USA > New York > Schenectady County > Schenectady > A history of St. George's church in the city of Schenectady, Volume I > Part 10
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Soon after Mr. Walter took charge of the parish, steps were taken to have the organ, which had been several times repaired, replaced by a larger and more pretentious one. A contract placed with Hooks of Boston called for the turning in of the organ then in the church and an additional payment of fifteen hundred dol- lars. In April of the next year the new organ was in place and
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ready for use. Later in the year the original bell, which had been cracked during the previous winter, was replaced by one weigh- ing five hundred and thirty-one pounds, purchased in Albany of Louis Aspinwall at a cost of $177.36.
Mr. Walter had won for himself a truly enviable position in the parish when in April, 1842, after three years of service, he found it imperative on account of ill health to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and tender his resignation as rector. This resigna- tion the vestry were forced to accept with the deepest regret and May 1, 1842, found St. George's again without a rector.
Two years later Mr. Walter accepted the charge of St. John's Church, Troy, New York. His connection with this church was, however, but short for he died on May 12, 1846, in the second year of his rectorship, and in the thirty-seventh year of his life.11
Notes.
Chapter XII.
I. From this time, as Dr. Nott advanced in age, the duties of the administration of Union College were more and more given over to Dr. Potter, and in 1838, he was formally elected vice-president. Dr. Potter remained in Schenectady until the year 1845, when he removed to Philadelphia to take up his duties as Bishop of Pennsyl- vania, to which office he had that year been elected.
2. The Society had asked permission of the vestry to erect a Sunday school build- ing on the north-west corner of the church yard, July 4, 1836.
3. In fact a memorial was drawn up and sent to the vestry of Trinity Church.
4. To form a cross.
5. To which the rector might retire during the service to change his vestments as occasion required.
6. Thomas C. Reed, for twenty-five years professor of Latin at Union College. He frequently substituted in the pulpit at St. George's.
7. He was twenty-nine years of age at this time. The ladies of the parish proposed to raise the amount necessary to meet the added expense of an assistant by holding a fair.
8. At a cost of two thousand dollars.
9. "Thirty Years Reviewed," Henry Codman Potter.
10. Baptized in St. George's Church, April 14, 1835. The fifth son of the Rev- erend Alonzo, and Sarah Maria Nott Potter. Bishop of the diocese of New York, 1883-1908.
II. A tablet is erected to his memory within the vestibule on the tower wall of St. John's Church.
[ 14] ]
Reverend . John Williams
Chapter XIII.
The Rectorships of the Reverend John Williams and the Reverend William Payne.
T HE vestry lost but little time in selecting a successor to the Reverend Mr. Walter, and on May 24, 1842, a call was extended to the Reverend John Williams, offering him the rectorship of St. George's Church at a salary of eight hundred dollars a year with the use of the rectory.
Mr. Williams, upon whom the choice of the vestry had fallen, was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, on August 30, 1817, and at the time of his call, was serving as assistant to the rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity at Middletown, Connecticut, in which church, subsequent to his graduation from Trinity College, he had been ordered deacon, September 2, 1838, and advanced to the priesthood three years later.
With expressions of appreciation of the honor conferred, Mr. Williams immediately accepted the proposal of the vestry, only begging to be permitted an absence of one or two Sundays that he might adjust his affairs in Middletown before entering upon his new duties.
Mr. Williams, in all probability, commenced his ministrations in Schenectady early in June, although the records indicate that it was not until July 29, that he was regularly and formally insti- tuted rector of St. George's.
Were we to base our opinion solely upon the minutes of the ves- try, we must, perforce, be drawn to the conclusion that the brief
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rectorship of Mr. Williams held but little of interest, for these records, although they detail the proceedings of the governing body, indicate no unusual parish activity during this period, and record little worthy of comment. It is, indeed, to be regretted that these minutes thus reflect to no degree the noteworthy success which really attended the ministrations of Mr. Williams, and that they suggest in no way the reason for his success,-the personality of the man himself.
Had he been somewhat older during the time of which he records his recollections of St. George's, Henry Codman Potter might have given us some delightful reminiscences, but unfortun- ately his only memory™ of the church and of its rector seems to have been the picture of Mr. Williams ministering to the congregation, which numbered him among a row of small boys, "unruly mem- bers," as it were, whose chief duty it was to sit still, and the fact that, although he blushed to confess it, he could recall naught of the rector's preaching.
It is fortunate that neither to the records of the vestry nor to the memory of Bishop Potter are we obliged to seek our basis for an estimate of the value of Mr. Williams' career at Schenec- tady, for among the regular attendants of St. George's Church there are still to be numbered those who remember well the handsome, dignified figure; the earnest words of counsel, always met with marked attention; and who still cherish as their fond- est memory the recollection of their association with Mr. Wil- liams, continuing active in many cases, for years after his removal from Schenectady.
The talents of Mr. Williams did not remain long hidden and soon calls to other positions were pressed upon him. One must have appealed strongly, for in April, 1846, Mr. Williams presented
ONE OF THE MANY WHO HOLD IN HIGHEST HONOUR AND TRUEST LOVE THE NAME OF JOHN WILLIAMS
SETS BERE THIS MEMORIAL OF HIS RARE AND NOBLE LIFE AS RECTOR OF THIS OLD PARISH FOR SIX YEARS
AND OF HIS HIGH AND. HONOURABLE RECORD AFTER THAT AS BISHOP; FOR FORTY-EIGHT YEARS OF THE OLD DIOCESE OF CONNECTICUT. AND FOR TWELVE YEARS, PRESIDING BISHOP OF THIS CHURCHI.
Bishop Williams, Memorial. Jablet. Erected in St. George's Church in July. 1910 through the generosity of the late J. Pierpont Morgan
ـة
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to the vestry the resignation of his rectorship to take effect on the first of June. The proffered resignation the vestry deemed it inex- pedient to accept and when resolutions had been passed setting forth the united affection and ardent attachment of the congrega- tion for their rector, the deep regrets manifested at the proposed withdrawal and the dangers that would result from it, Mr. Williams, after earnest solicitation, with much feeling and to the great joy of all, finally consented to withdraw his resignation.
Mr. Williams continued to increase in popularity at home and in influence abroad. Union College, in 1847, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and during the next year he was offered the presidency of Trinity College, a call too flattering to be set aside, particularly as ill health now seemed to indicate the ne- cessity of a change, and in August, therefore, Mr. Williams again placed his resignation before the vestry.
Although the vestry contemplated with the deepest regret the separation that was about to take place, they felt it plainly their duty to acquiesce in the loss, and to yield him cheerfully for the accomplishment of the important duties to which he had been called, and, therefore, with every wish for future success in his more extended field of usefulness, Dr. Williams was finally bade farewell.
Dr. Williams would, undoubtedly, have been content to pass the rest of his days within the walls of the college, for he loved books and study2 and preferred the lecture-room to society, but other duties soon marked the path of future service, and in 1851 he was consecrated bishop coadjutor of Connecticut, becoming bishop on the death of Dr. Brownell3 and presiding bishop on the death4 of Dr. Lee.
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St. George's Church.
The good friends that Dr. Williams left behind when he bade farewell to St. George's were not disappointed in their hopes that he would occasionally return to them, for the memories of the happy years spent here were always present and often did Dr. Williams seek opportunity to renew the friendships then formed and to minister again in the church he loved so well and in whose shade it ever was his fondest hopes that he might sleep his last sleep.
Among those connected with the college to which Dr. Williams went as president, the vestry of St. George's sought his successor, and on August 21, 1848, a call was extended to the Reverend William Payne, the letter of the vestry being delivered to Mr. Payne by Dr. Williams himself. The acceptance of the proposal was immediate and within a week's time Mr. Payne had entered upon his duties as rector of the parish.
Three years after Mr. Payne began his ministrations, there as- sumed definite form a plan that had been in the minds of many for years, and, during the fall of 185 1, the building standing on the former Peek property was removed and the construction com- menced of a brick building, forty-five feet in length, of correspond- ing width and height, to be used upon completion as a parish house and quarters for the Sunday school.
Three years after the completion of the parish house6 there was called to the attention of the vestry the expediency and necessity of replacing the parsonage by a building better suited to the re- quirements of the rector and more in keeping with the church and parish house. Although the proposal was deemed entirely in order, the matter was permitted to lapse, and it was not until the fall of 1857, that a new building was erected.7
Reverend Milliam Payne
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St. George's Church.
By 1858, the congregation of St. George's Church had outgrown the accommodations of the church, no pews were to be had and none had been available for some time past; in fact, single seats could be furnished visitors on rare occasions only. The necessity of enlarging the building had become imperative, and in the real- ization of this necessity the vestry, with admirable judgment, as it afterwards proved, engaged Mr. Edward Tuckerman Potter of New York to submit plans for the work. Mr. Potter was the son of Dr. Alonzo Potter, an architect well established in his pro- fession, and the fact that he was "a child8 of the parish," insured his keenest interest in the plans for reconstruction.
The proposals submitted by Mr. Potter were accepted by the vestry on February 16, 1859 and on November9 13, of the same year, the remodeled church was re-opened for worship.
This was, indeed, a proud day for St. George's, for while the original church was nearly a century old, it had never been for- mally set apart for the worship of God and the re-opening, offering a not to be neglected opportunity, was eagerly seized upon by Dr. Horatio Potter, Provisional Bishop of New York, for the proper consecration of the building. From Connecticut came Bishop Williams and the impressiveness of the full consecration service to which were added his inspiring words and his hearty congratula- tions, "all warmed by the love he retained for those of whom he was once himself the Pastor," made a powerful impression and one not soon to be forgotten by those whose privilege it was to attend.
The completed church was universally admired and approved for it had been the aim of Mr. Potter to retain all that had contrib- uted to the charm of the original building, and in this aim he had fully succeeded.
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There had been many reasons why the church could not any- where be added to so well as at the east end, and in the enlarging, therefore, the whole east wall was removed except at the angles, where it was left intact because of the "ill appearance" which the joining of the new and old walls would otherwise have given. The north and south walls of the extension were kept eighteen inches within the lines of the north and south walls of the old transepts. The new walls were carried out twenty-seven feet so as to give two rows of new pews in each new transept, and the east walls of the new transepts were erected to form an angle with the chancel, which being of the same width as the original church completed the form of the cross. The roof was slated and crowned directly over the al- tar by the cross of St. George. In the interior of the church the arched ceiling of the nave was carried forward and finished in a semi-dome over the altar which was placed some distance out from the back wall so as to be plainly visible from all parts of the church. The chancel rail was erected to completely encircle the altar, passing behind, and connecting the columns which stood in a semi- circle about it as a support to the ceiling. Behind the columns the gallery was carried around the church, and the space under it, within the chancel, was partitioned off for robing rooms. Besides the usual furniture the chancel was fitted with sedilia for three clergymen, and a recessed credence. All the mouldings used and other details were faithfully copied from the oldest part of the church. Care was taken in the admission of light and, as now, there were no windows in the east wall facing the congregation, the chancel and transepts being lighted from the sides. On the east wall, above the galleries, it had originally been intended to erect the gravestones and monuments that had been displaced by the
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--
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Interiorof It. Large's Church as remodeled in 1859
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enlarging of the building, but this part of the design was not car- ried out.
In making his plans for alteration Mr. Potter had been gov- erned by an order for economy and in his aim to comply with this requirement he had also succeeded, for when all accounts had been presented it was found that the total cost of the completed building, giving somewhat over fifty pews, or accommodations for nearly three hundred persons, had not exceeded three thousand dollars.
During the year 1865, a plan1º to institute a mission in connec- tion with St. George's assumed definite form in the establishment, by Dr. Payne,11 of a Sunday school on State Street, between Jay and White Streets, and as an outgrowth of this school, there was or- ganized, two years later, the parish of Christ Church.
In May, 1870, the promise of a set of chimes led to plans for replacing the wooden tower by one of stone suited to receive the bells. By February, 1871, at a cost of approximately $5600, the work had been completed and the tower and vestibule erected as they stand today, but although every requirement that had gov- erned the promise had been met, the chimes were, for some un- recorded reason, not forthcoming, and the former bell was of ne- cessity substituted in their place.
Five years after12 the re-building of the tower, the north vestry room was extended north as far as the main body of the church to receive the present organ, which was substituted for the one that had stood in the west gallery.
The year 1879 found the parish in debt $3700, and to pro- vide means of meeting this obligation the vestry decided to seek contributions. The subscription list indicates that in their efforts they were entirely successful and the list is of unusual interest for
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at its head stands the name of the rector, pledging $ 300, an amount equalled by but one other subscriber.
The summer of 1882 witnessed further alterations and addi- tions to the church. Through the generosity of General William K. Fuller, funds were provided13 for moving the east wall some ten feet to the east and for the building of a chancel and robing room, following designs submitted by Professor Charles Babcock, of Cornell University. The time seemed opportune for the under- taking, also, of other plans that had been under consideration, but although these plans were carefully discussed,14 but one suggestion was finally carried out,-the removal of the galleries.
"To my eyes," wrote15 Dr. Payne in commenting upon the completed work, "one of its chiefest merits is, that there has been so little destruction, (and) chiefly a restoration. The galleries were comparatively modern, and in removing them we have only gone back to the original arrangement; and now, after occupying va- rious positions and assuming various forms through the years, the altar16 stands where it was first placed, and where it should always be,-against the east wall."
For more than a year previous to September, 1884, Dr. Payne had been in poor health. His condition had been greatly aggravat- ed during February by the sudden death of his one remaining son,17 and for some time he had been doing his best to supplement his efforts in the parish by obtaining supplies for the pulpit. Feeling, however, unable to carry on longer his duties, he determined to re- linquish his post, and on September 29, 1884, after 36 years of service, he tendered his resignation to the vestry. "I need not and I cannot express my emotions," he wrote, in addressing them, "at thus sundering the tie which has so long and so pleasantly existed between us. God only knows the pain it costs me. The record of
Exterior of St. George's Church Showing the wooden tower removed in 1870 the former parish house and former rectory
a.s vernadeled in 1882 Interior of St. George's Church
--..
-....
.
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the parish which I hand over to you will show somewhat the amount of work which with God's aid I have done-1,360 bap- tisms, 987 burials, 435 marriages. There have also been 538 con- firmed and the number of registered communicants which was only seventy when I took the parish is now over two hundred and this notwithstanding the drain which was made upon us by the new parish which I organized in 1867. I might also point to the improvements in the parish property, which with your coopera- tion and help have from time to time been made; the erection of a new rectory; the building and subsequent enlargement of the Sunday school house; the extension and more convenient arrange- ments of the interior of the church at two different times, and the change of the church tower from wood to stone. There are other unwritten and unseen results to be found in the hearts and lives of men but which are known only to Him who seeth in secret and rewardeth openly. My dead I leave in the holy keeping of God beneath the shadow of the old church, where also I hope18 in God's appointed time to be laid to my rest."
With what sorrow and reluctance the resignation of Dr. Payne was accepted is well known to many. He had spent the greater part of his life in connection with St. George's and had given freely of his time and money to the welfare of the parish. Now in the evening of his life he was about to go forth, not knowing what would befall. Truly there was justice in the resolution19 of the ves- try granting him, in consideration of his long and meritorious service, the sum of $500 a year, "as long as the church was able to pay it," and bestowing upon him the honorary title of Rector Emeritus of St. George's Parish.
Notes.
Chapter XIII.
I. "Reminiscences of Bishops and Archbishops," Henry Codman Potter, p. 32.
2. From the rectory of St. George's he issued, in 1844, under the title, "Ancient Hymns of Holy Church," the first of the many volumes that bear his name.
3. Vide Chapter XI, p. 123. He died at Hartford, Connecticut, January 13, 1865.
4. April 12, 1887.
5. So expressed in the poem of which the first four verses precede this volume. His wish, however, was not to be fulfilled for he lies at rest in the cemetery on the outskirts of the City of Middletown, Connecticut.
6. The building was enlarged and extended during the year 1877.
7. At a cost of $3560.
8. He was baptized in St. George's Church, August 14, 1832.
9. Preliminary work was started on July 29, and the last service was held in the old church on August 7.
10. The plan had been under advisement in April, 1864, when it was believed that Abagail Vought would convey to the vestry a certain lot on Lafayette Street, for the purpose of erecting a chapel or school.
II. He was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Hobart College in 1859.
12. At this time the eagle lectern now used was presented to the church "by two ladies who wished their names withheld."
13. As a memorial to his sister, Elizabeth.
14. Particularly that of re-arranging the pews so as to create a center aisle.
15. " An Historical Sermon," Reverend William Payne, D.D., p. 14.
16. The altar had been presented to the church during the year 1877, by the fam- ily of the late Richard Franchot.
17. The Reverend John W. Payne, who died in Rome, Italy, after about one month's service as rector of the English chapel.
18. His hope was realized for he was laid at rest in the church yard, of St. George's, March 22, 1891.
19. The parishioners petitioned the vestry to grant him the use of the rectory so long as he lived but the proposal was voted upon in the negative as being unfair to his successor.
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S
Chapter XIV.
Later Days.
ATE in December, 1884, the vestry selected as a successor to Dr. Payne, the Reverend John Philip Bausman Pen- dleton, who was then serving as rector of St. Luke's Church, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Mr. Pendleton at once accept- ed the call and commenced his ministrations in St. George's on January 11, 1885.
Mr. Pendleton had been called to the attention of the vestry by reports of his success in Scranton, particularly along the line of social and guild activities in connection with his parish, and in their hope that this success would be continued in his new home the vestry were not disappointed, for to Mr. Pendleton may be credited the inception1 of St. Mary's Guild, an organiza- tion whose accomplishments from that day to this are justly a matter of pride.
To Dr. Pendleton2 may be credited also the equipping3 of the church with steam heat, the creation4 of the choir and the slight remodeling of the chancel to properly accommodate its members. Save for these minor changes, however, little was done in Dr. Pendleton's time toward improving the physical condition of the church property; in fact, it was with some difficulty that essential repairs were made to the buildings, for with inadequate pew re- ceipts and small collections the yearly deficits that had marked the last years of Dr. Payne's rectorship hung like a cloud over the af- fairs of the parish.
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St. George's Church.
But to comment alone on the material side of Dr. Pendleton's ministry would be to draw a picture quite out of focus. His sin- cere devotion to the parish and to the Church at large, his untir- ing energy in his work, his kind, genial manner and his ever- ready willingness to aid and advise the less fortunate of his parish- ioners, are all matters of record. In the benevolent and philan- thropic enterprises of the community he took a deep interest, and his name may be found enrolled as one of the founders of the Hospital Association of the City of Schenectady, and as one of its managers until the time of his death.
Dr. Pendleton had served nearly twenty years as rector of St. George's, when on November 15, 1904, to the great sorrow of all, his connection was suddenly severed by death.
For a time St. George's remained without a rector, although in February, 1905, a call was extended to the Reverend Dr. William H. Pott, of Wappinger's Falls, New York, which call, for some un- recorded reason, was declined. In March, however, with the unani- mous approval of all, the vestry extended an offer of the rector- ship of the church to the Reverend B. W. Rogers Tayler, who was then ministering in the Church of the Good Shepherd at Cleve- land, Ohio. Mr. Tayler came to Schenectady on April 4, accepted the call at once, and on the next day held his first services in St. George's.
The new rector lost little time in laying plans for the future of his parish and, after devoting two months to an exhaustive study of parochial conditions, he placed before the vestry his conclusions as a basis for discussion and for possible action. As auxiliaries to the future spiritual work of the parish, Dr. Tayler's6 recommendations briefly were: the restoration7 of the church; the erection of a suit-
Reverend J. Philip B. Pendleton
Reverend B.M. Rogers Taylor.
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able and commodious parish house; the strengthening and build- ing up of the Sunday school; and the re-organization of the choir.
The suggestions of the rector met with instant approval and the minutes of the vestry under date of July 27, record fourteen rec- ommendations voted on in the affirmative with every indication of keen rivalry among the members of the governing body for the privilege of making and seconding the motions.
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