USA > New York > New York City > History of St. Stephen's parish in the city of New York, 1805-1905 > Part 7
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sonal knowledge of Mr. Jackson was limited to seeing him occasionally in the home or in the pulpit, yet the impressions of him, so gained, are quite vivid. Mr. Jackson was regarded with very warm affection and respect by a considerable portion of the congregation. He was a decided "Evangelical" (as that school of Churchmanship at that day was called), and, his preaching being generally extemporaneous, it was quite sharply criticised by another portion. For sometime before his resignation, there was a difference between these parties, and at the annual election of vestrymen, strong partisan feelings were awakened; and memory brings back various portions of rather heated discus- sions, occurring at home and in the Lecture Room, be- tween differing factions, upon this very point. One side insisted upon the need of a more "attractive" preacher, which need was supposed to be indicated by a falling off in the attendance, and a lack of pew rentals. The other side warmly, and most justly, urged the earnest devo- tion and spiritual preaching of Mr. Jackson, his per- sonal influence and the strong affection of many for him. From mere remembrance of things heard and af- terwards connected, the writer is under the impression that Mr. Jackson, while a most devout man, and accord- ing to his best knowledge a faithful pastor, was essen- tially lacking in organizing faculty, and probably un- able to grasp the varied needs of the differing minds in his congregation. Certain it is, that these differences increased as time went on, and resulted in the resigna - tion of Mr. Jackson in 1837; which was not accepted
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at first, but being pressed by financial considerations, was later accepted.
The Rev. Dr. Price from Albany, came as successor to Mr. Jackson, and certainly succeeded in building up the congregation.
Dr. Price did not wear any distinctive garb, except the common clerical and voluminous white cravat. If memory serves rightly, no Protestant clergyman at that time wore any indicated professional clothing. Dr. Price was of medium height, rather heavily built, with broad shoulders and erect carriage. His head was covered with a quantity of dark hair. The features of his face were large, the mouth especially. He had small steel grey eyes. His general appearance was English. In respose, the face was rather sombre, but was, however, wonderfully brightened by a singularly winning smile. In the pulpit, while his appearance was dignified and graceful it was not striking. As he (whenever heard by the writer) used a manuscript, the reputation of an orator which had preceded him was hardly sustained. In preaching he frequently used a very marked gesture; which was the sudden raising of the right hand (on which glittered a handsome signet ring), holding it extended through three or four sen- tences, then sweeping it quickly round to the left, and letting it drop ; also accompanying the graceful, vigor- ous movement by a drop of the voice to lower pitch, and a deep full tone.
Dr. Price was a frequent visitor to the school-rooms in Chrystie Street; and took an evident interest in teachers and scholars.
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The Superintendent of the school at that time was Mr. Francis Vinton, a candidate for Orders, and a stu- dent in the General Theological Seminary in 20th Street. He was afterwards a very able assistant minis- ter of Trinity Church, New York ; and was also rector of Trinity Church, Newport. At the close of his Seminary course, Mr. Vinton necessarily left the Sunday school, and was succeeded by a gentleman of the parish, a mem- ber also of the quartette choir. Mr. Harris was a thor- ough, earnest official ; devout, reverent, firm ; yet gentle, scrupulously careful in every particular of his duty, and he managed the school well and was thoroughly respected all the years that he had control. He was succeeded by Robert B. Fairbairn, at that time also a student in the Seminary, who remained in charge so long as his stay at that institution enabled him to come to St. Stephen's. He was afterward well known in the Church as the Rev. Dr. Fairbairn, the beloved Warden of St. Stephen's College, Annandale, N. Y. After him, another Seminary student, William Lake was appointed by the Rector. He had charge, however, only one year ; for being a native of Rhode Island, when he was com- pelled by circumstances to return home, the rector was obliged to appoint another New York resident.
By this time, the writer who had entered the school as teacher in his thirteenth year, had become a candidate for Holy Orders, and was pursuing his studies in the Theological Seminary when he was appointed by the rector, Superintendent of the school. This office he held until the fall of 1844, when, having finished his studies. his services were sought by the Bishop of Maryland,
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and he resigned his charge in October. A handsome copy of the Illustrated Prayer Book "presented to him by the Female Teachers of St. Stephen's Sunday School as a testimony of their regard, etc.," he still holds as a cherished relic of past years.
It is gratifying to know that the writer of the above interesting description of old St. Stephen's earlier days, carried with him into his ministry an affection for the parish in which he labored while in the Seminary; and when he became the founder and rector of a new church in Thurmount, Frederick County, Va., he named it St. Stephen's in grateful memory of his first love.
There were two occurrences which added greatly to the burden which Dr. Price had to bear, aside from the financial difficulties which pressed upon the parish ; namely, the connection of St. Stephen's Church with the Carey ordination, and the sympathy of its rector with the Rt. Rev. Bishop Onderdonk, in the result of his Ecclesiastical trial.
The Churchmanship of the Rev. Dr. Price was more advanced than that of his predecessors and when the Bishop of the diocese appointed the ordination of the Seminary graduates to be held in St. Stephen's Church on Sunday, July 2, 1843, great dissatisfaction arose among some of the congregation because Mr. Arthur Carey was one of the candidates for ordination.
The circumstances attending this ordination aroused a feeling of hostility on the part of the Evangelical party towards the Bishop and the clergymen who took part in the service. Not only in New York, but through- out the entire country, there was a bitter feeling between
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high and low (or Ritualistic and Evangelical) Church- men. Many earnest and Godly people believed that a step had been taken, in admitting Mr. Carey to the ministry, which would create a permanent breach among the members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and would turn many from its communion ;- to the sects, on the one hand, or to the Church of Rome on the other.
The following is a brief statement of the cause of all this trouble.
Mr. Arthur Carey was graduated by the General Theological Seminary in 1842. Until he became of canonical age to be ordained, he served in St. Peter's Church as a lay-worker, under its rector, the Rev. Dr. Hugh Smith, a clergyman of pronounced Evangelical views. Mr. Carey was a quiet, studious young gentle- man, and his work in the parish had been acceptable to the rector and his parishioners. But Dr. Smith was alarmed because Mr. Carey approved of some of the teachings of the Oxford School. Therefore he felt it his duty as his rector to decline signing Mr. Carey's testimonials for ordination ; and he persuaded his friend, the Rev. Dr. Anthon (a former rector of St. Stephen's, but at that time rector of St. Mark's Church), to unite in a protest to the Bishop of the Diocese, against con- ferring Holy Orders upon Mr. Carey, until a satisfac- tory examination should convince them both that Mr. Carey's views on certain doctrines held by the Church of Rome had been repudiated, or so modified as to be acceptable to the school which these gentlemen repre- sented.
A special examination of Mr. Carey was held, in
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the presence of Bishop Onderdonk and eight presbyters. After a protracted session, in which the candidate was closely examined by Dr. Smith and Dr. Anthon, as well as by the Bishop, and the Rev. Drs. Berrian (of Trin- ity), McVickar (of Columbia College), Seabury (of the Annunciation ) ; Rev. Messrs. Haight and Higbee (of Trinity), and Price (of St. Stephen's), the Bishop said that he would give due consideration to the whole mat- ter, and announce his decision the day following.
The Bishop accordingly did so, and directed the ordination to be held on Sunday, July 2d, in St. Stephen's Church. During the service, in accordance with the rubrics, the usual appeal to the congregation was made by the Bishop, in these words :
"Brethren, if there be any of you who knoweth any impediment or notable crime in any of these persons presented to be ordered deacons, for which he ought not to be admitted to that office, let him come forth in the name of God, and show what the crime and impedi- ment is."
Thereupon the Rev. Dr. Smith and the Rev. Dr. An- thon, wearing their black gown and bands, each arose in his seat, in the nave of the church, and read a solemn protest against conferring Holy Orders upon Arthur Carey, for the reason that, as they firmly believed, he "holds things contrary to the doctrine of the Protestant Episcopal Church in these United States, and in close alliance with the errors of the Church of Rome."
These protests having been read, the Bishop said:
"The accusation now brought against one of the per- sons to be ordered deacons has recently been fully in-
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vestigated by me, with the knowledge and in the pres- ence of his accusers; and with the advantage of the valuable aid and counsel of six of the worthiest, wisest and most learned of the presbyters of this diocese, in- cluding the three who are assisting in the present solem- nities. The result was, that there was no just cause for rejecting the candidate's application for Holy Orders. There is, consequently, no reason for any change in the solemn service of the day; and, therefore, all these per- sons being found meet to be ordered, are commended to the prayers of the congregation."
Thereupon the two reverend protestants left the church, and the ceremony of ordination proceeded. The Rev. Benjamin Haight presented Mr. Carey, and the Rev. Dr. Berrian with the Rev. Dr. Price, rector of the Church, assisted the Bishop in the services of the day.
The storm of protest which this ordination service occasioned, made forever memorable an occurrence which at the present day would scarcely have ruffled the waters of the Ecclesiastical sea.
The Rev. Mr. Carey became the assistant minister of the Church of the Annunciation. He did not live long after his ordination, but the bitterness of the contro- versy continued and did not soon die out. The Rev. Dr. Tyng, of Philadelphia, a leader of the Evangelical party, stood by Bishop Onderdonk, and publicy com- mended him for the course he had taken. His Evan- gelical friends were much grieved at this ; but he main- tained that the position taken by Drs. Smith and An- thon was untenable; because the challenge to the con- gregation was to show "immorality of life," and not
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"error of doctrine," on the part of the candidate. His examiners had decided all doctrinal points according to the requirements of the canon. Did any one know of "any notable crime" or any immoral conduct in the past, which would justify Mr. Carey's exclusion from the ministry? If not, the Bishop was obliged to ordain him.
The Rev. Dr. Price, rector of St. Stephen's, had to bear many discourtesies from both clergy and laity for assisting in the ordination, and giving his church for this service. He says in his account of the matter that he was at times in the receipt of threatening anonymous letters ; and that all explanations he tried to make were futile. Party feeling was so strong that the Evan- gelical faction would accept no excuse or explanation of what it considered an outrageous, high-handed pro- ceeding.
The following extract is from the Bishop's address to the New York Convention, 1843:
"On the third Sunday after Trinity, July 2nd, in St. Stephen's Church, New York, I admitted to Dea- cons' Orders the following alumni of the General Theo- logical Seminary : Arthur Carey, Vanderdoort Bruce, Samuel H. Cox, Jr., Benjamin Daniels, Robert B. Fair- bairn, Fletcher J. Hawley, Edwin A. Nichols, Reuben Riley, Edward Selkirk, and Edgar P. Wadhams. My Right Reverend brother, the Bishop of North Carolina, was present, and did me the favor of taking part in the ordination services."
The Bishop in his address to the Diocesan Convention, in 1844, speaks of Rev. Mr. Carey in terms of highest
112 HISTORY OF ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH.
praise. He had died at sea that same year, April 4, 1844, while on a voyage to Havana for the benefit of his health. "His ministry was short, but sound, faith- ful and of peculiar acceptance with intelligent, devout and serious people." He was buried at sea early on the morning of the same day that he would have landed at Havana had he lived.
Three years after this ordination service a terrible misfortune overtook the diocese of New York. It was announced that its Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin T. Onderdonk had been found guilty of charges of im- morality, and had been suspended from exercising the duties of his high office.
From the third day of January, 1845, until the tenth of November, 1852 (more than seven years), the lead- ing diocese of the United States was without an active Episcopal head. The injury inflicted on the growth of the Church was great and was not repaired for many a long year. It added not a little to the anxiety of faithful Churchmen, that this occurrence served to deepen the partisan feeling then existing between high and low Churchmen. The excitement attendant upon the Carey ordination had not subsided. Many pious peo- ple thought that the Church was doomed to destruction by absorption into the Church of Rome. The Evan- gelical party had not become reconciled to Bishop On- derdonk's persistence in ordaining young Carey, and partisan feelings were not allayed by the reasonable explanations given, even by men of their own party.
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Within three years of this time came the awful trag- edy of the fall of the Bishop who had ordained Arthur Carey.
The Rev. Dr. Price was a warm friend of Bishop Onderdonk, and sympathized with him in his calamity. Moreover, the Doctor did not hesitate to express his opinion in public and in private, that he believed the Bishop to be the object of persecution.
This, together with the fact that Dr. Price had warmly espoused the wisdom of Carey's ordination, occasioned much hard feeling towards him on the part of many of his parishioners, and his life was made miserable. Many left the Church on account of his out- spoken sentiments and the revenue from pew rents was diminished.
Dr. Price said to his congregation : "To go through all the details of this trial, as well as the premonitory symptoms of it for months and even years before, to lay out before you the reasons why I was willing to be ranked among the friends of Bishop Onderdonk,-how far the Bishop's trial, and the ordination of Mr. Carey, were two parts of one transaction (that is to say, the one consequent on the other) ; how far the common- sense rules of evidence, held as authority in the civil courts, were over-ruled by a diseased ambition to vindi- cate the purity of the Church; how far private preju- dice was allowed to influence and distort public judg- ment ;- all this, gone over at the time, again and again, I shall not reiterate, for it would not now be interesting to you, or profitable to any one."
114 HISTORY OF ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH.
Dr. Price in 1847 was elected deputy to the General Convention. He was for many years a member of the Missionary Committee of the Diocese, and from 1847 was its Chairman.
A brief record of the visitations of the Bishop, from time to time, will give some idea of Dr. Price's labors among the people.
In 1839, April 7th, the first Sunday after Easter, Bishop Onderdonk confirmed a class of sixty-nine; and. in 1842, the Bishop confirmed a class of fifty-seven.
In 1843, Bishop Onderdonk, in St. Stephen's Church, ordained to the priesthood, the Rev. Charles D. Jackson, who was at the time an assistant minister of the Church.
On July 1st, 1849, Bishop Whittingham confirmed in St. Stephen's a class of forty-one; and, in 1852, on April 4th, Bishop Chase, of New Hampshire, confirmed a class of fifty-two.
The Rev. Dr. Thomas Gallaudet soon after his mar- riage in 1845 attended St. Stephen's and was Superin- tendent of the Sunday School. He was ordained in that church on Sunday, June 16th, 1850, by Bishop Whit- tingham, of Maryland, presented by Rev. Dr. Price. Mr. Gallaudet became an Assistant Minister at St. Stephen's, and on September 18th, 1850, started the first Bible Class for deaf-mutes in the vestry room. In the Spring of 1851 he presented a class of eight deaf- mutes for confirmation by Bishop Chase, of New Hamp- shire. Mr. Gallaudet left St. Stephen's in 1851 and received Priest's Orders in Grace Church, Brooklyn, June 29th, from Bishop De Lancey, of Western New York.
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The election of a Provisional Bishop for the diocese of New York was held in October, 1852. Bishop Wain- wright was elected. The Rev. Dr. Price and Messrs. Robert A Sands, Isaac Fryer and Charles J. Chipp, lay-delegates from St. Stephen's, signed their names to the testimonial of the Convention assenting to the con- secration of the Bishop. At this Convention, Dr. Price was one of the candidates for the bishopric ; and he was also nominated again, in 1854, at which time the Rev. Dr. Horatio Potter was elected.
On Palm Sunday, 1853 (March 20th), Bishop Wain- wright, Provisional Bishop of the diocese, made his first visit to St. Stephen's and confirmed a class of twenty- five.
On March 5th, 1854, the first Sunday in Lent, Bishop Wainwright visited St. Stephen's and confirmed a class of twenty-seven.
The Rev. Arthur Whitaker (late rector of the Church of the Holy Communion, Norwood, N. J.) was a boy in the Sunday school in 1862. His account of the work at St. Stephen's at that time coincides in some respects with that given by the Rev. Mr. Whittingham in 1840. So late as the date of the Civil War, 1860, the children were gathered on a Sunday in the Public School build- ing in Chrystie Street and marched to the Church for service. Of course many dropped out on the way, and only about fifty children were present in the Sunday- school gallery at morning service.
Mr. Whitaker continues : "The school room was pro- vided with a piano, and the daughter of the sexton of the Church, who was a school teacher, accompanied the
116 HISTORY OF ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH.
singing, which formed, as it seemed to me, the most pleasing feature of the whole. Mr. Hawkesworth, a most worthy man, was Superintendent at that time.
"Dr. Price used to come to the Sunday school from time to time, and sit on the platform, and then in his gentle and quick way would say a few words to us. To- wards the close of the period of which I speak, Dr. Price invited a Mr. Richardson to act as Superintend- ent of the Sunday school. He was a man of uncertain character and a stranger: (I ought to say "adven- turer," for I knew somewhat of his subsequent career.) This led to the severance of Mr. Hawkesworth from the work. Others also left and I was without a teacher. I found work in the library, and as secretary. I remem- ber well that Superintendent Richardson, to increase the numbers in the school, offered a reward of ten dollars to the boy or girl who brought the largest number of new scholars within a given time; for I won half of the prize myself. I brought in, I think, seventeen all told. Of course the Sunday school increased by leaps and bounds, and the next thing was to find teachers; for those we had were entirely insufficient. But the Super- intendent was equal to the emergency. He had a hoop- skirt factory in Warren Street, and employed many girls and women. The best looking and most attractive of these he laid under tax, and accordingly they came to hand, and the classes were supplied with teachers. However, the effort was a failure. Mr. Richardson left the place, and the school was without the services of a head, except such as I could render. Soon after this the
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Church property was sold, and the Sunday school, of course, was abandoned.
"The push and the bustle and the noise of today all were absent. Calm and quiet dignity !- that was the note of St. Stephen's."
Many people have spoken of the fine voice, as well as the rhetorical power of Dr. Price. He was a most impressive reader of the Church's service. Mr. Thomas Whittaker stated that he had attended the funeral ser- vices of a friend at which the Rev. Dr. Price officiated. After the service, Mr. Whittaker remarked to the late Rev. Dr. Dyer, that he had never heard the burial ser- vice so impressively read as by Dr. Price. At this the Rev. Dr. Dyer was exceedingly amused, and replied : "It might well be so; because Dr. Price in his younger days was an actor."
For a quarter of a century the rector of St. Stephen's did an important work in a neighborhood which was crowded by a tenement house population. The time came, however, when, like all city churches, the congre- gation had to solve that most difficult problem-its ability to sustain itself against the incoming tide of emigration. St. Stephen's Church at one time had stood in the midst of New York's best residences. A native population surrounded it. With advancing years the influx of Irish emigrants began to crowd out the Ameri- can population, and the religious character of the neighborhood became largely Roman Catholic.
St. Stephen's saw this latter class almost entirely dis- appear, as they became more prosperous and sought dwellings farther up town. Then came the German
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population to take their places, and the parish had to minister to families whose children came to the Sunday school and were confirmed, but whose parents were in- different to religious obligations. Consequently, the congregation of St. Stephen's began to show signs of disintegration. Its former pewholders had moved up town; the people to whom it chiefly ministered were too poor to support it; and had it not been for the endow- ment given by Trinity Church the parish would neces- sarily have succumbed, as many down-town churches were obliged to, in later years.
At the present day on that same spot where the old church stood for sixty years, a large modern tenement house has been built, with stores on the lower floor. The Israelites have come in and taken possession of the prin- cipal stores and houses, and the streets swarm with Jewish and Italian children. The locality is one of the most congested residential districts in the city. Almost opposite where old St. Stephen's Church had stood, the "God's Providence House," of the New York Protes- tant Episcopal City Mission Society, is ministering to these foreigners.
In 1849 it was found necessary to repair the old building again at a cost of more than two thousand dollars. This expenditure and the increasing cost of living and a fluctuating membership again plunged the parish in debt.
Again, February 10th, 1851, a committee of the Vestry, consisting of Isaac Fryer, R. A. Sands and Charles J. Chipp, were appointed to solicit a gift of $1,500.00 from Trinity. The petition states that the
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repairs to the church in 1849 cost $2,200.00. Of this amount $525.00 was contributed by the congregation and $700.00 from funds of the Church, leaving $600.00 to be provided by the Vestry. By an expenditure of $1,500.00 in alterations and improvements contemplat- ed, an additional income could be obtained. This would be required to meet a portion of the outlay, and replace in a measure the loss of income from interment fees, and enable the Vestry to afford additional accommodations for the increasing applications for pews in said church. It is stated that the income of the Church this year was $3,800.00, and the expenses were $3,650.00; leaving a balance of only $150.00 to meet extraordinary demands.
The Rev. Dr. Price says :
" The idea of a mission now suggested itself. To meet this the church required repairs, involving an out- lay of five thousand dollars; the sexton's house must be rebuilt, costing eight thousand dollars ; buildings erected for the mission on the site of the churchyard, costing ten thousand dollars ; and the dead removed as now, costing ten thousand dollars. To meet this the church had not a cent. The Vestry endeavored to in- terest the City Mission, the Howard Mission, the Guild of the Holy Cross, but for various reasons all failed. Two or three of Trinity vestry were consulted, but no encouragement was given to hope for anything for some years to come. The endowment given by Trinity might have been seriously impaired, and it is thought in legal quarters, entirely used up, if it were used in the service of the church. To this the rector would not for one moment listen. That which was given for the security
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