The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-06
ST. PETERS, CENTENARY,
An Ancient Church's One Hundredth
 Anniyersary,

P'i SHulCH III Glymoutn LOOK pldce No- Vember l. At three o'clock there were special services at which there were
 present Bishop-Coadjutor Brewster, the Rev. H. P. Scudder of Brooklyn, N' r., and the Rev. w. E. Hooker of Wilton, former rector of the parish,
 the Rev. Collis P. Potter of Stratford,
 native of East Plymouth, now in his seventy-fifth year, and the Rev.
 Messrs. J. c. Linsley of Torrington,
 George M. Stanley of Winsted, A, T. Parsons of Thomaston, Henry M.
 smith of Pine Meadow and the rector
 the Rev. G. Henry Smith of Plymouth, | as well as the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hart of | Hartford. who preached a most inter esting historical sermon.
 | At 7:30 the church was crowded, The Rev. MT. Hooker read the opening ser vice, the Rev. MT. Scudder the prayer
 and Bishop Brewster preached an elo-
 quent sermon from Romans viii. :16 his theme being Spiritual Life" The rec tor presented a class of eleven for con- | tirmation. on Wednesday St. Matthew's church,
 East Plymouth, which was consecrated ln l'95, was visited by Dr. Brewster | ana chere were services at 8 D. m. History of the Church.
 Next in age to the First Congrega- tional church of Plymouth, organized in
 the autumn of 1739, is St, Peters Epis- copal parish, which was formed by
 eleven families, leaving the former
 church largely because of its change in
 location from Plymouth Hollow (now
 Ihomaston) to Plymouth Hill Know Ing that the legislature would not in-
 corporate two Congregational parishes
 m the town and determined to retain
 thelr center of worship upon the west
 slde Of the Naugatuck river, these stur-
 dy souls formed the parish of St. Peter's church in TAO and had as their first minister, the Rev, Theophilus Morris, an English clergyman sent by the fa- nous Society for the Propagation of
 the Gospel in Foreign Parts" Besides
 mlnlstering to the needs of these people
 he ofilciated in Waterbury, West Haven
 and Derby, returning to England in
 l743. He was succeeded by the Rev
 James Lyon, whose home was in Der by, but who preached in these parishes
 until 1746, when he removed to Long Island. Three years after his depar-
 ture the Rev. Richard Mansfield, the first native of this country to officiate in these parishes, returned from Eng
 land, where he had gone to receive | Episcopal ordination, and took charge 1 of this parish, remaining from 1749 un- 1 til 1759, when he was succeeded by the Rev. James Scoville, a resident of Wa | terbury, his native town, who labored faithfully here as missionary from | 1759 to 1771. At that time he was suc- | ceeded by the Rev. James Nichols, al- though he continued to perform parish work in Waterbury, as we'll as the pres ent parish of Watertown.
 l MT. Nichols remained until the Revo-
 lutionary war broke out in 1775, when | he went to Litchfield to live Owing to
 the war the parish was without rec l tor until October, 17S4, when the Rev | Chauncey Prindle was called, his sala-
 ry being fixed at thirty-seven pounds, WI | in beef, pork, tallow, sheep's wool, flax or other grain at the market price in l Waterbury. During his passionate all the parish was weakened by the with
 drawal of two detatchments, one form ing the parish of Northfield on the west, the other that of St. Matthew on
 the east. The sole reason of these with
 drawals, however, was the desire of the tn ;cba bo;,
 homes.
 At this time the present edifice, which stands upon Plymouth Hill, was erect ed On November "A, 1796 the rector
 preached the first sermon therein and
 on November ?, 1797, the church was consecrated to the service of God by the
 Rt. Rev Abraham Jarvis, it being one of his first official acts and only five days after his own consecration.
 MT. Prindle resigned in 1906. Subse-
 quent rectors were Nathan Burgess
 1907, Roger Searle 1S09-1S17 and Rodney
 Rossiter 1S1S-1S29. During Mr. Rossi- ters rectorship the bell was procured
 in 1923 and the Sunday school was es- tablished in 1928. For two and one-haIf
 years the church was without rector, although the Rev Messrs. R. w. Har- IFS, ooSepH l. 1ieth, 1urQOn ;. Colt, Norman Pinney and A. c. Morgan off,
 ciated at intervals of six months each
 In 1881 the present basement or chap
 el was built and in November, 1882, the
 Rev. Dr. Burhams began his ministry
 which covered a period of five years
 The Rev. William Watson was then
 called in 1887, remaining until 1850. Tn
 1S41 an organ costing seven hundred
 dollars was placed in the church. In
 1852 the Rev. s. D. Denison became rec
 tor, continuing until 1854, when he was
 followed by the Rev A. B. Goodrich
 1S54-1S56. Succeeding rectors were the
 Rev. Messrs. s. H. Miller 1S56-1S57. Berry 1861, David F. Lumsden 1863. B. Eastwood 1863-4, Porter Thomas 1S69- 1872, Emerson Jessup and L. M. Dar man 1S73-1S74, s. B. Duffield 1S75-1S76 John M. Bates 1s7e-1S77, N. T. Scudder 1S7S-1S79 and John D. Gilliland 1SSO-1SS8.
 The Rev. William E. Hooker became rector in 1889 and during his stay the church was completely remodeled in- side, the organ moved from the old choir gallery to place near the chan eel and furnaces introduced, all through the generosity of the wife of