USA > New York > New York City > An historical sketch of Trinity Church, New-York > Part 13
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" I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your most obe- dient servant,
"JOHN RUTHERFURD.
" To the Rt. Rev. Rector and the Church Wardens and
Vestrymen of the Corporation of Trinity Church."
"Therefore, Resolved, That the said resignation be accepted.
" Mr. Bleecker, from the committee on accounts, reported that the committee had met Mr. Rutherfurd and examined his accounts, and the minutes of the proceedings of this Board kept by him. That they found the said accounts were kept by him with great good order and regularity : and that the utmost atten- tion has been paid by him to the interests of the corporation, and the duties of his station as clerk : and that in their opinion he is entitled to the esteem and thanks of this Board for his faithful conduct.
" Resolved, therefore, That the Right Reverend Rector be requested to present the thanks of this Board to Mr. Rutherfurd, for his faithful services in the execution of the said offices.
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" Mr. Rutherfurd's resignation being accepted of, the Vestry proceeded to the choice of a person to officiate as clerk in his stead. Whereupon the votes being taken, there appeared to be a majority in favor of Richard Harison, Esq., and he was accordingly elected clerk to this corporation."
In 1793, a legacy of £1000 was left upon certain trusts to this corporation by Mr. John Leake, and the charitable purposes of which have ever since been faithfully fulfilled. The interest of this sum was to be applied to the purchase of good and wholesome bread for weekly distribution in the church among the needy members of the parish. For more than fifty years the poor have had occasion to remember and bless the bounty of the giver, as we trust they may forever in generations to come.
Shortly after this, in 1795, the sum of one thousand pieces of eight, Danish West India currency, was left to this corporation and the poor of the same, by the will of John Stratford Jones, of the island of St. Croix, the whole of which when received was applied to the benefit of the Charity School.
In the same year Mr. Hugh Gaine made a volun- tary gift of fifty Common Prayer Books, to be placed in the hands of the Rector, and distributed among such country congregations as might stand in need of the same.
In 1792, a committee was appointed to confer with Mr. Stuyvesant upon his proposal for building a church on his land, towards which he engaged to give £800 and a lot of ground one hundred and fifty feet in width, and one hundred and ninety feet in length.
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TRINITY CHURCH, NEW-YORK.
There appears to have been no other contribution towards the object in that quarter of the city. "The offer of Mr. Stuyvesant was taken into consideration, and it was thereupon resolved that this Board would accept of the same, and take measures for building a church accordingly, as soon as the situation of the corporation would admit thereof, and that Messrs. Stuyvesant, Gaine and Jones should be a committee to procure proper plans for the building, and to in- quire what aid could be obtained from well disposed persons for the furthering of the object." Mr. Stuy- vesant, however, declining to co-operate with the other members in soliciting subscriptions for the church, Mr. Van Horne was appointed in his place. There is no record, on the minutes, of any thing having been effected by the committee, though there is reason to believe that something was done, and it would therefore appear that the main burthen fell upon Trinity Church.
In 1795, this corporation agreed to raise £5000 for the purpose, which sum seems not to have been ade- quate to the wishes of the parties concerned, for at the next meeting of the Vestry it was
" Resolved, as the sense of the Board, that the sum of £5000 was the whole that the corporation had en- gaged to contribute towards the Church to be built on Mr. Stuyvesant's land."
Towards the close of the year, the committee to superintend the building of St. Mark's Church, was directed to proceed with the same until it should be under cover, and no further.
The work appears, however, to have progressed
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very slowly, for at a meeting of the Vestry of Trinity Church in July, 1798, a resolution was passed autho- rizing the committee to enter into a contract with C. Halstead for furnishing in part the carpenters' work of St. Mark's Church, for the sum of £1537 10s. 6d., and with Messrs. Pers and McComb for furnishing the masons' work, for the sum of £500. In the fol- lowing year the committee at length reported that it was finished, and it was consecrated by the Right Rev. Samuel Provoost, D. D., on the 9th of May, 1799.
Some time before this a committee had been ap- pointed to consider the propriety of making St. Mark's a distinct church from this corporation, and whether such disposition could be legally made. The opinion of Richard Harison and Alexander Hamilton being satisfactory on this point, the measures for this pur- pose were taken accordingly.
"Mr. Harison reported that the first step necessary for the organization of that church would be to con- vey the Church and land adjoining it, to trustees in trust for the corporation of St. Mark's Church, when the same should be formed. The trustees having been appointed, and the conveyance duly made, Mr. Stuyvesant informed this Board that Churchwardens and Vestrymen were chosen for St. Mark's Church, and measures taken for the incorporation of the same, and a petition was presented praying for the further aid of Trinity Church.
"It was therefore resolved that the committee of leases should be instructed to designate such lots as it might be proper to convey to St. Mark's Church, and
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which might produce them a revenue equal to £200 per annum :
" And that Mr. Harison should be authorized to pur- sue such measures as might in his judgment be adap- ted to obtain such an act of the Legislature as was recommended in his and General Hamilton's opinion of the 9th of April, 1798."
After the church was reported to have been fin- ished, several things still remained to be done. A bill of £72 15s. 9d. was paid by Trinity Church for painting and ornamenting the interior.
And the small bell of St. Paul's was given to St. Mark's.
"On the report of the committee of leases, it was further resolved by the Vestry of Trinity Church, that the following lots should be a donation to St. Mark's Church in the Bowery, as an evidence of their cordial wishes to promote the cause of religion :
3 lots on Warren-street,
5 " on Provoost,
2 " on Greenwich, and
3 " on Reade," making
13 in all, and producing at the time a rent of £200 per annum.
This liberal grant appearing to have been deemed insufficient to satisfy the wants and wishes of the Vestry of St. Mark's, the corporation of Trinity Church enlarged it, so as to make the whole number of lots thirty, which produced at the time an annual income of £500, viz :
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5 lots in Warren-street,
1 " in Church
9 " in Reade
3 " in Harison 66
6 " in North Moore-street,
6 " in Provoost "
Total 30. The present value of which is probably not less, at a moderate computation, than $131,500.
This noble endowment, not yet appearing ample enough, the Vestry of Trinity Church a short time after received another application to build them a par- sonage house.
"It was thereupon resolved, that the Rector should inform the gentlemen by whom it was made, that as this Board had already been very liberal in the endow- ment of said church, they could not, in justice to other churches which had equal claims, grant them any further donation."
Not discouraged, however, by this refusal, the Ves- try of St. Mark's Church, in the following year, pre- sented a petition to the Vestry of Trinity for a loan of £800, which the Rector was also requested to inform them could not be granted.
After the lapse of a few years more, however, an- other application was received from the Rector and Churchwardens of St. Mark's, praying aid to finish a steeple to their church, whereupon it was resolved, that this Board could not grant the assistance required, but that nevertheless the sum of five hundred dollars should be granted towards finishing and covering the tower of said church.
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TRINITY CHURCH, NEW-YORK.
Besides these various grants, two donations were made to the Rector of St. Mark's in 1810, amounting to the sum of a thousand dollars.
The money expended in the erection of St. Mark's, the several grants which were made to it, and the ample endowment of it in land out of the heart of the Church estate, could not be reckoned in the aggre- gate, considering the present value of the latter, at less than $150,000.
Can it be conceived that, in the recollection of these multiplied acts of liberality and kindness, there could be any other feeling on the part of St. Mark's than that of filial gratitude and love towards the church from which she sprang ?
On the recommendation of several members of the parish, it was resolved, on the 1st of October, 1792, that the Rev. Mr. John Bisset should be called as an Assistant Minister, at a salary of £250 per annum, for three years, after which the same should be at the pleasure of the corporation. His salary was raised at the expiration of the term, on account of the in- creased expenses of living, to £500 a year, and Dr. Moore's to £600. On this occasion a circumstance occurred which was remarkably characteristic of the modesty, the delicacy, and peaceful disposition of this venerable man. The following letter from the Rev. Dr. Moore was addressed to this Board :
" NEW-YORK, Dec. 14, 1794. " GENTLEMEN :
" At your last meeting you were pleased to add the sum of £100 per annum to my salary. It is well known to you all, that this resolution of your Board
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was passed without any solicitation on my part. The frankness of the offer, therefore, enhances its value, and affords an additional claim to my grateful acknowledgments. But as I have since been in- formed that some of the congregation have expressed their dissatisfaction at this augmentation of my salary, and as I wish not that any occasion should be given for uneasiness and dissention, I must beg leave to de- cline the acceptance of the hundred pounds in ques- tion. In hopes that you will not disapprove of my determination on this subject, I remain, gentlemen,
" Your obliged and humble serv't,
"BENJ'N MOORE."
The Vestry, however, with their usual liberality, would not permit Dr. Moore to suffer from his gener- osity and kindness. For after his letter had been read, a motion was made by Dr. Johnson, seconded by Mr. Rogers, that one hundred pounds per annum should be added to the salaries of the Rector, Dr. Moore and Dr. Beach, which motion was negatived ; and
Mr. Gaine, seconded by Mr. Laight, moved, and it was resolved, that the sum of two hundred pounds should be given by this corporation to the Rector, and the sum of one hundred pounds to Dr. Moore, and the like sum to Dr. Beach, in aid of their present salaries, on account of the extra expense of living.
Mr. Bisset, of whose eloquence and popularity as a preacher I had often heard, but of whose earlier and later history I have not been able to obtain any certain information, remained in the Parish till 1800, when he resigned his place and returned to Great Britain.
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TRINITY CHURCH, NEW-YORK.
On this occasion the Vestry, with their accustomed kindness, made him a present of £150.
A special meeting of the corporation of Trinity Church was held at the house of the Right Rev. Bishop Provoost, on Friday, the 20th of December, 1799, on an occasion when the whole nation was plunged in the deepest grief. There was but one thought that then occupied the minds of all men, and it was this alone that had called the Vestry together. It was to give expression to their sorrow in common with that of the people at large, for the loss of the Father of his Country. The record is beautiful for its very simplicity. It is entered alone on the broad page of a large folio, and with a striking delicacy is surrounded by a black border, indicating the feelings with which it was indited :
" Ordered, That in consideration of the death of the late Lieutenant-General George Washington, the several churches belonging to this corporation be put in mourning."
In the same year St. Paul's Chapel was in great danger of being destroyed by fire. I have a vivid recollection of the circumstance, and also, unless my memory deceive me, of the occasion of it. It was communicated to the steeple of St. Paul's by some burning fragments, blown from the house occupied by Sir John Temple, in Greenwich-street, which was on fire at the time. I was an eye-witness of the coolness and daring of the persons by whose efforts it was extinguished. For this important service there was distributed among them the sum of sixty pounds, and very special attention was taken by the Vestry in
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order to prevent the recurrence thereafter of similar accidents.
In the following year, September 8, 1800, an ap- pointment was made of an Assistant Minister, who was probably not regarded at the time as exceeding very greatly the ordinary standard of a young man of promise, but who turned out one of the most extra- ordinary men of the age, and who afterwards filled the Church, both at home and abroad, with his fame. It was John Henry Hobart. To the communication which was made to him of his appointment, by Dr. Charlton, Mr. Hamersley and Mr. Gaine, the com- mittee raised for the purpose, Mr. Hobart returned the following answer :
" DR. JOHN CHARLTON :
" Sir-I take the liberty of informing you, as chairman of the committee who presented to me the call from the Vestry of Trinity Church to the office of an Assistant Minister, that I accept the said office on the terms stated in the call. The congregation with which I am at present connected have exerted themselves so much to render my situation comfortable and happy, that I think I cannot with delicacy and propriety leave them before the spring, unless they should signify to me that they have chosen another minister, and are willing to dispense with my services.
" Permit me, through you, sir, to express to the Vestry my sensibility to the polite and honourable manner in which this business has been conducted. The best evidence that I can give of my feelings, will be an endeavour to act in all cases with fidelity and
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TRINITY CHURCH, NEW-YORK.
independence, governed only by a sincere regard to the sacred dictates of conscience and duty. The sta- tion would require the judgment and experience of more advanced years .* I shall have therefore a pecu- liar claim on the friendship and counsel of the Vestry, on the candour and support of the congregation, and on the affectionate advice and aid of my superiors and brethren in the ministry. Thus strengthened and supported while I endeavour faithfully to discharge my duty, I trust that I may hope for the presence and blessing of Almighty God.
"With sentiments of sincere respect for yourself and the committee, and for the Rector and Vestry of the Church,
I am, Sir, Your obed't servant, "JOHN HENRY HOBART.
" DR. CHARLTON."
It appears that the difficulty which he apprehended, of not being able to enter upon his office until spring, was in some way obviated, for on the 21st of January, 1801, the treasurer of the Vestry was ordered to pay Mr. Hobart one hundred pounds, in consequence of the extraordinary expenses of his removing to the city at that season of the year.t
There was a curious oversight in regard to one of the circumstances connected with this appointment,
* Mr. Hobart was at that time only twenty-five years of age.
t The salary of the Assistant Ministers, at the time Mr. Hobart was appointed, was £500, and that of the Rector £700 per annum.
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which has occurred since, I believe, on several occa- sions.
At the meeting of the Vestry, which was held on the 12th of April, 1802, the Board came to the fol- lowing resolution :
" Whereas the Charter of Trinity Church requires that when an Assistant Minister shall be called to offi- ciate in said Church, he shall be in Priest's orders, and whereas the Rev. J. H. Hobart was called to the said office when he was only in Deacon's orders, (but) has since been admitted to the order of a Priest, therefore resolved, that the said call is hereby ratified and con- firmed, to all intents and purposes."
At the same meeting of the Vestry as that at which Mr. Hobart was called as an Assistant Minister, it was represented by Dr. Charlton, as the wish of Bishop Provoost, to resign his office as the Rector of this corporation at some future period. He afterwards reported to the Board, on the 9th of November, 1800, that it was his intention to do so immediately on Mr. Hobart's taking upon him the duties of his office.
"It was therefore resolved, that his salary should be continued to the first of August ensuing, and also that he should have the use of the house he then occupied to the first of November.
" And it was likewise further resolved, that on the resignation taking place, this Board would allow him the sum of one thousand dollars annually during his life, and that the clerk should be authorized to prepare some proper instrument, under the seal of this corpo- ration, for such annuity ; and that the said instrument should be submitted to Mr. Cadwallader D. Colden, as
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TRINITY CHURCH, NEW-YORK.
the Rector's Attorney. The resignation was made at the following meeting, December 22, 1800, in due legal form, and was accordingly accepted, after which the Rector took leave of the Board in the most affec- tionate manner."
The following brief sketch of the life and character of Bishop Provoost, is taken from a fuller one which appeared some time since in the Churchman, and which was written by his son-in-law, the late Cadwallader D. Colden, Esq., with additions by Mr. Geo. B. Rapelye :
" The family from which Bishop Provoost was de- scended, from the earliest period to which it can be traced, (1550,) was French. In some of the old books which came down to him, there is the Provoost coat of arms, with the motto, Pro libertate. It has some times been supposed that the Bishop adopted the motto at the time when he took a decided part in favour of the liberties of this country, but this is a mistake, as it was undoubtedly borne by the family in remote times.
" The first of the name of whom any trace can be found, was a William Provoost, who resided in Paris at the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The family were Huguenots, and this William Provoost. with another member of the same, made their escape from the murderers employed on that occasion. He married a lady by the name of Tam Waart, with whom, in 1634, he came to New-York, then New- Amsterdam. Samuel Provoost, the subject of this memoir, who was a descendant of William, was born in this city on the 20th of February, 1742. It is curious to observe, as indicative of the superstitions
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of the times, that his father was not only careful to record the exact hour and minute of his children's birth, but he also set down the aspect of the heavens at the time.
"Samuel was baptized by Dominie Galterus Du- Bois. After he had received the rudiments of ordi- nary classical instruction, he entered as one of the early students of King's (now Columbia) College, then a frame building in Trinity Church-yard; and was one of a class of nine that graduated at its first commence- ment, receiving his baccalaureate degree in his seven- teenth year.
" His ancestors, for several generations, belonged to the Dutch Church. When he joined the Church of England does not appear. The probable conjec- ture is, that he may have been somewhat influenced in this respect, by pursuing his collegiate course at home, under President Samuel Johnson, (who was also a settled minister of Trinity Church,) and by finishing his education abroad, at an English univer- · sity ; or what is more probable, he may, like others, have been driven from the Dutch Church, by its con- sistory's pertinaciousness in disregarding the entreaties of the younger part of the two congregations, to have a part of the services conducted in the English language.
" In the summer of 1761, he embarked for Europe. He arrived at Falmouth in September, and in Novem- ber he entered fellow-commoner of St. Peter's' Col- lege, Cambridge, England. While he seems to have partaken freely of the gaiety which was then the fashion of the English universities, he appears also to
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have prosecuted his studies with great assiduity. His father allowed him a private tutor, the celebrated Dr. John Jebb, a man of distinguished talents, with whom Mr. Provoost formed an ardent friendship, and was in correspondence so long as Dr. Jebb lived.
"Soon after Mr. Provoost had commenced his stu- dies at Cambridge, he seems to have decided on the Church as his profession, and it is evident, from the letters between him and his father, that this was his own unbiassed choice.
"He had acquired a knowledge not only of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, but he made himself master of the French and Italian.
"In a letter to his father, dated 15th April, 1765, he says, ' I can get my degree and commendamus here whenever I please ; nothing but my being too young for orders could prevent my returning home next summer.'
" On the 3d of February, 1766, he was admitted to the order of Deacon at the Chapel Royal of St. James' Palace, Westminster, by the Bishop of Lon- don ; and on the 25th of March of the same year, he was admitted to Priest's orders at the King's Chapel, in Whitehall, by Dr. Edmund Kean, Bishop of Chester.
" Benjamin Bousfield was a fellow student of Mr. Provoost, at the University of Cambridge; they were intimate friends. Mr. Bousfield was the only son of Thomas Bousfield, a man of large estate, and then the only banker in the city of Cork, Ireland. The son was afterwards a conspicuous character in the Irish House of Commons, and ex-sheriff of the county
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of Cork during the great political contentions of that country. He was so far a literary man, that he ven- tured to enter the field with the great Edmund Burke, and write an answer to Mr. Burke's celebrated book on the French Revolution.
" At about the period last mentioned, the widowed mother of Mr. Bousfield, and her daughter Maria, paid a visit to Cambridge. The acquaintance between Mr. Provoost and the sister of his friend, soon ripened into a mutual attachment, and on the 8th of June, 1766, they were married in St. Mary's Church, Cam- bridge, by one of the senior fellows of Trinity College.
" Mr. Provoost was probably induced to take this step the sooner by the prospect which was then held out to him, of an immediate and eligible settlement in his own country. The Vestry of Trinity Church were then building a second Chapel, (St. Paul's,) and he was informed by his correspondents, that the inten- tion was to offer him a living in that Parish.
" Soon after his marriage, he returned to New-York with his bride, and in December, 1766, he accepted a call to be one of the Assistant Ministers of Trinity Church, which embraced St. George's and St. Paul's Chapels; the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty, Rector, the Rev. John Ogilvie and the Rev. Charles Inglis, Assistant Ministers."
He continued his connection with the parish until a short time before the Revolutionary War, when it was temporarily dissolved.
"Soon after he left it, he determined to seek in the country that quiet which the perturbed state of the city did not allow. He purchased a small
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farm at East-Camp, which was then in Dutchess County. In the selection of this spot, he was, no doubt, in some measure, 'influenced by its being in the neighbourhood of the Livingston families. Mr. Walter and Mr. Robert Cambridge Livingston had been fellow-students with him at the English university. In the latter part of 1770, or beginning of 1771, he removed with his family to East-Camp. From this time till the close of the Revolutionary War, Mr. Provoost seems to have lived in perfect retirement, occupying himself with literary pursuits, for which he had a great taste. His political sentiments, however, were so well known, and his character and abilities were so much respected, that his name was put, by the leading politicians of the day, at the head of a list of persons who were to be delegates to the Pro- vincial Congress, but he declined accepting this office.
" But after the termination of the Revolutionary War, Mr. Provoost's prospects very soon changed. A few days before the British troops finally evacuated the city of New-York, the persons who then claimed to be the Vestry of Trinity Church,* elected the Rev. Benjamin Moore, Rector, in the place of the Rev. Dr. Inglis, who was about returning to England with the army, in consequence of the act of the Legislature, passed four years before, which banished his person, and confiscated his estate.
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