The following account is compiled from the Records
of Henry Bull, Esq., with Notes by the Rev. Francis Vinton, and
additional remarks.
Until nearly the close of the seventeenth century,
there were but two orders of Christians in the town of Newport, who were
organized, and regularly met together for the purpose of worship, and
those were of the denomination of Baptists and Friends, or Quakers.
The original founder, and first principal patron of
Trinity Church, in Newport, was Sir Francis Nicholson. He was by
profession a soldier; was Lieutenant-Governor of New-York, under Sir
Edmund Andros, and at the head of the Administration of that Colony from
1687 to 1690, at which time he was appointed Governor of Virginia, and
so continued for two years.
From 1694 to 1699, he was Governor of Maryland,
after which time he was again Governor of Virginia, He commanded the
British forces sent to Canada, in 1710, and took the important fortress
of Port Royal. In 1713 he became Governor of Nova Scotia, and in 1720,
Governor of Carolina. He returned to England in June, 1725, and died in
London in 1728.
Mr. Lockyer, an Episcopal clergyman, commenced
preaching in Newport about the close of 1698; and by that means a Church
was gathered. He was doubtless procured by the instrumentality of Sir Francis Nicholson, who was then Governor
of Maryland; for the Records of Trinity Church fully sustain the fact,
that Sir Francis was its founder. The people, and more especially the
leading gentlemen of the town, were well disposed towards this new
undertaking, and a considerable society was soon established, with
sufficient strength and zeal, aided by their generous patron, to build a
handsome Church, which was completed in or before 1702. Handsomely,
as they say, "finished all on the outside, and the inside pewed well,
but not beautiful."
Thus far the Church had made its way without any
aid from the mother country. In the year 1702, when the Society for
Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, was established and
incorporated in England, the Wardens of Trinity Church applied to the
Bishop of London, soliciting the aid of the Society; on which
application, the Rev. James Honyman was appointed Missionary, in 1704,
and sent over to this station. The Society, as a further encouragement,
sent also as a present to the Church, a valuable library of the best
theological works of that day, consisting of seventy-five volumes,
mostly folio. Many of these books are still in the possession of the
Church.
Queen Anne presented the Church with the bell,
which was received here in 1709; about which time the Minister, Wardens, and Vestry, wrote to the Governor of Massachusetts, and to
the Rev. Samuel Miles, Minister of Boston, requesting each of them to
forward money, left in their hands for the Church, by Sir Francis
Nicholson, stating their present want of money, to enable them to
prepare for and hang the bell but recently received.
Mr. Honeyman was a gentleman well calculated to
unite his own society, which grew and flourished exceedingly under
his charge, as well as to conciliate those of other religious
denominations, all of whom he "embraced with the arms of charity."
In the year 1713, the Minister, Churchwardens, and Vestry,
petitioned the Queen for the establishment of Bishops in America,
setting forth the great benefit that would result to the church from
such a measure. Mr. Nathaniel Kay, the Collector of the Queen's revenues
in Rhode Island, who afterwards liberally endowed the school connected
with this Church, was among the signers of this petition.
In the year 1724, Mr. Honyman writes to the Society in
England, as follows: "That there was properly belonging to his church in
Newport, above fifty communicants, who live in that place, exclusive of
strangers. The church people grow now too numerous to be accommodated
with seats in the old church, and many more offered to join
themselves to the church communion." Mr. Honyman proposed to the church
members, the building of a new church, and subscribed£30 himself for
that purpose. The people heartily concurred, and he soon after obtained
subscriptions amounting to £1000 of the currency of the country; but it
was estimated the building would cost twice that amount However, a
sufficient sum was raised, and, in the year 1726, the church
was completed, and Mr. Honyman held the service in it. The body of the
building was seventy feet long, and forty-six wide. It had two tiers of
windows, was filled of pews, and had galleries all round to the
east end. It was acknowledged by the people of that day to be the most
beautiful timber structure in America. The old building was given to the
people of Warwick, who had no church of their own.
We have every reason for believing that the new building was
erected on the site of the old one, for the old one appears to have been
disposed of by gift, to make room for the new, which would not otherwise
have been done in a town rapidly increasing in population,
and in want of more buildings. At the time of which we are writing, 1724
to 1726, there were Quakers and two sorts of Anabaptists in Newport,
yet the members of the Church of England increased daily; and
although there was not to be found alive at that time, four of the
original promoters of church worship in this place, yet there was then
above four times the number of all the first Mr. Honyman had under his
care at this time, the towns of Newport, Freetown, Tiverton, and Little
Compton.
The history of this Church has been, thus far, principally
derived from the publications of the»Society for Propagating the Gospel
in Foreign Parts, and from Letters from the Minister, Wardens, and
Vestry, to Queen Anne, to the Bishop of London, and to Sir Francis
Nicholson, copies of which have been preserved m the first parish
records of the Church. The first book of the corporation records having
been lost, is a circumstance much to be regretted. The
second book commences with the date 1731.
A letter, written in Newport, and published in the " New
England Journal," Boston, September 3d, 1729, says, " Yesterday, arrived
here, Dean Berkley, of' Londonderry, in a pretty large ship. He is a
gentleman of middle stature, of an agreeable, pleasant, and erect aspect
He was ushered into the town with a great number of gentlemen, to whom
he behaved himself after a very complaisant manner. 'Tis said he
proposes to tarry here with his family about three months."
The connection of Dean Berkley with Trinity Church, calls for
a passing notice of his sojourn in Newport, where he arrived by a
circumstance purely incidental. He, with other gentlemen, his
associates, were bound to Bermuda, with the intention of establishing
there a college, for the education of the Indian youth of this country;
a plan, however, which wholly failed. The captain of the ship in which
he sailed could not find the island of Bermuda, and having given up the
search after it, steered northward, until they discovered land unknown
to them, and which they supposed to be inhabited only by savages. On
making a signal, however, two men came on board from Block Island, in
the character of pilots, who, on inquiry, informed them the harbor and
town of Newport were near; that in the town there was an Episcopal
Church, the Minister of which was Mr. James Honyman, on which they
proceeded for Newport, but an adverse wind caused them to
run into the west passage, where the ship came to anchor. The Dean wrote
a letter to Mr. Honyman, which the pilots took on shore at Conanicut
Island, and called on a Mr. Gardner and Mr. Martin, two members of Mr.
Honyman's Church, informing them that a great dignitary of the Church of
England, called a Dean, was on board the ship, together with other
gentlemen passengers. They handed them the letter from the Dean, which
Messrs. Gardner and Martin brought to Newport, in a small boat, with all
possible dispatch. On their arrival they found Mr. Honyman was at
church, it being a holyday, on which divine service was held then. They
then sent the letter by a servant, who delivered it to Mr. Honyman in
his pulpit, He opened it, and read it to the congregation, from the
contents of which it appeared the Dean might be expected to land in
Newport, every moment The church was dismissed with the
blessing, and Mr. Honyman, with the wardens, vestry, church, and
congregation, male and female, repaired immediately to the ferry wharf,
where they arrived a little before the Dean, his family and friends. The
foregoing tradition we have given as we received it, but other
traditions vary a little from that; some of which say that "the ship
made no land until she arrived in the East of Sachuest river, from which
she came round the north end of Rhode Island to Newport." It has also
been stated that Col. Godfrey Malborn, being out in his pleasure yacht,
on discovering tho ship, made towards her, and on being informed that
the Dean and suit were on board, he took them to his magnificent
country-seat, now the property of Prescott Hall, Esq., where they
tarried until morning, and then started for Newport. The Dean purchased
a farm of about one hundred acres in the town of Newport, adjoining one
of about the same extent belonging to the Rev. James Honyman, on which
Mr. Honyman resided. The Dean built him a house on his farm for his
residence, which he called White Hall, which name it still retains. The
house is still standing. It is situated in what is now the town of
Middletown, about three miles from the State House in Newport, and a
little back of the road which runs eastward from the town, near a
beautiful little water course, which runs southward towards Sachuest
Reach. This White Hall estate he gave to Yale College, in Connecticut
which still owns the fee.
The White Hall estate was sold soon after it came in
possession of Yale College, on a lease of nine hundred and ninety-nine
years, at a rent of one hundred ounces of silver per annum. The mansion
house is still standing, and is in the occupation of Mr. Abraham Brown,
the present owner of the lease. It remains the same as when Bishop
Berkley occupied it. We would suggest the importance of repairing the
front, &c. He continued here about two years, perhaps a little
longer. He was certainly here as late as September, 1731, as appears by
a supplementary inscription on tho tomb-stone of Nathaniel Kay, Esq.,
which is as follows: "Joining to the south of this tomb, lies Lucia
Berkley, daughter of Dean Berkley, Obit the 6th of September, 1731."
His preaching was eloquent and forcible, and attracted large
congregations to Trinity chnrch. When he "was called to a
sphere of greater usefulness in his native country, he was not forgetful
of a residence which Was endeared to him by many pleasing recollections;
and which, moreover, possessed for him a melancholy interest, from the
circumstance of its containing the ashes of his infant daughters, who
had died during his sojourn in Newport.
After his return to England, he sent as a donation to
Trinity Church, in the year 1733, a magnificent organ. This organ is
surmounted by a crown in the centre, supported by two mitres, one on
each side.
Mr. Nathaniel Kay, who came from England to Rhode Island as
collector of the King's customs for the colony of Rhode Island, was the
most liberal patron, as to the amount of his pecuniary aid, that the
church has ever had. His house stood on the site now occupied by the
dwelling-house of the heirs of the late George Engs, Esq., on the hill,
near the head of Touro street It was, when built, one of the most
spacious and elegant private dwellings in town.
No apology can be offered for the neglect of the church, in
suffering it to be destroyed. It was a piece of modern vandalism, which
we can never cease to regret Since the revolution, it was occupied by a
Mrs. Pollock, a lady from South Carolina, who kept her carriage, and
lived in a style of affluence, befitting her rank and
station. At the time of the embargo, when business was suspended, and no
employment was to be had for the laboring classes, she, like a true
philanthropist, opened a souphouse, and daily supplied the poor
inhabitants throughout the winter. At his death, he devised and
bequeathed to the church as follows: "I give and bequeath my dwelling
house and coach house to my wife, during the term of her natural life;
after which I give and bequeath both, with my lots of land in Rhode
Island, and £400 in tho currency of New England, to, build a school
house, to the minister of the church of England (Mr. Honyman), and the
church wardens and vestry for the time being—that is to say, upon trust
and confidence, and to the interest and purpose, benefit and use of a
school to teach ten poor boys their grammar and the mathematics, gratis;
and to appoint a master at all times, as occasion or vacancy may happen,
who shall bo Episoopally ordained, and assist the minister
(Episcopal)of the town of Newport, in Borne proper office, as they shall
think most useful."Mr. Updike, in his history, has attempted an apology
for the loss of the estate thus kindly bequeathed by Mr. Kay to Trinity
church. It only proves that property disposed of in this way, fails to
be carried out according to the wish of the donor. The Rev. Theodore
Dehor took charge of the parish, as minister, in 1797. His gentlemanly
deportment and conciliatory manners, his pulpit eloquence, his mild
disposition, and his sound piety, soon brought back the wandering sheep
to the common fold. The church was again filled with a numerous
congregation, earnestly engaged in social worship.
In 1762, the edifice was greatly enlarged, by moving tho
easterly part about thirty feet, and adding as much in the middle. This
was done at the expense of forty-six gentlemen, who took the pews they
added in full satisfaction for the expense of said enlargement. In the
same year that the organ was presented (1733), Jahlccl Brenton, Esq.,
presented the clock in the towrr —and we would suggest that, in memory
of the donor, it should be put in repair.
In 1740, the bell presented by Queen Anne was cracked; it was
taken down and sent to London to be recast. In 1741, the first school
house was built, and Mr. Cornelius Bennett appointed schoolmaster.
In 1750, the Rev. Mr. Honyman died at an advanced age. He was
buried at the expense of the church, on the south side of the passage
from the gate to the church, where his tombstone now lies. His salary
was £70 per annum.
In July, 1751, the Church agreed to ask the Society to send
them Mr. Beach as minister. On the 27th of August, 1752, a committee was
appointed to collect, by subscription, a sum sufficient to purchase a
parsonage. Their success was such, that in December the house was
purchased for the purpose aforesaid. Mr. Thomas Potter arrived in 1754,
having been sent by the Venerable Society as missionary. In November,
Mr. Potter left. The church, being destitute of a minister, called the
Rev. Marmadulce Brown, of Portsmouth. He accepted the call, and arrived
in December.
In 1768, the old tower was taken down, and a new one built,
eighteen feet square, and sixty feet high. In 1769, Mr. Brownwent to England on a visit.
During his absence, Mr. Bisset supplied his place as minister.
Oct. 27, 1770, there was a severe gale of
wind, in which the spindle on the steeple was broken off below the ball.
The Easter-Monday after the death of Mr.
Brown, the congregation chose Mr. Bisset their minister, until the
Venerable Society should be heard from. On Sunday, the 8th of December,
1776, the British fleet and army took possession of the Island of Rhode
Island, which event gave a new character to everything here of a local
nature. Mr. Bisset continued with the church until the evacuation of tho
Island, which took place October 25th, 1779.
Many of the leading members of Trinity
Church were of the royal party, who went with them to New York; and
among the number was the minister, Mr. Bisset, who left his wife and
child behind, in the most destitute circumstances. His furniture was
seized by the State of Rhode Island; but afterwards, upon the petition
of his wife to the General Assembly, it was restored to her, and she,
with her child, was permitted to go to her husband in New York.
A few days after the British left
Newport, some young men of the town, and among them two American
officers, entered the church, and despoiled it of the altar-piece,
consisting of the King's arms, the Lion and the Unicorn.
They were highly ornamented, and were placed against the great east
window. After trampling them under foot, they were carried to the north
battery, and set up for a target to fire at The other emblems of
royalty, being out of reach, were allowed to remain. They consist of one
royal crown on the spire, and another on the top of the organ. This
structure has never been subjected to the hand of modem vandalism, and
we trust that the inhabitants of the ancient town will guard it with tho
most scrupulous care. The interior is now tho same as when Dean Berkley
preached in it, and the pulpit is now the only one in America ever
graced by the occupancy of that distinguished prelate. The church was,
at the time of which we are speaking, without a minister. As it had been
nursed by the high church party in England, it was unpopular with the
mass of the people, who were writhing under the scourge inflicted by
that very party. The church edifice, too, had been spared by those
ruthless invaders who had worshipped in it, while they had
desecrated the other places of worship in the town, by converting them
into, hospitals, etc.; and
every part of them but the shells, they had
demolished.
There was no service in the church immediately after Mr.
Bisset left, and the minister of the "Sixth principal Baptist Society"
of this town, the Rev. Gardner Thurston, was allowed to occupy the
church, with his numerous congregation, until their own place of worship
was repaired—from 1781 to 1786—at which period the Rev. James Sayre was
engaged and settled as minister.
He took upon him the duties of that office on the 1st of
October. In 1787, the pews built in the west aisle of the church were
taken down, and the passage from the north to the south doors again laid
open.
In 1788, Mr. Bours and a majority of the congregation came to
an open rupture with Mr. Sayre. They charged him with "refusing to put a
vote in the vestry, which he had previously agreed to do."
It appears Mr. Sayre soon left the church; but by what means
they got rid of him—whether through the means of Bishop Seabury, whose
mediation had been requested by a portion of the congregation, by his
voluntary relinquishment of his charge, or by compulsion, the records do
not inform us.
By a vote of May 5th, 1789, the Rev. William Smith, of St.
Paul's Church, Narrngansett, was invited to visit the church every other
Week, which invitation he accepted, with the consent of his own church;
and in December following, he was called to become the minister of
Trinity church, which he accepted.
The Rev. Mr. Smith was not agreeably settled, inasmuch as the
society were divided. The feuds which had originated between Mr. Sayre
and Mr, Bours had not been healed, and many of tho minority refused to
attend church under the preaching of Mr. Smith, but preferred holding
meetings of worship in their private houses. Mr. Smith received a call
from the church at Norwalk, Conn., which he accepted, and embarked for
his new station April 12, 1797. The church, on the 14th of May, invited
the Rev. John B. J. Gardner, assistant minister of Trinity church,
Boston, to come to Newport, and spend a few Sundays. In
Mr. Gardner's answer to the church, dated September 17th, be calls it "a
scattered church, and a divided people." For those reasons and because
his own church, rather than part with him, had raised his salary to
$800, he declined the invitation, but recommended to the church, a young
man named Theodore Dehor. On the 8th of October, 1797, Mr, Dehor was
chosen minister, and requested to obtain orders. November 19th, his
salary was fixed at $700 per annum, with the use of the
parsonage and lot, and other perquisites of said office. On the 7th
of January, 1798, he entered upon tho duties of his ministry. Mr. Dehor
proved very acceptable to the society, which again united in the bonds
of harmony and Christian fellowship, flourished and increased to an
overflowing congregation. In 1798, a vestry was built in the north east
corner of the church; in this spot a full length portrait of Mr. Honyman
hangs. In 1799, a new school-house was erected on the lot where the old
one formerly stood. The old one had been pulled down, as we have reason
to believe, in the hard winter of 1780, and given to the poor of the
church for fuel.
In 1804, the church bell which had been in use
sixty-three years cracked, and was again cast over. In November of the
same year, the new bell cracked and was still again re-cast. The
