My Genealogy Hound

MEMORIAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY NATIVITY, Rockledge, Pennsylvania, Rev. Fordyce H. Argo, rector, is a comparatively new house of worship, the parish having been founded in November, 1894, as a mission from Trinity church, at Oxford, in the upper part of the city of Philadelphia. In the earlier days of the mission, divine service was held in the old school house at Rockledge, by Rev. H. A. F. Hoyt. The corner stone of the present handsome new church was laid with appropriate ceremonies on July 16, 1898, by the Right Rev. Ozi W. Whitaker, bishop of the diocese. About eighteen months later the church was dedicated by Bishop Whitaker, a sermon suitable to the occasion being preached by the Right Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, bishop of the diocese of central Pennsylvania.

The church is a beautiful edifice of stone, the Gothic style of architecture being followed in its construction. It has a seating capacity of about four hundred. The Sunday school connected with the church has an average attendance of about ninety. Rev. Fordyce H. Argo was the first resident rector of the parish, he having been assigned to it while it was still a mission, in 1896. During his occupancy of the position of rector, the parish has been thoroughly organized, the new church edifice erected, the parish house greatly enlarged, a rectory purchased, and the church property and all its surroundings greatly improved. The parish is deeply indebted to the late Robert W. Ryers for many liberal contributions.

Rev. Fordyce H. Argo is a native of the state of New York. He was born at Manlius, and acquired his education in the University of North Carolina located at Chapel Hill, in that state. He also took a divinity course at the Philadelphia Divinity School, graduating from that institution in the year 1898. He was ordained a deacon in June, 1898, by Bishop Talbot, at South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and in January, 1899, was ordained to the priesthood in the church of which he is now the rector. In 1902 Mr. Argo took a post-graduate course in the Divinity School in which he had earlier pursued his studies, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Divinity (B. D).

Rev. Mr. Argo is a very successful rector, and is much beloved by his people. The church is located in a very thickly settled and improving section of Montgomery county, and it has undoubtedly a very prosperous future before it.