USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Brookville > A pioneer history of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania and my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown > Part 25
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" Early ruling elders of the Punxsutawney congregation in the order of their ordination : John W. Jenks, Alexander Jordan, James E. Cooper, Thomas McKee, Edward Means, John McHenry, Sr., John Couch, Charles R. White, C. R. B. Morris, John Hutchinson."
UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
This church is one of the youngest of the Presbyterian bodies in America, but the history of its antecedents extends back more than a century. Its original antecedents were the Associate and Reformed Presbyterian bodies. The former body was composed of Presbyterians who seceded from the General Assembly of Scotland in 1733 and formed themselves into what was known as the " Associate Presbytery," or, as the masses knew them, " the Seceders." The first minister of that de- nomination to arrive in America was Rev. Alexander Gellatly, who set- tled at Octoraro, Pennsylvania, in 1753, where he labored for eight years. Many members of the body had preceded him to this country, settling along the seaboard, and some of them going as far south as the Carolinas. The church was largely increased by immigration from year to year, and the Presbytery of Pennsylvania was organized in 1758.
The first minister of the Reformed Presbyterian or Covenanter Church to arrive in America was Rev. John Cuthbertson, who came in 1752.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Soon after he was joined by two other ministers from the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland.
A Presbytery was formed in 1774, and the church, as a body, obtained a foothold in the New World. The subject of union between these bodies was agitated before either was many years old, the leading ministers be- lieving that such an alliance would add to the efficiency of both. During the Revolutionary War several meetings of ministers of the two denomi- nations were held, at which the matter was thoroughly discussed. In 1782 three Presbyteries met in Philadelphia, and a union was consum- mated. The new organization took the name of the " Associate Re- formed Synod of North America." A few of the ministers of both bodies refused to enter into the alliance, and the original bodies maintained a separate existence.
The Associate Reformed Church flourished. It spread rapidly to the westward, and was largely and steadily increased by immigration. In 1793 it had a firm hold on the territory now known as Western Pennsyl- vania. In that year the original Presbytery of Pennsylvania was divided into two,-the First and Second Associate Reformed Presbyteries of Pennsylvania. The Second, by order of the Synod, took the name of the Monongahela. It was composed of four ministers,-Revs. John Jamison, Henderson, Warwick, and Rankin, with their elders. This was the first Presbytery organized in connection with any of the Reformed Churches west of the Allegheny Mountains. Its boundary lines were the Allegheny Mountains on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west.
The prosperity of the new body in Western Pennsylvania was remark- able. Soon it became necessary to form new Presbyteries in the territory originally covered by the Presbytery of the Monongahela, and the church commanded the attention of the entire country.
A union of the Associate with the Associate Reformed Churches of North America had been for a long time considered desirable by the lead- ing ministers of both denominations, and it was accomplished in 1858. The consummation took place in Old City Hall, Pittsburg, and was the occasion of general rejoicing among the ministers and members of both bodies. It was in this city of ecclesiastical reunions that the United Presbyterian Church as a distinct Presbyterian body was born.
The Rev. John Jamison mentioned as one of the original four in the Second or Monongahela Presbytery was my maternal great-grandfather .* He was born at Ellerslie, Renfrewshire, Scotland. His mother was a Wallace, of Sir William's clan. He read theology with John Brown, of Haddington. He migrated to America, landing in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, in November, 1782. He came from the Associated Burgher Synod of Scotland. He moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to
# Dr. McKnight.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a grist-mill and six hundred acres of land, including what is known as Big Springs. He was for some years pastor of a Shippensburg church. Mentally, he was able and educated ; physically, he was six feet two inches high, possessing wonderful energy and powerful endurance. In the year 1790 he crossed the mountains with his wife and three children, locating near Blairsville, Pennsylvania, being the first minister to locate in In- diana County, Pennsylvania. In 1791 he was installed pastor of Brush Creek, Hannahstown, and Conemaugh Churches. In 1793 his time was given to New Alexandria and Conemaugh. Rev. Jamison travelled as a supply for his church from New York to Georgia, organizing churches. In May, 1795, he was charged with misconstruing the action of Synod in reference to the use of Watts's hymns, days of fasting, the use of tokens, etc., in connection with the Lord's Supper, being opposed to innova- tions. He was hyper-Calvinistic in his views. These charges were sus- tained in Philadelphia at the trial, and he was suspended. Nothing daunted, he wrote a book, defending his views and the old-time customs of his church. Also he continued to preach as an Independent till the day of his death. The country being new, he preached from settlement to set- tlement, in the cabins, barns, and in tents in the woods. For roads he had forest-paths, bridges there were none, and, in devotion to duty, he braved alike the beasts of the forests, the summer's heat, and the winter's cold.
Rev. John Jamison married Nancy Gibb in Scotland. He died in 1821, aged seventy-six years. He is buried in the United Presbyterian Church graveyard at Crete, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Nancy, his wife, died in 1841, aged ninety-one years.
"'The pioneer church organized in Jefferson County was the Jeffer- son, now United Presbyterian, Congregation.
" About the year 1820 a number of families of like faith settled in Jefferson County. These had most of them been settled in Huntingdon County, in this State, for a few years (some more, some less), but were originally from the same neighborhood in the north of Ireland. Drawn together by a common faith, as they had all been educated in the seces- sion church, and stimulated by the laudable enterprise of securing homes for themselves and for their families, they struck for this country, then an almost unbroken wilderness, covered mostly with pine forests.
" The place selected for their settlement is north of the Red Bank and southwest of what is now Brookville, the county seat. At that time jus- tice for them was administered in Indiana, some forty-five miles south. This arrangement for the administration of justice continued for some ten years after their location here.
" From the circumstance adverted to,-of these people being emi- grants from Ireland,-the neighborhood was long known as the Irish Settlement.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" The names of the founders were John Kelso and Isabella, his wife ; John Kennedy and Ann, his wife; James Shields and Elizabeth, his wife ; William Morrison and Nancy, his wife ; Samuel McGill and Mar- garet, his wife ; James McGiffin and Sarah, his wife; Matthew Dickey and Elizabeth, his wife ; James Ferguson and Margaret Bratton, his wife ; Robert Andrews and Jane Lucas, his wife ; Alexander Smith and Annie Knapp, his wife; Christopher Barr and Sarah Lucas, his wife ; also, by subsequent marriage, Elizabeth McGiffin, widow of Joseph Thompson ; Clement McGarey and Mary, his wife ; Hugh Millen and Esther, his wife ; Joseph Millen and Polly Brown, his wife. These last three settled south of Red Bank, and constituted the nucleus of what became Beaver Run Congregation.
" Then there were Moses Knapp and Susanna, his wife ; none of that name are now members of the United Presbyterian Church here.
" There were also a William Ferguson and family south of Red Bank ; none of that family are now in the county or members of this church.
" ORGANIZATION.
" As nearly as I can ascertain, the first dispensation of the Lord's Supper in this congregation was in the autumn of 1828. The ministers officiating were Revs. Joseph Scroggs and Thomas Ferrier. James Fulton, an elder from Piney Congregation, which seems to have been organized some time previous, was present at this communion. He and James McGiffin were the officiating elders on that occasion. About that time John Kelso was elected and ordained to the eldership. These two, Kelso and McGiffin, were the only elders, as would appear, until after their first pastoral settlement.
" Matthew Dickey and his family moved into these bounds in 1832, and the first recorded minutes of Jefferson Session which has come into my hands is dated August 31, 1833, and is said to be in the handwriting of Mr. Dickey. The Session as then constituted consisted of Rev. James McCarrell, moderator ; James McGiffin, John Kelso, Matthew Dickey, and John Shields.
" The next minute of Session is dated July 14, 1838. At this meet- ing the name of Solomon Chambers appears as a member of the court. It is probable he was elected at the same time with the others mentioned in the pastorate of Brother McCarrell.
" The next recorded minute is dated July 3, 1842, and is in a different handwriting, without any name subscribed. Changes had taken place, which are not noticed in these records. Rev. McCarrell had left (when or for what cause does not appear), and Rev. John McAuley appears, who at that time examined three applicants for admission,-viz., John Thomp- son, Joseph Millen, and John Millen. These three men are elders in the church,-one in Brookville, the others in Beaver Run. At the same time
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
eight children were baptized,-William T. Love, Mary A. Ferguson, Eliza- beth Campbell, Martha Chambers, Margaret Lucas, Chambers Millen, Joseph K. Gibson, and Hugh McGill.
" The next date in the minute-book, May 16, 1843, states that Rev. John Hindman, upon the occasion of the moderation of a call, moderated the Session, and baptized two children,-John Kelso Moore and Rebecca McGiffin. Rev. John McAuley disappears as unceremoniously as did his predecessor, and we are left to infer that the call moderated at this time by Brother Hindman was for Mr. John Tod, as the next minute, dated October 15, 1843, represents the same Rev. Tod administering an admo- nition as the organ of a constituted court.
" PASTORS AND PASTORAL CHANGES.
" No one with whom I have conversed in this vicinity is able to in- form me who first ministered in preaching the gospel to these people of Jefferson. When last I met our aged father, Rev. David Blair, in 1872, he informed me that he, first of all his ministerial brethren, visited and preached to this people. Then, as a result, he supplied them to some extent, as he and they were long in the same Presbytery, and, in the ab- sence of evidence to the contrary, I am disposed to admit his claim. One circumstance, however, renders it doubtful. When the first of these people came here, Rev. John Dickey was ministering as the settled pas- tor of Piney, Cherry Run, and Rich Hill; this last is where he spent most of his ministerial service and ended his life. But Piney is so near, and the relations were so intimate, it seems improbable that they should enjoy a regular dispensation of gospel ordinances and Jefferson not even have any supply.
" The names of Thomas McClintock, Daniel McLean, Joseph Scroggs, David Blair, Thomas Ferrier, and some others have been mentioned to me as having preached here at an early day, some before the congregation organized and some afterwards.
" The first communion was held in 1828, as has been before men- tioned, and it would seem that measures were taken soon afterwards to call a pastor. It is not possible from any data within my reach to deter- mine the date of the settlement of the first pastor. There is no doubt but that the man was Rev. James McCarrell and that his settlement was about IS30.
" In the minute-book of this Session there are only two recorded minutes under his pastorate,-the first, August 31, 1833, and the second, May 24, 1834.
" I remember having seen Mr. McCarrell once when a probationer, about the year 1829. This was shortly before his settlement here.
" Of Mr. McCarrell's capabilities as a minister of the Word, or of his success as a pastor, I can form no judgment. His place of residence was
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Strattanville, so far out of the bounds of Jefferson Congregation that few of these people had opportunity of becoming acquainted with him. He was a man of blameless life, exemplary in his deportment, and attentive, as much as his domestic cares would permit, to all pastoral duties.
" The next date in the minute-book of Session reveals the presence of Rev. John Hindman and John McAuley. It seems to be the occasion of Mr. McAuley's first communion here after his settlement. Mrs. McAuley, whose maiden name was Reed, and raised in the vicinity of South Han- over, in Southern Indiana,-raised in the Presbyterian Church,-presented a certificate, and it is recorded that on this certificate and her 'acceding to the principles of our church' she was received. It would seem that the pastorate of Brother McAuley in Jefferson lasted about four years. He must have left in 1842, as the next settlement was in the following year.
" Rev. John Tod was installed pastor of Jefferson, Beaver Run, and Piney on the 15th of August, 1843. His time was divided,-one-half to Jefferson, one-third to Beaver, and one-sixth to Piney. This congrega- tion was organized in the Associate Church, under the care of the Pres- bytery of Allegheny.
" The United Presbyterian Congregation of Brookville was organized in the Associate Reformed Church, and continued in that connection till the union of the Associate and Associate Reformed Church was consum- mated in the city of Pittsburg, May, 1858.
" Jefferson is perhaps the most recently settled of the counties in Western Pennsylvania. The first of those who settled here and felt an interest in our cause came about the year 1830, some earlier, some later, but no movement was made to have preaching here till 1836.
" Isaac Temple, who was one of the first elders, went to Presbytery, and solicited preaching for the place where he lived. Of course he was encouraged, hence a subscription was taken for service to be rendered during the year 1837.
" The first name on the list is that of David McCormick. I think he was one of the elders of the congregation, but whether he was ordained here or in the place of his former residence we have at present no means of knowing. Then follows Thomas McCormick, Job McCreight, Job and W. Rogers, Levi G. Clover, Benjamin McCreight, William Clark, C. A. Alexander, A. Vasbinder, Daniel Coder, Joseph Kerr, James M. Craig, Isaac Temple, Andrew Moor, John McClelland, William McCul- lough, David Dennison, William McDonald, Alexander Hutchinson, Andrew McCormick, Charles Boner, Andrew Hunter.
" This comes into my hands as the roll of honor. The first men who gave their names, and with their names their money, built up and sus- tained the Secession or Reformed Presbyterian cause in this county. Some of these were not then, nor ever became, members of the church which they chose to patronize. Some of them had perhaps little sympathy with
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Christianity at all ; but I find them here signing their names and giving their support to a cause to which I have given the labor of my life. I honor them. Most of the names on that paper represent men of worth and weight of character, known in the neighborhood in which they re- side as such, and over all Jefferson County as it then was. It will be seen that the parties subscribing to this paper were widely scattered,- from Brookville to the vicinity of Rockdale and Brockwayville. The amount of this first subscription is fifty-four dollars. The compensation , agreed upon among the psalm-singing churches was six dollars per Sab- bath. This same paper upon which is the subscription contains also the disbursement of the money. In this connection we find, first of all, the name of Joseph Osburn. With this brother I had no acquaintance. He belonged to the Associate Reformed branch of the United Presbyterian Church, and died several years before the union, while yet a young man.
" The next name is that of Jonathan Fulton, of whom the same thing may be said. He died young. He is represented as gifted in a very high degree, both as a reasoner and a pulpit orator. Many of you well remember him. His ministrations here did much to give respectability to our cause. Joseph H. Pressly also ministered here at an early day and with much acceptance. This brother, who has now gone to his rest, represented to me, when in the act of moving to this place, that it was the place of all others he ever visited, the one where he wished to live. But a Providence shapes our ends differently from our anticipations, and even wishes and efforts to the contrary. This brother performed all his life-work in the city of Erie, and there he ended his life.
" I find also among those who rendered acceptable service the names of M. H. Wilson,-this brother labored in Jacksonville, Indiana County, Pennsylvania,-A. G. Wallace, Samuel Brown, William Jamison, and others. These services covered a space of about twenty years, and were the means of keeping the people together and keeping up their sympathy with the cause. The pioneer church edifice was on Church Street, and was built about 1845.
" BEECHWOODS CONGREGATION.
" David Dennison was a member of the Beechwoods Congregation, and died some time during the winter of 1875.
" As far as I have the means of judging, it appears that Rev. Joseph Osburn was the first Associate Reformed minister who visited this section of country, I suppose in 1837. After him the name of N. C. Weed occurs as dispensing the Lord's Supper for the first time in this wilderness in 1842.
"Shortly after this Rev. Alexander McCahen rendered service here as a stated supply for the space of four years.
" The number of communing members at the first sacrament was
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
thirteen. This communion was held in the barn of Elder Isaac Temple. David McCormick was also an elder officiating at the first communion, but whether either of these fathers, long since departed, was ordained here or had been in the exercise of that office previous to their coming here does not appear from any record. Warsaw was the residence of the brethren, and the congregation up to this time went by that name. The place of worship was about eight miles to the northeast of Brook- ville." *- Miss Scott's History of Jefferson County.
This church has always been a consistent opponent of human slavery. The Scotch-Irish element, of which the church is largely composed, is usually stalwart on the side of all reforms and all right.
This denomination holds a few distinctive principles, by which it is distinguished from the larger Presbyterian bodies. It holds to the exclu- sive use of an inspired psalmody ; in theory it is opposed to the affiliation of its members with secret orders, and it practises a restricted communion.
PIONEER METHODISM-CIRCUIT RIDERS-CHURCH AND MEMBERS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
On the 7th of March, 1736, John Wesley preached the pioneer Meth- odist sermon in America, in Savannah, Georgia. Other early Methodist service in the United States was conducted in New York City by a Mr. Embury, urged and assisted by Barbara Heck. Barbara Heck emigrated from Ireland to New York in 1765. From her zeal, activity, and pious work as a Christian she is called the mother of American Methodism. Methodism was introduced into Pennsylvania in 1767 by Captain Thomas Webb, a soldier in the British army. Webb was a preacher, and is called the apostle of American Methodism. In 1767 he visited Philadelphia, preached, and formed a class of seven persons. The first Annual Con- ferences of the Methodist Church held in America were in Philadelphia,- viz. : in the years 1773, 1774, and 1775. After this year all Conferences were held in Baltimore, Maryland, until the organization of the church in the New World.
The pioneer Methodist preaching in Pennsylvania was in Philadel- phia, in a sail-loft near Second and Dock Streets. St. John's Church was established in 1769. Methodism was to be found in Philadelphia in 1772, York in 1781, Wilkesbarre in 1778, Williamsport in 1791, and in Pittsburg in 1801.
The pioneer Sunday-school in the world was opened at Glencastle, in England, in 1781, by Robert Raikes. The idea was suggested to him by a young woman, who afterwards became Sophia Bradburn. This lady assisted him in the opening of the first school. The pioneer Sunday- schools were started in the New World in 1790 by an official ordinance
* Dr. Vincent.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
of the Methodist Conference establishing Sunday-schools to instruct poor children, white and black : "Let persons be appointed by the bishops, elders, deacons, or preachers to teach (gratis) all that will attend and have a capacity to learn, from six o'clock in the morning till ten, and from two o'clock in the afternoon until six, when it does not interfere with public worship."
The Methodist Church was really the first temperance organization in America. The general rules of the society prohibited the use of liquor as a beverage. Other modern temperance organizations are supposed to have their beginning about 1811. But little was done after this period outside of the churches for about twenty-five years.
Rev. William Watters was the pioneer American itinerant Methodist preacher. He was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, October 16, 1751.
Until 1824 Western Pennsylvania, or " all west of the Susquehanna River, except the extreme northern part, was in the Baltimore Confer- ence." In 1824 the Pittsburg Conference was organized, and our wil- derness came under its jurisdiction. In 1833 the first Methodist paper under the authority of the church was started. It was in Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, and the paper is now called The Pittsburg Christian Advocate. In 1836 the Erie Conference was formed, and Jefferson County was placed within its jurisdiction.
Methodism in Jefferson County has been, first, in the Baltimore Con- ference ; second, in the Pittsburg Conference ; and third, is now in the Erie Conference.
The Methodists were slow in making an inroad in Jefferson County. The ground had been occupied by other denominations, and a hostile and bitter prejudice existed against the new " sect."
The pioneer Methodist minister in the county was the Rev. Elijah Coleman. He was a local.
The pioneer Methodist Church in the county was organized by him in Punxsutawney in 1821, ten members in all. This circuit was a part of the Baltimore Conference then, and contained forty-two appointments. It took the preacher six weeks to travel over it. In 1830 Punxsutawney was in the Pittsburg Conference. In 1836 this church was taken into the Erie Conference.
The pioneer church edifice in the county was erected there in 1833. Services previous to that time were held in Jacob Hoover's grist-mill.
The pioneer circuit in the county was the Mahoning district, which was created in 1812 by the Baltimore Conference, but no appointments were made in our county until 1822.
The pioneer circuit riders in this district were as follows,-viz. : Revs. Ezra Booth, William Westlake, 1822 ; Revs. Dennis Goddard, Elijah H. Field, 1823 ; Revs. Ira Eddy, B. O. Plimpton, 1824 ; Rev. I. H. Tackett, 1825 ; Rev. James Babcock, 1826-27; Rev. Nathaniel Callender, 1828 ;
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
Revs. John Johnson, John C. Ayers, 1829; Revs. Fleck and Day, 1830; Rev. Summerville, 1832 ; Rev. Bump, 1833 ; Rev. Kinnear, 1834; Rev. Butt, 1835 ; Rev. S. Heard, 1837; Rev. J. P. Benn, 1838-associate, Rev. R. Peck ; Revs. Shinebaugh and Peck, 1839 ; Revs. Mershon and George Reeser, 1840; Revs. John Graham and George Reeser, 1841 ; Revs. H. W. Monks and I. Scofield, 1842; Revs. D. H. Jack and H. W. Monks, 1843.
Summerville, or Troy, was an early field of Methodism. Darius and Nathan Carrier were zealous Methodists, and frequently opened their homes for service as early as 1825-26. The first church was organized there in 1830 by Rev. Ayers.
Missionary Methodist preachers travelled through this wilderness in those times, preaching anywhere and everywhere they could. This itin- erancy makes it hard to systemize the church history.
The Brookville Church seems to have been the head-quarters for the northern part of the county, and the first class was organized in 1828 in an old log barn at the head of Litch's dam, on the east side of the North Fork. The members of this class were five,-Cyrus Butler and wife, David Butler and wife, and John Dixon, Jr. A Sunday school was started, with Cyrus Butler as superintendent. Services were held in private houses, the old jail, and in the court-house, as the congregation was too weak to build a house even as late as 1845.
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