USA > Rhode Island > History of Rhode Island > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
The history of this Church has been, thus far, principally derived from the publications of the. Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and from Letters from the Minister, Wardens, and Vestry, to Queen Anne, to the Bishop of London, and to Sir Francis Nicholson, copies of which have been pre- served in the first parish records of the Church. The first book of the corporation records having been lost, is a circum-
310
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
stance much to be regretted. The second book commences with the date 1731.
A letter, written in Newport, and published in the "New England Journal," Boston, September 3d, 1729, says, " Yester- day, arrived here, Dean Berkley, of Londonderry, in a pretty large ship. He is a gentleman of middle stature, of an agree- able, pleasant, and erect aspect. He was ushered into the town with a great number of gentlemen, to whom he behaved himself after a very complaisant manner. 'Tis said he proposes to tarry here with his family about three months."
The connection of Dean Berkley with Trinity Church, calls for a passing notice of his sojourn in Newport, where he arrived by a circumstance purely incidental. He, with other gentle- men, his associates, were bound to Bermuda, with the intention of establishing there a college, for the education of the Indian youth of this country ; a plan, however, which wholly failed. The captain of the ship in which he sailed could not find the island of Bermuda, and having given up the search after it, steered northward, until they discovered land unknown to thein, and which they supposed to be inhabited only by savages. On making a signal, however, two men came on board from Block Island, in the character of pilots, who, on inquiry, informed them the harbor and town of Newport were near ; that in the town there was an Episcopal Church, the Minister of which was Mr. James Honyman, on which they proceeded for Newport, but an adverse wind caused them to run into the west passage, where the ship came to anchor. The Dean wrote a letter to Mr. Honyman, which the pilots took on shore at Conanicut Island, and called on a Mr. Gardner and Mr. Mar- tin, two members of Mr. Honyman's Church, informing them that a great dignitary of the Church of England, called a Dean, was on board the ship, together with other gentlemen passen- gers. They handed them the letter from the Dean, which Messrs. Gardner and Martin brought to Newport, in a small boat, with all possible dispatch. On their arrival they found Mr. Honyman was at church, it being a holyday, on which divine service was held then. They then sent the letter by a servant, who delivered it to Mr. Honyman in his pulpit. He opened it, and read it to the congregation, from the contents of which it appeared the Dean might be expected to land in
.
311
BEQUEST TO YALE COLLEGE.
Newport, every moment. The church was dismissed with the blessing, and Mr. Honyman, with the wardens, vestry, church, and congregation, male and female, repaired immediately to the ferry wharf, where they arrived a little before the Dean, his family and friends. The foregoing tradition we have given as we received it, but other traditions vary a little from that ; some of which say that "the ship made no land until she arrived in the East or Sachuest river, from which she came round the north end of Rhode Island to Newport." It has also been stated that Col. Godfrey Malborn, being out in his pleasure yacht, on discovering the ship, made towards her, and on being informed that the Dean and suit were on board, he took them to his magnificent country-seat, now the property of Prescott Hall, Esq., where they tarried until morning, and then started for Newport. The Dean purchased a farm of about one hun- dred acres in the town of Newport, adjoining one of about the same extent belonging to the Rev. James Honyman, on which Mr. Honyman resided. The Dean built him a house on his farm for his residence, which he called White Hall, which name it still retains. The house is still standing. It is situated in what is now the town of Middletown, about three miles from the State House in Newport, and a little back of the road which runs eastward from the town, near a beautiful little water course, which runs southward towards Sachuest Beach. This White Hall estate he gave to Yale College, in Connecticut, which still owns the fee.
The White Hall estate was sold soon after it came in posses- sion of Yale College, on a lease of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, at a rent of one hundred ounces of silver per annum. The mansion house is still standing, and is in the occupation of Mr. Abraham Brown, the present owner of the lease. It re- mains the same as when Bishop Berkley occupied it. We would suggest the importance of repairing the front, &c. He continued here about two years, perhaps a little longer. He was certainly here as late as September, 1731, as appears by a supplementary inscription on the tomb-stone of Nathaniel Kay, Esq., which is as follows : " Joining to the south of this tomb, lies Lucia Berkley, daughter of Dean Berkley, Obit. the 5th of September, 1731."
His preaching was eloquent and forcible, and attracted large
. ... .
312
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
congregations to Trinity church. When he was called to a sphere of greater usefulness in his native country, he was not forgetful of a residence which was endeared to him by many pleasing recollections; and which, moreover, possessed for him a melancholy interest, from the circumstance of its containing the ashes of his infant daughters, who had died during his so- journ in Newport.
After his return to England, he sent as a donation to Trinity Church, in the year 1733, a magnificent organ. This organ is surmounted by a crown in the centre, supported by two mitres, one on each side.
Mr. Nathaniel Kay, who came from England to Rhode Island as collector of the King's customs for the colony of Rhode Island, was the most liberal patron, as to the amount of his pecuniary aid, that the church has ever had. His house stood on the site now occupied by the dwelling house of the heirs of the late George Engs, Esq., on the hill, near the head of Touro- street. It was, when built, one of the most spacious and ele- gant private dwellings in town.
No apology can be offered for the neglect of the church, in suffering it to be destroyed. It was a piece of modern vandal- ism, which we can never cease to regret. Since the revolution, it was occupied by a Mrs. Pollock, a lady from South Carolina, who kept her carriage, and lived in a style of affluence, befitting her rank and station. At the time of the embargo, when busi- ness was suspended, and no employment was to be had for the laboring classes, she, like a true philanthropist, opened a soup- house, and daily supplied the poor inhabitants throughout the winter. At his death, he devised and bequeathed to the church as follows : "I give and bequeath my dwelling house and coach house to my wife, during the term of her natural life ; after which I give and bequeath both, with my lots of land in Rhode Island, and £400 in the currency of New Eng- land, to build a school house, to the minister of the church of England (Mr. Honyman), and the church wardens and vestry for the time being-that is to say, upon trust and confidence, and to the interest and purpose, benefit and use of a school to teach ten poor boys their grammar and the mathematics, gratis ; and to appoint a master at all times, as occasion or vacancy may happen, who shall be Episcopally ordained, and assist the
313
DEATH OF MR. HONYMAN.
· minister (Episcopal) of the town of Newport, in some proper office, as they shall think most useful." Mr. Updike, in his his- tory, has attempted an apology for the loss of the estate thus kindly bequeathed by Mr. Kay to Trinity church. It only proves that property disposed of in this way, fails to be carried out according to the wish of the donor. The Rev. Theodore Deher took charge of the parish, as minister, in 1797. His gentlemanly deportment and conciliatory manners, his pulpit eloquence, his mild disposition, and his sound piety, soon brought back the wandering sheep to the common fold. The church was again filled with a numerous congregation, ear- nestly engaged in social worship.
In 1762, the edifice was greatly enlarged, by moving the east- erly part about thirty feet, and adding as much in the middle. This was done at the expense of forty-six gentlemen, who took the pews they added in full satisfaction for the expense of said enlargement. In the same year that the organ was presented (1733), Jahleel Brenton, Esq., presented the clock in the tower -- and we would suggest that, in memory of the donor, it should be put in repair.
In 1740, the bell presented by Queen Anne was cracked; it was taken down and sent to London to be recast. In 1741, the first school house was built, and Mr. Cornelius Bennett ap- pointed schoolmaster.
In 1750, the Rev. Mr. Honyman died at an advanced age. He was buried at the expense of the church, on the south side of the passage from the gate to the church, where his tomb- stone now lies. His salary was £70 per annum.
In July, 1751, the Church agreed to ask the Society to send them Mr. Beach as minister. On the 27th of August, 1752, a committee was appointed to collect, by subscription, a sum suffi- cient to purchase a parsonage. Their success was such, that in December the house was purchased for the purpose aforesaid.
Mr. Thomas Potter arrived in 1754, having been sent by the Venerable Society as missionary. In November, Mr. Potter left. The church, being destitute of a minister, called the Rev. Marmaduke Brown, of Portsmouth. He accepted the call, and arrived in December.
In 1768, the old tower was taken down, and a new one built, eighteen feet square, and sixty feet high. In 1769, Mr. Brown
.
314
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
went to England on a visit. During his absence, Mr. Bisset supplied his place as minister.
Oct. 27, 1770, there was a severe gale of wind, in which the spindle on the steeple was broken off below the ball.
The Easter Monday after the death of Mr. Brown, the con- gregation chose Mr. Bisset their minister, until the Venerable Society should be heard from. On Sunday, the 8th of Decem- ber, 1776, the British fleet and army took possession of the Island of Rhode Island, which event gave a new character to everything here of a local nature. Mr. Bisset continued with the church until the evacuation of the Island, which took place October 25th, 1779.
Many of the leading members of Trinity Church were of the royal party, who went with them to New York; and among the number was the minister, Mr. Bisset, who left his wife and child behind, in the most destitute circumstances. His furni- ture was seized by the State of Rhode Island ; but afterwards, upon the petition of his wife to the General Assembly, it was restored to her, and she, with her child, was permitted to go to her husband in New York.
A few days after the British left Newport, some young men of the town, and among them two American officers, entered the church, and despoiled it of the altar piece, consisting of the King's arms, the Lion and the Unicorn. They were highly or- namented, and were placed against the great east window. After trampling them under foot, they were carried to the north battery, and set up for a target to fire at. The other emblems of royalty, being out of reach, were allowed to remain. They consist of one royal crown on the spire, and another on the top of the organ. This structure has never been subjected to the hand of modern vandalism, and we trust that the inhabitants of the ancient town will guard it with the most scrupulous care. The interior is now the same as when Dean Berkley preached in it, and the pulpit is now the only one in America ever graced by the occupancy of that distinguished prelate. The church was, at the time of which we are speaking, without a minister. As it had been nursed by the high church party in England, it was unpopular with the mass of the people, who were writhing under the scourge inflicted by that very party. The church edifice, too, had been spared by those ruthless invaders who
-
315
DISSENSIONS IN THE CHURCH.
had worshipped in it, while they had desecrated the other pla- ces of worship in the town, by converting them into hospitals, etc. ; and every part of them but the shells, they had demol- ished. -
There was no service in the church immediately after Mr. Bisset left, and the minister of the " Sixth principal Baptist So- ciety" of this town, the Rev. Gardner Thurston, was allowed to occupy the church, with his numerous congregation, until their own place of worship was repaired-from 1781 to 1786- at which period the Rev. James Sayre was engaged and settled as minister.
He took upon him the duties of that office on the 1st of Oc- tober. In 1787, the pews built in the west aisle of the church were taken down, and the passage from the north to the south doors again laid open.
In 1788, Mr. Bours and a majority of the congregation came to an open rupture with Mr. Sayre. They charged him with "refusing to put a vote in the vestry, which he had pre- viously agreed to do."
It appears Mr. Sayre soon left the church; but by what means they got rid of him-whether through the means of Bishop Seabury, whose mediation had been requested by a por- tion of the congregation, by his voluntary relinquishment of his charge, or by compulsion, the records do not inform us.
By a vote of May 5th, 1789, the Rev. William Smith, of St. Paul's Church, Narragansett, was invited to visit the church every other week, which invitation he accepted, with the con- sent of his own church; and in December following, he was called to become the minister of Trinity church, which he ac- cepted.
The Rev. Mr. Smith was not agreeably settled, inasmuch as the society were divided. The feuds which had originated be- tween Mr. Sayre and Mr. Bours had not been healed, and many of the minority refused to attend church under the preaching of Mr. Smith, but preferred holding meetings of wor- ship in their private houses. Mr. Smith received a call from the church at Norwalk, Conn., which he accepted, and em- barked for his new station April 12, 1797.
The church, on the 14th of May, invited the Rev. John S. J. Gardner, assistant minister of Trinity church, Boston, to come
1
316
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
to Newport, and spend a few Sundays. In Mr. Gardner's answer to the church, dated September 17th, he calls it " a scattered church, and a divided people." For these reasons, and because his own church, rather than part with him, had . raised his salary to $800, he declined the invitation, but recom- mended to the church, a young man named Theodore Dehor. On the 8th of October, 1797, Mr. Dehor was chosen minister, and requested to obtain orders. November 19th, his salary was fixed at $700 per annum, with the use of the parsonage and lot, and other perquisites of said office. On the 7th of January, 1798, he entered upon the duties of his ministry. Mr. Dehor proved very acceptable to the society, which again united in the bonds of harmony and Christian fellowship, flourished and increased to an overflowing congregation. In 1798, a vestry was built in the north east corner of the church ; in this spot a full length portrait of Mr. Honyman hangs. In 1799, a new school-house was erected on the lot where the old one formerly stood. The old one had been pulled down, as we have reason to believe, in the hard winter of 1780, and given to the poor of the church for fuel.
In 1804, the church bell which had been in use sixty-three years cracked, and was again cast over. In November of the same year, the new bell cracked and was still again re-cast. The affairs of the church having been settled under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Dehor, but little worthy of notice took place until 1809. For about ten years previous to that time, many mem- bers of the corporation had been anxious the church should pos- sess a fund, to be invested, and the interest arising to be exclu- sively appropriated to the minister's salary. This year they set themselves to work in earnest to accomplish the desirable pur- pose. On the 2d of June, the vestry appointed a committee to report a plan to raise a permanent fund, and in August the said committee made a report which was not adopted.
A new committee was appointed, which reported in Decem- ber, 1810, whose report being adopted, measures were taken for carrying it into effect. The members of the congregation were solicited to subscribe such sums as they were willing to contri- bute towards the fund ; no one being obliged to pay until the whole sum subscribed should amount to six thousand dollars. In a short time a list of six thousand and fifty dollars was ob-
317
MINISTERIAL CHANGES
·tained. The subscribers being thus held for the amounts sub- scribed, agreeably to the terms of their subscriptions, the money was collected and invested in bank stock-the dividends on which were to be regularly invested until the capital should amount to ten thousand dollars. After which the yearly in- come was to be applied to the payment of the minister's salary, and for no other purpose. This was fully accomplished in due time, and one thousand dollars added by the bequest of Mr. Samuel Brown, of Boston, a native of Newport, making the per- manent fund eleven thousand dollars, at the original cost of the stock.
In February, 1810, the Rev. Theodore Dehor resigned the rectorship of the church, but tendered his services until the ensuing autumn. On the 28th of October, he preached his last sermon to the congregation, and proceeded to exercise the Epis- copal offices of Rector of St. Michael's, Charleston, and Bishop of South Carolina.
When Mr. Dehor retired, the Rev. Samuel Wheaton, who married the sister of Mr. Dehor, and who had been previously engaged to preside over the church, arrived here from New- Haven, and took charge of the parish.' The Rev. Mr. Wheaton presided over the church for thirty years, when he resigned, and the Rev. Francis Vinton was chosen Rector, and entered on his duties at Easter, 1840, and was instituted Rector April 14th, 1841.
It is a subject of regret that Mr. Wheaton could not have continued to preside over the parish until his removal by death, for he was a devoted servant of Christ, and endeared himself to the people of Newport by a blameless life and godly conversa- tion. His resignation was not voluntary but compulsory, and continued to be a source of bitterness to his mind, until his re- moval to higher honors in the church triumphant in heaven.
The present officiating minister is the Rev. Mr. Brewer. It has been intimated that there is an organ in Brooklyn, New- York, which bears the inscription as being the gift of Bishop Berkley ; now Bishop Berkley never presented but one organ, and that was to Trinity church in Newport. If the old pipes, which were removed when the organ was repaired, were taken to Brooklyn, and worked into an organ, this does not make it the gift of Bishop Berkley. The reader can draw his own in- ferences.
. ..
--
---
1
:
.
318
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
Mr. Kay, of whom particular mention has been made as a benefactor to Trinity church, also made a liberal bequest to St. Michael's church, Bristol, of 160 acres of land on Pappoose Squaw Neck, to sustain a grammar school. What disposition has been made of the income, we are not properly apprized, but would hope that the wishes of the donor have been complied with, though such is not apt to be the case. The disregard which has too frequently been paid to the wishes and intentions of donors, should put man on his guard, in devising property to churches.
THE FIRST AND SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES.
In January, 1696, Mr. Nathaniel Clap, of Dorchester, in Massachusetts Bay, a graduate of Howard College, by the advice of the minister of Boston, came to Newport and preached till his death. It was not, however, till the year 1720, that a church was gathered and organized, and Mr. Clap was ordained and installed its pastor. November 20th, the church consisted of the following fourteen male members, viz. : Nathaniel Clap, John Reynolds, Thomas Brown, Culbert Campbell, Ebenezer Daven- port, William Sanford, Richard Clark, Job Bisset, Joshua Stat- son, Kendal Nichols, (he was an influential merchant of Newport, and died Sept. 18, 1767, aged 81 years,) John Mayhem, James Carey, Nathaniel Townsend, and John Labeer.
The church under Mr. Clap's ministry flourished, and addi- tions were gradually made to its numbers for about three years, when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ceased to be admin- istered by the pastor, and at the same time he refused to admin- ister the ordinance of Baptism to a child of Mr. Kendal Nichols, who with his wife were communicants of the church. He thought his church was not pure, and that its members were " not of sufficiently holy conversation" for the holy ordinance.
In the original correspondence, (still extant,) between Mr. Clap and Mr. and Mrs. Nichols, on the subject of his refusal to baptize the infant of the latter, there is assigned no reason for such refusal, but a distrust on the part of Mr. Clap, of the Christian state of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols.
319
FIRST AND SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES.
This course.on the part of Mr. Clap gave great offence, and was the commencement of a fire that continued to burn for many years. The church and congregation revered their pas- tor, and admired him as a truly evangelical apostolical preacher, but were displeased with his rigid course of discipline and church government.
In July 20th, 1724, the church addressed a respectful appli- cation to their pastor, soliciting his consent to have recourse to other churches for sacramental privileges, if bodily weakness was the only reason of his denying or withholding them, but without success.
Mr. Clap, in answer to a remonstrance from B. Ellery and S. Vernon, Esq., said :
" I came here by the advice of the Rev. minister of Boston. I have continued here by his advice; I have preached the Gospel here. As for you who are trying to drive me away, I would have you to consider the awful account you will bave to give for the damnation of the souls that will be lost for the want of my preaching."
Although Mr. Clap was not inclined to assign a plausible reason, or one that was satisfactory to the church, in the singu- lar course which he took in refusing to baptize the child of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols, and subsequently in suspending the holy ordi- nance of Communion, yet tradition has informed us, that there was a valid reason in his mind, which led him to pursue such a course. It was owing to a remark made to him soon after his taking possession of the parsonage, which he understood was built expressly for him by Mr. Nichols. A female member of his church, who called upon him soon after he was quietly set- tled in his new home, on learning his gratification of the favor which had been conferred upon him by Mr. Nichols, she very indiscreetly remarked, that as long as he remained the pastor of the church, the house was his. On Mr. Clap's interrogating her where she had derived her information of this fact, she replied that she had it from. Mr. Nichols. This, no doubt, led him to suspect that a possibility existed of an attempt to dissolve the connection, which at that period was viewed as solemn and as sacred as the marriage contract. The least allusion to such an event was considered in the light of a gross insult. And it has been also said that on Mr. Nichols calling upon Mr. Clap,
-----
320
HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND.
he was received with coldness, and that he at once put the question to Mr. Nichols, wishing to know of him whose house this was. On being told it was his, he then requested Mr. Nichols at once to leave it.
This shows that he'retained a degree of self respect, however his conduct may be viewed by the pigmies and dwarfs of the present day. In the view of Mr. Clap, it looked like an invasion of his rights, which if not checked in the bud, might lead to dis- astrous consequences to the church and to the ministry. This is the most probable reason which can be assigned for his sin- gular conduct.
In the year 1745, Mr. Callender published a discourse occa- sioned by the death of his friend, the Rev. Mr. Clap, in which he pays a high tribute of affectionate veneration to his memory. Mr. Callender's sermon was founded on Hebrews xiii., 7, 8. The prominent traits in his character are faithfully delineated in the following extracts from this sermon :
" The main stroke in his character, was his eminent sanc- tity and piety, and an ardent desire to promote the knowledge and practice of true godliness in others. As his understanding was above the common level, so was his learning, though he studiously concealed it. He thought his station required more than common instances of innocency, self-denial, and caution. He abounded in contrivances to do good, by scattering books of piety and virtue, not such as minister questions and strife, but godly edifying, and put himself to a very considerable ex- pense, that he might by this method awaken the careless and secure, comfort the feeble minded, succor the tempted, instruct the ignorant, and quicken, animate, and encourage all. He abounded in acts of charity to the poor and necessitous, to whom he was a kind father and guardian. In fine, he was a public blessing, as an able minister of the New Testament, an example of unspotted piety, and an honor to religion. There are two things in which he excelled in so remarkable a manner, that I must not omit them : his care about the education of children, and his concern for the instruction of servants.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.