USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > One hundred years of Trinity Church : Utica, New York > Part 4
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Trinity Church, Utica, N. Y.
ject to "His Majesty's grant," which does not appear to have been obtained, and on December 10th, 1768, he wrote as fol- lows on this subject:
"We cannot have a clergy here without an Episcopate; and this want, as it has occasioned many to embrace other per- suasions, will oblige greater numbers to follow their example; of which the dissenters are very sensible, and by pretended fears of an Episcopal power, as well as by magnifying their own numbers, and lessening ours, give it all possible opposi- tion."
Sir William Johnson died in 1774, and his body was in- terred under the altar of S. John's Church, Johnstown, which edifice was burned in 1836.
We resume now the history of the Mohawk Mission from 1770-1778. On the recommendation of Sir William Johnson, the Rev. John Stuart was appointed missionary at Fort Hun- ter, and arrived at his destination on December 2nd, 1770. The number of the inhabitants was then about 170. On Christmas Day he preached at Canajoharie, where the second castle of the Mohawks was situated, and administered the Holy Communion to 20 Indian converts. He describes them as "attending divine service constantly, and making the re- sponses with the greatest regularity and seeming devotion." He prepared with the assistance of the noted Joseph Brant, a translation of the Gospel according to S. Mark in the Mohawk language. In 1774 he writes that their morals are much im- proved since my residence among them." At the time of the Revolution, the Rev. Mr. Stuart felt that his ordination vows bound him to loyalty to the English crown, but the Indians were so strongly attached to him that they publicly declared theat they would protect and defend him so long as he con- tinued to reside among them. In a letter to the Rev. William White, of Philadelphia (afterwards Bishop of Pennsylvania), under date of September 28th, 1778, he says: "My situation
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is rather disagreeable, being deserted by almost all my con- gregation. There remains only three families, the others hav- ing at different times, joined the king's forces. I have not preached within these last two years." In 1781 he writes to the S. P. G. from Canada, where he had gone in October of that year, that the Mohawks rather than swerve from their al- legiance to England, preferred to abandon their dwellings and property, and accordingly went in a body to General Bur- goyne, and afterwards were to take shelter in Canada. Mr. Stuart was taken prisoner by the American forces, and con- fined on parole for three years to the limits of Schenectady, after which he was allowed to withdraw to Canada on the promise of a suitable exchange being effected. In his letter to the Society in 1781, he writes that "the Church at Fort Hunter was plundered by the rebels, and the pulpit cloth taken away from the pulpit; it was afterwards employed as a tavern. The succeeding year it was used for a stable, and now serves as a fort." On his arrival in Canada, he immediately repaired to the Mohawk Village, where he was affectionately welcomed by the members of his former Indian flock. Mr. Stuart is said to have been 6 ft. 4 in. in height, and was accordingly known among his New York friends as "the little gentleman." The honorable of "Father of the Upper Canadian Church" has been appropriately bestowed upon him. In an unpublished history of S. Peter's Church, Albany, by the Rev. Joseph Hooper, of Durham, Conn., he thus quotes from the "Notitia Parochilis" of the Rev. Thomas Ellison, rector of S. Peter's, the record of two visits that he made to the vicinity of Fort Hunter: "June 6th, 1799, Mr. Ellison preached in the court house at Johnstown, the Presbyterians refusing to deliver him the key of S. John's Church. June 8 Mr. Ellison preached in the forenoon at Fort Hunter. The Church is in a wretched condition, the pulpit, reading desk and two pews, only being left, the windows being destroyed, the floor demolished, and
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Trinity Church, Utica, N. Y.
the walls cracked. In 1796 the Rev. John Urquhart was placed in the charge of Fort Hunter and Johnstown."
Except on a few occasions, the Chapel had not been used for a number of years when it was demolished about the year 1820 to give place to the Erie Canal, and the stones in it were used in constructing guard-locks near its site. In a very able and interesting address delivered in St. John's Church, Johns- town, on October 15, 1897, by the Rev. F. S. Sill, D. D., of Cohoes, he treats, in a very clear and exhaustive manner, the subject of "Queen Anne's Chapel and the Church Lands of Fort Hunter." The recovery of this property for the Church and the subsequent disposition of the proceeds from its sale occupied the attention of New York Churchmen in their Diocesan Conventions for a period of over forty years. S. Ann's Church, Port Jackson, in the town of Florida, which had been organized in 1835, and S. John's Church, Johnstown, each received a share of these proceeds.
St. John's Church, Johnstown.
The settlement of Johnstown was begun by Sir William Johnston in 1760, and occasional Church services were prob- ably held there from that date onward, though the first church was probably not built much before 1768.
In 1769 Mr. William Andrews was recommended to Sir William Johnson for the mission at Johnstown, as well as for the Church at Schenectady, to which latter place he was sub- sequently appointed, by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The Rev. John Hubbs, a former Rector of S. John's Church, in an "Historical Address" delivered in 1887, to which I am indebted for much of the information which is here appended concerning that parish, says that "From the records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, we learn that in 1770, Sir William offered a large tract of land to the Church at Johnstown, if they could get the King's
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grant, and that the Society granted to S. John's for the sup- port of a clergyman £25; but the name of the clergyman I have not been able to find." On the 28th of February, 1771, Sir William writes to the secretary of the Society that the "Church being small and ill-built," he was "preparing stone and materials for erecting one much stronger and larger that would accommodate 1,000 souls." The second building was erected in that year, but was destroyed by fire in 1836. In the early part of this same year, the Rev. John Ogilvie of New York, recommended as a suitable rector for the new Church, the Rev. David Griffith, D. D. But for some reason or other, the Baronet was strongly prejudiced against Dr. Griffith, and did not desire to have him for the rector. Dr. Griffith after- wards went South, and was elected in 1786 as the first Bishop ¡of Virginia, but being too poor to take the journey to Eng- land, he was never consecrated. In 1772 the Rev. Richard Mosely came from New England, and became the rector of the parish. Mr. Mosely seems to have had a trying experience with the Puritans at Litchfield, where just previous to his coming to Johnstown he had been fined £20 by the Court for marrying a couple belonging to his parish (although the banns had been published, and the consent of the parents ob- tained), because he could not show any other license to offici- ate as a clergyman than what he had received from the Bishop of London, whose authority the Court decided did not extend to Connecticut, which was a chartered government. One of the Judges said: "It is high time to put a stop to the usur- pations of the Bishop of London, and to let him know, that though his license be lawful, and may empower one of his Curates to marry in England, yet it is not so in America; and if fine would not curb them in this point, imprisonment should." Mr. Mosely was not very robust in health, and he found the climate too severe for him, and therefore resigned in the early part of 1774, and returned to England the follow-
.
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Trinity Church, Utica, N. Y.
ing spring. He was probably the first clergyman that was regularly settled at Johnstown. After his departure, the Rev. John Stuart, of Fort Hunter, of whom you have heard in con- nection with the history of the Mohawk Mission, who was a great friend of Sir William Johnson, and had officiated in S. John's before the rectorship of Mr. Mosely, took charge of the services and officiated in Johnstown in connection with his work at Fort Hunter, until the war of the Revolution. These were probably the last services of the Church that were held in Johnstown for a number of years. Sir John Johnson, who had come into the possession of his father's property was a Tory of the extreme kind. After his defeat by the American forces he escaped with his friends to Canada, and in the con- fusion which ensued, and the bitter feelings which were en- gendered, the Church building and property passed out of the hands of its legitimate owners. The estates of Sir John Johnson were declared forfeited to the State by the Legisla- ture in 1779. Sometime after the war, probably by permission from the Commissioners of Forfeiture, the abandoned Church was opened and used by the Presbyterians and Lutherans, and this continued until 1793, when the Legislature passed an act which granted the stone Church and glebe, during the pleasure of the Legislature, to the trustees of the Presbyte- rian congregation, reserving however, the use of the Church for "eight Sundays in the year to the Episcopalians and Lutherans, if required by any number of them, not less than ten." This act was merely a provisional one, and gave no absolute title. On November 4th, 1789, at the Convention of the Church in the State of New York, a letter was read from the Rev. Thomas Ellison, of S. Peter's, Albany, giving an ac- count of the particular circumstances of the Church at Johns- town, which was referred to the Standing Committee. In 1796 there were sufficient church people in Johnstown to form an incorporated body, and in that year the parish of S. John's
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was duly incorporated according to the laws of 1784. The vexed question of the church property was then more thoroughly investigated, and a stand was made for its pos- session. The final result of these efforts was not attained until 1821. The corporation came into the full possession of the Church in 1818, and in 1821 they received from the Treasurer of the State, what was supposed to be an equivalent for the glebe.
In 1797 the services were resumed by the Rev. John Ur- quhart, who became rector in 1798, and resigned in 1806.
Of this period in the history of S. John's we find the follow- ing mention in the "Reminiscences" of Bishop Chase. "Al- though some distance out of his way, the writer could not deny himself the pleasure of going to Johnstown, to visit his fellow-laborer in the Gospel, the Rev. Mr. Urquhart. Here he had the pleasure of beholding a goodly stone Church, with an organ, built by Sir William Johnson, and endowed by that munificent person, with a glebe for the support of an Episcopal clergyman. The Church had been recovered by an appeal to the Legislature, sitting in Albany, as the writer had witnessed when a student for Orders in that city; but the glebe was still in the hands of those who had seized on it in the time of the war, when so many prejudices for political reasons had been excited against the Episcopal Church, and while the Pres- byterian minister was maintained in comfort, Mr. Urquhart received the support only of the few remaining Churchmen whom poverty had detained in the place."
Mr. Urquhart was followed successively by the Rev. Messrs. Jonathan Judd, Eli Wheeler, Pierre Alexis Proal, Parker Adams, A. C. Treadway, U. M. Wheeler and Joseph Ransom, who each had but short rectorates. The Rev. Mr. Judd came from Trinity, Utica, whither he had gone as a deacon in 1804, as the first minister-in-charge. The Rev. Mr. Proal, after spending fifteen years in the rectorate of S. George's, Schen-
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Trinity Church, Utica, N. Y.
ectady, became rector of Trinity, Utica, in 1836, where he re- mained until his decease. It was during Mr. Ransom's in- cumbency in 1836, that the Church edifice, erected by Sir Wil- liam Johnson in 1771, was destroyed by fire. The corner- stone of the new building was laid in the following April, and on October 15th of that same year (1837) it was consecrated by the Rt. Rev. B. T. Onderdonk, Bishop of New York. The subsequent history of the parish moved along in quiet chan- nels, and appears to have been uneventful. It had its trials and its encouragements, its failures and its successes. The sixtieth anniversary of the consecration of the present build- ing, and the one hundred and twenty-fifth of its translation from its first site to its present one by Sir William Johnson, were fittingly observed in the parish on October 15th, 1897, by appropriate services, including the benediction of a hand- some Memorial Cross of granite, by the Rt. Rev. W. C. Doane, Bishop of Albany. The present rector is the Rev. Dr. Calbraith B. Perry.
Before leaving, however, our consideration of this historic spot, we desire to refer to one farther incident in its expe- rience, which occurred in 1862.
After the destruction of the old Church in 1836, the exact location of the grave of Sir William Johnson, who had been buried under its chancel, was not known. The Rev. Charles H. Kellogg, who was the rector at that time, instituted a search which resulted in the finding of the tomb of the great Baronet; and under his direction the grave was repaired, and the remains enclosed in a granite sarcophagus. The vestry appointed a committee to solicit funds for the erection of a suitable monument to this noted man, whom a recent author describes as "One of the greatest of the makers of our Ameri- ca." No report from the above committee ever appears to have been made.
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Two Rural Centennial Parishes.
In the immediate vicinity of Schenectady, situated about equal distance from it, though in opposite directions, there are two well established rural parishes that have celebrated their centennial anniversaries, and which deserve to be mentioned in this brief survey of early church centers. These parishes, though just outside of what may be strictly considered the Mohawk Valley, have yet been closely associated with the work that has been carried on in it, and each of them in years past have for a short period shared jointly in the ministrations of the rector of S. George's, Schenectady.
I refer to the parishes of Christ Church, Ballston Spa., and Christ Church, Duanesburgh. The former shared with Schenectady in the rectorate of the Rev. Ammi Rogers, the latter in that of the Rev. Robert P. Wetmore.
Christ Church, Ballston, Spa.
In the fourth convention of the Church in the State of New York, held on June 27, 1787, the published proceedings con- tain the following item :- "A letter addressed to the Rt. Rev. the Bishop, by the congregation at Ballston, requesting to be recognized by the Convention, was read and approved."
The Rev. Thomas Ellison, whose name occurs so often in this present narrative, was rector of S. Peter's, Albany, from May 1, 1787-1802, in which year he died. He was, in private life, a gentleman of a sociable disposition and remarkable wit, whose society was much courted, for it is said of him, that he was "as much above a mean action as an angel is above a calumniator." He was a devoted pastor, an able preacher, a skillful administrator, and an enthusiastic missionary. We find him connected more or less with all the parishes in this vicinity, especially during vacancies in their cures, or at the first struggles of their infantile life. He may well be described as the "Rural Dean of Northern New York." At each of the
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Trinity Church, Utica, N. Y.
parishes of which we are now speaking, he appears to have been active in furthering the organization of regular congre- gations. In the "Historical Sermon" of the Rev. Charles Pelletreau, L. H. D., rector of Christ Church, Ballston Spa., preached in that church on July 3, 1887, he does not appear to have a record of any services that were held in that village prior to the time of the Rev. Mr. Ellison, but in the Parish Register of S. George's, Schenectady there appear to have been a number of baptisms administered there by the Rev. John Doty, between the years of 1774 and 1777. The Rev. Ammi Rogers was ordained by Bishop Provoost in 1792, and his joint rectorship of the parishes of Ballston and Schenec- tady date from the summer of that year. His exhibit of bap- tisms is most extraordinary, the number in six years being I,123. There is a current tradition that he actually and literal- ly went out into the hedges and highways to preach the gos- pel. He is also reported to have been a man of rare and per- suasive eloquence. He was a lineal descendant of the Rev. John Rogers, the Smithfield martyr, whose name is preserved in history. Mr. Rogers was succeeded by the Rev. Frederick Van Horn, who previously officiated in Orange County. In 1805, the rector of the parish who united under his charge, Ballston, Charlton, Milton and Stillwater, reported to the Convention from this parish sixty communicants-just ten less than S. Peter's, Albany.
In 1810, with the exception of five churches in and about New York City, this parish showed a larger number of bap- tisms than any church in the State, while in the matter of com- municants, it stood among the foremost.
The Rev. Messrs. Joseph Perry, John Gregg, Jr., William A. Clark, were successively in charge of the parish until 1824, when the Rev. Dr. Babcock became rector, and remained for upwards of twenty years at the helm. The Rev. George J. Geer was rector from 1845-1852, when he was called to S.
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Timothy's Church, New York City, where he remained until his decease. He was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Rogers, Rev. Charles Arcy, D. D., Rev. George W. Dean, D. D., and the Rev. George Worthington, now Bishop of Nebraska, in the order in which their names are mentioned.
The Rev. Dr. Joseph Carey and the Rev. Dr. Walter Dela- field were the more immediate predecessors of the present rec- tor, the Rev. Charles Pelletreau, to whom I am indebted for most of the above information.
Christ Church, Duanesburgh.
The parish of Christ Church, Duanesburgh, was probably organized in 1789, or prior thereto, as it was admitted into union with the Convention of the Diocese of New York in that year. The church was erected about the same time by James Duane, of New York, at his own expense, and donated to the parish. The original building is still in constant use, in a good state of preservation, and unchanged. The earliest record extant is that of its consecration on August 25th, 1793, by the Rt. Rev. Samuel Provoost, Bishop of New York, assisted in the services by the Rev. Thomas Ellison of S. Peter's, Albany, and the Rev. Leonard Cutting, of New Berne, N. C.
Previous to 1792 there seems to have been no settled clergy- man here, but the Rev. David Belden came as a deacon, from Connecticut, in 1792, and remained until 1795. He presided at a meeting for the incorporation of the parish on March 17th, 1795. The Rev. R. G. Wetmore was rector jointly of Duanesburgh and Schenectady from 1798-1801. There are no parish records from this latter year to 1817, although the Convention Journals of New York contain reports of services being held at Duanesburgh by various missionaries and sup- plies during that period, among whom we note the names of the Rev. Cyrus Stebbins, Rev. R. Hubbard, and the Rev. T. C. Brownell, afterwards Bishop of Connecticut.
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Trinity Church, Utica, N. Y.
From 1817 to the present time there have been eleven rec- tors, their names and dates being as follows: Rev. N. F. Bruce, 1817-1819; Rev. Charles W. Hamilton, 1820-1822; Rev. Rich- ard Burg, 1822-1828; Rev. William B. Thomas, 1829-1842; Rev. Kendrick Metcalf, 1842-1850; Rev. William O. Jarvis, 1851-1859; Rev. Robert T. S. Lowell, D. D., 1859-1869; Rev. George L. Neide, 1869-1881; Rev. Henry M. Teller, 1881- 1883; Rev. E. A. Hartmann, 1884-1889; Rev. Edward W. Flower, 1889 -.
The Hon. James Duane, the founder of the parish, and from whose estate came the rectory, glebe and endowment, was a member of the Continental Congress, first mayor of New York City, and first Judge of the U. S. District Court, ap- pointed by President Washington. He was also a vestryman and warden of Trinity Church, New York, from 1772-1794. He died in 1797, and is buried under the church.
General William North, one of the wardens of the church in 1795, was an Aid-de-Camp to General Washington in the Revolutionary War. He also is buried under this venerable structure, the interior of which still preserves its original ar- rangement. It has a high pulpit, with hanging sounding board and a long reading desk just below and in front. There are galleries on three sides, and the altar is railed off at one side of the pulpit and desk which occupy the center.
Having now covered, though imperfectly, the field which has been allotted to me by my reverend brother, I shall en- deavor to merit your gratitude by bringing these extended observations to a speedy conclusion.
A Brief Retrospect.
Looking backward to the period immediately preceding the visit of the Rev. John Miller to Schenectady, mentioned in the earlier part of this paper, we find that the Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Henry Compton, to whom Mr. Miller dedicates his "Description of the Province and City of New York," re-
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ports in 1675 that there were "scarce four ministers of the Church of England in all the vast tract of America, and not above one or two of them, at most, regularly sent over."
In 1710, the Rev. Thomas Barclay, of Albany, in the same letter to the Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, in which he refers to conducting services at Schen- ectady, also states that "from New York to the utmost bounds of my parish there is no minister but myself." And even as late as 1798, when this parish of Trinity, Utica, was first or- ganized, the Rev. Philander Chase informs us in his "Remin- iscences" that there were not more than seven clergymen of the Episcopal Church in the State of New York, north of the Highlands.
At the present time, in this year of our Lord, 1898, in Oneida County alone, of which Utica is the County seat, there are 19 clergymen, 4,212 communicants, 2,025 teachers and scholars in the Sunday School, with church property valued at $503,151.00; there are canonically resident in the State of New York, 5 Bishops, 925 other clergymen, 145 postulants and can- didates for Orders, 175 lay readers, 156,000 communicants, and 105,000 teachers and scholars in the Sunday Schools; while connected with our American Church and owing alle- giance to it, there are 84 Bishops, nearly 5,000 other clergy- men, 900 postulants and candidates for Orders, 2,100 lay read- ers, nearly 700,000 communicants, 500,000 teachers and scholars in the Sunday School, and about 3,000,000 adherents.
The "little one" hath indeed "become a thousand," and the "small one a strong nation." "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel; according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel what hath God wrought."
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Trinity Church, Utica, N. Y.
THE CHURCH'S ADAPTABILITY TO THE SPIRIT- UAL NEEDS OF OUR AGE.
BY THE REV. WILLIAM D. MAXON, D. D., RECTOR, CALVARY CHURCH, PITTSBURG, PA.
I appreciate profoundly the privilege of taking part in the centennial of Old Trinity. By the kind consideration of the Bishop and the cordial invitation of the Rector, I am permit- ted to enjoy and profit by that to which I was heartily minded when first the suggestion of this anniversary was made. In this venerable church, seven years of my ministry were spent whereof, as I recall them, the words concerning Jacob and his fair Rachel rise unbidden on my lips: "They seemed but a few days for the love he had to her." They were days of joy and peace and holy inspiration, whose memory has been a continuing stimulus and benediction amid the more exacting duties and difficulties of later years. Raw and inexperienced as that seven years service was, nevertheless it was full of rare happiness, and had lessons of faith and hope and love which, I pray God, may never fail from my life. Working for and with a people gently forbear- ing, loyal, united, keenly susceptible to the rational spiritual- ity of our church's system, and working under a Bishop in whom, to a rare degree, the combination of intellectuality and spirituality were and still are signally exemplified, whose wise counsels of faith and duty were a priceless privilege, I cannot now forbear to express my personal obligation to dear Old Trinity and to the Diocese of Central New York, while also most sincerely thanking the Bishop and Mr. Harding for the opportunity they have so kindly afforded me of speak-
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