USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Church of the Brethren in the middle district of Pennsylvania > Part 18
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The need of a parsonage loomed up and August 11, 1920, one was purchased for $2,500.00. The following
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A History of the Church of the Brethren
Sunday at the close of a sermon preached by Daniel B. Maddock-theme, " God's expectation from His people and our Privilege and Duty to serve Him with all Tem- poral Things," $1,725.00 was subscribed towards paying for the parsonage. The congregation was strong enough to support a resident pastor in part at least and on Sep- tember 1, 1920, Virgil C. Holsinger and wife, whom they congregation and the mission Board had called, arrived to take up the work. They found a membership of 102, were given $90.00 per month and parsonage free and he had the privilege of teaching school. In 1922, John R. Snyder of Huntingdon, (Pa.) held a revival when twenty-eight united with the church; in 1923 he was called back and twelve were added. The double duty proving too heavy for the pastor, Virgil C. Holsinger resigned June 1, 1924. The pulpit was supplied till Oc- tober 1, when Galen Blough, as pastor, located and is carrying forward the work while continuing his college course at Juniata.
Deacon elected : April 11, 1897, Harvey J. Campbell, William J. Carothers, Oliver R. Rush; October, 1910, William J. Miller, J. Lawrence Cherry ; March 28, 1915, William Ernest Campbell, Blaine D. Wolfe; February 9, 1923, William A. Davis, Frank S. Hetrick.
SUNDAY-SCHOOL
The Sunday-school was organized April 22, 1894, in the rented storeroom where preaching began a few weeks before. Officers : George Irvin, superintendent; Laura McCaulley, secretary; Mrs. Mary Johnson, treasurer. From the beginning the sessions were held in the afternoon and many from other schools attended. Be- ginning 1913, the school has been meeting before church in the morning. Average attendance, 1894, 81; for 1904, "average, 65; six teachers; raised $69.32, of which $8.00 was given to missions ; two conversions." The school has been "evergreen" from the be- ginning ; maintained frontline standard during 1915-'17, '22 and '23; teacher training class during 1915-'17, '21, '23 and gave first year certificates to seventeen.
Superintendents : 1894, George Irvin; 1895-'96, Joseph W. Wilt ; 1897, Charles L. Douglas ; 1898, Harvey J. Campbell and W. Harry Laird; 1899, Charles L. Douglas; 1900, Harvey J. Campbell; 1901, W. Harvey Laird; 1902-'03, Charles L. Douglas; 1904, Harvey J. Campbell, Charles L. Douglas; 1905, Harvey J. Campbell; 1906, Charles L. Douglas; 1907, Oliver R. Rush; 1908-'09, Harvey J. Campbell; 1910, Charles S. Crawford; 1911-'14, Howard J. Camp- bell; 1915-'16, Charles W. Williamson; 1917, Taylor W. McCauley ;
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in the Middle District of Pennsylvania
1918, Blaine D. Wolfe, Taylor McCaulley; 1921-'22, Charles W. Williamson; 1923-'24, Reuben H. Hostler.
SISTERS' AID SOCIETY
The society met for the first time in the home of Mrs. J. Lawrence Cherry on March 19, 1914. Record shows that Mrs. Grace Camp-
BELLWOOD SISTERS' AID SOCIETY
Standing, from left: Gertrude Taylor, Pearl Campbelle, Grace Campbelle, Ollie Glasgow, Minnie Davis, Bessie Holsinger, Lula McCaulley. Sitting, from left : Mary McCaulley, Margaret Campbelle, Addie Cherry, Josephine Rush.
bell was elected secretary and it is possible, though not verified, that Mary McCaulley was made president and Mrs. Goldie Campbell, treasurer. While the society has been small as far as membership is concerned, it has done some sewing and quilting and been able besides to make the following donations :
Parsonage Fund $110.00
Repairs on the Church. 50.00
Ping Ting, China Hospital.
12.60
JUNIATA PARK*
Present Membership, 345.
When the Altoona Church decided to have a pastor giving full time and being paid by the church, Joseph W.
* To Joseph W. Wilt the reader is indebted for the information in this sketch.
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Mr.& Mrs. M.P. Brumbaugh
ArdieGilt Ulysses GlossHAleBrumbaugh J. J. Nelson
James& Nelson J. Ellis Cilt Zula B &Pauline Brumbaugh
THE JUNIATA PARK CHURCH.
in the Middle District of Pennsylvania
Wilt who had labored gratuitously as their pastor turned his attention to starting a mission in the nearby subur- ban town of Juniata. He found fourteen members living in the place and they heartily joined him in the project. A lot, corner Ninth Avenue and Third Street, was pur- chased. Zula and Pauline Brumbaugh contributed the first money for the proposed new house. J. Ellis Wilt broke the ground for the foundation. A building com- mittee, Joseph W. Wilt, John F. Nelson and Martin P. Brumbaugh, went to work and by 2.30 p. m. on March 26, 1905, a brick-veneered house, 48 x 49 feet, costing $4,766.00, was dedicated. William J. Swigart preached the dedicatory sermon,-text, Psalms 93: 5.
The following Sunday the Sunday-school was organ- ized and the little group started out with a will that promised success. There were fifty-nine members who, on April 26, 1907, by the assistance of James A. Sell and Henry B. Brumbaugh, organized themselves into a new congregation and adopted the name "Juniata Park." Aside from Joseph W. Wilt, minister, there were no officials in the membership.
Organization : Joseph W. Wilt, bishop and pastor ; H. Atlee Brumbaugh, secretary ; John F. Nelson, treas- urer. They held their first lovefeast June 30, 1907 and were happy to be out of debt for their house, Decem- ber 31, 1913.
In 1910, Josiah B. Brumbaugh located in the congrega- tion and helped in the ministry. On July 1, 1919, Charles O. Beery became the first supported pastor in which position he continues while Joseph W. Wilt continues as bishop.
While serving as pastor in the Claar congregation Joseph W. Wilt, during the last half of December, 1877. and the first half of January, held a four weeks revival meeting in the Riggles Gap school house, about seven miles northeast from Juniata, and some twenty united with the church. This encouraging result was not fol- lowed up as it should have been and the gains for the kingdom were nearly all lost. In 1914, Brother Wilt be- gan holding meetings every two or four weeks at the same place and the results were so encouraging that plans were laid to erect a suitable house of worship,
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M.S.Henry Mary a. Mail Cora Barr Dessie Smith
Rigglesgap Church
Mr & Mrs. Harry John M. Mrs. . Holland
J.P. Nail Mr & Mrs.P. Cherry Grant Nail
SOME MEMBERS OF THE RIGGLES GAP MISSION.
in the Middle District of Pennsylvania
about one-half mile south of Riggles Gap school house. Frank Nail, not a member, donated an acre of ground for the church and cemetery. Joseph W. Wilt and Mar- tin S. Henry were building committee, the latter giving more money and time to the erection of the church than any other person. On April 15, 1917, a frame house 26 x 38 feet and, besides donated labor, costing $1,200.00 was dedicated. Walter S. Long conducted the dedicatory services. At this time there were about twenty members living in the vicinity. This group of members are a part of the Juniata Park congregation.
Ministers elected :
Jacob Kinsel
August 8, 1911
Martin S. Henry. January 6, 1920
John D. Brumbaugh. November 30, 1924
Leonard S. Mallery. November 30, 1924
Deacons : November 15, 1907, H. Atlee Brumbaugh, Gilbert Shaw, Martin P. Brumbaugh, John F. Nelson, Ulyssess G. Glass; April 14, 1910, John V. Carter, Frederic Oast, Marshall B. Wineland, Alexander Rogerson; September 3, 1912, William Brallier, Martin S. Henry, David Burket, John D. McKnight; April 10, 1921, John D. Brumbaugh, James E. Nelson, J. Emery Miller; November 30, 1924, Roy E. Glass, John W. Crain.
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS
Juniata Park. On April 2, 1905, the Sunday-school was organized by electing Ardie E. Wilt superintendent; Mary Nelson, secretary ; Ulysses G. Glass, treasurer ; Martin P. Brumbaugh, chorister and Sadie A. Brumbaugh, organist. The average attendance for the first year was 90. The school from the beginning was "evergreen "; maintained a front-line standard during 1912 to 1917 inclusive, had teacher training class during 1908, '12, '14, '15, '17, and '23, and a goodly number have completed the first year's work and received their certificates.
Superintendents: (They were elected every six months which ex- plains why two names appear in one year in some instances.) April 2, 1905, Ardie E. Wilt; 1906, Edward O. Shaw, Alexander Wilson; 1907, H. Atlee Brumbaugh, Edward O. Shaw; 1908, H. Atlee Brumbaugh; 1909, Joseph W. Wilt, Martin P. Brumbaugh ; 1910, Joseph W. Wilt; 1911, Jacob Kinsel, John D. Brumbaugh ; 1912, Martin S. Henry and Ulyssess G. Glass; 1913, J. Emery Walter; 1914, Martin S. Henry, J. Emery Walter; 1915, Merle Brallier ; 1916, David Burket, Martin S. Henry; 1917-'18, Joseph W. Wilt; 1919, John F. Nelson; 1920-'24, John D. Brumbaugh.
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A History of the Church of the Brethren
Riggles Gap. In the fall of 1916 a Sunday-school was organized by electing Martin S. Henry, superintendent ; Pearl Yohn, secretary, and Harry Yohn, treasurer. The average attendance the first year was 29.
Superintendents : 1916, Martin S. Henry ; 1917, John Holland; 1918-'19, Harry Yohn; 1920, Henry Potsinger; 1921-'22, John Hol- land; 1923-'24, George H. Ross.
SISTERS' AID SOCIETY
The Sisters' Aid Society at Juniata was or- ganized in the church in February, 1908. Offi- cers : Mrs. Joseph W. Wilt, president; Mrs. Sadie A. Wilt Brumbaugh, secretary-treasurer.
Presidents : 1908-'19, Mrs. Joseph W. Wilt; 1920-'24, Mrs. Lucinda Brumbaugh.
GEORGE H. Ross, Superintendent, Riggles Gap Sunday-school.
In general totals the results of their labors are as follows :
Home Church
$416.70
Parsonage
130.00
General Aid Society
7.35
District Work 5.00
China Relief
5.00
$564.05
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CHAPTER VII Beginnings That Have Ceased WILL'S CREEK
BY JAMES A. SELL
In the southern part of Bedford County are a number of narrow valleys running north from the Potomac River. where our brethren preached in the very early years.
A few families by the name of Whipp came from West Virginia to about the center of Cumberland Valley, fif- teen miles north of Cumberland, Maryland. They were members of the Church. The Livengoods from West Virginia visited them and they had preaching in differ- ent homes. The work was not continued long, but some of the families never united with any other church.
This Cumberland Valley is often confused with the larger Cumberland Valley farther east. It is a pretty little valley, the second one east of the Alleghany Moun- tain, part way the third, full of beautiful springs and streams. It is thirty miles long, extending from Bedford to Cumberland. The stage-coach route to and from these towns passed through this valley. West of this is the little narrow valley called Will's Creek. It is twenty-five miles long. Will's Creek congregation included this little valley to Cumberland, also the country north called Buffalo Run and Milligan's Cove, a little valley only nine miles long. This is the location of the Will's Creek con- gregation. Like all the other older churches no records are left to consult. Sister Emma Replogle (née Miller, daughter of Jacob Miller, the school man) is the only surviving member. For seven generations on her mother's side her people had gone in and out here. The traditions that have come to her and have been pre- served in her cultured mind, together with her own per- sonal knowledge, now furnish the most reliable data that we can get. It is supposed that as an organization Will's
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A History of the Church of the Brethren
Creek antedates all others in Bedford County. It seems as if George Adam Martin visited the members living here when he lived at Stoney Creek, Somerset County, about 1762 to 1770.
Immediately after the Revolutionary War, Catherine Miller with her three sons, Elias, Peter and John, came here from Maryland or Virginia. They took up land in Milligan's Cove and became permanent settlers.
It is thought that Catherine Miller was the first mem- ber of the church in the Cove. Her sons built good houses and barns, planted large orchards and had large well-kept farms. They all united with the Church. Peter built a large house and had the upstairs arranged for church and school purposes. Long before they had school houses their private houses were utilized for that purpose. Who did the preaching or taught their schools is not known.
Jacob Studebaker was the first minister known to have lived here. He bought a large farm in 1812, a mile south of Sulphur Springs. He was a son of Jacob and Mary Snider Studebaker who had settled in Snake Spring Val- ley about 1780. Jacob took up land and bought other tracts, owning in all about seven hundred acres. He was a brother of the ancestors of the wagon manufacturers of South Bend, Indiana.
Jacob Studebaker was a man of great influence and did a great deal of preaching and served his day and generation well. He reared a family of thirteen children.
Of the number of members composing this church nothing is known. From the number of families and the size of the families, the number must have been consid- erably large. In fact there were no other church people there till about 1820.
This congregation never had a church building, but many of their dwellings were arranged for both church and school purposes.
Jacob Studebaker, Senior, died 1847. This left the congregation with only one minister-Andrew Miller. He was a good man, loved and respected by all who knew him. His oldest son, Jacob, who frequently as- sisted him in ministerial work, was in 1850 called to fill that position. This is the Jacob Miller who started the
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school at Buffalo Mills in 1852, which places him among the pioneers of educational work in the Brotherhood. His school house was also used for religious services.
Jacob Miller, the son, died May 11, 1853. This was a hard stroke on the father and one from which he never fully recovered. He died December 19, 1855. His widow died in 1860.
This left the church without a minister. The preach- ing services were supplied by the ministers from Clover Creek, Snake Spring Valley, Elk Lick, Milford, Yellow Creek, Berlin, Quemahoning and Shade. This arrange- ment did not long continue and its interests were cared for by ministers from New Enterprise. When the few remaining members died or moved away all services were discontinued. It will be seen that this congrega- tion lived about 100 years and came to an end by death and removal.
Sister Emma A. Replogle, to whom I am indebted for the data of this sketch, is the only surviving member. While visiting the scenes of her childhood and the many places made sacred to thought and memory and seeing havoc wrought by the ruthless hand of time, especially in the church so dear to her heart, very feelingly she wrote : " I looked all around. Looked up to the old house and imagined how it looked as the friends gathered there at the meetings. Then I thought: Does this end it all? It does here, but there are workers over many of the west- ern states, the fruit of the work here. I thought of the work in northern Illinois, of Brother Ellis Studebaker of Kansas, and Sister Hannah Studebaker Eby, of Wash- ington State. But too many are far away from the par- ents or any kind of faith."
The Will's Creek Church was unique. From the first its members were interested in the education of their children and all through its history it was far in advance of most of the congregations of its day. They went by the name of Brethren Church, not Dunkard. To this day people there use this term.
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A History of the Church of the Brethren
BLOOMING GROVE*
Seeking religious liberty and freedom from the mili- tary system of Germany over a century before the World War, a handful of members of the Church of the Breth- ren left Wurtemburg, in 1804, on the good ship Margaret and in the latter part of the same year landed in Phila- delphia. They spent the winter in Germantown (Pa.), during which time they did some prospecting for a settle-
THE BLOOMING GROVE CHURCH, BUILT IN ABOUT 1828.
ment. Through Wendle Harmon a tract of land,-420 acres, between six and seven miles north of Williamsport in Lycoming County,-was purchased from a Quaker then living in Reading, (Pa.).
In the spring the little party took possession. They arrived when the dog-wood was in bloom and so called their new home community "Blooming Grove."
Among the names in this early group are Heim, Waltz, Ulmer (the great-grandfather of the one furnishing this
* To Levi J. Ulmer, professor in Science, Department of Central State Normal, Lock Haven, (Pa.) the reader is indebted for the information given in this sketch.
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in the Middle District of Pennsylvania
information) Wendle Harmon and Haller. Others came later until the settlement assumed considerable strength.
"Soon after settling in Blooming Grove the colonists built a log church, little better than a cabin, which served as a place for worship and a schoolhouse." * Around the wall of the room was a line of crude desks where the big boys and girls sat, with their faces to the wall. The smaller children gathered around a table in the centre of the room. Text books, aside from the Bible and the " abc book," were not. The school term consisted of the winter months "after the fall work was done and till the spring work began." The teacher was paid from a com- munity fund.
Naturally the instruction was of a very strong relig- ious character. These early settlers believed in the Bible, in the way they were reared in "the old country." So thoroughly were these things fixed in them that when, in later years (about 1865 to 1870) the State undertook to enforce the public school system upon them, the com- munity objected on the ground that it was of an inferior grade of instruction. It so happened that one year the school had a poor teacher. These people refused to send their children to the public school, employed a teacher and held school in a shop on a farm now owned by I. Fernando Heim.
Dr. Conrad F. Haller, a graduate of a German Univer- sity, who was educated in five different languages; a civil engineer, a physician, a preacher, and a school- teacher, was easily the leader of the group while he lived. As a teacher he was of the old type. The subjects he taught were the "three R's." His discipline measured up to the standard quite common for that day,-to catch a child playing meant to give it a flogging.
In 1828 Dr. Haller died, and was buried on a small farm plot about two miles from the present church site. About ten years ago one of his descendants had his grave moved to the church cemetery.
" After Haller's death he was succeeded by Gottlieb Heim, and others, who conducted religious services and held the church together for a while." t
* History of Lycoming County, McGinness, 1892.
t History of Lycoming County, McGinness, 1892.
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A History of the Church of the Brethren
Because of needed room for both school and church, the community in the same year that Dr. Haller died built the Blooming Grove Church, a log structure 40 x 54 feet and still in a good state of preservation. At the same time the school was moved to the cross roads where now stands Klumpp's school house. Other teach- ers came to the fore. Among them Joseph Gross and Michael Buehl.
Dr. Haller was followed by a practicing physician, Dr. Adams, who after moving into the community united with this body of worshipers. His own reference to these people in his autobiography is very illuminating and through the kindness of Professor Ulmer is given here in part: "Among the many kinds of people who came to me for medical treatment, my attention was soon drawn to a special class of people who even in their out- ward appearance were clothed much as was the fashion of the Quakers. ... I inquired who, and what, these people were. 'They are members of a peculiar religious denomination who are known by the name of Blooming- Grovers or Ana-Baptists.'
"Soon I had the privilege of seeing these people on their homesteads, about six miles north of Williamsport, situ- ated in the hills. I was called to give medical attention to a very sick old mother. ... The woman had refused medical attention and her wishes had been granted until it was seen that it was absolutely necessary that the doctor be called. . . . I stood before the bed perplexed, when suddenly the plaintive tones of a piano were heard accompanied with the voice of song . .. by the son of the sick mother. ... I could hardly believe my ears. Music in the immediate vicinity of the death bed of your own mother was beyond my conception. I looked at the face of the dying mother to see the effect the music would produce. She folded her hands as in prayer and the features of her face brightened strikingly, so that a smile appeared on her face and seemed to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"As I stepped into the living room I expressed to the musician * my surprise at finding a piano in this out-of-
* This musician was none other than the beloved Christian Heim, leader, preacher and teacher of later years.
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in the Middle District of Pennsylvania
the-way place; not only that but that he could play it so well. He answered, ' Music and song are for me a source of great comfort, and also for my sick mother. Yet it cost me some labor and pains until I brought this instru- ment to completion.' My astonishment reached its high- est point; that a farmer with his own hands could con- struct a piano."
A spirit of helpfulness to other denominations is re- vealed in this congregation in the following: "The Dunkards of Blooming Grove gave him (Rev. Konrad A. Flieshman, the first German Baptist Missionary among his countrymen in America) the privilege of using their own church for religious meetings and he labored zealously among the people. His labors were crowned with success and on February 7, 1841, he baptized twenty- nine converts in Blooming Grove. ... The German Baptists now have a church of their own at Pleasant Valley, situated about three miles from the Dunkard church." *
Following Gottlieb Heim, was that pastor and teacher, a real leader in many ways,-kind and humane in his discipline,-Christian Heim. He served them between 1847-79. For his day he was a well-educated man inas- much as he was versed in astronomy, algebra and sur- veying. He was the author of a number of hymns and a compiler of a hymnbook used in the church. Besides, he was author of several other books.
The Blooming Grove congregation reached its zenith of influence and strength during the middle of the nine- teenth century. The settlement was distant from other congregations of the Brotherhood, and therefore out of touch with any progress the church might be making elsewhere. The reader should remember church period- icals date their beginnings in this period and these had little general influence yet. This isolation evidently greatly narrowed this dear people. True, they favored education but they looked with disfavor on any method that did not coincide with their past. Indeed they were pious and firmly entrenched in God's Word, yet they re- jected the Sunday-school,-it was an institution not to have the least recognition.
* History of Lycoming County, McGinness, 1892.
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A History of the Church of the Brethren
The District Mission Board gave some help, for in 1892 is an item of expenditure, "Mission to Williams- port, Bellefonte, etc., $40.00,' but the help came too late. The young people of this community felt that the new order of things was the hope of their future and, inas- much as there was no prospect of finding a recognition of it in the church of their fathers, they went elsewhere. Fine as these people were in purpose, in spirit and in de- votion, the church lost out. To-day but two members,
THE INTERIOR OF THE BLOOMING GROVE CHURCH, STILL USED IN THIS MANNER FOR FUNERALS.
Mrs. Mary Heim and Christian D. Heim, both in their eighties, remain to tell the story, while scattered all over Lycoming and adjoining counties, even to Nebraska and thereabouts in the Middle West, are some of the finest, most progressive and sturdy men and women one may find anywhere, descendants of these splendid settlers but worshiping in other communions.
Could the church building, the interior of which is seen above, tell its story of struggle and hope, of the joys of conversion and the sorrows of death, it would be but a verbal testimony of that faith for which it now is a
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silent witness. The property belongs to the Blooming Grove Cemetery Association, an interdenominational or- ganization. Here the descendants of the Church of the Brethren of whatever creed or fold, come and weep as they lay away their loved ones,-for the house is used only for funerals now.
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PART TWO District Endeavor
CHAPTER I The District and Its Conferences ORIGIN OF DISTRICT MEETINGS
The " Western Brethren " held a kind of district coun- cil to consider differences between them and the Eastern Brethren in Adams County, Illinois, on November 22, 1851 .* While this did not establish District Meetings, this shows the drift of sentiment in those days.
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