USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > History and reminiscences of the Monumental Church, Richmond, Va. : from 1814 to 1878 > Part 22
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The vestry convened this fiscal year fourteen times. The first meeting was on the 8th December, 1873, when the treasurer made a condensed state- ment of the finances of the church up to the 1st inst .; but a quorum not being present, the meeting adjourned to the 15th, when a quorum was present, and confirmed the proceedings of the first meeting and adopted the treasurer's report.
The next was on the 12th of January, 1874, and owing to the small collections reported towards the debt of the new Sunday-school room, it was agreed that the committee on music, with the consent of the rector, should take steps towards raising funds, by one or more church concerts. The next meeting was called for the 10th of February, but no quorum present.
The next meeting was on the 9th of March, when the subject again came up in regard to a concert, and it was decided that Mr. Wheat would take the necessary steps to have the concert immediately after Easter. Mr. Wheat was also granted his ap- plication to hold a sacred concert in the church for the poor of the city.
The next meeting was held on the 20th of April, and it was decided to elect the delegate to the an-
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nual meeting of the council, to be held in Charlottes- ville, the third Wednesday in May, whereupon Mr. Wm. H. Powers was duly chosen as the lay dele- gate from the Monumental Church.
The next was held on the 11th of May, when the committee on music informed the vestry that the 26th of this month had been fixed upon to hold the concert for the benefit of the church. At this meet- ing also, the services to be held on Whit Sunday afternoon in the Monumental Church, by request of the English settlers in Virginia, in commemora- tion of the birth day of Queen Victoria, were freely discussed, and the rector and vestry consented to the arrangement.
The next meeting was held on the 8th June, when a statement was rendered by the treasurer up to the 1st of the month, exhibiting an indebtedness of about $600. A resolution of thanks, offered by Mr. Mayo, to Mr. Wheat and other members of the choir, for the aid rendered the church by the late concert, the proceeds of which had gone towards the debt due for the new Sunday-school room, was unanimously adopted, and a copy sent to Mr. Wheat, accordingly.
The next two meetings were held on the 13th July and 10th August, but no quorum present.
The next meeting was held on the 14th Septem- ber, at which the cost of the music for the coming year was discussed, and the committee was requested to inform the vestry upon the subject, as well as the prospect for a continuance of the music, as soon as
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practicable. And a committee was also appointed, the rector assisting, to have a smaller reading desk or lecturn made for the convenience of the chancel, the present one being too large.
The next was held on the 5th of October, but the committee on music was not ready to make their re- port. At this meeting the mode of taking up the alms in the church morning and afternoon was the subject of some discussion; the vestry decided that the rector was the proper person to determine the matter, and they preferred to carry out his wishes.
The next was held on the 12th of same month, when Mr. Skinker was added to the committee on music; and the committee was authorized to procure the services of an organist and four choir singers as speedily as they could, and that $1,000 would not be exceeded as the cost of the music for a year from the funds of the church.
The next meeting was held on the 9th November, at which Mr. Powers reported that the committee on music had nearly succeeded in securing a full choir.
A resolution was adopted at this meeting to in- crease the insurance upon the church building $5,000, besides the $3,000 on the new Sunday-school room on the east side of the church. The subject was also discussed at this meeting of painting the outside of the church building, and some other re- pairs to be made, and the treasurer was requested to have an estimate made of the same for future con- sideration.
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1875.
Parochial report of Monumental Church, Rich- mond .- Rev. George Woodbridge, D. D., rector ; and Mr. Peter H. Mayo, lay delegate to annual meeting of council, in St. Paul's Church, Richmond, 19th May. Communicants, 237; contributions, $2,346.20.
The vestry have, during the year, put a new (tin) roof on the church, at a cost of about $800, a part of which has been paid by the ladies' sewing society. The sewing society are a band of faithful workers, and have proved a most faithful and efficient auxili- ary to the vestry.
Twelve meetings of the vestry were held this fis- cal year, commencing with the 1st of December, 1874, at which meeting a committee was appointed to contract for tinning the roof of the church as early as may be, and of raising the money to pay for it. The committee on music read a correspondence which had taken place with the organist, as to the terms, etc., for the present year, and it was again resolved to give the committee ample authority to procure the services of the choir, on such terms as the committee thought advisable.
The next meeting was held on the 14th of the same month, when an exhibit was made by the treasurer, and the amount of the church debt (including $700 for the new tin roof,) was reported to be $1,433.58. And at this meeting it was decided to increase the pew rents, in order to pay off the debt. The main or middle aisle pews were raised to $90, the sides to
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$66, and the wall pews to $36 each for a year. At this meeting a contract, which had been signed by the committee and the members of the choir, as to compensation for their services for ten months of the year, was read and approved by the vestry.
The next meeting was on the 11th of January, 1875, and the committee on repairs reported that the new tin roof on the church was about completed, and authority was given, by a resolution of the vestry, to the committee to execute a negotiable note for the same, at such date as the contractor was will- ing to receive. Some conversation was held upon the subject of making the pews free, and raising revenue by a more voluntary system, but it was not thought expedient at this time to enter into such a plan, being a new one to nearly all our churches.
The next meeting was on the 8th of February, when Mr. John Tyler announced that the small new reading stand was finished, and would at once be placed in the chancel for future use.
The next meeting was on the 15th of March, when the committee on repairs reported an addi- tional sum of one hundred dollars had been required to tin the roof of the tower connected with the ınain building, and which was not included in the original amount of $700. The report was approved. A com- mittee was appointed to return the thanks of the vestry to the sewing society and other ladies of the congregation, for the liberal sum of $150 which they had contributed towards the payment due for the new roof on the building, as well as towards the new Sunday-school room.
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The next meeting was on the 12th April, but the inclemency of the weather prevented a quorum. The next meeting was held on the 3rd of May, when the rector presented a communication from a Mr. Thos. J. Jackson, chairman of the executive com- mittee of the "English Settlers' Association in Vir- ginia," asking the consent of the rector and vestry of the Monumental Church, to have similar church services as the previous year, to be held on Sunday afternoon, the 23rd instant, designed especially in honor of the birth day of Queen Victoria. Mr. Potts, one of the vestry, fully endorsed the letter of Mr. Jackson, and the vestry took pleasure in com- plying with its request. The meeting then ap- pointed as the lay delegate to the council, to be held in Richmond, on the third Wednesday of the month, Col. H. D. Whitcomb, and Mr. Peter H. Mayo as alternate, to represent the Monumental Church. A committee was appointed to make an examination of the part of the gallery supporting the organ, and also of a plan for enlarging the chancel, and report to a future meeting.
The next was held on the 14th of June, and while the committee was not fully prepared to report upon both of the matters for their consideration, enough was known that no serious apprehension need be entertained as to the strength of the gallery which supports the organ. The treasurer gave a short and condensed statement of the condition of the finances up to the 1st of the month, when the entire amount of indebtedness did not exceed $825.
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The next meeting was on the 19th of July, but a quorum was not present. The next meeting was held on the 6th of August, and the treasurer read a note to him from the rector on the subject of the contemplated frescoing and other repairs to be done to the church during his absence in the summer. A committee was appointed to have the work done as speedily as possible, and for raising the necessary amount of money. Five of the vestry and two from the congregation were appointed the committee.
The next meeting was held on the 4th of October. The committee on repairs was not prepared to make a report in full, but it was generally believed the work would all be done by the first of November ; in the mean time regular services were held in our large comfortable Sunday-school room.
The next meeting was held on the 8th of Novem- ber, but as the work in the church was still unfinished, the committee made no special report; but much in- terest was manifested among the members as to the finish which the artist would give to the dome and chancel ceiling. Much had to be left to him, for the high and close scaffolding, necessary to reach the dome and lantern, prevented those below from seeing the work as it progressed.
Bishop Johns, in his annual report of this year, under date of 16th August, says: "I preached in St. Paul's, Alexandria. This was the last public service I performed for some weeks. The periodical infirmity to which I have long been annually sub- jected, combined with a serious injury to one of my
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feet, disabled me from duty, and confined me to the house until the 16th of October, when I managed to reach New York, after the general convention had been in session a week. I have no reason to regret the effort to be present. That convention, in respect- ability, talent. and courtesy, was certainly unsur- passed by any similar assembly with which I am ac- quainted. Although all we may have deemed desir- able was not attained, enough was accomplished in reference to matters of great importance to afford us sincere satisfaction.
"The overture for an organic connection with the church of England, the scheme to introduce the pro- vincial system, and the proposal to establish a ge- neral court af appeals, measures which were calcu- lated to complicate and revolutionize the simple constitution under which we have signally prospered, and to disintegrate our confederation, soon enough for the most impatient separatist, were all defeated with an emphasis not to be mistaken.
"In regard to ritualism, I cared little for new legislation, believing, as I did, the existing provi- sions to be amply adequate for all proper discipline. Yet, as the canon passed is in fact only declaratory, I did not hesitate to vote for its adoption.
"It has from various quarters been assailed by criticism, and even by questionable levity, all of which would perhaps have been prevented by fuller information as to the history of the proceedings. The concession as to the use of the baptismal office, so earnestly sought by many, and favored by the
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known wish of this diocese, though not accorded to the memorialists, received a consideration which does not discourage the hope that the day is coming when the occasion of complaint will be satisfactorily removed. Meanwhile, as the faulted phrase is no innovation, but the language of the formularies of this church from its organization, and of the Refor- mers in England and on the continent, and as it has been judiciously decided that its import harmonizes, as I verily believe it does, with the views of baptism maintained by the school of theology to which the memorialists belong, I can see no reason why they may not, with good conscience, minister as their fa- thers have done, trusting to the power of truth and the prevalency of prayer, to dispose their brethren to an adjustment which may accommodate the peti- tioners without disturbing the principles of others. More than this ought not to be sought, and short of this would be insufficient.
"After my return from the convention, in answer to many inquiries, I expressed my conviction that the proceedings of that body, in connection with those of the conventions of 1869 and 1871, form a reaffirmation of the Protestant character of this. church, and a pledge to maintain it unimpaired. Subsequent events have strengthened this conviction. I am happy to repeat it here, that my brethren may share with me in the satisfaction it affords."
Again, Bishop Johns, under date of January 27, 1875, says: "In Christ Church, Baltimore, I was present at the consecration of the Rev. T. U. Dudley,
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D. D., as assistant bishop of Kentucky, participated in the services, and by appointment, preached the consecration sermon. As Bishop Dudley is a native of Virginia, a graduate of her University, an alum- nus of our Theological Seminary, and was for some time a presbyter of this diocese, I again felt that we were called to part with another of our valued sons, to endure the toils and bear the trials incident to the western Episcopate. The conflict which was in- separable from the painful circumstances of this surrender was indeed controlled by the persuasion that his heart was in the formidable work for which the grace of God had rendered him apt and meet, and that his brethren at home would be compensated for their loss by the assurances of his faithful and acceptable services, and of his honored instrumen- tality in furthering the precious gospel of their dear Lord and Saviour."*
1876.
Bishop Whittle opened his annual report on Thursday, in the following melancholy strain :
" My dear brethren, clerical and lay, it is under peculiarly sad and solemn circumstances that we are assembled in the eighty-first council of our church in Virginia. Our venerable and beloved Bishop Johns said, in his address to us twelve months ago, ' During the past year not one of the clergy canoni-
* NOTE .- Bishop Dudley was born and raised in the city of Richmond, and a Sunday-school scholar in the "Monumental Church."
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cally connected with this diocese has been removed by death.'
" But how different the report I must make to you to-day ! We had hardly adjourned, and while most of us were on our way to our homes, the Rev. Chas. W. Andrews, D. D., rector of Trinity church, Shep- herdstown, who had been arrested by sickness in Fredericksburg on his way to the council, after a most faithful and useful ministry of forty-three years,. on the 24th of May, 1875, ceased from his labors, and entered into the rest which remaineth for the people of God. No words of eulogy are needed from me of one so well known, not only in our own diocese, but throughout our entire Church; and wherever known, so much admired for his superior talents, and loved for his devout and earnest Christian spirit. It is enough to say of him, that he ' fought the good fight, and finished his course, and kept the faith ;' and we doubt not has received the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, has laid up for all them who love His appearing.
" Dr. Andrews was followed, September 13, by the Rev. Mark L. Chevers, after a pilgrimage of four score years, more than fifty-one of which were faithfully spent, chiefly as chaplain of the United States army at Fortress Monroe, in the ministry of his Saviour, whom he loved.
" On the 1st of November, 1875, Rev. William C. Meredith, D. D., rector of Christ Church, Winchester, as noble and manly a Christian as one rarely meets with in this world, after several months' sick-
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ness, closed his ministry of more than thirty years, and calmly and peacefully departed to be present with the Lord.
The Rev. Charles E. Ambler, late rector of the churches in Middletown and Front Royal, was the next to follow. A purer and more lovable Chris- tian character it was never my privilege to know. I am not informed as to the day or month of his de- cease. He had been for many years in declining health ; but while the outward man decayed, the inward man was renewed day by day, so that when his change came, we doubt not, an abundant en- trance was administered unto him into the everlast- ing kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
"The Rev. John W. Magill, after a brief but faith- ful and promising ministry of little more than a year, as rector of St. John's Church, Petersburg, re- turned in broken health to his native Ireland, where, in his father's house, on the 19th of March, 1876, he died 'in the confidence of a certain faith, and in the comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope.'
"Thus, during the past year, five of our faithful and beloved presbyters have been called from the sweet toils and cares of the church militant to the glorious rewards of the church triumphant. They had diversities of gifts, but they were all sanctified and governed by the same Holy Spirit. When we call to mind their characters and their lives, we can- not but feel that in the loss of so many and such men we have been greatly afflicted. But ' whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.' Blessed be His
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holy name, we sorrow not even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so these dear brethren also, who sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him. We give Him hearty thanks for the good examples of all these His servants, who, having finished their course in faith, do now rest from their labors. And may it be the prayer and effort of our lives that, when our appointed work is done, we, with them, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in His eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- "But the greatest sorrow for the whole diocese was yet to come. Our beloved bishop, the Right Rev. John Johns, was stricken with sickness on 13th March, and after lingering with us amidst our hopes and our fears until midnight of 4th of April, he finished his course with joy, and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. His end was not only peaceful, but triumphant. God had given him for long and important service in His Church. His ministry extended through a period of within one month of fifty-seven years; the record of his abun- dant labors, as bishop and assistant bishop, during nearly thirty-three of those years, being spread on the pages of your journals. I can add nothing to what has been published by individuals, vestries, and other bodies in regard to the character and life and work of the dear departed. I will merely testify that he ever treated me with the kindness and con-
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fidence of a father. The better I came to know him, during my intimate association with him for nearly eight years, the more I admired him for his great and varied abilities, and loved him for his Christian virtues. But he has gone ! The place amongst us which so long knew him shall know him no more for ever. Surely his loss to me can never be repaired. May a double portion of his spirit rest on his unworthy successor, and may God's strength be made perfect in my weakness. May we, my dear clerical brethren, be enabled by the Holy Spirit to preach Christ as uniformly, as simply, and as ear- nestly as he preached Him; and may we all, minis- ters and laymen, receive grace to follow Christ as he followed Him. Lo, and what more can we desire! May we die the death of this eminent servant of God, and our last end be like his!"
Parochial report of Monumental Church, Rich- mond .- Rev. George Woodbridge, D. D., rector, and Mr. Peter C. Warwick, lay delegate to the council, held in Alexandria, on Wednesday, 17th May, 1876. Communicants, 248; contributions, $6,654.75.
Thirteen meetings of the vestry for the fiscal year, ending with November, 1876, were held. The first on the 13th December, 1875, when a very small de- ficit upon the current expenses of the church for the past year was exhibited by the statement of the treasurer. At the same time, a balance due for tin- ning the roof of the church, amounting to $525, was still unsettled. The treasurer estimates the income for
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the coming year at $4,825, and the expenses at $4,250. At this meeting it was determined in future, whenever marriages shall take place in the Monumental Church, that none should go in unless a card of invitation from the parties to be married was presented at the door. This regulation was made by St. Paul's and other churches, as well as the Monumental, owing to the improper conduct of many persons standing upon the seats, as well as other irreverent behavior. The thanks of the vestry at this meeting were re- turned to the rector and vestry of St. Paul's church, for their kindness in offering us the privilege of di- vine service by our own minister in the afternoon, for three months, while the painting and other re- pairs were going on in the Monumental. And it was ordered that the treasurer shall pay twenty-five dollars to the sexton of St. Paul's church for his at- tention to our congregation during the temporary period we used St. Paul's church.
The next meeting was an adjourned one, held on the 20th of same month, when the committee on the painting and repairs to the church during the past summer and fall made a report of the aggregate amount, so far as the bills had come in, for the work done, which amounted to the sum of $2,972.72. But the committee asked for further time to make a re- port more in detail as to the sum already paid to- wards the bills rendered, and also towards some work yet to do, and not embraced in the above; and the committee also wanted time to mature a plan for raising the money necessary towards the unpaid
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part of the bills rendered. The thanks of the ves- try were also returned to the ladies of the congre- gation, and the sewing society of the same, for the liberal sum contributed by them towards the deb just incurred.
The next meeting was on the 10th January, 1876, but a quorum was not present, and the meeting in- formal. The next was held on the 14th of Feb- ruary, but the rector was too sick to be prssent, and Mr. Thomas U. Dudley acted as chairman. The committee on repairs were not ready with any fur- ther report, and no other business was acted upon.
The next meeting was on the 13th of March, when the committee on the late repairs made a satis- factory report, giving in detail the cost of the work, both inside and outside of the building, aggregating the sum of $3,046.99. After deducting the amount already collected, and what is promised, the commit- tee say "that a balance only of $175.80 will remain due upon the late repairs to the church."
The vestry passed resolutions of thanks to the committee for the faithful and zealous course they had pursued in having the old church put in such complete and attractive repair. At this meeting it was determined that the resolution adopted at the meeting of the 13th December, in regard to exclud- ing all but those who had cards of invitation to the church upon wedding occasions, should be made public, as many persons had not heard of the regu- lation. A committee was also appointed at this meeting to make a proper distribution of the morning
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and afternoon Sunday collection of alms, and report to the vestry at a future meeting the result of their deliberation on the subject. The chairman appointed Messrs. Mayo, Meade, and Skinker as the committee.
The next was a called meeting, on Sunday even- ing, 2nd April, growing out of the death of our es- teemed brother vestryman, Mr. Thomas U. Dudley, (the father of Assistant Bishop Dudley, of the dio- cese of Kentucky), who departed this life on Satur- day, the 1st instant, after an illness of several weeks. A committee was appointed, (the rector as chair- man), and the following resolutions were presented, and unanimously adopted :
"Resolved, That in the removal of Mr. Dudley, after an association of twenty-five years as vestry- man, we realize the uncertainty of life, and the great necessity of diligence and faithfulness in the duties of our office.
"Resolved, That in his death we feel we have lost one who, by the amiableness of his manner and the kindness of his heart, had greatly endeared himself to us, his surviving companions and friends.
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