History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, Part 35

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1288

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Neshannock was organized about 1800, at least the Rev. William Wick was installed pastor in that year, in connection with Hopewell. He was succeeded in 1802 by the Rev. James Satterfield. The first elders were William Jack- son, Thomas Scott and Robert Stevenson. From 1813 to 1815 Rev. William Matthews officiated as its pastor. In 1816 Rev. William Wood became its pastor, continuing in the charge until 1837, when he was succeeded by Rev. Absalom McCready, who was pastor when Neshannock was cut off into Law- rence County.

Hopewell was organized about the same time as Neshannock, with the same pastor, who continued with it until his death in 1815. Rev. William Wood succeeded Mr. Wick in 1816, continuing until 1828, when he removed to Ohio, dying at Utica, Licking County, in 1839. The next pastor was Rev. William Nesbit, who was released in 1840. When the county was divided, in 1849, Rev. William Webber was pastor.

Cool Spring was organized in 1800, with Rev. Samuel Tait as pastor. In 1813 this organization seems to have been suspended, the members thereof consenting to worship at Mercer, where Mr. Tait was also pastor. This arrangement continued until 1827, when the Cool Spring people determined on a reorganization, and two years after the Rev. Ira Condit was installed pastor. His death occurred in 1836. He was followed by Rev. David Wag- goner, and he again by Rev. James G. Wilson, whose pastorate continued until 1850. The present pastor (1875), John W. McCune, was installed in 1852, and at this writing has been nearly a quarter of a century the pastor of the Cool Spring congregation.

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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

Mr. Tait was the first pastor of Salem, the organization taking place in 1800. When a church was organized in Mercer, in 1804, Salem was relin- quished by him until the consolidation of Cool Spring and Mercer, in 1813, when he again became the pastor of Salem, giving it half of his time until the year 1826, when he gave it up. In 1828 Rev. James Alexander became the installed pastor, in connection with Greenville and Big Bend, remaining with it until 1834. In 1836 Rev. James G. Wilson was installed, in connection with Greenville, remaining with it until 1851. From this time until about 1860 it was supplied by Revs. Callen, Johnson, Coulter, Grier and others, when Rev. John W. McCune became its pastor, for one-third his time, in con- nection with Cool Spring.

Rev. Alexander Cook was the first pastor of Lower Neshannock (now New Castle), being installed in 1803. He was followed by Rev. Robert T. Sample, in 1810, and he by Rev. Wells Bushnell in 1839, during whose pastorate the division of the county occurred.

Plain Grove is claimed to have been organized before 1800. Its first pas- tor was Rev. William Wood, installed in 1802, its elders being William Mc- Neel and Joseph Campbell. Mr. Wood was succeeded by Rev. John Munson in 1818, and he by Rev. R. B. Walker, in 1839, who was most probably the pastor when this church was cut off into Lawrence County, ten years after.

Centre was organized about the same time as Plain Grove, its first pastor being also Mr. Wood, succeeded by Mr. Munson in 1818, who resigned his charge in 1859, after a pastorate of forty-one years. In 1861 the Rev. W. W. Mckinney was installed pastor, followed by Rev. S. A. Hughes in 1866.

The First Presbyterian Church of Mercer was organized in 1804, with Rev. Samuel Tait as its pastor, who remained such until his death in 1841. Rev. Joseph T. Smith then became pastor, relinquishing the post in 1849, to enable him to accept a call in the city of Baltimore. Rev. Robert S. Morton suc- ceeded him in 1851, and remained one year. Rev. Robert T. Sample followed, but was released in 1856. The Rev. John R. Findley was installed pastor in 1857, and continued until 1874, when he relinquished the post to accept a call at Rock Island, on the Mississippi. This congregation has since been sup- plied by Revs. H. R. Van Pelt, J. F. Stonecipher and J. V. Stockton.

The Second Presbyterian Church at Mercer was a colony from the first church, organized in 1863, with Elias Alexander, Joseph Fleming, and R. M. J. Zahniser as elders. A disagreement with the pastor of the first church, Mr. Findley, in relation to the civil war then raging, rendering their position some- what uncomfortable, they concluded to colonize and form a new congregation. Their first pastor was Rev. William M. Robinson, installed in 1864. He re- mained with them until May, 1872, when he relinquished his charge. Rev. B. M. Kerr was installed in September, 1872.

Rocky Spring had Rev. Robert Lee for its first and only Presbyterian pas- tor, installed in 1801, in connection with Amity. About 1807, when Mr. Lee was released from both these charges, it connected itself with the Associate (seceders) Presbyterian organization.

Amity, the congregation which was made up from both Mercer and Venango Counties, appears to have had no regular pastor from the resignation of Mr. Lee until 1825, when Rev. Ira Condit was installed. He continued until 1829. In 1832 Rev. Robert Glenn was installed pastor, who was released in 1850. The next was Rev. Mead Satterfield, who died while in this charge in 1856. The next was Rev. John F. Boyd, who was succeeded in 1866 by Rev. W. D. Patton.

Upper Sandy, now Georgetown, claims to have been organized in 1799, by

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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

Revs. McCurdy and Stockton, with William Byers and Alex. McCracken for elders. The first pastor was Rev. William Wylie, installed in 1802 and released in 1804; after this it was supplied occasionally by Mr. Stockton, pastor at Meadville, and others, for a time, when finally the organization ceased to exist. In 1814 a re-organization was effected, taking the name of Georgetown, Mr. Condit becoming pastor in connection with Fairfield. His death occurred in 1836. Mr. Waggoner was the next pastor, installed in 1838 and released in 1853. Rev. James M. Shields followed, being installed in 1855 and released in 1864. The same year Mr. Waggoner was re-installed for two-thirds of his time, Greenfield, in Crawford County, taking the other third.

Moorfield had but one pastor, Rev. James Satterfield, who was installed in 1802, in connection with Neshannock. In 1834 he no longer found himself able to perform the active duties of the ministry, and as churches had recently sprung up in the villages around (Sharon, Middlesex and Clarksville), the membership of Moorfield gradually became absorbed in them, while the old organization was permitted to die out. The cemetery attached to it is con- trolled by a corporation. In it were deposited the remains of its only pas- tor, and many of the pioneers, as well as those of the Hon. M. C. Trout.

Sandy Lake was organized in 1835, with Alexander Brown, Homer Bailey and Eli Butler for elders. Its first pastor was Rev. Robert Glenn, succeeded by Mr. McCune in 1852, and three years afterward by Rev. John G. Condit, and he again, in 1857, by Rev. John Rice.

Greenville was organized in 1825, with Rev. James Alexander for its first pastor, installed in 1828 and released in 1834. The place was next filled by Rev. J. G. Wilson, who retired in 1842. Next, Rev. Henry Webber, who remained with it but two years. The next regular pastor was Rev. J. H. Cal- len, installed in 1848 and released in 1852. He was followed by Rev. David Grier, installed in 1854 and released in 1859. The next was Rev. A. C. Jun- kin, installed in 1862 and released in 1867. Then came Rev. J. E. Wright, 1869-74, and B. C. Critchlow, installed in 1875.

Big Bend was organized about the same time as Greenville, with the same pastor, Mr. Alexander. But after his severance from it, in 1834, it seems to have become extinct, its members most likely becoming absorbed in the Mercer and Clarksville churches.

Milledgeville was organized in 1856, being dependent on supplies. In 1866, July 11, Rev. Henry B. Lamb was installed pastor, and released May 9 in the following year.

The United Presbyterian Church, of Greenville, is the successor of the old seceder organization, established by Rev. Daniel McLean in 1802. He was pastor until 1840, and was succeeded by his son, Rev. D. H. A. McLean, D. D., now of Rochester, Penn., who has furnished us a copy of a paper which accom- panied the first call for pastoral services received by his father. It bears date December 28th, 1801. At that time there was a preaching station at "Shank's Ford," which subsequently became the Salem Associate Church, and after- wards the United Presbyterian Church of Greenville. The following is the paper, with the signatures attached:

We, the undernamed subscribers, members of the Shenango and Sandy congregations, pray that this Reverend Presbytery would sustain our call and put it into the hand of the candidate, for whom it was brought forward, and adopt every legal measure for has- tening his settlement among us, as our case needs the greatest attention. The enemies of Christ's Cross are numerous in the place where God in his providence has cast our lot, and we are deprived of what we conceive a pure dispensation of gospel ordinance dis- pensed among us in a stated way, all which we conceive very distressing to those who desire to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.

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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

The sum we engage to pay annually for the labors of the Rev. Daniel McLean is one hundred and thirty-five pounds, Pennsylvania currency. As witness our hands this 28th day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one.

David Nelson, elder; Joseph Work, elder; Thomas Ewing, elder; Hugh Fletcher, elder; A. Dumars, Robert Bean, Jonathan Culbert, David Beatty. John Snodgrass, Isaac Mair, William Snodgrass, Benjamin Snodgrass, Quinten Brooks, William Brooks, Francis Moss- man. John Brown, Jr., Thomas Gillis, William H. Mossman. John Gillis, George Mc- Cord, James Nelson, Matthew McElhaney, David McConaughey, Robert McConaughey, James McElhaney, John Brooks, Hugh Richardson, Alexander Caldwell, Moses Logan, Thomas Mento, John Work, John Cook, John Minteer, William Bean, Thomas Bean, Hugh Brown, Robert Story, John Moreland, Isaac Moreland, James Wilson, Thomas Lochrey, Hamilton Armor, Hugh Lackey.

The spelling of some of the names is not in harmony with the present orthography, and we have taken the liberty of changing it. Thomas Ewing was the grandfather of Judge Ewing, of Pittsburgh. Alexander Dumars was the grandfather of A. D. Gillespie, of Greenville. Robert, William and Thomas Bean were the forefathers of the Bean family, still in this county. Hugh Fletcher was the grandfather of O. N. Fletcher, of Greenville. David Beatty was the grandfather of James W. and Henry W. Beatty, of Salem and Otter Creek Townships, respectively. John, William and Benjamin Snodgrass were the ancestors of the Snodgrass families around Jamestown and Greenville. William H. and Francis Mossman were pioneers of West Salem Township, on the Ohio line, and many of their descendants are residents of the county. Thomas and John Gillis were also pioneers of West Salem, where some of the family still live. James Nelson was an early settler of West Salem, and some of his descendants are residents thereof. Matthew McElhaney lived in Craw- ford County, and was the grandfather of Dr. M. J. McElhaney, of Greenville. James McElhaney was the father of James and Charles S. McElhaney, of West Salem. Hugh Brown was a pioneer near Greenville, and the grandfather of Hon. James C. Brown, of the Advance-Argus, and John Brown, Jr., was his son. John and Isaac Moreland were early settlers of Greene Township, near Jamestown, and the forefathers of the family of that name, still living there. A few of the remaining signers of the call lived in Mercer County, but the majority were residents of Crawford.

Methodist Church. - Methodism made its appearance in the county about the close of the last century. The pioneer was, doubtless, Rev. R. R. Rob- erts, afterward so well known as Bishop Roberts. He was born in Frederick County, Md., August 2, 1778. In 1785 he removed with his father to West- moreland County, Penn., where he continued to reside until the spring of 1796, when, at the age of eighteen, in company with his brother Thomas and three other young men of his neighborhood, he started to make his fortune in a yet newer country. The point finally reached was the tract lying north of what is now called Leech's Corners, where he began a settlement by erecting a log cabin. In the spring of 1797 Thomas and Lewis Roberts, in company with Rev. Jacob Gurwell, a local Methodist preacher, made their appearance in the settlement, and continued to share its hardships. The privations of those pio- neers make an interesting narrative, but cannot be given here. This is the introduction of Methodism into Mercer County.

Mr. Roberts began to preach'in 1801, and subsequently became famous in his church. In the year 1798 the parents of Mr. Roberts moved to the neighbor- hood in which he had settled. They were soon followed by the Stevensons, the Walkers, the McLeans, the Dumars, etc., all of whom were members of the Methodist Church. The two Irish local preachers, Jacob Gurwell and Thomas McClelland, settled in the same district, and began their work by preaching in log cabins and groves and wherever people could be assembled

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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

to hear them. The class formed at that time, of which R. R. Roberts was leader, became the nucleus of Methodism in the Shenango Valley. It included R. R. Roberts, Thomas McClelland and wife, James Stevenson and wife, Will- iam Lindsey and wife, Lewis Roberts and wife, John Honnell and wife, John McGranahan and wife, William McGranahan and wife, John Caughey and wife, John Rodgers and wife, William McLean and wife, William Stewart and Nancy Wilson. A year or two later the inflowing tide of inhabitants extended southward and established what was known as the South class, embracing George McFetridge and wife, Thomas Dumars and wife, John Waters and wife, Rev. Jacob Gurwell and wife, Bradson Gibbons and wife, Morris Dunlavy and wife, William Gurwell and wife, and in 1802 John Leech and wife; some twenty-two all told.

Mr. Roberts had, in February, 1799, been married in Ligonier to Miss Elizabeth Oldham, of York County. She, in company with her husband and Lewis Roberts, about two weeks after marriage, rode on horseback through the woods to their new home in the Shenango Valley. She was mounted on a good horse, with cooking utensils and a blanket strapped to her saddle. As they were going through a dense forest, her brother-in-law being ahead with the provisions, she and her husband were compelled to stop over night in the woods. Building a fire, they lay under their blankets, but were not permitted to sleep on account of the howling of the fierce wolves about them. Thus they spent the supperless night.

At this date this whole region was in the Baltimore Conference. At its session held May 1, 1801, it made the following appointments: Pittsburgh District, Thornton Fleming, P. E .; Erie Circuit, James Quinn; Shenango, Joseph Shane. The Pittsburgh District embraced eight circuits, covering a vast territory in the present West Virginia, Erie and Pittsburgh Conferences. The Erie and Shenango Circuits embraced the country west of the Allegheny, between Lake Erie and the Ohio, except the Shenango Circuit, which was the southern one, and embraced the valley by that name. The compensation in those days was not enormous. From 1800 to 1816 it was as follows:

1. The annual salary of the traveling preachers shall be $80 and their traveling expenses.

2. The annual allowance of the wives of the traveling preachers shall be $80.

3. Each child of a traveling preacher shall be allowed $16 annually to the age of seven years, and $24 annually from seven to fourteen years; nevertheless, this rule shall not apply to the children of preachers whose families are provided for by other means in their circuit respectively.

In 1817 Shenango Circuit was divided into Erie and Beaver Circuits. Its name then disappears from the records. Its preachers were as follows: P. B. Davis, 1800; Joseph Shane, 1801; Asa Shinn, 1802; George Askins, 1803; Joseph Hall, 1804; R. R. Roberts, 1805; James Reed, 1806; James Watts, Thomas Church, 1807; James Charles, 1808; Jacob McDowell, Eli Towne, 1809; James Watts, 1810; Abel Robinson, 1811; James Watts, William Knox, 1812; Jacob Gurwell, 1813; John Elliott, 1814; J. Summerville, 1815; R. C. Hatton, 1816. The history of individual congregations will be found in other portions of this volume, to which the reader is referred for information on the local growth of Methodism.

Other Churches .- The Baptists made their first efforts in the county about the beginning of the century. The records show an organization at Sharon in 1804. The Lutherans, Disciples, Reformed, Episcopalians, Congregational- ists, Catholics, Evangelicals, United Brethren and other religious organizations will be found reported in their proper places in the sketches of boroughs and

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HISTORY OF MERCER COUNTY.

townships. They all came later than the Presbyterians and Methodists, but have succeeded in establishing flourishing congregations and erecting comfort- able and commodious houses of worship.

Mormonism. - An attempt was once made to establish Mormonism in this county. On the 8th of February, 1832, two Mormon missionaries called at the house of Benjamin Stokely, near Mercer, and declared that they had been sent by God to preach the Gospel to every creature, and offered, if the neigh- bors would assemble, to announce more fully their mission in the way of an exegetical address. The neighbors were accordingly assembled, and listened to the preaching of the disciples of Joe Smith. Notes of this service were made at the time by Mr. Stokely, and subsequently published in the Western Press. One of these preachers was Orson Pratt, who became, in later days, one of their "Apostles." While the mission was unsuccessful in establishing a congregation, it was effectual in scattering seed which finally grew into fruit. Rev. Sidney Rigdon, at that time a Baptist minister at Sharon, finally became one of their proselytes, and endeavored, after his expulsion from the Mormon Church at Nauvoo, Ill., to form a colony of like faith and character near Greencastle, Franklin Co., Penn. He failed in his purpose.

Bible Society. - When the first Mercer County Bible Society was formed has not been ascertained. Mention of it is made as early as May, 1849, when the board of managers, through its secretary, B. F. Baskin, announced that it had employed Rev. O. Flying as an agent to distribute Bibles and collect funds.

Missionary Society .- It would seem that a county missionary society had an existence at an early day. The announcement is made that Mercer County Missionary Society held its first annual meeting in Mercer on the 11th of June, 1834, with Rev. Samuel Tait as president, Rev. A. W. Black, vice-president, and Rev. J. L. Dinwiddie, secretary. The officers for the next year were Rev. Tait, president; William McElheney, vice-president, and A. W. Black, secretary. Judging from the composition of its officers, it was a Presbyterian institution.

CHAPTER XIII.

MEDICAL-PHYSIOLOGY-PROPER KNOWLEDGE AND OBSERVANCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS NECESSARY TO A SOUND BODY AND MIND-IGNORANCE TIIE MAIN CAUSE OF MOST HUMAN INFIRMITIES-SENSEOPATHY-PROGRESS IN MEDICAL SCIENCE-THE OLD-FASHIONED DOCTOR-PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF MERCER COUNTY-BRIEF SKETCHES OF THE BEST REMEMBERED PRACTITIONERS OF PIONEER DAYS-EPIDEMICS-MEDICAL SOCIETIES-FIRST MEDICAL SOCIETY OF MERCER-ORGANIZATION OF THE MERCER COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY IN 1848-ITS DEMISE AND REORGANIZATION-OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY SINCE 1882.

W HEN the poet wrote in satirical verse the oft repeated sentiment, Presume not God to scan- The proper study of mankind is man,

he expressed a truth which the ages have not yet fully comprehended or ap- plied. "I am fearfully and wonderfully made," was an attempt of the sweet singer of Israel to grasp the mysteries connected with his physical or- ganization. Despite the efforts of moralists to give transcendent importance to the demands of the soul, often to the neglect of the best needs of the body, reflecting and intelligent people have insisted upon giving some attention to the

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"house I live in." While the teachings of the past may have caused Sir William Hamilton to place above the door to his studio the maxim: "On earth there is nothing great but man; in man there is nothing great but mind," yet the demands of a progressive civilization will not be satisfied with any theory which neglects to give due attention to the requirements of the bodily organization.

Mens sana in sano corpore-a strong mind in a strong body-is a classic dictum which ought to prompt sensible people to halt and carefully survey the ground of their terrestrial existence. "I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service," indicates that divinely inspired men in- sisted strongly upon the claims of physical Christianity. "Do thyself no harm," was the timely advice of a philanthropic messenger to one who was bent upon the infliction of bodily injury.

All these quotations, and a host of others that might be cited, tend to fix the lesson that man's physical organism instead of being simply a mass of corruption, and the abode of Satanic influences, is as much the workmanship of God as the spirit, and therefore entitled to the same thoughtful attention and culture. Its care, whether supervised intelligently by the person himself or conducted by some one specially set apart for such work, demands proper and judicious direction. Nor can this responsibility be wholly delegated to another. Car- lyle confessed that he was past seventy before he discovered that he possessed such an organ as a stomach; but such ignorance, feigned or real, did not ex- empt him from the penalties which inevitably follow the infraction of physical laws, nor preserve his spirit from the acerbity which such a physical condition necessarily engenders. If the doctor of medicine should return to the standard from which he started originally, and become what the term doctor implies, a teacher of health principles and a preventer of disease, by judicious advice and precautions, rather than a migratory drug store in miniature, feel- ing pulses and examining tongues, the halcyon days of health and pristine vigor might be restored. But the ignorance and credulity of the people has necessarily perverted and defeated the true mission of the physician by insist- ing, practically, that no medical service has been rendered unless something tangible to the senses has been given. The patient must taste something, see something, smell something. Wholesome advice, in nine cases out of ten all that is actually required, is not appreciated, and therefore not remunerated. In consequence, the physician practices medicine on a bread and butter basis, and the people are compelled to pay the bill. The public mind needs to be correctly informed upon these matters, and then the merited reform will begin. A physician's intelligent advice, unaccompanied with "big pill" or "little pill," will be appreciated as the lawyer's is, and paid accordingly.

Not unfrequently, too, will the individual be much better off, the testimony of intelligent, conscientious physicians being accepted, if he shall apply com- mon sense principles of health as revealed by the study of his own system, and its wants, and not rely upon the patent remedies which he finds advertised on every hand. Such a state of things was evidently in the mind of the writer of the following stanzas, when he broke away from the restraints of both "reg- ulars " and "irregulars," and launched himself upon the sea of self-preser- vation, in the ship which he denominated

SENSEOPATHY. Take the open air, The more you take the better, Follow nature's laws To the very letter.

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Let the doctors go To the Bay of Biscay; Let alone the gin, The brandy and the whisky.

Freely exercise, Keep your spirits chcerful, Let no dread of sickness Make you over-fearful.

Eat the simplest food, Drink the pure cold water. Then you will be well, Or at least you ought ter.

The science of medicine has had many difficulties to encounter. In addi- tion to the ignorance of hygienic laws on the part of the people; already referred to, it has had to contend with unreasonable superstitions, reliance upon faith cures, trust in patent nostrums and all sorts of cheap medicines advertised through bills and the public press. Ignorance has been imposed upon. People have often consented to take, from irresponsible parties, medi- cines of a cheap grade, the taking of which resulted in permanent injury unless counteracted by the timely interference of an accredited physician.

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History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, Part 35

Author: Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk Number of Pages: 1288

Author:
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1288