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HISTORIC CHURCHES OF AMERICA

The Old South Church, Boston, Massachusetts

HISTORIC CHURCHES
or AMERICA

BY
NELLIE URNER WALLINGTON
INTRODUCTION BY
EDWARD EVERETT HALE

NE-W YOHH
DurriELD ca, company
I907

COPTBIGHT, 1907, Br
DUFFIELD & COMPANY

Published September, 1907

CONTENTS

Introduction ......
The Old South Church, Boston .
The first Protestant Church in America, James
town, Virginia ....
St. Peter's, Whitehouse, Virginia

The Old North Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire 17
Trinity Church, Wilmington, Delaware ... 20
King's Chapel, Boston ..... 26
The First Presbyterian Church, Elizabeth, New
Jersey ....... 32
Zion Reformed Church, Allentown, Pennsylvania . 35
St. Anne's Protestant Episcopal Church, Burlington,
New Jersey ...... 38
St. Michael's, Marblehead, Massachusetts . . 40
Gloria Dei, Philadelphia ..... 44
"Old North," Boston  47
The Old Tennent Church, Freehold, New Jersey . 50,
St. George's, Hempstead, Long Island . . . 52j
Trinity Church, Newport, Rhode Island . . 55
St. Anne de Beaupre, Quebec, Canada ... 58
The First Dutch Reformed Church, New York City . 62
Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia . 65
Church of the Pilgrimage, Plymouth, Massachusetts 70
St. David's, Radnor, Pennsylvania ... 73
The Old Dutch Church, Albany, New York . . 79
First Church, Hartford, Connecticut ... 82
Catedral de la Virgen Maria de la Concepcion,
Havana ....... 87
Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia ... 90
St. George's Church, Newburgh, New York . . 94

PAGE xi 3 8
14

vi CONTENTS PAGE
St. Luke's, Smithfield, Virginia . . ,. .98
The Reformed Nether Dutch Church, Schenectady,
New York .....
San Carlos Borromeo, Monterey, California .
Queen Anne's Chapel, Fort Hunter, New York
Dutch Reformed Church, Kingston, New York
St. George's Church, Schenectady, New York .
The Quaker Meeting House, Flushing, New York
St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn ....
Dutch Reformed Church, Newtown, Long Island
The Old Palatine Church in the Mohawk Valley
— Center Church, New Haven, Connecticut
St. John's Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Trinity Church, St. Paul's, St. John's, St. Mark's
New York City ....
Christ Church, Bennington, Vermont
The Old Ship Church, Hingham, Massachusetts
Caroline Church, Setauket, Long Island .
The Roman Catholic Cathedral, The City of Mexico
The Presbyterian Church, Southampton, Long Island 163
The First Congregational Church, Dover, New Hamp
shire ......
San Xavier del Bac, Tucson, Arizona
The Dutch Reformed Church, Herkimer, New York
The First Church of Christ, Saybrook, Connecticut
Christ Church, West Haven, Connecticut
Trinity Church, Fishkill, New York
San Jose de Guadalupe, San Jose, California .
St. Peter's Church, Albany, New York .
First Dutch Reformed Church, Fishkill, New York
Christ Church, Philadelphia
The Old Dutch Church, Tarrytown, New York
St. Paul's Church, Norfolk, Virginia
First Dutch Reformed Church, Flatbush, Long Island 209
The Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania . 218

101106
114118 121125128 131135
138 142
145151
153 156159

166 171
173176 179
185 189194197
200 203
206

CONTENTS vii
PAGE
Old Jerusalem," Portland, Maine . . . 222
225 228

St. Paul's, East Chester, New York
First Congregational Church, Salem, Massachusetts
The Mormon Tabernacle and Temple, Salt Lake City
Utah 
St. George's, Philadelphia ....
St. Michael's, Charleston, South Carolina
St. Andrew's, Richmond, Staten Island .
Old Mission Church, Mackinac Island, Michigan
First Presbyterian Church, Newark, New Jersey
San Miguel Church, Santa Fe, New Mexico

231284238244 248253257

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The Old South Church, Boston . . Frontispiece FACING PAGE
Ruins at Jamestown, Virginia .... 8
The Old North Church, Portsmouth, New Hamp
shire . . . . . . .18
King's Chapel, Boston ..... 26
Zion Reformed Church, Allentown, Pennsylvania . S6
St. Michael's, Marblehead, Massachusetts . . 40
The Old North Church, Boston .... 48
St. George's, Hempstead, Long Island . . .52
Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia . 66
St. David's, Radnor, Pennsylvania ... 74
First Church, Hartford, Connecticut . . .82
Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia ... 90
St. Luke's, Smithfield, Virginia . . . .98
San Carlos Borromeo, Monterey, California . .106
The Quaker Meeting-house, Flushing, Long Island . 126
Center Church, New Haven, Connecticut . .138
Trinity Church, New York City . . . .146
The Old Ship Church, Hingham, Massachusetts . 154
The Roman Catholic Cathedral, the City of Mexico . 159
The First Congregational Church, Dover, New Hamp
shire . . . . . . .166
The Dutch Reformed Church, Fort Herkimer, New
York  174
Christ Church, West Haven, Connecticut . .179
San Jose de Guadalupe, San Jose, California . 190
St. Peter's, Albany, New York ...... 194

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
l-ACING PAGE
Christ Church, Philadelphia . . . . 200 ¦
St. Paul's, Norfolk, Virginia . . . .206
The Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania . 218
St. Paul's, East Chester, New York . . .226
The Mormon Temple and Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Utah  232
St. Michael's, Charleston, South Carolina . . 238
First Presbyterian Church, Newark, New Jersey . 254
San Miguel Church, Santa Fe, New Mexico . . 258

INTRODUCTION
One does not go back in any study of the local
history of any part of the United States without
finding himself engaged in ecclesiastical study,
or in what is generally called the history of re
ligion. Indeed, this is of course when we consider
how closely the discovery of America followed
the invention of printing. For the history of
America becomes contemporary with the history
of that revolution in ecclesiastical aifairs which
we call the Reformation, which was in itself the
immediate result of the invention of printing.
Thus the life of Christopher Columbus is the life
of a devout religious man. When you come to
his motive, even in details where you would
hardly expect it, you find tokens of his loyalty
to the religious thought and instruction of his
time. Mrs. Wallington's book, which I introduce
cordially to the reader, will trace in some detail
the first steps which were taken in diflFerent parts
of the nation by persons of distinct religious mo
tive who had exiled themselves from Europe and
who meant to maintain their allegiance to the
living Gk)d. In those emigrations, which were

xii INTRODUCTION
distinctly made because the emigrants wanted a
closer walk with God, the great results have been
worthy of their origin. Nobody who knows what
he is talking about pretends to say that in the
birth of every European colony here a religious
motive was the only motive. But this is certain,
that in every colony which as it grew made any
important contribution to the life of the America
of to-day, the religious training of the colonists
is to be the subject of the first study.
The Island of Puerto Rico, the latest addition
to our territory, has our oldest monuments of
European or Christian civilisation. The Spanish
settlement at St. Augustine, Florida, was made
as early as 1565. The settlement in Santa Fe
in New Mexico was begun perhaps even earlier
than that of St. Augustine. But in 1680 the
Indians, whom they had reduced to slavery, re
volted, drove out the Spaniards, and burned their
churches and archives. The present city of
Santa Fe dates back to the year 1692. Of some
of the earliest of these settlements of tlie six
teenth century, the existence was so short that
we have not even the ruins of their places of
worship. Sir Walter Raleigh sent out his North
Carolina Colony in 1584. Doubtless those set
tlers maintained religious worship on Roanoke
Island. But there are hardly any vestiges of
their short-lived occupation. Before that time,
the Spaniards had attempted to colonise the

INTRODUCTION xiii
western shore of Chesapeake Bay. But by a
singular turn of the wheel of fortune, on which
perhaps the history of the world changed, the
winter proved to be one of exceptional severity.
Those men who were used to the West Indies
and to Spain could not bear its severity and so
soon as the ice left their rivers the Spaniards pre
pared to remove to a gentler climate.
WhUe England had a paper claim, or after
wards pretended that she had because of Cabot's
discovery of the eastern coast of the United
States in 1496, the English sovereigns made no
attempt to take possession of the continent on the
Atlantic side before the enterprise of Raleigh.
On the Pacific side Drake had planted a cross
and taken possession of northern California in
the name of Queen Elizabeth as early as 1579.
But meanwhile, in the interior, the Mexican
Viceroys had pushed up as far as Santa Fe.
In the early years of the seventeenth century
the Frenchmen had established fishing settle
ments which outlived the winters, in the regions
which surround what we now call by the name
which they gave them, Mount Desert and
Frenchmen's Bay. But Mrs. Wallington can
give us no account of the ruins of their churches,
for we do not even know where they were. In
1602 the Earl of Southampton sent the Concord
along the New England shore, and for a few
[weeks her captain, Gosnold, thought he had es-

xiv INTRODUCTION
tablished a settlement on Cuttyhunk Island, at
the opening of Buzzard's Bay, in Massachusetts,
But it was but a short-lived colony. Doubtless
there were Sunday services there, but there was
no church, and with early autumn the colonists,
who had quarrelled among themselves- returned
to England.
In the year 1607, under a charter of King
James the First, what is known as the Popham
Colony was established near the mouth of the
Kennebec River. Worship was maintained there
for the few months of its existence. But no man
knows where was the altar which was established
for so short a time.
With the arrival of Captains Newport and
Smith in the James River and the establishment
of Jamestown, which we are celebrating in this
year 1907, begins the history of Christian wor
ship conducted regularly by Englishmen for
three centuries.
With the varied history of the Spanish foun
dations, of the arrival of French Huguenots in
Carolina and in Florida, then the settlements at
Roanoke Island and Jamestown, afterwards the
establishments of the Dutch in Manhattan, with
the subsequent arrival of the Puritans in New
England, of the Swedes in the Delaware, of
Penn on the west bank of that river, with the
settlements of French pioneers in Detroit and
Vincennes, and with their later establishments in

INTRODUCTION xv
Louisiana, with Oglethorpe's colony in Georgia,
the history of organised Christianity in the
United States goes forward until the close of the
eighteenth century. Since that time, emigrants
have arrived here from almost every climate, of
all faiths and of none. The Russian Doukho-
bor, the Congo negro, the coolie from China, the
Nestorian from Mesopotamia, with a hundred
others, bring their varied contributions to the
religion of America.
Antoine Las Casas, a soldier in the marine
service of Spain, accompanied Columbus in the
great voyage which has given such distinction to
the year 1492. His son Bartholomew, who won
the great distinction of being the first Christian
missionarj'' who devoted himself to the service
of the Master in America, was completing his
studies at the University of Salamanca. In 1498,
at the age of twenty- four, he went to the West
Indies with his father under Columbus. He re
turned to Cadiz in 1500. In 1502 he sailed for
the second time with Columbus for San Do
mingo. In 1510 he was ordained priest by the
first bishop of Hispaniola, and he said his virgin
mass in the capital city.
The first Dominican monks under their bishop,
Cordova, reached that island in the same year.
" We shall find," says Dr. Ellis, " that the Do
minicans were from the first and always firm
friends, approvers, and helpers of Las Casas in

xvi INTRODUCTION
the hard conflict for asserting the rights of hu
manity for the outraged natives." And it is, as
Dr. Ellis says, " One of the strange phenomena
in history that the founders and prime agents of
the Inquisition in Europe should be the cham
pions of the heathen in the new world."
In 1561 the King of Spain determined that
no further attempt should be made to colonise
the continent north of Cuba, either in the Gulf or
at St. Helena. But the very next year a colony
of French Huguenots founded Charles Fort un
der Ribault, and for four years that colony
maintained itself. In 1565, however, the Span
ish commander Menendez resented this inter
ference, attacked the French fort, and stormed
it. In 1565 the Frenchman de Gourgues re
sented and revenged this success by an invasion in
which he destroyed the little post and hanged his
prisoners, "not as to Spaniards," he said, "but
as to traitors, robbers and murderers." But in
the next year Menendez renewed the colony
which maintained itself until the village was de
stroyed by Drake. It was rebuilt, however, and
dates from 1572, as the oldest of American cities
on the Atlantic seaboard.
The careful reader of the history of the United
States will learn from Mr. Fiske's admirable ac
count of the early history of Virginia how the
establishment of English settlers in the regions
of Virginia was due to the religious as well as

INTRODUCTION xvii
to the political determination of Raleigh and his
English successors. The hatred of Spain to
which their generation of Englishmen was bred
became a matter of religion. The young noble
men and gentlemen of England who went cor
dially into the affairs of American colonisation
worked under impulses not unhke those which
stimulated the young students of WiUiams Col
lege, when they highly determined to consecrate
their lives to the conversion of the heathen.
One of the last words addressed by John
Robinson, the minister of the Plymouth Colony,
expressed his interest in the work of Christian
Missions. " I wish you had converted some of
them before you had slain any." With the ar
rival of John Eliot, a young Puritan preacher
from England, a definite and well-organised
missionary work for such conversion began. A
society was formed of religious men in England,
to raise money and to send out men to America.
It still exists in London. It is not fair to say
that it was unsuccessful. And between that time
and this, the history of all the American States
gives us details of the work of consecrated men
and women who have addressed themselves spe
cifically to this Christian duty. Eliot himself,
was as is now well known, an accurate student of
language. He and his pupils translated the
whole EngUsh Bible into the language of the
Massachusetts Indians, and the English society

xviii INTRODUCTION
paid the expenses of printing and pubUshing
it.* The language of the Massachusetts chosen
for this translation belongs to the language of
the Algonquin Indians, the branch of their race
most widely dispersed in North America. The
Algonquin language was spoken by all the In
dians of New England, by those in Long Island
and on the seaboard so far south as North Caro
lina. An Indian from Massachusetts Bay would
have understood Powhatan or Pocahontas, or the
Delaware Indians, with whom William Penn
dealt, as well as a Spaniard understands an Ital
ian to-day. And at this hour an educated gen
tleman of the Ojibwa tribe, close by Duluth, can
entertain himself and his children by spelling out
the words of the Sermon on the Mount, not un
familiar to them, as they find them in Eliot's
Bible. As the European nations began to know more
and more of the Atlantic border of America the
missionary spirit showed itself in the effort of
hundreds of their enthusiasts to write on the
white paper which they found in a new land.
At the moment when persecution in Austria
distressed the Moravian brethren of Count Zin-
zendorf , General Oglethorpe and the other foun
ders of Georgia were able to offer them " f ree-
* A full and accurate dictionary of this important book by the
late J. Hammond Trumbull has recently been published.

INTRODUCTION xix
'dom to worship God " in the beautiful regions
which they had taken in hand. The establish
ment of Bethlehem, in the northern part of
Pennsylvania, by a Moravian Colony is another
of the enterprises, romantic from end to end,
which were undertaken by the Moravian fra
ternity. Before the century was over many re
ligious establishments, some now forgotten, some
prosperous under the free worship of American
life, established themselves in one and another
region under the auspices of Christian adven
turers. It would be a very little thing to invite the
reader to recall a few facts of external history in
the organisation of the different churches which
have formed themselves in the different origins
of America. Mrs. Wallington has not satisfied
herself with any such showman's exhibits of the
slides in the box of his camera. The history of
these churches takes us back — I may say of
course — ^to the great central duties to which their
leaders have addressed themselves in building up
the country. It is the history of the power of
the moral forces. Such is the phrase of people
who like to play with scholastic words. It is the
history which shows that the Power which makes
for righteousness is the supreme Power, which
makes indeed a new revelation of itself with the
passage of every century. Nowhere is that les
son more easily read than it can be read in the

XX INTRODUCTION
history of this nation, where, as I said, the good
God had white paper to write upon.
And it wUl be observed that the advance of
the country from century to century has not been
dependent, no, not in one single step, on the ex
ternal forms or methods of these churches.
Forms and methods have their place, so many
grains of sand torn up from one ocean-beaten
floor to be flung upon another. But the good
God does not reveal Himself in the form; His
kingdom comes as He speaks in the stiU, small
voice which was not in tempest, in thunders, in
lightnings, or in earthquakes.
Catholic, Huguenot, Lutheran, Calvinist,
Englishman, Scotchman, Irishman, German, or
Dutch, — whatever these settlers called them
selves, whatever uniform they chose to wear,
there were among them men who walked with
God, — or tried to. They loved justice, they
loved mercy, and they walked humbly with Him.
If they were tempted by merely rhetorical ex
pression to make clear to men what is this Walk
with God, they certainly failed. If they sup
posed that the Infinite Life could be revealed by
nominative cases and by verbs in any of the forms
of grammar, they failed. It proved that lan
guage is a matter of things. But every man who
accepted the inspiration of the Holy Spirit suc
ceeded. It is the fine phrase of WiUiam Brad
ford, which says of the men who landed on

INTRODUCTION xxi
Plymouth Rock, that they " agreed to walk to
gether." They did not prescribe any form of
worship, they did not attempt any hard and fast
definition in words of the Faith and Hope and
Love which are eternal. For the Infinite, be
cause it is infinite, cannot be defined. But they
walked together and they walked with God. So
He lent them His own omnipotence for their
success. As a single illustration of such success we need
not be afraid to cite the details of their deaUngs
with the native tribes whom they found here.
There has been a great deal of exaggerated mis
statement as to the relations of the white men
and the red men with each other. And it is easy
to sneer at the European emigrant as driving
very hard bargains when he bought principalities,
perhaps, for a few red coats or a few axes, with
a few beads and other trinkets. From such
sneers there springs up a school of invective
which would make us believe that the American
pioneers were more savage than the red man
whom they crushed, and that the chUdren of na
ture were cruelly oppressed by men who sought
simply their own profit or credit. Such sneers
have undoubtedly for their confirmation legends
which are true of the exasperating outrages com
mitted by frontier traders or other adventurers
who were utterly careless of human Ufe.
But it is not true in any single instance of the

xxu INTRODUCTION
history of the American States that the govern
ors or leaders of those States have had any poUcy
of extermination or any wish of oppression.
Such leaders had come here intending to stay.
Such leaders have stayed, and because they have
stayed, for better for worse, the United States
of America exists to-day. But they had no
reason to propose the destruction of the native
races, nor has any company of them ever at
tempted the policy of destruction. If such an
alliance as King Philip formed in New England
proposed and expected to drive the newly-landed
colonists into the sea and to destroy their towns,
those colonists, one might say of course, had to
stand on their defence with no pretence of
gentleness in their vigour. If Lancaster were
destroyed by the Indians in Massachusetts we
are not to wonder if some Indian fortress were
stormed and the viUage it protected was burned.
But this happened, not because the Massachu
setts colonists meant to destroy the Indians.
There was room enough for white men and for
red men, and it is not fair to ascribe events which
sprang from the fortunes of war to a precon
ceived purpose of extermination.
No! The history of the three centuries is the
history on the part of the leaders of the whites
of attempts for the improvement and the civiUsa-
tion of the tribes whom they found here. Grant
that they seem foolish sometimes as we look back

INTRODUCTION xxiii
upon them, but the men who planned them did
not think they were f ooUsh. It is f ooUsh for us
now to pay rations or pensions which encourage
idleness and laziness among Indian tribes, but
the men who made the treaties which bind us to
such lavish expenditure did not think that they
were fooUsh, and did not make them with the
intent of debasing the men with whom they were
dealing. And to sum up in a few words what the poUcy
has resulted in which the Governors of America
have pursued with frequent changes, but with
good purposes, it ought to be enough to say, that
according to the best authorities, more men and
women of the native tribes are Uving within our
territory now than ever Uved here before. Their
powers for war and mutual slaughter are less,
their powers and skiU in the works of civilisation
are greater. And though one enterprise and an
other for what has been thought to be their eleva
tion and improvement have wretchedly failed,
yet, on the whole, the boy or girl born in an In
dian tribe in our day has a better chance for the
best which Ufe has to offer than such a boy or girl
ever had before.
And to speak in a few words only, I shaU best
introduce Mrs. WaUington's curious and inter
esting book to the Christian reader by reminding
him that although many outside forms of re
hgion are represented here the great success

xxiv INTRODUCTION
which makes the civUised America of to-day has
sprung from the practical union of the religious
men and women of every communion.
For it is to be noticed that with every aggres
sive enterprise against any of the works of the
devil or against the ignorance of a world which
has not Uked " to retain God in its knowledge,"
you find this central wish, — ^to walk together with
other children of God. You do not find promi
nent the expression of inteUectual opinion or a
reference to the history of the past. Whatever
the enterprise of reform which is undertaken,
whether it be in education, in temperance, in
bringing God to men and men to God more
closely, the men interested have wished " to go
about doing good." If they have had any creed
it was simply that they would proclaim on the
right hand and on the left hand that the kingdom
of God is at hand. They have been enthusiastic
in their Master's service. But they remembered
that the description of Him given by His apos
tles was that He went about doing good. They
remembered that His promises were given not to
the men who cried Lord, Lord, but for those
who remembered to do the things of which He
spoke. Mrs. Wallington's book expresses fitly what
we must hope that the twentieth century wiU
show to America, — namely, that the religion of
the twentieth century is to be a religion of action

INTRODUCTION xxv
rather than of historical expression. It is a re
hgion of man working with God and God work
ing with man. It wiU have less and less to say
about " I believe in this," or " I believe in that."
It wiU have more and more of that spirit in which
men will walk together, and that they wiU walk
humbly with their God. Edward E. Hale.

HISTORIC CHURCHES
OF AMERICA

THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH
BOSTON^ MASSACHUSETTS
MOST famous of all historic churches in
our country is, perhaps, the Old
South Meeting House in Boston,
within whose waUs in colonial and Revolution
ary times were spoken some of the boldest words
of patriotism, and from whose rostrum went up
the strongest of the appeals that fanned into
flame the fire that drove the British from
America. From the very founding of the Massachusetts
Colony there had existed a close union between
church and state; none could be freemen except
church members and none but freemen were
entitled to the baUot. Since the number of non-
church members increased annually, such a con
dition of affairs created more and more dissat
isfaction, and as early as 1646, twenty-six years
after the foimding of the Colony, a petition
was sent to the General Court asking a removal
of this religious disability. It is one of the
many glories of the Old South Church that it
originated this initial struggle to separate
church and state. The General Court de
clined to grant the petition of the non-church

4 HISTORIC CHURCHES
members, and finally an official council, which
met in Boston in June, 1657, declared that aU
baptised persons were entitled to the same privi
leges at the ballot-box as church members. In
1662 a General Synod was convened to discuss
the matter, at which the members failed to agree,
but recommended the continuance of the exist
ing conditions. The First Church of Boston,
an earlier organisation, accepted this recom
mendation, but twenty-nine of its members,
including the most respectable among the resi
dents of the city, seceded and formed a sepa
rate church organisation. In accordance with
the prevailing custom, it was necessary to gain
the consent of the church to such secession,
which, however, the church denied. Nothing
daunted, the secessionists asked permission of
the Governor of the State to erect a place of
worship, and, failing to obtain his permission,
they next petitioned the selectmen of Boston,
who granted their request. They accordingly
erected a meeting house of cedar, two stories
in height, with a steeple, and modest interior,
with the conventional high-backed square pews
and lofty pulpit of olden church times. Until
October 16, 1674, the wives, mothers and daugh
ters of the twenty-nine male members still wor
shipped with the First Church, being forbidden
by that organisation to sever their connection
with it. It was not until the General CouncU

OF AMERICA 5
decided that whom God had joined they had no
right to put asunder that the wives and mothers
rejoined their families. In this original church
Judge Sewall made public confession and
repentance for the part he had taken in the no
torious Salem witchcraft delusion. Another
interesting circumstance is that Benjamin
Franklin was baptised there in 1706.
On March 3, 1729, the last service was held
in this little structure, which was then demol
ished, to be replaced during the ensuing year
by a larger and more substantial edifice. The
waUs of the new church were of brick, laid in the
style known as Flemish bond. It was plain
enough in appearance on the exterior, but its
steeple rose to the height of one hundred and
eighty feet. Inside, the pulpit was of the huge
" tub " shape, raised aloft on a pillared base,
while above it the sounding-board was sus
pended. The long pews directly in front of
the pulpit were reserved for the use of the aged,
who might be hard of hearing. The elders occu
pied seats raised above the level of the rest of
the pews, and directly under them sat the
deacons. In 1740 came the " Great Awakening," under
the noted EngUsh evangeUst, George Whitefield,
when more than one hundred converts were
added to the membership of the Old South
Church.

6 HISTORIC CHURCHES
In 1745, during the French and Indian War,
after the EngUsh had captured Louisburg, the
French under Admiral D'AnviUe attempted to
retaliate by sending forty ships with the avowed
intention of destroying Boston. Realising how
greatly their little city was at the mercy of such
an enemy, the Bostonians called a mass meeting
for prayer and fasting in the Old South Church,
and while they were thus engaged, news was
brought of the utter destruction of the fleet hy
a storm at sea. This was the first mass meeting
in the Old South Church of which there is any
record, but from this time on meetings grew
in frequency as the acts of British oppression
became more violent. When Faneuil Hall over
flowed, the surplus of the crowd invariably ad
journed to the South Church, and on June 14,
1768, the largest mass meeting that Boston had
yet seen assembled there, Faneuil Hall being too
small to accommodate it. From that meeting
a petition was sent to the Governor, through a
committee of which John Hancock was chair
man, asking that the British frigate which was
obstructing navigation in Boston Harbour be
removed. It was after another meeting held
in the Old South, December 14, 1773, that many
of the first citizens of Boston dressed themselves
up as Indians and took part in the famous tea-
party in Boston Harbour.
During the winter of 1774-5, while the British

OF AMERICA 7
occupied Boston, the Old South Church was
used as a riding school for Burgoyne's cavalry
— the Queen's Light Dragoons. Pews, gallery
and pulpit were consumed by the camp fires of
the British, while one of the old pews with its
sUk hangings was converted into a pig-sty.
In March, 1776, when Boston was again in
the hands of the patriots, the South Church was
repaired and occupied once more for its proper
purposes. The Church gets its name of " Old
South " from the fact that in 1817 a new church
was built near the old structure and styled the
" New South Church."
In the great fire in Boston in 1872 when the
postoffice was destroyed, the government occu
pied the Old South temporarily, and from that
time on no regular services have been held in the
Church. In 1877 the women of Boston pur
chased the building to preserve it as a memorial,
appointing the CouncU of the Massachusetts
Historical Society its custodian.

8 HISTORIC CHURCHES

JAMESTOWN
THE FIRST PROTESTANT CHURCH IN AMERICA
A ROUND no landmark in our nation's his-
Zjk tory cluster feelings of deeper rever-
A, jL. ence than those surrounding the ruins
of the old Episcopal Church at Jamestown, Vir
ginia. Though the elements of nature have
apparently combined to blot the old church out
entirely, and, indeed, have left nothing but the
ruined tower, this stiU remains, a monument to
the religious feeling of the first English colonists
in North America.
The events that occurred during the first few
days following the landing of the colonists from
the good ship Susan Constant, at Jamestown,
Virginia, May 13, 1607, are of deep interest.
Immediately upon disembarking they elected a
president, under whose orders they built a fort
with the timber which they had brought with
them from England. While the unloading was
in progress a board was carried ashore and naUed
between two trees to answer the purpose of a
reading desk for divine service. Among the
branches of the trees overhead canvas was
spread, and under this rude shelter the first Prot-

J=a^J^s^:*" ^ri

Ruins at Jamestown, Virginia

OF AMERICA 9
estant service in America was held. The offici-
arting clergyman was the Reverend Robert Hunt,
and the service was that of the Established
Church of England. Until homes were erected
for the colonists and better shelter provided,
this rude temple with its canvas roof and seats
of unsawn timber , served as a place to worship
God, and here divine service was held twice on
each Sabbath day.
A few days after the debarkation of the colo
nists Captain John Smith set out on a voyage
of discovery, and until his return no attempt
seems to have been made to provide a more suit
able church building. After his return from the
exploration of the James River, with that strenu-
ousness that marked aU his procedures. Captain
Smith undertook the erection of a structure in
which the colonists might worship God with
greater comfort in stormy weather. He de
scribed this church as a "homely thing, like a
bam set on crutches and covered with rafts,
sedge and earth, as were also the walls." But
the dwelUng houses were similarly constructed,
and with even greater rudeness. In this new
" house of God " sermon and prayer were heard
daily, both morning and evening, two services
on each Sabbath, and communion every three
months, until the death of the Reverend Robert
Hunt. One special injunction had been laid by the

10 HISTORIC CHURCHES
London company upon Captain Smith, to make
a rigid exploration of every stream he found
that emptied into the Atlantic Ocean, with the
hope that a short route would be discovered to
the Pacific. Soon after the erection of the
" church upon stilts " he undertook another voy
age of discovery, and during this absence the
little church was destroyed by fire. Upon his
return Captain Smith was elected President of
the Uttle colony, and employing the authority
his new position gave him he commanded that
the work of building a domicile for himself,
which the colonists had planned and begun dur
ing his absence, he discontinued until a new
church had been erected. Under his personal
supervision this new church was nearing comple
tion when the wounds that he had received in a
conflict with the Indians compelled him to sail
to England for surgical treatment.
With the departure of Captain Smith the
more lawless among the colonists, whom his in
trepid spirit had so far kept in check, broke loose
in unbridled rioting. The Indians, too, no
longer coerced by his presence, and daUy in
flamed by the treatment accorded them, became
hostile in their attitude. Plantations were laid
waste, and provisions became so exhausted that
famine stared the colonists in the face. WhoUy
disheartened, they embarked for England, but
when they neared the mouth of the James River

OF AMERICA 11
they met Lord Delaware, bringing provisions
and reinforcements from England. Returning
to the former settlement, under the wise rule of
Lord Delaware they soon conquered the Indians
and held them in check, while the colony pros
pered under strict government. The little church
that Captain Smith had begun was finished, and
with wise forethought Lord Delaware employed
in its fitting and furnishings the choicest woods
that the Virginia forests afforded. The com
munion table and altar were constructed of black
walnut, while the shutters, the pews and the pul
pit were made of cedar; the baptismal font was
"hewn hollow like a canoe." Services were
again instituted, being conducted by the Rever
end Mr. Buckle, who had been sent from Eng
land to succeed Mr. Hunt. Daily service was
begun, and daily the little altar was decorated
with the native wild flowers of Virginia. The
Governor, Lord Delaware, never failed in his
attendance, and invariably appeared in the full
dignity of velvet and lace, with a bodyguard
clad in rich attire and scarlet cloaks.
A fuU-toned bell, brought from England, was
hung in the belfry, and not only served to caU
the colonists to worship, but gave notice to the
Uttle industrial army when to begin and when
to leave off work for the day.
In that little church, which owed its existence
to Captain John Smith, the Indian maiden, Po-

12 HISTORIC CHURCHES
cahontas, was baptised in the Christian faith in
AprU, 1614, and foUowing the ceremony her
marriage took place with the colonist, John
Rolfe, whose wife had succumbed to the hard
ships of the rude life in the colony. The mar
riage was celebrated in the presence of an amica
ble company of Indians and Englishmen. One
could wish that there were more details concern
ing this flrst marriage contracted between an
Englishman and a native-born princess of
America. How much weight this alliance may
have had with the Indians it would be difficult
to estimate, but at least the Virginia settlers
gained eight years of freedom from Indian
attacks. In 1639 a soUd brick church succeeded the
Uttle wooden structure, the dimensions of the
new edifice being fifty-six by twenty-eight feet.
In front of the new church building and joined
to it, forming the front entrance, was built a
square tower, reaching from the ground to the
full height of the edifice. By the time this later
building was completed the Virginia colonists
had obtained greater security from Indian mo
lestation. In the little adjoining churchyard
were successively buried the Governors of Vir
ginia who died in office, as well as the rectors
who in turn served the little parish.
In 1676 Nathaniel Bacon instigated the most
widespread rebellion with which Virginia had

OF AMERICA 13
yet had to cope. Bacon was a man bred to the
law, and by reason of his talents as well as by his
great ambition had easily gained a position in
the Virginia Council, not to mention attaining
the rank of Colonel in the Virginia militia. Re-
belUng against the authority of Governor Berke
ley, he advanced toward Jamestown, and civil
war — ^the first in America — ^resulted. In retali
ation for the dishonour he conceived was planned
against him by the act of Governor Berkeley
in placing a price upon his head. Bacon applied
the torch to Jamestown, reducing it to ashes.
Nothing remained standing but the ruins of the
little church tower and a few solitary, blackened
chimneys. No later attempt was made to erect a church
building upon this site, and even to-day the ruins
of the tower are picturesque in their desolation.
The wash of the tide has gradually removed the
sand that joined " Sandy Beach," the site of the
edifice, with the mainland, and the spot where
Jamestown once stood is an island which is grad-
uaUy being worn away. Unless sufficient pre
cautionary measures are taken, this first and
most ancient landmark of the Protestant Church
in America wiU disappear.

14 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. PETER'S
WHITEHOUSE^ VIRGINIA
THE character of the early settlers of Vir
ginia revealed itself in their houses of
worship, which differed materially from
the severely plain meeting-houses built by the
Puritans in New England. The churches
erected by the residents of the Old Dominion
suggested luxury and comfort, though money
was as scarce among them as with the settlers
further north. Among the Virginians tobacco
served as an equivalent of money, and when the
English settlers of New Kent County decided
to build a house of worship at Whitehouse, in
1703, they paid for its erection by contributions
of the fragrant weed.
The church of St. Peter's was built in the
form of a parallelogram. At one end rose a
tower, square in shape and capped with a steeple,
with a weather vane above, made in representa
tion of the keys of St. Peter. In architectural
style the church repeated the old English parish
churches, and doubtless recalled to the minds of
its earUer communicants the green fields and
weU-trimmed hedges of " merrie England."

OF AMERICA 15
Within the building the pulpit was raised high
above the heads of the congregation; above it
hung the ever-present sounding-board and upon
a bracket beside it stood the inevitable hourglass.
The communicants occupied family pews, a
practice which differed from that of many
churches further north, in which the men sat on
one side of the house of worship and the women
upon the other. In St. Peter's the individual
pews were of liberal dimensions and were pro
vided with the high backs in vogue at that time.
The communicants came to church from many
miles around, the family coaches bringing the
elders, while the younger members rode on horse
back. A gaUery was provided for the negro
slaves, who waited at the door in winter, each
with a foot-stove full of hot embers to keep
warm the extremities of his master and mistress.
Upon the arrival of the owners the slaves fol
lowed them to their respective pews, and only
after a careful placing of the foot-stoves did the
negroes think of seeking their own seats in the
gaUery. After service the good Virginians, always
a social people, collected in groups and passed
the time in friendly converse, while the negro
servants brought the riding horses and the
coaches round to the door.
Of such importance was St. Peter's Church,
not only spiritually, but socially as well, that it

16 HISTORIC CHURCHES
was selected as the scene of one of the historical
events of Virginia — the marriage in 1759 of
George Washington and Mrs. Martha Custis.
One can picture to one's self the pomp of such
a marriage, what with the wealth of the bride
and the high social standing of each of the con
tracting parties.
With such loving care and with so deep rev
erence has St. Peter's Church been preserved
that even the tides of war have left no marks
upon it; it still stands, meUow with past glory
and a quaint suggestion of antiquity, and regu
larly the communicants of the parish gather for
services in it each Sabbath.

OF AMERICA 17

THE OLD NORTH CHURCH
PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE
CONSIDERING the simple materials at
the command of its builders in 1657 one
must admit the first church building
erected in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to have
been a most substantial structure. It was, at any
rate, though crude and simple in construction
and comfortless in its interior, enough to answer
the requirements of the congregation for fifty
years, before they decided to erect a more pre
tentious house of worship. This they did in
1708, choosing the site upon another corner of
the church glebe.
In order to provide protection from Indian
attacks, the original Uttle meeting-house had
been placed on the hill only a few rods from the
south miUdam. It boasted a glebe of some fifty
acres, but had no regular minister, relying whoUy
on the services of traveUing missionaries. The
first ordained minister, the Reverend Mr. Moody,
entered upon his labours in 1671, and in addi
tion to regular services on the Sabbath, weekly
meetings were held at the houses of the members
of the church.

18 HISTORIC CHURCHES
The Uttle church was the scene of all town
meetings, and even its ledger was called into
requisition to record the number of wolves' heads
that were brought in for bounty. These heads
were nailed on the meeting-house door as sub
stantial evidence that the claimant was entitled
to his reward.
The Governor of the Colony, who was a
staunch Episcopalian, brought to bear against
the Congregational minister the provisions of
the Act of Conformity of King Charles II.
Governor Cranfield himself attended service in
the Old North Church, as it came to be caUed,
and personally investigated the matter, with the
result that the minister was sent to jail in 1683,
only to be released thirteen weeks later upon his
agreeing to leave the Colony. The blow that
thus fell upon the Reverend Mr. Moody was felt
most keenly by every member of the little con
gregation. He went to Boston to serve one of
the more enterprising churches there for ten
years, but his heart remained with the little flock
at Portsmouth, to whom he returned, finaUy, and
whom he served for four years more until his
death. From the time of the building of the new
church in 1708 the congregation desired a clock
and bell for their meeting-house, though not tiU
1749 were they able to accomplish their desire.
On March 25 the new clock was set up in the

The Old North Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

OF AMERICA 19
steeple, and its abUity to strike the hours proved
most gratifying to all the residents of Ports
mouth viUage. A bell, too, had been procured
and hung in the belfry.
In 1835 a still more modern house of worship
was erected, to which the bell, the clock, and most
of the furnishings of the old meeting-house were
duly transferred. The church was thoroughly
renovated in 1855, the alterations being so ex
tensive as to be practically a rebuilding. The
following year the parish purchased a modern
clock and sent the old bell to England to be re
cast, to the great regret of the congregation ever
since, as the vessel, with all its cargo, was lost
at sea.
The Old North Church has had a happy his
tory, escaping even from the turmoil and depre
dation that befel other houses of God during
the turbulent days of the Revolution. Few
churches in America show in their annals a
greater spirit of harmony among their members.
No schisms have arisen, and there has been a
steady growth in the even tenor of its way, undis
turbed by rivalries and dissensions.

20 HISTORIC CHURCHES

TRINITY CHURCH
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
WHEN William Penn came to Amer
ica he found colonies of Swedes
who, for half a century, had tilled
the soil of Pennsylvania and Delaware, as well
as of the Western shores of New Jersey. These
Swedish colonists were assisted in their emigra
tion by WilUam Uselin, who obtained from the
King of Sweden permission to found colonies
along the shores of the Delaware River. The
land was purchased from the Indians and the
first Swedish colony planted at the mouth of
Christina Creek in 1627. Here they erected a
small church to which all the settlers in the Swed
ish colonies at Lewistown and Tinicum came
for service including their governor, John
Prinz, who had built for himself a pretentious
mansion which he named "Prinz Hall." The
pew the governor occupied in the little church
was decorated to suit the pomp of the guberna
torial position. The settlers named their cluster
of colonies "New Sweden," stiU maintaining
allegiance to the Old World government.

OF AMERICA 21
The simple structure erected by the Swedes
as a house for divine worship served their needs
until 1699, when the building showed unmis
takable signs of decay, and amid the tears of
many of the communicants service was held in it
for the last time.
One year earlier, John Statcop, one of the
church wardens in the Colony, had given the
church a tract of land for a church site and a
glebe. On May 28, 1698, the erection of the
new church was begun, and by Trinity Sunday,
1699, it was completed. Upon this same Trin
ity Sunday the church was dedicated. The fact
that the building cost some eight hundred pounds
is sufficient evidence that these humble settlers
had prospered materiaUy since their settlements
upon American soil.
The dimensions of the new church, which was
built of granite, were sixty by thirty feet, and
the buUding rose to a height of twenty feet in
aU. In order to render it durable the stone walls
were made six feet thick at the foundation and
1;hree feet at the level of the windows. There
were five large arched windows, and arched
doors to give ample ingress and egress. In the
front waU of the church were inserted iron let
ters bearing the inscription:

22 HISTORIC CHURCHES
1698
SI DEUS PRO NOBIS, QUIS CONTRA NOS,
Sub. Imp. Reg. D. G. Aug.
WILL III
Prop. Will. Penn. Bice - Gub. Will
Magnif, Reg. Suec. Nunc, Glor. Nemor.
CAROL XI
Hue. Ablig.
E. T. B.
W. S.
P. L.
On the eastern gable is a Latin sentence
which, translated, reads, " The light arising
from on high shines in the darkness."
The church was consecrated with all solemnity.
Upon the following Christmas matins were
held, as well as upon Easter Sunday and the
Day of Pentecost. On each occasion the church
was garlanded and side lights were introduced
to add to the attractiveness of the event. These
additional lights were provided by pine torches,
which must have contributed to the excitement,
especially of those whose duty it was to watch
over them. A belfry was projected for the
structure, but it was not completed, and the
church bell was suspended, temporarily, from a
huge walnut tree which grew close by.
The pews were distributed according to serv
ices rendered in the erection of the building,
and not according to wealth or social rank. They
became also inalienable inheritances in the f ami-

OF AMERICA 23
lies of the original owners, descending from
father to son. They could, if need arose, be sold,
and, in case of the removal or dying out of a
family, reverted by law to the church.
Among the most highly prized possessions of
Trinity Church is a large eucharistic cup, to
gether with a paten and wafer box of silver,
which were sent out from Sweden in 1718 as a
gift to the parish. These are still regularly used
at communion.
In 1735 it was decided by the Swedish colo
nists that a town should be built upon the church
lands. Adjoining the glebe was an immense
tract belonging to an Englishman named
Thomas Willing. Master Willing gladly joined
hands with the church vestry in this undertaking,
and as the first house was erected upon his sec
tion of the town site, the name given to the
locaUty was Willingstown. Later, when the
viUage was incorporated, the name was changed
to Wilmington, in honor of the English earl.
After the death of the Swedish pastor, the
Reverend Mr. Tranberg, in 1748, the parish con
tained so large a number of English-speaking
members among the communicants that it was
decided to conduct each alternate service in
English. On April 16, 1750, a meeting of the parish
was called to consider the best method of
strengthening the walls of the church, which in

24 HISTORIC CHURCHES
spite of their three feet of thickness had begun
to yield under the heavy weight of the roof.
Through some oversight or lack of constructive
knowledge on the part of the builders, this roof
had neither arch nor beams, and there was noth
ing to bind together the upper portions of the
wall. The south waU was rebuUt and a new roof
was constructed. During these changes addi
tional windows were introduced to obtain more
light in the church.
In 1792, so much had the English-speaking
people increased among the communicants that
it was decided, after due deliberation, to adopt
the ritual of the Protestant Episcopal Church,
and Trinity Church of Wilmington sought and
secured admission into the Diocese of Delaware
of that denomination.
On May 28, 1899, the church of the "Old
Swedes " celebrated its second centennial. The
service brought together from many distant lo
calities the descendants of the original communi
cants, eager to show their reverence for this
visible link between the flourishing city of Wil
mington and the past.
In the churchyard lie the dead of many gen
erations, of almost every religious denomination.
Here, with the Swedish colonists who came to
America early in the seventeenth century, lies
the late Bishop Alfred Lee of the Episcopal
Church. Although most modest in his demean-

OF AMERICA 25
our and his pretensions, so ripe was his judgment
and so intimate his knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures that he was selected as a member of
the American Committee for the Revision of the
King James Bible. In the old Trinity grave
yard, too, Ue the remains of the Hon. Thomas
F. Bayard, who won for himself and for our
government such high esteem and praise during
his ambassadorship at the Court of St. James's,
to which he was appointed by President Cleve
land.

26 HISTORIC CHURCHES

KING'S CHAPEL
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
ON Tremont Street, one of Boston's
busiest thoroughfares, stands King's
Chapel, the first edifice of the Protes
tant Episcopal Church in New England, at the
laying of whose corner stone in 1749 Governor
Flurley of the Massachusetts Colony acted as
master of ceremonies.
The organisation of the parish dates from
May 15, 1686, when the British frigate Base
brought to Boston the Reverend Robert Rat-
cliff e, an established minister of the Church of
England, together with the members of a com
mission appointed by King James II. to preside
over the Church in America.
Soon after the arrival of these dignitaries they
asked permission of the three congregations then
owning' houses of worship in Boston to use their
church for service, a request which met with
a curt refusal. At last permission was grudg
ingly given for the use of a large room in the
east end of the town house, which occupied the
site of the present City HaU. This offer of an

King's Chapel, Boston, Massachusettb

OF AMERICA 27
nnconsecrated building failed to meet the appro
bation of those in authority in the Colony, and
on March 2, 1687, the new Governor, Sir Ed
mund Andros, sent a peremptory order to the
trustees of Old South Church to throw open
their edifice for Episcopal service. A committee
from this church caUed upon the Governor and
informed him that their church property did not
belong to the state, but to their individual organi
sation, and declined to accede to his demand.
Two days later, on Good Friday,, the Gov
ernor ordered the sexton of South Church to
throw open the doors forthwith and ring the bell
to summon people to worship. With fear and
trembling the sexton compUed and the Gover
nor with his staff attended service. Before the
recaU of Governor Andros in 1690, a small
chapel was built, but as to how the land was pro
cured or when the building was consecrated, no
records tell us. Some little description is ob
tainable of the buUding, however, which was
square in form, with a square tower at the west
end, while from the roof rose a staff supporting
a weather vane with an English crown just
below it. This is said to have been the fifth
house of worship erected in Boston.
When the news of the death of King James
IL of England reached America in 1702 the
little Episcopal chapel was draped in mourning.
It had never been named, and to celebrate the

28 HISTORIC CHURCHES
accession to the throne of Queen Anne it was
called Queen's Chapel. King James II. had
sent to the little chapel the Bible that is stiU in
use in the church, together with a valuable silver
communion service. Queen Anne sent over a
red silk damask cushion for the pulpit, surpUces
for the rectors and choir, and linen for the altar.
The communion rail was also a gift from Eng
land. Some years later a clock, presented to
" King's Chapel " by " gentlemen of the British
Society " in Boston, was placed in position with
considerable ceremony.
At the Easter service in 1703 a meeting was
announced for Whit- Sunday to consider the en
larging of the church building. A subscription
was raised and the work begun in 1710. The
chapel was practically rebuilt, being enlarged to
twice its former size. More than three years
were occupied in this work. In the remodelUng
of the interior the vestry stipulated that each
member should pay the cost of building his own
pew, a method which, since each pew holder con
sulted his own taste, resulted in a wide diversity
of styles.
Fronting the pulpit were two large, square
pews, one for the family of the rector and the
other for the use of the Governor and his staff",
together with any British officers who might be
stationed in Boston. Directly behind these were
two long pews, the front one being reserved for

OF AMERICA 29
the " Masters of the Vessels," and the one at its
back for eight old men of the parish.
The luxurious interior of the church con
trasted so noticeably with the rude simplicity of
the Puritan meeting-houses that this Episcopal
house of worship was regarded as a blot upon
the soil of Massachusetts. Its waUs were deco
rated with banners, escutcheons, and coats of
arms of the King of England and the Governor
of Massachusetts, as well as of the noble families
of England whose members occupied pews in
King's Chapel. On the east waU were painted
the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer and
the Creed. The pulpit was of the prevailing
style, being smaU, narrow and raised high aloft
above the heads of the congregation. On it
stood an hourglass in an elaborate brass stand.
When the chapel was reconstructed in 1710-13
the pulpit was moved to the " next pillar at the
easte, near the centre of the church."
In 1741 it was decided that the little chapel
was no longer big enough to accommodate the
parish, and a committee, of which Peter Faneuil
was treasurer, was appointed to secure subscrip
tions for a new church. By March, 1753, it
was found that King's Chapel was in too bad
repair for further use, and next month it was
demolished. The new building, whose corner
stone was laid by Governor Flurley in 1749,
was not quite ready for occupancy and the par-

30 HISTORIC CHURCHES
ish worshipped in the meantime with the mem
bers of Trinity Parish in their church edifice.
An organ purchased in Europe by subscrip
tions from members of the parish, and said to
have been selected by Handel, was installed in
the new church in 1756. In 1772, through the
influence of Governor Hutchinson, King George
III. presented to the parish an additional euchar
istic service of silver, and a new pulpit as well.
King's Chapel was regarded as the protege of
the English royal family, and became the fa
vourite place of worship among the officers of
the British army in Massachusetts^,
While the Continental troops occupied Bos
ton during the Revolution, King's Chapel was
closed. When it was again opened for worship,
the parish extended an invitation to the Old
South Church to occupy it until necessary re
pairs could be made to their own edifice, which
had been desolated by the British army. The
Old South Church members accepted the offer
and gathered in King's Chapel for worship for
nearly fire years.
In 1790 a colonnade was added to the west
end, or front, of the church building; the crown
and mitre were removed, and the Governor's pew
with its elaborate hangings gave place to two
simple pews of a smaller size. Except for these
alterations the interior of the building remains
as it was when Boston society and the rank and

OF AMERICA 31
file of the British army worshipped in it. The
exterior has seen no change since 1790. The
colonial feeUng of bitterness against King's
Chapel on the part of other denominations sub
sided gradually, and disappeared entirely when
the parishioners offered their church so promptly
to the members of the Old South.

32 HISTORIC CHURCHES

THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY
THE church organised by the Presbyte
rian settlers of Elizabeth, New Jersey,
enjoys the distinction of being the old
est EngUsh-speaking church within the bounda
ries of the State. Its first church building was
begun by the settlers of EUzabeth two years
after the necessary organisation was effected in
1664, a commodious and substantiaUy-built struc
ture that was in excellent condition at the time
of the Revolution — ^more than one hundred years
later. In 1760 an addition measuring some
twenty- four feet was made to the original buUd
ing. A gallery was also built, and a high steeple,
in which were placed the church beU and the
town clock.
There lived no more ardent adherent to the
cause of the Revolution than the pastor of this
First church, the Reverend James Caldwell,
who performed also the duties of chaplain to the
New Jersey regiments. His popularity among
both officers and men was unbounded and en
abled him to do valiant work for the Master

OF AMERICA 33
among all classes. He stood high in the confi
dence of General Washington, and was respon
sible by his hope and courage for much of the
reaction from the despondency that for a time
prevailed as to the final result of the war. Of
him Washington said, " No man in New Jersey
has contributed so much toward giving direction
and energy to the thoughts and movements of
her citizens."
During the Revolution the church at Eliza
beth became more or less of a centre around
which many skirmishes and engagements took
place between the contending armies. In the
course of one of these fights the Reverend Mr.
Caldwell, finding that the rounds of wadding
were running short, hastily brought from the
church copies of the hymn books and tearing out
leaves distributed them to the men, to be made
into wads for their guns, exclaiming: "Give
them Watts, boys! Give them Watts!"
The church also served the Continental army
as a hospital for the sick and wounded, and gave
its steeple as a watch tower, its bell sounding the
first alarm of an advance of the British.
With a pastor and congregation so united and
energetic in the cause of freedom, it is not re
markable that opportunity for vengeance should
have been sought by the enemy. On January
25, 1780, the church was fired by an emissary
from the British ranks and utterly destroyed.

34 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Not content with this, the English succeeded in
kiUing both the pastor and his wife, first one
and then the other being shot in ambush. They
left behind them six children, who were cared
for tenderly by the congregation. The last rest
ing place of this " fighting parson " and his wife
is the graveyard about the church they both loved
so well, where they did such noble work for both
their country and their God.
For several years after the destruction of their
church the Presbyterians worshipped in a large
storehouse temporarily fitted up for the purpose.
The war had left many of them almost ruined
financially, but soon after peace was established
and their finances improved, the subject of buUd
ing a new house of worship was taken up with
vigour. So earnest were the members in their
determination to build a new church that funds
were not found lacking, and by 1791 the congre
gation was again housed. The present building
still in use, and the centre of many endearing
reminiscences, is the structure then raised, and,
occupying the site of the original church, is one
of the most interesting objects to aU visitors to
Elizabeth.

OF AMERICA 35

ZION REFORMED CHURCH
ALLENTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA
THE earUest settlers in and about Allen
town, Pennsylvania, came from Smtzer-
land or the Palatinate, and were members
of the Reformed faith. Hence, the earlier
history of Zion Reformed Church is largely
identified with that of Allentown. Indeed in
the same year that the town was founded, 1762,
the founders built a log house for a place of wor
ship, using it also as a schoolhouse for many
years. The present church stands just in the
rear of the site whereon this log house was
erected. The congregation early showed great wisdom
in the selection of pastors who should, in serving
them, advance also the cause of the church in
that part of Pennsylvania, and from the begin
ning prospered well. In 1770, by permission
of Governor Penn, there was a goodly collection
of funds for the erection of a new church build
ing, and two years later, on June 25th, the corner
stone for this second church was laid. The new
church was buUt of stone, at the then consider
able cost of about fifteen hundred dollars.

36 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Some years later, during the Revolution, the
church served as sanctuary and place of refuge
for the famous liberty beU. When the British
occupation of Philadelphia became inevitable
there was great fear lest the bells of Christ
Church, and the "Liberty BeU" in Independ
ence Hall, might faU into the hands of the
enemy and be melted into cannon. To avert this
fate, made probable by the number of Tories
in the city, some of the patriots of the town,
keeping their own counsel, quietly loaded the
bells on waggons and hauled them from the city
up into the mountain districts where loyalty
was unquestioned. When they reached Bethle
hem, with its State hospital for the Continental
Army, one of the waggons broke down under its
load, but rather than conceal the bells there, the
location of the hospital being known to the Brit
ish, the rescue party urged itself on to Allen
town. Here, under the floor of Zion Reformed
Church, the bells remained hidden until the War
was over.
As the population and wealth of Allentown
increased, this old stone church became less
suited to the comforts of the larger and more
prosperous congregation, which in 1838 laid the
comer stone of a more modern structure, and on
the 7th and 8th of June, 1840, completed it and
dedicated the edifice to the worship of God.
Until that time services had been rather inter-

Zion Reformed Church, Allentown, Pennsylvania

OF AMERICA 37
mittently held, but from now on the congrega
tion enjoyed a minister of their own, and serv
ices were given alternately in the German tongue
of the Fatherland, and in the English of the
new country which the worthy members had
adopted.

38 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. ANNE'S PROTESTANT
EPISCOPAL CHURCH
BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY
ON Lady Day, March 28, 1703, the cor
ner stone of the venerable church of
St. Anne, in Burlington, New Jersey,
was laid by the Reverend Doctor Talbot, the
rector of the parish, and the first service was held
in it on August 22 of the same year, before the
building was finished. The church records show
that the first communion celebrated within its
walls was upon the following Whitsunday.
The name given to the new parish and church
seems to have been a matter of considerable dis
cussion. The first rector spoke of it always as
" St. Mary's," in honour of Queen Mary of
England, the wife of William of Orange, and
many of his parishioners, staunch adherents to
the cause of King James II., agreed in regard
ing his daughter Mary as the rightful sovereign
to honour. They would not countenance the
name of St. Anne for their parish, since they
regarded Queen Anne of England as an inter
loper and usurper of the throne. As years went
by, however, kindly acts on the part of this

OF AMERICA 39
worthy lady toward the American branches of
the Church of England, the many attempts she
made to improve their condition, both materi
ally and spiritually, revived the advisability of
giving her name to the parish. Gradually the
parish came to agree on the adoption of the name
of St. Mary Ann, and as the years went by, later
generations inclined to the name of St. Anne
simply, by which name the parish has been known
for at least one hundred and fifty years.
The old church was built in accordance with
the architectural style in vogue two hundred
years ago, and so substantially was it constructed
that it has never shown signs of decay, but
stands, especially to the antiquary and the lover
of the venerable, as one of the ideal points of
interest in BurUngton County, New Jersey.
From a little straggling vUlage Burlington
has become a populous city, contemporary with
whose growth the parish of St. Anne's has pros
pered, numbering among its members many men
and women of influence in that section of the
State. Since the settlement long ago of the name of
the parish no differences of opinion have arisen
among the parishioners, but a spirit of the
utmost harmony has existed, together with that
shoulder to shoulder effort that produces the
best results in advancing the cause of the Master.

40 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. MICHAEL'S
MARBLEHEAD, MASSACHUSETTS
A QUAINT old New England church
that enjoys a peculiar harmony with its
surroundings is St. Michael's, in Mar
blehead, Massachusetts, the organisation of
which dates back almost two centuries. Its cor
ner stone was laid on September 2, 1714, and to
day the building is still used regularly for divine
worship. Of the thirty-three persons whose names ap
pear as contributors to the original fund of St.
Michael's, twenty-nine were sea-captains, who
were in the habit of coming to the port on trad
ing trips and no doubt felt the need of the
churchly influence to which they were accustomed
at home in England. Not only did they supply
money themselves, but they brought from Eng
land in their ships nearly all of the materials that
were to be used in the construction of the church,
including a reredos, surmounted by the royal
coat of arms, that was esteemed far the hand
somest that had yet been brought to America.
The pulpit, of old-fashioned wine-glass confor-

c

OF AMERICA 41
mation, was placed in the centre of the northern
side of the edifice, with a reading desk in front
and a huge sounding-board above it. Even so
important a personage as the collector of the
port of Bristol, in England, some eight years
later, presented St. Michael's with a handsome
brass chandelier, which still sways from the same
point in the ceiling where it was rehung in 1822.
One David LaGallais presented a silver com
munion service to the parish in 1745, the heavy
fiagon of which, weighing four pounds and bear
ing a Latin inscription, is still in use.
When the news of the signing of the Declara
tion of Independence reached Marblehead a
mob of patriots broke into St. Michael's, tore
down the royal coat of arms from the reredos
and rang the old bell for Liberty till it cracked.
Services were for a long time suspended, inas
much as the rector, with many of his flock who
were of Loyalist turn of mind, fled to Nova
Scotia for safety. They took with them inci
dentally the highly-prized silver communion
service and the parish records. These latter
were returned after the close of the war, but the
articles of the service, all but the old flagon,
never found their way back. During these same
troublous times, one churchman of St. Michael's,
so greatly did he fear lest in the destructive fury
of the mob all copies of the Prayer Book should
be burned, distinguished himself by copying with

42 HISTORIC CHURCHES
pen and ink the complete contents of the Book
of Common Prayer.
In 1786 the chanting of the service was intro
duced at St. Michael's, at that time an innovation
in American Protestant churches.
In the course of time, as one by one the fami
lies of the communicants died or removed to dis
tant localities, the parish was so depleted that
in 1818 funds were no longer forthcoming for
the support of the church. The church buUding
was closed, and the glebe sold to pay off the debt
of the parish. In 1833, however, vigorous at
tempts on the part of the Congregationalists to
secure possession of the church edifice roused the
whole Episcopal church of the United States,
until parish after parish contributed aid and old
St. Michael's was once more set upon its feet.
St. Michael's church contains many beautiful
memorial windows. One, representing Moses
on Mount Sinai, was a gift from the Massachu
setts State Senate; another, the gift of Mrs.
Thomas Appleton, has for its subject Dorcas
distributing garments to the poor. The memo
rial window presented by the Haskells depicts
the Ascension.
The first organ set up in the church was a
purchase from old St, Paul's in New York City,
an instrument on which the inaugural march was
played when George Washington took the oath
of office as first President of the United States.

OF AMERICA 43
During the great fire at Marblehead in 1877,
when aU the town seemed doomed to destruction,
the old Church was saved only by the most heroic
efforts. It still stands, the most noble sort of
monument of the past, and the recent addition
of a commodious chapel and parish house shows
the continuing progressive spirit of its parish
ioners.

44 HISTORIC CHURCHES

GLORIA DEI
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
ON June 30 and July 8, 1697, meetings
were held by the Swedes who had set
tled in and about Philadelphia to con
sult upon the building of a new house of worship
in that city. Hitherto they had met in two
antiquated structures lying a number of miles
apart, one at Wicacoa and the other at Tran-
hook. Both of these buildings growing more
and more dilapidated, it was decided in the July
meeting that the two congregations should unite
their funds and erect a joint house of God at a
point that should be convenient for both. No
less than fifty-seven families were represented,
their church organisation dating back more than
thirty years, to the time of the first Swedish emi
grants to America in 1667.
Ground was broken for the new church on
September 19, 1697, the site along the Dela
ware River having been presented to the con
gregation by Svan Swanson. Work progressed
so rapidly that within one year the building was
almost ready for consecration. Upon the west
end of the church a cross waU was intentionally

OF AMERICA 45
left unfinished untU it could be learned whether
a chime of beUs could be obtained from Sweden,
in which case a belfry was to be added. The
church was of ample dimensions, being sixty by
thirty feet and twenty feet high. The corners
on the eastern side were flat and the foundations
were of stone, whUe the walls were of brick,
each brick glazed separately.
The building was dedicated on July 2, 1700,
by the pastor, the Reverend Eric Bjork, and in
token of the thankfulness of the parishioners it
was given the name " Qloria Dei." The Swedes
were now joined in worship regularly by many
English families, who shared their gratification.
In 1704, when the walls seemed about to give
way under the weight of the roof, a sacristy was
erected adjoining the north end of the structure
and a vestibule buUt against the south side, over
the great entrance door, additions which mate
rially strengthened the waUs.
In 1710 permission was granted to members
of the Church of England to use Gloria Dei for
worship each Sunday after the Swedish service
was over with. At this later service, which began
at eleven o'clock in the morning, a hymn was
invariably sung in Swedish as a token of the
imity existing between the two organisations.
This harmony, as a matter of fact, naturally
paved the way for the gradual adoption of Eng
lish in the regular services of the church.

46 HISTORIC CHURCHES
The old church is still in use, and upon May
27, 1897, the two hundredth anniversary of the
dedication of the building was held, an occasion
which brought together many of the descendants
of the pioneer members of the parish.

OF AMERICA 47

"OLD NORTH"
CHRIST CHURCH
BOSTON^ MASSACHUSETTS
THE Old North Church in Boston owes
its existence virtually to differences of
opinion on the subject of the execution
of King Charles I. of England in 1649. So
various were the arguments for and against the
regicide, ecclesiastical and otherwise, that among
other dissensions certain worshippers in the New
World seceded from the "First Church" in
Boston and estabUshed themselves as the " Sec
ond Church of Christ," their edifice, on account
of its geographic location, becoming known
as the North Church. The new organisation
avowedly stood for political as well as religious
independence, and amply justified its title, con
ferred upon it by a British officer, of " a nest of
traitors." The new organisation came into being in 1650,
but the members were too poor at first to build
a house of God, or even to pay for the services
of a minister. This last they atoned for later by
the repute of their pastors, for their third minis
ter, chosen in 1664, was no less a worthy than the

48 HISTORIC CHURCHES
famous Increase Mather. Under his pastorate
indeed, the church began a career which has, per
haps, been of more influence than that of any
other one church body in America.
The structure in which Increase Mather
preached was a large square building, with a
high pulpit and high-back pews. Some of these
latter had private doors that led out into the side
street. The church was used also as a firehouse,
and on the outside of the building were ladders
for use in case of fire. Like many other early
church interiors. Old North was innocent of
stoves. Ironically enough, in view of these facts,
the church was destroyed by fire in 1673, and
was replaced the following year with a much
larger edifice, also of wood. This buUding,
which was provided with a low belfry, was re
garded as " a model of architecture," and served
as a house of worship for almost one hundred
years, or imtil the winter of 1775-6, when it was
torn down and used for firewood by the British,
after having been used as a firehouse and public
arsenal for powder by the town corporation.
From the time the original church was built the
duties of the citizens and patriots as well as
Christianity had been preached from its pulpit,
and to the vigorous patriotism of its members
no doubt was due in a great measure the particu
larly harsh treatment the building received at the
hands of the enemy. '

The Old North Church, Boston, Massachusetts

OF AMERICA 49
After the close of the Revolution, the Old
North Church united with the " Brick Church,"
whose membership had been greatly reduced, a
formal union of the two bodies being effected
in 1779.
From its foundation much of the name and
fame of this celebrated church has been due to
the personnel of its ministry and members. In
crease Mather was known throughout the Colo
nies and his repute stiU lingers. The great
Emerson began attendance of divine worship
there in 1829, and by his influence and personal
ity no doubt roused his feUow members to a
sincere spiritual life. In 1840 began the pastor
ate of the Reverend Henry Ware, under whom
came about the separation from the orthodox
CongregationaUsts. The beginnings of the
great American crusade against intemperance
date also from this time. The Reverend Henry
Ware's important influence in ecclesiastical, po-
Utical and social spheres was thrown in favour
of this new cause, and undoubtedly lent new
glory to Old North.

50 HISTORIC CHURCHES

THE OLD TENNENT CHURCH
FREEHOLD, NEW JERSEY
CLOSE to the battlefield of Monmouth,
near Freehold, New Jersey, stands an
old church, the original organisation of
which was formed by Scotch Covenanters in
1692. A simply constructed meeting-house
some five miles north of the present site served
as the first church structure. This rudely built
house of worship was used for forty years, until
in 1731 the congregation erected the present
church, which has long been known by the name
of its most famous pastor, the Reverend WiUiam
Tennent, who came to America from Ireland in
1730. The church is built of wood, with a shin
gle roof, and from the date of its erection has
invariably been painted white. During its
earlier years it was called the " Scots Church,"
and its corporate title is " The First Presbyte
rian Church of the County of Monmouth," but
its familiar name is always the Old Tennent
Church. The Old Tennent Church has witnessed many
stirring scenes. Within its waUs the evangelist
Whitefield preached one of his most famous ser-

OF AMERICA 51
mons. On June 28, 1778, the Battle of Mon
mouth was fought around it and Washington
made his headquarters in the churchyard, con
ducting the movements of the army from that
point of observation. One of his subalterns,
who, whUe sitting on a tombstone tying his shoe
string, was dangerously wounded by a cannon
baU, was carried into the church, temporarily a
hospital, and to this day the stains of his blood
are plainly to be seen on the cushion of the seat
where they laid him, as well as upon the floor.
The churchyard also contains the graves of many
soldiers of both armies, and is the last resting-
place of Colonel Monckton of the British army,
kiUed in the Battle of Monmouth.
In 1751 the edifice was rebuilt and enlarged in
order to meet the demands of its increased at
tendance. No change, however, was made in its
interior arrangements, and to-day the church
used regularly for divine worship is as it was in
the days of its infancy. Embowered in a grove
of forest trees, in the centre of its graveyard
containing more than two thousand graves, it
presents a most ancient and venerable appear
ance. One of the most interesting features of
the interior is the facsimile, hanging on its walls,
of the handsomely emblazoned Royal Charter
granted to the Church organisation by King
George II.

52 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. GEORGE'S
HEMPSTEAD, LONG ISLAND
IN 1702 the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel sent out from England the Rev
erend John Thomas, who held his first
service in Hempstead, Long Island, conducting
it in what was known as the Independent meet
ing-house. Governor Keith, who had been
reared as a Quaker, in describing this event, de
clared that "such a mifltitude of people had
gathered that the church could not hold them;
and many stood outside the door or looked in
through the windows." This was the first Epis
copal service ever held on Long Island.
The first Protestant Church in Hempstead,
St, George's, was built in 1704, and on December
26th of that year this same Reverend John
Thomas was installed as first rector of the parish.
The communicants were mostly simple farmers,
not heavily endowed with worldly goods, and
they built their first church inexpensively, fol
lowing the model of the viUage churches they
remembered in Old England.
Twenty years later, in 1724, this first church
building was outgrown, and on April 8th the

St. George's, Hempstead, Long Island

OF AMERICA 53
parish chose a site for the erection of a new house
of worship, which they completed within a year.
On St. George's Day, AprU 28th, 1735, the
Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of New
York, George Clark, presented the church with
the royal coat of arms, splendidly emblazoned.
In his capacity of Secretary of St. George's
parish he also presented the new church with a
set of altar furniture upholstered in crimson
damask. A wealthy invalid from the West In
dies who spent his summers in Hempstead con
tributed a silver baptismal bowl. To these were
added from time to time the Bible, the Prayer
Book, the pulpit frontal and the original silver
communion service that had been given to the
Uttle church in 1705 by Queen Anne.
The church edifice was of the usual cruciform
type, having round arches and the sides and roof
being shingled. Its dimensions were fifty by
thirty-six feet, and there was a tower fourteen
feet square, surmounted by a steeple one hun
dred feet high. In the walls of the church near
the entrance was a tablet bearing the verse from
Ecclesiastes, "Keep thy feet when thou goest
into the House of God." There were in aU
some eighteen pews, the front one deeded to
Lieutenant-Governor Clark, who was also one
of the vestrymen of the parish. On June 27,
1735, St. George's received its charter from the
State of New York.

54 HISTORIC CHURCHES
During the Revolution the sacred buUding
was put to use as a stable by the British troopers
stationed in the vicinity, and services were inter
rupted until after the close of the war, when the
energetic and God-fearing parishioners carefully
repaired it, brought out their treasures from
their hiding places, restored order once more, and
again held worship there. On November 3, 1785,
the first ordination in the State of New York
took place; the candidate for orders was John
Lowe from Virginia, and Bishop Seabury offi
ciated. In 1842 the little church building gave place
to a larger and more modern structure, built of
all that was available of the old materials, and
occupying the same site as its predecessor. This
building is stiU occupied by the parish as a house
of worship, and in the little churchyard are
graves of British officers and soldiers of both
armies side by side with those of former mem
bers of the parish. Among these lies the body
of the first Protestant Episcopal Bishop in
America, the Right Reverend Samuel Seabury,
who died in 1764.

OF AMERICA 55

TRINITY CHURCH
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND
THE history i)f Trmity Protestant Epis
copal Church of Newport, Rhode
Island, is replete with interest. The
date of its organisation reaches back to the latter
part of the seventeenth century, while no less
a personage stood sponsor for it than Sir Ed
mund Andros, the accredited representative of
King James II. to the New England colonies,
as weU as to New York and New Jersey.
With the permission of Governor Andros, Sir
Francis Nicholson, the Lieutenant Governor of
New York, organised the parish of Trinity in
1688, although no church edifice was erected untU
1702. When this was completed, the wardens
sent a request to the Lord Bishop of London
for a rector, and the Reverend James Hony-
man came over with but little delay. In 1709
Queen Anne, who was never inattentive to her
churches in America, gave a bell to be placed in
the tower. In the construction of the buUding
the services of the famous architect, Peter Har
rison, were employed, and as a result of his
efforts the little Church of England in New-

56 HISTORIC CHURCHES
port obtained a more artistic house of worship
than was usual in the early American colonies.
In fact. Trinity Church was considered the
finest structure of its time.
In 1729 Trinity received a visit from the cele
brated dean of Terry, Ireland, the Reverend
George Berkeley, Lord Bishop of Cloyne, and
the author of the famous verse beginning,
" Westward the course of empire takes its way."
During a trip which the dean took to the Ber
mudas in the interest of education, his vessel
encountered a severe storm, was driven out of
its course, and finally sailed into Newport har
bour on a Sunday morning. The dean dis
patched a letter to the rector of Trinity Church,
announcing his unexpected arrival. This -was
delivered to the Reverend Mr. Honyman in the
pulpit, and after the missive had been read aloud
service was postponed whUe the congregation
went in a body to the pier to welcome the dis
tinguished prelate. Upon the return of the
Lord Bishop of Cloyne to England, he sent
Trinity Church, as a token of the kindly recep
tion he had met, a fine organ with a massive
case capped with a crown and two mitres.
The little parish prospered until the Revolu
tionary War. In those troublous times many of
the parishioners whose sympathies were with the
British fled from the country, and the more
wanton of the Continental army desecrated the

OF AMERICA 57
church when they occupied Newport. The lion
and the unicorn of the royal family of England
were torn from the waU, and carried to one of the
batteries, where the soldiers used the escutch
eon as a target in gun practice. By some
good fortune the crowns upon the weather vane
and the organ were overlooked and so escaped
destruction. During the war the. services were held irregu
larly, but after peace had been declared the par
ish promptly repaired the church and secured a
permanent rector again.
But little has been done since ia the way of
alteration, both within and without the church
edifice. The same big high-backed pews, the
same pulpit raised high upon its pedestal, and the
original sounding-board may still be seen. Serv
ices are held regularly, and the parish of Trinity
has steadily improved.

58 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. ANNE DE BEAUPRE
QUEBEC
ONE threatening day, of the many for
gotten days in the sixteenth century,
a terrific storm broke upon a little
band of simple peasants from Brittany, as their
frail vessel made its way up the St. Lawrence
River. They were seeking a home in the new
country that should leaVe them safe from re
ligious persecution, and in fear of shipwreck at
the very end of their quest they joined in prayers
to the good St. Anne d'Auray. A vow was
made that if the storm should abate through
her intercession they would buUd a chapel to
her memory. Spared from the tempest at last,
across a little stream from the present parish of
St. Joachim they landed, and there erected a
simple little wooden chapel, never realising that
they were laying the foundations of a church
whose fame should spread to all corners of the
earth. As the years passed on, a Uttle viUage, by
name Petit Cap, sprang up about the chapel,
though .the original builders, swept on in the

OF AMERICA 59
tide of emigration, are unknown by name to pos
terity. Weather and storm finally accomplishing their
work with this poor Uttle chapel, in 1660 a pious
farmer donated land for a new church edifice,
providing only that work should begin at once.
A priest came from Quebec to bless the land
and the foundations, accompanied by Monsieur
d'AiUebout,^ the Governor of New France, who
laid the new corner stone. This second chapel,
buUt of stone, arose close to the site of the
original chapel. To it flocked thousands of
pilgrims, and the wondrous cures that began to
be wrought at this shrine of St. Anne became
more and more widely known. Among the
earUest pUgrims perhaps the most prominent was
the first Roman CathoUc Bishop of Quebec, a
member of the ancient and very honourable
family of the Barons Montmorenci de Laval,
who had forsaken family and ambition to go as
an humble apostle to the Indians in a priimtive
New World Mission, and step by step had been
advanced by the Church untU he became its head
in Canada.
The reputation of the little shrine in the mis
sion chapel graduaUy spread to the Old World,
and gained the attention of royalty, notably the
mother of the French, King Louis XIV., Anne
of Austria, then Queen Regent during the min
ority of her son. In the midst of aU the affairs

60 HISTORIC CHURCHES
of state that could not be surrendered to Cardi
nal RicheUeu she found time to work with her
own hands a chasuble for the priest in charge of
the chapel of St. Anne. Ornamented with red,
white and black arrows, with a quantity of artis
tic gold and silver embroidery, this chasuble is
still one of the most cherished relics of St. Anne
de Beaupre, and at all feast days is placed upon
the altar. Bishop Laval also gave a costly silver
reliquary, studded with gems, and two pictures
painted by a Franciscan friar. A crucifix of
solid silver was the gift in 1706 of the great
French explorer, Lamoine d'IberviUe. In 1775
the Lieutenant' Governor of Quebec presented
to the church a magnificent banner seven and
one-half feet high .and four and one-half feet
across, with a painting on it representing the
good St. Anne and the Virgin Mary. Even
more touching than these reUcs, which can be seen
to this day, are the many discarded crutches and
other pathetic aids of infirm humanity with
which the shrine is stacked. Mingled with these
also are hearts of silver or gold, presented as
memorials of wondrous cures experienced by the
more wealthy of those who have sought aid of
the good St. Anne.
A new, and thu-d church, built in 1776 to ac
commodate the increasing throngs, was blessed
and crowned by a rescript from the hand of His
HoUness, Pope Pius VI., bearing the date of

OF AMERICA 61
May 7th, and declaring St. Anne the patron
saint of the Province of Quebec. Within the
new church are no less than eight altars, gifts
to the parish from active bishops of various prov
inces of Canada. The Cardinal at Quebec
gave the high altar, the parishioners gave two
unusuaUy beautiful stained glass windows, which
attract universal admiration in the chancel.
Upon the walls of the church are many paintings
by artists who have depicted their deUverance
from shipwreck or other ill fortune.
In order to preserve as much as possible of the
original church, the Chapel of the Processions,
consecrated October 2, 1878, and in design fol
lowing the original plans, was built largely out
of the original materials. The same tower was
used, and the old beU still calls its multitudes of
pilgrims. The Uttle chapel stands upon an
eminence, and just at the entrance door gushes
out a fountain, at which the weary pilgrims
quench their thirst. Above this fountain is a
statue of Bonne Ste. Anne de Beaupre, the mmi-
ber of whose pUgrims is almost incredible, and
annually increases.

62 HISTORIC CHURCHES

THE FIRST DUTCH REFORMED
CHURCH
NEW YORK CITY
THE first meetings of the Dutch Re
formed Church in New Amsterdam
were held in the loft of a horse-miU
which the settlers had made shift to fit up with
seats and chairs, having provided for this sec
ond-story loft when the miU was built as a less
costly expedient than the erection of an entire
church. In 1642 the First Dutch Church of St. Nich
olas, as the members had styled their organisa
tion, reared its first real house of worship, which
was built within the fort, for better protection
against the Indians. It was a simple enough
thing in architecture, with two peaks in the for
mation of its roof, between which a "tower
loomed aloft," but such as it was accommodated
the worshippers tiU 1691.
At that time in narrow Liberty Street, near by,
an old lady. Mother Drisius, who owned an
extensive peach orchard, a desirable plot of
ground, was induced to sell it to the Dutch Re
formed Church of St. Nicholas, and upon

OF AMERICA 63
this site they erected the building that was dedi
cated in 1693, by far the most substantial and
the finest church yet buUt in Manhattan. It was
a rectangular structure of brick, with a square
steeple, so large that its base made a room big
enough to accommodate the meetings of the
whole consistory. The windows of the church
were long and narrow, each containing many
smaU panes of glass upon which Master Gerard
Duyckinck burned the coats of arms of the prin
cipal families of the congregation. The bell
and the pulpit, as weU as such other furniture
as the original church building had boasted of,
were transferred to the new house. Conspicu
ous among the interior decorations of the new
church were the escutcheons painted in vivid
colours upon the interior walls, representing, as
on the windows, the arms of each family of
prominence included in the church organisa
tion. Special distinction was given the nine trustees
of the chulrch, for whom seats directly in front
of and below the high pulpit were provided.
In 1694 the members of the Consistory sent to
HoUand a quantity of silver coins from which
was cast the baptismal bowl that has since been
used for every St. Nicholas generation. The
most skilled silversmiths in Amsterdam were em
ployed to cast and ornament it. The church has
long regarded this bowl as its most precious pos-

64 HISTORIC CHURCHES
session, with its engraved sentiments composed
by Dominie Selwyn, and its rich associations.
As the years went on and Manhattan village
grew, the little church in Liberty Street proved
too small for the congregation, and new houses
of worship were erected, first at Fifth Avenue
and Twenty-first Street, and next the present
edifice at Thirty-eighth Street and Madison Ave
nue. Though not ancient in point of years, St.
Nicholas' Church as it stands to-day looks back
on a quaint and interesting history, from the
time when its nine trustees secured the first char
ter ever granted to a religious organisation in
New Amsterdam.

OF AMERICA 65

BRUTON PARISH CHURCH
WILLIAMSBURG^ VIRGINIA
UNFORTUNATELY for the historian
and the antiquary, the earliest history
of Bruton Parish Church, like that of
St. David's at Radnor, in Pennsylvania, is lost
in obscurity, since the original records of the
Virginia colonies, both ecclesiastic and of the
State, were destroyed before the year 1632.
From such meagre data as can be obtained it
appears that in that year there was " laid out and
paled in" a section of James City County to
be designated as "Middle Plantation," which
shortly afterward was renamed " Middle Plan
tation Parish." In 1644 still another parish was
formed in this same county, to which the name
of " Harrop Parish " was given, and on April
1, 1648, Harrop Parish united itself with the
Middle Plantation Parish, the name then being
changed to Middletown Parish. The parish of
Marston, formed in York County in 1654, was
embodied twenty years later in the parish of
Middletown, to which again the parish name
of "Bruton" was given. The origin of this
new designation may be inferred from the fact

66 HISTORIC CHURCHES
that directly at the entrance of the north tran
sept door of the Bruton Parish Church is the
tomb of Sir Thomas Ludwell, with an inscrip
tion stating that Sir Thomas was born " at Bru
ton, in the County of Summerset," in England.
The date of his death was 1678, and it is to this
English knight that Bruton Parish owes its
name. That there was an earlier church edifice than
the one referred to in the parish records under
date of April 18, 1674, is shown by the fact that
mention is definitely made of the " Old Church,"
as weU as of a decision reached by the vestry of
Bruton Parish to build a new church, " after the
model of the one in Williamsburg." The be
ginning of a church existence in this building,
the foundations of which were unearthed quite
recently, is noted in an entry in the parish rec
ords under date of November 29, 1683:^
" Whereas, ye Brick Church at Middle Planta
tion is now finished." The first service held in
the new edifice was on Epiphany Sunday, 1684.
The records also speak of an " old communion
table " which had been removed to the rectory,
and also of the existence of a "ring of beUs."
From the same source we learn that Colonel
John Page, to whose liberality the church was
indebted for this new edifice, claimed the right to
construct for himself and family a pew in the
chancel, the other communicants distributing

Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Virginia

OF AMERICA 67
themselves according to the usual rule in Colonial
times — "the men on the north side of the
Church, and the women on the left." Later the
gaUery was assigned to the students of William
and Mary CoUege.
The removal of the seat of the state govern
ment from Jamestown to WUliamsburg in 1699
was of great benefit to Bruton Parish Church,
since from that time it could be termed the Court
Church of Colonial Virginia. Not only were
the Governor of State and his staff pew hold
ers and regular attendants, but the members of
the House of Burgesses and aU distinguished
visitors who came to WiUiamsburg on state busi
ness also worshipped there. So increased indeed
was the attendance that in 1701 the little parish
church could no longer accommodate all who
came, and in the course of the next ten years
measures were taken to erect a new structure.
The House of Burgesses provided for the con
struction of the pews for the Governor, the
Council and themselves, and engaged that if the
vestry would secure the means to build the two
ends of the church, "the State Government
should take care of the wings and intervening
portion." The new building was finished in
1715, and in its furnishings were embodied the
old baptismal font and the silver communion
service that had been originally the property of
the church at Jamestown. There was also a

68 HISTORIC CHURCHES
set of communion silver presented to the CoUege
of WilUam and Mary in 1686, and a set bearing
the coat of arms of King George III. These
memorials are still in the possession of the parish.
The days of the Revolution proved unusually
trying to the communicants of Bruton parish,
since their love for the mother country was most
intense, bound as they were to England by many
ties of blood and interest. Yet that they loved
their new country more than the old appears in
an old Prayer Book bearing the inscription,
" Bruton Parish, 1756," in which the many eras
ures, marginal notes and changes in the text show
a struggle in the mind of some old communicant,
who pasted over the printed prayer for King
George III., a Prayer for the President of the
United States, and then a Une through the words,
" King of Kings," substituting " Ruler of the
Universe " in the margin.
In 1840 so intent were the authorities upon
providing room in the parish church for a Sun
day school that the whole interior was divided
up by partitions, regardless of aU artistic effect.
The old pulpit was moved from its original posi
tion, pews were rearranged, and even the graves
of many eminent persons who rested within the
sanctuary were transferred beyond the walls.
In May, 1905, the work of restoring the
church edifice to its original form began under
the auspices of the Bishop Coadjutor of the

OF AMERICA 69
Diocese of Southern Virginia. The foundations
and roof timber were renewed and the tower
woodwork was restored. The bell presented to
the parish in 1761 was replaced in the tower, and
a clock which had originaUy hung in the House
of Burgesses was installed there. The high pul
pit, with its overhanging sounding-board, again
stands in, the southeast corner of the church, the
chancel occupies its original location, and, with
the aisles of the church, is paved with white
marble, in which are stones appropriately in
scribed to designate the graves that had been so
rudely disturbed.
The pews of the church are now arranged in
their former colonial style, and over the Gov
ernor's pew hangs a silken canopy, while upon
the walls of the church has been afiixed a tablet
commemorating the various Colonial Governors
who worshipped in the building. The cost of
the restoration has been at least twenty-five thou
sand dollars, and so deeply is the old Bruton
Parish Church imbedded in the affections of the
people of Virginia that many years must elapse
before there could be any thought of the erection
of a new church to supersede the one dedicated
in 1715 and stUl so well preserved.

70 HISTORIC CHURCHES
CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMAGE
PLYMOUTH^ MASSACHUSETTS
LIKE many other early churches, the Church
of the Pilgrimage in Plymouth formed
A during the earUest days of the Massa
chusetts Colony, had an organisation before it
could erect a church edifice or support a pastor.
The Plymouth Church, for that matter, came
into possession of its first house of worship by
gift, a benefaction which gave great pleasure
and encouragement to the congregation. An old
deed gives the North Side Town Square as the
site of this original meeting-house.
After the death in 1644 of Elder WiUiam
Brewster, the first pastor of the Church of the
Pilgrimage, its fortunes again reached so low an
ebb that the discontinuance of regular services
in the little meeting-house was seriously con
sidered. For the next ten years or more there
was difficulty in securing and retaining a minis
ter, no one being willing to labour for such a
meagre stipend as the congregation felt itself
able to offer. The membership of the church
in all this time had dwindled down to only forty-
seven persons, whose " contributions " could
scarcely have formed an imposing aggregate.

OF AMERICA 71
Then came the " Great Awakening," when
the Reverend George Whitefield preached twice
in the little meeting-house of the Pilgrims. New
accessions to the membership were daily added,
and the church flourished both materially and
spiritually. In spite of later differences of
opinion the members remained a unit. By 1776
they were able to put up a new meeting-house
more generous in its proportions and better able
to provide seating capacity for the attendants.
The old beU which had himg in the original
meeting-house since 1679 was moved into this
new edifice and the sexton still continued to ring
it at nightfaU, as had been the custom since its
instaUation. The seats in the new church were arranged
somewhat differently from the manner cus
tomary in New England meeting-houses, inas
much as all negro slaves and Indians attending
worship occupied seats directly in front of the
pulpit. Not until fifty years later, when a gal
lery had been added, were the negroes and In
dians given seats further from the preacher.
Through the eighteenth century the number
of communicants in the church constantly in
creased, and on October 1, 1801, one-half of its
membership was large enough to form a separate
organisation, and adopt a creed differing in some
respects from that of the mother church.
The present edifice of the Church of the Pil-

72 HISTORIC CHURCHES
grimage was erected in 1840 on the site of its
predecessors, and is larger than any of the others
and more substantially built. Its members stiU
increase and the religious fervour that has actu
ated them from the organisation of their church
has never sensibly waned. Each communicant
manifests a pardonable pride in the history of his
church, with its enviable record for faithfulness
in the service of the Lord.

OF AMERICA 73

ST. DAVID'S
RADNOR, PENNSYLVANIA
FEW churches in this country are of such
ancient origin as to be obscure. Such
an one, however, is old St. David's at
Radnor, Pennsylvania, some sixteen miles from
Philadelphia, where it still flourishes.
The first mention of this church in history is
as early as 1700, and in that very mention there
is a suggestion of a former church built of logs
and occupying the site of the present stone build
ing. In this log church, toward the close of the
seventeenth century, the settlers garrisoned
themselves against an apprehended attack from
Indians. A series of Historical Records of
Pennsylvania speaks of this " ancient Welsh
Episcopal Church, erected of logs, and sur
rounded by some fifty families," and in a letter
written by the Reverend Evan Evans, on behalf
of one of the pioneer missionaries of the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts, dated June 29, 1719, is a passage in proof
of services being held at Radnor once each fort
night from 1700. The old Parish Register, in

74 HISTORIC CHURCHES
the possession of the St. David's Church Cor
poration, also supports these statements. Other
letters too are extant, written by this same Rev
erend Evan Evans, who no doubt was most ac
ceptable to the Welsh settlers in and about Rad
nor, since he could conduct service in their own
language for them.
In 1714 the communicants entered into an
agreement with this missionary whereby they ob
ligated themselves to provide a suitable place
wherein to worship God. Setting out at once
to keep this promise, they obtained possession of
a five-acre plot of .ground, purchased from a
farmer in the vicinity. One says purchased,
though no written form of title seems to have
been proffered and none ever asked. Singularly
enough no litigation has ever arisen regarding
the title to the property by the Parish of St.
David's, nor any question made of it.
The corner stone of the church was laid May
9, 1715. The building was forty feet long by
twenty-seven feet broad, and eighteen in height.
According to ancient churchly custom every
where, it was laid out east and west, with the
main door to the south. The eastern wall was
pierced by one large window, and two large
windows gave Ught in the north and south walls.
The sharp pitch of the roof aided in shedding
winter snow or summer rains. An additional
door opened into the west wall, but was after-

^ :'?f^^..

OF AMERICA 75
ward closed up. The windows were pointed, in
the Gothic style.
The interior of the church remained unfinished
for many years, and being open to the roof ex
posed the shingles and the marks of the pioneers'
axes upon the rafters. No provision was made
for heating the church, nor even for seating the
congregation, and for forty years there was no
flooring save that provided by Mother Earth.
Some idea of the scanty furnishing of the old
church may be gathered from an account of a
robbery that took place in 1740, in which we flnd
mentioned " the breaking open of a chest bound
round with iron hoops and the following goods
stole out of the same; — one large folio Bible;
one quarto Bible; one black gown made of fine
Spanish cloth; one chalice; two plates and one
basin, being stamped Radnor Church." These
vessels, it seems, were highly prized beyond their
intrinsic worth, since they were a gift to the
parish from Queen Anne herself. Fortunately
the opportunities for thieves to escape with their
plunder were not many in those days, and the
" goods " were all easily recovered.
In March, 1765, the church got its floor, and
two years later its vestry house, built on the site
of the present Sunday school building. In
1771, under the guidance and inspiration of the
father of General Anthony Wayne, a gallery
was built around three sides of the interior.

76 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Pews were put in, and rented out in order to
secure the parish a more ample income. Many
of these pews were erected by private gentlemen
for the use of themselves and their families, the
head of the household actually taking title to a
certain piece of ground within the church walls
and constructing his pew in accordance with his
own ideas of architecture. Others were erected
by the vestry and rented for the support of the
church. At the outbreak of the Revolution, the rector,
a loyalist Englishman, declared his intention of
continuing to use the liturgy for the King and
the Royal Family, but as he had other than Eng
lishmen as a majority among his parishioners
he was prevented by bodily force from conduct
ing service for a succession of Sabbaths, He
gave in his resignation in May, 1776, and it was
promptly accepted. The withdrawal of this
Reverend Mr. Currie under these troublous cir
cumstances marks an important change in the
church's policy. While the War of the Revolu
tion lasted, no services were held in St, David's,
and soldiers from one side or the other alternately
made the little stone church their rendezvous and
used it for divers ends. The Continental army,
camped in the neighbourhood, cut out the lead
of the diamond-shaped window panes and
moulded it into bullets. They even laid hands
on the communion service that had been cherished

OF AMERICA 77
so religiously. The English too had their use
of the church premises, for after the Battle of the
Brandywine no less than sixteen British soldiers
were interred in the little graveyard of St.
David's. Not until the close of the War, when peace
had been fully established, was regular service
resumed. One rector served St. David's con
jointly with St. Peter's in the Great Valley, St.
James' Church at Perkiomen, and the Swedes'
Church near Norristown. The selection of this
first common rector was made by the congrega
tion itself, without the intervention of the vestry.
Between the years 1809 and 1815 decided im
provements took place in and about St. David's.
There was a rebuilding and a rearranging of
the seats, though the high, straight backs were re
tained. The old walls around the graveyard
were repaired and widened out so as to take in a
larger plot of ground. This outward improve
ment no doubt owed its origin to the ceremony
of removing to the graveyard the remains of
" Mad Anthony Wayne " in 1809, which brought
to St. David's a large concourse of men promi
nent in national affairs, and opened the eyes
of the parishioners to the unkempt condition of
their God's Acre.
On July 30, 1820, occurred the first confirma
tion service mentioned in the church records. At
Christmas time of this same year the pretty cus-

78 HISTORIC CHURCHES
tom of decorating the old church with ever-^
greens had its origin, and within the next few
years the holding of " Convocations " was insti
tuted. In 1830 a portion of the long gallery
was removed, the high backs were taken from the
pews, and the arrangement of these so altered
that all pews faced the pulpit. At the same time
the pulpit was placed in a newly built chancel,
and the huge sounding-board that had hung over
it for so many years was taken down. The hook
on which this board had been suspended for gen
erations is still visible in the rafters. A new par
ish building was also erected. Only a few minor
changes, however, have taken place in the in
terior of the old church, such as more modern
arrangements for lighting and an enlargement
of the chancel to accommodate more than one
clergyman. In the main, old St. David's re
mains unaltered — a precious heritage to those
who have worshipped within its walls.

OF AMERICA 79

THE OLD DUTCH CHURCH
ALBANY, NEW YORK
THE first building occupied by the Dutch
Church in Albany, New York, was
erected soon after the organisation of
the church body in 1652. No description now
exists regarding the nature of this first building,
but the old pulpit, sent over from Holland, al
though no longer used, remains as a memento
of it. The second church building was erected
in 1655 on the same site as that of the first one
and before long, the congregation increasing,
plans were made for the erection of a third and
stiU more commodious building of stone. Its
foundations were laid around those of the old
churches, and the walls were carried up and en
closed before the old church — that is, the second
church — was disturbed. As a result, only four
weeks elapsed between the last service held in the
old building and the first exercises in the new.
This third church, built in 1715, rejoiced in a
pyramidal roof, a belfry, and a gaily painted and
ornamented interior. The new pulpit, in actual
use, was octagonal, made of Dutch oak so dark
as to resemble black walnut, and richly varnished

80 HISTORIC CHURCHES
and polished, while on the pulpit bracket stood
the hourglass to time the services strictly. The
ceiling and front of the gallery were painted sky
blue. Low galleries surrounded three sides of
the interior, and a bell rope hung down
from the roof into the middle aisle, when not in
use being wound around a post planted for the
purpose in the centre of the church. At eight
o'clock every evening the sexton of the church
rang the bell, notifying the residents of Albany
that supper time had arrived — a sort of curfew
that is still followed in old-time communities.
The windows in the church were richly deco
rated with stained glass, displaying the coats of
arms of the eminent famiUes in the church,
among them the Van Rensselaers, The pews
occupying the ground floor were assigned to the
female portion of the congregation; the men
sat in the galleries. Three pews in front, how
ever, were specially reserved, one for the Gov
ernor of the State, a second for court ofiicials,
and a third for aged and crippled men of the
congregation. In winter the women used hot bricks or port
able stoves filled with live hickory coals taken
from huge Dutch fireplaces, to keep their feet
warm, and it was no unusual sight to see fifty or
seventy-five coloured slaves waiting at the church
doors to relieve their mistresses of this parapher
nalia after services. The men sat with their
hats on and carried muffs. When stoves did

OF AMERICA 81
come in, about 1800, they were placed on raised
platforms as high as the level of the gallery,
from which bridges ran across to the stove plat
forms to permit the sexton to attend to the fires.
Wood was, of course, the fuel, and since the
church had no flooring the ashes were permitted
simply to f aU to the ground below.
In the midst of the dominie's sermon every
Sunday, the deacons would rise, each with a long
pole upon the end of which was attached a little
bag somewhat like a shrimp net, and begin to
take up the collection. To these little bags were
attached smaU bells whose tinkling was supposed
to arouse any sleeper, and prevent him from
making his drowsiness an excuse for not con
tributing his mite to the poor. After the collec
tion had been taken the dominie would again
resume his discourse — a manner of offertory
which prevailed till 1795.
In 1786 so many of the congregation had
adopted the EngUsh language that the question
of holding services in that tongue was agitated;
the conservative element naturally opposed the
change, and the matter was compromised by
adopting English at one service each Sabbath
and Dutch at the other.
In 1806 this quaint old church was demolished,
and the stone used in the construction of the
building which is still occupied regularly each
Sunday by the Second Dutch Reformed Church
in Albany to-day.

82 HISTORIC CHURCHES

FIRST CHURCH
HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
IN 1632 there came to Cambridge, Massachu
setts, a band of refugees from England,
seeking a home in the New World where
they might enjoy the same religious freedom
that their predecessors, the Puritans, had sought
before them. They buUt a smaU meeting house
in Cambridge, but grew dissatisfied with their
surroundings before long, and four years later
started west and south through the trackless
forest, to seek a country of their own. Most of
these pilgrims travelled on foot, driving their
cattle before them, and carrying the wife of their
leader, an invalid, on a rude litter. They halted
and settled down, at the spot where Hartford,
Connecticut, now stands, and presently buUt a
little meeting-house, with a thatched roof and of
rude but substantial construction.
The removal of these settlers to Connecticut
was vigorously opposed by the Massachusetts
authorities, who still held them to be subjects of
the Mother Church. The Dutch in New Am
sterdam equaUy took offence at this first effort
at " Expansion," whUe daUy the new colonists

,^

First Church, Hartford, Connecticut

OF AMERICA 83
were in danger of their lives from hostUe In
dians. To provide better defences against these
latter, the settlers of Hartford, Windsor and
Wethersfield met in compUance with the request
of the Reverend Thomas Hooker, the pastor of
the little Hartford flock and one of the most re
markable of men. Each of the three societies
represented was heartily in accord in hatred of
foreign domination ; each sought to worship God
in accordance with the dictates of their own con
sciences, and they met gladly to make joint pro
vision for their spiritual and bodily well-being.
The broad mind of the Reverend Thomas
Hooker grasped the true idea of separation be
tween church and state, though it had not yet
been promulgated in either the New or the Old
World, and under his guidance in that little
meeting-house of the First Church of Hartford,
Connecticut, occurred the first and original
" declaration of independence " ever signed in
America. It was indeed one of the first written
Constitutions, a remarkable document, which
declared the colonists of Hartford, Windsor and
Wethersfield independent of aU authority save
that of God. By implication, independence
from Massachusetts authority was meant,
though no mention was made of any individual
sovereignty. No restrictions were made regard
ing suffrage on civic questions, as was the case
in all the Massachusetts settlements, but each

84 HISTORIC CHURCHES
man was regarded as endowed by his Creator
with inalienable rights — the right to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.
So broad and Uberal-minded was the platform
of these " Fundamental Orders of Connecticut,"
as the document was called, that it withstood all
attempts at overthrow, and was indeed the solid
foundation upon which later the Constitution of
the State was raised. When the building for
the little First Church of Hartford was built in
1638, this same leader, Mr. Hooker, had declared
that " the foundation of authority is laid first
by the free consent of the people," and so it was.
Many of the oldest records of this meeting
house have been destroyed, and therefore much
of its early history is lost to us. That in the
construction of the third church edifice slave la
bour was employed is one of the items gleaned
from one source or another. This third struc
ture, which was dedicated December 30, 1739,
had many innovations, such as weights in the
windows and fine window hangings. These and
the gorgeous wainscoting must have contrasted
oddly with the utter lack of stoves, and the old-
time hourglass in its place on a bracket beside
the pulpit.
Directly in front of the high pulpit and below
it stood the "Deacon's Table," No contribu
tion box was passed to " take up the coUection,"
but instead the members of the congregation

OF AMERICA 85
filed in front of this Deacon's Table, placing in
its box their individual contributions. Unlike
other New England churches, there was no allow
ance made in the rulings of the church for the
selection by the rich or powerful of the better
seats in the meeting-house. Everybody lived up
to the doctrine preached by the Reverend
Thomas Hooker, that in the sight of God "aU
men were equal."
In 1767 the church was struck by Ughtning
whUe services were being held. One young
woman was killed, and a number of the members
were badly injured. Lightning rods, or " pro
tectors " as they were called, were then provided,
in spite of many adverse comments regarding
this exceeding lack of trust in Providence.
In 1807 the present edifice was erected, and
provision was made for the use of stoves. So
many of the conservative members of the congre
gation still carried their " foot-stoves " to church
that finally an order was officially given that any
foot-stoves found lighted in the meeting-house
after service had begun should be carried out by
the sexton.
The influence of the little First Church of
Hartford was more far-reaching than that of
any other church within the boundaries of Con
necticut. The early adoption of the platform
of perfect equality was remarkable ; had Thomas
Hooker proclaimed in old England so boldly his

86 HISTORIC CHURCHES
belief that the " privileges of election belonged
to the people " he might have been burned at
the stake, his church itself supplying the fag
gots. Equally remarkable is the fact that all
the rights then claimed were granted in a charter
given by Charles I, It was this famous charter
that so mysteriously disappeared in Hartford
when demanded by the Governor of the State,
Sir Edmund Andros.

OF AMERICA 87

CATEDRAL de la VIRGEN MARIA
DE LA CONCEPCION
HAVANA, CUBA
THE cathedral in Havana to which the
remains of Christopher Columbus were
brought almost three hundred years
after his death in VaUadolid, Spain, in 1506, de
serves an honoured place among the churches of
America. The Catedral de la Virgen Maria de la Con
cepcion was erected in 1724, It is a large, quaint
structure with a pillared front, a tower at each
angle, and a crumbly, moss-grown surface. It
is not beautiful, either from an architectural pr
an aesthetic standpoint, and could scarcely be
caUed imposing were it not for its age and the
spiritual grandeur which surrounds it. The edi
fice that for more than a hundred years sheltered
the remains of the Great Discoverer rather pos
sesses a moral association than any majesty of
architecture. The interior nevertheless is finer
than the outward appearance would lead a visitor
to expect. The lofty dome and the vaulted roof
are supported by taU pillars of marble and there
is some fine masonry in divers colours, although

88 HISTORIC CHURCHES
the dominant hue is a sunny yellow. The walls
are covered with rich frescoes whose colouring
has been somewhat dimmed by time.
The floor is of variegated marble and is unen
cumbered by seats, the worshippers kneeling in
the body of the church. The high altar is a
magnificent piece of workmanship, consisting
of a base of various kinds of marble harmoni
ously blended, and supporting a dome and piUars
of porphjrry, under which is a statue commemo
rative of the Immaculate Conception, Behind
the altar is the bishop's throne, and here and there
around the walls are confessionals wdth appro
priate pictures.
The side altars are of solid mahogany, the an
cient " Spanish wood," richly carved and gilded,
and there are some fine paintings by old Span
ish masters, some of them used as altar pieces.
One of these is said to be a genuine Murillo,
Among other objects of art carefully preserved
by the church is a painting on glass said to have
been painted in Italy about the middle of the
fifteenth century, and to have been blessed by
Pope Sixtus IV.
A mural tablet in the choir on the left of the
high altar indicates the place where the bones of
Columbus long rested after their various jour-
neyings to and from Spain. This tablet is of
pure white marble, most sacredly preserved, and
bears in high relief a bust of the great G^enoese,

OF AMERICA 89
with nautical instruments grouped beneath it.
Below these is an inscription, which translated
literally reads:
" O remains and image of the great Colon,
Endure for a thousand ages, guarded in this urn
And in the remembrance of our nation."
Unfortunately for a wish so mightUy ex
pressed, the bones of Columbus, doomed as they
were to wandering, were permitted to rest within
the walls of the Catedral de la Virgen Maria de
la Concepcion for only a little more than a cen
tury. They were removed to Spain in 1898,
after Cuba had obtained her freedom from
Spanish rule.

90 HISTORIC CHURCHES

CHRIST CHURCH
ALEXANDRIA^ VIRGINIA
A LTHOUGH the number of churches in
/% which the Father of His Country is said
M. A, to have worshipped, and of pews which
he is said to have occupied, seems without end,
yet the fact remains that in the building of Christ
Church in Alexandria he was actually and in
tensely interested, and gave Uberally to its build
ing fund. In the earlier days in Virginia houses
of worship were few and far between. It was
not until 1765 that it was found expedient to
create the parish of Fairfax, of which, for the
next five years, George Washington was an
active vestryman. Money was not plentiful, and
in order to secure funds for the erection of the
church the vestry was obliged to impose upon
the parish a tax of some thirty-one thousand
pounds of tobacco, by the sale of which the
church was built.
The site chosen was at the head of Cameron
Street, on a plot shaded by forest trees, an ideal
spot to set aside as God's acre. The architect
who drew the plans for the building was of the

\^---^

Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia

OF AMERICA 91
family of the great Sir Christopher Wren,
whose wonderful cathedral of St. Paul's in Lon
don had already given him an immortal fame.
The contract for the erection of the new church
was assigned in 1767, the sum agreed upon being
about three thousand dollars — a large sum of
money at that time. Five years later, from
some cause now inexplicable, the contractor had
failed to make good his promise, and Colonel
John Carlyle agreed to complete the building
for an additional one thousand and seventy dol
lars. One year later, on February 27, 1773, he
delivered the church into the hands of the vestry
men, completed. On that same day George
Washington purchased for himself and his
f amUy a pew, paying almost one hundred dol
lars for it. He also presented to the church the
handsome brass chandeUer, with its numerous
crystal pendants, that stiU hangs from the old
ceiling. The completed church was a handsome build
ing in the simple Colonial style. Built of brick
and roofed with shingles of juniper, it still
stands to-day — a landmark in Alexandria. Un
til 1812 it had neither chimney nor stove, foot-
stoves furnishing the only warmth to the un
daunted worshippers of those early days.
A study of the church's finances is interesting.
The old records show the coUection of fines " for
killing deer out of season " and for " hunting

92 HISTORIC CHURCHES
on the Sabbath," money which was employed in
alleviating the condition of the poor, the lame,
and the blind, as well as in burying them when
they shook off their mortal ills. Choice Oro-
noko tobacco had played an important part in the
raising of funds for the erection of the building,
and the clergyman's salary w^as also paid in the
same legal tender. The purchase of land for
a rectory, also through tobacco, was made in
1770, the " glebe " embracing some five hundred
acres. Three years later the vestry were able
to build a rectory, "with a dairy, meat house,
barn, stable and corn house."
Although forbidden, in accordance with the
times, to take part in public service in the church,
women seem to have been in unusually high
esteem there, for we find that one Susannah Ed
wards was chosen the sexton of the church, and
performed her duties so faithfully that her suc
cessor also was a woman.
Though with the exception of Mount Vernon,
no extant building in this country is more closely
associated with George Washington, Christ
Church has other associations too. In its register
is found the record of the baptism and confirma
tion of General Robert E, Lee, During the
great war in which General Lee played so im
portant a part the Federal troops occupied Alex
andria, and the church was held by the mihtary
authorities. Many of the more prominent com-

OF AMERICA 93
municants fled within the Federal lines, and
a large mound in the churchyard to this day
marks the resting-place of some thirty-four
Confederate soldiers who died in the Federal
hospitals in Alexandria.

94 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH
NEWBURGH^ NEW YORK
SCATTERED by fierce religious persecu
tion and beggared in purse, yet with
their religious ardour still unquenched,
aided by good Queen Anne of England, many
Lutherans came to America from the Palatinate,
Though absolute paupers, they were rich in moral
character, and they brought from their home on
the banks of the Rhine a love of liberty, both
political and religious, that planted the germs of
independence in the region about the Hudson
River, and made it, in a moral sense as well as
a physical, the Rhine of America.
The patent granted these humble Lutherans,
known as " the Palatine Parish by Quassaick,"
embraced some forty acres of land for high
ways and five hundred for a glebe. This was
donated to the First Lutheran Church of New
burgh, and lies to-day in the heart of the city.
The first minister who served this people was the
Reverend Joshua de Kockerthal, who came with
the first band in 1707, and led them through
many vicissitudes until he was caUed to his
heavenly reward in 1719.
Upon his return from one of his voyages to

OF AMERICA 95
Europe in the interests of his flock he brought
with him a bell for the steeple of the church,
whenever they should be so fortunate as to erect
one; this was a gift from Queen Anne and was
most gratefuUy cherished by her proteges. Their
first church, dedicated in 1730, was about twenty
feet square, without floor or chimney. The roof
slanted up from each of the four sides, and upon
the apex so formed a small cupola was con
structed to contain Queen Anne's bell.
The congregation occupied this building untU
1747, when many rumours reached the settle
ment of the excellent farming and fertUe soil
of Pennsylvania, and a goodly portion of the
parish migrated to that State. Their successors
and those left behind in attendance at the little
chapel were of English and Scotch descent, and
being in the majority introduced the service of
the Church of England. From July 19, 1747,
for some twenty-five years, the Reverend Heze-
kiah Watkins of the Church of England con
ducted service regularly in the little church. The
few remaining Lutherans in the community did
not give up without a struggle, but in the end
succumbed, and after considerable trouble be
tween the members of the two organisations, left
the Episcopalians in possession of the edifice.
On July 30, 1770, a charter of incorporation
for St. George's Parish was obtained from King
George III. of England, and all went well till

96 HISTORIC CHURCHES
the Revolution. The troubles of good church
men at that time were most grievous, since even
the name of " Churchman " became synonymous
in the popular mind with " Tory " or " Loyal
ist," By the end of the war the communicants
of St, George's were either driven out of the
country, or so reduced financially that they were
powerless to undertake the repairing and reopen
ing of their little church without assistance from
their more fortunate brethren in other sections
of the State. Happily the church building was
left them, practically unharmed, except for
broken window-panes and other minor injuries,
and in 1790 the parish was able to secure the serv
ices of the Reverend G. H. Speirin, who also
taught in the glebe school, in order to get a bet
ter living than the meagre purses of the com
municants of the parish afforded as rector's
salary. He served the parish for two years,
and after his acceptance of a call to the parish
of Christ Church in Poughkeepsie, no regular
rector served St, George's until 1816. By
that time the parish had recovered from the
financial straits into which the Revolution had
thrown it, and had secured the means to erect
a new church building and instal another
rector. Their choice fell upon the Reverend
John Brown, who ministered to them almost
three score years and ten before he went to
his reward. With his advent into the church

OF AMERICA 97
came prosperity. A new church edifice was
erected in 1819, and several years later galleries
were buUt around three sides of the buUding,
and an organ was procured. In 1834 the church
was materiaUy enlarged, a steeple was added, and
a beU himg in the belfry. In 1853 numerous
changes were made and the church building was
StiU further enlarged; a Sunday school house
was built and a new organ was set up.
With aU these enlargements, still the number
of communicants increased, and to accommodate
them the vestry purchased and fitted up another
building, which was consecrated on May 10,
1859, as St. John's Chapel. St. George's Mis
sion was opened in 1873, and a chapel built for
it also in 1880. In 1874, the Ladies' Guild un
dertook the formation of a home and hospital,
an enterprise which was carried to a successful
issue, the buddings being dedicated on January
5, 1876, under the title of St. Luke's Home
and Hospital. In 1880 and 1881 St. George's
was remodeUed, and the pews made more com
fortable and modern; the chancel was decorated
and a beautiful window placed in it. Three years
later the parish added a rectory to its possessions.
A spirit of enterprise has always existed in St.
George's, and of interest in the work of the Mas
ter, while great harmony prevails among the
parishioners, and pride in the church to which
they belong.

98 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. LUKE'S
SMITHFIELD, VIRGINIA
' N the County of Isle of Wight in Virginia,
some ten miles distant from Fortress Mon
roe, stands one of the most ancient churches
of the Old Dominion. It is still surrounded by
the stately old trees of the forest, each of them
noble in age and nature, far overtopping the
Norman tower of old St. Luke's in Smithfield.
St, Luke's was erected in 1632, many well-
authenticated records, as well as the imprint in
the bricks in the walls, vouching for this date.
The east window of the church is composed of
no less than seventeen distinct windows, sepa
rated from one another by brick muUions. This
edifice was used as a house of worship for over
two hundred years, when the finance^s of the par
ish ran below the expense of keeping the church
in repair and maintaining service;. Moreover,
many of the families of the early parishioners
were widely scattered, and the number of com
municants was much reduced, until in 1836 the
church was finally abandoned. Dusing the fol
lowing fifty years the old building apparently

^

tu

03B

OF AMERICA 99
fell a prey to reUc-hunters, who bore away almost
every removable portion of it, so that when the
Reverend Dr. David Burr, the senior assistant
rector of the Church of the Epiphany at Wash
ington, visited the parish in 1887, scarcely any
portion of the original church remained save the
solid waUs.
Thanks to the indefatigable efforts of Dr.
Burr, the restoration of the old building was
undertaken. The pride of native Virginians, es
pecially those residing in Isle of Wight County,
was aroused, and when the restoration was com
pleted the little church at Smithfield enjoyed a
beauty that not only harmonised with its pristine
glory, but in a number of features exceeded any
which the finances of the original parishioners
could possibly have afforded.
Among the new features added were twelve
memorial windows. One was dedicated to the
memory of George Washington; another to that
of General Robert E. Lee, while still others
commemorated the names and deeds of Captain
Bridges, the original builder of the edifice, the
Reverend Mr. Hubbard, the last Colonial rector;
Sir Walter Raleigh ; Captain John Smith ; John
Rolfe, who married Pocahontas; the first four
Episcopal Bishops of Virginia — Bishops Madi
son, Moore, Meade, and Johns ; while the twelfth
was dedicated to the memory of the Reverend
Dr. Blair, the founder of the College of WUliam

100 HISTORIC CHURCHES
and Mary, the alma mater of President Jeffer
son and President Monroe.
Not only did the residents of Virginia delight
in adding their mites to the restoration fund, but
contributions flowed in from people of other de
nominations as weU, and from every section of
the country, no less than twenty-one States being
represented in the list.
An interesting feature in this work of restora
tion was the incorporation into the building of
some two thousand of the bricks that had been
part of the walls of the ancient Colonial church
at Jamestown in Virginia years before. The
pulpit, as well as the sounding-board, with the
carved oak communion table and altar, were me
morials from the families of early parishioners
who had become residents of Maryland and
Pennsylvania. In order to embody in the edifice
all that was possible of the original church build
ing in its restoration, the chancel railing was
constructed from portions of the original roof,
which had finally fallen in.
In short, all the traditions and style of the
original structure were carefully followed, and
the present church is a most interesting example
of early church architecture in the Southern
Colonies.

OF AMERICA 101

THE REFORMED NETHER
DUTCH CHURCH
SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
A RENT VON CURLEER, who pur-
/\ chased the "Great Flatts " from the
^ JL Mohawk chiefs in 1661, is regarded as
the founder of Schenectady. After the deed for
the land had been signed by these Indian chiefs,
he removed to his new possessions in company
with some fifty hardy Dutch pioneers and their
famiUes, forming a little Dutch republic whose
voters were one in their religious belief. The
freeholders in this new settlement constituted
their own official and spiritual authority, and
from their number they elected annuaUy five
trustees for the purpose of " maintaining good
order and advancing their settlement." They
housed themselves promptly in rude log struc
tures and effected their church organisation with
the first election of elders and deacons in 1662.
When in 1664 the government of New York
passed into the hands of the EngUsh, both settle
ment and church government continued placidly
without change.
In the meanwhUe the members had been un-

102 HISTORIC CHURCHES
able to support a minister of their own, depend
ing entirely upon travelUng missionaries. In
1674j however, they erected their first rude struc
ture and dedicated it to the worship of God.
The occasion was one of great rejoicing among
the members of the Reformed Nether Dutch
Church, since they were no longer compelled,
if they desired to attend church service, to travel
the twenty miles that lay between themselves
and Albany.
This new little church was erected at the south
end of Church Street, near the head of Water
Street, and was substantially built although ut
terly devoid of ornament. Neither was much
provision made for comfort, since the building
had neither flooring nor means of heating. From
a lofty pulpit the minister sounded forth his
warnings to the congregation, who literally sat
at his feet. The building had a gallery which
was constructed, not with the idea of providing
additional seating capacity, but because from its
height a better watch could be kept for attacks
by hostile Indians, The windows were high in
the walls and built after the manner of the loop
holes of a fort.
It was a memorable day in the history of the
little community when the Reverend Petrus
Thesschenmacher, a graduate of the University
of Utrecht, was installed in 1684 as the regular
domine of the Schenectady Church; so great

OF AMERICA 103
an event in their history that the year 1684 has
ever since been known among them as " the year
of grace." From that year, too, date the regular
appointment of elders and the keeping of the
records of the church. The ordinances and
forms of worship prescribed were considered
rather as privileges than duties and were per
formed according to the principle that "unto
whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be
required." In consequence, the higher the social
or official standing of an individual, the more
circumspectly was it necessary for him to con
duct himself, both in his daily walk and conver
sation and in his discharge of his religious duties.
Until the installation of this, their first regular
minister, the congregation had received quarterly
visits from the Reverend Gideon Schaets of
Albany, who at these periods baptised and con
firmed the young in the Schenectady congrega
tion, administering also the Lord's Supper. Mar
riage among these pioneers was regarded as a
civil function which the resident magistrate
might perform, according to the ancient Dutch
custom. Upon the installation of the Reverend
Mr. Thesschenmacher a school was also opened,
in which he taught the children of all settlers in
the vicinity; and since the idea of free schools
had not yet been entertained the new minister
was able by means of this tuition to earn the
better part of his living.

104 HISTORIC CHURCHiplS
In spite of the fact that these humble farmers
had naught but what they earned by the labour
of their own hands, the church as early as 1681
had a fund for the support of the poor amount
ing to three thousand guUders. To this sum
still another thousand guilders were added by
1690, when the barbarities of King WiUiam's
War utterly destroyed the little settlement at
Schenectady, driving the survivors to more
thickly settled portions of New York. The little
Reformed Nether Dutch Church was burned,
and its minister, the Reverend Petrus, mysteri
ously disappeared and was never seen afterward.
Thoroughly alarmed for the safety of their
families, many of the farmers who had com
prised the original settlement in and about
Schenectady decided not to return, but to re
main in places of greater security. The church
organisation in consequence languished until the
beginning of the next century, when the Rever
end Thomas Brower came over from HoUand
to make his home among the people of Schenec
tady. He served the congregation for over a
quarter of a century, and materially increased its
membership. In 1703, almost immediately after
his arrival, another church edifice was erected,
which fulfilled the requirements of the congre
gation for eighty years, until a new structure
replaced it in 1814, The present church buUding
was erected in 1862, from plans prepared by a

OF AMERICA 105
son of the Right Reverend Horatio Potter, then
Bishop of the Diocese of New York.
The present communicants of the church stUl
maintain the same form of church government
and the same articles of faith that were so highly
cherished by their forefathers when they first
came into the wUderness as fur traders in 1661.
The only innovation that has been introduced is
the adoption at alternate services in the church
of the English and the Dutch languages.

106 HISTORIC CHURCHES

SAN CARLOS BORROMEO
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
TO write even a skeleton history of the
work accomplished by the Spanish mis
sionaries of the Roman CathoUc faith
would demand several volumes ; one can therefore
only give a leaf here and there of the methods
they employed and the special points they cov
ered. More than one hundred years before the es
tablishment of any Protestant Church on the
eastern shores of our country, there were in
existence numerous old Catholic Missions scat
tered throughout what is now New Mexico,
Arizona and California, some of which are in
existence to-day.
From Mexico these Jesuit priests travelled,
teaching and preaching the gospel of Jesus
Christ as they went. Many of them fell victims
to hunger and thirst in the deserts, while still
others became the prey of wild beasts and sav
age men. One of those who escaped death en
tered through the shoals that guard so carefully
and hide so s'vUfuUy the Bay of Monterey. In

San Carlos Borromeo, Monterey, California

OF AMERICA 107
his Uttle f raU boat he sailed up to the head of the
bay, landed, and, selecting two stately oaks near
the shore, he nailed to them a wooden cross, be
neath which he said mass. Later, to provide
shelter from inclement weather, a little thatched
hut was built close to these oak trees. Journey
ing on, Gaspar de Portala sought other and
more populous sections where he might make
converts, finally returning to Mexico, where he
made his elaborate report to the Church,
On the missionary, Portala, that journey up
the Bay of Monterey made no special impres
sion, and as the years passed on, the exact site of
this Bay could not be located. In 1768, how
ever, another member of the Jesuit Brotherhood
travelled over the first portion of the route taken
by Portala, and by chance entering this same
Bay of Monterey sailed to its northern extrem
ity. Here, on landing, he found the two oaks
described by Portala, with the wooden cross still
naUed to them. Additional evidence of the work
of Portala one hundred and sixty-eight years
earUer was found in the little thatched hut close
to the twin oaks, designating the spot where the
standard of Christ was first set up in what is
now the State of CaUfornia. Overjoyed, Padre
Junipero Serra, with his followers, knelt in a
thanksgiving service beneath the wooden cross,
and there it was decided to found the Mission of
San Carlos Borromeo on the banks of the Rio

108 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Carmelo. With that ability which the practical
turn of his mind gave him, Junipero oversaw
and directed every portion of the work of con
struction of the buildings which were to consti
tute the first Mission Church in our country.
A line of high, strong posts was planted close
together, enclosing a rectangular portion of land
some seventy by one hundred and thirteen feet;
within this a simple log house was erected. For
want of nails the outer palisade failed to possess
that upper fastening that would naturally bind
the poles together at the top and render the en
closure the more secure and durable. To obviate
this difficulty Junipero had the inside of the pah-
sade plastered wdth mud and clay, as well as the
walls and roof of the structure erected within
the stockade for the use of the missionaries. The
building was twenty-one by one hundred and
fifty feet in dimensions and divided into seven
rooms. One of these was set aside for worship,
others as living rooms for the priests and such
converts as they might make, while still others
were used as a storehouse. NaturaUy, at first,
these remained empty, but Junipero provided for
the future material as well as for the spiritual
welfare of his neophytes. He taught them the
cultivation of the land, and the fruit of this
instruction was placed in the storehouses he had
provided when the Mission was first founded.
The little church was completed, even to the

OF AMERICA 109
interior whitewashing, a tedious process at that
time, and the first mass was said within its walls
the day it was dedicated, June 3, 1770. Adjoin
ing the larger structure, a smaUer one was soon
after erected to serve as a kitchen, and this, as
weU as the large buUding, was roofed wdth a
plaster made from mud and clay. This roof did
not prove a success and was soon replaced by
tiles, baked in the little oven that Junipero had
erected for the purpose.
These first simple structures were not intended
as the permanent home of the San Carlos Bor
romeo Mission, but as accommodations for the
priests, with such converts as they might make,
until more soUd, permanent structures could be
raised. The Mission prospered from the very
beginning, and so arduously did all labour that
in December of 1771 the new Mission houses
were completed arid occupied. One peculiar
expression which was habitual wdth Junipero
Serra, and which he invariably used as a greet
ing, " Amar a Dios " — Love God, was gradually
adopted by the Indians, who would invariably
employ it in accosting the Spaniards. In 1773
Junipero Serra made a report to the Mexican
Church, and it then became knovm that more
neophytes were being added to the Mission of
San Carlos Borromeo than any other that had
yet been established in our country.
In 1784 Padre Serra was called to lay down

110 HISTORIC CHURCHES
his earthly cross, and his body was laid to rest
in the sanctuary of San Carlos.
On July 7, 1792, the corner stone of a new
house of worship w^as laid, and soon afterward,
a visit to Monterey of the English voyager,
Captain Van Couver, resulted in the gift from
this noted explorer of a handsome barrel organ
for the use of the Mission.
To the student of architecture, the Mission
Church of San Carlos, with its arched western
doorway, its central star window, and the severely
plain gable is an interesting combination. The
most elaborate piece of architectural detail found
in any of the Spanish Missions in America is
said by an architectural authority to be the ornate
clustered columns at San Carlos Borromeo, It
is at the entrance to the Chapel of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus, and is a reproduction from the
Alhambra; showing, no doubt, that the original
from which it was evidently copied from memory
had been viewed by Padre Serra at some time
in his life.
While the founder of the Mission of San
Carlos extended his labours into other mission
fields, yet the first Mission he founded in Cali
fornia had his deepest love. Here was his home
—if a Spanish missionary could be said to pos
sess a home; here, he made his special abiding
place. Hence the tower, the star window and
the elaborately carved arches, as well as the

OF AMERICA 111
wealth of carving and painting in the mural
decoration. Unfortunately only half obUter-
ated fragments of these remain.
The artistic sense of the founder and builder
of San Carlos seems to have exhausted itself in
the construction of the Mission structure, and
to have left nothing for the furniture. But the
altar vessels — the asperger and the candlesticks,
together with the baptismal vessels — were rich
both in material and workmanship. These are
invariably prominently displayed on November
4th, the day of the patron saint of the Mission,
after whom it was named, San Carlos Borromeo,
that nephew of Pope Pius IV. who died in 1584
and was canonised by Pope Paul V. in 1610.
The asperger of San Carlos Mission is a dis
tinctively Moorish design, although naturally of
Spanish execution. The handle is cast and
turned ; the base is hammered from the back, ac
cording to the primitive method in vogue in Old
Mexico, the design, both in the handle and in
the body of the vessel, being an interlacing of
moons and rings in arabesque. Among the
other highly esteemed possessions of the Mission
is the processional cross once borne on feast days
by Padre Junipero Serra himself. It is silver
chased in a neat and artistic design, both on
the front and rear sides. The Christ is of brass
and is evidently more modern, having, no doubt,
replaced the original figure that must have been

112 HISTORIC CHURCHES
lost or stolen during the dark days of the secu
larisation period. The two altar candlesticks
are beautifuUy ornamented in olive-leaf design.
In 1779 direct communication was established
by boat with Mexico, and from that time the
Mission enjoyed many years of spiritual and
financial prosperity, as the providing of a mar
ket for the crops raised on the Mission lands
gave a greater incentive to husbandry, as well as
to mining.
In 1792 a welcome addition was made to the
possessions of the Mission in the form of three
sweet-toned bells, which were hung from a
heavy framework resting upon a soUd stone
foundation. The separation of the church from the state
when the territory became American resulted
unfavourably for San Carlos Borromeo Mission,
and gradually the neophytes scattered; service
was held with less regularity, the finances of
the Mission grew less and less equal to keeping
the building in repair, and finaUy, in 1852, the
roof fell in.
In 1868 prominent Catholics in various sec
tions of CaUfornia awoke to the fact that the
early landmarks of their faith were gradually
being lost to history, and a vigorous effort was
at once begun to restore many of the mission
churches to their former condition, among these
being San Carlos, In clearing away the debris

OF AMERICA 113
preparatory to this work the workmen came
across the stone coffin within which lay the skele
ton of Padre Junipero Serra, in an inner coffin
of redwood. The body was in a state of per
fect preservation; even the stole with which he
had been adorned at the time of his burial was
in excellent condition. The work of restoration
continued, and on August 28, 1884, the Mission
buildings were again consecrated.

114 HISTORIC CHURCHES

QUEEN ANNE'S CHAPEL
FORT HUNTER, NEW YORK
T an audience granted to a delegation
from America in 1708 Queen Anne
promised better protection to the set
tlers who had colonised the region claimed by the
Mohawk and Onondaga Indians, Accordingly,
two years later, Robert Hunter sailed for the
New World, carrying with him, as the new Gov
ernor of New York, royal orders to establish a
fort at the junction of the Schoharie and the
Mohawk Rivers and to build a church within its
walls. The year 1711 witnessed the erection of a
fort of logs, well pinioned together. The struc
ture measured twelve feet in height, while the en
closure was about one hundred and fifty feet
square, and in the centre of this, and protected
by its palisades, rose Queen Anne's Chapel. It
was of limestone, twenty-four feet square, and
ornamented with a belfry, within which hung
the bell, given by Queen Anne to the Mission.
Many years afterward this bell was placed in
the belfry of an institution of learning at Johns
town, New York, and called the students to their

OF AMERICA 115
classes until the building was destroyed by fire
a few years ago.
The entrance to the chapel faced the north,
while the pulpit, capped by a sounding-board,
stood on the west side. In the customary posi
tion stood the reading desk, and opposite the pul
pit were two pews built upon an elevated floor,
one for the minister's family, the other for the
officer in charge of the garrison. Many years
later this officer was the famous Sir William
Johnson. Movable seats were provided for the
rest of the congregation.
Queen Anne's Chapel boasted the possession
of the first church organ west of Albany, a gift
from the Queen, as were also the linen for the
altar, the cushions for the pulpit and reading
desk, the carpet for the floor before the commun
ion table, the pulpit Bible, and three copies of
the Book of Common Prayer. The Queen gave
also twelve large octavo Bibles for use in the
various chapels which she ordered built for the
Mohawk and Onondaga Indians, as well as a
silver eucharistic set of five pieces, four large
shields of Her Majesty's coat of arms for
the chapel, three paintings of the Mohawk chap
els she contemplated building, and two painted
tablets containing the Lord's Prayer, the Creed
and the Ten Commandments, As late as the
Civil War Queen Anne's brass candelabra with
nine sockets, arranged in the form of a triangle

116 HISTORIC CHURCHES
(the emblem of the Trinity) and a large cross,
stiU remained in the rectory. The chaplain at
the fort, or rectors from St. Peter's at Albany
conducted the services in the chapel, adjoining
which was a rectory, built in 1712, On Novem
ber 27, 1741, the chapel received the grant of a
tract of land known as Queen Anne's Chapel
Glebe, a direct gift from the Crown, and con
taining some three hundred acres of tUlable
land. In spite, however, of this royal munificence,
with no settled rector and no permanent congre
gation, but Uttle care seems to have been taken
to keep the chapel in repair, and during the
Revolution it suffered in common with aU other
edifices belonging to the Church of England,
The windows were destroyed, the floor was de
molished and even the waUs were cracked. The
sUver communion set was only saved by being
buried in the Indian reservation of the Mohawks,
at the beginning of the Revolution, to be resur
rected in 1785 and taken by the Indians under
the special guardianship of a daughter of Joseph
Brant to the new Mohawk church at Brantford,
Ontario, Canada. It is still in the possession of
that church, and used on special occasions. En
graved on each piece of plate appears the in
scription, " The Gift of Her Majesty Anne, by
the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and
Ireland and Her Plantations in North America,

OF AMERICA 117
Queen, to Her Indian Chappel of the Mo
hawks." The Bible remains in good condition
to this day and bears on its cover the words,
" For Her Majesty's Church of the Mohawks,
1712." Meanwhile the beU stiU hung in the bel
fry, but the Mohawks attempted to gain posses
sion of even this interesting relic, and actually
secured it and were carrying it away with them
in a boat. When the white settlers became aware
of the depredation and gave pursuit, the Indians
sunk it in the river so hurriedly that they cracked
it, but the settlers, nothing daunted, recovered it
and hung it once more in the belfry.
The ravages of time gradually threw little
Queen Anne's Chapel into dilapidation, and with
no churchmen Uving in the neighbourhood and
no services held, it finally became an utter ruin.
From the rectory some of the bricks, which had
been brought from Holland when the manse
was erected, were saved and embodied in the
Episcopal Church of St. Ann's at Amsterdam,
New York, the church that succeeded to the
glebe which had been granted for the mainte
nance of Queen Anne's Chapel, Of the old
chapel not the slightest vestige remains to-day.

118 HISTORIC CHURCHES

DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH
KINGSTON, NEW YORK
A S early as 1659 the Dutch settlers at
/% Kingston, New York, erected with
jL .m. their own hands a little church buUd
ing, and dedicated it the following year. When
a regular minister arrived from Holland this
same year he found himself a domine with a
membership of but sixteen souls and a salary
paid in wheat, which was then legal tender
among these humble tillers of the soil.
This first little hand-built house of worship
satisfied the needs of the congregation for al
most one hundred years, before it was replaced
by a more substantial structure, which was dedi
cated on November 29, 1753. In this second
edifice the members worshipped for twenty-five
j^ears, when, on October 16, 1777, the church was
burned by the British troops that took possession
of Kingston under General Vaughan. The
British officers were at first half inclined to allow
it to stand, as it offered agreeable shelter, but
when they learned that its minister, the Rever
end Doctor Doll, was one of the most ardent
patriots in all New York, they meted out his

OF AMERICA 119
punishment to him in the form of a fire that
destroyed not only his church, but his parsonage
too. This parsonage was a stone structure, so
carefully built that after both war and fire its
walls were employed in the new "Pfarrhaus"
that is stiU standing and regularly occupied.
In 1694 a bell was imported and gave such
pleasure to the members of the little parish that
they used it to announce the hour for meals for
the farmers of the neighbourhood.
The observance of one quaint custom was
reminiscent of their former life in Holland —
the announcement by the grey-haired sexton, be
tween the ringing of the first and last church
bells, that the hour for service had arrived. From
door to door he travelled, rapping loudly and
crying, " Church time ! "
The interior of the church was fitted up in the
ancient Dutch style, with a high, narrow pulpit,
surmounted by a sounding-board. Notices of
all kinds, whether of funerals, christenings, wed
dings or merry-makings, were handed first to the
sexton, who in turn gave them to the clerk, who
stuck them on the end of the bamboo pole which
he kept for that purpose and reached them up
to the domine. At the termination of the serv
ice, as in other Dutch churches we have seen,
the deacons took up the collection with long poles
having little velvet bags hung on the ends and a
tinkling beU to wake the sleepers to the responsi-

120 HISTORIC CHURCHES
bilities of a contribution. Money being scarce,
" tokens " stamped by the church were accepted
as coin, though naturally the church expected
them to be duly redeemed. At the communion
service no communicant would think of approach
ing the table unless suitably attired in black.
The charter of the Kingston Dutch Reformed
Church was granted by the British throne in
1719, and in virtue of that authority the little
Church maintained an independent position, even
when all other churches of its denomination in
this country accepted the jurisdiction of the Gen
eral Synod of the Dutch Church in America,
In 1818, however, realising that if united with
other churches of its own tenets it could render
greater service in the cause of the Master, it
joined hands with the remaining churches of its
denomination, acquiring representation thereby
in the General Synod.
The Uttle church has steadily prospered and
is still most aggressive in promoting good wiU
among mankind.

OF AMERICA 121

ST, GEORGE'S CHURCH
SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
QUEEN ANNE'S interest in the Amer
ican Indians dates from the visit of
several chiefs to London during the
first decade of the eighteenth century,
when they accompanied the Mayor of Albany.
The Mayor's mission was to ask additional pro
tection from the inroads of the French through
out the Colony of New York, and pursuant to
the instructions of the Queen at this time a mis
sionary was sent out to the Mohawks in 1710.
Services were held at stated intervals, the Dutch
Reformed Church at Schenectady giving the use
of its church building for the purpose. The
EngUsh settlers, and the Dutch as well, joined
with some forty British soldiers stationed at Fort
Hunter, regularly attended these services.
In 1731 the Reverend John Miln, who had
become rector of ,St. Peter's Protestant Episco
pal Church at Albany, engaged to visit Schenec
tady four times each year, and to remain with
the little parish there five days upon each trip.
During one of his earlier visits he appointed the
Reverend Henry Barclay lay reader at Fort

122 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Hunter, under whose faithful ministration no
less than five hundred Mohawk Indians w^re
converted and came regularly to service. Many
of these by 1741 had become communicants in
the little parish, and two years later nearly every
one of the Indian attendants had been confirmed
at some one of the successive visits of the Rev
erend John Miln. Later, after the terrible mas
sacres of the French and Indian Wars, during
w^hich settlers in outlying districts abandoned
their farms and fled to Albany for protection,
the number of communicants in Schenectady, of
course, materially decreased.
In 1748 the young clergyman, the Reverend
John N, Brown, came from London to the Mo
hawk Nation. But twenty-one years of age, he
was full of ardour and entered upon his work
with such energy that he soon convinced the
parishioners they should have the church he
planned for them. In 1759 his hopes were real
ised and the little church was dedicated as " St.
George's Protestant Episcopal Church." This
same church building is still standing to-day,
although it has been enlarged no less than three
times to accommodate the increasing number of
its communicants.
Sir William Johnson figures among the prin
cipal contributors to the fund for the erection of
St. George's. Through the generosity of Brit
ish officers stationed near Schenectady the church

OF AMERICA 123
also acquired a library which was regarded as
one of the most valuable outside the City of
New York. Unfortunately it was destroyed
during the turbulent times of the Revolution,
together with the organ and the interior furnish
ings. St. George's, like other Episcopal churches
at that time, feU a prey to the Whigs, and its
rector, the Reverend Mr. Doty, barely escaped
from the patriot mob with life and limb.
For a number of years after the close of the
war the parish could not support a clergyman,
and held service irregularly till 1795, when they
again called a rector. Since then it has thrived
materially and spiritually.
In architecture St. George's resembles the
ancient churches of the old country. The orig
inal structure was rectangular in shape, fifty
feet by thirty-six; its walls, which were buUt of
stone, being three feet in thickness. It was, and
is stiU, divided by two rows of columns of a
Tuscan type. Over the nave the ceiling is arched,
but flat over the aisles. In order to increase the
seating space of . the church, a gallery was
added later, extending around three sides of the
ediflce. Later still this was found insufficient
also, and transepts were built and a tower was
erected against the west end of the church, add
ing immensely to its appearance. The arched
windows are set with coloured glass, with broad
muUions.

124 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Within, the pews are of dark red wood, and
possess individual doors. The addition of the
transepts made an enlargement of the chancel
possible, and the galleries, with the exception of
the one in the west end above the entrance, were
removed. In 1905, soon after his installation as rector of
St. George's, the Reverend Dr. B. W. R. Tay
lor, the present incumbent, urged upon the vestry
a thorough repairing of the church edifice, and
through his efforts brought about the complete
restoration of the building. Among other pres
ents which the parish received at this time were
a new pulpit, a baptismal font, and a lectern, all
harmonising in design and material with the pews
and interior decorations. In deference to the
wish of the Reverend Dr. Taylor, the original
white of the interior was restored, and its beauty
much enhanced. The charm of the exterior still
arouses the interest of all beholders, who often
echo the expressions of pleasure that George
Washington is .said to have uttered when he first
viewed old St. George's at Schenectady.

OF AMERICA 125

THE QUAKER MEETING
HOUSE
FLUSHING, NEW YORK
IN 1692 the Friends were the only religious
denomination in Flushing, Long Island,
that held regular services, though they had
not yet built any church and met only in private
houses. During that same year they succeeded
in obtaining funds with which to purchase land
and erect a meeting-house, and chose three acres
of land in what seemed to them a desirable loca
tion. On September 3, 1693, they promptly
began the cutting of the timber so that they
might have a roof to worship under by the fol
lowing January. The building took a longer
time than they had contemplated, and the first
meeting was not held in their house of worship
until August 4, 1694; the meeting-house was
smaU and plain ; it wholly lacked flooring and all
means of heating, but such as it was, in two
years it was ready for occupancy and the first
" yearly meeting " was held in it.
By 1704 it was found necessary to make re
pairs, and the meeting-house received a new
shingled roof, whUe the walls were replastered.

126 HISTORIC CHURCHES
In this building in 1716 was held the first pubhc
meeting in New York to agitate the abolition of
slavery. The subject was debated also in each
of the ensuing yearly meetings, and in 1718 Mr.
William Burling published an anti-slavery ad
dress which had been made before the annual
meeting of the Friends in the Flushing meeting
house. This was the first anti-slavery publication
ever issued in this country.
In 1716 it became necessary to build a larger
and more substantial meeting-house, and on Sep
tember 28, 1719, the Friends found themselves
in a new house of worship. This building is the
one now used by the Friends in Flushing and
has undergone few alterations. Originally a
gallery extended around three sides of it, but in
1763 this was removed and a second story added.
This upper story was divided and in one portion
a school was kept for children of the Friends'
families. Three years before this alteration was
made stoves were introduced into the building.
During the War of the Revolution, while the
Friends were holding a meeting one Sunday in
1776, officers of the British Army broke into
the meeting-house and would have seized it, but
were so impressed by the earnest spirit of the
Friends that they agreed to wait until the meet
ing was over before -taking possession. Take it
they did, however, and used it as a hospital, the
divided upper portion serving as a prison bar-

The Quaker Meeting-house, Flushing, Long Island

OF AMERICA 127
racks and storehouse for firearms, the fence
around the graveyard for fuel.
Many of the Friends suffered from fines, both
from the British and from the Colonial Govern
ment, because they would not contribute funds
for the support of the two armies, but persisted
in their worship. While their meeting-house was
occupied by the military authorities, they still
met in private houses or in barns, no attempts
being made, to the credit of the British be it
said, to molest the attendants at any of these
services. After the close of the war the meeting-house
was thoroughly repaired, and in 1783 was again
opened for service. Since that time the Friends
have gathered regularly in it and the old house
of worship has become one of the quaintest land
marks of Long Island.

128 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. ANN'S CHURCH
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
THE first Episcopal Church in what now
constitutes Kings County, Long Island,
was established in 1784, soon after the
close of the Revolution, It scarcely took the
form of a church organisation; the very few
Episcopalians in and about Brooklyn being
served occasionally by some of the clergymen
of New York City, assembling in an upper room
in an old one-and-a-half story brick house at No.
40 " Old Ferry Road," No record exists to
show that this little band of worshippers was
ever incorporated as a church organisation or
had any regular officers.
Two years later, however, the first regularly
established and incorporated Episcopal church
in Kings County was formed; it numbered not
more than fifteen or sixteen parishioners, and
naturally hesitated about incurring the expense
of building a church edifice. The parish hired
for worship an old long one-story house at the
northwest corner of Fulton and Middagh streets ;
the interior partitions were removed and a pulpit
and seats " with backs " were constructed. These

OF AMERICA 129
pews were sold later to aid in paying the salary
of the first rector of the church — ^the Reverend
Mr. Wright. The parish does not seem to have
had any name at this time.
This Uttle humble structure was occupied by
the church for more than a year, and in 1787 Mr.
John Carpenter transferred to the "Episcopal
Church of Brooklyn " a church edifice that had
been erected in Fulton Street for a congregation
of "Independents," On AprU 23, 1787, the
church was legally incorporated. Through some
misunderstanding the right to own the property
of the parish was vested in seven trustees. This
being contrary to the policy of the Episcopal
Church, a reorganisation was decided upon, and
the Church newly incorporated, June 22, 1795,
under the title of St. Ann's Church, and placed
regularly under the government of church war
dens and vestrymen.
The Church on Fulton Street, which was sur
rounded by a graveyard that is still used, was
occupied by the parish nearly twenty years, when
there was erected a more substantial edifice than
the old frame building that had been occupied so
long. This new church, built of stone, and larger
in proportions than its predecessors, was built
on Sands Street. It was dedicated in 1805, and
five years later there was installed in it the first
church organ used in King's County,
The parish of St. Ann's prospered spirituaUy

130 HISTORIC CHURCHES
and temporally, and it was found necessary in
1825 to provide for a still larger congregation.
A new church edifice, of brick, was built on
Washington Street, in close proximity to the
older structure. This was consecrated during
the latter part of the summer of 1825 by the
Right Reverend John Cross, Bishop of New
Jersey, assisted by the Bishops of Pennsylvania
and Rhode Island. Within its walls were stiU
held the only Episcopal church services in the
County of Kings, except those conducted in the
chapel of the Navy Yard.
The same spirit of progress is noted in the
conduct of the affairs of the parish as have
characterised it from the outset. To-day St,
Ann's Church is able to boast the only female
choir in Brooklyn, while equal care is exercised
in promoting athletic sports among the young
men of the parish and a spirit of sociability
among all, resulting in strong bonds of good
fellowship and producing a " home feeling "
that is shared with all strangers within her gates.

OF AMERICA 131

DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH
NEWTOWN, LONG ISLAND
OF the Dutch Reformed families in early
New York many removed from time to
time beyond the limits of New Amster
dam, securing for themselves broader sections of
land for tillage, and among them a number of
such f amUies settled in Long Island, where they
formed the hamlet of Newtown. Unable to sup
port a minister and to maintain a church build
ing of their own, they joined hands with others
of the same faith at Flushing, and for a number
of years worshipped there, until December 2,
1731, when a meeting of the resident members
in Newtowm was caUed to form plans for the
establishment of a church organisation of their
own and to devise means for the erection of a
house of worship upon land contributed by Peter
Berrien. At a subsequent meeting held on May
27, a committee was appointed which at once
began active operations for the erection of a
meeting-house at the intersection of Broadway
and Union Avenue in Newtown.
The building they erected conformed to the
usual style of the early Dutch churches in this

132 HISTORIC CHURCHES
section of the country, being octagonal in shape,
with a roof ascending from each side, while a
cupola perched upon its apex, and within was
the usual narrow and lofty pulpit, with its inevi
table sounding-board. One side of the church
was used for the seating of the male members
of the congregation and the other for the
women. For two years, during the Revolutionary
War, the British used the old church for a pow
der magazine, while the church members held
intermittent meetings in the houses of various
members of the congregation.
In 1828 the trustees secured its incorporation
under the laws of the State of New York, and
in 1831 the old meeting-house was torn down to
make room for the present church. The corner
stone of this later structure, which is built in the
Colonial style, was laid on September 16, 1831,
and the church was dedicated on July 29, 1832.
Into this new structure were brought many of
the furnishings that had been used during the
ninety-eight years' occupancy of the old meet
ing-house. In 1854 one of the members of the congrega
tion erected a chapel adjoining the church build
ing, and ten years later the consistory of the
Church organised a mission at Winfield, erecting
there in 1880 a substantial and handsome struc
ture.

OF AMERICA 133
A sale of land donated to the church by one
of its members netted so handsome a sum that in
the spring of 1906 the church edifice was thor
oughly renovated, even to the extent of a gener
ous enlargement of the structure, though the
Colonial style was carefully preserved. The
chapel was brought to a level with the church
building and a covered passageway constructed
to connect the two. On each side of this passage
way were buUt church parlours to encourage
social gatherings among the members of the con
gregation. New windows were placed through
out the church building and a new pulpit and
choir platform erected. The main auditorium
was completely remodeUed, and being arched,
groined, and decorated, was made most attrac
tive. The organ was rebuilt and a water motor
introduced to operate it.
In the belfry of the Reformed Dutch Church
of Newtown swings the bell that has summoned
the congregation to worship during the past one
hundred and fifteen years. It was cast in Hol
land in 1792.
From the number of missionary stations
founded by the Newtown church and the careful
guard she has preserved over their welfare, it has
come to be regarded as the mother church
throughout Queens County. Among the off
spring of this church may be named the churches
at Astoria, East WiUiamsburg, Long Island

134 HISTORIC CHURCHES
City, Steinway, Ridgewood and the Second
German Church of Newtown,
The one hundred and seventy-fifth anniver
sary of the founding of the church organisation
took place during the week beginning Sunday,
March 10, 1907, and brought together members
of widely scattered families whose ancestors had
been closely aUied with the lUstory of the Church.

OF AMERICA 135

THE OLD PALATINE CHURCH
IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY
THE marriage of the eldest daughter of
King James II. of England to WiUiam
of Orange naturally resulted, when Wil
liam and Mary came to the English throne, in
the emigration of many Germans to the British
Isles. In these Protestant Germans, Mary's
sister. Queen Anne, evidently became deeply in
terested, for she aided them in every way pos
sible, donating for their support large tracts of
land in America and sending out numerous
colonies of them at the expense of the royal
treasury. During Queen Anne's reign, in 1706, one such
colony sent out to the Mohawk Valley met in
each other's homes for worship until on June 2,
1729, they dedicated their first house of God.
It was a rude structure built of logs, surrounded
by a paUsade for protection against the Indians,
and lacking flooring and chimney. A roughly-
built pulpit and homely seats were all its fur
niture, but the people rejoiced in it at last as a
building of their own, consecrated to the worship
of God. Queen Anne sent them a silver com-

136 HISTORIC CHURCHES
munion service, and the glebe about the church
was also a gift from her.
The Uttle church passed through many trying
vicissitudes, including attacks by hostile Indians,
before it was replaced in 1770 by the stone struc
ture which is stiU standing and occupied regularly
for service. This stone church is on the river
road in what is now the little town of Palatine,
and draws its membership from both sides of the
river. Before its erection there had been no
resident minister, the congregation being served
by a Lutheran minister who came from Stone
Arabia, some five or six miles distant.
The edifice, which is known as the "Palatine
Stone Church," was dedicated August 18, 1770.
In architectural design, wdth its gambrel roof, it
differs from most of the ancient church buildings
that have survived to our own day. Originally,
the entrance opened toward the north, and over
it was inserted a large rectangular stone bearing
an inscription in German and the date of dedi
cation. This front door was closed in 1868 and
two doors opened at the easterly end of the struc
ture, A gaUery runs around three sides of the
interior. The pulpit originaUy stood directly
opposite the entrance, in shape resembling a taU
goblet, reached by a staircase which wound round
the stem. Above it hung the sounding-board,
which together with the pulpit was painted drab.
The pews had high, straight backs that forbade

OF AMERICA 137
sleeping and were painted a " Spanish brown "
in the prevailing style of the day.
The old pews have been remodelled and the
old pulpit has given place to a more modern one,
but the large square pews on each side of it retain
their original form. The old gallery has disap
peared, and the old-time beU was long ago re
placed by one which for sweetness of tone is
famous throughout the whole Mohawk Valley.
On August 18, 1870, the Church held a centen
nial service, which brought together many widely-
scattered descendants of its original founders.

138 HISTORIC CHURCHES

CENTER CHURCH
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
IN 1637 John Davenport and a little band of
followers came to Quinnipiac, seeking re
ligious freedom. For months they wor
shipped under immense oak trees, and finally on
April 18, 1838, dedicated a house of worship
erected upon the ground they had already hal
lowed wdth their prayers. During the previous
winter, when the weather had been intensely cold,
services had been held regularly in the barn of
Robert Newman.
On June 4, 1639, a meeting was called to effect
a union between the Separatists and the Puri
tans. With a spirit of remarkable toleration,
each sect regarded the opinions of the other as
individual and not forbidding their admittance
into so close a relationship as one church body.
The final organisation was accomplished and
seven elders chosen from the two differing sCcts
to administer the church affairs on August 22.
So broad was their platform that to secure mem
bership in the church the candidate was required
only to acknowledge his belief in Christianity.
The structure erected by the members of this

Center Church, New Haven, Connecticut

OF AMERICA 139
union was used not only for religious serv
ices, but also as a general court. The building
was only fifty feet square, and when the erection
of a tower was considered, the framework was
found to be too light to support its weight. The
tower was therefore shored up on posts, and these
in time showing signs of decay, in January,
1660, the congregation convened to determine a
remedy. No more economical measures having
been suggested, both the tower and the turret
were taken down carefully, and the old shoring
replaced with new.
To provide against unexpected Indian attacks
a sentinel stood watch every Sabbath in this
turret, while armed guards patrolled the road in
the vicinity of the meeting-house. The charg
ing and training of two cannon before service
added to the feeling of security of the worship
pers. With that spirit of intense practicality that
marked all their procedures, provision was made
to prevent any women or children ascending to
the turret during divine service, that the attention
of the sentinel might not be distracted from his
duty. A spirit of martial law was also evidenced
by the beating of a drum as a signal to assemble
for worship.
By 1662 the congregation had so increased in
numbers that seats were brought in until the
aisles were too crowded for passage. Low
benches were erected along the side walls to ac-

140 HISTORIC CHURCHES
commodate the younger people of the congre
gation and later another gallery was added.
In this church the custom arose of standing
while the minister read the text for the day.
In 1669 the congregation began seriously to
consider the erection of another building for the
better accommodation of the attendants, but no
contractor could be found willing to erect such
a structure as was desired for the amount offered.
It was finally decided to enlarge the present edi
fice, with a result far from artistic. The win
dows in the new portion were larger than the old
ones; the new lumber made the old clapboards
look rusty; and even the subsequent boarding
over of the old portion of the meeting-house and
the enlarging of the original wdndows did not
mend matters. Finally, on November 14, 1770,
the meeting-house was sold at auction, and the
congregation erected a new structure. Eleven
years later, in 1681, they purchased a bell, and
from that time the beating of the drum as a call
to worship was abandoned. The bell was also
rung as a curfew at nine o'clock each evening.
The third church edifice was built in 1757,
upon the original site, to be succeeded in 1814
by the present structure, which, with its stately
pillars and tall steeple, presents a dignified and
beautiful appearance, standing in the centre of
the spacious green.
A stained-glass window in the church depicts

OF AMERICA 141
a scene commemorative of the preaching of the
pioneer, Davenport, under a wide-spreading oak
tree; the women and children grouped about
him tell the story of the journeying of his flock
through the wilderness from Salem to the Con
necticut shore, while a seven-branched candle
stick symbolises the seven elders who planned
the original church organisation.
Center Church is regarded wdth deep affec
tion by the alumni of Yale University, as the
graduating exercises have been held wdthin its
walls for a century. In the graveyard about
the church Ue many of the pioneers of the city;
among them three of the judges who voted for
the execution of Charles I. find a quiet resting
place.

142 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST, JOHN'S CHURCH
PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE
THE site on which St. John's Church,
in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was
erected, and which came to be known as
" Church HUl," was the gift of an Englishman,
a resident of the village. In honour of Caro-
Une Wilhelmina of Anspach, wife of King
George IL of England, in whose reign the little
church sprang up, the parishioners named it
" Queen's Chapel," and the Queen sent the parish
a prayer book, a silver communion service and a
Bible, which latter is now one of the most cher
ished possessions of the Church as weU as intrin
sically the most valuable. It was one of four
copies of an edition which had been stricken off
by the printer before the discovery of the error
in the New Testament which substitutes "vin
egar" for "vineyard," knowoi to collectors as
the " vinegar " Bible.
In 1732 a more substantial structure succeeded
the Uttle " Queen's Chapel," and the parish then
took to itself the name of the beloved disciple.
The first rector of the church, the Reverend
Arthur Brown, is known to history as the clergy-

OF AMERICA 143
man who performed the ceremony that made
Governor Wentworth and his humble maid
servant, Martha Hilton, man and wife. The old
bell that summoned the ancient parish to worship
also deserves special mention. It had originally
hung in the French Cathedral in Louisburg,
Cape Breton, and was one of the prizes secured
in the capture of that city on April 4, 1745.
When the American Colonies declared their
independence the objectionable prayers for the
English sovereign and his family provided in
the Book of Common Prayer were obliterated
at St. John's by the simple process of pasting
over them slips of paper on which were printed
prayers for Congress and the success of the
patriot army. Money was scarce and prayer
books too costly to be cast aside. Years later an
English officer, finding one of these old prayer
books in the pew he occupied in the little church,
cut out the leaf as a relic.
On December 24, 1806, St. John's was burned,
and the supports of the belfry giving way, let
the bell sink to the ground with such force as to
crack it seriously. The parish sent it to Boston
to be recast by no less notable a person than Paul
Revere, and at the same time set about the erec
tion of a new house of worship, in which they
hung the bell in place again, where it stUl rings
the New England curfew.
One of the most notable ministrations of St,

144 HISTORIC CHURCHES
John's Church is the " Church dole," instituted
by Colonel Thomas Atkinson, who daily brought
in person for the needy of the parish a liberal
supply of bread and placed it in the baptismal
font where all the poor in the town could freely
partake of it. The members of the parish stiU
observe this custom.
The church organ was first imported by a
Boston congregation in 1713, and after various
vicissitudes came into the possession of St.
John's in 1836. Among the relics preserved by
the Church is a credence table made from wood
that was once a part of the United States Frig
ate Hartford, Admiral Farragut's flagship when
he captured New Orleans. The church equip
ment, indeed, has been gathered from all parts
of the world, the baptismal font being a trophy
taken by Captain Thomas Mason from the
French at the capture of Senegal on the west
coast of Africa.

OF AMERICA 145

TRINITY CHURCH
NEW YORK CITY
THE " EngUsh Church," as the Protestant
Episcopal Church was called in the New
Netherlands, largely superseded the
Dutch Reformed Church when the English con
querors took possession of Manhattan, The
little chapel within the fort was named " King's
Chapel " and the Uturgy was read in it until
1697, when Trinity Church was completed.
The first, and original. Trinity Church was
nearly a year in building, though it was but a
small, square structure. It stood on the west
side of Broadway, and a slope of green lawn
behind it ran down to the Hudson River. In
1737 an enlargement of the church building was
undertaken, and completed in 1739, increasing
its dimensions to one hundred and forty-eight
feet in length by seventy in width. At the same
time a steeple one himdred and seventy feet in
height was added.
The church occupied this edifice until 1776,
when it was destroyed by a fire which threatened
the whole town four days after the British Gen-

146 HISTORIC CHURCHES
eral Howe had seized the city. Little effort was
made to rebuild until after the close of the Revo
lution, when, in 1788, a new building rose over
the old ruins. It feU far short of the ample
dimensions of its predecessor, but served the
needs of the parish until about 1841, when they
laid the corner stone of a third church, the pres
ent " Trinity," which was consecrated in May,
1846. From this " mother in Israel " went forth vari
ous offspring as the family became too numerous
and widely scattered to meet in the old church.
Under her faithful wing three other charges —
St, George's, St, Paul's and St, John's Chapels,
grew up, the first becoming an independent par
ish in 1849, while St, Paul's and St, John's are
still chapels of Old Trinity,
At the outset of its career Trinity Church
owned a large tract of land to which was added
a magnificent endowment from the English
Government — ^the gift of " Queen's Farm," em
bodying aU that tract of land lying between
Vesey Street on the south and Christopher
Street on the north, and running from Broad
way to the Hudson River. A greater part of
this domain is stiU in the possession of the
church, which derives a large income from it.
From this source comes the sustenance of the
parish church, as weU as some six chapels, while
upon the bounty of the mother church depend

Trinity Church, New York City

OF AMERICA 147
numerous charitable organisations as well as
many indigent churches in various sections of
the city.
The charities of Old Trinity and its chapels
are numerous and liberal. The Employment So
ciety connected with the parish furnishes sewing
for destitute women, while the Sisterhood of the
Holy Cross provides for the care of the poor
and sick, and Trinity Chapel House gives shel
ter and sustenance to the aged communicants of
the Chapel. Parochial and mission schools are
maintained, as well as an infirmary for the sick
of the parish. A Working Club brings together
working men, providing them club rooms and a
watchful care, and at the last a decent burial.
Trinity Association is composed of gentlemen
active in the charitable work of the parish. It
supports the Mission Home, including a young
men's guild, a boys' guild, a summer seashore
sanitarium, and a relief bureau, and it dispenses
entertainment for the needy, as well as main
taining a school to train young girls in house
work. In the churchyard around Old Trinity lie
many who have been conspicuous in the his
tory of our country. Here rest Alexander
Hamilton, Judge Watts, and Robert Fulton.
One monument recalls to the passersby on
Broadway the story of those who died in the
British prison ships, and whose remains stiU re-

148 HISTORIC CHURCHES
pose within the shadow of the first Church of
England in New York City. Here, too, we find
the last resting place of Captain James Law
rence who lost his life defending his battleship,
Chesapeake, against the British frigate Shan
non in the war of 1812. The oldest tombstone
in the churchyard is dated 1681. It is that of a
chUd, Richard Churcher, who died at the age of
five years and five months, and whose sandstone
slab, with skuU, cross bones and winged hour
glass, has endured to this day.
ST. PAUL'S
The most interesting of the Trinity chapels is
St. Paul's, at Broadway and Vessey Street.
Standing now with its back to Broadway, the
present building was begun in 1756, and is the
oldest church edifice in the city of New York.
In the graveyard are monuments to the Irish
patriot Emmet, G. F. Cookcj the actor; and a
memorial to General Montgomery, who feU at
Quebec, and whose body was brought to New
York for a second interment. Authorised by
Congress this monument was bought in France
by Benjamin Franklin and brought over in an
American privateer that was captured by z Brit
ish gunboat before it could land the memorial
safely. The old organ of St. Paul's, which was
played on the day of Washington's inaugura-

OF AMERICA 149
tion, was afterwards sold to St. Michael's in
Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Among the square pews of St. Paul's are those
occupied by Washington and General Clinton,
indicated by tablets set in the adjacent waUs.
During the days of the EngUsh occupation Lord
Howe, Major Andre, and Sir Guy Carleton are
also said to have worshipped here. Washington
indeed attended service in St. Paul's the day of
his inauguration. ST. JOHN'S
St. John's Chapel in Varick Street, another
chapel of Trmity, built in 1807, is still pic
turesquely standing. At one time its neighbour
hood was one of the most fashionable in the city,
having a park, St. John's Park, the use of which
was restricted to neighbouring householders, as
Gramercy Park is to-day.
ST, MARK'S
St. Mark's Church, at Tenth Street and
Second Avenue, occupies the site of an older
Dutch church, an interesting relic of which is
preserved in a memorial stone to old Peter Stuy-
vesant, captain-general and governor in chief of
New Amsterdam, who died in 1675. A great
grandson, also named Peter Stuyvesant, and a

150 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Trinity vestryman, gave the site and surround
ing lots to St. Mark's, whose cornerstone was laid
in 1795. It was in this churchyard that the re
mains of A. T. Stewart were laid to rest, and
from which they were afterward mysteriously
stolen.

OF AMERICA 151

CHRIST CHURCH
BENNINGTON, VERMONT
THE first church buUding erected by the
parish of Christ Church at Bennington,
Vermont, was dedicated on February
11, 1762. The funds that could be raised for
its construction were not large and the little edi
fice was simple in style, being but two stories in
height and utterly devoid of a steeple. The
pews were of the variety then in vogue, square
and high-backed, though the raiUngs along their
tops were unusuaUy ornamental.
This church building not only served the in
habitants of Bennington for a " town-haU "
where aU gatherings of any importance were
held, but its upper story also did duty as a school.
Many notable meetings have taken place within
its waUs. Among the most memorable of these
was a service of public thanksgiving when the
news reached Bennington of the capture of
Ticonderoga by the " Green Mountain Boys,"
an occasion of such importance that Ethan Allen
made a hurried visit to his home in Bennington
in order to be present, bringing with him a host
of prisoners of war.

152 HISTORIC CHURCHES
In Christ Church the State legislature first
met, and later, in default of a courthouse, it
was the scene of one of the most noted murder
trials in the early days of Vermont, At an
early period, too, the Uttle parish was torn by the
great American question of slavery, in 1778
dissensions arising among the members over this
national difficulty. The cause of the freedman
won, when, on November 18, 1779, a n^gro
woman who had been taken captive on Lake
Champlain with a number of British officers and
troops, publicly received her freedom in the
little Epiaoopal house of worship. The opposi
tion to slavery grew more and more intense,
while the minority in favour of it became more
decided in the parish, until disruption would have
threatened the Church had not the rector and the
more peace-loving members averted such a dis
aster. With the exception of this one difference of
opinion, nothing has marred the harmony that
has existed in the parish since its organisation.
The little church, remodeUed and fitted up in
more modern style since the early days, is stUl
occupied for divine worship.

OF AMERICA 153

THE OLD SHIP CHURCH
HINGHAM, MASSACHUSETTS
IN the old town of Hingham, Massachusetts,
stands one of the quaint religious land
marks of New England — the Old Ship
rheeting-house, which dates from the year 1680.
So skilf uUy was its framework put together and
so carefully were the timbers selected that it
seems destined to survive stiU longer as a memo
rial to the piety of its early builders.
The land whereon the Old Ship Church was
built was purchased from one Captain Hobart,
and within six months from the time the build
ing was begun it was ready for occupancy, being
dedicated to divine worship in January, 1682.
Its style of architecture exemplifies the severe
taste of the New England colonists; it is rec
tangular in shape and two stories in height, with
a truncated pyramidal roof surmounted by a
belfry, which in addition to holding the bell also
served as a lookout station. The peculiar ap
pearance of the church is responsible for the title
by which it has so long been known — ^the Old
Ship. Surmounting the belfry is a weather-
vane, while from the beU a rope dangles down

154 HISTORIC CHURCHES
in the centre aisle to the floor of the church. A
two-storied porch projects from the middle of
the south side. The only material change made
in the exterior during the two and one-quarter
centuries since it was erected is the small porch
added to the west side.
The interior of the church is as bare and pro
saic as those of other early churches in New
England, all ideas of elaboration seeming to
exhaust themselves upon the belfry. The outer
walls of the church were devoid of paint, while
the interior lacked the luxury of any heating
apparatus. The congregation worshipped under
bare rafters, and sat on the plainest of wooden
benches, hewn out by hand and without backs.
During the many years that have intervened
since the Reverend Peter Hobart preached
against the sin of hoop-skirts and the congre
gation gathered to discuss means of preventinig
Indian depredations, there has been virtually no
change in the interior of this house of worship
except for the addition of the stoves which super
seded the old foot-warmers, and of the more
comfortable seats that were put in about 1817.
Prominent in the front of the church stood
a pew for the elders and another for the dea
cons, while a third was set aside for the accom
modation of the widow of the first pastor. The
pulpit, reached by a stairway on one side, is a
massive structure which is, nevertheless, over-

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OF AMERICA 155
shadowed by a curiously contrived canopy an
swering for a sounding-board. The surround
ings of the church are quite in harmony with the
building itself, being entirely of an older world
than the modern railway station in full sight of
the ancient edifice.
In 1763 a meeting of the congregation took
place to consider the assigning of seats to " per
sons skiUed in musick," and in 1802 a bass viol
was purchased to aid in the service. Additions
of a violin, a flute, a bassoon and a clarinet fol
lowed, gradually paving the way for the intro
duction of an organ in 1866.
In point of usefulness as well as antiquity no
church edifice in our country has a more enviable
record. Bishop Meade in his eulogy of the
church says that there exists nowhere within the
original Umits of the United States a house for
public worship as old as the meeting-house of the
First Parish in Hingham which still continues
to be used for the purpose for which it was
originally erected and still remains on the site
where it was built. Like many another early
New England meeting-house, the Old Ship has
also done other service than merely providing a
place for worship. For more than one hundred
years it was used for all town meetings and vU
lage gatherings.

156 HISTORIC CHURCHES

CAROLINE CHURCH
SETAUKET, LONG ISLAND
THE organisation of the first parish of
the Protestant Episcopal Church on
Long Island was accomplished at Setau
ket in 1725, and in five years the communicants
were financiaUy able to erect a house of worship.
With the exception of this little church at Setau
ket none of the original Episcopalian Church
structures on Long Island are standing at the
present day.
Founded in a settlement in which staunch
Puritans greatly outnumbered them, the mem
bers of the little parish were bound the more
closely together by the persecution of their
neighbours. The town meeting went so far as
to enjoin the rector from the use of the Book of
Common Prayer at any public meeting lest he
distress " some tender conscience," and things
steadily tended from bad to worse.
At a meeting of the Episcopalian clergy held
in New York City October 5, 1704, the rector of
Trinity called attention to the fact that while
missionaries were being sent abroad to convert

OF AMERICA 157
the heathen, yet almost at the doors of New
York — at the eastern end of Long Island — a
handful of churchmen and women planted in the
midst of Puritans were without comfort and
provision for their spiritual guidance. From
that time the needs of the Long Island church
men received greater attention, and missionaries
visited them at stated intervals. The Reverend
John Sharpe, the chaplain of the military forces
of New York, included Setauket regularly in
his tours of inspection and invariably held serv
ice there.
Upon its erection in 1730 the Uttle church at
Setauket had originally been named " Christ
Church," but when Queen Caroline, the wife of
George IL, sent over a communion service of
silver, and linen for the altar, the style
in recognition of this gracious act was
changed to " The CaroUne Protestant Episcopal
Church." In spite of a lack of funds that forbade the
supporting of a resident rector, and of continued
opposition to aU ritualistic forms of worship, the
little parish prospered, and by 1844 numbered
some two hundred communicants. Many a mis
sionary spirit went forth from it, and parishes
here and there along the whole of the southern
coast of Long Island regard it as their parent
church, A number of its parish rectors have
been caUed to other positions of high trust, and

158 HISTORIC CHURCHES
when its centennial services were held in 1830,
its sons and daughters, with their children and
grandchildren, gathered in great numbers to
show their reverence for the " Mother Church
of Long Island."

OF AMERICA 159

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
CATHEDRAL
THE CITY OF MEXICO
BY far the most gorgeous church building
in North America is the Roman Catholic
Cathedral (Church of the Asuncion de
Maria Santissima) in the City of Mexico, which
is moreover, in point of area covered, one of the
largest churches in the world.
The Cathedral was built according to instruc
tions from Philip II, of Spain, and the process
of erection consumed almost a century, from
1573 to 1667. The cost of construction is esti
mated to have been two million dollars, though
most of the actual labour was performed by
slaves. The form of the building is that of a
cross, and it is four hundred and twenty-eight
feet long, two hundred feet wide, and one hun
dred and seventy-six feet high at the dome, while
its massive twin towers rise to a height of more
than two hundred feet.
The ground occupied by the Cathedral is his
torical, being the site of the great pyramidal
teocalli, or temple of the Aztec god Huitzilo-

160 HISTORIC CHURCHES
pachtli. The principal facade has three en
trances and is flanked by two tall towers. At
the base of one of these stands the celebrated
Aztec calendar, an enormous granite monolith
which was brought there at the expense of infin
ite labour in 1790.
The interior is very rich, and the building is
a treasure house of art, since for centuries the
Roman Catholic Church in Mexico was rich
enough to command the best art products in
the world. The Cathedral is a superb memorial
of the time, indeed, when the CathoUc Church
possessed two-thirds of the entire wealth of
Mexico. The Altar of the Kings, in the apse, which at
tracts the attention of the visitor immediately, is
made wholly of highly wrought and polished
silver, and is covered with a profusion of crosses
and ornaments of pure gold. In the nearby
aisles are buried many whose names are closely
associated with the history of the Mexican na
tion. To this same altar in 1811 were brought
for burial the heads of Hidalgo, Allende, Al-
dema and Jimines from the prison of Guanjusro,
after they had been condemned to death and
executed, after having been excommunicated by
the Church as heretics and traitors. Before this
altar, also, on May 22, 1822, Augustin de Itur-
bide was crowned the first emperor of Mexico,
with the title of Augustin I., and two years later.

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after his execution, his body was brought to lie
beneath it. Forty years afterward took place
the coronation of the ill-fated Maximilian. In
1857 the triumphant government of Juarez
seized the golden candlesticks and the gold and
jeweUed statue of the Assumption, to procure
through their sale funds for the new Republican
party. This statue, bedecked as it was wdth
diamonds, has been estimated to have been worth
over a mUlion dollars.
Along each side of the central altar runs a
balustrade, enclosing a space some eight feet in
width and from eighty to one hundred feet
in length. This balustrade is four or five feet in
height and the top rail from six to eight inches
in thickness. On the top of this hand-rail and
about six or eight feet apart are human images,
most beautifuUy wrought and about two feet
in height. These are utilised as candelabra. The
balustrade, the hand-rail and the images are
made from an amalgam of gold, silver and cop
per. An estimate can be made of their value
from the fact that some years ago an offer was
made to purchase it complete, replace it wdth one
of solid silver, and pay an additional milUon dol
lars into the bargain. Here and there about the
Cathedral are other similar hand-rails and balus
trades, in smaller proportions — in all some four
hundred feet — ^made from this same amalgam.
These balustrades encircle six altars in various

162 HISTORIC CHURCHES
portions of the building, there being no less than
fourteen chapels altogether.
In the chapter house near by is a Madonna
and Child said to be a genuine Murillo. Other
fine paintings hang here and there m the Cathe
dral. The church bell — ^the Santa Maria Guadalupe
— is nineteen feet long, and with the exception
of the great bell in Moscow is the largest in the
world. Throughout the edifice appear vases, paint
ings, images and ornaments of silver, gold, and
precious stones; in some portions seeming to
reach from floor to ceiUng. Though the Catho
lic Church does not invite investigation into its
wealth, even the precious metals and jewels that
are found displayed in the Cathedral of Mexico
strike the beholder wdth wonder. And when one
takes into consideration the treasure that lies
hidden away from sight in the vast vaults of
the Cathedral, he gains an idea of the immense
wealth that has been lavished upon the church.
Instinctively the mind recalls Montezuma and
the riches that were brought forward to pur
chase his ransom.

OF AMERICA 163

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
SOUTHAMPTON, LONG ISLAND
EARLY in the spring of the year 1640 a
Uttle band of staunch Presbyterians set
out from Lynn, Massachusetts, to seek
a home where they might worship God in accord
ance with the dictates of their own consciences.
They sailed along the coast of Long Island and
made their first landing on May 10 at its west
end. This, however, brought them into too close
contact with the Dutch in Manhattan and led
to unpleasant relations. Re-embarking, the little
company saUed eastward again and on the 12th
of the next month made the first permanent set
tlement on the east coast of Long Island, giving
it the name of " Southampton,"
They were joined presently by others from
their old home in Lynn, for in November, 1640,
the Reverend Abraham Pierson was ordained a
minister of the gospel in Lynn and together with
seven or eight Presbyterian families from that
section set sail also for Southampton. As the
months went on many others were added to their
number. Some who came from Europe, after a
brief stay in Lynn, went on to Long Island and

164 HISTORIC CHURCHES
became identified there with those of their own
faith, so that the Southampton settlement flour
ished, and the membership of the Uttle church
increased rapidly.
In its form of church government the settle
ment was independent, the name Presbyterian
not being associated with the organisation until
seventy years later, when the town donated land
for the erection of a new house of worship. This
deed was made to the " Presbyterian Church,"
That the titles of " Deacon " and " Elder " were
in use previous to this date is evidenced by a num
ber of gravestones in the little churchyard. In
September, 1716, the church requested the Pres
bytery of Philadelphia to send to them, as min
ister, the Reverend Samuel Gelston, promising
thereafter to " subject themselves to the Presby
tery in the Lord." The first meeting of the
Presbytery of Long Island was held in the
Southampton Church April 17, 1717. The iso
lation of the church resulted in its being left
without representation in many later meetings
of the Synod, but the members have regarded
themselves as members of the Presbyterian
Church ever since their caU to the Philadelphia
Presbytery in 1716.
Soon after the formation of the colony, in
1640, a log church building was erected, a simple
and inexpensive structure, representing the la
bour of the members' own hands. Ten years

OF AMERICA 165
afterward the building was leased to one Thomas
Goldsmith with the provision that he maintain
it for three years as " an ordinary for strangers,"
and in March, 1651, the erection of a new house
of worship was undertaken, the new building
measuring twenty-four by twenty feet. It was
ready for occupancy in 1653 and served the con
gregation until 1707, when a third structure was
put up. In the interim between the disposal of
the first house of worship and the completion of
the second, religious services took place regularly
in the house of one of the elders of the church.
The church erected in 1707 continued to serve
as a house of worship for the congregation until
1844. In 1821 it was thoroughly remodelled,
but, being found too small some twenty years
later to accommodate the congregation, was sold
to a little band of Methodists whose church or
ganisation had just been effected, the Presby
terian Church then erecting for themselves the
edifice that is now in use.

166 HISTORIC CHURCHES

THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL
CHURCH
DOVER^ NEW HAMPSHIRE
THE early colonists who settled in and
about Dover, New Hampshire, cannot
be said to have fled from any persecu
tion. A more material cause occasioned their re
moval to this locality — the better opportunity
to ply their trade of fishermen. Yet though
they were a simple folk, rude arid uncultured
when they came to Dover in 1638, they brought
with them their chosen minister of the Gospel,
and during the foUowing year erected a rude
church, built of logs roughly hewn. The waUs
were provided for protection against the weather
with a coat of plaster both inside and out. The
minister who came with the colonists declined to
stay after the first year, since the Uving was pre
carious and he was unable to reconcile himself to
the action of the members of the Dover congre
gation in excluding all whose creed did not har
monise with their own.
These Dover colonists were particularly bent
on having their own way in worship. The ear-

The First Congregational Church, Dover, New Hampshire

OF AMERICA 167
lier settlers combated most vigorously an attempt
made by Quakers to secure land for a settle
ment in their immediate vicinity, so much so
that after being roughly handled, the Quakers
decided to look for some other spot in which to
pitch their tents. The intolerance of the Dover
fishermen was a matter of conscience, however,
and not of worldly poUcy; for they sincerely
believed toleration of other creeds and other ways
of living than their own was sinful. As time
went on they became more instead of less intoler
ant, and reUgious annals unite in the statement
that the Dover Congregational Church was one
of the very last to uphold the right of the Church
to baptise none but the children of its communi
cants. It was only at a late day, and under con
siderable pressure, that the church adopted the
" Half -Way Covenant."
On June 28, 1689, in the French and Indian
War, came the great massacre that involved all
of New England as well as the greater part of
New York in its atrocities. Of the membership
of the Dover Church, no less than fifty were
killed or carried away into captivity. In view of
the constant dread that lurked in the minds of
these simple people, it is not a matter of surprise
that the beating of a drum was their signal to
meet for worship at the Uttle church. The ring
ing of a beU would have served to notify the
savages of the absence of many households at

168 HISTORIC CHURCHES
church and of the consequent opportunity for
pillage. Sturdy in physique, these Dover fishermen ob
tained a livelihood where many another people
would have starved. They lived in a homely
fashion and though their talk was rough and
their bearing toward each other and to the world
austere, at heart they were honest, God-fearing
men. The noted ecclesiastical quarrel between
KnoUy and Lakham took place in the little
church at Dover, The Puritan, KnoUy, marched
into the meeting-house armed with his musket
in one hand and his Bible in the other. The
manner in which he carried his Bible, " mounted
on a halbert as an ensign," was meant to show
that he depended upon his understanding of the
Word of God as one of the most powerful weap
ons with which to overcome his opponent. The
governor came up by boat to Dover, to act as
mediator, and finally, after considerable argu
ment, prevailed upon the two adversaries to per
mit him to appoint a commission of three men,
in whom they both had confidence, to settle the
matter. This committee deciding that both
KnoUy and Lakham were in the wrong, natu
rally each contestant felt himself aggrieved by
their judgment.
For that matter every citizen at that time re
sented outside interference wdth his church and

OF AMERICA 169
political rights. When a tree was found marked
with an arrow-head — a token of ownership
claimed by some absentee — ^the tree was promptly
cut dowTi, since the ownership of the tree would
involve the ownership of the land upon which
it grew.
The little Dover meeting-house was witness of
stiU another notable incident in the history of the
Colony. Once when a sheriff came up to Dover
from Massachusetts to collect taxes for the main
tenance of the Massachusetts Colony, which
claimed New Hampshire as its outlying terri
tory, the residents of Dover resisted the levy as
an instance of taxation without representation,
and the entire population turned out to the little
meeting-house to confront the minion of the
law. Upon the sheriff's attempt to arrest the
ringleaders in the opposition to the government
a serious riot followed, and one liberty-loving
woman hurled the pulpit Bible at the sheriff so
hard that she knocked him down. So roughly
did the people of Dover generally handle him
and his assistants that in making his report on
the circumstances, he said, "We were glad to
escape wdth our lives."
In the early days fortifications made of logs
raised upon earthworks surrounded the meeting
house in the form of a square, portions of which
embankment are stiU traceable. At each cor
ner stood a circular tower, upon which during

170 HISTORIC CHURCHES
the hours of worship sentinels were mounted.
Out of this enclosure the settlers made many a
sortie to drive off Indians that had surrounded
the meeting-house.
In 1655 the parish built a new meeting-house
on the site of the old. The description of this
house of worship is meagre, but that it was of
ample dimensions is evidenced by the fact that
it is said to have had six windows and twelve
doors. Its waUs were of plank and the roof of
tile. Unlike its predecessor, this building was
floored. In 1758 still another structure suc
ceeded it, which in its turn was later altered into
a dwelUng and sold.
The present church dates from 1829, and its
congregation are noted to-day for their intense
love of spiritual and political liberty.

OF AMERICA 171

SAN XAVIER DEL BAC
TUCSON, ARIZONA
THE brave missionary work of the Spanish
priests in America may be traced in
numerous chapels throughout New
Mexico and Arizona, most of which are now only
ruins. Near Tucson is one of the oldest of
these quaint mission churches — ^that of San Xa
vier del Bac, So quaint is it in design and so
beautiful in architectural execution that one first
beholding it can scarcely help an exclamation of
surprise arid pleasure. Nowhere in the South
west is there anything that approaches it in
beauty of form and colour, or melancholy charm.
Time has dealt ruthlessly with the green
wooden balconies in its front and has broken out
their floors, but the original sweet-toned bronze
beUs still hang in one of the towers, and the
pediment of the fa9ade is ornamented with
escutcheons, lions rampant, and wreaths of foli
age. Niches here and there still hold dUapi-
dated bizarre statues, and ornate pilasters flank
the main entrance — the whole moulded in stucco
upon a foundation of brick. Spots from which
the plaster has fallen away disclose the fact that

172 HISTORIC CHURCHES
the pilasters are held together by a centering
rod of timber.
The designer, whoever he may have been, was
evidently inspired by Venetian-Byzantine tradi
tions. The church is roofed with numerous
simple domes and half domes. The interiors of
these are frescoed with angels and evangelists,
and the chancel walls almost covered with gild
ing, now stained and battered, while the painted
and gilded lions on the chancel rails inevitably
recall St. Mark's in Venice.
Though the inscription of the date of the
building of the church is partially obscured,
with care it is discernible in the facade — 1768.
The present edifice is situated upon the site oc
cupied by the original mission chapel built about
1654. Attached to the main chancel piers are
large angels, wdth bannerets, whose draperies
are formed of gummed muslin or a preparation
simUar to papier-mache, while a painted and
gilded Virgin looks down from a high altar
niche. The whole interior has an air of me
diaeval richness and obscurity most unusual in
the Western hemisphere. Since the foundation
of the church toward the end of the seventeenth
century it is said that its services have never
been discontinued.

OF AMERICA 173

THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH
HERKIMER, NEW YORK
A MONG the quaintest and most curious of
Z_^ antiquities in New York State are
,1^ JIl the ancient stone churches erected
through the mediation of Queen Anne on the
banks of the Mohawk River, Their number is
now reduced to three — Queen Anne's Chapel at
Fort Hunter and the Dutch churches of Caugh-
nawaga and Fort Herkimer, Of these the
church at Fort Herkimer is the only one still
used for divine worship.
It is evident from its heavy masonry that this
church was intended to last for ages, for not
only are its waUs three feet thick, but the cor
ners of the building are buttressed and the roof
runs to a solid, lofty peak like a pyramid. This
extra strength was to serve as protection against
attacks by Indians, as in many another early
church. Unlike many other churches known,
this one exercised foresight in its building, and
that it might provide ample room for later set
tlers, was made much larger than was actually re
quired by the number of communicants reckoned
in its fold.

174 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Within, a broad gaUery, huge and clumsy in
construction, extends along three sides, and un
gainly columns of untutored carpentry support
the lofty roof. The pews are square, with
straight backs. The pulpit is one of the greatest
curiosities to be found in ecclesiastical architec
ture in America, Shaped in the form of a
drum, it is perched on a pedestal at what at first
seems almost a fearful height, and is reached
by a steep and winding staircase. Having
safely accomplished the ascent of these nar
row, winding stairs, the minister literally looked
down upon his flock, who sat wdth necks bent
back in their endeavour to see and hear him. A
gaudy red cushion, upon which rested the Bible,
decorated the pulpit, while on a bracket near by
and in full view of both minister and congrega
tion, stood the hourglass. Above the pulpit,
Uke an extinguisher, hung the ancient sound
ing board.
For over one hundred years after its erection
the church was wdthout flooring or means of
heating. It was the scene of many an Indian at
tack in both the Indian wars and the Revolution.
During the Revolution, however. Sir William
Johnson, and later his protege, Joseph Brant,
assumed the protection of the church, and it
escaped serious injury, while its stout waUs made
an excellent refuge for the settlers of the neigh
bourhood.

The Dutch Reformed Church, Fort Herkimer, New York

OF AMERICA 175
After the close of the war the parishioners
added a second story and thoroughly repaired the
interior. The woodwork about the pulpit was
decorated with mouldings painted like a checker
board in red and white. With rare good judg
ment those who had charge of the restoration of
the church refrained from altering the antique
pulpit or the communion table, both of quaint
and old time pattern — the handiwork, no doubt,
of some honest German artisan in Frankfort or
Heidelberg. From this ancient tabernacle many an offshoot
has sprung, and for many miles around Herki
mer may be found church organisations which
trace their origin back to the mother church at
" German Flatts." To-day the communicants
stiU occupy the church building regularly each
Sunday, and regard it with a feeling of most in
tense reverence.

176 HISTORIC CHURCHES

THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST
SAYBROOK^ CONNECTICUT
"N 1646 there was organised in the "Great
Hall " of Saybrook, Connecticut, a body
that was destined to exercise throughout
the whole State a powerful influence in both ec
clesiastical and political circles. This organisa
tion, which was termed the " First Church of
Christ," in the ensuing year began the erection
of a suitable house of worship. The site chosen
was at the end of the public square or " Green,"
Of the plan of this building no description re
mains, nor of the materials that entered into its
construction, though the protection it provided
against sudden attacks by Indians is most defi
nitely recorded.
A second church succeeded the first meeting
house in 1681, built on the same site. This sec
ond structure was plain in design, as was usual
in the early days of New England, Its seats
were plain wooden benches, without backs, and
were assigned to members of the congregation
", according to rank, age, office and estate," Sev
eral leading men received permission to buUd
for their families, at their owti expense, square

OF AMERICA 177
pews to the right of the pulpit. The pulpit it
self, high and of angular construction, was
reached by a winding stair, and furnished with
a Geneva Bible, a Bay Psalm Book, and an hour
glass by which the service could be strictly timed.
During service two deacons invariably faced the
congregation, occupying seats at the base of the
pulpit, while the tithing-man with his fox-tail
rod was stationed where he could best observe
the behaviour of the congregation.
This buUding in 1726 was replaced by a third
church at a cost of sixteen hundred dollars. By
the end of the century a bell and a steeple were
added, and the bell was rung regularly at noon
time, announcing to the residents of Saybrook
that the hour for dinner had arrived, until 1840.
Neither of the first two church buildings was
provided with stoves or any other means of keep
ing warm — a condition which continued in the
third church building for one hundred years
after it was erected.
One of the chief features of the third church
was the exceptionaUy high pulpit, overhung with
a huge sounding-board, both being ornamented
with panels and elaborate mouldings. Each
Sunday the stairs leading to the pulpit were oc
cupied by small boys, among whom great rivalry
existed regarding the occupancy of the upper
step, since the lad so seated had the privUege of
opening the pulpit door for the minister.

178 HISTORIC CHURCHES
The pews were square in form and ample in
accommodation. Seats were provided on three
sides, hung on rude hinges which permitted them
to be raised parallel with the backs, Uke choir-
stalls, and afford more standing room. Around
three sides of the building ran a wide gallery,
heavily arid most substantially built, the east
wing of which was assigned to women and the
west to men. The front tier of seats was re
served for the " singers," while behind this were
four box pews, considered the most desirable of
any in the church. In the extreme rear corner
of the gallery stood another box pew, reserved
for the use of coloured people, who were not
permitted to sit in any other portion of the
church. In the second structure occupied by the First
Church of Christ in Saybrook there met in May,
1708, a convention called by the Great Court of
Connecticut, during the session of which the
noted " Saybrook Platform " was drawn up.
This document, embodying the Articles of
Faith, the Discipline and the Authority of the
forty churches of Connecticut, was approved
by the Court and constituted the ecclesiastical
law of the land, Congregationalism becoming
the state religion.

o

o B-B

CO

OF AMERICA 179

CHRIST CHURCH
WTEST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT
IN the autumn of the year 1722 Connecticut
and indeed aU New England was startled
by the announcement that a number of the
brightest and most promising students of Yale
College had declared for Episcopacy. Presi
dent Woolsey is quoted as saying that greater
alarm could scarcely have been awakened if the
theological faculty had proclaimed themselves
for the Church of Rome, avowing their beUef
in transubstantiation and instituting prayers to
the Virgin Mary.
This event alarmed Congregationalism
throughout New England, filling its followers
with great apprehension. The Governor of the
State threw himself into the breach, to aid in
winning back these young men from their de
fection, but Samuel Johnson, who had already
been ordained to the ministry in the Congrega
tional Church, and his associate tutor in Yale
CoUege, Daniel Browne, stood firm in their
change of faith. Late in the fall of this same
year they sailed together for England and were
regularly ordained in March, 1723, in old St.

180 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Martin's-in-the-Fields, in London. Two weeks
afterward, so fate would have it, Daniel Browne
died of smallpox and was buried in the church
of St. Dunstan's-in-the-West, his only regret
being that it had been denied to him to serve in
his new faith the people of his native viUage of
West Haven.
Johnson, returning to New England, found,
however, a number of staunch churchmen in the
neighbourhood of West Haven who greeted him
most cordially, recognising at what a sacrifice he
had remained faithful to his convictions. They
and their families gathered round him, though
they were too poor to erect a church building,
and had to meet for services wherever accommo
dations could be found.
The organisation of the parish, such as it was,
dates from the return of the Reverend Samuel
Johnson from England in 1723. So scattered
were the parishioners that they before long di
vided into two parts, one at Stratford, under
the Reverend Mr, Johnson, and the other the
West Haven community under the Reverend
Jonathan Arnold, who had served for several
years as pastor of the Congregational Church
in West Haven before he declared for the
Church of England, He was no doubt influ
enced in this decision by the Reverend Samuel
Johnson on his occasional visits to West Haven,
At all events, he visited Stratford on Easter

OF AMERICA 181
Day, 1724, was dismissed from charge of the
Congregational Church at West Haven in May
or June of that year, and sailed soon after to
England to take orders, returning to Connecti
cut two years later with the appointment of itin
erant missionary in that State, with a residence
at West Haven.
At this time church and state were scarcely
yet divorced, and the new parishes were not wdth
out complications. In 1728 the Reverend Mr.
Johnson announced that churchmen fortunate
enough to reside near the parish churches were
exempt from paying tithes to the Congrega
tional ministers, but those scattered through the
country districts were still under the necessity of
contributing to the church they had abandoned.
The Reverend Samuel Johnson kept a watch
ful eye over the students of Yale, an ahna mater
that has suppUed many able men to the Epis
copal ministry — from Pierson, Palmer and
Browne to our own day. So deep, however, lay
the prejudice against Episcopacy in New Haven
that he was unable to purchase a foot of land
on which to erect a chapel. It was only on ac
count of the respect in which he was held and the
influence that he graduaUy gained over many of
the students that in time several graduates and
a number of young ministers were prevailed
upon to read under him. Among these was young
Isaac Browme, the brother of Daniel Browne,

182 HISTORIC CHURCHES
who became an under-teacher with Mr. Johnson
at Setauket on Long Island, and who later, hav
ing been admitted to orders in England, minis
tered to the people in New Jersey for many
years. Although the Reverend Mr. Johnson was able
to conduct service in West Haven but once each
month, he kept in close touch with his people
there and finally secured their ecclesiastical union
with New Haven. With a residence at the for
mer place the Reverend Jonathan Arnold grad
ually formed outlying parishes in various
sections of Connecticut, extending his labours as
far as Waterbury and Derby, laying in a number
of these localities the foundations of larger par
ishes than the little mother parish at West Haven
had been able to boast of. He was succeeded in
the home parish in 1740 by the Reverend The-
ophilus Morris, an Englishman, under whose
ministry the first little parish church was erected
in West Haven. The original subscription list
is still extant, very remarkable for the miscel
laneous articles contributed by those who, with
St. Peter, might have said, " Silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee."
One finds recorded in it such items as rum, mo
lasses and mutton, from the proceeds of the sale
of which, nevertheless, the additions to the
church treasury resulted. To raise funds for
even this small structure must have taxed the

OF AMERICA 183
resources of these people exceedingly, and the
spirit of self-sacrifice of which it is a monument
is almost inconceivable at the present day. The
original building still stands, though a tower, a
chancel and greater breadth on the west side of
the body of the church have been added.
In 1742 came that great wave of religious ex
citement under Whitefield that the Puritans
termed the " Great Awakening." The whole
country was filled with evangelists, and the fer
vour reached an extravagance almost beyond
belief in many quarters. The old conservative
element attempted vainly to stem the tide, show
ing even greater disUke to the " new lights "
than they had shown to Episcopacy. The Epis
copal Church itself became a refuge for many
who were wearied with the agitation that per
vaded every stratum of society and perplexed
with such religious turmoil and controversy. It
proved a sure foundation — a place where the
Gospel alone was preached and the Christian life
nourished. Its history during the past century has been
that of many another mother church — ^her chil
dren growing to such a ripe maturity that they
no longer needed the supporting arm of their
progenitor and became independent parishes.
Old families died out and newcomers worshipped
according to other forms, the little parish reached
evil days, and service was held irregularly, and

184 HISTORIC CHURCHES
for a time even was wholly abandoned, and the
church building fell into more or less decay.
To the Reverend Stephen Jewett of WestvUle
was due the credit of resuming service in the little
church on Whit Sunday, 1837. Through his
influence the Reverend A, B, Chapin accepted
the rectorship two years later, serving the parish
most acceptably for ten years. It was during
his incumbency that the church was restored in
1841 at a cost of some nine hundred dollars,
" making it one of the neatest wood churches
in the diocese."
The following year. Bishop Brownell, in his
annual address, called the attention of the par
ishioners to the fact that although the church
had stood as a house of worship for one hundred
and three years, it had never been consecrated.
This ceremony took place accordingly at last on
May 19, 1842, in the presence not only of the
communicants then living in the vicinity of the
church, but also of hundreds of the descendants
of the pioneer members of the parish, who came
from every section of New England to partici
pate in the service.

OF AMERICA 185

TRINITY CHURCH
FISHKILL, NEW YORK
WHENEVER and wherever Church
of England communicants entered
into the settlements of the Puri
tans, they were made to feel most keenly that
they were "without the fold." Not only did
the Puritans refuse the use of such church build
ings as were already erected, but in many in
stances forbade the holding of any pulpit service
in which the Book of Common Prayer should be
used. This attitude of hostility was especially
manifest against the communicants of Trinity
Church, organised in Fishkill, New York, in
1756, under the able leadership of the Right
Reverend Samuel Seabury — America's first
Protestant Episcopal Bishop. They persisted
in their faith nevertheless, and that same year
secured their first rector, the Reverend John
Beardsley, whose simplicity of character, gentle
ness, and tact won for the little church the good
wdU and regard even of its opponents.
The present church edifice was erected in Sep
tember, 1769. It was a comely structure, with
a tall, tapering spire, surmounted by a baU and

186 HISTORIC CHURCHES
weather vane, in the customary style of the
churches of that period. The earlier records of
the parish were lost during the Revolution, but
it is a matter of history that the church was used
by General Washington as a military hospital
at the time the Continental Ai'my disbanded in
1783. Still further historic interest arises from
the fact that on September 3, 1776, the New
York Provincial Convention removed to Trinity
Church from White Plains, where Washington
then had his headquarters.
On December 16, 1777, the rector of the par
ish, the Reverend John Beardsley, was sum
moned to New York City by the CouncU of
Safety, and for nine years the little flock was
without any shepherd save such as might occa
sionally visit that section of the State.
After the close of the war the Reverend
Henry Van Duke undertook the reorganisation
of the parish, and his energy and ability resulted
in the healing of various breaches between op
posing political factions, as well as the restora
tion of the church building, and a considerable
increase in the number of communicants.
On N-ovember 21, 1789, Trinity Church wit
nessed the signing in a State Convention of the
ratification of the Constitution of the United
States by the State of New York, an act ac
complished in the presence of many interested
communicants.

OF AMERICA 187
In 1803 subscriptions were solicited through
out the parish to raise money for the purpose of
strengthening the church steeple, which, however,
seems stUl to have continued a source of anxiety
on account of its weakness, and in 1817 was re
moved. The base remained, and until 1860
supported a short tower surmounted by an or
namental raUing. In 1860 this tower was razed
and the whole building thoroughly repaired. A
few years later the parish remodelled the interior
of the church, removing the high pulpit, with its
antiquated sounding-board, which had stood
near the centre of the building, and replacing
the high-backed pews with more comfortable
seats. In the churchyard of Trinity Ue many of the
most prominent of the earUer colonists in or
near Fishkill, together with such soldiers as died
in the church during its occupancy as a Conti
nental hospital. No stones marked these burials,
and untU forty or fifty years ago graves dug
to receive the remains of communicants of the
parish upturned scraps of blankets, with por
tions of skeletons, revealing the last resting
places of some forgotten patriots. Among the
modern graves there is also that of Gulian C.
Ver Planck, who has been notably identified with
the hterature of our country and to whose credit
an edition of Shakespeare remains.
Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church of Fish-

188 HISTORIC CHURCHES
kill bears the distinction of being the first edifice
erected by the Church of England in Dutch
ess County, New York, and is stiU one of the
prosperous parishes in that section of the
State.

OF AMERICA 189

SAN JOSE De GUADALUPE
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
BEFORE the buUding of the Roman
Catholic Mission of San Jose the Span-
' ish Missions in California might have
been characterised as individual, since each was
an isolated unit of civUisation. With the estab
lishment of the Mission at San Jose, however,
close to those of Santa Clara and Soledad, a new
era began. In this effort the Spanish padres
joined hands wdth the miUtary authorities to pro
duce peace in the territory lying west of the
Rocky Mountains so that the Spanish army there
might be reduced. The Spanish Viceroy agreed
to contribute a thousand dollars for the estab
lishment of the Mission, provided no increase of
troops should be asked for its defence.
On June 12, 1787, the actual work of building
the church was begun; timber was cut and water
provided, and in a few weeks the simply con
structed little buildings were ready for occu
pancy. The church edifice was of logs, with a
grass roof.
The Indians in the vicinity of San Jose Val
ley did not seem at aU pleased with this broaden-

190 HISTORIC CHURCHES
ing out of the cordon of Missions, but no open
act of hostility occurred until January, 1805,
when Padre Cueva, who was in charge of the
San Jose Mission, set out to visit a sick convert
some twelve or fifteen miles distant. His escort
consisted of three Spanish guards and a few
neophytes. The little party rode into an am
buscade, and the padre and one of his guard
were wounded, while the rest of the party were
kiUed and their horses captured. The one re
maining member of the guard managed to make
his way back to the Mission and word was at once
sent to the Spanish garrison at San Francisco.
A force was quickly sent out, the fleeing hostiles
were overtaken, eleven of them killed, and the
remaining thirty made captives. A tour of in
vestigation that followed during the month of
February disclosed only penitent and submissive
Indians. The situation of the Mission was most admir
ably chosen, and so greatly did it prosper that
within eight years after its establishment new
and substantial buildings had been erected from
brick made and baked in the immediate vicinity.
On April 23, 1809, the new Mission Church was
consecrated and the following July the little
cemetery was blessed.
Hostile Indians again attacked the Mission in
1817, carrying off a number of cattle. An
armed force once more set out in pursuit, follow-

St. Joseph's, San Jose, California

OF AMERICA 191
ing a trail which led to a marshy island in the
San Joaquin River, where a large body of In
dians was concealed. So desperate a fight
ensued that for some little time the Spanish
leader, Soto, was doubtful of the result. Even
tually, however, the Indian ranks broke and they
fled for safety, leaving many wounded and dead,
but no captives.
By 1824 the Mission of San Jose had about
eighteen hundred communicants, and financially
was fourth among the Spanish Missions on the
Western frontier. On account of its proximity
to the route usually followed by trappers and
fugitives from justice, it had a more exciting
history than many others. In 1826 there issued
from its waUs an expedition against the Co-
summes in which forty Indians were killed, their
rancheria destroyed and a number of captives
taken. In 1829 occurred the famous campaign
against Estanislas, who had previously so won
the confidence of the Spanish missionaries as
to be appointed alcalde. Backsliding, he had
left the Mission in 1827, accompanied by a large
foUowing, and for two years had terrorised the
neighbourhood. When he learned of the ad
vance against him of the people of San Jose
Mission, and the Spanish soldiery, he retired to
the cover of a dense forest, and the Spanish
leader VaUejo, realising that he could make no
headway by following the usual miUtary tactics

192 HISTORIC CHURCHES
against such an enemy, sent out squads of men,
as soon as night had fallen, to fire the woods at
different points. Investigation next day proved
the wisdom of this course, for the Indians had
fled from the widespread conflagration. As
soon as the hot embers permitted, the Spaniards
followed the trail of the Indians, who, upon be
ing overtaken, stiU maintained a dogged hostil
ity, but under the persuasion of the cannon that
the Spanish trained upon Estanislas they soon
surrendered. That the Spanish made an ex
ample of the ringleaders in order to quench any
lurking desire to follow the example of this
renegade, Spanish writers have repeatedly de
nied, but when one considers the character of the
Spanish soldiery he wiU accept such statements
with many a grain of allowance.
In 1826 Jedediah Smith, of Mormon fame,
came from the Great Salt on an exploring ex
pedition, but meeting wdth a cold reception at
the hands of the San Jose padre, he returned to
Salt Lake City, being the first white man whose
crossing of the Sierras is recorded.
With the separation of the church from the
state in 1737, or as the phrase was then, the
" secularisation of the Missions," an inventory of
the possessions of the Mission of San Jose de
Guadalupe ascribed to it one hundred and fifty-
five thousand dollars' worth of property. On
March 29, 1843, the Spanish padres were once

OF AMERICA 193
more placed in possession of the Mission, where
they still maintain services regularly. In 1884
a new and modern structure was built for a semi
nary for novices studying for the priesthood.
Later this was placed in charge of the Dominican
Sisterhood to be used as an orphan asylum, and
as such it is still conducted.
Among the relics in the possession of the Mis
sion are two of the bells that hung in the first old
Mission Church; these date back to 1815 and
1826; the timbers upon which they are swung
are tied together with rawhide. The old baptis
mal font too is still used; this is of hammered
copper, about three feet in diameter and is
surmounted by an iron cross some eight inches in
height. The font stands upon a simple wooden
upright. From similarity of name many gather the im
pression that the Mission is situated in the city
of San Jose; such, however, is not the case, for
the Mission buildings and lands lie some little
distance from the town, over the foothills toward
San Francisco Bay.

194 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. PETER'S CHURCH
ALBANY, NEW YORK
THE first American service of the Estab
lished Church of England was held in
Albany, New York, in 1704, though
not in any regularly built or dedicated edifice.
Like many another body of Colonial worshippers,
for a number of years the communicants could
not afford a church of their owm, or even a rector.
From 1712 to 1715 the Albany Episcopalians
worshipped in a little Lutheran church that was
kind enough to open its doors to them. It was
General Hunter, who had been sent over by
Queen Anne to succeed Lord Lovelace as Gov
ernor of New York, who at last encouraged
them to erect a church of their own, himself con
tributing a site as well as the stone for the build
ing. Under his influence no doubt many of the
officers of the British garrison stationed at Al
bany added their quota to the expense.
In November, 1715, this first English Church
in Albany was dedicated. The building was of
stone measuring fifty by forty-two feet. A
short tower was added in 1750, and a bell which
still bears the date of 1750 was set up in it. The

St. Peter's, Albany, New York

OF AMERICA 195
main entrance was toward the south, another
door which led out of the north side of the
building being seldom used. Over the altar, on
the east side, was a triple window, while on both
the north and the south sides were two windows.
The pulpit and reading desk stood between the
two north windows, while the gallery was on the
west side of the building. The interior walls of
the church were adorned with large paintings of
Scriptural scenes, and in one place with the coat
of arms of Great Britain. The communion serv
ice was a gift of Queen Anne to "the little
Chapel of the Onondagas," and a handsome
brass clock was also sent over from the old land
for use in the little church.
During the years that elapsed between 1763-6,
the task of translating the Book of Common
Prayer into the Mohawk language was success-
fuUy accomplished, although not more than
from four to five hundred copies were printed
and bound. In 1758 Lord Howe was killed in
the battle of Ticonderoga, and so highly was he
esteemed in Albany that he was buried under the
chancel of St. Peter's, where his grave is marked
to this day.
In 1790 stoves were introduced for heating
the church, regarded though they were as a great
extravagance by many in the little community of
Albany. The old church at last became too small to

196 HISTORIC CHURCHES
accommodate the growing membership and was
therefore demolished. A new and more com
modious building was dedicated on April 26,
1802. To this edifice were transferred the beU
and the brass clock, both of which were stiU in
excellent condition. Only twenty years later it
was found necessary to substitute a new and
more modern timepiece, and the brass clock was
preserved as a memento until it was destroyed
in the great fire that swept Albany in 1848.
The third church edifice buUt by the parishion
ers of St. Peter's was dedicated in 1859, and is
still occupied regularly for worship. So many
missionaries have gone out from this parish,
founding other churches in various sections of
New York, that St, Peter's may well be regarded
as a mother church of EpiscopaUans throughout
the State.

OF AMERICA 197

FIRST DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH
FISHKILL, NEW YORK
FROM the date of the organisation of the
parish of the First Dutch Reformed
Church of FishkUl, New York, in the
beginning of the eighteenth century, regular
services were held from house to house among
the members, who, conjointly with two other
rural settlements — Hopewell and New Hacken-
sack — were served by a minister of their
own faith. The first structure erected by the
congregation, a rude and simple affair archi-
tecturaUy, gladdened the hearts of the little flock
as one step further in the material kingdom of
Christ. The plain waUs of logs and the home
made but substantial furnishings found favour
in their sight.
This church served the needs of the congrega
tion until 1731, when they built a stone church
having unusuaUy liberal dimensions for that day
and place. There was also a tower at the front,
with a belfry and steeple. A gallery was built
around three sides and the pews were simple and
conveniently arranged.
The little community prospered, and as it in-

198 HISTORIC CHURCHES
creased in numbers the Dutch Reformed Church
received new members into its communion. The
records of the church, which were for a long time
accurately kept, were with the death of its sec
retary some seventy-five years ago unfortunately
lost, and found again only after twenty years
stored away carefully in the secretary's garret.
They had been kept in Dutch, but translations
have been made into EngUsh and they are re
garded as among the most exact and complete of
any church records in New York State,
With the breaking out of the Revolution,
many recruits were obtained from among the
communicants of the Reformed Dutch Church,
for its members were as a unit in their patriot
ism. They promptly offered the use of the
church building for representatives of the thir
teen Colonies to meet in to consider ways and
means for furthering the cause against Great
Britain; and the Provincial Convention was held
there in 1776, As hostiUties extended through
out Eastern New York, Western Corinecticut
and Massachusetts, the church also served the
Continental army as a military prison. It was
this prison in which Enoch Crosby — the original
from whom Fenimore Cooper drew his character
of Harvey Birch — ^was confined, and from which
he made his escape by climbing through the up
per portion of a window and springing from the
window sill into the branches of a tree that grew

OF AMERICA 199
close by; for the church stands in a locality gen
eraUy made famous by the great American
novelist. After the close of the war the church buUding
was restored to its original condition, and en
larged to increase its capacity. No less than
three times during the past century — 1804, 1820,
and 1882 — ^material alterations have been made
in the interior finishing and furnishings. The
little church is still regularly occupied for serv
ice, and its financial as weU as its spiritual condi
tion have ever given cause for rejoicing among
its communicants.

200 HISTORIC CHURCHES

CHRIST CHURCH
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
IN North Second Street, Philadelphia, near
Market Street, is Christ Church, first
among the churches of our country in
its associations with the struggle of the Colonies
for independence. The present building was
erected in 1727-37 in the style of St. Martin's-in-
the-Fields, London, and its organisation dates
almost from the founding of the colony.
The old church is solidly built, of bricks that
were brought from England, In 1754 a chime
of bells was purchased in the mother country,
the money to pay for them having been raised
by a lottery conducted by Benjamin Franklin,
There were eight bells in all brought to PhUa-
delphia on the good ship Myrtilla, the captain
of which declined any compensation for the
service. For many years after they had been
hung in the belfry, they were rung at noon daily
to please the citizens of Philadelphia, as well in
the evening before each market day for the grati
fication of the farmers who had brought their
produce to town. The interest shown by aU
citizens of the City of Brotherly Love in those

Copyright, 1 90 1 , by Detroit Photographic Company
Christ Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

OF AMERICA 201
beUs, irrespective of sect, was great and curious,
and indeed they were only the second set of
chimes to be imported into the Colonies.
In addition to the regular ringings, the beUs
were rung on every occasion, important or tri-
fUng. When news of disaster was received
their tones were muffled and thus carried the tid
ings to aU the townspeople. On July 4, 1776,
on the other hand, they rang out loudly and
spread the message far and near that the Decla
ration of Independence had been signed in In
dependence HaU not far away.
In token of the Christ Church vestry's full
approval of the Declaration the bust of King
George III. was removed from the prominent
niche it had hitherto occupied, an act which was
followed a few months later by the destruction
of the crowm in the spire of the church by Ught
ning. Tory and Loyalist no doubt looked upon
this circumstance as an omen.
On July 20, 1775, Congress attended service
in Christ Church in a body. Under its roof
too was perfected the organisation of the Epis
copal Church in America, a convention having
been called for the purpose in 1785. Treasured
among the archives of the parish is an original
copy of the Prayer Book of Edward VI,, with
alterations made in the convention in accordance
with the proposed act of disruption from the
Church of England,

202 HISTORIC CHURCHES
General Washington attended service at
Christ Church from 1790 to 1797 and the pew
he occupied is preserved in the National Museum
in Washington; another pew is also preserved
— ^that occupied by Betsy Ross, who made the
first American flag.
The old church is rich in treasures, including
ancient volimaes, furniture, tablets and silver
vessels, many of them possessing extreme his
toric interest.

OF AMERICA 203

THE OLD DUTCH CHURCH
TARRYTOWN, NEW YORK
CLOSELY linked with the Revolutionary
history of Tarrytown is the old Dutch
Church built there near the close of the
seventeenth century.
Early in the history of the New Netherlands
a youth named Vredyk Flypse, a Bohemian by
birth, came over from Holland to New Amster
dam. His sole capital consisted in his trade of
carpentry, and that he soon abandoned for the
more lucrative pursuit of dealing in furs. Not
long afterward his marriage with the widow of
one of the most successful fur traders in New
Netherlands made him, for those days, a man of
considerable wealth. In 1680 Meinheer Flypse
obtained a grant of certain tracts of land situ
ated in the county of Westchester and extending
from Spuyten Duyvil along the Hudson River
as far north as the Kill of Kitch Awong. Within
three years after obtaining this grant, Vredyk
Flypse had erected for himself a manor house,
a miU and a little church on the Pocantico that
is still in existence and most highly cherished
by the people of Tarrytown, as well as by all resi-

204 HISTORIC CHURCHES
dents of New York State who are aware of its
interest. The bricks used in the construction of
the chimney of the church, were brought from
Holland in vessels owned and operated by Mein
heer Flypse, as was also the church bell. With
true commercial instinct, the old burgher had es
tablished a substantial trade between New Am
sterdam and England and HoUand, shipping
furs to Europe and importing various commodi
ties that found ready sale in New Netherlands,
and the bricks and bell came over in his ships.
The construction of the Pocantico Church, as
well as that of the manor house, was ponderous
enough to suggest that they were meant to en
dure as monuments of their builder for all time.
The church walls were thirty inches thick, and
the windows in them were elevated seven feet
above the ground and had iron bars to serve the
better for protection against hostile Indians,
Within the church a huge pulpit, with a broad
sounding-board, projected from the eastern wall.
Originally, the seats for the congregation were
without backs, for the purpose of forbidding
lounging or slumber during the sermon, in naive
contrast with the comfortable and imposing
pews that, ranged on either side of the pulpit,
provided agreeable seats for the occupants of the
manor house and their notable visitors. The
farmers who resided near by occupied the body
of the church, whUe a gallery served for slaves

OF AMERICA 205
and for " Redemptioners," poor settlers who had
sold their services for a time to pay the cost of
their passage from the Old World. Within the
church still stands the ancient bier, around which
many tears have no doubt been shed since the
dedication of the edifice in 1697 by the Reverend
Guiliam Berthoff, who came from HoUand
specially to serve the little community.
During the stormy days of the Revolution the
church was closed, and so strong did the spirit of
Uberty and equaUty rage in the parish that the
trappings that had distinguished the pew of the
lord of the manor were torn down and burned.
Thereafter, this pew and its fellows were ap
propriated by the elders and deacons of the
church, an act indicative of the triumph of demo
cratic ideas in church and state.
No rural church in our country has gained so
wide a fame as this little Dutch Reformed
Church in Sleepy Hollow. In its modest grave
yard Ue the remains of that gentle humourist,
Washington Irving, whose intense love for this
locaUty and the Uttle church itself has imbued
many readers with affection and reverence for it.
The two hundredth anniversary of the dedication
of the church brought together from aU sections
of the country men of every denomination, who
hastened to join hands in its memory, as weU as
to render homage to the great writer whose love
for the old edifice was so deep and lasting.

206 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA
A MONG the old churches of the South,
/% both architecturally and in point of his-
M. JL tory, few are more interesting than St.
Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Nor
folk, Virginia.
Raised bricks set in its wall testify to 1739 as
the date of the church's erection, very soon after
the establishment of the first settlement there,
and the granting of a charter by act of the Vir
ginia Assembly. In plan the building is cruci
form, and the doors are arched in accordance
with the prevailing custom of those times, while
the beauty of the windows stiU arouses admira
tion. During the Revolution the old church, as well
as its church property, suffered much. Its rec
tor at that date was the Reverend Thomas Davis,
whose sympathies were wholly wdth the Ameri
can colonists, and who, in 1766, was chairmanjof
a well-attended town meeting to protest against
the notorious Stamp Act. This action was not
forgotten by the British ten years later when
their army bombarded Norfolk, under Lord

<! •-I

OF AMERICA 207
Dunmore, and entirely destroyed the city.
Nothing remained of the little church of St.
Paul's except the waUs, in one of which, the
south waU, a cannon ball stiU bears witness of
the British onslaught.
After the close of the Revolution St. Paul's
was rebuilt, in the original plan, using the orig
inal walls. The same contour was followed in the
doorways, and the quaint old windows also were
replaced. Its career has been signally successful,
and from time to time St. Paul's has planted
offshoots here and there, until the churches that
have growTi up under her protection number at
least ten.
St. Paul's lay in the track of the contending
armies during the great Civil War; each army.
North or South, in turn occupied it, and the
close of the war found it devastated, its commu
nicants dead or scattered, and its treasury de
pleted. It was only as the years rolled on that
the congregation gradually gathered up its cour
age once more and repaired the church building.
Although certain improvements were added, the
original lines were again faithfully preserved,
as they had been after the Revolution, and to-day
the church bids fair to stand for another two
hundred years of activity and energy.
St. Paul's churchyard is regarded as the most
beautiful cemetery in all Virginia. Among those
who Ue there are many who fought both for and

208 HISTORIC CHURCHES
against the United States as a nation, not only
during the Revolution, but the Civil War as well.
Here also are found the graves of the original
Huguenots who first settled in Virginia, together
with those of many men whose forefathers bore
an honourable part in the history of Scotland
and Ireland.

OF AMERICA 209

FIRST DUTCH REFORMED
CHURCH
FLATBUSH, LONG ISLAND
IMMEDIATELY following the settlement
of Manhattan Island various pioneers, cast
ing a look ahead and attracted by the
promised profits of farming on Long Island,
pre-empted land on the opposite side of the East
River, -and began to live there. These settlers,
regarding themselves as part and parcel of the
greater settlement, may, indeed, be looked upon
as the progenitors of " Greater New York,"
For almost twenty years they travelled over to
Manhattan to worship in the little church build
ing within the fort, served by theological stu
dents sent out by the West India Company,
who recognised the American colony as humble
members of the Synod of Holland and the
Classis of Amsterdam. The name given these
lay readers was " Comforters of the Sick," and
occasionally when service was conducted in the
house or barn of some invalid communicant, the
settlers for miles inland attended en masse.
In 1628 the first regularly ordained minister
of the Gospel, Domine Michaelius, was sent
out to the American Colony by the North Synod

210 HISTORIC CHURCHES
of Holland, Upon his arrival he organised the
first body of the Reformed Dutch Church in
America, embodying some fifty communicants.
Three years later he was foUowed by Domine
Everardus Bogardus. The year of his advent
into the American Church organisation, 1633,
was marked by the erection of the first regular
church building of the Dutch Reformed Church
in America.
As the Long Island settlers prospered, they
decided that they, too, were able to erect a church
of their own. They had been dependent upon
the rudest sort of methods for crossing the East
River, their ferry consisting merely of a small
flat-boat rowed by some nearby farmer, who was
summoned by a horn which hung conveniently on
a neighbouring tree for the purpose. The length
of the passage depended upon the weather and
tide, and the ancient Long Islanders decided it
was time they should make their church-going
less hazardous.
In 1654 they accordingly completed the erec
tion of their first house of worship. They
selected Flatbush as the most central and conven
ient site for the residents of " Breukelen, Med-
wont and Amersfort " — as Brooklyn, Flatbush
and Flatlands were then called. The cost of the
building was eighteen hundred dollars, to which
fund Governor Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch
"Director-General" of the New Netherlands,

OF AMERICA 211
contributed liberally. It was in the form of a
cross, sixty-five feet long by twenty-eight feet
wide, and from twelve to fourteen feet from
floor to ceiUng. In architectural style and in
interior finish the church was plain and simple,
being thoroughly characteristic of the homely
life led by these Dutch burghers.
The communicants of the Dutch Church were
most emphatic in demanding broad and thorough
theological training in the ministers sent out to
serve them. Of these the Reverend Johannus
Theodorus Polhemus was the first regularly or
dained minister at Flatbush. Under his preach
ing the church prospered, and in 1681 had
attained so great a prominence in the New Neth
erlands Classis that the consistory of the church
was enlarged by the addition of stiU another
deacon, selected from the communicants who
resided at New Lots, For many years none of
the Dutch Reformed churches on Long Island,
with the exception of the church at Flatbush,
had more than two elders and two deacons.
The number of worshippers increased duly, and
in 1698 arrangements were made to erect a new
church edifice. The communicants wdshed, more
over, to possess a building in which they could
take some pride. To one of the leading elders is
attributed the remark that they were ashamed to
have the EngUsh see them attending service in a
mean church building, since the first thing that

212 HISTORIC CHURCHES
New Englanders did, after erecting places of
shelter for their families, was to build a substan
tial church. Accordingly the Dutch at Flatbush
at once started a subscription for a building fund,
and before a great while accumulated something
over six thousand dollars — a large sum for those
times. No record exists of contributions being
asked from any outside the communicants of the
church, nor did any debt remain to be liquidated
by later members, two facts which testify to the
prosperous condition of the little Dutch colony.
The location selected for the new church was
the site of the old building, and the stones of the
old church were again employed in the founda
tion of the new structure. The entire edifice
was of stone, wdth its front facing the east, in
which a large, arched, double door opened. The
roof was steep, rising from each of the four
walls, and at its apex a small steeple was built, in
which was hung a bell brought from HoUand.
The building was wider in its front than its
depth, being sixty-five feet from north to south,
while it measured only fifty feet from east to
west. The roof rested partly upon the walls and
partly upon two large oaken columns which
stood within the church equi-distant from each
other and from the nearest wall. These two
columns supported a plate in the centre of the
lofty, arched, plank ceiling, while the north and
south ends of the roof rested upon the walls.

OF AMERICA 213
The consequence was that these end waUs were
higher than the east and west waUs. To make
the roof more secure, the two interior oak sup
ports were braced together heavily. This unusual
construction was most defective, as may be sup
posed, for the pressure was so great upon the
north and south waUs that in time the upper por
tion of the north waU was forced more than a
foot out of plumb.
The pulpit stood in the centre of the west side
of the building, and at its right were the seats
for the elders of the church, and at its left, those
for the deacons. The male portion of the congre
gation was provided with seats along the walls
on three sides of the church, while the centre was
devoted to the use of the women. The women
and Uttle girls occupied chairs, the men and boys
unpretentious benches, divided into twenty com
partments with low doors. The chairs were
ranged in seven rows or blocks, and each was
marked upon the back with the name of the
owner. The windows were formed of small
panes of glass, those on each side of the pulpit
being painted, or ornamented with lead mulUons.
In 1775 the seating arrangements of the
church were changed and pews to the number
of sixty-four substituted for the chairs and
benches. Each pew provided for the seating of
at least six people, and families were again re
united in the church sittings, A short gallery

214 HISTORIC CHURCHES
was also built on each side of the entrance door,
one of them reserved for the use of communi
cants who were too poor to pay the rental of a
pew, the other for coloured members. Con
spicuous in their location and finish were two
pews near the pulpit in the front of the body
of the church. In one of these sat the minister's
family, and in the other any notable visitors that
might come for worship. In a prominent posi
tion near the pulpit hung a board upon which
was regularly noted the Psalms to be sung dur
ing service each Sunday.
The old Psalm books carried to church and
used during the service deserve mention. Each
was curiously bound in silver at the corners and
was fastened by ornamental clasps. Attached to
the Psahn book by a silver ring were long cords
or silver chains with which to hang it at the back
of the chair during the sermon. The Psalms of
David and the New Testament were bound to
gether in the Dutch " Psalm books," some of
which have been preserved to this day by de
scendants of the original church members.
Though no provision whatever was made for
heating the church, ample means was supplied
for arousing the settlement in the event of In
dian attacks. The beU rope which descended
from the belfry down through the middle aisle
of the church, was rung not only to call the con
gregation together for worship, but also to warn

OF AMERICA 215
the settlers when an attack threatened. Dur
ing the Revolution, when the British landed
on Long Island in August, 1776, the bell in the
Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church sounded the
first alarm.
After the Battle of Long Island the British
carried their wounded into the Flatbush Church,
which became temporarily a hospital. When
other quarters for the sick and wounded were
provided later the church served the British
artUlery as a stable for their horses. The whole
interior was demolished, and the pews built only
the year previous were burnt as fuel or to cook
the soldiers' rations. At the end of the war,
when the British troops had quitted Long Island,
the surviving communicants of the Flatbush Re
formed Dutch Church got together again and
undertook the renovation of the building. They
seem to have felt, however, that their house of
worship had been contaminated by the uses to
which it had been put by the British, and in 1793
decided to buUd a new church. The old build
ing was torn down, and a new church erected on
its site. The stone which had entered into the
construction of the first two churches was again
used in building the new foundations. Small
Dutch bricks to be placed around the doors and
windows were imported from Holland, and the
brown stone used in the construction of the edi
fice above the foundation walls was quarried

216 HISTORIC CHURCHES
from the rocky ridge that lies between Flatbush
and Brooklyn. Limestone to complete the foun
dations was obtained from the quarries of " Hell
Gate," The cost of the church edifice was about
twelve thousand doUars, exclusive of much la
bour and cartage, which were contributed by the
communicants of the church. In January, 1797,
the consecration sermon was delivered in the
Dutch language by Domine Schoonmaker,
Since 1792 services had been conducted in Eng
lish and in Dutch on alternate Sabbaths, but
after the death of Domine Schoonmaker in 1824,
at the age of ninety years, the use of the Dutch
language was discontinued. The Domine's
body was buried under the church, as were those
of all ministers who died in office, and of the
earlier communicants as well. This custom ac
counts for the lack of early dates upon the grave
stones in the little cemetery around the church.
In one portion of this graveyard, where there is
a total absence of gravestones, those who were
killed in the Battle of Long Island were hur
riedly buried. As haste was necessary, no coffins
or headstones were used. To the memory of
these soldiers this section of the graveyard was
considered consecrated and no later burials have
taken place therein.
The church is still used regularly for service
each Sabbath. In 1836 the high-backed pews
gave place to more modern seats, the grained

OF AMERICA 217
woodwork was painted white, and two cast iron
stoves were introduced to heat the building. The
pulpit was of mahogany, erected on a pedestal
five or six feet above the level of the floor, and
reached by a winding staircase. In 1836 bUnds
were furnished for the flrst time and the aisles
and pulpit provided with their first carpet.
Later, in 1862, the high pulpit gave place to one
more modern and the two stoves to a furnace.
An organ was installed and a clock placed in the
steeple. By an ingenious contrivance this clock
strikes upon the old beU presented to the church
in 1796 by the Honourable John Vanderbilt, who
imported it from Holland in one of his merchant
vessels. During its voyage, by the way, this ves
sel was captured by a British man-of-war and
detained for some time at Halifax, so that the
bell finaUy reached its proper destination by a
roundabout route. In 1887 the members again
altered and refurnished the church. A door was
buUt in the rear waU to accommodate the minis
ter, and a robing room was added for his use.
The interior walls were stencilled in quiet colours,
and new upholstery and carpets were provided to
harmonise with the new waUs, An addition was
also built for the new and larger organ that was
purchased, and in 1890 stained glass wdndows
were introduced. Many of these were gifts in
memory of the pioneer families that organised
the First Reformed Dutch Church of Flatbush,

218 HISTORIC CHURCHES

THE MORAVIAN CHURCH
BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA
SHAKESPEARE'S remark that some
men are born great, others achieve great
ness and others have greatness thrust upon
them is equally applicable to localities. No de
nomination of Christians are less seekers for
notoriety than the Moravians, yet in the history
of our country the town of Bethlehem, Pennsyl
vania, with its little Moravian church, has won
fame from its association with the names of La
fayette and Pulaski.
It has been claimed by historians that the
Moravians constitute the oldest existing Protes
tant church, dating their origin from the days of
John Huss, Driven by persecution from one
hiding place to another, they settled in 1722 upon
the estates of Count Zinzendorf in Saxony,
founding the historic town of Herrnhut. The
Count, although a strict Lutheran, became deeply,
interested in their religious views, and finaUy ac
cepting their belief he was advanced to the posi
tion of Bishop in the Moravian Church.
One of the chief functions of these early
Moravians was the establishment of missions in

Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

OF AMERICA 219
various sections of the world for the teaching of
the religion of Jesus Christ, as they understood
it. It was therefore natural that they should
cast their eyes toward America, where the be
nighted might learn the way of salvation. In
1740 they purchased a large tract of land in the
eastern section of Pennsylvania, naming the city
they founded there Bethlehem. The following
year Count Zinzendorf came over, and through
his efforts numerous missions sprang up for the
enlightenment of the Indians. At Bethlehem
the chapel house, the Bishop's house, and the
residence of the Moravian Sisterhood were clus
tered upon the original tract of land. The
dedication of the famous chapel took place on
September 19, 1742, and the first convert to be
buried in the graveyard attached to the chapel
was an Indian. Previous to the erection of this
chapel, religious service was held in a large room
on the second floor of " das gemein Haus "
which they termed " der Saal " — ^the entertain
ment room in the home of the Brotherhood.
On April 5, 1751, the population of the town
had increased to such numbers that the small
chapel proved inadequate and a large room was
annexed to the " Old Chapel." In this addition
the first floor was set apart for the married mem
bers of the Moravian community, while the upper
floor was used as chapel. The organ that had
been built in the old chapel was removed to the

220 HISTORIC CHURCHES
new, and there the voices of the "Moravian
Nuns " blended with the notes of the organ in
the worship of God.
The estabUshment in the community of one of
the best conducted hospitals that America could
then boast of brought many strangers to their
doors. This hospital was under the special care
of the Moravian Sisterhood, and thither, on one
occasion came General Lafayette to have his
wound cared for; and to this same community
came Count Pulaski, who had been assigned to
protect it against incursions by hostile British
and Indians. Accompanying Count Pulaski (or
Polowsky, as his name appears in the records of
the community) was Colonel Koabatsch, " a
Prussian officer of Huzzars who had been living
in retirement," and who was engaged in organis
ing a troop of cavalry for Continental service.
From all accounts he gathered many a recruit
from the younger members of the community,
for the records of the Moravians announce the
departure of Colonel Koabatsch, "with his
troopers, armed and equipped, on July 31,
1778." On May 15 Pulaski is mentioned in these same
records as having attended service in the chapel
with some of his staff, in stately array. From
that service he carried with him the banner which
the poet Longfellow has immortalised in his
poem, " The Hynon of the Moravian Nuns."

OF AMERICA 221
This banner, a silk guidon embroidered by the
sisters, Pulaski bore fluttering from an upright
lance at the head of his legions, until he f eU at Sa
vannah in October, 1779. This banner, also, which
was preserved by the comrades of Count Pulaski
with religious care, was carried in the procession
that welcomed Lafayette upon his visit to this
country in 1824, and was later presented to the
Maryland Historical Society, in whose possession
it has remained since 1844.
The sentiment that prompted the giving of
the banner has never been fully revealed, but so
long as the history of our country's struggle
shaU be told and the names of her European
alUes mentioned, the kindly spirit of the Mora
vian Community who cared for the sick of the
Continental troops and provided liberaUy for the
welfare of the American patriots will be grate
fuUy remembered.

222 HISTORIC CHURCHES

"OLD JERUSALEM "
PORTLAND, MAINE
THE old First Church of Portland, Maine,
in its organisation, dates from the first
settlement of the town, although the
members were for a number of years too poor
to build a meeting-house. In 1720 they got as
far as putting up the framework of a building,
though still wdth no funds available for the sup
port of a pastor. This first building was used
by fishermen and soldiers as a barracks, until the
Reverend Thomas Smith came to the settlement
in 1725, and it was decided to complete and
occupy the church. Governor Wentworth con
tributed the glass for the wdndows, and a church
was at last finished and painted.
A second and more substantial church was
built some years later, and on July 20, 1740, was
dedicated to the worship of God. The first old
structure became the property of the town and
was used for civic purposes until it burned down
in 1775. The new edifice was a formidable-look
ing pile, painted white, with green trimmings.
Over the minister's head hung the inevitable
huge sounding-board, suspended by a wooden

OF AMERICA 223
rod from a pineapple carved in the rafters. Such
massive timbers of white oak were employed in
the construction of the church as to arouse the
opinion that the builder was more accustomed to
build boats than meeting-houses, and thought it
necessary to provide against fierce storms. The
new church had its first bell in 1758, imported
especiaUy, and mounted on a special framework.
When the news of the closing of Boston Har
bour in 1774 reached Portland, this same old
bell tolled for twenty- four hours, joined in its
rite of sadness by every other church bell in the
little city. From that day to this the beU of the
First Church is invariably waited for on all occa
sions, the others joining in the ringing after her
first peal is heard.
As the members of the congregation increased
in numbers the old building grew too smaU to
accommodate them, and a meeting was called to
consider what had best be done. In view of the
substantial character of the meeting-house they
decided that it would be more economical to en
large it than to erect a new one. Following these
deUberations they had the end of the meeting
house nearest the beU sawed off, Avith its sup
ports, and extended the side walls so that
when the end was again attached it reached the
supports of the bell, which had before stood
independently. The whole structure was then
encased with boards, so that the framework sup-

224 HISTORIC CHURCHES
porting the bell formed a tower at the end of the
church, and was converted into the front en
trance, A rededication of the edifice took place
in 1761, when the alterations were finished.
The old church has had its times of war as
well as of peace, and long bore the marks of
them. Naturally the exposed position of Port
land as a seaport made her liable to attack from
the British, and during one bombardment a can
non ball from Mowatt's fleet passed through the
outer waUs and lodged inside the building. This
baU was preserved carefully, and when the pres
ent church was erected in 1825, was embedded in
the centre of the ceiling. From it was suspended
the large chandelier of the older church, which
lights the congregation stiU, the building erected
in 1825 being still occupied regularly for serv
ices. In 1821 a special service was held in the First
Church for the large number of sailors and sea
faring folk that inhabited the old city of Port
land, and the church was packed as it had never
been before. It was upon this occasion that it
was given the appellation " Old Jerusalem," as
which it has ever since been known.

OF AMERICA 225

ST. PAUL'S
EAST CHESTER, NEW YORK
THE original EngUsh settlers in West
chester County, New York, seem to have
provided without delay for their spiritual
needs. As early as 1665 such arrangements
were made as secured to them the services of a
rector, who watched over three or four parishes,
none of them being sufficiently wealthy to pay
for the exclusive services of a rector of its own.
In 1692 it was decided to erect a church build
ing in East Chester, which was completed in
1700. So closely allied at that time were church
and state in New York that the consent of the
Governor was asked for the induction of a rector
into this little parish. This being refused, an
application was made to the " General Assem
bly " of the State for permission to separate
from the parish, which had tUl then embodied
Westchester, Pelham, Yonkers and New Ro-
chelle. This was granted in an act of the
Legislature establishing East Chester as an inde
pendent religious State' organisation, wdth the
name of "the Parish of East Chester." This
Act was not, however, approved by the Bishop

226 HISTORIC CHURCHES
of London, and by order of Queen Anne was
disaUowed, The little church building erected in 1700 is
described as a frame building, twenty-eight feet
square, about eighteen feet to the eaves, the
sides of the building, as well as the roof, being
covered with shingles. The building stood on
the " Green," and to-day is still discernible
among such ancient trees as have endured the
ravages of time.
GraduaUy the number of communicants in
creased, until in 1787 East Chester became an
independent parish. In 1795, under the provi
sions of an act for the relief and maintenance
of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America,
the parish was reorganised, according to the
rulings which separated the Church in America
from the Established Church of England, and
then for the first time the parish in East Chester
took the name of St, Paul.
By 1764 the little old chapel had so far suc
cumbed to the elements as to be too cold for
worship in winter, despite the piety of the early
fathers. The foundations of a new church build
ing were laid. Services in the meantime were
conducted in the old building until October,
1776, when the new church was completed.
During the War of the Revolution, the new
church building was used as a hospital for the
British, who tore portions of it down from time

st, Paul's, East Chester, New York

OF AMERICA 227
to time and used them as fuel. Fortunately the
church authorities had been clever enough to
bury the bell and the communion service, which
were thus preserved from the enemy. Four
years after the close of the war the services were
resumed, and have continued till the present day.
The churchyard about St. Paul's is closely
connected with the history of the church. In its
three and one-half acres it holds over six thou
sand bodies. The oldest inscription legible bears
the date of 1704, The churchyard is surrounded
by a substantial waU, in which are incorporated
the vaults of the older members of the parish.
Among those whose remains rest in East Ches
ter churchyard may be found men whose names
have been well known in commercial circles in
New York City, as well as officers both of the
Continental troops and of the British soldiery
who died in the hospital.

228 HISTORIC CHURCHES

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS
THE first Congregational Church organ
ised in North America was formed in
Salem, Massachusetts, in July and Au
gust of the year 1627, Only freed men were
eligible as members, and from 1627 to 1634 serv
ices were held in a humble and unfinished build
ing. In 1634 the members got together some
money, and began the erection of a suitable
house of worship, which, however, was not wholly
completed till 1639. Even then many portions
of it were so poorly built that for twelve years
later considerable repairs were still called for.
The meeting-house had a thatched roof, and the
walls were daubed with clay and mud, shingles
and clapboards being too expensive to be
thought of. The pulpit, of a style round in
shape like a tub, was raised high on a platform,
on the steps of which, as well as upon the two
flights of the steps that led to the gallery, the
boys of the congregation sat during worship.
Sentinels trod back and forward across the
" Green " during church time, doing double serv-

OF AMERICA 229
ice, on the lookout for Indian foes, and watch
ful lest any member leave the church before serv
ice was over.
This primitive meeting-house gave place in
1670 to one more in accord with the increased
prosperity of the congregation. The new build
ing stood upon a tract of land donated by the
towm, at the western end of the plot upon which
the old church had stood, and " looking toward
the prison," The old building was then used for
a schoolhouse and watchhouse, and with " Yan
kee thrift " the old pulpit and the deacon's seats
were divided among the farmers and put to
practical uses in their homes. The steady increase
in the membership of the church rendered this
newer building also unequal to the task of
seating the congregation, and by 1718 a stiU
more commodious and substantial structure was
in course of erection. This third structure was
occupied for one hundred and eight years.
The First Congregational Church of Salem
was not so happy in its career as to be without
a history. Internal dissension split the congre
gation into two parties, liberal and conservative,
eighteen years after the third building was put
up. So partisan did these two sides become and
so high did the Ul-f eelmg mount that actual riots
took place between the opposing factions, and it
is even on record that the conservative element
on one occasion pubUcly " arraigned and admon-

230 HISTORIC CHURCHES
ished " one member of the congregation, to
gether with his wife. The progressive faction
split off indeed finally from the old church, and
erected a new edifice not eighteen yards from
the old building, where they worshipped accord
ing to their owm lights.
As time went by this fierce spirit was, of
course, gradually modified and peace restored.
The present brick building, now occupied by the
inheritors of the original congregation, was dedi
cated in 1826, and contains within its walls many
relics of the older structures.

OF AMERICA 231

THE MORMON TABERNACLE
AND TEMPLE
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
PERHAPS no church in America is more
extraordinary in point of architectural
achievement or religious history than the
great Mormon Tabernacle at Salt Lake City.
The founder of the Mormons, with their doc
trine of pluraUty of wives, Joseph Smith, born
in the State of Vermont in 1805, and from an
early age receiving, as he claimed, " visions "
that ranged from the dreams of Joan of Arc to
revelations such as the tablets of stone and
the burning, fiery furnace of the Old Testament,
laid the groundwork of a sect which was to
enjoy material prosperity and has left a land
mark in the huge " temple " in Utah,
Joseph Smith's first attempt to found his Mor
mon Church was in 1830 in New York City.
The opposition which was to meet him every
where soon compeUed him to seek some other
locality. Through Ohio, where a " temple " was
erected, and on to Missouri he led his increasing
following, planting a colony at Jackson, There
had also been a Mormon colony which prospered

232 HISTORIC CHURCHES
for a time on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.
Popular prejudice, however, compelled them to
abandon the land whereon they made settlements
and to seek an abiding place elsewhere.
Meanwhile missionaries from the Mormon
Church were visiting various sections of Europe,
and sent to America their first instalment of
proselytes in 1840, After the violent death of
Joseph Smith, the celebrated Brigham Young
became the head of the Church, and under his
famous leadership the Mormons continued their
exodus westward, seeking some locaUty where
they might live in peace, unmolested by those
who believed in only one wife, and whose moral
opinions otherwise differed from the principles
set forth in the Book of Mormon, In July, 1847,
they reached an oasis in the heart of the great
American desert, and there founded Salt Lake
City, not far from the Great Salt Lake, where
Brigham Young had secured from the Mexican
government a broad tract of land. They began
at once the erection of the great tabernacle and
other requisite buildings, but the work proved
slow, and they had to put forth herculean efforts
in its accomplishment. The timber and stone
used in constructing the church, for instance,
had to be hauled by oxen from the Cottonwood
Canon, twenty miles away.
The present great Mormon Temple, which is
to be distinguished from the Tabernacle, was

Mormon Temple and Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Utah

OF AMERICA 233
built of soUd granite brought at an expenditure
of tremendous labour from the Wasatch Moun
tains, forty to fifty miles distant. Though the
corner stone of the Temple was laid by Brigham
Young on April 6, 1853, it was twenty years
before the buUding was finished and dedicated.
The cost of this structure is estimated to have
been not less than four miUion dollars.
Four other temples were erected, but none was
so unusual in design nor so curious as the Taber
nacle. The great Tabernacle covers an area of
two hundred and fifty by one hundred and fifty
feet and seats eight thousand people. The colos
sal arch of the roof springs from wall to wall
supported by forty-four sandstone pillars. The
enormous turtle-backed edifice is impressive cer
tainly if only on account of its size. Within is
the organ — a most noticeable feature, one of the
largest in the country. It was constructed by
Utah artisans from native material, and may weU
be regarded as a creditable mechanical and artis
tic achievement.
In spite of persecution without and frequent
dissensions within, the Church of the Latter Day
Saints has prospered wdthout intermission and
to-day numbers almost half a miUion followers.
Twelve or fourteen thousand of its missionaries
are scattered throughout Europe.

234 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST, GEORGE'S
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
IT is not generally known that the City of
Brotherly Love can boast of the oldest
house of worship of the Methodist Episco
pal Church in America. In other localities
where this denomination had its beginnings, the
various buildings dedicated to the service of God
have gradually been replaced by more modern
edifices, leaving St, George's in Philadelphia the
oldest existing structure.
To Captain Thomas Webb, an officer in the
British army, was due the possession by the
Methodists of this house of worship. Captain
Webb had been a convert to the preaching of
the Reverend John Wesley, the founder of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, and from him got
a licence as a local preacher. At least as early
as 1768 he visited Philadelphia, and preached
there in a sail-loft in default of any church buUd
ing. The owner of the loft, on Dock Street, one
Mr, Crofts, was himself a Wesleyan convert.
From this humble meeting-place the congre
gation soon made a change, and next held serv
ices in a house in Loxley's Court, a small thor-

OF AMERICA 235
oughfare running from Arch to Cherry Streets,
just below Fourth Street.
On October 21, 1769, two regularly ordained
missionaries of the denomination came to Phila
delphia — the first missionaries sent by John
Wesley to America. One of these, Mr. Joseph
Pihnoor, learning of the presence in that city of
Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church
and of more recent converts, decided to remain
and advance the cause of his church in Phila
delphia. Still in default of any place of wor
ship Mr. Pilmoor preached in Franklin Square,
and on some occasions from the steps of Inde
pendence HaU. When the weather forbade out
door gatherings, the congregation met as hereto
fore in the room in Loxley's Court, which soon
became too small to accommodate the increasing
number of those who came to hear " the Word,"
even on rainy Sundays.
Meanwhile there stood in the city an unoccu
pied church building, erected by members of the
High Dutch Reformed Church, who had been
unable to meet their payments on it as they fell
due, and in order to satisfy their creditors were
ordered by the court to sell the building at auc
tion. The highest bidder, as it happened, was
an irresponsible young man of feeble mind,
whose father began at once to seek a purchaser
who should take off his hands a church structure
for which, to all practical intents, he felt that his

236 HISTORIC CHURCHES
son had no use. He succee^ded in selling the
property to Mr, MUes Pennington, one of the
most active members of the still embryonic Meth
odist Episcopal Church, for the same sum of
two thousand six hundred doUars, exclusive of
the land upon which the church stood, the con
gregation assuming the ground rent of one hun
dred dollars a year.
This queerly bought structure, fifty-five by
eighty-five feet, was regarded as an unusually
large one at that time. It was consecrated No
vember 24, 1769, the day following the purchase
by Mr, Pennington, who dedicated it to the serv
ice of God as a house of worship according to
the customs of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The building was far from completion, but the
members nevertheless rejoiced over their pur
chase and gave thanks. The following Sunday,
the dedication having taken place on Friday, the
little structure was crowded to the utmost with
some two thousand people.
At once the members of the church began to
plan for the completion of the structure, which
was for the most part unplastered and only
partly floored, and in every way primitive. Dur
ing the first winter, foot stoves had to be used
as a means for keeping the people warm during
services. During the eventful period of the Revolution,
while the British army was in possession of Phila-

OF AMERICA 237
delphia, St. George's Church was used as a hos
pital, and later as a "riding school" for the
cavalry; relics of the War were gathered in and
about the church in abundance for a long time
after America had secured her independence.
The great procession in Philadelphia in 1780
which marked the bitter f eeUng against Benedict
Arnold formed in front of St. George's Church.
The first General Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church in America was held at St.
George's, and the Reverend Francis Asbury, the
first American Bishop in the denomination, pre
sided. We have it on contemporary authority
that he cherished a warm love for this first church
of the Methodists in America and returned to it
whenever he found it possible. His first sermon
in America was preached within its walls,
WhUe other congregations of the same de
nomination have rebuilt and altered their houses
of worship to conform to more modern ideas,
St. George's has remained substantially as it was
in the beginning — a sacred memento of the past,
and perhaps the most ancient land-mark in the
whole world of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

238 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST, MICHAEL'S
CHARLESTON^ SOUTH CAROLINA
NO object sooner attracts the attention of
persons on board vessels entering the
 harbour of Charleston, South Caro
lina, than the steeple of St. Michael's Protestant
Episcopal Church, A closer examination dis
closes the fact that this edifice is one of the best
specimens of the art of building exhibited by
British constructive talent in America in the
eighteenth century. It is one hundred and thirty
feet long, including the portico, and sixty feet
wide, has an elevation of one hundred and sixty-
eight feet, and is of brick, with a slate roof, mak
ing a most attractive showing on the sandy slope
of the Charleston shore.
At the west end of the building rises a grace
ful steeple, and at the top of this is a gilt baU, of
black cypress, covered with copper, surmounted
by a weather vane. During the cyclone of
August 25, 1885, this ball was hurled to the
ground, making a spherical impression in the
heavy flag-stone pavement. Curiously enough
the wood was found to be in a perfect state of
preservation, and the coating was repaired and

St. Michael's, Charleston, South Carolina

OF AMERICA 239
the ball restored to its former position. The
tower of the church consists of a series of orna
mental chambers, rising gradually one above the
other, a style involving greater difficulties of
construction than were usually incurred at the
period at which the church was built.
The corner stone of the church was laid by the
Governor of the State on February 17, 1752,
and the church was first opened for divine serv
ice on February 1, 1761. The intervening time
was not wholly occupied in the construction of
the building, but in a great measure by the diffi
culty of procuring a clergyman acceptable to
the parishioners.
Scarcely was the little parish settled in its
new church building when it began to plan and
contrive to purchase a chime of bells. Three
years later, on July 15, 1764, their hearts were
rejoiced and their efforts rewarded by the arrival
of a ship from England bearing not only the
coveted chimes, but also a church clock. No
American church has ever possessed a better set
of chimes than St. Michael's, which, untU the
instaUation of a modern fire alarm system in
Charleston in 1882, gave warning from its steeple
of aU fires in the city.
Since Charleston was the chief city in the
Colony, Governor Boone contributed to the fur
nishing of St. Michael's, giving the parish a
sUver communion service, engraved with the

240 HISTORIC CHURCHES
name of the donor and the date of its presenta
tion to the parish. To these some of the citizens
of Charleston added two silver alms dishes and
a silver christening bowl. As the years passed,
gifts of stiU other pieces of eucharistic silver
augmented the treasures of St. Michael's, until
they now excel those of almost any other church
in the South,
The next most coveted possession was a church
organ, which the parish secured in August, 1768;
and on Christmas Eve, 1771, a marble baptis
mal font was placed in the position which it
still occupies.
As in many other communities the breaking
out of the War of Independence was the signal
for many differences of opinion and dissensions
in the church. The rector, a staunch LoyaUst,
held exasperatingly to the performance of his
vows as a clergyman of the EstabUshed Church
of England, while most of the parishioners,
especially the vestrymen, were equally earnest
in their desire to revolt absolutely from English
rule. This situation resulted finally in a demand
for the English rector's resignation.
While the British occupied Charleston during
the Revolution ammunition was so scarce that
they robbed St, Michael's of its roof to secure
lead for bullets. Service was interrupted and
no regular rector was secured until July 29,
1781. The church plate, being very valuable.

OF AMERICA 241
was placed in the keeping of one of the vestry
men, who removed it wholly from Charleston
untU the war was ended. So closely allied were
the church and state at that time that the per
mission of the Governor was considered neces
sary before such precautionary steps were taken.
The communicants of St, Michael's con
tributed generously to the cause of freedom,
and as a result the finances of the parish suffered
considerably for several years after the close of
the war. Since it was unable to support a rec
tor, after the evacuation of the British and the
re-entry of the South Carolina regiments, the
chaplain of one of these read service regularly
in the church for many months. In May, 1785,
the two parishes of St. Michael's and St, Philip's
were incorporated together. Six years there
after, individual corporations were formed
again, and in three years St, Michael's was fully
repaired and a parapet built on both the north
and the south sides. This latter addition proved
inadvisable and was removed in 1847.
So popular was the church that many bodies
held meetings within its walls, among them the
Free Masons and various Revolutionary soci-
ties, the Order of the Cincinnati, and the Pal
metto. When it became evident in 1811 and
1812 that the difficulties between Great Britain
and the United States would again lead to war
the citizens of Charleston assembled in St,

242 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Michael's to decide in what manner they could
best aid the Government in its insistence upon
the rights of American citizens.
On Sunday, November 19, 1863, just after
the litany had been read, a bomb from the United
States batteries at Morris Island exploded at
the church door, while still another struck the
church steeple. As the bombardment continued
the congregation was dismissed without the usual
sermon. General Hood's army used the steeple
of St, Michael's as a look-out station, suspending
a rope ladder from the second balcony to be used
in case of a hurried retreat.
As a precautionary measure the organ had
been removed from the church, and the bells,
at the suggestion of General Beauregard, had
been sent to Columbia early in the conflict as a
contribution from the church toward supplying
metal for casting cannon. Though not used
for this purpose, during Sherman's march to
the sea they were wantonly broken into many
pieces by reckless members of his army. After
the close of the Civil War the pieces were care
fuUy gathered together and sent back to Lon
don where they were made. There they were
recast and finaUy made their re-entrance into
Charleston. They were met with joyful accla
mation by members of every religious denomina
tion throughout the city.
Great repairs were necessary after the bom-

OF AMERICA 243
bardment of Charleston, in which St. Michael's
had received much damage. One end of the chan
cel had been torn off, pews had been demolished,
and to make matters worse curio hunters had
broken off and carried away portions of the pul
pit and chancel. The church was again open for
service on November 26, 1865. Twenty years
later the great cyclone that struck Charleston
wrecked St. Michael's spire, together with por
tions of the slate roof. In the foUowing year,
on August 31, 1886, the great earthquake oc
casioned the most serious disaster that St.
Michael's church had yet experienced. It shat
tered the walls in numerous places, threw the
spire out of the perpendicular, and sunk it eight
inches. The shock also opened a fissure in the
church floor several inches wide which ran
through the vestibule and up the middle aisle for
a distance of ten or twelve feet, while the por
tico seemed about to topple into the street and
the gaUeries to tumble into the body of the!
church. At an expense of no less than fifteen
thousand dollars the church was finally re
stored to its original condition, and is stiU one
of the most interesting landmarks in Charleston.

244 HISTORIC CHURCHES

ST ANDREWS
RICHMOND^ STATEN ISLAND
ONE of the most desirable classes of im
migrants into the New Netherlands
before the establishment of EngUsh
rule was the Huguenot element that settled along
the eastern shore of Staten Island. After the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 men
and women of this faith came over the seas in
increasing numbers, and a chaplain from the
fort on Manhattan Island visited them from
time to time to hold religious service in French,
or for their Dutch neighbours in the language
of the Netherlands, the form of worship in either
case being that of the EstabUshed Church of
England. The little church organised about this time at
Richmond was the first on Staten Island. It
was called St. Andrew's, and regular services
were held in it during the last quarter of the
seventeenth century. The first church buUding
was erected in the reign of Queen Anne of
England, who sent out the Reverend Eneas Mc-
Kenzie in 1706 with a silver communion serv-

OF AMERICA 245
ice, which the little parish stiU numbers among
its treasures and memorabiUa.
The prosperity of the parish was not long
in giving rise to some jealousy among the Dutch
residents of Staten Island. Mr. McKenzie ac
cordingly imported from Europe copies of the
Book of Common Prayer printed in Dutch,
which so pleased the Staten Island Dutch that
discord was forever banished. Indeed, in a let
ter written in 1748 to the Synod of the Dutch
Reformed Church in Holland we read that " on
Staten Island, within the last twenty years, the
Dutch Church has lost half its members. Our
people mix with the English, who have an Epis
copal Church, and the Dutch Church is in danger
of extinction."
In 1711 St. Andrew's parish received a gift
of a building site and a burying ground, and
two years later a Dutch nabob, by name Adol
phus PhiUpse, with the Mayor of New York,
Ebenezer Wilson, jointly contributed one hun
dred and fifty acres. The proceeds from the
sale of this land enabled the parish to acquire a
more suitable location for a glebe; and in the
same year, 1713, to put up a substantial struc
ture of stone. The earUer church edifice was
torn down, as was also in time the newer struc
ture, both of which had occupied the site upon
which now stands a later church buUding, datmg
from before the American Revolution,

246 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Like some other old churches, St, Andrew's
•lias been the scene of battles as well as prayer.
The " Queen's Rangers," of the British Army,
were encamped in the viUage of Richmond in
1776, and the Battle of Richmond was fought
in and about St. Andrew's Church. On Au
gust 8, 1777, a detachment of the Continental
Army crossed the Kill von KuU, and marched to
Richmond, where they were met by a party of
British. A slight resistance ensued, after which
the British retreated down the hill to St. An
drew's and took refuge inside its walls. The
Americans after riddling every pane of glass in
the windows with their rapid fire advanced still
closer and continued discharging their volleys
into the church through the windows until every
man of the British was either killed or driven
out of the building.
In course of time St. Andrew's became the
mother of some of the most active of later Prot
estant Episcopal parishes, not only on Staten
Island, but elsewhere as well. The Reverend
Richard Channing Moore went from St. An
drew's in 1814 to serve the interests of the
Church as Bishop of Virginia. St, Mary's
Chapel of the Church of the Ascension at West
Brighton was an off-shoot, and the beautiful
edifice in which the parish of St, John's Church
worships at Clifton was built to accommodate

OF AMERICA 247
parishioners of St. Andrew's residing in that
vicinity. The venerable house of worship of St, An
drew's is stiU eminent in the reUgious Ufe ofi
Staten Island, the parish maintaining simple but
progressive methods in the " good fight of faith,"
and constantly recruitmg new members. The
original charter of the parish, the old prayer
books, the pulpit cover, the quaint silver com
munion service, and the old bell, aU of them
sent over as tokens of good wUl by Queen Anne
in 1706, are stiU guarded zealously as memorials
of a spiritual and material past that the parish
ioners regard as not without its glory.

248. HISTORIC CHURCHES

OLD MISSION CHURCH
MACKINAC ISLAND, MICHIGAN
SOME of the most fascinating chapters of
American history are those which Fran
cis Parkman made his own, and some of
the most interesting passages of those chapters
deal with the Island of Mackinaw, or Mackinac.
Situated in the Straits of Mackinac, on a high
way of the Great Lakes, it has been since the
seventeenth century the scene of operations by
Indians, Jesuit missionaries, explorers, coureur
des bois and voyageurs, as well as agents of the
great Astor Fur Company; while British and
American soldiers have successively occupied the
white fort on the hiUside, built in 1783, Wash
ington Irving in " Astoria " gives a vivid picture
of Mackinaw in these early days.
The island continued a centre of population
and trade for many years, and its Indians in
time attracted the attention of the outside world
as a missionary field. In 1820 the Reverend
Dr. Jedidiah Morse, a minister of the Congrega
tional faith, and father of the inventor of the
telegraph, was commissioned by the United
States Government to visit Mackinaw and report

OF AMERICA 249
on a plan for advancing the civilization and hap
piness of its motley population. The island was
a cardinal strategic point in missionary as in
miUtary matters, and in 1823 a mission was
established there, wdth the Reverend William
Ferry as superintendent. The main mission
buildings, which stUl stand, have for forty years
or more been used as a hotel, known as the Mis
sion House. It is on the verandah of this
quaint hostelry that Dr. Edward Everett Hale
begins his famous story of " The Man Without
a Country." The old church of the mission sur
vives also and has lately been reconsecrated to
God's uses.
The church building, known now as " The
Old Mission Church," was built in 1829, and Mr.
Ferry was the regular pastor. Mackinaw, in those
days rivalled Detroit as one of the chief towns in
Michigafi, with a population much more pictu
resque, so that a gUmpse of one of the early
congregations must have been an edifying sight.
The teachers, the mission pupils, Indian and
half-blood, the clerks of the fur company,
traders, officers and soldiers from the fort made
up a motley throng. It is recorded that the
fort soldiers used to march down from the hUl,
and stacking their guns by the church door would
detail one man to guard the arms whUe the rest
of the company worshipped inside. About eighty
regular church members were included in the

250 HISTORIC CHURCHES
church enrolment, among them the famous his
torian of the Indians and pioneer times, Henry
R. Schoolcraft,
In due course changes took place at Mackinaw,
and the prosperity of the church, as of the island,
fell away. The Indians departed for remoter
places, and John Jacob Astor's retirement from
the fur company drove many other residents to
fresh fields of occupation. Mr. Ferry, the pas
tor, moved away also, and in 1837, the mission
being definitely discontinued, the little church
fell graduaUy into disuse. Be it noted, never
theless, that the mission had made a record of
five hundred Indian converts, including the cele
brated Indian medicine man Chuska, who died
in the Christian faith and was buried on Round
Island, Mackinaw's nearest neighbour in the
Straits. For sixty years then following the Old Mis
sion Church was without organisation, pastor or
congregation. All this neglect it survived, not
withstanding, growing in the course of time a
more and more interesting landmark. Even the
use of its basement for many years by an en
terprising laundry firm could not impair its four
square dignity.
The late Reverend Meade C. WiUiams, in his
very interesting book " Early Mackinac," which
is heartily recommended to all who are interested
in this lovely island, says the church is "prob-

OF AMERICA 251
ably the oldest Protestant church structure in
the whole Northwest. WhUe other ancient
churches have been enlarged and changed in the
course of years, this one, from end to end, and
in its entire structural form, remains the same as
at the time of its early dedication. It has stood
four square to all the winds that have blown, as
'solid as the faith of those who buUt it,'^ un
changed from its original style and its bare and
simple appearance wdth its old weather vane
and its wonderfuUy bright tin-topped belfry —
a mute memorial of a most worthy history of
two generations ago. Despite its disuse and
its increasing dilapidation, it has long been an
object of tender interest, and has been visited by
hundreds every season. It is gratifying, there
fore, to know that a number of the summer
cottagers and other visitors, joined by some of
the island residents, have purchased the old
church, and repaired and restored it so as to
present the old-time appearance in which it had
been known for well nigh seventy years. The
grey, weatherworn exterior is purposely left
unpainted. The same old ' high-up ' pulpit, the
plain, square pews with doors on them, the dimin
utive panes of glass in the windows, the quaint,
old-fashioned gaUery at the entrance end — all
these features appear as at the first. The prop
erty is held in trust for the purchasers by a board
1 Miss Woodson's " Anne."

252 HISTORIC CHURCHES
of seven trustees, five of whom are to be visitors
who owm or rent cottages, and two to be residents
of the village. There is no ecclesiastical organi
sation in connection with the building, nor any
denominational colour or control. The motive
in the movement has been, first, to preserve the
old sanctuary as a historic relic of the island
and memorial of early mission work; and, sec
ond, to use it as a chapel for union reUgious
services during the few weeks when summer
tourists crowd the island."

OF AMERICA 253

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
THE first fuUy organised Church of Christ
within the boundaries of the State of
New Jersey dates its existence back to
1665. Religious services had been conducted for
a number of years at irregular intervals by min
isters of the faith of the Reformed Dutch
Church, but their flock had no church edifice, no
regular minister, and no standing in the Synod
of the Church of Holland. Up to August, 1665,
only four families of English had settled in the
vicinity of Newark, and the advent of Governor
Philip Carteret, wdth his retinue of servants and
dissolute gentlemen from the household of the
Duke of York, brought no additional religious
support into the little community.
Foreseeing the necessity of careful trauiing
for their young in such surroundings, the pioneer
settlers at Newark brought with them a minister
of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, the Rever
end Abraham Pierson, who made his residence
with them for many years, supporting himself
and his family by tUling the soU.
After careful consideration and frequent de-

254 HISTORIC CHURCHES
Uberations, these pioneers decided on September
10, 1663, to build a church edifice, and upon
March 12 of the foUowing year the cutting of
timber was begun. A lack of funds prevented
the speedy completion of the building, so that
eighteen months elapsed before it was floored
and ready for occupancy. Even then, it was a
crude thing enough, there having been much
trouble to secure a carpenter willing to under
take the work for the small stipend the mem
bers could afford to pay.
The church was an humble structure, thirty-
six by twenty-six feet, thirteen feet between the
joists, and " with a lenten to it all the length,
which made it thirty-six feet square." The en
trance door, as well as the windows in each side
of it, were arched, and a small half -moon window
was placed over the door, according to the
architectural style then in vogue.
Two rudely constructed appendages were built
at two corners of the edifice; these were termed
" flankers " and were made with a palisade
carefully built so as to screen and protect
the watch-guard who patrolled outside during
service to warn of any unexpected attacks of
hostile Indians. These " flankers " gave good
service during King Philip's War.
This first church edifice of the Presbyterians
of Newark stood on the west side of Broad
Street, and was used as the " town-house " as

First Presbyterian Church, Newark, New Jersey

OF AMERICA 255
well as a place of worship; all the important
transactions of the settlement, whether reUgious,
civU or mUitary, during the first half -century of
its existence, took place in this Presbyterian
meeting-house. A second church edifice was begun April 12,
1714, and dedicated August 10, 1716. This
church was of stone, forty-four feet square, and
very substantial, though devoid of all attempt
at ornamentation. So large did it seem at the
time as to arouse conjecture whether the little
village of Newark could ever supply enough in
habitants to fiU it. On June 7, 1753, King
George III. of England granted a charter
greatly strengthening the standing of the little
organisation in the nearby Presbyteries, as weU
as the reUgious ardour of its members. In 1775
the church building was reroofed and carefully
repaired, only to be wantonly desecrated by the
British during the Revolution. At that time
also its membership was depleted sorely, and the
church records whoUy destroyed, disasters most
grievously felt.
After the close of the War the interior was
restored to its former condition, only the ar
rangement of the pews being altered. The pulpit
stood upon the west side between the windows;
in front of the pulpit was the seat of the pre
centor, while on each side was constructed a large
square pew; the one at the right for the family

256 HISTORIC CHURCHES
of the minister, the one on the left for any
representative of the Royal family of England
who might choose to attend worship there. The
body of the church was supplied with rows of
plain benches whereon the various families of
the congregation were seated. The beU-rope
hung down from the belfry into the middle aisle.
In September, 1787, the foundation of the
present church edifice was begun. It was care
fuUy planned in accordance with the American
architectural church style of the latter part of
the eighteenth century. The building is one hun
dred feet in depth, including the steeple, which
projects eight feet in front of the main building.
Two tiers of windows on each side, five in each
tier, give ample light and ventilation, while in
the rear wall is inserted a large Venetian wdndow
that excites the admiration of all who attend
worship there. The interior is plain but at
tractive, and much venerated by Presbyterians
throughout New Jersey. The old arrangement
of the pews and pulpit is maintained to this
day. The congregation has also preserved the
old original bell, purchased twenty-five years
after the erection of the second church, recast
in 1786, and stiU to-day calUng the congregation
together for worship in the old edifice.

OF AMERICA 257

SAN MIGUEL CHURCH
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
BECAUSE of her name, if for no other
reason, it is fitting that Santa Fe, the
" City of the Holy Faith," should be the
site of the oldest church in the United States.
Once the scene of bloodshed and conquest, in the
days when the Spanish explorers and priests
came into a strange country and undertook the
pacification and enlightenment of the Indians,
Santa Fe is now distinctly a city of peace.
Nestling in the lovely Sangre de Cristo vaUey,
she basks in the warm Southern sunshine with
an air of content which makes it hard to realise
that her quiet could ever have been disturbed by
the harsh cries of warring Indians and the crash
of Spanish musketry.
In what is now the oldest part of the town,
caUed by the Spaniards " Analco," San Miguel
Church has stood for nearly four centuries. In
1540 this " Cradle of Christianity in America,"
as it has been called, was reared out of adobe by
the Spaniards, Realising the treacherous nature
of their Indian neighbours, these forerunners of
the Old World civUisation made the walls of the

258 HISTORIC CHURCHES
church extremely thick, for protection against
possible attacks — a wise provision which is re
sponsible for the preservation of the building
throughout many stormy years of turmoil and
struggle. The Pueblo revolution of 1680 dealt the hopes
of Spanish colonisation a crushing blow. After
a valiant stand against the renegades the Span
iards reluctantly withdrew from the city, and
Santa Fe was left to the mercy of the Indians.
The slumbering savagery of the Pueblos awoke
with accumulated vigour. Eager for plunder,
the greedy horde swarmed over the town. They
seized the Spanish archives, and tearing down
the ornaments of San Miguel Church, set the
torch to the pile, as if to testify to their utter
revolt from the Christian faith. During the
next twelve years when they turned again to the
worship of snakes and stone idols, San Miguel
suffered greater desecration than has ever fallen
to the lot of any other church in America.
At last, in 1692, under the able leadership of
De Vargas, the Spaniards inflicted righteous
vengeance upon the Pueblos, Before he suc
ceeded in overcoming the Indians, De Vargas
made a reUgious vow, the spot where he knelt be
ing marked afterward by the erection of a chapel
(the Rosario) , After a fight of eleven hours on
September 13, the Indians yielded, and with
true Catholic piety, which he did not forget in

San Miguel Church, Santa Fe, New Mexico

OF AMERICA 259
the hour of his triumph, De Vargas on the fol
lowing day gave thanks to the Virgin Mary, to
whose assistance he ascribed his victory.
The conquerors soon set about repairing the
church of San Miguel, Though wantonly dev
astated by the Indians, its . massive waUs were
still standing, and by 1710 the restoration of the
building was completed. In commemoration of
this event an inscription was placed upon one
of the vigas near the door of the church, bearings
this announcement:
" El Seiior Marques de la Penuela hizo esta
fabrica. El Alferes Real Don Agustin Flores
Vergara su criao ano de 1710." (" The Mar
quis de la Penuela erected this building. The
Royal Ensign Don Agustin Flores Vergara his
servant. The year 1710.")
The restorers of San Miguel utUised the orig
inal massive waUs of adobe, and covered the
church with a heavy roof, made of strong vigas,
which were supported at each end by carved tim
bers. An old copper beU, cast in 1350, hangs in
the rude belfry.
Inside the church, among many other inter
esting reUcs, a number of paintings of religious
subjects are still preserved, such as St, Michael
and the Dragon, and the Annunciation, some of
them containing holes which were pierced in their
canvas by arrows during the Indian fights in
the old days.