USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 32
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"SOLDIER RUN " CHURCH AT PRESCOTTVILLE, NEAR REYNOLDSVILLE.
Rev. Samuel Miles, of Clearfield county, and Thomas Wilson of Punxsutaw ney, had preached in the neighborhood occasionally previous to the year 1853, when C. H. Prescott moved to Reynoldsville. He found there one Baptist in the town, and another individual holding a letter from a Baptist church who had intended to join the Methodists, but soon after changed his mind. Six other Baptists were in the country within three miles of where the church now stands. And very soon talk commenced about starting a church, but it was said Reynoldsville was too hard a place for a church. But the one who most urged forward the enterprise would insist that it was not harder than Jerusa- lem where God was able to convert thousands in a day. It was not long until Rev. Thomas Wilson was hired to preach one-fourth of his time. Opposition to religion was very strong and he labored but one year. After this two breth- ren failing in an attempt to sustain a union prayer-meeting made a covenant with each other to meet every Wednesday evening for prayer whether any others were present or not. And frequently in bad weather only the two would be present. But trusting in God they persevered.
In the summer of 1858 the church was organized with eighteen constitu- ent members. Rev. James Johnston acted as pastor for several months after the organization. He was followed by Rev. A. B. Runyan, whose home was in Brush Valley, Indiana county. He was pastor when the first and only house of worship was raised, but not completed till about two years after. The frame
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
was a most substantial one put up by the lamented Captain Conser, and about the last work of the kind he did before he joined the army in 1861. The next pastor was Rev. B. H. Fish, who was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Miles. His pas- torate continued about nine years, and the church was generally very prosper- ous during his ministry. He was followed by Rev. W. A. Ridge, who supplied the church a few months before Rev. Z. E. Dean was chosen pastor. He la- bored quite successfully several years, and was followed by D. W. C. Hervey and Rev. W. Cattell, until the present pastor came, Rev. J. N. Williams. The most of the constituent members of the West Liberty and Sykesville Churches had been members of " Soldier Run" Church. For the last ten or twelve years they have had services part of the day at Centennial Hall in Reynoldsville, which was built by C. H. Prescott and John H. Corbett, and furnished free of rent.
A contract has recently been made with parties to erect a good, commodi- ous house of worship-to be of brick, and completed in 1887. The location of the new house is on Main street between Centennial Hall and the Presby- terian Church. For many years the Soldier Run meeting-house was the only house of worship from Brookville to Luthersburgh and from the Beechwoods to Punxsutawney. Though they never received fifty dollars from other de- nominations to help build the church when all the members were comparatively poor, their generosity has seldom been excelled towards others while they continued to hold most rigidly to that which they believed the Lord requires of all his followers. Methodists have held services in their church, and both the United and Old School Presbyterians had the use of it for years when not occupied by the Baptists. The Presbyterian Church was organized in that house. When the site was selected it was surrounded on all sides by woods. It was presented to the church by C. H. Prescott, who helped grub out the trees with his own hands, and bore about half the expense of erecting the whole house. This was so soon after the panic of 1857, and finished at the beginning of the war, that it required such sacrifices as are seldom made now for a place to worship God unmolested. The only man they ever licensed to preach was C. H. Prescott, in 1870.
The Bethel Church at Sykesville in McCalmont township, was organized in June, 1886, with twenty or more members. Rev. J. N. Williams was the first pastor. Rev. H. H. Leamy, of Du Bois has Sykesville in pastoral charge now, in connection with the church at Du Bois in Clearfield county. The aggre- gate membership of all these churches when organized was about one hundred and forty.
The Clarion Baptist Association composed of regular Baptist Churches of Clarion county, and portions of Jefferson, Armstrong and Butler counties, was organized in the old court-house in Brookville, about fifty years ago. Three generations of Baptist preachers have been given from one family-so highly
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THE CHURCHES IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
honored in this region of country. These are Thomas E. Thomas, for many years pastor of old Zion Church in Clarion county, now deceased, and whose body lies in Zion Church cemetery, within a few feet of the pulpit, where he used to stand and proclaim the truth of God. He was succeeded by his son Rev. B. H. Thomas, D. D., who for a number of years has been pastor of Zion Church in connection with his two other churches in Clarion county. Rev. B. H., Thomas, jr., now pastor of a Baptist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, is the third preacher in the family. Thus, have father, son, and grandson, been honored servants of God.
Each church now worships in a good meeting-house of its own, and lite- rally sits under "its own vine and fig tree." The new church building, now under contract, in Reynoldsville, will be one more in the list of good meeting- houses owned by the Baptists.
When we attend service in any one of those neat and comfortable modern houses, and find the bright glow of the sunlight mellowed by the stained glass or frosted windows, or even with windows protected by window -shades ; or listen to the notes of the soft pealing organ, and watch the well-dressed con- gregation rise to sing, or unite in the devotions, and see the minister stand be- hind a modern pulpit, we find the surroundings totally different to what they were when the first Baptist Church in Jefferson county met to worship in Henry Keys's barn, in the Beechwoods.
The singing may be more artistic now, and the sermons may be shorter, and the intermission altogether obsolete; but the royal, hearty grasp of the hand, and good old-fashioned sermon, which went straight home to the hearts and consciences of the hearers, and the good old " Dundee " or " Dennis" or " Coronation " sung from full hearts, made the old-time worship a wonderful factor in the soul development of our fathers and mothers in Israel, whose wor- ship is now before the Saviour in the " Upper Glory."
In the great fight for soul-liberty and loyalty to law, and a " thus saith the Lord" for each act of worship, or proclamation of the Divine message, and holding out the truth that " nothing is settled till it is settled right," and that that standard of "right" must be according to the Divine idea of equity and justice, and that individual responsibility must be felt and acted out, and that God deals with the intelligence and reason of man in the matter of soul's salva- tion, the Baptists have stood in the very front of the battle, and have struck sturdy and telling blows, which have left their influence upon this whole region of country in the victory achieved.
Rev. Theodore Henderson, who prepared the data for the history of the Baptist Churches, deserves more than a passing notice in this connection. He was born at Saltsburg, Indiana county, December 14, 1841, and was the fifth of eleven children born to David and Abby Henderson nce Geer. His mother died in 1864, but his father is still living. Theodore's great-grandfather was
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
in one of the Irish rebellions prior to 1798, and not long after migrated to America.
His father was a blacksmith and young Theodore learned his father's trade. He attended the common schools and had two terms at the Saltsburg and In- diana Academies. He then entered the office of the Indiana Register as an apprentice, and had worked there nine months when the war broke out, and he entered the army in Company B, Eleventh Pennsylvania Reserves, and served three years and three days. He participated in the Second Bull Run, First Fredericksburg, South Mountain, and all the subsequent engagements in which his regiment was engaged. He was so severely wounded at Fredericksburg that he was disabled, and for a time transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps.
In August, 1864, he entered the office of the Pittsburgh Post to complete his apprenticeship as a printer and remained three months, being obliged to quit on account of ill-health. He then resumed his old occupation as a black- smith, at his home in Saltsburg, until February, 1865, when he went to Wash- ington, D. C., and was engaged in the government shops there and at Alexan- dria, Va.
While at Washington, he was at Ford's Theatre, on the memorable 13th of April, 1865, and witnessed the assassination of President Lincoln. In 1867 he was again at home working at his old trade, and in 1868 was engaged in the Pennsylvania Railroad shops at Blairsville. He then entered the preparatory department of the University at Lewisburg, and graduated in two years. He was then admitted to the college proper, and obtained his degree as a member of the class of 1876. On the 29th of November, 1876, he was married to Miss Ella S. Shurick, daughter of Adam and Margaret Shurick, of Blairsville. He received a call to the Baptist Church at Brookville, in October, 1876, and was ordained as its pastor November 23d, of the same year.
During the years subsequent to the war he has been, more or less, a sufferer from a growing difficulty of locomotion, caused by an injury at the battle of South Mountain, Md., September 14, 1862. During the fight, while his company was engaged with the enemy on the right of the Union line at the open field skirted by a stone wall, his gun became disabled by reason of the pivot being filled with some hard substance which prevented the use of the gun. Knowing that all the guns of his regiment were of the same calibre, lie threw his gun aside, and drew to his side the gun of his rear-rank man. This man was unable to use his fire-arm because of illness. In the heat of the fight Henderson never thought of the gun being already loaded, and so proceeded to load with the regulation cartridge and one ounce ball and three buckshot, and then rose to fire over the stone-wall at the enemy in the field. The concus- sion of the gun owing to the double load, was so great as to hurl Henderson with violent force upon his back, and falling upon the stony ground he received such injury at the junction of the ischiatic nerves where they join the spine, in
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THE CHURCHES IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
the lumbar region, as to seriously imperil his usefulness, and also to threaten a cessation of his active work in the ministry. During these years he has gone on duty in many ways even when better judgment would dictate a rest ; but his motto has ever been "forward," and "The Lord will provide." At present writing, 1887, he still has the flag up, and will be found at his post of duty as long as able. He still remains pastor of the church of his first settlement, where he was ordained in 1876.
ENANGELICAL ASSOCIATION.I
The first efforts of the Evangelical Association in Jefferson county was in the year of 1832, by Revs. Elias Stoever and A. Frey, who were appointed to Indiana Circuit, then belonging to the Eastern Conference. Indiana Circuit embraced parts of Indiana, Armstrong, Clarion, Clearfield, and Jeffer- son counties. At this (1832) date, the church consisted of but two annual conferences-the Eastern and Western. The eastern embraced parts of the States of Pennsylvania and New York. The western included Ohio only. The conference that sent the above named missionaries to Indiana Circuit convened that year in the town of New Berlin, Union county, June 4, 1832.
The following is a list of the ministers and also the time they served " Indi- ana Circuit," 1833, Revs. S. G. Miller and J. Boas; 1834, J. Lutz, and P. Gates ; 1835, S. Altimos and J. Boas; 1836, Peter Wiest and D. N. Long ; 1837, Henry Heis and John Heis; 1838, George Rishel and Joseph Truby ; 1839, Rev. Daniel Kerr. From 1840 to 1844 we have no report and therefore cannot say who served the work, but at the conference session of 1844
At the Seventh General Conference held in Millheim, Centre county, Pa., beginning March 25, 1839, the Eastern Conference was divided into two, called the Eastern and Western Pennsylvania Conferences, and Indiana Cir- cuit becoming a part of the Western Pennsylvania Conference. At the session of the Western Pennsylvania Conference held in Millheim, Centre county, convening on March 3, 1844, Indiana Circuit was divided, and that portion containing parts of Jefferson, Armstrong and Clarion counties was called Clarion circuit. And the following ministers were appointed to Clarion circuit : 1844, Revs. Jacob Rank and McLahn; 1845, Jacob Rank and George Cupp; 1846, Daniel Sill and Charles Lindiman ; 1847, Daniel Sill and Kelley ; 1848, George Dellinger. From 1849 to 1852 there is no report to be found stating who served as pastors for Clarion circuit.
The Tenth General Conference held in 1851 divided the Western Penn- sylvania Conference, and all of that part of Pennsylvania lying west of the Allegheny Mountains, and Western Virginia was constituted a new conference district, called Pittsburgh Conference, which held its first session in the Zion Church on Sixth street, Pittsburgh, convening March 3, 1852; and Clarion
1 Prepared by Rev. I. A. Rholand.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
circuit becoming a part of Pittsburgh Conference, and Revs. Jacob Rank and Jacob Weikel were appointed pastors for the conference year of 1852; 1853, Revs. H. H. Bucher and J. Rosenberger; 1854, H. H. Bucher and G. W. Risinger ; 1855-56, J. M. Zerkel and W. H. Stull; 1857, John Pfeifer and John Shaffer. At the annual conference session in 1858 all the appointments lying within the bounds of Jefferson county were taken from Clarion circuit and constituted a new circuit called Jefferson circuit, and the following ministers were appointed as pastors for the following years: 1858, A. R. Teats and A. Weaver; 1859, Henry Pfeifer and J. G. Pfeifer ; 1860, J. G. Pfeifer and G. S. Domer; 1861, G. S. Domer; 1862, A. R. Teats; 1863, Jacob Weikel and Joseph Monismith ; 1864, J. Rank and L. L. Buchman ; 1865-66, W. H. Stull ; 1867, Henry Rhodes and P. W. Plotts; 1868-69, E. Beaty; 1870, S. Varner and A. J. Myers ; 1871, J. Woodhull and Amos W. Platt ; 1872, J. Woodhull ; 1873, D. K. Lavan and L. I. Baumgardner; 1874, Levi Ross; 1875-77, M. H. Shannon ; 1878-79, E. B. Arthur ; 1880, J. Dick ; 1881-83, Samuel Mill- iron ; 1884, F. P. Hummull; 1885, J. H. Shimp; 1886-87, George Focht.
BROOKVILLE MISSION.
At the annual session of the Pittsburgh Conference March, 1872, Brook- ville, the county seat, was taken up as an appointment and called Brookville Mission, and supplied with the following ministers the ensuing years; 1872, J. J. Carmony ; 1873, L. I. Baumgardner ; 1874, Joseph Porch ; 1875-77, J. A. Dunlap; 1878, J. W. Domer; 1879, L. H. Hetrick ; 1880-81, C. C. Poling ; 1882-83, I. A. Rohland; 1884, Amos W. Platt, whose health failed at the ex- piration of three months and he was succeeded the remaining part of the con- ference year by Rev. L. Schobert, of Kossuth, Clarion county ; 1885, J. B. Ward; 1886-87, F. P. Hummull.
RINGGOLD CIRCUIT.
The appointments, Heathville, Zion, Ringgold, Ebenezer and St. Jacobs were taken from Jefferson circuit by annual conference, in its session of 1873, and constituted a new circuit called Ringgold circuit and the following minis- ters appointed as pastors for the ensuing years ; 1873, J. S. Seip ; 1874-75, W. Houpt; 1876-77, Levi Ross; 1878-79, M. H. Shannon; 1880-82, George Focht; 1883-84, L. H. Hetrick ; 1885, J. G. Coleman ; 1886-87, A. W. Brickley.
WORTHIVILLE CIRCUIT.
At the conference session April, 1885, the appointments Worthville, Won- derlings, Chapel and'Bethesda Church, near Belleview, were taken from Jeffer- son circuit and constituted a new field of labor called Worthville circuit and Rev. F. P. Hummull appointed pastor for 1885 ; and Rev. F. D. Ellenberger ; for 1886-87.
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THE CHURCHES IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
The above named four fields of labor occupy the southern portion of the county with a membership of five hundred and ninety-four communicants and seven hundred and fifty Sunday-school scholars, ninety-four officers and teach- ers, and twelve Sunday-schools, ten church buildings and three parsonages. The Annual Conference is divided into four presiding elder districts-Alle- gheney, Franklin, Pittsburgh, and Somerset. The interests of the church in Jefferson county belong to Allegheny District and the present presiding elder is Rev. I. A. Rohland, M. A. whose residence is in the town of Brookville, Pa.
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Names of the first families that were members of the Evangelical Church in Jefferson county : George Weise, George Milliron, Samuel Michel, Daniel En- terline, Samuel Lerch, John Motter, Isaac Motter, sr., Daniel Motter, Abra- ham Milliron, Abraham Funk. The first representatives of the church settled along Redbank Creek in Beaver township. Jacob Startzell and his wife, Chris- tina Startzell, are among the first members of the church in Ringgold town- ship. At the homes of the above-named persons the Evangelical preachers first preached, also in school-houses, one of which stood in Coon Valley one mile north of the town of Ringgold.
LANGUAGE.
In the early history of the church the ministry preached in the German language exclusively in this county, but by western emigration, and removals by death, and the free schools being English, the preaching of the present (1887) is entirely English.
CHURCH BUILDINGS.
The first church building was erected on the land of Mr. Samuel Lerch, about the year 1848. The contract was given to Mr. Samuel Lerch, and when completed was dedicated as the Zion Church of the Evangelical Association, and in March, 1853, the Pittsburgh Conference held the second annual session in the above named church, Bishop Joseph Long presiding. The second church was built in Ringgold, Ringgold township. The church has a camp-ground at North Freedom, leased for twenty years from 1876, and have erected seventy- five cottages thereon, and hold an annual meeting attended by from five to eight thousand people.
THE LUTHERAN CHURCH.1
Among the first settlers in the county were members of the Lutheran faith, but for many years they had no church or pastor. The first Lutheran minis- ter that penetrated into this county was Rev. George Young, who organized a congregation about three and a half miles south of Brookville, in Rose town- ship, in 1838, and erected a log church. This has ever since been known as
1 By Rev. I. A. Rohland.
33
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
St. John's. The next of whom we find any record is Rev. John Rengan, who was conducted in 1844 through the forests from Indiana, by Mr. John Boucher, or as he was familiarly known to the Lutherans throughout the county in later years as Father Boucher, to the place now known as Sprankle's Mills, and from which point he came on to Brookville, where he held service up stairs in the old jail. He remained but a short time, and effected no organization. Rev. John Nemer came next, but the length of the stay of these two first ministers is unknown.
In 1846 Rev. J. B. Breckenridge was sent to Brookville, which in connec- tion with a few surrounding places, was made into a " mission, field." But ow- ing to ill-health, which disqualified him for the arduous duties of the position, he was soon obliged to retire from the field, and was succeeded February I, 1849, by Rev. P. Sheeder, who September 4, 1850, organized the congrega- tion, and held the first recorded communion service. The membership num- bered thirteen, viz .: John Boucher, Elizabeth Boucher, Jacob S. Steck, Chris- tiana Steck, Mrs. Caroline Shackleford, Jacob Burket, Catharine Burket, Mrs. Maria Clark, Mrs. Catharine Smith, Daniel Coder, Catharine Coder, Hannah McKinley and Mary A. Yeomans. Daniel Coder was elected elder, and John Boucher deacon. The first who received the ordinance of baptism were Nor- man and Griffith, sons of William F. and Mrs. Maria Clark. All of those who composed this little congregation with the exception of Mrs. Caroline Shack- leford (now of Kittanning), have gone to join the heavenly congregation, even those two young boys received into the church by baptism, have " passed over the river."
At the first recorded communion at St. John's Church, there were present fifteen members and twelve catechumen. These first members were Thomas Holt, Peter Thrush, Elizabeth Thrush, Samuel Johns, Magdalena Johns, Mattie Chesley, Armenia Grove, Charles Merriman, Susannah Merriman, Hannah Himes, Mary Johnston, Jacob Wolfgong, Sarah Wolfgong, Mary Spiker, Joseph Kaylor. These, too, have all passed away, leaving their children to take their places in the church.
In 1850 these two congregations united, and in the same year the contract for the building of the present church in Brookville was let for one thousand dollars, the builder to furnish the materials. The contractor failed and the contract was re-let at fourteen hundred and fifty dollars. The church was ded- icated in 1852, with a balance due the builder of seven hundred dollars unpro- vided for. Previous to the building of this church the Brookville congregation had worshiped in the court-house. Rev. Sheeder served the congregation for four years, in which the membership had increased to nineteen.
Rev. J. Wright took charge of the two congregations, and also of a new organization which had been founded in the Grube settlement in Bell township, in 1854. He resigned the pastorate August 24, 1856, and during the next
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THE CHURCHES IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
two years they were only occasionally supplied by Revs. J. B. Young and J. B. Lawson. October 3, 1858, Rev. Jacob Singer became the pastor, but re- mained only one year. During the year 1861 the charge was vacant with only occasional supplies ; but in this time St. John's congregation built a commodi- ous frame church.
In March, 1862, Rev. Joseph Welker accepted a call and labored in these churches for two years, when owing to the saddest affliction that could have befallen him-insanity-he was obliged to retire from the work of the ministry. This was a trying time for the mission, and again during three years it was without a pastor. The membership, which had been greatly augmented, was again reduced, the Brookville Church to eighteen. Then Rev. G. F. Ehren- feldt was pastor for one year, and then after another lapse of a year, in which the membership of the Brookville Church had been reduced to its original thir- teen, Rev. I. J. Delo took charge of the congregations October 27, 1869, and remained until March 3, 1872. He served very acceptably, but after he left a vacancy again occurred of fifteen months. There had up to this time been one hundred and twenty-one members enrolled in twenty-two years, and of these but twenty-four remained as members of the church.
Rev. J. M. Wonders accepted a call as pastor of Zion Church, March 12, 1873. When Mr. Wonders took charge of the church he found the building in a ruinous condition, but during his pastorate of five years the congregation was made self-sustaining, and removed from the care of Home Missions, the church was also remodeled, and refitted at a cost of over two thousand dollars, and was re-dedicated free of debt-a tribute to the zeal and benevolence of its few but faithful worshipers, and the kindness of its friends. One of the im- provements added was a bell to call the people together, and this bell, pur- chased for two hundred dollars from the commissioners of the county, when the new court-house was erected, has a history that links it to the past, it be- ing the first bell in the county, and which for so many years not only sum- moned the citizens to the temple of justice, but which, in turn, called the peo- ple of the different denominations to hear the gospel dispensed within the walls of the old court-house.
The membership of the church and Sunday-school increased more than five fold, the church having a membership of one hundred and five. In February, 1878, Mr. Wonders resigned to take charge of the Lutheran Church at Ship- penville, Clarion county, where he is yet actively engaged in the ministry. He was succeeded by Rev. S. S. Miller, May 12, 1878, who remained until May, 1879.
. Rev. Lewis Hay came as a supply to these churches in November, 1879, and January 7, 1880, was installed as pastor. He resigned in April, 1881. He was succeeded by Rev. W. Selner, who remained just one year, and was suc- ceeded by Rev. D. W. Leitzell, September 24, 1882. . Mr. Leitzell remained
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