USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > The biography of a church; a brief history of Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts > Part 2
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10 Batchelder, S., ibid., p. 27.
11 The house soon became known as "The Bishop's Palace." It served as General Putnam's headquarters during the battle of Bunker Hill. In 1777 it was the prison house for General Burgoyne and his staff.
12 Hoppin, ibid., p. 31.
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
In February, 1763, in the third year of East Apthorp's rectorship, this controversy with Dr. Mayhew broke out afresh. A missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel who was a rector of a small congregation in
APTHORP HOUSE, NOW THE RESIDENCE OF THE MASTER OF ADAMS HOUSE
the town of Braintree died. At the time of his death there appeared in public press an article questioning the right and propriety of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in England subsidizing a clergyman to hold services in communities such as Braintree which were well provided with Congregational clergy and churches.
East Apthorp wrote a reply to this criticism of his friend and of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
13
EAST APTHORP BUILDS THE CHURCH
in the form of a pamphlet entitled Considerations on the In- stitution and Conduct of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. This was the spark that led to a pamphlet war between East Apthorp and other clergy of the Church of England including the Archbishop of Canterbury on one side, and a number of distinguished Congregationalists on the other. East Apthorp, no doubt to his surprise, to use his own words, "though actuated by the best of motives and a desire to do such service as he could for the Church of England and his country, sus- tained as rude a storm as perhaps ever beat upon a person of his station." 13 Whether it was that he did not like a fight or felt he was too greatly outnumbered, in any case, when the opportunity of becoming vicar of Croydon, England, was offered to him, East Apthorp left, never to return to the Colonies. "I have heard," says Dr. Burnaby, "that this gentleman met with so much op- position and persecution from the Congregationalists, that he was obliged to resign his Cure, to quit the Colony, and has since lived in England." 14
It is interesting that some thirty years later when the church was struggling for survival a lay reader who helped to keep its doors open was a grandson of Jonathan Mayhew named Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, who later became Bishop of New York.
East Apthorp's Later Years
Mr. Apthorp served as vicar of Croyden for twenty- eight years. During this period he devoted himself largely to classical and historical studies. In 1778 he published a volume replying to the attack on Christianity contained in Gibbons' History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Soon after the appearance of this work Arch-
13 Hoppin, Nicholas, A Commemorative Sermon, 1861, p. 24.
14 Hoppin, Nicholas, A Historical Notice of Christ Church, 1858, p. 31.
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14
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
bishop Cornwallis conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity and appointed him to the rectorship of St. Mary-le-Bow, London. In 1790 he was made a preb- endary of St. Paul's Cathedral and about the same time declined an appointment to the bishopric of Kildare be- cause of his failing eyesight. He died in 1817 at the age of 84 and had the honor of being buried in the Chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge.
While the chief credit for the beauty of the church building must go to the architect, Mr. Harrison, never- theless, the main contribution of East Apthorp to the parish was his planning and supervision of its construc- tion. That he was possessed of artistic appreciation and discriminating taste is witnessed by the fact that he was among the first to recognize the building as an architec- tural masterpiece and in his sermon at the opening service said :
"You see a noble undertaking in a great measure per- formed .... This temple hath arisen to the glory of God, and the promoting of Christianity, with a beauty and ele- gance not unbecoming the majesty of religion. Much has been done already by your munificence toward completing a structure, the least merit of which is the honor it does to our country by adding to the few specimens we have of excellence in the fine arts which, under the conduct of a good imagination, have so much influence in polishing and humanizing the mind, and when employed in the service of religion are so expressive of reverence to the Deity .... "
A description of the original church building together with an account of some of the more significant additions and alterations which have been made to it will be found in a supplementary chapter at the close of this "Biog- raphy of a Church."
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THE TOWER ON A WINTER NIGHT
CHAPTER II
AN IMPOSTOR AND A TORY
1764-1774
THE STORY OF THE SECOND AND THIRD MISSIONARIES
ANYONE WHO desires to volunteer for missionary work in the Church today is not accepted until the proper au- thorities have satisfied themselves as to his qualifications of character, education, and ability. Until recent times, however, anyone who volunteered for the mission field was automatically accepted on the belief that he had re- ceived a call from God, the validity of which it was ir- reverent to question. Many a clergyman unable to main- tain the respect of a congregation at home went to the mission field; and, as in other fields, the Colonies received their share of undesirable ministers. Such a volunteer was the choice of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel as the second missionary for Christ Church in the person of one Samuel Griffith. He was with the parish for only six months and the records of the parish omit any mention of him except his name.
We are indebted to Dr. Prescott Evarts' research into the history of the parish for our knowledge of what an ex- citing and intriguing time the parishioners must have had during the winter of 1764-1765, when Mr. Griffith was in charge. The knowledge we have of Mr. Griffith is found in a letter written by Dr. Caner, the rector of King's
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17
AN IMPOSTOR AND A TORY
Chapel, to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel explaining why Mr. Griffith had to be dismissed :
"I am sorry to acquaint you that Mr. Griffith (as he called himself) has turned out the most impudent impostor that I have ever known. His name, he now says and possi- bly with truth, is Mieux, son of Richard Mieux a clergy- man now deceased. He is not in orders, but being possessed of Richard Mieux' letters of Orders, had erased the name and altered the date, putting Samuel Griffith, 1762 .... This very bad man had with him a large number of manu- script sermons. ... He is but twenty-seven years of age, and sometimes affirms to have been educated at Oxford, and sometimes at Cambridge. ...
"What occasioned his destruction was his lying and stealing, for both of which he is infamous to a proverb. He has stolen from every house in the Parish where he was intimate, - silver spoons, shirts, a piece of linen, books, rings, a tweezer case of silver, silk, a girdle buckle, um- brellas, napkins, table-cloths, etc. When he found himself discovered, he endeavored to make off, but was taken, and is now in prison, and to have his trial at the sessions in October." 1
I have no doubt that after this experience both the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and the con- gregation became a bit more cautious regarding the se- curing of a new minister.
Winwood Serjeant
In any case, the church availed itself of the services of a supply minister and a lay reader for a period of two years before it accepted another missionary from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The Rev. William Agar served as a locum tenens from October 1766 until the new missionary, the Rev. Winwood
1 Evarts, P., A Brief Address on the History of Christ Church, p. 19.
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
Serjeant, arrived as rector in June, 1767. In a letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Mr. Agar gives this description of the composition of the congrega- tion : "All the proprietors of the church are men of fortune. Some of the collegians come to church." 2
Mr. Serjeant, a native of Bristol, England, went as a missionary of the S.P.G. to Charleston, South Carolina in 1756. Finding that the climate did not agree with him, he moved to St. George's parish, Dorchester, where he re- mained until he came to Christ Church in June, 1767. Concerning Mr. Serjeant, Dr. Nicholas Hoppin writes: "A few of his letters which have been preserved ... show him to have been of a spritely turn, with a touch of humor and pleasantry, but a man of tender feelings and affection- ate disposition." 3 Mr. Samuel Batchelder says "that the eight years of Mr. Serjeant's ministry are among the hap- piest in the history of the Church." Mr. Serjeant himself wrote to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel:
"The Church of Cambridge affords nothing of conse- quence to communicate, except the happiness of assuring you of its regularity and tranquility. The congregation increases notwithstanding the late loss of two principal families by death and removal. My communicants make a superior figure to most in the country."
Presumably the death referred to is that of Colonel Henry Vassall who died in 1769 and was buried in a tomb which he had prepared beneath the church.4
Fortunately for the parish, unlike East Apthorp, Mr. Serjeant was not interested in polemics but rather de- voted himself to shepherding his little flock of fifteen or twenty families of whom he wrote: "Six of them possessed of ample fortunes, the rest in very easy circumstances
2 Hoppin, Nicholas, A Historical Notice of Christ Church, p. 39.
3 Hoppin, Nicholas, ibid., p. 43.
4 For information concerning the Vassall tomb, see Appendix E.
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AN IMPOSTOR AND A TORY
were retired from business." It was during Mr. Serjeant's rectorship in 1772 that the William and Mary communion service was presented to the church by Governor Hutchin- son.5
The peace and serenity of Mr. Serjeant's ministry was to be short-lived however, as the autocracy of the King of England, which was to lead to the American Revolu- tion, was becoming continually more severe and unbear- able to the people in the Colonies. Mr. Serjeant himself as well as his entire congregation were strong Tories with the exception of two people, John Pigeon and Joseph Lee, who were the only members of the congregation to remain in Cambridge during the Revolution. John Pigeon was a proprietor (vestryman) and the only member of the congregation to espouse the cause of the Colonies, while the Honorable Joseph Lee, Judge of Common Pleas and a member of the Honorable Council, was a neutral in politics who was allowed to remain in the community. The loyalist temper of the congregation was doubly emphasized by the fact that, while the Governor of the Colony attended King's Chapel, the Lieutenant Gov- ernor, Thomas Oliver, a Crown appointee, was a prom- inent member of Christ Church and a Cambridge resident. Mr. Serjeant was bound by his ordination vows to be loyal to the King and the Royal Family and to pray for them at every regular service. Consequently, as the spirit of rebellion waxed more vehement, Mr. Serjeant and his little congregation became in the minds of the native population an increasingly resented symbol of the auto- cratic power of the English Crown.
In March, 1774, the Rev. Mr. Serjeant wrote:
"The populace are almost daily engaged in riots and tumults. On the 7th inst. they made a second destruction of thirty chests of tea. Political commotions run extremely
5 For description of the Communion service, see Appendix F.
TEMPLE
PULPIT.
WELCH
TEMPLE
ROYALL
BORLAND JONES
NELSON
RUGGLES INMAN
LECHMERE FANEUIL
T
H.VASSALL
LEE
Ti
TROLLET
OLIVER
J.VASALL
PIDGEON
PRENTICE APTHORP
PHIPS
CARTER
BLODGETTAPTHORP
SEWALL
T
D
WARDEN
WARDEN
The Tory Proprietors, circa 1770.
COCHRAN
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AN IMPOSTOR AND A TORY
high in Boston; if not suppressed soon, the whole province is in danger of being thrown into anarchy and confusion." 6
In June he writes :
"Boston is in a terrible situation and will be much more so if they do not submit to government before fall; the poor will be most miserably distressed and the town must be absolutely ruined." 7
During the summer many of the congregation, including Major John Vassall and John Borland, took refuge with the British troops stationed in Boston while Mr. Serjeant and the rest of the congregation fled north, some to New- buryport and others even to Nova Scotia and eventually back to England. Lieutenant Governor Thomas Oliver remained until September, when an armed mob appeared in front of his house and forced him to flee the community.
Dr. Caner of King's Chapel in Boston wrote from Boston to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel on June 2, 1775:
"Mr. Sergeant of Cambridge has been obliged with his family to fly for the safety of their lives, nor can I learn where he is concealed. His fine church is turned into a barracks by the rebels, and a beautiful organ that was in it broke to pieces." 8
Mr. Serjeant's experience was typical of that endured by all but two members of the congregation. In August, 1775, Mr. Serjeant wrote:
"Families, however inoffensive, suspected to retain any loyal principles, (were) treated with the utmost insolence and rigor. I was obliged to retreat with my family fifty miles into the country to Kingston, in New Hampshire, where I was in hopes of meeting with a peaceful retirement among rural peasants, but my hopes were soon disappointed.
6 Batchelder, Samuel, History of Christ Church, 1893 (privately printed), p. 36. 7 Ibid. 8 Hoppin, ibid., p. 42.
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
The restless spirit of fanaticism renders unintelligent minds more licentious. I found it necessary to remove to New- bury, where I hoped to be protected from the insults of the common people. I have lost not less than £300 in house- hold furniture and books destroyed and pillaged." 9
Mr. Weeks, a clergyman in Marblehead, wrote in 1778: "Mr. Serjeant's parish at Cambridge is wholly broken up. The elegant houses of those gentlemen who once be- longed to it are now occupied by the rebels, and Mr. Inman, a man of fortune and figure, is now obliged to purchase things from his own farm at Cambridge. The rebels have taken from him everything except his wearing apparel, only because he had been one of the King's Council in that province." 9
From Kingston, Mr. Serjeant went to Newburyport, where he lived until he was stricken with paralysis in 1777. The following year he returned with his family to Bristol, England, where he lingered until a stroke ended his life in 1780.
9 Hoppin, ibid., p. 43.
Two VIEWS OF THE GALLERY AND SOUTHEAST CORNER WHERE THE BAPTISTRY IS NOW LOCATED
CHAPTER III
THE CHURCH DURING THE REVOLUTION
1775-1790
AFTER THE RECTOR and congregation of Christ Church fled in the summer of 1774, the church saw no regular services for 16 years. Nevertheless, in addition to being used as a barracks for Colonial troops during this period, the most famous single service ever held in the church, the New Year's Eve service in 1775 for General and Mrs. Washington, took place, as well as a funeral service in 1778 that had most disastrous consequences for the church.
John Pigeon, the sole Yankee proprietor, was appointed Commissary General to the Provincial Forces, and he could hardly have had much time to concern himself with the care and protection of the building. Soon after the battles of Lexington and Concord in April, 1775, Colonial soldiers began to arrive in Cambridge. The four buildings of Harvard College were used as barracks but they were not sufficient to quarter all the troops. Therefore, General Artemus Ward, who was in command of the Provincial Forces, had assigned Christ Church as a barracks for a company of volunteers from Wethersfield, Connecticut, under the command of Captain John Chester. Although the metal organ pipes and window-sash weights were removed and made into bullets by the Connecticut Yankees, Samuel Batchelder states: "The greater part
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25
THE CHURCH DURING THE REVOLUTION
of the damage that the Church sustained at this period was not inflicted by Captain Chester's Company." 1 Dur- ing the Revolution, the church was marred by a number of bullet holes, such as the one now marked by a plaque in the porch of the church. Even Mr. Batchelder admits, however, that the bullet hole on the porch may very likely have been the result of a shot by one of these Yankee soldiers rather than by a British soldier! (Actually, there is no evidence from the records one way or the other, but who would have dared put up a sign saying it had been an American soldier!) It is interesting to note that in the battle of Bunker Hill, Captain Chester was mentioned with special credit. Happily, by early December the Wethersfield Company was able to withdraw from the church to permanent barracks, and the church again stood boarded up and abandoned.
George Washington at Christ Church
General Washington arrived in Cambridge on the aft- ernoon of July 2, 1775, and took up his residence in the Vassall house (now 105 Brattle Street). He naturally worshipped with the rest of the community in the Con- gregational Meeting House, whose pastor was the Rev. Nathaniel Appleton. General Washington was, however, a baptized member of the Church of England. Mrs. Washington evidently was the more ardent member of the Established Church. She arrived in Cambridge on December 11th, for in the diary of Dorothy Dudley on December 18th, we read, "Mrs. Washington has ex- pressed a wish that Christ Church may be put in readiness for services, and orders have gone forth to that effect." 2 As New Year's Eve fell on Sunday, and inasmuch as there
1 Batchelder, ibid., p. 39.
2 The Cambridge of 1776 with the Diary of Dorothy Dudley edited for the Ladies Centennial Committee, Cambridge, 1875, p. 49.
1
26
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
was no artificial light in the church, we assume that this service was held at the usual hour of worship Sunday morning, namely, eleven o'clock. The accounts of the service indicate that General and Mrs. Washington oc- cupied Robert Temple's pew, being the third from the front on the left side of the church. Samuel Batchelder suggests that "this pew may have been assigned to them as being the cleanest and least injured of any." 3 General Washington was accompanied by his staff and general officers, along with their wives and families. In the ab- sence of a clergyman, Colonel William Palfrey of General Washington's staff read the service, and thus describes his performance in a letter to his wife:
"What think you of my turning parson? I, yesterday, at the request of Mrs. Washington, performed divine serv- ice at the Church at Cambridge.
"There was present the General and lady, Mrs. Gates, Mrs. Curtis, and a number of others, and they were pleased to compliment me on my performance. I made a form of prayer, instead of the prayer for the king, which was much approved." 4
Colonel Palfrey prayed that God might open the eyes of King George III, and enlighten his understanding so that he would learn to pursue the true interests of the people over whom he ruled. He also asked God's blessing on the Continental Congress and, of course, on the Com- mander-in-Chief of the American Forces.5
Dorothy Dudley comments on the service in her diary under the date of January 1, 1776, "General and Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Gates, Mrs. Morgan, Mrs. Mifflin, Mrs. Curtis, and many others, including officers, were present .... There was something grand and yet incon- gruous in the service in this church, which has so lately
3 Batchelder, ibid., p. 42.
4 Ibid., p. 42.
5 For the complete prayer, see Appendix G.
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THE CHURCH DURING THE REVOLUTION
sheltered the rollicking soldiers. Doors shattered and windows broken out, organ destroyed, and the elegance and beauty of the building greatly marred. It has been imperfectly repaired at the request of one whom its former aristocratic worshippers hold in supreme contempt as a rebel against his Majesty's most righteous rule." 6 (This rebel was undoubtedly the loyal John Pigeon.)
The Description of an Eyewitness
Inasmuch as this service is of more general interest than any other service held in Christ Church, we quote the following excerpt from a letter written by Lydia Biddle of Philadelphia to Mrs. Sarah Morris Mifflin, also of Phila- delphia. Mrs. Mifflin was the wife of Major Mifflin, who was with the Colonial troops in Cambridge. Evidently Lydia Biddle was visiting in Cambridge and, having the opportunity of witnessing this unique service, wrote an account of it to Mrs. Mifflin in order that she might know not only about the service but about the part which her husband played in it. Part of the letter is as follows:
"General Washington now occupies the stately house which Colonel John Vassall built and some of the medical officers that of his uncle, Henry Vassall. Mrs. Morgan (evidently the daughter of old Thomas Sherren, once Sex- ton and Clerk of Christ Church), and when she is waiting upon me she amuses me with relating the grand doings of this family - their slaves, their chariots of four black horses, their silver plate and stiff brocades, their grand manners to the college and village people, and above and beyond all the English Church where they meet on Sunday and of which her father was one of the officers. She told me last week that Mrs. Washington was to have the Church cleaned, ready for service and that her brother-in-law, Joseph Welch, who was sexton when the Tories left, and
6 Dudley, ibid., p. 49.
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THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHURCH
has the linen and prayer books in his possession has orders from the general to direct a squad of soldiers to clean it out. So Phoebe is in high glee that her brother-in-law has got his own again, as it were, and can make the dirty soldiers repair all they have defaced.
"I hear that the only Churchmen of importance left are Mr. Joseph Lee, a sort of neutral in politics, and Mr. John Pigeon who were both Vestrymen at the beginning of the war. The latter is a patriot, but not of the grand old fam- ily - rather a newcomer I think. These two gentlemen waited upon Major Mifflin on Saturday to request him to enter the Church - next in order to the Commander-in- Chief, because in 1762, the year after the Church was opened, thy husband gave the sum of thirteen pounds towards the building. Mr. Lee was very gracious and complimentary to the Major and said he had often heard his cousin Vassall speak of the hospitalities he had received in Philadelphia from the Mifflin family and he should be glad now to return them. The major said when he gave the money he never expected to see the Church and it re- minded him of the words of Holy Writ - 'Cast thy bread upon the waters and after many days it shall return to thee again'. . .
" ... Sunday dawned bright and cold as New Year's eve should, and dear Mrs. Morgan who is kindness itself, said, as the back of the Church is almost in our front yard, that we might walk over the frozen snow, cross the lawn and enter the Vestry room door, and see the procession come in. The bell rang at an early hour to give notice of the opening. We put on some warm wraps and moccasins over our shoes and sallied forth. The officers had gone up to headquarters to escort General Washington.
"We opened the Vestry room door and entered softly. I was glad to see a brazier of charcoal burning there for my hands were cold from the frosty air. Joseph Welch who was attending to it gave us a pleasant word of welcome. He was in ecstasies of delight that Mrs. Washington had ordered the Church to be opened, and told us that he con-
29
THE CHURCH DURING THE REVOLUTION
sidered it a sacred duty to guard its walls in the absence of the proprietary, and had wept over its desecration by our Soldiers.
"The Church is small with four rows of square pews in the body and a row of wall pews on either side. These lat- ter, raised a foot from the floor, were reserved for the offi- cers, the middle aisles for the civilians and ladies, and the pews entered from the side aisles for the soldiers. There are no galleries, but a handsome organ loft supported by pillars. A row of pillars divide the Nave from the aisles but they are square and uncarved. Welch said that when the War broke out, money was being raised to have the wood handsomely carved - the Church will then be vastly pretty. Now it reminds one of some building in rural Eng- land, as it has a good site opposite the common - square, we should call it. The Sexton took us to Mr. Henry Vas- sall's pew No. 3 he said, but I could see no number. All have perhaps been taken off by the soldiers who used the place as barracks. Soon after, Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Gates and Mrs. Curtis entered together and were shown to a seat in front of us, the Royal pew, Welch said. Do you think the name prophetic? Our Queen looked very well in peach-colored satin which is worn on all State occasions and she glanced most kindly upon us, wishing us 'the compliments of the season' in quite an audible tone.
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