USA > New York > Queens County > Jamaica > The origin and history of Grace church, Jamaica, New York > Part 15
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And in the third generation many of his children and family were associated with you in gifts and personal service. One of them I am sure you remember especially. She was a saintly woman, who, with tireless activity for almost a lifetime, went in and out among you, herself still a resident when the family was scattered, the embodiment of the new era in the work the Church was arous- ing itself to do, admired, remembered and loved by all, and who extended the influence of the parish throughout the new diocese with an energy in well doing that has never subsided. Miss Cornelia King. Her memory is still precious, and in many hearts is like a benediction. This is a conspicuous example of what many families have been doing these two hundred years. Those gen- erations we may speak of, for they are passed away; but their memorial is linked with Thy memorial, O Lord, which endureth from generation to generation.
No history would be complete were not reference made to the many memorials and gifts which beautify and adorn this loved fane of worship. Some of those go back to the foundations of the parish, and others are now for the first time put to sacred uses. Some of the gifts have been large, some small, but all alike testify to the devotion of those who, now worshipping no more in the earthly courts of the church militant, are remembered where praise and prayer have never ceased for more than two centuries, and where may God grant it may continue from generation to genera- tion.
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But it is more difficult at this point to write the record, for you are here and know the struggles of both the past and present. Yet this may be said: The work which is completed and offered to God today with its many loving gifts and beautiful tokens of the com- munion of saints, tells us how truly the spirit of tenderness and affection for the sacred fane which is God's memorial, and protects the hallowed graves of many still remembered, and more whose names have passed from human annals, but are written in the book of God's remembrance-survives and awakens to generous action with much self-denial and many sacrifices, when new times and new needs call for a helping hand.
And there is not lacking in this fourth generation, one to come with ready aid to supplement your gifts and ask the privilege of joining with you, although her home is elsewhere, to enable the Church of her love to meet its needs. As is fitting, her work is in memory of beloved parents. A noble Christian gentleman was John A. King, whose connection with the Church in which he was brought up, and which was that of his affection, is thus perpetuated. He took large part in the work of the diocese and of the general Church. Although in a position to please himself in all things, he was indefatigable in missionary, educational, and philanthropic enterprises, to which he contributed regularly as part of his living expenses. A detailed account of his many activities in the church would put him in the forefront of the honored laymen who are the strength of our ecclesiastical organization.
We may not say more, save the gifts of this day have their parallel again and again in the history of this Church and in the families which compose it. Side by side in the associations of loving memory the stone cries out of the wall and the beam from the timber answers it. Other churches richer in money and power in saintly memorials may well envy this little church.
"Thy memorial, O Lord, endureth from generation to genera- tion." It is not for a day, nor for an age, nor for all time, even. These stones shall crumble to dust, and they who reared them shall pass away and leave no trace on earth ; but there are silent voices in the far-off land which utter knowledge though there be neither speech nor language. When the seer, St. John the Divine, saw in the last days the Holy City, whose glory on earth was the memorial of God and Moriah, there was no temple therein, for the Lord God
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Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. The memorial had done its work and was become the spiritual house in the hearts and souls of the saints. Then was the text fulfilled. The natural had passed into the spiritual. The Eternal God was the memorial of Himself and those who had served Him for ever and ever.
CHURCH ACTIVITIES.
Over the consecration services the three memorial win- dows behind the altar for the first time shed their radiance, revealing in it the command of the Lord Christ, "Go teach all Nations," and thus reminding the worshippers of the origin and motive of Grace Church in the ministry of the great Missionary Society that had founded it. In the glory of this window the most devotional can appreciate the spiritual expression of the features of our Lord and His Apostles. The coloring avoids extreme effects and indi- vidualizes the Apostles while it glorifies the central figure of our Lord. Their postures have, without losing natural- ness and dignity, overcome most effectively the difficulties arising from limited space for so many figures. The light from the architectural tracery which surmounts the pic- tures adds to the perspective of the landscape, and brings into distinctness the richer shades in the vestments. In the principal figures no better introduction could have been made to a series of scriptural scenes in the other church windows, which will perpetuate the influence of this beau- tiful memorial gift.
The uses of the enlarged and beautified sanctuary fully justified the sacrifices made for its erection. The attend- ance at the Holy Communion, and at other offices of wor- ship was increased, the choral evensong was made one of the most attractive of the Sunday services by the aid of the new organ, and on special occasions the rendering of
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cantatas and oratorios and celebrated masses, or musical compositions of the churches of Europe had never before been equalled in Jamaica. The eighth anniversary of the organization of Grace Church choir was celebrated on the evening of Ascension Day, May 8, 1902. Six of the original leading voices took part in it.
The Parish Sunday School Guild increased to a member- ship of ninety-two. It held open meetings through the winter, giving elaborate and instructive entertainments of tableaux illustrating the peoples, customs and history of America and European nations. The other guilds also united in giving such exhibitions in the Chapel for chari- table objects. The St. Cornelia Guild had a membership of forty-five, and the Daughters of the King, the Junior Daughters and the Kings Daughters were similarly strengthened in numbers and efficiency.
The missionary activities of the Parish were forwarded with new zest. The efforts to build St. Stephen's Chapel for the colored work were aided by the Vestry, who do- nated the oak altar and altar furniture of the former sanctuary of Grace Church and the gas fixtures. The altar guild gave altar vestments and linen, and the congregation contributed $250 to the building expenses. The chapel was erected on the property of the Archdeaconry of Queens and Nassau, that had been procured by the rector for this mission, on the corner of Grand and North First Streets, Jamaica. It was under the charge of Rev. H. S. McDuffy, the energetic superintendent of colored missions in this archdeaconry.
In October, 1902, Mr. J. B. French was appointed super- intendent of the Sunday School of Grace Church, and held this office during the remainder of this rectorship, giving a painstaking and devoted service to the Sunday School,
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which grew in numbers and interest, and efficiency in the instruction of the youth of the congregation. There was such variety and common sense in his methods that teachers and scholars responded with respect and interest to his efforts. The baptisms and confirmations of mem- bers of the school showed the churchly character of the education they received, and the sincere piety of those who undertook with superintendent and rector this labor of love.
WILLIAM D. WOOD, M. D.
The death of Doctor William D. Wood, Oct. 7, 1903, reminded the older members of the parish of the virtues of his long and useful life in this community. He completed all the years allotted to man in his strength, yet at the age of eighty-two, and during illness which he could not resist, he still desired to live and do good. He was a faithful and affectionate husband and father, an honorable and liberal citizen, and an assiduous, considerate and charitable phy- sician, successful in the skill and judgment which he had acquired in over fifty years of practise in Jamaica and vicinity.
His life as a Christian and churchman was exemplary in the highest degree. He did not neglect his duties to the Church and her ordinances because of the duties or dis- tractions of his profession. Doctor Wood was a constant and zealous attendant at both Sunday services of the Church, continuing such till his last sickness, which began in the middle of August, made it impossible for him to leave his home. He was a liberal supporter of the Church and her benevolences. His memorial there is the stately processional cross, borne before the choir, to whose ser- vices he ever gave generous aid.
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As Vestryman he welcomed the members of the Vestry in later years to his home, and encouraged them and the rector in their progressive measures for the enlargement and beautifying of Grace Church and a consistent admin- istration of its affairs.
As a friend, to his companions, he was genial and true hearted, to the poor and suffering he never spared himself in order to relieve their pain, or to console them in their sorrows and loneliness.
To this rector Doctor Wood was ever helpful and sym- pathetic, encouraging by word and deed, and always staunchly adhering to the traditions and to the faith and Church in which he was born, baptized and confirmed, be- ing true to his English parentage. He served the Lord Christ to the last in ministering to those who were hungry, thirsty, sick and in prison.
In the fall of 1902 a window was presented to the Wardens and Vestry of Grace Church, made by the firm of J. and R. Lamb of New York. Its subject was St. Paul, and its stands on the east side of the church building, next to the St. Cecelia window, memorial of Mrs. Clement E. Gardiner. It was given as a memorial of Hon. Richard McCormick, by his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Thurman McCormick.
He was Governor of Arizona in 1866-68, and for two terms represented the First Congressional District of New York in the National House of Representatives. Having long been a resident of Jamaica, and a member of the parish of Grace Church, though not a communicant, he was accorded a burial in the churchyard and a memorial in the church. He was a distinguished citizen, an influ- ential Congressman and as President of the Long Island
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State Normal School Board of Trustees he gave to that institution an efficient administration of its affairs. A man of genial character, learning and good judgment of men and affairs, he had many staunch friends. A large number of these, some of them officials and statesmen of high position, testified to their esteem and honor by their presence in the services at his residence and in the church- yard.
In the Autumn of 1902 the rector had a long illness, which for four months prevented him from performing his duties. The Vestry supplied the church by the ministry of other clergymen, and addressed to the rector the follow- ing note of date Sept. 30, 1903:
"We hereby express to our beloved Rector our deepest sympathy in the time of his enforced retirement because of severe and painful illness, with the earnest hope that he may be speedily restored to his usual health and permitted to resume the duties of his sacred office.
JOHN M. CRANE, Committee."
Rev. W. H. Heigham took charge of the services during this absence.
The Christmas celebrations by the choir and the Sunday School became special features of the work of the Church. In the Sunday School the manger service was inaugurated and the manger offerings given to the Church Charity Foundation. The Advent offerings for the Archdeaconry of Queens and Nassau, were liberally increased each year. The most active workers in the parish were found in the Sunday School and guilds, more than one hundred and fifty in all of them, most of whom vigorously and faith- fully fulfilled their assigned duties of membership. Among
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these, Mrs. B. J. Brenton, Mrs. H. S. Church, Mrs. F. T. Martin, Miss Hester Boyd, Miss Alice C. Mayer, Miss Isabel Jackson, Miss Bedell, Mrs. J. B. French, Miss Aymar, the Misses Simonson, Mrs. Blanchard, Mrs. W. C. Baker, Miss Elizabeth Brenton, Mrs. Andreu, Mrs. Lothian, Mrs. Higgins, Mrs. Hoffman, Miss Virginia Cogswell, Miss Pauline Cogswell, Mr. R. B. Mitchell, Misses Oborne, Miss Irma Port, Miss Leavenworth, Mrs. Charles Blondel, Miss Comellas, Miss Eirene Ladd, Mr. Charles Blondel, were each successful directors of these activities in the guilds for young and older members and in the teaching of the Sunday School.
In 1902 Mr. L. C. Buckbee ended a service of thirty years as sexton of the church, and was succeeded by S. S. Aymar, who remained during this rectorship. Mr. Buck- bee continued to have charge of the churchyard several years longer, until followed by Mr. John L. Boyd.
In 1904 the Parish Guild gave a public entertainment and reception in the large assembly room of the State Normal School. It consisted of a concert by the choir and a play, and the proceeds were added to the fund for the purchase of a piano.
The Archdeaconry of Queens held a great missionary meeting continuing the whole day, in Grace Church, Jan. 27, 1904. Addresses were made by Bishop Burgess, Bishop Wells of the diocese of Spokane and Bishop J. J. P. Perry of the diocese of Georgia. Archdeacon Bryan, whose missionary activities and efficiency will ever be re- membered on Long Island, wrote of this meeting, "The hospitality, the large attendance and the beautiful services all go to mark the occasion, the day and the place as a red letter day in the history of the Archdeaconry."
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In this year the portrait of Rev. Thomas Colgan, which was missing from all the collections made of these Colonial churches, came to light, and as described in the account of Mr. Colgan's rectorship, was donated to Grace Church by Mrs. Mary S. G. Mills of Connecticut.
Mrs. Catherine Herriman Codwise, one of the two oldest members of Grace Church, died January 30, 1904, at the age of 87. She was vigorous to the last in her faculties. Though her age carried her far beyond two generations, she maintained a lively interest in the friends who clung to her and visited her, of the old families of Jamaica, of which she was a prominent representative. She desired to know all the events in the church, parish and town, and remembered clearly the former rectors, even before Doctor Johnson, by whom she was married Sept. 15, 1856. A constant friend of the Sunday School and always ready to contribute privately to its needs, she was also a constant attendant on the services of Grace Church to the last few months of her life. Her vigor was such that she survived all her immediate relatives, and the breaking up of her lifelong home was an interesting event to the community, from the collection of relics which were disposed of at pub- lic sale. In later years she retired from the active life of the parish, but her tall and erect form and cheerful con- versation are ever associated in the memories of the older people, with the home that now has been transformed to a lively business center in modern Jamaica.
The Boys' Club of Grace Church under Miss Mayer's direction, aided by others, was conducted for several years with great vigor. From time to time it was discon- tinued. Several efforts were made to establish a Men's Club, a Young Men's Club and a Chapter of the St. An- drew's Brotherhood, but none of these endeavors met with
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any permanent success. During the year 1904 the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury led to the hope of a reunion of the eight parishes and missions that have been connected with Grace Church, as part of its work in the limits of the original parish of Jamaica. The effort failed from the inability of the Archbishop, who is the head of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, to take all the services offered to him in New York.
The years 1903-1904 were the most prosperous in this rectorship, in the activities of the members of the parish and the attendance at the church services. The efforts were renewed to build the Grace Memorial Parish House, which had been kept in many ways before the minds of the people. It was proposed that rooms should be named as memorials of departed friends and citizens, and that memorial tablets placed in the front hall should contain such names as the donors desired to perpetuate in the his- tory of Grace Church and the Memorial House.
The Chimes made frequent reference to the project, and the articles before published were repeated in different issues of this Church paper. It was discussed in the Parish Guild meetings, in the Sunday School, and advocated in the Vestry.
JOHN M. CRANE'S DEATH.
The death of John M. Crane, Esq., at the end of the year 1904, made the parish sensible of a great loss to its activi- ties and standing in the community. Mr. Crane passed away Dec. 30th, and his funeral services were held in Grace Church on the afternoon of Sunday, January 1. Rev. George Williamson Smith, D. D., assisted the rector in the conduct of the services, which were attended largely
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by his business associates, the members of the Jamaica Club, the Sunday School of Grace Church, and others of the citizens of Jamaica who completely filled the church. The whole service was a sincere expression of the respect and love which Mr. Crane had won and inspired in the town of his birth, childhood, and mature life. Since 1873 he had been a Vestryman, and since 1884 a Warden of Grace Church, holding also the offices of clerk and treas- urer and repeatedly a delegate to the Diocesan Convention.
He was eminently a liberal supporter of the Church and a constant attendant and liberal contributor, till prevented by a severe confining illness for three years before his death. Even then he was often present at the services and at Vestry meetings, and he expressed deep interest in the enlargement and improvement of Grace Church, espe- cially in the gift of the large organ in memory of his wife.
A faithful friend of the young, he desired that they should be attracted to the Church and love her worship. He expressed great anxiety for the building of the Me- morial Parish House, to which he made the first large subscription of $1,000.
Mr. Crane was, from a boy, connected with the National Shoe and Leather Bank, New York City, gradually rising through various positions to become head of that institu- tion, which office he held for nearly twenty-five of the fifty-two years he was in its service.
He was brought up religiously by his father, Rev. Elias Crane, who was a loved pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Jamaica. Soon after his marriage he associated himself with Grace Church, and was with his wife there confirmed. Mr. Crane was a citizen of whom Jamaica was proud, for with simple tastes and in unostentatious ways he was a
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friend to all who sought him for advice and help, and respected by all who served him. A liberal and yet a just man, a progressive citizen, a staunch churchman, an effective speaker on public affairs, a loyal Republican, a genial host, a faithful and affectionate friend and a devoted husband and father; into all the relations of life he carried a kindly spirit and an honest and manly character.
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CHAPTER XXIII.
Church Finances-Rector Emeritus.
While the endowment of the Church was thus increasing during this rectorship and also, as the record shows, by many bequests, the many necessary expenses were not adequately met by the usual offerings and pew-rents. Again and again the adoption of the envelope plan was urged by the rector on the Vestry. There was once or twice an indifferent consent to it, and measures taken to bring it before the congregation. Printed envelopes were procured and presented, but few responded. The year 1908 the changes in the Vestry were such that the plan was adopted by resolution and referred to a committee of one Warden and two Vestrymen to carry it out. The committee delayed action and refused to complete the arrangement for which they were appointed, and the in- complete support of the Church with increasing indebted- ness was permitted to continue till the close of this rector- ship.
On Feb. 21, 1907, Miss Elizabeth Brenton, after a lingering sickness, passed away to her eternal home. Her life had been spent from childhood in Jamaica and in the home of her brother, Benjamin J. Brenton. Miss Brenton was related in many ways to the educational, charitable, social and religious movements of the community. She was an earnest promoter of all these interests; a thought- ful and well-informed woman, an interesting writer and speaker, she exerted influence in larger circles than those
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of her own town, and was a valued member and officer of the Press Club of New York City, and of the Sunshine Society, in whose work she continued active till her last sickness. Her personal interest in the Altar Guild of Grace Church, in which from its formation she had been the secretary, greatly helped to the efficiency of the Guild in beautifying the Church services. Many friends testified to their appreciation of her lovable qualities and to their affection for her. Her regular attendance at Church, her consistent character as a Christian, her intelligent and diffusive piety, made her an invaluable assistant to her rector. She saw clearly the deep and spiritual reasons for her faith and service, and urged these on the Church mem- bership in her graceful reports of the Altar Guild work. She is of blessed memory in Grace Church.
The Vestry finally gave approval of the effort to get subscriptions for the Parish House and to the building, if it could be erected. Conditional subscriptions by John M. Crane, Esq., for $1,000, Mrs. S. S. Stocking, Dr. Geo. K. Meynen, P. K. Meynen for $500 each, and Mrs. S. E. Jackson for $1,000 were the first to be made after the one already given and paid by Miss Elizabeth McFarland for $200, which was the first offering to this worthy object. The Sunday School raised $80 by collections, and the amount of all the gifts promised or paid was $4,300 before the rector resigned. The effort had been defeated by the unwillingness of the Vestry to give it authority by using the parish funds or credit to undertake the building.
(The history of its actual achievement belongs to the rectorship of Rev. Rockland Tyng Homans, under whose energetic action aided by changes in the parish and vestry, the great work was accomplished, which stands to the honor of the rector and parish in the years 1912 and 1913.
THE REV. ARTHUR SLOAN.
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GRACE MEMORIAL HOUSE, 1913.
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The general financial condition of the Parish had vastly improved during the years of 1908 and 1909. The sale of the valuable lot in Trinity Place, New York, for which negotiations proceeded for two years was accomplished. Nearly $40,000 was thus added to the available funds of the Parish. The equity held by Grace Church in the Reade Street property, New York, was later on added to the endowment funds, under Mr. Homans' rectorship, and other sums gathered of large amount to endow the church- yard for its care and improvement.)
The burdens of seventy years of life had been carried by the rector, and in 1909 he offered either to resign his rectorship and to be retired as rector emeritus, or asked for the services of a curate or assistant, to meet the increasing demands of a widely extended parish, and its rapidly de- veloping population in the center of the Borough of Queens.
After two years of deliberation the following action was taken by the Vestry:
"Grace Church, Jamaica, Oct. 12, 1909.
"In accordance with the suggestion contained in a com- munication submitted by the Rector, of this date, it was regularly moved by Mr. Brenton and duly seconded, that the Rev. Horatio Oliver Ladd be elected rector emeritus at an annual salary of $1,200, payable monthly, to take effect Dec. 1, 1909. Motion was put by Warden Cogs- well and carried.
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"Jamaica, Oct. 12, 1909."
"To the Wardens and Vestrymen of Grace Church. Gentlemen:
In accord with my communication of same date, having been duly elected by you Rector Emeritus from Dec. 1, 1909, I hereby resign as Rector of the church, to take effect on that day.
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