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The Rev. Thomas Bradbury Chandler in the Light of his (Unpublished) Diary, 1775–85

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Frank Gavin
Affiliation:
The General Theological Seminary, New York City

Extract

No ecclesiastical body in this country suffered as much from the Revolution as did the Anglican Church. The process of recovery was so slow that it was scarcely consummated a century after. In the light of the peculiar importance, attaching to the epoch 1775–1785, the Diary of one of the most eminent Anglican clergy of Colonial days may not be without interest It is a small, thick volume bound in contemporary leather, in the author's own clear and tidy hand, with the fly-leaves covered with financial items —a kind of book-keeping appendix to the Diary proper.1 The Diary is entitled “Memorandums of T. B. Chandler.”

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1932

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References

1 The pages of this manuscript are 10 by 16 cm., and number 171 in all. Beginning with the second page of the Diary they are numbered consecutively to 146. At the end there are three unnumbered, blank pages followed by 17 (unnumbered) pages of notes, chiefly financial memoranda. The inside of the cover is also filled with such notations. The cover is somewhat larger than the size of the paper pages, being 10.25 by 16.5 cm.

2 Beardsley, E. E., The History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Boston, 1883, I, p. 159.Google Scholar

3 There is a sketch of his life in Sprague, W. B., Annals of the American Episcopal Pulpit, N. Y., 1859, pp. 137142Google Scholar, and a more extended note by the Rev.Hooper, J., in The Church Eclectic for 07, 1890 (XVIII:4), pp. 289303.Google Scholar

4 Perry, , A History of the American Episcopal Church, Boston, 1885, I, p. 168.Google Scholar

5 The Church in America, N. Y., 1895, pp. 4849.Google Scholar

6 Chandler completed his very hasty work in 1772, but it did not see the light until his son-in-law, Bp. Hobart, published it in 1805.

7 Quoted by Coppée, in Perry, op. cit., II, p. 607.

8 Quoted by Beardsley, op. cit., I, p. 244.

9 Cf. Seabury, W. J., Memoir of Bishop Seabury, N. Y., 1908, pp. 7879Google Scholar; Perry, op. cit., I, pp. 415–416.

10 Cf. Beardsley, I, p. 254.

11 For a not altogether sympathetic account of the controversy, see Cross, A. L., The Anglican Episcopate and the American Colonies, N. Y., 1902, pp. 162 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and passim.

12 Seabury, op. cit., p. 80; the date was January 21, 1767.

13 From Bp. Seabury's “Memorial to the Commissioners of the Treasury” of Oct.20, 1783, in Seabury, op. cit., p. 136; cf. Perry, op. cit., I, p. 453; Shea, , Alex. Hamilton, pp. 294296.Google Scholar

14 See Wallace's history, in Perry, op. cit., I, pp. 647 ff.

15 Letter to Dr. Johnson, of Stratford, Ct.; quoted by Beardsley, op. cit., I, p. 261.

16 Dalcho, , History of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, p. 206.Google Scholar

17 DrWarren's, Joseph letter to the Boston Gasette, 09. 24, 1774Google Scholar, quoting Adams' letter of Sept. 9 to him.

18 Life and Correspondence of the Rev. William Smith, D. D., I, p. 507.

19 Perry, op. cit., I, pp. 454–455; see below, Diary s. d Sept. 1, 1775.

20 Cf. W. J. Seabury, op. cit., chapters X-XI (pp. 130 ff.).

21 See below, pp.

22 Given in Perry, op. cit., I, pp. 458–464.

23 He had been living at Elizabethtown, where Mrs. Chandler and the children continued to remain during his long absence.

24 Kempe, John Tabor, vestryman of Trinity Church, N. Y., 1769-1778, warden 1779–1783Google Scholar (cf.Dix, Morgan, History of the Parish of Trinity Church in the City of New York, N. Y., IV, p. 577)Google Scholar. He was also active hi the Relief Corporation, and had helped design the official seal (cf. Perry, op. cit., I, p. 659).

25 The Rev. John Vardill, called while in England to be Assistant at Trinity, N. Y. (Dec. 6, 1774), and two days later, appointed by the King as Professor of Divinity at King's College, but he “never entered upon the duties of his office” (Berian, , Historical Sketch of Trinity Church, N. Y., 1847, p. 136)Google Scholar. Cf. Dix, , History of Trinity Church, I, pp. 363365.Google Scholar

26 On March 1, 1776, he lost his new watch to a pickpocket, after Church, and going to lodge information, description, and complaint, found another gentleman—one of those who had taken up the collection at the same service—there on the same errand.

27 Cf. the letter of his Assistant and successor, Dr. Inglis, of 10. 31, 1776, to the S. P. G., in Perry, op. cit., I, pp. 458–464.

28 Notices to the same effect appear under Jan. 5, 1780; June 7, 1780; Sept. 3, 1781.

29 Cf. W. J. Seabury, op. cit., pp. 143 ff. (foot-note), and 172–177. for the text of these letters.

30 So Lathbury, , History of the Non-Jurors, p. 411Google Scholar; cf.Hawks, and Perry, , Journals of the General Conventions of the P. E. Church… with Illustrative Historical Notes and Appendices, Philadelphia, 1861, I, p. 602.Google Scholar

31 Cf. Beardsley, E. E., Life of Bishop Seabury, pp. 179 ff.Google Scholar; W. J. Seabury, op cit., p. 255, and chapters XV-XVII Ibid.; Hawks & Perry, op. cit., I, p. 615.

32 Cf. W. J. Seabury, op. cit., pp. 377–381, where it is given.

33 Cf. Hawks & Perry, op. cit., I, pp. 514–518, 535–558; Hoffman, , The Ritual Law of the Church, N. Y., 1872, pp. 42, 44.Google Scholar

34 In N. Y. (1873) reissue of the English reprint of the Proposed Book, London, 1789, p. xx.Google Scholar

35 Letter of February 25, 1786, to Bp. White; Hawks & Perry, I, p. 540.

36 2nd edition, N. Y., 1836; Appendix 7, pp. 298–300.

37 Cf. The Church Eclectic, 1890, pp. 289–303; 653–655.

38 White, Ibid., p. 120.

39 So Perry, op. cit., II, p. 46.

40 Op. cit., I, p. 445.