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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01092 5128
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ST. JAMES' CHURCH, 1829 Photograph by Francis A. Rugg, Arlington, Vt.
t. James' Episcopal Church
Arlington, Vermont
A sketch of the birth and growth of Saint James' Parish, the oldest parish in the diocese of Vermont, together with brief sketches of the lives of the bishops of the diocese and of the rectors of St. James' Parish
BY THE REVEREND GEORGE ROBERT BRUSH Rector from 1926 to 1939
- 188-8
Copyrighted, 1941, by George R. Brush
1386389
This book is dedicated to
EDWARD CANFIELD WOODWORTH
who for seventy years has been a member of this parish, for many years a chorister and vestryman, and for fifty years treasurer of the parish.
Contents
PAGE
APTER 1. A View of the Condition of the Episcopal Church in New England in Pre-Revolutionary Days .. ....
1
APTER 2. The Beginnings of the Episcopal Church in Arlington 9
APTER 3. How Two Bishops-Elect Failed to Become Bishops of Vermont
23
APTER 4. "Priest" Bronson: His Life and Work Compiled from His Historical Letters in the Gambier (Ohio) Observer (1829)
29
APTER 5. The History of the "Eastern Diocese" as related to the Church in Vermont before it became a sepa- rate Diocese 36
APTER 6. The Episcopate of the First Bishop of Vermont, the Right Reverend John Henry Hopkins, D.D., with Sketches of the Rectors During this Period 48
APTER 7. The Episcopate of the Right Reverend William Henry Augustus Bissell, D.D., with Sketches of the Rectors During this Period 59
APTER
8.
Contributions of Laymen to the Work and Ad-
vancement of the Parish
74
APTER
9.
Woman's Work in St. James' Parish
79
APTER 10. The Episcopate of the Right Reverend Arthur Crawshay Alliston Hall, D.D., with Sketches of the Rectors of the Period and of the Right Rev- erend William Farrar Weeks, D.D., and of the Right Reverend George Yemens Bliss, D.D., Coadjutor Bishops of Vermont 97
APTER 11.
The Episcopate of the Right Reverend Samuel
Babcock Booth, D.D.
126
APTER 12.
A History of the Glebe Lands of Vermont.
129
vi
ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
CHAPTER 13. A Brief History of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts as Related to Vermont
CHAPTER 14. St. James' Churchyard, by Horace Mills Abrams
CHAPTER 15. St. James' Parish at Present in the Episcopate of the Right Reverend Vedder Van Dyck, D.D., and under the Rectorship of the Reverend Philip T. Fifer
APPENDIX. Minutes of Vestry 1784-1803. List of Memorials Wardens of the Protestant Episcopal Society of Arlington and St. James' Church
List of Memorials in St. James' Church Incorporation of the Parish According to the Laws of the State of Vermont
The State Seal
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
St. James' Church Frontis Facing
Interior of St. James' Church
Birthplace of the Diocese of Vermont
Watkins' Memorial Reredos
Group of Bishops (1811 to 1930) Group of Bishops (1930 to 1941) Rectors of the Parish (1802-1864)
C
D
Rectors of the Parish (1865-1886) Rectors of the Parish (1886-1904)
0
Rectors of the Parish (1911-1941)
No pictures were obtainable of the following Rectors: The Reverend James Nichols, 1784-1788 The Reverend Russell Catlin, 1792 The Reverend J. M. Tappan, 1828-1829 The Reverend Luman Foote, 1833 The Reverend John Griggs, 1837-1838 The Reverend Alfred Taylor, 1905-1909
Bibliography
. Rev. Hugh Burleson, D.D .: "Conquest of the Continent."
alter Herbert Stowe: "The Life and Letters of Bishop William White." Morehouse Publishing Co.
e Rev. George Hodges, D.D .: "Religious History of New England." alter Herbert Stowe: Historical Magazine, "Documentary History of the Church." (June, 1936)
alter and Margaret Hard: "This is Vermont." Stephen Daye Press. menway: Vermont Historical (Magazine) Gazetteer.
e Rev. Frederick A. Wadleigh: Article on "The Episcopal Church in Arlington," Vermont Historical Magazine, Vol. 1.
in A. Graham: "A Descriptive Sketch of the Present State of Ver- mont, one of the United States of America" (1797) .
wart H. Holbrook: "Ethan Allen." The Macmillan Co.
e Churchman Magazine, 1805.
ırnal Centennial Convention Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese tispof Vermont, 1890.
1g
e Rev. A. H. Bailey: Address at Centennial Convention at Arlington n 1890.
nutes of the Clerk of the Vestry, St. James' Church, Arlington.
e late Charles Mampoteng, M.A .: "The New England Anglican Clergy in the American Revolution," Church Historical Magazine, December, 1940.
dison: "Life of Bishop Bass," Church Historical Magazine.
ague: "Annals of American Pulpit," Vol. 5, p. 195.
e Rev. Abraham Bronson: "Historical Letters," Gambier (Ohio) Observer.
lliam W. Manross: "Alexander Viets Griswold," Church Historical Magazine, March, 1935.
nvention Journal of the Diocese of Vermont, 1819, 1823, 1831, 1832, 1833, 1840, 1864, 1873, 1874, 1878, 1883, 1895, 1900.
e Churchman Magazine, 1870.
George A. Russell: Historical Letters and Papers.
1 0
IS f d ...
f
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ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
Thomas Hawley Canfield: Address at Centennial Convention at Arli ton in 1890 on "The Part taken by Laymen in the Work of Church."
John Spargo, Registrar of the Diocese: "Summary of History of Glebe Lands in Vermont," Historical Magazine of the Protest: Episcopal Church, June, 1936.
C. R. Batchelder: "The History of the Eastern Diocese."
Mountain Echo: "History of the Glebe Lands, by Bishop Hall, 1914.' The Rev. George Lynde Richardson, D.D .: "Arthur C. A. Hall, Th Bishop of Vermont." Houghton Mifflin Company.
Kenneth Roberts: "Oliver Wiswell." Doubleday, Doran and Co.
Herbert Wheaton Congdon: "Old Vermont Houses." Stephen D. Press.
Foreword
THE birth of the Episcopal Church in Arlington preceded by at least fifteen years the entrance of the State of Vermont into the ta* Union.
For this reason and also because of the important part which the early neers of this parish shared in the spread of the Episcopal Church in mont, as well as in its own activity and development, the importance permanent record of the history of this parish becomes self evident. the purpose of this book has been to examine the records of the parish of the diocese and other historical material available and to give a iew of some of the important events that have happened in this par- during its life of over one hundred and fifty years.
Da The author is conscious of his shortcomings in being unable to pre- t in this volume many sidelights of human interest, such as the bear- of current political events on the religious life of the people; a more mate picture of the social life of the people of those early days which hronicled would doubtless prove most fascinating.
These records are made in a prosy and sometimes commonplace fashion compendium of facts and figures in which are woven some of the es and aspirations of our Fathers in God who have guided our people the past days of stress and storm as well as in the brighter days of sperity.
n this work of compilation and research the author wishes at this e to acknowledge the valuable help of the following friends and ghbors:
Ars. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Miss Sarah Cleghorn, Dr. George A. sell, Mr. Edward C. Woodworth, Mr. Charles H. Crofut, Miss Her- ne Canfield, the late James Ross Roberts, Mr. Horace M. Abrams, ose chapter on the "St. James' Churchyard" adds much to the in- st of the volume, and the Rev. W. J. Brown, of Manchester. One the primary objects of this history has been to present a permanent ord of the lives and personalities of the rectors of this parish who de such valuable contributions to its stability and high standard ng the parishes of the diocese.
t is the hope of the author that this book may find its way into the hes of all the parishioners and that it may become the means of in- ing them to a greater loyalty to God and His Church as they read the faithfulness and the perseverance of those Christian men and nen who helped to build and maintain the household of God in this ish and community.
GEORGE R. BRUSH.
Arlington, Vt., August 1, 1941.
lin
Introduction
X HERE would students of Vermont history be, if it were not for the town histories written by Vermont clergymen? Over and over, in the middle years of the 19th century, they were e ones who, before it was too late, gathered up the informally set wn records and oral traditions of our towns to preserve them in print. It is something to be thankful for that the Reverend George Robert ush of our parish of St. James, has been moved to follow this tradi- on-but to our good fortune, very much in the modern way, that is, ith a scholarly responsible accuracy quite different from the urbane gueness of a good many of the early and mid-nineteenth century nateur American historians. Mr. Brush has painstakingly checked all cts recorded in this history. Anything which is reported herein as ct is accurate, as far as can be ascertained by Mr. Brush and Dr. Rus- 1, our skilled and informed local historian.
Yet he has by no means limited himself to facts of ascertainable pre- e factual accuracy. That would have made a very dull book. Local al tradition has been called upon for human color and general atmos- ere, and this greatly helps to round out the record of one aspect of r town's life during a century and a half.
We, in Arlington, whether members of St. James parish or not, are oud to have this faithful history written by an honored member of r own community. We can see it, as it will stand in the future, on e shelves of libraries, in the work-rooms of people interested in our ermont history, in the history of the Episcopal Church, in American story. We see it taken down and consulted to verify some detail of ich Mr. Brush perhaps did not dream when he was writing. We can sh other parishes, other towns, no better fortune than to have some- e who belongs deeply and fully to the community, go and do likewise.
DOROTHY CANFIELD FISHER.
CHAPTER ONE
A View of the State of the Episcopal Church in New England in Pre-Revolutionary Days
[
HERE were various reasons why the Episcopal Church made slow progress in New England in Pre-Revolutionary days.
Puritan rule was intolerant of anything Pro-British, and as Epis- pacy was associated in the mind of the Puritan with aristocracy, hier- chy, oppression and ecclesiasticism, from which the Puritans had ide their escape to take refuge in a new land, and to build a religion fettered by the rule of bishops, it took an exhibition of fine courage : American Episcopalians to face this hostile atmosphere, and to seek plant and foster the Episcopal Church in America in accordance with doctrine, discipline and worship of their fathers across the sea. Bishop Burleson in the "Conquest of the Continent," says that in ose early colonial times the Episcopal Church was looked upon by a at many people as the Church of good-for-nothing baggage which : British left behind.
The feeling aroused against the jurisdiction of bishops in New Eng- id a century and a half ago is illustrated by the following story told Bishop Perry, formerly Presiding Bishop, at a service in Philadelphia February 1937, commemorating the one hundred and fiftieth anni- sary of the consecration of the Rev. Dr. William White and the Rev. . Samuel Provoost to the Episcopate :*
"In a Puritan home in Rhode Island the head of the family was read- ; the news one morning. He looked up for a minute and said: 'I am ry to tell you that I am not to be with you long.'
"His family were startled and asked, 'Why?' He said: 'I am to be ng.' That was news to them and they still waited for an explana- n. He said: 'I have just read that they are going to send a bishop this country, and when that day comes, I shall be at the landing to ot him, and that means that I shall have to pay the penalty.'"
This prejudice against bishops was probably not carried to such an ex- me in all sections of New England as this story would suggest, but
"Life and Letters of Bishop William White," by Stowe.
2
ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
Dr. Hodges in the "Religious History of New England"* states t. these antagonistic views were shared by some conservative minds. ] example: John Adams said that "the objection was not only to the of of a bishop, though that was dreaded, but to the authority of Par ment on which it may be founded."
"There is no power less than Parliament," he said, "which can cre bishops in America. But if Parliament can erect dioceses and cre bishops, they may introduce the whole hierarchy, establish titles, est lish religion, forbid dissenters, make schism heresy, impose penalties tending to life and limb as well as to liberty and property."
This opinion was approved by many Churchmen particularly in South. As late as 1785 the clergy and laity of South Carolina agr to meet in convention with their brethren of other states only on c dition that they should not be compelled to have a bishop.
A bishop was pictured in their minds as a domineering sort of pers having his residence in an episcopal palace, from which he emerged o to go about on a coach drawn by four horses.
The Revolution which effected a complete political independence the Colonies, made a great change in this situation, so that in Ma 1783 when the independence of the United States had become est lished the first steps toward the consecration of a bishop were made ten clergymen of Connecticut who elected Samuel Seabury to go England to seek Episcopal consecration. On his arrival in England Seabury sought in vain for consecration by the bishops of the Chu of England, but went to Scotland and was consecrated by the bish of the Scottish Church on November 14, 1784.
Thus for a period of 180 years no Episcopal acts were exercised the colonies. Confirmations were omitted and the ministry was cruited either by missionaries sent from England by the Society for Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts or by men from the colo. sent to England for ordination.
The difficulties of this method were serious owing to the peril: crossing the sea and the expense involved in this journey of tl thousand miles.
But though the interruption of the normal functions of the Chu was a great impediment to its growth, it is a matter for gratitude 1 through the faith and perseverance of Churchmen bishops were fin secured and thus the apostolic order of the Church was preserved.
The progress of the Episcopal Church in this period was made d cult also by the attitude of prejudice and opposition on the part Puritans and Separatists to the Liturgy and forms and ceremonies of Book of Common Prayer.
* "Religious History of New England," by Hodges, pp. 232-233.
3
PRE-REVOLUTIONARY CONDITIONS
estive and unhappy as they had been in England by the Acts of formity of Parliament, and by ecclesiastical ceremonies which they acterized as the usurpings of popery, the Puritans came to New land impelled with the conviction that they would be "forever free 1 ecclesiastical tyranny."
owever, the pendulum was to swing in the other direction. In ing for religious liberty they trespassed upon the rights and liberties thers.
shop Perry says ("Life and Letters of Bishop White") : "The first t to make his way through the wilderness of New England as a gee from the Puritan rule of Massachusetts described it well when uid: 'I came indeed to escape the tyranny of my lords, the bishops, now I find myself bound by the greater tyranny of my lords, the hren.' "
n the other hand Governor Cranfield of New Hampshire wrote to and to express his humble opinion as a Churchman, "That it will osolutely necessary to admit no person into any place of trust, but as will take the Sacrament and are conformable to the rites of the rch of England."
his was in effect a proposal to overthrow Puritan control and to put s place the discipline and authority of the Church of England.
ecent historians give a very different view of the Loyalist during Revolutionary period from the which has been generally held .*
ish ccording to this view it was the Loyalist, not always the Patriot, believed in maintaining the government by orderly processes; and erag the Loyalists a goodly proportion were governed by the highest as or ves, and ranked as people of the finest type of integrity. Both list and Patriot deprecated the policy of England in inflicting op- lonive measures on the Colonists; but the Loyalists, a large proportion hom were members of the Church of England, were well disposed il rd England, while the Patriots had no good word to say for Eng- to, and were suspicious of those who spoke in her defense, and who ht to conciliate the Colonists and England by appealing to their of fair play and tolerance.
e fin nfortunately it has happened many times in the history of the ich that there have been waves of intolerance, and that no ecclesi- al groups or reformers on one side or the other have escaped from Infection of the bias of the group.
ar tritans and Churchmen were quite wide apart in their codes of be- of our, the one holding under its ban all amusements and frivolities, other regarding the Christian man as functioning more normally
Kenneth Roberts in "Oliver Wiswell."
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ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
when free to indulge in recreation and amusements within the li of Christ's law.
For example," Thomas Morton, an Englishman who came in 162 Quincy, Rhode Island, with a group of Englishmen and settled an Puritans, was criticised by his Puritan neighbors, who declared Morton and his friends not only made no contribution to religion, rather, they said, to irreligion.
The occasion for this judgment was the fact that when Morton ( to Quincy he combined the custom of reading the prayers accordin the rubrics of the Prayer Book, with a code of behaviour which offensive to his more sober neighbors.
Of Morton the Puritans said: "He kept Christmas with much tivity and worshipped the Roman goddess Flora by leading his ho hold in a merry dance about the May-pole."
Of the Prayer Book they said: "The Book of Common Prayer, 1 poore thing is that, for a man to reade in a booke? No, no, good I would you were neere us, you might receave comfort by instruct give me a man that hath the guiftes of the spirit, not a booke il hand."
In expressing his opinion of Puritans Morton says: "I found two of people, the one Christians, the other infidels. These I found full of humanity and more friendly than the other."
Because of Morton's reference to the human kindness of infide was accused of setting up a "School of Atheism."
John Fiske says that this accusation was probably based on the that he "used the Book of Common Prayer."
Another case is cited by Dean Hodges showing the temper of times.
"Reverend John Lyford, an Episcopalian, came from England pointed by the men who financed the Plymouth Colony to be past a Separatist congregation in Massachusetts.
"For an Episcopal clergyman to be pastor of a Separatist congreg was most unusual, but the matter was delicate because the colony financially dependent upon the English company.
"The new pastor to all appearances sought to conform to the ide his congregation. But it transpired that he had written to the men in England who financed the colony letters that were critical of religious opinions of his congregation.
"The outcome of the matter was that the governor of the colony covered that Lyford was recruiting followers to set up a public me apart, and 'have the sacraments,' as they expressed it.
* "Religious History of New England," by Hodges.
5
PRE-REVOLUTIONARY CONDITIONS
This discovery was followed by the trial of Mr. Lyford and his fol- ers for schism and sedition and they were sentenced to expulsion."* n addition to the adverse attitude of the majority of Separatists and w Churchmen to the establishment of Episcopacy in New England their intolerance of the use of the Prayer Book, there was another tor which impeded the growth of the Episcopal Church. This was fact that during the growing popular feeling in the colonies for ependence of the claims of the Crown, anyone who was Pro-British regarded with suspicion.
The position of clergymen and laymen of the Anglican faith was efore one of extreme difficulty, for though many of the signers of Declaration of Independence were Churchmen and George Wash- con was himself a Churchman, the Church of England was the ther Church and many Churchmen felt that they should be loyal to Thus as a rule the plain people in the churches were Patriots, but the dens and their families and the clergy who were closely linked to Church of England were generally Loyalists.
ein 1775 the Rev. Ramea Cossitt, Rector of the Church at Ports- 1th, New Hampshire, wrote as follows to the Society for the Propa- on of the Gospel in England:+
I have constantly kept up public services without any omissions for King and the Royal Family and likewise made use of the prayers fide the High Court of Parliament and the prayers used in time of wars tumults.
the The number of my parishioners and communicants in Claremount icreased, but I have been cruelly distressed with fines for refusing r ofrely to fight against the King.
In sundry places where I used to officiate the Church People are landndled away, some have fled to the King's army for protection, some pasta banished and many are dead."
le added: "I have been by the committee confined in prison in the n of Claremount since April 12, 1775; yet God has preserved my from the rage of the people."
t St. John's Church, Providence, the Rector "was pleased to absent self from duty, though very earnestly requested to keep up the wor- saying he could not as prayers for King George were forbidden."t the minute book of the Vestry of Christ Church, Boston, Dr. ges says in his chapter on "Episcopalians" in the "Religious History New England," that there are two blank pages between the sixth of ember 1774 and the third of March 1779.
Religious History of New England," by Hodges, p. 208. Religious History of New England," by Hodges.
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ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
On the second date the Rector was desired to prepare a proper f of prayers for Congress for the several states, and for their "succes the present important contest," to be used daily in the Church.
During the Revolution such prayers were used in Trinity Chu Boston, by the Rev. Samuel Parker, and in consequence the parish been maintained.
"In Connecticut," says Dr. Hodges, "there were only fourteen E copal clergymen at the end of the war, and they were subject to ill-will of their patriotic neighbors.
"Churches had been destroyed or plundered and defaced, some British soldiers and some by patriots.
"Some of the clergy had fled, some had been imprisoned, some been mobbed.
"The Rev. Abraham Beach, D.D., in the course of a bold ser against rebellion, had been fired at by an aggressive parishioner; mark of the bullet is still to be seen in the moulding board of church at Redding."
Mr. Walter Herbert Stow, in an article in the Historical Mage entitled "Documentary History of the Church" (June 1936) refe. important letters of the Rev. Abraham Beach, D.D., from 1768 to 1 to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. December 1, 1772, Dr. Beach speaks of the general prosperity of Church in America before the war of Independence, and of the gro spirit of self-help among the people. This condition, however, soon to be changed by the war.
He also refers to the fact that the Society's missionaries were gi regular ministrations to negroes as well as white people.
A letter of July 2, 1778 indicates the increasing difficulties of Church in the midst of the war; the missionary's unwillingness to promise with his oath of allegiance to the King; the necessity of ing the Church as a consequence of this unwillingness; and his scientious ministrations of visits, baptisms, marriages and buria spite of this handicap.
In another letter on October 2, 1790, he says that there is a gro concern on the part of the more spiritually-minded laity due to the sation of public worship; and owing to his perplexity between fideli his ordination vow and his desire to lessen the growing evils by ope the Church for public worship, he pleads for counsel.
About the time that Mr. Beach was re-opening the Church for ices a letter was on its way from Dr. Chandler representing the So for the Propagation of the Gospel, stating the opinion of the eccles cal authorities of the Church of England on this subject.
7
PRE-REVOLUTIONARY CONDITIONS
In this letter Dr. Chandler says: "I need not tell you how much I ap- elve of your conduct in shutting up your church, as soon as you were ( suffered to make use of the Liturgy in its full dimensions.
Your backwardness to open it, when urged by your people, and hused by other cogent reasons, until you knew the mind of the Society, qually commendable.
The state of your case and that of the Connecticut clergy, I pre- ed to the Society and to the Bishop of London.
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