Some years ago, I was invited to speak at Trinity-by-the-Cove Church in Naples, Florida, on the history of the four American Prayer Books. I already had commentaries on the 1928 book and the 1979 book. I bought copies of Marion Hatchett’s The Making of the First American Book of Common Prayer[1] and Lesley Northup’s The 1892 Book of Common Prayer.[2] I knew the name of William Reed Huntington that he had been rector of Grace Church, Broadway, here in the city. Building on the work of another rector in New York, William Augustus Muhlenberg. William Muhlenberg was the founding rector of the Church of the Holy Communion. He died in 1877.
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