A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 1, Part 12

Author: Dix, Morgan, 1827-1908, ed. cn; Dix, John Adams, 1880-1945, comp; Lewis, Leicester Crosby, 1887-1949, ed; Bridgeman, Charles Thorley, 1893-1967, comp; Morehouse, Clifford P., ed
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: New York, Putnam
Number of Pages: 1084


USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 1 > Part 12


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44


The Wardens and Vestry wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury on the subject of this raid on their property, under date of May 22, 1699. After paying a warm tribute to Governor Fletcher as "the principal promoter " of the Church, the growth and increase of which was much ad- vanced by Mr. Vesey, "who by his good parts and bear- ing, exemplary life, and inoffensive Conversation gives a


1 N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 327, 434 et al. ? Ibid., iv. 327.


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Appeal of the Vestry to the Archbishop


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reputation to his function, and has brought many into the bosom of the Church," they proceed to speak of the " irreconcilable aversion " of Governor Bellomont to the " late governor Coll Fletcher, who gave birth to this Church," and they openly express the fear that Bellomont intends "nothing less than the destruction of this fair beginning." They then deny the statement that the farm had been given to the Church, and point out the un- reasonableness of Bellomont's complaints about the lease, saying "it is not credible that such a trifle as Thirteen pounds per Annum, which is all the advantage can be made of it, can so much concern His Excellency, but a further design must be at the bottom, of which we have too many indications " ; and they say, " We humbly lay this matter to your Gracious Consideration, earnestly beseech- ing your Grace, as we are part of that Church and Nation, over which God in a most eminent station has placed you, we may be safe under your protection, and that this hope- ful foundation of an English Protestant Church in these parts of the world may receive no mischief from those whose duty obliges them to give it assistance and further its welfare." 1


Notwithstanding the violence with which the wind was now blowing outside, the parish was steadily increasing in strength. A gift of building-stone, probably from the Penrhyn quarries, by the Lord Bishop of Bristol, is men- tioned ? ; and notably, a payment by Mr. Matthew Lang, a bachelor, of £5 10 s., towards his portion of " the bachelor's pew," $ an interesting object, no doubt, in the eyes of more than one class in the congregation. A handsome present of books of divinity was received from the Lord Bishop of London, for the use of the parish, which books were catalogued and placed in charge of the rector.4 Dona-


1 N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 527. " Records, i., 32. 8 Ibid., i., 34. 4 Ibid., i., 26


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tions to certain poor persons were made ; also an allow- ance to the sexton of " nine pence a quarter for Cleaning ye Church and pews from each Family, or person that is Single frequenting the Church and having a settled place to Sitt in the Church." Also, November 15, 1700, " Mr. Ellis does agree to build a handsome Gallery in the West end of the Church the South doore to the North accord- ing to a Draft thereof made by Mr. Evets, to furnish all Timber & Materials used by a joiner to build the pews therein, to make a pair of Stairs in the Steeple handsome & large to make the door from the Bellfree into the Gall- ery & to furnish this work against April or May next." 1 This improvement was to cost one hundred and fifty pounds.


At this session, the last of the year 1700, it was agreed " that a letter be wrote to the Bishop of Winchester to desire his Charity to send us over the Ten Commandments & the Lord's Prayer & the Creed to be hung in the East End of the Church, while Mr. Wilson & Mr. Anderson do succeed in going about with ye plate on Sundays."?


The fight between Bellomont and the Churchmen of New York was terminated in the month of March, 1701, on the fifth day of which month he died, under the stress of hard work and bitter controversy. His loss was loudly lamented by his adherents, who were fulsome in their eulogies, and declared that he had espoused their cause " with the generosity of an Irishman." He died in New York at the age of sixty-five, and was buried in the chapel of the fort with military honors. When the fort was removed in 790, the leaden coffin which contained his remains was transferred to St. Paul's churchyard. It was Bellomont's misfortune to be brought into violent collision with eminent political leaders, many of whom


Records, i., 35. 2 Ibid., i., 36.


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Death of Bellomont


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were promoters of the interests of the Church, and his gravest error to assail the newly formed Corporation and endeavor to despoil it of its endowments. He was one of those men who are at odds with themselves and lead their life in a standing inconsistency. A nobleman by birth and education, he appears to have been a democrat at heart. In America he found great landholders, men corresponding to his own order at home, men of ability and public spirit, managing their trusts with an average degree of good sense, and adding to the reputation and strength of the colony. He also found a Church estab- lishment already taking the lead in promoting the interests of education and religion. Instead of strengthening these bulwarks of civil order, the Earl strove to subvert them. He would have cut down the great landholders, broken up their estates, and pared down the endowments of the Church. It was not to have been looked for in one of his class ; it was earnestly resisted by the interests assailed ; and the result was his defeat.


His relations to the Church some time before his death seem to have improved ; a better state of feeling existed, brought about, it is believed, by the interposition of the Bishop of London. He wrote, October 19, 1 700 : " My Lord of London having writ to Mr. Vesey the Eng- lish minister of this town to submit himself to me, and to me to accept his submission ; I haye complyed therewith and have promised Mr. Vesey to become his friend, provided he demean himself peaceably and discreetly for the future." Probably the Earl put his own interpretation upon the matter. Mr. Vesey's representation of the case is not before us.


Upon the death of Bellomont things fell into confusion. The Lieutenant-Governor, Nanfan, was absent at Barba- does ; the executive chair was claimed by Col. William


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Smith of Long Island, as, for the time being, the oldest member of the late Governor's Council. The strife be- tween the Leislerians and the anti-Leislerians in New York was waged with fury. A few words, by way of re- view of the period between the execution of Leisler, 1691, and the death of Bellomont, 1701, will clear up the read- er's impression of the situation of affairs. Leisler, when at the height of his power, struck hard blows at the men whom he most disliked and feared ; among them were Col. Nicholas Bayard and Stephen Van Cortlandt. Bay- ard, Leisler's ranking officer and Mayor of the City, was · thrown into prison, and kept there fourteen months ; Van Cortlandt escaped by flight. On the downfall of Leisler, these men emerged, and came to the top; Governor Sloughter, as might have been expected, made up his Council exclusively of men who had opposed Leisler, al- though by appointing a Leislerian sympathizer, Abraham de Peyster, Mayor of the City, he preserved a measure of tranquillity. New York contained at that time about 5000 people, divided into Leislerians and anti-Leislerians. The latter included the aristocracy, the Church and State men, and the maintainers of the royal prerogative ; the former represented the democracy of the period, and in- cluded Dutch Calvinists, who lamented the waning of the influence of their religion, and English Dissenters, who hated the Established Church, and were radical in politics.


The anti-Leislerians, coming into power under Gov- ernor Sloughter, retained their advantage during the ad- ministration of Fletcher.1 But a change occurred on the arrival of Bellomont, whose appointment, as has been ob-


1 Among his Council were Col. Caleb Heathcote, Frederick Philipse, Stephen Van Cortlandt, William Nicholls, and Thomas Willett ; his five Supreme Court Judges were Thomas Johnson, William Smith, Stephen Van Cortlandt, William Pinhorne, and the Mayor was William Merritt. All these were of the aristocratic and govern- ment party.


1702]


Triumph of the Leislerians 129


served, was due to the efforts of persons in England de- sirous of procuring a reversal of the sentence of attainder on Leisler and the restoration of his confiscated property to his descendants. Bayard, Philipse, and Van Cortlandt, with their friends, withdrew, and a new set of men took their place.1 Moreover, the Leislerians, in their delight, tore down Fletcher's coat-of-arms in the King's Chapel in the Fort, and, taking up the bones of Leisler, carried them to the Dutch church, where they lay in state awhile, and then received a pompous burial.


To come now to the present point in our story, the tri- umph of the Leisler party was promoted by the interreg- num ensuing on the death of Bellomont. Lord Nanfan, the brother-in-law of the late Earl, did nothing to restrain their excesses; and, as was natural, their wrath strove to break itself on Bayard, still one of the most conspicuous figures of the day. Nanfan arrested him and put him on trial for his life, before Chief Justice Atwood, the " Jef- feries" of the province. The younger Leisler, by whose influence the reversal of the judgment against the elder Leisler and the cancellation of the attainder had been pro- cured from Parliament, was active in the agitation which nearly cost Bayard his life. That brave and distinguished man, arrested January 21, 1702, on a charge of high trea- son, was found guilty and condemned to death.2 Mr.


' Among the Leislerians we find the names of Thomas Noell, Abraham and Johan- nes de Peyster, Isaac de Riemer, Abraham Brazier, Nicholas Roosevelt, and Peter W. Roome ; among the anti-Leislerians those of Robert Livingston, Robert Lurting, Philip French, Brandt Schuyler, John Hutchings, William Morris, Nicholas Bayard, Frederick Philipse, Stephen Van Cortlandt, Gabriel Merivielle, Caleb Heathcote, Chudley Brooke, Thomas Willett, William Nicholls, John Young, Joseph Dudley, William Pinhorne, William Merritt, Thomas Johnson, and William Smith. Many of these names appear on the list of Vestrymen of Trinity Church, and all, no doubt, went through fire and water amidst the agitations of those days.


" The proceedings of the court are admitted, even by writers conspicuous for their partisan prejudices, to have been totally unjustifiable. See, e.g., Dunlap's History of . New York, vol. i., 249. 9


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Emott did his best to defend him, but in vain ; the end had been resolved on before the trial began, and on the 16th of March, Atwood pronounced the horrible sentence then customary upon traitors.1 Most fortunately for the prisoner, and notwithstanding the eagerness of the court to have their revenge, a reprieve was granted to learn the King's pleasure. Ere the time had expired, the scene changed. A new Governor arrived, in the person of Lord Cornbury. Nanfan was superseded ; and the infamous Atwood, with his colleague, Attorney-General Weaver, took refuge in precipitate flight, and vanished from the scene of their outrageous violation of law and justice.


This unpleasant history bears directly upon the annals of the parish, because the rector was the object of con-


1 Sentence was passed Monday, March 16, 1702, and the meeting was held on Sunday 22d, if held at all. The sentence was as follows : " that you be carried to the place from whence you came, that from thence you be drawn upon a Hurdle to the Place of Execution, that there you be hanged by the Neck, and being alive you be cut down upon the Earth, and that your Bowels be taken out of your Belly, and your Privy Members be cut, and you being alive, they be burnt before your Face ; and that your head be cut off, and that your Body be divided into four Quarters ; and that your Head and Quarters be placed where our Lord the King shall assign. And the Lord have mercy on your Soul."-The Tryal and Condemnation of Nicholas Bayard, Esq., New York, 1707, p. 26; the pamphlet contains other documents ; printed by Bradford, a member of Trinity Parish ; a very rare volume.


We may here call attention to the letter of Samuel Bayard, son of Nicholas, dated January 27, 1702, which throws light upon the subject of addresses in general, showing that the father was then in jail awaiting prosecution for his connection with three ad- dresses, severally to the King, Parliament, and Lord Cornbury, " to be presented to him at his arrivall," but the writer says, " discovery whereof being made a considerable time after the compleating, the Clerk & Messinger of the Councill had continually for several days Imploy to bring all sorts of persons, before the Councill, whereof some by promises of Rewards, others by threats of Imprisonment, Clipping of eares, &c. were prevailed upon to sware agst the ritoers [writers] of [ them] whereupon father myself and Capt" Hutchings were summoned before the Councill and the two first bound over each in 1, 500 pounds Recognizance to answer to an Indictment to be filed agst us in the Supreme Court, and the latter sent to prison for not complying with the order of Councill of the 16th inst."


The father himself wrote from the jail, saying that "The said addresses were signed by most all the Chief merchts and Principal Inhabitants that are in opposition against the Leislerian partye And wee had for soe doing the best advice and Councill of the experienced Lawyers we have amongst us."-N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 945-6-7.


131


Atwood's Aspersions


1702]


tinued vulgar and brutal assaults by Atwood, as well as the strenuous defender of Colonel Bayard, not only as his friend, but also in sermons from the pulpit of Trinity. " We will not give Mr. Vesey an opportunity for another sermon against us," cried Atwood, when requested to de- lay the trial, March 6th, till the next morning. They who desire further information on the subject may gather it from a pamphlet entitled The Case of William Atwood.1 Some idea of the partisan nature of this brochure may be drawn from Atwood's opening statement, that when the Revolution in England was accomplished, dispossessing James, and placing William upon the throne, the people in New York "proffered Bayard, a cunning Dutchman, the Honor of Heading them ; But he, being desirous to have the Power continue in the Adherents to Popery, was only for turning out the Profess'd Papists ; And such arti- fice to keep the government for and under King James, his Agents absurdly labour to pass for a Design to for- ward the Revolution." His treatment of Mr. Vesey, in connection with which he employs a great deal of sup- pressed irony, might be turned to serve the purpose of deserved eulogy. He says of the rector that "he was never good at keeping a secret "; refers to his " noted sin- cerity," and being " full of his own praises," and, appar- ently in a moment of forgetfulness, refers to him as a member of that Church "in which he was bred," though elsewhere he revives the old slanders about Mr. Vesey as having been educated among the Dissenters, and a rene-


1 " The Case of William Atwood, Esq. By the Late King William of Glorious Memory, Constituted Chief Justice of the Province of New York in America, and Fudge of the Admiralty there and in Neighboring Colonies. With a True Account of the Government and People of that Province ; particularly of Bayard's Faction, and Treason for which he and Hutchins Stand Attainted ; but Reprived before Lord Corn- bury's Arrival, upon Acknowledging their Offenses, and begging Pardon. London ; Printed in the year MDCCIII." This work has been reprinted by the New York His- torical Society in its Collections for the year 1830, p. 237.


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gade from their cause, slanders of which the complete refutation has already been given.


He speaks of his school-boy's memory, his heated fancy, and his talent for invective ; accuses him of temporizing and deceitful conduct, and says that the rector, "not trust- ing to the Church Weapons of Prayers and tears, conjured up Hell-fire against those who sent their Brethren to Prison ; nor did legal Proceeding escape the Name of the highest Injustice. As a key to such, his Preachments, he in discourse with the L. Governor, declared 't was better with the English in King James's Reign than in King William's ; ' but,' says he, ' this Dutch King won't live always.'"


It is unnecessary to continue the subject ; enough has been said about this abusive pamphlet, which, however, is of value, as casting a clear light on the character and tem- per of its author.


A letter from Mr. Vesey to the Governor of Virginia, under date of June 9, 1702, throws light on the troubles and trials of Churchmen at that day.


"May it please your Excellency :


" In a letter from the Jerseys, your Excellency was informed of the grievous oppression of our Church and Province, which, if not redressed by my Lord Cornbury's arrival might have ended in our Ruine. The management of the Lieut .- Governor and Council, even till then, was extraordinary, arbitrary, and violent, and if in print represented with all its circumstances to the world, must astonish an ordinary impiety and beget indignation and abhorrence in all those who have not cast off the common sentiments of Humanity. Your Excellency, by Col. Bayard's printed tryall and some manuscripts, will be fully convinct of those unrighteous and barbarous measures which were taken to exterpate an English Church and interest out of this Province. I doubt not but my Lord will be a Father to our Church and Province, and those methods his Lordship does daily take, give us repeated as- surances of his impartial administration, and are joyful presages that Justice will flow down our streets as a mighty Streame and righteousness as a flood.


I33


Vesey to the Governor of Virginia


1702]


" I have by these ships received 4 letters from my very good Lord of London full of zeal and affections. His Lordship does now assure us six good men shall be sent to supply the vacant liveings in our Province, and also that communion plate, furniture and Bookes shall in a short time be obtained for us.


"His Reverence Dr. Bray 1 advised me to enter into a Society with the Dutch and French ministers of this city, to consult on the most proper methods to effect a Reformation : accordingly an happy Society is maintained, in the Church Library, which, I hope, by our Gov- ernor's assistance will in some measure answer the end. His Reverence, among other good things, informs me that he has writt to your Excel- lency to appoint a meeting of the Clergy at New York as being the cen- ter between Maryland and Virginia. I question not but in a few years we shall have such a number of clergymen in New York, the Jerseys and Philadelphia, as will make a meeting among ourselves very formid- able.


"Our church daily increases, and in a very wonderful manner. My Lord has ordered his chaplain, Mr. Mott, and Mr. Bresack, to preach in our church one part of the day. We have prayers on Wed- nesdays and Fridays, and catechising every Sunday in the afternoon Mr. Huddlestone, the schoolmaster, brings all his schollars to church in order, and those I have formed, with many others, into 3 distinct classes, according to Dr. Bray's proposal, by which means I hope to compose the most glorious church in America. I beg your Excellency to recommend me to our Governor's favor and countenance. May God ever bless, prosper and make you Great and Glorious forever is the prayer of your dutifull


" And much obliged servant,


"WM. VESEY." ?


1 The Rev. Dr. Thomas Bray was sent to Maryland in 1696 as Commissary of the Bishop of London. He was particularly urgent about sending out books to Amer- įca, and mentions in a sermon preached in London in 1699, on the subject of " Apos- tolic Charity," that there was in New York Colony a church in the fort with a minister and a library, and in the city a church and a minister, but no library. It would appear from this that the first library in New York was sent out from England for the use of the chaplain and soldiers of his Majesty's service. In 1767 the library in the fort contained 211 volumes.


9 N. Y. Genl. Conv. MSS., vol. i., pp. 14, 15.


CHAPTER IX.


THE ADMINISTRATION OF LORD CORNBURY.


Relief of Churchmen on Cornbury's Arrival-Address to him by the Rector and Cor- poration of Trinity-His Commission and Instructions-Rev. George Keith in New York-Convention of Clergy, November, 1702-Movement in Favor of Collegiate Education-Society for the Propagation of the Gospel-Proposals to Erect an Organ -William Bradford, Printer and Vestryman of Trinity-Elias Neau, his History, Labors, and Conversion to the Church-Madam Knight's Account of the City and Vicinity-Rev. George Muirson-The Queen's Farm Becomes the Property of the Church-Labors among the Negroes-Lady Cornbury's Death-Sermon by Rev. John Sharpe-Rev. James Honeyman-Trinity the Foster Mother of Other Churches-Dis- graceful Close of Cornbury's Administration.


E DWARD HYDE, Lord Cornbury, was appointed successor to the Earl of Bellomont, June 13, 1701. On the 9th of September he received his commission under the Great Seal1; but it was not until May 3, 1702, that he arrived in his government .? The clergy regarded his arrival as a great deliverance ; and no wonder, consid- ering the reign of terror which he found here. Letters are extant, from the Rev. John Bartow and other mis- sionaries of the Venerable Society, graphically depicting the perils of the Church under the administration of Bellomont and Nanfan, and hailing the arrival of the new. Governor as an auspicious event.3


An election for Church Wardens and Vestrymen was held April 7, 1702, only nine members being present ;


' N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 883-4, 1152.


' Cornbury himself fixes the day ; writing May 3, 1702, he speaks of " being ar- rived here this day."-N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 955.


3 Bolton, History of the Church in Westchester County, Introduction, xviii.


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Arrival of Lord Cornbury


1702-08]


among those absent were the rector and Warden Wen- ham.1 The minutes at this period are meagre. Appar- ently a number of the parish officials and their friends were in exile in the province of New Jersey, where, beyond the reach of the ferocious Atwood, they had been expecting the arrival of the new Governor. There is no doubt that prominent members of the parish were in im- minent danger, and that their lives would have been worth little had Nanfan and Atwood continued in power. Atwood's own writings show this, and from his statements a just idea may be formed of the peril in which Church- men and peaceful citizens stood at that crisis .?


Upon the arrival of Lord Cornbury, May 3, 1702, he was met by the rector and other notable citizens, who landed with him at the Battery. The Wardens and Ves- trymen welcomed him with an address which seems to have been prepared the previous year. It is in the style characteristic of the period, though in this case they had good reason to speak strongly.


They say that with "hearts full of Charity & exhuber- ant with Joy," they " congratulate yor Lordps safe & happy arrival in this province wth yor worthy lady & Family." They then go on to speak of " the just fears wch We had conceiv'd under ye late administracon of ye Predecessor and ye great hopes & Confidence we perced in yor Lodps Friendship for our Church and righteous cause." They also express their thankfulness to the King for "his Royal Letter of Protection to our Infant Church, to which was superadded our sence of that Special and signal favor of sending your


1 The following is the list of officers elected : Thomas Wenham and Richard Willett, Wardens. The Vestrymen were William Morris, James Emott, William Huddleston, John Crooke, Lancaster Squires, Ebenezer Wilson, Thomas Ives Rob, William Anderson, Robert Skelton, John Corbett, Robert Lurting, Jeremiah Tothill, William Janeway, David Jamison, William Peartree, William Smith, Lettice Hopper, John Theobald, Matthew Clarkson, John Tuder.


2 See Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1880, 282-4.


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Lordp to be a healer & restorer amongst us, but as it needs appear'd to us to be the opening of a Doore of hope so to those who were con- triving to raise our very foundation, it caused a bitterness & overflow- ing of the Gall who not only Laboured to diswade the People from their hopes of seeing yor Lordp, but raised a terrable & Violent perse- cution against our Minister & most of the Members & frequenters of our Church on Accot of Signing an Address to your Lordp & other Addresses, the Contents of them being still to them unknown altho some are Innocently Condemned to dye as Traitors, some outlaw'd & others forc'd to flye this Province & all put in Terrour on that accot, by a wicked, pernicious, perverse & strain'd Construction of an Act of Assembly of this Province made by Mr. Atwood & Mr. Weaver, who were the principal movers & managers of this disturbance & violators of the peace not only of our Church but of all the principal English, French & Dutch Protestant Inhabitants of his Maty's Province."




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