USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Annals of Luzerne County; a record of interesting events, traditions, and anecdotes > Part 21
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
people gathered in such numbers that the meeting was protracted and removed to a grove. Tents were erected, household utensils and provisions were procured, and here for several days the Presbyterians, in union with the Methodists, held the first camp-meeting in America, of which there is any record. These union camp-meetings were continued for two or three years, and resulted in a secession from the Presbyterian Church of those members who took the name of Cumberland Presbyterians.
In 1810, Thomas Wright and Elijah Metcalf succeeded Messrs. Lane and Dawson on the Wyoming Circuit, and these were followed in 1811 by Noah Bidgelow and William Brown. In 1810, the Genesee Conference was formed, comprehending the Susquehanna District within its bounds, and a number of new circuits were carved out of the larger ones, so that the membership of Wyoming that year was reduced to 363.
In 1812, George Harmon became presiding elder of the district, and John Kimberlin and Elisha Bebins were appointed traveling preachers for Wyoming Circuit. In the following year, 1813, the proportions of this circuit were further curtailed, so that only one preacher, Mar- maduke Pearce, was appointed to minister to the spiritual necessities of the people. He was followed, in 1814, by Benjamin G. Paddock. In 1815, Marmaduke Pearce was made presiding elder of the district, and George W. Dens- more was placed on Wyoming Circuit, who was succeeded by Elias Bowen, who remained here two years-1816 and 1817. George Peck was the preacher in 1818, and he was followed in 1819 by Marmaduke Pearce, who had been presiding elder of the district for the preceding four years. George Lane succeeded Mr. Pearce in the presid- ing eldership, and in 1820 Elisha Bebins was the traveling preacher. In 1821 Elisha Bebins was continued, assisted
297
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
by John Layer. In 1822, the preachers were J. D. Gil- bert and W. W. Rundel, and these were followed in 1823 by George Lane and Gaylord Judd, Fitch Reed being presiding elder. George Peck became presiding elder in 1824, and Morgan Sherman and Joseph Castle were the preachers of the circuit. These last were succeeded in
1825 by. John Copeland and Philo Barbery. During 1826, 1827, 1828, Horace Agard was presiding elder, and the preachers for those years were George Peck and Philo Barbery, S. Stocking and Miles H. Gaylord, Joseph Castle and Silas Comfort. In 1827, the Genesee Confer- ence was held in Wilkesbarre. In 1829, the Oneida Con- ference was organized, and Wilkesbarre became a station in the following year. In 1852, the Wyoming Confer- ence was formed, which does not embrace one-third more territory than did the Old Wyoming Circuit 60 years ago.
The great body of the early Methodist preachers were plain, uneducated men, who had come immediately from the masses of the people. They were acquainted with the views and feelings of their congregations, and their sermons were adapted to people like themselves. The itinerating system brought them in contact with an im- mense variety of character, imparting a most valuable knowledge of human nature, while their extensive cir- cuits furnished sufficient of exercise to develope and strengthen the physical powers, and to give robust con- stitutions. They were pious, earnest men, imbued with a deep sense of their responsibility, and with a solemn concern for the souls of their fellow-men. They did not confine their ministrations to the highways and to the densely populated districts, but they penetrated along the by-paths into the secluded valleys, and among the moun- tains. They preached in school-houses, in private dwell- ings, in barns, and in the open air, once every work-day
298
ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
in the week, and twice or thrice on Sunday. They went into the new settlements, preached, reached the hearts of their hearers, formed classes, enjoined on them to read the Word of God, to meet often for prayer, and " gave out" that at such a time, the Lord willing, they would be along again. Wherever they went the people received them gladly, for, apart from their sacred office, they were a most interesting class of men, who possessed an immense fund of information, gathered in their travels from obser- vation and from the conversation of others. Still, theirs was a life of hardships. The country was a wilderness, the roads were generally in a most wretched condition, and the people were poor. Their annual salary was $64, and traveling expenses, and none but most devout Chris- tians, who looked to a future state of happiness as the only thing worth striving for, could have been so indefati- gable in their labors, and so self-sacrificing in their lives. They and their flocks have almost all gone to that great undiscovered country for which they made such earnest preparation.
But they have left a wonderful monument of their labors and self-denial behind them. On the foundation they laid, and on the structure they raised, a vast multi- tude of busy hands have been engaged since their de- parture, and that grand Monument is rising higher and higher towards the heavens, and attracting more and more the attention of mankind. That was but a small beginning in 1773, when ten preachers, being the entire Methodist ministry, assembled in the first Conference at Philadelphia. At the commencement of the present cen- tury, after struggling through the demoralizing influences of the American and French Revolutions, the number of ministers was 287, and the membership 64,894. But mark the rapid increase during the next few years. In
299
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
1813 the ministry numbered 678, and the membership 214,307.
This year (1859) the Church North numbers 956,555 members, and the Church South 699,194, making a total membership in the United States of 1,655,749.ª The traveling preachers number 9273, and the local preachers 12,514. The total annual revenue of the Church was $2,856,235.
Luzerne county is divided between the Wyoming and Baltimore Conferences. The latter embraces Hunting- ton, Salem, Fairmount, Union, Nescopeck, Black Creek, and one or two townships in the south-west, composing the two circuits of Bloomingdale and Luzerne.
The following table exhibits the number of members, Sunday-school scholars, preachers' salaries, &c., in Lu- zerne county, in the year 1859 :
Stations and Circuits.
Members
Sunday School Scholars.
Foreign and Do- mestic Missions.
Salaries of Preach- ers.
Amount paid Pre- siding Elder.
Wilkesbarre .
257
280
$105
$600
$100
Woodville
130
180
20
510
40
Plains .
78
125
56
430
35
Wyoming
78
150
100
515
50
Plymouth
85
175
500
25
Trucksville
230
225
80
490
40
Lehman
190
100
15
460
35
Pittston
95
80
26
590
40
Scranton
117
250
114
700
50
Lackawanna
89
268
45
400
36
Abington
156
125
40
420
50
Newton
202
200
10
298
40
Newport
75
175
52
344
24
Carbondale
120
150
95
650
50
Blakely
48
30
25
400
50
Moscow
100
100
27
312
50
Luzerne
198
150
45
475
40
Huntington
250
275
100
525
50
2732
3443
1177
9770
905
Kingston
114
180
22
426
40
120
225
200
725
60
Providence
300
ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
About one-third of the above are circuits containing from six to twelve appointments. Donations are included in these salaries of the preachers. The number of volumes in the Sunday-schools is 11,762, and the value of church property in the county is $117,200.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
The first Associated Baptist church was organized, in England, in the city of London, in the year 1633. The Rev. Roger Williams formed the first Baptist congrega- tion in America at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1639. Roger Williams was a graduate of Oxford College, and a minister of the Church of England. He emigrated to America in 1631, and took charge of a Puritan church in New England, but, owing to his liberal religious and political views, he became involved in difficulties with the authorities, by whom he was banished from the colony. He, with a number of followers, retired to the wilds of Rhode Island, where he laid the foundations of the city of Providence, and having embraced the Baptist faith, may be considered the father of that Church in America. The government of the Baptist Church is purely congre- gational, the Associations having no power whatever over the congregations.
The Baptists commenced their career in Pennsylvania in 1698, by meeting in the warehouse of the old " Barba- does Trading Company," in the city of Philadelphia. The Rev. John Watts was their clergyman. As early as 1773 there were Baptists in Kingston township of this county, whose pastor was the Rev. Mr. Gray. Some years after this, in 1786, Mr. Gray made special efforts in Pittston township, and in the fall of that year a congregation was organized there by the Rev. James Benedict. In 1787 this congregation was attached to the Philadelphia Asso-
301
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
ciation. Mr. Benedict was succeeded by the Rev. James Finn, and he by the Rev. William Bishop, who settled in Luzerne county in 1794. Mr. Bishop was born in 1749 in England, where he professed to find grace and entered the ministry. Emigrating to America, with the pure spirit of a pioneer preacher he pushed into the wilder- ness. He came to the Lackawanna Valley and erected his log-house on the site now occupied by the residence of William Merrifield, Esq., in Hyde Park. He remained there until 1811, when he removed to Scott township, where he died in 1816. Mr. Bishop was a zealous and successful preacher, and proclaimed the peculiar doctrine of his church throughout the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys, and in other sections of the country, for many years.
In 1790 the Rev. Samuel Sturdevant emigrated from Danbury, Connecticut, and settled in Braintrim, now Wyoming county. Soon after, he commenced to gather a congregation in that region. He was a large muscular man, preached with great earnestness, and, leading a most upright and exemplary life, commanded the respect of all who knew him. David Stafford, writing to the author, says, "I am ninety-two years of age, and was baptized in the Susquehanna river by the Rev. Samuel Sturdevant sixty-seven years ago."
In 1790 the Rev. Jacob Drake and the Rev. Roswell Goff emigrated to Luzerne from New England. They, in connection with Messrs. Sturdevant and Bishop, to- gether with others, preached in Wilkesbarre, Plymouth, at Captain Daniel Gore's in Pittston, and at other places, as best they could, in a country destitute of churches, and impoverished by foreign war and domestic conflicts.
In 1794 Griffin Lewis came to Plymouth from Exeter in Rhode Island, and in 1799 he married Hannah, the
302
ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
daughter of Elder Joel Rogers. Messrs. Gray, Benedict, and Finn had gathered a small congregation at Plymouth in 1787, and among those baptized were Joel and Jonah Rogers, both of whom became elders in the church. They, with Mr. Drake, and Mr. Lewis who was ordained minister in 1802, laid the foundation of the Baptist Church in Huntington, Jackson, Union, and Lehman townships, and indeed in the whole western portion of the county. This is the Jonah Rogers who was captured by the savages, and is the "Bugle Boy" of Mr. McCoy's " Frontier Maid." He had participated in the early trials and dangers of the first settlers, and was esteemed a valuable citizen ; and when, in after life, he espoused the Christian faith, and exhorted the people to believe and be baptized, his exhortation fell with great force on the ears of the people. Like Anning Owen and Benjamin Bidlack, of the Methodist Church, he had stood shoulder to shoulder, with those to whom he preached, in defence of their homes; and now, when he spoke to them of the good things of the world to come, his words, plain and simple, were those of a companion in arms, and reached the hearts of his hearers.
In 1802, the Rev. John Miller, who was born in Windham county, Conn., settled in Abington, where he gathered a congregation about him, and over which he presided as pastor until 1853. His continuance as cler- gyman to the same congregation for the extraordinary period of fifty-one years, is the highest eulogium that can be pronounced on his character. During his ministerial life in Luzerne, he baptized by immersion 2000 persons, married 912 couples, and preached 1800 funeral sermons. He died in 1857, a true servant of God, and beloved and venerated of men.
Two churches had been organized in Wayne county,
303
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
one at Palmyra in 1801, and one at Mount Pleasant in 1807. Pursuant to previous arrangement, delegates from these congregations met similar delegates from the Abing- ton church at the log dwelling-house of Elder Miller, on the 26th day of December, 1807. At this time and place the Abington Baptist Association was formed. The dele- gates for Palmyra were the Rev. Elijah Purdy and Wil- liam Purdy, Jr. ; for Mount Pleasant, Rev. Epaphras Thompson, Rev. Elijah Peck, and Samuel Torey; for Abington, Rev. John Miller, William Clark, Jesse Hulse, Roger Ormis, Jonathan Dean, and Nathaniel Giddings. The Rev. Mr. Thompson was constituted Moderator, and Mr. Nathaniel Giddings was made clerk. The Rev. Samuel Sturdevant, Rev. Davis Dimock, and Joel Rogers, licentiate from Exeter, were also present, and took seats in the association. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Peck.
The Wyoming Baptist Association was organized at Lehman Church, in Lehman township, in 1843, through the instrumentality of Davis Dimock, Rev. D. Gray, and others, and within the limits of this and that of Abington are embraced all the churches of that persuasion in Lu- zerne county.
Wilkesbarre and the vicinity were missionary ground many years ago, and the ministers of this church preached in the Court-house, though they were sometimes allowed the use of the "Old Ship of Zion." In 1842 the Baptist church in Wilkesbarre was constituted by the Rev. A. L. Past. The present brick edifice, on Northampton street, was built in 1847.
The increase of the Baptists in America has been won- derful, paralleled only by the Methodists. In the year 1784 they had 424 ministers and 35,101 members. In 1790-92, they had increased to 891 ministers and 65,345
304
ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
members, more than doubling their ministry and almost their membership in the space of seven years. On ac- count of the infidel sentiments of the French philosophers, before alluded to, disseminated in this country, it was more than twenty years before their ministry was again doubled, though in 1810-12, they had 1605 ministers, and 172,972 members. In 1851, they had 578 associa- tions, 10,441 churches, and 754,652 members. These are the regular Baptists, but there are several minor bodies in the United States whose aggregate membership must number hundreds of thousands. They are known by the names of Freewill, Seventh-day, Campbellites, who are also called Disciples of Christ, or Reformers, Six Princi- ple, Menonites (German), Anti-Mission, Church of God, and Christian Baptists.
The following table will exhibit the condition of the Baptist Church in Luzerne county, for the year 1859 :-
Churches.
Pastors.
Members
Abington 1st.
C. A. Fox
178
Abington Valley
T. J. Cole
36
Benton
'T. J. Cole
90
Carbondale
E. L. Bailey
.
42
Covington .
Ifyde Park
W. K. Mott .
56
Mount Bethel
Charles Parker
64
Newton
J. C. Sherman
30
Scott Valley
Benj. Miller .
81
Exeter
No pastor
32
Jackson
James Clark .
125
Lehman
G. W. Seofield
55
Pittston
W. K. Mott .
80
Union
James Clark .
173
Wilkesbarre
E. M. Alden .
60
Kingston .
W. K. Mott
26
Lake
G. W. Scofield
23
1223
·
72
Blakeley
No Pastor
No
report.
We are unable to obtain the number of Sunday-school
305
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
scholars attached to the respective churches, as well as the salaries of the ministers, and the amount contributed for benevolent objects outside of the churches. We, how- ever, estimate the Sunday-school scholars at 1100, and the church property at $30,000.
LUTHERAN AND GERMAN REFORMED CHURCHES.
The earliest settlement of Lutherans in this country, was made soon after the establishment of the Dutch in the city of New York, then called New Amsterdam, which was in 1621. As early as 1643, Swedish Lutherans settled within the limits of Pennsylvania, whose pastor was John Campanius Holm. In 1677, Jacob Fabritius preached his first sermon in the Swedes Church at Wicaco, where he officiated fourteen years, nine of which he was blind. About the year 1710, a great number of German Lutherans came to America, and settled in Pennsylvania, although many had emigrated here before that. The Swedish ministers kindly served the German Lutherans until the arrival of the Patriarch of American Lutheran- ism, the Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, who landed in Philadelphia, November 28th, 1742. The first synod was organized in Philadelphia, August 14th, 1748, when there were only 11 regular Lutheran ministers in the colonies, and at this Synodical Convention only 6 clergy- men were in attendance. From the minutes of the Gene- ral Synod of this church for 1859, we learn there were 764 ministers, and a communing membership of 153,521 in the United States. There are other bodies of Lutherans in this country not connected with the Evangelical Lu- theran Church.
The German Reformed Church in the United States is a counterpart of the Reformed or Calvinistic Church of Germany. They, with the Lutherans, came over and
20
306
ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
settled in this state at an early day. Application was. made to the Mother Church in 1746, for a pastor by mem- bers in Pennsylvania, and the Rev. Michael Schlatter was sent over to gather the scattered flock, and to organ- ize churches. The number of communicants in this church in the United States is about 100,000. At one time, the difference between the Lutheran and German Reformed churches was very slight, and in 1822 an entire union of the two was proposed, but adverse circumstances defeated the plan.
From 1790 to 1800, ministers of the German Reformed Church from Northampton county occasionally visited the south-eastern portion of Luzerne, now Sugarloaf, But- ler, and Foster townships, which were settled principally by Germans. In 1800, an energetic preacher of this per- suasion, the Rev. John Mann, came to Sugarloaf; and during the same year, through his exertions, a building was erected for religious and school purposes. Mr. Mann was succeeded in 1804, by the Rev. T. Klenner, a Lu- theran minister. The Rev. F. W. Vandersloot followed Mr. Klenner in 1809. In 1811, under the administration of the Rev. Thomas Pomp, the Lutheran and German Reformed congregations united and erected a comfortable church in Nescopeck. The present membership worship- ping there is, Lutherans 140, German Reformed 25. From 1812 to 1817, the Sugarloaf congregation was supplied by the Revs. F. C. Krole, J. E. Braumzious, and Peter Hall. In the latter year the Lutherans, under the charge of the Rev. C. C. Shafer, erected a church at Wapwallopen, the present membership of which is 70. A German Reformed congregation also, which numbers 52 members, occupies the same building. In 1820, the Rev. John N. Zeiger was called to the Sugarloaf congregation, who extended his ministerial labors as far west as Salem township,
307
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
where, in conjunction with the Rev. Peter Kesler, a Lutheran minister, he brought about the erection of what is called the "Old Stone Church." At present, it has a Lutheran membership of 56, and a German Reformed of 25. Mr. Zeiger about the same time organized a con- gregation in the Sweitz, in Hollenback township, where a neat and commodious church was built by the members of the two sects. The number of its present members is 75 Lutherans, and 26 German Reformed. The Rev. Isaiah Bahl, of the Lutheran Church, is the present pastor.5
In 1823, the Rev. J. Beninger organized a church in Black Creek township, the present membership of which is Lutherans 31, German Reformed 24.
On the 4th of May, 1826, during the ministrations of the Revs. Mr. Zeiger and Mr. George Eyster, the two congregations in Sugarloaf township laid the corner-stone of St. John's Church, now in Butler township; and during the same year, another edifice for religious wor- ship was raised in Conyngham. In 1841, a free or Union church was erected at Drum's; but since 1858, it has been occupied chiefly by the Lutherans and German Re- formed members.
The German Reformed church in Hanover, near the site of the old Presbyterian church erected by the Paxton settlers, was built in 1825.
Besides the ministers already named, we may mention the Revs. J. F. Shindle, J. Shellhamer, Farets, and Sey- bert, who have officiated in these churches, and who will long be remembered for their pastoral care by an honest and most worthy people.
Within twenty years past, one Lutheran and one Ger- man Reformed church have been erected in Wilkesbarre; one German Reformed in Blakely, and one Lutheran in
308
ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
Ransom township. The whole number of Lutheran churches is 12, and German Reformed 5. The Lutheran membership is 1000, and that of the German Reformed 300. The Lutheran congregations are generally under the charge of the Rev. W. R. S. Haskarl of Conyngham, the Rev. H. Vosseler of Wilkesbarre, and the Rev. Isaiah Bahl of Berwick. Mr. Bahl entered the ministry in 1825; soon after which he commenced his pastoral labors in Luzerne and Columbia counties. He has married 2200 couples, and preached as many funeral sermons. The German Reformed churches are principally under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Hoffman, and the Rev. Mr. Strassner.6
THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States is the offspring of the Church of England. Long prior to the Revolutionary War, it was the established religion of one or more of the colonies. The Revolution separated us from the civil power of the mother country, and our own constitutions guaranty freedom of religious faith and worship. To meet the state of things brought about by the independence of this country, preliminary steps were taken in 1784 to form a separate and self-sustaining organization. On the 13th and 14th of May of that year, a number of clergymen from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, convened at New Brunswick, N. J., for the purpose of adopting measures for the relief of the widows and children of deceased clergymen. At this meeting it was proposed to hold a convention at New York in the following October, at which time and place a plan for the new organization was prepared to be submitted to an- other convention to assemble at Philadelphia, on the 27th of October, 1785. At this last convention, delegates
309
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
appeared from seven of the thirteen states. The Book of Common Prayer was revised and altered, and an Ecclesi- astical Constitution was formed. In December, 1786, the Rev. William White, D. D., of Philadelphia, and the Rev. Samuel Provost, D. D., of New York, embarked for Eng- land, having been chosen and recommended by the new church organization as candidates for the episcopal office. After a voyage of seventeen days from New York, they arrived in London ; and on the 4th of February, 1787, were ordained and consecrated bishops by the Most Rev. John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury. The Rev. James Madison, D. D., of Virginia, was afterwards ordained and consecrated a bishop in England ; and he, with the other two before mentioned, ordained and consecrated T. J. Claggett bishop of the Church in Maryland, who was the first ever consecrated in the United States.
According to the Report of the Triennnial Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, held in 1856, its com- municants were 119,540, and its clergymen were 1828. The church contributions for that year were $2,402,833. In 1859, there were 12,815 communicants, 161 clergy- men, and 16,891 Sunday-school scholars in the state of Pennsylvania.
In 1814, the Associated Missionary Society of Christ Church, St. Peter's, and St. James', in the city of Phila- delphia, united with Bishop White in requesting the Rev. Jackson Kemper, now bishop of Wisconsin, to visit Wilkesbarre, and collect the members of the church in that place and its vicinity. He complied with the request, and, preparing the way for a church organiza- tion, was succeeded by the Rev. Richard Mason, now Dr. Mason of North Carolina. Mr. Mason was the first settled Episcopal clergyman in Luzerne county. After Mr. Mason, the Rev. Mr. Phinney officiated as pastor for
310
ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
a short time, when the congregation was placed under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Roach, missionary, who established the first Sunday-school here. In 1817, St. Stephen's Church, in Wilkesbarre, was chartered. It was completed in 1822, and consecrated by Bishop White in 1823, at which time there were 42 communicants. During this year the Rev. Mr. Sitgreaves was called to the pastoral charge of the congregation, and in 1824 he was succeeded by the Rev. Enoch Huntington. Mr. Huntington was followed in 1827 by the Rev. James May, late Dr. May, of Georgetown, D. C., who continued pastor here until 1836. For the next twelve years the pulpit of St. Stephen's was occupied by the Rev. W. J. Clark, Rev. R. B. Claxton, and Rev. C. D. Cooper. In 1848, the Rev. George D. Miles received a call, who has continued pastor to the present time.
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