USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 3 > Part 6
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There is in one of the Sacristies in Trinity Church an attractive monument erected to the memory of Mrs. Ed- mund Haynes. Permission was given to her husband, April 9, 1821, to place the tablet there. It is on the wall on the east side of the room, (now called the sexton's room,) to the right of the door on entering from the church. Of unusual beauty, it bears this inscription :
1 Records, liber ii., folio 362.
'Ibid., folio 358.
45
Select Committee Appointed
1821]
SARAH HAYNES
WIFE OF
EDMUND HAYNES
BORN
IN THE ISLAND OF BARBADOES
DEC. 6, 1779
DIED
NOV. 11, 1820
On the same date a resolution was adopted for the regulation of mortuary memorials, directing that for the future no permission would be given for the erection of any monuments "in either of the churches belonging to this Corporation unless a plan of the same with a note of its intended dimensions and the Inscription proposed be first laid before the Vestry." 1
April 14, 1821, it was
" Resolved that one half of the money collected in Trinity Church and its Chapels in pursuance of the Recommendation of the Mayor for the purchase of fuel for the poor during the late inclement season, and which was afterwards returned by the Mayor, go in aid of the Communion Collection for the use of the poor of the congregations and that the other half be reserved subject to the further order of this board.""
The motion of Mr. McFarlan, already noted, was brought up for consideration at a meeting held in May, and referred to a select committee. They reported, De- cember 10, 1821, but their report was laid upon the table for further consideration. Finally, on the 14th of Janu- ary, 1822, it was
1 Records, liber ii., folio 358.
' Ibid., folio 359.
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History of Trinity Church [1822]
"Resolved that the Comptroller with Messrs. Lawrence, T. L. Ogden, and Johnson, be a Committee to devise and report on a system for the management of finances and accounts of the Corporation and to examine into the state of the Church property, so as to exhibit a full and accurate view of the same and that further consideration of the Report of the Committee on the finances and property of the Church made at the last meeting of the Vestry be postponed until the Committee now appointed shall have reported on the matters hereby referred to them." 1
The extracts from the Minutes in this chapter will give the reader a fair idea of the way in which the finances were managed during the Rectorship of Dr. Hobart. Whatever may be said of it from a business point of view, it is clear that no trace of selfishness can be discovered in the action of the Corporation, and that the difficulties in which they found themselves did not arise from lavish expenditure within the Parish. They seemed to consider themselves as in duty bound to help the poorer churches and congregations throughout the Diocese, going to the extent of borrowing money to send to struggling people as far north as Canandaigua, in Ontario County, and as remote as Windham, in Greene. It should also be remembered that the Rector of the Parish was also the Bishop of the Diocese, and that the large appropriations made to him, or on his motion, were made rather to the Diocesan than to the head of the Parish. The Dioceses in the State of New York have reason to hold this Corporation in grateful remem- brance for what they did in the past for the extension and strengthening of the Church.
1 Records, liber ii., folio 365
CHAPTER IV
PARISH WORK.
Leave of Absence Granted to Mr. Berrian-Appointment of Messrs. Jarvis and Johnson-Sketch of Samuel Farmar Jarvis-And of Evan Malbone Johnson-Elec- tion of Thomas Church Brownell as Assistant Minister-Sketch of his Life-His Resignation-Discontinuance of Interments in Trinity Church Yard-Report of Com- mittee on State of the Church-Creation of a Standing Committee-St. John's Square -Rectory on St. John's Square-Leave of Absence Granted to the Rector-William Berrian Elected Rector's Assistant.
O N the 8th of September, 1817, the Vestry granted leave of absence for one year to the Rev. William Berrian, one of the Assistant Ministers, whose health had completely broken down.1
We will let Mr. Berrian speak for himself :
"In 1817 my own health, partly from a neglected cold and partly from the weight of the duties in this extensive Parish, suddenly broke down, and it was thought expedient by my physician that I should pass the winter in the South of Europe. I therefore applied to the Vestry for leave of absence, and also for the aid which was necessary, having no means of my own. They promptly gave me permission to be gone for a year, and passed a resolution for the continuance of my salary .? This relief, with a considerable sum which was raised by private contributions in the Parish, furnished an ample provision for my journey. Though from my extreme feebleness and the doubtful- ness of the issue, there was some despondency, I went on my way rejoicing, and contrary to the fears of many of my friends returned with renewed health and cheerfulness of spirit to the discharge of
1 Records, liber ii., folio 317.
" This application to the Vestry for pecuniary aid was the first and the last which I ever made.
47
,
48
History of Trinity Church
[1817-
those duties, which, through the blessing of God, I have been enabled to perform for nearly thirty years longer." 1
In consequence of the absence of Mr. William Berrian, the Rector was authorized to engage the Rev. Mr. Jarvis, of St. Michael's and St. James's Church in the vicinity of the city, and the Rev. Mr. Johnson, of New Town, to officiate in the Parish on Sunday afternoons for a period of six months. A few words respecting these two gentle- men who were thus called to officiate during Mr. Berrian's absence may not be out of place.
Samuel Farmar Jarvis was the youngest child of the Rev. Abraham Jarvis, D.D., who had married Ann Farmar, the eldest daughter of Samuel Farmar, of New York.
He was born January 20, 1780, at Middletown, Con- necticut, where his father was then Rector of Christ Church. His early studies were under his father's super- vision, but at the early age of eleven he was placed at the Episcopal Academy, Cheshire, under the Rev. Dr. Bowden. His father, who in 1797 had succeeded Bishop Seabury as Bishop of Connecticut, moved to Cheshire, where he remained till 1803, in which year he moved to New Haven, where his son had entered Yale College, the previous year, as a member of the Sophomore class. In 1801 young Samuel lost his mother, who died Novem- ber 4th of that year. In 1805 he graduated with honor and distinction from Yale. On the 18th of March, 1810, he was ordained deacon, and on April 5, 1811, priest by his father.
On the 22d of March, 1811, he was placed in charge of St. Michael's Church, Bloomingdale, in the upper part of Manhattan Island, and in 1813 he became Rector of St. James's Church, Hamilton Square, which was then
1 Historical Sketch, pp. 262-263.
49
Samuel Farmar Jarvis
1817]
on the eastern side of the Island, near the Harison Road, now Lexington Avenue and Sixty-ninth Street. He served both these parishes until May, 1817, when he was appointed Professor of Biblical Learning in the Gen- eral Theological Seminary, then but recently established. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1819, and that of Doctor of Laws, in 1837, from Washington College, Hartford. While in charge of the parishes of St. Michael's and St. James's he was appointed by the Vestry of Trinity Church to act as assistant during Mr. Berrian's absence in Europe.
From 1820 to 1826 he was Rector of St. Paul's Church, Boston, and from 1826 to 1835 he travelled ex- tensively in Europe, spending six of those years in Italy. On his return to America he was elected Professor of Oriental Literature in Washington (now Trinity) College, which post he held for two years, becoming in 1837 Rec- tor of his father's old parish, Christ Church, Middletown. In 1840 the Vestry gave him an assistant, and the choice fell on John Williams, clarum et venerabile nomen. Re- signing the Rectorship in 1842, Dr. Jarvis devoted his remaining years to literary pursuits. He was a volumin- ous writer of pamphlets and magazine articles. His great learning caused him to be appointed "Historiographer of the Church" by the General Convention of 1838, "with a view to his preparing from the most original sources now extant a faithful ecclesiastical History, reaching from the Apostles' time to the formation of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States."
Dr. Jarvis accepted the appointment and commenced the final preparation of his introductory volume. It was A Chronological Introduction to the History of the Church. With minute and patient investigation, he sought to har- monize varying systems and ascertain the exact date of VOL. III .- 4.
AW
50
History of Trinity Church
[1817-
the birth of our Blessed Lord. He submitted the MS. to the House of Bishops during the sessions of the General Convention of 1841, with a letter of explanation, through his assistant the Rev. John Williams. His plan was ap- proved and his work commended by a special Committee of the House to which the document had been referred.1
After his resignation of the Rectorship of Christ Church he gave his time largely to the completion of his introductory volume. He also commenced a promising mission in Haddam, seven miles from his home, serving it with great faithfulness for some years. Visiting England in 1844 to obtain some necessary material for his History, he was received with marked courtesy and consideration by the Bishops and other dignitaries.
Dr. Jarvis published the Introduction in 1845.2 It was at once recognized as a storehouse of remarkable and little known facts, and a summary of the little understood science of chronology. It was received with much favor, although few could fully understand it. In England it was said there were only two persons capable of reviewing it. After its publication he put into final shape the first volume of the History.
The late Bishop Williams has placed on record this ap- preciation of his friend.
"As a scholar," he says, "Dr. Jarvis was peculiarly easy of access; and this exposed him to continual interruptions, and often drew heavily on his time and patience, but he always gave the one, and I never knew the other to fail. Even during the progress of that great work, to which he had devoted himself, (but which, alas ! he never lived to finish,) he was subjected to these interruptions. Now he was called off to write a pamphlet or a book in connection with the Roman controversy; now to prepare a sermon on some especially important
' Journal of the General Convention, 1841, pp. 98, 99, 102, 103.
" New York : Published by Harper & Brothers, No. 82 Cliff St., Svo., pp. xvi., 618. 1845.
rl
الصحاب الاهـ
51
Testimony of Bishop Williams
1817]
topic ; and continually to reply to letters asking advice or information, in doing which he was obliged to enter on laborious researches, and to sum up results in an elaborate essay, yet I never knew him to refuse any of these applications. The stores of his learning were freely opened to all who came to him.
"With all this he never forgot he was a clergyman as well as a scholar ; and his priestly duties were never put aside. During his lengthened residence in Europe, he ministered to various congregations of Americans and English : while he was Professor in Trinity College, he was constantly occupied in the same way, and almost as soon as he had resigned his charge in Middletown, he began to do missionary duty at a small station which he himself established, in the neighbor- hood. This he continued to serve, with only interruptions occasioned by his necessary absences, till within a few months of his death. For some years, he usually walked the distance between his house and this station, undeterred by weather or any other cause. And I could always see that the office of Priest and Preacher was the same to him wherever it was exercised : whether to a congregation of nobility and gentry in Europe, or to a few humble families in an obscure hamlet of New England. Indeed, I never saw a man, in whose view the dignity and responsibility of the office so entirely absorbed and superseded all thought of the place in which the office was exercised." 1
Dr. Jarvis died at his home in Middletown, March 26, 1851. He was justly considered the most finished scholar in the American Church. One of his greatest benefits to the Church was the training in theology of the late Pre- siding Bishop, Dr. John Williams, who in his accuracy of knowledge, his attention to necessary references, his readi- ness and skill in imparting information, his firm grasp of theological verities, and his lucidity of style brought down to our own day the precepts and practices of the master for whom he ever cherished a sincere and deep affection.
Evan Malbone Johnson was born at Newport, Rhode Island, June 6, 1792. Among his ancestors were Mary Mowry, one of the Quakers expelled from Massachusetts,
1 Sprague's Annals, Vol. V., pp. 534, 535.
52
History of Trinity Church
[1817-
who found refuge on Rhode Island, and Governor Bull of that colony.
Mr. Johnson was well prepared for college in his native town, and entered Rhode Island College, now Brown University, Providence.
After a year he went to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and studied at Harvard College. While at Cambridge he became a candidate for holy orders. He was made deacon in Trinity Church, Newport, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Alexander V. Griswold, on July 8, 1803.
In the fall of 1813 he became Rector of St. Paul's, Norwalk, but soon resigned to accept the assistantship of Grace Church, New York City, on invitation of its Rector ; the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Bowen.
In 1814 he removed to New Town, Long Island, and spent twelve years as its Rector. While Rector of this parish, he accepted the additional duties of Assistant Min- ister in Trinity Parish, during Mr. Berrian's absence abroad.
In 1826 he built, upon a portion of his own land and at his own expense, a church building in the village of Brooklyn. He removed to Brooklyn, organized a new parish under the name of St. John's, and with moderation and great energy built up a large congregation. Mr. Johnson was a faithful and attentive pastor. During his twenty years at St. John's he witnessed a large growth in the population of the village and its incorporation as a city. His farm lands were cut up into city lots, and the " Church in the Meadows," as it had been called, found itself surrounded by houses.
In 1847 Mr. Johnson resigned the Rectorship of St. John's, and took up work among the poor and neglected in the fifth ward of Brooklyn, where there was then no church building of any kind.
53
Evan Malbone Johnson
1817]
In an old market house on High St., below Gold, which he had fitted up in the plainest manner for divine service, he gathered a congregation. The seats were all free, and the Rector was ready night or day to help any one who needed his services. He entered upon this new enterprise with enthusiasm and gave largely for its sup- port from his private means. His eighteen years of work in that part of the city gained for him the respect and af- fection of nearly every man, woman, and child, many of whom he aided with sympathy, prayers, and money.
The congregation was incorporated as St. Michael's Church, May 1, 1851. Mr. Johnson died at his home on Johnson Street in 1865.
"Domine Johnson," as he was familiarly called, was one of the best known and loved men in Brooklyn. In the social and civic life of the city in its earliest period he was a powerful influence for good.
As a priest he did true and noble service; as a man and citizen he wrought for purity, honesty, and efficiency in all public affairs.
As a preacher he was keen, pungent, satirical, logical, forcible. Two of his sermons were published.
In 1836 he delivered before the Convention of the Diocese of New York a sermon upon "Decline in Re- ligion," which by request was printed.1 Another remark- able sermon by him was one upon "The Communion of Saints " preached in 1848, in which he condemned the then prevalent treatment of the negro, especially in his Church relations, as opposed to the true charity and real Communion of Saints in the Catholic Church. This formed an appendix to the Bishop of Oxford's History, which in a brief commendatory preface he introduced to American Churchmen.
1 Brooklyn: John Douglas, 1836. 8vo., p. 16.
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History of Trinity Church
[1817-
He printed the sermon to show his sympathy with the views expressed by Bishop Wilberforce upon slavery in the text of the History.1
Tradition preserves many anecdotes of him; among them I recall these two, which gave me great pleasure. One Sunday morning while going to church, he was ac- costed by a youth, evidently from the rural districts, who asked the way to Mr. Beecher's " tabernacle." Regarding him with a well assumed air of sternness he enquired about his religious status, and his motives for desiring to hear Mr. Beecher ; and finding that he belonged to the Pres- byterian communion, and was induced by curiosity only to go in quest of the popular preacher, addressed him thus: " Young man, I know very well the way to Mr. Beecher's meeting house, but I shall not tell you how to find it. Go to your own church, where you belong, and do not run after novelties."
In his last illness the " Domine " received a visit of sym- pathy from an old friend and acquaintance, the Rev. Dr. Storrs. After some pleasant conversation, Dr. Storrs, about to go, asked whether he would like him to pray with him before taking leave. In reply Dr. Johnson said : "What are you going to pray?" Taken aback by this question, his visitor hesitated for a reply, when the " Domine " proceeded as follows : "Now, Doctor, we have in our Prayer Book an Office for the Visitation of the Sick; I am familiar with the petitions, and if you use them, it will be perfectly satisfactory; but if not, how do I know what you are going to pray? However, if it will do you any good, you may pray if you like; I make no objection."
1 A History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, by Samuel, Lord Bishop of Oxford. New York, Stanford and Swords, 137 Broadway, 1849. 12mo., pp. xii., 357. The sermon is on pp. 328-357.
55
Thomas Church Brownell
1818]
On the 24th of March, 1818,
" The Rector laid before the Vestry a copy of an official act lately done by him as Bishop of the Diocese, by which it appears that the Rev. Thomas Y. How, as Presbyter of this Diocese, having declared his renunciation of the Ministry, and his design not to officiate in the future in any of the offices thereof, had been suspended from the Ministry. The Vestry thereupon declared the office of assistant to the Rector vacant, and appointed a Committee to take means to supply the Church with another assistant Minister and that they advise on the subject with the Rector." 1
" The appointment of an Assistant Minister being under consider- ation, and the Vestry having determined to proceed to such appoint- ment, it was resolved that the person who may be chosen shall be placed on the same footing with respect to salary and to the tenure of his office as the Rev. Mr. Berrian and the Rev. Mr. Onderdonk, the present Assistant Ministers of this Church.
"The Rector then nominated the Rev. Thomas C. Brownell, of Schenectady, as an Assistant Minister of this Church, and it was re- solved that such Nomination be approved, in Confidence that Mr. Brownell will relinquish the office if his health shall not be found so established as to enable him to discharge his duties.
" The Right Rev. the Rector was requested to inform Mr. Brownell of his appointment as Assistant Minister of this Church, and at the same time to communicate to him a copy of the preceding resolution and of that defining the tenure of the office of the Assistant Minister of the Church." ?
Thomas Church Brownell was born at Westfield, Massachusetts, October 19, 1779. He graduated from Union College with highest honors in 1804, and studied theology under Dr. Eliphalet Nott, who became President of Union College that year. He was succes- sively tutor in Classics, Professor of Logic and Belles Lettres, Lecturer and Professor in Chemistry in that Col- lege. After his return from a tour in Great Britain and Ireland, his religious views changed, and from a Presby- terian he became a Churchman. He was ordained deacon
1 Records, liber ii., folio 326.
' Ibid., folio 329.
T
56
History of Trinity Church
[1819-
in Trinity Church by Bishop Hobart, April 11, 1816, and priest, August 4. After his ordination he officiated in vacant parishes, and often assisted the Rev. Cyrus Steb- bins, the rector of St. George's Church, Schenectady. He was appointed, June 11, 1818, an Assistant Minister in Trinity Parish, which position he only filled for one year ; for in June, 1819, he was elected to the See of Connec- ticut, which had been vacant for six years. His conse- cration took place October 27th. At Hartford he founded Washington, now Trinity College, and for some years guided the infant institution as its President. A colossal bronze statue of the Bishop, with his hand extended in benediction, stands on the College campus.
Dr. Brownell lived to administer his diocese single handed for thirty-two years, when, in 1851, Dr. Williams was elected as his assistant. For nine years longer, until 1860, Dr. Brownell officiated from time to time.
After the death of Bishop Chase, September 20, 1852, Dr. Brownell became the Sixth Presiding Bishop of the American Church.
He died, January 13, 1865, at the ripe old age of eighty-six, thus proving the truth of the old adage that the threatened live long.
At the time of his death he was the senior prelate in the whole Anglican Communion.
On the election of Dr. Brownell to the See of Con- necticut the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright was ap- pointed Assistant Minister, November 25, 1819.1 This distinguished person was by birth an Englishman, having been born in Liverpool, on the 24th of February, 1792. After graduating at Harvard, in 1812, he was ordained deacon by Bishop Griswold, April 13, 1817, and priest by Bishop Hobart, at Christ Church, Hartford, May 29,
1 Records, liber ii., folio 342.
TV
57
Standing Committee Created
1822]
1818. While at Hartford he was called to be an Assistant Minister in Trinity Parish, to succeed Dr. Brownell. He remained Assistant Minister till 1821, when he became Rector of Grace Church, which position he occupied till 1834, when he went to Boston as Rector of Trinity Church. On the Ioth of November, 1852, he was elected Provisional Bishop of New York. He died within two years of his elevation to the Episcopate, on September 21, 1854.
On the 9th of April, 1822, a Committee was appointed to confer with the City Corporation as to the expediency of discontinuing interments within the North part of the cemetery of Trinity Church, otherwise than in vaults.
On the same day a Committee on the State of the Church, appointed some time previously, reported, and the following resolutions were adopted :
"Resolved, That the Collector of Rents shall hereafter be charged under the direction of the Comptroller and Standing Committee with the Collection of all monies due to the Corporation including pew- rents, with the Inspection and Superintendence of Repairs and Im- provements, the procuring of Supplies and the other active Business of the Corporation, that it shall be his duty to attend daily in the Cor- poration office at stated hours, and that in lieu of all the other allow- ances there shall be paid to the Collector an annual Salary of one thousand dollars."
On May 13th,1 further resolutions were passed, the principal one being the creation of a Standing Com- mittee :
" Resolved, That the Standing Committee consist of the Comp- troller and six other members of the Vestry, to be appointed annually, and of the Clerk of the Vestry, who shall be a member of the Com- mittee ex officio. It shall be the duty of the Committee to attend to the concerns of the Corporation, embracing the care, disposition and
1 Records, liber ii., folio 367.
Th may
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History of Trinity Church
[1823-
improvement of the Church Estate, the procuring of supplies, the direction of repairs and collections and the regulations of the Books and Accounts. The Committee shall meet as often as the business of the Corporation may require, and keep a minute of its proceedings, and the stated monthly meeting shall be held on the Thursday pre- ceding the stated meeting of the Vestry, in order to examine and arrange the business then to be laid before the Vestry."
All monies were to be deposited in a bank, and to be paid by cheque of the Comptroller ; the office of Treas- urer was abolished ; contingent expenses were to be re- duced ; vacant lots to be leased as promptly as possible ; the insurance on the chapels to be reduced ; the donations to the city churches to be examined into, and reduced if possible; the grant to the academy at Geneva was dis- continued; and the Committee were directed to report on the advisability of raising the rent of the pews.
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