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• 1 media/St John of the Cross, Bristol, Feb 2016.jpg 2019-07-13T10:43:09-07:00 St. John of the Cross Episcopal Church, Bristol, Indiana 93 image_header 2022-08-10T13:49:19-07:00 St. John of the Cross Episcopal Church was founded in 1843 and originally called "St. John's." Its name was changed in the 1960s because there was another St. John's in Elkhart County, and Bishop Klein felt that the two similar names were confusing. St. John's is the only parish in the diocese founded almost entirely through the efforts of a lay woman, Ann Jennette (Burnham) Judson. Such a role for a woman was an unusual occurrence in the 1840s.
  
  Ann Jennette Burnham was born in Auburn, New York, on 29 April 1807, the daughter of Captain John Burnham and wife Barbara (McCarty). Her father had been an officer in the Continental Army who was imprisoned by the British during the war and later became a sea captain. Jennette married Samuel Parsons Judson, a widower, in Batavia on 28 July 1833. Samuel Judson became interested in purchasing land in the West, and in 1834 settled with his wife in Elkhart County, where he laid out the town of Bristol. The couple was active on the Underground Railroad, helping fugitive slaves escape to Michigan. In 1847, a group of slave catchers from Kentucky broke down the front door of their home and seized a fugitive named Thomas Harris. When the Judsons confronted them, they were threatened with guns. The Judsons brought charges, and the men were imprisoned while Harris was freed and made a successful escape. In 1849, Samuel formed the Bristol California Mining and Trading Association and launched an expedition to the gold fields of California, dying en route near Fort Laramie of cholera.
  
  During these years Mrs. Judson was determined to establish an Episcopal Church in Bristol, the first of its kind of any denomination in the town. The congregation was organized on 25 April 1843, and land was purchased under the names of her husband, along with Thomas Wheeler, Henry H. Fowler, and Edward A. Lansing as trustees. Plans were drawn up for a church, and Bishop Jackson Kemper arrived to lay the cornerstone on 29 December 1843. The Rev. Richard S. Adams, missionary at Mishawaka, conducted services every third Sunday beginning in July 1843, but he left in April 1846 and was succeeded by another missionary, the Rev. Benjamin Halsted, formerly of Fort Wayne.
  
  Between 1845 and 1851, members of the congregation constructed the small wood-frame church slowly at what is now 601 East Vistula Street. Construction funds were surprisingly tight, and it took great effort to complete it. Mrs. Judson began reaching out for support and enlisted Bishop Kemper for help. After informing him of the planned organization of the parish in 1843, Kemper replied, "I rejoice at your perseverance and pray that it never flag. The divine Head of the Church, in His own good time, will help those efforts which are put forth to the glory of His Holy name."
  
  Kemper wrote a letter of introduction for the fund raising effort in December 1843, and Albert Royce, a vestryman, managed to raise just $12.25. Undeterred, Mrs. Judson made a personal visit East the following year to meet with friends and solicit additional funds, but the building was still not finished in May 1848, when Kemper managed to conduct a service within its open frame. Mrs. Judson embarked on a second trip, and the bishop wrote her another letter of introduction: "The zeal of this lady for the House of God, and her anxiety to receive for her children and neighbors the sacred privileges of the Sanctuary, deserves the approbation and encouragement of all the well wishers of our beloved Zion." Bishop Samuel McCoskry of Michigan also wrote a letter, saying: "I know of no place in which the Church has greater claims upon Churchmen than at Bristol. There is no place of worship of any kind in it, and the possibility is that if Mrs. Judson is successful in her mission, the larger part of the population will be brought into the Church."
  
  Mrs. Judson wrote later that she visited Buffalo and New York City, as well as other intermediate cities and towns. An unidentified priest, writing in the parish register, noted of Mrs. Judson's efforts: "It was new work to her experience, but, as results will show, not beyond her large and generous capacities. It was a work, too, brought with many disappointments and annoyances and must prove especially so to one of her refined sensibilities; all these things she was willing to endure for His sake, for whose honor and glory she was chiefly anxious to have a temple erected." In 1850, after a third trip east, she brought back $2,222, enough to finish the building and purchase a bell for $180.
  
  Bishop George Upfold consecrated the building on 8 May 1851. The wood-frame building resembled a New England church, with painted wood sides and a simple steeple. St. John's first permanent rector, the Rev. Homer Wheeler, had arrived two years earlier in 1849, and since he had a family, he had insisted that the vestry provide him a parsonage near the church, where a cemetery (or "churchyard") was also located. Land was purchased and eventually a Greek Revival house was erected. Mrs. Judson left town about 1855 and lived for many years in New York. She returned in 1875 to see the church one last time and died a decade later in Chicago in the home of her daughter.
  
  After the vestry bought and sold two different lots for the rectory, they constructed a more permanent building about 1875 during the rectorate of the Rev. Wellington Forgus. A series of rectors, all of relatively short duration, served the parish in the ensuing years until the arrival of the Rev. Henry Streeter and his family in 1907. He had formerly served at Gas City but left because of his growing deafness. He remained at his post as a resident priest for 10 years, and his hearing problems did not hamper his ministry. His family would remain members of the parish. During the 1950s, the Rev. Bruce Mosier served as a part-time priest, moving back and forth between St. James Goshen (where he served as its full-time rector) and Bristol. Mosier was a native of Bristol and had grown up as a member of St. John's.
  
  The Rev. Donald D. Dunn arrived in 1966 and remained five years. An English professor, he taught at Ball State University during the week and conducted services on Sundays. During his successful rectorate, the parish expanded its classroom buildings, the money for which was given as a memorial to the Rev. Henry Streeter. The addition allowed room for a Sunday school that attracted many new families, including some from the Elkhart area. In 1980, during the rectorate of the Rev. John Henry Morgan, a resident priest, the parish was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and received a visit from Bishop Tinsley of Bristol, England.
  
  In 1994, during the rectorate of the Rev. Shelby Scott, the church was renovated and enlarged, changing it in some respects from its original appearance but making it more accommodating for modern liturgy. Scott also led the parish on a mission trip to Honduras, prior to the renovation, where they built a church for a local congregation. In more recent times the parish has been served by two women, the Rev. Carol Fleming and the Rev. Jennifer Coe Fulton.
  
  Clergy:
  
  Richard Samuel Adams, 1843-1846
  Benjamin Halsted, 1846-1848
  Homer Wheeler, 1849-1853
  Albert Bingham, 1855
  Almon Gregory, 1858
  William Henry Stoy, 1858-1859
  Henry M. Thompson, 1859-1862
  Joseph Adderly, 1863-1866
  Henry M. Thompson, 1867-1871
  Wellington Forgus, 1871-1876
  Moses Clement Stanley, 1877-1881
  Sherwood Rosevelt, 1881-1885
  Joseph Gorton Miller, 1885-1888
  Franklin White Adams, 1889
  Charles Turner, 1889-1892
  Sherwood Rosevelt, 1892
  Walter Scott, 1894-1900
  Addison Alvord Ewing, 1900-1901
  Clarence Estelle Brandt, 1901-1907
  Henry Stephen Streeter, 1907-1917
  Elton Hoyt (deacon), 1919-1920
  Edwin Ellsworth Smith, 1920-1921
  Walter Jay Lockton, 1921-1933
  Lawrence Cecil Ferguson, 1935-1937
  Virgil Pierce Stewart, 1937-1939
  Harvey Livermore Woolverton, 1939-1941
  Dom Leo Kenneth Douglas Patterson, 1941-1945
  John Peterson, 1945
  Bruce Bickel Mosier, 1945-1948
  Charles Ray Boswell, 1950-1951
  Bruce Bickel Mosier, 1953-1965
  Donald Duane Dunn, 1966-1971
  Robert Manning Maxwell, 1971-1973
  Hugh Steiner Hostetler (assistant) 1972-1973
  Paul Menzies Ross, 1973-1976
  William Evans Martin, 1976-1978
  Richard Joseph Brown, 1978-1979
  John Henry Morgan, 1979-1990
  Shelby Hudson Scott, 1990-1996
  Timothy Merle Ljunggren, 1997-2004
  Richard Wineland, 2005-2010
  Carol Fleming, 2011-2014
  Jennifer Coe Fulton, 2014-
  
  Bibliography:
  Ron Kaser, St. John's, Bristol: A Parish History. Bristol, Indiana: Bristol Banner Books, 1989.
  
  
  Papers and Letters Concerning the Founding of St. John of the Cross Episcopal Church (formerly St. John's Episcopal Church), Bristol, Indiana, 1842-1855, Consisting Chiefly of the Papers of Mrs. Ann Jennette (Burnham) Judson (1807-1885). Fort Wayne: Allen County Public Library, undated. 
   
  
  Parish Register (History Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages, Burials), 1843-1966
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 1 media/Trinity Fort Wayne exterior.jpg 2019-07-26T09:56:34-07:00 Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Wayne 52 image_header 2021-04-21T12:45:33-07:00 For photographs, see:
  
  Trinity Episcopal Church Archives website
  
  For parish registers, see the following links from Familysearch. A free registration and login is required for access. 
  
  Parish Register, Christ Church (1839), Trinity, 1844-1853
  
  Parish Register, 1839-1888
  
  Parish Register, 1889-1923
  
  Parish Register, 1923-1947
  
  Marriage Register, 1924-1941
  
  Marriage Register, 1941-1961
  
  Register of Communicants, 1948-1964
  
  Baptismal Register, 1948-1974
  
  Vestry Minutes, 1839 (Christ Church); 1844-1878
  
  Vestry Minutes, 1879-1912
  
  Vestry Minutes, 1913-1931
  
  Vestry Minutes, 1932-1947
  
  Vestry Minutes, 1947-1952
  
  Vestry Minutes, 1953-1959
  
  Vestry Minutes, 1960-1970
  
     The Episcopal Church in Fort Wayne can trace its origin to the tireless efforts of Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, Missionary Bishop of the Northwest, who arrived in town in 1837 to assess the feasibility of establishing a church. Fort Wayne was then a remote frontier outpost, and the Episcopal Church found itself a weak competitor at that time in the mission field. Two years later Kemper sent a missionary, the Rev. Benjamin Hutchins of Philadelphia, and established Christ Church, but the parish folded in less than a year for lack of support. Most parishes in the new Diocese of Indiana were located in central and southern part of the state.
      A few years passed until the spark for a establishing a church reignited. Peter P. Bailey, a merchant from New York City, settled in town and missed the services of his former church. Together with several other lay leaders, he persuaded Kemper to send another missionary, the Rev. Benjamin Halsted of New York and previously of New Harmony, Indiana. Together they organized Trinity Episcopal Church on May 25, 1844. The church faced many initial financial and recruiting challenges and met initially in the county courthouse until it could raise funds for building a small, wood-frame chapel at the corner of Berry and Harrison streets. They bought an organ with four stops – the first documented church organ in town.
      Trinity’s earliest members came from several groups, including area residents who had been Episcopalians in the East, English and Canadian immigrants, and newcomers to the faith, many of them community leaders, who found the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer intriguing, its sermons intellectual, and the atmosphere of the church not overly judgmental.
      Between 1848 and 1863, the parish had several rectors. The Rev. Joseph S. Large (1811-1890) arrived from Marne, Michigan, and helped with the construction of the first church. He left for Stockton, California, in 1854, but would later return. The Rev. Caleb Alexander Bruce, a former Methodist, served the parish briefly in 1854-1855, and was succeeded by the Rev. Eugene Charles Pattison, a recent seminary graduate from Nashotah House. He left for reasons of health in 1858, and the parish called the Rev. Stephen Henry Battin of Cooperstown, New York, a former educator. With his daughter, he established a school in his home to help supplement his income. He was strongly pro-Union in the years leading up to the Civil War.
         During the Civil War under the second rectorate of the Rev. Joseph Large, who returned at the vestry's request, the vestry and lay women together raised funds to construct a new Gothic Revival edifice in an acclaimed design by Charles Crosby Miller of Toledo, Ohio. The building included split-faced sandstone walls with limestone trim and painted glass windows of English design, most of which still survive in the church. The edifice was completed in 1866 and consecrated two years later by Bishop Joseph Cruikshank Talbot after the parish had raised additional funds for a new organ. The church was nestled in what came to be known at the West Central Neighborhood and was surrounded by large Victorian-style houses.
      The parish grew steadily through the late nineteenth century. Several rectors, including the Rev. Colin Campbell Tate, William Naylor Webbe, and Alexander Seabrease, preached a strong Social Gospel message, advocating for outreach to the poor, temperance, and women’s suffrage. Many members of the congregation were well-educated and supported a variety of reform efforts, including advocacy for a city parks and boulevard system. In 1892 Seabrease and the vestry redecorated the church with a new pulpit (intricately inlaid with brass cartouches), a marble baptismal font with a brass eagle cover, an eagle-shaped lectern, marble altar, and a silver communion service, all of which are still in use. A vested choir of men and boys made its first appearance and became popular. 
                                                                             
       The Diocese of Michigan City was created in 1898 in the top third of Indiana. Trinity, as the largest parish, exercised much influence. The Rev. Edward Wilson Averill, the first to be called “Father,” arrived in 1904 and built the church into a program-sized parish. His successor, the Rev. Louis Rocca, redecorated the nave in the 1920s with a décor that many considered ornate and garish with deep reds, blues, and gold. He also added a rood screen. During the Great Depression of the 1930s the Rev. James McNeal Wheatley, the most Anglo-Catholic rector in the church's history, led the parish successfully in paying off its mortgage through a period of austerity and brought the congregation through World War II.
      Wheatley’s successor, the Rev. George Bartlett Wood, a former Army chaplain who made four parachute jumps in World War II, led the parish from 1947 to 1971. During his tenure the church constructed a new classroom and office building, completed in 1956, that included a full-sized gymnasium and two chapels. He redecorated the nave, removing the rood screen and adding an intricately carved and painted reredos, designed by Leslie Nobbs of New York City. Wood’s leadership style was often brash, authoritarian, and occasionally, abrasive. However, he greatly expanded the size of the parish and created two new missions: St. Alban’s, founded in 1963 in the northern part of the city, and St. Philip and St. James, founded in 1969 in the south. Both have since become separate parishes, the latter renamed Grace Episcopal Church.
       During Wood’s tenure the neighborhood around the church began to evolve. Though the owners of some of the old houses, especially to the west of the church, restored them to their original finery, they divided others into apartments for lower-income housing or converted them to offices. Many others were demolished to make room to parking lots. Since then, a strong preservation movement has involved in the city to protect the remaining historic homes, and Trinity stands inside a local historic district with covenants surrounding the protection of its external appearance.
      Trinity’s strong Anglo-Catholic liturgical model began to evolve in the 1970s during the rectorate of Wood’s successor, the Rev. Dr. C. Corydon Randall. A Broad Church model with strong lay leadership and a new sense of openness replaced the older style. Randall instituted the commission system of parish administration, increasing both lay participation and outreach. He also opened the communion rail to all baptized Christians and invited women to preach, serve on the vestry, and brought girls into the acolyte corps. Together with several church leaders in 1977, he helped found Canterbury School, a private, independent school for grades kindergarten through six that used the church classrooms for several years until moving to its own quarters in 1980. It has become an acclaimed educational institution in the state. Randall also spent much of his rectorate renovating the parish buildings, spearheading a capital campaign, creating endowments, and having the church entered on the National Register of Historic Places. After leaving Trinity in 1988, he served parishes in San Diego, California, and Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Now retired as Rector Emeritus, he and his wife returned to Fort Wayne and are members of the congregation. He often leads the Friday Morning Study Group and occasionally the Adult Forum, teaching on Old Testament topics.
      Randall’s successor, the Rev. Frank H. Moss III, built upon Randall’s legacy of reform and openness. In 1992, he brought the first woman priest to the diocese, the Rev. Robin Thomas, to serve as Trinity’s curate. He also continued to build the endowments. Under the leadership of its precentor, Wayne Peterson, the church’s musical offerings continued to enjoy local acclaim. Trinity became with the Royal School of Church Music that has as its motto, “I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” Many in the congregation recognize and appreciate Peterson’s spiritual, as well as musical, gifts. Moss left in 1999 and later served churches in Massachusetts and Oregon before eventually retiring to Oregon.
     During the 1990s Trinity began to suffer a declining membership as did many other mainline downtown Protestant churches in the city. In 2001, the parish called the Rev. Rebecca Ferrell Nickel of Denver, Colorado, in the hope that she would attract more newcomers. She became the first woman to lead a large downtown congregation and the first female rector within the Endowed Episcopal Parishes organization. Many families with young children joined under her ministry and the Sunday school flourished. However, her leadership style alienated others, and she left in 2004 amid division. She has since moved to the Diocese of Indianapolis, where she is still an active priest.
      Trinity’s eighteenth rector, the Rev. Dr. Thomas P. Hansen, arrived in 2006 from Nebraska. Hansen inaugurated a labyrinth ministry, initially using a canvas inside the Great Hall and later constructing a permanent labyrinth of stone on the western side of the parish grounds. Through local press coverage it has sparked interest from Christians of other denominations. In 2010 the parish led a successful capital campaign to replace its aging boiler and heating system. It later received several large bequests to refurbish and replace its organ and build a new handicap-accessible entrance and carport on its western side. As a downtown parish the church has become involved in a variety of outreach ministries, including Wellspring Social Services, the Associated Churches Food Bank, the West Central Neighborhood Ministry (led by five parishes including Trinity), and Habitat for Humanity. Its clergy participate regularly in an annual interfaith Thanksgiving service. Traditional liturgical music and hymns, expertly presented by its choir, remain a strong part of the parish DNA, and Peterson, who has served more than 30 years as precentor, regularly leads the parish in a variety of special concerts and events in addition to Sunday morning worship. As retired Bishop Edward S. Little has commented, “Trinity is very Cathedralesque.” Hansen announced that he would retire at the end of 2016, though he plans to remain in Fort Wayne and stay active in the diocese. He has said that leaves the parish in a strong position for new growth and vision. In 2017, the parish called the Rev. T. J. Freeman to be its 19th rector.
  
  Clergy:
  Benjamin Hutchins, 1839
  Benjamin Halsted, 1844-1846
  Joseph S. Large, 1848-1854
  Caleb Alexander Bruce, 1854-1855
  Eugene Charles Pattison, 1856-1858
  Stephen Henry Battin, 1858-1863
  Joseph S. Large, 1863-1872
  Colin Campbell Tate, 1872-1879
  William Naylor Webbe, 1879-1888
  Alexander Washington Seabrease, 1888-1904
  John Newton Rippey, (interim) 1904
  Edward Wilson Averill, 1904-1923
  Louis Niccola Rocca, 1923-1930
  Joseph William Gubbins (interim), 1931
  Charles Noyes Tyndell, 1931-1932
  James McNeal Wheatley, 1932-1947
  Peter Langendorff (interim), 1947
  George Bartlett Wood, 1947-1971
  Chandler Corydon Randall, 1971-1988
  David Gurniak (interim), 1988-1990
  Frank Hazlett Moss III, 1990-1999
  Henrietta Brandt Lavengood (interim), 2000
  Rebecca Ferrell Nickel, 2001-2004
  Robert Askren (interim), 2004-2006
  Thomas Parker Hansen, 2006-2016
  T. J. Freeman, 2017-
  
  Source:
  
  John D. Beatty, Beyond These Stones: A History of Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Fort Wayne: Trinity Episcopal Church, 1994.