USA > New York > History of the Church of Zion and St. Timothy of New York 1797-1894 > Part 13
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205
REV. C. C. TIFFANY, D.D.
Lord our God hath led us, trusting Him to teach us in and through all changes not to live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God ; which word we seem to hear Him speak to-day as He says by His providence, " Go forward."
COMPLIMENTARY LETTER.
REV. CHARLES C. TIFFANY, D.D.
RECTOR EMERITUS OF THE CHURCH OF ZION AND ST. TIMOTHY, NEW YORK CITY.
DEAR DR. TIFFANY :
At this time of concluding our relations as Rector and Wardens and Vestry of Zion Church -- relations which have existed for ten years in uninterrupted harmony and friend- ship-we cannot refrain from expressing, as the last joint action on our part, our regret at the partial parting implied in the impending change, our deep sense and appreciation of your unvarying personal kindness to us, and our gratitude for your warm, ready, and helpful sympathy in all that has affected us and our families.
We desire also to record our testimony to the ability and devotion you have at all times shown as Rector of Zion ; to the zeal and wise judgment you have displayed in success- fully building up the mission work and other enterprises of the parish, and to the large liberality with which time, strength, counsel, and means have been expended by yourself and your family in all cases of personal or parish needs.
We desire most affectionately and appreciatively to recog-
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ZION CHURCH.
nize and commend the rare and signal self-abnegation which has enabled you, when causes you could not control indi- cated the desirability of changing the location of the parish property, to inspire and actively lead the enterprise of con- solidating the parishes of Zion and St. Timothy, and to offer any personal sacrifice in your power which could tend to the successful union of the parishes.
We beg affectionately to express our hope that our future relations may be as close and constant as it is possible for you to make them, and that you may long be spared to wit- ness and share the success of the wise course which you have done so much to encourage, and that you may be blessed with health and vigor for the usefulness and helpfulness which are sure to fill your life.
Trusting that you will not deem it improper for us to publish this expression of our regard, we remain,
Yours faithfully,
DAVID CLARKSON,
GEORGE L. JEWETT,
BENJAMIN F. WATSON,
GEORGE H. BYRD,
FREDERICK W. DEVOE,
Late Wardens
DELANO C. CALVIN,
and Vestrymen of Zion Church.
WILLIAM S. HAWK,
WILLIAM B. BEEKMAN,
M. TAYLOR PYNE,
ROBERT L. HARRISON,
NEW YORK CITY, April 26, 1890.
207
REV. C. C. TIFFANY, D.D.
REPLY OF THE REV. DR. TIFFANY.
37 EAST 39TH STREET, Sunday Evening, April 27th, 1890.
MY DEAR MR. CLARKSON :
I beg to convey to you, and, through you, to the members of the late Vestry of Zion Church, my most grateful thanks for the letter you have all signed and sent me. Coming at such a time it is most consoling. To receive so full and generous a recognition of my services as Rector for the last ten years, is, while I recognize its too great partiality, a very deep and lasting satisfaction. I fully reciprocate the kind feeling you so cordially express. I deem it a great honor to receive the approbation of such men, and I wish I could adequately convey to you my thanks for the steadfast friend- ship and support which I have always experienced from you all. To me the personal relationship can neither be broken nor forgotten. The official connection in great measure ceases, but we shall be as good and steadfast friends as ever. It may be rare that ten years of official relation should end in strengthened ties of affection and regard ; but, thank God, in this case it is eminently true. The movement we have just jointly consummated has not been unattended with pain to any of us. We have mutual sympathy as well as mutual encouragement. This generous and charitable communication of yours has given me real consolation, and I would it might be returned an hundred-fold to you all. We shall not stand apart in time to come, and if you think that the publication of your letter will tend to convince others of our mutual co-operation and good-will, I gladly
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ZION CHURCH.
give my consent, though I could not ask that so flattering a testimonial to myself should be published to the Church.
May God's blessing rest upon each and all of you, and may we be permitted to share in the future as in the past, much work for our common Master, in whom we are all brethren. I remain faithfully and most gratefully,
Your friend always, C. C. TIFFANY.
Services were held for the last time in the building of Zion Church on Sunday morning, April 27th, at II A.M. There was a large attendance, composed of the parishioners of the newly consolidated church of Zion and St. Timothy, and members of Zion Chapel. The Rt. Rev. the Bishop of the diocese, the Rev. Henry Lubeck, LL.B., Rector of the new corporation ; the Rev. C. C. Tiffany, D.D., Rector Emeritus, and the Rev. Libertus Van Bokkelen were present. The services were very impressive.
The sermon was preached by the Bishop of the diocese, and in it he took occasion to congratulate the members of the new church upon the bright prospects that were before them, for active and useful work in the field laid out for them by the happy completion of the union of the two parishes. This union had been furthered and made possible by the self-renunciating spirit of him who had so long with faithful zeal ministered at this altar, and in whose presence he could not refrain from saying how highly he had always valued his wise counsel.
The Holy Communion was celebrated.
The gates of Zion were then closed.
REV. C. C. TIFFANY, D.D.
209
In bringing to a close the history of Zion Church, a name enshrined in the memory of the great numbers who have worshipped within its consecrated walls (among whom are several descendants of those who were connected with the parish in its earliest history), nothing but gratitude arises as the record of this venerable and revered parish is reviewed. The sad thought, however, will not fade, " that the gates of Zion are forever closed," with all its cherished memories and hallowed associations. To complete this history of fourscore years, we record the silent testimony to the spiritual life of the parish. Prominent in that panorama are scenes at font, chancel-rail, altar, and at the bier, and what an epitome of these numerous and solemn services is sup- plied by statistics taken from the parish register. Baptisms were 3848, confirmations 1267, marriages 1352, burials (in- complete) 883.
Baptisms.
Marriages.
Confirmed.
Burials.
1810-1814
219
254
Records incomplete.
1815-1818
No record, rebuilding after the fire.
1819-1837
1556
571
339
No record.
1837-1845
466
75
-
I20
1845-1859
499
I32
205
284
1859-1872
699
145
392
236
1872-1880
53
36
44
45
1880-1890 ]
Church
IO8
90
III
80
Chapel
248
49
I76
II8
Totals
3848
I352
1267
883
I4
NECROLOGY.
T HE records of this parish are barren of testimonials of respect to the memory of the deceased members of its Vestries until the rectorate of Bishop South- gate began. During that period some of the most promi- nent men who were the strength of the parish departed, from whose memoirs we derive the best account of the true spirit and character of the past and early history.
Frederick Pentz died July 13, 1860. Mr. Pentz attested his interest in the parish not more by his length of service than by his well tried love and zeal for its prosperity and use- fulness. By his ready aid and sound judgment the parish was chiefly sustained during periods of necessities and difficulties.
A tablet to his memory was placed over the north porch, and is inscribed as follows :
IN MEMORY OF GENERAL FREDERICK PENTZ,
TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS A MEMBER OF ZION CHURCH,
TWENTY-THREE YEARS ITS TREASURER, FIFTEEN YEARS ITS SENIOR-WARDEN,
AND ALL HIS LIFE ITS BOUNTEOUS BENEFACTOR. BORN JAN. 10TH, 1793. DIED JULY 13TH, 1860. ERECTED BY THE VESTRY A.D. 1864.
2II
NECROLOGY.
Smith Barker died June, 1872, aged 71 years. For all his adult life a member of the parish, he was for nearly fifty years a Vestryman, choosing for himself never to go up higher. He was a man thoroughly honest and incorruptible one on whom his associates could fully rely, and for whom remains no feeling but of love and reverence.
James Van Norden died December 3, 1872. Over thirty years a member of the Vestry, more than twenty years of that period he was a Warden. His name has been identified with the history of the parish for over half a century. In the death of Mr. Van Norden the last link was severed that united the parish with its early history. He has left a name which will be long remembered not only by the parish he had so long known and loved, but the church whose institu- tions he always valued.
" We ask for Zion no better friends, for the Church no truer sons."
Philip Reynolds died April 2, 1867. For ten years he was a member of its Vestry, and was at the time of his death a Warden, having been connected with the parish since its removal from Mott Street.
The tribute of respect to his memory upon the records of the parish speaks of his Christian character, the worth of his example in the Church, in his profession, and in private life, his kindliness and cheerfulness of disposition, and the readi- ness and efficiency with which, at all times, he gave his time and talents to the interest of the parish.
212
ZION CHURCH.
Allan Melville died February, 1872. His associates in the Vestry express a high regard for his many conspicuous traits of character, his literary cultivation and taste, his genial and courteous disposition, his earnest interest in everything concerning the prosperity of the parish, cherish- ing his memory as of one well worthy of their esteem.
John M. Stuart died January, 1877, within the first year of his official relation to Zion Church. Yet his colleagues in the Vestry had the opportunity to know his worth as a Christian man, and the high qualities which his life exhibited were such as to command their affectionate regard.
Carlos Cobb died in September, 1877. Upon the death of Mr. Cobb the Vestry convened and adopted a minute from which we make an extract : " While bowing in humble submission to the bereavement which takes from us by death our associate in this Vestry, we desire in some measure to express our sense of loss, by recording in enduring form our recognition of his unremitting devotion to the in- terests, both spiritual and temporal, of this parish, his sym- pathy and aid in the work of faith and labor of love, un- limited by parish lines, his illustration of Christian life by his steady pursuit of pure purposes and by his undeviating integrity, united with marked sincerity, courtesy, and modesty."
Samuel Hawk died August, 1882. In the death of Mr. Hawk the Vestry felt that both in the relation of personal
213
NECROLOGY.
friendship and of Church fellowship they were called upon to mourn the loss of one deeply loved and highly ap- preciated. The parish, by the removal of Mr. Hawk, lost one of its staunchest friends and one of the most devout and generous of its members. He was a potent and con- spicuous illustration of the Apostle's precept "Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous."
Frederic A. Potts died November, 1888. In recording the death of their beloved companion the Vestry testified to a deep sense of, and unfeigned sorrow for, the great loss which they as well as the whole Church sustained in the decease of so earnest, consistent, generous, honorable, and honored a member. While cherishing his memory we shall mourn the loss of his inspiring example, manly sincerity, and genial presence.
I T would be difficult, without detracting from the com- mendation justly due to all, to add to the honored roll of benefactors the names of those now alive who, during the occasional monetary trials of this parish since 1868, "let their light so shine before men as to glorify our Father in Heaven."
The amount of these benefactions toward sustaining the parish church and for improvements and repairs (exclusive of pew rents) exceeded $75,000, while other and non- parochial objects were not neglected.
The last parochial report (1889) :
" New York City, Zion Church; the Rev. C. C. Tiffany, D.D., Rector ; the Revs. I. C. Sturges and L. M. Van Bokkelen, Assistants. David Clarkson and George L. Jewett, Wardens. Wm. B. Beekman, Clerk of the Vestry. David Clarkson, Treasurer.
" Families and parts of families, 120. Number of Souls, 450. Baptisms (inf. 7, ad. 2), 9. Confirmed, 33. Marriages, 9. Burials, 6. Communicants : number last reported, 266; added by Confirmation, 12; loss by death, 2 ; present number, 276. Public Services : Sundays, 110; Holy Days, 20; other days, 80-total, 210. Holy Communion : public, 30 times ; pri-
214
215
PAROCHIAL REPORT.
vate, 5 times. Sunday-school : Officers and Teachers, 9; Scholars, 50.
" Expenditures .- Parochial objects : Current Expenses (in- cluding all salaries, fuel, etc.), $10,500 ; for the Poor, $2,207 .- II ; Support of Zion Chapel, $2,000 ; Repairs and improve- ments, $775 ; Payment of debts, $720; other objects within the parish, $536.46-total Parochial objects, $16,738.57. Diocesan objects: Diocesan Missions : Missionary Commit- tee, $200 ; New York City Mission Society, $610.90 ; Church Missionary Society for Seamen, $92.60-total for Missions within the Diocese, $903.50 ; Episcopal Fund, $50 ; Diocesan Fund, $48; Aged and Infirm Clergy, $109.56; Church Charities in New York City (not otherwise specified), $409.84 -total Diocesan objects, $1,520.90. General objects : Do- mestic Missions, $500: Foreign Missions, $315.57; other objects without the Diocese, $123.29 ; Albany Claim, $400 -total General objects, $1,338.86. Total for all objects, $19,598.33.
" New York City, Zion Chapel ; the Rev. I. C. STURGES, Minister.
" Families and Parts of Families, 200. Number of Souls, 800. Baptisms (inf. 29, ad. I), 30. Confirmed, 23. Marriages, 4. Burials, 26. Communicants : number last reported, 161 ; received from other Parishes, I; added by Confirma- tion, 18-total gain, 19; loss by removal, 5 ; loss by death, 8-total loss, 13; present number, 166. Public Services : Sundays, 104; Holy Days, 5; other days, 39-total, 148.
216
ZION CHURCH.
Holy Communion : public, 12 times; private, 10 times. Sunday-school : Officers and Teachers, 25; Scholars, 500. Industrial School : Teachers, 20; Scholars, 250. Church : Seating capacity, 400; free sittings, all.
" Expenditures .- Parochial objects : For the Poor, $50; Repairs and improvements, $15; other objects within the Parish, $697-total Parochial objects, $762. Diocesan ob- jects : Diocesan Missions: Missionary Committee, $5 ; Church Charities in New York City (not otherwise specified), $125; other objects within the Diocese, $5-total Diocesan objects, $135. General objects: Domestic Missions, $34; Theological Education, $5 ; other objects without the Dio- cese, $15-total General objects, $54. Total for all objects, $951.
" Receipts .- Offerings at Church Services, $410; Sunday- school Offerings, $154; all other sources, $387-total, $951."
St. Timothy's Church, 51st Street.
SAINT TIMOTHY'S CHURCH.
T HIS parish had its origin in the unremitting toil and unwavering devotion of its youthful founder, the Rev: James Cole Tracey. He came to this diocese from that of Ohio toward the end of 1852, and was engaged in holding services in public institutions, almshouse, peni- tentiary, and other places, under the auspices of the Rev. Thomas McClure Peters (deceased August 13, 1893), then Rector of All Angels' Church, and assistant minister of St. Michael's Church. The latter had also been success- fully engaged in missions to public institutions. The health of the Rev. Mr. Tracey soon compelled him to abandon that work.
In February, 1853, at the solicitation of the Rector of All Angels' Church, he undertook missionary work in the northwestern portion of New York City, where there was then only one Episcopal Church for a population of about forty thousand. A low, ill-ventilated school-house of clap- boards, holding scarce one hundred people with comfort, and located on the north side of Fifty-first Street, west of Eighth Avenue, was rented for seventy-five dollars a year. This enterprise, under the name of St. Timothy's Church, made
217
4
218
ST. TIMOTHY'S CHURCH.
steady and successful progress. After being only six months in use, the building was found insufficient to accommodate the congregations.
An enlargement was made which nearly doubled its capacity. At the Diocesan Convention of the same year, the Rev. Mr. Tracey presented the following parochial report, viz .:
" The number of families connected therewith is 62 ; num- ber of souls 253 ; baptisms 22 ; burials 8 ; communicants 29 ; catechumens 75. A self-supporting parish school has been in existence for four months, and now numbers seventy-five scholars. The charges are low and payable weekly. There are one assistant, and two occasional teachers, besides the Rector, engaged in instruction. A considerable number of families interested in the church, and at times attending the services, have not been reported, as there was not sufficient evidence of membership. Four lots of ground are offered as a gift for a new church, which I hope will soon be begun."
The delegates chosen to represent the parish at the Diocesan Convention of 1853 were not admitted into union at that session, for the reason that the certificate of in- corporation, dated March 28, 1853, had not been duly acknowledged.
The parish was incorporated on February 27, 1854.
In the subjoined certificate of incorporation will be found the names of several gentlemen who, though prominently
219
REV. JAMES COLE TRACEY.
connected with other parishes in this city, were, never- theless, much interested in uniting as incorporators of this new parish.
"To All whom these presents may concern, we, whose names and seals are affixed to this Instrument do hereby certify that on the twenty-seventh day of February, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, the male persons of full age, worshipping in the school-house on Fifty-first Street, between the Eighth and Ninth Avenues, in which congregation Divine worship is celebrated accord- ing to the rites of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of New York, and not already incorporated, met at their place of worship aforesaid, for the purpose of incor- porating themselves as a religious society, under the Acts of the Legislature of the State of New York, and in pursu- ance of notice duly given to the said congregation, in the time of morning service, and two Sundays previous to such meeting, that the male persons of full age belonging to said congregation would meet at the time and place aforesaid, for the purpose of incorporating themselves and of electing two church Wardens and eight Vestrymen, and we further certify that the Reverend James Cole Tracey, being officiat- ing minister of said congregation, was, by a majority of the persons met, called to the Chair, and presided at the said meeting, and we further certify that at the said meeting, Anthony B. McDonald and John G. Davison were duly elected Church Wardens of the said congregation and
220
ST. TIMOTHY'S CHURCH.
church, and Fanning C. Tucker, John Carey, Junior, Don Alonzo Cushman, Gouverneur M. Ogden, Thomas A. Rich- mond, Henry A. Cargill, Ambrose K. Striker and Charles Mallesen were duly elected Vestrymen, that Monday in Easter week was by the said meeting fixed on, as the day on which the said offices of Church Wardens and Vestry- men shall annually thereafter cease, and their successors in office be chosen, and that the said meeting determined and declared that the said church and congregation should be known in law by the name of the 'Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Saint Timothy's Church in the City of New York.'
" In testimony whereof, we, the said James Cole Tracey, who presided at the said election of Church Wardens and Vestrymen, and Ambrose K. Striker and John Bradford, who were present and witnessed the proceedings aforesaid, have hereunto subscribed our names and affixed our seals this twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
" Signed and sealed Jas. Cole Tracey. L. S.
in presence of Ambrose K. Striker. L. S.
J. Thomas Whaley J. Bradford. L. S.
Abram Coleman."
On Easter Monday, April 17, 1854, the first election for Wardens and Vestrymen was held, and the following gen- tlemen were chosen :
22I
REV. JAMES COLE TRACEY.
Wardens. Anthony Bleecker McDonald. John Carey, Jr.
Vestrymen.
Fanning C. Tucker.
Gouverneur M. Ogden.
Don Alonzo Cushman. Henry E. Davies. Galen Terry. Ambrose K. Striker. John G. Davison. Henry A. Cargill.
The street on which the church stood was called "St. Timothy's Place," a sign having that name is now on " The Albany " corner of Broadway.
THE REV. JAMES COLE TRACEY, THE FIRST RECTOR.
T HE Rev. James Cole Tracey was unanimously elected Rector, at a meeting of the Vestry held at noon on
May 2, 1854, at the Leather Manufacturers' Bank, of which institution the senior Vestryman was president. The Rev. Mr. Tracey was born at Baltimore, June 16, 1822. He was sent to St. Mary's (Roman Catholic) College of that city, where he graduated, unshaken in his fidelity to the Protestant Episcopal Church. At the threshold of his young manhood his choice of a career was made. He en- tered the General Theological Seminary at New York. At the Advent ordination, December 20, 1846, he was ad- mitted to the Diaconate, by the Rt. Rev. William R. Whittingham, Bishop of Maryland, at St. John's Church, Queen Caroline Parish (now Ellicott City), Howard Dis- trict, Maryland. The bishop preached on that occasion from the text, Ist Timothy vi., 20, 21. "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust," etc.
In the following year he ministered for a time as mission- ary in charge of St. George's Church at Mount Savage, and at St. Paul's Church at the Maryland mining works, Alle-
222
Rev. James Cole Tracep.
Enga by H.B. Hall's Sons, New York .
REVP JAMES COLE TRACEY.
223
REV. JAMES COLE TRACEY.
ghany County. At the former station he established a parochial school. He was admitted to the Order of Priests by the same bishop, on the first Sunday after Easter, April 30, 1848, at the church at Mount Savage.
In March, 1849, he resigned the missionary work and became Professor of Ancient and Modern History in St. James College, Hagerstown. This college was founded by Bishop Whittingham. In less than two years thereafter his connection with the college ceased. In 1851, under letters dimissory, he was received into the diocese of Ohio, where he was immediately called to the rectorate of Grace Church, Cleveland. In the autumn of 1852, he resigned that charge and came to New York.
In The Churchman of July, 1854, we find over the signa- ture of the Rector, the following appeal to the friends of the church :
" I wish to make a statement of facts in regard to this new congregation. The district in which it is located has been entirely of a missionary character, the city proper hav- ing advanced its improvements but little further than Fifty- first Street, in which street, near Eighth Avenue, the school house stands in which we are worshipping, and the inhabi- tants being mostly of the working class. Above Twenty- eighth Street and west of Seventh Avenue, there is but one Episcopal Church, within the city limits, already built, and this church is of the smaller class.
" The extent of territory comprises almost the whole of two wards of the city.
1
224
ST. TIMOTHY'S CHURCH.
"The Sunday-school began with two scholars, and the congregation with two families. But pastoral visiting through a large part of the neighborhood, and other efforts, have been blessed to the present most gratifying condition of the church, which in a little more than a year numbers over seventy families and about sixty communicants. A few months since, on 23d January, seventeen were con- firmed by Bishop Wainwright, Provisional Bishop of the diocese. It is now time that we build a church ; a building committee has been appointed by the Vestry to take charge of this matter. For many reasons we can build a church now far better than we could if we waited for two or three years. Indeed it is almost conditioned on our building at present, for the city population is growing rapidly around us, requiring accommodations we have not to offer. We have a vantage-ground over other religious bodies which we must lose if not at once improved, and more than all, we have a munificent offer of four lots of ground from two opulent families in the neighborhood, and the offer will be withdrawn if funds are not soon secured for the building. I have been induced to make this plain statement, in the hope that the information may lead others to contribute to the building fund, the foundation of which it is necessary to commence at once. Persons wishing to aid us will facilitate our endeavors by sending their offerings, without waiting to be called on, to the office of this paper, or to the store of Messrs. Stanford & Swords.
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