St. James Episcopal Church

Perry Episcopal Church Had Humble Beginning

According to a brief history compiled by Major George Porter of this city, the first member of the Episcopalian denomination to come to this city, was Mrs. A. H. Seibert, who arrived here in 1903, the year Perry was incorporated as a city. Mr. Seibert was an official of the Suwannee and San Pedro Railroad – a name which has passed from the railroad scene in this part of the country.

By 1912 there were three Episcopalian families in Perry, and they began work toward the eventual establishment of a church. The very first Episcopal service held here was in this year at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. Lee Ensign, when Rev. Curtis Grubbs came from Live Oak for a Communion service. There were but 12 persons present at this meeting.

In 1914 the Right Rev. Edwin Gardner Weed, Bishop and Rev. Grubb came to Perry and surveyed the situation deciding that there was the possibility of establishing a church and while here they organized St. Paul Mission, with J. Lee Ensign as Senior Warden, Major George E. Porter as Junior Warden and Southron Duval as Secretary-Treasurer.

For the next five years, all services were held in the homes of members, and in 1919 a Confirmation class of nine was held in the Methodist Church building. At once following this service a congregational meeting was held and George Porter Jr., proposed that the name be changed to St. James Mission which was adopted and approved by Bishop Weed.

Until 1921 all meetings were held either in the Masonic Temple or the Presbyterian Church. During this time, a Rev. L. W. Dowd, who was an unusually good speaker and social worker, built the congregation up greatly. Rev. Douglas Hobbs came and during his pastorate the present building was erected. Rev. Carrol Lund Bates arrived to take charge in 1923 and soon had the church free of debt. The present building was dedicated by Right Rev. Frank A. Juhan, his first official act following his consecration in 1925.

In the 32 years which have followed that time, 11 consecrated men have been pastors, and in 1956 the church attained Parish status.

It was at this time that the present pastor, Rev. Wade B. Janeway came to St James Church and under his pastorate there has been a remarkable growth. At present there are 150 members anf the church sets in a grassy plot, surrounded by towering oaks and pines, which makes it one of the most attractive church buildings in the city.

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Our story starts in the year of our Lord 1900. At the turn of the twentieth century, Perry, Taylor County, Florida, was a wee village set in the midst of a virgin pine forest of nearly seven hundred thousand acres. As the crow flies it is approximately fifteen miles to the Gulf of Mexico. Along this Gulf coast of nearly sisty miles there were thousands upon thousands of acres of Gulf Red Cypress trees which science tells us were large trees at the time the Lord Jesus Christ was telling a few followers on Mount Olivet “AND YE SHALL BE WITNESS UNTO ME BOTH IN JERUSALEM, AND IN ALL JUDAEA, AND IN SAMARIA, AND UNTO THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH.” To anyone accustomed to urban life, Taylor County was the “UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH.” One could ride for miles and miles through this virgin forest and only see a clear space with a little log cabin occasionally. This was truly “GOD’S Country because man had little imprint upon this virgin unpeopled region.

Turpentine farms were established to extract the spirits from the pines. Saw mills were built to saw these long leaf pines into merchantable lumber. By 1912 the tonnage of lumber manufactured and the product of the turpentine stills attracted three railroads. This brought in people and the little village grew.

As the story of the Episcopal Church in Perry opens in 1912 three Episcopal families were then living here. The A. H. Sieberts were here because of the railroads; the J. Lee Ensigns were here to operate a saw mill and the Major George E. Porter operated the public utilities in furnishing electric lights and power, Ice and cold storage and the city water plant.

These families met together and decided to ask Bishop Edwin Gardner Weed for services. Rev. Curtis Grubb of Live Oak soon came over and the first service of Holy Communion was held in the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Lee Ensign. This Ensign home is the building now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Powell Puckett and family. Those present were Mr. and Mrs. Ensign, Mr. and Mrs. Seibert and son, Henry, and daughter June Etta, the now Mrs. Wilson T. Hendry, Major and Mrs. Porter and daughter Rie, now Mrs. J. L. Weeks, and Sallie, now Mrs. L. B. Clark. During this first year Mr. Seibert and the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Ensign were baptized by Rev. Curtis Grubb. This service of Holy Baptism was held in the Presbyterian Church. This service goes down in our history as the first Episcopal Service of Holy Baptism here. Rev. Mr. Grubb continued to hold services in the homes of the communicants at convenient intervals. During the second year, 1913, the Burton-Swartz Cypress Company moved their mill from Burton Louisiana to Perry and constructed the industrial center now used by The Lee Tidewater Cypress Company. The Burton-Swartz Company brought several Episcopal families and the Church became real active.

Early in 1914 Bishop Weed, accompanied by Rev. Curtis Grubb, came to Perry and called a congregational meeting. The Bishop saw quickly the earnestness of the little band and he appointed the first Mission Board of St. Paul’s Church in Perry as follows: Mr. J. Lee Ensign – Senior Warden, Major George E. Porter – Junior Warden, Mr. Southron R. Duval – Secy-Treas.

During the next two years services were held intermittently. Mr. Grubb, came over when he could and gave services. This period also marked the first resignations from the vestry. Mr. Ensign and Mr. Duval moved to other localities leaving Major Porter to hold the Vestry in all three parts. At this time something happened in the story of the Church in Perry that had far reaching results. It was a push that never lost its momentum. It was in 1916 that Miss Margaret Pierce, now Mrs. W. P. Stephens of Augusta, Georgia, came to Perry to teach in the Elementary School. Born and nurtured in the Church she got together with the Church families of the Seiberts, Porters, Scrugges, the Ben Ellises and the Graves of Springdale, and found ten Episcopal children. A Sunday School was launched in a ship that never leaked. This start was the beginning which has never missed a Sunday, winter and summer, from its first session. The first session was held in the home of Mrs. Ben Ellis. Mrs. A. H. Seibert was the organist for Church and Sunday School from the beginning. The home of Mrs. Ellis is now the residence of Miss Gladys Morse on west Green Street.

Sunday School and Church services were held during the next five or six years in private homes, in the Presbyterian Church, in the Princess Theater operated by Mrs. Mable Adams, now the Scales Insurance Agency, In the building occupied by Firestone Store at the present time, and finally the Masons of Perry Lodge #123 offered their lodge room over the Perry Banking Company for our Sunday School which was gladly accepted and used.

More members and friends were added to the Church and Bishop Weed saw that the work was getting too heavy for Mr. Grubb. Mr. Grubb was past the age of retirement but was carrying on anyway owing to his love for his fellowmen and his devotion to Almighty God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

But Bishop Weed saw that the work was becoming rather a drain on Mr. Grubb and he sent us Dr. L. W. Dowd in January of 1919. The harvest was white as prepared by Rev. Curtis Grubb and shortly after Dr. Dowd arrived the First Confirmation Class was presented to Bishop Weed o March 20th and nine were confirmed. This service was held in the New Home of Worship of the Perry Methodist Church as they gladly offered it for our use.

Following this service of confirmation Bishop Weed called Congregational meeting. Now the first act of the meeting was to change the name of the Mission to Saint James. There were no other names offered so the Bishop approved the change from St. Paul to St. James. He appointed the following Vestry or Mission Board, vis: Dr. J. L. Weeks – Senior Warden, Mr. J. E. Graves – Junior Warden, Mr. George E. Porter – Secy-Treas., Mr. A. H. Seibert – Vestryman.

One other action of the congregational meeting was a resolution thanking the Methodist Church for the use of their new house of worship for the meeting. The Methodist had completed the year before their New Church Edifice on the corner of Jefferson and Bay Streets.

Up through the years from the beginning Mrs. A. H. Seibert gave of her talent unstintingly. She was organist. First with piano wherever one was available and with a Reed Organ we purchased from the Methodist. This organ was moved to the Masonic Lodge and used for Sunday School and Church for the duration of our meetings there.

It might be of interest to know a little more of this organ. After we installed our Pipe Organ which we are suing now, Bishop Juhan “loaned” it to San Jose Chapel during rev. Wilder’s Rectorship there. We would like to know if the old “pumper” is still giving satisfaction and where. Any one with desired information, please get in touch with the writer of this history.

Dr. L. W. Dowd left us in 1920 and for a short time we were without a minister. Mr. Grubb came to our rescue until the Bishop sent Rev. Douglas Hobbs in October 1921. Mr. Hobbs served Live Oak and Perry and it was during his Rectorship that our House of Worship was built.

Through the tranquil but determined effort of Mrs. Ben Ellis and Mrs. Albert Rose, Captain W. L. Burton gave the Diocese the real estate which the Church now stands on. The lot is 100 x 100 feet facing South on West Green Street. He also gave us the complete bill of framing, flooring, siding, ceiling, finish and molding. The local members gave the necessary cash to buy the windows and doors and hardware and to pay the labor for completing the building. The building committee was composed of J. D. Scruggs and George E. Porter. There were others who lent their good offices and made valuable suggestions, although we were erecting the edifice according to an approved plan by Bishop Edwin Gardner Weed.

The lumber for the Church pews was a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Albert W. Rose. The Guild defrayed the expense of building them. The pews were made from the aristocrat of woods, Cypress, the Wood Eternal. They have always been a source of joy and pleasure to the worship of St. James.

During the fall of 1923 the congregation received a letter from the Rev. Hobbs dated at Live Oak advising us he was leaving at once. This terminated his Rectorship at St. James.

During the next six months Rev. Curtis Grubb, retired, again came to our needs. He was the Shepherd of the Flock until May 1924. These were the last services he gave us. The Standing Committee sent us the Rev. Mr. Carroll Lund Bates, who served Live Oak and Perry.

We wish to pause here to mention the sadness we went through. On January 18th, 1924, our Beloved Bishop Edwin Gardner Weed passed. He had been in ill health for sometime and the Standing Committee with Venerable Van Winder Shields, President, ran the Diocese until the Consecration of the Right Reverend Frank Alexander Juhan, Bishop of the Diocese of Florida on November 25th 1924.

The Church continued to prosper under Mr. Bates. During the second year of Mr. Bates Rectorship, every item was cleared from the indebtedness of the Church and Bishop Juhan dedicated it on May 10th 1925 – an event which we will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of May 10th, 1950, The Lord Willing.

Mr. Bates was the last minister to serve St. Lukes Live Oak and St. James Perry as a field. Mr. Bates was compelled to relinquish St. James in the fall of 1925.

St. James was again without a minister for a few Sundays during the early part of 1926. During the summer for about four months until the seminary started in September the Rev. Carroll M. Bates, son of the Rev. Carroll Lund Bates, gave us the services of a Deacon. He left us under protest from the congregation and is now serving St. Gabriel’s Philadelphia. We all liked young Mr. Bates and regretted his leaving, but it was necessary in the preparation for the full ministry.

In 1927 Bishop Juhan gave us a Resident Minister. Rev. Walter P. Caine and family moved here and resided in a rented Rectory on West Green Street, beyond the Church. Mr. Caine was with us through the summer of 1928. Economic conditions were bad during these years prior to 1929. Many of our number moved away but the Church prevailed.

In the next move of the Church in Perry we established relations with Monticello when Bishop Juhan sent us Rev. Russell S. Carleton to serve the two churches – Christ Church Monticello and St. James Church Perry. During the time of this set up our membership was augmented considerably and the Church moved along to a healthy condition. Mr. Carleton stayed with us until 1935 when he resigned to take other work. He is now at Bartow, Florida at Holy Trinity.

During Mr. Carleton’s time with us our hearts were saddened again by the death of the Venerable Curtis Grubb in Live Oak. Mr. Grubb died April 26th, 1930 and we wish to add to our history the obituary appearing in “The Suwannee Democrat,” to-wit:

It is safe to say that nothing had for a long time moved the hearts of those of the community who knew him as the death of Rev. Curtis Grubb, Which occurred at the home of his son-in-law and daughter Mr. and Mrs. A. Henry Grant, early Tuesday afternoon. Rev. Grubb was born in London County, Virginia, May 23th, 1849, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1882, having been graduated from the Seminary at Alexandria. He immediately set sail with his wife for the missionary district of Liberia, Africa, where the devoted couple labored for three years. Forced to return to this country on account of his wife’s health, he was restor of the Church at Vernon, Virginia, four years. He spent a year in West Virginia and came to Florida and St. Thomas’ Church at Eustis in 1888. He served there four years and spent another four years at St. John’s Church, Pittman.

Rev. Grubb became rector of St. James Church, Lake City, in 1896, and at once became interested in the infant Church of St. Likes Live Oak, a congregation without a house of worship. He came here for many services, fostering and advancing the work. With the aid and generous assistance of Major George E. Porter, and with the devoted help of the small band of workers then in the field, the present St. Lukes’ Church was erected in 1900, and November 1904, the entire debt for the building being paid, the Church was dedicated by the Rev. Edwin Gardner Weed, D.D., Bishop of Florida.

A lot and house was purchased in 1903 and Rev. Grubb, with his family, took up their residence here. His only son, Curtis Franklin, died in 1908, and his wife in 1914. After his retirement from his rectorship here, Rev. Grubb was Archdeacon of the Middle Florida District of the Diocese of Florida. He was indefatigable in these labors and at his post in all weathers. Up until the middle of August last year, his was a familiar figure in our community, as he loved to walk back and forth from the house of his daughter. Earnestness and friendliness to all characterized him. He will be greatly missed.

Rev. Grubb is survived by five daughters, Mrs. A. H. Grant of this city; Mrs. A. D. Janney of Mourtrie, Georgia; Mrs. S. N. Conner of Quitman, Georgia; Mrs. J. H. Hopson of Houston, Texas; and Mrs. B. F. Lucas of Shreveport, La. His funeral was held in St. Lukes’ Church Wednesday afternoon, Bishop Frank A. Juhan being the chief officiant. Many of the neighboring clergy were in attendance.

The above account of the Venerable Curtis Grubb’s funeral and brief history of his church appointments is of interest to his friends in Perry, because of his services to many of St. James’ Communicants. He prepared many of us for Confirmation and married many of us, baptized our children and burying our dead. St. James is truly a child of his. The thought that he has gone on before us makes Heaven a more precious prize when we know this noble character is waiting there to greet us.

In 1936 the Bishop sent the Rev. Alford St. John Matthews to serve Monticello and Perry. He stayed with us until the fall of 1939. On November 3rd, 1939, the Rev. Cornelius Caleb Tarplee took charge of Monticello and Perry. During 1941 the Bishop moved Mr. Tarplee to Perry and Made St. James the head of a mission field to the south of us. We rented the Albert Rose house for the rectory and Mr. Tarplee stayed with us until May 1942 when he resigned to accept the rectorship of Zion Church, Charles Town W. Va. Following Mr. Tarplee, Mr. Grover Alison came to us in July and August. During the balance of 1942, the Bishop sent us the Rev. Samuel Hardman, a retired minister of Mannville, Florida, who served us during the balance of 1942. During this year Mr. Ben McCracken was called to his reward. He was treasurer of the Church and his work was outstanding. His passing was felt in the diocese.

January 3rd, 1943 through November 25th, 1945, we shared the Rev. E. L. Baxter with Monticello. Mr. Baxter was with us during the greater part of the duration of the Army Air Base. Many soldiers and flyers attended church. The choir was greatly augmented by Captain Danforth, Lieutenant Frank Pike and Sergeant George Hucker. We mention these because of their devotion to their church and the genuine love for singing. The Sunday after Mr. Baxter left Rev. Mr. Alfred Hardman came to minister to Monticello and Perry. Our first service with Mr. Hardman was December 2nd, 1945. His ministry was of great benefit to the work in Perry. He was liked by all towns people and by the ministers of other denominations. During his Rectorship, the Parish House was built and the Church reroofed which was needed badly because the old shingles had been taking the elements for 26 years. Our church grew in all directions during Mr. Hardman’s stay with us. We also purchased our Rectory during his time here and we moved him from Monticello but continued the tie-in with Christ’s Church, Monticello. Mr. Hardman also organized the Layman’s League and set it on its course which has never missed a meeting of once per month. Mr. Hardman left us on January 25th, 1948 and the Layman conducted services. Dr. Taylor from Live Oak gave us Holy Communion several times. So did Rev. Morgan Ashley student pastor at Gainesville at the time. Mr. Arthur Platt and Mr. Alfred Airth together with Joe Swanson, George Porter, Ed McRae, Tommy Swanson and Lewis Hinchliffe were the Laymen who assisted in keeping the Church open during the time from January 25th through June 20th when the present Rector wassent to take care of St. James, the Rev. Forbes Ross deTamble.

The St. James Episcopal Church of Perry has a great web site that you might like to visit. Great photo's of stain glass windows.

http://stjamesperry.org/Home.aspx