USA > Rhode Island > Newport County > History of Newport County, Rhode Island. From the year 1638 to the year 1887, including the settlement of its towns, and their subsequent progress > Part 44
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
return to England in 1733 the dean sent over a fine organ as a donation to the church.
The early records of Trinity church have been long lost. The second book begins with the date of July 5th, 1731. In 1740 the society received a large beqnest from Mr. Nathaniel Kay, one of the vestry, for the building of a school. In 1750 Mr. Honeyman died and was buried at the expense of the church in the south of the passage from the gate to the church, where his tomb- stone lies. He was snc- ceeded by the school teacher, deacon and priest, Mr. Jeremiah Leaming, under a temporary ap- pointment, or until the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel should supply a perma- nent minister. In 1752 a sum sufficient to purchase a parsonage was raised by subscription. In 1754 Thomas Pollen was sent ont from England by the society as missionary. The society having cut off twenty pounds of their allowance to the church, the pewholders had agreed among themselves to an annual tax for the support of their minister. Mr. 1. 300 TRINITY CHURCH, NEWPORT. Pollen left the church of his own accord in 1760, and the venerable society was again invited to send over a snecessor ; but they neglecting to reply and withholding their annual allowance, the church called to their charge the Reverend Marmaduke Brown of Portsmonth, whom they settled with a salary of one hundred pounds ster- ling per annum, provided the English society did not continne their mission in Newport.
In 1769 the society petitioned the general assembly for an act
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
of incorporation. The same year Mr. Brown visited England, the pulpit being filled in his absence by the Reverend Mr. Bis- set, who came from England two years before as an assistant. On the death of Mr. Brown the charge was placed in Mr. Bis- set's hands until the venerable society should be heard from. Mr. Bisset was soon after sent abroad with a letter from Trinity church soliciting the continuance of the mission, but without result. Thrown wholly upon their own resources, the congrega- tion in 1771 elected Mr. Bisset their minister.
This reverend gentleman was in charge when on Sunday, the 8th of December, 1776, the British entered the bay and took possession of the island. Mr. Bisset, English born, was natur- ally loyal to the crown ; moreover, a large number of the wealthy and influential members of Trinity church were in full sympathy with the royal canse ; in this not differing from the Episcopalians in general throughout the colonies, in whose creed church and state were indisollubly joined. On the evac- nation of Newport by the British Mr. Bisset and many of these gentlemen went out with the fleet and sought refuge in New York, the British military headquarters. With Mr. Bisset's departure services ceased. Indeed in the state of feeling of the inhabitants, they necessarily came to a close. Nay, more, the church building was ocenpied for some years by the "Six Principle Baptist Society." This suspense of the English ser- vice continned until 1781, when it was resumed by Mr. John Bonrs, a lay reader, who was invited in 1784 to take orders, and accept their charge as minister, but declined.
In 1786 the Reverend James Sayre was settled as minister, but his pastorate was not of long duration. The cause of the disagreement which brought it to a close is worthy of remark as showing how the principles of the American revolution had penetrated to the heart of society. He had declared that he would never be brought to conform to any form which might be agreed upon for the establishment of union in the Episcopal churches of America if it differed in any manner from the forms of the church of England, excepting the prayers for the king. Record does not show how he was dismissed, whether or not by the intervention of Bishop Seabury, who was appealed to, or of his own free will. In 1789 the Reverend William Smith of St. Paul's church, Narragansett, became the minister of Trinity.
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Trinity church was represented by Mr. John Bours, their late lay reader, at the convention which met at Boston in 1785, and established the union of the New England churches and the liturgy and forms of worship. These were agreed to by the Trinity congregation, but the agreement was rescinded on a nearly equal division of its members at the Easter meeting in 1789. In 1790 the Rhode Island Episcopal churches of New- port, Providence and Bristol, assembled in convention, declared the Right Reverend Samnel Seabury, D. D., then bishop of the church in Connecticut, to be also bishop of the church in the state of Rhode Island. But the feuds of the Newport church were not yet healed and Mr. Smith withdrew, accepting a call to Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1797. The Reverend John S. J. Gardner, assistant minister of Trinity church, Boston, was then invited to the charge, but finding it "a scattered church and a divided people," and perhaps because of an increase of his salary by the Boston congregation, declined the service, and recommended to the Newport church Mr. Theodore Dehon, a young clergyman, who entered on his duties in January, 1798. Under his ministry the church again began to flourish in its affairs, both temporal and spiritual. Mr. Dehon's health was the cause of many absences, but his influence was beneficial, and he left the church in full prosperity when, in 1810, he re- signed the rectorship and proceeded to his new charge of bishop of South Carolina. Mr. Dehon was succeeded by his brother- in-law, the Reverend Salmon Wheaton from New Haven, who continued his ministry for thirty years, being succeeded on his his resignation, in 1841, by the Reverend Francis Vinton as rector.
Rectors of Trinity Church: Reverend Mr. Lockyear, 1704; James Honeyman, 1704-1750; Jeremiah Leaming, 1750-1754; Thomas Pollen, 1754-1760; Marmaduke Brown, 1760-1771; George Bisset, 1771-1779; James Sayre, 1786 1788; William Smith, 1789-1797; Theodore Dehon, 1798-1809; Samuel Wheatou, 1810-1840; Francis Vinton, Robert Hall, Darins R. Brewer, 1846-1855; Alexander Mercer, O. H. Prescott, J. H. Black, I. P. White, George J. Magill.
Founders of Trinity Church: Petitioners to the Earl of Bell- omont, 1699; Gabriel Bernan, Pierre Ayrault, Thomas Fox, George Cutler, William Pease, Edwin Carter, Francis Pope, Richard Newland, William Brinly, Isaac Martindale, Robert
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Gardiner, Thomas Paine, Thomas Mallett, Robert Wrightington, Anthony Blount, Thomas Lillibridge.
SECOND EPISCOPAL PARISH (Zion Church ). - This church, an offshoot of Trinity, was organized in 1833 by a number of per. sons who believed there was room in Newport for a second church of this faith. They were incorporated by act of the general assembly in 1834. Their first minister was the Reverend John West, who, after service for some time as a convocation missionary, was invited to take permanent charge of the con- gregation as rector in 1834. During the first year great diffi- culty was found in procuring suitable places for the holding of services. The early meetings were held in the chamber of rep- resentatives in the state house. Later the congregation found comfortable accommodations in the vacant Presbyterian church building on the hill and in the brick school house in Mill street. The church building which the congregation erected on the south side of Washington square was completed in the spring of 1834, and consecrated in June by the Right Reverend Bishop Griswold. The building was expensive and the church struggled under a considerable debt until 1836, when a committe was raised to relieve it, who, it is said, in a few days collected enough money to extinguish it. The church has been since prosperous.
In 1840, it being found that the bell in the tower was injuring the organ, the tower was taken down and the bell removed. In 1853 the chancel was altered in accordance with a plan sub- mitted by the rector, the Reverend Mr. Watson, and greatly improved. In 1863 a new altar table and credence were presented by the Reverend Mr. Child, and the next year a very fine and costly organ took the place of the old instrument. It was ob- tained by voluntary contributions. The same year the rector, Mr. Child, constructed at his own expense an addition to the chapel in gothic style with an emblem chancel window, for the accommodation of the Sunday school. During the rectorship of Mr. Murphy various improvements were made to the interior and exterior; among others a beautiful stained glass window, the subject of which is Raphael's "Ascension of the Saviour." In 1885 the property was sold to St. Joseph's church (Roman Catholic), and "Zion church " ceases to exist.
Founders : Stephen T. Northam, James Mumford, Samnel Whitehorne, John G. Whitehorne, Henry Potter, Jacob Smith.
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
Charles H. Mumford, Alexander P. Moore, James Atkinson, John F. Townsend, William Rider, George Knowles, W. Van Zandt, John B. Lyon, Richard Johnston, John G. Barlow.
Ministers : Reverend John West, 1834-42; Benjamin Watson, 1842-55; L. Richmond Dickinson, 1856-58: William Colvin Brown, 1858-61; William S. Child, 1861-68; T. Logan Murphy, 1868-1876; Edward H. Kettell, 1876-1881; John C. Hewlett, 1881 - 1883; Frank Woods Baker, 1884-1885; Charles C. Gilliat, the last rector.
EMMANUEL CHURCH .- In 1850 the cotton mills in the southern part of the city attracting a considerable population to that neighborhood, Miss Charlotte Tew began to visit them and soon interested the clergy in their behalf. The Reverend D. R. Brewer, then rector of Trinity, who had but shortly before suc- cessfully established All Saints' chapel for the occupation of the more well-to-do in worldly affairs, was quickly and earnestly interested in the new movement. The old Free Will Baptist church was purchased, and the other rectors of the Episcopal church on the island joining with him, services were there held continuously from October, 1850, until the summer of 1851, when the Reverend John L. Gray received a call as permanent rector, his support being paid for by subscriptions from mem- bers of Trinity. A Sunday school was organized and the new church grew rapidly in numbers. Doctor Gray withdrew the next year and was succeeded by the Reverend Kersey J. Stewart, whose salary was pledged in advance by the Reverend Mr. Brewer, and the parish being now duly organized, was admitted into the convention in 1852. Three years later, in 1855, Mr. Stewart resigned, accepting a call to Virginia and the Reverend Doctor Brewer assumed the charge of the parish, leaving for this small mission that of Trinity church.
A sufficient sum of money being pledged, a new church build- ing was erected on the corner of Spring and Dearborne streets; a fair was held by the ladies of Trinity church which brought a sum larger than that pledged. It was given to the building fund of the Emmanuel Free church, which was inaugurated in June, 1856, by the Right Reverend Bishop Clark by the mar- riage by the bishop of Miss Charlotte Tew, who may be held the founder of the parish, and the rector, Dr. Brewer. The first Sunday service was held two days later. In April, 1858, the last indebtedness being cleared, the new church was consecrated.
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
The church has been snecessful in a high degree, its Sunday school education being one of its most extensive features.
Ministers : The Reverend John D. Gray, 1850-1851; Kersey J. Stewart, 1851-1855; D. R. Brewer, 1855-1858; Charles Win- gate, 1858-1861; Lonis P. W. Balch, 1861-1865; F. A. McAllis- ter, 1865-1867; S. C. Hill, 1867-1876; Robert B. Peet, the present rector.
House of Worship .- Originally, 1850 to 1856, in the old Free- will Baptist church on Thames street; from 1856 on the corner of Spring and Dearborne streets.
ALL SAINTS' CHAPEL. - This chapel, which originally stood on Church street, was built in 1848 by the Rev. D. R. Brewer, with a view to relieving the pressure during the summer months upon Trinity, of which he was then the rector. The cost of the building was defrayed by a subscription among the parishioners, to which Miss Phoebe Bull was the largest contributor. The services at the chapel were intended to be and were conducted by visiting bishops and elergymen. Mr. Brewer retained the control of the building until, to obtain funds for the addition of a tower and school room to Emmanuel church which he had since erected, he sold the chapel to the Reverend Doctor Mercer who had succeeded him as rector of Trinity. The purpose of Doctor Mercer was the reverse of that originally contemplated in the erection of the chapel. He proposed to occupy the pulpit himself in the summer months and give the use of Trinity to the visiting bishops and clergymen. The next year the chapel was removed from Church street to Beach and Cottage streets, where it now stands.
Some differences of opinion arising between Doctor Mercer and his vestry in which, however, the rector had the support of his congregation at Trinity, he resigned his charge and accepted a call to Trinity church, Boston. In the progress of this differ- ence some of the higher clergy recommended to the church a waiting policy and ou the advice of Bishop Clark, a young di- vinity student, Mr. Walter Bernard Noyes, was invited to ocen- py the pulpit of All Saints' as lay reader of the services and of the sermons of Frederick Robertson. In 1861 the vestry of Trinity, disturbed at the protracted withdrawal of so large a number of its members, proposed that if they would close the chapel and return to Trinity no objections would be made to Doctor Mercer's return to the chapel whenever he might
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
choose. This was accepted but immediately afterward the rec- tor of Zion church, who had before joined with the vestry in their opposition to the officiating of Doctor Mercer in the chapel after his resignation of his charge in Trinity, and held him to be a clergyman foreign to the parish, again made pro- test, on this occasion joined by the rector of Emmanuel church, and the chapel was once more closed. Again, as in the case of the Trinity congregation, the people of Emmanuel had no part in this action of their rector. It was now proposed to Doctor Mer. cer that if he would relinquish the right of personal property in the chapel and leave it in trust for the purposes of the Episco- pal church it would be received into the diocese at the ap- proaching convention. This Doctor Mercer at once agreed to and in 1864 the parish was organized and the chapel became free. It had always been kept for the accommodation of sum- mer visitors.
ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH .- This is an outgrowth of Zion church. For a year after the sale of the property on Washington square, this parish worshipped, by the courtesy of the order of the Grand Army of the Republic, in their hall on Thames street. In April, 1885, the society purchased a lot on Rhode Island av- enne opposite Berkeley street, and in Angust the corner-stone was laid by the Right Reverend Bishop Clark, assisted by Bishop Potter of New York and the local clergy of the Episco- pal church. Bishop Potter delivered the address. The site was selected because of the rapid growth of the city in the neigh- borhood and the need of more accessible accommodation in the winter season. The church was named after the Right Rever- end George Berkeley. The wisdom of the selection of the site has been shown by the growth of the parish since the change of location. The parish has been constantly in the charge of the Reverend Charles G. Gilliat since its removal, and to his devo- ted service its remarkable success is due. An organ was pre- sented by some of the liberal friends of the parish in the sum- mer of 1886 and the choral service is already an attractive fea- ture of the service. A memorial window to Mrs. Duty J. Pierce, widow of the late Judge Pierce, the oldest communicant of Old Zion parish, is now ready to be set up, and the church is the constant recipient of gifts appropriate to the festal seasons. A commodious building has been erected on the church lot for the Sunday school which has a large and rapidly growing attend-
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY,
ance. Bnilt essentially for the local permanent population, the attractive situation has brought to St. George's a large number of transient summer worshippers.
THE MORAVIANS OR UNITED BRETHREN. - This order of Chris- tians, Brethren of the Law of Christ, as they at first called theni- selves, and later United Brethren, originated in Moravia toward the middle of the fifteenth century. They first came into his- torical notice about the year 1725, when they were received into the protection of Count Zinzendorf and allowed to settle in his village of Betlielsdorf. In 1734, the Elector of Saxony expel- ling the order from his dominions, the count, who had himself joined the society, undertook to procure them passage to Geor- gia from the agents of that colony residing in London. The society established missions there, but declining to take up arms in defense of the colony, were forced in 1739-40 to take refuge in the Pennsylvania settlement. In 1740 Bishop Nischman, with a company of the brethren, arrived from Europe and purchased a wild and woody tract in Pennsylvania, in the heart of the In- dian country, to which they gave the name of Bethlehem. They soon after purchased of Mr. Whitefield "his manor of Nazareth " and his unfinished school house. In 1742 they were visited by Count Zinzendorf. They soon began to send ont mis- sionaries, not only among the neighboring Indians, but into distant lands.
In 1749 two of these missionary brethren, Matthew Rentze and George Henke, came to Newport to take passage for Sur- inam. Here they preached among the Sabbatarians, then in- der the charge of the Reverend Timothy Peckham, and greatly interesting these people, were requested to organize a church. At their request the parent society in Pennsylvania sent on two brethren, who were followed by others, until in 1758 a congre- gation was established and a minister settled. The church maintained its existence with varions fortunes for nearly a cen- tury, but gradually united with other societies and has since passed out of existence. The meeting house was taken down and the land since sold to Trinity church, and a fine brick school house has been built thereon.
Pastors: Reverend Richard Ultey, 1758- -; Thomas Yar- rell; Frederick Smith, - - 1763; Lonis Rusmeyer, 1766- 1783; Frederick Smith, 1785-1802; Samuel Towle, 1803-1819; George I. Muller, 1819-1829; John G. Herman, 1821-1823; Charles A. Van Vlyck, 1834-1837; Charles F. Seidel, 1837.
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HISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH .- Methodism, the religious revival of the eighteenth century, takes its name from the or. derly progression, the observance of system or method in re- ligions affairs, which was inculcated in the doctrines preached and illustrated in the methods practiced by the Wesley broth- ers and by Whitefield. John and Charles Wesley began their teaching at Oxford in 1729. In 1735 they crossed the ocean as missionaries to Georgia, but met with little success. In 1736 Charles Wesley visited New England and preached in King's chapel, the English Episcopal church of Boston, after which he returned to England, whither his brother followed him some time later.
George Whitefield came over in 1738 and made an itinerant tour through New England, preaching in the open air to great crowds of people. He arrived in Newport in a sloop from South Caro- lina, on Sunday, the 14th day of September, 1740. Contrary winds detained the vessel in the offing, but Whitefield set him- self to prayer that he and the ship's company might arrive in time for public worship. When he had done praying, he says in his recital, and had come up out of the cabin, it was quite fair. Ile arrived in time for worship, and after the services was invited to lodge with one of the gentlemen of the city. In the evening he visited the Reverend Mr. Honeyman, the rector of Trinity, and obtained permission to use his pulpit on the next day, though the reverend gentleman at first hesitated, ob- jecting that preaching on week days was disorderly. The next day he read prayers from Trinity pulpit to some three thou- sand persons who were gathered without and within the church, and numbers were greatly affected. The general assembly, which was then in session, adjourned that its members might hear him. Richard Ward was then the governor. Whitefield also preached from a small table in the fields near the old stone mill, in what is now known as Touro Park.
He left Newport on Wednesday and preached in Bristol and Brockton with great effect, and journeying on to Boston was met some miles outside of the city by the son of Belcher, the governor of Massachusetts, and a company of gentlemen of dis- tinction. He was at this time but twenty-six years of age. In his mission work in America Whitefield crossed the Atlantic thirteen times, and finally died in Newburyport in 1790. He founded the Princeton and Dartmouth colleges and the negro
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IIISTORY OF NEWPORT COUNTY.
children's school, of Nazareth, on the banks of the Delaware. Neither of the Wesleys ever returned to America, but the con- verts of John Wesley came over in large numbers.
In 1769 Richard Boardman and Joseph Pittmore, Wesleyan preachers, were sent over to take charge of his following in this conntry, the first going to New York and the latter to Phila- delphia.
In 1771 Francis Asbury and Richard Wright came over, and Mr. Asbury became the first resident bishop in America. At the first Wesleyan conference held in 1773 the number of members was reported at nearly twenty-one hundred.
During the colonial period these American churches were connected with the church in England, but in 1784 the Methodist Episcopal Church in America was organized as an independent body, five years before the similar reorganization of the Pro- testant Episcopal Church. At the conference in 1784 the num- ber of Methodists was reported as nearly fourteen thousand, but in the appointments for that year no preacher was assigned to New England. In 1789 Jesse Lee, of Virginia, made a tour of New England, and preached in September at Cranston's coffee house in Charlestown, Washington county, R. I., after which he visited Boston.
In 1790 he returned to Rhode Island, preached his first ser- mon in Newport on the 30th day of June, "as is believed in the church on Division street," and on other occasions both in the city and other towns on Narragansett bay. In 1800 Joshua Hall was appointed to Rhode Island and preached in Newport several times. Meanwhile regular circuits were established for the itinerant preachers, Newport being at first included in Greenwich and in 1794 in Warren circuit. In the same year the first Methodist house of worship was built in Warren. The Newport Methodist society was at first transitory. In 1803 Thomas Lyel, whose post was at Boston, was appointed to Newport for two months, George Piekering being the presiding elder. In 1805 Reuben Hubbard and Peter Payne, whose station was also at Boston, preached in Newport in the First Baptist church, of which the Reverend Michael Eddy was pastor.
In 1806 a regular appointment was made for the town of Newport and Mr. Hubbard was assigned as preacher in charge. The use of the senate chamber in the state house and afterward
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of the assembly chambers was granted to the congregation. There remains, however, no record of the names of the early members of the society.
The society was incorporated by act of the general assembly in 1807. Of the twenty-three incorporators named in the act the first, Reuben Hubbard, was the pastor. He came from Maryland, to which he soon returned, however, and joined the Protestant Episcopal church. Many of the others were promi- nent citizens of Newport. The first board of trustees under the charter consisted of James Perry, Benjamin Wightman, Joshua Appleby, John Hull, Joseph Boss, Jr., George Irish and Benjamin Moore. The first preserved records of the meet- ing of the incorporators was in March, 1810, when Lloyd Beale presided as moderator and James Perry was elected steward. Their first task was to build a house of worship in which they were greatly aided by two persons, Captain James Perry and Benjamin Wightman, who, though neither of them were men- bers of the church themselves, erected the building. In June an attempt was made to raise the funds needed by a lottery. The scheme was based on a ten thousand dollar prize, the price of tickets being set at five dollars. The Newport Mercury of June 5th, 1807, contains the advertisement:
NEWPORT METHODIST CHAPEL LOTTERY.
10,000 dollars a going for only five dollars. Now is the time to make your for- tunc. Tickets in the above lottery for sale at the Anction Room of Lopez & Dex- ter, where a scheme of the lottery may be seen. It is hoped that those who wish to encourage religion, laying aside the prospect of a fortune, will call and pur- chase liberally. No deduction from prices-
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