and perhaps the names of some have been omitted. As far as I have been able to learn the facts in the case, the foregoing statements are substantially correct.
In addition to the services of these clergymen, lay-reading was for a time performed by Mr. Joseph Scott, formerly of Longmeadow, Mass. and now Rector of St. James's Church, Derby, Conn." Dr. John Stone, who died in 1833, was also "one of the earliest and most interested friends of the church . . ."
Colonel Lee's unswerving determination to form congenial religious ties for his workmen bore abundant fruit, for this we know: In 1636, Old First Church was founded. From that date until 1850 every church in Springfield, except the Unitarian, was a "direct outgrowth of the Armory Community," a situation probably unique in American Church History. The Universalists, the Methodists and possibly other church groups, availed themselves often of tolerant Colonel Lee's permission, and held their services in The Chapel instead of in private houses. Under that historic roof the Freemasons too, having no permanent place in which to foregather, held some of their first meetings, an interesting fact that is not an incongruous one here for "the religious character of Hampden Lodge was so pronounced at this time it was regularly contributing to the missionary work of the Orient, and had voted money to the fund for translating the Scriptures into Eastern tongues." Moreover Freemasonry in Springfield, like church life in Springfield, owes much to the public spirit, co-operation, and christian influence of the Armory Community, led by Colonel Roswell Lee, this city's first master.
Honorable mention ought here to be made of two young clergymen of those early days. The Rev. Carlton Chase, who, as a young man was identified with unfulfilled plans for building a church with the help of the Unitarians, was consecrated Bishop of New Hampshire. His grandson, the Rev. Arthur Chase, became rector at Ware. George Washington Doane, sometime Bishop of New Jersey, conducted services in the Armory Chapel.
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