The Episcopal Church in Kentucky and
Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Church
Jefferson County, Kentucky
By Robert L. Trimble, March 1984
On the following pages are notes used in making a presentation to the Adult Sunday School class of Saint Matthew's Episcopal Church, St. Matthews, Kentucky, by Robert Trimble on March 4 and March 18, 1984. It has been edited slightly from the original. Headings and links have also been added below to allow you to navigate around the document. Click on one of the links to jump ahead to that section. Click on Home to go back to the Home page.
[Introduction] [Pre-Revolutionary War] [Revolutionary War] [Protestant Church in America]
[Episcopal Society, Lexington] [Diocese of Kentucky] [Civil War] [Post-Civil War]
[Bishop Dudley] [Diocese of Lexington] [The First St. Matthew's] [The Second St. Matthew's]
Introduction [Top]
As a number of persons who attended these classes asked for copies of my talk, I prepared these sheets for their use. However, it must be remembered that we reduced over 100 years of history into two, approximately 35-minute talks, and a great deal had to be left out. For a good understanding of this subject, more reading is necessary. Over the past 4 weeks, Morgan Broadhead has reviewed the growth of the Anglican Church, from the time of Henry VIII, through the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth, and to its establishment in the English colonies of North America in the 1600s.
Keep in mind, in the mid-1700s the Church of England was THE church in the English colonies along the East Coast of North America. Although the Baptists, Roman Catholics and Methodists were gaining a foothold in North America, the only "official" church was the Church of England. There was no Bishop here and most of the ordained clergy were English born and schooled.
The area we now know as Kentucky was unexplored and only a few white men had even set foot in the Bluegrass in 1750, although it was technically part of Virginia. France also claimed part of this area, having established forts and posts from Canada to the lower Mississippi.
Indians were a bit of a problem on the western frontier (everything West of the Alleghenies) so even those parties that did venture out here had to cope with the elements, as well as often unfriendly Indians. This was a period when the American churches established on the east coast were already sending missionaries to Africa, but the American west was not yet well enough known to be able to do this.
By the spring of 1775 there were a number of small settlements in the Bluegrass, primarily along the Kentucky River. A number of companies had been chartered to explore and establish posts in this area, the strongest of which was the Transylvania Company, under the command of Colonel (also called Judge) Richard Henderson. His chief scout was the now famous Daniel Boone.
Henderson called a meeting at Boonesborough, his headquarters on the Kentucky River, in May of 1775 to, he hoped, settle land disputes. In attendance were delegates from Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, Logans Fort, and Boiling Springs. This was in effect, a legislative assembly which was undoubtedly the first such meeting west of the mountains. The Rev. John Lyth, a delegate from the settlement at Harrodsburg, conducted a public worship service on May 28, 1775 beneath the branches of a great elm tree at Boonesborough. This was the first recorded public worship service in what was to become Kentucky. Lyth was an Englishman, born in Newton Pickering, Yorkshire in the early 1730s. He was educated at Cambridge, receiving his BA degree in 1756 and was ordained to the priesthood prior to 1763, when he was licensed by the Bishop of London to preach in Virginia, and received the Kings Bounty (an appropriation of 20 pounds sterling made to every clergyman licensed to the colonies.)
When Lyth arrived in Virginia in 1763 or 64, he was one of about 120 clergymen. They were a group of Church of England priests who served parishes and taught at William and Mary College.
In 1776 the Transylvania Company was dissolved as the Revolutionary War had started in the east. Father Lyth, along with a number of his companions from the settlements in the Bluegrass, returned to Virginia and joined the military units that were forming to fight the British.
We know that Lyth, the English clergyman now an American revolutionary, was chaplain to Colonel Russell's Regiment of the Virginia Militia in 1777. They campaigned against the Cherokee Indians (allies of the British) in 1777, and by the winter of 1777/78 were encamped at Valley Forge. The Rev. John Lyth, who conducted the first public church service in Kentucky from the Book of Common Prayer less than 3 years earlier, died there on January 3, 1778. Although no details are known, it has to be assumed that he fell ill, as did hundreds of other American soldiers, from lack of adequate food, shelter and clothing. That worship service, under the great elm tree, would have been read from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. Interestingly it is still the official BCP for the Mother Church, although a number of trial revisions have been authorized over the years.
The Revolutionary War brought further exploration of the west almost to a standstill, and it had a definite effect on expansion or even in some areas the very existence of the Anglican or English Church. In retrospect, this is very understandable and frankly it is a wonder that it survived at all. Possibly the strong religious feelings of so many of this country's early leaders helped. Thirty-four of fifty-five signers of the Declaration of Independence were Anglicans, the first session of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia was opened by the Rector of that city's Christ Church and two-thirds of the commissioners that met in convention to prepare the Constitution of the United States of America were churchmen.
Protestant Church in America [Top]
Finally, the organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America was completed in 1789, a Prayer Book was adopted and a constitution ratified in the same room as the national Constitution had been adopted two years before.
The new American Church now also had its own Bishop, Samuel Seabury. Until Seabury was consecrated in Scotland in 1784, there was no way to ordain new deacons and priests here, as the English had never sent a Bishop to the colonies and the few American born priests that were here before the war had to travel to England to be ordained.
The internal problems of the Episcopal Church took precedence over any active missionary work. While we were ironing out our internal differences and Americanizing the Prayer Book, other denominations not so occupied weren't sitting still. The Presbyterians came first, followed closely by the Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans and the Roman Catholics, settled near Bardstown in 1785, and ultimately erected a Cathedral for the first Catholic Diocese west of the mountains.
To give you an idea of size, in 1790 it is estimated that there were 70,000 persons in the District of Kentucky. Remember, we were still part of Virginia, not becoming a state until 1792.
Although there were a few Episcopalians residing in Kentucky, it was not until 1789 that the first missionary was sent to this area, by the church in Maryland. The Rev. William Duke set out for Kentucky, but illness forced him back at Harpers Ferry. Several Episcopal clergymen lived in Kentucky, but for reasons unknown had fallen from their calling and entered other professions. One later became a judge in Bardstown and several were successful merchants.
The Episcopal Society, Lexington, Kentucky [Top]
A small group near Lexington called themselves "The Episcopal Society", and met on the farm of Captain David Shely during the early 1790's. They became the nucleus of the first organized Episcopal Church in Kentucky with an ordained clergyman, The Rev. James Moore.
Moore came to Lexington in 1791 with his new bride Margaret Todd, having just graduated from Washington College at Lexington, Virginia. It was his original intention to become a Presbyterian minister, however apparently due to lack of communication between him and the Presbytery in 1794, he was still not confirmed as a minister.
Through his friendship with members of "The Episcopal Society" he became interested in becoming an Episcopalian. He returned to Virginia with letters of recommendation from the Lexington group and was ordained priest by Bishop Madison in 1794. Madison was the 4th and last of the American Bishops to have to go to England or Scotland to be consecrated.
By 1796 he was holding services in a little frame house at the corner of Market and Middle Streets, the present site of Christ Church (Lexington). In the spring of that year Father Moore took on the added duties of President of Kentucky Academy, near Pisgah, and director of the Transylvania Seminary. These two institutions merged in 1799 to become Transylvania University, the first university west of the Alleghenies.
By 1801 Moore was devoting full time to his duties at Transylvania, and the Episcopal Church was being tended by William Kavanaugh, who had been ordained by Bishop Claggett in Baltimore in 1800. Kavanaugh remained at Lexington until 1803 when he moved to Louisville and started holding services, eight years before any other Christian denomination was active at the Falls of the Ohio.
The construction of a brick church in Lexington lured Father Moore away from the University and back to preaching, where he continued until about 1813 when illness forced him to retire. The lay leaders of the church corresponded with several Bishops and Clergymen in the east in an attempt to secure a new minister. They secured The Rev. John Ward who arrived in Lexington in late 1813 from Germantown, Pennsylvania. The Lexington congregation sent a representative to the General Convention of the Church in Philadelphia in May 1814, but he was not admitted as a voting member, as Kentucky was not a Diocese, had no Bishop and no state convention.
The first Rector of Christ Church, James Moore, died in June 1814, at the age of 49. By then the Lexington church had outgrown its small brick building and built a new one that seated 800. To raise money to pay for this fine new church, the Vestry sold pews, priced according to their location in the church. Ground floor pews were priced from $50 to $100.
Ward and several Episcopal missionaries sent out from Maryland ventured out from Lexington and preached in many small communities and settlements in Kentucky, still very much a wilderness beyond the few established cities.
Christ Church in Louisville was established in 1822, and by the way is the oldest church in Louisville today. The church building was built in about two years and parts of that original building are incorporated in the structure that exists on 2nd Street this day.
By the spring of 1829, the Vestry of Christ Church, Lexington was anxious to have Kentucky admitted as a Diocese. However, the rules were very clear. There had to be a minimum of three parishes and there were only two, Lexington and Louisville. The Vestry at Lexington sent George Chapman, now their Rector to Danville where he was able to establish Trinity Church. Thus, Kentucky met the minimum requirements to form a Diocese. The first convention of the Diocese was held at Christ Church, Lexington on July 8 and 9, 1829. The twenty delegates adopted a Constitution, heard reports from the three parishes, and authorized a "Missionary Society" to support work in "destitute" parts of the Diocese and also authorized lay readers to conduct services on "the frontier". Keep in mind we are talking about Kentucky, just 155 years ago.
The first Bishop to ever set foot on Kentucky soil, the Rt. Rev. John Stark Ravenscroft of North Carolina arrived in Lexington on July 25, 1829. Seventy-one persons were presented for confirmation at the first service the following morning, and another 20 awaited him at the afternoon service. Among those confirmed that day were Dr. Ephriam McDowell of Danville and the daughter of Henry and Lucretta Clay. Clay himself, although a strong supporter of the church, would not be confirmed until very late in life.
After George Chapman left Lexington, the Vestry called The Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith of Philadelphia. After many letters back and forth, Smith accepted the call at a salary of $1,000 per year. He was a native of Rhode Island, and the 16th of 18 children. He arrived in Lexington in October 1830 with his wife and four small children.
On June 13, 1831, the 3rd Convention of the Diocese was held in Louisville. All six of the active clergy of the Diocese were present, three rectors of Parishes, two missionaries and the schoolmaster/preacher from Paris. The Rectors reported a total of 178 active communicants on their registers. After a number of reports and routine motions, a motion was made to elect a Bishop. B. B. Smith of the Lexington church was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Kentucky. This was, by the way, Smith's first trip as far west as Louisville.
The delegates returned home assuming they had a new Bishop. However, more than half of the other Dioceses in the country, all east of Louisville, questioned the validity of the election on the grounds that too few clergy participated. To avoid possible problems, the new Bishop wrote the Standing Committee requesting that the election be set aside, as if nothing had happened.
By the following summer, the Diocese had expanded west and the convention was held at Hopkinsville on June 11 and 12, 1832. Four new parishes were admitted - Grace, Hopkinsville; St. Paul's, Henderson; St. Peter's, Paris and Zion, Shelbyville. Again, an election for Bishop was held, and again, B.B. Smith was elected by unanimous action of the convention. This convention was held farther west than any in the short history of the Episcopal Church in the United States to date. Benjamin Bosworth Smith was consecrated Bishop in October 1832 during the General Convention in New York, by the then Presiding Bishop William White, who himself was the 2nd American Bishop. Smith became the 27th American to be elevated to this office.
Smith traveled widely throughout his new Diocese upon his return from New York. But keep in mind, travel in 1832 was quite primitive. Horseback, wagon and flatboat were the order of the day and a trip to the far reaches of the state could take several days and expose one to not only rough terrain, but "highwaymen" who often lurked at crossroads and boat landings. More than one traveling clergyman was attacked and robbed along the trails of Western Kentucky.
The June 1833 convention in Lexington was convened and quickly rescheduled for October due to a cholera epidemic, which hit Lexington. Within a few days, Bishop Smith lost one-third of his congregation (he was still Rector of Christ Church, as well as Bishop), two of his most promising theological students and his wife. If you visit the old Episcopal Cemetery on East 3rd Street in Lexington, you will see dozens of stones inscribed "June 1833".
The reconvened convention in October approved the establishment of a theological seminary, which started very shortly after the convention closed. Bishop Smith quickly went to work raising funds for the new Seminary, both in Kentucky and back east. Within three years a sharp division existed between the Bishop and the faculty of seminary. It involved not only curriculum, but a charge by some that Smith had misappropriated funds that he had collected for the seminary. The dispute boiled over in 1837 when Smith was brought to trial before a panel of three bishops on 134 charges. As the story of Smith's trial would take hours to go over in detail, I'll bring you quickly to the final decision - NOT GUILTY - on all counts. Bishop Smith was reinvested with the robes of his office within the altar rails of Christ Church.
In 1841, the Diocese acquired Shelby College and merged it with the Seminary. The merged institution was located in Shelbyville. At about the same time Bishop Smith moved his official residence from Lexington to Louisville and settled in a home off Tyler Lane, which is still in good condition and lived in by a family named Urton. Almost immediately upon moving here he and the new Mrs. Smith established a boarding school for young ladies.
Smith, in addition to being Bishop and Rector, held the position of Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and he also was an instructor at the seminary.
James was the first of the three Craik's to occupy the pulpit at Christ Church Louisville, coming here in 1844. His grandfather was George Washington's personal physician and James had been a student at Transylvania with Henry Clay, Jr. who was to die in 1846 at the Battle of Buena Vista. James’ son, Charles, would become the first Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Louisville and his grandson Charles, Jr. also served our Cathedral. Although he passed away several years ago, his widow still lives right off Lexington Road.
When the Civil War erupted in 1861, it caught the Episcopal Church in a strange situation. The church was organized along state lines with most Dioceses covering an entire state. Shortly after war was declared seven of the southern Dioceses held a convention at Montgomery and established the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America. They arranged, among other things, to print their own Prayer Book. The only change being substitution of the words Confederate States of America for the words United States of America wherever it appeared. A Union frigate on the high seas captured the first printing in London, as it was being shipped to the South. Most of the Prayer Books, along with other cargo were tossed into the sea. A few of these Prayer Books survived and were taken to Boston. The few still in existence are prize museum pieces. A second printing was arranged by shipping bales of cotton to England, selling it and using the proceeds to pay for the printing. This shipment did make it through the Union blockade to Charleston, and is commonly referred to as the “cotton Prayer Book". Although seven Dioceses withdrew from the church to form their own, the two General Conventions held during the War merely counted these Diocese absent, not excommunicated. B.B. Smith, in Kentucky, acted as a conduit for communication to and from his Southern brothers. Even though 65 of Kentucky’s counties did secede from the rest of the state and join the Confederacy, there is no indication that any of the Episcopal churches in that portion of Kentucky ever left the national church, in spite of strong Southern sentiment in the area.
A number of Kentucky clergymen served as chaplains during the War, and many of our churches became hospitals. One was ransacked and the pews taken out and used by Union troops as firewood. The Federal Government in 1920 finally paid the little church in Mount Sterling for this damage, 55 years after the end of the War. The only thing that kept St. Phillips in Harrodsburg from becoming a hospital after the Battle of Perryville in October 1862 was that the new stained glass windows caused it to be too dark inside. However, the day after the battle, it did become a momentary refuge for Leonidas Polk, the former Bishop of Louisiana and now a Confederate General, and his chaplain, Charles T. Quintard, later to become Bishop of Tennessee and the first Vice Chancellor of the University of the South. They prayed together at the altar of this beautiful little church. Later that day, Quintard went back with General Edmund Kirby Smith. Smith, in the late 1860's, was a vestryman at St. James', Pewee Valley and was associated with St. James College in Shelbyville and Western Military Academy in New Castle, both Episcopal institutions. Kirby Smith spent the last 18 years of his life as Professor of Mathematics at Sewanee and is buried in the University cemetery. He was the last surviving full General, on either side, of the Civil War when he died in 1893.
Much rebuilding was in order after the War, and Bishop Smith was now beginning to wear down from over 30 years as Bishop. At about the time of the 1866 convention, the Bishop moved his official residence from Louisville to Frankfort. That convention authorized an assistant for Smith and elected George David Cummins of Trinity Church, Chicago as the new Assistant Bishop. Cummins, an outspoken critic of high churchmanship, accepted the call to Kentucky and was consecrated Bishop by the then Presiding Bishop, John Henry Hopkins. As Cummins chose Louisville as his headquarters, the Diocese arranged to purchase him a home in Pewee Valley called Oaklea; the large home built by Edwin Bryant, journalist, explorer, and the first mayor of San Francisco and at the time Vestryman at St. James. Cummins came to love Oaklea and was very close to the new Parish at Pewee, which was directly across the railroad from Oaklea. Oaklea, at least the home that replaced the one that burned in 1898, is still there with the same beautiful view of St. James.
Unfortunately the Diocese could not keep up the payments on Oaklea, and it was sold at auction to Judge Muir, with Cummins having to move in with his daughter and her husband, Dr. Charles Peebles. Their home is still standing on Maple Avenue, just up the road from St. James.
Upon the death of the Presiding Bishop, John Henry Hopkins, Benjamin B. Smith assumed those duties, in addition to remaining Bishop of Kentucky. In those days the Presiding Bishop was automatically the senior living Bishop, and it was an added duty, not a full time position as it is today. This new duty, however, required Smith to move back east, to be near the Church headquarters in New York. He and his wife made their home in Hoboken, New Jersey, then a very fashionable New York suburb on the Hudson River.
This left Cummins the resident Bishop in Kentucky, but without full authority to operate, without first consulting Bishop Smith in New York.
Cummins traveled widely throughout Kentucky, often preaching in homes or churches of other denominations. Following are excerpts from two letters Cummins wrote to his wife while he traveled in Kentucky:
"Bowling Green, November 23, 1866... I found a little flock of our church people here worshipping in a small frame schoolhouse, and this is in a town of 4 or 5 thousand people. I have called all the people to meet me tomorrow night at the house of Mr. H and I intend to see what can and will be done toward building a church. The more I see of this diocese the more I am pressed with the feebleness of our church in this state. Outside of Louisville, Lexington and 2 or 3 towns on the Ohio River the church scarcely exists. It has nominal existence in a few towns like this, but little more than nominal, but there is a vast portion of the state where the population is sparse. The country was inaccessible, with no railroad, and scarcely a town of 300 or more people in any county. In these portions of the diocese I am told there is no prospect of a beginning for our church, perhaps for a generation. The population is very rude, ignorant and demoralized. Some counties on the border of Tennessee are the hiding places of desperate men who live by such deeds as that committed on the railway lately. My work, of necessity, must lie in the towns and the strip of country lying just south of the Ohio River. The towns where our work is for a generation to come are all easy of access to Louisville or Lexington. The condition of the colored people has interested me deeply. We are going to do what we can to bring them under the influence of our church, by schools and services. And doubtless a few years will work a great change in their condition."
"Fulton Station, KY, May 5, 1870.... I am almost beyond the reach of civilization in this out of the way place on the borderline of Tennessee, and emphatically, in the woods. I have now reached the very farthest point in my journey and today turn my face northward, beginning my slow progress towards my home. I visited, while at Hickman, two old ladies, members of our church, 80 & 83 years of age. One is insane, the other very feeble. They are very poor and I shall write to Dr. R. to try to get the insane one into the asylum at Hopkinsville, and will raise money for the relief of the other. At 6 we arrived here. I preached to a room full of rude, rough people. I had a little table before me. On it I put my hat and my sermon on it, and thus I preached. The children were running about, laughing, during all the service and one of them came up to my table while I was preaching to get some water. Oh, it was primitive indeed."
Cummins wrote in his memoirs of the "unspeakable trial" that was placed upon him when compelled to visit and take part in a “ritualistic" service at Grace Church in Louisville. Another reference to Grace in the early church history referred to it as "the bastion of high churchmanship". Grace was not alone, as a number of Kentucky clergymen were of the High Church School ... James Craik, John Norton and Jacob Shipman, are examples. Cummins was becoming THE spokesman of the Evangelical movement in the church and in so doing was coming into disfavor among many of the Bishops, including of course, his Bishop, B.B. Smith. Cummins strongly protested such things as processional crosses, candles on the altar and all but the simplest vestments. He also was taking strong issue with some church doctrine that had Roman inferences. He did not believe in transubstantiation, but rather felt that the Lord's Supper was a feast of remembrance, nothing more. Although Cummins had several run-ins with Bishop Smith over Church doctrine and his leanings away from the teachings of the Protestant Episcopal Church, it was not until November 1873 that he made the decision to sever his relationship with the Church. He so notified Bishop Smith in New York and promptly went to Baltimore where he was elected the first Bishop of The Reformed Episcopal Church, a small denomination that still exists, primarily in Pennsylvania and Maryland. He died at Lutherville, Maryland on June 26, 1876. A group of parishioners from Emanuel Church, Louisville joined Cummins’ new church and tried unsuccessfully to obtain the church property for their use. The Court in Jefferson County held that the property belonged to the Episcopal Church, not the parishioners that decided to leave. Similar cases just recently in several states have come up when a small number of parishes decided to leave our church over the adoption of the 1979 Prayer Book. Not all state courts have ruled the same way. At least two ruled that the Episcopal Church was not a hierarchical church and in fact the parishioners owned the property, not the church. Several other states have ruled for the church.
Considerable time was spent searching for a replacement for Cummins whose leaving left Kentucky without a resident Bishop.
On November 12, 1874, after the 16th ballot, Kentucky had a new Assistant Bishop, Thomas Underwood Dudley, Rector of Christ Church, Baltimore. He was consecrated Bishop in Baltimore in January 1875 by the Presiding Bishop, our own B.B. Smith. He arrived in Louisville on February 27 and preached his first sermon the next day at St. Paul's, Louisville, then located at Sixth & Walnut.
Dudley was a Virginia native and a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he taught Latin and Greek, until his enlistment in the Confederate Army. He served throughout the Civil War and attained the rank of Major in the Commissary Department. After the War, he entered the Theological Seminary of Virginia (the same school where our Father Humke trained for the ministry) and was ordained deacon in 1867. By the time he was elected Assistant Bishop of Kentucky at age 38, he had been widowed twice and remarried, and was the father of nine children.
Dudley was a "Prayer Book churchman" and had a reputation for strict adherence to it. He was a strong supporter of missionary work within the Diocese, and urged expansion of work among blacks throughout the state, especially in existing churches.
The Rev. John Norton, who was one of the strongest missioners among the blacks of Louisville, passed away in 1881, followed the next year by the Rev. James Craik, Rector of Christ Church. These two able churchmen had labored in Louisville for over 40 years. This is the same Norton for which Norton Infirmary was named.
Kentucky's first Bishop, Benjamin Bosworth Smith, passed away in New York, on May 31, 1884, after having served Kentucky for over 50 years. Although he lived in the east for over 20 of these years, he is buried here, in Frankfort Cemetery, not far from the grave of Daniel Boone and a number of other Kentucky pioneers and early leaders.
Thomas Dudley became Bishop of Kentucky upon the death of Smith. By this time, Louisville had long been the center of Diocesan influence and population and here were located the largest parishes in the Diocese; St. Paul's, Christ Church, Calvary, and St. Andrew's, as well as the principal Episcopal institutions; The Church Home, Home of the Innocents, Orphanage of the Good Shepherd and Norton Infirmary.
Mission stations were being operated in many areas of the state, a number of which continue to this day.
In 1885 the Diocese of Kentucky became one of the Dioceses that owned and operated the University of the South at Sewanee. In 1894 Bishop Dudley became Chancellor of the
University, a position he held until his death in 1904.
Since coming to Kentucky in 1874, Dudley was the only Bishop residing and working in Kentucky. By 1894, the Diocese had been expanded to include 36 parishes, 27 missions, 50 clergymen and a total of 5,600 communicants and spread over 40,000 square miles.
At the 66th annual council (we now call it convention) Bishop Dudley announced the offer of the Vestry of Christ Church, Louisville, to use their historic church as the Diocesan Cathedral. Dudley also requested the council to authorize the addition of an Assistant Bishop to help him in the work of the church in Kentucky. This request was referred to a special committee formed to look into this proposal and bring a recommendation back to the Annual Council the following year.
Bishop Dudley's proposal to establish the Cathedral at Louisville, and, in effect, assign the outlying territory to an assistant was not well received, especially in the established communities of the Bluegrass and this issue was the subject of numerous heated discussions during 1894 and early 1895.
The Council of 1895 voted to divide the Diocese, rather than call an Assistant Bishop, and took the necessary steps to bring the matter to the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in October of that year for approval.
After approval by the General Convention, a special meeting was called in December 1895, at historic Christ Church, Lexington, to officially form the new Diocese of Lexington. Bishop Dudley, who had chosen to stay in Louisville, guided the clerical and lay leaders of the new Diocese and officiated at the election of their new Bishop. Churchmen from both the new Diocese and Louisville were nominated and on the 11th ballot, The Rev. Lewis W. Burton, Rector of St. Andrew's Church, Louisville, was elected as the first Bishop of the Diocese of Lexington. Two years later, in April 1897, Christ Church in Lexington was designated as the Cathedral for the new Diocese, serving Eastern Kentucky and the Bluegrass.
In the approximately 120 years since the first public worship service was conducted in Boonesborough, we have seen the Episcopal Church grow to almost 6,000 communicants. As denominations go, this was not large. We were and continue to be much smaller than the, Baptists, the Methodists and the Roman Catholic, both in Kentucky and throughout the United States. Although there are some exceptions, we are primarily an urban church. We haven't grown in the rural areas as have the Baptists and the Church of Christ. There are reasons for this. We insist on educated clergy. You don't become an Episcopal priest because you can rant and rave from a soap box or can quote a few passages of Scripture. Also, we tend to be a very conservative church. You don't hear many Episcopal Rectors on Sunday morning radio programs, at revivals or "born again" get togethers at stadiums. However, I am certain we don't want to be loud or flashy. We feel that our way of worship and our beliefs are proper and in keeping with the teachings of the church for hundreds and hundreds of years. We will grow in Kentucky... slowly, but surely. We will stumble here and there, but we will get up again and move on.
Now I would like to do a flashback to about 1838 in Eastern Jefferson county about six miles from downtown Louisville. The area was very rural with only a few fairly large farms owned by a few well-to-do farmers and a few, very few, merchants. There was no railroad yet, and very few roads, as the farms were big and little roads were not needed. There was a road, or maybe it was a wide path, from Louisville to Frankfort and on to Lexington, and, of course, there was a tavern for overnight sleeping, food and drink, owned by a Mr. Gilman. In those days a Sunday morning trip to downtown Louisville, was a real trip, the only mode of transportation being horse or horse drawn wagon. Even 6 or 7 miles was a real effort and took a good deal of time away from the farm.
A few of the families in the area were apparently Episcopalians. After consultation with Bishop Smith, a small group decided to build a church closer to home. John and Helen Massie Martin deeded one acre of their farm to the Vestry of Saint Matthew's Church for the purpose of building a church. The Vestry, as shown in Deed Book 55, page 464, in the office of the Jefferson County Court Clerk, consisted of Robert M. Smith, David S. Chambers, William L. Thompson, James Brown and John Brengman. The deed is very specific in that the property is to be used for the benefit of the Protestant Episcopal Church as a place of Christian worship and for no other purpose and that it shall always be devoted to the pious purpose of providing a place of worship for Episcopalians. The Vestry could not sell the property and if it ceased to be used for church purposes for a period of five or more years, it reverted to Mr. and Mrs. Martin. Although both Mr. and Mrs. Martin sign the deed, she is mentioned throughout it and I suspect that she may have inherited the property from her family.
Although this deed was recorded on May 8, 1839, it is obvious that formation of the congregation and building of the church took place prior to the signing of the deed.
The 11th Convention of the Diocese on June 13, 1839, was held at Calvary Church, Smithland; a small community on the Ohio River about 10 miles up river from Paducah and 200 miles from Louisville. This was truly "on the frontier" in those times.
At that convention Bishop Smith reported, "Saint Matthew's parish, located 5 miles East of the city of Louisville, had erected a ‘neat little Church edifice' that was consecrated May 11, 1839, and the Vestry had called the Rev. Charles H. Page of Virginia as it’s Rector." Father Page reported, " a neat and commodious church has been erected and consecrated to the worship of God and the prospect of rearing a good congregation is flattering." Page was listed as an honorary member of the 10th convention, the year before, as he was visiting Kentucky from another Diocese. He may well have been looking over the situation.
It is interesting to note that Bishop Smith speaks of Saint Matthew's as a parish and Page as rector, no indication being given that it was considered a mission. As the church was consecrated soon after being built, it must have been paid for in full. Again, I suspect, but can't prove that Helen Massie Martin was a generous contributor.
By the convention of 1841 Page reported that Saint Matthew's had 10 communicants, a Sunday School of about 30 children, and there had been 10 baptisms, one confirmation, as well as two marriages since the last convention.
In 1843, Mr. Page reported to the convention in Lexington that a “commodious vestryroom had been erected and furnished with a handsome gown through the liberality chiefly of two ladies of the communion." I have not been able to figure out what the "gown" is; unless it is meant that they had the room built and included a set of vestments as a part of the donation.
By 1846 we find Mr. Page had moved to Jeffersonville, Indiana, and the Rev. R.M. Chapman of Massachusetts officiating at Saint Matthew's. He was still officiating in 1849, but reported that the Sunday School was not as prosperous as heretofore because of irregular attendance of the teachers. By the following year the Diocesan Journal shows the Rev. R.M. Chapman "residing in Louisville" and lists no report for Saint Matthew's. The years 1851, 52 & 53, show Saint Matthew's "vacant".
In 1851 the United States Post Office Department established a Post Office at a point 6 miles East of Louisville and named it St. Matthews. Although I can not find any written document that shows it to be named for the church, I feel we can make that assumption and be fairly safe. The Post Office remained as an independent office until 1931 when it became a branch of the U.S. Post Office at Louisville.
In February 1854, the Rev. George Beckett arrived at Saint Matthew's from Grace Church, Hopkinsville and reported to the convention that spring that the Sunday School now numbered 50 children. He did note that the Parish had been without pastoral care for several years. In those days the Diocesan Conventions seemed to be held in May or June.
George Beckett, who was to guide Saint Matthew's through the Civil War before leaving for Columbia, Tennessee, was an Englishman by birth. He was shown in the 1850 census for Christian County (Hopkinsville) as aged 29. His wife, then 28, was named Ann. Also, living in his household were 11 young ladies, one named Anna Beckett, aged 16, possibly a sister or niece. He was not only rector at Grace Church, but also operated a school for young ladies, as he did later at Saint Matthew's and in Tennessee.
Under George Beckett, Saint Matthew's continued to grow slowly, but the Sunday School appears to have really prospered. In 1855 he reported 6 teachers, 36 scholars and 30 colored scholars.
In 1859 the Protestant Episcopal Orphan Asylum reported to the convention that "Saint Matthew's Parish is the only congregation in the Diocese that has ever aided our work." This institution was located on 5th Street, between Broadway and Chestnut, and was one of the predecessors to what is today the Home of the Innocents.
Throughout this period, from the early 1840's on, the lay delegate (they were not yet called deputies) to Diocesan Conventions, was Theodore Brown. He lived in the home now facing the new extension of Hubbards Lane, just South of Alton Road. His first wife died and he remarried, I think in the 1850's; his second wife was named Susan. Altogether, Theodore is said to have had 20 children. There is a record of the Baptism of nine of the children of Theodore and Susan Brown in an old record book from Saint Matthew's in our Diocesan archives. Brown built this house in 1853 on 250 acres that he inherited from his father James, one of our first Vestrymen. Theodore passed away in 1899, and his wife Susan in 1917.
Many people contributed money, materials and labor to build this fine new church, which would accommodate 250 persons. It appears that Helen M. Key (I believe she is the Helen Massie Martin who donated land for the first church 30 years before) donated 2 acres and $4,000. Theodore Brown gave $ 300, while others contributing included Joshua Bullitt, Dr. Henry Chenowith, Richard Ten Broeck, Mrs. L.L. Dorsey, Miss Mary Anderson, Mrs. Floyd and Thomas W. Bullitt, who had ridden with John Hunt Morgan's 2nd Kentucky Cavalry during the War. You can see from these names that many of the leaders of the community were Episcopalians and supporters.
The Rev. William Perkins conducted the first service in the new church on October 2, 1870. Services were continued with clergy from the area assisting, until the second Sunday of June 1871, when the Rev. William Meade Nelson of Virginia came as the new rector. He reported later, "for this new and tasteful church the community is chiefly indebted to the late Mrs. Helen Key of Louisville, who also, before her decease, added to this good work the gift of a rectory for the parish with ten acres of land attached, as a home for the rector,”
June 25, 1871, the 3rd Sunday after Trinity, the Rt. Rev. George David Cummins, the Assistant Bishop of Kentucky, consecrated this new church, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Perkins, the Rev. Messrs. Page and Hulliken of this Diocese and the Rev. Mr. Matlack of Pennsylvania and the Rev. Mr. Thome of Connecticut. This is certainly impressive for a country church.
The Young Ladies Institute at Saint Matthew's apparently continued until about 1874 when Carter Page left the Diocese.
In 1873 the value of Saint Matthew's Church property was listed as $ 12,000 and the number of communicants as 12. Keep in mind however that the church seated 250.
In spite of a new church building, apparently Saint Matthew's had only a few good years under Father Nelson. By 1876 again there was a vacancy in the pulpit and the report to the Diocese showed only four families, and "whole number of souls, 29." In 1877 the Journal carried this report, "the church and rectory are sadly out of repair. The rectory is now vacant, with no probability of renting it. She (the church) is struggling for existence. The Rev. Mr. Flowers has been officiating for us most of the winter and spring, also the Rev. Mr. Leacock has very kindly volunteered his services."
I don't think Saint Matthew's, as a parish, ever really recovered, but I am not sure and have much additional work to do before I am through. We do know that the rectory was later used by the YMCA and was still standing in the late 1940's, when the St. Matthews Fire Department used it for practice.
Tradition tells us that what was left of the Saint Matthew's congregation went to St. Mark's, however as that church was not organized until 1891, either there was a revival of Saint Matthew's, or the few people left went to other churches in the city before St. Mark's was built. Hopefully I can find some of the answers over the next year or so.
We have a bit of a clue in a portion of a letter Ursula [Robert Trimble’s wife] found while doing research at Saint James' in Pewee Valley last year. The letter is dated 21 January 1909 and addressed to Mrs. C. L. Pindar, St. Matthews, Kentucky. (Mrs. Pindar was the widow of the Rev. C. L. Pindar, the rector of St. James', who died in 1906. Both he and his wife, who died in 1937, are buried in back of the church, along with their daughter who died in 1958. There are only 4 graves in this little cemetery, just outside the wall behind the altar.) The letter reads:
"Dear Madam, I wish to thank you for your letter of Jan. 8. 1 can not find out exactly what the intention is regarding the old church in St. Matthews except that the Bishop (that would have been Bishop Woodcock) has given Mr. Mc Cready promises to have it torn down, and the property sold, subject to certain conditions..."
Unfortunately, there was a second page to this letter, which was not to be found. We do know that the rector at St. Mark's about that time was named Mc Cready.
From Saint Matthew's Church, came St. Matthews, the community. There is only one other community of St. Matthews in this country, in South Carolina. In that case, the church was established about 1765 by royal edict and the area called "The Parish of St. Matthews". That church is still active, having a congregation of about 150, in a building that was built in 1840.
Several people have mentioned to me that there was a Saint Matthew's church in the area in the 1920's. There was a church called the Saint Matthew's Mission established in the early 1920's on South Shelby Street, for the black community of that area. It was active about 10 years and during all or most of it's active life had a black vicar.
The Second St. Matthew’s [Top]
We will now skip very briefly to the late 1940's when the Diocesan Department of Missions started considering the establishment of an Episcopal congregation in the community of St. Matthews. Finally, on March 16, 1948, the Department approved the idea and urged Bishop Clingman to proceed.
The first organizational meeting was held in the home of the Bishop on April 2, 1948. By the day of the Diocesan Convention 12 days later, 24 persons had signed a petition requesting organization of a new Saint Matthew's Church.
The first service was held September 5, 1948 in the St. Matthews Woman’s Club building on Shelbyville Road, where the congregation would meet until their first building was constructed in 1952. Bishop Clingman appointed the Rev. Wilfred B. Myll, Minister-in-Charge. Father Myll had been rector of Trinity Church, Owensboro, and just before coming to Saint Matthew's, Associate Rector of St. Mark's, San Antonio, Texas.
That was the new beginning of Saint Matthew's, the church, in the community named St. Matthews. We don't have time today to go into detail about the present church, however as you all know, we are an active parish, with activities for young and old, and we worship together, in this house of God, with a tradition dating back almost 150 years. Thank you.
The following sources have proven helpful to me, but again, they are only a small portion of what should be used for a serious study of this subject.
Thomas D. Clark, A History of Kentucky
Francis Keller Swinford and Rebecca Smith Lee, The Great Elm Tree: Heritage of the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington
Neva L. Williams, The History of St. Phillip's Episcopal Church, Harrodsburg, Kentucky
Alexandrine Macomb Cummins, Memoir of George David Cummins, First Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church
Memorial History of Louisville From Its First Settlement to the Year 1896
Journals of the Diocese of Kentucky, 1829‑1983
Journals of the Diocese of Lexington, 1896‑1983
Journals of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate of America, reprinted and bound in 1 volume, 1962
Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, quarterly publication of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church
The Filson Club Quarterly
The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
The Biographical Encyclopedia of Kentucky