USA > New York > Dutchess County > Poughkeepsie > The records of Christ church, Poughkeepsie, New York, Vol I > Part 15
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brother, Richard Hooker Wilmer, who was made Bishop of Alabama in 1862, was one of the leaders in that "Church in the Confederacy" which had so brief an existence.
Another removal to St. Paul's, due to some minor instance of displeasure, was that of Isaac Platt, the veteran editor of The Poughkeepsie Eagle, who was baptized in his early manhood by Dr. Reed, and was a faithful communicant of the Episcopal Church all his life, first in this parish, and, in his late years, in St. Paul's.
But, if a few losses, much regretted, did befall, there were accessions made that have been elements of strength for over three score years.
One of the fruits of Mr. Wheaton's ministry has been the life in this parish of her whom he brought to baptism and confirmation when she was a girl of fourteen. The granddaughter of .a pre-Revolutionary parishioner, the great-niece of the donor of the site for the first church building, Harriet Kelsey Sague became a communicant in Christ Church in 1844, and, in all the sixty-six years that have followed, has been unsparing of herself for the promotion of its welfare. . Forty years of district visiting and the relief of necessity, the rearing of sons and daughters loyal to the Church-one son now a. warden of the parish,-and the exercise of a strong moral influence in the community in reform work, is a record to be held by Christ Church in gratitude and respect.
In January, 1853, our late senior warden, George Cornwell, was confirmed, and for fifty-seven years was actively associated with the Church; for fifty years he was a member of the vestry, for eighteen its secretary, and for eleven treasurer of the Corporation. Mr. Cornwell's identification with Christ Church was not
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merely a matter of time and of office holding; it was marked by constancy and devotion, and by generosity and unflagging interest. He it was who treasured in his memory anecdotes of former days, who kept written and printed memorabilia of the current events of his long experience, and who was a storehouse of information regarding the parish for the whole period in which he was connected with it. His sudden and tragic death, by accident, occurred just at the close of his fiftieth year in the vestry, when he was still strong and well and young at heart. Thus his cheerfulness and love of life, his humor and his kindliness escaped the usual processes of age, and the genial quality, with which, in our memory, he is permanently invested, fills our thought of him with pleasure, while it made parting from him pain. For the Church, in losing him, we can only wish that the present generation may give to it examples of such faithfulness as his has been.
Le Grand Dodge, baptized and confirmed in 1846, when Mr. Wheaton was Rector, was one whose name is held in esteem in Christ Church. Mr. Dodge was a staunch Churchman, a conservative lawyer and a man of deep and loyal affections. He was a vestryman from 1854 to 1879, and warden 1880-1891. Always a liberal contributor to the support of the parish, his gift of the Altar-rail, when the present church was built, is par- ticularly associated with him today, while his memory is still further perpetuated by a carved and jewelled chalice, presented in 1905 by his grandchildren, the Rev. George Blackburn Kinkead, 3d, and Miss Cornelia Dodge Kinkead.
In 1858 Dr. Edward Hazen Parker came to Poughkeep- sie to practise his profession; he at once entered Christ
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Church, where, in 1860, he was elected to the vestry. He served continuously for thirty-six years, including his term as warden from 1884 to 1896. Dr. Parker exemplified a fine type of manhood, combining with a practical skill as physician and surgeon and a literary power of no mean degree a refinement of feeling and a spiritual insight which graced and distinguished him. As a memorial to him and to his wife, Sarah Olcott Parker, their two daughters, Miss Helen Choate Parker, and the late Mrs. Charles M. Niles, gave in 1897 a silver chalice and paten for the early celebration of the Holy Communion.
John Grubb, that sterling Scotchman (who, in 1844, came to "the English Church" for one of its daughters, and remained in it a long and loyal lifetime); Hubert Van Wagenen, retired New York merchant; Reuben North, vestryman and treasurer of the Corporation; Edward K. James, gentleman of leisure of English paternity; Charles Crooke, whose father and grandfather before him were members of the parish; Isaac I. Balding, Benjamin R. Tenney, J. De Puyster Douw, these, all, were among the many men who came into prominence in Mr. Wheaton's and Dr. Buel's rectorates. An idea of the personnel of the congregation in Dr. Cady's day is gained from a pew chart1 of 1870. The chart records the aggregate annual rental, at that time, as $5,199.50 and gives the names of the holders of the pews as follows:
A. Simon C. Abel; Joseph E. Allen; Miss Mary Allen.
B. Stephen Baker; Albert Ball; the Hon. Joseph F. Barnard; Miss Margaret Barnard; Miss Barrett; Guy C. Bayley; Edward Bech; Andrew Boardman; James Blanchard; Thomas C. Bradbury; Mrs. P. S. Burchan; Stephen M. Buckingham.
1 Ledger E, pp. 356-7.
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C. Jacob B. Carpenter; William Carpenter; Norris M. Carter, M.D .; the Rev. Charles N. Chandler; Joseph Corlies; George Cornwell; Miss Belle Cornwell.
D. Thomas L. Davies; William A. Davies; John W. Davies; Le Grand Dodge; Joseph C. Doughty; J. De Puyster Douw; Samuel B. Dutton.
E. James East; Joseph East; the Hon. E. Q. Eldridge.
F. Alcander Fox; Mrs. Mary A. French.
G. George R. Gaylord; William Gibson; William M. Goodrich; John Grubb.
H. William W. Hageman; John F. Halstead; Andrew J. Hanscom; Benjamin Hall Hart; Miss Hatch; Mrs. Harvey; Oliver H. Henderson; Barney Hinckley; Mrs. James Hooker; Charles L. Houghton; Miss Julia Hughson; Mrs. Mary C. Hulme.
I. Henry Irving.
K. John Kimlin; William Kimlin; Mrs. Andrew King.
L. Miss Pauline Lalouette.
M. Mrs. Edwin Mabbett; Mrs. Malcomb; Miss Mary T. Merritt; Mrs. Morgan.
N. The Hon. Homer A. Nelson; Mrs. Sophia P. Newcomb; Mrs. North; Reuben North.
P. Mrs. Maria Palmer; Edward H. Parker, M.D .; Thomas Parker; Col. G. W. Patten; Miss Lydia Phinney; Per Lee Pine, M.D .; Mrs. Potter.
R. The Rev. George T. Rider; Mrs. John D. Robinson.
S. Leonard B. Sackett; Horace Sague; Frederick Salisbury; George F. Searle; Edward Storm; Mrs. John R. Stuyves- ant.
T. Mrs. Tanner; Hudson Taylor; Robert E. Taylor; Benja- min R. Tenney; the Rev. William B. Thomas; Miss Sarah Thomas; Miss Elizabeth Thomas; John M. Toucey; George B. Trowbridge.
V. Edgar Van Kleeck; George M. Van Kleeck; Theodore Van Kleeck; Elizabeth Van Kleeck; Isaac B. Van Vliet; John R. Van Vliet; John Van Wagenen; Miss Elizabeth Van Wagenen.
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W. The Hon Charles Wheaton; Robert S. Williams; Archi- bald Wilson; Mrs. Woodin; Frederick Woodruff; Benja- min Worrall; the Rev. Dr. D. Grosvenor Wright.
About the parish, all through the period we are con- sidering, there was an alluring, elusive, Anglican atmos- phere, and it was quite in keeping with this that, from 1842 to 1876, there should have been three English sextons. Thomas Eastmead, Samuel Keynton and William Gibson were all born in England, and they give an added bit of color to our mental picture of their time.
"Billy Gibson" was one of the quaint "characters" of old Poughkeepsie, and there are many who can call to mind a vision of his flowing whiskers, high, pointed shoulders and peculiar gait, his pet Yorkshire terrier always close at heel. Beside his position as sexton, he was for many years collector of pew rents in Christ Church, and was also the distributor of tickets for the Poughkeepsie Lyceum; that course of lectures was one of the literary and social features of its time, and largely attended, and, by these two means, he was known to every one in the Church and in the town. A black- smith by trade, and his education that of experience only, his large hearted good nature, intelligence and innate worth won him general liking and respect. One of the windows in the north aisle of the present church was his gift, and since his death his own name has been inscribed upon it.
Until the new church was opened in 1888 it had not been the custom to engage a man's whole time as sexton, and the sextons usually had other interests as well, which necessitated the occasional employment of extra helpers. In connection with one such supernumerary, Dr. Parker's appreciation of things spiritual, caught up
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and enshrined in verse an incident which, as part of the religious life in the old church, is here recorded. The subject of the lines had not had an exemplary career, but, in the dusk of a winter afternoon, one, who un- expectedly entered the Sunday School room, found him kneeling at a prie-dieu on the platform in devout and audible supplication.
The Old Sexton
Service is o'er the people gone,
The aged Sexton is ılone :--- The evening shades are growing deep, And day is passing to its sleep.
The solemn hush the Sexton feels, Before the Altar slowly kneels;
And to his God pours out his prayer, Alone, and where no listeners are.
"Hear me, O Lord! Thy servant hear, My days are gone, my end is near, Old and forlorn I turn to Thee, O! let me still Thy mercy see.
"My sins are many; O! forgive; Nearer to Thee teach me to live; Teach me to love, teach me to praise, And Thine be my remaining days."
The shades have deepened, night has come, Weary, the Sexton seeks his home, But in his heart there burns a light, That turns to day the darkest night!
Of three special occasions, two in Dr. Buel's rectorate, one in Dr. Cady's, mention should be made.
The first was the raising of a flag on the tower of the church, at the opening of the Civil War, soon after the
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news was received that Fort Sumter had been fired upon. That the congregation of Christ Church was enthusiastic in its support of the Union is illustrated by the fact that they were the first Church in Pough- keepsie to fly a flag from their church building; the formal flag raising took place on May 3d, 1861, and was followed on May 8th, 12th and 18th by similar ceremonies at the First Methodist, Presbyterian, First Dutch and St. Peter's (Roman Catholic) churches, The Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle reporting all these events in full. The flag and pole for Christ Church were purchased by subscription (the money for them being collected by Samuel Keynton in less than an hour), and the pole was erected on the tower by Horace Sague, John W. Davies and William Gibson. On the day following the ceremony the first Poughkeepsie company of Volunteers (Company E of the 30th New York, Captain Holliday commanding) left town, and it was they who are referred to in the following account published in the Eagle May 4th, 1861:
Flag Raising .- Yesterday afternoon about 3 o'clock a large number of citizens assembled in front of Christ Church in Market street to witness the raising of a large and splendid flag on the new flagstaff erected on the tower of the church.
The ceremony was commenced by the singing of the National Hymn of America by the choir, after which Judge Emott was invited to address the audience on the raising of the flag, which duty he performed in an eloquent manner, the choir then sang the song of the Red, White and Blue, and the Rev. Samuel Buel, the Rector of the Church, made a heart stirring address.
The flag was then run up, as the Volunteer company arrived on the ground, and amid the hearty cheers of the audience.
The choir then sang the Star Spangled Banner, at the conclusion of which Mr. Benson J. Lossing made some well
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timed remarks to the Volunteers, who, at the end of his address gave three hearty cheers and a tiger, when the assembly dispersed.
At the close of the war, on April 19th, 1865, a few days after President Lincoln's death, a memorial service was held for the martyred President, when the church was draped in black and a funeral oration1 was delivered by Dr. Buel. The day was generally observed in Pough- keepsie as one of mourning, business was suspended, and bells tolled, and there was a procession.
On December 21st, 1866, shortly after Dr. Cady came to Christ Church, the centennial was celebrated of the first preaching service of the Rev. John Beardsley as Rector of this parish. Morning Prayer, sermon by Bishop Horatio Potter, and the Holy Communion, were followed by a collation at Pine Hall (the building recent- ly vacated by the Y. M. C. A.). The newspaper account2 of this occasion says that there was a large attendance of clergy and laity, that the chancel was elaborately decorated with flowers and evergreens, and that the opening hymn was "Jerusalem the Golden," but it fails to report in full Bishop Potter's historical sermon re- garding the Episcopal Church in Dutchess County. This is cause for regret, for, of the early days of Christ Church, Bishop Horatio Potter was particularly well equipped to speak, and his centennial address probably contained local color we should now value.
The Corporation conducted its business affairs without a definite policy all through this period, and the need of the moment governed each action taken. One of the first matters that pressed for attention was the necessity
1 The Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, April 19th, 1865.
2 The' Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle, December 22nd, 1866.
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to provide a house for the Rector. After Dr. Reed's second marriage in 1834, the Academy street parsonage had been rented; Mr. Wheaton lived in the frame house now No. 219 Church street (the property adjoining the rear of the Cannon street lot of the Y. W. C. A.), and also boarded at the Rutzer House. When Dr. Buel first came to Poughkeepsie he occupied the house now No. 62 Washington street, but, on May 1st, 1852, the parsonage at Academy and Cannon streets was sold for $1,800.00, and December 8th, 1852, the vestry voted to build a rectory, the cost of which should not exceed $3,600.00. Of this amount $2,000.00 was raised by subscription1 and the balance made up from the proceeds of the sale of the Academy street house. The site selected was on the Church property, east of the burying-ground, all the land east of the present Carroll street, that was acquired by the Church in 1828, having been considered unsuited to burial purposes and remaining unimproved for many years. Lots were sold2 from this tract in 1854, 1873, 1877 and 1880, netting for the Church the sum of $6,466. 00.
In 1869 it was felt that the time was coming when the church edifice might have to be enlarged, and it was decided that the property adjoining it to the north should be purchased. In payment for the same there was given a mortgage for $8,000.00, partly on the house itself, and partly on the South Hamilton street rectory and the vacant lots near that. The house on Market street was never used, either for the purpose for which it had been bought, or for a rectory, and was rented
1 Vestry Minutes, Vol. 2, p. 59.
2 Dutchess County Clerk's records, deeds, Liber 100: p. 408; 170: p. 596; 186: p. 314; 203: pp. 588, 195, 197.
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THE RECTORY Erected 1853 Sold 1880 Occupied by the Rev. Dr. Buel, the Rev. Dr. Cady and the Rev. Dr. Ziegenfuss.
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while in the possession of the Church; it was sold in 1877 for $6,000.00, the transaction entailing a loss to the Church of $2,000.00.
Beside the mortgage placed upon the rectory and vacant lots in 1869, which was for $3,500.00, another, for the same amount, was added in 1873, to provide funds to meet accumulated debts and the assessments for open- ing and grading Carroll street, and laying water and sew- er pipes all about the burying-ground. April 17th, 1880, the Corporation sold the rectory to Mrs. P. Frost Spaulding for $5,000.00, and applied the money to the payment of all of the first mortgage and part of the second. After doing so, they were still in debt to the Savings Bank for $2,060.00,1 and to meet this the vestry passed a resolution to sell the last lots on Carroll and Barclay streets held by the Corporation. This 1880 sale (before referred to) realized $3,816.50 from a public auction of the lots.2
The rectory that was built in 1853 was occupied by Dr. Buel for two-thirds of his rectorate, by Dr. Cady throughout his entire term of office, and by Dr. Ziegen- fuss for a few years.
In connection with the incumbency of Dr. Cady, it is an interesting coincidence that he, the tenth Rector of the parish, was named for his predecessor (Philander Chase) the fifth, who, as Bishop of Ohio, was an early friend of Dr. Cady's family. The tenth administration of the Rectorship of Christ Church was terminated by Dr. Cady's breakdown in health, and his resignation was received with deep and sincere regret. His scholar- ship had adorned the pulpit, his Churchmanship had had
1 Vestry Minutes, Vol. 2, p. 154.
2 Vestry Minutes, Vol. 2, p. 156.
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a centralizing, constructive influence, and his culture and charm of manner had made him a delight to a con- gregation that was united in its allegiance to him, and the members of which have ever spoken of him with praise.
In closing this account of the conditions and events in Christ Church from 1845 to 1875, a summary should be added of the growth of the Church in Dutchess County during the same period.
The organization of the Dutchess Convocation took place in 1848, the organizing clergy being the Rectors of St. James's, Hyde Park; Christ Church and St. Paul's, Poughkeepsie; Zion, Wappingers Falls; St. Peter's, Lithgow; and St. Anna's, Fishkill Landing (now St. Luke's, Matteawan).
Convocation placed missionaries in the field, the first one being the Rev. Sheldon Davis, who labored for fifteen years with fidelity and success. Laymen were admitted as members of Convocation in 1856, and in 1868 a Dean was appointed in place of the original Chairman, whose functions had been fulfilled by the Rector of the parish wherever the meetings of Convoca- tion chanced to be held.
The work of the Rev. Sheldon Davis has particular point for Christ Church because, on Easter Day, 1850, he held the first service at Manchester Bridge to estab- lish a mission, and the Manchester Mission has, ever since, been made its special interest and charge by a family, which, from the rectorate of Dr. Reed, has belonged to Christ Church, and which is now repre- sented in the vestry by William Hall Hart. Descended from the Rev. Seth Hart, Rector of St. George's, Hemp- stead, its members inherited his devotion to the Protest-
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THE REV. PHILANDER K. CADY, S.T.D. RECTOR OF CHRIST CHURCH, 1866-1875 From a photograph taken during his incumbency
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ant Episcopal Church, and have wrought unselfishly and untiringly for its extension and betterment. The Man- chester Mission, today self-supporting and maintaining weekly services, has had many friends, but its chiefest debt for unceasing care and earnest, prayerful effort is to that indefatigable missionary, Miss Mary Hart, whose strong faith and whose enthusiasm in the cause of the Master are to be counted among the spiritual blessings of Christ Church.
Formal incorporation, or organization, of the following parishes took place between 1845 and 1875:
1849, St. Thomas's, Amenia Union.1
1852, Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck.2
1859, Church of the Holy Comforter, Poughkeepsie.3
1859, Church of the Regeneration, Pine Plains.4
(1860, St. Stephen's College, Annandale, chartered.)
1864, Grace Church, Hart's Village (Millbrook).5
1867, Christ Church, Red Hook Village.6
1 Dutchess County Clerk's records, Book of Incorporation of Churches, p. 177.
2 Ibid., p. 194.
3 Dutchess County Clerk's records, Record of Incorporations, Liber 1, serial number 55.
4 Dutchess County Clerk's records, Book of Incorporation of Churches, p. 223.
5 Ibid., p. 268.
6 Ibid., p. 289.
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CHAPTER VIII
1875-1910
ORIGIN OF THE BROAD CHURCHMEN. THE REV. DR. HENRY
L. ZIEGENFUSS. CHRIST CHURCH BECOMES A BROAD
CHURCH PARISH. CHANCEL FURNISHINGS. INTRODUC- TION OF ORGANIZED WORK. CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PAROCHIAL ORGANIZATIONS. ERECTION OF THE THIRD CHURCH BUILDING. THE PARISH HOUSE. THE TOWER. DEATH OF DR. ZIEGENFUSS. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGES. RECTORATE OF DR. CUMMINS. MRS. CHARLES H. BUCKINGHAM'S GIFT. THE FUTURE AND THE NEED OF AN ENDOWMENT.
I N 1875 the Rev. Henry L. Ziegenfuss was made Rector of Christ Church. When he first came to Poughkeepsie he was a young man of thirty, newly entered into the Episcopal Church, but, in the twenty years of his life here, he became one of the best known of the clergy of the Diocese of New York, honored and esteemed by his associates in the ministry, the close friend of the late Bishop of New York, the Rt. Rev. Henry C. Potter, and widely loved by the laity.
During the incumbency of Dr. Ziegenfuss definite changes occurred in Christ Church, partly traceable to his influence, partly to general conditions in the Episco- pal Church at the time.
The fundamental change was the transformation of this conservative, moderately High Church parish into one of Broad Church sympathies, and to Dr. Ziegenfuss this is directly attributable. He was possessed of
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THE REV. HENRY L. ZIEGENFUSS, S.T.D. MINISTER IN CHARGE OF CHRIST CHURCH, 1874-1875 RECTOR, 1875-1894 From a photograph taken about 1890
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scholarly tastes and abilities and was a natural student, which qualities brought him into touch, at the outset of his career, with certain forces which began to make themselves felt in the Church in the United States in the seventies, and which resulted in the appearance of those who are called Broad Churchmen.
Two powerful streams of influence rising, the one on the Continent, the other in England, about the middle of the nineteenth century, and paralleling in course for a time, converged ultimately, and swirled their double current upon the Church, approximately 1870-1880. One was the work pursued in the German Universities, known as the Higher Criticism of the Bible, and the other the promulgation by Charles Darwin of the Doc- trine of Evolution.
Acceptance of these new intellectual positions necessi- tated the giving up of the Puritan conception of the Bible, and of some of the doctrines in Christian theology which had become ingrained in the thought of the Church.
After the Reformation, the Puritans had substituted for a belief in an infallible Pope, a belief in an infallible Book, and had invested the King James Version of the Bible with a sacredness, which, to them, included the very punctuation and paragraphing; they forgot that the original scriptures had been written in other lan- guages, and not all at one time; that the Church had produced the Bible, not the Bible the Church; and their theory of inspiration was a purely mechanical one. When the German scholars applied to the study of these manuscripts the same laws which governed the study of other early literature, the Christian world was aghast.
Dr. Ziegenfuss read and spoke German with ease and fluency, which gave him direct and early access to the
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world of thought in the foreign Universities. He assimi- lated readily the teaching that the Bible is many books in one, that it combines all forms of literary expression of truth,-prophecy, history, poetry, drama,-and that the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit breathes throughout it, imparting the essence of spiritual truths, but often presenting those truths in ways which are not to be understood literally.
At the present time it is hackneyed to refer to the story of the Garden of Eden as a poetic and imaginative conception of the creation, and to the Book of Jonah as a drama, written to teach a moral lesson, but, when Dr. Ziegenfuss preached thus in the pulpit of Christ Church, the older members of the congregation were rigid with disapproval of such revolutionary ideas. "Older mem- bers" is said advisedly, for, to some of the juniors, Dr. Ziegenfuss opened the way to a faith and an understand- ing they had found impossible from the point of view of their forbears.
Dr. Ziegenfuss's interest in science, his knowledge of chemistry and biology, also made him a convert to the theory of evolution, which is now, to many, a hand-maid to their Christian belief, but, when first discussed, caused consternation in the Church, affecting, as it did, doc- trines that were considered necessary to the very exist- ence of Christianity.
Only as the smoke and dust of controversial battle settled, was it realized that religion and theology are not one; that religion is God in Man, ever present and indwelling, but that theology is. only Man's limited knowledge of God reduced to scientific terms, and that, as Truth is a jewel many faceted, and presenting different aspects from different angles, so, as Man's knowledge of
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