USA > New York > The diocese of Western New York : a history and recollections > Part 34
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
niscences of Bishop De Lancey) and others, and letters from various clergymen and laymen invited, but unable to be present .* Among those who did attend were three laymen who were present at the earliest Councils of the Diocese,-George Arnold and Henry E. Rochester, of Rochester, and Dr. Ashbel S. Baldwin (Hobart 1834) of Jacksonville, Fla.
And so ended one of the most memorable festivals which the Dio- cese of Western New York has kept.
I wish I could quote even a few words here from the Bishop's remarks in his Address of this year on the decease of the Rev. Fortune C. Brown, one of the oldest and most faithful clergymen of the Diocese, of the Bishop of Michigan (Dr. Harris), and of Dean Burgon, his friend of many years, and in regard to the lessons of the Lambeth Conference of 1888 ; or say something of the Church Con- gress in Buffalo, under the Bishop's presidency, some of whose speeches were not wholly congenial to him ; in one case, I remember, the speaker had to be summarily silenced. But I must hasten on to the end of my long story.
* The Letters are given in the semi-centennial pamphlet, "Fifty Years"; that is, 18 out of about 120 received by the Secretary of the Committee, the Rev. Dr. Nelson.
CHAPTER XLVIII
HE Bishop, in his Address of 1889, refers feelingly to the decease (June 30) of the Rev. Lloyd Windsor, D.D., of Hornellsville, one of the oldest clergymen in years and residence, and for many years Chairman of the Committee on Canons, for which office he was emi- nently qualified *; of Thomas Dennis, many years Warden of Christ and Trinity Churches, Buffalo, who, at the age of 70, after long and faithful service as a lay-reader, was ordered Deacon for the same work, and died only two months later, June 4 ; and of Michael Scofield, after 42 years' service mostly in this Diocese ; and also of the Rev. John Henry Hobart, D.D. (son of the great Bishop), formerly (1846-8) Rector of Trinity Church, Geneva, and from early years the Bishop's beloved friend, to whom was dedicated the first edition of his Christian Ballads. This recollection of early days leads to the thought of the approaching completion of twenty-five years of his Episcopate, and the question of his ability to continue in its duties unaided. The subject was taken up by the Council and referred to a committee having in charge both the keeping of the quarter-centennial and the " administration of the Episcopate." The anniversary was kept on Jan. 3 and 4, 1890, in S. Paul's Church, Buffalo, with services of great interest, f in which the Bishop of New York, sixty-four clergymen, and all the vested choirs of the city (250 choristers) took part. The procession of the various choirs through the aisles of the great church, singing over and over " The Son of God goes forth to war," and followed by the long array of Priests in surplice, stole and hood, was a sight never before seen in Western New York. After special Prayers, the Bishop was presented by the Rev. Dr. Rankine with a congratulatory address meant to accompany the gift from the Clergy of a Pastoral Staff (which how-
* He began his ministry in the Diocese on its natal day, All Saints, 1838, and never left it except for seven years in Cleveland, O. See also Ch. XXV., p. 153, and Ch. XXXIII., p. 211 above.
t S. Paul's had been only that morning re-consecrated after its restoration from almost total destruction by fire in 1888.
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ever was not completed at this time)* and, from Hobart College and the De Lancey Divinity School, a rare copy of the Prayer Book in various languages. This was followed by an address from the Chancellor of the Diocese, the Hon. James M. Smith, LL.D., on behalf of the Laity, with a gift of $1,500. The service was con- cluded by a notable address by the Bishop of New York, most eloquently and ingeniously picturing the " Ideal Bishop" : first as having " the instinct, the vision, and the habit, of righteousness "; second in " the paternal quality "; third in learning ; fourth, in the " gift of poetic fire "; leaving those whom he addressed to make their own application of his words.
" But surely," he concludes, " one who feels how much he, as the least of his brethren, owes to one whose clarion voice has never given forth a false or treacherous note, and whose lofty and beautiful life has been a daily inspiration to every highest duty, may here thank God with you for that which we are here tonight to hold in grateful memory. The years come and go. Men arise, move through their little span, and disappear. But in this Diocese, Hobart and De Lan- cey will never be forgotten-nay, nor, thank God, another !"
On the following morning the Holy Communion was celebrated by the Bishop, assisted by the Bishop of New York and Drs. Hitchcock and Lobdell, with a Sermon, thought out but not written, by the Bishop himself, on " Our Common Ministry and its great Responsi- lities," and concluding with some exceedingly interesting reminis- cences of early days in Western New York, and of his own election and consecration. Again I must regretfully refer to the Journal itself for the record of his eloquent words. t
At the Council of 1890, at Niagara Falls, a Sermon on the Church's Educational Work was preached by the Rev. Dr. Potter, President of Hobart College. The Committee on the Administration of the Epis- copate presented a Report reciting a communication from the Bishop on the possible need of some relief in his duties, (for which, however, he did not ask,) the evident fact that " there should be two dioceses, Buffalo and Rochester should be See-Cities," and S. Andrew's Church was ready for a Cathedral for the latter, "yet in his opinion
* It was actually presented on the anniversary of the Bishop's accession to the Episcopate of the Diocese, April 5, 1865.
t Journ. 1890, pp. 231-41.
i
THE RESTORED ST. PAUL'S, BUFFALO. From Main Street.
Photograph by A. W. Simon, 1895.
Reproduced by permission from the Evans-Bartlett History of St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, copyrighted and published 1903.
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COUNCILS OF 1890-91 : DIVISION
the time is yet somewhat remote when the erection of a new diocese will be feasible." The Council might judge differently. The next resource, the election of a Coadjutor, is objectionable on account of the additional burden of expense which might become oppressive. The aid of two Archdeacons or four Rural Deans with salaries might answer. The Committee think the division of the Diocese and a Coadjutor both impracticable, and advise the creation of two Arch- deaconries, without saying anything about salaries. It was resolved at once to appropriate $1,000 for Episcopal and clerical assistance for the Bishop ; but a motion by the Rev. A. S. Crapsey to refer back the report with instructions to report to the next Council measures for the division of the Diocese into those of Buffalo and Rochester was carried with brief debate by a large vote, and on a division by Orders was lost by non-concurrence, the Clergy voting for it by 50 to 7, and the Laity against it by 15 to 25. A resolution was then passed for a Committee to report on the expediency of dividing the Diocese. Another followed for the appointment of a General Missionary with a salary. (But no such officer was appointed.) *
At the Council of 1891, in Geneva, the Committee on the Division of the Diocese report that " said division is wise, is demanded by the necessities of the work, and is therefore feasible," and therefore (1) that it is expedient to erect the two Dioceses of Buffalo and Rochester, provided that a sufficient endowment can be secured ; (2) that the Committee take measures to raise $100,000 for the fund ; (3) fixing the line of division. These resolutions were adopted, the first by 63 to 10, the other two unanimously. But on a vote by orders on the three, the clergy voted for them by 44 to 10, and the Lay vote, by the accidental absence of one of their number while the vote was being taken, was tied, 18 to 18 parishes, and I divided.i The proposition was therefore defeated, in spite of the almost unani- mous opinion of the clergy several times given, and has thus far not been renewed.
* Journ. 1880, pp. 23, 31-3.
t Trinity Church, Geneva, two of whose three delegates were in favour of divi- sion. One of these left the Council temporarily just before the vote was taken ; the Parish was therefore tied, the Lay vote was tied, and the Diocese was practi- cally tied. It may be a question, however, how far the measure would have been actually carried out on a Lay vote so nearly balanced. An amendment declaring division inexpedient until the fund was raised was lost by a joint vote of 62 to 15.
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I find that in the same year the Bishop and Standing Committee refused their consent to the consecration of Dr. Phillips Brooks as Bishop of Massachusetts.
The Journal of 1891 records that the Bishop delivered his Fifth Charge to the clergy on "Our Catholic Position and Work." I have not found it in print, and hardly an allusion to it appears in the Diocesan paper, Our Church Work .*
The Council of 1892, in Buffalo, was immediately preceded by the consecration of Trinity Church, Delaware Avenue, a large and costly edifice which had at last taken the place of the Doric temple occupied so many years on Washington St. With this was now com- bined the simple but beautiful little chapel erected some years before by what was then Christ Church, a congregation formed from S. John's, and finally united with Trinity. The building of the new church was largely due to the energy and ability of the Rev. Dr. Van Bokkelen, Rector from 1874 to 1886, and to the liberal gifts of his wife, which provided nearly all the work and decoration of the chancel. With all this, the church had been opened in 1886 with a debt of $50,000, and for a year after was without a Rector. Five years later, under the leadership of Dr. Van Bokkelen's successor, the Rev. Dr. Francis Lobdell, the debt had been paid, and the church, still without a tower, but otherwise complete, and adorned with a great number of costly and beautiful memorials in stained glass, stone and metal work, was ready for consecration. t
* After the discontinuance of the Gospel Messenger in 1872, Bishop Coxe pub- lished in Buffalo an occasional paper called The Orbit, while in Rochester several of the clergy began in 1877 a small semi-monthly called Our Church Work. In 1880 these were united in The Kalendar, a weekly for the whole Diocese, published in Rochester up to August, 1885, then in Westfield, as The Church Kal- endar, under my editorship, to 1889, when it was changed to The Church Messen- ger of Buffalo. In 1890 this was given up, and Our Church Work resumed at Rochester; in 1893 transferred to Buffalo, and edited for a year by the Rev. Thomas B. Berry, then for a short time by the Rev. W. Bedford Jones, and finally by the Rev. Warren W. Walsh till May, 1902, when it was discontinued, and nothing has thus far taken its place.
f Since then a rectory and other gifts have provided a considerable endow- ment. The parish now (May, 1903) reports 959 communicants, nearly the same as S. Paul's, which has 970, these two being the largest number reported in the Diocese. I am indebted to Mrs. S. F. Mixer's interesting History of Trinity Church ( Buffalo 1897) for some facts and illustrations.
35I
COUNCIL OF 1892 : DIVISION
Both these hardworking and successful clergymen died in Buffalo ; Dr. Van Bokkelen on All Saints' Day, 1889, Dr. Lobdell Oct. 26, 1899.
The question of Episcopal work came up again at this Council, introduced by the Bishop, who expressed his need of a coadjutor, although he did not ask for one. A Committee reported in favour of such action ; but after a protracted debate, and some ineffectual effort to combine with this measure a provision for the residence of a Bishop in Rochester, the Council refused to act upon it by a negative vote of 31 to 24 of the clergy, and 12 to 10 of the parishes repre- sented .*
On the failure of this effort, a Committee was appointed, on motion of Judge William H. Adams of Canandaigua, t to confer with the Diocese of Central New York, " to ascertain whether a division of the two dioceses into three is desirable and practicable." This Commit- tee reported the next year that the Convention of the Diocese of Cen- tral New York declined to consider the proposition. #
In the Council of 1895, at Lockport, the subject was once more discussed, at the instance of the Bishop, in committee of the whole, with the result that " in view of the present financial condition of the country, it is not expedient to take any measures at this Council towards the division of the Diocese ; and that for the same reason, the consideration of the subject of an Assistant Bishop be postponed." This is the last record of any action in the matter. §
Such a vote can hardly be said to be any fair expression of the opinion of a Diocese numbering at that time 112 clergymen and 121 parishes and missions. My own belief was and is that the relief would have been given to the Bishop (in spite of strong objections to Assistant Bishops generally) if the Coadjutor had been required to reside in Rochester. But this is only my own opinion, and may very likely be wrong.
t Son of the venerable John Adams of Lyons, mentioned in Chap. XXIII., p. 143 above; like his father, an earnest and intelligent Churchman, and, like his brother-in-law the late Judge James C. Smith (dec. Sept. 26, 1900), a pillar of the old S. John's Church, Canandaigua. Judge Adams has just entered into rest, Oct. 12, 1903, aet. 62.
# Journ. 1893, pp. 40, 231.
§ A resolution looking to the division of the Diocese was offered at the Special Council of 1896 for the election of a Bishop, by the Rev. Algernon S. Crapsey of Rochester, but, under the limitations of the call of the Special Council, it was not allowed to be considered or even entered on the Journal.
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
In 1895 an important change in the Missionary work of the Diocese, first proposed, as was said, in 1886, was made by the substitution of the Archdeaconries of Buffalo and Rochester for the four Deaneries. The chief practical difference was the appointment in each of an Archdeacon, with a sufficient salary to enable him to give his whole time to that office, and a Missionary Board taking the place of the former Deanery Convocations .* Under this system there was reported in 1896 a considerable advance in the Missionary work. The Arch- deacon of Rochester adds that its practical operation appears to fur- ther the three purposes for which the Archdeaconries were erected ; "to pave the way for the long contemplated division of the Diocese ; to relieve the Bishop from much care and excessive labour; and to provide more direct and personal attention to the missions in the district."t
A few words must be said here on the parochial work of the Diocese in the later years of Bishop Coxe's Episcopate, in addition to what has been already noted.
In the See city there is first of all the remarkable work of the Rev. Charles H. Smith to which I have before alluded. In 1876, after two years' work in city missions, he became Rector of S. James's Church, on the " East side," i. e., the business and labouring part of the city, having even then a great foreign population which has since been reinforced by an immense number from every nation of Europe. S. James was then a parish of 244 communicants, with a small wooden church a mile from the centre line of the city, and the only church in all that half of Buffalo ; Trinity and S. John's being practically on the west side, though geographically a little east of Main St., the Broadway of Buffalo. The Rector at once began the work of founding missions and building churches on the east side, at first single-handed, then with one, two and so on to half-a-dozen curates. The result to this time is briefly that the old parish church has been replaced by a substantial stone church of good architectural
* In Buffalo the first Archdeacon was the Rev. Dr. Lobdell, who, being still Rector of Trinity Church, was assisted by a General Missionary. In 1898 he was succeeded by the Rev. Charles A. Bragdon, who, as well as the Archdeacon of Rochester, the Rev. Dr. Louis C. Washburn, had no parochial charge, so that both were able to give, and have given, most effective supervision of the missions. t Journ. 1896, p. 89.
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THE GOOD SHEPHERD, BUFFALO Ingersoll Memorial, 1888
353
BUFFALO CHURCHES, 1880-96
character, with rectory and parish house ; and around it, and built up wholly or mainly from it, are eight mission churches, of which two or three have grown into substantial parishes, while the others have church buildings, some of them temporary, but quite sufficient for present needs, and reporting in all nearly 1,700 communicants and 1,400 Sunday-scholars. Of the parish and missionary work carried on in all these I cannot begin to tell ; it is greatly increased in labour and also in efficiency by the fact that the parishioners are in large pro- · portion made up of the families of employees of the twenty railroads centring in Buffalo .* It should be added that two parishes which did not spring from S. James's Church, S. Andrew and S. Barnabas, are now doing a good work farther north on the east side ; as does All Saints on North Main St.
In the mother church of S. Paul, Dr. Shelton's successors were the Rev. Dr. John W. Brown (1882-88), afterwards so well known as Rector of S. Thomas, New York, the Rev. Henry A. Adams (1889-92), and the Rev. Dr. Jacob A. Regester, the present Rector. The old par- ish is now far " down-town," but is still the largest in the city, and, with its parish house and the beginning of an endowment, will doubtless always remain the centre of a widely-extended and important work.
In 1888 a small but beautiful Norman church of stone on Jewett Avenue, four miles away from S. Paul's, was consecrated under the name of " The Church of the Good Shepherd," as the gift of Mr. Elam R. Jewett in memory of Dr. Edward Ingersoll. To this was added later a rectory and parish house, given mostly by the widow of the Founder, and a considerable congregation was soon gathered in that new part of the city under the Rev. Thomas B. Berry, the first and thus far only Rector. The Church of the Ascension, under the late Dr. William A. Hitchcock, and S. Mary's, under Dr. Charles F. J. Wrig- ley, had grown into large and strong parishes before the close of Bish- op Coxe's Episcopate. Grace Church, in what was once the adjoin-
* I must refer to Bishop Coxe's Address of 1893 (Journ. p. 189) for a fuller and appreciative account of the work of Dr. Smith and the help given in it by the " equally devoted wife who delights to cheer him alike with her patrimony and with her heart and hand." One can hardly exaggerate the work they have done and the good accomplished by it, for a people among whom there has never been, I presume, a single Churchman of wealth. In 1895 Hobart College gave him (its Valedictorian of 1870) a well-deserved Doctorate of Divinity, at the request of the Clergy of Buffalo.
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
ing village of Black Rock on the Niagara River, grew slowly but steadily under the long and faithful rectorship of Dr. Louis B. Van Dyck, and his successor Charles A. Ricksecker, and its mission still farther away, S. Mark's, has also become a substantial parish with a mission of its own. S. Luke's, under Dr. Walter North, and S. John's, under the Rev. George G. Ballard, built new churches on the West side some years ago. In the chapel of the Church Home the ministrations of the Church to the many old people and children were faithfully kept up year after year by a succession of good men, Dr. Ingersoll, Dr. Howard, and Henry S. Huntington, and from 1896 by the present Chaplain, the Rev. Jesse Brush .*
In Rochester a memorable work was done in S. Luke's, the mother church of that city, in the thirty years' charge of the Rev. Dr. Henry Anstice. Like S. Paul's in Buffalo, the old parish held its own in spite of the removal of so many of its best families to the East Side, which is now in that city the " residence" side ; and its societies and means of charitable work grew more numerous and more active each year. Like S. Paul's, too, it has made a substantial beginning of the endowment which will some time be needed to carry on its beneficent work. Christ Church, in the long rectorship of Dr. Will- iam D'Orville Doty, ending only with his death, Jan. 5, 1900, came to be one of the largest and most efficient parishes of the city, and a magnificent church has almost literally grown out of the little brick church built under Bishop Neely in 1855, and several times enlarged. Of the work of S. Andrew's under Dr. Crapsey, S. James's, under the Rev. James H. Dennis, and Trinity, more lately under the Rev. Warren C. Hubbard, I have spoken before. The Church of the Epiph- any, originally a chapel of S. Luke's, has also developed into a strong and active parish in the long rectorship (twenty years) of Dr.
* At the beginning of Bishop Coxe's Episcopate, Buffalo, with a population of 94,502, had seven parishes and 1, 500 communicants. It has now (1903) 24 parishes and missions and about 6,300 communicants, with a population (by the census of 1900) of 352,387 ; surely enough for one Bishop's Parochia ! It will be noted that in 38 years the Church had gained on the population from I communi- cant in 61 to 1 in 55, notwithstanding the enormous increase of foreign-born peo- ple.
The present beautiful chapel of the Holy Innocents at the Church Home was consecrated by Bishop Coxe on the last All Saints' Day of his life, as the gift of Mr. E. H. Hutchinson.
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PAROCHIAL WORK, 1880-96
Amos Skeele. S. Paul's, where so noble a work was done in Bishop De Lancey's day by Dr. Van Ingen, and after him by Dr. Van Rens- selaer, Dr. Foote, and Dr. Washburn, some years ago gave up its venerable old church of 1829 for a new and well appointed building two miles farther east, gathering thus an almost new congregation .* S. Mark's, another mission of S. Luke's, has also grown into a sub- stantial parish in a poorer part of the city, under its only Rector for the nineteen years of its existence, the Rev. Edward P. Hart, a graduate of the De Lancey Divinity School. t
It is impossible even to mention in detail the many similar instances of the planting and growth of the Church in the smaller towns of the Diocese under the like earnest and long-continued pastoral care. One thing is apparent through it all,-the success of such work pro- portioned in so many cases to the permanency of the pastoral office. Numerical growth of course largely depends on the growth and busi- ness activity of the town itself ; but that alone could not make such parishes as have been built up at Olean under Dr. James W. Ashton ; at Jamestown under Spruille Burford, Dr. Theodore Bishop and Andrew Sidney Dealey ; at Lockport (Grace Church and its three or four missions) under William Frederick Faber; Le Roy under Pierre Cushing, Geneseo under William A. Coale and Dr. Charles H. Boynton, Corning under Dr. R. R. Converse and Walter C. Roberts, Niagara Falls under George F. Rosenmüller and Philip W. Mosher, Bath under Dr. Howard and Benjamin S. Sanderson, Hornellsville under Dr. Windsor and Edwin S. Hoffman, Canan- daigua under Eugene J. Babcock and Charles J. Clausen. Many other cases there are where equally good work under less favouring circumstances has not brought the same apparent increase, but is no less good for all that ; such as that of Dr. Darnell in and near Ayon, Dr.
* The old S. Paul's, with its Parish House, was the centre of an important deaconess work during Dr. Louis C. Washburn's rectorship, under Miss Susan Mather, one of the three deaconesses of the Diocese in Bishop Coxe's time, -the other two being Mrs. Wickham, whom I have mentioned before, and Miss Harriet Dayton, daughter of that venerable Churchman of old times, Judge Day- ton of Lockport.
t Rochester had in 1865 four parishes and 1, 150 communicants in a population of 50,940. It has now 12 parishes and 4,022 communicants to 162,608 population (census of 1900). In this case the gain of communicants on population has been from 1 in 44 to 1 in 39.
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DIOCESE OF WESTERN NEW YORK
Landers at Fredonia, George W. S. Ayers at Mayville, Benjamin F. Miller at Bradford, Dr. Henry Spalding at Lyons, Dr. William B. Edson at Clifton Springs and Phelps, E. H. Edson, Jonathan E. Goodhue and Dr. Van Dyck at Newark, Francis S. Dunham at Albion, and others who ought to be mentioned if I could extend indefinitely this long list of mere names. I can hardly hope that the instances I have noted will give any clear idea of the extension of the Church in these later years .*
* In Geneva, to which I have often had occasion to refer as a centre of Church work for the Eastern end of the Diocese, the two parishes now report 1140 com- municants in a population of about 12,000-the largest proportion, as far as I am informed, in any city in the United States. Here and in Buffalo are two small congregations of coloured people, the only such in the Diocese. A mission has been begun recently among the Iroquois (Seneca) Indians remaining on the " Cattaraugus Reservation."
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