The First Celebration of Christmas at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1881
by John A.K. Boyd, MD
The first St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Durango, Colorado, was built in the fall of 1881 by Parson Hoge with his own hands and help from local carpenters. It was a simple rectangular wooden structure with a sawdust floor. Preparations for the first Christmas celebration in the new building began on December 21st of that year. According to the December 22, 1881, edition of the Durango Herald:
"All the young folks and many of the older ones, connected with St. Mark’s Church were busily engaged in decorating the church with evergreens for Christmas, last evening, and in putting up a grand, big Christmas tree to make the children’s hearts happy, next Saturday evening. The church will be in gala attire next Sunday. Besides the holiday evergreens, with which its walk will be festooned, it will have a brand new carpet on the floor, its pews will be handsomely decorated with Durango’s good looking people, and the pulpit will be occupied by St. Mark’s genial pastor, with a stirring Christmas sermon."
With regard to the Christmas preparations, a later edition of the Herald also noted:
"… the industrious ones, who were engaged in decorating St. Mark’s Church with evergreens for Christmas, returned to Scott’s Hall [a local dance hall with a fine wooden floor] at ten o’clock, and rewarded themselves with a little dance. Their hands bore deep evidence of their labors in pine pitch, but no one was allowed the privilege of removing it, and the fun was even greater for its informality. In some cases, where the pitch was thickest and blackest, (denoting the extra industry of the owner of the hands!) mittens and miter gloves were resorted to, but these were very generally discarded before twelve o’clock."
On December 29, 1881, the Herald reported:
“Sunday [Christmas Day] found St. Mark’s church all ready for the merry holiday season. And an attractive place of worship it was. Over the altar, in evergreen letters, were the words, “Praise to God on high.” Under them was the sacred Latin cross, placed between the Maltese and Greek crosses. The walls of the room were festooned with wreaths of evergreens, and over the front door, surmounted with a half circle and Greek cross, were the words, “Peace on Earth.”
The Sunday School Christmas entertainment at the St. Mark’s church was a very pleasant affair. All the children were there, of course; and were made happy, before the beautiful Christmas tree was unloaded. After a short address by the pastor, Rev. C. M. Hogue, a song, entitled “Christmas Time Has Come Again,” was sung by Misses Lizzie Wigglesworth, Lily Luttrell, Louisa Weinig, and Stella Steinwandel. “Annie and Willie’s Prayer to Santa Claus,” was recited by Lizzie Wigglesworth. Theodore Langoff spoke “The Night Before Christmas.” Robbie Hopkins recited a pretty little Christmas poem, and Clara Smith told the story of “The Bad Doll.” Little May Finch brought down the house with her singing of “Beautiful Little Hands.” She also recited “Sweet Maiden Fair,” receiving great applause. Readings were given by Louisa Weinig, Minnie Shields, Horace Sims and Eddie Casebolt. “Christmas Bells” was a solo sung most charmingly by Miss Alice McFadden. Miss Annie Willard closed the programme of the evening by reciting a poem of great beauty. A collection for the benefit of the Sunday School library was then taken up in the large audience with good results. After a short address by the Sunday School Superintendent, Mr. Walters, in which he gave the information that the school had only been started last January, Santa Claus appeared in a wooly coat and bells, and Mr. W. G. Kellog proceeded to unload the gay looking Christmas tree and to load up old Santa (who, when you got below the clever disguise, turned out to be none other than Mr. J. A. Smith). To every little girl he presented a doll and to the little boys, knives; and all were served equally with picture books, handkerchiefs, harmonicas, oranges, and bags of candy. Besides these the parents and friends enriched the tree with many handsome and more costly gifts; but all fared exceedingly well. Thus closed the first Christmas entertainment at St. Mark’s church.
"All the young folks and many of the older ones, connected with St. Mark’s Church were busily engaged in decorating the church with evergreens for Christmas, last evening, and in putting up a grand, big Christmas tree to make the children’s hearts happy, next Saturday evening. The church will be in gala attire next Sunday. Besides the holiday evergreens, with which its walk will be festooned, it will have a brand new carpet on the floor, its pews will be handsomely decorated with Durango’s good looking people, and the pulpit will be occupied by St. Mark’s genial pastor, with a stirring Christmas sermon."
With regard to the Christmas preparations, a later edition of the Herald also noted:
"… the industrious ones, who were engaged in decorating St. Mark’s Church with evergreens for Christmas, returned to Scott’s Hall [a local dance hall with a fine wooden floor] at ten o’clock, and rewarded themselves with a little dance. Their hands bore deep evidence of their labors in pine pitch, but no one was allowed the privilege of removing it, and the fun was even greater for its informality. In some cases, where the pitch was thickest and blackest, (denoting the extra industry of the owner of the hands!) mittens and miter gloves were resorted to, but these were very generally discarded before twelve o’clock."
On December 29, 1881, the Herald reported:
“Sunday [Christmas Day] found St. Mark’s church all ready for the merry holiday season. And an attractive place of worship it was. Over the altar, in evergreen letters, were the words, “Praise to God on high.” Under them was the sacred Latin cross, placed between the Maltese and Greek crosses. The walls of the room were festooned with wreaths of evergreens, and over the front door, surmounted with a half circle and Greek cross, were the words, “Peace on Earth.”
The Sunday School Christmas entertainment at the St. Mark’s church was a very pleasant affair. All the children were there, of course; and were made happy, before the beautiful Christmas tree was unloaded. After a short address by the pastor, Rev. C. M. Hogue, a song, entitled “Christmas Time Has Come Again,” was sung by Misses Lizzie Wigglesworth, Lily Luttrell, Louisa Weinig, and Stella Steinwandel. “Annie and Willie’s Prayer to Santa Claus,” was recited by Lizzie Wigglesworth. Theodore Langoff spoke “The Night Before Christmas.” Robbie Hopkins recited a pretty little Christmas poem, and Clara Smith told the story of “The Bad Doll.” Little May Finch brought down the house with her singing of “Beautiful Little Hands.” She also recited “Sweet Maiden Fair,” receiving great applause. Readings were given by Louisa Weinig, Minnie Shields, Horace Sims and Eddie Casebolt. “Christmas Bells” was a solo sung most charmingly by Miss Alice McFadden. Miss Annie Willard closed the programme of the evening by reciting a poem of great beauty. A collection for the benefit of the Sunday School library was then taken up in the large audience with good results. After a short address by the Sunday School Superintendent, Mr. Walters, in which he gave the information that the school had only been started last January, Santa Claus appeared in a wooly coat and bells, and Mr. W. G. Kellog proceeded to unload the gay looking Christmas tree and to load up old Santa (who, when you got below the clever disguise, turned out to be none other than Mr. J. A. Smith). To every little girl he presented a doll and to the little boys, knives; and all were served equally with picture books, handkerchiefs, harmonicas, oranges, and bags of candy. Besides these the parents and friends enriched the tree with many handsome and more costly gifts; but all fared exceedingly well. Thus closed the first Christmas entertainment at St. Mark’s church.
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In 1876 Caroline Wescott was a young 36-year-old reporter for The Chicago Times who had already covered three sessions of congress in Washington D.C. when she married John Romney who tragically died three months later. She continued working as a journalist and remained single and childless for the rest of her life. Like many young people at the time looking to start a new life, she headed west and found herself in the mining camps of Colorado. In the fall of 1880 she started Durango’s first news publication, The Durango Daily Record. In so doing, she defied convention by owning, publishing, and editing a newspaper. Because “no building could be rented for love or money,” she opened her new business in a tent pitched in two feet of snow.
By then a seasoned journalist, Mrs. Romney became a champion for women’s rights, an opponent of prostitution, and a critic of opium dens and their patrons. Her opposition to prostitution was, however, very principled and nuanced for her time. She “argued that any number of these women came West because of domestic problems they faced back East. When they got here, they were used for pleasure and then blamed for it. Blaming the victim was no way to solve a problem, at least in Mrs. Romney’s eyes.”(E)
She also became an opponent of local outlaw gangs. In April of 1881, the Stockton-Eskridge gang and Coe-Hamblett gang engaged in a gunfight on the edge of town, and a stray bullet flew through The Daily Record office (tent) just missing the publisher, editor, reporter and writer, Caroline Romney. She insisted that the Stockton-Eskridge gang be run out of town. Town leaders finally succeeded in getting them to leave after giving them a $700 incentive to do so.(T)
Caroline Romney was, it seems, a journalistic force of nature. “Armed with robust health, good business sense, and a ‘nose for news,’ Mrs. Romney ‘feared nothing that walked or flew.’ Since the unpaved streets and unwashed masses were her major source of information, this editor of ‘that spicy little daily’ never hesitated to bolt out of her office to gather the news while it was still news.”(E) In a critique of the People’s Party she wrote: “There was the sound of Revelry by Night; It lasted until Five o’clock in the Morning; Disturbing the Respectable People of the Neighborhood. So freely flowed the wine that the courage of the People’s Party rose, until finally it demanded Blood! Blood!! Blood!!! It was represented that at that late, or rather, early hour, it would be difficult to find a victim. Someone suggested eggs as a substitute for blood. Happy thought!”(S1)
An early feminist, Mrs. Romney wrote in 1881 the following advice for women interested in business: “The best way for women to pursue, in business enterprises at least, is not to wait for men to accord them their rights, but to go ahead and take them. Such women have so much practical work to do, that, as a rule, they haven’t much time to talk women’s rights. They do what is better – they act them.”(S2)
By September of 1881, Parson Hoge was building St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on East Second Avenue in Durango, a wooden building that was one of the first church structures in the town. Another newspaper noted at the time, “There were rumors that gambling money was used to complete the project, but what can we expect when the congregation was ‘made up of about as rough an assemblage as ever gathered to hear the Word of God’”? Whatever concerns she may have had regarding St. Mark’s financing, Mrs. Romney became an active member. She was reported to have read a poem at the official opening of St. Mark’s Church in 1881. She helped form the Ladies Aid Society and served as its first Vice President. Whether or not they engaged in community service as we understand it today, these ladies knew how to organize parish fun, including: strawberry festivals, pantomimes, “phantom parties,” charades, “mystery evenings,” organ solos, card playing [!], curious games (stagecoach, dumb crambo, and proverb shouting) singing, public readings, and dancing. Many of these “informal winter amusements,” as well as a few formal affairs, were initially held at either the rectory, the church, or a local venue called Scott’s Hall.(E) It should be remembered that the congregation at St. Mark’s Church in the early 1800s was, like most folks who came West, a very young group of people. At forty-five years of age, Parson Hoge was considered by some an “old man.” If young parishioners and other citizens did not want to socialize at local bars, brothels or gambling halls, places like Scott’s Hall, St. Mark’s Church, or the Hoge parsonage were the other choices. The entertainment provided by St. Mark’s was an expression of great expectations, “unbounded enthusiasm, energy and hope” – not “jaded indulgence.”(E) “Because of Mrs. Romney’s paper, we know about St. Mark’s being the first public school in town as well as its being the site for the first christening here. She should know about this latter event in particular because she and her brother, George Westcott, were present at the baptism to serve as sponsors….” (E)
Caroline Romney stayed in Durango only one and one-half years and moved frequently thereafter. In 1882, she sold the Daily Record printing press, “entire office and good will” to the Herald newspaper. By 1883 she had started the Review, a newspaper in Trinidad, Colorado. Later, she started newspapers in El Paso, Texas, and Socorro, New Mexico. In 1887 she sailed from Boston to tour England and France. Upon her return to the United States she went back to Chicago where she became a writer for, editor and owner of the Chicago Trade Journal. Returning to Colorado, she became secretary of the Women’s Protective Union in Denver, Colorado, in 1891. By 1893 she was back in Chicago working as a journalist. That year she presented a paper and lecture to the World’s Columbian Exposition (a world’s fair in Chicago) Congress of Women; the topic was her unaccompanied tours of Mexico. At the same exposition she exhibited several devices she had invented: “filters, conservers of heat and cold, and other inventions of value and importance to economic and comfortable housekeeping.”(R) The September 4, 1897, edition of Publisher’s Weekly noted: “One of the first newspapers to be started in the Klondike region will be owned and operated by a Chicago woman. Mrs. Caroline Westcott Romney, who will leave immediately for the Alaskan gold-fields, will take with her a small hand press and an outfit comprising all the necessities of the newspaper business when conducted on a small scale.” I don’t know whether or not she actually got to Alaska. From 1899 to 1902 she did genealogy work in Denver.
By the start of 1905 she was in the real estate business in Seattle, Washington. Later that year she moved to California, where in 1910 she settled in Los Angeles working in the real estate business and living with her brother George. Caroline Romney died at seventy-six years-of-age following two strokes while living with her sister in Denver, Colorado.(F)
References:
By then a seasoned journalist, Mrs. Romney became a champion for women’s rights, an opponent of prostitution, and a critic of opium dens and their patrons. Her opposition to prostitution was, however, very principled and nuanced for her time. She “argued that any number of these women came West because of domestic problems they faced back East. When they got here, they were used for pleasure and then blamed for it. Blaming the victim was no way to solve a problem, at least in Mrs. Romney’s eyes.”(E)
She also became an opponent of local outlaw gangs. In April of 1881, the Stockton-Eskridge gang and Coe-Hamblett gang engaged in a gunfight on the edge of town, and a stray bullet flew through The Daily Record office (tent) just missing the publisher, editor, reporter and writer, Caroline Romney. She insisted that the Stockton-Eskridge gang be run out of town. Town leaders finally succeeded in getting them to leave after giving them a $700 incentive to do so.(T)
Caroline Romney was, it seems, a journalistic force of nature. “Armed with robust health, good business sense, and a ‘nose for news,’ Mrs. Romney ‘feared nothing that walked or flew.’ Since the unpaved streets and unwashed masses were her major source of information, this editor of ‘that spicy little daily’ never hesitated to bolt out of her office to gather the news while it was still news.”(E) In a critique of the People’s Party she wrote: “There was the sound of Revelry by Night; It lasted until Five o’clock in the Morning; Disturbing the Respectable People of the Neighborhood. So freely flowed the wine that the courage of the People’s Party rose, until finally it demanded Blood! Blood!! Blood!!! It was represented that at that late, or rather, early hour, it would be difficult to find a victim. Someone suggested eggs as a substitute for blood. Happy thought!”(S1)
An early feminist, Mrs. Romney wrote in 1881 the following advice for women interested in business: “The best way for women to pursue, in business enterprises at least, is not to wait for men to accord them their rights, but to go ahead and take them. Such women have so much practical work to do, that, as a rule, they haven’t much time to talk women’s rights. They do what is better – they act them.”(S2)
By September of 1881, Parson Hoge was building St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on East Second Avenue in Durango, a wooden building that was one of the first church structures in the town. Another newspaper noted at the time, “There were rumors that gambling money was used to complete the project, but what can we expect when the congregation was ‘made up of about as rough an assemblage as ever gathered to hear the Word of God’”? Whatever concerns she may have had regarding St. Mark’s financing, Mrs. Romney became an active member. She was reported to have read a poem at the official opening of St. Mark’s Church in 1881. She helped form the Ladies Aid Society and served as its first Vice President. Whether or not they engaged in community service as we understand it today, these ladies knew how to organize parish fun, including: strawberry festivals, pantomimes, “phantom parties,” charades, “mystery evenings,” organ solos, card playing [!], curious games (stagecoach, dumb crambo, and proverb shouting) singing, public readings, and dancing. Many of these “informal winter amusements,” as well as a few formal affairs, were initially held at either the rectory, the church, or a local venue called Scott’s Hall.(E) It should be remembered that the congregation at St. Mark’s Church in the early 1800s was, like most folks who came West, a very young group of people. At forty-five years of age, Parson Hoge was considered by some an “old man.” If young parishioners and other citizens did not want to socialize at local bars, brothels or gambling halls, places like Scott’s Hall, St. Mark’s Church, or the Hoge parsonage were the other choices. The entertainment provided by St. Mark’s was an expression of great expectations, “unbounded enthusiasm, energy and hope” – not “jaded indulgence.”(E) “Because of Mrs. Romney’s paper, we know about St. Mark’s being the first public school in town as well as its being the site for the first christening here. She should know about this latter event in particular because she and her brother, George Westcott, were present at the baptism to serve as sponsors….” (E)
Caroline Romney stayed in Durango only one and one-half years and moved frequently thereafter. In 1882, she sold the Daily Record printing press, “entire office and good will” to the Herald newspaper. By 1883 she had started the Review, a newspaper in Trinidad, Colorado. Later, she started newspapers in El Paso, Texas, and Socorro, New Mexico. In 1887 she sailed from Boston to tour England and France. Upon her return to the United States she went back to Chicago where she became a writer for, editor and owner of the Chicago Trade Journal. Returning to Colorado, she became secretary of the Women’s Protective Union in Denver, Colorado, in 1891. By 1893 she was back in Chicago working as a journalist. That year she presented a paper and lecture to the World’s Columbian Exposition (a world’s fair in Chicago) Congress of Women; the topic was her unaccompanied tours of Mexico. At the same exposition she exhibited several devices she had invented: “filters, conservers of heat and cold, and other inventions of value and importance to economic and comfortable housekeeping.”(R) The September 4, 1897, edition of Publisher’s Weekly noted: “One of the first newspapers to be started in the Klondike region will be owned and operated by a Chicago woman. Mrs. Caroline Westcott Romney, who will leave immediately for the Alaskan gold-fields, will take with her a small hand press and an outfit comprising all the necessities of the newspaper business when conducted on a small scale.” I don’t know whether or not she actually got to Alaska. From 1899 to 1902 she did genealogy work in Denver.
By the start of 1905 she was in the real estate business in Seattle, Washington. Later that year she moved to California, where in 1910 she settled in Los Angeles working in the real estate business and living with her brother George. Caroline Romney died at seventy-six years-of-age following two strokes while living with her sister in Denver, Colorado.(F)
References:
- (R): Romney, Caroline Westcott; “Four Months in Old Mexico”; in The Congress of Women, World’s Columbian Exposition; Mary Kavanaugh Oldham Eagle (editor), 1893
- (E): Eckenrode, T.R.: The Eyes of Faith and the Sounds of Time: St. Mark’s Journey with Durango, 1880-1921
- (F): FindAGrave Website; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/105059827/caroline-romney; extracted 09/25/2018
- (S1): Smith, Duane; “Record Thrived on Opium Dens, Cries for ‘Blood’”; in the Durango Herald, 09/24/2010
- (S2): Smith, Duane: “Condemned By Many, Read By All,” Durango’s Newspapers, 1880-1992; 1992
- (T): Thompson, Jonathan P; River of Lost Souls, March 2018
PARSON HOGE, DURANGO’S FIRST EPISCOPAL PRIEST
Charles Montgomery Hoge (1832-1904)
A Brief Annotated Biography by John A.K. Boyd, MD
version 10/7/19
Sketch of Parson Hoge from 1897
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In 1857 at the age of 25, Charles Montgomery Hoge left Fayetteville, Arkansas, and headed west in the company of his father, Judge Joseph Montgomery Hoge, and his new bride, Elizabeth Collville. They were looking to start a new life in California following the death of Charles’ mother. Having secured places on the wagon train led by Basil Parker, they crossed Texas and Colorado joined to the ill-fated and much larger Francher wagon train. By the time the Francher train reached Salt Lake City, the Parker train had lagged 2-3 days behind. The Francher train, including Charles’ brother-in-law, took the southern route across Utah and perished in the
Mormon Mountain Meadow Massacre. When Parker reached Salt Lake City, he heard rumors of troubles to the south, and took his wagon train across the northern route, arriving successfully in California where the Hoges settled around Monterey.
In his twenties Charles was not particularly religious. The History of Southern Methodism on the Pacific Coast (1860) notes that he “had had his mind poisoned with infidel notions,” and a Durango newspaper article (1907) described his early life as a that of a gambler, “formed by life’s wild western side.” However, while in Monterey County, he was soon “brought under the influence of a gracious revival,” and was “powerfully converted.” Almost immediately he felt a call to preach and was “licensed as soon as his probation expired” as a lay Methodist preacher. By late 1860, for some unknown reason (perhaps that Methodists were teetotalers), Charles decided to “unite with” the Protestant Episcopal Church. During the California conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (October 17, 1860) “seven leading members introduced a resolution to the effect that “the Rev. C. M. Hogue [sic], recently a member of this body, in changing his Church relations, leaves us with an unblemished reputation as a Christian minister, and in his new field of labor in the Master's service has our earnest prayers for his usefulness and happiness.” Hoge was ordained as an Episcopal Deacon by the Bishop of California in 1866 and was ordained as an Episcopal Priest by the Bishop of Arkansas in 1871.
By 1874 Reverend Hoge had settled in the San Luis Valley of Colorado and founded an Episcopal church in Rosita, staying there till the spring of 1877 when he became part of the San Juan Missionary Circuit. By 1880 “Parson” Hoge had established St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ouray and was making pastoral visits to Rico and Mancos. In the fall of 1880 he saw Durango for the first time and decided to establish a ministry there. By the time Parson Hoge began holding regular services in Durango at the age of 48, he had developed a reputation for being a man “fearful of nothing, not even blustering bullies and manipulating madams. He was strong, tall and lean with a great white beard and a booming voice. He was also said to have, upon occasion, belted a pistol over his black cassock and “gone hunting for his stray sheep in those rollicking ‘dens of iniquity’” that characterized Durango in the early 1880s. His preaching, however, centered on the love of God for sinners, the need for Christians of all denominations “to be in the good work of arousing men to a better life,” and their need to “come together on the basis of the Apostles’ Creed for practical work.” A poem about Parson Hoge written in 1897 noted that one of his sermons in a gambling hall “didn’t give cant or rhodomontade [boastful or inflated talk or behavior] . . . . Stood pat on heaven, but ‘sluffed on hell’. . . .” and “was short and to the point.” Though said to have preached in an Animas City log cabin as early as 1877, Parson Hoge led the first Episcopal Church service in Durango on December 26, 1880, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon in the dining room of the Delmonico Hotel. It was probably the second Christian church service of any kind held in Durango (the Baptists were first, holding a service on November 7, 1880). A much larger “congregation” gathered later that evening in the same venue where Parson Hoge made “an earnest plea . . . for unity in the Christian work, . . . thinking not of differences of opinion, but meeting . . . the common ground of the Apostles’ Creed for the building of Christ’s kingdom in our new city.”
By the end of 1881, Parson Hoge, using the labor, lumber and money supplied by community members, had built a wooden church on Second Street (now East Second Avenue) where the AT&T building now stands. It was named for St. Mark, writer of the second gospel. During construction, the “good parson” was said to have “carried a great deal of the “wood from the lumber yard of C. M. Williams on his back, and with his own hands put the frame up and enclosed it.” That church initially had a sawdust floor which was replaced by a wooden floor in 1884 – but the building itself was never painted. On September 8, 1881, the Durango Herald noted: “Carpenters are busily at work on St. Mark’s Church, and that edifice will soon be thoroughly repaired (construction will be completed) and ready for any kind of fall or winter weather. (There were rumors that gambling money was used to complete the project, but what can we expect when the congregation was ‘made up of about as rough an assemblage as ever gathered to hear the Word of God?’).” Indeed, at least one gambling hall was reported to have nailed up a “parson’s box” near its door, where “according as luck behaved that night,” gamblers were expected to place part of their winnings as they left that establishment when the “games all closed for the night." This is not surprising because Parson Hoge routinely “befriended gamblers, went into dance halls, and other ‘seedy places.’” While in those places, “he would boldly ask, and always receive, permission to hold services for the patrons’ spiritual welfare.” One of Parson Hoge’s parishioners remembered that “. . .everyone liked him. When he needed money, he used to go to the saloons and pass the plate around to the gamblers; ‘Chip in, boys’ he would say. And the gamblers gave generously.” Those gifts and the parson’s box supported both the construction of the church – and the parson’s salary. Under Parson Hoge’s leadership, St. Mark’s almost immediately became a center of civic and social activity. Before the end of 1881, the first public school was opened in the church building, and Parson Hoge was elected “County Superintendent of Schools by the unanimous voice of the people.” The first Sunday School program was also organized and operated by Parson Hoge in that same year. In addition to spiritual and educational activities, St. Mark’s sponsored dances, children’s celebrations, readings of poetry and other literature, vocal and instrumental musical performances (to include organ solos), a Ladies’ Aid Society (later to become the St. Mark’s Guild), strawberry festivals, pantomimes, charades, “sociables,” card playing and parties. These activities were held in the new church building, the rectory, and a local establishment, Scott’s Hall. According to the Durango Herald, “There has been no pleasanter party in Durango than the one given by the ladies of St. Mark’s”; and “These parties have more fun in them than a box of monkeys.” St. Mark’s also became the place to meet the “who’s who” of business and civic leaders in the community.
In the fall of 1882 Parson Hoge “tendered his resignation to the vestry . . . owing to a family affliction which has a tendency to distrust his mind from his duties as Rector of St. Mark’s church.” This “family affliction” was probably some form of mental illness suffered by his wife who was later noted in one of Hoge’s obituaries to have been “mildly insane” but “kept at home under his surveillance” since 1870.SFC It also seems that there was “dissatisfaction with some members of Parson Hoge’s congregation, who were trying to create trouble in the church, and reflecting upon his character as a gentleman and minister of the gospel. They went so far as to claim that he was shaking the religious opinion of some of the good people of his church.” The vestry, however, resolved that “we . . . most heartily sympathize with our pastor, and trust that an all-wise Providence may in his goodness, lighten the burden of affliction that rests upon our brother.” The vestry further resolved that “we ask him to withdraw his resignation; and that we hereby grant him one month’s [paid] leave of absence, trusting that he may return to his congregation renewed in health and encouraged to take up his work with a vigor that shall rebound to the benefit of himself and our people.” It appears that Parson Hoge decided to turn down this generous offer. A local newspaper on October 14, 1882 noted sadly: “Mr. Hoge’s troubles for more than a year have been of very serious nature, which were worse that all other ills that might have been inflicted upon him. . . . . Parson Hoge is a man of ability and is the possessor of a heart that knows the sunny smile of a happy soul, as well as the down trodden spirit of an unfortunate and despairing mortal. Deep in that heart is a hidden throb, surrounded with regret, but still he meets his fellow creatures with an air that belongs to happier men.” Parson Hoge left Durango to become the “Missionary to Silverton,” and from there extended “his labors to Rico and Mancos.” According to Bishop Spaulding in 1883, Parson Hoge persevered in his difficult ministry to mining towns in the San Juans “until the depths of the snow made it humanly impossible” for him to continue. By 1883 Parson Hoge had moved to the Diocese of Texas, but by the mid 1880s, St. Mark’s (now a parish) was supporting the missions in Silverton, Rico, Mancos, Fort Lewis, and Pagosa Springs. It was also developing plans for a ministry in Cortez.
Around 1887 Parson Hoge was transferred back to California where he was in charge of an Episcopal church at Woodland California. In 1893 he began work in Monterey and San Louis Obispo counties. At the time of his death at age 71, Parson Hoge was the Episcopal Minister in Charge of the King City and Jolon districts of California. During this period, his wife continued to be considered “mildly insane, and the fear that harm would come to her . . . added to his worry.” Following several “weeks under a peculiarly heavy strain which culminated in the week before his death in a long hard ride over the country to a distant funeral,” Hoge developed severe abdominal pain and was diagnosed with appendicitis. Facing surgery and “brooding over it,” he committed suicide, using a “revolver” to shoot himself in the head on June 24, 1904. It was a sad ending for a man of great gifts and accomplishments despite his own suffering.
References
• B: Burgoon, Charles P. “Early History of St. Mark’s Church,” The Durango Democrat 23 April
1914.
• DH: Durango Herald 1881
• DR: Durango Record 1881
• E: Eckenrode, T.R. “The Eyes of Faith and the Sounds of Time: St. Mark’s Journey with
Durango, 1880-1921 (written in the 1990s and edited by Chandler Jackson; unpublished)
• FWN: Florence Wilson Netherton, “Durango’s First Newspaper,” in Pioneers of the San Juan
Country, vol. 2: 25.
• JCS: Simmons, John Collinsworth. The History of Southern Methodism on the Pacific Coast.
California Conference of the M.E. Church (Methodist Episcopal Church), Tenth Session;
Sacramento, October 17, 1860
• JFS: Spaulding, James F. “The Bishop’s Annual Address for 1882,” The Missionary District of
Colorado and Wyoming: 9th Annual Convocation 9 (1882): 36-38; and Spaulding. “The
Bishop’s Annual Address for 1883,” The Colorado Council Journal: 1874-1886. 1 (1886): 28-
29.
• PC: The Pacific Churchman 1904
• SFC: The San Francisco Call June 26, 1904
• SW: The Southwest (newspaper) October 14, 1882
• WD: Devere, William. Jim Marshall’s New Pianner and Other Western Stories. New York: M.
Witmark and Sons, 1897
Mormon Mountain Meadow Massacre. When Parker reached Salt Lake City, he heard rumors of troubles to the south, and took his wagon train across the northern route, arriving successfully in California where the Hoges settled around Monterey.
In his twenties Charles was not particularly religious. The History of Southern Methodism on the Pacific Coast (1860) notes that he “had had his mind poisoned with infidel notions,” and a Durango newspaper article (1907) described his early life as a that of a gambler, “formed by life’s wild western side.” However, while in Monterey County, he was soon “brought under the influence of a gracious revival,” and was “powerfully converted.” Almost immediately he felt a call to preach and was “licensed as soon as his probation expired” as a lay Methodist preacher. By late 1860, for some unknown reason (perhaps that Methodists were teetotalers), Charles decided to “unite with” the Protestant Episcopal Church. During the California conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (October 17, 1860) “seven leading members introduced a resolution to the effect that “the Rev. C. M. Hogue [sic], recently a member of this body, in changing his Church relations, leaves us with an unblemished reputation as a Christian minister, and in his new field of labor in the Master's service has our earnest prayers for his usefulness and happiness.” Hoge was ordained as an Episcopal Deacon by the Bishop of California in 1866 and was ordained as an Episcopal Priest by the Bishop of Arkansas in 1871.
By 1874 Reverend Hoge had settled in the San Luis Valley of Colorado and founded an Episcopal church in Rosita, staying there till the spring of 1877 when he became part of the San Juan Missionary Circuit. By 1880 “Parson” Hoge had established St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ouray and was making pastoral visits to Rico and Mancos. In the fall of 1880 he saw Durango for the first time and decided to establish a ministry there. By the time Parson Hoge began holding regular services in Durango at the age of 48, he had developed a reputation for being a man “fearful of nothing, not even blustering bullies and manipulating madams. He was strong, tall and lean with a great white beard and a booming voice. He was also said to have, upon occasion, belted a pistol over his black cassock and “gone hunting for his stray sheep in those rollicking ‘dens of iniquity’” that characterized Durango in the early 1880s. His preaching, however, centered on the love of God for sinners, the need for Christians of all denominations “to be in the good work of arousing men to a better life,” and their need to “come together on the basis of the Apostles’ Creed for practical work.” A poem about Parson Hoge written in 1897 noted that one of his sermons in a gambling hall “didn’t give cant or rhodomontade [boastful or inflated talk or behavior] . . . . Stood pat on heaven, but ‘sluffed on hell’. . . .” and “was short and to the point.” Though said to have preached in an Animas City log cabin as early as 1877, Parson Hoge led the first Episcopal Church service in Durango on December 26, 1880, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon in the dining room of the Delmonico Hotel. It was probably the second Christian church service of any kind held in Durango (the Baptists were first, holding a service on November 7, 1880). A much larger “congregation” gathered later that evening in the same venue where Parson Hoge made “an earnest plea . . . for unity in the Christian work, . . . thinking not of differences of opinion, but meeting . . . the common ground of the Apostles’ Creed for the building of Christ’s kingdom in our new city.”
By the end of 1881, Parson Hoge, using the labor, lumber and money supplied by community members, had built a wooden church on Second Street (now East Second Avenue) where the AT&T building now stands. It was named for St. Mark, writer of the second gospel. During construction, the “good parson” was said to have “carried a great deal of the “wood from the lumber yard of C. M. Williams on his back, and with his own hands put the frame up and enclosed it.” That church initially had a sawdust floor which was replaced by a wooden floor in 1884 – but the building itself was never painted. On September 8, 1881, the Durango Herald noted: “Carpenters are busily at work on St. Mark’s Church, and that edifice will soon be thoroughly repaired (construction will be completed) and ready for any kind of fall or winter weather. (There were rumors that gambling money was used to complete the project, but what can we expect when the congregation was ‘made up of about as rough an assemblage as ever gathered to hear the Word of God?’).” Indeed, at least one gambling hall was reported to have nailed up a “parson’s box” near its door, where “according as luck behaved that night,” gamblers were expected to place part of their winnings as they left that establishment when the “games all closed for the night." This is not surprising because Parson Hoge routinely “befriended gamblers, went into dance halls, and other ‘seedy places.’” While in those places, “he would boldly ask, and always receive, permission to hold services for the patrons’ spiritual welfare.” One of Parson Hoge’s parishioners remembered that “. . .everyone liked him. When he needed money, he used to go to the saloons and pass the plate around to the gamblers; ‘Chip in, boys’ he would say. And the gamblers gave generously.” Those gifts and the parson’s box supported both the construction of the church – and the parson’s salary. Under Parson Hoge’s leadership, St. Mark’s almost immediately became a center of civic and social activity. Before the end of 1881, the first public school was opened in the church building, and Parson Hoge was elected “County Superintendent of Schools by the unanimous voice of the people.” The first Sunday School program was also organized and operated by Parson Hoge in that same year. In addition to spiritual and educational activities, St. Mark’s sponsored dances, children’s celebrations, readings of poetry and other literature, vocal and instrumental musical performances (to include organ solos), a Ladies’ Aid Society (later to become the St. Mark’s Guild), strawberry festivals, pantomimes, charades, “sociables,” card playing and parties. These activities were held in the new church building, the rectory, and a local establishment, Scott’s Hall. According to the Durango Herald, “There has been no pleasanter party in Durango than the one given by the ladies of St. Mark’s”; and “These parties have more fun in them than a box of monkeys.” St. Mark’s also became the place to meet the “who’s who” of business and civic leaders in the community.
In the fall of 1882 Parson Hoge “tendered his resignation to the vestry . . . owing to a family affliction which has a tendency to distrust his mind from his duties as Rector of St. Mark’s church.” This “family affliction” was probably some form of mental illness suffered by his wife who was later noted in one of Hoge’s obituaries to have been “mildly insane” but “kept at home under his surveillance” since 1870.SFC It also seems that there was “dissatisfaction with some members of Parson Hoge’s congregation, who were trying to create trouble in the church, and reflecting upon his character as a gentleman and minister of the gospel. They went so far as to claim that he was shaking the religious opinion of some of the good people of his church.” The vestry, however, resolved that “we . . . most heartily sympathize with our pastor, and trust that an all-wise Providence may in his goodness, lighten the burden of affliction that rests upon our brother.” The vestry further resolved that “we ask him to withdraw his resignation; and that we hereby grant him one month’s [paid] leave of absence, trusting that he may return to his congregation renewed in health and encouraged to take up his work with a vigor that shall rebound to the benefit of himself and our people.” It appears that Parson Hoge decided to turn down this generous offer. A local newspaper on October 14, 1882 noted sadly: “Mr. Hoge’s troubles for more than a year have been of very serious nature, which were worse that all other ills that might have been inflicted upon him. . . . . Parson Hoge is a man of ability and is the possessor of a heart that knows the sunny smile of a happy soul, as well as the down trodden spirit of an unfortunate and despairing mortal. Deep in that heart is a hidden throb, surrounded with regret, but still he meets his fellow creatures with an air that belongs to happier men.” Parson Hoge left Durango to become the “Missionary to Silverton,” and from there extended “his labors to Rico and Mancos.” According to Bishop Spaulding in 1883, Parson Hoge persevered in his difficult ministry to mining towns in the San Juans “until the depths of the snow made it humanly impossible” for him to continue. By 1883 Parson Hoge had moved to the Diocese of Texas, but by the mid 1880s, St. Mark’s (now a parish) was supporting the missions in Silverton, Rico, Mancos, Fort Lewis, and Pagosa Springs. It was also developing plans for a ministry in Cortez.
Around 1887 Parson Hoge was transferred back to California where he was in charge of an Episcopal church at Woodland California. In 1893 he began work in Monterey and San Louis Obispo counties. At the time of his death at age 71, Parson Hoge was the Episcopal Minister in Charge of the King City and Jolon districts of California. During this period, his wife continued to be considered “mildly insane, and the fear that harm would come to her . . . added to his worry.” Following several “weeks under a peculiarly heavy strain which culminated in the week before his death in a long hard ride over the country to a distant funeral,” Hoge developed severe abdominal pain and was diagnosed with appendicitis. Facing surgery and “brooding over it,” he committed suicide, using a “revolver” to shoot himself in the head on June 24, 1904. It was a sad ending for a man of great gifts and accomplishments despite his own suffering.
References
• B: Burgoon, Charles P. “Early History of St. Mark’s Church,” The Durango Democrat 23 April
1914.
• DH: Durango Herald 1881
• DR: Durango Record 1881
• E: Eckenrode, T.R. “The Eyes of Faith and the Sounds of Time: St. Mark’s Journey with
Durango, 1880-1921 (written in the 1990s and edited by Chandler Jackson; unpublished)
• FWN: Florence Wilson Netherton, “Durango’s First Newspaper,” in Pioneers of the San Juan
Country, vol. 2: 25.
• JCS: Simmons, John Collinsworth. The History of Southern Methodism on the Pacific Coast.
California Conference of the M.E. Church (Methodist Episcopal Church), Tenth Session;
Sacramento, October 17, 1860
• JFS: Spaulding, James F. “The Bishop’s Annual Address for 1882,” The Missionary District of
Colorado and Wyoming: 9th Annual Convocation 9 (1882): 36-38; and Spaulding. “The
Bishop’s Annual Address for 1883,” The Colorado Council Journal: 1874-1886. 1 (1886): 28-
29.
• PC: The Pacific Churchman 1904
• SFC: The San Francisco Call June 26, 1904
• SW: The Southwest (newspaper) October 14, 1882
• WD: Devere, William. Jim Marshall’s New Pianner and Other Western Stories. New York: M.
Witmark and Sons, 1897
Phillip B. Hawley Era at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Durango, CO, 1945-1964
written by Parishioner Kip Boyd, 2019
The Rev. Phillip B. Hawley was called from All Saints Episcopal Church, Torrington, Wyoming, to become the vicar of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Durango, Colorado, on June 8, 1945. One year earlier (May 5, 1944) he had married Shirley Moon at St. Peter’s Church, Sheridan Wyoming. He arrived in Durango in July of 1945 with a very small baby daughter (Mary) and a wife who could play the organ! Prior to Fr. Hawley’s arrival, the parish formed a housing committee and secured a new rectory (with furniture) for $5,700, after obtaining a loan from the Colorado Diocese for $4,500. That house with a red tiled roof still stands at the corner of West 7th Street and West 2nd Avenue. There were evidently some plumbing problems in the rectory because the Vestry Minutes of February 1947, taken by Judge James Noland (the temporary secretary of the Vestry) noted: “Discussion was had concerning the Vicar’s toilet seat – the vicar reported that the top of the reservoir strikes him in the middle of the back, and that in order to sit down he has to crawl under the wash bowl and hold onto the bath-tub pipe. It was agreed that something should be done for the Vicar’s relief.” By June of 1947, one of the church wardens reported that he had “ordered necessary reparis [sic] and toilet facilities in the rectory.”
At the time of Fr. Hawley’s arrival, St. Mark’s was a mission, having lost its parish status (probably in the 1930s) because of its low membership and inability to be self-supporting. Despite the small size of his Durango parish, Fr. Hawley became extremely busy. By August of 1945, he had developed a plan for St. Mark’s to become a parish again, and a formal application was sent to the Diocese in the spring of 1946. When Bishop Ingley made his official visit to St. Mark’s in 1946, Fr. Hawley was also serving missions in Mancos, Cortez, Pagosa Springs and Silverton. In January of 1947, Father Hawley’s second daughter (Martha) was born, and a parish committee began investigating the feasibility of excavating and finishing the church basement where Sunday-school classes were then being held on a dirt floor.
For some reason, St. Mark’s in 1947 had no bell in its belfry (the original bell may have been donated to war effort metal collections), and the Ladies Guild (the most common source of funding) had no extra money. According to the June 26, 1947 Minutes of the St. Mark’s Bishop’s Committee (as a mission, St. Mark’s was not entitled to a “vestry”): “Warden Coombs reported that he has located a bell about 3 miles from Mancos. Mr. [Leon] Bieri [a member of the Bishop’s Committee] was assigned the duty of stealing and hanging the bell.” One month later at the July 23rd meeting, the Minutes state: “The Vicar [Fr. Hawley] reported that the theft of the bell had been successfully completed, that preparations are now being made to hang it. It was suggested that some of the Committee may also be hanged if caught. Mr. Casey [the Treasurer] objected to these remarks and they were ordered stricken [but they never were].” A note from Betty Frances (a St. Mark’s parishioner in the 1940s) in 1953 claims: “. . . the bell that now hangs in the St. Mark’s belfry . . . was donated by a friend of a vestryman. It came from a fire station in Eureka, Colo . . . .” I suspect our current bell was obtained in 1947; whether it was from Mancos or Eureka and whether it was “stolen” or “donated” remains to be determined.
In addition to the secretive skullduggery surrounding the bell acquisition, it was well known that Fr. Hawley was, occasionally, neither a patient nor a flexible leader. He clashed with members of the Vestry regarding the appropriate use of a thurible (incense censor) during the service. He argued with parishioners regarding the appropriate names to be used when baptizing their children. But, despite his flaws, St. Mark’s flourished during Fr. Hawley’s tenure. He was evidently a good public speaker and a good liturgist. Durango High School records indicate that he was invited to read scripture and pray at graduation ceremonies in 1951 and 1953. In 1954 he participated in the 40th anniversary of Father Liebler’s ordination at St. Christopher’s mission in Bluff, Utah (see picture below). His wife played the organ and started a successful choir. He became active in local community groups, including the Parson’s Drug Coffee Club (see newspaper clipping below), the Masons, the Civil Air Patrol (as Chaplain) and the Fencing Club (instructor and founder). Under his leadership, the current stone parish hall was added to the back of the church in 1954. During construction, men of the church dug much of the basement by hand. Father Hawley is said to have brought a keg of beer, and women brought sandwiches to the site on Saturdays to encourage this effort. Arvo Matis, a lay member of the church, organized a group of parishioners in 1959 (called the “Twerps”) that held weekly dances in the Parish Hall for local teens. The congregation grew numerically and financially; parish status was restored in 1951 and has been maintained to the present day. Father Hawley was St. Mark’s longest serving priest – 19 years. He died of colon cancer in Durango in 1964.
At the time of Fr. Hawley’s arrival, St. Mark’s was a mission, having lost its parish status (probably in the 1930s) because of its low membership and inability to be self-supporting. Despite the small size of his Durango parish, Fr. Hawley became extremely busy. By August of 1945, he had developed a plan for St. Mark’s to become a parish again, and a formal application was sent to the Diocese in the spring of 1946. When Bishop Ingley made his official visit to St. Mark’s in 1946, Fr. Hawley was also serving missions in Mancos, Cortez, Pagosa Springs and Silverton. In January of 1947, Father Hawley’s second daughter (Martha) was born, and a parish committee began investigating the feasibility of excavating and finishing the church basement where Sunday-school classes were then being held on a dirt floor.
For some reason, St. Mark’s in 1947 had no bell in its belfry (the original bell may have been donated to war effort metal collections), and the Ladies Guild (the most common source of funding) had no extra money. According to the June 26, 1947 Minutes of the St. Mark’s Bishop’s Committee (as a mission, St. Mark’s was not entitled to a “vestry”): “Warden Coombs reported that he has located a bell about 3 miles from Mancos. Mr. [Leon] Bieri [a member of the Bishop’s Committee] was assigned the duty of stealing and hanging the bell.” One month later at the July 23rd meeting, the Minutes state: “The Vicar [Fr. Hawley] reported that the theft of the bell had been successfully completed, that preparations are now being made to hang it. It was suggested that some of the Committee may also be hanged if caught. Mr. Casey [the Treasurer] objected to these remarks and they were ordered stricken [but they never were].” A note from Betty Frances (a St. Mark’s parishioner in the 1940s) in 1953 claims: “. . . the bell that now hangs in the St. Mark’s belfry . . . was donated by a friend of a vestryman. It came from a fire station in Eureka, Colo . . . .” I suspect our current bell was obtained in 1947; whether it was from Mancos or Eureka and whether it was “stolen” or “donated” remains to be determined.
In addition to the secretive skullduggery surrounding the bell acquisition, it was well known that Fr. Hawley was, occasionally, neither a patient nor a flexible leader. He clashed with members of the Vestry regarding the appropriate use of a thurible (incense censor) during the service. He argued with parishioners regarding the appropriate names to be used when baptizing their children. But, despite his flaws, St. Mark’s flourished during Fr. Hawley’s tenure. He was evidently a good public speaker and a good liturgist. Durango High School records indicate that he was invited to read scripture and pray at graduation ceremonies in 1951 and 1953. In 1954 he participated in the 40th anniversary of Father Liebler’s ordination at St. Christopher’s mission in Bluff, Utah (see picture below). His wife played the organ and started a successful choir. He became active in local community groups, including the Parson’s Drug Coffee Club (see newspaper clipping below), the Masons, the Civil Air Patrol (as Chaplain) and the Fencing Club (instructor and founder). Under his leadership, the current stone parish hall was added to the back of the church in 1954. During construction, men of the church dug much of the basement by hand. Father Hawley is said to have brought a keg of beer, and women brought sandwiches to the site on Saturdays to encourage this effort. Arvo Matis, a lay member of the church, organized a group of parishioners in 1959 (called the “Twerps”) that held weekly dances in the Parish Hall for local teens. The congregation grew numerically and financially; parish status was restored in 1951 and has been maintained to the present day. Father Hawley was St. Mark’s longest serving priest – 19 years. He died of colon cancer in Durango in 1964.
Fr. Walton Hall Doggett
Era at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Durango, Colorado
by John A. K. Boyd, MD
version 2/25/19
Fr. Doggett
By 1907 St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Durango had lost its parish status , and by the end of that year the number of communicants attending services had dwindled to about 35 per week. Despite this, the church continued to elect vestries, celebrate weddings and hold Christmas tree ceremonies. An organ was installed, and a furnace was built. In 1908 the Reverent Walton H. Doggett, a cigar smoking priest who loved to fish, arrived in Durango. He also loved to give sermons. Every Sunday, his morning homily was different from the one he gave on Sunday evening. He often used a large chart to illustrate his messages. Many of his sermons were based on church seasons or specific scriptural texts. Occasionally he presented discourses on “last things”: “The Church Expectant,” “The Divine Purpose for Humanity,” and “The Modern Interpretation of Eternal Punishment.” But his most consistent topics tended to be on practical Christian coping with everyday life: “The Indwelling Christ,” “The Penalty of Hate,” “The Dignity of Work,” “The Value of Man,” “Hurry and Worry” [there should be a balance between procrastination, the thief of time, and hurry, the enemy of reflection], “Religion on a Business Basis,” “Our Duty to Our Neighbor,” and “Present Day Conditions and Their Lessons For Us.” One sermon was titled, “A Vacation and What It Accomplished.” This sermon was given on the Sunday following the Durango Herald’s article of August 29, 1908, which noted that “Mr. Doggett reports a fine vacation, fishing on the Piedra and with Mr. John Pearson in Hermosa Park.”
Fr. Doggett was also, especially for the early Twentieth Century, very inclusive and ecumenical. Written invitations at the bottom of each week’s announcements included: “Everybody cordially invited: a church for all sorts and conditions of men”; “Come and have the burden lifted”; “Welcome all,” “A cordial welcome, “a cordial welcome to all.” On one occasion, the inducement to attend was unabashed: “The service is short; the music is hearty.” It was not unusual for him to invite others to preach at St. Mark’s. He also organized interfaith and allowed inter-social services at the church. Some of the latter included: Ascension-tide services with the Ivanhoe Commandry of the Knights Templar [Masons], and yearly memorial services with the Knights of Pythias, as well as with the Grand Army of the Republic, Catholic Benevolent Legion, Knights of Columbus, Odd Fellows and Elks Club.
On January 31, 1910, the Durango Semi-Weekly Herald carried the full text of Fr. Doggett’s funeral oration for his dear friend, Mr. David E. Morell, the former pastor of the Presbyterian Church in town. The reporter noted that “As we listened [to Fr. Doggett], we wondered how people could hear such words and not make up their minds to be better men and women.” Indeed, he received the closest attention to his remarks.”
Fr. Doggett’s ministry was not limited to Durango while he was at St. Mark’s. Shortly after his arrival in 1908 he began making trips to St. John’s in Silverton, St. Michael’s in Telluride, Porter, a coal mining camp up in Wildcat Canyon, and St. John’s in Farmington (the new stone building for which he helped to fund in 1908). He encouraged interdenominational meetings with local clergy, and in 1908 the Durango Democrat reported that “the ministers of Durango met yesterday morning [November 4] in the study of the Episcopal Church to discuss the feasibility of a ministerial association.” On November 22nd of that same year, the Durango Democrat reported that “There will be a union service at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church - Thursday morning at 10:30” and that the service would involve “the united choirs of the city rendering hearty music” to all who attended. These interdenominational services continued on a regular basis even after Fr. Doggett and his wife left in 1911. In the late summer and early fall of that year, “St. Mark’s held reciprocal union services with the Methodist Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, and a group calling themselves ‘Central Christians.’”
One of the first commitments undertaken by Rev. Doggett and the local ministerial association was implementation of the new “social gospel.” At Thanksgiving, contributions were to be brought to the rectory of St. Mark’s at 928 Third Avenue [the little white frame house north of and next to the church today], or to the church on Thursday morning. Fr. Doggett announced that any gift was welcomed: money, groceries, fruit, vegetables, flowers, etc. After the service, all these items were turned over to the Salvation Army, who distributed them to folks who had no home or had little food. Fr. Speaking to his parishioners, Fr. Doggett said to the more fortunate members of the community, “Let us all unite for the true purpose of Thanksgiving Day - giving thanks to God and doing for others.” He had become a leader in promoting genuine spiritual and social harmony between the Durango churches, building on a heritage that went back to Fr. Hoge’s interfaith services for President Garfield in the early 1880s.
During the Doggett era, music and “essay reading” became an important features of St. Mark’s services. Local papers frequently mentioned the organist, Professor York, praising him for his “special musical services” known only for “their excellence.” Congregational singing was supplemented with soloists including, Miss Paul, Miss Senecal, and Mr. Dougald McRee who graced their listeners with popular hymns such as “Abide With Me,” “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” and “Face to Face.” During Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas members of the church (including those not musically gifted) would read essays appropriate to the season. One year the Advent Essays included: “The Egypt of Abraham,” read by Mrs. Gilbert; “The City of Damascus” by Miss Gwendoline Houk; and “The Cave of Machpelah” by Miss Gladys Barton. Even though they were not allowed in the early Twentieth Century to be clergy or vestry members, women at St. Mark’s played important public roles in the services of the church.
Children’s activities at St. Mark’s were frequently mentioned in the local papers. On the day after Christmas 1908, the Durango Evening Herald reported:
A Christmas tree at St. Mark’s Sunday School made the children of the parish very happy on Christmas eve. A beautiful symetrical [sic] tree, 20 feet high, was resplendent with decorations and gifts at 7:30, when the children marched in singing a Christmas hymn. After a short service with the singing of carols, the rector delivered an address on true Christmas meaning, showing the children, that while giving, obligation and duty (which, he said, sometimes demand a return C.O.D.) prompt us only too often to the giving of Christmas gifts, the only true giving must spring from the love of God through the Christ Child in the heart. Then followed the lighting of the candles on the tree by Ned Haggart and Paul Jakway, after which presents and candy were delivered by the rector., assisted by Mr. Walker, Wood, Downs, McCloskey, and Walter Jakway, with a happy kindly word to each and all. After the benediction the scholars marched out in order to the singing of the hymn, “Shout the Glad Tidings.” A large congregation was present.
Other youth activities were less orthodox. Sometime after construction of the new church in 1892, young boys and girls to figured out that St. Mark’s sandstone block construction made it very easy for them to play games like “follow the leader” in a more exciting way. According to parish oral tradition, eager youths would occasionally follow a dauntless leader up the side of the church to the bell tower. Halloween was particularly prone to pranks involving the building. On one All Saints Day, Fr. Doggett awoke to see a Light Spring Wagon resting triumphantly atop the roof of the church. Such scenarios were reenacted more than once. Since Fr. Doggett lived next door to the church, and since he was a man of gusto, there must have been some interesting and curious encounters between him and the younger members of his flock.
Under Fr. Doggett’s leadership, St. Mark's flourished. Parish status was restored in 1910. Increasing numbers of Durango’s citizens, including delegations of Elks, Woodsmen, and Knights of Pythias, attended funerals and other parish functions, some of which involved “a long line of carriages.” The choir was named the Clover Leaf Club, choir gowns were purchased, the women’s guild was selling cook books, and a new rector was called to succeed Fr. Doggett: Fr. Higby was offered a salary of $1000 per year to serve both St. Mark's in Durango and St. John’s in Farmington. Before Fr. Doggett’s departure, the Vestry Treasurer was authorized to pay for Fr. Doggett’s box of cigars.
Reference:
The Eyes of Faith and the Sounds of Time: St. Mark's Journey with Durango 1880-1921; T. R. Eckenrode; completed by Eckenrode circa 2011; edited and footnoted by Chandler Jackson, 2013; (unpublished)
Fr. Doggett was also, especially for the early Twentieth Century, very inclusive and ecumenical. Written invitations at the bottom of each week’s announcements included: “Everybody cordially invited: a church for all sorts and conditions of men”; “Come and have the burden lifted”; “Welcome all,” “A cordial welcome, “a cordial welcome to all.” On one occasion, the inducement to attend was unabashed: “The service is short; the music is hearty.” It was not unusual for him to invite others to preach at St. Mark’s. He also organized interfaith and allowed inter-social services at the church. Some of the latter included: Ascension-tide services with the Ivanhoe Commandry of the Knights Templar [Masons], and yearly memorial services with the Knights of Pythias, as well as with the Grand Army of the Republic, Catholic Benevolent Legion, Knights of Columbus, Odd Fellows and Elks Club.
On January 31, 1910, the Durango Semi-Weekly Herald carried the full text of Fr. Doggett’s funeral oration for his dear friend, Mr. David E. Morell, the former pastor of the Presbyterian Church in town. The reporter noted that “As we listened [to Fr. Doggett], we wondered how people could hear such words and not make up their minds to be better men and women.” Indeed, he received the closest attention to his remarks.”
Fr. Doggett’s ministry was not limited to Durango while he was at St. Mark’s. Shortly after his arrival in 1908 he began making trips to St. John’s in Silverton, St. Michael’s in Telluride, Porter, a coal mining camp up in Wildcat Canyon, and St. John’s in Farmington (the new stone building for which he helped to fund in 1908). He encouraged interdenominational meetings with local clergy, and in 1908 the Durango Democrat reported that “the ministers of Durango met yesterday morning [November 4] in the study of the Episcopal Church to discuss the feasibility of a ministerial association.” On November 22nd of that same year, the Durango Democrat reported that “There will be a union service at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church - Thursday morning at 10:30” and that the service would involve “the united choirs of the city rendering hearty music” to all who attended. These interdenominational services continued on a regular basis even after Fr. Doggett and his wife left in 1911. In the late summer and early fall of that year, “St. Mark’s held reciprocal union services with the Methodist Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, and a group calling themselves ‘Central Christians.’”
One of the first commitments undertaken by Rev. Doggett and the local ministerial association was implementation of the new “social gospel.” At Thanksgiving, contributions were to be brought to the rectory of St. Mark’s at 928 Third Avenue [the little white frame house north of and next to the church today], or to the church on Thursday morning. Fr. Doggett announced that any gift was welcomed: money, groceries, fruit, vegetables, flowers, etc. After the service, all these items were turned over to the Salvation Army, who distributed them to folks who had no home or had little food. Fr. Speaking to his parishioners, Fr. Doggett said to the more fortunate members of the community, “Let us all unite for the true purpose of Thanksgiving Day - giving thanks to God and doing for others.” He had become a leader in promoting genuine spiritual and social harmony between the Durango churches, building on a heritage that went back to Fr. Hoge’s interfaith services for President Garfield in the early 1880s.
During the Doggett era, music and “essay reading” became an important features of St. Mark’s services. Local papers frequently mentioned the organist, Professor York, praising him for his “special musical services” known only for “their excellence.” Congregational singing was supplemented with soloists including, Miss Paul, Miss Senecal, and Mr. Dougald McRee who graced their listeners with popular hymns such as “Abide With Me,” “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” and “Face to Face.” During Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas members of the church (including those not musically gifted) would read essays appropriate to the season. One year the Advent Essays included: “The Egypt of Abraham,” read by Mrs. Gilbert; “The City of Damascus” by Miss Gwendoline Houk; and “The Cave of Machpelah” by Miss Gladys Barton. Even though they were not allowed in the early Twentieth Century to be clergy or vestry members, women at St. Mark’s played important public roles in the services of the church.
Children’s activities at St. Mark’s were frequently mentioned in the local papers. On the day after Christmas 1908, the Durango Evening Herald reported:
A Christmas tree at St. Mark’s Sunday School made the children of the parish very happy on Christmas eve. A beautiful symetrical [sic] tree, 20 feet high, was resplendent with decorations and gifts at 7:30, when the children marched in singing a Christmas hymn. After a short service with the singing of carols, the rector delivered an address on true Christmas meaning, showing the children, that while giving, obligation and duty (which, he said, sometimes demand a return C.O.D.) prompt us only too often to the giving of Christmas gifts, the only true giving must spring from the love of God through the Christ Child in the heart. Then followed the lighting of the candles on the tree by Ned Haggart and Paul Jakway, after which presents and candy were delivered by the rector., assisted by Mr. Walker, Wood, Downs, McCloskey, and Walter Jakway, with a happy kindly word to each and all. After the benediction the scholars marched out in order to the singing of the hymn, “Shout the Glad Tidings.” A large congregation was present.
Other youth activities were less orthodox. Sometime after construction of the new church in 1892, young boys and girls to figured out that St. Mark’s sandstone block construction made it very easy for them to play games like “follow the leader” in a more exciting way. According to parish oral tradition, eager youths would occasionally follow a dauntless leader up the side of the church to the bell tower. Halloween was particularly prone to pranks involving the building. On one All Saints Day, Fr. Doggett awoke to see a Light Spring Wagon resting triumphantly atop the roof of the church. Such scenarios were reenacted more than once. Since Fr. Doggett lived next door to the church, and since he was a man of gusto, there must have been some interesting and curious encounters between him and the younger members of his flock.
Under Fr. Doggett’s leadership, St. Mark's flourished. Parish status was restored in 1910. Increasing numbers of Durango’s citizens, including delegations of Elks, Woodsmen, and Knights of Pythias, attended funerals and other parish functions, some of which involved “a long line of carriages.” The choir was named the Clover Leaf Club, choir gowns were purchased, the women’s guild was selling cook books, and a new rector was called to succeed Fr. Doggett: Fr. Higby was offered a salary of $1000 per year to serve both St. Mark's in Durango and St. John’s in Farmington. Before Fr. Doggett’s departure, the Vestry Treasurer was authorized to pay for Fr. Doggett’s box of cigars.
Reference:
The Eyes of Faith and the Sounds of Time: St. Mark's Journey with Durango 1880-1921; T. R. Eckenrode; completed by Eckenrode circa 2011; edited and footnoted by Chandler Jackson, 2013; (unpublished)
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All Are Welcome Here
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910 East 3rd Ave.,
Durango, CO 81301 (970) 247-1129 stmarksdgo@gmail.com *Summer Office Hours: Wednesday 9-2p *Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday 9-2p doors will be locked but staff will be on site as well as Ministry leaders with keys for scheduled events.
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