USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > Newport > Annals of Trinity church, Newport, Rhode Island, 1698-1821 > Part 4
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38 John Gidley was the son of John Gidley, Judge of the Vice-Admi- ralty Court, who came to Newport from Exon, in Devon, and died here in 1710. John Gidley, the son, was accidentally killed in September, 1744, His first wife was Sarah Shackmaple, daughter of John Shackmaple, of New London, where he was a man of prominence. She died May 12, 1727. His second wife was the above-named Mary Cranston. She died October 3, 1733, aged 24 years. His third wife was Elizabeth Brown, daughter of Captain John Brown. In 1742-3 the Judge of Admiralty having gone to England, John Gidley was appointed in his place till the king's will could be known.
46
ANNALS OF TRINITY CHURCH,
[The year 1729 opened with an event of great interest to the Church-the arrival in America of Rev. George Berkeley, Dean of Derry, who, on his return to England, after a stay of nearly three years on this Island, was made Lord Bishop of Cloyne. The object of his visit to America, and the events connected with his life on this Island, are so well known that I need not here recall them. The circumstances attending his landing at New- · port, January 23d, after a passage of five months, are thus given in "Bull's Memoir of Rhode Island ":]
" The ship ran into the west passage, and came to anchor. The dean wrote a letter to Mr. Honyman (Rector of Trinity Church), which the pilots took on shore at Conanicut Island, and called upon a Mr. Gardner and Mr. Martin, two members of Mr. Honyman's Church, informing them that a great dignitary of the Church of England, called Dean, was on board the ship, together with other gentlemen passengers. They handed them the letter from the dean, which Gardner and Martin brought to Newport in a small boat, with all possible dispatch. On their arrival they found Mr. Honyman at Church, it being a holyday on which divine service was held there. They then sent the letter by a servant, who delivered it to Mr. Honyman in the pulpit. He opened it and read it to the congre- gation, from the contents of which it appeared the dean might be expected to land in Newport every moment. The Church was dis- missed with a blessing, and Mr. Honyman, with the wardens, vestry and congregation, male and female, repaired immediately to the Ferry Wharf, where they arrived a little before the dean, his family and friends."
[Dean Berkeley found in Newport a congenial society, and a resi- dence here delightful. He bought about one hundred acres of land, built a house and called the place Whitehall, a name that it still retains. How well pleased he was with his surroundings, within three months of his landing, is shown in a letter to Thomas Prior.]
47
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.
Newport, on Rhode Island, April 24, 1729.
I can by this time say something to you, from my own experi- ence, of this place and people. The inhabitants are of a mixed kind, consisting of many sects and sub-divisions of sects. Here are four sorts of Anabaptists, besides Presbyterians, Quakers, Independents, and many of no profession at all. Nothwithstanding so many dif- ferences, here are fewer quarrels about religion than elsewhere, the people living peaceably with their neighbors of whatsoever persua- sion. They all agree in one point, that the Church of England is the second best. The island is pleasantly laid out in hills and vales, and rising ground; hath plenty of excellent springs, and fine rivu- lets, and many delightful landscapes of rocks, and promontories, and adjacent lands.
The town of Newport is the most thriving place in all America, for business. It is very pretty and pleasantly situated ; I was never more agreeably surprised, than at the first sight of the town and harbor.
March 12, 1729. Major Fairchild39 was married to Bathsheba Palmer.
May 27, 1729. William Mumford40 was married to Elizabeth Honyman by Dean Berkeley.
39 The " Major " was Fairchild's Christian name, and not a title. In an old deed he is styled " cooper." He was engaged in trade, chiefly commercial, and his daughter Ann became the wife of Metcalf Bowler. With Bowler he was engaged in commercial enterprises. October 28, 1764, he married Katharine Malbone, daughter of Godfrey Malbone, who became his second wife.
40 William Mumford was put in command of Fort George in 1756, and he was also in command in 1759. Elizabeth Honyman, who became his wife, was the only daughter of Rev. James Honyman. Her married life was short, for she died on the 21st of July, 1730, in her 24th year. Her remains lie buried in the churchyard, by the side of those of her father and mother. This is the only entry in the Church records of a marriage by Dean Berkeley during his residence on the Island, and it was a graceful tribute to him on the part of Mr. Honyman to ask him to marry his daughter.
48
ANNALS OF TRINITY CHURCH,
June 12, 1729. David Chesebrough was married to Abigail Rogers.41
September 21, 1729. Henry Barclay [Berkeley] son of Dean Barclay, was baptized by his father, and received into the Church.
September 25, 1729. Captain Robert Oliver42 was married to Mary Dunbar.
There are no entries for 1730, and, in fact, much of the material · brought together in these pages up to this date was gathered from other sources than the Church records. The record of baptisms and marriages is fairly well preserved, but there is no record of deaths up to this period. From 1731 the records go on regularly, but are far from minute in their details ; and when we come down to the revolution there are gaps that cannot now be filled. The ser- vices of the Church were kept up, and when the town was taken possession of by the British they were continued the same, for the minister, Rev. George Bisset, was a loyalist. Other places of wor- ship were desecrated and turned into stables, but that of the Church of England was kept from such defilement.
An interesting event connected with the stay of Dean Berkeley on the Island was the formation, in 1730, of the Philosophical So- ciety, out of which, ultimately, grew the Redwood Library. The influence of Berkeley was felt long after his departure. His personal friends, who joined him in the formation of the society, were Daniel
41 Mrs. Chesebrough died in Newport in 1737. Mr. Chesebrough's second wife was Margaret Sylvester, of whom there is a portrait extant painted by Blackburn, the second artist who came to America. Mr. Chese- brough removed to Stonington, and died there in March, 1782. His daughter Abigail, by his first wife, married Alexander Grant, oldest son of Sir Alexander Grant, of Scotland. In the Newport Mercury of September II, 1775, it was announced that " The Hon. Mrs. Abigail Grant, lady of Sir Alexander Grant, arrived at Newport from London via New York."
42 Captain Robert Oliver was an active and widely-known commander, in his day, in the mercantile marine.
49
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.
Updike, the Attorney-General of the Colony, James Searing, Judge Edward Scott, Henry Collins, Nathan Townsend, Jr., James Hony- man, Jr., Jeremy Condy, Samuel Wickham, Thomas Ward, Josiah Lyndon, John Callender, Jr., Sueton Grant, Dr. John Brett, Captain Charles Bardin, Hezekiah Carpenter, Joshua Jacobs, Joseph Syl- vester, John Checkley, Jr., William Ellery, John Adams, Daniel Hubbard, John Wallace, Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Johnston, nearly all of them men whose influence was commanding.
Dean Berkeley, realizing that in all probability there would be some delay in securing the grant that would enable him to establish the projected college at Bermuda (the object of his visit to America), prepared to make himself comfortable during his stay by buying a farm of ninety-six acres and building thereon a modest house, which he called Whitehall. There he resided till the autumn of 1731, when, in September, he embarked from Boston for England. After his return to England he gave Whitehall to Yale College with a valuable collection of books, a list of which may be found in an article on " Bishop Berkeley's Gifts to Yale College," by Daniel C. Gilman, Vol. I. of " Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society." He also gave valuable books to Harvard College and Trinity Church, Newport. To the Church he gave seventy-five volumes, some of which are still in the possession of the Church, with many of the volumes sent out by the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts when the parish was in its infancy.
50
ANNALS OF TRINITY CHURCH,
WHITEHALL.
CHAPTER III.
1731-1737.
THE officers of the Church on the 5th day of July, 1731, were :
Rev. James Honyman, Minister. Captain William Wanton, Church Wardens. Captain Jonathan Thurston,
Vestry .- Nathaniel Kay, Col. William Wanton, Capt. John Brown, Col. Wm. Coddington, George Goulding, Daniel Ayrault, Col. William Whiting, Capt. John Freebody, Capt. Henry Bull, Capt. Godfrey Malbone, Capt. John Brown, Jr., Capt. John Chase, Jahleel Brenton, Jr., Daniel Updike, John Gidley, Peter Bours, and James Martin.
James Martin was appointed Clerk of the Vestry.
Ordered : that the Church Wardens do all things necessary for the repairing of the bell, and have the fence and gates painted.
5I
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.
Ordered : that Captain Robert Elliot43 be invested with the prop- erty of the pew No. 30, for the consideration of £50, he paying the same within a month, or else the pew to be returned.
Thomas Salter to have pew No. 20 in the gallery, he paying for the same £12.10.
Voted : that the Vestry meet the first Tuesday in every second month ensuing.
On the IIth of June of this year, Dean Berkeley baptized three of his negroes, " Philip, Anthony and Agnes Berkeley."
August 27, 1731. Nathaniel Kay, Esq., is desired to write to Mr. Richard Munday to meet the Vestry on Monday next at II o'clock, in the forenoon, at the Church, to consider about repairing the steeple.4
43 Capt. Robert Elliot was married to Almy Coggeshall, by Mr. Hony- man, January 1, 1730. His second wife was Abigail Searing, to whom he was married July 21, 1765. Immediately after the Declaration of In- dependence, he was appointed a Captain of Artillery, and did service in that capacity. He was a Deputy from Newport to the General Assembly ; subsequently he was appointed Intendant of Trade for Newport, and died in 1781, while holding that office.
4 There is nothing to show who built the Church edifice, but, apart from the prominence of Richard Munday as a builder, his connection with the Church, and the manner in which he was frequently called upon to ex- amine the structure and make good the defects that from time to time ap- peared, leads to the conclusion that the edifice was built under his super- vision. The plans were evidently sent out from England. The general features of the interior are not unlike those of St. James, London. The details are of the colonial period ; the groined ceiling is remarkably fine ; the pulpit, reading desk and clerk's desk stand out in the body of the Church, the pulpit being reached by a high flight of stairs, with spiral newel and balusters. Over the pulpit there hangs a graceful sounding- board. The chancel, elliptical in form, is shallow, and not more than nine or ten can kneel at the rail at a time. The organ is in the gallery, at the opposite end of the Church. The pews are square, with high, straight backs.
52
ANNALS OF TRINITY CHURCH,
Voted : that the Church Wardens do forthwith have an air-hole made in the under-pinning of the Church, to prevent the same from rotting. 44a
Voted: that Capt. John Chase and Mr. George Dunbar be de- sired to assist the Church Wardens in providing and getting mate- rials for repairing the steeple, and other things necessary for the Church.
August 30, 1731. Voted : that the committee appointed for the repairing of the steeple do agree with some person for the doing thereof as they shall think proper, with the advice of Mr. Richard Munday, and provide materials for the same. 45
September 5, 1731. Lucia Berkeley, daughter (an infant) of Dean Berkeley, died, and was buried in the churchyard, just south of the grave of Nathaniel Kay. She was baptized by her father on the 24th of the previous August.
Voted : that Sarah Velvin be invested in the property of the northwest corner pew of the five new pews lately built, she having paid for the same the sum of f10 to Capt. William Wanton.46
44a No provision was made for a cellar when the Church was built, and the only means of ventilating the beams is by " air-holes " in the low foun- dation. A few years ago so much of the earth was removed as was necessary to admit of setting a couple of furnaces, now used to heat the Church.
45 From this and other like entries from time to time it is evident that, while the edifice was so far finished when it was said to be complete, in 1726, as to admit of its being used for services, only pews enough had been provided for the actual wants of the congregation at that day, and that from time to time other pews were built and disposed of to appli- cants.
46 Captain William Wanton, the Senior Warden, was, like many other members of the Wanton family, a distinguished man. The manner of his becoming an Episcopalian is a tradition, one that is generally received as correct. The son of a Quaker preacher, Edward Wanton, he was him- self a Quaker. He fell in love with Ruth Bryant, the beautiful and ac- complished daughter of Deacon John Bryant, of Scituate, Mass., an
53
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.
September 23, 1731. James Honyman47 was married to Elizabeth Goulding.
March 21, 1732. It is agreed that Capt. John Chace, Capt. George Wanton, and James Martin do audit and inspect all the ac-
uncompromising Presbyterian, who would not listen to such a connection. When out spake William Wanton, and said : "Ruth, I am sure we were made for each other ; let us break away from this unreasonable bondage. .I will give up my religion and thou shalt give up thine, and we will go to the Church of England and the devil together."
The public services that William Wanton rendered the Colony, and his valiant deeds in his early manhood, have been recorded. To the Church both he and his wife became devoted. In 1732 he was elected Governor of the Colony, and died while in office, in January, 1733, aged 63 years. 47
Honyman was the son of Rev. James Honyman, Minister of Trinity Church. He was born at Newport, and was educated for the Bar. In 1732 he was elected Attor- ney-General of the Colony, which office he held till 1741, when the elec- tion of County Attorneys was introduced, when he held the office of King's Attorney for two years. He was one of the committee on the boundary question between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and was appointed, with Governor Hopkins and George Brown, to attend the Congress of Governors and Commissioners of the Northern Colonies, called by Lord Loudoun, and held in Boston, to devise measures for the defeat of the enemy. In 1756 he was elected First Assistant of the Colony, and was re-elected up to 1764 ; but when the Legislature remon- strated against the rule of 1756 (which rule occasioned great losses and great irritation in the Colonies) he declined a re-election.
Shortly after this event, Mr. Honyman was appointed King's Advocate for the Court of Vice Admiralty in Rhode Island, and retained the ap- pointment up to the breaking out of the revolution. In that struggle and when hostilities began, he offered to give up his commission, if the Leg- islature desired him to do so. The Legislature so desired, and his com- mission was delivered to the Governor, to be lodged in the Secretary's office.
Mr. Honyman had an extensive and lucrative practice when the war broke out. He did not leave the Island on the approach of the British, but remained here, and here died February 15, 1788, aged 67 years.
54
ANNALS OF TRINITY CHURCH,
counts, beginning with the committee for building, and pass accounts from one to the other, and to make a final end thereof, with a return of the same to the Vestry next Easter Tuesday.
It is agreed and ordered that Mr. Edward Scott and Mr. James Honyman, Jr., be desired to go about, in order to collect what money they can for and towards the support and assistance of Mr. Beach,48 a gentleman of Connecticut, who is going to London to have Epis- copal ordination, and make a return of their doings herein next Easter Tuesday.
At an Annual Meeting of the Vestry, for the choice of Church officers, on Easter Monday, being the 10th of April, 1732, Captain Jonathan Thurston and James Martin were chosen Church Wardens.
Voted : that Mr. James Allen, Captain Samuel Wickham, and Mr. Edward Scott be admitted members of the Vestry for said Trinity Church.
Adjourned Meeting, April 11, 1732. William Weston has agreed to take £44 for the balance of his account for the fence around the churchyard, and gates thereto, in full.
It is the opinion of the Vestry that he allow to the Church the sum of thirty pounds for the ground where he has erected his vault in the churchyard.49
Mr. Peter Bours, Capt. Godfrey Malbone,50. Mr. Edward Scott 51
48 Mr. John Beach went to England to receive Holy Orders, returned in September, 1732 and began his labors as Missionary, at Newtown, Ct. He had been a preacher sixty years when he died, in 1782. In 1772 he stated that in forty years he had lost but two Sundays through sickness.
49 There is no trace at the present day of any such vault.
Godfrey Mallone 50
was a native of Princess Anne County, Virginia. He came to Newport about 1700, and here settled. The tradition is that he had a strong desire to follow the sea, and to this end bound him-
55
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.
and Captain George Wanton do agree to gather in the subscriptions quarterly, as they become due, each man in his turn, as they are above named.
Ordered : that John Barzee [the sexton] be paid his half year, end- ing the 29th of March, 1732, the sum of £5.
John Barzee has engaged for sexton another year, for £15.
Ordered : that the money belonging 52 to the poor be delivered to the eldest Church Warden, he giving a bond for the same, payable to the Minister with lawful interest, and the bond to be renewed every year.
self to some captain. While serving out his time, he came into possession of a valuable estate in Virginia, which enabled him to shape his own course. Here he became eminent as a merchant, and was active in fitting out pri- vateers in the French and Spanish wars. At the request of Governor Shirley, he was commissioned to raise a regiment of three hundred and fifty men in Rhode Island, to join the expedition against Louisburg.
In 1766 Col. Malbone's beautiful country seat was destroyed by fire. He died February 22, 1768, and was buried under Trinity Church. October 18, 1719, he was married to Katharine Scott, who survived him, and died in Boston in 1817. Her remains were brought to Newport and interred in the churchyard. The autograph at the head of this note was taken from an old deed, but the name as generally given has only one " 1." 51
Edward Scott was the granduncle of Sir Walter Scott. For more than twenty years he was master of the grammar school in Newport, the first classical school in Rhode Island. He was an active member of the Philosophical Society. On the tombstone of his father, Edward Scott, there is this inscription :
" This Monument Is sacred to the Memory of Edward Scott, Esq., Who departed this life June 30, 1708, aged 65 years. Having for many years served His country By a faithful life & discharge of several important offices of government, preserving throughout his life That noblest of characters, AN HONEST MAN."
52 Lacking other modes of putting money out to interest, it was the custom to put funds in the hands of some person of known probity engaged in business who could use it, and who gave bonds, as above, for its return with interest.
56
ANNALS OF TRINITY CHURCH,
April 25, 1732. Benjamin Brenton53 was married to Alice Barker.
May 2, 1732. John Norton paid James Martin ten pounds for the middle pew of the five new pews lately built at the west end of the gallery, for which he is to account, and the said Thomas Norton is to be invested with the property.
November 20, 1732. Voted and resolved: that every person that has subscribed anything towards discharging the Church debts, and every person that is indebted otherwise to the Church, pay in their subscriptions and debts on Thursday the 30th instant, and that Capt. John Freebody and Mr. Daniel Ayrault be desired to attend them with their bonds in order to have them discharged.
November 30, 1732. Mr. Ayrault54 has discounted, in part of his bond, thirty pounds for the vault in the churchyard, which is in full of what he was to give for it.
Mr. Ayrault's bond discharged in ye Vestry.
Mr. John Lance is desired to set the Psalms in the Church.
December 22, 1732. Ordered : that Capt. John Chace, Mr. Ed- ward Scott and James Martin be a committee to draw up an instru- ment, to be put on the public record, for the dedication of Trinity Church, and that the same be prepared for the next Vestry.55
53 Benjamin Brenton died April 1, 1766, and was buried on his farm in Narragansett.
54 This was Daniel Ayrault. The vault is under the tombstone that bears the name of his wife, Mary Ayrault, who had died January 5, 1729, and whose remains he placed in the vault when it was completed. The entrance is under the flagstones of the walk leading to the north door of the church, and is reached by steps under the walk.
55 The following document is all that is now known in regard to the above movement. It is recorded in the City Clerk's office, and not on the records of the Church :
" To all People to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting : Whereas, Francis Brinley, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and Province of the
57
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.
February 25, 1733. Voted: that the Church Wardens write to Mr. Charles Theodore Perchival, in Boston, to acquaint him that the organ is arrived for the Church, and that he is desired to come up here and assist us with his advice, in putting the same up, and that
Massachusetts Bay in New England, gentleman, & Deborah his wife did by their Deed of Sale, bearing date the Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one Thousand seven hundred & twenty, Grant, bargain, sell, alien, convey & confirm unto Daniel Ayrault & Wm Gibbs, both of Newport, in the County of Newport, & Colony of Rhode Island, &c., the then Church Wardens of Trinity Church in Newport aforesa, & to their successors in said office forever, A certain piece, par- cel or lot of land, situate lying & being in Newport aforesd, butted & bounded as follows : East on land belonging to Peleg Sanford, late of sª Newport, Esq', deceased, South upon a way between the land of the said Francis Brinley & the land of Caleb Carr, late of sd Newport, Esq', de- ceased, West on land belonging to sª Francis Brinley, & North partly on land belonging to said Trinity Church, & partly on land belonging to the Reverend James Honyman, of sª Newport, Clerk : The said Prem- ises measuring & containing one hundred & one feet on the south line, ninety-three feet & a half on ye north line, forty-six feet on the west line, & fifty feet on the east line, or however otherwise butted & bounded, as in & by the sd recited Deed, reference thereto being had will now fully & at large appear; And Whereas, the Minister, Church Wardens & Vestry of said Trinity Church, did at their meeting held in sd Church, on the Tenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred twenty & three, unanimously agree to erect & build a new Church on the aforesd Piece or Parcel of land with the free & voluntary subscription of well disposed persons, & then nomi- nated & appointed Wm Wanton, Wm Coddington, Henry Bull, Godfrey Malibone & John Chace, all of Newport, afores'd, & the sª Daniel Ayrault to be a committee for the overseeing & superintending sd work, which building has been perfected & named Trinity Church : Now KNOW YE, that we, the Rector, Church Wardens & Vestry (represent- ing the congregation) of sª Church, do hereby dedicate & devote sd Trinity Church to the Publick worship of God, according to the Liturgy of the Church of England as by law established.
In Testimony whereof, we, the said Rector, Church Wardens & Ves-
5
58
ANNALS OF TRINITY CHURCH,
he shall be satisfied for his assistance in the affair. And also to Mr. Richard Munday, to desire him to come here forthwith, to advise and assist us in preparing a plan to set up the organ 56 in this Church.
trymen have hereunto subscribed our names & affixed our seals at a meeting held in said Trinity Church on Easter Monday, being the twenty- sixth day of March, in ye sixth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France & Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, &c., Anno Domini 1733.
JAMES HONYMAN, [L.s.]
JAMES MARTIN, [L.S. ]
JAHLEEL BRENTON, [L.S.]
NATHL. KAY, [L.s.]
WM. CODDINGTON,
[L.S.]
GODFREY MALBONE, [L.S. ]
WM. WANTON, JR.,
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