The fire in Germain Street--The first brick house in St. John--
Old Trinity--The Loyalists--Curious ideas about insurance--The
rectors of Trinity--The Clock--The Royal Arms.
The fire along Germain Street was of great volume, and dealt out
destruction in a thoroughly wholesale manner. A good many buildings of
more than ordinary note were situate in this pleasant street, and to
these may be added a large number of churches, some of them being of
especial importance in an historical point of view. The fire came along
briskly, carrying Foster's Corner, Foster's shoe store, and the little
buildings adjoining, till it reached Dr. Ring's residence, the old
Disbrow property, the first brick house in St. John. The doctor had
lately improved it by extensive building operations, but in an hour or
two hardly a fragment remained to mark the spot, save parts of the
well-built walls and the tall chimneys. Mrs. Chas. K. Cameron's
millinery store and Hamilton & Lounsbury's place of business were in the
two stores in this building, and they very soon were lost to sight.
Lordly, Howe & Co.'s furniture warerooms, filled with new stock, were
greedily devoured by the flames, and Geo. Hutchinson, jr., who kept the
time ball in working order, lost all his jewelry and stock. The precious
stones and gold and silver ornaments in his safe were totally ruined
also. The Mansion Hotel, a small boarding house, was soon among the
general mass of debris, and the fire whizzed across the street, and
directed its entire force on Old Trinity. First the steeple went, and
then the whole body of the old church was in a sheet of flame, and there
was barely time left to save the historic Royal Arms which Captain Frank
B. Hazen got out of the building, and a few prayer books in the vestry,
and the minister's surplices, which Colonel Chas. R. Ray rescued from
destruction. The communion plate was in a safe, and it too was saved;
but this was all. During the burning of this sacred edifice the greatest
consternation prevailed among the people who lined the streets. Now
surely there was no resisting the fire. The hoarse roar of the tornado
of flame seemed to sound like a mocking laugh, and when the rafters of
the oldest church in the city fell with a dull thud, all felt as if a
friend had been torn ruthlessly from their gaze. Many exhibited real
emotion; and there were women who cried that afternoon, as they thought
of this last relic of their loyalist forefathers being swept away in the
cruel and all-devouring fire. Trinity Church has a very remarkable
history of its own, and the picture which we supply of it will be
perhaps the most attractive of our illustrations to the great mass of
the residents of the city. It was ever a monument of the piety and
religious tenets of our first settlers. A heritage which they left to
their children. It never laid claims to architectural beauty, but it was
commodious and homely; and men felt while inside its grand old walls
that there was something more than the mere name in religion after all,
and the word which they heard was true and good. The Loyalists who
settled here in 1783, on that memorable 18th of May, were composed of
that stuff which the poet tells us warriors sometimes feel, and they
diligently set to work to build on this sterile, rocky soil a city that
future ages would acknowledge. They had thrift, integrity, great zeal,
enterprise and piety, and these attributes were their strongest points.
The man who possesses all these characteristics can give battle to the
world and he will conquer. They had true courage in them, these
pioneers. They had stability, nerve and character, and were just the men
to found a city and plant the seeds of civilization in a community. They
erected simple houses at first, and then a church was built in which
they could worship that God who had befriended them and journeyed with
them to their new homes. The first church was erected in Germain Street,
between Duke and Queen Streets, in the lot where Mr. James McMillan
lived till he was burned out of it the other day. The faith adopted here
was that of the Church of England--as the major portion of the Loyalists
were of that persuasion. When the city lots were divided, the "Old
Burial Ground" was laid aside for church and burial purposes, and at the
south-west corner--where the court-house now stands--it was intended to
build a church, and a frame for that object was obtained. The fire of
1784, however, passed over this section of the city, and the founders
changed their ideas about the locality in which the projected edifice
should stand. The Germain Street building had not been consecrated, and
the people continued to worship there until 1791, when the Trinity
Church was erected. The first church then continued to be occupied by
various denominations, by the Methodists first, and then by the
Baptists, until meeting-houses and chapels of their own could be built;
latterly it was used as a private dwelling-house and school-house. The
first sermon in Trinity was preached on Christmas Day, 1791, by Rev. Dr.
Mather Byles, rector. The following year a bell was put up, and, in 1803
or 1804, stoves, for the first time, were placed in the church. The
first Bishop of Nova Scotia, Right Reverend Dr. Charles Inglis,
performed the consecration services of the church. This eminent divine
was grandfather of Major-General Sir John Inglis, whose deeds of valour
at Lucknow will never be forgotten while glorious exploits in military
history live in the memory of men. Thomas Horsfield and Fitch Rogers
were the first church-wardens of Trinity, and the vestrymen were Hon.
Gabriel Ludlow, Ward Chipman, Munson Jarvis, Thomas Whitlock, Nathan
Smith, Thomas Elmes, William Hazen, Colin Campbell, Nehemiah Rogers,
Isaac Lawton, Thomas Bean, and Samuel Hallet; vestry clerk, Colin
Campbell; sexton, James McPherson. General Coffin and Thomas Whitlock
gave the ground for the building, and Messrs. Bean & Dowling were the
builders. This Mr. Bean was the gentleman who, in June, 1811, when the
church wanted to borrow L200, agreed to lend it that sum on the express
condition that the insurance policy then on the building should be at
once cancelled. An order was passed cancelling the policy without delay.
Thus was Trinity for a while without insurance. Had Mr. Bean's ideas
prevailed to-day the congregation would, in all likelihood, mourn the
loss of $20,000, which is the amount that was on the building at the
time of the fire. When the edifice was finished, it was found to be of a
peculiar shape, and its breadth was out of all proportion to its length.
This was not an accident, however, for the builders wisely thought the
city would grow, and that as the requirements of the people needed it,
the church might be made larger. Little change had taken place in the
interior arrangements of the church at the time of its destruction. The
same pews had stood over four score of years, and all the alteration
that was made was a slight cutting down of the backs of some of the
centre ones. The side pews remained the original height. For
seventy-three years the old organ has been in constant use in Trinity.
It was brought from London in 1804, and cost a good round sum. The
freight on it alone was one hundred guineas, but the owner of the vessel
which brought it over, Hon. Wm. Pagan, remitted the amount back to the
corporation of the church. To its last days, this organ has been a good
instrument. In 1792, Mr. William Thomson presented Trinity with a bell,
for which he received a cordial vote of thanks. This bell was in active
service till 1857, when the bell which tolled a few days ago its last
sad peals, was mounted in the belfry. The town-clock, as every one was
accustomed to call the clock which told of the passing hours, too, has a
history. In 1810, Mr. John Venning erected the tower and cupola. He
had nearly completed his work one May morning, when owing to a light
fall of snow the staging became slippery, and when Mr. Venning stepped
upon it he slipped from it to the roof, and from thence to the ground,
where he was picked up dead. In 1812, the clock was placed in position,
and has remained there, till the events of Wednesday ended its career.
Barraud, of Cornhill, London, was the maker, and it cost L221 19s.
sterling; the Common Council voted L50 towards it. Up to 1814, the
church paid for having the time-piece wound, and in this year the
winding cost L6 15s., when the church people decided that they would no
longer attend to this service, and maintained that the commonalty should
see to it. The Council, on December 24th, 1814, resolved to act on the
suggestions of the Church corporation, and took upon themselves the duty
of keeping the clock wound up and in repair. Edward Taylor assisted in
putting up the clock and assumed control of it, till Mr. Wm. Hutchinson,
father of Geo. Hutchinson, jr., took charge of it. Previous to 1857, it
had three dials, but in this year a fourth was added, and a spire was
placed upon the church.
[Illustration: TRINITY CHURCH.]
In 1811-12 the church was lengthened, and in 1857 it was enlarged again.
The first rector was the Rev. George Bisset, A. M., an Englishman.
Before the revolutionary war he was assistant to the rector of Trinity
Church, at Newport, Rhode Island. He became, two years later, the rector
of that church, and remained in that position until 1779, when the
British forces evacuated the island, and Mr. Bisset went to New York.
At the close of the war he came to St. John and was chosen rector of the
new parish. In 1786, he went to England on private and public business,
and while there raised quite a large sum to further the interests of his
church, and to assist materially in the building of the edifice. But in
1788, without seeing his hopes realized, he died, and was buried in the
Germain Street church-yard, and subsequently his remains were interred
in the Putnam tomb, in the old burial ground, where they still lie.
A Harvard graduate of the class of 1751, was the next rector of Trinity,
the Rev. Mather Byles, D.D. For fifteen years, he had laboured as a
Congregational minister at New London, and then left that church to link
his fortunes with the Episcopalians. He joined the Church and became
rector of Christ's Church, Boston, Mass. He left his charge, when the
British troops abandoned Boston, and went to Halifax, N. S., where he
became Garrison chaplain. When Mr. Bisset died Dr. Byles removed to St.
John, was made rector, and preached, as we have said, the first sermon
that was ever preached in Trinity Church. In his latter days Dr. Byles
was very infirm and required an assistant. He was rector of St. John for
26 years, and died at the age of 80 in March, 1814, loved, honoured and
respected. He was a man of fine parts, an excellent talker, of quick and
lively nature, and he possessed a rich fund of anecdote and humour. A
bundle of his sayings and doings has been published.
Rev. George Pidgeon was the third rector. He was a learned graduate of
Trinity College, Dublin, and was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1761. He
was an ensign in the rifles, and had served in America during the war.
He subsequently went to Halifax, took orders in the Church, became
rector of Fredericton and Ecclesiastical Commissary for the Province in
1795, and in 1814, on the death of the incumbent, he was made rector of
St. John. His health failed him, however, and for a time the church was
closed, when finally he died, May 6th, 1818. He was buried in the old
burial ground, and his monument may still be seen there.
The fourth rector was the Rev. Dr. Robert Willis--a Navy chaplain and a
very eminent man. His ship was at Halifax coaling, when intelligence
reached him that Mr. Pidgeon was seriously ill, and that the church in
St. John was closed in consequence. He left at once for St. John where
he officiated for several weeks, and on the death of Mr. Pidgeon was
chosen rector. The Stone Church and St. George's, Carleton, were erected
during his incumbency, and this caused a division in the Parish. Dr.
Willis became rector of St. Paul's, Halifax, in 1825, and Arch-Deacon of
Nova Scotia, which offices he held until the year 1865, when he died at
the age of 80. He was the father of Rev. Cuthbert Willis, rector of
Salisbury, who was formerly of the 15th regiment of foot.
In 1825 the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray, D.D., succeeded Dr. Willis as
rector of St. John. He was born in Boston 1768, and on the departure of
the British troops from that city, while yet a child, he went with his
father to Halifax. He graduated at King's College, Windsor, completed
his education in England, and was ordained minister in 1796 by Bishop
Inglis at Halifax. Some years were spent by him as minister among the
Maroons, a discontented body of savages which the British Government
placed in Nova Scotia to the great annoyance and fear of the
inhabitants. The Doctor spent several years in connection with various
missions throughout Nova Scotia until 1819, when he became rector of St.
George's, Halifax. He laboured as rector in St. John on the death of Dr.
Willis, for fifteen years, when in 1840 he resigned his position. He
lived till 1854, when at the advanced age of 86 he died full of honours
and respect. He was a man of elevated tastes and liberal ideas. He loved
science, art and literature, and was a well informed and polished writer
and thinker. In 1833 one of the greatest calamities which ever befell
man happened to Dr. Gray. His house in Wellington Row took fire, and
before aid could come it was burned to the ground, together with the
rector's wife and a female domestic. No sympathy could alleviate the
suffering of the distracted husband, no words of man could take away the
agony of his deep grief and sorrow. It pressed heavily upon his mind,
and he was never again the same man. At this fire he lost his valuable
library which contained many rare and costly books and manuscripts,
together with the complete records of his parish.
He was succeeded by his son, Rev. John William D. Gray, D.D., a very
able man. He was born in 1798, at Halifax, and graduated at King's
College, Windsor. He became rector of Amherst, N.S., and in 1825, when
Dr. Willis resigned his office in St. John, a movement was made to get
the rectorship for Dr. Gray. This was not done, however, for the father
was appointed, and the son became his assistant. In 1840, on the
retirement of Dr. Benjamin Gray, the sixth rector received the
appointment which he held until his death, in 1868. For twenty-eight
years this eminent clergyman laboured for his church and his people, and
all remember him as a kindly, thoughtful, generous man. He had abilities
of the highest order, and, whether as a preacher or a writer, his
reputation filled no second place. He wrote with a nerve and a boldness
which carried all before it, and his extensive erudition and vast powers
of concentration of thought made his works valued and esteemed. His
notable writings were chiefly controversial pamphlets, and few entered
the lists with him and gained a victory. His vigorous pamphlets on the
Catholic question, and the Moses and Colenso controversy will be
remembered by many who read these pages to-day, and all will regret that
the great rector never published a theological book or placed his ripe
thoughts on some enduring record. He was an able exponent of the
Scriptures, and he wrote in a superior and beautiful style. His sermons
were models of elegant English and sound doctrinal ideas, and no rector
of Trinity ever filled the position so grandly and so loyally as good
old Dr. Gray. He died at the age of seventy years, and in the
forty-seventh year of his ministry. He was accounted the best reader in
the Province, and his delivery was forcible, and distinguished for a
certain gracefulness of style. The Rev. James J. Hill, M. A. succeeded
Dr. Gray. He is a native of Nova Scotia. His failing health caused him
to resign the rectorship in a few years. At a meeting of the St. John
Parish, held on the 21st of July, 1873, the Rev. F. H. J. Brigstocke, of
Jesus College, Oxford, was unanimously nominated to the rectorship. He
had been in orders twelve years, and for five years had been curate to
the Dean of Canterbury. Mr. Brigstocke assumed his duties in October,
1873, and is the present rector of the parish.
The stained-glass windows in the chancel of the old church were placed
there in 1859, and were presented by John V. Thurgar, Esq., a respected
retired merchant of this city, whose old stand was burned down on the
North Wharf during the great fire.
The old arms of Trinity Church have an historic interest of very great
importance. A glance at them will reveal the fact that they are military
arms and not those of the church. They have escaped fire once or twice,
and in the early years of their existence witnessed many a heated
controversy, and experienced marvellous escapes from destruction. The
first we hear of them was in Boston where they adorned the walls of the
Council Chamber of the Old Town House. On March 17th, 1776, they sailed
out of Boston Harbour and were carried to Halifax, where they had a
temporary abiding place in the old chapel there. They were afterwards
placed, in 1791, in Trinity Church, where they have remained ever
since, until Captain Hazen rescued them from the flames on Wednesday
afternoon. A story is current that a hundred years ago, these arms were
snatched from Trinity Church, New York, when that edifice was in flames,
but this lacks confirmation, and the best authorities are unanimous in
holding that their peculiar build unfitted them for church use, and that
they were certainly intended to adorn the walls of council chambers.
That they were with the British army, whether on its march or at its
station, is settled beyond dispute. This ends the story of old Trinity,
the most historic edifice in the city--the first church--the quaintest
structure--the last link which bound the old and the new together. The
school-house fronting on Charlotte Street was burned at the same time as
the church.