Editing Augusta Emma Stetson (section)

==Stetson's career in New York==
In November 1886, Stetson was sent by Eddy to New York City.<ref name=bates/><ref name=swihart>{{cite book |last1=Swihart |first1=Altman K. |editor1-last=James |editor1-first=Edward T. |editor2-last=James |editor2-first=Janet Wilson |editor3-last=Boyer |editor3-first=Paul S. |title=Notable American women, 1607-1950; a biographical dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/notableamericanw00jame/page/364/mode/2up |volume=III |date=1971 |publisher=Belknap Press, Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Mass}}</ref>{{rp|365.}} Another student of Eddy's was [[Laura Lathrop]], who had been sent there in October 1885 to help organize a church there, roughly a year before Stetson.<ref name=byquist>{{cite news |last1=Byquist |first1=Kelly |title=Laura Lathrop: I sat down there with my bonnet on and gave him treatment |url=https://www.longyear.org/learn/research-archive/laura-lathrop-pioneer-new-york/ |agency=Longyear Museum |date=2 April 2018}}</ref> Lathrop was, according to a journalist, "almost  the  antithesis  of Mrs.  Stetson  in  character  and  temperament" and that "Mrs. Lathrop attracts love, whereas Mrs. Stetson compels respect."<ref name=swensen10>Swensen, Rolf (2010) ''[http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2010/2010-7.pdf A Metaphysical Rocket in Gotham: The Rise of Christian Science in New York City, 1885-1910]'' Journal of Religion & Society. The Kripke Center. Volume 12. {{issn|1522-5658}}</ref>{{rp|5.}} Before Stetson arrived in New York, Lathrop had already established a Christian Science teaching institute, stirred up interest for the new religion in the city, and had even been praised for her healing work by Methodist bishop [[John Philip Newman]].<ref name="byquist"/> Both Lathrop and Stetson were involved in starting [[First Church of Christ, Scientist (New York, New York)|First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York]]{{efn|Churches of Christ, Scientist within a single city are named "First", "Second", "Third" and so on, appended with the name of the city. The Mother Church in Boston is known as "The First Church of Christ, Scientist" and is the only one to use the definite article "The" in its title.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780879520670/mode/2up |title=The Manual of The Mother Church |first=Mary Baker |last=Eddy |year=1910 |location=Boston |pages=70–71 |isbn=978-0-930227-22-7}}</ref>}} in February 1888; which was incorporated with 17 students with Stetson being named as preacher.<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|365.}} According to one historian, Stetson's "tall, stately figure, her elegant appearance, her rich speaking voice, and her magnetic personality attracted a large and rapidly growing following, a considerable portion of which was personally devoted to her."<ref name="mchenry">{{cite book |last1=McHenry |first1=Robert |title=Famous American women : a biographical dictionary from colonial times to the present |url=https://archive.org/details/famousamericanwo00mche/page/392/mode/2up |date=1983 |publisher=Dover |location=New York |page=393|isbn=9780486245232 }}</ref> Stetson began exerting her influence and control more and more over the New York Christian Scientist community, as well as in other parts of the United States, including as far west as [[Portland, Oregon]].<ref name="byquist"/><ref name=swensen05>{{cite journal |last1=Swensen |first1=Rolf |title='A State of Unrest and Division': Christian Science in Oregon, 1890-1910 |journal=The Pacific Northwest Quarterly |date=2005 |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=11–18 |jstor=40491894 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40491894}}</ref>

Stetson clearly resented Lathrop.<ref name="gray">{{cite news |last1=Gray |first1=Christopher |title=The First and Second Churches of Christ, Scientist; A Tale of 2 Warring Churches, and of One Woman |url=http://www.nyc-architecture.com/UWS/UWS041.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050214073401/http://www.nyc-architecture.com/UWS/UWS041.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 14, 2005 |agency=The New York Times |date= 15 February 2004}}</ref> In 1891, she established the "New York City Christian Science Institute" to rival Lathrop's teaching institute, and formed a core group of support for herself within the fledgling church.<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|365.}}<ref name="byquist"/> Stetson would not allow Lathrop to speak at meetings, and that year, although she had initially encouraged Lathrop to stay in Stetson's church for the sake of unity, Eddy urged Lathrop to split from First Church and start [[Second Church of Christ, Scientist (Manhattan)|Second Church of Christ, Scientist, New York]].<ref name=swensen10/>{{rp|4.}}<ref name="byquist"/>{{efn|Eddy also later hired Lathrop's son John as a secretary, and would take Lathrop's side during conflicts between the two churches, such as preventing Stetson from building a church two blocks away from Lathrop's.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|695.}}}} Stetson however refused to acknowledge any Christian Science churches in New York other than her own.<ref name=swensen05/>{{rp|12.}} Stetson's rivalry with Lathrop was well known,<ref name=gill/>{{rp|536.}} and she and her followers even tried to purchase Second Church's building lot, which Lathrop's church had recently purchased to build their church edifice on, out from underneath them.<ref name="gray"/> By the 1890s, Stetson began losing support even among some of her star pupils such as Blanche Hersey Hogue and Carol Norton. Another teacher of Christian Science, Edward A. Kimball, wrote Eddy: "Mrs. Stetson's fellow scientists [''sic''.] are getting thoroughly disgusted with her... If she does not begin to reform soon, she will find herself rather lonesome."<ref name=swensen05/>{{rp|14.}}

In addition to serving as preacher of her church, Stetson had total control over it and approved all major decisions.<ref name=swensen10/>{{rp|5,6.}} In 1895, preachers in all Christian Science churches were replaced by [[Reader (Christian Science Church)|readers]]; however, Stetson required prodding by Eddy herself to in order to stop preaching.{{efn|Both Stetson and Lathrop refused monetary offers of thanks by their respective churches for their tenure as readers, and Lathrop refused any remuneration at all, or the title of Reader Emeritus; while Stetson did accept an annual stipend from the church.<ref name=swensen10/>{{rp|8.}}}}<ref name=swensen10/>{{rp|6,7.}} Despite relinquishing the position however, she retained absolute power over the church.<ref name="gray"/> Stetson believed she was the unquestioned leader of the Christian Scientists in New York, and had a special relationship with Eddy above her other students; Eddy reprimanded her for this, at one point writing her: "Do not claim that you are my chosen one for you are not."<ref name=swensen10/>{{rp|4.}} 

Stetson held the position of First Reader in her church until 1902, when the term of reader in all Christian Science churches was set by Eddy to no more than three years, in part because of Stetson herself.<ref name="swihart"/>{{rp|365.}}<ref name="mchenry"/><ref name=swensen10/>{{rp|6,7.}} As Eddy told Lathrop: "Almost all my rules in the [[Manual of The Mother Church|Manual]] have been made to prevent [Stetson] injuring my students and causing me trouble in my church... She does not trample on my students as she used to, for she dare not owing to my church bylaws."<ref name=nenneman>Nenneman, Richard A. (1997) ''[https://archive.org/details/persistentpilgri00nenn/ Persistent pilgrim: the life of Mary Baker Eddy]''. Etna, NH: Nebbadoon Press.</ref>{{rp|252.}} Eddy increasingly chastised Stetson in letters, but was also grateful for the support Stetson had given her over the years.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|535,537.}} "Eddy," wrote one historian, "who seemed to genuinely care for Stetson and appreciate her hard work, spent 20 years cajoling and praising her headstrong student, while also occasionally rapping her knuckles."<ref name=swensen05/>{{rp|13.}} Eddy told Stetson that she was "the most troublesome student that I call loyal", but still thanked her for her work.<ref name=nenneman/>{{rp|252.}} At one point Eddy told [[Irving C. Tomlinson]] that she had "rebuked [Stetson] more severely than almost any other student and am still trying to save her."<ref name=nenneman/>{{rp|253.}}

Meanwhile, as the congregation of [[First Church of Christ, Scientist (New York, New York)|First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York]] grew larger, they were forced to change meeting location several times to accommodate their increasing congregation.<ref name=mchenry/> In 1899 they began construction on a large and expensive edifice of their own, costing over one million dollars and which Stetson envisioned would rival [[The First Church of Christ, Scientist]] (known as the Mother Church) in Boston, which was the headquarters of the Christian Science movement.<ref name=mchenry/><ref name=barron>Barron, James. (Sept. 26, 2014) [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/27/nyregion/a-difficult-passage-from-church-to-condominium.html  A Difficult Passage From Church to Condominium]. The New York Times.</ref> The $1,200,000 church edifice on 96th Street and Central Park West was dedicated free of debt in November 1903.<ref name="gray"/><ref name=swensen10/>{{rp|7.}} Stetson moved into a luxurious $100,000 mansion next to the church built and furnished by her followers for her in 1904, which was viewed speciously within the Mother Church and the wider Christian Science movement, as rumors that Stetson wanted to supplant Eddy as leader of the movement spread.<ref name=mchenry/><ref name=swihart/>{{rp|365.}} As one historian wrote, at least some part of Stetson wanted Eddy dead so she could replace her as head of the church.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|531.}} Stetson also privately planned to move the headquarters of the Christian Science church from Boston to her home in New York after Eddy's death.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|535,695.}} Those who opposed Stetson's wishes continued to be ostracized or even excommunicated from her church, including the future First Reader of The Mother Church, [[William D. McCrackan]].<ref name=swensen10/>{{rp|7.}} Stetson's church continued to grow, and in 1908, Stetson planned to buy the entire blockfront on Riverside Drive from 109th to 110th Street for a new branch church.<ref name="gray"/> The new branch church was again envisioned to rival the Mother Church, and was seen as a "formal challenge to the Boston establishment" since only the Mother Church was allowed to have branches.<ref name=gill/>{{rp|537,538.}} Stetson's plan was that her church would then become a new "Mother Church" for the New York churches.<ref name="gott">Gottschalk, Stephen (2011) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=bcDwAAAAQBAJ Rolling Away the Stone]''.  Indiana University Press.</ref>{{rp|368.}}