USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 1 > Part 11
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"That Mr. James Evets take care to Speak for Timber for the second floore of the Steeple," while " the Church wardens take care for Scaf- fold Poles," and "noe Carmen shall after notice given Digg or carry away any ground or Earth from behind the English Church & burying ground."
August 16. A meeting was held, thirteen persons be- ing present, when "new subscriptions for the carrying on of Trinity Church " were reported.
It was ordered
"That Capt. Tothill & Mr. Crooke doe take care to get a Kill of Stone Lime & thirty Carte Loade of Oyster Shell Lime with all expedition,"
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History of Trinity Church
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while " Capt. Wm. Morris, Mayor, Mr. Burroughs & Mr. Ludlow do goe about with the List to get what new subscriptions they can for the better carrying on of the Steeple for the week ensuing, & also to col- lect what subscriptions they can that are in arrears."
The Records give, in detail, though monotonously, the proceedings in the work of building the church ; orders for the purchase of materials, acknowledgments of contri- butions and subscriptions, reports of overseers. It does not appear that any supervising architect was employed. Every Monday, at 5 P.M., the Church Wardens and Ves- trymen met to pay the workmen, thus anticipating the recent movement in favor of Monday as pay day.
September 6. The following vote was passed :
"That there be a petition drawn for the money that was Collected for the Slaves in Sally & in case that it was not dispos'd of for that use then to be dispos'd for other Pious uses, as his Excellency & Council should think fitt." 1
October 25. Ordered
" That Mr. David Jamison & Mr. Tho : Clarke do with all Convenient Expedition cause his Excellency's Armes to be engraved in stone with an Inscription to be placed under neath them, and the same when fin- ish'd to be plac'd over the South dore on the outside of Trinity Church & that the charge thereof be defray'd out of the Public Stock." ?
" The Board were also informed that Nich : Feilding a person re- puted of honest behaviour & Conversation has offered his services to be Sexton of Trinity Church & that till the Corporation of the Church be formally Establish'd & a Sallary allow'd for that service, he will serve by the order of this board Gratis. It is therefore ordered & he is hereby appointed Sexton of the Said Church." 3
' The slaves in Sallee, Tunis, and Algiers were English merchants and sailors captured by Turkish pirates. Their sufferings excited the deepest sympathy. Queen Elizabeth took an active part in the matter, and Archbishop Whitgift, in 1596, urged that a collection be taken " in every diocese of the better sort of the people, for the delivery of their poor countrymen now in Slavery under the Turk." Anderson's Church of England in the Colonies, i., 88.
9 Records, i., 9.
8 Ibid., i., II.
.
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The Building of the Old Church
1698]
At this period it would appear that loose ways pre- vailed in respect to burials, and that some persons were inclined, in the absence of regulations, to invade the church grounds at their pleasure. Accordingly it was voted at this session,
"That after the Expiration of four weeks from the date hereof no negros be burried within the bounds & Limitts of the Church yard of Trinity Church, that is to say, in the rear of the present burying place, & that no person or negro whatsoever, do presume after the term above Limitted to break up any grounds for the burying of his Negro, as they will answer at their perill & that this order be forthwith published." 1
November I. The whales 2 having proved somewhat remiss in coming on shore and the weekly orders to the Committee to " use their endeavors to gett what Contri- butions & Subscriptions they can gett," not having the desired effect, while at the same time there was "a neces- sity of paying the Labourers of the Church," and "the money in banke " not being sufficient "to do the same," Captain Wendham volunteered a loan of "Ten pounds for the said service, wch was paid to Capt. Wilson," who, in turn, was to account "for the same." Thus the clerk was able to make the record : "all said Labourers that did come for their money were accordingly paid."
January 17, 1698. The minutes contain the following record : "Present the Reverend Mr. William Vessey
1 Records, i., II.
" The whale, however, was by no means an abstraction. The Boston News Letter of February 24, 1707, says that "Last week a whale about 40 feet long was struck a few miles to the eastward of this city [New York], and afterwards passed thro' the harbour, and was killed in Hudson River and brought down hither, where she is exposed to view." While in September, 1766, " five men and two boys, being out a fishing, discovered a whale swimming about, near Coney Island, on which soon after it ran ashore, and before it could get off they came up and killed it with a rusty sword that happened to be on board the vessel." De Voe's Market Book, vol. i., 112, 113. In 1773 whales were seen in the North and East Rivers. In 1857 a forty-eight- feet whale was taken at Sandy Hook. 8
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Rector." This is the earliest mention of Mr. Vesey's name thus far found in any of the Records.
Jany. 17, 1698. "The board having considered the necessity there is for a Clerk to execute that office for the service of the Congregation of Trinity Church, & being Sensible of the good Services Mr. William Huddleston hath done in that office for some years & his readiness still to officiate in that office have nominated & appoint'd the said William Huddleston Clerk of the said Church for the year ensuing to Com- mence from the 11th day of this instant month of January, and that for his encouragmt for the due execucon of the said office he have a Sallary of twenty pounds currant money of New York and that the same be paid quarterly." 1
January 31. Mr. Vesey's name appears in the Records for the second time ; and the Board proceeded to deal with matters relating to the unfinished church edifice. The first entry is as follows :
"His Excellency, Benjamin Fletcher, Capt .- General and Governor in Chief of this Province being the founder & chief promoter of Trinity Church, & being desirous at his charge to erect a private Pew for the use of his Family, &c., this Board having a due Sense of all his Excels favors have ordered that Mr. James Evets do lay out the ground for the same in the east part of the Church next to the Chancell, to remain forever to the aforesaid use or uses of others, as his Excel shall think to direct."
By the next entry it is ordered " That Trinity Church be cleared to-morrow, Divine service to be read therein the next Sunday. Mr. Jeremiah Tothill having accepted to oversee the performance thereof, this board promising to refund him in the expence thereof."? The windows and doors were still unfinished, and the church was not opened till March. On the 7th day of that month an order appears, " that Capt. Tho: Clarke, Mr. Wm. Hud- dleston, and Mr. John Crooke do take care that the Church be cleared and put in the best posture they can order that
1 Records, i., 14. For lists of Wardens, Vestrymen, Clerks, and Sextons, see Ap- pendix.
' Ibid., i., 15.
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The Opening Services
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Divine Service and the Communion be there administered the next Sabbath day."1 On Sunday, March 13, 1698, Trinity Church was occupied for the first time.
The particulars of the opening services are wanting. Considering the condition of the building, however, the arrangements must have been of a simple character. The papers recorded at the time by request of Mr. Vesey at- test the transaction, the paper of the Bishop of London being supplemented by the Governor's declaration, which says :
"these are to certifie unto all to whom these presents shall come or may concern, that on Sunday, the 13th of March instant, at the first opening of Trinity Church in New Yorke, after ye reading the Morn- ing and Evening Service, Mr. William Vesey did declare before his Congregation his unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained in and by the book Entituled the book of Common prayer, and administration of the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England, together with the Salter or psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches in the form and manner of making, consecrateing, and ordaining and consecrateing of bishops, priests and Deacons, and in the Time of divine Service did read a certificate from the Rt. Rev- erend father in God Henry Lord Bishop of London that he had sub- scribed the acknowledgement or Declaration according to the act of uniformity."ª
March 26th. Ordered
" That the gallery design'd to be built on ye South side of Trinity Church at ye charge of ye Governmt for ye use of ye Govr & Council of this province have a part added to it at ye charge of this Corpora- tion to run towards the West end of ye Church & those persons that will trespass therein do in proportion pay the charge thereof." 3
We also find it reported that
" his Excel has given a Bible and some other Books to this Corpora- tion for ye use of Trinity Church."
1 Records, i., IS.
? Record of Wills, Surrogate's Office, No. 2, 1682 to 1692, pp. 100-204.
3 Records, i., 21.
لطعاهه
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The youthful rector's entrance upon his important du- ties was signalized by his marriage, as appears from the existence of a ".Lycense granted to Mr. William Vesey of the one party and Mrs. Mary Reede of the other party, the first of March, 1697-8."1 The story that the lady appeared in Trinity Church as a bride the first time it was opened for public worship appears to be based on a doubtful tradition.2 Mrs. Vesey survived her husband, and subsequently married Judge Daniel Horsmanden. By her will of 1763, she left two houses in King Street, worth {1485, to her brother, Joseph Reade. She may have been the daughter of Lawrence Reade, one of the first Vestrymen of the parish ; but no will by Lawrence is found in the Surrogate's Office. (See the will of Mary [Vesey] Horsmanden, liber xxiv., 240-42.)
April 11. Mr. Huddlestone, "by reason of great business that call'd him abroad," being obliged to resign the office of Clerk, it was "ordered that Mr. Nath. Mars- ton be Clarke of Trinity Church during his well behaviour in ye said office, & that he have a Salary of Twenty pounds per Ann."3
April 25. Order was taken for the presentation of an address to Governor Fletcher on his resignation of the office which he had so long held, to the great advantage of the Church and the people.
On "Tuesday ye 26th day of Aprill, 1698," there occurred the first election of parish officers by the peo- ple ; for,
" Pursuant to the directions of the Charter for Incorporating the In- habitants of this City in Communion of the Church of England as by Law establisht the Inhabitants of Said City in Communion as afore- said did this day Convene together in Trinity Church according to
1 Record of Wills, No. 5274.
9 See Dr. Geo. H. Moore, Hist. Mag., July, 1867, p. 15.
3 Records, i., 22.
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The First Vestry
1698]
public notice & did then elect & Choose the persons hereinafter named to serve in the respective offices of Church wardens & Vestry- men of Trinity Church for the year ensuing." 1
1 " Thomas Wenham, Thomas Clarke, Church Wardens, William Merret, Esq., Col. Caleb Heathchote [sic] Wm. Morris, Eben: Wilson, Jame Emmet, Robt. Lurting Mich : Hawdon, John Crooke, Wm. Shorpas, Jerem : Tothill, William Hud- dleston, Jame Evets Tho : Burroughs, David Jamison, Math : Clarksons Wm. Nicoll, Esq., Wm. Anderson, Rich : Willet, Robert Walters Giles Gaudineau."-Records, i., 24.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR BELLOMONT.
Sketch of Bellomont's Personal History-His Sympathy with the Leislerians-Dis- solves Fletcher's Assembly, and Attacks the Church-Strongly Opposed to Mr. Vesey -Tries to Obtain Possession of the King's Farm-Progress of Work on Trinity Church-Death of Bellomont, March 5, 1701-Confusion and Disorder in New York -Revival of Leislerianism-Assault on Colonel Bayard and Other Churchmen- The Infamous Atwood-Narrow Escape of Bayard from Execution-Saved by the Arrival of Lord Cornbury-Atwood's Aspersions on Mr. Vesey-Letter of Vesey to the Governor of Virginia, Reviewing the State of Affairs.
W E have reached a point at which the fortunes of the Church in New York underwent a serious and unpleasant change. Governor Fletcher having departed, a new Governor appeared in the person of Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont. Appointed March 16, 1697,1 he was not commissioned until June 18th following, while his in- structions bore date August 31st. This man was of Irish descent, the grandson of Sir Charles Coote, a soldier of fortune, and son of the Baron of Coloony, whom he suc- ceeded in 1683. After the accession of James II. he went to the Continent and espoused the cause of the Prince of Orange. Returning in 1688, he became a member of Parliament, and was advanced by William to
! " My Lords : the King has been pleased to appoint the Earle of Bellomont to be Governor of the Provinces of New Yorke, Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire and to be Captaine Generall during the War of all his Majesty's forces both there and in Connecticutt, Rhode Island and the Jerseys ; which I signifie to your Lordships by His Majesty's directions that you may give orders to have his severall commissions and instructions prepared accordingly. I am my Lords, Your Lordships most humble servt Shrewsbury. Whitehall, 16th March 1696-7. To the Lords of the Council of Trade and Plantations."-N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 261-2.
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The Earl of Bellomont
1697-1702]
the dignity of Earl of Bellomont. In the House of Lords he was a member of the committee to inquire into the case of Leisler and Milburne and strongly expressed the opinion that they were "barbarously murdered." He came to New York, therefore, in avowed sympathy with the faction who represented the ideas and were identified with the acts of Leisler, and looked to him to reverse the political machinery of the province and undo what had been done. A man of narrow mind and strong prejudices, he was predestined to no end of trouble in his govern- ment; nor was it long before the Churchmen of the prov- ince realized the nature of the change in their position. As a seaman might have expressed it, the wind had now come out dead ahead and was kicking up an ugly sea.
Bellomont did not at first disclose his policy with refer- ence to the Church ; he was received by the Corporation of Trinity in a most respectful and honorable manner. Upon arriving in New York, however, he set to with a high hand. His first act was to dissolve Governor Fletch- er's Assembly, and call a new one. He proceeded to make many charges against his predecessor, including those of dishonesty, oppression, and collusion with pirates, who then, as under the Dutch regime, made New York their rendezvous. Men who do their duty fearlessly like Fletcher cannot escape aspersion ; but Bellomont's pro- ceedings were so violent that he showed himself deserv- ing of the hostility which he subsequently encountered. Every charge that he brought against Fletcher was in due time directed against himself, including that of being con- cerned in the affairs of Captain Kidd.1 As for his atti-
1 The N. Y. Col. Docs. contain masses of papers relating to Fletcher, and they may be found by reference to his name in the General Index. The papers relating to Bellomont are equally numerous and may be found indexed in the same volume, pp. 67-70. See also Mr. Frederick de Peyster's Monograph on The Life and Ad- ministration of Richard, Earl of Bellomont, New York, 1879. The portrait bears
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tude towards the Church, it was that of a pronounced latitudinarian. Apparently displeased at the kindly rela- tions between the English and the Dutch, the leading bodies in the place, he seemed desirous of abolishing all denominational distinctions, and, to that end, of undoing all that had been done thus far to give the Church of England a proper settlement and her legal position in the place. His language is violent ; for instance, on the 22d of June, 1698, he writes thus :
"The late Governor made advantage to divide the people by sup- posing a Dutch and English interest to be different here, and therefore under the notion of a Church of England, to be put in opposition to the Dutch and French Churches established here, he supported a few rascally English who are a scandall to their nation and the Protestant Religion and here opposers to the Protestant Religion, and who joyned with him in the worst methods of gaine and severely used the Dutch, except some few Merchants whose trade he favored."
This was a rather strong beginning, but the quotation is characteristic of his administration.
Bellomont says further, April 27, 1699 :
" I discourage all I can these distinctions of Dutch and English which is set on foot by the factious people of this town, and I tell 'em those only are to be acknowledg'd Englishmen that live in obedience to the laws of England." 1
By this time the parish were persuaded that in Bellomont they had found an enemy instead of a friend. 2
The next month he writes again, evidently under the influence of the Leisler party, and thus continues his screed :
"I am sorry to say it, but 't is an undoubted truth, the English here are soe profligate that I cannot find a man fit to be trusted, that 's capable of businesse. The clerk of the Councill that I was forced to put
no proof of authenticity. The work, however, is very interesting, as an instance of the permanence of family traditions, for Mr. de Peyster was a lineal descendant of the de Peyster of Bellomont's time.
1 N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 508 $ Ibid., iv., 325.
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Bellomont's Hostility
1702]
in Jamison's place is a very sottish fellow, and I fear almost as ill a man as his predecessor, but being bred a Clerk in Chancery in England, he writes indifferently well and is quick in businesse ; but I doubt fled from England not for being honest. I was obliged to employ one Lud- low a merchant to be Clerk of the Assembly this Session, one that was lately convict of cliping and coining in this towne. I think proper to acquaint your Lordships of this circumstance, that you may see how impossible a thing it is to make a right choyce of men in this place and what sort of men I have to doe with."
He adds an equally severe paragraph on the Dutch, saying, " Those that are honest of the Dutch, being formerly kept out of im- ployment and businesse are very ignorant, and can neither speak nor write proper English." 1
We must remember the strong bias under which he wrote, and his very limited opportunities of becoming acquainted with the character of the people.
It may be here remarked that for more than an entire generation the English and Dutch mingled together, and that there were few opportunities for training the people in the principles and ways of the Church. The process of differentiation began with Vesey and Fletcher, and could hardly be appreciated by such a man as Bellomont, who was an indifferent Churchman, and ready to give nearly equal encouragement to the Church and Dissent. He reminds us of those of our own time, who are strong advo- cates of Christian union, provided always that it be ef- fected at the expense of the faith and institutions of the Church.
The hostility of Bellomont to the Church took the form of an attack on the charter. Attempts having been made to dispute its validity, there was great anxiety to discover defects, if they existed, and to remedy them. At a meeting of the Vestry held June 8, 1698, this subject was considered, and a sub-committee was appointed to
1 N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 520.
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take whatever steps might be deemed necessary to have the privileges and powers of the Corporation confirmed by Act of Assembly.1 There was cause for the uneasiness felt by Churchmen on this subject. Complaints against the proceedings of Governor Fletcher in the form of a long communication to the Lords of Trade, and dated January 9, 1698, had been sent to England, signed by T. Weaver, Agent for the Province of New York, and among them were matters involving the interests of the Church .? A response was received from the King, as follows :
"To our Right Trusty and Well Beloved Cousin, Richard, Earl of Bellomont, our Captain General and Govr .- in-Chief of our Province of New York in America.
" William R.
" Right Trusty and Right Well Beloved Cousin, We Greet you well.
"Whereas, we are informed that ye Inhabitants of our Town of New York, in that our Colony, having at their Great Expense and Charge Erected and built a Church there, for performing Divine Service according to ye usage of ye Church of England, and that they are under apprehensions of being dispossest and deprived thereof, upon a pretence of a Flaw in their Grant or Charter, whereby they hold their said Church : We have thought fit hereby to Signify unto you, and Accordingly our will and Pleasure is, That in case any Suit be already commenced, or shall hereafter be commenced against their said Charter, to ye prejudice of their said Church, or any of ye Rights or Revenues thereunto belonging, that you do not proceed definitively thereupon, until their said Charter, or an Authentic Copy thereof, together with ye whole state of ye matter be first transmitted hither, and laid before us in our Councill, And Our further Pleasure be thereupon signified unto You. And so we bid You heartily farewell.
" Given at Our Court at Hampton Court ye 27th day of January, 1700, in the Twelfth Year of our Reign.
" By His Maties Command, " C. HEDGES."
1 Records, i., 20.
' N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 456-466.
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Bellomont's Dislike of Vesey
1702]
Time was thus given to the Church to take proceed- ings for the protection of her rights, and the designs of her enemies were balked, though days of great trial were now near at hand.
The bad humor of the Earl appears to have increased through this rebuff ; clearly he was in full sympathy with those engaged in the effort to break up the Church. Not content with general assaults upon her chartered rights, he manifested a particularly strong feeling against Mr. Vesey.
His intense dislike for the rector, whom he stigma- tized as " a Jacobite," led him to absent himself from the Church, to the great satisfaction of the radicals and Dis- senters. In the spring of 1699 he visited Boston, and attended service there in King's Chapel, but he also affected the Thursday lecture of the Congregationalists, and even joined with them in receiving their commun- ion. To judge of this person's temper and conduct one should be familiar with his letters and correspondence. Thus, for example, he wrote from Boston in this violent strain against Mr. Vesey, whom he wished the Lords of Trade to displace :
"My Lieutenant Governor writes me that Vesey has left me out of his prayers, as Governour, and prays for Dellius by name, both in the Common Prayer and afterwards in the pulpit, desiring God to give him a prosperous voyage, to deliver him from the violence of his enemies and send him safe back again to his flock. This is such an insolence as I must desire your Lordships will please join with me to have this man deprived, for it cannot be thought that I will ever go to Church while that fellow continues Minister there." 1
He then goes on to inveigh at both Mr. Vesey and his father. He wrote in a similar vein to the Bishop of London.2
1 N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 534. 2 Ibid., iv., 580.
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It has been observed1 that Governor Fletcher gave a lease of the King's Farm to the Church in 1697. Lord Bellomont appears to have been very much irritated at this, and left no stone unturned to deprive the Church of that privilege. He went so far as to get the Colonial Legislature to pass an Act, in 1699, vacating the grant, and providing that no future Governor should give a lease of the said farm for any longer period than his own term of office. The Act so far as it annulled the lease to Trinity Church was strongly opposed, and was carried only by Bellomont's casting vote. In justification of his course he makes the frivolous pretext that he needed the farm for a pasturage for a horse and cow of his own. On the subject of his animals he becomes exceedingly wrath- ful, and thus expresses himself :
"He [Fletcher] has granted away and held all the conveniences of a Gov' here (vizt : ) a Farm call'd the King's Farme he has given to the Church here, but 't is observable, his devotion did not carry him to do it till he heard I was certainly to superseed him ; part of that Farm, which is meadow ground and a scarce thing here, he sold to Capt" Evans, Commander of the Richmond Frigatt, a character of whom I have sent home by Mr. Weaver, in several depositions of his misbehaviour here ; part of the King's Garden too he has granted and sold to one Heathcote a Mercht. so that I am to be robbed of my conveniencys that is of a place where to keep a horse or cow for the use of my Family ; I shall think Fletcher has the best luck with his insolence and corruption that ever any Gov' had." ?
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