USA > New York > New York City > An historical sketch of Trinity Church, New-York > Part 4
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On the death of Mr. Thomas Huddlestone, it was ordered by the Vestry,
That Mr. Vesey, the Church Wardens, Mr. Livingston and Mr. Chambers, be a comittee to prepare an humble address to the Venerable Society for propagating the Gospell in foreign parts, that they will favourably be pleased to appoint Mr. Thomas Noxon their schoolmaster in this city, and to continue their salary for that purpose. And the said Mr. Noxon having undertaken that the office of Clerk to the Church shall be officiated to the satisfaction of the Vestry, he is thereupon appointed and chosen Clerk accordingly. This address was drawn up, and signed, in the words following, to wit :
NEW-YORK, the 30th of October, 1731.
REVEREND SIR :
It having pleased Allmighty God to take unto himself Mr. Thomas Huddlestone, the Society's Schoolmaster, in this city, wee, the Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestry of Trinity Church, most humbly entreat that Venerable Body to continue that charity, which has hitherto been of great use and service to the poor children of this place, as well as a nursery to our Infant Church, in bringing up and instructing them in the principles of our Most Holy Religion ; and if the Society would be favourably pleased to appoint Mr. Thomas
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Noxon, of this city, in that office, we should esteem it a singular favour, he having been for many years past (and still is) one of our Vestry, a person of exemplary piety and vertue, and instrumental in bringing several persons to our Communion, and one whom we persuade ourselves will discharge that duty with the utmost diligence and faithfulness.
Sir, we conceive it necessary to acquaint you, we are informed the Widdow Huddlestone, mother to the deceased, immediately after her son's death got an address drawn up to the Honble Society, in order to have the school and their bounty conferred on her ; and as she or her daughter carried the same about, they got several Inhabitants of this city to sign the same in her favour, some of them, as we believe, induced thereto by meer compassion, and others not only by that, but also believing it was approved of and countenanced by us ; and this address we expect will be transmitted you by this or the next conveyance, in which, had it been offered to us, we would readily and heartily have joined, could we have thought Mrs. Huddlestone, in her advanced years, a person proper or capable to discharge a trust or duty of such great importance both to the City and Church.
But as we cannot recommend her as such, yet we humbly beg leave to recommend her and her poor family to the Venerable Society, as objects worthy of their charity, both husband and son having been faithfull servants to them in the discharge of their respective duties.
We are, Revd Sr,
Your much obliged and most h'ble servts.
The Society having graciously yielded to both these requests, the following letter of thanks was returned by the Vestry :
NEW-YORK, May, 1732.
REV. SIR :
We, the Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestry of Trinity Church in this city, beg leave to acquaint you, the Reverend Mr. Charlton communicated to us your Letter of the thirteenth of December last, by which we are Informed that the Society have been pleased to condescend to our joint request in appointing him Catechist, in the room, of Mr. Colgan ; and by your favour of the twenty-fourth of
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February following, you are pleased to acquaint us that that Venerable Body, in regard to our Recommendation, have been favourably pleased to appoint Mr. Thomas Noxon to succeed Mr. Huddlestone as school- master, and to order a gratuity of Twenty pounds to Mrs. Huddlestone ; for all which favours, we readily embrace this first opportunity of returning our most humble and hearty thanks to the Honble Society, and beg leave to assure them we shall not only be very cautious in our recommendations, but likewise, upon all occasions in our power, endeavour to encourage and further their pious intentions, and pur- suant to their commands signified in your said letter, we hereby certify, that the said Wm. Noxon began to teach school on the twenty-second day of April last, and we have appointed the Rector, Church Wardens, and some of the Vestry a Comittee, to visit the said school from time to time, as occasion shall require, to certify the number of scholars, management, and progress thereof, who have this day visited his school, and found in it upwards of forty. poor children under his Instruction. All which we desire you to acquaint the Honble Society of, which, with our sincere prayers to Allmighty God for their prosperity and happiness, concludes us both their and your much obliged and most obedient servants.
Which was approved of and signed.
Mr. Noxon, at the time he received the appointment as School- master of the Society, had been eighteen years a member of the Vestry. The discharge of his various duties, therefore, being too laborious for him, he informed the Board, that by reason of his being advanced in Years, he was desirous to surrender his Office as Clerk of the Church, provided the Vestry would be pleased to continue him therein untill the 19th. day of October next, at which time his Year would be compleat and Expire. And Mr. Man, who Officiated in setting and singing the Psalms, having declared his willingness and consent to continue the same under Mr. Noxon, upon his being paid half the salary allowed Mr. Noxon, according to their agreement, until that time, the said proposal was agreed to by this Board.
It was ordered, the Church Wardens should pay to Mr. Noxon a year's salary which was due to him; and that they should pay unto the said Mr. Man three Pounds for half a Year's service under Mr. Noxon, at the request of the Church Wardens.
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Mr. Noxon continued his labours with fidelity and success, until worn out with age and infirmities, he at length resigned his employment in 1741; and upon the recommendation of the Rev. Mr. Commissary Vesey, and the Church Wardens and Vestry, together with that of the Rev. Mr. Charlton, the Society appointed Mr. Hildreth in his place.
The project of enlarging Trinity Church, was brought forward in the Vestry in the year 1718; but the work does not appear to have been fully com- pleted until 1737. It was originally, as has been already remarked, a small square edifice, but finally was of an oblong form, being 72 feet in width, and 148 feet in length. From the sketch of it, which was afterwards taken when in ruins, and from the accounts of many aged people who still remember it, it appears to have been a well-proportioned and imposing edifice.
There are several entries on the minutes in regard to the details of the plan, which are somewhat curious, but no general description.
Ordered, that the Church be enlarged as far as the Street, & that Mr. Bickley, Capt. Clarke, Mr. Peter Barberie, Mr. Jnº. Moore, Mr. Balme, & Mr. Jos. Reade, or any four of them, be appointed a Committee to consider what forme may be most proper, and report the same to this Board.
Mr. Bickley proposed to this Board, that a Gallery may be built over his Excellency's Pew; and that his Excellency having been acquainted therewith, was pleased to acquiesce therein. Whereupon it is resolved, Nemine contradicente, that a Gallery be built from the old Gallery over his Excellency's pew, and the Batchelors' pew, to the wall.
Ordered, that a New Gallery be built over the West Gallery,
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if the charge thereof can be defrayed by subscriptions ; and when built, the front pews to be appropriated to Housekeepers and their wives, Masters of vessels and their wives, and School Masters and their wives ; and the range of pews at Each end of the said Gallery, for Mr. Jenny's & Mr. Huddlestone's scholars-Mr. Jenny to have the first choice. The two ranges of pews in the middle, to be in common.
The methods by which the money was raised, seems to have been in part by loans, but principally by the sale of pews, and the voluntary contributions of the parishioners .* A list of those who were pur- chasers of the pews, and the prices which were given for them, will be found in the Appendix,t as well as the names of the contributors and the sums they subscribed .¿ They will, no doubt, be examined with curiosity and interest, by all who are in any way connected with the Parish.
In the enlargement of the Church, the pulpit was taken from the situation which it had formerly occu- pied, and was placed on the side of the north wall. By this change, which made of course an alteration with respect to it, in the relative position of the pews, many, as is the case in the new church at the present day, were greatly incommoded.
It was therefore ordered, that the Church Wardens, Mr. Hors- manden, Mr. Watts, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Reade, Mr. Moore, Mr. Sou- maine, Mr. Searle, MI. Hamersley, Mr. Crooke, Mr. Nicholls, Mr. Duane, or any seven, (one of the Church Wardens to be one,) should be a committee, to treat with such persons as were dissatisfyed with their Pews since the removall of the pulpitt, and to agree with them in the best manner they could.
In the brief description which has already been
* See Appendix F. t Appendix G.
¿ Appendix H.
e
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given of the interior of this church, it was said to have been more highly ornamented than any other in the city. Three full sets of Communion plate * had been bestowed on it by the bounty of the crown, in the reigns of William and Mary, Queen Ann, and one of the Georges, inscribed with the initials of the names of the donors, and the royal arms. An altar piece was prepared, according to the plan of Mr. Ro- bert Elliston, towards which he himself contributed £20. The furniture of the Communion table, the desk, and pulpit, from an entry on the minutes, appear to have been of the richest and costliest kind.t
Capt. Richard Jeffreys and Capt. Nathaniel Rich- ards made a present to the Church of two glass branches, and some broad gold lace; for which generous gifts the Vestry returned them their thanks,
* Another was presented at a later period, by Governor Tryon. Besides these, there were several smaller gifts of the same kind, from private persons, at different times. A very handsome silver basin, from Mr. Robert Elliston, to receive the offerings at the Communion. Two for the same purpose from Mrs. Leaver, in the recollection of whose kindness, permission was given her by the Vestry, to sit in the pew next to the wall on the right hand of the Governor's, during her life. And another from the Rev. Dr. Barclay.
Col. Robinson, one of the Wardens of the Church, acquainted the Board, that Capt. Farmar had brought him from England, crimson damask for a new set of furniture for the Communion table, pulpit, and reading desk, with fringe, lining, and tassels for the same ; which cost forty-two pounds eleven shillings and threepence sterling.
Upon which, Col. Robinson was ordered by the Vestry to deliver to Mr. Peter Jay, the old Communion cloth, pulpit cloth, and desk cloth, for the use of the Church at Rye, in Westchester County.
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HISTORY OF
and offered them the choice of a pew for their free use, either in the north or south gallery. An order was passed, that Col. Robinson should cause these to be hung up in the Church, leaving a proper distance for a handsome large branch in the middle; and that he should send to England for one, according to a draft which was made for the purpose. It would seem, however, that it was afterwards resolved to have it made after a more tasteful pattern, prepared by John Ogilvie, of London, and that Capt. Wm. Bryant was to agree with him in the best manner he could, for the charge he had been at in forming the model, but nevertheless at an expence that should not exceed £10 sterling. From the cost of the model, we may infer the great beauty of the branch, and the value of the smaller ones, if they were at all in keeping with the larger.
The organ was built by Mr. John Clemm, for the sum of £520, New-York currency, to which the Vestry, with their accustomed liberality, added a gratuity of £40.
In the pressing wants of the Corporation, during this period and for some time after, a number of gifts and bequests were made to it :
Mr. Reade, one of the Church Wardens, communicated to this Board a letter from Mr. John Cottain, purporting that he had sent a present of Forty half Barrells of Flour, for the maintenance of the Poor of the English Church ; and that he had received the same by Mr. Cornelius Low, from Esopus ; which said flour weighed 65 cwt. 12 lbs. ; and that he had disposed of the same to Mr. Ste- phen De Lancey, at 11s. per Hundred, which amounted in the whole to £38 19s. 11d. New-York money.
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A legacy was left to Trinity Church by Mrs. Mark- ham, the amount of which is not specified.
Joseph Wright bequeathed to it all his real and personal estate. The Vestry retained his house, but ordered the Churchwardens to dispose of his wear- ing apparel and household goods, to distribute the proceeds thereof among his relations and such others as they might see fit, and to pay his debts and funeral charges.
Col. Abraham Depeyster bequeathed to it £50; and the Churchwardens were ordered to agree with his children, as to the ornament (for the Church) to which they would have it applied.
Mr. Joseph Murray left £100 for the use of the poor in Trinity Parish, of which he was long a Warden ; and Paul Richards, Esq. £50, for the same purpose.
And Mr. Thomas Duncan bequeathed to it £500.
There is also a register on the minutes, of valuable books presented by the Bishop of London and the Rev. Dr. Bray, towards laying the foundation of a Parochial Library in New-York, for the use of the Ministers of Holy Trinity Church. In 1733, there was another choice gift of books in Divinity, from Robert Elliston, Gent., Comptroller of His Majesty's Customs, to Holy Trinity Church Library in New- York City; and a second from the same in 1744. The catalogue of these several collections fills nine pages folio in manuscript. They were for a long time kept in an upper room on the north-east corner of St. Paul's Chapel, where there is now a passage-way to the gallery; and on the establishment of the General Theological Seminary in this city, they 4
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were given to that Institution, as a foundation for a Library.
On the arrival of each new Governor in the Province, it was the custom of the Vestry to present an address to him, of which the following is a favour- able specimen :
This Board having agreed to address his Excellency the Governour, an address was prepared, and read in the words following, viz.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE CLINTON, ESQ., CAPTAIN-GENERAL AND GOVERNOUR-IN-CHIEF OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW-YORK, AND TERRI- TORIES THEREON DEPENDING IN AMERICA, AND THE VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE SAME, ETC.
May it please your Excellency :
We, the Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestry of Trinity Church, from a just sense of the manifold blessings which we enjoy under his Majesty's government, esteem it our duty to take this first opportunity of acknowledging his paternal care, in sending a gentleman to represent him here in these his distant dominions, whose noble descent and personall merits have justly preferred him to his Royall esteem, and whose dictates and natural inclinations to make the people whom he governs easy and happy, do so nearly resemble those virtues of his Royall Master, the best of Kings.
We also beg leave to congratulate your Excellency's safe and happy arrival, with that of your lady and family, in this Your Govern- ment of New-York, where we assure your Excellency, we, in our respective stations, will evidence our affection and duty to his Majesty, by a dutiful submission to Your Excellency, whom he hath appointed to rule over us.
And as it is with pleasure and gratitude we reflect on the many Royal favours vouchsafed our Infant Church from its first foundation, so it is with equall pleasure that we promise ourselves protection and countenance in the secure enjoyment of all our Religious Rights and priviledges under your Excellency's wise and just administration.
May Almighty God direct and prosper your government, for the advancement of his glory, and the welfare of the province; and may
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Your Excellency, your lady and family, be blest with health and happiness in this world, and finally inherit eternal life, are the sincere prayers of your Excellency's most obedient servants.
Which address was approved of, and signed by the members present, and ordered thal Coll Moore and Mr. Nicholls wait on his Excel- lency, to know when and where he will be attended with the said address ; who accordingly waited on his Excellency, and reported to this Board that his Excellency would be ready to receive this Board at the house of Mr. Williams, at eleven o'clk on Tuesday Morning next.
On the thirtieth day of September, 1743, the Rector, Church Wardens, and Vestry of Trinity Church, pursuant to the above order, waited on his Excellency Governour Clinton, with their address, to which his Excellency was pleased to make the following answer, vizt.
GENTLEMEN :
I return my thanks for your kind address upon my safe arrivall, with my family, to my Government ; and as nothing can recommend me more to my Royall Master than a firm resolution to make the people under my Government easy and happy, so your Church in particular may be assured of my countenance and protection, in the secure enjoyment of all your religious rights and priviledges.
30th Septr, 1743.
G. CLINTON.
Upon the removal of the Rev. Mr. Colgan to Jamaica, who had been acting for many years as Catechist and Assistant to the Rev. Mr. Vesey, at the request of the Corporation of Trinity Church to the Society for propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Rev. Mr. Charlton was appointed his successor. The long and consistent service of this servant of the Lord, in the same humble, but important office of Catechist to the slaves, demands a brief, though imper- fect notice. He was in the habit every Sunday of teaching and explaining the Church Catechism, and was reported by Mr. Vesey to have given great
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satisfaction to the people, and to have crowned all with a good life. From his appointment at New- York, in 1732, to 1740, he had baptized two hundred and nineteen blacks, of whom twenty-four were adults. * The next year he had seventy black and ninety white catechumens. In 1746, their number had considerably increased, and he could plainly dis- cover a truly pious spirit among them.
It appears, by letters from the missionaries in New- York, that about this period this province, though much less disturbed than the neighbouring ones, had not been without trouble from Methodism and the new light; in which such a deep tincture of enthu- siasm had appeared, as had induced many thinking dissenters to come to our churches and worship God in soberness and truth. And the Rev. Mr. Commissary Vesey writes, that the several boxes of books from the Society, sent through his care to their missionaries, catechists, and schoolmasters, had done good service among the people, and that they were very greatly beholden to the Society for their constant paternal care and bountiful benefactions to them.
In 1746, the Rev. Mr. Commissary Vesey trans- mitted to the Society an account of all the churches under his inspection, and it gave them great pleasure to observe the wonderful blessing of God on their pious cares and endeavours to promote the Christian religion in these remote and dark corners of the
* In 1741 he writes, that he had more than fifty white adult catechu- mens, besides a great number of children, and that his catechetical lectures were well attended.
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world, and the great success that had attended the faithful labours of their missionaries in the conversion of so many from vile errors and wicked practices, to the faith of Christ ; it appearing that there were twenty-two churches flourishing and increasing within his jurisdiction.
The Rev. Mr. Vesey, the first Rector of Trinity Church, continued, as has been before remarked, without interruption for fifty years in the service of the Parish. The last one has been nearly thirty-five years, comprehending together more than one half of the entire period of its existence. What were the labours, the trials and discouragements of the former in his parochial cure, or what were the fruits of his exertions through this long tract of time, I have found no opportunity of learning. The very register of the baptisms he performed, the marriages he celebrated, the funerals he attended, which would have furnished some clue to them, is blotted out of existence ; being reported by tradition to have been destroyed in the great conflagration of 1776. But judging from the multitude of these duties which were discharged by his immediate successors, and the innumerable calls upon the time and attention of most clergymen in large towns or cities, it may be fairly inferred that his burthens were heavy, and his labours abundant.
Thus divided between his public cares and the more retired duties of his parish, and assisted in the latter by most humble and conscientious fellow-labourers, he passed a long life in usefulness and honour, and was at length gathered to his fathers in peace.
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The Churchwardens and Vestry of Trinity Church, by their letter, dated December 5, 1746, inform the Society of the death of the very worthy Mr. Com- missary Vesey, in a good old age, he having been Rector of that Church from its first building, in the year 1697, to the day of his death, the 11th of July, 1746. In the character given of him in the public papers of New-York, he is represented "as having conscientiously performed the duties of his office with unwearied diligence, and uncommon abilities, to the general satisfaction and applause of all. And as he had been a great instrument in promoting the build- ing and settlement of that Church, (when there were but a few of the established religion here,) so, by the blessing of God upon his pious and earnest endeav- ours, he had the satisfaction to see his congregation from time to time increase, the building enlarged and beautified, and now, at last, the inward pleasure of leaving in peace and good order one of the largest and finest churches in America, with a very consid- erable congregation, which justly lament their almost irreparable loss in him, who, in his private life, was truly good, of a grave, thoughtful, prudent and discreet disposition, yet very affable, cheerful and good-natured in his conversation; a most tender, affectionate husband ; a good, indulgent master ; a faithful, steady friend ; and beneficent to all.
" His corpse was decently interred in the family vault, attended by several gentlemen of his Majesty's Council, most of the principal magistrates, and chiefest part of all the inhabitants; and as he always lived a faithful soldier and servant to his great Lord and
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Maker, so he bore his sickness with great patience, resolution, and constancy of mind, and in his last moments cheerfully resigned his soul into his hand who summoned him hence, to receive the eulogy in the Gospel, Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
I know not how I can more beautifully close this first epoch in the history of our Parish, than with the termination of the labours of him, who was thus happily connected with its very commencement.
Immediately after this event, the Board considering the great loss they had sustained by the death of the Rev. Mr. Vesey, and not being willing to call another Rector till they had duly weighed and considered the matter; in order that the Church might be duly sup- plied during the vacancy, passed an order that the Churchwardens should be desired to write to the min- isters of this and the neighbouring provinces, as they should think proper, to preach in Trinity Church in their turns.
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CHAPTER II.
IN the brief sketch of the history of Trinity Church which I proposed to give, I brought down the account in the last chapter to the death of the Reverend and very worthy Commissary Vesey, first Rector of the Parish. The Vestry, as it appears from their letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, immediately proceeded to the appoint- ment of another in his place. In choosing him a successor, they profess to have acted with all the care and precaution becoming so weighty an affair, and they inform the Society that they have elected the Rev. Mr. Barclay, their missionary at Albany and to the Mohock Indians, to be the Rector of Trinity Church.
The Rev. Henry Barclay was father of the late Thomas Barclay, Consul-General of his Britannic Majesty in the United States, so well known and so highly esteemed by thousands among us, and whose place, as British Consul, is at this moment so worthily filled by Mr. Anthony Barclay, one of his sons. In the strange mutations of this growing and changefu city, it is an interesting circumstance that the latter is still a worshipper in our Parish, keeping up the
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