Marshall B. Smith 1860-1868 

The Reverend Marshall B. Smith, AM, was called to take charge of the parish as rector on August 20, 1860. He was an alumnus of the Theological Seminary of the Diocese of Virginia and rector of Christ Church, Dover, Delaware. Since his salary was to be not less than $500 per year and Saint John’s could not pay a full salary, it was subsidized by a grant of $300 per year, for two years, from the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society of New Jersey. This allowed most of the money raised within the parish to be designated for the building of a church edifice as soon as possible.

It was during Mr. Smith’s rectorate that the first church building was erected in 1861-62. It was this new church that was the scene of a break-in in April 1863. Among other things the rector’s vestment (“a silk gown”) was stolen and was replaced by the congregation.

It was said that Mr. Smith “was highly educated and polished and very popular with his parishioners, some being the richest persons in the village – the kind that attend church in a coach. The rector was married to a daughter of his richest, most exclusive member, and was popular with men in the village outside his parish, and was a school trustee.”

Mr. Smith presented his resignation as rector of Saint John’s on March 31, 1868. His popularity in and out of church remained unchallenged despite the fact that he withdrew with 200 priests of the church to organize an entirely new denomination, the Reformed Episcopal Church, still in existence today.

The vestry passed a resolution affirming Mr. Smith’s views denying the dogma that “…there is no Church without a Bishop,” and that all protestant churches are only branches of the same Catholic Church, under different forms of organization. The resolution went on to say that any future rector must subscribe to these views. This resolution was passed mainly because St. John’s had received $600 from the Low Church Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society of New Jersey and a certain amount of allegiance was owed to their point of view.

The controversy within the church arose when the clergy objected to the use of the sign of the cross in baptism and opposed the church teaching regarding baptismal regeneration.