USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > West Chester > History of First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, Pa. > Part 3
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 | Part 6 | Part 7
At a meeting held to fix the salary of the minister, February 24th, it was resolved "that after the interest on the debt on the church, say one hundred and twenty dollars, shall have been paid out of the pew rents, that the balance of the pew rents shall be appropriated to pay the pastor's salary, provided that the salary shall not exceed in any one year the sum of eight hundred dollars."
THE FIRST PASTOR-REV. WM. A. STEVENS.
On the third of March, 1834, a unanimous call was ex- tended to Rev. William A. Stevens to become the pastor of the church, promising the salary provided for above. It marks the faith of both parties, that no provision is made looking to the possibility of its being less. The call was put into the hands of Mr. Stevens by the Presbytery, April - I, 1834, and was formally accepted. The Presbytery ap- pointed a committee of installation to meet in West Chester on the last Friday in May, at 7.30 p. m. Mr. Stevens was installed as appointed, May 30, 1834, Rev. Robert White, Rev. John N. C. Grier and Rev. John M. Dickey officiating. On the same page of the record, which contains the report of the installation, is found this brief minute, "Rev. William A. Stevens was removed by death, October 3, 1834."
The Sabbath next after his installation was the com- munion. At the close of the services, Mr. Stevens remarked to a friend that he considered his life work chiefly done. It proved to be so. A single Sabbath at home, then came the sickness, not at first alarming, which was to end his life.
27
CHURCH, OF WEST CHESTER, PA.
The record of the session is: "The Rev. William A. Stevens, the pastor of this church, departed this life on Friday, October 3, 1834, at the residence of Hon. David Potts, Warwick Furnace, Chester county, aged 27 years. His remains were interred in the burial ground belonging to the church, on the succeeding Sabbath at four o'clock, attended by his congregation and a large number of the citizens of West Chester."
ยท
The body of Mr. Stevens was originally interred as stated above, in the burial ground of the church, then sit- uated on the south side of Barnard street, west of New. As recently as 1853, the whole block bounded by Barnard, New, Union and Wayne, was occupied by the cemeteries of the respective churches, in the following order beginning on Barnard street, viz .: Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist and Episcopal. Not long, however, after his death, the body was removed to the yard of the church where it re- mained for many years, and was then transferred to Oak- lands Cemetery, where it now lies. At that time the grave was in a line with the pulpit window, beside the church on Darlington street. A simple and beautiful tablet marks the place of burial.
Thus in the short space of three years and a half the ministerial life of Mr. Stevens was completed. His best and most enduring monument is this church. At his death it numbered sixty-eight members. He left behind him the reputation of a faithful servant of God, blameless, cour- ageous and devoted to his high calling. His memory lives as a blessed legacy in the community in which his life's work was so quickly and so well done.
Mr. Stevens was born at Compton, Talbot county, Md., April 9, 1807. His father, Hon. Samuel Stevens, was three times elected Governor of Maryland, and bore through life the reputation of an honorable and upright man. His mother, a daughter of Robert May, Esq., of Chester county, was a sister of Addison May Esq. She was an eminently pious woman, and to her prayers and counsels we must ascribe in great measure the character of her son. Mr.
28
HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
Stevens' early education was at home under private tutors. In his seventeenth year he entered Jefferson College, and soon became a subject of the revival prevailing there. His plans of life were changed, and he at once set his heart upon the ministry and shaped his studies to that end. After graduating at Jefferson, Mr. Stevens studied one year at Yale, and then entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton. After his licensure he preached for a brief pe- riod on the eastern shore of Maryland. Then for a short time he preached in Norristown. In March, 1831, he came here.
In person Mr. Stevens was of medium size, some five feet nine inches in height, and inclined to corpulency at the time of his majority. "His delivery was pronounced excel- lent by all. His sermons were always written and com- mitted to memory, and generally short." One of his ser- mons remains as a possession of the church.
From an obituary notice published at the time of his death, and preserved all these years by Mrs. Martha May Rothrock, whose father was Mr. Stevens' uncle, and who lives here in West Chester to witness this seventy-fifth an- niversary, the following is quoted :
"Mr. Stevens had but four short months before been installed pastor of the church by the Presbytery of New Castle, to which he belonged, and had preached but one Sabbath afterwards, when the symptoms of declining health induced him to relinquish his labors and try the effect of traveling and relaxation. His place was supplied by the Rev. Elias P. Ely, who had but just completed a two- months term of labor for his Master, when he returned to Connecticut to die at the paternal mansion, thus preceding a few days our departed brother, who has now followed him to the land of silence. How transporting their inter- view beyond the cold Jordan they have now both passed !
"Finding his health but little improved by the jaunt, he returned from the Springs, in New York, and after languish- ing for two months in West Chester and vicinity, flattered occasionally with some apparent change for the better, he
29
CHURCH, OF WEST CHESTER, PA.
ceased to breathe on the morning of the 3rd instant, at the house of a relation, at Warwick Furnace. * * He was a scholar well trained, a soldier well equipped for the work of the ministry. The sweetly persuasive accents of his silvery tongue, and the well digested thoughts which he gave forth from the sacred desk and the softening mellow impression still remains. Mr. Stevens was certainly peculiarly gifted. His mind was of a fine mold, accurate, clear, elevated and comprehensive-care- less of detail, but adapted to seize hold of the prominent points of a subject and present them in bold relief for practical effect. The beautiful rather than the sublime was his element. There was chasteness in his conceptions, and a polish in his diction. There was a certain fascination in his address, which, while it suppressed levity, won atten- tion and fixed impression. He was not impassioned, but pathetic; not illogical, yet not abstract. Argumentative when he chose, but pleasing and winning even when com- pelled to controvert.
"He was, as a man, possessed of a versatility of talent which had the property of rendering him companionable to all, to the extent of becoming 'all things to all men,' for the purpose of winning some. He knew, however, where to set just bounds, and to shun the unwholesome influences arising from too much familiarity with the things of the world. He was, in his days of best health, possessed of fine manly form, ruddy, robust and rather commanding, but withal delicate, and as the event proved, unsound. *
To his people he was endeared as a man of God who toiled and prayed and sought after their good, and he was entwined about their hearts by tenderest cords. The tear involuntarily starts from the writer's eye when he re- calls the frequent expressions of brotherly, motherly, ten- der regard which have fallen from their lips in his hearing, when speaking of their pastor. Prayer without ceasing was made for his recovery, and for a time some felt en- couraged to hope. A complicated disease involving several of the vital parts presented such dubious and conflicting
30
HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
symptoms as to baffle medical opinion and render the proper treatment difficult. A marked alteration for the worse a day or two before his decease awakened appre- hension of the issue in some, and a difficulty in breathing occasioned probably by the presence of water in the chest, soon confirmed their fears, and left the emaciated frame to tell the rest. Fondly had maternal tenderness and piety watched and cheered the pillow of a dying son, for tedious days and nights and weeks together, and it was hoped that ere the close of the past week he would return to the bor- ough, preparatory to attendance at church with the mem- bers of his Presbytery now expected to convene in it; but the Most High had other designs toward him, and his sun descended in its western sky more rapidly than even des- pondency itself had anticipated; so true is it that death comes like a thief in the night, rendering it essential that we be always ready. The nature of his complaint pre- cluded the expression of his feelings, but from much that had passed in conversation before, we infer that death was not a terror to his mind.
"The first interview had with him on his return from New York to Philadelphia convinced the writer that he was incurably sick, and freely communicating the impression did not create distress. He observed, 'Brother M., I am not long for this world.' I responded in the affirmative with tenderness, and he was affected, but did not lose his firm- ness. When asked if it would trouble him to know his case to be incurable, he said not, and requested a free dis- closure of medical opinion, which was given him. Thus calm, collected, leaning, we trust, on all-sufficient grace, he has passed from our view to join the choir of the redeemed. Many a heart aches for him, many a tear flows. The sons and daughters of Zion in West Chester deplore him as a brother ; some weep for him as a spiritual father, by whom they have been born to God; and many are the tributes of respect and tenderness for his memory which lips un- feigned pay.
"May God sanctify the dispensation to saints and sin-
31
CHURCH, OF WEST CHESTER, PA.
ners. O ye who heard listlessly the voice of this man of God when alive, hear him now from the grave, for he being dead yet speaketh. You will meet him; and shall he wel- come you to the joys of the common Lord, or shall he ap- pear as a witness against you? * Servant of God! Well done. 'I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.'"
The death of Mr. Stevens was a great blow to the church. His own popularity was great. His talents were of a high order. Many were drawn to the new congrega- tion by the zeal and the eloquence of the youthful preacher. His death left the flock literally as sheep without a shep- herd. In the brief period between the organization of the church and the death of the pastor, but little could be done toward molding the heterogeneous materials into a com- pact and organized body. Officers and members were alike new to each other.
The dissensions which were then agitating the church at large, and which culminated in the division of 1838, were felt here. The efforts of those without, who endeavored to keep the church in harmony with a majority of the Presbytery, were injudicious. Seeds of discord were sown. The power of unity was no longer felt. Repeated failures to secure a pastor discouraged the congregation. Some who had worshiped with the church and supported it in the absence of any organization of their own, now united with the Baptist Church, which dates from 1834, or the Episcopal gathered in 1836. Moreover, the location of the church, now so central and desirable was then against it. There were no sidewalks from Church street west. A build- ing for evening meetings and Sunday School was erected "in town," on the rear of a lot on the west side of Church street, then owned by P. Frazer Smith, Esq., now No. 10 South Church street. The building which was a small frame structure was used until 1850, when it was removed.
32
HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
For many years it stood in two sections at the southeast corner of Miner and New streets.
REV. JAMES J. GRAFF'S PASTORATE.
On January 12, 1835,, a call was given to Rev. Joseph Barr, which he declined. A call July 6, 1835, to Rev. Joseph Mahon, was also declined. In December, 1835, the Rev. James J. Graff was invited to supply the church. A call was subsequently given and accepted, and he was installed on April 29, 1836. The number of members at this time was sixty-two. On the 30th of October, 1836, Dr. Wilmer Worthington was ordained a ruling elder.
Reference has already been made to the troubled state of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Some of the members of the New Castle Presbytery were annoy- ingly active in their efforts to control the pulpit and secure the church to what was then known as the "Old School," while the sympathies of the congregation were very de- cidedly with the "New School."
At a meeting of the Presbytery at Pequea, September 27, 1836, the church requested it to concur in a petition to Synod that it be transferred to the Presbytery of Phila- delphia. The Presbytery, however, recommended the con- gregation to forbear making its application to the Synod at the next meeting, "trusting that the church will be in a more settled state a year hence, and that Presbytery can concur in their request if presented." The difficulties, however, were not removed. The questions which agitated the church at large were agitated here. The prosecution of Rev. Dr. Albert Barnes for heresy, was regarded as perse- cution, a large majority of the church sympathizing with him, and with the views of which he was regarded as the exponent.
At a meeting of the Presbytery held in this church, October, 1837, on the question of sustaining the excinding acts of the Assembly, Henry Fleming, Esq., the delegate from this church, voted the solitary "No!" with an em-
33
CHURCH, OF WEST CHESTER, PA.
phasis which those who knew him could well appreciate.
At the meeting of the Assembly in 1838, the com- missioners from the New Castle Presbytery went with the "Old School," which explains the following minute of the Presbytery. "The Rev. J. J. Graff and Mr. P. F. Smith, in their proper persons, and the session and the congregation at West Chester, by a written communication declared, 'That should this Presbytery affirm the conduct of their commissioners to the last General Assembly, then, and in that case, they, and each of them, would withdraw from their connection.' The Presbytery did so approve of the course of said commissioners, whereupon they, according to their declaration, did withdraw. This Presbytery does therefore, hereby declare that Rev. J. J. Graff, and the ses- sion and congregation of West Chester are no longer to be considered as connected with the Presbyterian Church." The church with its pastor thus excinded sought admission to the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia, and was received by it October 2, 1838.
From this time onward to the reunion in 1870, the relations of the church were with that Presbytery, and were perfectly harmonious. It is not easy at this day to conceive the bitterness of feeling, which preceded, accom- panied and followed the disruption of 1838. It is our blessed privilege to share in the harmony and prosperity of the reunion.
The ministry of Mr. Graff here continued a little more than four years. During that time 25 were added to the church by certificate, and 16 by examination, a total of 4I. The number on the roll when he left was 76. Meanwhile, in 1839, a church was organized, chiefly of members of this church, at East Whiteland. Until the spring of 1841 it was connected with this church in the same pastoral charge. In April, 1840, Mr. Graff resigned.
Mr. Graff was born within the limits of the congrega- tion of Chestnut Level, Lancaster county, Pa., November 22, 1803. During his childhood his parents removed to Maryland. He received his classical education at Chestnut
:4
HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
Level, under Rev. Francis A. Latta, and at Bethesda, Md., under Rev. John Mories, D. D. He studied theology at Princeton, and was licensed by the Presbytery of the Dis- trict of Columbia, in the fall of 1833, and ordained in the spring of 1834 as an evangelist. After leaving West Ches- ter he served several churches as pastor, being called eventually to Annapolis, Md. Here he labored until the breaking out of the Rebellion, when a majority of his people being opposed to the Union, which he heartily sustained, he resigned in 1861. He was immediately appointed by the Government Librarian of the Naval Academy at Annap- olis, a position which he held until his death.
REV. JOHN CROWELL.
Soon after the resignation of Mr. Graff, a call was given to the Rev. John Crowell, a licentiate of the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia. He was ordained and installed June 5, 1840. During the first year the pastoral services were divided between East Whiteland and West Chester. In the spring of 1841, Mr. James Crowell, the father of the pastor, took charge of the academy, and Mr. Crowell was associated with him, having charge of the classical and mathematical departments, a step made necessary by the in- adequacy of the support. Four hundred and fifty dollars was all the church could promise its pastor, and even this was often in arrears. Home missionary aid was withdrawn, on the ground that the pastor devoted part of his time to teaching. This withdrawal of aid, combined with the debt on the building and other financial difficulties, brought on, in the summer of 1842, a crisis in the history of the church, which resulted favorably to its subsequent progress. Ar- rearages were brought up; the debt was provided for and subsequently paid; the house, which had never been com- pleted, was put in thorough repair, the pews and wood- work were painted, a gallery built, and a great advance made toward self-support. As often happens, this awaken- ing of interest in the outward concerns of the sanctuary,
35
CHURCH, OF WEST CHESTER, PA.
was followed in the winter of 1842-43 by a revival of great power. Some thirty-eight were received into the church on a profession of their faith, of whom twenty-five were baptized. The number on the roll was reported May, 1843, as one hundred and twenty-four.
During the ministry of Mr. Crowell, great and substantial progress was made in all the elements of true success. The antagonism of the disruption disappeared. The church became homogeneous ; valuable additions were made to the congregation, and the way was prepared for a more rapid growth. Mr. Crowell was pastor for a little over ten years. During that time sixty were added to the church by pro- fession and thirty by letter, a total of ninety. On the 15th of July, 1850, having received a call from the Second Pres- byterian Church of Orange, N. J., Mr. Crowell tendered his resignation, which was reluctantly accepted. The pas- toral relation was dissolved by the Presbytery, July 17, 1850. The number of communicants, as reported in May, 1850, was one hundred and twenty-four. A careful revision, however, reduced the number of those present or accounted for to ninety-six.
Rev. John Crowell, D. D., was the only ex-pastor who lived to see the seventy-fifth anniversary of the organiza- tion of this church. Writing from East Orange, N. J., he expressed regret that on account of lack of strength he would be unable to be present at the exercises .* He re-
*Since the above was written, Rev. John Crowell, D. D. died at his home in East Orange, N. J., March 29th, of pneumonia after an illness of two days. He was in his ninetv-fifth year. Dr. Crowell was born in Philadelphia, the son of James Crowell and Mary Gardner. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania and at Princeton College, graduating from the latter in 1834. Three years later he was graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary. He was a tutor in Princeton College in 1836. He was ordained in the Presbyterian ministry in 1840, and was pastor of the First Presby- terian Church, of West Chester, Pa., from then until 1850. During the next thirteen years he was pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in East Orange, N. J. He held a pastorate at Odessa, Del., from 1867 to 1878 and was an acting pastor of a church at Stirling, N. J., from 1884 to 1888. He was secretary of the Board of Educa- tion of East Orange from 1889 until 1906. when he resigned and at the same time retired from active work. He was author of "Repub- lics: Popular Government an Appointment of God." 1871; and "Christ in All the Scriptures." He contributed about 400 articles to the International Encyclopaedia. He was married on October 24, 1840, to Katharine Roney, daughter of Thomas Roney, of Philadel- phia. He is survived by these children: Miss Catharine Crowell and Miss Mary Crowell, of East Orange; Foster Crowell, of New York: Mrs. Arthur Richmond, of East Orange, and Thomas R. Crowell, of Lebanon, Pa.
36
HISTORY OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN
called the fact that in April, 1839, the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia met at West Chester, and he was there li- censed to preach the Gospel. Then in June, 1840, the Pres- bytery met there again to ordain and install him pastor of the church. He tells us that in the years of his pastorate "the side pews on the right of the minister were occupied by boys from Mr. Bolmar's school, and the corresponding pews on the left were filled by the boys from the West Chester Academy. At that early period in the history of the church, the church edifice had not been completed, but the work was soon accomplished by the finishing of the vestibules, stairways and gallery, after which a choir was established which added greatly to the efficiency and at- tractiveness of the church services. Before. the gallery was built 'Squire Fleming, who was also one of the elders, discharged the duties of Precentor. His official station was at a small table on the cross aisle in front of the pulpit."
He wrote in his letter that eventually a "pipe organ" was obtained, but it was "quite small." He gives it as his impression that "it was some time, perhaps several years," before the organ came into use, and he adds, "This delay may have been owing in part to the strong Quaker senti- ment of West Chester."
REV. WILLIAM E. MOORE.
On the second Sabbath in August, 1850, Mr. William E. Moore, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Wilmington, was invited to supply the vacant pulpit. A unanimous call was extended to him and he entered on his work, September 29, 1850. He was ordained and installed by the Third Presbytery of Philadelphia, October 30, 1850. The amount of the salary promised in the call was five hundred dollars, but it was understood that it should be made up by subscription to six hundred dollars. The income of the church from pew rents at this time was five hundred and twenty dollars.
When Rev. Mr. Moore became pastor, there were
WILLIAM EVES MOORE Pastor, 1850-1872
37
CHURCH, OF WEST CHESTER, PA.
found on the roll of those who could be accounted for a membership of ninety-six. The congregation was harmo- nious and united. Under the faithful and able preaching of the preceding pastors the church had been consolidated and indoctrinated. The population of the borough was 3072. Among the members of the church and congregation were many influential citizens. At that time Rev. J. B. Clemson was rector of the Episcopal Church; Rev. Alfred Patton, of the Baptist Church, then standing on Church street, north of where the West Chester Laundry is now located; Rev. James Huston was pastor of the Methodist Church, succeeded the next spring by the Rev. Alfred Cookman. Among all these churches was the most cordial harmony.
The elders of the church at this time were Henry Fleming, Esq., P. Frazer Smith, Esq., Wilmer Worthington, M. D., and James Crowell. These were also trustees, and in addition, Ziba Pyle, Esq., William Williamson, Esq., John Marshall and Captain William Apple. The signatures of these eight were, by order of the congregation, affixed to the call given to Rev. Mr. Moore.
Up to the end of Mr. Crowell's pastorate here, the evening meetings and Sabbath School were held in the Lec- ture Room on Church street. For a year or more after Rev. Mr. Moore became pastor, they were held in the au- dience room of the church. The basement was then fin- ished, gas was introduced, the whole church was painted and papered in 1853.
The growth of the church was gradual but strong. On the 9th of July, 1854, Mr. Lambert Clark and William F. Wyers were elected ruling elders. In May, 1860, the num- ber of members reported was 211. The revivals of 1858-59 had reached this church, not so much in the way of large additions, as in increased zeal and energy. Sabbath Schools were established in the neighboring districts, and an at- tempt was made, successful for a time, to maintain a Young Men's Christian Association, which ultimately failed be- cause its young men were too old.
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.