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Gc 974.7 G13d Galpin, William Freeman, 1890-1963. The Diocese of Central New York
DIOCESE OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
The Founding Fathers
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Wm. Freeman Galpin
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THE DIOCESE OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
The Founding Fathers
Wm. Freeman Galpin
Willard Press Boonville, New York 1958
Copyright, 1958, by Diocese of Central New York
All rights reserved. No part of this Book may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission in writing from the Diocese.
Printed in the United States
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
CONTENTS
Preface
Page iv
Chapter
I.
AS IN THE BEGINNING.
1
II.
THE APOSTLES TO THE WEST
7
III. JOHN HENRY HOBART 17
IV. A NEW BISHOP, A NEW DIOCESE 29
V.
LIFE IN WESTERN NEW YORK.
44
VI. THE GLAD TIDINGS 58
VII. CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 68
VIII.
FAITH OF OUR FATHERS
78
IX
WORSHIP
89
X. PSALTER AND SONG 109
XI
ECCLESIASTICAL ESTATES
117
XII
CENTRAL NEW YORK
129
XIII.
MORNING GILDS THE SKIES
146
iii
PREFACE
But these are men of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten. With their seed shall re- main continually a good inheritance; their children are within the covenants .. . their seed shall remain forever, and their glory shall not be blotted out ... their bodies were buried in peace, and their name liveth to all generations. (Ecclesiasticus, 44)
The historical roots of the Diocese of Central New York are deeply buried in the annals of the National Church and before that in the story of the Church of England in the Colonies. Of the latter there is little to be told since in that age Central New York was chiefly a geographic expression and received but scanty and passing treatment. Nor was there much quickening of interest by the American Church during the early years of our national inde- pendence. But with the foundation of the Diocese of New York in 1785 the Church began to bestir itself about missionary responsi- bilities within that area. Each year saw the steady advance of the Church, and when in 1838 the Diocese of Western New York was formed, Episcopal control over the state's inland counties passed from New York City to Geneva.
The decades that spanned these formative years are crowded with meaning. First and foremost they reveal the impact of dioc- esan and national church activities in the mission to this area. But equally important are the manifestations of local efforts and growth. Quite naturally the unfolding of this drama has not been neglected by church historians; my obligation to them is patent in this study. However, in every instance the problem was presented from the point of view of broader, more general, and higher levels. They did not, and they should not be censured for their attitude, view it from the local level of the Diocese of Central New York. Thus of necessity as well as from choice they left much untold that is significant to those within the diocese. The validity of their approach is paralleled by the limitations imposed upon this volume which primarily is a diocesan, and not a parish history. My orig- inal design was to devote attention to local life, such as the story of church architecture-and Central New York does have several notable examples of prevailing trends dating since 1818-and a list
iv
of the clergy and parishes. My notes, however, have been brought together and may be found at the Diocesan House, Syracuse.
There is yet another reason for cultivating old soil anew, and this may be found in the reading habits of the average communi- cant of the diocese. How many, it may be asked, have ever read the scholarly accounts of American Church history by men like Drs. Manross and Addison, or Miss Loveland's penetrating mono- graph, The Critical Years, 1780 to 1789? I do not know, but am inclined to believe they are few in number. If this be true, then it is necessary for Central New York, as other dioceses, to have its own published history. For reasons of pride? Yes ; but also because of the basic fact that most communicants know little of our national church history unless it is made available to them at the local level. The more the members of Central New York study the annals of their own diocese the more they will become aware of how homo- geneous the National Church was and has become.
In the preparation of the volume, I have read most of the im- portant national church histories and from them, as is shown in the narrative, have borrowed quite freely. But there are other sources which were not touched by their authors. An analysis of published church histories, registers, and journals afforded much insight into such matters as church attendance, frequency of church services, local attitudes on national issues, together with many local and economic matters that concerned the parishes and missions. For these and other subjects the diocesan Journal of New York, West- ern New York, and Central New York were used extensively. Perforce this necessitated visits to New York, Rochester, and Buf- falo where much was unearthed of benefit for this study. The diary, for example, of Bishop Arthur C. Coxe preserved at the Diocesan House, Buffalo, threw considerable light on the years 1864 to 1868. Here, as in other places, church tracts and reports were discovered -many having never been published. At Syracuse, I read the Gos- pel Messenger, the diocesan paper of Western New York. Refer- ence should also be made to the Nathan Williams Papers, preserved at the Oneida Historical Society, Utica, New York; these letters contain many references to the work of Bishop Hobart and the early clergy and congregation of Trinity Church, Utica.
My thanks are due to the many clergy and laity who have eased my labors and stimulated my efforts when I needed assist- ance. Among these I desire to express gratitude to the Rev. James Mahagan of Auburn, the Rev. Stanley Gasek of Utica, the Rev. Harold L. Hutton of Syracuse, the Rev. Frederick T. Henstridge of Elmira, and the Rev. Melvin Abson of East Syracuse. Nor
V
should I leave unnamed the Standing Committee of the Diocese, especially the Rev. William Cole of Syracuse, President of the Committee, for their willingness to subsidize this volume. Also, I wish to thank the Bishops and Diocesan staff of New York and Western New York for the use of their archives. Again, I am grateful for the counsel given me by my friends the Rt. Rev. Walter Higley, Suffragan Bishop of Central New York, the Rev. R. O. Moore, Diocesan Program Consultant, Mr. Robert Zogg, Secretary of the Convention, the Rev. H. W. Foreman of Fayette- ville, Miss Marie Michael, Secretary to the Bishop of Central New York, the clerical staff of the Diocesan House, Professor A. E. Johnson of Syracuse University and Mr. C. R. Newkirk of Utica, New York, who very kindly provided a handsome pen sketch of St. Paul's, Paris Hill. Finally, I owe more than I can impart to the Rt. Rev. Malcolm E. Peabody, Bishop of Central New York, for his initial encouragement given me some years ago. Since then his interest and assistance has ever grown. His understanding of the need for a diocesan history bridged many of my difficulties and I trust in a later volume to reveal pertinently the great contribu- tions he has made to the Church in Central New York.
WM. FREEMAN GALPIN, Syracuse, New York. August, 1958
vi
CHAPTER I
AS IN THE BEGINNING
On the Feast of All Saints' Day, 1868, the Rt. Rev. Arthur Cleveland Coxe, Bishop of the Diocese of Western New York, attended divine service at Grace Church, Orange, New Jersey. In writing of this event to his good friend, the Rev. Frederic Dan Huntington of Boston, Massachusetts, he remarked, "I was joined by several of the Clergy and, after Morning Prayer, we united in a Te Deum, with appropriate Intercessions for the Diocese and for the blessing of God on the approaching election of a Bishop." At the same time special devotions were held in many churches in Cen- tral New York and prayers of thanksgiving were said to Almighty God for His love and kindness in promoting the work of His Church by founding that day the Diocese of Central New York.
Bounded on the north by the St. Lawrence River and the Dio- cese of Albany, its spiritual neighbor to the east, the Diocese of Central New York extended south to the State of Pennsylvania and had as its devoted friend to the west, its Mother, the Diocese of Western New York. An inland empire it was, steeped in a romantic history of Algonquin and Iroquois, respectively under the Lily Banners of France and the Union Jack of Great Britain, and laden with natural resources of immense wealth and magnitude. Not quite twelve thousand square miles in scope, it had a population of nearly seven hundred thousand persons, mostly of English an- cestry, who had pushed their way into this area following the American Revolution. Among these were many members of the Protestant Episcopal Church who by 1868 had so advanced their faith that it could be said with pride that they possessed ninety-five churches and missions. Presiding over the spiritual and material life of these societies was a bishop, seventy-one clergy, and slightly more than eight thousand communicants.
Expressed county-wise, the Diocese included fourteen such units of which Jefferson was the largest with 1,868 square miles, with Seneca the smallest having but 420 square miles. Cortland, how- ever, with but two parishes was the lowest in communicants, name- ly one hundred and fifty-one, while Oneida stood first with twenty- one churches and 1,734 souls. Crowding Oneida was Onondaga having only ten parishes but showing 1,261 communicants. No other county topped these two though Chenango with nine churches
1
THE FOUNDING FATHERS
and 936 members contributed in total offerings more than fifteen thousand dollars. As might be expected Oneida and Onondaga were able to do better, $34,000 and $26,000 respectively. The grand total for Central New York was $150,289.05 which per parish averaged $1,581.99.1
This rough profile-to be enlarged as the narrative progresses- presented a picture of what the new diocese was like on All Saints' Day, 1868. And what a happy coincidence-All Saints' Day! A date to be remembered as one signifying not only the natal day for the Diocese but also a day forever hallowed by the heroic deeds of those pioneers who first brought the Glad Tidings to Central New York. These Apostolic Churchmen who braved the unknown by penetrating an area tracked only by a few primitive roads, that pierced forest, swamp, and wilderness, and highways, laid down by the dusty feet of the American Indian; highways that today serve in connecting Buffalo to Albany, and Binghamton to Syra- cuse and Watertown. And it is over these same roads and others that one must travel in a search for the origins, growth, and devel- opment of the Diocese of Central New York.
Such an effort calls for more than a story of events since All Saints' Day, 1868. It must relate the days when the counties of Central New York were under the protecting hand of the Diocesan of Western New York (1838-1868) and before that when they were part of an older administration-the Diocese of New York (1785-1838). Ninety years have passed since Bishop Coxe so aptly described the foundation day of the Diocese. But it is also sobering to realize that almost as many years-eighty-three to be exact-of our Diocese's history preceded that great event. To understand the present, therefore, we must know the past. First those decades when Central New York dwelt in the Houses of Western New York and New York, and second, and much earlier, those long years when it was included within the "Church of England in the Colonies."
Concerning the annals of the Church during the Colonial Era so much has been written that only a few references are needed for this volume. Not all Englishmen, it should be recalled, who migrated to the New World were non-comformists. The latter were by far the most numerous but there was a good sampling of
1 Generally speaking the term "Central New York" will describe that area within the Diocese of Western New York which in 1868 became the Diocese of Central New York.
2
AS IN THE BEGINNING
Church of England folk as well. People who, regardless of storm and stress, remained loyal to the Mother Church and preserved year after year, in a small and unspectacular manner, a Christian life patterned upon the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. From one angle this long period might be characterized as one of neglect. In part this may be explained by the depths to which the Church of England had fallen during the reigns of Kings James I and his son Charles I (1603-1649) and the rule of the Puritan "Saints" (1649-1660). The clash between a High-Church-Royalist Party, stout defenders of Monarchy and Anglicanism, and a Puri- tan-Parliamentary Party of varied political economic and religious complexions, provided no great opportunity for Archbishop Laud to think of his overseas flock. The contest, bitterly fought, ended in favor of Non-Conformity and like Charles I and other loyalists, whose attitudes and sentiments the poet Browning has vividly por- trayed in the Cavalier Tunes, the great prelate of Canterbury made the supreme sacrifice.
A darkness then descended upon the Church of England. Its churches and cathedrals, mutilated in some instances, were staffed and peopled by Presbyterians, Independents, Congregationalists and others. To be an Anglican was to be persona non grata ; more, it was heresy and treason. Perforce the Church went underground and suffered in many ways. Meanwhile all was not peaceful in the councils of the conqueror. Cromwell and his God-fearing fol- lowers found to their sorrow what it meant to rule Englishmen. Thus the day came, shortly after his death, that England whose heart had always been wedded to Monarchy cast overboard a costly experiment in government and religious intolerance.
The Stuarts, in the person of Charles II, were restored and so also was the historic Church of England. Gone was the "pesty" opposition of the early seventeenth century. Time could now be given to other matters and, as students of American Colonial history know so well, a new colonial policy was initiated calculated to wipe out the doldrums of past neglect and to bring the colonies more closely into line with the thinking of the Mother Country. Correspondingly, something was conceived by the English Church for the "Church in the Colonies." As to what actually took place we know much less than we could wish. It is established, so Dr. W. W. Manross records in his History of the American Epis- copal Church, that in some uncertain manner ecclesiastical jurisdic- tion over all the colonies, insular and continental, was lodged in
3
THE FOUNDING FATHERS
the hands of the Bishop of London. The first to use this power was Bishop Henry Compton who between 1675 and 1688 tried to strengthen his authority and control over all the colonies. After the Glorious Revolution (1688-1689) this divine delegated control to clerical "commissaries" who though not bishops assumed a higher status, because of their appointment, over other clergymen. Thus the situation rested until 1723 when another bishop, Edmund Gib- son, gained royal consent to a program enhancing the influence of his agents.
A successor, Bishop Thomas Sherlock, viewed matters more sanely. He believed that what was needed was the establishment of an Episcopacy in the Colonies. Unfortunately for America that idea was never translated into action; and a golden opportunity vanished almost as soon as it had appeared. It is tempting, however, to speculate on what might have happened had the Bishop gained his ends. Surely it would have stimulated efforts on the part of the Colonial Church and have raised the latter in public esteem. In all probability the Church might have retained in some manner, after 1783, its spiritual connections with Canterbury and perhaps the unhappy sequel to independence, as it relates to the Episcopacy, might have been avoided. But the impact of Independence can not be ignored though even here the monarchial sentiments inherent in a Colonial Episcopacy might have lessened the urge for freedom, finally won only by war.
All fault for not having promoted a Colonial Episcopacy, with- out which the life of the Church was stinted, should not be laid to a policy of neglect on Canterbury's part. The English Church of the eighteenth century had problems of its own. One of these appeared in the challenge presented by the rise of Methodism ; another was the deplorable practice of tying ecclesiastical prefer- ment to political issues and parties. More important, however, was the automatic reaction in America every time it was rumored Canterbury was scheming to plant Episcopacy in the colonies. Nor was this fear and concern shared only by non-comformists; it was rather wide spread among churchmen of all types. We shall see this phobia against bishops remained as an infection within the American Church for several decades after 1783. But where the Church of England faltered, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel became a real source of strength in the New World. Through its offices the clergy in America received valuable assist- ance in spiritual, educational, and financial ways. The support of
4
AS IN THE BEGINNING
the clergy, so Dr. Manross reminds us, was largely in the hands of this society. However, this vital nexus was cut off by American Independence since under its charter the Society could operate only within the British World.
Various aspects and manifestations of these events may be noted in the annals of the Royal Province of New York. Highly signifi- cant was the appearance of the Church of England in this area with the English conquest of New Amsterdam in 1660. But approxi- mately thirty years were to pass before any notable implementation took place. Then it was that provision was made for a "Protestant Minister" in New York County, another in Richmond, and two each in Westchester and Queens. Considerable uncertainty, how- ever, followed as to what was meant by "Protestant." Ultimately this was resolved by an interpretation that favored the Church of England of which the chief parish in the colony was Trinity whose influence in the American Church has been outstanding.
Prior to the establishment of this parish in 1697 the only resi- dent priest of the Church was a military chaplain stationed much of the time in New York City. After Trinity came St. George's and St. Paul's, and in 1754 King's College (Columbia University) was founded. Meanwhile the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was formed which, as James T. Addison states in his Epis- copal Church in the United States, sent missionaries into nearby areas, thence up the Hudson to Albany thus foreshadowing pene- tration into the Mohawk Valley and Central New York. "So continuous was the generous activity of this society," Addison con- tinues, "that in the period between 1702 and 1776 it assisted in maintaining in the province, for terms longer or shorter, as many as fifty-eight missionaries." One of these, the Rev. William An- drews, labored briefly among the Oneida Indians thus being the first to preach the Gospel in what is now the Diocese of Central New York.
In his wake came the Rev. John Ogilvie. Born in 1724, pre- sumably at New York City, he was graduated from Yale Univer- sity in 1748. The next year he was in England preparing for the priesthood where in due season he was made deacon and priest ; he was licensed to preach in June, 1749, by the Bishop of London. Later in the same year he returned to America and became a mis- sionary to the Mohawks at Albany. As Chaplain of the "Royal Americans," a regiment raised at Albany, he went with his com- mand to Fort Schuyler, now Utica, and was present at the capture
5
THE FOUNDING FATHERS
of Fort Niagara in the French and Indian War. His letter de- scribing his experiences both as a missionary and chaplain, as given by the Rev. Charles W. Hayes in his The Diocese of Western New York, is of particular interest. During 1760-1761 he was Chaplain at Montreal, Canada, after which he returned to Albany where he became rector of St. Peter's. In 1764 or 1765 he became Assistant Minister at Trinity, New York, where he died Novem- ber 26, 1774.
It is relatively easy to over-estimate the significance of these missionaries and the activities of the English and New York Soci- eties for the Propagation of the Gospel. Certainly it was feeble in contrast to the work of the French Jesuits in Central New York. Actually very little was done in this area by the English Church. Nor could much be achieved so long as the British Gov- ernment pursued an Indian policy in upstate New York that viewed the Iroquois as necessary allies in the struggle for power with France. Then, as today, allies had to be courted and protected. Thus the villages, fields, and hunting lands of the Indian were shut to white settlement, and without which missionary work could not be expected. The Indian might come within the shadow of the Cross as a Royal Chaplain like Ogilvie tramped from Albany to Fort Schuyler, then north to Fort Oswego and thence to Fort Niagara, and on occasion become the recipient of a communion set, provided by Queen Anne of England, now a treasured possession of St. Peter's, Albany.1 But these details, interesting in themselves were void of any deep meaning. Nor did the situation materially alter following the withdrawal of the French from North America in 1763. The Indian continued to be placated and the rich land, the dense forests, and the fur bearing animals rated high in the decisions of London in respect to westward expansion.
Such in brief is the general picture of the Church in Central New York when Independence became a reality in 1783. The British, however, had withdrawn as did the French at an earlier date and the way was open for American occupation and use which in a short time became a factor of supreme importance for New York and the Nation. With the opening of the frontier the Church in New York and throughout the Confederacy faced new problems whose solution led to the establishment of the Diocese of Central New York in 1868.
1 Queen Anne's plate was intended for an Onondaga Chapel which, however, was not erected until Bishop Huntington's time.
6
CHAPTER II
THE APOSTLES TO THE WEST
On the morning of October 17, 1781, the guns at Yorktown were silent. Two days later, Lord Cornwallis surrendered and American Independence became an assured fact. On that day the Church in America stood still in its tracks uncertain what to do and what the future had in store. Britain's defeat was America's great opportunity but to the Church it meant nothing less than disestablishment. Each and every tie that held the Church to the Primacy of Canterbury-spiritual and material-seemed to have been torn asunder. Surely few Christians ever faced such a dilema as confronted those within the Thirteen States whose religious affections had been in tune with the Church of England. What indeed were they to do? No one knew the answer. Like the col- onies, once independence had been won, the Church found itself fragmented into thirteen disjointed units. Each colony had now become a state and within each there were ecclesiastical groupings of varied strength and levels of organizations that seemed destined to drift with the tide. There was the Protestant Episcopal Church of Maryland, another by the same name of Virginia, and so on. Borrowing a term conceived by the eminent American historian, John Fiske, the Church embarked upon a "Critical Era."
But when has the Church lacked imagination and when has it failed to raise leaders for each occasion? The first seedling of a new era made its appearance in the person of the Rev. William White, Rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia. Conscious of what independence meant to the Church this keen minded clergyman published in 1782 a tract entitled The Case of the Episcopal Church in the United States Considered. Although a year was to pass be- fore Britain's formal recognition of American freedom was to be made, and almost a decade was to transpire before the United States as understood today became a reality, there seems to have been little doubt in the mind of the Rev. William White as to the immediate pattern of the future. There was to be a United States and in it the Church was to play its role. The key note of his appeal was in favor of a federal form of Church government, strikingly like what George Washington and Alexander Hamilton had in mind for the country's future political structure. Meanwhile in Connecticut, a colonial outpost of the Anglican Church, others
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