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A History of Lebanon
Prepared on the occasion of its Two Hundredth Anniversary
LEBANON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SO OLD ELIZABETH POAD WEST MIFFLIN, PA 1 122
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyoflebanon00leba
PERIOD I 1776-1826
The history of Lebanon Presbyterian Church, or any church, begins with the story of the people who make up that church. And so it is that consideration is given to settlers who came across the Alleghenies to clear and settle Western Pennsylvania in the years leading up to 1776.
Oliver Miller, for example, in 1742 emigrated from Northern Ireland to make a new life in America. In Fort Bedford, Pennsylvania he met and married Mary Tidball. He supported his family by working a small farm and operating a trading post. In time the Miller family moved westward and by 1772 they were permanently settled on a site near Peters Creek located in what is now South Park. The family was one of the earliest to cross the Alleghenies by pack horse.
For many years the Miller home served as a meeting place for worship. The Fifes, the Dinsmores and Gilfallens and other pioneer families for miles around walked or came by horseback. Most of the frontier families were Scotch-Irish immigrants; some were of Scotch, Welsh, and German descent. They were a proud, frugal people with few possessions, determined to find good cheap land.
As these pioneer families moved westward they were leaving established Churches and trained clergymen behind. But their religious commitment was an integral part of their way of life. They continued to meet for worship in the homes of the settlers.
In 1767 The Synod of New York and Philadelphia of the Presbyterian Church sent the Reverend Charles Beatty, with the Reverend George Duffield as companion, to tour the western frontier with the joint objective of evangelizing the Indians and preach- ing to the settlers. The two missionaries traveled among the settlers and on to rebuilt Indian villages on the Muskingum River. Their mission to the Indians was unsuccessful but the tour proved to be a permanent blessing to the settlers who were hungry for spiritual food.
Their report prompted Synod to send more ministers to assist in the spiritual development of the frontier. A definite missionary program was adopted with the
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happy result that every year either the Synod or the Presbytery of Donegal sent at least one minister, often several ministers, to preach beyond the Allegheny Mountains. The Treaty of Fort Stannix in 1768 had opened the territory west of the mountains to settlers who were establishing homes in the fertile valleys along the tributaries of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela valley. The calls for missionaries were increasing in numbers and earnestness.
The Reverend Levi Frisbee and the Reverend David McClure were two of the mission- aries sent to the west. As they completed their tour and were discussing the eagerness and willingness of the settlers to provide for permanent ministers it is recorded that Mcclure said, "Truly the people here in this new country are as sheep scattered upon the mountains without a shepherd. May the Good Lord raise up and send forth faithful laborers into this part of His vineyard."
This "prayer-plea" was answered by stalwart men such as John McMillan, licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, October 26, 1774 "to preach the everlasting Gospel." He set out immediately to visit vacant churches in the Presbyteries of New Castle and Donegal. By the summer of 1775 he determined to go farther afield and set off for the settlements of Virginia. This encompassed territory which later became West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. This trip has become known as McMillan's first missionary journey and took him to Fort Pitt with many stops to preach at homes along the way.
It was after his second journey beyond the mountains that McMillan made his decision to settle in the West and accept calls from the settlers at Chartiers and Pigeon Creek to be their permanent minister.
The third journey began in late September 1776 and the significant entry for Lebanon Church in his detailed Log is, "Tuesday after the 1st Sabbath in November -- preached at Peter's Creek, baptized 5 children." It is from this entry that Lebanon and Bethel date their beginnings and the Oliver Miller home was the Peter's Creek location. Because John McMillan conducted services on this site it was named
"Stone Manse" by Allegheny County commissioners although it never served as a minister's home.
Some sources give the year 1778 as the year in which the church was organized and assume that John McMillan was responsible for its organization. There are apparently no official records with the result that the Western and Eastern Divisions of Peter's Creek, Bethel and Lebanon, choose to claim the 1776 date.
For the first few years the congregation met in the homes in the area. These were troubled times. The Revolutionary War was raging and Indian raids on the frontier made life even more hazardous. It was in November 1778 that conditions seemed right for John McMillan to bring his wife and infant daughter to the West. McMillan's own account of this period in a letter written much later gives a clear picture of the home made for his family.
When I came to this country, the cabin in which I was to live was raided, but there was no roof on it, nor any chimney or floor. The people, however, were very kind, assisted me in preparing my house, and on the 16th of December I moved into it. But we had neither bedstead, nor tables, non stool, nor chair, nor bucket. All these things we had to leave behind us, as there was no wagon road at that time over the mountains; we could bring nothing with us but what was carried on pack- horses. We placed two boxes on each other, which served us for a table, and two kegs answered for seats; and having com- mitted ourselves to God in family worship, we spread a bed on the floor and slept soundly till morning. The next day, a neighbor coming to my assistance, we made a table and stool, and in a little time had every thing comfortable about us. Sometimes indeed we had no bread for weeks together, but we had plenty of pumpkins and potatoes and all the necessaries of life; as for luxuries, we were not concerned about them. We enjoyed health, the gospel and its ordinances, and pious friends. We were in the place where we believed God would have us to be, and we did not doubt but that he would pro- vide for us every thing necessary; and (glory to His name!) we were not disappointed.
Other members of John McMillan's family made their homes in the wilderness beyond the mountains. A reference in the log for the Monday after the 1st Sabbath in November 1776 says, "Went down to my brother's house." This was his eldest brother Thomas who had moved to the Western country and lived on a farm east of Chartiers. His father, William, and William's second wife moved from Chester County
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during the Revolutionary War. Their home was a farm in what is now Jefferson Township. A sister, Janet, married and lived on Peter's Creek not far from her father.
These early settlers spent their time and energies clearing land, creating farms and making homes while the Revolutionary War, Indian raids and hardships of the Yet with these hardships there wilderness land made day-to-day living difficult.
was motivation to provide a church. On land given by the McDermott family, a log cabin was erected by the Eastern Division of Peter's Creek members sometime before 1781. It was of round logs, without floor or windows or place for fire, and with
only logs for seats. It is recorded in earlier histories that the neighbors came together to build the church and William Wightman and Samuel Cochran cut the first sapling that went into the building. The men prominent in the building of the first church were Captain Thomas Bell Patterson, Samuel Cochran, Reuben Thompson and William Wightman. This simple structure served the congregation for twenty years.
A listing of names in early minute books reveals the following as the founders or probable founders of Lebanon:
Mayberry Evans p.f. John Large f. James Forsythe, Sr. f. Archibald McDarrell f.
James Forsythe, Jr. f. Alexander McClure f. Samuel Glass f. John McDermott f. William Graham f. Nathaniel Patterson f. Robert Hayes f. James Whitaker f.
David Hays f. Capt. James Terrence f. Thomas Lapsley p.f.
After the organization of the church, there was only occasional preaching until the Reverend John Clark came to serve as stated supply and eventually as pastor of the Eastern and Western Divisions of Peter's Creek. By 1780 the Western Division (Bethel) had also built a rude log meeting house, probably similar to that built at Lebanon. John Clark came in 1781 from pastorates in the East, a man already 63 years old. Dr. Dwight Guthrie, in his book John McMillan, writes of John Clark: Those who tell of him in the West, tell he was of very feeble health (he lived to be seventy-nine); "spare almost to leanness'; "grave" and "sedate"; at times preaching with a deeply moving power of emotion; under whom "there was extensive revival of religion"; a man "revered and beloved by his parishioners; es- teemed and venerated."
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Reverend Clark wore eighteenth century small clothes with buckles and a stock and is said to have worn a white wig. Reverend Clark was installed as Pastor in 1783.
Little is known of the size of the congregation at Lebanon during this period, of members who may have been added, but there is in the records of Redstone Presby- tery indications of financial difficulties arising in the arrangements with Mr. Clark. Minutes for April 13, 1784 record:
Presbytery proceeded to inquire with regard to the settlements of the several congregations with their respective ministers, when, among others, Mr. Clark produced accounts, whereby it appears that there is due to him to the 1st of September last, from the congregation of Lebanon, the full sum of 40, 33, 9-1/2d.
The matter was before Presbytery afterward at five different times, and during a
period of three full years, when from the records of April 15, 1789,
Presbytery finding that there are not good grounds to expect that the affair between Mr. Clark and Lebanon will be comfortably settled, do therefore judge that the pastoral relation between him and that congregation ought to be, and it is hereby dissolved.
John Clark continued as pastor at Bethel and is believed to have supplied the pulpit frequently at Lebanon.
John McMillan's log for the fourth Sabbath of June 1789, "was to have preached at Long-run but could not get over the river and therefore preached at Lebanon." Presbytery of Redstone minutes indicate John Clark was called to Western and Eastern Divisions of Peter's Creek but by 1786 the references are to Bethel and Lebanon. It is believed Mr. Clark gave the names.
During this period there was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit through this whole area. Bethel and Lebanon, it is generally understood, shared in this gracious visita- tion, and many were added to these churches. The elders at Lebanon at this time were William Wightman, Moses Hindman, John Shields, Alexander McClure, Eneas McAlister, John Barnett and Samuel Cochran.
John Clark holds a place in the history of Southwestern Pennsylvania for his stand during the Whiskey Rebellion. This was an event of national importance because it resulted in direct intervention by President George Washington.
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An organized rebellion among the farmers broke out over the hated tax on whiskey. Federal law required that all stills be registered and that seven cents tax per gallon of whiskey be paid at the still. Whiskey was the main money crop of the frontier farmer and one out of every six operated a still. Whiskey was widely used for medicinal purposes, as a beverage, and as a medium of exchange. A fierce spirit of independence and instinctive hatred for excise taxes caused many farmers to refuse to register their stills or pay the tax. William, Oliver, Jr., and James Miller, sons of Oliver, became directly involved July 15, 1794 when General John Neville guided United States Marshal David Lenox to the home of William, near the old home- stead. The officers attempted to serve a writ which imposed a fine of $250 for failure to register his still. William, having already made a decision to sell his farm and move to Kentucky, ordered the men off his property. Farmers harvesting in nearby fields heard the argument and fired several shots at the departing officers.
News of the incident spread rapidly. In a confrontation at General Neville's home, Oliver Miller, Jr. was fatally wounded. On July 17, 1794 nearly 500 men led by Major James McFarland stopped at Fort Couch on their way to the Neville home. John Clark pleaded with the men to turn back but they would not be deterred. They went on to Bower Hill and burned to the ground the home and barn of General Neville. Federal troops were dispatched to the West to quell the rebellion. The farmers who had been involved were required to sign an oath of allegiance to regain their rights of citizenship
The voices of John Clark and John McMillan and other clergymen were raised against the violence and opposition to breaking the law more than because of a stand against whiskey.
At a meeting of Redstone Presbytery the following action was taken:
On motion resolved that if any of these persons who during their late disturbances has an active hand in burning property, robbing the mail and destroying the official papers of the officers of the Government, shall apply for distinguishing privileges of the church to us, they shall not be admitted until they give satis- factory evidence of their repentance; and Presbytery did and here- by does declare their hearty disapprobation of all riotous, illegal and unconstitutional combinations against the government, the laws or the officers of the Government.
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It is recorded that John McMillan refused the Sacrament to his parishioners until they signed the Oath of Allegiance.
John Clark served as Pastor of Bethel's pulpit until shortly before his death in 1797, at 79 years of age. He is buried in Bethel Church Cemetery.
The simple log cabin erected for worship at Lebanon gave way by 1806 to a larger structure of hewed logs with the added luxury of glass windows and a floor of boards laid loosely down.
June 28, 1797 William Woods was ordained and installed as Pastor of the united congregation at Bethel and Lebanon. He had supplied the pulpits of a number of churches for several months prior, coming to the area from the Presbytery of New Castle where he had been licensed. Reverend Woods was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1771. A graduate of Dickinson College he completed his study of theology under Dr. John Witherspoon, the first moderator of General Assembly and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Reverend Woods was a man 26 years of age when he began his permanent ministry here.
Early in his pastorate the congregations of Bethel and Lebanon shared in the Great Revival that spread over the newer western settlements around the opening of the 19th century. One of the characteristics of the movement was described as "falling work" or "falling exercise." Some of those at the meetings, convinced of their sin and misery, would fall suddenly; others would sink to the floor, while still others, not exercised by any bodily affections, would sit silently weeping. While the meetings in Western Pennsylvania were said not to have exhibited the extremes of those in Kentucky, the leaders shared concern for keeping the demonstra- tions under control. In some sections the gatherings took the form of camp meetings, with people coming great distances in their wagons. Whole days and nights were spent in preaching and prayer. Reverend Woods was credited with meeting the con- ditions admirably.
During this period William Allison, John Neel and John Snodgrass were added as members of the Session at Lebanon.
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By 1819 Bethel and Lebanon were deemed by Presbytery strong enough to stand alone. Consequently, Reverend Woods resigned the charge at Lebanon and continued as pastor at Bethel until 1831. He died in 1834 at 64 years of age and was buried in Bethel Church Cemetery.
As Lebanon started her long life as an independent congregation a call was extended to the Reverend Thomas D. Baird to serve as pastor. Thomas Baird was brought to America as a child from Ireland where he was born in 1773. Following his education, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of South Carolina and served congregations in South Carolina and Ohio before coming to Lebanon in 1820.
It is recorded in an old Session book that Thomas D. Baird preached at Lebanon during August and September of 1820. He received an invitation from the congregation and in accordance with that invitation, preached his first sermon on the 15th of October following, although not installed until the succeeding January. When he entered upon the charge of the congregation there were of all classes something more than 100 families; a number of them were transient livers. There were about 106 communicants and for some years very respectable additions were made to their numbers. Upward of 100 were added by examination beside those on certificate. The number of baptisms were considerable although many are strangely regardless of their obligations with respect to that ordinance.
As the first fifty year period of the Lebanon Church was accomplished the growing church made a decision to build a new structure. The article of agreement between "Jacob Alexander Wallace, Contractor, and James Anderson to burn and mold 70,000 brick for the said Jacob Wallace, at or near Lebanon Meeting House, in Mifflin Township; to have them made and completely finished as good as the clay will admit of, as soon after date hereof as he can conveniently," etc., bears the date of July 24, 1823 and finds Mr. Wallace to "provide clay ready dug, wood, water and sand for the brick, and find all materials for erecting a shed, and board the hands of said Anderson while making said brick, and to pay said Anderson $1.25 for each and every thousand of brick thus made and delivered, one-half to be paid when the brick is
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burned and the other half on or before the First day of May, A. D. 1824." Mr. Wallace brought suit against Mr. Anderson at the August term of Court, 1824, for breach of. contract, but lost the case. Mrs. Wallace rode horse-back to Lebanon to cook for the men and carried a small boy behind and another on her lap.
In the second log church there is said to have been a door on each side, and Mr. Baird had been annoyed by certain young men leaving during service, so he thought to counteract that tendency when the new church was planned. The pulpit was a number of steps higher than the floor and placed in the end of the church next to the spring. An entrance was on each side of the pulpit. This was his plan to keep said persons from leaving. It is said to have been unsuccessful and in due time there were two doors placed in the opposite end. There were semicircular transoms over the doors and pulpit, five windows along each side and three pillars in each main aisle.
The work was all done by hand; the pews were plain and each one was furnished with a door on which the number was placed. No record of cost or date of dedication has been found.
Session members added during Mr. Baird's pastorate were Thomas Hamilton, William McClure, Johnston Glass and Robert Wallace.
Fifty years after the service of worship during which five were baptized at Peter's Creek, the congregation at Lebanon appeared to be thriving. They were supporting a full-time pastor and adding members. A new house for worship was being erected. The Presbytery of Redstone had established the new Presbytery of Ohio of which Lebanon was a part. The thirteen colonies had survived and established themselves as the United States of America. The years just ahead looked promising and bright.
PERIOD II 1826 - 1876
As the second fifty year period opened, some difficulties appeared regarding the financing for the new building and the pastor. It is recorded that the members of the Building Committee, James Patterson, James Cunningham, John and Thomas Snodgrass, advanced money on their own account and in February 1828 they made a
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report of Lebanon's indebtedness as follows:
Arrears to T. D. Baird $400.00 Arrears to the building of Meeting House 200.00
$600.00
In order to meet the demands against the congregation, the committee was obliged to assess a tax on the members agreeable to their County rate. The tax list ex- hibited amounted to $592.49. On October 30, 1832, $225.62 of this amount was still uncollected but the record says: "This list was made out after the house was finished and the workmen paid in full."
By October 1835 ill health required Thomas Baird to resign his pastorate. He became editor of the Pittsburgh Christian Herald, later The Presbyterian Banner. He exerted an important influence in bringing about the change whereby the Western Foreign Missionary Society became the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. He was an able preacher, served Lebanon a period of fifteen years with much acceptance, and upon retiring, retaining the high esteem of the people of the entire community. He died January 7, 1839.
Samuel Henderson was installed as pastor in November 1836 after a period of several months during which he had supplied the pulpit. According to the record, during the first three years of this pastorate Lebanon flourished and prospered to a considerable degree. There were seventy-one members received and after deducting deaths and dismissions, there remained 135 in communion. In his fourth year some difficulty arose between pastor and congregation and he was led to ask, and the congregation acquiescing, the Presbytery was led to grant a dissolution of the pastoral relationship. Accordingly in June 1840 Mr. Henderson left Lebanon. He served a number of churches in the next years and died in 1858.
The Session added James Blair, William D. McClure, and John G. Hull as members. The first Sunday School started during Mr. Henderson's pastorate but no exact date can be established.
For eighteen months Presbytery supplied the vacant pulpit. In August 1841, a call was extended to the Reverend William G. Johnstone which was accepted and he was
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installed as pastor in November 1841. After eighteen months, owing to the careless indifference and non-attendance of the members Mr. Johnstone applied to Presbytery for his dismission. This request was granted in June 1843. But in August of the same year he was recalled by the congregation and reinstalled in September. He served as pastor until April 1845 when he resigned leaving 129 members enrolled. During the summer of 1842 a movement was inaugurated for the building of a parsonage and sexton's house. One of the bids on the parsonage promised to have the house finished by April 1, 1843 and another by May 1, 1844. The first parsonage was built about this time by Mr. Jonathan Sickman at a cost of about $600.00. The house was enlarged and improved and a later occupant referred to it as a "good home, with pleasant surroundings, yards and gardens, abounding in fruits and flowers."
James Payne, John Means, and Jonathan Walker were added to the Session.
In January 1846 the Reverend John McConoughy was installed. There seems to have been little or no record kept of his success. In September 1848 he asked to be released from the charge. There were 95 members enrolled at the close of his ministry, a loss of 42 which is not accounted for.
The ministry of the Reverend Obadiah Haymaker Miller was a longer pastorate and a period of growth and stability. He began his ministry in October 1848, installed in February 1849, continuing with much acceptance in the service of the church until April 1, 1858. He was released at his own request, though with much reluctance by Presbytery. Reverend Miller served churches in Iowa and Pennsylvania and worked for a time as State Librarian in Harrisburg. He also spent several years as Chaplain of the Allegheny County Workhouse.
During his pastorate at Lebanon 98 members were received making an enrollment of 130 at the close of his ministry.
For the first 73 years of Lebanon's existence it seems to have been the custom for the congregation as a whole to transact the business of the church, aside from the duties of the Session, or to choose a committee to act on behalf of the congre- gation when any special work was to be done, and whose tenure of office ended when the work was done.
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On Monday, February 12, 1849 at a congregational meeting, "James Cunningham, Esq. presented a series of resolutions for the better regulations of the temporal concerns of this church and congregation." The resolutions involved the appointment of three persons to serve as Stated Trustees and in addition a Stated Chairman and Secretary to preside at meetings of the congregation and record the proceedings of this congregation. "In order to carry the foregoing resolutions into operation, on motion James Cunningham, Robert Glass and James McKinny Snodgrass were appointed Stated Trustees. Jonathan Walker was appointed Stated Chairman and James Blair, Secretary . Their term of service shall only terminate by resignation, removal, death or misdemeanor of office."
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