USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of Mifflin County : its physical peculiarities, soil, climate, &c. ; including an early sketch of the state of Pennsylvania Volume I > Part 19
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Presbyterian Church at McVeytown.
The Presbyterian Church at MeVeytown was first organized soon after the arrival of the first settlers in this county, or abont 1755. Rev. Charles Beaty was the first Presbyterian minister in this county, and he arrived here August 25, 1766. The first place of meeting in this locality was in Bratton township, on what has latterly been known as Colonel Bratton's farm. The Rev. Mr. Sterns was the first settled pastor. The date of the organiza- tion of the church is lost, but ante-dates the organization of Huntingdon Presbytery in 1795. The name of the first organi- zation was " Central Wayne Congregation." From 1805 to 1814 this church was without a pastor, having only supplies and the Rev. Thomas Mininger and James Johnston and Rev. William Kenedy were among them. In 1818 the Presbyterian Church seems to have been recognized as the Waynesburg Presby- terian Church, which was given to all the congregations, and Rev. James Woods, D. D., beeame its pastor, and this relation was con- tinned until 1837. He was then succceded by Rev. Mr. Carroll,
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Hassington, Sterrett, Clark, McClure and McRea. Then the Rev. Mr. Moore, the present incumbent, in 1873.
In the eldership of this church such names occur as With- erows, McNair, Wilson, Irving, Crisswell, Oliver, Coulter, Wake- field and Bratton. In April 10, 1838, McVeytown asks to be a separate organization, having previously been connected with others in their ministerial support, and its request was granted by the Presbytery at that date. The fall meeting of the Presbytery of 1848 was held here. P. Hassington resigns the charge of Waynesburg and Newton Hamilton, and is succeeded by Ster- rett, then Sterrrett resigns and is succeeded by David D. Clark. The primitive house of worship was a plain log structure. This was followed by a stone building in 1814, this again by a brick structure in 1836, and the present edifice is the old brick remodeled in 1874. The congregation covers a territory of about. thirteen by six miles.
Methodist Episcopal Church.
ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO MIFFLIN COUNTY.
In Decatur township the first sermon in this charge was preached, in 1823, by J. R. Shepherd, in a school house near where Lillyville now is. These were primitive days in this region; and, while the streams, the mountain and grove were there in their primitive beauty, these hills and groves had not yet resounded with the an- thems of praise, as in later years.
The first Methodist society was organized the same year, com- posed of ten members, and the first church of this denomination in this locality was not built till twenty-seven years later, or in 1850 ..
In Granville the first sermon was preached, by Samuel Davis, in 1816, in a house occupied by Daniel Jones, and what was after- wards Hope Furnace, where a small class was formed, the only one then existing, except at Lewistown.
On the 29th of June, 1818, there came into the church Rev. S. P. Lilly, since then a resident of Mount Carroll, Illinois, but then a resident of Hope Furnace.
The next day after uniting with the church, Lilly went with his whole family a few miles up the river, to hear Rev. Thos. Larkins preach in J. Horning's barn.
Lilly's accession to the church having created quite an excite- ment in the community, Horning refused all further use of his barn
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as a preaching place, when Lilly took Brother Larkin down to his own house, ealled in a few of the neighbors, and had preaching there the same night. At the elose of the sermon, and after the congregation had been dismissed, Lilly met his father going out of the house with his hat in his hand, and then and there begged him to give his heart to God, and the father yielded to the entreaty of his son, fell upon his knees and began to pray. Next morning ten persons were received into the society, and added to the elass already formed, which soon had further large additions, and was led by Brother Beal, of Lewistown. In 1826 Brother Lilly was licensed as a local preacher, and at onee commenced preaching in MeKee's school house, where he soon formed a class of twenty-six, five of whom afterwards became ministers of the gospel they had so enthusiastically espoused.
Thus the seed of truth, sown in good ground, very rapidly multi- plied. The few of to-day were the host of to-morrow. This seed so speedily reprodueing and multiplying, will keep on to the end of time. Churches built in this charge were: Ebenezer Church, in 1831; Wesley Chapel, in 1836; Gruber Chapel, in 1843. Of the first institution of the organization of the M. E. Church at Lewis- town, we have been able, this far, to obtain no data.
Lewistown African Churches.
The colored people of Lewistown and vieinity number about two hundred and fifty, and sustain two churches among their own people. First is the AFRICAN METHODIST CHURCH, an independent organization first established here in 1816. Their first minister was Rev. Richard Allen, the founder of the society assisted by Absalom Jones and Bishop White of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The pastorate of Mr. Allen continued till 1831. The progress of this organization has been very good. They now have seven bishops in the entire church, and have churches in nearly every state in the union, as well as in Hayti, in Canada and in Afriea. The number of members in the entire connection is over 250,000. The society in Lewistown has forty working members in the first society under the pastorate charge of Rev. J. L. Griffith, and about half that number in the second society under the eharge of Rev. Solomon Whiting.
A word in regard to the pastoral services of Rev. J. L. Griffith. For forty years he has served his people with acceptance and to their utmost satisfaction, as is proved by the length of time that
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he has been with them. He was an active Sabbath school worker for many years previous to his engaging in the work of the ministry, and out of his own means, to the amount of $700.00, and his own collections from others he succeeded, in 1873, of build- ing a church at a cost of $1,800.00. He is possessed of a most robust, vigorous frame, good health for bis advanced age, a fine active cultivated intellect of great personal energy and perseve- rance, as it is proved in what he has accomplished. Few men have had his opportunity to make so enviable a record as the talents and the balance of moral character to do so had opportunity offered.
Presbyterian Church of Lewistown.
In gathering data of the churches of Mifflin county, we have ap- plied to the pastors thereof, and have been favored by many of them by full, prompt and comprehensive responses; but, in other cases, we have found it hard to gather information, and the neglect and refusal of some have made it impossible to get as full data as de- sired. For the following data, in reference to the church above named, we are indebted to the history of the Huntingdon Presby- tery :
Iu 1809 and 1810 the salary offered Rev. William Kenedy, by Lewistown and West Kishacoquillas, was four hundred and eighty dollars. Lewistown had no church building in 1802. In 1810 presbytery met at Bellefonte, and a call was presented by Mr. Kenedy and West Kishacoquillas, offering the aforenamed salary, by both of them. In 1811 we find William Kenedy their pastor. In 1821 we find, by the same historical record, that he was charged with drunkenness. In 1824 we find recorded a call for James S Woods, for one-half his pastoral services.
He had been for four years at Waynesburg, now McVeytown, and a transient supply at Lewistown for the past year.
He was installed pastor of the Lewistown congregation on the 24th of April, 1824.
The presbytery met here in 1833. For a fuller reference to the history of this church, we refer the reader to the biography of Rev. James Sterrett Woods, D. D., in another part of this work. The successor of Mr. Woods was Mr. McLean, the present pastor, who has served his people for over seventeen years, with great ac- ceptance.
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
Presbyterian Church of Milroy.
We have failed to receive any response to our application to the pastor of the above church for information in reference thereto, and can only find that a Rev. Mr. Nourse's pastoral relations was dissolved October 2, 1858, and that a call was sent to Samuel Law- rence ; that a Mr. John M. White was installed in 1850.
Mr. Nonrse was at Milroy fifteen years, during which time there were three hundred and thirty accessions to the church. "And further deponent sayeth not."
Catholic Church of Lewistown
is a substantial brick edifice, on Third street. We have there, also, called on the pastor for information thereto, and received no data, and make this invariable rule, viz: not to use information that we cannot receive.
The M. E. Church of Lewistown.
The first Methodist in this locality was Charles Hardy, who came to this county in 1791, purchased lands and settled in Fergu- son's Valley, three miles west of Lewistown. His home became the home of the Methodist ministers, and after they began preach- ing in the old court house, he regularly accompanied them, lit the candles, rang the bell and called the people together. In 1813 he removed to town and was a member of the first Methodist society organized here. In 1823 he died, deeply mourned by the little society of which he was a member. The first Methodist sermon preached in Lewistown was in the old court house by an itinerant named James Davison, in the year 1805 or 1806, and among his hearers was Miss Rachael Gillespie, who afterwards became the- wife of Rev. Jacob Gruber. The town was not made a regular preaching place until after 1812, when Rev. James Stevens, of precious memory, established stated services, but not without difficulty, as upon one occasion the public bell ringer entered the court house, and rang the bell loudly during all the time of prayer. The first Methodist society was formed about the year 1815, Rev ... Robert Reily being in charge of Aughwick circuit in which Lewistown was included, and Rev. Jacob Gruber presiding elder. The first person who united with the M. E. Church in Lewistown, was Mrs. Jane Gillespie. Soon after a class was organized and Peter Smelker was appointed leader. The names of the members. of this infant organization as far as can now be ascertained, was
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John Gillespie, Jane Gillespie, Charles Hardy, Minnie Hardy, Henry Butler, Rachael McCord, Jane McCord, Margaret McCord, Mary McGinnes, Rachael Worley, Experience Row, Nancy Row, Samuel Martin, Jacob Wandor, Hannah Wandor and Mr. and Mrs. Graham. The first Methodist church was erected in 1815 on east Third street between Brown and Dorcas streets, being a small brick edifice and occupied as a place of worship until 1830. In 1816 Elizabeth Keiser, now familiarly known as Auntie Stoner, join- ed the struggling band, and one of her first acts of benevolence was to collect a considerable sum of money to pay for the plastering of the first church built in the town. In 1830 a larger church building was erected on the corner of Dorcas and Third streets, and this becoming too small for the rapidly increasing congrega- tion, galleries were added about the year 1844. In this shape it was used until the pastorate of Rev. D. S. Monroe, then it was remodeled and enlarged as it now stands. Lewistown became a station in the spring of 1834, with the Rev. Samuel Kessler as the first stationed preacher. But few are now living who united with the church previous to that time. Six only among its present memberships who were in this society before Lewistown become a station, viz: Nancy Row, Mrs. Stover, George Weily, John Evans and Mrs. Evans. The following is a list of the pastors who have served the charge since it has became-a station :
1834, Samuel Kepler ; 1835, Tobias Riely ; 1836-7, Henry Far- ring; 1838-9, J. Merriken'; 1840, John S. Martin, 1841, David Thomas ; 1842, Thomas Meyers; 1843-4, George S. Brooks; 1845-6, George Guyer; 1847-8, M. Goheen; 1849-50, S. V. Blake ; 1851-2, James H. Brown; 1853-4, B. H. Crever; 1855, George W. Cooper; 1856, William Wicks; 1857-8, J. A. Ross ; 1859-60, S. Kessler ; 1861, J. S. McMurray ; 1862-3, John Guyer ; 1864, Samuel Barnes ; 1865-6, Wilford Downs; 1867-9, D. S. Monroe ; 1870-2, John Thrush ; 1873-5, W. G. Furgeson.
The pastorates of Messrs. Ross, Monroe and Furgcson were characterized by extraordinary revivals, and large accessions to the church. In 1876, under the pastorate of Rev. G. T. Gray, the lecture room of the church was refurnished and greatly im- proved at a cost of $600, adding greatly to the comfort and pleasure of the congregation and Sunday school. During the winter of 1878, in the months of Jannary and February, an extensive revival of religion prevailed, resulting in the conversion of 80 souls, 78 of whom were received in the church on probation,
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and 66 received into full connection. The meeting this year re- sulted in 50 conversions and 40 accessions on probation. The present pastor, Rev. S. W. Sears, is serving his people with great acceptance. His efficient services are highly appreciated by the people whom he so ably and so zealously serves.
The Early Temperance Work of Mifflin County.
In the undertaking of the present work our childhood remem- brances carry us back to the time when we listened to the fervent eloquence of the Reverend William Anon, in the Little Valley church in this county, hence we desired in the church section of our work to get some production of his pen, and wrote him for that purpose in regard to the early history of that church, and received the following reply :
"ALLEGHENY CITY, September 4, 1879. "J. COCHRAN, A. M., Lewistown, Pa .:
"DEAR SIR :- In reply to yours of a recent date, I must say that I do not know what to add to your history of Mifflin county anything worth sending but what you will find better expressed in Dr. Gib- son's History of the Huntingdon Presbytery. If anything further is desirable, I will try to answer any questions not answered in that work which you may propose. I highly approve of your design, and will cheerfully aid you if I can.
Yours, &c., WILLIAM ANON."
To this we replied that he would oblige us by an essay on his early efforts in the Temperance Work in Little and Kishacoquillas Valleys. To this we received the following response, which we are happy to lay before our readers, because of its historical interests, its literary merits, and the work and its results that was then begun by the zeal and unabating energy of the REV. WM. ANON:
"ALLEGHENY, Sept. 30, 1879. " JOSEPH COCHRAN, A. M., Lewistown, Pa. :
" DEAR SIR :- You ask me to prepare for your History of Mitfliu ·County some early reminiseuces of the temperance work in West Kishacoquillas and Little Valleys. I cheerfully comply with your request, though I fear that owing to my labors in those valleys having occurred near half a century ago, they must be meager and unsatisfactory up to the period of my pastorate in your county. I do not know that any effort had been made to inaugurate the system of temperance societies in any part of the country. I mean, of 13
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course, societies on the principle of total abstinence from all spirit- uous liquors. I believe, however, that Rev. Mr. Coulter had made some vigorous efforts in that line in Tuscarora valley, which was then a part of Mifflin county.
"My settlement in West Kishacoquillas and Little Valleys was in 1831, and for the succeeding three or four years and until my re- moval to the western part of the State, I felt it to be my duty to do what in me lay to establish on a solid foundation the principles. of total abstinence. This required some considerable nerve, for as may be readily conceived it was not popular with many persons in my charge who had formed the habit in early life of what was known as the 'moderate use' of alcoholic stimulants. One of the prominent members of my church in West Kishacoquillas was a distiller, and two others of my charge were tavern keepers. The free use of whiskey was very common among all classes, especially in the harvest field, at raisings and other public gatherings, and many of the groceries sold liquor by the gallon or the quart to al- most all who could pay for it, except, perhaps, the very few young. It was very common too for the farmers to raise corn and rye,. which they felt no compunction of conscience in selling to the dis- tillers. During the first winter of my pastoral labors, I read on the afternoons of the Sabbath, Dr. Lyman Beecher's ' Six Sermons on Temperance ' in the audience of the people. With the co-operation of the leading church members we soon formed temperance societies in both my congregations, and in public addresses and conversations we endeavored to correct the drinking habits of the community ; and although I do not recollect of any instance of reformation of a habitual drunkard, I doubt not many were prevented from be- coming so by the efforts then put forth. Such, if my memory serves me, was the beginning of the temperance work in Mifflin county The success that followed our efforts in the valleys soon led to the formation of other societies of the same kind with the happiest re- sults. In the providence of God I was led to dissolve my connec -. tion with these churches, but I cherish the hope that the seed then sown still brings forth fruit in the memories and lives, especially of those who were the youth of the flock. The years that have passed have only served to deepen my convictions that intemperance is the greatest curse that afflicts mankind, whether received in its moral, civil or social relations, and the prolific mother of all sorts of crimes, poverty and degradation ; and further, that safety can be found
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only in the total abstinence from all that intoxicates, for God has said, ' he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.'
WM. ANON.
"P. S .- I send you the foregoing, sensible of its defects, but I do not know that I can improve upon it. I have not the requisite memoranda for more minute information. I have thought best not to give the names of those who opposed our efforts to establish temperance societies ; but among those who cordially aided us, by enrolling themselves among the members, I may mention the late William McClay, Henry Long, James Wilson, and other members of the Wilson family, William Hazlet, Samuel Alexander, John Alexander, John Campbell and many others of both sexes, who will be remembered as the excellent of the earth.
They have all finished their course, I believe, but their descend- ants will cherish their memories and, I trust, copy their virtues. As the humble instrument in the hands of a superior power, I claim no merit, except that of honestly desiring to do my duty under these circumstances, by no means adapted to inspire confi- dence, but rather to test our courage in defence of the right.
*
" WILLIAM ANON."
We ask the careful thought of the reader to the above letter of Mr. Anon. How true that we do not know the results of the seed there sown. How many saved from lives of drunkenness and crime, and how many, again, saved from their influence on others, the angels themselves may never know ; but this we do know, that
"Right is right, since God is God, And Right the day must win ; To doubt would be disloyalty, To falter would be sin."
We regret that we have been unable to obtain more full data of the churches throughout the county ; but the ministers and others have failed to respond.
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HISTORY OF MIFFLIN COUNTY.
EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS AND FACILITIES.
PAST AND PRESENT COMPARED.
Unpolished marble does not show Its beanties to the sight, Until the labored polish doth Make all its colors bright.
The youthful mind inclines to rest, In nature's finest mould, Until by EDUCATION dressed, Its powers doth unfold.
W TE will first consider what is Education ? Let us imagine a young immortal placed before us, whose duty it is to give him an Education. This word signifies that we are to take him in- to our hands, find out what faculties he possesses, and then make the most out of every one of them ; preserving, however, a just balance among all his varied powers. Not one of those powers which were given him are to lie dormant. He can never be a real man until all are developed. It is not our work to give him a certain amount of knowledge, to practice him in certain arts, to teach him a pro- fession.
He comes to us to be EDUCATED-not to be crammed with other people's ideas, to imitate others. These he can get afterwards by reading. What shall we do for this young being, whose future we are to form for him ? As quick as possible let us make a man of him. Let us, in the first place, take him up as a physical being, and, young and feeble as he is, see what we can do for him. Let the persons who have charge of him know everything about his body ; let them map out that knowledge to the best of their abili- ties, with a deep consideration of the case in hand, to the compre- hension of their pupil. Let them instruct that pupil, not only in anatomy and physiology of his body, but in the laws of health and life, of strength and growth, and of that essential exercise by which the highest physical beauty is developed. Let the effort then com- mence in which the scholar will enthusiastically unite, as soon as he is made to understand it, to rear up out of this beginning the
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completest, strongest, healthiest, hardiest, most beautiful and grace- ful being possible.
Let him not only be exercised but exercised scientifically, by a preceptor who knows every office of every bone and muscle in his body, every want and possibility of his physical existence. Let one set of exercises be suited to employ, invigorate and enlarge the muscles ; let another inflate the lungs, enlarge the chest, and give larger scope for the growth and the development of their internal organs ; a third will give him ease of motion and grace of car- riage. Nor need we stop when these ends are gained. The organs of sensation which are useful according to their power of accuracy, may be astonishingly improved by a course of scientific practice. The eye can be educated to see, the ear to hear, and the hand its cunning work, and the other senses and faculties to do their appro- priate work. Nature in these particulars, gives us the beginning, and a subject capable of the highest degree of improvement. It is the business of effort, and of educated art to carry that beginning to the best and highest attainments. Instead of suffering the health, strength and beauty of our pupil to fade away as they do almost universally after the first hour education is begun, we should not only preserve them all, but carry each of them to a perfection which nature, unaided by education and improvement, could never reach.
The student, when he goes from the hand of the educator, in place of being the sickliest, weakest, most pallid and cadaverous person in society, ought to be physically a pattern and paragon for all men ; with a good conscience, a brisk pulse, polite without per- fumery, graceful without a ratan, meditative, without stimulating cups, narcotic juices or voluptuous fumes. Without particular and judicious treatment this cannot be. Such a result will no more follow from the fact that a child lives to the estate of manhood, than it follows that the crabapple will gradually bear better and better fruit, till the most luscious sorts shall drop from its out- spreading branches, because the shower and the sunlight continues to moisten and warm the atmosphere in which it grows.
Let us also, while this physical training is going on, look carefully and philosophically into its mental condition, determine precisely what intellectual faculties he possesses, and then set every one of these faculties to work, that we may thereby give each and all their ntmost development. With a chart of the human mind spread out before us, we shall at once see the work we have undertaken to ac-
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complish. We are to draw ont, expand, strengthen and mature, and set in harmonious action every one of the prescribed possibili- ties of thought.
It is easy enongh when we have fixed upon mental growth as the first object of scholastic discipline, to select from the boundless field of human knowledge, those studies, while they are best adapted to promote its growth, will also furnish the mind with the most important truths.
This secondary object can be best attained in fact, by pursuing a perfectly philosophical and universal method, for truth is the food of thought, and those sciences that are best adapted to develop the several faculties of the mind will be found to be those of the high- est future value to man. When that man goes out from his scholastic life he will not, as graduates generally are, be only the imbecile pos- sessor of theoretic knowledge, but a being of varied powers. The word power exactly expresses the nature of his being. Every one of his faculties has become a power. You need not ask him what he knows. Ask him what he can do. In his ability to do consists his superiority over those who only know. They have been mem- orizing elementary principles. He can reason because the full ex- pansion of this element of his being has been the direct object of his exertions. They can recite what has been written by the best authors. They can tell the names and detail the faults and graces of the great authors of antiquity. He can both write and speak. They are men of information. He of power, securing to himself that wholeness and evenness of mind withont which no one can be truly great. This degree of perfection must be reached by efforts to develop a capacity. Not to furnish it. We quote from a noted author a picture of that wonderful organ, the human mind, with its vast capabilities. "How true that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. What a wonderful machinery is the human brain, the great nerve centre of man. It is the great work-house of the ever busy mind, with its millions of shops, its immense machinery forging the thunderbolts of thought to strike the world with awe. Its mighty engines driving the wheels of ambition, its fathomless crucibles melting down and refining the materials furnished by the senses, and its great anvils and ponderous hammers beating this crude material into form. Its laboratory, where the crystal gems of thought are shaped and polished, and its finer looms weaving into fancy webbs the gossamer threads of poetry. The home of the passions, where envy, revenge and hatred lurk and rankle. Its gorgeous saloons,
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