USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > Trinity's first century, 1844-1944 > Part 2
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Asbury Chapel was built at the Watershops in 1820. It was 28 x 36 feet, plain and unpainted in the interior, about the size of Trinity's Ladies' Parlor. Twenty seven people subscribed $300.00 to pay for its erection, including $10.00 from young William Rice. It was the sixteenth Methodist church building in Massachusetts.
Rev. Moses Fifield was the first pastor, Thomas Pierce the second, John M. Hardy the third. During the first year of Mr. Hardy's pastorate a new church was erected on Union Street and the old organization was transferred to this place, although meetings were occasionally held at the Watershops. Eventually the old Asbury Chapel was sold, removed to Hancock Street and built over into a tenement which was still standing at the turn of this cent- ury. It is unlikely that the sale money was used to pay back the original subscribers who had thriftily made that stipulation when they contributed.
On one occasion Dr. Wilbur Fiske was present at the Union Street Church and the people wished to hear him preach. Instead of inviting him, Mr. Hardy preached all day himself. All day, mind you. There were hardy Christians in those days. As he came out of the pulpit William Rice, who was his intimate friend, said to him, "You know we all wanted to hear Dr. Fiske. Why didn't you ask him to preach instead of preaching all day your- self ?"
"Well," replied Mr. Hardy, "I knew you all wanted to hear Dr. Fiske preach, so I thought I would make you take up your cross and hear me; I knew Dr. Fiske wanted to preach, so I thought I would make him take up his cross and hear me; and I am sure I should very much have preferred to hear Dr. Fiske, rather than preach myself, so I thought I would take up my cross and preach."
In 1832 preaching was resumed at Asbury Chapel as well as at Union Street and two years later a great re-
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vival increased the membership to 346. The society was then divided into two separate churches and a pastor appointed to each, one of them receiving the largest salary to that date, $400.00 a year.
Up until about this time there were no salaries for the preachers, but rather an "allowance", paid on the quarter and called the "quarterage", and traveling expenses. At first the allowance was $64.00 a year, but in 1800 it was raised to $80.00 a year plus an equal amount for the wife or widow of a preacher, $16.00 for each child under seven and $24.00 for each child between seven and fourteen. In 1816 the allowance was raised to $100.00 per annum and the stewards of the church were charged with the duty of estimating the amounts necessary for fuel, rent and table expenses. There is no record of the allowance ever having been paid in full, the highest amount ever collected was' 70%, lowest 30% of the figure set.
This actual poverty, coupled with driving labor, re- sulted in a death rate among those early preachers which is eloquent testimony of their devotion. Nearly half of those who died previous to 1800 were under thirty years of age. Of all the preachers in the New England Confer- ence who died up to the time Pynchon Street Church was organized, the average age at death was thirty-two years!
The presiding elders of the Springfield District from 1815 to 1844 were Asa Kent, E. Otis, J. A. Merrill, John Lindsay, D. Kilborn, O. Scott- and D. P. Dorchester. The pastors at Asbury Chapel up to 1844 were Ebenzer Blake, Hiram White, J. D. Bridge, W. H. Richards, E. Potter, John Fleming and E. A. Manning.
Asbury church early formed a Temperance Society and voted to discontinue the use of intoxicating drinks. Sun- day Schools were formed not only for the immediate con- gregation but in the remote districts of the town. The slavery question was a burning issue and after a short period of neutrality the Methodists went all out for aboli- tion. Missionary, Tract and Bible societies were formed, careful and systematic provison was made for the poor of the congregation.
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The church was organized under the "Class Meeting" system. The Class Leader for the people who lived in the central part of town was William Rice, Esq. It was this class, under this leader, which met in the Courthouse on February 9, 1844 and founded Pynchon Street Church.
WILLIAM RICE
Since William Rice may be called the "founder" of Trinity Church more appropriately than any other indi- vidual, a more detailed account of his career is in order. Not only was he an eminent man in his own right, but his descendents have rendered extraordinary service to Trin- ity, as well as to Springfield, without break through all of these one hundred years.
He was 1born in Weston, Massachusetts, in 1788, and died in Springfield on February 11, 1863. He was a de- scendant of Edmund Rice who came from England and settled in Sudbury twenty years after the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth.
His father was a Revolutionary soldier, his uncle had fought at the battle of Bunker Hill, his mother had wit- nessed the famous fight at Concord.
During his youth he knew poverty and adventure, on one occasion striking out into what was then the wilderness of Western New York. In 1809 he married Miss Jerusha Warriner of Wilbraham. When Mr. and Mrs. Rice event- ually inherited the Warriner farm land they gave it to Wilbraham Academy and it comprises one third of the property on which that institution is located today.
During the war of 1812 Mr. Rice was joint owner of a general store and hotel in Wilbraham. He was converted in the revival of 1813 and joined the Methodist Church. For fifteen years he was engaged in trade in Springfield, associated with the Rev. Daniel Dorchester who had been the first regular Methodist minister in Springfield, and
(1) The place of birth and date of death are both corrections of errors to be found in "History of Wilbraham" and elsewhere.
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with Frederick Merrick, who later became president of Ohio Wesleyan University and after whom the famous Merrick Lecture Course was named. At the turn of the century the firm name was still to be seen in the business section of Springfield, "Rice, Dorchester & Merrick" -- three noble names in American Methodism.
In 1830 Mr.Rice was elected Registrar of Deeds for Hampden County, a position he held for thirty years. In 1838 he was elected County Treasurer and for eighteen years he filled both offices simultaneously. These long terms in elected positions are even more remarkable when it is pointed out that the political party to which he belong- ed was, for the most time, in the minority.
Mr. Rice was deeply interested in education, helped to found the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, was for many years president of its Board of Trustees, as later was his distinguished son, Dr. William Rice, and still later his grandson, His great-grandson, Attorney Horace Rice, is a valued member and official of Trinity Church today, continuing the unbroken succession of 100 years of the name of Rice in the councils of the church.
In Springfield, Mr. Rice was an ardent supporter of all the Methodist societies and, of course, a properly dominat- ing figure in the Pynchon Street Church. Miss Sophia Buckland, whose estate gave to Wesley Church in Spring- field the property on which its parish house is located, once remarked:
"Madam Rice always dressed in suitable solemnity, but in black silk that would stand alone. When William Rice came into the Pynchon Street Church, with Madam Rice on his arm, then the meeting could begin."
Mr. Rice's home on Court Street was headquarters for visiting ministers and dignitaries of the Church. Dr. Frederick Merrick was converted in that house. Years later, in a letter he wrote:
"I cannot recall an unkind word as having been spoken in the family during the years I was in it. It seemed al- ways governed by a sweet Christian spirit. One crisis hour in my life, at the evening prayer, I can never forget. They
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had been at meeting in the Watershops. I had been pon- dering the subject of my spiritual interests alone at the store, and had resolved to seek the great salvation. As Mr. Rice poured out his soul in fervent supplication, my feel- ings were so overcome that I sobbed aloud. At the close of the prayer he spoke very tenderly and encouragingly to me, and then his daughter Jerusha, a mere child, but saved, rushed to me, crying, 'O Frederick! Believe in Jesus, believe in Jesus.' The next morning I could unite with them as one saved by believing in Jesus."
Rev. William Rice, D. D. Son of Pynchon Street's founder.
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3 PYNCHON ST. CHURCH
I N the Springfield Gazette of February 14, 1844, Mr. Rice read the sad account of the lamentable death of eight- een year old Fanny B. Peabody, daughter of the pastor of the Third Congregational Church. He frowned at the charges and counter charges about the building scandal at the Armory, noticing that several of the Methodist breth- ern were involved in the controversy, among them David Rice, overseer and inspector of forged bayonets. Major Ripley, the Superintendent, had more troubles than hc deserved. Last week he had lost his daughter, Isabella, aged eight.
He casually noticed the announcement, ""A new publica- tion-A Christmas Carol in Prose being a Ghost Story of Christmas, by Charles Dickens. Price 6c"
Then he smiled as he read this item. "An effort is now making by a branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the Hill, preparatory to the erection of a new house of worship on Pynchon Street during the coming season. It is designed to vest the property, when completed, in the hands of Trustees, for the permanent use and benefit of that society."
True enough. At tomorrow's meeting there must be action.
The first order of business on the agenda of the seven trustees of a church which as yet did not even have a name was the matter of the preacher in charge. The presiding
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elder,'Rev. Reuben Ransome, made it clear that there could be no regular appointment until Annual Conference, which was scheduled to meet in Westfield in July. In the meantime supplies could be secured.
The second matter of business was that of securing a deed to the site on Pynchon Street which had already been selected, appointing a building committee and proceeding to the erection of the church.
The deed was secured on February 19, the purchase price $1,350.00. On the 22nd of April the contract for building was let to the Boyington, Mayo and Goss Co. for the agreed sum of $3,040.00
In 1868, speaking at the dedication of the new Trinity Church on Bridge Street, Mayor Winchester drew a contrast.
"These amounts," he said, "look somewhat diminutive by the side of the figures which the present Trustees have been compelled to consider. $3,000 and $44,000 shows that church building in 1844 and 1868 are not one and the same thing. But it must be borne in mind that we are a quarter of a century removed from them in time and even much more than that in our ideal of what a place of wor- ship ought to be."
An even sharper contrast could have been drawn fifty years later by comparing that $44,000 with the $1,000,000 which the trustees of Trinity on Sumner Avenue would have to consider. And seventy-five years later the Trust- ees of Trinity during its Centennial Year could announce that in two years time they had raised in cash and paid out a debt which itself was nearly five times the original cost of old Trinity, and sixty-eight times the original cost of the original church.
(1) This is according to the Conference Minutes. Not until 1847 did changes in Pastorates take place in April.
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Rev. Jefferson Hascall 1844-45 and 1855-57
REVEREND JEFFERSON HASCALL, FIRST PASTOR
By the time the regularly stationed preacher arrived the Vestry was finished. The first Preacher-in-Charge was the Rev. Jefferson Hascall, appointed by Bishop Elijah Hedding in July, 1844. A nobler beginning for the pastoral succession of Trinity could hardly have been found. He was thirty-seven years of age, tall, powerful in build, commanding in appearance, brilliant in the pul- pit, and possessed of a keen mind tempered by kindliness and balanced by good judgement. He would be sent twice as a delegate to General Conference, and serve twenty-one notable years as presiding elder on the Worcester District. The Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham gave him his education, as it did so many of these early Methodist clerics, and he was a member of the first theological class taught by Wilbur Fiske. James Mudge says of Hascall, "For genuine eloquence, whether in the pulpit or on the Conference floor, he has seldom been equalled."
Howard C. Dunham, in the course of an anniversary address, recalled having heard him at a camp meeting in Needham when Mr. Hascall was only twenty-seven.
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"Hascall took the stand for the evening service. I well recollect his personal appearance, that of a stalwart Indian chief. He had a large head, surrounded with heavy black hair, strongly marked features, swarthy complexion, broad shoulders, and a voice of remarkable compass and power. He took for his text, 'How long halt ye between two opinions ?' "
Hascall was to serve Pynchon church not only for one year as her first pastor, but later for two years as her seventh pastor, returning in 1855.
He entered the Methodist ministry in 1830 and died on February 13, 1887, in Medford in his 80th year, after 57 years of effective work.
Rev. Hascall arrived in Springfield just in time to hear the Hon. Daniel Webster, whom he rather remarkably resembled, deliver a political oration on behalf of the Whig party and its candidate for president, Henry Clay. Springfield was a Whig town. The Spring field Republican an did not hesitate to call VanBuren a "double-dealer" and to circulate the chant, "Van, Van, Van, is a used-up man." The ammunition, however, was wasted against a straw man, for James K. Polk was finally nominated and elected, the Republican editorializing, "We turn in sorrow and disgust from the election returns."
As before stated, Polk was a Methodist, yet it is pro- bable that the Pynchon group deserted both him and Clay in order to express their moral support of the abolition of slavery. The spirit of Garrison and Whittier was strong among them. The New England Methodists were, this ·very year, forcing the issue in General Conference which suspended a slaveholding bishop and split the Church wide open. The secession of the Southern Methodists fore- shadowed by sixteen years the political action of the entire south against the Federal government. William Rice's son, though at this time only twenty-three years old, was an ordained minister of the church and a leading advocate of the abolitionist cause, and he voted for the candidate of the Liberty Party, James G. Birney.
That the Methodists of the Pynchon Street Church
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were intensely committed to the anti-slavery movement is shown by the uprecedented and courageous action taken at the first Official Board meeting following the dedication of the new church, when it was formally voted that "color- ed people who desire to attend meeting in this house be requested to do so, and that they be assured that they may hire seats if they choose, or have seats without hiring."
A LIST OF "FIRSTS"
The first Official Board meeting of which there is any record took place October 14. The first matter attended to was an order to purchase a book "in which the doings of . the Official Board may be recorded." That book, with its careful, detailed minutes, written in beautiful old script, with an "f" frequently serving for an "s", is preserved in Trinity's historical cabinet. It is a tribute to the first sec- retary of the Board, Norman Norton.
Present at the first meeting were:
Rev. Jefferson Hascall Gillett Hawley
Preacher in Charge
Local Deacon
William Rice
Class Leader
John Firman
Class Leader
Norman Norton
Class Leader
Horatio C. Hale
Steward
Ransalear Austin Steward
Daniel Goss
Steward
Absent were Class leaders David Smith, Samuel O. Gay and Steward G. M. Murphy.
The second act of business was the establishing of a "Sabbath School", and a committee consisting of Rev. Hascall, William Rice and G. Hawley were appointed to "organize and regulate it". By a process of elimination it may be assumed that the first Sunday School Superin- tendent in Trinity's history was Gillet Hawley.
The first ushers were Davis Crowell. S. O. Gay and G. M. Murphy.
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The first sexton, of which there is any record, was B. F. Adams.
The first chorister was William Collins, and the first organist was Isaac Smith. Both of these musicians agreed to serve for one year, gratis.
The first note of discord arose, it is also worth noting as a matter of historical importance, from this musical department, paradoxical as that sounds. Eventually a bitter feud was to split the church, and the original source of infection was to come not from a disagreement over a building site, as is commonly believed and generally re- ported, but from personal friction in the musical program.
For the record, then, it must be pointed out that an effort was made, a few months later, to procure funds for purchasing hymnals by presenting a public recital. Organist Smith refused to take part, and though there is no record of it any observer experienced in such things may conjecture that he likewise refused to allow anyone else to play "his instrument". At any rate the project was quickly dropped. The next September, while a solicita- tion for funds to support the church was under way, G. M. Murphy reported to the Board that "there was some dis- satisfaction manifested by Brother William Collins, chor- ister, in consequence of having been asked and urged to subscribe something for the support of the Gospel, and by Isaac Smith, in consequence of not having received any- thing for playing the organ." Therefore, on motion of William Rice, it was voted that a committee of three be appointed to wait on Brother Collins and inform him that he was "excused from paying anything for Preaching this year." But organists were harder to find, so it was decided to pay Isaac Smith $100 a year "if possible".
One year later he was through. Mr. Henry Chapin was engaged to play the organ "on condition of no charge or claim for such service." Some months later $100 was set as the annual salary for Brother Chapin "that being the lowest sum for which he would serve."
There were periodic flareups in the music program and seldom did a Board meeting go by without some effort
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being made to "clear up a situation in the choir." Once the problem was "who shall be the treble singer?" In 1858 the whole choir resigned en masse. Organists and choristers lead short but exciting lives.
DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH
Five hundred programs were printed for the dedication service of the new church. It was a beautiful building, constructed of wood, stately and commodious, 80 to 100 feet in dimensions, three stories in height. The style was classic Greek with four tall pillars leading to three front doors. To visualize it think of the present Springfield Municipal Auditorium as being flush with the street, a spire of equal height to the building exactly in the center of the roof, and scaled down to size, and you have the picture.
Where was it located? Directly in back of the Cam- panile and facing it on Pynchon Street, where the Forbes - & Wallace extension is today. If the bust of William Mckinley could turn his eyes slightly to the right, he would look straight at the ghost of the front doors of Pynchon Street Church.
The service of dedication took place on the second Wednesday in March, 1845, with the Rev. Dr. Olin, presi- dent of Wesleyan College, delivering the address.
Jefferson Hascall could look back with satisfaction on a busy and profitable year as he left for Conference. He would be back again in ten years.
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U
Rev. George Landon 1845-47
STANDARDS OF MEMBERSHIP
The second Preacher-in-Charge was the Rev. George Landon, appointed by Bishop Waugh in June, 1845, at the Conference in Lowell. He remained for two years, labor- ing against the natural handicaps of establishing a new and still suspicious denominaton only one block removed from the lofty theocracy of old First Church. In later years Dr. William Rice recalled that he had the proud dis- tinction of being the only Methodist among all his child- hood schoolmates.
The membership of Pynchon Church was very small. It was an item for the record when the average attendance at class meetings arose to between thirty-six and forty. It is remarkable that it grew at all, considering the strict re- quirements for membership and the uncompromising vigi- lance maintained as to the moral quality of their daily lives. A convert could be recieved on probation only after searching inquiry as to his worthiness, then for six months he was at moral inspection. This was serious business, the Lord's business, and hurt feelings did not even enter into the calculations. Finally, by the unanimous vote of the Official Board, the probationer could be received into full
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membership.
Nor was laxity tolerated among the members. They would fufill the full obligations of membership and the "means of grace" and demonstrate their Christian char- acter by their daily habits or a committee would wait on them with the cold light of judgment in its eyes. There were times when the list of those "withdrawn" and "dis- missed" was longer than those to be voted upon for pro- bationary membership.
In November a committee from the Board was appoint- ed to "ascertain the truth of certain reports derogatory to the character of Walter Bates, Jr." It seems that he had been in the habit, of late, of using intoxicating liquors and "was heard to use profane language and was supposed to be guilty of other improper conduct." When faced with these charges he presented a certificate from his physician showing that brandy had been prescribed for medical use and his untoward language was the unfortunate by-prod- uct. Such a plausible explanation could not be denied. The minister was asked to keep an eye on him. As might well be anticipated, four years later he was dismissed. The ailment disappeared, but the remedy lingered on.
It was voted that "G. Bates and John Hall be a com- mittee to visit G. C. Judsen and request him to withdraw from the church and notify him that if he refuses he will be summoned to trial for neglect of the ordinary means of grace in the Church." Brother Judsen repented and was allowed to start over again as a probationer. But E. Eggleston, who refused both to withdraw and repent, was forthwith brought to trial.
No favoritism was shown, relatives and friends of the Board members were appraised with the same grim im- partiality as others. Even Albert Gowdy, one of the original Trustees who had been present in Mr. Rice's office and helped found the Church, had a committee wait upon him "in reference to his daily habits." W. Fisher, after investigaton, was exonerated upon the assurance that he had "given up minstrelsy." In the early record are numerous references to "certain charges of immorality."
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Lest there be some nervousness that these disclosures and the naming of actual names might cause offense today or are a violation of the secrets of a confidential record, in spite of the fact that they are nearly one hundred years old, it may be pointed out that the names of those who had withdrawn, been dismissed, or brought to trial were read "before the Church on the following Sabbath."
For the benefit of restless modern churchmen who de- plore the present and pray for a return to the sturdy faith of yesterday, a few further references will be of value. Im- mediately after Christmas in 1845 a committee was ap- pointed to "call upon those neglecting class meeting and find out why." The report indicated that some were "excusable, some in a low state of religion and wholly backslidden and not excusable." Numerous committees were appointed to wait on individuals "for non-attendance at Church services."
There was a deficiency in the amount necessary to fin- ance the expenses of the church for twenty consecutive years. When the preacher was urged to make some "re- marks to the people on the duty of supporting the Gospel" the next Board meeting had to deal with the problem of several hurt feelings over "slip rents and subscriptions for funds." In 1851 the mounting deficit became so serious that a committee was appointed "to make an assessment upon each member according to his ability." Thereafter followed a flood of withdrawals.
Complaints were made about the trivial behavior of some who were lacking in the spirit of reverence and "Bro- ther Ray was assigned to sit in the rear of the vestry during Prayer Meetings to keep order." In May, 1849 a com- mittee was appointed "to see about preserving good order in the choir, complaint having been made."
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