USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 18
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 18
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United Presbyterians. This denomina- tion was formed in 1858 by a union of the "Associate Reformed" and the Associate Presbyterian" churches. The "Associate Reformed" church was formed in 1782 by a union of large portions of the Associate and Reformed Presbyterian churches, both of which were offshoots from the church of Scotland. The Associate or Seceder church was organized in 1733, while the Reformed or Covenanter church, although organized about 1706, yet miany Covenants were associated together as early as 1588, and one time had been known as Cameron- ians and also as Mountain People. Rev. John Cuthbertson held the first Covenan- ters' communion in America, near New Kingston, Cumberland county, in 1752, while his first sermon had been preached in Adams county on September I, 1751. Be- fore his arrival seven or eight Covenanter societies had been organized between the Susquehanna and the Blue Ridge. Guinston Associate church in Chanceford township, York county, was organized about 1753: Airville United Presbyterian church in Lower Chanceford township, in 1771; and Hopewell, in Hopewell township in 1800.
In Adanis county Upper Marsh Reform- ed church was organized April 8,1753; Hill or Marsh Creek Associate church before
1763 and one or two other early churches of which no account can be secured.
Cumberland county contained Covenan- tei congregations. Stony Ridge Covenan- ter church was organized about 1752, when the Covenanters in the county were esti- mated at 250, but of the two or three other congregations in the county no account has been preseved.
Episcopalians. This denomination had its origin in England, and was planted in America under the auspices of the Eng- lish Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts which contributed largely to the support of the ministers of its churches in Pennsylvania prior to the Revo- lution. The three English orders of bish- ops, priests and deacons are retained in this country, where the churches choose their pastors, the parish, the vestry, and the communicants, the church-wardens. The Episcopalians form a large and respectable denomination in the United States, and their church vestries always embrace men of prominence and worth.
When the first regular Episcopal mis- sionary from England visited York in 1755 he found a congregation of Churchmen, but without pastoral care. This missionary, Rev. Thomas Barton, organized congrega- tions at York Springs, in Adams, and Car- lisle, in Cumberland county, and sought to convert the Indians. He also armed and led his congregations in several Indian campaigns. He served St. John's church at York, where he was succeeded about 1765, by Rev. John Andrews, who secured the building of the first church edifice either in 1766 or 1769. Succeeding Rev. John Andrews came Revs. Daniel Batwell, 1772 to 1776; John Campbell, 1784 to 1804; John Armstrong, 1810 to 1819; Grandison Asquith, 1821 to 1823; Charles Williams 1823 to 1825; Richard Hall, 1826 to 1836; W. E. Franklin, 1836 to 1838; J. H. Mars-
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NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
den, 1841 to 1844; J. H. Hoffman, 1844 to 1849; Charles West Thomson, 1849 to 1866; W. P. Orrick, 1866 to 1873; Octavius Perinchief, 1873-74; E. L. Stoddard, 1874 to 1877; W. T. Wilson, 1877 to 1878; H. W. Spalding, 1878 to 1883; and Arthur C. Powell, who was called to the rectorship in June 1883.
St. John's Episcopal church of Carlisle was organized about 1754, erected its first church edifice in 1765, and has been served by some very able rectors.
In Adams county Christ church of York Springs was organized about 1756, and was served by the rectors of St. John's church of York until 1804, since which year it has had different pastors for a large part of the time. Another church of which we have no history was erected prior to 1850, and in 1875 an Episcopal church was or- ganized at Gettysburg.
Baptists. This denomination is distin- guished from all other religious denomina- tons by its opinions respecting the ordin- ance of Christian Baptism. The Baptist claim their origin from the ministry of Christ and his Apostles, trace their history through a succession of churches down to the Reformation, and then after half a cen- tury of persecution alike from Catholic and Protestant, found protection under the Prince of Orange, the founder of the Dutch Republic. The Baptist disclaim all con- nection with the Anabaptists, have largely been pioneers of religion, and an able writer says, that "theirs is the high honor of establishing in the little colony of Rhode Island, in 1636, the first civil government in modern times which declared that con- science should be free."
The first Baptist church in the Nine- teenth District seems to have been Dover church which was founded about 1804 and had its house of worship on the site of Roh- ler's meeting house. The First Baptist church
of York was constituted May 21, 1851, Peach Bottom church at Delta was organ- ized in 1872, and other churches are said to have existed in York county prior to 1850.
In Adams county we find no account of any regularly organized Baptist church, while in Cumberland county there is no account by the local historians of any church of this denomination, yet the census reports of 1850 credits the county with five Baptist churches.
Catholics. The Roman Catholic church claims "that God has promised and conse- quently bestows upon it, a constant and perpetual protection, to the extent of guar- anteeing it from destruction, from error, or fatal corruption," They also claim that the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman church is the mother of all churches, and that obedi- ence is due to the Bishop of Rome, as suc- cessor to St. Peter, prince of the apostle, and vicar of Jesus Christ; and complain that doctrines are laid to their charge which they do not hold. The early Catholics in the United States settled in Maryland and along the banks of the Mississippi, but since 1850 the tide of foreign immigration has added largely to their numbers and made their growth rapid and substantial.
The Jesuit fathers came into what is now Conewago township, Adams county, as early as 1720, some of them being from Baltimore and others from Montreal and Quebec, Canada. Josiah Grayton, S. J., used the wigwam for a temple, and in 1730 or 1735 came Irish and German Catholic settlers who organized Conewago congre- gation, long known as Conewago chapel, now the Church of the Sacred Heart. The Gettysburg church was organized prior to 1826; St. Ignatius, before 1816; St. Aloy- sius, about 1790; Paradise, about 1780; Fairfield Mission, 1851; St. Joseph's 1859; and Immaculate Heart, 1852.
A supply station of the Jesuits of Cone-
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.
wago was established at an early day at Carlisle and in due time became the pres- ent St. Patrick's church of that place.
From Conewago the Jesuit Fathers passed into York county and founded sup- ply stations, some of which became churches.
St. Patrick's church of York was organ- ized prior to 1750; St. Mary's, 1852; St. Joseph's, of Hanover, 1853; Paradise, be- fore 1843; St. John, 1842; St. Joseph's, of Dallastown, before 1851; and a church in Codorus township.
Moravians. The Unitas Fratrum or Church of the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren was founded by followers of John Huss in 1457, and by persecution became very nearly extinct, but a "hidden seed" re- mained in Herrnhut church organized in 1722, on the estates of Count Zinzendorf. The Moravians are strictly evangelical in doctrine with a simple ritual and in 1742 first came to Pennsylvania, settling at Beth- lehem.
Services were held in York county by Moravian missionaries as early as 1744 and in 1851 Rev. Philip Jolin Meurer organized the present Moravian church of York, whose earliest members were among the original lot holders of the town and for several years had been a part of the first German Reformed congregation of York. Another church was organized in Codorus township over a century ago but has gone down.
Adams county contained some Mora- vians in her early settlements and a Mora- vian church was still in existence in 1850.
Although the census returns of 1850 give six Moravian churches in Cumberland county for that year, yet the local histor- ians are alike silent as to past record or present existence of any these churches.
Mennonites. This denomination was founded by Menno Simon and in 1708 a
church was organized at Germantown, which soon established numerous branches in the eastern counties of Pennsylvania. They practice baptism by pouring and lay- ing on of hands, and oppose every form of infant baptism.
The Manchester Society in York county was formed prior to 1810; Dover society, 1753; Bairs, 1774; and Hanover, before I773.
Hanover, Bairs, and Hosteter's meeting in Adams county are served by one minis- ter and form one congregation with three meeting houses. There is a church in Washington and one in Codorus township, and in 1885 York county contained twelve Mennonite congregations, while Flohr church, now Mumasburg, in Adams county, was formed in 1822.
In Cumberland county the Mennonites about 1803 were sufficiently strong to or- ganize a congregation at Slate Hill, near Shiremanstown. The Stone church congre- gation was formed at a point two miles east of Carlisle, before 1832, while services in English and German were conducted in 1885 at various other places.
The Reformed Mennonites who separat- cd from the old church party in 1811 pro- fess to live nearer the doctrines and usages of the primitive church than the latter and established congregations at Winding Hill, Middlesex and Plainfield.
German Baptists. This denomination is also known as Tunkers or Dunkards, and in many places is divided into three branches, Primitive, Conservative and Pro- gressive.
The mother church commenced at Schwardzenau, Germany, in 1708, with but seven members, and "that in a place where no Baptist had been in the memory of man, nor any now are." The first German Bap- tists in Pennsylvania came in 1719, and the denomination is known as a peace-loving
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NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
and industrious people, who practice trine immersion, are opposed to war and secret societies, and call themselves "Brethren." Some of the Brethren were among the early settlers who came to York county in 1736 and two years later formed their first church in the vicinity of Hanover. The second church was formed in 1741, being 14 miles west of York. The Bermudian church was organized in 1758; and York county in 1885 was divided into three church districts: Upper Codorus, with Black Rock, Jefferson, Wildasin's and Bea- ver Creek meeting houses; Lower Codorus, with Loganville, Herbst, Union and West York meeting-houses; and -, with Ber- mudian, Walgemuth's, Altland's and Union meeting houses.
In Adams county we have account of Biglerville, East Berlin, Trostel's, Hamp- ton's, Latimore, Liberty, Upper Conewago churches, but with no definite dates of or- ganization; while in Cumberland county there were preaching points maintained at private houses, and in barns and school houses until 1823, when Elder Daniel Bol- inger effected a church organization that existed up to 1836, in which year the the church was divided into two congrega- tions, called respectively the Upper church and the Lower church. At first these con- gregations met in Union houses, but be- tween 1855 and 1885, they built meeting louses at Baker's, Miller's, Mohler's, Huntsville, Boiling Springs and Fogel- sangers.
United Brethren. This society, al- though distinct from the Moravians, is of- ten mistaken for the latter. The United Brethren in Christ was founded in 1800 by Rev. Philip Wilhelm Otterbein, who came to this county in 1752 and preached for a time with Bishop Asbury. Otterbein was a minister of the German Reformed church and preached that all true Christians, of
whatever name, should unite at the Lord's table. The concord was such among those of different denominations who joined him that they agreed to take the name of United Brethren in Christ.
Probably the oldest congregation is in Windsor township, York county, where Zion church was organized soon after 1800. Hanover church was formed prior to 1847; Franklintown, before 1849; Dover, 1858; and Mt. Zion, 1847.
In Adams county there is record of the following churches: Biglerville, organized in 1859; Idaville, 1859; Latimore, -; Mountjoy, 1869; Salem, before 1845; and Heidlersburg, 1840.
Congregations of the United Brethren are to be found in all parts of Cumberland county. The Mechanicsburg church was or- ganized in 1846; Shippensburg, 1866; New Cumberland, before 1873; Newville, before 1867, and several other churches of which no record is to be found.
Welsh Calvinists and Congregational- ists. The Welsh slate miners in Peach Bottom township, York county, have two churches, West Bangor Calvinistic Metho- dist church, organized before 1854, and the West Bangor Congregational church or- ganized in 1855.
Methodists. The Methodist Episcopal church in the United States was organized in 1784, and in less than a century spread over the whole North American continent numbering its members by the million. The Revolutionary war led to its establishment and prior to that Methodism was without an organized ministry and without ordi- nances. Philip Embury, a local preacher, first introduced Methodism in New York city in 1766 and in 1873 the Preachers' National Association erected a beautiful monument to his memory and on the mar- ble shaft was the eloquent inscription dic- tated by the brilliant Maffit: "Philip Em-
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.
bury, the earliest American minister of the Methodist Church, here found his last earthly resting place. Born in Ireland, an emigrant to New York, Embury was the first to gather a little class in that city, and to put in motion a train of measures which re- sulted in the founding of John Street church, the cradle of American Methodism, and the introduction of a system which has beautified the earth with salvation and in- creased the joys of heaven." Upon ques- tions of church government there have been secessions from the Methodist church and among those seceding churches are the Southern Methodists, the Reformed Meth- odists, the Methodist Society, the Metho- dist Protestants, the Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Methodists and the Evangeli- cal Association.
Methodism was introduced into York county in 1781 by Rev. Freeborn Garret- son, who preached first in the house of James Worley and then at Lewisberry on his way to Carlisle. The first churches were at York and Lewisberry, and now exist in all the English speaking townships of the county. In York the first church was organized about 1781, and next came Beaver Street church, from which origi- nated West Princess street and Ridge Avenue churches, while Duke street church was organized in 1861, and Princess street church was the result of a Sunday school started in 1881. Lewisberry church was organized about 1781; Hanover, 1825; Wrightsville before 1828; Newberrytown, 1833; Rock Chapel, 1794; Shrewsbury, 1811; Glen Rock, 1865; Bethel, 1821; Mc- Kendree, 1825; Stewartstown, before 1833; and Zion, 1845.
Turning to Adams county we find that the Gettysburg Methodist Episcopal church was organized in 1818; Littlestown, in 1828; East Berlin, 1854; Fairfield, 1827; Bendersville, about 1832; Pine Grove, 1870;
Wenksville, 1872; New Oxford, 1829; Read- ing, 1851; and Hunterstown, 1839.
The Methodist church in Cumberland county dates back to 1787 and to Shippens- burg where in that year the first Methodist church in the Cumberland valley was or- ganized. The Carlisle church was formed before 1823; Newville, 1826; Mechanics- burg, 1827; Mt. Holly, before 1860; and New Cumberland, West Fairview and Rehobath were organized between 1875 and 1885.
Methodist Protestant. This branch of Methodism was organized at Baltimore in 1830, when thirteen annual conferences were represented. They reject episcopacy assert ministerial parity, and give an equal representation to ministers and laymen.
The Methodist Protestants in York county organized their first congregations in the southeastern section in Hopewell, Fawn and Peachbottom townships. Fawn Grove circuit of the Maryland conference consists of Mt. Nebo, Mt. Olivet, Delta and Norrisville churches and Whiteside chapel.
In Adams county we find no account in the local histories of any Methodist Pro- testant church; while in Cumberland county the Barnitz's Hill church was or- ganized prior to 1844.
Evangelicals. This denomination gen- erally called the Albrights, are a branch of the Methodist church, and was organized in 1800 by the Rev. Jacob Albright who confined his labors chiefly to the German population of Eastern Pennsylvania. Al- bright was "a man of limited education, but earnest piety," first a Lutheran and after- wards a Methodist. The denomination he established called itself the Evangelical Association of North America and is now divided in two organizations.
The Evangelical Association was intro- duced into York county in I810, in Shrews- bury, Springfield and Dover townships. The
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NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
first church erected was at Shrewsbury and in 1885 eleven charges were in existence: Queen street and King street, in York, York Circuit, Prospect, Chanceford, Jar- rettsville (Md.), Shrewsbury, Glen Rock, Loganville, Dillsburg, and Lewisberry.
In the local history of Adams county we find nothing of any Evangelical church, but in Cumberland county there are records that place Letort Spring church as the first organization effected there and make its establishment to have been in 1833. Suc- ceeding Letort Springs church came church organizations and houses of worship at Carlisle, Cleversburg, Hickorytown, Lees- burg, McClure's Gap, Middlesex, Mifflin, Mount Holly, Mount Rock, New Kingston, and Wagner's. At Carlisle a class was formed in 1866, and four years later St. Paul's Evangelical church was completed and dedicated.
The African Methodist Episcopal church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church both have congregations within the district, the former body copying after the Methodist Episcopal church from which the other body seceded in 1820.
Winebrennarians, or Members of the Church of God. This denomination was formed in Lancaster county in 1830 by Rev. John Winebrenner, and while Arminian in doctrine is Presbyterian in ecclesiastical government, but rejecting infant baptism and practicing immersion.
The Church of God was established in the upper end of York county, about 1835, and during the half century succeeding, twelve churches were organized in Newberry, Warrington, Monaghan, Franklin and Windsor townships. Some of these churches are designated as bethels.
There are Winebrennarians in Adams county, but we have no record of any churches.
In Cumberland county in 1834 or 1835,
the Union Christian church of Shippens- burg, which had been formed in 1828, be- came a Church of God congregation. Be- tween 1835 and 1885, congregations were organized and bethels or houses of wor- ship erected at Milltown, formed 1833; Walnut Grove, 1835; Shiremanstown, 1837; Newburg, 1834; Newville, 1837; Green Spring, 1852; Plainfield, 1854; and Carlisle, 1864.
River Brethren. Distinct from the Moravians, German Baptists and United Brethren, this denomination was formed along the Susquehanna river, in Conoy township, Lancaster county, in 1786, al- though there had been a temporary organi- zation from 1776. They worship in union houses at the villages of Manchester, Strinestown and Longstown, in York county, and some of them reside in Adams and Cumberland, but we find no account of their church organizations in York county, where they have congregations.
Dutch Reformed. The Dutch Reform- ed church was founded in America, at New York, in 1619, and since 1866 has been known as the Reformed church, as its ser- vices are all in English. It has but little to distinguish it from the American Presby- terian church.
The Dutch in the Conewago settlement, of Adams county, organized a church two miles east of Hunterstown, but its members in 1817 obtained permission from the leg- islature to sell their church property on account of dissentions and western emigra- tion and the church organization was dis- solved.
A comprehensive view may be obtained of the religious denominations of the Nine- teenth District nearly half a century ago from the United States census report of 1850 which gives the following denomina- tions and the number of churches of each in Adams, Cumberland and York counties:
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.
Denominations.
Adams. Cumb'l'd. York.
Baptist
.
5
3
Catholic
3
2
3
Episcopal
2
I
I
Free
. .
I
.
Friends
2
.
4
Germ'n Reformed
3
6
3
Mennonite
. .
3
IO
Lutherans.
15
II
30
Method't Ep'cop'l
14
15
24
Moravian
I
6
2
Minor Sects
. .
. .
4
Presbyterian
7
13
14
Tunker
I
. .
I
Union
II
4
Totals
48
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74 103 Cemeteries. With the early church stood the school house, and adjoining was the graveyard whose earliest tomb stones of sandstone or flagstone were either unletter- ed or else but rudely carved to tell the name and virtues of those whose fondest memory in life was of childhood's happy wander- ings in Rhineland valleys or on Scottish
highlands. As the settlements grew and the graveyard increased its area, marblecamein use, and within the memory of some of the living the memorial tablet and the monu- mental pillar were first erected amid the weathern-worn stones of a century ago. By 1858 many of the old graveyards had been abandoned, while others had been enlarged, improved and beautified and henceforth became known as cemeteries. Also cemetery companies came into existence and the larger towns commenced to lay out their "cities of the dead" with walks, trees and flowers, and the resting places of the dead were no longer the special property of the church.
The 225 churches of 1850 will in all pro- bability increase to 400 in number with the closing year of the present century, and with their missionary and Sunday school work will then be recognized as most im- portant factors in the civil and commercial as well as in the aesthetic and moral growth of the Nineteenth district.
CHAPTER IX.
LITERATURE AND THE PRESS.
T HE FACTS of a language involve its laws, but the productions of a language constitute its literature, and the literature of a country, a district or a county is one of the most instructive parts of their history. Literature ebbs and flows like the tide, but without its regularity, and unusual literary activity is a manifestation of an increased mental energy which always marks a period great in deeds and in changes.
Literary attainments were an object with many of the early settlers, and the classical schools and academies founded at Carlisle, York and near the site of Gettysburg before the Revolutionary war led to the establish- ment in 1783 of Dickinson college, which was the first college in the Cumberland valley, and is the thirteenth in age of the present four hundred colleges of the United States. Dickinson college was an import- ant factor in arousing a literary spirit in the counties of the present Nineteenth Con- gressional District, and from its portals have gone forth many men of nationalrepu- tation, while in addition to James Bu- chanan and other distinguished graduates of Dickinson, the district has been the honie of Brackenridge, Ross, Black, Stev- ens, Lenhart, Miller, Watts, Gibson, Mese- heimer, Fisher, McPherson, Durant, Rich- ard, Bradby, Sheely, Wing, Wills, Boyd, Norcross, Hersh, Cassat, Crawford, Schmucker, Swartz, Valentine, Wolf and others who have won standing and fame in many different fields of authorship.
Bibliography. Although numerous and prominent yet it is impossible at this writ- ing to give anything near a list of the writ- ers and authors of the Nineteenth District, as the data lacking would require a long and painstaking research to secure it.
Dickinson and Pennsylvania colleges have graduated many able men whose works have been recognized as of high standing in various fields of literature, while others educated in the public schools and the academies have achieved well in the line of authorship.
Hugh Henry Brackenridge was among the early distinguished authors. He was a native of Scotland, but grew to manhood in York county and wrote Modern Chi- valry, a satire on the state of society at that time, of which it was a fair picture.
Ellis Lewis, a son of the founder of Lewisberry, and for some years Chief Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was author of the Abridgement of the Criminal Law of the United States, and wrote articles of literary merit for leading periodicals.
Lewis Mayer, an able Reformed minister, who resigned the presidency of a theologi- cal seminary, to devote his time entirely to literary labors, was the author of Sin against the Holy Ghost, Lectures on Scriptural Subjects, Hermeneutics and Exegesis, and History of the German Reformed Church.
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