USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Historical sketch of old Hanover church > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
' Re-surveyed for Robert Spear, August 18, 1785, the above tract of land, containing two hundred and two acres and five-eighths and allowances, situate in Derry township, Dauphin county, late Lan- caster, by warrant granted to James Clark, 28th of July, 1743. 'Signed BARTRAM GALBRAITH.
'N. B. The above square piece of nineteen by twenty perches is a Presbyterian meeting house and burying-grounds.
To JOHN LUKENS, S. G.
' Returned into the Land Office the third November, 1785, for John Lukens, Esq., S. G.
EDWARD LYNCH.'
"The picee of ground designated as the burying-ground contained somewhat more than two acres. A number of stones, placed to mark the graves of those buried there, are still standing, but many have been carried away and put to other uses. The stones are all undressed red sand stone, without date or any other inscription. The foundation walls of the building still remain, though in a some-
49
CONEWAGO CHURCH.
what dilapidated condition. There is nothing on our county records to show when, by whom, or to whom the title for this piece was made.
" The church must have been a very small affair, as the foundation is only about twelve feet by sixteen. A portion of the ground was. .during the last summer planted in corn. 'Black-haw' and other trees are growing within the area of the church wall. Tradition has it, that the carpenter who built the church fell from the roof and was killed, and was the first person buried on the ground."
A personal examination of the site of the grave-yard was made in May, 1877, in company of Hon. John Blair Linn, of Bellefonte, Hon. Joseph H. Nisley, of Middletown, and Dr. William H. Egle, of Harrisburg. The enclosure which Dr. R. supposes to have been a church foundation is a dilapidated wall, enclosing the burial-place of some important families. There is no inseriptive stone to tell what it really was. It is about ten by twelve feet. Clearly there is no mark of a church at this spot. What is very remarkable, there is not a tomb-stone, or part of one, with any inscription in the mass of fragments of such memorials which surround the family enclo- sure spoken of. The stones are of the red sand stone of the neigh- boring hills-many of them buried in the earth as taken from the quarry, free from all evidence of mannal adornment-weather-beaten as well as rough.
The small space set off for the congregation was part of the lands of Clark & M'Kee. This reservation was as early as. 1737, before either of these members of the church had any legal claim to the land, but there was no adverse title, and the gift was a good one.
A warrant was granted 1742-a survey returned, excluding these two acres, in 1743. In 1785 it was again surveyed, and described as follows :
North 34" west 19 perches.
South 56" west 20 perches.
South 34" east 19 perches.
North 56" east 20 perches.
A great part of this plot was prepared for corn when our com- pany examined it.
After searching all the early assessments of that portion of Dau- phin county, from 1725 to 1790, we are inclined to think the follow- ing list comprises most, if not all, the heads of families of this con- gregation from 1745-55. All the names are on the tax list from
50
CONEWAGO CHURCH.
1750 to 1766 ; many for twenty years previously. After the Revo- lution they disappear year by year, and names of other nationali- ties take their places :
Alexander Bence,
Thomas M'Kee,
Thomas Bowman,
Richard Grice, Hugh Hall, . Widow Hall,
Robert M'Kee,
John Bowman,
John M'Queen,
Abraham Bridgot,
John Hall,
Joseph M'Queen,
Thomas Breese,
Thomas Hall,
James M'Queen,
Hugh Black,
Jebel Hall,
Edward Queen,
Peter Corby,
James HIall,
Cornelius Queen,
James Crouch,
John Kerr,
James Rea,
James Clarke,
Thomas Kar,
John Rea, [or Wray, ]
Hugh Clark,
Malcolm Karr,
William Rea,
Rowland Chambers,
Thomas Lenox,
Thomas Rutherford,
Arthur Chambers,
Tho. Mitchell.
William Shaw,
Robert Chambers,
Peter Murdoch,
Robert Spear,
Joseph Candor,
Robert Murdoch, James Murdoch,
Tho. Wallace,
John Combe,
John Murdoch,
William White,
George Davidson,
Neil M'Allister,
Archibald Walker,
John Doakes,
John M'Allister,
James Walker,
Arch'd Elliott,
John M'Nair,
William Work.
George Gray,
The foregoing list of names would show a population of about two hundred in 1740.
That part of Danphin county we are writing of was originally the township of Derry, in Lancaster county, and "set off" at the first court in 1729. In 1768 a part of Derry was " set off" and called Londonderry, " commencing by a road leading from Conewago creek by the Widow Hall's, &c. In 1826 rectification of lines was order- edl, when finally, in 1850, Conewago township was "set off" from the east end of Londonderry, leaving the site we have been endeay- oring to describe, in Londonderry, a short mile north-east of Gein- burg. three miles from Middletown, seven miles from Paxtang church, four miles from Derry Spring, and about six miles from Donegal, all noted Presbyterian settlements.
Another, a family burial-place, is about half a mile west of the one belonging to the Conewago congregation. The inscriptions on the stones scattered about are in German, and all bear the name of "Gein." This spot, as well as its neighbor, is in a disgraceful state of neglect.
The surroundings of the Conewago place of burial are charming and romantic. Almost under the shadow of the frowning " Round Top," on the north and west-the Cornwall Hills on the east-and in the more distant south the South mountain shows its broken front. The farms are kept in very handsome condition, a generous soil is carefully cultivated, the improvements and enclosures substantial,
Adam Thomas,
Thomas Clark,
51
CONEWAGO CHURCH.
and at present inhabited almost entirely by persons of German de- scent. There are not half a dozen families of Scotch-Irish descent in the neighborhood.
Many admirers of the sturdy race who first formed congregations and conquered the virgin soil of this part of Pennsylvania think that the Presbytery of Carlisle should take order on the subject of vacant burial-grounds within its bounds. There are four such plots in Dauphin county, and soon a fifth will be added, if historic "Der- ry" is allowed to be pulled to pieces to satisfy the curiosity or van- dalism of those who use its venerated soil for pic-nics and frolics not quite so reputable.
NOTES.
A perusal of these brief notes will awaken interest in many quar- ters touching early family records or tradition, and may be the means of establishing the correctness of the narrative, and perhaps of recov- ering papers whose contents will further elucidate the early history of the settlements along the Susquehanna "above Conewago"-a field of inquiry almost untrodden.
Mr. Black, the only pastor we have been enabled to name, was from Ulster; was licensed by the Newcastle Presbytery in 1735, when he was chosen pastor of the "Forks of Brandywine." In 1738 he presided at the installation of Rev. John Elder, at Paxtang. In October, 1741, he came to "Conewago." In 1743 he appears to have gone " missionary to South Mountain," in Virginia. He died there in 1770 " an aged minister."
Hugh Hall's wife was a daughter of James Roddy, who was on the first grand jury held in Lancaster county, and whose name ap- pears on the assessment of Donegal in 1723. He was active in all the affairs of the Donegal settlement. Roddy resided some miles south of Conewago.
Hugh Hall had a son Hugh Hall, who was an ensign in Colonel (General) Hugh Mercer's "third battalion of sixteen companies, May 4, 1758." Opposite his name on the roll is written "of a repu- table and good family in Lancaster county." Their captain was Adam Read, Esquire, the father-in-law of John Harris, by his sec- ond marriage, and the lieutenant was John Simpson, father of Gen- eral Michael Simpson. All these officers were citizens of the terri- tory of what thirty years after became Dauphin county.
The M'Queens so numerous in this congregation have mostly be- come M'Cunes. The orthography of the list of taxables about 1750
-
52
CONEWAGO CHURCH.
is something wonderful. Just as the assessor talked he wrote. If a man paid his tax he was marked " pate ;" if Kerr was assessed, he was enrolled Carr, and so with all the rest, even to dropping the national "Mac" from the M'Queens, reducing the name to Queen ; in some instances M'Guinne and M'Quown.
The Kerrs came to Conewago in 1730. One of the family became the Rev. William Kerr of Donegal, who married a granddaughter of the Rev. John Elder. Representatives of the family, in almost all its branches. still reside in Dauphin county-an instance of sta- bility and content to be noted in the restless race from which it sprung.
Jane Murdoch. the daughter of John and sister of James, mar- ried Thomas Rutherford in 1732. The Murdochs then lived "above Conoy." This marriage has numerous descendants in Dauphin county, and in many of the western counties of this and other States.
The family of Work removed to the west early after the Revolu- tion.
The Clarks are found in all parts of Pennsylvania and the west. A son of one of them was an officer of rank in the Revolution, and some of his descendants yet reside in this county.
A daughter of John M'Queen, Rosanna, married Capt. Jamieson of Donegal.
David M'Nair has descendants yet residing in Dauphin county. I think Hon. John M'Nair, formerly member of Congress from the Montgomery district, informed me that " his people originally settled on the Susquehanna."
Adam Thomas owned a farm just north of the grave-yard, and was uncle to the venerable Mrs. Valentine Egle, of Harrisburg, who died in Harrisburg, August 5, 1867. at the great age of ninety-five. Thomas was a Welshman.
This family of Chambers permanently established themselves be- low Harris ferry.
James Crouch became a prominent man in Revolutionary times. He was a colonel.
Hugh Black's family has no descendants in the male line.
Both M'Kees were Indian traders. James and his descondants remained on the land he warranted in 1737 until about 1830, when
.53
CONEWAGO CHURCH.
the family name is lost. The famous Belle of it was an only heir, married, and removed to a distant county. Thomas, about 1753. removed to his " upper farm, about thirty miles from Harris ferry," where he built a fort. He was an officer under Burd at Forts Au- gusta and Hunter, and his singular orthography figures in long pages of letters printed in the Pennsylvania Archives.
The Wallace family, possibly descendants of the one belonging to this congregation, settled in great force along the Swatara creek, in Derry and Hanover.
The family of Wray were numerous in Hanover at a later date.
Candor and Lenox are names not often found in Dauphin county at present. It is not known to what part of the country they emi- grated. One of the name died at Harrisburg forty years ago.
FEBRUARY, 1877.
NEW-SIDE PRESBYTERIAN GRAVE-YARD, Lower Paxtang Township, DAUPHIN COUNTY.
1
NEW-SIDE GRAVE-YARD.
T HE " new side Presbyterians " were those followers of the Ten- nents, Blairs, Carmichael and others who agreed with them in antagonism to the Synod of Philadelphia. The Newcastle Pres- bytery being "new side" licensed Rev. John Roan in 1744. He came about 1747 to Derry, Mount Joy and Paxtang, gathering small congregations in each of these localities. It is not known that any other church was erected for him except the one at Mount Joy. His people did not use Paxtang grave-yard, selecting the one we are about to describe for their use.
Its situation is distant from the common routes of the present day, and indeed is known to very few. It is in Lower Paxtang town- ship, Dauphin county, six miles east of Harrisburg, two miles north of Paxtang church, nine miles south-west of Hanover church, on the road from Harrisburg to Hornerstown and Union Deposit. There is no appearance of any structure ever having been erected upon it. Yet it will be seen that there is evidence that a small one was erected on or near the spot. In an advertisement of the day we find that on the eleventh of September, 1795, James Byers and James Willson, executors of William Brown, Esq., deceased, of Paxtang, offered for sale "a LOG-HOUSE near the residence formerly occupied as a house of worship by the Reverend Matthew Lind." This, and the thirty-four acres of land, appears to have been purchased by George Weidman; afterwards by George Shirk; then by Jacob Grove, whose family reside there at present-1877.
The "log-house," formerly occupied as "a house of worship," was used, within the memory of many persons yet living, as a sheep-pen. It stood north of the grave-yard, but close to it. It has disappeared.
The Rev. Mr. Lind was a member of Carlisle Presbytery, and is known to have often preached within its bounds. The enclosure contains less than one acre of ground, and is at present in tolerable
58
NEW-SIDE GRAVE-YARD.
repair. The earliest interment was made in 1750-the last about 1855, showing its use for more than one hundred years.
Many graves unmarked, show that interments have not been made for many years. It has not been used for at least twenty. The lib- erality and attention of Mr. Robert Stewart, of Hanover, has kept its enclosure in fair condition. Some organization of Presbyterians should take this burial-place in charge, and provide for repairs every few years. Any public-spirited citizen, no matter what his religious affiliations, would cheerfully contribute labor so supreme, and feel true happiness in doing so.
Directly after entering the enclosure we find plain slabs, some of red sand stone, others of more pretentious marble, others of wood, marked as follows :
In Memory of William M'Clure Who Departed This Life April 1785 Aged 54 years
Here Lyeth the Body of John Stewart of Dauphin county Hanover Township Who Departed This Life the 8th of April 1777 aged 63 years
Here Lyeth the Body of Agnes Stewart Late Spouse of Hugh Stewart of Paxton who Depar ted this Life the 22d of March 1790 aged 55 years
Here Lyeth the body of Hugh Stewart of Paxton who departed this Life the 8th of Oct 1798 Aged 80 years Also Hannah Stewart Spouse of said Stewart who departed this Life the 8th Oct. 1750 Aged 33 years -
In Memory of Sarah wife of Robert Stewart Born Ang 10, 1768 Died May 8, 1813 Aged 44 yrs, 8 mo's & 29 days In Memory of Robert Stewart Born March S, 1765 Died April 4, 1854 Aged 89 years & 26 d.
G. 1766 Here Layeth The Body of Margery Marshal Died Jan'y ve 6, 1766 Aged 21 Years & 5 months
M.
In Memory of Mary Welch Who Dec'd August 22nd 1754 Aged 47 Years Also Jean Welch Who Dec'd Sept. 3th 1754 aged 18 Years
In Memory of James Welch w ho Deceased Ja nnary ye 2Sd 1754 aged 50 years Also James Welch Younger who Dee'd August 7th 1754 Aged 20 years
59
NEW-SIDE GRAVE-YARD.
In Memory of William Duncan Who Departed This Life Sept 24 1783 Aged 97 Years In Memory of James Duncan Who Departed This Life Aug't 25th 1792 Aged 68 years.
In Memory of Joseph Willson Sen'r Who Departed this Life the 7 day Feb'y 1799 aged 84 Years Also Jean his First Wife Departed this Life the 11th of April 1763 Aged 43 Years
In the quiet grave-yard at Brown's Mill, six miles south of Cham- bersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, rest the remains of, per- chance, the only pastor of the "New-Side Congregation." On two plain marble slabs, side by side, are the following inscriptions :
Sacred | to | the Memory | of | the Rev. Matthew Lind | Who after having served God in the | Gospel of his Son for nearly forty years | and performed with exemplary tenderness | and fidelity the duties resulting from | lis re- lations in life fell asleep in Jesus | on the 21st of April 1800 aged 68 years | and 8 months | Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.
In | Memory | of | Jennie Fulton | Consort | of | the Rev. Matthew Lind | Among wives the most dutiful ; among | mothers the most affectionate, and among | friends the kindest and most hospitable, / her name will be always dear to those who | knew her. She died on the first day of | April 1819, in the seventy-third year of | her age | Precious in the sight of the Lord | is the death of his Saints.
~
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.