Marion County, Indiana - Chapter 16: Churches of Indianapolis, 1884 (part 2 of 2)

Rev. John Francis August Bessonies. - The grandfather of Father Bessonies was Dubousquet de Bessonies, who during the horrors of the French revolution of 1793 thought prudent to drop the "de," a title of nobility, which was, however, again assumed by the family in 1845, but never by the subject of this sketch. His great-uncle, a Catholic priest, was arrested as such, and about to be transported or drowned when happily released by the death of Robespierre. The parents of Father Bessonies were John Baptist Bessonies and Henrietta Moisinac. Their son was born at the village of Alzac, parish of Sousceyrac, department du Lot, diocese of Cahors, on the I7th of June, 1815, and is one of four surviving five years of religious life. August (as Father Bessonies now writes his name) was placed under the instruction of a priest of a neighboring parish, but made little improvement. On attaining his tenth year he was placed with the Picpucians, and spent a year in preparation for a collegiate course. Here he made his first communion, and was confirmed by Monseigneur Guilaume Baltazar de Grandville, said to be closely allied to Napoleon First. After two years at the latter school he repaired to the Petit Seminaire of Montfaucon, and spent seven years in pursuing the classics and rhetoric. In 1834 he entered the famous seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris, and spent two years at Issy in the study of mathematics, philosophy, and natural philosophy. In 1836 he entered the great seminary as a divinity student, and at the expiration of the first year received the sacred order of subdeaconship and the second year that of deaconship. In 1836 he offered his services to Right Rev. Simon Gabriel Brute, Bishop of Vincennes, in Indiana. After completing his studies the young man left for America and arrived, after a tedious journey, in 1839. Having been ordained priest in 1840, his earliest mission was in Perry County, where thirteen years were spent. During this period he founded the town of Leopold and erected two stone and three wooden churches. Severing his very happy relations with the parishes of Perry County, he removed to Fort Wayne in 1853,- and remained one year, meanwhile erecting a church and parsonage. His next mission was Jefferson villa and the Knobs, where during a period of four years he held service regularly, never missing an appointment. He completed the church at the Knobs, built a parsonage and enlarged the church at Jeffersonville, and secured a fine lot for the present church. In 1857 he became pastor of St. John's Church, Indianapolis. He raised the first cross in the city on the old St. John's Church, which is still in use on the vault of St. John's Cemetery. He the following spring erected the St. John's Academy, where a school was opened by the Sisters of Providence in 1859, and soon after built a parsonage. The Catholic cemetery now in use was purchased with . his private means. Soon after a school building for boys was erected, and at the same time the St. Peter's Church edifice, now used as a school building. In 1867 was begun the present St. John's Cathedral, which was opened for worship in 1877, and cost about one hundred thousand dollars. He was also instrumental in obtaining from the city, ground for the buildings occupied by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd and the Little Sisters of the Poor. Father Bessonies was appointed vicar-general by the bishop of the diocese, and later administrator of the Diocese of Vincennes by the Archbishop of Cincinnati. His zeal in the cause of temperance has won for him the affectionate regard of citizens irrespective of creed, and prompted, on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his pastorate and his departure for Europe, the presentation of a purse of four hundred dollars, with a graceful address by the mayor of the city. Father Bessonies continues to fill the ofiices of rector of the cathedral, vicar-general of the diocese, and agent for the orphans' asylum. He manifests

Christ Church was organized in 1837. There had been an occasional clergyman in the settlement, and he had held occasional services at private houses, through a period reaching nearly as far back towards the first settlement as the early services of any denomination, but the Episcopal was the weakest numerically of all the leading sects, and took longer to grow up to organizing and building strength. Among the clergymen who were here temporarily were, first. Rev. Melanchthon Hoyt, then Rev. J. C. Clay (afterwards Dr. Clay, of Philadelphia), Rev. Mr. Pfeiffer, and Rev. Henry Shaw. The end of the transition period came with Rev. James B. Britton, in 1837 ; as a missionary he held regular services in July of that year. Three months before a movement towards organization had been made, and with the arrival of

Mr. Britton it was advanced a step and completed. On the 13th of July, less than a week after Mr. Britton's first ministration, a meeting was held and the following agreement made:

"We, whose names are hereunto affixed, impressed with the importance of the Christian religion, and wishing to promote its holy influence in the hearts and lives of ourselves, our families, and our neighbors, do hereby associate ourselves together as the parish of Christ Church, in the town of Indianapolis, township of Centre, county of Marion, State of Indiana, and by so doing do recognize the jurisdiction of the missionary bishop of Indiana, and do adopt the constitution and canons of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

Under this organization an election for vestrymen, on the 21st of August, resulted in the choice of Arthur St. Clair, senior warden, Thomas McOuat, junior warden, James Morrison, Joseph M. Moore, and William Hannaman. On the 7th of May, 1838, the corner-stone of the first church was laid with suitable ceremonies, and that was the first cornerstone laid in Indianapolis. One of the members made a deposit in it of the first silver coins of the dime and half-dime class ever brought to the town. On the 18th of November following the edifice was opened for worship, and consecrated on the 16th day of December by Bishop Kemper. In 1857 it was removed to Georgia Street for the colored (Bethel) church, and burned soon after. The present thoroughly ecclesiastical edifice, orthodoxically covered with ivy, was finished in 1860, the chime of bells, the only one in the city, put up in the spring of 1861, and the spire completed in 1869. The membership is three hundred and fifty, Sunday-school pupils, two hundred. Value of the property, seventy-five thousand dollars. Rector, Rev. B. A. Bradley.

St. George's Chapel, a little stone mission church on the corner of Morris and Church Streets, was built some half-dozen years ago by the Christ Church congregation. It is served by Rev. Mr. Bradley, has about two hundred children attending the Sundayschool, and the value of the property is about two thousand dollars.

St. Paul's Cathedral, the largest Protestant Episcopal Church in the city, is situate on the southeast corner of Illinois and New York Streets. The parish was organized, in 1866, by the Rev. Horace Stringfellow. The first services were held in Military Hall, which was in the building located on East Washington Street, over Craft & Co.'s, and Cathoart, Clelland & Co.'s stores. The present edifice has a seating capacity of ten hundred and fifty, besides the chapel, which will seat about two hundred and fifty. The present edifice was erected in 1869, at a cost of about ninety thousand dollars. The number of communicants, three hundred and twenty-one. Bishop, Right Rev. D. B. Knickerbacker, D.D. ; dean and rector, Rev. Joseph S. Jenckes. Sunday-school, one hundred.

St. James' Mission, located on West Street above Walnut, is also under control of St. Paul's Cathedral, and possesses a neat little edifice, erected in 1875 at a cost of seven thousand dollars ; has a flourishing Sunday-school of one hundred scholars. Full service is held every Sunday evening by Rev. Mr. Jenckes. Will seat about two hundred.

Grace Church, at the corner of Pennsylvania and St. Joseph Streets, has a good building with seating capacity of about two hundred and fifty, with large school-room. Is at present closed as a church, but Bishop Knickerbacker will have it reopened as soon as possession can be obtained, as it has been rented for school purposes.

Holy Innocents, on Fletcher Avenue, has a neat frame building ; seating capacity about two hundred. Has seventy-three communicants. Until recently under charge of Rev. Willis D. Engle.

Reformed Kpiscopal

First English Lutheran Church, organized Jan. 22, 1837. P. W. Seibert, one of the early hardware merchants of the city, was president, and Elijah Martin, secretary. The first elders were Adam Haugh and Henry Ohr, who, like Rev. Abraham Reck, the first pastor, were Maryland men. The first deacons were King English (father of Joseph K., formerly county commissioner) and Philip W. Seibert. The first house was a brick of one story on the south side of Ohio Street, near Meridian, but not on the corner. It was built in 1838. Mr. Reck resijrned the pastorate in 1840, and was succeeded by Rev. A. A. Timper. Mr. Reck died in Lancaster, O., in 1869. His son, Luther, entered the Indianapolis company of the First Indiana Regiment in the Mexican war, and was drowned while swimming in the Rio Grande, at Matamoras, where the regiment was stationed. During the pastorate term of Rev. J. A. Kunkleman, about 1860, the church was torn down and another built on the southwest corner of New York and Alabama Streets, which was dedicated in 1861. A few years ago this church was sold and a ' third built on the corner of Pennsylvania and Walnut Streets. The present pastor is Rev. John Baltzley, The membership is one hundred and two ; Sundayschool pupils, seventy-five ; value of property about eighteen thousand dollars.

St. Paul's (German), on the corner of East and Georgia Streets, was organized June 5, 1844. The first church was built on Alabama Street below Washington, and dedicated May 11, 1845 ; first pastor. Rev. Theodore J. G. Kuntz. In 1860, another church was built on the corner of East and Georgia Streets, and dedicated Nov. 3, 1860, by Rev. Dr. Wynckan, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. In the rear of the church two school-houses have been built, where a parochial school has been maintained for twenty years. A parsonage on East and Ohio Streets was built in 1869, and in 1870 the cemetery south of Pleasant Run, on the east side of the Three- Notch road, already referred to, was purchased and laid out. The present pastor is Rev. Charles C. Schmidt. The membership is over two hundred, and the Sunday-school attendance is about four hundred. The value of the church property is about sixty thousand dollars.

Second Lutheran Church (German), on the northeast corner of Eiist and Ohio Streets. The pastor is Rev. Peter Seuel ; membership, one hundred and fifteen ; Sunday-school pupils, two hundred; value of property, probably twenty thousand dollars.

Zion's Church (German) was organized in 1840 by the German members of the First English Lutheran Church. They wanted services in their own language, and formed the new organization for that purpose. The first pastor was the Rev. J. G. Kuntz, who was later the first pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, who served until 1842. The congregation was then without a pastor till 1844, when Rev. J. P. Isensee was called. The first church building was erected where the present one is in 1844, and was dedicated in 1845, May 18th. In 1866 the present house was begun, the corner-stone laid July 1, 1866, and the dedication celebrated Feb. 5, 1867. The church has about two hundred members, and the Sunday-school one hundred and fifty pupils. The value of the church property is over thirty thousand dollars.

During about a year, in 1882-83, a small Danish mission church was maintained in a neat little frame building on South Missouri Street, below Merrill. The " wash" of the west bank of Pogue's Creek at that point cut away the ground between the church and the creek, and finally cut under the house, and the congregation moved. The building was turned into a little grocery-store.

German Reformed

First Church, east side of Alabama, south of Market Street; pastor, Rev. John Rettig. The first steps in the organization of this church were taken by Rev. George Long, who came here as a missionary of the German Reformed denomination - chiefly followers of Zwingle and Calvin - in 1851, and preached till the following spring, 1852, when he organized the First Church, and they began the erection of the church, which was completed and dedicated in October, 1852. In 1856, Mr. Long resigned, and Rev. M. G. I. Stern succeeded. The membership is over two hundred, and the Sunday-.school attendance about as large. The value of the property is about fifteen thousand dollars.

Second Church, west side of East Street, opposite Stevens Street. Organization was made in the summer of 1867 by some members of a former church who lived in the southeastern part of the city. Rev. Mr. Steinbach, who had served here as a Lutheran minister, took the church first, resigning at the end of the year 1867. Rev. M. G. I. Stern was selected in place of Mr. Steinbach, and under him the mission was changed to the " Second German Reformed Church." Mr. Stern is still the pastor. A German- English parochial school of one hundred pupils is connected with the church, under two teachers. Membership, about one hundred and fifty-six ; the attendance at Sunday-school, nearly double that ; value of property, about twelve thousand dollars.

German Evangelical Association

First Church, on the southeast corner of New Jersey and Wabash Streets; organized June 19, 1855, with twenty-one members, as the Immanuel Church of the Evangelical Association of Indianapolis. Rev. Joseph Fisher is the pastor. The membership is about two hundred ; the Sunday-school attendance, about two hundred ; value of property, probably twelve thousand dollars.

Their meeting-house is on the southwest corner of Delaware and St. Clair Streets. The ministers are Joseph J. Mills, Anna Mills, Calvin W. Pritchard, Jane Trueblood, and Sarah Smith. The organization was made in 1854, and the first minister Mrs. Hannah Pierson. Membership, about two hundred and fifty; value of property, twelve thousand dollars.

Plymouth Church, organized Aug. 9, 1857, by thirty-one members, who for some months previously had maintained religious services and a Sundayschool in the Senate Chamber of the old State- House. The chamber was used most of the time, till the congregation removed to their first church on Meridian Street, opposite Christ Church (Episcopal). This edifice was begun in the fall of 1858, and the front part, containing the lecture-room, study, and social rooms, was completed and occupied in September, 1859. The remainder was finished and dedicated, after much improving, on the 30th of April, 1871, when the Rev. Joseph L. Burnett was made pastor. The first pastor was Rev. N. A. Hyde, now of the Mayflower Church. He began in the fall of 1866, and resigned the pastorate in August, 1867, to assume the duties of superintendent of the American Home Missionary Society for this State. Within the present year (1884) this church has completed and occupied a new and very fine church edifice on the southeast corner of Meridian and New York Streets. The value of it is estimated at forty thousand dollars. The membership is not counted by the number of communicants but by the number attending the church services, averaging about six hundred in the morning and seven to eight hundred young people in the evening.

Mayflower Church, St. Clair and East Streets, was organized from a Sunday-school formed by the Young Men's Christian Association, at a private house on the corner of Jackson and Cherry Streets, May 23, 1869. There were thirteen original members, - five from Plymouth Church, two from the Third Street Methodist Church, one from Roberts Park Church, and three from the Fourth Presbyterian Church. The church edifice was completed and dedicated in January, 1870. It is a frame building, worth now with the lot probably ten thousand dollars. The membership is one hundred and fifty ; Sunday-school attendance, one hundred and eighty.

Rev. Nathaniel A. Hyde, first pastor of Plymouth Church, is the present pastor of Mayflower Church. Rev. Nathaniel Alden Hyue, D.D., pastor of the Mayflower Congregational Church of Indianapolis, has been actively identified with the general, as well as the religious, interests of the city and State for upwards of twenty years. Like many other prominent and useful men of the West, he is of New England origin, and of genuine Pilgrim stock. He was born May 10, 1827, in StaflFord, Conn. His father, Nathaniel Hyde, was a thrifty and successful till she was removed by death in his ripe and successful manhood. This devoted mother was very desirous that her son should enter the gospel ministry, and, very early in his life, laid her plans for him accordingly. At the age of twelve years he entered Monson Academy, then a very popular and flourishing school in the town of Monson, which was just across the line from his native town, in the State of Massachusetts. Here he pursued his preparatory studies for four years, entering Yale College at the age of sixteen, and graduating from that institution iron-founder. His mother, whose maiden name was Caroline Converse, was a direct descendant of John Alden, one of the Pilgrims coming in the " Mayflower" «nd landing on Plymouth Rock. This honorable ancestry was recognized by his parents, doubtless with commendable pride, in the name which they gave to their son, - Nathaniel for the father, and Alden for the Pilgrim father. The death of the father early left the son to the entire care and training of the mother, between whom and himself there ever existed a peculiarly tender and intimate relation

! at twenty years of age in the class of 1847. His professional studies were pursued at Andover Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in the I class of 1851. After graduation, and before beginning his long and useful work in Indianapolis, he spent seven years in somewhat desultory work in his profession. During a portion of 1851-52 he preached in Central Village, Conn., and in 1852-53 ' in Rockville, Conn. He then became assistant secre- : tary of the Children's Aid Society in New York i City, a position which he held from 1854 to 1856.

After preaching for a short time in Deep River, Conn., in 1857 he turned his face and steps westward. On the 23d day of December in this latter year he was ordained at Columbus, Ohio, remaining there till the next year, when he went for a very brief period to fill a temporary engagement at Cincinnati. The Plymouth Church in Indianapolis had just been organized, and in 1858 it extended to Dr. Hyde a call to become its pastor. He accepted the call, and here entered, with this young church, upon his real life-work. The first services which he conducted here were held in the Senate chamber of the old State-House. But it was not long before the enthusiasm and earnestness of the young pastor, with the pressing need of a church home, resulted in the erection of the house of worship which has been occupied till recently by that church. For nearly ten years he held this pastorate to the entire satisfaction and great profit of the church. In the year 1867 the State Association of Congregational Churches and ministers felt that the time had come when the general interests of the cause of religion, and the interests and usefulness of the demomination, demanded the appointment of a superintendent of missions for the State. When application was made to the American Home Missionary Society for such an appointment, and the officers of the society replied that they would comply with the request if the brethren in Indiana would name the right man for the place, the thoughts of all turned directly to Dr. Hyde. His long residence in the State, and consequent familiarity with its peculiarities and needs, coupled with his earnest Christian spirit and sound judgment, caused his brethren unanimou.sly to feel that of all others he was the man for the place, a decision which subsequent results fully justified. Accordingly, although it was contrary to his own desires, and contrary to the desires of his church, which was very strongly attached to him, he was appointed to this important position, and, in obedience to a sense of duty, accepted it, and discharged its duties with rare fidelity, success, and acceptability for six years. The assertion will not be questioned by those knowing the facts in the case that DO other man in the State has done so much for the interests of the denomination of which he is a member as has Dr. Hyde. At the same time he Is as far as it is possible to think from being a sectarian in his feelings or work. He is broad and catholic in his spirit, and has the profoundest respect of all denominations of Christians in the city and the State with whom the duties pf his various positions have brought him in contact. Directly after resigning his position as superintendent of missions for domestic reasons, he became pastor of the Mayflower Church in 1873, which position he still holds. His pastorate has been a very successful one. In addition to his professional labors, Dr. Hyde has been associated with various other interests of city and State. He was for several years a prominent and efficient member of the school board, held the position of president of the State Social Science Association for several terms, contributing some very valuable papers to its meetings, and is a member of the boards of trustees of several educational institutions. As a friend of every good cause, and of all persons needing and deserving aid, he is widely and most favorably known throughout the city and State. He is ever counted upon as ready to lend a helping hand, and those who look to him are never disappointed, for, while he is quiet and unostentatious in manner, he is earnest and efficient in labor, of an excellent judgment, and has a very warm heart. Of all the worthy members of his profession in the city, it is safe to say that none are more generally or favorably known than is the subject of this biographical sketch. Dr. Hyde was married on the 28th of August, 1866, to Laura K., daughter of the late Stoughton A. Fletcher, Sr., of Indianapolis.

As related at the beginning of this chapter, the Universalists have no distinct organization, though for many years they had a strong one, and for several years had two. They claim that so large a portion of the orthodox churches has discarded the notion of a material hell and an eternity in it that their sectarian identity is eflFaced. Everybody is Universalist now, except a few immovable lumps of prejudice. At all events, there is no longer a Universalist Church in Indianapolis.

United Brethren

The only church of this denomination is on the east side of Oak between Vine and Cherry ; pastor, Rev. Augustus C. Willmore. The first church of United Brethren was organized in 1850, and the congregation in 1851 built the brick house occupied for many years, on the southeast corner of New Jersey and Ohio Streets. In the fall of 1869 a dissension broke out which led to the formation of the Liberal United Brethren, containing a majority of the membership. They refused to allow the other division the use of the house, which led to a law-suit and the recovery of possession by the old society, Aug. 31, 1870. Then the Liberals disbanded and distributed themselves about among the Methodist Churches. The property is worth about seven thousand dollars. The membership now is about one hundred ; the Sunday-school attendance rather larger.

Unitarian

A brief account of this denomination and its disappearance about 1872 has been given. It never owned anything, so it has nothing to be noted after its own dissolution.

Swedenborgian United Peksbyterians

The first Hebrew congregation in this city was organized in the winter of 1855. Before 1853 there were no Hebrew residents here but Alexander Franco and Moses Woolf. The growth of this class of population increased so considerably in the next two years, however, that a church organization was a natural suggestion, and it was made. In the fall of 1856 a room in Blake's Commercial Row, on Washington Street west of Kentucky Avenue, was engaged for a church, and Rev. Mr. Berman became the pastor. In 1858 a change was made to a larger hall in Judah's Block, which was dedicated by Rabbi Wise, of Cincinnati, distinguished for his learning. Rev. J. Wechsler was engaged as pastor, and served till 1861. During that year the congregation had no pastor and became greatly reduced, but in 1862 obtained Rev. M. Moses as pastor, and made some changes from the old style of ceremony which restored its strength , and it began to debate the propriety of having a house of its own. In 1864 subscriptions were started, and on the 7th of December, 1865, the cornerstone of the temple on Market Street east of New Jersey was laid with an address from Rev. Dr. Lilienthal, of Cincinnati. After some serious embarrassments the temple was completed and dedicated Oct. 30, 1868. The pews in this church are not rented from year to year, as in Gentile churches, but are sold outright as so much real estate, for which a regular conveyance is executed. Only adult males are counted as members in making up the strength of the congregation. The membership of Indianapolis Hebrew Society is eighty adult males. A regular school is kept through the week in the temple, and on the Sabbath a special school is held free for those who wish to pursue the study of Hebrew or biblical history. The value of the property is about thirty thousand dollars.

A smaller congregation was formed a few years ago, which holds its meetings in Root's Block, corner of Pennsylvania and South Streets. Its membership is about forty, and has no school attachment.

In the appended summary, exhibiting the present condition of the churches of Indianapolis, no more than an approximation is possible in some cases. In most, however, the church authorities have furnished as accurate statements as they could arrive at. The general result is very close to the truth. It must be noted, as before suggested, that the Catholic authorities number the members of their church as " souls," counting all of whatever age born into the church, as well as all attaching themselves to it, as professors of Protestant creeds do. This makes their numbers look disproportionately large. But count the Presbyterians or Methodists in the same way and they