A Visit to St. Peter's Churchyard

The St. Peter's Church and Churchyard podcasts are available for download at http://www.stpetersphila.org/. The tours were written by Libby Browne, and recorded by Alan J. Heavens.

St. Peter's Church Tour Podcast

You can download this church-tour podcast and the churchyard tour podcast at http://www.stpetersphila.org/

The Book of Philadelphia (1920)

The Night of the Eagle

The event was held on an auspicious day. On May 20, 1815, a naval squadron commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur began its voyage to Algiers to settle, once and for all, the issue of the Barbary pirates.
It was held at Milner & Carr Conservation LLC in Fishtown, which will restore the bronze eagle that sits atop the granite Decatur monument in St. Peter's Churchyard. The eagle will be returned to its perch Sept. 18.
The evening was a joint production of the St. Peter's 250th Anniversary Committee and Historic St. Peter's Church Preservation Corp. Co-chairs of the 250th committee are Elizabeth Browne, Joseph P. Fanelli Jr. and Claudia Stowers. Katherine Fanelli was the event's chairperson.
Sponsors and donors were Stanhope & Elizabeth Browne, James Colberg and Kathleen Stephenson, Helen and John Davies, Donald Hartz, Alan Heavens, Robert Hornsby Jr., Mary louise Krumrine, the Rev. Ledlie Laughlin, Constance Moore, David Richards, Dorothy & David Stevens, Margaret and Richard Ullman and Donna Weschler.

The guest for the evening was Thomas Jefferson, who offered a tribute to Decatur.

Take my wives....please!

Owen Morris (1719-1809) made his debut with the American Company of Lewis Hallam Jr. in 1759. Morris specialized in comic old men, including Oliver Surface and Polonius before retiring from the stage in 1790. The Hallam players performed in the warehouse owned by William Plumstead in King or Water Street, between Pine and Lombard Streets, and here they opened April 15, 1754, with Rowe's tragedy "The Fair Penitent" and "Miss in Her Teens" as the after-piece.
In 1763, Morris and the first Mrs. Morris went with the company to Rhode Island, where they performed Otello:
"Mr. MORRIS will represent an old gentleman, the father of Desdemona, who is not cruel or covetous, but is foolish enough to dislike the noble Moor, his son-in-law, because his face is not white, forgetting that we all spring from one root. Such prejudices are very numerous and very wrong."

Fathers beware what sense and love ye lack,
'Tis crime, not color, makes the being black.

Mrs. MORRIS will represent a young and virtuous wife, who, being wrongfully suspected, gets smothered (in an adjoining room) by her husband.

Reader, attend; and ere thou goest hence
Let fall a tear to hapless innocence. "

The first Mrs. Owen Morris (d. 1767) was America's earliest Ophelia, and, excluding a performance by British troops during the Revolutionary War, the earliest Lady Teazle.
The second Mrs. Owen Morris (1753–1826) was a strikingly tall woman whose acting ability divided the chroniclers of her time. Nevertheless she proved a popular comedienne with the public, much admired for her Lady Teazle and her Beatrice, as well as her Ophelia. Her eccentricities were notorious, and she went to absurd lengths not to expose herself to daylight. Following the advent of Mrs. Merry, her popularity waned rapidly.
Owen Morris is buried in St. Peter's Churchyard

History on video

Clergy corner

The Rev. Canon Howard Sheldon Davis was interim of St. Peter's Church in 1985. A native of Bethayres, Pa., Father Davis was born April 14, 1912, educated at the George School in Newtown, and received his bachelor's degree in Latin and Greek at Amherst College in 1933. He taught in the Abington, Pa., school district from 1933 to 1940, then entered the Philadelphia Divinity School to study for the priesthood.
He was ordained in 1943, and became rector of St. Faith, Brookline, Pa. until 1945, when he became a chaplain in the U.S. Naval Reserve for a year.
Father Davis was a priest in nine churches in Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, and was canon at the Episcopal cathedral in Memphis in the 1950s and 1960s. He returned to Philadelphia, where he was assistant rector to the Rev. Paul Washington at the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia; was rector at All Saints, Darby; and interim rector at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Third and Reed Streets; and at St. Peter's Church.
He died Aug. 4, 2004, of heart failure in Philadelphia, at age 92.
(In the photo above, Father Davis, left, performs a baptism, assisted by the Rev. Wendel H. "Tad" Meyer, rector of St. Peter's, September 1989.)

Fund-raising efforts through history

The Rev. Joseph Koci demanded payment for the wooden fence around St. Peter's Church that was burned to keep the occupying British troops warm in the winter of 1778. The cost was $18 plus interest compounded annually.
Selwyn Lloyd, chancellor of the exchequer, was so informed. St. Peter's is still waiting for the check (August 1961)

The Odenheimer Family of Delaware County

Chester and Its Vicinity, by John Hill Martin (1877)

The following sketch of an old Chester family of a by-gone generation, some of whose descendants still cling to the home of their ancestors, was furnished me by a descendant.

"John Odenheimer, a former resident of 'Old Chester,' came from Mayence on the Rhine to Philadelphia, prior to the middle of the last century. He became a dealer in flour, and lived at the corner of Fifth and Market Streets, in the latter city, with open grounds around his house, planted with trees and shrubbery.

He married Mary, daughter of John Henry Keppele. On Sept. 28, 1771, he bought from Joseph Mather, 177 acres of land in Chester, lying along Ridley Creek. The deed recites one of the boundaries as 'The King's Highway.'

Here he opened stone quarries within easy reach of tidewater. After the first visit of the yellow-fever to Philadelphia, he became a permanent resident of Chester. His son John was Sheriff of Delaware County from 1798 to 1801, and again from 1804 to 1807, and died in 1816.

His son Henry married a daughter of William Kerlin, of Revolutionary note. His daughter Mary married Peter Deshong, of Chester, and his daughter Catharine married Thomas H. Brinton of Thornbury. Keppele often visited his son-in-law Odenheimer and his large family, at Chester.

The customs of their native country were kept up. Hock wines sent them from the Rhine, were in daily use; while a large silver punchbowl filled to the brim, with goblets and ladle, stood on a table for visitors making morning calls. Gen. Washington during his Presidential term, 1789 to 1797, was accustomed to pass through Chester on his way to Congress.

His journeys were recollected and spoken of by some of the Odenheimer family up to a recent period. They were attended with some state. A carriage with four horses and outriders contained his family, the general followed, mounted on a fine horse. He was a large man, with a grave, manly countenance, and was treated by the crowd collected to see him, with almost reverential respect.

Odenheimer died in Chester in 1807, above the age of fourscore. His wife died in 1793Both were buried in the grounds of the old Lutheran church of St. Michael's, corner of Fifth and Cherry streets, Philadelphia.

Most of his descendants became Episcopalians. His son Henry, m. Sarah, dau. of William Kerlin, and died at Chester in 1794, leaving two children, John W. and William Henry Odenheimer. The first became a merchant in Philadelphia, and after retiring from business, lived at Burlington, N. J., where he died July 4, 1876, in his 87th year.

He was the father of the Right Reverend William H. Odenheimer, Bishop of New Jersey.

A biography of William H. Odenheimer

This biography of the third bishop of New Jersey was written by the Rev. Canon Laurence D. Fish, historiographer of the Diocese of New Jersey. (Edited for length)



William Henry Odenheimer was born in Philadelphia Aug. 11, 1817, the son of John W. Odenheimer, a prosperous merchant, and Henrietta Burns Odenheimer.

A brother, John Kerlin, was born in 1819 and died in 1821; a sister, Caroline Louisa, was born in 1821 and died in 1825.

Odenheimer was named for an uncle, a lieutenant in the United States Navy, who died in 1815 at 23 of a severe cold that resulted from his attempt to rescue a steward who had fallen off his ship, the Franklin.

Odenheimer attended St. Paul's College in Flushing, N. Y., and then
Penn, where, although he was't yet 18, he was selected to give the valedictory.

He graduated in June 1838 from General Theological Seminary in New York City, was ordained a deacon by Bishop Henry U. Onderdonk of Pennsylvania, in Sept. 2, 1838, and became assistant rector of St. Peter's, where the Rev. William H. DeLancey had been rector since Bishop White's death in July 1836.

DeLancey was called to be bishop of Western New York in 1839. The vestry chose Odenheimer to succeed him, but waited until his ordination to the priesthood Oct. 3, 1841, to elect him to the post.

(Editor's note: Because the Eucharist was not yet as important as preaching, it didn't matter that Odenheimer was not yet a priest. In addition, there were assistants who were priests).

In 1839, Odenheimer married Anne D. Randall Shaw, daughter of John R. Shaw, a naval officer. Little is known of Odenheimer’s wife and children although there appear to have been 11
eleven children born to the couple, only two of whom reached maturity. All the infants were buried in the churchyard. A grave registry book reports that their bodies were disinterred when their father was elected bishop of New Jersey and placed in the graveyard of St. Mary's, Burlington, where the older children were later buried.

Odenheimer was Tractarian. His nom de plume was Diaconus Catholicus.

Bishop White had only Morning Prayer each Sunday and no weekday services, Odenheimer inaugurated daily services, Holy Communion at all Sunday early services, and Holy Communion on the first and third Sundays at the late service. In addition, a brass cross was placed, for the first time, on the altar as were candles and soon a tower and steeple appeared on the west end of the church.

The anti-Roman Catholicism of the times led many to declare a preference for a weathervane to top the steeple rather than the cross, but a tied vestry vote allowed Odenheimer to cast the deciding vote in favor of the cross.

Odenheimer took the middle road in the bitter and sometimes violent conflict between Protestants and

Another St. Peter's, the same Delancey

The Rt. Rev. William Heathcoate De Lancey was elected bishop of the Diocese of Western New York in 1838, and in the next year moved to Geneva, N.Y. He retained a residence in the village until the time of his death, April 5, 1865, and in honor of his life and good works in the mission field and church, St. Peter's was founded and organized as his memorial.

As early as 1850 Bishop De Lancey began missionary work in Geneva and soon established a prosperous mission in the north part of the village. In 1852 he began holding services in a small chapel on Genesee Street, and becoming owner of the building, he named it St. Peter's in honor of his old parish church at Philadelphia, in which he was advanced to the episcopate.

In 1861 the bishop called Dr. James Rankine to Geneva to assume charge of the Theological Training School, and the latter soon found himself also engaged in the mission work, holding full Sunday service in the chapel. When Bishop De Lancey died, and in honor of his splendid life and services, the name of this institution was changed to "The De Lancey Divinity School."

The confidence in Dr. Rankine that was shown by the bishop in calling him to the charge of this school was most worthily bestowed, for since its inception in 1861, there has been no change nor desire for change in its principalship.

This silent though thorough institution attracts but little attention in the village, and only for the grand results here achieved, we would hardly know of its existence. Briefly stated, the object of the De Lancey Divinity School is to prepare for the sacred ministry and church work such persons as from age and peculiar circumstances cannot attend the general theological seminaries.

In 1886 relations were established with Hobart College by which the use of the facilities of the college, including the chapel and the library, and instruction from members of the College Faculty were secured to students connected with the Divinity School.

However, it was not until 1867, two years after the death of Bishop De Lancey, that St. Peter's parish and church were organized. The chapel was replaced with a large and elegant stone edifice, the funds therefor being raised by voluntary contribution, and the chief actor in accomplishing all that was done was Dr. Rankine. The church was begun in 1868, and was consecrated May 10, 1870. The tower was built in 1878.

The first rector was Dr. Rankine, who has filled that office until the present time (1893), with the exception of about one year, (1869-71) during which he was president of Hobart College.
In this interval Dr. Maunsell Van Rensselaer was rector of St. Peter's (he replaced Rankine as president of Hobart College (1871-76).

(From Conover's History of Hobart College, 1893)

1911 Parish: Charles Longyahr

Charles Longyahr, 19, born 1892, Pennsylvania; parents born in Germany.

Lived at 2551 South Seventh Street.

Employed at a wire works

1911 Parish: Frederick Maxmillian Liehr

Frederick M. Liehr, 40, born in 1871, Pennsylvania: 2606 South Chadwick Street, cloth cutter
Father, Harry, mother, both born in Germany
wife, Emma M., 39, born 1872, parents Germany
Both were still parishioners in 1927.

1911 Parish: Louisa J. Adams

Louisa J. Adams, 61, born 1848, resides 1433 Dickinson St., Ward 4.
Born England, arrived US in 1855
James Adams, 65, born England, arrived in US 1855, retired customs house.
Married, 1867.
Number of children, 8; number of living children, 3:
Gertrude, 37
John O., 27
Eddith, 13

1811 Parish: John George Hirneisen

John George Hirneisen, grocer, north ward.
Wife Margaretta Blake Hirneisen.
Son, George Alfred Hirneisen, born Aug. 31, 1810, baptized by Bishop White, May 19, 1811

Six degrees of St. Peter's

Andrew Dickson White, who co-founded Cornell University with Ezra Cornell, was a roommate of Thomas F. Davies, rector of St. Peter's (1869-1889) and later bishop of Western Michigan, at Yale University.
White attended Hobart College for a year, leaving because he thought he was wasting his time at a small Episcopal school and should instead be attending a New England university.

1911 Parish: Ernest Felix Potter

Ernest Felix Potter, 51, 2211 Pine Street. Musician, choirmaster (Germantown Methodist Church starting in 1908).
Mary Conard Potter, 41, wife (married 1890)

1911 Parish: Catharine Plate

Catharine Plate, 67, born Germany, widowed; 415 Dudley Street.
Henry E. Plate, 30, born Pennsylvania, worker in a window factory, parents German-born, son.
Elizabeth Plate, 37, born Pennsylvania, parents born in Germany, daughter, seamstress.
Caroline Plate, 24, born Pennsylvania, wife of Henry, no occupation.
Catharine Plate, 3, born Pennsylvania, daughter, Henry.
Caroline Plate, 2, born Pennsylvania, daughter, Henry

1911 Parish: Sir Wilfred Powell

Sir Wilfred Mansell Powell (1853-1942) was born on 14 May 1853. He travelled extensively in the Pacific, and explored New Britain from 1877 to 1880.
The sketch at left, drawn by Sir Wilfred, was the frontspiece of his book, Wanderings In A Wild Country: Or Three Years Amongst The Cannibals Of New Britain (1883).
He became Consul for the Navigators Islands (Samoa) on 1 May 1885, and also Deputy Commissioner for the Western Pacific. On 1 April 1888 he was appointed Consul at Stettin, and during April-June 1889 he attended a conference on Samoa at Berlin. He was transferred to Philadelphia on 11 November 1898, becoming Consul for Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan (an area altered in 1907 to Pennsylvania, Ohio and Delaware). He was promoted to Consul-General in 1913, and retired on 1 January 1916. Powell became a Fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute in 1880. He died on 4 February 1942, age 88, in Kent, England, where he made his home.

His son, Gareth Henry Mansell Powell, enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in August 1914. He was born March 1, 1894; died April 23, 1915 (missing in action) in the Second Battle of Ypres, age 21, private in the Eastern Ontario Regiment. Medals : The King's Cross; Mons Cross 1914; War Medal; Victory Medal. A memorial is on the southwest wall of the church interior. (right, Powell is listed on a plaque at the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium.)
His father sent an inquiry to the British War Office requesting his whereabouts when his son went missing (War Office records).

The Powells (he was related to Baden-Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts), lived at 701 Pine St. while he was H.M. Consul.

When he retired in 1916, he was succeeded by Charles A.S. Perceval. The announcement was made on Oct. 11, the day Sir Wilfred learned of his son's death on the Western Front, the New York Times reported Oct. 12, 1915.

In 1906, Sir Wilfred presented the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia with one of its three gavels. It is made from oak, copper, mahogany, and iron from Lord Nelson's favorite ship, "Foudroyant."

1911 Parish: Harry J. Ulkloss

Harry J. Ulkloss, 27, born 1884, Pennsylvania, parents born in Germany
6316 Wheeler Avenue
Wife, Lula M. Ulkloss, 20, born 1891, Pennsylvania (parents born in Pennsylvania)
both employed as shipping clerks
They were still members of St. Peter's in 1927.

1911 Parish: Alexander Tropp

Alexander Tropp, 44, born April 1867, New York, merchant, 1429 S. Orianna Street
widower (wife, Cordelia, born June 1855, married 1884, died between 1900 and 1910 censuses.
Gertrude Elizabeth, 18, born July 1893, Pennsylvania, single, at school
Cecilia, 14, born January 1897, Pennsylvania, single

1911 Parish: John J. Sparks

John J. Sparks, 62, Glendora, NJ, cigarmaker; born 1849, Pennsylvania
Virginia Sparks, 55, wife, born 1855, homemaker, born Pennsylvania
John J. Sparks Jr., 25, son, born Pennsylvania, 1886, single, inspector, Victor Talking-Machine Co., Camden
Harry Sparks, 20, son, born 1891, Pennsylvania, laborer (place illegible)
Mary S. Sparks, 19, born 1892, single, Pennsylvania, laborer, snuff works
Elsie V. Sparks, 17, born 1894, single, cash girl, department store, born Pennsylvania.
Thomas E. Sparks, 3, born 1908, New Jersey, grandson (parents Thomas E., 27, and Caroline M. Sparks, 25) not members.

1911 Parish: George F. Eberle

George F. Eberle Sr., 57, born Germany; 353 Emily Street
Annie, 48, wife, born Delaware
Stepson, John P. Hughes, 19
Stepdaughter, Marion May Hughes, 14
Children, George F. Eberle, 19, born January 15, 1891 (registered for WWI draft)
Elizabeth, 17
Morris, 13

1911 Parish: George F. Daland

George F. Daland, 50, born New York.
Residence 321 Whiton St.; also listed 73 Moore St.
Occupation: Teams; business 1911 Thompson St.
Mary B., 39, born in New Jersey
George G., 11, born Pennsylvania
Florence, 18
Helen, 7
Viola, 21
Sarah A. Nelson, 70, mother-in-law

1911 Parish: Louis Theophilus Resnikoff

Louis Theophilus Resnikoff, 49, 222 s. Fourth St., retired
born Cherson, Crimea, Russia, Oct. 24, 1862/mother born in France/father born in Russia
immigrated 1883
Naturalized July 6, 1906; U.S. passport issued 1910
Eliza D. Resnikoff, 61, born 1849 in Ireland (second wife)

1911 Parish: Charles F. Ogborn

Charles F. Ogborn, 51, 27 Catharine St., stevedore; born Pennsylvania
Mary Louisa Ogborn, 44, wife
Frank Demeyo Ogborn, 21, son, stevedore
Elizabeth Marie Ogborn, 19

Buried in the churchyard: Moses Levy

Moses Levy (b. Philadelphia 1757; d. May 9, 1826)
His father, Samson Levy, was a signatory of the celebrated resolutions not to import goods from England until the Stamp Act had been repealed. Moses was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1772.
On March 19, 1778, he was admitted to the bar; from 1802 to 1822 he was recorder of Philadelphia; and from 1822 to 1825, presiding judge of the district court for the city and county of Philadelphia.
At one time he was a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, and he was a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania for twenty-four years.
Levy was also a slave ship owner, owning as many as five vessels.

Why was Levy buried in St. Peter's Cemetery?

This entry from "All My Abercrombies," www.karenrobert.com...

"Written by Moses Levy of the city of Philadelphia: 13 July 1798.
My daughter Martha Mary-Anne Levy was born. She was soon after baptized by the Rev. James Abercrombie. She has also taken the smallpox by inoculation."

The inference is that Levy had married an Anglican.

There are three separate references in Nathan-Kraus Family Collection in the American Jewish Archives listing Levy, Moses, marriage and Christians.

Initially, I assumed that the Jews might have had a scriptural prohibition against slave trade, but Jews were involved in slave trade, according to the administrator of the historic website, www.blacksandjews.com

There was no prohibition or sanction by Jews against Jews who were involved in the slave trade. Throughout America, the slave trade provided substantial revenue for Jewish communal activity including the purchasing of property for cemeteries, schools, hospitals, and synagogues.

In Newport, RI, the slaves of Jews actually built the synagogue, and in Charleston, S.C., the newspapers are filled with slave sale ads by the very Jews who were credited with starting "Reform Judaism"--all of whom were proud members of the Jewish community and all of whom are buried in the Jewish cemetery.

In Philadelphia, the Gratz family was deeply involved in slavery.
The following letter was written to Bernard Gratz:

Reading, March 2, 1772.
Mr. Bernard Gratz, Merchant in Philadelphia

Sir: I took your negroe George, some time ago, home, thinking I might be the better able to sell him, who, after being with me a night, behaved himself in such an insolent manner I immediately remanded back to the jail. About a week since, I put him up for sale at a tavern.
. But he protested publickly that he would not be sold, and ifanyone should purchase him, he would be the death of him, and words to the like purpose, which deterred the people from bidding. I then sent him back again with directions to the jailer to keep him at hard labour, which he refuses to do, and goes on in such an insolent manner that it is impossible to get a master for him here. I therefore request you'll send for him on sight hereof, or send me aline by Drinkhouse, or the first opportunity, what I shall do with him. He's now almost naked, and if not furnished soon with some clothes, I fear he'll perish.
Pray let me hear from [you] and, in the meantime, I remain, with great regard, sir,
Your humble servant,
George Nagel
N. B. He's now chained and handcuffed on account of his threats.

Note will of Martha Levy, mother of Moses:

LEVY, MARTHA. City of Philadelphia. Widow of Samson Levy, late of sd. city. Merchant. 1801. April 1, 1807. 2.78.
Legacies to nieces Abigail Israel and Margaret Ross. Daughters-in-law: Mary and Sarah Levy, a suit of mourning and mourning ring each. Legacies to sons Moses, Samson and Daniel Levy. To dau. Rachel Levy, granddau. Martha Levy Jones, dau. Arabella Jones, wife of James Morris Jones, granddau. Henrietta ---, plantation in Sussex Co., N. J. devised to her by her late husband. Former husband: Jas. Stell Thompson. Exec. and Trustees: Moses and Samson Levy. Witnesses: Jos. Reed, Benjn. F. Pearce. Codicil: January 16, 1806. Revokes some of legacies. Mentions rent charges payable out of a lot in Philadelphia purchased of Joseph Shippen.

Edward M. Jefferys obituary

Evening Times, Cumberland, Md.
August 29, 1946

The Rev. Dr. E. M. Jeffreys

Services for the Rev. Dr. Edward Miller Jeffreys, 81, rector of Emmanuel Episcopal church here from 1902 to 1906, who died Tuesday at his home in Erdenheim, near Philadelphia, will be conducted at noon tomorrow in
Philadelphia by Bishop Oliver J. Hart, assisted by the Rev. Frederick Blatz.
Burial will be there.
Dr. Jefferys, who in 1905 was appointed archdeacon of Cumberland, retired from parish work in 1937 after 31 years as rector of historic St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia where he was called after leaving here.
Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Jefferys was educated at Hastings' and Rugby academies and was graduated in 1886 from the University of Pennsylvania and from Berkeley Divinity School, now in New Haven, in 1889.
Following his ordination in 1889, he became curate of St. Peter's, serving there for a few months before becoming assistant rector of St. John's Church in Detroit. After a tour of the Near East, and Palestine he became rector of St. Paul's in Doylestown, Pa.
Dr. Jefferys served as a chaplain in France for both the British and American Expeditionary Forces in the World War I, and was one of the first American chaplains to reach France in 1917.
He was a former president of the standing committee of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, a trustee of the diocese and of the Episcopoal Hospital, a member of the board of the Council of City Missions, and warden, chaplain and instructor of the Church Training and Deaconess House in Philadelphia.
He also belonged to the Philadelphia club and served as fleet chaplain of the Corinthian Yacht club.
Besides his widow, Amy Faulconer Jefferys, survivors include a son, C. P. B. Jefferys, a teacher at St. George's School, Newport, R. I. and a brother, Harry L. Jefferys, of Ardmore, Pa.

Edward Miller Jefferys' family

Father, Charles P. B. Jefferys :

His father, the Hon. Peter Jefferys, a lieutenant-colonel in the English Army, was born in the island of Nevis, British West Indies, where he was an extensive planter and landed proprietor. Peter Jefferys studied at the University of Edinburgh, where he was graduated a physician, returning to the West Indies at the completion of his professional studies. He was Lieutenant-Governor of the island; his official title being, " President of the Council of Nevis." Colonel Jefferys had four. One of these, was born in 1831 at Hal in Belgium.

Charles P. B. Jefferys pursued his early studies in Antwerp, later entering the University of Liège where he took the course in Mining Engineering, at the same time taking a liberal course in the Classics. At the early age of eighteen years he came to America, where his father had many friends and considerable property.

After some time spent in travel, Charles P. B. Jefferys entered upon his professional career as civil engineer on the Pennsylvania Rail. road, where he held several positions in the engineer corps. Mr. Jefferys also built the Sand-patch tunnel on the line of tile Pittsburg & Conneilsville Railroad, which was one of tile important railroad constructions of that period.In 1857 he became connected with the Missouri Pacific Railroad which he located from the Lainine River west, as principal assistant engineer. His chief was the distinguished civil engineer, Edward Miller.

In 1857 Charles P. B. Jefferys married his chief's eldest daughter, Miss Elizabeth Miller, a member of one of the oldest and best families in Philadelphia, and went abroad for a time. There were born to them eight children, five sons, including Edward and Harry (head of the City Mission) and three daughters, two of the daughters were born in Europe.

Source:

The Jefferys Family At Blithedale
Nine-page manuscript of speech given before the Old Settlers Club about the Jefferys family of the Hickman Mills area from the early to mid-1800s, including tales of border warfare. Information written by the author (Charles Jefferys II) about his grandfather, Charles Peter Beauchamp Jefferys I, or Charles Jefferys I, born in Belgium about 1831 and settling in Jackson County about 1858 in the "Blithedale" house until moving to Philadelphia during border warfare troubles during the Civil War.
Author: Charles P. B. Jefferys , Date: 1969 Location: Manuscript File: Jefferys, Charles P. Illustrations: No Subjects: Hickman Mills, Missouri, Jefferys Family, Order Number 11, Jefferys, Charles P. B., Item Type: ManuscriptItem ID: 101068

1911 Parish: Jacob Maisel

Jacob Maisel, 61, 37 Queen Street
Occupation: Stevedore, foreman
Born November 1849, Philadelphia; widowed. Wife born in Ireland.
Parents born in Germany
1850 census lists parents Anna, 28; John, 29; brother Frederick.
Lived with daughter, Ellen, single, born 1873.
Son, Jacob, born 1876, died Feb. 1880, cause "croup."
Owned own home; lived well into his 80s, according to 1930 census.
Was a parishioner in 1927

Joseph Manuel, assistant rector, 1899-1904

The Rev. Joseph Manuel, born 1862, Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
arrived United States 1890, died 1952
Parents: Evan Manuel, born Wales, 1824 died Sheffield, 1893
Helen Cooper Manuel, born Sheffield, 1832, died 1899
Married: Helen Manuel, born New Hampshire 1865
sons: Evan Knowlton Manuel, born 1898
David Manuel, born 1904

The 100th Anniversary (1861)

The observance appears to have been limited to a service on Wednesday, Sept. 4. It wasn’t until the vestry meeting of July 3, 1861 (photo, left, church in 1861) that planning for the “centennial festival” was even proposed – by vestryman and physician Charles Willing. The centennial committee was comprised of the rector, George Leeds; the rector’s warden, former Congressman Joseph R. Ingersoll, and accounting warden Francis Gurney Smith.
The service was probably very long, since Morning Prayer, the Litany, the Psalms, the Lessons, the sermon and then Holy Communion tend to add up. The lessons and the psalms were the same ones read 100 years before; the anthem sung was also the same:
“I have surely built Thee an House to dwell in,
A settled place for Thee to abide in…”
The Rt. Rev. William Heathcote DeLancey (photo, left) bishop of Western New York (now the Diocese of Rochester) and rector from 1836-39, preached. There had been no bishops when the church was dedicated in 1761, since American Anglicans were under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. In 1861, DeLancey (1797-1865), was “the oldest living pastor of St. Peter’s.” Bishop William Odenheimer (above, right), who left in 1859 as St. Peter’s rector to become Bishop of New Jersey, Bishop Alonzo Potter (below, right) of Pennsylvania and Bishop Samuel Bowman, his suffragan bishop, also attended, greeted at the door by the vestries of St. Peter’s, St. James and Christ Churches.

The Sept. 10, 1861 vestry meeting voted to preserve the letters of regret from other bishops invited who couldn’t make it, including Jackson Kemper, (below, right) the church’s first missionary bishop, who had been an assistant to Bishop White. The vestry also disbursed the $207.72 (about $5,000 in today’s dollars) to Bishop Kemper for a prayer book translation in a native American tongue (that prayer book, for the Lakota (Sioux) people, was published and there is a copy in the St. Peter's Church archives); to two churches for rebuilding, to domestic missions, to Nashota House (Kemper’s seminary) and $65.72 to the rector, Dr. George Leeds, (below, left) for the poor.

St. Peter's 1899: Diocesan Report

St. Peter's Church (Third and Pine Streets). Admitted 1785.
The Rev. Richard H. Nelson, Rector. (photo, left, as Bishop of Albany)
The Rev. Bernard Schulte, D. D., the Rev. J. A. Montgomery, the Rev. Joseph Manuel, Assistants.
George Harding, Rector's Warden; George Harrison Fisher, Accounting Warden.
Baptisms, adults 21, infants 64, total 85; confirmed, 50; communicants, added, new 50, by transfer 10. died 15, removed 4. present number 885; marriages 19; burials 63;
Public services, on Sundays 169, on other days 806, total 975; Holy Communion 158; children catechised, times 12;
Mission Station 1; Sunday Schools and Bible Classes, officers and teachers 29, scholars 533, total membership 562; other Schools 2, teachers 3, total 152; other Parish agencies, Ladies' Missionary Aid Society, St. Mary's Missionary Guild, Dorcas Society. Altar Society, St. Alban's Guild. St. Agnes' Guild. St. Peter's Guild (for men and boys), St. Peter's Guild (for girls), Kitchen Garden and Sewing School, Store, Fuel Savings Society, Penny Bank. Mutual Aid Society, Jewish Mission, Brotherhood of St. Andrew : Church I, sittings 900: Chapel Building I. sittings 150; Parish and School Buildings 3; Parsonage i; Cemetery i; total number of free sittings 450; two extra Sunday services, free to all.
Receipts—Pew rents $5763.23; 'offerings for all Parish purposes $2747.21; offerings for purposes outside the Parish $3214.39; donations $4793.12; investments (income therefrom) $10.299.74; other sources $871.90; Sunday School $498.34; Woman's Auxiliary $676.13; legacies $9069.46 ; total $37-933-52
Expenditures—Parochial: Current expenses* $13,183.51; improvements to grounds $400; payment of debts $1116.55; support of Sunday Schools $260.56, Parish Schools $932.02, Parish Mission Stations $2384.40: for the Poor $2635.18; endowment (fund increased) $7955.02: Building Fund established $2848.21; total $31-715-45
Diocesan: Episcopal and Convention Fund $260; Sustentation Fund $84.92; Missions, Diocesan $460. Deaf $21.58; Episcopal Hospital $631.86; Christmas Fundt $276.18; Bisihop's Charity Fund $17.90; total $1752.44
Extra Diocesan: Missions. Foreign $307.46. Domestic $1495.99, Indian $84.56, Colored People $284.46, Jews $55.58; American Church Building Fund $100; total $2418.05
Total for all objects:$35,885.04
Boxes sent, 7; estimated value $506.33.

St. Peter's Church Autumn 2007