Mr. Francis Vinton

1843, at the invitation of Rev. Francis Vinton, rector of

Just as construction got under way, Mr. Vinton resigned as Rector on Easter Monday, 1840.
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1. Francis Vinton, 1839-1840
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Francis Vinton

In November 1843, at the invitation of Rev. Francis Vinton, rector of Trinity Church, the Rev. Hobart Williams arrived in South Portsmouth to organize a mission.Miss Gibbs invited Rev. Williams to make his home at Oakland.Services were held at Oakland, a nearby school house, at homes of neighbors and in a school house on Middle Road in Portsmouth.In the spring of 1844 the attendance at the morning services became too large for the small school house and was transferred to Oliphant School on West Main Road in Middletown.On the first Sunday after Easter, April 14, 1844, Morning prayer was publicly offered in that place for the first time.Services were continued until the fall of the same year.The growing religious interest in the neighborhood now seemed to justify the building of a free chapel to provide a place where services could be held in the middle of the island.