USA > New York > Westchester County > History of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the county of Westchester, from its foundation, 1693, to 1853 > Part 48
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REV. EBENEZER DIBBLE, A. M.
was the eldest son of Wakefield Dibblea of Danbury, Conn.,
& The will of Wakefield Dibble, which was proved May 2d, 1734, bears date Jan. 3st. 1733-4. He directs his executors to pay all " ye charges which do, or may
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AND CHURCH OF NORTH SALEM.
whose ancestor Thomas Dibble, was a freeman of Dorchester. Mass., in 1639. "He was born at Danbury in 1712, graduated at Yale in 1734, and was a convert from the Congregational persuasion of religion to the Episcopal Church. He went to England for Holy Orders in 1747, returned to New York, the 23d of October, 1748, and was appointed missionary at Stam- ford, where he arrived on the 25th."a The following extract occurs in a letter of his to the Ven. Society.
MR. DIBBLEE TO THE SECRETARY.
(EXTRACT.) " Stamford in Conn., N. E., March 25th, 1761.
REV. SIR,
I preached at Salem, in the Upper District, on Sunday, the 22d of February last, to a very large congregation, and the poor people scattered about in the wilderness, are, I am informed, concerting measures to build a small church, as a private house will seldom contain the people that went to church when I preach among them, which is as often as the duties of my extensive mission will permit."b .
The next year Mr. St. George Talbot, a liberal benefactor of the Church in this county, thus addresses the same :-
ST. GEORGE TALBOT TO THE SECRETARY.
(EXTRACT.) " Barn Island, July 10th, 1763,
On my return from Connecticut, I desired Mr. Dibble to ac- company me to Salem, where he preached the first Sunday in
arise upon yo education of his son Ebenezer, also £30 towards furnishing him with books, &c." Probate Rec. Fairfield Co., 1716-35, p. 263. The Arms of Diable, Dible or Dibble, are :- Sa, ou a chief argent, a lion passant, gu-Crest, on a chapeau, a lion statant guardant, ducally gorged, tail extended.
^ Conn. MSS. from archives at Fulham. (Hawks.)
b Conn. MSS. from archives at Fulham, pp. 404-5. (Hawks.)
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
Trinity to a large congregation, notwithstanding it was a very rainy day, too many to be able to be accommodated in a private house, and gave the communion to about thirty persons who behaved very decently. There they have built and almost covered a church ; this is in the Province of New York, which people Mr. Dibble hath taken principally care of for several years. This church at Salem is about four miles from Ridgebury, to the west, and seven miles from Ridgefield, where they have raised a church, &c., &c". a
The church to which Mr. Talbot alludes in the foregoing let- ter, was built on land given for that purpose in 1763, and was first opened for divine worship in August of 1766, by the Rev. Mr. Dibble, as appears from the subjoined communication :- '
MR. DIBBLEE TO THE SECRETARY.
(EXTRACT.) " Stamford, Conn., N. E., Oct. 7th, 1766.
REV. SIR,
I preached on Sunday in August in the new church in the upper district of Salem, to a numerous devoutly behaved congre- gation, and gave the Holy Communion to about thirty communi- cants, and baptised fifteen children. In compassion to their cir- cumstances, and the people of Ridgebury and Ridgefield, who are contiguous upon the borders of Connecticut, Mr. Leaming and I have recommended to read divine service and sermons to them, Mr. Epenetus Townsend, a very exemplary, sober, wor- thy young gentleman, graduated at King's college, New York, who is very acceptable to the people, whom we wish to haveset- tled among them, provided, upon their qualifying themselves, they might be so happy as to obtain the Honourable Society's encouragement. Contiguous to Salem is Cortlandt's manor and Philipse's Patent, where numbers of poor people are settled, and stand in great need of proper instruction, many already profess-
a New York, MSS. from archives at Fulham, vol. ii. p. 317. (Hawks.)
.
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ing, and others well disposed to our holy Church notwith- standing their distance, it being about twenty-five miles to the upper district of Salem. As no other missionary is contiguous, to be as extremely useful as may be, and in tenderness to their spiritual wants, I have afforded them what assistance I could, consistant with the duties of my particular cure, for fifteen or sixteen years past, to the prejudice of my family, and my in- come for twelve years, being too considerable to my neces- sities."a
The following curious items, relative to the building of the church, are taken from an old account book in the possession of Mr. John Close :- " October the year 1764, I, Ebe- nezer Brown of Salem, have received of Samuel Cole of Cort- landt manor, the ful and just sum of five pounds, received by me on the acompt of the meeten house. To cash by Nathan, 0 5 0. 1765 Abner Benedict, cradit to a log, for the fore that made 140 feet to 158 feet of oak bords, 0 2 16. For the meeten house, 0 7 12. To 370 feet of bords by Crane, 0 18 6." This edifice which was about forty feet long and thirty wide, (surrounded by a yard or burying ground nearly two rods in width) was situated in the south east corner of farm No. 12, and north lot No. 10 of Cortlandt's manor. Upon the 13th of June, 1769, Stephen de Lancey and wife conveyed to the Rev. Epenetus Townsend, " all that land being part of farm No. 12 in north lot No. 10, beginning at a white oak bush, and runs south west 26 degrees, S chains and 24 links, to a pile of stones, thence south west 17 degrees, 16 chains and 13 links, to a pile of stones, thence north east 88 degrees, 25 chains and 50 links, to a pile of stones, thence south east 74 degrees and a half, 6 chains and 45 links to a stake and stones by the church, then north east fifteen degrees, 5 chains and 35 links to the oblong line, then south east 10 degrees, 21 chains and 25 links to a stake on the same
a Connecticut MSS. from archives at Fulham, p. 520. (Hawks.) One of the missionaries of tho Society writing in 1760 says :- " Rye tried to prevail upon him (Mr. Dibble) but the good man though in greater need of better support, apprehen- sive of the great detriment it would be to that Church (Stamford) has refused."
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
line, the south west, to the place of beginning, containing 60 acres, exclusive of the ground upon which the church, church- yard and burying ground stand, which is not included in this grant, &c."a On this land, adjoining the church, Mr. Townsend erected the same year a large dwelling house, which is still stand- ing and occupied by the venerable Epenetus Wallace, M. D .; whose predecessors purchased from the heirs of the former.b About 1810 Dr. Wallace exchanged with the vestry the site of the present church for the old location, which has been recently sold to the Presbyterian Society. Stephen J. de Lancey, Esq. also bequeathed the Church three quarters of an acre of land, bordering on the Somerstown road for the same purpose, and a bell.
The worthy and venerable Mr. Dibble, the founder of this parish, died at Stamford, Conn. in the year 1799. The follow- ing notice of his death appeared in the Churchman's Magazine for that year :- " The Rev. Ebenezer Dibblee, D. D. was a missionary from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign parts, at Stamford in Conn., and was considered by them as one of their most active and zealous missionaries. He was a native of that State, and born at Danbury, and graduated at Yale in 1734. In the course of his ministry he used great diligence and fidelity, and not only served his congregation at Stamford to their satisfaction ; but he annually visited many vacant parishes on week days, and also on Sundays as often as he could be spared from his people. Dr. Dibblee was a con- vert from the Congregational persuasion of religion to the Epis- copal Church. After he left college, he was at first licensed as a candidate among the Dissenters, and allowed to preach in their congregations. He went to England for Holy Orders in 1747. This worthy and venerable clergyman died in the year 1799,
a County Rec. Liber H. p. 384.
> Jonathan Townsend, executor of the last will of Micajah Townsend, late of Queens County, deceased, sold lands in this town to Nath. Brown and others in 1786. See Co. Rec. Epenetus Wallace, M. D. was born in 1766 and baptized by Mr. Townsend.
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old and full of days, highly respected and much lamented by his congregations. His funeral was attended by a large con- course of people, and he went to the grave like a shock of corn fully ripe for the garner."a A neat marble tablet has been since erected to his memory in St. John's church, Stamford.
About the year 1764, this parish united with the Churches of Ridgefield and Ridgebury, in Connecticut, and engaged Mr. Richard S. Clark to read divine service and sermons on Sundays. This gentleman, afterwards the
REV. RICHARD SAMUEL CLARK, A. M.,
was the fifth son of Samuel Clark of West Haven, Conn., where he was born A. D. 1737. He was graduated at Yale College in 1762. He received also the degree of Batchelor of Arts from King's College, New York, the same year, and that of A. M. in 1766. He afterwards officiated here as a lay reader, and in 1766 went to England for Holy Orders. His license from the Bishop of London to officiate in the Plantations, bears date February 25th, 1767. He returned the same year, and was appointed missionary at New Milford, Conn., and had the care of that parish till 1786, when he went to New Brunswick, and was set- tled at Gagetown in that Province. A son of his is the pre- sent minister of that place. He died at St. Stephen's on the St. Croix, in 1824. Some of his grandchildren are now living in New Haven, Conn.b Mr. Sabine, in his biographical sketches of American Loyalists, says of him :- " that the tablet which covers his remains, records that he was minister of New Mil- ford, Connecticut, nineteen years, of Gagetown, New Bruns- wick, twenty-five years, and of St. Stephen's, New Brunswick,
a Churchman's Magazine, new series, vol. iv. 269-270.
b See Rev. A. B. Chapin's Hist. of Christ's Church, West Haven. The Clark's of Conn. are presumed to have descended from the Clark's of Bedfordshire, England, whose arms were :- Per chev az. and ar. in chief three leopard's heads or. in base an eagle displayed gu,-Crest, a goat salient ar. attired or. against a pine tree proper.
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
thirteen years ; in all, an Episcopal clergyman for fifty-seven years. He was the first rector of the church at St. Stephen's, and the oldest missionary in the present British Colonies. He was much beloved by the people of his charge, and his memory is still cherished. He died at St. Stephen's, October 6, 1824, aged eighty-seven. His wife Rebecca, died at the same place, May 7th, 1816, aged sixty-nine. His only surviving daughter, Mary Ann, who was born in Connecticut before his removal, and who was never married, died at Gagetown, New Brunswick, Feb. 1844, at the age of seventy-three, highly and deservedly lamented."
Upon the resignation of Mr. Clark, the parish, by the advice of Mr. Dibble, employed Mr. Epenetus Townsend as a lay reader. On the 17th of October, 1767, the Rev. Samuel Auchmuty, D. D., rector of Trinity Church, New York, addressed a letter to the Venerable Propagation Society, enclosing the following petition from the Churchwardens and Vestrymen of Salem :-
THE CHURCHWARDENS AND VESTRY OF SALEM, &c. TO THE SECRETARY.
" Salem in Westchester County, Province of New York, ? August 31st, 1767.
MAY IT PLEASE THE VENERABLE SOCIETY,
We, the Churchwardens and Vestry of Salem, and parts con- tiguous in the Province of New York in America, beg leave in behalf of ourselves and poor brethren, professors of the Church of England, to lay before you our unhappy circumstances ; for want of proper religious instruction and constant administration of God's word and sacraments, according to our religious pro- fession, there being no minister of our Holy Church in the Prov- ince nearer than Rye, between thirty and forty miles distant to Salem, and upon Cortlandt's manor and Philipse's patent. Many of us already have a high esteem for the doctrines, wor- ship and government of the Church of England; some of us embrace every opportunity we have of communicating with
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AND CHURCH OF NORTH SALEM.
the same, and a number of others are well disposed to the Church, many of whom are not under the care of a minister ofany denomination. Through the goodness and compassion of the Rev. Mr. Dibblee, the nearest missionary, about twenty-five miles distant) who for many years hath annually visited, preached and administered divine ordinances to us and our children, as often as he judges consistant with the duties of his extensive cure, our numbers, and zeal to the Church establishment have increased. To prepare the way for the settled administration of religion, we have erected a decent church with galleries, on the borders of Cortlandt's manor, a convenient spot of ground for the church and burying yard, being given us for that purpose by the good Mr. Stephen de Lancey, present proprietor. We have covered, closed and glazed the house, and have met in it for some time. As the laws of this government have made no provision for the establishment and support of religion in general, and the Lord's day is too little regarded ; in tender regard to ourselves and families, and to prevent our children falling a prey to one or more of the numerous sects, which abound among us, such as Quakers, New Light Independents, Baptists, Antinomians, &c., whose principles, both civil and religious, we think destructive of all religion, peace and good order ; we formerly united with our brethren of the Church at Ridgefield and Ridgebury, on the borders of Connecticut Colony, and engaged the Rev. Mr. Clark to read divine service and sermons to us on Sundays: Since Mr. Clark left us, by the advice of the Rev. Mr. Dibble and Mr. Leaming, we have employed the worthy Mr. Epenetus Townsend, who hath for some time alternately read to us, and the people of Ridgefield and Ridgebury, whose exemplary life, sober conversation and devout performance of religious offices, highly recommended him to our esteem ; and as we have advice, that he hath leave from the Society to go for Holy Orders, we humbly beg the Venerable Society in compassion to our un- happy state, would be pleased to appoint him their missionary to us at Salem, in the Province of New York, and to itinerate among such poor people as stand in need of his instruction, with such a salary as in their wisdom they think proper. We
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
have already purchased six acres of good land contiguous to the church, and made it over for a glebe for the use of a minister of the Church of England, or missionary for the time being, for ever, and promise to build a decent, convenient house for his use when required'; and as the poor people of Ridgefield and Ridge- bury by the concurrence of the Churchwardens and Vestry in this memorial hope to be indulged in being included under his care, having formerly a conjunction with some of the neigh- bouring places in the province of New York experienced the goodness and compassion of the Venerable Society in appoint- ing the Rev. Mr. Lamson to officiate among them, being many in number, having built a church in each of those places, Ridg- field but eight, and Ridgebury but four miles from Salem, but at such a distance from Norwalk that they can expect but very little service from the Rev. Mr. Leaming, whereupon we have unitedly sent our respective bonds to the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty of New York, in trust, obliging ourselves to pay in each place equal to £10 sterling per annum, on the whole amounting to £30 per annum, to the missionary for the time being, and we no longer expect the Society's favor than we shall continue to deserve it." a
Upon the receipt of this petition the Society granted their request, and appointed the
REV. EPENETUS TOWNSEND, A. M.
missionary ; a gentleman educated in King's College, and whose exemplary life and sober conversation, they have already had experience of. He was the third son of Micajah Townsend and Elizabeth Platt, and gran Ison of John Townsendb of Oys-
a New York, MSS. from archives at Fulham, vol. ii. p. 433-5. (Hawks.)
b This ancient family deduces its descent from Ludovic, a noble Norman, who set- tling in England during the reign of Henry I, assumed the surname of Townsend, and by marrying with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas de Haville obtained the manor of Raynham, in the county of Norfolk, which has ever since re mained in the possession of his descendants. Among the early English emigrants to Boston and its vicinity, were John, Henry and William Townsend, brothers. John Townsend of Oyster Bay, in 1677, had five sons. Micajah, his second son was born :n 1699, married 23d of April, 1732 and died Nov. 9, 1781.
1
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ter Bay, L. I., who settled at that place in 1677. He was born at Cedar Swamp, near Oyster Bay, in April, 1742, entered King's College (now Columbia) in 1755, was admitted Batchelor of Arts pro forma in 1758, and graduated Master of Arts in 1762. After officiating for a short time as a lay reader, he went to England in the fall of 1767, for Holy Orders.
In a letter of Oct. 1st, 1767, Mr. Dibble of Stamford, writes to the Secretary as follows :- " Mr. Townsend thankfully accepts the leave to go home for Holy Orders; and if the Society is not pleased to appoint him their missionary at Salem and parts contiguous, where he is much wanted, he will submit to the supe- rior wisdom and direction of the Society."a Mr. Townsend's license from the Bishop of London to officiate as a missionary in this Province, bears date December 21st, 1767. The follow- ing notice of his return appeared in the New York Mercury for April 25th, 1768 :- " The Rev. Mr. Townsend arrived last Saturday, (22d) in the Hope from London." Upon the 29th of September, 1768, he informed the Venerable Society :- " That he arrived at his mission, on 'the 26th of May, 1768, and was kindly received. The Churchwardens also of Salem, in the name of the people belonging to the mission, have returned thanks to the Society for Mr. Townsend's appointment." " At Salem and Ridgefield, there are one hundred and fifty Church people. At Ridgefield, eighty." Mr. Townsend was formally in- ducted on Sunday, the 29th of May, 1768, by his predecessor, the Rev. Ebenczer Dibble, who preached a sermon on the oc- casion.b
Eight months prior to this event Mr. Dibble writes, Oct. 1st, 1767 ;- "I preached on Sunday 23d of August last at Salem, to a numerous and devout congregation, baptised sundry children, and gave the communion the first and second Sundays after Trinity last."c Mr. Townsend was married to Lucy Beach,
· Conn. MSS. from archives at Fulham, p. 511. (Hawks.)
b Fowler's MS. Biographies of the Clergy, vol. vi. 1061.
· Conn. MSS. from archives at Fulham, p. 5-11, (Hawks.)
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in St. James' church, Newtown, L. I. on the 10th of September, 1769. Upon the 20th of the same month, he thus addresses the Society :--
MR. TOWNSEND TO THE SECRETARY.
(EXTRACT.) " Salem, Province of New York, Sept. 29th, 1769.
REV. SIR,
Having nothing of importance to acquaint the Society with in the spring, I deferred writing till now. I have constantly per- formed divine service equally in my three churches of Salem, Ridgefield and Ridgebury, in each of which places, people are zealous in their attendance on public worship ; and I have the pleasure to observe that thro' the divine blessing on my labours, each of those congregations is something increased. Since my arriving to the mission I have baptised in the year past, two adults and thirty infants, and have received between three or four communicants, but expect several more very soon. The fatigue which necessarily arises from a steady performance of my duty in these three places, I have hitherto, and I trust in God I shall for the future be enabled to undergo with cheerfulness, though I expect it will in a little while be increased ; occasioned by the building of a new church in Salem, which, when it is finished, I propose, with the Society's leave, to officiate in sometimes. To acquaint the Society with the propriety of building a new church at Salem I would observe, that Salem is a township 12 miles in length and but two in breadth, joining on the one side to Conn. and on the other partly to Cortlandt's manor, which ex- tends twenty miles westward to Hudson river, and partly to another patent, which extends several miles westward toward Bedford, which is the utmost limit of Mr. Avery's mission. The church which is already built, is situated within about two miles of the north end of Salem, on the borders of Cortlandt's manor, as the Society was informed in the petition of the Churchwardens and Vestry. It was built by the people of this
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part of Salem and Cortlandt's manor in conjunction, and this con- gregation is something larger than either of those in Conn., there being generally in good weather, in the summer season,- upwards of 200 people assembled. The church which I ex- pect will soon be built in Salem will be about five or six miles to the southward, and about two or three miles to the westward from Ridgefield, Conn., where I have been informed there are near thirty families of Church people, besides a considerable number in places very contiguous, for whom it is extremely difficult to attend public worship, either at Ridgefield, or at the church towards the north end of Salem, in the borders of Cortlandt's manor where I reside. When this church is built, (if the Society approves of my officiating in it sometimes, besides my atten- dance at the other three churches,) I would request the favor of the Society to give a quarto common prayer book and bible to that, as they have to the other churches of Salem and Ridge- bury. I know that my fatigue in attending so many churches must be great ; and that people cannot receive so much profit as might be wished from the labors of a minister, when they are divided between so many places. But as for the fatigue, I trust that God will enable me to bear it, and I hope yet in some fu- ture time, the Society will be able to provide better for the edification of the people, by dividing the mission, as it might conveniently be done, into two equal parts. I beg leave to re- quest some common prayer books, which are much wanted for the poor. I brought but two dozen, together with a great number .of small tracts, but a much larger number of prayer books is required, as many people in my mission are poor and unable to purchase books or any thing that is not absolutely necessary to the maintenance of their families. I beg leave to acquaint the Society likewise, that besides the attending the duties of my own mission, I preached last spring, on the next Sunday after Easter, at Woodbury, a town in Conn., thirty miles distant from Salem, to a congregation of upwards of 150, who behaved with the greatest decency and devotion, most of them being profes- sors, and many of them worthy members of our Holy Church. This town, though included in Mr. Clark's mission, enjoys but a
36
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
small proportion of his labors, not through any neglect of his, but by means of the extensiveness of his charge, and yet it is a town containing six parishes of Congregationalists, and part of another, in all which there are some professors of the Church earnestly desirous if possible to enjoy the public worship of God according to their Holy profession. And in compliance with their earnest intreaties, till something more could be done for the sup- ply of their spiritual wants, several of the Connecticut clergy agreed to preach among them by turns. The summer past, the first Sunday after Trinity, I preached at Sharon, a town in Conn. adjoining this province, about fifty miles to the north- ward, where they have a neat little church and a pretty con- gregation. The next day I preached in the north precinct of the Oblong in this Province, about five or six miles from Sharon. There they have a new church just raised, which they intend to cover in the summer, and finish-as soon as might be. There is a large body of people whose religious circum- stances truly deserve compassion ; and here undoubtly would soon be a fine congregation if they could enjoy the benefit of having a sober minister of our Church settled among them, by the assistance of the Society, which they intend earnestly to request as soon as they can qualify themselves for it, by finishing their church and procuring a glebe. I beg liberty to request a favor from the Society which may perhaps be of considerable service to me ; the professors of the Church in Conn. are taxed for the sup- port of the minister of the Church in the same proportion as the Congregationalists for the support of their minister. This tax is levied and collected by the Congregationalists, together with their own, and by them paid to such ministers of the Church, as are appointed over them by the Society. Now, Ridgefield and Ridgebury being in Conn., the committee appointed for raising and paying the minister's rate at Ridgebury have been in some doubt whether I am entitled to the rates of the Church people there, because it is certain they were formerly under Mr. Leaming's care, and had no written appointment or anything from under the Society's hand to convince them that the Society
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