er, Rev. Nathaniel Swift, took charge of the congregation in 1811. They sold the building to the Baptists more than 20 years after its erection, as they, in 1830, built on the main street of the village a large brick meeting house—they would have objected at that time to having it called a church. The congregation, with its new building, though a few dissenters, many years later, kept up a separate organization for a while, holding their meetings in the Congregational—afterwards Lyceum—Hall.
“In the town at first,” Mr. Barrow remarks, “the Presbyterians, or their near brethren, the Congregationalists, were the most numerous, but in the village the Episcopalians,” a state of things which may be said to have continued to the present time.
The first Churchmen who settled in Skaneateles were:
Gen. Robert Earll 1794
Jonathan Booth 1801
Col. William J. Vredenburgh 1803
Charles J. Burnett 1803
Gen. Robert Earll, with his mother, Abijah, came into our town in the winter of 1794-5. They did a good deal in the way of improvement at a very early day, and probably had a school opened, before any in the village. Gen. Earll had six sons, heads of some of the most important families in our vicinity. The family was of Massachusetts origin. Julius Earll, grandson of Robert, moved into the village on his marriage and bought the former residence of Dr. Benedict on Syracuse Street, where now resides Mr. J.E. Waller, who married Mr. Earll’s only daughter, and has been, for many years, a member of the Vestry.
The Red House, an ancient landmark, was known by this name until about 1879, when the high basement of the building was removed and the house itself painted white.
I remember Mr. Booth very well, as early as 1833, when he was the neighbor and friend of my grandfather who had just come from England in his seventieth year. And who, though a devoted lover of his homeland, was warmly attached to his adopted community. He had been one of [John] Wesley’s “Preachers of the Gospel” but repudiated the idea of the Methodist Society being in any respect a Church, so the American Churchman and the English Wesleyan fraternized harmoniously and had many profound discussions on matters political and religious, which never seemed to be “burning questions” as treated by them.
Mr. Booth usually wore in all weather a long and voluminous coat of dark blue camlet such as was commonly worn by old gentlemen at the time. He was somewhat square-built and had a very pleasant countenance and bright blue eyes. His pretty white cottage stood on the spot now occupied by Mr. E. Smith’s elegant residence. He used to sit in the great square pew in the south-east corner of the church, occupied by the Furmans, Squire Furman being his son-in-law. Mr. Booth died in 1840, in his eightieth year, and his wife, Zaida, survived him less than six months.
Col. Vredenburgh built the present Burnett House, nearly opposite the church, residing in it for several years. Then he built a stately and beautiful residence, on the brow of the hill, which was destroyed by fire in 1872. It was as square building, with a gable on each of its four sides, and doors of solid mahogany throughout the house.
The spot on which it stood had been used for a cemetery, from which the bodies were removed to the present “Lake View,” when Mr. Vredenburgh chose it for a building site. The day of the removal of the bodies, only eight or ten in number I am told, was a day of mourning. The stores closed and a train of mourners accompanied the remains as they were taken through the woods to their new resting place in burying ground which had previously been deeded for the purpose by John Briggs and David Seymour.
Mr. Vredenburgh had an English gardener, and his beautiful and extensive garden was a source of pride to all the village. Probably it was a great benefit as well, serving as an object lesson in horticulture. Mr. Vredenburgh died in 1813 at 63, universally lamented. He was one of the early founders of this parish, and also St. Peter’s, Auburn. Through his influence, a post-office was established here, and he became the first post-master. Previously there had been no post-office nearer than Marcellus. Two of Mr. Vredenburgh’s grandchildren, Mr. Joseph and Fanny Burnett, occupy the house which was his residence in Skaneateles.
In 1812 there was a strong effort made to build a church here. Mr. Vredenburgh offered to give a beautiful site on which the building now stands, and a liberal sum toward its erection. Unfortunately, a Mr. [James] Sackett, who owned land on the west side of the bridge, had likewise offered a site, and though not a Churchman would subscribe largely on condition that his offered site should be accepted. Of course the west side people were in favor of having the church built near them, and such a division of opinion was fatal to the whole scheme.
I have read a letter from Mr. Vredenburgh to Mr. Peter Roosevelt, Greenwich Street, New York, dated August 13, 1812, asking for help in raising four or five hundred dollars from friends in the city to aid in the building, and warning Mr. Roosevelt against any application from the rival party. He says that at present they have the services of a young missionary, William A. Clark. “He now boards at my house, and for his board amuses himself in teaching my boys.” Vredenburgh mentions “Our Vestry” and further says: “We were thinking that if our numerous friends in New York would subscribe something in proportion to their ability, we could in a few months have our church built, organized and consecrated, as I am told our Worthy Bishop will pass through here this summer in order to consecrate the Auburn Church.”
The Bishop seems to have ordained Mr. Clark priest [in Auburn] September 5, 1812, at this summer visitation, and to have come to Skaneateles to officiate at his marriage shortly after (married September 7, 1812.)
It is stated in Clark’s history of Onondaga * that Rev. W.A. Clark held a select school for boys in the house of Col. Vredenburgh. Probably Col. Vredenburgh allowed the sons of relatives to share in the educational advantages of his own children. After his death in 1813, a school was held on weekdays in the room fitted up for Sunday worship behind the post-office. It is conjectured that the manifest need of such a school led to its being continued in the basement of the Church building many years later. Like the Quaker schools of this town, it was open to all.
* Note: Joshua V. H. Clark (1803-1869) published his Onondaga: or Reminiscences of Earlier and Later Times in 1849. The passage cited by Beauchamp follows:
“St. James’ Church, Skaneateles, was organized 4th January, 1816, Rev. William A. Clark, presiding. This organization failed for want of regular attention to legal requirements. In 1824, the society was re-organized by Rev. Augustus L. Converse, Jonathan Booth, Charles J. Burnett, were chosen Wardens, and Stephen Horton, John Pierson, Charles Pardee, J. W. Livingston, Samuel Francis and Elijah J. Rust, Vestrymen. Rev. Davenport Phelps was the first missionary for this Church 1803-4, and the Rev. William A. Clark kept a select school for boys in Judge Vredenburgh's house, and attended to parochial duties. Church services were held at the houses of Mr. Vredenburgh and Charles J. Burnett. Rev. Lucius Smith succeeded Mr. Clark, and seats were fitted up in a store, for the greater convenience of worshippers, which was also used for a school room. Rev. A. S. Hollister succeeded Mr. Smith. Rev. A. L. Converse officiated next, and the Rev. Amos Pardee was pastor in 1824, Mr. Hollister again in 1827. The first church edifice was erected 1827-8, and greatly enlarged and improved in 1847. The late Rev. Joseph T. Clark was the officiating minister of this parish from May, 1831, to October, 1844, more than thirteen years. He died at Jamaica whither he had retired for the improvement of his declining health, and died there, rector of St. Dorothy's Parish, 17th July, 1845, in the forty-seventh year of his age. Rev. Mr. Seymour, present rector.”
Col. Vredenburgh was born in the city of New York in 1760, (baptized April 18, 1760, son of John W. and Marytie “VanWagenen” Van Vredenburgh), and there engaged in mercantile pursuits after serving in the War of the Revolution. About the beginning of this century, having become possessed of a large portion in the “Military Tract,” he sent an agent to ascertain if it contained a desirable situation in which to settle his family. The report being favorable, they came in the Spring of 1803, of course traveling in their own conveyance in gypsey fashion. They often told how on arriving in sight of the lake, which they could see only through openings in the wood, they alighted and lunched at the side of the road under a magnificent elm tree, which till very lately stood on a lot at the corner of Jordan and West Academy streets.
Mr. Charles J. Burnett accompanied Col. Vredenburgh to Skaneateles, as his partner in business, and a few years afterwards married the Colonel’s daughter, Maria, after whom the village of Marietta was named, and who had been educated at the Moravian School in Bethlehem, Pa. Mr. Burnett was a native of London, England; a lineal descendent of Gilbert Burnett, the historian of the Reformation, and brother of the Rev. J.B. Burnett, Rector of the parish of Houghton Hunts, England. He left England in early life to enter the mercantile house of a relative in Lisbon, residing there and in Malaga and Gibraltar for some years, and then returned to London before coming to this country. He was post-master of our village from 1817 to 1843. He was an active and influential man in our little community, and officiated as lay-reader for many years. His house was a social center as long as he lived.
He died February 16, 1856, leaving a stainless record of uprightness, faith and zealous devotion to the interests of religion. He had been warden of the parish from its first organization in 1816, a period of forty years. His lovely wife survived him about twenty years and died in the house in which, more than seventy years before, her marriage had been celebrated.
The first remembered Church services were held in 1803, in the house of Colonel Vredenburgh—now the “Burnett place” and at Gen. Earll’s “Red House” during the same and following years. Afterwards also in a small wooden building situated on the spot where the church now stands. One half of this building was used as a post-office and store, and the back part was furnished with benches for Sunday services. Mr. W.J. Vredenburgh, Mr. Charles J. Burnett, Mr. John S. Furman and Mr. Samuel Litherland officiated as Lay Readers.
Mr. Furman was Lawyer and Justice of the Peace, universally known as Squire Furman. He was a refined gentleman of the old school, and had fine literary tastes. Washington Irving was at one time his guest, being connected with the family by marriage, one of Irving’s brothers having married a sister of Mr. Furman. There were several sons in the Furman household, but only one daughter. Miss Julia was a sparkling brunette, an accomplished and brilliant woman, who was noted for her skill as a pianist. She was also an able Sunday School teacher. They lived in the house now occupied by Mr. Prentiss, and often came to church across the lake in a boat, as the distance was more than double if they walked. I think the family were all fond of boating, and one of the sons was familiarly known as “Captain Jack,” a leading member of the “Skaneateles Yacht Club.”
Mr. Litherland was an Englishman who had come to Skaneateles as Mr. Vredenburgh’s gardener. He was a man of blameless life, deeply religious and very amiable. Though never in orders of any kind, he frequently supplied any vacant pulpit in our village, but I think amongst church people, his ministrations were limited to an occasional reading the service. He was called upon frequently to officiate at funerals. A young farmer, who was in quest of him for a service of this sort, inquired at the post-office, “Where does the man live who buries people?” and was directed at once to Mr. Litherland’s house. He had a great fancy for buying a small house, to live in for a while, exercising his skill as a carpenter in enlarging and improving it, when he would sell and repeat the process. I could mention four, at least, of his former residences, all pretty, and in good repair at the present day. In one of them, belonging to me, there is a mantle piece carved by Mr. Litherland. He had a beautiful garden and raised mammoth strawberries and beautiful flowers and was liberal in distributing roots and seeds. He died July 17, 1844.
St. Peter’s Church in Auburn was organized in 1805 [noted as 1808 in Rev. Thomas Smith’s sermon of 1873] with the Rev. Davenport Phelps as Rector and the church building was consecrated by the saintly Bishop Hobart on the 22nd day of August, 1812. Mr. Vredenburgh was one of the Wardens of that parish, and Mr. Booth a Vestryman. The church people here very generally attended divine service in Auburn. Rev. Davenport Phelps frequently came over to officiate in Skaneateles. His first service was held in the upper hall of the Vredenburgh mansion (afterwards known as the Kellogg place), seats being arranged there for the people of the neighborhood, who very generally attended these services. Mr. and Mrs. Burnett received their first Communion in this house, from the hands of Mr. Phelps in 1809. He also baptised their first child.
The first written record of the life of this parish is the Act of Incorporation, dated January 4, 1816 (seventeen years before the village was incorporated) and attested to by Mr. John TenEyck, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas. At the meeting of the Incorporators, and others, the Rev. William A. Clark presided. Jonathan Booth and Ch
I think the choir must have been a very good one, and the elite in the congregation took a pride in belonging to it. As our own organ was the only one in the village, so our choir was regarded as unapproachable. It could chant and even get up an occasional anthem. “Them ‘piscopals thinks so much of music!”
For some years the precentor of our choir was chosen by the Vestry. My father received the appointment April 8, 1833, and was re-appointed the next April, but I think the office was held longest by the one who was the last to hold it, Mr. John Snook, Jr.
The back seats in the gallery were the usual resort of the unattached lads of the congregation, who were often a source of annoyance to the choir, and in 1833, probably in consequence of some complaint of my father a resolution of the Vestry is recorded authorizing William M. Beauchamp to maintain order in the gallery.
The leader of the choir, for so we designated the holder of the office precentor, did the training, in conjunction with the organist, decided on the tunes to be sung, and served as umpire when the usual jealousies and differences of opinion required the interposition of authority. This office continued till the Roosevelt family took charge of the music, and the substitution of quartette choir for our former one, rendered it superfluous. Thenceforth there were no services held without music, for Mrs. Roosevelt was a most accomplished organist and was always at her post and her daughters lent their charming voices to the hymns and chants on week days as well as on Sundays. The parish cherishes a grateful memory of their past services and a loving recognition of their continued benefaction in the excellent organ they have bestowed on the church. But to return to our description:
There was no broad central aisle, but two narrow alleys gave access to the four tiers of seats. At the altar end there were six square pews, belonging to the principal families of the parish and the remaining seats were called slips. Pews and slips alike were furnished with doors, which were fastened with brass buttons. The renting of the pews and slips by auction on Easter Monday was often the cause of considerable excitement and rivalry without regard to any whom they might inconvenience. There was always a full attendance on Low Sunday to appear in the newly leased seats. There were only thirty in all—seven in each tier of those fronting the altar, and eight on each of the sides. The stove pew is not included in this computation, nor the free seats under the gallery.
The six square pews were thus appropriated: That in the south-west corner, Capt. DeCost; next by the window, Mr. Gibbs; in front of the altar, Mr. Burnett had the first from the west; the other was shared between Mr. Brainard’s family, and Mr. and Mrs. Francis with their daughter, Emily; the southeast corner pew was Squire Furman’s; and the next, by the window, Mrs. Horton’s. Each of these pews was furnished with seats on three sides, and contained a table in the center for Prayer Books and Bibles, around which were ranged three long kneeling stools. They were very convenient for the Sunday School classes which were held in them during the noon “intermission.”
The church was entered from the vestibule by two doors, one for each aisle, and between these doors, and under the gallery, was the stove pew, with seats on one long side and short ones on the other, as near to the stove as it was considered safe to have them. The parts nearest the stove wore coats of tin. The big box-stove, which was fed from the vestibule and protruded through the wall into the stove pew, was usually kept red-hot during severe weather, which made its locality a very favorite place of resort on a cold day. Boys were apt to congregate there, and as wherever boys are, mischief may be expected, some elderly “pater familias” would commonly sit there, ostensibly to keep his eye on the youngsters, but perhaps with a little view to his own comfort as well. A pipe ran from this stove at a height of a little over six feet to the Vestryroom, which originally received no other heat. Finally a small box-stove was placed in it. The clergyman was obliged to wear his overcoat in winter under his robes, and doubtless he was often glad to ascend the high pulpit where it was somewhat warmer than in the glacial regions below. This leads me to consider the chancel arrangements.
There was no recessed chancel, but an arrangement of pulpit, reading desk and altar, which is commonly known as the “three-decker.” We would not have presumed to apply such a term to it then. The pulpit was to us, as to [William] Cowper, “a sacred thing.” We used to recall Cowper’s lines, in seeing Mr. Clarke in the pulpit: “There stands the messenger of truth; there stands the legate of the skies; his theme divine and his office sacred, his credentials clear.” *
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* Note: From “The Task”(1785), a poem by William Cowper
The pulpit was a projecting, pentagonal structure, high up on the wall and entered by means of a staircase in the Vestryroom, through a pointed deeply-recessed door. The pulpit-hangings were crimson with heavy netted chenille fringe, terminating in tassels. When Mr. Clarke disappeared at the Vestryroom door in his surplice, and reappeared in the pulpit in his black silk gown and bands, we children used to wonder how he got there. Frequently after his sermon and giving out the closing hymn, he would sit down, which indicated the existence of a seat, which he certainly had not stepped over on entering, and, in fact, there was a hinged bench in front of the door which was turned up on one end when not required for use.
We were told that the white bands of the clerical garb symbolized the Two Tables of the Law which the teachings of the preacher must accord. A collect was always said in the pulpit before the sermon.
Below the pulpit was a reading desk likewise furnished with big cushions on which lay the Bible and Prayer Book side by side and crimson hangings over its capacious semi-circular front. When we had lay-reading the reader of the sermon never ascended the pulpit, but stopped at the reading desk. There was plenty of room for both readers, and the one who had read the service sat in this place of dignity while the other read the sermon, after which the first reader gave out the hymn, while the second retreated to his place in the organ gallery. These readers were, in my time, Mr. Burnett and his son-in-law, Mr. John Snook, both of whom were remarkably good readers. Mr. Snook was, like his father-in-law, a native of England, and was a man of fine literary tastes as well as of churchly culture. For many years he was our choir-master, and occasionally played the organ in the absence of the regular organist, I think. Mr. John Britton, Mr. John Preece and Mr. Benjamin Petheram were amongst our first organists—All Englishmen. Mr. Britton was a music teacher, and removed thence to Jordan, where he was likewise organist in the church. Mr. Preece was a carpenter. He removed to Ohio and taught music in Gambier College, if I am not mistaken. I remember seeing his name in a printed report, but am not quite sure of the name of the college. [Note: Perhaps Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, founded 1824.] Mr. Petheram was a cabinet maker who continued his residence in Skaneateles until his death in 1894.
Mr. Snook always prepared the Holy Table on Communion days, and no one who has ever seen him unfolding altar linen, and placing thereon the sacred vessels can forget the intense reverence of his manner on these occasions. The remembrance was a lesson to me when, for many years in after life, similar duties fell to my lot, in the Chapel of the Buffalo Church Home.
The Table was a small oblong stand with four legs. It stood in front of the reading desk on the same platform within the semi-circular rail around which the communicants knelt. The Holy Communion was administered once a quarter, viz: at Christmas tide; Easter and Whitsunday, and somewhere midway amongst the Sundays after Trinity. I do not think the Christmas celebration was usually held on the day itself but on the Sunday after. The prescribed notice, or at least the first paragraph thereof, was always read from the Prayer book on the Sunday immediately preceding. Communicants in general abstained from worldly amusements during the week of preparation. About 1839 or 1840, the monthly Communion was established here, and in 1884 the weekly Eucharist became the rule.
During Lent the whole of the litany was always said, on Sundays as well as on Wednesdays and Fridays. The church wardens attended these weekly services as a matter of course, and there were usually some vestrymen present. We did not have the Gloria Patri at the end of each psalm, but at the end of the psalter for each service the Gloria Patri in the morning, and the Gloria in Excelus in the afternoon was sung.
The two forms of absolution were likewise used alternately, the more authoritative being used in the morning, for the sole reason that, being shorter, it was more suitable for the longer service, and the longer form was reserved for the shorter evening service.
The Benedicte was used during Lent. When sung, six or eight versicles from the beginning were chanted, and the intermediate parts omitted to the verse. “Oh ye Children of men” etc., resuming with which the choir sang to the end of the canticle. Frequently it was read responsively with no omissions. Later it was sung throughout, the beginning of each versicle as a solo, by soprano, alto, tenor and bass in succession.
On Sundays when there was a celebration the clergyman after the sermon and inscription, descended to the vestry room and re-assumed his surplice and his place in the reading desk before beginning the offertory the reading of which continued during the whole of the collection of alms. I cannot but think that this was a good practice. The laity were thus interested in the principles of Christian giving and they certainly gave more liberally in proportion to their incomes than is usual at the present day. After the non-communicants had returned, the members of the choir descended into the body of the church, and the hymn was sung by all present without organ accompaniment, but I think, though I am not quite sure, that the organist and the choir returned to the gallery after communicating, and led in chanting the Gloria in Excelsis. For many years the “Therefore with angels” was said unitedly by priest and people throughout. Later on, the choir remained in the gallery until after the Consecration, which enabled them to give the Trisagion and the metrical hymn, the Cum Angelis was then sung as a solo which was looked upon as an innovation and the Ter Sanctus, as now, by the whole choir.
From various entries in my father’s diary, I gather that the services in Marcellus on alternate Sundays, were often attended by the parishioners of St. James. “Rode to the Marcellus church to the afternoon service. Preece went with me.” Such entries are frequent.
From the same source, I infer that Mottville was frequently visited by Mr. Clarke, whom my father occasionally accompanied in a buggy or a cutter, but more frequently he (my father) walked thither, and returned in the same Skaneateles carriage, unless, indeed, he preferred walking both ways. In these days every wealthy family kept a carriage.
Thanksgiving day was not a national festival till Lincoln’s administration, so its date, to that time, had depended on State authority. Twice during Mr. Clarke’s incumbency it was appointed to be kept in December. In 1834, was the latest date on which it has ever been celebrated in St. James’ Church, December 11th, and the previous year it had been kept on the 5th of December.
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