The Bell of Saint Mary

A gift of Dr. George and Gertrude Houston Woodward

Recent exploration of the church tower, in preparation for our current building renovation campaign, has revealed the names of two people with likely involvement in the early history of our church. The names George and Gertrude Woodward are engraved on the bell in the tower that we hear every Sunday. Their story relates to the memorial across the street from Saint Mary’s and it is one of both joy and tragedy.

Our Bell

The Woodwards were from Philadelphia. Sometime between 1894 and 1898, they built a summer home on Prince Point on Casco Bay, just off Waites Landing Road, bordering our church. Gertrude Houston Woodward’s brother, Samuel Houston, followed them here in 1898 and bought Clapboard Island about a mile off our shoreline in Casco Bay. They built a large summer home there that still stands.

Together the two couples and their children enjoyed the woods and waters of Falmouth Foreside; it is likely that they were involved with the early history of Saint Mary’s summer chapel.The two families were deeply involved in Episcopal church matters in Philadelphia. Gertrude and Samuel’s father, Henry Howard Houston, a senior officer of the Pennsylvania Railroad and wealthy entrepreneur, was a prominent churchman in that city. He created the unique planned suburb of Chestnut Hill, and he built the Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in that neighborhood. Gertrude’s husband, Dr. George Woodward, and his brother-in-law, Samuel Houston, were Vestrymen. Samuel was Senior Warden for decades. Church activities were at the center of Gertrude’s life; she served two terms as head of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Diocese of Philadelphia. Dr. George Woodward, trained as a physician, gave up that profession to enter politics as a progressive reformer to champion public health policies, affordable housing, and good government. He served almost three decades as a Pennsylvania State Senator.

The land the Woodwards bought on Prince Point and half of the land the Houston’s purchased on Clapboard Island were sold to them in the 1890s by John Marshall Brown, the family that founded Saint Mary’s Chapel as a memorial in that same decade.

Deep tragedy hit these families in 1918. The history of our bell and the park and memorial directly across the street from our church are clearly related. Both families lost sons in World War I in 1918: Henry Howard Houston Woodward, known as Houston, was killed in April, and Henry Howard Houston II, known as Hennie, was killed in August. They were first cousins and great friends; both were the namesakes of the heads of the families. Both had joined the French Ambulance Corps before America entered the war. After 1917, Hennie became aide-de-camp to an American brigadier general; Houston flew for the French Air Corps.

Both families went to France to create memorials to their sons near where they fell. And both made gifts to the towns and repaired churches nearby and gave church bells; Gertrude and George to St Martin’s Roman Catholic Church in the village of Rubescourt; Samuel and his wife Charlotte to the parish church in Arcis-le-Ponsart.

We are searching for the date on our bell. If it is shortly after 1918, it seems likely it was meant as a memorial for Houston Woodward. But for certain the memorial across from our church, and the 25 acres of park on which it sits, are a memorial to these two lost sons.

Source: “A Philadelphia Family: the Houstons and Woodwards of Chestnut Hill” by David R. Contosta