Metadata
Title
Charter amendment records for the United Churches of Christ Church, St. Peter's Church, and St. James's Church, 1810
Date
1810
Digital Identifier
ChristChurch.CorporationCorrespondence_4-2-0-26
Call Number
4.2.0.26; F514
Description
Contains a variety of documents including an application to amend the charter of the church. The records detail the legal and administrative steps taken to unite Christ Church, St. Peter's Church, and the newly built St. James's Church under a single corporate charter in 1810.
Documents include a printed copy of Senate Bill No. 51, a manuscript petition to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, a handwritten draft of the legislative act, and minutes from a January 12, 1810 meeting at Christ Church listing prominent attendees such as Rt. Rev. Dr. White and Tench Coxe.
Documents include a printed copy of Senate Bill No. 51, a manuscript petition to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, a handwritten draft of the legislative act, and minutes from a January 12, 1810 meeting at Christ Church listing prominent attendees such as Rt. Rev. Dr. White and Tench Coxe.
Subject
Place
Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
Congregation
Christ Church, Philadelphia, PA
Extent
4 documents
Format (Digital)
tiff
Rights
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
Language
eng
Type
Text
Abstract
This collection of four documents concerns the 1810 effort by the United Episcopal Churches of Christ Church and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia to amend their 1765 colonial charter in order to incorporate the newly constructed St. James's Church into the corporation. The original charter had been granted by the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania on June 24, 1765, and the growth of the congregations had made additional seating necessary, prompting construction of St. James's Church at considerable expense [p.1, p.8r].
The printed Senate act (No. 51) sets out the whereas clauses and enacts five sections: the corporation is renamed to include St. James's Church, its rents and revenues are directed to the maintenance of the three united churches, the by-laws are made conformable to the laws of Pennsylvania and the United States rather than Great Britain, the vestry is enlarged from twenty to twenty-four persons, and the corporation's income cap is set at six thousand dollars, exclusive of pew rents and burial ground fees [p.1-6]. Members of St. James's Church who had paid for a pew or sitting were granted voting rights at vestry elections through Easter Monday 1813 despite not meeting the usual three-year payment requirement [p.4-5].
A manuscript minute records a meeting of the united congregations held in Christ Church on January 12, 1810, at which the petition to the legislature was proposed. It lists those present, including the Rt. Rev. Dr. White, Tench Coxe, and Paul Beck, and notes that a motion to commit the petition to committee was lost, after which the petition was adopted and sent to the legislature [p.7r]. The petition itself and a manuscript draft of the enacting legislation are also included [p.8r-10r]. The act passed the House of Representatives by a unanimous vote on March 16, 1810 [p.6].
The printed Senate act (No. 51) sets out the whereas clauses and enacts five sections: the corporation is renamed to include St. James's Church, its rents and revenues are directed to the maintenance of the three united churches, the by-laws are made conformable to the laws of Pennsylvania and the United States rather than Great Britain, the vestry is enlarged from twenty to twenty-four persons, and the corporation's income cap is set at six thousand dollars, exclusive of pew rents and burial ground fees [p.1-6]. Members of St. James's Church who had paid for a pew or sitting were granted voting rights at vestry elections through Easter Monday 1813 despite not meeting the usual three-year payment requirement [p.4-5].
A manuscript minute records a meeting of the united congregations held in Christ Church on January 12, 1810, at which the petition to the legislature was proposed. It lists those present, including the Rt. Rev. Dr. White, Tench Coxe, and Paul Beck, and notes that a motion to commit the petition to committee was lost, after which the petition was adopted and sent to the legislature [p.7r]. The petition itself and a manuscript draft of the enacting legislation are also included [p.8r-10r]. The act passed the House of Representatives by a unanimous vote on March 16, 1810 [p.6].
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