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EPISCOPAL CHURCH
In the year 1834 a few persons, numbering about
twenty-four, belonging to the Episcopal Church, living in Hamilton and
the vicinity, united and formed themselves into a congregation, and on
the 13th of August, 1834, an election was held, which resulted in the
choice of William A. Krugg and Isaac Howe wardens;
James Reily, George Keck, and Frederick P. Narden,
vestrymen; and William Gr. Fields register. At the same meeting
James Reily was appointed a committee to solicit the
Legislature to grant a charter incorporating the society ; and in
March, 1835, the Legislature passed a law, by which William A.
Krugg, Isaac Howe, Frederick P. Narden, George and James Reily
were incorporated under the name of "The Wardens and Vestrymen of the
parish of St. Matthew's Church, in the town of Hamilton and
Rossville."
The society purchased the north part of lot No. 82, at
the intersection of Front and Basin Streets, in the town of Hamilton,
and made arrangements for the erection of a house of public worship.
Lewis D. Campbell, William A. Krugg, George Keck,
Frederick P. Narden, and Isaac Howe were appointed a
committee to superintend the building. The building of the church was
commenced in 1835. George Brown was the carpenter, and Isaac
Howe the bricklayer.
The church was situated on. the angling corner from the
south-west corner of the public square, and was a brick building,
sixty feet long on Basin Street, by forty feet wide on Front Street.
There was a basement story under the whole building, divided into
different apartments for vestry rooms and Sunday-schools.
The entrance to the church was from Front Street, by two doors on the
east, entering into a vestibule. The pulpit was on the west end of the
church. Two aisles ran the whole length of the church from east to
west, and the remainder of the floor was divided into fifty-four pews,
capable of seating five hundred persons. There was also a gallery and
seats for the choir on the east, and a cupola on the east end of the
church. It was a handsome and neat building. The cost of erecting the
church was $2,350, the amount being raised by subscription. The
members belonging to the society being few in number, they were aided
by those of other denominations, and the citizens generally.
The first rector of the Church was the Rev. Seth
Davis, who settled in Hamilton and commenced his duties in 1837.
The church was consecrated to the service of Almighty God by the
Right Reverend Charles P. Mclivaine, bishop
of the diocese of Ohio, on the 5th of October, 1837.
The Rev. Mr. Davis remained rector of the Church
until some time in the year 1839, when he was succeeded by the Rev.
Henry Paine, who remained until May, 1843, when he relinquished
his charge' and removed from Hamilton. The number of members belonging
to the Church at that time was about twenty-four.
The Church, however, was heavily in debt, and finally the building was
sold to the Catholics, who tore it down and erected a new church in
its stead, some of the walls of the old building, however, being still
preserved. The number of members was at all times small, and periods
of several months often passed without preaching. Latterly they bought
the Baptist Church on Third Street, near Dayton; but that, too, was
encumbered with a mortgage and was sold. The edifice has now been
altered for commercial uses. No meetings have lately been held.
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