History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 157

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 157

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Louis),-the Orphans' Home and St. Luke's Hospital; there are also the School of the Good Shepherd for girls in St. Louis, and St. Paul's College, Palmyra. The latter owed its origin to George R. H. Clark, a parishioner of Christ Church, who in 1844 presented to the diocese three hundred and thirty-three acres of land in Montgomery County, Mo., for the purpose of establishing a mission, which was named after the father of the donor, " The Governor Clark Mission." A mission school was established in 1848, and was subsequently transformed into St. Paul's College. During the civil war (in 1862) the college passed out of the hands of the diocesc, but was repurchased by the church authorities in 1869, and the preparatory department was carried on until 1879, when the school was sold, to be continued as a private enter- prise. St. James' Academy, Macon, established in 1876 by the Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, is also conducted under church auspices, and there are several parochial schools.

Jackson Kemper, D.D., was the first missionary bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was born in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess Co., N. Y., Dec. 24, 1789, and died at Delafield, Waukesha Co., Wis., May 24, 1870. He was ordained deacon in 1811, and priest in 1812. For twenty years after his ordination he labored in the ministry in Philadelphia, but sub- sequently removed to Connecticut, and while rector of a church at Norwalk, in that State, was consecrated (Sept. 25, 1835) missionary Bishop of the Northwest (Missouri and Indiana). For many years he resided at St. Louis, acting until April 20, 1840, as rector of Christ Church, but his diocesan charge having devel- oped more rapidly than was expected, he requested the Diocesan Convention to relieve him by the erection of Missouri into a separate Sec and the appointment of another bishop. Accordingly on the 27th of Sep- tember, 1843, the convention of the diocese determined to request the General Convention, " by and with the consent of the Right Rev. Jackson Kemper, D.D., to appoint a bishop for the diocese of Missouri." This request was granted, and thic Rev. Cicero S. Hawks, of Buffalo, N. Y., as heretofore stated, was appointed bishop. After Bishop Hawks took charge of the diocese Bishop Kemper was transferred to the missionary See comprised in the States of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, and Nebraska. In 1854 he was elected Bishop of Wisconsin, and in 1868 he at- tended the General Council of bishops in London.

Rev. Cicero S. Hawks, D.D., first Bishop of Mis- souri, was born in Newbern, N. C., May 26, 1812, and was the youngest of nine children. He graduated from the University of North Carolina with the de-

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gree of A.B., and studied law in Newbern, and later in New York, but decided to abandon the law and enter the ministry. He studied theology under his celebrated brother, Rev. Dr. F. L. Hawks, of New York; was ordained deacon in December, 1834, by Right Rev. B. T. Onderdonk, D.D., Bishop of New York ; was soon after ordained priest by the same bishop, and was appointed rector of Saugerties parish, Ulster Co., N. Y., where he remained two years. He was next rector of Trinity Church, Buffalo, until December, 1843. On Sept. 27, 1843, tlie con- vention assembled in Christ Church parsonage, St. Louis (Bishop Kemper, of Missouri and Indiana, presiding), adopted resolutions asking the General Convention to give Missouri a bishop. It was also decided that the following communication should be addressed to Bishop Kemper, and signed by all the clerical and lay delegates present : " We, the under- signed, members of the convention of the diocese of Missouri, take the liberty of making known to you our preference for the Rev. Cicero S. Hawks, rector of Trinity Church, Buffalo, N. Y., as bishop of the said diocese, and request that you will inform the General Convention that he, the said Cicero S. Hawks, is one whom the said diocese would prefer for that office."

This action was taken in the convention in an- swer to a communication from the vestry of Christ Church, presented by Alexander Hamilton, which read as follows :

" Resolved, That, as a measure of expediency, and one which is highly desirable under the peculiar circumstances in which this church and the diocese are at present situated, we, the vestry of Christ Church, are perfectly willing, and do hereby consent to call as rector thereof the Rev. Cicero S. Hawks, of Buffalo, N. Y., provided, however, that the convention of this diocese, now in session, shall unite in procuring or applying for his appointment to the episcopate thereof, under the canon for that purpose, Sec. 1, Can. 1, of 1838."

Accordingly, Dr. Hawks assumed the rectorship of Christ Church on Jan. 1, 1844, and at the next meet- ing of the General Convention was consecrated and appointed Bishop of Missouri, Oct. 20, 1844.

In his first report to the convention Bishop Hawks said,-

" I took charge of this parish on the 1st of Janu- ary, 1844, and found it in a sad condition. . .. It was at that time embarrassed with a debt of seventeen thousand dollars. I thank God that the parish has been able and willing to liquidate a large portion of this debt. My trust is that before winter the amount of our indebtedness may not exceed five thousand dollars."

As early as 1847 measures were taken in the con- vention to relieve the bishop from a parochial charge,

and in answer to a communication from the standing committee of the diocese it was, on the part of the vestry of Christ Church,

" Resolved, That the vestry of this church will pay for the current year for the support of the Bishop of Missouri the sum of fifty dollars; and the members of this vestry will, as mem- bers of Christ Church, use their influence to have the same sum paid annually by this church until sufficient money can be raised by other means for the support of the bishop of this dio- cese. This resolution to take effect when the bishop ceases to be rector of Christ Church."

It was found, however, in the weak state of the diocese, utterly impossible to raise any sufficient amount for the bishop's support.

In 1867, Bishop Hawks experienced the first shock of the disease which, in the year following, proved fatal. On April 5, 1868, he attended public worship for the last time, and was present in the chancel of Christ Church while Bishop Vail, of Kansas, then on a visit, administered confirmation, but he took no part in the service. His last attack occurred on Saturday evening, April 18th, from which time he was uncon- scious till he died, at 6.30 P.M. on Sunday, April 19, 1868. On the 23d the remains were taken to Christ Church, where they lay in state until the following day, when the funeral services were held. Bishops Whitehouse, Lee, and Vail officiated, and Bishop Whitehouse pronounced the funeral discourse. The standing committee were present as mourners, and the remaining clergy of the diocese as honorary pall- bearers.

In February, 1835, Dr. Hawks married his first- wife, a Miss Jones, of Hillsboro', N. C., by whom he had one daughter. This lady died in July, 1855, and her child, Isabel, died in June, 1864. The bishop's second wife was Ada, daughter of Judge Abiel Leonard, of Howard County, who survived him with two children. In 1849, during the cholera scourge in St. Louis, the parishioners of Christ Church, appreciating his self-sacrificing services, pre- sented him with three thousand dollars in money, and afterwards on the same account the property on Paul Street where he lived.

Bishop Hawks was a man of recognized learning and piety, and one of the ablest administrators of his period in the Protestant Episcopal Church. As a preacher he was greatly admired, and in private life was extremely popular. Besides furnishing reviews and contributions to various periodicals, he edited the " Boys and Girls Library" of the Messrs. Harper, of New York, and the " Library for My Young Country- men," published by Appleton & Co., the latter in- cluding " Uncle Phelps' Conversations for the Young," several volumes of which were from his pen, as was

UNIVER

11THAY int ofY OF LUNDIS.

C. J. Robertson

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also the little work " Friday Christian, or the First- Born of Pitcairn's Island." In announcing his death the St. Louis Republican said,-

" He was counted among the most eloquent divines in a church which has been served by many accomplished pulpit orators. Under his supervision the Episcopal Church in Mis- souri grew to large proportions in members and wealth. He was a faithful bishop, who imitated the great apostle in taking upon his shoulders the 'care of all the churches.' His devo- tion to the interests of the Episcopal Church was earnest and laborious. Yct his spirit was altogether catholic, and the pros- perity of true religion in all denominations was to him a cause of rejoicing. The clergy of St. Louis of every name always found him fraternal, and a ready co-operator in all works which appealed to general Christian benevolence for support. In personal intercourse, Bishop Hawks was marked by much of amiability and genial sociability. His friendships were nu- merous and warm, both within and without the limits of his own ecclesiastical connections. The intelligence of his death will be received with sorrowful surprise in many churches and in many households throughout the State, and his memory will be cherished in the Christian Church in Missouri as that of one whose life was filled up with full measures of usefulness, and in earnest efforts to promote the public welfare by the dissemi- nation of the principles of Christian morality and religion."

Right Rev. Charles F. Robertson, D.D., second bishop of the diocese of Missouri, was born in New York City on the 2d of March, 1835. His family had for generations lived in that city. He was edu- cated in private schools, and it was at first intended that he should follow his father in mercantile pur- suits, in which in fact for several years he was en- gaged. He entered Yale College, however, in his twentieth year, with a view to preparing for holy orders in the church, and graduated with honors in 1859. He immediately thereupon entered the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in New York, was graduated, and ordained in June, 1862.

He at once assumed the rectorship of St. Mark's Church, Malone, N. Y., which position he retained, although frequently solicited to remove to larger parishes, until Sept. 1, 1868, when he entered upon the rectorship of St. James' Church, Batavia, N. Y. Four days after this he was elected by the convention of the diocese of Missouri to its vacant episcopate.

Dr. Robertson was consecrated Oct. 25, 1868, in Grace Church, New York, and was at that time one of the youngest of the diocesan bishops in the church. With perfect health and strong physical powers, he entered immediately upon a vigorous exercise of his office. He arrived in St. Louis early in November, and preached his first sermon in Christ Church on the 8th of that month. He preached on the after- noon of the same day at Trinity Church, and in the evening at St. George's.

During Bishop Robertson's administration of the diocese of Missouri the growth of the church through- out the State has been very great. While only eighteen clergymen joined in his election, there are now over sixty clergymen connected with the diocese. Over seventy churches have been built. The parishes, which were nearly overwhelmed with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt ten years ago, are now almost entirely free from incumbrance. The number of communicants has multiplied threefold. In St. Louis, while in 1868 there were only five parishes, now there are fifteen churches and missions where services are statedly held.

He received his doctor's degree from Columbia College, New York. He was married in 1865 to Miss Rebecca Duane, whose great-grandfather was the first mayor of New York after the Revolution, and one of the few lay members of the convention which organized the Episcopal Church in this country in 1784.

Bishop Robertson is connected officially with many general institutions of the church, and is president of the board of trustees of Nashotah Theological Semi- nary in Wisconsin. He is also a member of the Missouri Historical Society and the Social Science Association, is corresponding secretary for Missouri of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections, and is interested in many other local objects, besides being head of all the educational and charitable in- stitutions of the church in his diocesc. His home is at the episcopal residence in St. Louis.

Christ Protestant Episcopal Church is situated at the southeast corner of Thirteenth and Locust Streets. Rev. Montgomery Schuyler, D.D., is the rector. Christ parish is the mother parish of the Protestant Episcopal Church in St. Louis. It was organized Nov. 1, 1819, the forty-three signers of the articles of association being Thomas F. Riddick, F. Dent, Abijah Hull, William Stokes, J. V. Garnier, A. Rutgers, M. Wherry, Henry Von Phul, D. B. Hoff- man, Edw. Horrocks, Wilson P. Hunt, Robert Wash, H. L. Hoffman, William T. Hamilton, Joseph Char- less, R. Dean, Jr., J. Clemens, Jr., A. J. Bruce, Risdon H. Price, James Kennerley, Robert Jones, S. Hammond, John Stimpson, W. Christy, James Lo- per, Thompson P. Williams, Clement March, J. R. Ober, Theodore Hunt, William Carr Lane, A. Nelson, William Rector, Robert Bailey, Charles Gulager, Dan- iel C. Boss, J. McGunnegle, A. Brown, Josiah Bright, J. W. Hoyt, Peter Ferguson, Rufus Pettibone, John Nicholson, William H. Ashley. The original docu- ment and the original subscription-list are both pre- served in the pastor's study as valuable historical

109

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relics. The first vestry, clected Dec. 6, 1819, was composed of Thomas F. Riddick and Wilson P. Hunt, wardens; Samuel Hammond, Henry Von Phul, James Kennerly, James Clemens, Jr., William Stokes, Joseph V. Garnier, A. Rutgers, and Frederick Dent. The first meeting of the vestry was held Jan. 10, 1820, on which occasion Rev. John Ward, of Lex- ington, Ky., was called to the rectorship at a salary of one thousand dollars per annum, to date from Novem- ber 1st previous. He remained until April, 1821, and then returned to Lexington, where, with his wife, he conducted a young ladies' seminary with great suc- cess. He dicd at Lexington in his eighty-first year, and was buried May 3, 1860. The infant parish had worshiped in a one-story frame building on the southwest corner of Second and Walnut Streets, which, known as " the long building," had been used for various purposes, among others as a blacksmith- shop, and which it had suitably fitted up; but on being abandoned by its pastor, Mr. Ward, the congre- gation became disorganized, and on Aug. 21, 1821, formally surrendered its place of meeting, and sold its pulpit, desk, and pews to the Methodist Society. During nearly four years no Protestant Episcopal service was held in St. Louis, save on the occasion of chance visits of clergymen from abroad.

Among those who thus officiated was the Rev. Amos Baldwin, of Western New York. In the fall of 1825, Rev. Thomas Horrell,1 of Virginia, who had been engaged in missionary work in various parts of Missouri, visited St. Louis, and collected the scat- tered elements of the parish. A new vestry was elected Dec. 2, 1825, and on Jan. 31, 1826, an ar- rangement was effected for holding services alternately with the Methodists in their meeting-house, and after- wards occasionally also in the Baptist Church, corner of Third and Market Streets. About this time James Clemens, Jr., at the request of the parishioners, made a journey to the Eastern States with the view of col- lecting the means for the erection of a church. He called upon Bishop White, in Philadelphia, but the bishop's response to his appcal was so discouraging that he made no further effort. On the 24th of June, 1826, it was decided to purchase a lot for four hun- dred dollars from Messrs. Lucas & Hunt, on the cor- ner of Third and Chestnut Streets, to contract with

Messrs. Laveille & Mcrton for the erection upon it of a church building, and to invite Mr. Horrell to become permanently rector of the parish. The building cost about seven thousand dollars, and was completed in 1829. It is described as having been " a neat little edifice in the centre of the city, but looking more like an academy than a church, having forty-eight pews capable of seating two hundred and fifty per- sons, with a gallery at one end, in which is a most excellent organ." It is recorded that to the liberality of James Clemens, Jr., and to the pecuniary sac- rifices of the rector the ercction of the building was mainly due. On the 10th of November, 1829, Wil- liam H. Ashley, H. L. Hoffmann, and Thomas Biddle, a committee of the vestry, announced that they would " offer for sale on Thursday morning at ten o'clock, on the premises, the pews in the Episcopal Church of St. Louis, at the corner of Chestnut and Third. The church, which is handsomely finished, will be opened on that day, and the terms of sale then made known." This is believed to have been the first Protestant Episcopal Church erected west of the Mississippi.

Mr. Horrell resigned March 22, 1831. Rev. Mr. Davis, a school-teacher, was called April 25, 1831, and served three months. Rev. L. H. Corson, deacon and missionary, served about one year. Up to the expiration of Mr. Corson's term of service there had been no parish register, and no record of baptisms, marriages, or funerals. In a letter of the vestry dated March 3, 1832, to Rev. N. H .. Cobb, afterwards Bishop of Alabama, inviting him to the rectorship of the church, it was stated that there were at that time about thirty communicants.

On the 4th of September, 1832, the Rev. William Chaderton,2 of Philadelphia, was called to the rec- torship. He at once opened a parish register in

2 William Chaderton was born in the island of Barbadoes in 1788, was graduated at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and was ordained deacon in 1813, and soon after priest. Here- turned to the West Indies, and held appointments successively in the islands of Antigua and Tortosa, then came to the United States, and was for a time assistant to Bishop White, of Philadel- phia. He became rector of Christ Church, St. Louis, in October, 1832, resigned June 8, 1835, went to Northampton, Mass., and towards the close of 1836 was appointed by the Bishop of Mon- treal to the chaplaincy of St. Peter's in Quebec, where he died July 15, 1847. He was a man of rare zeal and devotion, but also of an equally rare, almost morbid, sensitiveness of con- science. He was obliged to leave the Danish island of Santa Cruz because he refused to accept unworthy persons as spon- sors, preferring to wander as a poor missionary in a strange land. He also left Christ Church in St. Louis because he feared his ministrations were not productive of sufficient results, although the vestry were satisfied with him, his parishioners loved him, and he had infused new life into the parish and in- creased the number of its communicants from thirty to seventy.

1 Thomas Horrell was born in Calvert County, Md., Sept. 19, 1789, was educated at Charlotte Hall, and entered the ministry at the age of twenty-five years. He served as a minister in Maryland and Virginia, removed to Jackson, Mo., in 1824, and thence to St. Louis in 1825. Ile removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1831, and afterwards to Columbia, Tenn., returned to St. Louis in 1842, and died there in February, 1850.

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proper form, and made suitable records of all his offi- cial acts. Mr. Chaderton entered upon the discharge of his duties in October, 1832, and resigned June 8, 1835. The prospects of the parish must have greatly improved under Mr. Chaderton's rectorship, for at a meeting of the vestry in 1833 a proposition was made to enlarge the church, though at the time there was a debt of some three thousand five hundred dollars existing against it. When Mr. Chaderton resigned he left " the State of Missouri with only one organ- ized Protestant Episcopal parish, one church built, and no officiating clergyman,-not a very large result for sixteen years of growth."

Right Rev. Jackson Kemper, D.D., missionary bishop-elect of Missouri and Indiana, was called Sept. 20, 1835, and began his pastorate in December follow- ing, with Rev. P. R. Minard as assistant, who began one month before the bishop. In May, 1836, Mr. Minard made the following report to Bishop Kemper :

"Upon my arrival, in November last, I found a church edifice, neat in appearance, but more like an academy than a house of public worship, capable of containing about two hundred and fifty persons. It was well furnished, and contained a small but fine-toned organ. The church had been built for about six thousand dollars, for one of which the vestry are still in debt. On the parish register, which I found in good order, there were forty-five communicants who could be found. There were en- rolled as belonging to the congregation in all one hundred and ninety persons. A Sunday-school had been continued until I arrived. The first day it was visited by me it contained eigh- teen scholars. The average attendance at that time was from twenty to thirty. Our school now has a constant attendance of sixty or seventy. The church now contains forty-eight pews, and it is the opinion of the vestry that fifty more could be let if they had them. For this reason the vestry have determined to build a larger house, and already think they have the means within their control. They intend to build a house about sixty by ninety, with a gallery, in a part of which the negroes can be accommodated."

Mr. Minard resigned in February, 1839, to take temporary charge of Kemper College.

He was assistant in the parish for a period of about three and a half years, and during his ministry the register shows one hundred and thirty-nine baptisms, thirty-nine marriages, fifty-seven burials, and sixty- three confirmations.

The Rev. W. G. Heyer succeeded him, and remained but for a period of about six months, during which time there were twelve baptisms, five marriages, and twenty-three burials.

The Rev. F. F. Peake succeeded the Rev. W. G. Heyer, and for six months officiated in the capacity of assistant, during which time there were twenty-one baptisms, six marriages, twenty-two burials, and twenty-five confirmations.

Bishop Kemper resigned on the 20th of April,

1840, having served the parish as reetor for four years and a half, giving to it as much time as his arduous duties as missionary bishop " of two States, two Territories, with a large portion of the Indian country," would allow. On several occasions the vestry gave expression to their gratitude to his " very useful and indefatigable service," and the generous sacrifices made from time to time in their behalf, hav- ing refused all remuneration from the parish, and giving to his assistant the full salary pledged to the rector.

Rev. F. F. Peake,1 who had succeeded Rev. Mr. Minard as assistant to the bishop, was called to the rectorship Aug. 19, 1840. He began his pastor- ate September 5th following, and resigned Oet. 27, 1842. During his incumbeney of the parish there were ten baptisms, thirty-two marriages, thirty-seven burials, and twenty-eight confirmations.

Rev. E. C. Hutchinson, D.D., was called Oct. 31, 1842, but deelined, his friends being unwilling that he should leave Kemper College, of which he was president. Bishop Kemper resumed charge until March, 1843, when Rev. Mr. Horrell returned, and served until Jan. 1, 1844, when Rev. Cicero S. Hawks, of Buffalo, N. Y., who had been called to the rectorship Sept. 27, 1843, took charge. Bishop Hawks had as assistants Rev. Charles Tomes, for nearly a year from January, 1848, and Rev. William A. Leach, called in the fall of 1849, and resigned No- vember, 1851, to become rector of St. Paul's. Bishop Hawks resigned the rectorship Nov. 30, 1853, to take effect Feb. 1, 1854, and the parish pledged itself to contribute a sufficient sum annually for five years to secure him a salary of two thousand five hundred dol- lars. Rev. D. G. Estes next served until Easter, and Rev. Mr. Harrison for a short time after. Then the church and parsonage were closed some months for repairs, and on Oct. 1, 1854, Rev. Montgomery Schuyler, D.D.,2 took charge of the parish. He

1 F. F. Peake graduated at the Protestant Episcopal General Theological Seminary, New York, in 1836, and the same ycar went as missionary to Boonville, Mo., whence he was called to the rectorship of Christ Church in 1840. From St. Louis he went to Pensacola, Fla., where he built up a flourishing parish and established the West Florida Collegiate Institute. He died of consumption in 1846.

2 Montgomery Schuyler was born in New York City, Jan. 9, 1814. He is descended of old Dutch stock, his remote ancestor, Philip Pieterse Van Schuyler, having come from Holland soon after the establishment of the Dutch colony on the Hudson, and settled at where is now the city of Albany. "The Flats," first occupied by him, is still in the possession of the family, one of the oldest homesteads in the country. The present Dr. Schuyler entered Geneva (now Hobart) College, but was grad- uated at Union College, Schenectady, in 1834, after which he

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 157

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358