Accounts of John Hooper for £104 3s., for joiners' work, and of Cephas Beale for £11 3s. 6d., for the addition to the church, were passed. In 1798, Mr. Bower's salary as rector was increased to £150.
The act of Assembly for the establishment of vestries in the parishes required that members of the Protestant Episcopal Church should be enrolled on the parish-books a month before they could become eligible as vestrymen or electors of vestrymen. The earliest enrollments made were on April 8, 1799, as follows: Alexander Claggett, William Fitzhugh, Rezin Davis, Thomas Belt, John Carr, Griffith Henderson, Charles McCauley, Nathaniel Rochester, Otho Holland Williams, Eli Beatty, and Thomas Hallam. Daniel Hughes, Sr., Robert Hughes, and John Claggett were enrolled on April 19th. From November 6th, Mr. Bower's salary was cut down from one hundred and fifty pounds to four hundred dollars per annum. On Sept. 21, 1801, the vestry gave notice that they would prosecute delinquent pewholders who did not promptly settle up their arrearages. Still there was a deficiency in the finances.
In 1803, although the records do not mention the fact, a lottery scheme was successfully carried out for the benefit of St. John's congregation, which was superintended by the following commissioners, who had been authorized by the Legislature to conduct the drawings: Col. N. Rochester, R. Pindell, J. Taylor, R. Hughes, and O. H. Williams. The amount of money to be raised was five hundred dollars, " to finish the church edifice of the Episcopal All Saints' Parish in Hagerstown."
On Feb. 28, 1805, it was resolved to abandon the system of pew-rents and to resort to the old plan of soliciting subscriptions to meet the expenses of the parish. Rev. Thomas P. Irving was appointed rector Sept. 22, 1813, at a yearly salary of four hundred dollars, of St. John's Church, All Saints' Parish, as the title then appeared in the records, and on Nov. 13, 1814, he was authorized to charge five dollars for officiating at funerals, and four dollars for each christening. From this year onward the name appears as St. John's Parish". Mr. Irving resigned the pastorate in February, 1816, because of ill health, and on August 27th, Rev. Joseph Jackson was appointed his successor, but on July 26, 1817, the vestry rejected a resolution to reappoint him, and on October 1st refused him the use of the church to preach a charity sermon for the benefit of the Female Society for Instructing Poor Children. In a letter to Levin Mills, church-warden, in reference to Mr. Jackson's request, the vestry say that they " have determined, on account of the conduct of that gentleman on Sunday last, to hold no communication directly or indirectly with him." On Oct. 25, 1817, Rev. Jehu Curtis Clay was chosen rector, his incumbency to date from Jan. 1, 1818. At the vestry meeting Aug. 31, 1818, it was resolved to raise by subscription a fund for the building of a new church, the subscribers to have the choice of pews according to the amount of their subscriptions. On May 10, 1819, the pastor's salary was increased to one thousand dollars per annum. On May 12, 1821, one-fourth of the subscriptions for the new church edifice were called in, and Otho H. W. Stull was appointed to solicit aid in Baltimore. On July 2nd, Eli Beatty, George Bear, Otho H. Williams, and Franklin Anderson were appointed the building committee, and a lot on Jonathan Street was bought for six hundred dollars from Christian Fechtig for the site of the new church. The committee were authorized to contract with Daniel Sprigg for one hundred thousand bricks, with George Bear for stone for the foundation, with Mr. Stout for the stone and brick-work, and to purchase all the requisite materials. Rev. Mr. Clay resigned the pastorate on Nov. 28, 1821, and on December 16th the vestry notified him that they would regret to lose his services, and would make any possible exertions to retain them. Mr. Clay removed to Pennsylvania, and Rev. Mr. Shaw filled the pulpit for a few months, until the election of Rev. George Lemmon on Oct. 12, 1822. The salary was fixed at eight hundred dollars, and on June 17, 1823, the pews in the new church were sold.
The new church was consecrated June 18, 1825, by Bishop James Kemp, assisted by Rev. William Armstrong. On Dec. 4, 1827, Rev. Mr. Lemmon tendered his resignation, and on the following June 26th, Rev. Robert B. Drane was called to the pastorate, and in 1834 he opened a school to increase his income. He was permitted to officiate every other Sunday in the church at Williamsport, and on April 20, 1835, the vestry ordered that a parsonage be built. He resigned April 26, 1836, and in reply to a question from the vestry, he wrote that it would be impossible for him to remain because " of the malicious and vindictive conduct of some who had set themselves to destroy my reputation and influence as a minister of the gospel"; and that such a course on his part " would involve a sacrifice of the happiness of one too near and dear to me to be thus destroyed." On July 29th the vestry extended a call to Rev. Mr. Coleman, of Cecil County, Md., but he declined it, and Rev. John Wiley became Mr. Drane's successor. In March, 1838, Mrs. Henrietta Johns was engaged " to play upon the organ" for fifty dollars per annum.
On March 24, 1840, the vestry passed a resolution dissolving their contract with Rev. Mr. Wiley from April 1st, but permitting him to occupy the rectory, and receive a salary at the rate of seven hundred dollars annually for six months from that date, and in case he claimed possession of the church after April 1st, they would not hold themselves liable to him for his emoluments, and would proceed to expel him by law. Joseph I. Merrick, as counsel for Mr. Wiley, addressed a letter to the vestry denying their legal right to terminate the contract, or reduce the salary without the rector's consent, and Mr. Wiley himself refused to accept the terms offered him, declaring that he would do nothing which might be construed into an acknowledgment of their right " thus summarily to cast a minister of the gospel with his family upon the world." The vestry, however, proceeded to elect Mr. Wiley for six months from April 1st, thus reaffirming their theory that they had no authority to install a pastor for an unlimited time. Eli Beatty, Otho H. Williams, David G. Yost, William H. Fitzhugh, Richard Ragan, and Thomas Schnebly voted for the resolutions, and Dr. Frederick Dorsey against them. At the election for vestry on Easter Monday, April 20, 1840, the pastor's party were victorious, choosing Dr. Frederick Dorsey, John S. Hamilton, Peregrine Fitzhugh, Joseph I. Merrick, and Col. Frisby Tilghman, and the controversy was terminated by the passage of a resolution declaring Mr. Wiley to be the lawful rector of the church; but he stated that as he had vindicated the right of the position which he had taken he offered his resignation, to take effect in September. The contention had done much harm to the church, and the vestry requested Rev. Dr. Whittingham, then recently elected Bishop of Maryland, to make his residence in Hagerstown, and act as rector of St. John's until it could be restored to peace and prosperity. The bishop declined the proposition, and recommended for the vacancy Rev. Theodore B. Lyman, who was elected on Oct. 12, 1840, but the vestry stipulated that the contract should only run from year to year, and might be terminated by either of the parties at six months' notice. Mr. Lyman accepted the conditions, although the bishop regretted that they had been imposed. By vigorous effort the church was relieved of the worst of its embarrassments, and on Nov. 14, 1842, Rev. Russell Trevett was made assistant rector. In 1843 a fund of over seven hundred dollars was raised and repairs made on the edifice, which was dedicated anew by Bishop Whittingham on October 26th. In December, Col. Tilghman and Charles Macgill resigned because of their inability to agree with the other vestrymen concerning the position of the furniture in the chancel, and they, together with Otho H. Williams, Richard Ragan, Jervis Spencer, Alexander Neill, Jr., M. W. Boyd, Eli Beatty, and William B. Nelson, withdrew from the church. On April 5, 1845, Mr. Trevett resigned as assistant rector, and Dwight E. Lyman was chosen in his place. The gentlemen above named as having separated themselves from St. John's founded Christ Church, and on Oct. 29, 1845, the rector of St. John's wrote to their vestry suggesting a union of the churches, and avowing a willingness to arrange the chancel furniture as they desired, although he assured them that they were wrong in supposing that doctrinal innovations were concealed in the plan which he had adopted, and which had given offense to them. They, however, refused to entertain the proposition.
On July 18, 1848, Rev. R. G. H. Clarkson was elected assistant rector, to succeed Rev. Dwight E. Lyman, who had resigned, and in 1849, Mr. Clarkson was followed by Rev. Joseph C. Passmore. In the latter year Christ Church ceased to exist, and most of the Separatists returned to St. John's, in what was called by Eli Beatty " a nominal membership." On April 1, 1850, Rev. Theodore B. Lyman resigned to go to Trinity Church, Pittsburgh, and at the same time Mr. Passmore gave up the assistant rectorship. Rev. Mr. Wheat filled the pulpit temporarily, until the election of Rev. William G. Jackson, on April 22nd, who did not take charge until September, having spent the summer in Europe, and in January, 1851,