USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 38
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On the 26th of June, 1872, Rev. Samuel P. Sprecher was installed as co- pastor with Dr. Fowler, having been called from the First Luth- eran Church of Albany. He was remarkable for his fluent and seem- ingly extemporaneous delivery of thoughtful and well arranged dis- courses. Receiving a call from the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, Cal., he resigned the pastorate of this church October 6, 1879. On the 9th of April, 1880, the church called as its pastor the Rev. Rob- ert O. Bachman, D.D., of Fayetteville, N. Y., who is in charge of the field at the present time.
The beautiful brick church which has been described stood until the 13th of January, 1851, when it was destroyed by fire of incendiary ori- gin. Measures were promptly adopted to rebuild, and a still more beau- tiful structure was erected on the corner of Washington and Columbia streets. In its dimensions it is 104 feet long, 72 feet wide, with a spire 225 feet in height. Attached to the rear is a chapel which was originally fifty-two feet long and forty-six feet wide, with a Sunday school room above of the same dimensions. This building was dedi- cated October 19, 1852. In 1868 the chapel was lengthened to sixty- four feet, and there was added a church parlor thirty-six feet long and twenty-nine feet wide, a large kitchen, and a pastor's study. The Sun- day school room was lengthened to 119 feet.
Three churches in Utica are offshoots from this one and four others, now extinct, sprang from it, and 15 missionaries and 31 ministers have been sent out from it. Among the missionaries were H. G. O. Dwight, D.D., of Constantinople; Asahel Grant, M.D., of Persia; Henry R. Hoisington, of India ; W. F. Williams, of Mozul ; and S. Wells Will-
403
REV. S. W. BRACE.
iams, LL.D., of China. The first Sunday-school west of Albany was organized by five young ladies of this church. There are at present 7 officers, 51 teachers, and 350 scholars in the Sabbath school. From the time of its organization the church has continued steadily to grow and the membership is 650, while since its organization over 3,300 members have been received into the society.
On December 21, 1890, the session established a mission Sabbath school in the western part of the city, which is known as Highland Mis- sion. A chapel has been erected on a piece of ground 80x 116 feet on the west side of Matthews avenue. The membership of the school ( n April 1, 1891, was three officers, 12 teachers, and 140 scholars.
In this account of the First Presbyterian Church allusion has been made to the services of Rev. S. W. Brace and to the formation of an- other church of this denomination which must have its proper place here. Rev. Samuel W. Brace removed in his youth from Rutland, Vt., to Lysander, Onondaga County, N. Y. Zealous of obtaining a college education he walked from Oswego, where the family were then living, in the winter of 1809 to Hamilton Oneida Academy at Clinton. Here his progress was so creditable that he was soon appointed an assistant, and by diligent study and occasional engagements as teacher in other schools he was enabled to enter the sophomore class at Hamilton Col- lege and graduate with the class of 1815. One of the engagements he filled as a teacher was at Onondaga Valley and another in the vil- lage of Utica, where in 1815 he for a time supplied the place of Henry White, disqualified by sickness. Having determined to become a min- ister he entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, was graduated from there in 1818, and was licensed to preach the gospel. After a few engagements elsewhere he was invited to come to Utica, where he preached alternately with Mr. Aikin, as previously stated, until the formation of another church on the 6th of May, 1824, which took the name of the Second Presbyterian Church. Twenty-seven persons were at first enrolled as its members. They worshipped for a time in the session room of the Presbyterian Church on Hotel street, and near the close of the year 1824 Mr. Brace was by the Presbytery of Oneida duly installed over them. In the spring of 1825, their number being aug- mented, they took measures for the erection of a church edifice. Be-
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
sides the funds they could raise among themselves they were promised assistance by several members of the older congregation, and they de- termined on the lot corner of Charlotte and Bleecker streets as a site for their building. The trustees now in charge were Dr. Thomas Goodsell, Greene C. Bronson, Jason Parker, D. G. Bates, and Lyman Hotchkiss. The contract for erecting the building was taken by Samuel Farwell. This building, at first called the Bleecker Street Presbyterian, the same which was at a later period known as the Bleecker Street Baptist Church, was 56x80 feet in dimensions. It was completed in the summer of 1826 and dedicated on the 24th of August of that year. The building with the lot cost about $15,000. The ministry of Mr. Brace was a very suc- cessful one and lasted about four years. During this time 250 persons were added to the church, of whom 130 came from other churches and 80 were the fruits of the revival in 1826. The debt contracted in build- ing proved a source of continued embarrassment. The aid promised by members of the First Presbyterian congregation was by no means as valuable as the new society had been given reason to expect, for the latter congregation proceeded to build a new house for themselves and were taxed to accomplish it. The salary due to Mr. Brace fell behind to the amount of over $1, 100. His brother-in-law, Judge Bronson, who was one of the trustees, was often called on to contribute toward the pe- cuniary necessities of the congregation. In this state of affairs Rev. D. C. Lansing, D.D., of Auburn, had become unsettled there, and over- tures had been made him by certain members of the First Presbyterian Church to come to Utica and be settled over the congregation of Mr. Brace. Judge Bronson and the other trustees now suggested to Mr. Brace that if a favorable opportunity presented itself of locating else- where he should do so. Receiving an invitation to East Hartford, Conn., he accordingly resigned his pastorate in July, 1828, and went to that place. After a brief ministry there he was settled some time longer in Skeneateles and next at Binghamton. Having resolved to retire from the active duties of the pastoral office and to preach in vacant churches, as opportunity might offer, he returned to Utica in August, 1845. And here he continued to live a number of years, acting as stated supply of various churches in the vicinity.1
1 The further history of this church is taken from an address on the Bleecker street church by Thomas W. Seward, esq., read before the Oneida Historical Society.
405
REVS. D. C. LANSING AND A. T. HOPKINS.
Mr. Brace was succeeded in his pastorate in the year 1829 by Rev. Dirck C. Lansing, D.D., of the First Presbyterian Church, Auburn. Dr. Lansing was among the foremost of American Presbyterians, and held a long pastorate at Auburn, during which he had been mainly in- strumental in founding and building up Auburn Theological Seminary. He was a man of commanding presence, of wonderfully ingratiating manners, of great force of character, allied to a temperament warmly sympathetic. As a preacher he was without hyperbole the Henry Clay of the Presbyterian pulpit. The Second Church felt assured of a re- trieval of all disaster and a prosperous future when Dr. Lansing was in- stalled. But somehow their anticipations were not realized. There re- mained a heavy debt so that men of substance who would have been glad to sit under Dr. Lansing's preaching cautiously avoided identifica- tion with his church. Moreover he had lately become addicted to the- ological controversy, whereby it was thought his usefulness at Auburn had been seriously impaired. He preached a series of vigorous sermons against Universalism, but he met an adroit and wary antagonist in Rev. Dolphas Skinner, pastor of the Universalist Church, who fought Dr. Lansing, not from his pulpit, but from the columns of a denominational paper, which he owned and edited, and which for the time being was distributed broadcast through the village.
In the year 1833 Dr. Lansing was succeeded by Rev. Asa T. Hop- kins, a young man of twenty-eight years of age, a graduate of Yale who had acquired his theological education in a clergyman's family. Mr. Hopkins was shy in manners, of a shyness, however, that vanished when antagonism was aroused, was something of a recluse, and was devoted to and absorbed by his profession. His pulpit ability was of the high- est. His sermons were strong in original thought, phrased in compact diction, and were spoken with all the vehemence of his enthusiastic nat - ure. During his pastorate the church prospered in everything except its finances. Its meetings were always full, and especially were young men drawn to them by the oratory of the preacher. Resigning his pas- torate Mr. Hopkins went to the First Presbyterian Church of Buffalo and was succeeded in 1838 by Rev. Amos Savage It was during the ministry of the latter that Elder Jacob Knapp, a noted Baptist revivalist, began his work in the Bethel Chapel on State street. The house proving
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
too small for the numbers that flocked to hear him he came down to the Bleecker street church, where he preached three weeks to a house uni- formly filled to its utmost capacity, the night meetings seldom breaking up before II o'clock. At last the meeting overflowed into the First Presbyterian Church, where the revival scenes ended. Nothing like this religious awakening has been known since the great Finney revival of 1826, which it surpassed.
Mr. 'Savage was followed in the year 1839 by Rev. C. Edward Lester, who acted as pastor of the church down to the time of its breaking up as a Presbyterian organization in 1840. Mr. Lester is best known as the author of the " Glory and Shame of England," which he wrote during his residence here. He was also joint editor with Jarvis M. Hatch in 1841 of the first daily newspaper of Utica. He has since written other works, served as consul at Genoa, Italy, and held other positions of note.
After the Bleecker street edifice ceased to be occupied by the Pres- byterians it was for a very brief period hired and used by a Congrega- tional society of which some notice will be given shortly. The edifice, which had become the property of Hon. Charles E. Dudley, of Albany, and was now standing vacant, was in September, 1843, hired by Rev. Joshua H. McIlvaine, of Little Falls. Through the aid of Rev. Dr. Cuyler, of Philadelphia, he obtained the sum of $200 with which to pay the rent for the first six months. The further sum of $200 was raised by collections taken in the church for the rent of the rest of the year. The whole pecuniary responsibility of the transaction was assumed by Rev. Mr. McIlvaine. As soon as a congregation was gathered a Sab bath school was started, which in less than two months numbered 250 children and thirty teachers, which was superintended by Mr. McIlvaine. The Board of Missions contributed $400 to the support of Mr. McIl- vaine in the first year of his labors in this new field ; at its close and three months after its organization the church was self-sustaining. The services thus begun were regularly continued with increasing success until July 23, 1844, when the Westminster Presbyterian Society of Utica was formally organized with sixty-one persons for its membership, and with the installation of the Rev. Mr. McIlvaine as its pastor. Soon after this the church building owned by the Universalist Society on Devereux street was purchased and immediately occupied. On Sep-
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WESTMINSTER CHURCH.
tember 3, 1847, the connection between pastor and people was termi- nated by the resignation of Rev. Mr. McIlvaine. Rev. Mr. McIlvaine was a young preacher of great personal energy and independence of character, possessing to a marked degree orignality of thought and an accurate and logical method, joined with an earnestness and enthusi- asm well fitted to win all classes of hearers. The Rev. Hugh S. Dick- son, of Philadelphia, was chosen the second pastor of this church and was installed October 31, 1848. The membership at this time was about 100. The period of his pastorate was an eventful one. The church building on Devereux street was materially improved and en - larged ; a few years later it was totally destroyed by fire. During the temporary occupation of the court-house for Sabbath and other servi- ces the active business qualifications of Rev. Mr. Dickson were em- ployed in devising and executing plans for the erection of its present beautiful church building at the head of Washington street, which was completed and occupied early in 1855. By the persistence and enthu- siasm of both pastor and people all difficulties were overcome and the sum of nearly $35,000 was provided with which to purchase the site and erect the church building. During the pastorate of Mr. Dickson the membership of the church was more than doubled, and those great material advantages acquired which enabled it to fill an important and influential position as one of the leading religious organizations of this city. After a pastorate of about ten years of active and practical labor, in which period Dr. Dickson had endeared himself to all by his kindly, social, and Christian graces, he offered his resignation, which was most reluctantly accepted.
In June, 1858, the Rev. Samuel M. Campbell was elected the third pastor and duly installed over a church having a membership of about 230. In many respects totally unlike either of his predecessors he was inferior to neither in personal character or mental ability. A man of independent, earnest, and intense convictions, with courage to follow wherever they should lead him, he did not fail to take an advanced po- sition on all the great questions of reform. It is given to few men to concentrate thought with such logical precision and conciseness of state- ment. Dr. Campbell's ministrations quite largely increased the mem - bership of the church; they gained for it a reputation for conspicuous
.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
pulpit ability and attracted the attention and respect of many of the most cultivated minds in the community. Under this pastorate Briggs W. Thomas, one of the oldest and most respected members of this church, generously provided a convenient and commodious building on Francis street for the Olivet Mission School. This school was for many years a flourishing and important auxiliary to the church. The Rev. Dr. Campbell resigned his pastorate to accept a call to the Central Church of Rochester, N. Y.
The Rev. Dr. Fisher, president of Hamilton College, accepted the invi- tation of the session to supply its pulpit upon the Sabbath, and for some months regularly preached to this people, which was soon followed by a call to the pastorate. The only obstacle that seemed in the way of its acceptance was the change required by the transfer of the connection of this church from the old to the new school general assembly, it having thus far affiliated with the former. The consent of the church and con- gregation having been given to the proposed change in church rela- tions, and Dr. Fisher having resigned the presidency of Hamilton Col- lege for this purpose, he was elected pastor on the 8th of May, 1866, and was installed on the 15th of November of the same year. Dr. Fisher was now at the very maturity of his physical and mental powers, and he entered upon this new field of labor with great vigor and enthusiasm. Into every department of the church he at once began to infuse his own personal energy and activity. The early part of his ministry was sig- nalized by the accomplishment of two important results. The personal attachment of his people led them to purchase for a parsonage a valua- ble and finely located residence on Rutger street; the beautiful chapel building which had been erected by E. M. Gilbert was now by him deeded to the church; and the mission enterprise in East Utica (which in former years had its origin in the generosity of Mrs. H. C. Wood), having grown into a mission church, now became an independent or- ganization under the name of the Bethany Church. To aid this new organization the home church gave up fifty-one of its own members. Under Dr. Fisher's administration the Sabbath school of the church and its two mission schools numbered nearly 600 scholars, and the church membership subsequent to the organization of Bethany Church reached about 365. On the evening of May 11, 1870, Dr. Fisher was
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WESTMINSTER AND BETHANY CHURCHES.
stricken with paralysis, which, after holding him within its grasp for nearly four years, at length caused his death at Cincinnati. The hope- lessness of his case induced him on the 13th of January, 1871, to offer his resignation. For nearly a year and a half the church was deprived of the services of a regular pastor, when a call was made to the Rev. Thomas J. Brown, of Philadelphia, who is the present pastor. He en- tered upon his duties on the 30th of April, 1871, and was installed on the IIth of October, 1871, the church then having about 365 members. Under his pastorate the church has prospered in all its various depart- ments of religious work, and has never been in a more flourishing con- dition than at the present time. The Sabbath school now numbers some 550 scholars. The church membership is about 750.
The disbursements of the church for the past twenty years amount to $392,633, of which $143,637 were given for benevolent purposes. The average congregational expenses of the church are about $12,000. It is the parent of two of the other Presbyterian Churches of Utica,- Bethany and Olivet,-both of which are large and flourishing churches and entirely independent of the mother church, though to the support of the latter Westminster is still a large contributor.
In the year 1858 the first Sunday school was organized in East Utica in an old school-house near the toll-gate, then standing on what is now Albany street. Afterward Mrs. Harriet C. Wood converted a small dwelling into a chapel. In 1865 a lady missionary visited the locality and preached from house to house, and in November public serv- ices were established in the chapel. In 1868 the school was given the name of the Bethany Sabbath School. In October, 1867, an assistant pastor, Rev. P.W. Emens, of Westminster Church, began work in the field and continued until the spring of 1869. He was succeeded by Rev. C. M. Whittlesey, who acted as stated supply from October, 1869, to October, 1870. A triangular lot 120 x 150 feet on the corner of Albany and Lansing streets was donated to the people by Mrs. Harriet C. Wood, and there in 1869 a frame church was erected by Mrs. Sarah A. Gilbert, of Utica, and her daughters, Miss Sarah E. Gilbert, Mrs. Anna G. Cowan, and Mrs. F. G. Wood. It was dedicated December 29, 1869, and cost $21,000; its seating capacity is 400. The Bethany Presby- terian Church as organized about this time was composed of fifty-one
52
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
members of Westminster Church and nine members of other evangelical bodies. Rev. G. T. Le Boutillier succeeded Rev. Mr. Whittlesey as pastor April 2, 1871, and was in turn succeeded by Rev. George Van Deurs on November 28, 1872. Rev. James Lamb became pastor April I, 1874, and was succeeded by Rev. Charles F. Goss in June, 1881. He was followed by Rev. George O. Phelps on July 1, 1885, and the latter resigned October 26, 1890. Rev. Stanley B. Roberts was called to the pastorate in October, 1891, and is the present pastor. The present membership of the church is 274, and of the Sunday school 375 scholars and 38 teachers. The elders of the church are F. G. Wood, David Everest, Joseph Beggs, R. McGregor, Joseph Hollingsworth, and John Nelson.
The Olivet Sunday School was established February 27, 1876, by workers from the Westminster Society. They met regularly in a room of the Benedict House until spring opened, when it was deemed neces- sary to provide more commodious accommodations. A chapel was accordingly erected near the corner of Square and Miller streets and opened on June 11, 1876. George E. Allen was the first superintend- ent. In June, 1882, his son, Theodore H. Allen, was engaged by West- minster session to hold regular Sunday evening services at the mission and to work in the field. In 1886 Arthur C. McMillan had charge of the Sunday school. In March, 1887, Rev. F. W. Townsend came in response to a call of the session of Westminster Church and presided in the chapel as the coming pastor of the new church. On April 26th the church was duly constituted with Rev. Mr. Townsend as pastor, and the following were made elders : George E. Allen, Marcus S. Willard, Tim- othy Parker, and James Shetler. Two days later the trustees were elected and the Olivet Presbyterian Society incorporated. In August a lot at 103-105 Howard avenue was bought and on September 15, 1889, the corner-stone was laid. On the 12th of April, 1891, the church was dedicated. It is a handsome Gothic structure built of stone at a cost of $20,000. Its seating capacity is 500. There are at present 225 members in the church and 250 scholars in the Sunday school. The present elders are M. S. Willard, Timothy Parker, James Shetler, George N. Mitchell, Griffith H. Humphrey, and Griffiths E. Williams.
The Memorial Presbyterian Church of West Utica was organized
4II
MEMORIAL CHURCH - HOPE CHAPEL.
February 10, 1868. It was the outgrowth of a Sabbath school that had been maintained there since 1848. A chapel was erected on Court street near Garden and dedicated December 15, 1867. A congrega- tion quickly gathered here and two months later, with thirty persons from the First Presbyterian Church, an organization was effected. Rev. J. W. Whitfield, before acting as missionary in connection with the school, now became pastor of the church and continued the work until April, 1874. He was succeeded by Rev. A. F. Kyle, who remained until October, 1876. The present pastor, Rev. Dana W. Bigelow, was installed April 17, 1878, having at the date acted as pastor for a year. On September 4, 1882, the name was changed to the Memorial Pres- byterian Church, and in the following year a lot 50 x 120 feet and adjoining the chapel was purchased for $4,700. The change in the name was in honor of the gift to the society of a beautiful church edi- fice by Hon. Theodore S. Sayre as a memorial to his father. On the lot mentioned Mr. Sayre erected the present church at a cost of $30,000. Mr. Sayre has been an elder in the church and a teacher in the Sunday school almost from its origin. The new church was dedicated January 25, 1884; its seating capacity is 400. The present membership of the church is 225, with 360 scholars and 41 teachers in the Sunday school. The present elders are : Theodore S. Sayre, George C. Curran, Martin V. Gorton, and Solomon Boyd.
The Elizabeth Street Presbyterian Church (colored) was organized under the auspices of the First Presbyterian Church. In 1862 a Sunday school was started and regularly conducted in Elizabeth street. In 1869 a commodious chapel was erected at No. 23 Elizabeth street and dedi- cated in the same year. It is built of wood and will seat about 350. The following year W. H. Morris was settled as a supply at an annual salary of $750. The first regular pastor was W. H. Thomas. In 1873 Moses Hopkins, who was a student at Auburn Theological Seminary, supplied the pulpit, coming to Utica for that purpose every week. For several years the mission, which had thus far been called Hope Chapel, was conducted as a church, the colored people having entire control of it. Owing to their inability to successfully manage the affairs of the church its oversight has again been assumed by the First Church. Services are regularly held and a Sabbath school is maintained, though there is no settled pastor in charge.
412
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
The Bethesda Congregational Church was organized on the Ist of January, 1802, as a congregational or independent church by the Welsh people of the vicinity. This was the second religious society formed in Utica which has continued in uninterrupted existence to the present time. It consisted at first of some twenty- five persons, of whom ten had the year previous joined the church at Whitesboro, but now de- tached themselves from it in order to become members of this. The first minister was Rev. Daniel Morris, who arrived early in 1803 from Philadelphia. Worshipping for a time in private houses the congrega- tion erected in 1804 a small frame house on the corner of Washington and Whitesboro streets, and this was the first church that was completed in the village, though Trinity was previously begun. In 1817 a Sab- bath school was organized. In 1823 Rev. Robert Everett came from Denbigh, Wales, and was settled as pastor over the church, which was known as the the Welsh Congregational Church. His standing in the community was elevated and his labors fruitful of good. In harmony with the other evangelical clergy he took full part in public reforms and in general schemes of benevolence. He was called to Winfield in 1836 and was succeeded by Rev. James Griffiths, of South Wales, who devoted fifteen years to this field of labor. His successor was Rev. Evan Griffiths, who remained six years and was followed by Rev. David Price, also from Denbigh, Wales. After six years he was suc- ceeded by Rev. Griffith Griffiths, who two years later removed to Cin- cinnati. His successor was Rev. R. G. Jones, a native of Brecknoch- shire, Wales, and a graduate of Brecon College, who was called in May, 1867. In 1865 a portion of the congregation withdrew from the church and established a service of their own. They purchased the old Grace Church (Episcopalian) on Columbia street and called Rev. James Grif- fiths from Cattaraugus to the pastorate. This church was known as the Second Congregational. Rev. Mr. Griffiths served the church for about five years. In 1871 this society returned to the old church and the two congregations united in the erection of a new brick edifice. It is located at 108 Washington street and was built at a cost of $22,000. The seat- ing capacity is 580. When united in 1871 the name Bethesda was taken at the suggestion of the pastor, who had been called from Bethesda, Merthyr Tydvil, in Wales. Mr. Jones still serves as pastor of the
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