History of Grace Episcopal Church

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In the 120 year old minute book, we read that a group of people met on August 12, 1844 to organize and build an Episcopal Church. Eight days later, at a second gathering: Thomas Lawrence was called to the chair, Henry Hone was appointed secretary, Elbert Floyd-Jones was elected Collector of Funds for the new church and James Meinell was made Treasurer of the "subscription monies". General Thomas Floyd-Jones donated the land. To this day, the legal title of this parish reads as follows: "The Rector, Churchwardens and Vestrymen of Grace Church, South Oysterbay".
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In September of 1844 plans were approved to erect the church pictured here. It was only 24 feet wide, 36 feet long, 16 feet ceilings and a brick foundation. The first annual meeting was held on March 25, 1845; the annual meetings for over 100 years being held the Tuesday after Easter.
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The first Rector to be "called" was William A. Curtis at a salary of $300.00 a year. Grace Church was closed from Christmas to Easter of each year, as the handful of people who attended services went to New York or elsewhere during that time.
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On July 9, 1846 the church was first used for services, but, due to illness of the Bishop of New York (we were part of Queens County in those days and also part of the Diocese of New York) the building was not consecrated until April 13, 1847. The clergy from Jamaica, Hempstead, Islip, Patchogue and Huntington were present.
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	The first batisms in the Parish were on July 1, 1848 - Muney and Sarah Elizabeth, children of Henry and Henrietta Purdy. Helen and Catharine Floyd-Jones were the first confirmation candidates and the first marriage ceremony recorded was a wedding at the home of Tredwell Carman.
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In 1880, a Christmas gift of seven acres of land for a parsonage was given by John D. Jones in memory of his wife. Most of this land is still owned by the parish. What we call the Floyd-Jones House was built and placed where the new church now stands, the building was moved to its present location in the summer of 1957. The small building next to the old church was built a couple of years later. We call this building Wiley Hall in honor of Dr. William Wiley whose Rectorship lasted longer than anyone's, from 1890 until 1926. His remains lie in our graveyard.
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	Grace Church was enlarged in 1905 and some of the Tiffany windows were installed. The congregation itself grew steadily larger and expanded under the Rectorships of William Wiley, Edgar Brice, Edward Rogers and Edward J. Bubb.
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A Rectory was built in the summer of 1949, additional rooms were built in 1963. In 1952 a $120,000 Parish House was built and has been in constant use ever since. For more than five years, church services were conducted in the large hall of the building for the congregation had outgrown the old Church.
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	In 1959 and 1960, the new church was under construction and we moved into the new building in September 1960.

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