USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Newville > History of the Big Spring Presbyterian Church, Newville, Pa. : 1737-1898 > Part 1
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BIG SPRING
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
SWOPE.
198.
Library of the Theological Seminary, PRINCETON, N. J.
Purchased by the Mrs. Robert Lenox Kennedy Church History Fund.
BX 9211 .N628 S86 1898 Swope, Gilbert Ernest, 1860 1899. History of the Big Spring Presbyteri Numban Church
١
GILBERT E. SWOPE.
c
HISTORY
OF THE
Big Spring Presbyterian Church,
NEWVILLE, PA.
1737 == 1898.
BY
Gilbert Ernest Swope, Author of "A History of the Swope Family,"
With an Introduction by
REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE, D. D.
NEWVILLE, PA., TIMES STEAM PRINTING HOUSE: 1898.
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PREFACE.
In presenting this little history of the Big Spring Presbyte- rian Church, we feel quite safe in saying that we are giving all that is obtainable regarding the congregation, and more than we expected to find when we began our work. Owing to the fact that there were no records in possession of the congregation prior to 1830 except an old trustees minute book, the prospect for ob- taining data was not very encouraging. However, by careful inquiry among the old families of the church and other means, we were enabled to find that herein given. Through the kind- ness of Miss Jennie W. Davidson, a great granddaughter of Rev. Samuel Wilson, we were given permission to examine a great mass of old family papers. the accumulation of more than a cen- tury. Among these papers we were fortunate enough to find much valuable matter, relating not only to the ministry of Rev. Samuel Wilson but also to that of some of his predecessors. No regular session books seem to have been kept by the early pas- tors, all the records found being on detached pieces of paper. The earliest record found bears date Dec. 12, 1768, and records a case of discipline.
We are indebted largely for the matter contained in the sketches of the pastors of the church to the "Centennial Memorial of the Presbytery of Carlisle." We greatfully acknowledge the interest shown and the assistance given by the pastor of the Big Spring Church, the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, D. D. We are pleased to append the address delivered by Dr. Erskine at the celebration of the founding of Log College.
It is valuable as an historic document, and finds here a fitting place because of its treatment on the Presbyterian church in the Cumberland Valley.
Our thanks are also due and very cheerfully given to Mr. John W. Strohm, editor of the "Newville Times," whose interest in local history and genealogy is well known, and whose co-op- eration has made the publication of this volume possible.
GILBERT E. SWOPE,
Ang. 17, 1898.
NEWVILLE, PA.
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Introduction.
This brief and comprehensive volume may be very properly styled a documentary history of the Big Spring Presbyterian Church and con- gregation, and a genealogy of many of its families.
Its author, Mr. Gilbert E. Swope, is an enthusiast on the subject of genealogy and an expert in the discovery and use of old documents bearing on the history of families and churches.
As the result of his patient and laborious researches, the names of nearly all the families of this venerable church and congregation have been rescued from an impending oblivion, and a list of most of its elders, trustees and families have been preserved. No sessional records are in possession of the congregation prior to 1830. It was the custom of many pastors prior to that date to keep a roll of members, of admis- sions to the church, of baptisms and marriages, and to make a record only of cases of discipline and to submit the same to presbytery for ex- amination and approval, then to consider it of no further value nor worthy of preservation.
Mr. Swope, discovered papers left by the Rev. Samuel Wilson, pastor from 1787 to 1799, stored away in an old trunk and found in the garret of one of his descendents, and gained access to certain other papers which had been left by Rev. Dr. Joshua Williams, pastor from 1802 to 1829, and found in possession of some of his relatives in the dis- tant west. These documents have thrown a flood of light upon the his- tory of this church from 1775 to 1830, more than half a century, and which if not discovered, would have soon been lost sight of forever.
It is a great matter to have recovered thus the names of all the fam- ilies of that period, many of them reaching back to the origin of the church, the divisions of the congregation into districts, the names of the parents and children, and members of the church in each district ; and also the names of the elders to whose supervision these districts were assigned, and still more several lists of theological questions given out annually by Mr. Wilson for the careful study of the people, and for an examination on the same, by pastor or elder.
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The character of these questions indicate not only a high degree of religious intelligence upon the part of the minister but also imply cor- responding intelligence on part of the people. These, in connection with regular examinations of the young on the catechism, and of the more advanced on chapters in the Confession of faith, go to show the modes of religious instruction and training peculiar to that period of the church and widely prevalent in other congregations of that day, and which in connection with the faithful preaching of the word on the Sabbath, had a most important influence in the way of awakening the minds of the people in relation to religious subjects, in the quickening of religious thought and inquiry, and in the development of well in- structed and stable Christians as to matters of doctrine and duty, all leading to exemplary and consistent Christian living.
To trace the origin and progress of individual churches, whose his- tory runs back to the first settlement of the country, to give the names, individuals and families which have composed the same, to put on record reliable accounts of the origin, lives and characters of the minis- ters, the distinctive characteristics of their faith and modes of conducting the worship of their congregations, and of their general pastoral ser- vices ; to give a true and reliable history of their growth and progress, as has here been done by Mr. Swope, is to render a very important ser- vice in relation to the foundation and character of the church in this country.
The Big Spring Presbyterian Church, as indicated by the lists of admissions to its membership, has been blessed with revivals of religion from time to time, through all its history, giving increased vitality to the church as well as considerable accessions to its membership. Such seasons, of greater or less power have been enjoyed in 1794, 1822, 1832, 1833 and 1834. The revivial of 1877 was doubtless one of the most re- markable awakenings of the whole community in the history of the church, resulting in the admission of over one hundred and twenty members to the church of all ages, on confession of their faith, and of some two hundred more to the churches in the town. A careful exam- ination into the origin of our early congregations, as to their ministers and people, and as to their standards of doctrine and form of govern- ment and modes of worship, as learned from their history and records, is of special importance, as throwing light upon the actual character of the church in these respects from the beginning. Whatever difficulty may be experienced in some parts of the country in this respect, none need be felt in regard to the churches of this valley, nor of the State of Pennsylvania.
The settlement of the Cumberland Valley and the constitution of its churches, is directly traceable to that great providential movement which took place among the Scotch Irish Presbyterians settled in the province of Ulster, in the north of Ireland, which runs back to near the
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beginning of the 18th century, and which led to a steady and increasing stream of emigration from that Province to this country, and which added greatly to the strength and character of the Presbyterian Church in America. And this state of things in Ulster, was only a part of that wider movement which took place in Scotland, England, France and Holland, as well as in Ulster. The history of Presbyterian colonization in America, is largely the result of papal and prelatie persecutions in Europe. By the act of uniformity passed in 1662, two thousand Pres- byterian ministers were cast out of the Church of England. A consid- erable number of whom found refuge in this country, chiefly in New England.
By reason of the persecutions of the Reformed Churches of France, which were strictly Presbyterian in government and Calvinistic in doc- trine, and which was consummated under Louis XIV. by the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685, two hundred thousand French protest- ants suffered martyrdom, and about seven hundred thousand were driven from the kingdom, many of whom found their way to this country. Two thousand churches, with their ministers, were nearly ex- tirpated by that cruel and bloody persecution.
" Modern history," it is said, " hardly affords a parallel to the cruelty and oppression under which Scotland groaned for nearly thirty years," under the reigns of James II. and of Charles I. and Charles II. and all in support of Episcopacy and under the instigation of the Bishops. Multitudes of learned and pions ministers were ejected from their par- ishes, and ignorant and ungodly men substituted in their places, upon whose ministrations, unedifying as they were, the people were forced to attend under severe penalties.
The ejected ministers were prohibited from preaching or praying in public, even in fields or other retired places. To enforce these oppres- sive laws, exorbitant fines were imposed, torture was freely resorted to to extort evidence, the prisons were filled with victims of oppression, soldiers were quartered upon defenceless families, and allowed the great- est license and many were massacred upon the public highways. It is no wonder that the Scoteh Presbyterians abhorred episcopacy. In their views and experience, it was identical with oppression, despotism and impiety.
Considering their long continued persecution, the wonder has been expressed, that they did not rise up en masse and forsake the country. The hope of overthrowing episcopacy and of regaining their liberties, constrained the majority of them to withstand their oppressors. Emi- gration from Scotland by reason of such oppression, while not so great as might have been expected, was yet considerable. Four thousand Presbyterians are reported to have come into New England prior to 1640, many of whom were from Scotland. In 1729 a church was organ- ized in Boston, composed of Scotch and Irish Presbyterians. The
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First Church in New York City, composed chiefly of Scotch and Irish Presbyterians, was organized previous to 1716, and called the Rev. James Anderson, a Scotch Presbyterian minister from New Castle, Dela- ware, to become their first pastor.
The emigrants from Scotland to east New Jersey were many and in- fluential. They came in such numbers, says Bancroft, as to give to the rising commonwealth, a character which a century and a half have not effaced. But it was to Pennsylvania and the Carolinas, that a larger and increasing stream of emigration from Scotland and the North of Ireland came. The latter in much larger numbers than the former.
The Presbyterians in Ulster were rendered exceedingly uncomfortable by reason of the tyrany and exactions of their despotic monarchs, by the restrictions and penalties imposed by parliament, the intolerance and persecutions instigated by the Bishops and the rapacity and greed of the landlords. Among the laws enacted intended to harass and an- noy them, was what was called the Test Act, which prohibited them from holding any office in Dublin or the province. This was followed by the Marriage Act by which they were forbidden to be married by their own ministers, and rendered liable to arraignment for immorality in the ecclesiastical courts for such marriage. Worse than all, what was known as the Schism Act, was passed in 1714, which would have swept the Presbyterian Church of Ireland well nigh out of existence, had not. Queen Anne died before it could be enforced.
These and other like acts estranged the people from their country, and caused them to turn their attention to the new colonies then being planted in America, where they might secure for themselves and fami- ilies' future homes, and the blessings of civil and religious liberty, de- nied them in their own land. The consequence was that as far back as 1713, both ministers and people began to come to America. In this great movement, the Rev. Thomas Craighead, a minister of consider- able prominence, with some others led the way. In 1715 he came to New England, in 1724 he removed to Pennsylvania and 1737, became the first pastor of the Big Spring Church. Some six thousand Scotch Irish are said to have come in 1720. Later on they are reported to have come at the rate of twelve thousand from year to year. Cumberland County, which in the outset included Franklin, was chiefly settled by them. From 1736 onward, they crossed over at Harrisburg in great numbers and settled in this vicinity along the Conodoguinit and the Big Spring more numerously than elsewhere, by reason of the junction of these two streams of water at nearly right angles. Out of these sturdy, rugged Scotch Irish people, this church was originally organ- ized.
From here they spread on down the valley into Virginia, the Caro- linas and Tennessee, many erossing the mountains over into Western Pennsylvania and farther down across into Kentucky. A thousand fam-
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ilies are said to have arrived in the state of North Carolina from the more northerly settlements in 1764. No other country, says Dr. Ram- sey, furnished the province of South Carolina with so many citizens as the North of Ireland. These strict Presbyterians driven here largely by the persecutions to which they had been subjected at home, the Scotch, the Scotch Irish, the Dutch from Holland and the French Huguenots, laid the foundations of the Presbyterian Church in Boston, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia, through all which sections of country they settled in great numbers. In 1705, the first Presbytery was organized in Philadelphia. In 1716 the first Synod was formed. In 1729 the Westminster Standards were adopted by the Synod.
This last event took place eight years before the organization of this church. The Rev. Thomas Craighead, its first minister, was a member of that Synod and voted for the adopting act.
Before the settlement of the second pastor, the Rev. John Blair, in 1742, the church had divided into two branches, the Old and the New Side. Both sides, however, adhered with equal tenacity to the Stand- ards adopted, and regarded themselves as identical in doctrine, govern- ment and worship with the Church of Scotland.
While adopting the Confession of Faith as containing the system of doctrine set forth in the Holy Scriptures, and approving the form of government and the directory for worship, as conformable to the word of God, at the same time all who held to the essential doctrines of Christianity were cordially invited and freely welcomed into the com- munion of the church. An important distinction has always been made between Christian and ministerial communion. We are bound to re- gard and treat as Christians all who make a credible profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept of the essential doctrines of the Christian religion. The lowest terms of salvation are the highest terms of Christian communion. What will take a soul to Heaven should take it in the Church on earth.
The terms of ministerial communion are different. The conditions upon which ministers are admitted to office in the church is not merely acceptance of the essential doctrines of the .Gospel, but the sincere adoption of the Confession of Faith as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Scriptures. Those called and chosen to be teachers and rulers must be sound in the faith, and therefore accept the standards of the church as the church's authorized and accepted interpretation of the teachings of God's most holy word.
No one applying for admission to the Presbyterian Church will be rejected, nor any one already a minister of the church be subjected to discipline who is not supposed to reject some of the distinctive doctrines taught in this system set forth in the Confession of Faith and Cate- chisms of the Church. That system is the Reformed or Calvinistic sys-
VIII
tem in contradistinction to the Armenian, Pelagian, semi-Pelagian or Socinian systems held by other branches of the nominally Christian Church.
It was on this basis the Presbyterian Church was organized in this country. On this basis the church has had a remarkable growth. From an organization of five ministers and three ruling elders in 1795, it has grown in less than two centuries into a Church extending over all this wide spread land and into all heathen countries on the same doctrinal basis. This church contains 7,429 ministers, 1,423 candidates for the ministry, 477 licentiates, 7,631 churches, 27,874 ruling elders and 960,- 911 church members. May it ever continue to live and prosper on the same divine basis. EBENEZER ERSKINE.
NEWVILLE, PA., August, 1898.
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4
A
REV. EBENEZER ERSKINE, D. D.
The Big Spring Presbyterian Church.
HE lands in the "Kittochtinny", or present Cumberland Valley, were not purchased from the Indians until October 1736, and were not, therefore, before that time open for sale. But for seve- ral years prior to that period the agents of the proprie- tors knowing the feelings of the Indians to be favorable had encouraged settlers to come hither, and had issued to them special licenses for the securing and settlement of such lands beyond the Susquehanna as might please them.
After the lands of the valley were finally thrown open to settlers, there was a great influx of emigrants, many coming from the old-settled counties of Lancaster and Chester, and many directly from Ireland. Most of the settlers being Irish and Scotch Irish, very few of other nationalities were found here until a much later date. These people first sought the land bordering on the streams of water because of the convenience of an abundance of water, and of timber which grew along the water courses. Thus we find that very soon after the land was thrown open for settlement, the invit- ing lands of this vicinity attracted a large population to the borders of the Conodoguinet Creek and the Big Spring. One of the first acts of our forefathers after locating land and building homes for themselves and families was to provide a spiritual home or place for the worship of God.
* Note Hist. Franklin Co. McCauley.
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THE BIG SPRING
The Presbyterians who settled in the neighborhood of the Big Spring organized a congregation not later than the spring of 1737. On the 22nd of June the people of Hopewell petitioned Presbytery for their concurrence in drawing a call to the Rev. Thomas Craighead. About this time the name of this people was changed from the people of the Conodoguinet to the people of Penns- boro and Hopewell, the line having been run in 1735 from the north to the south mountain by way of the Big Spring dividing the valley. All east of that line was called Pennsboro and all west of it Hopewell. By the "people of Hopewell" referred to in the call to Mr. Craighead no doubt were included the congregation at Middle Spring as well as Big Spring. They were both known by the general name of "Hopewell" and indi- vidually Big Spring as Lower Hopewell, and Middle Spring as Upper Hopewell. The congregation of Up- per Pennsboro objected to the call to Mr. Craighead and the establishment of a church on the Big Spring as an encroachment upon their territory, as there was a rule of Presbytery not allowing congregations to be located within ten miles of each other. The Presbytery ap-
pointed a committee to look over the territory and con- fer with the people on the calling of a pastor and the
location of a house of worship. This conference was held at the house of James McFarlane on the Big Spring in 1737. The committee reported to Presbytery in November 1737, and notwithstanding the urgency of the congregation and the impatience of Mr. Craighead, action was deferred until the next year. On Aug. 31, 1738, Presbytery appointed Mr. Alexander Craighead to install Mr. Thomas Craighead the second Friday in
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
October and that he "send an ediet to be published timeously before." Mr. Craighead's pastorate was a short one as he died the following year. At this time he was well advanced in life, but his mental powers con- tinued in their full vigor. " He still preached with great power and impressiveness. Under his discourses the people were at times deeply and powerfully moved and often when dismissed were unwilling to leave.
On one of these occasions near the close of April 1739, at a communion season in the Big Spring Church, when having preached until quite exhausted, he waved his hand being unable to pronounce the benediction and exclaimed : 'Farewell ! Farewell' and sank down and expired in the pulpit." Tradition says that his re- mains were buried beneath the present church edifice, but this is very doubtful as this church was not built until fifty years after his death. It is more probable that he was buried beneath the church he built and in which he preached, as was the custom at that time.
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THE BIG SPRING
PASTORATE OF REV. JOHN BLAIR, D. D.
After the demise of Rev. Thomas Craighead the Big Spring congregation was without a regularly installed pastor until 1742. They had been supplied however during this time by Mr. James Lyon of Ireland, who was then under the care of the Presbytery of New Castle, and by others sent out by Presbytery of Done- gal. On the 27th of December; 1742, Rev. John Blair was installed pastor of the Big Spring Church in con- nection with the Middle Spring and Rocky Spring con- gregations. The records kept during his ministry are the earliest positive evidence we have of the three churches being under one pastor. Although it is very probable that Rev. Thomas Craighead preached in those churches at the same time he ministered to the people at Big Spring. Rev. S. S. Wylie, in his history of the Middle Spring Church, seems quite positive of the fact, and cites very plausible evidence to sustain his position. If the people of Big Spring were unable to support a pastor alone in 1742, and later, it is not very probable that they could do so in 1738.
We learn from the sessional records of the Middle Spring Church (1742) that "the minister and elders of Big Spring, Middle Spring, and Rocky Spring, met at Middle Spring in order to settle the division of the ministers' labors among the three congregations." They agreed upon the following arrangement, "that the ministers' labors be equally divided in a third part to each place, as being most for the glory of God and good of his people." It was also, "upon motion of the elders of Big Spring, left to them, the people, and Mr.
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PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Blair, to converse among themselves in respect to the subscriptions of the Big Spring Congregation." Mr. Blair during his ministry here resided at Middle Spring on a farm of two hundred and twelve acres the warrant of which bears date October 5th, 1743. It is said that "he and his wife, with their hired servants, lived in a style quite above their plain country parishioners. The people were extremely kind to Mr. Blair and his young wife, so that they often had a superabundance of the good things of this life." Just how long Mr. Blair con- tinued in this field of labor is uncertain. Webster in his history, and Sprague in his annals of the American Pulpit, who, quotes from Webster, both give the date of his leaving the "Three Springs" as December 28, 1748. The last record in the session book kept during his ministry at Middle Spring is dated February 8th, 1749. All agree that Mr. Blair was driven from his field of labor by the incursions of the Indians. There were no Indian troubles in 1749, but after the defeat of Brad- dock July 9, 1755, and the retreat of Dunbar, this valley was swept by fire, sword, scalping knife, and the tomahawk of the cruel savage. Hundreds of people left the valley for the interior counties and others took refuge in the larger towns and forts of the valley. It is not improbable that Mr. Blair was among those who left the valley for safety, and we are inclined to accept the opinion of those who give his departure as being 1755, or even later. Another evidence of his presence here at a late date is the following receipt in the hands of Rev. S. S. Wylie. "September 11th, 1757, received from John Johnson, 2 ₺ and 2 d. which appears to me to be in full of stepens due Rev. John Blair "by me, David Megaw."
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THE BIG SPRING
PASTORATE OF REV. GEO. DUFFIELD, D. D.
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