USA > North Carolina > Lives of the bishops of North Carolina from the establishment of the episcopate in that state down to the division of the diocese > Part 16
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Early Church in North Carolina, written by the Reverend Robert Johnstone Miller in 1830, and published in the Church Messenger, October 15, 1880.
An Historical Sketch of the Church in Edgecombe County, by the Reverend Joseph Blount Cheshire, Jr., but published anonymously, Church Messenger, August 31st-September 21st, 1880.
A Visit to Old Brunswick and the' Ruins of St. Philip's Church, by Colonel James G. Burr, Church Messenger, Sep- tember 28, 1880.
St. Philip's Parish, Smithville,* by the Reverend Robert B. Windley, Church Messenger, January 13th-20th, 1881.
St. John's Parish, Wilmington (anonymous), Church Mes- senger, July 7, 1881.
St. Paul's Parish, Wilmington, by the Reverend Thomas M. Ambler, Church Messenger, July 14, 1881.
St. Mark's Church, Wilmington (a parish made up of ne- groes), by the Reverend Charles O. Brady, Church Messenger, July 21, 1881.
Christ Church, Rowan County (anonymous), Church Mes- senger, August 4th-August 11th, 1SS1.
Episcopacy in Rowan County, by the Honorable John Steele Henderson, in Rumple's History of Rowan County, 1881, pages 378-435.
* Smithville. near the mouth of Cape Fear River, is now called Southport.
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St. James's Church, Iredell County-formerly Mills Settle- ment and still earlier a part of St. Mark's Parish-(anony- mous), Church Messenger, August 18, 1881.
St. Paul's Church, Edenton, by the Reverend Charles M. Parkman, Church Messenger, September 22d-October 6th, 1881. St. Thomas Church, Bath, by the Reverend Horace G. Hilton, Church Messenger, November 17, 1881.
A Sermon-Sketch of the History of St. Matthew's Parish, Hillsboro, by the Reverend Joseph W. Murphy, delivered Oc- tober 5, 1890, and published in pamphlet 1900.
Religious and Historic Commemoration of the Two Hundred Years of St. Paul's Parish, Edenton, May 22d-May 24th, 1901, containing sermon by Bishop Watson, of East Carolina, and addresses by Richard Dillard, M.D., Mr. James R. B. Hath- away, the Reverend Francis W. Hilliard, the Reverend Charles A. Maison, and the Reverend Thomas M. N. George.
St. Paul's Church, Edenton, by Richard Dillard, M.D., North Carolina Booklet, July, 1905.
St. Thomas's Church, Bath-St. Paul's Church, Edenton, North Carolina, by the Reverend Robert Brent Drane, D.D., in volume entitled Colonial Churches in the Original Colony of Virginia.
On April 25, 1877, occurred the death of the Reverend Aldert Smedes, D.D., founder and for thirty-five years the honored Rector of Saint Mary's School at Raleigh. In the year 1873, Bishop Atkinson had said of him, in an address to the Diocesan Convention : "If I were called upon to say what individual has exerted for many years, and is now exerting, the most bene- ficial influence upon the people of this State, I should feel bound to express the conviction that it is not this or that statesman, or this or that soldier, or this or that preacher, but the man who has successfully trained up so many maidens and so many matrons to be themselves useful and happy in their respective spheres and to diffuse around them the incalculable benefit of womanly intelligence, refinement and piety. While many ex-
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cellent persons have labored for this end, and with gratifying success, he who, in my judgment at least, has accomplished the most, is the Principal of St. Mary's School, Raleigh." At the time of the death of Doctor Smedes a tribute was paid his memory by the Bishop in these words: "I take this occasion to express publicly, as my deliberate judgment, that Dr. Smedes accomplished more for the advancement of the Church in this Diocese, and for the promotion of the best interests of society within its limits, than any other man who ever lived in it. Under his care, and very much as the result of his intelligence, his firmness and his tender affection for them, there went out from St. Mary's School, Raleigh, every year a number of young girls who, in culture, in refinement, and still more in elevation of moral and religious character, would compare favorably with the pupils of any other institution in this country. He knew not only how to teach, but how to govern, and to make himself honored as well as loved; and to constrain his pupils to feel that the years spent under his care were at the same time the happiest and most useful of their lives. He has gone to his reward, but his work remains, and will remain from generation to generation."
When Doctor Smedes died, the great work in which he had been engaged was taken up by his son, the Reverend Bennett Smedes, D.D., who had been Assistant Rector for some years. The whole of the latter gentleman's life was one of devoted self- sacrifice to the interests of religious education. Under adverse conditions he maintained Saint Mary's until his death, February 22, 1899, expending his private fortune in keeping up the work rather than let the school suspend operations. In consequence of these unselfish labors, Saint Mary's was held until a time (just before his death) when it was purchased by the Church and placed under the management of a board of trustees from all three dioceses in the State of North Carolina. It was later also made the diocesan school of South Carolina, which State likewise has a representation in its board of trustees. This noble
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institution is now free from its original debt; and, having sur- vived the vicissitudes of peace and war throughout so many years, without interruption, will doubtless hereafter fully meas- ure up to its splendid record of by-gone times. In the darkest days of the War between the States, its doors were never closed; and, at one time during that period, the family of Jefferson Davis found shelter within its walls, as did also one of the daughters of General Robert E. Lee.
Despite the Church's ill fortune in its previous efforts toward establishing schools for boys, Bishop Atkinson's interest in this important subject never abated. "A complete education," said he, "demands the cultivation of the moral and spiritual as well as the intellectual faculties, and it is one of the functions of the Church to provide this." In his address to the Convention of 1874 he speaks of efforts by the Reverend Benjamin S. Bronson to conduct a school at Charlotte, in addition to performing his duties as Rector of Saint Peter's Church in that city. This school at Charlotte finally suspended; and, at a later period, Mr. Bronson agreed to have the property fitted up for use as an orphanage. The former school had been largely established by the munificence of the family of the late Lewis Thompson, of Bertie County, and the new institution was called the Thomp- son Orphanage as a memorial to him. Its doors were opened on May 10, 1887, with the Reverend Edwin A. Osborne as super- intendent. The latter gentleman had been Colonel of the Fourth North Carolina Regiment in the Confederate Army, and his military spirit was again awakened when the War with Spain came on, so he resigned his superintendency of the orphanage in June, 1898, to become Chaplain of the Second North Caro- lina Regiment of United States Volunteers. After the War with Spain closed he became Archdeacon of the Convocation of Charlotte, which position he now holds. Upon Mr. Osborne's resignation, as above, of the superintendency of the Thompson Orphanage, he was succeeded by the Reverend Walter J. Smith, present incumbent. Mr. Smith belongs to a Halifax County
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family noted for its devotion to the Church, being a son of William R. Smith, one of the three brothers whom we have heretofore mentioned in the sketch of Bishop Ives. The Thomp- son Orphanage has done, and is still doing, a splendid work in shielding little children from want and ruin, and training them up for respectable stations in the citizenship of their coun- try. Two other worthy institutions of the Church at Charlotte are Saint Peter's Hospital, for the white race, and the Good Samaritan Hospital, for negroes.
A special committee on education, at the Diocesan Conven- tion of 1875, reported efforts, which had been made in the pre- ceding year, to establish an educational institution at Morgan- ton, in the mountain section. At that time Bishop Atkinson was not sufficiently strong to supervise work so far from his home, and requested his assistant and co-laborer, Bishop Lyman, to interest himself in the educational work at Morgan- ton. The Wilberforce School-as this institution was called, in honor of the great English Bishop of that name-proved a failure, despite the able and energetic manner in which Bishop Lyman sought to uphold it. Some further mention of it will be made in the sketch of Bishop Lyman, later on in this work.
One Church school for boys met with some success in North Carolina for a while, though not with so great a measure as it deserved. This institution-located in what is now the Diocese of East Carolina-was Trinity School, at Chocowinity in the county of Beaufort, not far from Washington, the county-seat. Its founder and first principal was the Reverend N. Collin Hughes. About the year 1850 he established a parochial school in conjunction with Trinity Parish, and it was operated in a house built for its use by the vestry. Good schools were scarce in that day, and a considerable number of students came from other counties. Shortly before the War between the States Mr. Hughes went to Pittsboro, and then Trinity School passed into other hands-suspending work during the progress of the war. In 1866, Mr. Hughes returned to Beaufort County and en-
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deavored to re-open the school, but met with many discourage- ments. Some years later, in 1878, his son, the Reverend N. Collin Hughes, Jr., joined in the management of this institution, afterwards becoming his father's successor as principal. In- struction in the doctrines of the Church and general religious training were always given prominence in the course of study at Trinity; and, though it was not a training school for the ministry, about twenty of its former pupils have taken holy orders. The enrollment of students in this institution was never large, but its influence for good was by no means inconsiderable. In 1908 this school was closed; and, during the same year, its principal, the Reverend Mr. Hughes, became Archdeacon of the Convocation of Raleigh.
During the lifetime of Bishop Atkinson steps were first taken toward dividing the Diocese of North Carolina by the erection of a part of the State into the Diocese of East Carolina; but, as this proposed measure was not carried out until two years after his death, we shall treat of that subject in the sketch of Bishop Lyman, hereafter to be given in this work.
Though the consecration of the Reverend Doctor Lyman, as Assistant Bishop, greatly lightened the labors of the venerable Bishop Atkinson, the latter continued his good work as long as strength was given him to plead with mankind for a fuller reali- zation and performance of their duties to God. When the Dio- cesan Convention met at Winston, in Forsyth County, during the month of May, 1880, the aged prelate was too infirm to at- tend its sessions, but sent his annual address to be read before that body. This was his last message to the Church in North Carolina, and its closing words dealt with a phase of morality which long years of personal observation moved him to empha- size for the good of his people. This was the question of temper- ance. In part he said: "All the taxes, of which our people complain so much, are not equal to a tenth part of the burden they impose upon themselves by the use-frequently the ex- cessive use -- of intoxicating liquors. To the same fruitful source
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are due nine-tenths of the crimes that come before our courts of justice, as we are assured by some of those who are engaged in the administration of justice. How much of the misery of private life is brought about by the same cause, none but God himself can tell. That it is varied, bitter, widespread, all of us must know, and I have reason, more and more every year, to believe that it, more than any other sin, causes spiritual de- cline, and final apostacy within the limits of the Church itself ; that many a young man enters upon his religious course, not only with sincerity but with zeal, and yet, yielding to the entice- ments of the cup, falls away from the faith, withdraws from religious ordinances, brings shame on the cause of Christ and the honor of His Church, and ruin on his own soul. Now are we not bound to do what we can, in order to resist this sin so deadly in itself and so prolific of other sins? The Church of England is exerting itself with great honor to its own spirit and principles, and with great benefit to the country, in con- tending with this giant adversary to all righteousness and to all human happiness. Can we not do something more than we have hitherto done in the same holy cause? I know that there are good men who object to societies for this special purpose on the ground that they interfere with the proper work of the Church. To me the objection seems very futile. On the same ground, missionary societies, tract societies, Bible and Praver Book societies, associations for the relief of the poor, and indeed most charitable and religious organizations would have to be renounced."
Bishop Atkinson filled the Episcopate for nearly thirty years. During that time he took part in the consecration of ten Bishops, as follows: Alexander Gregg, of Texas, October 13, 1850; Henry Champlin Lay, of the Missionary Jurisdiction of the South-west (later translated to the Diocese of Easton in Maryland), October 23, 1859; Charles Todd Quintard, of Ten- nessee, October 11, 1865; John Watrous Beckwith, of Georgia. April 2, 1868; William Pinkney, of Maryland, October 6.
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1870; William Bell White Howe, of South Carolina, October 8, 1871; Theodore Benedict Lyman, of North Carolina, December 11, 1873; Edward Randolph Welles, of Wisconsin, October 24, 1874; John Henry Ducachet Wingfield, of Northern California, December 2, 1874; and Charles Clifton Penick, of Cape Palmas in Africa, February 13, 1877.
In 1846, Trinity College, at Hartford, Connecticut, conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon Mr. Atkinson, then Rector of Saint Peter's Church in Baltimore. After he became Bishop he was twice honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws-by the University of North Carolina in 1862, and by the great English University of Cambridge in 1867.
During the course of his Episcopate, Bishop Atkinson at- tended every General Convention which ever assembled except the war-time session of 1863 (when no Southern Bishops were present), the special session of 1875, and the session of 1880, being sick when the last named was held.
Though Bishop Atkinson had been physically unable to at- tend the Diocesan Convention of 1880, he later rallied, and seemed, at times, in some measure to regain his usual strength and health. But this improvement was only temporary, for he later grew steadily weaker, and passed peacefully away at his home in Wilmington, surrounded by his family and friends, on the 4th day of January, 1881. This event caused deep grief through- out North Carolina, and was recognized as a loss to the Church in general. No Bishop within the ranks of the American Epis- copate had served the Church more faithfully, more lovingly, more freely, more wisely; and few had met with so great a measure of success. Gentle and considerate in manner, yet firm of purpose and strong in action, he was an ideal Bishop-a Ravenscroft without his rugged exterior, an Ives without his vacillations.
A tribute both eloquent and just was paid to the memory of Bishop Atkinson by Bishop Strange in an address delivered at
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the laying of the corner-stone of the Church of the Holy Com- forter (a memorial to Bishop Atkinson) in Charlotte, on August 6, 1909 .* On that occasion, when speaking of Bishop Atkinson's first coming to North Carolina, of his noble traits, and splendid career, Bishop Strange said :
"We needed a wise and loving leader then ; and the good God gave him to us. How noble his presence, how gracious his manners, how loving his heart, how firm his will, how wise his judgment! He knew what this Church of ours is and what she stands for; and this he taught in season and out; and yet he could see the standpoint of the earnest Christians outside our communion ; and he so mingled love and tolerance with his presentation of the truth that he disarmed their prejudice and won their respect and affection. Under his wise, loving, unselfish rule, harmony and hope settled sweetly down upon the Church herself, and she went forward again in her Godly work. He was with us, our true friend and guide, in the stormy times of war and in the dark days of reconstruction. To him more than to any single man is due the fact that the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Unitel States is to-day ONE, knowing no North and South, no East and West. Two years after his death, the Church in North Carolina had grown too large for the administration of any one Bishop ; and so its territory was divided, and the General Convention of 1883 set apart the new Diocese of East Carolina. For nearly thirty years Bishop Atkinson guided the affairs of the Church in the whole State; and in those years the clergy had increased from thirty-six to seventy-six, and the communicants from 1,778 to 5,889. To-day, my friends, twenty-eight years from the death of Bishop Atkinson, we have at work in the State three Bishops, 125 clergymen and 13,492 communicants."
The funeral of Bishop Atkinson was held in Wilmington on January 7th. Shortly before 11 o'clock on that day, the vestries of Saint James's, Saint John's, Saint Paul's, and Saint Mark's Churches assembled at the Bishop's residence, and formed in procession, going to Saint James's Church, where the funeral services and interment were to take place. A company of forty young men from the above parishes, in relays of ten at a time, bore the casket from the late home of the deceased to the Church.
* For copy of this address, see the Carolina Churchman for October, 1909.
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The honorary pall-bearers were the following eight clergymen, all clad in white surplices: the Reverend Messrs. Thomas M. Ambler, George Patterson, Thomas D. Pitts, Matthias M. Mar- shall, Bennett Smedes, Edward R. Rich, Benjamin S. Bronson, and J. Worrall Larmour. Officiating at the Church were Bishops Lyman of North Carolina and Whittle of Virginia, together with the Rector of the parish, Reverend Alfred A. Watson. Bishop Lay, of the Diocese of Easton, was also pres- ent ; but, being a close connection of the Atkinson family, was not one of the officiating clergy. After solemn and impressive services, the remains of Bishop Atkinson were laid beneath the chancel of Saint James's Church. Within that sacred edifice has since been placed a tablet to his memory, and that of Mrs. Atkinson, bearing these words :
To the Revered and Beloved Memory of The Right Reverend THOMAS ATKINSON, D.D., LL.D., Third Bishop of North Carolina. Born at Mansfield, Dinwiddie Co., Va., Aug. 6th, A. D. 1807. Consecrated Bishop of North Carolina Oct. 17th, A. D. 1853. Fell Asleep in Jesus at Wilmington N. C., Jan. 4th, 1881.
His body rests beneath this Chancel in sure hope of a blissful resurrection.
JOSEPHA GWINN ATKINSON, his beloved and devoted wife, fell asleep December 7th, A. D. 1SS7, and reposes by his side.
In referring to the obsequies of Bishop Atkinson, a Wilming- ton newspaper, the Weekly Star, of January 14th, said: "It
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was the most imposing and decorous funeral we have ever wit- nessed in Wilmington. All classes and denominations partici- pated in the ceremonies, anxious to do honor 'to one who was not only great but good-one of nature's noblemen, a very prince among men."
In Bishop Atkinson's will, he bequeathed his theological library and five hundred dollars in money to the Ravenscroft School at Asheville; and, before that institution closed its doors, it was the purpose of the Diocese to endow in its faculty a chair to be known as "The Bishop Atkinson Professorship of the Evi- dences of Christianity and of Christian Doctrine." Another memorial to Bishop Atkinson-in course of construction at the present time-is a house of worship in Charlotte, which the Reverend Francis M. Osborne is now raising funds to have com- pleted. It will be known as "The Church of the Holy Com- forter." Its corner-stone was laid August 6, 1909. The chancel window of Saint Paul's Church, at Wilmington, is also an Atkinson memorial. Some years after the War between the States, the Reverend David D. Van Antwerp wrote a history of the Church and dedicated it to Bishop Atkinson in these words: "To the Right Reverend Thomas Atkinson, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of North Carolina, whose many admirable quali- ties have won for him a shining fame in the American Church, this work is, by his permission, affectionately dedicated by his friend and servant, The Author." For several years prior to the war, Doctor Van Antwerp served as a presbyter under Bishop Atkinson in the Diocese of North Carolina. In the See House at Raleigh is an oil portrait of Bishop Atkinson, presented to the Diocese by Mrs. A. B. Andrews.
In an admirable memorial sermon on Bishop Atkinson, preached before the Diocesan Convention in Christ Church. Raleigh, on the 18th of May, 1881, Bishop Lay tells us of many religious opinions held by the deceased, as well as of his per- sonal characteristics. Said he, on that occasion: "He was Anglican to the backbone. He was thoroughly convinced that
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the Anglican Reformation was necessary and lawful, and was wisely conducted, so that no catholic truth whatever is denied or obscured in our formularies." From the same memorial dis- course we learn that one of Bishop Atkinson's firmest convic- tions, founded, as he thought, on the general consent of the primitive Church, was that every baptism, by whomsoever ad- ministered, where the matter and the form are used, is a valid baptism, and that a person so baptized becomes thereby a mem- ber of the catholic body of Christ. In Baltimore, on one occa- sion, says Bishop Lay, a child was presented to Doctor Atkinson (then a parish priest) for the sacrament of baptism. There being some hesitancy in reply to the question as to whether or not it had been previously baptized, further inquiry was made, and it appeared that, shortly after the child's birth, its life appeared to be in danger, whereupon the attendant physician hastily applied the water and pronounced the formula. Upon this statement of facts, Doctor Atkinson declared that such bap- tism was valid, and declined to proceed.
Love of kindred, we are told, was a predominating trait in the character of Bishop Atkinson. After specifying the stress laid upon the various relationships of the Apostles and other charac- ters in Holy Scriptures, he said: "I can but think it is a Chris- tion duty to recognize and to value these bonds of kinship. When people boast that they do not care for their relations and connections more than for other people, it only proves that they have cold hearts and care little for anyone but themselves." Commenting upon these sentiments, Bishop Lay observes : "Surely he was right in this position. It does widen our hearts and broaden our sympathies thus to love our kindred. It is, beyond all doubt, a restraint upon the young to know that they bear a name which has never been dishonored, and that any mis- deed of theirs will carry personal mortification into an extensive circle of relatives and connections."
Bishop Atkinson's domestic life was singularly free from affliction. The first death in his father's large family was that
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of the eldest son, aged fifty; another died at the age of sixty; and the remaining brothers and sisters of the Bishop-eight in number-all survived him. In all his married life, extending throughout a period of fifty-three years, there was never a death among his children; and his wife also survived him. Further- more, while never a man of wealth, Bishop Atkinson was blessed all through life with means sufficient for the needs of himself and family. Well might he say, with the Psalmist, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." And, in the words of the same inspired writer, we may add: "Mark the per- fect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace."
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Bishop Lyman.
THEODORE BENEDICT LYMAN FOURTH BISHOP OF NORTH CAROLINA
THEODORE BENEDICT LYMAN, FOURTH BISHOP OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The family from which sprang Bishop Lyman, of North Carolina, is of English descent and one of the most ancient in America. Richard Lyman, of High Ongar, in the county of Essex, England (a gentleman of distinguished ancestry in the mother country), was born about the year 1579 and came to America in the ship Lion, which landed at Boston on November 4, 1631. He became a freeman of the colony of Massachusetts Bay on June 11, 1633; and, in 1636, removed to Hartford, Con- necticut, being one of the original proprietors of that town. He died in August, 1640. His name is inscribed on one of the columns of Centre Church, in Hartford, which was erected as a memorial of the early settlers of that place. Before leaving England he married Sarah Osborne, daughter of Roger Osborne, of Halstead, in the county of Kent, and from this union has descended an honored and numerous posterity in America. One of their sons, Richard Lyman, was born in 1617, before his father left England. After his parents settled in Hartford, he remained there for some time, and then went to Northampton, where he was made one of the select-men. Later still, he took up his abode in Windsor, Connecticut, and was a land-owner in that place. His wife was Hephzibah Ford. He died on the 3d of June, 1662. Among his children was Richard Lyman, third of that name in America, who was born at Windsor in 1647. On May 26, 1675, he was married to Elizabeth Coles. In the famous Falls Fight (May 18, 1676) he commanded a detachment of Northampton colonists. In 1696 he removed from Northampton to Lebanon, Connecticut. Speaking of him in connection with the latter town, his family historian says: "Some of his descendants have continued to reside there until the present time, but others have gone out over all the land. They carly emigrated to Vermont : from that State some passed
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