USA > New Jersey > Burlington County > Burlington > History of the church in Burlington, New Jersey : comprising the facts and incidents of nearly two hundred years, from original, contemporaneous sources > Part 33
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of useful talent, and of extensive benevolence. His death was the triumph of Christian faith, the consummation of hope, the dawn and the pledge of endless . felicity.
"To those who knew him not, no words can paint ;
" And those who knew him, know all words are faint.
"'Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.' "
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IN BURLINGTON.
MRS. GIBBES, BURIED.
" 1822, July 22ª Buried Sarah Maxwel Gibbes, Wife of the Revª Alston Gibbes, of Charleston, S. C."-Parish Register.t
A large mural tablet, of handsome design, is inserted in the south east wall of old St. Mary's Church, with this inscription : In Memory of SARAH MAXWELL GIBBES, daughter of Alex. R. Chisolm, and wife of Allston Gibbes, of South Carolina, born July, A. D. MDCCXCIII.
Richly endowed with Nature's gifts of mind, heart, and person ; with a sound judgment, and playful fancy, an amiable temper, and engaging manners ; affable, but modest ; lively, but discreet ; a sincere and generous friend ; a pattern of filial duty and affection ; a tender, faithful, and a loving wife : she charmed the social circle, and blessed the domestic sphere ; equally admired, respected, and beloved a Christian in faith, in heart, and in life, reverencing God, and submissive to his will, she adorned his gifts with humility, and bore his inflictions with patience ; and young in years, but ripe in virtue, worn with suffering, but firm in hope, she calmly sunk to rest, July XXI, An. Dom. MDCCCXXII; An. AET. XXIX.
Fair, Modest, Wise, Discreet, True, Generous, Kind, Pure, Virtuous, Humble, Pious, Meek, Resigned ; To Earth by Fate, by Faith to Heaven allied, She lived to bless, but to be blest she died.
+ This lady died at Bordentown, N. J., and her remains were brought, for interment in St. Mary's Churchyard. The headstone at her grave bears these words :
" Here resteth the mortal part of Sarah Maxwell Gibbes, Consort of the Rev. Allston Gibbes, of South Carolina, who calmly resigned a life of sorrow, which she adorned with every virtue, and met Death without fear, in firm hopes of a happier home, July 21st, A. D. 1822, An. AET. 29."
390
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
MARRIAGE OF THE REV. CHARLES P. M'ILVAINE.
" 1822, Oct. 8th. Married the Revª Charles P. McIlvaine and Emily Coxe."-Parish Register.
The Rt. Rev. Charles P. McIlvaine, D. D., D. C. L., LL. D., for nearly forty years Bishop of Ohio, has favored us with the following communications :
BISHOP M'ILVAINE TO THE REV. DR. HILLS. " Cincinnati, April 1, 1872.
" REV. AND DEAR SIR :-
" I have received your kind letter of Thursday last, and pro- ceed to answer your enquiries.
"I was born in Burlington, Jan. 18, 1799, where my mother's parents, Bowes Reed and Mrs. Reed, (the brother of Joseph Reed, of Phila., confidential Sec'y of Gen. Washington,) lived. My father's father, Joseph McIlvaine, (Colonel in the Revolution,) lived at Bristol, where his grave is.
" I was born in the brick house at the N. W. corner of Main and Broad streets, and lived, until I was about 14 years of age, in the white brick house on Main street, at the S. corner of the alley leading to the town Library. My father, (Joseph McIlvaine,) built the house opposite the old Church, on Broad street, about the year 1813, and there I lived with my parents until I was ordained Deacon by Bishop White, July 4, 1820, and went to my first parish, Georgetown, Del. The graves of four generations of my family-from the parents of my mother down to a daughter of my sister, Mrs. Commodore Engle-are in the grave yard of St. Mary's, including those of my parents and six brothers, of whom I am the only surviving brother.
The graves of my wife's parents, (William and Rachel Coxe,) and of a brother, (Dr. Wm. Coxe,) and a sister, (Maria Coxe,) &c., are also there, behind the old Church, besides uncles, (Dr. MeIlvaine and Gen. Bloomfield and Mrs. B.,) and many cousins. My father and next elder brother, Bloomfield, died, in the house opposite the Church, in 1826-in adjoining rooms, and
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IN BURLINGTON.
on two adjoining days-and were placed in one grave. } I was baptized in the old Church, by Dr. Wharton, in my 15th year. My mother having scruples about presenting her children to baptism while not a communicant herself, (which she afterwards was,) explains why I was not baptized before. I have not the date, but it was in 1814, while I was in Princeton College. I received my education, preparatory to College, in the Burling- ton Academy, an incorporated institution : the building stood on the ground now occupied by the new Church, and was taken down to make a place for that Church. The late Rev. Chris- tian Hanckel, D. D., of Charleston, S. C., was one of my tutors. He succeeded his brother John in that school, as Master, whose grave (John's) and monument are in that grave yard. Dr. Wharton and my father, and my wife's father, Wm. Coxe, Esq., were Trustees of that Academy. My family all attended the ministry of Dr. Wharton, and I with them, until ordained, except when I was at Princeton ; indeed until I went to Col- lege, I had never seen the worship of any other denomination, except when a child taken by my nurse to the Baptist, or some- times, while a boy, looking in out of curiosity, at the old Methodist house in the alley above mentioned. I was a candi- date for orders four years, being too young to be ordained, before the expiration of that period, during which time, except 18 months in the Theological Seminary of Princeton, (our Church then having no Seminary,) I lived in Burlington read- ing under Dr. Wharton. During that period I organized the Sunday School of St. Mary's Church, one of the first Sunday Schools organized in the United States. I superintended it, till I was ordained. Thos. Aikman, a very good Scotch Pres- byterian, (the Clerk of the Parish under Dr. Wharton,) was my chief male teacher. That school has continued to this day. Dr. Ellis's cousin, (Bertha S.,) was also a teacher. Also that dear Christian woman, Miss Neale, [youngest daughter of Thomson Neale,] who recently died in Burlington.
+ "1826, Aug. 20th. Buried Joseph and Bloomfield McIlvaine, father and son, in one grave."-Parish Register.
392
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
" My wife's father, Mr. Coxe, (he was Treasurer and Warden of St. Mary's,) lived until a short time before our marriage, in the brick house which he built on the bank, at the corner of Wood street, afterwards sold to and inhabited by Horace Binney, Esq., of Phila. My father's uncle, Dr. Wm. McIlvaine, lived and died in the large house on the bank, which Mr. Charles Chaun- cey afterwards occupied, and where, before him, lived the grand parents, (John Griffith and wife,) of the present Rev. Dr. Francis Wharton. His mother grew up there. I was married at Sunbury, a country seat, (near the town,) where my father- in-law, Mr. Coxe, then lived, and which, I believe, has gone to decay.
" One of the most precious graves in that dear old church-yard, (precious to the Lord of life,) is that of Maria Coxe, my wife's elder sister, whose Christian character and life were as precious ointment at the Saviour's feet, whose good works were as well known in Burlington as those of Dorcas, at Joppa.
" While a candidate at Burlington, I officiated as a lay-reader at Bristol, during a vacancy in that parish.
" Thus I believe I have answered your enquiries. I have been thus particular in order to show how I have been identified with Burlington and St. Mary's, and how dear its associations are to me, and how ' I look for the resurrection of the dead,' in that grave-yard.
" I remain, " Your friend and brother, " CHAS. P. MCILVAINE. " Rev. Geo. Morgan Hills, D. D.
"P. S .- I might have said that in a few weeks after I was ordained by Bishop White, (in St. Peter's, Phila.,) I preached for Dr. Wharton, in St. Mary's, and many times afterwards. The last time I preached there, was in the old Church, before the new was begun."
BISHOP M'ILVAINE TO THE REV. DR. HILLS. " Cincinnati, April 9, 1872.
" REV. AND DEAR SIR :-
" I am glad to learn from your letter of the 4th, that you are engaged on a history of the Burlington Church .- You ask if
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IN BURLINGTON.
you 'may incorporate my letter, or the main portion of it.' -- Though it was written without any idea that you were prepar- ing a history, and I went so much into detail, solely for the pur- pose of showing you, how very much, my personal history is con- nected with Burlington, I have no objection to your incorporat- ing it ' in the main.'
" You ask whether I originated as well as organized the Sun- day School. It came in this way. While I was in College in Princeton, one of my class-mates, John Newbold, of Phila., (who in graduating became a candidate for orders, but died before he could be ordained,) on returning to College from a vacation, brought to us students an account of a Sunday School he had attended in Philadelphia. It was in the very beginning of Sunday Schools in this country. He brought specimens of the blue and red tickets used. A number of the students in College formed a S. S. Society and raised a fund of about $400, of which I, (then in my 17th year,) was made Treasurer. We set up four Schools in and about Princeton. I and John New- bold, and (I think) the present Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, and the present Bishop Johns, (a class-mate of Dr. Hodge, and both a year before me,) were teachers in different Schools. My first extempore address, was then made to the School I was detailed to, in a barn of what was called Jug Town, a suburb of Prince- ton. Going home in 1816, the project of the Burlington School originated. Such a thing had never been heard of in Burling- ton. I first obtained Dr. Wharton's approbation, and then began to talk it up. Mr. Aikman, the Clerk of the Church co- operated. I must here correct what I said about my superin- tending the School. This I did in the time, (one year,) between my graduating and returning to Princeton to enter the Theolog- ical Seminary, when I thus returned to Princeton, Mr. Aikman became superintendent. The organization took place and the School was always held in the Academy-as long, I believe, as Dr. Wharton continued Rector-and how much longer I do not know.
"The organization took place in the spring of 1816. Con- sider that I was then only 17 years of age-and therefore almost all concerned, except as pupils, must have been older-And as
.
391
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
I am now in my 74th year, it is not likely that any body lives who was actively concerned in those things then. I was not aware that my name has been taken by one of the classes, but I am much pleased to know it now. I intended to say, in connec- tion with the old Rectors, that my dear mother was baptized by one of them in infancy. I have distinct recollection of hearing her speak of him, but do not remember his name. Perhaps her name is in the Register, Maria Reed.t
" Seeing that the old Church was not to be kept as a Church, it seems a pity that it had not been allowed to remain in the form and furniture of its pristine Anglican origin. I remem- ber it well, a straight sided Church, without any side projection, standing East and West, with a gallery and organ and clerk's desk at the West end, chancel at the East, entrance on the South side, and a door to the yard on the North, pulpit and read- ing desk before it against the North wall, and about two-thirds of the extent towards the East, an immense baptismal font, with a great mahogany cover rising from all sides to a point, a pew- ter basin inside. It stood under the gallery. There were grave stones, as in English Churches, in the one aisle where two or three of the former generations were buried .- When the old Church was transformed to what is now called the old Church, these stones were taken up and put at the South, near the East end, and at the East end. But an internal change had taken place before that transformation, somewhere about 1811. The old pul- pit, and desk with its English sounding-board had been taken down, and a new and outlandish thing, (a carpenter's device,) had been put up at the East end with desk before it, and a little closet of a robing room under it.
" In the real old Church remained till that change, the old pew of the Governor of the Province in Colonial times, large, square, elevated, high sided, [with a canopy upheld by pillars,] standing in the S. E. corner. The Griffith family occupied it before the change, and our pew was next, but one, West.
" It is an interesting part of this history that until after 1832, there being no Presbyterian congregation in Burlington, (only
+ The Parish Register contains this entry in the handwriting of Dr. Odell: " Baptized, Decem. 5, 1775, Maria, of Bowes & Margaret Reed, born Novr. 11th, 1775."
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IN BURLINGTON.
a Baptist, Quaker and Methodist,) the Presbyterians attended at St. Mary's, and had no thought of any thing else. Thus Thos. Aikman, the Clerk, Dr. Boudinot, Mr. Bradford, his daughter, two cousins of my mother, Misses Reed sisters of Joseph Reed, of Phila., and daughters of Gen. Reed, mentioned in my last letter, also General Bloomfield, for many terms Governor of the State, who married Dr. McIlvaine and my grandfather' ssister.
" Your friend and brother,
" CHAS. P. MCILVAINE.} " The Rev. Geo. Morgan Hills, D. D."
GEN. BLOOMFIELD.
" 1823, Oct. 5th. Buried Gen. Joseph Bloomfield."-Parish Register.
MARRIAGE OF THE REV. MR. HALL.
" 1824, March 2ª Married in the Church, the Revª M™ Hall and Sarah Lucas."-Parish Register. [This was the Rev. Richard D. Hall, who died at Mount Holly, July 28th, 1873, aged 84 years. ]
THE CONDITION OF THE PARISH.
Aug. 18, 1824. The Rector adds to the statistics of his paro- chial report : " That devout attention is in general paid to Divine service, and to the rubrics of the Church, that an associ- tion of Young Ladies has been formed in aid of the Missionary Fund, and as the fruit of their edifying industry, a respectable sum has been raised. It is believed, and is a subject of humble thanksgiving to the Divine Head of the Church, that a spirit of genuine religion is increasing in this congregation. It may be well to specify in this report the sum raised by the association of Young Ladies of Burlington, which has only been in exist- ence for the last six months. By the most incessant exertions they have raised $75, $50 of which they have appropriated to constituting their Rector a Patron of the General Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, and the balance $25 to the N. J. Missionary Fund. The Rector reports further, that on every Wednesday evening he delivers a lecture on the Acts of the Apostles, which is respectfully attended."
+ Bishop MeIlvaine died in Europe, March 12th, 1873.
396
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
EDWARD SHIPPEN WATSON.
"1826, May 1st. Baptized Edward Shippen Watson, an Infant."-Parish Register. [Afterwards ordained in St. Mary's Church ; and now (1876) Rector of St. James' Church, Lancas- ter, Pa.]
THE DEATH OF WILLIAM GRIFFITH, ESQ.
" June 8th, 1826. Buried William Griffith." Such is the record, in the handwriting of Dr. Wharton, in the first Parish Register.
" Mr. William Griffith was one of the Justices of the Circuit Courts of the United States as constituted by what was called Mr. Adams's Judiciary Act of 1801; an organization of the National Courts, which Mr. Binney t tells us was deemed, by wise men of all sides, the happiest organization of our Federal Judiciary, but which, he says, 'having grown up amidst the contentions of party, was not spared by that which spares noth- ing.' On the election of President Jefferson, the whole court was abolished; 'and Judges who had received their commissions during good behavior were deprived of their offices without the imputation of a fault.' The bench in the 3rd circuit, (the cir- cuit comprising Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware,) was composed of William Tilghman, afterwards well known as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania ; Richard Basset, of Delaware; and Wil- liam Griffith, of New Jersey. The first of these is an historic name, and the second is sufficiently known. Mr. Griffith's deserves not less honor than has been paid to either of them. He was a native of New Jersey, and resided at Burlington, in which city he died, in June, 1826. 'It would be difficult,' said an accomplished literary character of New Jersey, his friend, the Rev. Charles Henry Wharton, D. D., ' to form a wish for more splendid talents, more professional acquirements, more ardent and unsophisticated attachment to his country, than shone conspicuously in the character of William Griffith. He was literally a father to the fatherless, a friend to the widow, and a benefactor to the distressed of every description. The
¡ Eulogy on William Tilgham, p. 11, Philadelphia, 1827.
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IN BURLINGTON.
pleasure of doing good was the reward of his otherwise unpaid services. Selfishness, even in its most allowable form, seemed scarcely to constitute a feature of his character. He appeared only to live for his family and friends.' The Corporation of Burlington, of which city, at the time of his death, he was- Mayor, 'deeply deploring the loss of his great talents, public services, and exalted worth,' justly, 'declared him entitled to. the highest esteem and regard ;' and the Assembled Bar of his native State-Mr. Richard Stockton being at that time its lead- ing member, and the originator, I presume, of this honorable testimonial-expressed as their united sense that ' while circum- stances which he could not control, had deprived the latter years of a useful life of the fruits of a long, able, and honorable prac- tice at the bar, they yet reflected with pride and satisfaction, upon his eminent talents, his personal virtues, the fortitude that sustained, and the integrity that guided his conduct in the trying scenes of his life.' Mr. Griffith was the author of a most useful and accurate work, of an ephemeral kind unfortunately, and never completed, called 'The United States Law Register'; as also of a smaller volume of great practical use to the inferior magis- tracy of his native State, called 'The New Jersey Justice of the Peace.' A biography of Mr. Griffith is contained in a recently published volume of the Lives of eminent lawyers of his State." -- Wallace's American Reporters.
DR. WHARTON'S RESOLUTIONS IN CONVENTION.
May 28th, 1828. The annual Diocesan Convention was held in St. Mary's, Burlington, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Croes, presiding. The lay-deputies from Burlington, were William Coxe, Andrew Allen, John H. Carr, and Dr. W. S. Coxe. The Rev. George Weller, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Domestic and For- eign Missionary Society, and the Rev. Wm. R. Whittingham, t of New York, Secretary of the Gen. Prot. Epis. S. S. Union, were invited to seats.
On motion of the Rev. Dr. Wharton, the following resolu- tion was unanimously adopted :
+ The Rev. Wm. R. Whittingham, was consecrated Bishop of Maryland, Sep. 17th, 1840.
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
"WHEREAS, it is a distinguishing feature of our Church, that she adopts a form of Common Prayer in her public worship; and whereas, such prayer evidently implies a union of devout and audible voices, both in the congregation and the minister ; therefore,
Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to all the congre- gations in this Diocese to repeat distinctly, all the responses and prayers, as the Rubric directs."
The Rev. Dr. Wharton moved the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted :
" Resolved, That this Convention highly approve of the object and designs of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America ; and recommend it to the attention and patronage of the members of the Church in this Diocese."
DEATH OF THE WIDOW OF BISHOP JARVIS.
" 1829, May 7th. Buried at Trenton, Mrs. Lucy Jarvis, who died most edifyingly at Burlington, May 5th."-Parish Register. [This was the widow of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Jarvis, of Con- necticut.]
A RE-ARRANGEMENT OF PEW RENTS.
" At a meeting of the vestry of St Mary's Church in the city of Burlington, held May 31, 1831, their attention was called to the state of the pew rents, which appeared not to have been for some years according to any uniform ratio, and it was proposed to appoint a committee to consider & report upon the subject. Mr James H. Sterling & Dr William S. Coxe were designated for this purpose, who not coinciding in their views, at a subse- quent meeting in June 1831 submitted two separate reports. The following, being that of Dr Wm S. Coxe, was adopted by the vestry.
"The undersigned, one of the committee appointed at a meeting of the vestry on the 31st ult. to digest such a mode of arranging the pew-rents as may be convenient and at the same time just, respectfully reports, that it would be difficult and perhaps im- possible to effect any immediate and material alteration that would not be liable to occasion dissatisfaction and complaint. He therefore proposes that no other change should be now made than to put the pew numbered 22 at an annual rent of $9.00 and that numbered 11 at $14.00.
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IN BURLINGTON.
" With a view to the ultimate adoption of such an arrangement as may be desirable, it is proposed that a list of the present pew- holders be made out, designating the particular pews or frac- tions of such pews as they respectively hold, and the amount of rent now paid by each individual on the list, but including the alterations before suggested ; that this list be inserted in the treasurer's book as a permanent standard of reference ; that as long as such pew-holders shall continue to hold the pews or parts of pews for which they shall appear responsible on this list, they shall continue to pay the sums attached to their re- spective names and no more, unless a uniform addition be made, or a per centage added to the rent of each pew; that for any addition to the number of seats for which any one shall appear responsible on the aforesaid list, or in case of a removal to another pew, or of a change in the name of the responsible pew- holder even in the same family, or in the case of every new engagement for a pew or part of a pew, the rate of renting in all such cases to be conformable to the arrangement now to be pro- posed.
" The uniform mode of rating the pew-rents which is proposed to be thus gradually adopted, is to establish the annual rents of the eleven eastern pews on the southern side of the aisle as here- tofore at $16.00 : in receding from the pulpit, each one beyond these to be successively one dollar less than that immediately before it to Nº 13 ; this pew to be rated at $10.00, and the same progressive diminution of one dollar in the annual amount of rent to continue thenceforth to the western end of the church : on the north side, the eleven eastern pews to be rated at $15.00; beyond these the rent to lessen one dollar for each pew in suc- cession to Nº 22; this and Nº 21 to be at $9.00; Nº 20 to be at $8.00; Nº 19 at $7.50, Nº 18 at $7.00, and Nº 17 at $6.50. " Each pew hereafter rented, to be reckoned at six sittings, and every person (henceforward) engaging for a single sitting, to pay one fifth part of the sum at which the whole pew is rated, and every person engaging for two or more sittings to pay one sixth part of the total annual rent of the pew for every sitting in such pew for which he or she may become responsible. This as well
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HISTORY OF THE CHURCH
as the former part of the arrangement it is proposed to apply to all the cases specified in the conclusion of the second paragraph of this report ; all of which is respectfully submitted .- " WILLIAM S. COXE one of the committee.
"St Mary's church Burlington N. J. June 1831 .- "
SECOND DIAGRAM OF ST. MARY'S CHURCH.
A diagram, in the archives of the Parish, represents the Church, at this date, thus :
e
b
10
c
f
$15 00.
34
1 $16 00.
$15 00.
33
2 $16 00.
$15 00.
32
3
$16 00.
$15 00.
31
4 $16 00.
$15 00.
30
5 $16 00.
$15 00.
29
6
$16 00.
$15 00. 28
7 $16 00.
$15 00.
27
8 $16 00.
$15 00.
26
9 $16 00.
N. E. new pew, $15
S. E. new pew, $16
N. W. new pew, $15
s. W. new pew, $16
$14 00. 25
10 $15 00.
$13 00. 24
11 $14 00.
$12 00.
23
12 $13 00.
$9 00.
22 - ¿
i
713 $10 00.
$9 00.
21
14 $9 00.
$8 00.
20
$7 50.
19
$7 00.
18
15
$8 00.
$6 50.
17
16
$7 00.
h
g
. Pulpit. b. Reading Desk. c. Holy Table. d. Font. e. Rector's Chair. f. Chancel. g. West Door. h. Staircase to Gallery. i. i. Pillars supporting gallery across the West end.
The robing-closet was under the pulpit ; as, it is believed, it was, under the former arrangement.
·
401
IN BURLINGTON.
DEATH OF BISHOP CROES.
The Rt. Rev. John Croes, D. D., first Bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey, departed this life at his residence in New Bruns- wick, July 30th, 1832, in the 71st year of his age, and the 17th of his Episcopate.
ELECTION OF THE SECOND BISHOP OF NEW JERSEY.
A "second adjourned Convention," was held in Christ Church, New Brunswick, October 3d, 1832; the Rev. Frederick Beasley, D. D., of Trenton, President of the Convention, preached, and administered the Lord's Supper. Sixteen clergy- men were present, and lay-deputies from twenty-two parishes ; those from Burlington being John H. Carr and Dr. William S. Coxe. In the afternoon the Convention proceeded to ballot for a Bishop, with the following result :
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