Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-11-11

widely Known and universally esteemed
~ the late Rev. John Augustus Hicks
ID. d., a more extended notice il due. thar
. mere announcement Of his death, 10 } !,
high character, his rare virtues, and hi
Official position ~ q Clergyman of ~
Episcopal Church.
To thoroughly understand his charaots
it Is necessary to make some reference !,
the stock from which he sprap9. or th
three brothers, William Stephen and Ella,
! Hicks, who were Of English ORIGIN. tb,
first and last were Quakers, and Ella,
was the one whose independence ani
energy of character enabled him to pro
duce the movement which gave name Il
the Hicksire Quekers."
Stephen and all his descendants wer,
church people, his son Oliver II. beina
well known for many years among thu
first commercial circles of New York CITY
At the time Of his death Oliver was
President of the North American Insu
rance Company, one of the pioneer Insu.
rance companies in this country, and his
wife is still living. at the advanced age Of
lightweight, in Hartford, Connecticut
Their son, John Augustus, the subject OF
this sketch. was born in New York city,
February 81, 1902. When fitted for col.
lege, at the carly age of fourteen years
his literary career was interrupted, and
he entered his fathers counting house,
where he remained for three years, acquir-
ing business habits, and knowledge OF
mankind and of the world, which proved
of the greatest advantage to him during
all his subsequent life. At seventeen he
entered Columbia College, where he
graduated in 1928, and then pursued his
studies for the Holy Ministry, in the Cen
eral Theological Seminary in New York,
where he received his testimonial in 1926,
and was ordained to the Dcaconate by the
Rt. Rev. Bishop Hobart in the same year
on the 22d August, in Grace Church,
Jamaica, Long Island.
+ He began his ministerial life us the as
sistant to the Rev. Evan M. johnson, both
in Jamaica and Brooklyn. On the let of
April, 1927, he accepted call to the
rectorship Of Trinity Church, Easton,
Pennsylvania, aud in the following month
was i member of the Convention of the
/ Diocese of Pennsylvania. voting for the
Rev. DR.. Henry U. Onderdonk, who was
taken up as the High Church candidate,
after the refusal of the Rev. John II.
Hopkins, latter wards first Bishop of Yer
mont to vote for himself, and who, by
his vote, gave the election to DR..
+ Onderdonk, there being but one CLERICAL
majority for the High Church candidate.
On the 2Sth of May, 1928, he was or
dained to the priesthood by the Ri. Rev.
Bishop White, in Christ church, Phila-
delphia and on the 18th OF September IN
the same year he married Miss Lucy
Cleveland, the youngest daughter of Geo.
Cleveland, Esq, of Middlebury, Vermont.
+ His ministry in Eaton was highly blessed,
and he succeeded in paying off an old
debt that had long hampered the energies
of the parish In April, 1881, he ac-
cepted a call to St. Johns church, Troy,
New York, and resigned it in the follow
ing January, on being invited to Rutland,
Vermont.
La Rutland he organized and founded
the Parish OF Trinity church, Porter
Howe, Esq, and the late Gov. Williams,
being two of his leading supporters among
the laity. The former OF these two still
survives, and attended the Rev. DIR. Hicks
as lay deputy to the first Diocesan Con-
vention in Vermont, at which Bishop
Hopkins was chosen to the Episcopate.
This Convention was held in st. Stephens
church, Middlebury, on the Both and 3lst
of May, 1882, and of the thirteen clergy
who were the associates of DIR. Hicks and
took part in the election of Bishop Hop
kins, only six men survive; the Ri. Rev.
Bishop Chase of New Hampshire, the
Rev. DIR. Chapman, the first Rector of st.
Paurs church in this city, and now OF
Newburyport, Mass, the Rev. Arson B.
Hard, Chester, Pa, the Rev. VIM. S. Per-
is,-4. Bristol. Pa, the Rev. DIR. Crane,
East Greenwich, Rhode Isiana, and tho
Rev Lewis Mcdonald, of Middlebury,
Vt. OF the forty Lity voting at that
writer as still surviving. DIR. Hicks, of
nominee of the Hugh Church party, the
Rev. Mr.. Hopkins; the Rev. DIR. John
S. Stone author of Mysteries Opened'0
being the Low Church candidate and re-
ceiving six clerical votes. 1t was singu-
lar coincidence that DIR. Hicks should
have thus voted in two Episcopal Convcn-
tions in two different Diocesas, and in two
successive years, and each time the High
Church candidate was chosen by one ma
jority for the clerical order. The ma
iority of the laity in each case Especially
in Vermont was decidedly larger.
At Rutland, Dr. Hicks remained Us
Rector for twenty-eight yesrc, during
which period the parish which he founded
became unde- his loving care one of the
large3t and strongest in the Diocese of
Vermont As preacher, his style was
clear, logic, terse, and always clothed in
classical English. He considered thor
oughly every subject which he touched,
and was content to handle only one sub
ject at time; hence his ministry was
more Instructive and more faithful than in
the case Of many whose pulpit lyle is more
demonstrative. But the fidelity of his pas
toral illustrations in private was of even
more Importance than his pulpit style and
in this branch of his work, his keen and
quiet appreciation of character, hi deli
cate observation, and his quiet sympathies,
were unfailing. Though unfiinching at
all times in his adherence both to the
letter and spirit of the canons and the
rubrics of the church, he won many
friends among Christians of other names,
who knew how to respect "a conscientious
devotion to duty, even when their own
views Of duty do not happen to coincide
His long residence in Rutland endeared
him throughout. the community there,
and widely also throughout the State.
When, in 1854, Bishop Hopkins laid
before the Convention of the Diocese his
plan for the revival of the Vermont Epis-
eopal Institute, DIR. Hicks wss one of the
committee to whom it was referred, and
by whom it was recommended to the
Convention for its approval. In 1856, he
was elected as one of the Trustees of the
newly organized corporation Of that insti-
tuition. In 1860, his voice having SO far
lost Its power that its public nse was
almost impracticable, he resigned his
rectorship in Rutland, to accept the
Willoughby Professorship in the Vermont
Episcopal Institute, with the general
charge of the Theological Department.
He resided at the institute in this capacity
until 1865, when he resigned both his
trusteeship and hia rrofessoFship. Hence
forward he lived in this city, devoting
h b. ,nh a