USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I > Part 99
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It is easy to see the prototype of the form of government of the town, the county, the state and the nation, in the session, the presbytery, the synod and the general assembly of the Presbyterian Churches throughout the world. That the churches did not borrow these forms from the state is obvious when you remem- ber that the Presbyterian form of church government was established in Scotland in 1560 and the Westminster Assembly sat in 1643-1652. A glance at the names of the men who framed the constitution of the United States will show that a very large proportion of them were men to whom the Westminster standards were most familiar. The spread of the polity in political institutions is seen in the fact that on this continent republican forms of government are wellnigh universal, wbile in the old world representative parliaments have restrained everywhere the power of the sovereign. Hardly less of this is the influence of the polity which Presbyterianism holds over the government of the churches. Prelacy welcomes lay representation to a share in the government of the church at which the fathers would have stood aghast. Democracy finds in association, local, state or national, the bond of union which gives strength to the individual churches.
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America grew out of the General Synod of 1788. The first Presbytery was formed in Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia in 1706. By 1717 it had grown to be a synod, and in 1789 the first General Assembly met in Philadel- phia simultaneously with the convention which framed the constitution of the
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United States. It was the first organized body in the land to send its missionaries to the Northwest Territory which had been set off two years before by the Ordi- nanee of 1787. At its first sessions in 1789, the Assembly took orders for sending ministers to the frontiers from Western Pennsylvania and Virginia. It was the first to effect an organization in Central Ohio. The First Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati was organized by the Rev. David Rice, of Kentucky, in 1790. In 1802 the Rev. James Speer was at Chillicothe where he was succeeded in 1805 by Robert G. Wilson. The course of settlement in Central Ohio was up the Scioto and the settlers were chiefly from Virginia and Kentucky. Franklinton was the extreme outpost on the Scioto and its branches. It was laid out in 1797 by Lucas Sul- livant. It was the first town on the Scioto to be settled north of Cbillieotbe. Columbus was then, and for years afterwards, a settlement of the Wyandot Indians. In 1805 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, sitting in
FRANKLINTON CHURCH, 1811; GIFT OF LUCAS SULLIVANT. By Permission of Rev. F. E. Marsten.
Philadelphia, appointed James Hoge, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Lexington, to serve as a missionary for six months in the State of Ohio and the Natchez Dis- trict. This service Mr. Hoge performed from October, 1805, to April, 1806. The Assembly of 1806 renewed his commission for three months "as a missionary in the State of Ohio and the parts adjacent." His compensation was thirtythree dol- lars a month.
First Church. - Mr. Hoge arrived in Franklinton November 19, 1805, and preached the next day in a room in the house of John Overdier which was occupied by the Supreme Court. He remained until April, 1806, when he was obliged by ill health to return to his home in Virginia. On his way, near Lewisburgh, Virginia, he was attacked by a violent hemorrhage of the lungs. He was alone and death seemed imminent. He drank copiously of a spring by which he had fallen. The cooling draughts refreshed him. He was discovered
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by a woman living in a cabin near the spring who took him to her house, pro- cured medical advice and nursed him tenderly until he was able to resume his journey. In the fall of 1806 he resumed his work in Franklinton and thenccforth for more than half a century the history of James Hoge is identified with the growth of the Presbyterian Church, not only in Franklin County, but throughont the State.
James Hoge was born in Moorfield, Virginia, in 1784 His father, Moses Hoge, D. D., had served for a time previous to entering the ministry in the Revolutionary Army. He was an eminent minister of the Presbyterian Church. He was an accomplished scholar and was President of the Hampden Sydney College, Virginia, from 1807 until his death, July 5, 1820, in Philadelphia, where he had been in attendance on the General Assembly. James Hoge received his education, classical and theological, chiefly under his father. IIe was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Lexington, April 17, 1805. On his return to Ohio in the fall of 1806, Mr. Hoge continued to preach in Franklinton in the private houses of John Overdier, David Broderick and Jacob Overdier. A church had been organized on February 18, 1806, by the Rev. Robert G. Wilson, D. D, then of Chillicothe and for many years the President of the Ohio University at Athens. This church was the, first of any denomination organized in Franklin County, which then contained an area of six hundred square miles and a popula- tion of about two thousand. It was the fruit of the labors of Mr. Hoge, and num- bered at its organization thirteen members. The names of those who became communicant members, or members of the congregation, are preserved and are of interest to the many families here and elsewhere whose ancestors they were. They are Colonel Robert Culbertson and wife, William Reed and wife, David Nelson and wife, Michael Fisher and wife, Robert Young and wife, Mrs. Margaret Thompson, Mrs. Susan MeCoy and Miss Catharine Kessler. Besides these mem- bers of the church there were in the congregation the families of Lucas Sullivant, William Shaw, John Turner, Adam Turner, Joseph Hunter, J. Hamlin, S. G. Flenniken, John Dill, J. McGowan, George Skidmore, Samuel King, William Brown, Senior, Joseph Park, David Jamison, Andrew Park, John Overdier, Jacob Overdier, Charles Hunter, John Lisle, J. Mellvaine, M. Hess, M. Thompson, William Domigan, John McCoy, Joseph Smart, Isaac Smart, S. Powers, Joseph Dickson and Joseph Cowgill. Many of these descendants remain with us until this day. The church when organized selected as Ruling Elders, Robert Culbertson and William Reed. The congregation chose Joseph Dixon, John Dill, Daniel Nelson, William Domigan, Joseph Hunter and Lucas Sullivant, Trustees. The "New Courthouse" which stood on the lot at the corner of Broad and Sandusky Streets, now occupied by the public school, was finished in 1807 and was occupied for public worship until 1815. On September 25, 1807, the church extended a call to Mr. Hoge for threefourths of his time; the other onefourth was devoted to missionary work in the bounds of the county and " parts adjacent." The salary promised was three hundred dollars in halfyearly payments. Following is a copy of the call :
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The congregation of Franklinton being on sufficient grounds well satisfied of the minis- terial qualifications of you, James Hoge, and having good hopes from our past experience of your labors that your ministrations of the Gospel will be profitable to our spiritual interests, do earnestly call and desire you to undertake the pastoral office in said congrega- tion, promising you in the discharge of your duty all proper support, encouragement and obe- dience in the Lord, and that you may be free from worldly cares and avocations we hereby promise and oblige ourselves to pay to you the sum of three hundred dollars in half yearly payments annually, for threefourths of your time, until we find ourselves able to give you a compensation for the whole of your time in like proportion during the time of your being and continuing the regular pastor of this Church.
This call, which is in the handwriting of Lucas Sullivant, was signed on behalf of the congregation by the elders and trustees named above. It is obvious that the best and most influential of the settlers were identified with the congregation. It will be remembered that there was no other church organization within many miles, and many Presbyterians came from great distances to attend its services, at least occasionally. There were no roads but bridlepaths blazed through the dense forests which covered all this region.
Mr. Hoge accepted the call and was ordained and installed by the Presbytery of Washington, June 17, 1808. The first meetinghouse for the use of the church was erected in Franklinton in 1811. It was of brick and was built chiefly through the instrumentality of Lucas Sullivant. Before its completion, however, it was taken possession of by the commissary department of the army and filled with grain. In March, 1813, it was so injured by a violent storm that the grain was wet and its swelling burst the walls. The church was a ruin ; the Government, however, subsequently made good the loss.
These years were times of pecular trial. Franklinton was a frontier post. The Indians were numerous and often troblesome. Society was in a turmoil with wars and rumors of war with the Indians and with the British. A man of less courage, faith and hope than Mr. Hoge, enfeebled as he was with sickness and toil, would have abandoned the field ; but he was sustained by his church and by the community. It was not until 1815 that another house for worship was built. It was situated on the west bank of the Scioto near a wooded island known as British Island from the fact that it was the place of detention of British prisoners of war. The old graveyard is there but is seldom used. The population of Colum- bus soon exceeded that of Franklinton. Mr. Hoge preached there in private houses until, in 1814, a log cabin 25 x 30 feet was built on a lot owned by him on Spring Street near Third, in which he preached, alternating the services with Franklinton. Under date of May 1, 1818, the church records show the following :
Whereas, a considerable majority of the members of the First Presbyterian congrega- tion in Franklinton, Ohio, reside on the easterly side of the Sciota River, and the Rev. James Hoge, the Pastor of the said congregation, having his resilence also on the same side of the river, it was deemed expedient for the said congregation that a meetinghouse be erected in Columbus for public worship on such ground as might be selected and purchased for that purpose. For the accomplishment of this object an agreement was entered into dated May 1, 1818, as follows :
We, the subscribers, bind ourselves to advance to any person or persons appointed by ourselves the sum of money annexed to our names respectively for the purpose of building
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and preparing for use a temporary meetinghouse in Columbus for the Presbyterian congre- gation, to be opened for publie worship as soon as said congregation shall, by the purchase of seats or otherwise, remunerate us the expense by us incurred in erecting the house.
To this paper were attached the following subscriptions: Samuel Barr, $100; Ralph Osborn, $100; Joseph Miller, 8100; Henry Brown, $100; James Hoge, $100; Robert Culbertson, $100; John Loughrey, $100; Lucas Sullivant, $100; Robert McCoy, 8100; John Kerr, 8100. The proprietors of Columbus gener- ously donated a lot and the congregation added another by purchase for 8300. These lots were situated at the northeast corner of Front and Town streets. A frame house 40 x 60 was erected on them at a cost of $1,050. It contained eighty pews and could accommodate about four hundred people. At the sale of the pews they netted 81,796.50. The log cabin on Spring Street was abandoned and the congregation worshipped in the new house. On June 20, 1821, in conformity with an "act for the incorporation of religious societies," passed February 5, 1819, we find the following :
We the subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Columbus and the vicinity, do bind our- selves together as the First Presbyterian Society of Columbus and do agree to bind ourselves to do and perform all those acts and things which may be or become incumbent on us as members of said society while we continue as such.
The names of those forming this new society are, N. W. Smith, James W. Taylor, John Hunter, David Taylor, William Leathem, John Long, William McElvain, William Patterson, Thomas Adams, Daniel Ross, Andrew Culbertson, Robert Lisle, W. W. Shannon, John Thompson, J. M. Strain, Samuel King, John Kerr, Robert Nelson, Gustavus Swan, Lincoln Goodale, Henry Brown, John E. Baker, Samuel Parsons, James Dean, Joseph Miller, James Cherry, Samuel G, Flenniken, William Long, John Loughrey, James O'Harra, Robert W. McCoy, James Shannon, Jacob Overdier, James Lindsey, William Stewart, John Barr, Michael Fisher and James Hoge. Among these we recognize the ancestors of many families resident in the adjoining townships, as well as in the city, and of many who have removed from the city and the State. We are not to consider this as the organization of another church, though that issue would seem to have been contemplated in certain contingencies. The society thus formed was organ- ized for business July 1, 1821, and assumed the legal title of " The First Presby . terian Congregation of Columbus," which it has borne ever since. On Novem- ber 19, 1821, the Presbyterian congregation of Franklinton met and agreed that their name should be changed to the "The First Presbyterian Congregation of Columbus." The two were soon merged in one under the same trustees. No change was made in the organization of the church. Its elders at that time (1821) were: Michael Fisher, William Stewart, Robert Nelson, John Loughrey. William Patterson, John Long, Samuel G. Flenniken, N. W. Smith and James Johnson.
It will be remembered that the call to Mr. Hoge in 1807 was for threefourths of his time at Franklinton. The remaining onefourth he had devoted to preach- ing in the vicinity, especially in Hamilton and Truro, where churches were organ - ized at a later date. In 1821 Truro requested onefourth of his time, which was granted. In June, 1822, the congregation in Columbus petitioned the Presbytery
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to appoint the Rev. James Hoge their stated supply until January, 1823. This, Doctor Hoge says, in note on the Presbytery records, was for half his time in Columbus. To obviate any difficulty, a new call was made in January, 1823, in place of that of 1807. It was for all his time and promised a salary of six hundred dollars per annum with the prudent proviso: " If we shall be able to collect this amount from the seatholders and subscribers." This call Mr. Hoge did not deem satisfactory. A new one was made in February with a salary of $800, and prob- ably without the proviso. This call was accepted. The Presbytery did not deem it necessary to instal him, holding the church to be that organized in Franklinton in 1806.
How long alternate services continued to be held in Franklinton is unknown. It is probable they ceased to be held regularly after the completion of the new church edifice at State and Third. The building on Town Street having become
UCHLT
ORIGINAL FIRST CHURCH IN COLUMBUS ; ON SPRING STREET, NEAR THIRD. From " After Eighty Years," by Rev. F. E. Marsten.
unsuitable in size and location, in January, 1830, at the annual meeting of the society, the Rev. James Hoge, Gustavus Swan and David W. Deshler were appointed a committee to select a suitable location for a new house of worship. The site chosen was that now occupied by the First Church at the southwest cor- ner of State and Third streets. The problem of ways and means to build was solved by a proposition on March 8, 1830, by Lyne Starling, Gustavus Swan and Robert W. McCoy, to form a company and erect a meetinghouse for the congrega- tion on such a plan as the trustees might direct, and to furnish the building and enclose the lot. The terms of the agreement were that the pews were to be sold and the proceeds applied to the payment of the principal and interest of the cost of the building. Any deficiency was to be made up by subscription. The plan was successful in securing the speedy erection of the church, which was occupied for public worship on the first Sabbath of December, 1830. It was at that time
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the finest church edifice in the city ; there were few finer in the State. Its pastor was at that time at the height of his popularity. Columbus was on the great stage line from cast to west, and many travelers made it their restingplace over the Sab- bath. Many members of the legislature and officers of the State had their families with them for the winter. Once here they were mudbound until spring. Many of them attended on the preaching of Doctor Hoge, and the new house, then furn- ished with ample galleriers, was always filled, often crowded.
The faithful historian of the period - Mr. Joseph Sullivant, a son of Lucas Sullivant, and more than any other man the founder of the society - is candid enough to tell us that, as often happens even now, the ambition of the society was in advance of its means. The sale of the pews did not pay for the building. The subscriptions were insufficient. Debt was the consequence, with no worse results, perhaps, than the waiting of the generous builders who were paid ultimately, in 1847, both principal and interest. The shadow of the cloud, however, may be seen in the prudent proviso annexed to a resolution of the society in 1833, " that the sum of one thousand dollars annually be paid to the Rev. Dr. James Hoge, if that sum can be raised out of the assessment of pews and subscriptions." It is pro- foundly to be hoped that it was " raised" and that promptly, for God had blessed him with a large family of sons and daughters to be fed, clothed and educated, and it was well done. His sons have honored his name. His daughters, sought for by worthy men, have been or yet are the mothers of useful and prominent men and women here and elsewhere. One of his daughters was married to Robert Neil, another to Judge J. W. Baldwin and a third to Alfred Thomas.
It is not to be supposed that a man by this time so prominent as was Doctor Hoge would be suffered to remain unsought for as a pastor elsewhere. We have seen that, in 1825, he had been called to Chillicothe. Other churches in the Old East and in Virginia sought him, but he wisely saw that God had given him power here for good in the capital of Ohio, and he steadfastly declined every approach. In 1827, the Synod of Ohio, meeting in Zanesville, resolved to establish a theolog- ical seminary for the instruction of candidates for the ministry in Christian theology. The seminary was to be located in Columbus, and Rev. James Hoge was appointed professor. The seminary was to commence operations in October, 1828, but we do not find that anything came of this resolution. Nevertheless it shows the Synod's appreciation of Mr. Hoge's ability as a theologian and teacher. We shall see that in 1850 he was again called to the theological chair. In 1834 he was elected a professor in Hanover College, Indiana. He felt himself obliged to consult his church as to their willingness to release him for this work, for which, by his scholarship, he was eminently fitted. The answer he got was the unani- mous resolution " that the services, labor and zeal of our present pastor, Doctor James Hoge, are highly satisfactory and useful, and that this congregation do not consent to this or any other call."
By 1838 the population of Columbus had grown to some six thousand. A large emigration had been received from New England and the East. The original settlers were chiefly from Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky. Their social habits and tastes were not the same as those of the later comers. Questions had
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arisen in the Presbyterian Church in the United States which influenced the associations of men in religious matters. There was also much agitation concern- ing temperance, slavery and other questions of the day. It was with no feeling of hostility to the First Church or its pastor, that, in the beginning of 1839, a second church was formed whose history will be given further on. Meantime the First Church pursued its way, undiminished in numbers, power or influence. To keep pace with the improvements in the rapidly growing city it was thought best to make alterations and repairs of the church within and without. It was, as built, severely plain. The trustees reported that the cost of the proposed alterations would be about four thousand dollars. The actual cost was over twenty thousand dollars, but the result was the beautiful building with its graceful spire and sweet-
MANE
HLY
"TRINITY IN UNITY."
By Permission of Rev. F. E. Marsten.
toned bell which for forty years has been a tribute to the taste and the nerve of the First Church, for it is needless to say that the cost was speedily paid.
In 1850 Doctor Hoge was selected as a professor of theology in the seminary which the Old School side were seeking to establish in Cincinnati, and which now, after many vicissitudes, is represented by the McCormick Theological Seminary of Chicago. He felt it his duty to accept the trust, which would demand about half his time. This led to a proposal by Doctor Hoge that the congregation should assent to his accepting the professorship. The action of the church was : " Whereas, the Rev. Dr. Hoge has made known his desire to be absent from his charge one half of his time, or more, for the next year, in connection with the theological seminary at Cincinnati, Resolved : That while we most sincerely regret such absence, yet out of regard to the general interest of the church, and particularly in complying with his request, this congregation hereby express
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their assent to Doctor Hoge's proposal." Signed by P. B. Wilcox, Chairman, and J. D. Osborn, Secretary.
Messrs. R. W. McCoy, Thomas Moodie and Joseph Sullivant were appointed a committee to correspond with and recommend a suitable pastor to supply Doctor Hoge's place. The result was a call to the Rev. Josiah D. Smith, then pastor of the Church at Truro. Messrs. Thomas Moodie, Samuel Galloway and Joseph Sullivant were appointed a committee to prosecute the call before the Presbytery .. Mr. Smith was installed in December, 1850, as colleague pastor with Doctor Hoge. He served in that capacity until June, 1854, when he took charge of the newlyformed West- minster Church. The Rev. David Hall was colleague pastor from February, 1856, to April, 1857.
On February 8, 1856, the fiftieth anniversary of the First Church was celebrated with appropriate ceremony, of which we have a full and interest- ing account from the pen of Joseph Sullivant, which may be found in Wilson's Historical Almanac for 1863. The venerable pastor delivered a historical address upon the occasion from which we have gathered many of the facts narrated above as to the early history of the church. In reviewing the half century of the Church's existence he says : " Of those who have been dismissed nearly two hun- dred were set off to form new churches in the town or its neighborhood, so that it had been a mother of churches. It speaks well for pastor and people that he can say there has never been any serious dissension in the congregation ; peace and harmony have generally prevailed. The cases of discipline have been very few a'd have produced no permanent injury. Perhaps twice as many persons have united with us as have gone from this church. to others." He speaks of the revivals, especially that beginning in 1807 which continued during the great- est part of two years, during which some fifty or sixty members were added by profession and the church was increased fourfold. " Taking into view," he says, "the number who were in the congregation as hearers of the Gospel, this increase is seldom witnessed in our day ;" and we may add that this leaven of the Gospel in the new community has been working for these fourscore years and accounts for much of which the Columbus of today is both proud and grateful in the history of many of her families.
The pastoral relation of Doctor Hoge to the First Church was, at his own request and with the reluctant consent of his congregation, dissolved by the Pres- bytery of Columbus on June 30, 1857. He was then seventythree years of age but his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. The stripling who more than half a century before had laid him down by that Virginia spring to die of hemorrhage had survived all those who first welcomed him as their pastor, and had seen the little village rise to the dimensions of an important city, while the church which for so many years had, like its Master, no sheltering roof of its own, had the joy of children and children's children, The influence of Doctor Hoge was not limited to his own church or city. He was the father of the Presbytery of Columbus and of the Synod of Ohio. He was a frequent commissioner to the General Assembly, in which he was always a power for good. He was its Moder- ator in 1832. In 1862, on the initiation of the First Church, the Assembly met in
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