USA > New York > Westchester County > History of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the county of Westchester, from its foundation, 1693, to 1853 > Part 9
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AND CHURCH OF WESTCHESTER.
royal will and pleasure is, and we do hereby direct and ordain and require the rector and inhabitants of the borough town of Westchester in communion as aforesaid, for the time being, to meet at the said church and choose other or others of their numbers in place and stead of him or them so dying, removing or re- fusing to act within thirty days next after such contingency, and in this case for the more due and orderly conducting the said elections, and to prevent any undue proceedings therein, we do hereby give full power and authority 10, and ordain and require that the rector and the churchwardens of the said church for the time being, or any two of them, shall appoint the time for such election or elections, and that the rector of the said church. or in his absence one of the church wardens for the time being, shall give public notice thereof by publishing the same at the said church immediately after divine service. on the Sunday preceding the day appointed for such elections, hereby giving and granting that such person or per- sons as shall be chosen from time to time by the rector and inhabitants of the said borough town of Westchester in communion as aforesaid, or the majority of such of them as shall in such case meet in manner hereby directed, shall have, hold, exercise and enjoy such the office or ofices to which he or they shall be so elected and chosen from the time of such election until the Tuesday in Easter week thence next ensuing, and until other or others be legally chosen in his or their place instead, as fully and amply as the person or persons in whose place he or they shall be chosen inight or could have done by virtue of these presents, and we do hereby will and direct that this method shall for cver hereafter be used for the filling up all vacancies that shall happen in either the said offices between the annual elections above directed; and our royal will and pleasure further is, and we do hereby for us, our heirs and successors, give and grant that as well the church wardens and vestry, or those present nominated and appointed as such, as shall from time to time be hereafter elected and chosen as is herein directed, shall have and they are hereby invested with full power and authority to execute their several and respective offices in as full and ample manner as any churchwardens or vestrymen in that part of our kingdom of Great Britian called England, or in this our province of New-York, can or lawfully may execute their said respective offices ; and further our royal will and pleasure is, and we do by these presents for us, our heirs and successors, give, grant, ordain and appoint, that the rector and churchwardens of said church for the time being, or any two of them, shall and may from time to time as occasion shall require, summon and call together at such day and place as they shall think proper the said rector, church wardens and vestrymen for the time being to meet in vestry, giving them at the least one day's notice thereof, and we hereby require them to meet accordingly, and we do hereby give, grant and ordain, that the said rector, and one of the said church war- dens for the time being at least, together with the majority of the said vestrymen of the said church, for the time being, being met in vestry as above directed, shall for ever hereafter, have, and they are hereby invested with full power and authority by a majority of their voices to do and execute in the name of the rector and in- habitants of the bo ough town of Westchester, in communion of the Church of England as by law established, all and singular powers and authorities herein be- fore given and granted to the said rector and inhabitants of the borough town of Westchester in communion of the church of England as by law established, any wise touching or relating to such lands, messages, tenements, real aud personal estate whatsoever, as they the said rector and inhabitants of the borough town of
-
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH.
Westchester, in communion as aforesaid, shall or may acquire for the use of the said church, and also in like manner to order, direct, manage, and transact the general interest, business and affairs of our said corporation, and also shall have full power and authority in like manner to make and ordain such rules, orders, and ordinances as they shall judge convenient for the good government and dis- cipline of the members of said church, provided such rules, orders and ordinances be not repugnant to the laws of that part of our kingdom of Great Britian called England, or this our province of New-York, but as near as may be agreeable thereto, and that the same be fairly entered in a book or books to be kept for that purpose, and also in like manner to appoint the form of the common seal herein before granted, and the same to alter, break, and remake at their discretion, and also in like manner to appoint such officer or officers as they shall stand in need of, always provided that the rector of the said church for the time being shall have the sole power of nominating and appointing the clerk to assist him in performing divine service, as also the sexton, anything herein before contained to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding, which clerk and sexton shall hold and enjoy their re- spective offices during the will and pleasure of the rector of the said church for the time being, and in case of any avoidance of the said church either by the death of the rector thereof or otherwise, then our royal will and pleasure is that the powers and authority hereby vested in the rector, churchwardens, and vestry- men, in vestry to meet as above mentioned, shall, until the said church be legally supplied with another incumbent, vest in and be executed by the churchwardens of the said church for the time being, provided always they have the concurrence and consent of the major number of the whole vestrymen of the said church for the time being, in any thing they shall in such case do by virtue hereof, and further we do by these presents, for us, our heirs, and successors, give and grant unto the rector and inhabitants of the borough town of Westchester in communion of the church of England as by law established, and their successors forever, that this our present grant shall be deemed, adjudged and construed in all cases most favourably and for the best benefit and advantage of the rector and inhabi- tants of the borough town of Westcheser in communion of the church of Eng- land as by law established, and that this our present grant being entered on record as is hereinafter particularly expressed, shall be good and effectual in the law to all intents, constructions and purposes whatsoever, against us, our heirs, and successors, according to our true interests and meaning herein before declared, notwithstanding the not reciting or mis-reciting, not naming or mis-naming of any of the aforesaid franchises, privileges, immunities, or officers, in either the premises or any of them, and although no writ of ad quod damnum or other writs, inquisitions in precept hath or have been upon this account, had, made, or prosecu- ted or issued, to have and to hold all and singular the privileges, liberties, ad- vantages, and immunities hereby granted or meant, mentioned, or intended so to be, unto the said rector and inhabitants of the borough town of Westchester in communion of the church of England as by law established, and to their succes- sors forever. In testimony whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent, and the great seal of our said province to be hereunto affixed, and the same to be entered on record in our Secretary's office, in our city of New-York, in one of the books of patents there remaining. Witness, our trusty and well beloved Robt. Monckton, our captain general and governor-in-chief of our province of New York and the territories depending thereon in America, vice admiral of the
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same and major-general of our forces, at our fort in our city of New-York, by and with the advice and consent of our governour for our said province. Second day of December, in the year A. D. 1762, and of our reign the third.
Signed, CLARKE." "
[L. s.]
The Society's abstracts for 1764, say :- " The Rev. Mr. Mil- ner, the Society's Missionary at Westchester, in his letters dated June Sth, and December 21st, 1764; acquaints the Society that he has, at his own expense, laid out a sum, amounting to two hundred pounds currency, repaired the parsonage house, built a new barn and out houses, (the vestry promising to reimburse him as soon as their circumstances will permit,) and the people of Eastchester have laid the foundation of a new stone church, seventy one feet by thirty-eight, in the room of a small decayed wooden building, erected in the infancy of their settlement. Mr. Milner has, in pursuance of the powers given him by the Soci- ety ; appointed Mr. Nathaniel Seabury, a son of the late worthy missionary at Hampstead, to be school master at Westchester." The churchwardens of Westchester in their letter, dated July 7th, 1761, acquaint the Society " that they have purchased a glebe of near thirty acres, with a house, which, when they have re- paid Mr. Milner the expense he has been at, will cost them, in the whole, near seven hundred pounds, which they spend with great cheerfulness, as their minister's behaviour has very much endeared him to the people ; and his diligence has been attend- ed with such success, that whole families of Quakers, the only dissenters in this parish, have conformed to the church. Mr. Milner has baptized, within the year, seventy-two whites, and nineteen black infants, and has fifty communicants." b
Mr. Milner continued his services in the parish, until the fall of 1765, as appears by the following extract from a letter of Mr. John Bartow, to the Bishop of London :-
Borough of Westchester, in the Province of New- York, Oct. 15th, 1765.
" The Honourable Society's Missionary for our parish of West- chester has left us .- I expect the vestry of this parish will
a Alb. Rec. Book of Patents, No. xiii. 490.
b Printed abstracts of Ven. Prop. Soc. from 17th Feb. 1764, to 15th Feb. 1765.
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
soon address the Honourable Society for the continuance of their favours ; and I beg your lordship's care and protection over us, and that you will assist in sending a faithful minister to reside here. I suppose our vestry may nominate, but still there may want inspection."a
For what reason Mr. Milner resigned his benefice. does not how very clearly appear. It is not improbable, however, that the large sum of money expended by him on the glebe, may have had some connexion with his leaving. In 1768, he was settled in Virginia, as appears from the following :-
MR. MILNER TO THE SECRETARY.
EXTRACT.]
Newport Parish, Isle of Wight, Fob. 3rd, 1768.
REV. SIR :
" I am very sorry to inform you that the people of Westchester pay very little regard, either to their promises, or the Society's expectations, for I am informed by my lawyer that they abso- lutely refuse to refund me one penny of all the money I have expended on their glebe, which, without the repairs and build- ings I made, would have been entirely useless. I am now set- tled in Virginia, where the church is established in reality, and somne certain provision made for the clergy, &c."b
Mr. Milner probably died at Newport Parish, Va .. in 1775,c for his name appears among the deceased clergy, in " a list of persons licensed to the Plantations," ending Dec. 28th, 1777.ª The Rev. Mr. Fowler, in his M. S. biographies of the clergy,
* New-York, M. S. S., from Archives at Fulham, vol. ii. 330, 332. (Hawks'.)
b New-York, M. S. S., from Archives at Fulham, vol. ii. 446. (Hawks'.)
The Rev. H. T. Wilc. xon, the present Rector of the Parish, in a letter to the author, dated Smithfield, Isle of Wight Co. Va. January 7th, 1852, says : " The oldest resident (of my acquaintance) in the County, thinks he has heard of Mr. Milner, but can give no certain or reliable information about him." "The records of the Parish, for many years back, have been destroyed or lost."
d Coll. of Prot. Epis. Hist. Soc. 1851.
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says he died in 1765, but this is evidently a mistake, as the fore- going letter shows.a
A vacancy of nearly a year occurred before the
REV. SAMUEL SEABURY, A. M.,
was appointed to the mission. In'1766, (says Dr. Hawkins,) "Mr. Seabury intimnated to the Society his wish to accept the of- fer of the mission of Westchester, which was made to him by the churchwardens and vestrymen, and the Society consenting to his proposal, he removed thither at the end of the year 1766."b
Mr. Seabury was the eldest son of the Rev. Sanmel Seabury, a descendant of John Seaberry,c of Boston, Mass., whose family were originally seated at Porlake, in Devonshire, England.
· Rev. A. Fowler, M. S. Biog. b. iii, p. 573.
b His. Notices of the Miss. of the Church of Eng. in the North American Col- onies, by Ernest Hawkins, B. D.
e " Samuel, the son of John Seaberry and Grace his wife, was born 10° (11º) 1639." N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg. vol. ii. 401. Samuel Seabury, M. D., was a no- ted surgeon at Duxbury, Mass., in the 17th Century. His son, John Seabury, was born in 1673, and died at Hempstead, L. I. Dec. 17, 1759. His son, Samuel, was born in 1706, and was graduated at Harvard University, in 1724. He settled at Groton, Conn., as a Congregational Minister, and is said 10 have married Abi- gail Mumford. From intercourse with Dr. MeSparran of Narragansett, Mr. Seabury became an Episcopal Clergyman, and was appointed by the Society, in 1728, the first Missionary of St. James's Church, then at New London. His wife died in 1731. In 1733, he married Elizabeth Powell, (she died Feb. 6, 1799, aged 87.) the daughter of Adam Powell, a merchant of Newport, R. I. and grand-daughter of Gabriel Bernon. In 1742 he removed to Hempstead, on L. I. where he died June 15, 1764. The following is the inscription on his tombstone :
" Here lyeth interred the body of the 'REV. SAMUEL SEABURY, A. M., Rector of the Parish of Hempstead,
who with the greatest diligence and most indefatigable labour, for 13 years at New London, and 21 years in this Parish, having discharged every duty of his sacred function, Died the 15th of June, A. D. 1764, æt 58.
In gratitude to the memory of the best of husbands, his disconsolate widow, Elizabeth Seabury, hath placed this stone."
His brother, Capt. David Seabury, (remarkable for his great bodily strength,) died at the same place, Nov. 11, 1750, aged 52, unmarried. The arıns of the Sea- bury's, or Sedborough's, are :- ar, a fesse engr. betw. three ibexes, passant sa.
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
The ancient orthography of the surname was Sedborough, until changed, probably, by the early pioneers of the family in this country. Mr. Seabury was born in Groton, Connecticut, No- vember 30th, 1729,a and graduated at Yale College in 1748. Soon after completing his collegiate education, he was appointed catechist by the Venerable Propagation Society, under the direc- tion of his father, at Huntingdon, a town about eighteen miles distant from Hempstead. In 1753, the Society received from Mr. James Wetmore, Missionary at Rye, a testimonial in favour of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, jun., whom he represented as " a man of unblemished moral character, sound learning, and so prudent behaviour, that he would prove a worthy missionary. He accordingly recommended him for the vacant cure of New Brunswick, in the colony of New Jersey. The Society having now for some years had knowledge of him in the subordinate office of catechist, immediately gave its sanction to his coming to England for holy orders."b
He entered on the duties of his mission at New Brunswick, in May, 1754, and in 1757 was promoted by the government to the living of Jamaica, L. I.c
He was admitted, instituted, and inducted rector of this parish by Sir .Henry Moore, upon the 3d of Dec., 1766.
GOVERNOUR MOORE'S ADMISSION OF MR. SEABURY TO BE RECTOR OF THE PARISH OF WESTCHESTER.
I, SIR HENRY MOORE, BARONET, Captain General, and Governor-in-Chief, in and over the province of New-York, and territories depending thereon, in
" " Samuel, son of Samuel and Abigail Seabury, was born in Groton, Nov. 30th, 1720. Samuel, son of Samuel and Abigail Seabury, baptized 14th Dec., 1729, by Rev. John Owen, of Groton" .- Extracts from Town Minutes, kindly furnished by Miss Calkins.
b Hawkins Missions .- The Society's abstracts for 1753, say: "The Society have appointed the Rev. Mr. Seabury, son of the Rev. Mr. Seabury, the So- ciety's Miss. at Hempstead in L. I., in the Prov. of N. Y, to be their Miss. to New Brunswick, out of regard to the request of the inhabitants, and to the uni- ted testimony of the Episcopal Clergy of New-York in his favour ; as a youth of good genius, unblemished morals, sound principles in religion, and one that had made as good proficiency in literature, while in America, as the present state of learning there would admit of; and he was gone for his improvement to the Unversity of Edinburgh, &c., &c.
e Some of his letters, whilst stationed at Jamaica, may be found in the 3d vol. of the Doc. History of N. Y.
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America, Chancellor and Vice Admiral of the same; do admit you, Samuel Seabury, Clerk, to be Rector of the Parish Church of Westchester, commonly called St. Peter's Church, including the several districts of Westchester, East- chester, Yonkers, and the Manor of Pelham, in the County of Westchester, in the said province, with all their rights, members and appurtenances. Given under my hand and the prerogative seal of the province of New-York, the third day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six.
H. MOORE.
LETTERS OF INSITUTION BY GOVERNOUR MOORE TO MR. SEABURY.
I, SIR HENRY MOORE, BARONET, Captain General and Governour-in-Chief, in and over the province of New-York and the territories depending thereon, in Amer- ica, Chancellor and Vice Admiral of the same; do institute you, Samuel Seabury Clerk, Rector of the Parish Church at Westchester, commonly called St. Peter's Church, including the several districts of Westchester, Eastchester, Yonkers, and the Manor of Pelham, in the County of Westchester in the said province, to have the care of souls of the parishioners of the said parish, and take your cure and mine. Given under my hand and the prerogative seal of the province of New- York, this third day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six.
H. MOORE.
MANDATE FROM GOVERNOUR MOORE TO INDUCT MR. SEA- BURY INTO THE RECTORSHIP OF THE PARISH OF WEST- CHESTER.
HIS EXCELLENCY, SIR HENRY MOORE, BARONET, Captain General, and Governour in-Chief, in and over the province of New-York, and the territories depending thereon in America, Chancellor and Vice Admiral of the same, to all and sin- gular, Rectors and Parish Ministers whatsoever in the province of New-York, or to the Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Saint Peter's Church, at Westchester, in the county of Westchester, and to each of you greeting. Whereas, I have collated, instituted and established our beloved in Christ, Samuel Seabury, Clerk, to be Rector of the Parish Church at Westchester, commonly called St. Peter's Church, including the several districts of Westchester, Eastchester, Yonkers, an d the Manor of Pelham in the County of Westchester, within this Government, vacant, as is said, by the resignation of John Milner, Clerk, the last incumbent there. with all its rights and appurtenances, observing the laws and canons of right in that behalf, required and to be observed. To you, therefore, jointly and severally, I do commit, and firmly injoining do command each and every of you that in dne manner him, the said Samuel Seabury, or his lawful proctor in his name and for him into the real, actual and corporal possession of the said Rec- tory and Parish Church at Westchester, including the districts aforesaid, and of all its rights and appurtenances. Whatsoever you induct, or cause to be inducted and him so inducted you do defend, and of what you shall have done in the premises thereof, you do duly certify unto me, or other competent judge in that
6
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
behalf, when thereunto you shall be duly required. Given under my hand and the prerogative seal of the province of New-York, at Fort George, in the city of New-York, the third day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six.
H. MOORE.“
The state of the parish, about seven months after his induc- tion, appears from the following report to the Society :-
MR. SEABURY TO THE SECRETARY.
EXTRACT.]
Westchester, June 25th, 1767.
REV'D SIR :
" The congregation at Westchester is very unsteady in their attendance ; sometimes there are more than the church, which is a small old wooden building, can contain, at other times very few, generally, near two hundred. The communicants are few, the most I have had has been twenty-two ; two new ones have been added since I have been here. At Eastchester, which is four miles distant, the congregation is generally larger than at Westchester. The old church in which they meet, as yet, is very small and cold. They have erected, and just completed the roof of a large well-built stone church, in which they have expended, they say, seven hundred pounds currency ; but their ability seems to be exhausted, and I fear I shall never see it fin- ished. I applied last winter to his Excellency Sir Henry Moore, for a brief in their favour, but the petition was rejected. Since I came into this parish I have preached every other Sunday at Westchester, in the morning, and have after prayers in the after- noon, catechised the children and explained the catechism to them. I was the more inclined to do this, as they have never been used to any evening service at all, and as there seemed to be but little sober sense of religion amongst the lower sort of people, I was in hopes by this means to lay some foundation of
* Albany Book of Commissions, vol. v. 343.
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AND CHURCH OF WESTCHESTER.
religious knowledge in the younger part of the congregation. I cannot yet boast of the number of my catechumens which is but ten, but most of them repeat the catechism extremely well. There are also a considerable number of young people who attend to hear, and are very attentive. I should be very much obliged to the Society for a number of Lewis's catechisms, and some small common prayer books, and such other tracts as they think proper; these things presented to the children and younger people by their minister, I have found by my own ex- perience, gives them impressions in his favour, and dispose them to come to church and to make their responses.
At Westchester I have baptised six white children, and one mulatto adult; at Eastchester, eight white, and at New Ro- chelle seven white and two negro children. Before I left Ja- maica, I baptised there four adults and three infants. 1 have made two visits there since, and baptised one adult, two white children and three black ones ; and I must do the people at New- town the justice to inform the Society, that since my removal they sent me £20 currency. With regard to the income of this parish ; the salary, by an act of Assembly, is £50 currency. The ex- change from N. Y. to London being generally from £70 to £80 for £100 sterling. Burial fees there are here none, but the more wealthy families sometimes give the minister a linen scarf on these occasions. Marriage fees from one to four Spanish dollars ; but far the greater number go to an Independent teacher in the Parish of Rye, because his ceremony is short, and they have nothing to say. Possibly these fees may amount to £5 or £6 a year. The parsonage house is so much out of repair that it will cost £100 currency to make it comfortable, and the glebe has cost me near £20 to repair the fences ; when it is put in good order, it would, I believe, rent for £25 per annum. Some of the principal people have been endeavoring to prevail on the congregation to make up the deduction from the Society's salary by subscription, but have not succeeded, owing to the great ex- pense they have been and must be at here in buying and repair- ing their parsonage house, for which they are yet in debt £100, and to the necessity they will shortly be under of rebuilding their church ; and the Eastchester people are exhausted by the church
1
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HISTORY OF THE PARISH
they have undertaken to build. I must defer writing concern- ing that part of the parish which is under Mr. Munroe's care, till my information is more correct. The professed Dissenters in this parish are not numerous; some Calvanistic or Presbyte- rian French at New Rochelle, a few Presbyterians at Eastches- ter, and some Quakers ; at Westchester a good many Quakers. But there are many families, especially among the lower classes, who do not even pretend to be of any religion at all."a
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