USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 3 > Part 5
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"To avoid further misunderstanding, in case the Vestry should concur in this opinion, a Memorandum is subjoined of what, after a conference with the purchasers, are considered to be the principles of the proposed arrangement, viz .:
"1. The $10000 is to be advanced in cash or bonds given for the whole or any part of the amount, bearing interest at 6 per cent per annum.
"2. The Church is to be completed without delay, and consecrated. The society is to be incorporated, and placed in union with the Pro- testant Episcopal Church, in this State, and the pews to be rented from year to year.
"3. Divine worship according to the rites of the Protestant Epis- copal Church is to be regularly performed in the Church from the time of its consecration, and from that period Trinity Church is to grant the former allowance of $1400 per annum deducting the interest of the $10000 advanced or secured until repayment.
"4. Within a convenient time after the consecration (not less than two years) Trinity Church may require a public sale of the pews in fee simple, subject to reasonable rents. The proceeds of the sale to be applied first to the repayment of the $10000 advanced or secured.
"Secondly to the payment of the advances of the present purchasers with interest, and the surplus to go to the new Church. The pur- chasers, being fully repaid, all the remaining property in their hands will also belong to the new Corporation, and will then be conveyed accordingly.
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Grants to Churches
1818]
" The Committee recommend that the execution of all these speci- fications should be secured in a satisfactory manner.
"The Vestry, having proceeded to consider such report, it was agreed that the same be accepted; and the same Committee were con- tinued, with power to carry it into effect on the part of the Corporation, and to see its execution on the part of the purchasers of Zion Church." >
To meet these ruinous expenditures, the Vestry or- dered the sale of three lots, on Warren, Church, and Chambers Streets. As soon as the news of the rehabilita- tion of the finances was spread abroad, applications for grants poured in afresh. The Clerks of Trinity, St. Paul's, and St. John's headed the list, requesting an increase of their salaries. The organists of the Parish promptly fol- lowed suit.2 Then came a petition from St. George's, New- burg, for a loan of $3000 for five years, and the gift of a small lustre of five lights formerly used in Trinity Church.3 The "African Episcopal Catechetical Institution in the City of New York," through Peter Williams Jun', and others, asked for a grant of land as a site for a building.4 The Rev. B. T. Onderdonk, who had been ill and had in- curred heavy debts in consequence, prayed for relief. The Churches at Windham, Greene Co., and Red Hook sent in similar petitions. Of these requests some were denied and some granted. The petition of the " African Insti- tution " was among those which were favorably considered, an appropriation of $3000 being made to provide a school- house and place of worship ; such grant being on the con- dition that the said Institution be retained under the " Ecclesiastical Authority of the Protestant Episcopal Church." This was the beginning of the now flourishing Church of St. Philip in the City of New York, which has done so much good among our colored population.
1 Records, liber ii., folio 322.
? Ibid., folio 330. VOL. III .- 3.
3 Ibid., folios 320, 324.
" Ibid., folio 321.
I
3
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History of Trinity Church
[1818-
Lavish expenditure like this, under such peculiar cir- cumstances, could have but one end. It is not surprising to find that in November, 1818, an order was made to sell more lots, in order to replenish the treasury, a measure deeply to be regretted.
In the general scramble for grants and donations, the sextons were the only officials connected with the Parish who had not had their share. They therefore now aired their grievances, and an elaborate ordinance was passed to satisfy their minds. By the terms of that " Ordinance relative to sextons and to funerals," adopted Dec. 14, 1818, the duties of the sextons are declared : the salaries are fixed, at $200 for the sexton of Trinity Church and $250 each for those of St. Paul's and St. John's Chapels, and a table of fees is given. This table is interesting, as showing not only what payments were then considered as fair, but also as revealing the habits and customs of New York when it was still a compact American city, and not the enormous cosmopolitan aggregation which it has become.
"3. For each burial in the churchyards attached to Trinity and St. Paul's, for persons over twelve years of age. $4. For children of twelve years of age and under 2. In the ground in Hudson Street:
For persons over twelve years of age. 3.
For children of twelve years and under. 1.50
And interments in any of the church vaults:
For persons over twelve years of age. IO.
For children of twelve years of age and under 5.
"Which sums shall be paid over to the Comptroller without any charge for collection; provided the foregoing regulations shall not ex- tend to the old burying ground in the cemetery of Trinity Church lying east of the church so as to increase the price of graves there beyond the rate now established.
" 4. The sextons, on interments in the church grounds of which they
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1798606
1818]
Fees to Sextons
shall respectively have charge, shall hereafter be authorized to ask and receive, each to his own use, compensation for the services they may perform according to the following rates:
" Digging graves for persons over twelve years of age. $2. For children of twelve years and under. I.
Opening a vault. 2.
Inviting clergy and physicians only. I. Inviting clergy, physicians and neighborhood. 3. Inviting the above with relatives and others in various parts of the city 4. Attendance at the house and graveyard, or either, as re- quired with the velvet pall . 2.50
Attendance at the house and graveyard, or either, as re- quired with the woollen pall. 2.
The like attendance without any pall I.
For hearse 3.
For porters, each. 1.
For carrying corpse from the house to the hearse, when the service is performed, and from the hearse to the grave or vault, each I.
For like services in case of children, .50
" For candles, when used, they shall charge according to the cost, the quantity not to exceed 12 lbs; and the sextons shall at their own expense provide and keep as many velvet and woollen palls to be in- spected and approved by the Rector, as may be necessary, and they shall also provide all the implements and utensils used in the execu- tion of their duties. Whenever the services of the organist and clerk shall be required at funerals, it shall be their duty to attend; and in such cases the sextons shall with other funeral charges receive:
"For the organist. $3. And for the clerk 1.50 "
The remaining sections of the ordinance provide that the sexton, under penalty of forfeiting his office, shall not charge more than the above rates; shall render his ac- counts regularly; shall not bury in the church ground any but those belonging to the Protestant Episcopal Church,
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History of Trinity Church
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"but the remains of all persons may be indiscriminately deposited in the church vaults ; that the price of land shall be hereafter two dollars per square foot." 1
In the Hobart MSS. are several memoranda relating to these charges for the sextons. In one in the Bishop's handwriting the charges vary considerably from those ultimately fixed upon by the Corporation. The fee pro- posed for inviting the clergy, relatives, and others was $5. An extra fee was also proposed to be paid when the church was lighted with candles, and "when the attend- ance was without scarfs" the extra fee to the sexton was to be $1, which was doubled "when the attendance was with scarfs."
The scarfs mentioned in the Ordinance regulating sextons' fees were no doubt those long pieces of fine linen, tied with black ribbons, and ornamented with an enormous bow, which were presented to the clergy and pall- bearers at funerals, and worn by them in the procession. In the earlier days of my ministry the custom was general ; it has now died out; the last time that I saw scarfs worn was at the funeral of the late Dean Hoffman, in Trinity Chapel. The use was probably derived from the Dutch. In Albany, in the olden time, at the funerals of persons of high position, it was also the custom to present bottles of wine and cakes to the more distinguished attendants ; this in addition to mourning weeds and rings. Fifty or sixty years ago, in Trinity Parish, when a clergyman received a scarf at a funeral during the week, he was expected to wear it over his black gown, in preaching on the following Sunday : a complimentary acknowledgment to the family of the deceased.
The new burial-ground at Greenwich is alluded to for the first time in the Minutes of August 9, 1819, when we
1 Records, liber ii., folio 223.
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Greenwich Burial-Ground
1819]
read that it was " Ordered that until the erection of church vaults in the cemetery of St. John's Chapel the sexton be authorized under the permission of the Rector to inter the remains of persons not belonging to the Protestant Episcopal Church in the new burial-ground at Greenwich." 1
As showing the rural nature of the lower part of the city at that time, the following resolutions are interesting : May 10, 1819, it was "Ordered that the sexton of St. John's Chapel under the direction of Mr. Barrow and Mr. Sherred be permitted during the pleasure of the Vestry to cultivate that part of the ground within the Church Cemetery on Hudson street which may not be required for graves or vaults." ?
February 11, 1822, it was ordered that "poplar trees on and in front of the church grounds be removed and Forest Trees to be planted." 3
At the opening of the new year, 1819, the Comptroller was authorized to borrow again, to meet expenses.
On the same day
"An application from the Vestry of St. George's Church for the consent of the Corporation to sell part of the estate attached to the Church-yard was referred to the Comptroller, with power to grant such consent if it should appear to him that it can be done with- out altering the conditions under which the other property of St. George's Church derived from the Corporation is now held." ‘
April 13, 1819, '
"A communication was received and read from the Vestry of St. John's Church at Johnstown representing that the farm at Florida, in Montgomery County, called the Fort Hunter Farm is subject to waste and deterioration, and that the rent is far short of the interest of the money which could be obtained for it upon a sale. It was resolved
' Records, liber ii., folio 340.
: Ibid., folio 366.
Ibid., folio 338.
' Ibid., folio 336.
Lon
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History of Trinity Church
[1820-
that the Corporation should unite with the Church at Johnstown to apply to the Legislature for power to sell the property, the interest for the money obtained to go for the support of the Church at Johns- town, until the re-establishment of the Church at Fort Hunter, and then to the two Churches equally, according to the terms upon which the said farm was originally granted." '
St. John's Chapel was insured for $50,000.
Several applications for aid in erecting a church at the Quarantine ground in Staten Island were read, and the consideration thereof postponed.
July 9, 1819, the Corporation agreed to the petition of the Churches at Canandaigua and Windham for loans of $1500 and $500, respectively, for a term of five years; and actually authorized the Comptroller to borrow the necessary money to loan to these churches.2
It was not to be wondered at that the pressing need of money was felt again very shortly. On November 25, 1819, the Vestry
"Ordered that in addition to the loan already authorized, the Comptroller be authorized to borrow on the credit of the Corporation $11,000 more." 3
January 10, 1820, the Vestry had before it
" the application of the Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church, at Fairfield, praying that the annual donation of seven hundred and fifty dollars might be continued, and proposing that the following should hereafter be the conditions of the grant, viz. :
" I. That the Rector of Trinity Church, Fairfield, should be the Principal of the Fairfield Academy, and receive from the Trustees a salary of not less than five hundred dollars per annum.
" 2. That the Assistant Instructor in said Academy shall be in Holy Orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and shall receive from the said Trustees not less than two hundred and fifty dollars per annum.
1 Records, liber ii., folio 337. ? Ibid., folio 339.
3 Ibid., folio 342.
£
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Fairfield Academy
1821]
"3. That the Principal shall be permitted to instruct eight young men designed for Holy Orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, who are to be designated by the Bishop of the Diocese, free from tuition or room rent in the Academy, such young men to be carried through the prescribed course of ecclesiastical studies, as to be fully prepared to take Holy Orders.
"4. That the Principal shall give religious instruction according to the institutions of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to such stu- dents of the said Academy as may profess to belong to the Church.
"Which application and proposals having been considered, it was resolved that the said annual donation of seven hundred and fifty dol- lars be continued during the pleasure of the Vestry, and be paid half- yearly, on the Bishop's certificate that the conditions above specified have been duly complied with." 1
The Rector pointed out, February 14, 1820, that one of the stipulated conditions relating to the grant to Fair- field had been omitted ; and the following additional clause was by resolution ordered to be inserted as a condition of the grant :
"The Vestry of Trinity Church at Fairfield shall annually pay to the Principal of the Academy fifty dollars to be by him expended with the approbation of the Bishop in books to form a theological library for the use of the students designed for Holy Orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, which library may at any time hereafter be transferred from Fairfield to any other place at the pleasure of the Bishop of the Diocese." ?
January 7, 1821,
" Several communications were laid before the Vestry from the Trustees of the Academy, from the Rector on behalf of the Vestry of the Church at Geneva, and from the Trustees of the Academy and the Ves- try of the Church at Fairfield on the subject of the location of the Theological Seminary contemplated to be established in the western parts of this diocese, under the authority of the Protestant Episcopal Theological Education Society ; whereupon it was resolved, that if the Managers of that Society shall establish a Theological Seminary at Geneva and such provision be made for the accommodation and bene-
1 Records, liber ii., folio 345.
' Ibid., folio 346.
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History of Trinity Church
[1 820-
fit of the students as is held out in the communications from Geneva above referred to, this Vestry will transfer to that Seminary the annual donation now granted to the Academy at Fairfield, it being understood that such donation is now allowed during the pleasure of this Ves- try, and that no further pledge is intended by them in respect to its continuance." 1
May 14, 1821, it was resolved that the monies under the legacy of Godfrey Coon be appropriated
" for the benefit of the Theological Seminary established under the authority of the Convention of this State to be applied towards the establishment of a professorship or otherwise as the Vestry may hereafter direct." ?
"From current notices we find that although the straightened circumstances of the Parish were well known, this did not prevent Churches in and out of the city from applying for aid continuously.
In May, 1820, St. Stephen's Church petitioned the Vestry for aid towards repairing their Church, and the erection of a new one. 3
Under date of the 12th of June of the same year we find the following entry relating to the Church at Flushing:
" Upon the representation of the Vestry of St. George's Church, Flushing, of their intention to rebuild their Church, and of their want of Means to complete it notwithstanding their utmost Exertions, and that they had the offer from one of the Inhabitants of Flushing of an advance of one thousand dollars upon the Bond of this Corpora- tion payable in Ten years with Interest at the rate of five per centum, it was thereupon resolved that upon the completion of the intended new Church this Corporation will execute such bond as a donation to St. George's Church." 4
The Vestry of St. George's Church thereupon lost no time in proceeding with the erection of the Church, and in July, of next year, informed the Board that their new
1 Records, liber ii., folio 355.
3 Ibid., folio 349.
* Ibid., folio 360.
Ibid., folio 350.
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والنساء
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Further Grants Refused
1821]
Church was completed. Accordingly on the 9th of July, 1821, the Comptroller was directed by the Vestry to give the Bond as agreed upon. 1
July 10th the pressing need of money was again felt, and the Comptroller was authorized to borrow $10,000 at an interest not exceeding 6 per cent. in order to dis- charge the amount which the Corporation had agreed to advance to Zion Church.
The lavish generosity of the Corporation was crippling it at every turn, and the ruinous policy of borrowing money to give away, and borrowing more to pay the in- terest on that so borrowed, was working out its results. At last a turning point was reached in this extravagant course. On the 20th of August, 1820, came a petition from Grace Church, Jamaica, L. I., for aid towards the erection of a new edifice. Although the petition was granted, the eyes of the Vestry seemed at length to be opened to the fact that they could not go on as they had been doing, and that a halt must be called. Accordingly, the grant to the Church at Jamaica was immediately fol- lowed by the resolution " that this Corporation cannot consistently with the state of its Funds, and therefore, will not in the future extend aid either by donations or loans to any Church not upon Manhattan Island until its annual Income is equal to its necessary Expenditures." ?
Applications for aid continuing to come in, the fore- going resolution was extended in its scope, and it was ordered, "that for the reason stated in the resolution passed by the Vestry on the ninth of October last, they cannot at the present time make any grant of land or money towards the erection of new Churches." 3
When, however, a memorial was presented from the congregation of St. Luke's at Greenwich, praying for a
1 Records, liber ii., folio 363. 9 Ibid., folio 352. : Ibid., folio 355.
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History of Trinity Church
[1821-
grant of land for a site for a new Church on Hudson Street, the Board took the matter into most careful con- sideration and showed that, notwithstanding the adoption of their new policy, they could, under extreme circum- stances, forego its enforcement.
The congregation of St. Luke's, on February 12, 1821, petitioned the Vestry to give them either
"a scite of a new church on Hudson Street, or a loan of a Bond to be executed by this Corporation for five Thousand dollars, payable in twelve years with annual Interest, and offering to guarantee 10 pay- ments of the Interest annually and that of the principal in four trien- nial payments, whereupon it was resolved that the said memorial be referred to Messrs. T. L. Ogden, Jones, Sherred, Mackie, and McFar- lan, and that they be instructed to report whether the erection of a new Church on the land of this Corporation will encrease the value of the adjacent property, and justify a departure from the former resolu- tions of the board." 1
April 3, 1821,
" The Committee on the application of St. Luke's Church made a report recommending the grant of three Lots of ground on Hudson street for the scite of a new Church, but it appearing by a communica- tion from the Committee of St. Luke's that it was found impracticable to borrow money on the said Lots, and that it may be raised on the Bond of this Corporation payable in Twelve years without Interest, and that if such bond would be given they would proceed to erect a substantial Church of brick or stone, and that the title to the Lots should remain in this Corporation it was therefore resolved, that upon the completion of the said Church and upon its being insured and the policy assigned to this Corporation they will issue such bonds, the lots to be selected as the scite of the Church being located in such manner as may be deemed best calculated to benefit the adjacent property of this Corporation, and in order to such location and to settle with pre- cision the principles and Terms of the proposed arrangement, the further consideration of the subject was postponed until the next meeting of the Vestry." ?
1 Records, liber ii., folio 357.
? Ibid., folio 357.
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St. Luke's Church
1821]
April 9th, the subject of the proposed grant of land being under consideration it was resolved that
" three Lots on the west side of Hudson street opposite to the street next South of Christopher street be appropriated for that purpose, and that the same be leased to the Rector, Church Wardens and Vestry- men of St. Luke's Church for a term of twelve years at a nominal rent, and that when a Church to be constructed of brick or stone, and not less in dimension than 45 feet wide by 55 feet long, shall have been compleated and insured in the name of this Corporation against loss by fire, this Corporation will grant its bond for five thousand dollars pay- able without Interest in twelve years, the right of disposing of the pews at the expiration of three years after the completion of the said Church for the term of three years and for the like term at the end of any three years thereafter being reserved to this Corporation so that the avails of such sales shall be paid to them and remain in their pos- session as a sinking fund for the payment of the said bond, Interest being allowed thereon at the same rate as the Corporation of St. Luke's may pay on the said sum of five thousand dollars to the per- sons who shall lend the same, the pews so sold to be subject to rea- sonable rents to be approved by this Corporation, which rents shall be at the disposal of St. Luke's. And in case the avails of such sales and Interest at the expiration of the said Twelve years shall not be sufficient to extinguish the said bond, this Corporation will renew the same for the balance or deficiency, payable in nine years from
that time without Interest and also renew the said lease for the like Term of nine years, on the same conditions as to the sale of the pews, and if at the expiration of the last mentioned Term such new bond shall not by the avails of the pews or otherwise be wholly extinguished then the said lease shall not be renewed and the new Church shall be- come the property of this Corporation, but if the same bond shall be then paid off the said Lots shall be granted to the Corporation of St. Luke's upon the usual conditions for securing the said Church in this State and on the further condition that no vaults or graves shall at any time be made on the said grounds." 1
June 25, 1821, it was further resolved in regard to the proposed St. Luke's Church, that
1 Records, liber ii., folio 358.
:
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History of Trinity Church
[1821-
" in addition to the grounds lately agreed to be leased to St. Luke's Church that which lies in the rear up to the rear line of the Lots fronting on Greenwich street be included in the lease so as to agree with the present line between the Church lots on Greenwich street and Hudson street, the said line being one hundred and twenty-five feet from Hudson street, be the same more or less." 1
In view of the good intentions of the Vestry, and their evidently strong desire to bring the administration of the finances within the lines of common prudence, and their feebleness in resisting the incessant appeals addressed to them for aid, it became apparent to the more serious minded members of the Board that drastic measures must be resorted to, if enough of the patrimony of the ven- erable Parish was to be retained to carry on its own work. The very serious and alarming condition of affairs was the cause of the offering a resolution by Mr. Henry McFar- lan to this effect :
" Resolved, that a Committee be appointed to enquire into the state of the finances of this Corporation, and to consider and report whether any and what measures ought to be adopted to render the Church property more productive, and that such Committee be in- structed to ascertain and report what sums are now annually paid by this Corporation in salaries and other stated allowances, and whether such allowances or any and which of them ought in their judgment to be discontinued or reduced, and if reduced to what extent."'
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