History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 153

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 153

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George Keith remained in this country about two years after the separation, when he went to England, where he joined the Episcopal Church. In 1702 he was sent to America as a missionary by the society for propagating the gospel among the heathen. Ebe- lung, in his " Ilistory of Pennsylvania," states that "he was not sent thither, however, to convert the heathen Indians, but to make proselytes to the high school, principally from among the Quakers. He remained there two years, which he employed in traveling through the different colonies; but he re-

mained longest in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where he preached with indefatigable zeal. In the account which he has published of his travels, he relates, evidently with malicious pleasure, his vie- tories over the Quakers, of whom he brought over many, a part of whom, however, returned to their profession." On his return to England in 1706, as a reward for his services, he was appointed rector of Ed- monton, Sussex, where he died about 1715.

The results of his travels as a missionary were pub- lished in a small quarto volume, a copy of which has been preserved in the Philadelphia Library, and is entitled " A Journal of travels from New Hampshire to C'aratuck, on the Continent of America, by George Keith, A.M., London, 1706." This work gives us some desirable information as regards the Oxford Meeting. He calls said meeting " Franckfort alias Oxford," thus proving that they are the same, and mentions also two other churches that had come over, one at Philadelphia and another at Upland, or Chester. Ile thus speaks therein of the former: "The place at Franckfort, in Pennsylvania, where the congrega- tion assembles on the Lord's day, is called Trinity Chapel; it was formerly a Quaker Meeting-house, built or fitted by Quakers, but some time ago has been given to the Church by such who had the right to it. Some land adjoining was given by a person well affected by the church, for the use of the minis- ter, who should reside there, for a house, garden and swall orchard."

From what is stated it is evident that a majority of the congregation constituting Oxford Meeting must have become Keithian and retained possession of the premises until the organization went down, when they attached themselves to the Church of England, which was probably about 1702; judging by Mr. Millet's statement, certainly not earlier than 1700. In this connection we shall give a list of taxables residing in Oxford township in 1693, which may hereafter be the means of giving still more information as to these original Keithians who had been Friends : John Tis- siek, Jacob Hall, Eriek Mullicker, Win. Taylor, Ann Salter, Richard Whitefield, Widow Kean, Herman Enock, Wm. Busby, John Fletcher, Atwell Willmer- ton, Joseph Paul, John Harper and sons John and Charles, George Burson, John Wells, Daniel Street, John Bunce, Henry Waddy, Daniel Hall, Yeaman Gillingham, Thomas Graves, Robert Addams, Richard Seary and John Worrell. The latter was at this time the assessor.

As this had been the first and only house of worship erected for the Friends within the bounds of the present Abington Meeting, their other places being private houses, the people must at first have been put to some inconvenience. But in this dilemma they found a friend in John Barnes, a resident and principal Jand-holder in and around the present borough of Jenkintown, who, by a deed dated 5th of Second Month, 1697,

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vested in trustees for the use of the meeting-house number." The Rev. Evan Evans, in his report of and school-house one hundred and twenty acres of October 5, 1704 (page 504), speaks of the Oxford land, which thus accounts for the location of the | Church as having "been long since built, and the present house of worship. At the Monthly Meeting people reduced from Quakerism are not so able or willing as could be wished to support a minister." The Harper family mentioned in the tax-list of 1693, it is ascertained, also united themselves to this con- gregation. held the following 27th of Tenth Month, "William Jenkins gave Friends a relation of Friends' proceed- ings at Philadelphia, concerning the assistance to- wards building a new meeting-house at Abington," which owing to the difficulty of procuring the requi- site means, was not, however, finished until the year 1700.

The questions, Why have Friends to this day remained in such ignorance as to what became of the Oxford Meeting-house ? and Why has no explanation been found in their records ? are thus readily accounted for. The earliest existing book of Minutes known has the following on its title-page: " Abington Monthly Meeting-Book-Containing a Chronologie of the most Material Occurrences and Transactions that have been acted and done in the said Meeting, &c., since ye first settlement thereof: Transcribed From Sundry Manuscripts by George Boone, 1718." It may be that when the "Sundry Manuscripts" were "Transcribed," whatever was related therein concerning the Keithian members and the troubles arising through the separation of Oxford Meeting was omitted; hence the silence on the matter. But no doubt, should it prove possible that hereafter these "Sundry Manuscripts " be turned up, some additional revelations will be made. The history of the long-lost Oxford Meeting possesses now a two- foll interest,-because it led to the early founding of two considerable congregations, namely : the Abington Monthly Meeting and Trinity Episcopal Church, with which it has become associated, and in justice and truth cannot now be separated. The other important matter is in throwing more light on the origin and rise of the Keithian troubles, which in its day appears to have been a much more serious mat- ter to Friends than has been generally admitted.

Since the aforesaid has been written some addi- tional information has been secured on the subject, chiefly from the "Collections on the Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania," edited by the Rev. W. T. Perry. In a petition mentioned therein to the bishop of London, dated Philadelphia, March 7, 1714-15, signed by the names of Peter Worrall, William Pres- ton, John Williams, John Williams, Jr., John Leech and Robert Kanady as church members, establish- ing the fact that William Preston, one of the origi- nal trustees, had gone over to the Keithians, and also very probably Robert Addams and John Worrall. Peter Worrall probably was a son of the last named. Peter Taylor and James Morgan, on behalf of the Oxford Church wardens, state, since the decease of Rev. John Club, "having no minister, we meet every Sunday where one Nathaniel Walton, our school- master, every Lord's day reads unto us the Holy Scriptures, and also catechises the children, twenty in

Abington Meeting-House .- This is one of the earliest congregations belonging to Friends established in Pennsylvania, and dates back its establishment at the house of Thomas Fairman, at Shackamaxon, before the arrival of Penn. In the preceding article we have mentioned its first meetings in 1683 and the three following years in Oxford and Byberry, and that a meeting-house had been built at the former place in 1683. It was agreed on the 31st of First Month, 1687, that it should be continued there, and at the house of Richard Wall, Jr., in Cheltenham.

About 1691, the members of Oxford Meeting- house having joined the Keithians, the Friends continued their worship at private houses until John Barnes, by deed dated 5th of Second Month, 1697, vested one hundred and twenty acres in Abing- ton township, near the present borough of Jenkin- town, in trustees for the benefit of a meeting-house and the maintenance of a school, which was willingly accepted, and thus led to its present location. On the 27th of Tenth Month following William Jenkins gave a relation about Friends in Philadelphia giving " assistance towards building a new meeting-honse at Abington," when the aforesaid and Joseph Phipps were appointed to proceed there the following month for securing additional aid. On the 25th of Tweltth Month, 1699, the collections of the meeting, amount- ing to £5 10s. 6d., were paid to the treasurer, Everard Bolton, and Joseph Phipps, Thomas Canby and William Jenkins were appointed by the Monthly Meeting to inspect the accounts of the aforesaid and of Samuel Cart, "concerning ye building of ye meet- ing-house," for which they had been employed. The committee reported to the Monthly Meeting 24th of Fourth Month, 1700, that they had examined the accounts and find that there is due Everard Bolton 188. 6d., which was ordered to be paid. This meet- ing-house was the second built in the present limits of the county, being preceded by the one in Lower Merion by only two years.

On the 26th of Twelfth Month, 1704, the Friends of Germantown stated their intention to build a new meeting-house, and desired the assistance of the sev- eral Preparative Meetings, which was granted. In 1709, Thomas Canby and Ryner Tyson are appointed overseers of the meeting. George Boone, who had arrived from Bradninch, in Devonshire, in the spring of 1713, was married the following summer to Deborah, the daughter of Wm. Howell, of Cheltenham. Being a skillful penman, he was employed in 1718 to trans- cribe " from sundry manuscripts the most material

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occurrences and transactions that have been acted and done in the said Meeting since the first settle- ment." Richard Martin was appointed 26th of First Month, 1722, in place of Thomas Canby, who had re- moved to Solebury, one of the trustees of the legacy

belonged to the Quarterly Meeting held in Philadel- phia, but in 1785 a proposition was forwarded for the establishment of another Quarterly Meeting, to be hell at Abington, and composed of said Monthly Meeting, with those of Horsham, Gwynedd and Rich- that John Barnes, deceased, had given to the meeting / land, which was approved of, and the first Quarterly for maintaining a school. Friends residing in Bristol having lost considerable from fire, it was ordered that each meeting raise for their relief five pounds.

At this date Abington Monthly Meeting comprised four meeting-houses, built as follows: Abington, in 1697; Germantown, 1704; Byberry, 1714; and Ilors- ham, in 1724. Although the latter meeting-house is mentioned in a road report in April, 1722, yet appli- cation was made 28th of Seventh Month, 1724, for assistance from the Monthly Meeting "towards ye finishing of their new meeting-house," when it was directed that the several meetings should extend their aid. This shows that the early meeting-houses, as small as they were, required some time to build, and that the means therefor required no small effort to raise. Jolin Griffith, in his journal, under date of 1734, mentions Abington Meeting, of which he was a member, as a "large and valuable weighty body of Friends therein."

Although Benjamin Lay, an attendant of this meet- ing, had written a work against the evils of slavery, and had it published in 1737 and circulated it at his expense, yet the German Friends had long preceded him in a protest, dated at Germantown, 18th of Second Month, 1688, and addressed to their Monthly Meeting. The majority, however, were so conservative on the subject that little or no attention was given to the matter until the dawn of the Revolution, brought about by the excitement of the Stamp Act, when the rights of mankind began to be inquired into. In cor- roboration, John and Isaac Comly, in an account of this meeting in vol. ix. of Friends' Miscellany (for 1831-32, pp. 25-35), make the following remarks :

" Committees were appointed to visit snch members as held slaves, or were concerned in buying or selling them. In 1769 report was made that all such had been visited, and there appeared a disposition prevail- ing in divers to set their slaves free at a suitable time. In 1776 it is noted that the labors of Friends on this occasion were generally well received, and those slaves under care of Friends appeared to be well treated in most instances. The next year two slaves are reported to have been manumitted by Jonathan Clayton. Several other cases of manumission are afterwards noted. Selling slaves at this time was con- sidered a disownable offense, and against holding them Friends earn- estly remonstrated with great patience and perseverance ; and at length those members who continued obstinate in refusing to set their slaves free were disowned. It is much to the credit of Abington Monthly Meeting that Unt few cases of this character had occurred within its limits."

In consequence of the several meetings becoming too large, it was agreed, with the approbation of the Quarterly Meeting in 1782, that Abington Monthly Meeting comprise the meetings of Abington, Ger- mantown and Frankford, the meeting-house at the latter place having been built in 1776, Byberry and Horsham constituting a new Monthly Meeting, known by the latter name. Abington Friends had hitherto

Meeting was held at Abington in Fifth Month, 1756. For the suitable accommodation of, the aforesaid the east end of the meeting-house was enlarged with galleries, at the cost of abont three hundred pounds. Eleven years later, for the same reason, the western end was similarly eularged, at an expense of five hundred and fifty pounds. Between the years 1780 and 1800 the meetings here were often attended by such eminent ministers as James Thornton, Peter Yarnell, James Simpson, John Forman, John Lloyd, Ezra Comfort and others.

Robert Sutcliff, a prominent English Friend, in his "Travels in America," under date of 8th of Eighth Month, 1806, thus mentions a visit here: "I aecom- panied a party of Friends to Abington Quarterly Meeting, which was very large. The meeting-house is a regular, well-built, stone building, and capable of holding a great number of people. It is situated ou a piece of ground containing several aeres, and which is covered with a great number of large forest-trees."

The meeting in 1813 contributed two hundred dol- lars towards the erection of Friends' Asylum, near Frankford. A new Monthly Meeting was founded in 1815, composed of the meetings at Frankford and Ger- mantown, when Abington became a particular Monthly Meeting to which have since been attached Horsham and Upper Dublin Meetings. The graveyard to the northwest of the meeting-house was considerably en- larged between the years 1842 and 1844, and now com- prises an area of several acres. Here repose beneatlı common stones some of the earliest settlers in this vi- cinity with several generations of decendants. Inscrip- tions can be found only on the latter stones, by which we can recognize that numbers of the names of Wal- ton, Williams, Palmer, Jenkins, Fletcher, Jones, Ty- son, Shoemaker, Mather, Lukens and Satterthwaite have been interred here. There is a commodious two- story stone school-house in the west corner of the meeting-honse yard, under the control of the meeting, its support being derived from the proceeds of the bequest of one hundred and twenty aeres given it by John Barnes, in 1697, sinee improved and divided into two farms. During the troubles attend- ing the separation in 1826-27, Halliday Jackson stated that in Abington Quarterly Meeting up to 1829 there was, inelusive, a total of three thousand one hun- dred and fifty-three men, women and minors. Of this number the Orthodox possessed three hundred and twenty-one and three remained undecided as to their views. The two hundredth aniversary of this Monthly Meeting wascelebrated at the meeting-house on the afternoon of the 3d of Twelfth Month, 1882, at which about five hundred persons were present, On

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this occasion Charles Linton, clerk of the meeting, read a compilation from its early records; David Newport an original poem entitled " William Penn's Holy Experiment," followed by an address from Hon. John M. Broomall, of Media.

Abington Presbyterian Church .- The Rev. Mal- achi Jones, a native of Wales, where he had received his education and ordination in September, 1714, made application to the Presbytery of Philadelphia, which then numbered only eleven ministers, and by whom he was received in fellowship. In the aforesaid year the organization here of the congregation was accom- plished, Benjamin Jones, Abednego Thomas, Stoffel Van Sand and Joseph Breden being chosen elders, besides sixty-five additional members. At this early date the Presbytery had been only formed about eight years. Half an acre of ground having been secured, for which a deed was given August 15, 1719, a log church was very probably soon after erected, the first house of worship possessed by the denomina- tion within the present limits of Montgomery County. It stood within the graveyard at the intersection of the Old York and Susquehanna Street roads until 1793.

The elders of the church iu 1728 were Abednego Thomas, Joseph Breden and Benjamin Jones, and Garret Wynkoop, Charles Hasse and Joseph Charles- worth, deacons. Mr. Jones continued his labors here with apparent success for fifteen years, or until his death, which took place March 26, 1729, he being seventy-eight years old. With only one exception, his tombstone is the oldest here containing an inscription, and it is mentioned thereon that " He was the first Minister in This Place."

From the death of Mr. Jones the charge remained vacant until December, 1731, when Rev.Richard Treat was ordained a minister and duly installed. During his ministry the Rev. George Whitefield came hither Thursday, April 17, 1740, and in his journal states that he " Rode last night after a sermon about eight miles. Lay at a Friend's house, and preached this morning to near three thousand people at Abington, a district under the care of Mr. Treat, a Presbyterian minister, to whom God has been pleased lately to shew mercy. When I had done I took a little refreshment, baptized a child and hastened to Philadelphia." Concerning Mr. Whitefield here the late Rev. Robert Steel relates the following reminiscence : " An old Revolutionary soldier, Mr. Martin, has told me in my youthful days that he was accustomed to take an early breakfast and walk from Southwark to Abington, full twelve miles, to hear Mr. Whitefield preach. He said the house would be full and the graveyard would be filled." The Rev. David Brainerd, the missionary among the In- dians at the forks of the Delaware, occasionally preached here and assisted at communions, and also Rev. Charles Beatty, of Neshaminy, one of the found- ers of the Hatboro' Library in 1755. Mr. Treat con- tinned in the charge the long period of forty-seven

years, and also died and was buried here in Novem- ber, 1778, in his seventy-first year.

The pulpit was now supplied by various ministers, among these Dr. MeWhorter and Rev. William Mackey Tennent, who was chosen pastor in 1781. He was the son of Rev. Charles Tennent, the youngest of four brothers, all ministers in the church, and grand- son of Rev. William Tennent, the founder of the famous "log college " in Bucks County. In this connection Dr. Tennent gave a portion of his time to the small congregations at Norriton and Providence, preach- ing there about every third Sabbath. The Abington congregation was incorporated by what is termed a private act of Assembly passed February 22, 1785. The original church having now become too small for the wants of the congregation, and needing repairs, a new stone structure was commenced in the spring of 1793, nearly opposite, on the west side of the York road. This was sufficiently completed to be occupied for worship in the following October. In 1798, Isaac Boi- leau, as the only remaining trustee, conveyed to the use of the church the adjoining farm, given by Simon Thomas and wife, containing one hundred acres. Dr. Tennent died in December, 1810, and his remains also repose in the old graveyard. Ile was a distinguished member of the church ; in 1797 moderator of the Gen- eral Assembly and one of the trustees of Princeton College.

A vacancy now remained in the church for nearly two years, when the Rev. William Dunlap was chosen pastor, who assumed the charge July 2, 1812. He was the son of Rev. James Dunlap, president of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, and had been ordained to the ministry in 1809, when he was sent on a missionary tour to Canada. He there contracted a severe cold, which terminated in consumption, from which he died in De- cember, 1818, at the early age of thirty-six years. The Rev. Robert Steel received the charge November 9, 1819, to continue in this pastorate for the long period of nearly forty-three years. As the church was again becoming too smalt, the congregation resolved, at a meeting held March 12, 1833, to enlarge the same, which was done in the following summer, at a cost of nearly nineteen hundred dollars. While this improve- ment was proceeding worship was held in a neighbor- ing grove.

Dr. Steel, on Thanksgiving day, 1855, preached a sermon before his congregation from the text " Hith- erto hath the Lord helped us" (1 Sam. 7-12), wherein he stated that " since I have commenced my labors here there have been added to the membership of this church 359 persons. I have baptized 280, from infancy to hoary hairs, united in wedlock 256 couples and de- tained from the sanctuary by sickness but two Sab- baths in all that time." This was subsequently pub- lished in the Presbyterian Magazine (for February, 1856, vol. vi. pp. 80-87), with a historical account of the church, its author at the time presented the writer with a copy, and which appears since to have been

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made extensive use of without acknowledgment. With the exception of two acres still retained, the farm given by Mr. Thomas was sold in 1856,and brought $18,872.50. A tract of thirteen acres to the rear of the church and fronting on the Susquehanna Street road was subsequently purchased. Dr. Steel, like a faithful sentinel, remained at his post to the last, where he died September 2, 1862, in his sixty-ninth year. One interesting faet remains now to be noticed in connec- tion with the history of this church : that from its first organization for the long period of one hundred and forty-eight years only five ministers had served it, and who in all of that time lived and died here in their several charges and lie buried in its ancient graveyard, indicating a degree of faithfulness on the part of the pastors and harmony in the congregation that is cred- itable to both as a noteworthy example.

The Rev. John Linn Withrow was installed pastor in May, 1863, and remained until November, 1868, when he received the charge ofthe Arch Street Church, Philadelphia. He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel T. Lowrie in May, 1869, who left in July, 1874, to ae- cept a professorship in the Theological Seminary at Allegheny. In his farewell sermon to the congrega- tion he stated that in liberality this church ranked the fourth or fifth in the Presbytery ; that in this year twelve hundred and twenty dollars had been given to benevolent purposes outside of its own operations ; and that its three Sabbath-schools and two hundred and fifty scholars in 1869 had increased to four, with four hundred and fifty pupils and thirty-nine teachers. The Rev. L. W. Eekard, the present pastor, was in- stalled May 25, 1875. Abington has been the parent of Huntingdon Valley Presbyterian Church, built in 1860; of Grace Church, at Jenkintown ; and of Carmel Chapel, at Edge Hill village. The membership of this Congregation in September, 1884, was two hundred and fifteen, with two hundred and fifty pupils in the Sab- bath-school. The present handsome brown sandstone structure was erected in the place of the former church in 1863. It is ofone story, with stained-glass windows, the main part being about forty by sixty-six and one- half feet, with a rear addition, making the total length one hundred and eighteen feet. The tower and spire is also built of dressed stone and is one hundred and eighty feet in height, and from its elevated position forms a conspicuous landmark for miles around.

The graveyard has been enlarged again and again, and now contains about one and a half acres, the whole inclosed with a substantial stone wall. As it has been undoubtedly used now as a place of inter- ment for more than one hundred and sixty years, it may be well supposed that being in such a populous section, there must be many buried here. The carliest stone containing an inscription bears the date of 1728. Among the numerous names we find those of Barnes, Hill, Ramsey, Adams, Murray, Vancourt, Beatty, Nash, Boutcher, MeNeal, Shehore, Dixon, Yerkes, Collom, Boileau, Briton, Wood, Ottinger, Kline, IEuston,

Folwell, Walker, Fulton, Wynkoop, Wells, Henry, Fetters, Carr, McDowell, Major, Brown, Elliott, Du- bree, Roberts, Nicholas, Me Vaugh, Kesler, Wilson, Foster, Hart, McAdams, Krier, Larzelere, Gillingham, Lukens, Rogers, Stevens, Dananhower, Mann, Paxson, Wigfall, Allen, Thornton, Solliday, Nicholson, Ritchie, Keightley, Kennedy, Torrance, Dubois, Evans, Chil- cott, Bockius, Streaper, Tomlinson, Morrow, Bennett, Rex, Shaw, Lambaert, Morgan, McCalla, Ervien, Homiller, Morrison, Scott, Booskirk, Vansant, Blake, Ayres, Shipps, Dean, Harvey, Holmes, Willard, Ben- ezet, Tennent and Stewart. Among the distinguished dead that repose here may be mentioned Gilbert Ten- nent, Samuel Finley (president of Princeton College), Robert Loller, William Dean, Hiram MeNeal and N. B. Boileau.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 153

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534