Thursday, August 19, 2010

A Missionary for Monongahela

On October 1, 1862, after more than two years of meeting together and maintaining a Sunday School, the small band of Anglicans in Monongahela City was finally assigned a clergyman to conduct regular services. This missionary, the first official shepherd of our flock, was the Reverend William Pray TenBroeck (seen here).

Born on June 13, 1841, TenBroeck graduated from Nashotah House Seminary. On Trinity Sunday in 1862 he was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Kemper of Wisconsin, and that fall he reported to Monongahela. In addition to his duties here was also initially assigned to congregations in Connellsville and Mount Braddock as well as Old West. He made three visits to Old West before deciding that the low attendance did not warrant the treacherous journey. After the priest of St. Peters – Uniontown began serving Connellsville and Mount Braddock; TenBroeck could devote all of his time to Monongahela but did so only for a couple of months. On January 1, 1863 TenBroeck broke ground for a new church which he had planted along the Ohio River, St. Stephen’s - Sewickley. Thereafter he came to Monongahela only once a month. Later in 1863 when the Monongahela Mission was organized into St. Paul’s Church, TenBroeck left to serve at Sewickley full-time.

The Reverend TenBroeck reported of his activities during his short time here to the Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylvania: TenBroeck did present those seven candidates, St. Paul’s first confirmands, to the Right Reverend William Bacon Stevens (seen here), Suffragan Bishop of Pennsylvania, during St. Paul’s fist episcopal visitation in 1862.

In 1865, Tenbroeck was ordained priest in Pittsburgh but soon thereafter returned to the west. He served parishes throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota, and was an influential figure in both dioceses. In 1892, TenBroeck accepted the position of Professor of Church History and Polity and Canon Law at Seabury Divinity School in Fairbault, Minnesota. In 1903 he was awarded, by Seabury, a Doctor of Divinity degree. The Reverend William Pray TenBroeck died on October 12, 1913, he was survived by four sons, three of which were priests in the Protestant Episcopal Church.

It was said of Rev. TenBroeck “He was a forceful speaker and an eloquent preacher, and as a parish priest became the confidant of all his parishioners and held their affections long after his pastorate ceased.”

Many thanks go to Jamie Mair of Christ Church in Woodbury, Minnesota who scoured the parish archives and provided us with TenBroeck’s photograph and obituary.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Confederate Connection


It seems that almost everything in the church here has a dedication on it. Some of these names we see every Sunday, like those on the stained-glass windows, and they should serve for us as reminders of the “great cloud of witnesses” that have gone before us at St. Paul’s. We will learn more about many of these people in the coming weeks.

In the 1970’s, the largest, and most mysterious, of these dedication plaques was removed as part of the church renovations. Many may remember the dark wainscoting that once lined the chancel around the altar as well as the large wooden plaques that ran the length of both walls and read “To the Glory of God and in Memory of William Parkinson McLure: Entered into Rest April, 1863.” The strange thing is, we have no record of a McLure family ever attending St. Paul’s. There were, however, many Parkinsons who did. These Parkinsons were the descendants of the first settlers of Monongahela City (once called Parkinson’s Ferry). Some searching revealed that a member of this family, Margaret Parkinson, married William McLure of Forward Township in 1833, and moved west to Missouri, eventually settling in St. Louis. Although northern by birth, Margaret McLure, like many of St. Paul’s original parishioners, was southern in sympathy during the years of the Civil War. She became noted in St. Louis, which found itself situated right on the border of the two conflicting halves of our country, for aiding the escape of Confederate prisoners and delivering messages across enemy lines. At one point she was arrested and spent time in a military prison. Eventually she was loaded on a boat and sent down the Mississippi River, having been banished to the Confederacy.

Now, Mrs. McLure had a son whom she named after her father, William Parkinson. He was born in Missouri, but eventually travelled even further west. He became one of the first postmasters of Denver, Colorado, despite being a rather rough character (he often engaged in duels and once barricaded himself in the post office to evade the police). When the war broke out, William Parkinson McLure, and some others tried to win the Territory of Colorado to the Confederate cause, but failing, travelled back east to join the fighting. McLure became a captain in the 1st Missouri Cavalry, a Confederate Regiment which saw most of its action making raids on pro-Union towns and military posts in Missouri. Early in the war he was captured and spent a year in the Delaware Island Prison in Ohio. He later rejoined his regiment only to be killed in battle in April, 1863. While records are unclear about the location of his death, his Division fought in only one battle that month, a small skirmish at the town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. (The account of the battle as reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer is seen here.)

Captain McLure’s mother, Margaret, returned to St. Louis after the war and remained active in southern causes. She helped found the United Daughters of the Confederacy as well as the Missouri Home for Indigent Confederate Veterans. One of her favorite causes though was promoting the memory of her son. She financed the dedication of several things in his honor, one of which was likely the interior of the chancel of the new St. Paul’s Church being built back in her hometown, Monongahela City.