USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > Annals of Henrico parish > Part 4
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"In ceasing to contend for their rights, the Vestrymen of Henrico only did what other Vestrymen have done, prefer- ring rather to suffer loss than promote strife, and thereby injure the cause of religion."
Fortunately the Church was not left without a rectory. The rectors ever since the last decade of the previous century had been living in a parsonage situated on the east side of Twenty-fourth street, between Broad and Marshall. The south line of the lot began at a point 110 feet north of Broad street. The lot was 55 feet wide and 120 feet deep. It had been given for the use of the minister by Col. Richard Adams. October 9, 1821, trustees had been appointed to receive from his executor and legatees a deed of conveyance of this par- sonage house. But a deed to it was not secured until March
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3, 1871. Then Mr. P. R. Carrington (administrator of the estate of Richard Adams, Sr.) made one to the trustees of St. John's Church. It was duly recorded.
Mr. Hart also was successful in developing the Sunday school to a high degree of prosperity. Among the 19 in his confirmation class of 1827 were 5 of his 22 Sunday school teachers and 6 of the 190 scholars. The rector enthu- siastically testifies to the hanny influence of the Sunday school upon the whole Church. The fact that he kept a day school for boys during part of his ministry may account for his success in Sunday school work, notwithstanding his reputa- tion for using the rod freely. That year, through the exer- tions of the Sunday school teachers, aided by the congrega- tion, the interior of the Church was painted and otherwise much improved. Some of the teachers and young men of the congregation personally engaged in the manual labor.
Bishop Moore, in his Convention address, declared it to be "second in its internal appearance to very few of the churches in this Diocese." The Bishop said he had preached there to a very large congregation, and mentions the present pros- perous state of the Church.
July 13, 1828, Mr. Hart intimated his determination to resign his charge in consequence of an intended removal to New York. To Mr. Hart we owe the keeping of a parish register, from September 17, 1815, when he administered a baptism. The original was sent anonymously to the Rev. L. W. Burton, when rector. Back of that there are no official records. But Mr. P. R. Carrington has copied into the Parish Register, that in use in 1891, the original returns in the Henrico county records, from July 2, 1785, to May 28, 1791, both inclusive, and the notices which appeared in the Richmond Enquirer from April 4, 1808, to March 11, 1817, the latter date being that of the marriage of General Win- field Scott.
The Rev. Wm. F. Lee was unanimously elected Mr. Hart's successor. He was to receive for his salary the entire income from the rent of pews. According to Bishop Meade's descrip- tion, he was light as a feather, but possessed of a strong mind and will, and lived under the pressure of a heart and soul devoted to the love of God and man. Although physically
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unequal to the itinerancy, he had revived the foundations of the Church in Goochland, Powhatan, Amelia and Chester- field, and had seen them supplied by ministers. His minis- try in Richmond began in September, 1828. To Mr. Lee we probably owe the name "St. John's Church." This build- ing had had, as we have seen, many names: "The New Church," "The Upper Church," "The Richmond Church," "The Town Church," "The Church on Richmond Hill," "The Richmond Hill Church," "Henrico Church on Richmond Hill," "The Church," "The Old Church," etc. There is no record of action agreeing upon the name "St. John's." But in the Vestry book shortly after Mr. Lee's advent it was written for the first time without comment: "At a meeting of the Vestry of Henrico Parish, at the lecture room of St. John's Church, Richmond, Saturday evening, April 25, 1829," etc. And in the Convention Journal for that same year this Church is entered in the parochial reports as "St. John's Church, Richmond, Henrico Parish."
A little later we come to another change in titles. The Vestry continued until 1850 to record its minutes as those of Henrico Parish. But May 7, 1833, the wardens make a re- port, in which they style themselves "The Wardens of St. John's Church, Henrico Parish." It was, however, in 1840 that the rector of this Church was spoken of, no longer as rector of Henrico Parish, but as rector of St. John's Church.
Mr. Lee's ministry was full of promise from the start. He reported to the Convention of 1829 that his weekly lectures were generally crowded. The Sunday school flourished. A library of nearly 200 volumes had been added to it. No longer was the gallery at the west end of the old church suffi- cient for the sessions of the school in winter, nor the other galleries in summer. A portion of the school overflowed into the pews below. And Dr. Walker also says that the Lenten services, especially those of Passion Week, were more largely attended. A missionary society, auxiliary to the Domestic and Foreign Society of the General Church, had been organ- ized. The members of it had engaged with zeal and spirit in the cause of missions. It was during his ministry that night services were begun, apparently for the first time in the history of the parish ; for, according to Dr. Walker, there had
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been previously no lamps. He says that evening lectures had been introduced at the Rectory soon after 1826. But now, according to the same eye witness, a few lamps were placed at the pulpit and at one or two other important points ; and sperm candles, in little tin sticks, were attached by nails to the gallery columns and elsewhere. Neither before this time had there been a vestry-room, for Parson Hart, so Dr. Walker reports to us, wore only the black gown and robed and unrobed in the parsonage. But as the use of the surplice, in Dr. Walker's opinion, was introduced by Mr. Lee, so also in his judgment was the robing room placed under the gallery in the west end of the original church during the same min- istry. It was at best only ten feet square, and made by a slight partition.
But the question of a new church in another location, which had been agitated ever since 1807, now loomed up again. This time determined and energetic spirits backed up the enterprise, and they were led by the rector. Their pro- ject was to go down into the Valley below the hill and either build a new edifice or buy the Presbyterian church, that in 1825 had been erected on the south side of Grace street be- tween Seventeenth and Eighteenth, and that was known, from the peculiar shape of the ornament on the apex of its spire, as "The Pine Apple Church."
A church quarrel was the result. Bishop Moore mediated as arbitrator. He says in a letter, entered on the minutes December 31, 1829, that to his knowledge the expediency of building a church below Richmond Hill had been the subject of consideration for several years past, and before the Rev. Mr. Lee was appointed rector. The Bishop furthermore de- clares that the course of conduct pursued by the rector, war- dens and a part of the Vestry, as proved before him, did not show that they, or any of them, used unfair means to effect that object, or that they knew, if such be the fact, that such a measure was against the wishes of a majority of the con- gregation. "But," said the Bishop also, "I am equally well satisfied that the building of a new church at this time is highly inexpedient and unadvisable, owing to the present divided state of the congregation."
The issue of the controversy was that December 31st of
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1829 the rector resigned; his followers purchased the "Pine Apple Church"; and they and he established there the congre- gation now known as Christ Church. A strenuous effort was systematically made to prevent the admission of Christ Church into union with the Convention. But its application was granted by a vote of 56 to 2. It is a happy thing that the Mother Church and this one of her oldest daughters, though they parted on hard terms, are now the warmest and most helpful of neighbors.
After Mr. Lee's failing health had compelled him to resign Christ's Church, he founded the Southern Churchman, and continued to edit it even on his death bed. He was a great helper to Bishop Moore, and won many friends besides the Bishop by his amiable qualities and zealous piety.
It is to be noted in passing that there were at the time of this dissension 46 pews in St. John's Church. This would not have been possible, unless there had been some previous addition to the Church where the present nave now stands.
A band of devoted adherents was left at St. John's. Though few in number, they were indomitable in pluck and strong in influence. They requested the Bishop to officiate or to secure a supply of the pulpit during the vacancy. They deter- mined at once to alter and repair the church. It was in all probability at this time that the nave was increased to its present size of 45 feet width and 39 feet depth. Two aisles were also introduced instead of the former central one. The galleries on each side of the nave were removed, and only the one in the rear of the nave, for the organ and choir, and that at the west of the original church, for the colored people, were retained. Instead of the single entrance in the centre, two front doors were introduced. The belfry over the west end of the original building came down, to be replaced, in the first half of the decade of 1830, by a tower and bell.
Mr. P. R. Carrington finds in the proceedings of the "Fe- male Charitable Association of St. John's," pp. 37 and 38, at a meeting held July 8, 1830, the following minute: "Re- solved, That the sum of $100 of the funds of the Society be appropriated to the purchase of a bell for St. John's Church, Henrico Parish, and that the treasurer be authorized to pay the same so soon as the bell is purchased."
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It is possible that the former bell is now over the public school building in Martinsville, Henry county, Va. It was purchased of a Richmond firm in 1831, by a citizen of that town, and presented by him to the authorities for the present purpose. The tradition is that, when sold, it was represented as having hung in St. John's tower, in Richmond, and as hav- ing been discarded because of a crack. It is described as a small cracked bell, its tone thereby affected, evidently of last century work, of superior metal, and bearing some evidence of artistic embellishment.
The grounds also at this time received attention. Dr. Walker describes their previous condition as one indicating utter neglect. The old-fashioned flowers were well-nigh hid- den beneath underbrush. Young trees, chiefly peaches and cherries of the large Blackheart variety, flourished in a sort of wild abandon. Except in the walks from the main gates, tall grass and periwinkles abounded. The grave stones of whole families had disappeared, and the removal of remains to other cemeteries had begun.
Apropos of interments, Dr. Walker notes that the funeral processions seldom entered Broad street gate, as is now the case, because the street itself was short and the gate smaller than at present ; and there was no broad path to it. This was also the case with the gate near the Brick School-House. Hence these two gates were not always open. But the gates at the corner of Grace and Twenty-fifth streets, and on Twen- ty-fourth street, were the chief ones, and always open on pub- lic occasions. Broad paths led from them ; and by the former the funeral processions were accustomed to enter. The Twenty-fourth street gate had been opened by friends of the Church for the sake of greater convenience, at their own ex- pense, according to permission of the Vestry granted July 3, 1820.
It seems to have been as late as 1882 when the Cemetery Committee of the City Council, at the instance of the Vestry, opened the present brick walk from the Twenty-fourth street gate to the Church, thence entirely around the Church, and also down to the Brick School-House.
The Rev. Edward W. Peet, of Hampstead, King George county, was called to the rectorate of St. John's February 24,
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1830. His salary was to be $750 a year, if the pew rents would yield that amount; and he was also to have the par- sonage. In February Bishop Moore instituted him into the rectorship of St. John's. This is one of the three institu- tions which have occurred in this Diocese up to 1891. It may be accepted as a sign of quick reconciliation, such as be- comes estranged Christians, that the sermon, at this institu- tion of his successor, was preached by the Rev. Mr. Lee, rector of Christ's Church. In 1830 Mr. Peet reported 24 communicants at the Easter Communion. In 1831 he re- ported five accessions to the communion. But Christ Church by that time had 43 communicants. Mr. Peet was hindered in his work. He was compelled to be absent twenty-one Sun- days through sickness and other causes.
That the people of St. John's in their opposition to the formation of Christ Church had no idea of blocking all progress in the parish is evident. The Vestry instructed the representatives of the parish to use their exertions and influence to secure for Monumental that independent union with the Convention which that congregation desired. The lay deputy from Henrico became himself the patron of the memorial sent by Monumental congregation to the Convention. August 2, 1831, a petition was received ask- ing the sanction of the Vestry to the establishment of a new Episcopal Church within the Parish of Henrico, to be located in a convenient situation on Shockoe Hill. Unan- imous consent was given by the rector and vestry. In ex- pressing it they said that they regarded with pleasure the prospect of promoting the welfare of the Episcopal Church within the parish, and did cheerfully assent, provided the church be located west of the Capitol.
To the Council of 1832 St. John's reported 30 communi- cants. Christ Church reported 60, and Monumental 172.
July 25, 1833, the Rev. E. W. Peet resigned. Rev. Robt. B. Croes, on the 31st of August, accepted the election of the Vestry. They offered him a salary of $750 per annum, pay- able semi-annually, and a house. In the spring of 1833 the ladies had held a fair. By it they accomplished what would be considered a remarkably fine result now-a-days : they raised more than $900. Eight hundred dollars were applied toward
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the erection of a tower; $100 toward the purchase of a bell. This tower was in the shape of a cupola or belfry, open so that the bell was exposed. It was also under Mr. Croes' minis- try, in 1835, that the brick building in the southwest part of the church yard, now commonly known as the Brick School- house or the Brick Chapel, was erected for the Sunday school and for a week-day school. Its size was 37 feet by 25 feet. Its cost was $750. "As to spiritual things," says Mr. Croes, however, "the officiating minister has thus far met with very little to encourage his heart."
Mr. Croes had previously been assistant to Bishop Moore at the Monumental, from 1825 to 1830. In this connection he was highly spoken of by the Rt. Rev. Rector. His min- istry at St. John's was terminated January 21, 1836. On the next day the Rev. Wm. H. Hart was recalled from New York to his former position as rector of St. John's on a salary of $800 and the parsonage. Mr. Hart seems to have taught school in Richmond during this as also during his previous rectorship.
The next year "the Vestry of Henrico Parish," as it still styled itself, joined that of Bruton Parish, and probably others throughout the Diocese, in a rebellion against the Con- vention. They refused to send a delegate, because the dele- gates were required by the amended constitution to be com- municants. It was asserted by Bruton Vestry that nine- tenths of the church members were not communicants.
In the fall of 1837 St. James' Church was organized. In 1839 it was admitted into union with the Convention, and the building consecrated. In the latter year there were more than 100 adults belonging to St. James' congregation, and between 30 and 40 communicants. The membership was composed largely of those who had been attending the Monu- mental. But the movement indicates the increase in the number of Episcopalians in Richmond, and the fact that they were settling westward of the centre of the city.
In 1842 the communicants of St. John's numbered 31. The Sunday school had 72 scholars and 12 teachers. There is a still more certain manifestation of the low ebb to which affairs had run. At the meeting of the Vestry at which Mr. Hart's resignation was accepted, an organist was elected to
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serve till November 1, 1842, when Mr. Hart was to leave, "and (to serve) afterwards, if the church is kept up." Par- son Hart died July 28, 1852. But the great lesson taught by St. John's history is that workers for Christ must have such faith in their Master that they will never be discour- aged. Knowing that their labor is never in vain in the Lord, they must be "steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." We must leave Him to decide when the "due season" for reaping shall have arrived. Meanwhile we must faint not, neither be weary in well doing. "Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them."
In its 150 years of history there is record of frequent occasions when its candle almost sputtered out and of times when even its own rector advised that the candlestick be re- moved from its place. But now St. John's is one of the strongest and most fruitful congregations in Virginia.
To every sister church now struggling against many odds, and especially to those country churches whose most able and faithful supporters are moving away, St. John's message is : Be true to the loving command of Christ, written in Revela- tion 2 : 25 : "Tenete donec veniam" ("Hold fast till I come").
The middle of our century marks a favorable turning point in our history. After consultation with the clergy of the city, a committee of the Vestry exercised the powers given it and appointed the Rev. J. H. Morrison, of Buckingham, the rector. His rectorship lasted from January 26, 1843, till May 15, 1848. His ministry seems to have been blessed with a substantial increase to the vineyard, both as to spiritual and as to material interests. In 1845 he reported to the Conven- tion, as the fruits of his two and one-third years' ministry, a growth from 31 to 51 communicants, and an addition of some eight families. The whole number of families was now about 31. Five hundred and forty dollars had been spent in re- pairing and improving the church edifice. The school-house had been leased, and the proceeds applied to the support of the Sunday school. The object of the lessee was probably to use the building for a day school. In 1848, when Mr. Mor- rison resigned, the communicants numbered 64, of whom one was colored. This was a number more than double that re-
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ported at the time of his call to the parish. The correspon- dence between him and the Vestry in connection with his re- signation indicates perfect harmony, and evinces mutual re- gret at severing pastoral relations. The Vestry willingly bore testimony to the ability, zeal and faithfulness with which he had discharged his duties.
Meanwhile important changes had taken place in the parish at large. St. Paul's Church had come into being. Its cor- ner-stone was laid October 10, 1844, and it was consecrated November 11, 1846. The bulk of the congregation of Monu- mental, with its rector, Rev. Dr. Wm. Norwood, migrated to it in December of 1845. Their motive was to secure a larger edifice. But the portion of the former congregation remain- ing at Monumental invited the congregation of Christ Church to unite with it in Monumental, under the rector of Christ Church, the Rev. Geo. Woodbridge.
A few of the former Christ Church people joined St. John's. This was a practical abandonment of Christ Church. April 16, 1846, St. Luke's Church had also been consecrated on the site of the present Clay Street M. E. Church. It was a building of small dimensions. With lot and fence its cost was about $2,850. It was intended to be a missionary sta- tion of the Rev. Dr. Bolton. St. Mark's now occupies the field first opened by St. Luke's.
The Rev. Henry S. Kepler followed Mr. Morrison, and entered upon his duties about October 10, 1848. In 1850 he reported communicants-white, 52; colored, 1. Number of families, 50, embracing 185 individuals. One hundred and fifteen of these were adults. In the Sunday school were 12 teachers, 4 of whom were male, and 76 scholars, the average attendance of whom was 65. In 1851, Mr. Kepler reported contributions to different institutions amounting to $750. A new bell, 3 feet 2g inches in diameter, cast by Francis Me- neely, in West Troy, in 1850, had been put in, the old one having been broken in the course of long usage. Extensive repairs were in progress, which, by the next Convention, he was able to report completed and paid for. In 1854 he re- ported a new furnace put in and paid for. May 2, 1855, a committee of the vestry was appointed "to apply to the Com- mon Council of the city of Richmond" "for the protection and
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preservation of the burying ground attached to our Church." Their letter of May 5th calls "attention to the neglected con- dition of the old churchyard on Church Hill," and asks them to "adopt such prompt measures as to (them) may seem ad- visable to cause its ruins to be repaired." It refers to an ordinance passed some three years before, directing "that the grounds should be laid out in walks, beautified with trees and other shrubbery, and that a new wall, which the grading of the street rendered necessary, should be erected on Twenty- fourth street." Twenty-fifth street it must be, but the re- cords say "Twenty-fourth." But the whole of the appropria- tion then made had been absorbed in the wall.
The result is thus described in the committee's letter : "The lapse of three more years of neglect has but increased the desolations which overspread this ancient city of the dead. There is, perhaps, no spot within our Commonwealth around which there linger prouder and holier memories than this. Here the infancy of our great and prosperous country was rocked by our noble sires ; and here, too, sleep the remains of some of our earliest and most worthy citizens."
"To neglect such a spot is to forfeit our claim as the wor- thy descendants of such sires, and to proclaim our shame to the hundreds of our citizens from other States who annually visit it as a spot made sacred to them in the story of our struggles for national independence."
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"From this scene of ruin, what impression of us must they carry with them to their distant homes ? Will you not adopt some prompt and effectual measures to remove this reproach from the honor of our city ?"
It was probably owing to this stirring statement and urgent appeal that, February 21, 1858, the City Council gave to one of its committees exclusive authority to give consent to inter- ments in "this square," and that, on October 24, 1859, it was, fixed that the appointment of the committee should be an- nually in December. By an ordinance approved on the 23d of March, 1886, a result was produced that went far beyond the best that the petitioners of 1855 could have dreamed of. Two hundred dollars were appropriated for expenses and $400 for the pay-roll. It was provided that the committee
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should consist of three members of the Common Council and two of the Board of Aldermen, appointed by the presidents, respectively. "The committee shall cause to be kept in order the whole of said enclosure, with gates and steps for passing through it, and everything within the enclosure and outside of the church."
"Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the committee to prevent or interfere with the use of the church by the congregation thereof." No interments were to be made without the consent of the committee.
It may be noted here that there was only one interment in 1891, and only twenty up to and including that year since November 1, 1869.
The present appearance of the grounds is such as to make the square the most beautiful in Richmond, and to rival any churchyard the country over. For this condition, so delight- ful to members of the congregation and to our citizens gen- erally, and so highly approved by visitors, the chief praise is due to the faithful, efficient and courteous sexton and keeper, Mr. Antoni Graffigna.
In 1856 the tide of spiritual prosperity was high. That year the rector reported 77 communicants. Two new Sun- day schools had been established; one an infant school of 20 scholars, the other a colored school, in which from 60 to 65 were taught orally by the rector. The old school had been much increased, and now numbered 17 officers and 102 scholars. But in 1858 had set in again that fatal reaction which is so often painfully noticeable in church work, as in all other enterprises. The communicants had dropped to 69; the two new schools had been abandoned or merged into the old one; that old one had decreased to 70 scholars and 14 teachers. The only residuum of the fine Sunday school en- thusiasm of two years before was $600 on hand for a new Sunday school building. And now this project was aban- doned. In lieu of it, on motion of the rector, it was unani- mously determined to build a new church, if subscriptions sufficient for that purpose could be obtained. By May 5, 1859, probably owing to a depression in the church's financial affairs, it had been determined only to make an extension of the church. Even that proposition fell short of execution, in
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