St. Peter's Church v. Brown

• Decision Date: 01 July 1899
• Citation: 43 A. 642,21 R.I. 367
• Parties: ST. PETER'S CHURCH v. BROWN.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

43 A. 642

21 R.I. 367

ST. PETER'S CHURCH

v. BROWN.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 1, 1899.

Bill by St, Peter's Church against Helen A. Brown, executrix, in which complainant prays to be appointed a trustee to receive and hold a bequest. Demurrer to bill overruled, and decree directed for the appointment of complainant as trustee.

Bassett & Mitchell, for complainant.

Wood & Fitch, for respondent.

MATTESON, C. J. This is a bill in which the complainant prays to be appointed a trustee to receive and hold a bequest of $1,000 under the codicil to the will of Elisha O. Angell, late of Providence, deceased, which codicil is as follows: "I hereby give and bequeath the sum of one thousand dollars to the St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church in Manton, in trust, forever, to use and apply the income therefrom accruing for such purposes, in connection with the maintenance and support of said church, as to the rectors and wardens of the said church shall seem best." The bill alleges that said St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church in Manton was an unincorporated religious society organized for religious purposes, and carrying on religious work, and was an ecclesiastical organization recognized by, and in full union with, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the state of Rhode Island, and was in existence at the time of the making and execution of the codicil and the probate thereof, and that membership in said St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church in Manton was determined by, and in accordance with, the laws and ecclesiastical authority of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the diocese of Rhode Island; that on June 13, 1898, its wardens and members duly organized themselves into a parish of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the diocese of Rhode Island, under the name of St. Peter's Church, located in the village of Manton, in Johnston, and became a corporation under that name, duly created under the laws of this state; that it is carrying on, as such corporation, and as a successor of the St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church in Manton, the same religious work as the former church, and under the same rules, regulations, and principles, in the same building and town, and having for its congregation the members of the former church; that its membership is still determined by the laws and ecclesiastical authority of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the diocese of Rhode Island, and that it is in every sense the successor of the former church, having...