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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOCY OLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01807 0810
GENEALOGY 974.8 H6291, 1887-1888
THE
HISTORICAL JOURNAL:
A MONTHLY RECORD OF
LOCAL HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY,
DEVOTED PRINCIPALLY TO
NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.
BY JOHN F. MEGINNESS, ("JOHN OF LANCASTER.")
VOLUME I.
WILLIAMSPORT, PA .: GAZETTE AND BULLETIN PRINTING HOUSE. 138S.
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013
http://archive.org/details/historicaljourna00will
X 709883
Rev. JOHN BRYSON. (AGED 98 YEARS.)
THE HISTORICAL JOURNAL.
A MONTHLY RECORD.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887. by JOHN F. MEGINNESS, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Vol. 1.
MAY, 1887. No. 1.
REV. JOHN BRYSON. BY REV. JOHN PARIS HUDSON.
A BOUT the year 1748, as nearly as can be discovered, two brothers named Bryson emigrated to America. Though they came from the north of Ireland, they were of the Scottish race, and their father, it is supposed, had removed from Scotland to Ireland. One of these brothers, Robert Bryson, born in Ireland in 1727, settled in Cumberland county, Pa. The sons of his brother were residents of Youngstown, Ohio, previous to 1819. One of these, Samuel, was an ardent patriot, and a thorough Whig, a member of Congress and an intimate friend of Governor Jeremiah Marrion, of Ohio. Another son, Dr. Hugh Bryson, was a practic- ing physician. Robert Bryson was married to Esther Quigley, of Cumberland county, Pa. John Bryson, the subject of this narrative, the second son of Robert and Esther Bryson, was born in Allen township, Cumberland county, Pa., January 1, 1758. His brothers were James, William and Samuel. His father died September 29. 1769. His mother, a woman of ardent piety and indomitable energy, was thus left in charge of four small children, and a farm of five hundred acres. She was eminently successful in rearing a pious family and amply providing for their temporal wants. The beautiful old homestead farm near Silvers' Spring Presbyterian Church, descended to William, the third son of Robert, and to his son Robert Bryson, of Harrisburg. John Bryson was the child of many prayers. From a pious and widowed mother, under God. he
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received his earliest religious impressions, and that mother lived to see her son a devoted minister of the Gospel. She died at the residence of her son William, at Silvers' Spring, December 4, 1809. His childhood and youth were spent in this lovely valley, in the bounds of Silvers' Spring Church, organized in 1734. The one hundredth anniversary of the laying of the corner stone of the present church building was celebrated August 16. 1883. The large stone church, erected in 1783, is situated a mile and a half from Mechanicsburg, and nine miles from Harrisburg, on a beauti- ful knoll, in the midst of a lovely grove of oak and walnut trees, within a few rods of a large spring of pure cold water, from which it derived its name. the spring and surrounding lands having been originally owned by Mr. Silvers. In one of the gables of the church is a stone bearing the inscription, "Silvers' Spring Meeting House, erected A. D. 1783."
This ancient church, which he attended in his youthful days, (the graveyard surrounding it, the family burying ground,) has been completely modernized, and with a handsome Memorial Chapel for the use of the Sabbath school, the gift of Colonel Henry Me- Cormick and wife, of Harrisburg, is now a very attractive place of worship. Where the forefathers planted the standard of the Cross one hundred and fifty years ago. children's children of the sixth and seventh generations are worshiping the God of their fathers.
At the age of nineteen years he was drafted as a militiaman under General James Potter, whose division was encamped on the banks of the Schuylkill, west of Philadelphia. While there he took part in a slight skirmish with the British. His term of mili- tary service was about six months. His early education was acquired in the schools of the neighborhood; but on his return from his military tour he applied himself diligently to a course of study in preparation for the Gospel ministry. From childhood he had been of a thoughtful turn of mind; but the precise time when he first indulged a hope in Christ, and united with Silvers' Spring Church, is not known by surviving friends. He frequently said that one of the strongest impressions on his mind after his conversion was, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel."
Mr. Bryson's classical studies were pursued for the most part under the tuition of Rev. James Waddell, D. D., the most cele-
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brated pulpit orator of Virginia, (immortalized as the Blind Preacher by the vivid pen of William Wirt in his British Spy,) and who was the father of Janetta Waddell, the wife of the late Rev. Archibald Alexander, D. D., of Princeton Seminary, N. J. Dr. Waddell owned a tract of one thousand acres of land, and built his house near the angle of the three counties, Louisa, Orange and Albermarle. His dwelling was in Louisa county, and his estate was named Hopewell.
After finishing the course taught in Dr. Waddell's school, Mr. Bryson took charge of the school and taught it successfully for two years, at the expiration of which he entered Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., and was graduated in three years. His diploma is dated September 26. 1787. The faculty then consisted of Rev. Charles Nisbet, D. D., President; James Ross, Professor of Languages; Rev. Robert Davidson, D. D.,. Professor of Belles Lettres. and James McCormick, Professor of Mathematics. He was a member of the first class graduated in that venerable insti- tution (then under the care of the Presbyterian Church) and one of the founders of the Belles Lettres society. This society was organized February 22, 1786, by the following persons (with the earnest desire to improve in science and literature): John Boyd, Greensburg; William Spear, Greensburg; John Young, Greencastle: Jonathan Walker, Pittsburg; Matthew Sinclair, James Scott, Baltimore : John Boyse, John Bryson, Cumberland county ; Samuel MeLain. John McPherson, and Isaac Grier. Frank- lin county. The following account of the first commencement of Dickinson College is taken from Kline's Carlisle Gazette and Western Repository of Knowledge. the first newspaper published in Cumberland county, and the furthest west in the states. The number from which the extract is taken is dated October 3. 1787:
"On Wednesday, the 26th, ultimo, was held the first commencement for degrees in Dickinson College. The trustees having obtained leave to use the Presbyterian church on the occasion, the exercises, with which a crowded assembly of ladies and gentlemen were very agreeably entertained, were exhibited in that large and elegant building. At 10 o'clock in the morning the trustees, professors, and sev- eral classes of the students proceeded in order from the college to the church. When all had taken the places assigned them, the President introduced the busi- ness of the day with praver. The following orations were then pronounced: A salutatory in Latin, on the advantages of learning, particularly by a public education, by Mr. John Bryson ; an oration on the Excellency of Moral Science, by
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Mr. John Boyse; an oration on the importance and advantages of Concord, especially at the present crisis of the United States of America, by Mr. David McKeehan ; an oration on Taste, by Mr. Isaiah Blair ; an oration on the advantages of an accurate acquaintance with the Latin and Greek classics, by Mr. Jonathan Walker. After an intermission of two hours the following exercises took place: An oration on the nature of Civil Liberty, and the Evil of Slavery and Despotic Power, by Mr. Steele Semple; an oration on the Pleasures and Advantages of the study of History, by Mr. David Watts ; an oration on the various and wonderful powers and faculties of the Human Mind, by Mr. James Gettings. Valedictory, by Mr. Robert Duncan."
The degree of Bachelor of Arts was then conferred by the President on the following young gentlemen : John Bryson, John Boyse, David McKeehan, Isaiah Blair, Jonathan Walker, Steele Semple, David Watts. James Gettings and Robert Duncan. After giving a synopsis of the Baccalaureate address by Dr. Nisbet. the newspaper account closes as follows :
"The young gentlemen performed all these exercises with a probity and spirit which did them great honor, reflected much credit upon their teachers, and gave grounds to hope that the sons of Dickinson College will at least equal in useful learning and shining talents those of any other Seminary."
In after years Mr. Bryson was associated with the members of his class in terms of the closest intimacy as they entered the dif- ferent professions. At the burial of the Rev. Isaac Grier, at Nor- thumberland. in August, 1814, he preached the funeral sermon from Hebrews xi. 14, and referred to his first acquaintance with Mr. Grier, when they attended a classical school, and their intimacy at college, where they boarded together during the years 1786 and 1787.
His theological studies were commenced under the direction of Rev. John King, D. D., of Mercersburg, and Rev. Robert Cooper. D. D., of Middle Spring. He completed these studies under Rev. Dr. Nisbet, in his first class of theological students, which was composed of four members, viz: John Bryson, Isaac Grier, Nathaniel R. Snowden and William Spear. Mr. Bryson was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Carlisle, at Upper Marsh Creek, (Gettysburg,) October 9, 1788, and was licensed to preach the Gospel at Carlisle, October 8, 1789, the same year in which the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church was organized. He was then employed for six months, by appointment of Presbytery. at Martinsburg, and Charlestown, Va. He preached his first ser-
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tons, as a licentiate, to the people of his future charge in 1789, at Chillisquaque, on the second Sabbath of November ; at Mahoning. (Danville,) on the third Sabbath, and at Warrior Run on the fourth Sabbath of the same month. He traveled on horseback from Harrisburg to Northumberland, and crossed the mountain by a bridle road into the Chillisquaque Valley, to the house of Mr. Thomas Strawbridge, with whom he stopped.
At the meeting of Presbytery held at Big Spring, (Newville,) April 13, 1790, he received an invitation to supply the church at Upper Marsh Creek, (Gettysburg,) and also one from Chillisquaque, Mahoning, (Danville,) and Warrior Run, to supply them for six months. The latter invitation he accepted, and at Falling Spring, (Chambersburg,) October 7, 1790, he received and accepted a call from the united congregations of Chillisquaque and Warrior Run .* This call is dated June 23, 1790, and signed by 109 heads of families. He was ordained at Carlisle, December 22, 1790. Rev. Charles Nisbet, D. D., preached a sermon suitable to the occasion, and Rev. John Black presided and gave the charge as appointed. He was installed pastor of the churches of Warrior Run and Chillisquaque the second Wednesday of June, 1791.
The earliest authentic history of the churches of Warrior Run and Chillisquaque is found in a manuscript journal of Rev. Philip V. Fithian, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Donegal, who was ap-
* The original call is still in a good state of preservation, but somewhat time- stained. Following is a correct copy, with the names of the signers. of both con- gregations: The united Congregation of Chillisquaque and Warrior Run, being on sufficient grounds, well satisfied of the Ministerial Qualifications of you, Mr. John Bryson, Preacher of the Gospel, and having good hopes from our past experience of your Labours that your Ministrations in the Gospel will be profitable to our Spiritual Interests, do earnestly Call and desire you to Undertake the Pastoral office in said Congregation, promising you, in the discharge of your Duty, all proper Support, encouragement and Obedience in the Lord: And, that you may be free from worldly cares, and Avocations, we hereby promise and Oblige our- selves, to pay You the sum of One Hundred and fifty Pounds of Pennsylvania Currency, in Regular yearly payments, During the time of your being, and Con- tinning the Regular pastor of this Church. In Testimony whereof we have Re- spectively Subscribed our Names this 23d Day of June in the Year 1790.
Chillisquaque Subscribers: . Thos. Hewitt, David Hammond, Jas. McMahan, John Hood. John Montgomery, Wm. McCormick, Wm. Murray, John McMahan. John Murray, Jas. Murray. John Gillespie, Hugh MeBride, William Fisher, John Hunter, James Bigger, James Carskaddan, John Allexander, Thos. Murray, Wil-
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pointed by his Presbytery to go on a missionary tour through the region embraced by the West Branch Valley. On Sabbath, July 16, 1775, he first preached at Warrior Run. "The meeting house, a log building not yet covered, stood on the bank of the river eighteen miles from Northumberland." Mr. Fithian writes that the congregations were large and attentive, the people coming from all parts of the country, some on horseback and others in canoes. The church in which Mr. Bryson was installed was situated six miles north of Milton, on the state road leading to Muncy, in a lovely grove of forest trees, with a spring of pure water on the grounds. This church was erected in 1789, on land deeded to Warrior Run congregation by Joseph Hutchison. It was a large building with three entrances on the first floor, and two by which the gallery was reached from the outside. The central aisle. and the space before the pulpit was broad, being intended to accommo- date the tables where the communicants sat. The pulpit was very high, and over the minister's head was the indispensable sounding board. At the foot of the pulpit stairs was the clerk's desk. The gallery ran around three sides of the building. This house of worship stood directly in front of the present brick church, which was erected in 1833, during Mr. Bryson's pastorate. The church of Chillisquaque appears on the records of the Presbytery of
liam Allen, Thos. Strawbridge, Robert Rhea, George Hood, Jos. Wilson, Robert MeNeall, Thos. Rogers, Wm. MeNight, Jas. Sheddan, Wm. McWilliams, Jas. McNight, Wm. Irland, John White, Robert Henry, David Irland, Robert Fin- ney, Thomas Stadden, Neel McMullan, Charles Cochran, John Ray, Wm. Mont- gomery, Wm. Reed, John Wilson, Nathaniel Wilson.
Warrior Run Subscribers: Wm. Shaw, Sam'l Pollock, Joseph Hutchison, Alla MeMath, John Wilson, Joseph Hutchison Smith, James Harrison, Robt. Smith, James MeAffee, James Hammond, Andrew Russel, James Welsh, Alex'r Guffy, John Beard, John Barr, Fleming Wilson, Robert Hays. Alexander Stuart, George McKee, Thomas Barr, John Gibbon, William Calhoun, Robert MeKee, Robert Cairns, Robert Wilson, Neal MeKay, Patrick Blain, Samuel Wilson, Barnabas Farron, Mungo Reid, William Gillmor, John Scott, Thomas MeKee, James Wilson, Patrick Dixon, John Ryan. Ralph Smith, William Boyd. Aaron Hemrod, James Blain, William Kirk, John Eson, Guain MeConnel, John Watts, John Dearmond, Will'm Miles, James Allison, John Tweed, Jno. Woods, John Montgomery, Jun'r Jas. Miller, Thos. Phillips, Richard Fuikerson, Jas. Ander- son, Jas. MeNight, Robt. Montgomery, Henry Shouler, Thomas Staar, William Hutchison, James Hays, John Gillilan, James Durham, Robert Creaig, James Mason, William Maeklem. Fred'k Taylor, Phillip Davis. Total, 109.
.........
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Donegal as early as 1774. The letters patent granted to the trustees, for twelve acres of ground, on which this church stands, are dated September 22, 1774.
The first house of worship erected was a small log building, which was burned by the Indians during the Revolution. The second house of worship, which was unfinished when Mr. Bryson preached his first sermon in it, was the same "white church," en- larged and improved, which was used during his long ministry of half a century. The men of these churches had their places among the officers and in the rank and file of the soldiers of the Revolution. Among the signers of Mr. Bryson's call were Colonel James Murray, a brave and efficient officer, who had served in the army during the eight years of the war. Major James Mc- Mahan, who served as a captain throughout the war, and David Hammond, "a soldier of the Revolution."
On the organization of the Presbytery of Huntingdon, by the General Assembly, May 20, 1794, Mr. Bryson was transferred to that Presbytery. He was one of the eleven original members who constituted the Presbytery of Huntingdon, which embraced fifteen counties at its organization. He attended the first meeting of this Presbytery, held in Rev. Mr. Martin's Church in Penn's Valley, on the second Tuesday of April, 1795, and was one of the commissioners appointed at this meeting to represent his Presby- tery in the General Assembly, which always met in Philadelphia in those days. While he remained a member of Huntingdon Pres- bytery, he more frequently represented it in the General Assembly
than any other member. He remained in connection with this Presbytery until the formation of the Presbytery of Northumber- land, and was one of the five members who constituted that Pres- bytery at its organization, on the first Tuesday of October, 1811. in the Presbyterian church in the town of Northumberland. The five original members were Revs. Messrs. Asa Dunham, John Bry- son, Isaac Grier, John B. Patterson and Thomas Hood.
September 7, 1790, Mr. Bryson was married to Miss Jane Mont- gomery, daughter of John Montgomery, Sr., of Paradise, Nor- thumberland county. She was then young and blooming, full of vivacity, and retained until near the close of life the stately figure and traces of . the beauty which attracted the young minister when
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he first visited her father's house. She was the granddaughter of Robert and Sarah Montgomery, who emigrated from the county of Armagh, in Ireland, in 1737, and settled near the site of the pres- ent city of Harrisburg. Sarah Montgomery was a member of the Established Church of Ireland. Her certificate of church mem- bership from "the Minister and Church Wardens of the Parish of Ballymore, in the County of Armagh, and Kingdom of Ireland," dated May 14, 1737, is in possession of one of her descendants. John Montgomery, the fifth son of Robert and Sarah Montgomery. and the father of Mrs. Bryson, was born in Ireland, and came to America with his parents when four years of age. He married Christiana Foster, of Lancaster county, and previous to 1770 ex- changed his improved farm near Harrisburg for 700 acres of land owned by William Patterson, and called Paradise, in Northumber- land (then Berks) county. He made his escape with his wife and children to Harrisburg, on learning of the attack of the British and Indians on Fort Freeland, July 28, 1779, which was four miles from his own residence. He remained at Harrisburg until 1783, when he returned to Paradise and found that all his buildings had been burned by the Indians, but that Captain William Rice and his soldiers, sent to our frontiers in 1779, had built a nice two-story stone building, enclosing his spring, to which he made alterations and improvements, and used it for a dwelling house. This was the Montgomery home for many years.
Mr. Bryson, immediately after his marriage, settled upon and improved the farm known as Long Square, one mile from Warrior Run church. The charter of this tract, containing 298 acres and six per cent. allowance for roads, on the "Warrior Run, in the county of Berks," was granted by Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn, "Free and Absolute Proprietaries, and Governors in Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania and counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex upon the Delaware," to John Montgomery, for the con- sideration of fourteen pounds and eighteen shillings. This charter is signed by John Penn, Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, January 6, 1770, and recorded in Philadelphia. The deed for this farm, from the heirs of John Montgomery to John Bryson and Jane, his wife, is dated December 11, 1792. Mr. Bryson afterward pur- chased from James Murray. (December 20, 1805,) for the considera- tion of 400 pounds, the farm called Springfield, containing 150
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acres of land, with the usual allowance, which must have been con- siderable, as these farms when afterward surveyed measured con- siderably more than 500 acres of land. With the duties of his large congregations, and the direction of his tenants, he found abundant employment for his activities.
As early as 1804 his farm, Long Square, was in a high state of cultivation, with everything flourishing around. In 1802 he erected the large stone house, which was then considered a hand- some residence, and for the time a very costly one. This home was the abode of an elegant hospitality and a bountiful charity for many years, an ideal minister's home of the olden time, its week day lessons illustrating the domestic peace and cheerfulness of a holy Christian household.
The existence of slavery in Pennsylvania in these early times rendered it necessary for Mr. Bryson, in order to procure servants, to purchase some negroes. "For the consideration of one hundred pounds," he purchased from Richard Robinson, of Shamokin town- ship, Northumberland county, a negro woman named Lydia and her daughter Abigal. This bill of sale is dated November 3. 1801. Dick, the son of Lydia, was born December 12, 1803. From the executors of David Montgomery, of Lower Paxton township. Dauphin county, November 3, 1804, for the consideration of sixty pounds, he purchased a negro boy named Robert, whose age had been entered in the office of the clerk of Dauphin county. "agree- ably to the act of Assembly provided." They found in .Mr. Bry- son a kind and indulgent master, who cared not only for their temporal, but for their spiritual interests. After they were freed by the law of the state they remained in his family. Lydia was the attached nurse of the children." The last survivor of the four was "Robert Hector, generally known as Black Bob," who died near Turbotville, January. 1882, in the eighty-second year of his age. He remained with Mr. Bryson for a number of years after he became free, and when married occupied one of his tenant houses, until he purchased a house and lot near Turbotville. where he resided until his death. He retained until the close of life the strongest affection for his "Old Master," and all the members of his family, saying that it "was a sad day when he became free." He would have preferred to have been his servant as long as he lived.
[CONCLUDED IN JUNE NUMBER.]
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STATURE OF REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIERS.
BY J. W. CLARKE.
A S far back as my recollection goes a general impression has prevailed that the men who composed the American army of the Revolution were mainly great, stalwart fellows, big enough to kill an ox with a single blow of the fist, and then eat him at a couple of meals after he was dead. But a little insight of the actual facts hardly justifies that impression, as the following figures, taken from the muster rolls of the New Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment, (1779-1781, so named to distinguish it from a former Eleventh,) giving the height of 210 of its men, go to show :
Height of Men. No. of Men.
Height of Men. No. of Men.
Four feet seven inches.
1
Four feet nine inches
1
Four feet eleven inches 1
Five feet 2
Five feet one inch. 4
Five feet two inches. 11
Five feet two and a half inches. 1
Five feet three inches 19
i
Five feet nine and a half inches 1
Five feet ten inches.
Five feet eleven inches
Six feet 2
Six feet two inches. 1
Total 210
These rolls embrace nine companies, but the height of all the men is not given. It will be seen that of the 210 whose heights are specified, three measured less than five feet, 94 measured less than five feet six inches, 32 measured just five feet six inches, 83 measured over five feet six inches but less than six feet, two measured just six feet, and only one measured over six feet ; and that the average height of the whole 210, if I have calculated correctly, was a slight fraction over five feet five and a half inches. The only one who measured over six feet was Hugh Swords, (a martial name, indeed,) a member of the seventh company, 22 years old, born in Ireland, and by profession a brick- layer. If these 210 men of the New Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment may be taken as a fair criterion, it follows that notwith- standing the wonderful deeds which have given them an imperish-
Five feet six inches. 32
Five feet six and a half inches. 1
Five feet seven inches 24
Five feet seven and a half inches
Five feet eight inches. 22
Five feet eight and a half inches. 3
Five feet nine inches 13
Five feet three and a half inches. 2
Five feet four inches 26
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