USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > St. James' Parish, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1762-1962 > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13
Enthroned in 1811 in Trinity Church, Boston, Bishop Griswold worked tirelessly for the church and brought it to a position of prominence and influence in New England. In one eighteen-year period of record, he travelled twenty thousand miles in the Eastern Diocese, baptised and con- firmed ten thousand persons and ordained 148 deacons and 111 priests. The far reaches of Massachusetts were not too distant for his attention and several times during his tenure he visited Great Barrington, for confirma- tion and to consecrate our parish church in 1823 and the Chapel of St. James' in Van Deusenville in 1830.
So well did Bishop Griswold perform his mission throughout the vast Eastern Diocese that its five constituent dioceses were able in the 1830's to resume their separate identities, but out of affectionate regard for him they deferred such action until after his death in 1843. He is commemorated today by Hymn 267, the verses of which he wrote in 1835: "Holy Father, great Creator, Source of mercy, love, and peace".
Religious freedom and the separation of church from state were issues that were resolved during this era - the half-century following the end of the Revolutionary War in 1781. In fact, the Constitution of Massa- chusetts, promulgated in 1780, contained guarantees of religious freedom in Articles II and III. But they were only illusory in this respect, for am-
"Nephew of Roger Viets and brother of Samuel Griswohl.
17
-
biguity and adverse court decisions failed to eliminate the parish system whereby the townspeople were taxed for the support of the church - which was generally interpreted as being the Congregational. Locally, some relief from this situation was given by the state in legislating Chapter 14 of the Acts of 1791 (5) which incorporated on June 18 both the "Protestant Episcopal Society in Great Barrington" and the "Protestant Congregational Society of Great Barrington". For its support, each of these societies was privileged to levy taxes upon its members and so for the first time the Episcopalians conducted their affairs on a basis equal to and independent of that of the Congregationalists. People with no specifically expressed af- filiation were considered to be of the latter church and were taxed by that Society for its support. Citizens of neighboring towns who desired to as- sociate themselves with the Episcopal Society found it necessary to petition the General Court, as exemplified by Special Law 3-498 (6) passed in 1805, which defined their rights and immunities as non-resident members of the Society.
Two of many certificates in the church archives typify the manner in which men associated themselves with St. James' in accordance with the legal requirements of the time:
To William C. Brunt®, Esq., Clerk of the Town of Great Barrington - Pursuant to a law of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, an act incor- porating certain religious Societies therein named in the Town of Great Barrington in the County of Berkshire, passed June 1791; You are hereby notified that the subscribers together with their family and estate have joined themselves to the Protestant Episcopal Society in said town -- April 1st 1820
Lambert Burghardt Peter Burghardt Sylvester Hulbert
And somewhat less formally:
To James A. Hyde, Clerk of the Town of Gt. Barrington: I, the sub- scriber, hereby certify that I have joined myself to the Protestant Epis- copal Society of said Town. Gt. Barrington ) Samuel Ewing April 30th 1818)
So long as the civil government of the town was involved in ecclesi- astical matters, freedom of choice - or to make no choice - was as yet im- perfect; the struggle for independence continued and was strengthened by the rise of the Jeffersonian ideal of complete separation of church and state. Liberal Congregationalists and Unitarians in Berkshire County also chafed under the traditional parish system which penalized deviation from orthodoxy and they were in the forefront of those whose agitation culmi- nated in the passage of Article XI of the Amendments to the state con- stitution. Adopted by the General Court in its sessions of 1832-33, it was approved and ratified by the people in referendum on November 11, 1833, and brought about at last that complete separation which meant real re- ligious freedom.
It is interesting to note, in the Warrants which survive from those times, the changes which the altered status of the Church in Massachusetts
*A mig-spelling of the name Bryant; the famous poet, William Cullen Bryant, resident in the town from 1815 to 1825. was a lawyer, Town Clerk, and Justice of the Peace. His office was where the present St. James' Church stands.
18
brought about in the affairs of St. James'. These documents were phrased in a style very similar to those now used to call a Town Meeting, indicating that the Parish in those early days was closely allied to the town govern- inent, as we have noticed. Typically, the Warrant for the meeting of April 20, 1829, was couched in the following terms:
To John G. Tuttle, Collector of the Protestant Episcopal Society in the Town of Great Barrington, Greeting.
In the name of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you are required to warn all the inhabitants of sd. Society qualified to vote in Society meet- ings to meet at the Episcopal Church in sd. Great Barrington on Monday the 20th day instant April at two of the clock in the afternoon to vote upon the following articles ( viz. ) :
Ist. To choose a moderator to govern sd. meeting.
2nd. To choose all officers of sd. Society as are required by law for the present year.
3rd. To see what method the Society will take to raise and collect a sum of money for the support of the Rev. Sturges Gilbert and for contingent expenses the current year.
4th. To see if the Society will abate any taxes in the hands of the pre- sent or any former collector.
5th. To give any directions to any officer or officers and to pass or order concerning the same.
6th. To hear any report of any committee or the Treasurer and pass any vote or order thereon.
7th. To transact any other business concerning the Parish that may regularly come before sd. meeting.
Hereof fail not and of this warrant with your doings make due return to us or one of us at or before sd. meeting.
Given under our hands and seal at Gt. Barrington this 6th day of April in the year of our Lord 1829.
Joseph B. Osborn John U. Hulbert Isaac P. Van Deusen Prudential Committee of sd. Society
Berkshire ss. In obedience to the foregoing warrant I have warned all the inhabitants of sd. Society to meet at the time and place and for pur- poses therein mentioned.
Gt. Barrington, April 18th, 1829.
John G. Tuttle, Collector of sd. Society
Note the title of "Collector" applied to the officer whose duty it was to raise the Society's funds; he was analogous to the Collector of Taxes for the town and the term was always used in early warrants. But the warrant for the meeting of March 31, 1834, subsequent to the amendment to the State Constitution, was directed to "William U. Battelle, Treasurer of the P. E. Society", and in 1838 to "Constant Southworth, Clerk of the Parish of the Protestant Episcopal Church". Evidently the separation of church from state rendered the position of Collector less important and his office, until recent times, was merged with that of the Treasurer until it was abolished in 1921.
In the earlier document, for 1829, Article 4 made provision for the abatement of taxes, but in that for 1834 and later, the subject did not ap- pear. Support of the church was put on a voluntary basis by the sale (rental) of pews. In fact, in anticipation of the new order, "slips" were sold for that purpose as early as 1829.
19
1
:
NOTE: Gideon Bostwick Takes Part in the Election of the First American Bishop
As soon as the British Government expressed its willingness to acknowledge the independence of the United States, a group of ten Anglican priests assembled at the Glebe House (or Rectory) of St. Paul's Parish, Woodbury, Connecticut, and on March 25, 1783 elected Jeremiah Leaming, and should he decline, Samuel Seabury, to go to Great Britain for consecra- tion as Bishop of Connecticut. Because of his age and infirmity Leaming did decline, and Seabury accepted. After lengthy delays on account of legal difficulties which required an act of Parliament to permit English bishops to consecrate a prelate to a see beyond the king's dominions, Seabury went to Scotland and was consecrated the first American bishop at Aberdeen on November 14, 1784 by the Primus (the Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney) and two other bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It is fairly certain that Gideon Bostwick was one of Seabury's electors, and this undoubtedly helps to explain his faithful devotion to Bishop Seabury and adherence to the Diocese of Connecticut the remainder of his life.
20
-
Chapter 3 FINANCIAL CRISIS
I
IN 1804 Samuel Griswold of Simsbury, Connecticut, was settled as Rector of St. James' and by pre-arrangement with Trinity Church in Lenox, served that parish equally with Great Barrington, on alternate Sun- days. He resided in Great Barrington and received from St. James' an annual salary of $250. He carried forward the revitalizing of the church begun under Bethel Judd. The assessor's list in 1791 comprised 64 names and had declined to 61 names in 1799, but 20 names were added in 1800. After Griswold arrived, 18 names were added in 1806 and the following year an additional 54 names were enrolled.
In 1807 the Society sold a portion of its glebe" and purchased prop- erty called the "Johnson Place" from Henry Colver of Sharon, Connecticut, using the house on it for a rectory for Griswold and his successors, and for which the incumbent paid rent.
In 1810 the Society felt able to employ Griswold for a greater pro- portion of the time but salary difficulties arose, for every year a number of tax abatements were granted; in 1814 there was a list of 38 parishioners whose taxes were so written off. By the next year the Society had fallen into arrears on Griswold's salary, so in 1818 he was offered $200 with free occupancy of the rectory. Even so, the Society in 1819 wanted to engage him for an additional quarter of his time; he declined and perhaps precipi- tated the bitter dispute which arose in that year.
No details of that dispute are given in the parish records, but a long document written by the rector sets forth the terms upon which he would consent to arbitrate the quarrel. The contending parties brought his brother, the Bishop, into the matter, but all efforts to arrive at a reconcili- ation failed since in 1820 Griswold was dismissed from his parishes in both Great Barrington and Lenox. During this period of dissension George T. Chapman served as supply priest at intervals until 1821 when Solomon Blakeslee of North Haven, Connecticut, became rector.
Blakeslee's accession injected a renewed spirit into the Parish. The church, having fallen into disrepair after the War, was completely refur- bished and Bishop Griswold invited to consecrate it. This he did on Octo- ber 18, 1823, culminating sixty years of effort, tribulation and achievement in the life of the parish. His Deed of Consecration follows.
In the name of the Father & of the Son & the Holy Ghost, Amen. Whereas the members and parishioners of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Town of Great Barrington & State of Massachusetts, have with divine assistance altered and improved their house erected for publick worship, have furnished it with a pulpit, reading desk and Altar for the Holy Communion, & have put the sd. house in good repair;
*Webster: "Land belonging to a parish church or ecclesiastical benefice."
21
1
And whercas it is the desire and purpose of said Parishioners to dedicate the said house to Almighty God, to be held and kept sacred to his holy worship, divesting themselves of the right to use it for any prophane, unhallowed and worldly purpose; and have by their Rector the Rev. Solomon Blakeslee requested me their Diocesan to consecrate the said house by the name of St. James' Church to the worship of Almighty God according to the Canons, usage and liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States;
Therefore, I whose name is underwritten, acting as the Minister, & in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, do hereby declare & pronounce that this house, henceforth to be denominated St. James' Church, is conse- crated and set apart as sacred to the worship of Almighty God, requiring that it shall hereafter be revered and held sacred to that holy purpose; that in this place prayers shall be offered in sincere devotion; that the Sacraments and other holy Ordinances of our blessed Redeemer be administered and received with faith & piety & according to His will & holy institutions; & that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ be preached in this house with truth & fidelity, & according to the word & will of Almighty God. Gt. Barrington
Oct. 18th 1823
Alexander V. Griswold Bp. of the Eastern Diocese
Over the greater part of the two centuries of its existence, the Parish has contended with insufficient financial support. In 1825, prior to the abolition of its taxing power, an alternate method of raising funds to sup- port the Rector and pay the operation of the church was considered at the meeting of April 11, when it was
Voted -- That the Society will raise money for the support of the Rev. Solomon Blakeslee the current year by subscription; each subscriber 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.
Voted - that some suitable person be appointed to solicit subscriptions and that he be paid a reasonable compensation.
Plagued by the recurring necessity of abating unpaid taxes, the So- ciety doubtless hoped to improve its financial position by appealing to the loyalty of its members. Subscriptions were solicited in subsequent years but the method was not an unqualified success since in 1826 it was neces- sary to reduce Blakeslee's salary from $450 to $400 and to exhort the com- mittee "to make further exertions to obtain subscriptions."
In the agrarian economy of the town, money came hard to the aver- age man and he found it difficult to pay even the small amounts assessed against him as taxes, or to honor his subscription. A typical assessment or pledge was on the order of $1 to $4, but much more substantial sums were contributed by the wealthy members of the Society. Costs were similarly low; one Bennett Manvil was paid $12 for "Cleaning, sweeping and ring- ing the bell for 52 Sabbaths." The rector's salary was the largest item in the budget and when times were hard, his salary fell into arrears.
And so it was in 1827, when the Society, in an "embarrassed situ- ation," was sued by John Burghardt, Jr. in the Court of Common Pleas for unpaid construction bills. A committee appointed to deal with the mat- ter recommended that the Society sell some of its glebe to discharge its debts, but this was not successful. Again the question arose concerning the propriety of putting the priest on half-time, but the feeling was "that the church ought to be kept open and divine service performed therein." Upon a vote of 16 yeas and 12 nays it was decided to retain Blakeslee but to
22
offer him only $250; and it was also decided to assess the parishioners $425 - "a tax sufficient to pay all the Society's debts."
The failure of its members adequately to support their church in this era seems not to have affected its success as an institution. It was related that on a Christmas eve in the early 1820's, when William Cullen Bryant and his friend Ralph Taylor walked down South Main Street, they counted three hundred teams hitched to posts and fences by people who had driven into town to attend the services at St. James'.
Although short of operating funds, the Society had the five and half acres of land purchased in 1807 and so, when it wished to show its appreciation of the good music it enjoyed, the Vestry and members in 1826
Voted - That the Wardens or Prudential Committee be instructed to convey bv deed, the land which the Society own, on the south side of the highway nearly opposite the parish house, to Col. Timothy Wainwright as a testimonial of the Society's obligations to him for his perseverance and attendance as Organist - thereby greatly advancing an important portion of Public Worship.
Two years later at a meeting of the Society the Colonel was again the subject of a resolution:
Whereas, it is contemplated by Timothy Wainwright to erect a school- house for the convenience of the clergymen of the parish of St. James' Church and to set it on the Glebe; therefore Resolved that he shall be and hereby is permitted to erect the same thereon and to continue it there so long as it may be wanted and improved as a schoolhouse by the clergyman of said parish, and also to take it away when no longer wanted.
It is not recorded that Blakeslee availed himself of the opportunity of teaching school to augment his income and it is hardly surprising that after the close vote to retain his services at a reduced salary, he soon de- parted, to be replaced in 1828 by Sturges Gilbert of Woodbury, Connecti- cut, at the salary of $450.
After two years, upon the suggestion of the Prudential Committee, and presumably to lighten the financial burden of the parish, Gilbert pro- posed to buy the rectory and land for $1,000, provided that his salary be $500 and twenty loads of wood." Title to the property passed to him on August 30, 1830.
Even so, the fiscal affairs of the parish worsened; Charles Sedge- wick issued two writs of attachment against the Society - for $1,000 on behalf of Timothy Wainwright and for $100 on behalf of George Arnold - for work done and supplies furnished but not paid for. Again proposals were heard to sell or mortgage the glebe and organ, but in 1831 the ac- counts were settled by another special solicitation of subscriptions. In a report to the Society dated April 5, 1831. the Prudential Committee cited Sturges Gilbert, "whose exertions in this behalf your comee feel it their duty to represent as highly meritorious."
The parish had fallen behind in its payments to Gilbert. too, and gave him notes by which members of the Society obligated themselves for his salary. It was not until 1833, however, that settlement of these debts was finally effected, after some strong language on the part of the Pru- dential Committee in its report for April 8:
23
To meet this sum [$525] the Society must resort to voluntary subscrip- tions. Our former experiences have shown a large deficiency in this mode of collecting funds as well as by all other modes. Your committee have thought it their duty to present the subject to the Society for their deliberate consideration. No man of common prudence will suffer his expenses to exceed his income and unless some course is adopted which shall be more favorable in its results and which the committee are unable to devise, our Society cannot be arrested in its downward course, our fondest expectations will be blasted, our hopes destroyed, and all that will remain of this once prosperous and wealthy Society will be only in the recollections of its surviving members: That it once was but now is no more. Respectfully submitted,
Hezekiah Lathrop Timothy Wainwright.
24
SHINGE
THE WASHINGTON CENOTAPH, 1800
Soon after the death of George Washington. December 14, 1799, memorial services were held for him throughout the country. At the one held in the first Church of this Parish, this urn was placed near the foot of the pulpit stairs to represent the mortal remains of the Father of his Country while prayers were offered and a suitable sermon preached.
Chapter 4
GROWTH: TWO NEW CHURCHES I
A CENTURY and more ago Van Deusenville was a thriving village and as early as 1828 it embraced eighteen dwellings, a post office and tavern, two stores, and two factories for woolen and cotton manufacture. The village derived its name from that old Dutch family, the Van Deusens, which had been in the forefront of the affairs of Christ Church in Great Bar- rington. They, with others, formed a group of Episcopalians who thought the growing center should have its own house of worship. Accordingly, ten men: George Pynchon, John G. Turner, John Cassidy, Jacob H. Van Deu- sen, Levi Lain, Isaac Seeley, Jared Seymour, James Talmadge, William H. Royce and Washington Adams, submitted a petition dated November 10, 1828, for a Society meeting "to see if said Society will agree or consent to the building of a Chapel at Van Deusenville".
The meeting was held at "the Rev. Mr. Gilbert's school house" (which Timothy Wainwright had erected two years before) on November 22 at which it was
Voted: To choose a committee of five persons whose duty it shall be to make general enquiries into the expediency of erecting a chapel at Van Deusenville and to ascertain the probable amount of sub- scriptions and make their report at the next meeting;
Voted: To choose John Crissey, Jacob H. Van Deusen, George Pynchon, William Dewey and John M. Hulbert for said committee.
At the next meeting, convened on December 6, it was
Resolved: That provided the conditions hereafter to be proposed shall meet with the approbation of a majority of the parish in Society meeting assembled, the people in the north part of the parish may have liberty to build a chapel somewhere in their vicinity without any expense to the parish;
Voted: To choose a committee of six persons to draft and report condi- tions, agreeable to the above resolve, to be submitted to the next meeting;
Voted: To choose Rev. Sturges Gilbert, Maj. Samuel Rosseter, Gen. Timothy Wainwright, Isaac L. Van Deusen, Eber Stone and Hezekiah Lathrop for said committee.
One week later, on December 13, the committee submitted a report setting forth seven conditions under which the enterprise might be carried out. Those provisos and the further story of the Chapel of Saint James', later to become Trinity Church, continue in Chapter 9.
II
The new, brick Chapel at Van Deusenville having been completed and consecrated in 1830, the seventy-year-old original wooden structure
25
on the southern outskirts of Great Barrington no doubt took on the appear- ance of inadequacy and inconvenience, for in 1833 the subject of a new church was broached to the Society meeting on May 27, when it was
Voted: that Increase Sumner, Hezekiah Lathrop and John M. Hulbert be a committee for the purpose of drafting a resolution in refer- ence to the removal and rebuilding of St. James' Church.
In its report this committee approved the project but suggested that the necessary funds be raised by subscription so that the Society, which was continuing to have financial difficulties, would not as such be liable for its cost, and they thought it most imperative that assurances be given that the project would be carried through to completion lest the old struc- ture be demolished and the larger part of the parish be left with no house of worship.
After half a year of preliminary work by several committees, a sub- scription list was circulated on December 7, in which the project was de- scribed in these terms:
It is proposed to take down St. James' Church in Great Barrington and build a new Episcopal Church of stone or wood in the village of Great Barrington on the west side of the street northerly of the dwelling house occupied by Maj. Wm. Whiting, to wit: on land which Mr. Silas Sprague proposes to give to the Protestant Episcopal Society in Great Barrington for that purpose.
The document offered the subscriber, in parallel columns, his pre- ference for stone, brick or wood. The greater number, 73, preferred stone and pledged a total of $3472; and the question of which material to use was resolved by a building committee comprising Silas Sprague, Samuel Rosseter, Hezekiah Lathrop, John M. Hulbert and George Pynchon, which submitted a report dated March 1, 1834, from which excerpts are drawn:
Your committee .. . became early convinced, owing to the easy access, cheapness and facility with which stone may be obtained, that stone as a building material would be decidedly cheaper than brick . As respects the internal arrangements, we think that the church in Pittsfield is a model that cannot be especially improved.
The committee estimated that for $3100, of which $400 might be realized from the sale of the old structure, a new building could be erected to be "an ornament to our town and a valuable accession to the Society".
Built of blue limestone, the church was 40 by 60 feet, with a pro- jection of eight feet for a bell tower supported by four stone pillars four feet in diameter and 26 feet high. The floor of the church was higher than the roadway and was approached by broad stone steps.
Begun in 1834 and incorporating such parts of the old wooden church as were usable, the structure was completed in 1835, and in his report to the Diocese, Sturges Gilbert noted that
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.