USA > New York > New York City > History of St. Stephen's parish in the city of New York, 1805-1905 > Part 5
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Bishop Hobart was absent from the city, being on a visitation in the western part of his diocese, at the time Dr. Feltus died. In his address to the Diocesan Conven- tion in Trinity Church, New York, October, 1828, the Bishop pays this worthy tribute to him :
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THE THIRD RECTOR.
" The news of the death of the Rev. Henry J. Feltus, D. D., the rector of St. Stephen's Church, in this city, whom I had left in health and spirits, reached me, during my late visitation, in August last. He was for many years the exemplary, diligent, and faithful pastor of a numerous and respectable congregation, and received, as he merited, their devoted attachment. A public loss to the church to which he was sincerely attached, and for whose interests he diligently labored, I must consider his death a private loss to me; having received from him, since his settlement in the city, the uniform expressions of kindness and confidence. He was removed from the scene of his usefulness in the full vigor of health, and not much advanced beyond the prime of life, and this dispensation of Providence is a forcible call on all, and especially on his brethren, to cherish the constant recol- lection of the uncertainty of the time when they shall be summoned to give an account of their stewardship."
The Rev. Dr. Anthon thus speaks of his predecessor, the Rev. Dr. Feltus: "The rector must be permitted to observe, that he has marked with great satisfaction the affectionate veneration in which the memory of his rever- ed predecessor is held by the congregation. His work is done; but (to use the words of Bishop Horne), 'the memorials of his name and of his good deeds ' will long remain in this parish, ' fresh as the morning breeze, and fragrant as the flower of the spring.'"
After the death of Dr. Feltus the parish remained without a rector for nearly six months. Naturally dur- ing that time, interest in the parish began to wane, and many took the opportunity to go to the neighboring
72 HISTORY OF ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH.
church of All Saints, in Henry Street, and to the new St. Thomas, in Houston Street.
On October 5th, 1828, Bishop Hobart held an ordi- nation service at St. Stephen's Church, and ordained the Rev. Antoine Verren priest. He was the rector- elect of the French Church du St. Esprit.
The Rev. Dr. Dix says: "In Bishop Hobart's time, the clergy, in going to or from church, and in visitation of the sick, were expected to appear in cassock, gown, bands, scarf, and white silk gloves. When a funeral scarf of linen was presented to a clergyman, he was al- ways expected to wear it in the pulpit the following Sunday. Dr. Wainwright was the first to depart from the custom of wearing gloves with the fore finger of the right hand glove slit or cut off so as to enable the clergy- man to turn over the leaves of the prayer book and the sheets of his sermon."
In November the vestry called the Rev. Levi S. Ives, then rector of St. Luke's Church in Hudson Street, but he declined. In December the Rev. John Henry Hop- kins, rector of Trinity Church, Pittsburg, Pa., was ask- ed to accept the rectorship. He also declined. Four years afterwards he was consecrated Bishop of Ver- mont; and in 1865 he became the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
Henry Anthon.
The Fourth Reitor: Reb. Henry Anthon. 1829-1831
ENRY ANTHON was born in New York at 11 Broad Street, on March 11th, 1795. He grad- uated from Columbia College in the class of 1813. On September 29th, 1816, he was ordained dea- con in Trinity Church, New York, by Bishop Hobart, and was placed in charge of St. Paul's Church, Red Hook, and adjacent villages. On the 27th of May, 1819, he was ordained priest by Bishop Hobart, in the new church at Red Hook, which was also consecrated the same day ; and of which parish he was then made rector.
In 1819 Mr. Anthon married Miss Emilia Corré, daughter of Joseph Corré, of New York, and went to South Carolina, where he remained two years, in order to benefit his health; assuming no parochial charge.
In 1821 he was elected rector of Trinity Church, Utica, N. Y. Columbia, his alma mater, in 1832, con- ferred upon him the degree of Doctor in Divinity. Shortly thereafter he was elected Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the General Theological Seminary; and also Professor of Pastoral Theology and Pulpit Elo- quence, in that institution. Hobart College elected him trustee in 1825.
Mr. Anthon received calls to become rector of St.
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74 HISTORY OF ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH.
Thomas' Church, New York; Christ Church, Hartford; and St. James' Church, Philadelphia ; all of which he declined. St. Stephen's Church, however, was more for- tunate than these, for having elected Mr. Anthon its rector, January 8th, 1829, he accepted the call on Janu- ary 19th, and was instituted on May 17th, 1829. His daughter Charlotte Ann was born in St. Stephen's rec- tory, January 22d, 1830, and baptized in the church, August 1st, 1830. After a short rectorship he resigned, on January 17th, 1831, to become an assistant minister of Trinity Church, New York.
The Rev. Mr. Anthon, upon assuming charge of St. Stephen's, in May, 1829, began a systematic classifica- tion of the communicants and the Sunday School chil- dren. He found a register of 400 Sunday scholars, with an attendance of 130. The following year the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, who had succeeded Mr. Anthon, bears this testimony to the efficiency of his predecessor :
" The whole number of pupils on the register of the Sunday School is 836; they are divided as follows :
"First. The Sunday School organized by Mr. An- thon, which now contains 554 pupils, under the charge of two superintendents and thirty teachers. This branch is very comfortably accommodated in the spacious pub- lic school room near the church, which has been obtained for the purpose.
" Secondly. An Infant School, commenced in May last, which contains 120 children, under the charge of a pious and competent mistress. This school is open on every day in the week, except Saturday, and the instruc- tion is gratuitous to more than 100 of the children. A
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room has been procured near the church, and by the benevolent kindness of a few pious members of the con- gregation, this branch is supported at the small expense of $200 per annum. Of the children, some are orphans, and the residue are, for the most part, the offspring of the poor members of the congregation.
" Thirdly. A school of blacks (both adults and chil- dren), containing 42 pupils, under the care of a superin- tendent and five teachers. This branch is provided with its own school room; it has been established but two months, and has reasonable expectations of a large in- crease in numbers.
" The average attendance in these schools is 400. Besides these, there is a class of 20 promoted from among the most deserving pupils of the first department mentioned above. This is under the immediate care of the rector, and meets him for recitation every Sunday. From this class teachers are supplied, and vacancies in it are immediately filled from the superintendent's list of those who are most worthy of a place in it.
" In addition, it is proper to state that there is a class of 100 catechumens, composed of children in the congre- gation, who do not belong to any of the foregoing schools. To these, one hour of every Lord's Day is devoted; they are examined in the church upon the cate- chism, which is accompanied with familiar explanations. Portions of the New Testament (principally narrative) are also read and explained to them, and these explana- tions they are expected on the next Lord's Day to repeat to the rector. As these children are regularly receiving religious instruction on Sunday, it is thought fit to class
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them among the Sunday scholars, and they accordingly make a part of the number (836) reported above.
" There is a Bible class of 100 adults, which meets the rector weekly. This class is but a continuation of that established by Mr. Anthon. The best comment on its value, is the fact, that nearly all of the younger communicants (including almost every teacher in the Sunday schools ) have come out of this class."
Although this statement shows the strength of the Sunday School work as carried on by Dr. Hawks, it must be remembered that it was built upon the foundation wisely laid by Mr. Anthon.
At the General Convention of 1832, in New York, Dr. Anthon was elected Secretary of the House of Deputies.
Dr. Anthon was elected to the rectorship of St. Mark's in the Bowery, in 1836; he accepted at once, and was instituted. He continued rector of St. Mark's until his decease in 1861.
" In person Dr. Anthon was small, with dark hair and eyes ; in later years his hair turned white. He was of a nervous temperament, tenacious of his principles, energetic in carrying them out, and unflinching in the performance of duty." Bishop Eastburn thus speaks of his power in the pulpit: " He was serious, simple, and earnest. One of his discourses, which I heard him deliver from the pulpit of St. Stephen's, soon after he came to New York, has remained with me ever since. It was on the Parable of the Sower ; and I recollect not only the pleasure I received from the terse, chaste, and perspicuous diction in which he clothed his thoughts, but the edification with which I left the church."
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THE FOURTH RECTOR.
Dr. Anthon, while assistant at Trinity Church, be- came closely associated with Bishop Hobart, and was one of his warmest supporters in the ecclesiastical differences which then disturbed the diocese.
After his election to St. Mark's Church (which was strongly Evangelical) Dr. Anthon associated more gen- erally with the clergy of that school, and finally with- drew entirely from the ranks of the High Church party.
He was one of the founders of the Protestant Episco- pal Society for the Promotion of Evangelical Knowl- edge, in 1849; and of the American Church Missionary Society, in 1860.
In the Memorial volume issued by the vestry of St. Mark's, in 1899, it is stated:
" Dr. Anthon's opinions had been gradually under- going a change. He had begun his ministry under the powerful influence of Bishop Hobart, and his associa- tions were still with the party of which the Bishop had been the head, but he was gradually abandoning the exclusive grounds upon which he had formerly stood, and his public protest against the ordination of Arthur Carey severed him from his old associates. He was fiercely assailed in the press and elsewhere, but went on his way undaunted, and was cheered by the knowledge that those who knew him best approved of his actions."
Alluding to this change of belief in Dr. Anthon, his friend Bishop Eastburn says:
" The great convulsion of the Carey ordination threw him completely off from all his old ecclesiastical con- nections, and placed him necessarily and finally upon the opposing side. His High Church stand he had taken
78 HISTORY OF ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH.
as a faithful man, and one who feared God above many, and he was slow and reluctant to cast it off. But never was there a man of a more frank and candid spirit, more open to conviction, or more unhesitating and instant in renouncing and retracing his path, however chosen, when he saw it to be erroneous or unsafe."
He was the founder and editor of The Protestant Churchman, the organ of the Evangelical party.
Dr. Anthon died Saturday noon, January 5th, 1861, and was buried in St. Mark's churchyard. Soon after his death the vestry voted that the new "Mission Chapel," in 48th Street, which Dr. Anthon had founded and had been deeply interested in, should be consecrated as the "Anthon Memorial Church," in perpetuation of the fact that mainly through his influence and endeavors that church was erected by the vestry of St. Mark's.
Upon a white marble tablet on a black background placed by the wardens and vestrymen on the north wall of St. Mark's Church, above the door, east of the chan- cel, is this testimony to Dr. Anthon :
"A faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, a de- voted son of the Protestant Episcopal Church, a Cath- olic Christian, a good citizen, an honest man. His life . was an example of singular purity, and consistency. As he lived and labored for Christ, so he died in the full faith and hope of His gospel. 'He was a faithful man and feared God above many.' Nehemiah vii. 2."
A portrait bust of the rector, in relief, is on the top of the tablet.
The portrait of Dr. Anthon, which we here give, is from the Memorial of St. Mark's and is a reproduction
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of the oil painting in the vestry of that Church, permis- sion to copy which was kindly given by the rector.
In reading the journals of the earlier Conventions of our church, one is struck by the strong hand the Con- vention held over its members. Every clergyman en- titled to a seat was required to attend its sessions. The names were published in the journal each year, of the clergymen and of the delegates who had failed to attend. At the convention, the year following, clergymen who had been absent the year previous were obliged to pub- licly state the reason for their absence, to the satisfac- tion of the Convention, and be excused.
Moreover, parishes which did not make the canonical contributions each year were blacklisted. Thus in the journals from 1824 to 1828 we find St. Stephen's Parish in the list as not having contributed to either Episcopal or Diocesan Funds. It seems to have contributed to the Missionary Fund, however, " by a society."
This neglect of compliance with the canon continued during the rectorship of Dr. Feltus. Upon the acces- sion of the Rev. Dr. Anthon, the parish began to fulfil its duty in this matter, and ever thereafter took an annual collection for all canonical objects.
Dr. Anthon says: " It is confidently believed that the requisitions of the church in this matter will be cheer- fully complied with for the future."
The official records by Dr. Anthon for the two years in which he was rector of the parish, show 74 baptisms, 60 funerals, and 13 marriages.
The Fifth Rector: Reb. Francis L. Hawks.
1831.
PON the resignation of the Rev. Dr. Anthon the Rev. Francis Lister Hawks was elected rector, January 19, 1831.
Mr. Hawks was born in Newberne, N. C., June 10th, 1798. His school education was acquired entirely in his native State, and he was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1815, receiving the highest honors of his class. In 1818 Yale College gave him the degree of Master of Arts. Immediately after graduation he entered upon the study of law; and, having been ad- mitted to the bar, was recognized not only as one of the leading lawyers of his State, but was also noted for his remarkable oratorical powers. He was soon elected to the Legislature of North Carolina, and having served his native State for a short time in the halls of Legisla- ture, he decided to abandon the law and enter the Church. Under the personal supervision of the Rev. William Mercer Greene (afterwards Bishop), he pursued his studies in theology; was ordained deacon November 18th, 1827, by Bishop Ravenscroft ; and later was ad- vanced to the priesthood by the same Bishop. In 1823 Mr. Hawks married Miss Emily Kirby, of New Haven. Mrs. Hawks died in 1827, leaving two children.
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Francis Lister Hawks.
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THE FIFTH RECTOR.
Rev. Mr. Hawks, soon after his wife's death, went to Connecticut, in April, 1829, and became assistant to the Rev. Harry Croswell, rector of Trinity Church, New Haven. Whilst there he married Mrs. Olivia Hunt, of Danbury, Conn. Mr. Hawks did not remain long in New Haven; for after he had been there only three months his eloquence as a preacher was so generally recognized that Bishop White, then also rector of St. James' Church, Philadelphia, invited him to become his assistant. The following year he was elected Professor of Divinity in Washington College, Hartford, and hav- ing occupied the chair for little more than a twelve- month, he was called to St. Stephen's Church, New York. He accepted, and was instituted March 8th, 1831; but here also his stay was a short one.
The new St. Thomas' Church in Houston Street had been completed about seven years before, and the vestry of that church extended an invitation to Rev. Mr. Hawks to become its rector; which office had become vacant in August by the resignation of Rev. Dr. Upfold. He accepted the call and entered upon his new duties in March, 1831. The following year his Alma Mater gave him the degree of LL. D., and Columbia College bestowed upon him the honorary degree of S. T. D.
It would be difficult indeed to convey a just conception of the eloquence of Dr. Hawks, his masterly oratory, his courteous manners, and devotion to the members of his congregation.
The new rector at once gave to St. Stephen's parish a prominence worthy of its former days. His Bible Class and Expository Lectures were long remembered
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by those who were fortunate enough to be of his flock. Yet rare as were his gifts as a preacher, he was almost equally attractive as a didactic teacher and lecturer.
At this period Dr. Hawks was also giving his best efforts in behalf of every effort for the cause of Church Extension. His biographer says: "His popularity as a pulpit orator has seldom been equalled, certainly never surpassed in the American Church. Crowds flocked to hear him; nor was it a merely temporary reputation. Time, that severest of all tests, which tries charlatans and strips them of their borrowed garb, tried him, and still he stood forth, year after year, the peerless preach- er of the day." He loved the instruction of the young, and a large and vigorous Sunday School was the result of his indefatigable labors at St. Stephen's.
Against the records of baptisms made by Dr. Hawks, on St. Stephen's parish register, is this entry, concern- ing the names of twenty-four children entered thereon : "Sunday School children sought out by the teacher and all baptized at the church together, on the afternoon of Whitsunday, 1831."
And again on the afternoon of the Fourteenth Sun- day after Trinity, 1831, fourteen children were bap- tized, against whose names is a similar record.
"As a Churchman he belonged to that class of men who have always given a predominant character to the American Church. He abhorred extremes in each direc- tion, and had little patience with the men who seemed to lower the Church to a level, with either Romanism on the one hand or Sectism on the other. He himself said of his own views of what constitutes true and sound
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Churchmanship: 'With low Churchmen as a party we have not, and never had, any communication or sympa- thy.' Being an ardent admirer and faithful disciple of his friend Bishop Ravenscroft-'It was in his school' (he writes), 'we learned our Churchmanship, and we think that the Church to this day cannot afford any wiser or more honest teacher.' "
Whilst Dr. Hawks created great enthusiasm, which gave an impetus to the Church's work at St. Stephen's, and created its most halcyon days, the edifice being crowded on every occasion of public worship, it was perhaps an unfortunate thing for the parish in the end.
Whilst enthusiasm over the new rector was at its height, he suddenly resigned to accept a parish only a mile distant from St. Stephen's; and the result was a marked falling off in the attendance at both Church services and Sunday School. An interregnum of six months followed, during which time the clergy of the city and others, by turn, supplied the services at St. Stephen's. But in the meanwhile a large number of his congregation had followed their beloved rector to his new field of labor, and became identified with St. Thomas' parish.
During the short time he was rector of St. Stephen's he baptized 78 persons, married 15 couples and buried 19 persons.
In 1835 Dr. Hawks was elected Missionary Bishop of Louisiana, but he declined the honor, and remained in the rectorship of St. Thomas'. Again in 1843 the diocese of Mississippi chose him for its bishop. This election he also declined.
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As historiographer of the Episcopal Church, Dr. Hawks visited England, and obtained transcripts of most valuable documents concerning the Church in America, from the archives of Lambeth, Fulham, and the Venerable Society for Propagating the Gospel.
In 1844 Dr. Hawks resigned the charge of St. Thomas' Church to accept the rectorship of Christ Church, New Orleans. Whilst living in that city he was elected President of the newly founded University of Louisiana.
After five years' residence in New Orleans he left that city, and again located in New York, as rector of Cal- vary Church. The diocese of Rhode Island elected Dr. Hawks its bishop in 1852, upon the death of Bishop Henshaw ; but for the third time he declined the honor of a seat upon the Episcopal bench.
Baltimore, however, succeeded in drawing Dr. Hawks from New York. His sympathies were strongly with the South in the Civil War, and a call from Christ Church, Baltimore, in 1862, afforded him the oppor- tunity to withdraw from Calvary Church, and dwell among a people whose sentiments were more in har- mony with his own.
But still, New York had its attractions ; and after the war many of his friends and former parishioners urged his return to the North, and organized the parish of Our Savior, of which he was to be the rector.
On September 4th, 1866, he laid the corner-stone of the new church in East 25th Street, near Madison Avenue. This was his last public service, for having contracted a severe cold, he became rapidly ill and died on the 26th of the same month.
William Jackson.
The Sixth Rector : Reb. William Jackson.
1832-1837
HE Rev. William Jackson was born in Tutbury, England, January 30th, 1793. When twenty- four years of age he came to this country, and settled in Baltimore, where, under the guidance of the Rev. John P. K. Henshaw, rector of St. Peter's Church, he began his studies for the ministry. Bishop Moore, who had been the second rector of St. Stephen's Church (at that time the Bishop of Virginia), ordained him dea- con in St. Paul's Church, Alexandria, May 14th, 1820, and soon thereafter he was placed in charge of St. George's Parish, Havre De Grace, Md. In 1821 Mr. Jackson was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Kemp, and in 1823 he became rector of St. Paul's, Chestertown, Md. After a rectorship of five years in this parish, he was elected rector of St. Paul's Church, Alexandria, Va., which call he accepted; remaining there until 1832, when, on May 9th, of that year, he was chosen rector of St. Stephen's Church, New York. He at first declined, but after a second call had been extended he, with great reluctance, felt it his duty to go; and soon thereafter left Virginia and moved to that city.
On November 8, 1820, Mr. Jackson married Miss Margaret Austin Byron, of New York.
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HISTORY OF ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH.
Mr. Jackson was a member of the Standing Commit- tee of the Diocese of Virginia in 1829, and also a mem- ber of the Executive Committee of the Missionary So- ciety of the Diocese. In 1832 he was elected a Deputy from Virginia to the General Convention.
Prior to the election of Mr. Jackson to St. Stephen's Church, the Vestry had, upon the resignation of the Rev. Dr. Hawks, chosen the Rev. John S. Stone, of Connecticut, to be rector. Mr. Stone, however, de- clined the call. On January 27th, 1832, the Rev. David Moore, rector of St. Andrew's Church, Richmond, Staten Island, and a son of the second rector of St. Stephen's Church, was elected, but declined. Again in March, a second invitation was sent to him, and this also he thought best to decline. As above stated, the Rev. William Jackson was elected rector and entered upon his duties in July, 1832.
Not only had St. Stephen's suffered by the resigna- tion of Dr. Hawks, but it was destined still further to endure those changes which inevitably follow when a parish is without a rector for six months.
St. Stephen's, although it had been successively favored with the ministrations of Bp. Moore, Dr. Feltus, Dr. Anthon, and Dr. Hawks, was now, from the con- currence of adverse circumstances, in a state of great depression.
Asiatic cholera had broken out in the city. Business was suspended generally, and as a result "the congrega- tion was scattered and divided; the Sunday School broken up, so that it necessitated the collecting together of a dispersed flock, and the recommencing of every
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good work among them; but when, in the Spring of 1837, Mr. Jackson went to his field of labor in the West, he left it thriving, prosperous and united; a full church, a flourishing Sunday School, and every means of use- fulness and Christian benevolence in active operation. In this congregation his efforts were nobly seconded and sustained by a small band of devoted, praying and working Christians, some of them, probably, the fruit of Bishop Moore's memorable labors among them. For these, Mr. Jackson ever retained the warmest friend- ship. Of this number, was the excellent and lamented Dr. Willet, whose name recalls to the mind of all who knew him an embodiment of the most lovely Christian graces." Mr. James W. Dominick was also another intimate friend and coadjutor.
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