USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Centennial biography : Men of mark of Cumberland Valley, Pa., 1776-1876 > Part 5
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CHAMBERSBURG LAID OUT.
In 1764 Col. Chambers laid out the town of Chambersburg, adjoining his mills. The intercourse with the western country being at that time very limited, and most of the trade and travel along the valley to the south, he was induced to lay his lots in that direction, and the town did not extend beyond the creek to the west. The increasing trade with the western country, after the Revolution, produced an extension of the town on the west side of the creek, which was located by Capt. Benjamin Chambers, son of the Colonel, about 1791. The first stone house erected in the town is still standing at the northwest corner of the Diamond, built by J. Jack, about 1770, and now owned by Mrs Lewis Denig. The first courts hollen in the county were in this house, up stairs. and on one occasion, the crowd was so great as to strain the beams, and fracture the walls, causing great confusion and alarm to the court and bar .* The first tavern in the place was kept by Robert Jack, in a little log-house which stood where the bank now is. Chambersburg remained but a small village until after the erection of Franklin into a separate county in 1784, since which period it has progressively improved, until it has become one of the most beautiful and flourishing inland towns of the State.
Col. Chambers had appropriated to the use of the public for a burial-ground a romantic cedar grove on the banks of the creek. This spot still retains some of the
"The first court was held September 15th, 17'4, before Humphrey Fullerton, Esq . Thomas Johnson, Esq., and James Finley, Esq. Edward Crawford, clerk. The second court was held Desember ad, before William Mellowell, Ist. Ilim- phrey Fullerton, Esq , and James Finley, Esq. Jeremiah Talbot, sheriff The Grand Jury consisted of James l'oe. Henry Poweling, William Allison, William McDowell, Robert Willins, John McConnell, John Mccaray, John Ray, John Jack, Jr. John Dickson, D. MeClintick, Joseph Chantiers and Joseph Long .- Kups.
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beauties of nature and rural scenery. This, with some additional grounds, he conveyed by deed of gift to P. Varen and others, as trustees. on the ist of January, 1768, " in trust for the Presbyterian congregation of the Falling Spring, now professing and adhering to, and that shall hereafter adhere to and profess, the Westminster profession of faith and the mode of church government therein contained, and to and for the use of a meeting-house or Presbyterian church, session house, school house, graveyard, and such religious purposes." Of this congregation he was an efficient, active and attentive member. Ile also continued a member of the board of trustees until 1787, when on . account of his advanced age and infirmities, he asked leave to resign. His death occurred Feb. 17th of the ensuing year .*
CHURCH AT CHAMBERSBURG.
In the cedar grove, already referred to, and near the spot where the present church edifice stands, there was erected a small log building, in 1739, for the double purpose of a school house and place of worship. It was entered by a door on the eastern side and another on the southern, and lighted by long, narrow windows, which were of the width of two small panes of glass, and reached from one end to the other of the building. When this house, as was frequently the case, proved too small to accommodate all who wished to worship in it, the congregation abandoned it for the time in favour of Col. Chambers' saw-mi", which stood on the bank of the creek, on what is now known as " The Island," and which was surrounded by a lovely green plot. On that grassy space, when it was at all proper, they gathered around, seated themselves, and listened with interest and eagerness to the messages of God from his commissioned ambassador.
In 1767, this rude log structure was demolished, and another edifice for sacred services erceted, which was considerably larger than its predecessor, being about thirty- five by seventy fect, and was of better finished material. It stord where the present church does, though its position was somewhat different, as it presented a side view to the street.
The present church edifice of Falling Spring, which was erected in 1803, and had been several times remodeled since, is at once simple, neat, and beautiful. Its elevated site, also, is a most desirable one, calling as it does for those who worship within the sanctuary, to leave the pursuits and associations of a bustling yet fading world, and come up to the service of the Lord. The shadows which fall around it, likewise, from trees which were standing when the footstep of the white man first broke the silence of the wilderness, are not without their deep significance, neither is the ivy which covers its walls, as if to bear constant testimony to the truth, that, with a steadiness and tenacity which neither sunshine nor storm nor revolving seasons can impair, man's affer- tions should rise above the earth, clear to the risen Saviour, and cluster around the church which He hath purchased with His precious blood.
The first pastor of Falling Spring church-Rev. Mr Caven, resigned his relation in 1741. His successor, in 1767, was the Rev. James Lang, or Long. After Mr. Lang, 1794, came the Rev. William Speer, whose pastoral relation was dissolved in 1797. The Rev. David Denny then took charge of the congregation, and continued to labour among them until IS38. Mr. Denny was followed in the pastorate, by the Rev. William Adam, the Rev. Daniel Mckinley, D. D, the Rev. Joseph Clarke, the Rev. Mr. Fine, the Rev. S. J. Niecolls, D. D., and the present incumbent, the Rev. J. A. Crawford, D. D.
* From a manuscript sketch written by the Hon, George Chambers in 19, 2.
WILSON FEMALE COLLEGE.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Early in the history of Chambersburg, German Reformed, Lutheran, and . Metho- dist churches were organized, which, until now, have had a flourishing existence. There is also a Catholic church in the place.
Chambersburg is one of the handsomest towns in the interior of Pennsylvania, and has always had an intelligent, orderly and cultivated population. It was well worthy of being selected as the site of that excellent institution, " Wilson Female College," of which we are able to give our readers a correct representation.
ROCKY SPRING.
As the population of Franklin county increased, new churches were needed for the convenience of the people, and gradually sprang into existence. Prominent among these was the church at Rocky Spring, about four miles from Chambersburg, on the tortuous road which runs over the Slate hills, towards Strasburg. The original edifice, which was built about the time the ancient congregation was organized, stood between the present building and the graveyard. It stood pretty much in the relation to the points of the compass which the new church sustains, the front being towards the south, and smaller ends facing the east and west. It was erected about one hundred and thirty-two years ago, and was a rough log building, a story and a half high, and was built in the rude style of architecture peculiar to that early day. It had one row of windows on the lower story, the lights of which were small and few in number. It was entered by two d ors, which were placed in the eastern and western ends of the house. The doors were small and single ; they were made of plain boards without any panel work.
The present building, an ancient and time-worn structure, was built in 1794. by Mr. Walter Beatty. The old building having in the course of years become incapable of accommodating the growing congregation, an addition to the house was built by constructing a small square building, which was attached to the south side of the church, and which extended only one-half the length of the main structure. The roof was then continued over it from the original edifice. When completed the wall between it and the church was sawn away There were no windows in this addition. and it was consequently poorly supplied with light. In a few years after this alteration the increasing size of the congregation demanded still more room, and another similar addition was built by its side. These alterations gave the house a singular, slanting appearance towards the south end.
About the time the original church was erected there was also built a small. rough log structure, about fifteen feet square, with a wide fire-place, and a large wooden chimney covered with mortar, and extending nearly along the whole end of the house. This structure stood close by the church at the northeastern end, and was called the "Study House." Tradition says it was originally built as a receptacle for the sadille's of the members in rainy weather, as in those carly days they generally came to church on horseback, carriages and other vehicles being rarely used. In later years, the minister was accustomed to use it in preparing for the services, when he chanced to arrive before the hour at which they began. The church Session also met here and arranged the business of the church and examined candidates for admission to member- ship. After the first service, the minister would resort to it to prepare for any afternoon service which was to be heldl. The " Study House " stood for nearly a century, and not very many years have elapsed since its removal.
The first pastor of Rocky Spring church was the Rev. Mir. Craighead. In the grave- yard, on broken pieces of stone slab, may be read the following inscription :
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" In memory of the Rev. John Craighead, who departed this life the 20th day of April, A. D., 1799, aged 57 years. Ordained to preach the gospel and installed pastor of the congregation of Rocky Spring, on the 13th of April, A. D., 1768. He was a faithful and zealous servant of Jesus Christ."
Mr. Craighead's successor was the Rev. Francis Herron, D. D., who after ten years of service among the congregation was chosen pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Pittsburg. After Dr. Herron's removal the Rev. John McKnight, D. D, ministered to the people for several years, when his pastoral relation was interrupted by an invitation to preside over Dickinson college. The vacancy thus occasioned was supplied by his son, the Rev. Dr. John McKnight, who, after preaching several years, removed to Philadelphia. In 1840 a call from " Campbellstown and Rocky Spring " to Rev. A. K. Nelson, with the understanding that the half of his time was to be given to each of these congregations, was accepted by him, and Mr. Nelson continues to be the pastor to this writing.
MORE INDIAN HOSTILITIES.
Further proof of the annoyance to which the inhabitants of Cumberland valley were subjected by the inroads of the Indians, who murdered the people, burned their houses and barns, destroyed their crops and committed the usual atrocities characteristic of savage warfare, is furnished by the operations of the savages in the neighbourhood of Strasburg and Roxbury, from which and their vicinage the congregation of Rocky Spring was largely drawn. On one occasion the Indians captured a number of persons in the neighbourhood of and not far from Rocky Spring, and proceeded with their prisoners toward Bedford. About the same time another party burned the fort ( which then stood near Bossart's mill, ) after shooting the only man who happened to be in at the time, and then followed in the same direction taken by the preceding gang. . 1 company of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, under the command of Captain Alexander Culbertson, went in pursuit of the Indians and overtook them near Sideling Hill. A desperate fight ensued in which the company of Capt. C. was defeated and himself killed. A number of the men were made prisoners and carried off by the Indians. The stream known as "Bloody Run " is supposed by some to have derived its name from this battle, which is represented to have occurred in its vicinity.
MAJOR MCCALMONT.
Just at this point special notice is due of James McCalmont. Esq, who lived near Strasburg, who was a Major in the Revolutionary war, and who became distinguished as a brave and accomplished soldier. This gentleman, + was generally selected as the leader of the parties sent in pursuit of the savages after the perpetration of their numerous hostile acts, and from his success in discovering their haunts and inflicting summary vengeance upon them for their atrocities, he became quite celebrated as an Indian hunter, and was considered by the savages as a daring and formidable foe. As a Lush-fighter he was quite equal to the most wily Indian. One day he met unexpectedly a tall, desperate-looking savage, while alone in the woods near his residence. Both happening to see each other simultaneously, took to trees, and each endeavored to get a shot at his antagonist. After evading each other for some time the savage incautiously peeped from behind the tree, and instantly receive l a ball from the ritle of his dexterons enemy. Upon another occasion, while returning home from Chambersburg,
"Sketch of Rocky Spring church, by William ( Lane, M D).
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he was pursued by a party of Indians who were bent on securing the scalp of their old and hated enemy. After running for a considerable distance, he darted into a barn which stood near by, and escaped out of the other side, and secreted himself in a thicket unobserved by his pursuers. The savages supposing he was yet in the barn set it on fire, and stood around it yelling in exultation at their supposed success in capturing their foe. When they discovered that they were baffled they commenced the search after the Major, and soon found his trail and again joined hotly in the pursuit. The Major was remarkable for his swiftness of foot, and succeeded in outrunning the Indians, who pursued him to the fort at Shippensburg. They often chased him to this fort, it is said, and on several occasions he selected men from the garrison and in turn pursued the Indians and avenged himself by returning with their scalps. During the war the Major was working one day in the field with several other persons at harvest-time. The guns of the party were in a distant part of the field. A gang of several prowling savages suddenly sprang from the thicket, and one, more bold than the rest, ran for the guns. McCalmont also started off on the same errand, and, although the Indian had the advantage of the ground, reached the guns first, one of which he snatched from the stack, and with it shot the savage dead. The settlers coming up soon after the Major, the Indians retreated He was considered by the Indians as quite as swift a runner as they, and fully equal to themselves in ail the wiles and strategy of their peculiar warfare. In consequence of his extraordinary fleetness and agility, they bestowed on him the appellation of " Supple MeCalmont." On the southwestern side of the town of Strasburg there is a cave called "McCalmont's Cave," in which he was accustomed to hide when closely pursued by the Indians. It was in the midst of a thicket, and so covered with thick vines and bushes that it afforded an admirable retreat in times of danger.
The major was a tall, muscular man, of modest and unpretending manners. In private life, his quiet, diffident deportment, gave no indication of the dauntless spirit of the man, of which he presented so many evidences in his encounters with the Indians, as well as with the British army during his campaign under General Washington. After the conclusion of the war, he was appointed one of the Associate Judges of Franklin county, soon after its formation. He died at Strasburg. in iSog. and his remains are interred in the graveyard of Rocky Spring.
COMPANIES FORMED FOR DEFENCE.
During the eight years and more in which the Kittochtinny valley was harassed with the ravages and cruelties of savage warfare, the defence of it being cast almost entirely on the inhabitants by the remissness of the Royal and Provincial Governments to provide for the public defence, men frequently organized themselves into military companies, under the command of some selected leader. Among the first companies organized in West Conococheague, on the bloody outbreak of the Delaware Indians. in 1755, was one which chose for its captain, the Rev. John Steele, their Presbyterian pastor. This command was accepted by Mr. Steele, and executed with so much skill. bravery and judgment, as to commend him to the Provincial Government, which appointed him a captain of the Provincial troops. This appointment he held for many years, to the benefit of the public service, and the satisfaction of the Govern- ment .*
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" Mr. Steele was reputed a sound divine, of piety and learning, and did not relinquish the ministry for arms. Such was the state of the country, that he often exercised his ministry with his gum at his side, addressing was congregation, the men f which had the it weapons within reach.
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AID SOLICITED.
In 1763, a petition was presented to the Assembly by the inhabitants of Great Cove, and Conococheagne, setting forth, that the petitioner,, by recent depredations and ravages of the Indians, committed on their neighbours, being in very imtninent danger, were under the necessity of taking into pay a number of men, amounting to thirty, accustomed to hunting, endured to hardships, and well acquainted with the country, for the protection of themselves and families, and " humbly praying the house would take the premises into consideration, and enable them to continue the aforesaid body of men, in such manner, and subject to such directions, as they should judge most proper and advantageous."
GREEN CASTLE.
The town of Green Castle was laid out by Colonel John Allison in the year 1782, and incorporated by an Act of Assembly, March 25th, 1805. Among the first settlers here were Crawfords, Statlers, Nighs, Mcculloughs, Carsons, Clarks, Watsons, Davisons, Grubbs, Lawrences, McClellands.
MURDER BY THE INDIANS.
The neighbourhood of Green Castle is memorable for a cruel murder, committed by the Indians in 1764. John McCullough. in his narrative, thus refers to the massacre : "Some time in the summer, whilst we were living at Kidd-ko-ling, a great number of Indian- collected at the forks of Moos hing-vong. Perhaps there were about three hundred or upwards. Their intention was to come to the settlement and make a general massacre of the whole people, without any regard to age or sev. They were out about ten days, when most of them returned. Having held a council, they concluded that it was not safe for them to leave their towns destitute of defence. However, several small parties went ?) different parts of the settlements ; it happened that three of them, whom I was well acquainted with, came to the neighbourhood of where I was taken from-they were young fellows, perhaps none of them more than twenty years of age ; they came to a school house, where they murdered and scalped the master an ! all the scholars, except one, who survived after he was scalped ; a boy about ten years old, a full cousin of mine. I saw the Indians when they returned home with the scalps, some of the old Indians were very much displeased at them for killing so many children, especially Veep-paugh-these. or Night Walker, an old chief, or half king. He attributed it to cowardice, which was the greatest affront he could offer them."+
Richard Bard, also, in his narrative, makes the following allusions to this memorable and melancholy event :
" According to the best accounts of the time, my father and his family, from fear of the Indians, having moved to my grandfather's, Thomas Poe's, about three miles from his own place, took a black girl with him to his own place to make some hay, and being there at work, a dog which he had with him began to bark and run towards and from a thicket of bushes. Observing these circumstances, he became alarmed, and taking up his gun, told the girl to run to the house, for he believed there were Indians near. So they made towards the house, and had not been there more than an hour, when from the left of the house they saw a party, commanded by Captain Potter, late General Potter, in pursuit of a party of Indians who had that morning (July 26th, 176.1.) murdered a schoolmaster of the name of Brown, with ten small children, and scalped and left for dead one by the name of Archibald MeCullough, who recovered, and was living not long since. It was remarkable that with but few exceptions the scholars were much averse to going to school that morning. And the account given by MeCullough is, that when the master and the scholars met at the school, two of the scholars informed him that on their way they had seen Indians ; but the informa- tion was not attended to by the master, who ordered them to their books. Soon afterwards two old Indians and a boy rushed up to the door. The master, seeing them, prayed them only to take lus life, and spare the children ; but, unfeelingly, the two old Indians stood at the door, whilst the boy entered the house and, with a piece of wood made in the form of an Indian maul, killed the master and scholars, after which the whole of them were sealped." t
* J ogdon's Narratives, 1, 334.
f Incidents of Border Lit. P I ...
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HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The schoolhouse, to which reference is made in these extracts, stood on a farm about three miles from Green Castle. Some of the remains of it existed as late as 1845, and marked the place of its location. "It was," says a citizen of that borough, in a letter written in the year just mentioned, " truly a solitary one, and would be considered so at this day. It was situated on the brow of a hill. In the front of it there is a ravine, deep and dismal. On the north and west the surrounding hills are covered with a thick growth of underwood."
CONOCOCHFAGUE SETTLEMENT. 18970 66
The " Conococheague Settlement " having many natural advantages, and being fed from the older counties as well as from the old world, was of rapid growth. and the melens of the settlement from the beginning was a Presbyterian church. It appears that the whole Conococheague settlement, including Chambersburg and the portions of the valley lying farther west and south, was at first under the supervision of the Presbytery of Donegal, in the care of a single minister, and that Divine service was held at different points for the better accommodation of all the people. In 1736 we find this Presbytery refusing to sanction the employment of a Mr. Williams, from England, who was then preaching in the settlement, and the people allowed to make application to the Presbytery of New Castle. In November, 1837. Mr Samuel Cavin, a licentiate under the care of the Donegal Presbytery, was ordered to the Conococleague to labour as a supply. During the ensuing year another licentiate, Mr. Samuel Thompson, seems to have spent part of his time, by invitation, among the people of Conococheague It soon became apparent, however, that the territory of the settlement was too extensive to be embraced within the limits of a single organization. Accordingly. in 1738, the people of the settlement agreed in an amicable way to separate and form two congregations, the one to be called "East Conococheague," and the other to be called "West Conococheague." In that agreement it was stipulated that the boundary line between them should be " west from Alexander Dunlap's to the fork of the creek, and thence the creek to be the line until it came to the line of the Province."
EAST CONOCOCHEAGUE.
At the time the settlement agreed to divide into two congregations. the people of East Conococheague made out a call for the pastoral services of the Rev. Mr. Cavin. which was accepted. At this time, this congregation and that of Falling Spring were united as one charge. The probability is that Mr. Cavin continued to be pastor of East Conococheague until 1774. His place was supplied in 1754 and 1755 by the Rev. John Steele, * who had charge of the congregation for this length of time in connection with the congregation of West Conococheague, but was obliged, by the Indian disturb- ances, which increased after Braddock's defeat, to abandon his post This last men- tioned congregation was without a settled pastor for a number of years, the long vacancy being attributable partly to the Indian troubles, and perhaps also in part to the well- known division in the Presbyterian church, arising out of the revivals in 1732. In the year 1769, the union between the congregations of East Conococheague and Falling Spring, which had previously been dissolved, was re-formed, and the Rev. James Lang was called as pastor of the charge, and, it seems, continued so until iso2. In October
* On one occasion, as Mr. Steele was preaching in . barn on the farm since owned by Mr. Adam B. Wingerd, and while engaged in the service, a messenger came bringing the intelligence that a party of Indians had appeared in the w. khhourhe 41 : f Mccullough's, now Rankins' Bull, killing a man named Walter, and firing several houses Instantly the services were dis- continued, the women and children were sent to the block house, situated near to the subsequent residence of Mr. W tham Allison, and the man of God, ready for any wufue to which he might be called, closed the Bible, and called upon the men of the congregation to follow him in defence of their homes.
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