The "Rev. Thomas Barton - St. James' Forgotten Minister" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Doing a bit of research for a story about The Reverend Thomas Barton who was the pastor of St. James Episcopal Church for a few years during the Revolutionary War.  I previously wrote a story about Rev. Barton on December 12, 2014 that primarily talked about his role of helping the Paxton Boys in the killing of a group of Indians that were held in the Lancaster Prison at the time.  I never did tell of his stay as the minister at my church, St. James Episcopal, in downtown Lancaster.  Thomas Barton was born in County Monaghan, Ireland in 1730.  He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and eventually arrived in Pennsylvania in 1750.  His first assignment was at the Academy of Philadelphia as a tutor.  While teaching there he met David Rittenhouse who happened to have a lovely sister whom Thomas eventually married.  In 1754 he left the Academy to go into orders and then returned to England the following year for his ordination.  Soon after, he returned to America as a missionary for York and Cumberland counties, representing the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, which had charge of the work of the church of England in America.  He became a Chaplin under General Frobes during the French and Indian War until Washington had taken possession of Fort Duquesne in 1758. The following year Rev. Barton arrived at St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster, PA to be the rector as well as missionary for the congregations of Pequea and Caernarvon townships.  He also officiated at the churches of New London and White Clay Creek.  He was a member of the American Philosophical Society and was a great pioneer in botany and an ardent student of nature.  With the arrival of the Revolutionary War came a big decision for Rev Thomas Barton.  In his ordination vows he had sworn allegiance to the King and to use the liturgy of the Church of England which included prayers for the King.  Being true to his vows, his conscience would not allow him to deviate from the prescribed liturgy.  So, on June 23, 1776 The Rev. Barton officiated in St. James for the last time.  The doors of St. James were boarded and locked and Rev. Barton was confined to house arrest.  The Rev. Thomas Barton eventually devoted his time to visiting the sick and baptizing children of the Parish until his departure to seek asylum within the British lines in New York in 1777.  By that time, he had eight children of his own and all except one remained in Pennsylvania.  For two years he was not allowed to visit with them and eventually his one son that had crossed into New York with him returned to England.  Shortly after, Rev. Barton was given permission by General Washington to visit with the remainder of his family at Elizabethtown, New Jersey in April of 1780.  After his visit with his children, he bid them a final adieu and left them never to see them again.  He paid to return to England on a vessel, but died in May of 1780, three days before the vessel sailed.  He was buried in the old St. George's church in New York.  Eventually that church was condemned and later demolished.  His body was removed and buried in Trinity Cemetery at 158th Street overlooking the Hudson River.  His grave marker was somehow lost and his last resting place is not known.  I often wonder if that was done on purpose on just by accident.  I became a member of St. James as a young boy in the mid-1950s and for all the years that I have been a member, I don't remember one single time that I ever heard any word mentioned about Rev. Thomas Barton.  Not sure why!  Perhaps he was forgotten on purpose due to his loyalty to his birth country and not his loyalty to his parish in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.