USA > Maine > Biographical encyclopedia of Maine of the nineteenth century > Part 24
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Dr. Burgess was a clergyman whose talents were equalled by his modesty. The invitations he received to other fields of labor were never made public. He gloried only in the Lord. Content with his allotment, he cultivated that portion of the Lord's vine- yard with assiduous zeal and remarkable success. But in 1847 it began to be apparent that the area of his toils would be providentially widened. Letters came to him from the clergy of Maine, asking whether he would accept the Episcopate of that Diocese. The question was made the subject of constant and prayerful deliberation. As the time for decision drew near, he set aside seasons for fasting as well as prayer. Every reason for and against his acceptance of the office of Bishop was faithfully weighed. At last he decided to accept the office, if elected. A Special Convention of the Diocese of Maine met at St. Stephen's Church, Portland, October 4, 1847, and Dr. Burgess was unanimously elected Bishop. At the close of the General Convention, October 31 of the same year, he was ordained and consecrated in Christ Church, Hartford, by Bishop Chase of Illinois, at that time the Presiding Bishop.
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On Friday, November 5, the newly-consecrated Bishop left Hartford, arriving in Gardiner, Maine, on Saturday evening, and on Sunday, the 7th, officiated for the first time as Rector of Christ Church, Gardiner. His old church had parted with him as with a priceless treasure, but had done so unselfishly, to enrich the poorer church in Maine. He was now not only a pastor, but also a pastor of pastors. The care of all the churches in the diocese devolved upon him, in large measure. That in Gardiner claimed chiefest and closest attention, but the others were also part of his charge. On Thursday, Novem- ber 25, he administered in St. Stephen's Church, Portland, for the first time, the holy rite of Confirmation, and said, "In the act itself, the laying-on of hands, my soul was much moved." The physical trials and fatigues endured in the discharge of his episcopal duties were extremely exhausting, and yet he never talked of them except in an incidental manner. "He might have told of a long ride of eighty miles on the outside of a crowded stage, with the mercury very far below zero, and of a night ride over a lonely road, where, in twenty-three miles, only one house was seen, through a region where wolves were making themselves known, and where a bear came out of the woods and watched the carriage as it passed ; of driving himself on the coldest day of a cold winter, with the mercury 40° below zero, six miles to keep an engagement, and, finding that he was not expected and his journey useless ; returning immediately to attend a funeral in his own parish ;" and of many other similar experiences. Amid all these demands he found time to write a book on death, which was completed and published in 1850, under the name of the "Last Enemy." In the establishment of new parishes, in the supply of needed ministers, in providing for the great moral and social necessities of the day, in the prepara- tion of a collection of hymns for general churchly use, in measures for clerical education, in his own labors as a parish priest, in the direction of missionary enterprises, in his relations to young men and to candidates for orders, and as pastor of pastors, his entire course was characterized by comprehensive knowledge, wisdom, kindliness, zeal, and efficiency. Grave and dignified as became his position, he was a very manly man. "There was in his nature a vein of delicate humor, which, when he saw fit to indulge it, rendered his society extremely agreeable." "But the great staple of his conversation, when he was with his clergy, was of themes that had a bearing less on entertainment than on self- improvement. He delighted in exchanging views with them on matters of general literature, on questions of theology, on points of Christian experience, on important matters in the Church, and on such secular affairs as might appear to have a bearing on the higher interests of humanity." "With his enormous reading, added to his great capacity for thought, his utterances abounded both in suggestiveness and in wealth of illustration. Intercourse with such a Bishop could but tend to produce a studious and thoughtful body of clergy." Forbearing and indulgent, he was ever pure, merciful, and tender in the
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administration of his high office, and admirably embodied the highest conceptions of the Christian pastor expressed by the best English poets.
Bishop Burgess was a Protestant Episcopalian from sober conviction, induced by long historical research, and because all things belonging to the Church were wholly suited to him. In his charge to the clergy in 1850 he said: "The excellency of our Church consists in this, not that it stands apart as a sect, claiming to be purer than all others, but that it is in fact the successor of that Church which once included all Christians of our language and lineage. Having never abandoned that position, it is still the parent, the basis, the bulwark, of all their religion, and unites them, through a faith transmitted from the beginning, and through sacraments in an equally long succession, to the original fellowship of the Apostles." The historical proof of all the statements contained in this extract was as clear to his mind as those that sustain the canon of Scripture, or indeed of any cvent whatever. He was thoroughly orthodox, and disapproved of any departure, however slight, from the "cruciform structure of the temple of doctrine, the reflection of its triune glory, and the one atoning Sacrifice."
In the Historical Society of the State of Maine he manifested genuine and abiding interest, and greatly enriched its literature by his contributions. He was proud of the fact that the first English colony established on the shores of New England was warmly Episcopalian ; that the first English clergyman who ever officiated in New England was an Episcopalian ; and that the first church erected-that within the original Fort St. George -was an Episcopal church. The colony was that of Popham, in the aboriginal province of Sabine, at the mouth of the Kennebec. It was founded August 29, 1606, under a charter from James I., dated April 10 of the same year. The Episcopal chaplain of the colony was Richard Seymour, who was probably connected with the house of Seymour, the second among the English nobility In 1859 Bishop Burgess was elected Vice-President of the .Maine Historical Society, and ably presided at several of its meetings. In February, 1863, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
As a member of the Upper House of the great legislative council of the Protes- tant Episcopal Church, Bishop Burgess possessed great influence and efficiency. The Right Rev. Dr. Lee, Bishop of Delaware, said, "His extensive and well-digested learning, his sound and excellent judgment ; his broad, comprehensive treatment of a subject ; his well-chosen language; his calm and dispassionate manner-were admirably adapted to the House of Bishops." "In regard to other meetings of the Bishops of the Church in their judicial capacity, it need only be said, that no one evinced greater solicitude for maintaining unsullied the purity of the Church, and the high character of its chief ministers." In 1850 he favored the wish of the laity "to secure the right of a parish to obtain the services of any clergyman of the Church, in regular standing, whom
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the parish might see fit to invite." In 1856 he supported the report of a commission " touching the need of greater flexibility and liberty in public worship ; of better adaptation of" the Protestant Episcopal "services to varying circumstances, and the importance of taking measures to draw more closely together Protestant Christians agreeing in great fundamental doctrines ;" and was named as one of the permanent Commission on Church Unity. He was a practical conservative, who always held fast to that which was good, and yet wisely essayed better things that were manifestly capable of improvement. In 1862 he was an unflinching supporter of his country's cause. In 1865 his uncompromising loyalty was as strikingly and discreetly apparent. The "Statement of Seven Bishops," relative to the solemn thanksgiving for the restoration of National peace and unity, was drawn up by him, and was his last utterance in the body he had adorned for so many years, and of which he was then unconsciously taking his final leave.
When Bishop Burgess assumed the charge of the Diocese of Maine there were only seven parishes in the State. At the time of his decease the numbers of the clergy and parishes had almost trebled. His Apostolic spirit and saintliness had won high considera- tion for the Church, and prepared the way for future growth and prosperity. "As a preacher," the Rev. Asa Dalton, Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Portland, writes, " Bishop Burgess surpassed, we think, almost every member of the House of Bishops, and was not inferior to the best of the English Bishops." "The uniform excellence of his ordinary parochial sermons is attested by those most competent to pronounce upon them-the parishioners of Christ Church, Hartford, Connecticut, and of Christ Church, Gardiner. . . . A faithful steward of the Divine Mysteries, he brought forth from the treasury of the Gospel 'things new and old ;' his sermons embracing an unusually wide range of subjects. A wise master-builder, he wrought on God's foundation, and no other." His diocesan and occasional sermons were exquisitely appropriate to the time and object. Into con- troversy he would not suffer himself to be drawn, but did not hesitate, when necessary, to attack error. As an instructor, he was erudite, precise, forcible, patient, and kind. The effect of his instructions was to assimilate the little cluster of students who were brought into daily contact with him, at least in some degree, in purpose and character to himself. "No higher result of teaching can be suggested, no richer reward for such an instructor proposed, than that those whom he taught should be incited and aided to follow him as he followed Christ." " His Churchmanship was of the broadest character. He refused to be classed with any party in the Church, and very rarely used the words High and Low as applied to his brethren ; never except in familiar conversation."
As a poet, Bishop Burgess has valid claims to lasting remembrance. In 1840, when a rector at Harvard, he wrote and published " The Book of Psalms, translated into English Verse." This, and "The Metrical Psalter," published twenty years later, "through all the changes incidental upon versification, hold fast the sense of the Hebrew text, and have the
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faith and fire of the Psalmist. They have been held, especially the 'Metrical Psalter,' by the most searching of the critics of our land and of England, to be among the very best of all the poetical versions of the Psalms ever published." The list of his prose and poetical compositions contains the titles of no less than forty distinct works. "Instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord" (Acts xviii. 25). His rich attainments in theological learning were recog- nized, not only by Union College and by Brown University, but also by the Bishop's College, see of Quebec, which conferred upon him the title of Doctor of Divinity.
Any memoir of Bishop Burgess would be markedly incomplete which failed to men- tion the part he painfully took in the presentment of Bishop Doane of New Jersey, under the Canon. The reports in circulation against this clergyman made it necessary to ascer- tain their truth or falsehood, and thus to protect the welfare and reputation of the Church. In the whole conduct of this grievous matter nothing could exceed the firmness, the wisdom, and the gentleness by which Bishop Burgess was distinguished. The acknowledgment of various indiscretions made by the Bishop of New Jersey satisfied the pressing requirements of the case, and warranted the order that "further proceedings be discontinued, and the respondent be discharged without day."
Charitable, generous, and just ; an excellent business man, and exact in all his habits ; abstemious in diet, chivalrously respectful to women, afraid of no honorable work, and doing with all his might whatever his hand found to do-his constant laboriousness was due to his iron will rather than to an iron constitution. Though rarely confined by sickness, he was not a person of very robust constitution. For many years his illnesses were of a ner- vous character. He was greatly troubled by a rush of blood to the head, particularly while preaching, and was led to dwell much upon the thought of sudden death. In March, 1865, a proposition came to him from Bishop Lee of Delaware to visit the missionary stations in the island of Hayti. That he did not accede to the proposal was owing, not to any dis- inclination, but to his conviction that he could not then perform the necessary duties. Immediately after the convention, which met in Portland in July, 1865, and at which he delivered a charge, reading it with his own voice, instead of returning home, he went to the White Mountains, where he spent three weeks. He afterward made visits to Bristol, Newport, and Nantucket. On the Ist of October he attended the meeting of the General Convention at Philadelphia. Subsequently he resolved to proceed to Hayti, and on December 27th sailed in the Morro Castle for Havana. Thence he sailed to St. Thomas, and afterward made a delightful visit of three weeks to an English friend in Barbadoes. While there, his voice failed so much that he could speak only in a whisper. After a pleasant voyage he reached Cape Haytien, and thence took passage in a Haytian war- steamer to Port-au-Prince, where he was received with cordial hospitality, and found a true home in the house of Vice-Consul Conard. For five weeks he enjoyed the delicious cli-
Metropolitan Publishing & Engraving Co.boston.
Allen Lum back " at the age of 80"
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mate, and in that time probably overtaxed his failing strength by holding two confirma- tions, ordaining two persons, baptizing several children, and preaching. His last sermon was from Genesis xxviii. 20-22, and was delivered on the 15th of April, 1866, only eight days before his death. On the 22d, Bishop and Mrs. Burgess took passage in the brig Jane for Miragoane, intending there to transfer themselves to the barque Robert Murray, Jr., and then to sail in her to New York. But it was not thus ordered of the Lord. At II A.M. of April 23d he died on board the Jane. "A few quick sobs, and he was at rest." His earthly remains were brought in the barque to New York, and thence forwarded to Gardiner, Maine. The funeral services on May 30, 1866, were attended by a large number of clergy and a crowd of citizens. Bishop Clark of Rhode Island deliv- ered the address, and did simple justice to his memory. The entire Church mourned his loss, and rejoiced in his victory.
Bishop Burgess was married on the 26th of October, 1846, to Sophia, daughter of Leonard Kip, Esq., of Hartford, Connecticut.
AMBARD, ALLEN, was born in Augusta, Maine, July 22, 1796. His father, Barnabas, came from Boston to Augusta, then Hallowell, in 1794; was a man of more than average abilities, and filled several offices of public trust acceptably. His mother, Dorothy Ballard, was a woman of vigorous mind, remarkable for her strong common-sense and domestic worth. But to his maternal grandmother may be distinctly traced those characteristics which made memorable the subject of this memoir.
Hannah. Moore Ballard was a philanthropist in deeds, and not in words : a heroine of self-sacrifice, and tireless, courageous effort for the good of others. No terrors of day or · night, no obstacles of distance or rigors of climate, hindered her in her errands of mercy to her fellow-men.
Her grandson Allen was the eldest of eleven children. His education was mostly at his good mother's knee, with a little of the common-schools. He worked at the trade of a carpenter until he was nineteen years of age; then, impelled by the necessity of doing greater things, he went to seek his fortune in the distant city of Charleston, South Carolina. Without capital, patron, or adviser, he undertook the journey in a coasting-vessel in the winter of 1815. The surprising habits of method and exactness which characterized his whole life, and made an integral part of his advancement and prosperity, are shown in the fact that an expense-book, recording his outfit for this trip, is extant as for every after year of his life. His countenance, says an old Carolinian, was a sufficient introduction, for it
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was open, honest, and handsome; his bearing manly and courteous. He entered a mer- cantile house as clerk. His New England smartness was soon recognized ; his punctuality and diligence were exotic virtues in that land of comparative indolence. He was rapidly promoted to posts of responsibility. He acted as supercargo to the West Indies when the seas were infested with pirates, and courage and honesty were in demand.
At this time his character for truth and manly honor was established, and to his death "his word was as good as his bond." He remained ten years. A part of each summer he spent with his parents, bringing many comforts and luxuries to the New England home. He bought a farm for his father and mother, and in addition to this, was able to return with twelve thousand dollars as the result of his enterprise. He was strongly urged to in- vest that sum (no mean one in those days) in property in Canal Street, New York. Had he done so, he would doubtless have come down to this time as one of the colossal men of the country. Such versatility of business talent, keenness of insight, sound judgment, and integrity, qualities for which he is justly celebrated, could not have been unproductive of great results, in the youth of such a country as ours, in a great city. But underneath all these strong qualities there was a singular tenderness of heart and love of home which de- cided him to locate in his native town.
He married the following year, 1825, Sibyl Angier Farnham, who for a few months had taught the Cony Female Academy. Miss Farnham was the daughter of William Farn- ham, an old-school gentleman of Newburyport, Massachusetts. His father, Daniel Farn- ham, was for many years Judge of Probate in Essex County.
Miss Farnham had received the best educational advantages of Boston. Her mother was the daughter of the Rev. William Emerson of Concord, who lost his life while chap- lain in the Revolutionary Army. Her associations were with the literati of that time, and her youth spent largely at the "Old Manse."
They were married in St. Paul's Church, Boston, by the Venerable Bishop Griswold : her cousin Ralph Waldo Emerson being the first groomsman. They drove to their new home in a chaise, drawn by a fine blooded horse that Mr. Lambard had brought from Charleston, known for many years in the town as "Old Peter." Here Mr. Lambard em- barked in several branches of business, the first being a distillery. This he relinquished at a time when he said " he was making money as fast as he ever wished to make it," deem- ing the business unworthy, and one he did not wish to transmit to his children. This showed one strong trait of his character, the predominance of the sense of right over the love of gain-a love which he possessed as little as any man could. He converted the same buildings into an iron foundry, having to learn a business entirely new, in which he was, however, successful ; as the " Augusta Iron Foundry" became a well-known and valuable institution, giving employment to some of its operatives for nearly half a century.
As early as 1832 Mr. Lambard, at the instance of his wife (who was possessed of
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much of the same energy of character as her husband, combined with an ardent, poetic, and religious temperament), projected the establishment of an Episcopal church. The first clergyman lived three months at his house, receiving from the ladies interested a suit of clothes, and fifty dollars for his ministrations. This was the late Rev. James Cooke Rich- mond, a man renowned for his genius and its eccentricities. He organized and named the society afterward formally incorporated as the parish of St. Marks.
During these years Mr. Lambard was ever on the alert to push forward the interests of his native town. He was most solicitous from the outset to have good public schools established, and to this object he gave liberally of his time and means. In 1835 he was treasurer of the " Augusta High School." Early in his career he commanded the respect of Mr. Reuel Williams, who soon honored him with his confidence, afterward with his partnership, and to his death with his friendship.
He was one of the first board of directors of the " Kennebec Dam Company," and during all the vicissitudes of that enterprise, while many invested more capital, few contrib- uted as much labor and pains as Allen Lambard. He superintended the erection of the first cotton-mill, and furthered its completion with the never-say-die go-aheadativeness which was his predominant characteristic.
But much of the capital of the town had been lost in its fierce fight with the river, and business became consequently depressed. California was then drawing the attention of the world. Mr. Lambard detested speculation, and had no faith in anything so uncertain as mining. But his quick insight perceived in that country great possibilities for all sorts of industry.
With his indomitable energy, although fifty-five years of age, he decided to go there, and shipped "around the Horn" in advance wooden buildings for an iron-foundry and machine-shop, with all necessary tools and appliances, a saw-mill, and a flour-mill.
He crossed the Isthmus when the trip was extremely fatiguing and somewhat hazard- ous. No Panama Railroad at that time to furnish a luxurious ride, but instead a wet pas- sage up the Chagres River in a canoe, and a rough ride over the mountains on a mule. He planted his foundry in Sacramento, selecting, with his wonted keenness of foresight, the only spot spared by the great fire of 1852, and left dry by the floods of subsequent years.
Success attended all his California operations, and at the end of three years he was able to return with an ample fortune. He went again to California in 1859, but for a few months only, and left a prosperous business in the hands of his son Orville Dewey. After this he could never be tempted from home. "No place like it," he would often say ; and he has been known to utter the rare exclamation, " I have everything I desire in the world."
He found his occupation and amusement in his latter years in the scientific cultivation of his farm. He was at heart a farmer, and his only remembered boast is of the fields he had cleared that were waving in the harvest.
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Politically he was an old-time Whig, but he never held or desired office. Religiously he was an Episcopalian, but he was as modest in his estimate of his own goodness as he was self-confident in worldly matters. His Christianity was one of deeds, not words. A fellow-townsman says Mr. Lambard was a positive man, with decided convictions, and pos- sessed of the courage to express and to act up to them.
The arts of the flatterer and the dissembler were equally unknown to him. Proud and imperious by nature, he was intolerant of sycophancy and cant. Truthful and straight- forward himself, he detested falsehood and chicanery. Enterprising and energetic, he looked with contempt upon incompetency and stupidity. A tireless worker, he had no patience with idleness or laziness. He was ever ready to help those who tried to help themselves, and to those who were physically unable to do so, his benefactions were free and unstinted.
In 1860 he purchased and repaired the fine property known as the Dr. Snell residence, and gave it to the custody of St. Mark's Church for a Home for Aged Women, always. bearing in mind its needs and providing for its welfare.
His wife had long desired to have a church school for the education of the girls of Maine, and had formed the nucleus of such an institution as early as 1860. This eventu- ally developed into the purchase of the Redington estate, and the organization of "St. Catherine's Hall," a diocesan school of great excellence and usefulness. Mr. Lambard was its most liberal friend and patron, giving to it much patient care and supervision.
Just and generous, never keeping a laborer out of his hire (a rule that he was wont both to practise and to preach), might sum up the principles of his daily life. In this con- nection we cannot forego quoting from the graceful tribute of a friend at the time of his death :
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