USA > New York > History of the Church of Zion and St. Timothy of New York 1797-1894 > Part 4
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In concluding the first decade of this history, which is re- plete with trials and triumphs, we find the same heroic spirit that animated the founders of the Parish remaining steadfast throughout. The second decade opened without a single element to detract from the vigorous and successful prose- cution of the work under the conspicuous ability and energy of the incumbent.
46
ZION CHURCH.
At a meeting of the male and female Missionary Associa- tion of Christ Church, held June, 1831, the importance of establishing a City Mission Society was suggested, and a circular call was issued, which reads as follows :
"A meeting will be held on Thursday evening 15th Sep- tember at 7.30 o'clock at the basement of Christ Church in Anthony Street to devise the necessary measures prepara- tory to the organization of an association for the support of a City Mission. Your attendance as a friend to the proposed measure is respectfully solicited.
" Dated Sept. 8, 1831."
This circular was sent to the reverend clergy and active laymen.
At this meeting the Rev. Thomas Breintnall, Rector of Zion Church, was called to preside.
A committee was appointed to draft a constitution and report at an adjourned meeting to be held September 29th. At this meeting the constitution was adopted, and officers and a board of managers chosen. Two years afterwards it obtained its corporate rights.
The third decade of this parish was drawing to its close, and with it the severance of the pastoral relations that had existed for nearly nineteen years-a period often referred to " as the golden days of Zion."
From the parochial register we garner some of the fruits of this promising vineyard during the incumbency of its faithful and beloved chief laborer :
47
REV. THOMAS BREINTNALL.
1819.
Baptisms,
86
Marriages,
II
1820.
98
23
1821.
79
3I
I822.
66
104
66
30
1823.
66
82
29
1824.
85
3I
1825.
64
66
30
1826.
71
29
1827.
77
43
1828.
103
66
38
1829.
74
66
35
1830.
II8
41
1831.
66
IO2
66
3I
1832.
66
7I
23
1833.
75
32
1834.
I20
39
1835.
66
52
66
39
1836.
56
24
1837.
39
I2
Total baptisms
. 1556
Marriages
.
.
.
.
571
Confirmed .
339
Burials, no record.
.
The number of Sunday-school scholars reached 630 ; Bible class pupils, 379 ; communicants, 283.
On the 21st of April, 1837, the Rev. Mr. Breintnall ten- dered his resignation as follows :
48
ZION CHURCH.
" TO THE WARDENS AND VESTRYMEN
OF ZION CHURCH, NEW YORK :
" After a residence with you for almost nineteen years, it becomes my painful duty to separate myself from a charge which I had fondly hoped to have retained until removed by death. The prospect of usefulness in another but more destitute portion of the Lord's vineyard, and the hope that you may obtain a successor whose labors will be more abun- dantly blessed, has induced me to resign the Rectorship of Zion Church. Accept, Gentlemen, my grateful acknowledg- ments for every act of past kindness and my best wishes for your temporal and spiritual welfare. And may the Lord bless and keep my beloved flock, may He lift up the light of His countenance upon them, and give them peace.
" THOS. BREINTNALL."
A committee of the Vestry was appointed to urge a reconsideration of this letter, but in vain, as the Rev. Mr. Breintnall signified his determination to adhere to his resig- nation.
The following resolutions were thereupon unanimously adopted :
" Resolved, That the Wardens and Vestrymen of Zion Church have received with feelings of the deepest regret the letter of the Rev. Thomas Breintnall resigning the rector- ship of this Church, and severing the ties which have con- nected him for nearly twenty years with this congregation.
49
REV. THOMAS BREINTNALL.
" Resolved, That we are convinced that in resigning his charge, painful as the circumstance is to us, and although we are apprehensive that it will prove of serious disad- vantage to the Church, the Rev. Mr. Breintnall has been influenced by no other motive than that referred to in his letter of resignation, and that our confidence in the purity of his character is such that we believe that no other motive could have influenced his resignation than his sincere belief that his Christian labor would be more effectual in the new field of exertion to which he has been called.
" Resolved, That on behalf of the congregation we repre- sent, and expressing the feelings of this body and of its individual members, we hereby testify to the zeal, industry, ability and Christian singleness and purity of purpose with which our late Rector has performed the duties of his holy and responsible station during the period of his ministration amongst us.
" Resolved, That we have always found exemplified in his character the highest attributes of the Christian and the gentleman, sincere and enlightened piety, unmixed with bigotry or prejudice, a true eloquence springing from the deep fountain of a benevolent heart animated by the example and elevated by the precept of his Divine Master.
" Resolved, That to whatever field of Christian exertion the labors of our late beloved Rector may hereafter be directed, he will always carry with him the grateful remembrance of his late parishioners and their ardent prayer to the Giver of every good and perfect gift that his future life may be pros- 4
50
ZION CHURCH.
perous and happy, and that the connection now severed may be again renewed in that brighter and happier world to which his precepts have directed and his example pointed the way."
The Rev. Mr. Breintnall died in Newark, N. J., May 24, 1847, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. The burial service was held at his residence in Newark, N. J., by the Rev. John L. Wortson, Rector of Grace Church, Newark, assisted by the Rev. Richard Cox, Rector of Zion Church of this city, and, at the grave in the burial-ground of Trinity Church of that city, by the Rev. M. H. Henderson, the Rev. Mr. Breintnall being considered as attached to Trinity Parish.
The Vestry extended a call to the Rev. Alexander H. Crosby and to the Rev. William Cooper Mead, D.D. Both in turn declined.
1
Rev. William Richmond.
1
Eng ยช by H.B. Hall's Sons, New York .
REV? WILLIAM RICHMOND.
REV. WILLIAM RICHMOND, THE THIRD RECTOR.
R EV. William Richmond was born in Dighton, Mass., on the IIth of December, 1797; called as Rector August 9, 1837; ordained to the Diaconate by Bishop Hobart, December 21, 1819, at Grace Church, and to the Holy Order of Priests by the same Bishop on the festival of St. Thomas, Friday, December 21, 1821, at St. Michael's Church, Bloomingdale, he being the minister in charge of that Church and of St. Mary's and of St. James' Church. Morning prayer was conducted by the Rev. Benjamin T. Onderdonk, an assistant minister of Trinity Church, and a sermon was preached by the Rev. Jonathan M. Wainwright, Rector of Grace Church.
Mr. Richmond received his early education among the Congregationalists, and entered upon a course of study pre- paratory for the bar.
While yet a youth at Union College, his attention being drawn to the claims of our Church, he was baptized in St. George's Church, Schenectady, and animated by the same zeal which ever gave life to his character, he obeyed at once the voice calling him to the holy ministry as his post of
51
52
ZION CHURCH.
greatest usefulness. Trained for that sacred calling under the direction of Bishop Hobart, he received as his guides in the study of the Holy Scriptures the standard theologians of the Episcopal Church.
The first eighteen months of his ministry were given to missionary work in the vicinity of Philadelphia, of Pitts- burgh, and in the State of Ohio. In the spring of 1820 he was called to the rectorate of St. Michael's Church, Bloom- ingdale (now Amsterdam Avenue and 99th Street), also to the charge of St. James' Church, Hamilton Square, and entered upon his duties in the summer of the same year. This office he held until chosen Rector of Zion Church.
During his rectorate of Zion Church, the Rev. Mr. Rich- mond approved himself in all things an affectionate, faithful, and diligent pastor. He was a man of warm benevolence, of a pure and gracious mind and heart, frank, fearless, and unwavering in the discharge of duty. His care for the spiritually destitute was manifested in the system he organ- ized for visiting among the poor, by which, with the aid of members of the parish, large numbers of the destitute and outcasts were habitually visited, instructed, and relieved. In no portion of the metropolis had the fruits of the Chris- tianizing process of philanthropy been more apparent, and nowhere were they more needed than within this portion of Zion's territory. Dickens ventured into that focus of iniquity, while visiting this city in 1841, and thus described its horrors : "Near the Tombs, Worth, Baxter, and Park Streets came together, making five corners or points of
53
REV. WILLIAM RICHMOND.
varying sharpness, hence the name 'Five Points.' It was an unwholesome district supplied with a few rickety build- ings, and thickly peopled with human beings of every age, color, and condition.
" An old brewery built long before the City, hove in sight on its northern route, tottering, with yawning seams in its walls, and broken glass windows, sheltered daring outlaws, and furnished a place of rendezvous for the vilest of the vile. The police were dismayed and discouraged. With the history of the old brewery are associated some of the most appalling crimes ever perpetrated. The arrival of every emigrant ship rendered this plague spot hideous. City missionaries joined in the humanizing work to make success- ful efforts to reclaim this spot."
The Rev. Mr. Richmond had for some time been serving a congregation who were endeavoring to form a free Church in this city, many of whom followed him to Zion Church, where the galleries were declared free for the purpose of meeting the emergency ; but as they were unable to develop their views, they did not long remain. The Rev. Mr. Rich- mond's desire was to resume the charge of St. Michael's Church, which he had exchanged for that of Zion, hoping with the aid of an assistant, to retain the charge of both. This arrangement not being satisfactory, his resignation was received on the 9th of June, 1845. He had long wished to give his days to frontier missionary life, and by the severance of the tie which bound him to Zion Church, he found himself free to enter upon missionary work in Oregon,
54
ZION CHURCH.
with the purpose, if his strength allowed, to give to it the closing portion of his life. Early in 1851 a missionary ser- vice of farewell to the Rev. Mr. Richmond was held in St. Bartholomew's Church in this city. An ode hastily written by Martin Farquhar Tupper was read, beginning with the following words :
Push on to earth's extremest verge, And plant the Gospel there. Till wide Pacific's angry surge Is soothed by Christian prayer. Advance the standard, conquering van, And urge the triumph on, In zeal for God and love for man, To distant Oregon.
The exposure and deprivations incident to the missionary work of Oregon, were too great for his years, so that after striving for awhile, almost against hope, the Rev. Mr. Richmond returned to the scene of his former labors, St. Michael's Church. He died on Sunday, September 19, 1858, after a ministry of thirty-nine years. Resolutions were passed at a large meeting of the clergy, held imme- diately after the burial services, in testimony to the worth of the beloved dead. At the Diocesan Convention of the same year, the Provisional Bishop of the Diocese, Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, thus referred to the death of the Rev. Mr. Richmond :
55
REV. WILLIAM RICHMOND.
" In the death of the Rev. Mr. Richmond the Church has lost a warm-hearted and laborious minister. During a min- istry of nearly forty years his heart glowed with a fresh, fervent zeal for every holy cause of God and man. Scarcely had I been introduced into my new duties when he proposed to me to accompany him on a visit to a family then in deep affliction, and some time afterwards we went together at his request to examine and officiate in the institutions in which he was so much interested on Blackwell's Island, and we closed a very touching day with services at the House of Mercy at Bloomingdale. It was in scenes like these, in the midst of human misery and degradation, that you saw the true character of the man, full of melting pity and love and as ready to labor and deny himself for the wretched as he was to feel. May others as warm-hearted be raised up to walk in his steps, and may the works of mercy to which he had dedicated his life never lack friends to carry out his benevolent designs."
REV. RICHARD COX, THE FOURTH RECTOR.
T HE Rev. Richard Cox was instituted Rector the Second Sunday in Advent, 1845 (December 7th), by the Rev. William Berrian, D.D .; the Rt. Rev. Samuel A. McCoskry preached.
The Rev. Mr. Cox was born in Philadelphia, December 17, 1808. He was not originally educated for the sacred calling. He was designed for business pursuits. At a very early age he obtained a situation in Wall Street, and was there schooled for what appeared to be his course of life. Developing business talents of high order, he received offers which opened before him brilliant prospects in life. But having been awakened to the importance of religious things, he renounced his worldly prospects for the sake of devoting himself to the ministry of the Gospel. Although arrived at man's estate, he determined to make a thorough preparation for the work. With this intent, with characteristic ardor, he fitted himself for college, amidst all the cares and anxieties of a very responsible business position. Entering Columbia, he graduated in 1833. A full course of study followed in the General Theological Seminary. Soon after his ordination in 1836, he listened to overtures from the
56
Tev. Richard Cor.
Enga by H.B.Hall's Sons, New York .
Richard Cost.
57
REV. RICHARD COX.
Domestic Committee of the Board of Missions, and as one of the pioneers to the Southwest, he proceeded to Vicks- burg, where he laid the foundations of a flourishing church. After a few months' labor he returned North, and accepted the charge of St. John's Church, Troy. In that city he labored zealously and successfully for several years. He there formed friendships which lasted during life. But cir- cumstances at length induced him to leave a congregation to which he was sincerely attached. His next parish was St. Paul's, Woodbury, Conn. His heart, however, was in the city of his youth, and he did not long hesitate when invited to the rectorship of Zion Church, New York, the church in which he had been baptized, confirmed, had re- ceived his first communion, and preached his first sermon,- the scene of his youthful associations, and amid those who had known him from boyhood.
The previous relations of the Rev. Mr. Cox to Zion Church rendered the institution service peculiarly interest- ing. He had been brought up in the congregation, having at the early age of thirteen been offered as an assistant teacher to the Sunday-school by a devout and anxious parent. For a long time he was the active and laborious Superintendent of the school, an office which he held dur- ing the whole of his collegiate course. In his character, Mr. Cox was ardent almost to a fault. He was warm in his attachments, and self-sacrificing in his friendship. He was earnest, diligent, and laborious in his chosen work. When he had formed a plan, he hesitated not for a moment in
58
ZION CHURCH.
striving to carry it out, let the effort cost what it might. He was devotedly attached to the Church in whose ministry he served, and to her work he gave abilities of a high order. For the advancement of her interests he spared not him- self, and was most abundant in labors. For her sake he was willing to spend and to be spent. Under her direction he put forth untiring efforts, always desiring to carry out in its perfection her system of doctrine, worship, and discipline.
The Rev. Mr. Cox expected that such exertions as he should be enabled, by God's help, to put forth, would re- store the parish to its former prosperous condition. Owing, however, to the changing character of the neighborhood, and to the removal of many families to the upper part of the city, he found, within a few years, that the permanent resuscitation of the parish in that locality was a hopeless undertaking. The question of changing the locality of the church was formally considered by the Vestry two years afterwards, but no final action was taken until June, 1850, when the Rector, who had been appointed chairman of the committee to which the subject was referred, submitted the following report :
" That the Hon. Murray Hoffman, acting for and in be- half of the heirs of Susan Ogden, had offered as a gift to this corporation ten lots of land, five on the southwest cor- ner and the same number of lots on the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 38th Street, each plot being 98.9 feet on the avenue by 125 feet on the street. On the first day of February, 1851, the deed for the foregoing described lots
59
REV. RICHARD COX.
was executed for and in consideration of the sum of one dollar to Zion Church, by William H. Harrison of the City of New York, counsellor-at-law, and Mary H., his wife, of the first part (by and with the consent and direction of Murray Hoffman and Mary M., his wife, and Lindley M. Hoffman and Susan L., his wife, Harriet R. Ogden and Elizabeth Giles signified by their uniting in the execution of these presents) and the Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of Zion Church, in the City of New York, of the second part."
" The Vestry without delay entered into a contract to build a small brick chapel in the rear of the easterly lot on 38th Street. Services were held in it for the first time, on Sunday, October 19, 1851, and were continued on Sunday afternoons for a year. Then the services in Mott Street Church were entirely discontinued, and were regularly cele- brated, morning and evening, in the chapel.
In October, 1852, the church and land in Mott Street were advertised for sale.
The Rev. Ralph Hoyt, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, being without a church building, applied for leave to hold services in Zion Church in Mott Street until it was sold, or during the pleasure of the Vestry. Permission was accordingly given, and the following advertisement was in- serted by the Rev. Mr. Hoyt :
" Zion Church will probably continue open on Sunday for Divine Service by the Church of the Good Shepherd until May.
60
ZION CHURCH.
" The Subscriber proposes after that time to hold services somewhere in that immediate vicinity, that there may be at least one humble taper to represent the light of Protestant faith in that idolatrous, Church forsaken district.
(Signed) " Ralph Hoyt."
The announcement by advertisement that Zion Church was offered for sale provoked the following proceedings by the prominent clergy of the cities of New York and Brooklyn :
" Zion Church, Mott Street, New York, being offered for sale : We the undersigned Rectors and Ministers of Churches in the Cities of New York and Brooklyn, believing that there is no portion of the city of New York where a church and the labors of a faithful ministry are so much needed, invite so many of the clergy and laity of these two cities as may take an interest in the matter, to meet on Friday, October 29th inst. (1852), at 12 o'clock noon, in the Sunday School room in the rear of St. John's Chapel, New York, for the purpose of considering what measures can be taken to pro- cure the present Zion Church Edifice as a centre for mis- sionary work in that part of the City."
Joseph H. Price.
S. H. Weston.
Lot Jones.
R. M. Abercrombie.
James Milnor.
Francis Vinton.
Henry Dana Ward.
I. Pardee.
G. H. Houghton.
J. H. Hobart.
G. T. Bedell.
George B. Draper.
REV. RICHARD COX.
61
E. H. Canfield.
Wm. A. Muhlenberg.
Stephen H. Tyng.
Alex. S. Leonard.
Jesse Pond.
Corns. R. Duffie.
D. V. M. Johnson.
J. J. Elmendorf. Wm. J. Frost.
J. W. Diller.
E. Y. Highbee.
John H. Hanson.
S. Cooke.
A. Bloomer Hart.
P. S. Chauncey.
J. M. Wainwright.
Wm. E. Eigenbrodt.
Thos. House Taylor.
Theo. A. Eaton.
Henry Anthon.
C. Clapp.
Benj. I. Haight.
Francis L. Hawks.
George L. Niede.
Isaac H. Tuttle.
Wm. Morris.
Chs. Seymour.
Ed. Harwood.
J. F. Schroeder.
T. M. Peters.
From the Church Fournal.
" We have been favored with the proceedings of the meetings on this subject and have much pleasure in insert- ing them.
" The object is an important one and commends itself to the best sympathies of Churchmen.
" Proceedings at a meeting of clergy and laity of New York to take into consideration the subject of the purchase of Zion Church in Mott Street as the centre of missionary operations.
" On motion, the Rev. Dr. Wainwright, Provisional Bishop
62
ZION CHURCH.
elect of the Diocese, was called to the Chair and opened the meeting with prayer. The Rev. Mr. Eaton was chosen Secretary.
" Remarks were made upon the great importance of the subject before the meeting and suggestions offered as to the best means of accomplishing the object in view, by the fol- lowing clergy and laity, Doctors Wainwright, Hawks, Haight, the Rev. Messrs. Peters, Cox, Evans, Halsey and J. H. Swift, Esq.
" On motion of the Rev. Mr. Peters the following action was taken :
"' Resolved, That a committee be appointed in behalf of this meeting as follows. The Provisional Bishop elect shall be Chairman, additional members shall be nominated by the Chair. It shall be the duty of the Committee to take into consideration the subject before the meeting and report at an adjourned meeting of the Clergy and laity to be held in this place Friday, November 15th, at noon. Committee ; Dr. Wainwright, Chairman ; Drs. Hawks, Haight, and Vin- ton, Rev. Mr. Peters and J. H. Swift, Esq.'"
After awaiting action of this committee for three months, the Vestry of Zion Church concluded a sale of the property on the 28th January, 1853, to the Rt. Rev. John Hughes, of the Roman Catholic Church, for $30,000.
Application was made, February 14th, to the Supreme Court for permission to sell ; leave being granted, the sale was perfected by delivery of deed, dated April 30th.
The Church Fournal made the following comments :
63
REV. RICHARD COX.
" We are spared the pain of announcing the sale of Zion Church to the Romanists by its publication in the secular papers. It is a disgrace in the Churchmen of this City that such a thing should have happened, and it is best not to smooth it over, but to acknowledge it with shame and con- fusion of face. Shortly after the Convention in September a movement was made, as most of our readers know, to pre- serve Zion as a centre of missionary work and charitable operations in the wretched neighborhood which has been forming for years around it. A public meeting was called whose proceedings were reported in public prints. A large committee was appointed, which met frequently, discussed many plans, took some partial steps, not accomplishing much, however, until the necessity of meeting any longer was ended about a fortnight since by the sale above men- tioned. It appears that previously to this slow movement the Vestry of Zion Church had received intimation that a purchaser stood ready, but it gave no encouragement to this overture, in the hope that some way the sale would be effected within our communion. When the matter was once fairly brought before the Churchmen of New York, it rested with them to take the necessary steps, and three months were surely long enough for their zeal to have shown itself effectually. The Vestry being satisfied on good infor- mation that nothing was likely to come of the movement from which so much had been hoped, entertained the formal proposition made by a land agent for the purchase of the Church, exclusive of the Church furniture &c., and the sale
64
ZION CHURCH.
was speedily concluded at $30,000 for this church within a stone's throw of the notorious Five Points-notorious for vice and wretchedness.
" This parish was sustained, like any other, by pew-rents and the attendance of those who had a respectable standing in the community. When in the change that took place in the neighborhood the parishioners of this class were driven or drawn off to a distance, it is not for us to say that the Vestry were precluded from building in a more attractive locality. We should have unfeignedly rejoiced in the addi- tion of one to the number of our Churches had Churchmen generally come forward to secure the old foundation for a spiritual edifice of another kind adapted to the wants of the neighborhood and such as circumstances just then loudly demanded.
"The whole town was rousing up to the possibility of doing some such permanent good in the Five Points.
" We do not question that the Rector and Vestry of Zion Church have done what they deemed best for the altered interests of their Parish, nor do we for one moment suppose that they have done anything more than use their legal powers to secure the best interests of their actual parish- ioners now in attendance on the services. We do not blame them nor wish to be thought to do so."
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