USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Bridgeport > Hart's history and directory of the three towns, Brownsville, Bridgeport, West Brownsville also abridged history of Fayette county & western Pennsylvania > Part 30
USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > West Brownsville > Hart's history and directory of the three towns, Brownsville, Bridgeport, West Brownsville also abridged history of Fayette county & western Pennsylvania > Part 30
USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > Brownsville > Hart's history and directory of the three towns, Brownsville, Bridgeport, West Brownsville also abridged history of Fayette county & western Pennsylvania > Part 30
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W. G. Nevin, which continued from July, 1883, until some time in 1884, or early in 1885. The congregation was then ministered to by Rev. Himler for one year. The name of Rev. B. M. Kerr appears upon the sessional records of the church for the first time under date of April 2, 1887. His faithful work is fresh in the memory of the older members of the church. He died early in 1892, while pastor of this people.
The present pastorate is that of the Rev. W. Scott Bowman, who will soon close the twentieth year of his ministry. Rev. Bowman took charge of this church on the first of July, 1892. Under this pastorate the church has risen to a place among the first of the Presbytery. It is thoroughly organized with a session of six elders, one deacon and four trustees. Every branch of church work moves quietly along accomplishing its work The church has a good Sabbath School, Young People's Society, Ladies' Aid Society, and Home and Foreign Missionary Society. The church is also in good financial con- dition, and in spite of many losses, the church has had a steady growth during the past twelve years.
The following brief account of the property of the church is taken from the history of Fayette County, by Franklin Ellis, 1882, page 443: "Until after 1815 (probably 1813, for the first sermon in that church was preached by Rev. Johnston to the Brownsville volunteers of the war of 1812) the Presbyterians of Brownsville had no regular house of worship. On the 14th of June in that year Joseph Thornton, John Steele and John Johnston, trustees of the Presbyterian congregation of Brownsville, purchased for two hundred dollars and five shillings, annual ground rent, lot No. 3, on Second Street, being sixty feet front on that street, and one hundred and eighty feet deep to Market Street. It was conveyed to them in trust for the Presbyterian congregation of Brownsville, for the purpose of erecting a meeting-house thereon for the benefit of the congregation aforesaid." Soon afterwards there was built on the Second Street front a brick edifice which was used as a house of worship until the second building was completed on the same lot, but fronting on Market Street. This second church building was dedicated in May, 1850, and after serving as a place of worship for forty-five years, was taken down in May, 1895. The present building, which occupies the site of the second building, is the third edifice erected by the church on the same lot. The auditorium of the present building was first occupied on the morn- ing of the first Sabbath of January, 1896. The following services are held every Sabbath: Sabbath School at 9:45 a. m .; Morning Worship at 11:00 a. m .; Y. P. S. C. E. at 6:15 p. m .; Evening Worship at 7:00 p. m. The doors of this church are always open to all.
385
The First Methodist Episcopal Church
THE FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The First Methodist Episcopal Church, of which, William Medley D. D. is pastor, is one of the oldest, and most commodious structures in the three towns, used for public worship. The present, a two-story edifice of stone and brick, occupies a site once occupied by a smaller stone building of un- certain date. But, from the fact that in 1876, during the pastorate of Rev. W. A. Stuart, its centennial was celebrated, we gather that its origin was con- temporary with that of the Republic. However, its carly records have been lost, and the earliest available history carries us back no further than 1815, when Asa Shinn, of pious memory, and the no less famous Thornton Fleming, were the pastors in charge of the work, then known as the Browns- ville and Uniontown circuit. As such, it was continued until the year 1833, when Uniontown became a station, and Bridgeport, now the second Metho- dist Episcopal Church of Brownsville, was united with the first church, and both together were known as the Brownsville and Bridgeport Station. This arrangement continued until the year 1844, when the union was severed, and each of the churches became a station.
Early in its history the first church became one of the important charges of Methodism in this part of the state, and in 1849 was selected as the seat of the Pittsburgh Conference, under the Presidency of the sainted Bishop Waugh. Its pulpit has been filled by leading men of the conference, some of whom have gone up higher, and some who are remaining until this day. While the presiding elder of the district, within sight of the church he loved, James G. Sansom, "The Old Man Eloquent, " whose last public utterance was from its pulpit, to the heroes assembled for worship, prior to their de- parture to take part in the tremendous struggle for the preservation of the Union, laid down the weapons of his earthly warfare and reported on the camping ground of the Eternal.
The Rev. James Green Sansom was born of German parents, in Bedford County, Pa., in the year 1794, and died at the home of the late Peter Swearer, in Brownsville, Pa., May 4, 1861. Early in life he became affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and entered the itinerant ranks in the year 1818, long before what is now known as the Pittsburg Conference of that church had an existence. For forty-three years he faithfully and successfully discharged the duties of the ministerial office, and at the time of his death, was the presiding elder of the then, Uniontown district. He was a self-made and a self-taught man; a man with many, and marvelous natural talents. He was a deep thinker, and acute reasoner, and a kcon logician. He had a broad, clear mind, and a voice of wonderful volume and penetrative power. In short, he was a man specially fitted for the office to which he was called. A bright, genial, loving, lovable man, to whom Methodism owes much. There are those still living to whom his memory is as "ointment poured forth." He is gone, but he still is, "and, being dead, vet speaketh."
For eleven years, as the presiding elder, and the pastor, the Rev. C. R. Beacom, ministered, followed by others, whose names we have not space to mention.
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First M. E. Church, Brownsville-Rev. Wmn. Medley, Pastor
387
The Roman Catholic Church
The roll of the church contains honored names, such as those of Dr. John A. Brashear, the world-famed astronomer; Philander C. Knox, of more than national reputation; W. F. Knox, a popular physician of Mckeesport, Pa., and S. Page Knox, of Santa Barbara, California, all of whom received their first lessons in sacred truth within her walls.
The first church is represented in various departments, and in various fields in Methodism by those whose carly training was in the Sabbath classes, who have heard the call of their Master, and have gone forth to the service, among whom are F. H. Wilkenson, the associate editor of the Pittsburg Christian Advocate; James Mcchem, the present presiding elder of the Washington district; Wilbur C. Swearer, the presiding elder of a Missionary District in Korea, and four others who are still in the active work of the pastorate; W. K. Marshall, a member of the Kansas conference; George A. Cecbere, a member of the Texas conference; and C. A. Sheets, and W. J. Low- stuter, still in the Pittsburg conference.
On the whole, the history of the first church is an honored one, and while many who have rejoiced in her fellowship are now in the "Church Trium- phant." there are yet evidences of the worth of her work in the higher lay and ministerial circles.
TIIE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
We are indebted to the Rev. A. A. Lambing, L. L. D., of Pittsburg, for the following sketch of the Catholic Church at Brownsville:
"The natural position which the site of the future Brownsville occupied, and the fact that it was at a very early day connected by an Indian trail with the mouth of Will's Creek on the Patomic, east of the mountains, and later by the extension of Braddock's road, early drew attention to it as the most suitable place for embarking for the west on the Monongahela River, or of crossing that stream to strike the Ohio in the neighborhood of Wheeling. Exploration, trade and pioneer settlement brought with them an element of religion ; not very pronounced, it may be in the beginning, but destined to develop with the lapse of time. A brief glance at this, so far as the Catholic Church is concerned, will be the purpose of this paper.
"As early as the summer of 1754, when the French came out from Fort Duquesne to meet the advancing forces of the colonists under George Wash- ington, on the Chestnut Ridge, those who went up the Monongahela were accompanied by a chaplain, whose name, however, has not been recorded, but who celebrated Mass at the mouth of Redstone Creek on the carly morn- ing of June 30, which appears to have been the first religious service of any kind held in that section of the country. But this was only a passing visit such as the people of a later day became accustomed to, when permanent settlement was begun. Whatever the faults of the first settlers, they were, as a rule, men not altogether devoid of religion, and were desirous of its con- solations as often as their isolated condition would permit. A few families having settled in the present Greene County near the river, a man by the name of Felix Hughes, who seems to have been the most influential among
Roman Catholic Church, Brownsville-Rev. Thos. F. Glynn, Rector
389
The Roman Catholic Church
them, went to Philadelphia in 1785 to see if he could not induce a priest to pay them an occasional visit. But, so small was the number of clergymen at that time, and so wide the fields of their labors, that he does not appear to have succeeded. But an occasional-missionary would pass through to Kentucky and would delay for a few days to minister to the scattered fami- lies. Religious services were generally held by these passing missionaries in the house of Neil Gillespie, whose name is familiar to every student of the carly history of this section of country. So matters continued till near the end of the eighteenth century, when a priest was stationed at St. Vincents arch abbey, near Latrobe, who visited the people at distant intervals. About 1798 Rev. Patrick Lonergan tried to establish a colony near Waynesburg, from which he visited Brownsville, and even Pittsburg at times.
"In the fall of 1808, Rev. William F. X. O'Brien was appointed first resi- dent pastor of Pittsburg; and from that time the scattered Catholic families in the vicinity of Brownsville could calculate on a visit about every two months, a condition of affairs which continued with gradual improvement till some time before 1830, when Rev. Patrick Rafferty was made first resi- dent pastor. What fruit he was able to reap in the line of spirituals is not distinctly recorded; certain it is that his pecuniary recompense was meager enough; for, after laboring a year he only received $3.623, and left, conclud- ing that zeal did not require such sacrifices. Rt. Rev. Francis P. Kentrick, of Philadelphia, visited the town in January, 1834, and writes of it: 'On my visit to Brownsville, a little village on the Monongahela River, I was much edified,' etc. *
* 'The faithful of this mission are to be pitied, being able only four times a year to enjoy the presence of a priest, the pastor of Blairsville, Rev. James A. Stillenger, who visits them thus, till I can place a pastor here.' But in 1836 Rev. Patrick Waters was stationed here for a time, but just how long it is impossible to determine.
"The date of the building of the first church has not been ascertained, but it was most probably before the visit of the bishop, just referred to. The circumstances were these: Neil Gillespie donated three acres of ground, that now occupied by the church, and two other persons, not members of the Catholic Church, J. J. Workman and E. L. Blaine undertook to have the church built, traveling as far as Baltimore to collect the necessary funds. Rev. Michael Gallagher was appointed pastor in 1837, but had a wide tract of the surrounding country also under his charge. The church was destroyed by fire in 1839, and Rev. Mr. Gallagher set about the erection of the present stately edifice, the plans of which, as well as a considerable part of the funds, he secured in his native Ireland, and it was solemnly dedicated, April 7, 1844. The congregation was then at the zenith of its prosperity, but the opening of the Pennsylvania Canal some time before and of the Patomic Canal, and later of the through lines of railroad gradually drew the current of trade and travel from it, and it experienced a reverse of fortune, improving but little from the river trade. Though generally having a resident priest, the con- gregation never gained that degree of independence which would command his entire services. Changes, too, were frequent in pastors, so that it would be difficult to give the entire list. Such was the condition of the church in
390
Rev. Thomas F. Glynn
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Blaine Monument, Catholic Cemetery, Brownsville
this section of country till the coke industry infused new life into Fayette County; but even then, Brownsville was slow in reaping much benefit from it. This brings us down to within less than a quarter of a century of the present, when the history is within the personal recollection of most people, and will not be pursucd further."
REV. THOMAS F. GLYNN, the popular and indefatigable rector of the Church of St. Thomas of Aquin, Coal Centre, Pa., and St. Peter's at Browns- ville, was born in Roscommon, Ireland, on February 6, 1860, and came to this country with his parents when but one year of age. The family settled
39
The First Baptist Church
in St. John's parish, Johnstown, Pa. After completing his primary educa- tion he entered St. Charles' College, Baltimore, where he went through his classics, besides finishing in the sixth Latin class with the highest honors. being first in Latin and first in English, and receiving the premium for Chris- tian Doctrine from Cardinal Gibbins himself. Then he went to St. Vincent's Seminary, where he completed his philosophical and theological studies. He was ordained in St. Paul's Cathedral, Pittsburg, on April 25, 1893, and was immediately appointed assistant to the Church of St. John the Evangelist, S. S., under the late Father O. P. Gallagher. After about two years he was transferred to St. Andrew's, Allegheny, where he remained for about three years. Then he went as pastor to St. Joseph's, North Oakland, where he remained for five years until, on November 16, 1902, he was appointed to his present charge. Geographically it is the largest in the Diocese. Coal Centre includes the mission of St. Peter's, Brownsville; and California, Woods Run, Lucyville and Stockdale are flourishing towns connected with the parish. Affairs have so progressed under his energetic administration that the town of Lucyville will very shortly have its own church. While at St. Vincent's Father Glynn was the editor and business manager of St. Vincent's Journal, and he has also been contributor to various Catholic newspapers and magazines.
When Father Glynn first took charge of the Coal Centre parish he found it in anything but a flourishing condition financially, but by hard work and able administration he has placed it in a most satisfactory condition in this important respect, and the same can be said of St. Peter's, at Brownsville.
Father Glynn is of an inventive turn of mind. Recently he has taken out a patent for an ingeniously contrived safety fender for street cars, and another for an indestructible railroad caboose.
Rev. Joseph Galewski has been appointed assistant to Father Glynn, owing to the great increase in the Catholic population under his zealous spiritual care. It was also necessary to have an assistant who could speak several foreign languages, and this is an accomplishment which Father Galewski possesses in a remakable degree.
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
The First Baptist Church of Brownsville was organized in 1841, with nine- teen constituent members, none of whom are now living. It was formerly recognized as an independent Baptist church by a council of neighboring Baptist churches convened in the Presbyterian Church November 16, 1841. Rev. William Wood (father of the late Rev. W. S. Wood, of Mt. Pleasant) was chosen as the first pastor. Mr. Evans, Mr. Morgan Mason, and Mr. Fillsom were chosen as the first board of trustees.
The Church was admitted to membership in the Monongahela Baptist Association in September, 1842.
Having no church building the congregation rented the lower part of the Freemason's Hall on Church Street, and worshipcd there for two years.
392
The First Baptist Church
Rev. J. F. Miller Pastor First Baptist Church, Brownsville
The first church building was erected on Church Street in 1843, and was dedicated November 19, of that year. This building is still standing.
The Sunday School in connection with this church was organized in 1844.
The church rapidly increased in membership from the beginning. In 1849 the records show 143 members in good and regular standing.
This church is the parent of two neighboring Baptist Churches. On
NOTE .- We were unable to secure a satisfactory picture of Rev. Miller's church owing to the unfinished condition of the same, hence the absence of the cut of that church.
393
Bridgeport Churches
January 13, 1850, thirty of its members were dismissed to organize the Red- stone Baptist Church, a building having been erected there by the church in 1849. In 1889, eight of its members together with a few others organized the California Baptist Church.
In July, 1898, the church purchased what was then known as the Jeffries' Hall, on Market Street, and proceeded to erect the present handsome building. Work on this building was begun in March, 1899. The basement being com- pleted and temporarily roofed, the congregation vacated the old chuch on Church Street and occupied the basement of the new building March 18, 1900, and continued to worship there until December 13, 1903, at which time the congregation moved into the newly completed Sunday School room, building operations having been actively resumed in April 1903.
The old church property on Church Street was sold February 27, 1901.
The following-named ministers have served the church as regular pastors: Revs. William Wood, Fisdale, Penny, Edward Miles, J. C. Cole, William Wood, R. H. Austin, W. W. Hickman, Daniel Kelsey, W. H. Hughes, Wil- liam Barnes, B. F. Fish, Ross Ward, D. H. Lehman, G. B. N. Clouser, E. E. Woodson, and J. F. Miller the present pastor.
The following-named ministers have supplied the church: Revs. W. S. Wood, James Jones, H. G. Mainwaring, C. H. Coligrove, M. R. Laning, E. G. Zwayer, Dr. L.M. Hughes, H. J. Ritenour, D. W. C. Harvey.
The following-named persons have been licensed by the church to preach the gospel: H. J. Ritenour, W. B. Skinner, W. R. Patton, C. A. Gilbert, James F. Rush. It has ordained to the ministry Rev. B. N. Clouser.
BRIDGEPORT CHURCHES.
FRIENDS OR QUAKER CHURCHES.
In an early period, before 1820, the number of the Society of Friends in Bridgeport outnumbered those of all other denominations, and their meetings for divine worship were held here many years before any other churches were organized in the place, beginning as carly as about the year 1790. For a few years they met in private dwellings. On the 28th of February, 1799, a lot of three acres of land was purchased from Rees Cadwalader, and soon afterwards a meetinghouse was built upon it. It was a stone building, low, but nearly or quite one hundred feet in length. Some years afterwards, when the Hicksites seceded from the regular congregation, this old meetinghouse was partitioned across in the middle so as to accommodate both meetings. This was continued for some years, but gradually, by reason of removals and the death of members, the congregation became reduced in number, and finally religious worship, after the manner of the Quakers, ceased to be held in Bridgeport.
Besides the old stone meetinghouse built by the Friends on the lot pur- chased from Rees Cadwalader, they also built on it a stone schoolhouse (the first schoolhouse in Bridgeport), and set apart a portion of the ground
394
Cumberland Presbyterian Church
for a burial place. Upon the lot purchased by the Friends from Cadwalader there now stands the residences of Mrs. Geo. Black, James Allen and others, and the Union School house of the borough.
CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
In the spring of 1832, the Revs. A. M. Bryan and Milton Bird, ministers of a new denomination, called Cumberland Presbyterians, came to Browns- ville.
Services were held for a few days in the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Prostestants Episcopal Church, with marked results. Many of the lead- ing people of town made a profession of religion. No effort was made, how- ever, at this time, to organize a church.
Among the carly Cumberland Presbyterian preachers who visited Browns- ville were John Morgan, Leroy Woods, S. M. Sparks, I. N. Cary, John Cary, S. E. Hudson and William E. Post.
In 1830 Rev. Post held services in what was called Black Horse Tavern, a store building belonging to the Sweitzer property.
A few years later, Cumberland Presbyterians held services in Masonic Hall.
Twelve years after the visit of Bryan and Bird, a petition by a number of prominent citizens, of Brownsville and vicinity, was presented to the Union Presbytery begging that a Cumberland Presbyterian Church be organized. The Presbytery granted the request and Rev. S. E. Hudson with Rev. Wil- liam Post organized the church September 10, 1844. There were thirty names on the original roll of the church with Josiah Waggoner and William Robinson as Ruling Elders.
Rev. J. T. A. Henderson, who was present when the church was organized became the stated supply.
The Rev. Isaac Hague preached from April 1847 to April 1848. During Rev. Heague's pastorate the membership increased to sixty. In June, 1847, William H. Bennett and J. H. Abrams were elected Ruling elders.
The Rev. A. B. Brice D. D., took charge of the church in 1848 and re- mained six years as pastor, while at the same time he edited the Cumberland Presbyterian. This paper was the organ of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Services were held for a while in the school hall in West Brownsville. During Rev. Brices first year a neat brick building was erected in the upper part of Bridgeport. This church was dedicated by Rev. Hiram Hunter of Uniontown.
In 1855, Dr. William Campbell took charge, serving the congregation two years. During his pastorate, he also edited the Cumberland Presbyterian.
The Rev. A. J. Swain became pastor in April of 1857 and remained till 1861. At the breaking out of the Civil War there were about ninety members on the church roll. In 1859, Freman Wise was elected Ruling Elder.
Revs. N. D. Porter, Henry S. Bennett and G. P. Wright held a very suc- cessful revival meeting during the spring of 1862. In this same year J. D. Armstrong, a young man of promise, was elected and ordained a Ruling Elder.
m
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Bridgeport Rev. Chas. R. Harmon, Pastor
396
Cumberland Presbyterian Church
From 1862 to 1868 the Rev. J. T. A. Henderson was pastor. After Mr. Henderson's resignation Rev. J. H. Coulter took charge of the field. It was while Mr. Coulter was pastor that Rev. A. J. Bird, D. D., of Nashville, Tenn., assisted in a meeting that resulted in a large addition to the church. Rev. Coulter's pastorate covered a period of about two years.
In December of 1872, Rev. J. M. Howard D. D., took charge of the congre- gation. There were many things to discourage and few things to encourage the friends of this struggling church. To add to the heavy adversities of the congregation, came the fire on the morning of October 8, 1874, which left in its track falling walls and a heap of ashes. For so few members with so little wealth, it seemed almost an impossibility to recover from this loss, but Rev. Howard went to work with a will and results followed.
Eliza Johnson, a devout Christian woman who had very little of this world's goods, gave the first ten dollars toward the new church.
The present location was selected and the corner stone laid. The lecture room was ready for service by February 20, 1876. On that day Dr. A. B. Miller of Waynesburg College, assisted by Dr. Henry Melville of Uniontown, opened the room with appropriate services.
In the spring of '76 and the fall of '77 there were extensive revivals. The Murphy Temperance movement came in 1877, doing much good work for the town and community. Following the activity of the temperance people came a marked revival in 1881. Among the many converts at this time was that of Seaborn Crawford, who was much interested in temperance and reform. He had been and continued to be a strong supporter of the church and was an honored deacon at the time of his death which occurred in Sep- tember, 1903.
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