USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Church of Our Savior, Protestant Episcopal, in Longwood, Massachusetts > Part 5
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The funeral service was held in this Memorial Church, August 25, 1886, and was conducted by the rector, Reverend Reginald Heber Howe, D.D., assisted by Rev- erend Arthur Lawrence, a nephew of the deceased and a son of his dearly loved brother, William. The casket was borne from the Church by eight other nephews. The last journey was made through Cambridge, past Lawrence Hall, which he had built, to Mount Auburn Cemetery, and the family lot received all that was mortal of one whose soul was with the Saviour whom he had implicitly trusted and worshipped. The stone which marks the spot where lies his body bears an inscription of his own choosing-a text he had often recited for the comfort of others:
Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
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CHAPTER V
WILLIAM RICHARDS LAWRENCE
LEARNED DOCTOR AND CHURCHMAN WHO JOINED WITH HIS BROTHER AMOS IN THE GIFT OF THIS CHURCH
WILLIAM RICHARDS LAWRENCE, who joined with his brother Amos Adams Lawrence in the gift of the edifice of The Church of Our Saviour to the corporation bearing its name, who suggested the building of the same and that it be made a memorial to their father, Mr. Amos Law- rence, and who was the first Senior Warden of the Church, was the oldest son of Amos Lawrence and was born in Boston, May 3, 1812. His middle name was the family name of his mother. Upon the death of his mother in 1819, he, with his brother Amos who was two years younger, was sent to the old Lawrence farm homestead in Groton where both were cared for by their grand- parents and aunts, for a period of some two years. There William attended the Groton Academy, now called Law- rence Academy. Upon their father's second marriage in 1821 they returned to Boston to live in the new home. William entered the Boston Latin School, but in 1824 was sent to Dummer Academy in Byfield of which Nehemiah Cleaveland was principal. In that Academy he studied three years and then spent one year in the Lyceum in Gardiner, Maine. It was his father's ambition that he should have the advantage of residence and study
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(Photo by the Alfred Brown Studio, Brookline)
WILLIAM RICHARDS LAWRENCE, M.D. From portrait in the Robing Room
WILLIAM RICHARDS LAWRENCE
abroad. Therefore, in the autumn of 1828, when sixteen years old, he was sent to Paris where he spent a winter studying the French and Spanish languages. For a time thereafter he resided with a private family in Versailles. During his two and one half years in Paris and vicinity he witnessed the revolution in 1830, the overthrow of Charles X and the enthronement of Louis Philippe. He saw much of General Lafayette, then an old man, and visited in his house. In February 1831, he went to Spain, travelled through several provinces by chaise and on horseback and spent some time in Madrid, living there in the home of a lady who had also entertained Henry W. Longfellow. After touring Switzerland he spent another winter in Paris, visited Great Britain in the spring of 1832, and then returned home, having spent three and one half years in European study and travel and acquired a good knowledge of French and Spanish which was to serve him well in after years.
In the autumn of 1832, he entered the counting room of his father's commission house, A and A Lawrence, se- cured some business experience and then entered into partnership with Samuel Frothingham, continuing for several years in commercial life. His health, never robust, caused him to spend the winter of 1834 in the South and in Cuba. In 1835, he became a member of the "French" Club, composed mainly of young men who had spent some time in Europe. Out of this Club grew the present Somerset Club of Boston.
On December 6, 1838, in St. Paul's Church, Boston, Mr. Lawrence was united in marriage with Susan Coombs Dana, daughter of Reverend Samuel Dana of Marble- head. Following his marriage he resided for some years in Brookline where two sons were born. In 1841 he
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entered Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1845. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1846, retaining membership therein until 1857. With his family he went to Paris again and spent sixteen months studying hospitals and attending clinics. This experience, and his earlier acquired knowledge of French, assisted him in writing, later in life, a book of over 200 pages on The Charities of France. Returning home, he joined his father in establishing a Children's Infirmary. He took up his residence in one of the houses forming a colonnade on Tremont Street between West and Boyl- ston Streets, Boston. Those houses were of brick and had small lots in front surrounded by iron fences painted black. They were very attractive in appearance, but all disappeared before the end of the Nineteenth Century to make room for lofty commercial structures built down to the sidewalk. In 1851, Dr. Lawrence, who had become a doctor of medicine, purchased a house on Beacon Street opposite Arlington Street. It was the last house on that street in the direction of the mill dam, and all that is now the Back Bay residential section was open water or sand. He lived there only a few years and in 1866 moved to Longwood and became a near neighbor of his brother Amos.
In his earlier years, Dr. Lawrence became a member of the New England Emigrant Aid Society and aided his brother Amos, who was treasurer of the Society, in his successful efforts to prevent the introduction of slavery into Kansas.
Dr. Lawrence was active in the founding of various institutions for the help of the poor, the sickly and the suffering. Besides the Children's Infirmary, he had much to do with the founding of the Boston City Hospital
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and the Boston Dispensary, being a member of the first board of trustees of each. He was also one of the founders and a trustee of the Church Home for Orphans and Destitute Children and of St. Luke's Home for Con- valescents in Roxbury. He wrote a history of the Boston Dispensary, a book of 243 pages published in 1859. He labored zealously in behalf of the Boston Provident As- sociation and the State Girls' School in Lancaster.
Dr. Lawrence's religious nature was as keenly de- veloped as that of his brother Amos, and also showed the effects of his father's early instruction and admonition. As a young man he taught a class in the Church School of St. Paul's in Boston, having as pupils Phillips Brooks, who later became rector of Trinity Church, Boston, and bishop of the Massachusetts diocese; Arthur J. C. Sow- den, Charles H. Appleton and Hasket Derby, all of whom became prominent in adult life. He also taught a class in an orphan asylum on Washington Street, Boston. He had much to do in the establishment of St. John's Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain, and Emmanuel Church in Boston. He served as a Warden in each of those Churches, and on the organization of The Church of Our Saviour became its first Senior Warden.
Dr. Lawrence edited and published the Diary and correspondence of his father, Amos Lawrence, a book which in the third quarter of the Nineteenth Century exerted a powerful influence for good upon young men. A parent could do no better by a son than to make him a present of a copy of that book. While at first intended only for family circulation an extra edition was issued at the request of students in Williams College and others.
It has been stated, upon excellent authority, that one
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of the world's greatest philanthropists, an American citi- zen, who has given away many millions of dollars, has con- fessed that he received the inspiration for his many char- ities from reading that book and its record of Amos Lawrence's decision to administer his own estate and his method of so doing. It is quite probable that many other philanthropists have been similarly influenced. The world can never know to what extent it is indebted to the ex- ample of Amos Lawrence, and this story of his life writ- ten by his son, for the many endowments, foundations and other charities from which it derives great benefit.
His brother, Amos A. Lawrence, generously gives to Dr. Lawrence the credit for suggesting the building of The Church of Our Saviour and also the credit of sug- gesting that it be made a memorial to their father.
During his last years Dr. Lawrence was afflicted with a spinal trouble and was obliged to have an attendant on his walks. His death in Swampscott in 1885, has been previously recorded in the Sketch of his brother Amos, in Chapter IV.
Dr. Lawrence's wife died in Magnolia, August 14, 1900. As a memorial to their father and mother their three sons built and gave to St. Luke's Home in Roxbury the beautiful St. Luke's Chapel, which seats some seventy persons. The cornerstone was laid, November 21, 1901, by Bishop William Lawrence, assisted by Reverend Arthur Lawrence, D.D., and Reverend Reginald Heber Howe, D.D., rector of The Church of Our Saviour, also by Right Reverend Charles Henry Brent, bishop-elect of the Philippines. The Chapel was consecrated by Bishop Lawrence, November 8, 1902.
A characteristic of these two brothers is that they did not wait until life was nearly over before bestowing upon
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others wealth for which they would have little further use, but, like their father, they sought to administer a good portion of their estates in their lifetime, thus wit- nessing to their Christian faith and sharing the satisfac- tion of such beneficence.
Recalling their labors for the Christian faith, with like spirit and sympathy, and their entrance into the life eternal so near together-William on September 20, 1885, and Amos on August 22, 1886, a double tablet may now be seen in The Church of Our Saviour, bearing the names of both, and underneath, cut in enduring bronze, the words:
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Together they built this Church in mem- ory of their father, Amos Lawrence
Lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their death they were not di- vided.
The fitting welcome of these two servants of Jesus Christ into the final abode of the blessed is that of their Master:
Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom pre- pared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. . . . Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, ye did it unto me.
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CHAPTER VI
THE EARLY RECTORS
REVEREND ELLIOTT D. TOMKINS, 1868-73 REVEREND FRANK L. NORTON, 1874-76
REVEREND ELLIOTT D. TOMKINS, first rector of The Church of Our Saviour, was born in Philadelphia. His father was a member of the first vestry of The Church of the Incarnation in that city. In childhood Mr. Tomkins became a member of the Sunday School of The Church of the Incarnation, and later a lay reader in that Church. In 1858 he graduated from the College of the City of New York and gained his theological education in the Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. On No- vember 21, 1862, he was ordained deacon in The Church of the Incarnation and became an assistant to the rector of that Church. In 1864 he was ordained a priest, in Christ Church, Bay Ridge, New York, by Bishop Horatio Potter. His first rectorate was at St. John's Church, Northampton, Massachusetts, from which he was called in 1868, to The Church of our Saviour. After leaving Longwood he served as rector of St. James' Church, Long Branch, New Jersey, from 1873 to 1896.
After a loyal and devoted service of five years and two months, Reverend Elliott D. Tomkins resigned the rec- torate of The Church of Our Saviour in a letter dated May 17, 1873, addressed to the Junior Warden, Mr. Sam-
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(Photo by the Alfred Brown Studio, Brookline)
REVEREND ELLIOTT D. TOMKINS From portrait in the Robing Room
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(Photo by the Alfred Brown Studio, Brookline)
REVEREND FRANK L. NORTON From portrait in the Robing Room
THE EARLY RECTORS
uel L. Bush, in which he stated that family cares, nervous exhaustion and need of a change and rest, compelled the step, and added, "I have been very happy amongst you." The Wardens and Vestry meeting June 2, 1873, adopted the following resolution :
RESOLVED: That the vestry of The Church of Our Saviour learns with deep regret that the Reverend E. D. Tomkins finds himself unable for reasons set forth in his letter of May 17 to continue his connection with this parish, and while the reasons stated in that letter cannot in our judgment be obviated by any act of ours, it is therefore deemed expedient, in compliance with our Rector's request, to accept his resignation of the Rectorship.
RESOLVED: That we desire and do hereby place on record our full appreciation of the deep interest which our Rector has at all times manifested in the spiritual welfare of this Church, his earnest piety and devoted love for Our Lord and Saviour, the Great Head of the Church, his consistent walk as a Minister of Christ, and of his faithful devotion to the Sunday School, which under his care has been signally blessed.
That in whatever field he may hereafter be called to labor, we pray that God's blessing may ever attend him, that he may be restored to perfect health and enabled to devote himself with renewed energies to the great work to which his life has been consecrated.
That a committee be appointed to address a letter to our much esteemed Rector, expressing the sentiments of this vestry on severance of the ties which have united us as Pastor and People for the past five years.
It was voted that the salary of the Rector be continued until October 1, although he had requested to be relieved of his duties on August 1. The Junior Warden, Sam- uel L. Bush, and Mr. Amos A. Lawrence and Mr. Robert
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Amory of the Vestry were appointed a committee to present at a subsequent meeting the names of candidates eligible for the office of Rector.
At a special meeting of the Wardens and Vestry on February 16, 1874, it was unanimously voted to call to the Rectorate, Reverend Frank L. Norton who had of- ficiated the previous Sunday in the Church. The election of Mr. Norton was confirmed by the corporation at its annual meeting April 6.
Reverend Frank L. Norton, second rector of The Church of Our Saviour, was born in Norwich, Connecti- cut, being a son of Timothy P. and Jane (Tyler) Norton. He was the eighth of a line of Nortons who had been farmers, millers and merchants in the towns of Guilford, Branford and Norwich, Connecticut, since 1639. He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1868 and received a Master of Arts degree in 1871. His training in theology was received in Berkeley Divinity School, then located in Middletown, Connecticut, but later moved to New Haven, Connecticut. Bishop Williams, for many years bishop of the Connecticut diocese, was one of his in- tructors. After graduating from the divinity school he served for two years as an assistant to Reverend Doctor Dix in St. Thomas' Church, New York. His first rec- torate was that of The Church of Our Saviour to which he was called in 1874 to succeed Reverend Elliott D. Tomkins.
Mr. Norton's services as rector continued very happily until November 1, 1876. His resignation of the charge was read at a special meeting of the Wardens and Vestry, September 15 of that year. It was dated August 22. In the letter he stated that he was happy in his parish and
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THE EARLY RECTORS
had no personal desire to change, but he had been called to St. John's Church, Troy, New York, a position which he had in no way sought, that the Troy Church was entirely united on him and that if he declined a split in the Church was threatened. His preference was to remain in Longwood, but wise counsellors had advised him that his duty lay in the other direction. He closed with these paragraphs: "The decision has been honestly, prayer- fully, thoughtfully made and I can only ask that none of you will say one word to make the sorrow more bitter for me than it is, by discouraging the step, which is now irrevocable. Thanking you for the kind consideration which has ever marked our intercourse in the relation of Pastor and people and invoking God's choicest bless- ings upon you I hereby tender my resignation. . . . "
The resignation was accepted and the following reso- lution adopted :
RESOLVED: That the Wardens and Vestry have received with sincere regret the resignation of the Reverend Frank L. Norton as Rector of The Church of Our Saviour and they de- sire not only to place upon the records of the parish but to ex- press to the Reverend Mr. Norton directly the high esteem and love with which his people have learned to regard him during his pastorate. The attendance upon the Church services has increased, large confirmation classes have added to the num- ber of communicants and the Parish life has continued with unvarying harmony. The Rector, Reverend Mr. Norton, may rest assured that the continued prayers of his people will ascend to the Great Head of the Church that life, health and strength may be granted unto him, and that spiritual blessings in abundance may crown his future labors.
After a service of some years as rector of St. John's Church, Troy, New York, Mr. Norton was called to
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St. John's Church, Washington, D.C. He subsequently became Dean of The Cathedral in Albany, New York, under Bishop Doane, and served a term as rector of St. Stephen's Church in Lynn, Massachusetts. St. Stephen's College in Annandale, New York, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Dr. Norton passed away July 2, 1891.
At a meeting of the Wardens and Vestry of The Church of Our Saviour, October 21, 1876, a committee reported favoring the selection of Reverend Reginald Heber Howe of Quincy as Rector. At a meeting De- cember 18, the Corporation formally elected Mr. Howe and the latter's acceptance letter, dated January 13, was read at an adjourned meeting that same day.
In November, 1870, the Wardens and Vestry requested the music committee to engage a choir of boys, and in January 1871, the same committee was requested to en- gage a competent person to lead the congregation in the service of song on occasions of public worship. On May 28, 1887, the Wardens and Vestry acknowledged a gift from the Guild of vestments for the choir and voted, there being one dissenting voice, that the choir might wear surplices under direction of the music committee.
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CHAPTER VII
REVEREND REGINALD HEBER HOWE, D.D. RECTOR, 1877-1919
ON Quinquagesima Sunday, in February, 1877, Rev- erend Reginald Heber Howe, D.D., who had spent a little over five years in the rectorate of Christ Church, Quincy, Massachusetts, became third rector of The Church of Our Saviour, and entered upon a service which was to continue actively for forty-two years and as Rector Emeritus in retirement for five years longer until his promotion to the higher life, which occurred June 6, 1924.
Dr. Howe was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, April 9th, 1846, son of Bishop M. A. de Wolfe Howe. When he was nine months old the family moved to Philadel- phia, where he spent his boyhood, his father then being rector of St. Luke's Church in that City. He graduated from Brown University in 1866, at the age of 20, and was given the Master of Arts degree by his alma mater in 1869 and the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1894. His divinity course was taken in the Philadelphia Divinity School, from which he graduated as a Bachelor of Divinity in 1869. In that year he became a deacon in the Protestant Episcopal Church and was advanced to the priesthood in the following year. In 1869 he served as an assistant in Saint Luke's Church in Philadelphia, and in 1870-71 occupied a similar position in Grace Church in Providence, Rhode Island. He served as rector
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of Trinity Church in Milford, Massachusetts, in 1871-72, and of Christ Church in Quincy in 1872-77. From the latter place he was called to The Church of Our Saviour.
As a preacher Dr. Howe declared his aim to be to pro- vide a service reverent and worshipful, to avoid excessive ritual on the one hand and too much baldness and bare- ness on the other; in short to make the service beautiful, devotional and homelike, promoting restfulness and peace; not to exploit in the pulpit subjects of which all receive a plethora during the week from books, maga- zines and newspapers, but to preach the Gospel, for which he believed all men were hungry; to reveal God's love and mercy, and to expound the true teaching of the text chosen, and its bearing on the great questions of life, in order to satisfy the longing heart of humanity.
The church grew slowly but substantially under his ministry so that at his twenty-fifth anniversary he was able to report 198 baptisms, 211 confirmations and 70 marriages; and while burials numbered 104, the number of communicants had risen from 109 to 300. On that occasion Dr. Howe gave utterance to a statement which further revealed his motives and his estimate of his mission. He said:
Of the work of a Christian church, the chief work it exists to do, no figures can measure, no statistics represent. The quiet work that goes on in the soul of man under the blessing of God's Holy Spirit, upon the word faithfully taught and preached, upon worship in His Holy Temple, upon the diligent use of all the means of grace, the vows and prayers of con- secration, the uplifting of the heart, the penitence and sense of forgiveness and the blessed peace of God found in communion with Him, as heart after heart has thankfully opened itself to His gracious influence, this blessed progress, the highest, the
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(Photo by the Alfred Brown Studio, Brookline)
REVEREND REGINALD HEBER HOWE, D.D. From portrait in the Robing Room
REGINALD HEBER HOWE, D.D.
truest of all to which all these agencies are only as the means to the end, this no eye can see, no tongue can tell in its fullness and completeness.
How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given So God imparts to human hearts The blessing of His heaven.
One of the most distinctive acts of Dr. Howe's rectorate was the abandonment of the rented pew system, which prevailed in most Protestant churches, and the intro- duction of a system of free pews. This occurred in 1881, at the urgent request of Dr. Howe, although some mem- bers of the parish viewed the change with much appre- hension. The Church of Our Saviour was one of the pioneers in this movement, which has since become rather general. Dr. Howe opposed the idea that "mer- chandise be made of the House of God." He desired that no person, however limited in means, need be absent from church because of inability to pay pew rent. He believed that free sittings promoted a sense of brother- hood, and that using the offertory as a means of church support leads the people to regard the offering as an ele- ment of worship. For over half a century now sittings in this church have been free, and for many years the weekly envelope system, with an annual pledge day in December, has furnished the principal source of meeting church expenses.
Another important innovation made by Dr. Howe was the formation of the Parish Aid Society with departments on employment and visiting. Longwood had no poor people at that time, but plenty of such lived nearby in the Roxbury Crossing section of Boston. Dr. Howe dis-
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played a keen sense of social responsibility, of which much is heard nowadays, but which was not so common at that time, in saying that Longwood, for its own good as well as for the benefit of the poor of Roxbury, should take an interest in the welfare of the latter. He made arrange- ments with the rector of St. John's Parish in Roxbury by which the section west of Parker and Tremont Streets was committed to the care of The Church of Our Saviour and a visitor was employed for that region. Later a union was affected with the Associated Charities under which about half the visitors in that locality were main- tained by this church. Dr. Howe once reported that "in its relations to the Woman's Auxiliary and to the City Mission the Aid Society took rank with the largest city parishes in the amount and excellence of its benefactions to the missionary work of the church."
Dr. Howe early organized the Young Peoples Aid Society from a class of young women in the Church School. This was soon enlarged into two bodies, one of men and one of women, each independently organized, but working in harmony. The first object was to secure funds for repairing and increasing the furniture in Church and Parish Room. In 1883 its purpose was extended to the advancement of the spiritual welfare of the parish by promoting zeal, order and decorum in church services and work. Under the name of The Guild it became a very active and useful organization, raising some thou- sands of dollars for the parish. Dr. Howe once referred to this organization as a fine body of young men and young women with a strong sense of their responsibility to the church and the church's work and worship, many of whom he had baptized as infants and had lived to baptize some of their children.
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