USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > One hundred years of Trinity Church : Utica, New York > Part 7
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The large families of Old Trinity were a pleasant sight, and pleasant to recall. It was not respectable to stay away from church at that day, and whole families came, father, mother and children-five children an ordinary number; but there were many of seven, eight, and even ten children. Governor Seymour's handsome face, sweet voice and courteous bear- ing, is one of the agreeable memories of the old days. The old bell must not be forgotten, as it not only called to church, 'but warned of fires, lost children, and was rung at 9 A. M., 12 noon, and 9 P. M. Bishop Hobart's solemn sweet face, Bishop Onderdonk's portly frame and resonant voice, Bishop DeLancey, a noble man and perfect bishop; are all remem- bered, as well as many noted visiting clergy, also over 300 or more whom I can recall sitting in their places, the most of whom have joined the silent majority, but whom I hope again to see worshiping God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost as 'we learned to do in Old Trinity.
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LETTER FROM MR. ROBERT J. HUBBARD, CAZENOVIA, N. Y.
It was my privilege to worship in Old Trinity on the first Sunday of this year; I think a century of sunshine and shadow, and of earnest work for the cause of the Master, entitles it to be called old. My memory of the church and its worshipers goes back half of that period, and I see clearly in my mind's eye the building as it then appeared.
I was baptized in the church in the first year of the minis- tration of Dr. Proal, I think, and I attended there with my parents until I left Utica about 1849.
In view of the coming centenary celebration, I am induced to write you, and it may not be amiss for me to give you some reminiscences and a picture of the building as it existed fifty years ago. I presume, however, the ground has been fully gone over by others who have data at hand, while I trust only to memory.
The interior of the church was radically different from what the eye rests upon now. The exterior is less changed. There were formerly seven windows on each side. Alternate win- dows were filled in, at a date I cannot recall, leaving four at each side as at present shown. There were green blinds to the windows, if I mistake not, for the glass was clear and in square panes. The spire was always as graceful as it is now, and the arrow, to show the direction of the wind, was con- sidered of fine proportions. I have heard it said, rather in sport than derision, that the weather vane on Trinity shifted with "Every wind of doctrine." True! But it looked the evil winds squarely in the teeth until they had blown passed, leav- ing the church of which it was the titular guardian, stanch and firm on its foundations as it at present stands. The Sun- day School room or chapel formerly faced on Broad Street, at the east side of the church. While the changes on the exterior of the building have been but few, the interior, alas! has been dispoiled of its ancient dignity.
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The vestibule was ample, extending entirely across the front of the building. There was a huge wood-stove here, and as a boy, I used to go early to church in cold weather and get my mother's foot stove from the pew and bring it to the vestibule for fresh, live coals, which Mr. Archer, the sexton, had ready in abundance. The bell rope hung down in the vestibule, and sometimes I was allowed to pull it at the tolling of the bell, much to my delight.
Two doors opened from the vestibule into the church. There were but two aisles at the sides, just under the galleries.
The pews were straight in the back, and high. About half- way down the aisles, at right angles to them, were others run- ning to the side walls, so as to give a series of pews lengthwise with the building. There were two of these aisles on each side, and my father's was the wall pew, giving us a fine view of the whole congregation. The gallery was over our heads, and at that time extended to the rear wall of the building. The gal- leries were fairly well filled with worshipers, and it was a treat for the boys to be allowed to sit in them on occasion, and look down on the congregation.
The color of the walls and wood work of the church was white.
But now comes the most marvellous change from the original! Formerly there was no chancel. The south wall of the church was strikingly effective, and although such church architecture was common a century ago, it can hardly be found or recommended now. The pulpit, of the "candle-stick" order, stood against the wall so high up that the preacher could cast his eyes along the occupants of the galleries. This pulpit was entered by a small door through the rear wall, the stairs being concealed. It was a mystery to the developing mind of a child, how the minister in a white surplice should so suddenly disappear and re-appear in the pulpit in a black gown!
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Below the pulpit was the reading desk, formed in a semi- circle around its base, and below was the communion table, surrounded by the chancel rail.
None of the paraphernalia now required in a modern sanct- uary was visible. Without chancel, screen, altar or super- altar, reredos, dorsel, candle-stick or gilded cross. Without these and other important features, how should we get along now?
There was communion but once a month, and the Sunday immediately preceding, the solemn exhortation was invariably read and generally in full. I am old-fashioned enough in my notions to feel its helpfulness, and regret it has gone so much out of use. The sermon too on the Sunday before the com- munion was especially adapted to induce meditations during the week on the spiritual comfort of the Lord's supper.
The gallery at the north end of the church, now so bare, was filled with a remarkably fine organ, and the case was something to be proud of.
I remember among other things of lesser note the chan- deliers-the one that hung in the centre, in particular. It was of crystal and very chaste. The lights were candles, I think. The chain suspending it from the ceiling was something mar- velous in my youthful eyes. So were the bright cushions, and especially the tassels on desk and pulpit.
My picture would not be complete without re-inhabiting the old building with worshipers. Alas! alas! it takes me back to my youth, and in my memory it seems but as yesterday.
Bishop DeLancey was our spiritual head, and was a fre- quent visitor at my father's house. The Reverend Dr. Rudd, long editor of the "Gospel Messenger," was an attendant at church, and the Rev. Pierre Alexis Proal, D. D., was our Rector.
From the pew of my father, Thomas H. Hubbard, I could see before me the congregation as it generally was, although
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my memory may sometimes be at fault. There were, with their families; Judge Hiram Denio, Dr. C. B. Coventry, Hiram Greenman, Prof. Prentice, John A. Russ, Nicholas Devereux, Henry Green, Joseph Shearman, John Green, Job Stafford, A. G. Dauby, Rudolph Snyder, John Butterfield, A. B. Johnson, George Green, Z. Lyon, E. A. Graham, P. Lyon, William Baker, Thomas Hopper, J. J. Francis, Thomas Colling, Martin Hart, E. B. Shearman, Alfred Munson, Dr. John McCall, Montgomery Hunt, Judge Samuel Beardsley, Isaiah Tiffany, Henry G. Hubbard, Col. John E. Hinman, Horatio Seymour, J. S. Peckham, Frederick Hollister, John G. Floyd, Harvey Barnard, Simeon Oley, Ami Dows, Roscoe Conkling, Judge Aaron Hackley, Edward McVickar, the family of Com. Woolsey, Ward Hunt, T. O. Grannis, Charles H. Doolittle, Selden Collins, Montgomery Throop, M. Comstock, George Bristol.
Some of these may be mis-placed, and there are others I cannot recall, but it seems to me that the congregation was large fifty years ago, and composed of many men of sterling worth.
SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF THE RIGHT REVER- END PHILANDER CHASE, LL.D., FIRST BISH- OP OF OHIO AND ILLINOIS.
BY HIS SON, THE REV. DUDLEY CHASE, RETIRED CHAPLAIN, U. S. A., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Unity in faith and fellowship, is one mark of the Catholic Church. If one member is faithful should not all rejoice? Nor should one be exalted to the disparagement of another, not forgetting that it takes many soldiers to make an army, and to God belongs the glory of accepted services. This in- teresting occasion brings before me, among others, the name of Philander Chase. As his son, I am requested to give a few
RT. REV. PHILANDER CHASE, L. L. D., Founder of this Parish in 1798. First Bishop of Ohio and Illinois.
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personal recollections of him. Lest this should seem aimless and unprofitable, let us give God the praise, and consider that he was raised up as a fit instrument for a great work for the extension of his church in this land. In this regard his his- tory belongs to the east and to the west. I ask your atten- tion in his case to special providences and special qualifications for a great work in the then future, in the then far west. His early ministry has a special interest to you, as the training for it began here, as also it may be said of many others. In the early days New York as a Diocese or City was the nur- sery for the young soldiers of the cross.
A broken limb, a sick bed, was however painful, a special providence to turn youthful desires and designs from pastoral to spiritual life, and to serve God as a minister. A passing missionary taking an interest in a student at college, leaves with him a Prayer Book of the Episcopal Church, and he in turn hands it to his venerable father as an answer to the ques- tion, "Why have you changed your intention and my expecta- tion that you should prepare for the ministry of the Congrega- tional Church." The missive did its work; the seed bore fruit; the large family were its first fruits, and these multiplied as they did. Who can estimate the combined interest of that simple venture of faith in spiritual good and growth during the century past?
A would-be student of divinity, seeking for a theological seminary, and finding none, after weary days of foot-travel, re-crossing the Green Mountains of Vermont, and with but a few shillings in his pocket, knocks at the door of the learned and good Dr. Ellison of Albany, N. Y. That gentleman in answering the knock searches the countenance of the youth. "My name is Ellison and I crave yours." It was no timid soul replied, "I seek advice in order to enter the ministry of the Episcopal Church." It was a warm heart that answered "God bless you, walk in." 6
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In both cases prayers and providence meet, and say this is a God-sent opportunity, improve it. Was not this done with a grateful heart and earnest zeal? The good Doctor offered free use of his library and his valuable advice and instruction in theological studies, and moreover his influence in procuring the position as teacher in the city school with salary. As Deacon the youth now becomes a missionary in Western New York under the broad seal of Bishop Provoost; and a whole year is passed in such labors, mostly on horse back. During his journeys Utica is reached, and as far south as the Dela- ware River, and as far west as Auburn. But here he found no road or inhabitant beyond the Wanta Plains to the Niagara River. The year's travel ended at Poughkeepsie, where he was called as rector. Here he resided for six years, and added to his duties by teaching a school. As school teacher and missionary in the new settlement, in New York, was he not being prepared for more extensive similar duties in the far west? In response to a call for ministers of the Episcopal Church from New Orleans, Bishop Moore appointed Philan- der Chase, and there under the auspices of the Diocese of New York Christ Church, New Orleans, was duly organized by his efforts, and he remained their rector six years. There Jalso, in consequence of the wreck of all his effects in transit by sea, financial embarassments led him to organize a school for boys and girls, and this he maintained during his residence there, to large profit financially to himself and to vastly more spiritual profit to his pupils, as years afterwards was manifest when he visited the planters' families in Mississippi and Louis- iana. Returning north he became rector of Christ Church, Hartford, and remained with them six years, to 1817. Of this period of years, he says, "In the bosom of an enlightened society, softened by the hand of urbanity and gentleness, my engagements crowned with abundance of temporal bless- ings, were as numerous and refined as fall in the lot of
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man." Was it not of the Spirit of God that during his year here there came over the lakes and mountains and through the forests of Ohio from the scattered sheep of Christ the cry "come over and help us."
Hence that wanderer's journey, that perilous venture from point to point on the ice of Lake Erie. Those three months on horse back from the northeast corner of the State of Ohio to the extreme southwest through the forest, and over the unbridged streams, visiting all the prominent places and very many hamlets, preaching the word of God and organizing parishes, and then resolving to make that land of promise, as he called it, his future home, for had not the few faithful ministers and members received him as one sent of God to cheer their drooping hearts and soon recognized him as being by nature and grace a leader of men, and therefore chose him for their Bishop of the Church of God. To fulfill this end he must needs mount again the faithful horse, and proceed over the rivers and mountains in the dead of win- ter from Columbus, Ohio, to Philadelphia, Pa., where in due order, with some painful delay, he was consecrated Bishop by the hands of the venerable Bishop White, Bishops Hobart, Kemp and Croes being present and assisting, in the old St. James Church, Philadelphia, on the IIth day of February, 1819. On his return it took a week to reach Pitts- burg, and the ice and slippery roads disabled the horse, and caused its exchange for a younger and stronger one. I can- not now of course fully follow in such a brief sketch his life and labors during the fourteen years of his Episcopacy in Ohio, or the seventeen in Illinois, which succeeded, but I have led your thoughts down to the very earliest period of my personal recollections of him.
I shall first recollect a circumstance somewhat isolated in my memory. We were traveling to Cincinnati through the dense forests. We were coming to a village on July 4, and
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as we passed through we saw men carousing and fighting. The bishop said we will drive on. Salmon P. Chase, then a student and inmate of the bishop's house, the bishop's wife, and Rev. Dr. Sparrow were in the wagon. We continued on through the village, and came to a place where the road was impassable. We went into the mud and ruts, and down we went on the right side. The bishop and the young men had to jump in the mud and release the horse. Salmon Chase cut a pole and pried up the wagon, and Dr. Sparrow was told to go on and feel the road for the horse to follow. So we went on. By and by we saw a light, and never did one look more welcome. There was a warm-hearted farmer there who was willing to take in some dirty guests. The excite- ment of the trip made the bishop sick. But that was only an adventure.
His Work in the West.
When we lived in Cincinnati the bishop went to England to obtain money to build a divinity school for those who lived in the woods of Ohio. Bishop Hobart said he would oppose him, as it was not necessary to build a school in Ohio. Christians, however, come together after God has tried them. Bishop Chase returned with $30,000. He waited two years before the committee could locate that school. They gave nothing in Ohio; even no location for the school. At Zanesville the bishop met Miss Reed, a good woman, who offered him 1,000 acres of land for a seminary site. She had confidence in the bishop. The deed was made out, and the land given to him in trust. The bishop invited the woodsmen to come to a chopping bee. He said he could chop ten acres at once. The chopping bee was opened with prayer, and the choppers were organized in platoons. For two or three days I was present and saw the trees chopped down and burned to ashes. The committee said the seminary
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should be placed away from the cities, or the bishop would re- ceive no money. Then he was offered 8,000 acres of land where Kenyon College now stands, and the committee could only accept it. The bishop mortgaged his farm for all it was worth, and the country was opened for the 'seminary.
Every winter he went east for money; but did Ohio rise to his assistance? They said he was a tyrant; but did they come and offer him assistance? He gave all the means he had for that work.
Then he went to Wellington and became president of the school. Then he went to a place called the "end of the road," and then to Michigan, where he bought a farm with money which his brother had given him. I was then sent to col- lege.
Once he went to Chester, Ill., on the Mississippi river. One Sunday morning a man visited him and said he was an atheist, and wanted to argue atheism. The man said the bishop had baptized him, and then the bishop gave him a combing down. He wept and broke down, and finally said he had no argument about atheism. When the bishop had a good cause he pressed it to the utmost. The bishop never told a story but he drove the nail home. The bishop had one good habit; he would thrust the Bible home to individuals.
Rev. Mr. Chase then exhibited three relics of his father, which he highly prizes. One was the official seal of Bishop Provoost to the ordination certificate of Bishop Chase, signed in 1799, and the other was the consecration paper of the bishop, signed by Bishops William White, John H. Hobart, J. A. Kemp and John Croes, dated February 11, 1819. Both documents were well preserved. The other was a prayer book, dated 1841, which was used by the bishop from that date until his death. Then it came in possession of his son. The prayer book, Rev. Mr. Chase said, had a history. Near
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Galena, Ill., the bishop had to ford a stream, and the bishop, in his wagon, was soaked. The bishop opened his trunk, and everything in it was soaked but the prayer book. The prayer book was saved by being lifted up by the air in the trunk. The speaker said he had carried the prayer book ever since the bishop's death.
RECOLLECTIONS OF TRINITY CHURCH.
BY DR. MOSES M. BAGG, UTICA, N. Y.
For the honor done me in asking me to take part in the exercises pertaining to the celebration of the Centenary of Trinity Church, I am truly grateful, especially as I have never borne other relation to the church than that of occasional at- tendance on its services, and have no other qualification en- titling me to the privilege of addressing you than a partial knowledge of its early history, and my own survival of the vast majority of those, who if living, would have more natural- ly been called on for words of congratulation and sympathy.
My earliest reminiscence of the church dates from the era of the abandonment of the Mohawk, and the substitution of the canal as a channel for navigation through the middle of the State. It was about this time that I remember to have seen a large boat dragged laboriously through the mud along the western side of this building, in the course of its transfer from the river to the canal. But this was not until after a generation of citizens had already been made familiar with the building and its surroundings.
The beginning of the parish organization dates from 1798, when the Episcopalians of the hamlet were gathered into a society by a missionary of the church, then temporarily resi- dent, who persuaded them to meet every Sunday, and to have
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read to them by a layman, sermons and the prayers of the Church. His counsel was followed, and meetings were held in the school-house on Main Street, occupied in turn by the denominations of the village. The movement toward the erec- tion of an edifice of their own, its construction and dedication, the engagement of a rector, as well as subsequent chapters in its history, I leave to be treated in detail by others more famil- iar with the story than I am.
We cannot fail to be impressed as we learn of the serious embarassments encountered during the earlier years of the parish, of the arduous labors of the rectors who would seem to have been cumbered with more missionary work outside of the parish than they experienced within it, with the trials of the congregation compelled to occupy a building which was but half finished, and unattractive, in the winter seasons so comfortless as to oblige them to go elsewhere to worship, and to depend for their music on a hand organ managed by its maker.
Of the characteristics of Trinity during its long continued existence, I have but a few words to say. The unbroken har- mony, the sedate and peaceful dignity with which its affairs have been conducted have been a marked feature in its career, a contrast with that of some of the congregations of Utica and its vicinity. Few disturbing elements have arisen, whether from within or without, to break the even tenor of its ways, or if any have existed, it has been unknown to our people at large. The rectors have been faithful in the discharge of their duties, the members of the parish have been true to their rec- tors, considerate of the obligations due them, and mindful of the instruction imparted. While the society was young and few in numbers, it has shared with other societies of the town and county in charitable and religious enterprises designed for the public good. When its numbers increased, and their
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means were greater, they have felt it their duty to embark in charities of their own. The leading officers of the Oneida County Bible Society, which had its origin in 1810, were found alike among the Episcopalians and the adherents of other de- nominations. Not more than a year or two had elapsed be- fore the former had a Bible Society of their own, as wide in its range, and as energetic in purpose as the first had been. The Utica Orphan Society, begun by ladies of various sects, and fostered by the general care, was favored ere long by one who had been a member of Trinity, with an endowment that exceeded all previous donations. In schemes for educational advancement, for progress in missions, in biblical instruction of the young, and in encouragement of associations among them to stimulate religious activity and conduct, a like gen- erous rivalry has been manifest. Though the present remote- ness of Trinity from very many of its former parishioners has caused it serious loss, there is rapidly growing on its eastern and south-eastern borders a population which needs its min- istrations, and cannot fail to prolong its healthful influence.
SOME PROMINENT LAYMEN OF TRINITY CHURCH.
WRITTEN BY MISS BLANDINA D. MILLER, UTICA, N. Y., AND READ BY MR. GEORGE M. WEAVER, JUNIOR WAR- DEN OF THE PARISH.
The year 1798 was destined to be forever memorable in the annals of Utica. By an Act which passed the Legislature on the fifteenth of March, 1798, Oneida was set off from Herki- mer County, and on the third of April of the same year, the little village which had hitherto held the historic name of Fort Schuyler was incorporated and received its first charter under the name of Utica.
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If current records may be credited, we were trebly defrauded of historic names; not only were the people required to give up a name so high in honor throughout the State, but the proposed names of Skenondo and Washington were also re- jected. As many of the early settlers were from England the name of Kent was proposed and so strongly advocated that it doubtless would have been adopted but for the untimely ridi- cule of a citizen by the name of Little who afterwards drowned himself. A feeling of regret rises spontaneously that this event had not preceded the meeting to settle upon a name for this small village.
In this year of 1798 in faith and humility were laid the foundations of the Parish of Trinity Church. A link was added to the chain which would connect this hamlet with the broader church life in New York City, and which would bring up into this almost unknown territory many distinguished men among our Bishops and Clergy, whose influence and teach- ings were to have no small share in molding the lives and forming the characters of our people. For the birth place of this honored parish we mustleavethe pleasant shaded precincts of Broad Street, and entering Main Street between First and Second Streets, seek on the south side for a large wooden building, which has seen the beginnings of both church and educational life in Utica. Originally built for a school it was used on alternate Sundays for religious services by both Pres- byterians and Episcopalians. The pulpit consisted of a slab or shelf of wood at the eastern end of the building. The seats were actual slabs of rough boards without any backs, and resting on legs inserted in auger holes, a few of them were a little more carefully finished. The room was very imperfectly heated by a box stove, the counterpart of the one which stood for many years in front of the Roberts' store at the corner of Broad and Genesee Streets. In this building was held the first services of Trinity Church.
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