USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Historical sketch of Chester, on Delaware > Part 18
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The old church must have had a sun dial, perhaps over its main door, such as is still to be seen at the Court House of Somerset county, Maryland, tor in 1704 the wardens claim credit for " cash pd ye ferymen for Bringing Down ye Dyal, Is. S., ac of nayles for setting up ye Dyall, Is. 2d., money spent and pal ye men for setting It up, 4s." In the early times a bell, to remind the congregation that the time for public worship was at hand, had to be rung, as
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AND HIS WIFE ANN SANDELANDS
DEPARTED HIS MORTAIL LIFE APRILE TE 12 16 82 AGED 56 YEARS.
TIVE MEMOR LETHIS FFUGIT HORA
10
MEMENTO MORI
LTIME DE UM
JN UPLAND JN PENSILVANIA. WHO
BANDELANDE TABLET IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, CHESTER.
TERE LIES INTERR-D'TE BODIE OF JAMES SANDELANDS MARCHANT.
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Churches at Chester.
very few persons in the Colony owned watches, and in the houses of the wealthy only the high eight-day clocks, imported from England, ticked the passing hours. Hence we find an entry in the warden's book, under date " 25 xber, (Christmas) 1713, as follows : " Cuffy was paid 6s. 6d., and Dick, David Roberts' boy, one shilling for ringing the church bell." This bell, I believe, was a small one, such as the auctioneers now use, the sound of which on a clear, quiet day, could be heard at considerable distance. I am aware that there is a tradition that Queen Anne presented the church with a bell, but there is no evidence to show this, although, as is well known, the sovereign lady made gifts to all the Episcopal churches in the Colonies, and the testimony of the church books tends to disprove the story of the Queen Anne bell. At a meeting of the vestry, March 30, 1741, twenty-three members of the congregation subscribed funds to " & for in consideration of purchasing a bell for said church," and at a meeting of the same body, April 15, 1745, a bell tower, or turret, to hang the bell was ordered " to be built of stone in the foundation from out to out, Twelve by Four- teen foot." The belfry, built according to these directions, was to the west of and entirely detached from the Church. The bell, which was made in England, and had cast on it the words " Roger Rice, Chester, 1743," was paid for in advance in 1742, by a bill of exchange for £30, and, as the sum obtained by subscription amounted to only half that amount, John Mather donated the re- maining £15.
The stonework, twenty-five feet in height, was surmounted by a frame structure, in which the bell hung. The tower, including the wooden addition, was over fifty feet. The belfry was entered by a door on the south side. The frame super-structure was square until it reached the plate on which the rafters rested, and the roof faced four ways receding to a point which was ornamented with a weather vane. In each side of the framework was a slatted win- dow, so that the sound of the bell would not be obstructed any more than necessary. Within the interior was a rough ladder, which the sexton had to climb when he tolled the bell, although for church services it was, rung by a long rope, which descended to within a few feet of the ground floor.
The foundation of the ancient structure was laid July, 1702, and
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
on Sunday, January 24, 1703, (new style) St. Paul's day, the edifice was opened to public worship, Rev. John Talbot preaching the first sermon in the church. The general impression is that Rev. George Keith was the first clergyman to hold divine services in St. Paul's, but in that gentleman's " Journal and Travels," published in Lon- don, 1706, occurs: this passage : "Sunday, January 24, 1702," (1703 N. S.) " I preached at Philadelphia, on Matthew, V., 17, both in the forenoon and afternoon, Mr. Evans, the minister, hav- ing that day been at Chester, in Pennsylvania, to accompany Mr. Talbot, who was to preach the first sermon in the church after it was built." Mr. Keith did preach here on February 7, and August 3, of that year, and records: " We were kindly entertained at the house of Jasper Yeats there," and, on "Sunday, April 9, 1704, I preached at Chester, on John iv. 24, being my last sermon there." In 1704, Rev. Henry Nichols was appointed missionary to St. Paul's Parish, by the " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel," and reported tint the people were well inclined to the Church of Englan 1, although they had previous to that time no " fixed min- ister till now," and that the congregation had made a subscription of £60 a year toward the support of their rector.
In 1718, Rev. John Humphrey, who was in charge of the parish, reported to the Society, that he could not get a house in Chester to live in and therefore had to buy a plantation of a thousand acres, about three miles distant. He was not altogether accep table to parishioners, and on April 5, 1717, they petitioned the Society to appoint another person, which was done, and Samuel Hesselins was substituted in his stead.
Thirty-four years after Mr. Humphreys had complained of the absence of a parsonage, in 1752, the Rev. Thomas Thompson writes to the Society : " I found no Church wardens or vestry, no house for the minister to live in, nay, not a fit house to hire." Mr. Thomp- son, it seems, formed no better opinion of the people than the peo- ple did of the rector, for in " Rev. Dr. Perry's papers relating to the History of the Church in Pennsylvania, 1680 to 1778," Rev. Thomas Thompson is referred to as a man of bad character.
The congregation, however, failed to provide for the Missionaries, as the rules of the Society required, and in 1762 a notice was given them, that if they did not procure better accommodations for their
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Churches at Chester.
clergyman and " maintain a glebe, a dwelling house, and their Church and burying groun ls in decent order an l repair," the So- ciety would withdraw its mission from them. To accomplish these ends the congregation issued a scheme in January of that year, to raise £562 10s. Od., by a lottery. The advertisement, after set- ting forth these facts, states : " They," the congregation, ".find themselves under the disagreeable necessity to apply to the publick by way of a Lottery, not doubting that it will meet with all suit- able encouragement from the well-disposed of every denomination, as it is intended for the Glory of God and consequently for the good of the Province." There were 1,733 prizes and 3,267 blanks, making 5,000 tickets in all. The drawing was to take place either in Chester or Philadelphia, on March 1, 1762, and continue until all the tickets were drawn. The managers add this addenda to their advertisement :
"N. B .- As the above sum will fall vastly short of completing everything as could be wished, it is hoped that if any are scrupu- lous as to the method of raising money, yet wish well to the Design, and are willing to promote the same, if such Persons will deliver their Liberality into the hands of Mr. Charles Thomson, Merchant, in Philadelphia, or to any of the Managers aforesaid, it will be gratefully acknowledged and carefully applied accordingly."
There is little of interest connected with the Church for more. than twenty years following the lottery. The brewing trouble with the Mother Country and the stormy days of the Revolution seem to have so engrossed the attention of the people, that many things which must have occurred during that period and which should have been noted, have been omitted. This statement applies equally to the county records, and the student of our annals will be surprised to find how little can be gathered from an examination of them.
In 1784, after peace was assured, an effort was made to form the various parishes in the Colonies into dioceses, and St. Paul's, of Chester, was one of the churches which joined in the Act of Asso- ciation, and sent Dr. William Currie and James Withey to repre- sent the parish in the preliminary meeting in Philadelphia, March 29, 1784, to bring about such form of church government, and at the meeting in Christ Church, in that city, May 24, 1785, when the Diocese of Pennsylvania was formed, the delegates from St. Paul's were John Crosby, Jr., and John Shaw.
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
In the summer of 1826, two strangers without means, died in the Borough, and, being no Potter's Field here, their bodies were burie I on the western side of Welsh street, or Love Lane, as it was then called, below Third street, and just outside of St. Paul's church- yard. The bink then, as with country highways, was higher than the roadway, and the dead strangers were buried therein. The Philadelphia papers of that date contained several articles reflect- ing on the Borough authorities, for not providing a suitable place to deposit the bodies of these unfortunate men. For many years their graves could be pointed out an.l the superstitious colored peo- ple always passed the spot with rapid steps, the beating of their hearts much accelerated, and they looked backward frequently as they hurried by It is said that the lassies, as they neared the spot while walking with the gallants of that day, drew more close to the sides of their male companions, as if for shelter against some imagined horror. In time the coffins and bodies crumbled away, not a vestige of them being found when the sidewalk was cut down.
In 1835, the old Church proving too small for the accommoda- tion of the congregation, extensive repairs were made to the an- cient edifice. The old pews were increased in number, each of the large square ones were made into two small ones, the high backs lowered, the double doors walled up, a gallery built across the west- ern end, and under it the main entrance to the Church was made. The old pulpit with the sounding board was not removed, and the great oriel window to the east, in the rear of the clergyman's desk, was not disturbed. These changes made it necessary to remove the old Sandelands tablet. It was placed in the wall on the out- side of the building, and during the spring, when the stonework was being whitewashed, it was repeatedly treated to a coat of that abominable compound by the sexton's wife, who did all chores of that character about the Church. The ancient bell tower was torn down and a small belfry built in the roof, at the western end of the building. The bell, which with such difficulty had been procured from England more than a century before, had become damaged by long service, and it was determined to have it recast. George W. Piper and J. Gifford JJohnson took the bell in a wagon to Philadel- phia, to Wiltbank's foundry, for that purpose. Before this bell was recast the foundry was destroyed by fire, and the heat was so
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Churches at Chester.
great that tons of metal were fused into a mass. Wiltbank, how- ever, furnished a bell, but it is more than probable that not an ounce of the material in the old one cast by Roger Rice entered into the composition of the one which hangs in the belfry of the present Church. No doubt but that the good people of that day believed they were doing a wise act in disturbing the antiquated appearance of th ancient structure and decking it out in modern toggery, just as their successors fifteen years afterwards were ac- tuated by the same idea when they razed the entire building to the ground, and that, too, without getting enough stones from the ruins to lay a third of the basement of the new edifice. Matters drifted on with the Parish until 1850, when the change in the cur- rent set in, and Chester, after stumbering a century and a half, started into activity. St. Paul's Church awakened with the rest, and began to make provisions for the new order of things But the error of that day, and it was a serious one, consisted in de- stroying absolutely the old sanctuary.
The new Church structure, which was erected on the north side of Third street, was built after a plan prepared by T. U. Walter, architect of Philadelphia, and the cost, it was believed, would not exceed five thousand dollars, although it ultimately cost nearly double that sum. The corner stone was laid July 25, 1859. The building was in the Gothic style, and was approached by a flight of stone steps, one of which was the slab which had formerly covered the remains of Robert French, and to-day is one of the flagging in the sidewalk to the Sunday School on the east side of the Church.
Robert French was a native of Scotland, and was the second husband of James Sandelands' daughter Mary. He was a promi- nent man in his times in the Lower Counties, and was one of the three gentlemen to whom William Penn addressed his noted letter respecting the pirates, who were reported to have landed near New Castle, " full of gold," about the beginning of the year 1700, and whom he instructed French to discover and arrest, if possible. He was a member of the Church of England, and one of the founders of Immanuel Church, at New Castle. He filled many important offices in the Colonial Government, and after a lengthened illness died in Philadelphia, September 7, 1713, and was interred in St. Paul's Church, in this city. His tombstone, which is the oldest
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
except that of James Sandelands, and Francis Brooks, to whom I will refer hereafter, in St. Paul's, was an ordinary slab of syenite, six feet long and three and a half feet wide, and the inscription, now almost obliterated, read : " Robert French, obt. Sept. the 7th, 1713." His widow married in about a year after his death, for- the third time, Robert Gordon, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Lower Counties on the Delaware.
David, the son of Robert and Mary (Sandelands) French, was a poet of no slight attainments, and his verses are spoken of with warm commendation by Duyckinck Brothers, in their " Cyclopedia of American Literature." "The smoothness and elegance of the versification," they say, " testify to the accomplished scholarship of the writer." He was Attorney General for the Lower Counties, and in 1728, was Prothonotary of the Courts of Delaware, an office he retained during life. He was also Speaker of the Assembly, and was appointed by the High Courts of Chancery in England, one of the Examiners in the case of Penn vs. Lord Baltimore. He died in August, 1742, and was buried in St. Paul's Church, on the 25th of the same month, " by the side of his father." The Pennsylva- nia Gazette, for August 26, 1742, states :
" The Beginning of this Week died at New Castle, David French, Esq, late Speaker of the Assembly of that Government, et., a young Gentleman of uncommon Parts, Learning and Probiety, join'd with the most consummate Good Nature ; and therefore uni- versally beloved and regretted. The Corps was brought up to Ches- ter, and yesterday interred in the Church there, the Funeral being attended by many Gentlemen, his Friends, from this city."
The place where the remains of the noted father and son lie in the graveyard is now unknown. In all probability they were in- . terred in the chancel of the old Church building.
The new building was opened Sunday, May 4, 1851, Rev. Mr. Balch, officiating. The constant growth of our busy city and the increase in the number of the worshippers soon began to tax the seating capacity of the new structure, and for several years after the close of the war it became evident that additional room must be provided to meet this want. In 1872, the demand was so im- perative that the congregation determined that the Church building must be remodeled, and steps were taken promptly to carry out that end. On Sunday, June 14, 1872, services were held in the
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Churches at Chester.
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sanctuary for the last time previous to the changes being made, and for ten months the edifice was closed during the alterations. The south end of the Church was demolished, and a new addition, con- siderably increasing the seating capacity, a handsome Gothic front, which approaches closely to the sidewalk, and a towering steeple and belfry erected. On Sunday, April 13, 1873, the congregation renewed religious services in St. Paul's, and Rev. Henry Brown, the rector, preached a historical sermon.
John Hill Martin, in his " History of Chester," gives the follow- ing list of ministers of St. Paul's, from 1702 to the present time :
Rev. Evan Evans
1702 to 1704
Henry Nichols,
1704 “ 1708
George Ross,
1708 " 1714
John Humphreys,
1714 " 1726
Samuel Hesselius,
1726 " 1728
Richard Backhouse,
1728 " 1749
Thomas Thompson,
1751 «
Israel Acrelius,
1756 «
George Craig,
1758 " 1781
James Conner,
1788 " 1791
Joseph Turner,
1791 " 1793
Levi Heath,
1796 " 1798
Joshua Reece,
1803 " 1805
66
William Pryce,
1815 " 1818
66 Jacob Morgan Douglass,
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1822 " 1831
1831 " 1835
Richard D. Hall,
1835 “ 1837
Mortimer Richmond Talbot,
1837 « 1841
Greenberry W. Ridgely,
1842 " 1843
66 Anson B. Hard, Associate Rector,
1844 " 1848
Charles W. Quick,
1849 " 1850
Lewis P. W. Balch, D. D.,
1850 " 1853
Nicholas Sayre Harris,
1853 " 1855
Daniel Kendig.
1855 " 1859
66 M. Richmond Talbot.
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1859 " 1861
J. Pinckney Hammond,
1861 " 1863
Henry Brown,
1863 « -
Within the old churchyard are gathered many generations of our people, and therein mingles with the earth the ashes of the earliest proprietors of our city. I believe Joran Keen, the original Swed- ish settler of Chester, lies in that ancient God's Acre, and to that
1818 « 1822
Rich'd Umstead Morgan,
John Baker Clemson, D. D.,
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
fact I ascribe the inclination his descendants and connections mani- fested for many years to be interred in the present Saint Paul's burial ground. However, it is not my purpose to speculate on the unknown, but to refer briefly to the distinguished dead who lie therein.
Ten years ago, after the addition to the front part of the Church was begun, Dr. Allen showed me, in a closet in the Sunday School, the noted tombstone which for many years attracted the attention of all strangers visiting the old church yard, because of its an- tiquity, the manner in which the sculptor had performed his work, and the singularity of the inscription. The stone was cracked and in bad condition. The inscription reads :-
FOR THE MEMORY OF FRANCIS BROOKS, who died August the 19, 1704 Aged 50 years.
In Barbarian bondage And cruel tyranny For ten years together I served in Slavery After this Mercy brought me To my country fair And last I drowned was In River Delaware.
John Hill Martin states that Francis Brooks was a negro. The inscription would seem to indicate that Brooks was a native of the American Colonies, and as his age at death precludes the idea of his birth in Uplard, the chances are that he was a New Englander, or Virginian.
One of the most interesting monuments is that on which is cut the following inscription :
Here lieth Paul Jackson, A. M. He was the first who received a Degree In the College of Philadelphia. A Man of virtue, worth and knowledge. Died 1767, aged 36 years. Dr. Paul Jackson was noted as one of the most accomplished
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scholars of his day in the Colony. When quite a young man he was appointed to the professorship of the Greek and Latin Lan- guages in the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Penn- sylvania. His studious application impaired his health, and in 1758, when General Forbes led the. expedition against Fort Du Quesne, he joined the army as a captain of one of the companies of Royal Americans. Hisactive life as a soldier restoring him, he determined to study medicine. After he had received his degree he came to Chester, where he married Jane, daughter of John Mather, and practiced his profession with marked success. He was Chief Burgess of the Borough at the time of his death. His widow, in three years after his decease, married Dr. David JJack- son, a brother of her first husband, and who, during the Revolu- tionary War, was Surgeon General of the Pennsylvania troops.
One of the most noted graves in St. Paul's Ground-at least within recent years, for, strange as it may appear, neither Trego in his "Geography and Historical Accounts of Pennsylvania," - or Burrowes' "State Book of Pennsylvania," both published within the last forty years, make any mention of John Morton-is that of the signer of the Declaration of Independence, whose remains lie beneath a plain shaft of marble, nine feet in height, its four sides forming precisely the four cardinal points of the compass. The inscription on the west side of the monolith is as follows :
Dedicated to the memory of John Morton,
A member of the First American Congress from the State of Penn- sylvania, Assembled in New York in 1765, and of the next Congress, assembled in Philadelphia in 1774.
Born A. D., 1724-Died April 1777.
On the east side of the shaft is as follows :
" In voting by States upon the question of the Independence of the American Colonies, there was a tie until the vote of Pennsyl- vania was given, two members of which voted in the affirmative, and two in the negative. The tie continued until the vote of the last member, John Morton, decided the promulgation of the Glo- rious Diploma of American Freedom."
On the south side of the stone is cut the statement :
" In 1775, while speaker of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, John Morton was elected a Member of Congress, and in the ever me- morable session of 1776, he attended that august body for the last
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Historical Sketch of Chester.
time, establishing his nime in the grateful remembrance of the American People by signing the Declaration of Independence."
On the north side of the shaft is inscribed the following sentence, to which I desire particularly to direct the attention of the reader. It is ·
" John Morton being censured by his friends for his boldness in giving his casting vote for the Declaration of Independence, his prophetic spirit dict itel from his death bed the following message to them: ' Tell them they shall live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it to have been the most glorious service I ever rendered to my country."
A little over nine months after the Declaration was signed, John Morton died, his act in voting for the great Charter of American Freedom having hastened his end. It is well known that when the Declaration was made it was accepted ny more than two-thirds of the United Colonies as a mistake, and as for a time reverses seemed to wait upon the American arms, the feeling that a fatal error had been made becime general Even the army did not receive the news of the act with enthusiasm, for it will be recalled that wheu the Continental forces were at Fort Washington and the news of the Dechirition reichel them, they were ordered to form in a squire. After priyer by Rev. Dr. Migaw, the document was read to the soldiers. When it was finished there was, for an instant, a death-like silence. Gen. Thomas Mifflin, who was a gifted speak- er, knowing there was no time for reflection, spring on a cannon, and in a clear, full voice, exchimned: " My lads, the Rubicon is crossed! Let us give three cheers for the Declaration." The ef- fect was electrical. The men cheered enthusiastically, and although not a note of dissatisfaction was heard, still the correspondence and diaries of that period show how doubtful the measure was believed to be. Morton was in a neighborhood and among friends who de- sired the war should cense, whose religious conviction was against strife, and hence he was met on all sides with the opinion that he had done a wrong to his country in his vote. The series of disas- ters which followed immediately after the Declaration was pro- claimed, lent additional earnestness to the statement of these " friends"-as the monument designates them-and his sensitive nature could not bear up against their reproaches. John Morton's last year of life was an unhappy one, and although it gave him
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immortality of fame, it added not to his joy, for he was harassed and annoyed by the reproaches of many of his constituents. His last words show how deeply their censure had impressed itself upon his mind.
ST. LUKE'S P. E. CHURCH.
The Gothic edifice, located at the south-east corner of Third and Broomall streets, was built of granite, in 1866, the corner stone being laid February 1, of the same year, with appropriate ceremo- nies. Right Rev. William Bacon Stevens, Bishop of Pennsylva- nia, officiated, assisted by Rev. Henry Brown and other clergymen. The funds of the building committee having become exhausted be- fore the Church was completed, the congregation for a time wor- shipped in the edifice which was then without pews, settees being used in their places, and the unplastered walls presenting a rough and uninviting appearance. After Sunday, May 8, 1870, services were held there in the morning and evening, Thomas R. List, a student at the Divinity School of Philadelphia, being employed as lay reader, which duties he discharged until June 19, 1873, when he became rector of the parish. The Church now firmly established, was due largely to the efforts of John Burrows Mckeever, Wm. Ward, Samuel Archbold, Samuel Eccles, Jr., Wm. H. Green, Wm. A. Todd, Major Joseph R. T. Coates, and their wives and other la- dies of St. Paul's Church, the South Ward, and South Chester. Edward A. Price and wife presented the parish with a handsome communion service-silver tankard, paten, chalices and plates for alms, while F. Stanhope Hill and Mrs. Hannah Depue gave the pulpit Bible. On May 19, 1874, St. Luke's Church was admitted into the Diocesan Convention, Samuel Archbold and William Ward being the first lay deputies. In 1874, John Burrows Mckeever, who was an ardent friend of the new parish, died, and through the efforts of Rev. Mr. List a memorial font was placed in the church in whose behalf he labored so zealously. In September, 1875, Rev. Mr. List, having received a call to a church in Philadelphia, re-
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