Chapter VI STUDYING FOR THE MINISTRY Abbreviated and summarized text. I have the full text for those interested. that in ( ) ; my comments or more than likely ????s Philander's graduation occurred the summer before his twentieth birthday. Soon after this he attended a convention of a small number of churchmen of the west side of the Green Mountains in Arlington, Vermont. Here he learned that an English clergyman resided in Albany, New York, and,contrary to his friend's and his own expectations, finding that he might obtain the information that he desired in the mater of studying for the ministry, he continued his journey to that city. He had no letters of introduction, and when he arrived in Albany, the first city he had ever seen, he had but one crown in his pocket; neither had he ever seen a person who lived in this busy "terra incognito", which was only a terrible wilderness to this country boy, fresh from a New Hampshire farm; nor did he know where to look for the Rev. Thomas Ellison, of St. Peter's parish, Albany, whom he had come to see in this audacious manner. But as he naively says long years after; "I pressed fearlessly onward; God was with me, opening my way and directing my steps." ............. One may smile over this picture. No doubt this youth of nineteen or twenty, clad in homespun garments made by the hands of his mother and sisters, wore a rustic air of the hills and woods, but withal a countenance lighted by bright gray eyes, marked by keen intelligence, and cheeks flushed with the glow of early youth. .......... He soon received an appointment as a teacher in a city school, and free access to a well-known theological library, through the influence of his newly found friend. This was most remarkable privilege, for at that time there was no seminary for the training of candidates for the ministry in all this land. Mr. Ellison's influence not only provided young Philander with the means of living and books for his course of study, but gave him the opportunity of associating with a finished scholar and a clergyman of the Church of England. No doubt these very favorable circumstances had marked influence in forming this character of this peculiarly gifted young man. He soon found himself with friends, and very good and generous friends they were. It would seem, even at that early age, he captured friends without effort. It is probable that his earnestness of purpose and sincerity of faith gave to his manner an attractive absence of self-consciousness. The story goes on: "All denominations then met in one house [Troy, New York, 1795] and the afternoon of Sunday was assigned for the service of the Church. (by the "Church", note caps, we assume she means the Episcopal Church). The assembly was large and decorous; and though he was but the organ of others, (because he was not yet ordained he read "approved" sermons, etc.) he saw what opportunities God might give him for doing good when duly qualified and authorized to perform the sacred functions. This encouraged him to go on with confidence in the goodness of God" But some time previous he must have formed another tie, which in the summer of 1796 was made into an indissoluble bond by his marriage before his twenty-first birthday to Mary Fay, a young girl of sixteen, whom he met in Bethel, Vermont. His school in Albany, where he had a salary of four hundred dollars a year, was kept in Maiden Lane in an old Dutch house, in the rear of the mansion of Philip Van Rensselaer; and here the young wife joined him, and here in the following year their first son was born. (George) This early marriage, before his ordination, was no doubt considered by his elders most unwise and imprudent; and so it was in some respects, but after all it nerved his heart and hand to do all in his power to win the battle of life worthily, especially as the girl he had chosen was well-born and well-bred and ,as tradition declares was a beautiful, bright, and lovely girl. A story is told of this courtship, which is the only knowledge, or tradition, rather, of this early love story that remains. This young girl was the daughter of Daniel and Mary Page Fay, of Hardwich, Massachusetts, both of good family. The mother was a woman of fine presence, even in extreme old age. They had come to Vermont to improve their fortunes, but found "had times, " as most early settlers do. It seems that young Philander had consulted his father and mother concerning this new departure, and this led to a little journey, on the part of the Deacon, <so called by courtesy> and his wife from Cornish to Bethel. By this time, no doubt, there were good (?) roads all the way up the river to the junction of the White River with the Connecticut, and up the valley of the former to Bethel, and we may be sure that the old people had a comfortable "one hoss shay" and a strong horse to propel it. This visit from the parents of young Philander to those of his promised wife was unexpected by the latter; and as the resources of the family was small. Mrs. Fay, upon the arrival of her rather formidable quests <under such circumstances> labored under somewhat heavy difficulties, as dinner-time was close at hand. But she was a woman of resources and, while one side of her brain was engaged in giving a proper welcome to her guest, she was busily planing on the other side what she should get for dinner. There was no bread in the house, therefore she sent her small boy out to a neighbor and bide him borrow a pailful of flour. It was July, and as there were strawberries in the fields, another child was sent to pick them. There were green peas in the garden; another boy was sent on this errand, while she sat calmly down to entertain her friends, as she stirred a bowl of cream into golden butter. Meanwhile her husband killed a chicken, and in an hour there were hot "short biscuits," chicken fricassee, green peas, and strawberries, and strawberries and cream, -- a meal fit for a prince. The Deacon and his wife observed the spotless neatness of this home and concluded that all was well with their son, especially when they were introduced to the sweet young girl who had won the love of their youngest son, so dear to their hearts an so worthy of their best hopes. The young couple remained about a year after their marriage in the old Dutch house in Albany, while Philander taught his school boys and studied to prepare himself for ordination. This event was not delayed, for on the 10th of May, in the year of our Lord 1798, he was ordained to the diaconate in St. George's Church, New York, by the Rt. Rev.Samuel Provost, Bishop of New York, in company with the Rev. Robert Wetmore, who was ordained to the priesthood. Meanwhile the young wife had returned to her friends with her little son, and in the same summer another son was born in Bethel, Vermont, to whom was given his father's name. At the time of his ordination to the diaconate, this young man, Philander, lacked several months of his twenty-third birthday. A beautiful miniature of the young deacon, painted upon ivory, represents a bright, honest face, with brown hair and dark eyes, smiling yet sedate, and apparently looking out with youthful confidence upon life as it was to come, in what seemed endless years before him. He feared nothing then; no whisper came to him of the conflict of the future. End Chapter VI Harriet M.Chase hatchase@uswest.net

This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------8E400E97B4ACFA4AADB9EC47 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit For those paying close attention, when writing of Philander's inlaws; the word should be "hard" not "had". thank you again , Joe for pointing this out. Harriet --------------8E400E97B4ACFA4AADB9EC47 Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; name="hatchase.vcf" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Description: Card for Harriet May Chase Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="hatchase.vcf" begin:vcard n:CHASE;Harriet x-mozilla-html:TRUE adr:;;;;;; version:2.1 email;internet:hatchase@uswest.net note;quoted-printable:Norwich VT HATCHES=0D=0AMURDOCK BLAISDELL RICHARDS=0D=0AWEBLER fn:HATCH ing CHASE end:vcard --------------8E400E97B4ACFA4AADB9EC47--