USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > History of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, N.Y. : 1817 to 1888 > Part 11
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At a subsequent meeting of the vestry on April 17, 1871, John B. Seymour was appointed clerk, and George Beals treasurer.
Mr. Weed declined a reëlection as treasurer, and the vestry, in accepting his resignation, tendered him their thanks for his faithful services and for the ability with which he had managed the finances. The vestry levied a tax of twenty per cent. on the pews to pay the parish expenses for the ensuing year.
The treasurer reported that the parish receipts for the past year were $10,722.67, which included $1,000 contributed by nine members of the congregation to aid in paying the parish expenses.
On May 30th L. C. Woodruff and Charles W. Evans were appointed a building committee to complete the small tower on Church Street, also the stone crosses, finials, etc.t
At a meeting of the vestry, September 21, 1871, George Beals resigned as treasurer, and James W. Sanford was chosen in his place.
At a meeting of the vestry, December 11, 1871, the rector sub- mitted the following memorial on the occasion of the death of Lester Brace, for many years one of the vestry. "He was eighty-one years of age, and had lived in the parish longer than any male member of it, was confirmed at Black Rock by Bishop Hobart in 1828, and had been a consistent Christian from that time. He was a warden of the parish
This lectern was destroyed at the burning of the church, May 10, 1888.
+ The finial of this tower was placed in position October 2, 1871, and the numer- ous stone crosses, etc., were finished in May, 1873, thus practically completing the edifice.
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History of St. Paul's Church.
for fifteen years, and the correctness of his life ever commanded the approval of the congregation. He was in his public life honest and just ; in his family, affectionate, careful and prudent; in his daily walks, an attentive and zealous reader of the Holy Scriptures and devotional books. He has left an example of such Christian conduct as may well be imitated. His last years were filled with grief for the loss of his entire family,- his excellent wife and children, within a short period of each other, died, and left him alone, under God, to the care of his affectionate grandchildren. It is well to be recorded of him that he bore his losses with a Christian spirit, and looked anxiously forward to his release from a world of sorrow to one of everlasting happiness."
The vestry adopted the memorial, and bore testimony of his merits as a man and his faith as a Christian.
Mrs. Sevilla Hayden was the daughter of Lester Brace, and died in July, 1870 ; she was one of the most efficient parishioners of St. Paul's, and devoted to the interests of the parish. She was the widow of the late Albert Hayden, who died on the overland route to California in 1849.
1872.
At the annual election on Easter Monday, April 1, 1872, the Rev. Dr. Shelton presiding, Charles W. Evans and William H. Walker were elected wardens, and L. C. Woodruff, S. G. Cornell, John Pease, Cyrus Clarke, Howard H. Baker, George S. Hazard, George F. Lee and George Beals, vestrymen.
At a subsequent meeting of the vestry on April roth, John B. Sey- mour was appointed clerk, and James W. Sanford treasurer. The vestry levied a tax of twenty per cent. on the valuation of the pews, to pay the parish expenses for the coming year.
The clerk was directed to execute a note to the Rev. Dr. Shelton for $1,850, with interest from April Ist, for the arrears of salary due him as rector.
History of St. Paul's Church. II3
The Rev. Charles L. Hutchins having resigned as the assistant rec- tor of the parish, the resignation taking effect on April Ist, and having expressed his best wishes for the individual good and prosperity of the parish, the vestry reciprocated his kind words, and wished him abund- ant success in any field of labor to which he might be called. The sum of $25 was appropriated to pay the traveling expenses of the Rev. Charles S. Hale to Buffalo, as the assistant minister of the parish.
The treasurer made his annual report, showing $7,960.04 received for pew taxes and rents, and $7,553.03 paid for parish expenses, and $1,850 due to the Rev. Dr. Shelton ; unpaid pew rents and taxes $1,385.71. Estimated expenses for the coming year $7,145, including $2,000 for the rector's salary and $1,500 for the assistant rector.
It was understood that the assistant rector, who was unmarried, should board with the rector.
The rectory was mortgaged for $7,500 to the Erie County Savings Bank, and $1, 161.70 was collected in church on Easter Sunday, March 3Ist, to pay other debts due by the parish. Said debts being in addi- tion to the $1,850 due to the rector.
Eliza, wife of John Pease, died in October, 1872, at the age of fifty- four. She was the eldest daughter of the late James L. Barton, and Sarah Maria Barton, his wife. Mrs. Pease was one of the representative women of St. Paul's Church. In the obituary notice of her it is stated that " for nearly forty years she was a devoted member of the parish, and during all that time none were more prominent or active in good works as well inside the church as out of it. In every walk of life she was an excellent and exemplary woman. In her family, in the church, in the Sunday School and in society, she was always active, useful and influential for good ; she worked without ostentation, and seemed to be content with the consciousness of doing her duty." In the obituary notice of Mrs. Sarah Maria Barton, the mother of Mrs. Pease, who died in December, 1851, at the age of fifty-three, it was stated that "she had been a most valued and useful member of the church for more than twenty-five years, and a resident of Black Rock
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and Buffalo for more than thirty-one years. Possessed of untiring industry and systematic frugality, which never descended into illiber- ality, her hand and heart were always open to the call of the necessi- tous, and her house was the abode of hospitality and kindness. She was the mother of eleven children, seven of whom survived her."
At a meeting of the vestry, November 13, 1872, Hobart Weed, from the music committee, reported that the organ, which had been in use for twenty-one years, was in bad condition and a new one was required. The rector was authorized to appoint a committee to raise sufficient funds by subscription, and by the sale of the old organ, to purchase a new one in place of the same.
The vestry resolved that the salary of the rector be increased to $3,500, out of which he was to pay the salary of the assistant minister.
1873.
At the annual election on Easter Monday, April 14, 1873, Rev. Dr. Shelton presiding, Charles W. Evans and S. G. Cornell were elected wardens, and L. C. Woodruff, Cyrus Clarke, William H. Walker, George S. Hazard, John Pease, George F. Lee, Howard H. Baker and George Beals, vestrymen.
At a subsequent meeting of the vestry on April 21st, John B. Sey- mour was appointed clerk, and James W. Sanford treasurer. The vestry levied a tax of twenty per cent. on the valuation of the pews to pay the parish expenses for the ensuing year.
The vestry returned their thanks to Hobart Weed and Dr. Daboll for their services on the music committee, and $1,700 was appropriated to pay for the music for the coming year. William H. Walker and Howard H. Baker, from the organ committee, reported that they had obtained subscriptions from forty-five members of the congregation amounting to $6,555, and that a contract had been made with E. and G. G. Hook & Hastings of Boston, Mass., for a new organ, to cost $7,500, they to take
THE REVEREND WILLIAM SHELTON, D. D., in his seventy-second year. Born, September 11, 1798 ; Rector of St. Paul's Church, September 11, 1829, to January 11, 1881 ; Honorary Rector until his death, October 11, 1883.
From a photograph taken by W. J. Baker early in 1870.
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History of St. Paul's Church.
the old organ at $1,000, as part pay, the new organ to be in place by September 1, 1873. The vestry returned thanks to Rodney Kendrick for the very perfect and accurate ground plan of the church, presented by him.
The treasurer made his annual report, showing the receipts and disbursements to have been $8,759.69 for the past year, $982 due to the Rev. Dr. Shelton on last year's salary, and $2,828.50 due for pew rents and taxes. Estimated expenses for the coming year $7,600. The vestry returned thanks to James W. Sanford for the able and satis- factory manner in which he conducted the arduous duties of treasurer of the parish.
September 11th, Charles W. Evans, from the committee appointed in 1871 to complete the small tower on Church Street, also the stone crosses, finials, etc., reported that a contract was made with William S. Cass to complete the same for $1,179, and that the work had been completed, in May, 1873, and had been paid for by thirteen members of the congregation.
The senior warden reported that he had contracted to have the church edifice thoroughly cleaned by August 25, 1873, for the sum of $350, to be paid for by subscriptions.
In 1873, Ralph Williams died very suddenly. He was one of the oldest colored citizens of Buffalo, and had been the faithful and efficient sexton of St. Paul's for twenty years. He was attending to his duties at the church when seized with sudden illness, and died in the carriage in which he was being taken to his home.
1874.
At a meeting of the vestry, February 14, 1874, resolutions were adopted on the occasion of the death of George F. Lee, expressing the sorrow of the vestry at the death of their friend and associate, and their desire to place on record their grateful remembrance of his faith- ful and efficient services as a member of the vestry.
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History of St. Paul's Church.
At the annual election on Easter Monday, April 13, 1874, the Rev. Dr. Shelton presiding, Charles W. Evans and William H. Walker were elected wardens, and L. C. Woodruff, George S. Hazard, Mark B. Moore, Howard H. Baker, George Beals, DeWitt C. Weed and Cyrus Clarke, vestrymen.
At a subsequent meeting of the vestry John B. Seymour was appointed clerk, and James W. Sanford treasurer.
The vestry levied a tax of twenty per cent. on the valuation of the pews, to pay the parish expenses for the coming year, and also resolved that the salary of the rector be $4,000 per annum, and that he pay the assistant minister out of the said sum. The sum of $1,800 was appro- priated to pay for the church music for the coming year.
The treasurer reported that George Beals had donated the coal bill due by the parish to him since February 20, 1871, amounting to $208. The treasurer also reported that $1,850 was due to the rector for his salary to Easter, 1871, and $1,077.33 for the same at Easter, 1874, and that $2,790.98 was due to the parish for rents and taxes on the pews.
On March 8, 1874, Millard Fillmore, ex-President of the United States, died at his residence on Niagara Square, Buffalo, aged 74 years.
On March 12th the body was removed from the residence to St. Paul's Church, where, in the vestibule of the church, which was heavily draped with mourning, the remains lay in state from 10 A. M. until I P. M. A detachment of Company "D," Buffalo City Guard, acted as a guard of honor ; they were relieved later by a detachment of the Ist U. S. Infantry.
The doors were thrown open to the public, and a continuous stream of people, entering by the Erie-street entrance and passing out on Pearl Street, viewed the body. At one o'clock the bells of St. Paul's rang out a solemn funeral peal, and shortly after two o'clock the funeral services were begun, the Rev. William Shelton, D. D., deliver- ing the funeral sermon. The church was crowded to its utmost capacity, and the streets about the church were thronged by many thousands of people, who were unable to obtain admission.
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History of St. Paul's Church.
The funeral was one of the most solemn and impressive ever held in the church.
1875
At the annual election, March 29, 1875, Rev. Dr. Shelton presiding, Charles W. Evans and William H. Walker were elected wardens, and L. C. Woodruff, Cyrus Clarke, John Pease, George Beals, M. B. Moore, H. H. Baker, George S. Hazard and James Sweeney, vestrymen .*
At a subsequent meeting John B. Seymour was appointed clerk, and James W. Sanford treasurer. April 23, 1875, the vestry authorized St. Paul's Guildt to purchase the lot on Spruce Street, near Genesee Street, on which to erect the German mission church and school, the expendi- ture not to exceed $2,000. June 4, 1875, it was reported to the vestry that the lot on Spruce Street had been purchased for $1,800, $400 paid in cash, and the bond and mortgage of St. Paul's Church given for $1,400, and the building for the German mission thereon had been contracted for at $1,500. It was formally opened for divine worship by the bishop on Sunday, August 1, 1875.
September 4, 1875, a committee was appointed to confer with Mr. Kip and request him to pay certain funds held by him for a former mission to the present German mission church.
* At Easter, 1875, the Rev. Charles S. Hale resigned as assistant minister of St. Paul's, and became the first rector of the new church of St. Mary's-on-the-Hill, on the corner of Prospect Avenue and Vermont Street, which was opened for the first time for divine service on Easter Sunday afternoon, March 28, 1875. The church was built mainly through the efforts and generosity of Mr. De Witt C. Weed, then one of the vestry of St. Paul's. The Rev. Mr. Hale was married to Mrs. Louisa Weed Stevens, only sister of Mr. Weed, in July, 1875. St. Paul's was without a regular assistant until November, 1875, when the Rev. S. Humphreys Gurteen accepted that position. The Rev. Dr. Hobart of Geneva and the Rev. Mr. Hughes of New York had supplied the pulpit and assisted Dr. Shelton through the summer months, the Rev. Mr. Hughes becoming rector of St. John's Church. Buffalo, in November, 1875.
Mr. Gurteen had been assistant minister at Trinity Church, Geneva, N. Y. He was ordained priest by Bishop Coxe in St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, in December, 1875.
+ For historical sketch of St. Paul's Guild see appendix.
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History of St. Paul's Church.
December 13, 1875, the treasurer of the organ fund reported sub- scriptions from forty-nine persons, amounting to $7,125, to purchase the new organ for the church edifice.
August 30, 1875, John S. Ganson died in the 73d year of his age. Coming from Batavia to Buffalo in 1850, he was well known as a banker, being president and principal stockholder of the New York and Erie Bank up to the time of his death. He was a prominent member of St. Paul's parish, and a vestryman from 1854 to 1859 and again in 1861 and 1862. He was the father of Mrs. James Sweeney and of Mrs. William B. Depew.
1876.
February 9, 1876, the vestry was called to devise ways and means to pay off the debt incurred in refitting the Sunday-School room in the basement of the church, which had been done under the supervision of the assistant minister, the Rev. S. H. Gurteen. The subject was, after some discussion, referred to the wardens. February 17, 1876, the subject was again discussed but no action was taken. March 8, 1876, it was stated that a fund had been raised some time ago for the pur- pose of erecting a Sunday School building, which fund was deposited in the Erie County Savings Bank to the credit of the wardens. It was therefore resolved that the vestry borrow $600 of the said funds, to be repaid in annual installments of $50 each, with annual interest thereon, to be repaid to the wardens from the receipts from the receiving vault for the dead, in the basement of the church, which receipts had been heretofore applied for Sunday School purposes.
Elizabeth Staats Seymour died in March, 1876, aged sixty years. She was married in 1840 to Horatio Seymour, Jr., who died in 1872. From 1869 to 1876 she lost, in succession, her mother, her two sons, and her husband. Her uncle Jeremiah Staats, the last of the family, never married, and died May 4, 1887, at the advanced age of ninety- one. In her obituary notice, it is stated that Mrs. Seymour was a born philanthropist, and a womanly woman always. She courted neither
2
ST. PAUL'S AND GENERAL VIEW OF THE CITY. Looking southeast from the tower of the unfinished City Hall in 1875. St. John's Church and Washington Street Baptist Church in distance.
Enlarged from a stereoscopic photograph taken by C. L. Pond.
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History of St. Paul's Church.
luxury nor repose ; rest was something impossible to her while she felt that her assistance was needed, and she was always ready to attend to her parish duties. She had been a parishioner of St. Paul's for forty years. Her funeral was largely attended from the church. She bequeathed $500 to the parish for a memorial window in the Sunday- School building.
April 10, 1876, the vestry accepted the proposition of St. Paul's Church Guild to take charge of the church edifice, and to attend to the duties of the sexton, in keeping the same in proper order.
At the annual meeting April 17, 1876, the same wardens were elected, and L. C. Woodruff, Cyrus Clarke, John Pease, M. B. Moore, G. S. Hazard, H. H. Baker, D. C. Godwin and A. R. Davidson, vestry- men, John B. Seymour clerk, and J. W. Sanford treasurer.
The vestry subsequently appropriated $1.800 for the music for the coming year.
A history of the parish of St. Paul's necessarily presupposes more or less mention of the parishioners, and, of course, those most mentioned would be those who administered its temporal affairs. It must not be supposed, however, that they alone gave tone to the parish life or alone guided its best interests. The most excellent and good Christian women of the parish were the ones who did the most, and who really gave tone, not only to the parish life, but to the social life of the parishioners, and yet their services and works were rarely written in the parish records; but their good works in the Ladies' Society and particularly in the Sunday School, were of the greatest benefit to the parish, and especially so to the younger members. Their good influences lasted from generation to generation. In social life the women of the parish made social intercourse not only a pleasure, but useful and beneficial to its participants. The parish was conservative in all church observances and in daily life. The good principles which governed it were those inculcated by Dr. Shelton. He taught all the parishioners, particularly the younger ones, that the prayer book, next to the Bible, was the best of all books, that the sacraments were
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History of St. Paul's Church.
not to be lightly regarded, but faithfully observed. He sought so to instill precept on precept as to give life and nourishment to the inner life, and his sermons were mostly of that character ; he was rarely eloquent in them, but sought to instruct the people by calm reasoning rather than by eloquence. He was so honest and straightforward, not only in his church life, but in his daily walks, that his people learned to place full reliance on him, and to be governed by his good counsels. His congregation during fifty years of his ministry in St. Paul's was composed of all sorts and conditions of men, but such was his power of adaptation that he reconciled all adverse tendencies, and, as it were, so cultivated their inner nature as to conduce not only to their own good but to the best interests of the parish. He said in one of his sermons that a good churchman is good in all things ; that is, good churchmanship gives a right judgment in all things. He taught that a neglect and disuse of religious duties would tend to the decay of the spiritual life, and an entire neglect and disuse end in barbarism. He himself was a manly, straightforward and consistent churchman, and, by his conversation and attentions to the daily duties of life, taught his congregation to be the same. His rich and full voice, so often heard in all the church services and in the reading of the Scripture lessons, will long be remembered.
December 14, 1876, the vestry adopted resolutions relative to the death of DeWitt C. Weed, for many years treasurer of the parish and one of the vestry. It was resolved that he was always among the fore- most in his devotion to the interests of the parish, and a constant and large contributor to its support, and that his Christian character, his devout and regular attendance upon Divine worship, his unaffected piety, his probity and sterling worth, will always be remembered, and his example will remain a precious legacy to his family, to his friends and all who knew him.
DeWitt C. Weed died November 16, 1876. He was born in Buffalo September 16, 1824, and was the eldest son of the late Thaddeus and Louisa Chapin Weed. His father, Thaddeus Weed, was an old and
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History of St. Paul's Church.
valued citizen of Buffalo, at one time the principal hardware merchant of the city, the Weed Hardware Store on the north-west corner of Main and Swan streets being still prominent. His mother was a daughter of Dr. Cyrenius Chapin, one of the pioneers of Buffalo, and one of its brave defenders at its burning by the British in 1813.
The family have been connected with St. Paul's parish almost since its foundation.
DeWitt C. Weed was from early youth an active member of St. Paul's ; in 1847 and after, one of the " junior vestry," and prominent in working for the building of the new church. He was on the first building committee in 1849, and on that of 1867 and 1870 ; a member of the vestry in 1856, 1857, 1863 and 1874, and treasurer of the parish from 1858 to 1870, resigning in 1871. He was, to all intents and pur- poses, the founder of the church of St. Mary's-on-the-Hill, which was not far from his home on Connecticut Street.
DeWitt C. Weed married, June 2, 1853, Miss Lucy Kimberley, second daughter of John L. Kimberley. Mrs. Weed survives him, also two daughters and a son.
1877.
Edwin Hurlbert died in January, 1877. He was a vestryman in St. Paul's in 1865 and 1866, and was one of the building committee in the construction of the spire on the main tower. His intelligent super- vision and almost constant attention to the details of the architect's plans resulted in the graceful and well-proportioned spire of our beautiful church edifice.
February 24, 1877, the vestry met, the Rev. Dr. Shelton in the chair. It was stated that the object of the meeting was for the pur- pose of considering the propriety of electing the assistant, the Rev. S. H. Gurteen as assistant rector of St. Paul's Church. Permission was given the Rev. Mr. Gurteen to extend the organ loft four feet forward and to place a chancel organ over the vestry room.
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History of St. Paul's Church.
March 6, 1877, the vestry passed the resolution that the Rev. S. H. Gurteen be elected the assistant rector of the parish and that his salary be $2,500 per annum, and that the salary of the Rev. Dr. Shel- ton as the rector be $1,000 per annum.
March 14, 1877, it was reported to the vestry that Mr. Kip declined to give up the funds in his hands, contributed for a former mission to the present German mission.
April 2, 1877, at the annual election, Rev. Dr. Shelton presiding, C. W. Evans and W. H. Walker were elected wardens, and Cyrus Clarke, L. C. Woodruff, John Pease, G. S. Hazard, M. B. Moore, H. H. Baker, Dr. A. R. Davidson and A. P. Thompson, vestrymen ; April 16th, J. B. Seymour was appointed clerk, and J. W. Sanford treasurer.
September 7, 1877, George B. Dudley was elected clerk of the vestry in place of John B. Seymour, deceased. The vestry passed resolutions relative to the death of John B. Seymour, late clerk of the vestry, and placed on record their appreciation of the faithful manner in which he had discharged the duties of his office, and bore testimony to his many excellent qualities, and tendered to his widow and family the assurances of their deep sympathy in their irreparable loss. The vestry agreed that the parish should pay $280 per annum for the support of the Episcopate.
1878.
March 28, 1878, the rector called the attention of the vestry to a call that the Rev. S. H. Gurteen, the assistant rector, had received from Emmanuel Church in Boston, Mass.
March 30, 1878, the vestry requested the Legislature of the State of New York to pass an act in regard to the powers of an associate rector of St. Paul's Church, and also passed a resolution that the official relations of the Rev. Mr. Gurteen be the same and declared to be associate rector, and that his salary be $4,000 per annum from and after April 1, 1878, and that he be requested to organize a full choral
History of St. Paul's Church. 123
service for St. Paul's Church to be used for each Sunday evening ser- vice, and authorized to make such alterations in the chancel as he may deem necessary for that purpose.
At the annual election, April 22, 1878, the Rev. Dr. Shelton presiding, Charles W. Evans and William H. Walker were elected wardens, and Cyrus Clarke, L. C. Woodruff, John Pease, G. S. Hazard, Mark B. Moore, Howard H. Baker, Dr. A. R. Davidson and A. Porter Thompson, vestrymen. George B. Dudley was appointed clerk, and James W. Sanford treasurer.
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