History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog

120 History of Swansea
Benjamin H. Chase and John E. Gray, vestrymen.
The building committee charged with the erection of the
first church were John E. Gray, John A. Wood and Wm.
Pearse. The Ladies Society was organized July 8, 1846.
The services of the church were held at first in the Union
meeting house.
The church edifice was built largely by subscriptions
taken outside of the community, and was consecrated the 2d
day of December, 1847, at 10 o'clock a. m., by the Rt. Rev.
Manton Eastburn of Massachusetts. There were present of
the clergy Rev. T. W. Snow, of Taunton ; James Henry Eames
and John B. Richmond, of Providence; Jas. Mulcahey, of
Portsmouth; Benjamin Watson, of Newport; and George W.
Hathaway, of Warren.
The building was a neat, wooden structure, of simple
Romanesque architecture, finished to the roof inside, had
about 200 sittings, and cost about $2,000.
The bell, which cost $163. was placed in the new sanctuary.
The old pipe organ, which was built to order, in 1867,
at a cost of $1,000 was given to St. Luke's mission. Fall River.
The font, of "Pictou stone," which was presented by the
ladies of St. Michael's church, Bristol, R. I., was presented to
St. John the Evangelist, a mission at Mansfield. The chancel
rail and the altar, which were a gift of the Rev. B. H. Chase,
were donated to St. Luke's mission, North Swansea.
"Five infants and two adults received baptism, and five
persons were confirmed during the time Mr. McCoy officiated
in this parish."
The first rector was Rev. John B. Richmond, of Providence,
R. I., who served from Jan, 1, 1848, till the 1st of
January, 1852. He was succeeded by Rev. Benjamin Austin,
who, at his request, was released from his engagement after
the 1st of November of the same year. About the beginning
of the year, 1853, Rev. Wm. Withington, of Boston, took
charge of the parish and remained until the first of January,
1856. He was succeeded by Rev. Wm. B. Colburn, of whose
term of service the records are not clear. Rev. N. Watson
Munroe was duly elected rector, March, 1859, and closed his
official relations with the parish, February, 1864. The church
was next served by Rev. A. F. Wylie, rector of the Church of
the Ascension, Fall River, and by his assistant. Rev. A. E.
Tortat, until April, 1868, when Rev. George Heaton, M. A.,
of Cambridge, England, became the resident minister, and
remained until August, 1869, when he resigned. In June,
1871, Rev. N. Watson Munroe resumed the care of the
parish, and remained rector until Easter Monday, 1877, when