USA > New York > Erie County > Buffalo > History of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, N.Y. : 1817 to 1888 > Part 21
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On November 24, 1899, died Mrs. Sarah E. Bryant, widow of George H. Bryant. Mrs. Bryant had long been a parishioner of St. Paul's, and was a sister of Mr. James Sweeney, of the vestry.
November 27, 1899, died the Hon. James Murdock Smith, LL. D., Chancellor of the Diocese of Western New York, aged eighty-three years. Judge Smith was born in Vermont, August 23, 1816. In 1824 his father removed, with his family, to Gouverneur, N. Y., and he was admitted to the bar, in 1837, as an attorney in the supreme court and so- licitor in chancery. In 1838, James M. Smith removed to Buffalo, then a very small city, where he practiced law for many years. In 1862 the firm of Ganson & Smith was formed, which held a high position and was very widely known. In 1873, Hon. Isaac A. Verplanck, one of the judges of the superior court of Buffalo, died and Mr. Smith was appointed by the Governor and Senate to fill the vacancy, and in 1874 he was ap- pointed his own successor for the term of fourteen years. In 1873, Hobart College conferred on Judge Smith the honorary degree of LL. D. Judge Smith on first coming to Buffalo was a member of Trin- ity Church, but afterwards was prominently identified with St. Paul's to the time of his death. His funeral, which was held in St. Paul's on the 30th November, was very largely attended. His wife had died in 1887, and he was survived by his daughter, Mrs. Robert P. Wilson,
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and his son, Philip S. Smith. The following is from "Church Work " for January 1, 1900 : " The diocese suffers a sore loss in the recent death of the Hon. James M. Smith, LL. D. He was the first chancellor of the diocese, receiving the appointment from Bishop Coxe in 1874 and holding it to the day of his death. His attendance at our Diocesan Council goes back to the time before the division of the diocese, and there were few sessions in this long period in which he was not an active participant. He also was a frequent deputy to the general conventions. Amidst the engrossing duties of his profession he always found time, or made time, to give attention to the calls of the Church and the requirements of worthy citizenship. To his legal skill we owe the excellent canon recently adopted for the election of wardens and vestrymen ; and the present constitution and canons of the diocese were formulated under his wise and discriminating judg- ment. He was blessed with prosperity, and no man could be a better almoner of God's blessings than was he. No worthy charity was ever refused his aid, and his beneficence to the Church was constant and continuing. . ... In the life of Chancellor Smith we have a true type of a loyal churchman." .
December 4, 1899, being Monday in the week beginning with the First Sunday in Advent, the parish meeting for the election of a church- warden and three vestrymen was held in the church building, the Rev. Dr. Regester, the rector, presiding. William H. Walker was elected churchwarden for two years, and Edmund Hayes, Hobart Weed and James Sweeney were elected vestrymen for three years.
The other members of the vestry for this year, holding over from previous elections, were : A. Porter Thompson, churchwarden ; and John Pease, Albert J. Barnard, James R. Smith, Sheldon T. Viele, Charles R. Wilson and Dr. M. D. Mann.
December 18, 1899, died Mrs. Agnes L. Thompson Warren, widow of Edward S. Warren, at the family home, corner of Niagara Street and Porter Avenue, where she had lived for more than forty years. Mrs. Warren was born in the Village of Black Rock, now a part of the
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City of Buffalo, in January, 1819, and was a daughter of Sheldon Thompson, one of the earliest settlers of Buffalo. More than half a century ago she married Edward Stevens Warren, who died in 1863. She was a life-long member of St. Paul's Church, of which her father was one of the founders and one of the first vestrymen ; her husband was also a member of the vestry in 1850. She was a sister of A. Porter Thompson, one of the present wardens of the parish, and of Mrs. Henry K. Viele, and is also survived by two sons, William Y. Warren and Edward S. Warren of Buffalo ; and two daughters, Mrs. Rodney, wife of Col. George B. Rodney, U. S. A., and Mrs. Has- brouck, wife of Gen. Henry C. Hasbrouck, U. S. A. The Thomp- son, Warren and Viele families have always been prominently identified with the life and work of St. Paul's.
The " Year Book," dated Advent, 1899, gives a full and clear record of the extensive work of the parish. In the Prefatory Notes, the rec- tor says : " Hours of service, methods of work, figures, and names of workers, do not tell all or the best, by any means, of the life of the parish, but they tell a good deal. . . They show that the work of the parish is moving with steady step ; that the end in view is, in good measure, being reached ; and, best of all, that that end is an unselfish one. 'Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.' That, your rector believes, is plainly written on the work of the parish, as it is - as he knows -the spirit which animates the hearts of the workers. . . The effort to reach the men gathered in the cheap lodging houses in the lower part of the city has been strengthened. Last winter service was held on Sunday night in one lodging house. This winter access has been gained to another. In this way some privilege of worship and an earnest, direct word of counsel and advice are brought to about a hundred men each Sunday night. It is not easy work, with all else that there is to fill the hours of Sunday, but the clergy and the lay readers, and other men helping them, feel that it is work well worth doing. . ...
" Great and sad losses have come to the parish in the past year through the death of valued parishioners, whose love and helping
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hand could always be relied upon in any good work. But the influence of their example has not died. They have left behind them, as a her- itage to their children, the spirit of earnest love and loyalty to St. Paul's Church. Most grateful mention must be made of two generous bequests to the parish, of $3,000 by the Hon. James M. Smith, and of a like sum by Mrs. Agnes L. Warren. So large an increase of the Endowment Fund cannot but inspire confidence for the future."
The rector also received privately from " a parishioner," $100 for the Endowment Fund.
1900.
January 2, 1900, at a meeting of the vestry held at the Parish House, Charles R. Wilson was elected clerk of the vestry for the ensuing year and Wm. A. Joyce was elected treasurer of the parish.
May 11, 1900, at a meeting of the vestry, the following delegates were chosen to the Annual Council of the Diocese of Western New York to be held at Lockport, N. Y., on May 15, 1900 : William H. Walker, James Sweeney and Henry R. Hopkins, M. D.
The following letter, received from the executors of the last will and testament of Hon. James Murdock Smith, deceased, was then presented : " TO THE RECTOR, CHURCHWARDENS AND VESTRYMEN OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, BUFFALO.
" Gentlemen, - We have pleasure in transmitting to you herewith the amount of the legacy bequeathed to St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, toward its Endowment Fund, by the terms of the last will and testament of the late James M. Smith, LL. D., Chancellor of the Diocese of Western New York, our honored and beloved father.
" Very truly yours, " (Signed.) MARGARET L. WILSON, " PHILIP S. SMITH, " Executors."
A vote of thanks was resolved by the vestry to the executors, and the minute was entered: . . . " We also wish to put on record our appreciation of this welcome gift to the object so dear to the members of the parish."
History of St. Paul's Church. 23I
The matter of protecting the Endowment Fund of the parish by legislative enactment was then discussed, and, on motion, referred to a committee, consisting of Mr. Viele and Mr. Wilson. The vestry also resolved : "That a vote of thanks be extended to Mr. Philip S. Smith, for the efficient services rendered by him during the past year, as a member of the music committee."
October 22, 1900, at a meeting of the vestry, the rector presented the application of the Rev. Coleman E. Byram for recommendation by the vestry to the bishop for ordination to the priesthood ; also the application of Frank Wayne Abbott, Jr., for recommendation for admis- sion as a candidate for the holy ministry.
The rector reported the gift, from Edmund Hayes, of a set of offering-plates for the church, and a vote of thanks for the gift was tendered Mr. Hayes by the vestry.
On November 10, 1900, at the rectory, New York City, died the Rev. John W. Brown, D. D., rector of St. Thomas's Church.
Dr. Brown had been rector of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, from May 7, 1882, to June 1, 1888, when he left to take charge of the important parish of St. Thomas's. He had been very successful in his work at St. Paul's and was much beloved here. A short account of his life up to the time of his coming to Buffalo will be found at page 135.
Dr. Brown, who was in his sixty-fourth year at the time of his death, had been in somewhat feeble health for three or four months, but the news of his passing away came with great suddenness and shock to his many faithful friends.
After the burial, a largely-attended meeting was held in New York to do honor to his memory, and from the tribute adopted at this meet- ing we quote the following :
" The very large gathering assembled of bishops, clergymen, and faithful laity attested the appreciation of the life and ministry just closed, while it expressed the earnest desire to do honor to the good priest, the loyal citizen, the noble man. The Church had called him to exalted places and responsibie positions in her work and councils. As a rector in Middletown, Del., Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and New York, a member of the General Convention at several sessions, in the Board
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of Missions, or manager later on and associated with representative bodies in civic life, he was always active and honored.
" His long ministry, served in such large centers of influence, has been a fruitful one, and the abundant success of his life and vocation came from the sterling quali- ties, the fine character, the exalted purposes of the man. We have known in Dr. Brown the type of a priest, in which firm convictions of faith created high ideals of duty, and resolute performance of it. For his views of the Church and her mission, his estimation of the privilege and responsibility of his high office, and his ardent devotion to the weal of his fellow-man, made his life potent in influence, far-reaching in its grasp."
On Sunday afternoon, November 10, 1901, after Evensong, a por- trait bust of the late Dr. Brown in Carrara marble, executed by J. Massey Rhind, was unveiled in a niche on the epistle side of the chan- cel of St. Thomas's Church, where it had been placed by the parishion- ers as a memorial to their late rector.
The body rests in a plot of ground at Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City, given by some of Dr. Brown's personal friends, who, in 1902, erected above the grave a monument in the form of a Celtic cross, fifteen feet in height, of beautiful design.
December 3, 1900, being Monday in the week beginning with the First Sunday in Advent, the annual parish meeting was held in the church building for the election of a churchwarden for two years, and for three vestrymen for three years each. In the absence of the rector, the senior warden, William H. Walker, presided. A. Porter Thompson was elected churchwarden for two years, and James R. Smith, Sheldon T. Viele and John R. H. Richmond were elected ves- trymen. The other members of the vestry for this year, holding over from previous elections were : William H. Walker, warden ; and Albert J. Barnard, Edmund Hayes, James Sweeney, Hobart Weed, Charles R. Wilson and Dr. M. D. Mann, vestrymen.
December 27, 1900, at. a meeting of the vestry, Charles R. Wilson was re-elected clerk and Wm. A. Joyce was re-elected treasurer of the parish for the ensuing year.
It was resolved : " That the vestry cordially approve of the sugges- tion of the rector, that a united effort be made to obtain by subscrip-
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tions the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), in payments running through two years, for the purpose of paying off the mort- gage on the Parish House, and of liquidating the floating debt ; and that the rector and Messrs. Hobart Weed and Charles R. Wilson be a committee to take charge of the subscriptions ; no subscription to be binding unless the sum of $20,000 is subscribed." At this meeting of the vestry, the report of the rector, from the special committee to which was referred the matter of securing a larger co-operation in the work of the parish, was presented, and, on motion, accepted and adopted. This was the constitution of certain "parish committees " to act in co-operation with the vestry, in the belief that it " would tend to increase interest in the parish and its affairs." The committees are composed of the younger men of the parish, and "have in charge such details of the work, formerly done by the vestry, as could be wisely and safely delegated to others." Any vacancies which may occur are to be filled by appointment by the vestry.
PARISH COMMITTEES. (Co-operating with the vestry.)
On Condition and Repair of Parish House .- E. Corning Townsend, chairman ; Marshall J. Root, Robert Palen, Philip S. Smith, Howard A. Baker.
On Church Grounds and Church Repairs .- Charles R. Wilson, chairman ; H. C. Harrower, W. Y. Warren, John M. Provoost, G. Hunter Bartlett.
On Lights and Heating .- John K. Walker, chairman ; Walter Devereux, Norman Rogers, W. B. Gallagher.
On Church Bells .- Robert M. Codd, Jr., chairman ; Albert Thompson, Gerald Richmond, James Sweeney, Jr., William Alex. Faxon.
On Pews and Pew Rentals .- John R. H. Richmond, chairman ; W. T. Atwater, Henry Adsit Bull, O. H. P. Champlin, W. H. Walker, Jr.
On the Envelope System. -- Maxwell S. Wheeler, chairman ; Shelton Weed, J. N. Frierson, George T. Ballachey, John H. Baker.
On the Sunday Morning Offering (to take the place of vestrymen when absent). - W. Y. Warren, Walter Devereux, E. S. Warren, John K. Walker.
In the "Year Book " for 1900 is the following : "Resignation of Mr. Pease. On the 23d of November last the rector received a letter
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from John Pease, the senior member of the vestry, in which he stated that owing to the infirmities of advancing years he desired to be relieved of active service, and to resign his position as a vestryman. At the parish meeting on the Monday after Advent Sunday, announce- ment was made of Mr. Pease's resignation and John R. H. Rich- mond was elected in his place. The first meeting of the vestry thereafter was on December 27th, when the two wardens were chosen as a committee to prepare a suitable minute to be entered upon the records of the vestry and to send a copy of the same to Mr. Pease. The minute . ... truly expresses the feeling of the whole parish." . . . .
After referring to the very long term during which Mr. Pease had been an active and influential member of the vestry, the minute con- cludes as follows :
" Always prompt in his attendance at our meetings, always faithful in the discharge of his duties as a member of the vestry, we cannot part with him without expressing the high regard and esteem that is felt for him by each one of us, and assuring him that our best wishes for his health and happiness will always attend him.
" Resolved, That this minute be entered upon the records of the vestry, and that a copy of the same be sent to Mr. Pease."
Mr. Pease was first elected to the vestry in 1855.
At the vestry meeting of December 27, 1900, the committee ap- pointed on May 11, 1900, for that purpose, reported the following draft of an Act for protecting the Endowment Fund. This draft was ap- proved by the vestry, and the committee was requested to take the necessary steps to obtain its enactment by the Legislature of the State of New York. The Act was passed by the Legislature in 1901, and reads as follows :
AN ACT
To authorize and direct St. Paul's Church, in Buffalo, to set apart certain funds, as a permanent endowment fund, and to restrict the use and investment thereof.
The people of the State of New York represented in Senate and Assembly do enact as follows :
SECTION I. The corporation known as St. Paul's Church, in Buffalo, is hereby empowered to take and hold real and personal property, given, devised or bequeathed to it absolutely or in trust, thereby establishing and maintaining an endowment fund,
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and all property so given, devised, or bequeathed to it unless otherwise specified in such gift, devise, or bequest, together with the trust fund now held by it, shall con- stitute a fund to be known as the "Permanent Endowment Fund," the income of which only shall be subject to expenditure for parish and church uses and purposes. No part of said fund, either principal or income, shall be liable either at law or in equity to the claims of the future creditors of said corporation, or subject to any mortgage or lien heretofore or hereafter executed or created by it.
SEC. 2. The control of said " Permanent Endowment Fund " shall be vested in the vestry of the said St. Paul's Church, and the laws of this State as the same now exist, or shall hereafter be enacted, relating to securities in which the deposits in savings banks may be invested, shall apply to and govern the said vestry in the investment of the said fund, except that where investments are made in bonds and mortgages on unencumbered real property, the amount loaned shall not exceed sixty-five percentum on a conservative valuation of such property.
SEC. 3. Any officer of the said corporation, or any other person, who shall divert or apply any part or portion of the principal of said Permanent Endowment Fund, or consent to the diversion or application of any part or portion of said fund, to any other use or purpose than that provided for in the foregoing sections, or shall invest the said fund, or any portion thereof, otherwise than as hereinabove provided, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
SEC. 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
The bequest of Mrs. Agnes L. Warren of $3,000 to the Endowment Fund, could not, under the provision of her will, be paid over by her executors until some such protection of the fund as the above mentioned act provides for had been secured. The bequest can now be added to the fund.
At the same meeting of the vestry, December 27th, the rector reported the receipt of $1,000 the gift of Mrs. Catharine B. Hayes to the Endowment Fund, being an addition to the " George E. Hayes Memorial." The vestry passed a vote of thanks to Mrs. Hayes for her very kind gift. Including the above additions, the Endowment Fund now amounts to $16, 131.99. The rector also reported that Mrs. Thomas King Mann had placed a silver water pitcher in the robing room for the use of the clergy. The clerk was requested to acknowledge this gift.
The " Year Book " for 1900 has the following "Notes": "The rector wishes to announce to the parish that he has entered into
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co-operation with the Charity Organization Society in its 'Church District Plan,' and has taken under his care what is known as ' District 50.' This district is a large one, bounded by Court and Clinton streets on the north, Michigan on the east, Scott on the south, and the Terrace on the west. It is the section of the city which would naturally fall to the care of our parish, and to which much care and work have always been given. . In addition to the gifts already mentioned in connection with the Endowment Fund, grateful acknowl- edgment must be made for several other acts of generosity toward the parish during the past year. Through the interest and effort of several of the younger men of the parish, [especially C. R. Wilson and J. M. Provoost,] and the liberal support of their plan by others, a subscription of $420 was raised to place a concrete sidewalk, twenty-six feet wide, on the Church Street side of the church. The amount given was sufficient not only to make this fine improve- ment, but also to provide a board covering, with hand-rail, for the stone steps of the entrances on Pearl and Erie streets. From General Hayes has come the gift of the beautiful plates for the offering ; from Mrs. Robert P. Wilson and Charles R. Wilson, prayer books and hymnals for the chancel, to complete the Memorial of Robert P. Wilson ; from Mrs. Thomas King Mann, a silver pitcher for the rector's robing-room ; and from Philip S. Smith and Charles R. Wilson, liberal expenditures to strengthen and enrich the music ; and from Mrs. William Y. Warren, additional book cases for the study in the rectory and a generous gift to help the benevolent work in our new ' Church District.'"
190I.
January 9, 1901, the rector and vestry met the members of the recently-formed "Parish Committees," at the residence of Charles R. Wilson, to make arrangements for the work to be done by these com- mittees, according to the plan explained and outlined, at this meeting, by the rector. (For committees, see page 233.)
History of St. Paul's Church. 237
February 2, 1901, on the afternoon of the day of burial of Queen Victoria, a very impressive memorial service was held at St. Paul's. Bishop Walker's address was considered one of the ablest and most eloquent tributes paid to the dead Queen by any Buffalonian. It was estimated that over 2,000 persons were present, and the church was crowded to the doors. Seats were reserved for the societies of Sons of St. George, St. Andrew's Scottish Society, and the Victoria Club, who were present in a body. The church was elaborately draped in black and purple, and with the American and British flags. A special form of memorial service, authorized by the bishop, was used, and the music was finely rendered by the vested choir, assisted by Scinta's band.
The noon-day Lenten services, now held every year at St. Paul's, are very largely attended and appreciated. The " Buffalo Commer- cial " of February 19 and 27, 1901, says, editorially : "The Rev. Dr. Regester, the universally loved rector of St. Paul's Cathedral, declared through the 'Commercial' last evening that the short and edifying Lenten noon-day meetings were for all who profess and call themselves Christians. His invitation is in the spirit of broad liberality. The attendance at the St. Paul's noon-day meetings must be very gratifying to Dr. Regester. Yesterday some of Buffalo's busiest men were present. . The invitation was a broadly Catholic one, and it has been accepted in that spirit."
March 21, 1901, died Mrs. Laetitia Porter Viele, widow of Henry K. Viele. Mrs. Viele was born in the Village of Black Rock, now a part of the City of Buffalo, on March 16, 1821, and had been a resi- dent of the city for over eighty years. She was a daughter of Sheldon Thompson, one of the earliest settlers of Buffalo, and one of the founders of St. Paul's and a member of its first vestry, and Mrs. Viele was a life-long member and communicant of St. Paul's, and active in all the charities and good works of the parish. She was married to Henry K. Viele in 1843. Mrs. Viele was a sister of A. Porter Thomp- son, one of the present churchwardens, and her son, Sheldon Thomp-
.
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son Viele, has been for several years a member of St. Paul's vestry. Her sister, Mrs. Agnes L. Warren, died only a few months before her, in December, 1899.
April 30, 1901, the Hon. John E. Pound of Lockport, N. Y., was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of Western New York, by Bishop Walker, to succeed the late Judge James M. Smith in that office.
May 10, 1901, at a meeting of the vestry, William H. Walker, A. Porter Thompson and Dr. H. R. Hopkins were appointed delegates to the Diocesan Council to be held in Buffalo, May 27, 1901.
June 10, 1901, at a meeting of the vestry, it was resolved to refuse consent to the proposed connection of the Pearl Street line of the International Traction Company with its line in Erie Street, and of the latter line with its line in Niagara Street.
It was the unanimous sense of the meeting that the proposed con- nection - resulting in the massing of cars and the attendant great increase of noise and confusion in their operation - would be very destructive to the use of the church for divine worship, and would be a perpetual nuisance. The following committee was appointed to take charge of the matter : Edmund Hayes, chairman ; Hobart Weed and Charles R. Wilson.
June 18, 1901, The Bishop Coxe Memorial Hall at Geneva, N. Y., was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. All churchmen in Western New York are interested in this beautiful memorial to the late Bishop of the Diocese, who was so universally revered and beloved, and St. Paul's, Buffalo, has shown its interest by contributing largely to the building fund - the amount subscribed by members of this parish being nearly eleven thousand dollars, over one-third of the cost of the memorial.
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