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 35
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335
REV. JOHN SMITH.
body informs them ' that he is now far advanced in Life, and la- bours under many infirmities of Age, and Disorders of Body ; so his People have been kind eno' to propose him a Colleague, to preach alternately at White Plains and Singsing ; to which motion he had heartily complied, and beg'd would advise to some proper Person to come upon Probation with him.' In accordance with this request, the Presbytery, on the eleventh of October, 1769, met at the White Plains, and ordained Mr. Ichabod Lewis, a cousin of the Rev. Isaac Lewis, of Greenwich, as pastor of those churches. It is supposed that Mr. Smith continued to preach more or less fre- quently at Rye, until within a short time of his death, which took place at the White Plains, on the twenty-sixth of February, 1771. His remains lie in the churchyard, and the inscription upon his tomb designates hitn as the ' first ordained minister of the Presby- terian persuasion in Rye and the White Plains,' adding that, ' worn out with various labours,' he ' fell asleep in Jesus.'
From all accounts, Mr. Smith was a man of eminent piety, and of a very high order of intellectual capacity. The historian Web- ster speaks of him as ' an able and useful minister.' And persons who were living but a few years ago, and who had heard him in early life, have testified to his great eloquence as a preacher.
In the Revolutionary War, which began soon after the date of Mr. Smith's death, the Presbyterian Church of Rye was destroyed by fire, as were nearly all the churches of this region. And the congregation, owing to the troubles of the times, was greatly scat- tered. Its leading members were staunch whigs, and sided with their country against its invaders, and consequently were obliged to remove from this disputed territory in order to escape the depre- dations of the British troops from New York.
The PRESBYTERY OF DUTCHESS COUNTY, 'in the Province of New York,' was ' first erected 27 October 1762 -and established and enlarged by the Reverend Synod of New York & Philadelphia, 28 May 1763.' (Minutes of the Presbytery, etc., MIS., in the possession of the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia.) Previous to the formation of this Presbytery, ' the counties east of the Hudson,' says Dr. Web- ster, ' looked to the Association of Far field County for candidates, and for assistance in all spiritual and secular affairs of their churches. Bedford, Cronpond (York- town), Hanover, in Cortland Manor (Peekskill), and Salem, put themselves under New Brunswick Presbytery in 1743. Rumbout and Fishkill were received by New York Presbytery in 1751. Salem invited the Fairfield ministers to ordain Slead as their pastor, in 1752 : about that time, John Smith, of Rye, joined New York Pres- bytery. Ten years after, [Elisha] Kent,1 of the First Church in Philipse's patent [South-East], and [Joseph] Peck, of the Second [Carmel], met with Mead, of Salem, . . . . and resolved to form themselves into a Presbytery.' ( History of the Presbyterian Church in America, p. 292.) The circumstance which led to this action is worthy of 1 Grandfather of Chief Justice Kent, of New York.
336 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.
mention. At a meeting of the Council of the Eastern Consociation of Fairfield County, at Danbury, August 1, 1763, ' the pastors and delegates of the churches in Philippi and West Philippi, N. Y., were objected against, and ruled out of the Coun- cil, as having no right in the Consociation according to the platform, which was designed for churches in the colony of Connecticut.' ( Historical Sketches, and Rules, of the Fairfield East Association and Consociation: New Haven, 1859, p. 19.) This inci- dent throws light upon the status of the churches east of the Hudson - that of Rye among the rest- previous to the formation of the Presbyterics, which embraced this territory. They were not formally attached to the ceclesiastical bodies in Con- necticut, though recognized as of kindred faith and order. They awaited a complete organization as Presbyterian churches.
'Much of the territory covered by ' the congregations belonging to the Presbytery of Dutchess County ' was nentral ground during the Revolution, and was wasted by both parties : the ministers retired,' the houses of worship were burned, 'and the peo- ple greatly broken in their circumstances. The Presbytery was much weakened from this cause, and being reduced in numbers by death, received from New York Presby- tery the ministers on the west side of the river, and took the style of Hudson Presby- tery.' (Webster, Ibid. p. 293.)
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE CHURCHES : PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
1785-1870.
"THE period of the Revolution was everywhere in our country a time of religions decline and destitution. Such it was emphatically in the towns and villages of the 'Neutral Ground.' Nearly every church in this part of Westchester County was desecrated and injured, if not destroyed during the war. At Rye, both the village churches were burned. From the military map of 1779, we infer that Grace Church, the venerable sanctuary where so many generations had worshipped, was still standing in that year. It was probably destroyed soon after. No meeting of the Vestry appears to have been held for nine years, from 1776 to 1785, and no mention is made of any public religions service, after the death of the Rev. Mr. Avery, in the fall of 1776. At the close of the war, the Rev. Andrew Fowler collected the con- gregation here and at the White Plains, on alternate Sundays, for six months, beginning in April, 1784. Service was held at Rye in the old parsonage house, on the west side of Blind Brook.
On the 27th of April, 1785, 'the Congregation of the Episco- pal Church of Rye was call'd to meet at the House of Mrs Tamer Haviland in Rye, and being met Together proceeded to the choice of Trustees to take Charge of the Temporalities of the Church.' The trustees hired out the church lands at a very low rent.
In May, 1786, the congregation met, and resolved to send dele- gates to a convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to be held at St. Paul's Church, New York.
September 8th, 1787, the 'trustees and members of Grace Church in the Parish of Rye,' addressed a letter to the. Rev. Richard C. Moore, soliciting his acceptance of the rectorship, and offering him a salary of one hundred and twenty pounds.
Mr. Moore, after being for some time engaged in the practice of medicine, had devoted himself to the ministry of the Gospel.
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338
EPISCOPAL CHURCH SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
He pursued his studies under the direction of Bishop Provoost, was ordained in July, 1787, as deacon, and was admitted to priest's orders in September following.1
He commenced his labors in the ministry at Rye. During the year he spent here, the congregation took steps toward rebuilding their church. They determined to build it ' upon the Hill, at or near the Place where the old ruins were standing.' It was to be built of wood, fifty feet in length, and thirty-eight feet in width, with galleries on the west and south sides, and without a steeple. The contract for the erection of the church was made April 16th, 1788, with James Ford of New York, for one hundred and twenty pounds ; ' the timber to be prepared in the Woods.' The corner-stone was laid in June of that year, apparently, and the edifice was probably completed by the first of November, the time fixed in the contract. It is said that ' most of the timber of which it was built came from Captain Joshua Purdy's land.' Mean- while the congregation continued to worship in the parsonage house on the west side of Blind Brook. In May, 'a sufficient number of benches to accommodate' the people, were to be pro- cured. An aged lady yet living remembers being taken when a child to the service held in this building.
Mr. Moore resigned the charge of this parish on the first of August, 1788, having been called to the rectorship of St. Andrew's Church, Richmond, on Staten Island. At the request of the Vestry, however, he consented to continue his labors here until the first of October. It is probable, therefore, that he officiated in the new church, which must have been completed by this time. Mr. Moore was reetor of St. Andrew's Church for twenty-one years. In 1809 he accepted the charge of St. Stephen's Church in the city of New York, and in 1814 he was called to the office of Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia. He died November 11th, 1841, at the age of seventy-nine, after a ministry of fifty-four years, and an episcopate of twenty-seven ; in which, with his distinguished abilities and rare excellence and loveliness of character, he was enabled, under the Divine bless- ing, to accomplish great good.
The congregation remained without a pastor for more than two years. On the fifteenth of December, 1790, the Vestry called the Rev. David Foote, who had been officiating for some weeks, ' to act as Rector of this Parish,' agreeing to pay him a salary of one
1 Annals of the American Pulpit, by Wm. B. Sprague, D. D., vol. v. pp. 367, 368.
339
REV. JOHN JACKSON SANDS.
hundred pounds with the profits of the glebe,1 for one year from November 7th. Mr. Foote accepted the office, and was rector for nearly three years. He died here August 1st, 1793, aged thirty- two years. He had but just entered the ministry when he came to Rye, having been ordained by Bishop Seabury of Connecticut, in 1788.
The church, though apparently occupied for Divine service since November, 1788, remained for several years in an unfinished state. At a meeting of the Vestry, May 4th, 1791, a subscription was ordered, ' to raise Money from the Inhabitants of the Parish to finish the Church at Rye.' The floor was to be laid anew, three windows were to be added, one at the north side and two at the west end ; and the walls were to be lined with boards as high as the windows, and from thence lathed and plastered to the bot- tom of the roof, which was supported by four pillars, 'cased with white oak plank.' The money needed for these improvements was raised by subscription, and the subscribers were to be entitled to a choice of pews in the church, 'in proportion to the amount' of their contributions. The highest value set upon a pew was seven pounds. Two square pews were built next to the chancel, the one of which was taken by Mr. Peter Jay ; and the other was appropriated to the widow of the late Mr. Josiah Brown, in con- sideration of his 'forwardness in promoting the building of the Church.'
On the fifth of December, 1793, the Vestry called the Rev. John Jackson Sands to the rectorship. He had been ordained to the ministry the year before by Bishop Provoost, and had officiated for a few months on Long Island. Mr. Sands remained here but two years and a half, resigning his charge May 4th, 1796, in consequence of some dissatisfaction. 'He subsequently abandoned the minis- try,' says Mr. Bolton, 'and died in Brooklyn not long since.' It was during his pastorate that the name of the church, for some reason which does not appear, was changed from Grace to Christ Church.2 Another important event occurred in the parish. In
1 ' Upon the 14th of June, 1792, Mr. Isaac Purdy and Captain Joshua Purdy were empowered to receive of the exeentors of Miss Anna Maria Jay, deceased, a legacy of .£100, given by her in her last will to the corporation of the church in Rye.' 'Miss Jay, who died on the 4th of September, 1791, was the daughter of Peter Jay, Esq. She had been afflicted from childhood with blindness.
2 June 7th, 1796, a meeting of the congregation was held in the church, by authority of an act of the legislature of the State of New York ' for the relief of the Protestant Episcopal Church ' in that State, passed March 17th, 1795. The object of the meeting was ' to determine what day in the week called Easter week the election of church
340
EPISCOPAL CHURCH SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
the winter of 1794, the parsonage house on the west side of Blind Brook was destroyed by .firc. This house had been the residence of the rector since Mr. Wetmore's time. The Vestry, at first, inclined to rebuild the parsonage on its former site. But they concluded to purchase the house and land of Isaac Doughty, near the church ; and on the twenty-fourth of May, 1794, this purchase was effected for four hundred pounds. The congregation thus acquired the beautiful and spacious 'rectory grounds ' which they now possess.
The Rev. George Ogilvie, of Norwalk, Conn., was called to this parish October 26thi, 1796. He came, but was here for less than six months. He died April 3d, 1797, and was buried in the little graveyard opposite the church, on the west side of Blind Brook. Mr. Ogilvie ' was a tall, noble looking man, a pleasant companion, a good reader, and a very respectable preacher.' 1 He was thirty-nine years old when he came to Rye.
The Rev. Samuel Haskell was called August 7th, 1797. He was born near Boston in 1762, served in the American army toward the close of the war ; prepared himself for Yale College, where he graduated in 1790, and was ordained to the ministry of the Episcopal Church in 1794. He was rector at Rye for three years and a half, resigning his charge in April, 1801 ; 2 but he returned to this parish after an interval of eight years, in 1809,3 and continued here until May, 1823. The intervening period was occupied by the ministry of the Rev. Evan Rogers,4 a native of Pennsylvania, and for some years a ' zealous and laborious itiner-
wardens and vestrymen shall take place,' and also 'what shall be the Name, Stile and Title by which said Church or Congregation shall from thenceforth be known and recognized in law.' By a majority of votes it was 'resolved that the Stile and Title shall be Christ's Church at the Town of Rye in the County of Westchester and State of New York ; and that Monday in Easter Week be observed yearly for the election of officers directed to be elected by the Act.' (Records of the Vestry.)
1 Bolton, History of the Protestant Episcopal Church, etc., p. 337.
2 April 18th, 1801, the Vestry received a donation of seven hundred and fifty dol- lars from Trinity Church, New York. In 1813, from the same source they received the sum of five hundred dollars. October 29th, 1818, the thanks of the Vestry and congregation were tendered to Mrs. Mary Jay, for ' a Rich and valuable Donation consisting of three articles of Plate bearing her name.' (Records.)
3 In calling him back, the Vestry expressed feelings of ' the highest gratitude and affection for ' him, 'and on account of' his 'past services ' in their church. (Records.)
4 There are some pleasant memorials of Mr. Rogers. The large willow that stands near Blind Brook, on a part of the Rectory grounds, is said to have been planted by him. His love of trees probably suggested also the following order which appears in the Vestry Records : ' May 2, 1808, Resolved that Mr. Rogers and Mr. Penfield be requested and are authorized to procure and set ont around the Church as many forest trees of different kinds as they may think proper the present season.'
341
REV. WILLIAM THOMPSON.
ant preacher ' of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1798 he connected himself with the Protestant Episcopal Church, and entered its ministry. He was called to Rye from Hebron, Conn., October 18th, 1801, and after eight years of faithful and success- ful labor in this place, died January 25th, 1809, and was buried in the cemetery near Milton. 'His life,' it is recorded of him, 'was an exemplification of the doctrines he preached. He was en- deared ' to many friends ' by his deep piety, the mildness of his temper, the profitableness of his conversation, and the purity of his morals.' His death was happy.
It was during the ministry of his successor, Mr. Haskell, that a division took place in the parish. That portion of the people that worshipped at the White Plains, became a distinct congregation. The rectors of Rye had officiated at ' the Plains' since the year 1724. Services were held at first only four times a year ; then once in two months ; and after the war, as often as once in three weeks. But on the eighth of June, 1815, it was decided that this arrangement should cease, and that 'Divine Service be celebrated every Sabbath day in the church at Rye.' On the eighteenth of March, 1824, the Vestry resolved that the Church ' be opened for Divine service twice every Sabbath, except on the third Sabbath in the afternoon, when service is to be held in the school house at the Saw Pitt.' The ' intermission between morning and evening service ' was to be ' but one hour.'
The parish clerk was an important functionary of the congrega- tion in those days. His duty was to give out the psalins to besung, to lead the responses, and sometimes to conduct the singing. This office was extant in Rye as late as the year 1807, when it was resolved that ' Mr. Nathaniel Nelson be employed as an Assistant Clerk to this Church to conduct the singing in public worship, in the absence of the other clerk, and that he be allowed at the rate of ten dollars a year for his services.'
Mr. Haskell was followed by the Rev. William Thompson, a native of Ireland, who had come to this country about the year 1816, entered the ministry, and after a short pastorate at Pittsburg, Penn., commenced his labors in Rye, October 1st, 1823. Here, like so many of his predecessors, he finished his course, and fell asleep August 26th, 1830, having ministered to this people nearly seven years. Mr. Thompson is remembered with peculiarly tender interest by some in this place. 'A more loving spirit,' writes one well acquainted with him, 'I never knew ; he loved God, loved his fellow-men, loved his Church, and was willing to spend and be
1
342
EPISCOPAL CIIURCH SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
spent in the service of his Divine Lord. He actually wore himself out in duty.' His ministry here was fruitful of great good. Liv- ing and dying, the influence of this devoted servant of Jesus was felt, to the advancement of pure religion in this community for many years.
The Rev. John M. Forbes was rector in 1830, and the Rev. William M. Carmichael in 1832. On the eighth of September, 1834, the Rev. Peter S. Chauncey was called to this parish, where he continued for fifteen years. Mr. Chauncey's memory is cherished warmly, as it should be, by the people among whom he spent so large a part of his able and successful ministry. This, I believe, was his first pastoral charge, and here he was permitted to accomplish an important work, in strengthening and enlarging the church under his care. 'He came,' says the friend whose lan- guage I have already quoted, 'in the flush of health and spirits, full of that ardor which was his characteristic ; and ready, under God, for every good word and work. He came, to the universal acceptance of his people. His graceful manners and dignified bearing, his accessibility, his vivacity, ever tempered with the gravity which became his sacred office, won upon the old and the young ; whilst his impassioned oratory engaged all hearts, more especially those of the young.' Mr. Chauncey's earnest labors were not confined to the congregation at Rye. For the first two years, he had charge also of St. Thomas's Church, Mamaroneck. This he relinquished, by wish of the Vestry, November 14th, 1836 ; but in December of the same year, he commenced holding services at Saw Pit, soon after called Port Chester. Of this enter- prise we shall speak in another chapter. Mr. Chauncey resigned the rectorship of Rye in 1849. He removed to Hartford, Conn., and thence to Yorkville, N. Y .; and died, greatly regretted by many to whom he had ministered, in 1866.
He was followed at Rye by the Rev. Edward C. Bull, whose ministry here began May 13th, 1849, and lasted ten years, - until May 1st, 1859, when the Vestry, in accepting his resigna- tion on account of impaired health, testified to the faithfulness, earnestness, and ability with which he had discharged the duties of his office. During Mr. Bull's incumbency the wooden church, built in 1788, was replaced by a beautiful edifice of stone. The first steps toward this work were taken September 9th, 1852. Plans for the building, by Messrs. Wills & Dudley, architects, of New York, were accepted January 21st, 1854. The church was consecrated Thursday, March 15th, 1855, by Bishop Wainwright.
343
REV. REESE F. ALSOP.
The cost of the erection - nearly eighteen thousand dollars-was entirely paid by the first day of October, 1857.
The Rev. John Campbell White was called to the rectorship May 5th, 1859. He continued here nearly five years, his resigna- tion taking effect April 1st, 1864. Mr. White died in the city of New York in 1866.
The Rev. Reese F. Alsop, now rector, entered on his duties November 27th, 1864. A neat and convenient Sunday-school room was erected this year, near the church, and soon after the church itself was enlarged and embellished at a considerable ex- pense. But on the evening of December 21st, 1866, a sad calam- ity befell the congregation and our whole community, in the destruction of this beautiful house of worship by fire. It had been built but a little more than ten years, and the cost of recent improvements, rendering it still more inviting and commodious, had but just been defrayed. Seldom are a people called to so painful a trial, and so heavy a burden. It was endured courageously, how- ever, and within two years a new and larger edifice arose on the same site. The present church was consecrated on the nineteenth day of June, 1869, Bishop Potter officiating.
This ancient parish has had a succession of twenty-one rectors, during a period of one hundred and sixty-six years. Seven of these, however, were here but a short time, - a year at the most, - and there have been intervals, amounting to more than twenty years, the longest of which - eleven years - occurred during and after the Revolution, in which the congregation has been without a pastor. The ministry of fourteen rectors has extended over a term of one hundred and thirty-seven years, the average length of each pastorate being nearly ten years. Of the whole number no fewer that ten have finished their course here.
CHRIST CHURCH, RYE, erected from the designs of Mr. Florentin Pelletier, is built in the early Gothic style, and has ample accommodation for six hundred per- sons. The ground plan consists of chancel, nave, and aisles, with organ and robing rooms. The chancel is twenty-six feet deep by twenty feet wide, separated from the nave by a bold chancel arch, and raised two feet above the floor of the nave and aisles ; these are ninety-three feet long by forty-eight feet wide inside. The extreme length, is one hundred and thirty-five feet. At the southwest angle of the gable and aisle walls is the tower, from which are carried np four buttress piers, forming an open belfry, and surmounted by a stone spire, which is crowned at one hundred feet by an iron eross.
The exterior walls are of rubble stone, quarried on the site, with dressings wrought of Connecticut brown stone. The aisle and gable walls are strengthened with but- tresses marking the bays.
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EPISCOPAL CHURCH SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
The roofs are covered with slates, banded in different shades, and laid alternately plain and pointed ; all the ridges are surmounted with ornamental iron cresting. Over the nave the open roof rises forty-five feet, and is divided into six bays by molded arches, with principals, tie-beams, and open tracery ; and between the nave and aisles is a colonnade of short octagonal posts with moulded caps, from which spring moulded arches with pierced quatre-foil circles in the spandrels. There is no clere-story, but the pitch of the roof is broken over these arches. Twelve small trefoil windows light the roof, one in the centre of each bay on either side. These windows are hung to open for ventilation, and filled with stained glass of rich colors, as are all the windows of the church, most of which bear appropriate emblems. At the west end of the nave, overhanging the porch and lobbies, is a gallery carried on strong trusses ; this, together with the roof-timbers, is of pine, stained and varnished.
The ceiling between the rafters is plastered and colored a light blue ; below the window-sills the side walls are wainscoted with narrow ash ; otherwise, the walls are painted a plain light gray color, contrasting with the seats, which are of ash. In the chancel, the furniture, with the reredos and chancel-rail, is of chestnut, oiled. (Archi- tect's description.)
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE CHURCHES : PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF RYE SINCE THE REVOLUTION.
1792-1870.
A T the close of the Revolution, the Presbyterians of Rye were found to be very few and feeble. By death and removal from the place, the flourishing congregation that formerly wor- shipped in 'the old Meeting house in the Cedars,' had been reduced to a mere handful, and some years elapsed before these could summon courage and strength to rebuild their fallen altars. The church, as we have seen, was destroyed by fire in the course of the war, and the plot of ground upon which it stood had passed into other hands.
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