USA > Vermont > Bennington County > Arlington > St. 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 > Part 2
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Though they did not choose to give a formal answer, yet they au- cized me to assure all parties concerned that, under the present situa- of affairs, the use of the Liturgy, with omitting the prayers for the g, provided others for the Congress were not substituted in their :e, would not meet with their censure or disapprobation.
The Canons of the Church must for the present give way to the non of Congress.
In the meanwhile an honest man will not give up his principles; and le he is not able to fulfil the letter of the law, he will be careful not ounteract the spirit of it."
gother letters give evidence of the distress of missionaries who, like fetch, stayed by their posts.
l 'hey were confronted on the one hand with loss of financial support s.In their congregations, and on the other hand with the rise in the cost of ving.
ro Ir. Beach was impelled for the sake of his family to ask for an in- r, se in his stipend, which was granted by the Society.
: was a dark period for the Church, with the general religious in- erence, the high taxes, and the consequent lack of support from the le.
Ir. Beach continued faithful in prayer and labor during this trying ofod, and lived to see (1828) in this country a reconstituted and self- offerning Church.
is .s to the manifestations of political and religious intolerance which rialled so important, though so unhappy a part in the pre-revolutionary od in New England, the flight of years has to a large extent softened allayed them.
thethe bitter prophesies of ecclesiastical tyranny that were uttered in est against the introduction of Episcopacy into the religious life New England may be viewed as having but little, if any, justifica- in the light of the present recognized position of our bishops in country as leaders in civic and moral reforms.
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he American Episcopate is democratic, not monarchical. The strug- lesktor Episcopacy was worthwhile for had there been no Episcopacy e could have been no real Episcopal Church.
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ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
Our Bishops in those early days, White, Seabury, Provoost and Ca gett, were like the pillars of a permanent structure.
They were outstanding leaders in a time of great difficulty, and it 2 through their wise and far-seeing counsels that the Episcopal Churchin the United States emerged from a state of well-nigh extinction, anca grown to be, through her heritage as both catholic and protestar Media Res among the religious bodies of our land.
CHAPTER TWO
The Beginnings of the Episcopal Church in Arlington
RLINGTON is the birthplace of the Episcopal Church in Ver- mont. People are always being asked where they were born, and as a rule are proud of their birthplace. It is because we are proud rlington's traditions and of its important place in Vermont history it becomes of great interest to know that it was the seat of the lishment of the Anglican faith in Vermont.
hen people arrive at maturity they like to think of their childhood and to recall what their parents did to help to assure their future ıre.
it will be interesting and profitable to make a survey of those days to make mention of those people and of those events which were ;roundwork of the life and activities of this venerable and honored 1.
le village of Arlington proper has but two churches at the present St. Columban's Roman Catholic (1875), with 342 members, and ames' Episcopal Church (1784).
West Arlington, where once in the early years of the last century was an Episcopal Church called Bethesda, there is now a Methodist 1 which was established about 1894.
East Arlington there are two churches, the Olivet Congrega- 1 (1843), with 126 members, and the Methodist (1859) with a bership of 75. From 1813 to 1840 the Baptists had a society h numbered about 80 members. However, during the first years of the life of Arlington, the Episcopal Church was prac- y a Community Church.
is is a very unusual fact, as in most rural communities in New und, by reason of its Puritan or Separatist ancestry, the traditional ous training has been in Congregationalism or Methodism.
e early settlers in Arlington were not, of course, all Episcopalians; were no doubt, as is the case now in all communities, indifferent igion or definitely irreligious. However, there is reason to believe they were a company ninety percent of whom were in the strength
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ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
of young manhood, and that a goodly proportion of them were E copalians who had migrated from Old England to New England, no be Puritans, but to carry on their Anglican faith and traditions.
In some places, notably Stowe, St. Johnsbury and Montpelier, records show that there was in the early days of their settlements opf tion to the building of a church. The people were interested in build schools and libraries, but not churches.
Dorothy Canfield Fisher, a descendant of Nathan Canfield, on the early pioneers, has suggested that the lack of zeal in the above c munities for the Church and religion arose from the fact that they come from sections in New England where Puritan and Calvin teaching had impressed upon people the somber and severe side of and these young settlers, coming to a new land, were yearning for a that would be free from those restraints and inhibitions which repelled them.
They were perhaps like the truant from school, who conscious o: wrong, yet takes delight in his stolen liberty.
But the settlers of Arlington, many of them, brought their reli with them, and they were devoted to it because the Anglican was tal that religion is not necessarily a somber thing, that there is room for the expression of human nature in wholesome recreations and am ments.
In a most worthwhile book, "This is Vermont," by our neigh Margaret and Walter C. Hard, is the following tribute to the early tlers of Arlington:
"I've always been proud of those early settlers of Arlington," I "You know they tired of the rigid Calvinistic religion of their no bors in Connecticut who criticized them for their frivolity, and so came up here and brought their Church of England with them."
"Yes," she added, "and I've heard what they wanted especially to be free to celebrate Christmas and Easter and May Day, and wanted to dance too. I'm as proud as punch of those people.""
The town of Arlington was chartered by Gov. Benning Wentw provincial governor of the Province of New Hampshire, with his mission from the King, July 26, 1761.1
Governor Wentworth exercised jurisdiction over territory now State of Vermont, as being a part of his province.
He issued about one hundred and thirty-eight charters grat lands in this state in the King's name. The charters give the loc of the land and the various provisions of the grant.
* "This is Vermont," by Margaret and Walter C. Hard. Published by the Stp Daye Press.
+ F. A. Wadleigh in Vermont Historical Magazine, p. 122.
BIRTHPLACE OF THE DIOCESE OF VERMONT
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Among the provisions the following is found in most of the charters tied: "To His Excellency Benning Wentworth, Esquire, a certain Act of land to contain 500 acres as marked B. W. in the plan, which so be accounted two of the within shares; one whole share for the In- :porated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; je share for a Glebe for the Church of England as by law established; je share for the first settled minister of the Gospel; and one share for :: benefit of a school in said town."
It seems to have been the good fortune of Governor Wentworth to we been allotted these two shares in each township presumably as a ad of perquisite for his office. In these days such an allotment would ¿ characterized as a form of graft.
The proprietors were a body of men named by Governor Wentworth 1.o participated in each allotment of the Grants in every section of the ite and who met together to make proper division of the lands which re awarded by lot.
They had the whole management of the laying out of the lands, each vnship being six miles square. They were a board of Land Agents.
At a meeting of proprietors held September 10, 1762, in Pownal, vrmont, John Searl was appointed Moderator and Issac Searl, John rl, William Searl, Stephen Davis and Simon Burton, a committee to : out the township of Arlington and parts thereof into lots, that is, o lots to each proprietor's right, one of one acre and one of one hun- Id acres.
Gideon Searl and Ebenezer Wallis were appointed to attend the said nmittee "to make camps, to take care of horses and cook."
It was voted to raise four dollars on each proprietor's right to defray charges of laying out the town and to clear roads.
At another meeting June 1, 1763, at the house of William Searl it is voted "to give a bounty to the first ten settlers that settle in this wn in one year."
What was Arlington like at this time?
It is extremely difficult to project one's mind back one hundred and fenty-five years and visualize the appearance of Arlington in embryo. The Rev. Frederick A. Wadleigh, Rector of this parish from 1844 to 54, writes in Hemenways Historical Gazetteer:
'Inasmuch as the settlement (Arlington) now for the first appears have acquired an independent and permanent existence, let us pause al consider its general appearance.
'A few hardy pioneers had overcome the obstacles presented by an broken wilderness.
'A rude road north and south, had been constructed passable for an team. The town was covered with a dense forest. In a small clear-
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ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
ing north of the present Arlington village, where perhaps the trees w : not originally quite so thick as in other localities, were a few log hous inhabited by the Searl's (John, Issac, Gideon and William Searl we among the proprietors of the town as stated above), and their familie
Dr. Simon Burton, one of the committee appointed to lay out : town of Arlington, lived in a house near the Reuben Andrew proper Ebenezer Wallis (who was appointed to attend the committee to me camps, take care of horses and cook) lived on the place known as Benjamin property.
A family named Peck had a house about three miles north of present village where Mrs. Eliza Brownson now lives.
What these "houses" were like and how they were built is told i a series of letters entitled "A Descriptive Sketch of the Present State f Vermont, one of the United States of America" published in London 1797 by John A. Graham, a Rutland lawyer who had been sent to E - land as an agent of the Episcopal Church.
This is his description of taking possession of a new settlement:
"When any person fixes upon a settlement in this quarter of e country with the assistance of one or two others, he immediately about felling trees proper for this purpose. These are from one to 10 feet in diameter, and forty feet or upwards in length, as best suits e convenience and wishes of the builder.
"When the branches are lopped off, and a sufficient number of is are prepared, blocks are cut for the corners.
"The largest four of these are placed in a square form, upon a Sd foundation of stone. This done, the logs are rolled upon blocks, above another, until the square becomes about twenty or twenty- e feet high. The rafters are then made for the roof, which is coved with the bark taken off the trees, and placed lengthways from the rid with a jet sufficient to carry off the rain.
"The interstices in the body of the hut are filled up with mortar me of the wild grass chopped up and mixed with clay.
"When the outside is thus completed one of the corners is cho within where some flat broad stones are fixed for the fireplace, wita small opening directly over it for the smoke to ascend through, d which also serves to give light to the inhabitants.
"Here large fires of wood are constantly kept burning (in wij) both day and night) so that scarcely anything can be imagined nel comfortable and warm than this large apartment.
"Around the walls and in the corners are the beds, and sometis those of the young men or women are elevated on lofts made of r ers, laid across from side to side with a flooring of bark over them.
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THE BEGINNING IN ARLINGTON
F'In this manner is an abode furnished spacious enough to accommo- okte twelve or fifteen persons, and which often serves for as many years wtill the lands are entirely cleared and the settlers become sufficiently liulent to erect better houses.
'Three men will build one of these huts in six days."
e Of the first company who came to Arlington, this name being given monor of Lord Arlington, these named above appear to have been the sty permanent settlers; others were either discouraged by the prospects hardships and privations, or they were speculators who after locating fbir claims went elsewhere.
Again Mr. Wadleigh relates that in the spring of the next year 1764, I infant settlement was reinforced by a number of families from atwwtown, Connecticut, as follows: Captain Jehiel Hawley, and his lot thers Abel, Josiah and Gideon; Phineas Hurd, Issac Bisco, Samuel Ejums, Ebenezer Leonard, Zaccheus Mallory, Thomas Peck, James Ime and Remember Baker from Roxbury, Connecticut.
: At a Proprietor's meeting May sixteenth, 1764, Captain Hawley was sen Moderator, and it was voted that he have the care of public ts.
rom 1765 to 1780 the following persons, mostly from Newtown and v Milford, Connecticut joined the settlement:
Justin Seele, David Watkins, George Oatman, Daniel Oatman, Caleb if ton, Josiah Dayton, Eliakim Stoddard, Zadok Hard, James Hard, 'id Crofut, Captain John Grey, Lemuel Buck, David Buck, Daniel tritt, George Mitchell, Pitman Benedict, Nathan Canfield, Israel Can- a al and others. Many of the descendants of these settlers have their es here now, notably, the Hards, Crofuts, Bucks, Canfields, Bene- Yys and Hawleys. These people from Newtown, it is recorded, had be- OVijed to the congregation of the Rev. John Beach, who from a Con- flerationalist had become a Churchman in 1732, carrying a large part is former congregation with him.
rr Ir. Beach in a letter dated October, 1743, says that his people were d, both for using the Book of Common Prayer and for not attend- cheIndependent worship.
witt: was natural that as men not identified with the Church or religion h, capt to rebel against the "standing order," the people of Newtown ild have given their sympathy to the Anglicans.
wi [r. Beach's congregation grew so strong that in 1762 he reported d me hundred communicants out of one thousand church people.
lowever, it was far from satisfactory for a church to be obliged to neti ship under the ban of the recognized authorities.
f these families, therefore, both to improve their fortunes and to secure em themselves the privileges of worshiping God in peace, left their na-
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ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
tive state for the New Hampshire Grants and purchased their lands good faith.
Jehiel Hawley was the outstanding leader among the settlers at A. ington. He was a captain in the militia from the town of New N ford, and was annually chosen lay reader of the Episcopal Church Roxbury, Connecticut. As he was also one of the citizens who " deeply devoted to the welfare of the Church of England in this r. country, it is well here to speak particularly of the qualities of this n and the reasons for his important connection with this history.
Captain Hawley was counselor, spiritual leader and friend. His ci interest was shown by the following instances recorded by the R A. H. Bailey in his centennial address at Arlington in 1890:
"The early settlers first of all needed an assured means of livelihc and the proprietors offered a portion of land to anyone who would est lish a grist mill.
"Remember Baker accepted this proposition and made arrangem‹ to set up a grist mill.
"However, since there was some delay and the people had become- satisfied, Captain Hawley gave his bond that a grist mill would be up by a given time.
"There were certain proprietors named in the town charter resic in New Hampshire and Massachusetts who objected to the amount taxes assessed for defraying the expenses of surveying the town making public improvements.
"In the autumn of 1765 Captain Hawley was appointed 'agent to to Boston and elsewhere if he think proper, on the proprietor's busin He fulfilled his mission satisfactorily, purchasing the rights of tl who remained dissatisfied."
The Churchman Magazine published in Connecticut in 1805 "Although much encumbered with many things, Captain Hawley not forget 'the one thing needful,' but with unrelenting zeal for Master's glory and the salvation of his fellowmen, he commenced worship of the Church at Arlington upon settling there, and with blessing of God upon his unrelenting and pious labors he so spread doctrines of the Church that until the time of the Revolutionary almost the whole town consisted of Episcopalians."
"Soon after the settlement of Captain Hawley in the State of ' mont a dispute arose between the State of New York (another colo and Vermont concerning certain titles and claims to land compreher in the bounds of the latter, the right to which could not be ascerta but by submission (of the question) to the King of England .*
* "Hawley Records," by Elias S. Hawley, published 1890 in the Library of the mont Historical Society.
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THE BEGINNING IN ARLINGTON
"""Vermont sent two representatives, of whom Captain Hawley was be and James Breckenridge the other.
"To blacken the character of the New Hampshire Grants and intimi- ate their agents, some people in New York were very active, but their orts did not succeed.
"'In England Captain Hawley was treated with the most flattering nrks of respect by some of the first characters and by the Earl of Ertmouth in particular; and such was the estimation in his judgment ad opinions held by the copartners of the agency that they would not : without his cooperation, and by his efforts chiefly were the Vermont cims substantiated.
(The result of the negotiations was that an order was issued by the Eng forbidding the Governor of New York from making grants of ww lands already patented by New Hampshire (Wadleigh, in Historical [zetteer, Vol. 1).
'After his return from England Captain Hawley continued Reader the Church in Arlington, but for the heinous crime of loyalty to his wereign he was apprehended and committed to Litchfield jail, from wich through mediation of his friends and the fame of his character, aving obtained his liberty, and not knowing any asylum where he mild be safe, necessity obliged him to join the army of General Bur- gyne, who was then on this side of Lake Champlain, and who appointed an President of a Board of Examiners to ascertain who were and who are not, loyalists among his prisoners.
'Before this Board of Examiners persons were frequently brought Ro were not loyalists to whom Captain Hawley was always wont to bw every indulgence compatible with his office, even though his co- utors were of a different opinion.
'His language used to be: 'Man is a free agent. The question be- een America and the Mother Country is not decided. Today these n are in our power, tomorrow we may be in theirs. That mercy we uld receive from our enemies is certainly due to such as are in our uds. Let it be known that we are Christians, whose duty it is to be rciful and to forgive our enemies.'
'Such had been his conduct that after the capture of Bourgoyne (one the Articles of Capitulation being that those who had not taken up hs might go to Canada) those very people who had so much vexed h before, now invited him to return with them to Arlington. But e to his purpose, he undertook the journey to Canada, but died at lburne, Vermont.
'Thus ended the life of this truly great and good man, a man to Som Daniel's characterization may not unproperly be applied, "that net enemies could find no fault in him, except that it be found concern- his God."
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ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ARLINGTON
The following record is made in the parish register:
"The parish of Bethel Church (now St. James') was organized ir . by Jehiel Hawley, who was Lay Reader until 1772, and during his . sence (in England) from the fall of 1772 to 1773 services were co- tinued by his son Andrew."
Inasmuch as Jehiel Hawley died in 1777 the parish must have b organized before that time, and it is probable that the date of organi tion was sometime before 1772.
Captain Hawley built the first framed house in Arlington. It 15 situated a short distance south of the railroad station. This was whe the services of the Church were held. It was the birthplace of Episcopal Church in Vermont.
During the period of Captain Hawley's religious activities in Arli ton, much interest was shown in his efforts by the clergy of Newto 1 and New Milford, Connecticut, by reason of the fact that many Chu: 1 families in Arlington had emigrated from these towns.
The Rev. Frederick A. Wadleigh in his history of Arlington relas that the Rev. Gideon Bostwick, of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, al the Rev. Daniel Burban, of Lanesboro, Massachusetts, parishes that. rived their origin from the parish in New Milford, Connecticut, ca ? to visit Arlington often to administer the Sacraments.
Mr. Bostwick who was a missionary of the Society for the Propa tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, made eight distinct visits to 16 part of Vermont within the years 1772 and 1789 and appears to h. been the main dependence for official services during that time.
The Rev. A. H. Bailey in an historical address at Arlington in 18 spoke of the fact that this parish was indebted to quite a number clergymen in neighboring districts for their pastoral ministrations.
The Rev. Samuel Andrews, Missionary of the Society for the Pro gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to Wallingford, Connectic made a journey of three week's time and to five different towns, in the different governments, preached six lectures and baptized twenty-ne children. "The two remotest towns I visited," he said, "were Allin ton and Sunderland, (1767) *. The settlers have been in Alling !! three or four years. I am the first clergyman that has been amc them. However, I found that they had constantly attended the serve of the Church, at the house of Captain Hawley, and he has read pray® for them ever since they have been settled there, by which means a see of religion is preserved among them.
"Captain Jehiel Hawley, who lives on the spot, one of our co munion, and a gentleman of unblemished reputation and a good und
* This spelling of Arlington is in the original text.
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THE BEGINNING IN ARLINGTON
sinding would willingly accept the office of agent for the Society for ite Propagation of the Gospel if it were deemed advisable.
s "Allington is happily situated to be the seat of the mission. There are onw twenty-two families in Allington, and better than twenty more tat could conveniently attend church there."
Mr. Bailey states that in the next year 1768, the Rev. Richard Mans- feld, a missionary of the same Society to Derbe, Connecticut, made a " e journey as far north as Pownal, Arlington, and Manchester, preach- iz and baptizing thirty-six.
Again in 1769, the Rev. Harry Monro, the Society's Missionary to St. Weter's, Albany, came to Arlington and baptized twenty-one persons.
In these early days people from Sandgate, Sunderland and other ghboring settlements were included in the parish of Arlington, and Fore the days of a settled minister the designation "parish" is not to to- understood in the modern sense as having definite boundaries and hufisdiction with its parish officers and committee but rather a company Christian people, not too well informed about Canons and Rubrics, el'd the details of Church government, but desirous to maintain divine s, #vice and to educate their children in the principles of Godly living.
at At the first Convention of the Church of Vermont at Arlington in ca190, the Rev. James Nichols who was the first Rector of the parish rached the sermon and the Rev. Daniel Barber, of Manchester, read pa prayers.
o The delegates from Arlington were Zadok Hard, Nathan Canfield, beleb Dayton and Luther Stone.
Sandgate was represented by Abraham Bristol, Elihu Andrews, Seth 18 stol and Enoch Basset. These men were the prominent men of these bero communities.
The descendants of Zadok Hard mentioned above are numerous and Projhost all have remained identified with the Church.
ctic Among them were the Rev. Anson B. Hard, once a Rector of the thish, the Rev. Dr. Coit, and his brother of Concord, New Hampshire, y-rels of Dr. Coit once Rector of Arlington; Miss Sarah F. Hard, Mrs. IF rence Hard Bevis and Mrs. Fanny Hard Buck who now have their inguones in Arlington.
am After the death of Captain Hawley the services of the Church had serøn held irregularly, but in 1784 the inhabitants were strongly of the rajnion that a church and ministry were necessary for the welfare of a sek community.
The Episcopal Society was organized in 1784 under the name of hel Church.
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