maintenance of a minister amongst us, that is to say an orthodox minister.

From the following document it appears that the town had not succeeded in procuring a minister, for May the 11th, 1671, at a court of assembly held at Hartford, Capt. Nathan Gold, Thomas Fitch, Mr. Holly, Lt. Richard Olmstead, and Mr. John Barr, they, or any three of them, are desired to repair to the said Rye, as soon as may be, and to endeavor a comfortable composure and issue of such differences as are among the people there, and to use their endeavors in the procuring of an able and orthodox minister to settle in that place, and if the people of Rye shall not concur with their endeavors in proctiring a minister and comfortably settling of him in the plantation of Rye, then the court doth empower the aforesaid committe to agree with a suitable man for that work in that place, and to agree with him for mayntenance to the value of £40 per annum, which the treasurer, by warrant to the constable of said Rye, shall order for the gathering and payment thereof with the county rate.a

October 8th, 1674. The general court again empowers Captain John Allyn, Mr. James Bishop, Major Robert Treat with Mr. Gold, "to endeavor also the obliging and settling of a minister at Rye."b

At a court holden at Hartford, May 17th, 1675, Major Nathan Gold, Major Robert Treat, and Mr. Jehu Burr were nominated and appointed a committee to treat with the inhabitants of Rye and those concerned in lands there, and labor to accommodate matters, as that there may be suitable encouragement for Mr. Prudden to settle in the ministry, and such other suitable inhabitants with him as may promote the settlement of said town of Rye and the ministry therein; and if they shall find any averseness or difficulty with the inhabitants or proprietors in so just and necessary publique good of the town, they are empowered to doe what they see meet for the end aforesaid, and make reports to the court in October next, for approbation; and for the encouragement of the ministry at Rye, this court, for this year,

a Hart. Col. Rec. vol. iii. 12.

b Hart. Col. Rec. vol. iii. 53.

grants them a penny of the pound upon all the ratable estate of their town, to be payd out of their country rate, and shall be ready as need requires to continue such necessary encouragement as they shall judge suitable.a

Upon the 27th May, 1675, the town orders that the home lot of Peter Disbrow, adjoining Timothy Knapp, be taken by the town in exchange for the land by the Blind brook, south of Jacob Bridge's. The above lot to be for Mr. Peter Prudden for a parsonage lot; if not thus disposed of, this agreement to be void. February 26, 1676. The town released Peter Disbrow's lot,

and cancels the above agreement.

February 26th, 1677. John Brundige and John Purdy are empowered to sell the frame intended for a parsonage house.

The same year the Rev. Thomas Denham appears to have been minister here, for, June 15, a house lot is ordered for Mr. Thomas Denham, and on November the 22d, we find the same individual admitted an inhabitant of the town of Rye. June 21 1678, Mr. Thomas Denham is to have all the grass on the highway at the old town, besides an equal share with the proprietors of Poningoe neck.

March 5th, 1679. 50 poles of land lying before his door, toward the brook, are granted to Mr. Thomas Denham, and the ensuing year he is to have all the grass in the highway at the first of the old town lots; also £30 allowed for his maintenance. The general court of Connecticut, October 14th, 1680, ordered that thirty pounds per annum agreed by Rye to be paid to the minister, Mr. Denham, shall be gathered by the constable with the country rate, in the same specie and prices as the country rate, and by him to be paid to the said minister.b A.D. 1682, the town confirms the sum of £30 as salary to Mr. Denham, and orders the same to be paid in provisions.

The historian Trumbull informs us that about the year 1688, the Rev. John Bowers removed from Derby and settled at Rye.c April 22d, 1690, Captain Horton, Joseph Theall, and John

a Hart. Col. Rec. vol. iii. 59.

• Trumbull's Hist. Conn. p. 523.

Hart. Col. Rec. vol. iii. 59.

Brondig are chosen by the town to procure a minister, and, if possible, a schoolmaster.

27th June, 1693. Hacaliah Brown, George Lane, and Timothy Knapp were added to the above committee to procure a minister as soon as possible.

February 26th, 1694, it is ordered that the townsman make a rate to defray the expense of repairing the parsonage house. 22d July, 1697; Captain Theal, Hachaliah Brown, George Lane, and Thomas Merritt are chosen by vote for the procuring of a minister for the town of Rye.

Colonel Caleb Heathcote writing to the secretary of the Propagation Society in 1705, observes, "that there is no parish in the government but what is able to pay twice as much as they do. For Rye parish, which is not by one-half so large as the least parish established by law in the government here, since my living here, maintained two dissenting ministers, viz. one at Rye and Mamaroneck, and one at Bedford, and gave the former £50, and the latter £40, a year.”

."a

A LIST OF MINISTERS OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, RYE.

Christ Church, Rye, is agreeably situated upon rising ground, overlooking the village and vale of Blind brook.

The building itself is a plain edifice of wood, surmounted with an embattled tower, and a small vestry-room attached to the

rear.

See Scarsdale, for Heathcote's letter.

Its interior consists of the nave, two aisles, gallery and chancel. On the north side of the latter there is a neat monumental tablet, erected

Rector

of Christ Church at Rye,

A native of Enniskillen,
Ireland.

Ordained April, 1820,

Appointed to the charge of this Parish,

September, 1823,

Died August 26, 1830.

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright,
for the end of that man is peace."-Psalm xxxvii. v. 37.

Erected by his affectionate

Widow.

His remains are interred in the village cemetery. Beneath the floor of the church lie pillowed in the darkness of the grave several of the early rectors.

The present building was erected at a cost of $5500, in the year 1788, upon the site of the old stone edifice called Grace

church.

It was designed at first to have erected a steeple in place of the present tower, as appears by an act of the vestry, dated Sept. 17, 1791.

"Wherein it was ordered to remove the work projected for a steeple on the top of the roof, at the west end."

Anna Regi

The Queen's paten and chalice.

Belonging to this church is a silver paten and chalice presented by her Majesty Queen Anne, A. D. 1706.

These articles have been used in the administration of the holy sacrament nearly one century and a half. The royal donation originally consisted, (together with the above,) of a large church bible, common prayer book, book of homilies, cloth for the pulpit, and a communion table.

Upon two copper alms bowls are inscribed, "Presented to Christ Church at Rye, by James Meadows, 1769."

Besides a fine toned bell the church contains a neat organ.

The first notice of this parish occurs in the two acts passed by the Assembly of New York in 1693 and 1697.

The first entitled "An act for settling a ministry and raising a maintenance for them in the city of New York, and counties of Richmond, Westchester, and Queens."

The second ordered, "That there shall be called, inducted and established a good sufficient Protestant minister to officiate and have the cure of souls within one year next ensuing, and after the publication hereof. In the county of Westchester two; one to have the cure of souls within Westchester, &c.; the other to have the cure of Rye, Mamaroneck and Bedford."a

a Acts of Assembly, Pro. of N. Y. 1691 to 1725, p. 23.