USA > New York > New York City > A history of the parish of Trinity Church in the city of New York, pt 4 > Part 14
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" I do not believe in the assertion upon which the resolutions are based, that the present organization of the Parish of Trinity Church with regard to the performance of its ministerial and parochial duties has been found to impede the growth of piety, or the advance- ment of the best interest of religion and the Church : on the contrary, I consider in relation to ministerial duty that the preaching of different ministers has the effect to keep the attention alive and our facul- ties upon the alert, and induce reflection upon and examination of many subjects which no regular preacher could call into action.
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I35
Memorial from Pew-Holders
1831]
" If such be the fact, as I sincerely believe it to be so, then the present organization of Trinity Church in relation to ministerial duty is decidedly preferable to that proposed by the resolution. In respect to the performance of parochial duty, I was not aware of any complaint upon that subject, nor do I know or believe that our ministers have afforded any ground of complaint. On the contrary, myself and the circle of my acquaintance acknowledge not only attention but polite- ness of yourself and the other clergy of the Church in visiting when no special circumstances called for it. I may safely venture to assert, that in no large parish in this city has the parochial duty of visiting been better or more scrupulously performed than in that of Trinity. Can- dour and my duty do not permit me to pass unexamined the extracts appended to the resolutions. These extracts appear to me to convey censure upon you and our ministers wholly undeserved and not war- ranted by any fact within my knowledge ; I will not allow myself to comment upon it farther than to express my conviction that your visits alone independent of those of the other clergy will be a triumph- ant vindication of the clergy, and show that the charges and insinua- tions contained in that extract are wholly destitute of solid or other foundation." 1
Colonel Graham evidently represented the opinion of many others in the congregation of St. John's. The action of the Directors was a cause of serious anxiety and much discussion. Their memorial, presented to the Vestry on January 10, 1831, was referred to a committee consisting of the Rector, Messrs. Edward W. Laight, Philip Hone, Charles McEvers, Jonathan H. Lawrence, and Peter Lorillard. In their report, which was made at the next meeting of the Vestry, the subject is fully discussed and the conclusion reached, "that for a variety of reasons the Committee consider such a change inexpedient." They apprehended that "it would be difficult and embarrassing to assign the assistant ministers to the different churches by any plan which might be devised in such a way as would give general satisfaction." They assigned as another cause for denying the prayer of the memorialists that "the
1 No. 101 Berrian MSS.
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History of Trinity Church
[1831-
abundant resources of this corporation are all employed in promoting the interests of religion and learning and fur- thering the prosperity of the church throughout the State," and it "is therefore important that they should be kept together that they may be used with greater advantage and effect ; as the connection of the Parent Church with the Chapels gives a wide range for choosing intelligent, upright, and faithful guardians of the sacred trust, the Committee would regret the adoption of any measure which might have the remotest tendency to weaken this common bond of union or to lessen the power of this body in doing good." They were further persuaded that
"such would be the tendency of the plan proposed ; that a gradual alienation of the several congregations from each other would be natural and almost inevitable; that the different assistant ministers would be bound together by no common tie ; that the Rector would necessarily stand in a much closer relation to the whole parish than they would to the respective parts of which they had the charge ; and that he might therefore find it difficult to exercise that general super- intendence and control which are essential to its unity and peace ; that there would be danger both among pastors and people of separate interests, conflictions, opinions, impatience, jealousy, and strife."
Against an assignment of the parochial visiting to the several Assistant Ministers reasons similar in their nature are assigned.
As to the Sunday-schools the Committee speak strongly. Considering their condition
" as a subject intimately connected with the state of the Parish, and the due attention to their welfare to be the peculiar care of the Rector, they confidently look to him for such a general supervision over both on Sundays and in the meetings of the board of Directors as his other duties will permit and for such attention to all their wants and wishes as may afford no reasonable ground for remark and complaint."
In one particular the Committee finds that it can gratify the wishes of the memorialists : "The only way in
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Sunday-Schools
1831]
which they deem it expedient to confine the attentions of the several assistant ministers to particular churches is in the catechetical and other religious instruction of the young a measure which has been before partially adopted and which it is now intended to carry out more fully." In closing the report the Committee commend the industry, fidelity, and zeal of the Bishop "which have been seldom surpassed " and express the confident hope that when he is "released from his present connection with Trinity Church and the Rector and all the assistant ministers will be more directly engaged in promoting the interests of their cure, discontent will die away and the Parish will be peaceful, flourishing, and happy."
This report appears to have been received with favor by a great proportion of the people of the Parish.1 In pursuance of its final recommendations, Mr. Anthon was made responsible for the Sunday-school of St. John's Chapel ; to Mr. Schroeder was assigned the general over- sight of the schools of St. Paul's and Trinity ; while the Rector was to have the direction of those to whom this special branch of the work was entrusted.
1 Records, liber iii., folio 60, 61
CHAPTER V.
THE PARISH AND THE CITY.
Death of President Monroe-The Funeral-Organization of the New York Mission Society-The Church of the Holy Evangelists-Grant Made by Trinity Parish to the Mission Society-Interments in Churchyards of Trinity and St. Paul's Forbidden- Finances of the Corporation-Resolution as to Confining Aid to Churches on Man- hattan Island Only-Oratorios Held in Churches-Condition of Church Music- Sunday-schools-Lectures and Methods of Teaching-Dr. Berrian's Views-The Cholera in New York-Bishop of New York's Pastoral-Church Observance of the Fourth of July-Fast Day Appointed by the Municipality-The Rector's Action Thereon-Meeting of General Convention of 1832-The Ohio Case-Action of House of Bishops-Consecration of Four Bishops in St. Paul's Chapel-The Erection of Monument to Bishop Hobart-Payment to the Sculptor-Proposal to Build a New Church near Hudson Street Cemetery-Repairs to the Organ in Trinity Church- Cutting of a Street through Trinity Churchyard-Remonstrance of the Vestry.
O N the 4th of July, 1831, James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, died at the residence of his son-in-law, Samuel L. Gouverneur, in New York. The city authorities determined to do honor to the venerated patriot and statesman by a public funeral.
A Committee of the Common Council, of which John Yates Cebra was chairman and John R. Rhinelander sec- retary, had charge of the arrangements. On Thursday, July 7, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the funeral train moved from the house of Mr. Gouverneur. An escort of cavalry accompanied the body ; and in the procession were the family, the members of the Common Council, and many military organizations.
On arriving at the City Hall the coffin was placed on a raised platform, extending from the southern front, heavily draped in black. In the presence of an audience
138
1
الصديار
139
Funeral of President Monroe
1831]
which filled the City Hall Park, the Hon. William A. Duer, President of Columbia College, delivered an oration upon the life and services of the late President.
With the Tompkins Blues, a well-known infantry or- ganization of the day, as guard of honor, the procession moved to St. Paul's Chapel, the interior of which was draped in mourning. The Burial Service having been said by Bishop Onderdonk and Dr. Wainwright, the body was taken from the chapel, attended by the clergy of the city and many civic, literary, and social organizations, in addition to those who had formed the procession from the City Hall. The line of march was up Broadway to Bleecker Street and thence to the junction of Bleecker and Second Streets, the site of the old Marble Cemetery. Bishop Onderdonk and Dr. Wainwright preceded the hearse in a carriage, to the place of burial, where the body was placed in a tomb specially prepared for the purpose ; the Com- mittal was said, three volleys were fired, and the long procession disbanded. The ceremonial was one of the most impressive ever seen in New York. During the services the bells of the city were tolled, and minute guns were fired from Fort Columbus.1
After the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, there was a notable increase both in the population and impor- tance of New York City .? Of those who sought a home in the metropolis many were unable to find suitable accom- modations for themselves and their families in the various churches. So great was the need of extensive spiritual work among these new inhabitants and so small were their pecuniary resources, that ordinary methods would not
1 See, for a full account of the death and burial of President Monroe, The New- York Spectator (semi-weekly edition of The Commercial Advertiser), July 8, 1831, July 13, 1831 ; also Removal of the Remains of James Monroe. New York : H. B. Price, 1859.
' The population in 1820 was 123, 706 and in 1830, 202,589.
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History of Trinity Church
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meet the emergency. The subject was much discussed by Churchmen and it was agreed that a special effort should be made to reach these sheperdless souls.
The mother Parish could not take upon herself this great burden; her income was fully employed in the building of churches throughout the State, the partial support of feeble parishes within the city, aid to various institutions of learning, and her own parochial require- ments.
The desire for the formation of a general society for church extension in the city, which had the cordial appro- bation of the Bishop, took final shape in an invitation from the Missionary Association of Christ Church,1 and the Female Auxiliary Association of that parish to the members of the city parishes to meet in the basement of Christ Church on the evening of Thursday, September 15, 1831. At that meeting the Rev. Thomas Breintnall, Rector of Zion Church, presided. After a reference of the subject to a committee, the meeting was adjourned to await its report; and the result was that on the feast of St. Michael and All Angels, September 29, it was resolved to form " The New York Mission Society." A president, four vice-presidents, a secretary and a treasurer, together with the clergy of the city and four laymen from each parish as managers, were chosen. To Trinity and her two chapels were assigned twelve lay managers, and two of her prominent vestrymen were appointed third and fourth vice-presidents. An Executive Committee, of which the Rev. Dr. Wainwright of Grace Church was chairman,
" The officers of the Association in 1831 were : the Rev. Dr. Lyell, President ; the Rev. J. A. Clark, Vice-President ; Elijah Guion, second Vice-President ; John McDonough, Treasurer ; Dr. Galen Carter, Secretary, and twelve managers. The officers of the Auxiliary were : Mrs. Thomas Lyell, Ist Directress ; Mrs. J. Surgit, 2d Directress; Miss Catharine Osborn, Secretary ; Miss Phebe Milner, Treasurer, and eight Managers.
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New York Mission Society
1831]
and the Rev. John F. Schroeder of Trinity Parish secretary, was also appointed.1
It was the desire of the Bishop that the Society should at once commence its work in the crowded and neglected portion of the city east of Broadway, where there were thousands of people without church privileges. A build- ing was found in Vandewater Street, which seemed well adapted for mission work. It had been for some years a Dutch Reformed place of worship, and was for sale on reasonable terms .? The Executive Committee recom- mended to the Society that funds be secured for its pur- chase. Subscriptions were at once solicited, required changes and improvements were made, and on Saturday, November 19, 1831, in the presence of a congregation of clergy and laymen it was solemnly consecrated by the Bishop of the Diocese under the name of the " Church of the Holy Evangelists." Until the appointment of the Rev. B. C. Cutler as City Missionary, the Bishop and clergy of the city officiated according to a routine pre- pared by the Bishop. The Rector of Trinity preached in the church on the Sunday after its consecration.3
' The principal officers chosen at this meeting were : President, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Onderdonk ; first Vice-President, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Lyell ; second Vice- President, the Rev. Dr. John McVickar ; third Vice-President, Jacob Lorillard ; fourth Vice-President, Edward W. Laight ; Secretary, James M. Pendleton, M.D .; Assistant- Secretary, Wm. R. Wadsworth ; Treasurer, J. A. Perry.
$ A list of churches in New York City in The New York Spectator, January 14, 1831, has this item :
"REFORMED DUTCH
*
*
* * ** * *
Paraclete Church in Vandewater Street between Pearl and Frankfort, area 4,800 feet.
Minister, Rev. R. V. Dey."
3 The facts concerning the origin of the City Mission are found in the documents pre- served among the papers of the Rev. Dr. Schroeder, now in possession of his daughter, Mrs. Wright, of New Milford, Conn. They include the report on the purchase of the church, the sentence of Consecration, quarterly reports of the Executive Committee and other valuable historical material. See also p. 46, " History of the Church of Zion and St. Timothy of New York, 1797-1894. Printed for Private Circulation-New York
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History of Trinity Church
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In addition to the private subscriptions and gifts of members of the Parish, the Vestry in 1832 made an allow- ance of six hundred dollars a year to the newly organized Society, which was increased in. 1834 to eleven hundred dollars, and in 1837 to eighteen hundred dollars, and thus continued until 1846, when it was thought that the Society was sufficiently strong to dispense with an annual grant.1
While the Parish was thus actively interesting itself in the general work of the Church, a matter of importance to the public was determined by the Vestry.
The menace to health from interments in the populous portions of the city had been a subject of enquiry and de- bate by the authorities, but no action had been taken. Without waiting for the slow and deliberate methods of the city fathers, the Vestry, on July 25, 1831, passed an ordinance interdicting "interments in graves" in the churchyards of Trinity and St. Paul's Chapel " unless in ground belonging to individuals." ?
During the fall of this year St. Paul's Chapel had its aisles paved with " marble flagging." 3
The requests continually made to the corporation for aid outside the Parish, and the generous responses of the Vestry, desirous to advance every worthy enterprise for the Church within the State, began to cause serious anxiety ; outlays were often in excess of income, and it became obvious that such a course could not be continued without ultimate disaster.
& London. G. P. Putnam's Sons (by Gen. David Clarkson), pp. 389-390," and The Centennial History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New York, 1785-1885. Edited by James Grant Wilson. New York : D. Appleton & Co., 1886. These entries are found in the Diary of the Rev. Dr. Berrian for 1831 : " Nov. 19 attended the consecration of the Mission Church. Nov. 20 I preached my 254th ser- mon at night in the Mission Church."-Berrian MSS.
1 Berrian's Historical Sketch, p. 373. Records, liber iii., folio 76.
" Records, liber iii., folio 66. A city ordinance was passed in 1832 on the subject.
3 Records, liber iii., folio 76.
THE
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Aid to Churches
1831]
The Standing Committee, in a report upon several petitions from " Country Churches," which under a stand- ing rule was always referred to them, recommended that the Vestry, in view of the state of the funds, reaffirm a resolu- tion of August 14, 1820, refusing to " extend its aid, either by donations or land, to any church not upon Manhattan Island, until its annual income is equal to its necessary expenditures." Among the reasons assigned for this course were the necessity of granting assistance "to new churches in this city rendered necessary by its rapid growth and increase of population ; the provision for the family of the late Rector ; and the contribution to the Theological Education Fund and other objects." The Committee was
" not insensible to the great benefit which would result to the cause of religion by a judicious extension of the bounty of this corporation to necessitous congregations of the Communion engaged in the laudable but arduous undertaking of erecting commodious and substantial houses for public worship, and the committee are persuaded that the vestry entertain on this point the same feelings."
After outlining a plan to be pursued in all future grants, the report closes with these words :
" Ardently as the friends of the Church may look forward to the period when such a system may be carried into practical operation, the Committee are constrained to say that in their judgment that period has not yet arrived, and it would be inexpedient at the present time to grant any aid to churches not within the city of New York." 1
The report was adopted.
In those days, the city had no hall suitable for musical and artistic performances. The assembly rooms, in which dances and social entertainments were held, were not adapted to the presentation of music of a high grade. The
1 Records, liber iii., folio 69.
1
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History of Trinity Church
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church buildings were used, apparently as a matter of course, and with no sense of impropriety, for many pub- lic functions. In Dr. Berrian's Diary we find these memoranda :
" 1831.
Nov. 9. Called on several of the Vestry in relation to the Oratorio.
Nov. 18. Attended the Oratorio of the Messiah at St. Paul's." 1
These Oratorios were given by the New York Musi- cal Society, with other important works of similar char- acter ; and, as a result, a critical and cultured musical taste was developed, and many members of the Parish began to wish for improvement in the music in the Parish church and its chapels.
The subject was brought before the Vestry, and the Rector was requested " to devise and report a plan for the improvement of the Church music." His report is deserv- ing of notice as the earliest formal step towards a more effective musical rendering of the service in the churches of the Parish.
After an allusion to the right and privilege of the Rec- tor " by usage and the standing order of the Church to attend to all that relates to this matter with such assist- ance as he can obtain from persons skilled in music " and expressing his natural fondness for music, and the oppor- tunity he had enjoyed "of witnessing it in a degree of perfection unknown in our own country," he proceeds to say, " that the state of our own choirs in Trinity and St. John's, at least, is too low for the standard of taste among ourselves is evident from the frequent complaints which are made of them."
In seeking a remedy for this condition of musical mat-
1 Berrian MSS.
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Church Music
1831]
ters he had instituted an inquiry into the way in which " this matter was arranged by those churches in our city where the music was most approved." He stated that he had ascertained that
" at ' Ascension ' Church the leader of the vocal part was a young lady of great taste and talent, who has been advantageously known in the musical world for many years. She was the only person in that choir, though full and effective, who received any pecuniary compensation. The rest were all drawn by their love of music and skill and by the celebrity of the leader. The salary in this case was $250. The sister of this lady is employed at St. Luke's at a still smaller salary, and, who but little less distinguished, is like her surrounded by singers whose services are entirely voluntary.
"In Grace Church there is a standing appropriation for the music of $1050 per annum.
The organist receiving
$300
The alto and clerk
200
The Ist Treble 100
The 2nd Treble.
150
The Tenor
150
The Bass
150
$1050
" In the associate Dutch Churches the clerks alone received $400 a year."
The conclusion drawn from these facts was
"that if we would have better music greater inducements must be pre- sented to persons of musical talent to enter our choirs. Either the whole or the greater part of our present allowance for all the singers in each choir must be made to one skilful and competent leader alone, trusting to his or her reputation to attract the voluntary services of others ; or the several sums allowed to the different voices must be materially enlarged."1
The reception of this report, February 13, 1832, led to the appointment of Messrs. McEvers, Brown, and Thomas
1 No. 123, Berrian MSS.
VOL. IV .- 10.
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in concert with the Rector, to adopt such measures in re- lation to this subject as they should deem advisable.1
And now the Sunday-school question cropped up again. The managers and directors of the school at St. John's Chapel, full of zeal and impatient for advance, ap- peared to have been chagrined, because the conservatism of the Parish authorities interfered with their plans and proposals, and particularly with their wish to introduce methods of instruction which, as they alleged, had been used with great benefit in the Sunday-schools of other city parishes. Dr. Berrian gave his views on that sub- ject, with much frankness and fulness, took occasion to outline the method of instruction which had commended itself to his mature judgment and that of his colleagues, and declined to comply with their request.
During the summer of 1832 Asiatic cholera first made its appearance in New York. It was brought to America by the Carricks, a vessel filled with Irish emigrants, many of whom died of cholera on the passage to Quebec. From Quebec it rapidly spread to Montreal and other Canadian cities and towns.
It reached New York City by way of the Hudson River, notwithstanding strict regulations of the Board of Health. The first case was in Cherry Street near James Street on June 25th. It soon excited general alarm and apprehension ; after July 3d many new cases were daily reported. In addition to a well-organized Board of Health, a medical council of eminent physicians, of which Dr. Alexander Stevens was president, had full control of the health of the city. Four large temporary hospitals were at once established, and another soon became neces- sary. Medical stations for free treatment were opened in every ward. The epidemic raged for ten weeks, and then
1 Records, liber iii., folio 72.
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Cholera Epidemic
1832]
gradually disappeared. Contemporary records show that there were reported 5835 cases and 2996 deaths. It is to be remembered that many citizens had left the city for the seaside, the mountains, or the towns above the Highlands on the Hudson River, at the first alarm, so that this mor- tality is really larger than it seems.
Bishop Onderdonk set forth special prayers to be used in the churches of the Diocese.1 He accompanied them with a pastoral letter in which, after mentioning that " the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the sickness that destroyeth at noon day " had commenced " its ravages in a province bordering on the United States and on this Dio- cese," he exhorted his brethren " to think seriously of the impending judgment of GOD, to consider the things which belong to your everlasting peace before they be for- ever hidden from you," and urged the clergy to diligence and earnestness in impressing upon all Christian people "their exposure to death and their responsibility at the great judgment to which death will be the summons."
He subsequently sent to the Hon. Walter Bowne, Mayor of the city, a letter in which he alluded to the Church's recognition of days appointed by the civil au- thority, expressing the opinion that a general civic fast appointed by the city authorities would be better ob- served than one designated by any meeting of citizens however numerous and respectable.
In a brief letter to the clergy of the city, June 26th, the Bishop suggested the propriety of "opening their churches for public worship and instruction on the fourth day of July next." 2
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