100 YEARS OF HISTORY 1896 - 1996

BUILT BY FAITH AND LOVE

In 1877, W. C. Venner, Sr.'s family of eleven emigrated to Forney, Texas from England. The extended family, including in-laws and grandchildren, provided the nucleus for a church of their choice. The need was present and the request made for an Episcopal priest to conduct services. The need was present and the request made for an Episcopal priest to conduct services. The funeral of W.C. Venner, Sr., in 1893 was the first time an Anglican clergyman ever conducted services of any kind in Forney, Texas.

A NEW MISSION

On February 19, 1896, an application was submitted to ask the Bishop's consent to organize a mission in Forney. the name was to be Holy Trinity, named after a church in England attended by Mrs. Venner in her youth. The next day, the request was granted and officers were appointed. It was one of the first missions established in the new Diocese of Dallas and was received at its first convention.

Mr. Robert H. Slack of new Bedford, Massassachusetts, a noted American architect in the early 1900's answered a Texas advertisement seeking an architect for the new church. After working over several years through correspondence, the plans arrived and the building was started on three donated lots. One notes the New England style of architecture with a very steep roof to shed the snow.

From 1896 to 1902, services were held at different denominational buildings in town by the Rev. Hudson Stuck, Dean of St. Matthews Cathedral in Dallas and the Rev. Edwin Wickens, General Missionary of the Diocese. The services of the clergy were determined by the weather as most traveled by horseback.

Letters were sent to Mrs. Nellie Smith of the Massassachusetts Altar Society, Boston, to arrange for Altar hangings. Donations were received from various sources for the building fund plus a grant from the American Church Building Fund Commission.

Subscriptions ranging from 25 cents to $5, were taken to buy a bell from the C.S. Bell Company of Hillsboro, Ohio for $125, but Mr. Bell donated half of the cost. When the bell arrived it was found to be too large to swing in the bell tower so the tower had be be remodeled. The Altar rail was a gift from St. Paul's Church of Riverside, Connecticut.

The organ was purchased by the church for about $60. Dean Hudson Stuck gave a set of Altar brasses, in the name of his recent confirmation class. The entire church building, fixtures, and furnishings were completed at a cost of about $2800

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