USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Radnor > The history of old St. David's church, Radnor, in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, with a complete alphabetical list of wardens and vestrymen, and of the interments in the graveyard, 1700-1906 > Part 5
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Mr. Currie's second wife was Mrs. Lucy Jones (née Godfrey), widow of David Jones, of Chester Valley, and this marriage compelled a further arrangement of his domestic affairs.
In letter dated "Radnor, Sept. 29, 1775," he writes :
The Glebe Land belonging to my Mission consists of 40 acres with a little ruinous House upon it which wants repairs because the Congregation of Radnor declines to assist ye Congregation of Perquihoma alledging that it is too far dis- tant from their Church and yet they are not able to purchase a Glebe any where else, which they ought to do unless they will assist in repairing the Other as it is by means of that
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Old St. David's Church.
only they are Supplied with a missionary. In ye meantime I am obliged to provide a Habitation at my own Expense when all I receive from my three Congregations including the Rent of ye Glebe which is nine 1b. currency or Six 1b. Sterl. pr. ann, does not ammount communibus annis to above twenty 1b. sterl. pr ann.
Notwithstanding these querulous letters from Mr. Currie, and the representations of lukewarmness and negligence of congregational duties they contain against the Radnor parishioners, the old register con- tains much evidence, during this period, of systematic improvement of the church property.
In the early part of Mr. Currie's ministry appears a memorandum dated April 3, 1749, of £1.7s, "paid to Humphrey Wayne for Shingling ye School house." This would seem to indicate the repairs of a perma- nent school at Radnor ; and while there is no reason to believe that this building was in any proper sense a parochial school, or indeed little other than the ordi- nary "Neighborhood School," of which the colonial period of Pennsylvania history contains many exam- ples, yet the connection with the history of Radnor Church of so important an event as the establishment of a school on the grounds, warrants a short digres- sion for its particular consideration.
As early as "November 3rd, 1721," the minutes of the Propagation Society indicate action requested "on behalf of Mr. Rowland Jones, that he may be allowed a salary as a school master at St. David, a Welch set- tlement in Pennsylvania," and that it was agreed to
1
65
The Old Radnor School.
write to the Governor of Pennsylvania and to Rev. Mr. Weyman for information of the character of Mr. Jones, and "whether there is a necessity for allowing a sal- ary to a school-master." Although Mr. Weyman's response, in his letter of April 4, 1723, was unfavorable to the qualifications of Rowland Jones, who is desig- nated as a "Mere individium vagum," yet that employ- ment was secured by him as a school master somewhere in Radnor is fairly to be inferred from other records of the Society which show the receipt on August 17, 1730, of a petition from the "Inhabitants of Radnor in Pensilvania on behalf of Mr. Rowland Jones," repre- senting that he had "kept school formerly amongst us and by his care, tenderness, diligence and good method of Instruction we must all own that our Children re- ceived abundance of Benefit and our-Selves full satis- faction," and praying that the Society "extend their charitable Bounty in Settling some small allowance for the Benefit of our Poor Neighbors and comfort to us also for an Encouragement to the said School master." It seems, therefore, probable that a few years later than Mr. Weyman's report to the Propagation So- ciety in 1723, a school house was actually built on the church grounds as the most available place for public convenience, such instances of "squatting" in the carly days being by no means rare. And further corroboration of the early establishment of such a school in Radnor is obtained from the entry in the Radnor register, already referred to.
5
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Old St. David's Church.
In an account of the "original school houses in Dela- ware County," published in the Delaware County American of September 12, 1877, the following refer- ence is made to this building :
There was another old school house in Newtown township which stood near St. David's church in the North Eastern corner of the Township: This was a stone house and was probably built about the middle of last century. It had one of those large chimneys and open fire places peculiar to the school houses of those days. Stoves had not yet come into general use and the school room was warmed by means of a fire on the hearth.
Dr. John Brooke, late of Radnor, in an article pub- lished in The Suburban, of Wayne, in September, 1898, on "Historical Notes and Personal Reminiscences of old St. David's at Radnor," says :
A substantial school house was erected in 1749 directly in front of the church and just without the graveyard walls. In this building many men of a generation almost gone by received the rudiments of education. Adam Siter taught there for some time. He was a cripple and there being three men living of that name, he was known as "Lame Adam." The desks were arranged around the side of the room and the boys sat with their faces towards the wall. During study hours it was his custom to walk with his halting step around the room behind the boys, having a stout birch under his arm, and woe to the boy whose eyes wandered from his books. Elijah Brooke at one time presided over the little school. He maintained discipline by means of the hickory ramrod of his squirrel rifle and the boy who had an interview with it usually came out minus some of his jacket buttons. * The School house was torn down in 1844 that the stones might be utilized in building the new parsonage.
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Flooring the Church.
No other record is preserved of this building, al- though tradition explains that it stood just across the entrance drive opposite the present landing stone, and this is corroborated by the fact that in dry weather the grass at that spot turns sear in such a distinctly rectangular form as to suggest the existence of the foundations of a building just below the surface of the ground.
It is said to have been temporarily occupied by Rev. Willie Peck and his family, while the original rec- tory was in process of construction.
Returning from this digression; in the Radnor records a few years later appears the following receipt :
April 22, 1765, Then Recd. of the Wardens for laying The Church Floor in full six pounds seven shill. and six pence. (Signed) ISAAC HUGHES.
Tradition, supplemented by some records from the old register, shows that the flooring of the church, indicating the completion of its internal arrangements, must have been one of the most important incidents occurring during its history. As hereinbefore stated, for some time after its erection St. David's Church consisted merely of the present building, without any accommodations, save the rudest, for seating its con- gregation except such as might be brought there by individual members for their own use; gradually, however, rough benches were furnished by the church officers and rented for the support of the church. Thus the old register notes that :
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Old St. David's Church.
William Evans and Hugh John are to have ye uper bench above ye Door for two pound.
Jacob Jones is to have ye uper Bench below ye Door and he is to Give Thirty Shillings.
Thomas Griffith and Wm. Evan is to have ye second bench for Thirty shillings.
Geo. Morgan, Thos. Lewis a Third Bench, £I, IOS.
John 'Sturgis, David William and Junkin William for ye fourth bench I 1b-IS.
It was not until toward the middle of the Eighteenth Century that there are any records of the existence of pews. About that time a custom seems to have originated of selling a piece of ground within the church on which the purchaser had the privilege of building such a pew as he desired. Thus in the old church register appears the following minutes :
OCTOBER YE 26TH 1747.
Whereas a Difference hath arisen Between Francis Wayne and his Brother Isaac Wayne about their Right in the pugh Late Anthony Wayne and John Hunter, and it appearing to the Vestry that ye sd. Francis and Isaac have purchased the Ground of a Pugh and the sd. Isaac having Built Upon a part of the Ground the Vestry Do agree that the sd. Francis have the ground for half a pugh joining of the west side to Richard Hughes and Wm. Owen's Pugh.
"JOHN HUGHES Clerk of Vestry.
APRIL THE 15TH, 1754.
Received by the vestry and Churchwardens of St. David's Church in Radnor, the sum of four Pounds ten shillings from Saml. Mccue for the Ground of A pugh in the said church, whereon the said Samuel Mccue has already Built a pugh.
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Original Vestry Minutes.
Robert Jones the privilege to build a Pew on a piece of ground in St David's Church, adjoining Wayne's and Hunter's pew, he paying for ye ground £4. IOS.
November 23rd, 1767, Then Robert Jones Payd into the hands of the present Wardens the above sum.
The following entry seems to be also somewhat cor- roborative of the theory that a central aisle ran orig- inally east and west through the middle of the church from the western door.
Richard Hughes and David Morgans are to have a pugh joyning to William Owens' pugh of ye South Side of ye church.
It is probable, however, that the church, at its own expense, built some of these pews, or else retained a certain control over those erected by private indi- viduals, thus an entry in the old registry, marking an early date in the history of the church choir, reads :
June 8th, 1756 ordered likewise that the Clerk and his assistants shall sit in John Jones' pew.
On November 23d, 1767, there is a receipt in the old register "for the Mason Work of the Vestry house." This, from another memorandum under date November 8, 1741, of "Paying Humphrey Wayne for mending ye back door of ye Church," would appear to have been on the site of the present vestry room, and probably this was the place whence Mr. Currie's letters from "Radnor" were written.
In 1771 a large subscription list secured the erection of the present unique gallery, which then extended
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Old St. David's Church.
beyond the present limits, passing over the front door and joining on the east wall. It is also probable that at that time the church was considerably remodeled ; the present Norman character of windows and door being substituted for a Gothic type; and that the pres- ent entrance door (for mention of "ye South door" occurs as early as 1761 in the register) was then en- larged to take the place of an entrance formerly exist- ing in the western end of the building. This theory- for there are few records to substantiate it-is based on a physical examination of the building, which seems to indicate such changes having been made at some early date and by the fact that the earliest picture of Radnor Church, made about 1820, shows an entrance gate at the western end of the graveyard. An addi- tional scintilla of evidence fixing the date of opening the southern gate is obtained from a memorandum in the old register under date of "December 23, 1784," showing payment of "Twenty-two shilling and six for the New gate and Fixing It at ye South west side of Radnor Church graveyard."
The southwestern foundation of this gallery wall rests on a brick arch which, tradition says, marks the location of a grave over which the gallery was built. There is no record on the subject, but directly in front of the gallery steps and across the improvised path have laid, time out of memory, an unplanted head and footstone bearing the inscription, "In Memory of James James, who Departed this life December ye 5, 1756, Aged 24 years."
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The Stoneless Grave.
While no assurance exists on the subject, an ingen- ious and very plausible theory has been advanced con- necting these graveless stones with the stoneless grave ; and this theory is supported by the inscription on the headstone which indicates its existence before the building of the gallery, and by the location of the arched grave in line with the row of the James' family graves. It seems probable that the stones marking the grave of James James were temporarily taken up during the building of the gallery, with the intention of resetting them elsewhere at the convenient season which one hundred and thirty-five years of waiting has not yet discovered.
What may have been the moving cause of so im- portant an event as the building of the gallery in a church whose congregation was so lukewarm as to neglect to attend the Easter meeting for elec- tion of vestrymen, and to give themselves no con- cern regarding the support of their minister, it is impossible to state. One of the most ingenious the- ories, plausibly presented, attributes it to the rise of a spirit of rivalry at Radnor because of the establishment about that period of a Lutheran congregation of Ger- mans, who had built a log church near the site of the Old Eagle School at Strafford. This is given some support in Mr. Currie's statement, in one of his letters, that the Perkiomen congregation "rather declines, as the Dutch buy out the English and settle in their stead." The fact that Mr. Currie does not figure at
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Old St. David's Church.
all in the matter and does not mention the subject in any letter, and the strictly commercial methods adopted to raise the needed funds, do not suggest that very lofty ideals inspired the persons prominent in the enterprise.
These details of repeated improvements in the church and surrounding ground evidence, in spite of the charge of "carelessness" in their duties relating to formal church government, an earnest and increasing affection towards the very stone and mortar of the building and the grounds surrounding it; and the fact that large subscriptions were raised for these endeared objects and any work relating thereto rapidly and effectively prosecuted, shows the existence, even at that early time, of a unique sentiment of reverence for the church building and property that has ever since characterized Radnor parishioners. To this sentiment -now a veritable heritage-rather than to the con- servatism of the Episcopal Church, is due the preser- vation of the present edifice in good condition during the past one hundred and ninety-one years.
Restrained within legitimate limits, such a sentiment may be of peculiar value in a religious organization. If it be not in itself an expression of religious feel- ing, it is at least in harmony with that feeling of ven- eration for sacred subjects without which the religious character loses much of its sublime influence; and rightly guided, such sentiment may operate as an incen- tive for faithful and consecrated Christian work. But
73
Radnor's Responsibility.
unrestrained, it can degenerate unto practical idolatry and disregard of the real object of church organiza- tion.
Faithfully and intelligently to guide and utilize such a heritage is a great responsibility. On few, if any, American churches does it rest more evidently than on old St. David's, at Radnor.
When it is remembered that at the time of its erec- tion Radnor Church was one of the very few stone churches in the province, so that it is constantly re- ferred to as "The handsome stone church ;" and that it was, indeed, during the early part of the Eighteenth Century the only church within a radius of many miles, it is not difficult to appreciate that, even so early as Mr. Currie's time, Old Radnor was a spot where must have centered the affectionate associations of hun- dreds, whose lives had been passed under circum- stances conducing to estrange them from any sym- pathy with the formal church of England government. Tradition speaks unhesitatingly of the building being a common meeting place for many purposes other than the holding of Divine worship, and even desig- nates it as the spot where the neighborhood convened in June, 1763, at the instance of Mr. Currie, to insti- tute a home guard which would protect their families from an apprehended attack of Indians under Pontiac, who was at that time menacing the neighborhood of Carlisle. The text chosen on this eventful occasion by the old missionary for an eloquent and impressive
1
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Old St. David's Church.
sermon is said to have been taken from Ecclesiastes 7: 14, "In the day of prosperity be joyful : but in the day of adversity consider." This incident has been forcibly presented in a brochure in blank verse entitled "Radnor," recently published by the Trustees of the Old Eagle School.
In its connection with the graveyard, however, are unquestionably to be found the strongest ties of affec- tion amongst the congregation to the old edifice as almost a part of it. No one was so poor in those early days, or so peculiar in his religious views, but that he might claim a right to nestle in his last sleep, with the moldering remains of beloved kindred, close to those walls, so familiar to his childhood, manhood and old age, and so constantly was this desire manifested that the oldest part of the graveyard is said to hold, often in one common sepulchre, the dead of three genera- tions.
The activity in church matters at Radnor (whatever its cause), evidenced by the building of the gallery, had, however, short duration.
Although in his letter of March 25, 1775, Mr. Cur- rie refers to his attendance on "My three churches in their turn, where I read prayers and preach to large congregations of respectable & orderly hearers with whom I live in great Harmony and Esteem," yet within a month had been,
Fired the shot heard round the world,
and the Colonial period in the history of Radnor
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Mr. Currie's Resignation.
Church was nearing its end in the gloom of war and universal unrest.
Traditions tell vaguely of the refusal of the congre- gation to permit the use of the prayers for the King and royal family, of Mr. Currie's insistence, and as a result the formal closing of the church doors against him; but that such a dramatic scene occurred is wholly improbable ; else Mr. Currie's letter of resigna- tion, which is dated May 16, 1776, would almost cer- tainly have contained some reference to it ; instead, the letter of the old shepherd breathes only of affection and solicitude for his flock, concluding with the pas- toral admonition : "Let the devotion Chamber be your Sanctuary till these troublesome times be overpassed, flee for refuge to the horns of the altar-the throne of grace-there offer up the Incense of your prayers, and let the lifting up of your hands be as the evening Sacrifice."
The resignation of Mr. Currie, ending the era of missionary ministers at Radnor, was of transcendent moment in the history of the church, and completely paralyzed the church organization, notwithstanding the fact that he continued to baptize and perform other parochial duties, and was assisted often, as his letters indicate, by a Lutheran candidate for Holy Orders.
The old church book indicates no formal election of wardens and vestrymen from April 18, 1775. to May 23, 1781, although that the church affairs were not wholly neglected appears from entries during this
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Old St. David's Church.
period, indicating that Evan David, who had pre- viously been "Duly Elected Treasurer or Cash Keeper for ye sd Radnor Church to Continue Only dureing Either his own or ye Vestry's pleasure" was "May ye 6, 1776, continued Church Treasurer," and in Novem- ber, 1779, paid over 133 pounds 10 shillings "moneys belonging to said church" to Thomas Read, warden.
After Mr. Currie's resignation, tradition indicates that various denominations, at intervals, occupied the church for worship, and to General Wayne's chaplain while officiating here, is accredited a story, the counter- part of Dr. Muhlenburg's celebrated appeal to patriot- ism.
This tradition states that soon after the outbreak of the hostilities, Rev. David Jones, then in charge of the Great Valley Baptist Church, in Tredyffrin, was invited to preach. After finishing the introductory ex- ercises, he climbed into the lofty pulpit, and having announced his text, glanced up in order to reassure himself of the attention of his audience. That one glance, however, completely disconcerted the worthy Welshman. He saw seated comfortably before him several young and active men, previously hidden from so close a scrutiny by the old-fashioned high-backed pews. In an instant patriotism had so completely mas- tered him that he threw away his sermon and, shaking his finger vehemently at the astonished youths, de- manded to know why they did not go into the Amer- ican army.
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Radnor in the Revolution.
"I'm not afraid to go," he screamed. "They can't hurt me; they may kill me, if they like, and make a drum-head of my old hide, but they'll beat a tattoo that will scare the British out of the country." Then in wild excitement he threw off the heavy cloak, which hung around his shoulders, and displayed an American uniform.
While there are practically no records, apart from Mr. Currie's letters, describing in detail actual con- ditions during this period in Radnor, yet the following letters tell so graphically of experiences, under circum- stances similar to those in which Mr. Currie and his congregation were placed, that it is deemed of value to incorporate extracts from them in this historical sketch as at least illustrative of the actual conditions at Radnor.
The following letter from Dr. William Smith, rector of Christ Church and Provost of the College of Phila- delphia, is of interest as describing the situation in which the Missionaries of the Propagation Society were placed during the Revolution.
Under date of "Philadelphia, July 10th, 1775," the venerable Provost writes to the Missionary Society as follows :
The several letters which you have directed to my care by the last ships, viz. to Messrs. Curry x *
are duly forwarded.
Their difficulties in their missions are greatly increased by the present alarming state of things, and never were men in a more trying or delicate situation. We had hitherto with
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Old St. David's Church.
one consent and one mind kept our pulpits wholly free from everything bordering on the present unnatural controversy. But now our people have all taken up Arms and entered into Associations never to submit to the Parliamentary claim of taxing them at pleasure. We see nothing in our churches but men in their uniforms, & tho' they excuse us on Sundays, yet they are now everywhere requesting occasional sermons on the present situation of things. The case of the poor Missionaries is hard. To comply may offend their protectors and those that support them in the Parent Country. To refuse would leave them without congregations every where, and perhaps it is more the wish of some that they should refuse than comply. * * * All these difficulties increased from the necessity some of our Bretheren apprehended themselves in of quitting their charges and going to England. I wish they could have stood their ground which I think might possibly have been accomplished without any unworthy compliances on their part; for when the Shepherds are out of the way the Flocks will be scattered. *
Even more graphically does Rev. Philip Reading, missionary at Appoquiminy, present the situation of a loyal English missionary during the Revolution. In his letter to the Society dated "Apoquiniminck, Au- gust 25, 1776," as follows :
In my letters of September and March last I explained the difficulties I was brought under in the discharge of my pas- toral Office and the further obstructions I was likely to meet with by reason of the unhappy rupture that has taken place between Great Brittain and her Colonies.
* On the second day of July [1776] the Congress at Philadelphia were pleased to declare the Colonies which had united in opposition to the measures of Great Britain "Free
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Loyal Churchmen in 1776.
and Independent States." Upon this Declaration it was Judged incompatible with the present policy that his Majesty's authority within the new states should any longer be recog- nized. In this sentiment the generality of our Clergy (as far as has hitherto come to my knowledge) dismissed all those prayers for the public service of the Church wherein the names of the King and the Royal Family are mentioned and adopted in their stead a prayer for the Congress. * "Most Gracious God," they say, "we humbly beseech thee as for the States of America in general so especially for the high Court of Delegates in Congress at this time assembled," &c.
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