USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Great Barrington > St. James' Parish, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1762-1962 > Part 7
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Shortly after the completion of the new church, Platt resigned as rector and was succeeded by Charles A. L. Richards, in 1858. The follow- ing year. in January, both the Congregational and Episcopal Churches in-
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stalled similar clocks in their towers; they were known as "Crane patent escapement tower clocks" and cost $400 each.
The Civil War began in Richards' incumbency, and not two weeks after the opening shot was fired at Fort Sumter, a meeting was called in Great Barrington to adopt measures to aid the Union in suppressing the rebellion. Richards addressed the citizens at the Town Hall and when, on May 28, 1861, a Company of men was formed, he gave a Bible to each man, and a parishioner, Mrs. Artemas Bigelow, presented "an elegant banner" to the group.
As the war dragged on and drew men from their homes, the Vestry was led to observe in 1863 that
As during the year many have been called from the Parish to the Battle Field there will necessarily fall upon those who remain greater responsibilities and a call for increased energy.
John T. Huntington, who had replaced Richards late in 1861, called forth this energy to such good effect as to report in 1864 that "Services of the church have been introduced favorably at Alford and Sheffield". Al- though missionary efforts in Alford proved abortive, Christ Church was or- ganized in Sheffield in 1866 and with the help of a monthly contribution of $25 from St. James' became in 1875 a Mission in union with the Con- vention. The Rector also reported in 1863-4 that four Sunday Schools flourished in and were a credit to the Parish of St. James'.
These four Sunday Schools, which were conducted by the parish at Seekonk, Bung Hill, Egremont Plain and in the church itself, assembled 130 strong in the church on Christmas 1863 to look with amazement at what was a new thing in Great Barrington - a Christmas tree. In subsequent years committees were regularly appointed to decorate the church in ob- servance of the Nativity.
Huntington seems to have deserved the six months' leave of absence granted him in 1864 "to carry out long cherished plans to travel in Europe" and during his absence Robert Weeks of North Adams supplied. After Huntington's resignation in the fall of that year the brief ministries of John H. Rogers and John C. Eccleston were followed by a nine months' period of short supplies by un-named clergymen.
However, during this interregnum the old organ that had been moved from the second church to the third, was sold and replaced with a new one that cost $2500. Part of this sum was raised by an Organ Benefit held at the Miller Hotel. And during the ensuing incumbency of Henry Olmstead the Vestry in 1869 appropriated over four hundred dollars to install new furnaces in both church and rectory.
In its issue of August 10, 1870, the Berkshire Courier announced that The new bell for the Episcopal Church in this village was raised yesterday and gave out its clarion tones upon the circumambient air. The new bell came from Troy and weighs 2034 pounds. One side of the bell is inscribed the legend: Call a solemn assembly; gather the people. St. James' Church A. D. 1870
and on the other side:
Troy Bell Foundry Jones & Co. Troy, N. Y. 1870
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What happened to the old bell, which was salvaged from the second church, is not recorded.
Orlando F. Starkey followed Olmstead as rector and it was dur- ing his rectorate that the new Bishop of Massachusetts, Benjamin H. Paddock, made his first visit to St. James' in October of 1873. That year, too, on December 16, the Ladies of St. James' gave what they termed a "Centennial Tea" at the Berkshire House; possibly they had deferred it be- cause the true date had fallen during the War years.
II
St. James' has been blessed with many good and thoughtful rectors, but some there were who seized the imagination of their people and more than most, were regarded with the utmost respect and affection.
Such a man, following the brief supply ministry of C. H. B. Tre- maine in 1875-6, came to St. James' when Daniel Goodwin Anderson as- sumed the rectorship in February 1876. He was physically large, imposing in bearing and influential not only in his parish but in the town also. He maintained a lively interest in town affairs, was a Mason and for five years a member of the School Committee. During most of his tenure at St. James', Anderson ministered also to Trinity Parish at Van Deusenville.
In 1877, during his incumbency, the old rectory, in poor condition and with inadequate plumbing, was removed and a new one erected at a cost of $3591.48, the money being raised by fairs, entertainments, offerings and borrowing from the Savings Bank on notes and a mortgage. Two years later a wing was added at a cost of $894.88, and all the debts for the new residence were discharged in 1880.
On Saturday evening, March 4, 1882, the Congregational Church burned and Anderson was among the most tireless in working the hand pump. Before the embers were extinguished, he sent the following letter to the Congregational minister:
Rev. Evarts Scudder My Dear Brother:
Deeply sympathizing with yourself and congregation in "the loss of your beautiful church, in the name of the Wardens and Vestry of St. James' Church, I tender vou the use of our church for services Sunday afternoon and on such week-day evenings as you may desire to use it. Hoping you will avail vourselves of this offer made with most earnest regrets that an occasion for its proposal has arisen, I remain. Very truly your friend, Daniel G. Anderson
A meeting of the Vestry the next day heartily approved their rec- tor's action, and evening Congregational services were held at St. James for a month, until they were transferred to the Town Hall in order that a morning hour be available.
This cooperation between the two churches was but another mani- festation of the good will that happily had replaced the animosity existing between them at St. James' founding, for many years before Sturges Gil- bert while rector had preached in an interim capacity at the Congregational Church; and this spirit of Christian brotherhood is even stronger today.
Anderson was devoted to the cause of education and worked as- siduously for it as a member of the School Committee. A statement in
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the committee report of 1881-2, which he signed jointly with William I. Van Deusen and Judge Justin Dewey, exemplified his feeling when they wrote: "Let us exhaust our efforts to make our free schools the real and abiding glory of our town".
Tragically, Anderson died on May 15, 1882, at the early age of 42, from diphtheria; he had already lost one son to the disease and was help- ing nurse the second when he himself succumbed. In tribute, the School Committee signed a memorial drawn by Judge Dewey:
Mr. Anderson, at the time of his death, was the senior member of the committee. All knew how much thought and labor he devoted to the welfare of the schools. He made himself familiar with all their details. His powers of supervision and administration were excellent, and his strong convictions and firm hand were everywhere felt. His associates mourn the loss of his counsel and companionship.
He was buried in the Mahaiwe Cemetery in a lot which was con- tributed by the Cemetery Association.
The large stained glass window in the Chancel of St. James' Church above the Altar, is the Parish's memorial to Daniel G. Anderson. Repre- senting the Ascension of Christ (Acts I: 9-10), it was executed by Charles F. Hogeman of Orange, New Jersey, the American associate and agent of Charles Booth of London and installed in 1887-8.
III
The next rector was Joseph E. Lindholm, of Pontiac, Rhode Island, who was called in August 1882. The Vestryman most responsible for extending the call to Lindholm was Judge Justin Dewey - and thereby hangs a tale. Judge Dewey was a man of great intellect who earlier had been a member of the Congregational Church which, at this period, was in charge of Evarts Scudder. Scudder was firm in the faith of orthodox Congregationalism, while Judge Dewey, leading a Bible class and keeping abreast of the latest scholarship in more liberal theology, believed that interpretation of the Bible is conditioned by man's advancing knowledge. Keen in his devotion to church and religion, he nevertheless felt that a man need not agree with everything that his minister believed.
For these views, Judge Dewey was condemned from the pulpit by Scudder; in 1879 he resigned as Deacon and with several others, joined the Episcopal Church, where he was soon made a Vestryman. But when Henry A. Adams, a "ritualist", succeeded Lindholm in 1885, Judge Dewey could not abide his "High Church" ways either and so he returned to the Congregational fold. And there, as had happened previously at St. James', he was placed on the committee to choose Scudder's successor.
Lindholm was rector for two and a half years, resigning in 1885 be- cause of poor health, and was succeeded in April by Henry A. Adams, who was ordained priest in the Church by Bishop Paddock on Michaelmas, Sep- tember 29.
Adams was an innovator. As a "ritualist", he introduced "High Church" ceremonial into the parish (thereby displeasing Judge Dewey!) and rearranged the interior of the church to conform to his principles. The Chancel floor was extended two feet and raised six inches, the front row of pews was removed and the pulpit moved to the south side - the left or
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Gospel side as one faces the Altar. A new Altar with cross and candlesticks was installed, and a brass lectern and Chancel rail were gifts of the Senior Warden, M. Ludlow Whitlock, and Mrs. Whitlock. A new carpet was fur- nished by the Parish Aid Society. The old Altar, reading desk and Chancel rail were given to a new church at Berkshire, Massachusetts (now defunct).
Adams' purpose was "establishing sound Catholic doctrine and overthrowing the loose and erroneous Protestant ideas which had crept into the church"; and in furtherance of which
the Eucharistic Sacrifice became in Advent 1885 a part of the regular worship every Sunday and Holy-Day, & the use of Candles on the Altar and the full vestments of the Catholic Church were introduced at Christmas.
Inasmuch as the Diocese of Massachusetts was generally "Low Church" (with the notable exception of the Church of the Advent on Brimmer Street in Boston), this must have given to St. James' the distinc- tion of being the earliest church in this area to adopt Catholic ceremonial.
Having thus accomplished his purpose, Adams resigned after only one year to accept a call to Albany as Honorary Canon of All Saints' Cathe- dral, and Theodore B. Foster was in turn called from Brooklyn a month later, in June of 1886.
Foster carried on the work of redecorating and painting the church, and repairing the stonework, and it was during his tenure that five mem- orial windows were installed, in 1887-8. One of these was the memorial to Daniel Goodwin Anderson, it being erected by popular subscription. It replaced three separate, smaller windows originally built into the structure.
M. Ludlow Whitlock having died about a year previously while Senior Warden, Mrs. Lucy C. Whitlock, his widow, now offered a reredos (ornamental screen behind an altar) in memory of her late husband. The vote in the Vestry was four to three in favor of acceptance, but because the negatives votes - rare in such cases --- arose from a feeling that the re- redos would not harmonize with the window, the vote was rescinded. After much thoughtful consideration of the question over several months and another adverse vote, the gift was declined with regret. The cause of some ill feeling at the time, the rejection of the reredos was a blessing in disguise in that it left the way open for the installation of the remarkably beautiful reredos which adorns the church today.
During most of Foster's tenure he published a four-page bulletin called "The Parish News". In addition to news of St. James', its organiza- tions and gospel messages from the Rector, it published items of interest relative to Trinity Church, Van Deusenville, and Christ Church, Sheffield. The copies extant are dated from 1887 to 1891. Also in Foster's term further technological progress came to St. James' when the gas fixtures installed during the construction of the edifice, were replaced by electric lights. They were used for the first time on Sunday, May 18, 1889.
Foster resigned in 1891 and was succeeded early in 1892 by Isaac Smithson Hartley, D.D., of New York. He was another of those exceptional men who illumine their position and he became much beloved not only by his parishioners but also by townspeople of all faiths. He was interested in town affairs and served on the School Committee from 1893 to 1899, and
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on the committee which accepted from Edward F. Searles the gift of a new high school building. At its dedication in 1898, Dr. Hartley spoke and consigned it "to the development and application of a true and genuine knowledge, to freedom, patriotism and virtue." - It was during his term that, at the instigation of the Parish Aid So- ciety, the present Rectory was built. Undertaken in 1893, it cost $12,000 and was ready for occupancy in 1895. The debt incurred was finally discharged by a special offering in 1901.
In December of 1898 Dr. Hartley asked for temporary relief from his duties because of illness and on July 3, 1899, he died. His loss was a blow to the parish, which held him in high regard and affection. During his funeral, the stores in town were closed in respect to his memory, a cler- gyman was specially engaged to preach a memorial sermon and the pulpit was draped in black for four weeks. A resolution spread upon the minutes of the Vestry noted, in part, that Dr. Hartley's
many lovable traits of character had endeared him to his people. His sympathies were not confined to his own Parish but were far-reaching and heartily enlisted in every good work of the Community in which he lived. The cause of education was especially dear to him and he has left abundant evidence of his interest in the rising generation both in church and school.
The School Committee, in its turn, noting in its next annual report,
its
painful duty to record the death of Dr. Hartley, for the past six years chairman of the School Committee, we express the deep sense of our loss and appreciation of his able counsel ... and his enthusiasm in the cause of education and his manly qualities.
From its members, the Vestry appointed John A. Brewer, Caleb Ticknor and John H. C. Church, chairman, a committee to oversee the placing of a memorial window in the church. It is the first window from the chancel on the epistle side of the church - beside the organ console. During Dr. Hartley's illness, Harry I. Bodley officiated in the parish and was subsequently offered the rectorship. He declined and Smith De- lancey Townsend supplied until mid-September of 1899. Then Howard Murray Dumbell of Brooklyn was called and began his incumbency on January 1, 1900.
His first two years at St. James' were busy ones in the life of the parish. The Hartley Memorial Window, given by popular subscription, was accepted, and Eugene Robbins donated a water attachment to power the organ. The By-Laws under which the parish had operated since 1872 were rescinded and a new set adopted. Edward F. Searles, having the pre- vious year removed the old buildings on the land immediately south of the church, now deeded the land to the parish. It was another ten years before the parish house was erected there, but meanwhile, in 1905, Searles of- fered for five years the use of the Atwood house on Bridge Street for parish activities.
At this point in time, at the turn of the century, we pause to record Diocesan affairs and the part St. James' played in them.
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19-44
A VIEW OF THE PARISH HOUSE AND ST. JAMES' CHURCH FROM ACROSS ST. JAMES' PLACE The Church was built in 1857-58 and consecrated on November 7, 1862 by Man- ton Eastburn, fourth Bishop of Massachusetts. The Parish House was built in 1911.
Chapter 7 TURN OF THE CENTURY
I
IN the first year of the Twentieth Century, on November 15, 1901, the Diocese of Western Massachusetts was set off as a separate entity from the parent Diocese of Massachusetts, and consisted of the five counties in the Commonwealth extending from the New York state line to the east- ern boundary of Worcester County, but excluding the town of Southbor- ough. Prior to the division, the Diocese of Massachusetts under Bishop William Lawrence consisted of five archdeaconries; of these, those of Wor- cester and Springfield were embraced by the new Western Diocese. These, however, were dissolved in 1903.
The first Bishop of Western Massachusetts was Alexander Hamilton Vinton, D.D., previously Rector of All Saints' Church in Worcester. His new diocese consisted of thirty-seven parishes and eleven missions, with fifty-four clergymen canonically resident, and 8,258 communicants. Upon the division, St. James' in Great Barrington found itself the oldest parish in the diocese, antedating by five years the mission of St. Luke's in Lanes- borough.
In the days when Boston was the center of diocesan life, its distance from the hill towns of far western Massachusetts with their always latent congregationalism - that is to say, autonomy - fostered a parochial out- look which tended to exalt the parish about the diocese, and few indeed . were the clergy or lay delegates who bothered to undertake the long and costly trip to Conventions. To combat this myopic attitude and make the diocese of more importance to the people, the nearer and easily accessible metropolis of Springfield was chosen the see city.
The diocese was slow in accepting its responsibilities and it was not until 1907 that sufficient funds were available to build a Bishop's House in Springfield. Bishop Vinton felt that it would conduce to solidarity if the diocese possessed a symbol around which the scattered, small parishes and missions might achieve some unity of thought and action. He suggested a diocesan seal and appointed a committee to design it, but when they could not agree, he made the choice himself, which was adopted by the Con- vention of 1908 (7).
Upon the separation of the new diocese, funds in excess of $100,000 were transferred from the parent diocese and placed under the administra- tion of a committee of laymen denominated the Trustees of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Among its nine members was Frederick N. Deland, Clerk of the Vestry of St. James' Parish in Great Barrington, president of the National Mahaiwe Bank and former town treasurer.
When the first annual Convention of the new diocese met in 1902, there were fifty-four canonically resident clergymen. One of these was
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Howard M. Dumbell, accredited from both St. James' in Great Barrington and Trinity in Van Deusenville. Also listed were James S. Ellis of Christ Church, Sheffield, who from 1884 to 1892 had been rector at Trinity; Charles J. Palmer of St. Luke's, Lanesboro, who had served Trinity in 1899- 1900; and Franklin Knight of Grace Church, Dalton, who after his retire- ment lived for several years in Great Barrington.
II
The debt incurred for the building of the rectory in 1895 was in Dumbell's pastoral letter of August 9, 1901, described as "an incubus, a and he called for a special offering to extinguish it. Accordingly on August cruel taskmaster to the Women's Society and a clog to Parish progress" and he called for a special offering to extinguish it. Accordingly on August 18 the collection was taken and amounted to $6120, of which $5000 was contributed by Mr. Searles and $500 by Charles H. Kerner. In grateful recognition of his several gifts the Vestry on August 23, Resolved
That in acknowledgement of the munificence and generosity of Mr. E. F. Searles towards St. James' Church and Parish, the Vestry, being the Parish Corporation, in special meeting for the purpose, does hereby set apart and free from all rental assessments during the lifetime of Mr. Searles, the pew in the center aisle bearing his name, and this as a token of appreciation and regard.
In February 1902, Dumbell extended the ceremonial aspect of wor- ship inaugurated by Adams, in vesting the choir and moving it from the loft in the back of the church to the chancel, where is now sang in full view of the congregation. And six years subsequently, still in Dumbell's rectorship, a processional cross was first used in ceremonial procession in St. James', on Easter Day, April 19, 1908, and was carried by Hobart T. Robbins, our first crucifer. This regard for High Church ceremony has per- sisted and some twenty years later, an article in The Living Church in 1929, describing the Episcopal Churches of Berkshire County, stated that "the churchmanship of St. James' is Catholic".
In March of 1902 plans were formulated for replacing the thirty- five year old organ; and the new instrument, built by Hall and Company of New Haven, was purchased in 1903. It was considerably larger than the one it replaced and required some alteration of the church interior. The debt incurred was not paid off until fifteen years had passed.
Not long after the new organ had been installed, several funds were consolidated into a Parish House Fund under the trusteeship of Henry T. Robbins. It included $405 accumulated by the Sunday School, $909 in the Sara M. Turner Trust, and $500 from the estate of John V. Hollenbeck. Although this fund was augumented sporadically, it was not until the ac- cession of Mr. Lynes as rector in 1910 that a concerted effort was made to build a parish house.
After Dumbell's resignation for medical reasons on Easter Day in 1910, the Rev. Joseph Russell Lynes of East Orange, New Jersey, came to St. James' on June 1. He recognized at once the pressing need for addi- tional parish facilities contiguous to the church, in which its Sunday School and its many ancillary activities might be conducted; and on St. James'
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Day (July 25), with the approval of the Vestry, he issued a pastoral letter noting that
There is undoubtedly a field for work here that is allowed to pass by unaccomplished because we have no place in which to gather the people together for social intercourse and religious work.
His letter elicited subscriptions of such magnitude as to reveal his congregation's enthusiasm for the project, so that at the Annual Meeting in January 1911 a committee to raise the necessary funds was chosen, to consist of Frederick N. Deland, Clarence E. Culver, William W. Norton, the Rev. Mr. Lynes (clerk) and John H. C. Church, Chairman. At the same time, Joseph McArthur Vance of Pittsfield was selected as architect, to embody Mr. Lynes' ideas for the structure.
In March Mr. Vance submitted plans proposing an expenditure of $20,000, which were approved in April, and under the building committee, comprising John C. Benton, Mr. Lynes, Mr. Church (treasurer), Mr. Culver (clerk) and Mr. Deland, (ehairman), work was pushed to such good effect that the cornerstone was laid on May 1, 1911. At the exercises the officiant was the Rt. Rev. Frederick Focke Reese, Bishop of Georgia; and the Senior Warden, Henry T. Robbins, deposited records in the stone.
A little more than a year later the parish clerk, Frederick N. Deland, noted in the parish journal that
On Thursday the 25th of July, 1912, services were held to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Church, and at the same time to dedicate the new parish house just finished. The Bishop the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Davies presided at this meeting and delivered an address. An address was also made by the Rev. Dr. Storrs O. Seymour of Litchfield, Conn. Mr. John H. C. Church, chairman of the build- ing committee Mr. Deland having relinquished that position, made his final report showing the cost of the parish house to have been $19,606.71, and receipts showing the entire amount to have been subscribed and the building paid for, were delivered to the Senior Warden, Mr. H. T. Robbins. $10,000 of this sum came to the Parish by will of Mrs. Mary A. Mason and the remainder was subscribed by the members and friends of the parish.
In September 1912 the Vestry authorized the construction of a stage in the parish house and granted permission to the St. James' Club to furnish the basement with bowling alleys and billiard tables at its own expense.
In November 1913 a Chapel was constituted in the south-east room of the parish house, on the ground floor. Occupying space about 28 feet square, its Altar was a gift and the rail was one originally in the church proper. Eleven oak pews, seating about 70, were the gifts of Mrs. F. T. Owen and Mrs. William H. Walker.
The Bishop who dedicated the parish house, the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Davies and the second to preside over Western Massachusetts, was col- laterally descended from Thomas Davies who had organized the parish in 1762. Elected Diocesan in 1911, he held his first Convention at St. James' on May 1, 1912, in observance of the 150th anniversary of the event; and not quite three months later he dedicated the new parish house on St. James' Day, July 25, presenting to the parish a copy of the rare Biographi- cal Sketch of the Rev. Thomas Davies, A.M., published at New Haven in 1843.
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