USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Centennial volume of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, PA., 1784-1884 > Part 12
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represented the Scotch-Irish, and they were commissioned to maintain the moral alongside of the material progress of this end of our great State. Pennsylvania's significance in the Union as representing the most advanced standard of personal liberty was greatly aided by the whole force of the Scotch-Irish immigration into the west ; and its significance for peace and honesty in deal- ing with the Indians received emphasis also, but not without some grievous errors and sins. Much as has been said concerning this immigration, there is still room to say that the history of our church and of our city (with that of the surrounding country) for the past century, illustrates the indisputable traits of " indom- itable energy, capacity for hard work, stern devotion to prin- ciple and susceptibility to the tenderer and mellowing influences of religion" with which Thomas Sinclair so lately credited them. Colonists themselves originally, they have been equal to all the exigencies of colonization. Steady in the Scotch love of principle and education, they have shown also something of Irish fervor and flexibility. They absorb readily, but never wholly lose their own flavor. They came here fond of liberty and humanity, and have grown fonder of them. And they came to these unoccupied regions of Pennsylvania as "the only place on the continent where Presbyterians were as good before the law as the best of mankind." They came as a "chastened and thoughtful people" and have been most helpful in "polishing the keystone" and keeping it in place and power ever since their coming. [See Chancellor McCracken's paper at Belfast, July 4th, 1884.] Early and late, then and now, our church-life owes much to what God had done beforehand in molding the Scotch-Irish.
* (4.) How much of interest attaches to the early days in connec- tion with the Indian. The exposures and heroisms of the day can never be forgotten. Col. Bouquet's victory of 1764 did not secure lasting peace. While Mr. Dod was preaching in 1783 or 1784 at the house of Caleb Lindsley, (in the ten mile region,) tidings came of the murder of a family on Wheeling Creek. Services closed immediately and several young men started with their guns to bury the dead and follow the Indians if practicable. Though our fort made this point more secure, there were constant fears. Then there were Indian titles to adjust and "rights of actual settlers" to be respected. There was trade to be built up with them, and the dominion of law to be asserted over them.
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General Harmar's defeat in 1790, and that of General St. Clair in 1791, were alarming. And not until 1794 was there a settled condition of things. That the church began early to take some interest in special cases and treated Christianized Indians with consideration and helpfulness, goes without saying ; but we have no records of any devoted or contiuous mission work among them before the opening of this century. In the church and in the state alike, the varied elements came into a more orderly arrangement slowly. There was weakness in the church, while there was confusion in society in several directions, unfortunately.
(5.) Narrowing our circle still, we find a glance necessary at the city itself. Pittsburgh was certain to be of importance in the history of a century ago. It was at the head of navigation for any extensive traffic, and the trade had begun. It was at the end of wagon roads. It must attract notice because on the route from Canada to the Valley of the Mississippi. The struggle between the rival claimants was at least quadrangular. The Indian titles were by no means considered extinguished. France claimed by right of discovery. England claimed by patents from the Crown : and Pennsylvania's claim was resisted by that of Virginia. The population was composite-peculiar, according to all descriptions. From the east the Ohio Company forms in 1748, and sends its agent, Christopher Gist. On the north, Dela Galissoniere sends Céloron in 1749, to forestall any attempts to wrest the young empire from France. Gist brings eleven families to Mount Braddock, (Fayette county,) in 1752. Pittsburgh grows only more pivotal as the population advances. It was so at Washington's visit in 1753. It was so in 1754 when occupied by Trent in February, and when taken by Contrecœur in April ; in 1755 as the objective point of Brad- dock's unfortunate expedition ; in the gloomy years that fol- lowed when Chesterfield and Walpole in England and Presidents Davies and Burr lamented the favorable outlook for France; in 1757-8, when the genius of Chatham brought hope and the expe- dition of Forbes planted the Protestant flag on the spot ; in 1762 at the treaty of peace when "about four thousand inhabitants" regained "quiet possession of the lands they were driven from on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland," (Smollett ;) and even to 1764, when the Indians were subdued by Col. Bouquet, and even as a point of importance in 1812.
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It was a glad day when " the youthful hero, Washington, could point out to the army the junction of the rivers," and when, "with one voice," they named the coveted spot Pitts- burgh. Bancroft has well said : " It is the most enduring trophy of the glory of Wm. Pitt. America afterwards raised to his name statues that have been wrongfully broken, and granite monu- ments of which not one stone remains upon another ; but long as the Monongahela and the Allegheny shall flow to form the Ohio-long as the English tongue shall be the tongue of freedom in the boundless valley which these waters traverse, his name shall stand inscribed on the gateway of the West." McMillan preached on this spot in September, 1785. Fifteen years before, (1760,) the population west of the Alleghenies was thought to be four thousand. The census of 1790, fifteen years after McMillan's sermon, gave the region fifty thousand. Pittsburgh was the pivot in many things and the key in many other things, and it meant something when the church was planted at the moment the city began its most vigorous life. Though there was a sort of town plan in 1765, and though "out-lots and in-lots" were talked about at the survey of Allegheny in 1780, there were but few houses gathered about the fort in 1781. It was only in 1784 that Major Isaac Craig and Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Bayard formed a business partnership (and both were closely identified with the First Church,) and "purchased of the Penn's the first ground that was sold within the limits of Pittsburgh. Four months after this purchase was made, the Penn's laid out the town, and Craig and Bayard waived the right which they had acquired to the undivided three acres, and accepted a deed, executed on the 31st of December, 1784, for thirty-two lots of ground which covered all the ground in the three acres except that portion in the streets, and in addition all within the outworks of Fort Pitt." Craig and Bayard had partners in Philadelphia and extended their business largely. [See Life and Services of Major Isaac Craig, by N. B. Craig, p. 51.]
The church thus became the only metropolitan for a large region. It was the only church in a city or town for many years. County seats had not yet been selected. There was not even a village from Pittsburgh to Brownsville, and no town on the Ohio from Pittsburgh to Wheeling-unless perhaps Beaver.
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We were quite alone in our glory, indeed, for there was not even a mail from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia in 1784. "The first regular post from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, was started in 1788." [Old Redstone, p. 162.] But metropolitan meant nothing very large, though unique. The Pittsburgh Gazette, which began with July 29th, 1786, said on its ninety-eighth birthday, "Pitts- burgh was then (1786,) a frontier village composed of about one hundred families, clustered around a fortification, whose value as a strategic point had caused numerous conflicts in colonial days, and the field was not an inviting one for journalistic enterprise. The pack horse was the only medium of commercial traffic between East and West. The Conestoga wagon had not yet ap- peared upon the road, and rapid transit by the 'raging canawl' was undreamed of. There are more people in Pennsylvania to- day than there were in the whole United States in 1790, when the first census was taken." (P. G., July 28th, 1883.) And in the initial number of the Gazette, Judge Brackenridge is quoted as describing an island "four or five hundred yards from the head of the Ohio," as "covered with wood, and at the lowest part is a lofty hill, famous for the number of wild turkeys which inhabit it." [Craig's History, p. 190.] In 1788, Dr. Hidsett, giving account of an emigration party from the Yough, passing Pittsburgh in their flatboat, says it then "contained four or five hundred inhabitants and several stores ; and a small garrison of troops was kept at old Fort Pitt. To our travelers, who had lately seen nothing but trees and rocks, with here and there a solitary hut, it seemed to be quite a large town. The houses were chiefly built of logs ; but now and then one had assumed the appearance of neatness and comfort." [O. R. p. 355.] Mr. G. Imlay wrote in 1792 : "The whole country abounds in coal, which lies almost upon the surface of the ground. The hills op- posite Pittsburgh, upon the banks of the Monongahela, which are at least three hundred feet high, appear to be a solid body of this mineral." Though that is rather an exaggerated estimate of the coal veins, yet no language could well be too strong to show fairly what these treasures of the hills and the power of the sit- uation, and the blessings of the clouds in these rivers have done for the city. And side by side with it, with interactions too com- plicated for human skill to trace, has been growing the church.
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2. After these matters, which show at how many points of common interest the church and the city are in contact at the point of origin, some brief mention may be made of the connec- tion between the church and the business life of the city. Of the original trustees to whom the grant of property was made, all were (1 believe,) business men, and they certainly were then the business soul of Pittsburgh. One of the earliest members of the congregation, (as appears elsewhere,) was Col. John Gibson, uncle of the late Chief Justice Gibson. It is well ascertained that he was one to whom the reckless Conolly made traitorous proposals attempting to bribe him, but utterly without success. The first pastor was a man of business as well as a busy man in his sacred calling, and the Gazette of March 10th, 1787, records that "a meeting of the inhabitants of Pittsburgh was held on the 1st instant, and Messrs. Hugh Ross, Stephen Bayard and the Rev. Samuel Barr were appointed a committee to report a plan for building a market house and establishing market days." Mr. John Wilkins may have been too busy " daubing and chunk- ing " the log church then being built, to serve on this committee : but it is worthy of remark that the church and the market house came together to Pittsburgh. The enterprises for opening up of trade were then largely conducted by the people of our church and congregation. They thought it not necessary to separate moral conduct and material gain. They helped to lay the foundation for that solid character which has been the just pride of Pittsburgh's business men so long, and which will never be lost unless the pernicious theory prevails that it can be maintained without the precepts of religion, by which it was first obtained.
"Fort Fayette" was built within the city limits, by Major Isaac Craig, and was so named because Mr. Pressley Neville (Major Craig's brother-in-law, ) had served with the philanthropic Frenchman as "aide-de-camp." The same indefatigable officer constructed boats for Wayne's army in 1792, and shipped provi- sions hence for its support in 1794, and superintended in 1798 the construction of "two row-galleys which were meant to be used for retaliating measures on the lower Mississippi against Spain, the ally of France," thus showing the apprehension caused away in these ends of the earth by the singular vigor of the revolutionary government of France and the extreme uncertainty as to what it 10
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might do next. These were the first sea-going vessels ever built at Pittsburgh, and had two masts with large lateen sails, and mounted one heavy gun." Another of the early members well known in business life, was Colonel Samuel Scott. Through him the tradition reaches us that the first preaching and first cele- bration of the communion in 1784, and thereafter the services until the church was built, were under the trees which shaded the spot afterwards deeded to the church. He was born in Maryland and came to the West in 1784. Mrs. William Dilworth (Sr.) was his daughter, and remained a member of this church for sixty years. Her husband was long a prominent and successful business man, and from that well remembered home on the hill have gone many families well known for enterprise and integrity There have been many descendants of Colonel Scott of exemplary piety and devotedness in this and other Presbyterian churches. Much has been said, in other connections, of Major Ebenezer Denny, so long a trustee and one of the most notable figures of our early history, and of General James O'Hara, whose chandelier was only one of his gifts to the church. Their place as citizens was equally pronounced. The first glass works erected west of the mountains was the venture of General O'Hara and Major Isaac Craig. The chandelier gift came at an auspicious time in the external affairs of the church. Improvements had just been made, the offer of consolidation with the Second Church had just been received, and the quaint note of General O'Hara to the trustees deserves a place in this record as an indication of the brightness of the time.
Gentlemen :
PITTSBURGH, 25th August, 1818.
A chandelier is presented to you for the First Presbyterian Church, in token of a glowing desire to promote the lustre of this enlightened society. With sincere regard,
By their humble servant, JAMES O'HARA.
(Signed,)
A resolution of thanks was passed and a committee of the Messrs. Page, Liggett, Simpson, Scull and Ross was appointed "to present the above vote of thanks to General O'Hara, to re- ceive the chandelier from the General, and to superintend the putting up of the same within the church." Mr. John Thaw, whose business career will always remain a marked one in our
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city history, came into the Board of Trustees at a time of the greatest perplexity. His careful exhibit of the apparently fathomless financial situation of 1813, still remains, covering many pages in a characteristically finished and positive chirography. He was everywhere active, suggestive and strong. His thorough- ness led to the radical remedy of the then current difficulties, and had it been continued by successors other painful subsequent em- barrassments might have been prevented ; among them the one in which the trustees were allowed to request the pastor to consent to a reduction of his salary from fifteen hundred to twelve hun- dred dollars, and to accept also a further donation of one hundred dollars on large arrearages which were due him. (This was in 1821.)
General William Robinson, who became a communicant late in life, was always identified with the church and helpful in its affairs. When I first saw him in December, 1865, he rose from his couch saying : "Gentlemen, I am this day eighty years old, and I am the first white child born in all the territory north of the Ohio and Allegheny rivers." What a commentary on the unprecedented growth of our country ! How enterprising he was, and what a landmark his home was, and what honors he received from his fellow citizens, all know who have grown to maturity here.
Harmar Denny's name and services to the church, as those of Judge Snowden, John Hannen, Hugh McClelland, Francis Bailey, Robert Beer, John Herron, Frederick Lorenz, Samuel Spencer, Alexander Laughlin, Joseph McKnight, Samuel Rea, and R. W. Poindexter, have elsewhere been mentioned, but these faithful elders were also shoulder to shoulder with others in the work of the city and of the general community.
To their names must be added many which space forbids to particularize. Here are Michael Allen, and William Plummer, and Thomas Fairman ; and earlier, John Johnston and Dr. George Stevenson ; and then William Anderson, and James Irwin, and Boyle Irwin, and Wm. Hays, and Wm. Steele, and John Darragh, and Wm. McCandless, and David Pride, and Robert Simpson, and Wm. Lecky, and Samuel Bailey, and Benjamin Page, and Wm. Graham, and John Arthurs, and James Brown, and Wm. Blair, and S. R. Johnston, and Richard Edwards, and Daniel Bushnell, and Benjamin Darlington, and Alexander Brackenridge, and James
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Dalzell, and Jno. B. McFadden, and A. M. Wallingford, and Jacob Painter, and James Laughlin, and John P. Pears, and John McD. Crossan, and Lewis Peterson, with Messrs. Sample, and Cooper, and Breed, and Albree, and Dawson, and Thomas Clark. How many of these have "wrought righteousness" and set forward large interests at the same time. Nearly all of them were trustees in the church as well as all thoroughly trusted outside of the church. What infinite variety of character they have manifested, but almost without exception founding all upon humble faith in the word of God and in the work of Christ. How hard it is to turn away without attempting to embalm in this little volume some of the striking characteristics, natural and religious, of this long list of Christian citizens. The mutual debt of city to church and of church to city, can never be over- stated, and the mutual honor of the relations of the past ought never to be forgotten. The greatest of all the citizens, however, was probably the great pastor, Dr. Herron. His coming was coincident with the launching of the first steamboat by Roosevelt, Livingston and Fulton. Steam power and spiritual power went well together, as both city and church went rapidly forward. Ad- mirably does Dr. Paxton's Memorial Discourse say : "Dr. Herron was a public man of the highest type. In the earlier history of the city he took a lively interest-in every mill and factory that was erected-in every enterprise to promote the convenience of the people or the adornment of the city -- in the opening of new avenues of trade, and in the securing of new business and com- mercial advantages to the community. He was one of the 'fathers' of this city, and no man loved it better or did more to promote its highest welfare." [pp. 129, 130.]
The times of commercial prosperity and church growth did not always coincide, but the general lines of progress have been marvelously parallel in the church and in the city. And this whole recital of eminent citizenship in the old First Church is full of instruction. It shows what a really and spiritually "live" church may be able to do for a city. It shows that many of the best business opportunities built up by principled fathers may be lost by vicious or nerveless descendants, and thus shows character to be better than inheritance. It demonstrates the friendliness of real principle to permanent success, and repeats that "godliness hath the promise of this life."
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3. The First Church touched the city's early civil and judi- cial life in a remarkable way. The grant of property shows its patriotism in the fact that six of the original trustees had been officers in the United States Army. When the boundary ques- tion was mooted and the conflict as to jurisdiction raged, Captain (afterwards General) Neville seized and held with troops the fort, that he might guard against the machinations of Lord Dunmore and his confederate Conolly. This was done the very day after McMillan preached on this spot-Sabbath, September 10th, 1785. Through that whole conflict the influence of our church, and of the Scotch-Irish in the surrounding churches, was directly in favor of Pennsylvania, and there was great joy here when the war of the Revolution ended all danger of Vir- ginia's usurpation. The year of our birth was the year when the boundary line was finished, and our Presbytery aided in dis- tributing the 160 copies of the Scriptures which were brought on by Dr. Ewing, of the Boundary Commission.
When Allegheny county was formed in 1788, it covered a very large territory, and it is singular that in the first Court of Quarter Sessions, held December 16th of that year, the entire bench was composed of First Church people. Geo. Wallace was President Judge, while James Scott, John Wilkins and John Johnston were the Associates. We know how familiar these names are in our earliest church history. The first term of Common Pleas was held March, 1789; and also before "George Wallace and his assistants." [Judge White, Ap. 83.]
When the Courts were organized under the Constitution of 1790, Judge Alexander Addison was appointed President Judge. His commission bore the date of August 23d, 1791. How closely this eminent man was connected with our church you all re- member. He had probably preached here often while awaiting final decision of his application for ordination at the hands of our Presbytery. The earliest records of our church, those of the trustees, beginning April 27th, 1801, are in his handwriting as Secretary of the Board, and "the Scheme of the Meeting House," carefully drawn and numbered, is the work of his hand. He ap- peared as our representative in the protest presented to the Synod in 1802. He was a member of the building com- mittee for the edifice of 1804. "He resided in Pittsburgh until his death, and took an active interest in the affairs of the First
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Church, and was its efficient friend and supporter." [Old Red- stone, p. 340.] What Judge Addison became to the community is frankly acknowledged on all sides. I deeply regret that the particulars of his personal history and characteristics and public services and bravery against a false public opinion, (as manifested in the heroic charge of September 1st, 1794-during the Whiskey Insurrection,) cannot here be given. But a monograph would be necessary to do the subject justice, and it should be written. Room must be made for this incident, related by the Rev. Richard Lea, (in a letter to the niece of Judge Addison, Miss Eliza Darlington.) "He was deputed by General Washington to settle matters relating to the Whiskey Insurrection. He col- lected evidence about Washington, Pa., and started toward Bedford to report to his chief, without a guard, carrying his- valnable documents in his saddle bags behind himself on horse- back. The leaders of the insurrection followed him at a distance: into Westmoreland county, until they knew he had lodged with his friend, Judge Findley, when they halted near the house, watched until all the lights were extinguished, and resolved to have, at early dawn, either his papers or his life, or both. Addison could not sleep, and not wishing to arouse any of the family, arose after midnight, saddled his horse and continued his journey. Before daylight the 'whiskey boys' surrounded the house, feeling sure of their victim. Morning came; they entered the house. Judge Findley trembled for his friend. But what was the chagrin of the pursuers to find the guest- chamber empty ! They sworc at the household, bayoneted the beds, broke into closets, etc. At last, rushing to the stable, to the infinite delight of the host and family-the horse was gone. The tracks were plain enough, but they could guess that hours must have elapsed since he started, they knew he was armed, and that he must be near the settlements. The only unconcerned one was Addison himself. He finished his busi- ness at Bedford, and learned, upon his return, of his narrow escape."
In connection with the same insurrection, much might and ought to be written concerning the brave part in aid of the lawful authorities taken by General John Neville, already alluded to. His acceptance of the office of Inspector drew upon him-once most popular-the hatred of many rash and
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inconsiderate men. He was attacked in his house by thirty- six armed men, but with his negro servants so defended it that the mob left with six wounded, and one of them mortally. Subsequently his residence was burned to the ground, and his own life, with difficulty, saved. Our general church authori- ties were true throughout to the government, as would witness their action if it could be quoted.
Nor might less be said of James Ross's prominence and power in our courts and in the community in general; and notice should be made of the brilliant Sidney Mountain and others, as has been elsewhere made of Judge Snowden. Here, as everywhere, the influence of the church has been for the stability of the times, for the just and the true. The very latest occasion at which any special opportunity was given, came in connection with the riots of 1877, at which time your pastor (side by side with the Catholic Bishop Tuigg,) was sent as part of the citizens' committee, to endeavor to reach the ear of the mob, at that moment about to attack and burn the station house of the Pennsylvania Railroad. We were only there long enough to learn the old lesson, that mobs will not reason, and to regret more deeply than ever that there should be so little left of the Sabbath for railroad employes and so slender a conscience as to obedience to human law as one result of disobedience to divine law. But the final results proved, as every disturbance in these borders has proved, that society is solidly organized and that the laws must prevail.
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