USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Connellsville > Centennial history of the borough of Connellsville, Pennsylvania, 1806-1906 > Part 22
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The large department store of the Wright Metzler Company, which occupies two floors of the First National Bank building was established in April, 1904. Recently a
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branch store has been established in Uniontown. In 1900, W. N. Leche and H. S. Buckwalter established the large dry goods store of Leche and Buckwalter. Some time later Mr. Leche purchased the interest of his partner and has since carried on the business under his own name.
Featherman and Frank and Long Brothers are also enterprising dry goods merchants. Connellsville business men have long been noted for their enterprise. Since the days of Alexander Johnston, who refused to sit in his store and wait for the trade to come to him, but sent out his wagons into the surrounding country to bring in the trade, they have been regarded as the most energetic trade-makers of the Yough region; and at no time have they held such a position of prestige as at present. Shoppers from Union- town, Dawson, Dunbar, Scottdale and all the neighboring towns are attracted to their well-stocked stores, especially during the holiday season. And it is their firm determina- tion to hold fast to this trade. The organization of the Connellsville Merchants' Association has served to draw the men closer together and open up new channels of busi- ness enterprise. The accomplishment of the past four gen- erations has been great, but those of the future promise to be greater still.
CHAPTER X
RELIGIOUS FORCES
· This region was settled by Christian people. It is true that there were not a few reckless spirits among the early inhabitants. Those who led wild and irreligious lives ; those to whom nothing was sacred and who shrank not from deeds of violence and cruelty. But, as a rule, the men and women who came to these hills and valleys were a God- fearing, home-loving people. A more intelligent, indus- trious, sincere and faithful class never settled any country. A large proportion of them had been members of the Church before coming here, and, in spite of the privations and perils of pioneer life, remained true to their religious profession. They read their Bibles. They held meetings for prayer. They kept up family worship. They formed themselves into congregations, and the building of their own humble cabins was followed by the building of their schools and churches. Where churches had not yet been erected, serv- ices were held in shady groves, "God's first temples," with a pulpit made of rough slabs often called a "tent," and seats made of hewn logs, or in barns, in cabins, in blockhouses or in the fields. The first houses of worship were rude in their architecture and primitive in their arrangements. They were built of logs, with puncheon floor and with seats sometimes of planks, but oftener of hewn logs resting on blocks and with a wide rail for a back.
For windows, small openings were cut in the logs, and these openings, as a rule, were covered with paper or linen, "oiled with hog's lard or bear's grease." Stoves were seldom used. In cold weather, the worshippers sat with blankets or coverlets wrapped about them. Fires were sometimes built outside, around which people gathered be- fore and after service. The roof was of clapboards, the
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door swung on wooden hinges, the pulpit was high, the minister's head elevated well-nigh to the ceiling. The first churches were small, often only twenty by twenty feet, though there were some that reached the dimensions of seventy by forty. In these larger churches, many pulpits were eight steps in height, and had a sounding board over them, often painted blue and sometimes ornamented with pictures of the sun, moon and stars. There were no instru- ments of music used in the earliest churches. There were few tunes. Psalm-singers knew only the "twelve tunes of David"-Mear, Dundee, Devizes and others. A precentor or "clark," as he was quite universally called, led the sing- ing and the whole congregation sang "air." Tenor, bass and alto came later.
Ecclesiastical architecture grew with the growth of the population until, early in the last century, churches of brick and stone, commonly one storied and simple in style, were here and there erected. The more imposing of these old- time brick churches had a high gable front, "large windows with small 9x12 glass," and the windows screened with the old style slat blinds, "the slats held together with tape." The pulpit was about ten feet high, with stairs and railings on each side. Some pulpits were of the wine-glass pat- tern; others were massive from the floor up, completely concealing the average-sized minister when seated, from the view of the congregation. The pews were high and had doors, closed with a wooden button.
The first known religious service in what is now Fay- ette county, was conducted by George Washington. This was at Fort Necessity, in 1754, where he led his little army in daily prayers, according to the ritual of the Church of England. It is also said that he read the service at the burial of General Braddock, Monday morning, July 14. 1755, and it is probable, though not certain, that he did. Christopher Gist, at even an earlier date, may have held re- ligious service, in this county, for he was a faithful and devoted member of the Episcopal church, and is known,
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on one occasion, at least, to have read prayers before a company of Indians and delivered a religious address to them-an event which occurred Christmas, 1750, in Ohio.
The first settlers, many of them, came from Virginia, and the English Episcopal church was, at the time, the Established Church of Virginia, the "legal religion" of the colony. Accordingly, many of the first settlers were mem- bers of that church. Colonel William Crawford, if not a member, was, at least, an adherent of that church and gen- erous host that he was, entertained clergymen who came to explore the field and care for the religious interests of the Episcopal people. One of these clerical visitors was the Rev. Daniel Mckinnon, an Englishman, who came to this vicinity some time before the Revolution, and held services.
In 1775 or 1776, he sailed for England on business, leaving his three daughters in this country, to be educated at Frederick, Maryland. The vessel on which he sailed was lost at sea, and all on board perished. One of the three daughters was afterward married to Thomas Rogers, of Dunbar township, and from the worthy couple have de- scended several families of prominence in this community. Another Episcopal "missionary at large" was the Rev. Mr. Mitchell, who had been duly ordained and officially ap- pointed and who held services here at intervals, from 1780 to 1790.
For a considerable time there was no regular place of worship, but when the log school house was built in Con- nellsville, that unpretentious structure was secured by the Episcopalian people for purposes of public worship on the Sabbath. It continued to be so used until its destruction in 1829, when a removal to New Haven was decided upon.
Among the ministers who served the congregation, while its meetings were held in Connellsville, were Jehnu Clay, in 1810; Jacob Morgan Douglas, in 1815; Samuel Johnson, in 1820; Jackson Kemper (afterward Bishop of Indiana), in 1825 ; Dean Richmond, John P. Bausman, who
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gave half his time to the Brownsville church, and the other half to Connellsville and Uniontown, and Lyman N. Free- man.
Among the early settlers of our county, were many who belonged to the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, and for many years they constituted one of the most influential religious bodies within our bounds. Near Uniontown, stood the old Sandy Hill log meeting house where the Beesons, Hackneys, Woodwards and others wor- shipped in peace and quiet. In Jefferson township, was the Providence meeting-house, and not far from Star Junc- tion is the old burial ground, known as the Cope or Red Lion cemetery, where many who worshipped in that meet- ing-house have been laid to rest. In Redstone township was the old Center meeting-house, and in Bridgeport the old stone meeting-house.
In Connellsville and vicinity, there was a goodly num- ber of Quaker families before the year, 1800. John Gib- son, a Quaker from Chester county, owned a log house on Water street, near Main, in which the Quakers held their meetings for years. Mr. Gibson donated to the Connells- ville society about a quarter of an acre of ground as a burial place. A stone wall was built around it and it was popularly known as "The Quaker Graveyard." It lay on the high bank of the river, at the junction of Witter avenue and Fayette street.
The Society of Friends has long since passed away, both from county and from Borough, but we may well cher- ish the memory of those lovers of peace and promoters of good-will among men, and assign them an honorable place among those who have contributed to the public good.
The Baptists came early upon the scene, as early as 1766. They settled in the Redstone valley and on George's creek, and later, on Indian creek and Jacob's creek. The · Great Bethel Baptist church, Uniontown, was organized November 7, 1770, by Henry Crosby. The Redstone Asso- ciation was formed in 1776. The Mount Moriah church
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in 1784, and at this date an organization of the Baptists "near and beyond the Youghiogheny" was under consider- ation.
The Presbyterians came in large numbers, taking up lands, clearing farms, building log homes, schools and churches. They were Scotch and Scotch-Irish, either by birth or by descent, a sturdy, industrious, substantial peo- ple.
In the year 1759, Rev. Dr. Francis Alison, of Phila- delphia, one of the finest scholars in the Presbyterian church, came as the chaplain of Colonel James Burd's ex- pedition. He preached every Sabbath on the march, and' in the fort built by Colonel Burd at the mouth of Dunlap's: creek, Brownsville.
In 1760, the Synod of Philadelphia sent two ministers, one of them being Rev. ,Hector Alison, "to see what may be done in the way of missionary efforts."
In 1766, Revs. Charles Beatty and George Duffield were sent by the Synod "to explore the frontier settlements and to ascertain the condition of the Indians." At Fort Pitt, Mr. Beatty preached to the garrison, and Mr. Duffield preached to the people who "lived in some kind of a town without the fort." The missionaries, on their return, re- ported numbers of persons on the frontier earnestly desir- ing the enjoyment of religious privileges. Others were sent by the Synod to supply the frontier settlements with preach- ing, and were instructed to take no money for their min- isterial labors, showing at once the straitened circumstances of the people and the liberality of the Synod. Many Scotch- Irish settlers from eastern Pennsylvania, from Virginia and some directly from the north of Ireland, located, in 1770-1, in Washington and Fayette counties, the tide of immigration constantly growing in volume. In 1771, Rev. James Finley spent two months as a missionary in this region. In 1783, he moved here and located as a pastor, a number of famil- ies, from his former charge in Maryland, coming with him.
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Dr. James Power, then in the 29th year of his age, "a graceful speaker and a polished gentleman," crossed the mountains in 1774, and spent the summer of that year in missionary labors in southwestern Pennsylvania. In 1776, he returned to make this region "his permanent home" and after a few years of missionary work, became the reg- ular pastor of the Mount Pleasant and Sewickley congre- gations.
Dr. James Dunlap, a native of Chester county, became pastor of the Laurel Hill and Dunlap's Creek congregations in 1782. The Redstone Presbytery, the first presbytery erected west of the mountains, was formed September 19, 1781.
As to churches, the Dunlap's Creek church was organ- ized in a sugar-grove, 1774; the Old Frame church, Tyrone, Laurel Hill, Sewickley, Mount Pleasant (middle church), 1776-7 ; Rehoboth and Round Hill, 1778; Tent, 1792 ; Little Redstone, 1797; Uniontown, about 1799.
The history of Methodism in Fayette county dates from about 1780, when Robert Wooster, "a local preacher from England," began preaching in the neighborhood of Uniontown. The Baltimore Conference formed the Red- stone Circuit, May 28, 1784, and appointed John Cooper and Samuel Breeze to the circuit for one year. They were fol- lowed by Peter Moriarity, John Fittler and Wilson Lee. Bishop Francis Asbury made several visits to Fayette county, the first being in 1784, when he preached in Union- town to an audience of several hundred people. It is said that the first Methodist meeting-house west of Laurel Hill was Fell's, a log structure, built in 1785-6, about two miles east of the present town of Bellevernon.
The Methodists grew rapidly in numbers and influence. Ministers and members were alike noted for their zeal and perseverance. Their earnest appeals, their fervent prayers, their hearty singing, their unconventional modes of reli- gious work, their untiring and energetic labors, their readi- ness to adapt themselves to circumstances, contributed to
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the progress of Methodism. When Robert Ayres and John Smith rode the circuit in 1786, they made a tour of the Yough valley, and it is quite likely that they made Connells- ville one of their places of preaching. The Methodists of this place for several years held their membership in the Uniontown church, but services were frequently held here, and a class or society was, no doubt, in existence. Zacha- riah Connell had been a Methodist for years. He was one of the trustees of a Methodist church which bought an acre of ground from Isaac Meason, the deed bearing date May 26, 1790.
Anthony Mansfield Banning, an itinerant preacher, came here as early as 1789. In 1791, he took up his resi- dence. Methodist people in this vicinity may have been accustomed to have meetings here, to listen to Banning's sermons. It is reliably stated that experience meetings were nela in those early times, in the home of Zachariah Con- neli, and, in all probability, meetings of the same kind were held at Mount Braddock, where a number of Methodist families lived.
The Lutheran church came into southwest Pennsyl- vania at an early date, as, also, did the German Reformed. Germans from the eastern counties and from the Father- land settled in the region as early as 1762. They brought with them a great love of education and the institutions of religion. In the absence of regular ministers, the school- masters who had come with them were, in many cases, au- thorized to act as lay preachers. These school-masters con- ducted public worship, baptized the children, read sermons and performed various other ministerial acts. One of these was Balthaser Meyer, who came to Westmoreland in 1769, and located in the Harolds settlement, about three miles southwest of Greensburg. He was widely known and highly esteemed as a most devoted and efficient worker.
The Germans were most numerous within the present bounds of Westmoreland county, especially along the line of the Forbes road. Among the early Lutheran ministers
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were Revs. Anthony Ulrich Luetge, John M. Steck, John Stouch, F. H. Lange, who traveled extensively through Westmoreland and Fayette counties, caring for the religious welfare of the Lutheran settlers and organizing them into congregations, while among the Reformed ministers en- gaged in similar work for the Reformed people, were Revs. John William Weber, Henry Hobbiston and William Winel.
In German township, Fayette county, Jacob's Evangel- ical Lutheran church was established as early as 1773, a Reformed congregation being formed at about the same time. The two congregations, in course of time, secured a glebe or church farm of more than 100 acres, called "The Strait and Narrow Way," and erected a house of worship, holding the property in common. Many such "Union churches," as they were called, were to be found among the German people in earlier days, owing partly to the limited resources of the congregations, and partly to the scarcity of ministers. In most instances, there was a common treas- ury, and one board of trustees composed of Lutheran and Reformed members. The church council was likewise com- posed of an equal number of elders from each congrega- tion.
This arrangement gave evidence of the fraternal and harmonious relations existing between the two denomina- tions, but these ecclesiastical unions generally ended in the decline and death of one or the other of the two congrega- tions.
It may be added that the Germans had a meeting- house in George's township, about the year 1774, and that the baptismal records of Good Hope church, in Salt Lick township, date back to 1788.
The Roman Catholic church, now so strong in south- western Pennsylvania, had feeble beginnings. The first known celebration of the mass west of the Alleghenies was at Fort Duquesne, in April or May, 1754. It was celebrated by the French chaplain, Father Denys Baron, a Franciscan priest. The next known celebration was in June, 1789, near Greensburg, when the Rev. John Baptist Cause visited sev-
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eral families who had come from eastern Pennsylvania. A young French priest, Benedict Joseph Flager, visited Pitts- burgh in 1792, and spent six months there, ministering to the few Catholics in the town and in the fort. The church grew so slowly that it was not until 1808 that the first Catholic church (old St. Patrick's) was built in Pittsburgh, and not until 1843 that the diocese of Pittsburgh was formed, with Rev. Michael O'Connor its first bishop. But, with the re- markable industrial development of western Pennsylvania, there has been great increase in the Catholic population, and churches have been multiplied throughout the region.
The first settlers, whatever their creed or church, had anything but a life of ease. This western country was, in truth, a "howling wilderness," and none but brave men and women could have endured the toils and hardships to which their religious work subjected them. Their meeting-houses were few and far between. Many of the people had a dis- tance of ten, fifteen, twenty miles to travel, in attending public worship; they were fortunate who lived within five miles of the place of meeting. Their journeys were not made in comfortable conveyances, and over macadamized roads, for such things were as yet unknown. On horseback or afoot, they traveled over roads that were often mere bridle-paths. When the pastor of the Brush Creek Re- formed congregation gathered together his class of cate- chumens, the children were brought from beyond the Kis- kiminetas and even beyond the Allegheny.
In times of Indian invasion or alarm, the men came to the meeting-house armed. They stacked their guns, and stationed sentinels to give the signal in case of danger. Vig- ilance was needed, for Indian hostilities frequently occurred. Rev. John Corbley, of Muddy creek, Greene county, was on his way to church, Sabbath, the 12th of May, 1782, with his wife and five children, when a band of Indians suddenly came upon them, and killed the wife and three of the chil- dren.
Rev. Thaddeus Dodd, of Ten Mile, Washington county,
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wrote in his diary: "For some time we have been unable to administer the Lord's Supper, owing to the incursions of the savages."
For the same reason, the Presbytery of Redstone was compelled to change the place of its first meeting, and, at its second meeting, failed of a quorum. It was no uncom- mon thing for the settlers to take refuge in the forts or blockhouses, and many a Sabbath service has been held in such structures. On account of Indian troubles, churches were sometimes long in building, like the Harrold's church, Westmoreland county, which stood unfinished for several years ; and during the Indian raids, churches were sometimes burned, like that of the Old Brush creek congregation, in the same township.
The ministers of that period were exposed to special hardships and hazards. Their preaching places were widely separated, involving journeys of from ten to fifty miles, and long absence from home. There were no finger-boards, no bridges, and fording places were often hard to find. They were often compelled to swim the streams, to preach in wet clothes, to guard against savages, to go long without food and sleep in the forest. Of books they had few, of luxuries none. Their dwellings, their dress, their food were of the simplest description. Among them were men of rare intel- lectual force and scholarly attainments. A large propor- tion of them were graduates of literary institutions. They had been educated in the schools of Germany, England, or the eastern part of our own land. The first members of the Redstone Presbytery, Power, Dunlap, Dodd, Smith, Mc- Millan, all, without exception, were graduates of Princeton College. Their salaries were small. Often they were under the necessity of teaching or farming to eke out their scanty income.
And yet, these men were not only uncomplaining, but they were untiring in their zeal, unfaltering in their dis- charge of duty, and undaunted by the perils and hardships of their chosen lot. For the most part, they were character-
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ized by cheerfulness and geniality. One of their own num- ber said: "Some of them were men of considerable wit, and, in its proper place, all of them indulged in a hearty, joyous spirit." While this was said of the clergy of a particular denomination, it might have been said of the clergy of those times, in general. Their self-denial, their persever- ance, their pastoral fidelity, their dignity and force of char- acter, and their wise foresight in seeking to provide for the moral and religious needs of the future, entitle them to last- ing and grateful remembrance.
It is true that there were ministers, here and there, whose severity of look and solemnity of speech made peo- ple, especially young people, afraid of them. A minister of that period met a boy who was riding horseback, with a bag of grain under him. He saw that the boy was shying off, and in danger of bringing the bag of grain in contact with the fence. The minister called to him, and said: "Don't be afraid, my son; I'll not hurt you." "The deil trust ye !" said the boy, with a look of great alarm and anxiety.
But, as a class, the pioneer ministers, though positive in their convictions and sometimes austere in their man- ners, were far from being ill-natured or harsh. Many of . them were men whom old and young respected, reverenced and loved.
The parishioners, large numbers of them, were of the same spirit as the preachers. They were men and women of stern religious principle, and were fearless, energetic and self-reliant. They were a Bible-reading and church- going people, and beneath a rude, rugged exterior, beat hearts as loyal to home and conscience and truth and duty as were anywhere to be found. They were not adventurers. They were men and women chosen by providence for a great task, and they have impressed themselves for good upon the whole region in which their lot was cast.
As the years have gone by, great changes have taken place. When the hardships of the wilderness and the perils from Indians were reduced, people became more controver-
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sial. Public debates came into vogue, for a time. Ques- tions of doctrine, modes of baptism. forms of church gov- ernment were warmly discussed.
On Wednesday, June 12, 1893, a great concourse of people assembled in a grove near Greensburg. They came from far and near. some of them a distance of fifty miles, to hear a debate upon foreordination and kindred points. Rev. John Jamieson, a Scotchman, a graduate of St. An- drews University, championed Calvinism, while Rev. Val- entine Cook, a young minister, a Virginian by birth, upheld the doctrines of Arminianism. Discussions on baptism were held several times in the southern part of our county in the early years of the last century, Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green Fair- child, taking part in all of them.
But there was, from the first, much good feeling be- tween the denominations. In our Borough, the use of the Baptist and Methodist meeting-houses (the first erected) was frequently given to the Presbyterians and others who had not yet organized or built.
A movement was inaugurated, at an uncertain date, to erect a Union church, to be used by the Baptists, Presby- terians and Episcopalians. A subscription paper was drawn up in which the subscribers state the importance of "the regular observance of the Sabbath day in the public and solemn acts of religious worship," and add: "We, the sub- scribers do agree to pay into the hands of Alexander John- ston, Caleb Trevor and Daniel S. Norton, or either of them, the several sums annexed to our names for the purpose of erecting a meeting-house in the Borough of Connellsville for the use of the Baptist and Presbyterian denominations on the following fundamental conditions, viz: 1. The Pres- byterian denomination shall occupy the house on the first and third Sabbaths in every month, and the Baptists on the second and fourth, and with respect to extra time, it shall be left to the discretion of the trustees as to the occupancy of the same. 2. As soon as it shall be ascertained that funds can be raised to erect and complete a meeting-house
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