USA > New York > Nassau County > Hempstead > History of St. George's Church, Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y. > Part 7
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This is probably but one example of many attacks which our early missionaries had to encounter. For
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we find in Mr. Seabury's correspondence the remark : "The Church in the Province of New York is truly Militant, being continually attacked on one side or the other ; sometimes by the enemies of Revelation, at other times by the wild enthusiasts; but in the midst of them, true religion gains ground." The condition of things and the quiet advance of the Church in despite of opposition, is related in the fol- lowing extracts :
1750, October 5 .- " Religion prospers, though in- fidels try to weaken it. The new church at Oyster- bay, which has been some years in building, is so far completed as to be convenient for use, and was dedi- cated to the service of God according to the Litur- gy of England, on the 14th of June last.
" The church at Huntington is also rendered very commodious, and a congregation of fifty or sixty persons, and sometimes more, constantly attend Divine service there, who behave very devoutly and perform their part in Divine worship very decently. They had taken from them in the late mortal sickness four of their most substantial members, who bore the principal part of building the church, which has very much weakened their ability, and they have desired me to ask of the Society a folio Bible and Common Prayer Book, for the use of the church."
1752, March 26 .- " Religion has gained but little in our bounds the winter past, the Church having been troubled with some disturbers from a pretence that could hardly have been suspected. The increase of our congregation had brought us to a resolution to build galleries in the church, which were accord- ingly erected by subscription, are well-nigh com- pleted, and are commodious to entertain one hundred and fifty people, which some restless spirits, enemies
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
to the Church and Revelation in general, envying (as I fear) the Church's prosperity, have made an occa- sion to raise a party who seem zealous for nothing but contention ; but I hope, by the moderation of those who have the good of the church at heart, that the ill-effects and mischief intended will be obviated."
Mr. Seabury, like every minister of the Church in North America, became increasingly sensible of the evil and anomaly of the Church not being provided with a Bishop, and he felt constrained to address the Bishop of London a letter, in 1753, urging that a Bishop be consecrated for the American Colonies. His arguments were like those used by Caner and Chandler and hosts of others ; and as little effectual. The Church was hindered by politicians. And these cared not if three out of every ten candidates for or- dination who sailed for England either died of small pox contracted in England or by shipwreck.
In answer to a request from persons in Dutchess County, he visited it ; and finding the people were attentive to hear, and that they were eager for the services of the Church, he repeated his visits, and after a time, by the direction of the Venerable Soci- ety,* formally took them under his pastoral care ; although one might think he was already well bur- dened. Among the places in which official acts are recorded as having been done by him in that county mention is made of Poughkeepsie, Fishkill, Phillips- borough, Nine-Partners, Rumbout, Bateman's Pre- cinct, and Crom-Elbow.
* Church Documents, Connecticut, Vol. i. p. 324. 5*
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St. George's Church.
Mr. Seabury frequently refers to the extreme diffi- culty he experienced in convincing the people in his missionary field of the duty of observing the Sacra- ments. They had not been taught to attribute any value to them, but only to preaching, and a verbal declaration of adhesion to Christianity. This repug- nance was mainly owing to the influence of Quaker- ism in this region. In discarding the sign, the inevi- table result was, that soon they also discarded the things signified thereby. And so, as one of the missionaries declares, "In those villages where the. Quakers were formerly most numerous, there is now the least appearance of any religion at all."*
" 1757, May 31 .- £1 a year for the past year, and. 25s a year for next year, is allowed to Newport, the sexton, for sweeping and keeping the church clean, and for his service on Sundays in ringing the bell. He is to demand 2s for tolling a funeral bell."
In 1761 the number of inhabitants of Hempstead was 5,940 ; communicants, 72; professors of the: Church of England, 750. No other place is kept up for public worship, says Mr. S., in his letter of April 5th, 1759, except a Quaker meeting-house. But in 1761, there was an Independent preacher on the. ground. Meanwhile the congregation at Oyster Bay continued large. At Huntington, the church was well filled and the people had "purchased a house and. glebe, worth about £200 N. Y. currency, which they are ready to make a conveyance of for the use of the Church at Huntington forever, hoping to have leave:
* Documen. Hist. New York, Vol. 3, p. 327.
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
within a year or two, to send over a candidate for holy orders." It appears from letters from Dr. John- son and their own petition that they applied in 1762 for a missionary.
Faithful and unremitting in his labors as Mr. Seabury was, the people did not generously supply him with the means for a comfortable support, and in addition to his " care of all the churches," he was compelled to resort to teaching, in order to obtain the funds to supple- ment his inadequate salary. He built a school-house in the rear of the Parsonage, which was removed, it is said, about 1820, the Rev. Mr. Hart having either en- larged it or added a separate building, for lodgings for the pupils.
In connection with Mr. Seabury's school there ap- peared in the New York Mercury, the following :
" A CARD .- The Rev. Mr. Samuel Seabury, of Hempstead, in order to enlarge his school, has en- gaged a young gentleman as usher, who is candidate for orders. Mr. S. will entertain young gentlemen at his own house in a genteel manner at £30 per year, schooling, washing and wood for school-fire in- cluded. March 27th, 1762."
This school obtained much repute, and its advan- tages were appreciated by many of the principal families of New York City and all over Queens County.
Among his pupils in 1754-63 were the following- Philip son of Philip Allen; a son of Justice Si- mon Cooper of Oyster-Bay ; James son of Charles Crommeline ;* Henry and Telamon Cruger ; Thomas
* A Governor of Columbia College in 1780.
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Frost; John, son of Benj. Hicks; David Jones ; James, son of Dr. Wm. Farquher of New York; Da- niel, Robert and John Grenel; Philip Hicks; Ar- thur, son of Benj. Jarvis of New York ; Gilbert Lester ; William, son of Dr. Lawrence, of Mosquito Cove ;* Joseph, son of Daniel Kissam ; Jacob, son of Joachim Melchior Magens, a Lutheran minister of Flushing ; Henry Montressor ; Benjamin, son of Hendrick Onderdonk ;+ Micai (Micajah ?) and Jotham Townsend ;¿ Epenetus, son of Capt. Micajah Town- send ; Thomas Truxton, the afterwards famous commodore; John Taylor, James Rockwell, Daniel Wiggins, Isaac Wilkins, from Jamaica, W. I .; who became a clergyman, and rector of St. Peter's, West- chester County ; and Charles, son of Jacob Valentine of Oyster Bay.
In Mr. Seabury's report to the Society, March 26, 1762, he states that he had been the happy instru- ment, under God, in bringing eleven adults to bap- tism, who all appeared properly affected on the occa- sion. " One of them particularly, Joseph Cheese- man, declared publicly, that it was after considering most other professions, and upon mature delibera- tion, he had determined to make the solemn confes- sion of his faith in the Church of England ; and ac- cordingly, himself, his wife and eight children were baptized."
Mr. Seabury had marked success in bringing persons.
* Now Glen Cove.
t He became a physician, and died 1772, at Eustatia.
# He became a clergyman ; was a Tory, and was lost in 1779 on a voyage to Nova Scotia.
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
to baptism. During the twenty-two years of his min- istry in Hempstead, he baptized 1,071 persons. A number of these are recorded to have been baptized "by immersion." He was in a proper sense of the
term "a Baptist." The parish records abundantly prove that Mr. Seabury remitted none of his labors to the very end of his life. He was constantly passing from point to point in his extended field of labor, seeking to win souls to Christ; and his utter forget- fulness of self, cannot but have mitigated towards him the opposition of which he had so often to complain, and with his well doing "put to silence the ignorance of foolish men."
In the midst of his faithful endeavors his career was brought to a close. Having taken a voyage to England in June, 1763, probably to seek surgical aid, he returned in 1764, in the language of his wife, "a sick-a dying man."* In a newspaper of that day ap- peared the following notice of his death :- " Rev. Mr. Seabury died of a nervous disorder and an impos- thume in his side, June 15, 1764, aged 58 ; a gentle- man of amiable, exemplary character, greatly and generally beloved and lamented."-New York Post- boy.
His remains lie interred in St. George's churchyard, and the stone at the head of his grave has this in- scription :-
" Here lyeth interred the body of the REV. SAM'L SEABURY, A.M. Rector of the parish of Hempstead, Who with the greatest diligence And most indefatigable labour,
* Updike's Narragansett Church, p. 134.
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For 13 years at New-London, And 21 years in this parish, Having discharged every duty Of his sacred functions ; Died the 15th of June, A. D. 1764, Æt. 58. In gratitude to the memory of the best of husbands His disconsolate widow, Elizabeth Seabury, Hath placed this store."
I do not find the record of any action taken by the Vestry on the death of their faithful and most excel- lent Rector. It seems hardly credible that they neglected to perform this duty of respect; and we may justly suppose that such action was taken, but that there was a neglect to record it.
Mrs. Seabury survived her husband 35 years, dying in February, 1799, at the age of 87 years, and was buried by the side of her husband. Dr. Carmichael, in his historical discourse,* says, on the authority of a letter of Mr. Cutting, presently to be quoted-that the church purchased a lot of ground and built a house upon it and gave it to Mrs. Seabury. She sus- tained herself by taking boarders, and in 1767 Lieut. Harry Munroe, Archibald Campbell, and Col. Mar- tins' son are named among those who boarded with her.
The year before Mr. Seabury died, a second enlarge- ment was made of the churchyard, by a grant from the town, as is stated in the following extract :
" 1763, April 5 .- Samuel Clowes, John Dorland, Leffert Hagewout, Richard Hewlett, John Jackson, Daniel Kissam, Robert Marvin, Jacob Mott, Epene- tus Platt, Isaac Smith and John Townsend petitioned
* Rise and Progress of St. George's Church, Hempstead, 1841.
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Rev. Samuel Seabury.
the town to grant St. George's Church such a parcel of ground, joining on the east side of the churchyard, as that the burying ground may be enlarged as much as the town shall see fit, since the east end of the burying-ground is filled with graves, and the west end, which is not enclosed, is necessary to lay open for the congregation to tie their horses on, as many families have, of late, begun to bury their dead in said churchyard. It was voted by a majority that the land on the east side of the churchyard, on the south side of the lot of Jeremiah Bedell, Jr., be set apart for a public burying-place, to extend as far east as Totten's lane, and southerly on the road."-F., I.
The " Totten's lane"-here spoken of may be that referred to in the following action by the town :
" 1767, April .- The town vote to stop the lane on the east side of the burying-ground, and to set over the land in said lane as an addition to the burying- ground, and the trustees are to stop up said lane, and fence in the burying-ground, and hire out the pasture there the ensuing year."
This was confirmed by the Commissioners of High- ways in 1769 .*
As an illustration of the sentiment of the times and of the changes which time and experience effect, it may be recorded that in June, 1763, Mr. Seabury expressed great thankfulness that "his ticket in the Light House and Public Lottery of New York drew a prize of £500."
Of the children, four sons and three daughters, left by the Rev. Mr. Seabury, it is not necessary to say anything relating to his son Samuel; who more than
* F., 44, 82.
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fulfilled all his fond father's anticipations, and obtain- ed for himself the place of renown in the history of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America as its first Bishop. Oct. 1756, he married Mrs. Mary Hix, of New York.
Another son-Adam-became a physician, and established a wide reputation in Hempstead for excellence in his profession. He married, June, 1762, Miriam Peters, and his descendants are with us. A daughter, Elizabeth, in 1762, married Benjamin Treadwell. And another daughter, Abigail, in 1768, married Gilbert Van Wyck.
CHAPTER IV.
1766-1784.
R OR nearly two years after the death of the Rev. Mr. Seabury in June, 1764, St. George's. Church was without a Rector. About a month after his decease, his son, then the Rev. Samuel Seabury, and missionary at Jamaica, acquainted the Venerable Society of his father's death, by which " a very large congregation of decent and well-behaved people were left destitute." And he conveyed a request from the Vestry of St. George's that the Society would still consider them in the number of its missions, and per- mit them to look out for some proper person to succeed their late worthy minister. Mr. Seabury promises, in the mean time, to give them such assist- ance as his duties to his charge at Jamaica will admit of. And in a subsequent communication, he states that he had fulfilled his promise and had baptized here, ten children.
In June, 1765, the Rev. Mr. Seabury forwarded a petition to the Society from the Vestry of St. George's Church, and accompanied it with a letter from him- self, which declares the nature and object of the petition, and describes the internal condition of this
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parish at that date. This letter, deserving especial attention, was as follows :
" JAMAICA, Fune 28, 1765.
" REV. SIR-The enclosed petition from the church wardens and vestrymen of the parish of Hemp- stead, I have been desired by them to forward to the Honorable Society. They have called and presented to that parish the Rev. Mr. Cutting, the Society's present Missionary at Brunswick, N. J., and as the Church people at Hempstead are very much pleased with Mr. Cutting, and very desirous of having him for their minister, and as I think (from the acquaint- ance of twelve years) that he is well qualified to sup- ply that parish, and that he will do real service there- in to the cause of virtue and religion in general, and to the interest of the Church in particular, I hope the Society will not think me too presuming when I say, that I think his removal thither will be attended with happy consequences. Tho' the congregation there is large, yet a great part of it is composed of those who have had no religious impressions made on them by their parents in their younger years. They come to church rather from habit than a sense of duty and love of religion. * * It is evident to the most superficial observer that where there have been the greatest number of Quakers, there infidelity and a disregard of all religion have taken the deepest root; and if they have not entirely corrupted the religious principles of the other inhabitants, they have at least very much weakened them and made them look upon religion with indifference. * * This seems to be the reason why the people of Hempstead, tho' able to do considerable towards the support of their minister, are so very backward. '*
* Doc. His. N. Y., Vol. 3, p. 328.
Rev. Leonard Cutting. III
This is not an agreeable statement of the prevailing temper of the parish-and one hopes that the traits of a parish are not transmitted and perpetuated from generation to generation, as are those of individuals and families. But there are evidences that for many long years after this, the parish was deficient in a generous care of its pastor, and that as it had suffered Mr. Seabury to seek a part of his maintenance by teaching, so several of his successors were compelled to disregard the apostolic injunction, and their own ordination vows, to " give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine : give thyself wholly to them :"* and resort to various measures to obtain that supply to their needs which their people could have given them, if they had been so minded.
The society granted the request for Mr. Cutting's transfer from New Brunswick to Hempstead, and July 24, 1766, a precept for his induction to St. George's parish was issued to the Rev. Mr. Seabury, of Jamaica, by Sir Henry Moore, Governor of the Province. The induction took place August 11th, 1766 ; and a cer- tificate of the Rev. Samuel Seabury was given that he, "Rector of the parish of Jamaica, by virtue of the within written mandate, did induct the Reverend Mr. Leonard Cutting, Clerk, into the real, actual and cor- poreal Possession of the Parish Church of Hempstead, called St. George's Church, together with all its Rights, Privileges, Dignities, Immunities, and appurtenan- ces whatsoever."
The subscribing witnesses were :
* I Timothy, 4 : 13.
.
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St. George's Church.
· Daniel Kissam, Timothy Smith,
George Watts,
George Reirson,
Leffert Haugowort,
James Wood,
James Turner, John Potters,
Cornelius Vannostrand, A. Seabury.
A few weeks after, viz., September 21st, 1766, Mr. Cutting complied with the legal requisition to make -after reading Morning and Evening Prayer accord- ing to the Book of Common Prayer-" publickly be- fore the Congregation then assembled, his unfeigned assent and consent to the use of all and every thing contained and prescribed by the Book entitled the Book of Common Prayer : Also he did read a Certificate under the Hand and Seal of the Right Reverend Father in God, Richard, Lord Bishop of London, of his having declared Conformity to the Liturgy of the Church of England."
The witnesses to this public declaration by Mr. Cutting of his assent and obedience were
Richard Thorne, Elias Dorlin, 3d,
A. Seabury .*
.At the first meeting of the Vestry, after the induct- ion, Nov. 5th, 1766, it was agreed to return thanks in a letter to the Society for supplying the Mission in the room of Mr. Seabury.
" Present the Rev'd Mr. Cutting, Rector, Mr. Leffert Haugowout, Church Warden.
James Wood, James Turner, John Peters,
Vestrymen.
* Church Records, p. 79.
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Rev. Leonard Cutting.
Such letter was accordingly sent "to the Rev. Dr. Burton, Secretary to the Society for the Propagation: of the Gospel in Foreign Parts."
For an account of the clergyman who was thus in- stalled in the place which had been so well filled by the Rev. Mr. Seabury, we are largely indebted to the information gleaned by the Rev. Dr. Sprague, and given in his "Annals of the American Episcopal Pulpit."
Leonard Cutting was born at Great Yarmouth, in the County of Norfolk, England, in the year 1724. He belonged to an ancient and respectable family ; some of his ancestors having at different periods, filled the office of High Sheriff of Norwich, &c. He was left an orphan at the age of nine years, in the charge of his aunt. Admitted a member of Pembroke Col- lege, Cambridge, he became Bachelor of Arts, 1747. His little property was exhausted in obtaining his ed- ucation, and being in straits, he suddenly resolved to come to America. Not being able to pay the price of the passage, he bound himself, after a custom which then prevailed, to the Captain of the ship, to give him the returns of his labor till the cost of his passage was refunded. He secured. during the voyage, the. confidence and esteem of the Captain as an exem- plary young man, intelligent, honorable, trustworthy, and entitled to full confidence; and was thus enabled to obtain lucrative occupation, on landing, as manager of a plantation, first in Virginia and then in New Jer- sey. While thus occupied he was providentially met. by a former College friend-the Rev. Samuel Cook, a missionary in the employ of the Venerable Society,
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St. George's Church.
who immediately sought and obtained for Mr. Cut- ting-in 1756,-the position more appropriate to his acquirements and congenial to his tastes, of Tutor in the Greek and Latin tongues in King's-now Colum- bia College, in New York City : from which College he received the honorary degree of A.M. in 1758, and his name is found in the first list of the names of those upon whom the College conferred her honors.
In this position he remained until 1763. During this time, feeling it his duty to devote himself to the sacred ministry, he diligently pursued the studies which would fit him to discharge the obligations of the holy office. After due preparation he proceeded to England, and he was prepared for his successful application for orders by a letter from Dr. Samuel Johnson, President of King's (Columbia) College, under date of May 10, 1763, to the Secretary of the Venerable Society, in which he says: " Mr. Hubbard, from Guilford, and Mr. Jarvis, from Middletown, de- sign to wait on the Society in the fall, as does also Mr. Cutting, a gentleman bred at Eaton and Cam- bridge, in England, a person of piety and virtue, and of much learning and eloquence, who, for seven years, has been one of my assistant tutors at King's College, and is now desirous of orders, and some vacant mis- sion."*
He was ordained, December 21, 1763, to the Diaconate, and Priest, shortly afterwards. In 1764, he returned to this country, having been appointed by the Venerable Society its missionary at New Brunswick and Piscataway, New Jersey, where he
Church Documt. Conn., Vol. 2, p. 37.
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Rev. Leonard Cutting.
remained until transferred to Hempstead, in July, 1766.
Mr. Cutting appears to have entered upon his. work in his new Mission in a very hopeful spirit, not- withstanding that he had early experience of the faithfulness of the description which the Rev. Samuel Seabury, of Jamaica, had given of the parish to the Venerable Society. It was not long before he found the parish made inadequate provision for his support, and he was obliged, in order to supplement his in- sufficient salary, to continue the classical school which. Mr. Seabury had begun.
After Mr. Cutting had been here about a year, he made to the Venerable Society the following report :
" April 9, 1767 .- It is with pleasure I can inform you of the civil behavior of the congregation of Hempstead towards me. They have built a barn* and put the house in convenient repair, and endeavor at present to render my situation easy and comfort- able. The Mission is very extensive, and as the severity of the weather came on before I was well. settled, I could not take such a circuit round the country and can't give so perfect an account as I could wish. The church is generally well filled. It is difficult to form a judgment of the real members from the number of those that attend, as I find per- sons of different denominations pretty constant in their attendance and apparently devout during the performance of Divine Service ; but according to the. best calculation I have as yet been able to make, there are about ninety families in Hempstead town- ship, profest members of the Church of England. The Dutch are numerous and powerful, and declare;
* Replaced by another in 1800.
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St. George's Church.
to me their regard to our Established Church .* The Quakers and their adherents are, I think, the next in number. The Presbyterians appear to me at present to be the fewest. I find it for the interest of religion and the Church, to make in regard to my external behavior no difference betwixt the members of my own and other congregations. I have baptized at Hempstead fifteen white children. I find it very difficult to demand Godfathers. Necessity, I hope, will excuse me, if I accept frequently of the parents. I must go to their houses and comply sometimes with their humors, or the children will go unbaptized. The communicants that I have seen present have been about thirty-five at one time. The long inter- valt betwixt the death of the late Mr. Seabury and my being appointed, has been of some disservice to the Church.
" I officiate at Oyster-Bay every third Sunday. The greatest numbers there are Anabaptists and descendants from Quakers. This town (Hempstead) is of large extent .; As the weather now grows moderate, I propose visiting every part of the Mission as often as I can on week-days, that I may be enabled to give a more perfect account to the Society in my next."
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