USA > New York > Queens County > Jamaica > The origin and history of Grace church, Jamaica, New York > Part 8
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missions holding regular services. The annual income at the end of twenty years of this pastorate (in 1850), in- cluding the interest on invested funds, was but $1606.32.
Around Grace Church were gathering a number of in- telligent and vigorous families, of social respectability and financial ability, with an influence in affairs of the great city with which it was in more frequent association in business and in professional and political circles.
Jamaica was developing trade with the central and western towns of Long Island, and was encouraging the work of good teachers and private schools. Out of the Toryism of the Revolutionary War which especially pre- vailed on Long Island, there had grown a conservative character in her citizens, and the Episcopalian part of the population had recovered large influence in the community.
The Vestry were divinely guided in their selection of a successor to Dr. Sayres. Mr. Johnson was endowed with qualities that fitted him to be a leader in religious affairs. He was well educated and scholarly in his tastes. His ancestors lived in Brooklyn, and were of the Holland race, and his father, Rev. John Barent Johnson, was an elo- quent clergyman of the Dutch Reformed denomination in Albany in 1796, and pastor of the first Dutch Reformed Church in Brooklyn. Having been left an orphan, Wil- liam Lupton Johnson was taken in charge by an uncle, Mr. Peter Roosevelt, with his brother and sister, and moved to New York, to a house at the corner of Green- wich and Desbrosses Street, when Canal Street was a wide deep swamp, with only one house near it. He was placed under the tuition of Mr. Joseph Nelson, a noted blind teacher of Latin and Greek; and, in 1815, entered Colum- bia College. He showed a decided literary taste with his
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high scholarship in the languages, and began to contribute to the public journals. His classmate in Columbia College, George Washington Doane, became Bishop of New Jer- sey, the father of Bishop William Doane of Albany. Fin- ishing at the University in 1819, he began to study law at the same time with Mr. Doane in the law office of Mr. Harrison, who was later Comptroller of Trinity Church. They both engaged in the Sunday School at St. John's, and in the evenings read Homer and Virgil together in the belfry of St. John's Chapel, till their late hours led to an investigation that disclosed their scholarly tastes and pur- suits. They soon wearied of the law and began to study for the ministry. Johnson entered the General Theological Seminary, and standing by it in its migrations and first unsuccessful years, was the first graduate of that institu- tion. He was ordained Deacon by Bishop Hobart and became an assistant to Bishop Richard Channing Moore, in the Monumental Church at Richmond, Va. While there, Mr. Johnson was elected rector of St. Michael's Parish in Trenton, N. J., where his ministry was much esteemed and won both popularity and the affection of his people.
At this time Timothy Nostrand and John Skidmore were Wardens of Grace Church, and Messrs. John Hoogland, Silas Roe, Johnathan Rowland, Samuel Welling, Lawrence Denton, Daniel Cornwell and John Van Nostrand were Vestrymen. They elected Mr. Johnson to the rectorship, which proved so happy to the people of Jamaica and to himself. "Here," said the Rev. Samuel J. Corneille, who had been for some years his assistant in Grace Church, "his life was an open book, without a page which all might not read. He was no Pharisee. He was just what he seemed to be, too gentle perhaps in some relations, but always loving, always lovable, always true. He almost
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reached his threescore years and ten; having served in the ministry nearly half a century, and only once did he seek in a foreign land that rest from mental toil which every pastor needs so much from time to time. He was a rapid composer and writer. His sermons were models of Eng- lish composition. As a churchman he was conservative, one of the old school of Theologians, who while they admitted the value of science and eloquence, and a pure development in ritual, still clung with inflexible tenacity to the ancient definitions of faith. He believed in one Catho- lic and Apostolic Church. His doctrine was sound; his orders he held to be as legitimate and sacred as any priest's on earth. He was to the end scholastic in his habits of thought, and even when his mind under feverish tenden- cies wandered a little towards the last, he quoted freely from English, Greek and Latin poets."
With the undeveloped traits of such a character, Mr. Johnson entered upon his eventful service to Grace Church. When the forty years were ended the eulogies of his brethren in the ministry and of his people were em- phatic testimony to the use of his native talents and ac- quirements for the honor of his Lord.
One of Mr. Johnson's Wardens, Mr. John Skidmore, said to him when he came to Jamaica, "Praise up your own Church as much as you please, but don't run down other denominations."
This was good counsel, which Mr. Johnson was well fitted by his temperament and disposition to follow.
The same year, Sept. 24, 1830, occurred the death of the beloved and honored Bishop of the Diocese, Rt. Rev. John Henry Hobart. Grace Church was immediately draped in mourning and so continued till the Christmas
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festival. The Church less than two years after, Jan. 2, 1832, sustained the loss of the Senior Warden and Clerk and Treasurer for many years, Mr. Timothy Nostrand, and the Vestry offered resolutions of sympathy to his family. In 1833, by the sale of railroad stock, the Church was painted and otherwise repaired at a cost of $500.
In 1835, Dec. 18, the Ladies' Missionary Society, organ- ized at the beginning of Mr. Johnson's rectorship, about 1830, through Mrs. Mary E. Johnson gave an organ to the Church. This Society had also since its organization held two fairs, the first on July 4, 1832, and the second on Dec. 23, 1835, and thus raised $1,200, which was donated to missions.
In November, 1835, Mr. Johnson was obliged to go to the south of France and Italy for his health, and after eight months of travel in Europe returned with marked improvement.
He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Alleghany College.
At the beginning of his rectorship Mr. Johnson was allowed a salary of $600. There was expended $100 a year for the previous rector's support, and $100 was divided between the organist, sexton, and organ-blower, one-half of which was given to the organist.
Such straitened finances would well discourage an able minister. He was thought to be generous to a fault by his people, but they did not know, that for several years Mr. Johnson's entire salary was given to the aged retired rector, Doctor Sayres, and the patrimony which Mr. Johnson had received from his father's estate in New York was the insufficient but sole support of his own family.
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Having been reproached for his manner of living and the appearance of his family, Mr. Johnson had to confess that he had not only in this way used up the income but the principal of his little property. Measures were taken after this was known which resulted in a better state of affairs for both families .*
In 1839 so great was the comity of the churches in Jamaica that the Vestry of Grace Church passed resolu- tions of sorrow and sympathy on the death of the Rev. Elias W. Crane, minister of the Presbyterian Church in Jamaica. A copy of this resolution was sent to the Ses- sions of the Congregation and the widow.
The next year $1,250, raised from the Church funds, and $300 by subscription, was expended in again repair- ing the Church.
The Charter of the Church was changed the ensuing year, 1842, on petition to the Legislature, so that residents of Flushing or Newtown, if of full age, pewholders in Grace Church belonging to it for the last twelve months or received therein by baptism, confirmation, or receiving the communion, were allowed equal rights thereafter.
Henry I. Hagner, Judge and Surrogate of Queens County, was a pewholder in Grace Church from 1830 to 1839, and in 1842 was chosen Vestryman and Secretary. He continued either as Vestryman or Warden till 1849.
There was during the next ten years a gradual increase of stipends for the rector and officials of the Church and parish. In 1850 that of the rector was raised to $1,000, and in 1859 $100 was added to it, and that of the sexton and organist amounted to $100, while five per cent. of the
*Rev. Joshua Kimber.
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collections was given to the collector, and the Treasurer received $25.
A baptismal font of Italian marble was donated to the Church by John A. King, Esq., in 1847, and the inside of the Church painted by the efforts of ladies of the congre- gation, and two years after a new organ was obtained for the Church by exchange and the sum of $1,300 additional.
An important addition was made August 14, 1851, to the churchyard from Mr. John A. King's land, for sheds and a cemetery. The sheds were immediately built at a cost of $500.
On Easter Tuesday, 1852, a resolution of sympathy was passed by the Vestry on the death of the Rev. Jacob Schoonmaker, D. D., for half a century the clergyman of the Reformed Dutch Church in Jamaica, "whose life and services have been a practical example of the virtues, piety and charity which should ever adorn the character of a minister of the Church of Christ."
The next year, May 30, Mr. Johnson's health was so much affected that the Vestry voted him a three months' absence and $300 for his expenses. The Vestry also pro- vided for his official duties by paying to the Rev. Mr. Croes one hundred and twenty dollars. The land east of the rector's burial plot up to the fence was given to him, and as a testimony of the integrity and services of Mr. Daniel Cornwell, the deceased collector, the old tankard of Grace Church was given to his widow.
On April 13, 1852, Mr. Jeremiah Valentine was chosen Clerk of the Vestry and entered upon a long period of official services as a member of the Vestry and principal of the Sunday School.
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The latter was so prosperous, that by subscriptions of the congregation and appropriations of the Vestry, a Sun- day School building, 22x40 feet, was erected on land 50 ft. front by 72 feet deep, adjoining the horse sheds and given by Mr. John A. King, at a cost of $650.
There was increasing interest in the music of the ser- vices. Organists were frequently changed, and the salary increased to $200, which was given to Mr. George C. Kissam in 1858, the successor to William J. Sayres.
The Vestry again expressed their sympathy with those who were of other Church denominations. The Church of the Dutch Reformed Congregation was entirely de- stroyed by fire in Nov., 1857, and the Vestry offered seats free to all who would attend the services of Grace Church till their own was restored.
Again in April, 1860, the Vestry voted to clean, paint the walls and otherwise repair the Church building, adding more pews, and new carpets, and removing the old pulpit and desk. There was a gift of $200 by the ladies through Miss Anne Van Wyck, the proceeds of a fair, for stained glass windows, to which $100 more was added by the Vestry. Inside and outside the Church was put in fine condition at a cost of $1,000, obtained by a loan. It was reopened Aug. 26, with a grand Te Deum by the choir and a sermon by the rector. The Rev. Mr. Corneille, who read the service, was made assistant minister, at the re- quest of Dr. Johnson, Nov. 1, 1862.
Five months later, after joyful services on Christmas day, the Church took fire on New Year's morning and was totally destroyed.
The organ and all the furniture was burned. Treasured relics of the earliest history of the Church in Jamaica van-
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ished in the flames. There were two tablets presented by Archbishop Tenison, as the gift of Queen Anne, containing the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer, the graceful communion table of English oak, the vestments, the Bible, and Prayer Book, hallowed by a century and a half of worship, and the Church bell, cast in 1748, and weighing 400 pounds which was broken and melted, but the Queen's arms were rescued, and the silver vessels were happily not in the Church and preserved.
The fire broke out at three o'clock in the morning; it was ascribed to a defective flue. The Church was built of wood and valued at $10,000. An insurance of $6,000, recently taken out on Church and organ was all that was left with which to build again. Even the headstones of graves beneath the Church were crumbled to pieces by the heat. The loss, keenly felt by rector and people, was a call to energetic action by the parish. Their tears over so many sacred and tender recollections were wiped away, and committees appointed to obtain plans for a new edifice, subscriptions for the building, and memorial gifts for the appointments of a new sanctuary.
The last service held in the old Church before its de- struction was the anniversary of Grace Sunday School.
This was established in 1840, Mrs. Hassell and Mrs. W. L. Johnson, the rector's wife, with her sister, Miss Hattie Whitlock, Mrs. William R. Gracie and the Misses Clement, assisting as teachers. The school was held in the Church, and the library was kept in the vestry room adjoining. This room was afterwards enlarged and was used for the sessions of the school, which were much affected by the death of Mrs. Johnson, in 1848. A few zealous teachers and scholars continued the school, under Mr. Jeremiah
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Valentine, who was Superintendent and a Vestryman. Miss Anne Van Wyck drilled the scholars in singing, and Miss Phebe Hagner in the Catechism and Prayer Book, on which she published a book of questions and answers. Mr. Valentine invited Mr. Alleman, a teacher in Union Hall Seminary, to visit the school, to assist in charge. It so increased in numbers that a new building was proposed,
and erected on Flushing Avenue, well furnished, and accommodating 180 scholars and 20 teachers. But Mr. Valentine continued to be the faithful and successful su- perintendent. Harmony prevailed in the school, which the children loved, and maintained with great regularity and interest, and especially in their anniversaries and picnic excursions displayed their enthusiasm .- (H. Onder- donk, Notes.)
There was a response from Grace Church to the calls for aid of the sick, wounded and dying soldiers of the Civil War.
On July 30, 1861, a meeting was held by the ladies of Jamaica in the vestry room of Grace Church, to take measures to act with the Woman's Central Association of Relief for the Army.
A Soldiers' Aid Society was organized, of which Miss Phebe Hagner was Secretary, which held meetings in the Sunday School room and did efficient work during the war.
CNC
REV. WILLIAM LUPTON JOHNSON, D. D.
REV. TIMOTHY CLOWES.
REV. CHARLES SEABURY.
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CHAPTER XIV.
The Rectorship of Doctor Johnson, Continued.
From the ashes of the old Church rose in eleven months a Church edifice worthy of the faith and self-denials, and prayers and labors which for more than a hundred and fifty years had here maintained the ancient liturgy, the principles and the faith and character of the Anglican Church. It was left in the hands of the following build- ing Committee to secure an architect, and plans for a new Church building: Rev. William L. Johnson (rector), John A. King, William J. Cogswell, George H. Kissam, John L. Denton, Hendrick Brinckerhoff.
Dudley Field of New York was chosen by them to draw the plans and superintend the work. His plans were promptly accepted by the Committee. The Church was to be built of New Jersey sandstone. Its dimensions were to be 44 feet wide, by 90 feet long, with tower on one corner 128 feet high; from ground to peak 40 feet, and side walls about 20 feet high. The plan embraced the conveniences and ornaments of modern architecture. Anders Petersen was the contractor for the erection of the building.
It was acknowledged by every one to be an ornament to the village, and the citizens watched with pride the surmounting of the graceful steeple with a stone cross at a height of 115 feet. The walls were 52 feet high at the apex of the gable, and the side walls 22 feet; the tower was 12 feet square, exclusive of the buttresses and front porch.
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The original building was thus described at the time of consecration. "The style of the building is early pointed; with the nave divided into five bays by well-developed buttresses in two stages, lighted by lancet windows in the sides, and by a handsome equilateral window filled with geometrical tracery, in the front gable. The trusses of the roof are molded and exposed to view, within a small distance from the ridge, affording an air space between the outer covering and ceiling for equalizing the temper- ature of the building. The chancel is lighted by a triplet, and divided into sacrarium and choir, with altar, bishop's and rector's chairs, and with prayer book and lectern in choir, and pulpit in the jamb of chancel archway. The organ chamber is connected with nave and chancel by large archways with dwarf screens. The exterior is faced with Belleville stone, with stone tower and broach spire and slated roof."
This graceful and beautiful church was completed and furnished and consecrated within two years after the old church was consumed. The corner-stone was laid July 6, 1861, by Bishop Potter. Among the articles deposited in the corner-stone were two plates from decayed coffins, one inscribed "Thomas Colgan," and the other "Rev. Dr. J. B.," was supposed to be that of Rev. Dr. Joshua Bloomer.
The church was opened September 23, 1862. At the first of the two services Rev. Wm. L. Johnson, D. D., preached the sermon, closing with appropriate words to the congregation, to whom he had ministered for thirty years, and to the older portion particularly, who had been his friends in trials and afflictions. In the afternoon Rev. S. J. Corneille preached from Haggai ii, 9: "The glory of the latter house shall be greater than of the former."
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The application of the prophecy was its fulfillment by the erection, under discouraging circumstances, of this edifice, which exceeded the glory of the former. Mr. Corneille referred to the state of the country in strong terms, and to the necessity of sustaining the Government in the present crisis; and he reminded his hearers that though this Government might fail in its mission, their trust must be in that Government whose Constitution is perfect and fails not; and then he exhorted them to be more punctual in their attendance at Church and more united in their bonds of Christian fellowship; then the glory of the latter house would indeed be greater than the former.
This handsome church edifice was erected at a cost of $19,000. The masonry work was contracted for by Anders Petersen, and the carpenter work by Hendrick Brinckerhoff. The last expense was for a bell weighing a little more than 1200 pounds, cast at Meneely's West Troy works. Into this bell is cast a legend, giving the date of incorporation of Grace Church, and of the erection of this edifice, and the names of the building committee.
The subscriptions for this building amounted to $4,453. Governor John A. King gave $1,000 and also the new organ made by Jardine & Co. It contained 14 stops and 403 pipes, and an independent sub-base. This organ con- tinued to be used by Grace Church for forty years. It was rich in tone and of high compass.
When the corner-stone was laid by Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, July 6, 1861, he alluded to the presence of the aged former rector, Rev. Dr. Sayres, who making a short but affectionate address, gave his blessing to the work. This greatly moved the people.
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At the consecration of Grace Church by Bishop Horatio Potter, about twenty clergymen were in the procession, which, preceded by Bishop Potter, and the rector, marched from the vestry room toward the Church, at the entrance of which they were received by the Church Wardens and Vestrymen, then moved up the center aisle to the com- munion table, chanting the seventy-fourth Psalm.
The instrument of donation and endowment was pre- sented by Hon. John A. King, and read by one of the Clergy, while the Bishop was seated. The sentence of consecration, also written, was placed in the hands of the Rector, and read by him to the congregation: this was returned to the hands of the Bishop, who laid it upon the communion table, after which the service was continued as laid down in the book of Common Prayer.
Bishop Potter in his sermon praised the congregation, "offering such a beautiful, substantial and suitable house to the Lord," and also gave a tribute well deserved to the rector, "going in and out before the people for more than thirty years, always faithful to his ministerial trust, and who now, when he was growing old, receives from the worthies of his church tokens of their attachment, respect and love."
The organist of the Dutch Reformed Church, who had during the erection of the building, courteously furnished their Consistory Room on Union Ave. for the use of the worshippers of Grace Church, was invited to preside at the new organ, and its sweet and solemn tones, under his guidance, deeply impressed the congregation. The same courtesy had been extended to the Church by the Presby- terians when the former church was laid in ashes, and gratefully acknowledged by act of the Vestry.
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The services thus inaugurated and resumed in the new church were continued with great interest. The music was under the direction of Miss Virginia Johnson, the daughter of the rector. The prosperity of the Church seemed assured by the increased congregation, and the willing hands that now sustained what not only appealed to the piety but to the respect of the community for the sacrifices made to sustain the worship of God, in this beautiful sanctuary. The Sunday School was conducted with vigor, prizes were given for attendance, and excel- lence in examinations, at the yearly celebrations of the school.
Rev. Dr. Johnson was a Freemason of high degree, and for this Fraternity public services on St. John, the Evan- gelist's Day, and at other times, were held in Grace Church. On Dec. 27, 1864, the Rector preached to the Masons, in their commemoration of the day.
The ill health of the Rector again required his absence in foreign travel, in the beginning of the year 1864, but he returned after a few months to resume his pastoral duties.
On Dec. 5, 1866, thieves broke into the Church and took away carpets which were afterwards found in a barn where they had long laid. Later on other burglaries were successful, and the Church was protected by a burglar alarm.
The missionary collections were good responses to the appeals of the Rev. Dr. Twing, Secretary of the Com- mittee of the Episcopal Board of Domestic Missions. In February, 1867, the offering was $126.
A meeting of the Convocation of Queens and Suffolk Counties was held in Grace Church for two days, in the
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first part of January, 1868, and thereafter Jamaica was frequently chosen for the assemblies of churchmen.
Rev. Mr. Corneille remained as assistant minister to Dr. Johnson until May 16, 1863, and no other was called till Jan., 1864, when Rev. Augustus W. Cornell was en- gaged, at a salary of $600 per year. Having been ad- vanced to the priesthood by Bishop Potter April 1, he left Jamaica May 1, 1866, and was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Cook, May 10, the same year, at a salary of $800. Dr. Johnson was now unable to perform many of the duties of the rectorship, and for three years his assistant did efficient service, largely increasing the congregation by his pastoral labors and preaching, from the people of Lutheran education, who were rapidly increasing and becoming a considerable part of the township and community.
Mr. Cook was a popular lecturer and Sunday School worker, and was able to gather a large number into the Sunday School. He undoubtedly became assistant with the expectation of succeeding to the rectorship. On July 25, 1869, Mr. Cook began the mission services in Clar- enceville, which resulted in the subsequent organization of the Parish of the Church of the Resurrection at Richmond Hill in 1874 by Rev. Joshua Kimber, its first rector, and also extended his mission activities to Queens, where he laid the foundations of the present St. Joseph's Church.
The changes in the Vestry each year brought into active and influential churchmanship such able men as Judge W. J. Cogswell, Alexander Hagner, James J. Brenton, and Jeremiah Valentine, who were in succession War- dens and Treasurers and the latter Clerk of the Vestry, and Theodore J. Cogswell, a very much loved teacher and Superintendent of the Sunday School.
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