Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1897 — DR. HOUGHTON’S DEATH. [ARTICLE]

DR. HOUGHTON’S DEATH.

Noted Pastor of the “Little Church Around the Corner” Is No More. Rev. George H. Houghton of New York, pastor of the Church of the Transfiguration, better known as the “Little Church Around the Corner,’” is dead. In 1848 Dr. Houghton, then an ambitious young clergyman, organized the Church of the Transfiguration, which was destined to become in after years worldfamed ns “The Little Church Around the Corner.” It has borne that name for more than a quarter of a century. The circumstances through which the title was bestowed were ns follows: George Holland, the actor, and father of E. M. and Joseph Holland, died ol Dec. 20, 1870. In arranging for the funeral; Joseph Jefferson and others called upon Rev. Mr. Sabine, pastor of a fashionable church in Madison avenue, and asked him if he would' conduct the funeral services. Ascertaining that Holland was an actor, Rev. Mr. Sabine declined to conduct the funeral service, and when asked by Mr. Jefferson and his companions if he could tell them where they could get a clergyman, he remarked that “there was a little church nround the comer” where they do such things. The dead actor’s friends went to that little church and were received with kindly consideration by Rev. Dr. Houghton. This incident formed a live thenie for talk all over the country, and it established “The Little Church Around the Corner” firmly in the affections of the public, as well as of the theatrical profession. Ex-President Cleveland said to a representative of the press: “The number and heartiness of the congratulations we have received on the birth of our son are so gratefully appreciated that I wish yon would convey, through the Associated Press, our thanks to all the kind people who have thus given proof of their friendliness.” Sudden death balked the plans of eccentric Mary Clark, the septuagenarian, wW lived In squalid rooms in New York. Her wealth will go to the relatives whom she hated atnd whom alie wanted to cut off. *