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The first parish register was presented to Saint Barnabas Chapel by Ann M. Williams "with warm interest," on All Saints’ Day, 1896. This is a standard, leather-bound parish register of the day, 125/8" by 93/4," with a gold embossed leather nameplate on the cover, "Saint Barnabas, Augusta Me."
Entries date from before the July 17, 1892, first service at Saint Barnabas. The Rev. Mr. William Livingston, Saint Barnabas’ first Vicar, on June 21st, officiated at the burial of a one week old infant who died of heart trouble the day before. The last burial recorded occurred on May 14, 1951. Confirmations were recorded from May 17, 1894 to April 24, 1955; Marriages, from January 3, 1894 to September 25, 1954; 345 Baptisms were recorded from July 9, 1893 to July 27, 1957, a day that saw four baptisms.
The first section of the register contains lined pages titled "History." The first 31/2 pages contain a brief but informative history from 1892 to 1896, penned by William Livingstone(?) The chronicle runs through 1914, highlighting each year’s most significant events in parish life. Paragraphs added here by transcriber.
The chronicle runs as follows:
In the spring of the year 1892, Mr. James Bridge, Senior Warden of St. Mark’s Church, Augusta, Maine, offered to give a lot of land, 85 X 100 feet on the East side of the city of Augusta, at the southwest corner of Bangor and Linden Streets, provided a chapel were placed upon it for the worship of Almighty God, according to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church. As the rector of St. Mark’s Church, the Rev. Walker Gwynne had for some time felt the growing need of religious service for those residents on the East side who were prevented by distance and infirmity from attending any place of worship. He gladly welcomed the opportunity and under his direction a committee of affairs was thereupon appointed to raise funds and to provide a building.
Among the principle subscribers to this new object were Miss Ann M. Williams, Mr. Joseph Bridge, Mrs. Hannah B. Williams, and Mr. & Mrs. Henry H. Harvey, Gen. Winfield S. Choate, whose gifts together with those of about 40 other persons amounted to about $1200.
The Committee of Affairs (known in Frank Harvey’s 1892 minutes as the Chapel Committee) decided to purchase the chapel of St. Catherine’s Hall, the diocesan school for girls in Augusta. The trustees of the Hall accepted their offer and shortly afterward the chapel, which had never been regularly used since its erection five years before, was successfully moved to the lot on Bangor Street. The shape of the ground being such that a good basement could be obtained, it was decided to construct a room under the whole length of the chapel, 50 X 25, leaving the interior to be finished later.
In July, 1892, the mission was formally organized under the name of St. Barnabas Mission, by the Bishop of the diocese, the Rt. Rev. Henry Adams Neely, L.L.D., who appointed William Farrand Livingston to be lay-reader in charge of the work and Fred Melvin Harvey, Warden. Mr. Livingston, candidate for Holy Orders, continued in charge of the mission at Richmond, and of St. Matthew’s Church, Hallowell, to both of which places he was appointed in May, 1892.
Since there was a debt upon St. Barnabas Chapel when it was ready for occupancy, the consecration was necessarily postponed, but the work began at once, and by coincidence the first service was on July 17, 1892, Sunday, which was the eighty-eighth birthday of Mr. James Bridge, whose interest and generosity had made the mission possible. Holy Communion was celebrated by The Rev. Walker Gwynne at 7:00 A. M., and in the afternoon at 4:30 o’clock there was Evening Prayer with serrmon by Mr. Gwynne. The Rev. Allen Everett Beeman, rector of Christ Church, Gardiner, Maine, and Mr. Livingston assisted at this service. The vested choir of St. Mark’s Church was present under the direction of Prof. Frederic C. Hyde, Organist.
On the following Sunday, July 24, the Sunday School was organized, to meet every Sunday, for the present, at 3:45 o’clock, P. M. This hour was subsequently changed to 2:45 o’clock, P. M. Evening Prayer being appointed for 3:30 o’clock, P. M.
The work of the mission was materially aided from the beginning by certain communicants of St. Mark’s Church in Augusta who became stated contributors ("and teachers in the Sunday School" was also added to the preceding sentence, but is barely legible and may have been erased for having been entered in error).
First:
Marriage, Jan. 3, 1894, to September 25, 1954
Confirmations, Thursday, May 17, 1894 to April 24, 1955
Burials: June 21, 1892 to May 14, 1951
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