Campaign On To Erect a Memorial To Rev. Dr. Halsey In Southampton

Bridgehampton News | September 23, 1954

Joint effort of the Southampton Colonial Society, Garden Club and Board of Trustees to build a memorial to the Rev. Dr. Jesse Halsey have met with initial success in the drive for funds. Mrs. Carl. C. Hansen, Head of the colletion committee indicated this week

The Rev. Dr. Halsey, an eminent Presbyterian divine, one of the most respected figures in Southampton Town and well-known in Bridgehampton, died at Southampton Hospital Jan. 12 after a two-weeks illness.

The monument envisaged by the Southampton organizations is a Memorial Entrance to the Captain Rogers’ Homestead in Meeting House Land, home of the Southampton Historical Museum.

 

The Rev. Dr. Halsey was direct descendant of one of Southampton’s founding families. After graduating from the local public schools he attended Princeton University and the Princeton Graduate School and Seminary, obtaining his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union Seminary.

Ordained in 1910, the Rev. Dr. Halsey began his ministry with Sir Wilfred Grenfell in the earliest days of the Labrador Medical Mission. In 1913 he became pastor of the Seventh Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he served for 29 years.

Dr. Halsey served with the YMCA in Russia during the First World War and was American Chaplain with the British Navy. In 1940 he took the chair of Pastoral Theology and Liturgies at McCormick Seminary in Chicago, from which he retired in 1952 and came back to Southampton.

“It would be difficult to do justice to the good he did for humanity,” said Mrs. Hansen, “without a very lengthy recital.” She added that the illustrious clergyman frequently kept to himself personal activities that less modest people would have given publicly to in an endeavor to gain acclaim.

“His interest in Southampton and its vicinity, especially Bridgehampton, Mrs. Hansen said, “was keen and lifelong. He was elected president of the Southampton Colonial Society and was instrumental in founding the Southampton Historical Museum. WE feel that such a life should not go unremembered.”

Mrs. Hansen expressed the hope that Bridgehampton residents and especially the members of the Presbyterian Church, will contribute generously to this project. It would, she said, be a fitting memorial to a man dedicate to the spiritual good of the community.