![]() ![]() ![]() John's, with fire consuming much of the church's wooden interior. Soon after the close of the Civil War, however, disaster struck St. John's were highlighted most notably by the marriage of prominent Cleveland politician Marcus Hanna to Charlotte Rhodes in 1864. ![]() For the poor, the sick, and needy, the orphan, the friendless her heart poured out its sympathy and love in words and works which made her beloved as falls to the lot of but few." While the church's official position regarding slavery may have been one of indifference, it does not seem likely that individuals such as the Chapmans would have been able to ignore moral issues of secular nature like slavery, a notion supported by the many reports of St. Equally involved in the church, she was described as a woman whose "whole life had been one of active beneficence. Or it may have been Chapman's wife Eliza. Foote along with fellow church founder and "colonizationist" Josiah Barber. Perhaps it was founding member and longtime vestryman George Lord Chapman, who was friends with outspoken abolitionist John A. If the church did not take an abolitionist stance, it begs the question of who aided the fugitives. However, some doubt is cast on these claims since they are not definitively documented and because on the national level the Episcopal Church was one of the few Protestant denominations that did not split between North and South over the issue of slavery. Leaving the church, runaways would venture to the lakeshore where they boarded steamships bound for Canada. According to these reports, slaves hid in the church's bell tower and watched for signals from the lake telling them that it was safe to embark on the final leg of their journey towards freedom. John's served as a stop-it was dubbed "Station Hope"- on the Underground Railroad in the years leading up to the Civil War. Under Eldredge's direction, construction commenced on July 2, 1836, with Bishop Charles McIlvaine laying the cornerstone on Church Avenue near West 26th Street. John's included Ohio City pioneers Josiah Barber and George Lord Chapman, along with prominent architect Hezekiah Eldredge, who was responsible for overseeing the construction of the new church building. At that time a number of families who attended Trinity chose not to follow the church eastward and instead held services informally before establishing their own church, St. Originally founded as Trinity Church in Old Brooklyn in 1816, Trinity remained a west side congregation until 1826, when church leaders decided to relocate to the east side of the Cuyahoga River near Public Square. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |