St. Stephen's Parish (North Sassafras Parish)

 

"Early Anglican Church Records of Cecil County, Maryland" by Henry C. Peden, Jr. is a compliation taken from copies of the registers done by Lucy H. Harrison. The original records of St. Stephen's (1693-1913) are held by the manuscript division of the Maryland Historical Society. An original of the St. Mary Anne's Parish records is held by the church itself in a local bank vault.

 

In 1692 the legislature of the province, which was thoroughly Protestant, passed "an act for the Service of Almighty God and the establishment of the Protestant religion in the Province." The Established Church of England, the Anglican Church (which was the predecessor of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America) was then established as the Church of Maryland.   On November 22, 1692 the commissioners of Cecil County were: Captain Charles James Colonel Casparus Hermen, son of Augustine Hermen Mr. Humphrey Tilton Mr. William Ward Mr. Henry Rigg Mr. John James Mr. William Elms     These commissioners with some of the principal freeholders of the county, in pursuance and compliance with the act of Assembly, laid out and divided the county into two districts or parishes, one parish for Worton and South Sassafrax Hundred and the other for North Sassafrax, Bohemia and Elk Hundreds. These parishes were called North and South Sassafrax.   The Rev. Lawrence Vanderbush was then officiating in North Sassafras, and had probably been there for some time, for it is a matter of record that he administered a baptism on 7/2/1692. He died in 1696, at which time he was also in charge of South Sassafras parish.

 

 

The first vestrymen of North Sassafras parish

 

Casparus Hermen, son of Augustine Herman

William Ward

John Thompson

Edward Jones

Henry Rigg

Matthias Vanderhuyden.

 

1693

The first meeting of the North Sassafras Vestry was held in the Court House at Ordinary Point on January 10, 1693.

 

The taxables in 1693 were 321, which was the number of persons then assessed within the present limits of the county, and are supposed to have been equal to one-fourth of all inhabitants in the county, which, by this estimate then contained a population of 1284.

 

1694

At a meeting of the vestry in 1694, it was ordered that the 12,440 pounds of tobacco collected that year should be disposed of as follows:

 

To the minister, 8000 pounds

To the sheriff for receiving it, 620 pounds

To Thomas Pearce, clerk, 800 pounds

The residue, 3018 pounds, to be lodged in the hands of Edward Jones for the defraying of some necessary charges in fitting and repairing the present meeting house "which we have procured for the present till God shall enable us to build a church."

 

Old records indicate that the congregation was made up of about three hundred persons who met in an unknown location until they were able to build a church.

 

In 1694 the Reverend Richard Sewell was sent by the Bishop of London, and appointed by Governor Nicholson to serve as the rector of both parishes. The Bishop of London also sent over some books by Governor Nicholson for distribution in the colony. The records of the parish contained a list of things which Casparus Hermen then had, a part or all of which were supposed to have been the distributive share assigned to this parish. The list was as follows: two Bibles, two books called the Duties of Man, two books of Common Prayer, two books of Church Catechism, two books of Christian religion; also two books of martial discipline, two books of the articles of war; one dark lantern, one prospective glass and one pocket compass. The five last mentioned articles in the list may have been because the warlike Susquehannock Indians still infested the northwestern part of the county. The dark lantern and spy-glass were no doubt intended to be used in repelling Indian attacks.

 

 

The next minister to be mentioned in the records of the parish was the Rev. James Crawford, of whose history but little is known, only that he stopped for six weeks with Edward Larramore and that the vestry allowed Larramore 400 pounds of tobacco for boarding him. In 1712 he was incumbent of South Sassafras Parish, where he died in 1713.

 

In 1694 the number of taxables in the parish was 337, and the amount of tobacco raised for ecclestical purposes was 13, 480 pounds.

 

Shrewsbury, or South Sassafras Parish, which is now in Kent county, was erected in 1692. The names of the vestrymen in 1695 were:

 

William Pearce

William Harris

Edward Blay

William Elms

Edward Skiddimor

George Shirton

 

1696/8

In 1696 (or 1698), the Vestry decided to purchase one hundred acres of land from William Ward for 5,000 pounds of tobacco and to erect a suitable building for worship. Colonel Casparus Augustine Hermen, a vestryman, agreed to build a structure for 14,000 (or 18,000) pounds of tobacco. The structure was to be of brick or stone 25x35 feet, the walls of which were to be two feet thick at the foundation and eighteen inches above; walls to be twelve feet high; to have four windows, a folding door, six feet wide, etc.

 

1697

There was still no minister of the parish, but in 1697 the vestry ordered that Robert Cook be allowed 800 pounds of tobacco for the accommodation and funeral charges of one Mr. William Davis, a certain minister of the gospel, who, having newly come to tender his services to them, was taken sick and died.

 

In 1697 the taxables had increased to 346. A year had passed and the church still was not built. Casparus Hermen asked for an extension of time because one of his sloops, carrying the building materials, had sunk in the river. The vestry purchased two hundred acres of land as a glebe, for 7,000 pounds of tobacco, so that it now had three hundred acres of glebe land.

 

1698

In 1698 the taxables numbered 329, yielding 13,160 pounds of tobacco.

 

In 1698, Casparus Hermen died before construction of the church was begun, and his widow asked to be released from the contract. In 1699 Matthias Hendrickson and James Smithson agreed to build the church for 18,000 pounds of tobacco. It was ready for use, but not completed, in 1703.

 

1699

In 1699 the taxables of the parish amounted to 352.

 

1701

In 1701 the inhabitants of North Elk and Bohemia Hundreds presented a petition to the upper house of Assembly, complaining that Mr. Sewell had neglected them, and the matter was referred to Col. John Thompson, but there is no record of this report. The parish at this time was quite large, embracing the territory included by present boundaries of the county. The reverend gentleman had married the preceeding year, so it is no wonder that he failed to visit the northern part of the county.

 

1703

In 1703 the church floor, gallery, etc. were agreed to be made for 20 pounds sterling and 5,000 pounds of tobacco, being equal to about $225.

 

1704

In 1704 it was ordered that eight gallons of rum be paid for, it having been used for drams in the morning while the workmen were building the church. The people of that day used rum, and for many years afterwards it was customary to allow in the levy for a gallon or two of rum and some sugar to sweeten it upon the occasion of a pauper's funeral, the expense of which was borne by the county.

 

On March 8, 1704 Matthias Van Bibber was made a vestryman.

 

1705

The Parish Church was dedicated in 1705 as St. Stephen's which name was eventually used in reference to both the church and the parish.The dedication service for the building was conducted by the Reverend Mr. Sewell in 1705. The next year the cemetery was enclosed, and suitable entrance gates were erected.

 

1706

In 1706 North Elk Parish was established for the inhabitants of Cecil County north of the Elk River. It embraced all that part of the county north of the Elk River, and lessened to that extent the size of North Sassafras Parish. Though the legal name of this parish is North Elk, it has been called St. Mary Ann's Parish since the erection of the church at North East, which is called by that name. Thus Cecil County was delineated into two parishes.  

According to George Johnston in his History of Cecil County Maryland the records for St. Mary Ann's Parish previous to 1743 were destroyed by fire.

 

1723

In 1723, after serving for 26 years, the Reverend Mr. Sewell retired, and the parish was without a rector until 1731, when the Reverend Hugh Jones was appointed by Governor Leonard Calvert. He was a graduate of the University of Oxford, and came to Maryland in 1696 when he was 26 years old. He had been in the ministry in Calvert, Maryland and in Virginia.

 

1732

A new church building was erected about 1732. In 1736, Communion plate, consisting of silver flagon, chalice aand paten, was received from England. The cost of the silver was 19 pounds, 25 shillings, 5 pence.

 

1743

 

In 1743 the taxables in North Sassafras parish had increased to 1, 443. The next year the northern part of the parish, including all of it between Elk River and Little Bohemia, was erected into a new parish, under the name of St. Augustine.

 

The names of the vestrymen in 1743 were:

 

Captain Nicholas Hyland

Captain Zebulon Hollingsworth

Henry Baker

Edward Johnson

Thomas Ricketts

John Currer

 

The Reverend Hugh Jones died in 1760 at the age of 90. Under his rectorship the parish reached the highest degree of prosperity that it ever attained as an Episcipal parish. He was the rector for nearly thirty years, and was succeeded by his nephew, William Barroll, who served for 18 years.

 

William Barroll was a native of Wales, or of Hereford, on its borders. He was ordained by the Bishop of London for Maryland, March 4, 1760, and came to Maryland shortly afterwards.

 

In 1760 the small-pox prevailed in the vicinity of the church to such an extent that the vestry feared to meet on Easter Monday to transact the usual business. The records of the county show that in many cases allowances were made to people who had nursed poor persons who were afflicted with the disease.

 

The Vestry had difficulty in paying the Rector's salary, so they agreed to pay him in wheat and corn, and to give him full use of the Glebe. Later it was necessary to conduct a lottery to raise funds for repairing the church property. The repairs were completed in 1824 at a cost of $1200. The building was consecrated in 1824 and used for almost 50 years.

 

In 1834, St. Stephen's was the scene of the first ordination of a Negro to take place south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The Reverend William Douglas, the fifth Negro to receive Anglican Orders in America, was made a deacon at St. Stephen's on June 22nd, receiving ordination at the hands of the Right Reverend William Murray Stone, third Bishop of Maryland.

 

In 1870, it was decided to enlarge the church, retaining the old walls. Additions were made at both ends, and the present windows installed. It was consecrated in 1874, and the practice of renting pews was abolished.

 

A special service to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the establishment of St. Stephen's Church was held on May 25, 1893. A copy of the program with the complete text of the addresses and names of the Vestry, is among the archives of the Parish. Since that time, Memorial Services have been held annually in May.

 

Clergy of the North Sassafras Parish (abt. 1842 - 1967):

 

Rev. Lewis Walke

Rev. Thomas D. Duncan

Rev. William A. Coale

Rev. Edmund Burke

Rev. Richard Searing

Rev. M. M. Goldie

Rev. Robert Lewis

Rev. Joseph R. Baird

Rev. Vernon W. Lane

Rev. Blake B. Hammond

Rev. J. Randolph Field

Rev. William Wyllie

Rev. John N. Hill

Rev. James B. Cummings

Rev. Tracy F. Walsh

 

Some of the information on St. Stephen's Church was taken from a commemoration booklet for the Two Hundred and Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Earleville, Maryland, compiled by the women of St. Stephen's Church in 1967. Other information was taken from the book "History of Cecil County" written by George Johnston in 1881, often taken as the definitive history of the county.