USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > Oxford > Two discourses relating to the early history of Trinity Church, Oxford, Philadelphia : with a compend of its history between September, 1854, and October, 1882, with an appendix > Part 1
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GRIDity Church
OXFORD, PHILADELPHIA
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02564 7634
Gc 974.802 P53buc Buchanan, Edward Young. Two discourses relating to the early history of Trinity Church .
To the Memorial Church of the advocate, Philadelphia.
from HoraceA Fuller
Rector of Trinity Church, Oxford, Philadelphia.
Heart of Shark the Evangelist, 1907.
BAXTER- HARLEY
TRINITY CHURCH, OXFORD, PHILADELPHIA.
1
TWO DISCOURSES
RELATING TO THE
Early History of Trinity Church,
OXFORD, PHILADELPHIA,
WITH A
COMPEND OF ITS HISTORY
BETWEEN
September, 1854, and October, 1882,
WITH AN APPENDIX.
-
EDWARD Y. BUCHANAN, D.D.
PHILADELPHIA: PORTER & COATES. 1885.
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
.
"REMEMBER THE DAYS OF OLD;
"CONSIDER THE YEARS OF MANY GENERATIONS:
"ASK THY FATHER, AND HE WILL SHOW THEE; THY ELDERS, AND THEY WILL TELL THEE."-DEUT. 32 : 7.
PREFACE.
HE late Rector of the venerable and interesting Parish of Trinity Church, Oxford, having, in accordance with the wishes of friends, prepared a brief narrative of occurrences and events in the history of the Parish during his ministry in it, has thought it would be well to precede that nar- rative with another, and somewhat enlarged, edi- tion of the "Sketch" of the earlier history of the Parish, printed some years ago, (through the kind- ness of his lamented friend, Joseph Swift, Esq.) and also, with a reprint, of the second Historical Discourse, published some years later. He has thought that it would add to the interest of the whole, if there should be likewise printed, a few of the many Communications to the Missionary Society in England, in reference to the Parish, to be found in Bishop Perry's valuable collection of "Papers relating to the History of the Church in Pennsylvania."
Philadelphia, April, 1885.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE
PARISH OF TRINITY CHURCH, OXFORD, PHILADEL- PHIA, READ IN THE CHURCH ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 2D, 1857,
BY THE RECTOR.
A GREEABLY to notice, I proceed to read this morning, the sketch which I have prepared, of the history of this ancient Parish. I only pre- mise, that, whilst it is far from being as full as could have been desired, it is as full as the scanty materials at hand enabled me to make it. Until the year 1715, there are no parochial records; and even after that, they are very meagre and unsatis- factory; and yet, (except for the first thirty years of our church existence,) I have been able to derive little or no information from any other source .*
* At a later date (1872) in the preparation of a supplementary Sermon, now reprinted with this Historical Sketch, I had additional sources of in- formation. (See page 52.) These additional sources have enabled me to make some portions of this Sketch, more full and accurate.
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The precise time when this Parish originated, or rather when the services of the Church of Eng- land were commenced on, or near, this spot, is un- known. It is known, however, that there were, both a church and congregation here, as early as the year 1700, if not earlier. The authority for this statement is a letter of the Rev. Evan Evans, (for many years minister of Christ Church, Phila- delphia,) written in the year 1707, to the "Society" in England "for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." In it occurs the following pas- sage: "Trinity Church, in Oxford Township, lies in the County of Philadelphia, nine miles from the city, where for the first four years after my arrival in Philadelphia, I frequently preached, and administered both the Sacraments, and had, when I last preached in it, about one hundred and forty people-most of the people brought over to the Church of England, from Quakers, Anabaptists, and other persuasions." (Banner of the Cross, vol. 6, page 137.)*
Now, the date of Mr. Evans's arrival in Phila- delphia, was the year 1700; so that, in that year there were, both a church and congregation here. It is further noticeable, that he writes as if he had found them here, and in no wise as if he had been
* During a portion of the time referred to in this letter of Mr. Evans, the Rev. Mr. Thomas, his assistant, and the Rev. John Clubb (then a school- master as well as clergyman) also frequently officiated.
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the means of establishing them. But if he was not the means of doing this, the only other per- son, at least the only other minister, who could have been, was the Rev. Mr. Clayton, the founder of the Church in Philadelphia, and the first Church of England minister, known to have been in the Colony of Pennsylvania. And this would place the commencement of the Parish at least two years earlier, since Mr. Clayton died in the year 1698.
The church, to which Mr. Evans refers, was a building, probably of logs, which, according to Keith, had been put up, or at least used, for a Quaker meeting-house, but had been given by its proprietors to the Parish-the most of them hav- ing become converts to the Church. Keith, in his Journal, published in 1706, speaks of it as a "con- venient" church; and as, at the time of his writ- ing, (viz., as is supposed, in 1705,) "supplied with a minister, and in use, on every Lord's day, for pray- ers and sermons, and the administration of the Sacraments."* It probably stood near the present church-building, and may have been the one after- wards spoken of in the records of the Parish as the "school-house belonging to Oxford Church." Previous to the donation of it to the Church it
* Keith himself had officiated in it twice-on Sunday, the 27th of Feb- ruary, 1704, and on Thursday, March 16th, of the same year.
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may have been used, and probably was, by the Dutch Anabaptists and Swedish Lutherans of the neighborhood, as well as by the English Quakers, from whom it came.
The passage in which Keith speaks of the source whence it was received by the Church, I have transcribed. It reads thus: "The place at Franck- fort, in Pennsylvania," (or "Franckfort, alias Ox- ford," as he had before written,) "where the con- gregation assembles on the Lord's day, is called Trinity Chapel. It was formerly a Quaker meet- ing-house, built or fitted by Quakers, but some time ago had been given to the Church by such who had the right to it. Some land adjoining was given by a person well affected to the Church, for the use of the minister who should reside there, for a house, garden, and small orchard." (Keith's Journal, P. E. Hist. Society's edition, page 51.)
The person well affected to the Church, and no doubt a member of it, referred to in this last sen- tence, was Thomas Graves. His deed, of December 30th, 1700, to Joshua Carpenter, of Philadelphia, brewer, and John Moore, of the same place, gentle- man, for the three acres of ground now embraced in the graveyard, and the lot adjoining, and which were to be for "the use and service of those of the communion of our holy mother, the Church of
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England, and to no other use or uses whatsoever," is still in possession of the vestry. His name after- wards occurs in a list of four persons, who, on the 18th day of April, 1715, were chosen church-war- dens for the ensuing year; the other persons being James Morgan, Edward Collins, and John Roberts; the last named, most probably, the husband of the person on whose gravestone is the quaint epitaph, beginning,
"Here, by these lines is testify'd, No Quaker was she when she dy'd," etc .*
The entry, I may add, of this appointment of church-wardens, is the first one on our oldest ves- try-book.
* The whole inscription on this stone is curious. On the outer side are the words: "Here lyeth the body of Elizabeth, the wife of John Roberts, who departed this life, May ye the 6th, in the year of our Lord God 1708, aged 41 years.
"Weep not for me, for it is in vain, Weep for your sins, and them refrain."
On the inner side are the following:
"Here, by these lines is testify'd, No Quaker was she when she dy'd;
So far was she from Quakerism, That she desired to have baptism. For her, our babes and children dear, To this, these lines true witness bear, And furthermore, she did obtain, That faith that all shall rise again
Out of the graves at the last day, And in this faith she passed away."
For some additional epitaphs from Oxford Churchyard, see Appendix.
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Whether any part of the land given by Mr. Graves was ever used for the purposes for which, according to Keith, it was given, is now unknown. It is certain, however, that a considerable part of it came very soon to be used as a cemetery; for, in the eastern end of it, are gravestones of as early dates as 1708 and 1709. And there is one which, if the inscription had not been effaced from it by time, would probably reveal a still earlier date.
The minister alluded to by Keith, as officiating here in 1705, was without doubt, the Rev. Mr. Rudman, a Swede. He is spoken of in a published account of the proceedings of the Propagation So- ciety, for the first four years after its establishment, as having had "a reward given to him for the sup- ply of Oxford or Franckfort."* He probably con- tinued to officiate here, at least occasionally, until his death, in 1708; although the Mission was no longer under his care, but under that of the Rev. John Clubb. Mr. Clubb continued to have special charge of it until 1711 or 1712, when, for a year or
* In a letter, also written in 1705, by the Rev. John Talbot, Keith's com- panion in many of his travels, occurs a passage which shows, not merely that Mr. Rudman was at that time the minister at Oxford, but also that he was not without his troubles as such. "Mr. Rudman serves there," viz., at Philadelphia, "but chiefly at the country church (in Oxford, near Frank- fort) with good success; but he has met with some disturbance from Ed- ward Eaton, who has been very peevish and scandalous in words and writ- ings, for which he was presented to the Grand Jury, but it was hard to
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two, he was removed to Apoquinimy in Delaware; whence, (and after a short visit to England,) he was permitted to return to Oxford, where he preferred to be, and where he was earnestly desired by the people. The year of his return was 1714. During his temporary absence, the services here were only occasional, and were such as could be rendered by Mr. Evans, and by the few missionaries of the So- ciety then in the Colony. Of these, the Rev. John Humphreys, of Chester, was most frequent in his visits. Indeed, he seems to have had, for two or three years previous to 1714, the church specially under his care; though it must have been only at long intervals that he visited it, for there were sev- eral other congregations in which he ministered.
Of the members of the congregation at that early day, in common with those of the churches of Philadelphia and Chester, Dr. David Humphreys, the secretary and historian of the Propagation So- ciety, gives the gratifying account, that they were "persons of good note for their Christian conversa-
persuade them to find the bill." P. E. Hist. Coll., p. 56. Curiously enough, the headstone at the grave of this person is one of the few that remain of that early date, and the inscription is distinctly legible. It gives a more favorable account of him; as does also the Rev. M. Clubb in a letter to the Society of July 24th, 1710. In it, he writes, "We have of late lost a se- rious good Christian that was of our Vestry . . . his name was Edward Eaton." A copy of the inscription on Mr. Eaton's headstone will be found in the Appendix, page 108.
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tion, devotion, and zeal." It is to be regretted that the names of so few of them can be ascertained. Until even so late a date as 1717, the only persons, besides the four already mentioned, who are known to have been in the congregation, are Peter Taylor and Richard Prig. To these ought, most probably, to be added the name of Henry Mallows, the per- son named in Mr. Graves's deed as his attorney for the acknowledgment, etc., of the deed. In 1718, appear the additional names of Thomas Carvel, Nicholas Hickst (elsewhere styled "gentleman, of Springfield Manour"), Joseph Ashton, Nath'l Page, John Chaffin, Wm. Whartnaby, Nath'l Walton, Jr., Joseph Thornhill, Joseph Harper, Charles Harper, and Toby Leech.
In the interval between the years 1709 and 1714, occurred the important event in our parochial his- tory, of the erection of a new church. That it took place before the last-named year, will be evident from the following extract from Humphreys: *- "Oxford and Radnor, two Welsh settlements" (Ox- ford, however, was such only to a limited, extent), "were first visited by Mr. Evans, from Philadel- phia" (this again, as we have seen, was perhaps not strictly accurate), "and the people having been members of the Church of England when they
* Historical Account, p. 64.
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were transplanted from Wales hither, were desir- ous of having that form of worship fixed among them again. By his occasional sermons, and the visits of other clergymen, the people of Oxford were encouraged to build a neat and convenient church. The congregation consisted chiefly of the younger people, and the whole town was composed of about twenty families. They not only built a church, but subscribed also £20 a year to their minister in money and country produce. The people of Radnor also petitioned for a minister, and the Society appointed the Rev. Mr. Clubb, mis- sionary to Oxford and Radnor, two towns, being about twenty miles distant from each other. He arrived there in 1714. The inhabitants of both towns received him with great kindness, as being well known to them before, during his being schoolmaster at Philadelphia," and as having been, for a time, their minister.
The church, then, as is evident from this ex- tract, was built previous to the year 1714. The only question, therefore, is as to the length of time it had been built.
Now, as according to this same extract, it was at the instance of Mr. Evans that the congregation erected the church, and as he is known to have been abroad between the years 1707 and 1709, the probability is, that the church was not erected
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until after the second of these years. It is not likely that it was built before the year 1709, or he would have made some allusion to, either its actual or anticipated erection, in his letter to the Society of 1707, from which I have already quoted. Be- sides, in a communication addressed by the two congregations of Oxford and Radnor to the So- ciety, as late as the year 1717, they speak of them- selves as still "in debt" for their churches; which would hardly have been the case, if they had erected them so long before as previous to the year 1709.
The truth, then, seems to be, that, until probably the year 1711,* the congregation contented them- selves with the humble building which they had received as a gift from the Quakers; and that then, their numbers and means and zeal having increased, and Mr. Evans again, as before his de- parture for England, visiting them, and encourag- ing them to do so, they erected the original part, or, apparently, about thirty-five feet of the west end of the present building, thus providing them- selves with a church thirty-five by twenty-five feet. Agreeably to ecclesiastical usage, then gen- erally followed, it was made to stand east and west,
* 1711 was the year in which the church was built, as will be seen by a statement on page 57 of the supplementary Sermon, published with this.
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with a south door and porch; and for the time and place, it was respectable, as to both size and appearance. For many years, however, it was without either pews or floor, and for a still longer time, without any facilities for being heated.
In the year 1713 it received a quasi consecra- tion, as appears from the following extract from the "History of New Sweden," by Israel Aerelins, pub- lished in 1874, page 220.
"When any English Church was consecrated, the Swedish ministers were invited thereto. But, ac- cording to English custom, that was nothing more than a church-opening, inasmuch as they hold, that no one but a Bishop can consecrate a church. In the year 1713, both Björk and Sandel were on that errand at Oxford Church, 8 miles from Phila- delphia, in company with the English clergy. No other ceremonies than such as are customary, were used on the occasion, except that, in place of a chapter of the Old Testament, Solomon's prayer was used. The sermons were suitable to the occa- sion, and after preaching, some suitable prayers were read. The church was named the 'Church of the Holy Trinity.'"
It was most probably during the same interval in which the church was built, and, as is likely, on its completion, that the congregation received
2
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from Queen Anne the chalice which we still have and use, and which bears the simple inscription, " Annæ Reginæ." The paten belonging to the Parish was the gift to it, on March 29th, 1715, of " Mr. Michall Booth, Dr. Samuel Monckton, Mr. Thos. Tress, Mr. Joh. Humphreys, Pastor, and Mr. Philip Syng, Goldsmith;" all, except Mr. Hum- phreys, most probably of Christ Church, Philadel- phia .* The congregation had also received, before this, from the Society in England, a small library of valuable books, for the use of the minister in charge. Of these, only one, though that, fortu- nately, is the most valuable of all-Pool's Synop- sis, (in Latin) in five vols .- yet remains. In 1746 was received from the same source, the fine old copy of the Sacred Scriptures, with their best in- terpreter, the Prayer-Book, bound with them, from which the lessons are still read in our public ser- vices.
The first person who officiated regularly in the new church-this, however, as we have seen, only at long intervals-was the Rev. Mr. Humphreys.
* The only other piece of plate belonging to the church, a handsome Baptismal Bowl, was presented to it in 1849, by Mrs. Elizabeth P. Fisher, on the occasion of the baptism of her grandson, George Harrison.
Since the year in which this Sketch was written and delivered, the Parish has received from Harry Ingersoll, Esq., the gift of a second chalice, an exact fac-simile of the one received from Queen Anne, and (in the year 1880) from Miss Sally Morris Waln, that of a handsome silver flagon.
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The next was the Rev. Mr. Clubb. He, as will be remembered, was appointed to this station and Radnor, in 1714; or, rather, he took charge of them in that year. He was "very earnest," it is said, "in all parts of his ministerial office, and very successful in his labors, and happy in engaging the love and esteem of all his people." His term of service, however, among them was very short. In the course of the next year after his removal here, he died. The cause of his death is thus alluded to by his parishioners, in a letter addressed by them, soon after, to the Society in England: "Mr. Clubb, our late minister, was the first that undertook the cure of Oxford and Radnor, and he paid dear for it; for the great fatigue of riding between the two churches in such dismal ways and weather as we generally have for four months in the winter, soon put a period to his life."
In the next year after his death, or 1716, Mr. Evans became the missionary to Oxford and Rad- nor,* retaining, however, the charge of Christ Church, Philadelphia. He continued their mis- sionary for two years, discharging his duties with great diligence, "to the great advantage of the people, and his own credit." Nothing, however,
* Until he became such, Mr. Humphreys was again temporarily their pastor, as appears from the inscription on the paten. Page 18.
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more definite than this, is known of his labors here. He died soon after leaving this, in Maryland, whither he had removed, "with this general char- acter, that he had behaved himself as a faithful missionary, and had proved a great instrument towards settling religion and the Church of Eng- land in those wild countries."
It was in anticipation of his removal that another correspondence was opened with the Society, in 1717, for a minister. Of this, the substance of one of the letters from Oxford and Radnor, is given by Humphreys, and presents in such a striking and almost amusing light, the contrast between this section of country, now and then, that I shall read it. In answer to an exhortation from the Society, to consider on some proper means among themselves, for making sufficient allowance for a minister to reside constantly among them, they say, "That they were heartily disposed to do their best, but at present their circumstances would not do great things. They were at present but poor set- tlers, who had newly settled lands backwards in the wilderness, and had not yet so much as their own habitations free from debt; that, indeed, they had built churches in hopes of having ministers from the Society, and had thereby so much encum- bered themselves, that it would be some years, in
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all probability, before they could clear that debt." (p. 64.)
Notwithstanding the account here given of their circumstances, it is pleasant to find them in only the next year, taking steps toward the purchasing of a glebe; which steps, though they do not ap- pear to have resulted in a purchase then, yet show the good and willing disposition of the people. In December of 1718, the two church-wardens, John Roberts and Thomas Carvel, were invested with "full power and authority to collect money, and therewith, in their hands, for the use of the said church, purchase part of the land formerly belong- ing to Thomas Graves, now in the possession of Mr. Toby Leech."
Of the correspondence from which I have just quoted, the result was the appointment, in 1718, to Oxford and Radnor, of the Rev. Robert Wey- man; a person of great worth and very diligent in the discharge of his ministerial duties. He arrived in Pennsylvania on the 19th of November, 1719, and on the Sunday following took' "the charge of this cure" upon him. He continued in charge of it till 1732. A quotation here from Humphreys, will throw light upon the character of the man, and the state of the Church, in this and some other places. "He entered upon his ministry among them with diligence, and the people continued
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their zeal for the Church service. The inhabitants of Oxford purchased a house, orchard, and sixty- three acres of land, for the use and habitation of the minister; and the people of Radnor have obliged themselves to contribute £40 proclamation money of that country, yearly, toward the support of a minister, to preach to them in Welsh, their native language, because many of them do not understand English. Several accounts have been sent the So- . ciety, that Mr. Weyman is very careful in all parts of his duty, and that he extends his labors to several other places on the weekdays, when he can be spared from his own immediate charge; par- ticularly that he hath often travelled to Conestoga, about forty miles beyond Radnor" (probably the present city of Lancaster), "and baptized there and elsewhere, above seventy children in one year.
"Mr. Weyman hath acquainted the Society, that the members of the church increase continually; that there is a congregation at Whitemarsh, about ten miles distant from Oxford, who are very de- sirous of a minister, and have, for the decent per- formance of Divine worship, erected a goodly stone building. Mr. Weyman continues in this mission with good success." (p. 65.)
The house, orchard, and sixty-three acres of land referred to in the beginning of this extract, were purchased of Solomon Hall, in the year 1724, and
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were situated on, or near, the King's Road, now the Bristol Turnpike, about midway between the pres- ent Towns of Holmesburg and Frankford. They were bought for the church by Josiah Harper and Toby Leech, "yeomen," and by them held, in trust, "for the use and benefit of the minister of Trinity. Church, Oxford, for the time being, forever." The price paid for them seems to have been about £130, of which £95 were contributed by one person, a Mrs., or, as she is styled in the Vestry Records, "Widow Mallows;" probably the relict of the per- son named in Mr. Graves's deed, as his attorney. The other contributors were James Morgan, Peter Taylor, Charles Finney, Edward Collins, Robert Griffith, Toby Leech, Josiah Harper, Griffith Grif- fith, Thos. Griffith, Anthony Turner, Wm. West, Nicholas Hickst, and Roger Turner. To these is to be added the name of Mr. Weyman, who, also (with Wm. Keith, Wm. Whartnaby, Thos. Duffield, Mr. Tabbet, Joseph Hawley, and Richard Taylor), contributed liberally toward the improvement of the glebe.
It is pleasant to find most of the names just mentioned in lists, left by Mr. Weyman, of persons who on different occasions received the Commu- nion, beginning with the "Nativity, 1720." Other names that occur in these lists, and in congrega- tional records of Mr. Weyman's time, are Stroot,
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Mason, Sutton, Hall, Beals, Streater, Porter, Smal- wood, Harris, Pugh, Swanson, Skinner, Finch, Davis, Ashburnham, and Adams.
The whole number of communicants about that time seems to have been near fifty; though it was seldom or never that half that number communed on any one occasion. The congregation seems to have been united, zealous, and prosperous. A number of them testified their interest in the church by benefactions to it at their death, as well as through life. Of these, Griffith Griffith, deserves to be specially mentioned as having at his decease, some years later, bequeathed three hundred pounds to it; a large amount for those times, in a rural parish .*
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