USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > St. James' Parish, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1762-1962 > Part 10
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The Rev. Sturges Gilbert, Maj. Samuel Rosseter, Gen. Timothy Wainwright, Isaac L. Van Deusen, Eber Stone and Hezekiah Lathrop were appointed a committee to draft the conditions agreeably to which the Chapel might be built, and on December 13 they presented the following resolution to the Society:
Istly That it shall ever and always be continued a chapel in continuation with the parent church so long as it shall stand or in consequence it shall ever hereafter be rebuilt and that no division in consequence shall ever take place in the Parish;
2ndly That the land upon which the chapel shall or may be built shall be conveyed to the parish by deed, and not to any one or more per- sons or individuals of said parish;
3rdly That whatever parish property the parish have or may hereafter have shall be appropriated for the benefit of the whole parish as it exists equally, and that neither the northern or the southern section of the parish shall have any particular or exclusive rights or priv- ileges the one over and above the other, except that the Parish meet- ings shall be subject to be held at the old church if required by at least five freeholders of the parish;
4thly The Chapel shall be built by free donations and subscriptions of individuals who may feel disposed to contribute the same, and the parish as a parish shall be in no way directly or indirectly subject to any tax or assessinent for the expense of erecting said Chapel;
5thly The whole parish jointly and severally shall hereafter be subject to any order they may feel disposed to take for the repairing of either the church or chapel as may hereafter be deemed expedient. 6thly Whenever said Chapel shall be finished in decent style and con- venient manner for the celebration of Worship of Almighty God ac- cording to the usage of the Protestant Episcopal Church it shall be entitled to one equal half of the services of the officiating or settled Clergyman not only on Sundays but on all the feasts and fasts of the church and all other ordinary and extraordinary occasions;
7thly No alteration or dispensation of any of the articles in this reso- lution shall ever hereafter be made so long as there remain ten re- spectable freeholders of the parish to object.
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The conditions were acceptable to the assembly and so committees were appointed to solicit subscriptions, select a site, obtain a deed to it and to build the Chapel.
Those chosen to select the site, Samuel Jones of Stockbridge, Sam- uel Rosseter and Hezekiah Lathrop, on July 4, 1829, reported themselves to have
agreed that said Chapel should be erected upon a piece of land this day conveyed by Isaac L. Van Deusen Esq. to the Wardens of St. James' Church: bounded south on the Turnpike road and west on the east line of a county road laid out by the County Commissioners and not yet opened - the southwest corner of said Chapel is to be fifty feet distant in a northwardly direction from a black oak tree standing near the north line of said turnpike road.
The necessary funds were raised wholly by individual subscription, much the greater part being contributed by Capt. Van Deusen, and the cornerstone was laid with Masonic ceremonies on July 21, 1829. A brick structure 40 by 71 feet, and costing $3448.76, the Chapel was built in less than a year and presented to the Society without any expense, pursuant to the agreement. Designated the Chapel of St. James', the new house was consecrated on October 27, 1830, by Alexander Viets Griswold, Bishop of the Eastern Diocese, in words very similar to those he had used in conse- crating the parent church seven years before.
In 1839 trouble developed over the Chapel at Van Deusenville, for those who attended it asserted that the parent church had failed to con- tinue to honor the agreement providing that the rector should devote equal time to both places and that services were conducted too infrequently at the Chapel. Its supporters considered themselves
to present the anomaly of a Parish without a head, without any War- dens, Vestry or committee, possessing no regular system of collecting and paying out our funds or of procuring a preacher or of keeping in order the Chapel or of performing any of the financial or ecclesiastical operations of a parish.
The infrequent services at Van Deusenville appear to have been the the result of an action taken at St. James' specifying "that each church shall have preaching in proportion to amounts raised at each house" and, the Chapel being the smaller of the two churches, it doubtless got the short end of the stick. Clearly this was in contravention of Article 6 of the Resolution, so it was that on February 15, 1839, a meeting of the Parish was called
to see if said Society will consent that a new Protestant Episcopal So- ciety be formed at Van Deusenville by such portions of the present parish as may be disposed; to see if said Society will convey the Chapel at Van Deusenville with the land and appurtenances thereto belonging to said new parish after it shall be properly organized. . .
This action was duly taken at the meeting with the provision
that the said Society of "Trinity Church" and their successors shall use and occupy said Chapel for the purposes and object for which it was built and consecrated. But if ever said Society of Trinity Church, Van Deusenville, shall become extinct or shall fail to keep said Chapel in de- cent order for the maintenance of religious worship, agreeable to the form & usages of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, then the said Chapel with the land and appurtenances there- to belonging shall revert to the original parent Society.
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A committee comprising George Pynchon, John M. Hurlburt, John D. Cushing and Eber Stone were appointed and empowered to convey the Chapel by proper deed.
On their part, fifty-one inhabitants of Great Barrington, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge petitioned the Justice of the Peace for Berkshire County, on January 29, 1840, to call a meeting at which the new parish might be organized; and such a gathering met on February 20 at the Chap- el. The following officers were chosen to conduct the affairs of the newly constituted "Trinity Episcopal Society:"
Wardens - Eber Stone, Isaac H. Van Deusen
Vestrymen - Loring G. Robbins, Rowlunde Wharfield, Washington Adams, Albert Ticknor, Bethuel Seeley
Assessors -- John G. Turner, William Harris, Samuel Laird
Treasurer - Augustus Tobey
Collector - Clark A. Wilcox
Clerk - Isaac Seeley Jr.
At a meeting on April 20 of that year a committee was empowered to receive the deed from St. James' Parish and to engage as their own first rector, Samuel P. Parker, to succeed Samuel Hassard, who was Rector of the larger parish at the time of its division.
In 1841 the new parish was admitted into the union with the Con- vention; and in 1852 it completed a residence for the rector.
From the 1830's through the 1860's Van Deusenville grew with the addition of a blast furnace, a station of the Housatonic Railroad (on land leased to it by the parish), a chair manufactory, sawmill, grist mill, wagon shop, rope walk and a third store; and by 1866 the congregation of Trinity Church had grown so large that it needed a new edifice. Through the gen- erosity of John H. Coffing, manager of the Richmond Iron Works furnace, the frame building that stands there today was erected. Built of pine out- side, it was furnished with chestnut woodwork and pews and was orna- mented by stained glass windows. Seating two hundred persons, it cost $14,000. It was consecrated September 24, 1868, by Bishop Manton East- burn.
Later years revealed this period to have been the peak of Van Deu- senville's prosperity and importance; the village declined with the rise in importance of Housatonic to the north; the several businesses gradually died out and the coup de grace came when the blast furnace blew up in 1897. As the population of the village correspondingly diminished, so did attendance at Trinity Church, so that in 1894 $300 of the rector's salary of $800 was paid by the Division of Missions of the Archdeaconry of Springfield.
Notwithstanding its decline, Trinity Parish adopted a set of stan- dard By-Laws on December 9, 1900, and it was represented at the initial convention of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts at Springfield on No- vember 19, 1901, by William H. Hubbard, William McDonald and Robert Dobles. In 1902 Trinity, although remaining completely independent as a parish, once again became associated with St. James' in Great Barrington in that it shared priests with the parent church, beginning with Howard M. Dumbell.
In 1903 began the gradual attrition of the services and activities of Trinity Parish, when it was suggested that the church be closed for the
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winter months to save money. Although contributions from the B. D. Rising Paper Company postponed this necessity, the church did close in 1907 during January, February and March. When funds were occasionally avail- able, winter services were held, and when they were not, Sunday School was conducted in private homes. Since 1919 there have been no sched- uled winter services even though furnaces were installed in 1931 through the beneficence of Miss Fanny Coffing Bostwick.
The parish journal records that "so small was the attendance and so few the services being held, that no annual meeting was called for the years 1929 and 1930". They were resumed in 1931 at the instigation of Miss Bostwick and services were held for irregular periods during the sum- mer and fall months until her death in 1946. Since that time until 1960 Trinity Church was open on a regular schedule only on Sunday evenings in August, when Evensong was held by the Rector of St. James' in Great Barrington, who was also Vicar of Trinity. From time to time the building is opened for baptisms and weddings for those who maintain an affection- ate regard for the old church.
As its activities diminished, Trinity Parish also shrunk physically. In 1926 is sold the rectory for $2500 and the money was invested by the diocese for the benefit of the parish; in 1940 it relinquished all claim to the land upon which the old Van Deusenville railroad station stood, receiv- ing $50 for a quit-claim deed and the removal by the railroad of the un- sightly old building; in that year, also, the Ladies' Aid Society transferred its funds to the parish and gave its material goods, such as china and linen, to the Parish Aid Society of St. James'. In 1955 the rotted steeple was pulled down and a hip roof built to replace it.
Financially, Trinity Parish is today enviably affluent, with an in- come adequate to its present needs assured by the trust funds established earlier by Rebecca F. Coffing and in 1946 by Fanny Coffing Bostwick upon her death. Its property has been maintained in good order under the de- voted administration of Louis E. Faivre, Senior Warden, Paul C. White, treasurer, and Mary S. Sachs, clerk. But its history is drawing to an end. The parish is in process of being dissolved.
II
A short-lived and little-known adjunct of Trinity Parish was the Housatonic Mission, established on All Saints' Day in 1893 by James S. Ellis, Rector of Trinity Church and of Christ Church in Sheffield, under the authority of the Archdeaconry of Springfield. His successor, Francis A. Foxcroft, formally organized the mission on July 31, 1893, and on August 21 the name "St. Philip's Mission" was adopted.
Services were held in the hall in the Central Block, Housatonic; and here William Lawrence, Bishop of Massachusetts, confirmed two per- sons on October 16, 1893 and four on October 9, 1894. The first Holy Communion was celebrated on Christmas Day, 1893, F. Thompson of Canaan, Connecticut, Celebrant, and Francis A. Foxcroft, Deacon, with eleven communicants present, including the two who were first confirmed in the mission.
Services were held regularly at the mission until it was closed and merged with Trinity on December 31, 1894, by order of the Archdeacon
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of Springfield, who no doubt felt that the declining fortunes of Trinity Church did not warrant the expenditure of time, effort and money on an even smaller congregation.
The relative importance of St. Philip's Mission in the affairs of Trinity Parish may be appreciated when the following comparisons are made for the year 1894:
Trinity Church 172
St. Philip's Mission
Listed members
60
Active communicants
79
12
Sunday School enrollment
36
Offertory
$378.47
40 $289.16
Baptisms -- Infants Adults
6
5
Confirmations
6
4
Marriages
2
0
Burials
5
1
Upon the dissolution of the mission, the number of listed members of Trinity Church rose in 1895 to 192, of active communicants to 83 and of Sunday School enrollments to 41, suggesting that only about a third of the members of the mission has transferred their allegiance to Trinity. The following year showed an alarming decline in these numbers to 124, 58 and 20, respectively.
III
Although now inactive, Trinity continues as an independent parish with right of representation at diocesan conventions and convocations by its duly elected delegates and it continues to be listed in the several reports issued annually by the Diocese.
Here follows the list of the priests of Trinity Church:
Sturges Gilbert®
1829 to 1839 ) when it was
Samuel Hassard"
1839
1840 ) the Chapel
Samuel P. Parker
1840
1843
Robert M. Chapman
1842
1844
George Watters
1842
1843
Samuel T. Carpenter
1846
Francis A. Foxcroft
1847
Lewis Green **
1848
1861
Jesse A. Penniman
1861
1866
Joseph C. Coxe
1870
Frederic A. Fiske
1871
1873
Samuel P. Parker
1873
1876
Daniel G. Andersonº
1877
1882
Arthur H. Proffitt
1883
1884
James S. Ellis
1884
1892
Francis A. Foxcroft
1893
1897
Charles J. Palmer
1899
1900
Howard M. Dumbell"
1902
1910
St. James' Rectors thereafter were Vicars of Trinity until the resignation of Richard Mortimer-Maddox in 1960.
More often than not, Trinity's priests also served other parishes in Sheffield, Stockbridge, Lenox and Great Barrington. Both Samuel P. Parker
*Concurrently rector of St. James'. Great Barrington.
** Ordained priest in Trinity Church, during his ministry. by Bishop Manton Eastburn. October 12. 1849.
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and Francis A. Foxcroft, having served at Trinity early in its history, re- turned several decades later to resume their former incumbency. And Lewis Green returned briefly in August 1882 to read the burial office for that benefactor of Trinity Church, John Henry Coffing.
In 1919 Walter H. Du Moulin, a non-parochial priest of the Diocese of Erie (Pennsylvania), was listed as Priest-in-Charge of Trinity, but there is no indication of how long he remained.
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Chapter 10
SHORT SUBJECTS
I Church Finances
T HROUGHOUT the two-century existence of St. James' Parish the question of finances has preoccupied its officers. Its very inception resulted from the objections of the more liberal men to being taxed, according to the requirement of colonial Massachusetts, for the support of the Con- gregational Church. Those dissidents who preferred the Anglican Church won in 1764 the right to receive a rebate from the town for the support of their own church, and then, with the incorporation in 1791 of both the Episcopal and Congregational Societies, the former secured the right of assessing its own members for support.
The Episcopal Society Tax No. 1, for 1792, was assessed against 64 members and contained the appended statement:
The foregoing is a Society Tax, assessed April 3rd 1792, for the sum of One hundred ten pounds, nine shillings and nine pence, in consequence of a vote of the Protestant Episcopal Society of Great Barrington at their annual meeting on Monday the fifth day of March last, to raise One hundred & five pounds six shillings and eight pence, to discharge the salary of the Rev. Gideon Bostwick for the years 1790 & 1791, the amount of the said assessment being & 110.9.9 and the surplus, £5.3.1 and is laid at 2/5 upon the pound of the town list for the pending year. Committed to Elijah Egleston, Collector of the said Society, to collect and make returns on 25th Dec. next.
Jacob Van Deusen Samuel Whiting Walter Pynchon 1 Assessors
The use of the British monetary system continued until 1796, when the list for that year, Tax No. 6, set forth the amount to be raised as £ 60 or $200, and thereafter the amount was stated exclusively in American terms.
The usual procedure for obtaining funds began with an article in the Warrant, directing the Society, for example,
To raise any sum of money for the support of the Rev. Solomon Blakeslee the current year and for contingent purposes,
it being understood that the assessors would compile a list for taxation, working from the town tax rolls, and then charge the Collector with execut- ing it.
However, in 1822 reference is made to subscription papers, which were in addition to the tax. The raising of funds by subscription soon sup- planted the tax, for at that time the separation of church from state was a political issue of such magnitude as to make it evident that the days of
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taxation by ecclesiastical authority were numbered. Further, too many Society members found it possible, by one reason or another, to evade their taxes. For many years tax abatements had been granted in accordance with a typical article in a Warrant as early as 1808:
. To abate any taxes on the lists committed to any of the former collectors for collection, which in the opinion of said Society are uncollectable or which ought not to be collected.
Consequently, in accord with the temper of the times, the Warrant for the meeting of April 11, 1825, directed the meeting
To see what method the Society will take to raise money for the support of the Rev. Solomon Blakeslee the current year and pass any vote or order concerning the same; and likewise for contingent purposes.
And in answer to the Warrant, it was
Voted unanimously, that the Society will raise money for the support of the Rev. Solomon Blakeslee the current year by subscription. Each sub- scriber is to give his note to the Treasurer or bearer, payable the first day of January next; and that no tax be assessed this year.
Although the last tax list in 1824 comprised 128 names of members who were assessed a total of $504.88, the subscription list for 1832 includ- ed only 77 persons who pledged a mere $326.75. This sum was far from enough so a tax was again laid upon the members to discharge the accumulated debts.
Repeated attempts to raise enough money by subscription having failed for several years, the pews and slips, heretofore "free for the mem- bers to occupy where they please," were sold in 1831 and thereafter to the highest bidder. The reversion to taxation for one year was the last possible instance, for the passage in 1833 of Article XI to the State Constitution caused the Society meeting in that year to vote
That it is not expedient to collect the tax assessed for the year ending April 1833 and that the vote . .. authorizing said tax is hereby repealed and annulled.
For a few years the minister's salary was raised by sales (i.e., rental) of pews and contingent expenses by subscription, but by 1838 the sole source of revenue was the sale of pews by auction. A list of pew-holders for 1843 shows that 52 were sold for a total of $633, ranging in price from $35 to $5. In 1838 it was voted "that there be no assessors the current year" and it later became the practice to appoint a committee to establish a scale of prices for the pews.
With minor modifications in method, pews were rented until April, 1888, when they were made free and the envelope system adopted. But after only four years revenues from the envelopes were deemed insufficient and the rental of pews was reinstated, with the highest-priced pew to be not less than $60. Supplemental to pew rentals were funds derived from loose plate offerings, special offerings, and donations and contributions from the several clubs and societies connected with the church.
In addition to the office of Treasurer of the Parish, that of Collector also existed for many years, originating at the time the incorporation of the Episcopal Society gave it the right to assess taxes. After taxation was abolished, the Collector saw to the payment of subscriptions and pew rental, and he received a fee for his service. The only woman to ever hold
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an elective, administrative office in the Parish was Miss Mary Augusta Loop who, at first the Assistant Treasurer in 1893, became Collector in 1896. She held the post until 1915, when Robert K. Wheeler succeeded her; and his successor, Lawrence W. Bump, was the last to hold that office, it being abolished in 1921.
In 1944 the first Every-Member Canvass was held and brought in a thousand dollars more than pew rentals, and at the annual meeting in 1946, it was voted to discontinue pew rentals as of the first of that year. The name plates, often of silver, which had identified the owners of pews, were removed during the redecoration of the church that was done that spring.
Since then, the funds for the support of the Church have come from pledges, weekly envelopes, loose plate collections, church organiza- tions and income from endowment funds. Each year, usually in the early part of November, the Every-Member Canvass is made by volunteer mem- bers of the Parish to secure pledges of support for the next year. Many members use the weekly envelopes but some prefer to pay their pledge in full at once or in semi-annual or quarterly installments. All payments re- ceived at the time of the canvass, being for the ensuing year's operation, are deposited in a separate account to be transferred to the general funds of the Parish after the New Year.
The Churchwomen of St. James' (formerly the Parish Aid and Missionary Society and Women's Auxiliary) have served the weekly lunch- eon for the Rotary Club for many years; and from the proceeds, and from other activities, have contributed as much as $3000 a year toward the support of the Parish.
Over the years a number of gifts, legacies and bequests have come to the parish. Some have been left to the Trustees of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts for the benefit of St. James' Church and others have been left directly to the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of St. James' Church. Those funds left to the Trustees are divided into two categories: those where the income is to be used for specific purposes, and from which the income is for the general support of the Church.
The Trustees maintain a separate account for each of the specific bequests, but the general funds are combined with similar funds held for the benefit of other parishes in the diocese. Each parish's share of the Gen- eral Fund is computed twice a year and is based upon the market value of the securities held in the Fund. In this way additions to the General Fund do not share in the surplus already accumulated, which properly belongs to those parishes already in the Fund, but do participate in the surplus accruing after their inclusion in the Fund.
As of November 30, 1960, there was an excess in market value over book value of the General Fund of $1,032,320.00; and at December 31, 1960, the funds specific to St. James' were as follows:
Market Value
Approximate Annual Income
Held by the Trustees -
Specific funds
$104,690.00
$3,620.00
General funds
49,061.97
1,660.00
Held by the Parish
156,712.12
6,740.00
Totals
$310,464.09
$12,020.00
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The original bequests to the Trustees of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, for investment to the benefit of St. James', were as follows:
Alice E. Brewer Fund $ 3,000.00 15,000.00
Frederick Deland Fund
Fludder Flower Fund
100.00
Edith L. Hotchkiss Fund
1,500.00
G. Willis Peters Fund
1,000.00
Lucy Dodge Peters Fund
1,000.00
Pynchon Memorial Fund
5,041.04
James A. Renwick Memorial Fund
575.81
Charles L. Weatherbee Fund
16,814.61
William H. & Carrie Walker
Memorial Organ Fund
28,999.15
Total $73,030.61
The Walker Memorial Organ Fund had appreciated to a market value of $67,978.37 on December 31, 1960. As mentioned elsewhere, the income from this fund is specifically to "replace or repair such memorial organ, and any balance out of income remaining to be spent on the manse of said church".
Note: The Parish's first endowments are mentioned in Roger Viets' letter to the S.P.G. of June 23, 1764:
There are in my possession four deeds, from some good people of Great Barrington, to the Society, in trust, for the use of their church, which I will carefully transmit by the first good and safe opportunity.
II Auxiliary Buildings
Rectories
The first Rectory, built in 1762 by Jonathan Nash, was occupied by Gideon Bostwick, but after his death there was a period of eleven years when the supply priests were not locally resident. When Samuel Griswold became Rector in 1804, he acquired an acre of land on which he had a house built. In 1808 the parish sold enough of its glebe lands to permit the purchase of the "Johnson Place", and the house built there was used by Blakeslee and Gilbert. Gilbert bought it in 1830 during one of the peri- odic financial crises suffered by the parish. There he and his wife conducted a boarding and day school for both boys and girls for several years be- ginning in 1836.
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