USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The Old stone church; the story of a hundred years, 1820-1920 > Part 10
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In conclusion Dr. Goodrich alluded to the religious faith and Christian character of Abraham Lincoln, who he said had sought wisdom from God, and had not been ashamed of Christ,
Before whom we humbly trust he has appeared, a sinner saved by grace, a steward trusted with many talents, his work well done.
The remains of the martyred president did not reach Cleveland until Thursday, April 20, 1865, six days after the assassination. Union memorial serv-
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ices, simultaneous with similar gatherings throughout the country, were held at the noon hour in three Cleveland churches, the Old Stone, the First Baptist, and the First Congregational Church on the West Side.
The Stone Church was packed to the doors. The pall covering the pulpit made a background for the large wreath of white roses suspended in front of the pulpit. Judge Sherlock J. Andrews presided and delivered an address. The Honorable Richard C. Parsons of the Stone Church and Elder Edwin R. Perkins of the Second Presbyterian Church, de- livered memorial addresses.
In keeping with the period of civic improvement, the Stone Church during the pastorate of Dr. Good- rich experienced a rich development, under the guidance of this talented minister, who in the prime of life had the happy faculty of showing every mem- ber his post of duty. Social, literary, and philan- thropic organizations multiplied. Young men were appointed to the gracious task of ushering; while the young women were invested with the responsibility of furnishing flowers for the church and in various other ways making their rounded accomplishments tributary to the enriching of the church life. Dr. Goodrich's love of flowers was a marked characteris- tic, the white chrysanthemum having long been his favorite, "Because," said he, "it blooms so bravely, even after the snow comes."
In Dr. Goodrich every member felt that he had found a friend, everybody trusting him because hon-
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esty and sympathy seemed ingrained in his nature. His gracious manner, pleasing voice, comparative youth, and charming presence made him the idol of the young; while his practical wisdom, broad culture, sincere piety, and religious zeal won the hearts of the older people. He knew all the members of his church, much of their history, and in every house- hold he was an ever-welcome guest. The "Ladies' Society" organized in Dr. Aiken's pastorate flourished increasingly in the years of his successor.
At Dr. Aiken's suggestion in 1859 the Stone Church fostered what was at first termed the "Merchant Street Mission," a Sunday School with Mr. Charles W. Noble as superintendent. The community was called Wasonville, a name taken from the car-shops owned by Mr. Charles W. Wason. The school moved in 1860 to the south side of St. Clair Street, where it continued until the building was constructed in 1867 on Aaron Street. There it remained until it de- veloped into the North Presbyterian Church, and entered the present church edifice on the corner of Superior Avenue and East Fortieth Street.
Much of the care of the Wasonville Mission was entrusted to the Ladies' Society, such as supplying a new organ, song-books, and various helpful equip- ments. Sessional records contain many references to this mission. Omnibus accommodations had to be hired for the teachers and others engaged in the work. In 1862 money was applied for the purchase of a lot, and the Reverend Aaron Peck, who had labored in the mission, was continued during 1866 at a salary
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of twelve hundred dollars. Later plans were reported for the construction of a chapel, and on February 10, 1867, the new Mission Chapel at Wasonville was dedicated by Dr. Goodrich and Dr. Aiken. The pastor emeritus presented the enterprise with a pulpit Bible. The two lots forming the site cost nine hundred fifty dollars; the contractor's work, six thousand seven hundred forty-seven dollars; the furniture, four hundred ninety-six dollars, or a total expend- iture of eight thousand one hundred ninety-three dollars. The main building was forty by sixty feet in dimensions, with a rear prayer-meeting room twenty by twenty-five feet. Joseph Ireland, a prominent city architect who was a Presbyterian, planned this modest structure. An elder was elected to represent the Mission. The Reverend Aaron Peck was continued in charge, and Mr. T. D. Crocker served as superintendent, with Elder Reuben F. Smith as assistant.
The Reverend B. P. Johnson and the Reverend D. W. Sharts afterwards cared for this missionary project, until in 1870 it was organized into the North Presbyterian Church. Dr. Goodrich and Elders Reuben F. Smith and George H. Ely were the com- mittee that perfected the organization on September 19,1870, the fiftieth anniversary of the formal organi- zation of the Stone Church. The Reverend Anson Smyth, D. D.,was elected as first pastor of the new church, but he never was installed.
In fostering the Wasonville Mission other Stone Church ladies had a prominent part. As Dr. Aiken many years earlier had summoned the older women
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of the congregation to service in the form of a Ladies' Society, so Dr. Goodrich in 1868 called the younger women together for organization into what was first named the Young Ladies' Mission Society, but after- wards known as the Goodrich Society.
The first special duty of the new organization was that rendered the Wasonville Mission; also that of giving supervision to social, literary, and musical entertainments, that should unite the mother church in common interests. Two-thirds of the money raised by the younger women was voted to the Mission, and sewing meetings were held for the pur- pose of making garments for the city's poor.
While the members sewed, a committee had charge of reading to the circle of workers. One year the members listened to The Life of John Milton, the history of St. John and His Pupils, and the home picture of The Cotter's Saturday Night. Saturday afternoons as many as one hundred children were gathered together and taught to sew by the Young Ladies' Mission Society. Each child was promised a garment when she had completed it to the satisfac- tion of her teacher. One of the most pleasant duties of the young ladies was that of supplying the pulpit with fresh flowers, and every Sunday six members of the society, like vestals, kept their sacred trust. During 1869 the receipts of this society amounted to one thousand dollars. In 1873 these increased to one thousand three hundred eleven dollars; while the following year the receipts amounted to one thousand five hundred thirty dollars, showing increas-
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ing interest and vigor in the work of the younger women.
The society took charge of festivals at the Wason- ville Mission, such as the Christmas entertainment of 1869, when six hundred children were entertained. In 1871 the younger ladies' society united with that of the older women in taking charge of church socials. One of the most earnest members of the Young Ladies' Mission Society was Miss Mary Goodrich, who entered into eternal rest a year after the death of her father. In the records of the society are these lines :
Be it written in your tenderest words within the annals of 1875, that dear, loving, prayerful, zealous Mary Good- rich vanished from our sight, because she was more fit for heaven than earth. Write, too, upon the page sacred to her memory, "We loved her."
In a letter written May 8, 1920, by the Reverend Chauncey W. Goodrich, D.D., son of the Reverend William H. Goodrich, D.D., and at present pastor of the American Church, Paris, France, are these lines :
When I think back to the early days of the Old Stone Church, I have only the memories of a little boy of seven years, supplemented by a few recollections when I was ten or eleven. These are too fragmentary and trivial to have any value. I recollect, however, with rare distinct- ness Mrs. Mather, then Flora Stone, in her radiant girl- hood and young womanhood, when she could have been scarcely in the twenties. She used to be constantly at our home, conspiring in association with my sister Mary, for all good ends. I remember how eagerly and success-
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fully they worked to establish a home for friendless girls. The outstanding impression, however, as I have inti- mated, is a certain radiance and eagerness in the character of Flora Stone that I can never forget.
While Miss Mary Goodrich was taken away in early years and was numbered among the "forbidden builders," Miss Flora Stone, who became Mrs. Samuel Mather, was spared many years to exhibit the deep spirit of consecration in Christian service which early characterized the Young Ladies' Mission Society.
In the recent letter of the Reverend Dr. Chauncey W. Goodrich there are these additional lines bearing upon the days when his father was pastor in Cleve- land :
I remember the boyish envy with which I witnessed the whole family prepare piles of sandwiches on Monday morning for the ministers' meeting which my father in- augurated in the study of the Old Stone Church. He was, I think, the first in Cleveland to gather a group of minis- ters of different communions regularly in conference. I remember the personality of Judge Sherlock J. Andrews with unusual distinctness, although as a boy I was more impressed with his delightful humor than with the learn- ing which was doubtless just as great. I recall too my first initiation into the way in which every one in trouble comes to a pastor. The numberless callers who came for conferences with my father, and who went away appar- ently comforted and helped, while they left him with a sober face, have left a very distinct picture on my memory.
The exact date of the first young people's prayer- meeting held in the Stone Church is not recorded. It could not have been later than the latter half of the Goodrich pastorate. Prior to that time a Wednes-
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day evening meeting, in the nature of a Bible class and prayer-meeting, had been conducted by the younger portion of the congregation, and from that beginning there must have developed the young peoples' prayer-meeting usually held Tuesday even- ings in the Cleveland churches, until the rise of the Christian Endeavor Society, whose meetings were generally held Sunday evenings.
There is a tradition that one reason why the call of the Stone Church appealed so strongly to Dr. Goodrich was the heartiness with which the young people entered into the Wednesday evening meeting of that time.
During the pastorate of Dr. Goodrich the Sunday School work grew in efficiency. The officers and teachers gave time not only to the care of the home school, but also to that of the Wasonville Mission, and occasionally the latter outranked numerically the parent organization. Thus in 1868 the Stone Church Sunday School had an enrollment of four hundred twenty-five, while there were four hundred ninety- two in the Mission School. Unfortunately the records of Sunday Schools, young peoples' and ladies' so- cieties in churches have not been preserved as con- secutively and permanently as have been the minutes of church sessions; whereas in the case of the Stone Church valuable records may have been destroyed in the two disastrous fires.
In May of 1868, Dr. Goodrich in his decennial ser- mon gave this summary :
The material of a congregation is perpetually altering,
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flowing and reflowing. About 150 households, larger and smaller, have been gathered during the ten years. About 75 families have passed away by death and removals, and at present 260 families properly belong to this congrega- tion. The number of worshipers has doubled in ten years. The growth of the congregation has been numerically at pace with that of the city, but much greater in ratio, if compared only with the English-speaking inhabitants, to which the Stone Church alone could appeal.
In this resume no account has been made of the Wason- ville Mission. In 1858 there were 304 members on the roll of the Stone Church; in 1868 there were 606 communi- cants. Upon profession of faith 260 have been received and 205 by letters. Death has taken 60 and 103 have been dismissed to other churches; while to the unknown list 60 have been relegated. At the Mission there are 65 members and 30 families. The income of the Church Society in 1858 was $4,000, and this has risen in 1868 to $7,500. During the decade almost $40,000 has been spent for home missions and repairs, such as $10,000 for enlarge- ment of the facilities at the Stone Church.
In this decennial year of 1868 the church galleries were constructed and the graceful spire completed; while a little later, in 1871, under the leadership of Elder George H. Ely, the narrow chapel and parlors were transformed into far more commodious rooms.
At a meeting of the session held September 6, 1870, Elders Mygatt and Ely were appointed a committee to serve with the pastor in making arrangements for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the church. Commemorative services were appointed for Sunday evening, September 18, 1870. It was a modest but interesting celebration. In his semicentennial sermon Dr. Goodrich stated
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that during the fifty years one thousand seven hun- dred thirty-five communicants had been enrolled in the Stone Church, and including the Wasonville Mis- sion, there were six hundred seventy-five members at the time of the celebration.
The description which Dr. Goodrich gave of the life of the Stone Church could as appropriately be repeated at the centennial jubilee. His analysis was :
Steadiness and unity in the midst of haste and restlessness have characterized our existence as a church. We have not stopped to prove all things, but we have tended to hold fast that which is good. There has been no haste, no partisanship and discord, but we have never lapsed into dead orthodoxy, or been content with precedents. In conclusion he said :
Few probably who sit in this assembly will be here in 1920, when others will remember us, as we remember those who laid the corner-stones. Let us do our part as builders in this house of God, so that men will not say that we wasted great opportunities, and that on the threshold of a new era of power God found us wanting.
At the Sunday evening service the semicentennial exercises were continued in the form of a popular meeting. The Reverend Osman A. Lyman, D.D., pastor of the Euclid Avenue Presbyterian Church, delivered an address to a large audience. He was followed by Dr. Aiken, the venerable pastor emeritus, who made perhaps his last address of any length. He expressed a hope that there might be a condensed, consecutive history of the church written. In the development of churches an irreparable loss follows the failure of pastors to bequeath to succeeding gen-
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erations written or printed sketches of their times and labors.
In reviewing his own pastorate, Dr. Aiken narrated at the semicentennial celebration the following inci- dent. An Infidel Club having existed in the city for some time, its members finally challenged Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Church of the Disciples, to debate the question, whether or not the Bible is the word of God. The challenge was accepted, but inasmuch as there was no suitable hall for the debate, permission was granted to the contestants to make use of the Stone Church lecture-room. The verbal contest lasted two days, and the champion of infi- delity was evidently routed, for a death-blow had been given the Infidel Club. At the same anniversary service Elder Truman P. Handy and Deacon Moses White related some of the earliest events in the life of the church; while the closing address was given by the Reverend James Eells, D.D., pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church, who spoke of the future, and of what the church ought to be in the light of its past.
At the meeting of the session held September 6, 1870, to arrange for the semicentennial celebration, there had also been "a full exchange of views" re- garding the enriching of the order of worship by the use of the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, "to be joined in audibly by as many of the church and congregation as may desire to do so." At the close of the next prayer-meeting the recommendation
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of the session was ratified "almost unanimously" by a rising vote.
At the time efforts were being made to enrich church worship, the session had been compelled to discipline a member for "taking part too often in prayer-meeting, and that not to the edification of those assembled." The brother had contracted the evil habit of making his prayers and remarks pointed criticisms of a personal nature directed against church officers and members. The censorious culprit claimed that all objection to his participation was due to the fact that he had not received a college education, but that plea did not shield him from merited suspension.
The steady continuance of the Stone Church in the down-town center of population has been made possible to some extent by endowment funds. The first recorded legacy, a very modest one like the widow's mite of old, was that received November 18, 1861, when by the provision of the will of a Mrs. Atchison there was bequeathed to the church a house and lot. A year later this property was sold for four hundred fifty dollars, of which asset one hundred dollars was used to assist in the proposed completion of the spire and purchase of a bell; while one hundred fifty dollars went toward the securing of a site for the Wasonville Mission.
Dr. Goodrich began to suffer with ill health to such an extent that in 1866 an extended vacation was granted. The session tried to secure President Henry L. Hitchcock, D.D., of Western Reserve College, as
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pulpit supply, but that temporary arrangement having failed, the Reverend Dr. J. G. Atterbury of Detroit was employed "for not less than six months, beginning in October, 1866."
Soon after the decennial celebration of 1868 Dr. Goodrich again found it necessary to seek rest upon the continent. Leave of absence was granted and the congregation of five hundred forty-eight members was districted among the elders for visitation, while Dr. Atterbury of Detroit again supplied the pulpit. The cause of the pastor's ill health proved to be so deep-seated that on June 22, 1872, for a third time he requested a long leave of absence.
Dr. Goodrich was not only granted this for one year, but at his advice immediate steps were also taken to secure an assistant pastor. The sessional minute was:
Believing that Rev. H. C. Haydn, late of Painesville, O., is in all respects suitable for the office, the trustees are hereby requested to unite with the session, in calling a Society Meeting, at which his name shall be presented to the Society, and if such be their pleasure he be called to the associate pastorate of this church.
At a congregational meeting held July 10, 1872, the Reverend Hiram C. Haydn was called at a salary of four thousand dollars. The Cleveland Presbytery met in the Stone Church August 23, 1872, and pro- ceeded to receive the pastor-elect, not exactly accord- ing "to the book," but as Lincoln said of his election, "satisfactory enough for all practical purposes."
First the discovery was made that the pastor-elect
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could not secure a letter of dismission from the Plymouth Rock Conference of the Congregational Church until the following October, but an informal letter of good standing having been received from the clerk of that body, the Cleveland Presbytery deter- mined to proceed with the business in hand.
Dr. Goodrich then certified that the First Presby- terian Church of Cleveland had issued a call for the pastoral services of the Reverend H. C. Haydn, but that owing to his neglect the document was not at hand to be read, or placed in the hands of the pastor- elect.
Presbytery being satisfied with this verbal statement voted that Rev. H. C. Haydn be enrolled as a member, when the duly certified letter of dismission from Plymouth Rock Conference be received by the Stated Clerk; voted also, that, in the emergency of Dr. Goodrich leaving the country at once, it was desirable to have Dr. Haydn's installation take place before his departure; therefore it was deemed expedient to waive the slight irregularity in the case and arrange for his installation next Sabbath evening.
All who knew Dr. Haydn's later ministry will agree that there was something peculiarly appropriate in the manner of his installation over the Stone Church before having been legally enrolled a member of Pres- bytery, for while this Christian leader entertained respect for order in ecclesiastical procedure, he never allowed the letter of the law to prevent the securing of results that would promote the interests of his Master's kingdom.
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The following was the order of installation, Sunday evening, August 25, 1872 :
Reading of Scriptures, the Rev. Anson Smyth, D.D .; prayer, the Rev. E. B. Raffensperger, D.D., of the Westminster Church; sermon, Prof. Henry A. Nelson, D.D., of Lane Theological Seminary; constitutional questions, the Rev. James A. Skinner, of the Case Ave- nue Church; installation prayer, the Rev. Dr. Samuel C. Aiken; charge to the pastor, the Rev. James Eells, D.D., of the Second Church; charge to the people, the Rev. William H. Goodrich, D.D .; right hand of fellowship, T. K. Noble; benediction, the Rev. H. C. Haydn.
In this important and interesting service of installa- tion the three pastors of the Stone Church, pastor emeritus and the two associate ministers participated.
The following day Dr. Goodrich departed with his family for Europe, in hope that through a protracted sojourn his health might be regained. The first year ministered to a physical upbuilding, although more slowly than his family and friends had hoped might be the case. He then felt able to travel and a few months were spent in Italy; the summer in Tyrol and in Switzerland; while after a trip down the Rhine the family settled at Lausanne.
At length Dr. Goodrich went to Paris intending to sail for home, but medical advice sent him back to Lausanne, where he remained until his death. Often had he spoken of returning to his Cleveland pastorate, and he had nearly completed a sermon which he pur- posed to deliver upon his arrival home. Toward the end of the second year abroad, however, all hope of ever seeing his loved country with its field of service van-
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ished, and there was a patient bowing to the inevit- able. The face that had longingly gazed toward the land of birth and of earnest toil for the Master was turned calmly and peacefully toward the shores of a better country.
The end came on July 11, 1874, at the Hotel Richemont, Lausanne. Accompanied by a few friends the family gathered in the chapel of the Eglise Libre, where brief services were conducted by the Reverend Leonard W. Bacon, an old New Haven friend who at the call of the bereaved family had hastened from Geneva. The remains were taken to Havre, where they were shipped on the steamer Erin to the United States. Elder George H. Ely and Mr. Gamaliel E. Herrick, representing the trustees of the Church Society, went to New York to receive the body and to accompany it to Cleveland, where according to the wish of the deceased interment should be made.
The startling news of the death of the senior pastor of the Stone Church reached the younger associate just as he had finished preparing his second anni- versary sermon upon the text:
Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
Although the design of the discourse was not wholly abandoned, there was modification sufficient to admit the solemn fact overshadowing all other events in the annals of the church life. Thus Sunday morning the service was of a memorial nature, but in the evening the Reverend Dr. A. J. F. Behrends, at that time
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pastor of the First Baptist Church, but in later years a Congregational minister of national reputation, delivered an address of a more distinct memorial character.
Concerning the service which the Reverend Dr. William H. Goodrich had rendered Cleveland, one of the daily papers at the news of his death declared :
It rarely falls to the lot of any man to hold such a place in men's hearts as this citizen and pastor has held in Cleveland. His life work was done here in the sight of all men. How unselfishly and grandly done we know.
When Mrs. Goodrich and children reached Cleveland, the funeral services were held in the Stone Church, Saturday afternoon, September 19th, 1874, the fifty- fourth anniversary of the founding of the church, while the burial was at Lake View Cemetery.
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