USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 1 > Part 19
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June 28, 1731 :
"The Revd. Mr. Colgan acquainted this Board that he had been in- formed there would be a vacancy in the parish of Jamaica, Long Island, and that he intended to apply to the Society for leave to remove there and also presented to the Vestry a Certificate or Testimonial of his Behavior which was read in the words following to witt We the Rector Church Wardens and Vestry of Trinity Church in New York, being acquainted with the Reverend Mr. Colgan that he designed to apply to the honbl Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts for a Removal from the Mission he now supplys in this city to one in the country think ourselves upon this occasion obliged to do his Character that justice as to say for the time he hath lived among us which is near five years he has behaved himself in all respects as became a minister of the Gospell of Christ in his Life and Conversation being grave and sober and Exemplary in the discharge of the duties of his holy function faithful diligent and industrious which we hope will recommend him to the favor & esteem of others & especially to the honorable society before mentioned."?
1 N. Y. Col. Docs., v., 930-6. 9 Records, i., 160.
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July 7, 1731. The Venerable Society was requested to appoint the Rev. Mr. Charlton, Catechist, and "not to withdraw their bounty from the great number of poor In- fidells among us whose cause they have hitherto patronized with great success." Mr. Charlton was a native of Ireland, and a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. He was duly appointed in 1732, and served as Mr. Vesey's assistant, being the fourth who held that position in the parish. After Mr. Vesey's death, Mr. Charlton took charge of a parish on Staten Island.
A change likewise came in connection with the Charity School, the Vestry petitioning the Society to appoint Mr. Thomas Noxon " their Schoolmaster in this city," in the place of Mr. Thomas Huddlestone, whom it had " pleased Almighty God to take unto himself."1
During the month of August the small-pox began to make great ravages in the city, the malignity of the dis- ease increasing, until, on November 15th, the Gazette re- ported 549 deaths between August 23d and November 15th, of which number 478 were whites. Of the Church of England 229 died, of the Dutch Church, 212 ; of the French, 15; of the Lutheran, I; of the Presbyterian, 16 ; of the Quakers, 2 ; of the Baptists, I ; and of Jews, 2 ; all of which, perhaps, may be taken as indicative, in some respects, of the relative numerical strength of the different religious persuasions.
At this period Mr. Vesey, as Commissary, was obliged to deal with a disreputable clergyman by the name of Alexander Campbell, one of those loose characters that from time to time drifted into the American colonies. It is hardly worth while to dwell upon the subject, as it does not immediately concern the history of the parish, though it indicates the difficulties with which the rector had to
1 Records, i., 161.
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Claims against the Church Farm
1732]
contend from foes within as well as from without. In all his attacks, whether in the press or in the courts, Camp- bell signally failed, the lawyers who undertook his defence being obliged to abandon his case. The miserable man finally disappeared, but not until he had done much mischief.1
We come now to the first accident recorded in connec- tion with the work on the church. September 16: " Some Workmen being at work in the Belfry of Trinity Church in this city, one of them fell from thence to the Ground, by which most of his Bones were broken, but is yet alive." The New York Gazette of September 25, says : "The Man who fell out of the Belfry of Trinity Church in this City, died on Thursday last." ?
November 22, 1732, the Board being informed that "the present tenant of Church's ffarme had been forbid by the Procurer General from paying the rent to any other person than himself, alleading [sic] the same did belong to the Crown, and this Board having reason to suspect that there may be some persons endeavoring or that may endeavor to disturb them in the quiet and peaceful pos- session and enjoyment thereof," resolved that a committee
1 The Governor had Campbell arrested " in action of £500 pounds for marrying his daughter to the Duke of Grafton's Son without license and is now in Prison." Zenger, 1732, published what is called A True and Just Vindication of Mr. Alex- ander Campbell, 12mo, p. 14, addressed to the Bishop of London. The Venerable Society has two copies of Campbell's Protestation with Mr. Noxon's Observations upon Parson Campbell's Vindication, printed by Zenger, MDCCXXXII. The writer knows of no other copy of these productions, while all of Zenger's publications are now very rare. Mr. Noxon was a member of Trinity Parish, and, it will be remem-
bered, the schoolmaster. He does not not spare this man Campbell, who indulges in his Protestation in the worst of slurs against Mr. Vesey, improving upon the attacks of Governor Hunter and his friends many years before. The P. G. Society's volume, New York & New England, No. 13, has the letter of Campbell, 1733, and No. 28, of the same volume, has the letter of Vesey on Campbell, in which he repels the charge that in early life he was an enemy to the Church, and a Dissenting minister.
? N. Y. Gazette, September 25, 1732.
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be appointed to take charge of the matter and to act if necessary. 1
In the absence of other information respecting Mr. Vesey's domicile, it may be stated here that it appears from the New York Journal, that " the Rev. Dr. Vesey", was at that time living "in King Street, New York [now Pine], next door to the House and Ground of Edward Buckingham."
April 25, 1733. Mr. Noxon, by reason of advanced years, resigned the office of Clerk, to take effect in Oc- tober, while " Mr. Man who officiates in setting and sing- ing the Psalms" expressed his willingness to continue until then. The music, especially in the absence of an organ, must at this time have been of a simple and primi- tive character.
At this session, a letter to the Bishop of London was reported by the committee on the farm, requesting his assistance in obtaining a Royal grant in order to stop agitation about the title. They say that the property " is so near the town, we could in a few years make the same very beneficial by laying part of it out into lotts, which would bring in a yearly ground rent."? They also arranged with Mr. Moore, the Under Secretary of the Venerable Society, to attend personally to the matter, furnishing him with a carefully drawn paper and covering the whole "case." This document clearly shows that, by grant of Queen Anne, 1705, the right of the Church to the property had been confirmed, and that the opposition was based upon mere quibbles.
July 13. A letter was received from Mr. Moore sug- gesting that the obtaining of a new grant to the land was hardly necessary, and that it would be expensive; yet he
1 Records, i., 166.
9 Ibid., i., 168.
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Claims against the Church Farm
1733]
indicated the steps necessary to be taken in case the parish would desire to proceed.1
He also forwarded a legal opinion on the subject, all of which is fully recorded. The elaborate opinion of Mr. Dudley seems to have satisfied the parish, which paid the legal expenses and went on as usual attending to its ten- ants and their leases. That opinion stood through all subsequent times, and holds good to-day, the title of the Corporation to the lands being acknowledged as beyond question.
October 29, 1733. " Mr. John Man Junr. is appointed Clerk in the room of Mr. Noxon." Also, the Vestry hav- ing been informed that Archibald Kennedy, Collector and Receiver-General, was still forbidding the tenants on the farm to pay the rents to any one but himself, on the ground that the lands belonged to the Crown, it was " unanimously resolved that the Church Wardens be desired to wait on said Kennedy and acquaint him therewith, and to desire he will desist doeing the like for the future, otherwise they think themselves obliged to sue him for such damages as they have and may sustain thereby."? This put the whole subject before the Collector in a new light, and consequently he had the prudence to desist.
Nevertheless it is recorded December, 22, that Mr. Robinson, one of the Church Wardens, acquainted the Board that Attorney-General Bradley had demanded of him " quit rents alleged to be due from the Church for their ffarm upon fformer Grants or Leases made to the Church of their said ffarm." Whereupon it was ordered that a committee be appointed "to inspect what rent is due from the Church to His Majesty for the said ffarme and that the Church Wardens doe pay the same." 3
In the year 1735 occurred the famous Zenger trial 1 Records, i., 171.
2 Ibid., i., 177. 8 Ibid., 178.
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which went so far to establish the freedom of the press, and civil freedom likewise. Of this, Gouverneur Morris said that it was " the germ of American freedom." 1
July 2, 1735. It was unanimously resolved to make a further addition to the church edifice and voted " that the North and South Sides of the Church be enlarged and made comformable to the New Building at the East End of the Church." A committee was appointed to " agree with workmen and to provide materials this ffall in order to begin the work Early next Spring."? August 14, it was reported that
" the ffoundation on both sides were finished equal with the ground and desired the opinion of the vestry whether they should proceed to carry the walls any higher this ffall, whereupon it was resolved that the Said committee be at Liberty to cause the said walls to be raised six ffoot higher, and further ordered that the Committee have power to agree for the Joyners and Carpenters work as they think fit." 3
Governor Cosby died March 10, 1736, after a brief administration of three years and a half, and was succeeded by Governor Clarke, of whose administration an account will be given in the following chapter.
1 Dunlap, i., 302. 9 Records, i., 182. ' Ibid., 183.
CHAPTER XIV.
ADMINISTRATION OF LIEUT. GOVERNOR CLARKE.
Hostility to Mr. Vesey-Enlargement of the Church Edifice-Thanksgiving Day Observed in the Province-Schick Schidit-Arrangement of Pews-Smith's Description of Trinity Church-First Appearance of the Bogardus Claimants to Church property, 1738-Parish Library-Arrears of Quit-rents Paid to the Crown-Meeting of Clergy in Trinity Church-Organ Provided-Death of Lady Clarke-Negro Plot, 1741- Handsome Additions to Church Furniture.
[ TPON the death of Governor Cosby, the government devolved upon George Clarke, member of the Coun- cil, and formerly Secretary of the Province.1 He had been associated with Cosby in office, as a kind of prime minister, if that description may be allowed ; he had also served as Secretary in New Jersey, whence, in 1715, he sent home a bitter attack upon Mr. Vesey, intended, probably, to sup- port Governor Hunter .? His letter was quite as malignant and unscrupulous in its contents and style as the document sent to England by Hunter and his friends, but it had as little weight with the Bishop of London and the authori- ties. By the death of Cosby, Clarke was brought into new relations with the Rector of Trinity ; but things had greatly changed, and the consequences which might have been apprehended did not ensue. There is no particular indication of the relations existing between these men ; the Governor kept out of the rector's way, well knowing that
1 Memoirs, N. Y. Col. Docs., iv., 1069.
& See letter in .V. Y. Col. Docs., v., 464, in which he accuses Mr. Vesey of being a non-juror, fomenter of political intrigues against the administration, and guilty of simony.
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the latter lived in the hearts and enjoyed the good-will of his parishioners and townsmen.
The work of increasing the accommodation in the church proceeded, notwithstanding a deficiency in ready money, for we find, two days later, that it was "the unan- imous opinion of this Board that the South Gallery be carried directly back to the rear wall and that it be en- larged by an addition of the same breadth to the East wall of the new Building." 1
The officers of the parish, for lack of a trained architect, were obliged to make their own plans, and were sometimes compelled to resort to ingenuity in the vindication of their skill. Hence, January 17, 1737, the Records state that "inasmuch as it appears to the Vestry that if the South Gallery be removed directly back to the wall of the New Building pursuant to the rule made by the last Ves- try, that the pillars must be placed in the Ile and be in- convenient, it is resolved that the said Gallery be enlarged in breadth so far as to place the pillars so as not to incom- mode the Ile or the pews." It was also resolved " that the pulpit be removed back against the North Wall of the New Building between the two windows proposed by the vestry on the view of the Church." ?
Then follow more than two pages of subscriptions in aid of the work, Mr. Vesey leading with the largest sum, fifty pounds, while Stephen De Lancey gave twenty-five pounds, the total subscription amounting to £517.9.6.
April 21, 1737, was observed as a day of Thanksgiving in the Province. The following account appears in Brad- ford's Gazette of April 25, and is worthy of insertion here as a picture of times of which scanty records are left :
"His Honour the Lieut. Governour [Clarke] having by his Procla- mation of the 31st of March last, directed and enjoyned, that Thursday
1 Records i., 184. 9 Ibid., i., 185.
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Schick Schidit
1737]
the 21st Instant, should be solemnly observed thro'-out this Province, as a Publick Day of Rejoycing & Thanksgiving for his most sacred Majesty's happy Deliverance from the Dangers of the Sea he met with, in his Passage from Holland to England, and of his safe Arrival there ; and having also directed and enjoyned that Divine Service should be per- formed in the Forenoon, in all Churches and Chappels within this Province, the same was accordingly observed, and in a particular man- ner in the City, by all the Ministers of the Gospel of the several Con- gregations therein ; and at the English Church in this City, after divine Service performed, the Reverend Mr. Charlton preached a Sermon on the following Text, Psal. 144, v. 15: Happy is the People that is in such a Case ; yea, Happy is that People whose God is the Lord. His Honour, after divine Service ended, returning to the Fort, he was attended with the Principal Magistrates and Gentlemen of the City, where the Royal and Provincial Healths were drank, under the discharge of the Cannon from the Fort (His Majesty's Regular Troops being the whole time under Arms) and the evening was concluded with Illuminations, and the other usual Demonstrations of Joy."
September 28, 1737.
" A Brief under the hand and Seal at Arms of the Honbl George Clarke Esqr Lieut Governor of this Province, Recommending Schick Schidit of Barut near Mount Lebanus in Syria to the compassion of all well disposed persons, he having been Recommended by his Sacred Majesty and divers of the nobility of Great Britain was read to this Board,"
whereupon it was
"Ordered that the Church wardens, assisted by such of the Vestry as they think ffit go round to such English Inhabitants as they shall think proper to make a Collection for the said Schick Schidit." '
Here our Syrian friend disappears.
September 28, 1737. Ordered that
" the large pew under the Corner of the New Gallery in Trinity Church, which was formerly the Govs Pew, be applyed for the use of the Church Wardens for the time being, and that the Canopy pew on the right hand side of the said South Door be for the use of the Commander and Officers of his Majestys Ships of Warr for the time being, and that the two pews before the said Pew be for the use of Masters of Vessels
1 Records i., 189.
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History of Trinity Church [1737
being Strangers ; That the new Pew on the East Side of the Pulpit be for the use of his Majesty's Councill, the Judges and Attorney General for the time being, and that the Pew which was formerly for the use of his Majesty's Councill be for the use of the Governor for the time being."1
October 28, 1737. Ordered that the pew
"next behind the pew belonging to Mr. Alexander Moore in the Body of the Church be and is hereby appropriated and Set apart to and for the use of the Assistant Minister of the Church for the time being and his family."?
April 17, 1738. The committee on the enlargement of the Church were instructed
"to number and set a price upon the pews to be disposed of and that the same pews be disposed of publicly in the Church on the last Wed- nesday in May next,"
while the front pew in the south gallery was to be "set apart to and for seating of the Captains and officers of his Majesty's ships of war."3 It was also voted that the War- dens " be desired to have the Cancelle wainscotted round with mahogany in such manner as they shall think proper," while the same committee was " desired to examine how the ffire happened to the Churches House in which Mr. Miller lived."
The general appearance of the church, after the changes and improvements had been completed, is thus described by Smith in his history published some twenty years later :
" Trinity Church was built in 1696, and afterwards enlarged in 1737. It stands very pleasantly upon the Banks of Hudson's River, and has a large Cemetery on each side, inclosed in the Front by a painted paled Fence. Before it a long Walk is railed off from the Broad-way, the pleasantest Street of any in the whole Town. The building is about 148 Feet long, including the Tower and Chancel, and 72 feet in 1 Records, i., 189 2 Ibid., i., 190. 3 Ibid., i., 193.
1
Trinity Church as enlarged in 173%.
1
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Trinity Church in 1757
1738]
Breadth. The Steeple is 175 Feet in Height, and over the Door fac- ing the River is the following inscription :
Per Angustam
' Hoc Trinitatis Templum fundatum est Anno Regni illustrissimi su- premi, Domini Gulielmi tertii, Dei Gratia, Anglia, Scotia, Francia et Hibernia Regis, Fidei Defensoris, &c. Octavo, Annoq; Domini 1696. Ac Voluntaria quorundam Contributione ac Donis ÆEdificatum, maximè autem, dilecti Regis Chiliarcha BENJAMINI FLETCHER, hujus Provincia stratæci & Imperatoris, Munificentiâ animatum et auctum, cujus tempore moderaminis, hujus Civitatis incolæ, Religionem protestantem Ecclesia Anglicana, ut secundum Legem nunc stabilitæ profitentes, quodam Diplomate, sub Sigillo Provinciæ incorporati sunt, atque alias Plurimas, ex Re sua familiari, Donationes notabiles eidem dedit.'
"The church is, within, ornamented beyond any other Place of publick Worship amongst us. The Head of the Chancel is adorned with an Altar-piece, and opposite to it, at the other End of the Building, is the Organ. The Tops of the Pillars which support the Galleries, are decked with the gilt Busts of Angels winged. From the Ceiling are suspended two Glass Branches, and on the Walls hang the Arms of some of its principal Benefactors. The Allies are paved with flat Stones." 1
The interior with its imposing dimensions, its altar- piece, its brasses and heraldic decorations must, in those days, have given the beholder a strong impression of the standing and character of the parish. It was no doubt a very fine building for that period in America, and as the people contemplated its proportions and adornments they doubtless felt an honest and pardonable pride.
In August, 1738, we come upon the first indication of the setting up of a claim to the church property, on the ground of inheritance from Anneke Jans. All attacks prior to this date had been made on other pretences, but now the Bogardus heirs, for the first time take the field against the church. "A Claim being made of part of the Churches ffarm by the Heirs of one Bogardus, Ordered
1 Smith's History of New York, 189.
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that the Rector, the two Church Wardens, Mr. Chambers & Mr. Nicholls be a Committee to Enquire into the claim of the Heirs of Said Bogardus and that they make their report thereon with all convenient expedition."1 It must be remembered that this was more than seventy years after the sale of the Farm to Lovelace, and that no de- scendant of Mrs. Anneke Jans Bogardus had ever before made claim either to the rent of the Farm paid by its oc- cupants or the ownership or possession of it.
About this time Mr. Robert Elliston, Comptroller of Customs, presented a quantity of books to serve as a parish library, and it was ordered that the Catalogue be entered in the minutes of the Board. Further on there is " A Register of the Books sent towards laying the founda- tion of a Parochial Library in New York for the use of the Ministers of Holy Trinity Church." The list is di- vided into twenty-one departments, including Medical Science, Logic, and Poetry. Next is " A Catalogue of Books Sent Augt 30, 1701, to New York to improve the Library at New York," and others sent in 1702 and 1704. Then follows " A Catalogue of Books given to the Li- brary of New York by Thos. Byerly, Esq., Collector and Receiver General of the Province of New York of the value of five pounds Sterling, 1704, & brought from Lon- don by Mr. Brett 1705." A detailed list of the Elliston Books is given.2
March 9, 1739.
"Ordered by unanimous consent of the Vestry that the Church Wardens be pleased forthwith to pay to his Majesty's Receiver General all the arrears of Quit rent due to his said Majesty for the Churches ffarm, as well on account of the lease to the Church from Coll. Ffletcher in the year 1697 as on the grant since obtained from the Crown ffor the said ffarm and that they take proper discharges accordingly."'
1 Records, i., 196. 2 Ibid., i., 200-212. 3 Ibid., i., 197.
221
Meeting of the Clergy
1739]
Later it was reported that the committee had made the payment and taken a receipt for the same, written upon the back of Lord Cornbury's grant, in which the receiver acknowledged the receipt of "sixty bushels of Wheat" "in full of the rent reserved from the commence- ment of the said Lease which was on the first of August, 1690, to the vacating of the said lease by Act of General Assembly passed in the year 1699." He also acknowl- edged the receipt of four pounds nineteen shillings and three pence in full to December 25, 1738.1 This settled a long neglected and almost forgotten legal claim.
.
April 24, 1739. We have the first reference to the employment of the young in connection with church music :
" Resolved that the Rector, Church Wardens Mr. Watts, Mr. Moore and Mr. Reade or any three of them be a Committee to treat and agree with - to sing in the church and teaching such Youth to sing as shall be recommended by the said Committee."?
The cost was not to exceed twenty pounds. Further on we shall see how this movement grew, and what a marked feature it became in the history of the parish.
At this time Mr. Vesey, in the exercise of his office as Commissary to the Bishop of London, and in obedience to the commands of that Prelate, convened a meeting of the clergy of New York and New Jersey at Trinity Church. A copy of the circular letter addressed to the clergy, April 2, 1739, and of the Report of Mr. Vesey to the Secretary of the Venerable Society, June 4 following, may be found in the Centennial History of the Church in the Diocese of New York pp. 84-5. The meeting was held May 2. The clergy were requested to hand in their parochial accounts, with the state of their income, for
1 Records, 199.
' Ibid., i., 213.
M
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transmission to London. Mr. Vesey says, "they all ac- cordingly met excepting only such as were prevented by sickness and other accidents." The details of this con- vocation are wanting, but the correspondence is pre- served in the archives of the Venerable Society. A tabulated report of the clergy in the Provinces of New York and New Jersey in 1738 will be found in the Appendix.
For forty years the church had been without an organ. June 1, 1739, "Mr. John Clemm of Philadelphia organ maker laid before the Vestry a Scheam for making an organ for Trinity Church, whereupon after debating and considering of the same the Question was put, and it was resolved that the said John Clemm be forthwith employed to make an organ." 1
Ten months had passed since the order was given for the organ, and now, April 1, 1740, Mr. Clemm "the organ maker at Philadelphia " was requested "to send by Capt. Griffith now supposed to be there and bound for this Port all such Pipes and other parts of the organ as he has already finished." 2
Bibliographers will be interested in the entry of April I, 1740, which ordered :
".that the Rector and Church be pleased to purchase such number of Lewis's Exposition of the Church Catechism lately reprinted by William Bradford in this city as they shall think proper, and that the said Rector and Church Wardens do from time to time Deliver them to our Reverend
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