USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 4
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Holy Trinity (German Roman Catholic) Church. -This church edifice is of brick, located on Cherry, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, and was built in 1860, under the supervision of Rev. Father Schaffrot, then pastor in charge of this parish. For the first two years services were held in the basement of the building, as the edifice was not completed and dedi- cated until 1862.
In 1863, Mr. Schaffrot was succeeded in the pastor- ate by Rev. Father William Pieper, the present pas- tor. During Mr. Pieper's pastorate the church edifice was enlarged (1873) to nearly double its original seat- ing capacity, marble altars placed in the chancel, memorial windows inserted in place of the old ones, statuary and paintings placed in proper position, add- ing grandeur to the beautifully-frescoed walls and ceiling, making it one of the pleasantest and most attractive audience-rooms in Columbia.
560
HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
In 1865 the present parsonage was built, and in 1869 the Sisters' house, in rear of and adjoining the church, was erected. They have charge of the school, which was established in the basement of the church in 1867, and at present numbers two and forty pupils.
The present membership of Holy Trinity Church is about two hundred and fifty.
Church of God .- The followers of Rev. John Winebrenner held religious meetings for a few years at private dwellings. In the latter part of the year 1878 and beginning of 1879, through the personal ex- ertions of Rev. J. W. Deshong, money enough was raised by subscription to erect a brick meeting-house at the corner of Seventh and Walnut Streets. Mr. Deshong was followed by the Revs. C. W. Win- bigler, J. H. Esterline, and S. C. D. Jackson, the present pastor. The present membership numbers thirty. The church was not regularly organized until March 30, 1879. There is also a Sunday-school attached to the church, numbering ten teachers and ninety-five scholars.
St. John's Lutheran Church .- On Sunday, March 27, 1881, a number of the members of the Lutheran Church on Second Street severed their connection with that organization. On the 8th day of April, 1881, these members met at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, on Locust Street above Fifth, for the pur- pose of organizing a new church, which was done, under the title which heads this sketch ; but no im- mediate measures were taken to erect a church build- ing or securing the services of a pastor. Their first object was to take care of the children and build up a Sabbath-school. Schuler's Hall, opposite the opera- house, on Locust Street, was secured for that purpose. They were supplied from April to September by the Revs. Samuel Yingling, Hering, Anstadt, Barnitz, Frazier, Fritz, Miller, Stine, Brown, and Fensler, Lutheran ministers, who came to Schuler's and Ar- mory Halls and preached for them. They were much pleased with Samuel Yingling, and in September, 1881, they gave him a regular call, when he became their pastor. From this period new life was given to this weak congregation, and they took measures to procure a lot of ground whereon they desired to erect their church. A lot was purchased on the south- east side of Locust Street above Sixth. The ladies of the congregation worked unceasingly, and con- tinued to provide means to meet the daily expenses while the new church building was being erected. They were assisted very much by their pastor and the male members of the congregation. The build- ing, which is in its internal arrangement the most complete of all the Protestant churches in the place, cost ten thousand dollars, one-half of which sum was raised by the " workers" in the congregation before its completion. The building was completed on the 1st day of October, 1882. . This congregation up to June, 1882, held no synodical relations with either branch of the Lutheran Church government. In
that month they were received into the Synod of Pennsylvania at its meeting in Philadelphia.
The Sabbath-school received the first anxious care of those who separated from the Lutheran Church on Second Street. The school was first held at the private residence of Charles P. Schreiner, on Locust Street, where there was an attendance of seventy children. On the following Sabbath, which was on April 11, 1881, the school convened in Schuler's Hall, where one hundred and forty-seven children were in attend- ance. From that place they removed to Armory Hall, on Walnut Street, above Second Street, where the number increased to one hundred and seventy- four. The officers of the school were Heury Leaman, assistant superintendent; C. C. Hogentogler, secre- tary ; W. H. Herr, treasurer ; Mrs. C. P. Shreiner and Miss Hallie Clepper, assistants in the infant school; and Mrs. Benjamin Herr, treasurer ; George Tille, librarian ; Isaac T. Gitt, assistant; and Messrs. Harry Bennett, John Williams, Jacob Lutz, and Tyson Simpson, directors.
Colored Churches .- In the year 1822, John Sta- man gave a lot of ground at the corner of Concord and Fifth Streets to the Rev. Joseph Henderson, who conveyed the same to Joseph Henderson, Wal- ter Green, John Winston, and Nicholas Pleasants, trustees of the Colored Baptist Church. These trus- tees and a large majority of the congregation were manumitted slaves trom Virginia, who came to the place in 1817-19.
In 1823 a little frame church was built, and in the same year with the assistance of John McKissick and William P. Beatty a Sunday-school was started. This church was largely attended for many years, and on special occasions many white persons attended also. As the pioneer members began to die, the church gradually declined until there were not enough left to hold service. The last of these manumitted slaves, Benjamin Randolph, died two years ago, when the old church building was torn down and another small church building across the street, which belonged to Zion's colored congregation, was removed to it.
Contemporaneous with the erection of this church, and by manumitted slaves also, was built a small frame church in the alley between Union and Perry Streets and Third and Second Streets, called the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church.
The congregation worshiped there until the Rev. Stephen Smith purchased the frame church from the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the alley between Cherry and Union and Fourth and Fifth Streets, about the year 1832. The building was destroyed by fire, and another one of brick was built. Twenty years ago they sold the church, and built another one on Fifth Street, below Union Street, which they sold to the public school board for a colored school. A few years ago they erected a new, much larger, and more substantial brick church on the same street, a little west of the old one.
561
BOROUGH OF COLUMBIA.
Another church, called the Union Church, was erected on the south side of Union Street, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, about the same time the first two were built. Preaching is only occasionally held in the building.
. The religious feeling among the present generation of colored people in Columbia may be said to be on the decline.
Educational .- Prior to the Revolutionary period there were no school-houses or regular schools kept at Wright's Ferry.
w Occasionally an Irish peripatetic school-teacher came to the neighborhood, and taught school during the winter months, and boarded around with the parents of the children. The Wrights, Barbers, and Bethels were intermarried with each other, and were the only English-speaking families who resided per- manently at the ferry.
: Those of them who desired a better and more thor- ough education for their children than could be ob- tained at home, sent them to Lancaster or Philadel- phia, and to the select schools conducted by Friends in Chester County and Cecil County, Md. The pro- neer settlers were well educated before they came to the river, and it is probable that many of the children were taught the rudiments of an education at home. That remarkable woman, Susanna Wright, took care 'of the children of her brother James and Samuel Bethel. She not only tanght them to read and write and the rudiments of arithmetic, but how to paint and use the needle also. She was implicitly obeyed in everything. She was abundantly able to teach them the higher branches, and to her her brother James was indebted for much he knew, and his success in life.
.. The first attempt to establish a school where the higher branches were taught was in the summer of 1800, when Robert Patton opened a boarding-school for boys only. The school was held in the little brick meeting-house belonging to Friends, situated on the south side of Cherry Street, a short distance above Third Street. In addition to the common branches, that of surveying was also added. The price of board- ing was twenty, and tuition five dollars per quarter. The scholars were boarded at private houses. The school was not self-sustaining, and Mr. Patton gave up teaching, and entered into mercantile pursuits, for which he was well fitted.
Edward Postlethwait Page, an Englishman, who had been an officer under Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar, in 1805, followed Patton. He was a very eccentric person, but occasionally displayed great talent. He had the gift of oratory, and when he at- tended a town-meeting or the lyceum he often aston- ished his audience by bursts of eloquence surpassed by no trained speaker in the country. He had an English soldier with him, who was dressed up in military uniform and acted as usher.
Page also taught the first Sunday-school in Co-
lumbia, in the Quaker meeting-house. The late Sam -.. uel Nelson Houston was the last of his scholars. He removed to Marietta, Ohio, where he died many years ago. IIe was followed by Welden Brinton, who tanght in the same place. He was succeeded by Dr. Edwin A." Atlee, who also taught in the same place. Ile had a Revolutionary soldier, who wore a " cocked hat," for usher. He was a great musician, and rose to distinction in the medical profession. He owned and lived in the brick building occupied by Dr. Rodgers, on Locust Street. Samuel N. Houston, who was also one of his pupils, lived and died in the adjoining house.
A number of prominent citizens, whose names are appended to the following, made the first organized effort to establish a better school in Columbia :
" Whereas, a Number of the inhabitants of this Place (Columbia) are solicitous for the education of their Children and those under their care, which, under the present Regulation of Schoola, they cannot have done satisfactorily to themselves, they therefore propose to erect & School-house and establish & School therein for the purpose above men- tioned under their own immediate direction, and submit the following Plan for that Purpose, viz. :
"1. That William Wiigbt, Satl. Bethel, and Amos Harmer be Com- missioners, who shall open a Subscription for Fifty Shares of Stock and enter thereio as follows: We, whose names are hereanto subscribed, do promise to pay to the President and Trustees of the Columbis School the sum of Ten Dollars for every share of Stock in said School set op- posite to our names respectively, in such manner and proportions, and at such times as may be determined on by said Preardent and Trustees.
"2. No Person shall subscribe for more than two Shares, provided a sufficient Number offer at that rate.
"3. Each Subscriber shall be entitled to send one Scholar for every Share subscribed, and Subscribers shall have the preference to Non-sub- scrivere in filling up Vacancies
"4 Each Sulocriber shall pay Five Dollars to the Commissioners on each Share at the time of subscribing, and the said Commissioners shall pay the same into the hands of the Treasurer sa soon as he shall be ap- pointed.
"5. When two-thirds of the shares are subscribed for, the subscribers elinll meet and choose by Ballot thirteen of their Number who shall be styled Trustees, which Trusters shall again elect out of their number a President, Treasurer, and Secretary, to act as such for que year.
" 6. The Treasurer shall give bond with security, if required, for the performance of the duties intrusted to him.
"7. When all the shares are paid in full, the Trustees by their Presi- dent shall issue a Certificate to each Stockholder for the number of She .s by him held, bearing an Interest of aux per cent. per Annum, transferrable in the Presence of the Treasurer.
"8. At all Elections each Stockholder, for one sbare sball have une Vote ; for two or more sharea, two Votes.
" 9. Every vacancy in the Board of Trustees by Death, Resignation, or otherwise, shall be forthwith supplied by an election held for that pur- pose.
"10. The Trustees shall have power to purchase or receive, by Dons- tion or otherwise, a suitable Lot on which to erect a School-house and to receive a Deed for the same in Trust for the Stockholders generally, and to contract with Workmen, purchase Materials, &c., and to have the sole management of the same, and whenever they shall see canse, lay a statement of the Expenditures before a Meeting of the Stock- holders to be convened for that purpose. And provided the Expense of erecting and preparing the sald School-house shall exceed the amount of the Original Subscription, then, and in that case, the said Trustees shall open a new Subscription for as many more shares as shall be noces- sary to make up the deficiency, which new shares shall be at the Rate of the original Subscription, with Interest from that date.
" 11. The President and Trustees shall have the sole direction, order, and management of the School.
"12. The Trustees shall annually, on the first Monday in January, lay before the Stockholders & general Statement of the Funds and situa- tlon af the School.
36
562
HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
" We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, do promise to pay to the President and Trustees of the Columbia School the sum of Ten Dollars for every share of stock in said school set opposite to our names, l'e- spectively, in such mauner and proportions and at such times as may be determined on by said President and Trustees.
Numes.
Stock.
Names.
Stock.
Wm. F. Beatty. 2
Patience Wright
1
Juº. Evans .. 2
Edwin A. Atlee.
1
Saml. Miller ... 2
Amos Harmer ..
2 1
James Wright, Jr.
2
Wm. Wright
1
John Houston
1
Sam. Bethel ....
2 1
JAS. Wright
2
Robt, Patton.
Juhu Eberline.
2
Philip Gossler
2
llenry Brulmiker
1
Joel Richardson.
1
C. Breneman.
2
David Barnum.
1
Daniel Miller.
1
John Brumfield
1
Jonan. Mifflin,
Jacob Strickler
2
John Mathiot.
2
G", Webster.
1
Thos Bonde
2
Emma Jeffery
2
Barbara Stump.
1 Eleanor Barber
1
Sam1. Wright
Columbia School .- On the 25th day of March, 1807, Samuel Wright conveyed to Samuel Bethel, Esq., Maj. Thomas Boude, Dr. Edwin A. Atlee, Rob- ert Patton, James Wright, William F. Beatty, Esq., Jonathan Mifflin, John Evans, William Wright, Na- thaniel Barber, Christian Breneman, and James Graham, for one silver dollar, Lot No. 104, and measuring fifty feet on Third Street, and extending sixty feet along a public alley between Locust and Cherry Streets, for the purpose of erecting a school- house upon it. .
The stockholders increased, and the number of shares from fifty to sixty, and the value from ten to fourteen dollars per share. In the year 1807 they erected a one-story brick building, measuring twenty- eight feet in front, and extending along a public alley thirty-five feet.
The original stockholders are named above .. They organized by the election of a president, secretary, treasurer, and twelve trustees.
The first teacher was E. P. Page. He was followed by Dr. Edwin A. Atlee, William Kirkwood, Thomas Trump, Elisha Halloway, Jesse Haines ; in 1819 by Moses P. Cheney, who taught again in 1826. He had been a teacher in the Westtown school in Ches- ter County. He was followed by Thomas Sharpe in the fall of 1823. During his term a belfry was erected on the top of the school-house and a bell placed in it. He resigned in 1826, and, as before stated, Mr. Cheney took charge of the school April 1, 1826; he was assisted by Benjamin Gilbert. He resigned in 1828. On the 29th day of March, 1828, Frederick Hinkson took charge of the school, and re- signed during the following summer. He was suc- ceeded by William Van Wyke on July 27, 1828, who resigned in September, and was succeeded by G. Gillett.
Charles Farnam came in 1832. An incident oc- curred to him which he had good reason to remember while he remained in Columbia. He was very hasty and passionate. Cyrus Strickler was one of his pupils, whom he chastised very severely for an of- fense he did not commit, and he left the school and declined to return again. He returned to the school-
room, accompanied by his father, Jacob Strickler, to procure his books. Farnam at once commenced to lecture and upbraid Mr. Strickler for his want of discipline and watchfulness over his son's welfare. Mr. Strickler, who was also of hasty temperament, commenced to belabor the teacher with a raw-hide. There was no school for some days afterwards. Far- nam removed to the basement of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in 1833, where he also taught a night- school. This school at various periods seemed to prosper, and bid fair to establish a plant for one of much higher grade. The trustees or managers were not fortunate in procuring the right kind of a teacher. The changes were too frequent, and the managers did not offer a sufficient inducement to command the best educational talent.
The stockholders on the 28th day of August, 1830, made an effort to reorganize the school and enlarge the building. On the 4th day of September, 1830, a committee reported in favor of the erection of a build- ing large enough to accommodate two hundred and fifty scholars, on Cherry Street, a period when the school was struggling for an existence. It seems to have breathed its last breath in 1831.
The Lancasterian system was then under successful headway in the town hall. In a few years the free school law came into force, which also operated against the success of this school. The effort to erect a large school building on Cherry Street was a failure.
There seems to be a hiatus in the records of this school from January, 1831, to May 11, 1838, when the stockholders met to reorganize the school. They in- creased the number of shares to one hundred at four- teen dollars per share, for the purpose of raising money to put another story upon the building and extending it several feet in the rear. The following- named persons subscribed for the additional shares : Samuel W. Mifflin, Henry Breneman, Dr. J. S. Clarkson, Joseph Black, Davis Gohenn, Abraham Bruner, Samuel Grove, Joseph Cottrell, Thomas H. Pearce, Dr. George Moore, William Mathiot, Owen B. Goodman, Moses Whitson, James Barber, Jacob F. Markley, Albert G. Bradford, James Caldwell, James Cresson, Israel Cooper, Robert K. Colvin, Alexander Rowan, William Wright, John L. Wright, Jonathan Pusey, Robert B. Wright, Joseph W. Cot- trell, Christian Haldeman, Peter Haldeman, Reuben Mullison, Jonas Rumple, John Cooper, Joseph Jen- kins, Henry Montgomery, Samuel S. Haldeman, Wil- liam S. Shultz, Michael Strein.
A contract was made with Israel Cooper, who put another story upon and extended the building several feet in the rear, where a staircase was built, from which access was had to the hall on the second floor, which was rented to the Lyceum Association for five years.
On the 9th day of March, 1839, Noble Heath, an Englishman, who had been teaching a select school at West Chester, was engaged to teach at a salary of
1
.
Nath1. Barbery ...
1
Abym. Shoemaker.
James Graham.
1
Jacob Comfort. 2
563
BOROUGH OF COLUMBIA.
eight hundred dollars per annum. Owing to some serious indiscretion on his part he was requested to , resign, and the board engaged R. S. Roberts to take charge of the school in the fall of 1839. In the same year the title was changed to Colombia Academy.
On March 20, 1841, Cyrus Frost, of Philadelphia, took charge of the school, but in the fall of the same year the trustees employed Mr. Johnson to take his place. In the winter of 1842 he resigned, and Thomas H. Pearce was engaged to teach three months. Ile was followed by Mr. Howland, who taught one term. In July, 1842, B. F. Wright, a graduate of Dickinson College, was engaged. In the spring of 1843 he was succeeded by Thomas W. Sommers, who was followed by L. J. Roads in 1845, who remained in charge of the school until 1851, when the property was sold to the borough, with the view of making room to extend the market-house. Some of these teachers were ad- dicted to the use of ardent spirits, and at certain periods drank to excess. The frequent changes made in teachers indicate that the school was not entirely successful. There were a number of private schools in the borough, which interfered with its prosperity.
Private Schools .- Jolin Quest taught in Walnut Street in the years 1807-9; Amos Jlarmer in 1809, and Sarah Currie (mother of Martin Currie), on Wal- nut Street, in 1812. Rev. Stephen Boyer, the pastor of the Presbyterian Church, opened a select school and prepared young men to enter upon a collegiate course in 1812-20.
Joseph Mifflin, born in Philadelphia, removed from there to Little Britain township, in this county. On the 8th day of May, 1806, he married Martha Hous- ton, daughter of Dr. John and Susanna Houston, of Columbia, and removed to Columbia, where he taught school in 1813-14 in a frame building which stood in the rear of the market-house. He afterwards entered the Columbia Bank and Bridge Company as teller, and was thus engaged several years, ending about the year 1820.
A Mr. Barber taught on Walnut Street in 1800.
Lydia Hutton, a Quaker, taught a school for poor children at the corner of Cherry Street and Lancaster Avenue. She was paid by a few of the wealthy eiti- zens, 1825.
Mrs. Claiborne, daughter of Gen. Ross, and the widow of Gen. Richard Claiborne, who had been Governor of Louisiana, came from New Orleans to Columbia in 1818, where she opened a school in the house lately owned by the Miss Houstons, on Locust Street; she afterwards taught on Walnut and Front Streets. She taught children between the age of eight and twelve years, and was thus engaged about twenty-five years.
Richard II. Murphy, John Resch, John P. Wade, William Kenneday, - Bond, - Dunlap also taught between the years 1820 and 1832.
David J. Snow taught singing-school in 1826 and 1827.
Henry Connelly taught a classical school on Front Street.
Thomas Lloyd taught school for eighteen years. He was a justiee of the peace for many years, and was also a surveyor and scrivener, secretary for many years of the " Water Company," and held that posi- tion for a number of other societies and corporations. He ceased to teach school in 1831, and was succeeded by Ezra Ffirth on July 11, 1831, who came from Phil- adelphia, where he had been teaching for twenty years. In December, 1831, be added a night- to his day-school. His wife also taught young children, and gave young ladies lessons in fine needle- and lace-work. They taught on Third Street, near the old Columbia brick school-house, and also in the lat- ter place. Mrs. Firth is now living in Brooklyn, N. Y.
The Columbia Select School for Young Ladies was established in 1833 by Miss E. Ely. She had a nun- ber of scholars from a distance, who boarded with private families, and paid from one dollar and a half to two dollars per week for boarding.
This school was on Second between Walnut and Locust Streets. The school was well patronized and in a prosperous condition for two or three years, when it declined rapidly, and ceased to exist in the fol- lowing year. The terms of tuition for the English branches were five dollars per quarter; the French language, ten dollars per quarter.
In June, 1832, Rev. William F. Houston opened an infant school. It lived but a few years, notwithstand- ing the efforts of this public-spirited gentleman to sup- ply what he believed to be a want greatly needed in the borough.
Deborah Foreman conducted a private school for young children for thirty years. She died in 1882.
Francis X. Zeigler commenced to teach a private school about forty years ago, and at intervals since has taught both private and public schools. For more than twenty years he has devoted his entire time to the telegraph and Adams Express, in con- nection with fire insurance business.
Commencing in 1825, Amos Gilbert taught school a few years on Second Street near Walnut. He was a Quaker, and was a descendant of the Gilbert family who were taken prisoners by the Indians a hundred years ago. His son Howard is a professional teacher, and is well known in this county and the eastern sec- tion of the State as one of the best and most success- ful teachers and accomplished scholars in the State. He has traveled a great deal upon the continent of Europe, and has acquired the language of many nations.
In 1829, Michael Strine began teaching, and con- tinued a few years on Walnut Street and on Locust Street. Ile was born in Lancaster, and came from a family which furnished a number of teachers and ministers in the Lutheran Church. His son, Jacob S. Strein, was the late sheriff.
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