USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 19
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See! he kneels upon his coffin, Sure, his death can do no good; Spare him !- Hark !- Oh God, they've shot him, Oh, his bosom streams with blood.
Farewell, Bird! farewell forever ! Friends and home he'll see no more ; But his mangled corpse lies buried On Lake Erie's distant shore.
Vol. I-11
CHAPTER XVIII .- THE RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT.
EARLIEST SERVICES .- FIRST CHURCH BUILT AT MIDDLEBROOK .- COMING OF THE OTHER DENOMINATIONS TO THE COUNTY.
Christian religious effort came into Erie county only with the white man as a settler, and not, as in other parts of the American continent, in the form of missionary effort exerted for the purpose of converting the Indians from paganism. While the first Europeans to take possession here were the French, this section of North America had not been fav- ored as had the Canadian country to the north, and the region to the west that is now Ohio, with the labors of the Jesuit and Recollet mis- sionaries of the Catholic faith. The French occupation of the Erie county region was only a military expedient, and from the start this territory was held by a doubtful tenure. None recognized this more fully than the French themselves. They came into it without any previous preparation having been made, and while they occupied it none of the work of Christianizing the aborigines that had been their rule of action elsewhere was exerted here. This work of converting the natives was a distinguishing characteristic of French colonization for the church and the state operated hand in hand, and the failure of missionary Fathers to devote special attention to the savages was one of the most striking 'evidences of the fact that the French were not, here, sure of their ground. There were priests with the French soldiery. Every garrison had its chaplain. Every fort had its altar. But beyond the services that were conducted in the forts there is no record that missionary effort was put forth. Father Hennepin's labors did not include the territory that was afterwards to be the county of Erie. And when, upon the fall of Fort Niagara the slender thread upon which the hopes of the French hung was broken, and Le Bœuf and Presque Isle were abandoned, with the French went away into the west all the Christianity that had ever had place here.
And as it had been previous to the coming of the French, so it was until the permanent settlement was begun at the end of the Eighteenth century. The services of the Moravians as missionaries in Pennsylvania were recognized when Erie county was laid out, by setting apart for them, grants of land, but even the Moravians were not missionaries here. Mis- sionary effort came only with the pioneers of the permanent settlement, and the pioneers in religious effort were the Presbyterians. The religious
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history of Erie county therefore very properly begins with the Presby- terian church, and the history of the Presbyterian church in Erie county cannot be better told than it has been by the Rev. J. P. Irwin, from whose excellent work the particulars herein set forth have been obtained.
Presbyterianism in Erie county dates from the earliest settlement. It was embodied in the religious faith and polity of many of the pioneers who had previously belonged to that communion. The territory now in- cluded in the county became a center where two streams of population met and mingled. The one, which for a time was the larger, came from central and southwestern Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland and was principally composed of Scotch-Irish, to whom Presbyterianism seemed as natural as water to the fish. The other came from New England and eastern New York. This was largely of Puritan extraction, essen- tially one in faith with the Presbyterians, and while in some instances inclined to Congregationalism, yet easily adapting themselves to existing conditions, joined in the propagation of the Gospel and the establishment of churches under the Presbyterian form of government. In this way the Presbyterian church became the first to occupy the field, and in many localities seems to have enjoyed the good will and support of the entire population.
At first it was customary for the inhabitants of a particular com- munity to meet at the house of a neighbor, or convenient grove or barn, and hold a devotional meeting, when in the absence of a minister a sermon would sometimes be read, selected from some favorite author. The first meeting of this kind of which we have record, and possibly the first religious meeting held in the county, was at the home of Judah Colt, at Colt's Station, in Greenfield on Sunday, July 2, 1797. On that occasion we are told a sermon was read on the text, I Cor. 14:40, "Let all things be done decently and in order," the subject being chosen on ac- count of the riotious conduct of certain persons in the community. Sim- ilar services were held in other places, notably at the home of William Dundas at Lower Greenfield (now North East), where a number of Pres- byterian families had settled, bringing their Bibles and psalm books with them.
The whole territory was then missionary ground, included in the bounds of the Synod of, Virginia, and the Presbyteries of Redstone and Ohio, which were organized respectively in 1781 and 1798, and were deeply interested in the condition of the people and occasionally sent missionaries into the field. The first clearly attested visit of this kind was that of Rev. Elisha McCurdy and Rev. Joseph Stockton, in the summer of 1799. They came into the county by way of Le Bœuf or Waterford. After preaching there they came on to Presque Isle, where, we are told, they were kindly received by Col. J. C. Wallace and remained for a time, preaching to the soldiers stationed in the garrison, who together with the citizens of the town, formed a respectable congregation
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and were forward in their attendance on the public worship of God. After this the two separated, Mr. Stockton going to North East and Mr. McCurdy going up the lake, visiting a number of settlements-at the mouth of Elk creek. Crooked creek, Silverthorn, Lexington, Conneaut creek, finally arriving at the outlet of Conneaut lake, where he was joined by Mr. Stockton and after laboring a short time in that vicinity returned home.
Two years later, August, 1801, according to the journal of William Dickson, who subsequently became an elder in the church at North East, Rev. James Satterfield visited the county. One of his meetings was held under a large beech tree on the bank of French creek, center of Venango township in a clearing made by Robert Donaldson. The place had been prepared by five young men the Saturday before. The pulpit was con- structed of split logs raised a little from the ground. Mr. Satterfield did not arrive until about time for service to begin, owing to the fact that he had lost his way and lain out all night in the forest. Next morning. refreshed by a good breakfast of Indian bread and potatoes furnished by two young men at their cabin, according to Mr. Dickson, he came to his work in the spirit, preached two sermons and administered the ordinance of baptism. This meeting seems to have been attended by every man, woman and child in the township and was the beginning of better things.
At the close of the service Mr. James Hunter, an aged citizen of the place, and who had been an elder in Dr. Bryson's church in Northumber- land county, asked a number of young men to meet him at a certain corner on the next Thursday morning and to bring with them their dinners and axes. And then Mr. Hunter stated the object: "If we wish to prosper, while we build houses for ourselves we must build one for God." As the result of the engagement, a place was selected on two acres of ground do- nated by a Mr. Warren, near the center of the township and the first meet- ing house in the county was erected before sunset that day. This was the church of Middlebrook. It was a house of logs, roofed with split clap- boards, and not a nail or a piece of iron entered into its construction. When the work was finished Mr. Hunter called for a collection for the support of the Gospel and everyone present contributed, and this, Mr. Dickson states. was the beginning of a fund that never failed and no minister who preached there was permitted to go away unpaid.
According to the same journal Messrs. McCurdy and Satterfield came, a few days after the building of this meeting house and organized a church in it. They came from lower Greenfield-now North East- where they had organized a church a few days before, so that the church of North East seems to have been the first church organized in Erie county, but the congregation at Middlebrook had the first house of wor- ship. It is learned from another source that Elisha McCurdy, with his wife and famous praying elder, Philip Jackson, visited Mr. and Mrs. Judah Colt at Colt's Station. After remaining a short time they went,
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by previous appointment to North East, where, assisted by Revs. Samuel Tait, Joseph Stockton, James Satterfield, and, probably, Mr. Boyd, they administered the first communion in the county, of which there is any rec- ord. The meeting was held in a grove near the home of William Dundas, and was largely attended. About 300 were present and 40 communed, and among those admitted for the first time were Mr. and Mrs. Judah Colt, who became two of the most faithful and useful members of the Pres- byterian church.
It was at this time the Erie Presbytery was formed. It was con- stituted by an act of the Synod of Virginia, October 2, 1801, and was made to include all the ministers and congregations northwest of the Ohio and Allegheny rivers unto the place where the Ohio river crosses the western boundary of Pennsylvania, an extent of territory from which a number of presbyteries have since been formed. The first meeting was held at Mt. Pleasant (now Darlington) in the spring of 1802, and consisted of eleven members-seven ministers and four ruling elders, and at that time applications were made for supplies from Presque Isle, and upper and lower Greenfield. The only calls that resulted were from the North East and Middlebrook churches, where Rev. Robert Patterson was installed, this being the first pastoral relation ever constituted in Erie county. As pastor Mr. Patterson received $200 per year for two- thirds of his time, the other third to be spent in missionary work, and the missionary visitations took him to almost every settlement in the county. He served until 1807, and did good work in Erie county in preparing the way for the establishment of churches. During these years other ministers made occasional visits to this region. In a letter to Rev. A. H. Carrier, Mrs. Capt. Dobbins said: "The first preaching I heard after my arrival in Erie was by the Rev. Samuel Tait, in the summer of 1803. Mr. Tait occasionally stopped with us but usually with Mr. Colt."
The second minister to make pastoral settlement in Erie county was Rev. Johnston Eaton. His first visit was in August, 1805. He then spent a year in Southern Ohio, returning in 1806, and preaching his first sermon in Swan's log tavern. In this year he organized the churches of Walnut creek or Fairview and Springfield. Feeling that it was "not good to be alone" in such a wilderness, in 1807 Mr. Eaton married Miss Eliza Cannon of Fayette county, whom he brought, together with all their household goods to Erie on horseback. A log cabin was built near Walnut creek and a home established, Mr. Eaton making a considerable portion of the furniture with his own hand and Mrs. Eaton performing nobly the hard lot of a pioneer minister's wife. The old church of Walnut creek or Fairview, when organized in 1806, consisted of twenty- five members, with George Reed, Andrew Caughey and William Arbuckle elders. Mr. Eaton was ordained and installed pastor in 1808, the service being held in the barn of Mr. Sturgeon, Sturgeonville, and the relation
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thus consummated between pastor and people continued up to the death of Mr. Eaton in 1847.
A meeting house was erected in 1810. It was constructed of logs and heated at first by burning charcoal in a big sugar kettle. This old building, after being enlarged several times, gave place to a frame build- ing located near Swanville. and this was afterwards moved to West Mill- creek and has been supplanted by the present neat and comfortable brick building located on the Ridge road and known as the Westminster church, the name having been changed in 1861. This is claimed to be the legitimate successor to the original church of Fairview. In 1842 a colony came out from the original church and formed what was known as Fairview Village, the name being changed to Fairview and Man- chester in 1854. Again in 1845 another colony came out from the old church and formed the church of Sturgeonville, but in 1870 this and the Fairview Village churches were happily united, forming the church of Fairview.
The church of Springfield was organized in 1806, with thirty mem- bers and Isaac Miller, James Blair and James Bruce, elders. The church of Girard was a colony from Springfield and was organized in 1835, with Robert Porter and Philip Bristol elders.
North East church was organized in 1801 with Thomas Robinson and John McCord elders.
Middlebrook church, 1801; dissolved in 1859.
Waterford, 1809, or 1810; present membership over 100.
Union City, 1811, with eight members. Matthew Gray, elder ; present membership over 250.
Erie First church was organized in 1815 and chartered in 1825, its elders Judah Colt and George Davison. It was called the mother church, and is still so known because of the number of colonies that have pro- ceeded from it. The first was Belle Valley church, in 1841, George Davison, Hiram Norcross and Samuel Low elders. Park church was organized in 1855, with S. S. Spencer elder. Central church was or- ganized in 1871 with David Shirk and Joseph French elders. Chestnut Street church was organized in 1873 from a mission Sunday-school es- tablished by Park church. Eastminster church, out in the. Metric Metal neighborhood was organized in 1894, from a mission Sunday-school estab- lished by the First Presbyterian church of Erie.
Edinboro church. first known as Washington. was organized in 1819.
Beaverdam church, organized prior to 1826, was dissolved by the Presbytery in 1886.
Wattsburg was first reported organized in 1833; vacant.
Church of Mckean organized in 183? with David Russell and Gideon Johnson elders : became Congregational in 1859.
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Harborcreek church was organized in 1842, being a colony of 58 members from the church at North East, with Myron Backus, Samuel Kingsley and James Moorhead elders.
The church of Corry was reported organized in 1868.
Millvillage church was organized with 26 members in 1870, but is now vacant.
The First United Presbyterian church of Erie, was organized in 1811 as the Associated Reform church, with A. McSparren, Thomas Hughes, D. Robinson and Alexander Robison elders.
First U. P. church of Waterford was organized in 1812 as an As- sociated Reform church with fourteen original members.
Brown Avenue U. P. church was organized in 1900 with Matthew Barr, W. B. Munn, G. L. Dunn and J. A. Davison elders.
The Presbyterian church of East Greene was organized in 1849, but is now vacant.
The Methodists followed closely upon the heels of the Presbyterians in their missionary work among the pioneer settlers of Erie county. Methodist circuit riders visited Erie and held meetings here as early as 1801, but there were stations and stated meetings in the county before there were such in the village of Erie. Methodist effort began in the western and southwestern townships of the county. The first meeting of which there is any record was led by Rev. Joseph Bowen, a local preacher, at the house of Mrs. Mershon, near West Springfield in Sep- tember, 1800. A class was organized near Lexington, in Conneaut town- ship in 1801, and the same year a great revival occurred at Ash's Corners, in Washington township. In 1801 the Erie Circuit was formed by the Baltimore conference, with Rev. James Quinn as circuit rider. The Erie Circuit as organized covered the counties of Erie, Crawford, Venango and Mercer. The gospel was preached statedly throughout the county of Erie, while the village of Erie was a field almost entirely unoccupied.
The first church building was erected in 1804 about a mile south of West Springfield and the first quarterly meeting was held in that church in July, 1810. The meetings at Erie were held at long intervals, conducted by the circuit riders, whenever and wherever circumstances favored. In the winter of 1810-11 there was an awakening of interest brought about by a meeting for worship which was held in a log tavern on the west side of French street, where the public library now stands, and it would appear that a congregation had partially been established about that time. It was not until 1826, however, that a class was reg- ularly organized. Rev. Samuel Gregg in his "History of Methodism ; Erie Conference," says: "Erie was a flourishing village in which though Methodist preaching had been frequently enjoyed by the people, no permanent organization had been made until the year 1826. Mr. James McConkey and wife, members of the M. E. church of Baltimore, moved
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to Erie to reside and Mr. David Burton and wife attended the meeting at Harborcreek and were there converted, and invited Mr. Knapp to establish an appointment in Erie. The same winter a class was formed composed of the above named persons and a few others. Mr. McConkey was appointed leader and soon after secured the lot on Seventh street for $300, on which the first church was built."
This class, organized with Mr. McConkey as leader, held its class meetings at a log school house located on the east side of French street between Second and Third. The Mr. Knapp referred to in Gregg's "Methodism," was the Rev. Henry Knapp, who was in charge of the North East appointment. Methodism in the city of Erie traces its origin back to 1826, to this class holding its meetings in a log school house. The meetings for stated worship on Sunday were generally held by the circuit preachers in the old Court House, then situated in West Park. The ap- pointments for Erie were filled as follows :
1826-Nathanael Reedey and E. Stevenson.
1827-Job Wilson and A. W. Davis.
1828-J. W. Davis and J. Jones.
1829-S. Ayers and D. C. Richey.
1830-J. S. Barris and A. C. Young.
In the year 1833, while the little church was still worshipping in the Court House, a subscription that was circulated among the brethren realized $55 as the amount paid out by the first church that year for the support of the pastor. The Sunday school was organized 1829-30 with E. N. Hurlburt as superintendent, and the corps of teachers were Miss Mary Converse, Miss Mary Coover, Thomas Richards, Peter Bur- ton, Thomas Stevens, Miss Amanda Brown, Miss Rebecca Watkinson. Francis Dighton and John Dillon. The place of meeting was a small one-story frame building on East Fourth street, between French and Holland streets. The circuit riders at Erie from 1830 to 1833 were:
1831-J. P. Kent and A. Plimpton.
1832-J. Chandler and E. P. Steadman.
1833-J. Chandler and S. Gregg.
In 1834 Erie was made a station and Rev. E. P. Steadman was assigned by the Conference to this charge. The previous year this minister had been at Warren, Pa., and a large brick church had been built. The people there desired his return. By consent of the two presid- ing elders Mr. Steadman was sent to Warren, and Mr. Plimpton to Erie, but the result was the First M. E. church became vacant and had to be supplied. This change from a circuit to a station made the First church at Erie as an organization complete with the continuous minis- tration of its own pastor. The church had the following officers: Trus- tees, James McConkey, E. N. Hurlburt, John Richards, David Burton ; Stewards, James McConkey, E. N. Hurlburt, B. Loege, James Thomp- son ; Class Leaders, James McConkey, David Burton, James Thompson.
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The Erie Conference of the Methodist Episcopal church was organ- ized in July, 1836. In that year, the Erie church, while worshipping at the Court House made an effort to raise a building fund and erect a church, but though a plan was adopted and estimates made the project fell through. In the fall of this year at an official meeting it was decided that the sacrament of the Lord's supper should be administered every four weeks and a public collection be taken at the same time. At a public meeting held a little later, November 7, 1836, the pastor's salary was fixed at $136 a year. At a special meeting held January 16, 1837, the church appointed John Richards and C. Heck a building committee with power to prepare plans, make estimates, etc. The plan adopted was for a frame church 32 feet by 45 feet, with a basement and gallery, but the building was not erected until 1838, on the lot purchased by Mr. McConkey in 1826, on the north side of Seventh street midway between Peach and Sassafras streets. The church was dedicated by Rev. H. J. Clark, D. D., President of Allegheny College, on January 1, 1839, and received the name of "Wesley Chapel."
The growth of Methodism in Erie was steady and reasonably fast. In 1840 three new classes were formed and in 1842 two more were added making seven classes in all. In 1844 it became necessary to enlarge the chapel and raise the basement in order to accommodate the worship- pers, and at the same time pews were put in, theretofore the custom having been to place the men on one side of the house and seat the women on the other.
Two other things made the year 1844 notable in the history of Meth- odism. The ninth annual session of the Erie Conference was held in Erie in July, with Bishop Beverly Waugh, D. D., presiding. During that same year occurred what came to be spoken of as the Great Debate, between the pastor of Wesley Chapel, Rev. C. Kingsley, afterwards Bishop Kingsley, and Rev. Mr. Gifford, pastor of the Universalist church at Erie. The discussion turned on the distinctive tenets of Uni- versalism and the debate lasted seven days. From 1840 to 1850 the pastor's annual salary ranged from $120 to $150.
In 1852 a committee was appointed consisting of the pastor, Rev. J. W. Lowe, J. Hanson and J. L. Reno to select a place for a second church. They secured a lot south of the railroad and organized a Sunday school. It was in Millcreek township, some distance south of the city limits at that time, but in a rapidly growing section. Out of that effort grew Simpson church. In 1859 the two churches were managed by a joint board of officers and it was agreed that Simpson church should pay into the common fund three dollars for every five dollars paid by the First church.
In 1859 the board of trustees of the First church voted to erect a new church, at a cost not to exceed $10,000, and the committee ap-
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pointed to solicit funds and build the church were W. Sanborn, James S. Stewart. J. Hanson. John Burton, J. B. Johnson, H. P. Mehaffey, Thomas Willis, A. A. Craig and W. C. Keeler. This committee on Jan- uary 26, 1859, accepted a plan for the new church submitted by Mr. Wilcox of Buffalo as architect. On June 9 of that year the trustees and building committee awarded the contract for all the wood work to George Brubaker, and for the mason work to Gillen, Brown & Cummings. The amount of the contracts was $14.000. November 14, 1860, the new church, a large and elegant brick edifice on the southeast corner of Sev- enth and Sassafras streets was dedicated by Bishop Simpson. However, the child had outrun the parent in the matter of Erie Methodism, for the new building of the South Erie church was completed more than a year earlier, and was dedicated June 19, 1859, by Bishop Simpson and named in his honor. There came over to the First church organization a debt on the new church of $8,716, which was entirely canceled during the pastorate of Rev. D. C. Osborne, 1862 to 1864.
The earliest of the other congregations in Erie county were: Mill- village, organized in 1810; North East, in 1812; Fair Haven, in Girard township, in 1815: Girard borough, in 1815; Waterford borough in 1816; Union City, in 1812 ; Fairview, in 1817 ; Middleboro or Mckean, in 1819; Northville, in 1820; Wattsburg, in 1827, and Wesleyville, in 1828. The name of Wesleyville was bestowed upon that hamlet by Rev. Keese Hallock, the minister of the Methodist church, a name the inhabitants very cheerfully adopted.
Methodism had its real beginning in Springfield township. John Mershon was married to Miss Bathsheba Brush of Greene county in January, 1799, three years after his settlement in this county. When the bride came to her new home she brought with her a church letter from the Methodist minister at the place of her former residence. She induced Rev. Joseph Bowen, a local preacher of the denomination at Franklin to hold services in the Mershon house in September. 1800, and later, in the same year, he came again. These were the first Methodist services held in Erie county. In the spring of 1801 a class was organized near Lexington by James Quinn, and in 1804 a church was erected about a mile south of West Springfield, which was long known as the Brush Meeting House. During the year 1804 nearly a hundred persons were converted through the instrumentality of a powerful sermon preached by Rev. John Gruber, Presiding Elder.
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