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C. G. SUTLIFF LOCKPORT, N. Y.
GEN
From George C. Revis Rockport-1930
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 01799 2915 E
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GENEALOGY 974.7 H326DI
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/dioceseofwestern00haye_0
WILLIAM HEATHCOTE DE LANCEY From a Cameo cut at Rome in 1835
THE DIOCESE
OF
WESTERN NEW YORK
HISTORY AND RECOLLECTIONS
BY
CHARLES WELLS HAYES
ROCHESTER, N. Y. SCRANTOM, WETMORE & CO., 21 State St. MCMIV
Copyright, 1904 by Charles Wells Hayes
PRESS OF W. F. HUMPHREY, PRINTER AND BINDER, GENEVA, N. Y.
PREFACE
I HAVE attempted to write the story (in outline) of the " Diocese of Western New York," by which I mean the (Protestant Episcopal) Church in the western half of the State of New York, (from Utica west to Buffalo,) set off in 1838 as a new Diocese from the original one com- prising the whole State. This new Diocese was divided again thirty years later, the eastern half of it being erected into the present Diocese of Central New York. The story is naturally divided into four periods.
I Missions (to the Iroquois Indians) prior to the beginning of settlement by whites in 1784-5.
II The Diocese of New York, 1785 to 1838.
III The original Diocese of Western New York, 1838 to 1868.
IV The present Diocese, from 1868 to 1896.
The story of the first period (of 170 years) is a very short one, and has little to do with the later history. That of the second is mainly the short but brilliant and fruitful Episcopate of Bishop HOBART, 1811-30. The third period is nearly coincident with the no less remarkable work of Bishop DE LANCEY, 1839-65. The last covers nearly all that of Bishop COXE, 1865-96. Each of these three great Bishops left, as we shall see, a permanent impress on the growth and character of the Church in Western New York, and its history is largely their biography.
The book has been written at the oft repeated request of the late Bishop Coxe, and of many other personal friends, mostly from materials gathered during many years. I have ventured to call it " history," but perhaps a more descriptive title would be "historical materials (or facts), and recollections," the little rills, as they have been aptly called, which make the larger streams of history. For one thing I have to apologize,-the attempt to write at all the story of an Episcopate so recent and of such manifold aspects as that of Bishop Coxe. For this I can only plead the earnest request of a number of the clergymen and laymen of the Diocese, who felt that some record of his remarkable work ought to be made before those
iv
PREFACE
who had their part in it had all passed away. If this part of the book proves to be at all what it should be, it will be largely due to the encouragement and help given me by these good friends, too many to be even named here.
I must however acknowledge my obligations to many friends for the illustrations of this book. Nos. 6, 13, 14, 19, 25, 35, 36, 56, 67, 74, 75, 76, 78, 82 and 85, in the list given on page vii, are due to the courtesy of the Churchman Company of New York ; Nos. 9, 12, 15, 30, 45, 68, 80 and 87 have been kindly furnished me by the Archdeacon of Rochester; Nos. 8, 16 and 17 by the Rev. John Brainard, D.D .; Nos. 7, 21, 22, 23 and 24 by the Rev. John R. Harding ; Nos. 11, 54 and 83 are from the Evans-Bartlett history of S. Paul's Church, Buffalo, by the kindness of its authors ; Nos. 31, 37 and 88 are from Mrs. Mixer's History of Trinity Church, through the Rector, the Rev. Cameron J. Davis ; Nos. 2, 43, 72, 80 and 8 1 from " Geneva on Seneca Lake," published by the Geneva Cham- ber of Commerce ; No. 5 from the Hon. George W. Nicholas of Geneva ; No. I from Mrs. John P. De Lancey of Geneva ; No. 34 from Mrs. Millicent L. Hamlin of Holland Patent ; No. 38 from the Rev. Henry E. Hubbard ; No. 49 from Mrs. Emily B. Clarke of Syra- cuse ; No. 50 from the late Rev. Edward B. Spalding, L.H.D .; No. 5 1 from the Right Rev. the Bishop of North Dakota ; Nos. 57 and 63 from the Rev. William L. Davis; No. 66 from Miss Clara A. Pres- cott of Newark; No. 65 from Mrs. Walter Ayrault; No. 69 from the Rev. Dr. Charles H. Boynton ; No. 70 from Mr. Edgar Parker of Geneva ; Nos. 44 and 79 from the Rev. William Stanley Barrows ; No. 84 from Miss Mary Richards Berry of Buffalo.
Charles works Hayes
CONTENTS
PART I. COLONIAL : 1615-1785
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Seventeenth Century Missions I
II. English Missions : Moor and Andrews 4
III. English Missions : Ogilvie and Stuart 8
IV. Protestant Missions : Zeisberger and Kirkland 13
PART II. DIOCESE OF NEW YORK : 1785-1838
V. First Settlers and Missionaries 15
VI. Davenport Phelps 22
VII. Davenport Phelps : 1804 to 1811 27
VIII. Bishop Hobart as Coadjutor, 1811-16 35
IX. Some Early Churches 42
X. Visitations of 1818 : the Oneidas 48
XI. Theological Education: Geneva College 54
XII. Visitation of 1826: S. Luke's, Rochester 60
-
XIII. Diocesan Missions in 1827 : the Gospel Messenger 65
XIV. Bishop Hobart's last Years : the Oneidas, 1829 74
XV. Last Work and Death of Bishop Hobart, 1830 78
XVI. Bishop Onderdonk : Fanaticism : 1831-3 84
XVII. Movement for a New Diocese, 1834 . 93
XVIII.
Steps toward a New Diocese, 1835
99
XIX. Episcopal Work and Diocesan Growth, 1836-7 105 XX. The New Diocese organized, 1838. II2
PART III. DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK : 1838-68
XXI. Election and Consecration of Bishop De Lancey 119
XXII. Western New York in 1839 130
XXIII. First Visitations : Diocesan Funds 137
XXIV. Early Conventions : Bishop's Address of 1841 I44
XXV. First Charge : Clergy of 1839-44. 150
XXVI. The Oxford Movement : Clerical Support. 158 XXVII. " What is not Puseyism " : Consecration at Geneva, 1844. 166
XXVIII. Trials, Controversies, and Diocesan Work, 1844-6 173
XXIX. The E. K. S. and other Controversies of 1848. 180
XXX. Hobart College and Divinity School. 188
vi
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER
XXXI. Bishop De Lancey in England : De Veaux College. 195
XXXII. Provinces : The Tithe: Parish Duties 203
XXXIII. Western New York Clergy of 1849-59 210
XXXIV. The Training School : Two Episcopal Charges 218
XXXV. The Bishop Abroad : Church-Building and Ritual. 225
XXXVI. The Civil War : Election of Coadjutor, 1864 236
XXXVII.
Consecration of Bishop Coxe : Death of Bishop De Lancey. 246
XXXVIII. Bishop Coxe at Work . 255
XXXIX. The Oneida Convocation 265
XL. A New See erected. 272
XLI. " Central New York" 282
XLII. The Cathedral : Laymen 291
PART IV. THE PRESENT DIOCESE
XLIII. Diocesan Work, 1869-79. 298
XLIV. Parochial Work, Schools and Charities, 1869-79. 309
XLV. Bishop Coxe and Christian Unity. 318
XLVI. Educational Work, 1880-96. 328
XLVII. Diocesan Work : Semi-Centennial, 1888. 337
XLVIII.
Diocesan Councils and Parochial Work, 1880-96. 347
XLIX. Bishop Coxe's Last Years 357
Note on Bishop Coxe's Ancestry and Early Life 370
Clergy of Western New York, 1787 to 1896. 372
Index of Clergymen. 386
Index of Lay Names. 393
Index of Places.
399
General Index 402
ILLUSTRATIONS
No.
I William Heathcote De Lancey, 1835.
2 Iroquois Council Tree 8
3-4 Altar Plate given by Queen Anne to the Mohawk Chapel, 1712, and site of Mohawk church near Lewiston, 1775 13
5 Letter of Bishop Moore to Judge Nicholas of Geneva, 1806. 16
6 Benjamin Moore, Second Bishop of New York 20
7 Trinity Church, Utica, 1806, the oldest church in old W. N. Y 24
8 S. Peter's Church, Auburn (first), 1812. 28
9 S. Paul's Church, Honeoye (Allen's Hill), 1818. 32
IO S. John's Church, Canandaigua (first), 1817 45
II Chancel of S. Paul's Church, Buffalo, 1821 49 52 I2 Sentence of Consecration (Honeoye ) by Bishop Hobart, 1818 60 I3 S. Luke's Church, Rochester, 1826 64 14 Chancel of S. Luke's Church, Rochester. 68 15 S. Paul's Church, Rochester (first), 1830. 72 16 S. Peter's Church, Auburn (second), 1833 17 Rectory of S. Peter's, Auburn, where Bishop Hobart died. 76 80 18 John Henry Hobart, Third Bishop of New York 84 19 Benjamin Tredwell Onderdonk, Fourth Bishop of New York. 89
20 S. Peter's Church, Westfield, 1833, with tower of 1866
21-3 Three early Rectors of Trinity Church, Utica, 1821-57 96 100
24 Interior of Trinity Church, Utica, Centennial of 1898.
25 James Aaron Bolles, Rector of S. James, Batavia, 1834-54 I20
26 William Heathcote De Lancey, First Bishop of Western New York
I28 132
27 Geneva from Seneca Lake
28 John Adams of Lyons, 1861, aet. 66 140
29 Benjamin Hale, Third President of Hobart College, 1836 -- 58 144
30 S. John's Church, Sodus, 1834, with later porch 148
31
William Shelton
152
32-3 Edward Livermore and William James Alger
160
34 S. Paul's Church, Holland Patent, 1824 (1903)
164
35 Trinity Church, Geneva, 1844 168 . 36 Trinity Church, Geneva, north aisle. 37 Edward Ingersoll 176 38 John Visger Van Ingen
172
39-42 Early Presidents of Hobart College
184 188
43 Hobart College, 1903. 192
44 Samuel De Veaux (from portrait at De Veaux College) 200
45 Letter of Orders, by Bishop De Lancey. 204
46 Samuel Hanson Coxe 209
FACING PAGE Title
1
viii
ILLUSTRATIONS
No. PAGE
47-8
Israel Foote and Henry Stanley
212
Joseph Morison Clarke. 216
49 Erastus Spalding and Duncan Cameron Mann. 220 50-51
52-3 Anthony Schuyler and John Jacob Brandegee 224
54 S. Paul's Church, Buffalo, 1851. 228
55 S. John's Church, Phelps, 1856, with chancel of 1896. 232
56 William Thomas Gibson . 236
57-63 Geneva Clergymen of 1866
240
64 Letter of Bishop Coxe
244
65 Walter Ayrault. 248
66 S. Mark's Church, Newark (first), 1852, with later additions 252
67 Arthur Cleveland Coxe, 1850. 256
68 S. Luke's Church, Branchport, 1868. 273
69 S. Michael's Church, Geneseo, 1867, and Rectory. 292
70 S. Peter's Church and Rankine Memorial House, Geneva 296
71 Church Home, Rochester
300
72 Church Home, Geneva. 304
73 S. John's Church, Canandaigua (second), 1887. 308
74 Church Home, Buffalo, 1894 312
75 S. Andrew's Church and Rectory, Rochester. 316
76 Chapel of the Holy Innocents, Church Home, Buffalo, 1895 320
78 Christ Church, Rochester.
79 De Veaux College, 1857, with Chapel of 1894.
80-1 Hobart College, Coxe and Medbery Halls
82 James Rankine. 344
83 S. Paul's Church, Buffalo, restored 1889.
348
84 Church of the Good Shepherd (Ingersoll Memorial) and Rectory . 352
85 Interior of Christ Church, Rochester 356
86 De Lancey School for Girls, Geneva. 360
87 Grace Church, Dundee, 1903. 368
88 William David Walker, Third Bishop of Western New York 370
77 Arthur Cleveland Coxe, second Bishop of Western New York .. 324 328 332 336
PART FIRST
COLONIAL : 1615-1785
CHAPTER I
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS
HE discovery of America by Columbus (1492), and of the continent of North America by John Cabot (1497), brought with it the ministrations of the Church, in the latter case of the Church of England. In the " Privy Purse Expenses " of Henry VII., March 24, 1498, is a grant of £20 to "Lancelot Thirkill of London," for a "Prest for his shippe going towards the New Islande."* A Canon of S. Paul's Cathe- dral, London, appears at S. John's, Newfoundland, early in the six- teenth century. t
The expedition under Sir Hugh Willoughby for discovering a northern passage to " Cathay," in 1553, had " Master Richard Staf- ford, Minister," as its Chaplain. The Chaplain of Frobisher in 1578, " Master Wolfall," first celebrated the Holy Communion in North America with the Liturgy of the Church of England, at " Winter Fur- nace," Newfoundland ; and in the following year, on S. John Bap- tist's Day (or Eve) the same English service was held on the coast of California (probably on the site of S. Francisco) by Francis Fletcher, Chaplain of the " Pelican," under Sir Francis Drake. Of nearly the same date are the expeditions under Sir Walter Raleigh to Roanoke, Sir Humphrey Gilbert to Newfoundland (1583-84), and Sir Richard Grenville to Virginia (1585), the latter with the first record of mission- ary work among the Indians, by the Chaplain, Thomas Hariot.#
* Sir Harris Nicolas, Excerpta Historica, 85-133 (quoted by Bishop Perry, Hist. Amer. Epis. Church, I. 2). Id.
#Bishop Perry, 11-13. It is worth while to quote here the words of Edward Hayes, Master and owner of the only ship (the Golden Hind) which returned from Sir Humphrey Gilbert's ill-fated expedition, as to the Christian spirit in which
2
DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
These were followed at no long interval by the English colonists of Virginia and Maine in 1607, with Robert Hunt and Richard Seymour as their Chaplains.
But in WESTERN NEW YORK the cross was planted first by Francis- can (Recollet) friars from France ; Le Caron, Viel, Sagard, and La Roche Dallion, about 1625, on both banks of the Niagara River (apparently near Lake Ontario), followed in 1641-2 by the Jesuits from Quebec (where their College had been founded in 1635) up the St. Lawrence and across Lake Ontario to the seats of the great Confed- eracy of the Iroquois, in what are now the counties named from four of their five Nations, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca. The " Relations " of Le Mercier, Dablon, Le Moyne and L'Allemant tell a wonderful story of Christian work regardless of danger and death, of
it was undertaken. To sow the seed of eternal life in those heathen lands, he says, " must be the chief intent of such as shall make any attempt that way ; or els whatsoever is builded upon other foundation shall never obtain happy successe nor continuance." That "it is the duty of every man of great calling" inclined to this enterprise, "to examine his own motives; which, if the same proceed of ambition or avarice, he may assure himself it cometh not of God, and therefore cannot have confidence in God's protection and assistance." But if they " be derived from a virtuous and heroical mind, preferring chiefly the honour of God, compassion of poor infidels captived by the devil, tyrannizing in most wonderful and dreadful manner over their bodies and souls ; advancement of his honest and well-disposed countrymen, willing to accompany him in such honourable actions ; relief of sundry people within this realm distressed ; all these be honourable pur- poses, imitating the nature of the munificent God, wherewith He is well pleased, who will assist such an action beyond expectation of man." He calls his narra- tive " A report of the voyage and successe thereof, attempted in the yeare of our Lord 1583 by Sir Humfry Gilbert Knight, with other gentlemen assisting him in that action, intended to discouer and to plant Christian inhabitants in places con- uenient upon those large and ample countreys extended northward from the Cape of Florida, lying vnder very temperate climes, esteemed fertile and rich in Miner- als, yet not in the actuall possession of any Christian prince, written by Mr. Edward Haies gentleman, and principall actour in the same voyage, who alone continued vnto the end, and by God's speciall assistance returned home with his retinue safe and entire." And he gives the oft-quoted account of the gallant Sir Humphrey's fate, when on " Monday the ninth of September, in the afternoone, the frigat [Squirril] was neere cast away, oppressed by waves, yet at that time recouered ; and giving forth signs of joy, the Generall sitting abaft with a booke in his hand, cried out vnto vs in the Hind (so oft as we did approch within hearing) We are as neere to heauen by sea as by land. Reiterating the same speech, well beseeming a souldier, resolute in Jesus Christ, as I can testifie he was." Hakluyt Voyages, xii. 320, 322, 355 (Edinb. 1859).
3
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY MISSIONS
great success in" winning these strange people to a stranger faith," of martyrdom alike of teachers and converts, for more than half a century ; but all perishing in the end, the very footprints of Jesuit missions long since disappeared .* Churches were built by the French for the Oneidas at Oneida Lake, for the Onondagas near Manlius or Jamesville, for the Cayugas at Cayuga Lake, for the Senecas at Avon or " Chenussio " (Geneseo) ; and in 1687 a Chapel at Fort Niagara, (Père Millet its Chaplain then), where services were maintained from time to time as long as French occupancy continued, i. e., to 1759.1
* Narr. and Crit. Hist. of America, IV. 265 ; Turner, Holland Purchase, 65, 93 ; Clark, Onondaga, I. 130-208, where these deeply interesting " Relations " of the Jesuit Missionaries are given at considerable length.
t Doc. Hist. N. Y. I. 150, 168. The Fort was rebuilt in 1725.
CHAPTER II
ENGLISH MISSIONS : MOOR AND ANDREWS
EANWHILE the Church of England, whose services had been held in the city of New York from its con- quest from the Dutch in 1664, and gradually extended into the neighboring settlements of Long Island and New Jersey, was making some feeble efforts to send missionaries to the Iroquois, in part, no doubt, at first, to detach them from the French interest. This work seems to have been first suggested about 1695, by the Rev. JOHN MILLER, Chaplain of the garrison at New York 1692-5, who visited Albany and Schenectady, and on his return to England wrote a historical account of the Pro- ince, adding proposals for the establishment of a Bishop at New York, as Suffragan to the Bishop of London, with jurisdiction over New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island. It seems to be the first of the many ineffectual pleas through a hundred years for an American Episcopate of Missionary character .* The suggestion for missions to the Indians was renewed in 1700 by the Earl of Bellomont, then Governor of New York, whose letter to the Lords of Trade was laid by them before the Queen in Council (April 3, 1703), and by her order referred to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who in turn sought the help of the newly founded Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. ¡ Their first missionary, the Rev. THOROUGHGOOD MOOR, reached New York in the autumn of 1704, went immediately to Albany, and there met some of the Mohawk chiefs, who received him with great joy ; but on pushing on through the wilderness fifty miles west, to Dyion- darogon (or Tiononderoga), the principal Mohawk village or " Castle" (afterwards known as Fort Hunter), he was disappointed to find that
* Eccles. Records of N. Y. II. 1037. Dix, Hist. Trinity Ch. I. 73. A fuller account of Mr. Miller is given by the Rev. J. P. B. Pendleton, in Centenn. of Trinity Church, Utica, 1898.
t It is said that altar-plate and furniture for a chapel for the Onondagas was sent over by William III. in 1700. (Clark, Onondaga, I. 212, who refers to "Lon- don Documents," p. 139.) But I can find no authority for this statement, and presume that it is confounded with Queen Anne's gift of later date.
5
ENGLISH MISSIONS
the chiefs would not commit themselves to receiving him as their Min- ister until they had consulted the other Nations of the Confederacy. The truth was that they were all hesitating, then and for many years later, between the French and English as allies and protectors. Eventually the Mohawks, under the wise guidance of Sir William Johnson, became not only firm friends of England but devoted adher- ents of the Church, as they are at this day. Mr. Moor returned to Albany, and after a year of fruitless efforts to gain the confidence of the Iroquois, (in which he was greatly hindered by the covetousness of the Albany fur-traders,)* gave up his mission in despair. t
The visit of four Mohawk Sachems to England in 1709 ( " embassa- dors," they are called by the secretary of State)} awakened a new interest in Indian missions. The Society determined to send out two missionaries with a stipend of £150 each, and Queen Anne, on their application, directed the building of a Fort, chapel and house at the lower Mohawk castle. These were completed by Governor Hunter in 1712.§ The contract (of Oct. 11, 1711) describes Fort Hunter as one hundred and fifty feet square and twelve in height, of foot square logs ; at each corner a block house twenty-four feet square and two storeys high ; "also a Chaple in the Midle of the ffort of twenty- four foot square one Storye Ten foot high with a Garret Over it well Covered wth Boards & Singled & well flowrd A Seller of fifteen foot square under it Covered with Loggs and then with Earth The whole Chaple to be well flowrd." The Chapel was opened on the 5th of October, 1712, by the Rev. Thomas Bar- clay, the Society's Missionary at Albany (who had been directed to instruct the neighboring Indians, and had already received some
* See Peter Kalm's account (1749) of the cheating of the Indians by these men, and its effect on missions, in Munsell, Ann. Albany, I. 60.
t He served for several years in New York and New Jersey, and was lost at sea on returning to England in 1707. John Talbot (of Burlington) speaks of him as "a most pious and industrious missionary," whose loss can only be supplied by "a good Bishop." (Letter to Sec. S. P. G. 1708. Coll. P. E. H. S. I. 60.)
#Two of them noted afterwards as "King Hendrick" and Brant, the father of Joseph Brant, Thayendenagea.
§ Watson (Annals of New York, p. 66) says that Gov. Hunter himself gave largely to the building of the chapel ; that Albany contributed {200, and most of the inhabitants of Schenectady something. But the description of the chapel does not seem to agree with this account.
6
DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
fifty of them into the Church), one month before the arrival of the Rev. WILLIAM ANDREWS, appointed second Missionary to the Mohawks under a resolution " that the design of propagating the Gos- pel in foreign parts does chiefly and principally relate to the conver- sion of heathens and infidels." Towards its furnishing the Queen gave altar-plate and linen, the Archbishop of Canterbury twelve large Bibles and Tables with the Commandments, etc., and the Society " a Table of their seal finely painted in proper colours."* The Indians built a school-house, but objected to their children being taught Eng- lish because it gave them an opportunity of learning the vices of the traders. Mr. Andrews did his best, with the help of an interpreter, to instruct them in the outlines of Christian truth, and after a while obtained the assistance of a Dutch Minister in Schenectady, who had translated the English Matins and Evensong, and some parts of the Bible, into the Mohawk dialect. These were printed by the Society in New York.
The account of the Missionary's labours and trials, in Humphrey's " History of the Propagation Society," is full of pathos and interest, but far too long to be given here. The traders, the neighbouring Indians (Tuscaroras received by the Five Nations from North Caro- lina), and the French Jesuits, were united in opposition to the Church and to him, and after six years' trial he wrote the Society that his labours had proved ineffectual. That they bore some fruit, however, was evident by the better reception and following of his successors' teaching. Some, both men and women, were brought to lead " more orderly lives ; " and many of the children were well taught despite their parents' indifference or unwillingness. "Willing to try what good he could do among another Nation, he travelled to the Castle of the Oneydans, one hundred miles farther west," i. e., Oneida Castle ; thus bringing the Church's ministrations for the first time within the limits of the old Diocese of Western New York. " The country all
*Col. Doc. N. Y., V. 280. Digest of S. P. G., 70. The fort was enlarged before 1750, but abandoned at the Revolution. The Chapel was rebuilt of stone, and after the flight of the Mohawks under Brant, was used temporarily as a fort ; but seems to have been burned in Sir John Johnson's invasion of Schoharie in 1780. The ruins were taken down (to make room for the Erie Canal) in 1820, the glebe (of 300 acres) and parsonage sold, and the proceeds ($4,682) divided between the churches at Port Jackson (Amsterdam) and Johnstown. (Doc. Hist. N. Y. IV. 317; Stone's Brant, II. III ; Journ. Dioc. N. Y. 1836, p. 55.)
7
ENGLISH MISSIONS
the way was a vast wilderness of wood and the road through it a nar- row Indian path. He was forced to carry all necessaries with him, and at night to lie upon a bear's skin. When he arrived at the Castle, he was visited by more than one hundred people, who seemed all glad to see him ; he read several papers to them [in Mohawk, it may be presumed, that being a lingua franca among the Iroquois at that day], and after instruction, baptized several." Such was the first Mission- ary work of the Church of England in Western New York .*
* S. P. G. Digest, 71. Humphrey (reprint in Ch. Review, Jan. 1853), 618.
CHAPTER III
ENGLISH MISSIONS : OGILVIE AND STUART
HE Rev. John Milne, who succeeded Mr. Barclay a Albany in 1728, carried on Mr. Andrews's work among the Mohawks with some success for nine years. The Commanding officer at Fort Hunter in 1737 speaks very strongly of their improvement under him. They are " very much civilized " by their instruction in the Christian religion. "The number of communicants increases daily. They are as peremter in observing their rules as any society of Chris- tians. They are very observing of the Sabbath, convening by them- selves and singing Psalms on that day, and frequently applying to me that Mr. Milne may be oftener among them."*
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