USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania : from its first beginnings to the present time, including chapters of newly-discovered early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume III > Part 101
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"The church that stood on the Public Square, where the Wilkes-Barre Court House now stands, was the first church erected in Wilkes-Barre; and the bell that hung in the tower of that church and for almost half a century called the people to worship, was the first church bell that was heard within the bounds of what is now the counties of Luzerne, Wyoming, Lackawanna and Sus- quehanna.
"It was not the first bell calling the people to the worship of God, that was heard within the bounds of the territory once included ou Luzerne County .* Bradford County was originally part of Luzerne, and the Moravians who were the pioneer missionaries to the Indians in Northern Pennsylvania, established a mission in the Wyalusing Valley in Bradford County, as early as 1764. It was an offshoot from their mission established in Nazareth and Bethlehem under the auspices of Count Zinzendorf as early as 1742. A monument recently erected near the mouth of the Wyalusing creek, marks the locality of the mission. Here in 1764 a mission house was erected, surmounted by a belfry in which was placed a bell that called the Indians and their teachers to worship 'on the Sabbath and on other days esteemed holy by the Moravians.' This Moravian mission bell, so far as is known, was the first church bell heard in this part of Pennsylvania. It
ULOUL
BELL OF OLD SHIP ZION Now in Possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.
was, however, a small affair compared with the bell that hung in the tower of the 'Old Ship Zion', the silvery tone of which, in its youth, reached as far north as Pittston and as far south as Nanticoke.
"The bell of which I have been asked to write, that was heard for so many years in Wyoming Valley and the surrounding country from the tower of the 'Old Ship Zion' is now in the posses- sion of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, after more than half a century of faithful service and a somewhat migratory experience.
"A correspondent of one of our county journals, a few years since, after looking the bell over somewhat carefully, thus wrote of it: 'Our Valley has few more interesting historical relics than this old bell. A dingy, rusty looking object, it is a mere pigmy in size as compared with some of its more sonorous neighbors. Up one side extends a crack, looking as though the bell had ouce received a heavy blow or had a severe fall during the course of its eventful career. One side of the bell is even rustier and blacker than the other, appearing as though it has been scorched by fire. There is enough metal in it to make one twice its size if it were ever recast, the lips or lower edge being very thick. The nearest approach to the date of the elevation of the bell' into the tower of the church known to the writer is a statement of Elisha Atherton, who *See Vol. I; this History.
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was born about the close of the last century. He said to the writer of this paper, some years be- fore his death: 'When I was a boy about twelve years old I accompanied my father to Wilkes- Barre, where he did his trading, as did nearly all the people of Luzerne County at that time, and while I sat in the wagon and held the horses, I saw the mechanics lifting the bell to its place in the tower of the church on the Square.' As he remembered the event, there was a crowd of spectators present and the work, for want of suitable machinery, was tedious and difficult and somewhat dangerous.
"As the church on the square was a Union church, all Christian denominations represented in the town used it for their worship. The venerable Nathaniel Rutter, who came to reside in Wilkes-Barre in 1825, and at that time worshipped with the Episcopalians, says: 'When I came here there were three congregations worshipping in the old church, which was the only church in the town, viz., the Presbyterians or Congregationalists, the Methodists and the Episcopalians, and the same bell served them all.'
"Besides this service for these congregations, it was the curfew bell for the town. Its voice was heard every evening at nine o'clock, virtually saying to young men and maidens who were out, that it was time they were at home. Young men who courted their wives in Wilkes- Barre, fifty or sixty years ago, when the Puritan spirit prevailed to a greater extent than it does now, were not always pleased with this signal 'to leave', after which the window shutters were closed. After ringing at nine o'clock every night it gave the day of the month. Besides this, it tolled at every funeral, and gave the age of the person who was being laid to rest.
"The sexton of the church whose duty and privilege it was to give direction to the service of the bell for some thirty years, was known as 'Old Michael.' Henry Ward Beecher is repre- sented as saying that 'the Lord never made but one good sexton, and he served in his father's church.' But Beecher did not know Michael. Dr. John Dorrance, who knew him well, esteemed him highly and wrote of him tenderly and lovingly when his work was done. Michael had his idiosyncracies, but he was marvelously faithful in all his work; and of no part of his work was he more faithful than in ringing the bell of which he was the official guardian, and its voice was seldom heard except at his bidding. There was no great skill required in ringing the bell, but Michael was only satisfied that the work was properly done when he did it himself. No light-house keeper on our Atlantic coast is more watchful of his lamp than Michael was of this old bell.
"It continued to be the only church bell in Wilkes-Barre, so far as we know, until 1851, when the Presbyterian congregation moved into the house now used by the Osterhout Free Li- brary, in the tower of which a new bell, purchased by Mr. Rutter, Mrs. McClintock and Mrs. Wright, was hung, 'to sound and resound' in calling Presbyterian people to the house of God. The Methodists about this time, completed a new brick church on Franklin street, the prede- cessor of the elegant church in which they now worship. The Episcopalians had some years previously, in 1822, withdrawn from the old church on the Square, and erected a small frame house on Franklin street, where their commodious and well-appointed sanctuary now stands.
"As a result of these progressive movements on the part of the churches, the mission of the 'Old Ship Zion' and its bell, so far as Wilkes-Barre was concerned, was at an end; and in 1857 they were sold and purchased by Mr. George Hollenback and Judge Oristus Collins. Most of the lumber in the house was purchased, when it was taken down, by W. C. Gildersleeve, who used it in building a barn in the rear of his house on Franklin street. The bell, when being taken down, fell some distance, and was so injured as to very materially affect its market value.
"The Presbyterians of Pittston, who had just completed a new house of worship and were feeling the hard times of 1857 and 1858, proposed to buy for their new sanctuary this damaged bell of Messrs. Hollenback and Collins. It was judged good enough for a young church that had very little money. Mr. Collins, who was not troubled with sentiment, was entirely willing to sell, but Mr. Hollenback seriously objected. The bell was almost as near to him as to the old sexton. It was associated in his mind with all his early life. It had tolled at the funeral of his parents, and that of his friends and relatives who had lived and died in Wilkes-Barre. He did not wish it taken from the town. It belonged to him in more senses than one. In his judgment Wilkes-Barre had no more interesting historic relic. Through the persuasion of his wife, and his sister, Mrs. Chester Butler, who were warm friends and helpers of the Pittston church, Mr. Hollen- back consented to let the bell go to Pittston with the understanding, however, that it should not go out of the valley. It was purchased and taken to Pittston. There it did good service until after the sanctuary in which the Presbyterians now worship on Franklin street was completed. Then it came back to Wilkes-Barre. The Osterhout Free Library purchased of the Presbyterians their church building. They did not purchase the bell that hung in the tower, but they (the Pres- byterians) did not proposé to hang it in the tower of their new church, and it was for sale.
"It then occurred to the pastor of the Presbyterian church of Pittston that the way was now open to return the old bell to the home of its youth. He communicated with Judge Dana, at that time President of Library Board, and proposed to present the bell to the society. The result you know. The Wilkes-Barre bell, taken from the Osterhout Library building, which the Building Committee of the Presbyterian church generously offered to sell for less than half its value, was purchased and placed in the tower of the First Presbyterian church of Pittston, where it is now doing service; and the bell of the 'Old Ship Zion' came back to Wilkes-Barre, to rest in the care of those whose fathers and mothers it served so faithfully in the days of its youth and its advanced life.
"The old liberty bell that called together the men who signed the Declaration of Indepen- dence in 1776, and that is so carefully guarded and cared for in our Quaker city, and is associated with the trials and struggles and life of our nation, is among the richest of our national treasures. Money could not buy it. Without its environment of patriotic sentiment it is worth nothing more than any other old bell. With this environment its value to us cannot be computed in dollars
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and cents. This old church bell that has done such faithful public service in this valley for three quarters of a century, and of which this Historical Society has become the trusted custodian, has a value here that it can have nowhere outside of Wilkes-Barre. Its voice was not heard in the days of the Revolution in our first struggle with the mother country, when our beautiful valley was baptized with the blood of patriots, but the bell was here in the War of 1812, and its voice was heard in notes of gladness when victory perched upon our banners. To the sons, aud daughters, and wives, and mothers of many of those who perished in the Wyoming Massacre, in 1778, its voice was familiar. Some of them never heard any other church bell; and when they rested from their labors, it tolled their death knell.
A letter from Charles I. A. Chapman, published in 1896, in Vol. IV:110; "Proceedings of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," deals in part with that historian's recollection of the old bell. The sections applicable are as follows:
"The hell of which you inquire, at the time I was a boy in Wilkes-Barre, was the 'Town Bell,' the 'Court House Bell,' being in evidence only on the first Monday of January, April, August and November, except by special dispensation, first of 'Old Michael', and second of the authorities at the 'Fire Proof.' Dispensation of Michael Kienzle! Blessed old impersonation of Loyalty-Legitimacy, I had almost said of Sovereignty and Feudalism! Sexton, Burgess, Magister, Bailiff, Town Warden and General Factotum! how shall I describe thy virtues, thy accomplishments! How tell of the blood-curdling effect of thy threat with the uplifted cane, or of the genial old Dutch warmth of the bestowed penny to an unusually peacable gamin! Let me leave the bell a moment while I recall the indignation of your mien when one morning you saw at 'Bowman's Corners' the new sign of B. F. Wells, an interloper from 'Jersey,' who had dared to put up on his house the words 'Meat Market.' 'Take dat sign down Michter Wells! Dere ish but one Market in dish town, and dat ish over yonder!' pointing across to the little, long, one-story brick shed which stood exactly in the center of Market Street, adorned with chopping blocks and great hooks on which hung temporarily the ladders and leather fire buckets, and by which stood the mighty 'Reliance' fire engine, one of the 'Seven Wonders' of my boyhood. "Take dat sign down or I takes him down!' But the sign kept its place and the triumph of the 'Jersey Man' was the beginning of a long line of defeats and innovations endured hy 'Yankeedom,' ending in the banishing of the swamp water from the Square, the immediate death of the frogs, and the prohibition, yea! the tyrannical prohibition! of free cow-pasture on the Square, also the stop- ping of the 9 o'clock Curfew, and the consequent termination of Michael's reign forever!
"But the hell. I am away off from the bell. I know nothing as to where it was cast, and have forgotten even the inscription, but the sound is in my ear forever-the hallowed sound that struck my ear on such a September morning as this of my writing, or as on those Indian summer mornings which are close at hand-struck my expectant ear, when with Testament in hand and shoes duly blacked I started at its summons for the little White Church on Franklin Street, to join my class under Judge Conyngham or Wm. Norton or Nathan Rutter, or occasionally wended my way to Mr. Dorrance's Meeting in company with Bert Conyngham or Henry Wells or Frank Butler or Tom Lynch. Oh! those were halcyon days-the days after the Baker Revival. Then-oh then, the hell had a charm, a music almost angelic! I think of it sometimes when I see a magazine picture of angels ringing Christmas bells. You've all seen it. Then how we used to listen to the sound on the night of July 3rd! It seemed as though the whole of Colonial History, the voices of Washington and all his generals were coming to us as we woke from the first nap and heard that hell and listened for the Old Sullivan Gun which soon followed with the first salute! Town of my youth! I have spent with thee but few days of my adult life, but I love thee how I love thee-how I love and cherish all thy memories, and think of thee amid the wakefulness of these glorious autumn nights."
"The smiles, the tears of hoyhood's years, the words of love then spoken,
The eyes that shone now dimmed and gone, the aching hearts now broken; Thus in the stilly night ere slumber's chain hath bound me,
Fond memory brings the light of other days around me."
While John Miller is named in records of the congregation as first janitor of the meeting house, no early writer of the edifice or its bell refrains from recall- ing one who, for many years, exercised the functions of that position. He was John Michael Keinzle, who came to Wilkes-Barré from Switzerland, in 1802, and almost immediately became one of the town's best known characters. To his duties as sexton, "Old Michael" or "Old Pickle," by which latter irreverent title he was known to small boys of the neighborhood, added those of high con- stable of the borough, weighmaster of the Arndt scales, in front of the warehouse on the South River Common, ringer of the curfew bell, at 9 o'clock p.m., after which he would toll the day of the month; and general factotum to the community in general. He lived a secluded bachelor life, in the Arndt ware- house, where comfortable quarters had been assigned him. "Old Michael" was
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in his element during the hours of services at the meeting house. It was he who snuffed the candles; who passed the collection bag, which resembled a fish net on a long pole; who kept a wary eye on small boys in the gallery, and who otherwise fulfilled the duties of the old New Eng- land tithing-men; who quiet- ed the restlessness of youth and disturbed the slumbers of age, during services. He may have even furnished some of the "foot warmers" which were frequently brought to the meetings in the unheated churches of that period. Cer- tain it is that the "Meeting House on the Square" was not heated until at least the year 1814. On December 15th of that year, the Gleaner pub- lished notice of a meeting of the congregation on the even- ing following "to decide upon some plan for heating the meeting house in this town."
John Michael Kienzle High Constable
The best sketch of "Old Michael" which has come to the notice of the present writer, was accredited to an anony- From a Water Colored Portrait, in Possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. mous contributor to Johnson's "Historical Record" and published in Vol. I: 173 of same. It seems worth recording here:
"He was a small, active man, and the only thing high about him was his temper, and this only when exasperated by the bad boys of the town, by whom he was known and universally called 'Old Pickle.' Naturally he had a kind and tender heart, and was fond of little folks, so long as they behaved well. I can remember being one of a soldier company of which Ned Mallery was captain, and Ned Babb first lieutenant. Our guns were made in the carpenter shop of John P. Babb, of good wood, with a snap spring on the side, which answered our purpose, and were not dangerous. We used to parade on the Saturday half holiday, and generally on the river bank, near old Michael's residence, which was in the Arndt storehouse on the edge of the bank opposite Morgan's tavern. On these occasions Michael would frequently pass along our line as we were drawn up for review and give each of the boys a penny, which, to most of us, was considered quite a prize, and as Michael was a poor man, it showed the kindness of his heart toward us, which we never forgot. He was not only the constable of the town, but was also the sexton of the church, and attended to the opening and lightning, cleaning, bell ringing, grave digging, tolling the bell for funerals, etc. A more faithful servant never had charge of the interests of a town. As a sexton of the church, he had the lamps to keep clean and filled with whale oil. At the mid-week meetings he lighted the candles and attended to keeping them well snuffed. At the church he wore pump shoes, and moved about among the congregation silently with his snuffers reviving the lights at the time of singing, etc. On Sunday he sat in the gallery where he could watch the boys, and woe to any urchin who did not sit still or who made any noise. He rang the bell at 9 o'clock at night in the old Meeting House in the Public Square, as a notice to the merchants to close up, and for all who were abroad to retire to their homes and go to bed, and this he did without pay and in all kinds of weather, and never failed to toll the day of the month after the ringing. He had a pound on the river bank, near his residence, and all cattle found at large at night were driven into it and kept there until the owner paid his fine and took them away. When a drunken man was found lying asleep Michael went for his wheelbarrow and putting the poor wretch on it wheeled him to the pound and then dumped him in among the cows and swine until he recovered his senses. In the winter when the deep snows would cover the coal-ash sidewalks, Michael would be up
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while the town was asleep, and, with a snow-plow, drive along the walks and have all the snow off by the time the people got their eyes open; and this he did, as far as I know without any compensation, except the pleasure of doing it for the good of the town. He had the only hay scales in the town at his home on the river bank, where by means of a beam to which were attached long chains which he fastened to the wheels of the wagons raising them and the hay clear of the ground and getting at the weight. He was the weigh master of the town and charged tin cents for the services. He was fearless when in discharge of his duty and many a time he would make arrests and take the prisoner to the door of the jail, and then his goodness of heart would cause him to let the prisoner go after a good scare and the promise of reformation. This, of course, applied mostly to the boys of the town, when he was fortunate enough to catch them. As an example of his nerve, he at one time ascended the steeple of the old church and stood upon the small ball, 125 feet from the ground. If he found a cow daring enough to enter the church yard he would then show his temper, as he generally had to chase her several times around the church before he got rid of her, then he would swear in his broken Swiss until all was blue. Upon one occasion the writer rode up bare back on a horse to get a switch from the willow tree that stood in front of the Episcopal Church. In order to do this it became necessary to ride upon the sidewalk, which was contrary to law, and in reaching up with both hands, totally unconscious of danger or harm, Michael, who was in the church, discovered me, and quietly coming up behind the horse, struck him a whack across the back with his sword cane. The attack coming so unexpectedly, and being altogether unprepared for it, the horse sprang forward and came very near breaking my neck. As soon as I recovered my seat I looked back at Old Pickle, who was swearing gloriously, for he had splintered and broken his cane, which afforded me gratification enough, and I laughed heartily, which only served to increase his wrath. I was wrong for laughing at him and am sorry now as I think of it, that I did it. How well I remember standing by the graves he had digged and noticing his quiet sympathetic ways as he dropped the dirt upon the coffin lid at the words 'dust to dust, ashes to ashes,' and when, as was the custom then, the bystanders, after the service, would throw in the dirt until Michael would say, 'Dis will do shentlemens' after which he would remain and fill up the grave. I presume if all the reminiscences of 'Old Michael' during his 40 years of service could be collected they would fill a volume. Notwithstanding his many engage- ments, he found time to cultivate a garden in the lot just below the residence of E. P. Darling, in which he cultivated, besides vegetables, a beautiful display of flowers. He lived entirely alone, having a room fitted up in the beforementioned storehouse. His death (1846) was occasioned by a fall down the stairs by which he reached his bedroom. He was discovered by accident, or he might have died where he fell, but when found he was carefully nursed until he died. An old man faithful to every trust, and vigilant in the discharge of every duty, he was buried in the old burying ground on Market Street, where he had assisted in laying away so many of the citizens young and old, of the town, and the bell which he had tolled so often for others now tolled for him. I do not remember that any stone marked his resting place; and I have often wondered whether any one living could tell where his remains rest at present, since the removal of the dead to the new cemeteries. If so, nothing could be more fitting than to erect some kind of a monument as a slight tribute to his unselfish fidelity and worth."
While Old Ship Zion has been referred to at length as the most famous church of its time in Northeastern Pennsylvania, no history of the Wyoming Valley would be complete without reference to the church at Forty Fort, which is still standing on part of the plot owned by the Forty Fort Cemetery Assoc- iation. The erection of the meeting house at Wilkes-Barré was begun in 1800, but not completed until the spring of 1812.
The raising of the church at Forty Fort was undertaken after an inspiring address by Bishop Asbury, of the Methodist Church, in the woods, on the site of the present structure, July 19, 1807. Both were union churches, in the sense of accommodating more than one congregation.
All denominations, which had organized congregations, were for many years accommodated in the Wilkes-Barré edifice; the Congregationalists or Presbyterians predominating in numbers and influence. Differences and mis- understandings, between these congregations, approaching violence at times, were to disrupt the affairs of the once united brethren at the Wilkes-Barré edifice, as will later be noted. The church at Forty Fort was built by congregations of Methodists and Presbyterians of the West Side; the Methodists largely in as- cendency as to numbers and initiative. The two congregations of the little meeting house which still survives, dwelt together in harmony until the growth of their numbers necessitated larger and more modern edifices of their own.
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The history of the "Old Church at Forty Fort" and a brief reference to the inspiring story of Methodism in the Wyoming Valley go hand in hand.
Much of this early story has come down to us by way of tradition, but sufficient facts are known of it to invite attention. Pearce, in his "Annals" 289, refers to the story as follows:
"The origin of Methodism in Luzerne county was on this wise. Prior to 1778, Anning Owen,* a blacksmith, erected a small log-house and smithshop, on the great road in Kingston, a few rods above the residence of Colonel Charles Dorrance.f Here Owen toiled at his trade until July 3d, 1778, when he shouldered his musket in common with his neighbors, and went forth under Butler and Denison to encounter the British and Indians. He stood his ground bravely, until compelled to give way in the general retreat. Flying from the lost field, he found himself hotly pursued by a fierce savage, who, with a swift foot, was hastening to bury his tomahawk in his brain. Eternity seemed near at hand, and he called on his God for help and deliverance, vowing, if preserved, to repent of his sins and to lead a new life. Redoubling his efforts, as if inspired with fresh strength and energy, he escaped from his pursuer, and concealed himself in a thicket until nightfall. Under cover of darkness, he made good his retreat to the fort. Sometime after this, being then in the East, he attended a Methodist meeting, where the preacher with great zeal and solemnity reasoned of righteousness and of a judgment to come. Owen remembered his vow to God, and his great deliverance; he confessed his sins, and found mercy through faith in the Saviour. His conversion was complete, and he evinced great sincerity and earnestness in his efforts to save his own soul and the souls of his fellow-men. He received license as an exhorter, and afterwards
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