USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 29
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The Rev. T. H. Robinson, in his " Historical Address on the Ruling Elders of the First Presbyterian Church of Harrisburg," says: " few men, have been better fitted in natural talents, in education, in per- sonal character, and in public position, than Dr. Agnew, for a wide
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and permanent influence of the best and highest kind over their fellow-inen. He was a man of notable qualities. In the eye of the world he was one of the marked inen of society; and both in social and professional life, as well as in the church, he was promptly accorded a place as a leader.
"Though a charming social companion, and distinguished member of the medical profession, Dr. Agnew was not less prominent in the church. He led a consistent and godly life, and rarely allowed his duties as a physician to prevent his regular attendance on the public services of the sanctuary. He was a ruling Elder in the First Presby- terian Church of Harrisburg, for fifteen years."
As an evidence of the high estimation in which Dr. Agnew was held, at the special request and on motion of such a man as Jeremiah Evarts, he was, in 1826, elected a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. To any agency of the church, whether Sunday schools, Bible, Tract, or Temperance societies, he gave an active and hearty support. He was emphatically an active. earnest, public spirited Christian.
The Rev. W. M. Paxton, D. D., in a sermon delivered at Greencastle after the death of Dr. Agnew, from Psalm xxxvii, 37, "Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." took occasion to speak of him as one to whom this Scripture might apply with more than ordinary propriety. Quoting from that sermon, he says, " As a man Dr. Agnew exhibited an assemblage of interesting qualities. He had a mind sound, clear and discriminating, naturally vigorous but strengthened and polished by a regular course of collegiate discipline, expanded by extensive professional study and matured by the experience of a protracted life. His literary taste was cultivated and correct. To a vigorous and cultivated intellect he added all the finer qualities of heart. He was characterized by an expansive benevo- lence of feeling. To the old and the young of every class and condition he was uniformly tender and affectionate. His heart appeared to overflow with the milk of human kindness. In his domestic and social relations, he won for himself the most endeared affection; he was a devoted husband, a loving father, and an affectionate friend. The natural serenity and cheerfulness of his temper gave a charm to his old age, and the affability and dignified unobtrusiveness of his manners elicited the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He was esteemed as a public spirited citizen, was honoured as a generous, self-sacrificing philanthropist, and valued as a steadfast, sympathizing friend." Again, in speaking of the religious side of his
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character, he says : " It was as a Christian that Dr. Agnew shone pre- eminently. A warm hearted but rational piety was the great leading feature of his character ; it was the pervading and controlling principle of his public and private life. He died on the 23d of November, 1849, in the seventy-third year of his life. His death was as gentle and as quiet as a summer evening ; as calm as when an autumn sun sinks below the western horizon, and as its beams gild the bending sky, long after the great body of flame is out of sight, so do the delightful memories of his life linger in the thoughts and hearts of men.
JOHN McKNIGHT, D. D.
OHN McKNIGHT was born near Carlisle, Pa., October Ist, 1754. He graduated at the College of New Jersey, under the Presi- dency of Dr. Witherspoon, in 1773. He studied Theology under the Rev. Dr. Robert Cooper, Pastor of the Middle Spring Church, was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Donegal between the meetings of Synod in 1774 and 1775, and was ordained by the same Presbytery in the latter part of 1776, or early in 1777.
Mr. McKnight, soon after his licensure, organized a congregation in Virginia, on Elk Branch, embracing the country between Shepherds- town and Charlestown. In 1783, he accepted a call to the Lower Marsh Creek Presbyterian Church, in Adams county, Pa. In July, 1789, he was called to be a colleague Pastor with the Rev. Di. Rodgers, of the United Presbyterian congregation of the city of New York. This call was accepted, and he was installed on the ad of December of that year. In 1791, he was honoured with the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Yale College, and in 1795, was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church.
Dr. Mcknight remained in New York, in the earnest and faithful discharge of his pastoral duties twenty years, when he resigned his charge. On leaving New York, he removed to a small but beautiful farm in the neighbourhood of Chambersburg, Pa., which he had pur- chased for a residence. Though declining a regular call, yet he con- sented to be a Stated Supply to the church of Rocky Spring, which was about three miles from his dwelling.
In 1815, he was invited to the Presidency of Dickinson College, and accepted the invitation, but finding the fiscal concerns of the institution much embarrassed, resigned the office, and returned to his farm, preaching as opportunity offered, till his life terminated, October 21st. 1723.
Dr. McKnight published six Sermons on Faith, (recommended by Drs. Rodgers and Witherspoon,) 1790 ; a Thanksgiving Sermon, 1795: a Sermon before the New York Missionary Society, 1799: a Sermon on the Present State of the Political and Religious World. 1802 ; a Sermon on the Death of Rev. Dr. John King, 1811.
In the year 1776, he was married to Susan, daughter of George
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Brown, of Franklin county, Pa., who survived her husband about nine years. They had ten children, two of whom entered the ministry.
In a letter dated Detroit, March 11th, 1853, the Rev. George Duf- field, D. D., says :
"As a preacher Dr. McKnight was calm and dispassionate. Although there was very little variety in either his tone or gesture, yet his delivery was far from being dull or monotonous, it was well adapted to his matter, which was generally a lucid, logical * exhibition of some important Scriptural truth. * *-
" Dr. McKnight finished his earthly career surrounded by his family and friends, and among a people who still greatly reverence his memory. Having commenced his ministerial labours in the region where he died, at a very early period after its first set- tlement, his name was associated with the earliest and most important events connected with the church and cause of Christ within the bounds of the Presbytery of Carlisle. There are still living a considerable number who cherish a grateful appreciation of his services as an able and faithful minister of Christ."
REV. JOHN LINN.
OHN LINN was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1749. His parents were Presbyterians, and were con- nected with the congregation of Lower Marsh Creek, in the Presbytery of Carlisle. Ile made a profession of religion while he was yet quite a youth. He was fitted for college by the Rev. Robert Smith, of Pequea, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and was graduated at Nassau Hall, during the Presidency of Dr. Witherspoon, in the year 1773.
After leaving college, Mr. Linn returned to Pennsylvania, and studied Theology under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Robert Cooper." pastor of the congregation of Middle Spring, within the limits of what was then Donegal (now Carlisle) Presbytery. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Donegal, in December, 1776. Not far from a year after his licensure, the congregations of Sherman's valley, in Cumberland (now Perry) county, invited him to become their pastor. He accepted the invitation, and was accordingly ordained and installed shortly after. Here he remained labouring faithfully and efficiently to the close of his ministry, and his life. He died in the year 1820, in the seventy-first year of his age.
Soon after his settlement in the ministry, he was married to Mary Gettys, a native of the neighbourhood in which he resided. She sur- vived him a few years. They had seven children, five sons and two daughters. One of them, the Rev. James Linn, D. D., born in 1783. was the Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Bellefonte, Pa.
"Mr. Linn," says Rev. Dr. Baird, " was about five feet and ten inches in height, portly and symmetrical in his form, and muscular and active in his bodily movements. He had great strength of constitution, and uncommon powers of endurance. His disposition was social and
* Dr. Cooper was born in the north of Ireland, in or about the year 1772, graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1763, was licensed by the Presbytery of Carlisle, February 22d. 1705, and was instilled pastor of Middle Spring church, November 21st, of the same year, which church he served thirty-one years, resigning the charge on account of declining health. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was con- ferred upon him by Dickinson College, in the year 1792. He died April 5th, iSos, in the seventy-third year of his age. " As a preacher," says Dr. Mondey, " Dr. Cooper seems to have been distinguished rather for the solidity and excellence of his matter, than for elegant diction, or an attractive delivery. Ile was, however, in the earlier punt of his ministry particularly, a more than ordinarily popular preacher, and. with the more intelligent and reflecting portion of the community, he retained his popularity to the last."
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cheerful, he could easily accommodate himself to persons of different characters and conditions in life, and was cordially welcomed by every circle into which he was thrown. He was distinguished for sobriety of mind rather than versatility, was reflective rather than imaginative. He was accustomed to write his sermons out at full length, and deliver them from memory, except that in the summer, his morning discourse, which was a lecture on some portion of the New Testament, was usually delivered without preparation. He had a remarkably clear voice, and expressed himself with great solemnity and impressiveness. One of his manuscript sermons -- a sermon occasioned by the death of the Rev. Samuel Waugh *-- I have had the opportunity of perusing, and it shows that he was a correct writer, and an instructive, methodical and earnest preacher. He was uncom- monly devoted to the interests of his flock, giving no inconsiderable portion of his time to pastoral visitation. In his family, and indeed in all his relations, he was a fine example of Christian dignity, tender- ness and fidelity."
* Samuel Waugh was a native of Carroll's Tract, in Adams county, Pa., was graduated at the College of New Jersey, in 1773, was settled as pastor of the united congregations of East Pennsborough and Monaghan, in 1782, and continued in this relation until his death, which took place in January, 180 ;. One of his parishioners (Judge Clendenin) says of him :- " He was a sound divine, a very acceptable preacher, and highly esteemned by his people."
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FREDERICK SMITH, ESQ.
N the 3d of May, 1861, Frederick Smith closed a life of labour, honour and usefulness in Chambersburg. He was born in Friends' Cove, Bedford county, Pa., February 6th, 1796. and received his classical education at Washington College, After com- pleting the study of the law, he removed to Chambersburg, and was admitted to the bar in ISIS. Soon establishing a reputation, he was appointed District Attorney for Franklin county, and filled the office creditably for a number of years. A prominent member of the Demo- cratic party, he served several terms in the Legislature, and was twice elevated to the Speakership. Although he abandoned active participa- tion in politics, early in his career, he always occupied a high position in his party, and was frequently prominently brought forward as a candidate for gubernatorial nomination. During the greater part of his life, he enjoyed a lucrative practice at the bar, and won distinction in his profession. At the expiration of the term of Hon. Alexander Thomson's judgeship, he was unanimously recommended by his brethren at the bar for appointment to the vacancy.
An ardent friend of education, he took a lively interest in our schools and colleges, and was for many years Treasurer of Pennsylvania College, and one of its most energetic trustees. Although laboriously occupied in his profession, the concerns of his church, the Evangelical Lutheran, elicited his warmest interest, and he diligently attended upon its services and worked for its welfare. The Sabbath school engaged his best efforts, and for a long period he was its Superintendent-from July 13th, 1832, to February 3d, 1856.
No man of his day won more completely the confidence of the community, and none exerted a wider influence. A more stainless name was never borne in the society of his adopted home; his word was never weighed ; his promises were accepted without questioning, and his endorsements passed without the discount of a doubt.
In manners he was remarkably plain, his demeanor was simple and unostentatious, his disposition exceedingly amiable and winning. With the agricultural community he was an especial favourite, and to him they flocked with their business, and came for advice in all the affairs of their lives, trusting him with implicit faith and veneration.
The beneficent influence which the lives of such men exert over their
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neighbours and acquaintances who come long under their operation, cannot be estimated ; and it is not too much to say, that the good Frederick Smith did lives after him, and that his memory shall be loved and honoured when more brilliant citizens will be forgotten.
He brought up a large family, all but one of which survived him. The only exception was his eldest son, Alfred HI. Smith, Esq., who graduated with high honour at Pennsylvania College, and was ad- mitted to the bar of Franklin county. He died in his twenty-eighth year, after having acquired a billiant reputation as an editor, and as the most remarkable literary genius that his native place produced ; having given abundant assurance of his becoming one of the most eminent men of letters of our day.
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FRANCIS LAIRD, D. D.
HE REV. FRANCIS LAIRD, D. D., became the pastor of the churches of Plum Creek and Pike Run, in the Presbytery of Redstone, Pa., in ISoo, where he continued till 1831, when he resigned this charge and accepted a call for the whole of his time to the church of Murrysville, Pa. Here he continued closely and lovingly devoted to the pastoral duties of his charge, till 1850, when he resigned on account of the infirmities of old age. He died April 6th, 1851, in the eighty-seventh year of his age-the fifty-fourth of his ministry.
He graduated at Dickinson College, during the presidency of the Rev. Dr. Charles Nisbet, and received the honorary title of D. D. from Jefferson College. He was a man of studious habits through life, well learned, especially inclined to biblical criticism, and well qualified for it. Many a young minister profited by his kind, clear and correct suggestions in this line. Even to the last days of his life, his supreme delight was the study of the sacred Scriptures in the original tongues. When his eyes had become dimmed, so that he could no longer read with the subdued light of his room, he would stand out of doors in the sun, its light blazing full on the page of the Hebrew Bible spread before him, while with quivering finger he essayed to follow the words of the Holy Book.
He strove to draw the truth from the very fountain head, and he was content with nothing less.
Equally well he loved to communicate it, when possible, in the very language in which God had given it to man. During the last moments of his life, this desire knew no abatement and was his ruling passion. Almost the very last words he uttered, faintly whispered into the car of a sympathizing friend, were the Greek of St. Paul : Ta panta kai en pasi Christos; Christ is all and in all. Col. iii, 11.
THOMAS CREIGH, D. D.
HE HON. JOHN CREIGH, the grandfather of the Rev. Thomas Creigh, emigrated from Ireland to Carlisle, Cumber- land county, Pa., in the year 1761, his paternal ancestors having left Germany about the year 1640, on account of the religious persecution then existing against Protestants. From a private letter from the minister of the Presbyterian Church at Carmony, Ireland, it appears that the great-grandfather of the Rev. Dr. Creigh was a ruling elder in that church in 1719, while his grandfather filled the same office in the Presbyterian Church in Carlisle. To this we may add that Judge Creigh was an ardent defender of the principles of the American Revolution, and his grandson, Dr. Alfred Creigh, of Washington, Pa .. has his commission bearing date April 29th, 1776, "in defence of American Liberty !. "
Such were the paternal ancestors of the Rev. Dr. Creigh, while his maternal ancestors -- the Parkers and Dunbars-coming from Scotland, settled on the banks of the Conodoguinett creek, a few miles from Carlisle, near the old Presbyterian Meeting House, as early as 1730, some of whom filled the office of elder.
Dr. John Creigh, the father of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Creigh, was born in Carlisle, educated at Dickinson College, and received his degree of M. D., in Philadelphia, and after an eventful life, devoted exclusively to the arduous duties of his profession, died in Carlisle on November 7th, 18.18. Dr. John Creigh and Ellen Dunbar Creigh, had six sons and four daughters, of whom Thomas was the fourth son, who was born in ISOS ; of these ten children, but three sons and one daughter survive.
Thomas Creigh received the best English education, which being completed, he entered the Latin Grammar school, and in due time became a student of Dickinson College. For four consecutive years he pursued his collegiate studies under Rev. Dr. Win. Neill, (Presi- dent,) Prof. Henry Vetake, Rev. Alexander McClelland, Rev .. Joseph . Spencer and Dr. John K. Findley, men who ranked high in their pro- fession, and through whose instrumentality the graduates of that college were each prepared to act a distinguished part in the active duties of life. Among his twenty-one classmates who graduated with him in 1828. six became ministers, viz: Rev. Dr. Robert Davidson,
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Rev. N. G. White, Rev. E. Y. Buchanan, Rev. Robert Bryson, Rev. J. G. Brackenridge, and himself.
Whilst attending college, Mr. Creigh attached himself to the Pres- byterian Church of Carlisle, then under the care of Rev. Dr. George Duffield, and after he graduated, placed himself under the Carlisle Presbytery. He spent the usual time at the Theological Seminary at Princeton, and after being licensed to preach the Gospel by the Carlisle Presbytery, he received a call from the Presbyterian Church at Mercers- burg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and was ordained and installed on November 17, 1831, in which church he has faithfully laboured for forty-four years. In this connection it may be added that this church has a peculiar history, worthy of being recorded. Although it had a nominal existence for many years, yet its first settled pastor was the Rev. John Steele, who served it about two years; the next was the Rev. John King, a licentiate of the Philadelphia Presbytery, who was installed pastor on the 30th day of August, 1769, and who resigned his charge in 1811, although his death from old age did not occur until July 15, 1813, then in his seventy-third year, having preached to that congregation forty-two years. His successor was the Rev. Dr. David Elliott, who was a licentiate of the Presbytery of Carlisle, and who was ordained and installed October 7, 1812 ; he resigned the pastoral charge of this church October 29, 1829, having filled the pulpit for seventeen years. Two years after the close of Dr. Elliott's ministry, or on the 17th day of November, 1831, the Rev. Thomas Creigh was installed its pastor ; thus, for a space of one hundred and six years, this old Presbyterian church, baptized with the Spirit of God, and sanctified by His presence, has had but four regularly ordained ministers, and until the ISth day of March, 1874, when the death of the Rev. Dr. Elliott occurred, two of the three were alive to testify of God's good- ness to the church of His own right hand's planting.
Mr. Creigh received the honorary degree of D. D. from Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., about 1853. It can be testified without flattery, that Dr. Creigh's high attainments in personal piety, his faithful exhibi- ' tion of Divine truth, his sound judgment, his prudence, his constant study to promote the peace and purity of the church and neighbour- hood by precept and example, his interest in behalf of education, and his constant desire to promote the extension of the church of his choice and of his fathers, handed down to him for so many generations, has enabled him, through the blessing of God, to strengthen the church entrusted to him by so many precious reminiscences, so many pious memorials, and to do a grand life-work.
THIOMAS CREIGHI, D. D.
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In the town of his early years, of his middle age, and advanced life, Dr. Creigh's personal influence far exceeds that of any other person. His opinion on all subjects is considered sound and orthodox. As a member of Presbytery he occupies a high position. In subjects con- nected with the interests of the church his ministerial brethren almost invariably take his counsel and advice. And although age and honour- able gray hairs have set their mark upon him, his health appears to be improving, and from present appearance he will, with the blessing of God, attain to his fiftieth year in the ministry.
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MAJOR DAVID NEVIN.
OWARDS the close of the last century, two brothers of the name of Nevin, came from England to this country, one of whom settled on the Hudson river, New York, in which region his descendants are still found, occupying high social positions. and the other of whom, Daniel Nevin, chose Cumberland valley for his home.
Mr. Nevin was united in marriage with Mrs. Margaret Reynolds, widowed sister of Dr. Hugh Williamson, elsewhere noticed in this volume, and lived at Herron's Branch, near Strasburg, Franklin county. The youngest child of this marriage was the subject of this sketch, who was born February 23d, 1782.
In his earlier years he received such education as the school in the neighbourhood could give, and assisted, as he was able, in conducting the operations of his father's farm, for which there was a greater necessity inasmuch, as his elder and only brother, John, was at the time a student in Dickinson College. It would seem that he had more than common desire for mental improvement, for often was he heard, in after life, by his familiar friends, to speak of books which he had read during the long winter evenings, and among which the Poems of Robert Burns held a conspicuous place.
After some training in mercantile pursuits in the neighbourhood of the place of his nativity, Mr. Nevin united with his young friend McCracken, afterwards General Samuel McCracken, of Lancaster. Ohio, in trading on the Ohio river, a business which, at that time. with its risks and toils, required an unusual degree of the spirit of enterprise. Returning, after some time, to Cumberland valley, to which he was strongly attached, he continued in mercantile life, in which his skill, industry, and perseverance were crowned with large success. On February ist, 1810, Mr. Nevin married Mary Peirce. only daughter of Joseph Peirce, Esq., who resided on one of his farms above Carlisle, and who was an only son of one of the first and most enterprising settlers of Cumberland county. Mrs. Nevin survived her husband some fifteen years, after having reached the ordinary limit of human existence, three-score years and ten. After her deccase, the following touching and truthful tribute to her memory was published by one occupying a distinguished position in the world,
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who knew how to appreciate her worth: "Few women have filled more honourably through life the proper sphere of woman's relations and duties. No one could well be more faithful as a wife, or more . true and devoted as a mother. Her large family, mourning as they do her loss, may count themselves happy in her memory, as they all concur also in pronouncing it blessed. Nature and grace combined to make her more than usually loving and worthy of love. She seemed to live, move, and have her being, in the element of kindness. Her spirit was made up of gentleness and peace. The law of self- forgetting and self-sacrificing service entered largely into all her domes- tic and social relations ; so that she appeared to be never so happy as in trying to make others happy. An atmosphere of trustful sincerity and hopeful benevolence always attending her, gave her presence for this purpose a special adaptation and force. She carried with her through life, one might say, the joyous simplicity of a child-a simplic- ity which was devoid of all affectation, and that knew no guile. What might have seemed to be thus in one view her weakness, became her great strength. Her passive nature clothed her with an uncommon amount of active resolution and power. Her work in life was great, and she did it well. Her praise is not with her own family simply, but with all who knew her as neighbours, acquaintances and friends. It may be doubted if she ever had an earnest enemy in the community to which she belonged; and it is certain that she has now gone down to the grave in the midst of universal esteem and regret. It is felt on all sides, that a " mother in Israel " has been taken away, and that a mournful void is created by her removal. There is something touching indeed in the spontaneous tribute that is everywhere paid to her acknowledged goodness. But her friends sorrow not for her as those who have no hope. She had consecrated herself in early life to the service of God; she showed herself an carnest Christian all her days; and she died at last in the full hope of a blessed iminor- tality through Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. Retaining the full, unclouded use of her faculties to the end, and knowing well that the end was come, she rebuked the tears of those who stood sorrowing around her dying bed, professed her unwavering confidence in Christ-and in Him wholly and alone-and so, with peaceful serenity, surrendered her spirit into the hands of God. Death came upon her thus as the Christian's sleep. She died in the Lord."
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