USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > History and reminiscences of the Monumental Church, Richmond, Va. : from 1814 to 1878 > Part 1
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AS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED. THE MONUMENTAL CHURCH, RICHMOND, VA.,
00.0
n
HISTORY AND REMINISCENCES C
OF THE
MONUMENTAL CHURCH.
RICHMOND, VA.,
- FROM 1814 TO 1878,
BY GEO. D. FISHER.
RICHMOND: WHITTET & SHEPPERSON, TENTH AND MAIN STREETS ;. 1 880.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1880, by GEORGE D. FISHER,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
Bound by WHITTET & SHEPPERSON, Richmond, Va.
Printed by
RANDOLPHI & ENGLISHI, Richmond, Va.
1442926
TO THE VESTRY
OF THE
MONUMENTAL CHURCH, RICHMOND, VA., THIS VOLUME
OF HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
G. D. F.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PREFATORY LETTER, BY RIGHT REV. BISHOP DUDLEY, xi
Location of Church; Note on the burning of the The-
atre, 1
Proceedings at Common Hall day after fire, ·
6 · Interment of the dead, 13
Resolutions adopted by citizens, Common Council, and Senate of United States, 14
Notices of meetings, &c, for building Monument and Church ; Plan of Church and Monument, and sales of pews, 38
Meeting of General Assembly of the Church ; Resolutions, &c., on election and consecration of Bishop Moore, . 41 Sermon by Bishop Hobart on occasion of Bishop Moore's consecration, . 57
Bishop Moore's arrival in Richmond ; His views of society, &c., and address to the Convention, . 61
Bishop Moore's sermon on the death of Mrs. Davenport, a friend of Judge Coalter's children, 69
Meetings of Conventions, &c., 71
Death of Rev. John Buchanan ; Notices of same ; His burial under chancel of St. John's Church, . 81
Meetings of Conventions, &c., 87
Death of Mrs. Moore, and Bishop's letter to his son on the occasion, 90
General Marquis Lafayette's visit to the Church, in Novem- ber, 1824, 92
Meetings of Conventions ; Parochial reports ; Bishop's ad- dresses, &c., to Convention, 92
vi
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
List of Communicants and Marriages in 1829, prepared
by Rev. R. B. Croes, assistant minister to Bishop Moore, . 104
Regret of Bishop Moore on resignation of Rev. R. B. Croes, and the Bishop's letter to him, 108
Parochial reports of Bishop Moore, 112
A beautiful copy of the New Testament in golden letters presented to Bishop Moore, and his reply, . 122 .
Parochial report to annual meeting of council, 124
Rev. Thomas Jackson; his sudden attack of illness during service, 125
Meetings of Conventions ; Parochial report, &c., 127
Bishop Moore's visit to Pennsylvania, and General Conven- tion at New York, in fall of 1841, 139
His return to Richmond, and then to Lynchburg by the canal ; arrival and preaching there ; and sudden illness, which terminated his life on 12th of November, 1841, 140
His remains brought to Richmond by canal ; his funeral at Monumental Church, and sketch of his character by Rev. Wm. Norwood, his assistant minister, 144
His interment in City Cemetery ; Resolutions, &c., 149
Monument to his memory by citizens, 158
Sunday- school connected with Monumental Church ; names of first officers, directors, teachers, &c., 161
Farewell address of Captain Thomas Nelson, as superinten- dent of Sunday-school, 165
List of officers and teachers of same, 169
Names of ministers who have been trained in the Monumen- tal Church Sunday-school, 170
Interesting letter from Mr. Thomas H. Drew to Colonel 'I'.
H. Ellis, in June, 1868, about the church, &c., 174
Note from Mr. James Evans, relative to part of Mr. Drew's letter about the first organist in the church, &c., 187
List of communicants, recorded by Rev. William Norwood,
at Convention in 1841; last report made by Bishop Moore, 190
Meeting of Convention at Staunton in 1842, and Bishop Meade's short address, 194
Bishop Johns' election as assistant bishop,
195
vii
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Memorandum by Rev. William Norwood of additional names of communicants between 1841 and 1842, with baptisms, confirmations, marriages and funerals, 198
Letter of consecration for Rev. John Johns, of Maryland, as assistant bishop in Diocese of Virginia, 212
Convention held in Monumental Church in 1843; Bishop Johns' address on the occasion, 214
Resolutions adopted on petition to the General Assembly of Virginia, for legal rights of church property, 216
Subject of salaries for the two bishops, 217
Conventions of 1844, 1845, 218
Missionary effort in Richmond, 220
Death of Rev. William Duval, a missionary, 222
Names of assistant ministers of Monumental Church, 224
Remarks of compiler at close of first part of this History of Monumental Church, . 225
Memoranda ; Formation of new congregation in December, 1845 ; Election of new vestry upon the resignation of old ; Sales of pews to pay off debt of former congrega- tion, . 227
Vestry meetings and parochial reports of Rev. George Wood- bridge, called to Monumental in December, 1845, up to 1860, . 239
Meeting of Convention in Charlottesville in 1860; Report of state of the church and parochial report of Mon- umental Church, and vestry meetings, 258
Meeting of Convention in Richmond in 1861, . Bishop Meade's interesting and last address, .
267
269
Resolutions on his address and committee's report on state of the church, 276
Continuation of parochial reports of Monumental Church, with vestry meetings in 1862, 282
Bishop Johns' interesting report, with extract of his sermon on death of Bishop Meade, . 284
Bishop Meade's funeral at St. Paul's Church, and his tem- porary burial at Hollywood, . 292 Meeting of Convention again in Richmond in 1863, 294
Bishop Johns' interesting report to Convention relative to the church; Visits to the army and preaching to Con-
viii
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
federate soldiers ; A short report of committee on state of the church, 294
The council met again in St. Paul's Church, Richmond, on 18th May, 1864, . 297
Another interesting report from Bishop Johns, as well as from committee on state of the church, 297
Parochial report of Monumental Church, with vestry meet- ings and death of Mr. J. Adams Smith, . 305
The late civil war ended, 1865, April, · 306
Meeting of Convention in September, 1865 ; Bishop Johns' address on the occasion, resolutions, &c., · 306
Meeting of Convention in Alexandria in 1866, with parochial reports of Monumental Church, and vestry meetings, 326
Meeting of Convention in Staunton in 1867 ; Bishop Johns' address, calls attention to the subject of ritualism, and alludes also to subject of division of diocese, 332
Meeting of council in 1868 at Lynchburg; Bishop Johns again calls attention to ritualism; Parochial report of Monumental Church; Vestry meetings and death of Mr. James H. Poindexter, one of our vestry ; Conven- tion of 1869 in Fredericksburg; Bishop Johns again alludes to ritualism ; Resolutions adopted; Parochial report of Monumental Church, vestry meetings, &c., 336
Convention held in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1870; Paro- chial report ; Vestry meetings, &c., . 342
Convention at Petersburg in 1871 ; Parochial report ; Vestry meetings, &c., and new trustees for church, . 344
Meeting of Convention at Norfolk in 1872; Parochial report of Monumental Church, and vestry meetings, ·
347
Convention in Winchester in 1873; Parochial report of Monumental Church, vestry meetings, &c., . 352
Convention in 1874 at Charvottesville ; Parochial report of Monumental Church; Vestry meetings ; Important re- pairs to dome, &c., 355
Convention in 1875 in Richmond ; Parochial report ; Vestry meetings ; New tin roof on building, &c., . 358
An interesting report of Bishop Johns, giving account of his attendance on the General Convention at New York in October, and 'consecration of Bishop Dudley in Bal- timore in fall of 1874, 361
ix
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Convention in Alexandria in 1876; Bishop Whittle's annual address-very interesting-announcing death of clergy- men of the diocese, and that of Bishop Johns; Paro- chial report of Monumental Church, and important ves- try meetings, . 364
Meeting of Council in Staunton in 1877 ; Parochial report of Monumental Church ; Vestry meetings, and interest- ing report of Bishop Whittle, 374
Council at Lynchburg in 1878 ; Parochial report of Monu -. mental Church, by senior warden; Vestry meetings ; Resolutions, &c., on the death of Dr. Woodbridge, in February, 1878; His funeral from the church ; Burial at Hollywood Cemetery, 382
Adjourned meeting, 18th February ; Resolution of Mr. Potts for memorial window in church, to memory of Dr. Woodbridge, 385
Call by vestry of Monumental Church to Rev. Dr. J. H. Eccleston, of Newark, New Jersey, 386
His decline of call, . 387
Call of Rev. J. G. Armstrong, of Wheeling, W. Va. ; his de- cline at first, and then reconsideration, and final accept- auce, 387
Annual meeting of pew-holders, and election of vestry for another year ; Meeting afterwards of vestry ; Resignation of former registrar, to take place after first of June next ; Resolutions of thanks to registrar, and his resig- nation recorded on minute book kept by him, 388
Address of Bishop Whittle, at Council at Lynchburg, in 1878, on the subject of worldly amusements, particularly round dancing, 392
Request by members to have sermon furnished for publica- tion. 396
Private diary of Dr. Woodbridge, . 397
Interesting meeting of the General Convention of church in the United States; Continuance of Dr. Woodbridge's diary, . ›
400
Correspondence of members of the Monumental Church
about his thirtieth year's sermon ; Dr. Woodbridge's com- pliance with request for its publication, 423
Eulogy on Dr. Woodbridge by Mrs. Chalmers, 442 . Valedictory, 447 .
X
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
APPENDIX.
Infant Baptisms,
451
Adult Baptisms,
. 470
Confirmations,
· 474
Marriages, .
480
Burials,
490
Communicants,
.
.
506
.
PREFATORY LETTER,
BY THE
RIGHT REV. BISHOP DUDLEY.
MY DEAR MR. FISHER :- I am more gratified than I can tell you to know that you have completed the work begun so long ago by Col. Ellis, and that now its children, scattered throughout the country, will, through your joint labors, possess a complete history of the Monumental Church.
I must add, too, that my gratification is increased by your kind request that I should write this pre- fatory letter, and that so my name will be connected with your published reminiscences of that dear old mother, in whose arms was nursed my spiritual infancy.
I can but recall, as I begin to write, the days. now long past, when I sat, as a child, in dear-ever dear-Mr. Tyler's class, in the Sunday-school room,, just to the right of the door, which was in the front of the old building.
xii
PREFATORY LETTER.
You yourself were then the superintendent; and I can hear even now the very tones of your voice, as you read from the little green paper-backed "Of- fice of Devotion," the service at the opening and closing of the school. We had but very few-almost none-of the modern improved appliances for Sun- day-school teaching. The cards given us as rewards for punctual attendance and for excellence of recita- tion, were by no means works of art. The books in the library were hardly of thrilling interest to the youthful mind, and the wood-cuts with which they were illustrated were but feeble specimens of pictorial skill. The hymns we were taught to sing in the school were only those of the prayer-book collection. Our annual celebration, when we united with all of our church Sunday-schools in the city, were not very elaborate performances. We did not "set up our banners for tokens" of our success; and the chief musical feature was the singing respon- sively of the old hymn, "Come let our voices join in one glad song of praise." And yet the school flourished; yes, flourished in the best sense-in the training of boys and girls to be Christian church- men and church-women, who can never forget the teaching they therein received.
You will not understand me as meaning in any sense to depreciate the advantages we now possess in
xiii
PREFATORY LETTER.
the matter of instruction books, of hymnals, of ser- vices better adapted to the tastes of the young. No; and yet I would that we of this generation should learn from your record of the past, that these im- provements in machinery cannot effect the great re- sult without true spiritual life and earnestness in teachers and officers, for without these new agencies mighty results have been accomplished.
Dear old Monumental! how vividly fresh is the recollection, and must ever be, of the Sundays spent within thy walls, where the levity of childhood was solemnized into thoughtful reverence by the legend in great letters above the chancel-"Give ear, O Lord !"
I think that even now I could point out the pew occupied by each particular family of the congrega- tion of that day. They are gone, nearly all gone. The parents are sleeping in honored graves, and their children, in the majority of cases, are scattered, and new people are occupying the old places. But so it comes to pass that the teaching of the old church is "gone out into all lands, and her words unto the ends of the earth." The good man who for so many years fed "this flock of God," and "gave them meat in due season," he has entered into his rest. I rejoice that such memorial of his. life and works is to be given to the world, for it
xiv
PREFATORY LETTER.
shall teach a lesson sadly needing to be learned in our day. . He was not in any sense a popular preacher. None of the arts and tricks of the rheto- rician belonged to him.
Neither in matter nor in manner did he ever stoop to the sensational. Week after week, year after year, there came from his pulpit the same certain sound, ever the full, free gospel of Jesus Christ, whereof the church is the witness and keeper. Week after week he implored men to enter the ark of God, the school of Christ, that therein they might find food and drink, rest and peace, knowledge and salvation.
This was all; and as the years passed by he gathered together a great flock, whereof you have given the record. Patient in the tribulation which must ever attend faithful work; not hurried by dis- content into change of feed ; the pastor of one same congregation from the day of his ordination to the day of his death ; it is good that we shall be bidden to behold the result, that thereby the ministers of to-day may learn to have like patience, and to show like diligence, that thereby the love of change, the roving from parish to parish, the crying evil of the church of to-day, may be rebuked.
It is not for me, a child of the full manhood of this venerable parish, to speak of the days of its
XV
PREFATORY LETTER.
youth, and yet I cannot refrain from adding my testimony to the eminent character and the remark- able works of that man of God, whom he did send to be the first rector of the Monumental Church, and the second bishop of the diocese of Virginia.
I was taught to reverence him by her who taught me to say, " Our Father." The reading of my man- hood has but intensified my reverence for him as, under God, the founder of the great diocese of Vir- ginia. When he came to Virginia, we remember, that but a few years had passed since Bishop Meade had journeyed away from the annual convention of the Church, crying in bitterness of spirit, "Lost, lost, lost."
When he departed to Paradise, leaving the burden of the Episcopate to the shoulders of his assistant, " the little one had become a thousand." And in both of these men, Bishop Moore and Bishop Meade, was illustrated that fact, which I rejoice to believe every page of your History will set forth, that in diligent and trustful use of the old methods, in pray- erful reliance upon the Spirit of God, is the hope that this church of our love shall conquer the land. Yes, believe the value, the great value of such volu- mes as that you have compiled, the illustration they give of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. administered according to the pure and simple prin-
xvi
PREFATORY LETTER.
ciples which this Church has inherited from the earliest days.
Let us moderns read and learn what faithful men and women could and did accomplish without the. beauties of Gothic architecture, without the aid of novelities of ritual, without the meritricious attrac- tions of mediævalism, and equally without the novel- ties of Protestant sectarian device, or the undignified degradation of the pulpit to a platform. They stood, these men and women, in " the old paths," and there- in they labored.
Blessed be God's holy name for the result ! May we, their descendants, stand where they stood, read what they taught, labor as they labored, with their faith and zeal, departing neither to the right hand nor to the left.
Ever faithfully and affectionately, yours,
T. U. DUDLEY, Assistant Bishop of Kentucky.
LEXINGTON, KY., April 24, 1880.
THE
MONUMENTAL CHURCH.
TITHE MONUMENTAL CHURCH, situated on the north side of Broad, between Twelfth street and College street, in the plan of the city of Richmond, stands upon the former site of the Richmond Theatre, which building was destroyed by fire on the night of the twenty-sixth of December, eighteen hundred and eleven.
A popular actor and a favorite play had drawn to- gether on that occasion an audience of about six hun- dred persons, among whom were some of the most distinguished men of Virginia, and a large number- of the most cultivated and refined of the citizens of Richmond, male and female. Of these, seventy-two, perished in the flames .*
* NOTE .- It was the last week of performance that season, and two new plays were to be acted-the first called "The Father ; or Family Feuds ;" and the second, "Raymond and Agnes ; or The Bleeding Nun."
The printed hand-bill for that evening's performance, containing the above. together with all the names of the actors, was found among the papers of Mr. John Warrock, a printer of long stand- ing in Richmond, and a worthy communicant of the Monumental
1
2
HISTORY OF THE
This dreadful event caused a widespread sorrow and regret, not only in Virginia, but even beyond its
Church, who died many years after that sad event; and it is now hanging in a plain frame, on the south side of the State Library room, in the Capitol.
The editor of the Richmond Enquirer, who was present when the alarm was given, writes thus, after ushering in the dreadful disaster, to his readers :
"Let us collect our ideas as well as we can. On Thursday night a new play and a new after-piece were played, for the benefit of Mr. Placide. Crowds swarmed to the Theatre ; it was the fullest house this season ; there were not less than six hun- dred present. The play went off ; the pantomime began ; the first act was over; the whole scene was before us, and all around us was mirth and festivity. Oh God! what a horrible revolution ; the second act of the pantomime ; the curtain rose again in full chorus, and Mr. West came on to open the scene, when sparks of fire began to fall on the back part of the stage, and Mr. Robert- son came out in unutterable distress, waved his hand to the ceil- ing, and uttered these appalling words: 'The house is on fire.' His hand was immediately stretched forth to the persons in the stage-box to help them on the stage. The cry of 'Fire, fire' passed with electric velocity through the house ; every one flew from their seats to gain the lobbies and stairs. The scene baffles all de- scription. The most heart-piercing cries pervaded the house. 'Save me, save me.' Wives asking for their husbands ; females and children shrieking, while the gathering element came rolling on its curling flames and columns of smoke, threatning to devour every human being in the building. Many were trod under foot ; several were thrown back from the windows, which they were struggling to leap. The stair-ways were immediately blocked up ; the throng was so great that many were raised several feet over the heads of the rest; the smoke threatened an instant suffocation. We cannot dwell on this picture. We saw-we felt it-like others, we gave ourselves up for lost ; we cannot depict it. Many leaped from the windows of the first story, and were saved; children and females, and men of all descriptions were seen to precipitate themselves on the ground below, with broken legs and thighs,
3
MONUMENTAL CHURCH.
borders. On the succeeding day the Common Coun- cil of the city of Richmond adopted an ordinance in
and hideous contusions. Most, if not all, who were in the pit escaped. Mr. Taylor, the last of the musicians who quitted the ochestra, finding his retreat by the back way cut off, leaped into the pit, whence he entered the semicircular avenue which leads to the door of the Theatre, and found it nearly empty. He was the last to escape from the pit. How melancholy that many who were in the boxes did not also jump into the pit, and fly in the same direction. But those who were in the boxes, above and be- low, pushed for the lobbies-many, as has been said, escaped through the windows; but most of them had no other resource than to descend the stairs; many escaped in that way, but so great was the pressure that they retarded each other, until the devouring element approached to sweep them into eternity. Several who even emerged from the building were so much scorched that they have since perished ; some even jumped from the second windows ; some others have been dreadfully burnt."
(1879, November, while I am copying this dreadful disaster from an extract of the Richmond Enquirer of the 27th December, 1811, and also a part from the Intelligencer Extra, dated at Pe- tersburg, Saturday, 28th December, 1811, I am reminded that it was understood that the present Mrs. B. W. Leigh, now of New York, who was Miss Julia Wickham, of Richmond, was dragged by her hair out of the Theatre on that fatal night, and her life thus saved ; and I will also here state the fact that the grand- father of our present distinguished physician, James B. McCaw, saved the lives of many by throwing them out of the window, and when the flames forced him to leap, he broke his leg, and was ever lame after it. He was a man of wonderful energy and powerful nerve, as well as a great surgeon, and pure Christian, and continued a practitioner of medicine in Richmond to a ripe old age, leaving two sons of like character in the profession ; and what a privilege to be the son or grand-son of so noble a man as Dr. James D. McCaw !)
The fire flew with a rapidity almost beyond example. Within ten minutes after it caught the whole house was wrapped in flames. The colored people in the gallery, most of them,
4
HISTORY OF THE
these words, (the same having been reported by Dr. John Adams) :
escaped through the stairs cut off from the rest of the house ; some have no doubt fallen victims. The pit and boxes had but one common avenue, through which the whole crowd escaped, save those who leaped from the windows. But the scene which ensued it is impossible to paint. Women with dis- hevelled hair; fathers and mothers shrieking out for their chil- dren; husbands for their wives ; brothers for their sisters, filled the whole area on the outside of the building. A few who had escaped plunged again into the flames to save some dear object of their regard, and they perished. The Governor perhaps shared this melancholly fate. Others were frantic, and would have rushed to destruction but for the hand of a friend. The bells tolled ; almost the whole town rushed to the fatal spot. The flames must have caught the scenery from some light behind. Robertson saw it when it was no larger than his hand ; Young saw it on the roof when it first burst through. Every article of the Theatre was consumed, as well as the dwelling house next to it. But what is wealth in comparison to the valuable lives which have gone for ever ! The whole town is shrouded in woe. Heads of families extinguished for ever ; many and many is the house in which a chasm has been made, that can never be filled up. We cannot dwell upon this picture ; but look at the catalogue of the victims, and then conceive the calamity which has fallen upon us. We must drop the pen."
A further extract from the American Standard says : "The editor of this paper was in the house when the ever-to-be-remem- bered deplorable accident occurred. He is informed that the scenery touk fire in the back part of the house, by the raising of a chandelier ; that the boy who was ordered by one of the players to raise it stated that if he did so the scenery would take fire, when he was commanded in a peremptory manner to hoist it. The boy obeyed, and the fire was instantly communicated to the scenery. He gave the alarm in the rear of the stage, and requested some of the attendants to cut the cords by which these com- bustible materials were suspended. The person whose duty it was to perform this business became panic-struck, and sought
5
MONUMENTAL CHURCH.
"WHEREAS, the fire which took place in the Theatre on the twenty-sixth instant, has brought upon our city a calamity unknown in the annals of our country, from a similar cause depriving society of many of its
his own safety. This unfortunately happened at a time when one of the perforiners was playing near the orchestra, and the greatest part of the stage, with its horrid danger, was obscured from the audience by a curtain. The flames spread with almost the ra- pidity of lightning; and the fire falling from the ceiling upon the performer was the first notice which the people had of their danger. Even then many supposed it to be a part of the play, and were for a little while restrained from flight by a cry from the stage that there was no danger. The performers and their attendants in vain endeavored to tear down the scenery. The fire flashed into every part of the house with a rapidity horrible and astonishing; and alas! gushing tears and unspeakable an- guish deprive me of utterance. No tongue can tell-no pen or pencil can describe-the woeful catastrophe. No person, who was not present, can form any idea of the unexampled scene of human distress. The editor, having none of his family with him, and being not far from the door, was among the first who escaped. The editor went to the different windows, which were not very high, and implored his fellow-creatures to save their lives by jumping out of them. Those nearest to the windows, ignorant of their great danger, were afraid to leap down, while those be- hind them were seen catching on fire, and writhing in the greatest agonies of pain and distress. The editor, with the assistance of others, caught several of those whom he had begged to leap from the windows. One lady jumped out when all her clothes were on fire. He tore them, burning, from her, stripped her of her last rags, and protecting her nakedness with his coat, carried her from the fire."
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