USA > New York > Dutchess County > Poughkeepsie > The records of Christ church, Poughkeepsie, New York, Vol I > Part 11
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Through the door at the west end, access was had directly to the church, without a vestibule, a stove stand- ing between the door and the pews. Two aisles separat- ed a double set of pews in the center from a single row at either side, and a few additional pews were in the corners at the east end, at right angles to the others. They were all built with doors and a slanting shelf for a book and kneeling rest. The galleries on the north and south sides contained three banks of pews (the north side for the men, and the south side for the women), and that at the west held the organ. All the woodwork was painted white, and the walls were light.
In front of the large window at the east end, was a platform, raised about a foot above the level of the pew floor, and surrounded by a mahogany railing and kneeling cushion. Before the window was the high pulpit of part-octagon shape and wineglass stem; it was painted a peculiar shade of "greenish-yellowish
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white," and there was a large cushion for a sermon rest. Above it was a huge sounding-board, and below it a long narrow reading-desk, on the north end of which lay the Bible. Below the reading-desk was the Com- munion Table.
This "three-decker" arrangement, as it is now called, was introduced by Bishop Hobart,1 and was the one in most common use at the time. Before his day in the Church, the Tables for the Communion had been hidden behind the enormous pulpits, but the emphasis laid by the Bishop on the sacramental aspect of religion brought them out to a position of comparative honor in full view of the congregation. It follows that, as this placing was the plan of Bishop Hobart, it must have been adopted in Christ Church during the rectorate of Dr. Reed, as rectorate and episcopate began simultaneously, and this leads to a belief that it was at this time that the original Table, given by Mr. John Crooke, was relin- quished, for a Table of another design was in use about 1820.2
A question to Mr. Ruggles regarding the Communion silver used in his boyhood drew from him this anecdote: "I distinctly remember that Dr. Reed used to administer the sacramental wine from a large silver cup. And this cup I remember from an incident, very unimportant in itself, which, however, as a reminiscence of the old church, I will mention. The chancel was at the east end of the church, then came the pews, but between the pews and the front door there was a small space, where a plain bench, large enough for three or four persons, was placed to accommodate chance comers. On this bench
1 Tiffany's History of the Protestant Episcopal Church, p. 458.
2 See Mr. Ruggles's drawing of the interior of the church.
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INTERIOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDING About 1820
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might be seen every Sunday an aged black woman, very neat in her attire, which, however, indicated great poverty. She was a church member, a communicant, and on Communion Sundays, after the 'Saints' of the white race had communed together, Dr. Reed would look over the pews towards the old negress (who, at some pe- riod of her life, must have been a slave, if she were not so then) and she would slowly shuffle up to the chancel- railing, and partake of the elements, communing alone with God! and it used to occur to my boyish mind, when I saw her raise the cup to her lips, whether it did not make the poor creature feel a little happy and proud to be allowed to sip from what seemed so splendid a silver vessel. That was nearly a hundred years ago, and the races still disdain to go to Heaven together."
Of the singing-school then maintained, and the ob- servance of Christmas Eve, Mr. Ruggles gave realistic descriptions. "The organist of the church (in those days) was Abel Gunn, a youthful genius, with sunken cheeks and a consumptive tendency, while a tall and lank New England singing-master, of the name of Stough- ton, exercised the youths and maidens of the congrega- tion in psalm singing. He used to walk up and down before the class, and, as they sang, he waved his arms and beat time with both hands at once, reminding me of some picture I had seen of a sorcerer performing an incantation. He was particularly strong upon anthems, his favorites being 'Strike the cymbals,' and 'Sound the loud timbrels o'er Egypt's dark sea.' In one of these (I have forgotten which) there is an allusion to a roll of thunder; and here was Abel Gunn's opportunity, for at this point he introduced a sort of organ 'Obligato,' in which, by the aid of the low stops and notes of his
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instrument, he imitated a crash of thunder with such fidelity as to win unbounded admiration!"
"I do not remember any occasion when the church was lighted up except on Christmas Eve, and then it was done by candles attached in some way to the pillars that supported the galleries. The church was always profusely decorated with evergreens on that occasion, and to me it appeared all light and cheerfulness. I suppose I must have attended service there four or five times before I left Poughkeepsie, and one of the things I learned to regard as an attraction on that evening (I was generally asleep during the sermon) was the con- cluding hymn, 'While Shepherds watched their Flocks by Night,' which was sung to music which I thought exquisite, and it is fresh in my mind how the words of the hymn (which, in fact, are exceedingly meagre and poor, tho' I did not know that then) and the sweetness of the music (probably not very artistic) charmed my fancy with the picture of the fearful watch of the shepherds, and the radiant descent of the angel with his glad message, and I may say that, in the course of a long life, I have never heard any better music, or, at least, any that pleas- ed me more, than that simple hymn in the old Pough- keepsie church."
A letter from Mr. Ruggles, dated New York, December 8th, 1903, explains itself:
My dear Miss Reynolds,
I send you by express a rough drawing of the interior of the old "English Church" at Poughkeepsie. It was made from my recollections by my son, who is an architect, and is, of course, liable to many mistakes in particulars. It is, more- over, the result of three attempts, of which I used the first two for guides and correction. I see in it slight errors in small details, but the main effect, the relative position of pulpit, lec-
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tern, and Communion Table, and the general effect of the church is correct. Of course it is roughly done, there is no attempt to do fine work in it, but it is exact and near enough to the reality to give a fairly correct notion of the interior of the old building, as it once was, and, as such, I thought it might be serviceable and have therefore ventured to send it.
I remain,
Your friend and servant,
Henry J. Ruggles.
A question, previously referred to, that was put to Mr. Ruggles about the Communion silver was prompted by the lamentable lack of information which prevails regard- ing the fate of the two cups and the beaker presented to the Church in 1774. They disappeared, leaving no hint nor tradition of what became of them. One of the oldest members of the congregation, whose death has only just occurred, surmised the possibility that Dr. Reed had them melted, and made into something else, as he thought Dr. Reed had no liking for old things, but this suggestion was only a supposition. Until very recent years, the chalices used by this Church in the service of the Communion were two large cups of ungainly shape, without hall-marks, not of particularly finished work- manship, and whose origin is unrecorded. Could it be that these represent the material of the early pieces? Our ignorance on this point (and of many other details of Dr. Reed's administration) might not have existed if the contemporary treasurer's records were at hand. It is much to be deplored that the day books of William Emott and of Thomas L. Davies, whose combined terms of office as treasurer extended from 1788 to 1864, are lost, and that the minutes of the proceedings of the vestry, kept by Dr. Reed, himself, are exceedingly scanty.
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Certain it is that Dr. Reed introduced some new silver, for, in the possession of the parish are a flagon and a paten (the latter still in use) bearing hall-marks which show that they were made in New York City by John W. Forbes, who was a silversmith in business there from 1802 to 1829. Also in the possession of the parish, and in use, are two silver alms-basins, which are marked, "A donation to Christ Church from Catharine Reade 1818."
The donor of these plates was the widow of the former warden, John Reade. She occupied a house which still remains on Market street, guarded and overshadow- ed by its giant sycamores; a house which is a landmark in the town, and replete with suggestion of the particular charm that immortalized Cranford. Let us appreciate, before we lose them, our remnants of a regime that is past!
Mr. Ruggles remembered no Sunday School in Christ Church prior to his departure from Poughkeepsie in 1824. It is therefore hardly to be questioned that the mention of "70 Sunday Scholars," in Dr. Reed's parochial report to the Diocesan Convention of 1824, marks the begin- ning in that year of that important branch of parish work. The first Sunday School work in the Diocese of New York was organized in New York City in 1817 by the formation of the New York Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Society, but, although Christ Church Sunday School opened in 1824 with seventy pupils, it was not until October 19th, 1829, that the Protestant Episcopal Sunday School Society of Christ Church in Poughkeepsie adopted a name and a constitution, elected officers, a board of managers and a board of visitors, and planned its work. How long it maintained
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a corporate existence, its single volume of records does not show. Two superintendents were appointed in October, 1829, Benjamin C. Van Vliet and Mrs. Anne Greene, who had under them a corps of eighteen teachers (seven men and eleven women) for one hundred and four pupils (forty-eight boys and fifty-six girls). The func- tion of the visitors to the school was defined as, "to visit the scholars and animate them to do their duty." The organizing members of this parochial society were:
President
John Reed, D.D.
Vice-President
Wm. T. Belden
Treasurer
John L. Fonda
Secretary
Richard D. Davis
Managers
John Cooper
Isaac Platt
Wm. T. Belden
Benj. C. Van Vliet
Elias Trivett
Geo. M. Van Kleeck
J. L. Fonda
Eliphaz Fay
Walter Cunningham
Frederick T. Parsons
Paraclete Potter
Chester Turner
Henry Conklin
George Hatch
Marinus Pierce
Visitors
James Emott
Mrs. N. P. Tallmadge
William Davies
Mrs. T. L. Davies
Geo, P. Oakley
Mrs. J. D. Robinson
Elias Trivett
Mrs. Dr. Reed
John H. Davis
Mrs. J. Hooker
James Hooker
Mrs. J. Emott
N. P. Tallmadge
Mrs. William Davies
Thomas L. Davies
Mrs. I. I. Balding
Mrs. Ann Green
John Stanwix John D. Robinson
Miss Elizabeth Parkinson
Stephen Pardee
Mrs. Leonard Davis
Richard I. Fonda
Mrs. J. W. Oakley
Jonathan Wadsworth
Miss Sally Davis
Mrs. John L. Fonda
Richard Pudney Warren Skinner
Miss Harriet Smith."
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The land surrounding the church had been used for burial purposes from the time of the erection of the building. So early as 1775 the vestry formulated rules governing interments; they ordered, then, that the sexton was to be applied to when it was desired to have a grave opened in the churchyard, and that two shillings were to be paid for the use of the church for funerals, and, in 1786, it was further voted to have a "decent board fence put about the Churchyard." The yard was not a large one, and by 1816 the vestry thought well to authorize Mr. Reed "to negotiate for ground for a Burial place, and to report thereon." Neither at that time was anything accomplished, nor in 1825, when the proposition was again brought up, but, in 1828, the property was acquired on which the present church building stands. It is part of a tract which the early maps of Poughkeepsie show was a village common, and it was spoken of as "the common" so late as in the boy- hood of Henry J. Ruggles, about 1820. It suffered encroachments by squatters (as had the common north- east of the village, adjoining the Church glebe), and Dr. Reed had to untie some tangles in the title before the Corporation took final possession.
The map of Poughkeepsie for 1790 shows Ragged Lane (now Academy street), starting at Main street and ending at a road that is now Montgomery street; on the south side of that road, facing Ragged Lane, was “Van Kleeck's White House." How Lawrence Van Kleeck came into possession of the portion of the common surrounding his house does not appear, but, in 1791, he having died, the Sheriff sold this land to George Ludlow of New York, to satisfy judgments against Van Kleeck's heirs, and Dr. Reed purchased from George Ludlow's devisees.
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Meanwhile, a large section of the common had come into the hands of a certain Bronson French. Tradition says that French's farm was steadily increased in size by the occasional, quiet advancement of his fences. However that may be, his boundaries, as put forth by him, stood in the way of a clear transfer from the Lud- lows to Dr. Reed, and it was necessary to extinguish his claim by procuring a separate deed from him, in which the consideration named is one dollar. The price paid by Dr. Reed to the Ludlows in 1828 was $666.67, for an undivided interest in about seven acres of land. The seven acres were held in common by the Church and the Ludlows until December 20th, 1836, when a deed of partition was signed. By this deed, the Church took title1 to all the land between Montgomery and Barclay to the north and south, and Hamilton and Academy to the east and west, except the lot on the southeast corner of Montgomery and Carroll, and a narrow strip at the northwest corner of Barclay and South Hamilton, which were retained by the Ludlow heirs.
Dr. Reed's purchase from the Ludlows was made on January 15th, 1828, and his deed from Bronson French he obtained on March 15th, following. On April 19th, the vestry endorsed his action, and voted to reimburse him for the money he had advanced, not only for the purchase price, but also for the improvement of the land, the minute stating that one half of it had then been laid out in plots, and enclosed as a burying-ground.
Among the parish records is a small account book, with entries in Dr. Reed's writing, giving his receipts and disbursements in behalf of the burying-ground.
1 Deeds relating to this property are filed in the County Clerk's office, Liber 42, pp. 1, 3, 4; 58, p. 401; 59, p. 593; 61, p. 441.
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This little book shows that from January 15th to May 26th, 1828, he was busy preparing the ground for the use to which it was to be put, removing stones, laying out paths, embanking terraces, sowing Timothy seed, setting boundary stones, buying locust posts, bolts and locks, etc.
The item of expenditure of greatest interest to the present generation is that of $31.25 for one hundred and twenty-five trees. The elms and maples, the sycamores and evergreens, the dogwoods and the old English hawthorn of our church square are dear to us all. How many of them were set out by Dr. Reed in the spring of 1828 at twenty-five cents apiece?
The total expense incurred by Dr. Reed in this matter was $1,400.78; about half was for the land and half for its development, labor occasioning most of the cost of the latter. To meet the amount a subscription was taken in March, April and May, 1828, by which $1,130.00 was raised, thus leaving but a small deficiency for a vestry appropriation.
Dr. Reed recorded his receipts from this subscription, and the names of the subscribers are probably equivalent to a list of the original plot owners:
Isaac I. Baldwin
$10.00
William Davies
$80.00
Frederick Barnard
20.00
Thomas L. Davies
20.00
William T. Belden
20.00
William A. Davies 20.00
Amaziah Blakeslee 10.00
Henry Davis 40.00
David Boyd 10.00
Leonard Davis
40.00
Gilbert Brewster
40.00
Richard D. Davis
20.00
Josiah Burritt
20.00
John Depew
10.00
George Clark
10.00
Capt. Dutton
10.00
Stephen Cleveland 20.00
James Emott
40.00
Harry Conklin
40.00
Peter Everitt 40.00
Dr. John Cooper
20.00
Henry A. Fields
10.00
Walter Cunningham 40.00
Stephen Fogerson
10.00
Myron Dakin
10.00 John L. Fonda
20.00
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Richard I. Fonda
$10.00 Stephen Pardee
$10.00
Joseph Gavit
10.00
John Parkinson
20.00
Capt. Robert Gill
10.00
Marinus Pierce
10.00
Samuel and Joseph
Paraclete Potter
20.00
Gunn
10.00
Richard Pudney
10.00
Barney Hawkins
10.00
John D. Robinson
20.00
Nathaniel Hill
10.00
Philo & Samuel B.
Gertrude Hoffman
10.00
Ruggles
20.00
James Hooker
20.00
Warren Skinner
10.00
Robert I. Kidney
10.00
John Stanwix
10.00
Leonard Maison
20.00
Nathaniel P. Tallmadge 40.00
Gideon Mosely
10.00
Dr. William Thomas
10.00
John P. Myers
10.00
Dr. Elias Trivett
40.00
Thomas J. Oakley
40.00
Jonathan Wadsworth
40.00
George P. Oakley
20.00
Frederick Woodruff 10.00
John W. Oakley
20.00
William Worrall
10.00
This property of Christ Church came to be commonly called "the old English burying-ground." It continued in use as a cemetery until the growth of the city led the Common Council, about 1871, to prohibit further inter- ments, and, in the late seventies and the eighties it had become so densely overgrown, such an unkempt, sorry sight, that children hurried past its high picket fence to escape the awe with which its shadows filled them. This chaos was reduced to order in 1887, and, in the clearance which then took place, there was revealed a stone with an inscription of rare beauty and simplicity, to which a little story is attached.
In the days of Queen Anne, a Lieutenant Willoughby of the British Army was sent with his regiment to the West Indies, where he left the Army, married and settled. In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, there came to Poughkeepsie one of his descendants, a young man, who, so long as he remained here, was a faithful member of this parish, and between whom and Samuel Ruggles
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there grew up a David and Jonathan friendship. Wil- loughby has been described to the writer by Samuel Ruggles's brother, the late Henry J. Ruggles, as a youth of gentle nature and refined face. He left Poughkeepsie about 1821 (as did Samuel Ruggles also), and died suddenly in New York City a few years later. His body was brought back here, to the English burying- ground, and there Samuel Ruggles placed a stone, by which the name Willoughby is made fragrant for Christ Church with the sweetness of true sentiment. Surely an altar to friendship is this monument that bears only the words:
My Dear Friend WILLOUGHBY Died 1827
One reason why the purchase of a new burial-ground was advocated was that very little free space remained in the church lot, in the immediate vicinity of the build- ing, and what there was would be wanted in the event of additions or alterations to the latter.
The necessity for enlarging the first church, or erecting a second one, became apparent soon after the installment of John Reed as Rector. Under his ministrations, the congregation so increased that the enlargement of the building was discussed in 1814 and 1815, and rather extensive repairs and additions were actually made in 1822, although just what they were is not known. They proved insufficient for the still growing need, and, on February 1st, 1833, the vestry resolved to build an en- tirely new church.
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1425
VIEW OF THE PRESENT CHURCH BUILDING From the northwest The shrubbery at the left surrounds the monument to Willoughby Copyright, 1910, Frank B. Howard
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Dr. Reed, Dr. Trivett and Richard D. Davis were appointed a committee to solicit subscriptions, upon a stock plan which had been followed by Trinity Church, New Haven, in 1813. A letter of March 22d, 1832, from the Rector of Trinity, the Rev. Harry Crosswell, to Dr. Reed, is among our parish papers, and endorses this scheme as having been successful in New Haven.
In accordance with it, the subscriptions made were received as loans by the Corporation of Christ Church, which issued to each subscriber a certificate, and agreed to pay the holder four per cent annual interest, the Cor- poration reserving to itself the right to pay the principal at its own pleasure.
The certificates were transferable, and in the course of years many transfers did take place, which make the accounts relating to this debt on the church somewhat complicated. Just when the whole debt was extinguish- ed is difficult to determine.
The recorded subscriptions amounted to $11,500.00, and certificates aggregating $6,000.00 were at once surrendered to the Church as gifts. Dr. Reed, person- ally, from time to time, bought up $2,150.00 worth of scrip, which, upon the death of his widow in 1858, was sold by the executor of his estate to William A. Davies, and by Mr. Davies presented to the Church. Scrip, amounting to $1,850.00, was gradually acquired by Stephen M. Buckingham, who, on October 18th, 1870, sold the same to the Corporation for $1,024.20. The Corporation was enabled to make the purchase of Mr. Buckingham by means of a legacy received in 1870 from the estate of William Davies's widow.
The names of the original subscribers and the amounts of their subscriptions are:
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Isaac I. Balding $ 50.00*
George C. Marshall $100.00
Frederick Barnard 100.00
Isaac M. Newcomb 150.00
William T. Belden 100.00
George P. Oakley 500.00
Gilbert Brewster 500.00
Mary Parkinson 500.00
Josiah Burritt 100.00
Marinus Pierce 50.00
Dr. John Cooper 100.00*
Richard Pudney 100.00
Walter Cunningham 500.00
David V. N. Radcliffe 100.00
William Davies 2,000.00*
John D. Robinson 250.00
Thomas L. Davies 500.00*
Charles H. Ruggles 100.00
Hannah Davis
500.00*
Hunting Sherrill 100.00
Henry Davis
500.00*
Stephen Southwick
100.00
John Depew
100.00*
John Stanwix
100.00*
James Emott
1,000.00*
William S. Stevens
100.00
Alexander Forbus
200.00*
Abel Gunn Jr.
100.00
Nathaniel P. Tall- madge 300.00
Abijah S. Hatch
50.00
William Thomas 100.00
Gertrude Hoffman
150.00*
Henry I. Traver
200.00
James Hooker
500.00*
Dr. Elias Trivett
500.00
William Hoyle, Jr. 50.00
Joseph J. Waldron
100.00
Edward K. James
200.00*
Charles Warner 50.00
Charles Johnston
300.00 Thomas Williams & Son 200.00
Leonard Maison
100.00
George W. Woolley 100.00
In March, 1833, Dr. Reed, Richard D. Davis and Thomas L. Davies were appointed a committee to ob- tain a plan and proposals for the building. Their report, submitted on April 13th, was adopted, and they were authorized to make a contract with Elijah Northrop to build the new church for a price not to exceed $11,000.00 and such parts of the old building as might be wanted. The contract drawn fixed the price as $10,900.00, which was all paid between June 17th, 1833, and July 24th, 1834, and, on June 5th, 1834, the building was consecrat- ed by Bishop Onderdonck.
The only contemporary reference to the consecra- tion service that has been seen is one made by the Bishop in his address to the Diocesan Convention
* Scrip surrendered to the Corporation as a gift.
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EXTERIOR OF THE SECOND CHURCH BUILDING Erected 1834 From a photograph taken in 1889 L
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that year. He said that "on Thursday (June) 5th it gave me great pleasure to consecrate Christ Church, .Poughkeepsie, a handsome and commodious brick edifice, erected by that ancient and respectable parish on the site of their former church. The increased accomodations for worship afforded by this church were rendered neces- sary by the enlargement of the parish, which, by God's blessing, had attended the labors of the nearly five-and- twenty years incumbency of the present Rector."
The exterior of this building is familiar to all at the present day from photographs, and to many from rec- ollection also.
The interior was not the same when the church was built that it was in later years, and no pictures exist of it as it was in 1834, but the specifications for the build- ing (on file with the parish papers) and the memory of a few persons still living, who knew it well in their youth, afford us the information that it was essentially the same, in general plan, as the first church, with only one im- portant exception.
The exception was that, behind the three-decker pulpit, desk and Communion Table (which were newly built for the second church), instead of a window was a wood screen about twenty-five feet high and fifteen feet wide, set about three feet out from the east wall of the church. The main portion of the screen was done in panel work, and the top terminated in three Gothic arches. In the center of the panel work a door opened out toward the congregation, on a level with the floor of the high pul- pit, the door being reached by a staircase behind the screen. The narrow space between the screen and the wall was used as a robing-room, and entry was had to it by a door at the north end.
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