USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > A history of Grace Church in Providence, Rhode Island, 1829-1929 > Part 4
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1 An interesting account of the founding of St. Stephen's is to be found in a manuscript letter from Francis Vinton, now preserved in the Rhode Island His- torical Society. Rev. Francis Vinton, a younger brother of Alexander, was Rec- tor of St. Stephen's from 1839-1840, of Trinity Church, Newport from 1840-1844. For many years he was the distinguished Rector of Trinity Church, New York. 2 Mr. Wardwell soon came back to Rhode Island and for years played an im- portant part in the Diocese and the Church in Woonsocket.
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arose which has occasionally since disturbed for a time the tradi- tional harmony with which the affairs of the parish have been carried on. Rector after rector commends the unity and single- ness of mind of his Vestry and parish, continually describing it as "remarkable" or "unusual." Even reading between the lines of the records, it is rare to find any evidence to the contrary. Yet there are a few cases where it is evident that the Vestry either did not know its own mind, or met with friction in transforming that mind into action. And curiously several of these occasions arose when a vacancy occurred in the office of Senior Warden. Not always is a parish so fortunate as to have a Junior Warden able and willing to step into the more prominent position, nor is this to be expected.
Junior Wardens used frequently to be called the Financial Wardens, as the Senior was called the Rector's Warden, and the two officers possessing differing aptitudes often make a team, as it were, of greater strength than when they are of similar qualifica- tions. In the later history we know from the records, or from outside testimony, of Junior Wardens who refused resolutely to become Senior Wardens. It seems reasonable to conjecture that this was the situation in 1841. The Junior Warden was Dr. Richmond Brownell, an able physician and man of affairs. From the incorporation of the parish he and Mr. Wardwell had stood shoulder to shoulder and carried the parish through the darkest days of its history. Why did he not become Senior Warden? The answer would be an interesting one. At least this much is certain that when the vacancy occurred Dr. Brownell was not elected Senior Warden. Moreover when Edward Walcott, on being elected Senior Warden, refused to accept the office, Dr. Brownell resigned as Junior Warden, and persisted in that resigna- tion, though the parish was thus without a Warden for more than six months, until the Annual Meeting at Easter. What is more surprising, this situation was maintained in spite of a vacancy in the rectorship after January 1, 1842. It is doubtful if, in the history of the Episcopal Church in New England, there is another instance of a strong and well-organized parish carrying on for three months with neither Warden nor Rector.
That Dr. Brownell's course was characterized by any lack of interest or by anything other than a conviction of duty seems clearly disproved by the records. Through the interim he served as "Chairman," was on the Vestry for more than ten years there- after, and worked on numerous important committees. Another
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fact may indicate that his strong opinions led him at times to drastic action. In one of the periodic crises in the musical affairs of the parish Dr. Brownell was appointed Chairman of the Com- mittee on Music and presented a report that for a time seemed to solve the situation. Yet on the presentation of this report he resigned from the Vestry and insisted on remaining off the Vestry from Easter, 1851, until the fall of 1852, when he resumed his place and held it until Easter, 1856. There is nothing in the records to indicate that throughout the quarter century and more in which Dr. Brownell was prominent in Grace Church he was not entirely well-disposed and also entirely sure of the sound- ness of his position. Clearly there are few laymen to whom Grace Church owes more than to its first Junior Warden.1
In church affairs it is as true as elsewhere that misfortunes seldom come singly. Hard upon the departure of the veteran Senior Warden and the unfortunate difficulty in securing a suc- cessor, came a call to Dr. Vinton to accept the rectorship of St. Paul's, Boston-a call that has today a familiar ring to the parish- ioners who remember the loss of Dr. Rousmaniere and Dr. Sturges. Then, as in recent years, the summons was one that imperatively demanded most serious consideration. St. Paul's was, even then, in some ways the most important church in what was perhaps the most influential church community in New England. But Dr. Vinton and his wife were in their native city, surrounded by admiring relatives and friends and supported by a devoted parish. His work was right in flood tide and the future was bright with promise of the hard tasks that Dr. Vinton loved to meet and the rich results for which he yearned. In his annual report to the Bishop that very June he had, doubtless with justifiable pride, been able to say,-
"There has been the same steady zeal and labor as ever for the great objects of Christian benevolence, and, when occasion de- manded, a promptitude and facility for special endeavors. The female communicants are, as always so, now a band of most efficient co-workers with us-the pastor's help. Yet we are glad to say they do not occupy the place of invidious preëminence they once did, in comparison with the male communicants of our church. Many of this latter class have come up to their duty strongly and well and have shown themselves men 'in Christ.'
1 It may be added that the debt to the Brownell family which began in 1829 by no means ceased with Dr. Brownell, but in other branches has continued to this day.
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"We are able to report the largest number of communicants that have ever been attached to this church. In the year 1835, the reported number was 266. When the parish fell under our charge, and we were able to ascertain the position of its affairs, there were only 227 communicants."1
Yet Dr. Vinton was not a man to shirk because the decision was a painful one, nor were the men of Grace Church the kind to sit idly by and let their leader go without lifting a finger. A meeting of the Corporation was called and the question of a new church edifice broached. The old remodelled theatre was not only in need of constant repair but it had repeatedly proved too small to accommodate the congregations that had thronged to hear the burning words of John A. Clark and the inspiring message of their present rector. At that time ways and means were far to seek. The spirit manifested at this meeting and the terse non- committal vote at its close must have disappointed the more optimistic spirits and chilled the hopes and ambitions of their Rector.
"Dr. Arnold was chosen chairman, who stated that the meeting was called for the purpose of taking into consideration the ex- pediency of erecting a new House for Public Worship, and after remarks from several Gentlemen who were all in favour of having a new house, but who deemed it inexpedient for the Corporation to become responsible in any manner for the building of the same, it was finally voted that the Corporation deem it desirable to have a new House for Public Worship."
A second meeting of the Corporation is called, and even more largely attended, to hear a communication from the Rector, doubtless in regard to a departure at least probable. But for the moment the tide of ill is stayed, and the Rector sends word to the meeting that circumstances have induced him to withhold the communication. Soon he informs the vestry of St. Paul's, in the formal language of that time, that "he had not been brought to the conclusion that it was his duty to leave his present field of labor." But St. Paul's will not take "No."
Long and eloquent letters, even visits to Providence follow, with interviews with Dr. Vinton and his friends, and finally eloquent and well-reasoned appeals to the Vestry of Grace Church to yield their claims for the good of the Church at large and the work of Christ in a larger field.2 The Rector publicly announces that he
1 Convention Journal, 1841, p. 36.
2 The significant final letter appears in Volume A of the Records.
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wishes only to do his duty and that he will leave the difficult decision to the aged and beloved Bishop Griswold, the leader of the Church both in Rhode Island and in Massachusetts.
Bishop Griswold wisely declines to arbitrate authoritatively, but at the same time makes clear his "conviction of the superior im- portance and the greater need of the field" in Boston. True to the spirit of his pledge, Dr. Vinton resigns on January 1, 1842, in terms of marked affection and regret. His resignation is at once accepted by the Vestry with such grace as they can summon, and the assurance that they "entertain a grateful sense of the services of their late Rector; and cannot witness, without regret, the rupture of the ties which have bound him to our church." And so the third rectorship comes all too soon to an end.
Grace Church has had many men of remarkable ability as rectors. The most remarkable, perhaps, of all, Thomas M. Clark and David H. Greer, had the longest rectorships, ministering here for nearly twelve and sixteen years respectively. But it was certainly a serious handicap that none of its first three rectors stayed more than six years in this strategic position.
The Vestry, with Dr. Richmond Brownell as "Chairman," immediately set to work to provide for the continuance of the services.1 At the meeting of January 1, 1842, at which Dr. Vinton's resignation was accepted, Edward Walcott and Henry Barton were elected a committee to supply the pulpit until the next meeting of the Vestry. Just two weeks later, the Rev. Edward W. Peet, then working at St. George's Church in the city of New York, but "without any immediate engagement," was invited not to become rector, as is often stated, but "to fill the pulpit from the first Sunday in February to Easter at a salary of eight hundred dollars per year." He promptly replied that he accepted and would "take the Steam Boat on Wednesday, Febru- ary 2d." This engagement was later extended, so that Mr. Peet officiated at Grace Church, with faithfulness and efficiency, at least until October, 1842. He was succeeded for a time in 1843 by the Rev. Thomas F. Fales.
No doubt the question of providing a new rector was complicated by the situation in the Eastern Diocese. The beloved Bishop Griswold then in his seventy-seventh year, old and worn by the arduous duties of an episcopate of over thirty years, had already
1 Dr. Vinton evidently continued to officiate for several Sundays, and the in- vitation to Mr. Peet was on his advice. A note in the first Parish Register gives Feb. Ist as the close of his rectorship.
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at the convention of the Eastern Diocese in the fall of 1841 asked consideration of the election of an assistant bishop, who should have the right to succeed him. But the very existence of the Eastern Diocese was itself in question. Vermont and New Hampshire had already withdrawn and in Massachusetts and Rhode Island the desire for independence was increasing. The most sober common-sense probably realized that with the death of Bishop Griswold the usefulness of the Eastern Diocese would be at an end. The wonder is that the expedient, devised to meet an emergency, served so long. Presumably nothing but love and personal loyalty for Bishop Griswold made its continuance for over a quarter of a century possible.
Grace Church, however, having twice called Bishop Griswold as its rector, had long cherished dreams of joining forces with the diocese in the maintenance of the episcopate in Rhode Island, and such dreams die hard. There was much in the present circumstances to revive them, as, if an assistant bishop were to be chosen either for the Eastern Diocese or the State of Rhode Island, it would not be unreasonable that he should reside in Providence during Bishop Griswold's lifetime, and the diocese would necessarily look to some prosperous parish to pay the greater part of his salary. Accordingly a special meeting of the Corpora- tion was held on June 13, 1842, the night before the Convention was to meet at Bristol, to ascertain "the views of the members of the Corporation relative to the action of the Delegates to the State Convention from this Church, upon the subject of electing an Assistant Bishop, should the Convention decide to choose one at this Session." It was then "Resolved that the delegates from this Church to said Convention be authorized-that in case said Convention shall decide to proceed to an Election of Assistant Bishop (to be Bishop of this diocese in case he survive our present venerated Diocesan, Rev. Alex. B. Griswold) and the choice should fall on the Rev. Dr. Whitehouse of Rochester, New York ;--- to give assurance to said Convention that the said Rev. Dr. White- house will be immediately elected Rector of Grace Church, Provi- dence, Rhode Island, at a salary of Fifteen Hundred dollars per Annum; and that said delegates be instructed to use their utmost influence to bring about a measure which we believe will promote the spiritual interest of the Church in this State, and of this Church in particular."
As was natural such a decisive step as this was hardly taken without opposition. The situation was so complicated by con-
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ditions in New Hampshire, Maine, and especially Massachusetts that diverse opinions were inevitable. Immediately on the passage of this resolution Samuel Larned, who had been vestryman and delegate to Convention for over two years, resigned both offices. Dr. Brownell, who had been delegate since 1837, also resigned as delegate though not as vestryman,-but the unwilling- ness of a busy physician to attend an out-of-town convention may have little significance. In the Convention at Bristol, next day, the matter of electing an Assistant Bishop was referred to a committee consisting of Rev. Dr. Crocker of St. John's, Rev. Henry Waterman,1 of St. Stephen's, and Rev. Francis Vinton,1 of Trinity Church, Newport, of the clergy; and Stephen T. Northam of Newport, Edward Walcott2 of Grace Church, and David Daniels of Woonsocket, of the lay delegates. This committee doubtless had the benefit of the most authoritative advice in the matter, as Bishop Griswold was himself present at the Convention. Just what its report was is not recorded; but it effectively disposed of the proposal of an Assistant Bishop so far as Rhode Island was concerned, for the Journal reads "The Committee . . . made a report, which was accepted. And on motion, the whole business was laid upon the table."
It seems likely that it was becoming clear that the coalition diocese must soon come to an end. Events moved fast in that direction. In September of that year the Rev. Manton Eastburn was elected as Assistant Bishop by the Diocese of Massachusetts; Bishop Griswold dropped on Bishop Eastburn's doorstep on February 15, 1843, dying a few minutes later; and in April, 1843, a Special Convention was called to elect a bishop for Rhode Island.
What views were prevailing among the leaders of Grace Church through that summer and fall of 1842 it is difficult to say. In a curiously complimentary and urgent letter a call was extended to the Rev. Charles W. Andrews, probably of Philadelphia, "to officiate from the first of October to Easter, 18433, at a salary of Twelve Hundred dollars." The tone of the whole letter is that of a parish hopefully calling a new rector; but it is not strange that the offer was not accepted.
1 Henry Waterman, the son of the Treasurer of Grace Church, was an old Grace Church boy, and Francis Vinton was Dr. Vinton's younger brother.
2 Edward Walcott and Henry Barton were the new Wardens of Grace Church elected on Easter Monday, 1842.
3 It may be noted here that the Vestry, by tradition or otherwise, felt that they had no power without the action of the Corporation to call a Rector for more than a year.
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A Corporation meeting is called for October 28, 1842, is well attended, but is adjourned with no action taken. Vestry meet- ings are held on November 2Ist and 22nd, but no business is re- corded. Finally a Corporation meeting is held in December and the Vestry is authorized to invite the Rev. Edmund Neville of Philadelphia as Rector, at the same salary Dr. Vinton had been receiving, fifteen hundred dollars; but the call is declined.
Then came the sudden death of Bishop Griswold and the determination to elect a bishop for Rhode Island as a separate and distinct diocese; and the dream of having a bishop as the regular occupant of the pulpit of Grace Church was destined to be realized. On April 3, 1843, at a special meeting of the Corporation, a delega- tion was chosen to represent Grace Church in the Convention.1
The Vestry, especially empowered by the Corporation, authorized the delegates "in case the Rev. J. P. K. Henshaw, D.D., of Balti- more is elected Bishop to assure the Convention that an invitation will be given to him to the Rectorship of this Church at a salary not exceeding Fifteen Hundred dollars per Annum." As the action of the Convention was favorable and Dr. Henshaw was elected bishop at a salary of four hundred dollars, the Vestry met again on the day following, passed the formal vote of election, and appointed Henry Barton, the Junior Warden, to go to Baltimore to urge Dr. Henshaw to accept the two positions. As the Diocese had named as its two emissaries to Baltimore, Rev. Henry Water- man of St. Stephen's, whose candidacy for holy orders had been from Grace Church, and William T. Grinnell, our first-named delegate to the Convention, the claims of Grace Church on the attention of the bishop-elect were sure to be favorably presented.
Of the visit of the delegation from Rhode Island Bishop Hen- shaw wrote to a friend on April 11, 1843, in the following frank and earnest manner:
"In the Saturday-night train of cars, three gentlemen from Rhode Island arrived here; two of them, a committee appointed by the convention to inform me of my election, present me a certificate, signed by all the members, and urge my acceptance. The other a delegate from Grace Church, Providence, bringing with him the certificate of my election as rector.
"I had a long interview with the committee yesterday, and I believe received from them all the information about the diocese and parish that will be necessary to guide my decision. But, my
1 W. T. Grinnell, Edward Walcott, Russell Warren, and Dr. S. Augustus Arnold are recorded as Delegates.
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dear friend, this is the sorest trial of my ministerial life. The excitement among my people, and in my own family; the thought of sundering tender and affectionate ties which have so long existed; the fear of its influence upon the particular congregation of St. Peter's, and the interests of this diocese; together with the sacrifices of worldly comfort and interest, necessarily involved in it, all make me shrink back from the thought of removal-and say, 'Lord, why send me, and not some other?'
"But, when I reflect, on the other hand, that this new call has come from a quarter whence I had no reason to expect it (having no personal acquaintance with the great majority of the clergy of Rhode Island), and that my name was the means of producing such entire unanimity upon this exciting question; the snug size of the diocese-truly primitive-the strong assurance given me of the most cordial support of the entire body of the clergy and laity; it has so much the aspect of a Divine call, that I hardly feel myself at liberty to refuse, 'lest haply I should be found fighting against God.' If I know my own heart, it is my desire to forget self-interest and happiness, and, at the expense of any sacrifice, do my duty to God and His Church."1
Dr. Henshaw, at the time of his election just completing his fifty-first year, was a man of remarkable piety and force. More than a quarter of a century before he had accepted the rectorship of St. Peter's Church in Baltimore when that parish was sadly run down and in a discouraging state of dissension and disloyalty. By his earnestness and energy he soon brought it to prosperity and great usefulness. His congregation had grown so numerous that shortly before his election as bishop he had built a larger church in a growing part of the city and sent thither with his blessing a considerable part of his own congregation. His influ- ence and power in Baltimore were unquestioned, especially in the organization of good works and in promoting Christian education. Small wonder that he shrank somewhat from leaving the scene of many victories and the sources of large popularity and accepting office as bishop of a small and financially weak diocese, with his chief responsibility that of pastor of a church that for a year and a half had been without a rector.
Yet undoubtedly the difficulty and definiteness of the task appealed to the zealous spirit of a man who may well have realized that the best work he could do in Baltimore had already been
1 THE LIFE OF BISHOP HENSHAW of Rhode Island, John N. Norton, pp. 119-120, N. Y. 1859.
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done. There were besides, as we shall see, strong ties that drew him to New England and to Rhode Island in particular.
John Prentiss Kewley Henshaw was born June 13, 1792, in Middletown, Connecticut, of a Puritan family not at that time openly professing Christianity. Business interests led his father, when John was eight years old, to move to Middlebury, Vermont, where the boy applied himself so diligently to his studies and showed such natural ability that he graduated from Middlebury College at the age of sixteen. His father, realizing the importance of so talented a youth continuing his studies in a stimulating environment, sent him to Harvard University for more advanced work, with the expectation that he would there eventually fit himself for the profession of the law. Making a visit, however, to his boyhood home in Connecticut, young Henshaw happened to go to the Episcopal Church where the Rev. John Kewley, M. D., was rector.1 At once he came under the influence of one of the strongest and most magnetic personalities in the Episcopal Church of the time.
With such zeal for the cause of Christ did Dr. Kewley inspire young Henshaw that on his return to Middlebury he so led his family to consider professing Christianity, that his father drove to Middletown and brought Dr. Kewley to Vermont. As a result of his ministry and preaching there the Henshaw family were baptized, and the young student soon gave up the law as his future profession and dedicated himself to the Christian ministry. Not long after this, in the summer in which young Henshaw reached the age of nineteen, Dr. Griswold, the new bishop of the Eastern Diocese, visited Middlebury and was favorably attracted by the intelligence, tact, and zeal of this young man. Almost at once he set him to work along the Canadian border as lay-reader to organize and minister to the people in that region. So well did he discharge these duties that, when in the fall he came down here to Bristol, to take up his theological studies under Bishop Gris- wold's immediate supervision, he was speedily given large re- sponsibilities and important work to carry through. Among other activities, it is said that he held the first Episcopal service in the town of Warren, where St. Mark's Church has just now celebrated its centennial. When the Bishop was away on his
1 There is a most extraordinary air of mystery and romance about this English- man, who was later rector of St. George's, New York. It seems likely that both before and after his meteoric career in this country he was a Roman Catholic priest. And there were sober-minded men who came to the seemingly wild con- clusion that he was all the time acting under Jesuit orders. In the Church Re- view for 1849, p. 51, Bishop Henshaw gave a discriminating account of Dr. Kewley.
REV. SAMUEL FULLER, D.D.
REV. JOHN A. CLARK, D.D.
REV. ALEXANDER H. VINTON, D.D.
RT. REV. JOHN P. K. HENSHAW, D.D.
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long journeys of visitation to Maine, New Hampshire, and Ver- mont, he left St. Michael's in the charge of this wise and energetic young man whose first missionary journey in Vermont the youth had picturesquely described as going "like a flaming sword."
At one time Bishop Griswold sent Henshaw for an extended stay at Marblehead, Massachusetts, in an effort to revive in that community the lost fortunes of the old historic church, for some time closed. Many years later one of his congregation there wrote thus of the effects of his preaching, especially on the careless and unconcerned. "Never shall I forget the thrilling effect of preach- ing like this, as I looked around the overflowing church
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