USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > Trinity's first century, 1844-1944 > Part 4
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Twenty-three people signed that, and it represented fourteen families. Lewis Taylor penned it, and his name led all the rest.
None of these documents from which references have been cited has ever before been printed. The only sources are the aged, yellowed, faded, orginal, hand-penned manu- scripts.
The evidence could be pursued much longer, but this is enough to show that trouble in the choir eventually focused into personal friction between one man and the pastor who then happened to be in charge, and as a result a great Christian enterprise faced disaster. The merit of each case is unimportant. Inevitably it was the whole church which must suffer.
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ANTI-CLIMAX
There is a priceless sequel to this. Of course Brother Taylor cancelled his building pledge of $5,000 to the Bridge Street project when he left Pynchon Street and founded Central church. Four years later he left Central 1"after trying to break up the organization" and transfer- red to Bridge Street Trinity, now fully built and the danger of financial solicitation over. The location had ceased to matter! Two years later he took his letter from Bridge Street Trinity and went back to Central again. The Grace Church building was being planned and he sub- scribed $10,000. Eight months later he cancelled that sub- scription and is recorded as having been "Removed by let- ter, September 21, 1873." Where he went is unknown, though it was not to any Methodist church in Springfield. At the same time his brother, who had shared in his leader- ship and travels, transferred to State Street Methodist Church, then a year later to Asbury Church. The Taylor brothers quarreled even between themselves and during their later years would not speak to each other.
There is no doubt but that the Taylor brothers were shrewd business men. Having subscribed upwards of $20,000 they seem to have managed it so that their sole contribution was a second-hand bell.
So it began. This was the igniting spark. The con- flagration which followed, of course, quickly outgrew all relationship to it. Friendships and personal loyalties drew up the partisan lines. On the roll of those who banded together for the formation of a new church were some of the grandest souls of the Pynchon Street society. In the next few years many others would join them. With the exception of the Taylors they stood by. They were few in number, had no building. Against tremendous odds and "almost incredible difficulties" they set to work, even- tually built Grace Church on South Main Street which was in every way an edifice to match Bridge Street Trinity, paid for it in full, got out of debt and stayed out, created a
(1) From the Pastors report in Central Church records.
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Christian fellowship of such warmth and glow that it is still to be felt and is beautiful to feel.
And how does it all add up, now that history has un- veiled God's calculations ?
The ministry of Pynchon Street Church reached into two sections of the city instead of one, doubled its power and service, then united again in 1922 to comprise one of the great churches of Methodism. Dr. F. W. Mueller, of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension has said, "When you think of the dozen leading churches of Methodism, Trinity Church, Springfield, will be among them."
"The Lord works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform."
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5 GRACE CHURCH
D R. David Sherman, presiding elder of the Spring- field District, was no stranger to controversies like that which faced him in the Pynchon Street split. He was a man of great ability and experience. A year later he would be a delegate to General Conference and make the motion which, for the first time, gave women an equal right to vote with men on constitutional matters relating to the church. That illustrates his tact.
He followed the most direct course, agreed to the peti- ยท tion for the establishment of a new church, helped organize it and incorporate it according to law, on January 3, 1867.
The charter members were: Mr. and Mrs. Lewis H. Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Potter, Mr. and Mrs. James C. Beggs, Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. Archibald J. Pease, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew C. Fisher, Mr. and Mrs. Carlos W. Hoisington, Mr. and Mrs. James B. King, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Adams, Nelson L. Elmer, Mr. and Mrs. George P. Stebbins, Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Houghton, Jason Hatch, George B. Adams, Mrs. Wealthy Pettis, Miss Ellen T. Sullivan, Miss Alvira Buell and Miss Abby Clemens. Here were twenty-nine people, representing eighteen families. None of these is now living, though Miss Ellen Sullivan did live to see the merger that resulted in the present Trinity.
Union Hall was rented, on the corner of Bliss and Main Streets, above where the Metropolitan Furniture Store is today, and there the first public service was held on Sun- day, January 4, 1867. Since no minister could be appoint-
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Rev. Edward Cooke 1867 and 1869-70
ed until the April Conference, the Rev. Edward Cooke, D.D.,principal of the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, was invited to supply until then. The subject of his first sermon, which is still preserved in his original manuscript, was "Go Out Into the Highway and Compel Them To Come In." He served this struggling little group well, supplying for them again two years later when no pastor could be found to serve by appointment. Dr. Cooke had been the president of Lawrence University and would be the president of Claflin University. During his term at Wilbraham an all-time high was reached in enrollment of students, 679. Dr. Cooke died September 18, 1888.
Also, on March 23, 1867, at the Quarterly Conference, Dr. Cooke helped organize the church into its boards and as a Sunday School, with L. H. Taylor as the first superin- tendent. The first Official Board consisted of: Class Lead- ers-Lewis H. Taylor, Nelson L. Elmer; Trustees --- C. W. Hoisington, Marcus Houghton, Jason Hatch, Nelson Elmer and Lewis Taylor; Stewards - Charles C. Taylor, A. J. Pease, G. P. Stebbins, J. G. Beggs, J. B. King, Mort- imer Potter, and Benjamin Adams. Of that Board Mr. A. J. Pease was to lack but one year of serving as a trustee for a half a century. Forty-one of those years he was pres- ident of the Board, and for several years was Superinten-
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Grace Church, Main and Winthrop Streets.
dent of the Sunday School. He was a handsome man, with a VanDyke beard, highly respected and loved by the people.
The Ladies Benevolent Society had organized on Jan- uary 9, 1867, the Friday following the first service. Mrs. Benjamin Adams was the first president. That first year they grew to 59 members and raised $237. The second year they assumed the full responsibilty for the parsonage furniture and continued to do so throughout their history.
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Rev. C. A. Merrill 1867-69
Rev. Charles A. Merrill was appointed as the first regu- lar pastor of the church in April, 1867. He was forty-one years old, had been requested to come by a committee which heard him in Hazardville, Connecticut, and was transferred from the Providence Conference to the New England Conference for that purpose. . But he had a rough time.
As he noted at the end of a discouraging report, "This society has suffered much from the want of a better place in which to worship, but they have not seen their way clear to build an edifice; still they trust God will open the way ere the close of the present Conference year either to build or to rent another room."
God opened the way, but only a crack. After two years in Union Hall the Society moved to Institute Hall, then after six months rented the old Universalist Church across from Union Hall on the corner of Main and Stock- bridge Streets. Brother Merrill, who looked very much like the hero who at that time was being talked about to succeed Andrew Johnson in the White House, General U. S. Grant, worked hard. He "with his efficient wife put their shoulders to the wheel," but the difficulties were many. Brother Taylor, who seems to have held every office available, probably in the futile effort to keep him
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Rev. Chas. T. Johnson 1870-71
sweet, decided to quit and urged the others to join him. Reverend Merrill had come from a long and esteemed line of preachers and he must have taken it philosophically for in spite of this experience he lived to be seventy years of age, dying in Springfield on January 13, 1896.
Brother Taylor left Central exactly as he had left Pynchon, with troubles to clean up. There were several withdrawals and the financial outlook was bad. It did not seem possible to support another full time pastor so the station was "left without appointment" and grand old Dr. Cooke was called from Wilbraham again to supply. He came. The remnant persisted and held on. The society gathered strength until by the time Conference met in 1870, at Bridge Street Trinity in Springfield, it seemed possible once more to have an appointment.
Charles S. Johnson was 32 years old and not in very robust health. In spite of that he entered into a series of evangelistic meetings, doing all the preaching, mid-week and on Sunday, for eight continuous weeks. There were several conversions and at the end of his first year he could report a full membership of 116, and by the time he had to leave in the fall of 1871, there were 134 members and 24 probationers. He died October 26, 1893.
Not only was the church going ahead in numbers but
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Rev. John R. Tiddy 1871-72
Rev. Johnson had been able to win some outstanding personalities who were to mean a great deal to the future. One of these was David Smith, the president of the first Board of Trustees in old Pynchon Street Church, who transferred from Bridge Street Trinity and brought his family with him. He was known as "Uncle David" and would be a mountain of strength to a brave society that richly deserved a slice of good fortune. Another accession was Elijah Nichols and his family. This name would go down in the annals of the church as a blessing for many years.
To fill Rev. Johnson's unexpired term a young English born student, John R. Tiddy, from Wesleyan College in Middletown, Connecticut, was sent as a supply. He was only twenty-seven years old, but greatly gifted, acknow- ledged as one of the most promising young men of the church. The members congratulated themselves heartily and whispered to each other, "He'll be a bishop some day." Now the time had come to advance. Here was a leader for Israel!
On November 2, 1872, young John R. Tiddy was dead, sricken with Typhoid Fever.
While he was ill he had sent word to a classmate in Middletown to come up that Sunday and preach. It was
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Rev. John A. Cass 1872-76
Joseph Swiver and he did not know until he arrived on Saturday night that his friend was gone. He felt too brok- en to preach, but Mrs. A. J. Pease, at whose home he was staying, persuaded him. He took for his text John 13:7 "What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." The people never forgot the moving pathos of that sermon.
It was only a coincidence, but when Dr. Thayer, the presiding elder, preached John Tiddy's funeral sermon, he used that same text.
REVEREND CASS AND THE BUILDING OF GRACE CHURCH
The Society had suffered too much already, met too many reverses, overcome too much ill fortune, to despair. Again they turned toward an institution that had served them well, Wesleyan College, and another young man of the same age, John A. Cass, came to supply until Confer- ence, and was then regularly appointed in April, 1873.
The month after he arrived, in May 1873, the first auxi- liary of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was formed, with Mrs. J. A. Cass as the first president. Twelve ladies joined that day and five subscribed to The Heathen Woman's Friend
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Reverend Cass fulfilled every expectation and the con- gregation began to grow. Soon the prospect of building a church became a dream with substance. The Trustees met on March 12 and voted to build as soon as $35,000 could be raised. Brother Cass and the people went to work and in June just $550 more was needed, and Elijah Nichols and "Uncle David" Smith stepped forward to add that to their already sizable subscriptions.
Things were too bright. It was time for more trouble. It came. And it came in familiar garb. Brother Lewis Taylor had meanwhile returned from Trinity to Central and $10,000 of the $35,000 was his. He cancelled and left. There were legal troubles in disposing of property. But the people grimly persisted and were rewarded. In the fall of 1873 the lot on the Corner of Winthrop and Main Streets, where the Pontiac sign flies today, was secur- ed, the plans drawn up, the contract awarded to P. B. Johnson Co. The first shovelfull of earth was lifted by Mrs. A. J. Pease.
Usually the Sunday services consisted of preaching in the morning, Sunday School at noon, preaching in the afternoon and prayer meeting in the evening. Class meet- ings were also often held after Sunday School.
Now it was changed to preaching at morning and even- ing, and "Band Meetings" were held at 5 P. M. at some home in the parish. After prayer and testimony the people would go to the evening preaching service, which was also often followed by a prayer meeting. During the last wint- er in the old Universalist Church special meetings were held in which the Lynn Praying Band and "Camp Meet- ing John" Allen assisted. There were 54 professed con- versions.
The building went on and on May 1, 1874, the corner stone was laid, presiding elder George Whitaker delivering the address. The Rev. Dr. Buckingham, pastor of South Congregational Church was present and took part, then that afternoon he and his people dedicated the new South Church on the corner of Maple and High Streets. The bell that was installed in Grace Church came from the
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tower of the old South Church on Bliss Street.
Watching the building go up was a delight. When the first floor was laid, the people sat on the rough boards and held a Band Meeting with Rev. Cass leading.
On May 5, 1874, the name of the new church was officially adopted as Grace Methodist Episcopal Church.
GRACE CHURCH IS DEDICATED
The first service was held in the vestry on October 4, 1874. Dr. William F. Warren, president of Boston Un- iverity, preached the sermon from John 4:23, "But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." Several people joined the the church that day. In the evening Dr. George Whitaker, presiding elder, preached to an overflow congregation. Among the laymen was Mr. Joseph E. Durfee who was that year chosen as Treasurer of the Sunday School, and who never relinquished that position for forty-eight years, until the church was torn down.
The church was finished and dedicated on Tuesday, January 19, 1875. The decorations were calla lilies, with ferns and running vines. The ladies had sewed the carpet- ing and the men had laid it.
Bishop Thomas Bowman preached the dedicatory ser- mon, from Haggai, 2:9, "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of Hosts." Present and assisting at the services were presiding elder George Whitaker, F. K. Stratton, Merritt Hulburd, who was pastor of Bridge Street Trinity, Dr. William Rice, W. H. Cooke and R. R. Meredith. Rev. Dr. B. I. Ives of Auburn, New York, followed the sermon with an offer- tory service and then and there raised $17,000 in cash and pledges. In the evening Dr. Ives preached and managed to gain some further pledges. Altogether $23,728 was accounted for on that day. Pastor Cass has written, "God raised us up a strong friend in the person of Brother D.
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Rev. E. A. Smith 1876-78
Smith, who has given about $17,000 toward the erection of the building." The following April the whole church was saddened by the death of this strong friend.
Four days were used for dedicatory purposes, Sunday for the dedication proper, Wednesday for the Sunday School, Thursday for "social purposes," and Friday for Temperance.
The building committee consisted of J. A. Cass, A. J. Pease, David Smith and Elijah Nichols. Also prominent in the project were W. B. Crook and William Smith, David's son.
Brother Cass claimed Grace was "a beautiful edifice, than which there is none finer in the city." It's total cost was about $70,000. In style it was Romanesque, could seat 450 in the main auditorium, 900 overall. It was 68 by 110 feet and had a spire that pointed 182 feet in the right direction. The interior was softly frescoed and car- peted, and was very homelike and attractive, especially the vestries. The great Rose Window was later augmented by memorial windows until every window in the building was a memorial to someone.
On September 28, 1875 the old custom of renting pews was abandoned and the system of regular weekly offerings adopted.
When young Rev. and Mrs. John Cass left their first
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Rev. J. O. Knowles 1878-80
charge to attend Conference in Lowell, they could feel that they had wrought well.
Through the years Grace Church continued to grow.
Ministers came, stayed two years, on occasion three, and moved on to other fields. First the parsonage was at 17 Mattoon Street, then 110 Central Street. In 1876 it was Rev. E. A. Smith, with full black beard and twinkling eyes, adored by the children, a lovable man, who gathered the fruits of the Moody and Sankey meetings, held in the old city hall, to enlarge the membership of the church. Rev. Smith retired in 1897 and left this life on November 17, 1902.
Then J. O. Knowles, who was a power in the pulpit on Sunday and an untiring raiser of money during the week. He was a unique character, rough and ready - and knew how to shout ! The load of debt had borne heavily, but during his two years $23,000 was collected and the debt reduced to $14,000. He went to Philadelphia to plead for funds from the Methodist Church Extension Society. The powers in the front office refused to hear him. He went home and wrote letters. The answers were "no." He packed his bag and went down again, arranging for the members to stay continuously in the vestry in prayer for his success. He came back with $1,200! In later years
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-
Rev. S. B. Sweetser 1880-83
Dr. Knowles returned to Springfield as the presiding elder of the district. He died on December 6, 1909.
Rev. S. B. Sweetser came in 1880, forty-one years old, one sparse tuft of whiskers on the point of his chin. He reorganized the Sunday School according to the Disci- pline, helped the Ladies Aid Society celebrate its twenty- fifth anniversary. Mr. Chubbuck, a fine organist, made the music memorable. Pastor Sweetser died on March 4, 1897.
Next was Rev. Thomas W. Bishop, 1883, who organized a Young Men's Bible Class which became a powerful factor in the church's life. Men from all over the city came under the influence of this class during the many years it served. Among them were two brothers by the name of Duryea, young mechanics, working on a new fangled gasoline carriage. So Charles E. Duryea, the in- ventor of the autombile, was a communicant, though not a member, of Grace Church. Some of the old timers were shocked when Reverend Bishop led the "Grand March" at the church socials, but the younger folks liked it. Rev. Bishop died on January 8, 1910, after a long, painful illness.
When Rev. W. J. Heath arrived in 1886 a new era was dawning for the church on South Main Street. Coming
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Rev. T. W. Bishop 1883-86
Rev. W. J. Heath 1886-91
from the Troy Conference, he remained for five full years of a notable pastorate. His neice would later grace the parsonage of the new Trinity, Mrs. Fred Winslow Adams. The entire debt was cleared and Grace Church was debt- free from 1887 on. This great victory was celebrated by a Jubilee beginning on Sunday, June 1. Bishop Andrews preached from the text, "The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed which a man took and sowed in his field." There were many eminent speakers. The Church Extension Society of Springfield Methodism met in Grace Church during this celebration and launched a building enterprise in the hill section which was to become known as St. Luke's Methodist Church. Rev. Heath re- mained until 1891. He died on January 22, 1913. Mrs. Angelica Heath, his widow, lived to be eighty-four years old and died in 1922, survived by a son and daughter.
A thirty-one year old young minister came in 1891, the Rev. Frederic H. Knight, with his wife, Marion, and two boys, Howard and Frederic. The church was growing fast. For the first time congregations began to be bigger than the auditorium, and they flowed into the vestry. For Pastor Knight's sermons were not dull. They sparkled with wit. More than that, he was in tune with the rising social consciousness of that era and he did not hesitate to speak out plainly on the various phases of Springfield's life.
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Rev. F. H. Knight 1891-94
Rev. E. P. Herrick 1894-99
During his term the Epworth League was organized on March 29, 1894, and named the F. H. Knight Chapter in his honor. The first president was R. M. Cowles and the first Superintendent of the Junior League, organized in October of the same year was Mrs. Emma Gooch. Dr. Knight was the recipient of The Jacob Sleeper Fellowship from Boston University the year after he left Grace, which gave him and his wife a two year's course of study in Berlin, Germany. For a time he was president of New Orleans University, concluding his career as the Superin- tendent of New England Home for Little Wanderers. He passed away on October 15, 1922. Mrs. Knight died only last year, in Columbus Ohio.
Ernest P. Herrick was thirty-five when he arrived in 1894 with Mary, his lovely wife, and three lively boys. During his ministry the Centennial of the New England Conference was held in Springfield, in Asbury Church, to be near the seat of the first Conference in Wilbraham. Grace Church now had nearly 300 members and 25 pro- bationers. It was well organized. F. A. Rivard was directing the choir, Miss Julia Porter was at the organ. Francis Dargin was Superintendent of the Sunday School, which never missed the annual trip to Riverside Park on the river boat "Sylvia," L. H. Hosley president of the Young Men's Bible Class, Miss Nellie Davies superin-
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tendent of the Junior League, Mrs. A. Carroll president of the Ladies Aid Society. The first Union Home Miss- ionary Society had been organized in March, 1882, with Mrs. Emma Warriner of Grace church as the first trea- surer. Mrs. O. K. Merrill, who followed her in that office, served continuously for thirty-two years, and as its presi- dent for five years.
David Smith, that "strong friend", had gone to a much deserved reward, but his son William though formally allied with Bridge Street Trinity was carrying on, and high in the councils of the church were A. J. Pease, Eben Luther, Horace Clark, Joshua Nichols, Franklin Nichols, W. F. Bennett, George M. Stebbins, S. J. Wright and a number of younger men who were becoming active: To- gether with their wives and Lizzie Beggs, Ellen Sullivan and many, many others, the outlook was fine. The ad- ministration of the church proper was handled exclusively by the men (as far as outward appearance was concerned ) .
Rev. Herrick, who with his father and brother gave more than a century and a quarter of active service to the New England Conference, lived until May 26, 1939. Mrs. Herrick died in 1908.
In April, 1899, a remarkably energetic pastor, thirty-five years old Charles E. Spaulding, arrived, bringing a wife who worked as hard as he for the church as well as mother- ing a young son, Paul, and daughter, Miriam. For four years things moved. President William McKinley visited Springfield two months later and as he passed Grace church Miss Hazel Mackey and Paul Spaulding, the minister's son, presented him with a basket of flowers. The church was very proud when an acknowledgement of this came from the White House. After little Eleanor Lantz died with tragic suddenness a proposed plan for a girl's organization was found in her Bible. She had in- tended to call it the Pansy Circle. Forthwith the Spauld- ings carried it out, incorporated it into an Intermediate Epworth League. There were boys' groups, too; the Sun- day School was graded, a Home Department launched, a branch school started in the Forest Park region.
.
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Rev. C. E. Spaulding 1899-1903
In January, 1900, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the church was celebrated with week-long activities, old preachers returned, great speakers took part. One of the features was a historical poem, called "Retrospect," writ- ten by Miss Ellen Sullivan, which covered the whole period in excellent verse. Twelve years later the poem was revis- ed for the forty-fifth anniversary. Before questioning the arithmetic consider that Grace Church had started as Central Church in 1867, had built in 1875 and could mani- pulate anniversaries as needed.
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