All Saints Episcopal Church
A History
Compiled By John Messimer
In Brooklyn, Episcopalians began having private small group prayer
meetings in 1850 and a mission was established in 1852.
All Saint’s
congregation was established in 1858, with the first meeting of the vestry in
Felt’s Hall across the street on School Street. The cornerstone for the
building laid on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1860, which is said to contain
gold, newspaper articles and other memorabilia, and construction completed in
1862. In an article by the Rev. W. R. Blatchford from November 9, 1905 he
states, “In due time the corner stone of this very ecclesiastical building, a
veritable house of God, was laid on June 26th 1860, 45 years ago.
The clergy vested for the occasion in the chapel over the furniture store,
first held a service, and then marched in procession to the church lot where
amid appropriate ceremonies; Mr. A.P. Cook officially declared the stone truly
and well laid. The clergy present included Rev. William Lyster and Bishop
McCoskry”.
Evidently there is
some confusion about when the cornerstone was placed. It seems the cornerstone
was placed in December and consecrated in June.
At the first
meeting of the vestry the name of the church was to be St. Gabriel’s Church.
When the congregation presented the official documents to the diocese, the name
decidedly was All Saints.
Plans for the
church were secured and the erection begun, with the contract for masonry
awarded to Mr. Lew Greenman the foremost mason of the time. The contract for
the carpentry work was awarded to a Frenchman by the name of Oliver P. Stone.
Mr. Stone was regarded as a master carpenter, who could not read or write but
his aptitude for working plans was extraordinary. Mr. Stone used his
carpenter’s square to “reckon” figures in some unaccountable way. Mr. Stone did
the carvings on the main altar and inscriptions. He also built the two
sanctuary chairs and the altar rail.
Mr. Stone was not a
learned man but his mastery with the steel square is also evident in the wood
roof trusses. It is said Oliver could operate with or without his flask by his
side but traditions says tolerably better “with”.
Mister Addison
Porter Cook a local businessman donated the lumber and part of the property.
Mr. Cook was the first Senior Warden of All Saint’s and served for the first 30
years. A plaque commemorates Mr. Cook’s service behind the pulpit.
The architect of
the building was Mr. Lloyd, from Detroit, a friend of A.P. Cook. Mr. Lloyd
provided the plans and came to Brooklyn several times to oversee the progress
of the work.
The land was said
to have been used as a carnival ground for the village. Much of the money was
raised to build the Church from the Ladies’ Aid Society. The estimated cost of
the whole building including the land was valued at about $5000. The actual
cost in dollars was about half of that as most of the labor was donated as well
as half of the land.
The brick used to
build All Saints was a soft brick because the people weren’t sure if the center
of the community would by Brooklyn or Cambridge Junction and the population
would move to the south and All Saint’s become unused and possibly demolished.
Considering the location of the crossroads of “The Old Sauk Trail” or U.S. 12
and the intersecting M-50 it was assumed the population center might be at
Cambridge Junction and not Brooklyn.
With the advent of
the railroad that idea was put to rest and Brooklyn became the commercial
center of the area.
The first rafters
erected were the pair at the West End of the building and as they were raised
an American flag was place at the peak. The crowd assembled to watch the
raising shouted “hurrah” as the flag waved in the air. It is said that a Mr. B.
Thompson’s parrot upon hearing the “hurrah” could not be silenced for the rest
of the summer after hearing the cry.
One accident
occurred during construction, when Mr. Mack fell from the roof landing on a
heap of stones and was rendered unconscious for a time. He was carried home on
a shutter.
The building was
formally opened on April 4, 1862, although the roof was not finished and the
windows not installed.
During one service
a donkey stuck its head through one of the window openings, bringing laughter
to the congregation.
A young couple, a
Mr. Culver and Betty Clark wishing to be married in the Church three months
before the floor was completely installed, thought better of the idea when it
was mentioned that the bride and wedding party could end up in the basement!
Rev. Lyster had suggested that boards be placed on the floor joists in the
alley of the nave and the ceremony take place before the altar.
The couple
ultimately was married in Rev. Lyster’s residence.
The first marriage
performed was the wedding of Mr. Brown and Miss Hattie Pierce. The first
baptismal service was performed for Jennie Bertram, Dr. Crowell, and Reid
Crowell. The first organist was Mary Keith.
The Civil war saw
many men from Brooklyn serving and lack of labor delayed the building. The
lumber used was native timber said to be butternut, ash, maple and oak. The
lumber was milled at the south woods on
County
Line Road off Brooklyn Road. The plaster heads on either side of the Church
were a part of the architectural design at the time. I cannot find any
description of the heads or whom they represent.
The construction of
the All Saint’s building was inspired by English and Irish country churches,
with the unique church “porch” on the side.
The original roof
was slate and was replaced in 2002, also with slate. The design and pattern
followed the original roof design. The slate roof was installed by Castle
Construction, owned by Mr. Kraig Hardcastle.
All Saints was
founded along with other churches in the area along US 12 or the Old Sauk Trail
under the untiring leadership of our first pastor the Rev. William Narcissus
Lyster.
William Lyster was
born in Ireland in 1805 and graduated from Trinity College in 1822 at the age
of 21 with a BA degree and ordained a deacon. Between 1822 and 1830 he preached
in Ireland and made a trip to America preaching in Cleveland and Detroit which
had a population of 2000 at the time. In 1830 he became rector of Trinity
Church in Cleveland after being ordained a priest in Ireland.
He was asked by the
bishop of Michigan to be a missionary to the wild south of this state and he
established his first church in Tecumseh, St. Peter’s Church in 1833 laying the
cornerstone in 1832.
Between 1832 and
1836 he preached and conducted services throughout the Irish Hills, a name for the
area attributed to Rev. Lyster as he said “these hills remind me of my native
homeland”.
Rev. Lyster
established Grace Church Jonesville in 1836, which he built with his own money,
Christ Church Adrian in 1838, St. Michael and All Angel’s in Cambridge Junction
in 1843, St. John’s Clinton in 1856 also build with his own money, All Saint’s
Brooklyn in 1858, St. Peter’s in Hillsdale in 1859, served Trinity Church in
Marshall in 1840, held the first communion service in Albion, and preached in Homer
every 3rd Sunday.
In 1841 he preached
140 sermons! He preached in Albion, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, Monroe, Waterloo,
Eckford, Flat Rock, Jackson and Detroit. Springville, Manchester and Iron
Creek.
A typical year in
the “Lenawee Mission” was 142 services conducted, 2440 miles covered and
between 20-200 communicants at each service.
Remember that this is all on horseback!
One Sunday he said
in his journal that he “walked on a snowy Sunday morning to Tecumseh and held
the 10:30 service, dined, rode to Adrian for an afternoon service and returned
home unfatigued.”
Rev. Lyster owned
1000 acres on the shores of Angel’s Lake now called Sand Lake. When he came to
America, he had much of his own wealth, as his
family had
significant land holdings in Ireland. Throughout his ministry however, the
funds ran low and he did pursue donations on a national level with
contributions from President Andrew Jackson, Senator Henry Clay and Senator
Daniel Webster.
He borrowed money,
pledging his inherited land near Cleveland and evidently selling off some of
the 1000 acres on Sand Lake as later the land is referred to about 700 acres.
Rev. Lyster retired
in 1870, died in 1877 at the age of 72. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in
Detroit on the family plot. A window on the South wall of the nave shows the
headstone at Elmwood.
The windows help
tell the history of All Saints.
The window at the
back of the nave was dedicated to the Addison Porter Cook family on Trinity
Sunday 1862. The message taken from
Ephesians 4:5 can only be read from the outside,
“There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and father of all”. The
baptismal font in the window is still used. The Cook family was also
instrumental in the formation of St. Michael’s and All Angel’s Church at Cambridge
Junction.
At the same time
the Lyster family dedicated a window to Mrs. Lyster who died in Georgetown,
Washington, DC where she had gone to care for her son, a soldier in the Civil
War. The Lyster coat of arms face what was once the family pew in the extreme
right front or Epistle side of the church and display the shamrock indicating
their Irish heritage and “the harp that once through Tara’s halls” was played.
The window behind
the altar was dedicated at Rev. Lyster’s death in 1877 and shows the entire
grouping of the Gospels.
The organ was
donated by Mr. and Mrs. C.F. York in 1921 and was used until 1962 when a 4 rank
pipe organ was purchased. The 1921 organ was a pump style and later electrified
about 1952 or so. The first pipe organ was 4 ranks and built in 1962 by
Bentschnieder of Napoleon. The present organ is a 9 rank pipe organ build by
the Fowler Organ Co. of Lansing and installed in 2003.
In 1903 a portable
organ was purchased by “Daughter’s of the King”, a young ladies society of the
church. There is no history of musical instruments before this time such as a
piano, or other instruments in the records.
The Guild Society
was formed on May 8, 1890 composed of the younger ladies of the Parish. They
raised $1800 for the placement of a pipe organ.
The original altar
rail is still being used as well as the butternut pews, which were not made for
modern builds
The chancel lights
are a memorial to my mother; Evelyn Messimer installed in 1966. The original
chancel lights are now in the “Jesse James” room of the Golden Nugget
Restaurant on U.S. 12.
Foster Hall, named
for beloved rector, the Rev. Thomas Foster, was built and dedicated in 1957-58.
The parish hall was built in 1974 replacing the old one, which was built in
1904.
Twenty five priests
have served the Parish as rector; the longest serving was the Rev. Dr. Richard
Wilds for 25 years. The longest serving
Deacon was the Rev. Reginald Angus for 30 years. Rev. Lyster served the area
churches from 1833-1870. Two priests served for two different time periods;
Rev. Charles Ramsay in 1931 and 1943-1944 as a supply priest and Rev. Frank
Ireland 1939-1942 and 1944-1948 as rector.
The congregation
has had between 25 and 140 families as members over the years. The highs are
reached when a full-time resident clergy is present and the lows, when supply
clergy is used.
Many supply clergy
have served at All Saints during the interim between rectors and most recently
with the leaving of The Rev. Dr. Leslie Muray in 2001.
These include: The
Revs. Paul Hymia, Debra Semon-Scott,
Richard Singleton, Robert Walton, Ben Baldus (ELCA), Lew Towler, Sandra
Benes, Gary Fertig.
All Saints Rectors
Rev. William N.
Lyster
1858-1870
Rev. S.W. Frisbie
1870-1874
Rev. A.J. Morton
1874-1878
Rev. J.H. Eichbaum
1878-1883
Rev. Henry Hughes
1883-1886
Rev. A.P. Flower
1886-1889
Rev. J.H. Eichbaum
1889-1901
Rev. W.R.
Blatchford
1901-1909
Rev. Rev. A.
Kinney Hall
1909-1910
Rev. Harvey
Kerstetter
1910-
1911
Rev. Joseph T.
Ewing
1912-1920
Rev. George
Backhurst
1920-1923
Rev. Alfred Shaw
1923-1926
Rev. John James
Preston
1927-1930
Rev. Thomas Wright
1930-1932
Rev.
Eric Eastman
1936-1938
Rev. Frank Ireland
1939-1942 and 1945-1948
Rev. M.H. Hopson
1942-1943
Rev. Arthur
Parcells
1948-1951
Rev. Thomas Foster
1951-1958
Rev. Robert
Willoughby 1962-1969
Rev. Dr. Richard
Wilds 1969-1993
Rev. Clyde Elledge
1995-1996
Rev. Dr. Leslie
Muray
1997-2001
