USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > Warwick in Bucks County > History of Neshaminy Presbyterian Church of Warwick, Hartsville, Bucks County, Pa., 1726-1876 > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
CHAPTER XVI.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
REV. JAMES P. WILSON, D.D., SR.
This eminent man lived during his last years within the bounds of the congregation of Neshaminy, on his farm a little south of the village of Hartsville, adjoining the property which was once owned by Rev. William Ten- nent, Sr. It seems not inappropriate, therefore, that a
178
HISTORY OF
sketch of his life should be inserted here. The following account is found for the most part in Sprague's Annals ยท of the American Pulpit, Vol. 4, p. 353, and was pre- pared from a manuscript furnished Dr. Sprague by Rev. J. P. Wilson, D. D., Jr. :
" James Patriot Wilson, a son of the Rev. Dr. Matthew Wilson and Elizabeth, his wife, was born at Lewes, Sus- sex Co., Del., February 21, 1769. His father was eminent both as a physician and a clergyman, and his mother is represented as having been a model in all her domestic and social relations. He was graduated with high honor at the University of Pennsylvania, in August, 1788; and so much was he distinguished in the various branches in- cluded in his collegiate course, that at the time of his graduation it was the expressed opinion of the Faculty that he was competent to instruct his classmates. He was at the same time offered a place in the University as Assistant Professor of Mathematics, but as his health was somewhat impaired, and the air of his native place was more congenial with his constitution, he became an as- sistant in the academy at Lewes, taking measures to regain his health, and occupying his leisure with reading history. Having devoted himself for some time to the study of the law, he was admitted to the bar in Sussex County in 1790. Though he had acquired a reputation as a lawyer, unsurpassed perhaps in his native State, yet he ere long relinquished his profession and entered the ministry. During the earlier part of his life he had been skeptical in respect to Christianity, but by a series of dis- tressing afflictions, one of which was the assassination in the dark of an only brother, he was brought to serious
179
NESHAMINY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
reflection, and ultimately not only to a full conviction of the truth, but to a practical and cordial acceptance of it. He was licensed to preach the Gospel in 1804 by the Presbytery of Lewes, and in the same year was ordained and installed as Pastor of the united congregations of Lewes, Cool Spring and Indian River-the same which had for many years enjoyed the ministry of his father. In May, 1806, he was called at the instance of the late Dr. Benjamin Rush (his early and constant friend) to the . pastoral charge of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. He accepted the call by advice of the Presbytery of Lewes, and removed to Philadelphia the same year. In May, 1828, he retired to his farm about twenty miles from the city on account of the infirm state of his health, preaching, nevertheless, to his congregation as often as his health permitted. His resignation of his pastoral charge was accepted in the spring of 1830. In the course of that season he visited the city, and preached for the last time to his people. He died at his farm in Bucks County in the utmost peace on the 9th of Decem- ber, 1830, and was buried on the 13th in a spot selected by himself in the grave-yard of Neshaminy Church. His remains lie near the tomb of the celebrated William Ten- nent, the founder of the 'Log College.'"
On his monument is the following inscription :
JAMES P. WILSON, D. D.
BORN FEB. 21, 1769. DIED DEC. 9, 1830.
Placida hic pace quiesco, Jacobus P. Wilson, per annos bis septem composui lites, sacra exinde dogmata tractans.
180
HISTORY OF
Quid sum et fui, jam noscis, viator. Quid, die suprema, videbis. Brevi quid ipse futurus, nunc pectore versa. Natus, 1769. Obiit, 1830.
For the benefit of the reader who is not familiar with the Latin language, this may be translated thus :
"Here I, James P. Wilson, rest in calm peace. During fourteen years I practiced law, thenceforward treating of sacred themes. Now, traveller, you know what I am and have been. What I am about to be on the last day you will see. Now dwell in your mind on what you yourself will be in a short time."
His wife, who survived him a little more than eight years, was buried by his side, and on the monument is this inscription to her memory :
HIS WIFE, MARY HALL.
BORN AUG. 19, 1766. DIED JAN. 5, 1839.
Dr. Sprague continues: "The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania in 1807.
" In June, 1792, he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of John and Hannah Woods, of Lewes, with whom he lived but little more than three years, as she died in De- cember, 1795. She had two children, but neither of them survived her. His attachment to this lady is said to have been, even in his own estimation, quite idolatrous. In referring to her death at a subsequent period, in some written memoranda that still remain, he remarks: 'It was in the course of Providence necessary to bring me to my senses.'
" In May, 1798, he was married to Mary, daughter of
181
NESHAMINY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
David and Mary M. Hall, and sister of the late Governor Hall of Delaware. By this marriage he had nine children, only two of whom, James and Matthew, survived him. Mrs. Wilson died on the 5th of January, 1839, after three months' suffering from the puncture of a needle in the sole of her foot, resulting finally in mortification.
" Dr. Wilson was in person above the middle height, and had a countenance rather grave than animated, and expressive at once of strong benevolent feeling and high intelligence. In the ordinary intercourse of society his manners were exceedingly bland, though he was as far as possible from any approach to the courtier. He was affable and communicative, and generally talked so sensi- bly, or so learnedly, or so profoundly, that he was listened to with earnest attention."
In corroboration of this last remark of Dr. Sprague, I have heard it said, that after Dr. Wilson had removed to his farm, when he was in delicate health, Isaac Parry of Warminster, a highly respected member of the Society of Friends, called upon him, and found him out in the field sitting on a log. He sat down by his side and they en- tered into conversation ; and Friend Parry subsequently remarked, that he should always remember with the highest pleasure that hour of converse with the venerable man ; that his discourse was full of wisdom and valuable truth.
Dr. Sprague adds : "I saw him a few times in private, and he struck me as a model of a Christian Philosopher. He was uniformly gentle, urbane and obliging, and rarely spoke without uttering something that I could wish to remember. I heard him preach one sermon, and it was
182
HISTORY OF
throughout as consecutive and condensed as the demon- stration of a problem of Euclid. I am confident that I never heard another preacher who tasked my powers of attention and reflection so much; the loss of a sentence or two would have greatly marred the impression of the entire discourse. He spoke without notes, and with great deliberation, but with as much correctness as if every word had been written. On a blank leaf of his copy of Henry Ware's Tract on "Extemporaneous Preaching," he has left the following testimony over his signature: 'I have preached twenty years, and have never written a full sermon in my life, and never read one word of a ser- mon from the pulpit, nor opened a note, nor committed a sentence, and have rarely wandered five minutes at a time from my mental arrangement previously made.'"
These characteristics of his preaching rendered it very important that the audience should be perfectly quiet, and he could not bear any noise or interruption. Any thing of this kind seemed to vex and worry him. When a child cried once in the gallery of his church, he turned to that part of the house, stopped in the midst of his ser- mon, pointed with his finger, and said : "Take that child 'out! Take that child out !" At another time one of his children was inclined to play, when he abruptly exclaimed, "Sammy, go home ; go home!" and motioned to the boy towards the door. Dr. Wm. Patton says of him: "He was peculiar in the use of the first person plural, always saying, 'We think, we advise.' When speaking of Nicodemus, as referred to in the third chap- ter of John, he would uniformly say, ' There was a gentle- man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus'; and when com-
183
NESHAMINY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
menting on the parable of the Ten Virgins, he used to call them the ' Ten young ladies.' He was very familiar with all the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Christian Church, and almost lived among them."
. GIDEON PRIOR.
Among the men who were prominent in Neshaminy Church and congregation during the ministry of Rev. Mr. Belville and subsequently, was Elder Gideon Prior. His history is peculiarly interesting.
* He was born in Lebanon, Windham County, Conn., August 5, 1764, and remained in his native town till 1781. Being then a boy of sixteen years old, he became fired with the patriotic zeal which animated so many of our American youth, and joined the French army in Rhode Island under Count De Rochambeau. Unable from his youth to perform regular military duty, he was at- tached to the ordnance department, as a driver of wagons containing military stores. In this capacity he went with the French in June, 1781, to the vicinity of the Hudson river, above New York, where they were to act in con- junction with Washington against the British in the city. But things having become ripe for attacking General Cornwallis, in Yorktown, Va., the combined American and French armies marched rapidly thither. During the march young Gideon suffered much from exposure and severe toil. Like many others he was obliged to sleep out
* Most of the information contained in this account is obtained from Rev. Azariah Prior of Pottsville, Pa., son of Gideon Prior.
184
-
HISTORY OF
of doors, to rise before light, to go after the day's march considerable distances, to procure forage for his animals ; and if his constitution had not been very vigorous, he must have sunk under his fatigue and hardships. At the siege of Yorktown, he was engaged in conveying am- munition to the besiegers, and was often passing and repass- ing across the fields, when the cannon balls were whist- ling through the air and flying in every direction. But his life was spared though in the most exposed situations, and he escaped without injury. He witnessed the surren- der of the British General, and the laying down of the arms of the troops before Washington, and remembered to the close of his life the scene when the vanquished soldiers threw down their muskets in piles with a crash which resounded far around.
After this event he returned from Virginia to the North, and as a treaty of peace was not yet arranged, he went on board of a privateer, which cruised a short time in the Atlantic, but was captured by a British frigate and taken into New York, which city was still in the hands of the enemy. In company with others he was confined in a prison-ship in the harbor, but was at length transferred to a British vessel in active service, and carried out to sea. The British then claimed the right to take their subjects, wherever they could find them, and impress them into their naval vessels, as sailors or marines; and they had not yet acknowledged that the Americans were free from their control.
After various perils and adventures Gideon was left on one of the West India Islands, friendless and alone ; whence he made his way to New England. In the course
185
NESHAMINY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
of a year or two he entered Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, where he remained about four years. But being urged by a brother in South Carolina to come to him, he set out; taught school by the way, and, having reached Neshaminy, married, and with the exception of one year, lived there the remainder of his life.
He taught school several years in a log school-house, which used to stand in the grave-yard, and in one on the Street Road, on ground adjoining the farm now owned by Joseph Barnsley, Esq., and was considered an excellent teacher. He was familiar with the Latin language, and excelled in giving instruction in it. His sons Asahel and Azariah, who were educated at Jefferson College, Canons- burg, Pa., were principally prepared for that institution by him as their tutor. He also taught singing classes almost every winter for many years, and met with unus- ual success in imparting to his pupils skill and taste in the practice of sacred music. He united with the church in 1822. For twenty-five or thirty years he was an elder in Neshaminy Church, and was highly respected as a man of strong mind and sound judgment in administering the affairs of the household of faith. He was an exem- plary Christian, and marked by perfect integrity and uprightness in all his business transactions. "He was humble and unostentatious, and fond of agricultural pur- suits, but possessed more general information and solid learning than most of his acquaintances supposed. He bore an unspotted reputation in the world, and honored the Christian profession." He retained the use of all his mental faculties unusually late in life, and until " within a few years of his death he could quote from several Latin
186
HISTORY OF
authors correctly in their original language." He died after a short illness, February 1, 1854, in the 90th year of his age.
His wife, Elizabeth Carr Prior, second daughter of William Carr, died April 3, 1845, aged 75 years.
HON. ROBERT RAMSEY.
Another of the men of influence in the community during Mr. Belville's ministry, was Hon. Robert Ramsey. He was born in Warminster Township, Bucks Co., Pa., February 14, 1780. He was a member of the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania five years, viz .: 1825, 1826, 1827, 1829 and 1831; and a member of Congress two terms, from 1833 to 1835 and from 1841 to 1843. He was a warm admirer and friend of John Quincy Adams while in Washington ; possessed sound judgment upon public affairs, much information, and sterling common sense. He was true and faithful to his convictions of duty in reference to the interests of the commonwealth and the nation, and enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens in a high degree, as is evinced by their frequent selection of him to fill posts of honor and trust. He was attached to the doctrines and order of the Presbyterian Church, a regular attendant on the ministry of the word at Nes- haminy ; a liberal supporter of the Gospel and for a num- ber of years a trustee of the Church. He died of paraly- sis, December 12, 1849, in the 70th year of his age.
SAMUEL HART, ESQ.
Samuel Hart, Esq., was another gentleman long associ-
.
187
NESHAMINY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
ated with the congregation, who performed faithfully and efficiently important trusts committed to him. He was born November 1, 1783. For many years he was em- ployed in surveying lands, settling estates, and writing wills, deeds and other papers relating to the transfer of property, and was unusually successful in this kind of busi- ness. He wrote a very fair, neat hand, and his penman- ship is seen for some years in the annual Records of the Corporation of the Church. He was one of the Trustees during the period of thirteen years from 1810 to 1823, and was much relied upon for his advice and skill in set- tling the financial accounts of the Board. He was for a time Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County.
About the year of 1825 he removed from Neshaminy to the vicinity of Doylestown, and there united with the Society of Friends, in which religious connection he was at the time of his death, which took place November 25, 1863. One of his sons was George Hart, Esq., a much respected member of the Bar of Bucks Co., who died in Doylestown, February 7, 1871, and another is Josiah Hart, Esq., Banker, still residing there. Samuel Hart was a man of high integrity and unsullied reputation, and was widely known and trusted as honorable, upright, and judicious by all who knew him.
REV. JOHN MAGOFFIN.
Rev. John Magoffin was born in the vicinity of Carlisle, Pa., September, 1780. His youth and early manhood were spent in Philadelphia, where he was engaged in mercan- tile business, until he had acquired what he deemed a
188
HISTORY OF
competency, when he determined to devote his time prin- cipally to preaching the Gospel. With this object in view he was examined and licensed by the Presbytery of Phila- delphia about 1819 or 1820. Dr. Janeway, Dr. James P. Wilson, and Rev. James Patterson were at that time Pas- tors in the city, and were probably present at his licen- sure. About the year 1827 he removed to Warminster, Bucks Co., where he had purchased a farm, not far from the property afterwards owned by Rev. James P. Wilson, D. D., Pastor of the 1st Presbyterian Church, Philadel- phia. This was within the bounds of the Congregation of Neshaminy, and about two miles from the Church ; and quite near the site of Log College. He was in the habit, while he resided here, of assisting Rev. Mr. Bel- ville, the Pastor of Neshaminy, in special meetings, social prayer-meetings and other services, and of preaching in school-houses in the region around; the County Line school-house, the one on the Street road, at Jacksonville, Addisville, and Jamison's Corner, and in the Academy at Hatborough. He also preached occasionally for Rev. Abraham Halsey at Churchville. Before the division of the Presbyterian Church he gave up his license to preach, and about that time, 1836, he removed from Warminster to Buckingham, when he was within the bounds of the Presbyterian Church of Solebury, of which Rev. P. O. Studdiford, of Lambertville, N. J., was Pastor. In 1838 or 1839 he was licensed and ordained to the Gospel Min- istry by the Addison Congregational Association, Ortho- dox, in Bristol, Vermont. While he resided in Bucking- ham, he assisted Dr. Studdiford in supplying the pulpit of the Solebury Church, particularly when by injuries sus-
189
NESHAMINY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
tained by the bridge over the Delaware at New Hope, the crossing of the river was difficult or dangerous, and Dr. S., whose home was on the east side of the river, where one of the churches of his charge was located, could not easily cross. He removed to Bristol in 1846, and here he preached much to the boatmen on the canal, and distri- buted Bibles, Testaments, and Tracts among them, and endeavored in every way possible to benefit morally, spir- itually, and in their temporal affairs, this neglected class of our fellow-citizens. When through failing health he was not able to labor among them himself, he employed others at his own expense. He was many years President of the Bucks County Bible Society, and was always, from his earliest residence in the County, deeply interested in the work of supplying all the families within the limits of its operations with a copy of the Holy Scriptures. In his business transactions he was scrupulously upright, candid, and honest, so much so as to appear singular to those whose standard of integrity was less elevated than his. Greatly respected by all classes of people while he lived, when he passed away it was remarked by even the most irreligious, that if any were saved, one of them must be Mr. Magoffin. He died in Bristol, Pa., January 20, 1860, in the eightieth year of his age. His remains lie interred in the grave-yard of the Episcopal Church of that town.
He was married June 20, 1815, to Miss Cornelia Patton of Philadelphia, who still survives her husband, and re- sides in Bristol. She is a sister of Rev. Wm. Patton, D. D., of New Haven, Conn., formerly Pastor of a Con- gregational Church, in New York City.
190
HISTORY OF
ASAHEL PRIOR.
Asahel Prior, A. B., son of Elder Gideon Prior, was born in Warminster, November 15, 1809, and was prepared for college under the instruction of his father. He was hope- fully converted while young, and received into the com- munion of the church at Neshaminy, January 19, 1823, when in his fourteenth year. As a boy and a young man he bore a high character, was fond of study, and devoted to the cultivation of his mind, and the acquisition of use- ful information. He entered Jefferson College, at Canons- burg, Pa., and greatly endeared himself to the Professors of the Institution and his fellow-students. His excessive application to books impaired his health and brought on pulmonary consumption. During the last part of his senior year his physical strength was much undermined ; yet he graduated with his class and received his degree of Bachelor of Arts. He returned to his father's, and passed away to the home of the just, August 30, 1830, in the twentieth year of his age. Had he lived in the enjoy- ment of health, he would probably have been a distin. guished scholar.
SAMUEL LONG.
Samuel Long, A. M., son of Hugh and Mary Long, was born March 17, 1805. He became hopefully the subject of divine grace in the remarkable revival with which Neshaminy Church was blessed in 1822, and united with the visible people of God, September 22d of that year. Having a desire to obtain a liberal education he pursued a course of preparatory study under Rev. Mr. Belville,
191
NESHAMINY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
and entered Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., where he graduated in 1830 with the highest honors of the institu- tion. On Commencement Day, when he received his de- gree of Bachelor of Arts, he delivered, by appointment, the Latin and Greek Orations. He engaged in teaching soon after his graduation, and married Miss Jane Mearns of Warwick, October 18, 1832. About this time he bought a farm half a mile north of Hartsville, and estab- lished a boarding-school in a beautiful location, which was soon brought to a very prosperous condition. His pupils were much attached to him and made rapid pro- gress under his instruction.
On Saturday afternoon, December 5, 1835, after the labors of the school-room were over for the week, he went out to the woods a few miles from his home to assist a hired man in cutting and gathering fuel, when he was struck by a falling limb of a tree and killed. His sudden death, when it was known the following day at church, caused a deep impression in the minds of the congrega- tion of the shortness and uncertainty of life. He was universally respected and beloved, and his untimely end blasted bright hopes, which had been formed by many, in regard to his future usefulness and distinction.
HUGH MEARNS.
Hugh Mearns, A. B., was born in Warwick, November 2, 1801. Having pursued a preparatory course of study under Rev. R. B. Belville, he entered Princeton College, in 1818, and graduated 1822. His health not proving adequate to the pursuit or practice of any of the learned
192
HISTORY OF
professions, he devoted himself to agriculture and other business at the home of his childhood. He married Miss Anne Craven of Warminster. For several years he was an Elder in Neshaminy Church, and was esteemed for many virtues and sound, correct judgment. In the divis- ion of the congregation, in 1838, he took part with those who formed the church in Hartsville. He died much lamented, January 11, 1857, aged 55 years.
REV. AZARIAH PRIOR.
One of the youth of Neshaminy was Azariah Prior. He was the third son of Gideon and Elizabeth Prior, and was born October 23, 1798, in Warminster Township, Bucks County. In his infancy he has baptized in Neshaminy Church by Rev. Ashbel Green, D. D., who on that occa- sion was supplying the pulpit of its Pastor, Rev. Nathan- iel Irwin, absent from home, it is believed, at some ecclesi- astical meeting. Mr. G. Prior was expecting to go on the next day to Connecticut, and wished to have his little son receive the ordinance of baptism before he set out on his journey. The boy's rudimental education was com- menced in the old log school-house, which stood within the present enclosure of the church cemetery, and con- cluded in the Street Road school-house about two miles distant. In his ninth or tenth year he commenced the Latin Grammar with his father, under whose instruction he studied the Latin and Greek languages, and was fitted for college. Before deciding to obtain a collegiate educa- tion he went to Philadelphia to learn the printing busi- ness, and while engaged as an apprentice in a printing
193
NESHAMINY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
office worked upon an edition of Scott's Commentary on the Bible in five volumes, a copy of which was bought by his father and is now in possession of a member of the family in Ohio. Finding that his health suffered greatly from confinement to the printer's case, he returned home and resumed his academical studies. By the advice of Rev. R. B. Belville, who took much interest in him, he entered Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., the President of which institution at that time was Rev. Matthew Brown, D. D., LL. D. He joined the Sophomore Class in 1823 and graduated in the Fall of 1826. Being a promi- nent member of the Franklin Literary Society, he was selected by it as one of the public contestors in 1825, and was distinguished by an honor conferred upon him by the Faculty and Trustees for the superior merits of his per- formance, which was an original oration, over the decla- mation of his rival, who was the select orator of the occa- sion from the Philo Society.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.