churches, had also hindered pious bequests for the benefit of the church. But the necessities of the church at last became urgent. The new building had burdened it with debt, and made it more difficult to provide properly for the support of its minis- ters. An appeal was therefore made in 1759 by a vote, which was printed on a broadside for distribution in the proper quarters.
The following is a Vote of the Proprietors of King's Chapel, passed at their annual Meeting on Easter Monday, April 16, 1759 : -
Whereas, this Congregation has no certain Fund for supporting the Minister and other Officers of it but what arises from the Assessment of the Pews and casual Contribution, which is no ways equal to its necessary annual Expence ; and whereas the said Contributions by many Accidents may fail, to the great Detriment of this Church, which is now encum- ber'd with a heavy Debt, and not finish'd : Therefore to guard against Inconveniences and begin a Fund, the Income of which may in Time equal all our Charges, and enable this Church to pay their Debts and sup- port their Ministers and other Officers in that generous Manner they in their Inclinations are desirous of: And whereas such a Support must
1 The First Church, and the Church in Brattle Square.
VOL. 11 .- 27
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
greatly tend to the Encouragement of the most learned and ingenious Ministers to settle among us, on whom under God the Prosperity and Increase of true Religion greatly depends : It is therefore judged ad- viseable by this Propriety from a zealous View of promoting the Honour of Almighty God and the general benefit of this Congregation, to pur- sue all laudable Methods that may tend to answer such great and truly pious Designs ; one of which is to render the Situation of their Minis- ters easy, by a handsome and honourable Support : And whereas it may with Reason be hoped that many Persons whom Divine Providence hath been pleased to entrust with competent Estates, are willing, and only wait an Opportunity of shewing their Gratitude, in particular for that Blessing, by chearfully bestowing part of the same to such pious and charitable uses, as may benefit the latest Ages, most effectually redound to the Honour and Advancement of Christ's Church, and their own eternal Welfare.
It is therefore Voted, That the Minister, Church-Wardens, and Ves- try-Men belonging or that shall belong to this Church, or the major Part of them, shall appoint one Day, if they think proper, in every Year for a publick Collection, Notice of such Appointment to be given the Sun- day before such Collection, and all such Sums so collected shall by the Church-Wardens, with the Advice of the Vestry, or the major Part of them, be improved by putting the same to Interest on good Security, and only the Interest thereof shall be apply'd to the support of the Min- ister or Ministers, and other Officers and charges of said Church, in such a Manner as the Church-Wardens and Vestry of this Church, or the major Part of them, shall from Time to Time Vote and direct ; but the Principal shall forever remain as a Fund for the use aforesaid, unless it should by the Church-Wardens and Vestry of said Church, or the major Part of them, be thought proper to invest the same or any Part thereof in Real Estate, for the Use and Benefit of said Church, and in that Case said Real Estate to be and remain forever to said Church, and only the Neat Profits thereof shall be apply'd to the Purposes aforesaid, but if any such Donations be of Real Estate, then the Church-Wardens, with the Advice of the Vestry, shall let the same, keep it in repair, and the Neat Profits only thereof shall be apply'd to the use aforesaid ; so that whatever Principal shall be receiv'd by any Donations for the Purposes aforesaid, may forever remain entire, and as a Fund for the Benefit of this Church. Provided, nevertheless, there is not in any Gift or Dona- tion particular Directions from the Donor that such his Gift shall be ap- ply'd to some special Purpose not within mentioned.
The Form of a Legacy to this Church.
I Give, Bequeath, and Devise unto the Church called King's Chapel in Boston the sum of -, to and for the Use of said Church, to be dispos'd of in the following Manner, viz., said Sum shall be paid into the Hands of the Church-Wardens for the Time being of said Church,
419
THE PRICE FUND.
and by them shall be placed out at Interest on good Security, and only the Income thereof shall be appropriated to the use of said Church, in such Manner as the Church-Wardens and Vestry-Men of said Church, or the Majority of them shall from Time to Time direct ; and the Prin- cipal shall forever remain as a Fund for the Use aforesaid, unless it should at any Time be thought proper by said Church-Wardens and Vestry-Men, or the Majority of them, to invest the said Principal Sum or any Part thereof in Real Estate for the Use and Benefit of said Church ; in which Case said Money or any Part thereof shall be laid out in Real Estate as aforesaid, and the Income only of said Real Es- tate shall be applied to the Use aforesaid, and the Estate itself shall be and remain to said Church as a Fund for ever.
This seems to have produced almost immediate fruit. On June 22 of the same year, Mrs. Joanna Brooker, widow, of Bos- ton, died leaving a will dated May 11, 1759; in which, after giving to " the Revd. Mr. Henry Caner and the Reva. Mr. Roger Price, of Leigh in Essex, in Great Britain, Ten Pounds Sterling a peice," and to Rev. Mr. Troutbeck " my Topaz Ring as a Token of my Respect to him," the 20th clause ran : " I give and devise all my Real Estate in the north End of Boston to the Church Wardens of King's Chappel Church in Boston, and their succes- sors forever, for the use of said Church." 1
Mrs. Brooker's estate at the North End, in Fish Street, was afterward known as "Clarke's ship-yard," and is now Union Wharf. In 1794, when the church was extinguishing the bur- densome remnants of the debt left by its building, Mr. James Clarke proposed to purchase this estate for £2,100; which offer was accepted by a vote of the Proprietors, and the title was con- firmed to Colonel John May, assignee of Mr. Clarke, by a second vote in 1805. It is to be regretted that the circumstances of the church compelled it to apply this property to its immediate needs, instead of retaining it as a perpetual fund, to keep in re- membrance the name and memory of this good and charitable woman.
In 1770 another estate was bequeathed to King's Chapel, whose
1 Mrs. Brooker also bequeathed "all my Money and Interest in the South Sea Stocks or Funds (except what is here- inbefore disposed of . . . ) to the Society for Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, to be a Fund in their hands, the Income thereof to be applied and paid to an Episcopal Minister that shall Preach the Gospel and live among the Indians in some part of the Continent of North
America ; " and " All the Residue of my Estate . . . for the Relief of Poor Wid- ows and Sick People at the discretion of the Select Men of Boston for the time being." The latter fund was not merged in the "Pemberton Fund," - an aggre- gate of similar bequests, deriving its name from the largest giver, - but remains distinct as the "Poor Widow's Fund," amounting to $3,200 (ISSI).
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
possession has been seriously challenged at various times, bring- ing in dispute the whole question of the doctrinal and ecclesi- astical status of the church, and fanning passions whose glow has happily so far died away that we can tread, with care, upon their ashes.
Mr. William Price had emigrated to Boston from England many years before. In carly life a cabinet-maker, he is described William Drive in 1770 as a "Pickterman,"-his occupation then being that of a dealer in engravings1 and books. He first appears in our records as temporary organist in 1713. He was a zealous churchman, holding a pew in cach of the three Episcopal churches. He contributed toward the crection of Christ Church, and was a vestryman from 1726 to 1742-43, junior warden in 1731, and senior warden from 1732 to 1735; while Nov. 1, 1736, he made " a Voluntary offer to the Church Wardens and Vestry " of that church, to " Officiate as Organist in said church for One Year Certain without demanding any Sallery for the Same." 2
When Trinity Church was erected, in 1732, he was one of the building committee, contributed largely toward its cost, and was cither a vestryman or a warden there from 1745 to 1753; and when King's Chapel was rebuilt, he was among the contributors, and thenceforward attended divine worship in that church until his death. Dying at the good old age of 87 years, possessed of a competence, he desired to do something for the benefit of each of the churches with which he had been connected, and especially of that where he had worshipped during his closing years.3 His will, dated Nov. 30, 1770, accordingly devised to
1 Concerning his View of Boston, see emnly reminded how absolutely certain Mass. ITist. Society's Proceedings for May, ISSo, xviii. GS, 69.
2 Vestry Book of Christ Church.
3 Ile ordered that his burial should be from Trinity Church, and desired that a funeral sermon be preached " by Dr. Henry Caner, if living and able," or by the Rev. Mr. Walter, from Deut. xxxii. 39, 40, " for which good service of preach- ing said sermon, I give to him that shall perform the same Two Pounds sterling. . . . This sermon I propose particularly for the good and instruction of all such of my friends and acquaintance as shall attend my funeral; and with a general view and desire that all present may thereby receive a benefit, by being sol-
and unavoidable Death is, and not with a view of anything being said of me, which I desire may be avoided; for 1 am a sinful man, O Lord."
" It is almost sad to note in Paterson's ' Pietas Londinensis ' the number of com- memorative sermons founded in Lon- don parishes under the vain hope of perpetuating a name for ever. At that time, however, 'all these lectures were constantly observed on their appointed days.' . . . Towards the end of the cen- tury guinea or half-guinea funeral ser- mons, though they held their ground here and there, were happily falling into disuse." - Church of England in the Eighteenth Century, ii. 497, 498.
421
THE PRICE FUND.
King's Chapel his mansion house on Cornhill, reserving a life interest in it for his wife and his two nieces, Sarah and Margaret Creese, enjoining them to keep it " in very good repair at their own expence."1 The income of this estate at the time of Mr. Price's death amounted to £20 yearly. He provided that the estate should pass, after the decease of his wife and nieces, to the rector and wardens of King's Chapel, and to their successors in trust forever :2 (1) Directing that from its rents and profits forty shillings yearly should be set apart as a fund for the church, only the interest of which should be used; (2) Establishing a course of Lenten Sermons on doctrinal and practical subjects, for each of which £2 were to be paid to the preacher, - £16 in all; (3) Providing for a charitable collection for the benefit of the poor in the three churches with which he had been con- nected, to be taken up after each of these sermons, and to which forty shillings of the annual income of the estate were to be added; and (4) Providing that if, after the proper repairs on his house and tomb, there should remain any surplusage, that also should constitute a fund to be put out at interest by the minister and wardens of King's Chapel for the time being. He further appointed the vestry of Trinity Church his visitors to
1 The estate had been purchased by (of which they were to repay {600 May Mr. Price, Sept. 27, 1736, as appears from the indenture, by which Thomas Creese of Newport, R. I., Apothecary, and Anne his wife, to Wm. I'rice, Cabinet-maker, in consideration of £2,000 in Bills of lawful credit, "do grant, bargain, sell, aliene, enfeoff, release, convey, and con- firm " their "certain Brick messuage or Tenement and Land . . . in Cornhill St. in Boston. . . . Also the free use, liberty, and Privilege of the Pump or Well of Water standing in the alley on the N. side of the said Creese's Land next to the meeting-house." Mr. Price had mar- ried, Dec. 20, 1727, Sarah Myles, a niece of Kev. S. Myles; Thomas Creese had married her sister Ann, Jan. 25, 1722.
[For a plan of the estate and the text of Mr. Price's will, see The William Price Fund. Trinity Church, in the City of Boston, ISS3, 4to. - EDITOR.]
2 Mr. Price may well have been en- couraged to make this bequest to the church, not only by the vote which had influenced Mrs. Brooker, but by his per- sonal knowledge of the financial straits into which the new building had brought the church. It appears from the files of papers that he had lent the wardens £1,200 at 5 per cent May 31, 1770
31, 17So), to enable them to repay " with lawfull interest " {600 which they had borrowed of the Episcopal Charitable So- ciety "for the rebuilding the Church." (July 22, 1771, the wardens gave a bond to Sarah Price, widow, for £400; but this seems to have been a further loan.) It was held by the church that Mr. Price intended to cover this loan by his be- quest ; and this view was sustained by the Court of Common Pleas when the Misses Creese brought a suit against the church in January, 1786. But Feb. 3, 1787, the ladies sued before the Su- preme Court of Massachusetts, as Execu- tors of William Price, for £1,149 7s. 2d .; and that court, Feb. 20, 1787, in the case of "Sarah Creese and Margaret Creese vs. Proprietors of Stone Chapel," re- versed the decision of the lower court in favor of said Proprietors, "being of opinion that Price's device to K. C. did not extinguish their previous indebted- ness to him," and decreeing that they " must pay S. and M. Creese £662 IOS. and costs taxed at £9 16s. 2d." The church mortgaged the shipyard in Au- gust to the Misses Creese as security for the payment, but September 15 paid £511 6s. 6d.
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
inspect the administration of the Trust, and directed that they should receive it in case of its non-acceptance by King's Chapel.
Mr. Price died May 17, 1771, when the sky was already dark with the gathering clouds of the Revolution, and Boston, and not least King's Chapel, was suffering from the disturbed state of public affairs. Under the careful ministry of Dr. Caner the affairs of the church had been managed with great method, and it is in the highest degree unlikely that a proper acceptance of this bequest can have been omitted or have failed to be re- corded. But within five years Dr. Caner was a Royalist fugitive, with a considerable portion of his parish, carrying with him a part of the records of the church. The baptismal, marriage, and burial " Registers " were recovered from his heirs in 1805; but the volume containing the Proprietors' Records at the date of the acceptance of the legacy is still missing, and it seems prob- able that it disappeared at this time. After the Revolution, in order that no difficulty might later arise on this ground, the donation of Mr. Price was accepted in the proper form, by Messrs. Freeman, Bulfinch, and Hutchinson, Aug. 30, 1789.
The estate, however, continued to be occupied by the devisees of Mr. Price as provided in his will, until the death of the last survivor, Sarah Creese, in 1809.1 Meantime the changes in the Liturgy of the church had been made, and the Rev. James Free- man had been ordained as its minister. The property had also considerably increased in value, and it is not improbable that Miss Creese could not rid herself of irritation against the church that was to inherit property which she wished to be free to de- vise to her favorite nephew, William Pelham.2 By a clause in her will she accordingly did so, giving as her reason the theo- logical and other changes which had been made at the church.
" 7"h Being thoroughly acquainted with the religious opinions and sen- timents of my deceased uncle, Mr. William Price ; knowing his strong attachment and invariable adherence to the worship, Doctrines, and Dis- cipline of the Church of England during my residence with him, from the year 1738 till the time of his decease ; knowing his abhorrence of all innovation, especially in matters of Religious Concern ; comparing these sentiments with the New Worship, doctrines, and discipline intro- duced into the Chapel formerly called the King's Chapel, - I now give solemn Testimony of my firm belief and thorough persuasion, that if he had lived to witness the Alterations alluded to he would have revoked his Devise to said chapel. . . . Considering, moreover, that the intentions of the Testator cannot now be fulfilled by the said Chapel Church, as
I Mrs. Sarah Price died March 25, 2 See N. E. Hist. and Gen. Register 1783; Margaret Creese, Feb. 10, 1809; for October, 1872, xxvi. 400. and Sarah Creese, April 21, 1809.
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THE PRICE FUND.
Expressed in his last Will, conceiving therefore that I have a right to the same, I do hereby give, devise, and bequeath unto my said Nephew William Pelham, his heirs and Assigns, all my right, title, and Interest whatsoever in and to the said tenement and land, and in and to the privileges and Appurtenances thereof."
It is certainly a singular form of religious scruple which made Miss Creese so sensitive to the theological heresies of the church which her uncle had selected to be his heir, while it prevented her from noticing that he had provided carefully that Trinity Church should receive the inheritance in case of the failure of King's Chapel.
The death of Sarah Creese, the last occupant having rights under Mr. Price's will, took place April 21, 1809. On April 26, by a vote of the Proprietors, their acceptance of the Price legacy was reaffirmed. But although his aunt had bequeathed to Will- iam Pelham what was not hers to give, she had installed him and his business in the house before her death; and he was a ten- ant who could not be persuaded either to pay rent or to quit the premises. At a Proprietors' meeting, Oct. 7, 1810, " the War- dens, D. Davis, Wm. Sullivan, and K. Boott, were appointed a committee to prosecute in and out of all courts of judicature the claim of the church to the Price estate; " but it was not till the March Term, Supreme Judicial Court, 1813, that the case came before the court.
" This was an action of formedon in remainder, in which James Free- man as rector, and Ebeneser Oliver and Joseph May as wardens, of King's Chapel, demanded against William Pelham, a certain mesuage and land in Boston." 1
Mr. Pelham set up the defence (1), That Mr. Price did not give the estate as alleged; (2), That the minister and wardens
1 9 Massachusetts Reports, 500-507. The case was argued by Davis, solicitor- general, and Otis for the demandants, and by Dexter and Jackson for the tenant. A letter from the distinguished counsel for the church is on file : -
BOSTON, 24 March, 1814.
GENTLEMEN, - Objections were made to my charges for services in the case of the King's Chapel vs. Pelham, and Mr. Oliver proposed that instead of one hun- dred and eighty dollars due to me, I should take one hundred and fifty. I declined this proposal, under an impres- sion that my charge for a successful
cause, of a very new and difficult char- acter, to which I had devoted much of my time, was in fact a very moderate one ; and that any deduction would imply the contrary. I have also reason to think that the Counsel on the opposite side will have received a much larger sum. But as the bill has now been paid, and it would be unpleasant with me to take more from a client than is satisfactory for the first time in my life, I beg leave to refund thirty dollars to be applied to the use of the Church. Being very re- spectfully, Gentlemen,
. Y' most obedt serve, H. G. OTIS.
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
of King's Chapel were not the lawful successors of those to whom the cstate was devised; and (3), That "the church or religious society mentioned " was not, at the time when this action was begun, an Episcopal church. It was contended in his behalf "that the corporation, to whom the devise in the case was made, was dissolved," having " ceased to be an Episcopal church, and . . . become absolutely Congregational or Inde- pendent ;" that though retaining the title of rector and wardens, it did not thereby continue Episcopal, since the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons are essential. "If the corporation is not extinct, the demandants are not the corporation. There may be proprietors of this church, who may hereafter unite, place themselves under Episcopal authority, and procure an Episcopal clergyman to be their minister, and being thus quali- ficd would be able to claim the devise." He claimed that " the remainder was contingent, depending on a preceding condition, and never vested in the demandants."
To this it was responded, that " the remainder was a vested one in the rector and wardens of King's Chapel church. If the acceptance of the devise was a precedent condition, that condi- tion was performed long before the death of the tenant for life." Moreover, " the changes which have been made in its discipline and forms of worship do not destroy the identity of the church nor the qualifications of its rector and wardens." The court held that Pelham, being a stranger and without title, could not set up this defence. "This was a vested remainder in the minister, etc., of King's Chapel, in trust for specified uses, with a con- tingent remainder over to the minister, etc., of Trinity Church; and it was a remainder vested in a corporation capable of taking. The proprietors of the pews in churches constitute the parishes in Boston, and several other of our seaport towns. Parishes have secured to them, by the declaration of rights, the election . of their ministers. Mr. Freeman is the minister de facto of this society, elected by the only authority capable of it. . . . The record shows it to be the same church to whose officers the devise was made." It was also said, and this sentence is signifi- cant as containing the seeds of the next law suit: " If by any alteration in their doctrines, worship, or discipline, this parish has incurred a forfeiture of the demanded premises, it is for the heirs of the devisor to avail themselves of it." 1
1 A note in the reprint of these Re- not well reported," and that as "there ports, Boston, IS58, by the editor, Ben- was no proof that " the bequest had been accepted in the manner set forth, "it is jamin Rand, Esq., states that " this case is
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THE PRICE FUND.
The "Suit against William Pelham, bookseller," was thus de- cided in favor of the church.
The last step toward obtaining possession of their property by Mr. Price's appointed heirs was the issue of a writ ousting Pelham, and recovering $149.69 damages: " And we command you," the writ continued in the stern fashion of the time, " to take the body of the said Pelham, and him commit unto our Gaol in our county of Suffolk aforesaid, and detain in your cus- tody within our said Gaol, until he pay the full sums abovemen- tioned with your fees, or that he be discharged by the said Free- man, Oliver, and May, in their said capacities, or otherwise by order of law."
On Easter Monday, 1813, at the first Proprictors' meeting after the church had thus obtained possession of its property, the junior warden read an extract from Mr. Price's will as en- joined in that document, and the church proceeded to enter, with scrupulous fidelity, on the discharge of its trust. An im- portant part of this was the provision of a course of Lenten Lectures in King's Chapel, the first sermon "to be preached by the rector of said King's Chapel, his assistant reading prayers; the second sermon by said assistant, the minister of Christ's Church reading prayers; the third sermon by said minister of Christ's Church, the minister of Trinity Church reading prayers ; the fourth sermon by said minister of Trinity Church, the rector of King's Chapel reading prayers; the fifth sermon by said rector of King's Chapel, his assistant reading prayers; the sixth sermon by said assistant, the minister of Christ's Church reading prayers; the seventh sermon by the said minister of Christ's Church, the minister of Trinity Church reading prayers ; the eighth sermon by the minister of Trinity Church, the rec- tor of King's Chapel reading prayers." The preachers in sub- sequent years were to be in such an order that each might preach on every one of the eight subjects within four years.
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