A brief history of Trinity Church – the Colonial and Revolutionary Periods and recent restorations

In 1755, Rev. Samuel Seabury first traveled to Fishkill from Hempstead Long Island on a missionary visit to Dutchess County sponsored by the Society for Propagation of the Gospel.  There were about 13 dwellings (and a church, a tavern and a school house) along the main road from the break in the mountains to the south, to the west side of today’s village.  Seabury reported to the SPG that there were a good number of people in the county that would support an English church and buy a glebe if they could get the Society’s help in obtaining a clergyman and paying him.  A Subscription by over 100 families was taken in 1756 to erect an English church in Fishkill, and money began to be raised.  With the help of Rev. John Beardsley, an agreement was reached with the SPG in 1766.  It required a glebe (a farm, the income from which supported the priest) and £60 a year for salary from the people, and the SPG would provide a library and £35 annually.  Two churches were involved, Trinity in Fishkill and Christ Church in Poughkeepsie, since neither could afford a glebe or a priest individually.  The glebe was bought in Poughkeepsie; the Glebe House on Main Street in Poughkeepsie is the original house built for Beardsley; the glebe surrounded it on the north side of the street.

Matthew Brett gave land for a Fishkill church to James Duncan and Richard Southard as trustees in 1767.  The original church building, constructed by October 1768, probably occupied in early 1769, is still used for worship today.   After the church was built, the SPG sent Trinity a Bible and Common Prayer Book published in England in 1767; the Bible is still held by the church today and used on special occasions.  The building itself is a rectangle about 40’ x 60’.  It is built using techniques similar to those used to build Dutch barns.  Ten smoothed tree trunks are mounted vertically on masonry foundations and joined at the top by timbers.  The roof and ceiling are supported by trusses, while the walls on a perimeter masonry foundation are only strong enough to support themselves.  The church likely did not have glass in the windows or pews when it was first built.  In 1788, the damages sustained and rental for seven years government use were estimated at £349 4s 11d – quite a substantial sum.  It is believed that Congress awarded the money to the church because the Vestry appropriated £200 for repairs, though no records can be found to substantiate the award.  Trinity Church at Wall Street in New York City gave Trinity Fishkill £500 in 1798 to complete the church building.  Still used for worship today, it looks substantially the same as when it was built save for a steeple that was removed in 1803 because it was deemed unsafe.  The remaining lower tower was removed in 1860.  Wood from the original box pews was used to construct the lower-backed pews in use today.

After the Declaration of Independence, Rev. John Beardsley, the rector of Trinity Church Fishkill and Christ Church Poughkeepsie, as an English sympathizer, was packed off to New York City.  Trinity briefly served as the 1776 meeting place of the New York State Convention (the legislature), but was abandoned for the nearby Dutch Reformed Church in Fishkill that had glass windows and permanent seating.   During the American Revolution, the largest supply depot for the northern Continental Army was located just south of Fishkill.  Both Trinity in Fishkill and Christ Church in Poughkeepsie were closed after the Declaration of Independence.  Nevertheless, there is written evidence that the congregations continued holding home services, omitting prayers (for the English king) that might offend patriots.  Trinity served as a hospital for Washington’s army until at least 1781.  It is not known if the church was used during the smallpox epidemic that ravaged the army at Fishkill.  Many Trinity patriots are buried in the church yard including names such as Thomas Southard, Isaac Ter Boss, Sylvanus Pine and his sons John, Robert and Thomas, Ezekiel Green and Lt. William Alger.  Other Trinity patriots include Philip Pine, Lt. James Cooper, and Jacobus Swartwout. 

Trinity and Christ Church separated their affairs around 1785.  The head of a prominent New York City family, Samuel Verplanck who had a local house along the Hudson (Mt. Gulian, where the Society of the Cincinnati was formed in May 1783), gave Trinity a 140-acre glebe at Stormville in 1785.  The glebe was sold in 1955 and the proceeds were used to help finance the Parish Hall, which was updated in 1984.  The Verplanck family played significant roles as benefactors, Wardens and Vestrymen throughout Trinity’s history.  The last burial in the church yard was in 1960; fittingly it was a member of the Verplanck family. 

In 1963, a restoration of the church interior removed the 1870s gothic arches and style ; the current pulpit, lectern, sacristy furniture and altar rail were installed.  The altar was donated by a parishioner.  The exterior was restored in 1989 and the interior painted in 1998.  It is likely that the current interior appearance is similar to the original completed form, excepting the high box pews that were cut down to their present height in the 1870s. 

Trinity Fishkill has had 29 priests including Rev. Jean Campbell, OSH, the current rector.  The church was incorporated under New York State religious law in 1784 as “The Rector and Inhabitants of the Town of Fishkill in communion of the Protestant Episcopal Church.”  Many early legal documents use this full name, but do not mention Trinity Church.  Some later documents include phrases like ‘known as Trinity Church’.  The “Rector and Inhabitants…” is still the official name of Trinity Church, Fishkill.

Shirley Bergmann, Trinity Church’s Historian, has written a more complete and entertaining history, authored and published in 1994. If you would like a copy of that history, please contact the church office (845-896-9884).