USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 4
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To this Gen. Washington thus replied :
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GENTLEMEN :
I thank you sincerely for your affectionate address. I feel as I ought, what is personal to me, and I cannot but be particularly pleased with the enlightened and patriotic attachment which is manifested towards our happy constitution and the laws.
When we look around and behold the universally acknowledged prosperity which blesses every part of the United States, facts no less nnequivseat than those which are the lamented occasion of our present meeting were necessary to persuade u, that any portion of our fellow citizens could be so deficient in dis- cernment or virtue, as to attempt to disturb a situation which, instead of murmars and tumults, calls for our warmest gratitude to Heaven, and our earnest endeavours to preserve and prolong so favoured a iot.
Let us hope that the delusion cannot be lasting; that reason will speedily regain her empire, and the law, their just authority, where they have lost it. Let the wise and virtuous unite their efforts to reclaim the misguided, and to detect and defeat the arts of the factious. The union of good men is a basis on which the security of our internal peace and stability of our government may safely rest. It will always prove an adequate rampart against the vicious and disorderly.
If in any case in which it may be indispensable to raise the sword of justice against obstinate offenders, I shall deprecate the necessity of deviating from a favourite aim, to establish the authority of the laws in the affections of all, rather than in the fears of any.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
DICKINSON COLLEGE.
The inhabitants of Cumberland county, immediately after the Revolutionary war. showing their appreciation of a high grade for the education of young men in science. literature and theology, turned their attention to the establishment of a college within their bounds. They did not wait to repair the losses and sacrifices to which they had subjected themselves, by a military service in distant places, during the protracted war for American Independence, before they would provide for elevated education. They were ready to act at once in the matter, and this at a time when the government of the state, as well as that of the Confederation, was embarrassed with war debts, want of financial resources, and a confederation of independent states that was deficient in effective provisions, and in strength was little better than a rope of sand. The people were also called upon to meet heavy taxation, for local, state and national purposes. with little or no currency of value, and with very limited resources. Yet the spirit that animated with energy and resolution the men who had encountered the wilderness, defended the frontiers of the colony against the savages and their French allies, and given themselves up to the defence of their country against royal despotisin and parlia- mentary usurpation, induced them to give their energies and perseverance, recruited by a short period of peace, to provide for education by an institution that woual be worthy of public confidence and respect. Measures were taken to collect funds for it. and in 1783, a charter was obtained from the Legislature, by which the Institution was located at Carlisle, and called Dickinson College, in commemoration of John Dickin- son, President of the Supreme Executive Council of the State, who had been liberal in his donation to it. This Institution has graduated many young men of celebrity as lawyers, jurists, statesmen and divines, in this and other states. The Faculty was first organized in 178.4, by the election of the Rev. Charles Nisbet, D. D .. of Montrose, Scotland, as President. and the appointment of Mr. James Ross, as Professor of Lan- guages, to whom were added in the following year, the Rev. Robert Davidson, D. D., as Professor of Belles-Lettres, and Mr. Robert Johnston, Instructor in Mathematics. In 1798, the spot now occupied by the college buildings, between High and Louther streets and west of West street, was selected, and the first edifice erected and ready for use in 1802. The edifice was destroyed by fire in 1864, Int the trustees proceeded to erect another, which was completed in September, 1865, and is now known as the west college. Before the completion of this building, the college sustained a heavy loss in
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the death of Dr. Nisbet, which occurred on the 14th of February, 1804. The office of President was exercised pro tempore by Dr Davidson, until, in ISog, the Rev. Jere- miah Atwater, D. D, was elected to fill the vacancy. The Institution was prosperous under his direction, and the class of 1812 was the largest that had graduated for twenty years. In 1815, President Atwater resigned, and the following year the operations of the college were suspended, and were not renewed till 1821. In that year, the Rev. John M. Mason, D. D., was called to preside over the Institution, and during the first part of his adminstration there was a considerable influx of students; but previously to his resignation, which took place May ist, 1824. the college began to decline, and continned to languish, except for brief intervals, winle under the presidency of Drs. Neill and Howe, until 1832, when the trustees determined that the operations of the Institution should cease. This result was, in a great measure, attributable to the want of attention and interest on the part of its trustees, and to dissensions prevailing with that portion of them living in the vicinity, to whom, as is usual with literary and religious institutions, its management was chiefly committed.
In 1833, the control of the college was transferred to the Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Jersey Annual Conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, by the resignation, from time to time, of some of the trustees, and by the election of others, named by the said Conferences, in their stead, until finally a complete change was effected in the management of the Institution. By this change the college took a fresh start. and the organization of the Faculty was commenced by the election of the Rev. John P. Durbin. D. D., as President, and the establishment of a Law Department under the charge of John Reed, LL. D., the President Judge of the District. The other members of the first Faculty were Merritt Caldwell, A. M., and Robert Emory, D. D.
NEWVILLE.
Newville was incorporated February 26th, 1817. About two miles from this bor- ough, in 1830, Mr. William Denning, who is here entitled to special mention, departed this life at his residence, in the 94th year of his age. " The deceased," says Hazard,* " was an artificer in the army of the Revolution. He it was who, in the days of his country's need, made the only successful attempt ever made in the world to manufacture wrought iron cannon, two of which he completed at Middlesex in this county, and com- meneed another and larger one at Mount Holly, but could get no one to assist him who could stand the heat, which is said to have been so great as to melt the buttons on his
clothes. This unfinished piece it is said, lies as he left it, at either Holly Forge or the Carlisle Barracks. One of those completed was taken by the British at the battle of Brandywine, and is now in the Tower of London. The British government offered a large sum, and a stated annuity, to the person who would instruct them in the manu- facture of that article, but the patriotic blacksmith preferred obscurity and poverty in his own beloved country, to wealth and affluence in that of her oppressors, although that country for which he did so much kept her purse closed from the veteran soldier till near the close of his long life, and it often required the whole weight of his well-known character for honesty, to save him from the severest pangs of poverty. When such characters are neglected by a rich grovernment, it is no wonder that some folks think Republics ungrateful."
BIG SPRING CONGREGATION. Of the Big Spring congregation, (Presbyterian, ) or Hopewell. as it was then called, * Register, Vol. 7.
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the Rev. Thomas Craighead was the first pastor. He was called in 1737, installed in October, 1738, and died in June of the ensuing year. In relation to him, one of his lineal descendants, Thomas Craighead, Jr., then living at White Hill, Cumberland county, thus wrote, under date of December 16th, 1845, to Mr. Rupp :
" At Big Spring, protracted meetings were held for public worship. So powerful, it is said, were the influences of the Spirit, that the worshipers felt loath, even after having exhausted their stores of provisions. to disperse. I have heard it from the lips of those present, when Thomas Craighead delivered one of the parting discourses, that his 'flow of eloquence seemed supernatural, -- he continued in bursts of eloquence while his audience was melted to tears, himself, however, exhausted, hurried to pronounce the blessing, waving his hand, and as he pronounced the words, ' farewell, farewell!' he sank down, and expired without a groan or struggle. His remains rest where the church now stands, the only monument of his memory."
After Mr. Craighead's demise. Mr. James Lyon, of Ireland, supplied the pulpit at Hopewell for some months. After his term of service had expired, Big Spring was connected with Rocky Spring and Middle Spring, as a charge, under an arrangement " that the minister's labours be equally divided in a third part to each place, as being most for the glory of God and good of His people." The next point at which it is pos- sible to write with any confidence of the regular occupancy of this pulpit is 1759. In that year the Rev. George Duffield was installed over Carlisle and Big Spring. The Rev. William Linn was Mr. Duffield's successor over the latter church when it became a separate charge. He resigned the pastorate in 1784. Mr. Linn was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Wilson, who continued with the church until he was removed by death, in March, 1799. The call which he received to take charge of the church is still in the possession of his descendants, in which the congregation promises to Mr. Wilson " the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, Pennsylvania currency, in specie, and to allow him the use of the dwelling-house, barn, and all the clear land on the glebe, possessed by their former minister, also plenty of timber for rails and fire-wood, likewise a suffi- cient security for the payment of the above mentioned sums during his incumbency." The Rev. Joshua Williams, D. D., was called to Big Spring church in 18o2, and resigned the pastorate about 1829. His successors have been, the Rev. Robert MeCachren, who was pastor until 1851, the Rev. Mr. Henderson, the Rev. Mr. Maury, and the Rev. E. Erskine, D. D. The earliest elders of Big Spring, now known, we're Jolin Carson, John McKeehan, John Bell, David Ralston, Sr., Thomas Jacobs, Alexan- der Thompson, William Lindsay, and Atcheson Laughlin.
PROGRESS OF THE PLACE.
It is with Newville now, as with other localities in Cumberland valley-in gazing upon it the mind is filled with amazement at the mighty change which has taken place. The time is almost within the memory of some who live, when the dark shadows of the gloomy forest fell upon all that region, and the savage Indian roamed over the surround- ing hills and valleys, but now the eye is there called to survey a large and prosperous town, with admirable schools and handsome churches, the circumjacent country highly cultivated, and densely inhabited with a moral and religious population, the whistle of the rushing rail-car having taken the place of the war-whoop," as travelers are borne along with rapid speed, and the quiet magnetic wires annihilating both time and space with the electric celerity of their communications.
MIDDLE SPRING.
The Presbyterian church at Middle Spring, about two miles north of Shippensburg. * The Cumberland Valley Railroad was incorporated in 1834.
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came into existence about the year 1740. In 1733, a place of worship was erected, which was a log building, near the gate of the " Lower Graveyard," about thirty-five feet square. Soon this edifice, in which, for a while there was preaching only four or five times a year, was found to be too small to accommodate the people, and it was de- molished, and another of the same material erected on the same spot. This was consid- erably larger, being about fifty-eight feet long and forty-eight feet wide. In a little while it became necessary again that the house of worship should have its capacity ex- tended, and this desideratum was effected by removing three sides of the building then in use, and embracing a little more space on either side, which was covered with a roof, something in the form of a shed. Up the sides of these adilitions to the main edifice, and over the roofs, were fixed wooden steps, by which access was gained into the gallery. This arrangement was made for want of room in the interior of the building for the construction of a stairway. About the year 1781, the old stone church was erected, whose site, as many yet living well remember, was beside that of the present building. This was Still larger than its predecessor (being fifty-eight by sixty-eight feet , and was necessarily so, by reason of the rapid increase of population. About the same time that this church was built, and which, for its day, was one of more than ordinary elegance, the graveyard, immediately in its rear, was located. The present building at Middle Spring was erected in 1848.
TRIALS BEFORE SESSION,
The subjoined extracts from the Session-Book of this church, will serve to show the spirit of the times :
" 1744. The Session condemn D. S.'s manter of expressing himself, as being very untender to his neighbour's character, and appoint the Moderator to occasion to warn their people against speaking abron ! slanderous reports upon neighbours, either privately, or more publicly in company, and more especially when they have no solid grounds for, or knowledge of them, as being very inconscientious, discovering a will ingness or disposition to take up an ill report, a breach of the ninth commandment, in backbiting their neighbour, wounding to religion, having a tendency to fill the minds of people with jealousies, and thereby exposing church judicatories oftentimes to reflections, as tho' they covered sin, when upoa tiyal they can't final guilt."
"1746. J. P. was cited to the Session for taking venison from an Indian, and giving him meal and butter for it on the Sabbath day. J. P. appeared and acknowledged that being at home one Sabbath day, he heard a gun go off twice quickly after each other, and said he would go out and see what it was, his wife dissuading him, he said he would go and see if he could hear the Horse-ball : having gone a little way he saw an Indian, who had just killed a fawn and dressed it : the Indian coming towards the house with him to get some victuals, having, he said, et nothing that morning, he saw a deer, and shot it, and charged and shot again at another, which ran away. Said l'. stool by the Indian until he shin'd the deer; when he had done he told said P. he might take it in if he wou'd, for he would take no more with him ; upon which said P. and W. K., who then had come to them, took it up, and carry'd it in ; when he had given the Indian his breakfast, said Indian ask'd if he had any meal, he said he had, and gave him some ; then the Indian asked for butter, an I asking his wife about it, he gave the Indian some ; but he denies that he gave these things as a reward for the venison, inasmuch as they had made no bargain about it.
" The Session judge that J. P. do acknowledge his breach of Sabbath in this matter, and be rebuk !!! before the Session for his sin."
The Res. Mr. Calls, of Ireland, and the Rev. Mr. Clarke, of Scotland, served the congregation of Middle Spring, each of them about six months or a year. They were succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Blair, of the duration of whose pastorate we are not able to write. Nothing definite is known of the supply of the pulpit until 1765, when the Rev. Robert Cooper was chosen overseer of the flock. Dr. Cooper continued in the pastoral relation until 1797. The Rev. John Moodey succeeded Dr. Cooper in 1803
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and continued in office about fifty years. The pastors of the church, since his resigna- tion, have been the Rev. Messrs. Hays, Richardson, and Wylie.
SHIPPENSBURG.
This borough, called after its original proprietor, Edward Shippen, and the oldest town, except York, in Pennsylvania, was incorporated January 21st, 1819. During the French and Indian wars, two forts, Fort Morris and Fort Franklin, were erected there, the remains of one of which were, until within a few years, still to be seen. Some idea of the size and condition of the place, about a century and a quarter since, may be derived from the subjoined extracts from a letter dated June 14th, 1755, to Gover- nor Morris, from Charles Swaine, who was then on a visit to the place on public busi- ness :
" I judge there are sufficient buildings for storing the provision, without erecting any."
" I find not above two pastures here, those but mean as to grass, from drought, but there is a line range of forage for upwards of four miles in the woods, quite to the foot of the South mountain."
The present prosperous condition of the town contrasts pleasantly with its feeble be- ginning. In it, in its early history, many of the frontier settlers in their flight for life from the Indians, took refuge. " In July, 1763," says Gordon,* " there were here, one thousand three hundred and eighty-four of these poor, distressed inhabitants Of these, three hundred and one were male adults, three hundred and forty-five women, and seven hundred and thirty-eight children, many of whom were obliged to lie in stables, barus, cellars, and under old leaky sheds, the dwelling houses being all crowded. The inhabi- tants were kept in constant alarm for eight or ten years, not knowing at what moment they would be surprised by a blood-thirsty enemy." The same author says : " The 17th of March, 1764, the Indians carried off five people from within nine miles of Ship- pensburg, and shot one man through the body. The enemy, supposed to be eleven in number, were pursued successfully by about one hundred provincials. The houses of John Stewart, Adam Simms, James Mc Camman, William Baird, James Kelly. Stephen Callwell and John Boyd were burnt. These people lost all their grain, which they had threshed out, with the intention to send it, for safety. further down among the inhabitants."
CHURCHES.
One of the earliest churches in Shippensburg was the . Issociate Reformed Presbyterian. Until this organization was effected the Episcopal element was, perhaps, dominant in the borough, through the influence of Mr. Shippen, the proprietor, who was connected with that denomination. This church was under the care of the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, in connection with the Associate Reformed Synod. Its first pastor was the Rev. James Walker, who resigned the charge in iszo. The pulpit was' then filled by the Rev. Thomas M. Strong. In 1823, the Rev. Henry R. Wilson was called, with the permission of the Presbytery, to take charge of the congregation, and continued in connection with that body until 1825, when it was dissolved, and he was received by the Presbytery of Carlisle. Dr. Wilson continued to be pastor of the church until 1839. The Rev. James Harper, D. D., was the successor of Dr. Wilson, assuming the pastorate in 1840, and withdrawing from it in 1872. The Rev. W. W. Taylor, of Philadelphia, then took charge of the congregation, serving them for two years.
The first elders of this church, of whom there is any record, were John Means and
* History of l'ensylvania.
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William Bard. The following persons have since successively constituted the session : George McGinniss, John Reside, Daniel Henderson, Stephen Culbertson, Benjamin Reynolds, Alexander P. Kelso, William Rankin, M. D., Robert Mateer, Benjamin Snodgrass. John Mateer, John Craig, John Bridges, and Robert C. Hays, M. D.
The old white church, in which the congregation worshiped for many years, was a short time after Dr. Harper's settlement, claimed by a few Associate Reformed mem- bers still resident in the place, and their claim was confirmed by an appeal to the civil law. The Presbyterian congregation then erected a neat edifice for worship in another part of the town, which, after standing some years, gave place to the present beautiful and commodious structure, so creditable to the taste and liberality of the people.
Methodist, Lutheran and German Reformed congregations were organized in this place at an early day, and all of them now have handsome and convenient churches.
One of the principal ornaments of Shippensburg is the very large and handsome Cumberland Valley State Normal School, of which we here furnish a picture. The charter of this institution was secured in April, 1870, its corner-stone was laid with Masonic rites May 31st, 1871, it was accepted by the State authorities as a State Normal School for the Seventh Normal District July 22d, 1873, and it was inaugurated April 15th, 1873, the school opening with three hundred students in attendance. The ground owned by it embraces ten acres which are admirably adapted for ornamentation and use, and the cost of which inclusive of that of the buildings, was about $135,000. Of this amount the state paid $40,000, and $60,ooo have been raised by private subscrip- tion to the stock of the Institution. Its present Principal is George P. Beard. Its Board of Trustees consists of Hon. A. G. Miller, Hon. Lemuel Todd, John A. Craig, E. J. MeCumne, George R. Dykeman, Hon. Geo. W. Skinner, H. G. Skiles, J. A. C. McCune, John Grabill, Samuel M. Wherry, William Mell, N. L. Dykeman, C. L. Shade, and J. H. Mccullough.
A. TRADITION OF CONOCOCHFAGUE VALLEY.
Before Franklin county was established, September 9th, 1784, it constituted the southwestern part of Cumberland county, and was designated " The Conococheague set- tlement," from its principal stream, the Conococheague creek. It is a tradition that a great part of the best lands in the Conococheague Valley were, at the first settlement of the county, what is now called in the Western states prairie. The land was without timber, covered with a rich luxuriant grass, with some scattered trees, hazel-bushes, wild plums, and crab apples. It was then called generally " the barrens." The timber was to be found on or near the water-courses, and on the slate soil. This accounts for the preference given by the early Scotch-Irish settlers to the slate lands, before the lime- stone lands were surveyed or located. The slate had the attractions of wood, water- courses and meadows, and was free from rock at the surface. Before the introduction of clover, artificial grasses, and the improved system of agriculture, the hilly limestone land had its soil washed off, was disfigured with great gullies, and was sold as unprofitable. for a trifle, by the proprietors, who sought other lands in Western Pennsylvania.
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EARLY SETTLERS AT CHAMBERSBURG.
Among the first to explore and settle the Kittochtinny valley, were four adventurous brothers. James, Robert, Joseph and Benjamin Chambers, who emigrated from the county of Antrim, in Ireland, to the province of Pennsylvania, between the years 1726 and 1730. Benjamin, the youngest brother, settled permanently at the confluence of Falling Spring and Conococheague creeks, where Chambersburg is situated. He was
CUMBERLAND VALLEY STATL NORMAL SCHOOL, SHIPPENSBURG, P.A.
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the first white settler in what is known as Franklin county. The interesting incidents which marked the early history of Col. Chambers, are presented in his sketch in the body of this volume, to which the reader is respectfully referred. His career as a pioneer was characterized by a remarkable degree of energy, courage, decision. self-denial, sound judgment and practical tact, under which the wilderness and the solitary place blossomed with the indications of the march of civilization and the power of religious influence. He maintained a friendly intercourse with the Indians in his vicinity, who were attached to him; with them he traded and had so much of their confidence and respect that they did not injure him or offer to molest him.
When, however, the western Indians, after Braddock's defeat, in 1775, became troublesome, and made incursions cast of the mountains, killing and making prisoners of many of the white inhabitants, Col. Chambers, for the security of his family and neighbours, found it necessary to erect, where the borough of Chambersburg now is, a large stone dwelling-house, surrounded by the water from Falling Spring, and situated where the straw paper-mill now is. The dwelling-house, for greater security against the attempts of the Indians to fire it, was roofed with lead. The dwellings and the mills were surrounded by a stockade fort. This fort, with the aid of fire-arms, a blunderbass, and swivel, was so formidable to the Indian parties who passed the country, that it was but seldom assailed, and no one sheltered by it was killed or wounded, although in the country around, at different times, those who ventured out on their farms were surprised and either slaughtered or carried off prisoners, with all the horrors and aggravations of savage warfare. A man by the name of Mckinney, who had sought shelter with his family in the fort about 1756, ventured out in company with his son to visit his dwelling and plantation, where the Hollywell paper-mill is, on the creek below Chambersburg. They were discovered, however, by the Indians, and both killed and scalped, and their dead bodies brought to the fort and buried.
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