USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Narragansett > A history of the Episcopal church in Narragansett, Rhode Island, including a history of other Episcopal churches in the state > Part 21
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may need your helping hand. He is a traveller, and has seen the world, and has been lately employed in an Episcopal church at Glasgow, but was never in your parts; and being quite a stranger to such a kind of settlement, may often have occasion to consult you, who are so much known and so well esteemed by all around you."
In May 1754, he arrived in Newport, and became rector of Trinity Church, as the Society Missionary. " He was," says Dr. Wheaton, " cordially welcomed by the congregation, who directed a letter of thanks to the Society for sending them a minister so satisfactory to them. The pastoral relation so auspiciously com- menced was, however, of no long duration ; for some difficulties arising between himself and his flock, he decided to leave them, in Nov. 1760-little more than six years from his first arrival at New- port-and was immediately succeeded by the Rev. Marmaduke Brown."
REV. MR. MATTHEW GRAVES.
Respecting Matthew Graves, the Rev. Mr. Hallam, rector of St. James' Church at New London, in a letter dated August 15, 1845, says-
DEAR SIR,
I cheerfully furnish what information I possess in regard to the Rev. Matthew Graves, regretting that it is not more ample and satis- factory. Mr. Graves came to this place, as missionary of the Pro- pogation Society, in 1745, just one hundred years ago. The Station had become vacant two years before, by the removal of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, the Bishop's father, to Hempstead, L. I. It was the period of the New Light excitement. Davenport, one of the most enthusiastic and extravagant of Whitefield's followers, visited this place, and here induced his disciples to make a bon-fire of their idols, in imitation of the Ephesians-Acts xix. 19. He mentions this fact in his famous "Revelations," dated July 28th, 1744, in these words-" The awful affair of books and clothes at New London, which affords grounds of deep and lasting humiliation ; I was, to my shame be it spoken, the ringleader in that horrid action." The juncture was one of a very critical character to the parish, being thus destitute of a minister. They represented this
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strongly in the letter which they wrote to the Society, urging the importance of the immediate " appointment of a missionary, who for much learning and experimental knowledge in the present state of things, might be equal to the difficulties of the present times." In answer to this petition, Mr. Graves was sent, and proved a man of discretion ana ability-whose ministry here was long, happy, and useful. He continued to officiate in this parish till 1778, a period of thirty-three years, when his loyalty compelled him to desert his post. The question of praying for the King had been brought to a vote in parish meeting a short time before, and the votes on either side were equal. Subsequently, however, a majority requested him to desist from the practice. He refused ; and in consequence, on the Sunday following, upon using the prayer for the king, was driven out of his church by a party of whigs, who had stationed themselves in it for the purpose. He fled in his surplice to the house of a parishioner, who, though a warm whig, was his personal friend, and protected him from the violence of the mob. Mr. Graves went to the city of New York, and died there before the close of the war. I have seen a letter from him to the gentleman mentioned above, written after his removal, which breathes the strongest attachment to his flock, and the deepest interest in their welfare.
Mr. Graves was a truly good man, and greatly beloved and res- pected. His gentle and inoffensive course conciliated the esteem of dissenters, and softened the edge of sectarian asperity. He was noted for cheerfulness, contentment, and simplicity. IIis temper and habits were social, and he mingled freely not only with his parishioners, but with the people at large. He loved tea as well as Dr. Johnson, and indulged in as copious potations of it. His stipend was very small, and his circumstances often straitened ; but nothing could ever disturb his tranquillity, or shake his confidence in God. His person was ungainly. He was of low stature, rather corpulent, with particularly short legs. An anecdote is told of a hog running between his legs, and carrying him on its back. He never married, but lived a bachelor, and kept house with his sister Hannah, in the very house which I now inhabit, erected by the parish for his accommodation on his coming here, at the requisition
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of the Society, just one hundred years ago, and occupied by his suc- cessors ever since.
You may always rely on me for any aid I can furnish to your laudable undertaking to preserve from oblivion " the things that re- main and are ready to die," of the church of our common affec- tions, reverence, and hope.
Yours very respectfully,
ROBERT A. HALLAM.
W. UPDIKE, EsQ.
Mr. Graves was the founder of the churches of Norwich and Hebron. At first, a little band of ten or a dozen were collected at Norwich, among whom the Gookin and Grist families were faithful and devoted adherents-with them the regular ordinances of the Episcopal church were performed. They had no stated minister or house of worship. About the year 1746, a church was duly organ- ized, and was fostered and nourished by the united labors of Messrs. Graves and Punderson. In 1750, a church was erected, and regular services administered by Mr. Punderson, who officiated as the first presbyter.
Rev. John Graves, vicar of Clapham, in Yorkshire, England, and brother of Matthew Graves, the missionary at New London, was appointed to succeed the Rev. Mr. Checkley at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1754. "He," Hawkins says, " appeared to have been impelled by an earnest sense of duty to resign his living, for the purpose of laboring in a comparatively wild and dreary country. Two years after his arrival, his church was crowded, and his ser- vices were so highly appreciated, that the parishioners wrote to thank the Society for sending so zealous and worthy a clergyman, whose behavior won the esteem of all. Besides his own mission, he officiated as often as he was able at Warwick, a town ten miles distant. The number of communicants at Providence was about fifty, and at Warwick twelve." .His letters, like those of the other clergy, are naturally and properly occupied, for the most part, with the state and progress of his mission ; but not unfrequently he makes allusion to those political troubles by which the peace of the church was so much disturbed during the latter years of his incum- bency. They were the signs of the coming storm. After July,
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1776, Mr. Graves declined to officiate, says Staples' Annals, " unless he could be permitted to read the usual and ordinary prayers for the King, which he considered himself bound by his ordination vows to offer for him. The patriotism of his hearers forbade this, and the consequence was that the church was closed most of the time during the war of the revolution. During a part of this time, how. ever, Thomas F. Oliver officiated as layman."
In September, 1776, Mr. Graves wrote the Society, " Since inde- pency has been proclaimed here, my two churches are shut up. I still go on to baptize their children, visit the sick, bury the dead, and frequent their respective houses with the same freedom as usual ; and add, with gratitude, that their benefactions to me since the above period have been great, and far beyond what I ever experien- ced from them before-founded upon the commiserating sense that the necessary means of supporting his large family, a wife and seven children, were now entirely cut off."
In 1782, he informed the Society that he had been expelled, by a vote of the Vestry, from the parsonage house and glebe, because he refused to open his church in conformity with the principles of Independence. It appears he was personally in much estimation with his parishioners, who continued to show him much kindness ; but he refused, in his public ministrations, to comply with their requirements, and was therefore obliged to leave his house, and resign a cure which he had served with advantage to the congrega- tion for a period of twenty-six years."
" After the restoration of peace, and the acknowledgement of our Independence, he considered himself discharged from his oaths of allegiance and consecration vows, and offered his services to the parish as an American, which were refused. He died at Provi- dence, in Nov. 1785." -- Staples Annals.
The Society of St. Paul's, on the 23d of December, 1757, addressed a letter of condolence, through the wardens, to the Society for the Propogation of the Gos- pel, and also requested the continuance of the Society's assistance. The letter is as follows :-
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REV. SIRS,
It is not without great concern and grief, that we make you acquainted with our present situation-truly melancholy by the loss of our late worthy minister, Dr. McSparran. With the highest sense of our obligations to the Society, we take this opportunity to return our most sincere thanks for their long and charitable assistance ; and at the same time must beg for the further continuance of it, as we are still very far from being able to support a minister at our own expense. But we are ready to do every thing in our power, in compliance with the order of the Society, as far as we are able, to- wards his more comfortable subsistance, by finding a house and glebe with £20 sterling per annum. It does not become parish- ioners to point out to the Society any particular person for the office ; but we hope we may be permitted so far to express our sen- timents without running the hazard of offending, that it would be disagreeable to us to have a neighboring missionary* removed to Narragansett, who has lately given great offence to his brethren and us, by being officious in settling a dissenting teacher at New London, and injudicious enough to be present at his ordination. It is not possible that we should be often visited by the neighboring clergy, because most of them are at too great a distance for us to expect it from them; and all of them have sufficient employment in their own cures. For which reason, among many others, we hope the Society will be pleased to consider our distress and provide a remedy, that neither we, nor our children, may be deprived of the salutary means of salvation.
Your speedy action on this our humble request, will be received with the greatest thankfulness by, Rev. Sirs,
Your most obliged, and most humble servants,
JOHN CASE, JOHN GARDINER,
Wardens.
To the Sec'y of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, &c.
* Supposed to be the Rev. Matthew Graves of New London, who had been officious at a Congregational ordination. (Mr. Graves was rather too tolerant for the age.)
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In the January succeeding, the Rev. Mr. Leaming A
preached to the Society of St. Paul's, and at a meeting, held after service, a letter was written to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, requesting the continu- ance of their assistance; and Mr. Leaming, the church catechist at Newport, was recommended to succeed Dr. McSparran as a missionary.
REV. JEREMIAH LEAMING, D.D., was a native of Middletown, Conn. His parents were Congregationalists. He was born in 1717. He graduated from Yale College, in 1745-embraced Episcopacy immediately after leaving college and officiated as lay reader at Norwalk for about two years. He was ordained in 1748, and was stationed at Newport eight years, when he removed to Norwalk, where he continued twenty-one years ; and afterwards at Stratford eight or nine years.
Speaking of Mr. Leaming, Hawkins, in his " Missions of the Church," says " that he had now for some years been engaged in the zealous discharge of his pastoral office-his sole desire being that those committed to his care 'might be Christians indeed.' He could not, however, fail to see the dangers to which the church was exposed from enemies without, as well as from its want of internal organization. Writing to the Society, Sept. 29, 1763, he says-' I hope there will be means found out to support the church in this government, otherwise I fear there will be no religion here in the next generation. In order that it might be supported in the purity of it, there is great need of a Bishop to confirm, ordain, and govern. Every body wants a head.
"During the troubles of the civil war, he was unfortunate enough to suffer most severely from both the British and American parties. Writing from New York, July 29, 1779, he says :- ' On the 11th instant, by the unavoidable event of the operation of his Majesty's troops, under the command of General Tryon, my church, and great part of my parish, was laid in ashes, by which I have lost every thing I had there-my furniture, books, and all my papers, even my apparel, except what was on my back. My loss,
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on that fatal day, was not less than twelve or thirteen hundred pounds sterling. Although in great danger, my life has been pre- served; and I hope I shall never forget the kind providence of God in that trying hour !' As a specimen of the insults to which the loyal clergy were exposed, it may be mentioned that the mob took his picture, defaced and nailed it to a sign post, with the head down- ward. He was afterwards put in jail as a tory, and denied even the comforts of a bed. This brought on a hip complaint, which made him a cripple for life.
Mr. Leaming was the first choice of the Episcopal Convention of Connecticut in 1783, as their first Bishop. He declined the office on account of his infirmities, and Dr. Seabury was then elected.
He died at New Haven in September, 1804, aged 86 years. He was regular in the performance of ministerial duties, and always set forth the Christian religion in connection with the Episcopal church ; and well understood the defence of her authority, doc- trines, and worship. He published a defence of the Episcopal government of the church, which deserves to be mentioned as par- ticularly serviceable to the church, and honorable to his memory ; also evidences of the truth of Christianity, and dissertations on various subjects.
The following is the letter before mentioned :-
NARRAGANSETT, JAN. 27, 1758.
REV. SIR,
We lately acquainted the Society with the death of the Rev. Dr. McSparran, and begged the continuance of their compassion and charity in assisting us to provide and support a successor. We further beg leave to say, that we have labored to qualify ourselves for the "favor we ask, by complying with the Society's general instructions in cases of a like nature.
We have provided a house and glebe for the use of a minister, and have by an instrument under the hands of all the Episcopal men of the parish, obliging ourselves to pay annually £20 sterling to the support of a minister who shall succeed to this charge. The parish have more cheerfully contributed to make the provision, in
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hopes that the Society will indulge them in the appointment of Mr. Leaming, of Newport, to this cure, who is universally acceptable to this people ; and from whom they expect all the advantages of a pious and worthy pastor. We do therefore for ourselves, and at the request of all the parish, most humbly beg the Society would · approve of Mr. Leaming for this mission.
We are, Rev. Sir, Your obedient humble servants, JOHN CASE, JOHN GARDINER, Wardens."
To the Sec'y of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, &c.
" In consequence of the preceding letters," continues the record, " the venerable Society for Propagating the Gospel in foreign parts, took compassion on us, and sent us a missionary to be a successor of the Rev. Doctor McSparran, to break the bread of life to our souls. And although it was not Mr. Leaming, whom we asked for, yet it was a person equally known to us, whom we had once and again heard preach in our parish church of St. Paul's-Mr. Samuel Fayerweather, a native of the land in which we live, who had been two or three years in Wineyaw, South Carolina, ministering in HOLY THINGS ; but did not enjoy health in that unwholesome climate, and petitioned the venerable Society for a living in his own country ; to whom, after we had heard of his appointment to our mission, we wrote a respectful letter to invite him among us, which miscarried. And to whom the Society in England also wrote, which packet was for a long time intercepted, and we not
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hearing from him, kept us destitute of the stated exer- cises of public worship, by not having a fixed pastor amongst us from the death of Dr. McSparran, December the first, 1757, to the twenty-fourth day of August, 1760, when the Rev. Mr. Fayerweather* opened his mission to us in the parish of St. Pauls ; at which time Mr. Fayerweather laid before his congregation (which was then small and inconsiderable) two letters from the venerable Society-the one to himself, the other to the church and parish to which he came to minister in the HOLY ORDERS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. They are as follows :-
CHARTER-HOUSE, JAN. 29, 1760.
" REV. SIR,
"I am much concerned that none of the letters I have wrote, con- cerning the Society's appointment of you to succeed Dr. McSparran in the church of Narragansett, have come to your hands, particu- larly that dated September 21, 1758, in which I thanked you for the kind concern for me on the report of my death ; but that you had lost another very valuable friend, Doctor Bristowe ; and that the Society, out of regard to your bad state of health, and your im- portunity to be received into their service in one of the Northern colonies, had appointed you to be their missionary to the Church of Narragansett in New England, with a salary of fifty pounds per
* Mr. Samuel Fayerweather was the son of Thomas Fayerweather, of Boston. He graduated from Harvard College, in 1743; was ordained a Congregational minister, and was settled over the second Congregational church in Newport, in 1754. The Rev. Dr. Stiles was his successor. Mr. Fayerweather was ordained a Presbyter in the Episcopal Church in 1756, in England. The degree of Master of Arts was conferred on him by the University of Oxford, in the same year. A fine portrait of him, painted in London, by Copley, now hangs up in my house at Kingston.
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annum, from the quarter day preceding the first Sunday you should officiate there as their missionary. That this is the highest salary which, by a standing rule, the Society give to a new missionary. And the church of Narragansett hath provided what they call a good house and glebe, and obliged themselves by a writing to pay £20 sterling per annum to the missionary of their church. And in that letter to you, I enclosed a letter to the church wardens and vestrymen in your recommendation ; and a copy of both these was sent to Carolina and New England directed to you, but by the different motions, or some other accident, it seems neither reached you. Your appointment to Narragansett is also mentioned in the abstract of the Society's proceedings in the anniversary sermons, that it hath been sometime well known in New England. And I hope may before this time, or at least before this comes to your hands, have come to your knowledge likewise. And that you did, or will immediately afterwards, remove to Narragansett, where God may grant his blessing to your spiritual labors in the cause of Christ and his true religion, to the edification of the good people committed to your pastoral care, and the eternal salvation of you all, is the hearty prayer of
Your affectionate brother,
And servant in Christ, PHILIP BEARCROFT, Sec'y." To the Rev. Mr. Fayerweather, South Carolina.
" GENTLEMEN,
" The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, condole with you on the death of Dr. McSparran, and to supply to you that loss, they have appointed the bearer, the Rev. Mr. Fayer- weather, their missionary to you, with a salary of £50 per annum, (the highest salary given by their rules to a new missionary,) on condition that you provide for him a good house and glebe, and twenty pounds sterling per annum, as you promise and engage in your petition.
"Mr Fayerweather they imagine is not unknown to you, and they hope will be very acceptable to you, not only from his known good character and ability, but also as a New-England man. That God may grant his blessing on all his spiritual
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labors among you, and that he may build you up in the true faith of Jesus Christ to your eternal salvation, is the hearty prayer of, Gentlemen, Your very humble servant,
PHILIP BEARCROFT, Sec'y.
To the Church Wardens and Vestry of the Episcopal Church, Narragansett, New-England."
" REV. SIR,
" The honor we owe to the venerable Society for Propagating the Gospel, &c., as a church under their especial care, and their great goodness in providing us worthy pastors from time to time, we can better admire than express. And as in our late destitute state, while we were bemoaning the loss of the Rev. Dr. McSparran, whose light we rejoiced in many years, no sooner was our grief known on this melancholy occasion, but a successor appointed much to our satisfaction ; and more so, as he was a native of the land in which we live. The amiableness of whose views are visible and clear from his resigning a superior benefice in another part of the conti- nent to ours ; whom we trust we have comfort in, and whose minis- try, considering his valuable gifts and accomplishments, will be highly acceptable and pleasing to us.
With double joy we received Mr. Fayerweather on his arrival among us, being afraid something or other had happened to dis- appoint our sanguine hopes-he not arriving for above a twelve- month after the news of his appointment reached our ears, by reason of a detention of the Society's letters to him.
Mr. Fayerweather opened his mission on the 24th of August, 1760, the advantage of whose instructions and exemplary life we unitedly wished for a long series of time to enjoy ; humbly depend- ing on God, the Creator and Sovereign Disposer of all things, for His blessing, from whom proceeds every good and perfect gift.
In compliance with the Society's instructions and our promise, we have made the most ample provision for his settlement and support. And that we might render the living of St. Paul's worthy of the acceptance of gentlemen of character and reputation, whenever by the Providence of God it becomes vacant, we shall do every thing further that is required of, or may be expected from, us.
HISTORY OF THE NARRAGANSETT CHURCH.
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St. Paul's Church, Narragansett.
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Entreating the venerable Society to accept this dutiful address, and thanking that honorable and august body in a proper and becoming manner for all favors, and particularly this last instance of their esteem and notice in relation to a spiritual watchman, who is to watch for souls, as one that must give an account, we beg leave with the greatest deference, duty, and regard, to subscribe ourselves,
Your most obedient, devoted humble servants,
JOHN CASE, JOHN GARDINER, Wardens."
On Sunday, the 24th of August, 1760, Mr. Fayer- weather, for the first time, officiated for his new flock, which had become greatly reduced in numbers, the church having been so long closed. .
Doctor McSparran, in his will, devised his farms for the use and support of a Right Reverend Diocesan, if one should be sent over to America whose jurisdiction should include the Narragansett country, provided he came within the term of seven years after the death of his wife. And if no such bishop arrived within that period, then he devised the same estate, one-half to his nephew James McSparran, the son of his brother Archi- bald, who had emigrated from the North of Ireland, and settled at the Forks of the Delaware, and subsequently had deceased. And the other half to Doctor Sylvester Gardiner, of Boston, the brother-in-law of. Dr. Mc- Sparran.
At this juncture, Mr. James McSparran, the late Doctor's nephew and devisee, arrived in Narragansett
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from White Clay Creek in Pennsylvania, and the spirited gentlemen of the parish purchased his half for the sum of £150 sterling. After some length of time, the other half of said farm was purchased of Dr. Sylvester Gardi- ner, of Boston, for a glebe for the perpetual benefit of the ministers of St. Paul's Church forever, for another £150 sterling. "Immediately upon which Dr. Gardi- ner; to his honor be it here recorded, gave out of his respective share, or sum of one hundred and fifty pounds sterling, ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS, to help forward the whole purchase, or rather to ease or lessen the expense or cost thereof to the parish of St. Pauls."
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