Chronicles of Christ Church parish, Williamsport, Pa., 1840-1896.

Foreword

V

During the summer of the present year a Committee, consisting of the Rector, the Wardens, and such others as they might associate with themselves in the undertaking, was appointed by the Vestry to publish, under the editorial supervision of the Registrar of the Parish, Mr. O. R. Howard Thomson, the "Chronicles of Christ Church Parish," presented, in manuscript, to the corporation by the Rev. Edward Henry Eckel, some time rector of the parish.

As the manuscript carried the history of the parish no farther than the commencement of the rectorship of Mr. Eckel, the Committee was instructed to continue the narrative to the present time. For the chapter covering the rectorship of Mr. Eckel the Committee is indebted to Miss Mary Smythe ; that dealing with the rectorship of Mr. Jones has been contributed by the Registrar. With the exception of these additional chapters, a number of historical and biographical notes, inserted by the Registrar, and indicated by the abbreviation "Ed.," and the insertion of matter relating to the parish's history subsequent to 1896, the "Chronicles" are printed exactly as written by Mr. Eckel.

The Registrar desires to acknowledge the kindness of many members of the parish in furnishing information and answering questions, and particularly that of Miss Mary Elizabeth Crocker, in the tedious work of reading proofs, and in many other ways.

November, 1910.

Prefatory Note

Most of the following historical sketch of Christ Church Parish, Williamsport, was written while I was yet rector of the parish, and is now completed when I am far from the records, documents, journals, and persons whom I would wish most to consult in order to give to its last pages the verification of data and accuracy of statement which I have aimed to secure throughout. I have the satisfaction of feeling, however, that where I am perhaps most liable to error, the mistakes and omissions can the more easily be corrected by parishioners familiar with the later history of the parish.

I may say frankly that it has been no easy task to> prepare this little work, because it has involved the careful study of an extensive, fragmentary and largely ephemeral literature.

I have been greatly indebted to the late Mrs. E. N. Lightner, of Danville, widow of the first rector, who most generously presented me with her husband's file of Diocesan Journals extending from 1839 to within a few years of my own time. This file I was able to complete from other sources, and upon leaving the Diocese I gave it as a ''permanent loan" to the Diocese of Harrisburg. It is now in the custody of the Registrar of the Diocese.

I am also under very great obligation to the late Mr. J. J. Crocker, whose notes from the minutes of the Vestry from 1841 to 1896 have been of invaluable service to me.

When near the end of my task, as I supposed, my own small, broken file of the parish papers published by two of my predecessors was splendidly reinforced by the fuller files collected, through appeals in the current "Christ Church Messenger," by Miss Mary Elizabeth Crocker for the local collection of The James V. Brown Library, of Williamsport. The vi Chronicles of Christ Church Parish

accession of this large mass of material necessitated a careful study of the new data, with the result of filling out the sketch to much larger proportions for the periods covered, and the rewriting of portions of the history already passed. This additional work, while it has given greater completeness to the narrative, has at the same time delayed its completion.

These three, then, have been my chief sources of information, but I have been obliged to consult other documents and persons, and at every step to compare and verify statements, calculate figures, and make deductions according to the best judgment that I could command. In giving the dates of the beginning and ending of rectorships I have in some instances been obliged to adopt the date of record, which may vary by a few days or weeks from the actual date, of which no record can be found.

The most difficult portion of the history for me to treat was that of the earliest years of the parish, when it was feeble, when rectorships were short, and records comparatively meagre. Yet to this period of the history I feel that I have been able to give a completeness which may possibly be lacking in some other parts, but which, if extended to the last quarter of a century, would have swelled this sketch to the dimensions of a much larger volume. Especially did I feel the impossibility of doing full justice to the subject when I came to the rectorship of Dr. Hopkins. As his was the longest rectorship in the history of the parish, so also, by reason of his versatile abilities and wonderful activity, was it the most eventful and most fruitful period of parochial development. The story of those years, with anything like an adequate estimate of the man himself, would be sufficient for a volume in itself. I need scarcely add that, while a few allusions to names and dates subsequent to the beginning of my own rectorship will be found, I have not deemed it proper to attempt any account or estimate of the work of that period.

I must be permitted to add that I can never cease to be thankful to the Divine Head of the Church for permitting me the privilege and happiness of serving Him and the

Prefatory Note vii

Church for several years as rector of a parish with such a long and creditable record for zeal and good works ; and it is, therefore, with a heart full of appreciation and gratitude that I dedicate this history of their parish to the dear people of Christ Church Parish, Williamsport, whom I shall never cease to love and admire as my friends and fellow-workers for the glory of God and the bringing in of His kingdom.

Edward Henry Eckel.

Conversion of St. Paul, 1910.