USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of the state of Pennsylvania with a compendium of history. A record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume I > Part 24
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guise as a woodchopper when the pro-slaveryites were seeking his life. When the emergency had passed and Kansas was established as a free state. Mr. Coates settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was among the foremost in laying the foundations for the commercial importance of that phenomenally progressive city.
The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians came about 1685 out of their native country, whence they were driven by cruel religious persecution. For refusal to engage in prelatic worship and for their attendance upon con- venticles, these poor people were despoiled of their property, thrown into prison, banished, and practically sold as slaves. About one hundred men and women were imprisoned in Dunottar Castle. where they were treated with great severity, stinted for food and water, and cramped for want of room. Many were tortured for attempting to escape. Late in the summer these pour creatures were marched to the sea-coast. a distance of about sixty-three miles, many with their hands tied behind their backs. They were under sentence of banishment to America, and a number of them were committed to the care of George Scott. laird of Pitlochie, who had chartered a vessel to convey him to New Jersey, in order to escape the persecution to which he had been sub- jected for the sake of his religion. The voyagers suffered dreadfully ' from the virulent fever, and. to add to the misery of their condition. the master of the vessel. a most inhuman creature, visited upon them all sorts of cruelty, even to throwing down upon them large pieces of timber when they were engaged in worship between decks. Three- score people, among them the laird and his wife, died during the voyage. It is pathetic to read that the vessel which bore these immigrants from their heather-land sank soon after reaching the harbor to which it had conveyed them. And with this goes the story. better authenticated than is usual in a traditional narrative, that this same vessel had lain
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a sunken bulk in the harbor whence these people sailed, and was raised to all ro them passage. The wonder is that such a craft survived the three months tempestuous voyage. This Scotch-Irish people spread out into the valley of the Alleghenies from Lake Erie to Mabama. Their men formed the bulk of Washington's army, and their descendants faced each other under Grant and Lee, at Shiloh and Gettysburg, cach generation, in its day. unsurpassable in courage, unyieldingly devoted to the right as God gave it them to see it.
The Baptists appear in Pennsylvania about the same time as do the Presbyterians. They were mainly English, and the people of the two denominations were very similar in character if not in tempera- ment. The Baptists were deeply conscientious. Moved by an earnest missionary spirit. their early ministers, usually of limited education, in some instances really illiterate, penetrated to the remotest settlements. preaching and organizing churches. The phrase illiterate, connected with the former phrase, is not to be construed as meaning ignorance of the scriptures. With scarcely an exception, the preachers were entirely familiar with the sacred volume, and were able to cite numberless passages with concordance-like accuracy. Among them were many strong controversialists, and. as population increased, and other denomina- tions became stronger, debates of a week's continuance were often carried on between them and ministers of other faiths, on questions of faith and practice. The Baptists were unyielding on the subject of baptism by immersion, and their converts hesitated at no discomfort to receive the holy ordinance. On frequent occasions a congregation would assemble in midwinter on the banks of a frozer-over stream. where scores of candidates, men, women and children, received baptism by being immersed where heavy ice had been cut away, then drying their clothing by a roadside fire, or walking in their frozen garments
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to a farm-house a half-mile distant. The first Baptist church organized in Pennsylvania was in 1684. at Cold Spring. by the Rev. Thomas Dongan, of Rhode Island, and a church of the same denomination was formed at Philadelphia in 1695.
Among the early Protestant Episcopal church ( formerly the Church of England), three are of peculiar interest. The first in Philadelphia was a wooden structure built in 1710. which gave way to a brick edifice in 1727. In 1744 a chime of eight bells were brought from England. They were removed for safety during the Revolutionary war, and were afterwards restored to their proper place. St. David's church at Radnor. in Newtown township, Delaware county, had an organization in 1700. if not earlier, but the present quaint and dignified edifice was not erected until 1715. The poet. Longfellow, in 1881. most happily expressed the feeling of veneration a sight of the venerable structure was calculated to rouse in a meditative mind. "I was stopping," he said (in relating the story of his poem, "Old St. David's at Radnor"), "at Rosemont, and one day drove over to Radnor. Old St. David's church, with its charming and picturesque surroundings, attracted my attention. Its diminutive size, peculiar architecture, the little rectory in the grove. the quaint churchyard where Mad Anthony Wayne is buried, the great tree which stands at the gateway, and the pile of gray stone which makes the old church, and is almost hidden by the climbing ivy, all combine to make it a gem for a fancy picture."
St. Paul's church ( Protestant Episcopal ), at Chester, built in 1702. has been replaced with a beautiful modern edifice. But. for historical and sentimental purposes, it is yet Old St. Paul's. The wardens care- fully preserve two gifts of great antiquity-a chalice and salver of hammered and very pure silver, and which are yet used for communion purposes, the gift of Quenn Anne : and a chalice and bell. the gift of Sir
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Jeffery Jeffries. Set into the interior wall of the church is the mural tablet erected to the memory of James Sandeland, the elder, with date of death of himself and wife, and the emblems of mortality-the tolling bell, the passing bell. the skull and cross-bones, the hour-glass. an upright coffin, and other funereal devices. In the churchyard is a monument to the memory of John Morton, with the following among other inscriptions :
"John Morton being censured by his friends for his boldness in giving his casting vote to the Declaration of Independence, his pro- phetic spirit dictated from his death bed the following message to them : 'Tell them they shall live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it to have been the most glorious service I ever rendered to my country."
Catholics came to Pennsylvania probably about 1708. For many years the growth of the denomination was but slow. It is curious to note that these were the only religionists whose coming was discouraged. The crown instructions to the colonial governors in 1738. in 1763 and in 1766, contained the following :
"Whereas the said Province and counties were happily at first set- tled and afterward subsisted without any considerable mixture of Pa- pists, it is with concern we now hear that of late times Papists have resorted thither. Now as their Political Principles ( which they ever inculcated as Religious Principles) tend to the breach of public Faith. are destructive to morality and totally subvert every civil and Religious Right of a Free People. We recommend it to you to prevent as much as in you lies the coming in or settling of Papists within your govern- ment, and that you to not extend any Privileges to them nor admit any of them into any office, post or Employment whatsoever within your Government."
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Such cruel proscription was entirely repugnant to Penn, who made 110 attempt to suppress the interdicted class, and for this inaction he was brought under suspicion, in some quarters, as being a Jesuit in dis- guise. It was not long, however, before the Revolution opened, and the Irish Catholics fought nobly for the establishment of an independent government, while in the succeeding days of civil development they amply vindicated their right to recognition as honorable and useful citizens.
To the Lehigh valley came an industrious, frugal and sincerely religious people, those of the German Reformed church. Residents of the Palatinate, the German province seized by France, the people of this faith, refusing to accede to the terms of the edict revoking that of Nantes by returning to the Catholic church, expatriated themselves. leaving behind them nearly their all. but bringing their bibles, hymn books and catechisms. Penn had been apprised of their coming, and he wrote to James Logan, charging him "to treat them with tenderness and care," and the kind reception which the Quakers gave them, in the words of one of their annalists, "made Pennsylvania seem a paradise to the German mind." These people, with their descendants. proved most useful and exemplary citizens, who, each in their day, have borne a full share in all pertaining to the development of the agricultural and commercial interests of the commonwealth.
The Moravians came to Pennsylvania in 1740, and established themselves at Bethlehem, in Northampton county, where they main- tained their theological school and publishing house from which is produced the literature of the sect. General schools are maintained at Lititz and Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The Moravians claim legiti- mate succession to the Unitas Fratrum, and an unbroken succession of bishops from the apostles through an Austrian branch of the Wal-
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deres. The early history of the church in America is full of heroic incidents of missionary work among the Indians. Apart from William l'enn, no name figures more conspicuously in the early settlement of the questions relating to the Indians than that of the distinguished Moravian missionary. David Zeisberger, who spent sixty-two years among the aborigines, establishing towns and villages of his converts. The settlements made by the Moravians were at first exclusively com- munal towns, similar to those founded by the Unitas Fratrum in Gier- many and Great Britain, but in the United States the last vestige of exchisivism disappeared in 1856. The people are held among the most exemplary and deeply religious communities in the country.
Lutheranism in Pennsylvania had its beginning with the Swelles who came in 1628. They were few in number, and for the most part settled in Delaware. Some of their ministers were among the first missionaries to the Indians, having in this work preceded John Eliot by several years. About 1680 a flood of Lutheran immigration set in. Int it is not until about 1742 that we have any record of the founding of churches. In that year came Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg, honored as founder of the Lutheran Church in America, who entered upon missionary work in the province, and was active therein in 1776. He served as pastor of congregations at New Province, Philadelphia and New Hanover. He was an ardent patriot, and devoted himself to strengthening the arm of the infant government. He and his son. John Peter Muhlenberg, were largely instrumental in unifying their people in the same cause, and many of them served in the patriot army. John Peter Muhlenberg was pastor of a Lutheran church in Wood- stock, Virginia, when he was appointed to a coloneley by Washington. flis regiment inchided members of his congregation. He proved a gal- lint soldier, bore a splendid part in the battles of Germantown and
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Brandywine, rose to the rank of major-general, and afterward sat in congress.
Methodism appeared in New York about 1766, and was intro- duced by immigrants from Ireland. The Methodist church is to-day more properly national in its character as an American church than any other in the country, and the fact suggests an interesting specula- tion : Had the Established Church of England utilized the Methodism of Wesley (who never ceased to be a churchman), and displayed a conciliatory attitude toward the Presbyterians of Scotland. is it not probable that there would have been an Established Church in America, with Trinity of New York standing in the new land for what Canter- bury does in the mother country?
In 1769 the Rev. Joseph Pilmore came from England as an itiner- ant missionary, and preached in Philadelphia and Chester county. In 1771 Francis Asbury, the most famous name in American Methodism. came to the country, and labored in Pennsylvania and other of the provinces. In 1773 Thomas Rankin, sent out by Wesley, held the first conference in Philadelphia, and there were then ten itinerant preachers and 1,160 members. In their primitive churches Methodism was exhibited in all its pristine vigor. The oratory of the preachers was fervently exhortatory. Little stress was laid upon doctrine, but every faculty was called into play to arrest the attention of the sinner and turn him aside from the paths of iniquity. The itinerant Meth- odist preacher was foremost among the pioneers who passed over the mountains and led in the settlement of the south and west. The people whom he gathered about him were of the best of their day.
With these early peoples, of whatever faith, religion was a (if not the) dominating force. They interpreted the Bible and its promises literally, completely accepting it as the sole Book of the Law, as the guide
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for both this life and the life which is to come. They had no worri- ment over doubt, no trouble with the perplexities of the higher criti- vism. Translator's errors, if they could have conceived them, they would have deemed an impossibility. The Bible said so, and so it therefore was. An incident related in connection with the Rev. John Tennent, founder of the "Log College." ever famous in the religious and educational annals of Pennsylvania, is curiously indicative of the tenacity with which the sturdy Scotch-Irish Presbyterians adhered to the literal meaning of the sacred word. Mr. Tennent was present at the founding of a church (in New Jersey, but the locality does not detract from the value of the illustration), and the corner-stone was to be set upon a low piece of ground. Whereupon a Godly woman. Janet Rhea, exclaimed : "Wha ever heard o' ganging doon to the hoose o' the Lord. an' no o' ganging oop to the hoose o' the Lord?" And she picked up the stone, and climbed laboriously with it to the summit of the hill. where the building was erected.
Such implicit faith, such firm reliance, such complete subservience of their daily lives and inmost thought to the Sacred Word, made these people, even in their own day, stand out in bold relief as honest. God- fearing men and women-people whose work could be implicitly relied upon. people who would have willingly wronged no man.
The primitive church building was of the utmost plainness, for the people themselves were plain. There were no musical instruments, and the psalm or hymn was "given out" by the minister, two lines at a time. The singing was slow. but intensely vigorous, and the tunes were those brought from beyond the sea. from England, Scotland, Wales or Germany, as the character of the assemblage might be. The sermon was of great length. and abounded in quotations from the scriptures to fortify each proposition as it was advanced. In some congregations,
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perhaps always in those of Presbyterians, if no minister were present. an elder or deacon would read a discourse from a volume of sermons by some noted divine of an earlier day, even so ancient a one as the martyred Latimer. There was frequently a Sunday afternoon service. but very seldom was there one at night, and not then until the days of sconces and tallow dips. There are many yet living who have heard from the pulpit in the morning the announcement of services in the evening, at "early candle-lighting."
But the primitive house of worship has passed away. and with it the old-time preacher, who is without a successor of his own kind. Each sect now rears such ornate temple as its means will permit. and frequently anticipates the future by incurring a great debt in its build- ing. In the conduct of worship only the staid Quakers maintain a semblance of the original simplicity, and some of their congregations even have their regular preaching and their Sunday school. Some ยท Presbyterians, who so abhorred anything at all approaching an appear- ance of Catholicism, repeat the Creed, chant the Gloria, read the Psalms antiphonally with the minister, and listen to florid music by a salaried choir and grand organ. In only a few congregations of Cov- enanters. and these principally in Pennsylvania, well back in the re- mote hill regions, are the okl traditions preserved. The followers of Wesley vie with their Presbyterian brethren in making their service elaborate, even to the introduction of vested choirs, and the old-time revival and powerful exhortation remain only in story.
Having considered the original and early following population of Pennsylvania in their character as religionists. it remains to mention an element which was in part of them and in part outside of them. This was the redemptioner. The term was the designation of a class which
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came principally from the British Isles and the Palatinate, and the man- ner of their coming gave them their name. They were without means to pay for their ship passage, and they indentured themselves in advance to some American land proprietor who needed laborers, or to a ship- ping master who would dispose of them after their debarkation. Out of the latter method grew one of the scandals of the times. Trading in redemptioners became a business, carried on by a class of men who speculated in them as though they were cattle. AA ship owner found it profitable to pick up a shipload of indigent creatures whom he would sell in an American port to a "soul-driver." as they came to be known, who drove them on foot through the country, seeking purchasers who would buy their services for a term of years. The business finally became precarious on account of many of the redemptioners running away while thus journeying, and was abandoned about 1785.
These redemptioners were of all sorts and conditions of men. and women as well. There were those scapegrace men and dissolute women who were vagrants and outcasts at home, and who cared not whither they drifted. There were those of the same class who were earnestly intent upon reformation. There were the unfortunate, wrecked through error of judgment or stress of circumstances, who sought opportunity for beginning life anew, no matter under what disad- vantages. Of these various classes, the greater number found the level of their former associates and surroundings. There were thieves and evikloers who were such to the end. There were patient plodders who laboriously discharged the task of each succeeding day. hopelessly and doggedly, and so lived and so died. There were those, too, whose lives were lived in defiance of all those laws of heredity of which so much is now heard; those of good family who became outlaws on land :uid sea; and others, women as well as men, of ignoble origin, and
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whose own lives were vicious, who rose out of their brutalized selves and became exemplary citizens and heads of families whose descend- ants now hold their memories in honor. The greater number were peo- ple of good character and noble aspirations, but-poor.
To a large extent, all these peoples have blended. There was another class which has preserved its identity, and which, to so speak. is native to the soil-the Pennsylvania Dutch. These are the descend- ants of certain German religious sects who settled early in the eighteenth century, chiefly between the Susquehanna and Schuylkill rivers. They made settlements of their own, and now. even where they are a part of a diversified population, they practically dwell apart and to them- selves. Many of them have no conversational knowledge of English. Their ancestors were from the Palatinate, Bavaria, German Switzer- land and Alsace, and their various dialects, together with the incorpora- tion of some English words, have crystalized into a new language, related in some degree to all those from which it has been derived, with the German forms predominating. These people are industrious, strictly honest and eminently successful. their farms being kept in the highest possible state of cultivation, and their buildings being models of neatness and utility.
Whether Welsh, English, Scotch or German, the early settlers brought with them a love for the manners and customs of their native land, and in their daily lives and in their homes endeavored to follow what they had been there accustomed to. In their domestic life the utmost simplicity prevailed, yet a high degree of comfort was attained. and many comparisons have been drawn between their mode of living and that which now prevails, to the disparagement of the latter as less satisfying and even as less moral. Increased wealth has begotten arti-
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ficial wants, and it may be that, in ministering to these, the grace of con- tentment has been lost.
The wealth of the people lay in their land and domestic animals- not in the beauty of their homes, or the magnificence of their furniture. Many of the original colonists dwelt for some time in caves dug into the side of a hill. The first houses were of logs, and many of them had shutters instead of windows, glass being wanting. The fireplaces were of immense size, made to take in great logs. Brick and stone houses came later, and were usually not more than one story and a half. Locks to dwellings were unknown until after civilization had consider- ably advanced and disreputable persons had begun to come in. The sitting room and the kitchen. the latter being also the dining room, were the important features of the home. Carpets were unknown, and a sanded floor was deemed the perfection of cleanliness and comfort. Bedrooms were small, and sleeping bunks were common when the family was large. Furniture was of the most primitive kind, and most of it was made by the householder or a convenient woodworker. Some families, however, brought with them household articles which they deemed especially valuable or beautiful, and these, with a few pieces of crockery, silver and pewter ware. were given a place of honor among the lares et penates of the new home. For lighting there was first the pine-knot. then the tallow dip, and afterward the moulded candle. home made. The few books which constituted the family library were principally of a religious character-the Bible. Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." Baxter's "Saints' Everlasting Rest." Dodridge's "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." "The Last Day of the Week." In Presbyterian households the cooking for the Sabbath was done on Satur- clay, and that night the family engaged in religious services in prepara- tion for the duties of the holy day.
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The primitive farmer had no other world than his home, and in this he was a king. His buildings were substantial, and his farm was well kept up. Crops were industriously cultivated, and the products of field, orchard and pen were carefully husbanded, and cellars and smoke-houses were well stocked with the choicest game. domestic meats, vegetables and fruits. The owner took great pride in his possessions. and nothing so delighted him as to gather his neighbors about him at his bountifully laden table and in front of his cheery fireplace with its huge pile of blazing logs. Nor was his hospitality restricted to those whom he hailed as friends, and who rejoiced in paying him in kind in their own homes. The wayfaring man-who would be termed a "tramp" to-day-was ever well entertained and even welcomed. If only needy, he was fed and lodged for sake of that dear Lord "who loves and pities all," and who said "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." If the stranger were a man of intelligence, he was gladly hailed as a mes- senger from the outer world, and the news which he brought in that newspaperless day, and the views which he expressed. were listened to with interest and respect. The most particular care was given to the housing of domestic animals, and people who were not so heedful in this respect were wont to say that some looked after their cattle and hogs more carefully than they did for their wives and children.
For very many years church life and social life were so intimately related that the history of one is contained within that of the other. With all sects except the Quakers, the minister was regarded as the leading man in the community, and as the embodiment of all intelli- gence, culture and manners. Yet he became. in a few instances, a stumblingblock to. his people in their moral and religious life, and it is to be admitted that their own over-zealous solicitude and affection
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