As you may recall last month I wrote Part I of a two part series on the former Calgary Protestant Episcopal Church in Townville, PA.
As mentioned in Part I the CPE Church in Townville was admitted to convention in the Diocese of Pittsburgh on June 15, 1870. Bishop Kerfoot, who was the Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh at the time, appointed Rev. G. W. Lewis of Corry to take charge of the CPE. He traveled by train to Tryonville and was met by some members of Mr. Rose's family. Rev. Lewis held services on Thursday evenings twice a month. After Rev. Lewis no longer provided services, there was a lengthy list of ministers who conducted services on occasion i.e. Rev. Henry Purdon, who was Rector at St. James from 1862-1898! There were a few years when no minister was available to conduct services. In order to keep the doors open to the Church, the attention focused on Sunday School work. During the Christmas season of 1864 a Christmas tree was displayed in the vestry room. Many of the presents were handmade by Mrs. Eliza Rose and her daughters. In 1910 the Diocese of Erie was established. Roger Isreal, former rector at Meadville was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Erie. Bishop Isreal was very interested in the CPE Church. In 1914 Rev. Albert Broadhurst, Rector of St. James in Titusville, supplied services on Sunday afternoons at CPE. Rev. Broadhurst was accompanied by the choir from St. James as well as several parishioners who supplied transportation for the choir. Upon Rev. Broadhurst's retirement from St. James in 1947, he moved near Townville and continued to serve CPE on Sunday evenings during the summer months. Rev. Broadhurst died in 1966. The information I have states that no services were held at CPE after Rev. Broadhurst's death. I discovered through conversations with Eda Scales and Vic Kinnunen there were services held at CPE after the death of Rev. Broadhurst. Vic recalled two Episcopal ministers from Christ E piscopal Church in Meadville provided services on occasion at CPE. In fact, Vic filled in for one of the ministers at CPE when the assigned minister was not available for the scheduled service. Here is some additional information about items in the CPE and whom they are in memory of. The Baptismal Font is in memory of Rev. S. Lord, who was a minister from the Meadville Episcopal Church. The Deacon Bench is in memory of Peter Rose, who was Sr. Warden from 1867-1882. There is a kneeler in front of the church in memory of Eliza Rose wife of Peter Rose. The altar was dedicated in memory of Rev. Maycock in 1884. He provided services at CPE. There are several stain glass windows in the church. One of the windows was given by St. Stephens S.S. in New Hartford, NY. Another one of the windows is in memory of Ann T. Costa given by the Girls of the S.S. of Christ Church, Philadelphia, PA. There is letter in the Narthex from the PA Historical & Museum Commission that states the church and its contents have been evaluated by the staff and determined worthy of inclusion as a historic place. The letter was addressed to the then owners of the CPE Mr. and Mrs. James Gillette, Freemont St., Townville. The Gillette's lived next to the church for several years. The church has been owned by a few Townville families. The current owners are Wilbur & Gladys Graybill. A note of interest re: the graveyard at CPE. When I first began my work there, you could not read the names, dates of birth & death of those buried there. You can now read the information on each headstone. With the help from a couple friends we cleaned-up around the headstones, raked leaves, used a chain saw to cut limbs, etc. Even though the cemetery is small it looks respectful and peaceful. As I went about my work at the CPE, I couldn't help but think of those faithful parishioners who are buried there. Comments are closed.
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