USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Harrisburg > Centennial memorial, English Presbyterian congregation, Harrisburg, Pa. > Part 13
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In April 1787, the Presbytery met at Carlisle The following account is taken from the record of that meeting :
"A representation and a petition of a number of the inhabitants of Harrisburg and others in the township of Paxton was laid before the Presbytery and read. The said representation sets forth that these people desire to be con- sidered as a Presbyterian congregation and to have supplies appointed them by the Presbytery : and that in order to
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promote peace and harmony between them and the Paxton congregation, some proposals had been made to, and con- sidered by, though not accepted by that Congregation, a copy of which was laid before Presbytery."
Mr. Elder gave a representation of the case as concerning those people and the Paxtang congregation. The Presby- tery upon consideration of the case agreed to propose the following articles to the consideration and acceptance of these people which may have a tendency to preserve peace and union in that part of the church :
1. That Harrisburg shall be considered as the seat of a Presbyterian church, and a part of the charge of Rev. John Elder, in which he is to preach one-third of his time.
II. That Mr. Elder's salary promised by the Paxtang con- gregation shall be continued and paid by the congregation in common who adhere to these two places of worship.
III. That the congregation thus united may apply for and obtain supplies as assistant to the labors of Mr. Elder, to be paid by the congregation in common.
IV. That when the congregation may judge it proper, they shall have a, right to choose and call a minister as a colleague to Mr. Elder to officiate in rotation with him.
Rev. Dr. Davidson, of Carlisle, President of Dickinson College, and Rev. Mr. Waugh, pastor of Silvers' Spring, were appointed a committee to attend at the church in Lower Paxton to moderate a meeting and assist in the matter.
At a meeting of the Presbytery held in June, 1787, Dr. Davidson and Mr. Waugh reported that the following articles had been agreed to by Mr. Elder and by the united congregation of Paxtang and Harrisburg :
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I. That the congregation shall have two stated places of public worship, the one where Mr. Elder now officiates, the other in Harrisburg.
II. That the Rev. John Elder shall have and continue to receive during his life or incumbeney, all the salary or stipends that he now enjoys, to be paid by his present sub- scribers as he and they may agree, and continue his labors in Derry as usual.
III. That for the present the congregation may apply to the Presbytery for supplies, which, when obtained, the expense shall be defrayed by those who do not now belong to Mr. Elder's congregation, and such as may think proper to join with them; and should such supplies be appointed when Mr. Elder is to be in Paxtang, then he and the person are to preach in rotation, the one in the country and the other in the town; but should Mr. Elder be in Derry, then the supplies shall officiate in the town.
IV. That the congregation, when able, or when they think proper, may invite and settle any regular Presby- terian minister they, or a majority of them, may choose and can obtain as co-Pastor with Mr. Elder, who shall officiate as to preaching in the manner specified in the third proposal."
Notwithstanding these arrangements, Mr. Elder con- tinued to be the sole pastor of the two congregations of Derry and of Paxtang, including Harrisburg, until April 13, 1791, when the relation was dissolved. He died on July 17, 1792, at the venerable age of eighty-six years. His remains lie buried in the Paxtang graveyard. All honor to the memory of a sterling and stalwart man,
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who was conspicuous for more than a half century as one of the foremost men of his times.
After Mr. Elder's death the people of Harrisburg who held to the Presbyterian faith began at once to take measures for a distinct organization.
In an old volume belonging to the congregation, the following minute is found recorded in the handwriting of William Graydon, Esq .:
" July 30, 1793. At a meeting of the Harrisburg congregation, the following persons were chosen a com- mittee to govern the affairs of the church, viz: Joseph Montgomery, Samuel Weir, Moses Gilmor, James Mitchell, and William Graydon." The first treasurer of the congre- gation, so far as can be learned from any existing records, was Mr. Henry Fulton, who, in 1790, gave place to Mr. John Kean, whose term of service continued for two years. How many years Mr. Fulton had served we have no means of ascertaining. From some loose papers containing a part of the treasurer's accounts we gather the names of a number of ministers who preached occasionally to the congregation prior to its organization into a church. It may be noted that nearly three years passed after the resignation of Mr. Elder before the church was organized. Of the men who supplied the pulpit at different times the following may be noted, viz: Robert Cathcart, pastor of the York Presbyterian Church for forty-four years; James Snodgrass, for fifty-seven years the pastor of the old Hanover church ; Samuel Waugh, pastor of the Monaghan and East Pennsborough churches, now known as Dillsburg and Silvers' Spring, for twenty-five years ; Joseph Hender-
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NATHANIEL RANDOLPH SNOWDEN. 1793-1805.
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son, of Great Conewago, and Colin MeFarquhar, of Donegal; David Denny, for nearly forty years pastor of Falling Springs Church, Chambersburg; Dr. Charles Nisbet, the distinguished President of Dickinson College; Dr. Robert Davidson, also President of Dickinson College, and for twenty-eight years pastor of the First Church of Carlisle ; Dr. John Ewing, for thirty years pastor of the First Presby- terian Church of Philadelphia, and for twenty-three years at the head of the University of Pennsylvania ; Dr. Samuel Miller, for thirty six years a professor in the Princeton Theological Seminary ; Dr. John MeKnight, for twenty years a leading pastor in New York city, and other men less famous than the foregoing, but no less sound and good. The founders of this church enjoyed the privilege of occasional instruction from some of the most renowned men and ablest scholars in the Presbyterian church. The influences thus thrown about them had their bear- ing upon the character of the new organization.
In the latter part of the year 1792 the united congre- gations of Paxtang and Harrisburg secured the services of Mr. Nathaniel R. Snowden, a young man who was preparing for the ministry under the care of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and during the winter of 1792-1793, he preached frequently to the congregations, giving his first sermon here on September 9, 1792. On April 10, 1793, he was taken under the care of the Presbytery of Carlisle, and a call from the three congregations to become their pastor was placed in his hands, and was accepted by him. Each of the congregations agreed to pay fifty pounds as their
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part of the salary. On the 2d day of October, 1793, Mr. Snowden was ordained and installed as pastor.
The Harrisburg congregation, however, was not yet a church. It had been kept in its minority for many years. But its hour had now come. In January, 1794, at a meeting of the Congregational Committee, it was agreed to call a meeting of the congregation for the purpose of electing five ruling elders to govern the affairs of the church that should then be constituted. This meeting was held on Tuesday, February 11th, 1794, and the five following persons were elected to the office of ruling elder : Samuel Weir, Moses Gilmor, Adam Boyd, Robert Harris and James Mitchell. The last two named declined to accept the office. On Sunday, February 16, 1794, after divine worship the remaining three, Messrs. Weir, Gilmor and Boyd, were ordained and installed, and this church became a regularly constituted and fully organized Presbyterian church. The three venerable men mentioned may be regarded as the fathers of the church Session, and the church had a name and a place among the sisterhood of Presbyterian churches in the earth. It was an independent organization with its pastor and its board of officers. It was an infant in age, but it was no weakling. It was made up of strong and intelligent men and women to whom the service of God was no new thing. They were trained and disciplined workmen. They had borne the cross for years. One of their elders, Moses Gihnor, had held the same office in the mother church of Paxtang, and all of them were men of large experience. The three elders were men of from forty-
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five to fifty years of age. They were no novices, nor raw recruits, but soldiers of many years service.
The young pastor gave the church but one-third of his time, preaching in Harrisburg but twice a month, and often but once. This was unsatisfactory to the people, and the burden of so large a charge was too great for their minister. In October, 1795, at his request, the relation between Mr. Snowden and the church of Derry was dissolved by the Presbytery. Derry was eleven miles distant, and along the whole distance, and for miles beyond, the families under his pastoral care were scattered. The toil involved in visitation as well as the time required, was a heavy burden. The two churches of Paxtang and Harrisburg were left under his care. Six months later the connection between Mr. Snow- den and the Paxtang church was also severed by the consent of both parties. Derry and Paxtang then resumed their old alliance of more than half a century, and the Harrisburg church assumed the entire support of Mr. Snowden, and he gave to it all his time and energies. He continued to serve the church until 1805, when, at his own request he was released from the charge, after a service of about twelve years and a pastorate of eleven.
Mr. Snowden was a member of one of the oldest and most respectable families of Pennsylvania. Some of his descend- ants at the present day occupy high positions in civil and political life. Mr. Snowden was not a man of marked ability as a preacher or a scholar, but during his ministry here was very acceptable. A descendant of Old Paxtang thus testifies in regard to him: "Those of Paxtang congre- gation, whose memory runs back sixty years, will remember
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as an occasional visitant, this very worthy gentleman. In his sixties he looked hale and vigorous. He had grey eyes and a full face, and was about one hundred and sixty pounds in weight. His voice was strong and sonorous and he delivered his words with a measured deliberation."
During the years of the first pastorate of the church, it had no house of worship. Through the long delay of the Presbyterians of the town to organize a church distinct from Paxtang, other denominations that were later on the ground and fecbler in numbers and in wealth, were first in the organization of churches, and in the erection of a church edifice.
As early as 1787, there was built by the citizens of the borough irrespective of denominational connections a small one-story log house on the northeast corner of Third and Walnut streets for the purpose both of worship and as a school building. It was used by the Lutheran and Reformed people for some months. The same year they jointly secured ground on the corner of Third and Chestnut streets, on the site of the present Reformed church. Here they built a log church fronting on Third street, the first church building erected in Harrisburg. It was one of the notable events of the time. All who were favorable to religion were invited to help in the enterprise, and to their credit be it said, all classes vied with each other in liber- ality and in labor. The two congregations, Lutheran and Reformed, for eight years worshiped together in happiest harmony, sharing equally in the support and government of the one church. It was a plain two-story building, with its side to the street, two windows in each story, and a door
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in the center of the side. The preaching was divided between the English and the German tongues.
Meanwhile the Presbyterians were without any fixed abode. For a time they held service in the loft of the old jail that was erected soon after the borough was formed. On the 17th of November, 1798, an application was made by the congregation for permission to fit up the upper room of the court house as a place of worship. The request was granted, and the room was occupied by the church for some time. The accommodations were very unpretentious. There were no family pews, nor cushioned seats, nor carpeted aisles, no stained glass nor memorial windows, no organ loft nor grand organ. Everything was simple and plain. The evening services were held at " early candle light," and the house was lighted by tallow candles of home- made manufacture. No bell summoned the worshipers to the house of God. Hard benches greeted their coming, but the God of the Covenant met them and blessed them.
In the accounts of John Kean, treasurer of that carly period, we find some items of disbursements that speak clearly and pathetically of those early days :
Paid Robert Harris for one cord of wood, ten shillings.
Paid James MeNamara for six benches for Church use, fifteen shillings.
Robert Sloan is paid nine shillings, four and a half pence for making two boxes to take collections in.
Paid Rev. Mr. Robinson for Presbytery, seven shillings and six pence. Other articles such as green baize candles, sconces, &c., are mentioned.
Gustavus Graham, the first sexton receives a yearly salary
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of three pounds. John Sargint a sexton of later days gets sixteen dollars a year. Michael Rupp, furnishes twenty and a half pounds of stove pipe for the use of the con- gregation. Major William Glass is paid fifteen shillings for two new benches. The principal expense seems to have been for fuel and candles, and for the bread and wine used at the Sacrament of the Supper. The usual cost of a Sabbath's supply for the pulpit, was one pound in the currency of the times. One of the largest items is thus stated: "Paid Mr. Snowden for Missionaries to Indians, three pounds, seven shillings and six pence." The com- munion service was of pewter, and a frequent item of cost is for "scouring the pewter." The expenses of the congre- gation were met by Sabbath collections, supplemented, when necessary by subscriptions. These collections, prior to 1804 seldom rose above one pound or five dollars and were often not half that amount. On Sacramental Sabbaths the day for their largest congregations, the collections were twice or thrice the usual amount. To secure the amounts needed for the Pastor's salary and other expenses, collectors were appointed to visit all the families of the congregation. The lists of these collectors for the seven years prior to 1800 are on record. In the year 1795, Thomas Forster, George Whitehill, William Graydon and Alexander Berryhill are appointed, the latter two to solicit subscriptions through Paxtang on account of the poverty of the people in the town.
Baptismal ceremonies generally took place at the private residences of the people, at which sacred rite the friends of
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the family assembled and made the occasion one to be remembered.
The contrast between those early days and our own is very great. Their rude, small room in the loft of a log-jail, their bare benches, small windows and uncarpeted floors, their humble pulpit desk, their flickering tallow candles and pewter candle sticks, and our large, costly and elegant churches with carpeted aisles, cushioned and comfortable pews, our decorated and memorial windows, our high sounding organs, our gas and electric lights : their poverty, their collections and collectors, their narrow fields for church work, their little grasp of the great fields of missions and benevolence, and our rich and active and liberal Church of to-day, that feels that it must clasp the whole wide world in its arms and to its heart of love : their scanty literature, their narrow outlook, their meagre arts and sciences and inventions, their social world, their catechisings of the old and young in all their households, and our abounding literature in books and magazines and daily and weekly press, our multiplied agencies of benevolence for the round earth, our art and inventions: their plain home spun dress, simple manners, rugged, but friendly speech, and our manners, speech and dress molded by society and culture-these and a hundred other things serve to show what changes the Providence of God, and the progress of the times have made. We cannot decry the past. We have built upon its foundations. We cannot exult over to-day. God mold's the ages for himself. Our fathers had their noble work and we have ours. They met their mission. They believed in God. They studied his law.
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They prayed and worked for the coming and broader times of Christ's kingdom. Wider, deeper, stronger than they knew were the foundations at which they set their hands. It remains to us in these richer times to carry on their work.
The next important step in the history of the congrega- tion was that of providing for themselves a house of wor- ship. The means taken would not be sanctioned in our day, but we must bear in mind that the course pursued was, at that day, neither legally forbidden nor morally con- demned. It was in accordance with the customs of the times. Our fathers were poor. They determined to raise the needed funds for church building by a lottery. We are not aware that there was any opposition to the plan. At the close of the last century the finances of the entire coun- try were in a desperate and dilapidated condition. Every- body was in debt. Money was in great demand. Credit everywhere was at the lowest ebb. To raise money lotteries sprung up as mushrooms in every direction. A lottery wheel might have been found in every city and in every town and village that were large enough to need some public improvement. If a bridge was to be built across some little stream, a school-house to be erected, a jail to be provided for criminals, a street to be repaired, a court house to be enlarged, or a church to be reared, a lottery bill was passed by the Legislature, commissioners were appointed, a wheel was procured, tickets were sold, and a day for the drawing was set. The mania was wide spread. Massachu- setts sold lottery tickets to raise the money needed to pay the salaries of her publie officials. The city of New York raised money by lottery to enlarge the City Hall. The
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court house of Elizabeth City was rebuilt, the library of Harvard University was increased and the Government of the United States erected some of its public buildings by lotteries. There was a mania for lotteries. They were a vast epidemic. Everybody seemed to be in haste to get rich in the foolish and criminal way of emptying the pockets of their fellow-men. The hope of winning prizes became a disease. It was amid this general use and approval of lot- teries and this rage for theni that the founders of this church lived. They were swept into the current. r
During the winter of 1797-1798 an application was made to the Legislature for permission to raise $5,000 by lottery for the purpose of buying a lot, and building thereon a house of worship for the English Presbyterian Congregation of Harrisburg. In March, 1798, a law was passed appoint- ing Robert Harris, George Whitehill, Adam Boyd, William Graydon, Christian Kunkel, George Brenizer, Archibald McAllister and Samuel Elder commissioners for that purpose. The law provided that before a ticket should be sold the scheme should be laid before the Governor of the Commonwealth and be approved by him, that the commis- sioners should take an oath diligently and faithfully to perform their duties, and that at least three of them should attend at the drawings of each day until they were com- pleted. When we consider the strictness of the law, and the great respectability of the commissioners, who were charged with its execution, there can be no doubt that the law was rigidly observed, however much we may reprobate lotteries in this more enlightened age. The scheme was carried out and the lottery was closed on July 7, 1803. The
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time spent upon it, over four years, would indicate that the measure was not very heartily endorsed. It was not as successful an affair as was anticipated. Everything, how- ever, was done in the broad light of day. Many of the best people of the community were interested and bought tickets. The pastor of the Church was among those who drew prizes. Some of the prizes were thrown into the treasury of the Church. They were generally small and no one amassed wealth by the lottery. It is clear that our forefathers did not imagine that they were encouraging immorality by their action.
On the seventh day of June, 1804, the commissioners having raised about five thousand dollars by the lottery, purchased the lot on the corner of Second street and Cherry alley, and soon after contracted with Messrs. William Glass, l'eter Brua and Samuel Pool for the erection of a church edifice. It was ready for use in 1806, but was not formally dedicated until 1809. For the first twelve years in the history of the congregation it had no church building. The house now erected was a plain substantial brick structure, forty feet by sixty and stood with its side to the street, and about forty-five feet back from the pavement. It was two stories in height, and had two front entrances. It bore a striking resemblance in form and size to many of the fine barns that may be seen in the region about us. The space in front was a green sward fenced in from the street, and shaded by four stately lombardy poplars, a tree that was then greatly admired. The interior was comfortably arranged with large pews, built of yellow pine, but cushioned seats had not yet come into fashion among our hardy an-
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cestors. The builders neglected to put chimneys in the new house. The fire was to be in the pulpit. The congregation had ample light and ventilation, but in the winter no heat. When the cold could be endured no longer, and the expe- dient of foot-stoves and hot bricks failed, the old-fashioned ten-plate stoves were put in and the pipes were run out of the windows. Evening services were not often held, the second service being placed in the afternoon. Some years after the erection of the church building, the congregation became too large to be comfortably accommodated, and in 1824 a gallery was built. The church was the finest and most capacious one in the town. The pulpit was built on the east side of the house and stood upon a small but convenient platform. It was elevated several feet above the seats of the people and had a closet underneath and a circular dais in front. It was entered by doors that were kept carefully closed during divine service. From this pulpit many of the great lights of our denomination preached sound doctrine to large and intelligent audiences. There was neither an Episcopal nor a Methodist Church in the town during the earliest years, of the century. The adherents of those forms of church order generally attended the Presbyterian Church until they were strong enough to organize churches of their own faith. The names of some of the founders of these churches may be found in the lists of early pew-holders of this Church .* The use of the building was often granted to these denominations and the pulpit was occupied by their preachers. The venerable
* For a list of these pew-holders see Appendix, Note II .- EDITOR.
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Bishop White, of Philadelphia, accompanied by the youth- ful Bedell, in later years the Bishop of Ohio, preached in it. Rev. Dr. Bascom, one of the most celebrated orators of the Methodist Church and of his times, gave a sermon that occupied more than two hours in its delivery and was a magnificent specimen of pulpit oratory.
The pastoral relation between the Church and Mr. Snow- den was dissolved, June 25th, 1805. An interregnum of four years occurred. The congregation was busy watching the slow uplifting of their first Church home. There was no cessation of public worship. Rev. Dr. Snodgrass was often called to preach at Sacramental occasions. Rev. Dr. Joshua Williams, for twenty-eight years the able and instructive pastor of the Big Spring Church at Newville; Rev. Dr. David MeConaughy the pastor for thirty-two years of the Churches of Upper Creek and Great Conewago in Adams county ; Rev. Dr. John Moody who for fifty years filled the pastorate of the Middle Spring Church near Shippensburg : and the Rev. John Linn who for forty-three years was pastor of the Centre Church, on Sherman's Creek, Perry county, frequently preached from the pulpit of the Church. Mr. Linn was a preacher of great power and impressiveness. He was the pastor of my own ancestry. George Robinson my great grandfather being among the first ruling elders of the Church.
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