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• 1 media/Trinity Fort Wayne exterior.jpg 2019-07-26T09:56:34-07:00 Trinity Episcopal Church, Fort Wayne 53 image_header 2024-02-23T10:43:50-08:00 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. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
• 1 media/Christ the King Episcopal Church, Huntington exterior.jpg 2019-07-17T18:28:30-07:00 Christ the King Episcopal Church, Huntington 52 image_header 2020-11-10T07:23:22-08:00

  Episcopalians first organized a church in Huntington under the leadership of Bishop David Buel Knickerbacker on 19 May 1884. The Rev. William Naylor Webbe, rector of Trinity Fort Wayne, conducted the first known Episcopal service. Calling the mission Christ Church, its lay leaders included T. A. Carhart, warden; David Moriarty and George Moses, vestrymen; C. R. McCullough, secretary and treasurer; and Mrs. Carhart, assistant treasurer. In spite of a promising beginning, the mission struggled to continue with a dwindling membership. The Rev. William Burk and the Rev. Otway Colvin, both of Trinity Church, Peru, conducted occasional services. The surviving parish register of this first congregation contains records from 1884 to 1898 with some gaps. In 1900, Archdeacon Torrence reported to the diocese that Huntington has "a neat little church," but no services had been held for more than a year and for a time the building was rented to Quakers. By 1902, after regaining control of the building, various supply clergy held services on alternate Sundays, and the diocesan building commission held a mortgage of $283. The following year the archdeacon reported a leaking roof. It was repaired, but the mortgage remained unpaid until 1904. From 1913 to 1918, James A. Baynton, the archdeacon, held services, but they would cease after Baynton left the diocese.
  
  In the 1920s, the mission of Christ Church was reconstituted under the rector of Trinity Church, Peru, as well as the diocesan archdeacon, the Ven. Joseph Gubbins. The Rev. George Jewell, a missionary at Hartford City and Kokomo, held services, but they were discontinued with the onset of the Great Depression. From 1938 to 1939, the Rev. Raymond M. O'Brien held services, followed by the Rev. Clarence Reimer and the Rev. Philip Shutt, but the mission closed in 1943. These services were conducted in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers building on Market Street.
  
  On September 11, 1949, several Episcopal families formally petitioned Bishop Reginald Mallet to establish a new mission church in Huntington. The Rev. David Reid of Marion arrived and held services in Engineer's Hall. The response was strong enough for Reid to continue weekly services, and eleven people were confirmed on November 6, 1950.  After receiving approval for diocesan mission status, the congregation purchased a house for $8,000 at 904 Jefferson Street and converted the downstairs into a chapel with another house at 916 Jefferson Street becoming a vicarage. During the tenure of the Rev. John T. Russell from 1952 to 1954, the congregation officially adopted its new name, Christ the King. Upon his death in 1984, Russell left the church five thousand dollars in his will, which was applied toward purchasing its present organ.
  
  On July 18, 1958, the congregation purchased the Ayres home, a large Victorian house at 1224 North Jefferson Street, and converted it into a chapel. The first service in the new location was celebrated on September  7, 1958. The present crucifix, now located at the baptistery, was then located at the altar. 
  
  In 1967, Bishop Walter Conrad Klein requested that a new church edifice be erected that more befitted a church. Choosing to remain at 1224 North Jefferson Street, the congregation demolished the Ayres house and built the present A-frame structure. Ground was broken on November 25, 1968, and the cornerstone laid on August 9, 1969, with the Rev. Ian Schlotterbeck as vicar. In the cornerstone the congregation placed a copper box containing a cross, a Holy Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, a record of the Founders, and the original church petition, which listed the 24 original church members of 1949. The new facility was dedicated on December 7, 1969. In March of 1970, the present Christus Rex was hung on the east wall for Easter. It was hand-carved by wood carvers in Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany, as a gift from the Morrett family.
  
  In the summer of 1989, a new entrance and baptistery were constructed as a first phase of an expansion plan. As the congregation continued to grow in number and in faith, Christ the King became a parish of the diocese in 1994. Construction of the parish hall with five classrooms took place in the spring of 2001.
  
  Those serving as priests in charge and vicars since 1948 include: David A. Reid, Hugh N. Barnes, John T. Russell, Horace L. Varian, Carl R. Bloom, John R. Patston, Rodney W. Jarchow, Ian Schlotterbeck, Peter D'Alesandre, Arnold Hoffman, John Miles, Jack Bliven, Curtis E. Ross and Margaret Harker. The Rev. M. Richard Miller later served as Priest in Charge. Presently the church is served by the Rev. Ted Neidlinger, who was installed Priest in Charge in 2014.
  
  Clergy:
  
  William Naylor Webbe, 1884-1885
  William Black Burk, 1885-1886
  George Davis Adams, 1888
  Otway Colvin, 1890-1894
  Willis Darwin Engle, 1897-1898
  James Augustus Baynton, 1913-1918
  Joseph William Gubbins, 1928-1930
  George Arthur Peters Jewell, 1930
  Raymond Mansfield O'Brien, 1938-1939
  Clarence Charles Reimer, 1941-1942
  Philip L Shutt, 1942-1943
  David Reid, 1949-1951
  Hugh N. Barnes, 1951-1952
  John T. Russell, 1952-1954
  Horace Lytton Varian, 1954-1956
  Carl R. Bloom, 1956-1960
  John Ralph Patston, 1960-1965
  Rodney W. Jarchow, 1966-1968
  Ian J. Schlotterbeck, 1968-1975
  Peter D'Alesandre, 1975-1980
  Arnold Hoffman, 1980-1981
  John Miles, 1982-1983
  Jack Bliven, 1984-1985
  Curtis E. Ross, 1987-1993
  Margaret Harker, 1993-2004
  M. Richard Miller, 2005-2014
  Theodore Neidlinger, 2014-
  
  Adapted from Christ the King's website: http://episcopalchurch-huntington.org/
  
  Christ Church Parish Register, Huntington, 1884-1898
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• 1 2020-10-19T11:04:00-07:00 Ven. Joseph William Gubbins 3 plain 2024-02-20T06:27:16-08:00 The Rev. Joseph W. Gubbins was born in Lake View, Cook County, Illinois, on 4 January 1889, the son of George G. and Katherine (Adams) Gubbins. He married Ethel I. Zander on 10 October 1911, but they later divorced, a fact that may not have been known at the time of his ministry. During World War I he served as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station and as a chaplain at the Edward Hines Hospital. However, the 1920 census lists him as a chauffeur. He studied for the ministry at Western Theological Seminary and at Nashotah House and did his early ministry work in southwestern Kansas in the missionary district of Salina. He was later vicar of St. Ignatius Church in Eagle River, Wisconsin, rector of the Church of Our Savior and canon at St. Philip's Cathedral in Atlanta. He came to northern Indiana in 1928, when Bishop Gray made him archdeacon. He moved to Huntington to oversee Christ Church, but he also maintained the missionary stations of St. Mary's Delphi, Columbia City, St. Luke's Hartford City, and the Church of the Holy Spirit in Warsaw. In 1931 he was the interim rector of Trinity Fort Wayne for several months between the resignation of Louis Rocca and the arrival of Charles Tyndell. Later that year he left the diocese to accept a call to St. John's Church in Newport, Rhode Island. He later left the ministry and was listed in 1942 as working for the Civilian Conservation Corps in Fountain City, Wisconsin. He died on 14 April 1963 in Chicago..