History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 164

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 164

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Third Congregational Church .- On the 22d of December, 1867, the Young People's Association of Pilgrim Congregational Church organized the May- flower Mission Sabbath-school, which was located at the corner of Luckey Street and Grand Avenue. In the fall of 1868 a lot on Boston Street, between Grand and Spring Avenues, was purchased, and a chapel forty by fifty feet erected. The building was completed and dedicated June 13, 1869 ; a colony of sixty-two members from Plymouth Church, to whom the chapel was transferred, having on the 15th of March previous organized a new church, with the name of Mayflower Church. The pastors of Mayflower Church have been Rev. John Monteith, who assisted in the first organization, and resigned on account of ill health, April 26, 1871, but continued to officiate until re- church Dec. 19, 1877. It has fifteen teachers and

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two hundred scholars. The Ladies' Aid Society, Young People's Christian Association, and Children's Missionary Society, called " Coral Workers," are active auxiliaries of the church.

Plymouth Church .- The fourth of the Congre- gational Churches of St. Louis, in point of organiza- tion, is Plymouth Church, situated on the west side of Belle Glade Avenue, north of Parsons Strect, Rev. James A. Adams, pastor. It grew out of a Sunday- school called the " Hope Mission School," which was organized in 1865 by Rev. William Porteus, city missionary, at Elleardsville, then a suburb of St. Louis. His connection with it lasted only a few months, and it dwindled away until, in the fall of 1868, Mrs. Lucy J. Moody appealed to Pilgrim Church for laborers to sustain the school. The church in re- sponse sent out Deacons Wm. Colcord and Lyman B. Ripley, the latter of whom was soon compelled by the pressure of his church duties to leave the enterprise in the hands of the former, to whose ef- forts and pecuniary aid the school owed its growth, and Plymouth Church, perhaps, its existence. Mrs. Lucy J. Moody gave the school a lot thirty-three by one hundred and forty feet, and the erection of a building upon it was commenced in 1868, when in response to appeals for aid the First Pilgrim and Webster Grove Congregational Churches pledged each five hundred dollars towards the erection of a suitable building. These subscriptions were made with a view to organizing a church in connection with the school, and as further aid was promised from other sources the idea was adopted. The contract for the building was executed in March, 1869, and the structure was completed and dedicated July 11, 1869. On Saturday, July 31, 1869, a mecting was held and the church organized, its first communion occurring on the following day. The building is of frame, thirty by sixty-two feet, with a seating capacity of three hundred. In 1879 a lecture-room of the same seating capacity was erected bencath the superstruc- ture. An additional lot, thirty-three by one hundred and forty fcet, has been added to the first, and the property is now valued at five thousand dollars. The successive pastors have been Revs. W. H. Warren, a graduate of Harvard College and Andover Seminary, ordained and installed Dec. 7, 1869, resigned Sept. 25, 1872; Wm. Perkins (supply), May 4 to Nov. 30, 1873; then an interval without a pastor ; W. B. Millard, a graduate of Chicago Seminary, installed June 26, 1874 ; resigned April 11, 1875 ; Alex. S. McConnell, May 16 to Nov. 16, 1875 ; J. E. Wheeler, November, 1875, to September, 1877 ; J. H. Har- wood, a graduate of Williams College and Union

Seminary, Oct. 10, 1877, to Aug. 15, 1880; James A. Adams, a graduate of Knox College and Union Seminary, called September 4th, ordained and in- stalled Dec. 3, 1880. Associated with the church are a Ladies' Aid Society, organized in 1878, and a Ladies' Missionary Society, organized in 1879. The church numbers one hundred and twenty-eight mem- bers, and its Sunday-school is attended by three hun- dred pupils.

Fifth Congregational Church, southwest corner of Clark Avenue and High (or Twenty-third) Street, Rev. George C. Adams, pastor, is the third child of Pilgrim Church, and was originally the High Street Mission Sunday-school. It was established by Pil- grim Church, Oct. 31, 1880, and carried on until May 1, 1881, when Rev. George C. Adams took charge of it and began holding regular services. On the 3d of July, 1881, the Fifth Church was organ- ized. It was recognized by council Oct. 11, 1881, and Mr. Adams was installed as pastor. The build- ing now occupied was erected by ,the High Street Presbyterian Church, and was purchased for the Fifth Church by Pilgrim Church, which up to Jan. 1, 1882, had spent six thousand one hundred and fifty dollars for the new society. It is cruciform, the nave being seventy-eight feet in length and the transept eighty feet. The dimensions of the lot are one hundred and thirty- four by one hundred and twenty-five feet, and the property is valued at nine thousand dollars. The congregation maintains in connection with its church work the Ladies' Aid Society, organized March, 1882; the Young People's Home Missionary Society, organ- ized September, 1881; and the Youths' Christian Association, organized in January, 1882. The church membership embraces one hundred and fifty familics, one hundred and thirty-one communicants, and an attendance of four hundred at the Sunday-school.

Hyde Park Church was the sixth Congregational Church organized in St. Louis, and the fourth offshoot from Pilgrim Church. It is situated at the north- west corner of Bremen Avenue and Twelfth Street, and the pastor is Rev. L. L. West. In April, 1881, a church building which stood on Ninth Street, be- tween Farrar and Salisbury, and which had been known as the Fairmount Presbyterian Church, was purchased for its use. The building was removed to its present location opposite Hyde Park, refitted, and dedicated July 10, 1881. The society was organized with twenty-one members, July 25, 1881, and the present pastor, who is from Chicago Theological Semi- nary, was elected. The building, removal, and re- pairing cost Pilgrim Church $3848.27. In May, 1882, the congregation comprised one hundred and

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forty families and fifty-six communieants, and there were seventeen teachers and between one hundred and fifty and two hundred. pupils in the Sunday- sehool.

In addition to the Congregational Churches named, the Fair Ground Mission Sunday-sehool, belonging to the Third Chureh, is conducted under the superin- tendenee of Garden Hepburn. The Ministers' Meet- ing is held every Monday at eleven A.M., in the par- lors of Pilgrim Church, and the St. Louis District Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches meets twiee a year, in April and Oetober. Its regis- trar is O. L. Whitelaw, 617 North Second Street. There is also a State Central Home Missionary Com- mittee, composed of Rev. T. M. Post, D.D., Rev. C. L. Goodell, D.D., Rev. Henry Hopkins, Rev. Theo- dore Clifton, Rev. J. C. Plumb, Rev. E. B. Burrows, and S. M. Edgell.

CEMETERIES.

Early in the present eentury we find that portions of Col. Auguste Chouteau's property were used as burial-places, and on Oct. 12, 1815, he gave notice " forbidding any further interments in his land, near the court-house in the town of St. Louis, under penalty of prosecution." On the 1st of June, 1816, James Sawyer announced that "having purchased the lot No. 6 in Col. Chouteau's addition to the town of St. Louis, on which there are some graves, and being about to build thereon, the friends and conncetions of the departed are hereby notified that he will have no objection to their removing the remains of their connections; or if they prefer leaving them where they are, every respect shall be paid to them on my part of which the case will admit. . The conditions on which Col. A. Chouteau sold this and all the lots in his addition expressly, prohibit the purchasers from permitting the interring of the dead thereon for the future, under the penalty of forfeiting the lot ; this inconvenience he hopes will be effectually remedied, as Messrs. Chambers, Christy & Co. have set apart a high and handsome situation in the vicinity of St. Louis for the use of a church and burying- ground, of which they have made a donation to the publie, under the express conditions that it is at all times to remain open for the interment of the dead of all religious denominations."

The public burying-ground here referred to was that which was afterwards known as " the old Graee Church graveyard," at Warren and Eleventh Streets. Col. William Chambers, of Kentucky, an offieer in the United States army, was the original purchaser, and afterwards sold a third cach to Maj. Thomas Wright and William Christy. As an indueement for wealthy

persons to settle in that seetion, these gentlemen set apart four pareels of land for public uses, and among them a " circle" containing about one and three-fourths aeres, "for the purpose of ereeting a house of worship, and a burying-ground to be opened for the interment of all denominations of religious per- sons." This eircle was used as a burying-ground as early as 1825, but it was not until 1844 that a grave- yard was regularly established.

In the latter year a number of Episeopalians or- ganized a ehureh society, and indueed other persons of various Protestant denominations to unite with them in establishing a burying ground, which re- mained under the control of the vestry of Grace Prot- estant Episcopal Church, the ehureh and ground being originally conseerated by Bishop Hawks. During the cholera epidemie of 1849 the number of interments here was so large that the grounds were eloscd in 1851. A large number of the bodies were afterwards transferred to Bellefontaine cemetery. The subsequent improvements in the neighborhood of the graveyard, such as grading and opening new streets, ete., disturbed many of the graves, and the contents of others were exposed by crumbling of the hill on which the graveyard was situated, and in sueh in- stanees the bones were removed to the basement under the ehureh. Among the graves thus disturbed was that of Governor Howard. This eircumstance was brought to the notice of the City Council, who authorized the reinterment of Governor Howard's re- mains in Bellefontaine cemetery. Ycars ago the cemetery circle had trees on it, and the place was a popular resort in summer and autumn cvenings for loving couples, and the old people who lived in the vieinity amused their friends by narrating roman- tie and ghostly stories concerning courtship adven- tures in the old graveyard. It was eustomary in those days for displeased parents and jealous parties to get up ghost scenes to seare the young people when promenading or scated in the place.

In February, 1823, the trustees of the town passed an ordinance " prohibiting the burial of dead within its limits."

On June 28, 1824, Messrs. J. B. Beleour, M. Murphy, G. Paul, and J. MeGovern, trustees of the Catholic Church, gave notiee as follows: "The in- habitants of St. Louis and its vieinity are made ac- quainted that a publie graveyard, under the superin- tendenee of the wardens of the Catholie congregation, and adjoining their burial-ground, is now opened, and that burials may hereafter take place by conforming with the following resolutions passed by the eommit- tee : Applications for burials to be made to the warden

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in office for the year. The price of burial to be ten dollars, five dollars for children under ten years of age. Persons who would fenee in a particular spot for their family, each burial to be twenty dollars, and ten dollars for children under ten years of age. The amount of burial to be settled with the ehureh warden before the burials take place. No grave to be dug but by the digger appointed for that purpose, and ae- cording to the regulations for said graveyard. The warden in office for this year is Mr. J. B. Beleour."

In 1827 we find that orders for graves in the city · graveyard, and digging them, were received by the sexton, living next to it, and by A. Rutgers, on Church Street, between Plum and Poplar Streets, and are told that a lot for twelve coffins cost twenty dollars ; for one coffin, five dollars ; priee for digging a grave, two dollars.

In 1833 the eity authorities set apart a traet of ten aeres, a portion of the commons belonging to St. Louis, lying southwest of the eity, for the purpose of a burial-ground, but inelosed only one aere, which was " deemed sufficient for the purpose for some years to come."

The Bellefontaine cemetery was incorporated as " the Rural Cemetery," under an aet of the General Assembly of Missouri, approved March 7, 1849, the incorporators being Messrs. John F. Darby, Henry Kayser, Wayman Crow, James E. Yeatman, James Harrison, Charles S. Rannels, Gerard B. Allen, Phil- ander Salisbury, William Bennett, Augustus Brew- ster, and William MePherson. On May 24, 1849, the " Rural Cemetery Association" was organized by the election of Dr. William Carr Lane, president ; A. G. Farwell, secretary ; and a committee, consisting of Messrs. Wayman Crow, John O'Fallon, J. B. Crockett, Christian Rhodes, John F. Darby, John Smith, John Kerr, Nathan Ranney, and N. E. Jan- ney, was appointed on the selection of a site for the cemetery and permanent organization. Upon this committee reporting the permanent organization was effected by the election of James Harrison, president ; Wayman Crow, treasurer; William M. MePherson, see- retary. The capital stock was fixed at fifty thousand dollars, and a traet of land comprising one hundred and thirty-eight aeres was purchased from Luther M. Kennett, on the Bellefontaine road, at two hun- dred dollars per aere. On the 15th of May, 1850, it was dedicated as the " Bellefontaine Cemetery." Hon. John F. Darby presided at the dedieatory ceremonies, which were participated in by Rev. Mr. Bullard, of the First Presbyterian Church ; Rev. Mr. Hutchinson, of St. George's Episcopal Church ; Rev. Mr. Eliot, of the Unitarian Chureh ; Rev. Mr.

Jeter, of the First Baptist Church, and Rev. T. M. Post. A hymn composed by Mrs. F. M. Brotherton, and an ode composed by William J. Blackwood, were sung by the choir. At the elose of the eeremonies lots to the amount of thirteen thousand seven hun- dred and seventy-seven dollars were sold. The first interment in the cemetery was made May 19, 1850. On November 4th the first annual meeting of the association was held, and the following board of trustees was elected : John F. Darby, William M. MePherson, Gerard B. Allen, Augustus Brewster, William Bennett, Wayman Crow, James Harrison, Luther M. Kennett, John R. Shepley, John O'Fal- lon, and James E. Yeatman. Up to Jan. 1, 1878, two thousand four hundred and seventy-two lots had been sold, and there had been nineteen thousand nine hundred and seventy-one interments. At this time the resources of the association amounted to one hun- dred and thirteen thousand one hundred and seventy- six dollars, and the ineome for the preceding year was twenty-six thousand and seventy-three dollars. The cemetery at present comprises nearly three hun- dred and fifty aeres. The present officers are James E. Yeatman, president ; George S. Drake, viee-presi- dent ; Samuel Copp, secretary and treasurer; A. Hotchkiss, superintendent.

The Wesleyan Cemetery Association was ineorpo- rated under an aet of the Legislature of Missouri, approved Feb. 28, 1851. An amendatory aet of March 5, 1855, provided that no street or highway shall be opened through any part of the Wesleyan cemetery. By a subsequent aet, passed in 1874, the Wesleyan Cemetery Association was authorized to re- move the bodies buried therein and to sell and dispose of the property. The association disposed of their old property in the eity and removed the remains therein to the new Wesleyan cemetery.

In 1852 the St. Louis Republican, in speaking of the cemeteries and graveyards of the city, said, "The old French cemetery, at the corner of Second and Market Streets, is still fresh in our memory, and this thoroughfare is now one of the busiest in the eity. So, too, of the burying-place at the corner of Fourth and Market Streets, started at a later period. The publie cemetery, on Park Avenue, west of Carondelet, is to be recognized to-day only by the three or four broken tombstones which are left. Not a single traee of the inclosure exists, and as a new cellar is excavated or an adjacent street improved, the remains of the dead are taken up earelessly, to be placed in this or that eem- etery. Nay, the cemeteries on Franklin Avenue, which were only a short time ago believed to be far beyond the eneroaehments of eity improvements, to-

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day form the centre of a populous, busy district, and their removal is already contemplated, as they retard in a measure the progress of necessary improvements."

In 1854 a new Catholic cemetery was laid out near the Bellefontaine cemetery, to which the name of Cal- vary was given.

In 1865 the St. Louis City Council passed an ordinance for the removal of bodies buried in the old city cemetery to the quarantine burying-ground. The ordinance provided that the bodies shall be re- moved by the city by the 15th day of March follow- ing, but that persons claiming the remains of friends or relatives buried might remove them.

In 1866, during the prevalence of the cholera, the city authorities decided to bury the victims of the scourge on Arsenal Island, where the smallpox hos- pital was situated. The bodies were conveyed to the foot of Miller Street in ambulances, and were trans- ferred thence to the island in skiffs.

On June 22, 1873, the corner-stone of a new chapel in Mount Sinai cemetery was laid, Rev. Drs. Wolfen- stein and Sonneschein officiating.

In 1827 a post cemetery was established a short distance south from Jefferson Barracks, on land be- longing to the United States government, and the first interment was made there in 1828. This cem- etery included an area of one and one-fourth acres, and in it seven hundred and fifty interments were made prior to 1863. In that ycar a national cem- etery was established there, including twenty and one- half acres, and in 1877 additions were made to this, so that now the area of the cemetery is forty-five acres.

Forest-trees at first covered the ground, but these have been removed, the surface has been graded, and ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, etc., to the number of several thousand have been planted, so that the grounds have now the appearance of a well-kept sub- urban cemetery. There are here eleven thousand five hundred and eight graves ; one thousand one hundred and six are those of Confederate soldiers, marked with cedar head-boards. All graves of United States soldiers are designated by marble regulation head- stones, or by monuments which the friends of those who lie entombed there have erected. Here repose the remains of the nation's heroes, and the lines of the soldier-poet, which are inscribed on a modest tablet near the entrance, are peculiarly appropriate,-

" On fame's cternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread, And memory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead."

The national flag floats constantly over this ceme- tery, and thousands of patriotic and grateful peo-

ple come here annually to bedeck the graves with flowers.

In addition to the foregoing there are a number of other cemeteries near the city, most of them being connected with the different religious denominations.

CHAPTER XL.

RELIGIOUS, BENEVOLENT, SOCIAL, SECRET, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.

ST. LOUIS has always been justly famed for its public and private philanthropy, and its history is distin- guished by a multitude of class or religious organiza- tions, having for their sole object the relief of the needy, the destitute, and the suffering; yet it was not until within the past twenty years that the city, officially, made any movement to supplement the good work that was being accomplished by religious denominations, associations, and private individuals. This, however, may be accounted for, in a great meas- ure, by the fact that the system of philanthropy re- ferred to has been of the most disinterested and the broadest character, and whenever the field was found to be in need of more extensive or general work, the citizens arose spontaneously and by energetic action and liberal charity met fully the requirements of the hour. So, all the way down from the second decade of the nineteenth century, we find at intervals evi- dences of this commendable spirit on the part of the citizens. The first instance of this kind occurs in 1824, the ladies of St. Louis banding themselves to- gether for the purpose of " relieving the poor of every description in this city." This organization was called the " Female Charitable Society," and at its head as officers were-

Mrs. Hough, who was first directress; Mrs. Robinson, second directress ; Mrs. Coursault, treasurer ; Mrs. Agnes P. Spalding, secretary ; Managers, Mrs. J. Smith, Mrs. R. Paul, Mrs. Wah- rendorff, Mrs. Landreyville, Mrs. Brazeau, Mrs. Spencer, Mrs. O. C. Smith, Mrs. G. Paul, Mrs. Tracy, Mrs. Forsyth, Mrs. Shackford, Mrs. Papin.

Again, in the early part of 1838, when the suffer- ings of the poor demanded extraordinary recognition, the St. Louis Samaritan Society was formed. It em- braced the ladies of the city, who associated them- selves for the purpose of making up and supplying clothing free of cost to those who could not get it in any other way, and who were not cared for by any charitable institution. The officers of this society were : First Directress, Mrs. Jones ; Second Directress, Miss Berrien ; Secretary, Mrs. Ross ; Treasurer, Mrs.

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Whitehill ; Managers, Miss Page, Miss Patterson, Miss Learned, Miss Strother, Miss Van Zandt, Miss Marks, Mrs. Nourse, Mrs. Nevitt, Mrs. Stibbs, Mrs. Ranlett, Mrs. Wiswell, and Miss Smith. On Feb. 6, 1840, a meeting, at which Beverly Allen presided, was held in the court-house for the purpose of de- vising means to relieve the suffering poor within the city, at which it was deemed expedient to take up a collection for the suffering poor of the city, and for this purpose a committee of three from each ward was appointed by the chair to obtain subscriptions, and a committee of five was appointed to properly distribute the moneys thus obtained. A few days later a "Society for the Diffusion of Alms" was formed, which announced that " We, the undersigned, do resolve ourselves into a society for the general dif- fusion of alms, and without heeding anything of the poor, save their honest poverty, do pledge our exer- tions to bestow our mite upon them with impartial observance." The officers of the society were-

M. P. Leduc, president ; Christopher Garvey, first vice-presi- dent; Stewart Matthews, second vice-president; L. A. Benoist, treasurer ; A. W. Manning, secretary. Collectors, First Ward, John Picher, Francis Mallet, John O'Rourke, and James P. Barry; Second Ward, Baptiste Belcour, Joseph W. Walsh, Michael Tesson, and L. V. Bogy ; Third Ward, John Timon, Patrick Walsh, P. A. Berthold, and L. T. Lebeaume; Fourth Ward, Christopher Garvey, Matthew Lyon, M. Hogan, and John Walsh. Distributors, First Ward, H. O'Neil (chairman), R. A. Darst, John T. Mitchell, Peter Weizenecker; Second Ward, William Tighe (chairman), John McEvoy, J. C. Dinnis ; Fourth Ward, Austin Piggot (chairman), Edward Walsh, Hugh O'Brien. Physicians, Dr. Vitali, Dr. Luthy, Dr. H. Lane. Counselors, B. Mullanphy, T. Polk.

In December, 1842, a public meeting for the relief of the poor was held at the court-house. Nathan Ranney presided, and Martin Thomas was secretary. The following committee was appointed to solicit do- nations : First Ward, William B. Wood, Henry C. Lynch, Phineas Bartlett ; Second Ward, Matthias Steitz, H. L. Hoffman, Capt. W. Greene, Warrick Tunstall; Third Ward, Jesse Little, Robert B. Fife, Dr. Robert R. Simmons ; Fourth Ward, Asa Wilgus, John C. Dinnis, Henry S. Coxe; Fifth Ward, Na- thaniel Childs, T. O. Duncan, Martin Thomas, George K. Budd, John Whitehill, William C. Christy ; Town- ship, James H. Lucas, S. H. Robbins. The following committee was appointed on distribution, with James Clemens treasurer : First Ward, W. H. Wood ; Second Ward, Thomas Cohen; Third Ward, D. D. Page ; Fourth Ward, Wayman Crow; Fifth Ward, H. O'Brien ; Township, Rev. N. Childs.

In the spring of 1844 the Mississippi overflowed its banks and rendered hundreds of families destitute and homeless. To relieve their suffering and destitu-

tion a meeting of citizens was held in front of the court-house, and on motion of A. B. Chambers, Ber- nard Pratte was called to the chair, and Henry B. Belt was appointed secretary. It was then resolved that a committee of twenty should be appointed to carry out the objects of the meeting, and the follow- ing gentlemen were appointed for the purpose, viz .: John M. Wimer, John Sefton, W. Glasgow, John Simonds, Ferdinand Kennett, T. B. Targee, Asa Wil- gus, Réné Paul, A. Gamble, Charles C. Whittlesey, Dr. Simmons, A. B. Chambers, Frederick Kretsch- mar, W. Furness, Dr. Adreon, William Lowe, T. Polk, W. C. Jewett, W. R. Dawson, and Henry Singleton.

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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 164

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