History
St. Andrew's History for website.pptxParish History
St. Andrew's in Ayer, Massachusetts was first organized in October 1889 when the Rev. Dr. Endicott Peabody, headmaster of nearby Groton School, assigned one of its masters, the Rev. William G. Thayer, to begin the work of founding an Episcopal mission. The present attractive stone church was completed in December 1892. The next minister was the Rev. Charles L. Slattery, also a master at Groton School, who had the satisfaction of leaving St. Andrew's Church debt-free and consecrated. He was succeeded by the Rev. Edward H. Newbegin.
The Rev. Dr. Endicott Peabody, headmaster at Groton School, was in Rev. Thayer's words, "the father of the thought," and his support and cooperation for the many years until his retirement in 1940 were largely responsible for the existence and continuance of the church.
On the 27th day of January 1898, the Bishop and Standing Committee having given their consent, St. Andrew's Mission, Ayer, was duly and legally organized as St. Andrew's Parish in Ayer and Groton and the minister, the Rev. Edward H. Newbegin, was elected rector.
The parish was reorganized in June 1901 before its admission to the Diocesan Convention, comprising the mother church at Groton School, the parish church in Ayer, the mission house at Forge Village, the schoolhouse mission at Woodsville, and also the care of Trinity Chapel in Shirley Center. By this consolidation, Groton School became a real part of the parish; its headmaster, the Rev. Dr. Endicott Peabody, became rector; and the rector in Ayer, the Rev. Thomas L. Fisher, became the vicar of the parish.
The year 1950 marked the end of the official connection between Groton School and St. Andrew's Church and the vicar, the Rev. Henry Mattocks, became rector of the parish. In September 1960, St. Andrew's gave up oversight of the mission at Forge Village. It subsequently became an independent parish, now called St. Mark's Church in Westford, Massachusetts.
Learn more about the history of St. Andrew's and the lives of the rectors and vicars who have served here:
More St. Andrew's history.
The Rev. Dr. Endicott Peabody 1889-1892
The Rev. William Greenough Thayer 1892-1894
The Rev. Charles Lewis Slattery 1894-1896
The Rev. Edward Henry Newbegin 1894-1896
The Rev. Thomas Legate Fisher 1900-1901
The Rev. Dr. Endicott Peabody 1901-1940
The Rev. Thomas Legate Fisher 1901-1910
The Rev. Arthur Lewis Bumpus 1910-1913
The Rev. Williston Merrick Ford 1913-1917
The Rev. Angus Dun 1917-1919
The Rev. Leslie Frederick Wallace 1919-1924
The Rev. Richard Taylor Lyford (Interim Vicar) 1924-1925
The Rev. John Russell Dallinger 1925-1926
The Rev. Laird Wingate Snell 1926-1934
The Rev. Edward Joseph Day 1934-1938
The Rev. Dr. Hugh Latimer Willson 1939-1947
The Rev. John Crocker 1940-1950
The Rev. Dr. William Henry Paine Hatch 1947-1948
The Rev. Henry Mattocks 1948-1968
The Rev. Donn Russell Brown 1968-1975
The Rev. Paul Sprower Koumrian 1976-1989
The Rev. William Dudley Underhill (Interim Rector) 1989-1991
The Rev. Martha Hughlett Giltinan 1991-2001
The Rev. Alan Bruce MacKillop (Interim Rector) 2001-2002
The Rev. Joseph Scott Baker 2002-2005
The Rev. Dr. Edward Charles Kienzle (Interim Rector) 2005
The Rev. Alan Bruce MacKillop (Priest in Residence) 2005-2009
The Rev. Joyce Lynn Scherer-Hoock 2009-2022
The Rev. Stephanie Chase Bradbury (Interim Rector) 2022-2023
History of the Parish
[Postcard Views of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church]
[Historic Photographs of St. Andrew's and the Town of Ayer]
The Rev. Hermon Gaylord Wood (St. Andrew's architect)
History of the Organ
The pipe organ installed at St. Andrew's was originally built in 1916 as Opus 1423 of the Estey Organ Company of Brattleboro, Vermont. Click on the links below to read about it and its predecessors.