USA > New York > The Diocese of Central New York; the founding fathers > Part 2
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THE FOUNDING FATHERS
were facing the same realities. The day came, therefore, in March, 1783, when ten of the fourteen clergy of Connecticut convened in the Glebe House at Woodbury and after prayer and debate made possible the despatch of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, one time minister of various stations in New York and New Jersey, and a Chaplain in one of His Majesty's regiments during the Revolution, to Eng- land to obtain consecration as a bishop.
Seabury's reception in England was a mixture. His war record and personality commended him to the English Episcopate. But how could these churchmen give consent to his consecration in the face of existing English Law? Parliament, it seems, had legislated at an earlier date that a priest to be elevated to the high calling of bishop must take an oath of allegiance to the Crown. But the good pastor from Connecticut was no longer an Englishman and there- fore could not take the required oath without loss of American citizenship. This Seabury would not do. Much as his birth had argued for attachment to the Crown he had become, by the events at Yorktown, an American and that he determined to remain. Thus, after all was said and done, the Rev. Samuel Seabury found small solace in the comforts at Canterbury, Lambeth, the genial surroundings of the countryside, or in the welcome he received at York. Thence he journeyed north to Scotland to try his hand with the Scottish Non-Juring Bishops, the validity of whose orders could not be questioned and who were not bound by oath to the Crown. And with their blessing Samuel Seabury was consecrated the first Bishop of the American Church in November, 1784.1
While these events were in progress, developments of deep meaning had taken place in the United States. Convinced that the American Church needed unification and that right quickly, a group of clergymen from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York convened at New Brunswick, New Jersey, in May, 1784. New York was represented by the Rev. Messrs. Benjamin Moore, Thomas Moore, and Joshua Bloomer who, while eager to subscribe to the idea of unity, were reluctant to proceed until the fate of the Seabury mission, of which many in America were in ignorance, was known. Faced with this problem the meeting adjourned but not without agreeing to meet again in October in New York City.
1 For a treatment of these events see C. O. Loveland's The Critical Years. Among other reasons for the attitude of the English Church were: the belief that no bishop could be sent to Connecticut without that state's consent; there was no provision for episcopal support; and that there was no defined Diocese of Connecticut.
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THE APOSTLES TO THE WEST
Prior to this later gathering a convention of the clergy and laity of Pennsylvania met at Philadelphia and adopted resolutions that foreshadowed the future constitution of the Church. It was agreed at Philadelphia that the Church in the United States was free of all foreign jurisdiction and as such could legislate on all matters for itself. At the same time it expressed the hope that the Church would follow insofar as was possible the liturgy of the English Church, that it would accept the threefold order of the ministry, that canons would be framed by joint action of clergy and laity, and that no powers should be assigned to a central office that could be handled by state conventions.
These basic concepts, dear to the heart of the Church of the Twentieth Century, were reaffirmed at the October session in New York. For good measure there was added a provision that a bish- opric was to coincide geographically with the boundaries of each state, a principle that was to be followed until the inception of the Diocese of Western New York in 1838. The New York meet- ing also prepared the ground for the First General Convention of the Church which gathered at Philadelphia in September, 1785. Sixteen clergy and twenty-four laymen from New Jersey, Dela- ware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, and New York were present. New York was represented by men such as the Rev. Sam- uel Provoost, Rev. Thomas Moore, Rev. Alexander Beach and Messrs. John Duane and Marinus Willett. None of the New England states were present probably because of the influence of Connecticut, critical of a proposed scheme that failed to provide for the presidency of a bishop.
Many things of consequence to the Church were settled at Philadelphia of which the most important for the purpose of this volume was a directive issued to the Church in the States asking each to elect a bishop. New York responded by choosing the Rev. Samuel Provoost who accompanied by the Rev. William White of Pennsylvania sailed for England where on February 4, 1787, they were consecrated Bishops of their respective dioceses at Lambeth Palace. The consecrators were Dr. John Moss, Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt. Rev. John Hinchliff, Bishop of Peterborough, the Most Rev. William Markham, Archbishop of York, and the Most Rev. John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury. The action of these officials was in accordance with an act of Parliament that had removed those obstructions which had prevented Bishop Sea- bury's consecration at an earlier date.
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THE FOUNDING FATHERS
At the time of his elevation, the Rev. Samuel Provoost was Rector of Trinity Church, New York City. Born in the same place of Huguenot ancestry, February 24, 1742, he was graduated from King's College in 1758. Three years later he journeyed to England and began his study for the ministry. Made a deacon in 1766 he was ordained, in the same year, a priest at King's Chapel, Whitehall, London, by the Rt. Rev., the Bishop of Exeter. Later in the fall he returned to New York City where he resumed his relations with Trinity Church of which he became an Assistant Minister in December, 1766. The succeeding few years proved stimulating but somewhat trying because of increasing tensions be- tween the Crown and the Colonies. Soon the young priest found his attitudes clashing with so many in the parish that he felt com- pelled, in 1774, to resign his charge. Retiring to a small estate in Dutchess County he became a country gentleman dividing his time between farming and literary activities. This comfortable pastoral life was rudely interrupted by the American Revolution and in 1777 he became Chaplain of the New York Convention which framed the first constitution of the State. After the withdrawal of the British from New York City he was invited to become Rector of Trinity Church in January, 1784. Two years later, while con- tinuing in that living, he was chosen Bishop of the Diocese of New York. The death of his wife in August, 1799, induced him to resign his rectorship at Trinity in late September, 1800. Illness and unhappiness dogged his steps and on September 3, 1801, he submitted his resignation as Bishop of New York to General Con- vention. Though the House of Bishops refused to accept it on the ground Bishop Provoost could not so yield his ecclesiastical respon- sibilities, consent was given to the election of an Assistant Bishop in the person of Dr. Benjamin Moore.
During the episcopate of Bishop Provoost, which nominally continued until his death, September 6, 1815, but which in reality closed with his resignation in 1801, the Diocese of New York embraced all of the state by that name. Those possessed of his- torical insight will quickly sense the many problems confronting the Diocesan. But so pressing were the demands of the area imme- diately surrounding New York City, the Hudson River Valley and Albany, that scant attention was given to up-state New York. Particularly was this true of Herkimer County which included a vast area, a portion of which ultimately became the Diocese of Central New York. In all probability less than five hundred white
10
THE APOSTLES TO THE WEST
persons lived within the confines of that diocese in the late 1780's. Bishop Provoost may be pardoned, therefore, for not showing much concern over the white settlers who dwelt within the shadows of Forts Oswego and Schuyler or along the banks of Onondaga Creek. Moreover, it was an area that can only be described as a wilder- ness, more easily traversed by water than by road. However, this locality, as well as that to the north and west, was not entirely forgotten ; as early as 1796 the Diocesan Convention made provis- ion for the establishment of a State Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
It is a matter of great satisfaction that this agency took its responsibilities seriously. Hence it was that the Rev. Robert G. Wetmore, made deacon in 1797 by Bishop Provoost, was despatched as the first missionary to central and western New York. During this year he stopped at the "Castle" of the Oneidas administering the rite of baptism to some of the Indians, thence on to what is now Bridgewater where he heard with pleasure there were Episco- palians at Paris Hill. Here he found that on February 13, 1797, a group of churchmen, headed by Eli Blakeslee and Gideon Sey- mour had formed a church society and had named it St. Paul's. The date of Wetmore's visitation, as given in the parish records of St. Paul's, was November 14, 1797, at which time he baptized several persons. Tradition also suggests an earlier visit to Auburn. All in all he journeyed over two thousand miles, held more than a hundred services, and distributed many copies of the Book of Common Prayer. Ill health, however, forced his return to less rugged areas and in 1802 one finds him Rector of Christ Church, Duanesburg, and St. George's, Schenectady. But even here his work was too heavy and soon he was forced south to regain strength, only to die at Savannah, Georgia, in 1803.
Meanwhile the Rev. Philander Chase had begun a memorable mission to the central and western portions of the state. Ordained a deacon in May, 1798, at. St. George's Chapel, New York City, he spent the winter of 1798-99 and the following spring at Oneida Castle, Utica, Paris Hill, Auburn, Canandaigua, Avon, and Har- pursville. At Paris Hill he held two baptismal services in Novem- ber and December, a rite administered at other places; at Utica he organized Trinity Church. In April, 1799, he was at Harpurs- ville, where on the fourteenth of that month he founded St. Luke's Church. The reports of these visitations as given in the Journal and other sources reveal the labor and effort of this devoted apostle.
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THE FOUNDING FATHERS
He travelled more than four thousand miles, much of it in the dead of winter, and experienced hardships that few have equalled. On his return to the eastern part of the state he became Rector of the parishes at Fishkill and Poughkeepsie. Then after a few years at Christ Church, Hartford, Connecticut, he moved to Ohio, founded Kenyon College, and within two years became the first Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio. Later, upon resigning his See, his missionary zeal led him to Illinois, where he was elected Bishop.
Next among the known missionaries to Central New York was the Rev. Daniel Nash who, locating in Otsego County, now a part of the Diocese of Albany, visited Paris Hill in early Decem- ber, 1798. Mention should also be made of the Rev. John Urqu- hart of Johnstown, who held services at the same place in March and September, 1800, January, 1802, and February, 1803. Doubt- less the record of these men would be more complete had the Bishop and people of New York been more active. Indeed, during the years 1798-1800 inclusive, no convention was held and the Journal for these years was not printed. Bishop Provoost's illness also slowed down missionary work to a new low level. Unlike his col- leagues, Bishops Seabury and White, the Bishop of New York had not been too successful in stimulating young men to enter the ministry. During the fourteen years, 1785-1798, only twenty-seven ordinations to the diaconate were made in New York out of a nation-wide total of one hundred and eighty-six. Of these twenty- seven, sixteen came before 1794; after 1798 Bishop Provoost or- dained but one. Clearly until there were more laborers in the field no golden harvest could be reaped in Central New York.
Bishop Provoost's resignation in 1801 led to a quickening of life in the Diocese of New York. Not that the second Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Benjamin Moore, was ever a tower of strength but he did initiate a wider vision and understanding on the part of the Diocese of its mission in the state. Born on Long Island, October 5, 1748, he was graduated from King's College in 1760, after which he studied under the guidance of the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, Rector of Trinity Church, New York City. In due time he sailed to England where he was made deacon by the Rt. Rev. Richard Terrick, Bishop of London, June 24, 1774. Five days later in London and by the same ecclesiastic he was ordained priest. Early the next year he became Assistant Minister at Trinity, a charge he retained to 1783. During the American Revolution he was a moderate loyalist but even that was too extreme for the "patriots"
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THE APOSTLES TO THE WEST
of Trinity who blocked his succession to the rectorship until late 1800. On September 11, 1801, he was consecrated Bishop of the Diocese and in December of the same year he became President of Columbia Collge. The latter position never taxed his strength, indeed he stimpulated as a condition of assuming the presidency that his duties be chiefly nominal. Thus he was able to devote much time to his episcopal work and our sources would indicate his record was most satisfactory. Greater efforts would have been expended but for the inroads of an attack of paralysis. For a time, with the aid of help, he managed to struggle on but in March, 1811, he signified to Convention his desire to resign.
During his relatively short episcopacy Bishop Moore evidenced interest in mission work in up-state New York. As an excellent illustration of this wholesome trend, reference may be made to the warm friendship that developed between him and the future Rev. Davenport Phelps. Born at Hebron, Connecticut, in 1755, Phelps was graduated from Dartmouth College at the age of twenty, after which he served in the American armies in the Revolution. In 1785 he married Catherine Tiffany, daughter of Dartmouth's first President, Dr. Gideon Tiffany. The next few years were spent as a merchant at Hartford, Connecticut, after which he practiced law for a time in New Hampshire and, in 1792 he moved to Niagara, Canada, where he became a landlord, farmer, printer, and mer- chant. But his inclinations rejected a jack-of-all trades career. His entire previous life, unknown in a sense to him, had been a prep- aration for the ministry. Repeatedly, we are reminded, he became convinced that his love for God and the Church demanded more of him. Supporting him, among others, in this direction was his close friend, Joseph Brant, the great Mohawk chief who did what he could to convince the proper authorities in Canada that Phelps should enter Holy Orders. But these gentlemen thought different- ly. As a consequence letters were addressed to certain distinguished persons in the United States. Encouraged by the prospects and armed with letters of recommendation from his Indian friend, Phelps journeyed in the fall of 1801 to New York City. En route he paused to visit the Rev. Philander Chase then residing at Pough- keepsie. The latter listened with increasing interest to the earnest appeals for help and ultimately petitioned Bishop Moore to endorse Phelps' candidacy for Holy Orders. Like others who met Phelps, Bishop Moore was tremendously impressed with the fundamental virtues and qualities of the man, and was particularly attracted by
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THE FOUNDING FATHERS
his desire to be a missionary. And so in the fullness of time Bishop Moore ordained him a deacon, December 13, 1801; later in 1803 he elevated him to the Priesthood at St. Peter's, Albany.
Four days after his ordination to the diaconate, Phelps left for a missionary crusade the like of which central and western New York never witnessed again. For approximately twelve years he and his family gave without stint as he moved from one place to another, founding a mission here and a parish there. Most of 1802 saw him among the Mohawks in Upper Canada in the vicinity of Niagara, and among western New York towns like Buffalo, Avon, Canandaigua, and probably Batavia. Nor did he overlook Central New York. In the same year, doubtless while on his way to Niag- ara, he may have stopped at Paris Hill, Hamilton, Skaneateles, and Lenox. More and more he began to utilize Onondaga Hill as a base for operations and here he did much to advance the well- being of a parish, St. John's.
During the next few years he continued to serve St. John's and revisited Manlius, where in 1804 he founded Trinity later renamed Christ Church. In 1805 he was at Auburn-here he established St. Peter's and became its first rector. The following year he formed Trinity Church, Geneva, and continued to minister to it and St. Peter's until late 1811. Meanwhile, he went to Montezuma, Oswego, and other places as far south as Catherine in Schuyler County. But time was running out for one who had been born in 1755 ; so in 1811 he rested from his labors, lived for a time in Geneva, and died June 27, 1813. He lived long enough to see his work at Auburn crowned by a visitation of Bishop Hobart who on August 22, 1812, consecrated the first St. Peter's Church.
Probably not enough will ever be said or written about the debt the Diocese of Central New York owes to the indomitable work of Davenport Phelps, his wife, and family. Were the Church to name its modern saints, in this Diocese at least his would stand out as the first. Nor does his name detract from the contributions made by others in advancing God's Church in this area. Among those spiritual giants special praise is due to the Rev. Daniel Nash who visited Paris Hill in 1803 and 1805, Utica in 1805, Oxford and New Berlin in 1811, and "St. Ann's of the Episcopal Church of Chenango and Union" (Binghamton) in 1810. It should be remembered that his ecclesiastical home since 1797 was at Coopers- town where he died June 4, 1836, known and beloved by all as "Father Nash." Among his friends he numbered the Rev. Jona-
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THE APOSTLES TO THE WEST
than Judd, who held services at Paris Hill, Sherburne, and Low- ville in 1804, and during the next year at Utica, Camden, Paris Hill, and Redfield. Judd left Utica, where he had been rector, in 1807 and was followed there by the Rev. Amos G. Baldwin, who in 1808 was instituted Rector of Trinity, Utica ; he remained there until 1817, meanwhile visiting the missions nearby. Mention should also be made of the Rev. Gamaliel Thatcher, who had re-formed Trinity, Utica, in August, 1804, and who ministered the same month at Paris Hill, and the Rev. Russell Wheeler, who visited Harpursville and New Berlin the same year.
All of these activities were conceived during the episcopate of Bishop Moore, whose interest in up-state missions has suffered somewhat by comparison with those of his successor, Bishop Hobart. Bishop Moore's prestige, however, should be evaluated on the basis of his own achievement and record. Read, if you will, his provoca- tive letter to the laity of Trinity, Geneva, in 1806, in support of their zeal in founding that parish and directing their consideration to Davenport Phelps who had aided them in their undertaking. It was Bishop Moore who travelled to Utica in September, 1806, to consecrate Trinity Church. A few days thereafter he confirmed a group at Paris Hill and revisited the same while on his way in 1812 to consecrate Trinity, Geneva. But except for these visits the eminent Bishop largely remained in New York City and its vicinity. Finally, in closing the story of Bishop Moore's work in Central New York, a quotation taken from his "Instructions" dated December 14, 1801, to Phelps as he was about to set out on his mission to the west, will afford some insight to the mind of our second Bishop and of his interest in missionary work :
In the performance of your duty as a preacher of the Gospel always remember that your admonitions and in- structions will have little influence upon the minds of those who hear you, unless your religious precepts be enforced by a virtuous and pious example . . . The Prayer Books and catechisms which are to be placed in your hands, you are to distribute in such a manner as you conceive will best pro- mote the benevolent design of your mission. Instruct those who are able to read how to unite decently in the perform- ance of public worship according to the Liturgy of our Church ; and be assiduous to give a proper direction to the minds of the young, by diligently teaching them the funda- mental principles of religion according to our catechism. In the celebration of public worship you are to confine yourself to the established Liturgy. Whenever the service can be
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THE FOUNDING FATHERS
performed with decency, you are to use the whole form of Morning and Evening Prayer. On other occasions you are to make a selection of Collects as circumstances may re- quire ; but never to indulge in extemporaneous effusive methods ; and be very particular in a devout observance of the holy Sabbath, on which day you are always to perform Divine Service, unless prevented by sickness or some other urgent necessity.
By the close of Bishop Moore's episcopate parishes and missions had been established at Paris Hill, Harpursville, Utica, Auburn, Onondaga Hill, Binghamton and Manlius. Of these Binghamton had been formed only a few months before his retirement and was not admitted to union with Convention until 1811. Auburn, too, was suffering somewhat by Phelps' increasing interest in Geneva, and St. John's, Onondaga Hill, though visited by Phelps in Janu- ary, 1811, had seen much less of him since his going to Auburn. The status of Manlius also might be viewed as not bright, and that in spite of the work of Phelps, Baldwin, and Parker Adams, the latter being listed as "Rector" in 1810. In Oneida, however, the groups at Utica and Paris Hill appeared promising, as did that at Harpursville. Greater success depended upon an increase in missionaries of whom in May, 1811, the date of Bishop Moore's retirement, there were only Amos G. Baldwin and Davenport Phelps. Daniel Nash, at the time, seems to have been preoccupied with his station in Otsego County.
The relations and contacts between these societies and their missionaries on one hand and diocesan headquarters in New York City on the other could not have been too close. Between 1801-11 inclusive, Paris Hill and Manlius seem to have been represented by their clergy but once at Convention, with Auburn and Utica being so represented five times each. Only from Utica were there any lay delegates-Benjamin Walker being present in 1809 and 1811; though it should be noted that Paris Hill certified Col. Gideon Seymour to attend in 1798-a year in which no meeting was held. Locally, only Paris Hill, Auburn and Utica had church edifices of their own. Nothing of any importance, moreover, has been found as to the financial contributions of these seven societies during the limits covered by this chapter. Surely, Central New York needed considerably more cultivation.
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CHAPTER III
JOHN HENRY HOBART
The "Instructions" issued by Bishop Moore to Davenport Phelps warrant additional comment. Now it should be remem- bered they were addressed to one who at the time was a deacon ; more important is the fact that these directives were issued to one about to minister to a frontier people-Indian and white. Moore's thinking had probably been influenced by these considerations. Of greater weight, however, was his own religious philosophy, which was strongly colored by what might be termed a Common Prayer Book concept and theory of the Church and its services. Though the Book was designed for the "Protestant Episcopal Church," the stress surely was on the word "Protestant." Bishops, except in Connecticut, were not viewed with much favor. A striking illus- tration of this attitude, as cited by Dr. Manross, was the action of an early Convention of the Diocese of Maryland, where it was resolved that "according to what we conceive to be a true Apostolic Institutions, the duty and office of a bishop differs in nothing from that of other priests, except in the power of ordination and con- firmation and the right of presidency in ecclesiastical synods." It is apparent that though the language used refers to "priest," "bish- op," and "ordination and confirmation," the meaning reflects a Protestant or Low Church attitude. In Maryland there was to be no clericalism, no undue pomp and ceremony! Bishops? Yes, but nothing more than first among equals!
But the leaven of change was in the air. Here and there during the first decade of the nineteenth century voices were heard in sup- port of another position. One that stressed a catholic-but not a papist-interpretation of Church history, doctrine, ritual, and liter- ature, reflecting as it were the Laudian theories common in England during the early seventeenth century. Moreover, these theories had been planted in the Colonies but which in both England and the Colonies had been weakened by the impact of the Civil War and Cromwellian period (1642-1660). Nor did the restoration of the Stuarts and the Anglican Church in 1660 lessen the inroads of Evangelicalism within the Church. The latter also remained strong in the New World, aided by the "Great Awakening" of the early eighteenth century, and later by the political implications of the American Revolution. Amid such a theological climate, John
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