Voted: That the Rev. Mr. Wheaton be requested to deliver a sermon, as soon as possible, on the subject of the proposed plan for promoting the subscription for raising a permanent fund for the better support of the Church.

February 7, 1811. Voted: That the Wardens be a committee to wait upon Mr. Neupeau and acquaint him that the congregation will employ him as organist on the commencement of Easter, provided he qualifies himself to officiate as such by that time, allowing him the same annual compensation as was paid to Mr. Berkenhead.

[Mr. Samuel Whitehorne had heard of Mr. N'Pau in Philadelphia, as a person who might fill the position of organist, and who, on learning that the Vestry were disposed to give him a trial, wrote to the Senior Warden, as follows. For some reason, probably a want of proper qualifications, he was never appointed as organist. The letter is without date :]

Sir: I thank you for your kind advice of becoming an organist in the Trinity Church at next Easter. I resolved therefore to accept the kind offer of the Vestry of the Trinity Church, if those gentlemen find me qualified for it.

I therefore request you, sir, to inform those gentlemen that I wish very much that they would be very strict in their vote. And should any person of this town be better qualified to it than I, that I should rather prefer to give to real merit the preference, than to take my own advantage.

I am with respect your Obt. Servt,

FRED. N'PAU.

April 1, 1811. Voted: That the custom of carrying around the box every Sunday, immediately after the sermon, be discontinued, and in lieu thereof it be carried round on the last Sunday in every quarter.

CHAPTER XIX.

1811-1817.

EASTER MONDAY, April 15, 1811.

Samuel Whitehorne elected Senior Warden, and Edward Easton, Junior Warden.

Vestrymen: Francis Brinley, Saunders Malbone, Benj. Gardiner, Henry Sherburne, Wm. Crooke, William Littlefield, Robt. N. Auchmuty, Benj. B. Mumford, Simeon Martin, John P. Mann, John Wood, Edward Brinley, Samuel Whitehorne, Stephen T. Northam, Edward Easton.

Benj. B. Mumford, Clerk of the Vestry, Uriah Gorton, Sexton. Voted that the salary of the clerk be fifty dollars per annum, and that of the sexton be thirty-nine dollars.

Voted that Messrs. Brinley, Auchmuty, Gardiner, Crooke, Martin and Whitehorne be delegates to the State Convention. The tax was to continue the same.

The Vestry were authorized and empowered to select and appoint a clerk for the ensuing year.

Voted that Messrs. Mumford, Thos. Handy and John G. Whitehorne be a committee to inquire whether ten scholars can be obtained, and if attainable, the committee to write to Mrs. Clarke, at New York, and propose to her to be the organist of the Church, stating to her the amount of salary (being one hundred and ten dollars) the Church is willing to give.

Voted that the grateful thanks of this congregation be made to Levi Tower and Samuel O. Auchmuty, Esquires, for their services under the Church, the past year, and that they be requested to con

tinue the same until the committee hear from Mrs. Clarke, at New York.

At this meeting the following note from Mr. John Bours,258 a member of the Vestry, was read:

"Mr. Bours presents his best and most affectionate regards to the Rev. Mr. Wheaton, Rector, and to the Wardens and Vestry of Trinity Church, and requests that he may not be re-elected at the choice of Church officers, on Easter Monday next, as the infirmities incident to his period of life, added to very ill health, render him utterly unable longer to discharge his duty as a member of the Vestry.

Newport, April 13, 1811."

June 11, 1811. Voted: that Thomas H. Mumford be and he is hereby appointed clerk of the Church for the remaining part of the year, at the rate of $50 per annum.

July 2, 1811. Voted: that Mr. Manchester be instructed one quarter, by Miss Towle, at the expense of the Church, and that the Wardens pay the same.

258 There had been no more prominent and efficient layman in the Church, for a period of forty-six years, than Mr. Bours; and there is abundant evidence in the records that he was an exemplary Christian. It has been said that he was the leader of those who were opposed to Rev. James Sayre. The writer at one time entertained the same views, but he is now constrained to say there is no warrant for it. From what has since been brought to light in regard to the character of Rev. Mr. Sayre, it is evident that his mind was then diseased, and it is known that he was insane at the time of his death.

At the time of these troubles in the Church, Mr. Bours was clerk of the Vestry, and it is to his credit that there does not appear on the records any evidence of any misunderstanding between the pastor and the people.

That Mr. Bours led a godly life we may reasonably believe, for had it been otherwise the congregation would not have urged him to take orders and become their settled minister. He died July 26, 1815, in his 81st year.

August 5, 1811. Voted: that the Wardens wait upon Samuel O. Auchmuty, Esq., and make him the grateful thanks of this Vestry for his past favors, and request him as a particular favor conferred upon them, to officiate upon the organ until a permanent organist can be obtained, and that he be requested to accept the salary assigned to the organist.

August 19, 1811. Voted: that the resignation of Thomas H. Mumford be accepted as clerk of the Vestry.

Voted that Captain Easton be authorized to wait upon Levi Tower, and request him to set the psalms until an organist can be procured.

September 2, 1811. Voted: that Mr. Tower be requested to set the psalms in his pew, and that he be allowed and paid at the rate of $55 per annum for the time he may serve.

October 13, 1811. Married, at Trinity Church, by Rev. Dr. Dehon, Thomas William Moore. [His Britannic Majesty's Vice Consul at Philadelphia, to Mary, daughter of George Gibbs. She died October 14, 1813.]

November 11, 1811.

Whereas, Mr. Mallet, an organist from Boston, has been recommended to the Vestry as a gentleman well qualified to officiate in the Church, and whereas, the Easter meeting restricted the salary of the organist to $110, voted: that Colonel Sherburne, be, and he is hereby authorized, to write to Mr. Mallet and acquaint him that the salary cannot be exceeded by the Vestry, but a number of gentlemen will make up that salary to $133, equal to £30 sterling.

Voted that notice be given in the next Newport Mercury, by the Senior Warden, to the proprietors or owners of pews in the Church, unless they pay up the taxes and assessments now due, they [the pews] will be sold by public auction, agreeably to the law in such cases made and provided.

At a meeting of the congregation, held at the Church, December

16, 1811. Voted: that the report of the committee appointed for the purpose of obtaining subscribers for the fund of the Church be received, and that the subscription paper, with the report, be recorded verbatim in the Church record book.

Voted that the congregation present to the Bishop of the Diocese $100, and that a collection be made in Church on Sunday next for that purpose; and if the above sum is not collected, that the balance be raised by subscription.

REPORT.

We, the undersigned, being appointed a committee by the congregation of Trinity Church, on the 9th of December, 1810, for the purpose of raising by subscription the sum of $6000, to be appropriated for a permanent fund, beg leave to report: that we have by our united endeavors accomplished the desirable end proposed, and are happy to state that the sum of six thousand and fifty dollars is now subscribed for the aforesaid, and that the subscription was completed on the 5th day of December, instant. All of which is respectfully submitted by

Whereas, it appears by the report of Benjamin Gardiner, Simeon Martin, Thomas Handy and Stephen T. Northam, a committee appointed by the congregation, December 9th, 1810, to solicit subscriptions for raising a permanent fund for the better support of the Church, that they have accomplished that desirable object, by obtaining subscriptions to the amount of $6050, being the amount