USA > Massachusetts > History of the Diocese of Massachusetts, 1810-1872 > Part 21
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20. JM, 1867 p. 35.
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thus there remained a need for a chapel, library, and 'for additional endowments'. The outlook for the provision of these further needs, was, he felt, sure of speedy success'.21 He concluded his mention of the school by 'rejoicing' that its present control lay with men whose churchmanship rested on 'those great principles of protes- tant, evangelical truth, which our standards inculcate'.22 In his subsequent diocesan addresses, Eastburn reported visits to the school, first for the laying of the cornerstone of St. John's Chapel, then visitations for confirmations and ordinations. 23 He consecrat- ed the chapel on 16 November 1869, and in June 1870 he attended the Annual Examination of the Students', whom he found 'pro- ficient'. He presided at the school's first and second commence- ments in June 1871 and 1872.24 The bishop approved of the school in every way, and, at his death, left to it a bequest of books and money. 25
The important fact about the school was its independence of control by either the bishop or the annual conventions of the dio- cese. The school required no canvassing of the parishes throughout the diocese to obtain funds for buildings. A group of Boston busi- nessmen cared enough about maintaining the Church in Massachu- setts in the form represented, for example, by St. Paul's and Em- manuel parishes in Boston, to provide theological training for fu- ture ministers.26 Yet the independent organization of the school was typical of the diocese as seen through many of its member par- ishes. When Bishop Eastburn reported his laying of the corner- stone of St. John's Memorial Chapel, Cambridge, 24 July 1868, he said that Robert M. Mason's gift had two objects. First, the chapel was to be a memorial to his wife and to his brother, the Rev. Charles Mason. Then, the chapel was for the 'candidates for the ministry'
21. JM, 1867, pp. 35-36.
22. JM, 1867, p. 36. By 'our', Eastburn could only have meant 'my standards and those of the persons who think like me'. The churchmanship represented by the Church of the Advent and some other parishes always bothered the bishop.
23. JM, 1869, pp. 22-23, 34; 1870, p. 32; 1871, p. 24.
24. JM, 1871, p. 21; 1872, p. 21; 1873, pp. 27-28. In his visit of June 1872 the bishop admitted the six graduates to dea- con's orders.
25. Muller, ETS, p. 49.
26. Reed, A. A. Lawrence, R. M. Ma- son, J. H. Burnham, and the Rev. J. F. Copley Greene were 'early benefactors' of the school. Muller, ETS, pp. 35-38.
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at the school and 'such of the students at Harvard University, and such of the inhabitants of Cambridge, as may choose to attend, the preaching of the Word, and the other stated services of the House of God'.27 Both the absence of religion among Harvard students and the small number of Episcopalian students still concerned some prominent members of the diocese who lived near Boston. 28
Some three weeks before he officiated at the laying of the corner- stone of St. John's Chapel, Cambridge, Bishop Eastburn resigned as rector of Trinity Church after holding that place for twenty-six years.29 The bishop was sixty-seven years old. None of his succes- sors was to be obliged to serve both as bishop and acting rector of any parish. As Trinity's rector the bishop had received $3000 a year, and as diocesan he had been paid $1000. Now it was proposed that to 'en- able the bishop to give up his duties as rector and to devote his whole time to the episcopate', the income of 'the present Bishop' should be $4500.30 To pay this amount, more than double the amount of capital funds in the hands of the Trustees of Donations was needed. In 1865 the capital sum held by the Trustees of Dona- tions for the bishop's support was about $20,000. To this amount the Committee on the Increase for the Fund for the Support of the Bishop suggested adding $30,000. The committee also proposed to raise this $30,000 by fixing a parish quota equal to the salary of its rector for one year.31 Six dollars from each of the 9319 communi-
27. JM, 1869, pp. 22-23. The architects of the chapel were Ware and Van Brunt; the cost was some $70,000. JM, 1870, pp. 27-28.
28. Pres. Everett of Harvard, twenty- two years earlier (in 1846) found 'great fault with the dead state of the College in religious matters'. In writing to R. H Dana, Jr., in 1852, however, he doubted the value of a theological school in Cam- bridge, 'especially in this sagacious age, which has found out that Biblical learning is a very useless study'. The first quotation is from a letter of R. H. Dana, Jr., Boston, 24 June 1846, to his father. The second quote is from Edward Everett, Boston, 5 April 1852 to R. H. Dana, Jr. 'Dana MSS',
Massachusetts Historical Society.
29. JM, 1869, pp. 22, 37. Eastburn re- signed 1 July 1868. The Rev. Phillips Brooks 'took charge' of Trinity 31 Oct. 1869.
30. JM, 1865, p. 54; 1868, pp. 47-48. Dr. G. C. Shattuck reported to the conven- tion of 1868 that the fund the interest from which was to supply the bishop's income of $4500 totaled only $45,000.
31. The income from $50,000 did not, of course, pay Bishop Eastburn $4500. One Boston church, Trinity, pledged $1000 annually for his salary, while three other parishes pledged $500 jointly : the Advent, Emmanuel, and St. Paul's. JM, 1865, pp. 53-57, 151 (appendix); JM,
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cants in the diocese in 1865 would have raised the endowment goal.32 Four Boston parishes made the salary up to $4500 for Bish- op Eastburn from 1868 until his death in 1872 (see n. 31). At Eastburn's death the Boston parishes no longer contributed this $1500. At the meeting of the diocesan convention on 4 December 1872 to elect a new bishop, Dr. Shattuck made two motions relative to the bishop's salary. One was to increase the episcopal fund by $50,000 to a total of $100,000. The other motion was to advance the salary of the bishop to be elected to $6000. Both motions were adopted by the convention.33 In 1875 Dr. Shattuck had to report that the new (1872) episcopal fund was only $84,000, still $16,000 short of the amount named by the convention. 34
The difficulty which confronted Dr. Shattuck and the other members of the Committee on the Increase of the Episcopal Fund revealed once again the parochial or congregational aspect of the Church in Massachusetts. Wholly in the hands of a group of Epis- copalian lay professional and businessmen, the building and endow- ment of the Episcopalian Theological School, a project involving several hundred thousand dollars, was accomplished by a group of Boston men with no difficulty or delays. On the diocesan level and handled by a committee appointed in the annual conventions, the bishop's fund, finally set at $100,000, was more than $10,000 away from its quota fifteen years later.35 Thirty-three parishes gave noth- ing to the fund during its first decade (1864-74), though the fund committee 'did not put on their list dead and dying parishes'.36 In analyzing what parishes did or did not pay assessments to the fund, Dr. Shattuck had to point out how large an amount, 'more than nine-tenths', came from city parishes. Among the cities, Boston was, of course, outstanding. The four parishes of Trinity, St.
1873, p. 56. The Canon of 1844, directing that 'In every parish in this Diocese, a Col- lection shall be annually made on Trinity Sunday, ... to be added to the permanent fund for the support of the Bishop . . . ' failed to be taken seriously. JM, 1865, p. 53; 1873, p. 57.
32. JM, 1865, p. 56. 32. JM, 1872, special convention, p. 24.
34. JM, 1875, pp. 56-58; 1874, p. 47.
35. JM, 1879, p. 53. It should be noted that through voluntary gifts the bishop's salary of $6000 was paid.
36. JM, 1874, p. 46.
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Paul's, Emmanuel, and the Advent gave nearly a third of the 1865 fund, and about one quarter of the 1872 fund. 37
For the enlightenment of the non-paying or the little paying parishes, Dr. Shattuck read them a lesson on the importance of "our Chief Minister'. The parishes had contented themselves with the bare necessity of an annual episcopal visitation for confirma- tion. Only when the bishop did not have to serve as rector of Trin- ity (which parish paid most of his support), did he have time for diocesan and other parochial ministrations. 38 Lack of awareness of the importance of the episcopacy influenced also the parish minis- ter, Dr. Shattuck found. Then he noted the obvious fact that a "business and financial' vocation brought in, usually, a greater re- turn than a professional occupation; and among the professions the least 'pecuniary returns' came from the clerical profession. Then in reference to Massachusetts he said, "The stipends of the clergy in the Diocese are very small .. . '.39 In speaking for the bishop's fund, he stated that 'Massachusetts is one of the very few Dioceses in which adequate provision is not made for the support of the Bish- op'.40 As a clinching argument in behalf of the bishop's fund, Dr. Shattuck made a statement that every churchman should have known from the time he was twelve years old, or at least from the time of his confirmation : 'Bishops, Priests, and Deacons are essen- tial parts of our ecclesiastical polity .. . of our glorious heritage'.41
It is clear from Bishop Eastburn's own account of how he spent his time as diocesan that activities not directly connected with his diocese took an important share of his time and thought.42 Yet parochial complaints that the bishop was neglecting a parish or not
37. The figures break down to $16,210 of $50,000 in 1863-64, and $11,500 of $50,000 in 1872-73. JM, 1875, p. 56; 1873, p. 56.
38. JM, 1874, pp. 46-47.
39. JM, 1865, p. 55.
40. JM, 1865, p. 56.
41. JM, 1865, p. 55. A delegate to the annual diocesan conventions from the Church of the Advent, Dr. Shattuck was well read in what 'Episcopal' meant in the Church's title.
42. Meetings of the American Church Missionary Society, the American Bible Society, the Tract Society, Protestant Epis- copal Society for the Promotion of Evan- gelical Knowledge, Boston Young Mens Christian Association, Boston Branch of the Evangelical Alliance for the United States of America, and the Evangelical Educational Society were included in the Bishop's official activities. JM, 1861, p. 17; 1863, p. 24; 1864, p. 26; 1865, p. 20; 1866, pp. 26-27; 1870, pp. 27, 35.
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performing an office which was usual for the diocesan to perform were very rare. In the annual convention of 1864, the Rev. Theo- dore Edson of Lowell formally complained that Bishop Eastburn "for the last four or five years' had not been willing to perform the "office of Institution of Ministers into Parishes or Churches . . . ', or to delegate the service to another minister. Edson also wished that the bishop be requested to administer the Holy Communion at a service of consecration when requested by the rector or wardens. Edson also wanted the bishop to resume the practice of administer- ing 'the Holy Rite of Confirmation to such sick or dying persons as may desire to receive it . . . '.43 Edson's complaints of, and sugges- tions to, the bishop, put in the form of resolutions, were quickly and 'indefinitely postponed' by the convention. 44
However much Bishop Eastburn appeared reluctant to perform some of the offices in the Book of Common Prayer, or to combine the service of Holy Communion with other services such as the In- stitution of Ministers into churches or chapels, he obviously wel- comed the duty of consecrating churches and chapels.
At the time of his death, 11 September 1872, he had reported to the annual conventions fifty-nine consecrations. Fourteen of these services occurred in parishes which had had church buildings al- ready consecrated. Fire, dilapidation, or razing for replacement usually by a stone church, accounted for this number. The remain- ing forty-five were new parishes. 45 Of these forty-five parishes, twelve were in what is now the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. 46
43. JM, 1864, pp. 61-62. Bishop East- burn instituted the Rev. W. R. Nicholson D.D., into the rectorship of St. Paul's, Bos- ton, 11 Jan. 1860, but there is no evidence of his performing the service for the Rev. Phillips Brooks at Trinity on 31 Oct. 1869. JM, 1860, pp. 20-21. The rubric of the Book of Common Prayer of Bishop East- burn's time stated that the Office of Insti- tution was permissive, not mandatory; also the bishop was to determine whether or not the 'presbyter' to be instituted into office was " "a qualified Minister of this Church." ' The Book of Common Prayer etc.
(Philadelphia, 1883), p. 559.
44. JM, 1864, p. 62.
45. Trinity parish, Nantucket, was a new parish, although a few members of the former parish, St. Paul's, probably made up part of the new parish.
46. These parishes were in Amherst, Barkersville (Pittsfield), Cabotville (Chico- pee), Fitchburg, Milford, Millville, North Adams, Oxford, Sheffield, Stockbridge, Webster, and Worcester. The parish at Southborough became an island of the Diocese of Massachusetts within the Dio- cese of Western Massachusetts in 1901.
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THE DIOCESE OF MASSACHUSETTS
South of Boston were five new parishes. The difficulty of establish- ing an Episcopal society at Plymouth, the center of the old Ply- mouth Colony, was overcome by the labors and prayers of the in- defatigable clergyman', the Rev. Theodore W. Snow.47 Snow sub- sequently became one of Bishop Eastburn's close friends. In Nor- folk County two new parishes grew up under Eastburn, while in Essex there were five, and in Middlesex there were three. 48 Of the remaining twenty parishes (including missions), nineteen were in what today is known as metropolitan, or greater, Boston; one, Southborough, was in Worcester County, but is now in the Diocese of Massachusetts because of the diocesan connection with St. Mark's School. 49
In Worcester County and the counties west of it a few parishes highlighted the extension of the Church during Eastburn's episco- pacy. At Fitchburg he consecrated Christ Church on 22 April 1868. The stone structure 'in one of the most conspicuous and eligible situations in that flourishing town' came 'mainly' from the efforts of the rector and three persons among the congregation. The total cost of the church was more than $50,000.50 The Church came late to Fitchburg, but all the factors were there which led to the establishment of a parish and the building of a large church:
47. These five parishes were Nantucket, churches in the Boston of his day, for the Pawtucket (which became a parish in parishes of Emmanuel, the Messiah, and Rhode Island in 1862), Plymouth, Swan- St. John's, East Boston, and three mission sea, and Wood's Hole.
48. Essex County parishes were in Bev- erly, Danvers, Haverhill, Lawrence, and Salem. Middlesex included the parishes of Framingham, Lowell, and Waltham. The Norfolk parishes were St. Mary's, and Christ Church, both in Dorchester. Christ Church was in the portion of Dorchester which became Hyde Park in 1868. Hyde Park became part of Boston in 1912, while Dorchester had become a part of Boston in 1870. Historical Data Relating to Counties, Cities and Towns in Massachusetts, prepared by Frederic W. Cook ([Boston, ] 1948), pp. 15, 79, 81.
49. Bishop Eastburn consecrated three
churches, Chapel of the Good Shepherd, the Free Church of St. Mary for Sailors, and St. Stephen's Chapel. In what was Dorchester, but now Boston, he conse- crated St. Mary's and Christ Churches. In what is now greater Boston he consecrated churches for two parishes and the Episco- pal Theological School in Cambridge, for two parishes in Brookline and one each in Malden, Medford, Melrose, Somerville, Woburn (making eight in Middlesex Coun- ty and two in Norfolk), and Chelsea (Suf- folk County).
50. JM, 1868, pp. 29-30, 113. The rec- tor was the Rev. Henry L. Jones.
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water power for mills, a wealthy mill owner, and the population of a city. One wealthy mill owner was Alvah W. Crocker.51
In Berkshire County, Bishop Eastburn consecrated two church buildings for the parish of St. John's, North Adams. The first con- secration took place 10 October 1861, the second on 14 September 1869. The first structure was of wood, the second building was stone, 'built in the most substantial manner; the interior is at once simple and impressive; and the arrangements are such as become the protestant character of our Church'.52 The cost of the new church was $25,000, which amount was 'wholly the gift' of Mrs. Hiram Sibley of Rochester, New York. 58
The region of North Adams, which until 1878 was part of the town of Adams organized in 1778, was 'endeared' to Mrs. Sibley "by fond recollections'.54 Whatever underlay Mrs. Sibley's attach- ment to North Adams, it is significant that she gave the money for an Episcopal Church. Based solidly as it was and is on the Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church gave those who knew the prayer book a sense of comfort, security, and inspiration. This love of the known, of the familiar, meant that members of the Church kept up their churchgoing in the summer when they were away from their large urban parishes. Dr. William Lawrence in his cor- respondence with his brother, Amos A., mentioned going to St. Andrew's Chapel, a small mission church of transient existence, when he summered at Swampscott. Likewise, Bishop Eastburn re- ported in 1860 that a new church had been built near the Lynn- Swampscott boundary 'for the use of the summer residents of the
51. The Nashua River provided power for a paper mill owned by Alvah Crocker (1801-74), a native of Leominster, Mass., a self-made man, a politician and railroad promoter. Crocker's father, Samuel, was a most consistent and devoted' Baptist. Wil- liam Bond Wheelwright, Life and Times of Alvah Crocker (privately printed, Boston, 1923), pp. 38-39; Justin Winsor, ed., The Memorial History of Boston (Boston, 1881), IV, 140.
The population of Fitchburg in 1868
was about 10,000. William A. Emerson, Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Past and Present (Fitchburg, 1887), p. 181; History of Wor- cester County, Mass. (Boston, 1879, 2 vols.), 1, 460, 465, 499-501.
52. Bishop Eastburn's words in his ad- dress to the annual convention of 1870. JM, 1862, p. 18; 1870, p. 23.
53. JM, 1870, p. 23; 1871, p. 23. Both Hiram Sibley and his wife, Elizabeth Tink- er, were natives of North Adams.
54. JM, 1870, p. 23.
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neighborhood .. . '.55 He also mentioned preaching morning and afternoon at St. Andrew's, usually on a Sunday in July during the early 1860s.56
Amos A. Lawrence himself had the partial benefits of the Church in his summers spent at Nahant through the Nahant church. Elev- en of the original fourteen founders of the Nahant church were Unitarians, but the organization was non-sectarian and had no regular clergyman.57 A new chapel costing some $25,000 was built in 1869. The society was long in debt for part of this sum. In 1886 Amos A. Lawrence gave $1000 toward paying off this debt, and helped to raise some $3450 to liquidate all of it. Of the visiting clergy, the Rev. Thomas March Clark of the Episcopal Church preached forty-four times during the years 1836-85 at the Nahant Church, with the Rev. Samuel A. Eliot of the Unitarian Church as "runner-up'.58 The Rev. A. H. Vinton preached there many times, the Rev. Phillips Brooks a few times, and Bishop Eastburn once, in 1844.59 The Episcopalian preachers at the Nahant church repre- sented about one-fifth or one-quarter of the ministers who led the ten or twelve services held in Nahant each summer. The proportion of Episcopal ministers probably matched the proportionate number of Episcopalians who summered at Nahant. This non-sectarian church at Nahant was a forerunner of summer chapels, which Episcopalians were to build wholly for their own use at summer re- sorts both within and without the diocese. 60
Two other consecrations by Bishop Eastburn in the last decade of his life reveal some significant facts and trends in the diocese to-
55. JM, 1860, p. 13.
56. JM, 1862, p. 17; 1864, p. 18.
57. (Mrs.) Samuel Hammond, Nahant Church, 1832-1932, compiled from church records (n.p., 1932), pp. 4, 11.
58. Hammond, Nahant, p. 11. E. H. Robbins, Dr. William Lawrence, and Wil- liam Appleton, prominent Episcopalians, were at one time or another all summer residents of Nahant (p. 4). Nahant was in- corporated as a town set off from Lynn in March 1853. Cook, Historical Data, p. 47.
59. Andrew P. Peabody, D.D., A Sermon
. . . [on ] the Nahant Church, 1877 (Cam- bridge, 1892, 2nd ed.), pp. 30-35.
60. A parish at Manchester, Mass., on the North Shore of Boston, and parishes at Harwichport and Hyannisport on Cape Cod are present examples of Episcopal summer chapels. St. Saviour's at Bar Har- bor, Me., summer home of the late Rt. Rev. William Lawrence, and the Chapel of the Transfiguration at Bretton Woods, N.H., are outstanding examples of the devotion of Episcopalians to their Church in the summer.
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wards the close of his episcopate in 1872. The first of these conse- crations was that of Grace Church, Salem, on 2 June 1859.61 The second consecration occurred at Longwood in 1868. Truly was Grace Church a 'daughter' parish of Salem's venerable St. Peter's. The population of Salem in 1860 was somewhat more than 22,000 persons. 62 The city was expanding toward the south, so that St. Peter's had become a 'downtown' church. Following in the office of rector of St. Peter's such men as 'the reverend and venerated Bish- op Griswold, the humble and devout Vaughan, [and] the sainted and beloved Mason', the Rev. George Leeds came to Salem in 1853. 63 Commenting on the organization of Grace Church parish in 1859, Leeds reported that "The effort had its origin in the mother Parish [St. Peter's ], and the most hearty co-operation of both Rec- tor and people'.64 Leeds with the members of his vestry at St. Pe- ter's met on 7 June 1858 and declared themselves . . . unanimously of the opinion that another Episcopal Church could well be sup- ported in Salem'. To this idea 'Bishop Eastburn gave his consent and blessing'.65 Grace Church building was a wooden structure in the 'Gothic' style. Together with the land on upper Essex Street the church and furnishings cost about $10,000; this amount came largely from the sale of pews and gifts. The first rector of Grace Church, the Rev. George D. Wildes, noted that the entire cost of land, church, and organ was 'met by members of the Parish'.66
61. JM, 1860, p. 14.
62. Manual for . . . the General Court [Mass. ], 1862, p. 115. Salem was incorpo- rated as a city in March 1836, and was the second oldest city in the Commonwealth. Cook, Historical Data, p. 58.
63. George Leeds (1816-85) followed his graduation from Amherst in 1835 by three years at Andover Theological Sem- inary. Ordained deacon in 1839 and priest in 1841 by Bishop Griswold, he married 22 June 1843 Caroline Treadwell, daughter of a Salem banker. Mrs. Leeds died at Utica, N.Y., 1 Sept. 1851. Based on notes in collection of MSS of St. Peter's Church at the Diocesan Library. Vital Records of Salem, Massachusetts, to the end of 1849
(Salem, 1916), III, 601; JM, 1854, p. 61; Rt. Rev. George Burgess, List of ... Order of Deacons, etc. (Boston, 1875), no. 1342; JED, 1841, pp. 14, 21.
64. JM, 1859, p. 64.
65. Ellen A. Nichols, Grace Church, Sa- lem, Personal Recollections (published by Grace House Lunch Room, Salem, 1925), p. 5.
66. Typed paper in file of Grace Church material, Diocesan Library; JM, 1860, p. 58. The Rev. George D. Wildes came to Grace Church from St. Andrew's, Chelsea. Wildes married a daughter of Benjamin Howard of Boston and Salem; the Rev. Thomas March Clark had married another of Howard's daughters. A third daughter
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Who were the members of this new parish? The senior warden was Benjamin Shreve, a member of St. Peter's. Part of the congregation of Grace Church was a 'colony' from St. Peter's. Mr. Wildes stated in his first diocesan report that 'A large proportion, too, of the worshippers at Grace Church, are of families formerly connected with other Christian bodies'. 67 The great fact about Grace Church, however, was its permanence: with two successful Episcopal socie- ties in Salem, in the event that one of them preferred a more ritual- istic service than the other parish, or came under the influence of a High Church minister or congregation group, the more evangelical or Low Church society would provide a home for the discontented of the other society.
Within a year of consecrating Grace Church, Bishop Eastburn consecrated another 'daughter' parish of St. Peter's, Salem: Cal- vary Church, Danvers. Like Grace Church, the Rev. George Leeds of St. Peter's and a 'few zealous laymen residing in the place [Dan- vers ], foremost among whom is Mr. Joseph Adams, a communicant of St. Peter's', provided the foundations for an Episcopal society. Under date of Sunday 28 June 1857, Leeds joyfully noted in his diary that " ... at six o'clock in the evening, I preached in Bank Hall on Danvers Plain to a large & respectable & most attentive congregation. Our Ch [urch] choir was present, and a few parish- ioners of St. Peter's. This was the first service of the Church held in Danvers-the first time the chants & prayers of the Liturgy ever fell upon the still air of its village since creations dawn.'68
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