USA > New York > Queens County > Jamaica > The origin and history of Grace church, Jamaica, New York > Part 9
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Miss Jenny Aymar was appointed organist in 1865, with William Creed as organ assistant. Lewis Buckbee was appointed sexton, April 24, 1866, beginning a service in that capacity which continued over forty years.
The next year Mrs. Charles King made a notable gift of tablets containing the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments, replacing those which had been destroyed with the old church. The Vestry tendered her their grateful acknowledgments, and the sincere and heartfelt thanks of the congregation, not only for the intrinsic worth of the gift, but also, "as a fitting memorial of one whose pious and generous deeds have given her honored and cherished name a welcome place upon our records." It remained till the new sanctuary was built, and was afterwards preserved to be erected in the new parish house, half a century later.
Again the Church was burglarized, Sept. 22, 1868, and vestments of the clergy and altar, including a handsome and costly gold embroidered altar-cloth, were taken. They were replaced in part by subsequent gifts by Mrs. J. Ban- croft Davis, a member of the King family, who the same year presented a beautiful altar-cloth to the Church.
Death was taking some of the noblest and best of this happy parish, at this period of its history. Rev. Dr. Sayres passed away, and was buried May, 1867, and on July 8, two months after those services, the Hon. John Alsop King, ex-Governor of New York died, the chief sup- porter of his Rector and Church, as had been his father, Hon. Rufus King, at the beginning of the century.
Governor King was stricken at the celebration of Fourth of July by the Young Men's Literary Union. At the close he made a short but memorable impromptu address. "My
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young friends," he said, "upon you will devolve the im- portant duty of maintaining and strengthening the gov- ernment of your country. Those like me have nearly finished their work and look to you to carry forward your country to the great future that awaits her. Cultivate a respect for religion and virtue. No people or country can prosper or become great without this. Let your prayers be not only that those who hold the positions of power may be wise and discreet, but have ambition to labor for the honor and glory of the land. Life is all before you, but old men like me are passing away."
Governor King was stricken with paralysis as he uttered these words, and faltered in his speech, but was caught in the arms of those near him when falling, and carried to the back of the stage. Doctors Hendrickson and Barker were soon at hand to give such relief as was possible, as he remained for a while conscious. He died on the follow- ing Sunday afternoon.
At his death the community was specially and deeply moved, and on the day of the funeral, while the bells tolled and business in Jamaica ceased its activities, the people crowded to take a last look at their distinguished friend and fellow citizen. The services were held in Grace Church. The plain rosewood coffin with silver handles bore a large silver plate suitably inscribed:
JOHN ALSOP KING SON OF RUFUS AND MARY KING BORN JANUARY 9, 1788 DIED JULY 8, 1867
A mural tablet of Italian marble was erected on the wall of Grace Church, bearing an effigy of the deceased, and
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adding to the name and dates of his birth and death the following inscription :
A MOST BELOVED AND HONORED FATHER A WISE AND PURE STATESMAN
AN EMINENT, USEFUL AND LOYAL CITIZEN A ZEALOUS MEMBER AND WARDEN OF THIS CHURCH A GOOD NEIGHBOR, A TRUE FRIEND IN HIS FAMILY AFFECTIONATE SYMPATHETIC AND GENEROUS IN EVERY TRUST FAITHFUL
"He did justly, loved mercy, And walked humbly with his God."
"Be thou faithful unto death,
And I will give thee a crown of life."
There were more than two thousand persons who took a last look at the revered face of this honored friend of the poor, counsellor of the citizens, Governor of the State, and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, in His church, as the coffin lay surrounded by floral gifts in the large hall of the manor.
A procession of twelve clergymen of neighboring churches and of New York, his three physicians, the Vestry of Grace Church, trustees of the village and its institutions of education, numbering nearly five hundred people, fol- lowed the honorary pall-bearers of military and civic dis- tinction and the coffin to the church, for the services, and to the graveyard adjoining, where ex-Governor King was laid to rest with his ancestors.
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The Vestry of Grace Church, in their resolutions, com- memorated "the loss of one who was endeared to this parish by long association, constant sympathy, and by his large benefactions to the church, its charities, and its poor. We are indeed bereaved and feel impressed with grief; but yet we yield our hearty thanks to Almighty God for the example of this Christian gentleman who has departed this life in his fear and service."
The resolutions were offered by Mr. James J. Brenton, an influential citizen of Jamaica, for many years, and who himself was one of Governor King's ablest and prominent associates in the Vestry of Grace Church.
Governor King left a remarkable family to take up his work in the Church and community. His son, afterwards Senator John A. King, two daughters, Miss Cornelia King and Mrs. Sydam, were conspicuous through the next three rectorships, in works of faith, charity and social activities in Jamaica.
One thousand dollars were left in Governor King's will to the Church, to keep the burying ground in order, and land from his estate was afterwards several times added to the churchyard.
During this and previous years several legacies were left for the Sunday School work of Grace Church. Mr. John Emmons Napier, who died Oct. 10, 1868, established a fund of $500, the interest of which was to be used by the rector for the purchase of books for the school. Misses Elizabeth Woolley and Sarah Woolley each bequeathed to Grace Church $500, and Walter Nichols left $300 for the Sunday School.
Three years after his beloved Warden and helper, Gov- ernor King, had been buried with imposing ceremonial,
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Doctor Johnson passed away to his eternal home. He died of apoplexy Aug. 4, 1870. He was still holding the rectorship, continued for forty years. No less honored in his death and burial than his warden was this faithful, courteous, beloved and able preacher and devoted minister of Jesus Christ.
On August 8, 1870, Bishop Littlejohn of the Diocese of Long Island, and Bishop Potter of New York, with forty of the clergy, with the family and a great concourse of citizens, moved in solemn procession from the house to the church, bearing the remains of the deceased rector. After the service, in which a memorial sermon was preached by the former assistant, Rev. Mr. Corneille, his body was committed to the ground by the two bishops, and Bishop Potter gave the solemn benediction to the people, who in a great throng nearly filled the churchyard.
The resolutions of the Vestry speak of the loss of a lov- ing friend, a faithful priest and a wise and learned teacher. "He merited and won the affections of the young, and the confidence and respect of elder Christians. During the long period of his service he was a friend and adviser in prosperity and a minister of consolation in times of trial and sorrow. By his decease, a relation has terminated, which established as it was in mutual love and confidence, only grew stronger and firmer with the lapse of time."
A similar expression of their esteem and affection was made by the members of Jamaica Masonic Lodge, who had added their ritual to the obsequies of the church at the burial.
A fitting memorial was placed in the new sanctuary of Grace Church, thirty-two years later, by one of his sons. It was a large and beautiful altar of Eschallion marble,
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near where he had eloquently preached the gospel of love and pardon, and also offered the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist.
Doctor Johnson's parish was undivided, and the people well united by social affinities and educational influences during his prosperous ministry. His salary, and that of his assistant, Mr. Cook, was increased to $1,200 each in the last two years. The Vestry voted to continue Dr. Johnson's salary till Jan. 1, 1871, and to pay the expenses of his illness and funeral.
Doctor Johnson left three children, J. G. Johnson of New York, Miss Virginia Johnson and Mrs. Shepperson of Brooklyn. His wife, who was Miss Mary Elizabeth Whitlock, died long before him, May 19, 1848.
The Vestry did not continue the relation of Rev. Thomas Cook, but gave a donation from the Vestry of $600, for his efficient services as assistant minister in charge to Dr. Johnson.
For a year and a half the procuring of officiating minis- ters was committed to Warden J. J. Brenton, and $20 a Sunday was allowed to the clergymen, and $400 expended in the salary of organist and assistant sexton and special needs of the Sunday School, until the election of the twelfth rector, the Rev. George Williamson Smith.
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The Modern Period
CHAPTER XV.
The Ministry and Life of the Church in the Rectorship of Rev. George Williamson Smith, S. T. D.,
LL. D .- 1872-1881.
This period of our history includes the rectorships of clergymen still living and active, though retired from their official positions. Their ministry completed two hundred years of the Church's life, and extended ten years into the third century. Three of them took charge in Jamaica with only a few years' experience of pastoral duty, and undertook larger responsibilities after leaving Jamaica.
The most distinguished of these, Rev. George William- son Smith, came to Jamaica early in his career, at a time auspicious for his success in establishing the position of Grace Church in the new diocese of Long Island. There she stood, as first in priority of organization and in the ministry of rectors. She was eminent in the reputation of her membership, and in the service her ministers and communicants had rendered to the Church in America, and was well fitted to take an important part in the found- ing of charitable institutions and missionary organizations for the extension of the diocese. It was an interesting field for the exercise of churchmanship such as Bishop Littlejohn, who had been elected and consecrated in 1869, called upon his presbyters to sustain. There was an en- thusiasm needed in forming the relations of the churches,
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and laying out their work on broad lines for the develop- ment of this important diocese, and Rev. Mr. Smith was well fitted to be a leader in the administration of its affairs under such a bishop, whose high scholarship and fore- thought and plans demanded equally able and intelligent clergy to assist him in his measures for the prosperity of the Episcopal Church in Long Island.
Mr. Smith had a personality which could attract and inspire confidence in his parishioners. He had a com- manding stature, a scholarly mind, a strong will and a warm heart. He had quick sympathy with suffering, and a disposition to personal sacrifice for its relief, which had been strengthened in his experiences during the momen- tous struggles of the nation in the Civil War. He had been patriotic in thought and impulse, in those scenes which tried his principles to the utmost. His first services after receiving holy orders had been as Chaplain in the Navy, and he came out of them sharing that heroic spirit which American citizenship possessed through the per- sonal sacrifices in that strife for the maintenance of the Union, that ennobled the whole nation.
George Williamson Smith was born at Catskill, N. Y., Nov. 21, 1836. He graduated at Hobart College in 1857, and received the diploma of Master of Arts in his College in 1860. He was principal of Bladensburg Academy, Maryland, for a year, and there married Miss Susanna Duval. For three years he was clerk in the Navy Depart- ment, from 1861 to 1864, and was appointed Chaplain of the United States in 1865, acting Professor of Mathe- matics at the Naval Academy, Newport, for a year, and Chaplain of the Naval Academy at Annapolis for three years, and, in 1868, Chaplain of the U. S. S. Franklin, where he remained till 1871.
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His service as Chaplain made a deep impression on his character, developing a sturdy patriotism and a sympathy with the manly traits of American seamen, and especially their courage in the rough experiences of war.
Mr. Smith was elected rector of Grace Church at a salary of $2,000 per annum, and $500 additional per year till a rectory should be provided. He accepted the elec- tion Feb. 6, 1872. The Vestry that called him to this rectorship were Messrs. W. J. Cogswell, J. J. Brenton (Wardens), M. G. Johnson, S. S. Aymar, Alexander Hag- ner, John B. Napier, William J. Sayres, Nathaniel Vander- verg and Jeremiah Valentine.
The following May the residence of Carlos Butler, at 62 Clinton Avenue, was purchased for a rectory for $9,000, and $700 appropriated for its furnishing.
Jamaica was still remote from the rapidly developing activities of New York City and Brooklyn, to which cities it had for many years the slow transportation facilities of a horse car, afterwards made into a trolley line. The in- land towns of Queens were not yet in railroad connection with the Long Island ferry. Yet these gradually improv- ing methods of transit were overcome by the energy of some of the leading citizens, who did their business and followed their professions in New York, and the outlook for future prosperity and importance of Jamaica was an encouragement to make a strong parish.
The new rector was fortunate in his helpers. The King family were still as prominent and steadfast as ever in the affairs of the parish. Mr. John A. King had moved into his father's residence, where his mother was still living and where Miss Cornelia King, his sister, as strong and vigorous and devoted a churchwoman as the diocese pos-
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sessed, stood ready also to co-operate with him in all mis- sionary and charitable labors. The Aymars, Barkers, Bessemers, Betts, Brentons, Cogswells, Cranes, Dentons, Hagners, Hicks, Gales, Napiers, Sayres and Stocking families, men and women, were perhaps the most promi- nent, among many others in the parish, to be relied upon to take responsible action in maintaining the services and finances of the Church, the expanding influence of the Sunday School, the zealous efforts to evangelize and ex- tend the traditions of the parish whose boundaries (the same as the original township of Jamaica) by the provi- sions of the Royal Charter were confirmed by the canons of the diocese of Long Island.
A notable death in the second year of this ministry began a series of afflictions which came rapidly upon this prosperous Church, and saddened the hearts of the rector and his coworkers. Mrs. Mary Colden King, the mother of the late ex-Governor King, died in August, 1873, loved and respected by the people of the Church and by all who knew her. Her children endowed a bed in St. John's hos- pital in her remembrance to be at the disposition of the rector, Church Wardens and Vestry of Grace Church. A memorial lectern of carved black oak, in the form of a Greek cross, surmounted by an eagle holding the support to the Bible, was placed on the steps leading to the choir, by Miss Cornelia King, also in loving memory of her mother.
A memorial tablet of brass to Theodore J. Cogswell, for his membership and service for twenty-five years as scholar, teacher, and Superintendent was placed upon the walls of the school-room. Mr. Cogswell was born Jan. 27, 1843, and died Nov. 22, 1877. He was an earnest and active Christian, with traits that endeared him not
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only to his family, but to those for whom in the com- munity he was ever ready to sacrifice himself. He was especially a friend of the young for whom he untiringly labored in the work of the Sunday School.
On April 9, 1880, the Vestry recorded the death of their late associate, Alexander Hagner, who had been for seven- teen years a Vestryman, conspicuous in their deliberations, "while his strong common sense and sound judgment caused his counsel to be of more than ordinary value and weight in shaping the legislation pertaining to this parish." Mr. Hagner was described in their resolutions as "one who was widely known and highly respected in the community, where he filled most acceptably many honored and im- portant positions."
In 1878 there was an expression of the interest and loyalty of the congregation to the missions of the Church, which was specially honorable to the Rev. William Sea- man Sayres, the grandson of their former rector, who had accepted an appointment as missionary to China. There was presented to him through the Vestry the sum of $270, as an evidence of their "approbation of the earnestness, piety and devotion which characterized the ministry" of their young brother.
The work of the Church Charity Foundation excited the special interest of the Jamaica congregation. Mrs. Smith, the rector's wife, and Miss Cornelia King were associate managers. Miss King later on became the presi- dent of the board of managers, which position she held for many years.
The Woman's Missionary Aid, Mrs. G. W. Smith as president and Mrs. C. A. Beldin treasurer, Mrs. Gilbert Sayres vice-president and Miss Lizzie Sayres secretary,
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was a steady contributor to the missions supported by the women , and the General Board.
The mission services, at what is now Richmond Hill, were maintained by Mr. Benjamin J. Brenton, and occa- sional ministrations by the rector. They increased and prospered, and the parish of the Church of the Resurrec- tion was set off, and the corner-stone of the Church laid Dec. 28, 1877.
The Charitable Association of Grace Church was organ- ized during Mr. Smith's ministry. Its officers were the rector, Benjamin J. Brenton (president), Gilbert Sayres (secretary), J. Augustus Lodge (treasurer). The monthly offering of each member was not to exceed twenty-five cents, and it became popular and a vigorous aid to the home benefactions, and care of the poor and sick of the community. The Woman's Missionary Aid Society re- ceived one-fourth of the subscriptions.
The decrease of income from Grace Parish by pew rents, investments and offerings was noticeable in Dr. Smith's rectorship. In 1873 it amounted to $11,301.00, in 1875 to $8,348.52, and subsequent years, till 1880, to an aver- age of over $6,500. In 1873 the gifts to missions were $1,445.68, in 1880 they were $778.07, in the intervening years they fell to about one-half the latter sum annually. Other charities amounted to about $1,500 yearly. There was, in 1880, a communicant list of 278, and 521 mem- bers of the congregation. The religious education of the children of the parish was carefully fostered. The Sunday School flourished so much as to require enlargement of the Sunday School building. The Sunday School for colored people, conducted by Miss Phebe Hagner for many years, was under her care and that of Mrs. Bessemer. This
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OF GRACE CHURCH
school was established as early as 1837, as a week-day school. Samuel W. Berry was the first teacher; the pupils numbered 25 boys and 35 girls. Visitors to this school published statements that the colored children of those days were not a whit behind white children of the same age and reared under like disadvantages.
Dr. Smith was a pastor whose ministrations to the sick were faithful and sympathetic. His work as Chaplain had specially fitted him to be a loved helper to the distressed. He had there won the commendation of Admiral Rodgers of the U. S. S. Franklin, when the smallpox broke out among the crew, and sixty of the seamen were prostrated by it. A building on shore was obtained for a hospital, and the Chaplain left his comfortable quarters to live in a pest house, "where he was always found by the side of the sick men, praying with them, talking to them, making their wills, and in every way striving to minister to their comfort." Chaplain Smith succumbed at last to the ex- haustion which was caused by the constant work of body and mind he had undergone for weeks. He, however, escaped the disease against which he had not been guarded by vaccination when he undertook this brave work of ministering to those sick and dying of this malignant disease.
There were several families of clergymen in the congre- gation at this time, who were staunch supporters of the rector, and enjoyed his forcible and able preaching and fellowship. Of the ministers who were neighbors, and in frequent association with him, were especially Rev. W. H. Carmichael, a retired clergyman, and Rev. Samuel S. Stocking, in charge of the church at Massapequa, and conducting in Jamaica a boys' school on Clinton Avenue, where the large and stately house he occupied, with its
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extensive rose garden filled with choicest plants, is still occupied by his aged widow. The third clergyman was Rev. Beverly R. Betts, librarian of Columbia College.
In 1880, Mr. Smith received the honorary degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology (S. T. D.) from Hobart Col- lege. He was now in the prime of his powers, and desired a field more suited to his aggressive mind, for Jamaica was at a standstill, and still much affected by its traditions of nearly two centuries. He received an election from the Church of the Redeemer in Brooklyn, and accepted this call to what he hoped might be or lead to a larger work for him.
While there, he was elected President of Trinity College, where he had a distinguished career of twenty years, in which that college made great progress in every way, and enlarged its finances, buildings and the number of its stu- dents. Dr. Smith, as President of this church institution, received numerous honors.
The degree of S. T. D. was conferred upon him by Co- lumbia University in 1887. He was made Doctor of Laws by Trinity the same year, Doctor of Divinity by Williams College in 1889, and by Yale in 1901, and having been retired as Professor Emeritus in 1904, he went abroad.
What Dr. Smith thought of his people and church in Jamaica was acknowledged in his eloquent sermon at the consecration of the Church after the erection of the new sanctuary in 1902.
One of the most important works for Grace Church at the close of Dr. Smith's administration was the publica- tion by Mr. Henry Onderdonk, Jr., of the "Antiquities of the Parish Church, Jamaica, with a Continuation of the
REV. GEORGE WILLIAMSON SMITH, D. D., LL. D. (Photograph Taken in 1884.)
REV. WILLIAM M. BOTTOME.
REV. EDWIN B. RICE.
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History of Grace Church." This was published at Jamaica, N. Y., by Charles Welling, 1880.
It was the diligence of many years which accomplished this collection of facts and documents and current items that make up the substance of this valuable book. It is rather a compendium of history than a condensed and lively narrative, but it was the fruit of much research and reading and accurate transcription of material from many sources. It made faithful use of the records of the Vestry, and registers of the rectors and ministers, through 150 years, and an invaluable service was rendered by this gentleman and scholar, who gave a labor of love for the church and community where so many of his years were spent in educating the sons and daughters of Long Island families.
This memorial has acknowledged already the author's indebtedness to Mr. Onderdonk.
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CHAPTER XVI.
The Rectorship of Rev. Edwin B. Rice-1882-1892.
Rev. Edwin B. Rice was assistant minister of Holy Trinity Church, 42d street, in New York, when he was elected by the Vestry as successor to Dr. Smith in May, 1882. He was a graduate of the University of the City of New York in 1876, and of the Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Virginia. He began his ministry June 18, 1882.
Mr. Rice received his ordination as priest from Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, D. D., Dec. 19, 1879, and immediately entered upon his duties as an assistant minister at Holy Trinity. He was thirty years old, and unmarried, when he came to Jamaica.
At this time the walls of the church had been tinted, and other improvements in the furnishings made, and the Sun- day School had been presented with an Estey chapel organ of good tone.
Mr. Rice made a good impression with his first sermon, and justified the expectations of the people that they were to have an able and attractive preacher, a consecrated rector and a devout ministrant at the altar.
He had a pleasing personality, and the young people and children of the congregation and Sunday School rallied with enthusiasm at the sessions of the Sunday School, and the numerous entertainments of a religious character, and annual excursions, which were made for them.
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