The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 90

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II > Part 90

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Grace Church, E. D .- At the urgent request of several friends, the Rev. Alvah Guion, in April, 1853, visited the Third Ward of Williamsburgh, one and a half miles hack from the ferries, having an industrious population of about 1,800 souls, among whom no Episcopal church had been es- tablished, and no place for public worship except a small temporary building put up by the Baptists. Mr. Guion de- termined, in reliance upon Divine favor, that a free Episco- pal church should be established in this section, amid this growing population. He established his residence in their midst, hired two rooms with folding-doors on the first floor of No. 243 Lorimer street, and on Sunday, May 15, 1853, preached a sermon to a congregation of five souls; and on the following Sabbath a Sunday-school was commenced with one scholar. After a year's hard labor he had secured a valu- able plot of land on Conselyea st., near Lorimer, on which to erect a church, as a free gift from Messrs. Charles M. Church, John Skillman and Joseph H. Skillman, on the con- dition that a church worth $5,000 should be erected thereon within two years. He had also collected a little over a fifth of the above amount. The plans for the church edifice were prepared under his own direction; and he also, singly and alone (every member of the vestry, from inability, indiffer- ence, or want of faith in its ultimate success, having refused), assumed the entire responsibility of the enterprise. His zeal, faith and labors were finally rewarded with success. On the 8th of January, 1856, the church was fully completed; and, on the 10th of April, 1856, formally consecrated as a free Episcopal church. Grace Church is 92 feet by 44, being cal- culated to seat 500 persons; and, with all its accessories, fix- tures, etc., is an example of how neat, comfortable and com- modious a church may be built, even in a city, for a compar- atively small sum. Mr. Guion continued the Rector of this parish until the spring of 1868, when he was succeeded by the Rev. William S. Chadwell. The vestry, at the time of the consecration of the edifice, were Messrs. Jonathan James and James S. Guion, Wardens; Dwight Woodbury, Henry S. Samuels, Edward W. Townsend, Richard Sealey, Erasmus D. Brown, David B. Cunningham, Geo. K. Brooks and Wm. T. Anderson, Vestrymen. Mr. Chadwell was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Beers; and he by Mr. Coan.

St. Barnabas Chapel, E. D .- Services were commenced early in 1869, by the Rev. Henry A. Dows, now in charge of this mission, in a building rented for the purpose on the north-west corner of Evergreen ave. and Jefferson st. Church on Evergreen ave., between Chestnut and Stockholm sts.', opened for Divine service, Dec. 12, 1869. Afterwards dis- continued.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

The following Clergymen of the Protestant Episcopal Church are residents of the city:

Rev. ROBERT BAYARD SNOWDEN, born in New York, 1833; grad. Williams Coll. 1854, and Union Theol. Sem., 1859; lo- cated in California, 1865-'70; in Conn., 1870-"75; Fort Ham- ilton, 1876; was editor of The Church Magazine, 1876-"77; is contributor to papers.

Rev. HENRY H. LORING, A. M. (Hobart), born in Berkshire Co., Mass .; admitted to the bar, 1855; grad. Gen. Theol. Sem., New York. 1858; trustee of same, 1867-'76; Prof. He- brew and Bib. Interp. Kansas Theol. School, Topeka; editor church paper; is on staff of The Churchman, N. Y .; located Fayetteville, N. Y .; Olean, N. Y., Brownsville, Pa., and Topeka, Kan .; translator and editor of Germ. Theol. mono- graphs; came to B'klyn, 1879.

Rev. JOHN GREENWOOD BACCHUS, born in Chestertown, Md., 1846; grad. Kenyon Coll., 1870; Cambridge Theol. Sem., 1873; alumnus lecturer at Theol. Sem .; located B'klyn, 1873.

Rev. I. BARNWELL CAMPBELL, born in Beaufort, S. C., 1815; grad. Nassau Hall, Princeton, 1835; and Prot. Epis. Gen. Theol. Sem., 1839; located Charleston, S. C., 1840-'58; New York, 1867-'68; B'klyn, 1868-'84; did missionary service in late war, at Williamston, S. C.

Rev. J. A. ASPINWALL, born in New York, 1840; studied in France and Germany; grad. Theol. Gambier (O.) Coll., 1864; located Bay Ridge, L. I., 1864-'84.

Rev. W. G. MCKINNEY, born in Charleston, S. C. 1826; lo- cated Buffalo, Brooklyn, Charleston and Cleveland; did missionary work in La. and N. C .; author of My Early Re- ligious Impressions; Walter and the Prize Lottery; Archi- bald and Elvira; The Commandments Kept; Faith and Works, etc.

Rev. DAN MARVIN, Jr., born in New York, 1843; grad. Columbia Coll., 1863; studied P. E. Gen. Theol. Sem., N. Y .; was adjunct Prof. Greek, Racine Coll., Wis .; located St. Peter's Chapel, B'klyn, 1876-'77; Asst. Min. Ch. of Messiah, 1877-'79; Ch. of Holy Communion, Norwood, N. J., 1883-'84, and Prin. Lafayette Acad., B'klyn.

Rev. JOSEPH REYNOLDS, born in Baltimore, 1854; studied at Univ. of Va .; grad. Gen. Theol. Sem., 1877; is chaplain Mon- tauk Lodge, F. A. M .; chap. 5th Md. N. G .: located Balti- more, 1878-'79; Harford Co., 1879-'80; B'klyn, 1880-'84.

Rev. PAULUS MOORT, born in St. Croix, 1850; grad. St. Augustine Inst., Raleigh, N. C., and P. E. Theol. Sem., Phila., 1882; located New York; destined to work in Liberia, Africa.

RT. REV. ABRAM NEWKIRK LITTLEJOHN, D.D. Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Long Island.

Bishop LITTLEJOHN is a native of Central New York, course in Philadelphia, by bishops and clergymen of the Episcopal church, on topics connected with theo- logical science. The subject assigned him, and which he discussed with masterly ability, was, "The Philos- ophy of Religion." These discourses were subsequently published, with an introductory essay by Rt. Rev. Alonzo Potter, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Pennsylvania, and constitute a valuable contribution to the literature of the Church. He had already been for several years Lecturer on Pastoral Theology at the Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., and he continued to sus- tain this relation to that school of the prophets, in ad- dition to the duties of his rectorship, during his resi- dence in New Haven, a period of ten years. In 1856, before he had completed his thirty-second year, the University of Pennsylvania conferred on him the hon- orary degree of Doctor of Divinity. In January, 1858, when yet but thirty-three years of age, he was unani- mously elected President of Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y. This honor he respectfully declined. In the spring of 1860 he was called to the rectorship of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn, N. Y. having been born in Montgomery county, December 13th, 1824. His early education was obtained in his native county; and, in 1841, he entered Union College, where he graduated with honor in 1845. Entering at once upon a course of theological study, he received deacon's orders from the Rt. Rev. William H. DeLancey, Bishop of the Diocese of Western New York, at Au- burn, N. Y., on the 18th of March, 1848. He entered upon the clerical duties at St. Ann's Church, Amster- dam, immediately; and, after continning there a year, removed to Meriden, Conn., where he officiated for a period of ten months. On the 10th of April, 1850, he was called to the rectorship of Christ Church, Spring- field, Mass., where he was ordained priest, November 10, 1850, and where he remained a little more than a year. In July, 1851, he succeeded Rev. Samuel E. Cooke, D.D., as Rector of St. Paul's Church, New Haven. Though yet a young man, not quite twenty-seven years of age, when he entered upon this large and important field of labor, he soon gave evidence of remarkable intellectual abilities. His sympathy with progress and with the friends of higher intellectual culture, es- The position was one of peculiar responsibility and anxiety, and a man of less moral courage would have declined to leave a congregation so strongly attached to him as that of St. Paul's, and one in every respect 80 pleasant, for the trials and severe labors which he well knew would be inevitable in his new position. The Church of the Holy Trinity, originally erected in large pecially among the young men, was so evident and hearty, that he attracted in large numbers the young men of the city into his congregation; and, at the same time, his own scholarship was so broad and thorough, and his ability as a speaker and writer so eminent, that he was in great demand as a lecturer and orator. In 1853, he was invited to give the opening lecture of a | part through the munificence of one of its constituent

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members, and through his subsequent misfortune in business so heavily mortgaged that, in 1856, it was with the greatest difficulty rescued from falling into the hands of the Roman Catholics, on a foreclosure sale for a mortgage debt of $100,000, was still staggering under an incumbrance of $65,000, and was as yet in- complete. It was a magnificent edifice, well worthy to become eventually, when completed, the cathedral church of a future diocese; but the congregation which worshiped in it were, neither in wealth or numbers, quite strong enough to bear so heavy a burden.

But the young and brave-hearted New Haven Rector saw in this persistent determination to "fight it out on that line " which actuated the members of the parish of the Holy Trinity, the possibilities of a magnificent future; and, stipulating that the debt should be reduced $10,000 before he entered upon his duties among them, he threw his whole heart into the work of building up the parish. The cheerfulness of his spirit, the rare courage with which he addressed himself to his work, the halo of enthusiasm with which he surrounded it, as a work done for Christ, and the eloquence and fervor of his preaching, attracted a constantly-increasing audience to the services of the church. There were yet dark days to be encountered. The financial depression of 1861 and 1862 made it a difficult matter to raise money even for the payment of the interest on the still heavy debt; but, when a time of greater financial prosperity came, and his congregation was strengthened by the addition of numerous men of wealth and generous hearts, he re- newed his efforts to throw off the burden of debt which had so long crippled the energies of the church. In January, 1863, $20,000 of the debt was paid, and the income of the church having more than doubled, and being in excess of the amount necessary to defray the current expenses, Dr. Littlejohn proposed the establish- ment of a sinking fund, which has already greatly di- minished, and will, ere long, completely obliterate the original debt. Meantime, fully convinced that the chari- ties which began at home should not end there, he incul- cated both by precept and example, that wise liberality, in the support of all the benevolent institutions of the church, which should demonstrate that they did not live to themselves alone, but unto Him who had re- deemed them. On the Western frontier, in Bellevue, Ne- braska, the parish of the Holy Trinity erected a church edifice named after itself, where the emigrants from our Eastern States could worship God as they had done in the land of their fathers. In the newer portion of this city, just where the advancing wave of population has reached its shores, on Fulton avenue, near Schenectady avenue, it has established a Free Chapel. A Classical and Commercial School for Boys, with religious as well as secular instruction, has been established, and is in a flour- ishing condition. The Church Orphan Asylum, the Home for Aged Women, and the other local church charities, and the Missionary, Educational, and Church Extension

Societies, have received largely of their bounties through all these years.

Aside from the engrossing cares of his large parish, and the parochial and financial duties which have occu- pied him there, he has, from his first coming to Brook- lyn, been prominently connected with the missionary work of the church, as a member of the Domestic Com- mittee of the Board of Missions; he is, likewise, a trus- tee of St. Stephen's College, and of the General Theo- logical Seminary of New York; a member of the Execu- tive Committee of the Protestant Episcopal Freedmen's Commission; a director of the Society for the Increase of the Ministry ; a member of the Executive Committee of the Sunday-school Union and Church Book Society; a director of the Long Island Historical Society ; Presi- dent of the Homes for the Aged and Orphan on the Church Charity Foundation, and Vice-President of the Kings County Convocation for Church Extension. He has also been a frequent contributor to the American Quarterly Church Review, and has reviewed with great ability in its pages, "Sir James Stephens' Lectures on the History of France," "Cousin's History of Modern Philosophy," "The Character and Writings of Cole- ridge," "The Poems of George Herbert," and " Miss Beecher's Bible and the People." He has also published numerous occasional discourses and addresses.

In 1866, Dr. Littlejohn laid before the parish his pur- pose to complete the Church of the Holy Trinity with a spire. The site of the church (on the Heights) is ele- vated about 64 feet above the surface of the bay. He proposed to build a spire of stone from the summit of the tower already erected, to a height, including the metal cross with which it should terminate, of 284 feet from the ground. He was successful in raising the sum necessary for its completion ($55,000). This spire is the most conspicuous object which greets the eye of the voyager as he comes up the lower bay, and is, by al- most a hundred feet, higher than any other spire in either New York or Brooklyn. On the 19th of Decem- ber, 1867, commemorative services were held in the Church of the Holy Trinity on the occasion of the com- pletion of this great work. In connection with this ser- vice, it was stated that the contributions of the parish to benevolent purposes (including, of course, the church debt and the spire), during Dr. Littlejohn's rectorship (of somewhat less than eight years), had been $260,000, and that there had been in that time 680 communicants added to the church.

At the General Convention of 1869, the formation of three new dioceses in New York was authorized, and they were organized in the autumn of that year. Dr. Littlejohn was elected Bishop by two of these, that of Central New York, and that of Long Island; but chose the latter, as that with which he was best ac- quainted, and in which he could be most useful. His ordination and consecration to this office took place on the 27th of January, 1866,

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

In the fifteen years of his Episcopate, Bishop Little- john has admitted to the Communion of the Church in Confirmation, nearly 20,000 persons; has ordained to the Diaconate and Priesthood about 100 clergymen; has consecrated a large number of churches, and has established three Diocesan schools of high grade, over all which he maintains an active supervision. Under his administration as President ex-officio of the Church Charity Foundation, St. John's Hospital has been built at a cost of $120,000, and other departments of the foundation have been greatly enlarged, and all of them strengthened by substantial additions to the per- manent endowments. In 1872, Bishop Littlejohn was appointed Bishop in Charge of all Protestant Episcopal Churches on the Continent of Europe. This appoint- ment he has held ever since, thus adding to his work in the Diocese of Long Island, a considerable jurisdiction abroad; the latter requiring an official visitation every two or three years. In 1878, he attended the Lambeth Conferences, held in Lambeth Palace, London. One hundred bishops, from all parts of the world, were present, and the sessions were under the Presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In 1879-1880, he delivered a series of lectures to the clergy, subsequently published in a volume entitled

" Conciones ad Clerum," which has now reached its third edition. In November, 1880, he delivered before the University of Cambridge, England, a series of dis- courses on "Individualism," published immediately after at the University Press. In acknowledgment .of this service, the University conferred upon him the de- gree of LL.D. During the spring of 1884, the Bishop delivered a course of lectures at the General Theologi- cal Seminary of New York, on "the Christian Ministry at the Close of the Nineteenth Century." These lec- tures are now in the press. Besides these, the Bishop has, during the last 25 years, contributed many elabor- ate articles to reviews and periodicals, and published many addresses and charges delivered to the clergy at the Annual Conventions of his Diocese. He has, for many years, acted as Chairman of the Domestic Com- mittee of the Board of Missions of the P. E. Church, having charge of Home Missions in all parts of the country.

He is an official visitor of Hobart College, Geneva, N. Y .; Trustee of St. Stephen's College, Annandale, N. Y. ; also a Trustee of Columbia College, in the city of New York, and ex-officio, a Trustee of the General Theological Seminary in New York.

REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.

March 1st, 1874, the services of the Reformed Episcopal Church were inaugurated in Brooklyn by Rev. W. H. Reid; Bishop Geo. David Cummins, D. D., preaching the sermon. Since that time Mr. Reid has organized three churches in the city, all of which are in a flourishing condition.

The Church of the Atonement (R. E.) was organized on the 19th of September, 1875, with 160 members. Its first place of worship was a hall over the Kings Co. Bank, corner of Broadway and Fourth sts., E. D. In 1878-'9, the society erected a church building of brick, with Nova Scotia stone trimmings, and in the Romanesque style, on the corner of Keap st. and Marcy ave.

Rev. W. H. Reid was the first Rector, followed by the Rev. Yelverton Peyton Morgan; and, in 1877, by Rev. Y. P. Hunt- | Gates ave. and Irving place.

ington. On April 16, 1882, the present Pastor, Rev. William Henry Barnes, was installed as Rector. A large and success- ful Sunday-school is attached to the church.

The Church of the Redemption (R. E.) was organized at Greenpoint in 1876, by Rev. Mr. Reid. The congregation hired a church building in Java st., from a Reformed (Dutch) church. Rev. F. E. Dager became rector. The society are preparing to build a house of worship.

The Church of the Reconciliation (R. E.) was organized by Rev. W. H. Reid, the present Rector, December 16, 1877. Its first place of worship was the old Sonth Brooklyn church, corner of Clinton and Amity sts. In February, 1881, the congregation removed to a church edifice, on the corner of

THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

Friends' Meeting House .- The Orthodox Friends in Brooklyn have their place of worship on the north- east corner of Lafayette and Washington aves. Their "meeting house " is a plain three-story brick building, 46 feet in width by 77 feet in length, fronting on

Lafayette avenue. It was built in 1868, the ground, 100 feet square, having been purchased two years before.

The main room of the first story is used by the " Bible School," and will seat 250. The main room on

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second floor is used for the meetings for worship. This room, including the gallery, will seat 350, and the par- lor on the third floor, 100.

The Brooklyn meeting is one of several constituting "New York Monthly Meeting," to which this property and that used by those meetings belong.

The Society of Friends had its origin in England, between 1644 and 1664, through the preaching of George Fox and his coadjutors. While the funda- mental principles of Christian faith are held by them in common with all evangelical denominations, they

entertain certain distinguishing views. They believe the practice of war to be inconsistent with the prin- ciples of the gospel, and that Christ enjoined against all oaths. They do not observe the outward ordinances -water-baptism, and the partaking of bread and wine-believing the one baptism and the true com- munion of the gospel dispensation to be spiritual. They believe that the Head of the Church bestows spiritual gifts freely, without distinction of sex, and that such gifts should be freely exercised. Many of their ministers are women.

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES.

Independent Congregational Church .- On the 18th of Sept., 1785, an "Independent Meeting House " was erected, and a congregation regularly incorporated with the following officers: John Matlock, Pastor, and George Wall, Assistant; John Carpenter, Treas .; George Powers, Sec .; William Benton, Robert Steath, Barnard Cordman, John Emery, and William Hinson, Trustees. Their place of worship stood on what was the old Episcopal burying ground in Fulton st. Its members disagreed among themselves, and the build- ing finally came into the possession of some Episco- palians worshiping in Brooklyn under the care of Rev. Geo. Wright, and it was consecrated by Bishop Provost. Such was the untimely end of what may be called the first Congregational Church of Brooklyn.

The Church of the Pilgrims (Henry street, corner of Remsen) was organized December 22d, 1844, with 71 members. Arrangements for this had been in progress during some months. The corner-stone of the church was laid July 2, 1844; its completion was retarded by unforeseen circumstances, but it was dedicated May 12th, 1846. Its cost, first estimated at $25,000, reached $65,000.

In June, 1846, Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Jr., received a call to the pastorate, and was installed in the fol- lowing November. All indebtedness was removed from the church in 1848, and a basis for permanent prosperity secured. In 1869, an addition was made to the building, increasing the capacity of the audi- ence-room to 1,300; and making ample arrange- ments for Sunday-school, committee rooms, etc.

The Navy and Warren Street Missions were largely aided by this church. The last was removed, in 1878, to cor. Henry and Degraw sts., where an elegant chapel, now known as the Pilgrim Chapel, in the Italian Gothic style, was erected, costing $35,000, and occupied for worship Dec. 16, 1878. Its school is emphatically a model in organization and equipments numbering more than 1,000.

In June, 1847, nine members of this church united with others in the formation of Plymouth Church. The church has been peculiarly fortunate in retain- ing Rev. Dr. Storrs as its Pastor, during all its exis- tence thus far.

CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMS, HENRY STREET, COR. REMSEN.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

REV. RICHARD SALTER STORRS, D. D., LL. D. Pastor of the Church of the Pilgrims.

The doctrine of Heredity, as a factor in the evolution of Intellect, and as largely controlling the choice of a man's profession or occupation, finds a signal example in the ances- try of this eloquent divine, who, in his own person, repre- sents the fourth generation of an unbroken line of Congre- gational ministers. His father, the late Rev. Richard S. Storrs, of Braintree, Mass., was for more than half a century the honored and beloved Pastor of the Congregational Church of that town. His grandfather, also the Rev. Richard S. Storrs, was for nearly forty years the Pastor of the Congregational Church at Long Meadow, Mass. His great-grandfather, the Rev. John Storrs, was for many years Pastor of the Congre- gational Church at Southold, L. I., and afterward returned to his native place, Mansfield, Conn., where he died.

In the maternal line of his father's ancestry, Dr. Storrs also derives from the Rev. Richard Mather, the first Pastor of the Dorchester (Mass.) Church; and is connected with the Williams and Edwards families, both eminent in the minis- terial annals of New England.

Dr. Storrs, therefore, may well claim that his vocation is a hereditary diadem.

RICHARD SALTER STORRS was born in Braintree, Mass., in 1821. The Adams family were neighbors of his parents, and with the Quincys and John Hancock, helped to render the historic township a somewhat famous locality. Young Storrs' preliminary education, aside from that which he re- ceived from his father's tuition, was obtained (1834-'5) in the then quite celebrated Academy at Monson, Mass. Thence he went to Amherst College, where he graduated in 1839, at the age of eighteen, and the youngest member of his class. His first choice for a profession was the law; and, with that pur- pose, he studied for some months in the office of the eloquent Rufus Choate. But home associations, ancestral bias, and his own deepening religious convictions, finally turned him into the paths of theological study; and, in 1841, he entered Andover Theological Seminary. Compelled, after a time, by ill health, to suspend his studies, he accepted a tutorship in Williston Seminary, at East Hampton, Mass .; but subse- quently resumed his course at Andover. In 1845, he gradu- ated from the Seminary, and was ordained Pastor over a Congregational Church in Brookline, Mass., where he re- mained for a year. Meanwhile, in 1845, he married Miss Mary Elwell Jenks, of Andover.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884, Volume II, Part 90

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345