USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > The Old stone church; the story of a hundred years, 1820-1920 > Part 20
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During the last two years of Dr. Selden's Stone Church pastorate the Reverend Burt Estes Howard was an associate. His youth was spent in East Cleve- land, Ohio, where he early became a member of the Presbyterian church. Having entered Western Re- serve College at Hudson, Ohio, in 1879, graduation came from Adelbert College in 1883, and from Lane Seminary in 1886. The first pastorate of four years, from 1886 to 1890, was in the First Presbyterian Church, Bay City, Mich. From that field he came to the Stone Church and served until 1902, when a call was accepted to the First Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, Cal.
The Reverend Burt Estes Howard went to Harvard University to study a year and then became assistant professor of political science at Leland Stanford Uni-
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versity. After two years' teaching he went to Berlin, Germany, where in 1903 he received his doctorate. Research work continued at Harvard University re- sulted in the publication in 1906 of an important work on The German Empire. In 1908 he returned to Leland Stanford University as professor of polit- ical science, and there remained a popular teacher until his death in 1913.
When the Reverend Burt Estes Howard resigned the Stone Church pastorate the Reverend William Allen Knight was installed in July of 1892, and served until July 1, 1894. Born at Milton, Missouri, on October 20, 1863, he was the son of a Disciple minis- ter who still resides in Cleveland. The father was once pastor of the Miles Avenue Disciple Church, and at that time the son, having graduated from the Cen- tral High School, entered Adelbert College in the class of 1886. At the close of the sophomore year young Knight accepted a pastorate of a Disciple church at Columbus, Ohio, where he remained three years. This was followed by a pastorate with teach- ing at Hiram College, where he received in 1889 his bachelor of arts degree.
Mr. Knight left the church in which he began his ministry to become pastor of the East Madison Ave- nue Congregational Church of Cleveland, from which he was called to the Stone Church. After Congrega- tional pastorates in Saginaw, Mich., 1894-1897, the Central Church, Fall River, Mass., 1897-1902, he became pastor of the Brighton Congregational Church, Boston, Mass., a pastorate of seventeen years. In
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September of 1919 he accepted a call to the Con- gregational Church at Framingham, Mass., a parish founded in 1701, in the neighborhood of the oldest normal school in the country, in one of whose build- ings "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" was first sung. The Reverend William Allen Knight published in 1904 "The Song of our Syrian Guest," a unique exposition of the Twenty-third Psalm, and an im- mense number of copies have been published. This success has been followed by more than a dozen literary works. The degree of master of arts was received in 1905 from Harvard University; that of bachelor of divinity in 1909 from Oberlin Seminary; while the degree of doctor of literature was conferred in 1915 by both Grinnell College of Iowa and Bates College in Maine.
At the time the Reverend William Allen Knight was called to the Stone Church the Reverend Robert A. George was employed as an assistant pastor to have special charge of the Bolton Avenue Mission, which formed the third congregation in the collegiate Stone Church. Reared in the United Presbyterian Church, he had been pastor of the First United Pres- byterian Church of Cleveland. He resigned that charge to enter the work at Bolton Avenue Mission. The difficulties that there arose prompted the forma- tion of Trinity Congregational Church, of which the Reverend Robert A. George was founder and first pastor for nearly fifteen years. From that field he went for seven years to the Lake View [now Calvary] Congregational Church of Cleveland. This was fol-
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lowed by service in Florida, but recently a call has been accepted to the Congregational church at Mem- phis, Tennessee.
The Reverend John Sheridan Zelie was called from the Congregational church at Plymouth, Conn., where he had served from 1890 to 1894, to suc- ceed the Reverend Robert A. George in the Bolton Avenue Mission. Born at Princeton, Mass., on May 3, 1866, the son of a minister, he graduated from Williams College in 1887 and from Yale Divinity School in 1890. When the collegiate Stone Church was dissolved this assistant minister became the first pastor of the Bolton Avenue Presbyterian Church, and served for six years, until called in 1900 to the First Reformed Church, Schenectady, N. Y. Then followed the pastorate of sixteen years in the Cres- cent Avenue Presbyterian Church, Plainfield, N. J. In 1904 his alma mater conferred upon him the hono- rary degree of doctor of divinity.
During the recent war Dr. Zelie served as chaplain in field hospital and ambulance divisions, and at Base Hospital 30, American Expeditionary Force, in France, 1918-1919. Accounts of these war experi- ences were published in the Atlantic Monthly and in some of the prominent papers. During his ministry Dr. Zelie has written many sketches and editorials, especially for the Sunday School Times. He is also the author of several books. Recently he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Troy, N. Y.
When the Stone Church celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary the Reverend and Mrs. Frederick W.
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Jackson were rendering temporary service. They had recently returned from Shantung, China, where they had been from 1892 to 1894. Mr. Jackson was born at Newark, N. J., on June 1, 1867; was graduated from Princeton University in 1887; took postgraduate work at Columbia University; theological studies at Princeton Seminary; medical courses in Bellevue Hos- pital Medical College and at Jena University. After a year as assistant pastor in the South Park Presby- terian Church, Newark, N. J., the foreign service was undertaken. The Reverend F. W. Jackson did not return to China, but became pastor of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, Jersey City, N. J., 1896-1900; of the Dorland Memorial Church, Hot Springs, N. C., 1900-1906; professor in Bloomfield Seminary, 1908- 1917; Young Men's Christian Association Secretary at Camp Gordon; in France, 1918-1919, and has recently been connected with the Interchurch Move- ment as survey supervisor for Oklahoma. He resides at Glen Ridge, N. J.
The Reverend Henry Woodward Hulbert, D.D., the last pastor to serve with Dr. Haydn, was the grandson of the Reverend Henry Woodward, the first foreign missionary to go from Princeton Seminary, having been sent to Ceylon in 1820. The father of this Stone Church assistant was president at one time of Middlebury College, from which the son graduated in 1879. After three years of teaching he attended Union Seminary, where he graduated in 1885. He immediately went to the Syrian Protestant College, Beirut, and taught until 1888. After returning he
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served as professor of history and political science at Marietta College, 1889-1894; he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1889; was professor of church history at Lane Seminary, 1894-1897, and then accepted the Stone Church call and continued in that pastorate from 1897 to 1901, when for five years he was professor of church history in the Bangor Congregational Seminary. For four years he was in the High Street Congregational Church, Portland, Maine, and in 1914 went to the Congregational Church at Groton, Conn., where he now serves.
Professor Hulbert is a member of learned societies, and has been a frequent contributor to religious en- cyclopedias, dictionaries, and reviews, as well as the author of several books. His two brothers, Homer B. and Archer B., have attained high reputations, one for his educational service in Korea, and the other for his historical research work. The degree of doctor of divinity was conferred upon Professor Henry W. Hulbert by Middlebury and Marietta Colleges in 1900.
Mrs. Hulbert died soon after leaving Cleveland and the surviving children have followed in the foot- steps of their parents. Miss Winifred E. Hulbert graduated from the Woman's College in 1914; studied a year at Union Seminary; taught a year in The Con- stantinople College for Women; was fifteen months in France in war work, and now for the last two years she has been teaching again in Constantinople. Chauncey Prime graduated from Dartmouth in 1915; spent a year at Union Seminary; taught a year at
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Robert College, Constantinople; entered the army in 1918, and was second lieutenant at its close. Ralph Wheelock took his master of arts degree at Columbia this year. Woodward D. graduated from Dartmouth in 1918 and was a second lieutenant at the close of the war. During 1919 he was instructor at Syrian Protestant College, Beirut. Kathryn graduated from the Connecticut College for Women in 1920, and sails soon to be an instructor in the Faculty School at Beirut, Syria. The youngest child, Hilda Lyman, graduated from the Free Academy, Norwich, Conn., this year.
During the transitional period between the close of Dr. Haydn's pastorate and the settlement of Dr. Meldrum, the Reverend Paul R. Hickok proved an effective assistant for two years. He is the son of a clergyman and was born in Nebraska City on April 6, 1877. Having graduated from Wooster College in 1897, he attended Auburn Seminary, from which he came to the Stone Church. He was married on Sep- tember 6, 1900, to Miss Mary Elliott, the daughter of the Reverend John C. Elliott, for many years a member of Cleveland Presbytery. From 1900 to 1909 the young minister was chaplain of the Fifth Regi- ment, Ohio National Guard, stationed at Cleveland.
From the Stone Church he went to the Presby- terian church at Delaware, Ohio, where he labored until 1909, and then accepted a call to the Metro- politan Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C. That charge was resigned recently in order to accept a call to the Second Presbyterian Church, Troy, N. Y.,
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where he resides. He has been a member of promi- nent General Assembly committees, and during 1918 war service was rendered as director of religious work in the camps at Washington, under the auspices of the National Council of the Young Men's Christian Association. For a number of years he has been a trustee of Wooster College; while Hanover College at its last commencement conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity.
When the Lakewood Hamlet Mission [now the prosperous Lakewood Presbyterian Church] was or- ganized by the Stone Church, a young minister was secured to care for the new field. The Reverend Alfred J. Wright has now been for fifteen years the first pastor of the Lakewood Presbyterian Church, having guided its fortunes through the days of wor- ship in a private residence to those of chapel life, until there came the completion of the splendid struc- ture on the corner of Detroit and Marlo Avenues. The Lakewood pastor was born on March 28, 1870, at Springfield, Ill., not because his parents resided there, but for the reason that the advent came when they were away from their home at Sandusky, Ohio. After preparation for college at Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, Ohio, the youth entered Adelbert College in the class of 1894, and then graduated from Union Seminary in 1897. His first pastorate of six years was at Rockville Centre, Long Island; the second, that of two years, was at Mauch Chunk, Pa., whence he came to the Lakewood Mission, concerning which more will be recorded.
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The last assistant to serve the Stone Church re- cently passed away, greatly beloved by all who knew him. Elder Livingston Fewsmith was not an asso- ciate pastor, in the sense of having received minis- terial ordination, but in all other respects he merited that official designation. He was born at Auburn, N. Y., on March 26, 1849, where his father, the Rev- erend Joseph Fewsmith, D.D., was professor of homi- letics at Auburn Theological Seminary. The first American ancestor of this Smith family, for origi- nally its name did not have the "Few" family prefix, came to Albany, N. Y., in 1636.
The father of the Stone Church assistant graduated from Yale College in 1840, and taught a while at Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio, before going to Auburn Seminary. From that professorship he went to the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian Church, Newark, N. J., where until the time of his death in 1888, he rendered for thirty-seven years distinguished service. The Fewsmith Memorial Pres- byterian Church, Newark, N. J., bears the name of this faithful servant of Christ. Mrs. Joseph Few- smith was Miss Emma C. Livingston, and the son's Christian name was that of his mother's family, and not that of the African missionary as many have supposed.
Livingston Fewsmith, after preparation at Newark Academy and Phillips Academy, entered Yale College in 1866. Eye difficulty interrupted a student life before the end of the freshman year. He returned for the sophomore year, but in a few months the
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recurrent trouble ended all hope of a college course. Prolonged confinement in a darkened room alone saved a degree of normal vision.
Livingston Fewsmith married Miss Anna Lee Grant on January 12, 1876, at Newark, N. J., and entered business life in New York City. In 1880 he was sent to Paris, France, where he represented his firm for four years. Having returned to this country he en- tered the insurance business, first in Newark, N. J., and then at Chicago, Ill. From 1889 to 1897 he engaged in the insurance and manufacturing business in Cleveland and Beaver Falls, Pa., returning to the former city to manage the Peerless Company from 1897 to 1903.
He first became a ruling elder in 1877 in his father's church, Newark, N. J. In Cleveland his member- ship was in the Case Avenue Presbyterian church and then in the Bolton Avenue Church, where it re- mained until the time of death, although his duties at the Stone Church necessitated his presence there at stated times for worship. For seventeen years pastoral assistance was rendered by Elder Fewsmith, and although the last few years were marked by increasing physical weakness, he continued to serve as strength permitted. He passed away on March 12, 1920, and is survived by the widow and five children, Livingston, William Lee, Anna, Joseph, and Alexander Grant Fewsmith.
In writing to the church at Philippi, St. Paul re- ferred to women who had labored with him in the gospel. Women have also rendered special assistance in the Stone Church, but the record of their labors
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has not been preserved to any extent. A few bore the title of "missionary assistant," or "city mission- ary assistant." One of these deserves special remem- brance. Miss Maria J. Weaver was born on Feb- ruary 13, 1844, at Fairhaven, Mass., opposite New Bedford, where her father was a retired sea-captain, her mother having been a direct descendant of John Alden. After a common and boarding school educa- tion, she taught until she came in 1866 to Cleveland, when twenty-two years of age. For eighteen years she was connected with the Cleveland Protestant Or- phan Asylum, first in charge of the boys and then of the girls. Her efficiency and spirit of self-sacrifice won the hearts of the children, many of whom in later years remembered her with an affection like that given a mother. She was ever seeking the child who seemed in the lowest estate and making efforts to lift him up. During her connection with the asylum work it was a pleasant duty to take the children to the North Presbyterian Sunday School. In the course of time she became missionary visitor in the North Presbyterian Church, carrying into that work the same spirit that had reigned in her previous service. Then she came to the service of the Stone Church, where during the last nineteen years of her life she acted as missionary visitor, winning the hearts of all whom she met and leaving a fragrance in the homes of the poor and destitute. Many outcasts were turned into paths of usefulness by her consecrated efforts. In a class of adults connected with the Bible school she was the leading spirit, loved and honored
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as a woman of rare good judgment and of absolute self-forgetfulness.
During May of 1912 representatives of many Stone Church organizations remembered Miss Weaver with a substantial token of their love and affection, wish- ing her length of days in her retirement from active service, but that was not to be, for on October 26, 1912, she quietly passed away, having for forty-six years served as matron and city missionary.
Miss Hazel E. Foster, for the last eight years mis- sionary assistant in the Stone Church, is the daughter of Mr. Henry B. Foster, editor-in-chief of the Roch- ester Evening Times, but for four generations the Foster family has resided in Ohio. Miss Foster's great-grandfather, a Revolutionary soldier, came in an oxcart from Connecticut to the Western Reserve, and here the descendants have always been active in religious and reform work. After having attended the Cleveland Denison Grammar and Lincoln High Schools, Miss Foster for two years was a student in the College for Women. She then taught a year at Independence, Ohio, before going to Ohio Wesleyan University, from which she graduated. While teach- ing for three years in the Cleveland public schools she also became connected with Hiram House classes in story-telling, dramatizing, basketry, boys' club work, and other lines of juvenile instruction. When about to assume a new position at the Hiram House Mr. Bellamy, the head of that institution, aware of Miss Foster's interest in religious and social endeav- ors, at once recommended her when asked to suggest
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some one as successor to Miss Weaver in the mission- ary work at the Stone Church. With such splendid special training, in addition to considerable volunteer religious and philanthropic service, Miss Foster assumed her position in the Stone Church on Sep- tember 1, 1912. At the close of five years' service a pamphlet was published setting forth the nature of her daily work in the down-town districts. During the five years she attended to almost five thousand calls, distributed forty-six hundred garments, and handled in relief work twenty-five hundred dollars. Since then three years have passed, and in the light of the eight years' devoted missionary service Miss Foster is one of the most indispensable helpers in the modern life of the Stone Church.
While Miss Weaver was connected with the Stone Church activities, she had a peculiarly efficient asso- ciate in Miss Marie A. Higley, a trained nurse. A number of the members of the Ladies' Society having become interested in the possibility of furnishing free nursing to the poor, supported Miss Higley, who re- sided at the Goodrich House, where she also engaged in club work. "The Baker's Dozen," a club of young college women organized to care for young children, also became interested in Miss Higley's efforts. She seems to have been the forerunner of the Visiting Nurses' Association afterwards organized, and of which she became a member. On account of failing health Miss Higley was compelled to relinquish nurs- ing until recently, when she began to give part-time
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service to the work of the Stone Church in associa- tion with Miss Foster.
The secretarial office of the Stone Church has been for four years under the care of Miss Carrie Yindrock, whose early Christian life was spent in the Woodland Avenue Presbyterian Church, where she was a valued member and Sunday School teacher. She came to the Stone Church work after experience gained in the office of a leading law firm, and since the death of Elder Livingston Fewsmith her church membership has been transferred from the Woodland Avenue to the Stone Church, in order that she may assist in the religious activities, especially on the Sabbath, as well as in the administrative work of the congrega- tion.
What a noble succession of voluntary assistants has blessed the Stone Church, such as Sunday School superintendents and officers of various church organi- zations. Toward what has seemed to the centennial historian to be the premature ending of his research, three ancient Sunday School record books have been discovered. One contains the names of the pupils in attendance upon the Stone Church Sunday School from 1836 to 1840, the names of their parents, the lat- ter's occupations and places of residence. The open- ing pages of another record book refer to the forma- tion of a Sunday School in 1832 in "Cleveland School District No. 2," probably a mission of the Stone Church. It was organized in the home of a Mr. Boyn- ton by Messrs. Davis and Adams, the devoted shoe- maker Davis who brought the Sabbath to Cleveland,
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and Dr. Adams who became a medical missionary in South Africa. Two brief notes state that "Mr. Rouse visited the school on Sunday" and that "Mr. Severance attended and assisted in conducting the school."
The rest of this record book tabulates the statistics of the Stone Church school from 1836 to 1840. Each page is so ruled that there are columns for attendance and various other statistics, the last column on each page having space for "remarks." The originator of this type of record book printed on the first page samples for the guidance of the secretary. Those given for the column of "remarks" are as follows. The first of course was "Pleasant weather." Then came,
The pastor of the church visited the school and ad- dressed the scholars on the duty of repentance.
One of the female scholars admitted today is near seventy years of age and can only read a, b.
Lydia Mullikin, discharged today, has been in the school four years and conducted herself very well the last twelve or fifteen months. She will now remove to the country, as we trust she will live to the glory of God.
Thomas Wilson, discharged today, is a bad boy; his parents have put him to a farmer in the country.
It would be better to have the male and female schools kept in separate rooms, and we hope the congregation will build a school house.
The high quality of the pioneer Stone Church Sun- day School is evidenced by the fact that the super- intendents and secretaries did not pay any attention to the guiding illustrations given by the copyright
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owner, with the exception perhaps of the "weather" notations. The pioneer weather recorded seems to have been unfavorable for Sunday School attend- ance. During the greater portion of one year the Stone Church and the Second Presbyterian Sunday Schools united. Elder Truman P. Handy was super- intendent of the former school during his connection with the Stone Church. Periodic Sunday evening public examinations were held in the presence of the congregation. At one of these tests an offering was taken amounting to sixty dollars for the purchase of books for the Sunday School library, which was more valued then than in these days of public libraries.
The average attendance ran from one hundred to one hundred fifty, and the number of male often equalled that of the female pupils in the school. Deaths of teachers and scholars were faithfully re- corded in the "remarks" column, and the superin- tendent addressed the school upon the sad event. The following are a few of the notations made :
September 2, 1838 - Mrs. Isabella Williamson died during the past week. She had been connected with this school, either as a scholar or a teacher, since its organi- zation. She gave pleasing evidence of her faith in Christ.
September 30, 1838 - Chas. Blackman died the past week aged fifteen. Been in school a year. Gave evidence of piety. Scholars addressed on the subject.
April 15, 1838 - Miss Harriet Brainerd's dying re- quest communicated to the school, "Tell them not to put off preparation for death."
Visitors were thus recorded :
September 11, 1838 - Mr. H. W. Castle, about to em-
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bark for the Sandwich Islands, formerly a teacher in this school, addressed the scholars.
July 21, 1839 - Rev. Mr. Whiting present from Pales- tine, addressed the school.
October 13, 1839 - School addressed by Mr. Walsworth, a scholar in this school sixteen years ago, now preparing for the ministry.
April 12, 1840 - Weather unpleasant. E. D. Severance, for several years a teacher in this school, died Saturday morning, April 11th. Funeral to be attended this after- noon from the church, scholars following in the pro- cession. He gave bright and cheering evidence of his hope in Christ. School addressed on the subject by the superintendent.
That the communion service was often prolonged in earlier years is proven by this notation:
Communion in the church at noon prevented the exer- cises of the Sabbath School.
At one time in 1840 Elder John A. Foot was ap- pointed temporary superintendent during the absence of Elder T. P. Handy on account of ill health. On November 1, 1840, there is this interesting note: "School addressed by Lieutenant Foot of the U. S. Navy." This was afterwards Admiral Foot of Civil War fame, a brother of the Sunday School superin- tendent pro tem. Dr. Delamater was in charge of the school on May 13, 1840. On January 19, 1840, the school was so large (one hundred seventy present) that the session had to be held in the church audi- torium.
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