USA > Kentucky > Henderson County > History of Henderson County, Kentucky > Part 42
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
the First Presbyterian Church of Louisville, and P. Thompson, who had been an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Henderson, were installed but not ordained.
Rev. Angus McDonald having been invited to visit the church, came to Henderson, and on April 10th, at a meeting of the congre- gation, he was unanimously called to be the pastor of the church. Mr. McDonald accepted the call and entered upon his work the first Sabbath of May, 1884, and was installed on June 8th. The selec- tion of Mr. McDonald as pastor seems to have been a most fortunate one in every particular, and under his care the church has made a growth and progress rarely equalled. Soon after Mr. McDonald be- gan his labors the congregation resolved to build a new house of wor- ship. With them to resolve was to perform. A committee was ap- pointed to secure means, who zealously entered upon the work, and the congregation responded with the most commendable liberality. They did not want any second class affair. The handsomest church in the City of Henderson was the measure of their ambition, and in this we are very forcibly reminded of the action of the Mother Church when they undertook to build in 1840. The work was pushed on, and at a cost of $9,000 the building was completed, and on Au- gust 9th, 1885, was dedicated by Rev. B. M. Palmer, D.D., of New Orleans, who preached an appropriate sermon from Ezekiel 47, 9 : "And everything shall live whither the river shall come."
On November 9th, 1883, at a congregational meeting held for the purpose of electing additional elders and deacons Messrs. R. A. Bradshaw and William T, Beverley were chosen elders and J. R. Dabney, W. J. Mann, H. W. Kohl and B. M. Powell deacons, who were ordained and installed on the following Sabbath.
On August 1st, 1886, Mr. Edwin Hodge was elected a deacon, having previously held the same office in the First Church. Since its organization the Second Church has received a large accession of members and it is a singular coincident that the number received the first year of Mr. McDonald's pastorate was fifty-two and during the second year exactly the same, making an average accession of one member for each Sabbath in the two years. The roll of the church now contains five elders, five deacons and one hundred and seventy- three members.
The Sunday School now numbers twenty-two teachers and one hundred and seventy scholars. Last year an addition was made to the Sunday School room for the accommodation of the infant class
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
department, of which Miss Mary McCullagh is Superintendent. The addition cost $300 and was paid for by the weekly collections of the Sunday School.
A SKETCH OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF HENDERSON, KENTUCKY, BY W. J. MARSHALL.
The writer undertakes, with no little hesitation, the preparation of this narrative, yet the task having been assigned him by the session of the church, he accepts it cheerfully, and whatever care and toil may be required in the work, will be to him "a labor of love," thankful for another opportunity of serving the church, he will count it no small honor to have his naine go down to our children's children associated with her's :
" I love Thy Kingdom, Lord, The house of Thine abode. The church our dear Redeemer saved With His own precious blood.
"' For her my tears shall fall, For her my prayers ascend, To her my cares and toils be given 'Till cares and toils shall end."
It is doubtless a fact that there were many Presbyterians in this section of the country previous to the close of the last century, but if there were any organized churches of that denomination existing then, the records have been entirely lost.
No doubt the division of the Cumberland Presbytery at the beginning of the present century, which resulted in the formation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, exercised a most unfortunate influence on the spread and efficiency of Presbyterianism in this whole region.
We learn from the county records that Rev. Jas. McGready was in the county officiating at marriages as early as 1800, his presence here being, most probably, for the purpose of preaching to the scattered churches or where there was no church organization, to the scattered flock.
After the formation of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, there seems to have been separate organizations, but when or by whom organized we have no means of finding out. From the recol- lection of some of our oldest members we learn that about the year 1806, Revs. Beatty, Dunleary and Parkins came to Henderson and held meetings. About 1809, Rev. Jas. McGready, formerly of North Carolina, removed from Russellville, Ky., settled near Henderson,
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
and, together with Father Temple, ministered for several years to this church. Mr. McGready died December 28th, 1815, and his funeral was preached in the log Court House of Henderson by the Rev. Mr. Scott, of Vincennes, .Ind.
In the year 1813, Rev. Wm. Gray, from Union County, came into the field and labored as an Evangelist until 1814, at which time Rev. Daniel Comfort, from Princeton, New Jersey, was called to the church, and in addition took charge of the Henderson Seminary. He remained here until about 1820, and from that date to the year 1824, Rev. Daniel Banks, of New Haven, Conn., preached as an Evangelist.
Mrs. Margaret A. Barbour, who was a daughter of Rev. James McGready and the widow of Ambrose Barbour, deeded in the year 1822, to "John Posey and Fayette Posey, Elders of the Presbyterian congregation in Henderson, Ky., in connection with the Synod of Kentucky and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, for the use and benefit of the said Presbyterian Congregation one acre of ground, being lot No. 222 on the plat of said town and adjoining the Public Square." This is the earliest record we can find relating to the church, although it is known that for years previous to this, Captain John Posey and Major Fayette Posey had been ruling elders in the church and tradition has given us also the names of John Hancock, McCombs and Heroit, also ruling elders, but who had probably died previous to the making of this deed.
From 1824 to 1840, the church was served at irregular intervals by the following ministers : Isaac Baird, R. Lapsley, two Hamiltons, Philips, John and Wm. Dickey, John Herby Lilly, Geo. McAfee and John Lyle. Through all these long years, the church seems to have made almost no progress. In the division, the bulk of the Presby- terians in this region seems to have gone over to the Cumberlands, and we are told that, at one time, the Presbyterian Church was reduced to fifteen or twenty members. The Posey brothers, their families, and a few mothers in Israel, all told, were left. But these clung to the covenant. God heard their prayers and they lived to see the church built up and extended, many of their descendants being brought into the fold.
About the year 1839, a young stranger, whom it seems a kind providence had especially fitted and sent to accomplish a great work for the church, came to the county-unknown and poor, he made friends wherever he went, and ere long he had gained both the esteem
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
and confidence of the whole community. I allude to Elder John McCullagh, to whom under God the church owes more for the pros- perity she has since enjoyed than to any other person. For a few months he taught school in the family of Captain John Posey, who re- sided in the country ; then, coming to town, he took charge of a school known as the Henderson Eclectic Institute.
Being a Scotchman, he was of course Presbyterian ; being a Scotch Presbyterian, he could not sit by contented while the cause of Zion languished, her people as sheep without a sheperd, and having no spiritual home. He first began by organizing a Union Sabbath School in the old seminary building, and Sunday after Sunday could he be seen going up and down the streets ringing his bell, inviting the children of the community to the Sabbath School. The school was a success ; the enthusiasm of this young brother was contagions, and it was not long before the effects of his efforts were visible in the church. The first record of our oldest session books reads thus : "At a meet- ing of the church called October 25th, 1840, by Elder Fayette Posey, to take measures to procure ministerial aid, a motion was made and carried unanimously that the Rev. J. V. Dodge be solicited to labor part of his time among them." At the same meeting, the election of additional elders was proposed and entered into. The following persons were nominated and unanimously elected, viz : Wm. S. Read and John McCullagh. These were " set apart and ordained according to the constitution of the church by Rev. J. V. Dodge, on December 13th, 1840."
Under the ministration of Brother Dodge, the church continued to give evidences of new life, and soon the need of having a house of worship' of their own became evident. In past years repeated pro- jects had been started with a view of building a Union Church for Cumberlands and Presbyterians, and some money [had been raised by fairs, suppers, etc., for this purpose. The undertaking failing, the little band of Presbyterians, although the poorer of the two churches, resolved to do what both together had failed to accomplish, and to build a church exclusively their own. Being strong in the faith they devised liberal things ; no little church around the corner would satisfy their desires, a commodious brick building to cost not less than six thousand dollars, and located in the center of the town was the meas- ure of their ambition. It was a bold enterprise, but in its boldness lay its strength. The community, surprised and pleased at the prospect of such a substantial improvement responded with liberal subscriptions.
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
Considering the circumstances of the church and community at that day, six thousand dollars was as large a sum as fifty thousand dollars would be at the present time, and the brethren must have surely been reading the list of worthies mentioned in the 11th chapter of Hebrews before entering upon such an enter- prise. The labor of raising funds was undertaken by brother McCullagh, and no wonder the old man, now grown gray in his master's service, loves to sit and tell of his efforts, and the success that attended them. One incident in this connection deserves to be recorded. Mr. McCullagh resolved on one bold move, which, if ac- complished, would make success assured. He got up a special sub- scription paper on which he was to have pledged two thousand dollars, subscribed by not more than ten persons, the subscriptions made only to be binding in case he succeeded in raising the whole amount in sixty days. After a faithful canvass he had gotten subscribed seven- teen hundred dollars. The field seemed to have been gleaned, and where further to go and to whom apply, he scarcely knew-but I will let him tell of his dilemma in his own words.
" In the dark and trying hour I went to the Mercy Seat for light, and spent a sleepless night wrestling in prayer ; in the early dawn the light came and a voice seemed to say, 'go and see Mrs. R. B. Stites and tell her you want to secure a place for the Lord, an habitation for the Mighty God of Jacob, and that everything depends upon her, and she will not refuse.' I went without delay, and was cordially received ; she enquired how I was getting on raising the two thousand dollars. With a sad heart and trembling words I went on to tell her the exact state of the case, and that so far as I could judge everything depended on some one of God's jewels giving the balance of the two thousand dollars. I talked on and on at great length, fearing to give her a chance to refuse ; she seemed greatly amused, and at last replied, ' Well my young brother, I knew what you came for and what all this long talking meant ; you shall have the three hundred dollars with the greatest pleasure, I laid it aside to help you and now just go ahead and raise the other four thousand dollars.' I started right off to the old seminary singing the long metre Doxology, and shouting now and then Glory Hallelujah. I am fully satisfied that was the crisis in the history of the Henderson Presbyterian Church, and if the two thousand dollars had not been secured, neither the present building, nor its location could possibly have been secured ; consequently our beloved church owes more to Mrs. R. B. Stites than to any other mortal, living or dead."
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
Brother McCullagh seems disposed to award my dear old aunt, first place in the accomplishment of this great work. No doubt, she most richly deserves all he can say in her praise. For many years, her name in the community has been a synonym for all that is pure and pious and lovely-a helper to the poor and needy, a ministering angel to the sick and suffering, a friend to the erring. None but God's recording angel ever knew her many deeds of kindness and charity. With more than ordinary mental endowment and cultivation, her spirit was so refined by grace that she attracted both young and old ; and while not neglecting her family duties, her chief thought seemed to be for the welfare of the church, and the good of others. While, there- , fore, I would not gainsay one word said by Brother McCullagh, I can not take back what I have written, and shall record it as the verdict of this history, at least that both deserve the first place, and I have no doubt, but that the church as one man will join me and say amen.
But we left our young Scotch brother on the way to his lodging in the old seminary, singing the long metre doxology, and bearing his precious paper in his hand, a document which has been so important a factor in the history of the church, deserves a place in this narrative, and the names of the benefactors who came to her help in the hour of need, should be held in lasting remembrance by the church. The following is a copy of the paper :
" Each of the undersigned hereby agree to pay to the Building Committee of the Presbyterian Church, in the Town of Henderson, (which Committee is named in the original subscription list for said Church), any sum of money which we shall annex to our respective names, at the time and on the terms mentioned in the said original subscription list; Provided, that no person shall sign this paper who subscribes less than two hundred dollars; Provided, fur- ther, that this obligation shall be utterly null, void, and of no effect, unless within sixty days from this date the sum of two thousand dollars be subscribed hereto by any number of persons not exceeding ten, and; Provided further, that no subscriber hereto shall be bound, or in any manner responsible for the amount of any other subscription hereto.
"March 22nd, 1841, Samuel Stites, $200; Hugh Kerr, $200; Nancy Terry, $200 ; Fayette Posey, $500; Annie Henderson, $200; David R. Burbank, $200; Edmund H. Hopkins, $200; Rebecca B. Stites, $300."
Having made such a good start, Mr. McCullagh soon raised a sufficient amount to build the church.
I have now before me the old subscription paper, yellow with the lapse of years, and as I read the long list of names it brings a feeling of sadness to think that nearly all are numbered with the dead. Of the whole eighty persons subscribing, but eleven are now living. A
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
Building Committee consisting of F. Posey, Samuel Stites, E. H. Hopkins, Wm. S. Read and James Rouse, was appointed. Mr. Stites was made Secretary and Treasurer, and on him devolved most of the responsibility of making the contracts and pushing forward the work.
Our community has seldom known a more competent and sys- tematic business man than Mr. Stites, and although not at that time a member of the church, none took more interest in the enterprise than he, and his work was accomplished faithfully. To him the church owes a debt of gratitude, and to Dr. Owen Glass as well, who, though at the time a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, ren- dered most valuable assistance in enabling the committee to secure such a central and delightful location. The bricks for the church were furnished by Mr. James W. Clay, the mason work done by Elias Peck, and the carpenter work by Mr. Jeffries.
The church building was finished in the spring of 1842. In April of the same year, Rev. N. H. Hall, of Lexington, Ky., visited Henderson. I find the following minutes in the old Sessional Rec ords, dated April 4th, 1842 : " The Rev. N. H. Hall in the chair, it was moved and seconded that the Rev. William G. Allen, of Shelby- ville, be solicited to become the pastor of this church."
Another extract, dated April 17th, 1842: "The Rev. William G. Allen commenced his ministerial labors."
The church building being probably incomplete at the time of Dr. Hall's coming, the dedication did not take place until later.
About this time Dr. Hall seems to have gone on to Hopkins- ville, to hold a meeting there, and, in the meanwhile, the Rev. James Smith (the Scotchman) came to Henderson and preached a series of sermons here on the "Evidences of Christianity, and the Fall and Redemption of Man."
On June 1st, 1842, Dr. Hall returned and " commenced a pro- tracted meeting on the solemn occasion of the dedication of the church to the service of Almighty God." The dedication sermon was preached on Saturday the fourth instant. Brother Mccullough says of the occasion : "Remembering the motto, 'Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God,' it was expected that every mem- ber of the church should make the dedication sermon, and the pro- tracted meeting that was to follow, a matter of special prayer. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. The Doc- tor soon found that the church had been praying for a revival, and remarked several times, 'It's no trouble to preach where the church
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY,
has been praying.' He preached a powerful dedication sermon. I think the text was, 'I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts.' A revival came down, and scores were brought into the Ark of Refuge. This precious promise has often been fulfilled in our history, when the power of the Holy Spirit was manifested in our midst. 'Walk about Zion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generations following.'"
In results this was, no doubt, the most important revival ever experienced in the church. Before the close of the meeting there had been added to the roll nearly fifty names.
On June 9th, Drs. Owen, Glass, and Joseph Maddocks were elected and installed elders.
On September 26th, at a congregational meeting, " the Rev. W. G. Allen was unanimously elected, and, Presbytery being then in session in the church, was immediately ordained and installed pastor of the church. Mr. Baird preached the ordination sermon, Mr. Ham- ilton presided, and Mr. Jones delivered the charge to the Bishop and people."
Nothing of striking moment occurred in the history of the church during the remainder of the year 1842 and the year 1843.
On April 14th, 1844, the first deacons were elected and ordained, viz .: James E. Rankin and R. G. Beverly.
On September 4th, 1844, the session, at the request of Rev. Wil- riam G. Allen, joined him in an application to Presbytery to dissolve the pastoral relation between himself and the Henderson Church. The pulpit remained vacant until December. At the invitation of the session, Rev. D. L. Gray, of Mississippi, visited the church, and on the twenty-second of this month, at a congregational meeting, he was unanimously invited to become the stated supply of the church for one year. He commenced his ministerial service on the twenty- fifth of January, 1845.
On May 11th, 1845, Dr. Joseph Maddock, one of the elders, was dismissed, to join the church at New Haven, Conn., from whence he had removed to Henderson. Colonel E. H. Hopkins was elected and ordained elder August 24th; 1845.
On December 14th, 1845, at a congregational meeting, the Rev. D. L. Gray was unanimously elected pastor of the church. How it happened that his installation was deferred till April 2d, 1847, is at this day one of the unaccountable things in the history of the church.
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
Henry M. Warner was received June 25th, 1847, by letter from the Congregational Church of Sunderland, Mass. Mr. Warner was taken under the care of our Presbytery as a candidate for the minis- try. He was a pious and very promising young man. For some time he taught school with Mr. McCullaugh, but was afterwards taken sick and died at the residence of Mr. Gray. He was buried in the old cemetery, the ladies of the church erecting a monument over his grave.
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At the close of the year 1850, Mr. Gray felt constrained to ac- cept a call to act as missionary in their bounds, from the Synod of Arkansas, and therefore removed from Henderson about the first of the year 1851.
I cannot pass this part of the record without recalling to memory two dear friends who then occupied prominent places in the church, but who have long since gone to their reward. Thadeus D. Jones joined the church in the early part of Dr. Hall's meetings, and from that time forward entered with all his heart and soul into his Mas- ter's service. Noble and manly in his bearing, warm hearted and true, his spirit was as gentle and his feelings as tender as those of a woman. He was always to be found at his post, whether in the ser- vice of the sanctuary, in the labors of the Sabbath School, or by the bedside of the sick. To him the " voice of duty was as the voice of God."
Miss Emily Ingram, afterwards Mrs. Dr. Letcher, was also one of the early converts at this same meeting, and straightway entered into the Savior's service with all the ardor of her young heart. Tall and handsome in person, her manners were both graceful and lady- like. She seemed happily to blend the characteristics of Mary and Martha, and was forward in every good work in the church. The writer can never forget how, when brought by disease nigh to the gates of death, through snow and storm she came almost daily to his bedside, bringing sunshine and hope in her sweet face and sympathis- ing voice. She and Mr. Jones were for years the leaders of the choir, and very earnest workers in the Sunday School.
On March 3d, 1851, at a congregational meeting of the church, it was resolved to petition Muhlenburg Presbytery for their consent that Rev. John D. Matthews should labor in this church as stated supply. The request of the church having been granted by Presby- tery, Dr. Matthews began his ministration May 4th, 1851.
On the twenty-fourth of November, 1851, Captain John Posey, for about forty years an elder in the church, departed this life. Dr.
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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
Matthews preached a most beautiful and fitting sermon on the occa- sion of his funeral, and the minutes adopted by the session regarding his death close with these words : "We know of no one who is more certain to hear from the Master the words, 'Come ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,' for he was a model Christian."
Dr. W. S. Reed, an elder, moved to Texas in the fall of 1851.
On December 7th, 1851, James E. Rankin, David Banks, John B. Cabel and Walter G. Offutt were elected elders, and William J. Marshall and Wyatt H. Ingram, deacons. William J. Marshall, be- ing then a resident of the county, declined on that account to accept the office of deacon, and on January 4th Thomas Evans was elected in his place.
About the close of the year 1851, the ladies of the church raised six hundred dollars towards the purchase of a parsonage, and the house and lot then occupied by Mr. Ben. Weller was bought for that purpose.
The year 1852, and most of the year 1853, seem to have been void of events requiring a notice in this record.
On November 1st, 1853, Rev. J. D. Matthews having received a call to the Presbyterian Church at Lexington, removed to that place.
In February, 1854, Rev. John A. Scott, of Virginia, at the invi- tation of the session, visited the church and preached a series of ser- mons. "At a congregational meeting held March 12th, he was chosen with a view to a call and installation, as pastor of the church." What subsequently became of Brother Scott, the record does not tell .*
In September, 1854, Rev. J. Woodbridge removed to Hender- son and preached in the church. On April 16th, 1855, he was unani- mously called to the pastorate. May 20th witnessed his installation.
The years 1855, '56, '57 and '58 gave rise to no important event in the church's history. On December 29th, 1859, Dr. Owen Glass died. The minutes adopted by the session say of him: "Dr. Glass was a liberal contributor to the boards of the church, and all efforts to sustain the ordinances of the Gospel. His efficient hand was felt in every enterprise in which we engaged for the promotion of the welfare of our church. Energetic and earnest, whatever his hands found to do, he did with his might, and, under God, was made an in- strument greatly blessed to the attainment of the degree of prosperity which the church has reached."
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