USA > New York > Westchester County > Rye > Chronicle of a border town : history of Rye, Westchester county, New York, 1660-1870, including Harrison and the White Plains till 1788 > Part 33
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It was during Mr. Wetmore's ministry at Rye that the famous GEORGE WHITEFIELD visited this place in 1740, on his way to
1 Bolton, Hist. Prot. Episc. Church, p. 241. 2 Ibid. pp. 253, 266, 268, 278, 269.
315
MR. WETMORE.
New York after a tour through New England. His journal con- tains the following mention of this circumstance, on Wednesday, October 29th : -
' Rye in New York Province. Being kindly invited by a Minister of the Church of England after dinner I went to Rye, about eleven Miles from Stamford. I read Prayers and preached to a small Congregation. Was civilly entertained by the Minister, and then rode Ten Miles fur- ther to East Chester.' 1
Mr. Wetmore's ministry in Rye extended over nearly thirty-four years. He died of the small-pox, in 1760, at the age of sixty-five. His last years appear to have been saddened by increased dissen- sions in his parish, obstructing, as he complained, the success of his labors ; but his activity seems to have continued undiminished to the close. Tradition states that the disease of which he died was contracted at Mamaroneck, whither he went in the discharge of pas- toral duty. The cares of a large parish did not prevent him from engaging in authorship. His published writings are of a controver- sial nature, and exhibit traits of decision and severity which were probably prominent characteristics of the man. Mr. Wetmore was an American by birth, and in his early life and ministry be- longed to the Congregational body. But in zeal for the Church of England, as well as for the royal prerogative, he was not ex- celled by any writer of his day. He was a strenuous advocate of the dogma that the Church of England was the established church of the colonies, as well as of the mother country ; and asserted it in a manner scarcely fitted to conciliate the masses of a population, nineteen twentieths of whom were of a different way of thinking.
The parish remained vacant more than two years after Mr. Wet- more's death. The people found difficulty in agreeing on a succes- sor, and finally called the Rev. Ebenezer Punderson, of New Haven, who commenced his labors here on the first of July, 1762. The Society in London, meanwhile, had appointed the Rev. Solomon Palmer, of Litchfield, to be their missionary at Rye, but con- sented to the choice of the congregation ; and on the twenty-first of November, 1763, Mr. Punderson was inducted as rector. He had been engaged in the service of the Gospel Propagation Society for more than thirty years; and in a letter to the Secretary, after his arrival here, states the remarkable fact that, notwithstanding ' many infirmities,' he had ' been enabled to perform divine service
1 The two first parts of his Life, with his Journals [from 1714 to 1741], revised, corrected, and abridged, by George Whitefield, A. B. London, 1756, p. 419.
-
316
GRACE CHURCH BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.
every Sunday save one, during that long term.' His ministry in Rye was short. He died September 22, 1764, a little more than two years from the time of his coming.1
The parish church was now 'greatly decayed,' and in need of speedy repairs. In view of this necessity, a number of the inhab- itants united in a petition, which was presented to the lieutenant- governor of the province, on the sixteenth of November, 1764, asking for an act of incorporation. They allege, that the interests of the church are suffering for the want of 'some persons legally authorized to manage' its affairs, and that they and others who are disposed to provide funds for its support and for the better maintenance of the ministry, are discouraged from contributing to the repair of the church, lest the moneys given for that purpose may be misapplied.2 This petition was granted on the nineteenth of December, 1764. The petitioners, and the rest of the inhabit- ants of the parish of Rye in communion with the Church of Eng- land, and their successors, with the rector of the said parish for the time being, were constituted by royal charter a ' body corporate and politiek,' by the name of the rector and inhabitants of the parish of Rye, in communion with the Church of England. The charter provides that they shall meet at the church on Tuesday in Easter week in every year, and choose two of their members to be church- wardens, and eight others to be vestrymen for the ensuing year.3
Mr. Punderson's successor, - the last rector of the parish before the Revolution, - was the
REV. EPHRAIM AVERY, A. M.,
who was called by the Vestry on the twenty-seventh of August,
1 New York Journal or the General Advertiser, 1771, April 4. ' We hear from Poughkeepsie, that on Tuesday the 26 ult. died there, Mrs. Beardsley, wife of the Revd Mr. John Beardsley : she was the youngest daughter of the late Reyd Mr. Pnn- derson, Episcopal minister at Rye, a lady of uncommon attainments in Literature, and a most amiable character. We hear she had lately been delivered of Twins, one of whom is still living.'
" The Petition of the Rector and Inhabitants of the Parish of Rye in Communion of the Church of England as by law Established To be Incorporated, 16th Nover 1764. Warrant to the Attorney General issued dated the 17 November, 1764. (N. Y. Col. MSS., vol. xeiii. p. 4.) The petition is signed by Peter Jay HI. Purdy Thomas Sawyer Elisha Budd John Guion E. H. [Ebenezer?] Brundige
Christopher Trughart [Szenhart?] Joseph Purdy John Thomas
Timothy Wetmore
Gilbert Willet William Sutton
Caleb Purdy
Jno. Carhartt Anthony Miller
John Adee.
3 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., pp. 307-311.
317
MR. AVERY.
1765. Mr. Avery was a native of Connecticut, the son of a Con- gregational pastor, and, like his predecessors Wetmore and Punder- son, was a graduate of Yale College. He came to Rye, his first pas- toral charge, at the age of twenty-four, having just returned from England, whither he had gone to be ordained by the Bishop of Lon- don. He received the Society's appointment, and was duly inducted by order of Lieutenant-Governor Colden, issued September 9th, 1765. Mr. Avery's first letter to the Society is hopeful. 'The people of my parish seem to be under very peaceable circum- stances, an entire harmony subsisting between them and myself, especially those who are professors of the Church of England, and indeed the other party are very quiet.' The present number of communicants is about forty, and others seem disposed to join.
But the young pastor had commenced his labors in troublous times, and among a people already excited and divided upon the great political questions before the country. He found his own flock 'in general much more calm with respect to the Stamp Act than the most of others.' 'Tis true, they esteem the Act rather aggressive,' he adds ; ' but to resist the higher powers in a rebel- lious manner they think not only unlawful but unchristian.' Like all the Society's missionaries, Mr. Avery sympathized strongly with the British side in the growing differences between the government and the colonies. In February, 1776, we hear of him as in correspondence with the commander of the British fleet in the harbor of New York.1 His undisguised opinions upon the subject of the war drew on him the special displeasure of the whigs, and he was one of the first at Rye to suffer the injuries which in after years were experienced by so many on both sides. Our pity is deeply moved as we read of his extreme poverty, his failing health and spirits, and finally of his irreparable loss in the death of his wife, 'a prudent and cheerful woman,' upon whom he depended greatly.2 It 'affected him so much,' writes Mr. Seabury, giving
1 Journals of the Provincial Congress, etc., of the State of New York. Albany, 1842. Vol. i. p. 280.
Mrs. Avery was older than her husband by several years. She was buried beside him in the little cemetery by Blind Brook. The following obituary notice of this lady appeared in the New York Gazette and Mercury, May 27, 1776 : -
' On Monday the 13th Instant died at Rye, in the 39th Year of her Age, MRS. AVERY, the Wife of the Revd. Mr. Avery, Rector of that Parish. She endured a most distressing Illness of six Weeks, with the greatest Patience, sustaining the most exerneiating Pains without one repining Expression, and submitted to her Dissolution with the most placid Resignation to the Will of her heavenly Father, exhibiting a most striking Instance of that Fortitude in the most trying Scene, that human Nature is ex- posed to, which nothing but a well spent Life, and a firm Trust in the Mercies of God
318
GRACE CHURCH BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.
an account of these facts to the Society, 'that when I attended her funeral, I did not think it right to leave him suddenly, but tarried with him several days till he was more composed.'1 We have related elsewhere the unhappy circumstances connected with the close of Mr. Avery's course. His untimely death ended a ministry of more than eleven years. He was but thirty-five years of age, and left ' five or six helpless orphans.' The parsonage by Blind Brook witnessed its saddest scenes in the trials of this poor minister and his family.
Wetmore, Punderson, and Avery were buried in the small plot of ground on the west side of Blind Brook, nearly opposite the church. The earlier rectors, Muirson and Bridge, were buried underneath the church. Of the six resident rectors of Rye, before the Revolution, all but one ended their days here, and await among the people of their charge a joyful resurrection. They were all, judging from the record of their lives and labors here, blameless and faithful ministers of Christ ; laborious and self-denying in the prosecution of a work which was attended with no small difficulty and discouragement ; and conscientious in their advocacy of prin- ciples which they held to be true and important.
They were undoubtedly mistaken in some of the measures which they employed with this design. The pretence that the Church of England was by law established in this province, and entitled to support by funds levied upon the people, was utterly groundless. And the claim to exclusive rights under the Act of 1693 for the maintenance of an orthodox ministry, was manifestly unjust. These pretensions were supported by the governors of the prov- ince, and for that reason were successfully carried out here and elsewhere. But the effect upon the public mind was very unfavor- able. The prejudices of the people were deepened by procedures which they regarded as oppressive and unlawful. We hear of re- sistance to the collection of moneys for the minister's salary and the building of the church ; of lawsuits for the recovery of the parsonage lands ; and of refusal to contribute voluntarily for needed repairs. And after sixty years' faithful labor, the number of com- municants reported by the Society's last missionary at Rye, in 1766, barely equals that which the worthy Mr. Muirson had re-
through the Redeemer of the World ean inspire. . . . Let me die the Death of the Right- eous, and let my last End be like his. By her Death the Husband and five Children are deprived of a most excellent Wife and Mother, and all her Acquaintance of a most sensible, agreeable, and cheerful Companion.'
1 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., p. 323.
319
IMPOLITIC MEASURES.
ported in 1706, five months after the beginning of his pastorate.1 A more striking proof could scarcely be required, of the impolicy of an attempt to sustain religion by means of the forced contribu- tions of a people differing greatly in their religious opinions and preferences. We cannot but agree with Colonel Morris in the belief that the Church of England would have prospered far more in this country, had there been no attempt at special legislation in her favor.
1 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., pp. 166, 317.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THIE CHURCHES : PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.
F FOR many years after Mr. Bowers's removal to Greenwich, in 1700, the Presbyterians of Rye were withont a settled pastor. Some of them, during the ministry of Mr. Muirson and Mr. Bridge, conformed to the Church of England. Others, without relinquishing their religious belief and preference, frequented the services of that church, being, as they expressed it, 'in no con- dition to get a minister according to their own mind.' 1 But much the greater part of the population continued to avow themselves Presbyterians, though conciliated by the judicious conduct of the first rectors, who appear to have been generally and deservedly liked. Neither of them had attempted to use the strenuous measures which their successors freely resorted to, for the raising of their salary. Mr. Muirson, indeed, put up with no little incon- venience rather than pursue such a course. Nearly two years after his arrival, he had received only ten or twelve pounds of the fifty pounds per annum 'settled by Act of Assembly upon Rye parish.' 'It's true,' he writes, ' I could compel 'em by Law to pay the whole, but such proceedings I'm well assured would have been very hurtful to the interests of the Church, in a place especially surrounded with Dissenters of all sorts ; and therefore I thought it better to have patience with 'em till they are more able, than that our glorious work should anyways suffer.' 2
A letter from Mr. Bridge, in 1710, to the Secretary of the Gos- pel Propagation Society, gives us the first exact information as to the relative strength of the two denominations. The inhabitants then numbered seven hundred and seventy-two, including children, servants, and slaves. Of these, four hundred and forty-one had been baptized, ' the greatest part of them before the Church was settled here.' Those that professed themselves of the Church of England were two hundred and eighty-four, of whom forty-three were communicants, ' some still Presbyterians or Independents in their judgment, but persons well disposed, and willing to partake 1 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., p. 247. 2 Ibid. p. 175.
321
REV. STEPHEN BUCKINGHAM.
of the sacrament in what way they can, rather than not at all.' The Dissenters numbered four hundred and sixty-eight, all of whom, except eleven or twelve families of Quakers, were ' Presby- terians or Independents, transplanted out of the Connecticut col- ony.' 1 Two thirds, then, of the population were still ' Dissenters ' in the year 1710, and as the number of communicants of the Church of England never varied greatly from that stated above, we may consider this to have been about the proportion main- tained until the period of the Revolution. "
The people, however, were too poor to ' maintain two differing ministers.' 2 They saw less occasion for doing so while the incum- bents of the English Church were acceptable. They were probably visited from time to time by the ministers of the neighboring towns, as they had been formerly, and had occasional if not regular services of worship according to their own accustomed way.
But upon the death of Mr. Bridge, May 22, 1719, a change took place. The Presbyterians, apparently thinking that it was high time they should have a minister of their own choosing, made the attempt ' to possess themselves of the church.' It had been built by the town, and was doubtless regarded as town property, to the use of which the more numerous body had at least an equal claim. They appear to have succeeded in gaining possession of . the church, and during the three years' vacancy that elapsed before another rector was inducted, they probably met here, more or less regularly, under the teaching of a minister whom they invited to labor among them. This was the
REV. STEPHEN BUCKINGHAM,
of Norwalk, Connecticut. This gentleman was called to Rye in February, 1720 ; ' most of the inhabitants, some communicants,' uniting in the call. As the 'proprietors of the town' were ' for the most part such as were desirous of having a dissenting teacher' among them, we cannot doubt that they readily gave Mr. Buck- ingham possession of the parsonage house and glebe, as well as of the church. Indeed, we infer as much from the statement of the Rev. John Thomas, who writes thus elegantly - April 20th, 1722 - to the Gospel Propagation Society : ' The want of a mis- sionary so long at Rye, has introduced [induced ?] a dissenter to build his nest there.' 3 Mr. Jenney, too, informs us ' there was a Presbyterian preacher at Rye when I came here,' and complains
1 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., p. 196.
3 Ibid. p. 213.
2 Ibid. p. 214.
21
322 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.
that the proprietors of the town endeavored to withhold the par- sonage house and glebe after his coming.1
Under Mr. Buckingham's ministry the Presbyterian congrega- tion appears to have become consolidated ; and thenceforth it main- tained a separate worship. The effort to resist taxation for the support of the English rectors, and to regain possession of the par- sonage property, dates also from this period. No forcible resist- ance, however, was offered to Mr. Jenney's induction. The order of the governor overbore all opposition, but it was with a very bad grace that the people yielded to his mandate.
Mr. Buckingham returned to Connecticut in 1722. The con- gregation, nevertheless, was kept up, and now enjoyed more fre- quent visits and ministrations from the neighboring clergy. Soon it obtained the services of a settled minister. This was the
REV. JOHN WALTON,
who came to Rye about the year 1723, and continued with the people until 1728. Mr. Walton was a member of the Presby- tery of Philadelphia. He was a native of New London, Connect- icut, and graduated at Yale College in 1720. He had been preaching for a while at Crosswieks in Burlington County, New Jersey, before he came to Rye. He is said to have been highly gifted as a preacher ; but he was erratic and self-willed. He came here, indeed, while under the censure of his Presbytery for impru- denee and rashness while in New Jersey.2 But whatever may have been his defects, Mr. Walton's labors at Rye served greatly to strengthen the Presbyterian congregation. Many who had been drawn over to the parish church, some even who were com- municants, returned. The language of the rector, with reference to the new minister, was far from complimentary. 'This Walton, being a bold, noisy fellow, of a volible [voluble] tongue, drew the greatest part of the town after him.' 3
Mr. Jenney's resort to the law, for the purpose of compelling the people to raise funds to complete the church and repair the parsonage, embittered many of the people who had been friendly to his predecessors. And it was this, together with their failure to retain possession of the church, that doubtless determined the Presbyterians at length to set about building a house of worship.
1 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., p. 221.
2 History of the Presbyterian Church in America, by Rev. Richard Webster, D. D., pp. 377, 379.
3 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., p. 246.
323
REV. JOHN WALTON.
Mr. Walton was the promoter of this plan. 'He spurred them forward,' says the rector, in 1728, ' to build one meeting house at the White Plains, about six miles from the Church, and has set them on to build another in the town, within about one hundred rods of the Church : to defray the expenses of which they have obtained briefs from the General Assembly of Connecticut Colony, to beg in all the towns and villages of that colony.' 1
The following is the 'Humble Memorial of ye Presbyterians of Ry & the white Plains,' ' to the Honourable Govern' & Council assembled at Hartford, May 11th An D 1727.'2
This petition 'Humbly Sheweth That yr Hon's memorialists are under many Difficult Circumstances with Respect of enjoying the Means of Grace according to the Purity of the Gospel, first because we are obliged to pay to ye Church of England, 2ª our way of worship is not Established by Law 3ª The opposition made by the Church Party not only in Lessening our Number but in too much striving to discourage & hinder us many ways. Yet notwithstanding all this the Love of Gods Honour & ye Peace of our Immortal Souls has excited a Number of us to expose our selves to Considerable Charge and Diffi- culty to maintain ye Gospel amongst us. We have frequently main- tained the Dissenting Ministers & sometimes have had hopes of settling them. Once we got Timber for a Meeting House but too many Dis- couragements prevented our erecting the same & so after Consider- able Charge our Design was Baffled & our Timber Rotted. But again taking Courage we have erected a suitable Meeting House at ye White Plains & covered the same so that we have once met in it. But being in Debt for part of wt we have done, & utterly unable to finish wt we have begun & being desirous to build another Meeting House down in Ry Town (weh is six miles distant from ye White Plains) therefore the Humble Memorialists of your Honourable House humbly request that there may be a Brief3 pass through the Colony of Connecticut & the mony thereby collected be transmitted to ye Hands of ye Revd Mr. Davenport to be laid out for ye Building our sd Meeting Houses. We humbly beg y' Honours to Remember us in ye midst of yr multitude of business. Pray look on us as yr Children - alienated from ye Privi- ledge of being under y' Protection & Government & all against our
1 Bolton, History of the Prot. Episc. Church, etc., p. 246.
2 Document in the archives of the State of Connecticut, at Hartford.
3 A ' letter patent, giving license to collect contributions for a specified purpose.' The General Court had ordered, October 13, 1681, ' that no Breife craveing the col- lection of the good people in these plantations in this colony shall be read or attended in any plantation of the colony, without it have the aloweance of the Governor and Councill, and be by them directed into what townes or congregations it shall pass, except it be for some speciall occasion for some distressed or afflicted person of their own inhabitants.' (Public Records of Connecticut, vol. iii. p. 92.)
324 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.
will. Pray consider [us] as y' fellow Christians having in our Breasts Souls as Immortal & precious as y" own. Oh pray consider us as under many Discouragements, & that a little of y" help might encourage many that are now Cold & Indifferent. Oh consider ye Indefatigable Indus- try of ye Church of England to help poor places. Paul also tells us he robbed other Churches that he might not be burdensome to ye weak. . . What a noble Enlargement of Christ's Kingdom wd it be to Establish encourage & settle the Gospel amongst us. Is not one soul worth ten thousand worlds ; & can you be easy whilst we perish for lack of vision ? Surely no : the tokens of y" Christ" kindness to others encourageth us. Honored Gentlemen & Beloved in the Lord 'tis not for a Certain sum we ask, only for an opportunity for our fellow Chris- tians to shew their Liberality ; & will not Christ reward you for all y" Labour of Love ? (Mat. xxv.) Will not kindness done to us by ye be reckoned to himself?
' We have made up a Competent tho small Yearly Salery for ye maintainance of a minister, & could we obtain some help in Building suitable places for ye Worship of God, we shd hope to enjoy ye Gospel in a settled way. Therefore in firm constant & steady tho trembling hopes of ye expression of y' Honours tokens of Christian kindness we shall ever pray for yr Hon's Happyness & Remain yr Hon's very Humble Servts ' 1
We can imagine the suspense of the people while waiting for a reply to this memorial. And great must have been their disap- pointment when at length word came to them that it had been
1 Signed -
John Walton
Benjamin Brown
David Horton junr
Ebenezer Theall
Thomas Brown
Joseph Brondige
Hachliah Brown
Samuell Horton Samuell Horton jun" John Travis Benjamin Knap Solomon Lane
Abraham Brondige
Thail [Israel] Kniffin
Samnell Lane iuner
Danjell Purdy
John Hyatt Jonathan Linch
Robart Bloomer
Thomas Robeson
Joseph Kniffin
Michel Barsit [Michael Basset]
Roberd Travis Daniel Lane Roberd Travis
Robart Bloomer jr
Joseph Purdy
Joseph Sharhod [ Sherwood] Jonathan Haight
Andro Sharhod [id.]
Joseph Purdy
Peter Brown
Jonathan Haight
Samuel Brown
Joseph Purdy
Caleb Hyatt jun™
Thomas Lyon junr
Nathan Lane
Nathan Hyatt Moses Knap
Wm Molmath [Monmouth] John Haight Hart Samuel Hait
Daniell Knap
Joseph Hortton
John Turner
George Lane sen
Andrew Merritt
John Turner iun.
George Lane
Benoney Merritt David Horton
Samuell Lane
Timothy Knap
Daniel Purdy
Jonathan Brown
Hezekialı Lane
Joseph Merritt
John Garison Jonathan Lane Caleb Hyatt
325
PETITION FOR HELP TO BUILD.
refused. The trustees of Yale College, however, became inter- ested in their case, and the following letter, received in the autumn, revived their hopes of success : -
'To our Christian freinds & Brethren at Rye On the representation made of your circumstances to us
'SIRS
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