The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-11-30

The laying of the corner stone of st.
Andrews parish will take place this aft
ernoon at $3.50 o'clock. The Rev. E. E.
Cobbs, rector of st. Johns church, Mont
gomery, will be the special preacher.
The Rev. deOvies formerly rector of
St Andrews church. and the present rec
tor, the Rev. Willis G. Clark, will con-
duct the services, assisted by the local
clergy-the Rev. Thomas j. Beard, D..
D., the Rev. Carl Henckel the Rev. w.
n. Claybrook, the Rev. l. o. Adams and
the Rev. NJ. S. Barnwel.
The music for the occasion will be rem
dered by the choirs of the different par
ishes under the direction of Prof Fred
Grambs.
The services will be held out of doors,
around and on the building under erection,
IL the weather permits. If 1t rains the
service excepting the actual laying of
the corner stone) will be held in the
Avenue K and Twelfth street.
This morning the Rev. deOvies will
preach i nthe chapel at the morning SER
vice at II o'clock.
The friends of st. Andrews are cor
daily invited to attend these services.
In the spring of 1902 a few devoted
members of the Episcopal church organ
lied a Sunday school in the schoolhouse
of Miss Adele Shaw on the corner of
Avenue K and Fourteenth street, with
Thomas S. Forbes as superintendent.
Miss Shaw. Mrs. Kate Wittichen, Mr..
Joseph R. Estes Mr.. and Mrs. R. II.
Polk and George f. Lttlejohn were the
first teachers. The Sunday school grew
rapidly, attracting many grown people.
The movement was encouraged by the
Rev. John G. Murray, then rector, of the
Church of the Advent. AS a result OF
his interest the Sunday school was formed
into g. mission congregation.
| AS the mission was made possible by
the great interest taken In it by men,
| bers Of the Brotherhood of ST. Andrew
| it was named st. Andrews mission. The
| first ministerial function to be performed
| in this mission was the baptism of Cole
man W1ttichen Gillian. AS consequence
he is the first child of st. Andrew 5
church.
Building of Church
The mission continued to grow so rap
| idly that it was found necessary to start
( a movement right away to raise funds to
/ buy a lot and erect thereon a church
building. The first contribution to this
| fund was 50, given by Frances Adele
| Woodrow as a thank offering for her re-
coyery from sickness. The fund grew and
soon enough was in hand to buy lot
The lot on the northeast corner of Ave-
Dtt pbo oad
On this lot small frame building was
erected.
| The Rev. Raimundo deOvies, then rector
of st. Johns church in Ensley, was asked
| to minister to st. Andrews congregation
on Sunday afternoons. With permission
of the bishop he undertook this work In
connection with his work at Ensley. I'm
der his ministry, and by the co-opera-
| ton of the Brotherhood of st. Andrews s.
| bers decided to petition the council to
admit it as a parish In the diocese OF
Alabama.
| AT a meeting, held May 6, 1906, petition
was drawn up by Gen. John w. Bush to be
signed by the necessary number of men,
| bers and to be presented at the coming
council, for admission of st. Andrew S
mission as a parish in the diocese. This
petition was signed by 80 communicates
and six on-communicants. On the next
day when the church people in the neigh
borhood heard of what had been done
many of them asked the privilege OF
signing the petition also. They were
granted this privilege, and 80 more signed.
| When this petition was presented to the
council, with 70 names attached, the coun-
ell joyfully admitted st. Andrews mis-
| sion as a parish in the diocese OF Ala
bama.
Parish Formally Organized
On June 8 1905, parish meeting was
held in the church building. At this meet
| ing a constitution was adopted, and the
first vestry of st. Andrews parish was
elected. The first vestry consisted of the
| following men: Col. James H. Fowlkes,
Joseph r. Estes, Thomas s. Forbes, w
H. Kant. j. r. Moore, j. c.. Motley and c.,
| I. Baker. Col. James II. Fowlkes was
/ chosen senior warden and Thomas s.
Forbes Junior warden ]. d. Oliver was
elected treasurer of the vestry and j.
c. Motley, secretary.
The Rev. Mr.. deOvies was rector of the
parish from the time he was called, right
after 1t was organized, until January, 1912
During his ministry the parish grew from
% members to $50; S5 souls were baptized;
81 were confirmed, and 40 couples united
in holy matrimony. While he was rector
the congregation purchased additional
property on Wn1cn TO erect a parish mouse
to accommodate the growing Sunday
school. This building was erected. In
addition to this purchase the congrega-
tion purchased a comfortable house, newly
built, as a rectory. Mr.. deOvies was one
of the most popular ministers ever known
| in Birmingham. He was actively inter-
ested in practically every movement for
| the good of humanity in the large district
of Birmingham. He was one of the orig
| inators Of the Holy Innocence hospital
| that is now doing much good for sick
| children in this city. Mr.. deOvies re-
signed as rector of st. Andrews parish
on January /, 1912, accepting a call to- the
rectorship of st. Paurs church, Green's
| boro. His departure from Birmingham
was deplored by people of all denomina-
| tions.
When Mr. deOvies resigned the vestry
of st. Andrews met and with the con-
gregation unanimously elected the Rev
Willis Gaylord Clark of st. Stephens
church Eutaw, as his successor. Mr..
Clark accepted the call and took charge
of st. Andrews church on January /,
1919. Mr., Clark Is now rector of st. An
drew's During his rectorship. from Janu-
airy l until now, 80 have been baptized. 4d