USA > Rhode Island > Washington County > Narragansett > Old St Paul's in Narragansett > Part 4
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turn the old meets our eyes-the windows with their small panes of old glass, the old wide boards, the handmade nails and the H hinges. The only incongruous note is found in the modern costumes of the visitors and perhaps the two flags with staves extending from the east and west galleries, one, the flag of our own country of today and the other an English flag with only the cross of St. George and of St. Andrew suggesting thereby that it was the flag of the English before the Union with Ireland, the flag of the people who built the Church and worshipped therein.
Truly to visit this old church today is an experience, to attend Divine Service there is an inspiration.
When we sit in the old pews our mind wanders back to the old days when the Old Church was the Parish Church of a Parish which embraced the whole Narragansett Country and its parishioners were those old South County farmers, frequently referred to as the Narragansett Planters. Old Lodowick Up- dike, who undoubtedly talked with Roger Williams and perhaps knew the old Indian Sachems, was a liberal supporter of this Church and signified in his will that he wished for a church upon the very lot of land where the Old Church stands today for his village of "Wickford alias Updikes Newtown." The Gardiners, William, William, Jr., Henry and John were pewholders in 1723, as were Captain Benoni Sweet, who gave the land at the Plat- form for the church to be built on in 1707, Samuel Phillips, Wil- liam Mumford, Stephen Cooper, the Eldreds, Coles, Browns and many others of the leading families of this section sat in these pews fifty years before the American Revolution was even thought about. A little later came the Golden Age of the Nar- ragansett Country, an era of large plantations worked by slaves, and an age of culture and wealth. This was the period of the so- called Narragansett Planters, the sons and grandsons of the original settlers. These take the places of their fathers in the pews on Sundays. The Church grew and flourished. Through this period Dr. MacSparran continued his labors not only for the rich and powerful but also for the poor and the weak, the Indians and the slaves. A little later the old Doctor passes on and we see the Rev. Samuel Fayerweather taking his place in the Church. For fourteen years he labored for his parishioners and then came the period of the Revolution when the parish-
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ioners objected to the prayers for the King and the Royal Fam- ily. The old Rector on the other hand felt that he could not conscientiously omit these prayers, and as a consequence the Old Church was closed. Picture the Old Church deserted and exposed to the elements on the lonely Dark Corner Road with- out a protecting hand for over a decade. Except for the short period when it was used as a barracks by the American Soldiery stationed in the neighborhood during the Revolution we might say that it was left absolutely alone. Whatever religious life and help there was for the members of this congregation was con- fined to their homes.
After the Revolutionary War we see the old parishioners seeking again the help of the Church but nevertheless the Church did not prosper as it should. It was evident that some- thing must be done to restore to the Old Church its former leadership in the life of the community. Picture that solemn meeting on December 3, 1799, when the vestry voted to move the Old Church from its old location where it had stood upwards of ninety years to the village of Wickford on the lot given by Lodowick Updike to carry out his grandfather's wishes. It must have been with a feeling of sorrow that the old parishioners saw the Old Church where their parents had worshipped where they had had their religious training, dismantled and moved away. Again we see the Old Church rebuilt and restored. Again it has become the religious center of its community. It has grown and prospered. Changes were made of which we can hardly ap- prove, but still it is the same old Church. Then being found in- adequate for the growing religious life of the community it was again forsaken for a new St. Paul's built on another founda- tion which superseded the Old Church as the Parish Church. Again we find the Old Church forsaken, its windows broken, its roof leaking, the woodwork showing through the paint, stones and litter on the floor, the grounds overgrown with weeds. Sure- ly it is the very picture of desolation. Then the tide turns. A new love for the Old Church is born and the old building is again on its way towards a new life. With tender hands and an understanding mind the Old Church has been repaired and restored so that we today may look upon the old edifice in all its pristine glory. Truly the Old Church is a wonderful build- ing, a symbol of the vicissitudes of human life with all its ups
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and downs, its joys and sorrows, but with all it still keeps the faith and like some old saint is ever a witness for Christ and His Church.
Or perhaps our mind may wander to more material things and may dwell on the changes and improvements that have come to this old world of ours since the Church was built. In those days the Planters had to ride on horseback to church with their ladies on pillions behind them. There were no car- riages and if there had been, there were no roads over which they could have gone. What roads there were, were merely trails that today we would not even dignify by calling them cart paths. Nearly all the clothes were made on the plantations. The wool was sheared from sheep raised on the farm. It was spun into yarn right in the home. The dyes for the colors came from the juices of the roots and berries gathered in their own fields or woodlands. The yarn was woven into cloth either in their own home or in the home of a neighbor while the clothes themselves were made by the women folk or by some itinerant tailor.
A few of the very wealthy may have had some of their clothes imported from London if and when arrangements could be made therefor.
The food in those days was mainly the product of their own fields, either directly or from the animals grown in their own pastures. This fare was eked out by the game killed in the woods and the fish and shellfish from the neighboring shore.
The only method of heating and cooking in those days was the cavernous fireplace that was said to scorch your face and freeze your back. What quantities of wood such a fireplace would consume. If wood had not been so plentiful and free for the cutting, I fear our ancestors would all have frozen to death.
Light in those days was from candles in the homes of the wealthy while greased rushes and pineknots provided the means of light in the cabins of the poor.
Let us consider while thinking of the glamour and enchant- ment which the passing of the centuries has given our picture, just what this old life meant in terms of laborious work. This was not a period of an eight hour day or a forty hour week, rather it was an age of toil from sunrise to sunset. In reviewing
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these old days, well may we understand the true meaning of the old saying "A man's work is from sun to sun while a woman's work is never done." Do not for a minute feel, however, that life in those days was all drab, for it was not. These forebears of ours were generally happy. They had their good times, their pleasures and parties as well as their sorrows, the same as we do, in spite of the toils and hardships of their lives.
Perhaps our thoughts wander in a broader vein. If they do, remember that this Old Church was nearly three score years and ten when the Declaration of Independence was signed. When the Church was built, the only part of our country which was settled, and that rather sparsely was a narrow strip along the Atlantic seaboard. In many places as little as fifty miles would bring us from the shore to the primeval forest inhabitated only by the Indians and the wild beasts. Almost all the history, and most of the settlement, of this country have occurred in the two hundred and thirty-six years of this Church's existence. We could spend hours and even days in reviewing the changes that have taken place since this venerable building was erected.
St. Paul's in Narragansett is 21 years older than Trinity Church in Newport and it is also 68 years older than the First Baptist Church building in Providence.
Again we invite you to come to this Old Church, learn of the Romances, the Legends and Lore of Old Narragansett which centered around this simple edifice. Consider what this building meant to those early Christians who were building a country out of a wilderness. Learn of their devotion and their ideals. Truly we cannot enter its sacred portals without feeling an in- spiration out of the dim and distant past.
Let us remember that services are held here in the month of August. The services consist of a regular morning service with a sermon followed by Holy Communion in the fore-noon on the first Sunday in August. At this time the Old Queen Anne Communion Service is used. Also on the first Sunday there is a service of evening prayer with a sermon by a visiting clergyman at five o'clock in the afternoon. These evening serv- ices continue every Sunday at the same time during the month of August each year. This custom has been faithfully followed since 1877.
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LIST OF RECTORS OF THE OLD NARRAGANSETT CHURCH
Christopher Bridge
1706 - 1708
William Guy
1717 - 1718
James MacSparran 1721 - 1757
Samuel Fayerweather
1760 - 1774 - 1781
William Smith
1787 - 1790
Walter Gardiner
1791 - 1794
(Lay Reader and Later Minister)
Joseph Warren
1796 - 1805
Isaac B. Pierce (Lay Reader)
1809 - 1813
James Bowers
1812 - 1814
Lemuel Burge
1817 - 1819
(Lay Reader)
Patrick H. Folker
1819 - 1820
Lemuel Burge
1820 - 1834
Francis Peck
1834 - 1836
Lemuel Burge
1837 - 1840
John H. Rouse
1840 - 1849
Daniel Henshaw
1849 - 1853
Alonzo B. Flanders
1854 - 1866
William H. Collins
1861 - 1862
James A. Sanderson
1866 - 1868
Daniel Goodwin
1869 - 1874
George J. Magill
1875 - 1876
William W. Ayres
1876 - 1887
Albert J. Thompson
1887 - 1890
Samuel Borden-Smith
1890 - 1897
Frederick B. Cole
1897 - 1907
Richard R. Graham
1908 - 1912
H. Newman Lawrence
1912 - 1914 - 1920
Herbert J. Piper
1920 - 1937
Harold Conant Whitmarsh
1937 - 1942
Leonard H. Flisher
1942 - 1948
Frederick H. Belden
1949 - 1971
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The Committee which made the arrangements for the Transfer of the Old Church Property to the Diocese
ST. PAUL'S COMMITTEE The Rector -- H. Newman Lawrence Mr. James A. Greene Mr. Daniel Berkeley Updike
THE DIOCESAN COMMITTEE The Rev. Dr. George Mcclellan Fiske Rev. A. M. Hilliker Mr. George Gordon King
MEMBERS OF THE OLD NARRAGANSETT CHURCH COMMITTEE
The Right Reverend James DeWolf Perry, S.T.D.
Bishop of Rhode Island, Chairman 1914 -
Rev. George Mcclellan Fiske, D.D.
1914 - 1923
Rev. H. Newman Lawrence
1914 - 1920
Mr. George Gordon King
1914 - 1923
Mr. Daniel Berkeley Updike
1914 - 1942
Mr. James A. Greene
1914 - 1921
Rev. Herbert J. Piper
1920 - 1937
Mr. Joseph Warren Greene, Sr.
1921 - 1941
Mr. Norman Morrison Isham
1923 - 1942
Mr. Frederick D. Carr
1923 - 1929
Col. H. Anthony Dyer
1929 - 1943
Mr. Charles R. Haslam
1936- 1962
Col. Hunter C. White
1936 - 1959
Rev. Harold C. Whitmarsh
1937 - 1942
Mr. Joseph Warren Greene, Jr.
1942- 1968
Mr. William Davis Miller
1942 - 1956
Rev. Leonard H. Flisher
1942 - 1948
Prof. Herbert Richard Cross
1943 - 1956
F. Ellis Jackson
1945 - 1950
John Hutchins Cady
1952- 1967
Rev. Frederick H. Belden
1949 - 1971
Rev. Arthur M. Dunstan
1952 - 1955
Mrs. Mary C. Miller .9%.
1956 - 1977
Raymond W. Peirce
1956 -
Mrs Hunter C. White
1959-1969
Rur Edward M Dart -
52 -
19 .
Mrs Emily
Errens
971
19 -1977
E.P. Bissell
19
Rev. Peter L. Spencer
9/1-1971-
> To become Bishop Coadjutor of R.S. on Saturday 9/25,1971@ 11AM in MEEhan Auditorium, Hope It, Pror.
Resigned 8/31-
(Joseph W)
.10010
GOD SHAKE TO
WORDS AND SAID
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earth
ur this
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Thou that not
lead us, non
But deliver
For thing is and the the Glory
Remember that the Kop helyithe
The Reredos
--
53 ---
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Then Burg not No moldy witness
his Nune in vion
GIFTS TO THE OLD CHURCH
One of the Communion Tables which the Old Church had came from the Updike Family. It was purchased in Eng- land in the middle of the eighteenth century and was passed down from generation to generation to Anstis Updike Lee, daughter of the second Lodowick Updike, who left it to St. Paul's Church in 1869 to be used as an altar. Subsequently through efforts of Daniel Berkeley Updike, a grandson of Wil- kins Updike, the historian of the Old Narragansett Church, it was transferred to the Old Church.
In 1890 Bishop Thomas M. Clark of the Diocese of Rhode Island had a model of the Old Narragansett Church made and presented to the Rhode Island Historical Society. This model was made with the steeple on the Old Church.
In 1897 Dr. Allen M. Thomas, a descendant of one of the old families of Wickford and a family who had been liberal sup- porters of both the Old Church and the New Church gave the paint to paint the Old Church and in the following year he and his brother Aaron S. Thomas gave the shingles to re-shingle the Old Church.
Daniel Berkeley Updike in 1912 gave the paint and had the Old Church repainted both inside and out as a gift to the Church of his ancestors.
In the same year he gave a Crimson Damask Dossal, Altar Cloth and Hangings for the Pulpit and Reading Desk, in memo- ry of his mother, Elizabeth Bigelow Updike.
In September of the same year, Mr. E. P. Warren of Gorham, Maine, gave the two Queen Anne Chairs which flank the Communion Table.
Mr. Daniel Berkeley Updike gave a large pair of Brass Candlesticks for the Altar of the Old Church in January, 1914, in memory of his great grandfather, Lodowick Updike, giver of the land on which the Church now stands.
At the same time he gave a Copy of the Book of Common Prayer printed in 1710 and believed to have been used in one of the English Chapels Royal as a gift for the Altar of Old St. Paul's in memory of Hon. Daniel Updike, the donor's great, great grandfather and for twenty-five years Attorney General of the Colony of Rhode Island.
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In March of the same year he gave six three-light Brass Sconces in memory of his father Hon. C. A. Updike.
In October 1914 a part of a gift of $500 given by Mrs. W. Watts Sherman of Newport was used to procure the Brass Chandelier which now hangs in the center of the Old Church.
In 1917 Mr. Updike gave the Prayer Desk, the Mirror and a Picture towards the furnishing of the Sacristy.
At the same time and for the same purpose Mr. Arthur B. Ladd of Wickford gave two Slat-back Chairs.
Mr. Joseph Warren Greene in 1918 gave a right of way and other land at the Old Narragansett Burial Ground, referred to generally as the Platform.
About this time Mr. Greene gave the Registry Book and Shelf, where visitors may sign their names, to the Old Church.
Subsequently Mr. Norman M. Isham, a member of the Old Church Committee and one of this country's leading authori- ties on Colonial Architecture gave the two small Brass Candle- sticks for the Altar. Mr. Isham's services and advice in the restoration of the Old Church has been beyond value.
The next gift to record is the gift of an English Flag with the Cross of St. George and St. Andrew only, given by Mr. Updike.
Mr. Updike's next gift was the Reredos behind the Altar which he gave in 1929. This was designed by the late John Howard Benson, of Newport, eminent sculptor.
In the same year the family of Mr. Joseph Warren Greene gave the Wine glass Pulpit with the Reading Desk in memory of Mr. James A. Greene, for many years Senior Warden of St. Paul's Church and a member of various committees which from time to time controlled the Old Church, both before and after its transfer to the Diocese.
In 1933 Mrs. Elizabeth Le Moine Miller made a bequest in her will which established a fund of $5000 known as the Mary E. Congdon Davis Fund, the income of which was to be used in the maintenance and repairs of the Old Church.
Following the redecoration of the interior of the Old Church in 1942, the Pettaquamscutt Chapter of the D.A.R. gave an American Flag to replace an old one which had become tattered and torn from age.
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Letter A, dated October 20, 1715, from Kingstown in Nar- ragansett, signed by eight men styling themselves as "The principal inhabitants in Narragansett in communion with the Church of England". Thanks given to the S. P. G. for directing the Rev. Mr. Honeyman to supply their spiritual needs as best he can. A man living on the field is needed, however, and they beseech the S. P. G. to send them a man of "temper, conduct and learning" to reside among them.
Letter B, dated Sept. 13, 1716, Narragansett in the Colony of Rhode Island in America, signed by fourteen men, among them Gabriel Bernon. Expresses disappointment that Mr. Guy is not coming to them. Points out that the places in Mr. Guy's commission were so far apart that one could not do justice to the work. Asks the Society to send a man to minister particu- larly for them. The Rev. Jas. Honeyman adds a note approv- ing all that the letter contains.
Letter C has no date. It expresses their grief at Mr. Guy's sudden removal from this parish and their consternation at it. His ministry had been effective and many came to church. His sudden departure was making them a laughing stock and caus- ing them to lose members. Mr. Honeyman was again being very helpful and they express great appreciation for his minis- trations. This letter signed by Samuel Phillips and Samuel Albro as wardens, and Charles Dickinson, George Balfore, Thomas Philips, Gabriel Bernon and John Albro, vestrymen.
Letter D is a minute from a meeting of the S. P. G. dated Sept. 16, 1720; stating that the Rev. Jas. MacSparran had ap- plied for appointment as a missionary, and after examination was to be sent to Narragansett at 70 pounds a year, to minister also in Bristol, Freetown, Tiverton, Swansea and Little Comp- ton. Signed by David Humphreys, secretary.
June 11, 1948 - Wr Mac Sparran's Kneeling stool + table given by Mr John Raleigh Eldred of Kingston, R. 9.
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17 Flag Stones from Church Lane to Old Church dedicated Sunday September 29th 1957 at 4PM. Given by Gabriel Bernon Society.
1/25/1957 antique Collection Box I gave to the obal Church 5/4/1957 Reproduction Box 6/6/1958 1 pr Brass Candlesticks - gift el Mrs Ralph M. Sommerville of Portland Maine in memory of her grandparents Iseas & amp B. Hall who were married in the Old Church & to whom the candlesticks have given as a wedding present Isaac Hall b1798 - d 10 Aug 1876; Amy Ann Brown dose of Bricks & Panelipe b 7 May 1806 - 29 January 1892
091/132: AN (P) 38-
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Q. When an author dies before renewal of a book copyright, who is entitled to renew it: 11/17/1956 T. D.
A. The Copyright Law makes the following provisions for this case : Renewal goes to the widow or children of the author, if the author is not living, or if such author, widow or children be not living, then the author's executors, or in absence of a will, his next of kin, shall be entitled to a renewal and ex- tension of the copyright. 1956
Q. Is a new copyright needed if a book is revised and new material is added? ' S.L.
A. Yes. The original copy- . right covers only the material on which it was issued. The revision of the book by the addi- tion of new matter makes a new book, and makes necessary a new copyright to protect the added material. Unless a new copyright is taken out, the newly added material ยท becomes public property.
Q Does the copyright, of a published factual pre- vent others from writingson the same topic .? . A. - No. An idea, fact or topic cannot-in itself be proweted by copyright A copyricht protects the way in which the subject is presented, but not the subject matter itself. Consent covers the relations tences, paragraph, etc., to each other, and the choice of language.
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